364 Chapter 364: The way forward

"Hell no!" Derik growled.

Woosh!

All it took was a single step for him to make his way through the crowd and reach Linda who was still at the doorpost of the stone house. With a glance, he could tell this was not actually Demos so he really couldn't blame the guardian spirit of death for this. Death is a natural disaster that must befall every mortal and the angel of death is there to lead the souls to the underside. Contrary to what people think, the angel of death cannot be everywhere at once at all times. Hundreds and thousands of people die every day and some even at the same hour. To meet up Demos was forced to create lesser clones of itself, these clones possess just a tiny fragment of his consciousness but even then its strength is too powerful for mere mortals to resist. If it were in the past, Derik would have just stood there and watched helplessly but now things are different.

"What happened to him?" Derik growled, startling Linda.

She hasn't seen her brother in years and even though she knew Derik wasn't on good terms with them, she never expected him to be this vicious. Taking a step back she tried to understand his question and after a second of deep thinking, she could tell Derik was asking about their father, John Angus.

"Father has been ill for a while now… He's not getting better either… I am…."

Before Linda could even finish speaking, Derik blew past her, shoving her aside in the process and reaching the second floor in an instant.

Bang!

The door to John Angus's room was yanked open viciously as Derik stormed into the room hurriedly. His eyes were like glowing green lamps in the darkness, allowing him to see the being preventing him from saving his father.

As the representation of death itself, Derik had come to understand a few things about the cycle of life and death. There are deaths caused by unfortunate events while the other type of death is the one that only takes place when a person had lived to the number of years assigned to him or her during creation.

Even though the sickness was used as a cover, Derik could tell John's time to die had come and in such a situation, this angel of death will definitely not step aside and let him save the man.

"Do you know who I am? I am death incarnate… I am the god candidate, wielding the power of the true death magic… Leave now and I will forget this ever happened" Derik growled but even then the angel of death didn't move an inch.

Its face was hidden in its old black oversized mage robe with its purple fiery purple eyes burning bright in the darkness, two pairs of black angelic wings, and a human-sized Death scythe levitating by its side.

Through its words, its intentions were made known to Derik. He could tell the angel of death had appeared to collect his father's soul and it was not willing to back off even after knowing Derik's true identity. The thought of facing a being equivalent to a demigod all alone was enough to make Derik rethink his actions.

Why did he so desperately want to save his father?

Didn't this man, alongside his sister betray him?

Because of them, he spent a decade running and hiding from the four major forces of the continent at that time. 

Then why? Why was he preparing to face the angel of death in a death match?

Was this because of the promises he made to this man when he was still little?

Images of his conversations with his father about how he would become the greatest mage in the continent and protect everyone flashed across his mind. Derik threw a quick glance at himself and sighed once again.

He was arguably the most powerful being in the continent at this moment, so he had already fulfilled the first part of that promise. The second part couldn't be fulfilled because of his complicated relationship with his family at the moment.

Thinking back at how disappointed he felt after he was assigned to the archery class and how hard he worked, hoping to become the greatest archer of all time. The awakening of his death magic has been a blessing and a curse at the same time. It gave him the chance to become something more but this power was probably the main reason why he ended up in a bad spot with all those he once called friends.

This power made him the supreme being he is today but it also made him the monster feared by everyone.

Francis, the Lockwoods, Diana, Creed, Isabel, his family, his former team, and even Elsa! All these people were forced to take a step back because of the nature of his ability. They were forced to act against him because they were afraid of the power that gave him unparalleled strength. Derik was quite sure that Cyrus could only relate well with him because he too possessed enough strength to rival Derik's power and even surpass it.

"If Cyrus was just another normal light mage… would he have stuck with me all through all of this? He too probably would have taken a step back" Derik mumbled.

At this moment Derik realized the mistake he had been making all his life. When these people had doubts all he did was give them more reasons to doubt him. when they were wary of his strength, he reacted by going on a rampage! Giving them even more reasons to be afraid of him.

"This… This is the way forward…." Derik stuttered.