Chapter 6: Chapter 6. The Warden.

The air was still humming from the fading light when the young male figure turned, sword lowered at his side. His jacket bore the insignia clearly—silver, sharp, and unmistakable. He looked back at the two boys, his sharp gaze cutting through the dust and ruin.

“Come with me,” he said, his tone flat but commanding—leaving no room for doubt.

Taigami didn’t hesitate. He rushed to Prince’s side, who was still crumpled near the wall, his face twisted in pain. As Taigami bent down to lift him, Prince groaned and opened one eye toward the figure standing before them.

“You… you’re a Warden, right?” Prince asked, his voice hoarse.

The boy’s gaze flicked to him for the briefest moment. “Yes,” he said plainly, “but we don’t have time to talk about it now.”

Without another word, he turned and began walking toward the nearest alley, sword at the ready.

“Hang on,” Taigami whispered, slipping Prince’s arm over his shoulder. He staggered slightly under the weight but adjusted his footing and held firm. “I’ve got you.”

Prince didn’t resist—he couldn’t. His legs barely moved, his breaths shallow and strained. But his hand still gripped Taigami’s shirt, not letting go.

They followed the Warden into the smoke and chaos of Throst City.

The Warden was already moving through the nearest alley, fast and deliberate, sword gleaming in one hand. “Stay close. We’re heading toward the city’s edge. It’s safer there.”

Taigami followed, half-carrying, half-dragging Prince as they weaved through the smoke-filled streets. The once-lively market alleys were now a warzone—cracked stone, burning carts, broken lanterns. Screams echoed between buildings, and the sky glowed with the unnatural hue of violet-black fumes.

Across the street, a peasant tried to pull a child from the wreckage of a collapsed stand—only for one of the phantom monsters to drop down from a rooftop, shrieking.

Taigami’s heart leapt.

But the Warden didn’t even slow down. He stepped forward, raising his glowing sword.

“First Basic Principle—Piercing Form.”

With one fluid motion, he lunged, and a silver flash burst through the monster’s chest like lightning through fog. The beast let out a distorted howl before dissolving into shimmering particles.

He didn’t even look back.

Another alley, another pair of monsters. This time, they came from both sides, crawling over walls, mouths wide with eerie growls.

“Second Basic Principle—Split Arc.”

The Warden spun with perfect control. His sword drew a wide, glowing crescent in the air. Both creatures were sliced cleanly in two before they could land a blow—each half crumbling into dust mid-air.

Taigami stumbled, awestruck. “H-How are you doing that?”

“Technique. Training. Purpose,” the Warden replied without slowing down.

As they turned a corner and found more survivors fleeing through the chaos, another beast burst from a collapsed rooftop, lunging toward a merchant family.

He stepped forward, calm as ever.

“Third Basic Principle—Heaven’s Bury.”

He planted his foot, then slammed the sword point-first into the ground. A ripple of glowing blue lines cracked through the earth beneath the monster’s feet—and an invisible force dragged it downward, like gravity itself had tripled. The creature screamed as it was crushed into the stone and vanished.

Taigami’s eyes widened. This wasn’t just strength. It was precision. A force honed into something divine.

Still carrying Prince, he looked at the Warden in disbelief. “What’s your name?” he asked.

The boy finally turned his head slightly, voice calm despite the chaos around them.

“Ulrich,” he said. “Ulrich Lane.”

As they crossed another scorched plaza, Taigami’s breath hitched. Sky. Ivan.

He stopped. “Wait—we have to go back. My friends—two boys, about my age—Sky and Ivan. They were behind us when we entered the city!”

Ulrich halted, eyes scanning the surroundings. “Which direction?”

“I don’t know,” Taigami said, adjusting Prince’s weight again. “They were just behind us when we started running—but they got left behind when Prince sped ahead.”

Ulrich gave a short nod. “Then we find them.”

He turned sharply and began backtracking through a side alley.

“Hold tight to him,” he said, glancing at Prince briefly. “I’ll clear the path.”

And just like that, the search through the burning veins of Throst City began.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

As they pressed deeper into the city’s scorched heart, the sounds of destruction grew louder—stone cracking, metal shrieking, monsters howling.

Then suddenly, the ground trembled.

Prince stirred in Taigami’s grip. “What was that…?”

They turned a corner—and froze.

The fifteen-meter-tall monster had returned, advancing through the avenue like a walking nightmare. Its translucent, half-formed body writhed and twitched unnaturally, its limbs no longer fully humanoid—twisting instead into long, snaking tentacles that slammed into buildings, tearing through walls like paper.

Taigami’s breath caught in his throat. The creature’s center pulsed with a dull, purple glow. And as his eyes followed the movement of its limbs, he saw them—

Two smaller figures tangled in separate tentacles, Sky and Ivan.

“Sky!! Ivan!!” he screamed.

Sky hung limply, half-conscious, his arms pinned and his mouth gagged by a coil of shadowy flesh. His normally vibrant eyes were dulled with pain, the sky-blue irises that had earned him his name now clouded with fear. His arms struggled weakly against his bonds, fingertips occasionally sparking with faint blue energy that fizzled out before it could form.

Ivan, on the other hand, was thrashing wildly, his fists flaring with short bursts of red energy as he struggled to break free. Ivan's legendary determination showed even now—each blast of energy from his palms burned away sections of the tentacle, only for the shadow flesh to reform seconds later.

"Let me GO!" Ivan roared, his voice carrying above the chaos. Another energy burst erupted from his hands, temporarily blinding in its intensity. "I'm not dying here! PRINCE! TAIGAMI! I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE!"

