CHAPTER 159
CHAPTER 159:
Flashback:
The first time Kaito realized he was a monster, he was six years old.
It was a festival night in the Phoenix Kingdom, the streets alive with golden lanterns, laughter, and music. Children ran between vendor stalls, their hands sticky with sweet treats, their parents trailing behind them, smiling, whispering about their futures.
He had wanted to join them.
He had tried.
But the moment he reached out and asked if can play the moment his hand brushed against another child's
They screamed.
"He touched me!" The boy stumbled backward, clutching his wrist like it had been burned. His eyes wide with terror. "Don't let him touch you! He's a vampire!"
The other children flinched.
Then, one by one, they stepped away.
Kaito stood there, confused, his tiny hands trembling. "I—I didn't do anything—"
"Stay away from him!" A girl's voice cut through the air, sharp and terrified. "He's one of them!"
"He's a Nakamura drinks blood!"
"My father said they steal from real warriors!"
"They're not even human!"
The festival blurred. The lanterns dimmed. The music faded.
And in its place—
A suffocating silence.
Kaito turned toward his parents, expecting them to say something. To stop it. To tell them they were wrong.
But his father wasn't even looking at him.
And his mother?
She just sighed.
Like she had expected this.
Like she had seen it a thousand times before.
And that night, as they walked home, Kaito finally asked, voice small, weak, broken.
"Are we really monsters?"
His mother didn't answer.
The years that followed were the same.
He sat alone in the classroom, ignored. Teachers would call on him last, if at all. During training, partners would refuse to spar with him.
Everywhere he went, he could hear them. Whispering.
"He doesn't belong here."
"A leech like the Tanaka."
"His friend is probably Hakashi."
"His clan's magic isn't real power. It's stolen blood."
"He should be in the Forbidden Lands with the other Inhumans."
"Why is he a noble and not me."
No one ever said it to his face.
They didn't have to.
It was in the way they moved when he walked by. The way they avoided his gaze. The way they flinched if he got too close.
So, Kaito stopped trying.
He stopped talking.
He stopped wanting.
Until her.
He never expected Akari Himura to talk to him.
She was everything he wasn't. Bright. Lively. Loved. She came from a powerful noble bloodline, one blessed with ancient soul magic, destined for greatness.
She was the sun, and he was a forgotten shadow.
And yet—
One day, she sat next to him.
Beneath the sakura trees, where the petals fell like whispers of a better life, Kaito sat alone, tracing absentminded circles into the dirt.
Then, a voice.
"You look lonely, Kaito-kun."
He flinched.
Turned.
And there she was.
Akari Himura, sitting beside him, her eyes warm with curiosity, her hands tucked behind her head as she leaned back against the tree. She looked so casual. Like this was normal. Like she wasn't breaking every unspoken rule of their world.
Kaito stared at her, waiting for the punchline.
Waiting for the laughter.
Waiting for the cruel joke.
But it never came.
Instead—she smiled.
"You know…" she mused, stretching her arms over her head. "I think blood magic is kinda cool."
Kaito froze.
His heart stuttered.
He laughed, bitterly.
"Hah. You're just saying that."
"No, I mean it!" She grinned, pointing at her own hand. "If you ever need blood, I'll give you some. How about that?"
For the first time in his life—
Someone had chosen him.
And Kaito?
Kaito had never wanted anything more.
He never told her how he felt.
Because why would he?
It might ruin their friendship
She was the sun.
And he?
He was a passing eclipse.
He knew it the moment Kouki Chikara walked into their lives.
The golden prince of the Phoenix Kingdom. The one who shone the brightest. The one who deserved her.
Kaito saw it happen.
Saw her eyes soften when Kouki spoke.
Saw the way she laughed, a little too loud, a little too eager, whenever Kouki was near.
And he knew.
It was over before it had even begun.
But Kaito?
Kaito never stopped loving her.
He never stopped hoping.
And in the end
That was his greatest mistake.
Kaito could barely breathe.
He could barely think.
The poison surged through Akari's veins.
Through Meiyo's veins.
Through all of them.
The Broodmother's venom was absolute. There was no cure, no magic that could counteract it. The moment it entered their bodies, they were already dead.
