Numbers x Casket-Chapter 32: His Resolve

"Kenzelle Espada, you are guilty as charged for the crime of killing four individuals, including the daughter of Farfalla," an arbitrator holding a scroll stated in a large conference room.

He stopped for a while and looked at the person kneeling at the center.

A few days had passed since the incident at the goblin's cave. Kier, who was inside the body of Kenzelle, was in the middle of a trial held by his own family.

Kier heard the arbitrator's words loud and clear, and he felt shock to the point that his eyes widened in surprise. Though his entire attention was on the individual standing next to a massive throne, the one wearing his face, the real Kenzelle. The smile plastered on his face boiled Kier's irritation to the extreme.

"What did you do to Xenen? What happened to her?" he asked; the hair dangling in front of his eyes couldn't hide his anger.

Ashrielle Xenen Farfalla, the woman he cared for the most and the only one who believed his words after the incident.

'She still visited me yesterday before this trial,' he pondered while an image of her holding a butterfly flashed inside his thoughts.

However, the man kept his silence and just stared at him with a smug-looking expression as if he was enjoying every second of Kier's suffering.

"Silence! You have no right to speak; your words are unnecessary!" the arbitrator exclaimed with a tone filled with authority.

Then, the knights pushed Kier's body downward; his chest fell flat on the floor before they pinned him in that position by stepping on his back.

"Release me at once! I'm not Kenzelle! I am the real Kier!" Kier announced in desperation as he stared at the entity sitting on the massive throne—his father, the patriarch, the Lord of Bladehaven.

However, he just stared at him with eyes filled with disgust. That gaze that always looked at him with warmth was now nowhere to be seen; instead, there was coldness present on them, and that was the moment he realized how his father viewed Kenzelle the whole time.

"Imbecile! I just want to let you know that you are supposed to be sentenced to death for this felony! However, due to the youngest heir's interference, asking for the patriarch's mercy, your punishment has changed," the arbitrator exclaimed, shaking his head a little.

"Kenzelle Espada, I hereby announce your banishment from the family; you will lose all the rights of being a citizen of Bladehaven," he added and closed the scroll in his hand.

Afterward, the man sitting on the throne stood up and took his steps towards Kier. Upon seeing this, the knights pulled the accused up. His hands were chained, and blades were positioned under his neck.

Kier stared at the person walking towards him for one last time; he hoped that he would recognize him and everything would turn back to normal.

But it was nothing but a hopeless wish, his expectation shattered the moment his father extended his arm and reached his chest. His hand was wrapped with an unusual darkness.

"N-No! Don't! That's the only thing I have now!" Kier pleaded, but he received no reply.

The next second, he felt an excruciating pain as the dark energy pierced through his body. Then, the black line circling his heart turned dim in color. His scream reverberated in the conference, and after a little while, it was replaced by a deafening silence.

"Drag this man out of the capital and inform everyone about his crime!" the patriarch declared before turning around to go back to his throne.

The knights did as they were told while Kier's gaze was still left stuck on the floor, contemplating what he did wrong for him to experience this kind of treatment.

With his mind tired from the constant thoughts, he found himself thrown off the streets outside the city. The people looked at him with curious stares, but no one was bold enough to give him a helping hand. They were afraid to suffer consequences for helping a person whom the Espada treated as a criminal.

. . . . .

"Get out of here, you filthy murderer!" a man exclaimed as he punched a person, sending him lying on the ground.

Days passed in a blink. Kier, with nothing but his clothes, struggled to survive. No one accepted him into their groups. He was treated as an outcast and forced to do missions alone; however, with his Flair being sealed, his energy was insufficient to have a proper fight against beasts.

'It's worse than death,' he thought as he looked at himself.

His clothes were tattered, while cuts and bruises covered the entirety of his body from the constant beatings of the people. He wasn't in jail, but the place where he was was worse than a prison. He had no food, no shelter from the weather; he was forced to drink water from the sewer just for him to survive.

While lying on the hot, dusted ground, Kier stared at the clouds drifting across the sky. He wanted to seek revenge; he wanted to kill Kenzelle, but to do that, he must live first and grow stronger than his previous self.

And for that to happen, he needed to start anew and abandon who he was. He must accept his new reality. Thus, he stood up and wiped the bloodstain in the corner of his mouth.

With his nemesis' body and just a stick in his hand, he left the Bladehaven's premises and wandered through the desolate land.

On that day, the real Kier Espada chose to die, and Efraim Von Regalia came into life.

. . . . .

The appraiser lifted himself up on the ground. He knew that something had changed within him, but he still had no idea about what it was. His mind was still occupied by his past.

"Kenzelle, you piece of shit!" he uttered, his voice soft but heavy.

The hatred he buried deep within his soul resurfaced along with the unwanted memories.

Two years had passed since then, and during that time, he got sidetracked due to his newfound abilities. He immersed himself in obtaining more strength, but the truth was he was just busy running away from his past, thinking that he was still not strong enough to face it.

After all, his previous body was several times stronger than the current him, and if Kenzelle had continued to train, he would be on a whole new level by now.

Aside from this, he was not his only opponent; it would be the whole family of Espada and the entirety of Bladehaven, a whole faction that he needed to defeat for him to call it a victory.

This sounded impossible from everyone's perspective, even Efraim's, but the casket dangling on his ear would be the key to making it happen.

"You want the world's destruction, huh?" Efraim stated.

Then, the sound of insects flocking towards his direction echoed in the place. Efraim glanced around him as he tightened his grip on his blades.

Despite the pitch-black darkness, the monsters' eyes gleaming in a crimson hue appeared visible to him. Their numbers exceeded the fingers on his hands and feet.

However, the appraiser showed no fear; his left eye shifted into a cyan hexagram pattern, and figures written in purple appeared, surrounding him.

"Fine! I will serve it to you on a silver platter," Efraim declared.

Then he held both of his blades in a reversed grip and dashed forward, splitting the monster standing before him in half.

"With my family's heads rolling on the ground," Efraim stated and tumbled upward to dodge a web coming from behind.

He landed on top of the spider-scorpion hybrids and struck his blade on its forehead while placing his other sword on his back to block the large pincer coming straight at him from behind.

"With their blood spreading across the ocean," he said and spun around, killing several monsters in the process.

Blood splattered on his clothes, but he paid no attention to them. He swung his blades without minding the carnage.

"With the scent of their flesh burning, lingering on the air," Efraim whispered.

The parade of monsters was already reduced by half, but the appraiser was not yet done. While still holding his blades in a reverse grip, he swung them upward, sending energy slashes with an x-mark pattern.

"If I need to be a demon, I'll gladly embrace being one," Efraim stated while staring at the monsters caught in his attack.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

Then, upon seeing that an insect managed to survive, he sheathed his blades and leaped towards it. He clenched his right hand and slammed it on the monster's head.

The spider-scorpion hybrid raised its pincers to defend, but they were crashed into smithereens along with its body the moment it came into contact with Efraim's fist.

"And if hell really does exist, then I'll make this world a living pandemonium where that place pales in comparison," Efraim proclaimed his resolve while standing in the pile of monster corpses.

. . . . .