Some Months Earlier

  Gyeongju, South Korea

  During a Peaceful Afternoon

  In a humble, simple house in the city of Gyeongju, located in one of the neighborhoods farthest from the city center, it was possible to see people calmly walking along the street near the home of the young Nabi Yu.

  The house was a modest construction, with a few plants in front and a small vegetable garden, although some parts of it were still unfinished, lacking plaster. Inside the house, a 17-year-old young man.

  Adrian Ethan, moved about, taking the food off the fire and placing the leftovers on the table, covering them with a cloth to protect them from the heat.

  Adrian was not a relative of Nabi Yu's family, but over the past year he had become almost like an older brother to her.

  This was because, on the very day that marked one year since the death of Nabi Yu's mother, Miss Yuna, she had asked Adrian to gently take care of her daughter.

  Nabi Yu was already seated at the table, smiling as she realized the meal was her favorite, even though there was not enough for a second serving. She felt happy knowing there was enough for herself and for Adrian.

  As Adrian watched Nabi Yu serve herself from the pot, placing a little food onto her plate, she smiled and commented on how much she liked his cooking.

  In that moment, without even realizing it, she called Adrian "older brother" for the first time, spontaneously, while watching him with happiness.

  Adrian had no experience being an older brother, as he was an only child. Still, he knew his efforts over the past months had been worth it, allowing him to take care of young Nabi Yu, who had turned fourteen less than a week earlier.

  On that day, in Adrian's present, he felt a deep pain in his chest as he remembered that exactly one year ago, Nabi Yu had a loving mother by her side.

  And that, in her final moments, she had seen in him something that Adrian himself could not understand until that very day.

  He perceived the colors of the world as if they were more saturated, the sight of young Nabi Yu eating her food with such happiness so beautiful that she even lightly dirtied her mouth, making him smile genuinely and, at the same time, without realizing it, cry.

  Adrian, in the present moment, felt that same unique sensation Yuna had felt for her daughter—something he was now feeling in that simple yet special moment with young Nabi Yu.

  It was something that made him smile and laugh happily, trying to wipe away the tears that fell from his eyes, without Nabi Yu noticing as she ate. Adrian closed his eyes and returned to the past.

  He remembered that the place where Miss Yuna had been taken after being kidnapped was a warehouse used for the screening of beings who were not human—individuals visually identical to ordinary humans, but who were Oculi within.

  The most ironic part of this was that the people trafficking these Oculi—who only wished to live among humans without becoming involved in the conflicts between the two most influential Oculi factions—were themselves Oculi.

  These traffickers were none other than Oculi who belonged to the faction that followed the Begeneri twins.

  These Oculi traffickers enjoyed this work because of the benefits they received from kidnapping targets of the Inanis faction or those who seemed highly valuable on the black market due to their connections to one of the ten noble Oculi families.

  One Year Earlier

  Dongcheon-dong, South Korea

  11:56 PM

  Adrian, despite having spent only two months chained inside a small cell, could hear Miss Yuna pleading for mercy in the room next to the one where he was being kept, treated as if she were merchandise ready to be auctioned off on the black market.

  The screams of Miss Yuna — a woman he did not even know — echoed through the walls, and somehow that alone made him wish he could help her.

  All of Yuna's pleas revolved around the same thing: the safety of her daughter, Nabi Yu, even if it meant sacrificing her own life.

  Miss Yuna begged again and again, so many times that her voice was growing weaker and more strained, yet the leader of that trafficking group only grew angrier.

  She had repeated herself so much that she began to irritate everyone there, constantly pleading for them not to go after her daughter, insisting that she would do anything necessary to keep her child's location hidden from the Inanis faction.

  The Inanis faction were the superiors of that group inside the warehouse, and there was a single order whose completion promised many benefits: if they succeeded, they would be permanently admitted into the ranks of the Inanis faction.

  That order was to find Yuna first and, at any cost, force her to reveal where she had hidden her daughter, Nabi Yu. The mission given to that group was clear: locate Yuna's daughter — a girl deemed extremely important — and deliver young Nabi Yu to the Inanis faction.

  The Begeneri twins, the current leaders and founders of the faction, had very carefully laid plans for the young Nabi Yu, whose blood was considered invaluable for the advancement of the next phase related to the Eva Theory.

  But the man who led the group inside the warehouse eventually reached the limit of his patience.

