"Brother.. Are you crazy?!?"Ash asked as he looked at Ian innocently tilting his head. That was the only conclusion he could come to after listening to Ian's explanation.Of course, the truth was far from that. The only reason Ian was going so far to stop Ash from absorbing other living beings vitality had to do with halting Ash's growth. Not his physical growth, neither was it the growth of his strength, but his growth as a demkn. Demon's were a race that grew strong by feeding on negative emotions. The more bad energy they absorbed, the stronger they'll get. But that didn't always mean a good thing. The energy they absorbed also affected their own mind and actions. For example, the Demon King had to be the one with the strongest power in the demonic realm, meaning he must've absorbed the most amount of negative vitality. And that also meant that he was the most sinister and vile existence in that world.The stronger a demon was, the more evil they became. Ian didn't want that. H
"Are you sure?""This is a big mess.. a big one I tell you."The villagers who were suddenly woken up from their deep sleep due to the frequent earth quakes looked around in confusion. Erza, who was there to explain everything to her father after leaving Ian and his party behind found herself in the midst of all these shouts and confusions. The two people that had listened to her explanation, her father and an elder of the village, looked at each other with a troubled expression. They were the people that believed in Erza's word before anything."I'm sorry.. This is all my fault.. I shouldn't have went along with them.."Erza said dropping her head, feeling the weight of the guilt that was pressing on her. It was her people and her friends (Ian and the rest) that were in danger due to her miscalculation. Not receiving any type of reaction from her father even after a while, she raised her head only a little to peek on what was happening. To her surprise, both her father and the eld
"You finally found a trace?!"Arthur slammed his hands on the table as he asked the wizard in front of him. They were talking about Ian."Yes! Although it's in a weird location.."The wizard replied with a not-so-confident voice. Arthur's party, they were trying to track Ian down since forever. At the begining, Arthur was confident he'd be able to find Ian.But after a month passed by, his confidence started to grow thinner along with his patience.In the end, he decided to ask for help from one of his acquaintances, someone who had connection with a wizard. The wizard requested Arthur to get him something that Ian used on a regular basis. Since people used mana consciously and subconsciously, things that someone with a lot of mana used regularly will have a trace of their mana in it.Simply said, Ian's things should have small traces of his mana. The wizard intended to locate him using that mana. But even that wasn't possible at first. Since Ian was always hiding his traces along w
"Everything ready?"The village chief asked one of the elders. The nodded his head in return. They were ready. But all of them had grim expression on their faces, a sharp contrast from the night before. "Will it really be okay?"Erza asked, tugging her father's clothe from behind. Now that it had finally come to this, the reality was finally kicking in. "It'll be alright.. although.."The chief strained his sentence without saying anything for a while, making Erza curious. "Although? Is something not to your liking?"The elder asked from the side, seeing the slight expression of dissatisfaction on the chief's face."I would've felt a bit more at ease if I had my staff with me."He said, opening and closing his palm a few times. Erza wanted to say that he shouldn't worry since Ian and the rest would arrive any moment but the words failed to leave her mouth at the last moment.'Will they really come..? Knowing how dangerous things will get here..?'She couldn't help but ask herself t
"Hey..""We're here."Louis welcomed Ash and Ian into the village while the elders and the chief remained stunned still."Great! You're back!"Erza approached them trying to ease out the air and also to retrieve the staff that Ian was holding in his left hand like a stick. "Miss Erza.. You guys have made quite the preparation I see."Ash commented as he looked around. It was pretty impressive considering the short time they had in hand."Thanks. By now, we're used to sudden attacks."She said as she smiled. Life on the desert was tough. It was tougher than anything the people living in cities could imagine. The heat, the food shortage, limited supply of water were the least of their worries. The monster attacks that happened at least once a month, the drought, the storm, there was nothing that they didn't have to deal with. "I see.. Oh, your father's staff.. He must've been feeling anxious without it, right? I apologize once again."Ash said as he glanced at Ian who was standing to
"Young master.."Arthur called out to Ian with all the affection a person could hold in their voice. Although he had a noble title now, and even though all of his achievements made it so he didn't need to bow to no one, he still lowered his head without a second thought in front of Ian. Without a doubt, Ian was his master. And this was a fact that Arthur accepted with all his mind and body. No one could convince him otherwise, not even his friends or subordinates. "Umm.. Mister Louis.. Is this person..?"Erza couldn't help but ask as she saw Arthur's changed demeanor in front of Ian. Even at a glance, one could tell that Arthur was someone of power and authority, someone important, someone who mattered. No matter how oblivious the people of the desert were, this was something that was obvious to even them. Yet, the way he presented himself in front of Ian shocked them all. It didn't look natural. "That guy.. He's someone we know.. ""Yeah.."The two of them looked unwilling to gi
