They were the 7th Squad. Seven elites who marched into the Exile Forest to slay an SSS+ Fallen God. Against all odds, they succeeded. But when they returned, bearing the scars of a three-year hell, the Kings of the Five Empires greeted them with betrayal. Their powers were sealed, their names branded as traitors, and the seven heroes were scattered across the continent as broken prisoners. Ryu, the Silent Blade, lost everything. Stripped of his S-rank Flow and his sword, he is officially an F-rank mortal. But the Kings made a fatal mistake: they left him alive. Now, armed with nothing but a wooden sword, his genius intellect, and a forbidden combat style known as the Zero-State, Ryu escapes his underground cell. To save his scattered family, he must cross the Five Empires, break the seals on his friends, and unleash the very demon the Kings fear. They wanted to erase the heroes. Instead, they created monsters.