Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The sound of the wind whipping past echoed as five cloaked figures glided across the sky, robes fluttering like tattered flags in the storm.

Each one bore the insignia of the Ruben City Enforcement Division. They were elite mages known for their strength and discipline. Their eyes scanned the once-vibrant Rovon Wilderness below, now disturbingly silent.

"This... this doesn't feel right," muttered the middle-aged mage, his voice tense with unease. "It used to be alive down there. Chirps, growls, screeches — now, not even the wind rustles the leaves."

"I can't believe it's so silent all of a sudden. Does that mean the story of the Crimson Demon is true after all?" he asked, more to himself than anyone else.

A younger woman, her long green hair tied into a tight braid, scoffed. "Of course it's true, Callen. When so many people report seeing a demon cloaked in blood-red light and wielding a white spear, they aren't all imagining it."

"Enough," came the calm but firm voice of the leader. He was a handsome man, tall and lean, with calculating eyes hidden behind glasses that glinted faintly in the light.

His name was Elric, and his presence silenced the chatter. "We're here to find the truth. Arguing won't help."

The youngest among them, Marco, fidgeted. He was barely twenty and already regretting volunteering.

His voice trembled slightly. "But Captain Elric... the reports said magic doesn't work against him. If that's true, then what chance do we have?"

Elric turned to him, not unkindly, but with the edge of steel in his tone. "That's why we have escape scrolls, Marco. This mission is reconnaissance first. Combat only if we have no other choice. Understood?"

Marco swallowed. "Y-Yes, Captain."

"Good. Let's descend. Prepare for contact."

The five mages lowered toward the forest, tension hanging heavy in the air. They touched down amidst fallen trees and claw-marked stones, surrounded by eerie silence. Not even insects buzzed. The entire forest seemed to be holding its breath.

Then came the crunch of a branch.

All five spun in unison, staffs raised, spells flashing to life.

They wanted to track the Crimson Demon with this spell. But—

Suddenly, from the thick mist stepped a figure.

He was a tall Red Giant, holding a pristine white spear. He had snow white hair, crimson eyes, but there was no color in them. Almost as if he couldn't see, but still somehow could.

Crimson Demon.

They didn't need to ask.

Elric took a cautious step forward, both hands open in a non-hostile gesture.

"Identify yourself, giant. We are law enforcement from Ruben City. Why are causing harm to Wilderness? Don't you know it's the on eof lifelines of the City?"

The figure didn't speak. His presence radiated pressure, a suffocating force that made the wind still. His eyes, or what they assumed were eyes, flared with emotionless power.

"No response?" Callen asked, his fingers twitching near his casting ring. "What is he waiting for?"

Suddenly, the figure moved.

Not a blur, not a teleport.

Just movement — impossibly fast.

In a blink, he was in front of Callen.

"Puchi!

The white spear pierced the man's chest like butter, shattering his magical barrier as if it were made of paper.

Blood sprayed. Callen's mouth opened to scream, but nothing came out before he crumpled.

"CALLEN!" shrieked the green-haired mage.

"Barrier protocol! Now!" Elric barked.

Three layers of defensive spella activated at once, overlapping into a dome of protective energy around the mages.

But the Crimson Demon didn't even slow. He raised his spear — and the moment it touched the barrier, the spells fizzled and died, unmade by some invisible force.

"Anti-magic! It's real!" the young woman cried, her voice cracking.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The demon struck again. And again. Each blow faster, heavier. The dome shattered.

The woman tried to teleport, scroll glowing in her hand — but the spear cleaved her in half before she could finish the incantation.

"Damn, you devil!"

Elric shouted a battle chant, unleashing a cascade of fire that engulfed the demon. For a moment, it seemed to work — until the flames evaporated, revealing the untouched figure within.

Elric's heart pounded. "This... this.. Antimagic."

The next mage fell without a scream, impaled mid-flight as he tried to escape.

"No, no, no... Why is this happening to us, God?"

Only Marco remained, fumbling with his escape scroll, tears in his eyes, breathing ragged.

The demon turned to him.

Their eyes met.

