ShadowVane

Title: RISE OF THE FORSAKEN

Synopsis:

In the year 2220, Earth is still healing from the scars of the Doomsday War—a brutal 300-year conflict sparked by the emergence of mysterious rifts that unleashed devil-like creatures upon the world. The war may have ended, but the rifts never closed completely. In their wake, they left behind powerful energy sources—Devil Stones—and a genetic shift in humanity that awakened supernatural abilities.

Society now thrives on strength. Power is everything. The weak are discarded.

In the outskirts of Seoul, Kim Ji-ho, an 18-year-old boy with a useless laser ability, lives a quiet life with his younger brother Kim Ye-jun and their parents—until one night, everything changes. Their home is attacked. Their parents are murdered. Forced to flee, the brothers find themselves hunted by a secretive force that wants something they don’t even understand.

Betrayed, cornered, and powerless, Ji-ho awakens in a dark realm and meets a being born of chaos—a Devil offering him power beyond imagination. Ji-ho refuses… but even a fraction of the Devil’s strength reshapes his destiny.

Now wielding a terrifying new ability that absorbs and evolves through the deaths of his enemies, Ji-ho embarks on a path of survival, vengeance, and transformation—one that will either save the world…

Or burn it.

The Devil's society

The flames hadn't yet died out from his last battle.

Ashes still floated in the air, a reminder of the hundreds of awakened warriors who once stood tall—now erased by Ji-ho's sheer wrath. But no matter how many fell, Ji-ho couldn't wash off the rotting stench of this world's truth.

His brother, Ye-jun, stood by a shattered screen, replaying what they had stolen from the Devil's Association's corrupted server: countless recordings, audio logs, files—proof of everything.

The fourth target wasn't just harvesting people for power—he was conducting evolution trials sanctioned by the Devil's Association itself. Children mutated. Elders dissected. All to create stronger awakeners... and feed their agenda of power consolidation.

Ji-ho clenched his fists so tightly blood dripped from his palms. "They gave us up… like pawns."

Ye-jun looked up, pain flashing in his eyes. "They were afraid, hyung. They didn't have your strength…"

"No." Ji-ho's voice was cold. "They chose comfort. They let evil reign because it was easier than resistance."

He remembered the mother on the street who had seen him running from the 4th target's men—she turned away. The officer who read their report—then laughed and threw it in the trash. Even their neighbors, once friends, now cowered from his gaze.

This world bowed to strength, no matter how twisted it was. Truth meant nothing if the liar held more power. That was the law of power in this rotting society.

Later that night, Ji-ho stood atop a ruined tower, overlooking the chaos he'd left behind.

It was an S-rank government awakener, sent to 'talk'. Dressed in a white coat, gleaming badge of justice on his chest. But Ji-ho could smell it now—fear masked behind empty authority.

The man continued, "You've killed thousands. You've disrupted peace."

"Peace?" Ji-ho finally turned, eyes burning red, his aura rippling like a raging storm. "You call silence peace? You call mass graves harmony?"

"They had to die for stability!" the man snapped. "You're not a hero. You're a virus!"

"No," Ji-ho whispered, raising a single hand. The aura formed like a claw. "I'm the cure."

In one flash, the S-rank was torn apart—his voice fading into the wind like all the others who hid behind their fake righteousness.

That night, Ji-ho etched one message into the walls of the scorched city.

"Power without justice is tyranny.

And I will burn tyranny to the ground."

THE TRUTH OF SOCIETY-IV