Malia leaped forward covering her fists with flame mana, throwing two straight punches. I didn’t have time to reinforce my body with lightning mana, so I used simple footwork to move into her second punch, I grabbed her arm and shifted her momentum towards the ground, twisting her whole body forward, sending her tumbling to the ground.

“Aaaaghh!” she let out as she threw a fireball at my face, I leapt backwards to a safe distance and the fireball flew upwards and exploded. I covered my face with my arm as the heat reached me. Damn! Was she trying to incinerate me with that blast?

I immediately used my lightning aura skill, and small sparks of blue lightning encircled my body and limbs. With this my body was reinforced with my mana and I could move in to finish this swiftly. I was too drained to prolong this fight. I moved out of her line of sight sprinting towards the right side of her body in a circular fashion, making sure to keep a distance radius of at least 10 metres, otherwise she’d use the same technique as her father covering her body with flames.

I shaped a lightning spear in my hand and threw it like a javelin at her. The spear flew through the air, gathering momentum from the lightning mana in the atmosphere. Malia moved her eyes to where the spear was heading. At her! She immediately conjured a thick wall of flames to cushion the spear and leapt backwards. The spear pierced through the wall of flames and showed signs of slowing. She smiled as she leaned her body to the right and successfully parried the spear with her fist engulfed in flames, redirecting the spear away from her body.

Seeing the intricate mana control and perfect timing she used, surprised me a little but I wasn’t just standing still while she was busy defending my lightning spear, I was waiting for the perfect time to get close to her when her guard was down. I obviously didn’t want to hurt her but I didn’t want to lose either. My teachers may think I’m weak and Malia will never leave me alone if I let her win. I waited a few seconds then pounced towards her, flash stepping in front of her and tapping my pam against her forehead lightly with a low voltage touch. Malia lost all balance and fell backwards as the electricity seized her body into a total numbness, nearly hitting her head but I caught her, a clean K.O.

The hunched assassin immediately came over and told me to go inside, shaking his head at me. Did I go too hard on her? I only did that out of respect for her, if i held back she would’ve noticed, but I guess it was a bit dumb of me to go so hard on a girl.

**

I went inside with everyone and we all sat at the dining table, it seemed Gramps had something to say to me. He looked grim. Malia had already left with her father, and my mother was nowhere to be seen.

“Wait Gramps, where’s mother?” I was curious.

“She’s gone to her father’s place due to personal issues.” He replied grimly. I looked around and everyone had the same expressions. What was I missing out on? I stood up to grab a glass of water.

When everyone had settled down, Gramps began to speak.

“Zeref, I know this is going to be hard for you and normally none of us would agree to tell a 4 year old this, but we know your mental maturity is already at an adult’s, so we wanted to tell you this devastating message at an early age.” I grabbed my chair and pulled it out of the table as it made a slight screeching noise. Before I could sit down, I heard something that I wish I never did.

“Your father is dead.” Gramps spoke looking down. The room fell into silence. I tried to say something but like a sudden lock, my breath jammed in my throat.

It took me a second so that I could process what he had just said. Automatically tears started to roll down my cheeks and I nearly fell to my knees. I clasped onto something for support, anything, and then my whole body started to slightly shake. The sobs that left my lips were stifled at first as I was determined to hide my tears of grief, then all my defences washed away in those salty tears.

He is dead.

A surge of emotions I had never felt before burst out wreaking havoc inside me. Pain. Anger. Grief. It all hit me at once. I didn’t know how to react. I felt so weak. So little. So hopeless. Everyone there except my grandfather saw me as a 4 year old, so they all came together to hug me and comfort me. I had no words to reply to Gramps.

“Move…” I inhaled in between my tears, trying not to suffocate in the room full of pitiful eyes. ‘No, don’t pity me! I’m a king!’ I wanted to scream into their faces but I didn’t. I ran. I ran to my room, slamming the door shut behind me, and that’s where I collapsed into a state of chaos.

I hated it. My heart ached. I never had to deal with losing someone before; my mind was everywhere. I was trying to collect my thoughts but everything scattered everywhere. My throat clumped shut and I exhaled in a series of short breaths. Why did it feel like I was dying? Tears started falling helplessly down my face and my knees locked in as I tried not to fall onto the floor. It hurt. My heart; it hurt. I hung my head down, listening to the whispers coming from the living room.

I slowly sunk down in the corner of my room and sobbed into my hands as the tears dripped between my fingers, raining down onto the cold, wooden floor. I cried until there was nothing left inside but a raw emptiness that munched away at my insides. My eyeballs hung heavy in their sockets.

Slowly picking myself up, I made my way down to where my grandpa was. My lips were chapped and I yearned for some water. Although I knew there was nothing to be ashamed of, I still felt a little embarrassed at my breakdown in front of everyone. I avoided everyone’s gaze following me while I grabbed my cup of water. They really waited 2 hours for me to come back down huh. I scoffed, feeling an unknown anger rising in me. No matter how much I tried to push it down into the deepest part of my stomach, the feeling would rise again like a helium balloon. It was the thirst for revenge and I was excited to quench it. I want to get my hands bloody. I gritted my teeth while gulping down waves of water as I leaned my back against the table.

“Did you find out who killed my father?” I asked Gramps coldly, glaring at the plain wall in front of me, not looking directly at him.

“Yes kid. They were Darkness element assassins hired by a man proclaiming to be the fire candidate.” Gramps replied in a small, low voice.

“Well I have a request for you all. Please train me!” I put my glass down but it shattered before it could even touch the table. The assassin flinched. I looked at each of them in the eyes while my hands dripped in blood, cut by glass. “Till I wish I was dead! Make me so strong that no other person in this world will oppose me! Make me so strong that even the monarchs will fear me. Every being shall know my name! I want strength that shakes the upper and the lower realms!” I roared shrouding myself with lightning mana. My mana was rampant like my emotions. Tears of agony and pain rolled down my cheek again.

The hunched assassin approached me and put one arm on my shoulder and spoke into my ear.

“Well kiddo, channel those emotions and let’s get training, Let’s unleash the beast inside you.”