A pillar of blue flames rose into the sky.
“Miss, it’s dangerous…!”
“I know.”
Yurha Silverstar, leading a group of adventurers including White Sword Saint Esta rushed to the scene.
“My god….”
A massive cavity.
The area where the pillar of flame had surged was entirely obliterated, leaving nothing behind but the sheer width of the flames.
What could one call this?
Annihilation? Or maybe deletion?
“This was definitely…”
“According to the coordinates, this was where that gigantic monster had been sealed.”
A monster hunter, his face wrapped in bandages, responded to Yurha.
“This was definitely the spot, and Count Habsderk had stayed behind here while sending his wife and us to safety….”
No matter how much they looked around, there was nothing to be seen.
The only thing visible was the ground, along with ashes—remnants of something immense that had been burned away.
“…If that monster really was burned to death and left behind remains, would it be something like this?”
“I’m not sure. This is an unprecedented event; it’s the first time something like this has happened.”
The adventurers exchanged uneasy glances.
It was true that they had awakened a monstrous being, but was it truly so powerful that it couldn’t be defeated?
“If the situation hadn’t been so urgent, with a calm response from five S-rank adventurers, including the White Sword Saint, it would have been a monster we could have defeated. …Probably.”
No, that wasn’t the case.
There would have been damage, but they would have undoubtedly emerged victorious.
The problem was that the scene before them now was one of utter devastation, something that even an S-rank monster and those capable of defeating it could never have caused.
“At this scale… it’s like that legendary ‘Divine Sword’ wielder…!”
“That’s ridiculous. You’re saying this is SS-rank, at least, by adventurer standards. The blue flames…?”
“…”
Everyone looked to each other, uncertain.
“Miss, could you possibly know something about the blue flames…?”
“I have no idea.”
Yurha shook her head firmly in response to the adventurer’s question beside her.
“This is truly an unprecedented situation… but it’s clear that we are the ones responsible for handling this mess.”
Yurha picked up a piece of metal at her feet.
“Miss, it’s dangerous!”
“I caught it with magic. Do you see this?”
The metal piece, scorched and covered in soot, shone brilliantly on the other side in a platinum hue as Yurha held it with a golden magic aura.
“This… I think it’s a fragment of an armor-clad Angel from the heavens.”
“That, that’s…!”
“If we handle this recklessly, it will be blasphemy. It means that the demon sealed in the Habsderk family’s Demonic Land was so dangerous that the Goddess had to send countless armor-clad Angels.”
There had been no signs of any danger. There was no oracle, and no word delivered through the Saint.
Thus, although the damage was severe, it was surprisingly less than one might have expected from such a threat.
“Miss.”
Esta called Yurha in a low voice.
Their eyes met, and they exchanged a small nod.
“Silverstar will take charge of this site. While we search for clues about what happened here….”
Yurha’s gaze trembled as she looked down at the spot where the pillar of flame had erupted.
“…Let’s also search for traces of the Habsderk family. I hope we can find something.”
“Understood!!”
As the adventurers carefully descended beneath the pillar, no one noticed.
Only Esta realized the choice of words Yurha had used.
“I…”
Not the head of the Habsderk family, but the Habsderk family itself.
“If I had stopped this… If I hadn’t been greedy for the magic stones, if I had told them not to tamper with the seal….”
Perhaps, someone might have died here, or perhaps another member of the Habsderk family who knew something had acted.
“…Regif. I trust you. You’re not dead… just missing.”
Yurha clenched her fist tightly.
“Our deal… isn’t over yet.”
She whispered so softly that no one could hear her, looking ahead.
“I’ll take care of your little sister, as you asked, so you must come back. If you don’t….”
Crack.
“…I’ll charge an insane amount of interest!”
* * *
‘I think I hear something terrifying.’
As I felt myself falling into the abyss, a chill ran down my spine.
No, can this sensation even be called a chill?
My body had already been burned to ashes, leaving only my “soul”—a spiritual entity.
‘So, this is what the afterlife feels like.’
For an ordinary person, death is the end.
Regif Habsderk was also just an ordinary human being for whom death would be the end.
Though I had talents in hypnosis, brainwashing, and the like, none of these abilities affected the soul or the afterlife.
Yet here I was, fully aware that I now existed as a ‘spirit’.
This realization came from knowing that in-game, there was magic to resurrect fallen comrades, and some companions were ghost-type characters—literally deceased spirits.
So, who do I have to thank for this transformation into a spiritual entity being sucked into the abyss?
It’s not my own power.
If I were to find an explanation from the original story—
Screeech─!!
This is the process of a human who sold their soul to a demon being dragged to hell.
“Ahhh! Save me!”
“No, please! Please release me! I was wrong!”
From the darkness, countless human screams echoed. Some had made deals with demons years ago, others even centuries ago, and now they were all bound by chains, dragged through the depths.
[Hehehe, you enjoyed the benefits of demonic power while alive, and now you want to be released?]
