Faris woke to the sound of the alarm at exactly five in the morning.
He opened his eyes quickly, without yawning, without drowsiness. His human body was slightly tired, but his soul... his soul was burning with excitement.
He sat up on the bed, looked toward the window. The sky outside was still dark, but faint threads of blue were beginning to creep in from the horizon. Dawn was near.
He smiled.
Today... he would see the outside world.
Not the demon world. Not the Dead Land in the north. But the real human world. Living cities. Living people. Life... ordinary life.
From Fray's memories, he knew what this world looked like. He knew the streets, the buildings, the cars, the people. But knowing something from someone else's memories... was completely different from seeing it with your own eyes.
He rose quickly, headed toward the bathroom.
The shower was... a strange experience.
Warm water poured over his human body, and for a moment, he felt something he had never felt before.
Comfort.
No polluted water. No smell of sulfur. No trace of old blood lingering in the air. Just clean water, warm, simple.
He closed his eyes under the water.
In the demon world, bathing was a quick ritual, functional, meaningless. But here... it was different.
"Perhaps weakness has its advantages..." he whispered with faint sarcasm.
After the shower, he stood before the closet.
Fray's clothes were simple. Shirts, jeans, ordinary jackets. Nothing fancy, but everything clean and tidy.
He chose the best he had: a clean white shirt, dark blue jeans, a light black jacket. He looked in the mirror, ran his fingers through his hair until it was somewhat neat, but not perfect. Handsome, but in a natural way.
He smiled at his reflection.
"Ready."
He headed to the small kitchen.
He opened the refrigerator, looked at its contents. Some vegetables, milk, juice, and a jar of strawberry jam. In the cupboard, he found fresh bread.
Bread and jam.
Simple. But he had never cooked in his life.
In his father's palace, food was served to him. And even that food wasn't food in the human sense—but the flesh of various creatures, sometimes raw, sometimes burned with mana energy.
He took out two slices of bread, opened the jam jar, spread it generously.
He sat at the table, took a bite.
He stopped.
The taste... sweet.
Not the bitter sweetness of powerful creatures' blood. Not the burning sweetness of concentrated energy. But sweetness... simple. Natural. Pleasant.
He smiled faintly.
"At least the weak eat pleasant food."
He devoured the two slices quickly, drank a glass of cold water.
Suddenly, his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
"Aunt Mira"
From Fray's memories, he knew who she was.
His mother's sister. The only person left from Fray's family after the attack. Who called him after his parents' death, insisted he come to this city, helped him secure a small apartment, sent him some money, and kept calling him every day to check on him.
He pressed the answer button, raised the phone to his ear.
"Good morning, Fray!" A warm voice, full of tenderness, emanated from the phone.
Faris felt a strange pang in his chest.
"G... good morning." He replied hesitantly, his voice slightly rougher than he intended.
"Are you okay? Did you sleep well? I'm worried about you, sweetheart, I know today is very important. The Origin test... you need to leave early so you won't be late!"
Her words were quick, full of genuine concern, pure love.
Faris didn't know how to respond.
In his entire life, he had never heard such a tone directed at him. His father never worried about him—only watched him, poisoned him, planned to steal his body. No one ever asked him "Are you okay?" sincerely.
His mouth opened slightly, but the words didn't come out.
"Fray? Are you there?"
"I... I'm fine." He finally mumbled, his voice low. "Don't worry. I'll go now."
"Okay, okay! Be careful on the way. Call me right after the test, okay? I love you, Fray."
His heart stopped for a moment.
"I... me too." He whispered with difficulty, then quickly ended the call.
He put the phone on the table, stared at it silently.
His face... reddened slightly.
"What..." he whispered in a choked voice. "What was that?"
His hand trembled slightly.
Embarrassment?
Him?
A demon who was the son of Number 6, the demon who could destroy a planet with a single strike?
Embarrassed... by a phone call?
He hit the table with his fist, but without real force.
"Damn this body..." he whispered with suppressed anger.
Fray's original feelings. His memories. His attachment to his aunt. All of this... began seeping into him. Affecting him. Changing him.
If his father saw him now... he would despise him.
He rose quickly, took a deep breath.
"Get over this." He told himself firmly.
He took the wallet from the table—some bills to pay for the train ticket and anything else he might need. He checked his pockets: phone, ID card, apartment key.
