A human warrior kneeled on the land, his breath ripping through his lungs like fire. His eyes stayed locked on the land beneath him, because looking up meant facing what he already feared was real.
Still, he forced himself to raise his head.
And the world that came into view did not feel like reality, it felt like a nightmare.
He was surrounded by the aftermath of war where the land was torn apart, broken into piles of debris, everything lay in ruins, reduced to debris. Lifeless bodies lay scattered across the ground, unmoving against the blood-soaked earth. Pools and streaks of red stained everything in sight, turning the field into a canvas of despair and death.
Once-proud Royal Castle lay in rubble, and rivers that once flowed clear now ran red with blood.
The warrior kneeling was only a boy. Blood and dust clung to his skin, streaked across his face in harsh lines where deep cuts had torn him open. Yet, with great effort, he lifted his head up and looked at the sky.
Above him, the sky was in chaos. Dark clouds rolled and roared, pulled toward a single point where a mass of black energy was pulsing heavily, each one hitting harder than the last with sharp parks ripping across the sky, throwing brief, harsh flashes over the ruined land.
The ground shook beneath his knees. The air grew thick, heavy with smoke and blood. For a moment, it felt like the world itself had stopped, holding its breath, teetering on the edge of a new disaster.
The young warrior slowly lowered his head to glance at his own body to find both of his arms were gone, appearing to have been severed in the war. Deep bleeding wounds marred his flesh, blood continuously oozing from them. His uniform hung in shreds, stained so deeply with dirt and blood that it barely looked like clothing anymore.
For a heartbeat, he simply stared at his body, unable to understand how he was still alive.
"So that's how I'll die…"
The young warrior whispered through his suffering, his voice low and trembling with agony.
A faint smile spread across his face. "I just hope… I hope my sacrifice means something... I hope I've truly fulfilled my oath to sacrifice my life protecting the Minamoto Kingdom."
As he was embracing his death suddenly, his eyes widened in horror, overcome with panic he snapped his head sharply to the left, where at some distance he saw a group of small terrifying, muscular, dark-skinned orcs charging forward, brandishing rusted swords with menacing intent.
His gaze followed the direction of their charge, and his breath caught. The orcs were heading straight for a young woman kneeling on the ground. Her once-royal attire was torn and filthy, and deep wounds marked her body. She was clutching something tightly to her chest, holding it as if it was the only thing she had left.
The young warrior's eyes hardened with sudden fury, a scream ripping through him before he could stop it. He pushed himself off the ground, forcing his body to rise, but his legs betrayed him. Weak, torn, and drained, they refused to hold his weight as he quickly fell back down on his knees, trapped in a body that could no longer keep up with the fire inside him.
The young warrior's panicked eyes remained locked on the advancing orcs closing in on the young woman.
"Don't you dare come any closer!"
The young warrior roared out loud, his voice trembling with raw anger.
"Stay the hell away from her highness!"
He screamed his lungs out, his fury underscoring that the young woman was the Queen of Minamoto.
The young warrior's gaze desperately began to sweep through the battlefield, sharp and urgent, searching for anything, any chance to hold the orcs back before they reached the Queen.
Amid the chaos, he caught sight of a fellow warrior struggling to rise, using his sword driven into the earth as his only support. The young warrior stared, his eyes widening in disbelief.
Blood streamed from the warrior's torn face, soaking the soil beneath him. His body trembling with each attempt to stand, yet he refused to stay down. On his arm, an armband marked with a four-winged dragon caught his attention, the emblem of the Minamoto Kingdom… Each Kingdom has its own unique logo. The logo of Minamoto Kingdom features a four-winged dragon.
"BROOOTHER!"
The young warrior's voice tore across the battlefield, raw and shaking with urgency and fury.
The wounded warrior, still forcing himself upright with his sword, snapped his gaze upwards to meet his gaze. Their eyes locked, the same determination burning in both of them.
"Protect your highness with your life!"
The young warrior roared one again, anger rising like fire in his chest.
"This is our final duty! our last stand! Not a single breath of these worms should reach her. Let them learn what it means to face true loyalty!"
His words struck like lightning, igniting something deep within the wounded warrior.
The man forced himself upright, rage twisting across his battered features. His eyes burned as he fixed his gaze on the advancing orcs.
With a harsh breath, he tore his sword free from the earth.
"Guardians of Minamotoooo!"
He roared, his voice a scorching surge that cut through the chaos.
A short distance away, another fallen warrior — marked by the same four-winged armband — slowly began to stir. Barely clinging to life, his jaw tightened, the fire to protect Her Highness burning stubbornly in his chest.
"Protect Her Highness! Shield her with your bodies, be the wall that stands for her!"
The standing warrior roared, his voice erupting like a battle-drum through the chaos, causing the cry to strike the wounded warriors of Minamoto like a command from fate itself.
