Ultimate Thief: Miss Wasteland Seven - Chapter 426: Dare to Compete (4)

The Third World War has been ended by the efforts of Kamijou Touma. With that, he vanished. With the Magic Side regrouping, the Sabbath for their followers has arrived.

In the headquarters of the Science Side, Academy City’s strongest Level 5 Esper Accelerator has washed his hands off the “Darkness.” Along with Last Order and Misaka Worst, his days pass by peacefully with no sign of GROUP.

Hamazura Shiage has formed a new ITEM with Kinuhata, Takitsubo and Mugino. Peace has come to the hands of the alumni who have “graduated” from Academy’s Dark Side at last… at least until a new evil “first year student” appears before them.

— This is a follow up to the popular Toaru Majutsu no Index light novel series, where Kamachi-Sensei has promised to deliver new premises and give a totally new flavor to the fights and plot developments

In this world, orphans or just anyone without any hope for this world can apply to become a “walking target”. Their sole purpose is to be a practicing dummy for the students of the sect who train to become “Demon Hunters”. These students need “walking targets” to test their training on living, walking beings of flesh and blood.
In exchange, they will be provided with food & shelter.
Their existence value is lower than a slave, but if they manage to survive a few years they can receive a life long pension.

Xiao Han is such a “walking target”. One time he witnessed a powerful Demon Hunter disposing a demon. When the demon died, a fragment of the demon that managed to escape entered Xiao Han’s heart. No one saw that, and even Xiao Han himself only felt some discomfort for an instant.

But that thing in his heart soon gave Xiao Han visions, and the first one is of a cultivation method which allows Xiao Han to absorb damage to enhance his body. A perfect cultivation method for a “walking target”.

- Description from Novelupdates

On the haunted mountain in the kingdom, they say there lived a witch.

She was born a princess. But even before her birth, the priest declared her to be cursed and demanded her death. They poisoned the mother to kill the baby before she gave birth, but the baby was born out of the dead mother—a cursed child.

Again and again, they tried to kill the baby but she miraculously survived every single attempt. Giving up, they abandoned her on the haunted mountain to die but she still survived on that barren land— A witch

‘Why won’t she die?’

Years later, the people finally had enough of the witch and decided to burn the mountain. But someone arrived to her rescue and took her with him from that burning place, because dying was not her destiny even then.

Draven Amaris.

The Black Dragon, who ruled over supernatural beings, the Devil who no one wished to cross a path with. He hated humans but this certain human girl would pull him towards her whenever she was in danger.

‘Is she really a human?’

The devil named this mysteriously tenacious girl “Ember”, a piece of glowing coal in a dying fire.

This is a tale of the man who brings death and the girl who denies it.

Mystery is the nourishment that keeps me from being ordinary.

It has been 20 years since he came to a world similar to the modern European background. With his early wisdom, Fei Lin learned a skill and finally became a decent person.

Originally thought that he would marry a wife and have children and live this life in a dull way, but found that there is another world under the shadow of the world.

In that world, there are occultists who practice esoteric techniques and master extraordinary powers.

It is weird to spy on humans in the dark and feed on humans.

There are evil god believers who worship the evil god, please the evil god through bloody sacrifices, and exchange power from the evil god.

There is an evil god who wanders outside the world, peeps at the world, and only infiltrates the power of scales and claws, which is enough to cause people to fall.

With the mystery as nourishment, he is no longer ordinary after 20 years of ordinary.

- Description from novelbuddy