Kairo didn't waste a single millisecond on disorientation. The moment his vision locked onto Leonhart's face, his body moved on pure survival reflex. He lunged forward, grabbed Leonhart by the collar of his tunic, and hoisted the boy entirely off the ground, launching into a dead sprint through the choked undergrowth.
"How much time has passed?" Kairo demanded, his voice slicing through the heavy, oppressive silence of the canopy as he dodged a low-hanging, thorn-covered branch.
Leonhart, dangling slightly under Kairo's grip but keeping stride, blinked in confusion. "Hmm... five minutes?"
"Five minutes?" Kairo's chest heaved, a bitter, frantic laugh threatening to burst out. Five minutes here, while I lived through years of shifting timelines, fake blood, and existential dread. "Five minutes, that's it... Uh, okay. Well, this place is making me insane."
"Kairo, the beasts—!" Leonhart started, his eyes darting toward the shifting shadows between the massive, weeping trees. The low, guttural growls of the forest's apex predators were beginning to echo, vibrating through the damp earth.
"Don't worry about the monsters, Leonhart," Kairo interrupted, his analytical mind already executing a tactical solution. "I have Kai's jacket. They won't be able to see us, nor will they dare to attack."
Without breaking his stride, Kairo reached down to his waist, unclasping a small, white-furred pocket bag shaped like a tiger. It was an spatial storage artifact, deceptively small but mathematically vast. With a swift tug, he pulled out a heavy, jet-black fur jacket. The material seemed to actively drink the ambient light, blending seamlessly with the surrounding darkness.
The moment the jacket unfolded into the air, a dense, suffocatingly menacing aura erupted from the fabric. It was the residual pressure of Kai himself—a dark, terrifying intent that signaled absolute slaughter to anything with survival instincts.
The predatory growls in the brush abruptly ceased. The rustling in the shadows shifted from a hunt into a frantic, desperate retreat as the monsters scrambled away from them, terrified of the invisible apex predator that had just awakened in their territory.
Leonhart's eyes widened in sheer awe as they ran. "Woah... that was cool, Kairo! My favorite color is white, though."
Kairo shot him a flat, incredulous glare, his feet pounding against the mossy roots. "Leonhart, we are not in a market right now. But yeah, white is better—it just won't blend into a cursed forest."
"Yeah, fair point," Leonhart muttered, looking down at his own small hands. "We are twelve-year-old kids, and we're currently stranded in the most dangerous place on earth. Where are we even going, Kairo?"
"Uh, I have been navigating this sector for months," Kairo replied, his voice hardening with the weight of experience Leonhart couldn't possibly understand yet. "Don't worry, Leonhart. Everything is going to be alright."
Leonhart jolted, nearly tripping over a root. "Wait, what? You were here all those days? I thought you were in that other land where we just fought!"
"Kai told me there are things in the deeper layers of this forest that are so terrifying, simply looking at them is enough to shatter your soul and kill you," Kairo said grimly, his grip tightening as he pushed his physical limits to accelerate their pace. "We have to get out of this sector ASAP. Keep running."
The air temperature plunged instantly. From the suffocating blackness of the deeper canopy, they emerged—a pack of horrors that defied the natural geometry of life. They were towering, skeletal entities, their flesh a sickly, translucent pale white that seemed to gleam in the midnight gloom. Their limbs were entirely too long, their elbows and knees bending at unnatural, broken angles as they skittered forward.
Then, they screamed.
The sound was a piercing, metallic shriek that vibrated straight through Kairo's teeth. Breaking into a frantic, chaotic dash, the pale horde descended upon them.
"Leonhart, make sure you—" Kairo began, his tactical mind already calculating a retreat vector.
But Leonhart wasn't planning on running. The boy's eyes were already blazing with an unyielding, fanatic light, entirely unfazed by the grotesque display.
"Kairo, do you honestly think I fear these abominations?" Leonhart shouted, his voice ringing with absolute conviction. "Behold the power of the faith of God!"
Without a single shred of hesitation, Leonhart leaped forward into the oncoming tide of pale flesh. "If today is the day I meet my end, so be it! I will die, but I will never die a coward!"
A wild, unhinged grin split Kairo's twelve-year-old face—a flash of pure, unadulterated masculine pride. "No wonder they call your father the Lion," Kairo roared, his own blood pumping with sudden, violent adrenaline. "The sons of lions are always lions!"
Reaching into the spatial inventory of the tiger pouch, Kairo's hand wrapped around a massive, heavy hilt. He pulled, and an enormous greatsword—forged from a dark, light-absorbing metal—slid into the physical world. It was one of Kai's personal weapons.
Wait, what? Kairo thought, his brain short-circuiting for a split second as he balanced the immense weight. Kai had a sword this powerful? Uh... I really should have used this against the King.
"Seriously?!" Leonhart yelled, cleanly ducking under a sweeping, unnaturally long arm that shattered a nearby tree trunk. "You didn't even look through your own inventory once?!"
Kairo parried a downward claw, the impact vibrating up his shoulders, before spinning into a heavy counter-slash that bifurcated the monster. "Yeah! I guess I am a pure idiot!"
"Wow, you finally realized!" Leonhart roared back. He dodged another strike, grabbing the monster's pale wrist mid-air. With a feral shout, he channeled his raw physical might, stabbing his fingers directly into the creature's gut and ripping it apart with his bare hands. "That's why you should always listen to your friends, Kairo!"
Kairo blinked, momentarily pausing as the creature's black fluids splattered the moss. "Woah. One kill already?"
"Just watch me!" Leonhart yelled.
