-Chapter Thirty-Four-
Five-Second Future
Swallowing down a ball of spit, Aelius rose to his feet, leaving the distraught and distressed Aria on the ground behind him.
Hold on… he suddenly thought in perplexion.
Aria must have regained her memories of the Devils. Shouldn’t she have gone back over to their side, if that’s the case?
In his last life, Aelius recalled that Aria had followed in her mother’s footsteps in colluding with the Devils, which was part of the reason why he had so many grudges against her in this life.
His thoughts were soon interrupted however, as he saw the threads before him pull and tug, rapidly closing in on him until, through his narrowed glare, he saw three shadows dash up to the gate and come to a stop, just hidden out of sight in the shadow.
Standing in the centre was the tallest of them all, who began to step forward, revealing normal human skin, but a pair of devilish red eyes and demonic horns on his head.
Aelius’ eyes widened at the man who stepped out before him, wearing a Noble’s robe, expensive silk, white leather gloves and brown formal shoes.
Engraved on the opposite man’s shoulder-cape was a very familiar house sigil, and memories flashed through Aelius’ mind.
Before any further time passed, the man looked to the visibly shaken Aria, with cold, red eyes, and then back to Aelius, and with callousness, raised his hand.
Three of them are going to be hard to kill, Aelius thought with clenched fists. I just hope my final trump card is willing to activate…
“Kill the boy and bring the girl to me.”
Alert!
An overwhelming opponent has been detected.
The user’s battle sense detects grave threat.
The conditions for innate talent Hyperviolence have been satisfied.
Hyperviolence is activating.
「Hyperviolence」
Where violence fails, hyperviolence prevails.
Each of the user’s attacks which connect will count as fifty hits of the same attack in one, single instance.
Good. I’d have been royally screwed if it didn’t activate.
Aelius quickly braced himself as one of the Devils to the right of the man, a normal low-ranking reptilian, shot forward with its claws to tear his chest apart.
He glanced at Aria for a split second before he bit his lip, and decided to dodge away.
She should be safe, he thought as he sidestepped the Devil’s swing.
They don’t appear to be intending to kill her. This is so hard to make sense of.
The element of surprise was the greatest weapon for someone weaker than their opponent.
In the Devil’s moment of letting their guard down, having just been narrowly dodged by its prey, Aelius retrieved his revolver.
The Devils had no idea what the gun even was, let alone how to react to it.
In the single moment of their confusion at what weapon he had just retrieved, Aelius took the chance to stick the barrel up against his attacker’s neck.
Devils and Humans have identical vitals. They’re just able to protect their skin because of their stronger Mana Cores.
Before the other two Devils, Aelius coldly pulled the trigger, not even flinching as the thunderous bang rang out and his victim’s blood splattered over his face.
There was a violent thud as the Devil flopped onto the ground like dead fish.
Devils were susceptible to guns, and with a single bullet, Aelius had inflicted fifty shots worth of wounds on its vitals thanks to Hyperviolence.
It was instant death.
Alert!
The user’s battle sense has detected that the overwhelming threat has diminished.
The conditions for the innate talent Hyperviolence are no longer satisfied.
Hyperviolence is deactivating.
Aelius felt his body immediately strain under the exhaustion and feedback of using an origin skill, but disregarded it.
It’s a pity that it didn’t last until only one of them was left. But at least that’s one down.
Reaching up, he wiped the blood off his face, turning a glare onto the stunned Devil opposite him.
The devilish man looked to his dead underling before his brows began to fold in aggression.
“Well, well, well,” Aelius chuckled, causing the man to glare at him in suspense. “I never thought I’d meet the Baron of Fedaul here. When did you come to Farrien?” Aelius teased the man with a mocking smile and the Devil’s face weakened.
“…Who are you?” he asked in a low tone, glaring back at Aelius, who poked his tongue out back at him.
“Someone who knows all of your plans.”
“You cannot stop us from getting our hands on the Aerianne Heiress,” the Devil answered, pulling his coat aside to reveal a rapier and his strong muscles beneath the now discarded fabric.
“Ah…” Aelius inhaled deeply, seeing the nostalgic blade before him.
The man opposite him, or half-man, half-Devil he should say, was named Baron Fedaul, the ruler of the land of Fedaul, a large and influential territory belonging to the Empire far further up North, from the opposite side of the continent.