  In a burst of rage, he grabbed Miss Yuna by the hair and ordered her to stop that pathetic attempt to save her daughter by offering herself in her place.

  At the same time, that image became clear after so many days: Miss Yuna, visibly tied to a chair, her face and arms badly injured by the hands of those people — members of the group inside the warehouse.

  During all those days in captivity, Yuna had tried to escape using her Oculi abilities, weak as they were.

  Each attempt ended the same way: she was quickly caught and brutally beaten in retaliation, made to regret daring to try to flee not once, but several times in less than a single week.

  Young Adrian, only sixteen years old at the time, remained locked inside his dark, filthy cell. He was given rations to eat and dirty water to drink — just enough to keep him alive until the day he would be taken to the auction.

  Even so, he noticed that Yuna's voice — which had echoed relentlessly over the consecutive days of dizziness brought on by her refusal to reveal her daughter's location — was changing with every passing hour and minute.

  It was becoming weaker, increasingly exhausted, for reasons Adrian could not understand, since he was trapped there and unable to see her even once.

  Ever since the moment Yuna was captured and brought into that filthy, nauseating warehouse, the same place where Adrian himself had already been rotting away for weeks before she ever arrived.

  Mrs. Yuna, despite being severely injured—having been beaten every day over the past week—remained tied to a chair inside that warehouse, refusing to reveal the location of her Nabi Yu to the men standing before her.

  She knew very well that by making the choice not to tell them where her daughter was, she would never again see Nabi Yu smile with her own eyes, nor watch her grow older and one day tell her about her future achievements.

  Even bleeding, her head lowered and her face marked by cuts and bruises, Miss Yuna continued to smile in the face of pain, while tears fell from her eyes onto her thighs.

  That smile was not meant for the men who were arguing over what to do with Yuna, now that she refused to speak in any way and the deadline for delivering Nabi Yu was approaching.

  They had not even managed to kidnap the girl, since Yuna remained silent despite the many forms of torture they had already tried to force her to speak—each of them failing miserably.

  Meanwhile, Adrian, who was in the adjacent room inside his cell, imprisoned and consumed by rage over what he had already allowed Miss Yuna to suffer, felt that burning sensation tighten his chest. It made him cry in anger more often than he even realized.

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  It became clear that Adrian did not suffer only from hearing the screams of pain and anguish echoing daily through that warehouse from Miss Yuna, but suffered even more from sensing an invisible force that easily enveloped the entire place.

  A force that, while transmitting immense pain, also carried a warmth that pressed against his chest with each passing day, without him being able to fully understand what that sensation truly was.

  Yet, as the days went by, he came to understand—painfully—that the sensation he had felt so many times during those days in the warehouse was the same one he had experienced beside his parents, as they held him in their arms before collapsing to the ground after giving their lives.

  Only in that way had Adrian remained alive, for his parents had fought the men who were about to kidnap him, and in their rage, those men grew furious and tried to kill Adrian purely for the pleasure born of their anger.

  Without Adrian himself knowing it, he carried a blood connection to one of the ten noble families among the Oculi—an origin of great value on the black market.

  That unique sensation of warmth and pain at the same time, subtly and imperceptibly spread throughout the entire warehouse to all the men present there.

  It was nothing less than the manifestation of Miss Yuna's love, intertwined with her Oculi abilities, which were not meant for combat but for defense and protection—this sensation growing gradually stronger.

  Felt by Adrian over many days, it became the trigger he needed to awaken his Oculi abilities in a defined way, no longer fragmented, even though he was still a beginner and deeply inexperienced.

  Adrian, upon hearing from the leader of that group of kidnappers that they were going to put an end to it and torture her definitively — and that if she did not reveal to them the location of the young Nabi Yu.

  All the members of that group present in the warehouse would have permission from their leader to do whatever they wanted with Yuna, since she would be completely psychologically broken from that night onward, after the end of that last attempt at torture.

  After such a blatant display of contempt toward Miss Yuna, Adrian broke free from the chains that bound him and left the cage, destroying it with his bare fists.

  Driven by rage and hatred for what they had done to Miss Yuna, and for what they were about to do to her by the end of that night,

  He charged at each of them as if they were "poor sheep," running and trying to fight inside a warehouse swallowed by the darkness of the night, which became "red" in its tones.

