"I'll save her… I promise."
The words came out firm, cracked with dust and resolve. The prince stopped mid-step and looked back. His expression unreadable, but he didn't interrupt.
Kai rose to his feet, still covered in soot and dried blood, and brushed off what little he could. His hand clenched the coin.
"I have a plan," he said, and his voice held something new—something heavier than desperation.
Albrecht gave him a long look, then nodded once and disappeared into the smoke.
Kai turned and sat by the remains of a half-collapsed cart, the metal still warm from the blaze. He tilted his head back and stared at the sky—dim with light, always humming just outside perception—and exhaled.
Then, the thoughts came flooding in.
Akari...
He hadn't planned on remembering her right now, but his mind drifted there anyway.
He remembered the quiet nights when they talked together in the cave, back before everything fell apart. He remembered her looking at him when he knew that she was stuck in that realm for five years, not even seeing the sky.
From what he'd learned after returning, she'd gone on to join the Wolfram Institute—the school Kai went. The same place the Midnight Band stayed.
And yet, even after all that, she never stopped visiting.
Every morning, before the bell rang over the city. She visited his grave.
Kai had watched her from behind trees, or from rooftops, hidden by parasitic camouflage. Just to be sure she was okay. Just to see if she smiled when the sun hit her face.
She did. Like someone who'd accepted something without letting it crush her.
He didn't know why she came. He didn't understand what she was thinking.
But he knew that seeing her smile, even once, made all of this feel like it still mattered.
That he still mattered.
That maybe, just maybe, he still had something to fight for.
Then, as Kai stood up, brushing the last bit of ash off his shoulder, he remembered Sekh's voice echoing in his head from just a few nights ago.
"What are you planning now that you've been reborn?"
He had paused back then, thinking deeply before answering. He hadn't been sure if he meant it, not completely. But he said it anyway.
"Two things. Revive the Vogel clan and be strong enough to save anyone in danger."
Not just physically strong—that part was obvious—but strong in the mind. The kind of strength that doesn't crack when you fail, doesn't bend when you see someone die, doesn't collapse when the guilt starts piling up. The kind that keeps moving even when the world decides you're done.
It surprised Sekh. It had surprised Kai too. But somewhere along the way, something in him had changed. He wasn't just some kid with a parasite anymore. He was building towards something.
"If I can't protect even a single life, what's the point of power?" he had added.
Now, staring ahead at the valley path beyond the destroyed farmlands, Kai took a breath. The world didn't wait for ideologies. You either acted or you were forgotten with the next corpse pile.
He hardened his left arm into rock, thick and jagged, made for blocking and smashing. His right arm shifted and thinned into a jagged blade, glinting with fresh parasitic sheen. His body still ached from earlier, but pain didn't matter right now.
Before him, crawling down from the hills and skittering over the ruined wheat fields, came an army of spiders.
F class, maybe E tier now.
Kai narrowed his eyes.
"Let's try this again," he muttered.
And this time, he charged first.
---
Kai's chest rose and fell, breath shaky and shallow, as he dragged himself across the blood-soaked dirt.
His arms were trembling, his blade arm flickering in and out of stability. Around him, broken spider limbs twitched in death. He'd taken down at least twelve, maybe more, but the field was still crawling.
He pushed forward anyway. His vision blurred, his muscles burned, but there was still one more spider hissing in the dark.
Then, in one clean motion, a blade sliced through the air and split the spider apart.
Kai blinked.
The prince stood in front of him, sword still humming with resonance.
"Are you stupid?" the prince barked.
Kai coughed, his mouth dry and bloody. "Maybe."
"You could've died—"
"I'm still breathing."
"That's not the point—"
"No, it is," Kai said, his voice hoarse but steady. "Sometimes being reckless is the right thing. You waste too much time planning and people die. You move, or you miss your chance."
The prince stared down at him, jaw tight, unsure whether to be angry or impressed.
Kai continued crawling until he finally collapsed on his back, groaning as his body hit the ground like dead weight. All around them, the battlefield had quieted.
No more skittering and no more shrieks. Just wind cutting across burnt crops and spider corpses.
The prince wiped his blade, standing tall above the younger boy.
Below him, Kai's chest rose, then fell again.
I did it...
But this time, it rose with purpose.
---
Kai opened his eyes and recognized the stone ceiling. He was back in the same room, patched and treated. The smell of herbs lingered in the air. The prince was sitting next to him, arms crossed, eyes calm.
"The rescue's tomorrow," the prince said. "You've got the whole day. Train however you want."
Then he stood and left without another word.
Kai sat up slowly. His bones ached, but he moved anyway.
No time to waste.
He reached for the Gene Scanner and opened his Evolution Path menu. He took all the fragmented genes he'd absorbed from the spiders and processed them. Useless junk, but perfect for fuel.
He didn't bother with unlocking a new path or branching into something unstable. He had a plan. He poured everything into the Parasite system and purchased three more.
The scanner glowed.
[Parasite Created: George 2]
[Parasite Created: George 3]
[Parasite Created: George 4]
He couldn't help but smirk.
Alright, George... bring your brothers.
Kai stood up, stretched his arms, and left the room. He made his way out of the castle and walked toward the training grounds where soldiers were drilling with wooden spears and dulled swords.
No one stopped him when he stepped onto the field.
He summoned his parasites. They didn't look like much—gray, segmented, crawling things—but they hovered around him like satellites. Controlled, waiting for his command.
He trained with everything. Sword stances, parasite projection, mental coordination, stress positioning. He fell, got back up, reformed his rock arm, triggered swarm drills, and forced himself into exhaustion.
Even the veteran soldiers paused their drills and watched.
Kai didn't care.
If I fall again like yesterday... I won't be able to forgive myself. I need to stand. I need to lead.
Hours passed.
When the sun dipped low and shadows stretched long across the grass, Kai collapsed onto the training field. His limbs twitched. His head throbbed. His mouth was dry.
He stared up at the sky.
Tomorrow… I'll save her. No matter what.
During the day-long training, Kai discovered something critical about the parasites he'd summoned.
At first, they were just tools—extensions of his mind, weird twitching organisms that followed mental pulses. But as they continued drilling together, something changed.
The parasites weren't just obeying—they were syncing. The more he trained with them, the smoother the connection became, and the faster they responded.
And then he realized something even bigger.
Each one of them had their own unique mutation.
George 1 had developed an internal storm gland. When inside Kai's body, it granted him access to a low-level thunder mutation—specifically a discharge pulse from his hands that could stun enemies or overload circuits. It wasn't strong enough to kill, but it had utility.
George 2 had developed a spore sac. When activated, it let Kai expel a burst of paralytic dust from his skin—perfect for close-quarters or crowd control. The spores were fast-acting, and Kai only needed a few seconds of exposure for enemies to freeze up.
George 3 was different. It had a chitin spike in its neural segment, which enhanced Kai's reaction time and spatial awareness when linked. His vision sharpened, peripheral awareness expanded, and during brief moments of danger, time seemed to slow slightly.
George 4 had a reinforcement trait. Its mutation toughened Kai's bones when embedded—enhancing durability and reducing damage from blunt force. It didn't make him invincible, but it gave him the edge to keep standing longer in drawn-out fights.
This is more than I expected… it's a modular system, Kai thought, like gene-loadouts, but more cooler.
Sekh's not normal. It's a legacy parasite... maybe that's why I was deemed important by Wenzel.
Maybe that's why the old Vogel clan called themselves Gene Cultivators.
Kai stood, cracked his neck, and let George 1 slip back into his body.
Lightning hummed in his palm.
Tomorrow, he'd need to save that princess.