In Aelius’ first life, Baron Fedaul played a significant role in the Devil’s takeover of humanity, amongst the Nobles and their circles.
Aelius narrowed his eyes at the high-ranking Devil.
Though a fight with two of them at once would be hard, he wasn’t considering whether he could kill him or not, but whether he should kill him. For, if Aelius were to kill Fedaul right now, it would greatly alter the trajectory of the future…
Right! The trajectory of the future! Aelius stole a glance over his shoulder at Aria, who looked up to see Fedaul.
The teenager’s eyes widened as he noticed her golden eyes meet Fedaul’s, and she suddenly began to hysterically scream, frantically trying to pull herself to her feet.
“A-Aria-” Aelius raised a hand as she dug up dirt under her nails to point her fingers were bleeding, and she backed away from Fedaul.
What exactly is going on? He asked as he saw her breakdown and cry. Why is she reacting like this? If she’s regained memories of her future…
Aelius turned back to Fedaul, who was smugly smirking towards them both, and suddenly, something clicked in Aelius’ mind.
Ah… nevermind. Screw it. I won’t leave him alive. It’s that exact future I need to avoid. Aria is mine this time, not yours.
And with that, his resolve was made up.
—-----------------------
Baron Fedaul was giving the two teenagers opposite him a smirk.
Even though the boy’s revelation that he knew all of their plans was shocking, it won’t be a problem as long as Fedaul makes sure to kill him right here.
Then, all he has to do is locate where the plan leaked from.
The boy’s weapon was strange, but Fedaul has already figured out how it works.
All he has to do is dodge the projectiles that fire from it, which were nothing but pure metal.
It was a clever gimmick, but it will no longer work now that Fedaul was on guard.
He rejoiced in delight as Aria looked at him with her Dragon eyes, and she began to cry in terror.
She knew what he had come here to do. It looks like her eyes were the real deal.
Her fear brought him ecstasy, he was thinking as the teenage boy turned to witness her hysteria.
How’s that? You’re scared now, aren’t you?
The boy then turned back to meet Fedaul’s gaze, and the Devil’s cocky smile quickly disappeared.
Suddenly, he felt an icy chill run down his spine.
In the dim light, Fedaul felt his breath get caught in his throat, as if a cold hand had reached into his chest and grabbed ahold of his beating heart.
Before him, the teenage boy’s demeanour had suddenly changed entirely, as though a switch had been flicked.
Am I… m-me, of all people? Feeling fear!? Fedaul shouted at himself in outrage as his eyes met the teenage boy’s, and he found himself staring back into a pair of crimson pupils.
Those eyes… they belong to…!
Suddenly, the lights around him changed and he looked up, seeing the sky turn red and the overhead moon shine down on him with crimson light.
Ah… Fedaul looked back to the teenage boy, his legs trembling. It’s not that he couldn’t kill me. He just hadn’t decided to, yet.
Beside him, his Devil underling dropped to the ground, completely headless from a slash made of the energy of the stars, and space itself.
Did I mess up? No! Our plans were perfect…! Fedaul reached down and pulled his blade out, letting out a roar and charging down the teenager.
“A predator will always fight back when pushed into a corner!” he shouted, slashing at the teenage boy.
The boy conjured a red blade out of the blood of one of his dead underlings and met him in swordplay.
Fedaul quickly noticed the teenage boy’s blade crack and break apart after being struck by his own, Mana-enhanced rapier.
Switching onto the offensive as soon the teenager’s sword split apart, Fedaul unleashed a barrage of dangerous, life threatening attacks.
But with impressive manoeuvrability, the teenager dodged each attack until finally, he made a mistake.
Having gotten slow from exhausting his energy, he fell a step behind and Fedaul landed a gruesome slash across his legs, severing his muscles.
Fedaul felt relief rising up within him, but it was quickly stifled when he met the red irises glaring back at him from the boy again
Even with such a wound, the boy did not even grunt, let alone cry.
He took the opportunity to, instead of continuing to back away, take a step forward while Fedaul was distracted with attacking his leg.
Before Fedaul could react, the boy reached forward with lightning-like speed and grabbed him by the neck.
Fedaul flinched against the harsh impact as he was captured, and all of his momentum disappeared in a moment.
