I, Akira Tsukishiro..

“I can’t believe these demons are this strong!”.

My name is Akira Tsukishiro, a 24 year-old mage who can only defeat lesser demons. I have struggled hard to kill the weakest enemy ever since I've dropped out of the magic school.

I accelerate behind the lesser demon, a blow from behind its shoulders with my blunt, battle-worn dagger. It retaliates and pushes me aside, making me crash.

“What are you doing, idiot!! Go and keep our goods safe instead of bothering our fight!” yelled the Party leader, Hammer Head.

Since, i’m not a licensed mage, the only Guild who accepted me are ‘the Hammer Heads’, a D-Rank scavenging party of mages with their leader, Hammer head Ojisan, a C-Rank old man with an unusual love for hammer head sharks, to the point where he made his own life built around it. Even his armour resembles a shark head, and his magic is a water hammer that deals deadly blows to the enemy it touches.

“You’re useless against these demons, don’t bother.” said the son of Hammer head Ojisan, ‘Sting ray’ Roshan, a E-rank Lancer with a terrible attitude and aim, he uses spear-shaped water objects. He doesn’t fight better than me, but he gets treated better by other party members because he’s the son of the leader.

‘What a scum’ I muttered to myself.

“HUH!! Did I hear you say something?!” Roshan replied.

“Ah! Nothing.. hahaha , I'll guard the bags as you wish.. Excuse me.”

“You really are weak, huh? Hammer Head Ojisan picked this spot because there’s only weak demons here but it seems like you can’t even handle that. Well, no problem because I’ll protect you. Don’t worry.” said the D-rank Assassin, ‘Jellyfish’ Iori, who uses wind magic to float and move faster to kill demons.

Iori is a decent person compared to the other two but he still doesn’t know not to kick a person when they’re down.

I took a seat near the bags, full of food supplies and medical aid which we bought before arriving at the warp gate area. Since the gate that opened here is too small for anyone to enter, It’s been classified as a E-rank warp gate by the Magic Guild Association (MGA), and left to be dealt with by any guild who is willing to clean up the lesser demons which enter our world through this gate.

In a society where Guild and Mage ranks are everything, I’m just a nobody who dropped out of Kyoto Academy of Magic in my final year. I couldn’t handle the stress. Magic Guild Association doesn’t give Mage license to drop-outs.

For 24 years of my life, I never felt like I belonged with anyone. Everyone assumed that I’m not important enough to be considerate when they talk to me, so they took advantage of me as much as they could.

And I played along. I didn’t want to stand out from the crowd. It’ll only bring more attention to me. Attention meant trouble.

“Like a frog in the warm pot of water..” I sighed. Well, this is my life now. I guess I'll quit trying to become a mage and focus on my part time job.

I earn way more when I’m cleaning retail store shelves, than tagging along on a Guild raid like I’m doing right now.

Just when I’m thinking that the raid was over, a cold, sharp pressure burst through my chest. I tried to scream, but only a wet gurgle escaped my throat as blood filled my vision.

I was thrown to a tree branch, piercing me from behind.

I looked around to find everyone else had been massacred to bits. There’s blood everywhere.

Hammer Head Ojisan, Roshan, Iori, they were all killed in an instant by a dozen demons. Possibly, A to S-rank by their demeanour.

Even though it would seem like I never liked the Hammer Heads, they were still the only ones who gave me a place to stay when I slept in parks. My family in Saitama prefecture were killed by a sudden warp gate, back when I was 19 years old.

“O-Ojisan..”

Hammer head Ojisan was the only person who is considered ‘family’ to me. Roshan is an idiot but he still took care of me like a brother and shared his room with me. Iori is the only one who could be called a ‘friend’. He always asked me how I’m doing every time he visited us.

“Roshan.. Iori..”

I was content with my life, even if it was pathetic. I looked for Hammer Head Ojisan, whose corpse is being eaten by a large ogre looking demon.

“Damn it all!!!” I picked my blunt dagger and forced my legs to run towards the demons to attack.

I’ll die here. Powerless, Pathetic, and a fool to the world but atleast, I'll die by my own terms. But.. But, just this once.. I want to live again. If only I had taken my chances and lived how I wanted..

A bright light blinded me, as I felt like I'm dropping through a void. At that moment, I felt a silver pendant with a small clock grasping my fingers.

“I must’ve died. It’s all over, huh?.. Well.. at least in the next life, I'll do my best.”

“Ou.. oh!! This kid is alive! He is muttering something!”
“Nurse! Come here, check his pulse!”

I open my eyes to find myself in a hospital ward. The nurse gave me some juice, and told me that I was met with an accident during a combined raid training with Shin sekai, the no.1 guild of japan.

I remember that ‘raid training’ with Shin sekai. It happened when I was 17 in my final year at Kyoto Academy of Magic.

“Wait, what year and day is it now?” I asked the nurse.

“You’re a student, right? Stop joking. Here, this pendant must be costly. It was discovered on your person when you were admitted here.” replied the nurse and kept the odd, clock pendant by my bed side, turned on the TV and left.

The Live TV news is broadcasting the Shin Sekai x Kyoto Academy of Magic raid training, with the date and year denoting 7 years ago which was back when I used to be 17.

I looked at my lean arms and legs. I turned the TV off, and looked at my own reflection.