When Rivals Ignite (BL)
In the monster-infested city of Velrith, survival isn't luck — it's ranked.
The world has fractured under the weight of unstable dungeon rifts, dimensional tears that release monstrous beings capable of leveling cities. Humanity's only defense? Elite agencies — militarized academies of gifted warriors trained to hunt, contain, and kill. At the very top of the hierarchy stands Lucien Rael, the cold and distant leader of Astraeus Dominion, the highest-ranked agency in the world.
Lucien is flawless. Unbeaten. Worshipped.
But beneath the perfection lies a devastating secret: he is the son of the Demon Lord, the ancient being responsible for the first Rift War that brought the world to its knees. His father is now imprisoned deep within a cursed dungeon, whispering promises of power and destruction — and Lucien is the key to his release.
Lucien was born to end the world.
But he chose to save it instead.
Then there’s Kael Ryven — golden, arrogant, impossibly beautiful — and everything Lucien isn’t supposed to want.
Kael is the top hunter at Vanguard Edge, a fiercely competitive agency ranked just beneath Astraeus. Driven by vengeance, Kael lost his home in a demon raid as a child, and he's made it his mission to rise to the top and destroy every trace of their existence. Kael should hate Lucien — and he does. Or at least, he tells himself he does.
When the agencies are forced to collaborate after a new class of dungeon emerges in the heart of the city, Lucien and Kael are thrown together into a reluctant alliance. What begins as icy rivalry quickly spirals into a dangerous attraction — one that neither of them can afford. The deeper they go into the city’s forgotten underbelly, the more Lucien’s demonic power threatens to awaken… and Kael begins to suspect the truth behind the man he’s been taught to idolize — and fear.
As secrets unravel and forbidden feelings ignite, the line between enemy and lover begins to blur. And when the Demon Lord finally breaks through the last of his prison’s seals, Lucien will be faced with a brutal choice:
Betray the world for the only parent he has ever known…
Or destroy the last part of himself that still feels human — for the man he was never supposed to love.