-2008-
A black-haired boy around the age of 14 sits in the passenger seat, looking through the window at passing buildings absentmindedly.
"Honey, I'm sure you're going to love it there. I have a niece and nephew around your age living at my place, and I'm sure you three will get along well," I hear my mother's friend's voice while I gaze through the window, lost in thought.
It's been 14 years since I found myself in this world. Like most cliché stories, I woke up as a baby 14 years ago, confused about everything around me.
I was lying in a hospital bed, looking at an image of myself at age 21 after an MMA match incident. Suddenly, I felt exhausted, closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I found myself a newborn. The next few years I spent learning, training, and living a happy life with my parents.
Don't get me wrong—I love my parents from my past life, but I also love my parents in this life.
My mother, Maria Redgrave, was an office worker at a small company, while my father, Anthony Redgrave, was a police officer. Honestly, I thought my father was Dante in disguise.
The day before I turned 14, we decided to go camping.
It was supposed to be a happy day—until God decided otherwise.
Flashback -2006-
"You doing alright back there, champ?" I hear my father's voice through my earphone as I look at the trees. I pause the music to answer him.
"Yeah. How long until we'll be there?" I ask. Since last night, my father said it was a 'secret' camping spot where he proposed to my mother.
"Soon, honey. You're going to love that place… let me tell you, back then, your father suddenly brought me to this forest. I thought your dad wanted to kidnap me," my mother says with mirth in her voice, reminiscing about the past, while my father just lets out a small cough upon hearing it.
"It was absurd—how we'd been dating for seven years, and suddenly you started thinking I was a kidnapper while secretly being a police officer," my father says with a small laugh. I smile, listening to their conversation, then say,
"Maybe it's because of your mustache, Dad," I laugh, looking at both of them talking and laughing.
'This life isn't so bad after all, huh?' I think as I glance back at the window and unpause my music.
A Few Minutes Later
Gotta say, Dad does know some good places, I think as I help my mother unpack our camping gear while my father sets up the tent.
"Alright, the tent is ready… now let's prepare for the barbecue," I hear my father say as I help my mother set up the grill.
Before long, we're sitting around the grill—perfect timing since it's already evening and almost dinner time.
Somewhere Else
-??? POV-
I was walking among the trees, since this place is rarely visited by people. But then I started getting bored. It's been a while since I had my 'fun'.
I raised my hand toward a tree on my right, dragging my fingers across it and leaving a deep mark before suddenly stopping and sniffing the air.
"Ha… Hahaha! Would you look at that? They came at the right moment~," I laugh, feeling giddy. Who knew, right when I was starting to get bored, I could get my fun.
"It looks like my luck is finally getting better, hahaha~," I chuckle as I slowly walk toward the source of the smell, contemplating how I should have my fun.
–Leon POV–
We're sitting around the campfire, listening to my father play guitar and sing along with my mother. We're having fun eating when suddenly I hear a sound that disturbs me.
"Dad, did you hear that?" I ask. My father and mother stop and look at me, confused, while my father tries to listen.
"I didn't hear anything. Don't tell me you're afraid of being in the forest at night, kiddo," my father jokes after not hearing anything unusual. My mother starts to relax but remains wary and asks, "Could it be a bear?"
"Don't worry, I have my shotgun right here," my father says, trying to help my mother relax.
Slowly, I start to relax myself, thinking it's just the wind or something.
"Eh, I gue—" Before I can finish my sentence, I suddenly hear something flying through the air—then a large object hits the campfire in the middle of us, sending charcoal, dust, and stones everywhere. The force of the impact pushes me backward, causing me to fall.
I feel dizzy for a moment, not knowing what's happening, then I start hearing my mother scream and my father yelling for us to get into the car.
I slowly regain my vision and look at the object that hit the campfire—it was a thick branch, as wide as an adult thigh.
My eyes widen as I stare at the branch, then I feel myself being pulled by my mother.
"Leon! Get in the car!" I hear her scream as she pushes me inside before jumping into the passenger seat. My father quickly gets into the car, holding a shotgun.
"What the fuck is that?!" my mother starts panicking, looking around, while my father drives as fast as he can. Thankfully, it's not too dark yet, so he can see.
"I don't k—" I begin to say, but then I see a silhouette approaching quickly from the corner of my eye.
"Dad! On our ri—" I try to warn, but my words are cut off as a giant blond-haired man with a wild smile topples our car with his shoulder, and I lose consciousness for a moment.
.
.
.
Slowly, I regain consciousness. My entire body hurts, and my head feels wet.
I try to look around. My father is still conscious, but his face is covered in blood from a head wound, with scattered glass scratching his face. My mother is bleeding from her head, with a glass embedded in her hand, and the car is flipped over.
I attempt to get out through the broken window—the man who attacked us broke it when he flipped the car. Suddenly, I hear footsteps approaching, getting closer and closer.
