War loomed on the horizon—a war not just against an enemy, but against an inevitability. The world stood at the edge of annihilation, facing an adversary immune to its weapons, its tactics, and its desperate prayers. The unknown had no mercy, no diplomacy, no comprehension of surrender. They tore through humanity with an insatiable hunger, leaving only ruins in their wake.
Panic set in. Nations crumbled under the weight of their own helplessness. Every strategy failed. Every line of defense fell like paper against a storm. But humanity, desperate and relentless, refused to fade. If they could not defeat the unknown, they would become something greater.
Science, the sharpest blade of human ingenuity, was turned inward. The first experiments were conducted in the shadows, away from the eyes of the terrified public. Those deemed unworthy—prisoners, the sick, the nameless—were dragged into cold laboratories, their bodies torn apart and reshaped into something unrecognizable. The results were horrifying. Flesh rejected the transformation. Minds shattered under the strain. The first wave of subjects died screaming, their bodies twisted beyond repair.
Then, a realization—a grim truth carved from failure. Strength was the key. The stronger the human, the greater the chance of survival. Weakness was death, but power… power could be reborn. The world's six greatest warriors, legends in their own right, were taken. Forced into the abyss of experimentation, their humanity was shattered and reforged. What emerged from the ruins of their former selves was something beyond human, beyond even the unknown. They were monsters draped in human form, gods of war given flesh.
The world called them The Originals.
They led the charge against the unknown, carving through their ranks like reapers. The war that once seemed unwinnable became a massacre. The unknown fell in droves, unable to counter the sheer destruction the Originals unleashed. It was over in days—a brutal, absolute victory.
But something was wrong. The unknown, who had once fought with mindless aggression, suddenly stopped. They did not retreat. They did not fall into disarray. Instead, they surrendered.
Humanity saw this as a victory. The Originals saw it as something far worse.
The unknown were not monsters without thought. They were something more. They were Eidolons—a race older than humanity itself. And though their bodies were built for killing, their minds were capable of something far more dangerous: strategy.
The war had not ended. It had only changed.
The true Eidolons, those who had always existed, obeyed only one law—the strong must lead. And the Originals, with their overwhelming power, had proven themselves beyond anything the Eidolons had ever known. The surrender was not defeat. It was acceptance. The Eidolons, bloodthirsty and untamed, now bowed before their new kings.
But even kings cannot tame beasts forever.
Though the Originals had become rulers, the true Eidolons still lusted for the only thing that gave them purpose—war. Their bodies craved battle, their instincts howled for slaughter. And so, even as they obeyed, their hunger for chaos never faded. The air grew thick with tension, the ground trembling under the weight of a war that had yet to begin.
Humanity, watching from the shadows, was not satisfied with mere survival. Fearful of the Eidolons' power—even the six they had created—they sought to forge a new weapon. They delved deeper into their experiments, pushing further than before. Hundreds were taken, ripped apart and rebuilt in pursuit of the next evolution.
Every single one of them died.
Except for one.
The lone survivor of the new experiment did not see himself as a tragedy, nor as a monster. He did not curse humanity for their cruelty. To him, it was simple: humans were merely being cautious. Their fear was justified. Their actions were necessary. And now, he walked the earth as something unknown to both sides.
The war had not begun yet—but it was inevitable. The question was no longer if it would happen.
It was only a matter of who would strike first.