CHAPTER 21: [SAVED AGAIN]

Eli wanted to run—needed to run—but his legs refused to obey.

He was paralyzed.

He could only watch in horror as the massive building loomed above him, seconds away from flattening him like an ant beneath a boot.

’Seriously?!’ his mind shrieked in disbelief. ’I die again and this is really how I go? Not the ogres. Not the boss. A damn building?!’

He clenched his eyes shut and raised his arms over his head instinctively, as if they could somehow shield him from the tons of falling debris.

Then—

"You actually are suicidal, aren’t you?!"

A voice—sharp, exasperated, and unmistakably Kairo’s—cut through the chaos like a thunderclap.

Eli’s eyes snapped open just as an arm yanked him sideways with jarring force.

"Ah!" he gasped, vision spinning as the world blurred around him.

Kairo had grabbed him—again.

Cradling him like he weighed nothing, Kairo twisted mid-air and launched backward just as the top half of the building came crashing down.

BOOOOM! CRASH!

The ground quaked with the impact. A blast of hot air slammed into them as the structure exploded into rubble, concrete chunks and glass shrapnel flying in every direction.

Kairo didn’t slow.

He spun, his blood shaping into a hardened crimson shell across his back to shield them from the flying debris. The shell took the brunt of the blast, splinters and shards pinging off it like bullets.

Eli blinked, dazed. His heart thundered in his chest.

And he realized something far more dangerous than falling buildings or mutated ogres—

He was being carried.

By Kairo.

Shielded. Arms wrapped tightly around him. Protected.

Like a princess.

’This... really does feel like I’m a damsel in distress...’ Eli thought, face rapidly heating despite the chaos. ’God, I can’t even argue with that—’

Kairo landed hard, boots skidding against the cracked pavement as dust and gravel scattered. He set Eli down near what looked like a temporary safe zone—behind a flipped, partially crushed truck.

Or so it seemed.

Eli’s danger sense surged again.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

His head jerked up—and there it was.

A blur of motion—low to the ground. A club, massive and crude, flying straight for them like a battering ram.

"Duck!" Eli shouted, panic overriding his thoughts.

Kairo didn’t question. He reacted instantly, dropping low with Eli still in his arms.

The club whistled past just inches above their heads, smashing through a nearby wall like paper.

Before the sound could even settle—

"JUMP!" Eli screamed again.

And once more, Kairo obeyed, legs coiling and launching them skyward in one smooth motion.

Eli’s stomach flipped from the sudden ascent, his arms instinctively clinging to Kairo as rubble exploded below them.

But even through the disorientation, even through the adrenaline—

He registered it.

Kairo was still fast.

Ridiculously fast.

And somehow, even while carrying another full-grown person—he didn’t slow down at all.

’I feel like a sack of potatoes, but he’s acting like I weigh nothing...’ Eli thought, flushed, but grateful beyond words.

He tightened his grip on Kairo’s shoulder, trying not to pass out from sheer whiplash.

The ground below them twisted in chaos. The ogre roared stopped roaring. However, the boss continued to bellow.

The mutated ogre stilled.

A momentary stillness—but a dangerous one.

Its four grotesque arms lowered just slightly, massive shoulders rolling back, posture subtly shifting as if its body was recalculating every variable. Like it was studying them. Testing them.

Waiting.

The tension in the air thickened like coagulated blood.

Eli’s breath hitched.

His senses screamed again—hot, sharp pulses behind his eyes, down his spine, every nerve in his body warning him of what was coming.

’He’s going to strike. It’s not over—it’s about to start.’

"Kairo!" he shouted, heart thundering. "He’s not done—he’s about to move!"

"I know," Kairo answered, calm and collected, his eyes sharpening like twin blades locking onto a single point.

And before Eli could respond, Kairo moved.

He shifted his grip in one smooth, almost unnatural motion. One moment, Eli was tucked awkwardly under his arm—the next, he was seated atop Kairo’s left forearm, his legs dangling over the side like he was some kind of living rifle sight.

Balanced.

Steady.

Efficient.

Kairo’s right arm remained free—his sword, slick with blood, humming faintly like it was alive, hungering for violence.

"Hang on tight," Kairo said, voice steady, focused. No panic. No hesitation.

Eli’s hands clung to him before he could even think, one arm wrapping around Kairo’s neck, the other gripping tight to his shoulder.

"W-Why aren’t you putting me down yet?!"

Kairo didn’t even glance at him this time. "You’d slow me down."

Eli gawked. "W-What—?!" Was he a burden?

"With the boss ogre’s roar constantly disrupting my hearing, I need you close." Kairo’s gaze was locked onto the mutant, tracking every twitch of its shoulders. "You sense movement faster than I do right now. If you call something out, I have to be able to hear it."

Oh.

’Is he saying what I think he’s saying?’

"This ogre has four arms. And, somehow, intelligence. It’s mutating with every second." Kairo’s voice dropped lower. "And the boss hasn’t stopped screaming since it started. I’m not risking misreading its signals."

His tone was flat, brutal—and honest.

He didn’t say Eli was a burden.

He was a tactical necessity.

That realization hit Eli like a wave.

’He’s not just carrying me to protect me. He’s using my ability. He’s trusting me with his back.’

Eli swallowed.

Hard.

It was a battle.

And Kairo had just made him a weapon.

"I got it," Eli whispered, tightening his grip again, a fire sparking behind his eyes. "I won’t miss anything."

Kairo said nothing in response—but the slight, almost imperceptible nod he gave was answer enough.

Together, they turned toward the mutated ogre.

Its eyes glowed brighter now, its chest heaving with anticipation. Thick veins pulsed beneath its flesh, arms twitching with coiled brutality. It leaned forward.

Watching them.

Then its foot shifted.

A single step forward.

And then it charged.