Prologue: Darkness Descends

It has been several millennia since Demon Slayers left japan and ventured to the other corners of the earth. Some have settled in America, others in different parts of Europe, and others in Africa and some parts of central and south America. It is in the new country of Sylverant that our story begins however. The capital city of Durham, a lovely city and just about the most gorgeous city one could lay eyes on. Sylverant had plenty of crops, mineral resources, oil, technology, and even precious metals like gold if one so desired. The city had stone and marble buildings from its European heritage, while also having buildings resembling that of most Asian cities.

The year is 2224, exactly 200 years since the civil war in japan. We see the city is bustling with activity this particular morning and a young couple is helping guide visitors around the city. This young couple is of course Derek and Katsura Dragonblade, they have been married for a few years and are tourist guides. While they don't have the most glamorous job in the world, they learned to enjoy it because they get to meet so many new people. Their job does pay well enough to provide for their 3 young children at home. They have a flame haired, 4 year old, a 3 and a half year old ginger, and a fuchsia pink haired newborn baby girl. Normally, two boys and a girl wouldn't be easy to leave behind at the house while they worked. They did have a friend who was great with kids and was the wife of Reynar Tokyoheim, one of Derek's friends from his days in the army as a teenager. This friend was Yang Lyn, Reynar's wife. Although she was younger than Derek and Katsura, she knew how to handle kids well enough. Whenever Max and Colbert would get into trouble and break something, she would kindly scold them not unlike a mother would. She'd rough house with them because well.. They were boys, played guns with them, and just did anything to keep them entertained. When it would be time to check on baby mist however, she would just give them some books to read.

Of course these books almost always were superhero books, those were their favorites. Books about the famous superman and batman were their two favorites. Even though they knew the characters weren't real and were fictional, they couldn't help but wonder if someday they could be like that too someday and somehow. "Big brother?", Colbert asked. "Yes Colby, what is it?," Max asked in response. "You think we can be heroes like Superman and Batman someday?," Colbert asked curiously. Max thought about it for a split second before answering as nicely as his four year old mind could put it into words. "Of course we will. And when we do, we'll be able to save people from baddies as much as we want!," Max answered. This seemed to satisfy the three and a half year old as he went back to reading his book. Unbeknownst to them, Yang Lyn was watching them while holding baby mist. She smiled having heard their conversation, they were good kids. They could be a little mischievous at times, but they were well behaved for the most part. She walked into the room to reveal herself and get them to bed as it was getting to be rather late. "Alright you two, time to go take a nap. I don't want you two to be crazy when your mommy and daddy get home, they will have had a long day at work already by the time they get home.," Yang Lyn said. The two boys nodded and went to go take their naps, despite not wanting to. They knew better than to get their babysitter angry, besides they didn't want to make her mad. They liked her and would rather be on her good side if at all possible.

Evening was fast approaching when the dragonblade's boss came up to them and released them to go home. He knew that they had young kids at home so he wasn't going to keep them any later than need be. Both husband and wife thanked their boss and began the walk home to their children. While they were walking though, Derek had this nagging feeling that something really bad was about to happen soon. Katsura felt it as well and began to worry for their kids, so both hastened their pace to get home as quickly as possible. "Elohim, what are you trying to tell us?," Derek thought. Katsura got the answer from Elohim when he told her that their whole world was about to be turned upside down. He gave her a vision of what would happen, what she saw in her vision was terrible. In her vision, everything was on fire. People were running for their lives from shadowy beings cloaked in darkness, they looked big but when she saw their true form.. they were only about half the size of a normal human. These things were little imps! However the humans fear of them was making them bigger and stronger than they really were. There was death everywhere, no one was safe. And what was worse, people were even getting possessed by these things and turning on each other! Just as soon as the vision came, it ended. When asked if she was ok, Katsura assured her husband that she was fine and that Elohim had shown her what was about to happen if they didn't escape with their kids.

While Durham was a beautiful city filled to the brim with wealth and prosperity, there was another side of it too. A darker side of the city existed as well. This side of the city was filled to the brink with corruption, racism, infighting, gang wars, god and devil worship, cults, and every other vile thing one could think of. At night, it was especially bad. This particular night is when something changed.. and for the worst. The sky suddenly became darker than normal and clouds spiraled overhead, like a storm was brewing. A sudden flash of lightning and the sky tore open, revealing shadowy figures with beady red eyes cloaked in darkness. A particularly large black shadowed being went into a man who looked like he was a drug lord.

