Awakening 'The Devil' Part 1/2

PLEASE READ HERE BEFORE CHAPTER(Begging author noises):

1) This chapter and the next one will contain some dark stuff(torture,death,mind break,slavery) so if you are affected by this kind of stuff please refrain from reading this book.

2) This chapter and the next one will change the MC's and some important OC's character permanently.

3) This arc will be over in 2 or at most 3 chapters. I know some readers probably wish to see action scenes, canon characters and epic power ups, Believe me I want to get there as well :) The action scenes are starting from next chapter onwards. After this arc is over there will be a timeskip which MC grows up and gains strength, he will also learn how to use the abilities he gains in this arc. Next arc will be much longer,action packed and there will be more canon interaction.

4) Thank you really much, if you have read this far :) Please tell me your thoughts or questions via comments, they really motivate me.

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[West Blue, Hillcrest Village,1498]

''P-Pirates are coming'' a man in his 30's screams, alerting the whole village. My brother looks wary as he tells me ''Stay inside, I will go take a look'' ''But-'' ''There are no buts, now be a good boy and wait inside with Grumble'' 'Sigh, even if I'm 6 years old, I am strong enough to handle myself against a teen, I am also much more mature than my age, why doesn't he trust me more?''

A few minutes later my brother came back. '' What did they want brother?'' I ask unable to resist my curiosity. He flashes a smile at me '' Nothing serious~ They were seriously injured and starving so Old Tom decided we should help them out. I agree with him as well, we should help people when we can. Now let's eat up, shall we?'' I nod towards him absentmindly, not aware this will be my last decent meal for a while.

---- 2 Months Later----

' Why are they doing this? After all the help we have done for them, we even nursed them back to life...' This is what I have been thinking for 2 months, every single day. Everthing started a few day after we treated their injuries and feed them. They decided they will live in the forest for a while before they leave again, they built wooden huts and started living there. They demanded us to share our resources with them, which we obliged even if we were dissatisfied. We gave them our hard-earned food for free for a while. But they were not satisfied with this, they decided we should be considered as this village's 'resources' as well.

Everything turned towards worse from than onwards.Woman would be 'invited' to spend a night with them while man would be forced to work as slaves. Elderly and kids that can't work? If they can't even feed themselves how would they be of use for them, they leave them to die if not kill themselves. We wanted to resist but we couldn't even do that, they are 100 people fully equiped with guns,cannons and swords while we are 200 people consist of mostly elderly and children with no weapons. Hillcrest Village is surrounded by 2 giant mountains, sea and the forest from 4 sides. No one in this village can hope to climb that steep mountains and they guard the forest and sea tightly, there has been a few people who tried to escape which ended tragicaly.

I haven't seen grumble for a month too. Pirates don't like wild animals, they see them as a threat for themselves as 'The gods' of this village. So they kill any wild animal that might be of threat to them. That's why we can't meet directly anymore. But I know he is looking out for me. I have been finding dead rabbits in front of my door every week, he is caring for me in his own way. I also found a new 'friend' which is a crow. And I named him... Crow.

My brother is working around 15 hours a day to bring a pitiful amount of food every day. It shatters my heart to see him covered in bruises and dirt, barely able to walk every day. Just like today.

''Hello,little bro~ I'm home!'' he beams at me. I can't help but tear up. How can he still smile like this even when he looks like he is barely alive. I want to work as well to lessen his burden but he never lets me. He tells me a small kid like me can't handle it.

''W-welcome,brother'' I don't want to worry him but I can't help but sob seeing the state he is in.

''What's wrong Ethan, you're not feeling good? You must be hungry~ Here, I brought some food.''

He brings out some bread and rice from his package. The amount is pitiful, barely enough to sustain one person. I grit my teeth in anger. 'He is doing it again'

''Brother you work the hardest, you are also one of the strongest in the village. But... why do you get less and less food everyday?''

''... This much is enough,Ethan. You should be hungry, we can talk after you eat up,oka-''

''That much is not enough! You are barely eating anything.'' I snap at him, already feeling guilty I snapped at my brother that worked hard to bring this food home, but I won't back down.

''Brother... You have been giving your share to others, right?''

''Ethan, these people are all hungry as well, some of them are not in condition to wor-''

''I DON'T CARE ABOUT OTHERS! I ONLY CARE ABOUT YOU.'' I scream at him.

''... Ethan, one day you will understand me. You are still young, now eat you-''

''I refuse to eat anything, unless you eat as well.'' I push aside the food he brought, refusing to touch it and look at him in the eyes challenging him. I know this is immature, but this is the only way I can think of to convince my stubborn brother to eat.

He sighes and takes a small bite from the bread he brought. ''...You are really stubborn,little bro. I don't know if I can deal with you after a few years~''

I grin before starting to eat as well. '' Of course you won't be able to, also don't call me stubborn when you are such a bull!''

