As Ascan narrowed his eyes, a red glow flickered and then vanished.

It was at that very moment.

Whoosh!

Flames surged in all directions, beginning to consume the space where the children had been imprisoned.

Currently, Ascan had summoned a total of four flames. Normally, he should have lost his sanity, but strangely, his mind remained perfectly clear.

The instinct to destroy everything had not entirely disappeared, but it no longer seized his thoughts to the point of paralysis.

For the first time, Ascan had gained control over his fire-manipulating ability.

Though the space was made of iron and initially seemed impervious to fire, over time even the iron began to melt.

The researchers watching this scene grew increasingly pale.

The sedatives had no effect on Ascan. They now realized that if this place collapsed, their own lives would be in danger.

“H-hurry! Let’s get out of here!”

The researchers scrambled to flee, but before they could, the flames conjured by Ascan shattered the reinforced glass.

Crash!

As the reinforced glass broke, fire spread into the room where the researchers were standing.

In an instant, the place turned into utter chaos.

“Aaaah! Help me!”

Ascan stared coldly at the researcher whose entire body was engulfed in flames and writhing in agony.

These were the same people who had ignored countless children crying out for help. Ascan felt not even a shred of sympathy toward them.

Just as the researchers were dying one by one,

Bang—the door suddenly swung open, and a man dressed in lavish attire stepped inside.

He was a man of imposing presence, with deep brown hair and green eyes, evoking the image of a massive predator.

At a glance, it was clear he was no ordinary person—his clothing and aura were on an entirely different level from commoners.

The problem was the multitude of soldiers who appeared behind him. Their disciplined movements clearly indicated they were highly skilled.

‘Is this my limit?’

Ascan had not anticipated that reinforcements would arrive so soon.

If these newcomers intended to kill him and the other children from the lab, survival seemed unlikely.

‘No choice. I’ll drag as many of them to hell as I can.’

Just as Ascan’s eyes sharpened and he prepared to intensify the flames,

the man in lavish attire spoke first.

“Wait. I didn’t come here to harm you.”

Caught off guard by these unexpected words, Ascan froze.

At that moment, someone approached the man’s side and spoke.

“Your Highness the Third Prince, what shall we do?”

The sudden, mysterious intruder was none other than Helsion, Third Prince of the Calua Empire.

Since all the other children were collapsed on the floor while only Ascan stood tall, the two naturally locked eyes.

Helsion studied Ascan carefully and said,

“Father seems to have already decided to halt the human weapon experiments. If our presence here is discovered, it’ll cause complications. Kill all the researchers here and collect any remaining data.”

“Yes, understood.”

Ascan listened silently to their exchange. Though brief, the conversation revealed quite a bit.

It seemed the Emperor of Calua had resolved to discontinue the human weapon experiments—but Helsion clearly had ulterior motives.

Helsion turned toward Ascan, who stood motionless, and asked,

“Are all the people here survivors of the human weapon experiments?”

“…So what if we are?”

At Ascan’s curt reply, the knight beside Helsion exploded in anger.

“How insolent! Do you even know who you’re speaking to?”

Ascan nearly let out a scoff. The knight’s furious expression struck him as utterly ridiculous.

“You don’t seriously expect me to be grateful to the Calua Empire, the ones who locked me in this lab for life, do you?”

If he could, Ascan wanted to eliminate everyone connected to the human weapon experiments.

Having grown up in the lab, that desire felt only natural—even if the Emperor of Calua himself stood before him.

He wanted those who had stripped him of free will and condemned him to a life of imprisonment and waiting for death to suffer exactly the same fate.

Unexpectedly, Helsion showed no intention of reprimanding Ascan for his insolence. Instead, he signaled the knight to stand down and calmly said,

“It’s unfortunate you harbor resentment toward the Calua Empire. But I’ve come here to rescue you and give you a chance at a new life.”

“Rescue us? You?”

Ascan glanced at the children lying on the floor—including Bill, who had shared a room with him.

Though immobilized by the sedatives, they were still conscious and had heard the entire conversation.

Helsion frowned as he looked up at the ceiling, which was engulfed in crimson flames and seemed ready to collapse at any moment.

“Let’s relocate first. This isn’t a suitable place for conversation.”

Ascan didn’t want to accept, but before he could speak, the knights began moving the collapsed children.

Since carrying everyone alone would have been impossible for Ascan, he had no choice but to follow them outside.

Outside the lab, it was quiet.

Suddenly, Helsion’s earlier words came to mind.

—Kill all the researchers here and collect any remaining data.

Instinctively, Ascan realized everyone inside the lab was dead.

Beyond those killed by his flames, even the guards and janitors who had remained inside had perished.

Watching the once impenetrable fortress of a lab being so effortlessly cleaned up by outsiders, Ascan felt a strange sense of emptiness.

‘Was it really this easy?’

He had broken free from the collar that had bound him his entire life, yet instead of pure joy, he felt an inexplicable bitterness.

Soon after, Helsion, having finished tidying up, reappeared before Ascan and the children.

Looking at each child huddled on the ground, Helsion spoke gravely.

“I understand your hostility toward the Calua Empire. But people should think more about the future than the past. If you run away now, how do you plan to survive? Do you even have anywhere to go?”

No one answered.

They were all children abandoned by their parents or orphans from the start.

Even if they escaped this place, they had nowhere to return to.

Ascan, who had lost his memories, bit his lip without offering any rebuttal. Somehow, he didn’t want to admit the truth.

Helsion continued.

“I’ll make you one promise: I’ll give you the chance to take revenge on those who made you like this.”

The children’s eyes changed at those words.