And yet all he could think was about Akari.
"Akari… not her… please not her."
His body moved before his mind could stop him.
His blood magic flared violently, forming an intricate lattice of crimson veins beneath him. Ancient Nakamura runes ignited, twisting in sharp, jagged letters—the kind of spell no one dared to use.
A forbidden spell.
One that no Nakamura had survived casting.
The Broodmother's laughter rattled the battlefield, its massive form looming over him, watching. Mocking.
"It will be fun to make you watch as your friends die." was what it had said
No.
He refused.
Kaito slammed his hand against the ground, the blood magic expanding outward like a crimson tide. His veins burned, ruptured, tore apart from the inside as the spell took hold.
The blood venom in Akari's body—
The venom in all of them—
It flowed out.
It rushed into him.
Every drop. Every trace. Every poisoned breath.
And then
Then, for the first time, Akari could breathe.
The pain was gone.
Her body was healed.
She looked up—eyes wide, terrified.
"Kaito-kun…?"
His lips curled into a weak smirk.
"See?" His voice was hoarse, shaking. "Told you… I'm cool."
Then he collapsed.
Pain.
Endless, unbearable pain.
The Broodmother's poison wasn't meant for humans.
It was meant to corrode reality itself.
Kaito's body was rotting. His skin blackened, his veins turning into withered husks. His organs failed. His magic screamed.
And yet
He smiled.
Because she was safe.
Because he kept his promise.
Akari threw herself to his side, her hands shaking as she grabbed his bloodied shoulders.
"Kaito—Kaito, don't—don't do this! I can fix it! I can—!"
Her soul magic pulsed desperately, golden light rushing into his body—
But it did nothing.
She wasn't Kouki-kun.
She wasn't strong enough.
Kaito's fading eyes softened.
"Akari…"
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"You can't save me."
Tears fell freely down Akari's face, her hands clutching him like she could hold him together. Like she could stop him from slipping away.
"You IDIOT!" she screamed. "WHY DID YOU DO THIS?!"
He chuckled—a broken, painful sound.
"Because…" He coughed violently, blood dripping down his lips.
Then, he finally said it.
"Even if you never loved me… I always loved you."
Akari's breath hitched.
Her heart shattered.
Her fingers trembled.
She never knew.
Or maybe she did.
Maybe she just chose not to see it.
Kaito's fading eyes turned toward Meiyo, toward Hakashi, toward Rika and Duck.
His gaze landed back on Akari.
"Tell your boyfriend Kouki…" He coughed, his lungs barely working anymore. "I still hate him."
His lips curled slightly.
"But he's still my friend."
Akari choked on a sob.
"Kaito, please—"
His eyes dimmed.
His fingers went still.
His breath stopped.
And then—
Kaito Nakamura was gone.
Silence.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
The wind howled through the battlefield, carrying away the last warmth of his body.
Akari shook.
Her fingers dug into his clothes.
Her shoulders trembled violently.
And then—
Then she screamed.
It wasn't just grief.
It wasn't just loss.
It was guilt.
Because he loved her.
And she never even gave him a chance.
Meiyo looked away.
Hakashi's hands curled into fists.
Duck stood frozen, his throat tight.
Even Rika—who never cared for sentimentality—felt her fingers tremble.
Because they all knew.
They all knew how much Kaito loved Akari.
And now
Now, it was too late.
The Broodmother watched, golden eyes filled with amusement.
"How fascinating. You humans throw away your lives so easily."
Akari's tears fell onto Kaito's lifeless face.
And something inside her broke.
"…I'll kill you."
The words did not belong to her.
The voice was hers—
But the rage was not.
Then
Then her body burned.
Golden light erupted from within her, twisting violently as her soul magic warped into something stronger.
Something inhuman.
Her golden eyes turned white.
Her hair floated weightlessly.
Her soul magic became absolute.
And then
The battlefield shook.
Because Akari was no longer crying.
She was ascending.
And the Broodmother?
For the first time smiled.
"Let's see if the little rage boost that dumb pathetic fuck gave you can hurt me. It couldn't be mine male children giving up their life for a girl that never loved him back"