Beatrice whipped her scythe through the air trying to end things early. Kino jumped backward with all his strength to avoid it. Standing up, his head swayed to the side. It turns out he hadn’t fully avoided the attack. It was painful yet his experiences and training improved his pain endurance. Adding the adrenaline rush he was feeling, he doesn’t have any time to whine about his inflicted injuries. His neck regenerated in a matter of milliseconds and he continued avoiding her attacks.

Seeing the next 30 seconds in the future, he found an opening to attack Beatrice. Kino awakened 25% on each arm before he proceeded. The girl dodged and sliced his arm away, spilling blood sharply on the ground.

“I told you! Your foresight will never work on me!” She exclaimed, eyes bloodshot with confidence.

Kino regenerated his arm. Shit! I forgot about that part!

Beatrice stepped foot on Earth solely to find the human who got her brother’s power. He couldn’t just escape with Reno. She would not allow them to get away.

While thinking of a plan to turn the tables around, Kino kept avoiding her attacks. He widened the battlefield using gravitational maneuvering by jumping against the apartment building walls. Beatrice followed his every move and he could barely escape. Piles of debris and glass scattered the area. Fresh wounds and cuts were earned at every hit of her scythe, it was a struggling defense despite Kino’s use of his foresight and fast reflexes. She is a skilled fighter.

Beatrice's wicked laughs were echoing at the four corners of the area. Observing the place, it was actually an abandoned compound apartment with a large basketball court.

“How does it feel to fight against royal blood, Kino Rosen? To meet someone with foresight like you? It’s pretty hard, isn’t it?!” She whipped her weapon in the air, creating a slice of wind aiming in his direction. Kino barely avoided it as she knew where he would go in the next seconds. Strands of his hair were cut by the raging wind destroying the apartment walls behind him. “Royal blood is special. We are the only beings in Agartha who were bestowed with the foresight ability by the gods. It’s to control those below us. To forge our own destiny! And your destiny is to die!”

A wind strike he avoided destroyed another apartment wall behind him. His sharp eyes spotted Reno standing in the way. He forgot about him. He dashed towards his brother before the rubble trampled him, causing him to lose an arm by another wind strike.

Shit! How do I beat her?!

This is the first time he’s fought against an H-type wraith, and royal blood with a special ability at that. It’s starting to get exhausting avoiding her attacks while being unable to fight back, but in order to be at least at an advantage, he has to calculate her movements and plans first.

Reno was sobbing in his arms. The boy had his eyes firmly shut and his ears were covered by his hands. He was just beginning to hear the sounds of the world, to meet a friend he likes, but it was all harsh for him. Kino gritted his teeth. This is not the life he wants for him. He has to win against Beatrice to get everything back to normal.

“Everything will be okay, I promise.”

Another wind strike from his peripheral vision was coming towards them. He glided in the air, only for another series of wind strikes to hit him on his next spot. He immediately transferred his 50% awakening to his back to use it as a shield to protect Reno inside his arms. He groaned in pain from another continued attack he received from the back. Blood spilled in his mouth dropping on his brother’s cheeks.

Reno’s eyes were pooling with tears. He tugs his big brother’s shirt very tightly. “S-Soi… So-i…”

“No, Reno. D-Don’t be sorry… it’s not your fault, okay? Argh!” More wind strikes slashed his back. No matter how he tried to avoid Beatrice’s wind strikes they seemed everywhere in the area. His white uniform was soaked in red and torn up from each slash. He kept using his back as a shield to protect Reno and the pain was worsening despite his continued regeneration. The half awakening wasn’t enough.

“Argh!” He couldn’t bear the pain anymore. The wounds he received brought him inside one of the untouched apartment units. He brought Reno to a far-back bathroom. If only he was still strong enough, he could bring him outside the apartment complex to ensure his safety.

“S-Stay here. No matter what happens, don’t go out, okay?”

“Hmm! Hmm!” Reno kept shaking his head, begging.

The unit rumbled. Beatrice’s attacks were too strong, cracking the walls and floors. Her voice could be heard from the outside. She was trying to destroy the apartment.

