Chapter Text
Nobody knew how it happened. Or why it even happened. But here they were, standing in front of two redheads with similar faces.
Though the only difference was that one of them was buff and had shorter hair while the other one was the opposite.
“...so you must be, Cale? Or Kim Rok Soo?”
Deruth was confused.
There were currently two Cale Henituse right in front of him.
One was his Cale.
And the other was his Cale as well.
He felt like he was short circuiting.
The “older” Cale moved first, popping a grape into his mouth, he chewed for a bit as if trying to remove the tenseness of the situation.
Gulp
“I guess I should explain?”
He had asked with a mischievous smile.
The redhead looked at everyone in the room and glanced at the seemingly quiet Kim Rok Soo, he was stoic. Frozen. As if this was normal but he knew, Cale knew, that Kim Rok Soo was actually scared.
He gets it. That "Cale" had been in this world for two years already and had already established himself as Cale Henituse. And for him, the original Cale to come back, that must be scary.
Plus, he owed the guy after being able to see his mother one last time.
"That would be nice."
Violan finally spoke after looking at the relaxed Cale Henituse in front of them. She glanced at the quiet Cale Henituse on the other side.
The buffer redhead finally opened his mouth, “Would you prefer to be called Cale? I can go with a different name,” and the slender one shook his head, “I'll take Rok, you're the real Cale, after all.”
“Bah, real Cale, original Cale, what nonsense is that?”
“...”
“But since my dongsaeng really wants to, then sure, I'll be Cale.”
Cale gave Rok a wink before finally explaining.
"I guess I'd start. I came from... twenty years in the future?" Cale finally begun, "In that future... the Henituse County was razed to the ground and I was the only one to survive."
The whole family felt as if cold water had been poured all over them, "I'm not going to go into detail, I'm not sure if Basen or Lily could stomach it," he then looked at the two and gave them a gentle smile, something he'd never done before.
He then told them, "Glad everyone's alive, at the very least, seeing you guys can replace those kinds of memories." Cale then glanced at Rok, "Now then. When I was dying on the battlefield, the God of Death made a deal with me."
"And that's where Kim Rok Soo came in the picture."
Rok finally glanced up, his eyes curious in a way that Rok had never been before. Finally, he'd finally know why he was in this world.
"He told me... the God of Death told me that you will be the one to save this world."
"...what?"
"I know right? Why should we leave the fate of the world on someone from a different one?" Cale looked at Rok but his eyes held no judgement. "But I couldn't say no, not when I'm dying, and definitely not when the thought of everyone surviving."
Rok opened his mouth to ask, "Then why... why didn't you take that chance to regress and save it?"
Cale raised a brow, "Me? You think a trash like me can save the world?" And Rok nodded his head, "You have information, you know the future." But Cale shook his head, "It's different because I don't know the nooks and cranny like you did."
"Still, that isn't the point." Cale finally looked at his family, "This body switching isn't Rok's fault, I chose this. I made that choice so blame me."
Deruth shook his head, "It's neither of your choices, neither of you are at fault but..." the brown-haired man asked a question. "Why... why did it have to be you, Cale?"
The buffer redhead smiled, his eyes gleamed with mischievousness, "I wonder? Well, the God of Death allowed me to meet my mother in another world so that was one of the reasons." He told his dad before continuing, "And the other is related to the blood flowing in me."
"I can't go into much detail but..." Cale finally stood up, "I think that's enough for now? Based on how things were tense when I arrived and how there's been a shield being maintained," he glanced at Rok, "The war is just about to start, right?"
Rok finally stood up and nodded his head. "Yes, it is."
***
The next day, Cale came through Rok's bedroom window with blood covering his entire body. He had a huge grin on his face as he waved at Rok, "Yo! You got some food on the go?"
"...hyung," Rok called his name with hesitancy because, well, Cale decided that Rok needed to call him hyung because, duh, he's the older one. "Why are you covered in blood?"
The redhead hummed with a smile, "Well, I just got two ancient powers." Cale told them, "It involved a lot of bleeding which caused the blood so, yeah." Rok looked at him with a stoic expression before Cale finally realized that Ron and Choi Han were in the room as well, alongside the black baby dragon named Raon.
"Oops?"
Ron finally spoke. "Young master, would you like me to prepare a bath?" He had a gentle smile on his face and Rok internally shivered, he wished good luck to Cale.
"Nah, there isn't time. The enemies should be arriving in any moment."
