Prologue: The Birth of Dreadspawn
---
All sentient beings including Humans , possess a shared trait: the expulsion of an exotic state of matter referred to as , ryoku. And the capacity for deep, volatile emotion.
; this ryoku is a wellspring of raw energy.
When a sentient being experiences these intense emotions, an instant, deep, and incredibly strong bond forms with there soul body's ryoku . a process known as *imprinting*.
The most common form of this imprinted Ryoku stems from collective dread. When the terror and despair of thousands of different people pool together under the right ,specific conditions, a massive cluster of 'imprinted ' Ryoku forms.
Eventually, this collective mass becomes so dense that it collapses in on itself, sparking a horrific phenomenon: it gives birth to a new, sentient entity.
These beings, born from the pooled nightmares of sentient, are known as 'Dreadspawn'.
Dreadspawn are semi-immortal entities that actively feast on the living, feeding on both negative emotions and the physical flesh of the very humans who produce them.
The more they consume, the stronger and more intelligent they become, plaguing all three realms .
During the events of the Fourth Era, roughly three thousand years ago, humanity was brought to the absolute brink of extinction by these creatures.
This hopeless cycle continued until rare individuals with the unique trait to weaponize their own souls bodies , emerged to purge the monsters.
These warriors were called 'Auramancers'.
Yet, the earliest pioneers of this power were not pure humans; they were the heaven blessed , 'Abomination Spawn'.
Initially, they were ostracised and feared for their ambiguous origins. However, faced with total annihilation, humanity temporarily put its prejudices aside to survive.
One of the true ancestors of human auramancy was the first of the Abomination Spawn: **Ritokoji Arufa**
Working in isolation with his personal texts and studies, Ritokoji discovered a way to alter the human soul body and mulnipulate the ambient ryoku within and around the soul body .
He bestowed chosen humans with soul bodies compatible enough to understand, practice, and develop their own techniques in auramancy.
As his teachings spread, the practice of auramancy flared across the corners of the realm of Earth.
To maintain order and present a united front against the dark, Ritokoji founded the Auramancer Association, locking humanity's new weapon behind a strict code of discipline.
---
Explosions and combat tore through the ancient skies.
Ritokoji Arufa, Chief General of the Auramancer Association, moved like a blur of dark lightning. His pitch-black hair whipped through the wind, matching the heavy, layered grey robes that flowed around his frame.
On his back rested a massive broadsword, its steel nearly as tall as his own height.
He was locked in mortal combat with a rather powerful, mysterious humanoid Dreadspawn.
The creature had Its snow-white hair flowed upward against gravity, contrasting sharply with its heavily muscled, ash-grey skin.
Deep, slitted openings lined its back, pulsing rhythmically as they dragged streaks of raw environmental energy directly into its musculature. Its eyes glowed a blinding, solid white, webbed with dark cracks at the edges.
With a deafening crack, Ritokoji delivered a devastating, heavy blow, launching the creature clean across the shattered landscape. The beast collided with the earth, leaving a massive, smoking crater in the bedrock.
"To the heavens. Did I hit you that hard? My apologies. " Ritokoji said, landing gracefully at the edge of the precipice, a cocky smirk playing on his lips.
The Dreadspawn rose from the rubble, its bones snapping back into place as it barely held its footing.
A wide grine ,played on its uncanny, humanoid face,
"Don't get ahead of yourself, human," the beast spat, its voice dripping with pompous arrogance.
"Aww, don't be like that," Ritokoji mocked, resting a hand on the hilt of his massive blade.
Inside its own mind, the Dreadspawn's thoughts lampooned. 'Such overwhelming strength for a mere mortal... incredible.'
"I have to admit," Ritokoji continued, drawing his sword with a low, metallic hiss,
"you're a bit more... sturdier , than the flith I'm used to. "
"Is that so?" the creature grinned menacingly.
"Oookay! Here comes the next attack. Brace yourself."
