Chapter 2

Outside the estate gate, cold wind mixed with the dampness of a coming apocalypse hit my face.

I walked ahead and could feel the gaze at my back.

In Elyssia’s azure eyes, curiosity and pity swirled. She couldn’t understand how human blood kin could be this vicious.

“Don’t look at me like that.” I didn’t turn.

“But your parents…” Her voice was as thin as glass.

“The past doesn’t matter.” I cut her off and raised the faintly warm holy mark on my hand. “I only look forward.”

At those words, Elyssia stopped short.

She drew a deep breath, her expression turning solemn. “My contractor.”

She said the words with weight, an angel’s vow.

“Since you chose me, I must tell you the truth.” She hurried to stand in front of me, long hair moving in the wind. “I have sanctuaries in three human cities, but they can’t withstand the real disaster.”

She hesitated, anxiety showing. “The safest place is a sky island I built on the Cloud-Ruins. But it’s too high. The air is thin. For fragile humans, living there is difficult.”

“A sky island in the Cloud-Ruins?” My eyes lit.

Scenes from my last life flashed back.

The flood devoured every surface city. To protect those three, Elyssia was forced to stay among the ruins and burn out her last divine power.

Her three pairs of radiant wings rotted into ash, and my brother Leo kicked her into the flood.

This time, she would not stay on the ground.

“We go to the sky island.” I grabbed her wrist without hesitation.

Elyssia froze, confusion flashing, then joy drowning it. “You really will? I promise I’ll maintain a breathing barrier with holy light.”

“Deal.” I gave a cold smile and looked back toward the estate. “But first, I’m taking back what’s mine.”

When I returned, the gate was shut tight.

I swiped my access card. The lock panel was sealed by a reinforced holy-light lock, blocking the interior core.

Through the special glass, I could see shadows moving inside. They were playing dead.

These idiots really thought a door could stop me.

Rage detonated in my chest. I stepped back half a pace and drove my boot into the lock panel.

A heavy crash.

A shrill alarm split the air. Sparks erupted. The whole panel shattered under my kick.

The oak door groaned and burst open.

“Link, are you insane?” my mother shrieked, springing off the sofa and stabbing a finger at me. “You violent bastard. Smashing your own family’s door.”

“It was just a joke.” My father appeared at the stairs, trying to smooth it over with his usual fake tone. “Do you have to go this far?”

I didn’t even look at them.

The violence hammering my skull drove me down the hallway toward the cramped storage room at the end.

“Stop him. Don’t let him into that room.” My father’s mask tore off. Panic surfaced.

My mother lunged like a mad dog, clawing at my arm.

“Get off.” I threw her into the wall and kicked the storage-room door open.

What I saw made my blood freeze.

Leo sat sprawled on the moldy cot, a tactical dagger in hand.

Under his feet were my scattered belongings, a worn headlamp, a battered journal, all stomped into filth.

But what turned my eyes red was the brass pocket watch in his hand, already scratched beyond recognition.

It was the only relic my grandfather left me on his deathbed.

“You want to die.”

The last thread of restraint snapped. I lunged like a beast and grabbed Leo by the collar of his expensive silk shirt, lifting him off the ground.

“Let me go. You trash.” Leo screamed, crying in fear, yet still stubborn to the end.

He waved the dagger, face twisted. “Why did that old man leave the watch to you? Everything in this house, even that piece of junk, is mine.”

“Link. Put your brother down.” My parents charged into the corridor, tearing at my arms.

My mother’s nails dug into my flesh, carving bloody scratches.

“Your brother is weak. Can’t you give him this? It’s just a broken watch.” My father howled.

Give?

Last life I gave them food, gave them survival, even gave them my life. To hell with endurance.

I released Leo’s collar. Before he could react, I swung my arm in a full arc.

Two loud slaps cracked across his precious face.

The force sent him flying into the corner. Blood foamed at the corner of his mouth.

“You dared hit my son.” My father roared, snatched a metal crowbar by the door, and swung it down at the back of my head.

At that split second.

White light burst, flooding the storage room.

Elyssia appeared behind me. Her three pairs of huge holy wings spread wide, forming an impassable barrier.

The crowbar struck the holy wings and was thrown from his hand.

My father stumbled back and collapsed onto the floor, face full of terror and shaking at the divine pressure.

“You like destroying my things?” I looked down at Leo, shivering in the corner.

I turned and kicked over the antique knight armor in the hallway.

Then I picked up the crowbar and marched into the living room.

Crash. The crystal chandelier shattered.

Smash. The expensive liquor cabinet exploded, amber liquor flooding the floor.

Rage from two lifetimes became pure destruction. I tore through everything valuable in sight until the arrogance of those three leeches was smashed into trembling fear.

When the hall was a wreck, I finally stopped.

I tossed the bent crowbar, went back to the storage room, and picked up the ruined brass pocket watch from broken glass.

“This grave is for you. Bury yourselves in it.”

I wiped blood from the watch face, grabbed Elyssia’s hand, and left over the debris.

Behind me, my mother’s trembling, venomous comfort carried back.

“Leo, don’t cry. Let him go crazy.”

“When the flood comes, that heartless bastard will kneel and beg us to take him in.”

My father echoed through clenched teeth. “Then we tear up his contract and throw him into the flood to feed the abyss sea monsters.”