Failure to protect

"Maria! Maria! Maria! Maria! Maria!...," William kept calling out his little sister's name.

Ignoring everyone else, he used his ability. He took control of the water around him, gathering it to extinguish the fire.

Everyone was shocked to see the water floating and swirling around them. William didn't care about his secret anymore. Trying his best to put out the fire, he did it seriously and as efficiently and quickly as possible.

But feeling too slow, he charged in, ignoring the neighbors who were trying to stop him from doing something so reckless.

But William didn't listen at all. All he could think about was where Maria was and how to save her.

But all he found was the body of a girl lying there, her left arm gone and her head burned to a crisp. Her clothes were torn, and there were many burn marks on her body. The girl was leaning against Maria's room.

William couldn't even see her hair anymore. But the clothes the girl was wearing were exactly the same as his little sister's uniform. This made him immediately think that it was his little sister's corpse.

He had no choice but to believe it.

"No! No! I don't believe this is happening!"

Even though he didn't want to believe what he saw with his own eyes.

"You're a strong girl, aren't you? You're a smart girl, aren't you? Why did you die so easily?"

In the end, all he could do was try not to believe what he saw.

"Damn it! What good is my power if I can't protect someone I love?"

He ended up blaming himself. Because there was no other target he could blame. And he felt he deserved to be blamed.

Feeling responsible for his little sister's safety made his guilt stronger, and eventually made him believe that everything that was happening now was his own fault.

He wished he could blame someone else. But he also felt disgusted by wishing for something like that just to get rid of his guilt.

He didn't shed a single tear at this moment, because he felt it was useless, just like himself.

That was just the excuse he made. The real reason was because he heard his father's voice shouting as he ran closer.

He unconsciously held himself back from crying, and even thought that he didn't deserve to cry.

Because he felt that crying was a way to feel relieved. But right now he felt like he didn't want to let go of his broken heart, without realizing it.

He felt pain, but that's what he wanted, because he felt he deserved to be destroyed.

When his father arrived, he just stood there, waiting for his father to scold him. But his father didn't. The first thing his father did was to be shocked and then fall to the ground and cry.

William, seeing this, was silent. Another layer of guilt piled up inside him. His mind was in chaos, his body didn't want to move, and his emotions were out of control.

Without realizing it, he began to feel a new emotion, an emotion he used to feel all the time, but now he had forgotten. But he didn't realize it yet, because his chaotic mind made him unable to think clearly.

Because of that emotion, he wanted to cry, but he didn't want to let himself cry. This made the emotion trapped inside his heart and let himself be destroyed by it.

The next day it was confirmed that the body was indeed Maria's. Knowing that made William very devastated, because he still hoped that he was mistaken last night. For the first time in his life, he wished he was wrong about something.

Because his house was burned down, he took his father to his grandfather's place. The place was outside Zero City, and the direction was opposite to Millennium City which was located south of Zero City.

Heading north, where William and his father had to pass through an empty area without any buildings, known as "Empty Land."

This land was still part of Zero City, but it was unused until now. Of course, it was all because of Millennium City. It was actually strange to think why many people still wanted to live in Zero City.

It wasn't just because it was close to Millennium City, there were few shopping industries, limited healthcare industries, and even few educational industries.

Although it was known for its quality, it was very rare for students from outside to want to enter schools in Zero City. Because no one knew when their lives would disappear there.

There were many assassins, few police officers, but miraculously few cases occurred. It was all because there were many esper living here, thieves would hesitate to steal, robbers were just ants in the eyes of esper, crime automatically decreased because of fear.

But that didn't mean Zero City became safer. Because small crime decreased, and also the country's military was afraid, causing crime to roam the city without fear in their hearts. Freedom became a habit, fear disappeared, morality also decreased.

Moreover, no one knew when Zero City would become a battlefield between humans in Millennium City. Wealth, military strength, and even esper, all these aspects made Millennium City a great and advanced but terrifying city.

Moreover, there were many dark organizations inside that no one knew what they were doing. Even the government didn't dare to interfere in this matter.

Everyone must have thought to stay away from Millennium City, but not a child named "William Harrington."

He was once asked if he wanted to live here or not, he was also told the consequences. But he just smiled and answered, "Let's live here."

He smiled, but the smile was just a lie. But he felt happy, he really felt happy, but the happiness was not something that could make him smile. Because what he hoped for was death, he hoped he would be gone.

But strangely, for the past few years it had been peaceful, he even gave up on that hope. And a new hope came to him, which was to enjoy life as it is.

He forgot his intention to live here, he changed over time and started to be able to smile because of the person he loved, his little sister and his parents.

But the one person who he loved is now dead, and he can only be silent without being able to do anything in the face of that reality.

Moreover, realizing that his decision to want to live in that city was one of the possibilities why he lost his little sister.

Why did I choose to live in this city!

Regret always comes too late.

Why! Why! Why! Why!?

Regret will always come last.

If I knew this would happen, I should have said to move!

No one will know that they will regret one day.

I knew it, I don't deserve to live, all I do is hurt the people around me.

Regret always ends up blaming oneself. And it happens to everyone in the world.

Is there a way to fix my mistake? Whatever it is, whoever it is, please punish me! Kill me! Get me out of this world!

Regret causes people to want to fix the past. But despair because knowing it's impossible, makes him crave a punishment that is worthy of him.

In this case, there are 2 choices for a person in this situation. That is accept the reality and move forward, or escape from reality.

Please anyone, please help me, erase my existence, kill me...

But it seems William chose to run away again.