"He saw that there was no one,

he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;

so his own arm achieved salvation for him,

and his own righteousness sustained him.

He put on righteousness as his breastplate,

and the helmet of salvation on his head;

he put on the garments of vengeance

and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.

According to what they have done,

so will he repay

wrath to his enemies

and retribution to his foes;

he will repay the islands their due."

- Isaiah 59:16-19, NIV

Weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, darkness, flames, burning, eternal tormentation, and everlasting punishment, in essence, hell on earth. Those are the only words that can be used to describe the predicament I found myself in.

One could only ask what my role in this was, and simply, that was a bystander. The world was being devastated, and what could I do? Absolutely nothing. I had no position, no power, and no wealth, not a grand hero that could be found in the stories of old.

The darkness of death consumed me, and the regrets I harbored. In all respects, my death wasn’t glorious, to be beheaded and presumably, my head stuck on a pike as a warning to the rest of humanity, that the Demons were, no, will be the dominant life form. Humanity was caught off-guard by the demons and rendered unable to properly ascertain their threat level before an inevitable defeat.

If there truly is a God, I would wish to be given power, power to stop such madness, power to have peace, the power necessary to keep the world in balance between good and evil.

That was the last thought I had before surrendering to the darkness, and also quite possibly the only thought which was received by the Creator.

Yes, you heard me right, I was given a chance, a chance to change not only my fate, but the fate of humanity itself. A weakling like me, ironic, isn’t it?

------- 3 years pass, in earnest -------

I have finally gotten used to my new surroundings. My name is Kazuto Tetsuya, a noble of high birth, a Marquis, in this new life. Since I have been reincarnated, I have vowed to protect the weak from such devastation, to change our fates collectively. Luckily, noblesse oblige has enabled one of my standing to receive proper teaching in both the scholarly arts and the combative arts.

You see… our world is a world of Swords & Magic, where strength is respected. All of the higher birth nobles have long lineages of knights and mages, so it goes to show the level of education given to the heirs of the family.

Unfortunately, this also manages to sap me of all of my time, and so, I cannot have a normal childhood, which is quite lonely, as one would expect. While I cannot yet wield a sword, I do have permission to practice Magic since my talent is higher than the average mage, according to what I know from the future. I am 18 years in the past, from the time of the invasion.

Magic works based on a representation of the world, called science. We must learn science in order to understand why and how our magic works, and how to boost the effects of such practices through clever optimizations in chanting or our perspective imagination, which defines the “shape” of a spell. The “shape” of a spell is complex, so complex, that even in our time of great exploration and analyzation, it is not known clearly how the shape of a spell is affected by external forces.

Enough about magic though, my preparations for the invasion have become in earnest, with excruciatingly slow progress considering my age and stature in the family, as of right now. The demon-kin invasion of the world, as we know it, starts in 536 AS (After Starfall), and it is currently 518 AS. The invasion started from the territory of the Beastkin, of which were subjugated and forced to fight as fodder. The territory of the Beastkin, also known as Erestia, is only one facet of the invasion from what I remember. The demons also assassinated key figures in order to destabilize order and cause chaos throughout the land leading up to the invasion.

Furthermore, the demons were able to pass straight through our armies like butter. Their strength was unparalleled, which is quite strange considering the shy and cowardice nature of the current demon king, Elijah Belial, CXIII.

It is likely that the demon king throne was usurped by a devious party, which aspires to disturb peace for the bloodshed of war and chaos. All in all, as I am right now, I am unable to do anything to halt their advance, but with the memories of my past live, I do not believe it is impossible for one of my stature to take this lying down.

This… this is the fight of a man, with much to lose and much to gain, in order to become something better than what they once were, and to become a hero like no other.