Caesar Ryozen is from a hidden village south of Hollow World. He is often described to be a wise man. Living the life of a mercenary from a young age, Caesar was often thought to be immortal for taking on many impossible tasks and always coming back alive, although the rest of his compatriots are never that lucky. Either they were too weak or Caesar has the luck of the devil, he often grieves over the loss of his friends (allies).

Only Gerald Killeway and Nocturne Mallory were the ones that stayed around the longest. Given the fact that those two were stronger than Caesar, he still doubted whether they would stay alive. Such situations where an individual sees their allies die on their watch tend to twist the psychology of a person altogether. In such a case, Caesar began to develop thoughts of his abnormal luck to also be a curse, hence his title, Cursed Sword Saint, a moniker he accepts wholeheartedly.

Truthfully, having abnormal luck is not always a pleasant experience, though, the share of unfortunate events is something to even the balance. Not one soul is ever that lucky. Something is given and something is taken at the same time. The balance of Ying and Yang - light and darkness.

When Caesar crossed paths with Gerald and Nocturne, there was hope that this group would be the one to make it out no matter what. Turns out, he had gotten more than what he asked for. Talk about the luck of the devil.

The Cursed Sword Saint began to shed doubts of his cursed existence that if anyone were to be grouped with him, they would die at a certain time. After years of traveling the land and seeing comrades die time after time, he could now let go of the past and live in the present. Such thoughts empowered him to levels he thought not possible to reach.

Clang! Clang! Sounds of blade clashing echoed the cursed wasteland. Caesar, the Cursed Sword Saint displayed refined movements, reducing extra steps causing fatal attack damage. As for Demon Lord Yoshitada, he parried most of Caesar’s attacks, however, some backlash damage was taken as multiple skills were employed by the Cursed Sword Saint. This has been going on for several nights now.

What the hell?! He suddenly got stronger! Thought Yoshitada.

Clang! Caesar pushed the Demon Lord a few paces away. “Where did you get this power from?!” Questioned Yoshitada.

“From the power of the people waiting for me to return home,” Caesar replied.

“Bah! You mean that backwater of a village that knows nothing but stagnation?!” Demon Lord Yoshitada scoffed, holding disdain in his tone when the word “home” was mentioned.

“No. We have long abandoned such a place. Home is where the Lord Vicegerent has accepted my people to live out the rest of their lives.”

(Author’s note: referring to Omen City which used to be a debased village.)

“Kuku! You jest, nephew? Your father thought we should hide from the world when I thought we should go to the light!”

“That is the way no longer. We now have a liege we can call our Lord!”

Sinister Chuckle. “To have abandoned our ancestral homeland and to submit to some foreign king… How have the Ryozen Clan fallen?”

Crack! Suddenly, sounds of cracking were heard loudly. It was Caesar producing hellfire flames from his Odachi, Cursed Grip.

?! “H-How can you produce the flames of hell?!” Yelled the Demon Lord.

“A gift when I helped the young master conquer the Tomb of Calamor!”

“...” Yoshitada looked to be thinking for a second. “Indeed? It was you who conquered Deluc’s dungeon. To think that it was you. Now I know why you are so confident! Kaaa!” Demon Lord Yoshitada unleashed a Demon Lord-level skill.

Aura Techniques: [Skill - Illusion Specter Darkness Blade] Illusion Sword Rain- A two-handed technique that swings Murasame downward with the strength to cut castles. Produces mirages of the user as if multiple Sword Rains were deployed. Rank: EX Proficiency: 110%

CLANG!!!! Echoes of metal clashing, scraping each other. Caesar imbued Aura and hellfire in Cursed Grip and was able to fully fend off Yoshitada’s skill, but, not without taking substantial damage. The Cursed Sword Saint spat blood out from his mouth. Spat!

Counter-attacking within an instant, Caesar performed a skill that was once an ultimate skill that is now used like any other technique, Cursed Sword Rain.

Ultimate Techniques: [Skill - Cursed Ryozen Swordsmanship] Cursed Sword Rain - A two-handed technique that swings Cursed Grip upward with the power to split castles. Inflicts the curse ailment. Rank: EX Proficiency: 117%

“H-Ho.. Kuk!... really.” Demon Lord Yoshitada relaxed his stance. He understood that the level of attack was something far bigger than himself and could do nothing but receive the attack. His upper body was deeply cut and splattered blood in the air.

Chuckle. Yoshitada lightly chuckled, resulting in more blood coughing from his mouth. “Kuku, nephew.” Cough! Cough! “It looks like you mastered the martial arts that not even my brother was able to…”

“There’s one more,” replied the Cursed Sword Saint. Gripping his Odachi, he compressed and combined his Aura and hellfire, creating an Aura similar to Dario’s Sword Aura. The state of perfection where a practitioner of Aura is fully synchronized with their weapon. “Oni King Aura. If I had combined this with Cursed Sword Rain, then Murasame and yourself would have been cut in half.”

Aura Techniques: [Skill - Cursed Ryozen Swordsmanship] Oni King Aura - Forbidden art passed down to the successors of the Ryozen Clan. Rank: EX Proficiency: 106%

“How foolish of me.. Kuku. Nephew, it looks like the Ryozen Clan is quite lucky this time around.”

Understanding that his uncle was on death’s doorstep, there was not a lot of time left to uncover the truth. “Why did you betray our Clan, uncle?”

Cough! “Long has our Clan fallen into nothingness that your father continued to follow. That has always been our curse.” Inhaling one last breath before his soul leaves his body, “I grew in anger when the Clan accepted such a fate. In return, I rebelled and killed those who wanted no share in a different future.” Yoshitada lost strength and fell backward from his kneeling position. Caesar saved him and held the back of his uncle’s head. “If only you were born before your foolish father…” Were the last words of the Illusion Demon Lord before withering into mana particles like dust scattering in the wind.

