The Shadow Alchemist

When nineteen-year-old chemistry student Garo and his three friends are pulled through a shadow portal at a remote Japanese shrine, a clawed hand reaches out of the dark for them. Garo throws the others clear and is dragged through alone, waking in an underground throne room beneath a dying world. There he stands before Ignatius Sol-Draconis, the obsidian-scaled dragon-king of the Demon Empire, and the four sorcerers whose ritual accidentally caught him. Bestowed with the divine skill of Alchemy, Garo is something the demons haven't seen in centuries: a "Science Wizard" who bends matter with logic instead of prayer.

The Empire is running out of time. Its survival depends on a mountain-sized shard of Mythril that fell from the sky sixty-six million years ago, a cosmic battery powering the barrier that keeps the surface world out. Garo turns his understanding of molecular bonds into refined Mythril, cooling systems for the forges, and Reaction Armor for the demon vanguard, earning the loyalty of the feline scout Zora and the freed minotaur Rhordon along the way.

But above ground, Garo's three friends have been crowned Holy Heroes by King Alaric III and the Church of Light, celebrated as saviors sent to reclaim a "sacred gift." They no longer remember his face. As Garo masters his alchemy and uncovers the truth behind the "holy" crusade, he realizes the war is not what anyone was told — and that saving his friends will mean reaching them before the Church's memory magic turns them into something that can't be brought back.

What You Can Expect
-A Brains-Over-Brawn Protagonist Who Wins by Building and Refining, Not by Blasting
-Real Chemistry as Magic — Alchemy Progression From Basic Transmutation to Molecular Deconstruction
-A Subverted "Holy Empire" Where the Crusaders Are the Colonizers and the Demons Are the Wronged
-Found Family Across Species Lines — Demons, Beastmen, and Former Slaves Who Earn Their Loyalty
-Genuine Moral Stakes — Brainwashed Friends on the Enemy Side and Villains With Real Reasons
-Kingdom Uplift, Tech Progression, and High-Stakes Political Intrigue

What You Should Not Expect
-A Mindless Power Fantasy or a Hero Who Solves Everything by Fighting
-Clear-Cut Good Humans vs. Evil Demons — The Usual Roles Are Inverted Here
-Smut or Harem Content as a Primary Focus
-Chosen-One Prophecies or Consequence-Free Victories
-Grimdark Cruelty for Its Own Sake — It Gets Dark, but the Darkness Has a Point

Author's note: This was a test-run story, and I am not sure if it is any good. Please let me know what you think.