Episode 1: Forsaken in the Abyss
The air was thick with the stench of blood and mana. Shirogane Tetsuya—Hunter Shiro—stumbled forward, his vision hazy, his body torn apart by wounds that refused to stop bleeding. The Gate behind him had collapsed, sealing his squad safely on the other side. They left him to die.
"Damn… them…" His breath was ragged, pain spreading through his limbs. He tried to stand, but his strength had long abandoned him.
His so-called teammates had betrayed him.
The moment they discovered a hidden Mana Essence Mine deep within the Gate, greed overtook them. A unanimous, silent decision—eliminate the weakest link. And so, they did.
Shiro could still hear their words echoing in his skull.
"You're just an E-rank, Shiro. You wouldn't have made it out anyway."
"No hard feelings, okay?"
"We'll make it big with this essence… we'll live like kings!"
Lies. Deception. Greed.
Now, he lay alone in the abyss, his life slipping away. The monsters had retreated into the shadows, sensing death was near.
But then… something moved within the darkness.
A voice—deep, ancient, hungry—whispered in his mind.
"You have been abandoned… Forsaken. But I see potential in you."
The shadows around him shifted unnaturally, writhing like living things. A presence loomed over him—an entity of pure darkness, a monstrous force of destruction.
"Surrender your body to me, and I shall grant you power beyond your wildest dreams."
Shiro felt his consciousness slipping. The pain dulled, replaced by a strange warmth—no, power. The abyss was swallowing him whole.
But instead of fear… he smiled.
"No. I won't surrender."
He clenched his fist, the shadows surging into his veins.
"If you want this body, you'll have to fight me for it."
The darkness roared. A battle of souls had begun.
Darkness swallowed everything. Shirogane Tetsuya found himself floating in a void of nothingness, weightless yet sinking.
Then—flames erupted in the abyss.
A towering figure of shadows and fire emerged, piercing red eyes glaring down at him. The Demon King. His form shifted between a monstrous being of horns and fangs to a regal entity clad in flowing obsidian armor.
"Foolish human. You refuse to submit?"
Shiro felt his very soul being crushed by the presence before him. Any normal person would have already lost their sanity.
But Shiro… he had already lost everything.
His family, his future, his so-called allies—all gone. The only thing left was his will to survive.
He lifted his head, his expression cold and unyielding. "If you want my body… then try and take it."
The Demon King laughed, his voice like the echoes of countless dying souls.
"Very well."
The abyss shifted.
Shiro's surroundings turned into a battlefield of blood and fire—visions of ancient wars, massacres, and gods falling to darkness. These were the Demon King's memories, his legacy of destruction.
Then came the attack.
**Shadow claws, chains of void energy, black fire—**all surged at Shiro at once. He had no weapon, no armor, nothing.
And yet—he moved.
Instinct guided him. His body reacted before his mind did. He dodged, barely, rolling under a spear of pure darkness. His hand reached out— and the shadows obeyed.
A pulse of Void energy erupted from his palm, countering the Demon King's attack.
The entity paused. Surprise.
Shiro grinned, for the first time feeling something other than pain or despair.
Power.
The abyss itself reacted to him, as if it had found a new master.
The Demon King's eyes narrowed. "Interesting. You are not like the others…"
Shiro stepped forward, each movement causing the void to ripple. He was beginning to understand.
The Demon King had offered him power in exchange for submission.
But Shiro had done the opposite—he had fought back, and now, the abyss recognized his will.
A pulse of energy surged through him, pure and overwhelming. The Demon King's voice rumbled like an earthquake.
"Then let us see… if you are worthy of my throne."