What was left in place of Yoshitada’s body was the Ryozen family relic, Murasame. “...” Caesar’s heart has gone through much tragedy. He thought that there would be some fulfillment after killing the one who murdered his father. All that was left was a feeling of melancholy and nothingness. Gripping Murasame, the Cursed Sword Saint stood and left as the sunlight began to pierce the dark skies.

Mission Complete! Congratulations! Demon Lord Yoshitada has been slain!

***

Gerald and Nocturne were born in the same place called Carne Village. They grew up as best friends and often played with each other growing up. Gerald was a boisterous kid who showed signs of a warrior spirit while Nocturne was from a well-off family.

From a young age, he knew how his family had surmounted such wealth. After all, the Mallory family were the only ones to own a villa in that small village of theirs. Like most children, curiosity had been brewing to the point of wanting to uncover the secrets of the Mallory family. That was the time when Nocturne had lost all of his innocence. What was discovered was that the Mallory family were world-class thieves. For the longest, Nocturne had wondered why his steps were always silent, why the art of stealth and silence came easy for him.

Knowing the truth had caused the young Nocturne to forsake his family. Not wanting to do anything with them or the riches they did not earn caused Nocturne to leave Carne Village in his teens. Though, he did not leave alone as Gerald also came along, saying that best friends do not leave each other. As time went on, Nocturne learned to fight as a warrior as opposed to a thief thanks to the influence of Gerald. It was hard in the beginning, but the adolescent Nocturne was skillful and enduring, he had developed a unique way of fighting making it on the level of a seasoned veteran. Of course, Gerald had a hand in that as well.

With all this said, Nocturne knew he had to go back to his family. He knew he had to when Lord Vicegerent officially appointed Nocturne as the 6th Demonic Master and the Thieves Guildmaster, a newly erected organization that would work in the shadows of the Omen Sect. There was an apprehension when being appointed such a role, but, Lord Vicegerent had put to rest the long-buried disdain that Nocturne held for his own family.

“Soa has no intentions of doing away with evil, it is His creation and wills it to exist. Do not be ashamed of the things your kin has done, reconcile with them and understand the fate of the Mallory family.”

Such words had placed ease on Nocturne’s mind, unveiling an understanding he did not deign to think about. His hatred for his family at a young age was his sole motivation in life that had brought upon success as a warrior. But now, to think about reconciliation was the last thing on his mind. Yet, he could not stop thinking about the words said to him by the Lord Vicegerent. It was time he resolved the past demons that has been haunting him. And so, he returned to Carne Village.

***

Demon Lord Silphy is a native of the country, Lindblum, where her family relishes in the safety of their dungeon. She is a Vampire Lord and has been living in a dungeon with her family for a very long time. Before the Omen Campaign, her ambitions grew to the point of wanting Lindblum under her grasp by aligning herself with Demon Lord Baal. After the Campaign, her ambitions became reality and transformed her native country into a place for her vampiric family to thrive. Many species are kept as cattle, mostly humans, harvesting them for that coveted blood that is insatiable for vampires to resist.

The capital of Lindblum, Bludhaven, is a vampiric castle built by Demon Lord Silphy’s family. In fact, it is the only building in the lands of Lindblum where night is unceasing. Unlike Ryoku which is lit by dark, purple clouds reflected by sunlight, Lindblum has no such thing as sunshine. It is one of the few places in Soa where it is perpetually dark all day and all night. Such a place is a prime location for night creatures like vampires. Though, the night will be the undoing of the Vampire Lord Silphy.

From the shadows of the castle walls in the capital, a few figures blended in with the darkness. “I reckon that fancy castle is where that Demon Lord lays her head,” said Delvin Mallory, younger sibling of Nocturne Mallory.

The Thieves Guildmaster had brought most of his family members for this mission. “Indeed. By the order of Lord Vicegerent, we are here to clean this country up. And, we’ll do it by what we do best,” said Nocturne.

Contrary to what he’s been used to, it had been a while since fighting in stealth. The 6th Demonic Master has full autonomy in how the mission of slaying a Demon Lord would be done. In this case, stealth will be employed without alerting a single enemy. This was the one criteria that Nocturne would place on the team that went with him.

There were 8 members including Nocturne, 4 of them were humans from the Mallory family, whereas the remaining 4 were noble vampires from Hollow World. When Lord Disciple, Dario, was on his conquest of Hollow World, there was an encounter with some vampires inhabiting a dungeon that needed to be under the control of the Omen Sect. Smiling devilishly at the thought of having vampires with noble titles as his familiars, it surprised Dario that the noble vampires were docile enough to have a civil discourse with him. Come to find out, the noble vampires were not like most vampires in the fact that they had never consumed blood from any species besides other vampires. Not only that, there was a rare instance that a “Daywalker” was amongst the noble vampires.

Nonetheless, they would have to submit to the will of the Omen Sect or be resurrected by a Sith Lord. However, the noble vampire family suggested a battle instead, and whoever the victor would have their spoils. Dario completely dominated all of the noble vampires including the Daywalker and they submitted themselves humbly to the Omen Sect.

Anyhow, Nocturne was in command of a small elite team of world-class thieves and nameless vampire nobles. The 6th Demonic Master, equipped with the national treasure that was once plunged into the Blood Orb of Deluc, Bind Saber, and brandishing two legendary daggers gifted to him by the Lord Vicegerent, they were ready to hunt predators of the night who would never think that they would be prey themselves.

“Commence mission.” Those were the last words said after the group vanished in the eternal darkness of Lindblum.