Even with the proper introduction, Haruto was still confused. At the least, he returned the handshake and let go. “Please excuse me for asking but… compassion-what again?”

The boy chuckled. “Just call me Rubio,” he walked closer, “It’s the only name that fits me.”

“Alright…. but who exactly are you, Rubio?” Haruto’s eyes squinted.

“I’m Adel’s son.” He placed his hand on his chest. “You met my old man before, haven’t you? Specifically—though—I’m not his son by blood. I don’t even sound like someone from the empire.” he chuckled again.

Rubio’s words immediately dawned on Haruto that he was conversing with the Alaric Empire’s current prince. He kneeled with a fist on the ground, calling Rubio majesty. He immediately told him it was unnecessary. “My apologies—young master (若様)….” Haruto decided.

Rubio cringed, “Okay, look, man…. I’m no effin’ British monarch, and my old man may be an emperor—he’s still not a shogun. Please stand up….” After the naming scheme shenanigans, the boys walked back to the palace.

Gevär chuckled lightly behind them, “They shall be fantastic brothers, indeed….”

Haruto moved beside the prince, “Wait a minute…. What about Rosette? The little girl?”

Rubio rested his hands behind his head, “Oh, she’ll come eventually. Even as a slave, her recommendation to be a general was never rejected. In fact, it was her dream—until she realized what happened to her father.”

“So, are you sure she’ll come back?” Haruto looked at the prince.

“Oh definitely. I don’t see why not….” he shrugged, eyes closed.

Back uphill, Rosette stopped moping and stood in front of the tree. Using Runic Art, she pulled out a golden Palladium broadsword. After a deep breath, her sword’s rightward side swing cleanly bifurcated the tree in one fell swoop, making it fall on the opposite side. “Your will shall live on with me—grandfather….” her determined eyes were unmatched.

Back at the palace, a mass gathered in the cathedral. The hymns and verses retold the frightening story of a blood God that rebelled against his kind in pure anger. The priest warned the believers that if the God’s will rekindled, it would spell doom not just for Pantaiyanilam but the whole world of Parallaxis.

Upstairs, Adel greeted the two boys. As general Gevär took his leave, Adel smiled at the boys. “Hahahahaha…! For all my years living in this world—to think Rubio had found his spirit animal!” he smiled wider. Both cringed at the notion, but the emperor assured them he meant no harm. Adel patted their heads, annoying them further. He let go, chuckled, and crossed his arms, “So, Rubio… would you kindly please show Haruto where you train? A man who does not perfect his craft would be a perishable one on the battlefield. Precisely—like my half-brother. Hahahahahaha!” His back bent straightened.

“Yes, dear father….” the prince bowed down. “C’mon… you’re gonna love this.” he guided Haruto to an empty wall at the end of a hallway. The latter was confused until Rubio cast runes with his blood, creating a curved door shape on said wall. As Rubio phased right through the runic array, Haruto followed suit out of curiosity. He gasped at what he saw, eyes widened.

Giant, armored gold and silver mechanical knights of Palladium filled the larger-than-life marble white room. They had cylindrical stocky builds with gears being visible at their joints. Their noses were similar to a Tengu mask, and they wore conical hats. The knights also wielded oversized swords that matched their body shape.

Haruto walked and looked around, completely mesmerized by it all. Rubio stood from behind, “They only activate when you perform any fighting stance. Don’t worry. They won’t gang up on you. You can only activate one at a time.” Hearing this, Haruto breathed deeply and showed his fists upfront at a gold knight.

It swung its sword, which Haruto could barely dodge. It then delivered a left straight punch. With barely enough time, Haruto crossed his arms to guard himself. The knight threw him to a wall as a result.

Rubio walked from afar, “I should warn you, Haruto…. The Stahlkrieger are programmed to be stronger than your current state. The goal is to surpass them.”

Haruto ran back to the mechanical knight, “Do you have a sword?!” he looked at Rubio.

“Oh, yeah… I got one here,” using blood runes, the prince pulled out a silver Palladium broadsword, throwing it.

Now armed, Haruto clashed evenly for a brief time with the Stahlkrieger as shockwaves reverberated. It did not take long for the gold knight to get the upper hand, pushing Haruto’s sword downward as they locked blades. Haruto got out of his predicament by swerving his sword to the right and continued the battle. Five minutes later, Haruto did not improve much against the mechanical enemy. However, he realized it limped when he hit one of its joints.

Rubio cupped his hands around his mouth, “Think outside the box, Haruto! Brute strength doesn’t solve everything!”

Blade-locked with the gold knight again, Haruto slipped in an opportunity to slice his opponent’s wrist, making it lose grip on its sword. Next were the “ligaments” at the knight’s legs, and lastly, its ankles. Now falling face first, Haruto stabbed the knight in the neck from behind. As a result, the Stahlkrieger’s glowing orange eyes faded.

Rubio walked to the victorious Haruto and clapped his hands, “Congratulations…. You’re now twice as strong as you were before. In other words, your magic control’s improved.” He smiled, placing hands on his waist.

Haruto jumped down, panting. “Thank—” He interrupted himself when he heard the knight get back up from behind. He tensed himself to prepare another attack, but Rubio stopped him by holding his shoulder from behind.

