Kaden faced the Asterion with a quiet gaze, his stary eyes darting between them lazily.

The space around them was wide, with some parts of the ground scorched into smouldering golden ashes and others shrouded in thick silver frost.

The air tasted of ashes, but was also humid as if rain had graced them not long ago, yet there was no sign of it.

There was a certain heaviness pressing down on that space, feeling like someone had put a boulder on everyone's shoulders with no questions asked.

But the Asterion came to realize, especially Sora and Sirius, that the pressure was nothing but the effect of Kaden's stary eyes on them.

Sora couldn't suppress a shiver, while Sirius's smile widened ever so slightly.

'Master, careful. He is powerful.' Rab said inside Sirius's mind, 'Very powerful even.'

'More than me?' Sirius inquired, amused and curious at the same time.

The parasite didn't answer immediately. It seemed to seriously ponder the question, but soon enough it gave its answer:

'Yes.' Rab said, voice weirdly solemn, 'Stronger than you. Stronger than your sister. Even with me, master, you might lose in the long run.' Rab paused, voice tightening, 'Master, I can feel him able to entertain your parents for a long while in a battle.'

As these words registered inside his mind, Sirius's eyes widened in bewilderment, eyebrows knotting together into a chasm-like frown.

'What did you say?'

Sirius was flabbergasted. But if he needed his parasite to warn him of Kaden's threat, Luminary and Mahina did not.

They had felt it the moment he placed a single foot outside the Madhouse.

"It has been an eventful ride, Empress," Kaden said flatly, looking at Mahina neutrally, "and after the ride, I don't know if I should thank you or simply do what my heart is whispering to me."

"And what is your heart whispering, boy?" Mahina retorted, blue eyes glowing.

"Something along the lines of turning this whole place into one a being of Hell would feel at home." Kaden smiled, "A good idea, don't you think?"

Mahina's face split into a cold smile, "Good enough to amuse me. Now, why don't we stop this useless talk and go to the part of you giving me the thing I asked of you, boy?" She narrowed her moon-like eyes, "Or did you fail?"

Sora frowned, snapping her head toward her mother. "What thing, mother?" she asked with a growl.

She had the memories of Lady Sora, but she didn't know why Kaden was in that distant part of history or how it even happened.

In fact, none of them would understand how Kaden did it. None of them except the gods, the Wonders, and some other unique creatures wandering through the worlds.

After all, changing the past was not a meager task. For changing it meant altering the current timeline and, by extension, the future itself.

That was a power no gods, let alone mortals, had under their hands.

And that was because of one being. A being that had made himself the sole architect of the past, and so the sculptor of distant futures.

He became feared. He became hated. And yet…

He became loved.

But that was not the subject of that day, for Kaden was tired and missed dearly the tight hug of his bed.

So he parted his lips to ask where his brother was, only to close them back.

His runic communication tool flared white and began to ring.

Immediately, silence settled around the space like a heavy blanket.

Unbothered, Kaden picked it up, knowing who it was.

"Been a while," Kaden said, smiling, watching the Asterion look at him with varying degrees of surprise at his audacity.

Sirius was trembling while suppressing a laughter.

"Master," Abomination's excited voice rang smoothly inside his ear, "we have waited for you for so long. Did something happen? Are you okay?"

"I have never felt better," Kaden said, "just busy with something I want to take care of before coming back to you."

"Oh, ah, then I will tell you the message I have been tasked to inform you." Abomination said, and Kaden arched an eyebrow.

"He is here with us," Abomination simply said.

But Kaden didn't need any more than that. He immediately understood. His heart eased considerably and his eyes became less chilling. Yet Abomination didn't end there,

"The black blacksmith helped him fuse with the mythical artifact, but she is the slave of the Empress. She asks salvation for her aid."

"And the Empress had fooled him."

She added at last, then hung up, knowing her master was busy.

Kaden stayed in that position for a couple of seconds before putting back his runic communication tool.

"Now," Kaden said, raising his head to look only at Mahina, "tell me why, Empress?"

Luminary stood at the side, silent and watching.

"Why?" Mahina echoed, "about what, boy?"

"Why did you trick my brother into stealing the mythic artifact? Why did you force me toward the corpse of the Mad Sun Empress to take back that shard for you?"

None of them was surprised by his words. All of them already knew Mahina was the culprit.

And weirdly, only Sora was still enraged by it.

"Mother!" Sora growled, "How could—!"

