The world was silent....
Too silent....
Ash drifted through the air like black snowflakes, falling upon the dead earth. Buildings once towering with life now lay broken, twisted metal frames rising like skeletal ribs from smoldering ruin. The sky above burned a violent shade of crimson—an endless bleeding horizon.
Among the destruction, a boy knelt.
His black hair hung low, matted with dirt and blood. His golden eyes, dimmed yet burning with grief and fury, trembled as they stared at the lifeless body before him. The girl's pale hand rested lightly in his grasp, her fingers cold, unmoving.
Mia Selvercrest. His beloved who walked in this seemingly impossible fight to support him.
His voice cracked as he whispered, barely audible.
"Mia… wake up… please…"
No breath.
No heartbeat.
Only the frozen silence of death.
His shoulders trembled. The wind howled through the ruins like a mourning beast. A tear struck the ground — the last warmth left in his soul.
But then, he heard it.
A low laugh… echoing.
At first distant, then growing, twisting into a manic scream of amusement.
Damien slowly lifted his head and looked toward the far end of the battlefield — and there, beneath a rain of ash and fire, he saw it:
A mountain made of corpses, piled grotesquely high.
And sitting atop it, legs crossed casually as if resting upon a throne of bones—
A silver-haired figure, skin pale like moonlight, crimson red eyes glowing unnaturally.
A body full of scars and blood oozing out like river stream.....but his face....his face was calm like none of those wounds mattered and His smile.....his smile stretched too wide, dripping with madness.
The Silver Demon.
The cause of everything.
His silver hair danced in the burning wind as he tilted his head, watching Damien with delighted amusement.
"Ahh… Damien." he purred.
"Look at you. So broken… so beautifully pathetic."
Damien's fists clenched. Slowly, painfully, he stood. His entire body shook—grief, rage, agony—boiling into something monstrous. Flames of aura exploded around him, the ground cracking under his feet.
His golden eyes burned.
His voice tore from his throat like a snarl.
"Are you happy now?"
The demon raised a brow.
"Hmm?"
Damien took one step forward, then another—and the earth shook with each stride.
A blood-red sword formed in his grip, forged entirely of compressed aura, pulsing like a beating heart.
"After destroying the country that gave birth to you…"
His voice trembled, rage thick enough to choke him.
"After everything humanity gave you…"
He lifted his sword, pointing it at the demon.
"Is this how you repay gratitude—with misery?"
"You are a demon—no…"
His voice grew ice cold.
"You're worse than them."
He inhaled, flames erupting around him as his aura blasted outward.
"Today… I'm ending you."
"Today, I'm taking back peace!"
For a moment, the demon merely stared. And then—
He laughed.
And laughed.
And laughed.
A sound like shattering glass.
His smile twisted into something feral and hungry.
"Ah, Damien, you naïve little fool."
His voice dripped venom and delight.
"You think you know everything that's there about me?
No you don't Damien you don't!"
Suddenly temperature dropped few degrees more and sky roared in pain as his said —
"Don't You dare preach righteousness to me?"
And just like that Silver Demon's expression snapped like a broken mask — amusement replaced by cold, murderous void.
A thick blood-red aura surged from his already broken body, thick and suffocating, warping the air. The corpses below him turned to dust beneath the pressure.
"Let this be your end Hero.... And after finishing you.....it's their turn to burn next!!"
Hearing those words Damien roared and vanished—his body exploding into motion.
He knew he needed to end this demon's march right here.... So that his friends can live happily.
A whisper escaped his lips like silent thunder
"Nightingale Sovereign Sword Arts — First Form: Crimson Wing Requiem!"
And streak of red light tore through the battlefield, the sound like thunder. Damien swung his blade in a sweeping arc, the slash tearing through the air, splitting the earth beneath.
The demon blocked with an arm wreathed in dark energy, grinning as sparks of crimson and black mana clashed violently.
BOOOM!
The ground erupted. Shockwaves blasted outward, toppling burned buildings and flinging bodies like rag dolls.
Damien spun, slashing again and again — each strike faster and heavier than the last. He was a storm of steel and fury.
CLASH!
CLANG!
BOOM!
The demon dodged casually, laughing.
"Faster, Damien! Come on! Show me more!"
Damien roared and burst upward, aura exploding beneath him, swinging down with everything he had.
CRAAAAACK!
The demon's arm snapped under the blow, bone shattering and blood spraying. He frowned, annoyed.
Damien spun around and drove his blade forward — piercing the demon's chest.
For a moment, silence.
Then the demon smiled.
"Good. Very good."
And his hand shot forward like lightning, claws tearing across Damien's torso.
SHHHHRAAACK!
Blood spurted as Damien staggered, a gaping wound ripping from his ribs to his back. Before he could react—
SWOOSH!
The demon's other arm swung — and Damien's left arm was severed, flying through the air.
He fell to one knee, gasping, blood pouring like rain.
"Damien… you never understood."
The demon whispered, leaning close.
"This world never wanted saving."
Damien lifted his gaze—golden eyes blazing through the agony.
And with his last ounce of strength—
He thrust his sword upward, straight through the demon's throat, up into his skull.
SLICING CLEAN THROUGH.
SHIIIIINK—
The demon's head separated, spinning through the air.
Silence.
His body crumbled into ashes.
Damien collapsed onto his knees, his sword buried in the ground keeping him from falling. Blood dripped from his lips as his vision dimmed.
He looked toward the ruins of his home… the graves of his people… Mia's lifeless body.
He smiled — broken, relieved.
"…Finally…"
His voice was fading, barely a whisper.
"Now everyone… can be happy…"
His fingers slipped from the sword.
And Damien fell, eyes closing as darkness embraced him.
The world went silent once more...