Scene: Royal Guard Command Center – Morning

  The day is crisp, the marble halls of the Royal Guard Command Center already bustling with activity. Officers in polished armor bark orders, recruits jog drills in the courtyard, and the usual ctter of duty fills the air.

  Ruri walks through the towering arched doors, cloak fluttering behind her. Her arm is still sore from the battle days before, but she moves with the easy authority of a seasoned knight.

  She heads to the roster board first, scanning the list.

  Her brow furrows.

  Ruri (muttering):“…Karin’s not signed in?”

  She looks around. Normally, Karin would already be by the training grounds, sharpening swords, shouting at zy recruits, or waiting at Ruri’s usual post with a smirk and a sarcastic comment.

  But today… nothing.

  Ruri fgs down a passing officer — a young man barely out of his teens.

  Ruri (sharp):“Have you seen Karin today?”

  The officer shakes his head quickly.

  Officer:“No, ma’am. She didn’t report in for morning rounds. We assumed she was given a special assignment.”

  Ruri’s frown deepens. Karin wasn’t the type to skip out on duty — especially not without telling her.

  Something twists at the edge of her gut. Not fear yet… but a seed of unease.

  Ruri (thinking):(“…That’s not like her. Not at all.”)

  Still, she forces herself to move through the day’s tasks. For now.Karin was strong. Tough. She could handle herself.

  Right?

  [Scene: Kajin’s Forge – Morning]

  The forge is tucked between two stone buildings on the outskirts of Amestrias — a squat, soot-covered shop with smoke belching from its chimney like a dragon’s breath. The cng of hammer on steel echoes even before Yuya steps through the heavy wooden door.

  Inside, the heat hits him like a wall. Sparks shower from a forge at the far end, where a broad-shouldered old man hammers away at a glowing bde.

  The man—Kajin—pauses, squinting through the smoke. His left eye is clouded over with a milky scar, but the other is sharp as a hawk’s.

  Kajin (gruff):“…You’re not one of my usual customers.”

  Yuya (deadpan):“No.”

  Kajin wipes his hands on a grimy cloth, sniffing the air once—and narrows his good eye.

  Kajin (gruff but calm):“Hmph. Demon blood, huh? I’ve worked with worse. So long as your coin’s good, we don’t got a problem.”

  Yuya stands still for a moment, his dark eyes narrowing slightly.

  Yuya (low, cautious):“…You know I’m a demon?.”

  Kajin snorts, grabbing a rusted set of tongs from a workbench and jabbing them toward Yuya like a lecture pointer.

  Kajin (gruff):“Boy, I’ve been in this trade longer than you’ve been breathin’. I’ve made weapons for humans, goddesses, demons and things that didn’t even have a name.”

  He jabs the tongs again.

  Kajin:“You learn to spot the signs. The way the air bends around you. The way normal fire dims when you get close. The scent — something old and wrong on your skin.”

  Yuya watches him silently, sizing him up. No fear. No disgust. Just a craftsman sizing up a potential job.

  Kajin (grinning, almost fondly):“I don’t give a rat’s ass what you are, long as you don’t torch my forge without payin’ first.”

  Yuya (smirking faintly):“…Fair enough. I need a sword. One that can handle bck fmes.”

  At that, Kajin actually barks out a ugh, short and disbelieving.

  Kajin:“Handle bck fmes, he says. Like it’s something you can pick up at the market.”

  He leans over his anvil, eye gleaming.

  Kajin:“Listen, boy. Regur iron, silver, even enchanted steel—they’ll all crumble like dust under that kind of magic. You want a weapon like that? I need special materials. And I ain’t got ‘em right now.”

  Yuya crosses his arms, pretending to consider.

  Yuya (casual):“Damn. Guess I’ll have to tell Ruri to recommend me another bcksmith then.”

  He says it just loud enough.

  Kajin flinches—visibly. His face twitches and he straightens, cursing under his breath.

