In the heart of the sky, floating above heavy clouds, the black castle rose like a phantom suspended between life and death. The wind here had become a hoarse whisper, and distant lightning cast fleeting threads of light, like a reminder that the world was still alive, even if on the verge of death.
Inside the castle, in the great throne room, echoes of laughter tainted with poison reverberated. The hall was drowned in a false majesty; towering columns covered in dark fabrics, walls scarred with remnants of mysterious symbols, and thrones encrusted with the teeth of dead dragons, upon which four leaders sat.
Ha ha ha ha...
Hollow laughs collided with the stones,sounding as if they came from the throats of the dead rather than the living.
Their gazes were fixed on a giant holographic screen, showing the scene of City S's destruction, a city from which nothing remained but ash scattering in the wind.
Bzzzzzz...
The image flickered and faded before stabilizing to show collapsed buildings and streets swallowed by chaos.
The laughter stopped abruptly, as if the memory of the destruction brought back a semblance of seriousness to the hall. Silence prevailed, but it soon dissipated under a new wave of malicious laughter, this time lower and deeper, like funeral chants.
One of the leaders shouted in a booming voice:
"Show us the map,Chancellor!"
The slender man in the gray robe bowed, quickly produced a small sphere from his hand, raised it high, and tossed it towards the ceiling. In an instant, a blue light exploded from it, gradually forming into a three-dimensional map of the world of Varyon, rotating in the air like a mysterious jewel.
Anticipation hung for a moment before another voice, sharp and cold, rose:
"This world...was peaceful. No superpowers, no miracles."
It was as if the memory had reopened a long-closed door.
That rift in the sky appeared;at first, it was nothing more than a small scar, ignored by everyone. But the scar grew... and kept growing until it became a massive chasm the size of a mountain swallowing the sky.
Fear spread through hearts like black smoke. No one dared to sleep soundly in the nearby regions.
World authorities were summoned,councils were held, theories were proposed... but the result was futile.
All examinations said:"The rift is natural."
The surrounding cities were emptied of their inhabitants, forced to leave, to search for new homelands. But time was preparing itself for something more horrific.
Days passed, turning into months, then years.
And in the tenth year...the catastrophe struck.
The rift shook violently, the sky trembled with it, then a sweeping red halo burst forth, drying the life from everything it touched. Trees turned to dust, rocks crumbled, and even birds fell motionless. Then a deformed, wrinkled hand emerged, and with it, the celestial wound expanded further.
And from the womb of darkness, a giant creature surged, its huge axe resting on its back, strange glowing patterns covering its metallic surface. It was two meters of pure brutality, its body built like a rock mass, its red hair flying like flame, its skin dark tan, a necklace of flaming skulls around its neck, and the skin of a giant bear on its chest. Its eyes were two embers burning with a thirst for blood, and the aura surrounding it was black as oblivion.
It raised its head and let out a roar that wasn't just a sound; it was a storm that shocked everything before it.
Then it screamed madly:
"Annihilate them!Make the blood flow like rivers!"
And from that moment, the countdown to humanity's extinction began.
But amidst the darkness, a glimmer of light was born.
Another rift appeared in the sky,from which emerged a woman glowing with a white aura. She introduced herself as Lucy, the Queen of Light.
She announced that she had come to save humanity,to grant them the power to face destruction. Indeed, people began to gain unfamiliar abilities, regaining some confidence... however, time had run out too much.
The monsters had already established control over 40% of the world's land.
The earth was forcibly redistributed:
35%became slums, where survivors lived powerless.
25%became the cities of the Nobles and the Heroes' Union, where strict order prevailed.
40%fell under the monsters' grip, becoming dangerous lands no human dared approach.
In their desperation, the Union sent an elite force of its strongest heroes; S-class and SS+-class, accompanied by media personnel of A and B class, to document the epic of reclaiming the land.
But it wasn't a campaign... it was a trap.
The monsters were smarter, more cunning.
They closed in on the convoy,snatched the cameras, slaughtered the cameramen in front of their own lenses.
And there appeared the true leader of that massacre... the first monster, the Lord of the Catastrophe.
Barbaros.
He stood before the camera, smiling savagely, his eyes gleaming with blood, and said in a voice dripping with contempt:
"You humans...is this your elite? Is this the best you have?"
Then he grabbed an SS-rank hero, lifted him like a doll, and tore him in half before the whole world. Blood and viscera splattered on the lenses, and viewers everywhere gasped in horror.
In that moment, humanity realized that what they faced were not mere monsters... but beings that knew no mercy and mastered only slaughter.
That damned campaign became a stain on human history, and an omen of an inevitable end.
And just as everyone was immersed in the terror of memories, a sudden explosion resounded.
BOOOOOOOM!!!
The castle shook abruptly, the walls trembled, and debris flew in all directions.
From the thick smoke emerged a mysterious figure,his steps steady and confident on the torn hall floor.
He wore a black cloak, engraved with purple lines that pulsed like the arteries of a dying star. A black mask with three purple lines covered his face, and his eyes glowed purple from the depths of the darkness.
