Chapter 83: Let's go to the Garden.
That day... Nothing was right. Strax heard everything Xenovia had said, but honestly... it didn't matter to him. Nothing mattered; at that moment, he was nothing but a pit of hatred.
It wasn't just Strax who was like this... Monica was on edge, not knowing what to do about it. She felt useless; her daughter... wasn't among them, and it was driving her crazy. She, who usually didn't train, was now with Samira, destroying all the training dummies—they had already replaced them more than twenty times, and with just one blow...
Monica shattered everything she touched.
"You need to control yourself," Samira said, placing a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her somehow. She couldn't do anything for Strax, but she wanted to at least do something for Monica. "I won't control myself until I see my daughter well." She said, serious and unyielding, her eyes burning with fury, the amber almost turning red from the anger she felt.
Monica was a simple woman. As long as she and her daughter were well, she wouldn't care about what she had to do. Even though she protected Strax in the past to keep him from being killed, she would still choose her daughter. Well, the current moment was different. After all, she accepted being with that man, but she still loved her daughter more—how could she not?
In fact, only now, with the freedom this man gave her, would she really be Beatrice's mother.
But all of this could be lost now. Just thinking that her daughter might die without even knowing that she was her mother... Just this small thought made her tremble with rage, and she... couldn't do anything.
With each passing second, she felt more useless, more of a failure, more mentally exhausted. When she heard from Strax that it was one of his brothers... She wanted to punch him, but she couldn't; he was suffering as much as she was. Monica now... was constantly rebuilding herself inside...
If Beatrice came back, she would tell her the whole truth. If she didn't return... Monica would use everything she had, all her desire for revenge, to become the strongest person possible to wipe out everyone involved in this.
And no one, absolutely no one, could stop her from following her path, not even that man.
"I'm going," Strax said to the two women sitting on the staircase before the training field Samira had built. "Are you sure you don't want us to follow you? We can wait outside, and if something happens..." Samira began to say, but she saw Strax's expression, who shook his head. "I don't want you to be their targets, and..." He murmured quietly, "I don't want you to see me...
that won't be me." He said, his eyes were not those of the mischievous man who called her Little Fire, but of a man who... was ready to die.
"Be careful," Monica said, she was serious. "Any misstep and... Beatrice could die." Monica said, serious. She wasn't worried about the swords or what would happen there, but if both died, she would go crazy. Her body and mind were no different from Strax, but she wasn't blessed like Strax, who always had a way to get stronger.
"Alright." Strax said and turned to leave, his steps were heavy, his body alert and trained. In just a few days, he advanced as much as he could. He even fully honed his skills, but the System didn't advance his Status.
Strax walked out and mounted his horse. As he passed, his aura scared people. He couldn't help it, just thinking of seeing the face of the one who tried against him... kidnapped his wife... kept her imprisoned... He was already in the final moments of his rage.
He wanted to do so many things... that torture with a pickaxe wouldn't be anything compared to this.
"Keep it under control; emotions have to be directed at those who truly deserve to receive them..." Strax murmured, controlling his aura.
"I'm weak, I couldn't even protect my wife..." Strax murmured, his eyes burning as he rode his horse. "I'm sorry," he murmured.
As he rode towards his family's estate... When he arrived, the gates were open, and several staff members bowed to him out of respect.
Strax continued in silence, not even glancing at the scene. To him, it didn't matter. He had already been treated badly by everyone anyway. The Failed Son, that was his title. No one had ever even tried to help him grow as a swordsman, so this treatment didn't matter. He was just angrier.
"Looks like you've returned, how long has it been since we last saw each other." The first to greet him was Diana, who seemed to be waiting at the main mansion's door. "Hi," Strax said curtly, "Oh, is that how you treat your mother?" She mocked, seeming to try to provoke him, but Strax, after a brief silence, walked past her.
"It's how you greet an old man's toy." Passing her, he faced his siblings who seemed to be waiting, seated at a round table.
"Finally, you've arrived. What took so long?" Hinna said, lazily as Strax sat at the table.
Almost all of them were there... only three were missing... "Why don't I see Darius, Virgil, and Dominic here..." Strax murmured as he sat down.
"I haven't seen you in a while, brother!" A girl just one year older than Strax said with a cheerful smile. Well, she still seemed somewhat childish, wearing frilly dresses and a large sword on her back, Eva Vorah, 19 years old.
"I would have liked to talk to you before all this, sister," he said. He didn't really hold grudges against some of his siblings; he had never really interacted with them, just tormented mostly by Dominic and Virgil, while everyone else ignored the situation. But he understood it was simple; the strong set the rules, so he didn't hate some of his siblings.
Well... he was starting to hate some, like the man sitting silently across the table, Noah Vorah, who seemed quite uncomfortable with his presence.
"If you're going to stare at me like that, leave; the ceremony doesn't need you," Strax said. By this point, he didn't care about causing conflicts anymore. In fact, despite the cultivation difference, he was itching to beat someone up. "Tsk, asshole," Noah said, turning his face away, and the others did the same.
In total, there were ten people in the room. Of Vorah's twelve children, only 9 were there. "Where are those three?" Strax asked, but no one wanted to answer. "They're coming," he heard the voice behind him; Xenovia had arrived. "Is everything okay?" She asked. "You tell me," he asked.
Xenovia approached him and whispered, "She's alive. They didn't arrive because they decided to move her again. Absolutely everyone is after her now." She commented in her whispers scrambled with magic. None of them could hear what she said, but they realized that Strax had somehow calmed down. "Understood."
The tension in the air only increased, so finally... Darius, Virgil, and Dominic arrived.
Darius, Virgil, and Dominic entered the mansion's meeting room, their footsteps echoing in the tense silence. Strax, seated at the table with his other siblings, watched them with a hateful gaze, ready to explode at any moment. Even knowing she was alive... he wasn't calm. Every fiber of his being was in fury, fueled by a hatred that seemed almost tangible.
Despite this, Xenovia controlled his aura with hers, making sure his aura didn't escape his body, at the request of his spiritual.
Xenovia quickly glanced at the newcomers, a neutral expression hiding her immense urge to kill them. The air in the room grew heavier as Darius, Virgil, and Dominic approached the table.
Strax kept his gaze fixed on Darius, who led the trio. "Took you long enough. Were you too busy?" he said, his voice cutting like a blade.
Darius raised his chin, a cynical smile forming on his lips. "I was quite busy taking care of a rare animal; he seemed quite helpless," Darius provoked, trying to deny, even a word game was enough. It really had been him.
And why? Why did he want to affect Strax like this? What did he do to Darius? Just because he was another competitor? Because he was the weakest? Did this shit really make sense?
Damn, this asshole just wanted to play; he forced Xenovia back into the stupid competition; he made the whole scenario worse! And why? FOR WHAT!
This was the current scene in Strax's mind, but there was no point in questioning anymore; none of this mattered. If he wanted to provoke a dragon, then fine... He provoked the worst of dragons.
Suddenly, an extremely strong aura entered the room, accompanied by Diana... Albert Vorah.
"It seems that in less than ten minutes together, you're already causing trouble," Albert said, ignoring what was happening. "Now that everyone is here... We should start." He said, drawing the sword he carried, and with a swing, "Let's go to the Garden."
Everyone was teleported.