Prologue
Grrruk. Grrruk.
The sound of something hard scraping across the stone floor echoed through the air. A massive boulder-like shape lumbered forward. No—upon closer inspection, it had eyes, a nose, a mouth.
Grrruk. It was the severed head of the upper demon that had once ruled these lands. Its mountain-sized body lay tumbling far in the distance.
Thud. The one dragging the head was a woman. Snow-white hair, bleached pale as bone, cascaded down her nape. Blood pooled everywhere around her, yet her white suit remained impeccably pristine, untouched by a single stain. Eyes like spilled blood gleamed beneath a red dress shirt, accented by a tie as dark as pitch black. Two large, sharply curved horns thrust boldly from her head.
Her face was breathtakingly beautiful—utterly out of place in this hellscape. Perfectly balanced features, skin flawless as polished marble. She could have been a masterfully carved statue. But her eyes told a different story. Those eerie, blood-red orbs held no focus, no depth. No rage, no sorrow. Not even boredom. They simply stared blankly into the void, empty as a preserved specimen.
Grrruk. Thud. She halted, the head coming to rest. Slowly, her head turned.
From crevices in the rocks, behind lava pools, amid toppled stone pillars, and within the shadows—hundreds of eyes that had been watching her all vanished in unison.
The white demon stood motionless. She had no idea how long she remained that way. Time had lost all meaning long ago. She couldn't recall if it had been years, centuries, or millennia since she last cared. At first, she'd tried keeping track, but eventually she'd let it slip away. Perhaps it had been thousands of years.
The sky above hung eternally red, devoid of any sun. This was Hell.
"……."
Long, long ago. The day she'd been caught in a Gate and dragged here.
At first, survival meant hiding, scavenging bites from nameless corpses when hunger gnawed, and huddling in terror through the nights. But that was ancient history now.
As she adapted to this place, her body had changed, bit by bit. Black hair turning white. Male to female. Human to demon.
"……Haa."
The white demon let out a sigh. The area around her was utterly silent now, devoid of any presence. It was boring.
"Wanna go home…."
She stretched a hand toward the sky, reaching for… something. Or nothing at all.
Ah. I want something tasty. Ramen would do. But… what was ramen again?
She knew it. She definitely knew. Those curly noodles in hot broth… Right, there was broth. Red, maybe? Or yellow? Both? The smell… What was that smell?
It felt nostalgic. It had to be nostalgic. And yet, the precise scent eluded her, dancing just beyond grasp at the edge of memory.
After eons in this place, it was inevitable.
That was when she felt it—a distant twisting of dimensions.
She turned her head. A novel sensation. One she hadn't felt in ages, utterly unfamiliar.
Like a thread being tugged from afar, an oddly ticklish pull. She flew toward it. Fear of the unknown was a distant memory.
***
How far had she flown? There—a rift. A thin tear between spaces.
A lesser demon was peering into it, so she extended a hand. Flames erupted silently. No scream. Not even ash remained.
Tap. The white demon landed where the dust had settled.
Too small for a proper fissure, too crude for a Gate. But it existed.
"……."
Not a natural formation. She peered inside. A Summoning Circle. Sloppily drawn, but the intent was clear: to pull something through from this side.
And the connection led to…
'Earth.'
She swallowed. An ancient word. So old it felt foreign now.
A place with a sun, with wind, with ramen. And…
"Where I came from."
Without hesitation, she leaped into the rift.
Whoosh! Flames engulfed her body in an instant.