800 years ago, the world faced a terrible disaster that went down in history as the Relic Apocalypse.

Relics found in parts of numerous Legends and myths from ancient history and folktales emerged.

They possessed and controlled humans.

War ravaged, then came a series of natural disasters, and famine.

Humanity truly faced what was the darkest age in all of history.

Few years after the war began, humanity developed an ability to perfectly control these relics - Ain, the power within every life form.

After the war, a new world was born. New empires and hierarchies were formed.

And eighty percent of the world's population was lost..

YEAR - 785 AR

The Kondo District is one of the 7 districts of the Ernia Region, the place was filled with numerous boisterous towers and, a market in the center, and its most noticeable feature... A prison was adjacent to the market.

"Arghh".

A young man winced in pain, hopelessly reaching for a spot on his back as he was whipped by the guard for moving too slowly.

"Move it punk! Or there goes your ration for the day hehe".

The prisoner clenched his teeth still feeling the pain of the whip as he picked up the top hat that he had dropped.

This man here was arrested two days ago for stealing from an innocent old lady.

His plea was...

"Seriously? So I steal. I take the cheapest thing that will do the job and I feed myself. It ain't luxury; it's survival and if you don't like it you can stick it because I do what I gotta do".

'Grr, I would have been hitting it off if it wasn't for those back sta-'

BOOM!!!

An explosion could be heard from a part of the prison, what followed afterward was the sound of an alarm system.

"Attention all guards! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill we are under attack! There's an intrud- #&=+##&." 

The broadcast ended as the guard making the announcement was knocked out

Another person could be heard meddling with the speakers.

A spiky-haired teen clad from top to bottom, A dark blue t-shirt, and a black coat on top, a pair of black boots to match the coat, Blue jeans, and the most elusive detail was the armband on his right wrist.

"Ehem, I hope this thing's still working, Attention all guards...

... hand over Regiii!"

"Wait is this a break-in?"

"By one person?"

"Hah! This guy's nuts if he thinks he's getting someone out of here"

"We're currently in the Inmates section which is 3 floors below the security room where the transmission was made there's no way he can reach here-"

"Shadow Arts: Kill Switch!"

BOOM!

Another explosion occurred this time at the location of the guards.

The teen from earlier could be seen amidst the debris of the explosion.

The guards froze up in shock at the fact that a single person managed to break into a prison facility.

He had traveled three whole floors. The pacing at which he reached his destination was unbelievable.

"W-w-wha-... Ho-how did?"

The guards all expressed their shock at the recent turn of events before grinding their teeth upon realizing something...

"It's a relic user!"

"Pfft, he's only one man let's take him out."

The guards all rushed towards the teen with their swords while the ones armed with Guns began to shoot at him.

He dashed forward as he used his relic's ability which grants him the power to control his shadow.

The shadow materialized around his wrists and formed a shape resembling spikes.

He leaped through the air and slammed his fist onto the ground while landing creating a shockwave strong enough to disorient most of the guards.

Their poor coordination led to some of them getting shot at in the back by their allies.

The remaining guards charged at him only to be knocked out by a series of swift and nimble attacks.

"It was only one man and he is beating the living daylights out of us!"

"His relic lets him control his shadow... he's a monster!"

"Retreat!!"

One of the guards pulled out a knife and held it against the hat-wearing prisoner from earlier.

He figured he could use the opportunity and take him as a hostage for safe passage.

"So that mad man's here for you eh! Now be a good wussy and help me get out of here"

The guard who was trying to hold Reginald as a captive suddenly dropped the knife and fainted after being hit in the head with a shadow bullet.

The inmate picked up the knife with his chained hands and maneuvered it to pick the lock and freed himself.

"Regiiiiiiiii!!!" the teen suddenly ran towards the ex-prisoner

"You're safe... You damn thief!"

He chuckled as a bright smile was visible all over his face only for the smile to take a 180 turn into a devious one.

"Scary..."

"Now let's get the heck out of here so I can make you pay for scamming me."

He gave Reginald a hand to stand up.

Reginald slapped the hand and pointed the knife towards the teen.

"You bastard! If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have been captured in the first place, Ace!!!!".