Ritokoji took a low stance, closing his eyes as his ryoku flared into a blinding torrent of pressure.He raised his massive broadsword up with a single arm , then gripped it steady with the other, focusing his ryoku into the cold steel.
*Blade Art: Mountain Cleaving Fissure!*
The Dreadspawn's eyes widened in sudden, genuine shock as it felt the sheer density of the incoming attack.
'That pressure... that technique... could it actually be him? The one I'm fated to... No... I'll wait. It's likely his not the one.'
It braced itself, assuming the human's final strike would ultimately pack a punch... no a pinch.
"With this, I'll grant you a swift death. Cower!, " Ritokoji said, his voice dropping into a deadly, venomous register.
He lunged forward, unleashing **Fissure**. The blade swung in a perfect arc, releasing a crescent wave of concentrated ryoku that quite literally sliced the crater in half.
The attack, powerful enough to split mountain ranges, tore toward the beast. Yet, just as it struck, the energy violently split into two separate streams, carving the earth to the left and right of the target as if deflected by an invisible, impenetrable mountain.
Ritokoji's eyes widened as the dust settled. "Impossible... how did you... "
The Dreadspawn stood completely untouched in the center of the destruction, laughing maniacally.
Hahaha,
"Really, you humans tend to kick up a lot of dust, don't you?"
Ritokoji frowned, his grip tightening on his sword. "Haa?"
"Honestly, what was it you intended to accomplish?" the Dreadspawn mocked, wiping a speck of ash from its grey shoulder.
"To stir up a mild breeze?,"
"Do you use that trick To blow out a few lanterns? "
"Seriously, you must belong in a circus... , you are rather entertaining."
"To think you actually believed that party trick would grant me my death."
Composing itself, the creature's expression turned predatory.
"Now that I look closer, you are exactly what I've been hunting for. You're one of those hevenly abominations, aren't you? ,"
"I thought pure humans stood no chance against me... but I see a glimmer of hope within you."
"Marvelous. I can't wait i want to see when ."
The beast extended its clawed, ash-grey hand directly toward Ritokoji,
"**Evensage Progeny!**"
A violent gale thrashed the canyon, blinding Ritokoji for a split second. He braced for impact, but the wind died down as quickly as it had arrived.
He inspected his chest and arms. "What... no damage? What exactly did you just do to me ?"
"Clown... " *coughs* " I mean, human," the Dreadspawn explained calmly, its voice echoey and smooth.
"That was merely a branding curse,a beacon used to signal the birth of a worthy descendant. An individual down your bloodline , who might actually put up a real fight instead of a comedic opening act."
"You piece of shit! I'm not done with you! Don't you dare belittle me!" Ritokoji roared, stepping forward to strike again.
"Don't bother," the Dreadspawn replied coldly. "Your strength is admirable, but your understanding is entirely obscure. Human, allow me to bestow upon you the embrace of true power?. "
"Rejoice, mortal. Death awaits."
The Dreadspawn pulled directly on its connection to the dark void, its eyes flaring. The ambient light in the canyon began to bend and warp as it activated an inate **Realm Augmentation: INFINITY'S EDGE.**
The world turned inside out. Before Ritokoji could swing his blade, a localized pocket dimension collapsed around him, swallowing him into a sea of absolute despire.
Inside this kingdom, Ritokoji was instantly paralyzed, his mind and soul completely subjected to the Dreadspawn's malice.
A ash grey hand held a pale yellow banana, then another hand proceeded to peel its skin.
Where Ritokoji stood his skin peeled as well showing the hidden crimson flesh beneath.
He was trapped in a continuous loop of a living nightmare: the sensation of his skin being torn from his flesh, raw and agonizing, over and over again- exactly 4,592 times with every single heartbeat.
When the pocket dimension finally shattered and spit him back out onto the ruined Earth, the legendary Chief General was reduced to a trembling, whimpering mess on his hands and knees, gasping for air as cold sweat drenched his robes.
The Dreadspawn looked down at him, its expression stern, bored, and utterly detached.
