"Listen, I mean you and your family no harm. I'm just trying to get away from them," Ali said, his voice calm yet firm as he addressed the towering figure in front of him. George held his gleaming battle axe with deliberate menace, the etched blue runes beginning to pulse faintly with power, catching the light like veins of lightning trapped in gold.
The masked man's words hung in the air, but George offered no immediate reply. His steady eyes, brown and thoughtful, shifted to the side—where the sound of rustling leaves and padded footfalls grew louder.
The line of Demi-humans was steadily closing in, spreading across the clearing like a tightening noose. At their centre strode the red bull, a veritable mountain of muscle whose every step carved deep grooves into the earth.
His hammer, slung lazily over one shoulder, radiated pressure like a boiling storm cloud. The tension in the air was suffocating. Their hatred for humanity was evident in every movement. Their eyes spoke clearly: killing a woman and her infant child would be no moral dilemma—it would be sport.
George turned his gaze back to Ali, his jaw set like stone. His eyes ran the length of Ali's bloodied but upright form, taking in the muscle, the stance of a fighter and the cold eyes of a killer…
"What are you?" George asked, his voice quiet but heavy, almost solemn.
"Human," Ali replied quickly. "A human who got lost in the forest. My body is… special, that's all it is," he added, forcing the words out. 'I need him to trust me… He's my only way out of this.' His wrist burned hot with proximity to the trio before him—a family radiating with Origin. Whatever that meant, Ali couldn't ignore its pull.
George turned halfway, speaking softly to the woman behind him. "Fiona, the one holding the hammer has the aura of a third-level knight—if not stronger."
"No," Fiona whispered. She looked from her husband to the massive bull, her golden eyes wide with dread. "George, you can't." Her voice cracked with the weight of her terror.
George's broad shoulders hunched as he inhaled deeply. "Listen, Fiona… I love you." He turned to her fully now, his face unexpectedly tender in the face of looming violence. "But you have to. You have to—for our daughter. Please…"
Fiona's hands clung desperately to the muscle of his arm, her nails digging into the skin as if refusing to let him be taken from her. The baby girl strapped to her chest began to wail—soft at first, then louder. She was too young to understand what was happening, but even she could feel the despair flooding the room. Her innocent cry broke through the heavy tension like a dagger.
WAAAAAAAA
George leaned down and kissed his daughter on the forehead. He lingered, pressing his lips to the delicate skin as if trying to burn the moment into memory. Then he rose again, eyes meeting Fiona's. He kissed her on the cheek, slow and lingering.
Tears spilled freely from her eyes. She was frozen in disbelief.
Ali didn't fully understand what it meant to be a "third-level knight," or what "aura" truly entailed, but he could feel the gravity of George's presence.
George straightened his spine, and for a moment, he looked every bit the knight he once was—back straight, chest forward, a war-ready posture that screamed defiance in the face of hopeless odds. He stepped up to Ali and met his gaze directly. Those brown eyes were no longer kind. They were steel. Measured. Resolute.
"You will take them out of here. Run. And do not stop. And if anything—I mean anything—happens to my family…" George's voice lowered, almost to a growl.
He stepped forward, towering over Ali. The sheer intensity that radiated from the man was enough to make the air feel heavier. 'What a force of nature,' Ali thought, staring into those fierce eyes. 'This man could have been a general in another world.'
"Happens to my family," George repeated, "then I will come for you."
Ali held his ground, unwavering. "I swear it," he replied.
'A man like him deserves it… And he's saving my life. I'll honour it to a certain point.' Ali thought with conviction—and he meant it.
George gave a single nod, the kind that carried finality. He turned to his wife and daughter one last time, his eyes softening just for a heartbeat. Then he turned away—and did not look back.
With a deep inhale, George grabbed the collar of his loose shirt and tore it away in one motion, casting it to the ground. His muscular torso was revealed in full, a living map of battle scars and old wounds. His chest rose and fell like that of a beast preparing to charge.
The red bull stepped forward in response, lifting his weapon from his shoulder. A pulsing red glow enveloped the giant hammer, growing brighter and more volatile by the second. The aura around him cracked the earth at his feet and pushed shockwaves into the surrounding trees.
George met him head-on. A golden light began to bloom around him, surrounding his body and weapon in an ethereal brilliance. The axe in his hand pulsed with raw energy, humming with ancient power.
But then—his body betrayed him.
The deep scar across his chest split open. Blood began to trickle down his torso. George gritted his teeth. 'I have truly been crippled… If I were in my prime, these animals wouldn't stand a chance. But now…' He forced the thought away. This was not the time for regrets.
He raised his axe overhead. The golden aura surged in one last brilliant burst.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
George roared.
He screamed with everything he had, his voice thunderous, tearing through the air like a war horn at the end of days. His golden axe came crashing down with a mighty swing, and from the blade erupted a luminous arc of pure golden light, cleaving through the air with such intensity that the wind itself howled in its wake. The earth beneath him split slightly from the pressure, dust and loose pebbles shivering away from his feet.
