Demon Ranks

Betrayed. Cast aside. Killed. Valor Harder, once the world's strongest hero, lost everything when he sealed his rogue son, Dusk, in the Astral Sanctum. Stripped of power and left to die, he uncovered secrets about a world ruled from the shadows—but was executed before he could act. Reborn as Ashen Azarious, a mere boy with a mysterious system, he must rise through the ranks of All Valley Academy, battling oppression, uncovering the truth, and preparing for Dusk’s inevitable return. The world is broken, but Ashen refuses to be a pawn. This time, the hero will fight back.

In a realm where gods play dice with mortal souls, a cursed boy refuses his fate. Born with a tempered body blessed by the heavens, Kirin Arcanus should’ve been a legend. Instead, he became an outcast, cursed, shunned, and exiled from the very clan that should’ve raised him as their heir. The demon that killed his parents didn’t vanish... it slumbered inside him, waiting. Powerless. Mocked. Weak. Kirin claws his way through life with nothing but grit, will, and the whisper of an ancient, forbidden path to strength. When he’s finally granted a second chance at cultivation, it comes at a brutal cost, awakening something dark, something hungry. Inside the hallowed walls of the Academy, friends become enemies. Trust is currency. And betrayal? That’s the tuition fee. His closest companion, Seth, hides a twisted purpose. His allies? Torn between love, legacy, and lies. As realms collide, bloodlines unravel, and demonic whispers grow louder, Kayden must choose, become the hero they never saw coming… or embrace the chaos he was born to unleash. He didn’t ask to be a weapon. But he sure as hell is going to use it.

Synopsis: In the fractured kingdom of Veridale, Kael Draven has one goal: to join the Shadow Corps, the covert force sworn to protect the royal family from threats within and beyond the kingdom’s walls. Known for their secrecy, deadly skill, and total loyalty to the crown, the Corps operate in silence—and few who enter ever return to the world they knew. Kael earns his place in the King's Academy through brutal trials and is placed in a squad with Reyna Voss, a fiercely capable hunter’s daughter, and Jared Varion, an arrogant noble with a dangerous grudge. But what begins as training quickly unravels into something far deadlier. Missions turn bloody, secrets surface, and Kael's squad stumbles onto a conspiracy linking a powerful noble house with Veridale's greatest enemy. As betrayal festers within the kingdom's highest ranks and the Shadow Corps itself is compromised, Kael is framed, exiled, and hunted by the very force he swore to serve. But exile reveals a truth about his bloodline that connects him to the war in ways he never imagined—and gives him the power to fight back. With war on the horizon and loyalties shifting, Kael must expose the traitors, protect the throne, and decide who he truly is: a pawn in someone else’s game—or a force to end it. An action-packed adventurous novel with a brave warrior male lead in a royal weak-to-strong MC setting.