The battered Minamoto warriors, half-dead, trembling, their breath shallow, dragged the last remnants of strength from their breaking bodies, as one by one, with shivering limbs and teeth clenched against the pain, they forced themselves back up on their feet.
With his face carved in fury, that wounded warrior unleashed a roar before breaking into a sprint right toward the advancing orcs.
The sight of that reckless charge lit a spark in the others. The remaining Minamoto warriors roared in answer and surged after him.
Some clutched their swords, others ran empty-handed, driven by a rage that refused to die, their cries tearing across the battlefield and echoing over the shattered kingdom as flames writhed above them, the sky itself burning with a fury that matched their charge; every step, every scream, was a vow, they would guard Her Highness, no matter the cost.
As the orcs closed in on the Queen, they raised their blades for the kill, but the Minamoto warriors threw themselves forward in one surge. Steel crashed against steel while some brave, unarmed warriors threw their bodies into the attack itself, taking the blades through their flesh before forcing themselves and the orcs back, dragging the danger away from the Queen by sheer will.
A small part of the battlefield erupts once more with steel smashing against steel and flesh tearing and screams ripping through the ruins as the Minamoto warriors hurl themselves into the fray, fighting with the last pieces of their lives to protect.
Still kneeling on the ground, the young queen, gravely wounded, slowly moved back, only then did the truth emerge: she had been shielding four small children, holding them tight against her chest.
The eldest child, around five years old, stood closest to her, tears slipping down charcoal-gray eyes. Behind him, the other three, each barely two years old, clung to him and to one another, their tiny bodies shaking as they pressed close for safety.
One of the three two years old had yellow eyes, another with sky-blue, and the last with burning red eyes beneath matching red hair. Their tiny bodies were shaking, caught between fear and the instinct to remain close to the eldest one.
Barely holding onto life, the queen kept looking at them with the smallest, gentlest smile on her face, as if reassuring them that the world had not yet ended.
"Hiroto… Ukichi… Uzin… Kageru…"
Her voice was weak, yet steady, a whisper shaped like a command and a prayer.
"You must survive."
Her eyes, heavy with sorrow and pain, moved from one child to the next as if memorizing their faces before time slipped out of her grasp.
"For the sake of humanity," she whispered, breath thin and shaking, "you must live… and protect this world."
Her trembling hand rose and gently rested atop the head of the eldest, the boy no older than five.
"Ukichi," she murmured with a voice soft yet pleading, "you've always been their big brother… but now, you will be their guardian too. You must take care of them."
Ukichi's tear-filled eyes stayed locked on her, his face streaked with dust, his expression torn between anguish and confusion. His voice quivered when he finally tried to speak.
"B-But… Y-Your Highness…"
The young queen nodded, offering one last warm, steady smile, a silent answer meant to ease his fear but before her final breath could leave her lips… Steel ripped through her abdomen in a sudden merciless strike, as the blade burst out from the front with blood erupting in an instant, spraying across the four children she had shielded, marking them with the price of her protection.
Ukichi couldn't move, couldn't even breathe, he just stood locked in place, his tiny body stiff with terror, with the Queen's blood warm on his face as he stared at her in mute shock. Before him, the Queen was with clenched teeths, her entire frame shaking beneath the agony tearing through her, blood slipping from her lips and running down her chin.
Watching this Ukichi's heartbeat crashed in his ears as with wide terrifying eyes he slowly lifted his gaze past her shoulder, and then he saw it. The orc responsible. A hulking shape looming behind her, its twisted, malevolent grin carved across its blood-stained face.
With a violent jerk, the orc tore out the blade from the Queen's abdomen causing her body to arch in pain, a ragged cry trapped in her throat as more blood gushed from her mouth.
Ukichi's terror shattered into rage as a raw, fierce scream tore out of his lung, throwing himself forward to charge at the monster. But before he could reach, the Queen's hand found his shoulder, stopping him with what little strength she had left.
It didn't feel like a command.
It felt like a plea.
His body went still. His breath staggered in his chest as he slowly turned back toward her to find her eyes clenched shut against the agony, her lips moving in a broken whisper, words slipping out like a dying prayer, as if she were mouthing a spell only he was meant to hear.
A delicate magic circle began to flicker in her palm then suddenly shattered into nothing… But she didn't stop. Each time the light began to form, it broke apart again… collapsing into sparks that died against her blood-stained palm.
Still she kept trying, her body trembling with the effort, every fading breath poured into holding the spell together.
Behind her, the orc just watched for a moment before an evil smirk spread across its face, and with a twisted, hungry delight, it once again raised its sword high, aiming to sever the Queen's neck.
Ukichi could only stare, as his body was refusing to move, every muscle locked by fear as he watched the orc with a raised blade.
