Flashback: The Hero of Light vs. The Darkness Lord
The world was not merely dying; it was an echo of a place that had already been forgotten.
This was the Boundless Void, a pocket dimension woven from the fabric of pure mana, designed by the Goddess Elmyria to serve as a stage where two cosmic weights could clash without shattering the mortal continent of Velgrith below.
The sky was a hemorrhaging wound—a blood-red horizon that offered no stars and no sun, only a constant, oppressive twilight.
Beneath this canopy, the earth was a map of scars: grey, cracked soil that groaned as if the very atoms were under a microscopic pressure.
Standing in the center of this desolation was Ryuto Yuzen. Even here, in a world of ghosts, he radiated a blinding, divine heat.
He was the Second Summoned Hero, and his presence was the answer to the world's prayers.
Clad in golden-white armor that hummed with the frequency of the stars, he gripped the hilt of the Flame of Judgment. His ocean-blue eyes, usually filled with a gentle warmth, were now hardened into shards of ice.
Opposite him, a shadow stood.
Shujin did not fight the atmosphere of the void; he was the source of it. His design was a manifesto of sovereignty hidden in darkness.
He wore a featureless, dark-violet porcelain mask that seemed to absorb the meager light of the red sky. Intricate, vein-like engravings pulsed across the surface of the porcelain with a rhythmic, low-frequency violet light—a visual heartbeat of the Abyss.
Through the narrow, predatory slits of the mask, his glowing purple eyes burned with a clinical, unblinking intensity.
He was draped in a high-collared black overcoat, its edges trimmed with gold and silver filigree that flickered like captured lightning.
As the wind whipped around him, the coat flared to reveal a deep royal purple lining—the color of a lord buried in a grave of his own making. On his chest, the metallic silver V-shaped plate served as a focus, anchoring the immense density of the Shadow Core within.
Most notably, his wrists were bound by heavy purple and gold bands—the mana-suppression cuffs that groaned as they struggled to contain his true power.
"So… this is the battlefield you chose," Shujin said. His voice was a resonant death knell that vibrated not in the air, but in Ryuto's very bones. He wore a cold, composed smile beneath the mask.
"Tell me, Ryuto… is the Goddess Elmyria watching us even now? Or is she too afraid to look into the void her own rules created?"
Ryuto's breath hitched, his grip on his sword tightening until his knuckles turned white.
"You… you knew?!"
Shujin's smile deepened.
"Of course. I've known your plan from the very beginning. You and Elmyria—she promised to send you back to your original world, back to the Tokyo rooftop, after you played the role of the 'savior,' didn't she? All while sealing me here for countless years."
Ryuto didn't answer. He couldn't. Behind him, the air began to shimmer with a divine radiance.
A beautiful woman with long, flowing silver hair and eyes that held the weight of galaxies slowly manifested. Goddess Elmyria stood as a beacon of order, her form glowing with a soft, celestial fire.
"You've always been too sharp, Shujin," Elmyria said gently, her voice like a choir of hollow bells.
"But this ends here. For the sake of the balance, for the sake of humanity, we cannot allow a Miscreant of Darkness to roam freely."
Shujin let out a quiet, hollow laugh as he stepped forward, the violet-black flames of the Abyss beginning to swirl around his right hand.
"Seal me away? With that boy and your divine tricks? How amusing."
---
The Battle
Ryuto was the first to move. He did not run; he ignited. Utilizing the Sky Blade gift, he cut through the distance in a single, golden blur.
The Flame of Judgment roared as it collided with Shujin's black blade. The impact wasn't just physical; it was a collision of fundamental principles.
A thunderous shockwave rippled across the desolate land, tearing new chasms into the cracked earth.
"Take this!" Ryuto shouted, his voice a roar of desperation. He unleashed a relentless barrage of strikes, each one carrying Elmyria's holy blessing—radiant energy meant to burn away the "impurity" of the darkness.
But Shujin moved with an effortless, liquid grace. He was a master of Dark Psychology, predicting Ryuto's movements not by watching his blade, but by profiling his heart rate and the subtle shifts in his mana signature.
He parried every strike with clinical precision, his movements growing faster than the human eye could track.
"Too slow," Shujin murmured.
In the next instant, Shujin utilized a fraction of Time Hand I, slowing the flow of time for Ryuto's perception while his own body remained in the present.
His foot snapped forward, catching Ryuto in the chest with the force of a falling mountain.
The Hero was sent crashing back into the ground, skipping across the cracked earth like a stone.
Ryuto staggered to his feet, planting his sword into the soil to stay upright. Blood trickled from his lip.
"I won't lose!"
"Rise," Elmyria's voice echoed, her power flowing into Ryuto like a golden river.
"You who I have chosen—use the gift I have bestowed upon you."
