[My name is ■■■■■]

[I am the personification of the Beginning.]

[In this world corrupted by Chaos in the dark, salvation is a luxury for the victims of corruption.]

[Will you take my hand and wield my power as a sword of Salvation, offering a new beginning to the oppressed?]

[Or will you harness my power as a sword of Redemption, delivering eternal suffering to those who deserve it?]

[The choice is yours.]

[........]

***

Jade Groove City.

A young man with pale skin and Amethyst eyes,

wearing a black trench clothes was sitting on the wooden bench under the clear shade of trees beside the City square. He was holding a wooden plate and gulping a food — not the processed food you can buy in the store, but the real deal. This plate had a large serving of rice, partnered with a variety of dishes such as pork and beef. He usually doesn't eat such a large meal outside. But on this particular day, Noah decided to fill himself up

After all, he finally had a time and place to properly eat a meal after the grueling 3 months journey

Enjoying the warmth and aroma of the freshly cooked food, Noah raised his spoon and took a bite. As he savored the taste, his previously expressionless face cracked into a smile.

"Did you come here to do some sightseeing, Mr. Traveler?"

A person wearing a bear mascot handing out flyers asked, interrupting him.

"No." Noah replied with a frown.

Getting interrupted during his meal, left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Well then, Please excuse me"

Seeing the frown in Noah's face, the bear mascot hurriedly left the place after leaving a flyer in the side.

3 months ago, somewhere in the Eastern Continent.

Mt. Kunlun, Babylonia Branch.

Morian, a Middle-age figure with long blonde hair and piercing eyes, sat on an exquisite chair made of fine wood, looking down at his disciple, Noah.

Which is me.

"Disciple"

"Yes, Master"

"It's been five years since you became my disciple. I think it's about time you go out on your own"

Noah's heart skipped a beat. His journey with Master Morian had been arduous and sickening. The thought of finally leaving his Master behind filled him with both excitement and trepidation.

"From today on, you can now call yourself a 'Master'."

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!!

Noah's eyes widened in astonishment. "Really!?"

"But to officially become a Master, you need to go to the Headquarters, the Tower of Babylon in Central Continent."

"You do know where the Tower is, right?"

Noah hesitated, scratching his head. "....Yes? You gave me a map, right? But I don't know how to go to the central continent."

Master Morian chuckled, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "Don't worry, I'll handle it. So when you wake up, go forth!"

Noah blinked in confusion "Don't tell me I will be going there alone."

"You know that I dislike the Headquarters."

Master Morian raised his hand, and a Big Golden hammer appeared in his hands.

When Noah saw this, his expression changed from confusion to terror. He tried to move away, but his eyelids suddenly grew heavy.

Before his eyes closed and sank into a deep, tranquil sleep, he saw his feet leave the ground as he was hit flying by the hammer.

Gasp.

Noah shook his head and woke up from his reverie.

His Body shuddered just by the thought of his Master.

'I should just stop thinking about it.'

Noah was enjoying his remaining food when something massive came crashing down, sending tremors throughout the concrete stones of the city square.

It was a lump of flesh in the shape of a dog, around 5 meters in size.

Its grostesque appearance in the city square caused the civilians around it to panic, its towering appearance gave them the nightmarish feeling of death.

Fortunately enough, no one died yet

"What is that?"

!?

Noah took a look at the lump of flesh when suddenly, something stirred in his eye.

The previously lump of flesh had now a strange purple dot that slowly corrupted the lump of flesh whole body like a parasite.

"Wait!? Isn't that.....?" Noah asked, a bit stunned.

The purple dot shown to him by his eye is the Seed of Darkness that is commonly found in Fallen. The Seed of Darkness feeds off in negative emotions, the stronger the negative emotions, the faster it takes to transform something into a monster that spreads Chaos which is commonly known as Fallen.

However, Seed of Darkness was mostly planted in humans. So seeing the Dog - like appearance of the Fallen only means one thing, the Fallen and host of the Seed is a dog.