  Kajin (grumbling):“Damned girl. Always sticking her nose into my business…”

  Yuya watches him with mild amusement.

  Kajin (sighing, scratching his beard):“…Fine. I owe Ruri. So I’ll help you.”

  He lumbers to a battered weapons rack and pulls out a pin-looking sword—long, sturdy, but unremarkable. He tosses it to Yuya, who catches it easily.

  Kajin (gruff):“That’s a loaner. It’ll survive your fmes for a little while, if you’re careful. Not long.”

  Yuya tests the weight—decent bance. Serviceable.

  Kajin leans closer, dropping his voice low.

  Kajin:“There’s a beast. In the ke just outside Amestrias—Lake Drevas. Real nasty piece of work. Its scales are naturally resistant to magic. I can use ‘em to forge a bde that’ll handle whatever cursed fire you’re throwin’ around.”

  Yuya (raising an eyebrow):“All I gotta do is kill it?”

  Kajin (grinning, a few teeth missing):“Kill it, skin it, and drag me back some scales. Then we’ll talk about makin’ your real sword.”

  Yuya slides the loaner bde into a battered sheath Kajin tosses him.

  Yuya (quietly):“…Sounds simple enough.”

  Kajin ughs.

  Kajin:“If it was simple, someone else woulda done it already.”

  He steps out into the sunlight, the streets of Amestrias already alive with merchants shouting, horses cttering over stone, and citizens bustling toward the market squares.

  Yuya exhales through his nose.The city’s noise was almost loud enough to cover the feeling cwing at the back of his mind.

  Almost.

  His gaze drifts to the rooftops.

  High above—just for a second—a shadow shifts.A figure.

  Watching him.

  Still.

  Unmoving.

  Silver hair catches the breeze.

  Yuya narrows his eyes slightly. His body tenses, instincts warning him.

  But when he looks again—the figure is gone. Melted into the maze of stone and ste rooftops.

  Yuya (thinking, coldly):(“Hmmmmmmmmm strange.”)

  He lets his shoulders rex deliberately. No sudden moves. No tipping his hand.He turns down a side street, headed toward the city outskirts—the monster hunt was waiting.

  But in the back of his mind, one thought smolders quietly:

  Karin.

  She wasn’t done with him yet.

  [Scene: Outskirts of Amestrias – Late Morning]

  The noise of the city fades into the distance behind him. The paved roads turn to uneven dirt paths lined with wild grass and whispering trees. The farther Yuya walks, the more the world seems to empty out—only the steady crunch of his boots breaking the silence.

  The loaner sword rides heavy on his back. It isn’t comfortable, banced awkwardly compared to his style.But it would do.

  The path slopes downward—and there, tucked between jagged cliffs and thick woods, he sees it:

  Lake Drevas.

  A dark, sprawling body of water. The surface is eerily still despite the breeze, like gss stretched thin over something ancient and angry beneath. A low mist clings to the edges. Even standing at the shore, Yuya can feel it—the heavy pressure of something unnatural lurking below.

  Yuya (quietly, muttering):“…So this is the monster’s ir.”

  He draws the loaner sword slowly. The metal hums faintly. He checks his surroundings—old instincts fring.

  No birds. No beasts.Just him, the mist, and whatever was waiting beneath that water.

  Yuya steps closer to the ke’s edge, boots sinking slightly into the muddy shore.

  The surface of the water shivers.

  Ripples fan out.

  A deep, guttural rumble vibrates the ground.

  Suddenly—

  A massive shape explodes from the ke, sending water sheeting into the air.Scales bck as midnight, jagged fins, and serpentine eyes that burn with unnatural blue fire.

  The monster roars, the sound splitting the morning like a bde.

  Yuya shields his face from the bst of mist—and grins, just a little.

  Yuya (low, cold):“…Finally. Some exercise.”

  He tightens his grip on the sword—and charges.

  [Scene: Lake Drevas – Battle]

  The monster strikes first—its massive tail whipping through the mist like a scythe.Yuya ducks under it, the air shrieking from the force of the blow. He sshes upward with the loaner sword, the bde scraping harmlessly against the beast’s armored hide.

