The moment Crown Prince Lucien drew his sword, the temperature in the royal garden dropped.
Six elite royal guards moved in perfect formation, spreading out to surround the white pavilion.
Their armor glowed with layered defensive runes, and the tips of their spears crackled with condensed mana.
The night air, once filled only with the scent of flowers and lake water, now carried the sharp metallic tang of killing intent.
Kai stood in front of Elara, completely unmoved.
Through the newly formed Claim bond, he could feel her heartbeat racing against his back.
Fear still lingered inside her, but it was no longer the fear of him.
It was the fear of being taken back to the man whose destiny thread he had already severed.
Lucien’s voice cut through the night like a blade.
“Elara.
Step away from that man.
Now.” Elara’s fingers tightened slightly on the back of Kai’s coat.
She did not move.
Lucien’s eyes narrowed.
For the first time, genuine confusion mixed with the anger on his handsome face.
The Saintess of Luminara had never refused him before.
Not once.
“You… what did you do to her?” Lucien demanded, pointing his sword at Kai.
Kai tilted his head slightly, as if the question itself was amusing.
“I took what was never truly yours.” The words landed like a slap.
Lucien’s face twisted.
“Kill him.” The six guards moved at once.
Mana flared.
Spears thrust forward from three directions.
Two guards circled to cut off any escape route while the last one prepared a binding spell.
It was a textbook encirclement designed to overwhelm a single opponent in seconds.
Kai did not retreat.
Instead, he raised his right hand.
The Claim Mark on his palm—now fully completed—flared with black-and-gold light.
A surge of power that did not belong to this world erupted from his body.
It was not the holy energy of the Church, nor the elemental mana of the royal knights.
It was something colder, denser, and far more absolute.
[Claim Resonance – Basic activated] Borrowing: Holy Purification (Temporary) Duration: 90 seconds Golden-white light exploded outward from Kai’s body.
The three spears that had been aimed at his heart stopped dead in the air, their tips only inches away from his chest.
The binding spell shattered before it could fully form.
The guards staggered backward as if they had slammed into an invisible wall of pure force.
Lucien’s eyes widened.
“That light… that’s the Saintess’s power!” Kai lowered his hand slowly.
The holy energy still swirled around him like a living cloak, mixed with the dark-gold of his own Claim ability.
The combination looked almost unnatural—sacred light tainted by something that should not exist.
He took one step forward.
The nearest guard instinctively raised his spear again.
Kai simply brushed the weapon aside with two fingers.
The moment his skin touched the metal, the runes engraved on the spear went dark.
The weapon’s enchantment died as if it had never existed.
Kai’s voice remained calm, almost conversational.
“Your turn, Crown Prince.” Lucien’s face hardened.
He no longer underestimated the stranger.
Raising his sword high, he poured a massive amount of mana into the blade.
Golden light erupted along the edge, forming the shape of a roaring lion—the signature technique of the Luminara royal family.
“Royal Lion Slash!” The attack descended like a falling star, carrying enough force to split the pavilion in half.
Kai did not dodge.
He raised his left hand and caught the blade bare-handed.
The impact sent a shockwave through the garden.
Water from the lake exploded upward.
Trees bent.
Several floating light orbs shattered.
The six guards were forced to dig their feet into the ground to avoid being blown away.
Yet Kai’s hand did not move.
The glowing lion-shaped energy struggled for a full second before it began to crack.
Black-and-gold veins spread across the golden light like a disease, devouring it from the inside.
Lucien’s eyes shook.
“Impossible…!” Kai twisted his wrist.
The Royal Lion Slash shattered completely.
The backlash sent Lucien sliding backward several meters, his boots carving deep grooves into the stone path.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Silence fell over the garden.
Kai lowered his hand and looked at the crown prince with mild disappointment.
“Is that all the power of the ‘destined hero’ of this kingdom?” Lucien’s breathing was heavy.
His pride as the crown prince, as the man chosen by fate, had just been publicly crushed in front of the Saintess and his own guards.
Rage and humiliation burned in his eyes.
“You… what are you?” Kai finally answered.
“I am the one who steals the endings that were written for people like you.” He turned slightly and glanced at Elara.
Through the Claim bond, he sent a quiet pulse of reassurance.
The silver-haired saintess looked up at him, her blue eyes still wet, but the fear in them had lessened.
In its place was something new—fragile trust mixed with a growing sense of belonging.
Lucien saw that look.
Something inside the crown prince broke.
“Elara!” he shouted, voice raw.
“Have you lost your mind?!
He is using some kind of evil magic on you!
Come back to me!” Elara’s lips parted.
For a moment, the old habit of obedience tried to surface.
Then the black-and-gold thread connecting her to Kai pulsed once, and the impulse died.
She spoke in a soft but clear voice.
“I… cannot go back, Your Highness.” Those five words hit Lucien harder than any physical attack.
His sword hand trembled.
The golden light around his blade flickered and nearly went out.
Kai took another step forward, his presence pressing down on the entire clearing like an invisible mountain.
“You have two choices, Crown Prince.
Walk away and keep what little dignity you still have… or force me to take everything else from you tonight.” The six guards looked at their prince, waiting for the order.
Their formation was already broken.
Two of them were injured from the earlier backlash.
None of them wanted to be the first to charge again.
Lucien’s jaw clenched so hard that the veins on his neck stood out.
He was the Crown Prince of Luminara.
The man destined to unify the continent.
The hero who was supposed to stand beside the Saintess until the end.
And yet, in a single night, an unknown man had stolen the woman who was supposed to be his greatest support—and had done it so completely that she no longer even looked at him the same way.
The humiliation was absolute.
Lucien’s voice came out low and venomous.
“…This is not over.” He sheathed his sword with a sharp metallic sound.
“Guards.
We are leaving.” The royal knights hesitated for only a second before falling in behind their prince.
Lucien cast one last look at Elara—filled with anger, confusion, and something that almost resembled loss—before turning away.
As the group disappeared into the darkness of the garden path, Kai finally relaxed his stance.
The borrowed holy power faded from his body, returning to its source.
A soft system notification appeared in his vision.
[First Combat Victory] Reward: +1 Destiny Fragment Claimed Heroine loyalty increased Elara Voss – Loyalty: 27% → 41% New Quest Unlocked: Survive the Kingdom’s Counterattack Kai exhaled slowly.
The first claim was complete.
The first blood had been drawn.
And the original protagonist of this world had already been forced to retreat.
He turned to Elara.
The silver-haired saintess was still staring at the path where Lucien had disappeared, her expression complicated.
Kai spoke quietly.
“Regretting it already?” Elara shook her head slowly.
When she looked at him, her voice was barely above a whisper.
“…No.
For the first time in a long while… I feel like the path in front of me is no longer decided by someone else.” Kai studied her for a moment, then gave a small nod.
“Good.” He glanced up at the twin moons hanging in the purple sky.
This world was only the beginning.
Far beyond the kingdom of Luminara, across countless other realms, hundreds of thousands of golden destiny threads were still waiting to be stolen.
And he would claim them all.