THE AWAKENING

Leon lay powerless against his mother, unable to keep her from capturing his sister. He could feel his body being unable to resist the immense power.

He looked up and saw a crying Mia looking at her brother, unable to resist her sobs. He tried to raise his hands and reach her. She did the same, crawling towards him. But Lily appeared behind her, grabbed the hairs, and pulled her.

Mia cried in pain as she tried to free herself, but she was too weak to resist. Leon tried his best to get up, but Lily kicked him again, and she pulled Mia up in it.

"See how weak you are. You couldn't even save your own sister. Pathetic as you are, you should just kill yourself." Lily said with a mocking smile on his face.

All Leon was feeling was fear and anger. He was scared that Lily would hurt Mia. He couldn't get his body up, but he tried his hardest. Lily looked at him with disgust and then she grabbed Mia by the neck.

"You know that disobedient children are supposed to be disciplined properly." Lily grabbed at Mia's neck with her right hand and began squeezing it tightly. She did that while looking at Leon with a smile.

Leon could see Mia struggling for breath. He gritted his teeth and rose to leap at her, but his body gave up.

"Save me broo..there." Mia's eyes were bulging out with veins popping inside. She couldn't bear it and soon enough, gave up the struggle. her hands fell downward as her body went till.

"nooooo..." Leon cried out loud.

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Leon's body was jerked up, as he rose from the scariest dream he had experienced until now. He felt his breathing rush up and his heartbeat breaking the charts. The nightmare was too horrible to forget.

He clenched his fist and hit the side of his bed. Even after 3 long years of intense training day and night, he still couldn't compete physically with Lily Williams, much less with her. true power. He clenched his chest and a line of tears dropped from his eyes.

"I am sorry Mia." He repented his inability to protect her from Lily.

"Only if I had enough power." He looked at the room ceiling, contemplating the situation fate had pushed him into. After a long period of sobbing, he could see the sun climbing out of the mountains and shining brightly.

Leon realized that regretting his powerlessness wasn't going to help his situation. He needed to become a powerful hunter if he wanted to save his sister. He tried to move his body, fearing that he might be injured and incapable of attending the awakening ceremony.

To his surprise though, he was wrapped up in bandages. Someone had applied healing ointment and fed him the healing portion since he found his body's p[ower to have increased more than before.

"I will give you a chance. Become an S-ranked hunter and snatch her from me." Those words rang in Leon's mind.

"I promise I will do my best." He got up and washed, before getting ready for the ceremony. The time had arrived and he went out of the house, just to see Liam waiting for him at the gate.

"Are you ready to go and have a bright future with me?" Liam asked.

'Let's go." Leon smiled. He didn't want to alert Liam regarding the incident and acted normal. The two of them left for the university

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Awakening was a special process that was formulated by the collaboration of hunters and scientists who had researched the wormholes and the energy of the earth for many years. The reason for this ceremony's requirement was the continuous overflow from the dungeons.

It was 20 years after the opening of the dungeons that many hunters came into existence, and hunting was already the top profession by that time. Even when countries had massive incubation of new hunters, the number of dungeons was just too large. They were popping up left and right, and the hunters couldn't keep up with the increasing numbers.

Dungeons were graded just like the hunters in terms of the power radiated from them into the earth's environment. Hunters were the creators of this scale and soon enough they understood that overflow meant a different duration of time for different dungeons.

Some dungeons would overflow right after they came into existence and the loss of life was too huge. The governments weren't able to regulate the ever-increasing numbers of dungeons and hence hunters began to look for alternatives.

Some of the top-ranked hunters decided to overwork themselves and clear as many dungeons as possible, but who could compete with nature. It was soon branded a practical failure. the only other alternative which the hunters could think of was by competing with numbers.

As years went by, humans began to understand the process which resulted in the creation of new hunters. The energy that mutated their genes was ultimately the same energy that was pouring out of the wormholes. It is safe to say that the dungeons are the reason hunters even came into existence.

Soon enough, with the help of loots and resources from the dungeons and increasing quality of technology, humans were able to harness the energy and carry out artificial awakening. What scientists suspected was the fact that this process resulted in weaker hunters, but the probability, power, and numbers were the same as natural ones.

As research continued, it soon became a part of the curriculum. People managed to find the perfect age when the awakening ceremony was most effective in humans and artificial awakening became the new trend. Hunters began to pop out to students and soon enough the number was able to tackle the ever-growing number of dungeons.

This process began to be known as the 'Awakening Ceremony'. It was a process that began to determine the fate of humans in the current world.

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"All the students are requested to gather for the awakening ceremony. Those eligible will form a line and go through the process one by one. The school wishes you the very best.

Leon and Liam had just entered the school gates when they heard the announcement and rushed towards the center.