The Price Is Your Everything - Chapter 48: [] Beast Tamer

One day, a gallery appeared before my eyes.…And then I was able to see who wrote in the gallery.All the heroines are ‘virg*ns’.

'Why' does one strive to attain power?For what reason does one endure various rigorous trainings, endure the bruises and the batterings, and go ahead to drill their soul and body into perfect shape just to become stronger?Those ridiculously overpowered, god-like monsters that walked the Earth knew, because they never stopped training.But I didn't know the reason.Why, one might ask?The answer was quite simple, really.I had no desire to 'know' the reason, and I had no drive to discover the 'why.'It was because my circumstances gave me no reason to become stronger. And stupidly enough, I greatly believed that I was strong enough to fend for myself.But boy was I wrong.Fate punched me in the guts, and proceeded to give me very, very good reasons to abandon my narrowed mentality and strive to become stronger than I thought I was.And those reasons multiplied by the day.As I ventured out of the dreary slum-like backlands that I grew up in — diving head first into the wider world overrun by monstrous aliens, insanely advanced technology, and humans with supernatural powers — the initial 'why' had grown to become quite... numerous.So come. Come read my story.And see how I crawled out of the depths of the dejected Island called the backlands as a nameless underachiever, and grew to become a.. tether to the entire universe.Come read how I came to be called...The Twilight of the Vast Expanses.

[Volume 1: Dante Blackthorn]When Anastasia and her sister Marianne are captured and shipped across the seas by pirates, they become commodities to be sold in a distant land. Marianne is taken as a courtesan, while Anastasia barely escapes a terrible fate by pretending to be mute. She is forced into the lowest ring of servants at the royal palace, where she endures a life of servitude and creates beautiful artwork to mask her pain.Despite years passing, Anastasia has never forgotten her sister's promise to return to their family together. However, with her movement restricted and the guards vigilant, escape seems impossible.When Anastasia comes into contact with the Forsaken Prince, her life spirals out of control and she triggers a Crux of incredible proportions. Now battling her own inner demons while navigating the treacherous politics of the royal court, Anastasia must confront the truth about her sister's fate and make a choice that could alter the course of an entire kingdom.[Volume 2: Emily Blackthorn]Princess Emily's life takes a turbulent turn when she is rejected, leaving her heartbroken and her soul at the brink of corruption. In a desperate bid to save herself, she journeys to the West.Enter the Storm Prince, a charismatic archdemon with striking blue eyes, with a saint-like smile. Emily had hoped she'd seen the last of him, but fate has other plans. As if her soul dying isn’t enough, someone wants to steal it!Caught between the suitors and the haunting nightmares that have plagued her since childhood, Emily begins to see Raylen in a new light. The blue-eyed demon may not be the monster she once thought.

Penance is a prison of eternal damnation for those who go against the will of the gods.Growing up in the slums of District Nine, Nacht was like every other individual his age, struggling to survive with what little he had and blaming the capital for it. But unlike everyone else, he had been lucky. He still had a mother who cared for him deeply and did everything she could to help him succeed. However, that all changed when his mother was offered up as a sacrifice to the capital to help bolster the number of Enlightened in their arsenal.The Enlightened were elite warriors who wielded supernatural powers and served their respected clan at the cost of sacrificing an individual for the opportunity to enter Penance and be bestowed or awakening a rune, the source of their profound power.Having been exposed to the worst of humanity due to the horrific execution of his mother, Nacht developed a relentless ambition to change the world—even if it was in his own unconventional way.After performing a disgraceful ritual, Nacht is sent into Penance, where he becomes one of the Enlightened and is bestowed a mysterious power along with an insidious punishment.