Eth was crying while holding Mrs. Parker's corpse. Her corpse which missing everything below her navel.

I think it was from this day that Eth's memories started blurring.

Often times this memory world will turn black for extended periods. Then it will resume while skipping days or weeks' worth of memories.

From the fragments, I saw Eth living his life. If it could be called living.

He stopped talking altogether after Mrs. Parker's death and would often go in a daze.

Two weeks later Mr. Parker and Eth's parents returned from their expedition.

After knowing what had transpired Mr. Parker left saying he would kill those long-eared bastards.

Before when I didn't know who Isabell's dad was I would've thought it was a foolish move. But now knowing his identity I knew he was not being reckless.

As for Eth's parents, they were devasted after seeing their son's condition.

They decided to retire and took in Isabell.

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They treated both children with utmost care and love.

Thanks to their extensive care Isabell was able to recover from her mother's death.

As for Eth, he also changed.

He would always remain in his room and refuse to interact with anyone.

His parents and Isabell tried to talk to him but even they had to slow their attempts after the doctor told them that overdoing their attempts could result in the opposite outcome.

Reluctantly, they decided to leave it to time to heal Eth's wounds.

Many a time I saw Eth staring at knives or the ground from the roof.

He wanted to kill himself to end it all.

But he would always stop at the last time. He couldn't break the promise that was her last request.

The promise became the chain that protected him while chaining him down.

"If only he knew the truth. He wouldn't have hesitated to kill himself."

Maybe it was cruel of me to think this way. But I knew all too well how painful it was to live, unable to kill yourself.

It was funny, wasn't it?

Treasuring the very thing that was the reason for your torment.

From now Eth will treasure her promise and continue to live. Yet the same promise will make him unable to live properly.

"How will he react if I tell him now?"

The real reason why Mrs. Parker died. She didn't leave because she went to help Mia, but because she wanted to protect him.

[Reality Veil] only worked on one person at once. This was what I came to understand after observing for the past year.

Mrs. Parker left Eth because she thought if the spirits come after her and attacked, then he will get hurt even if he was hidden.

Even when she was being chewed alive, she made sure that her stigma remained active.

She kept clinging to her life because her death would mean her stigma deactivation. And it would put him in danger.

Eth was the reason Mrs. Parker died.

***

The memory world kept blinking in and out of the darkness. But as time passed, the duration of the 'blackouts' started increasing.

I started talking to Caim more and more. He taught me a lot about the universe and the races.

The more we talked, the more I grew surprised.

"It's good I didn't chop my hand off."

At first, I was planning to chop off my hand if the Nether became too troublesome. But surprisingly, there was a way to fix it, and it was always next to me.

"Master, you can control Nether. So you should be able to manifest a curse."

This was what Caim told me.

Royal Demons use Nether in the form of curses. Each Royal Demon has a curse and can only use the powers of the curse.

Curses were like Stigmas but there were two differences.

A Royal Demon can only use the abilities that manifest from its curse. They can't use system skills, magic, or anything else.

Unlike Stigma, curses grow stronger as the Royal Demons' ranks increase. But in exchange, every curse has at least one flaw that could weaken it considerably.

"Master, if you can manifest a curse, you will be able to move your arm again."

This was the problem. Royal Demons have their curse since birth. They don't need to manifest it. But it was different for me.

According to Caim, if I made a seal with Nether on my arm, I should be able to do it. But we still didn't know if it would work.

On that note, I only had a single arm, even in this memory world. Replacing my left arm were endlessly gushing black smokes from my shoulder.

Ah, before I forget it.

'Fuck you, HB. Kill Mammon? How the hell am I supposed to kill something like that!'

Caim was the clone of a direct subordinate of a Demon King. His extensive knowledge was a blessing and a curse.

Thanks to him, I finally knew how grim my future was.

"Eth, let's go out. Hurry!"

The memory world again resumed and Isabell, who was now 7 years old, barged into Eth's room. Her tone conveyed her urgency and panic.

Three years had already passed in this world since I entered it.

"It's today."

If what happened two years ago what the turning point for Eth, then today was the turning point for the Earth itself.

"The Third Great Disaster."

***

The earthquake that started an hour ago still wasn't stopping.

The only thing good about it was that the earthquake started with very little intensity. Giving people time to react and take safety measures.

Though none of those safety measures were going to work in front of what was about to come.

"The earthquake. Is it because the Gate of Hell is opening??"

Caim nodded his head and affirmed my doubts.

Mr. Parker, who had returned a few months before, Eth's parents, and the two kids. All of them were waiting outside in the open.

Mr. Parker was wearing a long coat and carrying a gun in his hand. With him present, I didn't need to worry about anyone's safety.

Vrooom-

Suddenly, the air churned, and a large magic circle appeared.

Analyzing the circle Mr. Parker realized that it was a teleportation magic circle. One of the highest-ranked magic.

Mr. Parker stood in front of everyone to be able to respond to whatever was about to come.

"Is that how you greet your friends?"

Two people appeared in the center of the circle. One was a woman who carried a katana, and the other was a man who wore a cape and carried a wand.

Mr. Parker, realizing who the two people were, relaxed his guards and questioned them.

"What is happening?"

Grandmaster Yui looked at the kids but decided to answer because of the urgency of the situation.

"Demon Invasion. A new Gate has appeared in the North Atlantic Ocean. Some of those demons contain unique abilities and they've already destroyed Ward."

She explained more about these new types of demons.

"It seems spells and arts are barely effective on them. The cause is determined to be the new type of energy these demons are wielding."

"What about the pioneers?"

Grandmaster Yui didn't answer. It was because even she didn't know why the pioneers weren't moving.

"The Elves and the Barbarians ambushed the Earth's forces in a coordinated attack. The pioneers and most of the Earth's forces are on the frontlines."

Finally, the mage spoke for the first time. He was the one who had explained the current situation to Yui.

Because he didn't have enough time, he hadn't been able to give a complete rundown to her before.

"By the time Earth's forces return from the frontlines, everything would be…"

He didn't complete his words, but everyone understood what he meant.

If nothing was done, Earth was going to be conquered.

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