Kael Avonch sat beneath a dying tree, eyes half-closed.
Sleeping.
A small girl stepped toward him, holding out a single flower with both hands.
"…For you."
Kael opened one eye.
"Thanks."
He took it.
The girl smiled and ran off, laughter fading into the wind.
In a single house that stood among many…
A candlelit chamber.
A father carved glowing sigils into his son's chest.
Dark magic spread through the boy's veins.
A horn tore through his skull.
His eyes went empty.
"Emotion is weakness," the father muttered.
"Become what I am."
The ritual ended.
CUT BACK.
Kael now stood alone.
The flower was gone.
In his hand—a folded paper.
Bounty Order.
Two names.
One location.
I wander through life like a vagabond, he thought.
A bounty hunter by trade.
They call me the strongest mage in existence.
I don't bother denying it.
THE HOUSE
A rotten estate loomed ahead.
Kael walked up and knocked.
Before his knuckles touched the wood—
A blast of mana detonated from inside.
The door vanished.
Walls cracked.
The ground split.
Inside, an old woman gripping a staff collapsed to one knee.
Her eyes went wide.
"…Impossible."
The dust settled.
Kael was still standing.
Unmoved.
One hand still raised—
About to press the bell.
"HOW DID YOU NOT DIE?!" she screamed.
Kael lowered his hand.
"Oh. That?"
He pulled open his coat.
Beneath his shirt, a second heart glowed red, pulsing violently against his ribs.
"I've got something called a Polaris Infragum."
"A spell that I made that absorbs magic and repels with the same powerful magic."
"It absorbs any kind of attack… and keeps me alive no matter what."
She rushed him with a dagger.
SLASH.
His hand was pierced.
Blood spilled.
"…You didn't feel that?" she whispered.
Kael looked down.
"No."
He pulled the blade out.
The wound closed instantly.
Flesh rewove itself like it never happened.
The half-demon boy—one horn protruding from his skull—panicked.
He ran.
And hid behind Kael, clutching his leg.
Kael glanced down.
"…Looks like bad parenting."
He looked back at the room.
At the father.
At the old woman.
The names matched the paper.
FINAL MOMENT
Kael raised his hand.
The same force that shattered the door erupted again—
This time far stronger.
The house was erased.
Stone collapsed.
Magic imploded.
The boy stood trembling in the ruins, staring at Kael in terror.
Kael looked down at him.
Silent.
Kael turned away.
"Stay here," he said."Someone will notice you. Someone will take you in."
He walked.
Two steps.
Then he stopped.
Kael glanced back.
The boy was still there.
The horn on his head was plainly visible—no shadows hiding it, no rubble covering it.
Anyone passing by would see it.
"…I can see you clearly," Kael said."So can anyone else."
The boy stiffened.
Kael exhaled.
"…You might as well come along."
The boy's eyes widened.
"You… you mean it?"
Kael nodded once.
"I'm Kael Aegis," he said."A bounty hunter. And a mage."
They began walking.
After a moment, the boy spoke again.
"…You didn't use a wand."
Kael glanced at him.
"Didn't need one."
"How?" the boy asked. "Mages need catalysts."
"I didn't," Kael replied."I made myself a skill when I was young."
The boy stared at him, stunned.
"…Can you teach me that too?"
Kael didn't answer immediately.
His gaze drifted forward, but his thoughts moved elsewhere.
He had felt it during the fight.
The boy's body wasn't just altered—it had been prepared.
A vessel.
The ritual wasn't meant to make a simple demon.It was meant to house something greater.
A Demon King.
Fortunately, it had been interrupted.
The power inside the boy was incomplete.Dormant.
But still there.
And along with it—
Regeneration.An abnormal one.
If the boy survived long enough, it would bloom.
Kael looked down at him again.
He won't die easily, he thought.And he won't slow me down.
"…What's your name?" Kael asked.
The boy hesitated.
Then—
"Taniel," he said."Taniel Dracian."