"Don't bother standing back up. Just go home, and copulate with your spouses to give birth to offspring who can actually put up a fight"
Ritokoji forced his trembling lips into a bitter, blood-spat smile. "I hope... my descendants... beat the absolute shit out of you," he wheezed.
Turning on his heel, he used the last of his failing energy to flee the battlefield.
That Dreadspawn was later recorded in the deepest vaults of history under the title **Tenkiroshi**-- acknowledged across generations as the toughest, most ruthless Dreadspawn ever encountered by the Association.
---
Driven by a bitter, lifelong grudge and desperate to breed a warrior strong enough to break the curse of Tenkiroshi, Ritokoji Arufa went on to marry and father children with over fifty wives.
Because his physical and soul-body was exceptionally potent, he possessed a vast surplus of energy and stamina, traveling far and wide to sire an lineage large enough to fill a small city.
Every single one of his children was born a natural Auramancer.
However, this desperate bid for an army created a catastrophic genetic bottleneck.
As the hundreds of children grew to maturity isolated from the rest of the world, they unknowingly married their own half-siblings. The resulting generations suffered from horrific spiritual and physical deformities; most barely survived infancy.
The line of natural-born Auramancers declined exponentially, causing the practice of auramancy to retreat into the shadows, completely hidden from public view.
While whispers of its existence remain in ancient lore, only a select, authorized few are permitted to practice it today.
---
## 3,000 Years Later: The Modern Era
The electric glare of city lights gleamed beneath a brilliant full moon.
Walking calmly down the concrete streets was a young man named **Kogoshi Arufa**.
He wore a tight black T-shirt, loose grey cargo pants, and had jet-black hair framing his slender, calculating eyes. He paused, his gaze lifting toward the silhouette of a high-rise building.
"What do we have here?" a gruff, theatrical voice called down from the rooftop.
The speaker stood directly against the backdrop of the massive moon,
wearing a long, black leather trench coat, a tilted half-top hat, and a stark white face mask painted with eerie crescents for eyes and a smiling mouth.
Behind Kogoshi, a low, guttural growl echoed from the shadows. A lower-tier Dreadspawn... a monstrous creature with a dog-like head, snapping jaws, a four-legged posture, and a humanoid torso bulging with corrupted muscle... crept out, salivating.
"Monkeys aren't supposed to be out of their cages at this time of night," the masked man sneered from the rooftop.
Behind Kogoshi, a dog-like beast salivated, its form flickering like a distorted mirage against the streetlight. To any ordinary human passing by, the alleyway looked completely empty.
Kogoshi didn't even bother turn around. 'A low-level stray that crossed the world barrier?'
Kogoshi didn't even flinch. "Listen, you have something I need. Just hand it over, and I'll be on my way. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."
The beast behind him roared, lunging forward with claws outstretched.
"Flesh! Flesh! Flesh!"
"Hard way it is, then. Don't say I didn't warn you," Kogoshi muttered with a hint of annoyance.
Without even turning around to face the beast, he threw a flawless, blind back-fist.
The strike connected with the monster's snout with the force of a battering ram, sending the massive creature flying backward through a brick wall.
Kogoshi ripped a heavy metal streetlight pole clean out of the concrete sidewalk.
Using it as a vaulting spear, he launched himself high into the air, tackling the masked man directly off the rooftop.
The two crashed through successive building ledges. Midair, Kogoshi vanished from sight, reappearing instantly above the descending man to deliver a crushing downward strike.
"One more time!" Kogoshi called out.
The man squealed in midair, "Agh?! Again?!"
The final impact drove the masked figure straight through the roof of an abandoned underground parking garage.
He lay prostrate in the center of a fresh concrete crater, coughing up blood but laughing in twisted amusement.
"You're something else, aren't you?" the man said, as his mask partially shattered, now only covering his eyes .He threw something at Kogoshi, who caught it.
"You're giving it to me that easily? Don't you need to protect it?"
"Look, do you want it or not? I'm more than willing to take it back," Kogoshi replied.