"Ah, sister, please, not again." Sirius sighed, exasperated. He glared at her, and for the first time there was no humor in his blue eyes.

"Are you that foolish? Or does your love for our dear friend here make you blind to the obvious?"

Sora's face flushed red in both anger and embarrassment, "And I told you to mind your business and not talk to me. Maybe you are the fool for not understanding simple words!" She hissed, "and I am talking to mother. Are you mother now? Or will you, like always, act as her pet?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "That's very bold of you, sister," he said, voice calm, yet Sora felt a threat, "but I won't argue with a naive one like you. And thank the Celeste you are my sister, for your sudden boldness is only charming because of that."

His tone cooled.

"Any other would have been killed for daring to address me this way."

Luminary cut through the tension between his children, "Silence, you two." He silenced them, then looked at Mahina, side-eyed, "Do you wish to answer?"

Mahina was unbothered by all of this. She simply shrugged, "If you all want to know the answer that badly, then I shall not make it private."

She rested her eyes upon Kaden coldly, "I did that because it was the only way for my family to not be ripped apart by a useless game of thrones." She said without hesitation.

She turned her gaze toward Luminary, "Yes, husband, I went against the core rule of the Asterion. And I do not regret it one bit."

Luminary frowned slightly.

Her eyes slid toward Sora next, "And yes, Sora, I used your friend and your lover for my plan. Again, I do not regret it, for I did it for you. I did it for us." Her eyes became colder, yet there was a fragility beneath the mask, "I did it for our family."

Finally, she looked back at Kaden,

"You already have your answer, but let me tell you so that you can understand better, boy." She took one step forward, walking toward Kaden,

"I used your brother so that I could have a hold on you, and I used you to free my family from turmoil and strife."

"As for how and why I decided to use you? Call that fate or call that anything you want. But you were chosen."

Kaden didn't speak, just listening calmly.

She next stopped inches from him, then smiled humorlessly, just in time for Sirius to join his mother and speak:

"And it seems to work." He added, "I have no idea what you did, great friend of mine, but I no longer desire the throne anymore."

Immediately all of them looked at Sirius, wide-eyed.

"What?" Sora exclaimed, eyes dilating.

"This day is getting stranger." Luminary whispered, closing his eyes in fatigue, his arms still coiling on his chest.

Mahina, meanwhile, was staring at her son with the same surprise as the others, but somehow worse, "Are…are you serious?"

Sirius smiled lovingly at his mother, nodding reassuringly.

"Yes, I am. And I am sorry for causing you trouble." He said, "You have done what you could to avoid blood spilling between us, mother. And you did it by taking the burden alone and by willingly allowing yourself to be perceived as the villain here."

"So raise your head high. You have no reason to be ashamed, mother."

Subtly, very subtly, Mahina's body trembled.

Luminary noticed, and sighed softly under his breath.

His wife was sly and liked to do things on her own, under the veil of shadows. Yet she was his wife, and the mother of his children.

She was the one who was ready to make her hands dirty for the happiness of their family and that without hesitation.

Luminary didn't condone her act, but he wouldn't condemn her in front of a stranger and their children.

The reprimand would be for later.

For now,

"We have wronged you." Luminary said, looking at Kaden, "We shall make sure to pay the appropriate price for that."

Sora found herself unable to speak. She lowered her head, biting her lips until golden blood trickled down, clenching her fists until her knuckles went white.

Her body was shaking.

She wanted to speak for Kaden, to reprimand her mother after all he had done for her. But she didn't have the strength to curse her mother for something she had done for her, for them.

She couldn't.

But she could at least do something.

She raised her head, wiping the tears swelling in her eyes, then strode forward with confidence, yet still with hesitation.

Kaden, meanwhile, was listening to all of their words with quiet eyes when Sora suddenly appeared in front of him.

Wordlessly, she bowed her head, "I am sorry." She murmured, her voice hoarse.

Immediately Mahina, Sirius and Luminary widened their eyes.

"What are you doing, sister? Asterion don't—!"

"SHUT UP!!" Sora bellowed, face flushed red, tears of guilt spilling continuously across her cheeks, as she glared at Sirius.

An invisible power wrapped around Sirius's throat at Sora's voice, making him immediately shut up.

No words allowed themselves out of his mouth for a moment.

It was a power they all felt.

Without giving them time to recover from their surprised state, Sora fixed back her teary eyes on Kaden,

"I am sorry for everything we have done to you and your brother." She repeated, "I am sorry for my mother's actions and I hope you will forgive us."

