CHAPTER 1 – CONFLICT
"To know with absolute certainty whether God existed was not truly possible for us humans.
But when the matter involved demons and angels, things changed."
On a cloudless night under a full moon, a sharp sound—like two pieces of iron colliding—cut through the cold air and echoed in the darkness.
A young man dressed entirely in black, wearing a long black coat, clashed the sword in his hand against the razor-sharp claws of the grotesque creature before him.
With every collision, sparks flew into the air, glittering like stars scattered across the sky.
Each time the young man raised his sword, the moonlight falling upon its blade seemed to split the night itself.
With a swift movement, he rolled forward and slashed deeply at the ankle of the hideous creature—half eagle, half bat in appearance.
"ARHHHHH!!!"
Letting out a shrill, ear-piercing scream, the creature took to the sky.
The young man did not lose his composure even for a second. Lowering his sword, he slowly slipped his free hand inside his coat.
A faint glimmer seeped through the fabric.
He calmly drew out his revolver and raised it toward the creature.
At first, he had intended to aim for its wings—but he realized there was no longer any need. Blood was already pouring from the creature's chest, dripping to the ground like raindrops.
The young man fired a single shot.
The winged creature suddenly lost its balance and crashed to the ground.
As it writhed in agony where it had fallen, the young man—standing with the full moon behind him—approached with slow, deliberate steps. A demonic smile curved across his face.
The bullet he had fired had struck the creature's final remaining heart. There was nothing left to be done. He swiftly ejected the empty casing from his gun and let it fall to the ground.
Without hesitation, as the grotesque creature twisted in pain, he raised his sword and drove it straight through the center of its skull. It could already be considered dead, but he had no intention of granting it even a few more seconds.
The creature's body ignited and turned to ash.
As the young man turned away and walked off, the empty casings on the ground began to glow faintly before crumbling into nothingness in the darkness of the night.
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In one of the shadowed backstreets of this crowded, noisy city stood an old building. A sign hanging above its door read: "Private Detective Agency."
To ordinary people, they appeared to deal with standard work—tracking married couples, gathering evidence for infidelity and divorce cases. But behind the scenes, they acted as intermediaries between dark entities and humans, using methods known only to themselves.
Of course, these "mediations" were often accompanied by firearms, broken bones, and plenty of blood.
The agency's front door opened with primitive silence. The young man dressed in black slipped inside through the partially opened door and let himself fall onto a wide, navy-blue couch. His exhaustion was unmistakable just from looking at his face.
At that moment, a beautiful woman with snow-blond hair and blue eyes appeared beside the couch, holding a cup of coffee. With a graceful motion, she set it down on the table.
"Zach, thank you for your services."
"You didn't tell me it could fly. I had to chase it around the mountain foothills all day just because of that."
The displeasure on his face was obvious.
"Due to the urgency of the situation, we couldn't wait for our informants to gather sufficient information. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
"I hope so, Lilith," he said, stretching his legs out onto the table and closing his eyes.
Just as he was about to drift off, a loud noise jolted him awake. Two vehicles had collided head-on in the street outside. He leapt to his feet and moved toward the front door, but Lilith grabbed his arm, stopping him. Pain and regret were written clearly across her face, as if begging him not to go.
Zach didn't listen. He pulled his arm free from her grip and sprinted toward the scene.
The area was already in chaos. Everyone who had heard the noise had gathered around.
He rushed forward to check the vehicles. One was empty. In the other, a woman was trapped inside, screaming for help.
As he checked her condition, a sound of explosion came from the engine. There was no time—the car was about to blow.
Zach hesitated for not even a moment. He grabbed the car door with both hands. Just as he was about to pull, he noticed two more pairs of hands reaching for the door.
Looking around, a brief look of surprise crossed his face.
It was Axel and Bert.
Like him, they were employees of the agency.
Together, they tore the door open and pulled the trapped woman free through the gap. After carefully carrying her to a safe distance, they disappeared from the scene before the authorities arrived. Drawing unnecessary attention was the last thing they wanted.
