The river sparkled like polished silver.
Red ribbons fluttered in the breeze.
The small village, quiet and peaceful for years, came alive with color.
Laughter echoed.
Children ran barefoot across dirt paths.
Even the elder, half-blind, insisted on carving the wedding symbol himself.
> Today was the day.
After years of grief, exile, blood, and running…
Kang Woo was going to be married.
---
The Ceremony
He wore white — simple robes. Not regal, not elegant. Just clean.
Yunhee wore a robe she stitched herself.
It was soft pink, and didn't fit perfectly.
But when she smiled beneath her veil, the whole sky seemed to blush.
The villagers gathered under the plum tree.
Old. Twisted. Full of blooming white flowers.
Kang Woo stood beneath it, watching her walk toward him.
He had lived through ten thousand deaths.
> But this moment — this quiet, trembling moment — was the first time he had ever felt alive.
---
Then the wind changed.
A stillness sharper than silence.
Birds stopped mid-flight.
The petals from the plum tree froze in mid-air.
Kang Woo felt it instantly.
> Divine suppression.
---
They Descended.
No lightning. No war drums.
Just five beams of golden law falling from the sky like falling judgment.
Immortals.
Not clones.
Not scouts.
Real ones.
And with them — came a seal.
A divine artifact bound in chains of starlight.
Before Kang Woo could even step forward—
> It activated.
He felt his qi coil, then collapse.
His dantian pulsed. His blood froze.
He staggered forward—reaching out toward Yunhee.
> "No—!"
One of the immortals turned, unbothered.
> "Target: located. Mortal resistance: sealed."
Then, the slaughter began.
---
The Massacre
The villagers screamed.
Ran.
Cried.
Begged.
It didn't matter.
The immortals didn't raise weapons — they raised fingers.
> With flicks of light, they erased people.
Children. Elders. Friends. The ones who fed him. The ones who healed him. The ones who welcomed him.
Gone.
Yunhee ran to his side, trying to shield him with her body.
> "Don't—don't look! Don't—!"
But she couldn't finish the sentence.
A beam of light pierced through her back.
Straight through her heart.
She gasped—blood at her lips.
Kang Woo's arms caught her.
She looked up at him.
> "I… I was happy…"
Then, her eyes lost their light.
And she slumped in his arms.
---
And Something Snapped.
Not cracked. Not broke.
Snapped.
A spiritual scream tore through the sealed village — not from his lungs, but from his soul.
> "You took… everything."
Kang Woo stood.
The seal around him glowed—trying to force him still.
But his eyes were already changing.
From gold… to black.
From black… to void.
And behind them—flames that looked like eternity burning.
---
He didn't roar.
He didn't curse.
He simply said one sentence:
> "You made me a demon. Now see what that means."