Chapter twenty-five

"So Mrs. White is that tough, huh?" Cyril asks.

"Oh, you bet! Now, she can flip over a fully armed tank with her bare hands." Louis answers. "Word of advice, never mess with her, especially when she is in a bad mood."

"Woah!" Mariah exclaims. "But why did I end up with lame parents?"

"Hey-hey! Your mom and I are pretty strong ourselves. We simply don't engage in the fights."

"Really? Can you flip a tank?"

"Honey, I can send it flying into space if I wanted to," Louis answers with a smirk.

"Are you two done!?" Hannah asks. "If you are, let me continue Damien's legacy. Now, this is what unfolds next,"

Eighteen years in the abandoned factory:

"Those are some strong legs you got there, little girl." The third man says. "Blocking my kick, that's quite impressive. Why not surrender? I can put in a good word for you and then I get to spread those legs. It's a good offer, ei?"

"What a dickless piece of shit!!" Arthur sounds. "She is my lady and mine alone! So f*ck off!"

"Oh! That's quite the foul mouth you have there boy! Say, why don't we settle this between us men? The winner gets her as the price."

"Hey! I'm right here you know!?" Joan echoes. "I have my rig..."

"Joan shut it when men are arguing!" Arthur pacifies. "Now let me defend your honour." He turns to the thug. "Hey! Me and you, one on one. Let's go!"

They start walking towards each other but suddenly, a cold presence sets in their environ. Their countenances change simultaneously. Both bathe in trepidation. They slowly turn their faces to the presence as if they know there is a ghost and they want a glimpse just to boost their survival instinct.

Their eyes see a monstrous Damien standing between Hannah and Louis. His hair has grown quite a lot. It is seen that his hair is black and now the tip of his long black hair is blue from the dye. His irises have turned blue and he keeps staring at them with this bloodthirsty coldness which just makes their bodies lifeless. Steam is released from his nostrils with every exhalation and when the steam ascends and covers his face, his cold blue eyes are seen beaming.

"Hey! You two what happened?" Arthur asks.

"He bit his tongue for blood again!" Louis answers.

"What!? You two should get away from him! He-"

"Don't worry Arthur," Joan speaks calmly. "I can tell... He is in control."

"Hey! Damien-" Before Arthur could finish, *WHOOSH* Damien comes dashing by with the speed of Mercury. *POW* he lands a solid punch right on the third man's chin and sends him flying through the wall. Again, Damien exhales and steam is released.

"Yo Damien! This is the time you say those cool lines." Arthur whispers.

"I'm saving them for when I clip your ass!"Damien responds. "Hey!?" He calls out to the third man, "I know you are alive! Come on out!"

A ruckus sound is heard from behind the wall then, *WHOOMP* a barrel comes flying at Damien. He throws a punch to counter and blocks.

*ARGHHHH* The first and second man comes from behind at an incredible pace yelling at the top of their voices. When they get close enough, like the propellers of a plane, Damien makes a 360-degree turn and just like that they tear in halves. With blood and guts splashed everywhere, Damien gazes at Dante with the same cold look in his eyes.

"WHOA!" Arthur exclaims. "That was cool, nasty, but cool."

Louis and Hannah though relieved that some of the threats are eliminated, these mixed up feelings boil up in them. But out of them all, fear was most dominant.

"He just used the divide spell," Louis says.

"Without the chant. And worst of all, he used it on people." Hannah lets out.

"Yeah. Damien may yap about killing but the truth is... he will never even kill a mosquito."

"Mhm! That is not Damien!" Hannah conjectures.

*****

"Wait a moment mom." Maria interrupts. "Embarrassingly, I am afraid I have to admit I don't know of this divide spell."

"Well, I am not surprised. It is a Forbidden spell." Hannah informs.

"Really!? A simple spell that just cuts things in two? Give me a break." Cyril speaks cheekily.

"A simple spell, huh?" Louis asks. "Think of this: a spell when honed to it's extremity, can be the source of calamities with just a touch. A spell that can divide life spans, power, you name it. All with just a touch. It's actually name is Shatter."

"Okay, that does ring a bell. Shatter-- It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" Maria says.

"It sure does now that you mentioned it." Louis says. "Anywho, lets proceed..."

******

"Running away, huh?" Damien murmurs.

"Hey Damien!" Joan calls. "I think he is running away."

"I know." Damien saying this, he points his right palm at the pieces of bodies. Like the reverse of falling rain, the blood starts to rise in droplets. The drops gather close to his palm and forms an flat irregular shaped surface like a mirror. Slowly he moves his palm closer and on impact, ripples are sent echoing. He pushes further and as if there is a lot of room inside, he keeps pushing his hand through till from his hand to elbow was not visible. He slowly pulls out his hand. It is seen all bloody as it comes out. When his entire arm is out, in his palm he holds a heart which beats at an abnormally slow rhythm. The suspending blood surface breaks down. "Running away without your heart." Damien scoffs as he plunges his teeth into the heart. He gulps down a few millilitres of blood and then burps. "You are next." Damien announces with his eyes glaring at Dante who sits unfazed by all the happenings.

"Oh really..." Dante says and in a second, right before all their eyes he vanishes from his spot and reappear before Dante. "And what do you plan to do when you can't even keep up with my speed?" He says to the awestruck face of Damien.

Instinctively Damien reacts by throwing a punch to try and create some space. Dante ducks and delivers a swift and powerful punch to just the area right above Damien's hip. When the punch connects, hearts start to thump as countenances start to contort and sadden as the punch had bitten more than a piece of him. A huge chunk of his side was gone leaving a whole in him but no blood is gushing out. Damien stood immobile for sometime and so does everyone else as it all seemed like the unexpected dream had happened. Damien coughs with a smile and as blood trickles down his mouth, like a fountain, gallons of blood rush out of his wound as he falls to his back.

"No-no-no-no-no...!" Was all Hannah kept murmuring as she was slowly breaking into tears. "DANTE!" She shrieks as a huge burst of power comes out of her sending Louis and everything around flying. She stares at Dante with a fierce and menacing look. A glowing violet spiral forms on her forms on her forehead with the tail extending downwards passing on her nose, her chin, neck, all the way to her chest and there, it spreads across her body. Her sclera turns violet as well.

"Beautiful!" Dante exclaims with delight. "An Ancestral Awakening."

/Caster blood, a race blessed with the control of Emo. Emo like Aura is an entity that exists in everything, that is, living or dead. It even exists all around. And for a Caster blood, where there is Emo, they can manipulate it to produce spells. Their power often depends on their emotion at the time and as such, the stronger their will, the stronger they are. In the making of spells, chants are made to make proper picturing and perfecting of the outcome possible. And when spells are honed, that is trained and understood, they are able to raise the rank of the spell.

For the Ancestral Awakening, Caster bloods have a history. It says: in the beginning of time, a small family was the first to awaken the Caster power. With time, their power spread as they procreated. Generations passed and almost a dozen of children started to awaken power stronger than that of a normal Caster. For each, the Caster power was awakened due to an emotion or emotions that triggered the hidden blessing in their blood. Casters blessed to be 'spiritual descendants' of those awakenners experience this Ancestral Awakening when they experience such intense sentiments/