Chapter — The End of the Curse
The basement of the ancient ruin was unnaturally silent.
There was no sound of wind.
No movement.
Not even the faint rustling of clothing.
Only the slow, rhythmic pulse of something ancient.
At the center of the chamber stood a small stone.
It was barely larger than a man's fist, yet the presence it carried was enough to make even Henry stop in silence.
The stone glowed with a deep crimson light.
Pulse.
A wave of demonic energy spread through the chamber.
Pulse.
Another wave followed.
The air itself seemed to tremble.
The demonic mana surrounding the stone was unlike anything Lucian, Irene, or the soldiers had ever encountered. It was so dense that the light mana crystals they carried could barely function.
Lucian struggled to remain conscious.
His knees trembled.
Irene tried to move toward Henry.
"Henry!"
But no sound came from her mouth.
The pressure was crushing her.
Even breathing had become difficult.
Yet Henry continued walking.
One step.
Then another.
His expression remained strangely calm.
"Don't!" Irene tried to shout again.
Henry did not stop.
He reached the stone.
For a moment, he simply stared at it.
Then he raised his left hand.
The hand that should never have existed.
The hand he had somehow grown during the six years he had disappeared.
His fingers touched the crimson stone.
And everything changed.
A tremendous wave of demonic energy exploded through the chamber.
Irene's eyes widened.
"Henry!"
But Henry was already gone.
His consciousness had been pulled into the stone.
The Beginning
Henry opened his eyes.
He was standing somewhere that did not exist.
There was no ground beneath his feet.
No sky above him.
Only darkness.
Then something appeared.
A black object was falling through the atmosphere.
It looked like a stone.
A meteor.
It burned through the sky before crashing into the southern region of the continent.
The mountains of the dragons.
The Three-Claw Peaks.
The impact shook the surrounding lands.
The dragons noticed it first.
Then the giants.
The giants, curious about the strange object, carried it away.
For years they studied it.
They cut it.
They examined it.
They exposed it to mana.
They tried to understand its origin.
Nothing worked.
The stone remained silent.
Until one fateful day.
A crack appeared.
A thin crimson light escaped.
Then the stone broke apart.
Inside was a perfectly smooth sphere.
An orb.
It glowed with a deep crimson color.
It was not dragon mana.
It was not human mana.
It was not anything known to the world.
It was something completely different.
Something alive.
At first, the researchers believed they had discovered a new form of energy.
Then the orb began to pulse.
The mana surrounding it started moving.
Not like ordinary mana.
It moved like an organism.
Like something that possessed instinct.
The researchers tried to contain it.
They failed.
The crimson energy erupted from the orb.
It spread across the mountains.
Giants were consumed.
Humans were consumed.
Even the dragons were unable to resist it.
Their bodies twisted.
Their minds disappeared.
Their souls were trapped.
The living became monsters.
The first demonic beasts were born.
And the energy continued spreading.
It corrupted everything it touched.
The ancient kingdom fell.
The giants vanished.
The dragons disappeared from history.
And the continent was left with only fragments of the truth.
Fragments that eventually became myths.
Henry watched the destruction unfold before his eyes.
The origin of the demons.
The origin of the demonic beasts.
The origin of the curse that had haunted the continent for centuries.
It had all begun with that single stone.
The White World
The vision disappeared.
Henry's consciousness was pulled somewhere else.
A white world.
There was no darkness here.
No demonic mana.
No pain.
Only silence.
Then he saw something.
A dragon.
But it was not truly there.
It looked like a fragment of one.
A memory.
A remnant.
An existence that had survived within the stone for centuries.
The dragon looked at Henry.
Its eyes narrowed.
Then it smiled.
"Interesting."
Henry remained still.
"The bearer of the outer symbol."
Henry's expression did not change.
The dragon seemed amused.
"You are not afraid."
Henry looked at the creature.
"I have already seen enough."
The dragon laughed softly.
"You have seen the beginning."
It moved closer.
"But you have not yet seen the end."
Henry said nothing.
The dragon began speaking again.
It told him something.
Something important.
Something that Henry would never forget.
