"You don't need this mask anymore, do you, little lass?" Nur Cerveau said, his voice still creaking like rotted wood. He was looking at Vaela with amusement.

Vaela didn't respond immediately. She stayed silent, trying — with everything she had — to wrestle back control of the storm inside her.

'Rage is blindness.' She muttered internally, remembering the words Ziriel always used to say. On this one, she had no choice but to agree with that heartless woman.

When she finally calmed, Vaela fixed her glowing neon eyes on Nur — her father — then began to scan the room, even beyond it, trying to sense if anyone else was approaching, but…

"It's only you and me here, little lass," Nur intoned, drawing her focus back to him.

"I sent all the others to the other Nest," he smirked, "figured they'd be more useful there than here."

"Then you've made a terrible mistake," Vaela cut in coldly. "Your trembling body could've used some guards… to stall me from tearing you apart."

"Oh? Going to kill your old father now?" He laughed, the sound like an old wooden chair groaning under a storm-tossed wind. "Like mother, like daughter… isn't that right?"

Vaela's body shivered with fury. Her neon eyes turned arctic. "Don't talk about my mother," she growled, stepping forward as her aura began to writhe with threads of glowing force lashing out like furious serpents.

But Nur's toothless grin didn't falter.

"You're just like her," he said softly. "Because just like her… you're walking to your doom."

He didn't wait for an answer. He pressed on.

"I told you from the beginning, little lass." His voice shifted, now cold and clinical, the signature tone of every Cerveau. "I told you to let go of those childish fantaisies still bouncing around your dumb little head."

"They weren't fantaisies!" Vaela snapped, louder than she meant, shakier than she wanted.

Her body trembled with barely-contained emotion as she glared at him. "Since when was wanting a family a dream? Since when was craving your father's love… his care, his acknowledgement… a fantasy?"

"They always were." Nur said, slowly rising from his chair, his brittle joints cracking like glass under pressure. "They are fantasies in this house, little lass."

He faced her fully now…eyes like frozen glass, void of warmth, void of anything human.

"When will you accept the truth, little lass?

"Our family is not a family. The Cerveau are not like the Warborn. Not like the Elamin. We are a collection of individuals bound only by blood. Nothing more. We function in utility. We do not love. We do not hate. Those… are the emotions of lesser men."

He stepped forward, the thump of his cane on the sterile white floor echoing through the enclosed space…almost as loudly as the pounding of Vaela's heart.

"We are the ones who master those emotions. And in mastering them… we rule over the pathetic masses who still believe they matter. They are not even worth calling them humans." His voice turned venomous with contempt.

Vaela shook her head.

"No. You're the one unworthy of being called human. You're the one who threw away everything — love, warmth, connection — everything that makes us human… just to play your sick little game where the whole world bends to your will like a field of puppets."

Her eyes burned, not just with hatred, but with something far more painful.

Grief.

"It's you," she whispered. "You who didn't flinch… didn't even hesitate… when you killed the one who stood by you for years. The one who bore your child. The one who begged for your love."

She stepped closer — now only inches from him — her voice cracking, her eyes glistening, her soul trembling.

"It's you… you who murdered Mother. And for what? ALL BECAUSE OF WHAT?!" Vaela finally snapped.

But Nur… remained calm. Unshaken.

"Why do you think I killed your mother?" he asked with a strange softness, then answered himself before she could even breathe.

"Because she was a whore who stepped outside this house and fell in love with some fucking plebeian," he snarled.

"Because you didn't love her!" Vaela roared. In a surge of raw pain, she tore off her mask, baring her face and soul as she screamed, "She tried to love you! She begged for your love! And you crushed her, showed her that your heart was nothing but a hollow fucking tomb!"

"And yes!" Her voice cracked. "Yes, she cheated on you! And I'm glad she did! Because at least… at least she felt what it means to be loved."

Nur went silent. Then, a dry, humorless chuckle escaped his throat.

"Yes… she felt the love she always wanted. And she died for it. Quite the trade, don't you think?"

His eyes darkened, soulless as ever.

"And now, my daughter… it's your turn to die and follow your worthless mother into the dirt."

"For betraying us. And for seeking something that should never have been yours to begin with."

Vaela's smile came cold, so cold it could freeze the breath of gods.

"Oh, Father… you don't know how long I've dreamed of this moment," she whispered, stepping forward until she loomed over him.

"I'm going to kill you. And I'm going to savor every bloody second of it."

Instantly, her eyes transformed into twin vortexes of brilliant, weeping blue thread.

"You've never seen my Epithet's Aspect, have you?" Her voice curved space, made the very air shiver with fear.

Nur's brows furrowed, unease blooming in his chest like an uninvited flame.

Vaela smiled — empty, merciless.

"Let me show you."

She poured everything — mana, intent, soul — into her fingertip, and in a blink faster than thought itself, pressed it into her father's wrinkled forehead. A glowing blue thread, impossibly thin yet terrifyingly dense, emerged from her finger and lanced into his mind.

"Anchor of Fate."

Nur's eyes widened in horror.

"Fate of the Cripple."

