Chapter 45

Bad Day: Spirited Away

I never thought in my life I would be happy to see a human city. I collapse in front of the city gate, exhausted both physically in mentally from the events that happen today.

“Are you alright?” Joseph said as he offers me one of his hands. The pity look he was giving me irritated   me to no end.

“I’ll live.” I ignore Joseph’s hand and pick myself up from the dirt. Every part of my body was screaming in pain when I move, forcing me to walk slowly.

“Alright, how about I heal you then? Thanks to Athena’s blessing, I can heal most injuries.” Both Joseph’s hands gave off a faint white glow, I could sense a warm and familiar power from the light, it was most definitely Athena’s magic.

“No thanks, I’ll just let my body heal naturally.”

“C’mon there’s no need to be tough, let me heal you.” Joseph move his hand closer to me, I quickly grab his arm just before his glowing hand could touch me. The warm magic covering Joseph’s right hand vanish the moment I touch it. Just like I thought, this body can’t accept Athena’s blessing. Since me and Athena’s power are pretty much polar opposite of each other, this body will deny anything related to her. Which means if he tries to heal me, it probably will do more harm than good.

“I told you, I’m fine.”

“Ok…” Joseph stares dumbly at his arm that I was holding. He must be surprise that I was easily able to catch it or that I was able to cancel out the magic covering his hand.

“Well if you don’t want me to heal you, I can just carry you then.”

“Also not going to happen. I refuse to let a half-naked man carry me anywhere.”

“Huh, half-naked?” Joseph looks down at himself to see that the cloak he was wearing was torn to the point it didn’t cover his body at all.

“Are you serious? Did you just now realize your cloak was torn?”

“Can you blame me? I had other things to focus on then my clothes. Besides, your clothes aren’t doing so well either. You have a huge footprint on the back of your jacket.”

“What, really?!” I quickly spun my body around as if it was going to help me see the back of my jacket. Joseph cover his mouth trying to hide his stupid smile.

“The footprint is probably from when the clown was stepping on me. By the way, where were you when this was happening?”

“I was…. Unconscious.” Seeing the hero so embarrassed made me want to taunt him, but I couldn’t say anything since we’re both in the same situation. How funny, I the Demon King and the Hero couldn’t defeat a clown. This world really has become weird.

“Anna, can you do me a favor and keep what happen today a secret?”

“Why? You don’t want anyone to find out you got beat by a clown?”

“No.” The little smile on Joseph’s face vanish the moment I mention the clown. “That masked guy, from the way he talked it seems he’s well acquainted with Alexander. I have no idea why Alexander never told me about him, but he must have his reason.”

“You do realize the only reason why we lost was because we had no info on those guys. If we stay silent then more people will become victims to those things.”

“I know but just trust me on this, I’m sure Alexander is coming up with a plan to deal with these guys.” He tells me to believe in Alexander, but it seems like he trying tell himself to have faith in him. To think the whole human race life is in the hands of this fool who has blind faith in a man who wants hog all the glory for himself. I don’t see this ending well for anyone. Oh well, I have no intention of giving advice to the man I plan on killing.

“Fine, I’ll keep my mouth shut. But you know, I wasn’t the only one who saw that creature. The other adventurers that manage to escape definitely won’t stay quiet.”

“I’m not worry about them. Most adventurers tend to tell tall tales about their adventures, the worst thing they can do is start another rumor about monsters acting weird.”

“I guess, that make sense, but what are you going to do about Alexander?”

“I’m going to wait until he ready to tell me what’s going on.”

Unbelievable. I wanted to grab the indecisive fool by the neck and tell him to take actions into his own hands, but I already decided that I wouldn’t help him.

“Fine, do what you want.” Too tired to deal with this kid anymore, I walk into the city. I was attack by the stares of everyone by the entrance. Some look at me with concern while others look at me with disgust like I was some sort of rat. I must really look like shit, because that’s exactly how I feel right now.

“Hey, are you angry at me?” Hearing the hero behind me, I pick my pace up to stay ahead of him.

“No, I’m not angry.”

“Then why are you walking ahead of me?”

“Because unlike you my body doesn’t heal by me just standing around and doing nothing.”