The divine light intensified, healing Ryuto's wounds and sharpening his spirit. He leapt forward once more, his movements refined to a near-divine precision.
This time, his blade caught a gap in Shujin's defenses. The Flame of Judgment sliced across Shujin's shoulder, tearing through the heavy black fabric.
Dark, Abyssal blood spilled onto the ground, sizzling as it touched the divine light.
"…Oh?" Shujin lowered his head slightly, his glowing purple eyes narrowing. He touched the wound on his shoulder with a gloved hand, looking at the dark fluid.
"You actually managed to hit me. Not bad, Hero. It seems the Goddess has finally decided to stop holding back."
He raised his hand. The ground began to groan.
"Come out, Chronael," Shujin whispered.
Dark magic surged as shadowy spears erupted from the ground like a forest of thorns.
Ryuto dodged desperately, his movements a blur of gold, but the density of the attack was absolute.
A spear of pure darkness, carrying the conceptual weight of the Abyss, pierced his side.
"Gghh…!"
Ryuto collapsed to one knee, the golden light of his armor flickering. Blood dripped onto the barren earth, and for the first time, fear began to seep into his conviction.
Shujin stepped closer, his black blade lifted high. The violet-black flames around his hand grew more intense, swallowing the light of the red sky.
"This is the truth, Ryuto. You are strong… but you are still just a tool of the light. And a tool can never defeat its master."
---
Elmyria's Intervention
Before Shujin could deliver the verdict, a pillar of blinding white light descended from the heavens.
Elmyria appeared beside Ryuto, her silver wings spreading wide to shield him from the encroaching darkness.
"That's enough, Shujin!" she commanded, her voice vibrating with celestial authority.
In a flash that turned the entire void white, she and Ryuto vanished. Shujin's blade sliced through empty air, the momentum carrying him forward.
He stood alone in the center of the silent clearing, the violet flames in his hand slowly dissipating.
Shujin lowered his sword and smiled faintly behind the mask.
"Hmph. That was her choice. It doesn't matter. I merely wished to test her chosen hero… to see if he was worth the space he occupies on my board."
As he turned away, his aura dimmed. He reached for his wristbands, adjusting the gold and purple cuffs until the mana within his core was once again suppressed to its 1% "average" state.
---
The Goddess's Domain
Ryuto awoke within a hall of infinite light. Golden pillars stretched endlessly toward a ceiling made of clouds, and the air tasted of ozone and nectar.
His wounds were gone, healed by the Goddess's touch, but the memory of the darkness remained etched in his soul.
Elmyria stood before him, her expression etched with a rare concern.
"You pushed yourself too far," she said gently.
"You still cannot defeat him—not like this. He is a variable that transcends the elements."
Ryuto clenched his fists, staring at the floor of the radiant hall.
"…I couldn't even land a decisive blow. He was… empty. It was like fighting a void."
"Strength alone will not defeat Shujin," Elmyria's voice softened.
"You must train, Ryuto. The Temple of Light will guide you. Learn the secrets of the ancient heroes. Grow stronger. And when the time is right… when the mask finally falls… you will face him again."
Ryuto's eyes narrowed, a new, desperate resolve burning in his chest.
"…Alright. Then I'll do it. I won't give up until I surpass him. Until I understand what he truly is."
---
Return to Valerion
Meanwhile, back on the mortal plane, a dark forest near the capital city of Valerion began to tremble.
A fissure in space-time opened, and Shujin stepped through. His jet-black hair was tousled, and his mask gleamed under the pale moonlight of Velgrith.
His aura was calm now, his blade concealed beneath the shadows of his robes. He was no longer the calamity of the void; he was the shadow behind the board.
As he walked through the dense undergrowth of the Ironwood Forest, he heard a quiet, rhythmic sound. Sobbing.
Shujin stopped. He turned his head toward a gnarled oak tree. Beneath its branches sat a young boy.
He had vibrant, crimson-red hair and eyes the color of a setting sun. His clothes were torn, his knees scraped, and his gaze was dull with a despair that Shujin recognized with a terrifying intimacy.
It was Blade Lunaria—long before he would fail his adventurer test for the first time.
Shujin's violet eyes fixed upon him. He saw a boy drowning in hopelessness, yet beneath the tears, a small, stubborn flame still burned.
Using his Dark Psychology, Shujin profiled the child in an instant: Potential for absolute loyalty. Driven by a desire for heroism that has been crushed. A perfect vessel.
A faint, chilling smile touched Shujin's lips.
"…Interesting. Perhaps this is fate. It seems I've found myself a new piece to place on the board. One that the Goddess and her Hero will never suspect."
The wind swept through the forest, carrying with it the first intertwining threads of destiny—threads that would soon bind the Hero of Light, the Shadow Follower, and the crimson adventurer in a web of darkness.
---
✦ To be continued...