System: Daily login!!, jackpot on the first day!!!

Askara stepped through the Gate.

For a heartbeat, his vision went blank, nothing but a weightless void pressing against his senses. Then, like a curtain being torn away, sight returned.

He stood in a forest.

But not one of Earth. The trees here were impossibly tall, their bark etched with faint, glowing lines like veins of molten silver. The air shimmered faintly, charged with mana, every breath leaving a metallic taste on his tongue. A low hum resonated through the ground, as though the soil itself was alive, pulsing faintly with the rhythm of some unseen heart.

Askara stretched lazily, unfazed. "Hmm~ this sensation… not too different from the Gates back home, but…" His mismatched eyes scanned the canopy. No sound. No birds. Not even insects. Only silence. "I don't remember Big Sis saying we'd be scattered like this… well~ whatever. It's not like I didn't expect something unusual to happen at the start.l"

He tapped the D'Archy family Crest sewn into his chest. A faint glyph lit up, resonating with his mana.

"Hello? Anyone with me?"

*Bzzzzk* static crackled. Then a cool, steady female voice slipped through.

"...Aska"

His lips curved. "Kiara. You too, huh? Alone?"

"I don't know where I am," she replied, her voice clipped but calm. "All I see is… trees. Endless"

"I see." Askara leaned against a trunk, knocking his knuckles against its glowing bark. "So it's a uniform climate. No deserts or tundras. That's useful." He straightened, brushing dust from his sleeves. "Find a safe place first, Kiara. I'll come to you soon"

"Understood. What about the oth-"

*Bzzzzt!*

Another voice cut in, deeper, impatient.

"Aska, once you're done with Kiara, find me next. There's a river nearby. I'll wait there. Thank you, bro"

Askara's smirk twitched. "What the... Angg-"

*Click* static. Connection cut.

"That motherfather," Askara muttered under his breath, resisting the urge to slam his forehead against the tree. "Already making demands…" He exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing.

Another chime.

"Aska?" A softer voice this time. Hesitant. Curious. "I'm here too"

"Anindha," Askara replied, relief slipping into his tone before he masked it again. "Stay put. Same as Kiara. Secure somewhere safe. I'll gather you all one by one"

"Alright," she said. "Then… where's Latina?"

A pause. The Crest flickered with static, faint crackles whispering through.

Then...

"Don't call me Latina, you idiot." The voice was sharp, irritated, unmistakably Litani. "It's Litani. And yes, I'm here. The forest's thick, but-"

*BOOM!*

The line warped with distortion. A deep explosion echoed through the trees, shaking the soil beneath Askara's boots.

Litani's voice returned, ragged but fierce. "…Why the hell am I the only one teleported next to a beast?! Shit-"

The connection broke with a violent hiss.

Askara froze, mismatched eyes narrowing, the smirk sliding off his face. For the first time since stepping through the Gate, silence pressed against him like stone.

'Litani… already fighting? And it closes'

He adjusted his grip on the emblem, jaw tightening.

"…Tch. Figures. Alright, wait for me, Latina"

Askara let out a slow breath, his smirk curling back with a tinge of resolve. The faint hum of the crest faded, leaving him in the silence of the forest, though silence was relative. The woods around him seemed alive: leaves shifted in the wind, and faint growls echoed from deeper within, a reminder that this world was not as tame as it first appeared.

He flexed his fingers once, then spread both arms wide. A red glimmer began to shine beneath his skin, tracing the veins along his arms like molten rivers. His voice cut through the forest, low but steady.

"Blood Magic... Blood Link"

The words carried weight. His blood responded immediately, seeping out through the pores of his palm without a wound or cut, gathering into hovering crimson droplets that pulsed with life.

The droplets spread out like fireflies, scattering into the air before shooting in different directions, threading thin red lines through the trees.

Each thread pulsed faintly, like veins extending outward from a great heart.

Askara closed his eyes, focusing through the blood, he could feel. Each tether stretched outward, brushing against the presence of his kin.

"Kiara… safe. Anindha… steady, and Angga..." His voice lowered to a murmur, his head tilting slightly as if listening to a rhythm only he could hear. "He's sleeping?"

Then his eyes narrowed. One of the threads trembled violently, flaring bright red before flickering erratically.

"…Litani," he muttered. The Blood Link carried the sound of her heartbeat, fast, sharp, uneven. She was already in combat.

Askara's jaw clenched. His hands curled, reinforcing the spell, the crimson veins in his arm burning brighter. "Hold on. I'll find you"

The forest wind shifted, and with it, Askara opened his eyes again. They gleamed faintly with a blood-red sheen, as though reflecting the spell's light.

