Becoming the Wind - Chapter 13 - 12 Wake up

He was supposed to be the next big thing.Three years ago, Riku Aoyama was Japan’s rising basketball prodigy…Until a devastating injury and a brutal betrayal shattered everything.Now? He’s just a ghost of his former self—until one empty gym, one dusty court, and one crazy idea reignite the fire.Form a team of nobodies. Start from zero. Take on the monsters ruling the court.With broken players, forgotten schools, and no sponsors backing them—Riku’s team, Kaizen High, isn’t just here to play...They’re here to change the game.No powers. No shortcuts.Just sweat, soul, and skill.In a world where basketball is war—Only the crownless will rise.

[COMPLETE] Can a royal Romeo and Juliet find their happy ending?

Ayleth, Princess of Zenithra, is secretly trained in hand-to-hand combat, and collects swear words she doesn't know how to use. During the Festival of Peace, in which every royal son on the continent will be at the castle for a month, she is instructed by her parents to find a husband. Yet, Ayleth has never even been kissed—until the very first ball, when she meets the man in the Lion mask.

Etan is a seasoned warrior, and the Prince of Summitras. He attends the Festival hoping to find a powerful wife who will help him conquer the dark sorcery of their bloodsworn enemies, the Kingdom of Zenithra. But at the very first ball, he discovers the masked woman who captures his heart is the Heir to the evil empire.

Ayleth and Etan face an impossible battle. Will their love survive? Or will their parents' dark dealings keep them apart forever?

[Mature content. No sexual violence.]

******

“You…” She stepped back. Then back again, her mouth dropped open. “You… You cannot be…”

“I am,” Etan said, and his hair raked back as he pushed his mask off his handsome face. So handsome her heart raced.

His hair was ebony black, his skin a warm brown that threatened to fade in in the winter months. He stared at her with glittering green eyes, over high cheekbones and a noble nose, his jaw tight and shadowed this late in the day. His chin was high over the pillar of his neck that she’d just touched with its hard lines and steel strength, so different to her own. And his chest... She gasped and covered her eyes. She’d humiliated herself revealing her stupid, childish curiosity.

“No, Ayleth. This changes nothing.”

“How can you say that? It changes everything!” She was horrified to realize she was crying.

“Ayleth, please.” His voice cracked on the plea and she stared at him, shoving her mask up and off, despite how it would pull her hair out of the beautiful twist the maid had managed for her.

His eyes locked on hers and she couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe.

She had met her One. And he was the son of her bloodsworn enemy.

She stared at him as he stepped forward again, offering both hands, palm up. “Touch me,” he whispered. “Hold my hands. This is real, Ayleth. I don’t know how it happened, but this is real. Please don’t deny it.”

She couldn’t resist. She raised a trembling hand to his cheek, letting her palm catch on the scruff of his jaw. He blew out a breath and put his hand over hers, and that jolt that happened whenever they touched shivered through her again.

“Please, Ayleth.”

“I cannot deny it,” she whispered.

After dying unexpectedly, she was reborn as a ten-year-old little girl in an ancient farming family, with barely a few rooms in her house and even fewer acres of land, not to mention a household of the old, weak, sick, and disabled.Fortunately, the elders in the family were kind and honest, her brothers loving and good-natured, and the neighbors harmonious and friendly. For Yang Mengchen, who had suffered from her relatives' torment and endured all sorts of mockery and scolding since she was young, this was truly a blessing from heaven.To support the family she loved, she resolutely took on the heavy responsibility of providing for them. If she, a modern corporate CEO who had once dominated the business world, couldn't feed a family, then who could?Pharmaceutical recipes, building greenhouses, opening storefronts... Not only did her family start living a comfortable and prosperous life, but she also led the surrounding villages in creating a magnificent pastoral scene!With money and fame, as she grew up, Yang Mengchen decided it was time to choose a husband, and thus, young talents from around the world began to flock to her.Who knew a grim-faced god of death would be blocking the entrance to the Yang family's home?“You're too tall, you're too short, you're too fat, you're too skinny, you're too dark, you're too pale, you're uneducated, you're deceitful and sly... All eliminated!”In a moment, the entrance was empty, and Yang Mengchen was instantly furious, “Prince, you've driven everyone away. How am I supposed to choose a husband now?”“I would like to see who dares to marry you. I wouldn't mind sending him to the Underworld as a groom!”Yang Mengchen...A certain Prince counted his merits on his fingers: “I have power, prestige, and substance, no concubines, no secret love affairs, no gallivanting— I embody the standards of a husband's three obediences and four virtues... In short, only I, this unparalleled good man, am worthy of you!”The guards: Oh wise and valiant Prince, is it really good to be so lacking in your role as a husband?

In a post-apocalyptic fantasy world layered into multiple realms, humanity faces extinction due to their endangerment of the main realm. Forced to merge all realms back into one, a deity grants humans a leveling system to empower them, lest they become extinct when facing the mythical creatures. Noah, our protagonist, embraces the role of a monster tamer, trading his humanity for strength and eventually transforming into a monster himself. As Noah struggles with his evolving identity, he must navigate a world where the line between human and monster becomes increasingly blurred.