Prologue

Blue Planet, Year 2159.

At the heart of the Forbidden Land stands the towering Archaic Mountain, exuding an eerie energy that instills all who venture near with fear. Within its labyrinthine lair dwells the formidable Void dragon, a force known to be the strongest demonic beast.

Yet, despite the omnipresent danger, legends persist of fearless heroes who seek to challenge the demonic dragon's dominance and liberate the land from its malevolent grasp.

Den and his teammates are the strongest mercenary group in the Human Domain. Their group Elpizo Mercenary, whispered with reverence giving hope to humanity as they are currently fighting the tyrannical demonic dragon, preventing the catastrophe that will unfold soon if they failed to slay the demonic beast.

Inside the boss room, a symphony of chaos emerged. The metallic resonance of shields mixed with the heavy steps of brave fighters, combined by the crisp incantations of magic spells and clashing of swords, created a song of battle that echoed within the chamber, thus, infusing it with an intense energy.

"Give it your all! Activate all your skills! The boss is about to die!" Den shouted instructing his team.

While the boss was busy dealing with the tank of his team, Den gathered his remaining strength to jump high and activated his strongest offensive skill 'Blade of Execution' to end the life of the struggling Void dragon.

In a swift vertical motion, Den's hands wielded the sword, guiding it downward with a powerful divine light enough to cut the head of the demonic beast all the way to its menancing mouth.

The dragon recieved much damage and coupled with the wounds it recieved previously, it finally falls to the ground making a loud thud sound.

Pant. Pant.

"We did it!" the people unitely sang in joy despite their critical injuries. All the years of their hardwork paid off.

Through years of relentless perseverance and against all odds, they transformed from being weak existance to conquering the Forbidden Land and defeating the legendary Void Dragon, the strongest known demonic beast on this planet.

Truly a majestic scene to commemorate.

"Let's rest up before leaving," Den sat in the corner. "Search and collect the core Alastor," he said after closing his eyes to catch his breath.

Alastor excitedly walked into the dragon corpse, after all they did not get any core in a while.

Upon arrival at the corpse, the man frowned.

"Leader! We didn't get any rewards!" the Vice-leader Alastor shouted as he ran to Den.

"Huh?" shocked by the sentence exclaimed by Alastor, Den walked near the dragon corpse. He positioned his right hand to his chin to think of a reason but after much thought, he gain nothing. "Do you have any idea Alastor?"

Alastor, the vice-leader of Elpizo is the intelligent agent that holds the various information for the group to utilize.

"This is just a speculation but I have an idea," Alastor said as he slowly walked to Den. His eyes became red and a big smile was slowly forming in his pale face.

"This!" Alastor shouted while he stabbed the person in front.

Den wanted to react but his body can't move because of the fatigue and several heavy injuries he accumulated during the raid. Den can clearly feel the blood gushing out of his stomach and the wild face of Alastor.

The world turned into silence for a second.

"You didn't expect this do you? Deeeen?? HaHAHAHaHAHaHa!" Alastor shouted crazily making himself look like he's possesed by the devil. "You didn't know how long I prepared for this moment! We are tired of being your shadow!"

'Ha... I'm very pre-occupied to save the humanity that I didn't even know the feelings of my teammates,' Den thought silently while he observed his teammates smiling widely.

'So this is hero. They always died at the end,' he chuckled inwardly.

"You know that I will not die from this stab right?" Den looked at Alastor with grim eyes before shouting.

"Time Rewind!"

This is his trump card skill in case of anything accidental happened to him. It can rewind the time by 10 seconds and have a 1 day cooldown. Den smiled after that but nothing happened.

'Wha- What's going on??!!' Den desperately shouted in his mind.

"Khuu..khu... AHaHAaHaHAHaHAHAHa!"

Alastor almost cried of laughing because of what he heard. "You are really idiot huh Den? You didn't know that this place is isolated in time, meaning that this room have no past nor future! HaHAHAhahAHa!"

'Dam*it! He got me!' Den was in verge of collapse but he calmed himself.

"You are really strong Den. The strongest of all chosens! I admire you for being calm in this situation," Alastor said while turning around and walking a few steps.

Suddenly, he stops and rotated his body to face his pitiful leader.

"You are blessed with strongest skills and strongest allies. You have all the trait of,,, what is it called? hmm..." he paused for a second. "Right right! A Hero! But you know Den, you are too kind that's why you are going to die!"

"I said that this mere stab won't kill me—"

"Shh Shhh Shhh! The demonic blood of the dragon clone is slowly circulating into your body. Just die quitely alright?" Alastor interrupted, before collecting the body of the dragon.

Hearing what Alastor have said, Den just silently admitted that Alastor is way smarter than him. He is just a strong kind warrior with common wits.

'I see, even if I survive this situation. The humans will view me as a Demon, a race that I, the strongest chosen hated the most. Even if I try to ally with the demons to get my revenge, they will likely kill me because a lot of their kin were slain by me,' Den thought silently as he gritted his teeth.

"You bastard!" Den shouted in desperation. He knows that he will never get out of the fate that befall upon him.

"Ah right! thanks for killing the boss leeeaaader, Bye bye," Alastor waved after turning around with the team following suit.

...

Ten minutes passed since that event and Den is slowly crawling on his deathbed.

'At least the humanity is saved,' Den smiled.

He wrapped his mind with mana to decrease the rate of the corrosion of demon thoughts.

While imagining his peaceful end, a thought suddenly came into his mind.

'No, There are no core in the boss. This means that there is still final boss left.'

'Fighting that Void dragon clone took a toll on us, we almost died... then what about its real body?'

'Ha... Alastor really is intelligent, he already calculated that there are no saving humanity and it's logical to live life with fame and power but because of my stubborness, they will never get to live that life.'

'Being my shadow means that they have to follow me no matter what...'

'Was I wrong?' Den asked himself.

'Why did I even try to save humanity? What was my hardwork for?'

"No! This can't be! Evil will never be victorious!" he shouted. He made up his mind to punish evil.

'Alastor you smartass. With the situation I am facing, even when you look at all of the angles, this is a checkmate.'

'Fortunately, he didn't know that I still have one move,' Den smiled bitterly.

"System! How long before my mind become corrupted of demon thoughts?"

That's right, System is Den's secret that Alastor didn't know or rather no one knows except Den himself. It helped him throughout his journey.

[2 minutes and 43 seconds] System replied.

'That is plenty. One of my trump skill 'Soul Purify' is a consumable skill that only takes 10 seconds to replenish my body with negative effects but that will not solve my problem. The demonic blood of a Legendary ranked dragon, on the verge of evolving to Mystic rank, is not that easy to solve. At the very least, it will prolong my lifespan for months but after that, I will be demonified.'

Sigh.

'Dragon demonic blood surely is troublesome. It contains ancient demon thoughts that you can never get rid of.'

Faced with the grim reality, Den made up his mind.

'It's better not to delay my death than to suffer meaninglessly.'

"I guess this will my end," Den looked up and closed his eyes.

"System! I will sacrifice my soul to transfer you into a form of a book where my memories and skills will be contained that will inherit the destined person. Can you do that?" Den firmly asked.

[It is possible. This will cost your existence and the system will proceed into hibernation due to exhaustion. Please Confirm.]

"Huuu," Den exhaled.

"Confirm!" his whole body produced light, illuminating the dungeon room.

A scarlet book materialize and hovers weghtlessly in the air with ancient patterns and time-worn symbols on the cover, giving it a majestic allure that baths in a faint glow.

As if guided by an unknown force, a small wisp of light fuse with the book.

After awhile, the book was nowhere to be found, leaving only lingering curiosity in its wake.