Chapter 214: [ELI’S TURN TO ANSWER]

’Only Kairo… and Caelen?’

Eli’s breath caught.

His eyes widened before he could stop himself.

He hadn’t expected the story to take such a sharp turn—hadn’t expected this to be the origin of their hatred. He’d heard of the first dungeon explosions, the early tears that devastated entire districts… but knowing Caelen and Kairo were witnesses—

Survivors.

Victims.

That changed everything.

“What happened?” Eli asked quietly.

Caelen leaned back slightly on the swing, watching his feet drag furrows into the gravel.

“Everyone in the restaurant tried to fight,” he said, tone disturbingly casual. “Some even tried to protect Kairo and me. Of course, they were weak. So they died.”

Eli tensed.

Caelen continued, almost amused, “When everyone but us was dead, it was just Kairo and me left to die too.”

Eli swallowed hard. “Since you’re not dead… I’m assuming you guys did something?”

“Ha.” Caelen let out a short, humorless laugh. “I tried protecting the little bastard. As his brother, you know? I acted all tough, told him I’d lead the demon away. I was willing to die for that fucker.”

Eli blinked. “Colorful language…” he muttered under his breath.

But his mind was spiraling.

Caelen—cocky, dramatic, self-absorbed Caelen—throwing himself in front of a monster for Kairo?

It was almost impossible to imagine.

And yet…

Somehow, it made sense.

There was something buried deep beneath Caelen’s arrogance and swagger—something that felt older, wounded, and sharper.

’He loved Kairo that much as a little brother…? What the hell happened to turn that into hatred?’

Because Eli couldn’t reconcile the protective older brother in Caelen’s story with the man who now spat venom at Kairo’s name.

Caelen swung a little higher, letting the chains groan before he slowed again.

“As a kid,” he said, a bitter laugh slipping through, “you think you’re brave, right? Doing something like that?”

Eli stayed silent, watching him carefully.

Caelen smirked without humor.

“I was brave—until Kairo ruined it.”

The words dropped between them like stones.

“Ruined… how?” Eli asked softly.

Was this it?

Was this the moment everything between them broke?

Caelen’s jaw tightened.

“He pulled me aside,” he said slowly, voice hollow with remembered anger. “That small—tiny—little brother of mine.”

His hands clasped together over his knees, knuckles pale. He stared down at them as if he could still feel Kairo’s grip from years ago.

“The one I always protected. The one I made sure never got sick. The one I always—” Caelen cut himself off, flexing his neck as if the memory physically irritated him. “He pulled me back.”

Back.

Away.

Out of the line of danger he’d been willing to stand in.

And Caelen looked furious even recalling it.

“He pulled me behind him with those stupid… small hands of his,” he said through his teeth. “And do you know what that damn bastard said to me?”

Eli’s breath caught.

“What?” he whispered.

Caelen raised his head, golden eyes burning.

“’Weak people should stay behind.’”

Eli’s eyes widened.

A five-year-old said that?

Kairo?

Kid Kairo?

The Kairo he knew now was sharp, cold, blunt to a fault so no surprises there—but even at the ageof five?

It startled him.

And yet… knowing Kairo, the brutal honesty fit in a way that made Eli’s stomach twist.

“There was so much blood around him,” Caelen continued, voice dropping. “And apparently our father had been teaching him how to use his abilities every single day. That’s why I barely got to see him.”

Eli’s heart clenched.

Caelen shook his head slowly, the motion tight and bitter.

“And he used all the blood,” Caelen said, voice wavering between awe and fury. “All the blood from every dead person in that restaurant… to kill that demon. As if he wanted to show me who was really the strong one.”

He turned to Eli, and the look in his eyes wasn’t teasing or smug.

It was wounded.

Raw.

“It took him a minute,” Caelen said. “Just a minute to kill that demon. And something in me snapped. I was angry—so angry. That weak little brother, the one I thought I had to protect… he called me weak. That son of a—”

Caelen stopped himself abruptly, teeth grinding.

Then—

“I ran,” he said quietly.

Eli blinked. “You… ran?”

Caelen nodded once, sharply.

“I ran out. Out of the restaurant. And I screamed for whatever demon was still alive outside.”

Eli stared at Caelen.

The story was spiraling into something darker, heavier—and Caelen’s voice had slipped into a tone Eli had never heard from him before.

Not teasing.

Not arrogant.

Not smug.

Just… honest.

And that alone made Eli sit even straighter on the swing, fingers tightening around the cold metal chains.

Caelen let out a slow breath, eyes drifting away from him, as if the memory played not in front of him—but behind his eyes.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “A demon did come. The one that was fighting my mother.”

Eli stiffened.

Kairie… fighting a demon?

’Where was Midas?’

Caelen nodded slightly, as if sensing his confusion.

“She screamed for me,” he said quietly. “I remember that part. Her voice was loud. Scared. But I didn’t look. I didn’t stop.”

“You… didn’t look?” Eli echoed, shocked.

Caelen shook his head.

“I didn’t want to. If I looked, I might’ve stopped running. And I couldn’t stop. Not then.”