The three of them returned to the agency.
As the front door closed behind them, Axel turned toward Zach and roared in anger.
"Ripping a car door off by yourself—have you lost your mind?!"
He was a tall, blond, handsome man with a lean but well-built physique.
"Doing something that stupid in front of so many people—what if someone had seen you?"
"If that had happened, I'd be the only one in trouble," Zach replied angrily, turning toward him.
Axel stepped toward Zach, but Bert quickly intervened, separating them.
Zach didn't continue the argument. He returned to the couch and fell asleep.
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He was once again inside the dream.
Everything was engulfed in flames. He could feel the searing heat of the yellow and crimson fire against his skin.
A scream echoed.
How many times had he heard it now—hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions? He had stopped counting long ago.
From within the flames rose the silhouette of a woman clad in black.
It was his mother.
One arm severed, her eyes gouged out, she stared at him.
Zach didn't hesitate. He drew the sword he always carried and swung it forward.
The black-clad silhouette of his mother split cleanly in two.
This was the end of the dream—or rather, the nightmare.
Now, he could wake up.
Zach opened his eyes. Night had already begun to fall. The crimson-tinged light of the setting sun streamed into the agency.
With half-closed eyes, he glanced around.
Bert was standing nearby, working with talismans. Lilith, in another corner of the agency, appeared to be examining case files.
As Zach sat up, Lilith seized the opportunity and approached him.
"There's a new case."
Zach reached for the file in Lilith's hands and began to examine it.
"When do we start?"
"Right now."
As Zach stood and headed toward the door, he noticed Axel, who seemed to be waiting for him. Despite the tension between them, they had no choice but to work together—for themselves and for the people they protected. Just like the hundreds of times before.
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When the engine stopped, Zach looked around. They had arrived in front of an old five-story building, far from the city center.
"This is where the children disappeared," Axel said, pointing at the building through the window.
They stepped out of the car together.
"This place looks like something straight out of a horror movie they air after midnight," Zach said with a mocking smile.
Axel didn't respond. He remained serious until the very end.
Zach shrugged and started walking. Together, they entered the abandoned building.
Each step they took echoed along the corridor walls.
"According to the informant, this is the last place where the missing children were seen."
Informants, Zach thought.
They were humans scattered across the world by the Demon Hunters Union. Over ninety percent of the cases they received came through informants via the Union.
They continued through the empty corridors.
"You need to see this," Axel said, his voice laced with fear. Everything was written clearly on his face.
Zach immediately looked out the window.
There was nothing.
No surrounding buildings. No sound.
They were completely enveloped by pitch-black darkness, as if standing in the middle of nothingness.
"We've fallen into a demon's trap!"
Zach drew his sword and stabbed it into the shadow cast on the wall.
"ARCHHHH!"
A scream filled with pain echoed through every corridor of the building.
From the darkness at the end of the hallway, a voice spoke:
"Heavenly iron… how did you obtain it?"
Zach's sword had been forged from a special metal known as heavenly iron, obtained after a grueling negotiation with angels.
To humans, it was no different from ordinary steel.
To demons, it was lethal.
One of the very few things capable of harming them.
The demon's amusement had been cut short by this unexpected turn of events. It had wanted to toy with them a little longer—along with the fear blossoming in their hearts—but time was no longer on its side.
Tentacles burst forth from the shadows lining the corridor and launched an attack.
Zach deflected the strikes with his sword.
The demon had merged with the building itself.
They were now inside its domain.
Zach moved swiftly through the shadow-filled corridor. He had to find where the demon was hiding. Axel followed closely behind.
At the end of the hallway, they reached a door covered in blood-written symbols.
Zach kicked the door open.
They rushed inside.
The sight before them left them horrified.
The walls were lined with the impaled bodies of children. In the center of the room, within a pool of blood formed from their bodies, the demon danced while singing.
Zach lost control.
Roaring with rage, he charged straight at the demon.
Dark hands shot out from the shadows along the walls. Just as they were about to reach him, a burst of light from the entrance collided with the darkness.
"Hurry!" Axel shouted.