He quickly realised that the boy was not only strong in abilities, but had the hardened battle sense of a warrior.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Fear suddenly grasped him for good as the boy pulled him down to his level, giving him a glare through his deep red pupils, and Fedaul felt himself whimper.
“Why did you appear here?” he uttered weakly. “It is unfair. The power of the Royals should have gone extinct long ago. How is a mere human like you, one of the Royals!?”
But instead of providing an answer, and to his immediate despair, the boy retrieved his metal weapon from his waist side and placed the end into his mouth.
Oh… I’m going to die, Fedaul realised after seeing the look of pure hatred in the boy’s eyes. How can a young boy like that possess such malice? Enough malice for a lifetime… Shite.
He looked into the eyes of his opponent, searching for any emotion, but he already knew there would be none to be found.
And then his entire body convulses as there was a loud bang and he rolled into a sprawl on the cold, hard ground.
Rapidly, he felt his body turn cold and his eyelids weakly fall shut.
—-----------------------
Panting harshly, Aelius ignored the agonising pain in his severed leg, instead standing over Fedaul’s dead corpse.
What a pathetic death… just like last time. And as expected, he’s spouting some sort of weird nonsense about Royalty again.
The first time Aelius took the life of Baron Fedaul, he had also cried out in outrage about some sort of Royal power that he seemed to possess.
But thinking about it wasn’t going to achieve anything. Instead, he should focus on the present.
Standing before the half-Devil’s body, Aelius suddenly felt euphoria well up within him.
This time, I killed him years before he could begin his plan. Haha! Hahahahah! I’ve saved so many people!
“Hahahahahah! Hahahahhaha! What a fitting end!” Aelius began to bellow in laughter.
Gradually, the night sky had begun to spit soft rain until it quickly turned into a downpour.
Beside him, Aria stumbled to join his side, reaching out to weakly latch onto his arm.
With dark circles under her eyelids and empty eyes, she took in the sight of the dead corpse, and he watched as the corners at her mouth turned upwards.
“H-haha…” she took a step forward, getting a closer look at his corpse.
Her quiet laughter was almost broken, as though she was laughing out of relief more than delight, unlike him.
“Hahaha! Hahahahahah!”
Her hysterical laughter continued as she stumbled back to his side, leaning up against his shoulder.
And for minutes, in the rain together, Aelius worriedly and silently gazed at her while she laughed in relief.
—-----------------------
At some point, Aria had fallen unconscious on his shoulder, and he felt a tinge of heartache disturb him.
Reaching up, he gently massaged her cheeks and lay her down beside a nearby tree trunk, gazing at her sleeping face absently for minutes.
If it wasn’t for this feud between us, I feel like we could’ve gotten along, he thought with a sigh before hissing in pain at his leg.
Looking to it, he sighed.
He can’t fall asleep yet.
They’re too defenceless out in the open like this.
Reaching up, Aelius seized control of the Devil’s blood and pulled it around his leg, regenerating his wounds with it, albeit only temporarily.
Finally, he turned back to Aria and began to shake her shoulders, trying to wake her.
I’m sorry, but we need to finish what we started when we came here, he thought with disapproval at himself.
He had no idea how fragile her mental state was, especially after what just transpired. But now, he has to take her to witness her mother’s death.
Yeah, it was fucked up.
From his vigorous shaking, she slowly began to wake up, and as her eyes met his, he could tell her mind was absent.
“Aria?” he asked her as she reached up to bury her head in her hands.
“Y-yeah?” she softly asked and he could tell she was struggling to keep her voice from shaking.
“We’re gonna start moving now.”
He slowly rose to his feet and offered her his hand, and she silently took it.
As he turned away to stumble into the manor, he noticed she refused to let go of his grasp, but disregarded it, allowing her to follow him as she held onto him.
—-----------------------
Reminiscent of the last time he attacked this manor, lightning struck overhead and thunder soon followed after as the rain poured down.
As Aelius slowly stumbled up the steps, Aria reached to help support him, to his surprise.
And by the time they reached the top of steps, he frowned as he found the front door was already smashed apart.
Stepping into the large foyer, they found rivers of blood on the ground and waves of blood covering the walls.
Dozens of corpses belonging to the servants littered the ground as Aelius stepped past it.
The wounds were obvious - they were killed by Devils.
