AKIHIRO ATLAS
I couldn't understand why my master was acting this way. It was as if, somewhere deep inside me, there was something I knew the answer to but didn't have the courage to accept.
The look on his face startled me a little. That shadow that flashed across his eyes for a moment… it wasn't familiar, but it wasn't exactly foreign either. It was as if something that had been hidden for years had unintentionally surfaced. But whatever I saw in that moment vanished just as quickly. It gave way once again to that familiar, peaceful, and distant calm. But I had seen it.
My master's master… I have absolutely no idea what happened between them before and after he was expelled from Cistern. Whenever I dared to ask, I felt as though I were talking to a wall. It had been two and a half years since Magnus was expelled. I had spent three years on duty… So I had the chance to learn certain things, but that chance was never given to me.
Perhaps some answers… were being kept hidden so I wouldn't know.
Most of the questions I asked him there went unanswered. But that silence wasn't empty. On the contrary, the weight of what wasn't said was greater than what was.
Now, though… with that brief crack in my master's face, I felt it was the right time to say something. It was as if a door that had been closed for years had finally cracked open for the first time.
I looked at his face one last time. When I looked at him, he turned his eyes toward me.
And in that moment… it was as if all the silence between us had been compressed into a single glance.
"Are you hesitating, Aki?"
Of course, I should have expected such a question… After all, I'd been sitting there in silence for several seconds.
"No, the truth is… a lot has happened in three years, and I was trying to make sense of it all."
My master looked away from my eyes and brought his hand to his chin, gently resting it there.
"However, you don't have much time before the meeting, Aki. You should go see the team members, shouldn't you? They must have missed you terribly."
He was right. If I was going to speak, I had to let go of this stupid feeling of cowardice.
"You're right, Master…"
I'll tell it in as chronological an order as possible. Let me think about what happened first…
Right, the demon named Zagreus.
"During the first six months of my assignment, there were only boring and simple things. But right after those six months, I was attacked…"
TWO AND A HALF YEARS AGO BY EARTH'S TIME STANDARD
Even though I'd been patrolling here for six months, I hadn't achieved any significant progress. My goal was to find the kings threatening Earth and confront them to gather intelligence, but none of them ever appeared before me.
Every night, as I leaped from one rooftop to another, the only thing I did was watch people who were born without Spiritual Power and lived their lives—whether happily or unhappily.
As I watched them, I wondered…
"Who am I?"
But this question… didn't want an answer.
It was like a shadow circling my existence, one I could never touch.
I watched the people.
A man sat on the same bench every morning, smoking the same cigarette.
A woman looked out the same window at the same time every day, as if waiting for something to return.
A child… was laughing for no reason.
None of them had Spiritual Power.
None of them were "chosen."
But still… they were alive.
And I… I wasn't among them.
One night was different from the others.
The sky felt heavy.
The wind was trapped in the narrow streets, as if it wanted to say something.
What stopped my steps wasn't a scream, nor an explosion…
It was silence.
I was very close to the location of the house where I lived while on Earth. I was never, ever treated as if I mattered at home. The only thing I saw before coming to Cistern was two parents who loved my other two siblings and treated me as if I weren't human.
My father always invested in my older brother. He cared about his future and his peace of mind. My younger brother, on the other hand, became the apple of their eye the moment he was born. They always said things about how he would be the pride of this family.
To be honest, I really did think he would be, and I wanted that very much. I wanted my siblings' success just as much as my own. I was never jealous of them. My siblings loved me very much, too.
Without a doubt, I was the most perfect one among them. My grades never once fell below the highest mark; I felt as though if they did, I would fall too, as though I were compelled to make everything perfect. In household chores, crafts, sports, intellectual pursuits… being the best in every environment I was in wasn't a choice for me, it was a necessity. Because only then… I thought I might be accepted, even if just for a moment. But no matter how high I climbed, the distance between us never closed. It was as if, no matter what I did, it had been decided from the start that I could never belong.
Still, they always kept me apart, but this separation wasn't a reward. It was more like… a mark. A silent, invisible stamp. There were evenings when they didn't even think it necessary for me to sit at the same table; my father would send me to my room, as if my very presence were too much for that table. And when I didn't go… he'd find different ways to remind me. I still can't forget the moments when the knife touched my skin; they weren't deep cuts, but they were enough. Not just to hurt me… but to remind me of my place. Still, strangely enough, I found those moments more bearable than the beatings that lasted for hours. Because at least… they were short. Sometimes a person has to choose the lesser of two evils.
