The night was still when Ethan made his way toward the stables. The moon hung low, its pale light slipping through the cracks of the old wooden beams like a ghost trying to hide.
Aimi: "Objective: eliminate or neutralize potential horse thieves. Probability of success with current loadout: 87.2%."
Ethan: "Yeah, yeah, I'll take those odds. Hand of Thor, mkIII, ready. Crossbow with auto reload - ready. Smoke bombs, flash bangs, stink bombs ready"
His boots clicked softly against the cobblestones as he entered the dimly lit stable. The air smelled of hay, damp earth, and horse sweat. He expected movement, shadows darting, whispers, maybe a clumsy thief tripping over a bucket.
Nothing.
Just the soft snort of horses, the flick of tails.
Then…..
a chill ran down his spine. The kind that no temperature sensor could explain.
Ethan: "Aimi… did you just lower the temperature?"
Aimi: "I don't have such abilities. Host's nervous system indicates fear. Suggest retreat."
Too late.
A faint shuffle of boots echoed. From the far corner, where moonlight refused to reach, a figure stepped forward.
The man was wrapped in a black hooded cloak that seemed to drink the light around it. His presence was heavy, suffocating. Runes glimmered faintly along his gloves, pulsing like veins of molten ember. Beneath the hood, the air warped faintly, as if reality itself didn't like him being there.
"Great. A guy who looks like the final boss just came to steal horses." Ethan groaned
Aimi: "Scanning…"
The figure's eyes lifted, cold and unblinking, dead eyes that made Ethan's knees threaten mutiny.
But the man didn't move. Just watched.
Ethan forced a grin.
"Uh… hello, sir. I'm just the stable boy. Came to feed the horses. Okay, goodbye."
Aimi: "Scan complete."
A holographic screen flickered before Ethan's eyes:
> [Target: Unknown]
Strength: 11
Agility: 19
Perception: 12
Constitution: 15
Intelligence: 14
Mana: 34
Luck: Luck variable not available in data base
Magic elements: Wind: from observation
Note: "Host's total stats<6."
"Recommend immediate surrender or creative excuse."
The man's voice was hoarse, low, and cold.
"Just a stable boy, with clothes finer than an inn-owner?"
Ethan chuckled nervously.
"The Vale household pays really well. Also, er...child labor benefits. You know, free food and stuff."
The figure tilted his head. "Tell me about a boy named Kael."
Ethan's mind raced.
Kael. Why Kael?
He answered truthfully anything that came up about Kael's appearance,
carefully stalling.
There was no point lying and dying here. His eyes darting toward the stable door, the hayloft, anything.
"Host's heart rate increasing. Adrenaline spike detected."
Ethan (muttering): "Yeah, no shit, Aimi. Help me find a way out."
The man took a step forward.
Ethan took one back.
....
Ethan needed a distraction. Or a miracle. Or both.
A sudden neigh split the silence. One of the horses, still trapped in the far stall, cried out. The man flinched, instinctively turning his head toward the sound.
Ethan didn't waste the chance. He yanked a small vial from his belt and hurled it straight at the intruder.
The glass shattered against the floor. A cloud of foul, rotting stench exploded outward.
The man recoiled instantly. "Brat, what was that?" he shouted, voice thick with disgust. "What in the abyss did you throw at me?"
Ethan grinned, already lighting another fuse. "Trade secret."
He dropped a smoke bomb at his own feet. Thick gray vapor swallowed the stable.
Hidden in the haze, Ethan pulled out the half-finished Magitech Energy Core Mk.I from his pack and jammed the power line into the mana conduit. The crystal inside flared blue, then crimson, pulsing like a heartbeat gone wrong.
"Warning. Mana-electrical instability is critical. Forty-seven seconds until detonation. Host throw it away now"
"Yeah, yeah. You keep saying that."
...
The hooded man burst through the smoke, covering his face with one hand. His other hand glowed, runes burning bright green as a gust of wind circled his arm.
"You crazy little f**k, did you mix in dog poop there?" he gagged for a bit.
"Not wrong," Ethan said.
He slammed two wires together. The Hand of Thor Mk.III on his wrist whined to life, arcs of lightning crawling up his glove. The capacitor heated up as he forced three hundred volts from the unstable cell through it.
The smell of ozone bit the air.
The hooded man moved again, a blur of speed, faster than anything human. His leg lashed out, aiming for Ethan's chest.
Ethan barked "USE FULL CAPACITY, CALCULATE WHERE THE ATTACK COMING"
"Trajectory locked. Counter angle at eleven degrees. Probability of survival, twenty-two percent."
