Thousands of years ago, the world suffered a great misfortune. This world lost its source of life—the light of the sun.
With the disappearance of light, all that remained in the world was despair.
The world fell into eternal darkness. Curses and corruption emerged due to the loss of the sun. Many horrific monsters were born from the world's misery and spread terror.
That great misfortune was caused by an evil god known as the Nadir Sovereign.
Nadir sealed this world with his power, causing them to lose the sun. Curses and corruption arose as a consequence.
Humans are weak and fragile, yet also the strongest and most resilient. Even in the midst of despair, they found a method to survive.
To this day, that method continues to be used so that they may endure. And through it, humanity strives to find a way out of the misfortune brought by the Nadir Sovereign.
"Until now, that seal remains, and we—mankind—struggle with a glimmer of hope to find the sun." Lunaria smiled bitterly as she told the story.
Kaelan was stunned. He felt as if he were listening to a dark fairy tale filled with hopelessness. And it was hard to believe that he lived inside that very tale.
"Because of one person, all of humanity suffers," Kaelan said in disbelief. "Why would that god do something like sealing the world?"
"There is much speculation, but even I don't know which is true. Some say it was because he hated humans. Some even say it was to atone for a sin."
In short, there was no right or wrong answer, as there was no evidence regarding the Nadir Sovereign's purpose in sealing the world.
"But you can believe one thing—he created misfortune for us all. Whatever his motive, he is clearly the most heinous villain." Lunaria bit her lip, as if swallowing a profound bitterness.
Kaelan could sense that Lunaria had gone through much suffering.
It was difficult to accept the fact that this world was cursed and unfit for habitation. However, they lived within that bitter reality.
It was easy for Kaelan to guess and imagine what kind of tragedies had befallen everyone.
"Thank you for telling me."
Lunaria smiled wryly. "It is common knowledge for everyone."
Kaelan was about to ask something else, but he heard footsteps coming from outside.
"I'm coming in, Captain." Reynold arrived with a wooden box in his hand.
He promptly knelt in front of Kaelan and took out ointment and bandages.
"I'm going to treat your wound. This will hurt for a moment, but it's better than leaving it untreated." Reynold gave a friendly smile. "Ignore me and continue your conversation."
Kaelan smiled. "Thank you."
Reynold nodded in return; he began to remove the cloth wrapping the wound on Kaelan's leg.
"You all thought I was an Outcast. What exactly is that?"
Lunaria thought for a moment. "There are four major groups that exist in this world. Naturally, each has its own goal. One of them is the Outcasts."
The Outcasts were a group created by people cast out from society. They usually wandered outside the cities, in dangerous places where the curse was most concentrated.
They were a rebel group that rejected general societal norms. Because of that, they were ostracized and unable to enter any city.
"They are a neutral party, neither good nor evil. But for some reason, they are quite disliked."
Kaelan felt the explanation was too simple. But seeing the situation, Lunaria was likely withholding as much information as possible from him.
"...What on earth." Reynold looked stunned when he finished unwrapping the cloth binding Kaelan's leg.
Kaelan looked at Reynold before looking at his leg. Just like Reynold, he was also shocked.
The open wound on his leg was slowly closing. It was as if thin threads were pulling each other and closing the wound rapidly. Within seconds, Kaelan's leg had recovered.
Reynold stared at him. "Are you a Devourer?"
Kaelan was about to ask what a Devourer meant, but Lunaria spoke before him.
"Sangu Carna, is it? Seeing how you recover, you are at least on the verge of Adaptation."
Kaelan was unable to process the rapidly changing situation. Many new terms were appearing before he could understand them.
"I don't know anything!" Kaelan hurried to explain. "I don't know why that wound healed so fast!"
Kaelan began to panic and explain. However, his actions were instead reckless. Reynold moved away from him, becoming vigilant, while Lunaria remained relaxed.
"Don't lie!" Reynold shouted. "That ability is clearly only possessed by a Devourer!"
"Devourer?" Kaelan asked. "What is that?"
Reynold groaned as he prepared to retort. However, Lunaria raised her hand casually.
Their gazes focused on Lunaria, who appeared calm and completely undisturbed.
"Continuing the story from earlier... mankind finally found a way to survive in this cursed world."
It was a method they obtained by studying the environment and the knowledge passed down by ancient civilizations.
"Ironically... To fight the curse, we need to devour the curse, and fight it with a curse."
In a cursed world, they were only able to struggle if they were already cursed. Competition in this world was not like fighting fire with water. They fought a curse with a curse.
"And, to use a curse, we found the art of devouring it—Devour Art. The people who use it are called Devourers."
Devour Art... a technique that devoured the essence of curse energy so that humans were able to use power.
Kaelan strangely felt familiar with it. It was as if he knew about Devour Art, but he also felt something was wrong about it.
Like water constantly dripping, Kaelan felt his memories returning in an agonizingly slow manner.
"Forgive me, Kaelan," Lunaria said emotionlessly. "I need to take you to headquarters."
At that moment, Rebecca and the others burst in, surrounding Kaelan. They circled him so that there was no way for him to escape.
Rebecca finished gritting her teeth. "I knew it, you are an Outcast!"
"No—"
Before Kaelan had a chance to deny it, Rebecca swung her sword horizontally, aiming for his head. Kaelan used his arm to protect his head. The result was his left hand being severely injured.
"Argh!" Intense pain struck him. He saw blood gushing out.
His hand was horribly sliced. However, what was surprising was what happened afterward. His flesh began to writhe and the blood clotted; slowly, fibers as thin as thread began to bind together and restore his hand.
He stared at his hand in disbelief. The horrific wound he had suffered quickly healed without leaving a trace.
Rebecca and the others were momentarily shocked. They then increased their vigilance toward Kaelan.
Kaelan raised both hands to show he wouldn't resist.
"Wait! I don't remember anything myself. Please listen to me first!" Kaelan said desperately.
"Of course," Lunaria replied calmly. "We will listen to your explanation properly."
Kaelan turned and was almost grateful. But he immediately stared in horror at Lunaria.
The beautiful woman was also strange. Part of her body writhed as if there were worms inside. Slowly it grew larger, and Lunaria nonchalantly tore her left hand with a knife.
The writhing flesh surged out. Black flesh and dark red blood chased Kaelan. In the blink of an eye, its size expanded to twice Kaelan's size.
"For now, please be calm and obedient."
Before Kaelan had a chance to react, the mass of flesh seemed to form a large mouth and swallowed him whole.
Kaelan was no longer able to feel anything after that.