⚠️Warning: This chapter contains violent scenes and graphic descriptions. The author does not intend to be sensationalist or disturb the reader. These depictions are solely a way to show the events as they occurred. Reader discretion is advised.
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Galton gazed at the panorama of the destroyed cities. He had never witnessed such a catastrophe before. Thanks to his perception beyond human limits, he could sense the magnitude of the tragedy.
He was in Dresden, and for a moment, he felt that the end of humanity was near. The landscape seemed ripped from hell itself: houses blackened like coal, bodies piled up… Not far away, he discovered a concentration camp: Natzweiler-Struthof.
Lost in his melancholy, his mind traveled to the past, remembering that, even as a man, he had lived among mortals for over a thousand years.
We are in Dresden, Germany, on March 20, 1945.
Galton was immersed in his memories, reliving the moment he met the Messiah. He was so absorbed that a soldier almost cost him his life—a bullet grazed his cheek.
He was on the fourth floor of a ruined building while the soldier watched him from the first floor through a crater left by the bombings. The man had no idea what it meant to face someone like Galton.
Galton looked at him with cold determination; the scene unfolded before him like an eagle spreading its wings before diving to hunt.
Just as the soldier had a misfire in his cartridge, Galton leaped into the abyss and landed silently.
He grabbed the man by the skull and dug his fingers into his eyes:"Tell me, miserable man, how many of my brothers have you killed? What is that thing you carry to kill? I curse the day men invented these things."
The man could only scream.
"Do you want me to let you live?" Galton asked.
"Stop! Please, I have a wife and children," the soldier begged.
Galton didn't understand his language but replied:"I wonder what would happen if I keep pressing my fingers… until your skull bursts? How long would it take for you to die?"
The man writhed, pleading for mercy.
Galton thought… and thought… until he said:"I won't waste time. We are in a war ripped from an epic. And if I don't find that girl, they will kill her before I can abduct her."
To understand all this, one must go back almost two thousand years, to the time when Galton was still young and known by another name: Thiago.
Thiago believed his purpose was more important than his own life. He decided that God wanted warrior Saints and misinterpreted Jesus' words.
He was sent to China, to mountains and jungles that would later be known as Yunnan province. There, God sent a Cherub who, with a cedar, granted him immortality, though not invulnerability: he could die, unlike the Saints who would come after Jack. The immortality of the Saints was unique: they could eat, even though they didn't fully need to; still, it was necessary to eat at least once every six months.
God gave him great adaptability and power. The angels handed him, in a leather pouch, crystalline containers resembling coins, each holding the power of creation: the source of spirit capable of manifesting matter without obeying the laws of physics.
The Saint of Fire was the first element of creation. Thiago understood it and assigned the first 25 gifts to the future 25 Saints, designing their combat styles. The gifts would be assigned hierarchically among the 45 Saints.
Over time, Thiago became an expert in war. He participated in foreign conflicts to learn about battles and understand what it meant to be a soldier.
He left the Yunnan militia after a favorable event: a remote village burned due to resistance. There he saw the opportunity to create the perfect soldier.
He saw homeless children, abducted them, and trained them to be perfect soldiers, future Saints.
Thiago strayed from his people's teachings. He kidnapped children and re-educated them, convinced that this was how he would fulfill God's will. But instead of forming orator Saints, he gave them weapons and turned them into soldiers.
However, none of them awakened their talent; God had never chosen them. The children, though innocent, were not Saints, and therefore their bodies could not adapt to immortality.
The anger from this failure drove Thiago into a rage. He approached the young boy who had saved him from the war, ready to impose on him a prophecy that did not belong to him.
The boy aspired to fulfill the prophecy; he had hope in the God who had granted him the title of Saint. His name was Liang. Like the other children in the hidden refuge away from village eyes, he had lost his parents to conflicts he could not understand. Still, he believed he had found a purpose: to bring justice with his gift.
He was preparing dinner for himself and his siblings, also abducted by Thiago. But Thiago did not think like them. The war had twisted his mind; he was convinced he had made a mistake and that the only way to extract the gifts of creation was through death. He did not consider Liang's feelings, not even whether he loved him for having had the illusion of being rescued.
