As the years passed Kylie’s talent for battle became more and more apparent.

By the time he turned 12, he had shown mastery in all aspects of combat, especially weaponry.

This coupled with his Infected abilities, Kylie had become a powerful kid with a monstrous potential.

At this time none of siblings could hold a candle to him.

Because of this his spars were now between him and his parents.

*Bam!*

He was currently sparring with Glen.

Glen wield a staff, while Kylie wielded a pair of butterfly swords.

Kylie attacked with his full speed and slashed his swords with a spin.

Glen didn’t charge at him and slowly extended his staff.

Just as Kylie was in a 20 meter range from him, his eyes flashed a strange light as he thrust the staff once without taking a single step forward.

*Bam!*

“Guh?!”

Kylie was suddenly blown away after feeling a blow to the stomach.

He instantly lost without being able to defend.

“Ow! Couldn’t you have held back a bit!”

Kylie shouted.

“Hey, I held back as much as I could. It’s your fault for being too weak.”

Glen laughed and said.

“Just wait until I become a SS Class like you. I’ll have you eat your words.”

Kylie declared.

“By the time you reach SS Class, I will already reach SSS Class or maybe even X Class!”

Glen continued to mock him, which caused Kylie to grit his teeth.

“Stop teasing Kylie and let’s go, Glen.”

Said the smiling Lacie.

“Ah, today marks 12 years since we’ve found him, huh.”

Lacie nodded.

“As per tradition it’s time for us to take him on his first job.”

“But is it okay for you to go mama?”

Ingrid asked.

“Are you talking about my pregnancy?”

Ingrid nodded.

“I heard that pregnant women arent suppose to use magic. Are you gonna be okay without it?”

“Hahaha! Don’t worry about me. I’m pretty tough even without my magic.”

Lacie said while pounding her chest proudly.

“Gorilla.”

*Boom!*

Kylie was planted into the earth with a punch by Lacie.

“Call me a gorilla again, and I’ll rip off your banana. That way Glen will really have four daughters.”

Kylie paled while he rubbed his head to ease the pain.

It was like this he went on his first job.

On the battlefield of Corpse Hill, Kylie was surrounded by numerous wild beasts. These beast looked like a wolf and had the skin of a crocodile.

His assignment from his parents was to kill these monsters that numbered in the dozens.

“A bunch of A Class monsters for his first test. Isn’t this a bit too difficult?”

Lacie asked.

“Nope. It’s perfect for him. Any less would be too easy and more would be too difficult.”

Glen responded.

Kylie who was in his base mode surveyed his surroundings while keeping his guard up.

One look and he deduced that there wasn’t an escape route. So he decided to make one.

His eyes shone a vicious light as he wield two butterfly swords.

The monsters sense his hostility and couldn’t help but to attack.

Kylie immediately activated his Night mode and covered his swords in Midnight flames.

With a spin of his swords blacks flames cut through the monsters like paper while burning them.

Two of the monsters escaped his attack and sank their fangs into his arm.

The pain was negated to a certain extent, so it became slightly bearable.

He used his right blade to behead the monsters. He then spun around shattered a monster’s teeth with a kick.

The monsters all started to attack him without concern for their own lives.

“They got desperate pretty quickly.”

Said Glen.

“They sensed that they were out matched. That boy really isn’t like the B Class he should be.”

Lacie added.

“However, if it continue like this, he’ll be forced in a corner by their recklessness.”

The monsters ferocity grew as Kylie continued to slay them.

They discarded the own lives just to allow their comrades the opportunity to tear Kylie apart.

It wasn’t long before he was covered in blood and bite marks.

*Bam!*

Kylie ignited a monster with a strike of his fist, before failing on his knees.

“See? I told you this test was too much.”

Lacie said with a hint of worry.

“Let’s observe what he does now, before we intervene.”

Glen said after looking at Kylie for a while.

Finding himself surrounded and pushed into a corner, Kylie decided to switch to his more tactical form; Day Form.

However just as he was about to do so, he suddenly got an idea.

“Hm? He returned to his base mode.”

Glen commented.

He watched as Kylie stood in place and held out his palm. Immediately after dark and bright lights started intertwining in his palms. He then watched in amazement as an orb that looked like a sun being blocked out by a moon was formed.

It was as if Kylie had created an eclipse in his hand.

“Die!”

With a shout the orb suddenly spread and covered the entire field, with Kylie and the monsters inside it.

In the next second, it disappeared and what Glen and Lacie saw when it did was truly shocking.

Other than Kylie, there was nothing there. Absolutely nothing. There wasn’t any monsters, ground, even space was gone.

They only saw Kylie standing in a black hole-like distortion.

“Impossible….”

Lacie muttered in awe.

“He destroyed an dimension? No, he burnt a hole through it? Either way, that was terrifying.”

Glen said with a hint of praise in his voice.

“Did I pass, father?”

Kylie asked while seemingly ignorant to the distortion in the dimension fixing itself behind him.

“Y-Yeah. With flying colors.”

After Kylie’s test, they all started to make their way back home, leaving the distortion to fix itself.

“By the way, have you thought of a name for your baby?”

Kylie suddenly asked.

“Why the sudden question?”

Lacie asked back.

“I was just curious.”

He replied.

“Well, I guess there’s no harming in telling you.”

Said Glen.

“Makoto, that’s the name of our child. By the way, it means ‘truth’.”

“It’s also the alias that your father and I are known by.”

Lacie added.

“Makoto, huh?”

Kylie really liked that name. He even wished that he was the one who received the name that represented his parents.

He subconsciously found himself jealous of the unborn Makoto. However that was only for an instant. He immediately felt guilty to envy the true child of the people who were kind enough to raise him.

He felt he needed to apologize. He turned his head and looked at his mother.