“Sounds like you’re mad.”

I wanted to hit him really badly, but in doing so would just prove to him that I’m angry.

“Anna, do you mind if ask one more question? I promise I’ll leave you alone after this.”

That was probably the best thing that came out of his mouth.

“Go ahead, ask away.”

“Do you think we can meet again like this?”

“Huh?” I expected him to say something weird, yet somehow he still manages to catch me off guard.

“I mean not exactly like this. I was hoping next time we can do something more relaxing

“Oh….oh.” Realizing the hero true intentions my brain shuts down on me. This entire time I thought the reason why he kept talking to me was because he was suspicious of who I was. Yet the way he’s awkwardly rubbing his head while blushing like an idiot tells me otherwise.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprise, I mean as much I as I hate to admit I do look quite good, to the point I could fall for myself. Surprisingly despite how I look, I never got hit on until now. I guess my rough personality scares everyone away, although it doesn’t seem to be stopping him.

“I’m sure we’ll meet again, although next time might be even worse than this.” In fact, I’m sure we won’t be on same side next time.

“You’re saying next time we meet is going to be even worse than this?” For a brief second his face darkens, but immediately brightens up again. “Oh well! As long as I get to see you again that’s enough to make me happy.”

I just gave him an ominous warning, yet he happily accepted it like I was asking him out on a date.

“I’m sorry for holding you up, I’ll let you go rest now, see you next time!” Waving goodbye, the hero vanishes into the crowd, well at least he tried. A half-naked man with white hair, waving his hand like idiot, it didn’t take long for people to notice. I quickly turn around and pretend I didn’t know him as more people start to take notice of him.

“Hey is that Joseph?!” I didn’t have to look behind me to know what was happening. the squealing was enough proof for me to know that right now the hero is being swarm by a group of woman.

How ridiculous. The world is in danger yet this guy is busy hitting on girls. I guess this is what you call having your priority straight. I wouldn’t care if it wasn’t for the fact that I seem to be on his list of chicks he wants to bang. I let out a sigh as I walk away from the crowd that was gathering around the hero.

Anyway, speaking of priorities, my to do list seems to have gotten bigger. When I first started this journey my plan was to find Alice, reclaim my lost power and then take over the world. Simple, right? But now I got to deal with the new hero, figure how Alexander got powers similar to mine, solve the mystery of the evolving monsters that I’m somehow involve in, and still try find where Alice is hiding. I have to do all this while trying not to get killed by said evolving creatures.

“And everyone thinks the hero got the hardest job.” Just thinking about everything I need to do exhausted me to the point I wanted to collapse on the ground and sleep where I stand.

I guess if I want to make things more manageable and easy to understand, I should recap everything I know so far, then I can decide what to do from there.

“Ok…” I took a breath as I organize my thoughts.

Two hundred years ago, I fought the previous hero. Somehow the bastard was able to rob me of my immortality nearly ending me for good. After my defeat the monsters seem to have become more aggressive towards other races, especially to humans. Also after my death the elf Alice, the last surviving member of the previous hero’s party vanish without a trace. The only person who seems to know her is Alexander, a pretentious asshole who rumors has it, possess power similar to mine. After talking to him, I obtain questionable info that Alice’s hometown is apparently located near Athens. He also told me that monsters evolution isn’t natural and whoever is behind their weird behavior endgame is to create a second me.

Thanks to my good luck, after my meeting with Alexander I immediately ran into an unusual creature and a clown that seems to be able to control it. From the way the clown talk it seems he knows who Alexander is and also seems to be the one behind the monster’s weird behavior. Before I could get anymore answers out of him, the clown uses a weird ability to escape which brings me to where I’m at now.

To an immortal like me 200 years isn’t that long. Yet it seems a lot went down during that short interval and somehow Alexander, a mortal seems to be involve in most of it. It looks like I’ll have to confront Alexander again if I want to get to the bottom of this mystery. But that’s not going to be easy, it never is easy. That samurai and dagger guy definitely won’t let me get close to him. And even if I did get rid of them, which I’m confident I can do, I doubt the hero will just sit back and allow me to interrogate his best friend.

