The Grandiel continent, home to many races that had once shared the land equally. However, there were a group of powerful humans that were not satisfied with their share of the continent, and sought to expand their territory and power. Their ambition sparked many wars in the pretense of a “Holy Crusade,” that elevated the views of human supremacy, and consisted of purging and enslaving the other races. As such, the demon race, whom they considered to be the biggest threat, had been pushed to the harsh Northern end of the continent where only the strong survive, and death was commonplace out of city walls due to the unknown high-tiered beasts that resided there.

The Grandiel continent is now often referred to as the Warring Continent. It had been twenty years since the start of the crusade. Twenty years since Zieg’s hometown had been burnt to the ground due to the invasion of humans. He had been five years old at the time. The time when he witnessed both his parents’ death, his father tortured, mother raped. Hiding and completely helpless, holding their corpses and weeping as the attack passed. He was forced to flee along with the rest of the survivors of his race to the North.

At the unfairness of life, at the cruelty of humans, Zieg vowed revenge. In pursuit of strength, he foolishly became a vagabond at the age of five, roaming the North alone, facing countless situations of life and death, encountering some of the most dangerous beasts in the continent, and raiding ancient dungeons. During his travels he found insights in the comprehension of mana, and quickly broke through the tiers of power to become an immortal at the age of twenty, a being that no longer aged due to their understanding of the laws of mana and life, something that only several have ever achieved.

A few years later, he developed his own Worldbreaking technique, skills that only those at the level of immortals are capable of developing that bend the laws of the world. Before long, Zieg was acknowledged as the strongest of the demon race, and was given the title of Demon King.

Atop the balcony of a castle stood an imposing figure. Below, tens of thousands of demons as far as the eye can see looked up in awe and admiration. The instant the figure entered and was in view of the balcony, the despair on their faces changed to a look of ardor and pride. Standing on the balcony was a demon that had pitch-black long hair that seemed to absorb light, standing between six and seven feet tall, two horns growing perpendicularly upwards out the side of his head, skin the color of ash, piercing eyes, and held an aura that seemed to command respect.

Now, the largest army ever seen within the crusade, consisting of several races were gathered on the center of the continent, planning to march towards the North to eradicate and enslave the rest of the demons within the Grandiel continent. The powerful group of humans that had initiated the crusade had used underhanded means to form a temporary alliance with some of the other races, in fear of their strength, and the rumors of a sudden appearance of an unknown demon named Zieg that was reportedly an immortal.

Zieg stood atop the balcony of his castle, preparing to give a speech. (It’s finally time... I have waited two decades for this moment. For my vengeance… I will put an end to this “holy” crusade) he mused.

“My fellow brethren, the time has come. For years, the humans have persecuted us, enslaved us, killed us! And for what? For being different? For their greed? We only wanted to live, but now we must survive. From this day forth, it is the humans that will be persecuted, enslaved, and killed! Fight knowing that our bonds are strong. Fight knowing my strength. Fight knowing that with their deaths, we will be free. I WILL NOT STOP UNTIL EVERY SINGLE HUMAN ON THIS WORLD IS DEAD, AND IF I FALL, OTHER DEMONS SHALL CARRY ON MY WILL! DEATH TO ALL HUMANS!” Zieg roared.

“DEATH TO ALL HUMANS! DEATH TO ALL HUMANS! DEATH TO ALL HUMANS!” the surrounding demons followed in a resounding chant.

With that, Zieg began to levitate and flew at a blinding speed toward the center of the continent, leaving behind a crowd of stunned demons. Gathering their bearings, they too, made for the center of the continent, albeit at a much slower pace.

In a matter of minutes, Zieg was found floating above the human’s allied army of millions. He unsheathed a blood-red longsword named “Bloodwhistler,” an artifact that he acquired several years ago from an ancient dungeon, and shouted loudly “VOLHEILM, FIGHT ME AND DIE!”

Zieg’s presence and killing intent was so powerful that most of the millions that were unable to withstand his aura dropped to their knees, others fainting, and the weaker ones immediately dying or becoming insane due to the fear, and attacking their own comrades. A figure began floating up from the army amidst the chaos.

