Asmo's eyes, always sharp, always calculating, widened at the sight unfolding before him.
The towering figure of Brandon, his leader, his brother-in-arms, on his knees, sharing a tender moment with... children?
The sheer unexpectedness of the scenario caused a jarring cognitive dissonance in Asmo's mind.
'Boss? With kids? What's happening?!' he thought.
His gloved hands tightened around the hilts of his twin daggers, which, only moments before, had been threateningly pressed against the necks of the two quivering officials.
The cold steel seemed to jolt him back to the present.
'When did this happen? Is this reality? Was I transmigrated to an alternate reality?'
The swirling thoughts seemed to create a tempest within him.
Asmo hesitated, the weight of the revelation momentarily eclipsing the situation with the officials.
The world around him dimmed.
With a shake of his head, he glanced down, realizing his daggers were still threateningly positioned.
Their potential fate, however urgent before, suddenly felt distant, overshadowed by the familial scene in front of him.
With a fluid, almost artistic motion, Asmo deftly sliced through the tendons behind their knees.
"Arghhhh!!!"
The two officials crumpled to the ground, incapacitated but alive.
With newfound urgency, Asmo launched himself forward, a whirlwind of motion and emotion, drawn irresistibly towards Brandon.
Even Baph, who was always the cheerful and carefree one, took a moment to process.
His ethereal armor, a swirling palette of colors, seemed even more out of place as he awkwardly stumbled forward, trying to keep pace with Asmo.
Coming to a stop a safe distance from the familial scene, Baph cocked his head and grinned,
"Well, who'd have thought? Boss has little boss-lings!"
Asmo shot him a sidelong glance, clearly not in the mood for humor.
"Not the time, Baph."
"Always time for a joke, especially when life throws a curveball the size of, well, children at you," Baph replied, chuckling.
Asmo sighed, sheathing his daggers.
"Did you know?"
Baph's playful jests were a background noise to Brandon's internal musings.
As he observed Baron and Jade's innocent playfulness, his paternal instincts tugged at him, but years of war and deceit had taught him to trust cautiously, even in moments like these.
Within him, he reached out to the ethereal presence of the Heart of Civilization, now manifested as the ethereal obsidian jaguar.
Its very being pulsed with ancient knowledge and a newfound wisdom.
'Kitty,'
Brandon began internally, choosing his words deliberately,
'Can you sense... confirm a blood relation between these children and myself?'
The Void Cat, its presence more articulate and refined after its evolution, responded with an eloquence befitting its evolved state.
'Indeed, I can. The threads of fate and blood intertwine seamlessly between you and the younglings. There is no doubt; they are borne of your lineage.'
Brandon felt a surge of emotions but maintained his stoic demeanor.
The Void Cat's response came with a tone of admiration.
'Remarkable, truly. Both possess eight vortexes within them, pools of boundless energy and latent capabilities. It is rare, even among civilizations eons older than yours. They are gems of cosmic importance.'
The plaza felt still, the sounds of battle and chaos now replaced by the innocent queries of the twins.
Baron and Jade's bright eyes and earnest questions cut through Brandon like a sword.
This moment, this first meeting with his children, was one he hadn't been prepared for.
How could he have been? He didn't even know they existed until now.
Baron's eyes sparkled with a mix of admiration and skepticism,
"Are eww a superhero? Mommy said you are too busy to see us because you are out saving the world."
There was a shimmer of admiration in his eyes, intermingled with a touch of sorrow that his new 'hero' was a stranger to him.
Beside him, Jade's wide eyes narrowed slightly, remembering the intimidating figure they'd seen on the television.
"Ish that the scary uncle we sawh on the TV?"
Jade's whisper, not as quiet as she might have thought, added to the overwhelming reality that these were his children, looking at him with a mixture of awe and uncertainty.
Baron, attempting a thoughtful pose he might have seen on some adults, tried his best to analyze the armored figure in front of him.
The way they studied him, their tiny heads tilted in curiosity, was a picture of innocence that was simultaneously heartwarming and heart-wrenching.
Jade's piercing question, however, cut through the light-hearted atmosphere.
She tilted her head up to look at Crystal, her eyes shimmering with the pain only a child's honesty can convey.
"Mommy? Whhyyh did daddy not come twoo our bwirthdawy party? Does he not love us?"
Inside his armor, Brandon's heart clenched.
As he took a faltering step towards them, a whisper escaped his lips,
"How did I not know?"
He'd fought in wars, faced down armies, but nothing had ever cut him as deeply as the guileless question
A wave of emotions threatened to swallow Brandon whole.
Shock, confusion, guilt, longing, all mingled into a storm that left him speechless.
He'd been many things in his life: a leader, a mercenary, a savior.
But a father?
That was a role he never knew he had, and now it was one he wasn't sure how to fill.
The very concept of being a father, of having children who looked up to him, who needed him, who had already suffered his absence, was an alien reality.
He wanted to reach out, to embrace them, to tell them that of course, he loved them. But the truth was more complex, more painful.
How could he love children he hadn't known?
How could he explain why he hadn't been there?
He looked at their little faces, their hope and their hurt mixing in a way that only children's emotions can.
He realized then that his battles, his victories, his grand quest, all paled in comparison to this singular, profound moment.
His children.
His flesh and blood.
"I…"
Brandon tried to reply but the words caught in his throat, a response, an explanation, an apology, all jumbled and inadequate.
The simple, brutal honesty in Jade's question left him exposed, vulnerable in a way no battle ever had.