Prologue: Red Day

There was red everywhere.

The rays of the setting sun dying the sky in the reddish hue.

The flames as high as building, burning everything in the background.

The ground dyed with blood of the countless corpse which laid everywhere.

And amidst all the redness stood a figure. Black robes which covered every inch of the body, hood which covered the head and a white oni mask. In his right hand was a black sword, smeared with blood of its victim, but still keeping its shine as if new.

If there ever was a devil in the world, it was here.

Despite killing hundreds of people, he still remained unfazed as if nothing had happened. His duty was not complete.

"Drop the weapon. And put your hands up"

The chief of the army announced through his loudspeaker.

The army had no idea what abilities that masked man possessed or whether their guns would have any effect on him, but that wouldn't mean they can let the man do whatever he liked.

The man looked at the cars and vans around him and the armed soldiers pointing their assault rifles towards him.

But he stood calm.

He knew there was no way he could be caught.

"Silently surrender and your punishment would be lessened" the chief added.

But there was no movement from the masked man.

The army was getting anxious. Some were even ready to hit the trigger at any moment.

But they feared.

The man in front was no common man. He was an esper. After the Day of Green Moon two years ago, people started awakening with strange abilities: leaping ability like a hare, levitation, thermal manipulation, they were so many different types. The number of such awakened persons were still less than thousand in the world and they were named 'Espers' by the United Council of Nations.

With authority over strange abilities, these persons were highly sought after by the different nations to strengthen their military power.

But espers who could create such a carnage were rare. Only a few dozens could replicate such a scene.

"This is your last chance. Drop your sword"

The soldiers became alert. The masked man would really act now, has to. Which means they may have to fight if necessary.

Silence. There was utter silence on the field. The soldiers gripped their arms tighter. Sweat dropped down the face of the army chief. But the masked man did not move but simply looked at them.

"Why is he not moving?" the chief muttered to himself. He looked around at his soldiers. They were ready.

He gulped down the saliva in his throat. Seems like it has to go the hard way. He has been to battlefields multiple times in his career but this was his first confrontation against an esper of this level. He has never before heard of an esper creating such a chaos. Most acted like small time thugs who would rob a bank or kill a few people and they were mainly people who overestimated themselves after gaining new abilities, but no one ever dared to kill so many people and especially VIPs in broad daylight like this.

He looked at the masked man once again. He was still the same, still holding his sword.

He gritted his teeth.

(So be it)

"Fire" he ordered loudly. Rifles sounded one after another as streams of bullets were fired at the masked man.

But they hit nothing. The masked man had disappeared.

The chief looked around but the masked man was nowhere to be found.

The masked man had suddenly vanished while standing.

(Is he a teleporter?)

He tried to guess the ability of the masked man but there was no way to confirm it any more.

The man had escaped.

(Dammit)

:: Scene Change ::

"Masked Man attacked...."

"Army confronted the masked man..."

"The masked man escaped....."

"The death toll of the incident is....."

Headlines ran all over the channels describing the most dangerous incident ever recorded in the history of the country of Ashtrah.

The day when a single esper killed thousands of persons and escaped, never to be found again.

The victims included everyone from political leaders, journalists, experts to common men.

There was no lead to the identity of that masked man. Who was he? Why did he do it? Who did he work for? Where did he go?

Investigation agencies started working on the case.

Police patrol doubled in the area to calm the public outrage and to ensure that no new problem arose.

But even after weeks there was no answer, not even a single lead.

But the day got etched into the hearts of everyone around the globe, recorded in the history as the 'Red Day'.

The United Council kept $10 million bounty on the head of that masked man.

The most wanted man in Ashtrah: Code named Red Devil.