Prologue

Long before demons became the greatest terror of mankind, before kingdoms raised towering walls against creatures born from darkness, humanity had already created monsters of its own.

They simply wore human faces.

It was an age when fear ruled every village, when greed outweighed compassion, and when envy, hatred, and ambition spread like an unseen plague across the land. There were no Demon Lords marching upon kingdoms, nor infernal armies laying waste to nations. Humanity itself was its own greatest enemy. Men betrayed their brothers for gold, nobles butchered innocents for power, and those entrusted with justice stained their hands with blood until the distinction between man and beast faded into obscurity.

There was no shortage of sinners.

Some abandoned their children to starvation. Others burned entire settlements simply because they stood in the way of their ambitions. There were those who delighted in suffering, who viewed mercy as weakness and kindness as a flaw to be exploited. It became difficult to believe that humans were any different from the demons that would one day haunt the world.

Many believed the age was beyond salvation.

Until two heroes emerged.

They sought the same destination, dreamed of the same peaceful future, and carried within their hearts the desire to restore humanity. Fate drew them together, and in time, friendship blossomed into love. They walked side by side through battlefields drenched in crimson, bringing hope wherever despair had taken root.

But even the strongest bonds can fracture beneath the weight of conviction.

The first was a man named Leopold. Though his name inspired fear, his heart was guided not by cruelty, but by reason. Before drawing his blade, he listened. Before delivering judgment, he sought the truth hidden beneath every accusation. He believed that while evil deserved punishment, humanity itself deserved another chance. Even those who had wandered into darkness could still return to the light, provided they sincerely sought redemption.

Standing beside him was the woman he loved more than his own life.

Krone The daughter of the Fire God Hephastion.

Where Leopold saw the possibility of redemption, Krone saw only the consequences of sin. She believed that the moment a soul willingly abandoned its morality, it forfeited the right to forgiveness. Those who stained their hands with innocent blood deserved no trial, no plea, and no second chance. Mercy, in her eyes, was merely an invitation for evil to return stronger than before.

Her judgment was absolute. Her flames knew no hesitation.

As word of her deeds spread across the continent, sinners learned to fear the mere whisper of her name. Entire armies surrendered before she ever reached their gates, knowing the alternative was to be consumed by divine fire. To countless innocent people, she was a savior.

To the guilty.

She was the incarnation of divine punishment herself.

Though Leopold and Krone shared the same dream of saving humanity, the path they chose to reach that future slowly drove them apart. Their debates became arguments. Their arguments became resentment. What had once been unwavering trust slowly crumbled beneath irreconcilable ideals.

Eventually, the day arrived when neither would yield.

History would remember that conflict as the Requiem War.

A war not born from greed nor conquest, but from love torn apart by justice.

Leopold stood beside the king and queen of an ancient kingdom, gathering those who still believed that compassion could heal a broken world. Krone answered with warriors from every corner of the continent, men and women who believed evil could only be extinguished through absolute judgment. Across cities, forests, mountains, and rivers, countless battles were fought as humanity became divided between forgiveness and retribution.

The war raged for years.

And as the flames spread across the land, tragedy followed in their wake.

Krone’s relentless pursuit of justice gradually consumed the very compassion that had once existed within her heart. Every execution became easier than the last. Every sinner condemned without hesitation. Until one day, blinded by grief and fury, she crossed the line she had sworn never to cross.

Innocent lives were lost by her own hand.

The woman who sought to purge monsters from humanity had unknowingly become one herself.

The final battle was fought beneath a crimson sky.

Legends would later proclaim that Leopold slew the woman he loved to save the world.

The truth was far crueler.

Unable to bring himself to take her life, Leopold chose another path. With tears hidden behind bloodstained steel, he sealed Krone beneath the deepest reaches of the earth, imprisoning her within an eternal inferno that none could ever escape. He accepted that history would remember him as the man who killed his beloved, believing such hatred was a far lighter burden than the guilt of ending her life with his own hands.

He waited…

Hoping that one day, she might forgive and understand him.

But that day, never came.

The Requiem War came to its end, and from its ashes the victorious king and queen founded a new kingdom named Vaterden.

Leopold was celebrated as the greatest hero of the age, and he was remembered as Leopold the Iron Blood.

Yet he rejected every title bestowed upon him. Songs were written in his honor, statues were carved in his likeness, and children grew up hearing tales of his bravery.

He never attended a single celebration.

For in his own eyes, he had not saved the world.

He had merely condemned the woman he loved to an eternity of loneliness.

Century has passed.

Deep beneath the kingdom of Vaterden, where neither sunlight nor time could reach, the prison remained.

There, surrounded by everlasting flames, waited Krone.

She forged a crown from the flames of her own divinity, a relic destined to endure long after her name had vanished from history.

It is called…

Das Inferno Krone.