Part 1 – The Night the Sky Wouldn't Breathe
Aurelion's border town, Rivermond, was famous for its lantern festivals.
Bright colors.
Music drifting along the river.
Children painting wooden charms.
That was the old Rivermond.
Tonight, the sky above it refused to breathe.
The stars dimmed.
The river slowed.
The lanterns flickered as though suffocating.
Farmers stepped outside with lanterns raised, confused.
Then they saw it.
A black line stretching across the horizon.
Moving.
Alive.
A tide.
Not of beasts.
Not of soldiers.
But of mutated forms—the creatures from Herrow's corrupted fields, now twice the size, limbs sharpened, glowing cores pulsing like dying hearts.
They walked on all fours.
And they made no sound.
Not a snarl.
Not a roar.
Just relentless footsteps crushing the dirt.
Rivermond's watchmen froze in terror.
"What… what are those—"
The captain's voice cracked.
"Sound the bell. Everyone inside. Now."
The bell rang.
A low, shaking echo.
But the tide did not slow.
It accelerated.
Not like a charge.
Like hunger gaining momentum.
Some screamed.
Some ran.
Some prayed.
None of it mattered.
Because Rivermond's nightmare had already begun.
---
The First Strike
The creatures reached the wall.
They didn't claw at it.
They didn't climb it.
They walked straight through it.
Stone softened like wet clay.
Wood dissolved to dust.
A single child peeked through a half-open door, clutching his mother.
He whispered:
"Mother… why is the wall melting?"
The mother didn't answer.
Because she saw a creature turn toward them—
its face still carrying the faint shadow of a human expression,
as if remembering the life it once belonged to.
The lantern beside them flickered—
and the lights went out.
---
The Battle That Wasn't a Battle
Rivermond's guards charged.
They died.
Swords cut nothing.
Arrows burned to ash before flight.
Shields dissolved in their hands.
The mutated beasts didn't kill out of malice.
They killed because anything alive was simply in the way.
The captain saw a creature approach him — tall as a house now, its back covered in twisting ribs, its chest glowing like a furnace.
He froze.
"It's… looking at me."
And then the creature tilted its head.
Not animal.
Not mindless.
Something was learning.
Something inside these things was evolving.
The captain slashed—
the blade snapped—
and the tide swallowed him whole.
Rivermond fell without a single scream carrying to the next town.
The monsters didn't leave bodies.
Only silence.
And melted stone.
---
The Demon Envoy Moves
At Aurelion's gate, the demon envoy—who had waited for days without blinking—suddenly stood.
The guards staggered back.
His crimson eyes narrowed.
"…it begins."
A guard swallowed hard. "W-What begins?"
"The First Storm."
He turned toward the palace.
"I must speak to the royal council. And to the wives of the Groom."
"The Groom is still gone—"
"I know."
He stepped forward slowly, the air dimming around him.
"And that is why the cult moves now."
The guards tried to block him.
For the first time, he dropped all politeness.
"Move.
Or I will move you."
They moved.
---
Beastman Territory – The Sisters Notice Change
Far in the Beastman lands, the Queen—mother of two of Yuu's wives—felt the shift first.
Not through magic.
Through instinct.
Her claws extended.
Her tail froze.
Her eyes narrowed at the moon.
"Something stalks the borders."
Her surviving daughter—one of Yuu's wives—stood beside her.
"Mother… what's coming?"
The Queen inhaled.
"…Not war."
"Then what?"
"Something older."
She turned toward the throne.
"And we may need the Groom sooner than anyone expected."
---
Elven Domain – The Marriage Envoys Prepare
The elves had always been proud, graceful, inflexible.
But desperation changes even the proud.
In the Worldtree city, the High Priestess gathered her best warriors and scholars.
"The world collapses. Our seals weaken. Our dreams show the Eternal Groom standing at the end of all."
One warrior frowned.
"But… seeking alliance through marriage… isn't it—"
The High Priestess cut him off.
"It is necessity. Power must be gathered around one who can confront Ansh's awakening."
Scholars nodded.
Envoys bowed.
Preparations began.
