LORIEN'S OFFICE – NIGHT
The door creaked softly as it opened, releasing a warm breath of air that smelled of old paper and lamp oil. Diana entered carrying a lunchbox, her eyes absently searching for Lorien among piles of maps and floating crystals. There was serenity in her step, a quiet fatigue after a long day — until everything changed.
She froze.
The lunchbox slipped from her hands the moment she saw the figure sitting across from Lorien. The lid popped open, fruit and bread scattering across the floor with a dry thud. Tears welled up instantly.
— No way…?! — her voice came out in shock, fragile and disbelieving.
Diana ran forward, nearly tripping over scattered papers, and threw herself into the arms of the man before her.
— Kai… you're alive! — she said, her voice trembling with emotion.
Kai smiled warmly, his shoulders relaxing into the embrace. His smile carried something ancient, a memory time itself hadn't managed to erase. There were faint marks on his clothes, scars left by winds from worlds far away.
Lorien stood motionless, struggling to maintain composure as the shock pounded in his chest like a drum. His eyes, usually so calm, burned with unspoken questions.
— Kai… how did you survive? Where have you been all this time? — Lorien asked, his voice restrained but sharp, caught between fear and hope.
Kai stepped back, meeting both their gazes with eyes that seemed to pierce through decades of silence.
— It's a long story… — he said quietly. — But I've been watching all along. Especially your greatest victory against Tyrus… seventeen years ago.
The mention of that name cast a shadow across Lorien's face. A heavy pause followed.
Kai continued, his words falling like stones into a calm lake — sending ripples through everything.
— As for how I survived… I was saved by Kairon.
The silence that followed was absolute, almost physical. Even the crystals on the ceiling, hanging like miniature moons, seemed to pause their rotation. The name reverberated through the office with the chill of something both familiar and feared.
Kai went on, as if speaking words that had been waiting too long to be said.
— Since then, I've been judging worlds. Destroying some… saving others. The Universal Emperor made me his right hand.
Lorien frowned, disbelief flickering in his expression. The word Emperor summoned images of vast empires, of merciless decrees passed down across galaxies. His chair creaked as he stood, the weight of authority returning to his worn frame.
— Kairon… the one who wants to kill Inavy to achieve so-called "balance"? — he asked, his voice rising with anger.
Kai nodded, his eyes sharp and cold as forged steel.
— Yes. He's coming here. But Inavy isn't his only target. — His tone deepened. — He seeks to restore the balanced flow of the Primordial Aura. The problem is… Earth has become the greatest source of Aura in the cosmos. New creatures are appearing like never before. Humanity acts recklessly.
The words hung in the air; guilt and warning intertwined within them. The image of Earth as a fountain of unstable power carried the weight of a sentence.
— So… hand him over before something worse happens. — Kai finished, his offer as cold as it was final.
Kelvin, leaning against the wall with arms crossed, remained silent. His eyes tracked every muscle in Kai's face, every gesture, as if trying to decipher what this return meant for his own future. The tension in his body was tangible — like a beast sensing an approaching storm.
Lorien clenched his fists slowly. The memory of Ray — his sacrifice, his death — reopened a wound that had never healed.
— Hand over Inavy? — his voice trembled, but iron determination burned within it. — Never. If I did that, I'd be throwing away everything Ray died for. And you know that, Kai.
Kai's silence stretched long. His face showed no surprise — only inevitability.
— I knew you'd say that. — He rose slowly, danger thickening in the air around him. — Then…
A pause, like the breath before a thunderclap.
— I, Kai Hayashi, Right Hand of the Emperor Kairon… declare war.
The words fell like a blade. The room — filled only moments ago with warmth and memories — transformed into a battlefield in waiting. The promise of conflict shimmered in the air.
— And the next time we meet… it will be on the battlefield. — Kai added, his gaze sharp as lightning.
A portal began to open behind him — a swirling vortex of light that pulled at the air, humming with the resonance of another world ready to reclaim its emissary.
But before Kai could step through, a voice rang out from the doorway — strong, commanding, charged with energy like a storm breaking.
— Looks like I showed up just in time, huh?
Everyone turned. The presence that entered did not ask permission; it simply was.
Inavy Stormbreak stood in the doorway, arms crossed, posture relaxed yet his gaze cut like a blade of thunder. The air around him vibrated — not with immediate threat, but with the sheer promise of power held in restraint.
— You're Kai… Diana-sensei's old partner, right? — Inavy asked, his tone calm but his eyes piercing.
Kai smiled faintly — a line of amusement hiding something much heavier.
— That's right, Inavy.
Inavy took a step forward, closing the distance until the air between them seemed to hum with pressure.
— I heard everything you said about Kairon… — his voice dropped lower, steady as iron. — And you, as his so-called "herald," can tell him this:
He stepped closer, the air crackling faintly.
— If he wants me… he can come and get me himself.
Kai studied him for a heartbeat, tension slicing through the silence like a knife. Then he smiled again — a final look filled with both promise and omen.
— Soon… we'll meet again.
And with that, the portal swallowed him. His image vanished like a broken dream; the glow faded until only a strange stillness remained.
Lorien let out a long sigh, part frustration, part relief.
— Damn it, Inavy… you really love dramatic entrances, don't you? — he muttered.
Inavy smiled faintly, the corners of his eyes tightening with restrained amusement. Beneath the humor lay gravity — the kind that crushes laughter before it can grow.
— Lorien… prepare the toughest Draft of your life. — His tone hardened. — We need more strength. This new generation… has potential, but they're not ready for what's coming.
Outside, the city still shone as always, unaware of the storm brewing within the upper halls of the Hero Association. Inside, men and women of power stared at maps with renewed urgency; every decision now carried the weight of an announced war.
The echo of Kai's words — I declare war — lingered long after the lights went out, like a prophecy that would not allow another peaceful night.