As he hovered towards the tree watcher’s direction, Kino spotted a familiar corpse in one of its branches. It stopped him from moving. The happiness he felt when he saw Aran, Julius, Calix, Ellis, and all the hunters’ bodies was replaced by anger and torment upon seeing Solar’s bloodied face. She was struck in her chest, stomach, arms, and legs by huge, sharp branches. Her corpse was held upwards in the air, red hair flowing against the strong winds and bloody skies as if the B-type was purposely showing Kino how she met her horrible end.

He felt a gush of uncontrollable anger. He stared with bloodshot eyes at the monster. If looks could kill, it would be in thousands of pieces by now.

Why? Why am I happy when they all die?

Kino gripped his silver hair and screamed. “T-That wasn’t me! That wasn’t me!” From his hair, his hands dropped to his face, nails sharp enough to trail scratches down his cheeks leaving his skin bleeding. It was followed by a monstrous laugh. “But I was happy! I’m not! I was happy! I’m not!” He continued laughing like a maniac in the sky. The young man’s mind couldn’t think straight. He felt happiness, grief, and anger all at once. All his emotions battled against each other trying to win the throne of his brain.

His laughter eventually died down when he caught a familiar scent. His deadly eyes immediately went down to the ground. In the middle of the crushed trees and corpses, he met the green eyes of the person who once had saved his life, covered with blood and burn scars.

“You…” In the man’s arms was his university friend, desperately trying to breathe.

A part of him was thinking of murdering his captain and his friend, but there was a little part of him that wanted to save them. He groaned to himself as his mind wrestled over which was the right decision. It was like there was an angel and a devil on each of his shoulders. But in this case, there were three. An angel, a devil, and his true self.

The angel side of him prevented him from killing his friends and boss. The devil's side of him ordered him to kill them both for the hell of it, and his true self knew he had to kill them to save himself from getting exposed in society. He imagined himself killing them, slashing them to pieces, but thinking about doing it put hot tears in his eyes.

“No. If I kill them, then I’m no different from the wraiths. I am not a wraith!”

He couldn’t do it but he had to save himself. In that situation, he’d do anything to save himself. He was ready to silence anyone who’d learned his secret just so he could stay alive. But looking at Parker, Calix, and remembering Solar’s face, he wanted to include them in his saving.

“Run! Get out of here!” He growled at the two surviving hunters. “Get out before I kill you!”

Without a second thought, Kino kicked an upcoming tree branch that attacked his way. The kick was so powerful that it swayed the giant wraith’s body and sent it tumbling. The creature growled and released another attack, but towards Parker and Calix. Kino didn’t hesitate to kick the large branch that it rolled to the opposite side of the forest.

He glared at the two survivors but covered the ground with huge trunks to shield them. “I SAID GO!!!”

Kino looked up at the tree watcher and used his foresight ability. By looking at the events thirty seconds into the future, he sped his way toward the monster avoiding all its branch attacks, using them as bridges he could step on as he smirked to himself.

An ability that is exclusive to the royal bloodline. No one can ever defeat me!

Upon reaching it, Kino levitated and delivered a series of punches targeting its eye core. He managed to avoid the attack of hundreds of branches from all directions with his foresight ability. Kino received a few cuts and wounds, but they would immediately heal from his rapid regeneration.

The giant growled painfully, but Kino didn’t stop attacking. Despite their size differences, the humanoid wraith was stronger. A big, powerful kick shattered the glass protecting the eye that exposed the core leaving the wraith vulnerable. Kino took that opportunity to destroy the core using a series of more powerful punches.

“KILL! KILL! KILL!”

The tree watcher violently screamed upon being rendered blind. Its tree branches whipped in every direction in an attempt to ward off what’d hurt it. Kino released one last vigorous punch, finally destroying the core. Hot tree sap burst from its body, announcing its death. He looked up at the giant Gate hovering in the sky and couldn’t feel another monster coming. He held both his arms out and swayed them opposite of each other. In an instant, the Gate closed.

One of the royal abilities was to have the authority to close any gate. For opening them, imperial priests, shamans, and wizards were bestowed the honor.

The giant’s tree branches piercing the corpses slowly collapsed. But seeing the future, Kino went to the branch penetrating Solar’s body. He violently cut the wood and carried her in the air. He could still feel her heart beating. She was alive. But was losing so much blood.

“Wake up… Wake up!” He shook her body, but there was no response. “I said wake up! Live! Solar!” The woman remained unconscious.

Should I just let her die? Who is she even, anyway?

But the proper side of his mind betrayed him. He remembered how they had gotten close and become friends. How she approached him on his first raid, how she comforted him when they coincidentally ran into him in that district, how kind she actually was, and how she was sincerely sorry for being brutal towards him.

She was almost dead. Her body was very cold, and blood from her wounds continued flowing, and wouldn’t stop. But Kino didn’t want to give up on her. She could still be saved. There was still a way to get her back to life.

“But she wouldn’t like it! Does it even matter?! It’s the only way! Stop arguing with me!” He yelled to himself, hitting his head.

Magnus Everhart’s vow will keep her alive, like what that wraith prince did to him back then. Therefore, once Solar is back, she’ll suffer under that devil’s vow as well. But Kino doesn’t have any choice he could think of. He and Solar will be bonded together once he passes the vow to her.

He raised his right arm in the air, claws retracting from his fingers. He aimed it at the dying girl’s chest. “I’m sorry.”