Flashback (Kaden’s Point of View).

Despite having no sense of direction, Kaden eventually managed to locate the castle’s main chamber, the very place that served as a prison for captured fugitives, or rather, slaves. The issue was that he had discovered it through an unnecessarily bloody and troublesome method.

After capturing a lone guard while wandering aimlessly through the castle without any knowledge of his location within the Settlement, Kaden made certain to beat every fragment of information out of the unfortunate man, leaving him drenched in blood.

Once he was finished, Kaden discarded the unconscious guard into a random corner before setting off toward the main chamber.

Of course, the entire ordeal could have been avoided had he not still been irritated with his savior, Teresa.

The handsome red-haired boy strode toward his destination with his sword resting across his shoulder.

As he walked, he observed the people of the Settlement moving about in tattered clothing. Many appeared malnourished, unlike the guard he had interrogated, and although their eyes carried a lifeless exhaustion, they still somehow laughed, spoke, and celebrated the fact that they were alive.

Kaden’s expression remained utterly neutral as he passed by a small group of residents.

’Why are they still smiling, playing around, and celebrating life despite living in a place this hellish and unjust?’ he questioned inwardly.

Humans were truly complex creatures when confronted with suffering.

They behaved in unpredictable and unreasonable ways, something Kaden simply could not understand. To him, it was entirely foreign.

Deep within himself, he despised injustice, and the fact that they all seemed so resigned to such unfairness despite being stripped of even the most basic privileges unsettled him greatly.

To Kaden, weakness was never an excuse to justify oppression. If anything, the weak should be given a hand to rise.

Without that, they would remain weak forever and continue dragging down those who possessed strength...

He exhaled slowly through his nose in an attempt to calm himself, already beginning to feel irritated by the very thought. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

At long last, after an extended walk through the castle, Kaden finally arrived before the entrance to the main chamber. It matched the guard’s description perfectly, but... it was completely unguarded.

Even the lock had already been broken, while the iron bars hung loosely ajar as though abandoned in haste.

Immediately, he drew his sword at the suspicion of danger.

Peering inward, he saw only a narrow hallway stretching deeper into darkness, preventing him from discerning whatever lay beyond.

Kaden sharpened his instincts and raised his sword before himself, tightening both hands around the hilt while focusing every one of his senses on detecting danger. It was a natural stance he had learned during training long before ever entering the Garden of Death.

Step by step, he advanced carefully through the corridor, using the sword as though it were both his eyes and ears.

Deeper within the hallway, he eventually arrived at an opening that formed a crude circular chamber with a massive pillar standing at its center. The first thing his eyes settled upon was the faint fire burning inside a lamp hung from the pillar, its dim glow illuminating fragments of the room while the corners remained consumed by darkness.

"Fire..."

He moved closer in an attempt to seize the source of light, but suddenly his foot landed on something lying across the floor.

Kaden lowered his gaze to inspect what he had stepped on, only to realize it was a freshly severed human hand drenched in blood.

No... not just that.

The entire floor was littered with mutilated human remains and pools of crimson. Judging from their condition, the massacre had occurred only recently, and the bodies had been torn apart with such brutality that it resembled the work of a maddened beast.

Only then did Kaden remember the true reason he had come there in the first place.

’Weren’t the fugitives supposed to be imprisoned here? But they’re... all dead.’

Without warning, a low growl echoed through the chamber.

Two crimson eyes ignited within one of the darkened corners, gleaming sharply as the sound of liquid dripping onto the floor reverberated throughout the room.

Kaden calmly straightened his sword and slowly stepped backward, watching as the creature concealed within the darkness gradually revealed itself.

It resembled a jaguar, though vastly larger, with a severed human arm clenched between its jaws, saliva and blood dripping steadily from its fangs. The moment their eyes met, Kaden could sense the unrestrained fury radiating from the beast with every step it took.

’It’s enormous... and powerful. Fighting it within such a confined space would place me at a disadvantage...’

Just as he considered drawing the battle outside the chamber, the iron bars behind him suddenly slammed shut with a heavy metallic crash, followed by the sound of at least two different people approaching from the corridor beyond.

Kaden grimaced.

’Damn it. More threats. So this was a trap from the beginning, and I failed to realize it sooner because I became distracted by a plan I completely forgot the moment I saw that beautiful fire.’

He shifted his stance, positioning himself squarely between the beast before him and the approaching threats behind.

Before Kaden could properly register the approaching figures, the beast suddenly pounced on him with savage ferocity. Its claws tore through the air toward him while its body lunged forward simultaneously, clearly intending to bite through his skull in a single motion should the initial strike fail.

Kaden lowered his stance and received the first attack directly with the flat side of his sword, redirecting the beast’s claws away from his body while stepping into its range rather than retreating from it.

The creature immediately opened its jaws after missing the first strike and lunged for his throat with violent momentum. However, Kaden twisted aside at the very last moment and slammed his shoulder against its neck before it could clamp down, forcing its balance off course while his sword carved upward across one of its forelegs.

The beast roared furiously and lashed out again with maddened aggression, but its movements had already begun growing increasingly disorderly under the influence of its own rage. Because of that, Kaden was able to read the rhythm behind each attack without much difficulty as he continuously shifted around its blind spots instead of confronting its overwhelming strength head on.

Patiently, he waited for a decisive opening while forcing the creature to keep turning and worsening the wound on its injured leg until its footing finally collapsed during another reckless charge.

Kaden stepped forward instantly and thrust his sword upward through the lower part of its jaw, driving the blade deep into its skull before pulling it free as the beast crashed violently onto the ground.

His expression turned cold.

’I wonder what drove it into such madness to the point it slaughtered so many people...’

Slow clapping suddenly echoed from the opposite side of the chamber shortly after the beast fell.

Two figures emerged from the darkness with drawn Violet Swords in hand, both of them clearly having waited for the battle to conclude before revealing themselves.

Kaden narrowed his eyes slightly while studying them, immediately noticing the difference between them and the ordinary guard he had dealt with earlier. Both carried themselves with far greater confidence and discipline while wielding actual Swords instead of crude batons.

The taller one rushed first without hesitation and swung toward Kaden’s neck with surprising precision, while the second followed immediately behind and attacked from another angle, aiming directly for his back.

Their coordination was considerably better than most.

However, Kaden proved superior when it came to swordsmanship.

He parried the first strike before turning his blade to intercept the second. Even within that brief exchange, it became obvious that the two still lacked genuine combat experience despite their weapons and teamwork.

Then again, so did he.

The difference was that his superior training compensated for it.

Their movements remained rigid and overly direct, and while their skill surpassed that of ordinary fighters, it was equally apparent that both were still Unranked just like himself, as neither displayed any other extraordinary prowess.

Kaden calmly adjusted his footing before beginning to pressure them instead. His sword moved with far greater refinement as he continuously disrupted their coordination, forcing them into isolated exchanges rather than allowing them to attack together.

Gradually, he overwhelmed both of them until the shorter one failed to recover his stance after a clash and received a direct strike to the stomach that sent him collapsing onto the floor.

The taller one attempted to retreat the instant he realized the red-haired boy existed on an entirely different level, but Kaden closed the distance before he could escape and struck the wrist holding the sword hard enough to disarm him before driving his blade through his neck, dropping him dead beside the other.

Without hesitation, Kaden immediately finished off the second man as well, killing both of them without the slightest flicker in his expression, as though it were second nature to him.

’So they already discovered the plan before even a single day could pass. I wonder who the traitor is... or perhaps what exactly has been watching us?’