Chapter I: The Sovereign Core is Born

Deep within the subterranean bunker beneath the Kurogane Estate, the Crimson Crescent floats ominously in mid-air.

The ancient idol bleeds a dark, crimson aura. The mist pulses like a slow, rhythmic heartbeat, staining the heavy air of the chamber like thick smoke. Kneeling perfectly still before it is Gendo Kurogane. The billionaire tycoon and ruthless mastermind behind the massive Kurogane Group keeps his eyes tightly closed. The oppressive, bloody pressure of the vault does not move him; his posture remains as unyielding as stone.

The heavy hydraulic bunker door grinds open with a sharp, metallic shriek, violently shattering the silence.

A doctor steps into the vault. Though a grown man, he trembles so violently from head to toe that his medical clipboard rattles against his fingers. The raw malice radiating through the room makes the very air feel suffocating.

"Master Gendo," the doctor stammers, his voice echoing weakly against the cold concrete walls. "The procedure... the procedure is complete."

He swallows hard, staring at the terrifying silhouette of his employer's back before finding the courage to finish.

"They are twin girls, my lord."

Gendo does not flinch. His posture does not shift by even a single fraction.

Slowly, his eyes snap open, reflecting the ominous red light of the floating idol. His voice, when he finally speaks, is flat, empty, and freezing cold.

"Girls... useless to my legacy."

The words cut through the chamber with brutal finality. Gendo does not bother to turn around as he issues his next command.

"Take them and their mother, Saya, to the lower chambers of the mansion. Keep them locked away. Out of my sight."

"A-As you command!"

The doctor bows frantically and flees the room, his frantic footsteps echoing down the corridor as he escapes the demon's den.

◇ ◇ ◇

Four years later.

The sharp, echoing cry of a newborn infant shatters the tense atmosphere of the Kurogane private hospital.

Inside the pristine, white delivery room, the lead doctor frantically turns to his assistant, sweat pouring down his pale face.

"Hurry! Inform the master immediately! A boy... a boy has been born!"

On the delivery bed, Saya lies exhausted, her breathing ragged. Hearing the doctor's panicked shouting, she looks down at her newborn son. She knows exactly what this means; her husband's obsessive, terrifying demand for a male heir has finally been fulfilled.

Looking at the innocent child, a profound wave of motherly protectiveness washes over her. Gently, she leans down, whispering softly so only the infant could hear her over the frantic noise of the medical staff.

"I must give you a name, my beautiful boy... a gift to protect you in this cold house. Your name is Ren. My lotus."

The moment the name leaves her lips, the baby’s crying ceases.

The chaotic noise of the hospital room seems to fade into a peaceful silence. Small, fragile fingers reach out, wrapping tightly around his mother’s thumb. As they both drift off into a deep, exhausted sleep, the newborn Ren never let go of his mother's hand.

The sterile white doors of the private hospital room part, and the ambient temperature suddenly plummets.

Gendo Kurogane walks in. His presence alone is heavy enough to silence the low hum of the medical equipment. He approaches the bedside, his cold, calculating eyes fixing entirely on the newborn child. Without a single word of comfort to his exhausted wife, Gendo reaches down, his large hand extending to seize the infant.

He doesn't see a son. He sees his ultimate prize.

But as his fingers brush the child, the baby doesn't move.

Ren’s tiny hand remains locked in a vice-like grip around his mother’s wrist. Even in his sleep, the newborn refuses to let go, anchoring himself fiercely to Saya’s warmth.

Beside them, the lead doctor’s breath hinges in astonishment. For a newborn to exhibit such deliberate, unyielding strength is biologically impossible.

Gendo’s hand pauses in mid-air. A flicker of irritation crosses his stern face, but he quickly masks it with absolute indifference. Sensing the mounting tension, the doctor steps forward nervously, wiping sweat from his brow.

"M-Master Gendo... perhaps it is best to leave the child with his mother for now. Let her care for him until he is a bit older."

Gendo draws his hand back, straightening his imposing posture.

"Do as you please," he replies, his voice completely devoid of human warmth.

But as he turns his back and walks toward the exit, his thoughts grow dark and predatory.

Take care of him for now, Saya, Gendo muses inwardly, a cold smirk forming in his mind. Nurture him. I will claim my prize when the time is right.

Later that evening, deep within the subterranean bunker beneath the Kurogane Estate, the atmosphere is entirely different.

The room is bathed in a heavy, flickering glow. Gendo conducts a dark, solitary ceremony to celebrate the birth of his long-awaited heir. He stands before the bleeding Crimson Crescent, the dark aura pulsing violently in approval.

Gendo raises his arms toward the floating idol.

"To the continuation of the Kurogane legacy," he whispers into the shadows. "To Ren. The Core."

To him, the boy is not a human being. He is the core of a grand, dark design.