My older brother… he was as tough as my father, but he was never like that with me. It was by his side that I first understood what it meant to "be protected." I remember the times he'd bring my food to my room; the way he'd quietly open the door, glancing around as if he were committing a crime… but still not backing down. He would defy whatever my father said. It wasn't easy for him either, I know. I saw them fight many times. The sound of fists, the shouting… and me, standing right in the middle, unable to do anything. In those moments, something inside me kept saying the same thing: it's my fault. And that thought… settled deep inside me over time, never leaving.
He tried to keep our little brother out of all this. He didn't want him to grow up like us. He wanted at least one of us to stay "normal"… to truly know what love is. I wanted the same thing for my older brother. That's why, whenever he tried to protect me, I'd stop him. Because with every punch, every act of defiance, I knew he was getting hurt a little more too. And strangely enough… I didn't want that for myself. Maybe I'd grown used to the pain, but I didn't want him to get used to it.
"It's okay, Aki. As long as it's about you, you'll always have an older brother to protect you wherever we go."
I remember the moment he said those words. It was as if the world had grown a little quieter then. For the first time, someone had told me they'd stay for me. For the first time, someone… had implied they wouldn't leave.
But I haven't heard that voice in six months. That silly, sometimes scary but somehow soothing voice… it's gone. And accepting this feels harder than anything I've ever experienced before. Because this time… this isn't a pain I can get used to. It's like a void echoing constantly inside me.
My tears began to fall without me noticing. My breathing grew irregular, but I tried not to make a sound. I pulled my cloak over my face and closed my eyes; I didn't want anyone to see. It still felt like a sign of weakness… yet perhaps this was the last shred of humanity left in me.
I didn't want to come here. I didn't want to go on a mission in the world. But not wanting to… doesn't change anything. I had to. Because there are still so many things I don't understand about myself. And these questions… no matter how much I run, they won't leave me alone.
When I arrived at Cistern, not much actually changed. The surroundings changed, the people changed… but I didn't. I was being excluded again. The same distance, the same coldness. That's why I always aimed for the top; I thought maybe loneliness would be different at the summit. But it wasn't. No matter how high I climbed… that lonely, weeping Akihiro inside me always came with me. I couldn't escape him. Maybe… he was me all along.
Still, now isn't the time for that. Duty waits for no one.
And I… no matter how I feel, I have to keep moving forward.
Forcing myself, I stood up on that roof and, as the wind whipped my clothes, I slowly jumped off the roof and landed on the ground—a hard landing, but one that didn't hurt me.
"Damn it!"
The moment the sky shook, I realized what was coming at me. I ducked my head and body, and a few strands of my hair, flying upward, were severed by whatever was trying to split me in two.
I covered my body in lightning and leaped slightly to the side of where the unexpected attack had just occurred. I turned and looked back at where I had been, and what I saw was a building split diagonally in two, with the upper half crashing to the ground while its windows shattered into pieces.
Amidst the screams, I had no choice but to do whatever my body told me to do.
I filled my body with lightning once more and, with all my strength, leaped toward the falling building, kicking the wall surface with both legs to halt its descent. Simultaneously, I channeled all the lightning into my hands and pushed with all my might.
I did everything I could, and the building, though slowly, began to move back to its original position. I paid no heed to the shards of glass raining down on my head and, using my Spiritual Power, materialized the lightning I'd channeled into my right hand into a chain. I ran swiftly around the points where the building had split in two, wrapping the chain around them, then leaped to the adjacent building and drove it into its wall. This would keep it stable for a while.
"Everyone in the building should immediately leave their homes! This building cannot hold out much longer! " I shouted with all my strength, and amidst the calls, I witnessed dozens of people descending from the building.
After watching the people going downstairs for a while, I began to feel confident that no one was left inside and I secured the chain by pushing it deeper into the other building and then exited between the two buildings back onto the main road.
The distant screams and horn honks didn't stop, but the alley where I was standing was completely silent. I was examining my surroundings with quick movements.
I kept turning my head from side to side, in different directions.
"Where could my enemy be? "
I'm thinking to myself, but there's only one thing I'm sure of.
The future is about to come, it has come.
A tall man came out of the window of the building I had just saved from falling, shattering the glass, and jumped out and threw a long and medium-thick red sword at me in his hand.
