He Was Still Just a Child!

But the footsteps of terror still closed in on the village.

Through the cracks in the door, they saw those black giants walking through the village.

Kai knew Uncle Brun, the village blacksmith. He was the strongest man in the village, able to lift the side panel of a harvester by himself.

Uncle Brun roared and swung his massive smithing hammer at one black giant's knee.

Clang! Sparks flew in every direction with a deafening crash.

The black giant merely looked down, as though it had been bitten by a mosquito, then casually swung its hand.

The greatsword, buzzing like a chainsaw magnified a hundredfold, came down over Uncle Brun's head.

Kai watched in horror as the blade met almost no resistance.

Like a hot knife cutting through butter, it followed an eerie, smooth path and split Uncle Brun cleanly and evenly in two from head to toe.

The two halves of his body fell to either side, his organs spilling out as blood gushed like a fountain.

Kai threw up.

His mother clamped a hand over his mouth, her nails digging into his cheeks.

They saw their neighbor, Aunt Lilia, clutching her baby as she tried to flee into the fields.

A shell fired from afar blew her and the swaddled infant in her arms into a crimson mist mixed with shredded cloth, bone, and flesh.

His father came back, covered in sweat and other people's blood, with a despair in his eyes Kai had never seen before.

"Run! To the rice fields! That's the only place to hide!"

He grabbed Mother and Kai, hunched over, and desperately scrambled along the irrigation ditch toward the endless golden waves of rice outside the village.

Just as they were about to plunge into the waist-high rice stalks, the heavy sound of metal trampling through mud closed in from behind.

A Chaos warrior had spotted them. It pursued them unhurriedly, like a hunter admiring its prey's final run.

"Take Kai and go!"

His father shouted, turned around, and raised that ridiculous wrench against the towering wall of black iron.

Kai was dragged onward by his mother, but he looked back and saw his father bravely swing the wrench with all his strength at the giant's shin.

The black giant did not even bother blocking with its weapon. It simply lifted a leg and kicked casually.

His father's waist bent at an impossible angle. He flew away like a rag doll and landed on a distant ridge between the fields, never moving again.

"Dad—!"

Kai's cry was smothered in his mother's hand.

His mother dragged him deeper into the rice field.

The rice stalks scraped against their bodies, and the heavy ears of grain brushed across their faces.

They curled up in a shallow muddy ditch once used for drainage and covered themselves with thick rice stalks.

His mother held Kai tightly in her arms. Their bodies shook uncontrollably from terror and exertion.

Dull footsteps were drawing closer.

Creak—creak—the sound of heavy metal feet crushing rice stalks and sinking into wet mud.

The ground trembled faintly.

A huge, vicious black silhouette flickered between the swaying gaps in the rice, growing ever closer.

The stench of sulfur and rot had already seeped into their nostrils.

The red glow of its lenses swept through the stalks like hellish candlelight.

Kai could feel his mother's heart pounding wildly.

Her breaths were rapid and hot.

Suddenly, his mother let him go.

Kai looked at her in terror.

In the dim light, he saw that her face was streaked with tears and mud, but there was a strange resolve in her eyes.

She leaned close to Kai's ear and said in a breathy voice, hurried and stern:

"Listen, Kai.

"From now on, you have to kneel."

Kai froze, instinctively shaking his head, his neck stiff.

"No... Mom, the teacher said people need dignity... We can't kneel..."

A warm but incredibly forceful slap struck his face, leaving it burning with pain.

Painful love and command blazed in his mother's eyes.

"When you can't even guarantee your own life, child, you'd better abandon that meaningless dignity first!

"Now, kneel!

"Keep your body low, down in the mud!

"Crawl like a field mouse! Don't stand up!

"Follow this ditch and crawl toward the old mill by the river. There's a cellar entrance there, remember?

"Crawl! Don't look back!

"Keep crawling until they can't find you!"

"Mom!"

Kai's tears poured forth as he grabbed the hem of her clothes.

His mother pried open his fingers, then for the last time gently and quickly wiped the tears and mud from his face.

Her fingers were ice-cold.

"Kai, my child," her voice suddenly became incomparably gentle, as though she were lulling him to sleep, "tell me, does the Emperor still bless us?"

Kai sobbed and nodded hard. "The teacher said... the Emperor... always blesses those who are loyal..."

"Yes, and we will always be loyal!"

His mother smiled, a smile filled with grief and boundless longing.

"The Emperor is always with us. His radiance will one day shine across the earth.

"You must live to see that day, child!

"Someone has to witness His glory!

"Now, for Him, live!"

With that, she suddenly stood and pushed aside the rice stalks.

With all her strength, she staggered and ran in the direction opposite the old mill, screaming sharply as she ran:

"Come here!

"You monsters!

"I'm here!"

The Chaos warrior searching nearby was immediately drawn to the sound, its scarlet lenses locking onto the tiny running figure.

It let out a low, satisfied growl and strode after her.

This woman was strong, and she had courage.

The daemon womb made from her should hatch powerful warriors.

The Chaos warrior closed the distance in only a few strides.

Through the gaps in the rice stalks, Kai saw his mother easily seized by a huge armored hand and lifted off the ground.

His mother's legs kicked uselessly in the air.

In the second before that filthy giant hand crushed her, Kai saw his mother turn toward the depths of the rice field, toward where he was hiding. Her lips moved soundlessly.

Yet he seemed to hear that final prayer enter his soul with the wind and the rustling waves of rice:

"Emperor... please bless my child."

She had already foreseen her Destiny.

Though she could not accept it gladly, she faced it calmly.

Kai bit down hard on the back of his hand until the taste of blood filled his mouth, keeping himself from screaming.

He knelt in the cold muddy water and pressed his body close to the earth, just as his mother had ordered.

He had to crawl to the cellar!

He was a good child. He had to listen to his mother!

He should be crawling now!

He had to live. He still had to witness the Emperor's glory!

But Kai remained frozen in place, his mother right behind him.

Just as his age suggested, he was still only a child.

Children were rebellious, disobedient, and above all...

They would always stay by their mother's side!!

Golden waves of rice swayed above his head, as though nothing had happened—only another breeze passing over Gracia's endless fields.

And high in the sky, a blue meteor streaked straight toward this land newly soaked in despair at a devastating speed.