He had lost all sense of what was right and good. He raised his sword and, from behind, struck Liang. The other children, who had welcomed him with joy, froze in fear. Only screams were heard… Thiago calmly wiped his sword and moved on to the next child. Their faith in the purpose no longer mattered. None could escape; they cried for help, pleaded for mercy… but nothing. There was no divine intervention, no call from God to relieve them from their suffering.
Only a chilling silence remained, broken solely by the whistle of the trees: the cold sound of death that had settled there.
Thiago had killed Liang, the first Fire Ancestor, predecessor of all those who would come before the true Saint. But his stubbornness and obstinacy did not end there: fate would mark the emergence of a second ancestor, an intermediate step before Jack, the true chosen one, would finally assume his place as the genuine Saint of Fire.
Before the corpses, Thiago placed his hand on his chest, and through the orb, he managed to extract the gift of creation. This power, capable of manifesting in mysterious ways, responded to his call, though he barely understood its limits. In that instant, a shiver ran through him: he had obtained what he sought, but at a price no divine guidance could justify.
Burdened by memories and the shadows of the children he had lost, Thiago abandoned the idea of continuing the search for the Saints of the prophecy. It wasn't until 83 A.D. that he broke with what, for his people, was strictly forbidden. Out of the need to love, he married a woman from the Middle East, from the lands of southeastern Mongolia, named Batuya.
She understood his melancholy and accepted his silence. Though their marriage had been arranged by her mother so she would not be alone, she saw in him more than a mere arrangement: she saw a man who needed to be loved, and she decided to love him. She was a simple woman, capable of accompanying him in his darkest memories, when he still retained a fragment of humanity. Her words would follow him all his life, though only one would be etched deep into his soul, shaping his destiny forever.
Thiago remained thoughtful, carrying the weight of his sin and unwilling to accept the abomination he had committed against those children. Then Batuya looked at him and asked:"What's wrong, Thiago? Tell me, what do you think about every day?"
He remained silent, containing his anguish, until he answered:"Have you never wondered if a man susceptible to anger can have a life like this, even with the sins he has committed?"
She sat on his lap, took his hands, and kissed him gently on the cheek, saying:"You know, if you are talking about yourself, I think deep down you give a lot of importance to the value of things. My mother told me when I lost my father, and I'll say it because I love you: life has no value, only importance, because if we give life value, we will become arrogant and believe that some lives are worth more than others."
She paused, looking into his eyes, letting her words sink in, and continued:"Thiago, I love you, and I don't know what you think about so much, but I do know that my warmth helps calm your thoughts, and that is why I will never leave you."
Three years after their engagement, a son was born from their love. But, as if reflecting his sin, his wife died in childbirth. Her last words were:"Food and clothes are ready, I'll be fine. Just give me a few days before I go to the neighboring village to tell them about your son. I know you've been waiting for him, so I'll let you name him."
That same night, she lost a lot of blood, and by dawn, she had passed away. Thiago felt that it was a punishment… or perhaps a call to resume the mission God had entrusted to him: finding the 45 Saints. Driven by that mixture of pain and determination, he decided to name his firstborn Zaziel. With a baby in his arms and using the first orb of creation—the one of fire—he declared him Saint of Fire.
In his wrath, he believed his son should occupy that place. His love for Zaziel, combined with the frustration of not awakening the other children's gifts, drove him to the edge of madness. He thought he heard the voice of God… but it was not God. His pride had attracted demons that manipulated his mind. And so, one more step toward the prophecy was fulfilled.
Convinced that nine were enough to form the foundation of the 45 Saints, he began recruiting them. To each, he assigned an elemental gift of creation: fire, water, earth, metal, ice, light, lightning, and one more enigmatic—the star. His chosen ones were Lei Li, Aki, Zao Li, Merit, Xiaoxui, Egil, Enós, Gao Li… and, of course, Zaziel. At last, he felt he could fulfill the purpose God had entrusted to him on Earth.
But reality was different. None of them were the chosen ones, and their disobedient actions triggered consequences beyond his control. A tragedy was looming, one that would inevitably lead him toward the true Saints. And thus, the name Thiago would disappear, giving rise to a monster the world would come to know as Galton.
As it is often said: for future generations to find their path, their ancestors had to dehumanize themselves to pave the way.