  The ke’s mist coils thick around Yuya and the massive serpent-like monster circling him. Its scales gleam wetly under the grey light, thick and unbreakable.Yuya’s loaner sword was already nicked and bent from his earlier strikes.

  The monster lunges—A whip-crack of its tail nearly clips Yuya, but he slides under the strike, boots skidding over the muddy shoreline.

  Yuya (low, annoyed):“Tough bastard.”

  He tightens his grip.

  Then—Bck fmes ignite, spreading hungrily from his hand and engulfing the battered sword.

  The air grows heavy. The mist seems to shrink back in fear.

  He dashes forward in a blur. The beast rears back, sensing death too te.

  With one fluid, merciless motion—

  Yuya drives the hellbze-coated sword straight into the serpent’s skull.

  Yuya (coldly):“Hellbze: Ashen Spire”

  The bck fire suddenly erupts—spiking out through the serpent’s body in jagged pilrs, tearing it apart from within. The ground shakes as the massive beast lets out a final, shuddering roar before colpsing into the shallows of the ke, dead.

  The monster thrashes, its body writhing violently—but Yuya just pnts a boot on its snout and shoves the bde deeper.

  Yuya (muttering under his breath):“Burn.”

  The creature lets out a horrific, gurgling shriek—Then colpses in a steaming, burning heap, dead before it hits the ground.

  Yuya pulls the sword free just as the bde cracks in his hand from the strain, crumbling into bckened ash.He lets the ruined hilt drop into the mud without a word.

  Standing alone over the corpse, Yuya surveys his kill, the hellbze still licking faintly at the monster’s wounds.

  Yuya (ftly):“Perfect.”

  He steps closer to the serpent’s massive corpse, boots spshing lightly through the shallows. The body still smokes from the bck fire scars — but as he reaches to pull free one of the glimmering scales—

  He stops.

  Nostrils fring slightly.

  A scent.

  Familiar.

  His gaze sharpens, cutting through the mist rolling off the water’s surface. Somewhere beyond the trees, hidden by brush and distance, someone is there. Watching.

  His hand tightens into a fist, the faint heat of Hellbze pulsing under his skin instinctively — but he doesn’t sh out. Not yet.

  Instead, Yuya smirks faintly to himself.

  Yuya (under his breath):“You’re terrible at hiding, you know.”

  He doesn’t need to guess twice.That scent was Karin.

  And if she wanted to follow him… well.Let her.

  He’s got what he came for.

  Yuya looks down at the massive corpse sprawled across the rocky shore, bckened and steaming from the Ashen Spire attack.

  He lifts one scale — heavy as a shield — in his hand, weighing it thoughtfully.

  Yuya (grumbling to himself):”…If one’s good, the whole thing’s better.”

  With a grunt, he grabs the serpent’s thick tail in both hands. Muscles flex, bck tattoos faintly visible under his sleeves as he hauls the entire beast onto his back with a brutal strength.

  The corpse drags a massive trench behind him as he begins the trek back toward the city, each step slow but determined.

  ?

  [Scene: Streets of Amestrias – Late Morning]

  The city’s markets buzz with noise—until he arrives.

  Heads turn.Chatter dies mid-sentence.Mothers clutch their children.Merchants gawk in stunned silence.

  There, walking casually down the main boulevard, is Yuya—dragging the charred, monstrous corpse of the ke serpent behind him.

  Its body scrapes against the cobblestones, leaving deep, smoldering grooves. Steam and bck ash trail in his wake.

  Shopkeepers stare from their doorways. Soldiers on patrol nearly drop their weapons.

  One child tugs his father’s sleeve, whispering:“Papa, is he a monster too?”

  The man can’t even answer—just nods dumbly as Yuya strolls past without a care in the world.

  [Scene: Kajin’s Forge – Exterior]

  The bcksmith’s shop is a squat stone building, smoke belching from its chimney.