  Faced with Adrian's assault, he killed each of them as if they were nothing more than a worthless heap of pure trash in his eyes.

  At the end of the silence that followed the screams of those men who tried to react and failed — who tried to flee the warehouse only to be decapitated by Adrian's fists and kicks — he was finally able to reach Miss Yuna at a rapid pace.

  And then, finally, Adrian was able not only to meet Yuna, but also to have the chance to try to help her return to the arms of her daughter, Nabi Yu — whom she had suffered so much to protect from that group of men and from the Inanis faction.

  However, when Adrian reached Miss Yuna, he realized that she was severely injured and that her gaze, upon seeing him for the first time,

  Showed that she was still restrained and almost completely blind after everything she had endured during the two weeks she had been held captive inside that warehouse, far away from her daughter, Nabi Yu.

  Adrian was left speechless when he saw Yuna smile after he held her hand, after carefully freeing her from the chains and gags in various parts of her body, taking great care not to hurt her any further.

  Faced with that sight before his eyes, he apologized for having taken so long to escape from his cell, after so many days of pain he had heard coming from the room next door.

  Adrian noticed, as he looked at her face — which lifted after so many days spent staring only at the ground — that even though she was weak, Yuna looked deep into Adrian's eyes as she began to shed her silent tears.

  He watched that scene reflected in his completely white eyes, without irises, which then returned to resembling those of a normal human after he deactivated his Oculi abilities.

  That sight was like a knife cutting his heart into countless pieces — seeing Miss Yuna visibly weakened, looking at his face with an expression of gratitude etched upon it, marked by the tears she had shed so much over these past days.

  Those tears staining her expression were not ordinary, for they were black tears, revealing that she had already been crying from her wounds themselves.

  They were nothing less than tears of blood — because, being an Oculi like Adrian, their blood was black rather than red.

  Adrian was left without reaction, feeling his heart being squeezed with such force that he whispered pleas for forgiveness to Yuna, falling before her feet. He lowered his head, feeling utterly useless.

  But quickly, he was taken by surprise when she gently held his hand, reassuring Adrian that, even though she could not fully see his face at that moment.

  Despite everything, she felt within her heart that beautiful essence growing more and more intense in its movement inside Téo's heart, giving her the sensation that she might finally find what would allow her to rest more peacefully at last.

  Adrian begged her, seeing Yuna's physical condition, not to move and promised he would seek help as quickly as possible outside that warehouse.

  However, Yuna refused, stating that she would never manage to leave that place alive, for she had been gravely wounded in the stomach by the men now dead at Adrian's hands.

  Those men had kept her alive with drugs injected into her arm, prolonging her life until she revealed where her daughter was hidden.

  The drugs were not meant to ease Yuna's pain; being drugged and kept alive through that process was worse than death itself, she told Adrian, her chest tightening.

  From the day she was kidnapped, she knew she would suffer for the poor choices she had made in her life, but she took pride in having been the mother of young Nabi Yu, and in having given everything she had to remain alive until that moment before Adrian.

  Yuna thanked, within her own mind, every single day, that her daughter was not there beside her, suffering as she had suffered so much in less than a month.

  Adrian then realized that Yuna was beginning to feel her body grow heavier and numb, and she could no longer bring herself to look into the eyes of Adrian kneeling before her.

  With her gaze lowered and her head bowed, Yuna pleaded with Adrian to take care of her daughter, Nabi Yu, until a trusted person could arrive at her home to meet her.

  After so long without Yuna being able to contact that person during the kidnapping she had endured, the moment before Adrian now stood on the verge of coming to an end.

  Adrian felt Yuna's hand—previously gripping his tightly—grow increasingly relaxed, showing that she trusted him enough to place her daughter's safety in his care.

  To Yuna, Adrian was not a complete stranger. She had immediately recognized his presence fighting against the men, and by feeling the touch of his hand over hers, she knew he belonged to the same family as her husband once did.

  Adrian was unaware of this fact, but to Mrs. Yuna, it was precisely the missing piece of knowledge that allowed her—despite Adrian being so young—to make a request as her final wish in life.

  She asked that he protect her daughter, Nabi Yu, over the coming months.

  Until the trusted person she was waiting for arrived at her home and took her daughter to a safer place, far from the eyes of the Inanis faction and from Oculi groups similar to those Adrian had just exterminated to protect her.