He advanced with calm steps, his voice soft but charged with power, like a blade being drawn from its sheath:
"What do we have here?Four old men deluding themselves into being kings..."
The first leader replied coldly:
"Do you have a problem with that?"
Darkness still covered the hall, for the night had extinguished all lights, leaving only pitch blackness cloaking the leaders.
The stranger smiled lightly, laughing scornfully:
"Let's just say I'm merely a passerby who happened to collide with this flying castle..."
The leaders noticed this person did not fear them, and didn't seem to account for their power.
One of them decided to attack suddenly:
"We must welcome you!"
In a flash, a dark green spark shot from the leader's hand towards Korgami, aiming directly for his neck.
Fwooooom!
The energy passed by his neck without touching him,as if time had slowed down around him.
Then came a deafening sound:
BOOOOOOM!
The energy hit the castle wall, causing the castle to tilt slightly and some objects in the hall to break loose.
Korgami didn't lose his balance, despite the energy explosions and destruction surrounding everything.
He returned to his position steadily,his black cloak fluttering in the wind, his purple eyes glowing in the dark.
But before he could steady himself, another leader attacked with superhuman speed, his fist wrapped in a celestial blue energy, aiming it at Korgami.
BOOM!
The hall exploded from the force of the attack,glass shattered, iron flew, and the ceiling cracked open, allowing moonlight to seep inside, adding a silver gleam to the ruin.
The third leader stood forward, challenging:
"You fight us alone?That's not bravery, it's stupidity..."
The hall fell silent for a moment, but from within the smoke, his cold voice rose:
"Stupidity?What stupidity! This is real combat. There is no justice in a world that breathes chaos."
Dark energy surged from his body, absorbing shadows from all corners of the hall, and engulfing him.
Power exploded everywhere,walls cracked like broken glass, and the thrones shattered under the immense pressure.
Korgami looked with his eye from behind the mask, seeing a small ring moving in the air.
One of the shocked leaders asked:
"What's happening?"
But before he could move, the fourth leader lunged at Korgami, his weapon imbued with celestial energy, attempting a fatal blow.
Korgami smiled, channeled dark energy into his hand, and threw a punch aimed at the approaching leader:
"First level of the Dark Lord's Law...Dark Fist."
The leader moved to dodge the blow, but the surprise was that Korgami's hand disappeared, the attack replaced by a twisted movement as he delivered a kick to the leader's back, who crashed into the ground with a groan, shattering everything around him.
The four leaders looked on in astonishment, while one screamed:
"What?!"
Korgami didn't calm down; he turned quickly to face the green leader who attacked with his sword, reflecting the moonlight.
The attack posed no threat,as Korgami's hand caught the sword with unbelievable speed, and he shouted:
"Ashamed!"
The leader crashed into the wall, then slid to the ground, unconscious.
Korgami laughed with a devilish voice,enjoying the aura of fear spreading among the leaders.
The two remaining leaders tried to flee, flying upwards through the open ceiling, but they forgot that night was the perfect time for the dark power surrounding Korgami.
Korgami laughed loudly:
"You've realized your situation!Your escape won't save you."
The power of darkness began to fill the place, draining the suppressed energy of the two leaders, rendering them helpless.
The castle shook under the clashing energies,the walls began to crack, and the ceiling was on the verge of collapsing.
Korgami raised his right hand, and a wave of darkness flowed forth, swallowing the castle ruins, before forming around him four human bodies, torn but still alive... the four leaders.
He looked at them with his purple-glowing eyes, his voice low but filling the space:
"Wake up...regain your energy."
Darkness moved within their chests, as if quenching their souls with power. The earth shook, the trees groaned, the air grew heavy with the density of the energy.
The leaders groaned and screamed:
"Ughhhh...what is this power? How can an unknown person defeat us in every way?"
"His speed,his strength, everything..."
"And he doesn't even look older than twenty to us!"
Korgami began advancing towards them, his steps heavy, each step pounding on their souls.
The dark aura around him stormed through everything,his eyes glowing purple, like sharp knives.
"Were you the ones who truly destroyed that city?"
The leaders fell silent, before he added:
"When I heard the news from that old man in the hellish cell,I ordered Ragnar to get me out immediately. I wanted to see you, to see those who hate justice... but you disappointed me."
One of the leaders, coughing blood, tried to speak:
"Who is Ragnar?And what? We disappointed you?! We are the ones who destroyed the city..."
Korgami smiled sarcastically and pulled out an old paper with pictures of the four of them, under each picture was written:
"100 billion crystal shards."
The leaders weren't surprised. They knew the Union would pursue them. But they didn't expect Korgami's next words:
"I'm not punishing you for justice, nor for the reward. I want you to become my followers."
They all fell silent, then one slowly bowed:
"Your command,my lord..."
The four leaders vanished from sight, as if they had never existed.
And at that moment, Korgami heard a child crying from the forest remaining after the explosion.
He stopped,turned slowly, and walked towards the sound, while clouds of ash scattered around him, as if silence itself feared returning.