The sound of large doors opening echoed through the empty temple hallway as a dark shadow was cast by a small frail-looking Luna who had just turned ten a few days ago.

The temple interior was more silent than a grave. No wind played through its walls and there was a haunting absence of light. The only light in here was the light that seeped in when the doors opened to the outside world.

Children her age would usually be frightened by the dead atmosphere lurking in the air. But Luna was no ordinary child. In fact, she remained composed as her small dark eyes scanned the area. And aside from the horridly damaged statues dedicated to the war god, this was an ordinary temple.

‘This is it. This is where the memory let me to. I’m sure of it…’

This sacred place was a temple dedicated to the Sword god, built by his worshipers before the fall.

Due to being on an island, most of the temple was now submerged in water after the fall. But after getting some help from the ascenders, House Feng managed to find and temporarily reprise the ancient structure after Luna announced that she needed to recover something.

After looking back and nodding at her father--who stood at the entrance with his sword drawn--the small girl crossed the threshold and the doors behind her immediately shut with a loud thud.

No one else except Luna herself was allowed to enter for some reason.

“Great god of swords. Umm…I am here to learn what’s meant for me.” She repeated the same words from the memory as she stared at the darkness.

Unfortunately, no one responded to her request. But at this age, Luna was a hopeful young lady. She was sure this was the temple she was supposed to be in.

And so…

She decided to settle down and wait for a response. She wasn’t expecting the god of war to respond, of course. Luna was expecting someone else to respond…

Someone who would give her what she was looking for.

And when she was about to hit her last straw, a man’s voice responded with a snort:

“The War god is dead, Lunaris Feng.”

“You know me?” Luna sighed with relief. As expected, her patience had come through.

“I’ve known you for a long time. I recognize that blood of yours.”

Luna knew what he meant by that. He was talking about her generational blood and its unique traits.

Before saying anything else, the little girl folded her legs and dipped her head at the darkness. It was best to remain humble in the presence of otherworldly beings.

“Please teach me the technique of the war god. Teach me how to use the battle aura bestowed onto me. I tried to use it, but I found myself failing over and over again. It was only recently when I discovered one of my ancestors came to this island and mastered it from this very temple.”

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There was silence for a moment before she heard the sound of armored footsteps approaching her.

Once they stopped, the being spoke:

“I am not the one who helped your ancestor, unfortunately. I only came to this realm a few centuries ago to escape the Authorities. But before we proceed, face me…Lunaris Feng.”

Responding to the being’s command, Luna slowly lifted her face and caught a glimpse of the armored man. She froze at first glance, but quickly regained her composure. The being was clad in damaged silver armor and couldn’t make out his face because of the helmet over his head.

However, she could feel the great presence he concealed within his body.

“I will teach you how to become a warrior. In exchange, please don’t forget me this time.”

Luna stood up and smiled. Her smile was both warm and beautiful to look at. “I won’t forget you, um….”

“Call me the Lord of Swords, for now.” He laughed through his helmet.

“I won’t forget you, Lord of Swords. I promise.” The little girl smiled back, trusting the strength of her own memory.

However, after months of training with the lord of Swords on the mysterious island, Luna forgot as soon as she mastered how to use Battle Aura.

The temple vanished once again and everyone who saw it during those months forgot it.

***

‘Huh? Why did I suddenly think of that tower?’

Luna asked herself as she watched the buildings reduce to nothing before a group of cursed creatures emerged from the chaos.

Brandishing her mind to clear her thoughts, Luna flashed her weapon at the first creature—a cross between a lizard and a crocodile—that shot its tongue at her. Her blade easily sliced through its tongue like paper once it was within range.

It let out a guttural roar before she let out of its misery thrusting her sword through its head. It was much taller than her so yank it by its tongue to deliver the killing blow.

Another one appeared, swinging its claws at her without giving her room to breathe. She dodged its claws and then kicked it back before cutting it down from its torso where its human body began.

Another snake fiend pounced at her, but Luna’s blade had already severed its head from its body. Without wasting a second, she reached for the falling body and tossed it at one of the approaching Lizard creatures. The force behind her throw sent the large lizard crashing through a few rock structures. Causing this much damage would’ve bothered her if they were in the real world. However, the circumstances here were different

She signaled the other soldiers to attack when she was sure the first creatures to reach her were dead.

As planned, Len and the other more powerful ascenders remained in the background to avoid exhausting their zenshi. Gail was limited to only using arrows while Monic didn’t participate as a summoner. Instead, she kept in her weakest form, which dealt great damage.

Darkness on the other hand…

BOOM!

There was a loud explosive sound and one of the giant armadillos stopped moving and collapsed. The warmonger had torn through the cursed beast’s insides and emerged from the other side while laughing her heart out after taking down something so big. Her blue sapphire eyes were glowing brighter with madness.

She landed in the middle of a small horde and jammed her jian into the ground. There was a slight rumble before a dome of gravity erupted from the point where she had planted the sword. The dome began to weigh down each cursed creature trapped in it. The stronger ones remained standing while the weaker ones were pressed down into a bloody mess of flesh and bone.

And when she dismissed the gravity dome, Darkness roared and attacked the stronger ones before they recovered from the effects of her power.

…she was truly a daughter of war as her house described her.

‘I guess she’s having fun.’ Luna thought as she turned her gaze away from Darkness and watched the battle slowly unfold.

Auras were already manifesting and taking action. The soldiers who were still mundane were at a safe distance, firing their guns endlessly at the approaching monsters.

Meanwhile, the ascenders were the ones delivering the deadliest feats.

…There was a soldier whose Aura allowed him to control the earth. He had created giant earthen golems that were putting up a great fight against the bigger monsters.

Another ascender with the ability to affect sound used his powers to disorient many monsters, causing confusion and leaving them defenseless against their attacks.

Soon, more and more monsters left the first ring in response to Luna and her team’s attack. Drawing the cursed creatures into their side of the city made it much easier to gain assistance from the snipers planted on other buildings.

She shifted her focus back to the growing battle before her and moved forward. She picked up the pace and entered a group of spider creatures. Using the dancing maiden, she avoided being stabbed by their legs. And even ripped a few from their bodies and used them to stab other spiders.

By manipulating her battle aura, stronger creatures had their malice directed at her. With that, Luna accepted that malice with open arms and tore, sliced, plowed, and destroyed any enemy that came her way.

If they continued to fight like this, Luna was confident that Team A was more than capable of taking down the first ring of creatures.

***

Meanwhile, hidden deep in armies..

A lone undead clad in rusty silver armor carrying a broken longsword held together by magic stood still as a tree. He watched the carnage unfold in the empty city with glowing green eyes underneath his visor as he awaited his king’s command. After all, he was a knight of verge.

Suddenly, a crude and dark voice sounded in his mind. Telling him to do one thing:

"Spill our enemies’ blood! Spill the blood of Everlight’s enemies.”

His king’s command had arrived.