He moved. Barely. Enough to twist his wrist outward and press the taser against the man's ankle.
Lightning exploded between them.
The discharge cracked like thunder in a closed room. Blue arcs danced along the intruder's leg, crawling up his body in a storm of raw power. The stables flashed white, blinding for a heartbeat.
The man screamed, not in pain, but fury. His kick still connected.
Ethan flew backward. The impact drove the air from his lungs. He hit the wooden floor hard, his back slamming into a broken stall door.
Something in his side cracked. Maybe one rib. Maybe two.
His vision blurred as Aimi's voice echoed in his skull.
"Host vitals dropping. Two ribs fractured, one hairline. Lung compression minimal but present. Adrenaline spike detected."
Ethan coughed, tasting blood. He forced a grin. "Minor victory. He's smoking."
Across the room, the hooded figure stood half-kneeling, smoke curling from his boots, eyes burning through the haze.
And behind Ethan, the Magitech Energy Core Mk.I was beginning to glow far too brightly.
"Mana flux increasing. Thirty-seven seconds to meltdown."
Ethan spat dust from his mouth. "Guess round two's going to be short. Give me the count till the big boom Aimi"
"35 seconds to mana explosion"
The hood man looked at Ethan with hatred but did not come closer anymore. Instead he pointed two fingers toward Ethan and made an arrow knocking, pulling and release motion with the other hand.
Even without the warning from Aimi, Ethan dived to take cover, the wind arrow struck a wooden pillar and splinters scattered everywhere. The horses started screaming.
Ethan started throwing stinky bombs, flashbangs, smoke bombs everywhere to make it harder for the man to hit him, but he was just too slow.
Even the residue impacts are enough to give small cuts to Ethan, and many wood splinters already embedded themselves in his skin.
"10 seconds.."
The magitech core screamed. Mana overflowed, light swallowing the corner of the stable.
The man approached, sneering. "Impressive toy. Any last words, little Vale servant?"
"3 seconds"
Ethan coughed blood, pulled the backpack from his shoulders.
"Yeah, just one. catch.."
He hurled it.
The hooded man caught the backpack by reflex.
Then....nothing for a second...before the whole 10m area around the bag went..
Boom.
wild mana turned into a swirling vortex of fire.
Light. Heat. Sound.
A mana-electric explosion ripped the air apart. Horses screamed; half of one turned to ash instantly.
Ethan dived behind another, lungs burning like molten coal. The world turned to ringing silence and white static.
He coughed, throat raw.
"Aimi… remind me never to build anything that can explode again."
"Noted. Although, statistically, you will ignore that."
He staggered to his feet, vision swimming. The explosion had to kill him. Had to.
But then,
Through the dust and flickering embers,
A figure walked out.
Half his body was gone. His arm missing, his skin burned away, white-pink flesh glinting beneath. One remaining red eye blinked to life.
He looked like the Terminator, if the Terminator practiced necromancy.
The man laughed, a deep, broken rasp.
"Ha… I shouldn't have underestimated the Vales. Even your stable boys explode."
He stepped forward, raising his remaining arm. "But if I don't kill you now, what face will I show my colleagues?"
The man raised his remaining left arm, mana already gathering.
Ethan tried to move. Couldn't. His legs shook, his skin tore with every breath.
A wind blade shot out, slicing past him, nearly severing his arm.
Ethan dragged his body to take cover "his accuracy is not like before, and his attacks have less power, but the area has increased."
Then there are small footsteps outside the stable.
"Aimi, please tell me someone's coming."
"Footsteps approaching. Reinforcements detected."
"Oh thank the gods."
Then he saw who it was.
"Kael?!"
The eleven-year-old dashed in, holding his two and half foot long sword, eyes wide.
"Ethan! I heard the explosion!"
Ethan stared at him, half-laughing, half-sobbing.
"Of course it's you… another kid. Out of the entire Vale estate, not one adult checking the explosion that just leveled a stable? Who tf wrote this scene? If it's for my character development I do not want it alright"
"Calm down, Host! Your mental activity showing unstability"
The hooded man chuckled darkly. "This is almost adorable."
Ethan sighed, voice trembling.
"Aimi, note to self: next time, I'm faking sick instead of pretending to be Batman."
Aimi: "Duly noted. Survival odds: currently less than ten percent."
Ethan crouched behind a shattered beam, reloading his crossbow with trembling hands. His fingers fumbled with the bolts; without the energy cell, his auto-reload was gone. Each reload took an eternity…twelve… fourteen seconds, and the hooded monster was still standing, half-bleeding, half-charcoal, and fully murderous.