And at that moment…
…the Black Dragon stomped one of his short paws and flew up into the air.
A black spot could be seen in the distance.
And soon enough.
Baaaaang!
The sky roared.
The black dot almost instantaneously flew over and crashed into the sky.
It was the wyverns.
One, two. More black dots started to fly over to them.
Boom, boom!
The sky was becoming filled with these noises.
Wiiiiiiiiing- Wiiiiiiing-
An emergency alarm went out throughout Rain City.
The enemy was here.
This casual afternoon would be the start of the war.
“Everybody, calm down! Move according to the guide knight’s instructions!”
The knight shouted out loud as he directed the scared citizens to safety. The soldiers helped the citizens move to safety, just as they had practiced in advance.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
All of the houses throughout the city closed their doors. They were expecting to hear the citizens locking their doors. However, no sound of doors being locked could be heard.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The armored knights and equipped soldiers moved from the castle walls and throughout the city.
However, none of this could be heard as well.
Boom- boom!
The noise of the wyverns ramming into the shield was too loud to hear anything else.
Rooooooooooar!
The roars of the wyverns were the only other thing that could be heard in Rain City. The citizens of the city all had pale expressions.
This was the first time they had personally seen a wyvern.
Even the smallest one was at least 5 meters long. The knight on top who was controlling the large monster looked like a small dot.
However, the knights who were wearing armor as white as snow seemed experienced in controlling these violent wyverns, making the soldiers and knights all gulp.
Click. Click.
The citizens started to peek out their windows.
Will the shield break?
Does that mean we will all die?
They were looking toward the castle walls with fear.
It was at that moment.
"The young master-nims!"
One of the citizens who was looking out the window subconsciously shouted.
"Wow, you're doing good with the act, Rok!" Cale laughed as he looked at the wyverns in the sky. Behind him, Choi Han could feel the anger and bloodlust coming off of the redhead in waves. Cale was angry.
- Human! Your brother is really angry!
Rok agreed. Cale was really angry.
At that moment, Cale finally spoke, "Do you know, Rok... the white snake isn't the one that's controlling these wyverns." Rok froze but kept his stoic expression on. "It's that guy, the helmeted knight."
He then smiled, "I want to take him on. I want to capture him and make him suffer."
"I want revenge."
"I know. But right now, I don't need your anger and revenge."
The redhead smiled at Rok, "Yes. I know."
That was why Cale had been holding it in now. He had been holding back this anger inside of him, he had been keeping this pent up irritation, sadness, guilt, inside of him.
15 meters.
An extremely large wyvern looked down at Cale who was inside the shield and opened its mouth.
It was impossible for normal wyverns to be 15 meters long.
This white wyvern seemed to be a mutant.
Cale glanced at the man riding the wyvern.
He knew this person would come.
He was waiting for this person on top of the white wyvern. The Paerun Kingdom’s Guardian Knight.
The white-haired Clopeh Sekka.
Rok stared at Clopeh Sekkah while Cale could only look at Choi Han who had once, in a different life, arrived far too late. He then chuckled when Choi Han glanced at him, he looked like Choi Jung Soo punk. "The Choi family is always stuck to us aren't they, Rok?"
He whispered before finally glancing at Clopeh Sekka who seemed to go on a tangent.
“Everything will crumble once we destroy the shield.”
He too had seen the Roan Kingdom’s video.
Clopeh had decided to destroy this longest surviving kingdom without any power first after watching the video. His pride would take a hit if he started anywhere else.
It would seem as if he had been scared by the Roan Kingdom’s proclamation if it started anywhere else.
That was why the Indomitable Alliance had selected the Roan Kingdom as their target.
Furthermore, he had known about the slightly famous person in the Roan Kingdom.
It was the son of a noble who used a silver shield.
“How interesting.”
Clopeh Sekka looked at the shield that was giving off a faint silver light.
Getting rid of this shield and those red-haired punk would start them off on a good note. That was why Clopeh had personally come.
He was the one who would use his overwhelming strength in order to write a new legend.
He blew into a flute.
Beeeeeeep-
Tens of wyverns quickly flew toward him from a distance.
The Henituse soldiers all clenched onto their spears in fear.
There were more wyverns than they had seen in the video, and they were all covering the sky above the Henituse territory right now. The Guardian Knight looked down at the red-haired man.
'Rok Henituse is here as expected and that… wayward son named Cale Henituse seemed to have returned?”
