Kael Lanpar's POV – (Matías Van Geast)
I could barely stay awake, held together by the gentle rocking of the ship beneath us.
Even with my eyes closed, I could hear the waves crashing against the deck in a rhythmic, violent pattern—insistent, as if the sea wanted to remind us who truly ruled here.
My concentration was stretched to its limit.
I didn't need sight to know what was happening around me. I perceived the world through other senses. Every sound, every vibration, arranged itself in my mind with an unsettling clarity.
Images formed from scattered shouts and laughter, mixed with the sour stench of vomit dripping down from the upper deck.
A foul, human odor—impossible to ignore.
All the cadets were gathered in the ship's hold, talking about anything that might help them kill time. A time that dragged on cruelly as we moved, slowly, toward our destination.
After a brief farewell with the woman I refused to call my mother, we departed from Victius heading west, toward lands scarred by radiation and decay.
"Why are you thinking so much?"
I had long since grown used to not being alone in my own mind, but hearing his voice echo inside my head was a nuisance I struggled to tolerate.
"You know, you're acting like a small child by ignoring me."
"I have nothing to talk about with you, and you know that," I replied, giving it no further importance.
As I shifted position, resting my back against a barrel, I opened my eyes for just a moment.
Matías's face was reflected in the blade of my sword—distorted, fragmented, like a warped memory of where I came from.
Thin rays of light slipped through the cracks in the wood, just enough to turn the hold into a silent spectacle. The light shattered into multiple colors, forming a faint rainbow wherever it struck metal.
It was beautiful.
And, at the same time, deeply out of place.
"Why did you decide it was a good idea to create me?" I murmured, knowing he could hear me. "You could have been the one to reincarnate instead of me."
For a brief instant, everything went silent.
The world stopped. Dust particles hung motionless in the air, frozen in a time that no longer moved.
Everything was suspended… except me.
"There are many things in this world that are beyond my reach."
My skin prickled when I heard his voice beside me.
I remained still, trapped by surprise, until I bitterly remembered that I was still within his domain. None of this was accidental. It never was.
I turned my head slightly and saw him sitting next to me. His breathing was calm, almost serene, but his dim expression told a different story.
He was worried.
And it wasn't about me.
"Sometimes I feel like killing you," I said with a mocking tone. "You're an idiot if you think you'll ever make me change my mind, you know that… right?"
I had always expected anything dangerous from him. From the very beginning, I feared him.
But for some reason, seeing him laugh completely disarmed me.
That contagious laughter spilling from his trembling lips didn't belong to a monster, but to someone lost.
I was so absorbed by his face that I barely noticed the contact.
Someone was touching my shoulder.
I blinked a couple of times before realizing I had returned to reality.
I moved my head in different directions, searching for Matías. I found nothing but one of the cadets, standing in front of me.
"Are you okay?"
His murmur barely reached my ears. I saw him scratch his head, confused by my silence. I didn't pay him any attention.
"If you want, I have some pills in my bag. They're for seasickness," he added, extending the pouch with genuine kindness.
I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. I simply sheathed my sword carefully, avoiding his gaze. The metal slid into place in silence—final, absolute.
With my head lowered, I watched his feet slowly walk away. Guilt struck me immediately. I knew that several people would die that day.
He was one of them.
Seeing him leave like that, shoulders slumped, made me think that maybe I could still do something for him. Something small. Something useless.
Something human.
"What's your name?"
With effort, I pushed myself up from the floor, bracing my hands against the barrel I had been leaning on.
He turned around in surprise when he heard my voice.
When I extended my hand, I felt a firm grip. His expression changed instantly—a genuine, open smile. I had to look away just to endure it.
I couldn't understand how he could be so calm, knowing we would soon arrive at the docks of Sansiro.
What awaited us there could only be described as nightmares.
"Attention. We've arrived at our destination."
The moment the voice echoed, the ship came to an abrupt halt. Some lost their balance; others were thrown to the ground amid dull impacts and muffled groans.
"My name is Estefano," the cadet finally said, gripping a barrel tightly.
There was no time for formal introductions. We were forced off the ship almost immediately. The sight that greeted us was as depressing as it was undeniable.
With practiced ease, I put on my mask to protect myself from the contaminated air, wiping the visor clean of ash particles falling from the sky like a sick snowfall.
"How is it possible for people to live in these conditions?" Estefano stammered, staring at the landscape in horror.
"I don't think anyone is still alive in these zones," I whispered to myself.
I took a step forward, and my foot struck something abandoned on the ground. I lowered my gaze cautiously.
It was a human skull.
Not wanting to frighten Estefano further, I kicked the bone hard and sent it flying into the sea, as if that could erase its existence.
Even from the docks, the air already carried a metallic scent—blood.
A stench that grew stronger with every step we took inland.
It surprised me that Lord Castleboard had sent Elizabeth to the battlefield, considering she was his daughter.
Then again, on second thought, the decision wasn't so unreasonable.
That was how the government in Victius worked. Even belonging to a powerful family guaranteed nothing. No one was ever truly safe.
The proof was right there.
Everyone present—except for me—came from influential lineages, families whose power was measured more by population weight than by wealth. Names that mattered because of the number of lives they represented.
The logic was clear if one understood Victius's system. The three islands were governed by an exchange of equivalences, a cruel balance maintained through dangerous practices such as the exploration of forgotten continents.
Blood in exchange for stability.
"Brain… I want to eat your brain."
A bead of sweat ran down my forehead when I heard Francis's voice behind me. I turned slowly and saw him playing with Zenit, carefree, almost childish.
These people were so familiar with death that they no longer reacted to it.
"Listen carefully, cadets."
The sergeant leading us came to a sudden stop at the top of a hill. At his side, the second-in-command and Elizabeth—the group's leader—drew their swords in urgency.
