His ribs ached. His legs were like stone. He had used every technique he knew—feints, terrain control, guerrilla striking—and now he was running on instinct alone.
Every breath was effort. Every movement hurt.
The Draco-lizard's tail smashed through a nearby wall. Concrete dust exploded outward.
"No more hiding," Darian whispered, straightening his back.
He stepped forward and lowered his stance—one knee slightly bent, shoulders relaxed, grip firm. It was an old stance from martial arts training; one he hadn't used since his younger days. The Flowing Root—designed not to stop power, but to divert it.
"One more clash. I'll take an eye, no matter what happens."
The monster screeched, a violent, deafening roar that made the very air shake.
It leapt forward—massive blade raised high.
Darian didn't flinch. He narrowed his eyes. His lips parted slightly. Just enough to whisper—
"I'm not afraid of you."
BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMM
The roar of an engine tore through the chaos.
Both warrior and beast froze.
A glint of silver. The smell of hot rubber. The explosive growl of a modified turbo core engine.
From the far end of the ruined avenue, a sleek black motorcycle tore through the rising smoke, its headlights piercing the dust like twin blades.
The Draco-lizard twisted its head, confused by the sudden sound.
The building's shattered glass doors reflected the streak of speed surging toward them.
Then came KIRA's voice , crisp with sarcasm:
"Warning: Satellite hijacking is a federal crime. Your son is currently committing three."
A beat of silence.
"…but I must admit, the execution was flawless."
The lizard shifted uneasily. Something had changed in the air.
Sam knew he had little time.
Two minutes—just two—to get back.
In those two minutes, he needed a miracle.
He wasn't aiming to kill the Draco-lizard. That was beyond reckless. No—he had to do the impossible: snatch his father from death's jaws and escape alive.
The broken skyline of Osaka smoldered under a blood-orange haze. Screams echoed faintly. Sirens wailed. Concrete dust clouded the roads like fog.
Sam's eyes locked on a half-collapsed building where sounds of destruction thundered like a war drum.
"That has to be it," he muttered.
Then he saw it—through a jagged window: a towering black-scaled monster poised over a man with trembling legs and bloodied arms.
His father.
And in the next breath, that monstrous blade was about to fall.
Sam's heart stopped—but his hands did not.
He gritted his teeth, surged forward, and aimed his bike straight at the glass entrance of the building.
BRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!
The front wheel burst through the glass like a bullet through water.
KIRA's voice buzzed in his ear with deadpan irony.
"You are currently exceeding both safe speed limits and rational decision-making protocols, Sam."
Sam didn't blink. His grip tightened.
'As expected, that damn lizard is agile.'
The Draco-lizard snapped its head toward him, its inhuman reflexes firing. In a blink, it leapt—12 meters straight up, clearing the incoming bike like a trained predator avoiding a trap.
Sam didn't flinch. That was exactly what he gambled on.
He had never intended to crash the bike into it.
Instead, he leaned forward, slicing through the path under the monster's airborne shadow, using the momentum to launch straight toward Darian.
"Father! Get on the bike—NOW!"
Darian's world froze for a second. Blood and grit caked his skin. He was moments from death. And then his son came bursting through glass like an angel with a death wish.
In Darian's eyes flashed a sequence of raw emotions—shock, fury, disbelief, love... and finally, fear.
He hadn't feared the Draco-lizard, not even when he knew death was seconds away. But this? Seeing Sam here, risking everything?
This terrified him.
With the last surge of strength, Darian lunged onto the bike, his battered arms wrapping around Sam's waist.
"Sam!" he barked over the roaring engine. "Even if you got here—if you don't have a follow-up plan, we both die here!"
Sam didn't speak.
His focus narrowed to a tunnel. The road ahead, the weight of his father behind him, the breath of a monster at his back. He gritted his teeth, pushed the throttle to max.
"We don't die. Not today."
But the Draco-lizard wasn't done.
With terrifying speed, it descended and leapt ahead, landing directly in their path. The entire building trembled under its landing.
Then came the blow.
CRAAAACK!
Its tail or leg—neither of them saw which—slammed into the side of the bike. Metal groaned. Tires screeched. The world turned sideways.
Sam hit the pavement hard, rolling.
But Darian—
Darian had wrapped around his son mid-air, shielding him with everything he had left.
They tumbled across the ground like ragdolls. When they stopped, Sam blinked and pushed himself up, coughing blood.
"F-Father...!"
Darian grunted. His left arm hung limp. His right knee was bent in a way no human knee should bend.
But he was breathing.
"Don't… waste this," Darian rasped. "Think. Move. Survive."
Darian's voice was hoarse, his lungs burned. "Run away. I'll make a chance. Yes—I'll definitely make it… Just run and live."
But Sam kept moving forward. Unshaken.
"No… I'll save you, Dad. Wait…"
His eyes darted. His hand trembled over the vial in his belt. "I have a serum… Yes… No… I can't… Yes. I will. I have to. I'll save you at any cost."
Darian's cries blurred behind him.
Ahead, the beast stood still.
Draco.
It loomed like a living monolith, scales glinting with oil-slick blackness, bone blade gripped in its massive claw. It could've crushed both of them long ago.
But it didn't.
It watched.
Enjoyed.
Amused by the struggle of weaker lifeforms.