Decadon || The Hidden Room

"Welcome back."

Darius stood at the entrance of the family estate as he welcomed his son.

"Thank you, father." Asher bowed before him, his eyes filled with emotion.

"Get over here."

Darius grinned as he grabbed Asher and hugged him tightly.

In this world, Asher was the most precious thing to him alongside his wife, but after that incident about 11 years ago, Asher was all that he had left.

Asher didn't resist his father even though the pride of an ex-Celestial Emperor would find this awkward.

The Arnhaunt family threw a banquet marking the return of their youngest generation descendants, Asher and Dylan. With Darius presiding over the event, there were no out-of-the-ordinary developments throughout the feast, and it eventually came to a close late in the night, at around 10 pm.

Asher originally wanted to have a chat with his father, but the old man told him to have a good night's rest and left him right after. It was only after asking a few of his maids and Ol' Fang did Asher realize that the situation by the border was a lot more serious than he thought. Furthermore, it seemed to have intensified starting a few days ago. It was to the point that both Darius and Elijah needed to be present as much as possible. It was only because their two sons were returning from the academy did they make an exception. Nonetheless, their presence was still needed, so they had to return as soon as possible.

Asher didn't go to bed as one would expect. Instead, he headed towards the deeper part of the main mansion of the family. When he was almost at the other end of the mansion, Asher turned and took a turn into a lonely dark corridor. Walking all the way to the end, he encountered a fully-armoured man who stood still in front of the door at the end of the corridor. Even when he saw Asher coming, he remained frozen. If Asher didn't know any better, he might have mistaken the man for a statue.

"Halt."

A cold voice bellowed when Asher was within a 25 feet distance.

"State your purpose or face damnation."

The words of the armoured man were very shocking, and it would even cause a fuss if they were heard outside. In the Arnhaunt estate, it was startling to see someone stop Asher, much less threaten him, after all, this was his home. Nonetheless, Asher didn't find this insulting or strange but simply complied.

"I'm Asher, son of Darius and grandson of the war god, Leuven. I desire to cross this path. This is my token."

Asher took out a circular object that looked like a coin half the size of a palm and raised it at the man from his spot.

"Verified."

The armoured one replied with one word, but if one listened carefully, the coldness within his voice was less than before. With Asher having proven his identity, the guard didn't need to be so cautious.

Withdrawing his token, Asher continued his way into the corridor. At some point in time, the guard, who originally stood at the centre of the path, had cleared the way and was now by the side. It happened so abruptly that Asher didn't notice it, even with his immense psyche. There was only one explanation for such; the strength of the guard left a large gap with Asher's, terrifyingly far ahead. Asher estimated him to be at least a sixth stage Guardian if not a seventh stage. This was the same strength as a top-tier count or even a marquis, but in this estate, he served as the guard of this inconspicuous corridor.

From what Asher recalled of his father's explanation the first time he was here, the man was part of a secret personal guard group of his father known as the 'Decadon'. As the name implied, they were only ten persons in this unit, but every one of them was strong enough to own a fief of theirs. Despite that, they were all willing to serve as personal guards to Darius. From this, one could see the charisma of the duke as well as his leadership qualities. Every member of the Decadon was raised and trained by both Darius and Ol' Fang, with their loyalty tied not to the family but to Darius. To develop this corps, Darius had spent an astonishing amount of resources over the period of 20 years. From this, one could see the difficulty and cost of training such a unit. It was for this reason that their numbers were little, but even at that, their power was astonishing.

Ignoring the soldier, Asher continued till he reached the door. Once he was there, he hesitated a bit as he took in a deep breath. After what felt like an eternity, he finally turned the lock and opened the door, revealing the other side.

Inside the room was a bed lined up with various medical equipment all powered by a special mana generator on one end of the room. On the bed was a young-looking lady with black hair who seemed to be in a deep slumber. A closer look at her face would spot similarities between it and Asher's.

"It's been a while, mother."

Asher spoke up, although he knew that the woman on the bed could not hear him.

Walking in, Asher approached the woman and stared at her face emotionally. As he saw the peaceful look on her face and coupled it with the sight of the medical equipment, a drop of tear fell from his eye. That seemed to be the signal to begin as Asher suddenly broke down on the spot and bawled his eyes out.

Ever since he reincarnated, Asher had been experiencing a life far different from what he previously had. He was no longer an orphan and had a father who cared for him. Sadly, Asher's mother had fallen ill sometime after she gave birth to him. The Chaos-Origin body was a beyond heaven-defying body that was unaccepted by the natural laws of the world. As long as the owner could grow to maturity, they would possess the ability to make the ocean the sky and the sky the ocean. For such a body to come into existence was not an easy task, and most of the difficulty was borne by the one who birthed the child. If not for the resources in the Arnhaunt family, she would have died within the first week after her delivery. For this reason, Asher would sometimes blame himself for her situation.

While he never had the opportunity to relate with his mother as he grew up, Asher was still able to grow with her love. It should be recalled that when he was born, Asher's soul was already awake and could take in the happenings around him. It was during this time that he got to know a bit about his mother and experience her love for him. Although this period was really short, lasting only a few months, it was still Asher's most precious time in this world because he finally got to experience what he desired dearly in his last life, his parents' love.

Asher knelt beside her bed, grasped her hand and whispered into her ears.

'I will wake you up one day, mother. I will. I promise.'