An hour had passed since he blacked out. The effects of Felion had finally worn off, and his body was slowly beginning to recover—though the poison made every second of healing agonizingly slow. Althric opened his eyes.
"Where am I?" he muttered. In front of him stretched a void filled with nothing but darkness. "What is this place?"
Suddenly, a rusted core appeared before him. Not knowing what it was, he slowly reached out. The moment his fingers touched it, the rust began to flake away. The core shone like new, and the light trapped inside it burst free.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open.
When he opened them, people surrounded him—reporters, hunters, and officers packed the entire area.
"Look! Mr. Althric's eyes are open!"
Beside him sat two S-rank hunters: Ryojin and Akari.
"What's happening?" one of the hunters asked. "We were told something went down at Mr. Daiki's headquarters, so a team rushed over. Then he called us directly and asked for a full squad, medics included."
The medic who had been tending to him spoke up. "You were practically dead when we found you. We still don't know how you survived. But moving on…" He paused, watching Althric's dazed expression. "What happened?"
Althric answered slowly, as if the words were only now sinking in. "When I first saw you… your ears, eyes, and head were full of blood. Somehow you pulled through, but this poison is still inside you. It's eating you alive and destroying you at the same time. You need to rest."
Althric looked down and closed his eyes.
He kept them shut for a second, trying to process everything. The pain in his chest, his limbs, his very soul burned like fire and acid mixed together. Then the memories slammed into him all at once.
The girl's blade.
Daiki's scream.
The blue flames dying out.
The final tear sliding down Daiki's cheek.
The way his eyes went dark.
Everything.
Althric's breathing quickened. He tried to sit up, ignoring the medic's protests and the fresh wave of agony that made his vision swim. "Where… is Mr. Daiki? I have to see him. I have to—"
No one answered.
The entire room fell deathly silent.
Reporters lowered their cameras. Hunters looked away. Even Ryojin and Akari dropped their gazes to the blood-soaked carpet.
Althric's voice cracked. "Tell me… where is he?"
Still nothing.
Only the distant sirens outside and the soft drip of his own poisoned blood hitting the floor.
The truth hung in the air like a blade already buried in his heart.
Daiki was gone.
Hearing it, something inside Althric broke.
The poison pulsed harder in his veins, as if it could taste his despair and wanted more.
"Where is his body?" he asked, his voice low.
Ryojin took his hand to guide him but warned, "You shouldn't look."
Althric ignored him and walked to where Daiki lay.
A cloth had been draped over the body.
Althric stood in front of it. He tightened his grip on the fabric. "I'm sorry… I couldn't save you."
He slowly pulled the cloth away.
The fabric slid free with a wet, sticky sound.
Daiki's body lay exactly as the elves had left it—sprawled face-up in the center of the ruined office, arms limp at his sides, legs slightly bent as if he had tried to stand even in his final moments. The massive pool of blood beneath him had thickened and cooled into a dark, sticky lake that soaked the carpet and seeped between the floor tiles. It had already begun to smell—metallic, heavy, final.
The wound was grotesque.
A single brutal hole had been punched clean through his chest just below the collarbone. The edges were ragged where the dragon-scale blade had torn through muscle and bone on its way in, then widened into a gaping exit wound on his back the size of a fist. Dried black blood caked the edges, mixed with the faint blue residue of the Second General's dying flames that had tried—and failed—to cauterize the damage. The heart inside was clearly destroyed; if you looked closely enough, you could see the torn edges through the ruined cavity.
His face was the worst part.
Eyes wide open, staring at nothing, the once-burning blue glow completely gone—now just dull, glassy black. A single dried tear track still cut through the blood on his left cheek like a scar that would never fade. His mouth hung slightly open, lips stained dark red from the blood he had choked on in his last moments. Silver-white strands of the girl's hair were still caught in his fingers—the last thing he had tried to grab before he collapsed.
His skin was already pale and waxy, the color of old paper. The blue flames that had once armored him were reduced to faint, dying embers flickering weakly across his shoulders, as if even they refused to accept he was gone.
Althric stared.
He didn't breathe. He didn't blink.
The poison in his own veins surged like it had been waiting for this exact moment. It flared hotter, twisting deeper into his muscles, his bones, his soul. Fresh blood trickled from the corners of his eyes again, but he didn't feel it. All he felt was the hole in his chest that mirrored Daiki's.
