Prologue: The Wandering Soul
Azaka Kagenou, 5 years old, a boy, was adopted by the Kagenou Family when Mr Kagenou found Azaka wandering around in a forest aimlessly.
In truth, he's actually reincarnated into this world, as if he materialized in this world.
He claims he is the boy who lost his memories, he can't recall what happened to his original family and anything else that made him lost in a forest. Feeling pitied, Mr Kagenou adopted him to the family so that he can have a place to call home.
Azaka, who is faking an amnesia, is welcomed openly by the family as they treat him nicely. He was surprised by this but he felt grateful for the treatment, especially for someone like him.
Azaka has an adopted older sister, her name is Claire Kagenou, who treats him like her own brother and keeps bothering him since she's 2 years older than him.
When Azaka turns 10 years old, he starts to play with magic where he discovers that his magic is not the same type that the people in this world has, his magic is a set of Noble Phantasms from his favourite series in his previous life.
Feeling happy, Azaka wants to use them but he can't use any strong ones because he lacks the energy for them. In short, he lacks fuel.
Still, he is happy that his magic is the one from which he has the most knowledge.
Azaka is very smart, for someone who has amnesia, he is way ahead of the curves around everyone.
While he lacks his swordsmanship skills, the Noble Phantasms that he has certainly makes up for it.
In fact, Azaka keeps avoiding sword training with his sister by coming up with excuses.
However, Claire is not satisfied so she bothers Azaka as revenge. She is both skilled and strong in muscles, so Azaka can't repel her even if he wants to.
One day, Azaka was roaming around the forest and he found a group of bandits hiding near the ghost town. He has heard the rumours about bandits around the area, so he immediately assumes these are the same people.
He wanted to walk away and pretend that he didn't see them, but an idea appears in his head, which is about using the bandits as test dummies for the Noble Phantasms he has.
Sure enough, he scrapped the idea of walking away and started preparing himself to face the bandits.
At the ghost town late into the night, there are a few lights in the darkness. The thieves seem to be having a feast to celebrate their robbing of merchants.
Thieves aren't good at planning, they immediately squander what they steal, which means they only have something decent right after a successful attack.
Azaka saw the loot the bandits have, it's more right to call it treasure because the amount from what he can feel in a single glance is high.
While it is tempting to take all of it, Azaka decides to not be selfish since it goes against his morality but he needs more funds to do more experiments so he might take a fraction of it.
This is how he will get the funds to do more experiments, which means more concepts that he can create.
The bandits are camping around a huge bonfire, Azaka calmly walks towards them as he crashes their feast, by freezing the bonfire into a solid object.
The bandits are surprised by this, they turn back to see him who is just standing there with his hands on his back.
"Good evening, gentlemen. I hope I am not being a bother, am I?" Azaka grins.
"Wh-Who the hell is this tiny dude?!"
Azaka simply smiles, since he's just 10 years old, it's only natural that he is short.
The other thieves finally draw their weapons. "Hey, we ain't gonna hold back, you bra-"
Azaka opens the Gate of Babylon, 10 portal-like gates appear around him and shoot out a barrage of blades such as swords, knives, spears and axes towards the bandits.
The bandits were panicking, some of them tried to run away but Azaka mainly targeted the ones that were trying to escape. He mostly targeted their limbs so that they wouldn't get away, but most of them were hit on the head by the flying blades.
But, there is one who survives, he looks like a leader, but he's shaking and lost confidence after seeing his attacks.
"W-W-Who are you…?" The man asks, his tone is a mixture of fear and surprise of what just happened.
"Just a meddler"
A flying knife hits his head, killing him instantly as Azaka turns away from him and walks towards the loots.
Azaka rummages through the loots, he sees a bunch of painted pictures, sculptures and statues.
"Artwork? I can't sell that. Hard pass on food. Come on. Where are the cash, jewels, and precious metals?"
There are several carriages' worth of spoils. And many dead merchants, possibly the people that owned these loots before the bandits took them.
"I've avenged you. Now you can rest, knowing your treasures will be put to good use. I hope you make it to heaven" Azaka gathers his haul and prays in silence.
He found about five million Zeni. One Zeni is more or less equal to one Japanese yen. Gate of Babylon already has treasures in it, so he doesn't need them. In fact, he's planning to donate these to a charity.
As Azaka gathers everything that he can take, he notices there's a cage around his size that is barely covered by a white sheet.
"Is that… A cage? It looks sturdy and pretty big. Did they have slaves? Wait, I can't take anything that I can't trade for cash" Whispers Azaka to himself, but his mind pushes him to check it out.