Kaden smiled, "I almost died, golden voice. Well, I did. But death was sweet compared to what I went through." He said, "and I don't know how close my brother was to death too."

He tilted his head,

"And you expect me to just forgive and forget as if nothing happened?"

Sora lowered her head even further, until it almost touched the earth.

The Asterion felt an innate feeling of wrongness at this sight. Their bodies were revolting. No, their bloodline was screaming at them.

For Sora, it was way worse. It was like something was choking her from within.

"Sora…" Mahina began, but fell silent seeing how Sora herself was going against her very nature to bow.

Luminary's eyes narrowed, yet he said nothing.

"For me." Sora said, hoping that Kaden didn't forget their time together in the dungeon, "I know I am asking the irrational, but for me, Kaden. Do it for me. Forgive me, for me. Forgive my mother, for me. Forgive my family, for me."

Her forehead finally touched the scorched earth.

"I-I beg—!"

"It's enough." Kaden said, sighed heavily while closing his eyes, "it's enough." he repeated.

He was tired. And he didn't have the energy to go through all of this.

His mind was aching. But also, Kaden could see the immense effort it took Sora just to bow.

That certainly didn't change the action of her mother, one that still didn't ask for forgiveness.

But still…

He smiled at Sora, "I never thought I would see one day the Princess lowering her head for a blackmailing bastard like me."

At his words, Sora raised her head with hope dancing in her eyes, "You…you are not mad at me?"

That question was deep on many levels.

Aren't you mad at me for capturing you?

Aren't you mad at me for using you for my sake, even though it wasn't me technically?

Aren't you mad at me with my family doing all of this — capturing you, using your brother, almost killing you — just for their own happiness, not caring about your suffering?

It was all these questions.

And Kaden understood all of them.

"The sin of the parent is not for the child to pay." Kaden said, "and besides…" he grinned, "aren't we friends, golden voice?"

Sora nodded her head vehemently, "we are! You are my only friend, blackmailer!!" She instinctively added, before grabbing her mouth in surprise.

Kaden laughed softly, "weirdly, I don't doubt it. You are too insufferable to be liked. I am too good for you, golden voice."

Sora was ready to complain when Kaden swung his attention toward Mahina,

"I ask three things from you." He said, raising three of his fingers, "and I shall let everything go, for golden voice."

"Speak." Mahina said, voice tight.

Kaden had done what she wanted, and she painfully realized her daughter liked him more than she initially believed.

Mahina might be cold to others. But to her family, she was ready for anything. And she knew going further against Kaden would make her daughter hate her.

She didn't escape bloodshed only to throw herself at something equivalently worse.

And Kaden could see that.

"I want an apology from you, Empress. I also want you to free Old Smith from your slave contract. And finally…I want the ownership of the mythic artifact."

He said, making the Asterion widen their eyes.

"Accept, and we end this here." Kaden said, before his body began to be licked by his crimson-fold fire.

His fire surged skyward and coalesced into the shape of a phoenix with wings spread wide, looking down at them with eyes glowing like stars.

It wasn't all.

A Will pressed down all over the space, followed by a trickling feeling of emptiness sinking inside any being present there.

Except Sora.

Unconsciously, they all shivered.

Kaden's face was only fire. There was no flesh, no blood, no bones.

It was made by pure smoldering fire that made the very space recoil in trepidation.

The Asterion instinctively took a fighting stance, muscles tensing, mana and intent surging around them.

"Now, this is absurd." Sirius said, feeling a lethal danger to his life.

He instantly knew.

'I will die if I fight him.'

Weirdly, the thought made him grin widely.

Luminary and Mahina also were shocked.

"Now, do you know what you did, Mahina?" Luminary asked.

Mahina's lips twitched, "I created a monster."

Sora meanwhile was only thinking of how cool Kaden was.

'NO! Sora! Don't think that! He is still a blackmailer! But he is so gentle with me…' her thoughts were jumbled, her heart swelling with feelings she wanted no part of yet craved to embrace.

Suddenly, the phoenix overhead screeched, creating a gush of hot wind that bloated the space around.

The Asterion focused even more on Kaden.

Kaden's crimson stary eyes were looking at them.

"Your answer?" His voice was empty.

"Let me remind you that refusing my generous offer," Kaden smiled, "would make me have no choice but to fight you."

"And don't make me." He added, "I would hate to make a friend sad by killing her family."

He cracked his neck. Overhead, a crimson star appeared.

"I am listening."

—End of Chapter 356—

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