A century and a half ago, during the Era of Rebirth, humanity finally began to push back against the darkness.

The Era of Ash had decimated the world, but from its ruins rose a new generation of Awakeners, stronger and more organized. They built fortresses, established laws, and waged a righteous, unyielding war against the Second World.

At that time, to be an Awakener was to be a savior.

But from the White North, in the city of Ashenrise, a young girl known as Spectra Hexarra lived a different life.

Even though she too had awakened, she was not looked at like a savior. She was feared.

You see, Spectra was a Demon Binder—the first of her kind. The world didn’t know what to do with her.

At that time, Summoners were slowly becoming more prevalent, but while others summoned beasts of the forest, elemental spirits, or powerful weapons, Spectra’s soul found itself able to bind with Demons.

The Kingdom Council was terrified. A power like hers, it couldn’t be anything but dangerous.

"You are forbidden from channeling your Grace," the Grand Marshal had decreed, slamming his gavel down in the marble halls of the Council. "To connect one’s soul to a Demon is to invite Gloom into the heart of humanity. You will not train. You will not bind. You will remain dormant."

Spectra had tried to argue her case. She pleaded that her powers could be used to control the enemy, to turn the tide of the war without shedding human blood.

But fear was a louder voice than reason. She was cast aside, watched closely, and treated like a ticking time bomb.

Until the night of the Blood Moon Siege.

During a massive Demon raid on the outskirts of Ashenrise, Spectra sneaked away from her watchers. She wandered into the smoldering ruins of the battlefield after the vanguard had pushed the horde back.

There, she found something.

Pinned beneath the burning timber of a collapsed tavern, she found a young Winged Demon. It was weak, not just physically—it was only a 2-Star Tainted Demon.

Its leathery wings were torn, chest heaving as purple blood pooled around it. It was dying.

Spectra drew her dagger, intending to put it out of its misery. But as she stood over the creature, it looked up at her with terrified eyes, shivering in the cold ash.

For some reason, Spectra felt a connection to the tiny beast. She dropped the dagger and fell to her knees.

Her pale hands reached out and slowly, she petted the monster. It was terrified of her, thinking she would kill it, but that didn’t stop her.

Spectra took the Demon home with her, and after days of taking care of it, she made a decision. She did the one thing she had been told not to. She bound herself to the Demon.

A necklace was her catalyst. But even with it holding most of the magic, the rush of power was strong enough for her to feel.

But that wasn’t all Spectra felt. She felt its mind. She felt its madness.

The creature wasn’t just pure evil. At least not to her. To Spectra, that Demon was a slave, a mindless pawn ripped from its realm and forced to fight for the Demon Lords.

It was terrified. Lost. And alone.

Just like her

"Hush now," Spectra murmured, stroking the creature’s horns. "You are just as lost as I am. But you are safe now. I have you."

That was the moment the Mother of Gehenna was born.

Spectra’s maternal instincts, twisted by isolation and fueled by her Class, awakened with a vengeance.

From then, she infiltrated Demon raids and invasions. There, she hunted for the wounded, the left-behind, the dying. She bound them to her soul, healing their wounds with her Grace and severing their connection to the Demon Lords.

She nurtured them. She fed them. And in return, her power skyrocketed. She amassed an army of devoted, fiercely loyal children.

But a secret that massive could not be kept forever.

When the Kingdom Council discovered what she had done, they branded her a traitor. A heretic. They surrounded her home with a battalion of Gold to Platinum-Rank Awakeners.

"Spectra Hexarra!" the Grand Marshal’s voice boomed through the building. "You have broken the highest law! You are sentenced to an Untethering. Your soul will be stripped of its Grace, and all the atrocities you harbor will be slaughtered!"

Spectra stepped out onto the balcony, her white hair blowing wildly in the wind. Behind her, dozens of snarling, shadowy Demons crept from the dark, placing themselves between their Mother and the humans.

Spectra looked down at the men who had shunned her. Her dark, blood-red lips curled into a hateful snarl.

"You call them atrocities," Spectra spoke, her voice stronger and sharper than they remembered. "But they are more loyal, more innocent than any of you. I will not let you harm my children."

That day, a battle shook the grounds of Ashenrise.

Spectra’s Demons clashed with the Awakeners. A few humans died, but many more Demons lost their lives.

However, Spectra’s sorrow from losing her children granted her an unbelievable skill: Demon Necromancy.

As if her powers couldn’t get any more evil.

She resurrected the souls of her children and ultimately forced the humans and the Council into retreat. From that day, Spectra embraced the role they forced upon her.

She became the Villainess.

