Young Chaos. It was a title that no longer suited his current form, but he gripped the pure white sword in his hand. The form of the black dragon curling its body was faintly visible. Though Chaos stood tall with broad shoulders and back, compared to the dragon, his figure was small—so small that it could even be called delicate. And yet, not even for a moment did it feel like he was being overpowered.

On the contrary. The oppressive force of the black dragon seemed to recoil, as if hitting an invisible wall, even retreating. Chaos stood as if out for a stroll, light and relaxed, without a hint of tension.

“…Yuhyun.”

I turned my body, which had been shielding my brother, to the side. So that Yuhyun could see what was unfolding before us.

“Watch closely.”

“…Hyung.”

“If it’s hard to look, then keep your mind sharp and feel it with your body instead. The power of a being unrestrained by any limit, from beyond this world.”

Unlike me, Yuhyun could one day reach that realm. Even if only experiencing a fraction of that distant power, it would help him. Be it in actual ability or mental preparedness. He might get scared and shrink back, but my little brother isn’t that weak. And even if he did cower, I could always help him back up. Any time, as many times as needed.

Yuhyun, who had been leaning against me for support, straightened his torso. His complexion had almost returned to normal. Unlike me, he didn’t even have fear resistance, yet he was holding firm—impressive.

“Are you okay, hyung?”

“Of course not.”

Even if it had gotten a bit better, it still felt like my throat was being squeezed. More than anything, there was the looming fear that I might lose my brother again. I was enduring only because if I gave up in fear, that would be the end.

-Krrrrrr.

A threatening rumble escaped the dragon’s throat, and its jaws opened. Instinctively, I pulled Yuhyun into my arms again. Past its fangs and even its pitch-black tongue, its abyss-like throat was exposed.

Within it, a storm brewed, swirled, tangled—and was expelled all at once.

KWAAAAA—!!

The lake that had been full just moments before evaporated in an instant. Not even steam remained—completely gone. Though the force didn’t directly touch us, my entire body trembled. It was an attack we wouldn’t have survived even for a moment.

But the man standing before us was completely unaffected.

Srrrk. In the face of the dragon’s breath that melted everything it touched, the hand holding the white sword moved. The loose sleeve fluttered back. Like waving foxtail grass in front of a kitten, the light movement of the sword met the ferocious heat head-on.

GU GU GUUNG—

The air around us throbbed like thousands of drums sounding all at once. My breath caught in my throat. I resisted the urge to cover my ears and close my eyes, forcing myself to look ahead.

Could that truly be called a mere movement of magic? What I thought was a breakwater standing against the encroaching waves turned into a colossal mountain, crashing down all at once. A single swing swept across the ruined, molten ground, hardening it in place.

As his arm moved, the sleeve again flowed down near the back of his hand, and the pure white blade spun in a circle. A faint light rolled along its edge.

“I struggled with it quite a bit back then.”

Chaos said, taking a light step forward, as if dancing.

“I was young too. The ground was boiling hot and the heat was unbearable.”

But now. Though his face wasn’t visible, his voice clearly carried a smile.

“It’s really just a lizard now.”

Chaos vanished. It didn’t seem like he had used a skill. My eyes simply couldn’t keep up with his movement. Amid the disoriented blur of my vision, a black form entered my sight. A massive head that seemed tall enough to reach the sun came crashing down to the ground with a thud! Its broken horn flew off from the force and embedded deeply into the floor.

The dragon’s head had been severed in an instant.

Even then, the dragon’s body kept moving. As if in a final spasm, its wings spread wide and an enormous gust blew toward us.

“Ugh!”

I quickly shielded Yuhyun and threw up a barrier, but it was no more effective than sticking out a single leaf. The shield shattered instantly, and Yuhyun spread his protective suit wide to cover me instead. Even with the defense layers stacked, it couldn’t withstand the mere wind. As if we’d been struck hard, the two of us were tangled and blown back. I hurried to use a healing skill on my brother.

“Ugh… Yuhyun, are you oka—”

KWA-RRRRUNG!

Before I could even steady my fallen body, the ground trembled again. The sky flashed like ten thousand lightning bolts striking at once and then darkened. The sun that had just risen was now consumed in endless shadow. The air reeked of burning and blood. I felt like an unarmed civilian dropped into the middle of a battlefield.

