L'arc develops a keen interest in magic after hearing about it from his mother. She retrieves her adventurer armband from an attic chest filled with treasures and artifacts, and encourages him to place his hand on the scanner. Excitedly, L'arc complies, only to be disappointed to discover that he has no affinity for any magic.

  Narrator: Confused by the revelation that he cannot use magic, he vows to create his own form of magic one day. In the meantime, he decides to honor his adoptive mother by pursuing the way of the sword.

  The next day, L'arc ventures into the forest for the first time since losing his friend. As he wanders aimlessly, everything reminds him of his lost companion, and he becomes overwhelmed with conflicting emotions. He decides to turn around and head home, questioning why he even left the house. Upon his return, the dark elf notices his downcast demeanor and asks, “What’s wrong?” L'arc, staring at the ground and kicking his feet, replies, “I miss my friend.” She hugs him tightly and asks, “Did you go into the forest?” He lifts his head slightly and responds bluntly, “Yeah.” The dark elf suggests, “Why don't you try picking up your sword again? It might help clear your mind.” With that, L'arc shuffles outside to attempt lifting his sword once more.

  Weeks pass, and L'arc's grief begins to fade. He continues to struggle with lifting the sword, growing frustrated and angry as he remembers his inability to protect his friend. This anger fuels him, allowing him to finally lift the sword and take his first swing. At five years old, he is now able to wield the wooden sword, albeit driven by his anger, and the dark elf starts his training.

  (Montage of L'arc training and becoming more adept with the blade. As years pass, he moves on from the wooden training sword. Despite his progress, he finds himself outmatched by his mother at every turn. He trains solo after each match, battling practice dummies. Eventually, he sees improvement, driven by his hatred for humans, and he slices one of the training dummies. Unaware of his anger, his mother expresses her pleasure in his progress and tells him he’s ready for the dungeon.)

  A week after his twelfth birthday, L'arc has become

  a master of the sword, thanks in part to his mother, a well-known adventurer who has mastered various forms of swordplay throughout her long life as a dark elf.

  When he enters his first dungeon, he struggles against the monsters—not due to his lack of skill, but because he cannot see them as enemies, except for his animosity toward humans.

  Days pass, and when his mother inquires about his progress in the dungeon, L'arc reluctantly admits he hasn’t even reached the second floor. She knows he’s strong enough to clear the entire dungeon solo and asks why he hasn’t. He responds, “I don’t want to hurt them.” His mother embraces him and says, “Oh my darling boy, if you don’t slay them, someone else will. If they don’t, the monsters will escape and harm innocents. I know you hate humans, but they are not all bad, and they don’t deserve to die.”

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  With newfound resolve, L'arc takes up his sword again and reenters the dungeon. This time, he reluctantly kills his first enemy, a “mad mouse,” which initially appears cute but turns vicious when approached. After slaying it, he returns to his mother with tears in his eyes, confessing he has killed his first enemy. She holds him until he has cried all his tears, then says, “See? I knew you had it in you.”

  Whether it was her lack of demands or her love that strengthened his resolve, he ventures into the dungeon again the next day, this time not holding back. However, when faced with more “mad mice,” he begins to falter. It’s only when he remembers how his mother made him feel that he finds the strength to push on. After several emotionally charged kills, he arrives at the stairs to the second floor. Instead of leaving to inform his mother that he has reached the second floor, he decides to tackle a second-floor monster, bringing back proof. He encounters the “crazy chicken,” a monster with erratic movements. Initially, it gives him trouble, but he eventually defeats it and takes it home to show his mother.

  Upon leaving the dungeon, he presents the chicken to his mother, who greets him with a smile and says, “Well done! That looks good; I'll put it on the fire.” As she cooks the chicken, L'arc shares his experiences from the first and second floors.

  Now fully resolved to fight monsters without holding back, he decides to tackle as much of the dungeon as possible in one day. Knowing his way through the first floor, he breezes through it, and the second floor follows suit as he has learned to deal with “crazy chickens.” Upon entering the third floor, he encounters a new enemy: the “deranged dog.” While fast, it doesn’t move erratically, allowing him to dispatch it quickly and move on to the fourth floor.

  On the fourth floor, enemies begin to travel in packs, drawing from any type from previous floors, a pattern that continues into the fifth floor, which features packs of enemies from the fourth floor and below, along with a new enemy.

  Thus, he encounters the “frenzied furball,” a monster that moves so erratically it puts the “crazy chicken” to shame, bouncing rapidly off the walls. The challenge is amplified when it appears alongside up to two other monsters, a situation L'arc has never faced before. As he enters the fourth floor, he is initially presented with a single enemy he has fought before, leading him to believe the dungeon has reached its peak difficulty. In his inexperience, he lowers his guard and is immediately faced with a party of three “frenzied furballs.”

  Caught off guard and struggling against their erratic movements, L'arc finds himself heavily wounded.

  Frustrated by his weakness and arrogance, he prepares for what he believes is his death. Just as the furballs are about to converge on him for a final blow, he experiences a flashback of his vow to learn a new form of magic. In that moment, something awakens within him, and a surge of energy erupts, sending the furballs crashing into the walls and eliminating them all at once. Sensing this surge of power, his mother glances toward the dungeon with concern.

  Dungeon: A dungeon is a structure consisting of several floors inhabited by monsters that grow stronger as one progresses.

  (The camera shifts to the dark elf's perspective, honing in on L'arc, then slowly zooming in on his left eye, which now bears what can only be described as a black flame. The flame begins to expand toward the camera, leading to a fade-out effect.)

  Black Flame: The black flame becomes known as the mark on L'arc's eye.