Supreme Hunter of Beautiful Souls-Chapter 402: Waking up and almost dying again!
[Chaos Absorption Completion: 100%]
For a brief instant—an interval so short that not even time dared to record it—Kael's inner world fell into absolute silence.
No wind cut across the frozen plains.
No energy flowed.
Not even the black sky seemed to breathe.
Then—
CRACK.
A fissure appeared in the air.
Not on the ground.
Not in the sky.
In the very concept of that world.
The ice beneath Kael began to fragment, not as something broken, but as something discarded.
[Initiating secondary process…]
[— TOTAL ADAPTATION OF CHAOS —]
[Status: IRREVERSIBLE]
Ahri took a step back.
Umbra did not move.
She sensed it first.
The Chaos, which was once an untamed, wild, and corrosive force, began to fall silent. Not because it had been suppressed—but because it had been understood.
"This isn't absorption…" Ahri murmured, her voice faltering.
"He's… rewriting."
Kael's spiritual body began to shift.
The veins of energy that had previously pulsed in erratic hues now took on a deep scarlet-blue color—ice and chaos fused into something that shouldn't exist. Ancient symbols, impossible to read in any known language, appeared and disappeared on his skin, as if the System itself were trying to keep pace with the transformation.
[Chaos recognized the host]
[Chaos ceased to be an external element]
[Chaos is now a native attribute]
The black sky shattered.
Behind it, something emerged.
Not stars.
Not light.
Structures.
Endless layers of runes, circles of broken laws, and frozen concepts spun slowly, like gears in a malfunctioning divine machine.
Umbra finally spoke, her voice laden with something rare: caution.
"He crossed the point of no return."
The ice around Kael evaporated—it didn't melt, it ceased to exist. In its place, a translucent crystalline ground formed, reflecting not the world, but possibilities. Each step there showed different versions of the future.
[Updating physical body…]
In the real world, inside the silent infirmary, something happened.
The air around Kael's unconscious body sank. It wasn't pressure—it was absence. As if reality had forgotten how to exist at that point.
Elion Scarlet, sitting beside the bed, slowly raised her gaze.
For the first time in months…
…Chaos didn't react to her presence.
Her eyes widened.
"Where did you go, my son…?"
Back to the inner world—
Kael opened his eyes.
They were no longer black.
Nor blue.
They were something in between, like a frozen abyss in silent combustion.
[Body: ADAPTED]
[Soul: STABILIZED]
[Primary Attribute redefined]
[Attribute: ❄ Absolute Glacial Chaos ❄]
Kael took a deep breath.
And, for the first time since falling into a coma, he felt his own body.
"Now I understand…" he said, rising from the lotus position. Each movement made the world tremble.
"Chaos never wanted to destroy me."
He clenched his fist.
Space cracked.
"It only wanted someone capable of enduring infinite contradictions."
[Unlocking hidden function…]
[Artemis System recognizes the individual as:
— THRESHOLD EXISTENCE —]
[Link to universal laws: PARTIALLY REMOVED]
Ahri felt a shiver run down her spine.
Umbra smiled—a slow, dangerous smile.
"Welcome back, Kael Scarlet."
In the real world…
Kael's finger moved.
The aura surrounding the infirmary exploded inward, collapsing upon itself.
Elion stood abruptly.
Her heart beat once.
Harshly.
"…You're awake."
Kael's body reacted before any sound could fill the room.
Suddenly—
He raised his head.
It wasn't a human movement.
It was a violent snap, as if something had forcibly pulled his consciousness back. Her neck moved at an absurd speed, and the air around the bed was torn apart by a short, unstable wave of energy.
Kael gasped.
His chest rose and fell erratically, as if he were drowning out of water. Each breath came heavy, irregular, faltering—his body trying to relearn something as basic as existence.
Chaos leaked from him.
Not as an expansive aura, but as something barely contained, escaping through his pores, distorting the air, freezing and burning at the same time. His whole body trembled. Muscles tensed beyond their limit, fingers digging into the sheets until the fabric tore.
"—Kael!"
Elion didn't think.
She lunged forward and enveloped him in a hug that was too strong, too desperate. Her arms closed around him like chains, pulling him against her chest, as if she feared he would simply… disappear again.
Chaos reacted.
For a moment, the world seemed about to collapse.
But then—
He calmed down.
The unstable aura folded inward, obedient, submissive to her touch. The chaotic ice receded, and the pressure in the infirmary ceased as if it had never existed.
Kael gasped against his mother's shoulder, his breath broken, irregular, almost painful.
Elion hugged him tighter.
"I was afraid…" her voice faltered, cracked, lacking the slightest dignity of a Witch Queen. "Afraid I would never hear you breathe again. Afraid I would never see your eyes again."
A tear rolled down her cheek.
Then another.
And another.
Elion Scarlet was crying.
"Don't make me go through this again…" she whispered, burying her face in his hair. "You have no idea how long I waited. How much I… endured."
Kael blinked several times. The world still felt wrong. Heavy. Too slow.
But that hug—
It was real.
With difficulty, he raised a trembling hand and grasped the fabric of her back.