[You were warned when you made the deal. Eternal torment awaits you after death.]
As the demons began to appear, they yanked the chains binding these humans, dragging them deeper into the abyss.
More accurately, the world that had previously been nothing but an abyss was now gradually revealing itself to me.
“Please, send me back to Middle World! I beg you! I don’t care if I’m reincarnated as a dog or a pig! I just want to be reborn!”
[Hah! From the moment you made a pact with a demon, you were already forsaken by the Goddess! The only life left for you is one of eternal slavery to this ‘Sabnac’!]
“No, this is Hell! I need to get out of here!”
[There’s no escape! The Goddess you so desperately seek has shut the gates!]
“Aaaah!!”
The humans wailed in agony.
They probably hadn’t realized, during their lives, just how much they’d relied on demonic power.
How long could a human lifespan be?
Even at best, it’s only about 60 to 70 years, far shorter compared to elves or dragons.
But the time their souls would be trapped in the Demon World, enslaved to the demon they contracted with, is—
‘Eternity.’
Or maybe infinity.
Until the day when, suddenly, a dimensional gate opens from the Demon World to the Middle World, allowing the Demon King and his forces to invade.
According to the original story, there’s about 10—no, maybe 13 years left.
[Huh? What’s this, a new soul… Eek!?]
The demons noticed me, drifting along the river of souls in the abyss.
[Th-that mark?!]
I couldn’t see it myself.
But I was sure that the brand burned into me, like a collar around my neck, had some kind of flame-like design.
[Clear the way! D-don’t touch it!]
The demons began to panic.
My spiritual body, which had been incorporeal, began to feel as if it was becoming solid again, and I slowly rose from the river of the abyss.
Thump, Thump.
Even though I was spiraling downwards, it didn’t feel like I was falling.
I walked across the river.
If you asked how this was possible, it was simply because I felt that I could do so now.
Step, step. I walked towards the end of the river.
Soon, the other souls—those who had made pacts with demons—disappeared, leaving only me, descending deeper and deeper.
‘Now this looks familiar.’
As I passed through the entrance of the Demon World and reached its midpoint, the scenery began to look familiar.
‘A battlefield.’
The 1,000th playthrough.
When the protagonist and their companions launched a counterattack—an “invasion” of the Demon World—this was the first place they encountered.
Now, instead of a river, I found myself in a flow of mana, branching out like the roots of a tree, towards different destinations. At the end of one of these offshoots lay a magic circle.
There were seven of them.
To anyone who had played the game, these seven magic circles, each glowing in a distinct color and marked with a unique seal, would be instantly recognizable. I headed towards the deepest, lowest magic circle.
Buzzzzz.
The magic circle shimmered with a blue light.
As I lowered my head slightly, I noticed a similar pattern of light shimmering around my neck.
A brand.
A symbol of being a demon’s contractor, and a collar signifying my soul is bound.
And that was the extent of it.
Freedom, thoughts, everything—I would likely have to give it all up.
‘It’s okay.’
Surely, this choice will not be wrong.
Step.
The moment I stood on the magic circle.
“…Huh?”
As my body ‘shimmered’, the world changed.
Whoosh.
Blue flames covered my vision, and a scene that was all too familiar appeared before me.
“Esdinas…!”
The Academy.
The first scene that appears after the player starts the game and passes the logo screen, choosing between ‘Start’ or ‘Options’—
The main gate of Esdinas Academy, the setting of the game.
The place where you first control the protagonist character as they advance towards the ‘entrance exam,’ accompanied by a flashback of the original protagonist’s past.
The very place I had visited more times than the 1,000th playthrough.
The beginning of the game.
The tutorial.
“A familiar sight, isn’t it?”
In front of Esdinas Academy, where no one else was present.
“Should I say, ‘Nice to meet you’?”
A woman with blue hair, dressed in the academy uniform, was seated on a bench in the entirely white space, waiting for me.
Academy uniform.
And the Academy.
No way—
“Before we greet each other, we should clarify our relationship, right?”
“…Of course.”
The voice speaks.
It’s not Regif’s voice.
“Should I address you as ‘Master’?”
“…Hehehe.”
It’s my voice.
“Yes. I am your master who has taken everything from you, all of you. There are various titles for me, such as the Archduke of Hell or Phoenix. But the essence I perceive is….”
“[Azure Flame].”
(TLN: Her name is also the ability/flames, it feels kinda weird to translate and keep the name as Azure Flame, when it’s not about the ability, so I’ll stick to Changyeom, which is just the romanized version. If you guys want I could just use Azure or something like that. Although maybe it won’t be the case since the author uses Pheonix for the Illustrations)
The blue flame itself.
“Hehehe.”
Changyeom gracefully rose from the bench and approached me.
“Welcome, to my [Esdinas Academy].”
This place is Esdinas Academy.
It is the inner world of Changyeom, taking the form of the Academy.
