Like Natsume, Raynare couldn't sleep well that night.
Although the reason was different from Natsume's.
Raynare had had a nightmare.
The truth is, Raynare had been seeing the same nightmare for six months. Specifically, she'd seen it since her uncle tried to kill her at Baraqiel's house.
The nightmare's always the same, never changing.
No.
There was something that changed all the time.
The scenes Raynare saw were always the same, but there was an outside element that always changed.
That was the person who accompanied Raynare as she watched the nightmare.
"See you again, Raynare."
Raynare heard that female voice again.
Raynare wanted to respond. She wanted to ask why she had to watch this scene over and over again. She wanted to know why she had to suffer so much.
"I wonder if you'll fall into despair one more time."
The voice sounded arrogant, and it seemed to enjoy how much Raynare was suffering.
"Come on, Raynare. We have to surprise your parents, remember? Let's show them how you can control the sacred fire."
A different voice, more masculine than the previous one, reached Raynare's ears. This voice, no, these words were the same ones Raynare had heard for over 180 times in these six months.
Raynare didn't want to turn her head, but her body acted on its own. She looked up, where she saw the figure of her paternal uncle.
"Yes! Dad will be happy if I show him how I've improved?"
"Of course, I'm sure your father will enjoy it."
Raynare remembered this moment. Her uncle had been training her secretly since she was little. Her parents only know that she was training, but what was she training was a secret for them. When her uncle told her about being able to show her parents her progress, Raynare was more than happy to do so.
Now, Raynare knew that she and her uncle were gonna break into their house. And knowing what was gonna happen next, Raynare didn't want to go in.
But... it wasn't a decision that future Raynare could choose. She was just a soul tied to a puppet that was acting on her own. As much willpower as Raynare had, she could only watch the scene repeat itself.
(Little Raynare and future Raynare, I think that you can understand the difference)
Raynare's uncle rang the doorbell, and it was Raynare's father who opened it to welcome them.
He was a young man who didn't seem to be in his twenties, although his real age was unknown. This was common among supernatural beings.
"Little Ray, I didn't expect you here so soon. Good afternoon, big brother."
Little Ray...
That was the nickname Raynare's parents called her.
Raynare was crying just to remember it, and inside she was screaming at the Raynare of the past not to go into that house.
"No matter how much you scream, no matter how much you cry, no matter what. You can't change what's already happened."
The evil voice once again reached Raynare's ears. She hated that voice so much.
Only about ten minutes later, although it had been hours for Raynare, and four people were gathered in a room. Raynare's parents and her uncle were watching a little Raynare.
"Come on, Raynare. Show your parents what you've learned."
Raynare's uncle encouraged her.
And Raynare did.
A gentle white flame appeared over Raynare's hands.
"That is... the sacred flame of father!"
Raynare's father soon connected the dots and came to the right conclusion.
From that moment on, everything was happiness for the family. But as Raynare knew, this was not going to have a happy ending.
"Raynare, now you have to show your parents the last trick you've learned."
"Last trick?" Little Raynare asked curiously.
"Don't you remember? Then let me remind you."
The guy came up to little Raynare.
"Stay away! Stay away!"
The Raynare of the present screamed in her mind, but it was useless. She could only languish in despair as she watched events unfold once more.
Raynare's uncle stood behind her and secretly pulled out a syringe that contained a suspicious liquid inside. He bent down, looking as if he was going to whisper something in Raynare's ear, and inserted the syringe into Raynare's neck.
Little Raynare convulsed as all the fluid entered her veins. The present Raynare could feel the same pain as the little one, and she was unable to bear it even after so long.
"Brother! What have you done to Raynare?"
Raynare's father jumped forward, worried about his daughter.
"Huh, you want to know?" Raynare's uncle blew his cover and no longer bothered to hide his true feelings. The look he was giving his little brother made it seem like he was looking at a bug.
Little Raynare began to emit a scary aura, which caused her mother to faint instantly. Raynare's mother was just an ordinary human, so there was no way she could bear the aura little Raynare was emitting at that time.
"Bastard..."
