Chapter 28: Euphoria

- Kai's Pov -

I feel absolutely ecstatic. Why? Because sitting with his back against the bottom half of a tree with a terrified experience on his face, is my biological father of this world. The man that made sure one of my first experiences in this world was the hot sting of an open palm on my weak cheek. The man who abandoned his wife and my sweet, kind mother of this world, at the first hint of money. This man...I will enjoy tormenting.

[Kai] "What's wrong? Don't you have anything to say, bastard?"

I grin as my foot connects with his gut, indenting him into the tree stump behind him and prompting a short coughing fit as he splutters up blood.

[Father] "Y-Y-You...Mon-"

[Kai] "Monster? Yes, that is what you called me before you ran away with your tail between your legs from your son, whom I might add, had only just woken up from a coma. Don't you think that's a little embarrassing?"

I will be the first to admit that I'm enjoying this.

[Father] "Bastard..."

[Kai] "What was that?"

[Father] "Bastard!"

My father attempts, quite humorously, to attack me, throwing a slow punch towards my face. I could have let him punch me as it would do nothing. I could catch it and throw him around like an inflatable hammer at a child's party. Instead however, I simply step to the side. The sudden, unexpected movement causes him to overextend and lose his balance, allowing me to place my foot in front of him and trip him. As he falls on his face, I raise my right leg and stomp down on his ankle. A satisfying crack echoes in my ears as his screams of pain soon replace it.

[Kai] "The word bastard; commonly used to describe an unpleasant or despicable person. Now, does that really sound like me?"

I make sure to whisper the last words close to his face, watching as tears begin to leak from his eyes.

[Kai] "You know, it's funny how things tend to work out. You become a slave to an idiot, likely having been used as nothing more than cattle till this point. Where as I, became the same kind as the one who has you by the balls."

Grabbing him by the back of his neck, I lift him up off the ground with ease. Unfortunately, my attention is drawn to the one attempting to escape, having pried the stone spikes out of his legs. Admirable, though not enough. A grin forms on my face once more as I use a minimal amount of effort to throw my father at the fleeing man. The two men slam into each other, toppling over before separating.

[Kai] "I have questions for you, so just stay put. <Ensnare> <Reinforce>"

At my command, the grass grows and twists around the formerly fleeing man, covering him in a tightly bound wrapping of nigh unbreakable grass. The man, whose name is Demetri if I heard correctly, begins struggling to no avail as his legs slowly start to heal. While I was distracted by the fleeing figure, it seems my father decided it was in his best interest to attack me again. This time, it seems, he has decided to choke me.

[Kai] "<Repel>"

A familiar sight occurs as my father is sent flying back by an invisible force that originated from me. His body sails a short distance into the forest, much to my chagrin. Well, I suppose this gives me a chance to test something I've been meaning to try out.

[Kai] "<Detect>"

Concentrating on the wounded image of my father, the faint, red outline of a crumpled man appears within the green foliage.

[Kai] "Found you. <Pull>"

Extending my palm towards the forested area, the battered figure of my father comes flying towards me, stopping when my fingers wrap around his scarred neck.

[Kai] "So tell me. What happened after you left with a whole 10 gold? Surely that would have been enough to live off for a while at least."

I can feel him trying weakly to squirm his way out of my grasp and I can see him cursing me with his eyes filled with hate.

[Father] "Because of you...I'm like this...Because of you...Haley was taken..."

There's a name I don't recognise. So why is there a strange feeling in heart when I hear it? Did I perhaps get indigestion after eating those meals at the tavern in Solben?

[Kai] "Who?"

[Father] "Your mother...You bastard!"

Oh, so that's her name. Wait, taken?"

[Kai] "what do you mean taken?"

The only response he seems willing to give me is a hate filled glare. Well, if he doesn't want to talk now, I might know a way to get his mouth moving. I tighten my grip on his neck, just enough so that his mouth opens. Following that, I reach into my cloak and pull a small vial of yellow liquid out of my storage and shove it down his throat, forcing him to drink it. As soon as the vial is empty and I'm sure it's gone down properly, I let go of his neck, allowing him to fall to his knees and start coughing and spluttering, probably in an attempt to get the liquid I just made him drink out of his system. As for where I found it, it turns out that ring from the dark guild had more than just paperwork inside. Weapons, poisons, recipes, an unbelievable amount of goods that I would probably be hunted for if the rest of the dark guild knew I had it.

[Father] "W-What the hell was that!?"

[Kai] "A slow acting poison. Well, when I say slow...You'll be dead within a week."

Watching his eyes open wide in horror is officially my favourite moment spent in his presence.

[Kai] "Feel like telling me what I want to know? If you do, You won't have to worry about the poison in your system and you'll never have to see me again."

[Father] "...Fine. After the gold turned to dust, the people I gave it to in exchange for...things...came after me. They were going to sell me into slavery. So I did the first thing that came to mind. Tell them about the single mother living by herself in a nearby village."

I can feel my eye twitch with every word that leaves the disgusting hole he calls a mouth.

[Father] "They took her...and found a stupid amount of gold there. When I couldn't tell them where she got it and Haley wouldn't give it up...she was taken away while I was sold to some vampire bastard as food!"

By this point, there is no emotion visible on my face. Beneath it however, is a surprising level of rage. It's like someone else's anger is seeping into my being. It's uncomfortable.

[Kai] "Who are the people that took her?"

[Father] "W-what?"

[Kai] "I said. Who took her? Humans? Demons? Elves? What were their names?"

[Father] "H-Humans...The only name I know is Katrina. She's the slaver's daughter!"

[Kai] "Good."

I grab another vial from within my storage and toss it to him without care of breaking it. Without hesitation, he catches the vial and downs the clear liquid inside. I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

[Father] "W-what's so funny?"

[Kai] "You really shouldn't trust someone who hates you like that. It's bad for your health."

His face immediately contorts in terrified realisation which soon changes to an unbridled anger as he uses his one good leg to leap at me. Honestly, I have no idea what he hopes to achieve. His movement is slow and he's weak. I suppose I know what it's like to be in a desperate situation though so I can't blame him for reacting this way. Not that that's going to make me go any easier on him. The poison I used is similar to an acid, so he should already be in unimaginable pain as it eats away at his insides.

My reaction to him leaping at me, is that I lift my blade, swinging it vertically upwards and separating his left arm from his torso. As his arm hits the ground, he begins to froth from the mouth. He limps towards me once more and throws another punch with his remaining arm. A simple shift of my sword and the flat of the blade connects with his face, slapping him away.

[Kai] "Well, that was euphoric."

Seeing his body lying their as the life slowly ebbs away, not only gives me a sense of payback, but also something else deep inside. Ah, I think this is relief. Though, why this gives me any cause for relief is strange in itself. I also have the urge to track down and free my mother, though right now, I have more pressing matters to deal with. Like the still struggling vampire, still lying down, facing the sky with his entire body wrapped in grass.

[Kai] "Now then, Demetri. We have a meeting with Verren to get to."

The spy lets out an audible gulp when I speak, obviously nervous, if not downright terrifying. As for how I know he's a spy; the storage ring had more information on Dreyus than I could read in a night. I will definitely have to get either Verren or Seyird to help me peruse through them. I let out a sigh as I unravel the man.

[Kai] "I wonder how Lucile's doing..."