The year was 2050.

Humanity had already stepped beyond Earth.

Massive colonies floated through space. Countless planets had been explored. Along with new worlds came terrifying beasts and hostile civilizations. Wars were no longer fought only between nations-they were fought across the stars.

Technology had reached unbelievable heights.

Yet one truth had never changed.

A soldier was still the one who stood between humanity and destruction.

Inside a military research station orbiting Mars-

A young man wearing a black combat uniform silently looked through the glass window toward the endless stars.

His name was Kael Draven.

He wasn't just a soldier.

He was one of the greatest military scientists of his generation.

While most scientists remained inside laboratories, Kael personally tested every weapon he designed on the battlefield.

Because of that, soldiers trusted him more than anyone.

"Dr. Kael."

A female officer walked inside.

"The meeting has started."

Kael nodded before entering the conference room.

A holographic map instantly appeared.

Dozens of red marks covered an unexplored planet.

"The Seventh Expedition has failed."

"Over three thousand elite soldiers are dead."

"The creatures have evolved again."

"They destroyed every drone we sent."

The room became silent.

Finally, the commander spoke.

"We need a solution."

Everyone looked toward Kael.

He calmly pressed a button.

A black suit appeared above the table.

It looked simple.

Yet every scientist in the room widened their eyes.

"This..."

"...is the Carbon Combat Suit."

"It isn't ordinary armor."

"Its structure is built from a newly engineered carbon lattice."

"It is lighter than fabric."

"Harder than the strongest battlefield alloy."

"It absorbs shock."

"It survives extreme temperatures."

"It repairs microscopic damage automatically."

The entire room fell silent.

One general slowly stood up.

"If this succeeds..."

"...human casualties will fall dramatically."

Kael simply nodded.

"It still requires field testing."

"I'll lead the mission myself."

The commander frowned.

"You are our chief scientist."

Kael answered calmly,

"And also a soldier."

"No one understands this suit better than I do."

The commander slowly smiled.

"Mission approved."

Three days later...

Planet VX-17.

A crimson sky covered the battlefield.

Thousands of soldiers advanced across the rocky plains.

The Carbon Combat Suit performed perfectly.

Bullets.

Claws.

Extreme heat.

Nothing could easily damage it.

"Left flank!"

"Incoming!"

Roars echoed across the battlefield.

Gigantic beasts charged toward the army.

Kael pulled out a plasma blade.

One slash.

A monster's head flew away.

Another one jumped.

He rolled beneath it before piercing its chest.

Boom!

An explosion threw everyone backward.

"Commander!"

"The nest!"

Kael looked toward the mountain.

A massive creature emerged.

Nearly thirty meters tall.

Its roar shook the ground itself.

The soldiers hesitated.

Kael didn't.

"I'll distract it."

"You destroy the nest."

Without waiting for permission-

He charged.

The monster smashed the ground.

Kael narrowly dodged before climbing onto its body.

His blade cut through thick armor.

The beast screamed.

Suddenly-

Warning.

Carbon Suit Critical Damage.

Kael's expression changed.

The beast grabbed him.

CRACK!!

Several bones broke instantly.

Blood flowed from his mouth.

Still-

He smiled.

Because behind him-

The nest exploded.

Mission Complete.

The commander shouted through the communicator.

"Retreat!"

"Everyone retreat!"

The surviving soldiers escaped.

Only Kael remained.

The gigantic beast collapsed.

Its enormous body crushed everything nearby.

Kael could no longer move.

He quietly looked toward the stars.

"So..."

"...it finally ends here."

He wasn't afraid.

He had already saved thousands.

That was enough.

His vision slowly became blurry.

Darkness swallowed everything.

...

...

Silence.

Then-

A strange warmth surrounded him.

His consciousness slowly returned.

"Huh...?"

He frowned.

"My body..."

"...feels..."

Small.

Very small.

At the same time-

Countless unfamiliar memories rushed into his mind like a flood.

A crying woman.

A smiling man wearing magnificent silver armor.

A royal palace.

An Emperor.

A young Crown Prince.

And...

A title that echoed throughout the entire empire.

Royal Guard.

Kael's eyes suddenly opened.

"Where..."

"...am I?"

Before he could understand anything-

The memories continued pouring into his mind.

And his entire world changed forever...

TO BE CONTINUED...

Darkness...

Then—

A sharp pain exploded inside Kael's head.

Thousands of memories merged together.

He wasn't Kael alone anymore.

