"Surround him!"
"Mages, cover the front line! Knights, formation flying wedge! Now!"
"Support the fallen! Hold the line!"
Steel clashed together. Arrows shattered midair. Mana roared, and yet the soldiers still couldn't push him back.
"Damn it…!" the commander cursed under his breath. How can we still be losing when the gap in numbers is this insane?
Then came the first report. "Commander! Commander! The… the first and second platoons are gone!"
Just as the Commander was about to give instructions, another voice followed, ragged with fear. "Commander—huff—huff—the second division… has also fallen!"
And then came a scream.
Raw, blood-curdling, ripped straight from the depths of a man's soul.
"AAAAAHHHH! Please, please let me go! I swear I won't—"
Slash.
Silence.
"The Warlord…!" a knight's voice cracked. "The Warlord has fallen! Retreat! RETREAT!"
The words hit harder than any blade. The Warlord, an undefeated titan, a living legend who had crushed nations under his banner, was dead. Slain. By only one man.
The commander's breath shook. How… how can this be?
If not even the Warlord could defeat him, then we never stood a chance.
Remaining Knights and commanders ran, scrambling to save their lives from that unbeatable monster.
Then a voice rolled over the battlefield. No. A command.
"KNEEL."
It wasn't shouted. It didn't need to be. The sound sank into their bones, deeper than blood, like law, like truth.
"THE BLOOD IN YOUR VEINS ALREADY KNOW IT'S MASTER ."
Like puppets with severed strings, they fell.
Every knight. Every mage. The strong, the weak, the proud, the broken. Male. Female. Young. Old. All of them dropped to their knees.
"I… I can't move…"
"My body won't listen to me!"
"What… what is this fear?"
"We—we messed with a force not meant to be reckoned with."
Screams erupted. Some clawed at their throats. Some wept like children. But all of them felt it.
Death.
Every knight, every living creature who heard that voice, who felt that oppressive aura, who sensed that bloodlust, knew it was the end.
Then came silence. A silence so heavy it pressed against their lungs, crushing, suffocating.
Until—
Burst!!!
Their bodies exploded like balloons. The battlefield became a sea of blood, flesh scattered like ash in the wind. Every creature died at that moment.
And when the dust cleared, only one figure remained. One man, standing tall amidst the carnage.
The one responsible for it all.
Just a single man.
Unmoving.
Unfeeling.
And with a voice colder than the corpses at his feet, he said…
I wonder where it all began.
The moment I enrolled into the Academy? Nah.
The day I first touched sword and mana? Not even close.
Perhaps when the world called me a genius? Hardly.
It began the night I was born.
The moment I entered this world, everyone knew that something had arrived that was never meant to exist.
I didn't cry. I didn't flail like a helpless child. I opened my eyes and watched.
Even now, they still whisper about that night. The night the heavens split. The night my father bled. The night the world lost its mana for a moment.
The day I, Kaito Bloodcrest, son of Selena Bloodcrest and Reyzen Bloodcrest, true heir of the Bloodcrest Empire, was born.
---
It wasn't supposed to rain that night.
The sky was clear just hours before, but when the bells tolled midnight, thunder split the heavens. Black clouds surrounded the moon in an instant, the storm came down heavy as if the world itself tried to wash away what was about to be born.
In that instant, all mana in the region vanished.
Not suppressed. Erased.
High priests panicked. Archmages screamed. Even beasts deep in the forest howled in confusion.
Captain Earl Elric, captain of the Royal Knights, one of the few Realmhert—the strongest humans in existence—stood atop the southern watchtower, watching everything in awe.
She felt it before she saw it. Mana was gone. The world felt hollow.
Soldiers around her clutched their chests, blinking in confusion.
"Captain! I feel.... wired"
"I...I can't feel my mana!"
"Is this perhaps… an invasion?!"
Elric narrowed her eyes toward the palace, heart pounding.
"No," she whispered. "This… this is something else entirely."
Her voice was calm, but even she felt a ripple of fear run down her spine.
This was not death.
This was birth.
Birth of something unnatural.
_______
The birthing chamber was unnaturally quiet. Candlelight flickered across the walls, casting long, dancing shadows. The smell of incense mixed with blood hung heavy in the air.
Selena lay on the bed, drenched in sweat, her silver hair plastered to her skin. She gritted her teeth as pain tore through her body again.
Beside her, her husband Reyzen Bloodcrest stood holding her hand. Even his calm presence couldn't mask the unease in his eyes.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
The midwives froze. Not a soul moved. The very air itself felt paused.
Silence. Not peaceful. Not calm. Dead.
Selena's lips parted to scream, but no sound escaped.
Reyzen's hand tightened. His golden eyes—normally sharp and fearless—widened slightly.
Whispers came from nowhere and everywhere.
"He has come…"
"The heir to ruin…"
"A god among men, or the end of them?"
The candles blew out.
The doors slammed shut.
The windows sealed.
