1 Prologue

Hundreds of years ago the world lived in a short peaceful era. After several wars, everything had stabilized through peace agreements and there was no reason to war at the moment.

However, the powerful nation of Katharterio (καθαρτήριο) longed to seize this peace.

While all countries rejoiced in the lull, the king of that country, known as "The Austere", invested heavily in his military might. He hired mercenaries and spent all he had on his quest to strengthen his warlike power.

But that was not enough for him. He began to study the mystic arts forbidden by the priests of the temple of the goddess. Then he discovered the forbidden arts called "animarum."

With this power he sank into his own arrogance, devouring souls and becoming more and more powerful. Until all of his humanity completely fall into the abyss.

His servants who followed him also fall down to this strength or yielded to temptation, selling their souls to the king, now known as the "Demon King" or "Absolute Lord", and becoming demons hungry for human souls.

But the rest of mankind could not wait for the end by the hands of the king without do anything.

With a powerful magic, where thousands of people sacrificed themselves, they sealed the Demon King and his main servants within a powerful barrier, completely covering the city where his fortress is located. But his weaker minions are still loose, spreading chaos and trying to free his master.

If this barrier is broken, mankind will then be extinguished.

But when the darkness rises on one side, the light from the other rises as well. The light chooses his brave heroes of a specific lineage to wield the spiritual blade "Bloodstain."

It empowers the user to fulfill a terrible mission: enter the barrier and defeat the demon king.

Now the brave hero, chosen by the gods, is inside the castle to fulfill his mission.

He went through several terrible monsters and at the moment, battle a powerful vampire.

- Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

He draws a vertical blow towards the easily deflecting monster.

- Huh huh huh! Look, you're very agile, even in this huge armor! - She said as she smiled maliciously, looking at the hero as if he were a piece of meat. - You know, I have not had a decent meal in a while, but you're so handsome! How about to become my slave? I know of many jokes that will drive you crazy! Kuh kuh kuh!

- I must admit this is tempting, but I'd rather kill you here and now!

He jumped up and try to slash the vampire, who appeared to have difficulty. He struck diagonally and when being blocked, he moved his body, turning and taking advantage of the force of the previous blow to strike another horizontally. At that moment the vampire takes a step back and dodges the blow.

After deflecting she tries to counterattack while he recovers, he defends himself by striking her with a kick.

Then he again wields his sword horizontally and strikes it in his abdomen.

- Hyyaaaa! It burns!

She screamed in pain as she was struck by the sacred sword. She gets irritated and starts toward the man, without calling for defense, only to hit him. He sees his lack of control, decides to only deviate from the attacks.

She strikes him with his sharp claws, starting at the right hand and he deflects from his blows turning neatly around her.

She then tries to grab him, but he escapes only two steps back, and the moment she misses the target, he puts his hand on the guard of the sword that was sheathed.

With a quick movement he plucks one of his ears in the blink of an eye.

- How-how dare you wound me, your bastard! - She said as her face bleed and black smoke billowed through her body. - I'll crush you right now.

She assumed a somewhat animalistic position and began to change her form.

Her porcelain doll-like appearance was becoming more and more of a hideous and extremely frightening being.

At that moment the hero smiled. You could not know why, but a confident smile appeared on his face. He was sure that he would win that battle against that monster and advance into the castle.

When she completed her transformation she immediately ran toward her prey. He noticed his change in pattern of attacks and so he began to defend himself with his blade.

The attacks were faster and heavier, but they were not well calculated. She was just randomly attacking, much worse than she was before.

The hero then used his vast experience to dodge and defend against the vampire's attacks and in the meantime, try to open some loophole to hit her.

Until during one of his moves she decided to jump and attack from above. A great mistake, that should never have maded. And with a clean and well calculated movement the heroes ripped off the vampire's head, ending the fight.

- Fuuuu! Finally! - He sighed in relief after his victory - She was persistent, but this battle was so easy! The latter had been much more complicated than this.

He gave a look of relief, but quickly raised his guard when he heard palms coming from the door through which he entered. It was a little girl, who looked about ten years old and dressed like a little princess.

Her skin was pale and her hair was blond, just like a doll would be. Her blood-red eyes made it very clear what she was.

This was the head of that place and the other was only a subordinate.

The hero knew that killing her would be extremely difficult, so he began to move to attack her before she could prepare herself.

With his strongest ability, where he becomes able to strike at the limit of human abilities, he attacks her by aiming at his neck.

His sword does not reach her, for she defends him quickly.

- You're a quick boy! - Quite different from the last. That one was not even funny.

When she said that he quickly moved away from her. At this point she jumped toward him in the same way as the other vampire. A grave mistake, that should never have maded. With a single blow his life faded quickly. The one who was chosen hero falls on the ground, dead...