By the year 554, countless nations had risen and fallen across the world. The once-mighty Cryfall Clan had lost much of its former power, ruling now only over Profinens and the southeastern lands of Nyxia. The rest of Nyxia was governed by the Kingdom of Valengard.
The Legions ruled their lands under the banner of a hundred legions. The Pre-Pre Islands remained unreachable, while in Sugoa a new government had taken hold—Shadowia.
Unlike Cryfall, the people of Shadowia lived in harmony with nature. They were brave, battle-hardened, and devoted to war. Their armies were not only made up of sorcerers, but also samurai and ninja. To them, this was a golden age.
In one of Shadowia's villages lived a fifteen-year-old boy. His name: Thend Xers.(In this world, surnames were spoken before given names.)
The Thend family's origins were shrouded in mystery, though their legacy was undeniable. Their bloodline traced back to the ancient wars of Hare and Groyi. For generations they had lived in Profinens, until the events of the Shadow Age forced them to migrate to Sugoa. Since then, they had never again stepped outside the cursed continent.
The most honorable figure of the family was Thend Yi. He was the first man in history to defeat four giants single-handedly. Trained at the Grande Academia, Yi was among the greatest masters of the sword. Yet even he could not escape death.
One day, he was ambushed by an unknown band of raiders. Surrounded by dozens of sorcerers, he fought bravely but was ultimately slain. His peers at the Academia often said that had Yi lived into the Age of Masks, he would have ascended to divine power. He had been born with a one-in-a-million gift—"No Limit."
Yi could instantly adapt to any kind of magic, mastering it with ease. If he had survived, he might have wielded five or six masks without difficulty. But with his death, the Thend family lost its glory, reduced to a humble village life.
By 554, Thend Xers was living that quiet village life. Fatherless, he worked to support his family alone. During his childhood, he attended the village's sword lessons. His father, once a sensei, had trained him during free hours, always encouraging him to grow strong and protect his home.
But fate turned cruel when Xers was only ten years old.
In 549, war broke out between two great Shadowian clans—Kurotsume and Ranshi. Xers and his family belonged to the Kurotsume clan. When conscription began, his father was among the first to be taken. The war dragged on for nearly a year and a half. Throughout that time, no letter, no word ever came back.
When the war ended, Kurotsume was defeated. The villages, including Xers' own, were ceded to the Ranshi. Three days later, news arrived: his father had fallen in battle.
Xers' world collapsed in an instant. Left with only his mother, he abandoned sword training and took on work to support them both. The dream he had nurtured since childhood—to become a warrior—was shattered alongside his father's death.
By April of 554, war erupted once again between Kurotsume and Ranshi. Xers wanted nothing to do with it. He had no desire to fight against his homeland. But one day, while carrying a sack of supplies, several Ranshi sorcerers approached him. They told him he was to be conscripted.
Xers refused, but threats quickly followed. He locked himself inside his home for days, hoping they would forget him. They did not. When they came again, they smashed the door, dragged him out, and forced him into the army.
Xers spent his first day in the military camp. Training was harsh, conditions worse. Hundreds of unwilling villagers lay crammed into crimson tents scattered across fields of green. Their weapons were crude stone-forged blades, their masks no better than F-tier, granting nothing more than raw strength and endurance.
The war's losses mounted quickly. The new recruits were rushed to the battlefield.
And so, against his will, Thend Xers marched into his first war.