It looks like something resulted in the future changing again, Aelius realised, as they never did this in his last life.
Something in this life has caused the Aerianne Archduchy to have a falling-out with the Devils.
For what reason, could the Devils have wound up destroying the Aerianne Archduchy?
Looking around for any signs of life, they heard coughing and spluttering from around a corner on the ground floor and Aria slowly helped Aelius stumble to it.
As they came around the corner, Aelius’ eyes narrowed at the putrid scene before him.
Lightning flashed, casting light for but a moment onto the ground and wall, revealing the Aerianne Archduchess pinned up against the wall with a blade, sitting in her own miserable pool of blood.
She looked up as she heard footsteps and her eyes widened, filled with hope as she saw Aria come around the corner.
“Aria!” she exclaimed through a gruesome cough. “Oh, thank the Goddess you’re here!” she reached out her hand and Aria looked to Aelius hesitantly.
Momentarily, Aelius considered the irony behind the woman thanking the Goddess, when she colluded with the Devils, but he gave Aria a nod, hanging back as she stepped forward and knelt down beside her mother, holding her hand.
“Aria… Aria… where have you been all this time, my daughter?” the woman asked with a cry, reaching up to caress her cheek.
“Mother… what happened here?” Aria asked coldly.
“You can still save us, Aria!” her mother tried to sit up eagerly. “Listen closely…”
She coughed again, coughing up blood.
“On our estate somewhere, there roams a Baron Fedaul.”
The Archduchess clasped firmly onto both of Aria’s shoulders, seriously ushering to her.
“You must find him, and offer yourself to him-”
“A-ah…” Aria stumbled backward, clutching her head.
It was as if the words her mother spoke invoked sudden pain within her.
“Aria? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to! I don’t want to! I don’t want to hear that name!” the young girl screamed and spun around, running back into Aelius’ chest.
“Stop being selfish, girl! I’m going to bleed out like this! Only they can save me-”
The Archduchess froze as she met Aelius’ eyes, who was observing the tormented Aria, fraily shaking in his embrace and blocking sound out from her ears.
With this, he was certain.
Something happened in his future life he was unaware of, and somehow, his actions this time altered that event. A
nd it was something to do with Aria, her mother, and Fedaul.
“Y-you…” the woman gasped. “What are you doing here?”
Aelius stepped forward, leaving Aria crouching down and huddling up against a wall alone, turning his attention to the woman instead.
“It looks like I don’t even need to show her your disgusting, selfish, greedy methods of betrayal, because she just experienced it herself.”
Aelius looked forward, wearing a smug smile.
“You’re curious where Fedaul and his goons are, aren’t you?” he asked.
“H-how is this possible? How are you here?” the mother looked on with fear in her eyes.
“I killed them. All of them. So much for overwhelming power, right?” Aelius asked with a hearty laugh.
“You’re lying!” the woman shouted and Aelius crossed his arms.
“How am I standing before you, then? Fedaul’s aim from the beginning was Aria, and he met us at the gate to the estate. If he were still alive, we would’ve never made it into the mansion now, would we?” he pointed out to her and she realised the truth in his words, yet denied it still.
“There’s no way they could have been killed! Especially not by you, who should… who should still be…”
“Poisoned?” Aelius finished her sentence for her. “Poisoned by the Devil’s Poison?” he squatted down, mocking her with a scoff.
“Were they the ones who supplied it to you, ten whole years ago? Just how long have you been colluding with them?”
The mother’s eyes widened as she realised he already knew everything, and bitterly looked off to the side.
“If it wasn’t for your whore of a mother…” she muttered under her breath.
Aelius frowned, now certain that something happened between his mother and Aria’s mother in the past, that he was unaware of.
But did it matter?
Aelius rose to his feet again, looking over his shoulder to see Aria slowly calming down, looking back up at him with a sniffle.
“Anyways, I’ve got places to be. It was so nice seeing you, for one last time,” Aelius smiled, raising his sword he picked up from nearby, and the mother’s eyes widened.
“A-Aria! Do something about this madman! He’s going to doom us all!” she wriggled and tried to struggle, but the blade pinning her to the wall prevented her from moving.
“So…” Aelius hummed as he rested the blade on her shoulder. “The Devils were after Aria. After she disappeared with no word of where she was, they decided to attack you and hold you ransom against her, so they could get their hands on her. Does that sound about right?”