"How long do you think it'll take?"Louis asked, looking at the horizon which had turned completely black by now. "That's not what you should be worried about."Ash said, finishing his stretching. It was Ian's suggestion to always stretch well before going into a fight. That way, one won't suffer from sudden muscle sprain or any other variable."What should I be 'worried' about then?"Louis asked, frowning. He really hated this cheeky side of Ash. Made him want to punch the guy in the face."Hmm.. what about which one we should cook for dinner?"Ash asked, laughing. They did indeed have quite the variety right now while all they were looking for were some desert scorpions at first."That's a no-brainer. Of course we'll have whichever one brother thinks is the best."Louis sighed as he answered. It was obvious what they were gonna have for dinner. They always ate whatever Ian prepared for them, and Ian always prepared the best for them."Stop it guys.."Ian sighed from the side and to
"Why is this happening to me?"Ian asked himself as he looked at the battlefield in front of him. Arthur had gone out first to offer Rianne a hand after Ian recognised the person inside the dust storm to be 'Rianne', his ex fiance.The two of them were fighting off the monsters while buying time for the people behind to escape safely. As Ian saw them slowly approach the village, he couldn't help but sigh.The two people he wanted to avoid in this life of his, one, the ex fiance that the owner of the body had feelings for, two, the protagonist of the story, they were both fighting hand in hand while approaching Ian slowly."Brother..""Are you okay, Mister Ian? That girl..."While Ash could feel Ian's hesitance to some level, Erza was completely in the dark since she had no clue about the identity of this new person who just appeared. "It's alright.. I'm okay.. Probably.. yeah.."Ian's lifeless reply was more than enough to shut down the people around him and ask no further question.
Ian returned. After wondering the continent for half a year, he came back with a 'Bang!'. Right when the nobles all around the country gathered to 'show the hero his place', Ian returned. Crazy hypothesises such that Ian being a Devil worshipper, betraying the country and being on the run or that he's actually a demon etc etc all came to an end as he openly took Arthur's side and threatened the other nobles.Of course, most of those rumours weren't too far off the mark. Ian did prefer villains over heroes, demons over angels, he had no love for their country and lastly, he was a darkness ability user with a twisted moral sense. And! To top it all off, he also preferred these rumours over ones that would hail him as a hero. he'd rather be on the run after being called a demon rather than be called a hero and worshipped. Again, twisted morality. But he couldn't do that this time. There were too many people using his name so he couldn't just let it be as those people got treated bad
"It's been a week since young master lost consciousness."Rob wrote in his diary as he sighed. There was a heavy atmosphere surrounding the duchy ever since the day Adrian fell down from the roof and went into a coma. How or why it happened was still a mystery around the duchy but speculations about an attempted suicide was slowly spreading around. Rob didn't believe them though. The Adrian he knew was too selfish and arrogant to do something like that. Yet, even when he was so sure, a small part of his mind kept lingering over that quiet and motionless room where Adrian was."Ah.. It's been a while."With that, Rob went to take another look at the sleeping Adrian for the 36th time that day. Although he was telling himself that Adrian's situation wasn't that serious, that he'd wake up soon, as he tried to remember all the bad things Ian did in his short lifetime just to mask his worry, he didn't even realise that he was unconsciously heading towards Ian's room again. After worryin
Things Ian did(Unintentionally or intentionally) that influenced the future of Arthur's world: First of all, although the effect wasn't that eye-catching at the moment, Ian was going to be known as the figure that erased racial discrimination. Due to him giving shelter to people of all age and race, and the humans around him having constant changes in their views and perspective, it was going to be the seed that erased all future discrimination and racial profiling. Secondly, he was going to be known as the bridge between Humans and the Demons. The Queen of the Demons, Ash's mother who had gone back to the demon world to deal with some 'internal affairs' would soon return with an actual offer of friendship between the demons and the humans. It was Bela's way of showing gratitude to the people who had taken care of her son in his times of need. Ian's love for Ash was plain as day and the care and gentleness he showed when dealing with him was no different from what a parent woul