"...No beast lays a hand on my sister"

--------

The trees shook as something massive barreled through the undergrowth. The beast, a wolf-like monstrosity with scales running down its spine, snarled, its fangs dripping venom that hissed as it touched the ground.

Opposite it, Litani cracked her neck, golden scales shimmering faintly beneath her pale skin. The forest light glinted off her gauntlets, thick, rune-etched metal forged to withstand her raw strength.

"Big mouth, ugly fur… heh, you're perfect"

The beast lunged.

Litani met it head-on. Her fist slammed into its jaw with such force the air cracked like thunder, sending the creature tumbling across the clearing.

Leaves and dirt spiraled into the air, and trees splintered under the shockwave.

Her lips curled into a feral grin. Her dragon blood burned in her veins, golden light flickering faintly along her arms.

"C'mon! Don't die in one hit!"

The wolf-beast roared and surged back, its claws coated with venom. It swiped, faster this time, but Litani caught the blow with her gauntlet, sparks erupting as claw met steel. For an instant, the ground beneath her feet cratered.

Her eyes narrowed, blood-red with her vampiric side. She licked her lips. "…Strong"

She shifted her stance and twisted, hurling the beast into a tree with brute force alone. The impact shattered the trunk, bringing half the forest canopy down with it.

But even as she grinned, her expression faltered slightly.

The blood from her knuckles trickled into the air, forming weak crimson threads. She tried to shape them, to bind the beast before it rose again, Blood Magic. The strands whipped forward, but they quivered, unstable, breaking apart before they could lock down.

"Tch." She clicked her tongue. "Figures. I'm no Sis Alice… and definitely not Aska"

The beast pushed itself up, shaking off the debris. Its eyes glowed with malice, venom bubbling louder in its maw.

Litani rolled her shoulders, gauntlets tightening as golden scales crept further up her arms. "Fine then… who needs spells anyway?"

Her voice deepened, resonating with a faint draconic echo. She bent low, her aura flaring like a storm, bloodlust and raw might intertwining.

The beast roared, and then lunged again, venom spraying, jaws wide enough to swallow her head.

Litani didn't dodge.

Her fist rocketed upward in a savage uppercut. The gauntlet slammed into the beast's chin with enough force to snap a bone. Its massive body left the ground, sent flying, before it crashed in a heap against the treeline.

The forest fell silent for a heartbeat, then trembled again.

More roars.

Dozens of eyes lit up in the shadows. The undergrowth cracked and split as more beasts emerged, wolf-things, horned boars, scaled apes, all radiating killing intent. The air grew thick with snarls, the musk of predators.

Litani spat to the side, flexing her bloodied fists. "Oh, good. I was just getting warmed up"

The first wave struck.

A horned boar thundered forward, she caught its tusks, heels grinding deep into the dirt, then twisted until its neck snapped with a sickening crack. Before the corpse hit the ground, two scaled apes leapt from above. She pivoted, driving her gauntlet into one's gut, punching clean through, while the other landed a blow across her back that only made her stumble.

She laughed. A raw, wild sound.

Blood dripped down her arm, she raised it, forcing it into crimson threads again. This time she shaped them into jagged spikes that lashed forward, impaling three wolves mid-charge. But the strands dissolved almost immediately, smoking in the air.

"Damn it," she hissed. "I told you... I'm not built for this!"

The wolves didn't care. They swarmed her, fangs snapping, venom spraying. Litani roared, golden light erupting from her skin as scales surged down her arms, her shoulders, even part of her face. Her next punch wasn't just a punch, it was an explosion of force.

Wolves scattered like broken dolls, some reduced to pulp against trees.

Yet still more came. The clearing became a storm of claws, fangs, and fury.

For the first time, Litani's grin faltered. Even she could feel the weight of numbers pressing in. "Heh… you bastards… think you can bury me?"

A beast leapt for her throat.

It never landed.

A crimson arc split the air, clean, precise. The wolf's head toppled from its body, rolling to Litani's feet.

The swarm hesitated.

From the shadows, a figure stepped forward, his blood sword dripping with fresh blood, his gaze calm but sharp as steel.

"Honestly, Latina…" Askara's voice cut through the din, dry with annoyance. "… I can't leave you alone for five minutes"

Litani blinked, then smirked, wiping blood from her jaw. "Tch. Took you long enough, Aska... And fuck! It's Litani!"

Askara raised his Blood sword, its edge glimmering with faint light as magic rippled through the air. "Move aside. You've softened them up, now let me clean this up properly"

The beasts roared again, charging at the siblings.

This time, they faced two.

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