Chapter 44 – Just and You, Reditha!
After Kaden’s escape, everything looked the sa inside the Forest of Eternal Sunshine.
The guards were doing their duties like always. The forest was still angrily hot. The sky still shimred in that cursed golden hue, and the castle stood there untouched—radiant, eternal, unchanged.
Looking at it from the outside, you’d think Kaden’s presence hadn’t impacted a single thing.
But it did.
Because there were two people whose lives had been undeniably shifted.
Ro, because after what happened, he was now painfully aware of how weak he actually was, and how dangerous this world truly could be. Sothing he already knew, sure.
But there’s a difference between hearing about sothing and living through it.
There’s a difference between knowing...and understanding.
And now Ro understood.
And for the sake of his little brother—and for himself—
Ro vowed to beco stronger.
As for Kaden?
"Who again?"
Ro didn’t know. Or maybe he just refused to know.
But he wasn’t the only one Kaden had affected.
There was also Sora.
Sora’s entire life was discipline and monotony. A life ruled by training, politics, obligation. The only joy she had left was her secret—singing. Hidden behind golden walls, protected in shadows she created for herself.
But now soone had seen it.
Soone had dared to witness it.
Worse—he had touched her. Bound her. Blackmailed her. And the worst...he escaped.
And she couldn’t even talk about it.
Because he might’ve recorded it.
That one thought made her burn from the inside out.
She couldn’t allow anyone to live knowing that secret.
He had to be silenced.
"He has to either die, or....," Sora whispered letting her words unfinished, her golden eyes igniting with solar fire.
But first...
She stepped toward the teleportation portal.
She had already reset its destination.
"It’s ti to take the Evolution Quest."
Because before anything else, she would break through and step into the Interdiate Rank.
And then...
"I’ll co for you, red-eyed bastard."
WSHHH—!
Sora disappeared.
Gone from the golden castle and heading back to the heart of the Celestial Empire.
...
BAAM—!
Kaden slamd into the ground, hard.
A wave of dust exploded around him as he landed unceremoniously in the middle of nowhere.
"Ah... fucking hell," he muttered, lying there without even bothering to move.
He was exhausted—physically, ntally, emotionally.
He had been a breath away from capture. From death.
And the fact he had just blackmailed a princess?
"She’ll definitely co for ," Kaden sighed, staring up at the blue sky with the normal, warm, yellowish sun.
A normal sun.
With what little ti he spent with her, he already understood—Sora was the type who never accepted loss. Arrogant, spoiled, with too much pride to forget.
"Ah... how botherso," he whispered. "First step in Fokay and I’ve already made the princess of the fucking Celestial Empire my enemy. I must be cursed."
But before he could complain more—
[DING! Quest Complete.]
[You have successfully escaped a highly dangerous zone owned by the Celestial Empire without being caught. Only two individuals are aware of your presence.]
[You used wit. You used power. You were decisive and efficient. You proved yourself worthy of the title Child of Blood—but more than that, you showed humanity.]
[It was... magnificent.]
[Congratulations. Reward: Death Coins 1,000 | Stat Points 1,00]
A soft smile stretched across Kaden’s face.
There was nothing like this feeling—when the system itself acknowledged your effort. When every risk, every insane decision, paid off.
And even more than the reward itself, it was the validation.
The sense that he was doing sothing right.
"This praise session might beco my favorite thing, Death," Kaden muttered under his breath.
[You should.]
Kaden chuckled again, but the mont he opened his mouth, his perception flared.
Noise.
Movent.
He blinked, finally forcing himself to look around.
He was in a forest.
But unlike the last one, this one actually looked normal—green trees, leafy branches, soft soil.
Basic.
But the thing that wasn’t basic?
He had been dropped in the middle of it.
And now the beasts had caught his scent.
They were coming.
"Of course," Kaden muttered as he got up slowly, brushing dirt off his clothes.
"Of course you’d do sothing like that, Princess."
He pulled the cloth off his face, revealing his sharp, pale features.
Then he extended his right hand—and in a flash of red light, Reditha appeared.
The mont she touched his palm, emotion surged through the connection.
Anger.
Loneliness.
Sadness.
Kaden smiled bitterly. "I know. I’ve been so busy these past few days, I didn’t even have ti to talk to you properly."
He looked around.
The beasts had arrived.
Dozens of them.
Small gray spiders with disgusting eyes. Forest wolves with saliva-drenched fangs. Green-skinned goblins clutching rusted blades.
All of them common beasts you found anywhere.
By now, they are familiar enemies.
And so, predictable prey.
Kaden smirked.
"As an apology, how about we kill them together, Reditha?"
"Just you and ."
"No Blood Skills. No movent arts."
"Just swordsmanship."
Reditha glowed.
A deep, blood-red pulse of excitent and agreent.
Kaden grinned. ’What an easy sword.’
He raised her slowly, letting the light dance on the blade.
"I should thank the Princess for this, honestly. A bunch of punching bags right when I need to vent."
"RORAAAH!"
"KEKEKRR!!"
The beasts scread and charged, their eyes crazed, hunger dripping from their mouths like acid.
Kaden’s grin widened.
"Reditha..."
He whispered, his voice calm, asured.
"...let’s kill."
In one swift strike, he beheaded the first wolf. The blade cleanly severed through flesh and bone like paper.
Another goblin lunged from behind.
Kaden sidestepped, fluid and graceful, letting the idiot trip on its own montum. Before the goblin even understood what happened, its head was rolling on the ground.
No Blood Skills.
No trait.
No Slothful Steps.
Just him. Just Reditha.
Swordsmanship in its purest form.
He moved minimally. Efficiently.
Every step taken was either a strike or a dodge. No wasted motion. No theatrics.
Every swing targeted the neck.
Every swing connected.
And with his strength and agility stats nothing survived more than one hit. Not these awakened level beast.
In less than a minute, the clearing was painted in blood.
The air slled of death.
And Kaden?
He stood in the middle, expression calm and neutral, blade dripping with different colors of blood.
—End of Chapter 44—
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