Chapter One: Stormy Nights

"Julius chose the Founder's sword." My father, Cyron Aillios said in a solemn tone. A few of the people are cheering in joy, while a few others are trying their best to hide their displeasure. This was what the Aillios's Ritual was about. "The ceremony is over. Bring Julius to the Storm castle."

***

Six years have passed since I've chosen Aetherius. I no longer have to experience the shame of having my nanny replace my diapers, but it's difficult for me to imitate the attitude of a child so I just gave up eventually. I want to escape from this storm castle already.

The Storm castle, a castle detached from the Aillios Family's main castle. Every Aillios child can't step a foot outside of the storm castle until they've reached the age of ten, to protect them against assasination attempts. What kind of madman would try to assassinate the Aillios children? Even their worst rival, the Charhelms wouldn't dare to. There was just a case that happened 200 years ago, someone attempted it. The Croft family, another family of swordmasters, had attacked the Aillios and over 10 young childrens of the Aillios ended up getting killed.

However, the very next day, the entire croft family was annihilated, including every family member, extended family members of the servants, who disappeared into history. Ever since the case happened, it was a tradition and rule for the Aillios children to remain in the storm castle after their selection ritual until they turn ten years old.

There were two other Aillios children residing in the castle with me. My 10 other siblings had already all exceeded the age of ten. Me and my two brothers, with 5 elite knights protecting us, our nannies, and around 10 other servants were the only people occupying the castle.

"Julius!" As soon as I heard the voice calling for me, my frustration and irritation increased. The boy calling for me with that annoying voice is Denzel Aillios. He was older than me by two years. "Why are you alone without your Aetherius? Did you lose it? Hahaha!" and the other brother who's also mocking me alongside Denzel is Henzel Aillios. As their names imply, they are the Zel Twins of the Aillios. During my first life, everyone who has dealt with these pairs of twins could agree on one statement, and that was the fact that they are the devil's spawn. These annoying brats. I turn around to face them, I don't even have a single good memory with the Zel twins. They had bullied me from an early age solely because I had chosen Aetherius. People would be severely mistaken if they were to underestimate 9 years olds and their harassment methods. The first thing these brothers did when they left the storm castle at the age of 10 during my previous life was to assassinate someone, that was how messed up their nature was.

As I didn't give them the reaction they wanted, they continued harassing me. Daria, my nanny who just temporarily left the storm castle today to get supplies. The Zel twins have been eagerly waiting for this day eagerly and had no intention of letting me spend the day in peace. "Hey, we're talking to you. Where's Aetherius?" The Zel twins started to harass me a year ago in this life. It started like a light harassment that Daria wouldn't notice, like locking the bathroom doors when I was inside, or pouring a bunch of salt in my soup. Nonetheless, I just endured this in silence. The twins approach me with large strides, as I watch them indifferently, A smirk starts appearing on my face.

"Hmm, I don't know where I put it. Maybe I've stuffed it up your asshole." Snap. The twins freeze in one spot, they look back and forth at each other, although they were murderers before, they are still 9 years old currently and this is an aggressive term for them. The Zel twin begins boiling in rage. "What the hell did you just…have you lost your mind, Julius?" "Wake up already, your nanny isn't here to protect you today."

"Pfftt." I scoff. The Zel twins aren't the only one who has waited for the nanny to leave, rather I've been waiting for this day to come by as well. I couldn't wait to beat these little demons into submission. My past 7 year old wouldn't even think of standing up against the Zel twins, but it's different now.

"If you beg for forgiveness right now, we'll let you off with just a broken nose." Denzel sneers. "Otherwise, you'll be in a worse state than that bird yesterday." Henzel adds.

Approximately 5 steps away from the Zel twins, that was the distance between me and my brothers in the storm castle's hallway.

"Aaarck!" Henzel yelps as he crouches on the floor, Denzel begins looking around his surroundings, only to realise that his twin brother's back is being squashed by my underfoot. I instantaneously narrow the distance between us and land a punch in Henzel's stomach. Eventually, Denzel takes a punch from me in the jaws and collapses to the grounds. It's the first time in their life to be in this state, and moreover their 7 year old brother's fist must have felt like a big chunk of ice, cold and hard. "Wha–What was that?" the moment that he got hit, Denzel caught a sight of a dark aura surrounding my fist, but he didn't have any time to think about it. Just as he return to his sense, another punch from me came. Thwack! "Aargh!" Although he was being hit by me, his painful cries couldn't come out of his mouth, as if his throat was being blocked by something. All he could do by being beaten up by me was figure out how everything went wrong with tears rolling off their faces. Nobody else is in the hallway, they had chosen this specific location in the castle to harass me. They're now unconscious. Am I going too far? They're technically still kids. Hesitation fills my guts, but it disappears pretty quickly because the previous Zel twins had treated him far worse than he could ever have done to them. They've even made me eat horse shit one time. If I were to hold back today, they'll never learn their lessons.

