Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power

Warborn's Estate

Inside his room, Kaden sat silently as usual on the edge of his bed, his fingers curled up masterfully under his chin.

He looked ahead with a pensive expression, and to anyone else, it might have looked like he was staring at empty air.

But of course not, he was silently checking his current stats after two full months of slaughtering stray Cerveau and allocating the points he'd earned from it all.

[Stats]

STR: 201 → 301

AGL: 301 → 350

MANA: 301 → 350

INT: 301 → 350

WILL: 236 → 340

PER: 201 → 301

[Remaining Stat Points: 0]

[Remaining Death Coins: 14,000]

He observed them quietly, and without needing to voice it aloud, he could already feel the raw surge of power in every stat—pure, tangible strength that warped his very body, his senses, his mind.

He had already learned how to manipulate his stats to create specific effects or explosive bursts of strength, but the higher they climbed, the more efficiently he could use them and refining them like tools, shaping them into new techniques that bent the rules without breaking them.

And the one thing that surprised him the most?

It was his intelligence stat.

Because with it alone, Kaden could now sense that he was a hair's breadth away from evolving Soulbrand to a whole new level.

"Not bad, not bad," Kaden muttered, making Rory—who was perched at his side—raise her cute crow head and look at him with sparkling curiosity.

"What's not bad, Master?" she asked as she flapped her wings and circled lazily around his head like a curious child.

By now, Kaden was more than used to this version of Rory—the excitable, nosy one who never stopped talking once she got started.

"Just some things," he answered simply.

But that wasn't going to stop Rory.

Not her.

"Master! When are we going to hunt those blue-haired guys again? It was sooo fun! Let's do it again, please!" she chirped excitedly.

"Did you see how many of my skills improved, Master?! Now Rory can make them cry in agony without even touching them!"

"Hehehehe!"

Rory continued chattering, proudly listing all her accomplishments in the art of torture like a little girl showing off her drawings.

What a devious beast girl.

Kaden couldn't help but look at her for a moment, shaking his head slowly.

"You look so cute but you're so damn heartless, Rory… Who the hell taught you that?" he asked, his expression genuinely pained, as if unable to accept that something so small and adorable could take joy in inflicting pain.

Rory paused at his words, blinking rapidly, then slowly tilted her little crow head to the side with a look that said, Is this man serious?

Then, obediently, she raised one of her wings and pointed it at Kaden himself.

With the most innocent voice she could muster—

"It's you."

Kaden blinked.

Then again.

"…Now I'm being framed for something I didn't even do?" he said before glancing around, "Reditha! Come here and save your dear master's reputation."

And as if summoned by devotion alone, Reditha appeared mid-air, gently circling toward him with affectionate movements, her blade gleaming softly under the light of the sun filtered through the window.

Kaden nodded, relieved.

"Yes, she's lying, right? I knew it. I knew it. I don't know who corrupted her little mind, but I will discipline her."

He looked toward Reditha again, thoughtful.

"Hm… Should I forbid her from torturing people?"

Rory's body visibly flinched.

"One week? Hmm, one week might not be enough you say?"

"One month, then? Still not? Wow Reditha, you're quite strict."

"One yea—"

"NOOOO!!" Rory screamed as she rushed in to cover his mouth with her wings in panic, terrified of what he might say next.

"It wasn't you, Master! It was Daela! Yes! Daela taught me! She's very bad! Very very bad!" she declared with frantic nods that made her look like a possessed chicken.

Kaden's eyes curved.

He smiled.

A dangerous, evil little smile.

And Rory's body stiffened instantly.

Because the moment that smile appeared, she knew.

Something, someone, was standing behind her.

She slowly turned her head… and there was Daela.

Standing silently in her black training suit, body toned and tight, expression flat and emotionless—accompanied by Eimi, who was smiling at Rory like she had just won a lottery.

"What a horrible thing to say about my lady, Rory," Eimi said sweetly, her voice loaded with fake gravity, as if Rory had just confessed a national crime.

She met Kaden's eyes across the room.

And they smiled at each other.

Not with their mouths.

But with their eyes.

That secretive, gleaming look that only co-conspirators wear when framing someone for the fun of it.

Rory nearly fainted from sheer panic.

"MASTER! LOOK AT HER, SHE'S GOING TO KILL ME!" she screamed, diving behind Kaden's back like a soldier retreating behind a wall, not realizing this was all his plan to begin with.

Kaden smirked.

"Daela… I didn't know you were teaching my cute little beast such horrible things," he said, sighing dramatically like a disappointed father.

Daela's eye twitched as she stared at Rory again, her mind now seriously considering how best to dismember this lying crow and still make it look like an accident.

'How dare she tarnish my image in front of my little brother?'

Eimi and Kaden were already silently laughing.

But Rory?

Rory was dying.

"This is not funny anymore! She's really planning my murder!!" she cried out.

They laughed.

This scene continued for a while before eventually, Daela spoke.

"I heard from Father and Mother that you're going to travel soon… to saturate your Origin Core," she said calmly.

Kaden nodded.

"Then let's spar," she added, pausing.

"Show me your skills."

He smiled.

"As you will."

…

Later, they stood across from each other in the Warborn training ground.

It was exactly what you would imagine from a family like theirs—an open-air field, sunlight from Darklore pouring down like molten gold across black stone forged by Warborn blacksmiths, each tile reinforced to survive monstrous impact.

Even the walls radiated strength.

Kaden stood facing Daela.

On the sidelines stood Rory, Eimi, Sabine, and their parents all watching closely.

Garros and Serena, especially, were curious.

They wanted to see how far their youngest son had come.

Rory was perched comfortably on Garros's shoulder as he grinned wide, proud and eager.

"If only Dain were here, we could've had a full-blown family war," he said wistfully as he gently patted Rory's little head.

Serena sighed.

"Dain… that troublesome child."

"And that's your heir, by the way," she added, shooting Garros a look that made his lips twitch.

"Indeed… but that damn bastard never did anything worthy of it," Garros muttered.

"Kaden's done more as a second-born son than he ever did."

"Then why not just make Kaden your heir?" Serena asked with a subtle smile on her face.

Garros stared at her for a moment.

Then suddenly laughed.

"You can clearly see Kaden's not interested in ruling. He'll probably say something like—'I'll find Dain and bring him back myself.'"

He paused.

Then looked at Serena with a wide grin.

She mirrored it.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, dear wife?" Garros asked.

"I think I am, dear husband," Serena replied.

And then…

They laughed together at the same time.

A loud, terrifying laugh that shook the very air around them.

They looked so happy to have found someone else to dump their responsibility on.

Such respectable parents.

But soon, the laughter faded.

And the duel began.

—End of Chapter 129—