Chapter 124 - Trust And Betrayal (2 In 1) {End Of Volume 1}

I watched as 2 meter wide pillars of flames penetrated the skies. The domain was only had around a 25-meter radius, which was most of the backyard.

Blue wings made out of flames sprouted on my back, every feather exuding enough mana to explode everything within a 5-meter radius. They were feather bombs. Flapping my wings once, the ground underneath me cracked as I shot to the skies.

'I used about 30% of all my mana for that domain. It is a bit less than what I need to activate for the Lightning of Absolution domain but at the same time, I feel like I just wasted a ton of mana for a single wave of flames... wait... what if I...'

"Now now. Look who is on top now. ME! I AM! You are a pathetic excuse for a warrior." I tried to provoke, however, all he did was glare at me coldly.

'I guess that won't work'

"If you forfeit, I won't kill you" I grinned

However, instead of speaking, he threw up his arms and aimed them towards me. I watched as countless air and water particles came together into a concentrated ice beam, ready to shoot me into an ice cube.

'I guess he has his own pride huh...' I shook my head in pity. For someone so young to develop pride, it reminded me of my stepbrothers back on earth.

'When a kid becomes like that, the parents are to blame...'

*BOOM*

An illusionary blood-red cloud of mist shot out of my body like a smoke bomb, covering the entire backyard, house, neighbors' houses, and even the street in it. Every single person felt it. It was bloodlust. A bloodlust powerful enough to bring a Knight down to their knees, yet the boy kept standing stubbornly

'You were a good opponent' I sighed while also lifting my hand towards the boy. Every single flame in the vicinity froze the instant my hand was lifted. A single candle-sized flame stood in the middle of my palm, however, a second later, a vortex-like force started to drag every single square inch of flames towards the palm of my hand. The candle spun ferociously as the pillars of lames slowly turned themselves towards the candle, their heat being absorbed.

The skies and clouds started to churn while the winds howled. To anyone other than me, it looked like the apocalypse had finally come. The clouds slowly spun into a hurricane-like pattern above my head before a huge vortex descended from the clouds, formed from all the flames that once made my domain.

Air elemental particles supported the flame particles to spin faster, into a bigger vortex. That is when I lifted my hand and pointed my palm to the skies, allowing the candle to swallow all the blue flames.

"Blue flames of Symphony: Gluttonous flame"

The candle burst and sucked every flame in the vicinity like a tiny black hole, yet it did not stop there. Every elemental particle was slowly being sent towards the flame. The ground began to crack and the air became thin. Even the ice blast that the boy was creating dissipated into a few lights and was absorbed into the flame-like everything else. Nothing could escape from the flame.

However, for some reason, it had come darker and darker in color, nor resembling a dark blue flame rather than a pale blue it once was. After the winds finally died down, however, I shifted my focus to the boy who has lost control of his bladder. I'm not sure if it was about him seeing his flame dissipate like that, or if it was because of my bloodlust, but I did not care.

I pointed at him with my palm-sized dark blue flame. My eyes were cold and ready to kill, while my soul squealed in happiness after finally being able to eat something again.

"You are done for"

"PANDORA! STOP!" My mother shouted

"PANDORA COME DOWN! REMEMBER WHAT I TOLD YOU! IT IS NOT WORTH IT!" My father shouted alongside her.

"Pandora! Come down! He already lost! You don't have to go any further."

Their voices landed on deaf ears as not a single one of their words was processed.

[Divine Eyes advises you do not kill the boy]

'Why?' I asked coldly

[The consequences outweigh the benefits]

'Understandable. But can I at least take his arm?'

[Benefits outweigh the consequences]

'thanks'

I pointed my index finger towards the boy as if my hand was a pistol. The dark blue flame moved in front of my finger, ready to be shot at any time.

*Swish*

The shot was quite anticlimactic making everyone sigh in relief, however, the moment the flame touched the arm of the boy, it exploded outwards enveloping his arm before devouring it a second later, leaving an empty burned socket. Anyone could have missed what had happened to the arm if they even took as much a blink. The arm was gone in literally a heartbeat, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" His blood-curdling screams made a shiver go down everyone's spines.

"WHY!? WHY DID YOU DO THIS!? WHAT DID HE DO TO DESERVE THIS!?" The mother shouted, yet I did not listen. I simply chose to not have to listen to such bullshit anymore. I was more intrigued by the figure who had not enveloped themselves with similar light to when the young boy had used the trinket.

