PROLOGUE

INDIFFERENT

On a golden throne embedded with silver linings that sharply curved inward, creating a regal image, sat a man who appeared to be in his late fifties. Repeatedly tapping his fingers on the armrest, he recurrently glanced at the door in front of him.

“It’s late.” The man said. Trickles of sweat began to form upon his forehead. It had been a week since the Royal Knights were deployed.

“My Lord, a messenger has arrived.” One of the four guards beside the bronze-colored door spoke. Crossing his left arm in reverence to the figure in front of him, the guard awaited his orders.

The man seating on the throne elated his hand in approval of the man’s entrance. He steeled himself for the upcoming news. He had already known of the contents of the message. It had been a week after all.

“Enter.” The guard said. The bronze door began to open inwards creating a subtle ~creaking sound. A man with muddled clothes coupled with disheveled hair knelt before the king upon entering.

“Your majesty!” The man paused. He was afraid of incurring the wrath of the man in front of him, but he had no choice but report. It was his job after all. “The elite knights lead by the S rank Kain was annihilated!”

An eerie silence enveloped the entire throne room after the revelation. They had already anticipated such news based on the rumors from the stationed soldiers at the outskirts. Still, hearing the confirmation first hand was a shock to everyone present.

The Royal Knights were the strongest in the entire Kingdom of Luia. Only those with the rank of B and above were allowed to enter. Moreover, the S rank Kain was a warrior famous in the entire continent of Ruan. He was the Kingdom’s pride—the representation of their military might.

“I see.” The King broke the perpetual silence. Squinting his brows, he clenched his pale fists. He then stood up from his seat and leaned on the arched window.

“Five hundred thousand gold.” He declared. “I want him to be captured alive. Mobilize the kingdom’s entire army. Disseminate the order.”

The guards nodded in approval. They dared not go against the will of the enraged king. After bowing down in salutation to the man in front of them, two of the guards left the room and went towards the majestic hall. They were tasked to announce their king’s order.

****

It had been a month since the king issued his unreasonable demand. Great ruckus came from the citizens after their king mobilized the kingdom’s entire army to pursue one mere criminal. Working night and day, the army swept the Nerie Forest of anything that could lead to the man’s whereabouts.

“Where is he?!” The king smashed his diamond embedded gauntlets unto a tree. A month of searching had led to no results. Dark spots encircled his eyes.

“I..won’t..stop..I’ve…found…Killed...my daughter…the only family I had left…” He continued with his hushed monologue. Not minding the stares from his soldiers, his eyes darted back and forth at the array of trees that perpetually surrounded them.

“Your Majesty King Emephet IV, our scouts have reported sightings of a man about a mile from here. Based on their report, he seemed to resemble the one we’re pursing.” A soldier reported. He took a step back after he saw the almost-protruding eyes of his king.

“Finally! Finally! Finally!” The king repeated the words like a mantra. Turning his body towards the cluster of soldiers tasked to protect him, he hollered. “All soldiers! Our search is over! The criminal that killed my daughter Anatashia had been found!”

The king opened his mouth and licked his lower lips in bliss. Turning his capillary-studded eyes towards the direction the messenger came from, he flexed his wrinkled fingers.

“Five hundred thousand gold! Capture him ALIVE!” The king shouted, spitting specks of saliva upon the forest ground.

Everyone stood straight in attention. They were all enticed of the astronomical reward that the king would give to the one who captured the criminal. It was an amount that would enable one to build his very own little castle.

“EVERYONE—CAPTURE HIM!” The king yelled. He was in ecstasy. Every night he had dreamt of tearing the man’s limbs one by one. He would capture him alive and make him feel pain so excruciating that he would plead for the liberating embrace of death.

Everyone began to disperse and search for the man. A mile was just a short distance from where they were currently at. It was an easy to cover distance. After some time, they found him.

With an ash-brown hair that flowed till his shoulder, his disheveled hair fluttered by the soothing wind. Not minding the mob that surrounded him, the man kept chomping down the food he was holding.

“YOU VERMIN!” A loud cry echoed all throughout the forest. It was a cry filled with anger and resentment that had accumulated during the entire ordeal. From beyond the pack of armored soldiers stood a man with a face distorted from anger.

“FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND GOLD! CAPTURE HIM ALIVE!”

The soldiers licked their lower lips after those words. Their morale sky rocketed after hearing the bounty. With eyes that oozed of greed, they all began to charge towards the indifferent man.

The man slowly stood up. Brushing of the dust on his grayed red cloak, he then held his pale hand in the air. Immediately, a crimson-black sword began to form at the man’s palm. Tightly grasping the weapon in his right hand, he then swung it horizontally.

~SWING

The soldiers that surrounded him were decapitated in an instant. From that single strike, thousands of oblivious soldiers were annihilated. The entire army was stunned at the surreal phenomenon before their very eyes. After some time and a couple of thousands more killed, the army regained its battle vigor. The reward money was something that they would definitely risk their lives for.

After some time of grueling battle, the scene was that of carnage. The hundred thousand men were reduced to nothing but hundreds. Even after fighting numerous enemies, the man had shown no signs of fatigue not exhaustion. Without a doubt, the man was a monster.

