Vanguard Project

The world split when my sword fell.

A clean line, like a painter's final stroke across canvas—except instead of beauty, it birthed destruction. The blade, cloaked in cursed blue-black flame, carved through the demon's body from shoulder to waist. [Poetic Sword] whispered its final verse.

The demon didn't scream.

It didn't have time to.

Its body collapsed in two halves. Lifeless. Smoldering. As if its very soul had been scorched away.

And then…

I fell.

My body cracked, burned, and vented steam like an overheated engine. Vision dimmed. My limbs no longer moved. The world swirled into pitch-black static.

The last thing I remembered…

Footsteps.

Soft. Measured. Female.

---

Ash crunched under Professor Verres' heel as she entered the scarred clearing.

"What in the living hell happened here?"

Her eyes darted around.

The simulation zone looked like a battlefield. Earth split open. Trees reduced to splinters. Craters in the soil like gaping wounds. Scorch marks decorated the landscape like war tattoos.

At the center, a demon corpse.

D rank, at the very least. Even a seasoned C rank, would've needed serious effort to kill that alone. Yet lying not far from the corpse…

"Axel…?"

He was still.

Collapsed on his side.

A sword, black as shadow, rested beside him. His Rubik's cube assistant lay dormant, a dull glint of red in its cracked eye. His body—burned in places. Muscles torn like frayed wires. His breathing was shallow.

The boy looked like porcelain. A doll carved from ivory, now weathered by fire.

Then a voice echoed in her mind.

"Bring him to my office."

It was the headmistress—Lorelei Nox.

The usual whimsical lilt in her voice…gone.

This was her serious tone.

Verres bent down and gently scooped Axel up.

He was light. Too light.

"You better not die on me before I get answers about what happened here," she muttered, brushing a strand of silver hair from his face.

Then, with a snap of her fingers—

She vanished.

---

The headmistress's office was dimly lit, draped in velvet curtains and enchanted ink maps that floated midair. Lorelei Nox, deceptively youthful with her loli-like appearance and oversized tea cup, sat quietly behind her blackwood desk.

A glint of silver passed through her eyes when she saw the boy.

"Lay him there," she instructed softly, gesturing to a plush velvet couch.

Verres complied, then stood back, arms crossed.

Lorelei approached. Small hands reached out and tilted the unconscious boy's head gently. Her fingers brushed his neck. A faint shimmer of blue beneath the skin revealed itself.

A mark. Geometric. Precise. Faintly glowing.

"As I thought," she whispered.

Verres squinted. "You know something?"

"Do you remember the Vanguard Experiment?"

Verres stiffened. "You mean… that project that got shut down by the League? The one where children were kidnapped and turned into mana-immune killing machines?"

Lorelei nodded. "A forbidden faction's attempt to create the perfect human weapon. They embedded experimental chips into young minds. It enhanced their strength, suppressed pain, enhanced mental fortitude and abilities... But they couldn't use mana. The side effects were fatal for most."

Her eyes didn't leave Axel's face.

"This boy has the Vanguard's crest, hidden beneath the skin. That chip—it's still active."

Verres's brows furrowed. "You think he's… one of them?"

"Not just one of them." Lorelei's voice dipped. "I think he's the last one. The only survivor."

She reached out again, brushing his cheek with a tenderness that betrayed something deeper.

"He looks just like the original prototype."

"You knew the original subject?"

"I did more than know him."

Lorelei turned, her expression shadowed by something old. Something painful.

"We keep this quiet," she continued. "No one must know. Not the faculty, not the students. If word gets out, all other factions would come here to eliminate or capture him."

Verres nodded, still digesting the revelation. She left without another word.

Lorelei sat beside the unconscious boy.

Her hand lingered over his, not quite touching.

"You really doremind me of him, you're both just as reckless…"

She leaned back, exhaling slowly. "What a date you carry..."

---

Somewhere darkness wrapped around me like a second skin.

I floated.

No pain.

No time.

Just... me.

Again?

How many times had I blacked out now?

It was getting annoying.

Then—

A flicker.

Light.

It pierced the black. Not white. Not gold.

But blue.

Memory-blue.

---

The world around me shifted.

Laughter.

Small hands. Three children holding pinky fingers under a crimson sky.

"We'll stay together, no matter what!"

I saw them clearly—two boys and a girl—but their faces were misty. Like paint dripping in the rain.

Was that… me?

They were laughing. Innocent.For some reason my heart ached. Was this one of Axel's memories?

Then another shift, like a TV channel being switched.

A cold alley.

Rain during from a grey sky.

A van stood at the end.

A man got out, buff with a needle filled with a blue liquid.

He approached. Slowly. I stood there, turned around and ran. Then darkness - as if someone had knocked me unconscious.

Screams.

A sterile room. Metal restraints. Children crying.

Dark figures in lab coats.

A screen with brainwave data.

A name flashing in red: Project Vanguard: SUBJECT 059

Pain.

So much pain.

Like my bones were being rewired.

"Don't worry child. You will thank us soon enough."

A man approached me with a needle.

---

Has it been hours already? I was stuck inside this vision.

It was agonising. Is this what Axel had experienced in the past?

Daily tests. Physical strain. Simulations. Hours in isolation tanks, with people collecting data and watching me.

No sunlight.

No names.

Just numbers.

I watched through the old Axel's eyes. Detached. Like a ghost in his past.

Combat training. Learning about mana. Manipulation. Beasts. Weapons. Inventing.

The chip activated again and again. With each test, a piece of him slipped away.

His eyes turned colder. Glassy. Doll-like.

He was turning into a tool. A perfect weapon.

---

Then—

A sound.

A mechanical chime.

> [SYSTEM: MEMORY SEQUENCE COMPLETE.]

[SOUL MERGED: 100%. CHIP FULLY SYNCED.]

[NEW FEATURE UNLOCKED: "Demon to the Demons"]

[Effect 1: +50% to all stats while facing demonic entities.]

[Effect 2: "Wrath" – Enter partial Overdrive when facing demons.]

[Effect 3: Weakness +10% against elite-ranked demons.]

[+1 STR permanently.]

Huh…

That's new.

And ominous.

---

Back in the Office

Lorelei's eyes narrowed slightly. She felt it—just for a second. A pulse of energy. Like something woke up inside the boy.

She whispered, "What's happening to him now…?"

The boy lay still.

Peaceful. Fragile.

A disaster wrapped in dollskin.

And somewhere in the deep, dark corners of his mind…

I continued to experience this memory sequence.