"OK, fine," the man said. Kogoshi walked away, tossing a heavy card that embedded itself into the concrete floor.
It was a summon from the Auramancer Association: unusual Dreadspawn sightings in Hamatsu, with over 1.2 million reported dead or missing.
---
On the 37th floor of a high-rise luxury building overlooking the dark perimeter of the Hamatsu district, Kogoshi's silhouette materialized quietly near a wide, open window.
The room smelled heavily of old paper and leather bindings. The space was styled in mid-century architecture, dominated by rich redwood panels and towering bookshelves filled with esoteric knowledge.
A woman with long chestnut hair, wearing a tailored designer dress and silver-rimmed glasses, sat gracefully in a high-back chair beneath the glow of a single reading lamp. She reached out with her right hand, clicking the dial to bathe the room in a warm, amber light, while her left hand kept her place in a heavy, open tome on her lap.
Without looking up from the text, she spoke in a casual, rhythmic tone. "That was surprisingly quick."
"That part of the city was already completely quiet," Kogoshi responded, leaning against the window frame.
"There was no need to hold back."
The woman adjusted her glasses, her expression turning somber.
"It has been quiet ever since the anomaly spiked. Roughly over 1.2 million people have been confirmed dead, injured, or missing within a forty-eight-hour window."
She turned a page. "As a result, the entire sector has been sealed and completely restricted from the public. Businesses, homes... everything was abandoned overnight."
Kogoshi dragged a nearby wooden chair over, sitting heavily near the open window to look out at the dark, silent cityscape.
"Are you aware of what actually triggered all this?"
"Sadly, I don't . However..." she closed the book with a soft thud,
"...according to the Monad Archives, the physical readings are unprecedented."
She stood up, walking toward a digital terminal.
"There is a massive, cluster of unrefined Ryoku floating directly above the epicenter. If its surface tension fails, it is projected to detonate with the force of nearly twenty-four high yield nuclear warheads."
She shifted her posture. "And a highly volatile, rare artifact was detected embedded in the bedrock directly beneath it."
The only explanation for the cluster was if a large enough amount of raw Ryoku was released at once. The surface tension itself was sufficient to hold the cluster together."
Kogoshi looked at the destroyed city, his face grim.
"Where is our missing person?" he asked.
The missing person was Kuroshiraga Arufa. The Ryoku residue matched his signature perfectly.
He was the only one confirmed missing as all other present at the hamatsu site have been confirmed dead .
---
In a surreal, misty plain somewhere deep within his own fractured consciousness, Kuroshiraga lay motionless. His unique hair—a striking, bright white across the top with pitch-black sides—shifted in an imaginary wind as his comatose mind drifted into a vivid, agonizing flashback of the day Hamatsu fell.
*It was a normal Tuesday afternoon at Hamatsu High School. He was standing by the lockers with Tami.*
*"I'm walking home with you today," she had said, flashing a bright, stubborn smile.*
*"Why me?" Kuroshiraga asked, looking away nervously.*
*"Because you don't have any friends, silly," she giggled, poking his arm.*
*Realizing she had left her main notebook in the third-floor classroom, Tami told Kuro to wait by the gates while she ran back up to grab it.*
*Ten minutes passed. Then fifteen. Tami was taking far longer than expected.*
*Suddenly, a small, ticking object dropped from the upper levels, bouncing off Kuro's shoulder and hitting the pavement. He knelt down and picked it up.
*It was Tami's silver pocket watch—the precious heirloom gifted to her by her late grandmother.*
*A cold dread gripped his chest. Kuro turned, running full sprint toward the school building. He didn't use the stairs; utilizing his auramancy, he leaped three stories straight toward the classroom window.
*Just as his fingers caught the ledge, a violent, blinding shockwave of raw spiritual energy erupted outward from the glass, threatening to vaporize his grip.