  This trusted person of Yuna's was a member of the high ranks of the Reginae faction, a rival of the Inanis faction.

  Adrian held Yuna's already weakened hand with both of his own, stating that he felt honored by the trust she placed in him by asking something so important.

  He promised to do everything possible, until the end of his life, to protect Nabi Yu from any harm. Yuna thanked him, breathing gratefully and ever more slowly, while telling him the address of her home.

  Yuna spoke to Adrian with a nostalgic, happy expression, recalling her daughter within her mind—memories from different moments, yet all among the most beautiful and meaningful any mother or father could hold in their heart.

  In those memories, Nabi Yu was still so young, running through the house and laughing happily, calling out to Yuna to play with her and enjoy the moment together.

  Yuna saw herself move forward in that memory, pretending to be a fierce tiger that would "devour" little Nabi Yu. Soon after, Nabi Yu could be seen running through the house laughing, being chased by her mother Yuna, who was also smiling and laughing, happy to be playing beside her daughter.

  And then Yuna, before her own eyes within her mind, watched those many memories—surrounded by such beautiful colors—gradually fade away one by one, like lamps failing inside a mind that was growing weaker and slower.

  Drowsiness grew stronger, not only over her body but over her mind as a whole. Returning to the present, still with her eyes closed, she spoke tenderly and cheerfully, her voice deeply emotional and painful to utter.

  She said that her beloved daughter, Nabi Yu, was a very energetic and messy child who loved to eat pumpkin sweets while walking through the park near their home on the weekends.

  But despite all that, young Nabi Yu was also affectionate and attentive toward those she liked having close, and Yuna said she was very happy that someone like Adrian would be there to make her feel safe and loved.

  Hearing those words, Adrian wept in silence as he felt a tight ache in his heart. He remained kneeling before Miss Yuna's legs, a trembling smile fixed upon his face.

  Still holding her hand, fingers interlaced with hers, Adrian kept his head lowered, no longer having the strength to look at Yuna.

  Not only Adrian, but Yuna as well cried silently while smiling. As her body drifted into sleep, she visualized one last image in her mind—a vision of her daughter's future.

  Nabi Yu, now grown, turned back toward her, long black hair flowing, calling her by name and saying that she would always love her very much.

  Then Yuna remembered all the days she suffered at the hands of the men who had kidnapped her, memories of herself screaming in pain and fear interwoven.

  With happy memories beside her daughter, from when she was a baby up until just a few days ago in the present, when she was thirteen years old.

  That was the last time Yuna saw her smile, before she was kidnapped during one of their trips to the market to buy meat for dinner—for herself and for Nabi Yu.

  Miss Yuna felt her body grow increasingly relaxed and light after having managed to protect her most precious treasure from those men: the current whereabouts of her daughter, Nabi Yu.

  From that day on, Nabi Yu would be protected by Adrian instead of her, for Yuna only had just enough strength left to keep herself awake a little longer, so she would not fall asleep before managing to leave her daughter safely in the care of someone like Adrian.

  In the midst of that entire moment, she took her final deep breath, still having her hand held with such tenderness by the young Adrian, who then heard what would become the most painful and heaviest silence of his life.

  Adrian, with tears streaming from his eyes toward the ground, felt in his heart the warmth carried by Miss Yuna's love for her daughter.

  That warmth easily extended outward, covering the entire warehouse where they stood, only to gradually dissolve like sand in the wind after a few moments.

  Before what he understood to be the most painful falling-asleep he could ever experience again — the same kind of falling-asleep he himself had once lived through, after his parents had embraced him and saved him from being killed.

  They had soothed him while he was still so young, telling him they were fine, that they loved him very much, Adrian, and that from that day on they would love him even more and would remain by his side forever, leaving that warehouse behind with a vision that would be terrifying to anyone.

  That warehouse was heavily stained with black blood and with the many dismembered bodies of the men Adrian had killed to reach Yuna.

  Nothing could compare, in terms of terror and pain, to that deafening silence that followed Yuna's final breath, leaving Adrian as the only living person inside the warehouse.

  He cried with his teeth clenched and exposed, for having failed to save Yuna, and for wishing to become even stronger from that moment onward.

  So he could fulfill his promise to protect young Nabi Yu once she left that dark warehouse, as the night around him grew even darker.