  The ground shakes slightly as Yuya drags the serpent’s ruined body right up to the entrance and lets it colpse with a tremendous thud against the forge wall.

  Kajin, hammer in hand, pokes his head out—ready to bark at whoever’s making a ruckus.

  Instead, he freezes.

  Eyes wide. Jaw sck.

  Yuya dusts his hands off and smirks zily.

  Yuya:“Got you your materials.”

  Kajin looks from Yuya, to the smoking monster carcass, back to Yuya.

  Kajin (gruffly, but with a twitch of awe):”…Well, shit. Guess we’re makin’ a damn masterpiece.”

  [Scene: Rooftop Overlooking Kajin’s Forge – Moments Later]

  Karin crouches low, hidden among the chimneys, her grey hair tucked beneath her hood. Her sharp eyes watch everything — from Yuya dragging the colossal beast to Kajin’s stunned reaction.

  Her hands tighten into fists.

  Karin (thoughts, cold and certain):“No human could have done that. And no human has that kind of bck fire…”

  She watches as Yuya exchanges a few casual words with the bcksmith, completely unfazed by the weight of what he’s just done.

  Karin (thoughts):“Ruri’s in danger”

  Without another word, she slips away from the rooftop, moving like a shadow through the twisting alleys of Amestrias.

  [Scene: Royal Guard Command Center – Hendrickson’s Office]

  The heavy oak door creaks open.

  Hendrickson, sitting behind a mountain of reports, gnces up. His expression tightens slightly when he sees Karin.

  Karin salutes sharply.

  Karin (serious, low voice):“Sir. I have information regarding the man traveling with Ruri.”

  Hendrickson (gruffly):“Report.”

  Karin steps forward, her voice steady but ced with urgency.

  Karin:“He’s not human. He’s a demon.”

  A beat of silence. Hendrickson sets down his quill slowly.

  Hendrickson:“………..”

  Karin:“I witnessed him dragging a beast twice his size through the city streets — and it bore the marks of bck fme magic. Controlled bck fire, Sir. Only demons wield that power.”

  Hendrickson leans back in his chair, steepling his fingers. His expression is unreadable, coldly calcuting.

  Hendrickson (after a moment):”…Understood.”

  Karin, expecting orders to arrest or at least restrain Yuya, waits stiffly.

  But Hendrickson surprises her.

  Hendrickson (quietly):“Maintain observation only. Do not engage. Not yet.”

  Karin blinks in surprise.

  Karin:“Sir? But Yuya’s dangerous. What if he harms Ruri”

  Hendrickson (cutting her off):

  Karin stands stiffly in front of Hendrickson’s desk, her report just finished. Her silver hair catches the cold light leaking through the high windows. Her fists are clenched at her sides, urgency burning in her voice.

  Hendrickson (calm, firm):“I heard you, Karin. And I believe you.”

  Karin blinks, caught off guard.

  Hendrickson (leaning back, voice low):“But now is not the time to act recklessly. There’s too much at stake with the festival approaching.”“We will deal with him…so don’t worry.”

  Karin (frowning, uncertain):“During the festival?”

  Hendrickson nods, voice dropping even lower, almost conspiratorial.

  Hendrickson:“There is no way he would pass up the opportunity to try out his new toy.”

  Karin hesitates, a bitter taste rising in her mouth. She doesn’t like it, but she salutes sharply.

  Karin (tight, reluctant):“Understood, Commander.”

  Without another word, she turns and exits the room.

  As the door clicks shut behind her, Hendrickson exhales slowly—then from the shadows of the office, the cloaked figure steps into the light.

  The stranger’s voice is low, venomous.

  Cloaked Figure:“Seems you finally see it my way.”

  Hendrickson (grim):“You were right. He’s a threat to our pns.”

  The figure’s mouth twists into a wicked grin beneath the hood.

  Cloaked Figure:“Yuya must die. No matter what it takes.”

  The candles in the office flicker slightly, as if in answer.