Ten Minutes Earlier
In the Hall of Heroes - SSS-Class
In the SSS-Class city on the planet "Varyon," the mightiest heroes humanity had ever produced gathered.
The hall was colossal, adorned with ancient battle banners. At its center stood a circular table carved with the names of thousands of battles and fallen warriors. A single word loomed large: "VARYON."
Suddenly, an emergency alert seal vibrated. A deep crimson crystal materialized above the table.
"Urgent report from City C... Southeastern Academy..."
One hero lifted his head, his voice abyssal: "City C? That cesspool that breeds nothing but failures? What could possibly warrant an alert?"
But the crystal didn't wait for their reverence. It projected the scene directly before their eyes—a hazy recording.
A frail student knelt on the ground, drenched in sweat under the pressure of a B-Class hero—pressure intense enough to crush any human body.
"He almost knelt... he would've broken," someone remarked coldly, watching with detached fascination.
But what happened next—everything stopped abruptly.
One pulse—nothing more. An incomprehensible wave of darkness exploded. The B-Class hero's body shattered from within, as if the pressure had rebounded a thousandfold.
The academy's glass windows scattered like dust as if an ancient storm had torn through its heart. Then—silence. Deadly silence.
The only name left in the records: Korgami.
A moment of silence gripped the hall.
Then their leader spoke—a man whose name was only whispered: "That was no magic or combat art... It was a fracture in reality's laws. How could a trash student unleash such pressure?"
A woman shrouded in shadow, cloaked in black wind, murmured: "Korgami... Is he one of them... the Forbidden Ones?"
Another replied slowly: "That name never appeared before... but it will echo from today onward."
A hero rose slowly, resting his hand on a sword unsheathed for a century: "If this student moved the Darkness this way... we're not facing an ordinary man. It's an omen... something stirs beneath the earth once more."
The scene ended, but the hall was forever changed. The Darkness had awakened something, and the highest heroes began to watch.
Heavy silence followed the projection's end.
One spoke, his tone inhumanly cold: "That boy... Korgami... touched what should never be touched."
The black-cloaked woman's playful glint vanished: "His pressure crushed a B-Class hero... Unrestrained, he'll become a catastrophe."
Their leader stepped toward the crystal, his voice thick with finality: "Send him to Hell Cell... Level Nine. Where wills break before bones."
A hero whispered: "But he's just a boy—"
The leader cut him off, sharp as a blade's edge: "A boy? No. He carries a seed... the Sin itself." He paused, then added like an irrevocable decree: "And such seeds must be buried before they sprout."
His gaze shifted left, where a man sat—striking blond hair, an elegant blue jacket reflecting torchlight, and sharp black trousers. On his left shoulder, a small pouch held a metal card engraved: "JEFF."
The leader's whisper pierced the air: "Jeff..."
The man snapped to attention, voice laced with loyalty and caution: "Your command, sir."
"You will watch his family. Any suspicious move from him in the cell—any rebellion, even a rebellious glance—" A cold pause. "Execute them. No mercy. Make it unforgettable in history's pages."
Jeff smiled, eyes pitiless: "Understood. I'll make them an example for any who dare defy the Order."
The leader returned to his seat, murmuring: "We stopped Korgami today... But I fear we didn't stop the Darkness... we may have awakened it."
Rain still poured, washing stone and soil as if erasing my existence.
I sat on the rock I knew so well, staring into emptiness, listening to the wind and the whispers tearing through my mind's silence.
I thought of what "Ragnar" told me, but buried the memory.
My world was stillness until it shattered.
Footsteps—their weight foreign to this mountain.
I lifted my eyes. Through the rain, I saw them—five, no, six figures in SSS-Class Hero cloaks.
They stopped nearby, staring at me in disbelief.
One whispered: "This is him? Just a boy? Impossible—"
Another smirked: "Soaked hair, yet purple like ancient spirits... eyes gleaming like chaos crystals. Yes. This is him."
I tried to speak—but they spoke first: "Korgami. You stand accused of unleashing unauthorized power within an SSS-Class academy, causing spiritual and physical damage to a B-Class hero."
I raised an eyebrow slowly. "I did nothing. I summoned no power. I swear it."
One recited coldly, as if reading my death warrant: "Verdict issued. You will be taken to Hell Cell, Level Nine. Any escape attempt—even intent—will result in your family's immediate execution. Jeff watches them."
Embers burned in my chest. "You're joking, right?"
"Restrain him."
I heard no step. Saw no shadow. Only a chill breeze—then sharp pain exploded at my neck.
My vision blurred. Rain seemed to freeze mid-fall. Or maybe I fell. Only darkness swallowed me.
