At a huge football stadium in the center of S City, the five major schools of the district were holding their Awakening Ceremonies all at once.
Exactly one hundred large platforms stood in the middle of the field.
High school seniors, lined up in queues that coiled like giant snakes, walked up to the platforms one by one. Each of them took a liquid from the attendant waiting at the head of the platform and drank it. Then they stood in the center of the platform for a few seconds.
Somewhere in this crowd, an inconspicuous girl with glasses was waiting excitedly for her turn.
The line she stood in was made up entirely of her own classmates.
The line moved forward by one more person, and the first student from Elena's class stepped up to the platform.
Excited whispers rose among the kids in her class.
On their teacher's orders, the class had been lined up from the most successful student to the least.
The one at the very front was someone close to Elena.
Fiora, the neighbors' daughter.
She had shown extraordinary talent ever since she was a child and had earned one of the scholarships the city handed out to only a handful of students. The classic neighbor's kid that every other kid gets compared to.
Fiora took the black, sticky liquid the suited attendant held out to her and swallowed it without a moment's hesitation. Then she climbed onto the platform.
"What rank do you guys think Fiora's gonna awaken at?"
"Definitely B. Maybe even A! I'm, like, a hundred percent sure."
"Tch. That much is a given. Name one person as talented as her who's ever awakened below B-Rank."
"Yeah, exactly. You'd have been better off not guessing at all. Why'd you even bother?"
Three holographic cards appeared above Fiora's platform and began to float in the air.
Each card was covered by a question mark.
When he saw three options appear, even the man in the suit paused for a moment and turned to look behind him.
Fiora took a deep breath. She was trying to keep her cool, but she wasn't doing a very good job of it.
She slowly raised her hands and touched the first question-marked holographic card.
The card, nearly as tall as she was, lit up with a blue glow first.
Fiora wasn't disappointed when the blue appeared. It meant a B-Rank Awakening.
Even if a B-Rank Awakening turned out to be a Life Profession, it could still land her a good job down the road and let her live a comfortable life.
Up in the stands, Fiora's mother and father lit up with joy when they saw the blue.
Both of them had C-Rank life abilities. For parents like that, a B-Rank ability was good no matter what.
As the blue glow slowly faded, it left behind an intricate sign for everyone to see.
An intricate seal that represented the professions of the Healer class.
Only Fiora could see the details.
[Awakening - Guardian of Flora]
Fiora didn't know exactly what this profession was, but she looked more relaxed as she touched the other two question-marked cards.
The first one was just a white shimmer.
Fiora didn't even give it a proper look.
White stood for D-Rank abilities.
The best of a bad lot, at most.
When she touched the last question mark, a purple light suddenly began to spread out from the platform.
Purple, the light that represented A-Rank abilities...
The purple glow of geniuses...
Before anyone else even had the chance to be surprised, the first flash of light had already passed. Left behind was the symbol of the gods, the mark of the Divine class.
The entire football stadium went silent.
The announcer had been sitting with two professors who were discussing the awakenings. Not caring one bit about being rude to them, he shouted into the microphone and announced what had happened to everyone.
Even the reporters from S City's small-time TV channels, who were broadcasting the ceremony live, shifted in their seats.
The new world was united under a single homeland as the Human Union. Across all of it, there were only about 50 A-Rank Awakenings each year.
S City averaged two to three a year.
Fiora was the first A-Rank Awakener to appear in S City this year.
And what mattered even more, her Awakened Profession belonged to the Divine class.
You could even call it a peak Awakening, second only to an S-Rank one.
It was like climbing to the heavens in a single step.
Fiora's mother had already fainted.
While Fiora's classmates went wild, Elena, the class's antisocial girl, was looking at her neighbor's daughter, her childhood friend. Half of Elena's face was hidden behind her hair, and what showed of it wore joy mixed with jealousy.
Her thoughts could almost be heard through the eyes behind her glasses.
"She's just like the main characters in shojo manga. I wish I could be like those main characters too."
...
Meanwhile, far away from the blue planet, in an entirely different space-time dimension:
A large white palace that looked like something out of the Middle Ages was hosting a grand celebration.
Warrior elves and cute monsters with contracted spirits were the main guests of the feast.
Elf girls, each more beautiful than the last, danced in oriental outfits in the main hall of the Holy Empire's palace. For the first time, they did it without the status of slaves.
The human race's centuries of oppression had finally come to an end.
Today was the day of the great celebration.
This capital had once belonged to humans. It had been conquered with blood and sacrifice.
In the palace's main hall, a giant statue showing the beautiful figure of one of this planet's goddesses stood flush against the wall.
Right above the statue's head was a hidden balcony. It had been built so the emperor could watch the events without taking part in them.
On that balcony stood a handsome human with long white hair. He sipped red wine as he watched the elf girls glowing with joy below.
Twenty years ago, the king's illegitimate daughter was dying on a street corner. Her blood dripped onto the necklace her mother had left behind, and a top-tier Spirit Contract spell activated.
So why did humanity meet its end despite such a textbook protagonist setup, you ask? Well, that's a really long story.
A story that spans a full 282 years...
Unfortunately, the one who came here through the Spirit Contract wasn't just some ordinary powerful spirit.
It was Sora Akisora. Once an ordinary Japanese student, he had been summoned along with his entire class for the Goddess's sake...