"I'll lend some to you, okay?"Ian said he'd lend the magic stones to Rick while grabbing his shoulder. Ian was in a hurry. He wanted to leave as soon as possible so he chose the quickest and most effective method. Ian's initial plan was simply. Find Riley's family, have a chat with them, and then decide whether he would leave Riley to them or take him for himself. But things had gotten a little more complicated. Not only did Riley turn out to be a Prince and perhaps even the future ruler of the tribe, he also got to meet a remarkable a remarkable individual like Rick. Honestly speaking, if it weren't for his respect for Rick and his struggles, he wouldn't have really cared whether the previous King died or lived. It all stemmed from his relation with Rick, which Ian wanted to maintain for a long time. "You'll lend me...?"Rick repeated Ian's words like a parrot as he looked at him with a blank expression. "Yeah. I'll lend them to you. So don't worry.."Ian nodded his head. "No
"Those eyes.."Everyone looked at Ian with fascination and curiosity as he revealed those golden and majestic eyes. They were reptilian, and had a certain charm to them.An aura of dominance spread from Ian's body, which was being controlled by the Phoenix right now. He wasn't actively trying to dominate anyone actually, it was just his natural aura, the aura of a ruler. Everyone straightened up subconsciously as they felt that aura surrounding them. And suddenly, Ian no longer felt like Ian anymore. Ash and Louis took a step back and observed quietly, giving Ian space to do what he wanted to. Even Rick and the Queen took a step back as their eyes met with Ian's. It was reflex. "I'll start now."He said, even his tone slightly different from Ian. A blue flame similar to what Ian had shown them before appeared in his hand which was holding the previous King's hand. The flame, or rather, healing spell, coursed through the King's veins, starting from the hand and covered all of his b
'Not lie.. But also not worry them?'The Phoenix repeated Ian's words and asked back. Ian nodded his head and asked back. 'Yep. Should be easy, right?'The Phoenix repeated Ian's words in his mind for a few seconds, a vein was popping out on his forehead as he kept thinking and thinking. And at the end of his thought process, he decided that-'Like hell it is!'It wasn't easy. He decided that it wasn't easy at all. All of Ian's people's were extremely knowledgeable, not just comparing to kids their age, but also compared to adults. Ian was always filling their head with new knowledge and information, even while playing around. And even without that, they all had a certain hunger for knowledge which he noticed clearly specially in Ash. The way that kid always holed himself up inside Ian's bedroom and kept reading one book after another looked like his life depended on it or something. And they also grew. Faster than anyone and everyone around them. It was fascinating to watch. And
'That's thirty percent off brother's shoulder!''It's a good start!'Ash and Louis communicated with each other through their gaze. They were happy since Ian let them help. It was frustrating for them to feel like a burden and be of no help to him. Soon, the direction of the mana stones were diverted slightly with Ash and Louis taking fifteen percent of the burden of transformation each from Ian's shoulder. 'Ugh!''It hurts!'As soon as they started absorbing and rapidly purifying the mana just like Ian was doing till now, they felt their stomach curl and a severed pain similar to needles travelling through their veins. They bit their lip hard and tried to get used to the pain all the while wondering how Ian had managed to bear multiple times the same pain till now. The pain they felt in their heart as they imagined Ian going through pain several times severe than their was more cruel and hurtful than the pain they felt from the poisoned mana. As such, they could hold onto their g
"Whoa! My legs gave out!" Ian spoke to himself with a surprised voice while being supported by Ash and Louis on both sides. He had practically no mana left in his body at the moment. As a result, he grew momentarily dizzy and lost balance. "What happened to the poison? Are you okay?" Louis asked as he checked Ian's condition. Even moments before the explosion, his body was completely purple as an indicator of the severity of the poison. And the mana inside his body was as chaotic as a raging ocean. But right now, his skin tone was back to normal, and although he looked a little pale, he was fine otherwise. Even the inside situation of his body was as calm as the surface of a frozen lake. "Blew it away." Ian replied with a, what looked like somewhat smug expression. He was slowly taking in the pure mana from outside once again and regaining his health. "Blew what away?" "The poison?" The kids kept asking questions one by one but Ian didn't answer anything in detail and just
The Imperial Palace was in complete chaos following the huge explosion. The Royal guards were in panicking since Rick was missing following the chaos. Troops were departed on every part of the town to search for their King while the Knight captain remained to investigate the mysterious crater formed due to the explosion. "Did you figure anything out yet?"He asked someone nearby. It was one of their researchers. They were calculating the residue mana to figure out the source of the attack. But no matter how many times they did the calculation, the expected results didn't come out."Hey!"Seeing how hard the researcher was frowning, the captain nudged him once more in an attempt to make him speak. They were currently facing a crisis of national level due to the missing King and the unknown enemies. He didn't have time to spare."Umm.. Yes.. The results came out."He replied with a slightly confused tone."So..? What is it?"Asked the captain with impatience."No matter how you look a
"We waited patiently just like you wanted!""But we missed you!""Yeah. It's hard staying away from brother."The kids shouted one after another as they clung to Ian from all sides. A small smile appeared on Ian's face automatically as soon as their laughter and giggle reached his ear.It was afternoon. The golden sun reflecting on their faces full of smiles and happiness made Ian feel something warm inside. At times like these, he truly felt grateful for this second chance in life that he received. 'It's truly a blessing.'He couldn't help but think that.'You're weird.'A reply from the Phoenix came as soon as he was done with his thought. He wondered what that guy meant this time as he put the kids down and started patting their head.'Reason?'He asked.'You're satisfied too easily.'A straight answer came from the Phoenix. Ian waited silently since it looked like he had more to say.'No matter what your origin is, in the end you're also a human. And humans are supposed to have g
A peaceful morning. The whole world was covered in a complete silence and the only sound seemed to be that of nature.The birds chirped. Leaves rustled in the wind. In a deep part of the royal palace, where the VIPs usually stayed. Soft breathing sound filled the room as Ian enjoyed a proper sleep after a long time in his comfortable bed. His body was tired and exhausted after exerting all his mana and repeating those steps again and again and again yesterday. Even before he went to sleep, he felt like his body was run over by a car and then crushed by a bulldozer. He felt like he could stay like that forever as he enjoyed the soft chirping noises made by the birds. Ian clearly had no intention of waking up anytime soon. And as if to show him how wrong he was to think like that, a knock soon came from the other side of his bedroom door. Knock knock! He heard the knock but was to lazy to open his eyes or answer. If it were his bedroom, the only person to knock on his bedroom doo
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