A muscular middle-aged man that was covered in silver armor and still appeared youthful, nearly the same size as Zieg, and had cropped hair the color of silver. An immortal. Volheilm Kaiser, a member of a certain powerful group of humans, and the one who heads the crusade. He was grinning. He was confident. It was as if he was looking at Zieg like he was no more than a child. The source of that confidence came from the fact that he had been an immortal much longer than Zieg. He was already an immortal before Zieg was even born.

“If you fight me, it is you who will die, child,” Volheilm mocked.

They were floating in the air across from one another, at a distance of a few kilometers apart. To those at the level of immortals, that distance could be crossed in seconds.

Having created several Worldbreaking techniques, Volheilm had already begun using a Worldbreaking technique before the fight had even started. He called this particular one “Adrenaline.” Through his understand of mana and life, he was capable of utilizing mana to accelerate his perception by bending laws and sending mana directly into his brain, increasing his reaction speed to at least five times, seemingly making everything else move five times slower.

In comparison, Zieg had only developed a single Worldbreaking technique. Even though he developed it in theory, he had never used the technique before in his life. The reason would soon become readily apparent. The technique became stronger the more mana and life energy was put into it. This technique was why Zieg had chosen to go on ahead before his army.

“COLLAPSING DRAGON!” Zieg yelled as he made a powerful downward slash in the air, still kilometers away from Volheilm, with Bloodwhistler.

The slash gave off a normal white blade of air, in the shape of a single dragon’s claw, that headed towards Volheilm. It seemed normal because even those below the skill levels of immortals are capable of creating blades of air through their attacks. However, something about that blade of air was odd. It was moving excessively slow. In addition to Volheilm’s Adrenaline that made him perceive it to be five times slower, it looked like it was moving at a snail’s pace.

(To start off with such a weak and normal opening attack?) Volheilm thought and scoffed, or at least, he tried to scoff. Volheilm began to panic, why was he unable to make a facial expression? He tried moving, but was unable to. (What the hell’s happening?) he thought. He floated helplessly, unmoving, as the blade of air continued to slowly approach him.

In actuality, Volheilm had already died, he had already been split in half by the attack. He was only alive in his point of view because of his special technique that increased his perception- Adrenaline. The slow moving blade of air had been countless afterimages of the afterimages of the afterimages of the afterimages... of the original Worldbreaking attack. Blood leaked out of the mouth, nose, eyes, and ears of the army. Collapsing Dragon was so fast and powerful that it broke the sound barrier several times over, combining to cause a singular deafening roar, killing the rest of the allied human army, and those remotely anywhere near Zieg by sound alone.

The seemingly slow afterimage of the blade of air continued on after cutting through Volheilm, moving diagonally downward towards the ground of the Grandiel continent from the initial trajectory of the slash. Cutting into the ground, the blade of air made the entire continent shake. Collapsing Dragon didn’t stop at merely the ground, it kept cutting through, splitting the entire radius of the Grandiel continent in half.

Zieg had used the entirety of his life force and mana in the Worldbreaking attack. From the start to the finish of the attack, two seconds had not even passed. Millions of people within the vicinity of Zieg died in less than two seconds. With the sheer amount of damage done to the humans, the Holy Crusade would inevitably end.

Zieg’s view slowly began to darken, he knew that he would soon die for putting everything he had into that attack, but for some reason he had a serene expression on his face. He was smiling a genuine smile that was never seen on him for twenty years. His vision continued to blacken. (Mom… Dad…) were his last thoughts before everything became completely black.

How much time had passed? Everything was completely dark, there was no light whatsoever. Suddenly, Zieg regained his consciousness, but everything was still black. He tried opening his eyes, but couldn’t. He could vaguely make out some distorted noises. The darkness changed hue to a less blacker shade. He could slowly make out the noises better.

“It...a...oy…..co...ations!” a voice spoke.

“My baby. I’ll name you Hope. It’s something that we need most in the world right now. Hope Kaiser. I’m sure you’ll become a strong and powerful immortal when you grow older, just like your father was,” a voice that sounded motherly said.