Volume One: The Devil’s Nature Never Changes, and a Dead Devil’s Heart Regrets Nothing
The devil walked away from the ruins of the old man’s house after absorbing his blood.
He felt the blood coursing through his veins as his thoughts flowed with perfect clarity.
(Hah... that miserable old man. Begging for mercy despite being weak and undeserving of it. The souls of living beings are among the cheapest things in this world, and his blood was disgusting—saturated with nicotine and alcohol. They had corrupted it so badly that absorbing it actually weakened me slightly.)
(There is no place for the weak in a world ruled by the strong... They are like rabbits trapped inside a cage of heavenly dragons.)
The surroundings lay still beneath dull, unpleasant colors.
The silence irritated him.
He had never grown accustomed to it.
Every one of his lives had been filled with screams, battles, pain, and suffering. He had known almost nothing else.
Yet his expression remained unchanged beneath the cloth hanging from his bamboo hat.
An emotionless face.
Dead eyes.
A stillness resembling death itself.
He spoke in a voice so cold that even the Shadow trembled.
"Is there anyone near us, Shadow?"
The Shadow shook its head.
No one was nearby.
The devil wasted no more time and ventured deeper into the village.
After traveling nearly two hundred meters, he spotted several villagers working in the fields.
Yellow stalks of wheat stretched across the land as the farmers spoke among themselves while working.
A boy turned toward an older man with a mustache and faint beard.
"Good... this year’s harvest will last us a year and a half."
The older man nodded.
"Yes. We’ll sell half of it and live on the rest."
Suddenly—
overwhelming pain consumed them.
Two enormous blades surged from within their shadows and pierced their bodies from below.
The blades expanded inside them like rapidly growing bamboo stalks, becoming sharper and longer until they tore through flesh and bone.
Blood poured from their bodies.
The older man watched helplessly as the boy released a muffled scream.
A black blade emerged from the boy’s mouth and continued growing until—
Crack!
His jaw shattered.
The ruined lower half fell to the ground.
Blood soaked the surrounding wheat, staining the golden stalks crimson before they withered and died.
The devil watched with cold indifference.
He sighed.
"Hah... weak and worthless humans."
"No resistance. No will. No perseverance."
He looked across the field.
"In the end, they are merely pawns for my goal, and pawns are meant to be sacrificed."
"Everyone is a pawn in someone else’s hands."
The Shadow surged out from beneath the older man.
It seized him by the shoulders and sank its sharp teeth into his neck, tearing away a large chunk of flesh before beginning to devour him with savage hunger.
The area was deserted.
No one heard the dying cries of the two villagers except the devil and his Shadow.
Several ghairlihas—roughly several minutes—later, nothing remained of the corpses.
The Shadow had consumed their flesh, while the devil had absorbed their blood.
He rubbed the palm of his left hand.
"Hah... the boy’s blood was better than the older man’s."
He examined his hand thoughtfully.
"My current strength is enough to destroy a house, but the entire village still remains."
A faint smile appeared beneath the veil.
"I wonder how much stronger I’ll become after absorbing them all."
The Shadow slid back beneath his feet.
The devil began walking toward the heart of the village.
The massacre had begun.
He crossed several kilometers in only a few seconds and soon arrived at the main gate, where a lone guard stood watch.
The devil moved without hesitation.
One punch tore through the guard’s abdomen.
A gaping wound opened through his torso, exposing shattered ribs and ruined organs.
Before the man could collapse, the devil began absorbing his blood.
This time, the process was considerably faster.
His blood ability was developing.
When the absorption ended, the devil turned toward the village wall and struck it once.
The wall shattered.
The force of the blow continued beyond it, destroying roughly one and a half houses behind the structure.
Dust and rubble erupted into the air.
The peaceful village was transformed within moments.
Villagers stared in horror as the devil emerged from the wreckage, holding the guard’s severed head in one hand.
Without saying a word—
he crushed it.
Dark blood splattered across the right side of his body.
A twisted smile appeared on his face.
His mismatched eyes widened.
Then he vanished.
At a speed invisible to the naked eye, five villagers died almost simultaneously.
The devil felt nothing.
There was no hatred.
No joy.
No hesitation.
Only hunger for power and the desire to reach his goal.
Everyone was a pawn to him.
Some pawns were useful.
Others were disposable.
Several villagers attempted to flee.
The Shadow appeared before them.
Its body transformed into enormous black blades as its grotesque smile exposed rows of pointed teeth.
Then it attacked.
One villager was split apart.
Another disappeared between its jaws.
A third was dragged helplessly into the darkness as the Shadow began devouring him alive.
Piece...
by piece.
[One Week Later...]
The village had been completely destroyed.
No one had survived.
At its center, the devil sat atop a pile of skulls, his long black-and-white hair flowing around his body.
He held a human head in one hand and stared at it with a faint, cold smile.
Below him, the Shadow continued devouring what remained of the corpses.
At last, the devil spoke calmly, as though the destruction surrounding him meant nothing.
"Killing three thousand villagers was boring... but useful."
His gaze shifted upward.
"And it seems someone new has arrived."
The night sky above was black and filled with stars.
Something resembling a meteor descended from the heavens and struck the ground roughly two hundred meters away.
From the impact emerged a young man with long blue hair, pale skin, yellow eyes, and a handsome face marked by stern features.
Despite the destruction surrounding him, his expression remained composed.
He spoke in a powerful, serious voice.
"I am Lin Yuan, one of the heroes... and protectors of Earth."
His eyes settled upon the devil.
"State your name, you who stand there."
The devil smiled mockingly.
He descended from the pile of skulls, picked one up, and crushed it casually in his hand.
Then he pulled the black cloth of his bamboo hat back over his face.
His voice was calm.
"You may call me..."
He paused.
"Scarlet King."
End of Chapter.