Prologue

Episode 1: Prologue
“You can become the greatest of dark magic, son.”
These were the proud words of my father, the head of the Bayonel family, one of the four great noble families of the Dark Empire.
But… but father, this time, I must ask you:
Even if I become the greatest, if there is no one beside me—
Does the path truly have meaning?
“Isn’t that right, father?”
Even as I asked the question to the Lich lying beside me—created from my father’s dead body—there was no answer.
Grrr…
Only the wheezing sound of phlegm, characteristic of a Lich, filled the silence.
Swallowing my unease, I gathered up the magical energy that had been lingering in the Lich’s body.
The Lich’s teeth, which had been clattering instinctively without reason, soon ceased their movements.
“You’ve suffered, and… I’m sorry.”
For not being able to save you.
I reached out and closed the eyes of the old Lich, leaving only pale pupils visible.
Despite my resolve to stake everything on this, the reality I was facing twisted my expression.
To have brought my dead father back as a Lich, pushing him once again into the fray of battle…
Is this truly something a son should do?
Whoooosh—
No matter where I looked, black flames were raging.
The demon of retribution had appeared, and with it, flames of retribution spread.
The giant inferno, which had begun at the coastline of the Luknica continent, showed no signs of dying out.
It wouldn’t be long before the black flames consumed this very place where I lay.
Rumble…
From above, in the sky, a deep roar and a thunderous noise followed one another in a relentless chain.
How much time had passed?
The deafening sounds that had overwhelmed my ears began to quiet down little by little.
It meant that the battle with the Demon of Retribution was nearing its end.
I desperately wanted to check the battle’s status, but I had only enough strength left to twitch my fingers.
I forced my eyes to roll downward, and I saw the red blood flowing from my abdomen.
The wound was so severe that the floor, muddied with lukewarm blood, was almost visible beneath the gash.
I lifted my gaze.
A pile of hundreds of bodies, now grotesque, stacked up before me like a mountain.
These bodies had long since decayed and rotted.
Heh heh…
I murmured bitterly to myself in this mountain of corpses, feeling a sense of bitter self-mockery.
Despite calling ourselves the continent’s last desperate battle force, the corpses here had perished without ever even properly facing the Demon of Retribution.
And I was the one who had raised the bodies of the dead to turn them into zombies and forced them into battle.
…There was no choice.
Had I not given everything I had, I would’ve doubted I could even have killed these beasts.
Another moment passed.
Boom!
Something fell from the mountain of corpses.
The Demon of Retribution, Valpurgis.
Once a skeleton of pure white bones, it was now soaked in black blood.
The sockets that had once gleamed with eerie light were now completely dark.
Its enormous skull, cracked and with its lower jaw missing, had come to a complete stop.
It was easy to see that it hadn’t died a peaceful death.
“Heh… Serves you right, you damn fool.”
I chuckled at the skull, mocking the demon who had boasted about being the king of the seven deadly sins, planning to cover the entire continent with retribution flames. In the end, his head had been taken by the very humans he had looked down upon.
“Honestly, I don’t even want to deal with you.”
With a gust of wind, a woman landed beside me.
Unlike me, who was lying down, she stood tall, planting her sacred sword firmly into the ground.
She was known as the ‘Sword of Light,’ the most powerful force of the Holy Empire, and a woman who had made a name for herself throughout the continent.
A golden holy mark was engraved on the back of her right hand.
…It’s funny when I think about it again.
The Dark Empire and the Holy Empire.
Who would’ve thought these two empires, once constantly at odds with one another, would form an alliance to create a battle force to face demons?
In the end, only the Sword of Light and I survived from the battle force.
“Anyone who sees us will know I was the one who captured him.”
“You’re bluffing, you wouldn’t have caught him if it weren’t for the curses I put on him.”
“I’ve said it all…”
The Sword of Light, unable to finish her words, staggered before kneeling beside me, breathing heavily.
“See? You act like you’re fine, but you’re not.”
“Ugh…”
“I can tell you’re stupid.”
I grimaced as I observed her condition.
She was propped up with her sacred sword, struggling to support herself.
Despite being blessed, her legs were still trembling.
It was so close.
“What a pathetic woman… At least when it comes to curses, I know more than you.”
Veins had begun to bulge hideously on her once pale skin.
The demon’s curse was eating away at her body.
While she appeared fine on the outside, her insides were likely being burned alive, turning to ash.
And yet she tried to act composed. She was a tough one, in many ways.
“You…”
Gag!
Coughing up blood, I bitterly spoke.
“…You’re going to die soon.”
“Huff, that’s not something you should be saying.”
The Sword of Light, forcing a breath, lifted a trembling arm and reached out to touch my abdomen.
The golden aura of her hand swirled, gently surrounding my body.
Thanks to that, I regained a little strength, but there was no sign of recovery in my fatal abdominal wound.
“W-Why isn’t it healing…?”
“I’m already done for.”
“But…”
“I told you, it’s useless.”
Normally, the Sword of Light’s high-level blessings would regenerate even the most damaged body, but today, they weren’t enough.
I had pushed myself too hard to deliver the curse to Valpurgis, and my abdomen had been pierced.
The curse had spread deep into my body, preventing her blessings from working.
If I hadn’t placed a curse to numb my pain before it was too late, I wouldn’t even be able to speak now.
The Sword of Light and I exchanged quiet words, scanning the surroundings.
