-Hello. Here is detective Carter. Am I speaking with Mr. Laith Arslan?

"Yes, I am Laith Arslan. What is it that I can help you with, detective?”

Hearing that the one to call me was a detective, I became quite nervous. Perhaps… no… it can’t be…

They didn’t hear about me hacking into some social media platforms, right?

-I need you to sit down and listen to me carefully.

After a short pause and me sitting down, the detective continued with his speech. Talking with a calming voice, the detective started to talk to me, making me only squint my eyes. Trying to calm the other person down first meant they were talking about something bad. No! Please, not my horrible past! I’m behind that already!

-Today at 3.48 PM, a car crash happened around the outskirts of London. 2 of the supposedly people in those cars seem to be your parents, Aziz and Aylin Arslan. We have yet to find anything about them but it is clear that they were involved in this car accident. Neither body nor trace has been found so they'll be reported missing for the time being. I hope that we'll find them as soon as possible and I'd like to keep you updated on the case about your parents. If you could cooperate with us if you hear anything about your parents like if you get any news about them then let us know as soon as possible.

A long silence came. My heart beat abruptly stopped. It didn't want to move. Mum and Dad missing? Why? How? Why now when I wasn't even strong enough to protect myself, not to mention find my parents. Why? Why?! WHY?!

I wanted to cry out loud this instant but I had to stay composed. Just for a moment…

" I-I see … Thanks f-for l-letting me k-know. I'll i-inform you as f-fast as I can when I-I know s-something."

-thank you for your cooperation… and I'm sorry. I hope I’ll call again with good news.

BEEP

The old man looked at me, his disciple, with a worried look on his face. He heard what the detective and his disciple talked about and he could see his disciple visibly shaken. But who could blame him. For someone that doesn't have anyone other than his one friend, His parents were all he had.

There was no substitute for them. Neither Felix, Gina or even the old man who he lived with for 266 days now.

I remembered every moment of my life with them. When I got my first computer and dad made me solve a puzzle every time to use that damn thing. When mum taught me how to cook and my first food made dad throw up. When mum rushed to school when she heard that I got sick, creating trouble for the company she worked at when she was supposed to meet up with her bosses yet didn’t even think about notifying them. HELL! Even the torture that dad called precious lessons for the future, making me study math and physics like a madman!

“*sob* … ughuk-*sob*...”

Every moment rushed through my mind, making me cry involuntarily. My face was ugly and warm while having lots of tears and snot leaving my body. I…

I never blamed them for being away lately since they worked hard to make my life a living heaven and they already did . I was always happy with just that. But…

‘I wish I could have spent more time wit-... !?’

My thoughts stopped right before the regret of not spending enough time with them. Wasn't this exactly what I wanted to avoid? Wasn't this the true feeling I never wanted to experience after my first death experience? Wasn't this what I worked so hard for? Then what were these more than 200 days of torture then?

They amounted to nothing! I’m still helpless! I still can’t do anything!

Not in the dream world! Not in the real world!

My thoughts turned dark. I felt nothingness creep up in my heart as I slowly fell to the ground, almost falling when a warm hand touched my chest. This touch would usually scare me more but now… it felt so reassuring… The old man held me up like I was a broken puppet but I didn't care.

I used enough of my spare energy and looked at this old man dead in the eye. I had only one question. This old fucker wasn’t his usual self for a couple of days and only reacted natural when he was pissed but that would end as fast as it came. So I asked him one question.

"You already knew , didn't you?"

"About what?"

"About my parents."

"…yea…"

"I see…"

I didn’t ask stupid question’s like ‘why didn’t you tell me?’ ‘how could you know that yet hide it from me?’ and so on. Who wants to hear about their parents missing. I can understand that the old man wanted to ‘spare me’ from this but…

The old man stayed silent all this time while I was thinking to myself. He looked at me with sadness. My head hung down , my eyes slowly turning dangerously empty. But my chest got hotter and hotter. I didn’t care if it was stupid now! I need any kind of answer.

"Why didn't you tell me! WHY!"

"Because I had my reasons."

"My reasons my ass! If you really had some reasons, THEN FUCKING TELL ME! TELL ME WHY YOU COULDN’T EXPLAIN TO ME THAT MY PARENTS VANISHED!"

I started thrashing around like a child whose toy got broken. I was strong but not enough to hurt the old man in any way but did I care? No. I do not. I just want to show him that I am fucking pissed. So what if i can’t beat him up now, that still won’t make me hold back on my actions.

"TELL ME FUCKING WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME MY PARENTS VANISHED JUST LIKE THAT."

"...Because you weren't ready yet."

"READY FOR WHAT? TO ACCEPT THIS? AM I READY NOW? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?! THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE YOUR REASON?"

"Okay then here is a BETTER ONE! YOU WEREN'T BECAUSE IF YOU HEARD IT FROM ME YOU'D BE IN A SITUATION WHERE I HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO KILL YOU."

Akira grabbed me by the hem of my shirt when he started to shout as well. I can see… frustration in his eyes. self - disappointment even… making me look deep into his eyes, my mind started to sober up slightly. I was already on the brink of mental breakdown and now I heard what?

"Ha…Haa… What?"

My breathing staggered yet slowed down as well. My eyes regained their slight colour while my chest cooled down a little.

"...If you had heard it before, you'd have had too much anger and sadness in yourself… I wasn’t sure if you could handle it by then so I didn’t tell you… cause if you didn’t, you mide have awakened that way."

