Death to Power
Copyright© 2025 by TheSmartOne
Chapter 40: Humanity
Kaden exhaled softly and closed his eyes for a brief moment.
By now, this had become a habit—every time he was about to do something dangerous, something that actually mattered, he would close his eyes and breathe. Deep, calm, deliberate.
It was his way of anchoring himself. His way of preparing for the storm.
Then, slowly, Kaden opened his eyes again.
They were calm now. Empty. As if he had shed every emotion just to wear the silence better.
He walked toward Rome and crouched in front of him, bringing himself down to eye level.
And with a tone that was far too soft, too composed for what it carried underneath, he asked—
“Do you have anyone you hold dear?”
Rome blinked.
Of all the things he expected, that question wasn’t one of them. But he still answered—he had to. After everything Kaden had done, after everything he’d seen, disobedience wasn’t an option anymore.
“I ... I do,” he nodded weakly. “I have a brother. He’s waiting for me inside the capital.”
Kaden said nothing. His expression didn’t shift, not even slightly.
But inside?
Inside, he was struggling.
He had accepted the necessity of cruelty. He had accepted that mercy was often a knife turned against you. But something about killing someone who was expected somewhere, someone who was being waited for—
It didn’t sit right.
It wasn’t logical. Hell, it was idiotic.
And yet.
He knew that pain too well—the pain of waiting for someone who would never return. The ache of holding onto hope only to watch it rot into silence. The endless echo of loneliness.
That was why—
Kaden decided to spare him.
It was risky. He knew that. He really knew that.
He let out a low sigh. ‘Please don’t make me regret this.’
Finally, he spoke.
“I’ll spare you,” Kaden said.
Rome’s eyes widened, joy flickering through the exhaustion and terror.
But then—
“But...” Kaden added, and the word dropped like a guillotine.
The temperature dropped with it. Sharp and sudden.
Like death’s fingers had just brushed the cave walls.
“If you ever try to set me up ... if you ever speak a word of me...”
Kaden’s red eyes darkened, shifting from blood to something worse—something vile.
“I’ll find you. I’ll kill you. Not just you—your brother, too.”
He let it sit. Let the silence stretch.
“You understand?”
Rome was speechless at first.
Because he had taken note of Kaden’s rank—he was just at Awakened Rank, the weakest stage. That meant he’d been thrown into this hellhole by The Will, not by choice. After all no awakened rank can enter here by themselves.
And yet, here he was—not panicking, not falling apart, but planning, adapting, enduring.
That was terrifying.
Because this type of person, the kind that doesn’t break even when they should, this type was the most dangerous of all.
And if he escaped this forest?
If he came back?
Rome knew what that would mean.
‘I’ll die.’
So he responded.
“I won’t tell anyone,” Rome said, voice trembling but clear. “I swear ... on the Will.”
He wasn’t stupid enough to provoke something like this. He had a brother to return to. He wanted to live.
Kaden studied him for a moment, then raised his hand.
Reditha appeared instantly, summoned with a thought.
“Sleep for a while,” Kaden said, raising the hilt of his sword. “And when you wake up ... forget everything.”
BAAAM!
The strike landed clean on Rome’s head.
Thud—
He collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.