The day began like any other—bright sunlight spilling through the thick canopy, laughter ringing through the morning air like a lullaby to the island's peace.
"Ow! Hey! No pulling my hair, gremlin!" Allen yelped, thrashing slightly as Selene tackled him from behind.
"You promised to play tag! You're too slow!" Selene giggled, her silver hair wild as she clung to her brother's back.
Boro barked, his tail wagging like he was the referee of their madness. Serena stood at a distance, arms crossed, but her smile betrayed her feigned annoyance.
"Allen, stop letting her win just because she's cute," Serena called out. "You're supposed to be a warrior, not a pillow!"
"She's my *feral* little sister. I'm trying to survive, not fight!" Allen shot back, stumbling with Selene still latched to him like a koala.
Hades, sharpening his blade on a nearby rock, looked up with an amused grunt. "You two are gonna break something again. Especially you, tsundere queen," he smirked at Serena.
Serena's eye twitched. "Call me that again and I'll break your ribs—lovingly."
Allen, still half-dragging Selene, raised his hand. "You two flirt more than pirates at a tavern. Get a room already."
Serena turned red. Selene blinked innocently. Boro barked like he was laughing.
The family laughter echoed across the glade. They were loud, chaotic, ridiculous. But in moments like this—it felt like the whole world bowed to their joy.
---
Later that day, as part of Allen's training, Serena and Hades decided to test something new: sparring while actively using observation and conqueror's Haki. Not just learning to wield it—but to control its emotions.
Allen stood in the training ring, barefoot, shirtless, his chest already glowing faintly with the strange runes that had begun appearing after his third birthday.
Selene watched from the edge, hands on the wooden fence. "Go! Go, brother! Punch Dad in the face!"
"What kind of encouragement is that?!" Allen called out.
"The best kind!"
The sparring began with a rhythm only gods could follow—Serena soared through the air with oceanic grace, her movements fluid like crashing tides. Hades countered from below, each of his strikes heavy with coiled darkness, like a storm waiting to break. And Allen, small but brilliant, danced between them—his laughter lighting the courtyard like warm sunlight after rain.
Selene sat on the fence, giggling as she clapped her hands in rhythm. "Go, big brother! Go Mama! Beat Papa!"
It was joy. Pure, unfiltered joy.
Until it wasn't.
Serena spun mid-air, her blade arcing down with just enough force to challenge, not wound. Hades moved—not late, but deliberately slow, teasing her with a grin as dark as the abyss. "You're slowing down, Ocean Queen."
A flash of playful rivalry. A moment of raw power restrained.
But Allen… flinched.
Just a heartbeat's hesitation. Just a breath too long between steps. His instincts, sharpened by something deeper, older, reacted first.
A surge of Haki burst from him—not trained, not controlled. Pure, wild emotion. A roar that cracked the very air, unseen lightning erupting from a soul born burning.
The pulse erupted.
Raw. Wild. Like the sky split in half and screamed.
A wave of Conqueror's Haki, pure and instinctive, surged out of Allen's tiny body—and it didn't discriminate. It crashed through the air like divine fury. Serene beauty shattered. Joy died in a heartbeat.
Selene was the first to be hit.
She was thrown back, her small form colliding with the fence. Wood snapped. Her cry cut the silence like a dagger. Her tiny body crumpled, eyes wide—hurt, confused, and trembling.
Everything stopped.
Hades turned—instantly. Not as a Warlord. Not as a monster.
But as a father.
He was at her side before anyone breathed. His coat flew behind him like wings of rage. He fell to his knees, scooping her up carefully.
"Selene."
Her eyes met his, glossy with tears, her lip bleeding. She whimpered, reaching up with a tiny hand to clutch his shirt.
"I-it wasn't Allen's fault… he didn't mean—he didn't mean to…"
Her words slurred from the pain, but they pierced deeper than any blade.
Hades clenched his jaw.
Not at her.
But at the world.
At fate.
At the ancient power he could already feel stirring behind him like a storm made of memory and prophecy.
He gently touched her forehead, checking for wounds—his hands trembling just enough for Serena to notice.
Serena appeared beside them, one hand cradling Selene's back, the other brushing through her curls with trembling fingers. Her ocean-blue eyes burned with guilt and heartbreak.
"My baby… my precious baby…"
With the touch of her fingers and a whisper of sea-borne will, the wound faded... as if the ocean itself kissed it away.
Allen stood a few steps away.
Frozen.
Horrified.
His eyes locked on Selene like the world had ended.
"No…"
He whispered it like a dying prayer. "No no no I didn't mean to I didn't—Selene—!"
And that's when Hades stood.
Slowly.
He turned to Allen—not with anger.
But with something far heavier.
He looked at his son, who now trembled like a shattered soul, and his expression wasn't rage.
It was realization.
The kind of realization that chills the bones of men who've seen empires rise and fall.
A spark had ignited.
And it had tasted blood.
Hades looked at Serena, his voice low, gravelly, ancient. "It's begun…"
Then he turned back to Allen—his son, his heir—and in his eyes was not hatred, nor fear…
But the weight of prophecy.
Something inside Allen *snapped.*
His body jerked like struck by lightning. The runes across his chest pulsed. His Haki roared like a hurricane released from a bottle.
The air grew dense. Heavy.
The earth cracked. The wind howled.
And Boro—usually playful—suddenly dropped into a kneel. Not in fear.
In *reverence.*
He let out a mournful, deep howl.
Allen's eyes rolled back as his body collapsed.
---
The snow was endless.
Cold. Pure. Moonlit.
Allen stood barefoot in the dreamscape, no longer a boy, but a spirit echoing through something far older than time.
Spectral chains larger than mountains floated in the air above. A prison in the sky.
A single colossal wolf shadow stirred behind those chains. It didn't move. It *watched.*
Below, a smaller, aged wolf stood like a sentinel. Its fur was matted. Its body scarred. Yet the moment it saw Allen, it *knelt.*
Its voice trembled with disbelief.
"It can't be... You walk again? After all this time…?"
Allen stepped forward. Snow melted beneath his feet.
"Where… am I?" he whispered.
The sky shook.
A howl echoed from a mountain far off—ancient and full of mourning.
The runes on Allen's chest glowed.
The chains above rattled violently.
And the caged wolf lifted its mighty head. Burning eyes—ones that carried lifetimes of pain—met Allen's.
It whispered a single word:
"My king."
---
Allen jolted awake with a gasp.
Sweat drenched his body. His breathing was ragged. His eyes—still faintly glowing with silver.
Selene rushed over. "Brother?! Are you okay?!"
He looked at her like he'd been gone a thousand years. Then pulled her into a tight hug.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, voice cracking. "I didn't mean to hurt you."
She sniffled. "I know. I'm okay. You looked really cool. Like lightning. Or a god."
Serena and Hades stood nearby, brows furrowed. This wasn't ordinary Haki surge.
Something else had awakened.
Boro curled next to Allen.
Not as a pet.
But like a knight beside a throne.
Watching.
Waiting.
---
That night, Allen sat outside under the stars. Selene was sleeping beside him. The moonlight reflected in her hair.
He touched his chest.
The runes had faded. But the echo remained.
He saw a throne.
One built upon a field of red snow.
Lightning cracking the heavens. Screams trapped in the clouds.
The throne stood empty.
And beside it—alone—Boro waited.
Not barking. Not howling.
Just waiting.
Guarding.
Allen didn't know what it meant. Not yet.
But something inside him whispered that he had once abandoned it.
And Boro… had never left.
---
*End of Chapter 15.*