He was also...

Aiden Ravenhart.

The only son of the Empire's strongest Royal Guard.

"...So this child... already had a life."

Kael slowly clenched his tiny fists.

The memories became clearer.

The Aurelius Empire...

The greatest empire on the continent.

An empire that ruled hundreds of cities and countless noble families.

At its center stood one man—

Emperor Alexander Aurelius.

Beside him was the Empire's hope—

Crown Prince Arthur Aurelius.

And protecting both of them...

The strongest warrior in the entire Empire.

Royal Guard Damian Ravenhart.

A man feared by enemies...

And respected by every soldier.

He wasn't a noble.

He wasn't born into royalty.

Everything he possessed...

He earned with his sword.

Damian loved only two things.

The Empire...

And his five-year-old son.

Every time he returned from the battlefield...

He would lift little Aiden onto his shoulders.

"Hahaha!"

"Father! Higher!"

"You'll become stronger than me one day."

"I'll become the strongest!"

Damian smiled.

"No."

"You'll become a better man than me."

Years passed peacefully.

Until...

One terrible night.

The Imperial Capital...

The annual Victory Festival.

Thousands gathered outside the palace.

Music echoed through every street.

No one noticed...

Hundreds of assassins had already entered the capital.

Inside the palace—

The Emperor was attending the royal banquet.

The Crown Prince sat beside him.

Everything seemed peaceful.

Then—

BOOM!!

The palace gates exploded.

Masked warriors flooded inside.

"Kill the Emperor!"

"Kill the Crown Prince!"

Blood instantly covered the royal hall.

Royal Knights rushed forward.

One after another...

They fell.

The assassins were far stronger than expected.

Within moments—

They reached the throne.

The Emperor drew his sword.

The Crown Prince stood in front of him despite being only ten years old.

At that exact second—

A silver figure crashed through the ceiling.

BOOM!!

One sword strike...

Five assassins died instantly.

The hall became silent.

Every soldier smiled.

"The Royal Guard..."

"Sir Damian is here!"

Damian slowly stood between the Emperor and hundreds of enemies.

Without looking back—

He spoke calmly.

"Your Majesty."

"I'll hold them."

"Please escape."

The Emperor frowned.

"There are too many."

Damian smiled.

"I know."

"But as long as I breathe..."

"No one will touch the Imperial Family."

The battle began.

Steel clashed against steel.

One enemy...

Ten enemies...

Twenty enemies...

Damian continued fighting.

His armor shattered.

His body was covered in blood.

Still—

He never stepped back.

The assassins realized something.

"As long as he lives..."

"We can't reach the Emperor!"

So...

Every single assassin attacked Damian at once.

One sword pierced his shoulder.

Another cut his back.

A spear pierced his stomach.

Even then—

He kept fighting.

The Crown Prince's eyes turned red.

"Father Damian!!"

Damian smiled at the young prince.

"Protect..."

"...your little brother..."

The Prince froze.

Little brother...?

Damian wasn't talking about himself.

He was talking about...

His son.

Aiden.

With his final strength—

Damian unleashed one last sword strike.

BOOOOOOM!!

The palace hall split apart.

Dozens of assassins died instantly.

The remaining enemies finally retreated.

Silence filled the palace.

Damian slowly fell onto one knee.

The Emperor rushed toward him.

"Damian!"

The Royal Guard smiled weakly.

"I... fulfilled... my duty..."

The Emperor held him tightly.

"You saved us again..."

Damian looked toward the ceiling.

"My son..."

"...please..."

Before he could finish—

His eyes slowly closed forever.

The strongest Royal Guard...

Had fallen.

Three days later...

The entire Empire was dressed in black.

Millions stood along the streets.

Not a single person spoke.

Even the soldiers who had never cried...

Couldn't stop their tears.

The Emperor personally carried Damian's coffin.

The Crown Prince followed behind him with red eyes.

Little Aiden stood silently beside his mother's grave-like expression, too young to fully understand why his father would never come home again.

At that moment...

Kael finally understood everything.

His previous life had ended.

A new one had begun.

And somewhere deep inside his heart...

He made a silent promise.

"Damian Ravenhart... you protected this Empire with your life."

"From today onward..."

"I will protect your son..."

"And one day..."

"I will build an Empire greater than anyone has ever imagined."

To Be Continued...

One Year Later...

The Imperial Palace—

Snow slowly covered the magnificent gardens.

