"WELCOME back, Lord Ripperton."

Elis was back at the shrine. Much to his annoyance, he found Aku Moonchester sitting on his coffin while having tea. He may have agreed to be the Guardian of the Moonchesters– but that didn't mean that he had to like the "royal" family. "You're still here," he said while tying his hair up with the belt of his robe that he used as a ponytail.

Then, he summoned his sharp wind to cut his hair off.

Aku whistled as if he was amused by what he did. "Have you cracked the seal in Lady Nystrom's memory?"

"The seal in her memory is very strong. I was only able to crack a portion of it," he said, then his brows furrowed in confusion. "Wait, "Lady Nystrom?""

"Kiho chose 'Nystrom' as his family name this time," the emperor explained. "I sealed the memories of his past life but for some reason, he was still able to remember that name."

"After all these years, you can't still do anything right," he mocked him while brushing his now short hair with his fingers.

"I see that your tongue is as sharp as ever, Lord Ripperton," the emperor said with a smile, but he could see a glint of anger in his red eyes. "But don't forget that right now, I'm the emperor of Moonchester Empire."

He scoffed. "You just stole everything from the crown to the land where your "empire" is built, Aku."

Aku was obviously insulted because he let out a killing aura.

Of course, he didn't let a mere human threaten him. He released a bloodlust much stronger than the emperor's. "You're just a child who failed to be a god, Aku Moonchester," he said menacingly. "Know your place."

The emperor, now calm, just laughed it off. "We're not enemies, Lord Ripperton," he said. "I apologize for crossing the line."

He just rolled his eyes. "Aku Moonchester, you haven't forgotten about our deal, have you?"

That deal was the only reason why he agreed to be the Moonchesters' Guardian.

"Of course I haven't," the emperor assured him. "As soon as I crushed Lady Nystrom's heart, she's all yours."

"It's not Soleil's heart," he corrected him. "The heart inside her right now is Winchell's."

When Winchell gave his heart to Soleil, that jerk was already a Beast God. Winchell's heart as the Red Phoenix was special. It doesn't matter even if the heart was incomplete. As long as the huge part of it was inside Soleil's body, she'd live. That was one of the strange but useful abilities of the Red Phoenix.

As soon as Soleil remembers her past, the pieces of Winchell's heart scattered all over the world will return to complete the heart.

And once that happened, Soleil's Mana would return to its original state.

"Right. It's Lord Winchell Rosenberg's heart," Aku said while nodding. "Like what we talked about before, I will leave a portion of the heart in Lady Nystrom so that she wouldn't die right away. But how will you replace her heart? A tiny piece of Lord Rosenberg's heart won't keep her alive for so long even if she's the Supreme."

"I'll take care of it," he said. "All I need is for you to make it look like that you killed Soleil so that Nystrom won't look for her anymore."

He also needed Aku to crush Winchell's heart so that the Red Phoenix's connection to Soleil would finally get cut off.

Unfortunately, only the emperor could crush Winchell's heart and keep her alive after that.

That crucial moment was what he was after. He needed Aku's ability to "revive" a person in the brink of dead. Once that moment was over, he could finally have Soleil to himself.

For that reason, he gave up a lot of things as a god.

"I will help you get Lady Nystrom in this lifetime, Lord Ripperton," Aku promised him, then he stood up with his cup of tea in his hand. "I'll prepare a room for you, my lord."

Elis just nodded, then he snapped his fingers when he remembered something. "Where's the little tiger?"

***

"I WILL not go to Aku's palace just to meet that freaking Blue Dragon!" Ainsworth yelled while flipping the table in front of him. Of course, he saved the bottle of beer in his hand. "Don't make me repeat myself, Dustin!"

Right now, he was in the shrine that House Ainsworth built in his honor.

He was in the middle of his midnight drinking session when Dustin, the current head of House Ainsworth, went to his home to relay the emperor's urgent message.

"My lord, please refrain from calling His Majesty by his name," Dustin, who was kneeling before him with his head hanged low, said in a worried voice. "The order came directly from His Majesty. We cannot simply ignore his summon."

"I can and I will," he growled. "Dustin Ainsworth, you and your goddamn clan are carrying my name. If I am the god that you truly want to serve, then don't you dare serve that kid emperor. We are not on his side."

He didn't care if Aku Moonchester was now an emperor.

That little monster was only a kid when he met him before he ascended the heaven as the Golden Tiger. Then, when he descended back to earth, he met him as Prince Auro Moonchester. He would never recognize that kid as someone higher than his Big Sister Soleil.

Wait– he didn't say "big sister," okay?

I mean, Soleil Rosenberg.

Dustin raised his head to look at him with a confused look on his face. "Lord Ainsworth, what do you mean by we're not on His Majesty's side?"

"I only obeyed Aku's first order as a way to repay him for waking up my human form," he said. "But that doesn't mean I will obey him again."

To be honest, he was practically bluffing at this point.

He knew that if Aku used the bracelet, he could make him obey his every order despite his will. The only one who could break the bracelet's effect on them was Soleil. But unfortunately, her memories and her real Mana were both sealed.