Still, a wind rushed through like a scream from the depths of another realm.
And then—
THUMP.
Not a baby's cry.
A deep, powerful heartbeat.
Everyone gasped.
A newborn opened his eyes.
Golden. Burning. Watching.
Not confused.
Not crying.
But aware. Focused.
Too aware.
Selena stared at him in disbelief.
He didn't feel fragile.
He didn't feel human.
He felt… ancient.
Like a king born in the flesh of a child.
Selena held him close. Her arms shook.
She had expected pain, blood, and tears…
But not this.
No one dared speak.
Reyzen took a step forward and slowly extended his arms.
"I'll hold him," he said softly.
Selena hesitated… then gently passed Kaito into his hands.
And in that instant—
Everything changed.
---
The Nightmare Begins
The moment Reyzen cradled his son, his body froze.
He didn't move.
Didn't blink.
Didn't breathe.
"Reyzen?" Selena's voice cracked. "R-Reyzen!"
No response.
Maids rushed in, panicking.
"Master Reyzen!"
Still nothing.
His gaze stayed locked ahead—eyes wide, body stiff. As if he were trapped in a vision.
Varion Greaves, head butler of the royal estate, watched from the doorway, a silver tray in his hand. When he saw Reyzen stiff and unblinking, his old hands trembled.
The tray shattered to the floor.
"My gods… He's… not moving."
His voice was barely a whisper.
He turned and barked, "Get help! Sound the silent alarm!"
But then—
Reyzen moved.
Just slightly.
His eyes blinked slowly, like waking from a deep, freezing sleep.
"Reyzen!" Selena cried.
"Master!" the maids yelled.
The voices reached him.
Echoing faintly… then louder… until he gasped and stumbled back to his senses.
Everyone froze—staring.
His shirt… was drenched in blood.
A deep, slashing wound carved across his chest—fresh, real, and bleeding fast.
Selena dropped to her knees, trembling.
"N-No… Reyzen… What happened?!"
The maids collapsed into chaos. One fainted, another dropped a basin of towels, water mixing with blood across the marble floor. A third fell to her knees whispering a prayer —
"Mother Luna… protect us…"
The wound on Reyzen's chest was deep—carved like a blade had torn through flesh. His shirt was soaked red.
"Selena's voice cracked as her eyes widened,
"REYZEN! NO—NO!"
"She collapsed to her knees, clutching Kaito like he was the only thing keeping her alive."
Mella, the head maid, not understanding what's happening.
"Her hands trembled, but she kept moving—head maid or not, this was beyond anything she'd ever faced."
But she rushed forward.
"Get the royal healer! Now!"
Captain Elric stormed into the room with her sword half-drawn, breath caught in her throat as she looked at the wound on the strongest man she had ever known.
"This… this can't be happening. That thing—whatever it is—we let it be born inside the kingdom…" she whispered.
Servants chattered in panic.
"Did the demon king reincarnate here?"
"We're all going to die…!"
"The Bloodcrest line is cursed!"
"ENOUGH!"
Reyzen's voice boomed through the room, silencing everyone.
He staggered forward but stood tall, blood still dripping from his chest.
He looked around—at the knights, the maids, the captain, and finally… at Selena.
Then his voice softened.
"He's our son."
The room fell dead quiet.
Reyzen looked down at the sleeping newborn cradled in Selena's arms—his golden eyes now closed, peaceful.
"This child… Kaito… he didn't bring ruin. He brought change. And it's up to us how that change unfolds."
He knelt beside Selena, wincing from the pain, and cupped her cheek with trembling fingers.
"If we raise him with fear... if we treat him like a curse… then maybe he'll become one."
"But if we give him love, strength, and warmth…" he smiled faintly, his voice raw, "then he'll grow to be the greatest king the world has ever seen."
His golden eyes welled up. "He's not some monster, Selene. He inherited our blood. He's our son… no one else's."
Selena broke into sobs, clutching Reyzen tightly, her forehead pressed against his.
"But… your wound…" she whispered through tears.
He chuckled softly despite the pain.
"You think this is something to me?"
He pulled her close, his voice warm even through the storm still echoing outside.
"It's just a scratch to welcome our boy into the world."
"No one moved. Even the wind seemed to hush.
Swords were sheathed.
The crying stopped.
In the presence of something divine,
the only sound was the newborn's breath—
and a future being written."
Mella Vireen, the head maid, clutched the doorway with trembling hands, tears in her eyes.
She whispered to herself, "This child isn't a miracle… nor a curse… he's the beginning of something else entirely."
And she remembered the past —
One Night she overheard a conversation —
"Do you think our child will be cursed?" Selena had once whispered beneath the stars.
"Only if we raise him without love," Reyzen had said then.
And now, bleeding, he still stood by that answer.
And far above them…
In the sky that had once known peace…
The stars shifted.
Just slightly.
As if they, too, had acknowledged the arrival of something that should never have existed