"H-Help… please help my son and wife…" my father must have heard the footsteps too. Suddenly, the door is ripped open by force, and a hand grabs my father out of the car.
"Hehe… oh, I would help your son and wife indeed," I hear the man's voice, full of mirth. Through my blurred vision, I see him throw my father aside before walking around to my mother's door. He rips it open and drags her out toward my father.
My mind is jumbled from the force and blood loss. All my body is hurt. Slowly, I force myself to move toward the broken window to escape. I see the man step in front of my father while my mother struggles, kicking his hand to break free. But the man ignores her, and I hear a grin in his voice.
"You know, the first time I fucked someone right before their loved ones, I experienced overwhelming satisfaction, hehe. It's a pity that Runt Logan wasn't there when his little bitch was screaming," the man laughs, dropping my mother in front of my father. Then he looks at my father and says, "But you… You're the luckiest man tonight, 'cause you got the front seat, hahaha!"
"N-no… release my wife, you beast…" I hear my father's voice. I look around and see my father's shotgun. I reach toward it, but then I hear the sound of flesh being struck and my father's groan.
I look over to see the man grabbing my father's hair. His face is bruised and bleeding from the force of the hit, yet he keeps punching and punching.
Slowly, I crawl out of the car. I see my mother stand up and hit the man at the back of his head, trying to protect my father, but he knocks her down with a backhanded slap.
"Hahaha, you can't wait too long, huh? Alright then… believe me, you're going to enjoy this," the man grins, revealing long blond hair and sharp fangs. My mind tries to remember who he is, but right now, I don't have time to think.
Before anything else happens, I shout at the man, "Enjoy this, fucker!" My voice seems to surprise him; he doesn't seem surprised at all, like he knew what I was going to do.
He turns toward me, his grin widening into a feral snarl, fully showing his fangs.
Without hesitation, I fire the shotgun, hitting his trap muscle and taking a chunk of the base of his neck, throwing him backward. He falls to the ground, unmoving.
I take a deep breath, then start running toward my mother. "Mom! You're okay now, come on!" I hold her, seeing her face bruised, blood dripping from her nose and mouth.
My hand trembles from pain and adrenaline—everything happened so fast.
"Come on, Mom, take a deep breath," I say as we slowly stand up. "I'm okay, I'm okay," my mother replies, her body trembling— or maybe it's just me.
"Okay, okay… wait here. I'll check on Dad, alright?" I tell her, trying to reassure her that it's over. But in the back of my mind, I suddenly feel a tingling sensation, like something is wrong—that I somehow know something about that man.
"LEON!" I hear my father scream. Before I can react, a massive hand grabs the side of my head, and my body feels weightless—as if I'm flying—then everything goes black.
My ears ring.
"Hahaha, surprise, runt!" I feel like the man is saying something, but I can't hear him. "You think you're some kind of hero? You can't even save yourself," he says as he releases his grip. In my blurred vision, I see his hand—something I hadn't noticed before—grip the shotgun I was holding, snapping it in half.
A muscular, feral blond man with fangs and sharp claws.
And then it clicks—who he is, and what he is.
The man pulls me up by the collar of my shirt, dangling me with one arm.
"Did you really think… I wouldn't notice you, hm? Maybe if you just took that chance to run away, I'd let you go. Hehe. Maybe." He pulls me closer to his face.
I thought that, being reincarnated as a normal person, from a normal family, everything would be alright—that maybe, aside from some shit that was going to happen, none of them would actively target us.
"But nooo," he sneers, "you decided to become a hero, huh? Well, runt, even after all this time, getting shot by that thing still hurts, you know. And for that, you're going to pay."
He grins, noticing something behind me. I realize too late.
"RELEASE MY SON, YOU ANIMAL!" Suddenly, I notice how close my father is—holding a pocket knife, rushing toward us.
Before I can scream for him to get away, the man moves his left arm so fast I barely see it—then he pierces my father's stomach with his clawed hand.
"NOOOOO!" I scream as my father coughs up a massive amount of blood, slowly being lifted from the ground. Drops of blood drip from the man's hand. I feel tears streaming down my face.
'I was so naïve,' I think. My blood feels hotter and hotter, yet I ignore it.
'I remember now… this world.' My brain starts to feel like it's going to explode, but I ignore it.
'This is a world where people with power and narcissistic geniuses think they're gods. They believe they can decide everything,' my organs start to feel like they're burning from the inside. My heartbeat slows, then starts pounding harder.
I don't notice my eyes turning bright blue for a moment before turning to normal.
All I feel is rage. I sense a surge of energy in my body—so strong that I think I could bring down a building with my bare hands.
'This is a world where being weak is a sin.'
I grab his hand holding my collar, so strong that I hear him gasp in surprise, pain flashing across his face. I look back at him.
I move faster and with more strength than I ever remember, even in my past life.
I punch him directly in the face, feeling his nose break and his skull crack from the force.
"SABERTOOTH!"