Red was an ordinary kid who didn't even know magic until he came into contact with a battle between a Dreamcatcher and a Nightmare. When he was around 18 years old, his parents were killed on a vacation, leaving him just old enough to live all on his own. With no plan, no aspiration, and no family, Red reluctantly joined the Paladin Order to seek purpose. Mistakenly enlisted in the Light's Chosen, an elite contingent of Paladins, Red finds himself quickly overwhelmed and outclassed by every challenge put before him and every "comrade" in his ranks.
At first distrusted, disliked and disapproved of, Red doesn't mesh well with his team. The test of his Light was a trial that proposed the danger of killing him if he failed. This was when he learned that his team didn't believe he could make it, and during the test he obtained his signature weapon, Venator. It would not awaken until the two had properly cleared the trial, which nearly cost him his life. Even after succeeding and becoming a full-fledged Paladin, the Light's Chosen still did not approve of him, often excluding him from duties and training.
Powerful Voidkin known as Wardens of the Abyss attack Apur, and the Light's Chosen are sent to dispatch them. Even to the Grand Priest of the Paladin Order the task of hunting a Warden is a suicide mission. Upon the scene they are met by the sadistic Warden, Spite. She does everything in her power to kill the Paladins, but they barely escape with their entire team. With only a few of the Light's Chosen left standing, the survivors split up to recuperate. The head of the squad, Heinrik, is hunted down first by the Wardens. Not wanting anyone else to be hurt by his presence, Red flees the village he was resting in only to be shielded by an Archangel. Before Spite's thralls can ensnare Red, he is summoned to a remote location. The Light itself, needing a vessel, offers itself to him on unknown bases. This he hesitantly accepts but quickly realizes he has the power to defeat the Wardens that hunt them. The process is not instant, however, and in order to undergo apotheosis Red must first cast away the impurities of his humanity and accept Godhood.
The process literally kills the person, and did in this instance, shedding away the darkness of his soul. That darkness becomes an entity all its own, and because the Order saw this act as an act of malfeasance, he names the being as such. Malfeasance, known as Mai, becomes a kitsune, a reflection of his previous incarnation. Red's mortal days end and the young man who was once Red Ishigara gives himself wholly to the light, fighting stronger.
