Revenge

In a dilapidated building, found in the slums where the poor scramble daily to ease the suffering of their miserable existences, a teenage boy lay on a mattress as he gazed towards the ceiling with a listless expression on his face.

As he recalled something he shouldn't, a deep look of sorrow and pain appeared briefly in his eyes before he suppressed it quickly, replacing it with a dangerously large amount of hate which was felt sincerely from the bottom of his heart.

The teenage boy had deep black hair with golden eyes which enchanted countless girls, causing them to swoon over him, much to the dismay of other males.

Well, that was before 'that' incident happened.

Now he was only a pitiful dreg of society, trying to ensure he survives the next day.

Stealing and picking remains of food from the trash to quell the hunger pangs assaulting him incessantly were just some of the hardships he faced.

Getting up from the mattress, the boy's height was fully revealed, showing off an impressive height of 6 ft 3 inches for a teenager.

He wore tattered clothing, consisting of trousers with holes scattered occasionally through the fabric, revealing pieces of bare skin, and a tattered black compression vest which was stretched thinly, desperately trying to cover his whole upper body.

The boy's name was Evan and the current him was a product of what you may call the boundless greed of humans and the lack of disregard for the consequences of one's actions, as long as it doesn't affect them negatively.

Although he looked like a beggar with his dirty black hair and horrifying smell of sweat and odour, which hadn't been cleaned in ages, Evan didn't let his poor financial situation make him think this was the end of the world.

There were many worse things other than living like a beggar, including death.

These things came in the form of monsters and zombies which prowled amidst the lands outside the cities in search of some prey.

Occasionally a monster or zombie would try infiltrating these cities after hunger clouded their innate instinct of fear, only to be dealt with swiftly.

These monsters and zombies were a result of a red beam of light that suddenly descended on earth 50 years ago.

Known as 'The collision', it caused animals which were once harmless to mutate into terrifying monsters capable of destroying entire groups of human warriors.

In addition, humans who were unable to handle the sudden influx of cosmic energy from the red beam mutated into mindless zombies, losing their intelligence and becoming disgusting creatures which only knew how to growl like a beast.

Because of this cosmic wave, 80% of the human population was killed or were infected and became zombies in the first few days after the red beam descended on earth.

Faced with such a terrifying onslaught, the military desperately tried fighting back with guns and nuclear bombs, unfortunately, to realise to their horror that it was barely effective.

Luckily, after making this dreadful discovery, cold weapons were used and to their joy they found that the effectiveness in killing these monsters increased, causing humans to have a spark of hope to light up at weathering this crisis.

Unfortunately, that spark was extinguished a few years later by the arrival of alpha-level beasts.

A new wave of slaughter and chaos ensued as cities, countries and continents were lost as humans were pushed back to their final stronghold against these terrifying creatures.

Despair was prevalent, with many believing that the end was nigh, signifying the end of humans once and for all.

Fortunately, just as the humans were about to be wiped out, 5 monarchs rose in power after using the mythical energy called mana.

Using the power of mana, the 5 monarchs repelled countless monsters in a battle which lasted for days as they regained the territory where the 3 remaining cities on Earth would be made.

Revered by all humans as the saviours of humans, the 5 monarchs became the dreams of countless people as they gave their families an extremely high status known as the 5 supreme families.

The Hale family was one of the 5 supreme families famed for their excellent family martial art which was available only to the core members of the family.

Causing those lucky enough to be born into that family to be the object of envy and jealousy of others.

This martial art even helped to create a monarch, the ancestor of the Hale family, Martial King.

Stopping his thoughts from wandering, Evan felt that if he continued thinking about the current topic at hand, painful memories would resurface, which were buried deep within his heart, not allowing any room for them to fester for fear of relapsing into another cycle of depression.

Shaking his head to get rid of his thoughts, a sigh was released from his mouth as the cramped house was reflected in his golden pupils.

The run-down house only contained a single room which only had space for a single mattress, along with a couple of drawers which were left behind by the previous owner.

At the far end of the room was a door which led to a small extension where a toilet was situated.

Overall, the room was extremely shabby, with many of the contents inside deteriorating to the degree where they were only barely usable before they completely broke down.

Inhaling lightly, Evan walked forwards slowly as the cold touch of the wood seeped into the soles of his feet, momentarily chilling him.

The awful smell that permeated the room didn't faze him, as his nose was already accustomed to the scent.

Making his way toward the drawer next to the wall on the right-hand side, Evan moved his hand forward as he opened the drawer at the bottom of the cabinet.

A thick book with a black and red cover made its way into his vision as he carefully picked it up and closed the drawer.

As he looked at the book covered in leather, Evan saw countless memories flash by as he gritted his teeth in rage and despair.

Every time he remembered what happened back then, his rage would reach towering levels greater than the last.

That detestable face that he loathed from the very depths of his being appeared in his memories.

That face haunted him in his dreams, constantly reminding him of his failure and past mistakes.

This resulted in him being plagued by rage and thoughts of destruction for quite a while until a cold, calm rage simmered quietly beneath his glacial exterior, ready to erupt within seconds.

Now a year later, after that fateful incident which resulted in him losing everything close to him, Evan's determination for strength skyrocketed to pay back those who harmed his family and caused him to end up in such a pitiful state.

The key to all his plans of revenge and redemption lay in the form of the black and red book that was nestled in both his palms.

It will allow him to gain enough strength to place all those who wronged him beneath his feet.

This was the confidence he had in his family's martial art—The Demon reaper art.

Focusing on tempering every part of the body with mana to make each part equal, allowing for greater strength to erupt when all the sums are combined as a whole.

Once grasped at a proficient enough level, it will allow the user to have greater regeneration and an increased boost to strength, agility and endurance.

There are five stages to the art. The first stage tempers the organ systems, the second stage is where the organs themselves are tempered.

The third stage focuses on tempering the tissues in the body, the fourth stage focuses on the cellular level, and the last stage is for tempering the mind.

Evan has only reached the first stage of the Demon Reaper art with the help of his parents a few years back.

After reaching the first stage in the demon reaper art, it allowed Evan to break through and become a rank 1 warrior.

That's why even after living in such horrible conditions, his body has not deteriorated to a critical stage where he would be extremely thin and his bones being extremely brittle where the slightest touch could break them.

Although he was on the thinner side from his malnourished lifestyle, his strength was not to be underestimated.

Even though he was in the lowest rank, Evan's body has been tempered by mana, making him have strength slightly less than what a peak Olympic athlete's body strength could exert.

Now using the Demon reaper art, Evan swore to get revenge on those who betrayed him a year ago and the fastest way to gain strength was by putting his life on the line.

"I need to gain strength quickly, enough to pay back those sons of bitches who dared lay a hand on my family just because they couldn't contain their greed!"