“Ah…”
“…Damn it.”
Without any prompting, we both sighed.
Whoooosh—
Despite the Demon of Retribution being dead, the black flames still refused to die out.
We had won, but we had lost.
Destruction.
That word loomed in front of me.
“Aaron…”
The Sword of Light murmured my name, her voice trailing off.
“We’ve been fighting for what, exactly?”
“If you think like that, it never ends.”
I responded coldly to her unnecessarily melancholic voice, annoyed by her behavior, though I turned my head away to avoid her seeing me.
Still, she spoke again, her voice distant.
“If you and I… No, if the two empires had resolved their misunderstandings sooner, do you think the outcome would’ve been different?”
“Maybe it would have been better.”
It was debatable.
The rift between the Dark Empire and the Holy Empire had run too deep to ever be fully healed.
Even I, when I attended the academy, never imagined that the two empires would form an alliance to create a battle force against demons.
The Sword of Light let out a painful groan and spoke in broken words.
“If we had known about the demons’ attacks in advance and stopped them, would things have been better?”
“Maybe.”
As the demons fully unleashed their power, countless talented people across the continent lost their lives in vain.
If only we had been able to recognize and stop the demons and monsters before they caused chaos, things wouldn’t have escalated to this point.
“…Is that all? Aren’t you angry?”
She glared at me after turning her head sharply, but then, as if resigned, she dropped her gaze.
My attitude must have been especially harsh.
“This is the last time. At least answer me sincerely…”
Heh, I guess it’s really my time. I never thought this hard-headed woman would speak to me like this.
The woman who had once been famous as the Sword of Light of the Holy Empire now seemed broken, her voice and shoulders slumped.
Reluctantly, she had to admit it.
Even after risking everything, we had failed.
This continent was finished.
That’s probably what she thought.
…But it’s not over yet.
“…Hey.”
Since we fought together, back to back, until the end, I could at least say this much.
“You’ve always asked me about the body-enhancement magic I use…”
“Why is that important now?”
“Shut up and listen. My physical abilities are pretty amazing, even for a Dark Magician.”
“…So you thought I had learned other types of magic.”
Idiot… She still doesn’t understand.
“That’s Dark Magic.”
“Is that what you think I’m using?”
“I still doubt it…”
“I don’t understand why you’re bringing this up now.”
“Ugh… cough!”
I spat out the blood in my mouth, trying to calm my frustration.
I couldn’t blame her for not believing me.
Dark Magic is completely unrelated to blessings.
However, when it comes to curses, Dark Magic is the most efficient.
“…Time.”
“Huh?”
“I can use Dark Magic on time.”
One second becomes five seconds.
0.1 seconds becomes one second.
Dark Magic that makes time feel slower for oneself.
“That… Is that even possible?”
“It’s possible, that’s why I was called a genius in the Dark Empire and the academy.”
Thanks to this Dark Magic, I was able to rise to a level close to the Sword of Light.
“Now that I’ve been using it for so long… I feel like I could do something even more.”
“Something more…?”
Her face hardened as she thought, then her eyes stared at me, trembling.
“You… You can’t mean…”
I placed my right palm over my heart and summoned my magic.
Grrrrr…
A purple aura, typical of Dark Magic, surrounded my body.
Gathering the magic in my heart, I whispered the words that could be my last to her.
“If I tweak the spell a little… I think I could not only make time slow down, but also reverse it.”
Her face came closer to mine.
“D-Do you really mean that…?”
“Not sure. I can’t guarantee it.”
Theoretically, it was already complete.
But…
“I’ve never actually tried it.”
“…You couldn’t guarantee it would succeed.”
“Exactly. I value my life, too.”
Reverse time with Dark Magic.
What would happen if there were side effects, or if the spell failed? What would happen to my body?
“If I go back, I don’t even know which point in time I’ll return to.”
This was a gamble with my life, and the odds were incredibly low.
But…
“I have nothing left to lose, so I might as well gamble.”
“If that’s true, you should’ve told me earlier!”
“Shut up. Would you have told someone who was hunting your life the truth about your abilities?”
“Ugh…”
She seemed to be feeling guilty about what had happened between us.
“Neither you nor I have any warm feelings for each other.”
Until the demons gained full power, we stood on opposing sides, and we had clashed many times.
Would it have been better if we had just fought?
Many people had lost their lives in the war between the two empires.
She was from the Holy Empire… and I was from the Dark Empire…
The resentment between me and the Sword of Light was deep.
“I was planning on never telling you.”
“Then…”
The Sword of Light struggled to exhale, and the veins that had been swelling on her skin were turning black.
This woman doesn’t have much time left to live.
“Why… are you telling me this now?”
“I’m annoyed by the way you whine like a child.”
“……!”
The Sword of Light’s body flinched and she quickly wiped the tears flowing down her cheeks with her sleeve.
Yeah, I’ve already seen it all.
“Kekekeke, are you glad that I can regress? You even forgot to stop crying.”
“Oh, sh-shut up, please……”
I chuckled as I watched her flounder around in a way that was unusual for a swordsman.
Just a moment ago, she looked like she had lost everything, but now she looks somewhat benevolent.
“Let’s not act in an ugly after coming this far.”
I look up at the dark sky without a single ray of sunlight.
I believe there is sunlight beyond that sky.
“It’s not over yet.”