For the first time in history, the elves prepared to propose a marriage.
To a human.
Not for love.
Not for peace.
But for survival.
---
Inside the Demansion – Yuu Opens His Eyes
Inside the dimension, Yuu's breath fogged the air.
The sky cracked above him.
Lightning coiled around his shoulders.
Arsenal Blade 0 pulsed with a strange resonance.
He felt it.
Not pain.
Not exhaustion.
A pull.
Something outside calling for him.
Something hungry.
He whispered quietly:
"…So the first storm finally hits."
The Goddess appeared behind him, floating as if she had always been there.
Her smile was sharper than usual.
"You trained for a year. But the world is moving faster than your pace."
He didn't look back.
He didn't need to.
"I know."
"You plan to leave the Demansion?"
He tightened his grip on the sword.
"No."
She raised a brow.
"Then what?"
"I plan to break through it."
The goddess laughter was soft, almost affectionate.
"You really are trouble."
He finally turned his head.
"And the world outside is begging for trouble."
The Demansion walls trembled.
The first cracks in the barrier appeared.
The Goddess exhaled.
"It seems your return… will shake more than kingdoms."
Yuu looked toward the tearing sky.
"When I step out…"
His voice dropped.
"…the world changes."
---
Part 2 – The Circle Opens
The First Storm did not end with Rivermond.
It merely announced itself.
By dawn, the news reached the capital like a whisper dragged through broken glass.
No bodies.
No survivors.
No sound.
Just an entire town swallowed—its stone melted, its river poisoned, its soil still warm as if something enormous had passed through and left the world itself uncomfortable.
The royal court gathered in silent panic.
But someone else arrived first.
---
The Demon Envoy's Warning
The throne room fell dead silent as the demon envoy walked forward.
Tall. Cold. His cloak seemed to move on its own, reacting to a presence the humans could not feel.
He bowed only slightly—barely enough to be polite.
"I bring word not from the Demon Lord," he said, "but from the ones who no longer speak."
The King frowned. "Are you saying this is a demon attack?"
The envoy's crimson eyes sharpened.
"If demons wanted war, your capital would burn by sunrise.
What happened in Rivermond… was not us."
Murmurs spread.
The envoy raised a hand, the air rippling.
"This is the doing of something much older. The weakened seal of Ansh… is bleeding power into the world. And the cult that worships that forgotten corpse has begun its movements."
"Impossible," a minister whispered.
"That seal was reinforced a century ago—"
"And it is failing now."
The envoy stepped forward.
"We have detected cult rituals in three regions. Human. Beastman. And—"
He paused.
"—Elf territory."
The name quieted the room.
Even the King stiffened.
"Elves?" he repeated. "They have been silent for decades."
"Silence ends when fear begins," the envoy said.
He pulled out something wrapped in cloth.
A black mark.
A brand carved into stone, still bleeding.
A twisted spiral with overlapping lines—an eye inside an eye.
A sacrificial sigil.
The Demon Envoy set it down.
"This," he said, "was found on a melted tree near your border."
The Queen—one of the sisters' mothers—covered her mouth.
"What does it mean…?"
The envoy answered without emotion.
"It means the Circle has opened."
---
A Survivor Who Shouldn't Exist
Then the doors burst open.
A knight stumbled inside—bleeding, shaking, half-conscious.
The King's face drained of color.
"Roderick…? You were assigned to Rivermond!"
Everyone turned.
The knight shook.
He looked hollow.
Empty.
Like a man whose soul had been dragged through a furnace and stitched back inside with thorns.
He whispered:
"I saw… one… alive…"
The hall froze.
"One of the monsters?"
"N-no. A man. Breathing. Standing in the center of the town."
The demon envoy's gaze sharpened.
"Describe him."
The knight swallowed hard.
"He wasn't human anymore. His body was… twisted. His spine was growing outside his skin. His eyes were white—like a corpse—but he kept whispering something."
"What did he whisper?" the King asked.
The knight began to cry.
"He said… I didn't want to be chosen."
The whisper sank into the hall like poison.
The demon envoy spoke first.
"…That is a failed vessel."
The court stared.