The man ceased to be and became darkness incarnate, the evil lord of hell or otherwise known as Purgatory; Hades. This man became the temporary vessel for Hades, Demon Lord of Purgatory, the demon of all demons. His name was Tengu Sylverant. Fifteen other beings descended with him, these were his higher ranked underlings. Tenguu ordered his followers to set fire to Durham and to terrorize the people, not that they hadn't already done that. The people became terrified and began to riot, causing mass chaos throughout the city. He called over one of his demons and gave him a mission. He was aware of a certain prophecy that a descendant of the father of all demon slayers would rise up and defeat him; he wanted his underling to kill the child before that happened. The other demon nodded and took off to complete the job that he was assigned while all of the underworld broke loose in Durham.

Derek and Katsura arrived back home to see their kids already in bed and sleeping, it was late when they got home so they were grateful to Yang Lyngh for getting their children into the bed. She and Reynar could tell that there was something on the young parents' minds, so they decided to talk it out and voice their concerns. Derek and Katsura told their friends about the nagging feeling they had that something really bad was about to happen, they figured that it must have been Elohim warning them. This is when Katsura decided to let the cat out of the bag and tell them of the vision Elohim showed to her, which was something not even her husband knew of. To say the others were surprised would be an understatement, they were mortified at what the vision entailed. At the same time they knew that if they didn't do something, many people would die. Death was inevitable for people going forward, due to the conflict that was soon to break loose in the city. They understood that, but it still made them sad that so many lives would be lost to something they could've avoided had mankind not indulged in their dark and evil desires. But that wasn't what

summoned creatures of the underworld to the living plain, it was man's worship of the occult and sadly of demons themselves. Knowing that a very daunting task was ahead of them, the four sought Elohim for guidance.

Katsura suddenly felt a very dark presence approaching their home, she couldn't tell what it was exactly. The only thing she did know was that it was pure evil, like it was darkness incarnate. "Dear, there's something approaching the children and I don't think it's good. It feels cold and dark, like it can swallow a person whole and corrupt them if they don't know how to fight it.," Katsura told her husband. Derek's face warped into a dark scowl, a sign that he could feel whatever was approaching was demonic. He wasn't sure how he knew that it was demonic, but he just did. Perhaps it was Elohim giving him discernment, either way he had to get to his kids and fast. Yang Lyn and Reynar saw the look in the eyes and the four adults went to quickly check on the dragonblade couple's children. Just as they got there, Katsura rushed in and grabbed both mist (their newborn) and Colbert. Derek was about to rush in to grab max when he saw "Him". A tall figure dressed in strange armor that was pitch black with red stripes from the neck down to his feet.

The most prominent features about this being were the two small horns protruding from his head and the beady red eyes. This being was holding a dark colored blade high over his head as if he was ready to plunge it into the chest of the frightened flame haired toddler. The young toddler wanted to run, but his legs wouldn't let him move. He was too scared to move an inch, so he looked to his father with a frightened and tear filled face that just screamed the words, help me daddy! The dark being smirked as the tip of the blade glistened in the moonlight that came in through the windows. "Say Goodnight, brat!," the being shouted. However when the man brought the blade down to kill the frightened toddler, an invisible force blocked the blade from penetrating its target. It was like the sword had hit an invisible wall made of the hardest metal known to man, because the blade never pierced the toddler's flesh. Instead of hitting its target, a flame colored dome of energy surrounded the toddler and protected him. Not only did it protect him, the object meant to cause the young child harm shattered upon impact with the dome of energy. The man's eyes widened in shock, he wasn't expecting that to happen. It was no matter, a minor setback and nothing more. His hand then morphed into an ugly clawed hand that looked like it had thorns protruding from the sides of it, he tried again. However, he only succeeded in hitting the dome when he reached to choke the boy. After struggling against the force of the dome, some runes activated on it and threw the man onto his back.

The assailant got up and he was quite angry, though you couldn't immediately tell by how far away he was. Before the man could rush towards the boy again, Derek appeared from seemingly out of nowhere and was able to deliver a powerful kick to the man's gut to send him tumbling through the side of the house.

Derek was able to pick up his frightened 4 year old son and flee their home with his wife, children, and their two friends. The four stopped momentarily to check if they were being followed, when they saw no one was pursuing them they were relieved. Now calm, the 4 adults with three children in company continued on. They continued to walk towards the city so they could see what they were dealing with. However, when they got to the city, it was in utter chaos. It was like something out of a nightmare, the city itself was on fire. On top of the city burning, there were lifeless bodies everywhere. It had looked like they were impaled by sharp objects or rather something… came out of them and it left their body in tatters. The worst part was the smell, it was like sulfur and charred flesh. The smell alone was almost enough to make them gag, fortunately the four adults covered their noses and mouths with some spare respirator masks that the dragonblade's had.

