A few months before Cassian got isekai’d.
Penthouse. Ultra-luxury residence on the top floor of a tower, 360° view over the city.
Family dinner.
Around a large solid-wood table imported from Italy, Cassian was quietly eating his steak.
He was with his mother Cecilia, his father Alistair, and his half-brother Gideon.
Cecilia was delicately cutting her food, her long wavy chestnut hair falling over her shoulders with practiced elegance. Her emerald-green eyes glowed softly under the dimmed chandelier light.
Across from her, Alistair ate in silence. His sharp, hard features gave his face a natural severity, accentuated by a strongly defined jaw. His steel-gray eyes surveyed the table with cold attention.
Gideon had snow-white hair, pale red eyes, and almost translucent skin.
He ate in silence, gaze fixed on his plate.
“Gideon,” Cecilia said with a gentle smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “You’re barely eating anything. Are you feeling unwell?”
“I…” Gideon hesitated, setting his fork down. “I’m fine, Mother.”
“Mother?” Cecilia gave a light laugh. “I’m not your mother, darling. Your mother was Vivienne. May she rest in peace.”
She delicately sliced another piece of her own steak.
“You know, Vivienne was such an energetic woman. So full of life. Always smiling, always positive.”
Cecilia let out a theatrical sigh.
“It’s really a shame you didn’t inherit her temperament. She would have wanted you to be more… dynamic. More like her.”
Gideon gripped his fork until his knuckles turned white.
“I… I’m doing my best.”
“Your best?” Cecilia tilted her head. “Hmm. Perhaps. But sometimes, your best simply isn’t enough, is it?”
Cassian gave a small smile while chewing his meat.
“She’s right, Gideon,” he said lightly. “You really should make more of an effort. Look at me. I’m the perfect example.”
“Cassian is right,” Cecilia continued. “You should take your brother as a model. Try to be more like him. He’s so… accomplished.”
Alistair, seated at the head of the table, didn’t react at all.
He cut his steak mechanically, as though the conversation didn’t exist.
He didn’t even glance at Gideon.
Not once.
“Yes,” Gideon murmured. “I’ll try.”
Cassian leaned slightly toward his half-brother, voice low and mocking.
“You know, Gideon, you really look uncomfortable being here with us. What’s the problem? We’re family, aren’t we?”
“No!” Gideon straightened abruptly. “Not at all! I’m happy to be here!”
“Happy?” Cassian snorted. “You don’t look happy. You look like a beaten dog.”
Cecilia placed a hand on Cassian’s arm.
“Don’t be too hard on him, sweetheart. He’s doing what he can. Even if it’s… limited.”
The rest of the dinner passed in heavy silence.
---
After the meal, Cassian was alone with Cecilia.
They stood in front of a huge frameless glass wall overlooking the entire city.
The lights twinkled like earthly stars.
Cecilia chuckled softly.
“Did you see Alistair’s face tonight?”
“What about it?”
“He was getting more and more disappointed with Gideon. It was obvious. Every time that boy opened his mouth, your father seemed to… shut down a little more.”
She turned to Cassian with a satisfied smile.
“Gideon is no longer an obstacle for us, you understand? Even though he’s the eldest, Alistair already considers you his true heir.”
Cassian crossed his arms.
“Gideon always makes me laugh. Seriously. How can someone be that pathetic?”
He shook his head.
“He must get it from his dead mother.”
Cecilia made an exaggerated pitying face.
“Ah, yes. Poor Vivienne. Unfortunately a disease cut her life short so prematurely. She was so fragile, you know. Always sick. Always weak.”
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She sighed.
“Maybe that’s what deeply affected Gideon. Having such a… delicate mother.”
“Anyway,” Cassian said, looking out at the city, “it’s a good thing she died.”
Cecilia looked at him.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because I hated the attention my father gave her.” Cassian clenched his jaw. “As if she was special. As if she deserved anything.”
Cecilia wrapped her arms around Cassian, stroking his red hair.
“Cassian, my darling. You are the best son. The smartest. The strongest. The most deserving.”
She kissed his forehead.
“Everything will go exactly as planned. You just need to keep behaving the way you always do. Be yourself. And soon, everything will be yours.”
Cassian smiled.
---
Private lounge. Several floors lower in the tower.
Cassian was with his crew.
Twenty people. Maybe more.
A ton of food spread across several tables. Pizza, sushi, fried chicken, burgers.
Lots of drinks. Alcohol, sodas, energy drinks.
His guys were having a blast, laughing loudly, enjoying the perks.
Some were in the indoor pool. Others played pool. Some smoked near the big windows.
“YO CASSIAN!”
A guy with a backward cap approached.
