Chapter 5
A new beginning.
That was what he told himself.
The illusion didn't even last until sunrise.
"UP! EVERYONE UP RIGHT NOW!"
A harsh voice ripped through the cold dormitory. The older boys around Ryudien immediately scrambled out of their thin beds, faces pale with fear.
Still half-asleep, Ryudien sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What's going on—"
Crack!
A whip snapped against the metal bed frame just inches above his head. He flinched violently.
"Less talking, more moving!" the overseer barked, his thick cane pointed toward the door. "The coal trucks have arrived. Every single one of you will haul sacks today. No excuses."
Ryudien opened his mouth again, still confused. "But I thought—"
The overseer grabbed his jaw roughly, forcing the small boy to look up at him.
"Listen carefully, brat. In this house, you're not children. You're an adult who works to eat. You work, you eat. You slack off…" He leaned in closer, his breath foul. "You bleed. Now get to the yard before I decide to make an example out of you."
Ryudien's heart sank as the last trace of hope shattered.
This wasn't an escape. It was just another kind of hell.
Two years passed—two years of endless labor, two years of starvation, and two years of beatings.
By the age of nine, Ryudien barely resembled a normal child anymore. His body was thin, his hands were covered in calluses, and his eyes had lost the spark that children were supposed to have.
One afternoon, while carrying coal sacks across the yard, a voice called out.
"You."
Ryudien immediately stopped.
The supervisor pointed at him.
"Come with me."
Without question, Ryudien obeyed. Disobedience only led to pain. The supervisor led him through the main building and into an office he had never entered before. Inside stood a tall man dressed entirely in black. He is Ferwel Noxes.
The moment Ryudien saw him, something felt wrong. The man's golden eyes were cold—not angry, not cruel, just cold, as though he were observing an object rather than a person.
The supervisor quickly bowed.
"This is the boy you requested, sir."
The stranger nodded.
Then he slowly approached.
He crouched down until their eyes met.
"What is your name?"
"...Ryudien."
Ferwel studied him silently. A long moment passed. Then he spoke.
"You've survived this place for two years."
His expression remained unchanged.
"Impressive."
The word sounded more like an observation than praise.
Ferwel stood and placed a pouch of coins onto the desk.
The supervisor's eyes immediately lit up.
Ryudien stared.
"...You're buying me?"
Ferwel looked down at him, a faint smile appearing on his face—one that contained no warmth whatsoever.
"I'm giving you an opportunity."
His voice was calm.
"A place where you might actually belong."
Something stirred inside Ryudien's chest—hope. Small, fragile, but hope nonetheless.
When they left the welfare house, he glanced back one final time at the gray walls and broken windows—the place that had stolen two years of his life.
Maybe...
Maybe things would finally be different.
Hours later, the carriage came to a stop deep within a misty forest. The air felt unnaturally heavy.
Ryudien stepped down cautiously.
"Where are we?" he asked quietly.
Ferwel didn't even look at him as he replied, voice calm but icy.
"A place where weak children become strong… or die trying."
Ryudien's blood ran cold.
A massive iron gate slowly opened.
GROOOANNNN—
The sound echoed through the forest as they passed through the gate, revealing an enormous hall beyond it. And inside—children. Dozens of them. Some were wounded, others sat silently with empty eyes, as if something within them had already broken long ago. Somewhere deeper in the darkness, the faint rattle of chains echoed, distant yet unmistakable.
Ryudien instinctively took a step back, but Ferwel's hand settled on his shoulder, his grip firm—cold and unyielding, holding him in place without effort.
"Welcome."
The smile on his face widened.
"It begins tonight."
Ferwel Noxes stood at the center of the hall like a king before his subjects, his golden eyes slowly sweeping across the hundred frightened children.
"There are no rules."
His calm voice echoed throughout the chamber.
"No mercy."
A pause.
"No second chances."
Silence swallowed the room.
Then Ferwel smiled.
"This is a selection."
His gaze sharpened.
"A test to determine who is worthy of becoming my subordinate."
Several children exchanged confused looks.
Then Ferwel delivered the final sentence.
"Kill each other."
The hall froze.
"Until only one remains."
The words struck like lightning.
"What?!"
"N-No!"
"You can't be serious!"
"Why do we have to do this?!"
Panic erupted instantly. Children began backing away, some breaking into tears while others begged in desperation. Ferwel simply watched them all without a trace of emotion.
"Begin."
Then the first scream shattered the air.
"Arghhhh!"
A boy collapsed to the ground, a crude knife buried deep in his chest. Standing over him was another child no older than ten, with messy green hair and sleepy yellow eyes, breathing heavily as he stared down at his fallen opponent.
"All we need to do is survive, right?" he muttered, eyes wild.
In an instant, the grand hall turned into a blood-soaked battlefield.
Screams. The sound of metal clashing. Bodies falling. Children who had never hurt anyone suddenly fought like cornered animals for their lives.
Ryudien did not kill a single person.
The moment the massacre began, he awakened his power — Clone Manifestation. He created duplicates of himself to confuse, distract, and escape. He ran. He hid. He swapped places with his clones again and again, narrowly avoiding death countless times.
By the time the sun set, the floor was painted red.
Out of one hundred children… only ten were still breathing.
Ferwel Noxes, who had been watching everything from above with crossed arms, slowly descended the stairs. His expression was unreadable.
He was supposed to have only one survivor.
But as he looked at the ten exhausted, bloodied children standing among the corpses, something shifted in his cold eyes.
A faint, almost pleased smile appeared on his lips.
"Excellent…" he murmured. Then louder, "Excellent!"
The surviving children flinched at his voice.
"I prepared this trial expecting only one of you to crawl out alive," Ferwel said, his tone carrying a rare hint of satisfaction. "But ten of you… ten of you refused to die so easily."
He walked slowly among them, stepping over lifeless bodies without a care.
"That raw, desperate will to survive… that is exactly what I wanted."
He stopped and spread his arms.
"I acknowledge all ten of you. From this day forward, you are no longer trash. You are seeds of Noxes."
But his smile turned sharp.
"Do not celebrate yet. This is only the beginning."
What followed were years of merciless training. Days without rest. Nights filled with pain. Ferwel broke them down and rebuilt them into weapons.
By the time Ryudien turned fourteen, he had officially become a full member of the Noxes Organization. Among the ten survivors, he was the last one Ferwel acknowledged — not because he was the weakest, but because he was the hardest to break.
The deep fear and trauma Ferwel had instilled in him worked perfectly. From then on, Ryudien obeyed every order, even the ones that required him to kill.
A weapon once forged and trained through blood and tears… suddenly awakened in a room wrapped in the gentle scent of warm milk, with the soft chirping of birds drifting peacefully through the window.
All the haunting memories of being Ryudien shattered the moment a pair of round eyes stared up at the ceiling.
Now, she was Elyra.
The next day, as Elyra was playing with Eldern, Damnern approached them.
"Eldern, it's time for training," Damnern said sternly.
"No! Eden can't twain today!" Elyra snapped immediately.
Don't worry, Eldern. I'll protect you from this bastard, Ryudien whispered to himself.
End of Chapter 5