"I am dead, I am dead..." Marco seemed to have given up already.

But in that moment, something flickered within those dull eyes.

A shadow of guilt? A whisper of regret?

Aa a result, Marco vanished in a flash of blue light.

The Crimson Demon fell to his knees, clutching his head as if in great regret.

"Roarrrr!"

A primal roar echoed from him, sending chill whoever heard it.

---

Far away, in the City of Ruben, Marco stumbled into the law authority's headquarters, bloodied and pale.

He dropped the scroll and collapsed to his knees.

"Captain Elias is dead! They're all dead!"

The room froze.

A senior officer grabbed him. "Who? Who did this?!"

Marco could barely breathe. "Crimson Demon... nothing worked. Magic failed. He... he killed them like they were nothing! He must be marked as the highest threat to the city, an extinction-level threat! He is enemy to all the mages!"

"What!? That's disastrous. Tell us everything from start to finish," An old mage uttered with utmost seriousness.

---

Meanwhile, deep in the forest, the red aura flickered.

Raizel stood amidst the corpses.

His chest heaved. His hands trembled.

He stared at the blood on his spear. The faces of the dead mages lingered in his mind.

"What—have I done?"

The crimson light around him dissipated, peeling away like mist. His body shifted back into his human form. The exhaustion hit like a tidal wave. Knees buckled. He collapsed.

Raizel covered his face with bloodstained hands.

"They weren't monsters... they were people. People just doing their job. I— I didn't even speak to them."

For the first time in ages, he felt afraid.

Afraid of himself.

"I lost control. This spear... this power... I let it consume me."

Regardless, he understood the urgency.

He needed to get out the wilderness as soon as possible. .

Stumbling through the forest like a wounded animal, Raizel clutched the spear tight, every step growing heavier with guilt. He could barely think as every thought haunted by their faces.

"Demon! Stop!"

Then he heard it.

Voices.

Hundreds.

Torches glimmered in the distance. A formation of a hundred mages and guards approached from all directions.

They saw him and froze.

The air was filled with shock and rage.

"It's him! The Crimson Demon! He's real!" someone shouted.

"That's the white spear! The red giant — it's faded, but that's him!"

Raizel raised his head slowly.

His face was pale, eyes hollow.

Still holding the Convergence Spear, drenched in the blood of the fallen.

They raised their staffs.

Raizel whispered to himself, "Is this is the price of losing yourself."

The circle closed in.

But Raizel chose to exit the game before he could get locked in battle.

"Plop!"

Right before the disbelieving gazes of all the mages, he vanished into thin air.

"Huh? Where did he go?" one of the younger mages exclaimed, eyes wide and scanning the empty air.

"Damn it! Don't tell me he can use spatial magic too?" another shouted, gripping his staff tightly, sweat trickling down his temple.

"Just what kind of creature was that? He was human, wasn't he?." a female officer muttered, taking a cautious step back even though the danger had already disappeared.

The old mage, head of the Law Enforcement Division, stroked his long grey beard and touched his chin, deep in thought.

His eyes, sharper than anyone else's, were locked on the space Raizel had disappeared from.

"Antimagic and now spatial displacement… This doesn't make sense.

An Antimage shouldn't be able wield magic. Could it be...?" he muttered, making a terryfying assumption.

He narrowed his eyes, as though watching the distant threads of fate converging.

"But I suppose..." a crooked smile curled on his lips, "...those lords beyond our realm will find this quite interesting."

He turned to his subordinates, his voice calm but chilling, "Prepare the report. It's time we inform the High Sanctum, the Hidden Court, and... even the Skybound Monastery."

"W-We're notifying them all?" a younger mage asked in disbelief. "But aren't they are higher factions? We haven't contacted them in ages. Will they listen to us?"

"Oh, They will now," the old mage said flatly. "If what we just saw is true, if that was a real display of both Antimagic and Spatial Teleportation, then this world is about to change.

The superior realms will want to know… that a threat is rising. One born from the ashes of silence."

He smirked, eyes gleaming.

"Hehe… It's going to be very interesting for a while in our world, it seems."

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