First Blood [1] - Syra's Awakening

*Thud Thud*

"Order in the court!" A man wearing a white wig and black robes shouted, his voice booming throughout the hall, instantly silencing everyone.

"Mr. Evergreen. The jury has found you guilty of the mass killing of several innocents, the cruel experimentation on several citizens of the united states, and the torture of several CIA agents. For your despicable actions, you have been sentenced to death! All your assets shall be seized immediately." The judge spoke, his voice filled with contempt and disgust for the boy before him.

Seth Evergreen was only 18 years old at this point, yet the look in his eyes told a clear story for everyone who could see them.

They showed no remorse...

"You're really stretching it when you call them innocent..." Seth chuckled.

"They were innocent in the eyes of the law. And even if they weren't, what gives you the right to be judge, jury, and executioner?!" The judge roared, letting anger control him for the first time since the beginning of the case.

"Ugh... This is why I don't like hanging out with people. Always so dramatic. Robots are so much cooler." Seth rolled his eyes as he was slowly escorted out of the hall, yet the moment his foot stepped out of the hall, the world around Seth began to flicker.

Before he knew it, he was no longer standing in the hall. Instead, he stood on a fiery battlefield where hundreds lay dead, and the orange flames consumed the corpses and buildings without discrimination.

Mechanical bots could be seen walking around, shooting anything that moved…

Anything that wasn't their master and their master's enemy.

*Click*

Pressing onto the revolver's hammer, Seth slowly pointed his gun at the man kneeling before him.

"You know, Mr. President, I pity you." Seth sighed, yet the expression on his face betrayed his words.

After all, he wore a smile that would have sent a shiver down the spines of even the likes of psychopaths and serial killers.

"F*ck you." The president snarled while spitting blood onto Seth's face.

"It's nothing personal, old man." Seth wiped the saliva and blood off of his face with a trace of disgust on his expression.

"Since you're the first one to cross me, it's only fair that you would be the first to suffer my wrath. Today, you will become an example of what happens to those who cross me, and hopefully, the other countries will stay out of my business. I'd rather not have to wipe out another country." Seth rubbed his temples with a sigh before pulling the trigger.

*Bang*

***

Silas slowly opened his eyes, awakening from a deep and refreshing slumber.

'I haven't thought of that day for years... I wonder what brought it up.' Silas thought to himself while climbing over his cradle and landing onto the hardwood floor.

╔══════ ≪ °❈° ≫ ══════╗

Name: Seth Evergreen

Age: 18 Months

Race: Reincarnated Lesser Human

Core: Pristine-Onyx

Affinities: Mana (Earth, Fire, Water, Air), Life Equation

Bloodlines: None

Blessing: Evolution - (Your body, mind, and soul have been sculpted to transform you into the peak life form. Everything you do and everything done to you shall affect how you evolve.)

╚══════ ≪ °❈° ≫ ══════╝

It had been a year and a half since his rebirth into Gilea, and ever since his awakening at 3 months old, he had done nothing but cultivate his core and train his mana control.

There were also a few things he learned how to do along the way, but for now, all he wanted to do was to break through to the garnet core.

His sister had also recently reached the age of 6, and if his eyes didn't deceive him, she was infinitely close to awakening her dormant mana core.

She seemed like she needed a little nudge, yet Silas wouldn't have done it even if he knew how to help her awaken her core.

'It's better if she learns these things on her own.' Silas thought to himself as he waddled toward the living room where his mother sat with a grave expression on her face.

'Lochras should be at work by now, and since I can't see Keira anywhere, it means she must have either gone shopping or...' Silas turned to his mother.

'Or she's been called for an urgent mission near the borders between the forest and this town.' Silas narrowed his eyes and continued to waddle until he was beside his mother. He didn't really need to waddle, but he had to keep up the act of an 18-month-old child who was still struggling to coordinate his limbs.

Without making another sound, he hugged his mother's leg, causing her grave expression to fade slightly before being replaced by a warm smile.

"You always know how to cheer me up." Rhea smiled before picking Silas up and placing him on her lap.

"Mama sad?" Silas tilted his head.

"No... Mama is just worried for your grandmother." Rhea replied with an uneasy expression.

"Gamma stwong!" Silas clapped his hands and smiled.

"She is strong, but now she's just being reckless... How could she go into the forest alone, without any back up at that?!" Rhea clenched her fists in frustration.

