In the Age of Decay — known also as the Spirit War Era — chaos reigned across the realms.
And upon the battlefield of the Scarlet Mountains, where even the Messengers of Dawn , those touched by the divine — dare not tread, lies Avelium: the range forsaken by the sun.
"Surrender…! Demon Lord!!!"
A voice rang out from behind the man standing at the heart of a battlefield soaked in blood and death.
"Heroes?"
The Demon Lord turned his head slowly, eyes devoid of emotion.
His hands were empty — no weapon, contrary to the rumors.
Before him stood a group of twenty heroes, their eyes burning with hatred too intense to conceal.
"Sigh~… How annoying. Another wave of small fry, huh?"
The Demon Lord muttered in irritation.
He casually tilted his neck from side to side, stretching as if nothing about the situation was even remotely exciting.
"You… why must you take the lives of others!?"
The priestess among the heroes cursed softly, her eyes fixed on the Demon Lord's cold demeanor.
"Ah… that matter–"
Before he could finish, the hero with fiery orange hair lunged forward without hesitation, a triumphant smile playing on his lips, for the Demon Lord had just left an opening.
As the blade hovered less than a centimeter from the young Demon Lord's body,
he remained eerily calm, as if death itself was creeping slowly toward him.
Slash–!
After that voice rang out, a large amount of blood gushed out, along with a person's head. That head wasn't the head of the Demon Lord, but the head of the orange-haired hero himself.
No incantations escaped the Demon Lord's lips, nor did any weapon make an appearance.
Only his bare hands were stained with blood.
"W-What kind of madness is this!?"
The young archer's eyes trembled with horror and shock as she witnessed the scene.
"Hmm? Did you think the Demon Lord needed weapons or magic to kill?"
The young Demon Lord teased lightly, his black cloak fluttering gently under the moonlight.
"You bastard…! Everyone, attack him now!!!"
The hero clad in green-patterned armor shouted with rage and hatred.
[In nomine luminis, fortitudo floreat]
As the blue-haired priestess finished chanting the spell of the Unyielding Honor,
a radiant light enveloped the weapons and bodies of all the heroes.
"Know this well… this is the power of the Light that will lead humanity to salvation!"
No sooner had the green-armored hero finished speaking than everyone leapt forward, charging fiercely at the Demon Lord.
Clang!
"Ugh…! A barrier spell!?"
The hero in pristine white armor widened his eyes in shock.
Before them was a transparent veil — barely visible — blocking all their weapons from reaching their mark.
"Very well… I suppose I'll play along. Heheh…"
The Demon Lord slowly drew his sword to retaliate, dispelling the barrier with ease.
"How dare you mock us…!!!"
The brown-haired hero dashed in like the wind, his beloved sword gripped tightly in hand.
On the other side, the young archer didn't hesitate — she let loose an arrow aimed straight at the Demon Lord, hoping to distract or divert his attention.
And just as the arrow from behind and the blade from the front were about to strike him…
Shlnk!!!
The arrow was cut off in an instant, and bright red liquid gushed out from the hero's body. The young man slowly collapsed, and his upper body was separated from his lower body.
"Damn it…! Don't back down! If he gets away… even more people will die!!!"
The dozen or so heroes charged in with everything they had, refusing to relent.
And yet… they were the ones being overwhelmed.
The young Demon Lord wielded nothing but a dull, rusted sword — and still, he held the upper hand.
As the battle dragged on, the heroes began to fall one by one.
In the end, only five remained, their bodies battered and bloodied — while the Demon Lord stood untouched, not a single scratch on him.
One of the remaining heroes didn't hesitate — he began chanting a devastating spell.
Even if it meant sacrificing his own life…
if it could take the Demon Lord down with him, then it was a price he was willing to pay.
[Finis est initium… Gloria in ruina — Drivina Ruina!!]
As the final words of the incantation left his lips,
the pale-haired hero's body erupted into a blinding light.
A massive explosion followed — so powerful that the blue-haired priestess had to cast a barrier spell just in time to shield the remaining heroes from being annihilated.
[Lux sanct, forma scutu! Protege devoto!]
The Shield of Light barely held against the force of the explosion.
Yet the blast was so overwhelming that the priestess had to raise both hands, pouring even more mana into the sacred barrier.
"Aaaah—!!!"
She screamed in agony, the mana drain pushing her to the brink of death.
Pop!
The explosion's roar was so deafening that the sharp snap of a finger barely registered.
The blast and the shield dissolved simultaneously, as if commanded by an unstoppable force.
"W-What's happening!?"
The priestess looked around, noticing her mana was rapidly regenerating from an unknown source.
But before anyone could react… as the dust settled,
everyone saw the Demon Lord still standing calmly, as if the explosion was nothing more than a wisp in the air.
