Reinforcements
Silence had covered the ashes.
The ground still trembled, soaked in muffled screams and the stench of scorched blood.
Kael remained on his knees.
His left arm missing, head bowed, motionless. He no longer spoke. He barely breathed.
Hiro gritted his teeth.
There was nothing left to count. Just the remains of a battlefield.
Oren, standing beside him, stared into the horizon.
Then he finally spoke:
— They're coming.
From the north, south, west, and east, four groups of humans approached.
Fleeing. Screaming. Each one chased by a misshapen giant.
— Again?! Kohaku shouted.
— They're bringing the apocalypse back to us, Kubira growled.
The civilians had only their legs, their cries… and their fear.
Among the newcomers, some still bore the marks of long battles.
They weren't as famous as Kael or Oren, but their names resonated among the survivors.
Lima, slim and silent, controlled ice. She could summon huge frozen spikes from the ground to pierce her enemies.
Beside her walked Rhan, whose strange power allowed him to solidify air itself, forming blade-sharp walls.
Ezra, sharp-eyed and lean, had incredible speed: he could split into duplicates for a few seconds, appearing in multiple places at once.
Tenna, her arm wrapped in an old bandage, had the gift to heal others' wounds… but each healing cost her own body in return.
Farther back stood Miro, whose arms could turn into blades of pure shadow, and Vahl, a mysterious illusionist capable of creating such perfect physical reflections that even monsters could be deceived — if only for a moment.
Jiro, broad and muscular, generated powerful shockwaves from his aura. One blow could stagger a giant… if it hit.
Finally, Ayra, brown-haired and braided, controlled roots and soil. Under her feet, the ground opened, grasped, or sliced — by silent command.
Oren gave the order:
— Formation. Everyone.
Kubira, Hiro, and Kohaku moved at once.
— Master! shouted Kohaku. We can still win!
— Not win, Oren replied. Survive.
The four giants charged.
The ground exploded. Screams erupted.
Lima launched ice spikes under a giant's feet. It stumbled — and crushed her as it fell.
Ezra tried to strike one from behind. He reached its neck, but was knocked away by a swing. His skull slammed into a wall.
Tenna saved two wounded civilians, dragging them from a collapsing building. A piece of wall crashed down on her.
Vahl created a fake explosion to distract one giant — it worked. But the second giant saw through it… and crushed him with a stomp.
Jiro sent a shockwave too close. It backfired. The force threw him into the air. He landed… in a giant's hand.
The battle was brutal. Fire, earth, lightning, ice — everything was unleashed. Three giants fell.
One pierced by blades of shadow.
Another strangled by cable-tight roots.
The third struck by Kubira's lightning and shattered by Hiro.
The survivors screamed.
It was over. Only one remained.
But as the last giant retreated… the ground caved in.
A viscous mass rose.
The elephant-octopus.
Its ruptured eye oozed violet, smoking blood. Black scabs covered its back. It stood lower… but it breathed.
— No… Ayra whispered. Not him…
The octopus opened its mouth. It didn't attack.
It absorbed the last giant.
Swallowed it slowly, tentacle by tentacle. The body disappeared into the gelatinous mass.
Then it twisted. Its form cracked. It changed.
Its legs swelled, its torso grew a warped shell, its single eye doubled in size. It became half-giant, half-octopus — an aberration of flesh.
It no longer regenerated.
But it was breathing. And waiting.
The survivors regrouped.
Oren looked at his students: Kubira, Hiro, Kohaku. All wounded, but still standing.
— It's him, he said. The last one. The one you mustn't face alone.
On the ground, Kael turned his head. He looked at Keita.
As the protectors' cries echoed over the plain, as the dust of battle choked their faces and fire clawed at the sky, Kael remained on his knees.
He hadn't moved since the last assault. His arm still missing — but no blood had flowed.
Next to him, Keita, still in shock, stared at the battlefield.
Yuna stood nearby, hand on Keita's shoulder, watching Kael from the corner of her eye.
Then, without warning, Kael's body began to glow softly.
— Huh?... Keita murmured.
Multicolored particles detached from his back. One by one.
As if his body was dissolving into the air.
Kael slowly turned to him.
— I don't have much time left.
— What?! Wait — is this a joke?!
Kael sighed.
— Listen. You need to know. You need to finally understand. Not because I care about you… but because I have no choice.
A desolate memory began forming in Keita's mind.
A village — or what was left of it. Rubble, fire, screams. A collapsed house.
A small, bloodied boy stood, knees scraped, tears on his soot-covered face.
— Dad?! Mom?!