A demonic grin spread across Zach's face. He swung his sword at the demon.
His strikes landed.
The demon was thrown backward, screaming in agony.
The smile on Zach's face deepened, growing more terrifying. He took indescribable pleasure in the suffering of the helpless demon before him.
The demon darted past him and lunged toward Axel.
A fatal mistake.
Axel raised both hands into the air. The light gathering in his palms slammed into the ground.
"ARCHHHH!"
The demon's scream echoed once more.
This time, it sounded far more pleasant to Zach.
The demon was hurled backward, its body scorched and smoking as it hit the ground.
It writhed in pain.
Seizing the moment, Zach stepped forward and plunged his sword into the demon's chest.
"One in the chest, two in the right and left of the abdominal cavity…" he thought.
Demons had three hearts.
Those were their locations.
The demon, writhing on the ground, turned its crimson, rage-filled eyes toward Zach.
"HALF-BREED" it howled.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You will never enter Heaven!"
It was clear the demon took pleasure in saying it.
Zach smiled.
"Your greatest fear must be being trapped in Hell with me," he said—and pierced the demon's remaining two hearts.
As the demon crumbled into ash, Axel let out a deep breath.
As they walked out of the building together, Zach cast a glance behind him.
The light they had seen moments earlier belonged to Axel's angelic power.
Axel was an angel—at least, he had been.
"Fallen Angel" was the more accurate term.
Zach shrugged.
He had no doubt he could win a one-on-one fight against him.
Winning wasn't the question.
Whether he would survive afterward—that was far less certain.
As they continued toward the car, Axel spoke, sorrow evident on his face.
"We'll need to have the Union send people here. At least the families should be allowed to see their children one last time."
Zach said nothing. He silently opened the car door and got in.
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Back at the office, Axel went to report to Lilith. Bert approached Zach.
"How was it?"
"Routine."
"Did you kill the demon?"
"Yes."
"And the missing children?"
Zach's expression darkened.
"By the time we arrived… it was too late."
Bert lowered his head.
He was a low-level demon—but he could still mourn humans.
From the outside, he looked like a young boy.
In truth, he had already lived for over two hundred years.
Zach had sworn to eradicate all demons.
When the time came, Bert would be part of that vow.
He would be the last demon Zach killed—with his own hands.
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Night had fully fallen.
As everyone began leaving the office one by one, Lilith turned to Axel.
"Are you staying at the office tonight? I can leave you a key if you want."
"That won't be necessary. I was heading out anyway."
As Zach stepped outside, Lilith watched him from behind with a sorrowful expression.
He could feel her gaze—but he ignored it and kept walking.
The city was already wrapped in the silence of night. He continued down the empty streets until he entered an old apartment building.
He had rented a place like this simply because the rent was cheap.
He stepped inside his apartment and, after a few quick steps, collapsed onto his bed. He was more exhausted than he had expected—especially from chasing the demon through the mountain foothills earlier that day.
Those thoughts echoed in his mind as he drifted into sleep.
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Morning came.
Zach slowly opened the door to the agency and stepped inside.
At that moment, Lilith approached him.
"I know it's sudden, but you need to head out immediately for a new case."
Zach turned toward her, a strange flicker of excitement crossing his face.
"What's the case?"
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They arrived at a village kilometers away from the city.
They were supposed to meet other agency members who had arrived earlier.
Before long, they reached the meeting point.
There were two of them.
One was a young woman about Zach's age, in her early twenties—Harper.
The other was a young man slightly older than him—Eldon.
Harper was beautiful and full of energy, her long black hair tied back.
Eldon, by contrast, looked colder. There was a piercing intensity in his eyes, as though they could bore straight through a person's soul.
After a brief exchange, they began moving together.
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The village was silent.
No one was in sight.
They were nearing the village square.
Zach was in the lead, scanning the surroundings, when a gunshot rang out.
A sudden pain exploded in his chest, and he collapsed to the ground.
Before anyone could understand what was happening, several more gunshots echoed.
Zach lost consciousness on the spot.