*He roared, channeling his ryoku into his hands to anchor himself against the burning pressure, before violently pulling himself through the shattered frame.*
*"Why is there summoning burst here?" he muttered, coughing through the thick smoke.*
*The classroom was a desolate. The walls were splattered with crimson, and the air hummed with a foul, corrupting presence. Suddenly, a raspy, agonizing voice cut through the debris.*
*"Kill me... please... just kill me!"*
*Kuro turned to see a horrifying sight. disfigured , skin clinging tightly to bone, was dragging itself across the floor.
*they were already dead , 'their physical form puppeted by a corrupted, spectral shell of a broken soul body. An undead.'*
*Before Kuro could react, several more hollow-eyed undead emerged from the shadows of the hallway, their jaws unhinging.*
*Kuro wasted no time. Drawing upon his refined ryoku, he swept forward, obliterating the first wave of corpses with one heavy , fell swoop.*
*But as the critique of auramancy dictates, dark energy never truly vanishes. The moment the lower undead were slain, their remnants liquefied, flowing directly into the mouths of the surviving corpses. By consuming the essence of their fallen brethren, the entities merge, expanding exponentially into a towering, grotesque creature known as a Greater Undead.*
*The Greater Undead roared, bringing down a massive, mutated fist with the speed of a falling meteor. Kuro dived sharply to the left as the fist slammed into the floor, leaving a deep crater where he had stood a millisecond prior.*
*"I just want to help..." Kuro whispered, his eyes flashing a dangerous, blinding gold as he stabilized his stance. "... put you out of your misery."*
*He thrust his hands forward, channeling every ounce of his soul-force into a single point.
*basic arts:*
**Solar Flare!***
*A blinding column of pure, scorching energy erupted from his palms. The beam was so immense it tore through the ceiling, punching straight through the clouds and extending out into the vacuum of space, completely vaporizing the Greater Undead*
*Silence returned to the ruined classroom. But something felt horribly off. Bloodlust in the room was swirling toward the back corner.*
*"Kuro... please... run... away... "*
*It was Tami's voice. Kuro's heart stopped. He spun around just in time to see a horrific flash of silver lines. In an instant, before he could even reach out his hand, Tami's body was cleanly diced into a dozen pieces.*
*Standing over her remains was a tall, eerie figure wearing a dark, heavy coat, his long grey hair framing a mask constructed entirely from severed, calcified golden human fingers.
*With a casual wave of his hand, Tami's escaping life essence and blood were vacuumed into a floating, glowing orb wrapped in ancient, symbol-covered cloth.*
*Hovering right beside the masked man was a Dreadspawn. The creature's body was a terrifying amalgamation of twitching, elongated fingers, featuring massive, bottomless black eyes, a crown made of sharpened black fingernails, and dozens of human-like arms protruding from its spine.*
*The finger-spawn glared down at Kuro with absolute detachment.*
*"The tenth objective is here," the creature rasped, its voice sounding like grinding stones.*
*The masked man turned his hollow gaze toward Kuro. "Is that him?"
"Certainly," the creature replied.*
*Kuro's vision turned entirely red. The sheer shock tore at his sanity. "What did you just do to her?!"*
*"I'll make you pay!" he roared, his aura flaring into a volatile, chaotic storm. "Limb for limb! "*
*Five minutes later.*
*The classroom was completely leveled. Kuro stood alone amidst the rubble, battered, bleeding from his forehead, and barely able to keep his balance.
Yet, a manic, broken smile stretched across his face as he stared at the untouched masked man.*
*"Is that... is that all you've got?" Kuro taunted, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the floor.*
*The masked man didn't answer. He simply raised two fingers. "Summoning."*
*Before he could turn, a massive, driverless semi-truck hurtled out of the void at terminal velocity.
Kuro reacted on pure instinct, diving frantically to the right, but the masked man appeared instantly at his landing spot, planting a heavy boot into his sternum to pin him to the floor.*
*A second driverless truck materialized directly above them, plunging downward like a falling anvil.
*The massive steel grill slammed cleanly into Kuro, crushing him through the floorboards and sending him hurtling down into the lower levels of the collapsing school building.*
*As the darkness rushed in to swallow his consciousness.the world went blank *