Faust

Overview

Faust is a genius paranormal scientist who completed the unified field theory that emerged in the 21st century. However, the world focused only on his research achievements and began shunning him instead of honoring the person who had completed the theory.

Faust gradually began to be forgotten by the world, and after developing feelings of betrayal and disgust toward his country, he disappeared from public view. Some believed the government had killed him to protect classified information, while others thought Faust had gone mad and been hospitalized.

However, Faust had actually changed his name to Saint Valentine and established an Academy with seven disciples. Faust started an Academy with his seven disciples on the third floor of an old house. People mocked Faust’s old and shabby Academy, but Faust earned recognition from those around him through his abilities.

Later, an organization called Prometheus appeared in the world, throwing it into confusion. Prometheus carried out terrorist attacks against institutions in various countries while warning those who used paranormal abilities for power. The governments of the affected countries suspected the Academies, and the conflict between the governments and Academies grew increasingly intense.

Then Prometheus's final statement was released. Along with evidence, they accused the governments of various countries of secretly conducting human experiments on ability users at paranormal science laboratories. The governments refuted the accusations as fabricated evidence and declared that these despicable acts of terrorism and large-scale, organized anti-state actions were themselves strong counterevidence that the Academies were harboring terrorist organizations.

Eventually, intense protests and increasingly ruthless crackdowns caused massive bloodshed, leading to an all-out clash between the governments and the Academies. Faust lost his family to the government in the process, and, disappointed to learn that the government had conducted human experiments, he sided with the Academy.

After Prometheus's terrorist acts caused worldwide anarchy, he stepped forward to stop looting and destruction and maintain public order. Because of these achievements, people began calling Faust the Sage.

Meanwhile, Faust learned the secrets of Prometheus's identity and the purification and genesis of civilization. He felt repulsed by the idea that Prometheus intended to rule the world even at the cost of enormous loss of life, but he was already in a position from which escaping Prometheus's grasp was difficult.

Prometheus's repeated terrorist attacks led to Nightmare Night, during which all governments disappeared and massive anarchy broke out. Faust took direct action to restore public order but could not escape his guilt.

Then, at the final moment, disaster struck. The Lord of Destruction suddenly appeared in the world, the Six Calamities began, and monsters appeared and massacred people. The world, which had only just begun to recover after Nightmare Night, reached the brink of extinction.

At that time, Faust sacrificed himself to seal the Lord of Destruction, barely bringing the situation to an end and saving humanity from the brink of extinction. Immediately before sealing himself away, Faust warned only some of his disciples about the future.

A thousand years later, when the power of the Seal runs out, the Lord of Destruction will awaken again, and the Apostles of the six Clans and their kin will regain their full power, bringing about a calamity. Therefore, the seven Sages and the surviving new humanity must develop the power to stand against them together.

The Truth

Prometheus deliberately used the governmental, military, and economic power it possessed to make government, military, and economic authorities oppose Faust, causing Faust to distrust authority. It then whispered things in Faust's ear such as “power independent of authority,” “an equal opportunity for everyone to learn abilities,” “new power must be used for the peace and happiness of humanity,” and “violent means may be unavoidable to protect this power from immense powers.”

Meanwhile, Faust studied the relics of the past and gradually awakened ASC, learning things unknown even to Prometheus. As a result, he became skeptical as this conflicted with his existing indoctrinated beliefs. When his distrust of the government deepened, Faust concealed his former identity and went into hiding, as Prometheus had guided him to do. He then assumed the name Saint Valentine and began acting according to Prometheus's instructions. Faust established the Supernatural Ability Academy and gathered and persuaded potential ability users around the Academy.

When Prometheus contacted him, Faust did not trust them, but he wanted revenge against the world and cooperated with Prometheus under the pretext of helping to resolve the chaos.

However, Faust did not agree with Prometheus's actions and was skeptical about having to take action himself. Even after learning that Prometheus's true purpose was to build a world in which they would reign as gods, he could not easily escape their grasp because he had already become too deeply involved.

Furthermore, Faust's awakening of ASC's power caused the Great Destruction, laying waste to the world. During the Great Destruction period, Faust regained consciousness while the destruction was underway, but he could no longer control ASC. However, while he was unconscious, ASC's rampage became the catalyst for Faust to achieve a deeper awakening.

While unconscious, Faust came to "know" the creation and destruction of the 1st Civilization and 2nd Civilization recorded in ASC. Having foreseen future events that would occur if ASC's rampage continued, Faust took extraordinary measures.

Faust was already collapsing under the backlash from ASC's rampage. Although his awakening had increased his abilities, they had reached a level he could not handle. Meanwhile, the monsters temporarily freed from ASC's control were ravaging the world. Ultimately, Faust attempted to control the rampage using the forbidden power, the ASC Controller.

Faust summoned the ASC Controller from subspace and slowed ASC's rampage. Once the situation had been alleviated to some extent, he sealed himself in subspace together with the ASC Controller. He did so in consideration of the consequences that a failure of control could cause, and this was possible because he had read the memories of the final day of the 1st Civilization. However, this led to an event that even Faust had not anticipated. The ASC Controller began to split apart.

