Location: Earth – Time: Unknown
In the heart of a ruined city, the debris burned with intermittent flames, and black smoke rose to shroud a crimson sky.
The shattered buildings stood like silent ghosts, their broken glass reflecting the glow of the fires, while the ground was covered with charred stones and scattered corpses.
In the center stood a man with azure hair, holding a sword ablaze with azure flames that emitted a strange hum.
Each drop of blood sliding off its blade hissed as it touched the cracked earth.
His eyes were closed, calm, yet his unsettling aura made the air tremble.
Suddenly, the sky shook violently, and magical portals with glowing purple edges tore open, emitting sounds like distant thunder.
Gleaming spaceships of cold metal emerged, surrounded by soldiers flying on flying swords, their armor clanging in the ash-laden winds, their faces pale with a mix of awe and fear.
The man opened his eyes, their azure glow piercing through the army before him, radiating a quiet threat.
A faint smile crossed his lips as he concealed his sword in a ripple of the void.
The void split open directly in front of him, and a woman with snow-white hair appeared.
Her white sword gleaming with pure light.
"Surrender, Immortal Emperor! No matter how many you kill, you won't leave this place alive!" she spoke with anger and hatred, pointing her sword at the man, her eyes glowing with intense malice.
As soon as she finished, the army behind her shouted, "Surrender, you cursed demon!" Their voices were laced with fear.
The faint smile on his face slowly faded, replaced by a shadow of cold rage.
"DEMON?" he said in a calm yet chilling tone, heavy with cold anger. "You killed my entire family! You killed my disciples, took everyone I loved, and you call me a DEMON?!"
His eyes flared, and the bodies of the weaker soldiers began to explode, turning to ash that scattered in the wind.
The remaining soldiers recoiled, their faces pale, their hands trembling on their enchanted swords.
The woman with snow-white hair, standing at the front of the army, tightened her grip on her white sword, her eyes gleaming with hatred as she rushed forward to stop the Immortal Lord.
The spaceships began targeting him, firing missiles in his direction.
His eyes glowed brighter, and he slowed time itself!
Smiling as he moved his hand slightly forward and snapped his fingers.
The snap produced a massive echo, obliterating all the spaceships and shattering every purple portal in the sky.
The woman vomited blood, collapsing to her knees from her injuries.
The man approached her slowly, his angry smile unwavering. "Where was your justice and honor when my entire family was killed? Where was your damned justice when you decided it was better to destroy Earth?!"
He lifted her with one hand, staring into her eyes.
"Tell me! Where is it? You speak of pride and greatness, but you are all nothing but filthy scums! You talk of protecting the weak, yet you exploit them!"
He laughed more hysterically as he looked at her. "Since you want me to be a demon, so be it."
He tightened his grip, and her body exploded. He unleashed his aura, enveloping the entire space, annihilating every living being within it.
"Stop," came a soft feminine voice from behind him, delicate as the wind yet carrying a mysterious authority.
He turned to see a girl with long golden hair, wearing a white robe that glowed faintly, as if she were a specter from another world. Her golden eyes looked at him with deep sadness.
"Azure, this is enough... please, killing them all won't bring Earth back," she said with sorrow and despair, gazing at him.
Azure retracted his aura, staring at her. "It won't bring Earth back, but it will make those who did this regret it!"
She looked at him with pity. "And what's the point? Don't you see that this will truly make you look like what they want you to be? You can't take the wrong path just because your enemies are wrong."
Azure stared at her for a few seconds, then spoke in a cold voice. "It doesn't matter. It won't make much difference! The wicked need someone worse than them to stop them."
The girl sighed deeply, her eyes glowing with a deeper golden light, and the shape of a massive clock began to form within them, its hands moving slowly as if with a will of their own. She looked at Azure and spoke calmly, her face bearing the shadows of unshed tears.
"It seems I can't convince you. No matter... I promise you, I will try to prevent this from happening again."
A massive clock appeared behind her, made of glowing golden light, its hands emitting a low hum as if shaking the fabric of reality.
The hands began to turn backward, and the ground around them warped, as if time itself were retreating. The girl closed her eyes, her hands clasping together as she muttered a mysterious incantation.
Azure moved with lightning speed, appearing before her in an instant, but an invisible shield glowing with golden light stopped him ten feet away.
He began using all his power to push forward but failed.
His eyes blazed with azure fire, his hand extending to challenge the shield.
Delicate, thread-like auras seeped from his fingers, absorbing the shield and surrounding it with azure light. The shield began to crack.
Azure advanced slowly, each step as if walking against the current of time itself, his face contorted with pain and madness.
Mysterious images began to appear in the space around them: memories of a thriving Earth, the faces of his family, his friends, then scenes of its destruction.
He drew closer until he was just three feet from the girl, his hand reaching for the golden clock, his aura absorbing its energy, causing the hands to tremble violently.
The girl suddenly opened her eyes, shock clear on her face. "Stop!" she screamed, her voice trembling with terror as she tried to push him back, but Azure roared with rage, his hand glowing with azure fire, attempting to absorb the clock.
Suddenly, a wave of golden light erupted, engulfing everything.
Azure felt his mind being sealed, as if a massive force was trying to bind him, a mysterious seal enveloping his consciousness.
His eyes dimmed slowly as he fell into an endless darkness.
The girl vanished into the light, leaving the ruined city to collapse in eerie silence.