Chapter 126: Price of Power

  That cackle.

  That awful, maniacal cackle devoid of all its usual warmth. It rang through the desert silence, chilling the blood of everyone who heard it, turning the sweltering heat into a graveyard chill.

  Especially Yukari. She hated it.

  The silhouette of the person producing that sound was undoubtedly Raito. But at the same time, she couldn't understand who that person was.

  The Raito she knew—her Raito—was aloof. He complained a lot about trivial things. He made terrible jokes that only he found funny. He was a bit dumb sometimes. But he was brave in a way that didn't ask for recognition. He was kind. He was warm. He was the boy who had promised to never leave her alone.

  But this person... this thing wearing his skin... retained absolutely no such characteristics.

  His eyes were cold, deep black voids that sucked in all hope and reflected nothing back. His smile was chilling, a flat expression that conveyed no emotion other than a predatory hunger.

  And the worst thing was that cackle. A sound that seemed to bypass her ears and amplify every latent fear hidden deep within her psyche, ringing endlessly in her head.

  Yukari ran ahead, her movements jerky and desperate. She grabbed Raito by the wrist, her fingers digging into his skin.

  "Who... are you?" she asked meekly, her voice trembling.

  Raito turned his head slowly. The movement was fluid, unnatural.

  "Raito," he answered simply. Then his grin widened, stretching too far. "Or... do you prefer Kun, like old times? That is a weird question, Yukari. Ahahaha!"

  Her breath caught. He hadn’t been called that in years.

  He cackled once more, the sound grating against her soul.

  With a gentle, almost dismissive motion, he removed Yukari's grip from his wrist. His touch was cold.

  "Now, just stay there," he said, patting her hand. "It will only take a few minutes. I'll make sure to protect you."

  He smiled.

  It should have been a reassuring gesture. It should have been the moment the hero comforted his love before the battle. But what Yukari felt was only fear. A deep, paralyzing terror.

  A thought screamed in her mind: If I let go of him right now... I will never get my Raito back.

  She wanted to grab him again. She wanted to tackle him, scream at him, drag him back to safety.

  But her body wouldn't move.

  She was a decorated warrior. A prodigy of Jinlun. She had faced beasts and armies. She should not be paralyzed.

  But she was afraid. More afraid than she had ever felt in her entire life. The fear was a physical weight, pressing down on her chest, locking her muscles. She couldn't move. She couldn't even open her mouth to call his name.

  At that moment, she was helpless. Her fingers numb. She could only watch as the stranger in Raito’s body turned his back on her and walked away toward the mechanical titans.

  Raito walked once more, flinging Koenka around loosely like a stick he had found in a park somewhere.

  No one tried to stop him. The others were too exhausted, injured, or paralyzed by the sheer wrongness of the situation to even try. They could only watch him walk into the inferno.

  Moments later, Raito positioned himself as close as he could to the energy dome, standing directly in the shadow of the assault.

  "Hey, you two!" Raito shouted, cupping his free hand around his mouth. "I'm here! Let's play!"

  But the beasts did not react. Their programming was absolute. They continued their assault on the energy shield, battering it with claws and fire, trying their best to damage the prize within.

  Raito tilted his head, a frown marring his face.

  "I hate being ignored," he murmured, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.

  He grabbed Koenka's hilt with both hands. The pitch-black flame surged, wrapping around the blade not like fire, but like a shroud of concentrated void.

  He swung.

  WOOSH.

  He launched an arc of black flame toward the beast that was hovering in the air.

  The flame hit. But instead of burning, it impacted like a solid, physical force.

  CRUNCH.

  It slammed into the beast's left wing, shattering the brass feathers and bending the frame. The force sent the multi-ton construct tumbling out of the sky, crashing into the sand with a heavy, metallic thud.

  The other beast, the one still on the ground, stopped its assault.

  Slowly, mechanically, it turned its head. Its glass eyes, which had ignored Lords, locked onto Raito.

  "Good," Raito grinned, the expression sharp and unnatural. "Now that takes your attention."

  He pointed Koenka at them. "You two little kitties will be my playmates. Got it?" He waves them off.

  The beast that had tumbled down shook off the sand, its gears grinding as it lifted itself up once more. It joined its twin.

  The two beasts stood side by side. Their glass lens eyes scanned Raito, zooming in, analyzing.