While the dark ceremony echoes in the depths of the bunker, back in the pristine hospital room, Saya remains trapped in a deep, exhausted sleep. Ren sleeps soundly beside her, still refusing to release his mother's arm.

But they are not alone.

High above the delivery room, hidden inside the darkened viewing gallery, two small figures stand pressed against the glass.

Lyra and Aria.

The twin sisters, now four years old, have crept out of the lower chambers, navigating the mansion's shadows like ghosts. They peer down at the brightly lit hospital room, watching the medical staff flutter around the newborn baby with endless praise and care.

They see the warmth their brother is receiving. They hear the whispers of the grand celebration happening in the bunker below.

A profound, toxic envy twists their young faces. Having spent their entire lives neglected and hidden away in the cold, dark lower chambers, seeing this newborn boy showered in glory awakens a fierce, venomous hatred within them.

Lyra’s fingers claw at the glass, her eyes reflecting the bright hospital lights with absolute bitterness.

"Look at him," Aria whispers, her voice trembling with a malice far too heavy for a child.

Lyra bares her teeth, staring down at the smiling, sleeping baby.

"Ren... he is the core of all our problems."

Two years bleed into the past, but the passage of time brings no warmth to the Kurogane Estate.

Instead, the shadows grow longer, and the oppressive weight of Gendo’s ambitions only deepened. At just two years old, Ren is no longer merely a hidden secret in the hospital wing. He is ready, in his father's eyes, to be claimed.

Deep within the subterranean bunker, the Crimson Crescent pulses with a sickening, vibrant light. The metallic tang of blood fills the air, so thick it feels heavy on the tongue.

Saya stands near the edge of the ritual chamber, forced to watch the horror unfold. Her teeth sink deep into her bottom lip, drawing the faint taste of iron as she fights back the urge to scream. Her knuckles are squeezed so tightly together that her skin turns a deathly, bruised white.

A volatile mixture of absolute hatred and suffocating guilt burns in her chest. She resents Gendo with every fiber of her being. She has tried so hard to shield her boy, to keep him enveloped in her warmth. But the moment she stepped away—the single instance she was not around to guard him—Gendo pounced like a predator, dragging their toddler into the dark.

In the center of the chamber, Gendo stands over the small child like a towering monolith.

"The bloodline must be bound," Gendo’s voice booms, completely devoid of any paternal warmth.

Slowly, Gendo stretches forth his hand, hovering his palm directly over Ren’s small chest.

The air fractures with static electricity as a wave of dark, crimson cult energy begins to seep from Gendo’s skin, twisting like black-red vipers through the air. The energy lunges toward the toddler, eager to imbue his pure soul with the malice of the Crimson Crescent.

The agonizing pressure in the room makes it hard to breathe. Saya’s eyes well with hot, angry tears.

But right at that exact moment, as the dark energy wraps around his small frame, Ren does something entirely unexpected.

He doesn't cry. He didn't scream.

Instead, the two-year-old boy turns his head slightly, his innocent eyes locking directly onto his trembling mother.

Amidst the swirling, terrifying darkness of the cult initiation, Ren smiles.

It is a gentle, knowing expression—a silent plea from a son to his mother, trying to tell her not to cry, begging her not to shed a single tear for his sake.

The sight strikes Saya like a physical blow. The crushing despair in her heart suddenly shatters, replaced by a fierce, blazing resolve.

My son... Ren, Saya swears inwardly, her thoughts hardening into an unbreakable vow. I will be strong for your sake. I will be the shield you need. I will raise your soul and your mind in absolute purity, no matter what they do to your body. I swear it... you will never end up like Gendo.

But Saya and Ren are not the only ones watching.

High above, from the shadowed scaffolding lining the upper rim of the ritual chamber, two pairs of eyes burn into the darkness.

Lyra and Aria crouch in the freezing gloom, their small bodies blending seamlessly into the architectural recesses of the bunker. They are six years old now, left to rot in the lower chambers while the golden child is brought into the light.

As the dark energy coils around their younger brother, the twins watch with bated breath. Then, they see him turn his head. They see him look at their mother.

And they see him smile.

To Saya, that smile is a shield of pure love. But to the twins watching from the heights, isolated from affection and starved of maternal warmth, their young minds completely misinterpret the gesture.

They couldn't comprehend a sacrifice so selfless. They didn't see a boy trying to save his mother from weeping. They saw a monster who was genuinely happy while their mother suffered.

"Look at him," Aria hisses, her fingers digging into the rusted iron railing until her nails nearly split. Her voice cracks with a venom that has fermented over years of dark isolation. "Mother is suffering... she's tearing herself apart looking at him... and he's laughing."

Lyra’s jaw clenches so tightly her teeth ground together. She watches their mother’s knuckles turn white, watches the agony etched into every line of Saya’s face, and then looks back at Ren’s small, upturned lips.

