Godfire: The Split Soul-Chapter 182: Go and Help Save the World

Silence ruled during the Psychological Screening as Kai sat there, staring into the nurse’s eyes.

The nurse picked up her pen the moment she broke eye contact. She traced the tip of the pen to the next question and lifted her gaze to the boy.

After twenty minutes, Kai exited the room, sweat dripping down his chest, wetting his shirt. His palms turned watery, but his hands showed no sign of shaking.

In the training yard that had been cleared of its debris, a crowd lingered, taking in the combat assessment.

Soldiers, volunteers, and medics who had finished their shifts all gathered around the chain-like fence. They waited, leaning against the barrier, arms folded on their chests, watching.

Kai stopped the moment he reached the center of the yard, where there was packed dirt.

From the far edge of the yard, Merlin lifted his gaze. In his palms, a report containing Kai’s name, date of birth, place of birth, and other personal information glowed on the screen.

Beside him, Wang brushed the fingers of his right hand on his chin, watching. He stood there almost as if he was observing an experiment he had already predicted the outcome of.

Merlin gestured at three soldiers who stepped forward without hesitation. Among the three was a soldier Kai had never seen before. A man with a dragon tattoo on his cheeks.

"Take them through the standard evaluation," Merlin stated, then turned toward the man with the tattoo.

"Let each of them face three opponents. Test them on their movement, their responses, and their endurance levels."

The man nodded, then turned toward the other two on his side. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

A few of the volunteers joined in with Kai.

The moment the three soldiers moved toward the three volunteers, including Kai, two took the other two, while the one with the tattoo moved toward the boy.

Without hesitation, he dashed toward him, not even giving the boy a signal or time to prepare his stance.

His clenched knuckles moved past Kai’s cheeks as he sidestepped, inhaling the damp air that sliced at his face.

A second punch followed, and Kai blocked it with his left palm and jumped to the side.

"Is that all?" he asked, feeling excited.

The soldier didn’t say a word. He simply dashed forward, his footsteps giving no sound. A metal ringing sound lanced through the air as the soldier pulled out a silver dagger from his waist.

Kai’s eyes widened, yet he didn’t falter. His hand moved before his mind could catch up and caught the soldier’s wrist—the very one holding the dagger.

He turned and swung both the man and the dagger to the ground.

The two soldiers fighting against the other volunteers paused mid-fight and held their breaths.

Kai stepped back, lowering his hands at his sides, a faint smile tugging on his lips.

The soldier whirled around on the ground and used a snake-like leap to throw himself to his feet. His jaw tightened as he threw a sharp glance at Merlin, then at Wang.

"Again," Wang stated, then crossed his legs. He folded his arms on his chest and began nodding with each passing second.

A sharp exhale escaped from the soldier as he dashed forward in a ghost-like dance. The tip of his middle finger streaked across Kai’s face and drew thin blood.

Kai stumbled a step back, then tried to wipe the blood from his face. But just as he focused on the red liquid, another punch landed in his stomach.

Laughter blasted from those leaning by the barriers, their hands waving in the air.

"I knew Thorn was holding back!" a scream shot out from the center.

Merlin gave a silent sigh, then tried to fish out the speaker.

As the murmuring began to rise, the rate of the soldier’s punches also increased. He swung wide, forcing Kai back, then pivoted and drove the now uncovered dagger toward Kai’s knees.

Kai dropped, rolled, then came back up behind him, gasping heavily for air. He had clenched his fist, but he didn’t strike. He just waited.

The soldier turned in the same motion Kai’s shadow turned, then swung again.

Kai ducked under the blade of the dagger, then stepped to the left side, holding the case of the blade.

The soldier dropped the dagger, then punched Kai in the face.

The impact sent Kai stumbling a few steps back, his vision turning hazy. But he didn’t fall flat. He caught himself on one knee.

His chest rose and fell unevenly as he blinked rapidly, forcing his vision to clear. Through the haze, Kai turned and looked at Merlin.

