He jumped out of bed and rushed downstairs, only to find the front of the cottage destroyed.
Reginald lay sprawled on the ground, barely conscious and bleeding badly.
But that wasn't the worst part.
His mum was trapped beneath a pile of burning, charred wood, barely visible through the rising flames.
"Mom!" He cleared the stairs in a single leap, dropped to his knees and slid toward his mum.
Without hesitation, he began tearing through the flames and charred wood. The heat bit into his skin, but he didn't care, his instincts screamed only one thing — to save her.
"At long last, we finally found you after three years... Three fucking years, do you know how much trouble you put us through?" A voice from behind caught him off guard.
He turned sharply, only to find three men standing there, dressed in silver plated armor, sturdy boots, and knightly cloaks.
There was no mistake.
They were mercenaries hired by the current king of Silvercrest.
"Are you the ones that did this?" He wasted no time.
His eyes became cold and indifferent, and he stared at the three men.
He was pissed.
"Oh? Your eyes are saying you want to kill us, do you want to kill us k-"
THWACK–SCHLRRRK!
The leader of the mercenaries eyes went wide as he slowly glanced over his right shoulder, only to find Ethan standing in front of his men, with a burnt wood sticking out of his stomach.
"When did he-"
They underestimated him.
He might not have any talent, but his sharp instincts and precise calculations he painstakingly developed in his previous life?
He still had them.
Ethan dashed toward the leader, but just as he reached out, his eyes went wide.
His arms were no longer attached. They flew past his face, severed in an instant, trailing blood through the air.
"W-what?"
"Oh?" With a single, precise kick, Ethan's body arched backward, launched through the air before crashing into the burning pile of wood.
"You really thought that you could kill me?" The leader burst out laughing.
Ethan's eyes were shaking like a leaf, it all happened so fast.
He didn't even blink, and yet his hand was sliced off faster than his eyes could see.
He didn't realize it before because his anger took over him, but now he did.
They weren't just ordinary mercenaries, they were Spirit Tamers.
"We spent years hunting you down, now, you'll suffer the same fate as you slowly burn to your demise." As the leader spoke, the house suddenly collapsed in flames, crashing down directly onto Ethan's body.
His vision blurred as blood loss dragged him toward unconsciousness. But in those final moments, the leader removed his mask, revealing his face before walking away, leaving Ethan to the flames.
"Goodbye forever, you illegitimate bastard. Long live King Klaus."
The house collapsed completely, the flames devouring everything inside until nothing remained but ash and charred ruin.
"Why..." Ethan found himself slowly returning to the abyss, the same darkness that covered him the moment the united clans sealed him away. "How did it come to this?"
His vision blurred out, and for a moment, everywhere became still.
"Is it too much to ask for?" All his life, all he ever wanted was peace, to be with the ones he loved, but now, fate spat back in his face for such desires, costing him the lives of two innocent people.
He didn't want to be involved in the affairs of the kingdom or the Spirit Tamers Academy because of this, but now that it had come to this, now that they had taken away the second chance at peace and happiness from him, he couldn't contain his rage anymore.
"I'll kill them, I kill them all! No matter, I'll be the one to burn them to the ground!"
Then.
CRACK!
A slight crack stretched across the necklace on Ethan's neck, and it pulsed with a faint, eerie blue light, as if something alive stirred within it.
With another sharp crack, it splintered and shattered into pieces, scattering across the ground.
"Huh?"
Darkness.
That's all Ethan saw.
There was no pain, despite being burned alive moments ago.
No sound.
No color.
Just his body body floating in a cold, endless and absolute void that stretched to infinity.
"W-where... Am I?" He whispered to himself.
The silence pressed in.
He looked down at himself, then stared into the darkness.
The agonizing pain of being burnt alive was gone.
Even the burning cottage was gone.
Then he arrived at the only conclusion.
"I'm dead... Aren't I?"
The realization hit him, but weirdly, he felt a rush of ease.
Then, a glowing text materialized in front of him.
[Ding!]
[System Integrating...90%...100%]
[Synchronization successful!]
[You have activated the 100x Returns system!]
Ethan's breath hitched for a moment.
Then his eyes went wide as a sudden presence pressed against his senses. He spun around, and he froze the second he saw it.
A massive pair of blue, glowing eyes glared back at him, ominous and unblinking.
He opened his mouth to speak, but his words failed him.
"Ethan Kaiser." A deep, resonant voice echoed through the abyss, cutting straight into Ethan's very soul.
"H—How do you know my name? Who are you?" He finally found the courage to speak.
"You have great hatred and anger in your heart that rivals even mine. I have found favour in you, and I have deemed you worthy to carry on my will."
"Deem me worthy? What are you talking abo-" His brows furrowed as the memory struck him "Deem you worthy." Those words were familiar, too familiar.
It was the crucial requirement for assimilating with a Talent Stone.
'A talent stone?'
He was sure he didn't have any talent stone on him, and the necklace his mother gave him couldn't possibly be one.
"Your anger shall be your ally, and my wrath your weapon. Do you accept this fate?"
The voice in the abyss's question was straight to the point, and it was a bit perplexing.
But here and now, that was all he felt, anger and hate. All the suffering the universe had heaped upon him had accumulated into a single, burning resolve, and at now, he had a chance to set it right.
In a million years, he never imagined he would assimilate with a Spirit will. Yet now, it was before him, a chance, a single opportunity to avenge the death of the two most innocent people he cared about.
With a cold voice, he stared right back at the eyes in the abyss. "Yes."
Silence.
Even after he spoke, nothing changed. The eyes continued to stare unblinkingly, their intensity throwing him completely off guard.
"Is the assimilation complete?" He asked, confused.
"To complete the assimilation, you need to know my name."
"And what is your name?"
Everything around him froze, as if time itself had paused to unveil the name of the entity that spoke within the abyss.
Then in a word, the entity finally revealed itself.
"Chronos."