1 Prologue – Hope and Despair

It was the year 20XX, a new year and a new chapter in everyone's life that was about to start.

Everything was going well, it was supposed to be a new year that brings new resolutions, well… most resolutions are broken in the first few days but essentially, a new year brings a new era of sorts.

A new year brings the end of the past and the opening of new beginnings, and it also brings a sense of hope that everything will become better, as if all of the people's problems will just magically go away with the appearance of a new year.

But this time, it might as well be insurmountable to any tragedies that happened in all of human history.

Instead of an era of hopes and dreams, it was a new era of death, destruction, and tragedies as a phenomenon that redefined the whole world appeared called "Gifts".

It's more of a propaganda of sorts to make people feel good about themselves but basically, it's fucking superpowers.

At the brink of New Year's Eve, the moment the clock hit down to zero, a weird wave of unknown energy spread throughout the whole world that came out of nowhere, the source still being unknown as people started to black out left and right as nearly 95% percent of the whole population fell unconscious.

At the start, those who were awake felt like they were graced by the Gods but in an ironic twist, those who stayed conscious were instead cursed by the universe as those 5% was those who had a 0% chance to receive a gift.

Soon, one by one, those who fell unconscious woke up without fail as powers started to appear on those who were knocked unconscious, some lost control upon their awakening and unfortunately, some powers were more volatile and powerful than the others as countless disasters happened one by one.

Some became mindless beasts, some became sources of firestorms, earthquakes, and floods but all quickly fizzled down as they lost their energy quickly but unfortunately, those who mutated due to their gifts was permanent and became monsters and was forced to be taken down by those who were brave and powerful enough.

Soon, the world went to a state of short peace as the disasters came to a stop along with a meeting made by the UN on how the world will function in this new era but sadly, laws doesn't matter in front of personal might and some few individuals were blessed enough to gain a powerful Gift.

And if history and fiction aren't a sort of example, villains quickly came into play, individuals blessed with a Gift and were crazy enough to try and conquer the world.

Soon, villain organizations were formed all around the world along with some certain few villains being strong enough to conquer nations all by themselves.

But with the rise of villains came heroes, soon, a war between the forces of good and evil happened in just a few short years.

But unlike what was portrayed in fiction, the forces of evil prevailed for the war that happened for a few decades as they use the vilest of means to win the war, soon, hundreds of heroes and villains died at quick intervals until a beacon of hope appeared from the darkest of times as the greatest hero mankind ever had appeared.

His name was… Hope.

With an unparalleled physical body capable of destroying multiple city blocks with just the sheer wind pressure of one of his punches, with unparalleled defenses capable of tanking through the fearsome villain Heaven's Piercer attacks with relative ease, speed past the speed of sound and more as he was called the symbol of Hope, just like his name.

And with his appearance came the surge of new heroes among heroes, they were God among men, with absurd powers nearing the divine as the Hero's side finally has a chance against the insurmountable mountain called evil.

But with hope comes despair, and this time quite literally as with the appearance of this symbol of Hope, a new being surges from the shadows with its already elongated tendrils of darkness that has bid their times for decades as the most fearsome villain in the world has appeared, and his name was Despair.

Despair, a fitting name for the Gift they received, the Gift to take other's Gift and use it for themselves. History books theorized many things about him but one of the more popular ones was that he was one of the few who gained the power of Gifts from the start, for he might have bid his time and grown his army and own power to be unparalleled but with the appearance of Hope, his plans might have come crashing down so he was forced to move and try to take down the unstoppable force called Hope.

Two ideals, two concepts, two symbols of good and evil have appeared as if it was a story crafted specifically to show the two opposites.

Years passed since their appearance as constant clashes between Hope and Despair happened until the final battle that shook the whole world has appeared.

All the forces of Good and Evil have teamed up for this final fight that will decide the fate of this whole world, two sides of opposite natures have come once and for all to one final clash that will decide the direction of humanity's fate and destiny.

Soon, the war happened just straight in the middle of America as the war spanned a literal continent as it took months until the forces of evil dwindled down until only one being was left, and it was Despair, whose power has drastically grown as in one desperate attempt, took all of the Gifts of the dead villains that they personally defeated.

And fittingly enough for one final clash between two sides, only Hope can actually fight Despair because his Gift was weirdly enough, could not be taken by Despair for some weird reason so he was the only one capable of fighting Despair in a one on one fight.

Their fight shook the whole country that they were fighting in as their fight took literal days and finally, as if it was a story straight out of a children's fairy tale, Hope was able to defeat Despair in a fierce and bloody battle as the area that they were fighting in was raze to the ground with cracks, storms, floods, blazing lava and more but finally, the symbol of Despair was defeated in a poetic fashion by the symbol of Hope as the world came into an era of peace.

Soon, the world started to go back to normal as society returned back into a relatively normal pace, civilians get to work, the economy went back into a stable state, Hero agencies were made to stop the villains that appear here and there and more as finally, the tale of evil has finally come to a close, well more so that it was not as bad as before.

After the defeat of Despair, Hope appears lesser and lesser to the public as his need was less and less and was instead put on to the new era of Heroes in this new civilized society but he still appears here and there when the threat is too much.

And in that era of relative peace, there is still the appearance of Heroes and Villains but now, the influence of evil went into an all time low as the whole world continues to run its course.

And for me? A person who lives in this new era of Gifts? Well, I'm a nobody with the Gift of healing.

AN: Decided to write this AN after chapter 1 because I needed to emotionally attach you guys to this novel and make me appear as a kind, friendly author who loves their readers.

Now for some immortalize readers:

Rando_ - first commenter

bananaman and his 4 sinful children - the first five reviewer, insane I know.

QnA (Go ask some questions in this paragraph)

Now will he be an evil mc?

- well its more like Chaotic Neutral and would not really start any conflict unless he is somewhat sure that conflict is the best option, or a good and convenient option, you'll get what I mean later, but later? When he starts to get suspicious on some stuff and needs protection, well he will use some drastic measures to survive, it may look an act of good or evil to some and its personally on what the reader's view is.

Will this be a super serious novel rise to the top

- no, well kinda, but its not that serious, well it will be in the future arcs where I will have to use my big brain again just like in FB, but for the first few arcs it will be just a happy Aki enjoying life.

(February 28, 2022 – 96th day of writing)