The forest echoed with the steady rhythm of steel cutting through air.
Toki moved with fluid precision, his small body weaving between the trees and he practiced the same forms again and again. His katana gleamed under the fading sunlight, each swing accompanied by a faint pulse of red mana crawling beneath his skin.
Training had become more than routine - it was survival, a quiet promise he made everyday to protect what he loved.
Sweat dropped down his brow as he exhaled slowly and lowered his blade.
The sun was nearly gone, its orange glow slipping behind the distant hills.
" It's late," he muttered," I should head back."
He turned -
- and froze.
A deep, bone rattling growl rumbled behind him.
Toki's hands flew to his sword. Slowly he faced the sound.
A wolf stepped from the shadows... but not a normal one.
Its entire body radianted pure black mana, it's fut swirling like smoke and its eyes glowed with blood - red light. The creature was twice the size of any dire wolf he had ever seen. Its claws dug into the earth as if it were marking him as prey.
" This isn't normal..." he whispered.
The beast lunged without warning.
Toki rolled, nearly avoiding the deadly jaws as they snapped inches from his face. He swung his katana across the wolfs flank, but the blade passed through its mana - body like cutting a storm.
A claw slashed across his arm.
Blood splattered the ground.
Toki stumbled back, clinched the wound. Pain burned through him, but the excitement burning in his chest was sharper.
This monster... was the strongest he had faced in this world.
The wolf crouched again, snarling. Shadows wrapped around its body like armour.
Toki gritted his teeth and raised his blade. I can't die here... I refuse to.
Red mana surged through him, flowing into the katana.
The blade began to glow, the light deep and vibrant - alive.
The wolf pounced.
Toki stepped into the attack, sliding under its massive body with every bit of strength he had left, he chanelled all his mana into a single strike.
" HAAAH!"
A crimson arc split the air.
The wolf's body cleaved into two, dissolving into black mist before it hit the ground.
Breathing hard, Toki dropped to one knee. His arm throbbed with pain, blood dripping steadily. He forced himself to stand as the forest darkened around him.
" I... have to get home..."
Toki ran toward the village, only to find it swallowed by flames. The air was thick with smoke and the acrid stench of burning wood. His heart thudded painfully as he dashed toward his home, dread gnawing at him.
He froze. A monstrous, human - shaped demon looked over his father, its hands clamped around his neck, with a sickening snap, it crushed him like a fragile twig.
His father's body went limp.
On the ground, his mother trembled, tears streaking her soot - covered face, her hands clawing at the dirt in helpless despair. Rage and fear exploded in Toki, he sprinted at the demon, swinging his sword using all the mana he had, but it was futile. The demon struck him effortlessly, sending him crashing into the scorched earth. Pain flared, but he struggled to rise.
The demon grabbed his mother by her hair, lifting her like a ragdoll. Her tear - filled eyes locked into his, and her voice, trembling and broken, reached him through the chaos.
" Toki... my baby... run... get stronger... survive... no matter what... your mama loves you..."
Then the demons blade fell. Her scream was raw, soaked in agony, and silenced in an instant. Her lifeless body dangled in its grip, and the firelit caste monstrous shadows over the ruin of everything Toki had loved.
Toki's scream tore through the smoke - choked air, a raw, desperate sound that carried the weight everything he had lost. He lunged at the demon, fury burning in his chest, but it was effortless for the creature, he was sent flying. Pain exploded through him, vision blurred, and the world tilted into darkness as he collapsed.
A shadow moved through the wreckage of the village. Another demon appeared, sleek and cold eyes, its presence swallowing the faint light.
" My lord," it hissed, its voice like dry leaves scrapping over stone, " are you not going to finish him,?"
The first demon's lingered on Toki's still form, a cruel smirk twisting it's monstrous face. " No," it said slowly, deliberately. " We'll leave him... in the deepest part of the forest, where the monsters roam. Let them tear him apart. He'll learn... survival the hard way. This child... this broken thing... will he better off that way."
The new demon's eyes gleamed with anticipation, and the first turned, disappearing into the smoke as Toki lay helpless on the scorched ground. The forest beyond looked like a waiting nightmare.
Toki woke to the taste of dirt and blood on his tongue. Pain surged through every nerve, sharp and punishing, as if his entire body had been torn apart and stitched back together wrong. He couldn't move at first - only breathe in short, ragged bursts. The forest around him was silent, the kind of silence that felt alive... watching.
" Pathetic..." he spat on himself, the word trembling out of him. His voice cracked. " Why... why this again?"
His chest tightened. Tears slipped down his cheeks before he could stop them.
" I'm sorry... mom... dad" I was too weak. I couldn't save you. I'm better off dying right here..."
The thought felt heavy, almost comforting. To just lie and let the forest finish what the demons started.
But then -
Soft, fragile, burning into his memory - his mother's final words.
Survive no matter what.
The echo of her voice struck him like a blade. He clenched his fists, trembling, teeth grit against the pain. Slowly - agonizingly - he forced himself into his knees... then his feet. His vision swayed, world tilting, but he didn't fall.
A faint rustle came from the shadows.
Toki froze.
From between two dead trees, something stepped forward, something wrong.
Its eyes glowed a sickening red, unblinking. Its body was lizard - like, covered in the dark scales that shimmered with faint mana. It walked on two legs, hunched forward, its jaws clicking softly. But it's arms... it's arms were long, jointed, and blade like, like a mantis forged from bone and shadow.
It tilted its head at him, tasting his fear.
Toki swallowed, breath shaky.
" Not yet..." he whispered to himself. " I still have to survive."
Tears streaked his face, mixing with sweat and dirt but his grin was undenying, wild.
" You... come at me," he growled through clenched teeth, " I'm gonna survive... no matter what,"
The monster recoiled instinctively. It didn't know fear - but instinct made it hesitate, a single step backward.
Then it surged forward again.
Toki dropped low, his body coiled like spring.
The minister's arm slashed past him, grazing the dirt. In that instant, Toki struck - swift, sharp, merciless. His blade met the creature's center, and it split in two, shrieking as it's halves hit the forest floor.
He fell to his knees for a heartbeat, breathing hard, chest heaving. And then he screamed, voice ragged with fury:
" I... will not... die... until I cut that demon's throat!"
From the darkness, more shapes engaged. Red eyes glinting, fangs bared, claws scraping the ground - demons and monsters, drawn to the blood and the defiance.
The forest closed in around him. The night erupted into chaos.
This was no longer a boy running for life.
This was Toki - the hunter, the survivor, the wrath of a child who refused to break.
And the first night of his survival had begun.