We return to the present.
The memories shatter violently, and reality crashes into Asir's thoughts like a cold slap.
He snaps his eyes open, rises to his feet, and fixes his gaze on the door of his private wing
The door that was opened without permission.
Suheil enters, followed by her servant Thamer, who is carrying the child in his arms with a deliberately cautious grip.
Asir's expression changes instantly. The air around him freezes as he speaks in a low, sharp voice:
— "Get out of here… now."
Suheil lets out a soft laugh, as if mocking his anger:
— "Don't be afraid. We didn't come to harm you…
All we wanted was to return your son to you."
Thamer steps forward, extending the child toward Asir with a malicious smile:
— "Take your fate…
The fate that will lead you to your grave."
Asir looks at Thamer coldly, then a slow, terrifying smile spreads across his face:
— "Don't worry…
My grave will be right beside yours… and your father's."
Thamer's features twist with rage, but before he can speak, Asir snatches the child from his hands with controlled force and says without even looking at him:
— "Leave, Thamer. Now."
Thamer remains where he is, staring at Asir with contempt, unmoving.
Asir takes a single step toward him, his voice becoming eerily calm:
— "I believe… you need someone to escort you outside.
Isn't that right?"
At that moment, the air behind Asir trembles.
White metallic fragments begin to appear out of nothing, wrapping around each other, forming slowly and heavily…
Until a gigantic white iron knight takes shape—taller than the ceiling, partially translucent, yet its aura alone is enough to suffocate breath.
Suheil gasps, rushes forward, and violently pulls Thamer away:
— "We have to go! Now!"
Thamer resists for a moment, then yields, and they hurry out of the room.
Silence falls.
Asir turns to the iron knight, then looks down at the child in his arms and lets out a quiet laugh:
— "I'm about to enter a war…
And yes…"
He looks at the child with eyes filled with manic ambition:
— "You will be the greatest pawn I've ever used in my life."
He lifts his gaze toward the knight:
— "It seems I have a long task ahead of me…
Before I climb the mountains of execution."
Border Villages — The Same Night
We move to a distant border village, its night torn apart by tongues of flame.
Fire devours the houses, and screams fill the sky.
Above the village flies a massive black-winged dragon, gigantic, with twisted horns, breathing fire without mercy.
About fifteen kilometers away, another village…
Packed with refugees—children, women, the elderly—who fled with nothing but their bodies.
A man steps out from the crowd, his clothes torn, screaming madly:
— "Where are the hunters?!
Where are the heroes?!
An entire hour has passed!"
A wounded priest appears, lying on the ground, breathing with difficulty:
— "I sent… a message… to the Hunters' Guild…"
In the burning village, the dragon stops breathing fire and rises higher into the air. Its eyes glow with dark magic.
It scans the land… ensuring there are no survivors.
Then it turns.
It sees the second village.
And it charges.
Defense of the Second Village
People begin to flee as three figures appear amid the chaos.
Two girls in mage robes, holding magical staffs
And between them… a massive man, his body covered in scars, muscles bulging, clothes torn, his expression cold and unreadable.
— "Why are we with this human monster… Ken?" one of the girls whispers angrily.
The other replies firmly:
— "Orders from the guild.
Go treat the wounded… I'll protect the village!"
She raises her staff and shouts:
— "Come forth, Sky Shield!"
A gigantic magical barrier forms, covering the sky and the entire village.
She turns to Ken:
— "Your turn."
A hole opens at the top of the barrier.
One of the villagers points at Ken, crying:
— "It's Ken…
The one who killed a giant with his bare hands…
We're saved!"
But hope is crushed.
The dragon arrives, coils its body, then slams its head into the barrier.
Ken shifts his stance with steady resolve, planting his foot into the ground as if anchoring the world beneath it. In that instant, magic condenses within his right leg in a terrifying manner—not like a calm, flowing force, but like a bomb forcibly sealed inside his body.
Explosion Skill… his core ability, the very essence of his power.
The magic detonates all at once from his foot, forming a violent shockwave that shatters the ground beneath him, ripping it apart into a web of deep fractures, while dozens of people around him are hurled backward like weightless dolls.
Ken leaps with tremendous force—this is not a jump so much as the firing of a living projectile—piercing through the air at a horrifying speed until he reaches the open gap in the magical barrier, bursting outside it in a single instant. The moment he passes through, the girl seals the opening tightly behind him.
