The Ultimate Hunt

Prologue

The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History took place sixty years ago. 

It began within the walls of Hope's Peak Academy, a place where only the brightest and most exceptional gathered; the Ultimates, students whose talents set them apart from the rest of humanity. They were supposed to be the elite, the future of the world. But one of the students was the reason everything collapsed. 

Junko Enoshima, once known simply as The Ultimate Analyst, was consumed by her own extraordinary talent. It twisted her mind, driving her to an obsession with despair beyond comprehension. She became the Ultimate Despair. 

It started with a single act, The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy. Using her intellect and a mastery of manipulation, Junko organized a massacre among her own classmates. One by one, the students of Hope's Peak, those meant to be the saviors of the future, fell into her web of despair, turning on each other in brutal, senseless killings. It was a game to her, a masterpiece of suffering in which she played both the puppet master and the executioner.

''Hope is harmony. A just heart, moving toward the light. That is all. Despair is hope's polar opposite. It is messy and confusing. It swallows up love, hatred, and everything else. Because not knowing where you will end up is despair. Despair is even what you cannot predict. Only despair's unpredictability can save you from a boring future.''

What started as a massacre within the academy, became the catalyst for a global collapse.

She broadcasted the horrors of Hope's Peak to the world, spreading despair like a disease, infecting the minds and hearts of millions. Through the power of media, she showed humanity its darkest, most grotesque truths, and in doing so, she caused a global chaos. Society collapsed almost overnight. Governments crumbled, cities burned, and the fragile order that held civilization together was completely destroyed.

Riots broke out in every corner of the globe. People, overcome with despair, turned on one another in a desperate attempt to find meaning in the madness. Law and order disintegrated, leaving the world in anarchy. The streets ran red with blood, and the sky was filled with the smoke of destruction. What once was a world of progress and unity descended into a nightmare of violence, fear, and hopelessness.

But not all hope was lost.

Somewhere in the ruins, there were those who refused to succumb to despair. The Future Foundation, an organization forged by surviving Ultimates, students who had not fallen victim to Junko's manipulations, rose from the ashes of society's collapse. They were a spark of hope in a world consumed by darkness, determined to rebuild what had been destroyed. United by the belief that despair could be conquered, they worked tirelessly to restore order, to bring humanity back from the brink.

At the end of the day they did it. They defeated Despair and brought the society back on its tracks. Bit by bit, the world regained its footing. Streets were rebuilt, governments reestablished, and society, though scarred, began to function once more.

As this new society took shape, and as order returned, the question of accountability came. The people, desperate for answers, needed someone to blame. The rebuilding process demanded not only physical reconstruction but emotional closure, and the collective anger of a broken world needed a target. And that target became the Ultimates.

Though it was Junko Enoshima who had caused The Tragedy, her status as an Ultimate herself cast a long shadow over her peers. The huge scale of the destruction, the lives lost, and the world being on the brink of annihilation; this all began with one of the Ultimates, the so-called elite of humanity. In the eyes of many, it was their talents, their unique status, that set the stage for the world's collapse. Junko's abilities had been far beyond those of an ordinary person, and her manipulation of her fellow students had only reinforced the belief that those with such talents were dangerous.