Spectra fled humanity entirely, migrating her ever-growing horde to Dakatharit; a volcanic land deep in the Dark South.

There, she severed her ties to human limitations. She began to experiment. She evolved her powers until she couldn’t just control Demons through Grace; she could directly control the Gloom they radiated.

Unlike normal humans who mutated into mindless beasts when Gloom infiltrated their channels, Spectra learnt to use Grace to coordinate the demonic energy once inside of her.

She gained the power to actively use Gloom and morph parts of her body, giving herself demon claws, wings, anything she wished.

She manifested demonic traits, shaping herself into a terrifying Demoness that her children could look up to.

For years, she became a phantom of the battlefield. During human-led raids against Demon Breaks, Spectra would suddenly appear from the shadows.

She would paralyze the human Awakeners, bind the entire Demon horde—including Commanders and Heads—and vanish back into the ash.

In time, her goals evolved from survival to liberating her children.

"The Demon Lords use you," Spectra declared to her army, standing atop her pulpit in Dakatharit. "They send you, my children, to die for their wars. But do not fear anymore, my younglings, because I will end them. I will kill the Lords of the Second World, and we will rule Hellfyre in peace."

And so, the Mother of Demons invaded the capital of Gehenna, Hellfyre.

Leading thousands of bound Demons, Spectra marched directly into the abyss, slaughtering her way through the upper echelons of the Demonic hierarchy, absorbing the Gloom and the souls of the fallen to continuously fuel her apocalyptic power.

But only one Demon Lord was present that day. It was Baphomet.

Spectra and her summons fought the Demon Lord without uncertainty. The battle shook the foundations of the Second World.

Baphomet, an evil galactic deity, unleashed domains of death that vaporized hundreds of her children. But Spectra, fully morphed into her terrifying demonic form, fought with fury.

A mother protecting her young, liberating them from the tyranny of abusive kings.

After that battle, Baphomet, a whole Demon Lord, fell to his knees. Defeated.

Then Spectra did the impossible. She claimed Baphomet. She claimed an actual Demon Lord as a Summon.

When word reached Earth and the Kingdom Councils, the world shivered in fear. Spectra Hexarra was no longer a rogue Awakener; she was now a god-level threat.

For a brief time, she was left entirely alone, reigning supreme in her dark sanctuary.

But Spectra was naive to think the rest of the Demon Lords would allow her to keep their brother as a Summon.

It was Baal who came for her. The supreme Demon Lord led an overwhelmingly massive retaliatory strike against Dakatharit to free Baphomet.

Spectra fought with everything she had, utilizing Baphomet’s stolen power, but Baal’s mastery over the Demonic magic was unstoppable. And so was his army.

Baal untethered her from all her children. Even the living Demons and the Demon Souls, living her bare as Gehenna reclaimed them.

Spectra cried in agony, mourning her children. However, when Baal tried to reclaim his brother, Baphomet, an army of some of the most powerful Awakeners in the world arrived, holding Mythic Swords and Spears.

They had marched on Dakatharit that exact same day, fully planning to storm Spectra’s hideout and fight both her and Baphomet.

Finding Baal standing over the broken Mother of Demons, the humans attacked anyway.

"For Humanity! Attackkkkkk!!!"

Baal realized he was going to die if he stayed. If the humans killed him and Baphomet on the same night, the invasion of this world would be severely harmed.

The Demon Lord vanished, returning to Hellfyre.

The Awakeners found Spectra, crawling on the ground, bleeding and crying absurdly.

She looked up at the hundreds of Awakeners surrounding her. Their weapons were drawn, their eyes wide with fear and disgust at her claws and her demonic aura.

"Please," Spectra gasped, blood dripping from her dark lips. She reached a trembling hand out to the Commander. "My children... they’re all gone. I have nothing left. Let me live... Please..."

The Commander stepped forward, his broadsword still sizzling with Demon Lord blood. It didn’t care what Spectra said, all he saw was a monster. A villainess with dangerous powers.

"You turned your back on humanity, Spectra," the Commander said coldly. "You chose the monsters of the world trying to kill us. Why should we help you?"

He raised his blade and pointed at her.

"FIRE!"

Every Awakener present fired at her, sending a barrage of swords, holy spears and elemental blasts.

And so came the end of the Mother of Demons. She died alone, with her children slaughtered and taken. All of them, except Baphomet, locked inside her summoning catalyst.

××××××××××

Spectra’s eyes snapped open.

Panting uncontrollably, she looked around, wondering where she was. There were fallen buildings and blood everywhere.

However, the stranger sight was the blond-haired boy waving at her from a few feet away... with a smile on his face.