Realizing that fact alone shocks his common misconceptions that humans can only be Fallen.

However, What unnerved Noah the most, were the sticky mucus the covers it's flesh and the lack of skin in it's body.

"Well, that is just too much." He thought, stupefied.

As soon as Noah finished that thought, all hell broke loose.

— Roar!!!!

The Fallen released a deafening sound that destroyed the ear drums of all civilians within the Vicinity of 1 km of where the Fallen currently stands.

Some people who are unlucky and still haven't left the city square had their heads exploded by the sound wave.

Even Noah who's a Master got affected by the Fallen's Loud roar.

After the loud deafening roar, the Fallen moved.

Seeing all the humans near him die, he pounced on Noah instead who's still alive and kicking.

"Come Forth, Soteria!!"

A thin long sword with Pristine white platinum blade and Pitch-black sword hilt appeared in Noah's right arm.

Seeing the large claw of the Fallen approaching near him, Noah prepared himself and tried to block the Claw with his sword.

Clang!!

"Damn! Why the hell it's heavy!?"

Even with his quick reaction, Noah managed to barely block the Claw. However, the power behind the Fallen's attack is no joke. Making Noah redirect the claw beside him instead of fully blocking it.

Boom!!

The Claw hit the wooden bench and concrete stone beside him, causing it to get smashed in pieces .

'The neck is open...'

'[Cut]'

After redirecting the Claw, he used the opening he made to slash the neck of the Fallen from below.

However, because of the mucus and hard flesh of the Fallen, his sword slipped and didn't deal any damage to the Fallen's body, much less cut it.

"It slipp—"

Noah's slash also made his side open to the Fallen.

By the time he finished his attack, The Fallen used his left claw and sent him flying to the wall on his right.

Boom!!

A part of the wall where he lands cracked and collapsed, showing the interior of the building.

"What the hell? How will I beat it when I can't even damage it!" Noah crawled out of the rubble of the broken wall and pushed it aside.

[Cut], a brand ability from his Ego sword**Soteria**.

Every Ego Weapon has their Brand Ability, and their Master can use this ability through their Branding as it was the Mark that the Ego Weapon and their Master are one.

The [Cut] was one of those branding abilities. It increases the cutting power of its User. However, Noah's [Cut] was a different case.

Through repetitive training and experience, he managed to hone his [Cut] to the point that not only it increases his cutting power, he can even cut his opponent weaker than him in half effortlessly regardless of their defense.

Seeing his cut ineffective against the Fallen only means one thing, it's a level 2 Fallen.

A level where a Fallen had the ability to destroy a city on their own.

He quickly glanced at the Fallen and noticed the bulge in its maw.

"What's that!?" Noah doesn't have any idea of what it's going to do but he's sure that it was something bad.

"Mommy!!"

He was going to quickly move out of the way when he suddenly heard the cry of a child.

Looking behind him, he noticed a small child inside the building covered by a thin film of light, cowering in fear. However, the film of light was covered with cracks.

In case the Fallen release another attack, the child will not certainly survive.

Noah clenched his teeth.

He immediately ran over to where the kid is in hope move him out of the way. He didn't even question why the kid is covered in a film of light in the first place.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine."

Just as he said that, the kid collapsed.

He don't know why but it might because of the tension and exhaustion that cause the kid to collapse

Just as he was about to move the kid, the Fallen made his moved.

— Roar!!!!!

It opened its mouth and released another deafening nose that shook the whole place. Unlike before, the roar was concentrated in the place to the point that its sound wave alone destroyed anything in its path.

"Ahh, f*ck it!"

Seeing that there's no way out, Noah just steeled his resolve and brace for the impact.

Just as he was waiting for the impact, he noticed a white stone in the kid's hand that seems to be the source of the white film covering the kid.

"Could it be....!?"

Seeing the stone, a spark of hope appeared in Noah's eye.

There's only one type of stone who can produce a shield on their own without needing to be processed with technology.

The Enlightenment stone.