“Ma--?!”

However, when he turned his head he couldn't stop his eyes from widening to the max.

That was because there a claw sticking out of his mother’s stomach.

“Cough?!”

Lacie coughed blood, with the claw piercing through her back.

“Lacie!”

Glen noticed only after Lacie coughed blood, despite being beside her.

“Ma..ma?”

Seeing his mother with a hole in her stomach and blood flowing from her mouth, Kylie was left petrified.

Glen looked back and saw what had attacked Lacie.

It came from the distortion that was previously fixing itself. Crawling out of it was a centipede-like monster that had two heads and was jet black.

“A Spatial Insect?!”

Spatial Insects were monsters born in the cracks between dimensions. They were very powerful monsters who could easily wipe out a country if it found a rift to enter a dimension. An adult was strong enough to clash a X Class warrior without much difficulty.

There were even some who were special that could tear through space and invade dimensions.

“It must’ve been nearby when Kylie ripped through the dimension and used the rift to invade!”

Glen shouted.

It crawled out through the distortion and pulled its claw that was embedded in Lacie’s stomach.

However, the claw didn’t budge. That was because Lacie had held onto the claw, preventing it from being removed.

“G-Glen! Attack it now that it’s immobile!”

Lacie shouted while coughing up blood.

Glen didn’t hesitate and jumped in the air with his spear. The monster saw him and used its countless legs to stab at him.

“Damn, Bug!”

Golden mana started gathering around him and his spear. In an instant, Glen’s speed increased explosively, and he became like a meteor striking the monster.

*Booom!*

An explosion rang out and the monster was blown into pieces.

“Lacie!”

After killing the monster Glen quickly returned to his wife’s side.

“I’m fine, but the baby…”

“It’s alright. Focus on healing your wound for now. Kylie!”

“Y-Yes!”

Kylie who was in a daze was startled when his father suddenly called his name.

“We’re leaving! Let’s go!”

He lifted Lacie and held her in his arms.

“Father, I….It’s my fault mama is like this….and the baby..”

*Bam!*

Kylie suddenly felt a fist hit his head. He looked up and saw his mother glaring at him.

“Didn’t you hear your father? We’re leaving!”

Tears started flowed down his face, which made Lacie’s expression soften a little.

“What happened here is not your fault. It’s ours for being so careless in front of a distortion. As for the baby, we can always have another. Even if we can’t, we already have you and the girls. That’s more than enough to satisfy us.”

She caressed his head and said.

“No more talking!”

Glen grabbed Kylie and started to run while dragging him and carrying Lacie.

However he didn’t reach far before hearing a thunderous roar coming from being him.

He looked around and saw a monster similar to the one he killed before crawling out of the distortion. However, this one was several times bigger.

“The previous was just a infant, huh?”

Glen stopped and said.

“Lacie, if you unseal your magic how much of strength can you use?”

“Around 80%”

“Well, this is a problem. Looks like I’ll have provide the other 1000% needed to kill that thing.”

Glen said with a dry smile.

“Don’t worry. If I try really hard I’m sure I can dig up around another 300% or so.”

“Oh? Well thanks for that.”

Glen released Kylie and placed Lacie down.

“Listen closely to what I’m about to say, Kylie.”

He spoke while facing the monster.

“That thing over there is strong. Strong enough to kill everyone here at Corpse Hill, including your sisters.”

Kylie paled when he heard that.

Glen turned around and smiled at him.

“But don’t worry. Papa and mama will take it down.”

“Papa….”

Kylie didn’t rejoice at his father’s claim. He could tell from his parents behavior that they intended to do something really dangerous.

“Listen, you may be the youngest but you also need to be the strongest and protect your sisters.”

Lacie stooped in front of him and said.

Kylie slowly nodded.

Even though he was just 12 he understood clearly what his mother meant and what she and his father was about to do.

They were about to sacrifice themselves to protect their children.

Seeing that Kylie understood their intentions and was doing his best to keep his cool, Glen rubbed his hair affectionately.

“Good boy. We’ve always thought you about the horrors of the battlefield and reality of life and death. It’s good to see you being mature.”

The monster finally spotted them and started to rush towards them.

“It’s coming.”

Lacie stood up and turned her back to Kylie.

“I’ve said everything I already wanted, you can send him off.

Glen gripped his spear and rushed forward while covering himself in golden mana.

“Makoto Tactics: Meteor Bursting Through The Heavens!”

*Boom!*

One man and his spear fused together and became an unstoppable force ripping through the air and causing the world to tremble.

*BOOOM!*

Glen and the monster clashed and caused a massive explosion accompanied by a blinding light.

Even though visibility was limited the clashes between Glen and monster echoed through the area.

“Papa…”

Kylie watched the intense battle with his whole body trembling.

“Kylie.”

That’s when Lacie called out his name, which made him look at her.

The bleeding had ceased after she unsealed her magic. It was apparent that she acknowledged the death of her unborn child and decided to fight without holding back.

“Me and your father love you. Not only you, but your sisters. Our wish is to make you all happy, but that might no longer be possible. After this the Four of you will definitely be sad for a long time. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I want you grant me a request.”

“….What is it?”

“I want you to protect your family with your life. I want you to let them find happiness, but I also wish for your happiness. Can you fulfill my selfish request?”

After a long period of silence Kylie nodded.

“Great!”

Lacie stooped down and planted a kiss on his forehead.

“I’m counting on you.”

After saying that, she covered herself in gold mana charged towards the monster. Kylie didn’t stay to watch his parents fight because he knew that he would only get in the way and waste their efforts.

With tears flowing from his eyes and determination in his heart, Kylie turned his back on his parents dying battle to fulfill their wishes.

However, Kylie soon found out the true meaning of the saying “when it rains it pours.”