When they saw all the death and destruction in the city, they almost puked inside their masks more than a few times. Fortunately their salvation from this came when Reynar and Yang Lyn had found some small boats that doubled as submarines in which they could escape. The couple didn't even bother to look back, they got into the boat with their children in tow, along with Reynar and his wife. They shut the hatch and the boat descended into the water and pulled away from Durham, or at least what was left of the once proud city.

The being that had gotten knocked out by Derek finally got to his feet, he was clutching his stomach from the blow Derek had dealt him. He had to admit, he had actually felt the sting from that blow. He smirked and chuckled darkly, he was looking forward to facing that man again. He then dusted himself off and made his way back to his leader, but not before torching the home of the family who used to live there with a snap of his fingers.

He arrived back at a tower overlooking the former city, only to have one of his comrades mock him when they saw his injuries. "That's enough strategist. This isn't the time for that, I won't have you ruin our victory with your senseless japes.," Tengu said rather directly. "Yes, as you wish my lord.," the other demon answered. Tengu looked to his lieutenant with a raised eyebrow upon seeing his injuries, he was rather curious as to how a demon of Teraphim's caliber could be injured to such a degree. "Did you succeed, commander?,"Tengu asked curiously. Teraphim's face was rather grim at this, he had failed to accomplish his task.

As far as he was concerned the consequences could be severe for letting down his supreme leader. "Unfortunately my lord, there was another element at play that prevented me from accomplishing my task. Also, the one known as the Black Lion was there as well. He was the one who injured me to the extent you see.," Teraphim informed Tengu. This caused Tengu to raise his eyebrows again, his interest piqued now. "Another element you say? What do you mean by this? I would have you explain.," Tengu asked, generally curious now. "When I intended to end the boy's life, there was some unseen force protecting him from my blade. It was as if I was hitting diamond stardust itself, it shattered my blade and forced me back. Then, the boy's father took me by surprise and wounded me.," Teraphim explained. " I see… Well, no matter. We'll simply have to crush the boy when he's of age before he becomes a nuisance.," Tengu said offhandedly. He then turned and smiled at his handiwork, Durham was burning and most of the resisting folk had been dealt with or had fled. Teraphim took a deep whiff and chuckled, he praised his leader for his work so far. "Yes Teraphim, let us revel in our victory. This is the beginning of a dark and glorious age! This is the beginning of the Sylverant Empire! Hahaha hahaha hahaha! *dark laughter*

The rest of the demons had gathered the rest of the people together into one place and had them bow to address their new ruler. "Attention people of Sylverant! All hail your new ruler, the glorious Emperor Tengu Sylverant!," Teraphim bellowed. There was then a loud roar of cheers by the common folk to signal that the beginning of a new era had dawned on Sylverant, unfortunately it would be a rather dark one. Dark days were incoming for the rest of the world for the birth of an evil and dark empire had just been made a frightening reality. Tengu then strode to the front of the balcony that overlooked the city before giving his address to his faithful new followers. He chuckled darkly while thinking to himself 'what a bunch of fools. They think I'm their savior, when I'm anything but that'. "People of Sylverant, as you can see our city and country has been freed of the rabble! Behold, the birth of Sylverant's glorious place in history.. the Sylverant Empire! Those who would oppose our noble ideals and goals have fled for the moment, but they will return. When the accursed servants of Elohim return, we will show them no mercy! They will be crushed underfoot like the little ants they are, no one will stop Sylverant's rise to glory! This world belongs to the people of Sylverant, all others are inconsequential. They will learn to bow their knee to Sylverant's might!," Tengu announced. Another loud roar ensued from the crowd, as they were blissfully ignorant of the true nature of their new dark lord and his subordinates. This was only a prelude to the even darker days that may come for the rest of the known world.

The people then started to chant: "GLORY TO SYLVERANT! LONG LIVE LORD TENGU! GLORY TO THE SYLVERANT EMPIRE!". Tengu just laughed at the irony of the situation, how could so many people be so ignorant? What fools. It was no matter to Tengu though, he had gotten what he wanted and what he came to the mortal plain of existence to do. Though the brat who would no doubt rise up to challenge him escaped, he 'd simply crush the boy when he was of age to challenge him. For now, he'd focus on building his empire into one that could actually challenge the rest of the world. He would start this by garnering the trust of the entire country of Sylverant, as well as the rest of the known world. What little remained of those who opposed him and his empire were of no importance, they were mere insects compared to himself. This was the beginning of the world's descent into depravity, normal folk had no idea of what was really going on. Of course, they never cared to know either. To them, this was a welcome change from the way they perceived things to be. This began what came to be known as the great deception. Sylverant would begin to spread its influence to other countries, bribing them with offers of shares in the spoils when they conquered the rest of the world. Little did they know that what they believed Sylverant was doing out of generosity for them, it was nothing but a giant hoax. They let the rest of the world believe what they wanted to about them. Some said they were peaceful aliens, while others said they were saints sent from the heavens to end all conflict with their many miracles, this brought a sense of loyalty the world thought they owed Sylverant.