"I'm sorry…" Althric whispered, his voice cracking into something broken and small. "I'm so fucking sorry, Daiki. I was supposed to be there. I was supposed to protect you… and I came too late. Just like always."
His hand trembled as he reached down and gently brushed a strand of hair from Daiki's cold forehead. The skin was already icy. The faint warmth of the Second General's power was completely gone—only death remained.
Behind him, the room stayed deathly silent. Ryojin looked away. Akari had tears in her eyes but said nothing. The medic lowered his head. Even the reporters had stopped filming.
Althric's shoulders shook once. Then again. A low, guttural sound tore out of him—not a sob, not a scream, something worse. Something that sounded like a knight's soul finally shattering.
The poison drank it all in, feeding on his grief, spreading faster through his body like it wanted to kill him from the inside the same way Daiki had been killed from the outside.
He stayed there, kneeling in Daiki's blood, fingers still resting on his dead friend's face, as the first rays of dawn began to creep through the shattered windows—painting the corpse in cold, merciless light.
"I have to go now," he said. He stood and turned toward the exit, but the medics moved to block him.
"Hey! You must stop!"
He ignored them and flew toward the village where Kuro's mansion stood.
After a while he crashed into the mansion grounds.
Ren's family and Kuro all rushed outside. They were shocked to see Althric in that condition.
"What happened to you?" Kuro asked, worry clear in his voice.
"Mr. Kuro, please take the children back inside the house."
"Did something happen? It's bad."
Kuro ordered, "Sophia and Selene, take the children inside." Then he asked, "Is something wrong?"
Selene—Ren's mother—spoke up. "Althric can't be defeated or put in this state easily. Something bad has happened. Let's go. Kids, we have work to do. Come on."
They ushered the children away. Zenkai helped support Althric so he could sit down. "What happened?" Kuro asked.
"I failed to protect Mr. Daiki. I couldn't save him." Guilt weighed heavily on him. "Mr. Kuro… and King's father—go to the city…"
"Calm down, Althric. What do you mean he's dead?"
"Two otherworlders—not from this world—came and assassinated Mr. Daiki. I was badly injured but… recovered." Suddenly pain surged through him again.
"What is this?" Zenkai asked.
"It's a poison they left behind… to kill me."
"Go to the city and see what's happening," Zenkai said. "What will you do?"
"I'm going to the Realm of Thunder to tell the king."
"I'll go instead. You're not in any condition to travel."
"I can go. I'll go and inform him."
"Zenkai, it's fine. He'll be healed there."
"Alright. You go. We'll head to the city."
Both Kuro and Zenkai began preparing to leave for the city. In the meantime, Althric flew to the Realm of Thunder.
…
….
PRESENT TIME…
"My King…" Althric's breath rattled. His eyes, filled with pain and urgency, met Ren's.
"It's bad… it's about Mr. Daiki."
He swallowed hard.
"HE'S DEAD.
Mr. DAIKI HAS BEEN MURDERED!"
"What do you mean, murdered?" Ren was shocked. Seeing Althric in that state made him worry about what had happened back then.
Then Althric told them everything—every detail of what had occurred.
Everyone standing there widened their eyes in shock.
"Tell me, King Raizen," Althric continued, "did you invite every realm to this ball?"
"Yes," Raizen replied. "Althric, can you tell us whose powers are similar to theirs?"
Althric, supported by Zyra, barely kept his balance.
"If what King Raizen is saying is true, then no one in our world has powers like theirs. One of them had pointed ears. The other was hiding her face. The strange thing was… her shadow power had gold blended with the darkness."
"What do you mean by gold?" Yume asked.
"In our shadows, blue is the base color blended in. That's what defines shadow. But this… this changes everything. And the second one… his power was something even I couldn't understand. He did exactly what I'm doing now."
Ren thought for a moment, then said, "King Raizen, these few hours have been wonderful, but I think we have to leave. Zyra, let's go."
"Yes, Ninth King."
Althric started to follow them, but something shifted inside him.
Suddenly blood streamed from his ears, eyes, mouth, and nose. He collapsed to the ground, completely lifeless.
Zyra shouted, "ALTHRIC!"