Inside an orphanage, a 7-year-old boy with black hair and black eyes could be seen. The boy had sickly pale skin and a thin, fragile body. An old woman with grey hair and wrinkles all over her face stood in front of the boy, seemingly scolding him.
"You ungrateful brat! Who do you think you are? This is the reason your parents left you because you are never grateful for anything! Now, get back to your room!"
the woman said, the harsh words falling on the frail child, who obviously wasn't being properly cared for. He ran back to his room, which only had a single bed in poor condition, a window, and an old wooden table.
His parents were kind people, but they died in a car accident when he was a baby, leaving him with no relatives to care for him. Thus, he was sent to an orphanage.
The previous caretakers were always kind to him, making sure he had a good room and was always fed well. However, when the owner of the orphanage passed away from a heart attack, the orphanage began to decline.
New caretakers, who didn't have much choice but to accept low pay, were unkind. They barely provided enough food and gave the boy the worst room in the orphanage. He became the main target for their abuse, and the other children avoided him out of fear of receiving the same treatment.
At school, he was bullied, with stones thrown at him, his homework stolen, or his backpack thrown into a river. The boy sought solace in a forest where a stray dog would wait for him to play after school.
They played together until sunset, when the boy had to return to the orphanage before the caretakers grew suspicious.
"I promise I will come tomorrow again Puck!"
The boy said waving his hand at the dog while running back
"woof!"
However, their time together ended tragically when the bullies discovered the boy's connection to the dog.
The next day, when the boy ran to the forest to play, he found the dog lying on the ground, bloodied and wounded.
The dog was dead...
***************
2 years and 9 months later...
"Ugh..."
A tall, handsome boy could be seen lying on a bed in a hotel room, groggily rubbing his eyes as he woke up. His hair was as white as snow, and his eyes were striking blood red with black vertical pupils. Beside him, a majestic black-furred cat slept soundly.
The boy and the cat were Lucas and Luna Nightstar.
"What was that? A dream? No, those were memories of my previous life..."
"Why now again?"
Sigh
Lucas gently shook Luna.
"Luna, wake up. It's morning already."
"[Mm, 5 more minutes...]"
"Fine..."
Yes, Luna could talk now, albeit only telepathically. They could communicate with each other through their minds.
2 years and 9 months had passed for both of them since the fight with Z'riel, and they had been adventuring since then, deciding to rest at a hotel yesterday.
Lucas was now 15 years old, and all his cuteness had been replaced by the appearance of a handsome, tall young man standing at 186 cm tall.
Lucas and Luna had grown extremely close during their time together. They had developed a father-daughter relationship. Initially, when Luna first learned to speak, which was 3 months after he made her his soul bond, she kept calling him "dad" or "papa." After persuading her for a whole year, she changed to calling him Lucas, but still referred to him as "father" most of the time.
"A father at 15. Damn, my parents would kill me..."
He couldn't help but chuckle at the thought.
Since the fight with Z'riel, nothing as crazy as his first mission had happened again. There were a few tough times where they almost got themselves killed fighting strong opponents, but it was nothing compared to their first mission.
'Status.'
-----------------------------
Status Screen:
[Name]: Lucas Nightstar
[Age]: 15
[Gender]: Male
[Race:] Half Dragon
[Rank]: Mid 6-star level (Master)
[Affinities]:
- Fire
- Lightning
- Space
- Chaos (Progenitor)
[Special Talent]: Dual Wielder
[Physique]: Dragon
[Bloodline]: Unawakened
[Title]: Master of the Blade of Chaos, Dragon Tamer, Anomaly
[Skills]: Monarch of Chaos, Appraisal, Dragon's Pride, Dragon's Aura, Mirage, Phase
[Soul Bond]: Luna (Dragon)
-----------------------------
"I really have come a long way in these 2 years... But what the hell does it mean with 'anomaly'?"
"Whatever..."
Today, both of them were in Nfael, a city at the border of the elven and human domains, serving as a neutral city where no conflict was allowed unless you wanted to die immediately.
Lucas had 2 months left until he would return to his parents, as in 3 months, he would have to attend the Shield Academy.
He planned to take a mission that would require him to go to the elven domain, explore the Elven Domain, perhaps even the capital of the elves called Zefirah, and then take a mana teleporter there to go directly to Moon City.
"Luna, it's been 5 minutes. Wake up. Let's take a shower and leave to find a suitable mission."
"[Mm, fine... Wait, no! I don't want to take a shower, Father!]"
Hearing the word "shower," she immediately woke right up.
"Pfft! I was joking. Haha, fine. Just wait here while I take a shower, then we can leave," Lucas said while heading towards the bathroom, laughing.
"[Ugh... I hate you, Father!]"
**********
In a luxurious guild hall, people were more excited than usual.
"Hey, have you heard about that one mission?" Jimmy said.
"No? What mission? What's so special about it?" James asked.
"It's an escorting mission. All you have to do is escort some high noble elf to the elven domain, and you would get 500.000 golden credits!" Jimmy answered James' question.
"Idiots! Are you both new here? Have you checked the difficulty of the mission? It goes from B to S rank, meaning that there is a chance that an S rank threat could appear. Of course, the reward would be so high since you could easily die! I'm telling you, this mission is too shady and will get you killed," Thomas said next to them.
"Doesn't matter. I'm still going to try. Apparently, you just have to go to the border of the city where they would be waiting for people who are willing to join the escort mission, and they will see if we are worthy enough," Jimmy explained.
"So, they will hold a test? To see if we can handle the mission?" Thomas asked.
"Yes, exactly. So it isn't shady, and I'll go and get accepted easily and earn the reward, haha!"
"Sure, sure, as if someone like you would get accep—"
Suddenly, Thomas and everyone stopped talking as they felt the air get tense. They looked towards the entrance of the guild, where they saw a man walking inside with a cat on his shoulder.
Step
Step
"N-no way, is that..." an adventurer said, gazing at the man walking inside.
"Why is he here!?" someone else said in a hushed tone.
"T-that's him, isn't it?" someone whispered with a pale face.
His presence was overwhelming as they felt as if they weren't worthy enough to stand in the same room with him. The man gave off an aura of pride and strength.
"H-hey, who the hell is that man?" James asked.
"I-idiot, you don't know who the White Devil is?" Jimmy said.
"W-wait, you mean he is THE White Devil!?" James said in a hushed tone.
"Y-yes, he's the one with a 100% completion rate on whatever mission he took for the past 2 years. The one who took down a demon who infiltrated a C rank dungeon on his own, known for always being alone with his cat and soloing multiple dungeons, killing multiple bandits, and destroying an entire criminal organization. He's the holder of a special card of the Lunar Guild."
"He is Noctis, The White Devil."