A woman's voice moaned under the debris. Keita's mother, kneeling, trying to pull out her husband's trapped arm — his chest crushed by stone.
And behind her, in the shadows, a misshapen creature approached.
Kael spoke, from behind the memory:
— That day… a monster attacked your house. You weren't in this city yet. You had no powers. You were just… a child.
The young Keita, seeing the creature reach for his mother, screamed — and something snapped.
His eyes turned white, without pupils. His body lit up.
In a flash, he leapt and struck the creature with a strength no child should have.
— …That's me?... Keita whispered, trembling.
— You awakened your power. Violently. But your body was too weak.
In the vision, the small Keita coughed blood and collapsed.
Kael continued, colder now:
— Your father… still trapped… used his last strength to save you.
A glowing circle appeared beneath the unconscious boy. Light ripped from his body.
— He expelled your power. To protect you. And that power… was me.
Keita stepped back, pale.
— Wait, what?! You… were inside me?!
— I'm not "inside you", Keita. I am you. What you were meant to become.
— W-What?...
Yuna stood speechless. Her eyes went from Kael to Keita, unsure.
— That's why I always protected you, Kael continued. Not because I liked you. Quite the opposite. If you die… I die too.
Kael's particles kept detaching — but now they weren't drifting away.
They were entering Keita's body. One by one.
— You want the truth, Keita? I hate you.
— …What? Keita stammered.
Kael lifted his glasses with one hand.
His sockets were empty. He had never had eyes.
— I was never accepted. Not by humans, not by monsters. I lived in your world like a beast, rejected, hunted… Because I had no gaze, no soul — in their eyes. That's why I wore these glasses. So people would look away instead of facing me.
— I… I didn't know… Keita murmured.
— You were a weak kid. And I suffered in your place. All your pain… I carried it.
The last of Kael's light drifted away. Only one glowing fragment remained, floating before Keita.
— Don't think you had a choice. You locked me away. Now I return.
The final shard entered Keita's chest. A violent wind burst out around him.
Yuna was pushed back. Even the ground trembled.
At that exact moment…
A monstrous roar shook the skies.
The giant-octopus reemerged in the distance — fused, misshapen, abominable.
Keita opened his eyes. They had no pupils.
Yuna stepped back, her throat tight.
— Keita… are… are you okay?
He didn't answer. He stared at her, face calm — terrifyingly calm.
The monster remained still. It didn't advance. Didn't strike.
It waited.
Its massive fused eye pulsed like a grotesque heart.
Its twisted limbs quivered, tensed like a predator's.
Keita stepped forward.
Eyes blank. Breath shallow. Arms still trembling.
He had just reclaimed an ancient power… but it wasn't yet his.
He attacked. A burst, a leap, a strike.
The monster blocked it effortlessly with a tentacle swipe.
Keita crashed into a rock. He got up, grimacing.
— Keita! Yuna shouted.
He slowly nodded.
— I'm fine… It's just… too heavy. Too… dense.
Yuna watched him sadly.
She alone knew what he'd just endured. What Kael had revealed.
But no one else knew.
Around them, the surviving civilians watched in stunned silence.
There were twenty of them. Some trembling. Others crying.
All had seen Kael disappear. All had heard the monster's roar.
A heavy silence fell.
Then, a boy — Dayo, the sharp-eyed one — stepped forward.
He shouted:
— Look at him! That guy gets up again and again, even knowing he's weaker than that thing! But he keeps fighting! And us? We just stand here like statues?!
— But… we don't have powers! Sanae yelled.
Dayo clenched his fists.
— Maybe… because we haven't earned them yet.
Silence.
Then he screamed with all his strength:
— Maybe it's by running toward death that we become who we were meant to be!
Without waiting, he ran. Straight at the monster.
— HE'S RIGHT! Malik shouted, following.
— This time… don't think. Just jump! Léana added.
Twenty civilians began to run. Shouting. Screaming.
Some in rage. Others in fear.
Keita, on the ground, stared at them — wide-eyed.
— No… what are you doing?!
— They're… they're running to their death, Hiro stammered, stunned.
And that's what happened.
The monster raised a twisted arm.
Three were crushed. The sound was horrific. Screams — then silence.
But the seventeen others didn't stop.
And then… it happened.
Their bodies began to glow.
Slowly at first. Then violently.
A golden and bluish light surrounded each of them.
The ground shook. The sky pulsed.
Kubira, panting, half-rose.
— They… they're awakening their powers…
Yuna, in tears, whispered:
— They've earned it.
Keita clenched his fists.
Behind him, seventeen new fighters stood.
Bodies burning with energy. Eyes full of newfound will.
And this time… the monster stepped forward.