One by one, the soldiers began to flee the battlefield in fear. They had deemed that such a monster was not worth fighting no matter how much reward money was offered. Surprisingly though, those who had fled the battle was spared by the grey-eyed man

~RUMBLE

~RUMBLE

~RUMBLE

With only a few hundred men left on the battle field, a strange gurgling sound rumbled on the entire forest. Gigantic footsteps were heard marching towards the men. The remaining soldiers, while trembling before the monster of a man in front of them was agape when the monsters with a height of about 25 meters, four hands, two heads, muscular body and a tree trunk in tow on their upper limbs, appeared before them. They were Ogres, and a Red tribe on top of that—a truly terrifying monster with insane regeneration. Four of those abominable creatures appeared before the exhausted army.

Ogres were classified accordingly by their skin color. Pale Brown

Shock, fear, despair—all kinds of emotions swirled inside their selves. While the remaining soldiers were dumbstruck by the appearance of the colossal monsters, the man with the crimson-black blade slowly walked towards the monsters. His red tattered robe fluttered by the wind as his grey eyes, filled with extreme bloodlust, stared at the colossal creatures. The entire forest shuddered at the pressure suddenly exuded by the man.

One by one, the soldiers fell to their knees—some were knocked unconscious. The nauseating feeling continued to embrace them as the man gathered mana towards the crimson-black sword. Even the Ogres took a step back in fear of the man in front of them.

With their primal instinct yelling at them that the man was beyond dangerous, they roared while flailing their make-do mace made from tree trunks and began to charge towards the grey eyed man.

In the blink of an eye, the man disappeared from his spot and reappeared next to one of the colossal creatures. With the sharp sound of the wind, the abominable creature’s body was cleanly split in half—splattering its inside on the forest ground.

Not waiting for the other Ogres to realize what happened, the man immediately created a colossal slash towards the next one—annihilating its entire body along with a portion of the forest. Not stopping, he then created another horizontal slashed that was fully received by the oblivious beasts. In just a few moments, the feared creatures were slaughtered in an instant.

Everyone was agape and stunned at the unfolded scenario. The colossal monsters with a height of 25 meters were nonchalantly slaughtered by the man they had been tasked to capture. Even the king himself was left dumbfounded at what he saw.

“I k-know that man!” A soldier wearing a copper-colored cuirass covered in mud spoke.

Everyone turned to listen to the aghast man.

“Grey eyes, brown hair…” He then glanced towards the king. Buckling his knees, he continued. “That crimson-black sword—my brother had told me of a man with a resembling appearance!”

“Speak.” The king spoke. Only the fiery anger he felt from his daughter’s death was what prevented him from being overcome by the fear that perpetually enveloped the area.

“It was a story from my hometown a few years ago.” The soldier slumped onto the ground. He then casted his stare at the ominous man in front of them. “My brother told me about a surreal spectacle he had witnessed. While hunting at the mountains, he saw the fight between a mere human and the legendary Drake Ourougas. The King of the Ruins, Ourougas, was an SS ranked monster. It was a monster that destroyed an entire kingdom around a century ago.”

The soldier’s voice was subtle, but due to the eerily quiet environment, it was audible enough for everyone to hear. Everyone’s face began to distort into disbelief as they all knew of the story regarding the legendary beast. A few years ago, the SS class legendary monster was slain by an anonymous person. Everyone had an ominous premonition on where the story of the soldier was headed to.

“My brother and his fellow hunters were lucky to have survived that encounter. He couldn’t believe it himself, but during the fight between the other-worldly beings, eventually the man won—while destroying half of the mountain in the process. Crimson-black sword…it was what the man used to cut Ourougas in half.” He said. With tears streaming down his distorted face, he turned towards his paled-face king.

Everyone lost their hope after the revelation. After witnessing the spectacle, the man who had slain the legendary beast and the man they have pursued were most likely the same being. Dropping down their weapons, everyone began to stand there motionless—all were hopelessly waiting for their upcoming death.

“An SS class monster is a being that is capable of vanquishing an entire kingdom by itself. Ourougas was that kind of monster.” King Emephet IV said with despair. “If that man really is the one that had slain it—”

He then glanced towards the remaining soldiers and tightly clenched his fists. Just from that single glance he knew that they had lost all hope. Hope—it’s the only thing that’s of real importance in a battle. Losing it was equivalent to defeat.

Steeling himself, he then slowly walked towards the grey eyed man. He had decided to deal with the monster by himself.

He knew that he would never be able to defeat the man. He knew but he kept walking towards him. He had to do it. He knew deep in his heart that he would regret it forever if he retreated from here. He loved his daughter so much—and much more when his wife died of a certain disease. She resembled his wife so much and he had promised himself that he would do everything to make her happy—and that he will protect that happiness no matter what. But he had failed. He had failed to keep his promise to protect her. The man in front of him killed her. No matter what kind of a monster the guy was, he will fight him even at the cost of death. That much was his resolve.

The King, only a few feet away from the man stopped his tracks and spoke, his eyes directly

gazing at the man in front of him.

“Why did you do it?” The king spoke. His shaking voice was low but audible. “Why did you kill my daughter?”

The grey eyed man then stared back directly into the King’s eyes. His stare was cold and indifferent.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” The man cladded in tattered robe spoke.

King Emephet IV, with his ability to know the truthfulness in a man’s eyes then pulled out his sword from the scabbard. Raising his sword towards the heavens, he then spoke before swinging the sword downwards—towards the man.

“I see…this was all a set up… but…there is no turning back.”

With the sound of the wind, the King Emephet IV’s head flew unto the ground.

This event was later on called as the Nerie Forest Massacre.

***

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Author's note: This is a revision. Fixed the dialogues, grammar, etc. No real need to reread volumes 1-3 that would soon come out after the prologue was approved by the admins. I'm halfway done with volume 4. I will post it once volumes 1-3 was done.