In the whirlpool of power that we could barely endure, my brother helped me to my feet. His protective suit fluttered in the still-raging wind. Covered in blood, dirt, and with his hair a total mess—he looked like a refugee, but his expression had returned to normal.

With calm eyes, he stared past the scorched and shattered land. He bit his lip slightly before speaking.

“It really is scary.”

“Yuhyun.”

“I wouldn’t be able to protect you against that, would I?”

His voice was calm and composed, but it wasn’t one of resignation. He knew well how weak he was right now, and yet I had a strong feeling that my brother would still stand in front of me to the very end.

“…Don’t you ever think you’re lacking. It’s just a matter of time, of years. You’re strong enough already, and one day, you’ll reach them too.”

Yuhyun gave a small nod. Though I said all that, honestly, I was the one who felt overwhelmed. Not Yuhyun—me. Chatterbox wouldn’t be able to come charging in with all his original power, but damn it. Talking about revenge when Light Minimum and Heavy were leagues above us was shameless.

The ground shook violently again, and the sky swirled as if it would collapse. It wasn’t like a normal earthquake—space itself trembled, and we both fell back down to the ground. A thick killing intent, sharp enough to sting the skin, spread out—

And then, it went silent.

The sky cleared as if it had been washed clean, and from the distance came the cheerful sound of flowing water. The suffocating pressure and the overwhelming movement of mana that had filled the world vanished completely.

Was it over?

I finally let out the breath I’d been holding all this time when I felt someone approaching. Someone lightly leapt over the towering terrain and came toward us. Of course, I assumed it was Young Chaos—

“Huh?”

It was a child. The form from earlier was completely gone, and like the first time we’d met, they were dragging a loose robe behind them. The face still resembled Yuhyun from his younger days.

“…That person.”

Yuhyun turned his gaze to me after seeing Young Chaos.

“Hyung really likes how I looked when I was a kid, huh?”

He spoke as if it was obvious that Young Chaos had taken that form because of me.

“No, I mean…”

I do like it, but… I mean, it’s honestly cute. Isn’t it weirder not to like it? While I fumbled to respond, Young Chaos walked quickly and came right up to us. I figured I should thank him first and started to speak—

“Ack!”

A small hand suddenly grabbed my ear and twisted it sharply.

“Hyung!”

“OW! Ow, let go—AAH!”

It was just an ear twist, but it hurt enough to bring tears to my eyes. I instinctively grabbed at Chaos’s arm to pull him off, but he wouldn’t budge. Like grabbing a chunk of iron. Yuhyun, startled, reached out to help me—but before he could touch him, the white sword, still in its sheath, flicked and knocked Yuhyun’s hand away.

Young Chaos frowned and looked at me.

“You really don’t know how to value your life.”

“That’s, AACK—!”

“Hyung! Ugh!”

As Yuhyun kept trying to interfere, the white sheath jabbed straight into his side. Even though it didn’t leave a visible bruise, Yuhyun hunched over and fell to the ground.

“You hit someone’s little brother—ugh—why would you do that?!”

“You’re out here using skills without even understanding them properly, while playing protector.”

“No—ugh, wait a minu—!”

It really hurt. Tears streamed down without me even realizing. I tried to use a skill, but whatever he’d done, my mana wouldn’t budge. Because he was shorter, I was stuck in a half-crouch, flailing helplessly.

“…H-Hyung!”

Yuhyun looked like he didn’t know what to do, his face crumpling as he barely managed to lift his head like he was paralyzed. He yelled out for him to let me go, but Young Chaos didn’t even pretend to listen.

“If that weren’t my sword, you wouldn’t have even made it in here.”

“I’m sor–sob–I’m sorry, ack! Agh!”

“You’re the type who’ll still use it no matter what, so anything with a suspicious record gets taken out, no exceptions.”

“O-Okay! Got it!”

After I apologized a few more times, he ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) finally let go of my ear. I slumped down, clutching my burning ear, and Yuhyun moved to shield me while glaring at Young Chaos.

“Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?”

“I’m oka—ah. Ugh… Seriously, how do you twist someone’s ear to make it hurt worse than getting stabbed?”

