Chapter XXXVIII: The Birth Of A Phoenix 2

"Ah. Father."

He called.

William could feel the intense pressure surrounding his body. It made his knees feel weak as he was trembling and walking towards his son, who was acting like a completely different person.

He was almost near him when Belinda swiftly blocked Reyster with her own body, covered in sweat and wounds.

"Milord! Young master, have done nothing wrong!"

She affirmed, spreading his arms to protect him from behind, who seemed clueless about the whole situation.

"You've betrayed us!" 

He frowned while glaring at her, gripping the sword in his hand.

The way his father has acted has left him perplexed. He did not know what was wrong or what made everything go wrong.

"Fa-Father i-"

He tried to call him, but instead of getting his attention, what happened next left him petrified, more than how the sweltering fire covered the entire room.

"No! Young master-

*Slash!*

His nanny shouted before her throat was slit by his father.

Her blood streamed down his throat, leaving his feet frozen on the ground. He didn't know what was happening; he could only feel his eyes getting blurry and heavy after seeing the vibrant color of blood covering his hands.

As soon as he woke up, he found himself lying on the marbled altar. With both of his hands and feet tied up with an abaca rope as he tried to escape from it, he wriggled out the ropes around his hands while the priestess and the deacon were reciting an orison and hymn of canticle beside him, holding a book in their hands while the entire area was covered in melting candles.

"No, what are you doing?! Let go!"

"Let me go!"

He cries as he fights back with all of his remaining strength just to be freed from being tied, but it seems like it would be impossible knowing that it was the same rope that the priestess used to free someone from being possessed by a demon.

He was covered in sweat from all the struggling, and his wrist was also bruised and wounded, but none of that hurt him; he could not even feel the pain from it, not much like how he watches his parents just watch and stand there, not so far from him.

'Nanny, I'm sorry... "

He thought; he couldn't even look at his father the same as before.

When the priestess then put his hands above his forehead, he could suddenly feel a feeling of immense pain from his touch, as if his head were about to blow up.

"Let go! I'm not a monster. Get away from me!"

"Mom! Dad! Tell them that I'm not a monster!" 

He shouted, scraping his fingernails on the marbled altar, but even though blood escaped from his flesh, they just looked at him with remorse and sorrow in their eyes.

'Why are you just staring at me? -'

'-I am not a monster. Please.....please believe me.'

Tears came rolling down his cheeks as he called for his mother, yet she just shook her head apologetically.

"Im-Im sorry…"

Her mother whispered while her eyes were all swollen from crying.

When all of the deacons were about to put their hands above him, his eyes suddenly changed color. It was the same eye his father saw when he acted like a psycho. His father remembered how much he laughed that night, watching his nanny die with his own eyes.

"Pft-HAHAHA"

*Sigh~*

"Why? Can't you kill your son? "

He laughed like a maniac while his father was gritting his teeth in anger.

'I'm sorry, son; it's for your own sake.'

He thought, closing his eyes as he couldn't seem to face him. Hearing how much he screamed from all the pain.

"Argh! Stay away from me!"

As the scorching fire slowly surrounds his entire body, his memories slowly, one by one, flash through his mind as he watches all the trauma and pain from his past.

'Ah, I should have listened...'

Back then, he saw a guy that he never meant to forget—the reason why he was here in this world in the first place.

"Everyone, fall back!"

The priestess had shouted when the compelling blister of the flame slowly burst out of his body, exploding in no time before they could even run on their feet.

"Hyung..." 

He called as he watched all of them turn to dust in the air, leaving the place in destruction. He could not even hear their scream before they were even caught by the heat of his fire; they just swiftly turned into ashes before he could even blink his eyes. It was so sudden that it left him in silence with no life left in his eyes, staring from the sky all alone at the roof of the burning temple.

Back to the present...

"Does he still bother you?"

Khalid asks while pointing out the phoenix flapping his wings behind his back.

"Not as much as before."

He bluntly replied as he watched him stand up, stretching his body on the ground.

"Well..." 

He stands in front of him.

"None of it is your fault. I cannot even blame that bird either; it just happened because it was supposed to happen."

Khalid taps his head as he rubs his hair gently.

"Even if you have found a new family or met someone much better than me, you will always be my little brother."

He affirmed, which caused Akil to form a faint smile on his lip, leaving the phoenix to sigh as he watched them from behind.

'Back then, I was just teasing his father a bit. I didn't know that he was serious about getting rid of me.'

He thought as if he were relieved to see his smile that had been gone for a long time.

'...It's maybe my fault that I led you to chaos, but Akil, you're the one who causes the destruction.'

The phoenix added before both of them can be seen standing in the middle of nowhere, while the bulk man, who was dressed as a bandit, was so happy to see them, wearing a petrifying smile on his face that couldn't be compared to a clown.