“Tch, how infuriating.” I my scratch my head out of frustration as I continue to hit dead-ends. I was never good with coming up with elaborate plans, I’m so bad at planning that I actually think the best course of action right now is to destroy the planet and rule over whatever pebble is left.

“Heh.” I shake my head while silently chuckling at how ridiculous my plan is. Thinking destroying the world is the best option just goes to show how tired and irritated I am. I’m definitely not going to come up with any bright ideas in this state I’m in. Right now, I’m better off getting some sleep.

“Anna!”

Or not. The moment I thought about resting and tending to the injuries I got from my last battle, a blonde hair kid wearing extravagant clothes comes running towards me with trouble written all over him.

“I…I finally found you.” Max said as he desperately tries to catch his breath. I already knew whatever Max was going to say wasn’t something I wanted to hear or be involve in.

“Listen Max, whatever is bothering I’m afraid I can’t help you with it, you should ask...”

“No time! We need to move now!!” Max grab my arm and pull me through the city. Once again I find myself caught in someone else pace. This is starting to get old fast.

“Max, if you need help why don’t you get Aaron or Claire to help you? I’m sure they won’t mind helping you.”

“Claire told me to get you. She told me to tell you that there’s something wrong with Aaron.”

“What’s wrong? Did he get into a fight or something?”

“I don’t know, but it must be something serious. I never seen Claire so terrify before.”

Despite how serious Max was acting I couldn’t bring myself to care about what was going on. I mean what sort of trouble could Aaron get in here? We’re staying in a city free from monsters, the worst thing that can happen is getting a black eye by pissing the wrong guy off.

(Be careful, you might lose someone important to you)

My mind was suddenly attack by what Alexander told me, completely stopping me in my tracks.

“C’mon Anna! Your brother is in danger.”

“That’s right, monsters aren’t a problem here.”

“What are you talking about?”

Monsters aren’t a problem here, but pissing off the wrong guy can easily make your life in the city a living hell. And of course being the idiot I am, I purposely tried to get under the skin of a man who probably has the most influence in the city.

“Anna?”

“This is my fault.” Because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut I got Aaron involve with Alexander.

“What’s your fault?” Lost in my thoughts I momentarily forgot that Max was standing in front of me. I must look stupid right now judging by how concern Max look.

“Hey, are you alright?”

“No I’m not, but we can worry about my condition later. Just take me to where Aaron is.”

“R-Right.” Max continue to guide me through the city, although this time he moved at a slower pace, like he was holding the hands of a child that just learn how to walk. I understand that Max was taking my injuries into consideration, but I couldn’t stop myself from getting irritated at the slug-like pace we were moving at. I tightly clench my left hand to calm the anger that was building inside of me.

What the hell is wrong with me? I’m getting work up over something that might not even be a serious problem. For all I know Aaron got caught sneaking into the girl’s side of the bathroom. Heh, I guess that would be shocking if Aaron actually took interest in other girls besides me.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The funny scenario I created in my mind was instantly drowned out by worries. No matter how hard try I couldn’t get myself to calm down. Unable handle the anxiety that was slowly consuming me, I walk in front of Max prompting him to pick up the pace.

“Where are we heading?”

“Back to the inn. That’s where Claire found Aaron.”

Just like I thought, Claire probably found Aaron injured in our room which means he was probably attack by someone. I’m not sure if they attack him because they thought it was me or just to get under my skin, either way, once I find out who did it I’m going to snap their neck!

Consume by an unknown rage I launch myself forward. I channel all the magic my body had left into my legs to increase my speed.

Everything became blur as I ran up the mountain. The only thing I able to notice was the inn near the top of the mountain, and the searing pain in my legs. Using enhance magic like this could definitely tear my muscles apart, but right now I could care less. I continue to run as fast as my body would let me until I finally made it to the “High Life”. I busted straight through the door and ran directly to my room.

My legs gave out of on me the moment I made it to the floor we were on. For some reason the door to my room was wide open.  A little girl with pointy ears was sitting on the floor in my room. I wanted to call out to her, but I was too busy wheezing to say anything.

“C’mon, we’re almost there.” Max offers me his hand. Once again I was so focus on something else that I forgot all about Max. I’m not sure if I drag him here or he was able to keep up with me, either way I don’t care right now I got more important stuff to worry about.