  BEEP.

  Then, with a sound like grinding gears screaming in protest, they roared. It wasn't just a challenge; it was a recognition of a threat far greater than the shield.

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  They readied themselves, hydraulics hissing, and rushed toward Raito with terrifying speed.

  In the distance, the group watched this unfolding nightmare.

  Varessh stood with his mouth agape, his axe hanging loosely at his side. He was the first one to find his voice.

  "What is that boy?" he whispered, fear coloring his deep rumble. "Not once since we arrived did their attention move away from the structure. But now... they seem to be pulled by that boy's existence like iron to a magnet."

  His comment was met only with silence.

  Because not one person there—not the brilliant Tanvir, not the mighty Zhu, not the wise Queen—could explain what they were seeing.

  The beasts did not turn their attention to adventurers, scholars, royalty, nor Lords. They turned their entire destructive focus to a supposed lone janitor.

  Seeing the two beasts rushing at him like twin trains, Raito did not cower. He didn't even flinch.

  Instead, his smile widened, splitting his face in a grotesque expression of delight.

  "There you go!" he shouted, spreading his arms wide. "Let's play!"

  The two beasts skidded to a halt mere feet from him, kicking up a tidal wave of sand. With synchronized precision, they both swung their massive claws at him—a pincer attack designed to crush him into paste.

  BOOM.

  The sands below them explode from the force.

  Raito had leaped. Not a desperate scramble, but a vertical jump that defied gravity, launching him high above the beasts' heads.

  The mechanical beasts twisted their necks, their sensors whirring as they lost track of their target.

  "I'm here," Raito said mockingly.

  He landed lightly on top of one of the beast's paws—the very limb that had just tried to kill him.

  "Gotcha."

  Raito swung Koenka once more. This time, the black flame coiled around the blade like a living serpent, seemingly enlarging the weapon into a massive cleaver of shadows.

  SLASH.

  The arc of black fire hit the beast—the one he was standing on—square in the face.

  CRUNCH-HISSS.

  The impact was cataclysmic. It sent the multi-ton construct reeling backward, its metal feet digging furrows into the sand as it struggled to maintain balance. Where the flame had struck, a deep, jagged gash smoked, revealing the intricate, vulnerable mechanism of brass gears and pistons beneath the god-metal hide.

  "That kid actually managed to damage them," Tanvir commented from the distance, his voice filled with disbelief. "Something my golems and Zhu's fire couldn't do."

  But Yukari wasn't watching the damage. She was watching the boy.

  "No," she thought, her heart hammering against her ribs. "That is not Raito."

  The realization was the spark she needed. It burned through the paralysis of fear, igniting a desperate courage in her veins.

  She moved.

  "Lin! Where are you going?!" Zhu called out, reaching for her stepdaughter. But the General’s legs gave out from overexertion, and she fell to one knee, clutching her side.

  Yukari didn't even hear her stepmother's words. The world had narrowed down to a single point. There was only one place she was running toward.

  Straight into the shadow of the monsters.

  Back to the battle.

  "Ahahahaha!"

  Raito’s maniacal laugh echoed once more as he landed on the sand, kicking up a small cloud of dust. He didn't even look winded.

  "Too weak! Too weak!" he mocked, pointing his sword at the titans. "Is that all? The fight will be over before I get hungry! More! I need more!"

  The beasts roared in response, the sound vibrating in the air like a physical blow. Their tactical processors whirred, adjusting their strategy.

  Both unhinged their jaws simultaneously. The rifled barrels rose from their throats, glowing with heat. Waves of fire shot out, painting the desert air orange.

  As if that were not enough, the snake jaw from the tip of the first beast's tail snapped open. A burst of absolute-zero frost launched alongside the fire.

  A concerto of flames and ice, focused solely to obliterate the small, annoying human in front of them.

  "Nice, nice!" Raito grinned, his black eyes widening. "That is how it should be!"

  He tensed his legs, preparing to leap away.

  But to his surprise, he couldn't move.

  "Huh?"

  He looked down.

  It turned out only one snake tail had launched the frost. The other tail, belonging to the second beast, had burrowed silently into the sand moments ago. It had traveled underground like a serpent and erupted right behind Raito.

  The metal chain was coiled tight around his left leg, anchoring him to the spot.

  ZZZZZT!