Kael nodded.
"Alright, Taniel."
They kept walking.
No promises.No reassurance.
Just two figures moving forward—
One who could not die.And one who was never meant to live as human again.
Kael had always believed demons were nothing more than liars wearing human words.
They spoke gently, mimicked concern, even begged—but it was all imitation. They could communicate, yes, but empathy was something they fundamentally lacked. To demons, sympathy was just another hunting tool.
That was why he needed to be sure.
He needed to know whether Taniel was still human.
"My name is Kael Avonch," he finally said, his voice flat, giving nothing away.
He led Taniel to a nearby guild. Inside, a clerk slid a paper across the counter—another request, another nuisance. Kael barely glanced at it before the warning followed.
A goblin village had been overtaken.
Orcs.
Fifty soldiers, at least.
Goblins were being killed one by one. Every force that tried to intervene had been wiped out. The guild advised showing a guild badge and walking peacefully—if they wished to survive.
Kael scoffed.
"I wouldn't do that anyway," he replied coldly. "It's not my job."
He turned and walked out.
They reached the village by dusk.
The smell hit first.
Goblin bodies were piled like discarded meat, limbs twisted unnaturally, blood soaked into the dirt. There was no resistance anymore—only aftermath.
Only one family remained.
A husband, a wife, and a child—cornered, shaking, alive solely for the amusement of the orc leader.
Taniel froze.
"…Kael," he said quietly. "We have to do something."
Kael didn't even look at him.
"Just walk," he replied. "Don't involve yourself."
They took a few steps.
Then Kael noticed something was wrong.
Taniel was gone.
A sharp crack split the air.
Kael turned just in time to see a whip tear through space—aimed straight at the goblin woman.
He moved without thinking.
The whip struck him instead.
Pain flared—but only for an instant.
The wound closed before blood could even fall.
The orc leader laughed.
"A failed creature," he sneered. "Neither human nor demon. A thing that belongs nowhere."
He gestured lazily.
"Kill him."
An orc soldier lunged.
Kael grinned.
The strike meant to kill rebounded as if it had hit an invisible wall—then snapped back with terrifying force, crushing the attacker instantly.
Taniel knew immediately.
Polaris Infragum.
The orc leader's expression changed. His eyes narrowed as mana began to leak from Kael's body—raw, dense, unmistakable.
Orcs could see mana.
"Kill him!" the leader roared. "All of you!"
Kael sighed.
"I don't even need magic for this."
A portal opened beside his hand.
He pulled out a spear.
What followed wasn't a battle—it was slaughter.
Fifty soldiers fell.
Bones shattered. Blood soaked the earth. Kael moved with brutal efficiency, expression unchanged, no wasted motion, no mercy. By the time it ended, nothing was left standing.
Nothing—except the orc leader.
Maleus stared into Kael's eyes.Those snake like eyes—He remembered it!
A battlefield drenched in blood.
A child—twelve years old—standing alone.
Ninety percent of an army erased without effort.
The Demon King Arzith's Third Wing lay in ruins.
Maleus had been larger, stronger, older—yet he had been the one on the ground, begging.
And the boy had looked down at him.
"You're not worth my time."
Then he had walked away.
Rage twisted Maleus's face.
"I—Maleus, Commander of Arzith's Third Wing—will kill my ruler's murderer!"
He unleashed everything.
A spell powerful enough to erase a city block.
Kael didn't move.
Polaris Infragum absorbed it.
Then returned it.
Maleus died screaming.
Silence followed.
The goblin family fell to their knees, thanking him through tears.
Kael turned away.
As they left, Taniel hesitated.
"Teach me that spell," he said. "The item bag."
Kael nodded.
"I will."
Behind them, the goblin husband whispered in awe:
"The hero who's team was brutally killed… the one who faced the Demon King's army alone… the one who survived when everyone else died…"
"The great Kael Avonch."
Kael didn't respond.
He never did.