After a long beating, the bodies of the two unconscious twins begin convulsing. I finally get up and look down on them indifferently. "You two better do your best to try and not catch my attention, if you want to live that is." I said.

"Young master!" having sensed an unusual feeling in the castle, a knight who was responsible for protecting us came running down the hallway. He was a top-class guardian knight, and normally wouldn't be shocked by a fistfight between kids, especially from the Aillios family. however, he was looking at me with disbelief, the me who's looking down at the twins indifferently. 'The 7 year old young master beat up his older brothers?' he probably had that thought in mind at that moment. Normally, there should be a large difference in physique between a 7 year old and a 9 year old, plus the twins has already began studying martial arts recently.

On the other hand, I haven't learnt any martial arts from the knights, at least that's what they know.

"Young master, what just—"

The knight asks me as Denzel let out an audible sound.

"They started to fight each other out of nowhere." I said.

"Pardon?"

"They fought each other." I repeat myself. I know the knight notice that I was lying, but since I've said so, he couldn't just pursue the matter any longer. He was not in the position to argue with the young masters of the Aillios family.

'I already knew that the children of the Aillios were violent and brutal, this just confirms my beliefs, maybe I should just report this to the patriarch…'

"I understand, I shall take the young masters to the doctor."

"No need, there's somewhere that my brothers need to go." I stop him. "Somewhere else?" he looks at me with questioning looks. "The grave." I answer him. "The…grave?" he's surprised. "Carry them for me." I give him an order. As the looks on my face changes, the knight had no other choice but to pick the twins up and follow me from behind. I head towards the small mound in the castle's backyard, where a heavy rainstorm was crashing down. It was the bird's grave, the bird that the twins had killed. The small mound hadn't been destroyed by the downpour yet.

"Put them down." I command.

"but young master, the storm…"

I didn't reply, I just stare at him dead in the eyes. The knight realised that it was a command. I guess he could see it from my attitude, the attitude of an Aillios who was giving out a serious order. The knight had no right to refuse. Even if the command would harm another Aillios, he still couldn't refuse it. In the first place, the Zel twins weren't awake to order him to refuse right now. All he could do was obey the command of the Aillios before him. It wasn't up to him to consider the consequences of these orders, it was up to the patriarch and the elders. Even if the Zel twins were to die of hypothermia, the Aillios Family wouldn't put the blame on the knight.

"I shall do as you say, young master."

He put the twins down in front of the grave. The two boys were still motionless, except for a few occasional twitches. The Zel twins were rescued two hours later by Daria, who was returning from her outing. The two of them had acute pneumonia for a few days, and didn't dare to look me in the eyes until the day they left the Storm Castle.

***

The continent's eastern region, the unprotected area. Also known as the Black Sea. Cyron had been meditating in this monster-infested land for a few days now. He was merely sitting on the ground, but the nearby monsters wouldn't dare approach him, even the ones the size of buildings. Soon, a man covered in the blood of countless monsters walked towards Cyron. "Greetings to the patriarch. This is Emile." It was the guardian knight who had obeyed my command and left the Zel twins out in the rainstorm ten days ago. "What's the matter" Cyron ask as he carefully open his eyes.

"I have come to report about a dispute between the young masters at the Storm Castle." he reports. "There's no way you'd disturb my training just because of a dispute between children. Speak freely." Emile explained the details of the incident, and a smile grew on Cyron's face.

"So, did the twins die?"

"They did get acute pneumonia, but their lives aren't in danger."

"Then they must've learnt an important lesson. I see. You may return."

"Understood."

Emile had desperately struggled against countless monsters for three whole days just to make this short report, but he didn't hold any resentment against the patriarch or the young master. He silently returned to the direction of the Storm Castle.

'I should go see the youngest for myself.' And so, Cyron made an appearance at the Storm Castle one month later.