Everything ready.
He headed toward the door, stood before it for a moment.
He looked at the small apartment behind him. The place where he spent his first night as a human.
He smiled sarcastically.
"Well, Fray Castle..."
He opened the door.
"Let's see how the weak live in their little world."
He walked out, closed the door quietly behind him.
The air outside was cold, refreshing.
He took a deep breath.
Clean.
No smell of sulfur. No smell of old blood. No trace of corrupted energy. Just... clean air, cold, carrying a faint smell of rain from the previous night.
He raised his gaze to the sky.
It was between black and blue—dawn hadn't fully arrived yet. But the stars began disappearing one by one, and the eastern horizon began glowing with a faint orange color.
The real sunrise.
Not a bloody red sunrise like in the demon world. But a sunrise... beautiful.
He smiled faintly.
"Interesting."
He began walking down the street.
The city was quiet at this early hour, but not dead. Some people were already moving—workers going to their morning shifts, elderly people walking for exercise, shop owners opening their doors.
Everything... orderly. Safe. Normal.
He looked around with hidden amazement.
Cars.
Some on the ground, moving quietly on paved roads. And some... flying.
Flying cars, hovering at low altitude, their lights flashing in different colors. Some were luxurious—shiny, elegant, looking expensive. And some ordinary—old, slightly worn, but working.
In the demon world, there were no cars. There were tamed beasts, carriages carried by mana, teleportation gates for the strong. But this... this was pure human technology.
"Creative in their weakness." He whispered with faint admiration.
Buildings.
Tall, massive, completely different shapes from the demon world. Not palaces of bones and black stones. But towers of glass and concrete, gleaming under the streetlights. Some simple and rectangular, and some architecturally complex, with curved designs and multiple colors.
Life.
This city... was alive.
People.
They began increasing as he advanced down the street. Men in formal suits carrying briefcases. Women in elegant work clothes. Young people in casual wear. Everyone walking calmly, without fear, without tension.
No one looking around trying to stay alive.
No one hiding a weapon.
No one preparing for battle.
Just... living.
Safety.
This world... was safe.
He smiled sarcastically.
"They live as if war doesn't exist."
But part of him... envied them a little.
Then he noticed something else.
Women.
Completely different from the women of the demon world.
In his old world, women were harsh, sharp, fighters. Beauty existed, but it was dangerous beauty—sharp eyes, bodies rippling with muscles, aggressive energy surrounding them.
But here...
Beauty was... gentler. Softer. More docile.
A woman walking beside him smiled at a small child running ahead of her.
Another carrying a bouquet of flowers, laughing quietly with her friend.
A young woman wearing a summer dress, listening to music through her headphones, swaying gently with the rhythm.
Beauty without danger.
Kindness without power.
"Interesting..." he whispered in a low voice.
He finally arrived at the train station.
It was a large station, modern, full of people even at this early hour. Huge electronic screens displaying train schedules. Automated announcement sounds echoing in the air. The smell of coffee from a small café in the corner.
From Fray's memories, he knew the way.
He went to the ticket machine, bought a ticket to The Origin. He paid the amount, took the paper ticket.
He looked at it.
"The Origin... The Origin test."
He smiled.
He entered the platform, waited for the train.
After a few minutes, it arrived—a long train, elegant, moving quietly on slightly glowing mana rails.
The doors opened.
He boarded.
The train was nearly empty—only a few passengers, most reading their phones or looking out the window in silence.
Faris walked down the aisle, looking for a seat.
Then he saw her.
A girl.
Sitting alone by the window, looking outside calmly.
Long black hair, cascading over her shoulders like a silky waterfall.
Golden yellow eyes—a rare color, striking, gleaming even in the dim lighting of the train.
She wore simple clothes—a loose white shirt, black pants, a light gray jacket. Clothes that didn't show the details of her body, but...
Her face.
Her face was... attractive in a different way.
Not a loud beauty. But a quiet beauty, deep, the kind that draws the eye without you knowing exactly why.
Something in her features, in the way she sat, in the calmness surrounding her...
Faris stopped for a moment.
Then smiled.
He approached her with confident steps, stood directly in front of her.
She looked at him, one eyebrow raised with faint curiosity.
He looked directly into her golden eyes, without hesitation.
