Crowds of Dragov civilians gathered at the capital's front gate, their faces tense with anticipation and dread. They waited, hoping to see their loved ones return from the deadly forest mission. As the army arrived, only half returned on their feet while the rest were carried on stretchers or wrapped in cloaks of silence.
Kaena emerged, carrying Kael on her back. His body was limp. Blood dried across his skin. His breaths were faint.
"Kael!!!" cried a woman with light blue and pink hair, rushing from the crowd. Tears welled up in her eyes as she reached him. Kael barely opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, the world around him distant and warped.
"Kael needs immediate treatment—get him to the palace!" a commanding voice rang from behind.
Heads turned. It was Inosuke, the King. He stood tall, battered yet unbroken, carrying the limp body of the Calamity Beast in one hand.
He walked past the civilians without a smile or word. His mind wasn't on celebration—it was on power. The forest had shown him a truth. If he was to cure his sister's illness, if he was to protect this world... he needed to grow stronger. Much stronger.
Inside the palace, Kael was laid down upon a medical bed. Inosuke examined him quietly.
"Is there any hope?" Kaena whispered. Her hands trembled. "His body... it's broken. Should we let his family say their last goodbye?"
Inosuke said nothing. He placed a hand over Kael's chest, closing his eyes and listening. A faint heartbeat echoed beneath the ribcage—barely there, but still alive.
"There's still time," he muttered.
He stood up. "No one is to enter this room while I'm gone." And with that, a wormhole opened behind him, pulling him through.
Ten minutes later, Inosuke returned. In his hand was a large black medical bag. Inside were surgical tools, vials of medicine, and packets of blood.
He changed into a doctor's apron, put on gloves, and covered his face with a sterile mask.
Kaena stared, stunned. "What... are those?"
Inosuke glanced at her. "I graduated top of my class at age 16. Human biology, chemistry, emergency surgery—I studied it all. This was before... the invasion. Before we lost Earth."
He grabbed a scalpel. "Let's hope I've still got it."
Kaena nodded silently, standing beside him. "Tell me what to do."
"Just follow instructions. One mistake... and he dies."
And the operation began.
Elsewhere…
In a burning forest far away, flames crackled around the body-strewn landscape. At the center sat a man on a throne made of alien corpses. His long white hair was tied in a ponytail, his eyes blood-red. He wore a white and crimson tech-skin armor, with a flowing cape.
"You really had to go all out like that?" a woman's voice echoed behind him.
Two figures stepped out of the smoke. One was a tall, red-haired woman in a crimson crop-top armor and skirt. The other one a man a who wore a heavy Palladian suit. Both carried the same twisted aura of power.
The man on the throne smirked. "If I had gone all out, this world would be ash."
"You're one of the Elite 12, after all," the red-haired woman said, eyes narrowed.
Aetherion One of the Twelve Elites—beings said to wield the highest-ranked Rayler abilities in the universe. Powers beyond reason. He was also Inosuke's older brother, a man who vanished from their home world long ago.
Aetherion scratched the back of his head and stood. "I've had my fun. Time to go retrieve what we came for..."
He grinned darkly.
Back at the palace...
"He's stable...for now," Inosuke said, tossing the bloodied gloves aside. "But he's lost a lot of blood."
Kaena removed her own gloves, still confused by everything she'd just witnessed. "Is... he going to die?"
Inosuke scoffed. "As if I'd let my hard work go to waste. What we need now is a blood donor."
"A what?"
"A person with matching blood type to transfer their blood into Kael," he explained, sighing. How outdated is this planet?
"Then take mine!" Kaena said without hesitation.
"That's not how it works," Inosuke said. "The donor has to have the same blood type or the body will reject it."
Kaena blinked at him, her face blank. The words sounded like gibberish. She stared at him as if he were casting a spell, not explaining a medical fact.
Inosuke met her gaze and sighed again.
"Right... I really am starting from zero here."
To be continued...