Merlin held the same expression—neither smiling nor grinning. Just staring without any emotion.

After finishing off the other two volunteers, the two soldiers joined Thorn.

Hulk, the big-shouldered soldier who looked as if he could defeat all the volunteers, shifted his gaze from Kai to Wang, then shook his head.

Wang’s face tightened, his jaw crackling as all eyes began to draw toward him, including Merlin’s. "Fine. The evaluation phase for Yung Chin K is complete."

Without waiting for a dismissal notice, Kai walked off the training yard, feeling completely drained.

At the water station, he rinsed the dirt from his hands as footsteps echoed from behind him.

’Who is it this time?’ he asked in his head, his jaw tightening.

"That wasn’t normal, you know that, right?" Rockson’s voice echoed, thin.

In a flash, the warm water became cold under Kai’s touch after he splashed it against his face.

Rockson leaned against the wall, then intensified his gaze on Kai’s left cheek, where a handprint had formed.

Kai kept his gaze locked on the water. "What wasn’t normal?"

Rockson shifted his gaze from him, then folded his hands on his chest. "The way you moved. You seemed as if you weren’t ready for it."

"I wasn’t."

Chills ran down Rockson’s spine, his eyes widening slightly.

’Really? And he managed to dodge all those punches. I bet I would have fallen on the first punch.’ He spoke in his head, his eyes drifting from Kai’s head to his arms.

As soon as Kai turned off the tap and looked at Rockson, the boy’s facial expression shifted.

Rockson’s brow merged together. "You killed it," his tone intensified. "Didn’t you? The Titanaboa."

Kai dried his hands on his trousers, then locked eyes with Rockson. "What would you have done? Watch them all die?"

Rockson remained still for a moment, then slowly lowered his head. He pushed himself from the wall and walked back to the dormitory, thinking of the dreadful stare Kai had thrown at him.

Kai stood by the water station and watched him go, then sighed.

The sun’s rays burned through the clouds that had covered the city for days as it climbed higher.

Light slanted across the compound, throwing long, crooked shadows across the concrete.

Kai’s breath turned shallow as he touched the necklace beneath his shirt. Even through the fabric, he felt the warm metal.

His mind reeled to Lena. The day she handed him the sword. The eyes she looked at him with as he grabbed it. And the last words he heard from her.

"Go and help save the world."

Just as the words faded from his head, the memory of him watching MJ and the other soldier die under the Titanaboa flashed into his mind.

His eyes slammed shut without control, the memory pulling him so deep that he felt it the same way he had felt that day.

The heat of the sun pressed against his face as the memories reeled one after another.

And when he cracked them open, he saw Jinx walking toward him from a distance. Her arm was still in its sling, her heels kissing the ground slowly and steadily.

She stopped just a few steps away from him and smiled. She drifted her gaze to what the boy was holding, then to the sword at his back, and lastly to his wet knuckles.

"They’re saying you fought the strongest soldier here," her tone dulled. "Is that true?"

Kai said nothing. He simply smiled back, then exhaled sharply.

"I should have been there. With Lena. I should have—" Jinx stated in a voice that made Kai’s mouth open, forgetting how to close.

"You would have died too," Kai said and stepped forward.

Jinx gave a short, sorrowful sigh. "Maybe."

Kai stretched his hands and placed them on the arm with the sling. "She wouldn’t have wanted that."

Two drops of tears traced down Jinx’s cheeks as her eyes slowly closed. Her face crumpled for just a second. And when she opened her eyes again, she wiped the tears off and pressed her lips together.

"When this is over," her jaw clenched as she spoke, "...we will bury her. Properly. Somewhere she would have wanted."

Kai’s dual eyes calmed as he looked at her, then nodded. "Together."

"Together," Jinx repeated in a low tone that made the surface of the water still.

The sun’s rays made their skin glow as they stood by the water station, neither moving nor shaking their heads.

The compound stirred around them with whispers, movement, and the rumbling sound of vehicles as the sun began its evening journey.