A profound, toxic resentment roots itself deep within the twins' hearts.

He likes it, Lyra thinks, the poison of envy warping her perception completely. He’s happy to take everything from us. He’s happy to watch Mother break, as long as he gets to sit on Father's throne.

Every drop of crimson energy that enters Ren's body seems to mirror itself as pure, unadulterated hatred inside his sisters. As Gendo’s dark ritual reaches its peak, sealing the cult's energy into the toddler’s flesh, the twins quietly withdraw into the deeper shadows of the upper vents.

They carry with them a silent, collective vow born of misunderstandings and neglect: one day, they will make their smiling brother pay for being the core of all our problems.

◇ ◇ ◇

Ren lives a life of absolute luxury, trapped inside a cage of gold and glass.

He wears the finest tailored clothes. He eats the most exquisite, luxurious foods. Yet, he is a prisoner. He is never allowed to step foot into the outside world, permitted only to view it through the massive, reinforced glass walls of his quarters.

But within that isolation, Ren defies nature.

He absorbs knowledge like a sponge. He mastered walking and talking at just one year and six months old. By the age of three, his mind was so terrifyingly advanced that he thoroughly understood the complexities of human behavior. He learned everything from the only source of warmth in his life: his mother, Saya, who tutors him daily.

Three years pass in this strange, gilded routine.

Now five years old, Ren sits across from his mother at a grand mahogany table inside the vast Kurogane mansion library. As Saya points to a passage in a book, a slight tilt of her head causes her long hair to shift.

Ren’s sharp eyes lock onto her face.

Hidden beneath the curtain of her hair is a jagged, faded scar. His gaze trails down, noticing matching lines peeking from the collar of her dress.

"Mother," Ren says, his voice calm but steady. "How did you get those scars on your skin and your face?"

Saya catches herself and quickly pulls her hair forward, offering a strained, practiced smile. "It’s nothing, Ren. Just an old accident from before you were born. Don't worry about—"

"Mother."

Ren’s expression shifts. The childish innocence vanishes from his face, replaced by a chilling, absolute seriousness.

"I won't smile if you lie to me."

Saya freezes. Looking into the eyes of her five-year-old son, she doesn't see a toddler. She sees a mind that can see right through her defenses. Realizing she can no longer hide the truth from him, her shoulders slump.

"Gendo did this to me," she whispers, her voice trembling with a mixture of shame and old terror.

Ren doesn't gasp. He doesn't cry. His expression remains utterly flat.

"I thought as much."

He closes his book slightly, his voice dropping an octave. "And how are my sisters doing in the lower chambers?"

Saya’s breath completely hitches. She stares at him, shocked to her very core. Her hands shake against the mahogany wood.

"How... Ren, how do you even know about them? How did you—"

The heavy oak doors of the library are violently thrown open.

Gendo Kurogane strides into the room, his towering frame casting a long, dark shadow over the mother and son. Without a word of greeting, he marches forward and grabs Ren by the arm, pulling him up from his chair.

"The time for the Core's training has come," Gendo booms, his voice echoing coldly off the high library ceilings.

"No!" Saya slams her hands on the table, standing up to shield her son. "He is only five years old, Gendo! He is still far too young for your brutality!"

Gendo’s eyes narrow into sharp, lethal slits. "You dare oppose my judgment?"

He raises his heavy hand, stepping toward Saya with enough force to shatter her.

High up in the shadows of the library’s second-floor balcony, Lyra and Aria watch. They brace themselves, expecting to hear the terrible sound of their mother being struck down once again.

Suddenly, the entire library plunges into a terrifying, suffocating silence.

A violent, explosive burst of crimson aura erupts from Ren's small body. The sheer pressure of the magical energy cracks the air, forcing Gendo’s hand to freeze in place.

Gendo looks down, his eyes widening slightly.

Ren’s eyes have completely changed. The irises have shifted into a blinding, white-gold light, with a single, blood-red dot burning directly in the center. He looks entirely ominous—less like a child and more like a primordial god waking up.

"Father," Ren says, his voice carrying a strange, resonant echo that vibrated through the room. "I am ready and willing to come with you. As long as you do not hurt Mom."

Gendo stares at the boy for a long moment, evaluating the raw power pulsing from the five-year-old. Slowly, he lowers his hand from Saya, his lips curling into a cold, satisfied smirk.

"Never forget your place, boy," Gendo warns, his voice low and dangerous. "I hold full authority over your life.

Gendo turns on his heel, dragging Ren out of the library.

Saya panics, moving forward to oppose Gendo again, desperate to rip her son away from the tyrant. But as Ren is pulled through the doorway, he looks back over his shoulder.

He looks at his mother. And he smiles.

