23. Traitor

"The goblins," Claude whispers sadly. Unconsciously, he grabs Xavion as if commanding him to save them. But Kane immediately lets go of him, he pulls Claude back because suddenly Claude wants to run and save the goblins.

"They're angry, are you crazy?! Goblins are still goblins, they're monsters, why are you trying to save them? They don't have brains!" Kane shouts in frustration.

Indeed, the goblins start throwing spears at Claude ; they are angry and think Claude is the culprit.

"Retreat," Kane pushes Claude backward.

"You can't, the fire must be extinguished otherwise they'll die," Claude says.

"Before they die, you'll die first, stupid," Kane retorts emotionally.

Xavion watches the fire consuming everything, he sees a red-haired woman on top of a tree, Claude's mother, a middle-aged woman from the Rosel family. She signals to Xavion and hands over the rest of her task.

When Kane starts to observe his surroundings, his body gradually stiffens, he feels like there's a magical trap causing his body to be like this, and sure enough, there are five people invisible to the eye around him, they surround Kane, one of them already holds Kane's sword and is ready to draw it at any moment.

"Ugh." Unfortunately, Kane falls before he can fight back. Someone has knocked him down and is choking him. Many hands touch his body but Kane can't see the culprit clearly, but even so, Kane knows it must be the work of his father's men and surely Xavion informed his father of Kane's whereabouts, he knows because Xavion is his father's confidant, it must be Xavion who ordered the men to capture him.

"You traitor," Kane whispers, glancing at Xavion.

"Yes, you should know I've always been my father's pawn and not just accept my existence immediately," Xavion replies flatly.

"RUN CLAUDE!" Kane shouted.

Nathan didn't understand why. He doesn't understand why the plot turned out like this. Is it because Claude has succeeded in changing the plot? So the story was quite messy, especially as Kane was very kind in telling him to back off, feeling that the surroundings were not safe, Claude immediately ran away from Xavion while biting the three nails in his mouth.

"Sorry, I have to do this." Xavion stepped closer to Claude .

"Do not come close!" shouted Nathan threateningly.

"Sshh," groaned Nathan.

Xavion stabbed Claude 's shadow. The strange feeling of pain made Claude want to run further and further, but unfortunately, Xavion immediately raised his sword and jumped at Claude with the sword ready to stick.

Claude was not stupid, his selfish nature told him to immediately leave Kane, and without much effort, he swapped places with his doll.

"Doll." Xavion was annoyed.

Nathan returned to the hiding place where he kept his other doll. He breathed a sigh of relief, luckily he kept the doll in the grass. Finally, he survived but the doll must have been damaged, only a doll remained that he couldn't use to change places anymore, Claude felt he had to make a plan.

****

From afar, Claude saw the entire forest ablaze, his chest tightening. His heart throbbed painfully fast.

"Kane," Claude muttered, remembering him. Claude then searched for ideas to extinguish the fire, seeking help. The only one who currently possessed the water element was Kane, but how could he find Kane without having to face Xavion?

Claude remembered, besides Kane, the other person who had the water element was his father, Misca, and Michael. He decided to seek them out for help.

But as Claude ran, he saw Claude's mother, Amber, standing in the distance with her body engulfed in flames, laughing as she watched the blaze grow larger, and chased him.

"So this is her doing?" Claude muttered inwardly. He ran towards Amber and immediately attacked the middle-aged woman from behind with a hammer he had taken from his storage pouch.

"Oh, who's this?" the hammer Claude swung suddenly felt hot, but he didn't let go of it. Nails protruded from his mouth. Claude ran around Amber to distract his mother, and when Amber let her guard down, he grabbed her hair.

Amber was puzzled why Claude was pulling her hair, and each time he did, it caught fire. But Claude didn't give up; he continued his brutal assault to force Amber to extinguish the fire consuming his mother's body.

Enraged, her impatience and quick temper provoked her to unleash all her power just to attack Claude , who always managed to evade her.

The flames on Amber's body began to die down as Claude advanced again to pull her, Claude swiftly grabbed a handful.

Exhausted, his mother could only surrender.

And a few minutes later, after Claude retrieved her hair, he stuffed it into the straw doll he kept in his utility pouch. He had already infused the doll with Mana connected to him.

Amber began to feel out of sorts. Indeed, Claude grinned, controlling his own mother with the straw doll. Claude 's Mana cord was also linked to Amber, and she began to lose control of her own body.

She gulped the dry saliva down onto her gullet, her breath was labored after chasing Claude who was very agile amidst the blazing inferno.

"Claude, my child," Amber said with a pitiful face. "Release me."

"I'm not your child!" Claude yelled angrily. Suddenly, his power surged, and Claude was surprised when the red flame sparked from his hand

"Are you sure?" Amber looked pleased, but her face was mocking.

"No!" Claude didn't like it. He led Amber back into the forest to extinguish her fire.

"Extinguish the fire!" Claude commanded.

"Unfortunately, I can not, this is an irreversible spell," Amber replied.

Claude glared at the woman and said this with cold eyes that filled with malice. "Put out the fire, or I will kill you."

"Hahahaha, you don't believe me, do you?" Amber laughed again and again. She couldn't extinguish the fire. She was the embodiment of destruction.

As if something had snapped in his mind, Claude suddenly choked himself, and Amber, who was under his control, began to follow suit. Amber panicked as she couldn't control her body.

He poured years of hatred and resentment into his grip.

"Die you bitch!"

"Claude?! Y-you can't kill me, am I not your mother?" Amber asked in fear.

Claude then released his grip, but strangely, Amber's choking didn't stop even though Claude had stopped strangling her. Amber felt strange until she understood everything when Claude showed her the straw doll, and shortly after, the doll's head was severed.

"You're not my mother!" Claude shouted aloud.

"You beat Claude, you tortured him, and made him deaf, you imprisoned him, you don't consider him as your own blood!"

After he said this, his face looked very satisfied and relieved after saying all those words.

Although he felt dejected for disowning the women who gave birth to his current corporeal body, as the Author of this book, Claude was obliged to bring justice to Claude.

Moreover, if he want to survive in this unforgiving world, Claude had to steel his heart and embrace his current reality to live as Claude.

"Goodbye," Claude said, sneering as he pulled the mana string and choked the red-haired woman to her death.

"I am so sorry, Claude, my son, forgive me."

It was far too late for her redemption, Claude was adamant to end Amber's life for the better or worse.

Once Amber's mana and life-force ebb away from her body, the flame roared once again, burning her into crisps.