"Your eyes..." he said in a calm voice, confident, completely direct.
She stopped looking out the window, looked at him fully now.
"...remind me of molten gold in the pits of eternal fire."
Silence.
She looked at him expressionlessly for a moment.
Then said, in a cold but polite voice:
"I'm not interested."
She turned her head slightly away from him, returned to looking out the window.
Complete dismissal.
Faris stood frozen in place.
Something strange happened in his chest.
A pang.
Sharp.
Embarrassment?
No... impossible.
But his face... reddened slightly.
His hands trembled faintly.
His heart raced.
"What... what is this?!" he thought in internal panic.
Fray's original feelings. His memories of rejection, of embarrassment from girls at school.
All of this flooded into him suddenly, uncontrollably.
Part of him—the demonic part—felt anger. Insult.
How dare she reject him?
He was the son of Number 6!
But another part—the human part, Fray's part—felt genuine embarrassment. Confusion.
An internal struggle, silent, violent.
"Damn..." he whispered in a choked voice, very low.
He took a step back, then two.
He sat on the seat directly across from her, a few meters away, but still within her field of vision if she looked.
He looked at her silently.
She didn't look at him again.
A bitter, sarcastic smile appeared on his face.
Then he whispered in a low voice, but full of determination:
"Your rejection now..."
His gaze turned to something deeper, sharper.
"...is just the beginning."
Faris sat in silence, trying to calm the conflicting emotions in his chest.
The train began moving, gradually accelerating, the city passing quickly outside the window.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath.
And suddenly, other memories from Fray's mind flooded in.
The war.
Earth's current situation.
After the fall of the Northern Continent, after three years of bloody hell, unified humanity managed to curb the demons' advance.
The leader of the demons on Earth was named Zabur.
A demon of rank U.
Strong. Terrifying. But not the strongest.
Faris opened his eyes slightly, a sarcastic smile on his face.
"Rank U..."
His father was rank A.
The difference between them... was immense.
A rank A demon could destroy a planet like Earth with a single strike.
So why didn't his father come? Or stronger demons than him?
The answer was clear from Fray's scattered memories, and from his own demonic knowledge.
The demon power system.
Demons acquired power in three ways:
1. Eating strong enemies. Consuming their flesh, their energy, their essence. The stronger the opponent, the greater the power gained.
2. Continuous combat. Demons were a purely combat race. Fighting strengthened them. Every battle, every wound, every victory... increased their power.
3. Planetary mana.
This was the most important.
When 80% of living creatures on a planet were exterminated, that planet began secreting concentrated, pure, immense energy.
Planetary mana.
Energy that helped demons jump entire ranks in a short time.
But...
There was a problem.
The strong... didn't benefit from weak planets.
Faris's father, a rank A demon, if he came to Earth—a weak planet, barely at level U or T—wouldn't gain anything from this planet's mana.
The energy would be too weak for him. Useless.
And therefore...
Weak planets = testing and training ground for weak demons.
Zabur, a rank U demon, was sent to Earth to train himself. To exterminate 80% of living creatures. To obtain the planet's mana. To jump to rank T, or even S if he was lucky.
And Earth...
Became a training ground.
Faris opened his eyes fully.
He looked out the window, at the city passing quickly.
Tall buildings. Living people. Normal life.
But all of this...
Was just borrowed time.
The war hadn't ended.
It was just... dormant.
Humans were preparing. Preparing the new generation to become soldiers. Developing weapons. Training fighters.
And demons too... were preparing for something.
Zabur hadn't stopped. But was waiting. Planning. Gathering his forces from half-demons.
And the ultimate goal...
Exterminating 80% of life on Earth.
Faris smiled with bitter sarcasm.
"A world doomed to death..."
But something made him feel excited.
Danger.
Real danger.
A world on the edge of extinction.
Conflicting powers.
Opportunities for power.
For growth.
For survival.
"Exciting..." he whispered in a low voice, a faint smile on his face.
Suddenly, he felt movement around him.
He opened his eyes, looked around.
The train... was full.
Dozens of young men and women had boarded at the last stations. Most of them eighteen years old, wearing clean clothes, their faces filled with tension and excitement.
All going to the same place.
The Origin.
The Origin test.
Faris looked out the window, and what he saw made him stop breathing for a moment.