It was that same gentle, reassuring smile. His lips move silently, sending a clear message straight to her heart: Don't do it. Don't worry. I will be back. Don't cry, Mom.

And then, the doors slam shut.

Up on the balcony, Lyra's face twists with absolute fury. She slams her fist against the railing. "Look at him! Even now, he's just playing the favorite! He thinks he's a hero!"

But beside her, Aria didn't look angry. She looks utterly stunned. She stares at the empty doorway, her voice barely a whisper.

"He just... did we misjudge him, Lyra?"

The scene slowly shifts away from the chaotic doorway, panning down to the study table where Ren had been sitting just moments before.

Resting quietly on the dark wood is a small, beautifully crafted object. Ren left it behind. It is a handmade pendant, carved perfectly out of a raw diamond.

Inscribed deeply into the gleaming gemstone is a single name:

Saya.

◇ ◇ ◇

The heavy hydraulic doors of the subterranean bunker seal shut with a pressurized hiss, locking out the upper world completely.

Gendo Kurogane walks toward the center of the dark, cold floor. With a flick of his wrist, he tosses an object across the grated steel. It skids across the metal, stopping directly at Ren’s feet.

It is a blade—slick, lethal, and wrapped in a dark crimson design that catches the dim light of the bunker.

"Pick it up," Gendo booms, his voice echoing flatly off the metallic walls. "Prepare to defend yourself."

Before the five-year-old boy can even grasp the hilt, four towering figures step out from the shadows of the bunker. They are grown men, fully armed, their faces obscured by the masks of Gendo's elite guard. Without a word of warning, they lunge at the child with killing intent.

But what happens next stuns the room.

Ren doesn't panic. He doesn't flinch.

He scoops up the red blade in a single, fluid motion and shifts his stance into a perfect, low-gravity guard. As the first attacker slashes downward, Ren parried the blow with impossible precision, using the man's own momentum to throw him off balance.

Good thing I trained myself in combat before now, Ren thinks inwardly, his mind perfectly calm amidst the chaos. Celine helped me well.

For the past two years, hidden away in his gilded cage, Ren secretly pushed his prodigy body to its absolute limits, mastering martial arts and blade forms in total isolation. Now, that secret training bears fruit.

He moves through the arena like a ghost—an assassin trapped in a toddler’s body. He slips past their guard, striking pressure points and using quick, calculated slashes.

In five minutes flat, all four grown men lay sprawled across the steel floor, disarmed and groaning in pain.

Ren stands in the center of the room, his breathing slightly elevated, his red blade lowered. He looks up at his father, expecting an end to the madness.

But Gendo’s face remains entirely expressionless. He isn't impressed.

"You can do better than that," Gendo says, his voice dropping to a dangerous, freezing octave. "Always fight to kill."

The words cut through the heavy air of the bunker.

Ren knows exactly what his father means. If he shows mercy to Gendo's men, Gendo will turn that brutality back onto his mother. In this house, weakness from Ren means a death sentence for Saya. He has to make a choice.

Meanwhile, the upper floors of the Kurogane mansion are empty. Saya is absent, likely recovering from the traumatic confrontation in the library.

Deep within the cold, neglected lower floors, the atmosphere is suffocatingly tense.

Lyra paces back and forth across the concrete room, her face twisted with absolute venom. She slams her fist against the wall, her voice trembling with rage. "He took everything from us! He stole Father's attention, he forced us into this dark hole, and now he wants to take Mother away from us too! I hate him, Aria! I want him gone!"

In the corner of the room, Aria sits completely still, her knees pulled tightly to her chest.

She listens to her twin sister’s frantic screaming, but her mind is entirely elsewhere. She is still trapped in the memory of the library. She keeps seeing the blinding white-gold light in Ren’s eyes. She keeps remembering the way he stepped between Gendo and their mother, shielding Saya with his own body.

Inside, a massive war is raging against her own conscience. Every logical part of her wants to stop hating Ren. He isn't a spoiled prince. He is a shield.

But as she looks up at Lyra—who is panting, furious, and completely consumed by bitterness—Aria swallows her true feelings. For the sake of survival, and to keep the peace between her and her twin sister, Aria forces her expression to harden.

She buries her doubts deep inside and puts on a cold, angry facade to match Lyra's energy.

They are trapped in the dark together, but for the first time, the twins are no longer looking at their brother the same way.

-to be continued in chapter 2-

Author's Note:
Thank you so much for reading chapter one of my novel! Things are already reaching a dangerous boiling point in the bunker. Do you believe Ren will kill for his mother and taint his soul, or will Aria be able to arrange her thoughts and switch to Ren's side?

Let me know your theories in the comments! If you enjoyed this chapter, please add the book to your library and hit that support button. See you in Chapter 2!

📊 Character Data File: Unlocked

[Profile: Ren Kurogane]