Zale’s Point of View:

Felix suddenly clapped his hand to his forehead.

“Ah! What am I thinking, I can bond with Arvid right now! Ne~ Arvid, manifest your physical form.”

I watched in amazement as little boy almost identical to Felix, minus the strange attachments, with black hair tied back neatly into a ponytail and brilliant silver eyes, and dressed in a suit that only butlers would wear, flickered into existence. The little boy frowned at Felix.

“Boss, did you actually forget…...You still haven’t taught me to manifest a fully physical form!!!”

Felix once again slapped his forehead.

“Ah! I totally forgot! Come here, I’ll tweak the spell you’re using right now.”

Arvid stepped forward and I was slightly disturbed as Felix plunged his hand into Arvid’s chest. Arvid’s form flickered slightly, and I realized he was only a projected image. After a few minutes, Felix quickly pulled his hand away.

“There, done!”

Arvid froze for a moment and blinked rapidly, then he fell backwards. Felix frowned.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen….”

Arvid struggled to a sitting position on the ground. He looked rather sheepish.

“Sorry Boss, I’m not used to having to deal with this sense of balance stuff, and I made my hair long like yours, so it ended up pulling me down…..Should I make it shorter?”

Felix grinned at Arvid’s words.

“Ha, sense of balance, eh? I have some training that can help with that~ And don’t make it shorter, remember that twin battle thing we were talking about? You’ll need to be used to long hair.”

I couldn’t help but snort at their conversation, what adorable children…...Eh, wait, why am I acting normally right now, that letter just said Felix is a mysterious all-powerful being! And there was that stuff about a crybaby Fate and other worlds!!?? I moved to grab Felix by his neck, then reconsidered. Instead, I grabbed him carefully by the shoulder and turned him towards me.

“Felix…...WHAT IS GOING ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Felix blinked up at me.

“.....I’m the oldest being in the universe, with an unimaginable amount of power which gets boring pretty quickly so I made a deal with Fate to enter into a cycle of reincarnation. Pretty simple actually, got it?”

I stared at him, flabbergasted.

“NOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Not at ALLL!!!!!!!”

Nononononono, this can’t be true, i-it must be a joke! Ahahaha, that’s right, he must be playing a prank on me, little kids do that all the time! I started to chuckle, my laughter rather high pitched.

“Teheheeheehee, y-you got me good, kid, this is just some elaborate joke, right?”

Felix clicked his tongue in irritation.

“Tch, he’s gotten hysterical, I don’t want to deal with this right now…..Ne~ Fate, since you’re definitely watching right now, I’m going to knock this guy out, deal with him~”

Before I could register Felix’s words, there was a flash of movement and darkness swallowed my vision for the second time that day.

I opened my eyes to find myself in a white and gold pavilion, sitting on the most comfortable chair I had ever sat on. Brilliant green fields of lush grass spread out from the pavilion, peppered with flowers of every color in existence. A small cough came from the side, and I turned to see a gorgeous woman, with long thick hair like spun gold, and blue eyes like sapphires set in a lovely heart-shaped face with delicately tanned skin. She had a long shapely body that was draped in a simple white gown.The woman smiled at me happily, adorable dimples forming in her rosy cheeks.

“I am happy to finally meet you face to face, Zale, you've been one of my favorite characters in this world~ I am Fate”

I blinked, was this a dream? Or was it a continuation of Felix's prank….

Fate giggled delicately.

“No, this is not a dream, nor is it one of Felix's tricks, though I can't blame you for thinking so, that fellow is quite infamous when it comes to mischief….With a longer acquaintance with Felix, I'm sure you'll find it quite as amusing as I do….though not when it's directed towards you...”

For a second, Fate seemed to slump slightly with depression, but it must have been my imagination because by the time the observation entered my mind, she was once again smiling brightly at me. My mind was reeling, she could read my mind!? And she said she was Fate, could she be that Crybaby Fate person from the letter? Fate pouted.

“I Am Not A Crybaby, Life is in charge of enabling family bonds, she like to tease me sometimes….”

….So she Was the person the letter was talking about…...No! Why am I taking this seriously! There's no way she can be real! This had got to be Felix's doing…….It Has To Be!

Fate frowned fiercely.

“I am too real! How rude, to think someone doesn't exist right to their face!”

Perhaps as rude as reading someone else's thoughts without their permission? I became more confident in the fact that none of this was real and decided to finally speak for the first time.

“If you really are Fate, then prove it!”

Fate sighed.

“To have to make a display of power just so some puny powerless mortal will believe me….well, you are one of my favorites, so I'll do it. Hmmm, how to do it though…...”

Fate sat quietly pondering for a few moments, then gave him a considering look.

“I will tell you something only you yourself are supposed to know, something that you discovered long ago and buried deep within yourself, protected by spells no one can break through, not even yourself.”

It was my turn to frown, what was she talking about, what secret have I hidden? Fate smiled sadly at my thoughts.

“Of course you wouldn't know, I said it was sealed by spells even you couldn't break, that means you can't reach the memory, or anything pertaining to it. When you found out about this secret, you were so devastated that you immediately tried to seal it away, seeing your pain, I gave you a helping hand. The spells inside your head are far beyond any level of binding you've managed to create….”

So devastating that I had to seal it? Worry began to rise in my throat, but it was over-powered by curiosity. I stared firmly at Fate.

“Tell me.”

She paused slightly, then shrugged.