Raynare's father pounced on his older brother, but a lance of light went through him before he could do anything.
"You are the son of an archangel, but your power is hardly comparable to that of a fallen angel with two pairs of wings. Not only are you trash, but you have even married a human insect and had a child with her. But even with all that, you're still my brother. That's why I'm going to tell you what I've injected into my dear niece."
Raynare's uncle approached him and kicked him, causing him to fly and fall over his wife's body.
"Malebranche, or so Satanael had called it. I seem to remember that he had obtained it from a certain Zaoroma Naberius. I have heard that a portion of this power made a descendant of the original Beelzebub raise his power from an Ultimate Class to surpass the power of the Gods, even Sirzechs Lucifer had to use his true form to kill him. My question is, what is the power my dear niece can use with just a syringe?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Little Raynare screamed in pain. Even present Raynare felt her veins burning. But this was a little torture compared to what would come next.
The white flames that Raynare had only slightly manifested in her hands now covered her entire body. Not only that, but they were beginning to spread throughout the room.
The flames spread to the furniture and started a fire.
This was no danger to Raynare's father or uncle. However, Raynare's power rose to unexpected proportions. She did not know how to control her new power, so she was not making good use of it. But the same could not be said of Raynare's mother, who was no more than an ordinary human.
Raynare's father knew this, so he struggled desperately to move. But the spear of light that had pierced him would not let him move. If this continued, they would both die.
Raynare's uncle was only watching from the side, and he was genuinely surprised. Even if he believed Raynare could increase her powers by a high margin, he didn't expect it to be this far. Raynare's power at this point... exceeded by a wide margin that of a 6-winged fallen angel like him, perhaps even reaching the power of an 8-winged fallen angel.
If this continued, he might even be in danger. He knew that he no longer had a place in Grigori after what happened, but he didn't care. Satanael had told him of an initiative called Khaos Brigade, and he was interested in helping him carry it out.
Though his power was not the most prominent, he was still a figure of importance as the first-born son of one of the Seraphim.
With that, Raynare's uncle left the house, leaving a Berserker Raynare and both her parents on the verge of death.
"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts." Little Raynare whispered something her older counterpart shared.
"Use my power, so I can ease your pain." The evil voice sounded in Raynare's head.
It was the same evil voice as before, but this time it was talking to little Raynare.
"No!" shouted Raynare from the present.
"Really?" asked the Raynare from the past.
"Yes, but you have to keep in mind that all the pain you feel in your body will be concentrated in your right arm. Are you ready for that?"
It was obvious that the evil voice came from the past, unlike the previous one, and only listened to what little Raynare said.
"Yes!"
"Good."
Raynare's right arm glowed, and a black blade appeared in her hand.
"Now, I will absorb all the evil energy that is corrupting your body."
It was an instant, but it was an instant that Raynare would never forget even without having to live these nightmares.
All the pain she felt in her body piled up in her right arm, and she had underestimated all that pain gathered in one spot.
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"You have to endure the pain! You only have to endure it for thirty seconds!"
But that was too much for little Raynare. How she could tell that the pain was coming from the black sword, she tried to throw it. But it was as if an extremely strong glue had stuck the sword to Raynare's palm, preventing her from releasing it.
But that gesture had been Raynare's biggest mistake.
Raynare's sword and movement had directed a flame right in front of Raynare, where unfortunately her parents were.
Raynare's father saw it, and he grabbed his wife and pushed her out of range. The wife survived, but he wasn't so lucky. Her body, cut in two, fell to the ground lifeless.
Finally, the 30 seconds passed, and Raynare lost consciousness. The sword disappeared without a trace, and since she was immune to her own flames, Raynare survived without a scratch.
Sadly, a fire is a fire, and Raynare's mother died before the rescue arrived.
The present Raynare looked up at the ceiling of her room. Sweat ran down her entire body, but a sense of relief ran through her body. The nightmare was finally over, so she could live the rest of the day in peace.
"You can't run from your past forever, Raynare. You are my host, so I will always be there to support you. You only have to call my name to borrow my power."
The evil voice left one last message before it disappeared.