Genetic Engineer in a Tamer's World

Fabio stood at the edge of the crater... his eyes tracing the jagged lines of the cooling glass until they landed on the mangled remains of the Prism Hornet. His gaze shifted a few inches to the left... and the world seemed to tilt beneath his feet.

Paula lay there... her certified researcher’s robes scorched and torn... her throat opened by a clean... surgical strike. The silence of the Inferno Hollow was suddenly broken by a sound that wasn’t a roar or an explosion... but a low... guttural sob of pure disbelief.

Shane... Leda... and the rest of the Wolfberg team crowded behind their leader... their expressions mirroring his horror. They looked at the pile of dead Peak Masters... the gold-wreathed zealots... and then their eyes turned toward Kale.

The boy they had once fed and protected stood in the centre of the carnage... his white coat stained in dark... rhythmic patterns of blood. He held his daggers loosely... his light green hair fluttering in the thermal updrafts... his expression a mask of clinical detachment.

Kale observed their reactions with a cold... calculating intensity... his sensory map recording every flicker of muscle and spike in mana. It was immediately obvious from their raw... unshielded grief that this group had been entirely unaware of Paula’s true allegiance.

They were not spies... merely the convenient cover she had used to hide her movements from the Greenroot Guild’s scouts. Kale felt a flicker of something resembling pity... though his analytical mind quickly discarded it as a biological inefficiency.

”Paula was a spy of the Church... Fabio,” Kale stated... his voice steady and flat against the wind. ”She led an ambush of seven Peak Masters here to have me executed. I had no choice but to kill her.”

He let out a weary sigh... his eyes scanning the horizon for any secondary threats. ”I am sorry for your loss... but she was a threat to my existence. In this world... a threat must be removed before it can manifest.”

Fabio didn’t seem to hear the logic. He didn’t see the Church agents or the golden residue of the Dragon Authority. He only saw the woman he had loved... lying in the dirt like a discarded specimen.

”What bullshit are you spouting... kid?” Fabio shouted... his voice cracking as tears slid down his cheeks. The Pyro Cobra at his side flared to life... its scales turning a violent... incandescent red that matched its master’s fury.

”You killed her! You killed my woman!” Fabio screamed... his grief turning into a blinding... murderous rage that overrode every instinct of self-preservation he possessed. ”I’ll kill you! I’ll tear your soul apart for this!”

Kale’s eyebrows furrowed as the pieces of the social equation finally clicked into place. He hadn’t known they were lovers... hadn’t factored the emotional variable of a romantic bond into his tactical assessment of the Wolfberg team.

It made the situation significantly more complicated. These people had shown him kindness back when he had nothing... when he was a mere village boy with a curse and a flickering life force.

Kale had promised himself that he would one day repay them for the food and protection they had provided on the road to the capital. He had given them rare beasts... elevated their rank... and in a way... he had fulfilled his debt.

But holding his blade against them now didn’t sit right with his internal logic. He understood Fabio’s rage... understood the soul-shattering weight of losing family. He had felt it himself... the scent of burning timber and the screams of his village still echoed in his marrow.

”Fabio... stop,” Kale ordered... his mana-enhanced daggers humming with a warning edge. ”You cannot win this battle. Don’t force me to do something that cannot be reversed.”

But the command fell on deaf ears. Fabio lunged forward... his Pyro Cobra launching a searing whip of fire that turned the air between them into a vacuum. The rest of the team followed their leader... their primitive loyalty overriding their fear of Kale’s power.

The very beasts Kale had provided for them now turned against him. Shane’s Sulfur Hyena coughed out corrosive fumes... while Leda’s Zephyr Kestrel sent sharp gusts of wind-mana that sought to sever Kale’s mana pathways.

Kale moved with a fluid... predatory grace that made their attacks look like they were occurring in slow motion. After his advancement to the Greater Master rank and his Hexarion evolution... his perception was on a different plane entirely.

He had no difficulty defending and dodging... his feet barely touching the scorched ground as he danced through the elemental crossfire. He didn’t counterattack... merely using his daggers to deflect the fire whips and wind blades with surgical efficiency.

”I am trying to be non-violent here!” Kale shouted over the roar of the Pyro Cobra. ”Listen to me! Check her robes! She was carrying the sigil of the Dragon Church’s Inquisitors! She was never the person you thought she was!”

Fabio didn’t stop. He attacked with a madness that defied the rank difference... his fists reinforced by a desperate surge of Beast Force that threatened to rupture his own pathways. He swung wildly... his eyes glazed with the fire of a man who had already died inside.

”She was carrying my child!” Fabio shrieked... the words hitting Kale like a physical blow. The mercenary leader collapsed to his knees... his strength finally flagging... but his voice remained a sundering scream of agony.

”She had my child in her womb... you monster! You killed her! You killed them both!” Fabio’s eyes were fixed on the mangled remains of Paula’s limbs... his hands clawing at the dirt in a rhythmic... hopeless gesture.

”You even let your fucking beast eat parts of her body!” Fabio sobbed... his gaze shifting to Neo... who was currently perched on a nearby root... its three heads watching the scene with an air of monarchal boredom.

The words shook Kale to his very soul. He froze... his daggers lowering as he stared back at Paula’s body. He looked at the mangled parts and then toward Neo... his mind racing through a million unnerving thoughts.