Before you read this, I would like you to say "Brace for impact! Because this plot twist almost gave me a heartattack!"

  He walked out of the portal with his chin held high, completely ignoring the whispering onlookers. His eyes locked onto Leonica immediately.

  "Leo!" he boomed, a proud smile breaking across his wrinkled face. "I am proud you made it to the top three. I knew it."

  Leonica awkwardly shifted on her feet, glancing sideways at me.

  But the old man wasn't done. He paused, his expression twisting into a familiar, disdainful scowl as he turned his attention back to her. "Now, regarding that useless 'failure'... I heard that he made it out alive. Maybe someone saved him out of pity. He is here, I've heard. Do you happen to see him?"

  I froze.

  I pressed my lips together, trying absolutely everything in my power to keep a straight face. I bit my tongue. I looked away. But the sheer irony of him standing right in front of me, complaining about me to me, was just too much to handle. A snort escaped me, and then I completely lost it. I threw my head back and laughed hard.

  Kiritsuga's scowl deepened. He turned his harsh gaze toward me, clearly offended that a random stranger was mocking his family moment.

  "What are you laughing for, boy?" he snapped, his tone dripping with authority. He looked back at my sister. "Who is he, Leo?"

  Leonica covered her mouth, giggling as she pointed at me. "He... he is the one who topped."

  The Patriarch blinked. His harsh expression smoothed out instantly, settling into a look of calm, calculated assessment. He sized me up, completely unaware that he was staring at the very "useless failure" he was just bad-mouthing.

  "I don't know how you topped," Kiritsuga said smoothly, his eyes perfectly calm, "but you must be strong. So take care of Leo for me." He placed a hand on his chest, offering a dignified nod. "Forgive me for not introducing myself. I am Kiritsuga Crimson. And who will you be, young man?"

  Oh, this was too perfect.

  Finally! My inner monologue was practically cheering, laughing evilly at the setup. I dropped the polite academy student act and let a massive, wicked smirk spread across my face. I looked the old man dead in the eye.

  "Ay yo! Old haggard!" I barked, laughing with pure, vindictive delight. "I'm back. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

  I waited for the realization to hit. I waited for the horror, the anger, the denial. I was fully prepared to watch him stumble back in shock right there on the Colosseum floor.

  Instead... the old man smiled.

  "It was hard to believe," Kiritsuga whispered, his calm expression breaking into a loud, incredibly proud laugh. "But you really did achieve it! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

  I stopped laughing. My smirk faltered. What?

  Kiritsuga stepped forward, looking at me not with disgust, but with overwhelming pride. "You know, son... I always loved the fact that you were born, because you had the genes of our ancestors." He looked at me, his voice trembling slightly with the weight of his next words. "And more importantly, you have the genes of my grand-grandfather, Jase Crimson's father."

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  My jaw practically unhinged. He knew? He knew about the lineage all along?

  "You know I had to let you go through a hard environment," the old man continued, "but I made sure you wouldn't die."

  Tears—actual, genuine tears—welled up in the terrifying Patriarch's eyes. The stoic, ruthless leader of the Crimson family was getting emotional in the middle of a public arena.

  "But finally," Kiritsuga choked out, his facade completely crumbling. "I can show my affection."

  He stepped forward and pulled me into a sudden, tight hug. I stood there completely paralyzed while the old man who banished me held onto me like his lifeline.

  "You are my grandson, and a true member of the Crimson family," he declared softly.

  Then, he pulled back, gripped my shoulders, and turned to face the massive, lingering crowd in the Colosseum. He took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs.

  "Everyone! He is my blood." Kiritsuga's voice boomed across the arena. "He is Ragna Crimson, my grandson, and a proud part of the Crimson family!"

  The entire Colosseum went dead silent for a fraction of a second before a wave of frantic whispering erupted among the audience, echoing all the way up to the King and his royal family in the viewing box. The nobles looked at me like I came back from dead. Which, politically speaking, I did.

  I stood there, still trapped in the old man's surprisingly iron-like grip, staring blankly at the whispers spreading like wildfire through the stands.

  Before I could even formulate a suitably sarcastic response to my sudden reinstatement into the family, the air above us shifted.

  Someone was descending from the royal box. And by descending, I mean literally floating down through the air with the kind of effortless, gravity-defying grace that screamed 'high-level cultivator with a flair for the dramatic.'

  The man touched down gently on the arena floor. He had slick black hair, sharp brown eyes, and wore the kind of ridiculously opulent robes that cost more than a small city.

  "I'm Caryon Lesse, the King of Razia," he announced, his voice carrying an undeniable, natural authority. He offered me a measured, respectful smile. "It's nice to meet you in person, Ragna. Kiritsuga always talked about you. You're a tough warrior, it seems. But I want to know how strong you really are."

  My brain screeched to a halt.

  Wait. What? Kiritsuga talked about me? To the King? I whipped my head to look at my grandfather, who was currently looking entirely too smug for a guy who threw a six-year-old into a monster-infested forest.

  (Did this old hag actually want me to get stronger?) my mind raced, the sheer absurdity of the situation finally crashing down on me. (Was my entire banishment just some twisted, extreme-survival training montage?)

  "Wait! What's goin' on?" I blurted out, my carefully crafted stoic persona slipping into pure, unfiltered confusion. I pointed an accusing finger at Kiritsuga. "Is this a new joke, old man? You threw me out, and now you're bragging about me to the monarchy? What the hell is happening? What's going on?!"

  King Caryon chuckled, stepping forward to intervene before I could verbally assault my grandfather any further.

  "The truth is," Caryon explained, his tone shifting into something far more serious, "there was a prophecy. A vision granted by the Goddess Talestia."

  I felt my eye twitch at the mention of that annoying, glowing lightbulb of a deity.

  "She spoke of a boy with silver hair," the King continued, his gaze locked onto my distinctly snowy mane. "A boy who would reach great heights in less time, evading death at a small age. She said that he would be the one to eventually defeat the Demon King."

  "What the F—" I choked out, slapping a hand over my mouth before I could finish the curse in front of the reigning monarch.

  (Are you kidding me, Talestia?!) I screamed internally. (You didn't just drop me into a death-trap forest; you literally leaked my patch notes and character design to the entire server before I even spawned!)

  Caryon didn't seem to notice my internal crisis. He turned his head slightly, gesturing to the heavily armored Royal Guards standing at the edge of the arena.

  "Call him," the King ordered simply.

  "Wait! Call who?" I demanded, my survival instincts instantly flaring up. I just fought a True Phoenix and a Demon King fragment. My mana reserves were barely out of the red. "Who am I going to fight?!"

  King Caryon turned back to me, his brown eyes perfectly calm.

  "Another person," the King said smoothly, "who is suspected to be a hero."