Chapter 1 – The Night the Sky Bled
Rain fell over the city like shattered glass, each drop striking concrete and steel with cold precision. Neon signs flickered beneath the storm, painting the streets in bruised colors—blue, violet, crimson. Humans moved below with umbrellas and hurried steps, unaware that something ancient and wrong had already arrived.
Seven of them.
The Ruinborn.
Creatures forged to destroy. Their bodies shifted constantly—muscle flowing like liquid metal, bones re-forming, flesh adapting to everything the universe threw at them. They didn't just regenerate.
They learned.
If a Ruinborn survived an attack once... it would never work on them again.
The first monster lunged from an alley, its body towering, claws like serrated towers of bone.
It never touched the ground.
A young man stood in the rain ahead of it.
Black coat. Brown eyes. Tattoos faintly glowing beneath wet sleeves—stars, sigils, celestial markings that pulsed like restrained galaxies.
Hex Nocturne didn't move.
The air around him twitched.
An invisible line passed through the monster.
Void Sever: Celestial Divide.
The Ruinborn's body split perfectly in half—no blood, no scream. Just a clean, impossible division as the creature evaporated into lightless dust before it could even adapt.
The second monster roared and charged.
Hex stepped forward.
For the first time in ten years... he smiled.
The creature swung. Hex slipped inside the strike and drove his fist into its chest.
The impact cracked the street.
The monster flew backward through two buildings, smashing through glass and steel. Its body began to regenerate instantly, flesh knitting, bone reforging—
Hex was already there.
He twisted, his arm slicing through the rain.
Void Sever: Celestial Divide.
The Ruinborn's head separated from its shoulders, clean and silent.
It vanished before it could learn.
The third and fourth attacked together—one from above, one from the side.
Hex moved like a shadow with purpose.
He grabbed a falling streetlight, hurled it through the air, and cut the air itself behind it.
Null Rend: Absolute Annihilation.
The invisible force hit first.
The streetlight hit second.
Both monsters were erased on contact—no remains, no echo, no regeneration.
People screamed. Humans ran. A child tripped.
Hex vanished.
He appeared beside her, lifted her with one arm, and placed her behind a car before turning back to the fight.
The fifth Ruinborn adapted mid-motion—its body hardened, skin crystallizing.
Hex clenched his fist.
"Too slow."
He struck with raw power.
Not a slash.
A punch.
The force crushed the monster into the street, splintering asphalt and sending shockwaves down the block. It tried to regenerate—
Hex's invisible blade followed instantly.
Null Rend: Absolute Annihilation.
Gone.
The sixth and seventh rose into the sky, sensing danger. They tried to flee upward, regenerating wings and armored bodies.
Hex looked up.
"...Been a while since I used my powers," he muttered, rain sliding down his face.
"I'm a little rusty."
Then he lifted both hands.
Three invisible forces gathered.
Precision.
Erasure.
Destruction.
He merged them.
Trinity Execution: Oblivion Merge.
The air screamed.
He shot into the sky with the monsters, carrying the battlefield away from the city. Clouds split. Thunder fractured.
And then—
The sky itself was cut.
The Ruinborn were erased so completely that not even dust remained.
No trace. No echo. No memory in matter.
Hex descended slowly, rain hissing against the heat of his power.
The city was intact.
Not a single building destroyed.
Not a single human lost.
Silence followed.
Then... voices.
"W-Who is he...?"
"Are those things... gone?"
Hex stood in the street, coat heavy with rain. His tattoos dimmed. His eyes softened—just a little.
He turned to the people.
"Listen, humans."
His voice was calm. Absolute.
"From this night on, I pledge my life to this planet."
The crowd froze.
"You are weak. Slow. Fragile.
But that does not mean you deserve to be erased."
He raised his head.
"I will be your shield.
And your sword."
Thunder rolled above.
"Any monster. Any god. Any demon...
Who dares threaten this world—
I will destroy them."
Silence.
Then—
"THANK YOU!"
"HE SAVED US!"
"HEX! HEX! HEX!"
The city erupted in sound.
For the first time in years... Hex Nocturne felt something stir in his chest.
Not peace.
But purpose.
And then—
The sky cracked open.
Not with lightning.
With presence.
Clouds split apart like curtains pulled by invisible hands.
Above the city... a figure stood in the storm.
Golden eyes.
Spatial energy bending the world around him.
Hex looked up.
"...Kael."
His twin brother hovered in the heavens.
Watching.
Waiting.
And the universe... held its breath.