A seven-year-old boy stood alone, repeatedly swinging a wooden sword.

Slash!

Slash!

Slash!

Not once...

Not twice...

More than five thousand swings every single day.

The palace guards watched from afar.

"His Highness hasn't stopped since sunrise."

"Is he trying to become the next Royal Guard?"

"No..."

"He's trying to surpass one."

The little boy was none other than...

Aiden Ravenhart.

Or rather...

Kael Draven.

One year had passed since he arrived in this world.

During that year...

He had learned one important truth.

This world was nothing like Earth.

There was no magic.

No mana.

No spells.

Only one's body...

Skill...

Experience...

And an unbreakable will.

The stronger your body...

The stronger your sword.

That simple.

Yet...

This world was far more dangerous than Earth.

The continent was divided into many kingdoms.

Small kingdoms.

Medium kingdoms.

Great kingdoms.

But among all of them...

Only two Human Empires stood at the absolute peak.

The first—

The Aurelius Empire.

The empire that had adopted Aiden.

Ruled by...

Emperor Alexander Aurelius.

The second—

The Blackthorn Empire.

The Aurelius Empire's greatest rival.

For over two hundred years...

The two empires had stared at each other across the border.

Countless battles had been fought.

Yet...

Neither side dared begin a full-scale war.

Because everyone understood one terrifying fact.

If the two strongest human empires fought with everything they had...

Both would collapse.

And the balance of the entire continent...

Would disappear.

Beyond the human lands...

There were places even soldiers feared.

The Beast Kingdom.

A land where countless beast races lived.

Wolf Beasts.

Lion Beasts.

Tiger Beasts.

Bird Beasts.

Snake Beasts.

Some were peaceful.

Some hated humans.

Fortunately...

The Beast Kingdom maintained its own borders.

Neither side wished for a pointless war.

And then...

There was a place everyone feared.

The Labyrinth.

Ancient...

Endless...

Dark.

No one knew who had built it.

No one knew how deep it went.

Only one thing was certain.

The deeper one entered...

The stronger the Demons became.

Every few years...

Demons emerged from the Labyrinth and attacked nearby lands.

Thousands of soldiers died just to push them back.

Even the two great empires treated the Labyrinth as humanity's greatest threat.

During this past year...

Aiden had also become something he had never expected.

The Emperor had kept his promise.

In front of every noble...

Every general...

Every minister...

He had declared,

"From today onward, Aiden Ravenhart is my adopted son."

"He shall be known as the Empire's Youngest Prince."

Some nobles objected.

"A commoner's son cannot become a prince!"

"This is against tradition!"

But the Emperor only asked one question.

"Who among you gave your life to save mine?"

Silence.

No one answered.

Because everyone knew.

Without Damian Ravenhart...

There would be no Emperor.

No Crown Prince.

Perhaps...

No Empire.

From that day onward...

No one dared question Aiden's position again.

Life inside the palace also changed.

The Crown Prince, Arthur Aurelius, treated Aiden like his real younger brother.

Every morning...

Arthur dragged him to training.

Every afternoon...

They studied history together.

Every evening...

They ate with the Imperial Family.

Sometimes they argued.

Sometimes they laughed.

But never once...

Did Arthur look down on him.

The Emperor had two Empresses.

The First Empress, Arthur's mother, was calm, intelligent, and respected throughout the Empire.

The Second Empress had no children of her own.

To everyone's surprise...

She loved Aiden dearly.

She often smiled while fixing his messy hair.

"You've trained enough today."

"Come eat before you collapse."

Even Kael...

Who had lived an entire previous life...

Couldn't remember the last time he had experienced such warmth.

Yet...

Every night...

After everyone had fallen asleep...

Aiden climbed onto the palace roof.

He looked toward the endless stars.

Those stars reminded him of Earth.

Of Mars.

Of the Carbon Combat Suit.

Of the comrades who never returned.

He slowly clenched his fists.

"This world doesn't have science..."

"But I do."

"This world has stronger bodies..."

"But I have knowledge from the future."

"One day..."

"I'll combine both."

At that moment...

A cold wind swept across the palace.

Far away...

Beyond the northern mountains...

Inside the deepest floor of the Labyrinth...

A pair of crimson eyes slowly opened.

A deep voice echoed through the darkness.

"The child has arrived..."

"The one who will change this world's fate..."

The darkness trembled.

And for the first time in hundreds of years...

The Demons...

Began to move.

To be Continued...