JULIAN couldn't keep his eyes off his father.

Even though his neck hurt from looking up from time to time while going up the stairs, he didn't care.

Right now, his father had turned into his Beast God form. As the Black Serpent, he was using his snake body to throttle Lord Winchell who was in his Red Phoenix form. It looked like his uncle was trying to burn his father. But it was currently "raining" and that rain came from the Black Serpent's water Mana. Amazingly, the rain wasn't falling on them as if there was an invisible ceiling that protected them from it.

It seemed like the Red Phoenix was having a hard time vaporizing the "blessed rain," if he remembered it right.

Father is really angry.

When they reached the top floor, he stopped and let Winter and Solenn enter the room first. He was worried about his father and his uncle so he wanted to keep an eye on them.

Please don't kill each other.

He got worried when the Red Phoenix finally got out of the Black Serpent's coil by burning his body. It seemed like his red flame hurt his father's scales. After all, the Red Phoenix was still a Beast God just like him.

But why are they fighting?

He could also feel the anger coming out from the two Beast Gods.

This time, the Red Phoenix breathed fire at the Black Serpent. The heat coming from the glorious red flame was enough to literally stop the blessed rain. Fortunately, his father was able to deflect the attack by freezing Lord Winchell's flame.

The beauty of the frozen flame suspended in the air took his breath away.

When two majestic beings fight, they could accidentally create a beautiful mess.

Not that he was condoning his father and uncle's dispute when they shouldn't be fighting among themselves.

"Uncle Wixx wants to kill Julian?"

Julian was forced to stop watching the Black Serpent freeze the Red Phoenix's "bullet flame" when he heard Winter's question. And Solenn also pulled him inside the room where he found Luna attending to his unconscious mother on the floor.

Lord Forrester and Lord Ainsworth were also in the room, looking up at the sky while watching the Black Serpent and the Red Phoenix fight.

On the other hand, Miss Luna looked aghast when they saw them. But she looked particularly scared of Winter's question. "My lord…"

Winter's golden eyes glowed menacingly. "Why does the Red Phoenix want to kill my brother?"

To be honest, Julian wanted to say that he was surprised upon hearing that.

But he wasn't.

Lord Winchell hunted him down in his past life. It wouldn't be a surprise if he still intended to kill him even in this lifetime. That would also explain why his father was very angry at the Red Phoenix.

"Winter, calm down," he told his brother, then he put a hand on his shoulder. "We know that Lord Winchell wanted to kill me in the past. He might have a reason for wanting to kill me even in this lifetime. I'm certain that he has a valid reason for wanting to do so."

Winter's eyes stopped glowing but when he turned to him, he saw the pained look on his brother's face. "Brother, I hate that you're so calm right now as if you have long accepted that you don't deserve to have a good life. Don't you want to be with us for a long time?"

"I want nothing else in the world but to spend a long time with our family," he assured his brother. "But our mother is unconscious, Winter. We should prioritize her well-being first. And most of all…" He pointed to the sky. "We should stop Father and Lord Winchell from killing each other. Aside from the fact that Mother would hate it if she wakes up and find them fighting, our allies are also starting to wonder if an inner war has broken out within our force. We couldn't be divided, especially not when we still have an army to defeat."

For some reason, everyone was rendered silent after his long speech.

Julian, not used to being the center of attraction, easily blushed from embarrassment.

"Julian, you're so cool," Solenn praised him. "I think I just fell in love with you."

He wanted to say something but then…

"Julian…?"

He immediately turned to his mother who just awakened. "Mother," he said as he walked towards her. Miss Luna helped her mother get up and when he knelt beside her, she immediately hugged her tight while crying. Of course, he got worried. He knew why his mother was crying like that. "Mother, it's okay. I'm not blaming anyone, not even Lord Winchell. I understand."

"You're not obliged to understand, silly boy," his mother scolded him while sobbing hard and hugging him tighter. "You can blame us for failing to protect you, Julian."

"I can't do that even if I want to, Mother," Julian said softly while patting his mother's back gently. "I love our family."

***

WINTER was angry.

His father was busy fighting with his uncle while his mother and older brother were suffering. The others didn't know what to do while their leaders were fighting among themselves. He hated everything that was happening around him right now.

I want to swallow everything up.

Wait, did he say "swallow?"

"Winter!"

Winter blinked several times when Solenn yelled his name even though she was just standing right in front of him. "What?"

"Scales…" Solenn said in disbelief, then she pointed at his face. "Your face and your arms are starting to be covered with silver scales… And your hair…" She looked at the top of his head, her face now colorless. "Your hair is as pale as the moon."

Huh?

He automatically looked down at his arms. To say that he was shocked to see that his arms were covered with silver scales would be an understatement. This thing had never happened to him in his first life.

Am I turning into my Moon Serpent form?

His thoughts were cut-off when all of a sudden, he felt a painful thump in his chest. He clutched his chest tight while trying to keep his balance. But in the end, he still fell on the floor while writhing in pain.