Ignoring my pride, I accept Max’s hand and let him help me get back on my feet. Thanks to my reckless rush to get up here, I pretty much burn my body out, making it even harder for me to move on my own.

As we made our way to my room, I notice that Claire’s face was pale and tears were streaming down her face.

“Claire…” My words got stuck in my throat. I wanted to ask her what’s wrong, but Seeing Claire sobbing on the floor, right next to Aaron who remain motionless. The answer was obvious.

“Anna!” Finally noticing me, Claire rushes over to me and hugs me.

“I… I tried everything I could, but Aaron… He… He won’t wake up!!!”

“You mean he’s dead?”

“He… he was fine earlier when we went to the library, but when I came to check on him everything was…. Black and cold…”

“You still haven’t answer my question, is he dead?!” I shook Claire to try to get an answer out of here, but she just fell to the floor and started crying again. Seeing I wasn’t going to get a clear answer out of her, I went to check on Aaron myself. To be honest I have no knowledge in the medical field, the only thing I’m good at is inflicting injuries not healing them.

I knelt next to Aaron to get a better look at him. It’s faint but there’s sighs showing that he’s still breathing, which means he’s still alive, although this fact really doesn’t satisfy me, especially since I have no idea how bad he’s wounded or who did this.

“Who did this to you?” I stare deep into Aaron’s eyes which were open like something caught him by surprise. I didn’t think it was possible for my mood to get any worse after all the events that happen today, yet the more I look at the pathetic state Aaron was in the angrier I got.

“How is he?” Max said quietly like he didn’t want me to hear his question.

“He’s alive, but I have no idea how bad he’s injured.

“I see…” Max spoke softly. As I continue to examine Aaron, I notice Max’s hand was reaching for Aaron’s head. Watching him trying to touch my brother who injury was still unknown, cause something inside me to snap.

“What are you doing?” I quickly grab Max’s arm before it could get any closer to Aaron. Both Max and Claire shook in fear as the malice that was building in my heart reach its breaking point. One wrong word out of Max’s mouth was all I need to kill him and every suspicious person in this inn.

“I…I was just investigating to see if I can find out who did this.”

“Investigate?” Right, I forgot Max is good at solving mysteries. During the orc incident, he did discover that the orcs was the one behind all the disappearance, but this isn’t enough to let him off the hook. Both Claire and Max was the first two to see Aaron in this state, and since Max a noble there’s chance he might be working for Alexander.

“Listen Anna, I might not be as close to Aaron as you, but he’s still my friend. I want protect him just as much as you do.”

“Protect? I think you’re misunderstanding something. I don’t care what happens to that child, I just want to know did you do it?”

“You said you don’t care about him, yet the very next thing out your mouth was did I hurt him. I always knew you and your brother had a complicated relationship, but is it really that hard for you to admit you care about him?”

“Watch it Max, the next word out your mouth determines your fate.”

“Look at you Anna! You can barely walk, yet the moment I said Aaron was in danger you ran all the way up here while practically dragging me too, it’s obvious you care about him. So tell me, why can’t you admit it!” Whatever little self-restraint I had left was consume by my rage, I slam Max against the wall to shut him up. My arms screamed in pain as I used my sore muscles to push him against the wall.

“You know Max, they say beauty is only skin-deep, but I like to believe that love also only skin-deep.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“I’m not really his sister, I’m nothing more than her replacement. To him I’m probably nothing more than a doll that he unhealthily got attach to because his real family fail to give him attention. If I didn’t look like his sister I’m sure Aaron would never give me the time of day. I could also say the same thing to you guys too, if this cute face of mine didn’t hide my true nature then well…. I’m sure you guys would never consider me a “friend’’

“….” Max fell to the ground the moment I let go of him. The rage that consume me faded away when I saw the resolve in Max’s eyes vanish.

“Face it Max, that love and friendship bullshit you guys love to spew is shallow as hell.”

“You, you still haven’t answer my question yet.” Max stood back on his feet and look at me defiantly.

“Are you serious, you still want to keep going?”

“You said that Aaron’s love for you is fake, if that true then why do you allow him to cling to you?”