My body was struck by lightning, and I stepped aside; his attack missed. With all my spiritual power, I gathered my lightning power in my left fist and delivered a powerful blow.
He immediately shifted his sword to his hand farther away from me and held my fist with his other hand as if nothing were wrong.
"Your scent is very strong. There's no doubt, you're the one I'm looking for." he said and, holding my arm with his fist, turned me 60 degrees, positioning me so that the building I had just saved was behind me. Then he kicked me so hard in the center of my stomach that I was propelled through the building from one end to the other, passing through it, and stopped by crashing into cars on the other street.
For a few seconds, the entire world remained blurred, and when I came to my senses, the building I had saved collapsed completely onto me.
After a few seconds during which I felt like my brain was shaking, I couldn't breathe, and I inhaled the disgusting, hot smell of blood flowing from my head, I took a deep breath, but it was of no use, of course...
"Damn it!I tried to say this while under the building.
Since I was having difficulty breathing, I couldn't focus and gather my Spirit Power. Therefore, any attack I would make might have been uncontrollable or ineffective, but I had to do it.
I transformed my body back into lightning, destroyed the building, and passed through it. My lightning-form form held me in the air for a few seconds. I transformed my body back into its normal form and, as I fell toward the ground, turned my head to look around. I was looking right ahead when someone came down from above toward my left side at nearly sonic speed. Even though I turned quickly to face them, the shield I formed with both arms couldn't fully block the punch, which knocked me to the ground. My body was driven into the ground by the force of the punch, and after bouncing a few times, I hit another car and came to a stop.
I had lost far more blood than I had expected. It has been six months since I came here, and I have never seen anything like this before. Assuming such a powerful thing exists here, the only logical answer is...
It could have been that he was a King or a Queen.
I struggled to stand up, holding on to the bent door handle of the car. The world was still shifting between a blurry and a sharply focused state after these tremors.
Meanwhile, the person who had attacked me slowly descended from the sky to the ground and began to advance toward me in heavy steps. Although I couldn't see clearly, I recognized from his build that he was a man, and he was holding a long, thick sword in his hand. If my eyes weren't deceiving me, the sword appeared to be blood-colored.
I positioned myself so that I wouldn't fall to the ground, leaned my back against the car, and shouted as loudly as I could.
"Who are you and what did you mean by what you just said?"
The man in front of me walked a little slower. Even though I looked for a place to escape, my surroundings were blocked off. At that moment, I thought I must not have enough strength left to escape using lightning, so I considered running quickly, but the man stopped at a distance between us. Now the view was much clearer.
The moment I first saw him… I remembered once again why I hated kings and queens.
It was like a curse descended from the sky.
His hair was dark as night, but within that darkness, red and golden leaves sparkled like the crown of a god rising from its own ashes. This is how they reveal their kingship—by appearing as if they belong to the heavens. But I know… they are just walking bodies of rotten power.
Their eyes…
One was red as blood. Cold, cruel, judging.
The other one was green—but not of life, rather like the last breath of a decaying forest.
Two different disasters had merged into one.
There wasn't a single tremor on his face. It was as if killing me was a reflex, a habit for him. Not killing a human... "eliminating a lower being." This is how kings look. They don't even see you.
The things he carried on his shoulder...
Dog heads.
But they were not mere ornaments.
They were like mementos.
They were looking at me, shattered, blank-eyed, with silent screams.
This is all a king's mercy can be—it even tears apart loyalty and turns it into a badge on his shoulder.
The belt around his waist... was made of skulls.
The creature was I was I don't know.
But there's one thing I know—that belt was not a symbol of a war, but of a genocide.
Their clothes… red and black.
Blood and shadow.
So it's exactly their color.
He locked his eyes on mine, which I could barely keep open.
"Our Lord's destiny spoke of you. I had to find you, we had to find you, until He came. Akihiro Atlas, you mean a lot to our race. You must mean even more. " he said, releasing his hand from his waist and extending it to me, palm up, for me to hold.
Even though there was distance between us, she was extending her hand as if to hold mine, she was truly eager.
"You have no choice but to accept. Our Lord saw you in his prophecy of the final moments. You will encounter him, you must encounter him. This will have great and significant meaning for us. Akihiro Atlas, come closer and I will open the gate that will lead you to Tenebrium."
After these words, I took a moment to digest what he had said and thought about it.
Tenebrium, huh? It must be the name of a Sacred Domain.
