On a slave ship crossing the ocean, a young runaway named Julian is discovered and forced into slavery alongside one hundred other captives. He finds solace among them, particularly with a pregnant woman named Mira, who treats him with kindness and maternal warmth. When the ship’s captain decides to massacre the slaves for an insurance payoff, a supernatural sea entity appears. In exchange for the blood of the one hundred slain slaves, including Mira, the entity grants Julian their combined strength and their one hundred lives, marking him with strange cracks across his body. Now carrying the lives of the dead, Julian is freed and entrusted with Mira’s newborn daughter, Diana, vowing to give her the happy life he never had.

Upon reaching a new continent, Julian and the infant Diana are taken in by Angvall, a formidable knight known as the King’s Spear, and her young ward, Titi. Settling into a peaceful village, Julian finds work and builds a makeshift family, shielding Diana from the cruelty of their world. This fragile peace is shattered by the arrival of Elstri, the king’s prophetess, who has foreseen that Diana will one day bring about the kingdom’s downfall. Acting on this prophecy, Arkos, the nihilistic and sadistic son of the king, confronts Julian. In the ensuing battle, Arkos kills Angvall, devastating the group and igniting Julian’s quest for retribution.

Five years later, Julian, Diana, and Titi live in hiding on the kingdom’s western border, constantly evading assassins sent by Elstri. They are joined by Lukas, a kind former mercenary with his own vendetta against the royal family. Their latest pursuer is Lacrima, the king’s youngest daughter, who seeks revenge against Julian for killing her brother Arkos. Unlike previous enemies, Lacrima’s conflicted nature leads to an uneasy alliance, and she ultimately learns the truth about her brother’s cruelty. The tranquility is violently disrupted when Elstri launches a direct night raid on their home. Narrowly surviving the assault, Julian and his family are forced to abandon their sanctuary, embarking on a perilous journey to cross the border and escape the kingdom’s reach once and for all.