The wind was howling.
Lucian walked through the thick fog of the Bloodroot Forest, where the trees were twisted like broken spines and the air was sharp with the scent of ash and old magic. He had been walking for days, his feet numb, his mind torn between the pain of loss and the burden of the mission he had no choice but to accept.
His cloak was ragged, his once-white shirt now stained with grime and dried blood. The sky above was forever crimson—a cursed land where day never broke and night never fully claimed it.
And yet, there was something calling him.
A feeling in his gut that he wasn't alone.
A whisper, a pull, like gravity mixed with fate.
Suddenly, the fog parted.
And she appeared.
A small figure, standing atop a crumbled statue. Her silhouette was bathed in moonlight. Long twin-tail hair shimmered a dark red, and she wore a sleek black assassin's outfit. Her face was hidden beneath a skeletal mask, its surface etched with runes that pulsed faintly.
Lucian stopped dead in his tracks.
The girl looked no older than ten, but there was something ancient in her aura. Something broken... and wise.
"You finally came," she said, voice clear yet emotionless.
Lucian's brow furrowed. "Who... are you?"
She didn't answer right away. Instead, she jumped down from the statue and walked toward him with the soundless grace of a ghost.
"I've been waiting for someone who could change things. Someone who could save him."
"Him?" Lucian asked, eyes narrowing.
The girl hesitated before pointing to the sky. "The one who became the Demon King. My father."
Lucian's breath caught. "Your what?"
She took off the mask.
A young, delicate face. Red eyes filled with sorrow. Innocence mixed with suffering.
"My name is Seraphine. My father was once a kind man. He loved us. He built a life here. But... they took everything from him. They made him into a monster."
Lucian stood silent, stunned.
Seraphine looked up at him. "He wasn't born evil. The Church of Day—the people who were supposed to protect the world—feared his power. He had become a powerful merchant, helping people, exposing the rot within the Church."
Lucian felt his jaw tighten. "So what did they do?"
"They burned our home. Killed my mother. Tried to kill me. They slaughtered everyone he loved. Because he knew too much."
Lucian's fists clenched. "And he... turned into the Demon King?"
Seraphine nodded. "He found a forbidden scroll hidden deep inside a cave. Knowledge from another world. Not even the gods could destroy it. He read it. And it answered his rage."
Lucian looked at the girl's trembling hands. "But you're not like him."
She shook her head. "I loved my father. But... I couldn't follow him down that path. That's why I brought you here."
Lucian stared into her tear-filled eyes. "You want me to kill him?"
"No," she whispered. "I want you to save him... if there's anything left to save."
---
One Month Later
Lucian sat beneath a waterfall made of shimmering stardust, breathing in slow, measured rhythms.
His training had taken him through realms filled with demonic beasts, divine guardians, cursed souls. Every core he absorbed—whether from a monstrous lion with eyes like galaxies or a thunder lizard that roared bolts of divine fire—pushed his body to the brink.
But he endured.
He grew.
His movements became swift, controlled—every step filled with perfect precision. He no longer swung wildly. He danced through battlefields like a phantom, every strike deadly and elegant. The raw, explosive fury was gone. In its place was terrifying mastery.
He had become something else entirely.
A killer machine wrapped in silence and purpose.
---
The Encounter: Demon King's Pawn
Lucian stepped into a desolate village.
It was silent. Eerily silent.
And then, a figure dropped from the sky.
A man—mid-thirties, bald, muscles bulging like coiled snakes beneath his skin. His eyes were jet-black, glowing with a furious red hue. Veins popped on his arms and neck like a raging beast barely held together.
Lucian felt it immediately.
Demonic possession.
The man roared and launched himself forward like a missile. The ground cracked beneath him.
Lucian sidestepped, narrowly avoiding a punch that shattered a house wall behind him.
"This guy…" Lucian muttered, dodging another strike, "fights like MONSTER."
The man came in with brutal force—haymakers, kicks that tore the air, elbows meant to cave in skulls. There was no finesse. Just destruction.
But Lucian?
He ducked low, twisted his body with fluid grace, and retaliated.
A single, surgical punch to the ribs.
The man staggered.
Lucian vanished from his sight and appeared behind him, striking at pressure points, kneeing joints, twisting limbs.
He was lightning.
He was MACHINE A FIGHTING MACHINE.
A blur of technical death.
The possessed human growled like a beast and tried to crush Lucian under raw strength.
Lucian countered by grabbing his wrist mid-punch and slamming him into the ground like a ragdoll.
Dust exploded. Bones cracked.
Lucian didn't hesitate. He didn't gloat.
He punched.
Again. Again.
And again.
Until the demon inside the man screamed.
With a final precise palm strike to the chest, Lucian expelled the demonic energy from the man's body in a burst of violet light.
The man lay unconscious, breathing heavily—free.
Lucian exhaled slowly.
"I don't kill humans," he whispered.
---
The Demon King Awaits
The final steps were near.
Seraphine guided Lucian through the shattered sky temple where her father had made his throne. It was no longer a castle, but a graveyard made of shadows and blood.
And there, on the black stone throne, sat the Demon King.
Eyes sunken. Body infused with twisted veins of darkness. A crown made of bones and fire.
"You finally came," he said, voice deep, bitter, broken.
Lucian stood tall. "Xeran. Where is he?"
The Demon King laughed. "He's my feast. His blood will make me a god."
Chains rattled as Xeran hung suspended, unconscious and pale.
Lucian's eyes burned.
"Let's end this," he said.
The Demon King stood, flames licking his cloak. "You think you're a hero?"
"I'm not a hero," Lucian said, cracking his knuckles. "I'm the one who stops you."
And the final battle begins.