"Then why didn't you!? Wasn't that our goal from the beginning?"

"There is a reason why I never wanted you to awaken in that way and I told you this! People that awakened out of hatred and anger have always ended up in the hands of demons, turning themselves into those demons. You'd be no different but your talent is enough to even scare me to death. Do you get it? If you grew as a demon then we would definitely meet on the battlefield and taking you down with your grown potential would be a challenge even for me by then. So if it ever came to this then I had to kill you before you reach that far. So that no one else will be hurt."

I couldn't believe his ears. There were multiple things I had to process now and my mind kept on spinning. The disappearance of my parents, the fact that this old man hid it from me, the fact that I could have become evil and died early on by my own master with a mistake and that this old man was even ready to kill me after spending so much time together.

But this moment of pause gave me time to calm down more. I instinctively knew that throwing a tantrum won't bring my parents back. As tears slowly formed again on the ends of my eyes, I was on a crossroad. Not knowing which path is what and what choices I’d have to make. My drive to get stronger to never feel hopeless was crushed by a mere accident.

"What… Am I supposed… To do ?"

"Right now. You can't do anything."

"What…do you mean?"

"You are too weak. Even the agents from the association which I made protect your family from supernatural occurrences didn't find a thing and those guys are specialists in tracking down people. What is an 18 year old brat who didn't even awaken going to do."

"So… Nothing…hahaha… This is so frustrating"

A dry laugh. I don’t feel like laughing but I did. This started to be funny to me. Was my life a joke? Getting bullied, my best friend getting dragged down because of me and now my parents vanish.

"Yes, you can do absolutely nothing. You are weak. To the point that everyone in the supernatural world can clean the floor with you easily. You may have grown for a normal person, but for us, you didn’t even take a decent step."

'I'm sorry kid but this is the best shot I've got to provoke you. I believe in you know so give me a good reaction. Show me your determination hasn’t been lost yet!'

The old man was right . With me being weak compared to those specialists, there was absolutely nothing I could do.

This influenced me more than ever. The same words from the old man I heard every day for the past 200 days or so. I started to remember some stuff. The words of mockery when the bullies made fun of my weak body, the words of hatred when people looked at me like I was the pest. And finally the words of my master stating the obvious.

I am weak. In any way. But to get stronger, I had to step up. Before I could even get stronger, I had to become stronger mentally. I was always ready to take a step, yet I never did. But not anymore!

step

I finally took that real step forward.

"I'm not weak…"

step

"Believe what you want but you'd be easily dealt with."

step

The old man made the hut disappear with a flick of his wrist. I don’t know why but I felt something inside of me that wanted to go wild. A tremor that wanted to prove itself

'This boy's will is starting to leak out of the body … And THIS…THIS QUALITY OF WILL!"

The old man couldn’t explain it but the quality of Will that leaked out of my body was too much for someone that was awakening. Not even the prodigies of prestigious families had such quality. And this boy with no external help had this quality? The old man gulped down his saliva when he thought about the possibilities this boy could reach.

step

I was in front of the old man, looking up at him with my eyes blazing with an unfound determination. I just felt like standing my ground now. If I don't, I will be stuck here forever. And unbeknownst to me, my eyes were not only filled with the light of determination but also with a slight golden light escaping my pupils. The same as on that day.

"I … Said…. I'M…NOT… WEAK!"

BOOM

The ground quaked. No. it slightly broke as I shot towards the old man with strength I didn’t think I had in me. This strength! No. This energy! It felt like I had this always with me but only sleeping. Like a dragon inside his cave. Sleeping over his treasure in peace.

Until it got provoked and was now about to run wild.

‘It hurts! Why the hell does this hurt so much?!’

I couldn’t explain what exactly is happening to my body at this moment but I didn’t care. I had something more important to do. Cause I can not miss this chance! Ever!

I was in front of the old man now. It felt like two seconds to me but I knew it was only for a moment. And for the old man, this was definitely longer than minutes. My fist clenched and my body on it’s toes.

I punched forward. The regular punch I would have done while training. But this wasn’t it anymore. Because this punch held all my determination in it! And with this determination I’ll show you that I’m not weak!

I will show you that I will become stronger! So strong that nothing like this will get out of my control again. I will live my life and nothing will be in the way!

‘This boy… this strength is thanks to his quality Will. if he can develop himself like that a bit faster than we would have another monster in human clothes like me or Akiko! Then show me what you can do, Laith Arslan!’

My punch was about to hit the old man’s face when he disappeared, just like on the first day they met, and reappeared about five metres away. With a provocative smirk on his face, the old man looked at me like he was making fun of me. You crazy old man! Now you are mocking my determination? Fine! I’ll show you!

“What is it? Can’t handle the truth now, boy? Or don’t tell me you want to find an excuse to die in a ditch? That would be veeeery~ disappointing.”

“HA! Just try me! But I will show you!”

Taking a deep breath and focusing all of my sense on this person in front of me. On this opponent in front of me, I focused as hard as I could.

“I’ll show you all of my determination! And with that I’ll prove myself!”

The ends of my mouth started to lift itself until a smile grew disproportionately. I can’t wait till I can show you that my determination isn’t weak like before! I’ll become stronger!

“Hahahaha! Then prove it, boy! Prove to me the amount of determination you can muster and fight me!”

Alright! I will show you. No. I’ll show the whole world that I won’t back off any more.

Because this is the birth of a madman trained by an even more terrifying madman.