002. Engrassia.

As Minato plummeted to his death, he noticed a bright light that almost looked like a flashlight, but then it got bigger and brighter until it was big enough to fit a grown adult. The light was bright– brighter than anything Minato had ever seen before– and he had to close his eyes to avoid being blinded by it.

For a brief moment, he noticed that he had stopped falling. It felt like he was frozen in mid air, but it only last a second, no, it was more like half a second. The light began to move in a spiral and Minato was sucked up into it.

The second his body entered the light, he felt a burning sensation but that only lasted a second before it stopped. It felt like his body was moving in different directions at the same time, filling him with an immense sense of nausea.

He couldn't see anything but white light for about ten seconds then all of a sudden, he felt himself on a hard surface. "Ugh, what the hell was that?" He ran his hands through his hair, trying to make sense of what he had just experienced.

"Welcome, our newest hero."

Minato rose to his knees, then slowly to his feet, his eyes wandering around the strange and alarmingly unfamiliar surrounding he found himself in.

"Welcome! You all are our esteemed guest, and the great kingdom of Engrassia is honored to have you here with us."

The person who spoke was a tall, skinny man in a white robe. He was completely bald and he had a tattoo at the side of his head down to his face. Minato wasn't sure but it looked like an owl or maybe just a bird.

'What on earth is going on? Wait, he said you all, meaning its not just me.'

Minato quickly turned and was surprised to find other normally dressed people standing behind him.

"I understand you all must have questions, and I will be more than willing to give the answers you seek." The bald man said again.

"Why are we here?" A cool voice asked, causing Minato to look back again.

The guy who spoke walked out from the midst of the others, moving to stand just a few feet away from Minato. He stood tall with both hands in his pockets, giving him a relaxed look. His messy bed hair and lazy expression gave off the appearance of someone who was chill to the bone.

'Who is this guy? And why doesn't he even look worried at all?'

"I know you must have your reasons but where I'm from, taking people hostage without their consent is a crime." He continued, each word rolling off his tongue smoothly. He wasn't frowning and his voice was very calm but there was something intimidating about him.

"Relax, young hero. Like I said earlier, I will give the answers you seek.

First, you have all been summoned to the kingdom of Engrassia, and your purpose is to defeat Villa, the overlord of darkness, and restore peace to our beloved home."

"Okay, and what do we get fron this?"

Minato's head immediately turned to the guy next to him when he heard that.

'That's it? He isn't even gonna argue? Who on earth accepts an explanation like hat? And more importantly, why isn't anyone else saying anything?!'

He didn't understand what was going on. In all his years of studying, Minato had never heard of a town, city or county called Engrassia. Then the way the bald man was dressed, the unfamiliar decor of the large room they were in, none of it made sense to him.

"Just go with it, I'll explain later." The cool guy said, his bright blue eyes lingering on Minato's for a while before he looked away.

"Now, before I tell you about your rewards, let me say this. Defeating the overlord isn't going to be an easy feat to accomplish. He is a dreadful man who emerged from the very depths of hell. He has more power than any of you here could ever imagine, and what's worse, he has been able to gather a rather large amount of minions.

Not just humans who have pledged their souls to darkness but monsters too. Demons, magic beasts, creatures that have only one goal, to kill.

We have formed a party of our best warriors to fight off the threats to our kingdom, but it isn't enough.

The kingdom of Engrassia isn't the only place facing this great danger, the valley consists of seven different kingdoms and unfortunately, they all face the same danger."

According to the bald man, the world was nothing but a wide field of nothingness. Then the eight primordial gods came into existence. Each of them wanted a territory to rule over, so they created seven kingdoms.

The god of fire created the kingdom of Pyrefinia, the fiery land where volcanoes shaped the destiny, and ash painted the horizon.

The god of the wind created the kingdom of Eclipsia, the land where light and darkness danced in a perpetual waltz.

The goddess of light created the kingdom of Luminous, a radiant land where every plant and creature emitted a gentle glow.

The god of the earth created the kingdom of Alluvia, a land where every whisper, breeze and rustle was a part of a grand symphony.

The goddess of nature created the kingdom of Neronia, a land filled with enchanted woods and magical beasts.

The god of the sea created Frostinia, a frostbitten territory that was said to guard the secrets of eternal winter.

The god of war created the kingdom of Engrassia, a land of boldness and bravery.

Then finally, there was the god of gods. He was said to rule over the seven Primordial gods as the ultimate god.

Then, from the depths of hell itself came a presence known as Villa, the overlord of darkness. His goal was to wreck havoc on the world created by the gods and to rule over the ruins as the one true god. He gathered a massive force of evil monsters and soldiers, causing mayhem in every kingdom.

The gods joined forces to save their respective kingdoms from doom, and after ten long years, the battle was over.

The ultimate god saw that even after Villa had been defeated, his darkness still lingered, threatening the peace of the kingdoms once more. And so, he made the ultimate sacrifice.

Putting himself to eternal rest, while sharing his powers with the seven Primordials, he created a barrier to protect all the kingdoms from any harm.

Seeing that all was well in their lands, the seven Primordials no longer felt the need to remain in the world of mortals, and so they ascended to the heavens. But not after leaving each kingdom with a final gift. The power of Summons.

Once in every hundred years, each kingdom was allowed to summon a special hero from another world to help them in their time of need. These heroes were believed to be the reincarnations of the seven Primordials.

The last heroes defeated the overlord of their time, restored balance to the Golden ark valley and returned to their worlds. Now, a hundred years had passed, and Villa had been reborn again. That was why the presence of the seven Primordial heroes were needed.

"All that is fine and good," the cool guy said after listening to the bald man's explanation. "... but if there are seven Primordials, why did you summon eight of us?"

Following his words, Minato proceeded to count the people in the room and sure enough, they were eight of them. Could they have summoned an extra by accident?

"I see, you are right young hero. This is strange. Nothing like this has ever happened before." The bald man looked perplexed. "Come forward, young heroes. It appears there is an unwanted among us."

When he said that, Minato could hear the surprised gasp from multiple people, but he couldn't see anyone.

"Bato Sama, your appraisal skill is needed."

When the bald man said that, another man appeared out of nowhere, seemingly forming out of the shadows. "Hmm…" he stared intently at all the summoned for a while before he spoke up. "The last one to arrive seems to be the unwanted." He declared, a hard glare directed at Minato.

"I am??"