"Mmgh... Huh?"

Kuro wakes up, however, he isn't greeted with the warmth of the sun that usually comes out of the window. He wasn't greeted with Aina. No, he was greeted in a desolate land.

"What the fuck..."

Kuro looks around worriedly, not knowing what had happened for him to be transported there. However, as he looked beyond the horizon, he could feel a mana signature nearby coming at him. Kuro enhanced his eyes in order for him to see better. What he then saw was that it wasn't alone. It was with a group... No, it was something much more. It was an army. Looking behind, it was the same. 2 armies were coming to his direction. Kuro panics and decides to release his wings.

"Hnngghh... Eh?"

Kuro's wings didn't release as he willed it to. He took a look at himself and saw that... His body was reverted to his past self.

"RAAAA!!!"

When Kuro heard the shouts of the soldiers, they were already within sight. Kuro tried to look for a way out, but there was none.

'Guide!'

Kuro yells inside him, hoping for his guide to answer... But to no avail. Kuro could hear the soldiers' footsteps slowly getting stronger and stronger. Kuro ran straight in the middle of the 2 sides. Panicking, he pants as he kept running and running. He trips up multiple times, spraining his own legs and hands as he landed on them, but the panic made it painless... The panic made him unable to think.

'Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go '

That word had stuck onto Kuro's mind as he kept running. However, he was too late. As he landed to the ground again, he curled himself up and prepared for the worst.

"AHHHH!!!"

And then nothing...

Kuro felt nothing. He fearfully opens his eyes and sees the soldiers killing each other. A sword flew to him, and it phased through him and hit the opposing soldier.

As Kuro stood up and walked around the bloody battlefield, insects already came in crawling to the corpses of the soldiers. Their decapitated heads, their bloodied organs, their bleeding intestines, bare bones, eyeless sockets, and insects gnawing away at their skin, eating the corpses bit by bit... Kuro saw it all.

"... HRRRMMMPPHH!"

Kuro's stomach turned upside down and felt like he was about to puke, but he held it all in. The tides were turning, and the red side had slowly pushed out the blue side. Explosions and many other magic cast by the wizards were visible, arts that were used by the frontline soldiers cut away the enemies, and blood flew to them, fueling their morale and had chopped through them all.

Kuro shook in fear. No matter how much he enjoyed battles, he could never get used to such barbarous brutality. That was when a roar like lightning was heard from afar. The thundering roar overpowers every sound there is, it shook the land, and every man looked to the source.

Kuro also curiously looked to the source, only to see It. It... Was the Silver dragon, Shin. Kuro was now certain that this wasn't the present, but the past.

'But whose? Shin's?'

As Shin flew to the battlefield, he opened his mouth and burned through the soldiers. Both red and blue mages tried to shield the whole army, but Shin's flames were too strong and burned through everything. Kuro could clearly hear the burning soldiers' cries. Their tears evaporated as they cried for help, but within that battlefield, no one was safe. No one but Kuro. The soldiers, the mages, all of them tried to escape. As they saw the others fail to protect the whole army, they ran for safety. From unanimous alliance to survival of the fittest. Yet it was pointless as Shin had turned around and opened his mouth once more for hell to break loose with his mouth as its gate.

"HELP ME-"

"PLEASE! GAIA! SA-"

"NO NO NO N-"

"I HAVE TO LI-"

"AAHHH-"

Kuro saw and heard it all. How brutal Shin was, and how he earned the title of a demi-god. As he saw this scene, it was now obvious to him as to how he alone could destroy the entire world just by opening his own mouth. His height was equivalent to a 4-story mall, his length even longer than 4 of the biggest airplanes created, his wing span looked as if one of his wings could cover an entire island. He was a true calamity. Kuro watched as it flew by, burning each and every soldier in the battlefield. Then, it turns around and stands like a human as it flapped its wings, admiring its own work. Then... He looks at Kuro, dead in the eye. In an instant, even though this was the past, Kuro felt as if it knew he was there. It knew who he was. Kuro's heart beat louder and louder as it opened its mouth. It then looked towards the red army's Kingdom, and flew to it. He took a step back and fell on his but as the pain on his sprain had become evident. Then, he heard a soldier's dying words.

"Please... Not my... Family..."

