Ronan refused to return to school for over a month. He didn't want to walk through the gates and be haunted by the memories. He locked himself away in his room, barely speaking to anyone. The only times he emerged were to eat. He had stopped training. He had stopped caring. Grief consumed him, and beneath it, anger brewed. Quiet but powerful.
He made a silent vow: he would kill every single demon he ever encountered.
The only people he allowed near him were his trainer and his father. To everyone else, he was unreachable.
One day, as the sun began to set over the palace, Ronan took a quiet walk through the corridors, heading for the courtyard fountain—his place of reflection. But halfway there, he froze. Something… powerful was nearby. A presence. Not like the wretches or thralls he had encountered before. This one was stronger. It reeked of danger.
Then he saw it.
A demon. A high-ranking one. A FIEND. It had somehow breached the palace walls.
Ahead of him in the hallway, his mother and Draven were walking, completely unaware. The demon was stalking them from the shadows, preparing to strike. There were no hunters stationed inside the palace—it had always been considered impenetrable.
Ronan's instincts kicked in. "MOTHER! DRAVEN!" he shouted.
They turned just in time to see the demon lunge.
Both narrowly dodged the slash, stumbling backwards in shock. The Queen stared at the creature, heart pounding. "A demon… in the royal palace?" she muttered in disbelief. "It's never happened before…"
But as she turned her gaze toward Ronan, her thoughts twisted. It's him. This is because of him. That thing inside him… it draws them.
She said nothing aloud. Her breath caught, and she grabbed Draven's hand. They ran.
But the demon didn't chase them. It turned its attention to Ronan instead. It sensed something dark inside him… something familiar.
Ronan didn't flinch. Rage surged through him like fire. "You took them from me…" he growled, eyes fixed on the beast. "You took away my only friends. Everything good in my life… YOU TOOK IT ALL!"
A glowing pentagram appeared in his right eye. His body surged with heat—real, burning heat. And then—
He launched forward, fist slamming into the demon's face.
The creature hurtled backward, crashing through the hallway. It flew past the Queen and Draven, who dove out of the way in terror. Ronan didn't stop. He pursued it, fists blazing, slamming into the demon over and over again with relentless fury.
His body burned hot, steam rising from his skin. His shirt caught fire, singed by the power now awakening within him. His eyes glowed, his voice roared with emotion.
And then—his hand ignited, forming a massive fireball.
With a final scream, Ronan punched the demon straight in the chest.
BOOM.
The hallway shook. The demon's body slammed against the far wall, badly damaged but not yet dead.
When the Hunters arrived moments later, they saw Ronan still pounding the creature in blind rage. One of the elite huntresses rushed to intervene, but Ronan spun and struck her in the gut with a flaming punch. She blocked it just in time—but the force still sent her flying down the hallway, crashing into the stone.
"Ronan, stop!" another hunter yelled.
He didn't hear them. He couldn't. His fury drowned out everything. The pentagram in his eye blazed like fire.
The Queen stepped forward. "RONAN!" she cried. "Get a hold of yourself! What has gotten into you?!"
He turned.
And saw her face—twisted in fear.
And Draven… frozen behind her, eyes wide.
For the first time, Ronan realized how terrified they were. Not of the demon… but of him.
He saw it in their eyes.
Then he saw the pentagram in his reflection on the broken marble—his eye.
The same cursed eye his trainer had warned him about.
Memories flooded his mind. His master's voice. His friends' laughter. Their screams.
His fists dropped.
"I… I'm sorry," he whispered, tears falling down his face. "I didn't… I didn't mean to…"
The Hunters quickly restrained him. He didn't resist.
They took him into custody.
And the Queen… couldn't even look at him.
Ronan was taken to the Hunters' Headquarters in the capital. Locked away in a reinforced cell, restrained with enchanted chains. His body still burned faintly with the residual heat of the awakening, but his spirit was quiet. Broken. He said nothing.
Back at the palace, the King stormed into the war chamber. "Where is my son?!" he demanded. No one had told him immediately—he had to find out from one of the guards that Ronan had been detained.
They told him what happened. The demon attack. The pentagram. The fight. The outburst of power. The injury to the huntress. All of it.