That was when I felt it.
The debris beneath my feet began to tremble. Something was coming. And it wasn't just one.
"Hold your positions. Stay alert. And if you're outnumbered… do not run."
The sergeant's voice shook. He stuttered. His body did too.
That was when I realized my mistake.
They weren't used to death. They simply knew there was no escape left.
Instinctively, my hand went straight to the hilt of my sword. The moment my fingers touched the leather-wrapped metal, I finally understood what we were facing.
The scattered debris on the scorched earth wasn't shaking from the ground itself, but from a savage wind descending from above.
Massive creatures, as dark as night, cut through the sky toward us. Every beat of their wings tore violently through the air, the gusts growing more feral as they closed in.
I drew my blade swiftly and held it before me, my mind straining to find a way out.
It didn't take a genius to see it—if we fought those beasts, it wouldn't be a battle.
It would be a massacre.
For a few moments, my grip faltered.
Through the reflection on my sword, I saw the cadets trembling behind me. They tried to stand firm, but their eyes betrayed them.
"Elizabeth, we have to retreat. Now."
My shout came out more desperate than I expected. It caught everyone's attention; some, tears still suspended in their eyes, nodded silently.
"We can't return to Victius without goods in our hands," the sergeant said, barely able to form the words. "How do you—"
I didn't let him finish.
I moved fast, stopping in front of him, the edge of my blade hovering a breath away from his throat.
"If we don't leave here alive, there won't be any goods either."
When he stepped back, overtaken by fear, I seized control of the situation. I positioned myself in front of everyone, just as the beasts drew closer.
Seeing them place their last hopes in me filled me with guilt. I knew what I was about to do would be an act of absolute coldness.
"I-I want… everyone to split into two groups," I stammered, unable to keep my voice steady.
I felt ashamed of myself. Sacrificing and manipulating a few to save the rest was a horrific choice—one I could barely bring myself to make.
Without questioning my order, the cadets divided into two groups. Now acting as leader, I assigned those I knew to group one, favoring them openly, without disguise.
"And now what's the plan? Everyone's waiting for your orders," Elizabeth said. I barely managed to process her words.
I swallowed my emotions and shouted with all the strength I had left.
"Group one, retreat immediately toward the collapsed buildings. Use whatever remains as cover."
Following my command, they ran toward the ruined city without looking back, while I stayed behind with the other group.
"Group two…"
I froze when I realized Elizabeth had stayed with me.
Beside her—and others who didn't belong there—stood Estefano, Zenit, Francis, and the second-in-command.
"Did you really think you'd sacrifice yourself alone?"
I went cold as Elizabeth gestured for everyone to climb the hill with me.
One by one, they took their places at my side, gripping their swords with the silent resolve of those who had already accepted death.
"I told you not to make me worry," she added, resting her head against my shoulder for a brief moment.
Understanding that I had no choice but to accept her decision, I straightened myself once more.
I swung my sword from side to side, watching as the beasts—nothing more than mutated bats—hurled themselves toward us like arrows gone mad.
The swarm crashed down upon us in the blink of an eye. In their red eyes burned a pure, primitive hunting instinct.
I slid my sword to the side and charged the attack, driving it straight into the abdomen of one of the creatures. Its shrill, tearing scream ripped through the air.
Watching it collapse lifeless to the ground awakened a savage instinct within me—one that seized control.
Maybe there was still a chance to survive… even if it was no more than a miserable one percent.
I moved with precision among the beasts that had already reached the ground.
My strikes were swift and calculated. Bodies fell with dull thuds as chaos tightened its grip around us.
There were so many of them that I could barely make out my allies.
It was like fighting inside a sandstorm—constant motion, total confusion. Every missed or deflected blow could be fatal.
The sword kept falling, doing its work, yet the creatures never stopped coming.
More and more. Relentless. Endless.
In a moment of carelessness, distracted by a scream, I lost focus. It was the exact instant they needed to strike.
I felt claws tear into the flesh of my thigh before my body collapsed to its knees.
In front of me, some of us already lay in their own pools of blood—motionless, irreversible.
As I watched my end take shape before my eyes, I asked myself once more why I had acted at all, if this life wasn't even mine.
They weren't my loved ones—and yet, I was defending them.
Instead of closing my eyes and fearing death, I chose to witness how it all would end. I accepted that letting myself be dragged into this might have been a mistake.
I held my breath as a bat's claw crept dangerously close to my head, mere centimeters away from ending everything.
Blood ran down my forehead, but I was still alive.
Strangely, everything went silent.
I slowly raised my head and saw the creature trembling in place, unable to move. Everything around it seemed frozen.
I let my body fall backward and ended up seated on the cold ground.
I thought I understood what was happening. My mind reached a conclusion almost instantly—Matías was behind this.
Yet before I could calm myself, I felt the air begin to vanish from my lungs.
For a few moments, the atmosphere around me seemed to evaporate, turning into a thick haze that barely allowed me to see as reality itself began to fracture.
I watched cautiously as, before me, a black hole formed—floating just inches above the ground.
"I see my suspicions about you were correct. You are not my true Matías."
The voice, soft yet threatening, came from within the portal.
It belonged to a goddess I hadn't seen in a very long time.
"Dextrina… what are you doing here?" I asked, unable to comprehend what was happening.
She didn't answer.
With silent majesty, she stepped down from the portal. When her bare feet touched the ground, reality warped beneath them, leaving behind only blurred images devoid of meaning.
"That idiot managed to deceive me."
I watched her walk toward me with steady steps. She leaned down until we were face to face and looked at me with an almost childish anger—disturbing, coming from her.
"You know one should never lie to a woman."
I swallowed hard as the weight of the universe pressed down on my shoulders.
I was afraid of her.
"Tell me where your creator is."