**One Year Later**
**Hell Cell – Level Nine**
"A year's passed." A guard tossed moldy bread through the bars, laughter echoing down the stone corridor.
I no longer counted days. Time in darkness isn't measured in hours, but in silences—in how often you stare into the void and wonder: "Am I still human?"
I sat like a cracked statue on torn rags, my back against the wall's icy bite, eyes tracking a single drop of water falling from the ceiling—a mocking, murderous rhythm.
On my wrists and ankles: black chains. Thick. Etched with forbidden runes. They clung like immortal serpents, drinking my energy and feeding me every pain I'd ever endured.
Every slight movement brought agony. Guards' voices slithered through cracks:
"Heard what the Three Sovereigns did in Tierfal City?"
"Yeah... An S-Class city wiped out in three minutes. No survivors."
"Even S-Class heroes fled. None dared face them. They call them the Four Calamities."
Four names. Four cataclysms.
Their words seeped into my core, stirring something long dormant.
"Sovereigns... but of what kind?"
I closed my eyes and called inward. "Soldier... Soldier of Darkness. Are you there?"
A deep, majestic voice answered from nothingness: "Always, Master."
I breathed slowly, then whispered: "I want out."
"For them?"
"Don't mistake me. I want out of this cursed place—not to kill them, but to make them kneel."
"Why not free yourself, Master? You hold the power of Darkness..."
"I cannot control it... Please. Free me."
The Soldier paused. Then replied with loyal reverence: "Master... You need not beg. Just say: 'I desire'... and it shall be done."
I smiled for the first time in a year and said it again: "I desire to be free."
Suddenly—everything changed.
The earth trembled. Walls cracked. Air thickened. The chains that bound me for a year began to shriek.
Then—without warning—they exploded. Not physically, but dissolved, as if a higher power commanded their erasure.
"We freed you, Master... for the world can no longer bear your cage."
I rose slowly, muscles screaming from atrophy—but my eyes blazed pure violet.
I stood at the cell's center. Darkness writhed around me, alive.
"Four Sovereigns?" I smirked, lifting my head toward the ceiling's high slit. "They'll become shadows beneath my feet."
A distant scream echoed down the stone corridor. One cry, then silence.
The old guard—who kicked my bars daily, snarling "Wake up, scum! The sun doesn't rise for your sleep!"—was first to sense it.
He'd been uncorking liquor when a black shadow slid across the wall though the torches stood still.
He froze. "Who's there?!" The reply came as coldness crawling from his feet to his heart.
He ran to the last cell—where Korgami had been chained for a year. And stopped dead.
The door was broken. No—not broken. Not torn. Not opened. It had vanished. Only black ash scattered in the air remained.
"By the gods... What is this?" he whispered, stepping back, heart drumming.
From the corridor's gloom emerged a young man. Black hair lifted by unfelt winds. Violet eyes blazing in the dark. Bare-chested, chain scars still on his wrists, but his aura swallowed the prison whole.
"Korgami?"
The young man smiled lightly. "Finally remembered my name."
"Fall back! Emergency alert!" The guard screamed, slamming the red crystal on his wrist.
But before he finished—a long, smoke-like shadow stretched behind him. Time stopped.
No sound. In an instant, his corpse lay on the ground—eyes wide, no physical wounds.
"No injuries... but his soul was drained?" Another guard arrived too late, then flinched seeing Korgami standing on the cell stairs, staring emptily.
"Halt! We'll summon the Escape Suppression Squad! Don't you know who we are?"
Korgami took one step forward. As his shadow touched the corridor floor—the ground exploded.
Spikes of darkness erupted, shredding walls and impaling the three guards who charged. Their screams died unfinished.
One shadow remained—cowering in the cell corner. A young trainee guard, eyes drowning in terror.
Korgami glanced at him, then turned away. "Oh, I know exactly who you are. You who claim to be justice's guardians, yet betrayed every oath you swore. You who let children die while debating thrones and titles. You who sold your souls for power, forgetting true strength is protection, not oppression. You sent six high-ranking heroes not to save the weak, but to cage one lone child—so the world would forget his name. But I was never the weak boy you imagined."
He paused, voice cracking with buried pain: "Life taught me darkness isn't just in cages. It's in hearts abandoned, in words of betrayal, in hope dying in eyes we failed and couldn't protect."
Then he lifted his head, defiance glacial: "I care nothing for justice or evil. I'll carve my path alone with my Darkness."
He turned to the trembling boy, words clear: "Remember me well. I am the King of Darkness. Stay here and tell them: Korgami is free. Not because he escaped, but because Hell could not hold him."
He walked on. As he climbed the stairs to freedom, the prison crumbled around him—darkness devouring stone, gates, records, everything.