Heavens Wrath is in my Blood

Awakening the Blood

'Bang!'

A loud metalic thud rang out down the hallway of the school, a skinny boy of around 17 was being shoved against his locker yet again by the school bullies.

No one knew exactly what made them target him so often but no one really cared either since he had no family, and most likely no potential. The thing that pissed these bullies off the most was probably that even without a powerful backing this particular victim of theirs consistently scored better then they did in every category aside from physical. So they ganged up on him to vent their frustrations.

"Who do you think you are Joseph!" cried one of the bullies, spit flying from his mouth as he pinned Joseph against the lockers. "What makes you think you can look down on me?! You think your better than me?! Your nothing but trash!"

Joseph was used to this treatment so he didn't bother with it all that much, he couldnt even begin to fathom what he had done to make them think that. But unreasonable people will find an excuse to vent on anyone they think is less than them, so he just figured it was par for the course. 

Joseph looked calmly back into the eyes of the bully who's name was Joshua, simply staring at him and waiting for the tantrum to be over.

This attitude infuriated Joshua and he pulled his arm back to swing at Joseph when a teacher rounded the corner.

"What's going on here!" The teacher shouted, haulting Joshua's fist mid swing. "I think you both should be getting to class yes? the ceremony is about to begin."

Joshua stared daggers at the teacher before letting Joseph go. "Your lucky today trash, but if I were you I wouldn't even come to the awakening ceremony. You've got no chance of getting anything good anyway." After he said this he stormed off letting Joseph stand up and brush the dust off of himself.

Joseph was average height standing 175cm and had a skinny build. You could tell he worked out but it seemed as though his body was averse to puting on weight in any measurable sense. He had medium length brown hair and deep blue eyes, his angled mouth and strong jaw line made him above average in looks, but his weak looking body detracted from his attractiveness. Not to mention the fact that he was an orphan living on government subsidies. 

No one expected anything of him, as it was a well established rule that those with strong parents have a better chance of awakening a good blessing. So he, through no fault of his own, was labeled a waste simply because no one knew who his family was. 

He made it back to class just before the bell rang and he sat back in his seat at the left side of the third row next to the window. The teacher came in just a moment later and began going over the history of the demon war. Joseph was always facinated by it so he listend attentively while others simply nodded off as they had heard this all before.

"The world had been at peace for decades following the end of the great war. Prosperity and peace reigned, technology advanced well beyond anyones dreams and for all alive it seemed as though paradise had come.

That all changed one day when the sky cracked open, and large pillars of black obsidian fell and pierced into the earth. These pillars then opened a gateway into a world of fire and blood, as devils and demons flooded the world."

This was the part that always caught Josephs attention the most. He felt somehow compeled that he was supposed to fix this but had no idea how he would even start. To fight against the demons he needed power, and that was something he sorely lacked. 

Continuing his lecture the teacher's voice began to escalate as he tried to drive home the importance of the information he was sharing.

"Humanity was on the brink of destruction only days after the invasion when a group of humans stood to face them, weilding powers beyond dreams. They managed to fight back against the enless hords and reclaim a part of the earth. 

It has been nearly 100 years since then, and we have established the kingdom of humanity within the defence zone, maintaining something of a stalemate for the last half a century. It is because of these powers, these blessings, that humanity was given that we are even alive today. 

And every human, once they reach the age of 17, can undergo the awakening to receive their own blessing, and territory and join the effort to rid our world of the demons once and for all."

Joseph wondered if that would be enough. Would chasing them out of their world end anything, or was there something more going on. He didn't know, and had no way of finding out so he simply decided to do the best he could with whatever he was given.

"Alright class as you know blessing's are divided into grades based upon relative power and usefulness. They range from SSS-F and appear in the form of active or passive abilities, bloodlines, transformation abilities, and more. Also once your blessing is received the world system will grant you your first territory, which you will be responsible for growing and defending. 

The council of the blessed would like me to remind you that there is no such thing as a useless blessing. Only useless people. So I would strongly advise you to make the best of what your given, as it is only through of the hard work of everyone together that we can guarente our survival."

Joseph once again reafirmed his determination to do all he could, he didn't care what his blessing was he just wanted to be useful, and gain just a bit of recognition for his service. He knew that most of his classmates would never accept him so he wasn't worried about that. He just wondered if someone out there who didn't know him would appreciate his help, but he doubted it. This world he was living in was dog eat dog, with no strength and no backing...he was useless.

"Okay class!" Joseph's thoughts were interupted by the teacher's shout, "We will be heading down to the auditorium for the awakening ceremony, please fall in line and we will go."

Joseph could feel his heart beat faster as his excitement spiked. "Finally!" he srceamed internally, "I won't have to be bullied anymore! I don't need something super strong, just enough to make others leave me alone and help out is fine."

It was a short 5 minute walk from his classroom to the auditorium where the ceremony was being held. It was a large open space with a stage in the center surounded on all sides by raised seats like a sports arena. This was done to give everyone a good line of sight to the people being blessed as sometimes with strong blessings cool phenomena came with it.

The last one was about 10 years ago, and since then no one had really shaken the stage. There were some small occurences but nothing crazy, and the teachers and principle were hopeing that today was the day that changed. 

Once everyone arrived and was seated the principle stood up and spoke to everyone, "Welcome students! to the 41st annual awakening ceremony!" A loud chear erupted from the studend body, shaking the auditorium. "As you know our school was one of the first built after the establishment of the defence line, and we have provided humanity with some of its greatest champions since then. We are proud of our heritage, and hope that among those assembled hear today another champion may rise and help humanity reclaim what is rightfully ours!!" 

