---
**[Scene - Ironwood Forest – Demon Army Invasion]**
The new Eastern Demon Lord, elevated by the Great Demon Lord and other Archdemons, invaded the human territories of the Ironwood Kingdom on the Great Demon Lord's command, including the forest cabin.
A red moon hung high in the sky, casting a deathly pallor.
Explosions echoed throughout the Ironwood forest as a wave of demons—Orc Berserkers, Shifted soldiers, and high-tier demon champions—pushed back the frontier defenses from the shadows. Villages burned, screams erupted, and the earth was stained crimson.
> "The demon armies have broken through the outer barrier!"
> "Call for reinforcements!"
In desperation, a group of adventurers sent out an ancient summons—every retired soldier, every veteran adventurer, was called upon by the Adventurers Guild and the Ironwood military.
Among them were two adventurers standing at the forefront.
> "For Ironwood," said a rugged man wielding a greatsword—Darken, Kuro's father.
> "And for... our future generations," the woman beside him whispered, her staff glowing—Lyra, Kuro's mother.
But even their decades of experience and magic could barely hold back the overwhelming demonic tide.
The demons cut through the human soldiers like paper.
Kuro's parents—back-to-back, fighting to the bitter end. Yet no reinforcements came. The demon army's strength was superior in both quantity and quality. Was this the fate of that world? A single demon's strength far surpassed that of a human.
---
**[Scene - Royal Magic Academy – Nightfall]**
The world shifted.
Kuro stood silently on the edge of the dormitory roof, his silver hair glowing under the pale moonlight. His eyes were empty. No tears. Not pain. Just a small scroll from the Adventurers Guild in his hand.
[A delivery via messenger bird from the Adventurers Guild.]
There was only silence.
---
"To Kuro Velgrith of the Ironwood Royal Magic Academy,
The Guild regrets to inform you of your parents' fate. Kuro... Your parents fought the demon armies to their last breath, but in the end, they were overwhelmed. They have fallen. Not just your parents. But the Guild has decided to take responsibility for your future. Only you can decide what you will do in your future. The entire Ironwood Kingdom mourns the loss of two of its few Rank-A adventurers, of which there are barely over ten.
Guildmaster Ardelion"
---
> "They're gone..."
The only people he had ever accepted as parents… were no more.
He did not cry.
> "They were too kind for this world."
Something stirred within that silence.
A shadow emerged in his mind—a magical doppelganger of himself born from grief, rage, and despair.
> "Let me out," the doppelganger hissed. "Burn it all. Destroy this world, Kuro."
> "No," Kuro whispered back. "You are not my master."
He crushed the shadow with sheer will, but the cracks remained.
He vanished into the night.
---
**[Scene - Eastern Demon Lord's Fortress – Midnight]**
A black flame shot through the fortress.
The guards fell within seconds.
Shujin, clad in his dark attire, entered the throne hall of the Eastern Demon Lord, his eyes blazing with pure dark magic as the sky cracked behind him.
> "You came alone?" the Demon Lord roared, clad in cursed plate armor.
> "You killed my parents."
The Demon Lord laughed. "You, a human child? Do you think your pain is unique?"
> "No," Shujin said, stepping forward. "But I will return it to you."
The battle lasted mere minutes.
But Shujin drew it out.
Not with rage. But with calculation and cruelty. He used magic to slowly shatter every bone in the Demon Lord's body. Made him see his own destruction coming before it arrived.
When the demon begged for death, Shujin finally obliterated its heart with a single, final, silent motion.
> "Rest in agony,... fiend."
---
**[Scene - The Dormitory - Before Dawn]**
When Kuro returned to the Academy dorm, he was silently covered in dust.
Rei was waiting in his room, her eyes trembling.
She ran forward and hugged him tightly.
> "I was worried, Kuro-sama. I thought you had done something... irreversible," she tried to laugh, but her voice shook.
> "I did not," he replied softly.
But Rei saw it.
Something inside him had broken.
> "They're gone, aren't they," she stated.
He didn't respond.
Rei gently pulled back and held his hand.
> "You are not alone, Kuro-sama."
Still silent.
> "Even if I have to do it for a lifetime, I will make Kuro-sama smile again."
---
**[Scene - The Academy - The Next Day]**
Classes resumed as if the world hadn't burned.
Students still gossiped about the "Darkness Lord," unaware he walked among them.
Princess Alisa noticed Rei sitting alone on a bench during break, delicate yet firm.
She approached without hesitation.
> "You look like you're Kuro-kun's friend, Rei-san."
Rei blinked. "...Yes. Why do you ask, Princess Alisa?"
Alisa smiled. "I'm glad he has someone... He always seems so cold."
The two began talking lightly at first, but quickly found common ground.
Alisa liked Rei's calm and rare magical air.
Rei liked Alisa's sincerity and warmth.
Before they knew it, laughter slipped between them.
A strange friendship—the Princess and the shadow's follower.
---
**[Scene - Elsewhere - The Demon Realm & The Goddess's Realm]**
The Great Demon Lord sat on his throne, eyes closed.
> "The Eastern Demon Lord is dead again... I still cannot locate this Shujin."
Across the dimensions, the Goddess Elmyria stared into a scrying mirror.
> "He's vanished again."
A god whispered, "Are we... powerless?"
Elmyria clenched her fist.
> "No. We have our savior."
Her gaze turned towards the boy named Ryuto.
---
✦ **To be continued...**