But as the words reached his mind—
They became distorted.
Blurred.
The message disappeared.
Henry tried to grasp it.
But the dragon's body was already fading.
Its final words became nothing more than an echo.
Then the dragon fragmented into countless particles of white light.
They entered Henry's consciousness.
And disappeared.
The Cleansing
Henry opened his eyes.
The crimson stone was still beneath his hand.
But something had changed.
The demonic energy was no longer spreading.
It was being absorbed.
All of it.
The enormous amount of demonic energy surrounding the stone began flowing into Henry.
His body trembled.
His veins burned.
His mind screamed.
For the first time since his return, Henry cried out in pain.
"AAAAAAAH!"
Irene could only watch helplessly.
The demonic energy continued disappearing.
The crimson glow of the stone weakened.
The oppressive atmosphere vanished.
One final wave of energy passed through the chamber.
Then—
Silence.
The stone cracked.
It turned grey.
And fell apart.
Henry collapsed.
Irene rushed forward and caught him.
She held him against her chest.
For several moments, she thought he was dead.
"Henry..."
Her voice trembled.
Then Henry opened his eyes.
He looked at her.
And for the first time since his return, the cold expression disappeared.
"It is finally over."
Irene froze.
Those words carried something she had not heard from him in years.
Relief.
She pulled him into her arms.
Tears flowed down her cheeks.
"Yes."
She held him tighter.
"Yes, Henry. It is."
The End of the War
The news reached the army first.
Then the kingdoms.
Then the capital.
The demonic energy had disappeared.
The source of the curse had finally been destroyed.
For centuries, the continent had lived beneath the shadow of the demons.
Now that shadow was beginning to fade.
The war was over.
But victory did not mean everything returned to normal immediately.
Thousands of demonic beasts still wandered the continent.
The corrupted lands would take years, perhaps decades, to recover.
Entire regions had been destroyed.
Cities had fallen.
Generations had been lost.
Yet there was finally hope.
The light cannons were deployed across the continent.
The remaining demonic beasts could now be defeated.
And Henry began working immediately.
Using everything he had learned, he designed new machines capable of cleansing the corrupted land.
They were faster.
More efficient.
And capable of covering enormous regions.
The continent began healing.
Slowly.
But surely.
The Return of Henry Tecka
The capital erupted in celebration.
A grand victory banquet was held.
But the greatest celebration belonged to Tecka.
Henry had returned.
The man who had been declared dead.
The husband who had vanished six years ago.
The streets of Tecka were filled with people.
They came from villages, towns and cities.
Everyone wanted to see him.
Henry did not care about the celebrations.
He simply wanted to go home.
Eventually, he reached the Tecka mansion.
His father stood waiting for him.
The older man looked stronger than Henry remembered.
And beside him stood his mother beautiful than ever.
And behind them were countless familiar faces.
Henry looked around.
For a moment, he simply stood there.
Six years.
Six years of darkness.
Six years of pain.
Six years of uncertainty.
And now—
Home.
Then he heard footsteps.
A small figure came running toward him.
"Father!"
Henry looked down.
William stopped in front of him.
The boy stared at Henry curiously.
He had heard stories about this man.
He had been told that this was his father.
But stories were different from reality.
William tilted his head.
"They say you're my father."
Henry smiled faintly.
William's eyes suddenly brightened.
"Are you strong?"
Everyone around them fell silent.
Henry looked at his son.
Then he bent down.
Without saying anything, he picked William up.
William laughed.
Henry held him close.
"Yes."
He looked toward Irene.
Then toward the people of Tecka.
"I am."
William grinned.
"I knew it!"
Laughter spread through the mansion.
For the first time in years, Henry felt something he had almost forgotten.
Peace.
For a few days there were parties, and songs.
Then it slowed down into regular days.
Henry began his work in his workshop again.
But he takes his to enjoy the evening with his family.
The capital rose in celebration for the marriage of the sun prince, Lucian.
It took on for days, inviting everyone from the continent.
William began to get his adventurer training under his father Henry and mother Irene and also his nanny Juliene.
The peaceful life of the continent has began.
And the rest becomes history.
THE END