With curiosity, he walks towards the cage and takes the sheet off to see a mound of rotting flesh inside. Its shape is bubbly, but it still has humanoid figures such as heads and limbs.
"This is…" Azaka thinks for a moment, he shows zero reaction towards the flesh as he simply stares at it carefully.
Then, he notices that the flesh is moving. Though, just slightly. Which means this is a living being, not a corpse.
He can already tell it is probably human, but he has no clue as to its age or gender.
But, he knows it's alive. It might also even be conscious. He peers into the cage and the flesh jolts all of a sudden, reacting to his movements.
Then, he remembers something.
"I see, so this is the "possessed", huh?"
The Church executes these creatures. They are called the "possessed". They're born as normal humans until their flesh rots out of nowhere, fated for death. But the Church goes out of its way to purchase them, executing them in the name of purification.
They claim they're exorcizing the demons, but they're really just murdering the sick. Though the ignorant masses applaud and praise them for keeping peace on earth. Just as what the Middle Age people would do, this is certainly a mark of Europe.
He could get a lot more Zeni than this entire load of spoils if he were to sell this to the Church, but that's pointless to say since he can't sell it. Mainly because he stole this from the bandits who stole it from another, it would just make things more suspicious.
Azaka examines the flesh, he looks around it as he notices something.
This mound of flesh contains an abundance of magic, the amount is beastly. Azaka can sense its wavelengths, which are the effects of a magical overload.
"I guess a magical overload must be the reason this turned into a pile of flesh"
He did his research, he has complete control of magic so he can tell the reason why this flesh is like this is because the body can't endure the amount of magic it has.
Magic has certain effects on the body, its main use is enhancing body parts and anything that is on contact within a touch. But, there are also other types of magic around like his Noble Phantasms.
Azaka uses the other types of magic, since it is about new sets of powers, not just about enhancing.
He could sense its potential to raise his tolerance for magic and allow him to handle more of it, but it would be too dangerous to induce a magical overload.
Azaka thinks for a moment, the cold breeze of night hits him, though the area is already cold because of the midnight time.
Then he remembers that he has something that he could use, he doesn't know if it will work or not but it is worth a try.
He breaks the lock with tools from the Gate of Babylon, breaking it apart and letting the corpse hit the ground. It keeps moving, but it can't walk, crawl or run so it just moves around in the same space.
He searches for a healing potion inside of the Gates, he takes a bottle of green liquid out and pours a drop on it as yellow light appears.
The light spreads all over the flesh where it slowly turns the skin, the head, the limbs to a normal, healthy condition.
Once the body has turned into a complete human figure, he puts the bottle back inside as he looks at a blond Elf girl that is around his age and has a surprised look as she looks at her hands.
"To think that stinking pile of flesh is a cute girl, I was honestly impressed" Azaka tells himself as he smiles. "Hey there, are you alright?"
The girl looks up to him, still surprised. "I.. You cured me"
Azaka covers her body with the white sheet, she may not have noticed that she was butt naked. "That's right, I suppose I did" He lets out a small laugh.
"But how!? My body was almost completely rotten, you just cured it just like that!?" The Elf looks at him with wide eyes. "I… I can't thank you enough for this, I don't even know how to express my gratitude"
"It's fine, I was just testing it out, really" Azaka waves his hand. "So do you have any home?"
The girl looks down, shaking her head. "I don't. But, I will devote my entire life on repaying you, who saved me"
Azaka analyzes her as he stares at her beautiful big blue eyes, a single glance is enough to tell that she's a natural beauty since she's an Elf who has pale white and soft skin, cute sharp ears, attractive eyes, a natural beauty.
But what Azaka is looking for is not her appearance, but her inside. Her mentality, knowledge and talents, he's checking all of them though her eyes as he stares at her.
She doesn't strike him as the type to betray and she seems smart, there's also something about her that makes him suspect she has too much talent.
Even though she's also 10 years old, she's more than enough proof that Elves develop faster mentally than humans.
Azaka nods to himself, making up his mind. "Very well then, what's your name?"
"I don't have one, I can't remember it" The Elf said in a lower tone.
"Can't remember, huh?" Azaka recalls that he also claims that he has amnesia that makes him forget everything before he was adopted by the Kagenou Family, he looks at her.
At the same time, he remembers something that he heard back then as he realizes that he can achieve what he's after.
"How about you choose your own name first, I actually have something for you"
The girl looks at him in confusion, but does not question him as she thinks for a name.