Ali's black eyes sparkled beneath the mask as he witnessed the sheer magnitude of the strike. 'If I had power like this…' He clenched his jaw, his blood boiling. 'It's only a matter of time. I'll learn this world's power. I'll take it back with me. All of it.'
Without hesitation, Ali pivoted, his boots digging into the dirt as he lunged toward Fiona. The young mother stood rooted in place, frozen like a statue of grief, her baby girl still crying against her chest, her wide golden eyes locked on her husband as he stood alone against an army.
Ali swept her up into his arms with effortless strength, lifting her in a princess carry, supporting her weight as if she were featherlight. Then he bolted—vanished, sprinting with a speed that would make a blur jealous.
"NOOOOOOOO!"
Fiona's scream tore through the forest, raw and full of heartbreak. Her arm extended toward the distance, toward the golden aura burning like a star on the battlefield. George, the father of her child, the man she loved, was now a shining beacon standing alone amidst an encroaching storm of blades.
Down below, George moved like a god among mortals. Though the bull had more raw strength, George's axe was poetry in motion. His technique was flawless, his footwork divine, and his every swing threatened to take a life. Not even the fast-moving wolf-men could approach without leaving behind a trail of blood and severed tendons.
But even George couldn't stop them all.
"Don't let them get away!!" roared the red bull, slamming his hammer into the earth once again. A pulse of red energy exploded outward as three of his subordinates broke past George's wall of steel—two wolf-men and the bunny girl, each moving like phantoms.
The giant blue wolf tried to follow, but George was ready. He twisted and slammed his golden fist into the beast's chest, a shockwave rippling through the earth as the massive creature was flung backwards and embedded into the ground, a crater forming around his limp body.
Meanwhile, Ali could feel the pursuit.
He shifted tactics instantly, launching himself upward, using the surrounding titanic trees like platforms. With every bound, he gained altitude, leaping from branch to branch, his feet barely tapping bark before launching again. The air whipped against his skin, and still he held Fiona and her child steady, balanced with perfect control.
But behind him, the predators drew near. Their senses were too sharp. Their speed too great.
'They're gaining…' Ali thought..
When he hit the eighty-meter mark up in the air, he made a decision.
Ali hurled himself between two massive branches, then turned his head toward the woman in his arms—Fiona, eyes wide with horror, her grip tightening instinctively.
Then, without a word of warning, Ali let go.
Fiona's breath caught in her throat. Her voice broke in her chest before it even reached her lips. Her golden eyes locked on his.
She didn't understand.
His black eyes, calm and focused behind the mask, didn't blink. Her baby screamed in her arms, and time slowed—every leaf floating around them seemed to hang in place.
A glint flashed beside him—steel reflecting sunlight.
He moved his head.
A cheap sword sliced past his face, missing by mere inches.
The wolf-man who swung it went wide-eyed as he passed Ali mid-air, unable to stop his momentum.
'SHADOW.'
Ali's call was calm.
A black portal split the sky, tearing into the air before the wolf-man. Out of that swirling darkness emerged a jaw the size of a boulder, lined with rows upon rows of glistening, impossibly sharp teeth. The moment the wolf-man saw the nightmarish beast, it was already too late.
CRUNCH
Shadow's teeth closed around the wolf-man like a steel trap. The Demi-human didn't even have time to scream. He was simply… gone.
And with that, Shadow vanished into another portal, disappearing like a ghost into the wind.
Another slash came, this time from the second wolf-man, but his blade cut only empty air—Shadow was no longer there.
BANG
Ali twisted and fired.
The second wolf-man barely managed to lean back, the bullet skimming past his cheek.
BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.
Ali fired again and again, adjusting with pinpoint accuracy between each shot, the recoil absorbed by his reinforced body. The wolf-man danced in the air, trying to dodge—
SPLATTER
His head exploded. Red mist painted the sky.
'Two seconds,' Ali counted internally. He felt the shift in the air.
His arm, covered in black veins, thrust forward.
At that same moment, the bunny girl materialised before him, emerging from stealth. Her eyes widened.
She'd flown too close.
Ali's hand was already inches from her heart. The blow was lethal. Her instincts screamed.
'No!' she thought, fear rippling through her as death loomed.
Her body stiffened. Her brown eyes pleaded.
'I don't want to die… I've never even left this forest…'
Ali, in that final millisecond, made a decision.
He twisted his body, retracted his claws, and delivered a clean, precise punch straight to her abdomen.
BANG
The impact knocked the air from her lungs and the light from her eyes. She blacked out mid-air, her limbs limp as she spiralled toward the canopy below.
Ali immediately dove downward, his body folding into a streamlined free-fall. Wind screamed past his ears.
Below, Fiona tumbled helplessly through the air. She couldn't process what she'd just seen—her body flailed, her child cried against her chest, the earth rushing up to meet them.
'How…? How did it all fall apart so fast?' Her mind was swimming. One moment she was cooking dinner. The next, her world had shattered.
She closed her eyes.
'I'm sorry, George.'
She braced for the end.
CATCH
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