“…. I’m going to go look for someone who can heal Aaron.” Right now, I really want to rip whatever little confidence Max manage to gather right out of him, but I got more important things to worry about than some dreamer boy.

“You don’t have to worry.” Claire said weakly. “When I sent Max to get you I ask someone to find a healer for me, they should be here soon enough.”

“You hear that Max? When the healer gets here they’ll erase all the evidence that Aaron might have on his body, so if you want to find clues to who did this you should start looking now.”

“R-right.” Max rush over to Aaron side to examine him. With nothing else better to do, I knelt down next to Claire who was still silently sobbing. It was weird seeing Claire so shaken up. She usually has child-like smile on her face even when she’s in danger. So whatever she saw must’ve been really terrifying

“Claire you mind telling me what happen here?”

“I… I don’t know what happen, when I got here Aaron was already like this.”

“Did you see anyone that looked suspicious?”

“No…. I didn’t see anything…” Claire suddenly starts to shiver. It looked like she remembered something unpleasant.

“When I came to check on Aaron the room was dark there was no sound, no light or warmth. It was as if the darkness devoured everything in this room.”

Darkness? Did someone try to blindfold her? No, I doubt that. Despite Claire looking and acting like a kid, there’s no way anyone can wrap a blindfold around her without getting hurt, which means someone drop a smoke bomb in here, but the way Claire describe it makes it sound like it was solid wall of darkness rather than a black cloud. So if she wasn’t blindfolded or hit with a smoke bomb than that means before she entered my room somehow she was robbed of her ability to see. As crazy as that sound there is one person I know who can probably do that. The clown I fought earlier can make people see whatever he wants them to see. It wouldn’t be surprising if he can also deprive people of their senses.

Heh, Alexander, the clown, and even Max, I’m just accusing everyone aren’t I? While the clown’s ability to mess with people mind makes him a suspect, there’s no way he could’ve done this, since this seem to have happen while I was fighting him.

“Ahh give me a break!” I roughly rub my head out of frustration. “I already got an impossible to solve mystery on my hand I don’t need another one!”

“I don’t think this really count as a mystery.”

“I seriously hope you’re not trying to be cryptic.” I turn to look at Max who was staring at the ground to avoid my gaze.

“What do you mean this don’t count as a mystery? Did you figure out who did this?”

“No I didn’t solve anything there’s nothing to be solve here.” Max continue to avoid eye contact with me as he talked. At first I thought he refuse to look at me since he was still angry that I accuse him of hurting Aaron, but now I feel it’s more out of shame that he failed to find any evidence.

“I see… does this mean you give up?”

“No, it means nothing here make sense. Look around you, don’t you find it odd that there’s no sign of struggle? I’m sure if someone attack would’ve attack Aaron they wouldn’t have an easy time taking him down no matter how strong they are.”

“I guess you do have a point. This room is too clean for a fight to break out in here, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t attack, someone could’ve snuck up on him.” In fact, the way Aaron’s positon it look like something caught him off guard and that look and his eyes… it look like he saw something terrifying just like Claire.

“Anna your pretty experience at fighting so tell me as an expert where would you strike a person if you had the element of surprise?”

“Are you serious? You really doing this right now?”

“Just humor me.”

“Fine.” I take deep breath to calm myself down and to stop myself from hitting Max. “I guess it depends on what I have in my hands at the time, but most of the time if I have the element of surprise on an enemy, I would go for the head. A well place blow to the head would end a fight before it could begin.”

“Exactly!” Max happily snaps his fingers at me. This guy enjoys playing detective way too much. “When I first examine this room I thought the only way Aaron could be defeated without the room being destroy in the process was for the assailant to catch him off guard but surprise, surprise when I check his head he had no injuries, in fact he doesn’t seem to be injured at all, there’s no cuts or bruises anywhere on his body.”

“Then tell me why the hell does it look like someone put him in a coma!” I unintentionally snap at Max. Once again I seem to be losing control over my emotions. I have no idea why, but it feels like I’m losing it, especially when I ran up here to the inn, it doesn’t feel like I’m in control of my action. I guess it just the fatigue kicking in. I mean I can barely think straight right now.