"…Mother…" the word came out weak, hoarse, almost unrecognizable. "I'm sorry… I took so long."
Elion's body trembled.
She laughed and cried at the same time, squeezing him as if she would shatter Chaos itself if necessary.
"Idiot…" she murmured between sobs. "You came back. That's all that matters."
Outside the infirmary, something invisible finally revealed itself.
— BANG!
The door simply exploded.
It wasn't opened. It wasn't pushed. It ceased to function as a door.
Fragments of wood flew down the corridor, and any witch who was even remotely close was absolutely certain that a calamity had been unleashed. "KAEL—!" A figure surged forward like an uncontrolled emotional projectile.
Eleanor.
The Witch Queen, the former Crimson Omen, the woman whose mere presence made armies hesitate… now she rushed forward, her eyes brimming with tears, her hair slightly disheveled, and zero dignity remaining.
"MY LOVE—!"
Elion barely had time to react.
Eleanor threw herself onto the bed.
Literally.
The mattress sank dangerously as his grandmother fell on top of Kael and enveloped him in a crushing embrace, pulling him against her chest with absurd force.
Too hard.
Much too hard.
Kael made a strange sound.
Something between a gasp and a stifled cry.
"—Ghk—!"
His face was immediately buried.
Heat.
Softness.
Pressure.
Too much pressure. "M—mother… y—grandmother— I—" he tried to speak.
He failed.
The hug tightened even more.
"Oh, my precious, my grandson, you're back, you're really back—!" Eleanor was crying openly now, her voice trembling, as she rubbed her face in his hair. "Do you have any idea what I went through?! I BROKE THREE ORACLES, TWO LINES OF DESTINY, AND THREATENED A MINOR GOD BECAUSE OF YOU!"
Kael tried to breathe.
He couldn't.
His body, newly adapted to absolute Chaos, wasn't prepared to survive this.
Elion's eyes widened.
"M-mother—! You're going to kill him!"
"Ah—! I'm sorry—!" Eleanor loosened her embrace for a split second.
Kael gasped for air desperately.
— GASP—!
And then—
She squeezed again.
"BUT I MISSED HIM SO MUCH—!"
"—I'M GOING TO DIE AGAIN—!" Kael managed to scream, his voice muffled.
That was the last straw.
Elion, already emotionally devastated, completely broke down.
She brought her hands to her face and began to cry too, sobbing uncontrollably.
"I… I thought I had lost my son…" she said through tears. "And now my mother is going to suffocate him to death…"
The scene was chaotic.
A Witch Queen crying.
An ex-Queen crying and crushing someone.
And a Crimson Devastator being defeated by the world's oldest attack: excessive grandmotherly affection.
Ahri and Umbra, observing everything from the edge of the mental world, remained silent.
"…He survived the Chaos," murmured Ahri.
"…but this," added Umbra, with a slight smile, "is really dangerous."
Kael, between sighs, managed to raise a trembling hand and give his grandmother two weak pats on the back.
"G—grandma…" he said with difficulty. "…I… also… missed… you…"
Eleanor froze.
Then she began to cry even louder.
"LOOK, ELION—! HE SPOKE TO ME—!"
Kael closed his eyes.
If this was the price of returning to life…
…perhaps facing gods was indeed simpler. Kael felt his breath catch again.
It wasn't Chaos.
It wasn't pain.
It was too much affection.
If this continued for a few more seconds, he was absolutely certain that surviving gods and calamities only to die there would be the height of irony.
With what little strength he had, he pulled his grandmother's face down.
And, in a quick—almost desperate—gesture, he kissed her on the lips.
It was a brief touch. Instinctive. Without malice.
The effect was immediate.
Eleanor froze.
The arms that were crushing him lost their strength, and her eyes widened in complete shock. The world seemed to stop for a full second.
"…!"
The embrace loosened.
The crying ceased.
The Chaos… fell silent.
And then—
Her body relaxed.
Eleanor took a deep breath, trembling, her face slowly reddening as she brought her hand to her mouth, completely disoriented.
"…y-you…" she murmured, her voice faltering. "You always knew how to disarm me…"
She laughed softly through tears, sitting on the edge of the bed, finally calm—her heart still racing, but the hysteria completely dissipated.
Kael took a long gulp of air.
He survived.
Bartingly.
Before anyone could say anything, he slowly turned his face.
Elion was still there, crying silently, his shoulders trembling, fear still etched on every feature of his face.
Kael stared at her for a moment.
And repeated the gesture.
He pulled her close.
And kissed her too.
Again, briefly. Softly. Familiar.
Elion's eyes widened in the first second.
Next… they closed up.
The tension coursing through her body melted away like ice under the sun. Tears continued to fall, but now without despair—only relief.
She rested her forehead against his.
"…idiot," she whispered, with a trembling smile. "You almost scared your mother to death after a year in a coma."
Kael smiled slightly, exhausted.
"It worked," he murmured. "They both stopped crushing me."
Eleanor sniffed loudly.
"Don't think this will save you from a scolding later."
Elion chuckled softly through tears, now carefully cradling his son—finally remembering that he was still recovering.
