1 Chapter 001 (Rewrite) - Beginnings

A man stands before a mass of black, contorting figures, a chorus of pained screams barraging his ears. In the entire area, a black aura covers everything from sight.

A sudden flow of energy rampages around the man, who suddenly erupts with wild blue light. With a slight lift of his legs, he shoots off the ground, piercing through the tempest of darkness, leaving a glorious trail of fluorescent blue light.

Despite the sudden burst of action, the man's expression remains unchanging. His eyes are dark and droopy. His shoulders remain tense, seemingly carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

The spirits begin to fester, letting off a hiss of pain as his overwhelming aura decimates them. A path is cleared through the darkness, but no one else follows through. No one else is able to.

Warning messages from his A.I. screech in his head as he pushes the limits of his powers, pumping out so much any reasonable man would see him as a lunatic.

One last push, and the man is in the very middle, the origin of all the suffering going on around him.

It all spawned from one figure, similar to the spirits, but with an evident deep power lingering within, something chaotic and uncontrollable.

But not even this being can stand the man's charge, as he pours all he has left into it. He manifests the deepest emotions in himself, and redirects it, letting everything he has left come out into one, final stand for humanity.

And it works.

With a soul-shaking scream of unbelievable pitch, the demonic being is no more, but not without a fight. As the very core of it's existence is destroyed, an small, pulsating orb appears. In a flash of deep crimson, it implodes, and the equivalent of a nuke is dropped, wiping out the man and all remaining spirits in the area.

The man, despite him facing what should be his last moments, feels no fear. Instead, a small, satisfied grin appears on his face as he ceases to be.

---

At first, that man was just a boy called Nathan, an orphaned child of two hunters, taken down by a powerful magical being resembling a demon. After that, a friend of his parents, who he called Uncle, took him in. Uncle was a military man who you found yourself subconsciously respecting. He would take Nathan and place him into harsh training, with strict expectations for his behavior, all to live up to his parent's legacy as an Esper.

Through all this, he did attend school, but the constant sitting and pointless tasks never worked with him, so he was seen as a problem child. However, due to his relatively low amount of ESP, he was perceived as nothing they couldn't handle. Aside from the training by his Uncle, the main thing that kept him going was something controllable, something he could rely on: his own power.

ESP.

The one ability given to humanity in its darkest hour. Around one hundred years had passed since the days of the 21st Century, when the world completely changed and hordes of monstrosities, near unkillable for the weaponry of those ages. All hope was lost, especially with the magic of the monsters, employing nature to bend to their will and destroy our armies. That was all until the first humans began to awaken their psychic potential, something long lost to humanity since the beginning of their evolution. By bending the outer world with the energy they held within, humanity stood a chance against the beasts.

Nathan found himself more and more focused on his powers, pondering just how he could fight despite his low levels of power. That was until he discovered just why he was so weak, or so everyone believed. For you see, all of his potential was being siphoned into an ability so powerful, that nobody could even imagine it. One of endless potential for growth, yet requiring the hardest requirements to wield.

He discovered his unique talent one day while in the military. It had been many years since schooling and despite his continued efforts he still remained rather average. On that day, he was supposed to be doing routine scouting of the perimeters between allied lands and land taken by the invading monsters when a group of wolf beasts surrounded him. With a savage growl, the head of the monsters leaps and tears his throat out.

He dies.

With a sudden lurch forward, he gets out of bed and claws at his throat. He was alive? But how? He prepares to go outside of his bunk, but the tapping of rain on glass halts him. Strange. Ever since a month ago, there had been no rain and even no signs of it coming. Feeling a strange premonition of sorts, he runs to check the date, and sure enough. He is back one month.

After further experimentation (namely, dying a fuck ton) he manages to discover one little tidbit that goes on to allow him to become the most powerful Esper. His maximum ESP reserves did not reset along with time. By repeatedly dying and practicing he managed to increase his power to several times the most powerful humans, which was well worth the numerous painful deaths to get to that point.

Of course, other people began to notice his power as well, leading to swift promotions straight into the front lines, however, not a single thing could threaten him as he had spent many years dying and increasing his power. He began to seek any kind of feeling in a fight, however it is hard to fear a fight when you can send hundreds of miles around you and clear entire battlefields in a single blast. So he decided to take the fight straight to the enemy, deserting his post and flying at ridiculous speeds to the heart of the invasion, and, as you have seen, taking out the most powerful being, the heart of all the monsters and ending the invasion, losing his life in the process.

Despite his power, even he could not survive the blast from the demon at such close ranges, and no scraps of his existence could be found anywhere near the battle. Once confirmed dead, people mourned for him, and many regretted never getting closer to the man who saved all of them.

Well, in the end, Nathan was still dead. Well, at least that Nathan. For no matter what, it seems it was his very nature to stay alive against the odds, so there was no way in hell he would be dead for long.