Aelius tilted his head, recalling the skill Aria possessed; Eyes of Truth.
“And their grand plan requires the special properties of her eyes…” he frowned as he tried to recall any such information from his first life, but to no avail.
All he did was kill Devils, he never had an inside agent to tell him what they were actually doing.
“Aria! Do something!” the mother screeched, but froze when she saw Aria simply gazing at her with a pitiful gaze.
“Not even the Goddess can save you now,” Aria said and Aelius was stunned for a moment, remembering that Aria had said the exact same words in his last life.
So that’s what she really meant by that at that time, he thought with a grunt. She didn’t mean that my wrath was inescapable. She meant her mother’s time had come, for all the sins she had committed. I never realised the true meaning behind her words.
“Well, anyways,” Aelius leaned down with a smile. “See you in hell.”
There was a ‘shhhhingggg’ as he slit her throat and she began to shake violently as blood spewed forth.
She croaked and gasped for air, dying painfully until she was completely still.
Aelius watched onward with cold eyes, giving a deep breath of closure.
And with this, the deed was finally done.
—-----------------------
Aria watched as Aelius slashed her mother through the neck.
As she saw the blood, she was simply thinking that she was finally liberated, when she heard sudden footsteps behind her, and turned to gasp upon seeing her father walk just in time Aelius killed the Archduchess.
The man’s face dropped into despair, before it suddenly began twisting into rage.
“Ahhhh!” he immediately roared in fury, drawing his blade and charging down the narrow corridor.
Aelius’ eyes were fixed on witnessing the Archduchess’ final moments when he heard the cry and spun his head around, but it was too late for him to react in the narrow corridor and dodge away.
“Nooooo!” Aria screamed as the Aerianne Archduke plunged his sword through Aelius’ torso and he quickly spewed out a mouth of blood.
“Ahhhhh!” Aria screeched as she ran forward to catch his falling body.
“Father!!! How could you!!!” she screeched, hugging Aelius tightly.
In her arms, she saw his eyes glaze over from the fatal wound and despair overwhelmed her entire being.
Why? Just when she had been released from the shackles of her mother by her hero, there was no way he was going to die in her arms, right?
She whimpered, clutching him tightly when suddenly, she found her arms empty and she was gasping for breath in the corridor.
“See you in hell,” Aria heard Aelius’ voice speak again, and whipped her head down the hall to find him slicing his mother’s throat again.
Aria looked around in confusion, feeling her eyes glowing with power.
Was that… a vision from the future?
She whipped her head around in time to see her father witness Aelius murder the Archduchess, and roar in rage as he unsheathed his sword.
For a moment, time slowed down for Aria.
She lost almost all thought, her body moving instead on its own.
Before her mind even registered what was happening, she found herself dashing in the way between her father and Aelius, the man she loved, her arms outstretched, her eyes widened and her breath suddenly catching in her throat.
She saw her father’s eyes widen in shock and he tried to pull the blade back, but his momentum was unstoppable and the corridor was too narrow.
Before anyone could react, Aria felt the blade plunge into her gut and pain overwhelm her abdomen.
Immediately, blood bursted out from her throat, her legs losing their strength and she fell backward.
“A-Aria!” she saw her father stumble backward in shock, his eyes tearing up.
He was stunned as she fell backward, and she felt a pair of warm hands catch her from behind, and lay her to rest on his lap.
Her vision was quickly fading black, but she could see the familiar face leaning over her.
“Aria!!!” his voice called, but it sounded distant. It was first time she heard so much emotion in his voice directed toward her.
She wanted to muster a smile for him, but found herself powerless to.
His warm hands grasped her by the cheeks, and he pressed his brown eyes to hers.
“Why’d you do that? You idiot! You fucking idiot!” he cursed her and she found her inner-self chuckling, unsure of what expression may have been on her face. In reality, as her body turned cold in his embrace, her expression was actually that of nothing at all.
Merely empty eyes reflected back at Aelius, and the sight wounded him deeply in the soul.
With the last thing she sees being his big, melty brown eyes, everything around her faded to black and her hearing abandoned her.
Along with all her senses disappearing, she found her consciousness fluttering away, little by little, until there was nothing left.
And then, there was nothing left of her.