Chapter 354: A different kind of human.
Upper Bloodlands – Caelid.
Here, in the heart of the continent, at its very core...
Under a sky stained crimson by the slowly setting sun...
A bizarre and inexplicable sight stood— a city built as the capital of this cursed land.
Deserts and barren wastelands surrounded it from every side, sealing it off completely. Yet the moment one neared Caelid, the desolation would inexplicably transform into verdant, vibrant terrain, so alive that even the air felt different.
Between life and death, there existed a thin, invisible barrier .. an unseen line that separated the Upper Bloodlands from the filth beyond.
There was no comparison between the chaotic cities where the elite class wandered and this flourishing capital known as Caelid.
The city stood tall with skyscrapers and advanced structures, brimming with vitality and elegance.
Its people looked like nobles from the Victorian era, strolling with grace through the clean streets built just for them.
This was Caelid—home of the Upper Blood. Those rare humans who had managed to assimilate demonic blood and were chosen to leave the forsaken hell they were born into.
It was terrifying .. how a minority came to possess everything millions outside that barrier could only dream of.
In a secluded corner of Caelid stood a large, dark fortress no one dared approach. It looked like a relic from the medieval era.
This was the residence of the oldest among the current Lords of the Ultras—Gavid Lindman.
He stood now behind a fragile glass window, staring at the strange phenomenon occurring on the other side.
The room he was in was the most secure chamber in the entire fortress, forged from an incredibly tough grey metal...
And yet, that metal was melting—dissolving at a terrifying rate under the effect of the black flames that engulfed the space.
Those flames were erupting from the body of a single young man, barely eighteen years old...
A youth who could no longer even scream. He simply sat collapsed, slowly devoured by the dark fire consuming him from within.
His Moonlight Sword lay beside him, dropped when its wielder could no longer hold on.
In that moment, the masked figure known as V looked utterly hollow, surrendering to everything as the fire crawled over his skin.
He didn’t even register Gavid as the man shattered the glass and tore through the wall, striding into the blaze.
V lifted his head, staring at the approaching lord. His red eyes were lifeless. The black flames surged at Gavid immediately—
But he didn’t stop.
He walked through them, ignoring his burning body. For those flames were no ordinary fire.
Gavid didn’t hesitate. As soon as he reached V, he launched a thunderous punch into the boy’s face, sending him stumbling deeper into the sea of fire his own body had birthed.
"What do you think you’re doing, Vinny?"
Gripping his empyrean tightly, enduring the searing heat, Gavid shouted with a voice laced with aura:
"Is that it? Is that all you’ve got to offer?"
He returned the Moonlight Sword to V—slowly.
"We are humans rejected by this world. We’ve borne the sins of our fathers... and their fathers before them. Born into this dark continent, we’ve lived every second between life and death."
"With filthy blood in our veins, we belong neither to the humans who built their empire and cast us aside, nor to the demons who treated us as experiments and enslaved us."
He grabbed V’s face—even as his hand burned to a crisp, he refused to let go.
"So what are we, then? Just slaves, living and dying according to the whims of beings that despise our very existence?"
As he poured his beliefs into him, Gavid’s body erupted with a powerful aura that repelled the flames, forcing them back, his grip on V tightening.
"Astaroth is not our king. Not our ruler."
"A filthy demon won’t decide our fate. We will."
"The Empire is no better than us. They are not more human than we are."
"They won’t rule us. They won’t decide for us. We will!"
Gavid’s words reached V .. something lit up again in his crimson eyes.
With difficulty, the tortured youth muttered faintly:
"...My Lord... Lord Lindman."
"Fight it! Make it yours!" Gavid roared louder.
But V trembled.
"I can’t... I can’t! He’s too strong!"
He wept. He could no longer suppress the fire.
"I can’t do what you and Lord Dragoth did..."
"Look at me... Vinny of Sparda..."
Obeying, V stared at Gavid once more, whose eyes had turned completely black as he pushed his power to its absolute limits.
"You’re the first. The first to receive a contract like this... an SSS ranked pact."
"The power of Marvas, the Fifth Highest Demon!"
A being said to wield flames hot enough to burn the sun itself.
"We’ve served long, waited longer. What you’ll see and endure will make you want to throw your life away. But remember this...
You are the master of your own fate."
"This power that’s killing you, the fire burning your soul, eating you from the inside out... it will become yours."
"Bow your head if you must, hide your strength if you need to—
Endure everything. But never let anyone else decide your fate."
"Don’t lose yourself... V..."
Placing the Moonlight Sword in his hands, Gavid Lindman slowly stepped back, unable to resist the searing flames any longer.
As for V, with a long exhale, he summoned the aura of the Moonlight Sword—an aura that devoured all others—and began containing the inferno his body had produced.
The masked figure managed to gather his will to fight once more... even inside the black hell that was consuming him.
"We were born here, on the continent of the Ultras, fated to bear the sins of our ancestors and live in a world that cornered us from every side."
Only the Ultras can understand the Ultras... No one else ever will.
In the heart of that despair, each of them lived their lives in their own way.