I could usually handle pain pretty well, but that was something else. It wasn’t like the life-threatening kind of pain—it felt more like he forced the idea of pain into my brain. Like a weird kind of hypnosis: ‘It’s just your ear, but you’re going to hurt. A lot.’

“…Anyway, thank you. For helping us.”

I roughly wiped my tears away and said it. I also tried to calm down the thoroughly irritated Yuhyun.

“He’s the one who gave you your sword. You shouldn’t fight him. He just saved us, too.”

Not that we could’ve done anything to him anyway. My ear, which had felt like it might fall off, was soon completely fine. As I stood up, I looked at the boy who looked so much like Yuhyun.

“You were an adult earlier—why the kid look again?”

“It’s a kind of curse.”

“Still, you didn’t have to look like my brother. This isn’t even the real world.”

At that, Young Chaos raised an eyebrow.

“This is what I actually look like.”

“…Excuse me?”

“It’s your fault for using a mental-type skill while holding on to preconceived notions. Look properly.”

Just as he said, Young Chaos wasn’t exactly my little brother. I muttered to myself and blinked a few times. Hmm… though still very similar. The red eyes were always there, and the curls in his hair had relaxed a bit. His facial features looked a little different, and maybe he was a bit shorter? When he was an adult, he seemed taller than Yuhyun.

“You still look a lot like him. Did you happen to resemble my brother?”

“Your brother takes after me.”

Then he looked over at Yuhyun.

“I’m better looking, though.”

What did he just say?Chaos tilted his head after watching Yuhyun for a moment. He still looked so much like Yuhyun—it was honestly kind of cute.

“This is interesting.”

“What is—”

Chaos’s form vanished. Almost at the same time, Yuhyun let out a low groan. I quickly turned my head—only to see the boy’s hand gripping Yuhyun’s throat and slamming him face-first into the ground.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

That damned old man in a kid’s body! I hurriedly moved, forming a hand seal to attack. But before I could even get moving, a sash pulled from his robe slapped my hand with a smack. That hurt, too—enough to make me yell again. I forced my reflexively shrinking body to move and grabbed the sash. Chaos, who had been looking down at Yuhyun, turned to look at me.

“You little thing.”

He chuckled for some reason and swiftly wrapped the sash around my wrist. I didn’t even have time to resist—after a few quick motions, both my wrists were firmly bound. I didn’t even understand what had just happened.

“I don’t intend to harm your brother.”

Young Chaos stood up, letting go of Yuhyun, and gave me a light push. I lost my balance and dropped to the ground. He told me to stay put, then turned his attention back to Yuhyun. Yuhyun also stood, facing Chaos directly. Finger marks were clearly visible around his neck.

“As I thought.”

The boy muttered briefly, then moved. Even now, his movement was hard to follow. He swung his sheathed sword. Yuhyun barely blocked the strike aimed at his chest with his arm—

Thud!

“Yuhyun!”

But the defense meant nothing—Yuhyun’s body was launched into the air and flung over ten meters, crashing into the ground.

“Hey! Stop!”

That damn old man’s trying to kill someone else’s kid! Still on the ground, I hastily activated a teleportation skill. I moved to Yuhyun’s side—but before I could do anything else, Chaos’s kick came flying in. It wasn’t exactly an attack, more like a shove, but seriously—how was he moving faster than teleportation?

As I tumbled across the ground, a chilling shring reached my ears. He drew his sword. Oh hell—what, what the hell is he trying to do now?!

“You psycho! If something happens to my brother, I’ll die too!”

“Watch your mouth.”

Tsk. Along with a click of his tongue, the sash binding my wrists was cleanly cut. I scrambled to my feet and saw Yuhyun sitting up. He wasn’t seriously injured, but a red line had been drawn across the back of his neck. A graze from the blade. I rushed to my brother and stood in front of him protectively.

“Talk! Just talk it out! What the hell is the problem?!”

“It’s not so much a problem as…”

Young Chaos sheathed his sword and looked up at me.

“You’ve made something that isn’t human act like a person.”

“…What?”

“Your brother, I mean.”

…My face twisted into a scowl. So now he’s not even acknowledging someone else’s precious brother as a person.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep