Earth Land.
This was a world where even the air was saturated with magic power.
In this world, many special humans were born who could absorb this power.
Such people were called mages, and the strange abilities they used were called magic.
The Kingdom of Fiore was a permanently neutral nation with an extremely high population of mages.
It had 17 million inhabitants and over a hundred mage guilds.
However, not all the guilds that could cultivate so many mages were proper, official organizations…
For instance, besides the officially recognized guilds, there were also Dark Guilds, which committed heinous acts and were not accepted by the world.
Dark Guilds were like rats scurrying across the street.
Though everyone wanted them gone, they were everywhere.
On the outskirts of the historic magical commerce city of Magnolia, a dilapidated Dark Guild was established in its darkest corner.
Above the guild's entrance hung a crooked emblem, along with the guild's name: Demon of Destruction.
On this deathly still night, the miserable rain fell with increasing ferocity, splashing into the backyard of Demon of Destruction.
Filthy, muddy water flew everywhere, the chaos of the downpour seemingly capable of concealing all sins.
In the backyard, several figures were vigorously swinging something.
A few sturdy, muscular men repeatedly raised and lowered the iron shovels in their hands, shoveling dirt to fill a pit before them.
One man's movements hesitated slightly, and his voice trembled.
"If we do this… won't we face divine retribution…?"
Hearing his words, the man's companion rushed over and gave him a resounding slap across the face while cursing.
"Shut up! It's not the first time we've done this. Who's going to care if a Dark Guild kills some brat?!"
The man clutched his reddened cheek, feeling wronged.
Thunder roared in the sky and in the brief flash of lightning, his companion's face appeared utterly crazed…
The men spoke no more, silently continuing their dirty work.
Before long, the pit was filled and packed tight.
Only then did they drop their tools and flee as if escaping for their lives.
And in the pouring rain, it was as if nothing had ever happened to this patch of soft earth… Until the ground slowly began to bulge, forming a mound.
In the blink of an eye, a small, delicate hand burst out from the soil, like the restless spirit of one who had died unjustly, breaking through the earth on a rainy night, unwilling to pass on.
Time marched forward, and a grimy little boy finally struggled to climb out of the pit.
The boy's features were so caked in filthy mud that his face was unrecognizable, yet his eyes shone with an eerie and bewitching red light.
"I… can control my own body now…"
A slightly hoarse voice came from the boy's mouth, a tone hard to imagine coming from a child.
Climbing out of the pit had already exhausted all his strength.
He collapsed to the ground, letting the endless rain wash over him, forcing himself to calm his mind.
[Ankh, you're finally free!]
Inside his head, an eerie, androgynous voice echoed somberly.
The boy raised the back of his hand to shield his red eyes and murmured.
"Free… Is this real? Seram."
In truth, the boy who had just climbed out of his own grave was not originally from this world.
He came from a beautiful planet called earth.
In the prime of his youth in his previous life, Ankh had met with an accident, died, and transmigrated to this world.
Ankh had been reborn here as an orphan, but strangely, he had been unable to control his own body.
For all these years, Ankh's mind and body had been out of sync.
Moreover, a strange voice named "Seram" had appeared in his mind, keeping him company all these years.
So, although Ankh's intellect was fine, to outsiders, he was just a fool who acted on instinct.
Later, the "dumb" Ankh had begged his way to Demon of Destruction, only to be targeted by this group of savages.
Ankh was abducted by Demon of Destruction and became their cheap labor, forced to do menial tasks.
Powerless to even truss a chicken and unable to control his own body, Ankh endured the orders and curses of the Demon of Destruction mages, and from time to time, he would receive a beating that knocked him unconscious for days.
The constant, near-fatal agony meant he never knew when he might be beaten to death…
Ankh had endured those hellish days with a clear mind for two whole years.
For two years, he had lived a life worse than death!
Today, Ankh had messed up another errand and was "killed" by an enraged, drunken mage who had smashed him with a weapon.
And then… he had become like this.
[It seems that only by dying once could you become your complete self.]
The rain washed over Ankh's small face, gradually revealing his originally perfect features.
His eyes is as gorgeous as blood-red ruby that emanated a thick aura of deathly stillness.
After a long while, Ankh finally spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Seram, you once said you would help me, right?"
[You are me. There is no 'helping' or 'not helping.']
A smirk suddenly appeared on Ankh's lips, his eyes revealing an extremely crazed brutality.
"Teach me magic," he said.
"Magic powerful enough to kill them all!"
After a moment of silence, the voice in his head finally responded.
This time, its tone seemed to carry a hint of excitement, the sound like the whisper of a demon.
[With pleasure!]
....
Late at night in Demon of Destruction, every member was sound asleep lost in sweet dreams, completely unaware of the approaching tragedy.
In a crude bedroom inside the guild, the man who had been filling the pit earlier lay on his bed, his body trembling nonstop.
He tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
His roommate, unable to sleep from the noise, roared impatiently.
"What the fuck are you doing?! We just buried a kid, what are you so afraid of?!"
The man jumped in fright and said with a sob, "But I just feel like something's not right…"
His roommate scoffed in disdain.
"You had the guts to hit him and bully him, but you don't have the guts to bury him? Stop acting like some innocent saint!"
The man hesitated for a good while before sullenly crawling back under his covers.
"Are you… ready to face death?"
Just as his mind was beginning to grow fuzzy, a ghostly voice suddenly came from the doorway.
The man and his roommate were startled awake and scrambled out of bed.
But when they saw the person standing at the door, they froze in shock.
The man's face turned pale as he pointed, roaring in disbelief.
"Why..... why are you alive?!"
Ankh gave a brilliant smile, then slowly pushed the door behind him wide open.
When the two saw the scene behind him, their pupils contracted violently, and their legs turned to noodles, sending them collapsing to the floor with a thud.
Behind Ankh, a countless number of silent corpses were piled up, forming a small mountain.
"You're the last two." Ankh raised his filthy hand and a profound dark-gold light suddenly appeared at the tip of his index finger!
The two men stared in terror at the light, watching as the dark-gold glow dissipated into the air, automatically tracing a luminous circular pattern at their feet.
A magic circle? Why? Why would that beggar kid… Why was that kid a mage?!
[Super Magic: Terror… Ankh, this is your very own—Judgment Magic!]
The dark-gold light instantly enveloped the entire room as an immense power silently eroded everything.
When the eerie light faded, the only living person left in the room was Ankh.
Ankh looked at the two men that have blood streaming from their seven orifices, their faces devoid of color and speak without a trace of emotion.
"Goodbye, Dark Guild."