“Don’t worry…. They go back in place every time you’ve defeated them. The thing is, though—they’ll remember what you’ve done to them. So next time, try a different approach. For now, step aside. It’s my turn….” Rubio walked in front and prepared his stance.

The Stahlkrieger reacted with absolutely tremendous speed as if it faced the world’s most formidable opponent. Rubio threw a simple palm thrust, obliterating the gold knight’s sword to coarse bits. The ground fissured and caved in as the resulting shockwave blew Haruto away figuratively and literally. It was even strong enough to tumble the other Stahlkrieger nearby.

Delivering a straight punch, Rubio decimated his opponent’s entire right arm, as well as its left. He dealt a finishing blow on the gold knight’s lower half; it was all but gone now.

However, the Stahlkrieger reconstituted itself. The sword reverted, and metallic parts magnetized to the main body. After fixing the floor with blood runes, Rubio walked to Haruto, still in shock and awe over the scene. “The thing is, though—even these guys have limited strength. So for me, it’s pretty boring, but I don’t mind that one bit.” He shook his head.

“Why?” Haruto’s eyes squinted a bit.

“I don’t like fighting at all,” Rubio walked closer slowly. “It’s not that I’ve never been in combat—or that I’m scared of it. It’s just that—I keep feeling something’s wrong about it.”

“You mean like feeling bad about war?” Haruto gestured his right hand.

“In a way, yes… but it’s not the root cause of my reluctance. The thing is—I don’t want to kill my people by accident….” Rubio smiled intimately. “You saw what happened, right?” he pointed at the Stahlkrieger behind, “That’s only a mere speck of what I can do. So—how about we fight each other? I’ll hold back so you won’t die.” He lifted a fistbump at Haruto.

Haruto complied with a smile and raised his sword to begin the duel. Rubio attacked with finger jabs so weak that Haruto never felt them. “Is he fighting for real? I don’t even know if he’s— Urgh!” Suddenly, Rubio’s index finger lodged deep in his gut. Pulling it out, Rubio delivered three more stabs to his shoulder, neck, and chest. With that, Haruto fell on his back, panting with eyes wide open.

Rubio stepped in and kneeled, “Don’t worry, man… I didn’t hit any vital spot.” He used blood runes to heal Haruto. After the procedure, Rubio lent out a hand, “Whaddaya say, Haruto…? One last notion for the night?” He raised a fistbump again.

Haruto complied with a smile once more.

At the emperor’s throne room, Gevär kneeled before Adel.

“No need for such things, my friend. I suppose you came here for some answers, am I wrong?” He was observing a map on a round table.

Gevär stood up, “No, not at all…. As a matter of fact—I have quite a lot of sayings tonight. When that boy was in the dungeon, I suspected that no one was there—until he was there. Does that make sense to you, your Highness?”

“Yes, of course.” Adel nodded. “Very few know that not all earthly humans are reborn as infants. They could appear anywhere.” he looked out a large window, hands intertwined behind his back.

Gevär walked closer from behind, “But your Highness… surely this meant he was still born in this world before the conscience took over, right?”

Adel sighed, turning around. “Indeed…. If the legends were true—then Haruto is without a doubt the last of the Twelve Sons. His roots lead down to Naraka. I suspect he was a newborn among our people at one point…” the two kept conversing until it was the dead of night.

After being dismissed, Gevär went back to the dungeon to be on duty. “Oh, general Gorm…. My heart goes out to the pitiful victims you cracked your whip toward. May you burn in flames eternally.”

In Rubio’s bedroom, he and Haruto slept beside each other on the same bed as if they were already long-life brothers.

That night, Haruto had a nightmare—a terrifying one. So much so, he moved about endlessly, grunting.

He was in his old home, with his parents eating udon. All was well and good until Chōwa scolded Tantō for slurping. His father became enraged and pulled up the katana given to him on his birthday, stabbing it straight through Chōwa’s left eye. Instead of screaming, she laughed maniacally—as did Tantō. Haruto backed away, then felt two hands slowly moving up to his shoulders from behind.

It was Maki. “Wanna do it again?” she whispered in Haruto’s ear. She pushed him to the floor, showing a demented smile. Covering his mouth, she laid on top of his crotch. As the unwanted action commenced, so did the unfathomable pain. Every thump Maki did felt like razorblades sliding down below. Haruto’s tears flowed like a river, along with the muffled screams.

Next, he felt another pain—right on his chest. He could not breathe and began spasming. “Oh, we can’t stop now…. I’m very addicted to this!” Maki spoke in an equally demented voice, as now his whole family laughed at him. Near the climax, his chest hurt the most. He heared the beat going faster and faster—louder and louder.

Down below between Haruto’s legs, his “love” came out forcibly. Maki laughed at him loudest. “That’s a good little boy!” Her teeth turned sharp like a demonic clown that children feared; ten rows devoured Haruto’s heart in place.

Haruto got up screaming and panting. As he clutched his chest, Rubio woke up, faintly asking what was going on. “N-Nothing…. Just a bad dream.” Haruto looked at him, sweating bullets.

“Then don’t eat before bed…. Dad taught me that….” Rubio went back to sleep, tucking himself. His words made Haruto notice the empty melonpan basket on the nightstand.

Laying down, Haruto sighed and stared blankly at the ceiling. “Maki….”