“I have no idea why Aaron is like this, we can easily brush this off and say he’s asleep, but that’s not the case at all he would’ve woken by now. I know this don’t make sense Anna, but when I look in Aaron’s eyes it doesn’t look like he’s here anymore, I don’t know it feels like his mind been taking away.”

“Taking away? I see, that might make sense.”

“Huh? What would make sense?”

I seriously hope I’m wrong about this, but this entire scene wouldn’t make sense if I was.

“Hey, are you listening to me?”

Max was right. Nobody broke into this room, but somebody did attack Aaron, and if it’s who I think it is then he shouldn’t be in any danger.

“Anna!! Whatever little concentration I had left in me was torn into pieces by Max shouting like an idiot.

“What is it?”

“Did you figure out who the culprit is?”

“Yea, sort of.”

“Sort of?” I sigh in frustration at Max who was looking at me confuse. I wasn’t in the mood to explain anything to him and even if I was I doubt he would he understand anything. He’s better off remaining blissfully ignorant of what’s happening.

“Listen Max, can you do me a favor and take Claire back to her room? While you’re at it can you also tell the healer that’s coming here to go back home when you see them.”

“Are you sure I should do that? I mean I did say that nobody attacked him, but we still don’t know what state he’s in for all we know he could’ve been poison. We should let an expert examine him.”

He does have a point. There is someone who work for Alexander that seem to use poison as a weapon. If he did this nobody we would never find the cause of injury since poison is much harder to trace. But I’m sure he didn’t do this either, since I doubt Claire would be acting like this if he did, unless she’s fearful of people who carries dagger.

“Yea, I’m sure. After all he isn’t injury. He’ll definitely be up and about by tomorrow.”

“That’s a lie!!” Tears continue to run down Claire’s face as she looked at me with an expression that seem to be mix with anger and fear. “There’s no way he can be fine after being engulf in that darkness!”

Poor thing, whatever she saw definitely traumatized her. I would say this is what you get for being nosey, but right now isn’t the time to say it.

“C’mon Claire, let’s go back to our room.” Max offer Claire a hand which she slap away.

“Don’t tell me you believe what she said?! I mean can’t you tell there’s something wrong here?!!”

“Yea, something does feel off here, but I trust what Anna is saying.”

“What?” Claire backs away from the both of us like she was an animal trap in a cage filled with monsters.

“Aaron is Anna’s little brother. Despite all the things she says, I doubt she would do anything that would endanger his life. So if she says Aaron is fine, then I believe her

“You…. Think way too highly of me.”

“Of course I do!” Max lets out a laugh while scratching the back of his head. “It was you and Aaron that gave me the courage to break free from my mother’s shackle. So no matter what, I’ll always trust you guys, even if you’re hiding dark secrets.”

I’m sure what he just said is going to bite him in the ass one day.

“Umm Anna.” Claire meekly called out to me while keeping her gaze to the ground. Seeing her act shy made me want to pet her. Thanks to the elves lineage to the entity Athena, they have been blessed with a long life and beauty and it seems Claire is no exception to that rule. I have no idea why I never notice how cute Claire was, it probably has something to do with her being an annoying pest. Even the cutest baby in the world will start to look like a demon if it annoys you enough.

“Are you sure Aaron is going to be okay?”

“Yes, I’m positive he’ll be fine.” Claire shot a quick glance at Aaron before heading towards the door.

“Fine, I’ll trust you on this, but don’t get the wrong idea, Max might be fine with being left in the dark but I’m not. I’m going to find out what happen here sooner or later.” Despite Claire talking big, she didn’t look at me once probably because she still crying or shaking in fear. What a pain, I was hoping this experience would get rid of her curiosity, but it seems she’ll stick her nose in anything even if it’s poison.

“Looks like she’s doing better, knowing her she’ll probably try to eavesdrop on you tonight. I’ll make sure she doesn’t get a chance to do that.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem, just make sure Aaron gets better ok?”

“Yea, I’ll see what I can do.” I shut the door behind Max the moment he left my room. I let out a long sigh of relief. With the two annoyance gone I can finally get to work. I turn around to face Aaron who was still sprawl out over his desk.