That soldier kept repeating that phrase. His charred body was beyond recognition. Not even his armor nor his clothes were left.

Kuro looks to the kingdom where it now burns. Screams of agony coming from the kingdom were heard even on the brutal and desolate battlefield. As Shin burned the kingdom, he looked to the blue kingdom and flew towards it, where it once more, aims to let hell break loose.

Kuro could hear their cries, their anguish, their pain. Kuro covers his ears tightly, hoping to not hear them.

"Please... PLEASE STOP!"

He held his ears tightly as tears flowed down his face, but he could still hear them all clearly. Slowly, the screams got weaker and weaker as all Kuro can imagine were the charred dead bodies of the people of the kingdom.

"Kuro..."

Kuro looked at the source, which was the same soldier the repeated the same phrase earlier. The soldier had no eyes, but he could feel it staring at him.

"Kuro... Wake up..."

---

"Wake up, Kuro!"

Kuro opened his eyes in an instant and saw Aina rocking him rapidly.

"Wake up!"

"I'm awake! I'm awake!"

Aina stops rocking him.

"Why were you crying? And why are your wings out?"

"Ah, so that's what happened."

Unbeknownst to Kuro, his wings slapped Aina by the time it sprouted out, waking her up.

"Sorry, I won't do it again."

"But... Why were you crying?"

"I...-!"

Kuro remembers that brutal battlefield, the scene wherein insects slowly at the soldiers' corpses, the sight of their intestines flying out, their blood passing through Kuro, that horrific memory kept playing on Kuro's head like a loop. He felt his stomach churn and turn upside down.

"GGGRRRMMMPPHHH!!"

Kuro covers his mouth with his all, leaving eyes wide open and looking at Aina in order to not be reminded of that gruesome battlefield. His nails transformed into sharp claws and dug into his cheeks in order to cover his mouth tighter. Slowly, his stomach calmed down and the pain from his claws slowly presented itself. Tears ran down his face once more as he removed his nails to heal. Kuro couldn't let out a noise, else the servants would find out that an intruder is at Aina's room. He held in the pain as he opened his palms wide so as to not get any other injuries. As Kuro closes his eyes on the bed, with tears still flowing down, he stood strong and made no noise at all as he spasmed at the bed.

Kuro then felt his head being lifted, and then his head lands on something soft and smooth. His forehead and bangs were then caressed  by soft and slender fingers, and then finally, a lullaby was hummed. Kuro's head, from feeling pure pain, disgust, disdain and sadness, now felt calmness and serenity. With his head now thinking clear, he burned his injuries with white fire, and along with his newfound awakening ability, though weakened, he healed his injury within a span of 9 seconds instead of a longer time.

Kuro opens his eyes to see Aina, smiling as she keeps on humming the lullaby.

"Are you good now?"

"... Sorry for letting you see something you... Shouldn't have seen."

She shakes her head, "It's okay, we all have nightmares. When I have nightmares, my mom puts my head on her lap and hums me that lullaby too. I thought that if I did that to you as well, you would also calm down."

"Well... Thank you, it... Helped me out a lot."

Aina smiles as she giggles, feeling smug, "Well, if you're going to have another nightmare, come to me and I'll calm you down!"

"As if I can predict when I'll have a nightmare... Anyways..."

Kuro slowly stands up from Aina's lap pillow, "I'll have to go now, okay?"

"... Promise me..."

"Hmm?"

"Promise me that you'll come back safe."

Kuro smiles, "Aight."

He then enters through the fire in the eternal wick and leaves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Guide, show me the comparison of all of my memories of Aina.'

'Why sir?'

'Something's wrong. An immature kid like her shouldn't be THAT affectionate to someone she just met within less than a week.'

'... Alright sir, here are all the comparisons.'

'Good, please control my body to go back to my room.'

'Yes sir.'

Within Kuro's consciousness, he sat down and watched the memories presented to him.

'... As I thought, I was fucking right.'

The difference was too large.

'Sir, we're here.'

'... Alright, give control again.'

Kuro enters his room through the window he left last night.

As he enters the room, he changes into his battle garments for the upcoming dungeon excursion. Suddenly, as he's changing, a knock was heard on the door.

"Ah wait-!"