Taigami took a frantic step forward, but Ulrich held out an arm.

“Stay back,” the Warden said, his eyes narrowing. “This one’s mine.”

“No—wait!” Taigami called after him, voice cracking. “My friends are still on it! Don’t hit it blindly!”

Ulrich paused mid-step. His gaze flicked up. “Understood.”

And then—he was gone.

In a blur of movement, Ulrich leapt forward, landing on a nearby rooftop. From there, he dashed from one building to another, sword trailing light behind him, moving so fast it looked like he was skipping through flashes of memory.

The monster screeched and turned one of its massive eyes—distorted, multifaceted—toward him.

“Sixth Basic Principle—Blind Sunfall!”

A beam of pure light shot from Ulrich’s blade straight into the monster’s grotesque eye. The creature reeled backward, roaring as the searing light exploded across its face.

Then, in a move that looked impossible, Ulrich bent gravity itself.

He glided upward, feet skimming the air like it was solid. With every motion of his blade, he carved precise glowing trails across the creature’s body, slicing clean through its massive tentacles.

SHING!

One tentacle dropped, and Sky tumbled through the air.

SHING!

The second snapped apart, and Ivan fell too.

Ulrich spun in mid-air, body twisting with unnatural grace, and caught both boys—one in each arm—before landing smoothly on a lower rooftop and then descending in a soft arc toward the ground.

He landed in front of Taigami and Prince, lowering both boys carefully. Sky was pale but alive. Ivan groaned, coughing. “That… was awesome…”

Taigami stared at Ulrich like he was watching a living myth.

But Ulrich wasn’t done.

He stepped forward again, lifting two fingers into a precise, triangular hand sign.

“First Ordinary Principle—Solar Combustion Seal.”

The glowing sword lines left on the monster’s body flared violently, turning from silver to gold. The marks pulsed faster—faster—until they became blinding.

The creature screamed, flailing violently as cracks of golden light split its body from the inside.

Then—

KRA-KOOOOOOM!!!

A massive explosion tore through the square. The shockwave flattened everything within thirty meters. The earth split open in a wide crater, smoke and dust spiraling high into the sky.

But the group stood untouched.

A faint blue dome shimmered around them—Ulrich’s energy shield, humming like a heartbeat.

Taigami watched as the smoke cleared, the monstrous form reduced to nothing but ash and silence.

He couldn’t breathe for a moment.

Ulrich finally exhaled, sheathing his sword. “That should hold it,” he said calmly, though his eyes stayed alert.

As the dust settled and the light faded from the explosion, the silence that followed felt louder than the blast itself. A faint breeze swept through the crater, carrying with it the scent of scorched stone and fading energy.

Ivan was the first to move. He stood up straight, fists pumping in the air with raw excitement. “Did you see that?!” he shouted, wide-eyed, grinning ear to ear. “He flew! Like actually flew—he cut through that thing like paper!”

He turned to Ulrich, practically bouncing. “That was insane! You’re like some kind of Energy god!”

Ulrich gave him a brief nod, expression unreadable. “You’re safe now. The creature’s been neutralized.”

Sky helped Prince to sit properly while Ivan circled around them in a frenzy of awe and adrenaline.

But Taigami wasn’t speaking. He wasn’t smiling.

He was staring.

At Ulrich.

At the way he stood—not boastful, not proud. Just calm. Solid. Dependable.

That kind of strength… It wasn’t just about power.

He protected us. He protected the merchants. People he doesn’t even know. People who wouldn’t have lifted a finger for us.

Taigami’s chest tightened. He thought of the shrine. Of the river. Of the silence when every element failed to respond to him.

He looked down at his hands, remembering the helplessness.

But Ulrich saw something else in me. When he said—

“Running into danger with no powers, no idea what might happen—that takes more than strength. That takes heart.”

The words echoed in his head, louder than the explosion had been. They burned into him like a brand.

Taigami clenched his fists.

Even if I have no Divergent Energy. Even if I have no Energy at all...

I will become that kind of person. One people can count on. One who can stand between danger and those he cares about.

I’ll be strong enough to protect them. No matter what it takes.

His gaze never left Ulrich’s back.

And then—movement. From the alleys. The shadows.

The people of Throst City began to emerge—merchants, peasants, travelers. Covered in dust. Eyes wide. First one, then a few more. And then many.

They stepped carefully into the square, drawn by the silence where the monster had once stood.

And then the clapping started.

Soft at first, then growing. Louder. Unified.

“It's the Warden!” someone shouted.

“He saved us!”

“Ulrich Lane! That was Ulrich Lane!”

“Bless the sky, we're alive because of him!”

A group of merchants approached, still bruised, some bandaged with torn cloth. One of them lifted a broken crate and slammed it down in celebration. “That’s the strength of the Wardens!” he bellowed. “We owe you our lives!”

Prince watched the scene with narrowed eyes, his arms crossed. He looked at the cheering merchants with undisguised contempt. “Hmph,” he muttered under his breath. “Now they cheer... After they tried to sell us out like dogs.”

Sky glanced at him but said nothing.

Taigami didn’t even hear them. His heart was burning—not with jealousy, but with resolve.

He looked to the sky above the crater. It was still clouded with smoke, but a single ray of sun pushed through, golden and defiant.

Yes.

One day… I’ll be that person.

Even if I have to break myself again and again to get there.

I’ll be strong enough to never let go of the people I care about.

Never again.

His hand slowly clenched at his side.

The applause continued in the distance. But in Taigami’s mind, only one sound mattered now.

His own heartbeat.

Steady. Focused. Ready.

For his Resolution.