The Great Demon System-Chapter 2: A New Beginning

Over 5 years have passed since the war with the Shalkers ended. Every adult was conscripted in order to stand a chance at winning the war. Unfortunately, about 1 billion people perished during the war. This was roughly 10% of the world's population.

This left many children as orphans. The government decided to pay for the orphans' living expenses until they go to military school. The government only provided them with the bare minimum, enough for food expenses, and a 7 metre by 7 metre apartment room. This was only enough room for a small bathroom, a small kitchen, a small bed, a small tv, and a small desk in the corner for studying.

Moby Kane is an orphan living alone in an apartment provided by the government. He belongs to a family of ancient martial artists. Moby grew up training in his family dojo. The name of the dojo was "The Way of The Blissful Demon". Moby was seen as a martial arts prodigy as he was able to grasp complex moves only at the age of 6.

The dojo did not have many students so his family wasn't exactly the richest. They were saving up their money in order to buy an ability orb for their son to help him in life.

Even though his family was poor, Moby was happy with his living situation. He was always cheerful and never complained. He loved practicing martial arts every day and he was thankful for having a kind and loving family. It seemed like he had a bright future ahead of him.

But, when the war started 9 years ago, his parents were conscripted and never returned. 3 years into the war, a government official told him that both his parents died on the battlefield. At that moment, Moby's eyes became sad and lifeless. The news was too hard to bear for 10-year-old Moby. He simply could not accept his parent's death.

He had no other relatives that were alive so he had no one to turn to. He was completely alone in this world. He shut himself up in his room crying for weeks on end only coming out once a week to restock on food.

After a month of non-stop crying, the previously happy and cheerful Moby was now a husk of his former self.

He was still sitting in his bed with shallow eyes that seemed almost all devoid of life. He had contemplated suicide a few times but he could not go through with it every time he attempted. When he lifted his knife towards his throat trying to take his own life for the 10th time this week, he heard a knock coming from the door.

He put down his knife and lazily walked towards his door opening it. He looked at the man with his dead eyes and said with a sigh.

¨What do you want?¨

The man at the door was a tall man in a military uniform. Moby was only up to his waist and he did not care to look at his face. The man seemed unaffected by the sorry, miserable state the child in front of him was. He was really bored and tired from working all day to care.

" I am here to deliver something to you. Your parents told the military that if anything happened to them that we should give you this metal box. Sorry for the late delivery, we had so many things to deliver and yours was part of the final batch,"The man said in a cold tone handing a metal box to Moby.

Moby quickly took the box and slammed the door on the military officer without even flinching. He took the box in his room and looked at it with his eyes that were still devoid of life.

Then, out of nowhere, he felt tears coming down his face, this was the first time he had cried in over 2 weeks. His eyes have suddenly regained their previous bright green color. A rush of emotion suddenly entered his body from all the memories he had with his parents.

When he opened the box, he found a golden necklace with a Latin carving written on it,

"Memento Mori"

This translates to:

"Remember you will die"

That has always been his family motto.

When Moby wore the necklace, he felt all his fears and negative emotions go away like they were never there. His negative emotions flowed out of his body like a river calming his nerves and stealing his resolve to continue living. The process was almost unnatural.

On that day Moby made a promise to himself. He left the comfort of his house for the first time in weeks and punched towards the big blue sky with a smile making a vow.

"Mom, Dad, if you can hear me… don't worry about me. I'll be ok, I won't let this consume my life and I will live life to the fullest"

"I'm sure that's what you would have wanted me to do… right?"

When Moby returned to school. He was bullied and humiliated every day. His lack of ability made him the perfect target. For some reason, he would never fight back or get angry no matter how many times he gets beaten. He always stayed positive no matter the situation. Even during the most brutal torture and manipulations he had gone through.

Due to Moby's harsh martial arts training that he does every day, he was much stronger than the average non-ability user. However, that doesn't mean much. Even a level 1 ability user with little training would be able to defeat him.

Rumors have spread about him throughout his entire school, about a boy who will stay positive no matter what he goes through.

Many people tried to debunk the theory to prove he can have negative emotions by torturing him until he breaks. But, no one has yet to crack him which frustrated many students to no end.

Ever since he got his necklace, he never felt any sadness, anger, or fear. It was like he was mentally unable to have those emotions. He only felt positive emotions. He always believed people's words thinking they were always honest. It was like the thought that people could lie never even crossed his mind. The only exceptions are when it comes to the matter of his necklace. Then, you could see small hints of negative emotions boil up inside him. It was really unnatural, almost like there was a greater power in play.

******************

Present-day

Sunday, September 4th, 2130

Moby has just turned 16 this year. This means that he is now required to attend military school. The first day of military school begins tomorrow.

Throughout the years, Moby has yet to lose his positive attitude.

He has been training very severely during the summer in preparation for it. Through his intensive training, he managed to learn 1 of his family's secret techniques. This is a very big achievement. To put this into perspective, Moby training his entire life was only able to learn only 1 secret technique. But only during the summer, he managed to learn 1 more. This is remarkable growth. By learning these moves, Moby is now confident that he can go head to head with a power 1 ability user while only 4 months ago he would have lost without a doubt.

Moby's family martial arts taught the manipulation of an energy called "Demon Energy", in order to perform various techniques. These techniques are by no means an ability or an ability substitute as they are far weaker.

His current moves are the follows.

< Demon Slash >

A technique that gathers one's demon energy into their sword and unleashes a powerful downward slash dealing immense damage.

Consumes high stamina and energy

< Demon Flash >

A technique that gathers one's demon energy in their legs to perform a short powerful step enabling the user to do a short 1-meter dash at immense speed. Can be chained and performed multiple times in succession.

Consumes medium stamina and energy

These techniques require a lot of stamina and energy so they cannot be spammed. This means that Moby must be mindful when to use them in a fight in order to not overexert himself.

After Moby finished packing his bags, he decided to go to sleep early in order to wake up refreshed and on time for military school the next day. He threw himself on his bed like a child and started staring at the ceiling while holding his necklace in hand. He couldn't help but smile and feel excited for tomorrow. His eyes started to slowly close and he slept the whole night smiling like a baby.

**********

The next morning,

Moby woke up feeling rejuvenated after having a good night's sleep. He slept for over 9 hours. This was more than he had ever slept in months.

A soldier from the military would come to take him to military school at 9:30 so he had an hour to prepare himself.

The government always sends 1 military personnel to escort each orphan to military school. They only recently made this rule because many orphans would usually try to avoid going to military school and run away. The soldiers' job is just to safely escort them to military school. If the orphan was not home, then their job would change to tracking them down and making them go by force

Moby just about had enough time to do his morning routine. He had breakfast brushed his teeth, did 100 push-ups,100 sit-ups, and 100 squats before practicing his martial arts techniques. After he finished practicing he noticed the time was 9:15. This gave him just enough time to take a shower. He got out of the shower at 9:25.

He wore his usual clothes, put on his parent's necklace, grabbed his bags, and patiently waited on his bed for the soldier to come. Not too long after, he heard a knock on the door.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

And then a voice came from the door.

"Moby Kane, this is Private Harry Moris from the country Z military force. I am here to escort you to military school"

As soon as Moby heard the Soldier's voice, he rushed over to open the door. As the door slowly opened, he greeted the soldier with a smile as he cheerfully said

"Please lead the way sir, I'll be in your care"