The cold and harsh reality couldn't be further from the truth. Sylverant was deceiving them, they never planned on giving the others a share in the spoils of war. World domination was just a facade for what their true goal was. Their true goal was something far darker than world domination. The only thing that stood in the way of Sylverant's true goal was the remnant. That's what those in sylverant and the rest of the world started dubbing the followers of Elohim as. While the remnant was becoming a nuisance, Tengu did not feel as though it'd become a problem. Soon enough, this world would be his and could insult Elohim to his face.

To have Elohim's own creation in the palm of his hand and have them turn on the very one who created them would be the ultimate betrayal. It would prove to be the God of Creation's downfall and darkness would then reign for all time, that's what the God of the Underworld and Death believed anyways. But things were not always as they seemed to be, that was the entire reason for this war. Tengu or the vessel of Hades would see this world become a blackened abyss in order to summon the realm of the dead to this one. It was a perfect plan, the only thing left to do now was to begin putting the plan into motion.

Meanwhile back with the Dragonblade family and the Tokyoheim's, getting out of Sylverant without being detected wasn't easy. There was conflict everywhere throughout the entire country. But that was to be expected, Sylverant was the largest country in the world, aside from America and Africa that is. A major power change in the leadership of one of the world's largest countries was bound to have severe after effects across the entire country. Once the fighting had died down though, Derek and Katsura felt sure that it was safe enough to venture out into the open waters. There'd be too much confusion for those creatures to notice two families escaping the country. The journey was eerily silent as the two couples watched the remains of Sylverant's old army float past them or sink to the bottom of the sea. They'd barely escaped Sylverant with their lives, thankfully that was the last time they'd have to deal with those demonic creatures for a while. But how long could they outrun the demons?

Both Derek and Katsura had to consider something though. With powers as potent as their own children's were, it would only be a matter of time until Sylverant's soldiers found them. To prevent Sylverant tracking them and also to protect their own children, Derek sealed each of his children's power. They were much too young to be seeing such frightening things, he did make it so their powers would reawaken when they were of the proper age and when they needed them. With their power sealed, memories of the events of that night in Sylverant were difficult to remember. Still they traveled onward, looking for a new home.

As they traveled, Derek remembered that he had family within the country of Guerrin. Reynar and Yang Lyn also agreed with this. They needed to find somewhere to lay low for a while. But there was also the fact that Reynar's wife, Yang Lynn, had become pregnant during the journey. That was another reason they needed to find a place to go undercover. Fortunately, a country not too far from them proved to be an excellent hiding spot for a couple families on the run. The country they found could house them was a string of Island nations known as Guerrin. Guerrin, was another country that was actually founded by both the United states and Israel because of its proximity to both nations. Israel maintained a strong relationship with the u.s that culminated in the creation of Guerrin, residents of both countries resided there as well as refugees from other countries. And since Guerrin was rather small compared to other countries, they figured no one from Sylverant would come looking for them here. This could work for the families, since they needed to lay low now anyways.

Derek and Katsura settled in with members of their clan for a while, at least until they felt ready to buy a home on their own. Reynar and Yang Lyn opted to remain close by to them, just in case they ever needed anything. A few days after their arrival, Yang Lyn gave birth to twins. The boy she named Hoko, and the girl was named Honoo. These two newborns would be really good friends with the three children from the Dragonblade family over time. Over the next 10 years, the people of Guerrin would grow to accept the two families as if they had always lived there. Derek and Reynar knew that eventually the time would come when their children would have to know how to defend themselves, so they'd be preparing for that day's arrival. They couldn't help but feel that what happened in Durham was only the start of something far more sinister. Darkness would encroach upon the rest of the known world during that time other than two nations. Those nations were, of course, Guerrin and Israel. Neither of these two countries could know at the time that Sylverant would eventually launch a full scale offensive upon them to snuff out their voice. They were the only remaining voices of defiance that would challenge Sylverant. Was this but a prelude to what was coming? No one at that time could tell you that.

End Prologue...

To be Continued in Chapter 1: Island Day!

Hey Everyone Novablade here. You may be wondering what kind of story this is and i'm here to tell you this is an original story i've been working on for quite some time now. It may have elements similar to some anime or manga's, but I am by no means trying to copy said material. This is a completely original story that I'm writing so please PM me or leave a review based on what you think of the story so far... Good? , Bad?, Meh?, or Could be better? I'd like to see how this original story does on here. I may or may not do an audio read through on Youtube.. maybe at some point if this story is received somewhat well. Anyways that's all for now, I'll see you guys in the next update!