A few moments later.

"You didn't tell me you have a relic."

At the outskirts of the district, two guards were looking around in search of the prisoner, and His cohort alas, gave up and left.

"It seems they've finally left."

A noise came from behind the bushes as two figures popped out of the bush and started Dusting off the leaves on their body, one handpicking the leaves that got on his hat.

"Ahhh" Ace exclaimed as he fell back on the grass to catch a breather

"Breaking in and out of a prison was fun and tiring... I am Hungry!!!"

He finished as his belly rumbled.

"I am still pissed you got me into this mess."

Reginald spoke irritated by an incident that happened two days ago which led to his capture in the first place.

"Heyyyyy all this wouldn't have happened if you just directed me to a Real crafters shop you know, and I did get you out now didn't I?"

Ace defended himself as the foul-mouthed gentleman click his tongue in annoyance.

"No, you little demon spawn! If you hadn't shown up and tempted us with your gold the recent events won't have transpired you douche!"

Two days ago Ace met Reginald, a con artist, and his team of fellow con artists in kondo, he originally came to get his emblem done.

An emblem is the symbol of all braves clan, a group of adventurers mostly under the possession of relics, items that have incredible powers and abilities that are bonded permanently to their hosts.

Ace was in the possession of the Heart of Malacoda Relic.

Malacoda was a demon that devoured shadows.

Reginald and his mates, Bo and Cly planned on scamming the seemingly naive Ace after he carelessly took out a golden coin from a pouch filled with coins they conspired to trick him and bounce the district. an emblem costs 25 GC (Gold coin) to make at the crafter shop.

They lied that they were the best crafters and offered to make Ace an emblem for his entire sack making it sound like they were doing him a favor...

"Tsk tsk I'm not sure you can get a craft for the measly 50 Gold coins you have but since it is your very first time here, we'll help you out".

In the end, the naive Ace thanked them gracefully and gave them all his money only to find out that the once Platinum emblem he just got has transformed into a wooden emblem they made with poor designs in correspondence to how he described it.

"Scammers!!!" Ace exclaimed furiously as he turned heel to look for the thieves that scammed him.

Things seemed to be going well for Reginald until a woman appeared at the scene with some guards and pointed at Reginald claiming he was the one that took off with her golden Necklace earlier in the day.

Whereas in truth it was Bo who used his relic's ability to transform into Reginald and stole the necklace.

As Reginald was being dragged by the guards, he clicked his teeth and cursed silently... He saw his partners waving at him with a devious smile that spells out

"Good riddance"...

Back to the present.

"Tsk.." Reginald scoffed.

"Fine, thanks for saving me and sorry for scamming you, if it makes you feel any better I was betrayed by people that I trusted a lot, so there."

"I know about the necklace why did you think I broke you out of that prison? haha."

"Wait! you did!"

Ace started to explain how he furiously searched for his scammers only to witness the scene of Reginald being captured, he could have gone after The real scammers but for some reason decided to use his shadow relic powers to stealthy follow Reginald and the guards at a moderate distance only to hit an invisible barrier of made of Ain. 

It was deactivated when the guards came close and reactivated before Ace could pass by, so he waited the whole day for a chance to sweep in once it's deactivated again.

"Wait, you could have gone after your money but you chose to save someone like me.... why?"

"I'm pulling together a team to join me in solving the primordial relic puzzle!"

Ace explained as he stood up and stretched his hand out for Reginald

"You're a thief and a scammer, that means you're witty and know how to get out of tight situations... I have decided! you will become my team's strategist."

Reginald paused a bit as he brushed off the leaves that got on his hat before placing it back on his head.

'Either this kid's foolish for trusting someone that scammed him or he's just plain out crazy, he did save my life though and I am a fugitive here...'

He smiled as he grabbed Ace's hand

"I do have to pay you back, not just for helping me but for scamming you so... I will tag alone, who knows I might stay with you till the very end."

'And hopefully, meet up with those scumbags'

The both of them smiled

"I do have one question though"

"Yeah? What's that?"

"What are we going to eat?"

The calm outskirts were filled with the rumbling noise of two hungry men.