The war ended with silence.
Not the peaceful kind of silence that followed victory.
This silence felt heavy… like the world itself was mourning.
The battlefield outside the walls of Aurelion City was covered in broken armor, shattered banners, and the distant cries of wounded soldiers. The wind carried the smell of steel and ash.
Standing alone among the ruins was a man whose name had once made entire armies tremble.
Rob Albrecht
The Black Knight of Aurelion.
His armor was cracked, his cloak torn, and his sword was dripping with the last traces of battle.
But Rob wasn't looking at the battlefield.
His eyes were fixed on the body lying in front of him.
A young knight with golden hair and a familiar smile that would never return.
Roni Valerian.
His brother.
Not by blood.
But by everything else that mattered.
Rob slowly knelt beside him.
The world around him faded.
The noise… the soldiers… the victory.
None of it mattered anymore.
"Roni…" Rob whispered.
No response.
Only the cold wind answered him.
A flash of memory crossed Rob's mind.
Two boys training with wooden swords.
One of them laughing loudly.
"Hey Rob! One day we're going to become the strongest knights in the kingdom!"
That had always been Roni.
Loud. Fearless. Stubborn.
Alive.
Rob's hand trembled as he touched Roni's shoulder.
The armor was broken.
The wound was deep.
Too deep.
Rob clenched his fist.
"Who… did this to you…"
Nearby soldiers spoke quietly among themselves.
"They say the attack came from the enemy's rear line."
"No… I heard something different."
"Different?"
"Someone leaked our battle formation."
Rob slowly looked up.
His eyes turned cold.
A leak.
A betrayal.
Someone had planned this.
And the only person who had access to that information…
was the most powerful man in the kingdom.
Duke Cassius Dorian Valemont.
But Rob said nothing.
Not yet.
He simply lifted Roni's body into his arms.
The battlefield was supposed to celebrate victory that day.
Instead…
Aurelion's greatest knight walked through the gates carrying a corpse.
Ten Years Later
The people of Aurelion still told stories about him.
The knight who ended wars.
The man whose blade moved faster than lightning.
The legend called the Shadow Knight.
But none of them knew where he had gone.
Because Rob Albrecht had disappeared.
Far away from the kingdom…
Beyond the cities…
Beyond the roads soldiers traveled…
There was a quiet river surrounded by forests.
A small wooden house stood beside it.
Inside that house lived a man who no longer called himself a knight.
Rob Albrecht.
Now twenty-seven years old.
He woke before sunrise every morning.
Not because he wanted to.
Because soldiers never really stopped waking early.
Old habits refused to die.
Rob stepped outside his house.
The cold morning air brushed against his face.
The river flowed peacefully beside the cabin.
For a moment… the world almost felt calm.
Rob picked up a bucket and walked toward the water.
No soldiers.
No politics.
No war.
Just silence.
But peace had a strange way of reminding people what they had lost.
Rob stared at the reflection in the river.
A scar crossed his right hand.
A symbol burned into the skin long ago.
The mark of the Shadow Knight Order.
Only a few men in history had ever carried that mark.
Rob closed his hand slowly.
"...It should have been me."
The words slipped out quietly.
He remembered that day again.
Roni standing beside him before the battle.
Laughing like always.
"Don't make that scary face, Rob."
"You look like someone stole your sword."
Rob had replied calmly.
"You talk too much. "
Roni grinned.
"And you talk too little."
Then he had said something Rob would never forget.
"If something happens today…"
Rob interrupted him.
"Nothing will happen."
Roni laughed again.
"You're really bad at listening."
Then he had punched Rob's shoulder.
"Just promise me one thing."
"What."
"If we survive this war…"
"Let's finally take a break."
"A long one."
Rob stared at the river.
They had won the war.
But the promise had died on that battlefield.
Rob turned away from the water.
Inside the house, an old wooden chest rested near the wall.
He opened it slowly.
Inside was a weapon wrapped in dark cloth.
Rob removed the cloth.
A sword appeared.
The blade was completely black.
Forged from rare metal.
A weapon created after Rob became a knight.
The weapon known as Black Blade Nocturne.
Rob looked at it silently.
Then he closed the chest again.
"I'm done with war."
Outside, the forest remained quiet.
But fate had already begun moving.
Far away…
A young woman ran through the forest as fast as she could.
Her royal dress was torn.
Her breathing was desperate.
Behind her, several men chased through the trees.
Bandits.
Or at least…
That's what they wanted people to believe.
One of them shouted.
"Don't let her escape!"
"Duke Valemont said she must die tonight!"
The girl's eyes widened with fear.
Because if she died…
The kingdom would fall with her.
Her name was Princess Mirza Aurelia Valemont.
And the hunt had already begun.