The splitting of the ASC Controller

The battle between the ASC Controller and ASC, which had been fiercely contesting their power in subspace, ended with both sides destroying each other. ASC was shattered into seven Pieces, and the explosion at the time of its destruction caused six of them to pierce through subspace and disappear. The ASC Controller's functions were mostly shut down by output exceeding its limits, and self-repair would take an enormous amount of time. Faust became trapped in subspace while holding the final Piece.

The Escape of the Six Clans

The six clans had been sleeping within ASC's subspace. However, when Faust lost consciousness as ASC went berserk, they escaped their seal, which had lasted for nearly ten thousand years, under ASC's control and carried out a massacre during the Great Destruction.

On the seventh day after the clash between ASC and the ASC Controller began, their binding Seal regained its power, forcibly recalling them to the subspace ruled by ASC. Later, when the Pieces of ASC were scattered, their subordination seals were likewise divided among and scattered with the respective Pieces.

Although the six clans each obtained one Piece of ASC, they had not completely escaped subordination because the center of ASC, its seventh Piece, was still with Faust. They gained limited freedom and were released into Nevareth.

Faust's Plan

Trapped in subspace, Faust became irreparably damaged while enduring the immense force generated by the clash between ASC and the ASC Controller. Although he could not escape death, Faust, having completed his awakening and broken free from indoctrination to contemplate the truth, was able to learn everything. After sensing that six Pieces had disappeared and the six subordinates had escaped control, Faust took action based on the following judgment.

Faust's Purpose

Faust believed that all forces seeking to manipulate humanity's destiny had to be annihilated, that humanity's free will had to be restored, and that humanity should determine its own destiny. To achieve this, ASC, which possessed tremendous power, the ASC Controller, the Six Clans, "him," and the Prometheus organization had to disappear. However, considering the dangers humanity would face in the future, he intended to use Prometheus for a while.

Prometheus

Prometheus wanted to control ASC and its power and held extremely dangerous ideas. However, the nearly extinct remnants of humanity would need their help to make a new beginning in the ruined future. Faust believed he had to accept their help while keeping them in check so that their ambitions would not be fulfilled. He also judged that, given the secret-society nature of their organization, they would not reveal themselves publicly and would act covertly. He knew that someone among the Seven Disciples was connected to Prometheus, but he did not consider it a problem. Faust had to make Prometheus oppose the Six Clans.

Six Clans

Faust learned that each of the six scattered Pieces was inferior to the one left to him, but that if two or more Pieces were combined, even he would be unable to handle them. For humanity's sake, the seventh Piece could not yet leave subspace. Humans were still unable to withstand an attack by the Six Clans. Moreover, all the scattered Pieces could sense one another's presence. However, within subspace, they could not sense the seventh Piece held by Faust. He also judged that even if they acquired the Pieces and became stronger, they would need a long time merely to recover from the shock. To stop the Six Clans, he had to defeat them one by one, wait for the rightful owner of ASC to appear, or use the ASC Controller.

Faust's Measures

Faust acquired the power of "Omniscience" through ASC. He knew that Prometheus would create his clone and that, if he were to disappear, the seventh Piece would move to the clone. Faust anticipated that his clone would pass through the same stages of awakening as he had and that Prometheus would attempt to control him, so he took measures in advance to prevent this. Faust inscribed messages on ASC to be delivered whenever his clone awakened and arranged for him to gradually acquire increasingly powerful mental defenses. He also arranged for a special message to be transmitted at the final stage of awakening. The clone was given multiple layers of barriers to prevent him from resonating with the other Pieces, and these barriers would be released once the owner completed a certain stage of awakening. Meanwhile, the Six Clans would continue clashing with and checking one another, while Prometheus would focus solely on the clone's awakening; in this way, the Seven Disciples would be able to buy more time. The time needed to reach that point was one thousand years. The clone after a thousand years would become his true successor and bring everything to an end. For the person who would assist the clone, Faust removed part of the seventh ASC Piece and created the eighth Fragment. He arranged for whoever obtained the eighth Fragment to become the dagger that would quell all the chaos and a guardian who would ensure that the plan did not fail. He then divided the ASC Controller into several Pieces and divided space as well, storing them in separate spaces. He left clues so that the locations of the other spaces could be learned only after all those Pieces had been found. Then Faust left a message for his Seven Disciples: The disappearance of the six Pieces and its repercussions, the existence and identity of Prometheus, and the fact that their power was necessary for humanity's survival but that they had to be kept firmly in check. However, he told Sirius alone that there was a traitor among the Seven Disciples.

After that, Faust disappeared within subspace, and his Seven Disciples departed with the survivors for the continent that had newly appeared in the world.

One thousand years later

When Patren completed his first awakening, the first message Faust had planted in ASC, as he had arranged, was delivered.

1. The owner of the seventh Piece has awakened. Protect him.
2. Have the Sage Tower and Prometheus learn of the information concerning the Sage's legacy.

Patren now begins his journey to collect his Pieces.