They say the creation of the world began with an explosion that gave birth to everything that exists, including the human race itself.
Years ago, we did not know them, yet it was because of us that they came. Through our sins, we drew their hunger and wrath upon humanity.
The two races that had once existed separately from mankind, races that would later become known as the Absolute Races of this world, created a point of war within creation itself.
The planet Earth, once beautiful and full of life, came to know the scars and wounds of war. And I would have to crawl through that stain, a stain I did not create. It was in that bloodstain that I was born.
On the night of November 9th, 2000, in the twenty-first century, it was supposed to be a happy moment. My happy moment. I went to bed excited, waiting to wake up with my parents a few hours later when it would finally be my birthday. The sun was supposed to rise with a wide smile across my family's faces.
Ever since I was born, my parents had been trying to leave the Order behind. My father's name was Carlos Rodrigues. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and scars that, in my eyes, made him a great soldier.
My mother's name was Helyara Sanchez. She was also a soldier, though she did not serve the Order directly like my father did. Instead, she served the city of Kirden, where the strongest and most prepared base of the Order was located within our country.
In this world, there is also a power that humanity awakened on the day the first Point opened and connected Earth to them. This power allows certain humans to manipulate the energy of their own souls in order to become stronger. We call this power Righteous Wrath.
My father possessed Righteous Wrath at the Light Yellow Stage.
My mother possessed Righteous Wrath at the Dark White Stage.
The three of us lived in a small remote community, trying to stay as far away as possible from the war and from the Order. It was there that my parents had me and raised me, believing they were beyond the eyes and blades of war.
At that time, several years had already passed since my parents had left the Order. They never talked about it, so I cannot say exactly why. But around the time I began growing in my mother's womb, something happened between them and the Order. Time passed, I was born, and I grew up like a normal child. Maybe because I was raised almost completely isolated from the world, I never realized a war was taking place on this planet.
My parents never truly taught me how to fight, though I could throw a decent punch. Back then, I couldn't even hold a sword. They were far too heavy for me, and my father would always laugh and tell me it wasn't time yet for me to hold something so heavy in my hands.
I suppose you could say I was happy.
At least until the night of November 9th, 2000.
That was when two Points opened simultaneously only a few kilometers from where we lived.
The sky and the earth cracked apart, revealing openings so deep that they seemed to have spent eternity struggling to connect themselves to our reality.
The Point that opened in the earth was dark and scorching hot. If viewed from above, crimson flames could sometimes be seen far below its depths, flames so red that the very air seemed to burn around them. It was as though those fires had no need for oxygen to sustain themselves.
The Point that opened in the sky, however, was surrounded by stars and galaxies. Deep within it shone an immense white light that many would say rivaled the sun itself. Yet this light was different. It carried such a cold breeze that birds flying too close had their feathers and flesh replaced by ice.
From that celestial Point emerged something gigantic and monstrous, a being whose appearance was nearly impossible to describe with words. Its skin was silver-white, and when it fully emerged, it plummeted toward Earth.
Its impact shook the ground like a small earthquake.
Only those living near the community where I grew up could truly feel it.
Buildings and homes collapsed beneath the tremor. Many died under the falling rubble alone.
And as if that were not enough, before the night sky could suffer yet another wound, an angel emerged from the Point alongside that creature.
The angel's skin was also silver-white. It was thin, almost frail in appearance, lacking wings and even a face. Instead, where its face should have been, there was only a single right eye.
Its eye was golden, surrounded by tiny shining white stars orbiting its iris.
Its hands ended in claw-like fingers.
While the angel slowly descended from the sky, the other creature finally rose from the crater it had created and began walking toward us.
Meanwhile, on the ground, something was climbing from the second Point.
A massive crimson hand, appearing as though it were made of burning exposed flesh, gripped the edge of the opening and charred the earth beneath it.
When it pulled itself upward, it released a roar that sounded like a thousand lions bellowing at once.
