After the climactic battle to decide the fate of humanity, the hero Max, alongside his party, emerges victorious against the formidable Demon Lord. As he draws his last breath, the defeated Maou vows to return more powerful than ever to take his revenge. Ten years later, although Maou has resurrected, the process is incomplete, resulting in him taking on the form of a child. Nevertheless, not wanting to waste another second, Maou pays his nemesis a visit—but the hero who once gallantly protected humankind from the demon's clutches is now a pitiful slob bearing no resemblance to a man of his former caliber. Despite his disappointment, Maou moves in with Max in hope of building him back up into a worthy adversary. But as the demon learns more about the events that transpired in the decade of his absence, he realizes that there is a story behind Max's downfall that he knows nothing of.

-ADVERTISEMENT- The year is 2242. Humanity was forced to seek refuge deep underground due to the unprecedented calamity known as the "Tears of the New Moon," but following the collapse of the underground city-state of "Amasia," they begun to venture back towards the surface with hope of living there once more. Forming settlements called "Nests" scattered across the surface, adventurers known as "Drifters" continues to battle the lingering threat of the "Enders" and mine the "AO Crystals" which are an essential energy resource necessary for the operation of the nests. In the nest "Rock Town" where such Drifters gather, one wishing to become such a Drifter one day, "Kanata," alongside the skilled Drifter "Tokio," went to explore the ruins of an old museum where Kanata happens to discover a very beautiful sleeping "Magus." With the encounter of the mysterious Magus "Noir," a tale of destiny is slowly beginning to unfold.

The mysterious, yellow-masked Storyteller is a man whose true name and origin are both unknown. He appears at dusk where children gather and recites sinister tales based on Japanese urban legends, to which his young audience eerily intakes. However, the Storyteller is no ordinary teller of tales. He incorporates a kamishibai, a traditional paper-scrolling device, to add visuals to his already demented narration. A series of short horror stories, Yami Shibai begins with a bachelor who, after moving into a new apartment, immediately starts sensing a malevolent glare being pressed into him. A single talisman rests on his ceiling, but he has no way of knowing it is one of the few safeguards that separate him from a bottomless pit of suffering. Each story is more terrifying, more appalling, and more sickening than the last as the Storyteller's audience find themselves being sucked into the vicious world of his words.

Renowned manga artist Hiromu Arakawa has an unusual backstory: she used to work on a farm in Hokkaido, the food warehouse of Japan, for seven years! To her editor, Ishii, harvesting produce and milking cows are foreign concepts; but as the daughter of two multigenerational farmers, Arakawa is there to explain the challenging yet noble job of being a farmer.