Aside from the feeling of his heart getting squeezed tightly, he also felt a burning sensation in his chest.

"Winter!"

"Brother!"

"Lord Winter!"

He had his eyes tight shut but he could tell that aside from Solenn, he was now surrounded by everyone in the room. He could particularly feel his mother's warm touch. Still, the pain in his chest didn't disappear.

"Mommy…" Winter cried softly. "It hurts…"

***

"MOMMY, it hurts…"

Tilly's heart thumped hard against her chest when she heard her baby's cry. Her fatigue vanished and the anger that rose up in her chest fueled her energy back. Winter's face and arms were almost covered by silver scales now. His form as the Moon Serpent had shown up, but it seemed like his body wasn't ready for his transformation yet. And thus, the pain.

Oh, Winter…

Their failure as adults led to the suffering of Winter and Julian now. Although the two had old souls inside their tiny bodies, they would always be her little cinnamon rolls. And she wouldn't let her babies suffer because of their incompetence as grown-ups.

"Luna, Lord Forrester, do whatever you can to ease Winter's pain," Tilly said in a commanding voice that made everyone around her sit properly. Without waiting for anyone's comment, she stood up and looked up. "These guys…"

Kiho, in his form as the Black Serpent, just slapped Wixx, in his Red Phoenix form, with his long and steel-hard tail. His brother was sent flying but he was able to stop before he hit a huge, tall tree behind him.

"Why are they wasting their divine powers like that?" she snarled, then she glared at Ainsworth who stood beside her. "And why didn't you stop your fellow Beast Gods?"

"You're asking too much from me," Ainsworth complained. "Even in the past, only you could stop the Black Serpent and the Red Phoenix from fighting."

She just huffed in frustration.

Then, she looked up at the sky where the two Beast Gods were still fighting aimlessly.

That made her mad. Of course, the argument that they had with Red Phoenix wasn't a small matter. But it wasn't big enough for Kiho and Wixx to kill each other.

And we wouldn't get anywhere if those two idiots don't calm down.

"You feral beasts," Tilly growled in an angry voice. "Kneel!"

And just like that, the Black Serpent and the Red Phoenix both froze in the air.

A few moments later, the two fell down from the sky while transforming back to their human forms. When they were finally back as the normal Kiho and Wixx that they knew, the two knelt in front of her, along with Ainsworth.

The three Beast Gods even had their hanged low from shame, perhaps.

Yes, we should all be ashamed of ourselves.

***

AKU was surprised when all of a sudden, Elis Ripperton was brought down to his knees.

The Blue Dragon was in the middle of standing in front of the wine cellar while choosing a bottle when that happened.

"What happened to you?" Aku asked with a soft laugh while browsing his collection of the best alcoholic drinks in the empire. Kyro requested to have one, and so they went to the cellar to choose the best drink that would suit the Moon God's taste. And Elis Ripperton accompanied him because Kyro would take over his body later. Thus, he wanted to choose the drink himself even though he'd be unconscious once the Moon God entered him anyway. "Is it of old age?"

"The Supreme," Elis Ripperton said. It looked like he couldn't stand even if he was trying hard to do so. "I feel her heavy presence. Wherever she is, she's definitely angry at the Beast Gods. And she's this angry…" He looked up at him with a blank look on his face. "My hunch is right. The Red Phoenix has been freed."

The Blue Dragon told him a while ago that the Red Phoenix might have been freed because he could no longer reach out to Drake, his spirit guardian.

He also couldn't contact the Golden Tiger's spirit guardian called Faline.

"Well, Garnet Nystrom also told us that the one he saw was the real Red Phoenix and not his spirit guardian who often cloned him," he said. In the past, Sentinel would always trick them by pretending to be Winchell Rosenberg. But now, they were certain that the Red Phoenix that the North King saw was the real deal. "We should wait whether the North King's plan would benefit us or not before we make a move."

Elis Ripperton, who finally broke free from the Supreme's influence, stood up while fixing his elegant robe. "All the Beast Gods have finally descended the earth now," he said. "It's time for the Sky God to make a move soon."

"We already did everything we could to make the "immovable" Sky God move," Aku said, then he picked up a bottle from the shelf. "It's time for him to show us where he hid the remains of the Sun God."

***

KIHO was shocked to see Winter covered in silver scales after he came to be.

He was still kneeling before Tilly along with Winchell and Ainsworth, but he was distracted when he heard Winter's soft whimpers. Based on the bluish light coming from Lady Luna and Asher's hands, he could tell that they were trying to ease the pain of his youngest.

But it was clearly not working.

"It hurts…" Winter whimpered softly. "My chest is burning…"

"Kiho," Tilly called him in a pleading voice. It looked like she calmed down after hearing their son's cry. "Can you help our Winter?"

"Of course," Kiho said, then he stood up and immediately walked towards Winter. "You didn't have to ask, Tilly."

***

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