Despair… his eyes became voids of nothingness. It was infinite. Nothing could triumph above endless despair, like a black hole consuming everything.

“It’s unfortunate…” A familiar voice came from behind him. The man that he had heard his father last speak to, from the guild.

Crimson turned, facing the man with a blank expression and eyes filled with nothingness.

The man walked up the hill slowly, “He lost his wife during your birth. You were born without a good Ancestral Ability, and he worked while not wanting to until he finally decided to end it all right where the love of his life was.”

The man paused as he arrived 10 feet away from Crimson.

‘He killed himself? So then… why… were his clothes and his blood near the guild?’ As soon as he thought this to himself, he felt a weird sensation inside of his head.

The sensation was one he had never felt before.

He could tell that it was his pink fire, which he despised, but this time, instead of being at a wound on the outside of his body, it was within his own brain.

The pink fire was healing something within his brain. Not a physical wound, but a mental one.

“I get it…” Crimson whispered, “He loved my mom much more than me. I only survived because of her relation with me.”

The guild agent smiled inwardly, ‘The brat really believes it. Good… now we won’t get reported or anything of that sort.’

“However…” Crimson said, “That still doesn’t explain why he had Hunter clothes on.”

“Huh? How do you know that? He’s completely naked.”

Crimson’s body began to shake excessively again, but this time, it was a different emotion than despair.

This time, his infinite void of despair looked like nothing but a drop of water. A drop of water that fell into the maw of a massive, universe-devouring monster that could swallow whole realities.

This monster was an overwhelming beast of… rage.

His pink fire exploded out of him, transforming into a massive phoenix atop the hill that glowed brighter than the full moon above.

He lost all consciousness, slaughtering the agent in front of him in a split second.

By the end of that night, hundreds of civilians had been killed. The guild had been destroyed, and everyone inside of it had been butchered like pigs–their bodies splattered all against the walls.

Finally, at the end, Crimson fell to his knees and his phoenix state disappeared.

He stared at his bloody hands as he sat on a pool of blood in the middle of the guild.

“Hierarchy. Those above will always control the lives of those below. If only we had been of a higher status… we would have never had to deal with this.”

He clenched his fists so hard that they bled, but were instantly healed again with the pink flame.

On seeing it this time, however, Crimson didn’t frown. In fact, he smiled. Smelling and seeing the blood around him, he smiled at his power.

“I will become the king, top of the hierarchy… and I will slaughter anyone who dares to defy me. Using you, I will become unstoppable.”

From that day forward, Crimson never stopped training. He did what he said he was going to do, and crushed everyone in his path until this very day.

*Present time*

A pink flame erupted within Crimson’s brain again.

He was still unconscious, but right now, Crimson had entered his Ancestral Sanctuary.

This was not a Supreme Ancestral Sanctuary. In fact, it was only one line of ancestry above his own.

Meaning, it was his father’s ancestral domain.

He was a kid again, laying in his father’s embrace.

“I love you.” His father said. This time, Crimson looked up at his father, not having to pretend to sleep.

“I know… because I remind you of mother–“

“No, you fool.” His father interrupted, “After your mother died, and you were born… you gave me purpose.”

“What?” Crimson’s eyes slowly expanded.

His father became teary, and giddy with happiness to finally meet his son again as he continued:

“You let your negative emotions cloud your thinking. From the moment you came into my life, I had another reason to live. You became the love of my life, not because of my wife, but because you were my son. My offspring, who I loved dearly. Everything I did was for you, and you alone.”

Crimson hadn’t noticed it, but this warm and comforting embrace had caused him to have rivers of tears trickling down his face right now.

“I knew you were bullied due to my status… you were beaten because of your Ancestral Ability. It hurt me deeply… and I had to fake a smile in order to keep you protected. But what now, son? Isn’t your Ancestral Ability great?”

Crying profusely and dug into his father’s chest, Crimson exclaimed, “Yes… dad.”

His father smiled, pushing the back of his son’s head into his chest, “Go, son. No matter if you win or lose, just know that I will always love you. I will be watching over you from here… so do not ever forget that. Even a phoenix needs a reason to rise up once again. You are a phoenix, son. Rise… rise like it is in your nature. Get up… and fight.”

.

.

.

Crimson’s finger twitched.

As soon as Kepl saw this, a wide grin stretched across his face. His eyes crazed with eagerness.

Huevas furrowed his brows, ‘So as I expected… his Ancestors won’t let him die, or even lose. The boy has monstrous Ancestors. Not just in strength, but also in terms of smarts. They only give him power when he needs it. Not to avoid pain, but to learn and grow from it. He gets power when it is most beneficial to him in order to conquer. It is frightening, his background. Again, he has gained a part of the power of a phoenix, like on the fated day where he ended his town’s guild.’

*BOOM*

A giant explosion of pink fire exploded out of the young man as his body was instantly healed and transformed anew.

His muscles bulged with power, increasing in size and density.

He slammed his palms against the ground, pushing himself up to his feet.

His gray eyes were overpowered with a pink color as a large beak made of pink Aura materialized above his head and wings sprouted from his side.

The crowd erupted into roaring cheer, as Tyr furrowed his brows, caught off guard.

‘What the hell…’

‘Scan.’

┏━━━Status━━━┓

Name: Crimson Mathar

Age: 19 Years

Power Level: 820–>850

Rank: Sage

┗━━━━━━━━━┛

[Power Level: 850–>890]

[Power Level: 890–>930]

[Power Level: 930–>980]

[Power Level: 980–>1–]

…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep