Michael could vividly remember every moment of his high school life.
He had transferred there after the disappearance of his parents. His home life was… not great.
He was living with his uncle and aunt, who had usurped every single penny his parents left for him, except their last belongings.
They used all that money to buy their own children fancy stuff, fund their Awakened education, and live lavishly, while Michael was treated as little more than an afterthought.
His bedroom was a cramped storage room, his meals were whatever leftovers they decided to spare, and his presence in the house was despised.
His uncle regularly abused him. His favorite pastime was to press burning cigarettes against Michael’s hands.
His aunt was no better.
She didn’t hit him, not directly. That would be too much effort. Instead, she wielded cruelty in words, in neglect, in the way she made sure he knew he was unwanted.
“You should be grateful we even let you stay here,” she would scowl in disgust, dropping a half-empty plate of cold food in front of him. “Filthy child.”
To them, he wasn’t family. He was a burden, a stain on their lives.
They weren’t always like that. When his parents were alive, his aunt and uncle used to come by their home.
They’d frequently take loans from his father, always full of smiles and sweet words. Back then, they treated Michael kindly, ruffling his hair and bringing small gifts, promising that family always took care of each other.
But the moment his parents vanished, their kindness dried up like a puddle in the sun.
The loans were never repaid. The smiles turned to sneers. And Michael, once their cherished nephew, became nothing more than an unwanted obligation.
He learned quickly — people only pretended to care when they had something to gain.
But that wasn’t the last lesson he was going to learn.
Because the next thing that he learned was — power was everything in this world. Have it and you could live like a king.
And the person who taught him that was none other than Samael Kaizer Theosbane.
Samael was famous not only in their school but throughout the entire city of Luxara. He was the son of the Golden Duke, yet he lacked proper noble decorums.
Picking fights and getting into trouble seemed like his hobby. But because of his father’s influence, he was practically untouchable.
Michael had never interacted with him before. People like Samael and people like him existed in completely different worlds.
Samael was power, wealth, and privilege wrapped in arrogance.
Michael was a nobody scraping by on whatever scraps life threw his way.
Their first meeting wasn’t some grand moment or fated encounter.
No, it was as mundane as it could’ve been. He just casually bumped into him in the school hallway one day, when Samael’s lackeys were busy bullying a kid.
Yet, that simple moment changed Michael’s life.
Because at that moment, Michael recognized the kid Samael’s friends were ganging up on. It was his classmate.
A quiet kid who never caused trouble, never spoke out, never stood up for himself. Just another nobody, much like Michael himself.
And yet, here he was — shoved against the lockers, his books scattered across the floor, bruises already forming where Samael’s lackeys had grabbed him.
Michael had seen this scene play out a hundred times before. He knew the smart thing to do.
Lower his head. Walk away. Pretend he didn’t see anything.
But instead, his feet moved on their own.
Before he could think better of it, he grabbed the kid’s arm and yanked him away from Samael’s lackeys.
“Leave him alone,” he said.
The words weren’t loud, but they stopped everything. The hallway, once filled with laughter and jeering, fell silent.
A slow, amused chuckle broke the stillness.
Michael turned and found himself staring into the sharp golden eyes of Samael Kaizer Theosbane.
He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t annoyed. If anything, he looked intrigued.
His lackeys, however… decided their next target would be Michael.
They stopped pestering the quiet kid and went after him, finding new ways to make his life miserable day after day.
He tried fighting back, he tried standing up for himself, but they were all Awakened… and he was weak.
And although those people hurt him physically, what hurt Michael the most were Samael’s reactions. That guy never laid a hand on him. Never needed to.
Instead, he just watched.
And he always looked bored, as if Michael’s pain wasn’t even worth the entertainment for someone as high as him.
There was no cruelty in his eyes, only contempt. It was as if he was saying,
This is it? This is all who you are? And you tried to stand up against me?
Michael hated that feeling of insignificance.
He hated that he couldn’t escape it.
No one helped him. Not even the kid who he stood up for. It was understandable, no one wanted to go against the Golden Boy, after all.
Everyone was scared of him.
So everyone silently watched Michael suffer.
…Except her.
Lily Elderwing.
One of her classmates.
Out of everyone in the school, only she was kind to him.
Ironically, she was Samael’s girlfriend at the time.
At first, Michael thought it was some trick.
Maybe she was playing with him.
Maybe she was waiting for the right moment to humiliate him — just another way for Samael to get inside his head.
But she never did.
She wasn’t just kind in secret. She stood up for him, called out the bullying, even scolded Samael himself.
She patched up his wounds when no one else would.
She spoke to him like he was someone instead of a waste of space.
It was ridiculous. Unbelievable.
Someone like her — smart, beautiful, respected — caring about someone like him?
Michael wanted to push her away at first. Wanted to believe it was some elaborate joke, that any moment now, she would turn around and laugh in his face.
But she never did.
Lily was the only warmth in his cold, suffocating world.
And for the first time, Michael had something to lose.
Something Samael could take away.