Aimi: "Warning: target's mana pattern destabilizing. Predicting large-scale discharge in fifteen seconds."
Ethan: "Fifteen seconds? He's not the only one discharging, Aimi, tell me where to aim, i ain't peaking my head out"
He pulled the string back with his injured arm; pain screamed through him, blood dripping from half-burnt skin.
He fired.
The bolt struck the figure's shoulder with a puchiii, The man missed his windblade aiming at Kael.
Meanwhile, Kael moved like a kangaroo on heat.
The boy darted between the wreckage, his shoes kicking up dust, his sword flashing under the dim candle light. His movements were fluid, almost unnatural. Every time the hooded man swung his arm, Kael was already somewhere else.
And then he counterattacked with his own lightning bolt, even though there was hardly any impact visible.
Things have turned into a delicate balance, but one mistake, one breath out of rhythm, and they'd both die.
The man snarled, eyes bloodshot. The runes glowed crimson. Dozens of wind blades began to spin around him like invisible scythes.
Aimi: "Host! Evade pattern: delta-4!"
Ethan: "I can't even stand straight, woman; just tell me where to point!"
Ethan fired again, purely on Aimi's calculations. The bolt cracked into one of the spinning runes, causing a small chain reaction.
The man roared, fury shaking the walls.
"You think I'll die alone? I'll take you both with me!"
The air trembled. The blades converged. slicing toward them like a storm of swords.
Ethan dived sideways. One of the blades caught him across the arm,
Pain exploded through his body.
He screamed.
Looking down, his ring finger and little finger were gone, blood spurting in thin red arcs.
"Severe laceration! Arterial bleeding detected!"
"You think I didn't notice that?! Ow..ow..ow.. it hurts like hell"
The man gave a crooked smile and got ready to fire one more wind blade, Ethan had no room to dodge anymore.
Kael froze for just a second, then something snapped inside him.
His eyes widened, glowing an unnatural blue. His blond hair lifted, strands flickering like threads of static. Sparks crawled across his skin. The ground around him cracked, pebbles levitating in an unseen field.
Aimi (quietly): "Magnetic flux anomaly detected. Air pressure is increasing. Mana particles' movement is becoming erratic."
Aimi, said to herself: "What are you, Kael Vale?"
Kael raised his sword, and for a moment, lightning wrapped around the blade like a living serpent. His expression wasn't human anymore, calm, focused, devoid of any emotion.
The hooded man's smirk faltered. "Impossible… that light…"
Kael vanished.
The air screamed.
A single flash tore through the darkness, blinding even Aimi's sensors.
When the light faded, Kael stood behind the enemy, sword dripping with blood. The hooded man's body split apart, collapsing like burnt paper.
He coughed blood, voice rasping through a dying grin.
"Heh… the seed… it's real…"
Then he fell. Finally dead.
Kael's body flickered; the lightning died. He swayed once and collapsed face-first into the ash.
Ethan crawled toward him, clutching his mutilated hand.
"Kael…" Ethan tried to move, but his body just wouldn't listen.
From the distance, Lyra came running, her cloak whipping behind her like a streak of crimson. She dropped beside Ethan, eyes wide with horror.
"Ethan! Stay still, don't move!"
Her palms glowed with soft blue light. Healing magic rippled through him, cool, soothing, burning all at once. Flesh reknit. His two fingers slowly reattached, nerves reweaving under the glow.
Ethan gasped as sensation returned. "Ow ! Holy hells, that hurts!"
Lyra smiled faintly, sweat on her brow. "Better pain than death, Son."
Behind her, Charles and Arione entered. Their eyes fell on the corpse, or what was left of it. They exchanged a glance, silent and grim.
Charles: "He had no insignia. Just like the others."
Arione: "But he had access to the silencing formation, there are only few places that have that kind of instruments"
They both nodded, wordless understanding passing between them.
Hans arrived moments later, commanding the guards.
"Secure the perimeter! Check for any other intruders, move!"
Lyra looked down at Ethan, her expression softening.
"You're safe now. Sleep, little doom bringer."
Aimi: "Vital signs stabilizing. Suggesting rest."
Ethan's eyelids fluttered. "Aimi… remind me… never to catch wind blades again…"
Aimi: "That's now on your 'Do Not Repeat' list, number fifty-seven."
He chuckled weakly, and drifted off.
As the stables filled with healers and guards, Aimi's voice lowered, faint and private.
"Magnetic field remains distorted. Mana signature: unclassified. Observation logged: Kael Vale's power defies known categories."
For the first time since awakening in this world, Aimi didn't report it to Ethan.
She simply keep on scanning the unconscious boy glowing faintly with residual lightning.