Seiya's eyes flew open in shock, his chest rising sharply as if he had just surfaced from drowning. The world around him was nothing like what he remembered. Only a moment ago, he had been standing in endless emptiness, surrounded by a silence so complete it felt sacred. But now that stillness was gone.
The ground beneath his feet shuddered violently, as though some unseen force had torn through the foundation of existence itself. It didn't simply crack, it ripped, splitting like fragile paper under invisible claws.
Before he could even take a breath, the world gave way and he fell into a shapeless void that screamed with countless voices. His Origin Light burst forth in golden radiance, but the darkness swallowed it whole like a dying flame consumed by a bottomless abyss.
Then came the impact. It hit him so hard that every bone in his body seemed to rattle. The ground was slick and wet beneath him, and the air carried a heavy, metallic stench that made his lungs ache.
Pain erupted through his shoulder, and warm blood trickled down his face, blurring his vision. When he finally managed to raise his head, his breath caught in his throat.
Above him stretched a sky that pulsed with deep crimson light, its surface shifting like living flesh. There was no sun, no stars. In the distance, massive towers rose against the red sky, constructed from bone and flesh that pulsed with a rhythm like a heartbeat. Between them stretched bridges made of veins and muscle, throbbing faintly as if carrying blood through a body far too large to comprehend.
But the worst part wasn't what he saw. The air trembled with thousands of screams echoing from every direction, layering over each other until they became a single, endless wail of agony.
A sudden explosion of energy ripped through the air. He turned toward the source and froze. Less than two hundred meters ahead, a vast battlefield stretched before him. This isn't a war. This was a nightmare given form.
Monstrous shapes moved through the red haze in raw chaos. Some took on grotesque mockeries of human form, small childlike figures with too many arms, their faces stretched into unnatural smiles.
Their eyes grew in places where no eyes should be. Their torsos split open with mouths full of jagged teeth. Others were shapeless, their forms shifting like liquid flesh. Tentacles slithered endlessly, sprouting human faces across their surfaces.
They were slaughtering one another. The stronger creatures tore through the weaker with horrifying ease. Blood splattered across the ground. Then he saw them, a group of humanoid beings running through the chaos, their screams piercing the endless roar.
The monsters chased them relentlessly. One creature shaped like a child but with its face turned upside down darted forward. Its limbs were too long, each joint bending the wrong way. The creature's hands clamped around a man's head and twisted once. The sickening sound of bones breaking echoed through the haze.
A woman ran for her life. Behind her, a monster made of coiling tentacles surged forward, its many eyes glowing red. The tendrils wrapped around her legs and dragged her down. The creature pulled her into its shifting body, and her scream cut off as she disappeared.
Seiya could only watch, frozen by the horror. This wasn't a battle. This is all slaughter for those innocent souls.
"I have to leave," Seiya muttered. "I have to—"
A high-pitched scream pierced the air. He froze, his head snapping toward the sound. A small girl, maybe six or seven years old, stumbled from broken remains of a bone-like structure. Blood streamed down her arm, and her legs trembled while her eyes were wide with terror.
Behind her crawled another nightmare. It moved like a spider, but every leg ended in grasping human hands. Faces grew across its back, screaming endlessly. The creature scuttled closer, too fast for its size.
Seiya looked down at his hands and realized they were small, childlike. Somehow, in this world, his body had been transformed. His strength was limited.
But he didn't think. His instincts took over. "Fuck it!"
Golden light burst from his body, mending his broken bones just enough to move. The ground cracked beneath his feet as he leaped forward, streaking across the battlefield. The spider monster lunged for the girl, but Seiya hit it first.
The impact thundered through the air. The monster shrieked, and tentacles lashed out, striking his chest and slicing deep into flesh. Hot blood splattered across his body, and the pain was like being branded with fire, but Seiya refused to stop.
He gritted his teeth and raised his right hand. Light gathered at his palm, condensing into a blade. The golden glow formed a shimmering sword made of pure energy.
With a roar, Seiya slashed downward. The blade cut through the monster's center, splitting it in half. Black blood spilled from the wound, hissing. Seiya swung again, then again, each strike weaker but driven by sheer will.
