Chapter 266 - A New Path

'My life reduced to a science experiment.' Amell fell on his knees in anger. "Everything! It was all him, all along! IT WAS HIM!" With ferocity and indescribable anger he struck the ground and spread a crack through the mountain.

"D-Daddy?!" To no surprise, that outburst of anger awoke sleeping beauty. She rubbed her eyes to try and get rid of the left-over sleepiness looming over her. She was almost too comfortable snuggling against the eagle's feathers so it made her not want to move away from that warmth. The evening chills still made her body shudder, so Orlando in a rare moment of kindness covered most of her body with his humongous wing. "DADDY!" As reality settled in with her, she realised what she was looking at. Her father in all his grandeur, with eyes that screamed both danger and comfort. The sensation he gave off was new to her. She had never seen him like this before so she couldn't tell if he was upset with her or glad to see her.

No matter how complicated her feelings were at the moment, she still made Orlando remove his wing and she rushed at her father. With a skip and then a jump she landed comfortably in his embrace and immediately she felt a lot safer.

'Daddy is different?' she glanced up just to see that he hadn't recognized that she was in his embrace. His body had moved to embrace her unconsciously, like a reflex his body performed without him commanding It to do so.

"Daddy, what happened? Where were you? Who was the man that attacked you?" Her body had healed from the damage the strange man had caused, but she still felt weak. Shaking her father awake proved fruitless. She sat there swinging his arm every which way but he just didn't move, no matter what she tried to do.

Fear started building up inside her, and could anyone blame her for that? Not really! The invincible man she knew would always protect her was sitting there pale as a ghost just staring out into the void. It wasn't until she had shaken his arm maybe a hundred times back and forth that he started showing some sort of a reaction again.

"Valerie?" He said. Slowly looking down at her, he palmed the right side of her face and as if nothing had happened, his gentle father-like smile grew back. But, she could see through that smile no matter how he tried to hide it. 'He's sad,' she said to herself as she tried to not worry.

No matter how strange and unnerving she found this situation, seeing that smile again put her mind at ease somewhat. The entire world started filling with vibrant colours, when previously, just seconds ago, it was a world of grey uncertainty. "It's me, daddy! Are you daddy?" She said, slightly leaning backwards away from him. His change was too sudden for her to feel completely comfortable about it.

"Not to worry, Sweetheart. I am me." His gaze was distant as he continued saying, "for now." His hand stroked the side of her face as it fell to his side without him noticing it was there in the first place.

Valerie tilted her head to the side. His final two words weren't lost from her, she just didn't know what he meant by them. "D-Did you defeat the bad guy?" Her stuttering coupled with her frightful expression seemed to snap Amell out of whatever mindset he was in. He made a conscious choice to stroke her cheek and lean in to kiss her on the forehead.

"Don't worry, baby. That man will not come back ever again. But, for everyone's sake, especially for your safety, I have to get you back to your mother." He said smiling.

"What? No! I want to stay with you. The bad guy won't come back, right? I can stay with you for a little longer, please!"

Surprisingly, Amell felt it was much easier to deny her requests now. If this was from him learning that a big part of his family was preprogrammed, he didn't know. Maybe it stemmed from the simple fact that the man he needed to become barely had any emotions in him. No doubt, this would cause huge friction between him and his family, and if Sylvia was free from any further manipulation as God implied then she would absolutely see and feel that something was wrong with Amell. The emotionless aura around him would probably never truly go away again. After what he had learned here today, he wasn't sure that life could ever go back to how it once was, no matter if he became the new God or not.

"I am sorry. I can not risk your safety. I am going on a very long journey to hunt down and kill everyone associated with the man that attacked us." His hold around her tightened as he spoke so easily to her about murder. He wouldn't dream about talking to Valerie about killing people before, but things had changes and small details now didn't seem important enough to even care about. The safety of his children was still his number one priority, which was why he didn't bother with pleasantries. He just needed her to be back with her mother as soon as possible.

"Before you say anything," he stopped the words he saw wanted to escape her throat. "The safety of you and your siblings will always be the only thing that matters to me. No one else comes close to the importance you all hold. Your mother would agree, which is why she would never forgive me if I dragged you along with me." Valerie had to swallow her next set of words because she couldn't find it in herself to argue with him.

"How about what I want?" She continued with an expression of pain on her face as the tears threatened to fall. "You might not know or care. But, Valerius and I know about how you used to disappear and leaving everyone alone for years at a time." Her tiny fists were clenched in anger and anxiety. She knew the consequences of her father's adventures. "What if I don't get to see you ever again? That guy was strong, almost as strong as you. I have never seen you struggle before! What if the next guy kills you?!" She felt the urge to bang on his chest, but she knew it would do no good, so she opted for just staying still and letting the tears fall down.

"Valerie!" His firm and audible tone broke her out of the temporary darkness that had overtaken her mind. "The possibility of me dying is real. It is of no use to lie about that since it could happen. But, from what I understood from my small chat with that Celestial, as they are calling themselves. It is me that they want, and they have more pride and honour then going after their enemies families." This was, of course, a lie. He knew no such certainty. "With you in the safety with your mother, and with my commanders looking after you, I can rest easy. Those Celestials will never claim my life as long as I know that you are safe from them. But, if you start causing a ruckus and start getting their attention, that's when I could lose focus and lose my life. Do you understand what I mean by this?"

"Y-Yes!" She knew but hated that she would be forced to follow it. "I will stay with mom and wait for you. But, if you think for a second I will let those bastards off the hook, you're wrong! I and Valerius will become strong and he and I will find them and kill them for what they're doing to our family!" The fierce bloodlust sleeping deep within her bloodline came to the surface and made the thin air on this mountain even thinner. Normal humans would most likely only have a few seconds of air if she continued releasing this amount of killing intent.

"I would expect no less from my children, especially now. I would never want my children to develop my inclinations and talent for taking lives. But, that was before I knew the incredible threat that exists out there in the multiverse." Amell took a second to accept what he has just said to his daughter. "When we get back, I will talk with Bradley about him training you. If there is someone who can keep you safe from even Celestials, like the one that attacked me, it's him." He tried to turn his smile into something genuine, but he couldn't do it.

"What about Alucard? Is he gonna train Valerius then?"

"No, Alucard is... Special. He has unusual duties within the Gotei. But I can assure you if anyone attacks my family when he's around, they are going to regret it. He is much like me, both in power and calculative abilities. The only big difference is." After a little pause to breath, he said. "He has not one shred of humanity within him. No mercy, no empathy or kindness. He never lets anyone die quickly and painlessly. He is the last person I would want training any of my children. Just ask Itachi, his second-in-command. He will tell you what kind of monster Alucard is. A monster that I need now more than ever." There was silence as she swallowed the information she had just gotten.

"What now then? I go home, and you start hunting Celestials?"

"Yes! That is the general idea of it all." The plan he had in mind was more complicated than that, but Valerie didn't need to know the gritty details of his plan to destroy most of the multiverse. Of course, that wasn't necessarily what would happen. But, he was fully prepared to do it if he had to.

"You know I love you, right? We all do!" As if she could suddenly see the thoughts swimming inside of his mind, she leaned in and hugged his arm tightly. "Do what you have to do to protect us." She said that as quietly as she could, but nothing escapes Amell's senses.

"I will! And where did my child go?" He tried smiling again, but, yet another failure. "Can you please stop maturing so fast, just stay a kid for a few most minutes." He embraced her in an equal amount of sadness and love. After all of this was over, he knew that then he would have ample time to hate himself for what he was doing. Turning the children he loved into brutal killing machines, bred for war.

*****************