The sound was so loud and so hot that nearby vegetation burst into flames, and the fire began spreading toward the community.
At the time, I did not know it, but that crimson-skinned monstrosity was a Greater Demonic Beast (G.D.B.).
After it emerged, the Point within the earth closed, leaving behind only an enormous crack.
My family and I barely survived the earthquake caused by the fall of the Greater Angelic Beast (G.A.B.).
My father and mother suffered only minor injuries because the moment they sensed the creatures' presence, they rushed to protect me, covering their bodies with their Righteous Wrath.
As a result, I escaped with nothing more than a blow to the head from a piece of our collapsing wall.
"Are you alright, Neale?" Helyara Sanchez asked.
"Mom... I'm okay. Just a little dizzy." Neale replied.
"We need to get out of here now. The house could collapse completely." Carlos Rodrigues said.
My father managed to grab his sword before the section of the house outside my bedroom finally caved in.
When we climbed out through my window, we could see flames already consuming some of the nearby homes.
Everything was chaos.
The survivors did not know whether to help one another or simply flee.
That confusion drew the creatures' attention.
They noticed people trying to escape.
Both beasts leaped high into the air toward us.
Their second impact came among the houses and the people themselves.
The angel reached the center of the community before either beast.
It had run there.
The creatures were devouring people amidst the shattered remains of what had once been their homes while advancing toward one another.
The Greater Angelic Beast reached us first, directed by the angel standing in the center of the community.
The angel issued commands through strange hand gestures.
Terror consumed me.
My mother ran while holding me tightly, trying to shield me from the flames beneath her overcoat.
When we turned down a side street to escape the crowd, the angel suddenly appeared before us.
With a single strike, it hurled my father into one of the burning, ruined buildings.
My mother reacted instantly.
Thousands of dark-white particles of Righteous Wrath ignited around her body as she prepared to fight.
Then my father burst back out of the building like a blur of motion, surrounded by light-yellow particles.
His entire body was covered in Righteous Wrath.
The energy was so intense that even his sword overflowed with it.
In that brief moment when he cleared the angel from our path, he ordered us to run.
Fast.
Even with my mother's overcoat draped over my head, obscuring much of my vision, I still saw my father one last time.
His back looked broad and radiant beneath the glow of his Righteous Wrath.
We ran in the opposite direction while he remained behind in that alley, fighting the angel.
My mother and I could already see the exit of the community.
Then the Greater Demonic Beast ran out of humans to devour.
It noticed us.
We never saw it approaching.
When we finally looked up, it was already upon us.
The only thing my mother managed to do was shove me away.
The creature's body crushed her legs beneath its weight.
Everything happened so quickly.
Yet I saw it all in slow motion.
The ground became soaked with her blood.
Her screams filled the air around me.
Then came the last words she managed to say before the beast began devouring her.
"Run... t-to... Kirden..." Helyara Sanchez.
I do not know what took hold of me in that moment.
But I clung to those words.
And to the overcoat she left behind.
Then I ran.
I was completely weak.
Completely powerless.
I ran as fast as my legs would carry me.
By some cruel twist of fortune, the Greater Angelic Beast and the Greater Demonic Beast began fighting each other while everything around them turned to ash.
That was when I realized I was the protagonist of the cruelest joke this world had ever told.
Because on that exact day...
November 10th, 2000, in the twenty-first century...
It was my sixteenth birthday.
And my birthday gift was watching my parents die while the cruelest luck imaginable allowed me to survive.
When I finally stopped running and tried to understand what had happened, I collapsed.
Hatred.
Grief.
Everything I had unconsciously locked away inside my chest burst free.
I cursed the Absolute Races of this world.
I wanted to tear them apart with my own hands.
And the only thought echoing through my mind was:
"November 10th... They died on November 10th."
That was all I could think as my body trembled uncontrollably.
And that was my first Point of War.