Chapter 17 : Deep Talk

The golden portal that appeared near Van shone brightly and radiated its own grandeur.

Two chains extended from the portal and bound Oliver's arms.

*CLANG

Oliver, with his hands bound, immediately stopped moving and hung in the air.

He was powerless and unable to move because he was tightly bound by Van's golden chains.

"Tch." Oliver muttered irritably because he couldn't move his arms.

Even though he exerted all his strength, the golden chains binding him did not weaken.

"[Enkidu]." Van muttered.

The golden chains binding Oliver finally loosened. Oliver, hanging in the air, eventually fell to the ground.

Fortunately, Van quickly grabbed the collar of Oliver's shirt.

However, Van threw Oliver aside as if discarding a sack of trash.

"Eh." Oliver muttered, confused, as Van tossed him away.

"Olivia, watch over your brother." Van said as he continued walking forward without looking back.

"Okay, brother."

A girl's voice, incredibly beautiful and surpassing that of any singer, echoed down the corridor.

Next to Oliver, a figure appeared out of thin air.

At the age of 6, Olivia looked like a princess who had stepped out of a fairy tale.

Her aura of nobility, grace, and luxury could not be hidden.

"WOA!" Oliver shouted in surprise at Olivia's sudden appearance.

"What is it?" Olivia asked, her gaze cold, as though she wanted to kill Oliver.

Seeing Olivia's cold stare, Oliver shuddered in fear without realizing it.

"Nothing." Oliver said, slumping limply to the floor.

"You keep challenging brother. Aren't you tired?" Olivia asked while tapping her forehead, looking slightly dizzy.

"Of course not. I will definitely take my revenge on him." Oliver said, clenching his fists.

His face was gloomy, but his eyes burned with the fire of vengeance. Oliver would never forget the training he endured with his brother for the past 5 years.

On the first day, Van immediately threw him into a river with a very strong current.

He was swept away, nearly drowned, and almost died.

He still remembered when he was exhausted, sinking to the bottom, and seeing the Grim Reaper approaching him, pitying him for dying so young. Fortunately, that damn brother of his was still conscious and saved him.

However, he had to lie in bed for three days to recover.

"This is to train you."

That was what his damn brother said when he visited him.

Aside from the brutal training on the first day, Oliver had also experienced other cruel and inhumane training.

Every day felt like hell to Oliver.

"Do whatever you want. Don't come to me if you lose to brother. I'll be the one burdened with healing your wounds." Olivia said threateningly to Oliver.

"What's the difference between you and me? We're the same in brother's eyes. You'll probably need me too if you get involved with him." Oliver retorted.

"Hah?! What do you mean?!" Olivia asked, her voice rising an octave.

"Do you not remember when you were beaten badly by [Frankenstein]? Do you know who helped you?" Oliver asked, a sly smile on his face.

At the mention of Oliver's question, Olivia suddenly shivered in fear, as if thinking of something terrible.

"SHUT UP!" Olivia yelled, pointing at Oliver, her body trembling in fear.

For Olivia, Van was a nightmare, a problem, a disaster, misfortune, and trauma.

Van, who was an advocate of gender equality, treated both men and women equally.

When their mother was busy with work outside, Van was entrusted with training Olivia.

However, Van's training for Olivia was clearly different.

Van focused on [101 Shadows] and physical training, while Olivia focused on magic training.

Out of confusion, Van trained Olivia in his own way.

Van activated [101 Shadows] and summoned [Frankenstein].

Van asked Olivia to fight [Frankenstein] with all her power.

However, Van forgot that Olivia was not even three years old at the time.

One could imagine how pitiful it was for a child who wasn't even three years old to have to fight a huge [Frankenstein].

Olivia, powerless, could only keep attacking [Frankenstein] with fireballs.

Unfortunately, Olivia's attacks had no effect on [Frankenstein].

With a single simple strike, Olivia was defeated by [Frankenstein].

Since then, undead creatures, zombies, and similar beings became a deep trauma for Olivia. Van, in particular, was the peak of her trauma.

Both Oliver and Olivia stood still in the corridor, thinking about Van's cruelty toward them.

"Let's train outside again." Oliver said, trying to lighten the mood.

After seeing how easily Van defeated him, Oliver was even more motivated to train and become stronger.

"Yeah." Olivia replied.

The two of them eventually went together to the yard to train.

Unbeknownst to them, a pair of black and white crows were watching them from above.

Seeing the two children leave, the crows transformed into shadows and darted off into the distance.

The pair of crows, now shadows, finally merged back into Van's shadow.

Van closed his eyes briefly to process the information he received from [Huginn & Muninn].

"Keep it up." Van murmured with a flat face, but his voice was filled with pride.

"What's going on, Master?" Arthur asked curiously.

"Nothing." Van replied flatly.

"It seems like Master is hiding something again." Arthur said with a wide grin.

"Mind your own business." Van said, quickening his pace.

Seeing his Master speed up, Arthur could only smile faintly and also increased his pace.

The two of them walked quickly toward the library. On the way, they accidentally ran into Van's father, William Black.

"Hello, Father." Van greeted calmly and firmly.

"Just the person I wanted to talk to." William said.

"About what?" Van asked, confusion in his voice.

"Come with me." William said, briefly glancing at Arthur.

Seeing the direction of William's gaze, Van realized something and said to Arthur, "Just stay with the kids."

"Yes, Master." Arthur replied and turned back to leave.

Arthur clearly understood the meaning behind William's glance.

He simply wanted to have a private conversation with Van, without anyone else overhearing.

Watching Arthur leave, William then walked toward the back, with Van following quietly behind.

'This direction is definitely towards Father's study.' Van thought as he followed his father calmly.

When they arrived at William's study, Van immediately sat down on the sofa, while William locked the door and joined Van.

"What's going on, Father?" Van asked.

"You know about the history of World War I, II, and III, right?" William asked calmly.

"Yes." Van answered.

Of course, Van knew about them because he was the one who created the stories of these wars.

World War I was the war that happened 1,000 years ago between the whole world vs [Demon King Gehenna] and the Demon race.

This war was the fastest war in history, lasting only a week and taking place in one location, but it was the most difficult because of the immense power of [Demon King Gehenna].

World War II was the war that occurred 500 years ago between the entire world vs the Demon race. At that time, the Demon race wanted to resurrect [Demon King Gehenna].

World War III was the war that happened 100 years ago where the entire world fought against each other. World War III was the largest war ever.

At that time, battles and bloodshed occurred everywhere. Even sleeping was risky as one could be killed.

"So...."