The world was aflame. The skies burned crimson with demonic fire as the final battle of the Eight Years War reached its bloody crescendo. Corpses—human and demon alike—littered the cracked earth. At the heart of the battlefield, amid shattered ruins and collapsed divine wards, stood Max Van.
The last Archmage of the Empire. A living legend. One of the Six Sages.
His robes, once white and gold, were soaked in blood and ash. His staff trembled in his grip, not from fear—but from the weight of the spell he was about to unleash. Across from him loomed the Demon King, wounded but defiant. A being born of pure hatred, forged by betrayal, and empowered by forbidden pacts with the evil gods.
The two stared at each other—enemies not just by duty, but by destiny.
"You think this is the end, human?" the Demon King growled, dark mana seething from his shattered crown. "If you are ever reborn, I will find you. I will end you again."
Max's body ached. Blood ran from his mouth. His fellow Sages were elsewhere, battling the remnants of the Demon King's twelve commanders.
"I don't care what happens to me," Max whispered, raising his hand to the heavens. "But I will make sure you don't take another soul with you."
With the last of his power, Max invoked **Holy Light's Judgement**, a spell so divine, it scorched the very concept of evil. The Demon King countered with **Hellfire Oblivion**, the ultimate demonic curse.
The sky split apart.
Both powers collided in a blinding flash.
And Max Van died—his final thoughts a wish: *If I am ever given another chance... let me live not as a warrior, but as a man among those I love.*
---
**Fifteen Years Later**
In the fertile lands of the **Floyen Dukedom**, a child was born under a silver moon. His name: **Loyaid Floyen**. To the world, he was a noble-born son of the prestigious Floyen family—renowned for their mastery of elemental magic.
But to fate, he was something else entirely.
The reincarnation of Max Van.
Loyaid opened his eyes to a world of warmth and family—a sharp contrast to the battlefield he had died upon. A kind mother, **Juballien**, sang lullabies to him. His father, **Dion Floyen**, was a feared and respected 8-star fire mage, and his older siblings, **Airen** and **Reliana**, held immense magical promise.
But Loyaid remembered.
He remembered the screams of war. The cries of dying comrades. The betrayal of the demon gods. And worst of all, he remembered the Demon King's final vow.
*"If you are ever reborn…"*
He was. And the Demon King still lived.
When he was two, Loyaid wandered into the family library and found records of demon sightings—newer than they should have been. The war had not ended with his death. It had only paused.
Despite this, he refused to be a weapon again.
Max had learned the cost of power. In his previous life, he had chased mastery in all forms of magic: fire, water, light, dark, earth, wind, celestial, even the ancient magics lost to time. And yet, none of it had saved the lives he wished to protect.
So in this life, he chose differently.
He **sealed his mana veins**—an excruciating act of will, executed in secret. When the family ritual at age five revealed his lack of magic, the verdict was swift.
"A disgrace to the Floyen bloodline."
His father turned cold. His brother sneered. His sister mocked him. Only his mother wept silently, holding his hand when no one else would.
Within months, he was exiled to the **Floyen countryside**, deemed a useless branch of the tree.
But to Loyaid, it was peace.
In the village, surrounded by mountains and rivers, he finally tasted a life without war. He read books, tended gardens, and played with the local children. His favorite person in the world was his **nanny, Sukasa**—a fiery and stubborn 6-star fire mage who had once served in the royal army.
She became the family he never had. They cooked together. Trained in simple sword forms. Watched sunsets.
"Your eyes see too much for someone your age," she once said.
He smiled. "Maybe I'm older than I look."
Years passed. Loyaid grew into a quiet, introspective boy. Though mocked as a "magicless noble," he was content.
Until **that night**.
A night when the stars dimmed.
Without warning, the Twelfth Commander of the Demon King's Army descended upon the region—an unprovoked slaughter aimed at cleansing a 'strategic location.' Villages burned. Screams pierced the sky.
The demons didn't just kill. They **hunted**.
Sukasa sensed it first.
She hid Loyaid in the cellar, casting protective wards and locking him in. "Don't make a sound," she whispered. "No matter what happens."
Outside, the world fell apart.
Loyaid felt the explosions through the stone walls. Heard her casting high-level flame spells. Heard her scream as the demon commander overwhelmed her with **Shadow Shell**, a forbidden demonic incantation.
Then silence.
For three days, he remained hidden—alone with the smell of ash and blood.
When the family finally arrived to investigate, they found a ruined villa, piles of corpses, and a single boy curled in the dark, eyes wide with hollow grief.
Loyaid Floyen had survived.
But Max Van had awoken.
---