Another round of thunderous applause and cheers rose from the crowd as they could all feel their blood begin to boil at the thought of being the next champion. Those who became champions lived like true kings, anything they could ever want was provided to them, their territories and blessings were powerful and they could do pretty much whatever they wanted as long as they continued to defend the border.

"Now please remember that after receiveing your blessing you will receive your first territory assignment. We don't know how those assignments are given only that the world system, who gave us the blessings, grant each a territory that they are responsible for defending. 

You may think of it as some sort of survival game if that makes it easier for you, but know that your success or failure affects the whole of humanity. Succeed and reclaim part of our world, fail and see our share of our homeland shrink."

These words immediately dampened the mood, as everyone began to feel the weight of their responsibilities. 

"Now without further adu, let us begin!" Another cheer rose up dispersing the sour mood, and the names of the students began to be read. As each name was read the student would come up to the stage and place their palm upon the large crystal ball that was in the center.

The name of the blessing would be shown to the individual and the crystal would change color depending on the grade of the blessing. Grey-F, Black-E, White-D, Yellow-C, Orange-B, Red-A, Pink-S, Purple-SS, Blue-SSS. for most blessings below C grade no natural phenomena would occur, but those B grade and up it was almost a guarentee. 

The names continued to be read most sitting at E-F grade, with a few D and 3 C grades so far, which the school was very happy about. There income depended upon the number of high grade students they produced so a good number of midgrade students guarenteed them a good amount of resources in the coming year.

Joseph was paying rapt attention waiting to hear his name when he heard, "Joshua Brontson! come to the stage please"

He wasn't exactly happy hearing his bully's name be called, but he still hoped he got something good. "We need all the help we can get." He thought to himself, it just wasn't worth damning humanity for his personal grudge.

Once Joshua got to stage he didn't hesitate to place his hand on the crystal which immediately started to change colors. Grey, black, white, yellow...it paused at yellow for a moment before a small swirl of fire could be seen gathering at Joshuas feet. The croud gasped as the color went from yellow to orange and the flames began swirling faster as though Joshua was the center of a small flame twister. It continued to become more intence until the crystals color changed once again becoming a bright ruby red at which point it was almost difficult to see joshua inside of the flame that surrounded him. 

The color of the crystal stayed bright for a few moments before it began to fade and with it the flames died down as well. Once it was over the whole auditorium burst into cheers, including the teachers.

"A ranked flame blessing!! HAHA! Its our schools great fortune to have produced such a star for humanity!" The principle couldn't help himself, and the rest of the teachers agreed with him. A grade blessings are very rare, only 1 in 100000, and the rewards the school would get when a student with A grade appeard are not small at all.

Joshua had a look of immense pride as he gazed at the crowd basking in their praise. His look said "I told you I was better than all of you, worship me!" Joseph just shook his head and clapped, he was happy that humanity had another strong defender, but was pretty dissapointed in Joshua's attitude.

"Do you really have to look down on everyone just because you happen to have a strong blessing?" It made no sense to him as his parents taught him that those with the greatest strength were responsible to help those who had none. And to not think himself better than anyone but to help where and when he could.

After the applause went on for a couple minutes Joshua returned to his seat still beaming with pride and arrogance when the principle started calling names again.

"Joseph Sanguis! please come to the stage." Joseph stood ramrod straight as he stiffly moved towards the stage. His heart was pounding so hard he thought it might explode, he didn't know what he would do if is blessing turned out to be F grade. While he understood the theory that there were no useless blessings, and he was determined to do the best he could with what he had, he couldn't help but hope to have something to match Joshua so that his bully might leave him alone.

Surprisingly Joshua didn't make a scean as Joseph traveled towards the stage, haveing a look of pure disdain on his face it was as if bothering with Joseph anymore was beneith him. He couldn't even fathom Joseph getting a blessing above E grade so why bother about it? they werent even in the same playing field anymore.

Joseph reached the crystal and hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath to stabalize his nerves he placed his hand upon the crystal and waited. The moments seemed to last forever when an astoundingly bright light erupted from the crystal shocking everyone who saw it.

The colors changed so fast it was almost impossible to see one before it became another, they flipped through grey, black, white, yellow, orange, red, pink...it was at this moment that a pair of huge blood red wings sprouted from Josephs back. They looked both beautiful and horrifying, the feathers appeared to be made from blood and an oppresive force spread out causing everyone to have difficulty breathing including Joshua.

It didn't end there as the color changed again going from pink to purple and once it did a crown appeard floating above Josephs head, it was circular, white, with four points at each cardinal direction the one in the center front was taller than the rest and had a red gem placed inside it. Once it appeared the preassure on everyone seemed to double and it was now hard to even stand in his presance. 

This went on for a few seconds until what everyone thought impossible happend, the color changed again...It went from deep purple to violent blue which shown so brightly it was like looking at a blue sun, and Josephs manifestation took it to a whole new level. 

A pure white armor seemingly made of bone materialized on his body, making him look like a true angel of blood. His hair had grown longer and turned white, and his eyes had shifted to a scarlet red with slits for pupils like a cats eye instead of round. He held a bone white sword in his right hand which gave off waves of killing intent so strong most of the students and even some teachers directly lost consiousness. 

As all this was happening Joseph's focus was on the name of his blessing which the crystal was showing him.

"Blessing Grade: SSS

Type: Bloodline

Name: Angel of Wrath and Blood"