Malvin threw himself lazily onto the comfort of his plush cream couch, sighing as he stared blankly at the glittering chandelier overhead."So… you went and did it again, didn't you?" Larry muttered from the opposite couch, pinching the bridge of his nose like a disappointed father.Malvin shrugged. "Those damn police always overreact to the most useless things. Like geez… give a man a break."Larry stared at him with an are-you-fucking-serious expression.Malvin lifted his hands innocently. "Come on, dude. There are actual murderers running around the country, yet somehow I'm the priority. It's annoying as hell.""It's because you're a nuisance too, Malvin!" Larry half-yelled, disappointment heavy in his voice. "A policewoman caught you having sex with someone's wife in a dark alley near McRonald's!""It's not like I raped her. It was consensual," Malvin shot back, voice dropping as he avoided eye contact. "She thought I was cool so… you know. I bent her over."Larry dragged a hand d

His mother wept, hot tears dripping onto his tiny face.One of the Trinity Sisters curled her lip in disgust as she glared at Albiel, the skeletal man kneeling in chains."Your betrayal cannot be forgiven, Albiel. You lived among humans. You loved one. You fathered a child. While we fought against the Soul Witches, you were tearing rifts open between the supernatural and mortal realms, plunging the world deeper into imbalance."Albiel trembled.Malvin, meanwhile, was completely lost.Soul Witches? Rifts? What the hell are they even talking about?Albiel bowed his head again, voice breaking."Kill me, damn it!" he roared. "Kill me if you must—but spare the child!"His human wife sobbed harder."Please… don't hurt my baby. It's innocent… it's just a child…"Yeah… I'm just a child. Leave me out of this mess! Malvin thought desperately, wailing louder."The child is an abomination," one Sister declared coldly. "Half-human, half-reaper. Impossible. If it lives, the balance of all realms wi

As the assassin tried to stab Hazrad straight through with a long sword, the blade struck an invisible barrier—shattering in half on impact."Tsk… a barrier, huh? Such cowardly tricks! As expected from the Fallen Huntress!" the assassin spat.Hazrad panicked, confused about everything but very relieved he wasn't dead."If I can't kill you, I'll just kidnap ya!" the assassin hissed, lifting him off his tiny bed.Azra's barrier protected him from physical attacks—not from being snatched like luggage.But then something neither Hazrad nor the assassin expected happened.The shadows beneath them rippled like black liquid. From the floor, shadowy hands materialized—long, taloned, and hungry. They clamped onto the assassin's legs, claws digging in deep, peeling off skin like wet paper, his bone gleaming beneath as blood sprayed across the room.The man's eyes widened behind his mask. His heartbeat thumped so loudly Hazrad could hear it. He screamed, hurling Hazrad to the floor. The baby hit

At only five months old, Hazrad had become a healthy, restless little creature, but something about him worried Azra a little bit. His growth seemed stagnant or slow. Reaper infants his age were usually twice his size, yet he was still tiny, almost fragile… maybe because he wasn't a full reaper. That made Azra wonder if that small frame of his would affect his future value as their "ultimate weapon."Nero, however, the cerberus pup born the same month as him, was the complete opposite. The beast wasn't just active—it grew at a frightening pace, exactly what one would expect from a creature designed to tear armies apart. It already stood roughly 35 cm at the shoulder, its long body stretching close to a meter and a half. Its skin was already as hard as a concrete with dark, shiny furs covering it up. Its strength was impressive too; it could carry Hazrad on its back without feeling the slightest weight.For nearly a week, Hazrad had been sneaking out of the house, riding Nero int

Days turned to weeks. Weeks blurred into months.A gentle breeze swept across the land, shaking loose the orange, star-shaped leaves of an old okari tree. The golden rays of morning crept over the dense forest, painting the world in warmth and light.Beneath the okari tree stood two figures: a warrior woman gripping a wooden staff, and a tiny boy barely twenty-five inches tall, holding his own wooden sword with both hands.That tiny boy was Hazrad. Nine months old but already far beyond ordinary children.Far enough that he had trained day after day, until he finally worked up the courage to challenge Azra to a duel."I still don't know what kind of cockiness possessed you," Azra muttered, leveling her gaze at him. "But I'm not holding back just because you're a kid.""Holding back would be disrespectful to me, lovely lady. Give me everything you've got." Hazrad smirked, curling his fingers in a taunting come-at-me gesture."Tsk. I'll beat that insolent attitude right out of you, brat