"NOOO!" Vars screamed.
Itoî's eyes went blank for a few seconds before the moments spent with his mother came flooding back.
『 Irvar, Nothran — 26 Everi, 9:13 AM 』
"I love you, boys. You are my pride, my family, and my little babies."
— ✦ —
『 Sea, ???? — 17 Jymes, 2:45 PM 』
"Hey, Itoî, don't dive into the water like that!" she cried.
— ✦ —
『 Irvar, the House — 26 Everi, 1:40 PM 』
Itoî bounced over to his mother, who fastened an amulet adorned with a light blue crystal around his neck.
"Take good care of it, okay, sweetheart?" Noémie said, stroking his head and then his cheek.
"Yes, Mom! Thanks!" Itoî replied with a huge grin.
— ✦ —
『 A Dream — 20 Everi 』
"Everything is fine now. Close your eyes and rest," Noémie said with a soft smile.
The vision of these memories blurred. The images of his mother started to glitch and warp before disappearing completely.
╳ ╳ ╳
The scenery darkened, and the vision of his mother vanished entirely, giving way to a dark world where there was nothing. Only the void.
Then a horrible voice echoed in Itoî's mind:
"Everything is fine, Itoî, everything is fine..."
"You want to avenge your mother, don't you?"
"Those monsters killed your mother!"
"You're not going to let such an insult slide, are you?"
The voice continued relentlessly. It split into several echoes that kept gnawing at Itoî's mind.
"Take revenge!"
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"Protect your brothers!"
"Don't let them get away with it!"
The voices blended together. Itoî seemed disconnected from reality, as if he were trapped in a nightmare once again.
All of this happened in a fraction of a second.
"Kill them!"
At that instant, all the other voices vanished.
"Kill them!"
"Kill them!"
"Kill them!"
Itoî, who had lowered his head, raised it. In this parallel world, he had recognized the voice. It was the demon's. Nevertheless, he asked:
"How?"
The demon appeared in a gaseous form; only large, hypnotic eyes were visible.
"You already know the answer. You need me," the demon said.
"Ah, right..." Itoî lowered his head again.
"Yes, right," the demon replied.
"You're just going to possess my soul and my body, then take off, aren't you?" Itoî asked.
The demon's eyes widened for a moment.
Ha ha, this kid isn't so easily fooled, is he? But nothing stops me from demonstrating my power.
"I can still kill these criminals in exchange for your body and soul, you know. I'm not that cruel," the demon replied.
"Alright," Itoî said.
The demon seemed to have reached its goal. It then asked one last thing:
"Take off your necklace after this vision ends. Then, I'll start coming out little by little. If you want to speed things up..."
It pointed to a well and added:
"Just jump in. To bring up this vision, it'll be even simpler without the necklace. All you'll have to do is focus and think about this well."
The vision vanished, and Itoî regained consciousness.
He raised his head. A faint but deeply sinister aura emanated from him.
"ROAAAARGH!!!" Itoî roared as the dark aura swelled.
"Whoa!" Blak exclaimed, surprised.
"I clearly didn't expect this... One of my brothers, here? Amazing!"
Then Blak started laughing.
Vars, seeing this, struck his little brother hard on the back of the neck. The sharp blow knocked him out. Vars caught him before he hit the ground and laid him down gently.
"This is clearly not the time to pull any crap, Itoî," Vars said in a sharp tone, staring Blak dead in the eyes.
Uyan was only a few steps away from Blak.
Vars directly cast a spell to grab him.
"The Vine Hand!" Vars shouted before three vines shot out of the ground, seized Uyan, and yanked him back.
He caught his little brother, who seemed plunged in a state of deep shock. He wasn't talking, wasn't moving, and wasn't reacting to anything happening around him anymore.
"Bah, be my guest, go ahead, take the little red-haired kid," Blak said, sitting cross-legged and resting his chin on his hand, looking bored.
"What interests me is the black-haired kid, the one you left on the ground," he said, pointing at Itoî.
Vars waited for Blak to drop his guard. He gently set Uyan down while holding Blak's gaze.
"Can you wake him up for m—"
"Hey, Blak, we're heading back. The boss is calling us, according to La Flamme," the burly man said.
Blak turned his head to answer:
"I can't even have fun yet?" he asked, whining and pouting.
"I believe your father said to kill the woman, that's all, right?" Orazhe asked.
Seizing the opening, Vars directly cast a spell:
"The Living Vine Wall!"
He slammed his hands against the ground, and hundreds of vines erupted from the earth, soaring toward the sky. The wall measured about fifty meters high, twenty meters long, and ten meters wide. It was more than enough to separate the murderers from the children.
Blak whipped around and saw a massive wall of vines separating him from the kids.
"Argh, what the hell is this crap?!" he screamed, grabbing his head with both hands and stomping his foot on the ground.
"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't interrupted me!" he continued, turning back to his colleagues.
"Uh, guys? Guuuys?!" he added, annoyed.
"We're leaving. Orders are orders," Orazhe said.
"If I can avoid killing kids, that works for me," the burly man retorted, glancing at Blak.
"Pfft!"