Our mood relaxes as we joke around. We continue to eat the meal in silence, before i break it.

''Brother... I hate this... this is not life. We should try to escape. Even if we die it is better than being at their mercy.''

''Don't worry,little brother. We will be free soon~'' He replies in a soothing voice.

''... How are you so sure?'' I question him, doubtful of his optimism.

'' When have I ever lied to you?'' he answers back. I have no answer to that as he never did.

----2 Weeks Later----

I am 7 years old now, but more importantly I started to work as well! Well, nothing serious but I managed to convince my brother to help him with some transport work. It took a while since he is so stubborn, but I managed to convince him by being even more stubborn! We were walking towards 'the god's hut' when we heard a commotion and stopped in our tracks.

''P-Please at least give us some food... only for today, I beg you! I can't feed me and my daughter at the same time, show some mercy.''

We saw an old man pleading 2 pirates, bowing 180° on the floor. He is Old Tom, one of the elderly in the village, he was the one to propose helping the pirates. Behind him is a little girl around 6 years old with pink hair and an adorable face. She is the adopted daughter of Old Tom, her name is Callisto.

''Feed you!? You damn geezer, your purpose is to feed us if you can't even do that what is the use of you?'' Mocks the pirate with a brown hat.

''Please, I will work harder... At least give me some food so I can feed my daughter.''

There is a silence that lasts for a few seconds, and then

'Bang! Bang!' The pirate pulls the trigger twice with a disgusted expression.

''Still lying to me... there is no way, this old shit can get any work done.'' He kicks the corpse and looks towards Callisto whose whole body is shaking while she uncontrollably sobs. The pirate looks at Callisto and contemplates:

''Hmm...A girl around 6 years old, can't even feed herself much less get some work done.''

The pirate beside him interjects with a lustful smile:

''Well, being a girl has It's own advantages... She might be a good 'asset' after a few years.''

I see my brother digging his nails into his palm. He is furious.

The pirate with the hat continues:

''Even so we can't look after an annoying brat. Someone feed her, if no one is willing I will just kill this brat.''

He looks at townfolk after this sentence. A few seconds pass by as people look down in shame or just ignore the question. It is obvious from their expression that none of them is willing to take her in. They can barely survive after all, no one is stupid enough to take in a nuisance when they can't even feed themse-

''I will look after her, please let me be her guardian.'' A determined voice answers the pirate.

'As expected of my brother, when everyone else is ignoring, there is not even a shred of hesitation as he saves yet another person.' I am proud of him even while knowing that we will have to work even harder than now. The pirate nods towards my brother and speaks:

''I don't want this kind of nonsense from you anymore. If you can't do your jobs properly then you don't need to be alive. Now get back to your jobs!''

The crowd dissolves and we walk towards our house with Callisto in my brother's arms.

---- 3 Weeks Later----

3 weeks has passed since big brother took Callisto in. Callisto grew close to us and now sees both of us as her brothers. She is especially close with big brother since he was the one who saved her from death. It is midnight now and I can't sleep at all. I have a bad feeling about today, big brother has been acting more and more strange for last 2 weeks. It is not noticable if you don't know him close enough, but I can pick up the details. I think about all these and fail to sleep again. ''Good night, little bro~ tomorrow will be a great day, I promise.'' that's what he said before shoving me to the bed. No... there is something strange, I can feel it.

I decide to stand up and check up on Callisto and big bro, since I can't sleep. Callisto is sleeping well. I check my brothers room and see that he is in his bed. I am not relieved though as I walk towards him in darkness. ''Brother?'' I ask but there is no answer. I check the bed and realise he filled the bed with his pillow. 'Shit, where can he be gone at this hour' ''Brother?'' ı check the other rooms but there is no answer. '' Crow wake up'' ''...hmmm'' '' WAKE UP'' ''ah... what's wrong''

'' Big brother is gone. You need to help me find him'' ' There is something wrong, if he wanted to take a fresh air why did he try to trick me with a pillow?'

We get out of the house to search for him. We go different directions to cover more area. After 10 minutes I see Crow flying towards me.

''... I found some clues, It seems he entered the forest''

'He's trying to escape... There can't be another reason to go forest this late, that area is restricted by pirates. Why? Why without me?'

''Crow lead the way, I need to catch up to big brother. I need to speak with him.''

I follow Crow and we are soon in the restricted area as well. Our walk comes to stop as I hear a heartwrenching scream. 'T-this voice, It can't be.' I stop following crow and walk towards the voice since this voice is way too familiar. The screams become more and more clear as I walk towards the voice. 'No, this is imposible.... It is not possible...' I am running towards the voice by now. I came to a stop as I arrived near a wooden hut, the voice is coming from inside. I walk towards the window and see a sight that breaks me.