"What..?""That's absurd!""Is that sorcery? Does he think he can fool us so easily?!"There were looks of disbelief, shock and confusion on everyone's faces as they looked at Ash. But no matter how tough they acted or how oblivious they tried to be, the bone chilling aura coming from Ash that slowly filled the room was undeniable. It was an aura that was impossible for any human to manifest, dark and scary."It doesn't matter whether you believe me or not.""I'm not the one behind bars looking at lifetime imprisonment and possible death sentence."Ian shrugged his shoulders in a casual manner as he signaled for Ash to stop. He was only here to give these people a chance. A chance at repentance. If they refuse to grab it, he didn't care less whether they died or lived inside a cage forever. 'Human resources are valuable after all.'That was one of the other reasons why Ian was here. He wanted to bind all these people under contract and have them serve the country. It didn't sit right
"You're gonna let them go?" Arthur asked, conflicted, as he looked at Ian. They were currently in an underground prison, the biggest prison that was made on Ian's request under the Duchy. The war criminals, the cult members, were being held here. Seven days had already passed since Ian's soul returned to his body. He was forced to have complete bedrest this whole time by his parents and the kids. They finally let him go after he managed to manipulate them emotionally with everything he had. It was a difficult job indeed. But nothing was impossible for Ian. "Let them go? NO?" Ian asked back in utter shock instead. But it wasn't Arthur's fault that he misunderstood. Ian did indeed say something that could be easily misinterpreted. "But you just said 'It's time to go out.'..?" That's what he said. To the criminals. Not that he meant it literally. "To the hall. TO.THE.HALL." Ian repeated himself twice, once for the criminals and once for Arthur. Everyone captured already had
Ian's time with the kids were cut short as the Dicarious couple arrived in a haste. A part of Ian was happy to see them again after so long. But a part of him was also wondering if they really were there for Ian. What if they were expecting their son to come back? What if the person they expected to see coming to his senses was Adrian and not him? How disappointed they would be. With a mixture of these various emotions coursing through his mind, he failed to make any type of expression when faced with those two people. Neither could he smile wholeheartedly nor apologize and cry. The kids were guided outside by Arthur and Albert, giving Ian and his parents the room to themselves. Ash was reluctant to leave seeing Ian's expression, but the atmosphere was too heavy for him to interfere. So while everyone else went to another room, he stayed, waiting while standing outside Ian's room. The others also didn't force him to leave since they didn't know which was better. "Are you
"YOU!"Smack!"THOUGHTLESS!"SMACK!"BAS-! JER-!! PERSON!"Ian had to wake up from his peaceful sleep with the sound of someone's shout along with the obnoxiously loud yet not so painful smacking of the pillows."Ow ow ow.. what the hell...?""Huh?""I'm back?"Ian woke up rubbing the back of his head that was the victim of continuous battering and looked around. The changed bedroom and the familiar faces made him aware of the fact that he had indeed come back. "What?""What are you talking about, young master? You didn't go anywhere."Both Albert and Arthur looked concerned as they checked Ian's status for any abnormalities. Only after multiple checking did they finally sigh in relief. "Ah no.. ""Hey guys.. Long time no see?"Ian greeted the kids and the Prince and the Knight all together while leaning back on his bed. The one responsible for the ruthless battering from before still had a massive pout on their face as they silently glared at Ian. "Are you angry? I'm sorry. How lo
Ian enjoyed the tea from hell while having a long and informative conversation with death, or at least that's who he assumed the other person was. He learned about the past that he had locked away and the people he had forgotten. But it all felt distant, like he was viewing the life of somebody else. "Why did I do that? Lock my memories?"Ian was curious. Just by watching the memories of Noah's future, he could tell that he lived a pretty okay life. The daughter he adopted also turned out to be great. She became his family. These were precious memories. So he couldn't understand why he'd lock them up like this. "After I presented you with my request, this is what you told me."Death continued showing Ian another set of completely different memories. An old man, wrinkly hand, white hair, hazy eyes. The room looked similar to the one he was in right now, and so was the person in front of them. "The me right now cannot save a world.""The blade has already lost it's edge.""I've grow
"What do you mean by welcome back?"Ian asked, confused. As far as he could remember, never before in his life did he see this man or these scenes. And these weren't circumstances that he'd forget 'by chance' either. "After your first death, you came here.""First death.. Ah.. When I jumped down the bridge?"Ian remembered his last moments as Noah. The music that played, the scenery he watched on top of that bridge, they were all very memorable. Yet, he had no memory of coming to this place.But unlike Ian's thoughts, the guy in front of him shook his head in denial. Not understanding exactly which part he was denying, Ian tilted his head to the side slightly."What death are you talking about then?""You didn't die back then."The guy sat down on the bed, facing Ian and the endless hell behind him as he spoke. "When you were at the verge of losing consciousness, you heard a childs cry.""A child?""Yes. It was the final monster outbreak." Ian wondered what this guy was talking abo