Chapter 1016

"D-D-D-Dad?!... KUK!"

Grey coughed out a mouthful of blood afterward as he stared at the figure who had just unmasked before him.

Brown wavy hair cascaded down his perfect, smooth-looking face.

The hair—a testament to the Dawn’s bloodline. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Piercing yellow eyes that reminded the warrior mage of memories.

Memories of a loving, hardworking man who labored tirelessly to feed his family.

The face and eyes that always softened at Grey whenever he was bullied by his peers.

A mouth that always encouraged him to stand strong against all adversity.

Hands that caressed his head every night just to put him to sleep when he was younger.

Those same hands had just pierced him with a lightning sword?

The shock was just too great to bear as Grey found himself completely unable to formulate any words whatsoever.

For years, he believed that his father had died.

That loss was the very reason he had wanted to end it all after being informed of his demise, and that dark moment was when he initially discovered his hidden potential.

And here the man was back?

Alive as the leader of the organization that took every single thing from him?

... Wait! His father never possessed any magical affinities.

He always thought the man was a cripple, just like Grey himself had been.

So how was this possible? What exactly was going on?

And most especially,

"Ho-How? But y-y-you we-wer..."

"... Thought I was dead?" The man replied with a deep chuckle that seemed to almost shake the earth.

His presence over the entire place was undeniable.

"Die?! Hahaha! Even those blasted gods cannot think of laying their hands on me, so how could I be dead?"

Grey was in such deep shock that, for a moment, he forgot about his hatred for the Otherworlders and simply wanted to resolve his immense confusion.

His lips cracked apart in a stutter.

"Bu-But two-two men h-had come and sai—"

His father lifted a brow with a smirk.

"Two men?"

Then his eyes lit up in fake realization as he snapped his fingers.

Immediately, out of the six figures standing behind him, two of them pulled their masks off their faces.

The moment they did, Grey’s gaze sharpened in undiluted shock.

"You mean these men?" His father questioned as he pointed to the two zodiacs behind his position.

The faces.

They were hauntingly familiar.

There was no way he would forget those visages.

The exact same faces... the very individuals who had claimed they worked alongside his father at the factory.

The same people who had come in and declared his father dead, saying a portal rupture had broken out at the facility and his parent was mauled alive, making his body unretrievable.

These same men....

The more he stared at them, including his father, a volatile mixture of pain, sadness, fury, and loss began bubbling inside him.

The raw emotion caused even the earth to begin trembling as he staggered to his feet in immense physical pain.

"Wh...Why? Why did you do all this? Your damned organization took mum and so many loved ones away from me. How could you do this to your own family?! What was all this for? WHY? TELL ME!" Grey bellowed in deep rage as he finally staggered to his feet.

His hand shot up, grabbing onto the lightning sword protruding out of his chest, and he yanked the blade out with a deep, agonizing groan.

Blood pooled beneath his legs as a gaping hole was revealed in his chest, alongside another wound in his abdomen.

But he pressed his hands against these injuries, trying his absolute best to hold himself from collapsing while awaiting answers from his so-called father.

"Are you even my father? Did you even really birth me?"

"...."

"Of course. I’m your father. I gave birth to you. I married Clara lawfully. I tried my best to steer you clear from trouble and my path, but time and time again, you kept running yourself right into my trajectory. Like an annoying, persistent goat, you kept ramming yourself straight into trouble."

"...."

The still air began howling and moving again as it rushed in between the father and son while they kept glaring at one another.

"To understand this story, let’s backtrack to many, many, many years ago—so long ago that I have even forgotten the exact year. Hah-hah!" Grey’s father laughed loudly.

One of the zodiacs frowned behind his mask at the sudden delay.

"Gustav, what are you doing?"

Grey’s father didn’t look behind him at all as he totally ignored the zodiac like the man didn’t even exist.

"... Once upon a time, there were five naive young adults who had just begun life newly. They were friends, a tight gang of companions in this relatively tame world," Gustav began as he rhythmically tapped against his chin.

"Due to ignorance and childishness, they decided to seek for what was not lost and there they encountered a mysterious book. Lost in a place no soul was supposed to know about, far from human civilization.

Back then, it was just one massive empire. No kingdom nonsense yet. Everybody lived as one. The only thing similar between now and then was discrimination. Then it was discrimination between the poor and rich, while now, it’s discrimination between mages and commoners."

"...."

"... Those five were also poor commoners. No fame. No money. No wealth. Nothing. Just a bunch of brave fools who decided to open the book out of sheer curiosity. There, one of the five... What was his name again?"

Gustav tapped his chin in deep thought for a few seconds until he finally clicked his fingers together.

A deep scowl appeared on his face as the name slithered out from his tongue like a bitter pill that was still being tasted even after so long of taking it.

"Blake..."

Grey’s gaze narrowed in sudden realization.

’Mage Blake... the Celestial mage.’

"... Yeah. So Blake was always knowledgeable about a lot of things. He always loved mystery and especially things that normal humans couldn’t comprehend. He read the book, was thoroughly intrigued, and then told the other four that they should try something out.

He said it was the ultimate solution to all of our problems and that we would receive all we ever wanted: fame, money, wealth, and most especially... power. That was his grand promise."

Gustav paused for a second, watching as Grey was visibly intrigued and obviously listening to his words while staggering back and forth due to lightheadedness from severe blood loss.

"The four others agreed and he created a circle on the ground with strange runes and languages obviously jotted down directly from the book. Afterwards, all five naive young adults sat around the pattern in a ritual of some sorts."

Grey’s mind instantly flashed back to the Emperor’s private meeting room.

He recalled that specific painting with five people seated in a circle as if they were trying to perform a complex ritual.

"... The five poured their blood into the formation and then, boom! It lit up completely. Hah-hah... a huge gateway appeared above the world as the blood we poured into the circle rose up into the air, and soon enough, it finally happened."