Now that my father was no longer able to hold back, he shot towards me, leaving the ground cracked and incaved. But even then, right before he was about to grab me, maybe tell me off or even hit me for being hurting someone to this extent, he saw a flash of light, followed by my body blurring and moving at a speed that was even hard for him to contend with if he weren't to use any spells or aura.

[-Flash Step- uses left: 2/3]

*BANG*

My open palm landed cleanly on the chest of the eldest brother, Frachured. While yes, he might have been a peak Grand knight after using the trinket, it did not mean anything in front of my soul-purge-infused palm.

The moment my palm had entered the vicinity of the aura, the aura popped like a balloon and blew gusts of winds backward. While this made sure that my attack would get through no matter if he has an aura surrounding him or not, it also made sure that he would not get the 3-fold boost in strength that one would usually get from the trinket.

The instant my palm touched his chest, it encaved inwards with cracking sounds before launching him off into the house. Thankfully the house has a protective barrier, but even then, the protection barrier had a few cracks on it from the impact of him landing on the barrier alone.

His body gradually slid down from the barrier with it stained with blood drag marks.

"Anyone else?" I looked at the parents who were about to cover themselves in their aura too, but the next instant Jack appeared in front of me. He had his eyes closed at first, however, when he slowly opened them back up, they were not the same. They were deep, like an ocean, but fiery like a volcano waiting to erupt.

"Learn your place" He sneered.

"I think we should all calm down" Elaina was sweating buckets, yet she still chose to walk forward and say those idiotic words.

"This does not concern you," I said flatly

"PANDORA! You do not talk to your aunty like that, understood?! And how dare you hurt them to that extent?! There was no reason for you to go that far, yet you did it anyway! How stupid can one be? WHY! WHY PANDORA!? All I want for you is a good future, yet you keep sabotaging yourself!" She yelled towards me.

I could visibly see Jack become agitated. At the same time, he was thinking 'What the hell happened to her? How can she be so blind about what had just transpired? She never used to be like this, so it might be because of the pregnancy... Yet even then...'

However, before he could respond, I tugged on his shoulder and pulled him behind me. She was pregnant so how could I have Jack speak on my behalf, maybe even saying something that he shouldn't.

"DO YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SAY FOR YOUR BEHAVIOUR? TO YOURSELF OR MAYBE EVEN TO ME?" she roared, yet I paid it no heed.

"Aunty, I think you are being harsh." Gen argued

"Yeah, mom. You saw what they did! They used trinkets" Aroura rebuked

"I advise you rethink your words Miss Raven" Olivia chimed in after staying quiet for the whole ordeal, just the way I had asked her to.

"WHO ARE YOU ALL TO TELL ME HOW TO RAISE MY CHILD!? YOU WEREN'T THERE WHEN I GAVE BIRTH TO HER, YOU WEREN'T THERE WHEN I FED HER, PUT HER TO SLEEP AND TOOK CARE OF HER..."

"Mom. Yes you might have taken care of me, but that doesn't make it okay t-"I was immediately cut off by words I wished to never hear

"YET THIS UNGRATEFUL CHI- NO, MONSTER DARES SPEAK BACK TO ME? Are you even human?! Did I really give birth to a human, because you are the furthest thing from it."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You are useless, and every goddamn time, EVERY GOD DAMN TIME YOU DO SOMETHING, IT ONLY RUINS OUR FAMILY."

"..."

"Why do you go against my words? Why do you always have to refute me? And to think I had expected a monster like you to be grateful for what I had done for you"

"..."

"What kind of child develops killing intent before they even hit 1 year old? What kind of human doesn't need the bathroom? What, were you possessed by some kind of demon or something?"

"..."

"ANSWER ME! WHAT ARE YOU, BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT MY CHILD!" She glared at me, yet that glare alone said more than she could ever utter. The wind's around her was turning cold, while the ground under her had already turned into solid ice. Her eyes shimmered with a silvery cyan, burning with anger, yet as cold as the antarctic.

While her tongue might have been like venom, and her words like needles, the most painful thing was that glare.

'This has to be because of the pregnancy, right? She would never normally say something like this, right?' I tried to find excuses for her, but every time I tried, I would only remember my past father.

