Read Novel Full Chapter 533: Caught by the Young King
Chapter 533: Caught by the Young King
"Don’t tell me..."
Gabriel’s gaze stayed on the distant boy.
He could not see the face clearly, but he did not need to. The pressure was weaker than what he had felt in the king’s chamber, but the feeling was too similar to ignore. It was the same quiet force, only younger and less complete.
There was a high chance this was the king when he was young.
Gabriel did not move closer immediately. Since this was only a memory fragment, no one here should be able to see or sense him. That made observing safer, and for now, he wanted to understand what kind of relationship these three once had.
From the way young Torin and young Aston stood around the boy, they did not seem like strangers or mere subordinates. Their eyes moved toward him too naturally. Their shoulders loosened slightly whenever he stepped forward. It looked like they were friends, though the one Gabriel could not see clearly was obviously the center among them.
The monster in front of them let out a low growl and shifted its huge body. It had four thick arms, a wide chest covered in dark hide, and a head shaped almost like a bull’s, except the jaw was wider and filled with uneven teeth. One of its arms was already bleeding, but Torin and Aston did not look much better.
Young Torin’s clothes were torn near the shoulder, and blood ran down one side of his face. Beside him, barehanded, Aston was barely standing on his feet.
Only the young boy seemed fine.
He stood in front of them with a saber in his hand, his posture calm and his aura steady. The monster rushed first, slamming two of its arms toward him with enough force to crack the ground, but the boy moved before the blow landed.
His steps were light and clean.
He moved between the monster’s arms, slipped past its reach, and cut once across the wrist. The saber flashed again and struck the side of the beast’s knee. The monster roared and twisted, but the boy had already moved behind it, cutting again with a smooth turn of his body.
Gabriel’s eyes sharpened. For someone that age, the combat sense was absurd. The boy did not waste any motion. Every step brought him to a better position, and every slash landed where the monster’s defense was weakest.
The giant beast tried to crush him with all four arms at once.
BANG! BANG!
The ground trembled under the force of its blow.
The boy bent slightly, passed under the first swing, stepped on the monster’s lowered arm, and drove the saber into its neck. Blood burst out, and the beast staggered backward with a pained roar.
Aston and Torin watched with exhausted faces.
The boy pulled the saber free and landed lightly a few steps away. The monster tried to rise again, but he moved forward and cut across its throat in one clean motion.
The huge body dropped.
Boom!
Dust rose around it as the ground shook.
Torin finally let out a breath and lowered his weapon. "You took your time."
Aston leaned on his knee, still breathing hard. "If you had arrived earlier, we would not have been drained this badly."
The young boy turned toward them. His face still remained unclear to Gabriel, but his voice was calm and cold enough to make both of them straighten slightly.
"I will not always be here to protect you."
Neither of them answered right away.
The boy walked toward Aston and tossed the saber back to him. Aston caught it with one hand, his expression turning a little awkward as he looked at the weapon.
"You borrowed my saber to kill it faster than I could," Aston muttered.
Torin wiped blood from his lip and gave a tired laugh. "That hurts more than the monster."
The boy did not react to the joke. He looked toward the direction of Stellar City, which Gabriel could now see faintly in the distance behind broken trees and smoke.
"It attacked the outer district," the boy said. "You two should have waited."
Aston’s fingers tightened around the saber. "We could not. If it reached the lower streets, people would have died."
Torin leaned back slightly and exhaled. "We thought we could hold it until help came."
The young boy’s head turned slightly toward them. "You thought wrong. The guards would have handled it easily. If I was not here, you two would have gotten yourselves killed."
Even though nothing was directly said, Gabriel understood the feeling in the air. The young boy was not just strong. He was being raised for something higher, and both Torin and Aston knew it. One day he would stand above them, maybe above everyone.
Aston lowered his gaze for a second before nodding. "I know."
Gabriel watched quietly. This was not the memory he had been looking for. He had wanted information about the developer, about Torin’s sponsor, about how that man came and went from this world. Instead, he was watching a memory from their youth.
Still, he found himself invested.
The scene showed something useful. Torin, Aston, and the young king had once stood together. They were not enemies back then. They were not even distant allies. There had been a bond between them, and knowing that made later events feel more complicated.
The young boy turned away from Torin and Aston after a few more words and began walking off.
Gabriel stood in his path.
It should not have mattered.
This was a memory. Gabriel was only watching. He was not truly there, and no one inside the fragment should be able to notice him.
Yet as the young boy passed by, he suddenly stopped.
Gabriel’s body went still.
The boy turned his head.
For one brief moment, the blurry face cleared just enough for Gabriel to see his eyes.
Blue eyes.
Eyes strangely similar to his own.
The young boy looked directly at Gabriel.
A cold sensation moved across Gabriel’s skin, and his fingers tightened at his side. The boy did not speak. He only stared for a second longer, calm and unreadable, before turning away and continuing forward as if nothing had happened.
Gabriel remained where he was.
This should not be possible.
It was only a memory fragment.
No one inside should have been able to see him.
So how did that boy look straight at him?