Arc Stratford

Arc Stratford, since young, was very jealous of his elder brother.

His father's attention was all over him. The butler and the maids all love him.

Arc Stratford was not ignored. However, his childish and overwhelming pride got into him. He didn't like his elder brother, Ren Stratford.

He wanted to beat him.

He wanted to destroy his pride.

He wanted to isolate him.

He wanted their father to disown him.

Everything he had, he wanted to take it all.

The affection, the respect, the love, and etc... he was greedy to have it all.

A cliche that would only happen to protagonists of a story, happened to him.

In an old basement. He found a book. He was aware that his hair was red and was supposedly going to be a genius, like how the ancestors wrote in the book.

The book he found in the basement was the one that helped him unlock his talent that lies dormant in his blood. It was supposedly going to activate a few more years later, but because of the book it was instantly activated.

Not only does it unlock his talent. It also gave him a lot of knowledge regarding swordsmanship.

This was how he grew confident and arrogant. To not let his father be suspicious, he was smart enough to show his strength step by step.

He was patient enough to let his elder brother be anxious of his strength.

"I will take you down soon."

"I will surpass you."

"Father won't love you anymore."

He continued to provoke his elder brother day by day.

Forcing 'Ren Stratford', his elder brother to practice without rest and as he expected there was a lot of backlash. ' Ren Stratford's ' strength became stagnant.

How was he so smart? For a child, thinking that far was impossible. It was because he has a master with him.

When he unlocked his talent and was strolling around the city. A mysterious old man with incredible strength noticed his talent and recruited him as his apprentice.

He of course accepted it without any problems. He was just a child not capable of being suspicious of the mysterious old man.

The old man taught him a lot. It was even the old man who taught him how to deal with his elder brother.

If he wanted his elder brother to be broken without any possibility of recovering. He needed to break his mind first, that was the advice of the old man. As a child he felt that it was very cruel, however thinking that his elder brother will suffer, filled him with delight.

...

"Tonight. Go to the forest outside, you hear me?" Arc Stratford said arrogantly. He was confident that Ren still was scared of him and would follow his words.

In this past year, he didn't have a lot of time to deal and finish Ren to the point of no return because his master kept on teaching him. He also believed that Ren was always hiding on his room as he can't see him, except in the dining table.

Which is why he let it go and didn't continue any further. His master told and he himself felt like the idea was very good. The idea was to give Ren a false sense of hope, just to actually take it back again.

However, this all changed when he found out he was missing. After digging a little bit he found out that Ren was not actually hiding in his room all year round, but is instead spending his time with his stepmother, Claire.

And just yesterday, both of them were out of the mansion. He was filled with anger after receiving this news.

Why? He loved his mother, and the love can even be described as fanatical love.

When almost all of the attention was on Ren, Claire still noticed and take care of him. It was only Claire that he felt that he was loved, he felt that he was needed.

Claire treated him like that because she didn't want to be partial to the two of them. So she treated them equally.

After all, she was now the mother. A mother has to give love to her son.

He did everything just to let Claire's attention on him increase.

Every time Claire was by his side, he was really comfortable.

He finally noticed that a year ago. Claire's attention on him disappeared each day, until he couldn't even see her anymore, except when they were eating at the dining table.

Knowing what Ren was up to, it was finally added up. Claire became like that because of his elder brother, Claire's affection and attention towards him was stolen.

His brother stole something from him again. Even though he was already close to breaking, he even had the time to do it again. What's more, it was even the attention of his most lovable mother.

Arc Stratford couldn't take it. Anger was rising in every part of his body. If it's possible, he wanted to kill him.

A year lost. The time he could spend with his mother within that interval was innumerable.

Yet, all because of him, his elder brother, Ren Stratford. All because of him those times were wasted.

It even made him depressed and neglected his training, resulting for his master scolding him.

He hates Ren to the very core. He can't stand his existence.

It was better if he was gone.

He called him out to the forest to end everything. As much as he would like to he can't kill him because there will be a lot of complications.

That's why he will only make him lose his mind to the point of becoming insane.

...

Arc Stratford left after leaving those words behind.

Ren was silent all this time but a grin was plastered on his face.

"What do you want to do? Kill him? If so, you don't need to bother staining your hands with that filth's blood..." Freya appeared by his side, full of murderous aura. He guessed that for him, she will even dare to kill a child.

How surprising but he loved it.

"Arrogant kids like him. I really hate it. It's a bit low for me to go against him. But, sigh. Maybe destroying his pride will be entertaining.

I know everything about him. I will cripple his master, take his mother for myself, and destroy his talent. I wonder how will he react?... Will he cry? Will he be overwhelmed with madness? Despair?... I can't wait.

In the end, he doesn't have the strength to back up his arrogance.