That stare, those words.

'Analysis'

[Analyzing...]

[Analysis complete!]

[Name: Ava Raven

Gender: Female

Race: Human 95% Angel 5%

Age:37

Power Level: 139 657 (Currently) ??? (unsealed)

Title: Ice Queen (S), Cold Beauty (C), Dominator of battlefields (S+)

Affinity: Ice

Skills: Throne World: Ice Castle (Lvl 7), Grace (Lvl 6)

Status: Angered, Disatainful, Unbalanced mind

Attractiveness:

Humans-9/10

Earth Humans-8/10

Atlas-8/10

Deities/ Divine Beings-7/10 ]

'What does unbalanced mean?'

[They are prone to having mood swings, being easily aggravated, and saying things they would not usually say out loud.]

'Oh, I see... Thanks'

looking at my mother, an illusion of my previous father flashed in my eyes. It was him, standing there. The glare might have not been the same, but the words, the disdain in every single word. The mood swings, the anger... They were all the same. Was this my fault? Why can't I have a better life? I thought this one was going to be it... A life without pain, a life without torture, a life without suffering... Maybe it is my fault. If I wanted a good, nice and peaceful life, I should have just submitted... Yet then what would that make me? Yes, I might be a demon possessing your child's body, and yes, I might be a monster... No! I am a monster. I always have been. From the day I was born on earth until this day, I was always a monster.

I don't deserve love. I don't deserve compassion. I am a monster... Then why? Why does it hurt so much? If I am a monster, why does every word she utters feel like it had stabbed me in the abdomen? What did I do to deserve this? What did I do to deserve such pain again? I don't know...

Everyone was silent as they watched my mother shave in anger. Her teeth were gritted while her hair was slowly turning white. Her eyes started to glow cyan, becoming colder by the second.

At the side was my father. Yes, everyone was shocked, everyone was surprised, but no one was as angry as my father was. Yet even with this anger raging inside of him, he kept trying to make excuses for his wife's behavior.

What happened to the wife he had married? What happened to the woman who was cold to everyone but her family? What happened to the woman he raised 4 children with? Was she gone? Did she change? Was he blind to this change all along? No? Maybe it is the pregnancy? Hormones, right? Or maybe it is the stress. Yes, the stress. It all makes sense now. It must be the combination of both stress and pregnancy. But she had never done this before. She had been pregnant 3 times before this, yet she never acted like this. Maybe this is what she thinks?

On the other hand, Aroura's brain seemed to have short-circuited, She did not understand why her mother was acting like this. Maybe it was because she had to watch both her children go to the academy, away from home. But that isn't an excuse to act like this. Maybe it was the pregnancy or even the stress?

"..."

Silence filled the air. No one dared speak. They knew if they did speak, something would break out and it would not be good.

My eyes were cold, colder than they ever had been, and colder than I thought they would ever become.

"Haaa...." A loud sigh came from my end, making all eyes shift onto me. Even Jack, who was about to say something before was not speechless. How could someone be so cruel? However, it seemed like it was only after the sigh that she had realized what she had said. Her eyes went back to being blonde while her eyes softened.

When she finally relaxed was the moment she finally understood. A black invisible whisp left her body, and instantaneously, her eyes began to well up in tears. No one saw it, not even me.

"P-P-Panni... I d-didn't mean that. I d-don't know what c-came over me. I just fel-"

*Step*

A took a single step, but it had quieted her down instantly. Looking at my face, she could tell I had a lot to say, but I said nothing. Nothing at all. I had nothing to say. My words would be wasted. Why would I waste my breath on her? She doesn't love me. She doesn't care for me. I am a monster, and she is not my mother.

My eyes were violet. Completely violet. They were the same color as when I had killed my parents and sister. My soul flame was the same color, and my pupils had turned pitch black.

'I am a monster...'

'I am weak...'

'No one will ever love me...'

Those words echoed in my mind countless times as if they were trying to be engraved into it.

'Pandora? Are you oka-' Olivia tried to use the mind link

'Silence.'

She immediately zipped her mouth, or technically her thoughts.

"P-Pandora. I am s-sorry I s-" My mother tried to apologize, however, I had heard enough.

