The iron-bitter scent of blood and rust hung heavy in the air. It had been three days since the accident, and the silence of the cottage was broken only by Yukino's muffled groan as Yuriko finally extracted the jagged nail from his foot. Outside, the world was a canvas of unrelenting white; snow drifted lazily over the foothills, where winter trolls prowled the heights and goblins clung to the jagged crags above.
When dawn broke the following morning, Yukino forced his eyes open. He looked first to his wife, then to the cradle where their twin daughters, Solvayne and Nyxelle, slept in fragile innocence. His gaze finally settled on the grain sack in the corner. It was slumped, nearly hollow.
His expression hardened into a mask of grim resolve.
Six days, he calculated silently. The girls are only months old. They can rely on Yuriko for a time, but if she doesn't eat, they don't eat. I have to be the man they need.
Moving with practiced stealth to avoid waking his family, Yukino bound his wounded foot with a strip of rough cloth. The pain was a white-hot spike driving upward through his leg, but he merely clenched his teeth until his jaw ached. He caught up a sturdy branch from the porch to use as a crutch and stepped out into the biting cold.
Barefoot against the frost, a lone dagger at his hip, he began his hunt.
"I am a hunter by nature," he whispered into the frigid wind, his breath blooming in silver clouds. "A man by will. A father by choice. I will provide."
He discarded the stick, choosing to limp through the drifts to minimize his profile. After an hour of agonizing progress, he spotted it: a Great Boar. The beast was a mountain of muscle and coarse fur, its tusks long enough to impale a man twice over. Yukino's knuckles turned white as he gripped his knife, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.
He was coiled to spring when a distant explosion rocked the valley.
For a fraction of a second, Yukino's focus wavered toward the rising plume of smoke. In that heartbeat, the boar charged. He threw himself aside, feeling the rush of air as the beast shattered a nearby trunk.
"That was close," Yukino wheezed, a reckless smirk tugging at his lips despite the pain. "But my Ultimate Skill only wakes up when my back is against the wall. And right now? This wall is looking pretty solid."
The boar pivoted, its small eyes red with fury. It struck him with the blunt force of its snout, launching Yukino backward. He crashed through a tree, the wood splintering like parchment. Blood coppered his mouth as he spat onto the snow.
"Is that all?" he hissed, pushing himself up.
He lunged. This time, he was a blur of desperate motion. He sliced at the beast's hamstrings and used its broad back as a springboard, vaulting high into the air. As he ascended, the morning sun broke over the horizon, catching the thick strands of his brown hair.
In that moment of suspension, a surge of primordial energy erupted from his core. His hair ignited into a brilliant, shimmering white.
"Ultimate Skill: THE HERO'S LIGHT!"
He descended like a falling star. His blade, now wreathed in a blinding aura of pure mana, sliced through the air with a localized sonic boom.
Then, silence.
The snow settled. Yukino stood over the fallen titan, his knife buried deep through the boar's skull and into the earth below. He wrenched the blade free, the blood steaming in the cold air. A sudden, violent shiver wracked his frame.
"Achoo! Brrrr... okay, note to self: wear shoes next time," he muttered, grabbing the boar by its hind legs and beginning the long, grueling trek back to the cottage.
He arrived to find Yuriko standing in the doorway, clutching the twins to her chest, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.
"Hey," Yukino said, leaning against the doorframe with a tired grin. "I'm home."
But the victory was short-lived. The smoke he had seen earlier was the herald of a grimmer fate—the Great Plague had reached the neighboring village.
"We have to leave, Yukino," Yuriko said, her voice trembling as they watched the horizon. "The children aren't safe here."
"And where do we go?" Yukino asked, his voice low and calculating. "Every road could lead to a nest of infection. We have the Pan Village to the south near Lurtra, or we head west toward the Kingdom of Durmount."
"West," Yuriko decided firmly. "Durmount values human life above all. We'll be safe behind their walls."
Yukino nodded, but as he looked out the door, his eyes caught movement. A traveler was stumbling down the path, coughing with such violence his entire body convulsed. The man fell to his knees, sprayed a crimson mist of blood onto the pristine snow, and collapsed, motionless.
"Yikes," Yukino remarked, his voice regaining that touch of smug bravado he used to mask his fear. "I definitely wouldn't want to be that guy."
They moved quickly then, packing what remained of their lives. Yuriko secured the twins, while Yukino shouldered the heavy burdens—the fresh meat, the water, and the steel necessary to carve out a future in