“What?”
“The money collection. Protection fees. It’s going very well in most of the schools and sectors.”
“Good.”
“But…” The guy hesitated. “There’s a problem.”
Cassian straightened in his seat.
“What kind of problem?”
“Some of the collectors got jumped. Like, badly beaten. One ended up in the hospital.”
“Jumped?” Cassian frowned. “By who?”
“We don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“No one was identified. The victims just say it was a group. Maybe three or four people. No more details.”
Cassian clicked his tongue, irritated.
“Find them.”
“We’re trying, but…”
“I DON’T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOUR EXCUSES!” Cassian yelled. “Find whoever is fucking with the collection. I want names. Faces. Addresses. You have one week.”
The guy swallowed hard.
“Yes, boss.”
He hurried away.
Gideon was sitting alone at a table in a corner.
He was on his phone, earbuds in, watching the weekly anime he’d been waiting for.
Marcus, the usual massive guy, sat right next to him.
He wasn’t doing anything. Just watching him.
Gideon sighed silently.
Cecilia had asked—no, ordered—him to spend time with Cassian tonight.
“To learn from him better,” she’d said. “To become a better person.”
But it felt more like he was in a gang hideout than anything else.
When he arrived, Cassian had told him:
“Stay in a corner. Don’t talk to anyone. Don’t even look at me. I don’t want to be associated with you.”
He’d added, voice dripping with disgust:
“The mere fact that people think we’re brothers disgusts me. You’re a stain on my name.”
So Cassian had stationed Marcus next to Gideon to make sure he didn’t move.
Gideon saw Cassian suddenly stand up.
“YO, GUYS! COME HERE!”
A group of five or six guys approached.
“We’re rehearsing,” Cassian said.
He stood in the center of the lounge.
“You come from there. You from there. You hit first. You block.”
They started simulating a fight.
It was choreographed. Fake. Theatrical.
Cassian faced the group, dodging, striking, pushing back.
Each had their own lines.
“Hey, you! Get lost!”
“Or what? What are you gonna do?”
“We’re gonna wreck you!”
“Try it.”
It was ridiculous.
“EVERYONE!” Cassian shouted after a few minutes. “Memorize everything! The moves. The lines. The timing. EVERYTHING.”
He looked every person in the eye.
“Tomorrow we have a very important job. If anyone fucks up, they deal with the consequences. Understood?”
“UNDERSTOOD!”
Cassian turned to a skinny guy with round glasses.
“Is our intel still current?”
“Yeah,” the guy answered, checking his phone. “Target takes exactly the same route every day. Leaves at 2:30 p.m. Arrives at the café at 2:45. Stays about twenty minutes. Leaves at 3:05.”
He looked up.
“Statistically, the chance she’s absent or changes her route is close to zero percent.”
Cassian grinned widely.
“Perfect.”
---
The next day, 3:05 p.m.
A woman in her thirties walked out of a café, iced coffee in hand.
She wore a simple but elegant dress. Sunglasses. A discreet handbag.
She started walking along the sidewalk.
In an adjacent alley, one of Cassian’s guys, hidden behind a dumpster, pulled out his phone.
He sent a message.
SHE’S HERE. GO.
Immediately, several guys emerged from different hiding spots.
Five people.
They menacingly surrounded the woman, blocking her path.
“Hey, you,” one said with a smile. “Hand over your bag.”
The woman stepped back, frightened.
“What? No!”
“You didn’t hear him?” Another stepped closer. “Your bag. Now.”
“Please… let me through…”
That was when Cassian made his entrance.
He walked calmly from the other end of the street, hands in his pockets.
The guys turned toward him.
“HEY, YOU!” one shouted, following the script. “GET LOST IF YOU DON’T WANT TROUBLE!”
Cassian stopped a few meters away.
“Step away from that woman,” he said calmly.
It wasn’t exactly the scripted line, but the guys adjusted after a brief moment of confusion.
“OR WHAT?” another said. “WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO, HUH?”
“Leave her alone,” Cassian repeated. “This is your last warning.”
“OUR LAST WARNING?” One of them laughed loudly. “YOU’RE ALL ALONE, ASSHOLE! THERE’S FIVE OF US!”
“Six if you count Marcus,” another muttered.
“SHUT UP!”
After a few more exchanged threats, one guy charged at Cassian and threw a fake punch—exactly like the script.
WHAM.
He caught a REAL punch square in the jaw and dropped.
“FUCK!” He spat blood. “THAT WASN’T IN THE PLAN!”
The others exchanged worried glances.
The hit looked way too real.
Cassian turned to the woman.
“Get behind me,” he said in a protective voice.
The woman, trembling, obeyed.