"He saved them," the King said sharply. "He protected the Queen. He saved his brother. And now you lock him away?"
But the Hunter Association stood firm. Despite the King's protest, they refused to release the boy. The matter was "too dangerous" to ignore. So a council was called.
The President of the Hunter Association of England arrived, along with several high-ranking lords and regional heads. They gathered around the stone table, grim-faced and tense.
"We cannot allow this to continue," one of the lords said.
"He's unstable. He could kill any of us next," another snapped.
"The demon in him is awakening," the President said. "We've seen this before. We know how it ends."
Some demanded his immediate execution.
But the Queen said nothing. She sat silently in her seat, arms folded, head lowered.
She remembered it all. The shout. His scream. The warning. The moment he ran into danger just to protect her and Draven. He had saved them.
He saved us...
But still, she said nothing.
Then the King rose. "I know you are all scared," he said. "I know what you think he is. But that boy is my son. And despite everything... he protected his family. He was overwhelmed, yes. But he is just a boy."
A pause.
"So here is my decree," the King continued. "There will be hunters stationed at the palace from now on. We'll have them assigned to protect the family, the halls, and even Ronan himself. He will be monitored, watched at all times. But he will not die."
Some objected, but he silenced them.
"And more than that… I have made other arrangements."
Three days later, a guest arrived at the palace gates—an old friend of the King. A man from Japan, clad in a simple long black coat, eyes calm but sharp. He had attended Ronan and Draven's birth ceremony many years ago.
The King took him aside. "Take him with you," he said. "Give him a new life. A new name. Let no one know he's royalty. Watch him carefully. Train him. Help him. If the demon starts to resurface, you must control it. You must stop it."
The man nodded. "Understood."
And so, the agreement was made.
The day before departure, Ronan's master came to visit him. They stood outside, under the grey sky, silent for a while.
"I know you're still hurting," the master said. "You probably will for a long time. But you're not alone."
Then he whistled, and a young dog came trotting toward them—tail wagging, eyes bright, fur the color of ash and flame.
"I got you a friend. You'll need one where you're going."
Ronan knelt beside the dog and looked into its eyes.
He smiled for the first time in weeks.
Then he looked back at his master. "I'll name him Elucan," he said.
"Elucan?"
"Elias and Lucan… together."
The master smiled.
And the next day, Ronan left the kingdom—without a title, without a crown. Just a boy with fire in his blood… and a dog by his side.
RONAN (Narration):
After everything that happened… after that day… my life changed.
My father sent me away—to Japan. I didn't argue. What was there left for me in the capital? Just memories. Pain. Graves.
He sent me to an old friend of his. A calm man. Quiet. But his eyes... they carried something ancient. He took me in without questions. No title. No crown. No name. Just me.
I was only thirteen.
I still remember the day I left. My master gave me a dog—a gift, he said, to help me cope. I looked into his eyes and saw loyalty. Pure. Unshaken. Just like my friends. Elias and Lucan.
So I named him Elucan.
That was the first time I smiled in weeks.
When I arrived in Japan, I was registered into the hunters recruitment list. At thirteen, I joined as an Apprentice. But after just one month of evaluation, they upgraded my rank. They strapped a glowing device to my arm—it scanned me, analyzed my power, my potential. My rage.
The rank appeared: Seeker.
It wasn't bad. But it wasn't great either.
Then I heard about my brother—Draven. Back in England, he had joined the Hunter Association the same year I left. Same age. Thirteen. Same beginning. But unlike me… he got the next rank after Seeker. A Setinal
His rank glowed brighter than mine.
They said he awakened a new kind of power—Light Magic I think. I don't even know what that is. I don't even understand it. But everyone's talking about it. Everyone's watching him.
He became a prodigy. The perfect one.
And me?
I'm just the boy with fire in his veins and pain in his chest. The one who lost everything.
So here I am. In Japan. In a foreign land. With only Elucan, my fire, and my grief.
But I made a promise… and I will keep it.
I will become stronger—stronger than ever. Stronger than my brother. Stronger than anyone.
So I can kill every single demon I get my hands on.
Every. Single. One.
No mercy. No hesitation.
This is my path now. My destiny.
So the journey begins.
Ronan and Draven's journey begins.