I wasn’t lying when I said Aaron was ok. In fact, I could just leave him like this and go to sleep and I’m confident when I wake up in the morning he’ll be up doing jumping jacks or something. But for some reason despite knowing he’s ok I’m still infuriated by this whole situation.

“Jeez, if I knew you were going to be this annoying I should’ve left you at home. No, I guess that’s pretty unfair of me to say since this situation isn’t your fault at all.” As I walk toward Aaron, I notice a pile of books was lying next to him. Each books looked thick enough to be consider a weapon. Is he really reading these? Aaron never been a fan of reading. Hell he tried to force me to stop reading so I would play with him when he was younger.

I pick up one of the books that was laying on the ground. “The Corrupted” was written in big bold letters on the cover of the book. I didn’t even have to open the book to know that this book was about me. The 5th entity, King of Demons, Ragnarok. Every single book Aaron had seemed to mention me in some way.

“I see… you were researching me weren’t you? If you wanted to know more about me, you could’ve just ask.” A black aura surrounds my hand as I place it on Aaron’s head. “Honestly, I should just leave you like this for digging into my privacy, but I do hold a grudge against the person that’s holding you captive. So whether you like it or not I’m coming to save you.”

(2 hours earlier Aaron’s P.O.V)

“Another dead end.” I throw the book onto the ground out of frustration. These books are giving me nothing but biased facts. They should be under fairy tale category rather than history.

I lean back in my chair to calm myself down, but all the so called “info” I absorbed from the book kept attacking my mind.

“I don’t want to know all the misdeeds my sister did, rather I want to know more about her past and how to obtain power that can rival her.” Taking a deep breath, I lift my hand in the air. A blue light envelops my hand as I concentrated on it.

Magic, a defense mechanism that every creature on the planet was born with. Thanks to its flexible nature, there’s infinite numbers of ways to use it, the only limitation is creativity and mana reserve. Unfortunately, both me and my sis were born with a low mana reserve, but even though my sister was born with such a huge handicap, she’s incredibly strong. Thanks to all the previous lives she lived, her fighting prowess surpasses common sense. Despite how weak she actually is, she can easily kill monsters that can tear though trees and even fight an orc chief to a standstill. Just simply training isn’t going to help me catch up to her. If I truly want to catch up to my sister, I’m going need to obtain power by unconventional means.

I reach into my pocket and pull out the black shard I’ve been hiding. The shard only holds a little of the Demon King’s power but if I absorb it I should easily be able to catch up to her.

I felt a smile spread on my face as the crystal gave off a black glow, as if it was trying to communicate with me. My desire for strength seem to grow stronger as the black light from the crystal grew more intense.

“Yes, with this I’ll definitely surpass my sister.”

“Probably, but I thought that power will make you or your sister happy.”

“Huh?” The crystal that I held in my hand suddenly vanish in was replace with flower petals.

“Just in time. If I was a second late, you would’ve made a mistake that you would regret for the rest of your life.” Expecting an enemy behind me, I quickly turn and prepare myself for an attack. Somehow the moment my eyes fell on the person behind me I immediately knew she wasn’t a threat to me. I was completed enchanted by woman in front of me. Everything about her was perfect. Her long golden blonde hair, her pointy ears and even her gown which didn’t have a spec of dirt on it, despite how white it is. I was so captivated by her, that nearly forgot that she busted into my room.

“Who are you?”

“I think you know who I am.” The lady lean closer to me. Staring deep into her blue eyes a name suddenly pop into my head.

“A-Athena?”

“Correct!” I stare at the woman confuse as she happily claps her hands. How did I know her name? I’m sure I never met someone as beautiful as her. Wait, did I say Athena?! The entity Athena?!! Despite how beautiful she is there’s no way she can be her!

“You know I made a promise to never interfere with mortals ever again, but since you’re related to my little brother I think I’ll make an exception.”

She really is the Entity Athena! Why is someone as important as her here?! Did she come to destroy me because I was planning on absorbing the black shard?

“Relax Aaron, I didn’t come here to hurt you and fact I come to help you.”

“H-help?” Athena gave me soft smile that instantly destroy all the worries in my heart. How terrifying, just seeing her smile somehow made me instantly trust her.

“What I'm going to tell you will benefit you and your sister on your journey."