Night enveloped the house in silent shadows. In the living room, Seik lay on the couch, his naked torso marked by fatigue. Several glasses rested on his skin, extracting the damage from the brutal confrontation with Erick.
Beside him, his father removed one after another, releasing faint wisps of steam. The fire crackled in the fireplace, the only sound that broke the stillness of the room. There was no one else. Only the flames accompanied the two.
Seik blinked. Once. Again. His consciousness slowly emerged.
From a nearby chair, Erick watched him silently, legs crossed, face inscrutable.
Seik opened his eyes fully and tried to move his head, but a spasm of pain stopped him.
"What happened, father?" He murmured, looking around the room, still disoriented.
"You fainted after training. Alisa brought you here. I'm surprised you've lasted this long."
Seik didn't react. He was already expecting that comment. But he wasn't going to mention his Quick Recovery skill. If Erick knew, it would make the training even more ruthless.
"I guess it was worth it," he said, deflecting the conversation with a well-calculated lie. "Where's my mother?"
Erick looked away toward the fire.
"They went out. She took Alisa with her. Don't worry about them."
The silence grew thick between them. Finally, Erick fixed his eyes on his son.
"Seik, in training I was serious, and yet you managed to hold out to the end. Neither Nux nor anyone else has managed it. I'm not saying that there aren't people stronger than me, but... at only five years old, that's not normal."
Seik held his gaze, but hesitated. He couldn't tell the truth. He couldn't tell her that he had been reincarnated. But still...
"You said before that you were proud of me, and now you say it's not normal? If this is another test, I think I've passed it, haven't I?"
The air between them grew tense. Erick didn't look away, as if trying to read something hidden in his son.
Seik felt a spasm in his hand. An involuntary movement.
"I'm proud of you," Erick finally admitted. "But that aside, this doesn't make sense. At your age, not only do you strategize and move like a killer, but you even speak calmly after being paralyzed. That's... that's not normal. So tell me, Seik... Are you hiding something from me?"
Seik didn't blink.
"Of course not, father," he answered without hesitation. "Everything I have achieved is because of my effort. Then tell me... What do you think I might be hiding from you?"
Seik didn't back down. He needed to dispel his father's doubt. He asked his next question:
"Father, don't you think this is because of Nux? You said that even he didn't achieve what I did, but.... Isn't it because, deep down, you're afraid I'll end up like him?"
He didn't know who Nux was or what he had done, but his name carried weight. If he used it shrewdly, Erick could reveal more than he intended. And, more importantly, his true concern about him.
Erick calmly stood up and began to remove the glasses one by one.
"Nux was the opposite of you," he said after a brief silence. "He was emotional. He cried, he laughed, he played... He never ceased to be surprised by this world. Your mother adored him, but..."
He looked away. His jaw tensed as he removed the last glass from Seik's abdomen. Then, he slowly straightened up.
Was that resentment in his expression?
Seik watched him carefully. Several hypotheses were already beginning to emerge in his mind.
It worked.
My father rarely behaves like this. It's logical that he has doubts about me. Even though he trained me from a young age, I only have memories of my birth and scattered fragments of the years that followed. Maybe I've always seemed like a prodigy, something out of the ordinary... But when the problem is in front of you, you don't know how to deal with it. And that's exactly what happens to Erick.
As for Nux... I don't care. If he died, he had his reasons. Maybe he wasn't efficient enough and ended up like all monsters. Because that's what you are, Nux: a monster.
Just like the one in front of me.
Erick took a deep breath.
"Nux was killed. He failed in his mission. He hesitated at the last second... and that's why he died. I saw him die in front of my eyes. That's why your mother is hard on me. At the time... she hated me."
Seik sat up slowly, putting a hand to the back of his neck. The pain from the blows still lingered, but his Quick Recovery ability was still acting.
He put those thoughts aside. There would be time to analyze them. Now he had to immerse himself in the family drama.
"Don't worry, father. I won't die trying. I'll keep my humanity... and I'll stay alive. I assure you."
Erick looked at him with intensity. His words had touched something inside him. Seik knew it when his father approached him.
He received him with open arms.
The light from the fireplace cast their shadows into the darkness, melding them into one.
When they parted, a silver glint shone behind Seik's back.
Like the reflection of a blade.
Erick stepped back instinctively, his face shadowed.
Seik didn't immediately understand. But then, a strange sensation coursed through his body.
He turned around.
A shadow slid toward him, its left eye flashing like the edge of a sword.
Seik stood on guard.
But the shadow vanished into thin air and...
It embraced him from behind?
He tried to free himself, but that presence held him with superhuman strength. A force that seemed strangely familiar.
Then, the lights came on.
Seik turned his head and saw his—
"Mother?" Her voice sounded firm, though her eyes reflected wariness.
Eris wrapped him in a devoted embrace, leaving soft kisses in his hair.
"I was worried about you, young man. I don't want you to go back to training with your father... Look how he left you," her tone was sweet, but her gaze, sharp as a razor, was fixed on Erick. He, on the other hand, looked away.
"Even though I know you won't listen to me," Eris continued, softening her voice, "That's why, Seik, I want you to take care of yourself... I don't want the same thing to happen to you as happened to..."
Her voice cracked. Her jaw contracted. Silence finished the sentence for her.
Seik turned around and hugged her tightly. He felt nothing, but he knew he had to act accordingly.
The room was plunged into deep silence.
Then, a faint click broke the stillness.
Seik turned his gaze to the light switch.
His eyes met Alisa's eyes.
She advanced toward them, though she averted her gaze.
Seik slowly turned away from Eris. Alisa stopped a few steps away.
"Don't tell me you want a hug too, Alisa," Seik said, watching her subtly.
Eris and Erick exchanged a glance. There was something about the way those two children behaved. Something that did not go unnoticed.
"Of course not! Why would he want something so trivial?"
His voice sounded firm... but in the end, there was a slight hesitation.
Seik noticed it.
He took a step forward and held out his arms in a clear invitation.
Alisa turned her back to him.
"After the training, you threw yourself on me in sobs and kept clinging to me.... But now you reject me, huh?"
Alisa's shoulders gave a slight jump. Slowly, her ears turned red.
"I did no such thing! Maybe... maybe it was another girl and you got confused. Besides, that doesn't make sense. I would never do such a thing..."
Seik frowned.
Did he really mean it?
In the end, he came to a conclusion:
Alisa... she was crazy.
Eris let out a laugh, commenting on how adorable Alisa was.
Erick, for his part, cracked a faint smile at the connection the children were forging.
Seik looked up at the ceiling as his parents walked away together toward the kitchen.
Beside him, Alisa remained silent, watching him intently.
I still don't know who Alisa really is. The first time I met her, she wasn't what I expected.... Besides, it was Sebastian who chose her for me.
He lowered his gaze. Alisa tilted her head, curious.
Maybe that old man saw potential in her that I did not. But that doesn't solve my doubt: was it my father who told Sebastian to choose her beforehand?
If that were true, why hide it?
Be that as it may, I will find out.
I want to know who that girl really was.
And, changing the subject... Was my hypothesis about Nux correct?
"Seik."
Erick's voice echoed from the kitchen.
Seik turned around.
Erick nodded earnestly.
Seik returned the gesture.
He knew exactly what it meant.