The sky was dyed in blood and ash.
Smoke coiled upward as cities burned and dimensional portals ripped the heavens open. Earth was crumbling under the weight of the greatest invasion it had ever known — an army of colossal monsters, shadow-drenched demons, and bio-engineered alien war beasts.
And at the heart of the battlefield stood a man.
Torn armor. Blood-soaked hands. Eyes that had seen too much.
Aether.
Once mocked as an E-rank failure with a trash class, now one of the Top 10 strongest awakeners in the world. A symbol of human defiance. A man who climbed from the mud to become a god-slayer.
He stood atop a mountain of corpses — not just enemies, but allies who'd fallen beside him. All for this final stand.
And beside him…
"Aether… stay with me…" a soft voice whispered.
He looked down, trembling, to see Nahida, her long silver hair stained red, her once-brilliant emerald eyes dimming.
The Elven Princess — the light of his world. His love. His reason for everything.
She was impaled through the stomach, pinned to the cracked earth by a jagged alien spear. Her breaths were shallow. Her life… slipping away.
Aether grabbed her hand tightly, his voice raw. "No. Don't leave me. We did it. The portal is collapsing — we won!"
She smiled weakly, lips trembling. "You won, my brave knight... but not everything ends in victory."
He tried to heal her, pouring every last drop of mana into her body. But nothing worked. The wound wasn't just physical — it was cursed. Corrosive.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed behind him.
"Beautiful ending, Aether. Truly poetic."
His blood froze.
He turned to see them — his teammates, his friends, the guild members who had fought beside him for years. The ones who had cheered his rise. Cried at his victories.
Saber, Elena, Vex, Roan...
"Wh-what are you doing?" Aether asked, shielding Nahida.
Saber stepped forward, wiping blood from his blade. "You did well, Aether. But you've outlived your usefulness."
Elena twirled her platinum hair. "You're too powerful now. Too… uncontrollable. The higher guilds are nervous."
Roan smirked. "And your little love story? It was a liability from the start."
Vex raised his weapon. "We were ordered to eliminate you. And frankly… I never liked you anyway."
Betrayal.
The word slammed into Aether's chest harder than any blade.
He stood, trembling, shielding Nahida's dying body. "You bastards… we bled together! You called me brother!"
Elena's expression didn't even flicker. "This is politics, Aether. You wouldn't understand."
Before he could react—
SWISH.
A blade pierced through Aether's abdomen.
He looked down slowly. Vex twisted the sword deeper.
"Goodbye, Hero."
And then… one final blow.
They killed Nahida.
Right before his eyes.
Aether screamed — a sound so raw, so filled with anguish, that even the sky seemed to go silent.
Then, everything went black.
Somewhere, in the darkness beyond death, a pair of eyes watched.
Glowing red.
A figure leaned forward, sitting on a throne of bone in a realm of endless shadow.
"Interesting…" the demon murmured, licking his lips. "A human who devoured despair itself. I could use a vessel like you."
He raised one clawed hand — and a black system window shimmered into the void.
You have caught the interest of a Forgotten Demon.
Would you like to make a contract with Beelzebubb — the Devourer of All?
•Yes
•No
Aether, broken and dying, whispered into the void.
"…Yes."