CHAPTER 72: SON OF A CUCK

The words hung in the silent, devastated plaza, heavier than the gravitational pull of the Behemoth. Cousin.

The term, meant to denote kinship, was delivered like a death sentence, laced with a venomous contempt that was uniquely familial.

Rhys curled his lips, waiting for Kaelen to finish his speech. It was a kind of irony that the son of the man who had cast him out was a demon.

The layered depravity of it all was staggering. The man who had cast him out for being a ’talentless failure’ had been hiding a monster in his own house, dressing it up with the name of the very brother whose legacy he claimed to uphold.

The hypocrisy was so thick Rhys felt he could choke on it.

He almost laughed. The warning from the System was a frantic scream in his mind, but the absurdity of the situation almost overshadowed the danger.

"Although my memory can’t hold the names of unimportant people," Kaelen continued, his broken-necked head tilting further.

He took a slow step forward, his single, bare foot leaving a bloody print on the crystal ground.

"But a face... a face is harder to forget. Especially one that closely resembles the very man this world should look up to."

His red eyes, burning with manic glee, swept over the assembled disciples from the other families, who were still frozen in a state of shock and awe.

"Did you all hear that? This interesting stranger, this monster who commands the dead and slays Bosses, is none other than the trash my family threw out months ago. Oh, the irony is simply delicious."

No one spoke. The revelation was like a shockwave that thundered in the hearts of everyone present. It sent tremors through the gathered heirs.

Daemon’s eyes widened, his princely composure finally cracking completely. Aiden Thorne’s jaw dropped, the anger on his face replaced by disbelief.

Anya Sterling, however, watched with a sharp, analytical gaze, the pieces of a puzzle clicking into place in her mind.

The man who had used the Ashtons’ signature skill was not a thief; he was an heir who had been wronged. No wonder he targeted the great families everywhere.

She felt pity, and her heart yearned to hug him. Unnoticed by her, a pair of pitch-black eyes were watching her with hostility.

’Papa, I want to eat that woman,’ Rhys heard the voice of Sera, her anger directed at the heir of the Sterlings. He rolled his eyes.

’Yuki also seems to hate her for some reason. Now you too. She looks like a good girl to me; what did she do for you all to hate her?’

[You made things worse, host.]

Rhys understood this, as Sera almost used her ability on Anya. He only held her back by picking her up by the scruff of her neck.

"Y-young master, there is no way that tra— no, that one can be him," Joric stammered, his face failing to hide his terror.

He looked from the monstrous Kaelen to the blood-soaked Rhys.

"Look... his hair, his eyes... his—his—" Joric snapped his mouth shut. Now, looking closely, he understood why he had felt a sense of familiarity upon seeing the man.

He was truly the son of the great Kaelen, whom their family had abandoned.

"The very same," Kaelen purred, his blood tendril writhing in amusement. "It seems our family has a talent for producing monsters, doesn’t it? Some of us just have the decency to be honest about it."

Rhys finally pushed himself to his feet. As he stood, a cold, terrifying calm settled over him. The exhaustion disappeared as his constitution sent warm energy all over his body.

"So," Rhys said, his voice quiet but carrying across the plaza with an unnerving clarity.

"The great Ashton family harboured a demon and named it after a hero, while casting out the hero’s true son. Tell me, ’cousin’, does your father know he was cuckolded by a demon, or was he in on the joke?’

Kaelen’s bloodthirsty smile faltered for a fraction of a second, replaced by a flash of genuine surprise, which then morphed into an even wider, more manic grin.

"Oh, you have a tongue on you! I like that. It will make tearing it out all the more satisfying," he chuckled.

"Why should I care about my father when his little, pulsing dick couldn’t satisfy my mum, so she had to find the same in a demon?"

Silence.

A gulp.

Terror.

And then laughter.

"Hahaha..."

Every pair of eyes looked towards the four-legged monster flailing its arms in Rhys’s hands, which transformed into a four-year-old child as she laughed non-stop.

The situation was so dire no one seemed to find absurdity in this transformation. Or all of them simply accepted every fucking things happening now was already absurd.

Rhys shook his head, his mind on full guard. He threw Sera back towards the behemoth, which took her into its mouth as he stepped forward.

"I really wanted to talk to you more, but, you see, we are running out of time." Rhys pointed at the Labyrinth’s surroundings, which were now starting to show signs of collapse.

If no one finished the challenge, the Labyrinth would collapse, and everyone inside it would be forcefully teleported outside.

Everyone in the venue nodded their heads. These two guys at least have some urgency...

"True." Kaelen nodded, making all of them breath a sigh of relief collectively.

Just when the crowd thought the expected fight was not going to happen, the sound of a weapon being unsheathed was followed by the sound of flesh being torn.

’Slang.’

’Splurgh.’

Rhys stared down at the blood tendril that had pierced his chest. It had missed his heart by a few inches because he had tilted his body slightly, though it took two or three of his ribs out through his back.

Then his eyes landed on Kaelen, one side of whose head had disappeared into a puddle of blood and bone on the ground. Strangely, there was no brain matter on the ground.

A knife was pinned in the ground above the blood puddle.

"Oh... ohhh. It seems the son of a cuck has no brain."

No sound could be heard from the surroundings, as it took everyone almost a minute to come to their senses and realise that the two monsters before them had attacked each other while speaking in a friendly manner.

’Kaelen...’

’Kaelen...’

’Kaelen...’

[This gay seems to have an obsessive disorder.]

’True...’

’What is a gay?’ Sera asked in his mind.

’Someone loves either sword play or scissor play.’

’I likes both..’

’Shut up. Who teaches that to you?’

’System.’

[...]

The blood puddle on the ground started to mutter as it slithered across the ground, up Kaelen’s legs and onto his face, restoring it completely.

Meanwhile, Rhys’s flawless regeneration acted on its own, the gruesome wound in his chest stitching itself back together, returning his body to its previous state.

Kaelen’s eyes lit up with ecstatic delight. ’Yes! That’s it! Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!’

The same maniacal grin appeared on Rhys’s face. He was thrilled.

"Okay, let’s play a bigger game—"

Rhys did not complete his sentence, as Kaelen’s body rose into the sky and was pulled towards Rhys, only for it to scatter into pieces as the behemoth swung one of its legs at it.

Boom.

Blood and bone rained down from the sky, covering the entire central plaza.

Rhys had activated his low-distance jump and anchored it on Kaelen, while asking the behemoth to apply gravity to his own body so he would not be propelled.

Then the behemoth struck Kaelen’s pulled body, shredding it into pieces. But there was no smile of victory on Rhys’s face.

The torrent of blood and bone on the ground erupted without warning, piercing any unlucky disciples without consideration for their families and shredding them into a bloody grime.

Their shredded blood also moved on its own as a human form rose from the ground, taking the same appearance as Kaelen.

Then he moved his hands as crimson spikes of blood slithered towards Rhys.

Rhys acted in an instant, grabbing Sera and using his low-distance jump, anchoring on one of his distant Vindicators and pulling them both out of the immediate danger zone.

The blood spikes shot upwards, impaling nothing but air.

"Running already, cousin?" Kaelen’s voice was a mocking purr.

"The game has just begun. You see, I am too hungry. I crave a good fight. I want you to hurt me. I want to taste your power. So please, don’t be shy."

"Papa, this cuck is gay. Let’s burn him!"

[...]