The guys rushed Cassian in script order.
But Cassian got too into character.
He went way too hard.
He beat the shit out of them. For real.
WHAM. CRACK. THUD.
One guy dropped clutching his nose.
Another took a kick to the ribs and collapsed coughing.
A third got scared and tried to run.
“IF YOU RUN,” Cassian said in an ice-cold, threatening voice, “I will personally deal with you later. You know what that means?”
The guy froze.
He understood perfectly.
Either get beaten now.
Or get tortured privately by Cassian later.
He turned back, desperate, and charged, praying Cassian would finally follow the damn script this time.
WHAM.
He ate a nasty right hook and collapsed, groaning in pain.
Cassian turned to the woman, charming smile on.
“You okay?”
The woman stared at him, mouth slightly open.
Her eyes never left his.
It’s working, he thought with satisfaction. She’s completely under my spell.
“You… you saved me,” she whispered.
“It’s nothing.” Cassian shrugged modestly. “I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.”
He noticed the spilled coffee on the sidewalk.
“Oh, you dropped your drink.” He pulled out his wallet. “Let me buy you a new one. That must have been traumatic.”
“I… thank you. Really.”
---
Later, Cassian walked her home.
They strolled side by side through quiet streets.
She told him things about her life. Her job. Her hobbies.
Cassian listened attentively, nodding at the right moments, smiling at the right jokes.
They eventually arrived in front of a small residential building.
“This is me,” she said, stopping at a door.
She rummaged in her bag.
“Oh no.”
“What?”
“I forgot my keys.” She laughed nervously. “I’m so scatterbrained sometimes.”
She knocked.
A few seconds passed.
The door opened.
A man appeared. Thirties. Smiling.
He was immediately surprised to see his wife with an unknown young man.
“Honey? Who’s this?”
“Oh!” The woman turned to Cassian. “This is… I’ll explain. He helped me against some robbers. He’s a really good person.”
“MOM! YOU’RE BACK!”
A little boy—maybe seven or eight—appeared at the doorway and threw himself into the woman’s arms.
“Yes, sweetheart. Mommy’s home.”
The couple turned to Cassian.
“Thank you so much,” the man said, extending his hand. “Really. We don’t know how to thank you.”
“It’s nothing,” Cassian murmured.
The door closed.
Every trace of hope drained from Cassian’s face.
His smile vanished.
His eyes emptied.
He stood there, staring at the closed door.
Fuck.
---
Back to the present.
Lena and Lucia noticed Cassian was stirring.
His body twitched slightly. His eyelids fluttered.
“Her condition has stabilized,” Lucia said, checking the wound. “It’s closing slowly but steadily.”
“That’s a good sign,” Lena added.
But Cassian seemed… restless.
---
Haloy was surrounded by thick clouds of gas.
Hiro was running circles around him, looking for an opening.
Haloy thought: He’s trying to use the lack of visibility to get close.
“FLESH-EATING FLAMES!”
He aimed at Hiro, predicting his path.
But the flames ignited the gas.
BOOM.
A massive explosion shook the whole area.
Haloy realized too late that the gas was flammable.
“SHIT!”
Hiro was a bit farther away, shielded.
He waited for the flames to die down.
Then he charged.
Haloy was vulnerable. Disoriented.
Hiro’s axe came down.
It decapitated Haloy.
His head rolled across the ground.
Then…
The illusion shattered.
Like breaking glass.
It was actually Haloy who had been beating Hiro.
WHAM WHAM WHAM.
His head had never left his body.
“HNNGH—!” Hiro recovered, blocking a blow.
Even with Heroic Fury, he was seriously struggling against Haloy.
He hesitated.
Borrow more from the system?
But the consequences…
---
Cassian slowly opened his eyes.
Yesterday had been complete bullshit, he thought.
He had spent weeks preparing the plan.
Studied her habits. Her route. Her tastes.
Orchestrated the perfect staged rescue to seduce her.
But she already had a family?
Married. With a kid.
Fucking terrible.
Then he noticed something strange.
He looked down.
Long blonde hair fell in front of his face.
Not his usual red hair.
A voluptuous chest on his torso.
He was lying on an enormous bed.
Surrounded by a dozen girls.
All naked. All exhausted. All asleep.
And in the middle of all those tired bodies…
Hiro.
He had a satisfied smile, eyes closed.
“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!” Cassian screamed.
What the hell did I smoke last night?!
---
Lucia and Lena noticed Cassian was even more agitated than before.
His arms moved. His head turned slightly.
“She must be in the middle of a horrible nightmare,” Lena said worriedly.
Lucia nodded sadly.
“Poor Cassian.”
