Prince of The Abyss-Chapter 206: Denial: Death (31)

Aether ran after his sister, not trying to be left behind, but she wasn’t slowing down even a little. She knew she was excited; he was too, I mean, they hadn’t seen their grandmother in a while. But still, his feet weren’t as big as hers!

His sister was a woman of high calibre and respect; many spoke badly of her, though, since she was cold to most, and never had even put a word about marriage, since she was slowly approaching that age, and since she was not the heir to the throne.; but they never seemed to affect her. Words meant nothing to her; she was like a statue when it came to them.

He wished he could be more like her, I mean, if someone spoke badly about him, he would probably cry, he had a weak heart... but he was sure she would be there for him. She was the best sister he could ever ask for.

Yet, as they were making their way to their destination, he saw something shine in the distance, and before he could ask his sister what it was, it came towards him.

It was an arrow, he realized that as it slowly approached his eye. But before it could pierce it, his sister had grabbed it with her bare hand and crushed it.

His eyes sparked in hope and admiration; his sister was so awesome... but as he was about to thank her, he noticed something.

Her eyes... they held this very deep rage. As if her whole world was just about to collapse in front of her. A murderous intent he had never felt before, not one this strong.

One that not only leads to death, but also to torture, pain, and suffering.

It frightened him; he didn’t like it at all. But luckily, his sister noticed this, quickly letting go of her murderous intent and wrapping her arms around him in a deep hug.

"I’m sorry, Aether... it’s just... I got mad that they dared attack you... Can you forgive me?"

Aether embraced his sister, his body slightly trembling, both from almost being shot by an arrow, but also from his sister’s scary reaction.

"Its okay..."

...

...

"Promise me one thing, Aether, that you will never let Anger consume you... its not a good thing."

Aether pulled back to look his sister in the eyes and smiled, his eyes filled with purity and happiness like usual.

"Of course! I won’t ever let anger consume me. Thats a promise!"

His eyes are of sensibility and innocence.

...

..

How did they turn into ones of madness?

Aether vision trembled around, as he felt a deep rage wash over him, one he had never felt before, like his whole body was drowning inside of it. And yet he hadn’t moved an inch, like he was frozen, but not from fear.

But from Anger.

"I’m sorry, sister. but i dont think I can keep our promise for long..."

A scene he never wished to see again, one that has been haunting him for months, and one that he wished he had never been alive to ever witness.

A scene filled with blood and sorrow, of loss and sadness, all caused by one person, that... being him. He had been the cause of this scene that was in front of him.

All his fault...

He gritted his teeth to the point he could hear one almost break.

As he slowly made his way to the middle of the center. In the center of this horrible scene.

His eyes burned to the point he felt as if they were going to catch flame.

Denial could have put him in as many illusions as he wanted.

He could have hit him as many times as he wanted.

He could have done anything else.

But no...

He dared show him the moment his rebellion had fallen.

But why all of a sudden? Why had he switched tactics? Did he realize that just putting him in little illusions wasn’t going to work, so he decided to hit him at the most vulnerable part of his past?

Did he think that he would try to deny what was happening right in front of him?

No, he watched it all and was overflowing with anger.

He had been forced to watch every second.

From seeing Kaden’s head being smashed by Lilith numerous times, seeing the blood spill, and the boy losing his life, because of his decisions as a leader, and his lack of strength.

Then he saw Nick get a hole made where his gut was supposed to be. With just one punch, Lilith had taken a life. That was the strength that he had caused to come upon them. All because he was selfish to try to help his home kingdom. And the impatients that made him do it before they could get stronger.

He watched Aura drop to her knees, trying to plead for mercy. But he already knew what was going to happen next, and yet... he didn’t look away. He watched as her body collapsed, now without a head, destroyed by Lilith. All because he had been too cocky, too confident in himself, thinking he could challenge the whole world.

He might as well have challenged the King! If he was that confident.

His fist clenched until blood spilled from under his nails, until they dug inside his palm.

He didn’t turn away; he watched as Alexis tried to get away, a sorry attempt to survive, since Lilith instantly caught her and gave her his judgment.

He watched Milo using his ability to try and stop Lilith, to save everyone else, while sacrificing himself, and seeing his face turn into terror as he realized it wasn’t doing anything, and in the end, he saw his death caused by him trying to save them. Really... he had done more than him to try and prevent this, after all, one of them gave their life for it, and the other hadn’t

The former being him.

His anger brightened as he watched Riven try to sacrifice himself for Lyra, so that the girl could run. The boy never got to have his revenge, but he most likely met his father in heaven. Father and child, both killed by the Blue Rose, yet for completely different reasons. Still, his blood boiled as he asked the girl to live for him, only for Lilith to kill her after a few seconds.

But... what hurt him most, and what angered him most... was himself. The battle with Lilith, the one where he had used partial control. He watched as even with a whole God helping him, fighting alongside him, saving him multiple times, he was hardly able to land any hits, and lost very miserably, being beaten up by Lilith as if he wasn’t even a real threat to him at all.

Was he that weak, that useless?

...

He frowned deeply.

"Show youself you bastard. Come fight me!"

Yet Denial didn’t dare reveal himself; he just continued to repeat the same memories constantly, the very memories that are going to haunt him even more after this trial. Even after he gets his life back, the memory will bring him back to this place; it is going to keep him down, not even letting him sleep at night.

’Fine, then I’ll come to you.’

Aether raised Voipiercer... he could also feel its rage. After all, in the memories this bastard kept repeating to him, he was getting beaten up by a God’s vessel, to him that was dishonorably...

He didn’t waste any time, throwing the blade straight in the sky, breaking the place into shards, pieces that were never going to fully be destroyed. Never ever forgotten.

With Denial’s illusion, or at least an attempt to make him go crazy failling, he quickly turned back to physical attacks. And since he hadn’t had time to activate his skills, he was met with a fist straight to his cheek.

But...

...

...

Aether smiled as his sister, as a question came to his mind.

"Hey sis, now that I promised not get corrupted by anger... why do you use it?"

The girl looked away emberresed, her words catching in her throat at first.

"Well... anger is very dangerous... but it’s also really powerful. If you know how to use it, you can be almost unbeatable.... the sheer will when you are confused by anger... its terryfying. As if you can’t even feel pain."

...

...

Even with a full punch from Denial straight to his face, Aether’s head didn’t seem to have moved all that much... almost as if he hadn’t even felt it... and really, he hadn’t. Not when anger surged in his veins as if it were blood. Adrenaline was taking over his whole body.

He smiled, catching Denial’s hand.

Denial was caught of guards, of course, I mean, you don’t expect someone to take your attack head-on and then smile to his face.

No one...

...

...

"I see what you meant... sister."