Child of Destiny

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Haa-… Ha-…

David ran through the forest as fast as he could. He did not know what just happened, but he suddenly fell asleep when he was watching Shin play with the guardian beasts.

It was the sfor Berret, who was supposedly watching over them the entire time.

The two of them ran to the best of their abilities as they heard a loud cry coming from the deeper parts of the forest.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

They could not help but halt their tracks when they arrived at their destination. What they saw was a gruesscene where the entire place was dyed red with blood while the flesh, innards, and different parts of a monster's body were scattered everywhere.

In the middle of all of this was a little toddler drenched in blood while holding the arm of an unknown monster that they had never seen before.

Not far from the small toddler was the corpse of the monstrous beast that was ripped into shreds while the corpses of the guardian beast littered around it alongside the broken and torn parts of their bodies.

Just from the scene, it was clear that a single person did everything.

Berret, who was a strong Mentalist at the peak of Rulers Realm and a veteran hunter, could instantly guess what had happened here.

It might sound strange, but he could tell that the monstrous beast in front of Shin was the first to die while the surrounding guardian beast was killed after.

He was not sure what just had happened, but he could at least guess that something had happened again.

The pair looked at Shin, who was standing in the middle of everything while looking at his bloody hands.

Shin slowly turned to them and was on the verge of tears.

"Big Brother-… Senior Brother-… Did I really beca bad kid?"

"I am a bad kid, right?"

"I-… I-… I hurt my friends! I hurt them all!"

"First is Odin, then the uncles and aunties of the forest-…"

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"But-… But-… it is not my fault! It really is not my fault!"

"I just-… I just-… want to play with them one last time, but this bad one appeared out of nowhere and wanted to hurt us."

"Then-… inside my head-… someone-… someone says that I have to protect them."

"But-… But why did I hurt them again?"

"Is this because-… I have become-… a bad kid? No wonder-… the kids don't want to play with me."

"No wonder-… everyone hates me! Why am I like this?"

Watching Shin cry and stutter, David could not help but feel a deep pain inside his chest. It felt like someone was squeezing his heart while he watched his junior brother break down.

He was just a kid! A very young one at that!

Why did he have to undergo such a painful experience?

Why him? Just why?

David clenched his fists as he walked over and pulled Shin to his arms once again. He could feel the pain as he shared a similar feeling.

On the side, Berret could not help but look at the pair with sad and pitying eyes. This pair of senior and junior brothers carried a burden of their own – one of them was cursed by destiny while the other had the duty of avenging and restoring his fallen kingdom.

How could the Heavens be too harsh on them?

They were just young kids.

Was this the price for their talents? Or was it just their fate?

Wasn't this too cruel?

Why was the Heavens too unfair?

***

[Present]

David slowly opened and looked at the blue sky. He sighed helplessly after waking up from such a long dream. He stayed still for a couple of moments before taking a deep breath.

He was reminded of such an unpleasant memory once again.

This was the second day since the big incidents, which was also the second day since Shin had fallen into a coma.

David was not that worried because his master was around. So long as she was on Shin's side, nothing serious would happen.

The only issue that he troubled on this matter was whether what happened to Shin before would repeat when those series of unfortunate events happened one after another.

He was worried that Shin might 'sleep' again.

After adjusting his mood, he sat up before picking himself from the ground. He was currently standing on the rooftop of the hotel where Shin was staying.

They avoided confining him in a hospital since it could expose him in the eyes of the World Government. Moreover, his master was more than capable of observing him given her high attainment in Mentalism.

She had mastered almost all the sub-paths of the said discipline, so there was doubt about her abilities. She was even better than most of the Mentalists in every sub-path at her current level.

With her around, Shin being anywhere was no different from being in a hospital or anything.

David sighed deeply as he tried to recall the events that happened just recently.

The operation of the Black Serpent Mafia somewhat failed as they could not steal the research materials nor capture Professor Henry, but they could not catch most of their experts as they were able to barely escape.

Aside from Coffin Maker, who refused to escape from the World Research Center, the rest of the Domain Realm Experts such as Butcher, Belladonna, Boris, and the mysterious Mentalists were able to escape.

However, they had to leave the rest of the agents and artificial mutants behind.

As for the aftermath, aside from the buildings being destroyed, the city did not suffer that hard. Their economy took a huge hit but given the current technology and the age of Martial Arts and Mentalism, rebuilding the city would be easy.

Moreover, the World Government had also put seffort into this as they would be funding the restoration of the buildings. Their Federal Force might have stolen glory from the Military Force, but they were at least putting s'sincerity' by pouring their money into these projects.

As for the casualties, the military forces had suffered quite a lot. A few soldiers died while swere either seriously injured or becdisabled.

Fortunately, none of the citizens were caught in the battle as they were able to evacuate in tdue to the preparation that Nathan and others had.

David was no longer concerned about them since the World Government had gotten involved.

What worried him aside from Shin was the matters in Springfield Family. Due to the unfortunate death of Bernard, the family was affected.

Samuel had done his best to suppress the news and kept it tight around the people closest to them.

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Aside from the elders and leaders of the family, no one knew about his death yet.

Bernard's rank within the military was quite high, and he was quite popular with everyone was well, so it would not only affect the morale of everyone but would also cause sproblems in the process.

Moreover, they also had to investigate what really happened during Bernard and his unit's trip back to the continent after finishing their secret mission.

The Springfield Family was holding a funeral secretly while also waiting for Bernard's children to cback from the exploration of the tomb of the ancient cultivator.

Recalling when the news was told to Nathan, David could not help but shiver. From what he just heard, the Dragon King almost lost himself in rage and flew out of the Soaring Continent to head to the Dark Continent.

If not for Elias and the others stopping him from doing something stupid, then he would have most likely been charged at the known bases of the Black Serpent Mafia alone.

It was also said that there was an intense battle between these experts before Nathan was able to calm down.

David looked at the horizon and sighed once again. "Things will only get messy as tgoes by, especially now that the 'Snake Head' is in motion and Sir Adam is not around."

Aside from looking for the traces of the 'Snake Head' when they were destroying the cities of the Black Serpent Mafia, Adam and Evangeline were also trying to cripple most of their powers before the latter left for his 'mission'.

"Tsk! To think they will ttheir movements when the valley is greatly unstable, those people sure are crafty. Let's just hope that they will not find master during this time," he mumbled before turning around and going back.

***

In the meantime, while the Eastern Continent was shaken by the events in Ace City, another incident occurred inside the ancient cultivator's tomb.

Sheilla stood in front of the representatives of the Magic Ace Academy which was now almost half of their number since they first entered the place.

Most of these people were seriously injured while the rest were infected by sunknown disease.

She frowned slightly as she looked at everyone before turning to the person beside her. "We have to open the safe area as soon as possible, or else those creatures will catch up to us."

Mariel nodded her head as she responded. "Don't worry, we have already prepared for everything."

She paused for a moment before asking. "But are you sure that we are not going to team up with those people from the Top Military School? The situation is somewhat dangerous."

Shiella quickly shook her head and instantly rejected the idea. "Have you seen what just happened? We can't trust anyone right now. Even these people in front of us."

"Increasing our number may help us lessen the pressure from those strange creatures, but it will also make it troublesfor us since we have to monitor a large number of people."

"It is better to leave the rest where they can't harm each other while we continue the exploration with an elite group."

She paused for a moment as she recalled what just happened before continuing. "The rules of this place are quite strange, but what is stranger is those people know about it right after entering. It is as if they are already expecting it to happen."

"If you ask me, I think we all have fallen into a trap," she added in a solemn tone.

...