Chapter 0: The Fallen Commander

The chamber of judgment was silent, yet the weight of countless eyes bore down on one man. Crystals of pale light floated above, casting a cold glow over the tribunal hall of the Holy Land. Rows of robed magi stared down at the accused, their expressions laced with disdain.

At the center stood a single figure.
Tendou Shinsei.
Once hailed as the Hound of the Holy Land, commander of the Prism Knights.
Now, nothing more than a criminal on trial.

“Commander Shinsei,” the presiding judge’s voice rang like iron against stone. “Do you admit that during the operation against the Serpent remnants, your miscalculation led your battalion into a trap?”

Shinsei raised his head slowly, red eyes dull, voice cracking.
“I… I misread the terrain. I never knew civilians were still inside.”

A murmur rippled through the chamber. One of the council slammed the desk.
“Never knew? Because of your negligence, forty-eight soldiers perished. Over a hundred civilians burned alive. And you dare claim ignorance?”

The weight of their words pressed into him like chains. Shinsei’s hands trembled on his knees. Images flashed before his eyes: his men laughing around the campfire, smiling, calling him “Commander.” All of them, swallowed in fire because of him.

His lips trembled. “I… accept responsibility. If punishment must be dealt, let it fall on me. They were not at fault. It was my failure.”

The judge’s gavel struck like thunder.
“Tendou Shinsei, commander of the Prism Knights, you are hereby found guilty of mass negligence resulting in massacre. Effective immediately, you are stripped of rank, exiled from the Holy Land, and cast out of the Order Prism.”

The final strike echoed. And in that instant, his world collapsed.

The Funeral

Dark clouds hung heavy over the cemetery. Row upon row of coffins, draped in the Holy Land’s white and gold, descended into the earth.

Shinsei stood alone at the edge, his uniform tattered, his presence unwelcome. Whispers cut at him like knives.

“That’s the butcher.”
“He should’ve died with them.”
“A commander who slaughters his own—he has no right to live.”

His gaze lingered on the gravestones, each carved with names he would never forget. His chest tightened, breath shallow. Tears threatened to fall, but he clenched his jaw until his teeth bled.

That night, before a cracked mirror, he saw a reflection that barely resembled a man. His once-kept hair had grown long, tangled, streaks of white cascading over hollow eyes. A beard shadowed his face. His gaze was empty.

On the table lay a pistol, already loaded.

His fingers wrapped around the cold metal. He lifted it to his temple.

“I’m sorry… I’ll join you soon.” His voice was hollow, a whisper drowned in silence. He closed his eyes, finger tightening on the trigger—

Yuna’s Arrival

“Senpai!”

A flash of azure light burst through the room. The pistol was flung from his hand, clattering across the floor. Shinsei fell back, startled, his breath ragged.

At the doorway stood a girl, young yet fierce, her hand glowing with the remnants of a spell. Her brown hair fell to her shoulders, her amber eyes burning with desperate resolve.

Shinsei’s voice broke. “Yuna…?”

Yuna Tachibana rushed forward and seized him, arms locking around his back as if anchoring him to the earth.

“What are you doing? You think you can just leave us like this?” Her voice cracked, anger and sorrow laced in every word.

His body shook. “I’ve lost everything. My men… the civilians… they’re all gone. Their blood is on my hands. I don’t deserve to live.”

Her grip tightened, tears wetting his shirt. “That’s not true. If you had given up back then, I wouldn’t even be alive. You saved me, Shinsei-senpai. If you die now, then you’re throwing away not only your life but the life you gave me too.”

Shinsei’s chest heaved. The pistol lay just out of reach, its cold gleam still tempting. But her words struck deeper than any blade.

Yuna pulled back slightly, looking straight into his hollow red eyes. Her own gaze did not waver.

“If the Holy Land won’t have you, then come with me. Japan needs people like you. There’s an academy in Tokyo—Arcane University. They want someone strong, someone who knows what war is truly like. You can start over. You can teach. You can live.”

Shinsei’s lips trembled. He wanted to laugh, to dismiss it as a cruel joke. But Yuna’s hands clutched his, warm and unyielding.

For the first time since the massacre, he felt something stir inside him. Not redemption. Not hope. But a faint, fragile reason to rise again.

And so, in that ruined room, with a broken soul and a pistol still on the floor, Tendou Shinsei chose not to die.