Something he could hurt.
And he always did.
The thing was, despite being kind and gentle herself, Lily had a thing for the worst breed of guys — just like millions of teenage girls before her.
A douche she thought she could fix.
But she never did.
He always ended up breaking her heart. And when he promised to change, she believed him.
But he never did.
And the cycle repeated.
It was no different this time.
Samael would flirt with other girls right in front of Lily, disregard her feelings, brush off her opinions, and treat her more like a trophy than a girlfriend.
He never cared about her. He never loved her.
He once even forgot her birthday! Her birthday, for god’s sake.
He made her cry, over and over again. And yet, she always forgave him.
It drove Michael mad.
Why? Why did a girl like her stay with a guy like him? — Michael would clench his fists and ask himself that every time she cried over Samael.
He wanted to tell her to leave. To walk away from a guy who didn’t deserve her. But he knew he couldn’t.
All he could do was console her, wipe her tears, and tell her everything would be okay.
That maybe this time, that douche wouldn’t break her heart.
But it always happened.
Again and again.
And still, she stayed.
Michael wanted to scream. Wanted to shake her and ask — why him?
Why not me?
Because unlike Samael, he would’ve never taken her for granted.
He would’ve cherished her. Held onto her like she was the most precious thing in the world.
But it didn’t matter.
Because in Lily’s eyes, he was just a friend.
A safe place to fall when Samael hurt her, but never someone she would fall for.
And Michael hated it.
He hated how powerless he was. He hated how he had no control over anything.
But most of all, he hated Samael Kaizer Theosbane.
Because Samael had it all — power, status, respect, and a life free of struggle. And yet, he acted as if none of it meant anything.
…So when Lily finally kissed Michael, he thought that would be the happiest day of his life.
However, he forgot a simple fact. Actions have consequences. And he wasn’t strong enough to endure the consequence this time.
Samael barged into the classroom just as they broke their kiss and threw him to the ground. He mounted Michael and started raining down punches on his face.
The sheer humiliation of it — getting beaten in front of the girl he liked — was unbearable. There were no words for it.
And the days that followed were even worse.
Samael had never paid him much attention before. But now, he personally took part in tormenting him. Every single day, he made Michael’s life a living hell.
That was when Michael finally reached his limit.
For the first time in years, he broke down.
What had he done wrong?
Was it standing up for someone?
Was it loving a girl who wasn’t loved properly?
Or was it simply because he had been born weak?
…Yes.
That was it.
Weak.
If only he hadn’t been weak…
He could’ve stopped Samael. He could’ve stopped his aunt and uncle. He could’ve changed his life.
So, when the demon inside the rusty old sword that he found among his parents’ belongings whispered to him and offered him power…
He took it.
Without hesitation.
And Xaldreth, the demon, delivered on his promise.
He awakened Michael’s Origin Card, taught him knowledge lost to time, and passed down techniques no one else should have known.
It was laughable, really.
In mere weeks, Michael had reached the very pinnacle of his rank — much faster than what should have been possible.
Once upon a time, Samael had seemed like an untouchable existence to him.
He was someone so far above Michael that standing up to him had been nothing but a delusion.
But now? Now, Michael could go toe-to-toe with him. He could even defeat him!
He was strong.
He had won.
…Or had he?
Because here he was, in a private training hall, passing down one of his greatest secrets to the very guy who had once made his life hell.
(I’m telling you, we should just kill him. Rob his robe afterward and take every last Essence Stone in it. Easy.)
Michael ignored the vicious, distorted voice echoing in his ears.
(Oh, come on! It’d be simple. Just follow my instructions, and I’ll tell you how to dispose of his body—)
Michael gritted his teeth, cutting him off. ‘For the last time, we are not killing anyone.’
Xaldreth let out a long sigh like a disappointed grandfather whose grandson had refused to go fishing with him.
(I taught you everything you know. But I don’t remember teaching you mercy. Where the hell did you learn that, boy?)
Michael rolled his eyes. ‘It’s called humanity, demon.’
(You’re willing to trade your secret technique just to uphold ‘humanity’? You won’t make it far in this world.)
Michael clicked his tongue. ‘I’m willing to trade it for that Card. And those Essence Stones. Nearly a thousand of them… even after raising my rank, I could do so much with them.’
There was a bit of a pause before Michael added, ‘…And to know what happened to my parents.’
Xaldreth was about to respond when—
“Michael.”
A sharp voice cut through the silence.
Michael snapped his head down and matched Samael’s gaze, who was sitting in the center of the hall, shirtless and cross-legged.
…Those golden eyes.
Michael still hated them. He hated them because they still terrified him a little.
“Yeah?” he muttered.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“…Excuse me?”
Samael’s gaze grew suspicious.
“You told me to take off my shirt and sit down. And now you’ve just been standing there, silently, staring at my naked back. Look, if you swing both ways, I won’t judge. I mean, I am ridiculously handsome. Sometimes, even I get turned on looking at myself in the mirror. But… I have no interest in you. So can you stop staring?”