1 Awakened Memories

A boy no more than 8 years old rested on his knees. His tie was torn and suit was nearly burnt. Tears rolled down his cheeks and fell down on the debris and soot surrounding him. The ceiling was destroyed and the visible dark clouds acted as the prelude to rainfall. He was currently sitting in the vacation home of the stone family, a well-known noble family. The boy sobbing was none other than the stone family heir. He raised his head and looked at the harrowing site his home had become. His older sister Claire lay dead before his eyes. Burn and slash wounds all over her body. His parents had passed away when he was around 5 years old. Since then his sister had temporarily taken over the role as the head of the stone family house and taken care of him and his younger sister, Nicole. Near the walls lay more bodies, bodies of 3 knights and 2 maids. And beside him lay the bodies of the two perpetrators of this incident who he had killed just now. Men dressed in black with gray knives, wearing a trinket that looked like the symbol of infinity with the words- 'Kronos' inscribed on them. He looked at the symbol with hateful eyes and held it in his hand as he recounted the incident.

The boy, Maximus Stone, and his older sister had come to the vacation home in the imperial capital for visiting the Magus Knights Academy. By law, all children at the age of 14 must obtain official 3-year education before being classified as adults. The Magus Knights Academy was famous world-wide as the top magic academy in the world with an intake rate of less than 3% without distinction between class and based only on merit. Claire Stone had qualified for admission into this prestigious academy. The siblings were going to visit the academy the next day for finalizing the paperwork. Maximus had left with one of the knights to sight-see in the capital. When he was returning he picked up his sisters favorite strawberry cake. He happily jumped around as he reached the villa. He decided to enter through a pathway into the house that only he currently knew. It was meant to be a escape route but that knowledge had not been passed on to anyone. Maximus had found this route by chance. As he walked through the path that linked to the main room of the house where his sister mostly spend her time, he noticed a rather foul smell through a vent. He looked through the vent to see what was happening and he heard his sister's pained voice-

"...kuh...who are you people...please leave the others if I you have come for money."

"I guess its ok to tell you since you will all die anyway. You see we are from the Order of Kronos. We had gotten a tip that you were supposed to have high mana signatures, so we needed you for an experiment. Seems we were wrong. So you will have to die just as those other people."

'What were they saying...order of kronos...experiments...no none of that matters anymore, its clear they don't mean anything good'-were the kinds of thoughts racing through Maximus's mind. He rushed out of the escape rout into the living room and stood in front of his wounded sister while spreading his hands.

"I don't care who you are but I wont forgive you for what you have done" Maximus shouted.

"Max...forget about me and run away"

"Heh, the brats got some spunk. Let's show him the darkness of this world we live in". saying that one of the goons kicked Maximus aside and delieverd a killing blow to his sister claire.

"...kuuhh.." Claire spat out blood and said "Goodbye..Max..take care of Nicole..run away"

Maximus now looked at his sister as she stared blankly into nothingness. The last embers of her life leaving her. The emotions racing through Max's mind changed from sadness to despaired to unending rage. Just as his mind was about to give out from the sudden overload of information, one of the goons rushed toward Max to deliver him the finishing blow as well.

One of the men dressed in black kicked him to the floor and ran the grey knife through his heart. The intense pain caused him to spit out blood. After a few seconds passed and his vision was blurring, the two men started talking about something he could'nt make out anymore. As he was about to close his eyes, a feeling of nostalgia spread over him. This was surprising as there was no reason for such a feeling. This was the first and possibly the last time he had felt such a feeling. As he closed his eyes, images no more precisely memories started flooding through his mind.

He recounted living on a planet called earth, clad in black as he looked through the night and killed his targets. He remembered how he was called the 'world's greatest assassin'. Soon, the images shifted to another world called Andromeda. Over there, he saw another person who looked like him, albeit, older. Although, they looked similar, there was a visible difference. This person was a vampire. A race considered legendary and extinct on Maximus's planet. Their physical prowess, regenerative ability and such were exponentially better than that of humans. There was another noticable trait. This vampire could revive and controll the dead. He saw the many hard and bloody battles the two people he saw had fought and finally understood that Maximus, was the 3rd reincarnation of the same person. As he understood this truth, he opened his eyes and slowly pulled out the dagger stuck in his chest. Surprisingly, it did not hurt anymore. Not in the slightest. The wound immediately closed and Maximus slowly got up.

His body felt infinitely lighter and stronger than before. He felt his mana (magical power) being stimulated and rising to uncontrollable extents. As the two goons looked at Maximus they were thoroughly shocked, both at the seemingly lethal wound healing in what happened to be a matter of minutes as well as the sudden surge of magical power they felt.

Maximus held the dagger in his hand and leaped toward the first of the two men. His speed was phenominally fast that the man did'nt even notice his own head being decapitated by the child.

"m..monster.. stay away" the man said completly freaked out.

That plead did not stop Maximus from brutally stabbing him, stabbing the man who killed his sister and tossing him into a mirror nearby.

Feeling the power finally leaving his body, Maximus, dropped the bloodied knife onto the floor and stared at the shards of glass scattered around him from the impact. He noticed something strange. His eyes had changed colour. His left eye was red like the vampire from his vision and his right eye was blue like that of his first life.

---

After Maximus recounted the whole incident, he looked at his sister.

"I swear I will destroy all these bastards. I will destroy the order of kronos. Surely they have commited such crimes elsewhere as well. I will stop it all with my own power."

Maximus swore in rage as it started raining heavily, the night sky could not be seen anymore.