"A vessel?"
"For what?"
"For the power bleeding from the seal. Individuals near the cult rituals sometimes… mutate, if they survive long enough. They become walking cores—alive, but not themselves."
The envoy's voice darkened.
"These creatures are not monsters. They are sacrifices who lived too long."
A chill went through the room.
He continued:
"And where sacrifices gather…"
He looked toward the window.
"…the cult watches."
---
Elven Territory – The Sleeping Forest Wakes
Far to the east, the elves' forests whispered unease.
A young elven scout stepped into a clearing—
—and froze.
Dozens of animals lay dead, perfectly intact, no wounds.
Every single one had their eyes open.
Every one faced the same direction.
Toward the ancient Worldtree.
And beneath the tree, faintly glowing like embers in the roots—
A spiral mark.
The same sigil found in human territory.
The scout trembled and whispered:
"…they're here too."
The Worldtree answered with a faint groan.
Something old awakened beneath it.
Something that remembered blood.
---
Beastman Lands – A Queen's Rage
In the Beastman capital, the Queen of the twin sisters stood before a severed limb—massive, clawed, pulsating faintly.
Her generals kneeled.
"Your Majesty, this was found outside the southern forest. It still twitches."
She touched it.
It burned her fur.
She didn't flinch.
"This isn't a monster limb," she said.
"It's a transformation mid-process."
"Transformation into what?"
She narrowed her eyes at the horizon.
"A vessel."
The Queen's claws extended.
"And we will kill every cultist before they turn my people into offerings."
---
Inside the Demansion – The Barrier Cracks
Yuu stood at the boundary of the Demansion.
Lightning traced his shoulders.
Blood-red aura curled around Arsenal Blade 0 like smoke pulled backward.
He had not recovered fully.
But the world didn't care.
A thin fracture crawled across the sky—like a web forming from invisible pressure.
He placed his hand on it.
The Goddess appeared behind him, arms folded, expression unreadable.
"You know," she murmured,
"If you break the barrier now… you'll return weaker than you should be."
"I don't have a year left," Yuu replied.
"True. The world outside is drowning in omens."
He didn't move his hand.
Instead, he asked quietly:
"Are they ready for me?"
The Goddess stepped closer, her breath brushing his neck.
"Ready?" she whispered.
"No. They are desperate for you."
Cracks widened.
Yuu's aura surged.
But then—
His eyes narrowed.
"…Someone is watching."
The Goddess' playful aura vanished instantly.
She scanned the Demansion.
A shadow.
Thin.
Tall.
Standing on the farthest ridge.
A silhouette with no face.
The Goddess hissed softly.
"…a Cult Observer. How did it find this place?"
Yuu stared back at the figure.
It didn't move.
Didn't breathe.
Just watched him.
"Looks like they're waiting," he said.
"For what?"
"For me to return."
He placed both hands on Arsenal Blade 0.
"And they're going to regret wanting it."
The Demansion trembled.
The blade pulsed.
And the barrier began to break.
—
Part 3 – When Blood Answers Blood
The world did not wait for Yuu to return.
It bled.
Silently, steadily… as if the land itself knew something ancient had begun to wake.
---
I. The Mass Sacrifice – "The Night of Red Veins"
It happened in a remote border village at the edge of human and beastman lands.
A peaceful place.
Farm soil.
Quiet families.
Livestock wandering at dawn.
Yet on this night—
Every animal went silent at once.
Every candle flickered out.
And every villager awoke choking as thick red mist leaked through their windows.
At the center of the village square stood five cloaked figures.
Each held a different tool—bone chisel, blackened knife, hourglass with bleeding sand, a hollow flute, and a mask carved from a skull.
They lifted their hands.
The mist trembled.
The villagers screamed without sound.
One by one, their bodies lifted into the air—limbs stretched, eyes rolled back, chests rising and falling in panic.
No wounds.
No blood spilled.
Just stillness.
The leader whispered:
"Open the Circle."
The villagers began to crack—not physically, but spiritually.
Small fractures spread through their auras, as if their spirits were being peeled away from their bones.
Their faces contorted.
A child reached for her mother.
