Kade took a deep breath, taking in the sight in front of him.

Destruction, there were no trees standing anymore, all burned down to the ground. There were more dead bodies than leaves on the ground. It was an absolute horror.

How unfortunate for those who lived on this side of the city; they met this terrible fate because of their mistake.

'Damn it.'

He said, talking out his blade.

There were still some Beast Humans around, but there were a lot more orcs, plus the general was still alive. The civilization had just recently come from a very terrifying civil war, making it weaker than it had ever been, and the King himself had only been appointed for some months.

It was sad because normally, a civilization of this size would have no problem dealing with the orcs, but because of their timing, things were dreadful.

The Orc General stood amidst the ruin like a monument raised for war itself. The bastard was terrific.

Massive, monstrous, and unmoving, like an object that couldn't be moved by anything in the world, his very presence made the burning streets feel smaller. Muscles like bound stone shifted beneath skin, the color of dead moss, layered with scars both ancient and fresh, each one a memory written in flesh. Someone with his experience has no difficulty fighting in a war, as he has already faced more than entire civilizations.

Fire had kissed parts of him, too, leaving blackened marks across his shoulders and jaw, yet nothing about him looked wounded. If anything, he seemed completed by it. Like fire did nothing to his body, but the amount of times he must have hugged time, it would be wrong if his skin didn't adapt to it.

One tusk was shattered, broken near the root, while the other curved upward like a dagger offered to the sky. What kind of monster could have crushed it? He had no idea, but it couldn't be anything less than a very strong being.

Crude armor, forged from stolen steel and broken shields, hung across his body in uneven plates. A charred beast pelt rested on his back like a king's mantle.

In his grip was an axe so large it looked fit for executions alone. He wondered how many lives it had taken until now.

But it was his eyes that froze the soul.

Yellow, steady, and terribly calm.

The eyes of something that had already won. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

When they made eye contact, he felt fear, almost freezing in place. The orc raised his arms, pointing to him, commanding his people to attack.

And suddenly, all the focus was on him... did he see a threat? Was that why he told his people to target him?

...

Kade smiled nervously. 'Then I will have to prove him right...'

He exhaled, letting fire escape from his mouth. To make his essence flow through his body faster, he had to heat up the water inside his threads. This was something the mages taught him.

His grip on the blade tensed as fire started to envelop it, almost like it was its home. As a dragon made out of fire started to curl around the blade, Kade pointed the blade at the orcs coming to him.

...

...

'It's been months since I left home... it doesn't even feel real, how much I have changed, it's like I am a new man. From Aether's training, to the mages, all I have done is train over and over again, to get even a little bit stronger. It didn't matter how hard it was, I kept going... no matter what happened... and this is my chance to prove that it was all worth it.'

Kade dashed headfirst into the attack of the orc, tilting his head just enough to dodge the punch, but giving him the angle to slash his arm, fire enveloping every wound, never to let them heal.

The orcs screamed in horror, but he didn't stagger... they wouldn't have if that was a human screaming. He dashed behind him, kicking him down, and slashing his back until the dragon was completely covered in cuts, the cuts getting deeper and deeper until the orc died.

His whole body felt as if it was burning, and yet, it felt incredible, like he was unstoppable. Suddenly, he felt something coming from behind, so he dodged out of its way, turning to face three orcs surrounding him.

Exhaling, he felt the fire on his blade intensify as he slashed with all his might, the dragon running on the bodies of the orcs in a slow dance, like in a festival. The moment their bodies fell to the ground.

He felt his eyes getting warmer.

It was true that he was pushing his limits, but if he didn't, he was going to die.

Kade looked around at the other Beast Humans, who were trying their best to keep up. There were just too many orcs around, as much as he tried killing them, by the time he would even be close, his body would give up, his Will burning him from the inside.

While it didn't look like it, the other soldiers could, in the end, deal with the orcs, that is, if they lost their coordination... and the one who made sure that didn't happen... was the general. He needed to kill him.

But... would he really be able to take on such a thing?

...

...

'If it were Aether... he would have fought it no matter what. Even if it were twice times stronger than him... and he would find a way to beat it through sheer willpower and tricks. Even if he faced a being four times stronger than him, he would still find a way to survive...'

...

Kade exhaled once more, as fire continued to flow out of his mouth, stronger than before. With his breathing heating up the inside of his body, he needed to cool himself when things got too hot; that was why he kept exhaling, to let some of the fire inside his body out.

He dashed forward to the Orc General, holding his blade tight. But it wouldn't be that easy.

They weren't going to let him just get to their leader. And orc jumped in his way, but he didn't stop; instead, he tensed his muscles, slashing his body over and over again until he fell to his knees.

But the orcs weren't dumb enough to just attack from the front. Suddenly, he felt an axe come for his neck. With the corner of his eye, he saw him, and the moment he did, he stopped his run, twisting his body so the axe would go past him.

His eyes followed the blade as it passed him, jumping on it, he quickly dashed forward, and cut the head of the orc right off his neck.

Before the body could even fall to the ground, he dashed back towards the leader, another orc getting in his way.

...

Yet this time, after he got done with him, suddenly, the distance between him and the leader was a lot closer, catching guard, as the Orc General caught his hand, making the blade fall out of his hand.

He screamed in pain as he felt his bones rub against each other. The orc smiled as he slowly put his axe on the ground and moved his other hand to his fingers.

He looked in terror as he played with his little finger before breaking it.

His scream made the orc laugh, as if he were a toy to it. The general couldn't contain his happiness as it moved to the next finger, breaking that one too.

...

If this continued, he was going to die here.

...

Kade glanced at his blade, how much he would want to have the chain Aether has, that make it so he never loses his blade. He has tried to make him teach it to him, but he said that it was something that only he could do... so... he was going to have to sattle with doing something close to it, and that only he could do.

...

From his palm, strings of fire came out, wrapping around the handle of the blade, and rising it into his other hand, and before the orc could break his third finger, he slashed its hand, biting his lip hard enough to break it, as he put all his force into the slash.

But it was worth it, as it let go of him. But when he landed on the ground, it kicked him with his foot straight into his stomach, making him fly back in pain, but through that pain, he managed to stick his blade into the ground, and slowly stop himself. Dashing through the pain to cover the distance, he tensed all the muscles in his body, making his organs bleed, as he unleashed a series of slashes onto the body of the general.

His screaming only made him go faster, as the dragon slowly burned the wound he created on his body, each cut burned the general's body as he was cooked alive.

Suddenly, he pulled back from the slash, twisting his blade and thrusting it straight into the heart of the orc.

...

Kade watched as the body of the orc general fell to the ground... his body falling with it.

Looking up at the sky, he couldn't help but smile through his tears of pain.

"I... I did it."