"It's okay mom" I replied, making her eyes widen in happiness, but it did not last long as my next words seemed to have shattered her world

"I know you don't love me, you don't need to lie anymore"

"n-no I didn't mean-"

"It's okay mom"

"No! Not it isn't! I'm trying to tell-"

"MOM! It's okay. I'm fine, look?" I twirled in front of her with a smile that did not reach my eyes.

"n-no. Wait, please le-" The rest of her words landed on deaf ears since I had already shifted my focus towards Olivia.

'Do you want to live here?' I asked Flatley

'Only if you do too' She replied sternly

'Are you sure? If you choose to live here, you can have all the clothes you will ever need, a bed to sleep on and food to eat. You will have a roof over your head and my father to train you if you feel like it' I argued

'Again, only if you live here too. While you might have put a contract on me, you are also the person who spared my life. Yes, you might have killed my allies and friends, but it was our fault. We were in the wrong, yet you still spared me. And say I was not indebted to you, I would still follow you for my own interest. After all, if you die I die too, right? Think of it as protecting my own life by protecting you' She smiled at me warmly from behind everyone

'Thanks' I closed the mind link.

My mother was still rambling on about something, yet I did not care a single bit. I simply walked past her, engraving her dumbfounded expression into my mind the moment she realized I was not listening.

"Panni! please wai-"

"Mother... you've said enough. I know you don't love me. I know I am a monster... I know I am a burden on all of you... So how about this. From this day on I will disown myself from this family. My name is no longer Pandora Raven, but rather, just Pandora. I will no longer reside in this house however, my blood-related relatives will remain my blood-related relatives. Of course, since the mother does not want me anymore, I'll address her as Ava." After finishing my announcement, I walked towards the backyard door to the outside. Olivia followed right behind me, however, while she was walking she did not forget to make a disdainful expression while staring down at my mother who had already had her legs buckle.

"Pandora! Wait!" Aroura shouted before grabbing my arm and pulling me into a hug. She slowly started to sob onto my head, yet my expression did not change. My eyes were still a dark purple and my face was still passive. I felt another body envelop me in their arms. The arms were quite big, and long, hugging both me and Aroura at the same time.

"It's okay Pandora. If this is your decision, then so be it-" My father sniffled "However, just know you don't have to leave. I will never leave your side even if you were to stab me through the heart. You are my flesh and blood and I understand how you are feeling right now. I will always be there for you, no matter what. Is that understood?" He sniffled again

"I know dad" My tone of voice did not change.

"Lil' Sis... I love you, so so so much. You are everything to me, so please don't leave" Aroura cried out.

"I'm sorry sis... There were things that happen, you know? And this is just one of those things" I pulled her down before planting a kiss on her forehead while smiling wryly.

"Panni..." Gen called out, making me glance back. The moment I did though, I felt myself getting bearhugged and lifted into the sky.

"Make sure to visit okay? I don't care what happens, you are still my friend. Understood?" She sternly told me off, but the tears welling in her eyes and her weak smile broke her character.

"Sure..." I replied with the same wry smile that did not reach my eyes.

I finally looked at my father and floated up to around his height.

I opened my mouth and spoke with a cracking voice "Dad, I love you. You are the best father I could ever ask for. Thank you for taking care of me for 6 years" before lunging at him into a tight hug. No one questioned how I could float but was it really the time or place to do so?

I could hear my mother breaking down in the background sobbing her eyes out while Elaina tried to comfort her. Her words had hurt too much and I was not about to back peddle due to a bit of crying. Remembering something important, I quickly looked back and took out a pair of gloves before throwing them onto the ground. "These are yours" I voiced before turning around once again.

"Let's go" I gestured to Olivia with a nod of my head towards the direction of the door.

"I'm coming with you" waved over Jack as he wore his jacket next to the door before opening it.

While Olivia and Jack walked in front, I walked behind the two of them. However, instead of just walking at the same speed as them, I paused and looked back just one more time towards the house I was born in, grew up in, played in, learned in, practiced in, and even felt happy in. That house embodied my current life as being the foundation, but today is the day I needed to break free...

'Goodbye...' I closed my eyes and turned around to catch up to the duo. A single teardrop could be seen on the dry earthen ground, slowly being soaked into it and being lost forever. At the same time, if one were to look closely at the tips of my hair right now, they would be able to see that the tips had turned a barely noticeable black, but contrary to its size, it represented something much larger.

{End Of Volume 1}

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