"You're stubborn as hell…" muttered one of the female heroes.
"Foolishly dull to the point of boredom…"
the Demon Lord said flatly.
"Relying only on the light, ungrateful to the darkness…"
"What do you mean?"
the priestess struggled to rise despite her exhaustion.
"Ungrateful to the darkness… you mean it's evil?"
"Nonsense! Such vile things only bring humanity pain and suffering…!!!"
The priestess's golden eyes flickered fiercely with rage, burning with a desire to see the Demon Lord dead and gone.
"Yes… but it is only through darkness that we change…"
For the first time, the Demon Lord smiled.
The smile seemed friendly, but it was hollow — empty of any true feeling.
The priestess's eyes widened instantly as she caught sight of the Demon Lord's inhuman smile.
Without another word, the young Demon Lord stopped smiling and turned away, walking off silently.
"Hey! Come back here!"
The cracked green-armored hero struggled to stand, shouting at the retreating figure with a mix of defiance, pain, shame, and hatred.
"Why don't you just kill us all?! You wiped out the others already…"
"That damn smile of yours… I swear I'll tear it to pieces!!!"
"You deserve to die —"
Before he could finish, the priestess gently touched his shoulder.
"Hero… that Demon Lord… he still has a heart, but…"
She lowered her gaze, unable to continue.
The young hero turned, tears of shame and defeat in his eyes.
"A heart? Hah…! What kind of monster kills people and smiles like that?!"
"I… I know…"
The priestess swallowed hard, her golden eyes flickering faintly. Silence hung between them, broken only by the breeze that stirred her blood-stained white robes.
Then, softly but clearly, tinged with sorrow, she spoke:
"That Demon Lord… he's just… been hurt by the world over and over until he had to close off his heart."
Before anything could be done, a voice echoed—not loud, but reverberating through the darkness like a black hole swallowing everything into the abyss of death.
[Ego dissolutus...
Inanis resonantia...
Lux incomprehensibilis huic mundo...
Veritatem omnium evulsam esto!
Vox quae etiam Deum surdum facit...
『Resonantia Noctis』!]
Suddenly... the bodies of all the heroes—except the blue-haired priestess—were engulfed in darkness. They saw horrifying visions of their own deaths repeated endlessly, their flesh slowly tearing apart, forcing them to scream in agony.
"Ahhh!!!"
The priestess, seeing this, immediately tried to cast healing magic, but it was useless. She then turned to medicine, only to see the same result.
She tried to support and hold onto the lives of her comrades.
"God! Please... protect them...!!!"
But one by one, the heroes perished, until only the one wearing broken green armor remained...
"No... You must not die!" the priestess screamed.
Desperately, she fought to protect the last flicker of life within the surviving hero.
Her eyes trembled, tears streaming down her face as she continued to pray for divine protection.
The hero sank to his knees, coughing blood, struggling through the pain of the haunting visions.
He weakly reached out, gently touching the priestess's cheek.
"Don't waste your healing on me... You need to run..."
"No! I can't... There has to be a way to save you!!!" she cried through her tears.
Thud... Thud...!
Footsteps approached from behind.
The owner of the steps was none other than the Demon Lord himself.
He strode back, holding a goblet of golden wine.
"Hmm... Not dead yet?" His voice was cold and mysterious.
The priestess wasted no time, preparing to cast a sacred spell.
But the Demon Lord spoke,
"Your mana's too low. If you use it now... it's you who will die."
The priestess froze.
Silence fell over the battlefield.
A gust of wind blew the priestess's white cloak, revealing her flowing blue hair cascading over her shoulders.
"Sigh... How boring," the Demon Lord broke the silence.
With a cruel smile, he stomped hard on the head of the hero whose pulse was barely beating.
"Ugh...!" the hero gritted through the pain.
The Demon Lord's hollow grin deepened as he slowly stepped back, not in a hurry, then grabbed the priestess's wrist.
"L-Let me go!" she struggled, but her strength was no match.
Her eyes trembled with fear, unsure of her fate.
The Demon Lord looked at her calmly, then glanced at her injured leg.
"Don't worry... There are plenty who need someone like you."
With that, he lifted her into his arms.
"What are you doing!?" she shouted, struggling fiercely.
"Just taking you somewhere..." the Demon Lord replied ambiguously.
The priestess kept fighting, trying to escape.
The hero, seeing this, tried to get up, but his strength was gone. His pulse grew weaker, and the visions of his repeated death under the Demon Lord's spell became clearer.
"Damn you... If there's a next life..." he spat out.
"I swear... I will kill you...!"
Before the last hero casts his death spell, he looks at the priestess and thinks back to when she first taught him magic.
"...I'm sorry we didn't have time to learn the last chapter together..."
With those cursed last words, his eyes lost their light forever.