Chapter 1

His existence was first confirmed twenty years ago. He emerged as the enemy of humankind—those under the divine protection of the God of Order, Supreme Deity Ahz Gried. Darkness began to gather in the demon colonies, slowly at first and then with extraordinary speed, absorbing enormous amounts of energy until finally it gave life to a great power. It was only when it was all over that humanity realized the danger. This was the Demon Lord Kranos. Cruel, cunning, and possessing great power. He who won the allegiance of the proud demons: their leader, the Demon Lord. He made sure to conceal his presence until he had amassed a formidable store of power. Though he had grown strong, it was not until he had united the demons of the world—for the first time under one ruler—that he began to act. Humanity became aware of his existence after a number of small kingdoms were destroyed, and even then, they could not band together as the demons had. This was because, compared to the demons and other races, the humans were much greater in number, and the destruction of small kingdoms was not uncommon. Our kingdom first clearly understood the danger when one of the other major kingdoms fell. It was then that they began to invade. The average abilities of demons are inherently far greater than those of humans. Nevertheless, in this world, humans thrived mostly because of the strength in their numbers and also because of the chosen few blessed by the protection of the gods, outstanding individuals who defeated multitudes of monsters and gained strength and skill rivaling that of the demons—these were the warriors. Many kingdoms were destroyed. The demons, few in number, gathered together monsters to join them until their forces matched that of the humans. Having lost their advantage, the humans’ defeat was inevitable. The struggle went on for a long time. As the demons were set loose and scattered across the world, it became increasingly difficult for the people of each country to unite. Humanity’s greatest heroes, those possessing great life force and the strength of divine protection, went off to win their fame and fortune in battle with the Demon Lord. Most of them never returned. The humans and demons each struggled to gain the upper hand in combat, but little by little, the humans grew weary. Serving the God of Order, the Church declared the demons enemies of God and performed miracles to hold back the invasion. However, these efforts did little to affect the situation. Now, twenty years have passed since the Demon Lord Kranos was thought to have come into existence. At last, following the annihilation of a great ally, the vast Kingdom of Ruxe reached a decision. To summon a hero. It was the greatest miracle in the power of the holy god Ahz Gried and humanity’s last hope. They resolved to perform this secret art and summon a powerful Holy Warrior from another world.