'She's an amethyst core mage, I doubt you have anything to worry about.' Silas inwardly thought, unable to imagine his grandmother ever losing in a fight against a monster or beast that wasn't significantly powerful.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

The sound of the door being knocked entered both of their ears; however, while Silas didn't think much of it despite how strong the knocks were, his mother looked like her heart had dropped to her stomach.

She gently placed Silas to the side and ran toward the door where a woman with black hair stood, panting heavily and covered in sweat.

The woman was pale. However, Silas still found it difficult to believe this woman had come to them with bad news. He could feel that something was off about her.

"Rhea... You have to come quickly! The monsters are pushing back the adventurers and warriors.

Keira... Keira is injured! Diveen is too busy pushing back the rest of the monsters alongside the chief, but they need Keira to help them out. You're the only other diviner in this town, so I immediately came to you." The woman panted while Rhea became as pale as a ghost.

Looking back, she stared at Silas and then at Syra, who was just playing with her toys.

"Don't worry. I can take care of them. You go!" The woman forced out a smile through her tired expression, making Rhea smile slightly.

"Thank you!" Rhea bowed and instantly left the house and closed the door behind her.

'Liar.' Silas thought, his inner voice filled with contempt for the woman before him.

Silas knew humans. He knew their nature, and he could see right through them.

"Ga?" Silas voiced with a tilt of the head.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about your mommy. She's in good hands now. It's you guys we want..." The woman's tired persona disappeared as color quickly returned to her face, and a sadistic grin stretched out from the corner of her mouth.

'I hate when I'm right.' Silas wanted to sigh, but he suppressed it and watched the woman blankly.

*BOOM*

*Crash*

The sound of the back door being smashed in echoed throughout the house, making Syra freeze in place before running over to where Silas was.

Out of curiosity, Silas also turned around to see who had smashed their back door.

A hulking figure walked in through the door with an axe in his hands. He wore an armor made up of multiple colors, as if each piece of the armor had been taken from another set to create his armor.

Even the axe didn't match any of the armor pieces he was wearing.

'Ohhhh... Crap.' Silas inwardly cursed.

He was pretty confident in being able to kill the woman quite easily without anyone realizing that it was him, but the man was another story.

'They're probably here to rob the house and take us as either hostage or sell us as slaves, or whatever this world's equivalent of a slave is.' Silas thought to himself while a plan slowly formed in his mind.

However, before he could finish thinking of the plan, he felt his sister suddenly grab him and run with him to the corner of the living room closest to the fireplace.

Silas was surprised she could even pick him up, but his surprise only increased when he heard what she said.

Placing him down in the corner of the room, she stood in front of him before grabbing the metal fire rod that had been placed next to the fireplace, and finally spoke-

"Stay behind me. I won't let them hurt you."

'...What?'

Silas was stunned. Why was she protecting him?

He could hear the determination in Syra's voice, yet he could also hear the subtle shake in her voice.

He could see her small hands tightly gripping the metal fire rod, but they were trembling even more than her voice had.

He could see tears glistening in the corners of her eyes, yet despite all that, she still stood with her back to him, ready to protect him no matter the cost.

'Why?'

Silas had never had a sibling before. Sure, he was intelligent and knowledgeable, but he couldn't even qualify as a novice when it came to having healthy relationships.

He never understood why humans always clung to one another, whether that was in a marriage or among family members and friends.

So when he saw his sister stand in front of him, willing to sacrifice her own life to protect him, a warm feeling that he couldn't understand filled his heart and made his stomach churn.

"Aww. How cute. Big sister wants to protect her little brother." The woman looked at them the same way one would look at a cat protecting her kittens.

"Do we need them in one piece?" The man asked with a raised brow.

"Eh, just make sure the wounds are healable." She shrugged with a chuckle while throwing several expensive-looking items into a small bag.

Looking at Syra, the man grinned and punched forward with a hand coated in toki.

The moment his hand fully extended, a powerful wind pressure shot toward Syra, appearing before her in the blink of an eye.

'Sh*t.' Silas gritted his teeth, pivoted himself forward, and reached his hand toward the back of Syra's collar, yet before he could reach her, he was blinded by a bright silver light.

*SWOOSH*

Powerful winds sent Silas flying back, and at the same time, they shredded the air pressure punch that was about to hit Syra directly in the abdomen.

Squinting his eyes, Silas's eyes turned green, allowing him to see the spectacle that had illuminated the entire house and everything within a 30-meter radius of it.

Syra was awakening.

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