"Alpha… Alpha, that would be my name" The girl said, Azaka nodded.
"Understood, so you're Alpha. From today onwards, you will be a part of my team"
"Team?"
"Yes, a team. To put it simply, a secret team that will prevent the resurrection of the demon, Diabolos" Azaka tells her.
"Demon Diabolos?" Alpha cocks her head in confusion.
"I'm sure you've heard of him. You know, the stories of long, long ago. Diabolos brought our world to the brink of destruction when three brave warriors. A human, an Elf, and a therianthrope also known as beastkin, teamed up to destroy him and protected the world"
"I have heard of that. But isn't that just a fairy tale?"
"No, it really happened, a real event. But the truth is way more complicated than that" Azaka gives her a serious look. "Just before the heroes slayed the demon, with his very last breath, he puts a curse on them, which is known as the Curse of Diabolos"
"The Curse of Diabolos? I've never heard of that before"
"It's the curse of the "possessed", the very disease that ravished your body" Azaka tells her. "Which goes without saying, you are one of the descendants"
"What? No way.." Alpha's bug-eyed is in horror.
"The descendants of the heroes have suffered from this illness. Back in the day, the Curse of Diabolos used to be curable. Just like yours"
No one would believe that Alpha was possessed until recently, her smooth and unblemished skin is the evidence.
"Cures were no doubt, erased. You know, the possessed used to be lauded, appreciated, and protected in the past"
"But no one appreciates us anymore, let alone, curing us.. Wait, does that mean-" Apha trails off, screwing up her face as she realizes.
"Yes, there's someone out there who twisted the history. Erasing the truth about the lineage of the possessed and hiding the cure from the cursed. What's worse, these people were praised because the public didn't know the truth" Azaka told her.
"N-Ngh!! Who would do such a thing?!"
"Those who scheme to resurrect Diabolos. That's because those with the curse carry the bloodline of the heroes and high levels of magical energy. In other words, they serve as a major military force for us. On the flip side, they're a nuisance for evil"
Alpha looks on the ground. "Which is why we're called the possessed and disposed of…"
"Exactly. You lost your hometown and family, you forgot everything you had, all because you've been accused of committing a false sin. A true veil of an act"
"Yes, there's no way I wouldn't find them absolutely detestable"
"Which is why I came up with an idea, to stop them. But, no one believed me. Plus, there is also a chance that they will go after me and my loved ones because I know the truth" Azaka said. "That is also why I formed this secret team, a team that will fight for truth under the night"
"A secret team.."
"The Cult of Diabolos, that's our enemy. They only work behind the scenes, which is why we must conceal ourselves, too. Lurk in the darkness and hunt down the evil"
"I'm guessing they've gotta be formidable if they have enough say to pull the strings behind the scenes. Which means that our enemies hold positions of power in politics, to make people under their control don't know the truth" Alpha comments.
"Yes, it may be risky, it may be dangerous. Our journey may be perilous, we might as well become the enemy of the world" Azaka extends his right hand to her. "But we must go forward, for the better future of the world. Are you with me?"
Alpha takes his hand without hesitation. "If that's what you want, then I'll devote my life to it"
Alpha stares at him with her intense blue eyes and smiles defiantly. Her face is lovely even in its youth and filled with determination and resolve.
"Like me, many others who have the noble blood forsaken to die because the truth is hidden. That can't be allowed! We'll punish the sinners with death" Alpha said.
Azaka smiles at her spirit. "Right. I almost forgot. The name of this organization.. Hmm.. Shadow Garden! The Shadow Garden, flowers in battlefield who knows the secret of light in darkness"
"That's an interesting philosophy… The Shadow Garden. That's a nice name"
"I know, right? It's a grand title, at least I think it is. This is the very moment the Shadow Garden and the World's greatest enemy, the Cult of Diabolos, is born" Azaka continues.
"That aside, you need to train, Alpha. You're the second member, so you will be the second in command. I will act as the main force in battle, but you've got to get stronger to wrangle the enemies, too" Azaka tells her. "I guess we can start by wielding our magic and practicing sparring with each other"
"I know. We've got a tough enemy on our hands. I have to raise the bar for myself"
"I will teach you everything you need to know, so prepare for it" Azaka changes the subject.
"Understood! And we have to find other descendants of heroes and protect them"
"All in moderation" Azaka said with a smile.
"Um, what's your name?"
Azaka laughs. "Oh right, I haven't told you that. I'm Azaka Kagenou, you could call me Semvoid, that should be my codename"