"Lord Ainsworth, are you saying that we're going to betray His Majesty?" Dustin asked in a serious tone. "House Ainsworth pledged our alliance with the emperor in exchange of your freedom. Disobeying His Majesty's order is the same as treason."

"You can't betray someone you never really served in the first place," he growled, then he drank the bottle of beer in one gulp. "Now, leave me alone," he said. "Just tell the kid emperor that you can't find me."

Dustin bowed his head, obviously giving up on convincing him to go to the palace to meet the Blue Dragon. "As you wish, Lord Ainsworth."

Finally, his descendant left him alone in his home.

Ainsworth lied down on the floor on his back and stared at the ceiling. Of course, he felt it when Elis awakened. That was exactly why he hid in his shrine.

Wait, saying that I hid made it sound like a coward.

In the end, Ainsworth couldn't deny it to himself. No matter how many years had passed, Elis Ripperton would always make him feel scared. One of the things that traumatized him when he was still human was still vivid in his mind…

***

[Before the Beast Gods ascended to heaven…]

"B-BIG BROTHER Elis, w-what did you do?" Ainsworth asked in a trembling voice even though he already knew what Elis did.

He was busy training in the woods near the falls when Elis came. If Soleil "scared" him because she was always scolding (and roasting) him, Elis scared him because he knew that Elis was capable of killing him (or anyone who wasn't Soleil) mercilessly.

Elis was covered in Crades blood. His eyes were colder than usual and when he spoke, his voice sounded very creepy. "What do you think, little tiger?"

He sniffed in the strange scent in the air. Aside from the blood of high-level Crades, his nose also caught something familiar. When he realized what it was, he took a step backwards. "B-Big Brother Elis, w-why do I smell h-human blood…"

His voice trailed-off when Elis gave him a creepy smile.

Ainsworth carefully looked at Elis from head to toe while searching for clues to make everything make sense. And he found it in the necklace with a tear-shaped ruby stone dangling on Elis's neck. "B-Big Brother!" he screamed in terror. When he looked up at Elis's face, he got goosebumps when he saw at how blank his expression was. "T-That's the communication stone that Big Sister Soleil gave to the children of Amos Village…"

He stopped dead on his tracks when he realized what probably happened.

Elis looked like he knew that he already figured it out but he didn't care.

"You killed high-level Crades and use their blood to lure stronger Crades," Ainsworth said in a whisper. "You led them to Amos Village… and you made sure that the villagers wouldn't be able to ask for Big Sister Soleil's help…"

"Oh," Elis said in a somewhat surprised tone. "You aren't as dumb as I thought you were."

His fear was then replaced by anger. He marched towards Elis and grabbed him the collar. "Why did you do that, Big Brother Elis?! Big Sister Soleil treasured that village and its people!"

"And what did they do to repay her kindness?" Elis asked in a bitter tone, then he slapped his hands until he let go of him. "They feared Soleil. I bet they even called her monster just because she's different from them. Do you think I'd let those people live after they hurt Soleil?"

"Mass killing them is still wrong!" he yelled in fear. "Big Sister Soleil will hate you if she finds out what you did to the villages!"

"She'll only find out if you open your big mouth," Elis said, his light gray eyes glowing menacingly. "Ainsworth, you care about your three future brides, don't you?"

That gave him goosebumps.

The leaders of their tribe were allowed to have three wives to produce more heirs. Since he was the Tribe Leader's heir and was the pride of his people, his tribe chose three young women as his future wives. He would marry them before he ascended to heaven. His tribe decided to give him three wives to make sure that he'd leave an heir that would have his blood.

Even though it was his tribe who chose his wives, he still cared about them. After all, his fiancées were also his dear childhood friends.

"Are you threatening me, Big Brother Elis?" he asked with clenched hands.

Elis smirked at his question. "Are you threatened, little tiger?"

He was and Elis knew that.

Shit.

"If you keep quiet, I won't touch them," Elis said, then he walked past him while removing his robe. Ah, he went there to take a bath at the falls. After all, he couldn't return to Lumira Temple while covered with blood. "Those villagers who hurt Soleil deserve it, Ainsworth. Don't risk the lives of your future brides for them." He turned to him, his light gray eyes still glowing menacingly. "Humans who hurt my Soleil don't deserve the mercy of a god."

Ainsworth, so young back then, didn't have the courage to oppose Elis.

***

"SHIT," Ainsworth covered his eyes after remembering a scary part of his past. "I was such a coward back then…"

He still regretted the fact that he didn't say anything back then even though he witnessed how devastated Soleil because of what happened.

Moreover, it wasn't the last time that the humans she cared about were killed.

Whenever Elis got jealous of the humans that Soleil wanted to protect, he would kill them behind her back. Soleil eventually discovered Elis's evil doings. But it was too late because the humans that she got attached to were already killed by that devious Blue Dragon.

Elis could have been stopped early had I told Soleil what that bastard did to Amos Village.

"I'm sorry, Soleil," Ainsworth whispered to himself. "This time, I swear I will protect you from that bastard's obsession."

***

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