“Come out! Do you think you can get away from me?! I order you to come out to die for me!”

Kino cupped Reno’s cheeks to make him look at him. “Brother will just fix something. It won’t take long. P-Promise me Reno, you won’t go out. I’ll get us saved no matter what!”

“No matter where you go, I’m going to find you! That power belongs to me! My family! You are not fit for the role of god! It’s meant for me!”

It’s time.

With all his strength left, Kino awakened 25% more in his body, the bluish skin and veins from his back crawled to his broad shoulders, neck, and arms. They also appeared on his cheeks. One of his eyes turned black and half portion of his hair shone silver. He gave his brother a reassuring smile for the last time.

It’s starting. His voice, I’m starting to hear it.

“Brother will just have to fix something.”

Before Magnus could consume his mind, Kino glided back outside to meet Beatrice at a lightning speed but not without a plan in mind.

She said all royal blood has foresight ability. Based on my observation, we have the same level of strength, she just mastered her moves more than me; a beginner with this power. If we have the same foresight ability, that means we have the same cooldown period of ten seconds in our awakened form. Inside those ten seconds, I have to reverse the situation.

He used his own foresight. In the next thirty seconds, he saw Beatrice avoiding all his future attacks.

But once the foresight is set, it cannot be undone. I just need her to set her foresight when I begin my attacks in order for me to calculate the future.

He took a curtain pole hanging poorly on a window beside him and threw it in the direction of Beatrice through the wall hole she cracked. She avoided it which he expected. Their eyes met at once.

Now it’s set!

He kicked an old dusty leather couch in her direction in the next second. She avoided it as well, the furniture hit the apartment building across.

27 seconds left.

Before Beatrice could charge her own attack, Kino glided at the eastern building to get her as far away as possible from Reno’s unit. He ran through the walls by distorting his gravity and got a grip on a large television he saw from his foresight in a randomly destroyed unit. She avoided the throw again.

24 seconds.

She hit him back with wind strikes. Even with her foresight ability, Beatrice began struggling as his speed improved by adding more awakening percentage in his body. Her attacks could only hit the walls he ran past from. She trembled in irritation.

“Tsk! How annoying!”

Kino laughed mockingly in response. Magnus inside him had been talking for a while. “Do I piss you off that much? How fascinating. Why don’t you just go and play in your stupid little dollhouse? It suits your tiny brain!”

20 seconds! Time is too slow when you’re waiting for it! Stupid Earth time!

He got his hands on two air conditioners still attached to some cracked walls. He threw both of them at her. Beatrice’s anger spiked again as she slashed the appliances in a swift move, making it fly back in Kino’s direction which he easily avoided with his flashing speed.

17 seconds!

He threw a large refrigerator. She dodged.

13 seconds!

A washing machine.

8 seconds!

Beatrice glided towards him in the western apartment building to attack closer this time but Kino saw it all in advance, so was she seeing him avoid her attacks from the future. She quickened her speed to trick him for just a few milliseconds as she believed he wouldn’t be too fast forever. She wounded him bit by bit but he managed to get back on track by beating her pace with his fast reflexes and foresight.

3 seconds!

He tripled his reflexes until he found an opening where he got to land a powerful punch to her stomach creating a massive hole on her tiny body, sending her to fly back at the center of the court.

Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!

Magnus cheered inside his brain. Kino uncontrollably laughed. The devil was starting to consume him and he had to shake his head to refocus his mind. Not now, dammit!

His awakened physical form was slowly crawling all over his body against his will, but Kino didn’t have any time to waste. He was smiling devilishly as he maneuvered himself in gravity to reach Beatrice’s location. He has to secure his future advantage as the ten-second cooldown has begun.

“You don’t like playing dollhouse? How about playing dead?”

The girl’s stomach wound had started to regenerate. Inside those ten seconds, he has to kill her. All he has to do is to behead her. His claws were ready to aim for her throat.

Are you sure?

Then the realization hit him. He began trembling as if a bucket of cold water was poured all over him. Inside these ten seconds, what was he supposed to do?