…
I squinted my eyes.
"So the person you mentioned is your High King?" I replied in a quiet tone.
The person in front of me smiled with dignity. They were still holding their hand towards me even now.
"That's true. Our High King was exiled from these universes thousands of years ago. However... he will return. "
There was no tremor in his voice. But beneath that calmness lay a grief that was crushing him.
"While he was here... there was order, but it wasn't the kind of order you understand. It wasn't based on fear. It wasn't based on worship of power. No one would kneel before anyone else... because no one was despicable enough to make anyone kneel.His eyes wandered off into the distance for a moment.
"We... helped each other. The strong did not oppress the weak; on the contrary, they lifted them up. War... was not even a concept. Spilling blood was the last thing on anyone's mind. Because the High King... had taught us what power is for. "
Then his face slowly hardened.
"But he's gone. "
These two words carried the weight of a collapse.
"And we… have become unable to recognize ourselves. "
"It all started with small things at first. Aid decreased. The strong ones began to help only themselves. Then… the concept of superiority emerged. Those who claimed 'I'm stronger' emerged."
"Hierarchy… spread like a disease. After a while… power ceased to be a responsibility. It became a weapon. "
For the first time, his voice darkened slightly.
"Brother slew brother. Those of the same blood… tore each other's throats out. Those who once rose together… vied to pull each other down."
"And then…"
He paused. As if even what they had to say was dirty.
"They started killing for fun."
Is that it, do you only care when it's your own race?
"Cries of pain have become part of our language. Mercy has been branded as weakness. Loyalty has become a tool to be exploited. Some have sought to increase their power by tearing their own kind apart. Some... proved their 'superiority' by tearing the weak to pieces alive. And the worst part..."
Their eyes locked onto me again.
"No one remembered this was wrong. We... would no longer look for hell outside. "
His voice almost turned into a whisper.
"Because we... became hell itself. "
There was a momentary silence; I waited patiently for him to formulate his sentences.
"While we had our High King… we were a race. After our High King was gone…"
A pained yet proud expression appeared on his face.
"…we turned into a disaster."
He started taking a few steps towards me, approaching me with quick steps.
"And I… still believe he will return. Because only he… can put an end to this abomination. And you!
You were our King's last prophecy, our Lord's last prophecy! I'm sure you will be a key! "
…
I let out a laugh so loud it shook the entire city. My chest was heaving. My voice hit the walls and bounced back, shaking the stones and tearing through the air. While I needed to pause for breath... I laughed even harder. My knees buckled slightly, and my head fell back. I laughed, looking up at the sky. It was as if that "sacred past" he was talking about had descended from the heavens as a prank on me.
I covered my face with my hand, but it was impossible to stop this smile. It was slipping through my fingers.
"A king… and a people who wouldn't kneel before him… Is that so? ! "
I took a step forward, still smiling. My voice was no longer just cheerful—it was sharp, scathing, devastating.
"How… how incredibly funny of a lie this is! "
My eyes locked onto him. My smile faded for a moment, then rose again.
"You… are beings of power. Beings like gods. And you tell me… no one oppressed anyone?"
I shook my head, still laughing among the crowd.
"This is against nature. This is against existence. This… is pure nonsense!"
I seemed to pause for a moment... but it was just to take a deeper breath.
"Do you know the truth? "
My smile slowed down. But it didn't end. There was still a trembling madness beneath it.
"What you call 'heaven' was just a suppressed bestiality. And that your king..."
Another short, sharp laugh.
"…he was just keeping the lid closed."
I said one last thing to the person who stopped in surprise as they were walking towards me.
"What's your name?"
He spun his long sword, which he was leaning on his shoulder, in his hand, swung it to the right, and with the swing, the windows of the buildings to my left were shattered and the walls cracked.
"Zagreus, I am the 2nd king of the Demon race. You will pay for what you just said. I had already attacked you at first because I didn't think you would come willingly... Still, what you said is unforgivable. You will pay, and I will leave you hanging by your life thread, torturing you until you are reborn. "
Okay, okay, there's no need to laugh anymore.
It's clear I hate them all. A hatred that will never end within me.
I am human.
That's all. King or Queen or God or Goddess... As the hierarchy grows, the oppression of people increases.
I am human.
I swore an oath to bring about their end.
"I hope you can do it, Zagreus."
I lunged forward and swung my spear at Sentry with all my strength.
END OF CHAPTER