Chapter One

Endoba.

A world ruled completely by magic where both humans and magical monsters co-exist. And without magic, this world would not be able to survive. Everything was made out of magic. The buildings, the plains, the sky and even the items that were used for our daily needs.

It was said that in the past, magic was non-existent and there was nothing such as dragons or wyverns.

The citizens also had no counter-measure against the 'demons', beings with a grotesque form and terrifying strength that is feared by the people of Endoba, which plagued this world.

It was only after the appearance of the God of Magic did magic take over the life of this world. People were then able to protect themselves as well as explore the entire world and gain the basic necessities to live in this world. Legends say that the God of Magic was the only true omnipotent God in this entire world and most worshipped him.

However, there were a few exceptions.

After the appearance of the God of Magic, it was rare to see anyone who had no control over magic in this world. And those who don't are always shunned by the society, being forced to live life under the harsh treatment of the majority.

Because of this, those without magic started to form their own power. The power of Stance which utilizes the 'Kai' within oneself. This power was formed specially to counter those with magic and those who use magic are unable to use this form of power as combining both 'Kai' and magical energy would result in destroying their own bodies.

In the best case scenario, they will either go berserk, attacking anyone in sight, or, in the worst case, become a 'demon'.

With this, those without magical powers were able to fight back, creating their own nation and attaining independence. This, of course, angered the users of magic and they waged war against the 'Kai' users.

To them, it was an atrocity to allow people to lose faith in the God of Magic or even go against him.

'Kai' users, magicians, demons. These three forces clashed in the war which would soon be known to the future generations as 'The Forbidden War', a war which was forbade from being ever talked about.

Yet, even after so long, the war showed no sign of stopping. Even with a power to counter magic, the 'Kai' users were only a few compared to the magic users and even with numbers, the magicians were not able to beat the 'Kai' users.

There is also the problem of demons attacking both sides, weakening their forces, disallowing them to go to battle against one another.

The war raged on and on. Men going to war to never come back, families being broken, villages pillaged.

Everyone suffered from this war, yet some profited from it. Countries fell, one after another, either due to the war or a revolt from their harsh treatment towards their citizens.

Citizens and nobility alike rebelled against lords or dictators whom they deem unfit to rule and death became more commonplace, due to the never-ending strife within the countries. With everyone taking up arms and fighting against one another, things only got worse from this point forth and their hatred towards one another only grew.

It was truly an age of chaos for the people of Endoba, with no side gaining an upper hand against another. All in all, everyone wanted the war to end.

And in this situation, who do you think has the highest advantage in this war?

Of course, it would be those who feed upon the negative emotions of this humans.

Yes, the demons.

Because of everything that had happened, the demons were able to harness energy strong enough to destroy both 'Kai' users and magicians. And with both sides being at opposing ends against one another, they were easy pickings indeed.

With their limitless power source, the demons began to seek and destroy humanity, crushing those who oppose them and corrupting any humans they deem worthy to join their ranks.

It was only when they were at the point of extinction did both 'Kai' users as well as magicians join together to fight against the demons.

Even when both sides still distrusted each other to an extent, they managed to fight back, driving back the demons and saving what few towns and villages they had left. They also led expeditions, seeking out whatever land that was uncorrupted by the demon invasion and settling there. Truly, the citizens of Endoba finally saw a glimpse of hope in this age of chaos.

Nonetheless, their victory was short-lived.

In one of their most important expedition, soldiers who were elite fighters who had survived many encounters with the demons, and those who had many achievements within the war infiltrated the heart of the demon territory in the hopes of finding out their weakness.

And to their joy, they found the one and only weakness of the demons. It was their 'source' as well as their 'life'.

The one and only ancient Demon Lord, Riapse.

But its name was the only useful information that could be heard from the only survivor of that expedition.

Nobody knew what had happened inside the lair of the demons. The only thing they did know was that whoever they met there was powerful enough to send one of their most elite soldier into such a fright that the only words he could mutter was, "It wasn't me… It's that… that thing's fault…!" In addition to it, the soldier went berserk and murdered four people before he was put down.

This incident made the citizens panic. And even though the rulers were quick to put down the situation, there was still unrest. What could possibly put one of their most elite soldier into such a sorry state?

To add on, the demons started to attack relentlessly, pushing back the humans and cornering them.

With this, the citizens of Endoba grew more uneasy with each passing day. Even if they were to try and resist the demon invasion, more would follow the next day, over-running them.

It got to the point where everyone could only think of themselves and grew further into what gave the demons strength in the first place. Despair.

Left with no other options, the lords put together what was left of their army to repel the demons, even if they knew that they had no hope to stand up against the demons. One could say that the kings were only sending in a squadron to their own demise, knowing full well that nothing but death awaits them.

And needless to say, the soldiers were completely overwhelmed by the number of demons and could not even inflict a single blow to their forces.

And it was only during their final stand did a new sign of hope appear.

In the midst of the one-sided slaughter, he stood in front of the few soldiers that were left, facing the demons and holding onto a giant bright, white scythe. The soldiers were surprised at the sudden appearance of this mysterious entity but soon, more followed.

Appearing beside him without so much as a sound, a man and two women stood there. They were bare-handed and dressed simply, like any other commoners' clothes you could see anywhere.

The four of them said nothing and just charged into the horde of demons.

The soldiers could only watch on helplessly due to their injuries. They knew that they had to stop them. It was a soldier's job to protect citizens after all.

But inside their hearts, they could feel themselves cheering for the four. This feeling was not like any emotions they had felt before. It was a feeling that they had lost a long time ago. A feeling where they knew they would be safe if they were to leave everything up to the four of them.

This was the tale told by the few surviving soldiers to their kings. The kings could not believe their ears when they heard it. However, they could not disown the fact that they knew these soldiers were not able to repel the demon invasion by themselves as well as why the demons had not attacked them for days like they usually do.

Taking this into account, some of the kings sent men to search for these mysterious four beings. They used everything in their power to search for them, but came to no avail. Even so, they couldn't give up. These four were their only hope if they wanted to survive.

Then as if to answer their hopes, the boy with the giant scythe appeared before them during one of their meetings.

To enter their meeting room, even with magic, one had to pass through countless barriers as well as guards and traps. Needless to say, this sudden appearance took the kings by surprise and none of them could react in an appropriate manner befitting of their position. This amused the mysterious boy and they could hear him chuckle.

And as to his appearance, the kings could only describe him with one word.

'God'.

With light that seemed as though it came down from heaven, the boy sat there, his back holding a giant bright white scythe.

"Greetings," the boy greeted them, seemingly unconcerned with what the kings were thinking about him. "I am here to save all of you."

End of Prologue