“You're probably old enough to handle it now…..The secret you sealed is something every orphan left as a babe on the doorsteps of an orphanage wants to know…..Who your parents were, why they abandoned you, and….if they were still alive. Your parents, who are still living, are…..”

Fate leaned towards me and whispered two names quietly into my ear. I felt something snap in my mind and several memories began to run through my mind. Tears rolled down my face, she was right, I remembered now, that horrible day when I…….Grief and hatred rolled through me, Those haughty people, I would make them pay!!! Fate looked sadly at me.

“Truly a horrible thing for parents to do to their second son….Well, do you believe me now?”

I blinked and the hate-filled and grief-laden haze I had fallen into vanished. That was right, she had been telling the truth...which meant she really Was Fate…….which in turn meant that that adorable child named Felix, who I already felt was something like a cute son to me, was an immortal being with huge power who had reincarnated…...and gone to many others worlds. T-that innocent child was actually an immortal, all-powerful being far older than I…...I felt something in me die, my pride perhaps….

Fate cried out worriedly.

“Ah, no! Don't petrify, Felix will punish me again! Aaaah, pieces are breaking off! D-duct tape! That fixes everything!”

Tears started running down her face, which was turning an adorable shade of pink, completely ruining her first dignified impression…..I couldn't help but smile inwardly, heh, the title Crybaby Fate really suits her….I drifted off into peaceful darkness.

Back to Felix~

Zale's body slumped back onto the couch as I knocked him unconscious with a firm chop to the back of the neck. I turned to Arvid with a grin on my face.

“Now let's make you a member of the family~”

My tail once again served well as a tool to slice both my and Arvid's palms open. I grasped Arvid's hand and felt our blood mix together. There was a familiar flash of power and two letters once again appeared. I didn't bother to read it this time. I held my hand out to the side.

“Ne~ Tail, heal my hand, please….”

My tail didn't respond. Arvid spoke up nervously.

“Um, Boss, it seems to be feeling the letter you got, and I'm pretty sure it can read it because it's starting to get Very spiky…...”

Ah, that's right, she wasn't on the list of family, probably because I consider my tail to still simply be a part of me…...This might be bad….

“Ahaha, I was just about to bond with you next, tail~ I can't believe Life neglected to put you on the list…..but first we should give you a name. ”

Soft fur rubbed happily against my face, phew~ she had put the spikes away…..But I could tell I still wasn't out of the danger zone, time to think of a really good name……

“How about Zoe? It's a sort of sort sounding name, like you….”

My tailing paused in her rubbing, considering my choice, then continued to rub, showing her approval at her new name. A sigh of relief broke past my lips and I held out my still bleeding hand.

“Well then tail..urm...Zoe, I'll need some of your blood…..though now that I think of it, shouldn't we have the same blood? Oh well, please just let this work….”

I felt my tail twist flexibly, presumably cutting herself, then she laid a bleeding section of herself on my palm, allowing our blood to mingle together. Half-surprised, I felt the familiar warmth of a family bond activate, and two letters once again. Opening the letter, I felt through and found Zoe's name.

The psychotically sweet tail named Zoe

…….Life sure had an excellent naming sense……

Luckily Zoe seemed fine with it. I turned to where I felt Arvid watching, still in his physical form.

“Ne~ Call Raina, Aaron, and Adrian over here, I might as well get all of the bonds done that I can do right now...”

“Sure thing, Boss~”

Arvid vanished. A groan came from the couch where Zale lay. Oh? Was Fate's talk already over? I turned around and felt Zale sluggishly move to a sitting position. I placed my hand on my hips and tilted my head to the side.

“Welllllll?”

“………..I…..believe you……..”

Hrm? Was something wrong? Zale seems somewhat dispirited…...Eh, it's probably just shock~

A few minutes of comfortable silence later, there was an excited knock on the door. The weight and speed behind the rapid knocks told me it was Raina. I stepped lightly to the door and opened it with a wide smile on my face. Raina shot inside, her breath slightly harder than usual.

“Haaaa, Felix! Arvid told me you had something interesting for me so I ran here as fast as I could from the opposite side of the school! What is it?”

Ehe, such enthusiasm, as expected of Raina…..

“Ne~ Raina, how would you like to become a part of my family? You'll find something interesting out if you do~”

Raina paused for a long moment, considering.

“Alright! Is the interesting thing new training methods?”

I chuckled at her typical focus on training.

“No, it isn't, but I will be able to provide some more unique training methods~”

Raina grabbed my shoulders.

“What do I need to do!”

I held out my bloody hand and motioned for Raina to do the same.

“Zoe, if you would do the honors...”

Raina's palm soon had a similar cut to mine, and I grasped her hand. Moments later, two letters once again appeared. Raina studied her letter for a moment.

“Hmmm, so you're an all-powerful immortal? That's means you must know a lot of training methods, right?”

“Yep, we haven’t even touched the surface~”

“Should I call you Pops, or Bro?”

…..She sure knew how to adapt fast, I wish Zale was a bit more like her…..

“Eh, Felix is fine, we’re partners in torturous training, there’s no need for formalities~”

Anyways, it would feel kind of strange to have Raina call me Bro or Pops, it doesn’t fit her personality….

There was another knock on the door. Aaron and Adrian, those two always seem to show up together…..

Heh, I wonder what their reaction will be~

Ah, almost forgot~ I am pleased to announce that I now have a proofreader, Cheepers, who will be going through my past chapters and the new ones that come out~