Kano looked around and noticed Revena was gone.
His eyes narrowed.
—"Elgot, find her and bring her here."
Elgot nodded without a word and dissolved into the air, using his magic.
He slipped through the city's shadows, nearly invisible, until he reached the fortress wall.
And he saw her.
Revena stood at the edge, her eyes glowing red with the echo of magic. She was whispering, and a dark bat was already dissolving into the air, carrying a message.
Elgot approached quietly, almost soundless, but…
Revena froze.
—"What do you want, Elgot?" she said without even turning.
Elgot sighed and stepped out of the shadow.
—"Kano is waiting. We have to perform the ritual again."
Revena's eyes flew wide.
Her pupils dilated so far it seemed they might burst.
—"WHAT?!" Her voice rolled over the city like thunder.
She spun, searching his face.
—"He won't survive… It's impossible!"
Elgot only laughed.
—"For that fool, nothing is impossible."
Revena lowered her head, trying to process it, then turned and followed him.
When they stepped onto the square, she froze.
Before her stood thousands of orcs, smeared with blood, waiting for the ritual.
Revena went rigid.
—"You… have got to be kidding…"
She snapped toward Kano.
—"It will kill not only you, but me as well!"
Kano looked at her calmly.
—"Do it."
Naira slowly laid her hand on the axe's haft.
An obvious hint.
Revena clenched her teeth.
—"Gods, you're all just insane…"
Kano slit his hand.
Revena began to speak the words of the pact.
And then hell began.
Kano screamed from the pain.
His body convulsed as if struck by lightning.
His bones cracked, his blood scorched him from within, and there was nothing in his head but pain.
The girls couldn't hold back their tears watching him suffer.
Revena flinched too.
The orcs began to transform.
Kano's mana mingled with Selina's.
They rose into the air as if something were ripping them out of reality.
Their bodies began to glow—gold and crimson fire weaving into a single blaze.
When the ritual ended, thousands of newly made High Orcs sank to their knees.
And Kano and Selina collapsed, unconscious.
Lianel dashed to them, forcing potions between their lips.
Revena staggered, going down, and Grimtar caught her so she wouldn't smash against the stone.
She just stared at Kano lying motionless.
"What are you?.. This is impossible…"
Darkness.
No time.
No sensation.
Only warmth.
Kano slowly opened his eyes and…
He was standing in the midst of fire.
Red tongues of flame coiled in spirals around him, reaching for his hands as if trying to touch his soul.
The sky was blood-red, and the ground was molten lava.
Kano didn't know where he was.
But he felt he had been here before.
Suddenly a voice—deep, mighty, mysterious—rang in his head.
"You are awakened."
Kano whipped around, but saw no one.
Only fire drawing closer, swallowing everything around him.
His hands flared with crimson light.
His heart began to pound faster.
And then…
He woke.
Kano drew a sharp breath; his eyes flew open as his body choked for air.
His hands trembled, his heart hammered in his chest.
Before his eyes—the sky. Gloomy, heavy, gray.
He felt something warm on his face—it was Selina's hand, lying unconscious beside him.
Around them stood Naira, Lianel, Elgot, Grimtar, and hundreds of High Orcs.
Kano slowly pushed up onto an elbow, and the first thing he heard was a sigh of relief.
—"He's alive..." whispered Lianel.
Selina still didn't move.
—"Selina!" Lianel rushed to her, giving her another potion.
Kano rose, feeling something strange within his body.
He was… different.
His mana flowed differently, his muscles felt stronger, and there was an unfamiliar clarity in his mind.
"What happened to me?"
The High Orcs knelt in silence, their eyes burning with expectation.
—"Chieftain, we await your command."
Kano barely grasped their words; his thoughts were still in the vision.
He drew a deep breath and looked at them all, slowly.
—"Rise."
Hundreds of High Orcs rose as one.
On their faces was not merely respect—it was devotion that reached beyond ordinary faith in a leader.
Kano was no longer just a chieftain.
He had become something more.
Revena stood nearby, her body barely holding together after the ritual.
But her eyes…
They were wide, filled with fear.
She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
She knew Kano was unusual.
But now…
She understood with piercing clarity:
"This man…—is not just strength. He is something that should not exist."
She barely kept herself from shaking.
He had risen from pure mana.
It was… impossible.
Kano sat on the cold steps, staring straight ahead.
The street was packed with High Orcs.
There were thousands of them.
They stood in silence, grim-faced, as if waiting for a single word from him to move in any direction.
He heard nothing—no wind, no voices, no sounds of the city.
His thoughts drowned out everything around him.
"Did I create this?"
His fingers slowly curled into a fist.
When he came to this world, he had been alone and lost.
He had nothing.
And now…
He had an army capable of wiping anything from the face of the earth.
He had a power he didn't fully understand.
And he was afraid.
He didn't want to be a conqueror.
He didn't want to be feared.
But looking at this sight, he knew there wasn't a person alive who wouldn't fear this army.
His heart beat harder.
His breathing grew heavier.
His thoughts were shattered.
"What now?.."
He didn't know.
—"You know… right now you look less like a chieftain and more like a boy holding a sword for the first time."
Kano lifted his head.
Lenor stood before him.
He looked down at him calmly, as always, but this time there was no mockery in his eyes.
Only understanding.
Lenor leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees.
—"Scary, isn't it?"
Kano didn't answer.
Lenor sat beside him, staring at the square with him.
They were silent.
Only thousands of eyes stared up at them from below.
Lenor shrugged.
—"I won't lie to you. You now hold a power that shouldn't exist."
His fingers slowly clenched into a fist.
—"If you take a wrong step, no one—not even I—will be able to stop you."
Kano held his breath.
Lenor looked at him again and spoke evenly:
—"You can't renounce this army. And you can't run from this choice."
He smiled with one corner of his mouth.
—"But if you let me, I'll help you keep from doing something foolish."
Kano finally turned to him, sighed, and shook his head.
—"Even you fear me now?"
Lenor drew a deep breath and barked a short laugh.
—"Not yet. But if you start acting like an idiot—I will."
Kano smiled through his weariness.
At last his shoulders eased a little.
Lenor stood, stretched, and sighed.
—"And now it's time I returned to Drachenfest."
Kano raised his head.
Lenor leaned closer and, looking straight into his eyes, said quietly:
—"But remember, Kano. If you hurt Lianel… I'll kill you."
Kano went still.
Lenor straightened, smiled, and walked away, leaving Kano in shock.