Prologue

 Facing the boy, the knight in armor raised his sword. To have mercy, one had to take a life in a single blow. Illuminated by the sun's rays, the sword shone brightly in the air.

 The boy closed his eyes and bit his lower lip. His expression showed that he never wished for this situation. He was just accepting it, since there was nothing he could do. If the boy had possessed a power of some sort, he would have used it on the man before his eyes and run away.

 But the boy didn't have that power. So there was no other conclusion. The boy will surely perish here.

 The sword moved—

 “But the pain didn't come."

The boy opened his eyes that were tightly closed. 

 The first thing the boy saw in his field of vision was that the sword had stopped in its downward trajectory. The next thing that came into his vision was who was handling it.

 He had stopped his movement as if he were encased in ice. The knight's attention was no longer on the boy. The knight's completely helpless state clearly revealed the shock welling up within his being.

 As if guided by the knight's gaze, the boy also turned his face in the same direction.

 Then he saw desperation. 

 There was darkness.

 Pure darkness as thin as paper but of an unfathomable depth. It had emerged from the air in an oval shape at the top and possessed what looked like a goat's skull with long black horns and from its blindfolds glowing blue fire. The scene evoked a mystique with indescribable apprehension.

Appearance: 

 "A door?"

The boy couldn't help but think, after seeing what was in front of him.

 When his heart thundered, the boy's condition was confirmed.

 Something seemed to be coming out of that shadowy passage.

 And the moment his eyes beheld the creature— 

 "Hiii!" 

 The boy let out a shrill scream.

 An existence that no mortal could ever overcome. 

 Eyes as black as darkness itself gazed at the boy, he resembled a beast glaring coldly at its prey. In his hands that were covered through the metal gauntlets, was a fearsome demonic sword of sovereign beauty.

Appearance: 

 It was as if the devil himself, clad in armor and an ornate jet-black cloak, was born into this world with darkness from another world.

 The air thickened in the blink of an eye.

 It was as if time itself had frozen in front of an Absolute Being.

 The boy had forgotten to breathe, as if his soul had been stolen.

 In this situation, where even the sensation of passing time seemed to have disappeared, the boy began to hyperventilate and breathed as if he was short of air.

 “The Reaper came from the other world to get me."

 That's what the boy had thought, but he soon felt that something was wrong. The knight behind him had stopped moving as well.

 "Ughh…"

 Who was? It looked like it could have been from himself, just like the knight with the sword raised before his eyes.

 Very slowly, her fingers covered along the dark metal of the gauntlet, she reached out along with her hand and pointed, “Not at the boy, but at the knight, as if to grab something."

 He wanted to stop looking, but he was too scared to do so. He felt he would witness something far more terrible if he looked away.

 "[Captor Cor]." 

The red demon made a squeezing gesture and a loud metallic noise rang right next to the boy.

 He was afraid to take his eyes off the demon, but pushed by the curiosity in his heart, he moved his gaze and saw the knight, lying on the ground. He was no longer moving.

 He was dead. Yes, dead. 

 The impending crisis that threatened his life was gone, as if everything was a joke. However, he could not rejoice, as the Demon had moved and manifested itself even more evidently.

 Receiving the boy's startled look, the Demon moved towards the boy. The darkness that gathered in the center of his vision increased.

 “It's going to involve me."

 Thinking about it, the boy hugged himself tightly. 

 The thought of escaping wasn't in his head right now.

 If the adversary had been a human being, he might have taken action with even a shred of hope. But the thing before his eyes was an existence that easily dismissed that notion.

 “I only ask that you at least let me die painlessly."

 To pray was all he could do.

 He just wanted to save his family, but he couldn't. He could only apologize for his impotence.

 He simply prayed that he wouldn't feel so alone, for they would die together. 

And then-