"Excuse me- Oh! I'm sorry!"

The maid that entered his room flusters as she hurriedly closes the door when she saw Kuro's bare top.

"... You can come in now, and uhh please try to forget what you saw."

The maid enters, covering her tomato face.

"... Sir Rai's... Waiting for you at the diner..."

Kuro pats the maid's head, "It's okay, I forgive ya. Just knock next time, okay?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kuro enter the diner, wearing his school uniform. All of his classmates stared at him as if he was an alien.

'Well, considering I didn't join them at all in other training regimes, of course they'd treat me like a lazy ass.'

Kuro sits down next to Rin, who was close to Rai.

"Where were you?"

"Oversleeping."

"No, I meant where were you when we trained?"

"Separate training regime. A lot harder than you could bear."

"Hmm... Have you gotten stronger?"

"I constantly train my mana, maybe that's it?"

Rin stayed silent as she kept staring at Kuro up and down, until she saw something on his finger.

"What's that?"

"Ah this?"

'Shit.'

"I just picked it up on a secluded place. I don't remember where exactly, but it looked cool so I cleaned it and wore it."

"... You have a weird hobby."

'That was close.'

Kuro then looks at Rai, "So Rai, where are we going?"

"Oh, it's just you kids and someone else. I'll need to go somewhere."

"That urgent?"

"Yeah."

"... So, who's it gonna be?"

"Dunno. We'll look for one later."

As Kuro ate his food with an empty expression, there was only one thing in his mind.

'Who did it?'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As everyone gathered at the southern gate wearing their battle garments, Rai went on the front.

"Everyone, I'll announce some important news for you. I won't be joining you kids due to some important circumstances. However, someone will be substituting me. Please, greet the strongest royal guard of the Kingdom of Earth, Loile!"

Everyone looked at the back and saw Loile in her signature battle garment. Lightly armored, with 2 daggers on her waist and 2 swords behind her. Her hair, though short, is tied up. Her chest was tightened by a thick bandage acting like a push-up bra. Her battle garment, instead of being something tough and heavy, is instead cloth with enchanted properties.

To the boys, their heart fluttered. To the girls, they were attracted by how cool she looked. The common thing they all felt was similar to seeing an idol in person. To Kuro however...

'Don't look at it Don't look at it Don't look at it Don't look at it Don't look at it Don't look at it'

He was trying his best on fighting man's strongest opponent.

"So, meet Loile! As I said, she's the strongest royal guard of the Kingdom of Earth, well, I'm sure you kids have already heard of her since you guys are her fans. With her around, you shouldn't get too scared. Now then, I'll have to leave now as I'll have an important business to attend."

As Rai left Loile to the children, she looks at Kuro directly, which catches everyone's attention.

"Oy Kuro~ What did you do~?"

"... Sparring partner."

Everyone who heard his answer became astonished. They pestered Kuro for answers.

"Kuro, how'd you get that strong?!"

"How strong is she?!"

"Waaa, I wanna be Rai's disciple too..."

"Kuro you bastard! You have an insane amount of luck!"

As Kuro gets flooded with jealous fans, Rin pulls him out of the crowd and yells at them.

"If you guys have that much energy to bother Kuro with questions, how about we use it to catch up to miss Loile?"

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Ah."""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the students try to catch up to Loile's speed, somewhere... A dark monster kneels in front of someone.

"Your Highness, we found 'him'."

"... Is 'he' alone?"

"Not quite."

"Is that bastard with 'him'?"

"No, your Highness. He fell for the trap and has left him in the care of the strongest royal guard of the Kingdom of Earth."

"... Good. I want you to bring out the King of the Hive to them. Tell him to make sure that 'he' lives. If 'he' were to die, tell him that he will die the most painful way possible."

"Your Highness, what if 'he' gets heavily injured or incapacitated?"

"So long as it isn't fatal, he shall be rewarded. Incapacitating him is better, just make sure 'he' lives."

"Your will is our command."

The dark monster fades into darkness once more. Alone in the darkness, she takes out a skull and converses to it.

"You've failed, petty God. Soon, we will be reunited... Soon... We will be together at last... 500 years, I've waited... I'm coming for you."

The girl menacingly giggles to herself, knowing that none can match up to a King other than another King.