“A person just doesn’t stop after reaching their goal.” Parker Yue’s words just played in his head. If his captain were there to watch the fight, he’d probably be doing a facepalm right now.

How do you kill royal blood?

Magnus’ voice vanished just like that. He knew by instinct what to do whenever he was in his awakened form, yet now he was left clueless. It’s like the wraith god just left him on his own. He heard his captain in the situation instead of the devil who had pestered him the whole fight. He stepped back a few steps away from the lying girl on the ground.

A weakening laugh from Beatrice’s lips brought him back to reality. She lifted her head. “See? You don’t even have the confidence to kill me. Yet you want to keep that power?”

But anger emerged inside Kino. His jaw clenched in the frustration he was feeling. Ten seconds is over and he didn’t get to kill her because he didn’t know how to, but he has to risk it to save himself and his brother. He caught his breath and raised his trembling arm. “Shut the fuck up!” He cursed, chopping her head in an instant. The flesh flew a few meters to the rubble piles in the corner.

Wraiths are killed in the same method, r-right?

Kino laughed anxiously at what he had done. “S-She's dead, isn’t she? I k-killed her, right? WHY DON’T YOU ANSWER ME?!” He shouted in the dark night, pertaining to Magnus.

Hahaha!

His eyes stared at the rubble piles, going back and forth while scratching his head. No movement can be heard. Magnus returned but was only laughing, Kino hit his head with his fist as if to shut him up. Then his skin tingled surprisingly.

“Shit!” Another curse left his lips as the debris suddenly exploded across the vicinity of the half-court.

Beatrice regenerated her body through her head. She stepped out of the smoke coming from the explosion and raised her arm to get her scythe back from the hands of her old headless body.

Kino was taken aback. “H-How? F-Fuck!”

Beheading doesn’t work against royal blood?

It was like she could read his mind. She smirked. “Your girlfriend. What’s her name again? Oh, Henrietta. Do you know her father has been planning to marry her off to one of my brothers?”

Kino creased his forehead. His anger doubled from what he heard. I knew that bald old man wouldn’t do anything well.

“What’s she gotta do with this?”

“Do you want to know why?” She circled her scythe around her fingers as she stepped forward to bring a fear upon him. “It’s because Henrietta was born with one core, which is a shame.”

Kino gritted his teeth. She keeps testing his patience.

“What are you trying to say? Stop talking about her!”

“Wraiths of noble and royal blood are born with three cores, Kino Rosen. As a lady born in a noble family in Agartha, it’s a shame for Henrietta to be born with only one core. The gods bestowed us three cores placed randomly in our bodies aside from our foresight ability, for our survival. Special beings like us will always stay on top among others. But in your girlfriend’s case, despite her noble blood, I guess she’s not that special, after all. An embarrassment of her father, her sister, and the clan they left back in Agartha.” She took off her dress from her headless body and wore it in front of him.

“I SAID STOP TALKING ABOUT HER!”

He charged without a strategy in mind. All he knew was he was angry upon the mention of his friend. He knew Beatrice didn’t know her that much to say those words. Henrietta would be hurt if she heard it.

Kino’s foresight didn’t help as his speed was not as fast as the last minute. He attacked Beatrice and knew where she would strike, but his speed reflex slowed due to exhaustion and anxiety. He also noticed he decreased his awakened form by 50% without his own accord due to the mixed emotions he felt. Now his defense was poor enough that he instantly received fresh wounds all over his body. Even his regenerative ability slowed as well. He ended up weakly kneeling on the cold ground, blood dripping in front of the young girl.

She leaned her face closer to his, touched him by the chin, and whispered. “That’s why you cannot kill me. Even after you behead my head, I will live as I still have my other cores stored in me. My blood knew two of my cores were left untouched in my previous body and that they formed them back in my new body. You will die first even after you can get your hands on me. So to save us time, why don’t you just give up and hand over my brother’s power?”

Then she grabbed Kino by the throat. Her touch triggered a flash before his eyes.