The air crackled with tension, thick with the oppressive darkness emanating from the figure before him. Lilith Despera, the Demon King, had ascended, her Mythical power evolving into God-like strength alongside with the threat level she posed to the world.


    Her presence as cold as the abyss itself.


    Her malice radiated through the very ground, and her gaze locked onto the enemy ahead, who had once been considered a legend.


    A loud and sharp echo broke the silence.


    "Any last words, SSS rank Adventurer, Ravun of the Morning Star?", she asked; her voice sweet, yet dripping with venom.


    Ravun, though standing on the precipice of death, remained calm. His amber eyes glowed with disdain as he faced his inevitable end.


    "Not, but a question."


    Lilith tilted her head, a small, cruel smile playing on her lips.


    "A question? Sure, go on, ask ahead."


    "Do you know if reincarnation works thrice?" Ravun asked, his voice laced with a bitter amusement. His gaze was locked onto her, exuding the deep disgust he felt for the power that had corrupted her. He had witnessed it firsthand—her god-like ascent. Against her, his strength was nothing.


    It was a strange question, one that seemed detached from the moment. Lilith tilted her head, momentarily perplexed by the strange words. The man’s hand was reaching into his pocket to retrieve a small potion vial. He had used it just moments before, healing himself endlessly, only to have his progress reverted to this image. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t the protagonist of this tale, and his plan was already doomed from the start.


    Lilith, however, got bored with her current toy, the ascension’s power was demanding new, stronger playmates. She had no patience for it.


    Without another word, her blade, an extension of her very being, whipped through the air in a perfect arc. Ravun barely had time to flinch before the swift SLASH rang through the chamber, and his head hit the ground with a sickening thud, rolling away from its body like a discarded trinket.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "No idea what you''re mumbling about, but I wouldn''t get my hopes high," she said, her tone mocking.


    Her gaze lingered on his fallen body for a moment longer, ensuring he was truly dead. She, perhaps, was thinking of her next conquest, or the souls she had consumed on her path to godhood, barely noticing the faint shimmer of magic that seemed to ripple through the air in the wake of Ravun''s death.


    Indeed...


    This wasn''t the end for Ravun.


    Outside the ominous Demon Castle, a peculiar sight broke the oppressive atmosphere of the Dark King’s domain. A Pegasus, its wings shimmering faintly under the dim light of the Sapphire Moon, stood tethered carefully to a lone tree. The tree itself was an anomaly, its slender branches adorned with ethereal pink sakura blossoms and golden pears glistening like tiny suns.


    The contrast was stark, almost jarring. Here, amidst the obsidian sands of a desolate black beach, surrounded by the sinister expanse of a crimson lake—a grotesque creation of Her Darkness—the tree stood as an otherworldly beacon of life and beauty.


    The tree was no ordinary one, and neither was the Pegasus resting beneath its ethereal canopy. The sakura blossoms adorning the tree swayed gently, though no wind graced the surroundings. Each petal shimmered with an unnatural, light, their glow pulsing in harmony as if responding to an unseen rhythm.


    As the petals began to fall, moving with purpose, in a delicate, orchestrated dance.


    Bit by bit, Ravun’s body took shape, rebuilt by the magic of the tree. His amber eyes glowed faintly as they opened, his chest rising with the first breath of his renewed life. The faint remnants of his previous death lingered in the air—dark, oppressive energy clinging to him like a fading shadow. Yet, as the process completed, he stood upright, whole and alive once more.


    Renewal; one of Ravun’s many blessings. Few knew of it—only himself, the king of his homeland, and another ruler from a faraway land whom he unexpectedly befriended due to a shared past.


    Within his presence, he’d expanded this power onto the plants personally selected. The tree, once ordinary, would blossom into something far more exceptional, its leaves turning into sakura. As for the final chorus of this ability—if bested, instead of perishing, Ravun’s soul would be instead carried by the wind and into the tree. The sakura leaves would shake, and in doing so, his body would be reformed.


    An intricate, almost impossible-to-detect ability that made Ravun a difficult opponent, even in death… as long as it was kept hidden. Had Lilith known of this ability, there would have been no escaping his fate.


    With a quick motion, Ravun mounted the Pegasus, his trusted companion, adorned in sapphire armor that shimmered in the moonlight. The books in the Pegasus’ tiny carrier—grimoires, perhaps—clinked softly against each other as he adjusted the reins.


    He took one last glance at the beautiful, yet eerie, sakura tree that had granted him a third chance at life.


    “Tokyo…” a melancholic whisper escaped him, but the time for reminiscence was none. He had a message to deliver—a warning to the kingdom he called home.


    Ravun took flight, his Pegasus soaring high into the night sky, away from the reach of Lilith’s darkness. His escape wasn’t perfect, but it was enough.


    There was much to do and time wasn’t generous, but the current task ahead was simple: warn the kingdom he called home.


    The Demon King was on the rise, and they needed to prepare!