Ken continues to rise into the sky, his body spinning slightly from the force of the initial explosion, while dense magical sparks scatter around him—residual energy that failed to fully dissipate.
Above, the dragon flying over the village turns its head.
Its magical eye glows, seeing what cannot be seen…
And it perceives in Ken an abnormal mass of magic, as if a human were carrying the heart of a star on the verge of detonation.
The dragon roars, a roar that shakes the heavens, its jaws opening wide to unleash a breath of black fire—a dense, pitch-dark flame that devours the light around it before consuming the air itself.
But before the fire can reach him, Ken calmly raises his hand toward the sky.
And from nothingness…
A magical sword forms in his grasp
A glowing blade etched with fine explosive lines, as though the sword itself cannot remain stable.
The dragon lunges with its massive body, attempting to devour Ken in a single bite.
Ken does not dodge… does not retreat…
He waits.
And at the instant the dragon's fangs draw near, he strikes.
The blow lands directly against the dragon's teeth, and Ken releases a concentrated explosion through the sword—an explosion that does not spread, but compresses into a single point.
A horrifying cracking sound echoes as shards of teeth scatter everywhere, while the dragon is blasted downward by the force, crashing into the magical barrier covering the village and violently rebounding off it, before slamming into the ground, thick black blood pouring from its mouth.
Ken lands atop the barrier as the force of his initial leap fades. The barrier cracks beneath his feet, but holds.
At the same moment, Ken activates a reverse explosion within his body. The energy reflects inward, reinforcing his muscles and bones, repairing the microscopic tears caused by the first strike, erasing any trace of fatigue.
Then he jumps again.
But this time…
With even greater force.
He launches into the sky as if the barrier itself were a launch platform, reaching an immense height where the dragon below is reduced to nothing more than a moving shadow.
Ken twists in midair, gripping his sword with both hands as energy gathers around the blade until it shines like a miniature sun.
He plunges downward at a terrifying speed, without any warning.
The wounded dragon tries to rise, but its trembling wings fail it.
In a single moment, Ken descends upon it with a heavenly strike.
"Sky Annihilation."
Light explodes in all directions—white radiance tainted with black—shaking both earth and sky
Heavy seconds pass…
Then the light fades.
A colossal crater is revealed, and within it remains nothing of the dragon but charred, fractured bones, devoid of any sign of life.
Ken emerges from the crater, his body completely naked—his clothes having failed to withstand his own explosions. He walks calmly toward the village, as though what just happened were nothing more than routine work
Suddenly…
He stops.
A strange light appears before him, condensing until it takes the form of a man holding a child.
It is the Second Emperor, Asir.
Asir laughs as he looks at Ken and says,
"I was going to praise your astonishing combat artistry… but it seems you have a small problem with clothing."
He bursts into hysterical laughter.
Ken looks at him indifferently.
"Who are you? You look wealthy… Are you from one of the Pure Families?"
Asir's laughter grows louder, just as Ken suddenly releases his aura.
A savage, suffocating aura that makes the very air groan.
But the child in Asir's arms wakes up, looks around in bewilderment, and thinks,
"What is this dream?… How am I still alive?"
He begins to cry from overwhelming joy.
Asir's expression instantly darkens.
"You frightened the child."
Behind him, a gigantic, translucent white iron knight begins to form. With every piece that appears, a torrent of crushing magical pressure erupts.
The air itself compresses, forcing Ken to slam into the ground, crashing face-first, unable to resist.
Asir laughs.
"I was being kind to you… but that does not mean you are not required to kneel.
I am the Second Sacred Emperor."
Ken is stunned, thinking to himself,
"Even without fully summoning his beast… this aura is terrifying."
The pressure suddenly stops
Ken remains on his knees, breathing heavily.
As Asir calms the child, he says,
"Ken… one of the most prominent members of House Solarion.
At the age of twenty-two, you became the strongest hunter of the Sky Isles."
Then he raises the child high.
"I want you to serve my son…
and shape him into the greatest emperor existence has ever known."
Ken laughs bitterly.
"I don't even bathe half my days… and I'm usually naked.
And you want me to raise a child?"
Asir smiles.
"It doesn't matter. Hold out your hand
Ken extends his hand. The child is placed into his arms, and a magical device is thrown to him.
"We will communicate through this."
Asir and the iron knight vanish.
Ken looks down at the child in confusion.
"…What's your name, anyway?"