(Theme: The Emperor's Blind Spot)
EARTH SCREAMED.Molten rock vomited skyward — KRTHOOOM! — as the dragon erupted from below. Trench walls glowed white-hot. Akari's horns SCREECHED crimson lightning. She smashed into Kaito. Ribs groaned."Low-tier Infernal Dragon! GAP CLOSING! SOUTHWEST! MOVE!"
Burning claws carved the ground — HISSSS! — scorching lines of fire. Herding them. Corralling. The aurora's dead zone pulsed ahead like an infected wound.
Kaito choked on ash and ozone.Not hunting. Herding. Like cattle to the slaughter chute.
The sky ripped.
Purple light bled into the shape of a horned god — strings of void tethering its wrists to the dragon's spine. A puppet master unseen. A hand of the Blood Dragon Emperor.
Kaito lunged. Dragonsteel dagger thirsting for the beast's molten eye —
— but a claw like a reaper's scythe PIERCED up through his mouth. Blood burst out in a crimson spray.
Time froze.
A chilling intensity gripped the world. From Kaito's body, golden-coated spikes erupted — jagged, cold as the void itself.
His knees buckled. His eyes — wide, lifeless — stared into the abyss.
Darkness consumed him.
Where...?
Kaito struggled to rise. Fell. His body was wrong — fragmented, hollow. His breath echoed like wind through bones. His hands trembled as he saw them — spectral, cracked, breaking apart. Fear bloomed in his gaze.
The void yawned.
Seventeen eyes opened in the dark. Seventeen dead Kaitos stared back:
— Impaled through the throat.— Melted into screaming sludge.— Skeleton grinning inside-out.
"YOU DIE POORLY."The voice wasn't sound. It was a rot that chewed thought.
"FORTY-SEVEN DEATHS. TWELVE BEGGED. YOUR BEST LASTED..."A finger of shadow tapped frozen blood."...THREE SECONDS."
A claw of nothingness PLUNGED into his chest. No pain — just the wet rip of rotten threads torn from marrow.
His DNA — a single silver thread — dangled like spoiled meat.
"MY GIFT WAS WEAKNESS."The strand dissolved.
"WANT POWER?" Seventeen corpses leaned closer. "EARN IT."
The void snapped wide."NEXT DEATH STICKS. PROVE YOU'RE MORE THAN MEAT."
Silence became TEETH.
KAITO JOLTED AWAKE SCREAMING.Hands clawed his chest — smooth skin. No wound."THE TEETH—! FELT THEM—!"Tremors cracked his spine. Rusty's final whimper echoed in his bones.
The camp gates EXPLODED inward. Soldiers stumbled in, half their gear erased by forces unseen. One retched black tar onto his boots."TREES —! MOVED FOR IT —!"
Akari's hand CRUSHED his jaw. Blood welled from where her claws pricked his skin."YOU. KNEW. ITS. PATH."Her breath was flame on his lips."TALK."
Memory tore him open.
— Rabid dog thrashing under his hands.— Its eyes melting into Mary's as the needle plunged.
Couldn't save… anyone…
Kaito's fist SMASHED the med-table. Steel dented. Blood splattered from cracked knuckles."TEACH ME." His voice was ground glass."NOT TO FIGHT DRAGONS. TO OUTTHINK GODS."
The dragonsteel dagger THUNKED into the table between his fingers, fractal edge humming, reflecting Akari's predator's smile."Dawn." Her horns bled red light."Don't die before I break you."
FALSE DAWN
Kaito paced the camp's edge. The wall shattered yesterday stood whole — seamless, mocking. Only his bootprint defied it — etched into stone that shouldn't remember.
Above, the aurora convulsed.
Colors writhed. Coalesced.
A single massive eye — lidless, veined with purple lightning — stared down. It blinked once. Vanished.
Kaito's hand gripped the knife. SHINK. The edge bit deep.
Blood dripped red. Normal. Human. Weak.
No more resets. No more luck.
The drops fell on the bootprint. The stone drank them in.
ORION'S NOTE: "Forty-seven deaths? Even a goldfish has better stats! But hey, at least he's got a new trainer... and a time-anomaly bootprint. Next time: Will Kaito become the ultimate dragon chessmaster or just another smear on the timeline? Stay tuned :D"