…

Elsewhere, in a battlefield drowned in red…

Clank—!

Reditha slammed against the steeled elbow of Laye, sending a jarring shock up Kaden's arm as he recoiled. His stance faltered, feet sinking deeper into the blood-soaked, rain-slick soil far deeper than they should have.

Behind him, the air howled.

Boom—!

The sound of space detonating tore through the battlefield as Morre's incandescent fist cleaved through the sky, aimed squarely at the back of Kaden's skull.

But Kaden didn't flinch.

His lips curled into a slight, knowing smile as he twisted his torso in a fluid, unnatural motion, spun, kicked off the ground mid-spin, and launched himself skyward. The flaming punch missed by a breath, obliterating the space he'd just occupied.

Yet Laye was already moving.

Hundreds of blue fireballs spiraled into existence in an instant, surrounding Kaden in a deadly constellation then exploded just as fast.

BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—!

The sky ignited in calamitous blue, flashing like the wrath of the heavens before smoke rolled out in great sweeping waves. The battlefield paused, soldiers frozen as they stared upward in collective awe and dread…

…but death didn't pause with them.

People continued to die.

The ground grew redder, wetter. What once had been a puddle of blood was now a river with a grotesque current of intestines, shattered bones, and flesh slithering inside like mockeries of fish.

And from the heavens, something fell.

CRASH—!

Kaden's body slammed into the river of blood, thrown like a comet, smoke still trailing behind him. He coughed lightly, his frame burning with blue fire that clung to him like a curse that refused to let go. He called upon his own black flame, letting it devour the lingering blue, and instantly his wounds began to mend as the blood beneath him seeped up into his body like a living tide.

He rose.

Only to duck.

Another punch from Morre whistled past, but this time the Steelbeast had learned.

It was a feint.

The real attack followed—a brutal, whiplash kick aimed at Kaden's head, Morre's leg sheathed in crimson steel and blazing flame. The space around it twisted and combusted, smoke billowing as it threatened to explode Kaden's skull in a shower of blood and shattered bone.

And still, Kaden smirked.

"You're going pretty hard," he said evenly.

Reditha moved on her own, intercepting the kick with a screech of steel-on-steel. Kaden launched himself backward, evading the follow-up, then landed upright with Reditha already back in his grip, her blade now sheathed in dancing black flame.

With a roar, he lunged forward and thrust toward Morre's chest with all his might…

Only for Laye to deflect the blow.

Clank—!

Kaden cursed under his breath, leaping back, putting distance between himself and the two Grandmasters.

They stood side by side, glaring at him. Their fury was unmistakable, but beneath it, buried just deep enough to hide from their pride, was surprise.

A Master matching them blow for blow?

But that was all it was. Surprise.

"You won't win," Laye growled, his voice vibrating with flame. Blue fire wrapped around his body like a torch in the abyss, licking upward in waves of heat and rage.

Morre's eyes had already transformed, replaced by twin rings of molten red flame.

"Kill." he snarled.

Kaden settled into his stance, tilting his head.

"I won't win because I'm a Master? Or because I'm one against two?"

He smirked.

"Pick one. Please."

And by the time their expressions twisted into deeper anger, Kaden was already gone.

His movement sliced the air. So fast the sound of his steps lagged behind the visual blur. The two Grandmasters only registered him after he was already in front of them.

Reditha shot upward, then dropped downward toward Laye. But Kaden released her mid-motion and spun, twisting savagely toward Morre with a fist clenched tight, blood swirling around his arm like a whirlpool. It condensed into a searing crimson gauntlet wrapped in black flame as he drove it into Morre's steel jaw…

CRACK—!

The jaw bent inward with a sickening snap. Morre's eyes bulged wide, horror blooming across his face as black flame surged into his skull.

And beside them, Reditha moved on her own.

Her blade, engulfed in the same black inferno, slashed downward toward Laye, devouring his flame and blood in a single motion.

The cries that followed were not screams of defiance.

They were horrified wails.

The two Grandmasters opened their mouths to activate their Domains, but…

"Tut tut tut…" Kaden clicked his tongue, shaking his head.

He crushed Morre's jaw shut with raw strength befitting to his transcendent nature, while Reditha stabbed directly into Laye's gaping mouth.

Laye collapsed, Reditha still buried in his throat. The black flames spread down his body, devouring him from the inside out.

Kaden pivoted, kicked Morre's legs out from under him, and sent the heavy Steelbeast crashing into the river of blood below…

Splash—!

Blood soaked Kaden's face as he stood over him, eyes glowing red like a demon enthroned in war… a god of devils carved from carnage.

He leaned down, peering into the terrified gaze of the Grandmaster.

"Are you two really… Grandmasters?"

He smiled — cruel, cold, wicked.

"You're bloody weak."

—End of Chapter 257—

A/N:

Dear readers, your support is my motivation. So be it GT, PS and gifts…don't hesitate.

We have reached above 600 GT last month, but for this one…I am shooting high.

Let's reach 1K GT.

You can, right?

Obviously, you will get bonus chapters for that.

So, my bloody favorite readers…

Thank you for the support and for reading.

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