The monster's screams faded into silence. Its body collapsed, melting into a pool of dark liquid. Seiya fell to his knees, gasping for breath. The sword of light flickered before dissolving.
"Not enough," he muttered weakly. "My strength isn't enough."
A small voice broke through. "Thank you."
He turned his head slowly. The little girl stood several meters away, shaking. Seiya forced a tired smile. "Are you okay?"
The girl gave a small nod. But as she looked past him, her eyes widened in terror. "Behind you!"
Seiya turned, but too late. Another monster loomed over him, its head twisted completely upside down. Its arms were too long, joints bending backward. The creature's hand swung forward, claws gleaming with dull red light.
All he could think was, "Again? Am I going to die again?"
The claws struck. Pain exploded across his chest like a thunderbolt. The force hurled him backward, slamming him into the jagged wall of a bone structure. Warmth spread down his body, his blood spilling far too fast.
He could taste iron in his mouth. Through the ringing in his ears, he heard the girl scream. He heard the monster's footsteps drawing near.
"Not like this," Seiya thought desperately. "I can't die like this."
He tried to lift his arm, but his body refused. Through his blurred vision, he saw the monster raise its clawed hand again.
Then there was light. Not golden, not warm, not his. The light is silver, cold and sharp, cutting through the darkness like a blade drawn from moonlight.
The monster froze mid-motion. Then its body split apart, sliced so precisely it didn't even bleed immediately. It stood still, then fell apart in perfect pieces with thick black blood erupted from its remains.
A tall silhouette stood between him and the corpse, cloaked in faint silver glow.
"What a fool," a woman's voice said softly. "What's a child like you doing in a place like this?"
Seiya tried to answer, but only blood spilled from his mouth. The woman knelt beside him. Her gloved hand pressed gently against the wound on his chest. Her skin felt cold, but it dulled the pain.
"Origin Light," she murmured. "So Father Magnus chose you. No wonder you made it this far. But if I don't help you right now, you won't last much longer."
The woman's hand began to glow with silver light with an energy flowed from her palm into his wound. His breathing eased, and his vision began to clear.
"May I know your name?" she asked quietly. "And where are your parents?"
Seiya blinked slowly. "Seiya. My name is Seiya. I don't have a mother or father anymore. They're probably gone."
The woman froze. Her eyes widened, and something fragile cracked in her expression. "Seiya?" she repeated softly, as if the name had torn open an old wound. Then tears slipped from her eyes.
She leaned forward and pulled him gently into her arms. "My name is Shimatsu Kirasaki," she whispered. "Nice to meet you, little Seiya."
Her hand brushed through his hair in a slow, comforting motion. The tenderness in that gesture made his chest ache more than the wound itself.
With a weak look, he noticed that the other monsters had vanished. Only the red sky, the fading silver light, and this mysterious woman remained. The little girl was gone too, rescued by reinforcements.
She looked down at him, then smiled faintly and tilted his chin up.
"Hey," she said warmly. "Would you like to come with me, Seiya? To fight, to become a worthy Legend?"
Seiya's eyes widened. His entire body began to tremble. The words struck him deeply. "Fight" and "worthy Legend" carried the same weight as the nightmares he had just lived through.
Tears welled in his eyes and fell. His small hands clenched tightly as his tears turned into faint particles of light that shimmered before fading.
He remembered the screams, the blood, the countless lives lost. He remembered trying to protect others, failing, falling, dying.
Kirasaki saw it all, the pain, the fear, the exhaustion, and without another word, she wrapped her arms around him again.
"Don't be afraid," she whispered near his ear. "I'll protect you. I'll stay with you until the day you can stand on your own as a true Legend, I promise."
Seiya wanted to ask who she really was, wanted to understand why her voice felt so familiar, but his body had reached its limit. Darkness crept in at the edges of his mind.
His last thoughts before losing consciousness were not of this strange world but of something else. Explosions, fire, the ringing of gunfire, and the echo of a name that didn't belong here. Seth. Who was that? And why did that name feel like it represented him?
His lips moved weakly, forming one final plea. "Please train me. Teach me to become a worthy Legend, Master."