They would soon die.
There was a limit to ancient powers.
The Guardian Knight raised his hand.
“Descend.”
It was at that moment.
Large-bodied individuals jumped off the wyverns behind him. They soon opened up parachutes that had never been seen before and safely landed on the ground.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
These large-bodied individuals started to line up outside of Rain City’s castle walls.
Their numbers were easily over 100.
One of the soldiers let out a gasp.
“…The Bear tribe.”
The Bear Tribe was one of the strongest Beast people tribes and had the largest numbers.
These large Bears entered their berserk transformation and started to surround the castle walls. They were able to arrive here using the parachutes that the Dwarves had made for them.
Clopeh watched them land before lowering his hand and giving an order.
“Attack.”
The wyverns immediately headed toward the silver shield.
The white wyvern headed down as well.
Guardian Knight Clopeh could see the expressions on the faces of the people standing on the castle wall.
The soldiers had pale expressions. He knew that the citizens must have the same expressions on their faces as well.
He was certain that this would be an easy victory.
This attack was stronger than any magic bomb or crumbling palace.
Even this weak attack should be enough to destroy a small territory.
He then made eye contact with Rok again.
This was the end.
Baaaaang! Baaaaang!
The banging noises were so loud it felt as if it could shatter their eardrums.
"I've never been more glad to have a great, mighty, and amazing mage on our side." Cale grinned though it looked more evil.
- That is right, human's older brother! I am great and mighty!
"Don't forget amazing too, kiddo." Cale laughs as he watches the wyverns slam down on the shields. It was satisfying. No. Should he say it was refreshing?
Yes.
Things will be different.
Things will definitely not go as they had been in the past.
They will survive.
The shield would not break.
This was because it was covered by a Dragon’s shield.
Something like a wyvern would not be able to break a Dragon’s shield.
Boom, boom!
The wyverns rammed into the shield tens of times. It almost sounded as if they were beating on it like a drum.
“…Ah.”
The fallen soldier let out a gasp.
One time, ten times, almost a hundred times. The shield did not break no matter how many times they rammed into it.
In fact, it only started to shine even brighter.
The soldier repeated what the Count had said earlier.
“…The shield will not break.”
The young master who looked as if he could fall over at any moment did not fall.
“Ha!”
Guardian Knight Clopeh let out a shocked laugh. It was stronger than he had expected. Contrary to his feeble-looking appearance, that young master’s ancient power was stronger than he had expected.
However, nothing had changed in his mind.
A shield would eventually break. Furthermore, there were other places that they could hit other than the shield.
Clopeh Sekka. The Guardian Knight maintained his calm as he looked down at Rok.
It was at that moment.
Rok Henituse.
He was smiling.
Clopeh felt chills on the back of his neck at that moment.
‘Behind me.’
The white wyvern urgently turned around.
He had thought it was a white cloud at first.
He thought a white cloud was descending from the sky.
However, he was wrong.
“…Bones?”
They were skeletons.
Hundreds of skeletons.
The skeletons of monsters were descending from the sky. These corpses were starting to fill the air.
Cale had been briefed by Rok about their plan yesterday, about the team right now and it had made him hope.
Things will change.
Nobody will die.
That was what Rok had promised Cale.
‘You will see our parents, our siblings, our territory survive.’
Rok had looked at Cale's eyes that seemed to have been playing the past.
‘Cale. Listen to me.’
And when Cale looked up, he saw the determination in Rok’s eyes.
‘You will not be the last one standing.’
And so, at this very moment, Cale laughed after seeing those bones. Rok was really prepared.
"Damn!" He grins.
"I don't know where you are but you're doing good Mary, I knew I liked necromancers more than black mages!" The redhead gave a thumbs up into the air.
“Too bad, this is just the beginning.”
He glanced at the forest past the walls.
The Forest of Darkness.
An existence started to rise up from the Black Swamp.
It was the only skeleton with black bones.
The bones without any hide started to flap its wings.
Hundreds of skeletons were in the air.
A large existence revealed itself through the skeletons in the air.
“…That!”
The Guardian Knight’s eyes opened wide.
It was a Dragon.
Although it was just a collection of black bones, it was close to 20 meters in length.
Just looking at it made it hard to breathe. The black wings that were multiple meters in length opened up in the sky.
It was an overlord, even after death.
Cale watched the dragon skeleton open up its wings.
A battle with an overwhelming advantage was bound to be entertaining.