The city had completely changed. Residential buildings disappeared. Wide green spaces began appearing. And on the horizon...
A city.
Not a single building.
But an entire city.
Massive. Enormous. Stretching over a vast area as far as the eye could see.
High fortified walls surrounded it from every side—shining white walls, covered with mana inscriptions glowing with faint blue light. Massive watchtowers at every corner, taller than any building he'd seen in the previous city.
Above the entire city, covering it completely like an invisible dome...
A mana barrier.
Faris could feel it even from this distance. A dense energy field, pulsing gently, protecting everything beneath it. The barrier was so powerful that it distorted the air slightly around its edges, creating a faint shimmer like heat waves.
And from within the city...
He felt mana pressure.
Not oppressive, but undeniable. A constant hum of power, emanating from within the walls. The presence of strong individuals inside. Many of them. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of people whose mana reserves were far beyond ordinary humans.
Teachers. Instructors. Guardians.
The strong protecting the city of warriors-in-training.
Faris's eyes narrowed, his smile widening slightly.
"So many strong ones in one place..."
Inside the walls...
Dozens—no, hundreds—of buildings.
Massive training facilities. Towering lecture halls. Open combat arenas. Wide courtyards that could accommodate thousands of people. Green gardens scattered between buildings. Wide paved roads intersecting in every direction.
A city within a city.
And from Fray's memories, the real information flooded in.
The Origin.
The most important place in the entire Southern Continent.
Not just a school. Not just a military academy.
But the factory of fighters.
The place that would produce the heroes who would liberate Earth from demons.
The place that trained thousands of students every year, transforming them from ordinary youths into warriors capable of facing half-demons, and perhaps... real demons someday.
All governments of the Southern Continent supported The Origin. All resources, money, the best trainers, the strongest styles, the rarest weapons—all sent here.
Because The Origin...
Was humanity's only hope.
But...
The Origin didn't accept everyone.
Only the talented.
Only the strong.
Only those who possessed a decent mana source, or a rare skill, or genuine combat talent.
The Origin test was the decider.
Those who succeeded entered the city, became students, received all resources and training.
And those who failed...
Were expelled. Returned to their ordinary lives. Became just ordinary citizens, waiting for the day demons might come to kill them.
Faris stared at the massive city, his eyes gleaming.
"The factory of fighters..." he whispered in a low voice.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Exciting."
The automated announcement echoed:
"Next station: The Origin. All examinees please prepare to disembark."
The train began slowing, approaching a massive station built specifically before The Origin's main gate.
Faris rose slowly.
He looked toward the girl with golden eyes.
She also rose, gathering her small bag, preparing to disembark. Her face was completely calm, without any trace of the tension filling others' faces.
She didn't look at him even once.
He smiled sarcastically.
"We'll see..."
The train stopped completely.
The doors opened.
A wave of young people poured out, their voices filled with excitement and anxiety.
"Do you think I'll succeed?"
"My mana source is only X... is that enough?"
"I heard this year's test is harder than last year!"
"Don't worry, as long as you have a good skill, you have a chance!"
Faris exited calmly, stood on the wide platform.
Directly before him, hundreds of meters away, was The Origin's main gate.
A massive gate, dozens of meters wide, at least twenty meters high. Made of shining white metal, covered with complex mana symbols glowing faint blue.
Above the gate, words carved in huge script, clear, majestic:
"The Origin — Where Warriors Are Forged"
And beneath it, in smaller script:
"Only the Strong Enter. Only Heroes Graduate."
Faris stared at the words, his smile widening slightly.
"Only the strong..."
He looked around.
Thousands of young people flooding from different trains, all heading toward the gate. Some confident, walking with steady steps. Some afraid, looking around anxiously. Some praying silently, wishing for success.
All dreaming of the same thing.
Entering The Origin.
Becoming fighters.
Liberating Earth.
Faris took a deep breath, filled his lungs with cold air.
He looked at the massive city before him, at the high walls, at the countless buildings, at the shimmering mana barrier above, feeling the pressure of power emanating from within.
Here...
Everything would begin.
One step forward.
Toward the gate.
Toward the test.
Toward the unknown.
A confident smile, full of dangerous curiosity, formed on his face.
"Let's see..."
He whispered in a voice only he could hear.
"...how a former demon will look..."
Another step.
"...in the factory of human warriors."