Chapter 1
All Finn saw was darkness.
He felt like he was floating in an endless abyss.
Then with a sudden jolt, consciousness flooded back, bringing with it a single disorienting thought: "Where am I?"
He then felt a combination of stiffness, soreness and his skin felt raw like it had been scraped by sandpaper.
"Wait... How am I thinking?" he wondered, panic creeping into his mind. "I'm supposed to be dead."
Memories flooded through his mind. Gunfire, blood, cold concrete. He remembered dying. He remembered the moment his soul had left his body.
So why was his heart still beating?
He attempted to open his eyes, but as he did he was suddenly hit with a sudden pain in his eyes. The light burned into his eyes, it was blinding and merciless. Voices floated in. They sounded muffled and distant.
"Why isn't he crying?"
The voice was a feminine voice. The voice sounded confused and worried.
Before he could react however, a sharp hand struck his body. Pain bloomed across his skin like a whip crack. He screamed, not because he wanted to, but it was as if his entire body was under attack.
His voice was high-pitched. It was weak. And it was definitely not his own voice.
It was the voice of a newborn baby.
His vision quickly adjusted to the bright light. It was a pale looking woman that loomed above him, her black hair dropped over her face, obscuring some of her delicate, yet beautiful features. But one thing stood out. It was her eyes. They were the deepest shade of blue Ryu had ever seen.
Suddenly, a soft chime echoed inside his skull. Then came the voice. It didn't sound human. It sounded cold, mechanical and uncaring.
[System Activated: Host has entered Rebirth Protocol.]
Status:
Name: —
Race: Half-Demon
Bloodline: [Classified]
Level: 1
XP: 0
Age: 0 Days
Qi Detection: Dormant
Vitality: Fragile
Finn's thoughts spiraled. He wanted to scream again, this time not from pain but from terror. He had a system? What kind of sick joke was this?
The woman's arms cradled him. Her scent was a mixture of sweat, metal, and something faintly floral. With robotic instinct, she brought him to her chest.
His incredulity was interrupted by a second voice sharp and authoritative. "It's a boy, Madam Naitou," a nearby woman announced.
The realization hit him like a freight train. He had no control over his body, no autonomy. He was utterly dependent. He was utterly useless.
The woman cleaned him off with a towel and covered him with a blanket and handed him back to the woman. She held him close, the crook of her black hair like a curtain covering her face. Suddenly out of the blue, she exposed her chest and led him to suck.
"Oh, come on," Finn groaned internally. However, when the warm beverage ran down the bottom of his mouth, a primitive drive overrode him. He drank, and his body calmed as the strange but soothing experience enveloped him. Before he knew it, he had drifted into a state of contented sleep.
As Ryu slept, his mother Naitou smiled. Her son looked so cute and peaceful as he slept.
Then her thoughts were cut short as the door slammed open.
The temperature in the room dropped instantly. Footsteps could be heard, they were slow and whoever seemed to be walking was doing this very deliberately.
A man entered. He looked like a man, but he felt more like a presence.
He was a tall man, his presence demanding attention. He had long black hair that cascaded down his back, crimson eyes, and wore robes of jet-black silk embroidered with intricate patterns.
Every woman in the room fell to her knees. The air trembled with an unseen weight.
The woman holding Finn stiffened. Her fingers clenched around him—not protectively, but like someone trying to keep a mouse from escaping in front of a lion.
The man spoke. His voice didn't rise. It didn't need to.
"Let me see the boy"
She obeyed. Like she didn't have a choice.
Finn, no not Finn anymore was handed to him. Held up like an offering. The man's crimson eyes studied him in silence, like he was inspecting a cursed artifact.
Then Finn's bladder gave out.
Piss soaked the man's pristine white boots.
The room froze. There was utter silence.
The man's eyes narrowed, red light flaring like hellfire. For a moment, Finn felt the air tighten around his throat, not physically, but spiritually. He felt like he was about to meet an untimely end. Then... the man smirked.
"Ryu," he declared. "His name will be Ryu Hayato."
[System Alert: Name Registered — Ryu Hayato]
[Bloodline Signature Detected — Authority Level Adjusted]
The man raised a single brow.
"For a bastard, he has potential. Let's see if he lives long enough to use it."
He handed Ryu back, as though discarding a blade too dull for now but too sharp to destroy.
"Raise him. But remember this—" he paused, his voice cold as the room, "—if he turns out weak, kill him before I do."
Then he turned, robes trailing behind like mourning cloth, and left without another word.
The door shut.
Silence filled the room.
Ryu was pressed to his mother's chest again. She trembled now—not from cold, but from suppressed grief. Her tears dripped onto his forehead, warm and soundless.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."
[System Quest Unlocked]
Quest: Survive Your First Year
Description: As the illegitimate child of a demonic warlord, your life is measured in breaths. Survive assassination attempts, spiritual corruption, and neglect.
Rewards: +5 XP, +1 Vitality, +1 Strength
Failure: Termination.
Ryu stared at the flickering text, hatred bubbling beneath his skin.
"Not even a day old… and the world already wants me dead."
He couldn't move. Couldn't even speak. But he swore, somewhere in the dark recess of that baby's body
He would crawl through hell if he had to.