  The snake head bit down on its own links. A surge of high-voltage electricity coursed through the metal and into Raito’s leg, locking his muscles and sending spasms of pain up his spine.

  It was a trap. A coordinated effort to stop him from moving just as the more deadly attack came in for the kill.

  Raito looked up at the incoming wall of fire and ice.

  "Oh," he said, his smile not faltering for a second. "Cheeky."

  Raito held Koenka tight, bracing to take the full brunt of the attack, his black flame pulsing with energy. He was confident. Arrogant. He believed he could tank it.

  THWACK.

  A dagger flew through the air, lodging itself deep into the joint of the mechanical snake tail coiled around Raito's leg. It severed a crucial wire, temporarily disabling the electric shock.

  "Huh?" Raito blinked, confused by the sudden release.

  Then he saw it.

  Yukari was running toward him. Sprinting into the kill zone.

  "Idiot! What are you doing?!" Raito shouted, his manic smile cracking like porcelain. His panic heightened, his voice regaining a shred of humanity. "Not this way!"

  But Yukari did not say anything. She ran. She ran faster than she ever had before.

  She reached him.

  And she shoved him.

  "Wha—" Raito gasped as he was knocked sideways, tumbling onto the sand.

  "Please don't lose yourself," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the roar of the incoming attack.

  She turned to face the wave of destruction. She slammed her remaining dagger into the ground.

  She created a multiple-layered ice shield, a crystalline wall of desperate defense.

  The shield met the attack; it holds out for a second. However, a second is not enough.

  The ice shield cracked.

  And then.

  BOOM.

  The combined attack from the beasts—the napalm fire and the absolute zero frost—met her.

  The world went white. The sound was deafening, a cacophony of hissing steam and shattering ice.

  Raito’s eyes widened, his pupils constricting to pinpricks. His breathing became shallow, ragged gasps.

  "Huff... huff..."

  "YUKARI!!!" he shouted, the sound tearing his throat apart.

  The dust and steam settled slowly, agonizingly.

  He frantically searched the crater for her.

  "No... no..."

  He saw her.

  She was lying limp on the ground. Her armor was scorched, her skin pale.

  He scrambled toward her on his hands and knees, ignoring the heat of the sand. He knelt next to her, lifting her head onto his lap with trembling hands.

  "Yukari... Yukari..." he frantically called out her name, tapping her cheek. "Wake up. Please."

  "Why did you do that?" he whimpered, tears cutting through the grime on his face. "I... I... I'm strong now... I could have easily blocked that..."

  He lifted his hand from the back of her head.

  It was red. Warm, sticky blood coated his fingers.

  Yukari remained limp. Her daggers lay shattered beside her. She was unresponsive.

  "Yukari... Yukari..." he cried, rocking her back and forth.

  ROAR.

  The beasts roared again. They were unbothered by the tragedy. Their sensors simply registered a target still active. They readied a second strike, their barrels glowing.

  "Why..." Raito sobbed, looking down at his wife's still face. "Why is this happening? I am strong. Much stronger. I... I should be able to protect her."

  "Turns out you are still weak," the voice whispered in his ear. Cold. Disappointed. "Disappointing."

  The beasts launched another flame and ice burst, aimed directly at the grieving boy.

  Raito crumpled over Yukari, shielding her body with his own, squeezing his eyes shut as he waited for the end.

  He cried.

  But then.

  "ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

  He shouted. A primal scream of pure, unadulterated agony and rage.

  FOOM.

  A pillar of black flame erupted from the ground beneath him. It shot straight into the sky, a towering inferno of void.

  The incoming fire and ice attack hit the black pillar—and vanished. As if the attack had never existed in the first place. Consumed. Erased. Nothing remained. Not even heat. Not even chill.

  Raito slowly let go of Yukari, laying her gently back onto the sand.

  He stood up. He let go of Koenka, letting the sword fall beside her. He didn't need it.

  Black flames began to erupt from every pore of his body, wreathing him in a suit of living darkness. His clothes fluttered in the updraft of energy.

  He was silent. No comment. No mockery. No words.

  He just walked toward the beasts.

  The beasts were mechanical beings. Constructs of metal and wires. They should have had no emotion. They should have felt nothing.

  But right now, as the figure of absolute void approached them, their sensors screamed warnings they couldn't process. They took a step back.

  For the first time in their existence, they felt fear.