Maintaining its smirk, the orc swung its sword at the Queen's neck, but in an instant, that armless young warrior threw himself onto the orc from behind, sinking his teeth into the orc's neck, tearing its flesh with a rage that no weapon could ever hold.
The orc writhed in pain causing its sword to slip from its grasp, and In a frantic reflex, it plunged its pointed claws into the young warrior's face causing a scream to erupt from his throat, raw, muffled, but he didn't release his bite instead the pain only sharpened his bite, as the young warrior dragged the orc backward, along with himself, taking it away from the Queen.
Once away, both the young warrior and orc crashed to the ground. The warrior landed beneath the orc, his legs locking around the orc's torso like shackles, refusing to let it break free.
The orc's scream of pain intensified, more raw and ragged, as it dug its claws deeper into the young warrior's face, squeezing with brutal force. Yet even as flesh tore and blood poured, the warrior's grip did not loosen. His determination burned hotter than his pain.
Their screams tangled together, a duet of agony that tore through the battlefield, until suddenly… Both fell silent… Their bodies went still.
The orc's neck was mangled beyond shape, and the young warrior's face was crushed beneath its claws. The two lifeless forms lay still.
Ukichi's eyes remained fixed on the Queen, whose eyes stayed shut, tears slipping down her cheeks with her lips moving in a focused, desperate whisper. Meanwhile, the magic in her palm flickered with a fragile light, struggling against her failing strength. Slowly it steadied, drawing whatever life she had left, until at last a small, glowing blue circle formed in her hand.
Only then did she open her eyes. A weak, satisfied smile touched her lips as she met Ukichi's terrified stare.
With her voice trembling with everything left, she breathed.
"A-Always look after your brothers,"
Ukichi looked up at her through falling tears, his small body shaking as he tried to swallow his sobs. Beneath the grief, something sharper began to burn in his eyes. With a slow, steady nod, he accepted her words without a single sound.
It was a vow.
The Queen's weakened smile softened, as though Ukichi's vow had finally eased her heart.
Her gaze then shifted to the smallest of the boys, the child with fiery red hair and matching crimson eyes.
She reached out with a trembling hand, softly brushing her fingers across his cheek. Tears slid down her face, yet a faint, tender smile still formed, fighting through the pain.
The red-haired boy stared back, his face streaked in blood, eyes wide and wet with tears. He didn't understand the weight of what was happening, but the unspoken love in her fading smile held him still, as if his heart recognized it before his mind could.
In an instant, dark smoke began to spill from the Queen's back and from the lifeless bodies scattered around her, even from the four small children. The smoke gathered like a living shadow, its tendrils twisting and curling upward, spiraling toward a single point in the sky as if pulled by an unseen force.
With a sudden surge of resolve, the Queen forced herself to her feet and thrust both hands carrying the magical circle toward the four children.
"Wrath of Tojikawa… Portal of Legacy!"
Her voice cut through the battlefield like a command the world itself was bound to obey.
The glowing tentacles of that small, magical circle shot toward the children, expanding at incredible speed until its glow wrapped around them, sealing all four children inside a sphere of protective light. As the shimmering barrier formed, the Queen allowed herself one final breath of relief, her expression softening at the sight of their safety, even if only for a heartbeat.
A peaceful smile lingered on the Queen's lips for a brief, precious moment before it slowly began to fade. And as her strength slipped away her body wavered, and with one final breath, she fell back onto the blood-soaked ground, her purpose fulfilled.
The three youngest children erupted into cries while tears streamed down Ukichi's cheeks, yet he could only stare at the fallen Queen.
Suddenly a deafening explosion ruptured the sky, tearing through air and clouds alike. The detonation dropped toward the earth like a hammer from hell, and the moment it hit, the land didn't shake, it broke. Soil split open, stone crumbled, and mountain ridges snapped apart as if the ground itself were being torn open from within.
Ukichi's eyes widened with pure horror, but before his mind could even form a thought He lunged for his brothers pulling them against his chest, clutching them so tightly as if loosening his grip for even a breath would mean losing them forever.
The destruction advanced. Forests flattened in seconds. Villages vanished under the collapsing earth. Entire stretches of land were swallowed as the blast kept tearing forward with unstoppable force, erasing everything in its way, and closing in on the children with no sign of slowing.
As the destructive force closed in. Ukichi let out a raw, terrified roar straight from instinct, which was getting swallowed entirely by the roar of the blast, while The Queen's shield reacted at the same moment, as Its light tightened sharply around the children, snapping in closer as if answering a final command, shrinking fast while its fading glow flickered on the edge of breaking.
The explosion reached them. In that final heartbeat, the Queen's shield compressed into a single, blinding point of blue light as Ukichi and the three children got consumed by it, erased from sight in an instant. While the blast did not slow. It tore across the land and erased everything in its path, nothing remained, taking the world into darkness.