A man tried to break free.
A woman mouthed her husband's name.
None could move.
The cult leader lowered the bone chisel.
"The seal weakens. His thirst deepens. Feed him."
And then—
Every villager's shadow erupted upward—
And their bodies fell lifelessly like empty bags.
Dozens of shadows spiraled into a single spinning vortex.
A pulse ran through the land.
A warning.
A message.
A celebration.
Somewhere deep beneath the earth, an ancient heartbeat answered.
---
II. A Failed Vessel Walks
Two days later, a hunter from a nearby city followed strange tracks through the forest.
Claw marks.
But wrong.
Too deep for a beastman, too twisted for any known monster.
Then he saw it.
A man—barefoot, twitching, hunched like his spine was trying to escape his skin.
His ribs pulsed beneath translucent flesh.
His head jerked violently, as though pulled by invisible strings.
When the hunter stepped back, the creature snapped toward him.
Its voice was broken.
Painful.
Human and not.
"Help… me…"
The hunter froze.
The creature lifted its trembling hand—and half its fingers shattered off like glass.
Its eye sockets bled.
The hunter whispered:
"…What happened to you?"
The vessel's jaw unhinged.
"I… lived too long…"
Then it lunged.
The hunter's scream never reached the city.
By dusk, the failed vessel was crawling across the forest floor like a starving animal, dragging the hunter's aura behind it like a leaking stain.
---
III. Beastmen and Elves – The First War Meeting
The Beastman Queen stood inside a stone hall carved into the mountain ridge—immense, torchlit, smelling of iron and fur.
Opposite her stood the Elven Elder, wrapped in silver robes.
Their relationship had been strained for centuries.
Today, neither showed hostility.
Fear broke old pride.
The Beastman Queen spoke first.
"The cult is performing mass sacrifices. My scouts found thirty bodies drained… without wounds."
The Elf Elder nodded slowly.
"We have found the same signs in our forests. And worse—roots screaming."
A general asked, "Elves can hear roots scream?"
The Elder ignored him.
"The seal thinning is calling to the cultists. They act like wolves smelling blood."
The Beastman Queen crossed her arms.
"And what do the elves want?"
"To survive."
"And what do you want?"
"To kill every cultist on the continent."
The Elder's lips twitched.
"We may cooperate after all."
---
IV. Prophecy Revealed
Back in the human capital, the Demon Envoy met privately with the King.
A sealed parchment lay between them.
"This," the envoy said, "is from the Volcanic Oracles. A prophecy written before the last war."
The King's voice steadied.
"…Does it mention Yuu?"
The envoy hesitated.
"Yes."
He unrolled the parchment.
The text inside was short.
"When the Sleeper stirs and the Circle opens,
A blade will rise forged from broken souls.
He will be the bane of darkness—
Or the herald of its return."
The King whispered:
"So the world believes he is the one to end this?"
The demon envoy's expression did not change.
"No.
The world believes he is the only one who can choose."
---
V. The Observer Moves
Inside the Demansion, the Cult Observer watched Yuu through a crack in reality—its form thin like ink stretching across glass.
It had no face.
Only a spiral carved where eyes should be.
The Goddess stepped protectively between Yuu and the intruder.
Her voice lost all playfulness.
"You do not belong here."
The Observer's silhouette didn't move.
A whisper slid out of it:
"He is almost ready."
The Goddess exhaled, annoyed.
"You worm. You are not qualified to watch him."
"He will decide everything," the Observer replied.
"He is the pivot. The blade. The abyss.
When he returns, the world will either kneel or burn."
Yuu gripped Arsenal Blade 0.
His aura rose—calm, heavy, controlled.
He looked at the Observer with the eyes of someone who had survived too much to fear shadows.
"I'm done listening."
The blade vibrated.
A pulse rippled.
The cracks widened—
And the Observer flinched.
It stepped back and vanished into the spiral of its own shadow.
The Goddess turned to Yuu.
"You broke the barrier."
She smiled.
"A bit early. But still… a beautiful mess."
Yuu stepped forward.
"Open the way."
The world outside felt his presence.
And trembled.