"Fine. I'll show you how it's actually done," Kairo muttered, his stance shifting.
Dropping the heavy sword into a low guard, Kairo activated his swift footwork techniques. He became a blur of motion beneath the purple sky, weaving through the awkward, bending limbs of the pale horde like a ghost. Step, pivot, slash. Evade, thrust, decapitate. The dark sword cut through the pale flesh like paper. Within a span of ten seconds, the immediate area fell silent, save for the heavy breathing of the two boys.
Ten identical monsters lay motionless at Kairo's feet.
Kairo wiped a streak of dark grime from his cheek, looking back over his shoulder. "Sorry, Leonhart, but I lose count when I'm focused."
Leonhart exhaled a long, exhausted breath, wiping his bloody hands on his tunic as he rolled his eyes. "Uh... just admit you can't count properly, Kairo."
The adrenaline evaporated as quickly as it had arrived, leaving behind a hollow, suffocating silence. The dark sword slipped from Kairo's fingers, clattering uselessly against the twisted roots of the forest floor.
Then, his shoulders began to shake.
Kairo sank to his knees and started to cry uncontrollably. The tears cut clean tracks through the dark grime and monster blood on his face. It wasn't the quiet, calculated weeping of a survivor; it was the raw, agonizing sob of a broken child.
Leonhart frowned, the combat heat fading from his eyes as he walked over. He dropped to one knee beside his friend, placing a hesitant hand on Kairo's trembling shoulder. "What is wrong, Kairo? Why are you crying? We just won."
"Maybe... maybe you shouldn't have woken me up, Leonhart," Kairo choked out, his voice fracturing under the weight of his grief. "Because in my dreams... I saw them. I saw my mother and father. My mother was in an operation room. That's why my father was so irritated and anxious..."
He buried his face in his hands, weeping uncontrollably now, the image flashing vividly behind his eyelids. "I wonder if my mother is okay. Will she be able to handle the pain? She was crying before she left me... she hugged me so tightly. Leonhart, I just... you don't understand, I feel so empty right now. It's so lonely."
He looked up, his eyes bloodshot, glaring at the purple canopy of the Forbidden Forest as if demanding answers from the universe itself. "I don't want to be a prince, Leonhart! I don't want to! I don't want to be a genius, I don't want to be the strongest man... I just want what other people have in common. My real parents. I don't know if... by coming to this world, because of me, they are sad right now. Because of me, do they look at other kids and start wondering where I am?"
Leonhart stayed silent, his grip tightening on Kairo's shoulder, his fierce expression softening into profound sympathy.
Before he could offer words of comfort, reality shuddered. A sudden, violent shockwave ripped through the atmosphere, accompanied by a blinding flash of white light that completely neutralized their senses for several agonizing seconds. The world stabilized, revealing a strange, shifting landscape just beyond the tree line.
As they stood stunned, a glowing translucent rectangle materialized directly in front of Kairo's face.
[ SYSTEM UNLOCKED ]
NOTE: Missions will be assigned to you. You can only view your stats; no inherent powers will be gained from this system. Only missions. Who knows—if you prove you are capable, we might grant you strength.
Leonhart leaped back, drawing his weapon, his eyes locked on the floating light. "Kairo! This is magic—foul magic! Don't listen to it!"
"Relax... relax, Leonhart. Relax," Kairo muttered, wiping the remaining tears from his eyes with the back of his sleeve. He forced his breathing to slow down, regaining his analytical composure. "You know... it's just a screen. It's like a magical interface that helps me bring books from another dimension. Don't worry. Do you want to see what kind of magic I have?"
Curious despite his grief, Kairo tapped the floating button designated for his magical parameters. He froze in shock. The screen was completely blank.
The text on the interface rippled, updating instantly:
Sorry, but your magical prowess can only be utilized one at a time. However, you may select one ability from your previous counter.
[ Select Two Options: ]
Assassin's Steps & Assassin's Stealth
Mud Clones
Leonhart leaned over Kairo's shoulder, reading the glowing script. "Kairo, take the assassin steps and stealth. You need to be fast."
Kairo stared at the screen, a quiet, knowing look entering his eyes. "Well, Leonhart... it's because of the mud clones that I'm even alive right now." Without hesitation, he selected the second option.
A small chime echoed through his mind.
Good job. Nice choice.
[ SYSTEM TERMS ]: If you complete all assigned missions, you may return home whenever you wish. You will retain every single good moment, and all bad memories of this world will be erased. However, you will lose the vast majority of this biological superhuman strength and return to being completely normal. Will you accept this offer? (Note: The contract with the mysterious figure will be terminated).
The breath left Kairo's lungs. He fell back onto his knees, the tears starting fresh, but this time, they were born of absolute, overwhelming relief. "Thank you... thank you, God..."
Leonhart blinked, a smirk breaking through his concern. "Woah, wait a minute—weren't you an atheist? Oh, sorry... sorry for ruining your moment."
Kairo didn't care. He lunged forward, throwing his arms around Leonhart in a tight hug. "Oh, System... whoever you are, thank you for everything. You're just like my brother Kai. Your love is just like that."
The screen blinked, the text shifting with an almost conversational tone:
Aww, sweet. But now you need to go and save those kids and establish a hideout.
Kairo pulled back from the hug, blinking at the prompt. "Wait, what? A house? I could have easily summoned one..." He exhaled a long, weary sigh.
Leonhart patted him firmly on the back. "No worries, man. I'm right here with ya."
The system delivered its final prompt before fading into the background:
Don't worry, I will grant you a specific skill to construct a haven. Save those children before they become orphans. Your new journey starts now, Kairo.