None of them held any goodwill toward the Calua Empire. But strictly speaking, not everyone in the empire was to blame—only a few had created this lab.

Anyone would find Helsion’s offer tempting.

“Even if you escape, your status will remain lowly. Don’t think you can secure a good position just because you can wield fire. An imperial decree has been issued to eliminate you. If your origins as lab subjects are discovered, you’ll be killed. You don’t want to spend your lives on the run, do you?”

Helsion’s words were entirely logical.

Until now, escaping the lab had seemed like the solution to everything—but surviving out in the wider world would be anything but easy.

“Make a deal with me. Use your abilities for my sake. I will become Emperor of Calua. In return, I’ll grant noble titles commensurate with your contributions and promise generous salaries.”

Silence fell.

But it lasted only a moment. One child knelt before Helsion and spoke first.

“I will follow you.”

That was the beginning. Instantly, the other children also knelt before Helsion, swearing loyalty.

“Me too.”

“I will serve Your Highness.”

Soon, only Ascan and Bill remained.

Bill looked at Ascan and asked softly,

“What will you do?”

Ascan stared silently at Helsion standing before him.

It was certain that even if he left this place, he’d remain a fugitive. But following Helsion offered a chance to live openly—a proposal hard to refuse.

Though he knew little of Calua’s political situation, Helsion being the Third Prince rather than Crown Prince meant he wasn’t the designated heir.

Helsion likely intended to use Ascan and the children’s abilities to seize the throne—but Ascan didn’t care who became emperor.

Still, he sensed that rejecting Helsion’s offer might mean death right here—and that thought didn’t sit well with him.

Glancing sideways at the knights surrounding them, Ascan spoke quietly.

“If you uphold what you’ve promised, I will follow Your Highness.”

As soon as Ascan accepted, Bill quickly followed suit.

“I will follow Your Highness too.”

It was unanimous.

None of the surviving children refused to follow Helsion—not merely because they sensed their lives were at stake if they declined, but because Helsion’s terms were genuinely advantageous to them.

Helsion smiled with satisfaction.

“Welcome to my ranks.”

The knight beside him immediately asked, as if he’d been waiting,

“Shall we take them all to the castle?”

“Yes. We’re heading to your new residence now. We must erase all traces of ourselves as quickly as possible—move out immediately.”

At Helsion’s command, the children rose from the ground.

Though the sedatives had temporarily suppressed their abilities, enough time had passed that moving posed no difficulty.

Guided by the knights, the children boarded carts loaded with their belongings—open-topped carts with straw-covered floors.

From inside the cart, Ascan watched as the knights set fire to the lab, clearly intending to burn everything to erase all traces.

“Brother.”

Turning at the familiar voice, Ascan saw Bill.

Puzzled by the unexpected address, Ascan watched as Bill, despite his cold features, grinned good-naturedly and continued.

“Is it okay if I call you that from now on?”

Though it didn’t particularly please him, Ascan saw no reason to refuse, so he nodded.

“Do as you like.”

At Ascan’s reply, Bill smiled even brighter.

“Thank you. I’ll look up to you as my elder brother from now on. Thanks to you, we survived and escaped this place.”

Ascan himself found it hard to believe—that the day would come when he’d escape the lab and begin a new life.

Bill gazed alongside Ascan at the burning lab building, then spoke again in a low voice.

“Do you think the Third Prince will keep his promise to us?”

“Who knows. Probably depends on how useful our abilities prove to be.”

If Ascan and the children remained valuable, they wouldn’t be discarded. Conversely, if deemed useless, they could be cast aside at any moment.

Bill chuckled softly.

“Well, that’s no different from life in the lab, is it?”

“We chose the best option available now. The rest, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Bill nodded in agreement with Ascan’s words.

At that moment, the knight standing beside Helsion, having finished all preparations, shouted,

“Let’s move out!”

At those words, the cart jolted forward, heading toward some unknown destination.

It wasn’t just the cart carrying Ascan and the children—dozens of knights on horseback moved silently alongside them.

Ascan scanned his surroundings, then lay down on the cart floor.

Some children remained tense, unsure of their destination, but the die had been cast—the outcome would simply have to be observed.

Without being told, Bill lay down beside Ascan.

Looking up at the night sky densely scattered with stars, Bill smiled brightly.

“Hey, brother, look at the stars. There are so many!”

The lab had been a building with a ceiling—it had been impossible for Ascan or Bill, imprisoned there all this time, to gaze up at the night sky’s stars.

Bill was deeply moved by the sight of stars after so long.

But…

“Brother?”

Ascan, lying beside him, was crying as he looked up at the stars.

Caught off guard by Ascan’s unexpected tears, Bill panicked.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“Ah.”

Even Ascan was startled, quickly wiping the tears streaming down his cheeks.

His chest ached unbearably, though he couldn’t understand why.

The moment he saw the stars hanging in the night sky, an overwhelming sense of longing gripped him.

“I don’t know why I’m like this.”

Though he remembered nothing, his emotions remained. His heart felt torn apart, making it hard to breathe.

Clutching his aching chest, Ascan rubbed his eyes with his sleeve.

‘…I miss you.’

The thought suddenly surfaced. He didn’t know who he missed, but the feeling of missing them—so intensely it choked him—still lingered.

In the original novel , after undergoing the human weapon experiments, Ascan’s abilities were recognized by the Emperor, and he was appointed Captain of the Knights of the Calua Empire.

But once again, the original plot had changed.

Even Tanashia Brellof, who had read the novel, never expected Ascan would end up following Helsion, Third Prince of Calua.

The story had begun moving in an unpredictable direction.

Thus, ten years passed.