The chains of the swing creaked softly as Caelen leaned back, gold eyes gleaming faintly with something haunted.

“I was shaking,” he admitted, surprising Eli with his candor. “My hands, my legs—everything. I thought I was gonna collapse. But I kept running anyway.”

“Why?” Eli whispered.

Caelen’s jaw clenched.

“Because it was the only way,” he said, voice cracking just slightly, “for me to find out if I had abilities, too.”

Eli’s mouth fell open.

His heart twisted painfully.

“That— Caelen, that was incredibly stupid! Practically suicide!”

Caelen blinked, then actually snorted.

“Hey,” he said, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, “you’re talking to a six-year-old.”

Eli glared back instinctively. “Six-year-old or not, that’s still—still unbelievably—”

“I know,” Caelen cut in, chuckling under his breath. “Trust me, I know. But like I said—I was six.”

The humor vanished almost instantly.

“I didn’t think. I didn’t plan. I just… ran at it. Head-on.”

Eli swallowed hard.

“You charged a demon by yourself. At six.”

Caelen nodded once.

His fingers dug into his knees.

“I remember everything happening so fast,” he murmured. “My father tried to chase after me. Kairo, too. Even my mother tried to run toward me.”

He paused, breath hitching slightly.

“But the demon got to me first.”

Eli felt his stomach drop.

Caelen continued softly, almost distantly, “It ran right at me. Faster than anything I’d ever seen. And then—”

He lifted his hand and snapped his fingers.

A small, sharp sound in the quiet night.

“I got hit.”

Eli’s eyes widened.

“Hit how—?”

“Hard,” Caelen said. “Hard enough that I flew.”

His voice lowered, expression shadowed.

“I remember… the air leaving my lungs. Like something crushed me from the inside. I don’t even remember hitting the building. Just… waking up on the ground. Everything hurt.”

Eli felt himself lean forward unconsciously.

“And then?”

Caelen’s voice dropped to barely more than a whisper.

“I heard a scream.”

Eli’s entire body stilled.

“A… scream?” he echoed, breath shallow.

Caelen nodded once.

“A blood-curdling one,” he murmured. “The kind that makes your bones hurt when you hear it.”

Eli swallowed. “Only a mother would make that kind of scream.”

Caelen nodded again, jaw tightening.

“Indeed. She charged the monster using her abilities—trying to freeze it. She was only A-Class, and she barely used her powers, but she fought anyway.” A bitter breath escaped him. “She tried attacking an S-Class demon with her bare hands just to save me.”

Eli’s throat tightened.

Caelen’s eyes narrowed, gaze distant.

“But the demon didn’t care. It saw her as a nuisance. So it grabbed her by the neck.” His fingers twitched against the swing chain. “It was going to kill her.”

Eli felt a cold spike run through his chest.

’Where was Midas? He’s an S-Class. Why wasn’t he fighting?’He didn’t say it out loud.Not when Caelen was reliving this.

“At that point,” Caelen continued, “I was terrified for my mother. I tried to move… and then I realized—I could move.”

He let out a humorless smirk.

“I’d been hit by an S-Class monster. Slammed through a building so hard I left a hole. And I wasn’t in pain. Not even a little.”

Eli blinked. “Your—your ability?”

Caelen’s hand lifted, palm facing upward as if remembering the sensation in his skin.

“Yes. I stood up. I charged the demon again.” His eyes sharpened. “And then I felt it. The pain I was supposed to feel. The pain that belonged to my broken bones, crushed ribs, torn muscles—except… it wasn’t in one place. It was moving. Like it flowed through my veins.”

Eli shivered.

“And I knew,” Caelen said. “That was my ability.”

His hand curled into a fist.

“So I gathered it—all of it. Every shred of pain in my body—I imagined it moving into my fist. Concentrated. Focused. And then I hit the demon choking my mother.”

Eli leaned in. “Did it die?”

A slow, razor-sharp smile spread across Caelen’s face.

“Oh, it didn’t just die,” he murmured. “It exploded.”

Eli froze.

“That was the moment I realized,” Caelen said quietly, “I had abilities.”

“And after that? What happened then?” Eli asked.

The smile faded.

The smirk vanished.

Caelen’s expression darkened, eyes flickering with something old and corrosive.

“My father. Kairo. They saw my abilities as weak.”

Eli stared. “Weak? After… that?”

“I wasn’t considered an S-Class,” Caelen said flatly. “Not even close.”

A beat of silence.

Eli hesitated. “Until…?”

Caelen looked up at the star-laced sky, a grimness settling on his face.

“Until I proved them wrong.”

“How did you prove them wrong?”

“That…is a question I’ll answer another time.” Caelen answers as he sat up straight on the swing and turned his body towards Eli.

“What?”

“I’ve told you a lot about my past, about Kairo. Information only you and my family only know. It’s your turn to answer my questions.”

Eli furrows his eyebrows. “And…what are your questions?”

“What…” Caelen says, finally getting up from the swing, walking towards Eli and unexpectedly he grabs Eli’s wrist, making Eli gasp.

“W-What are you—”

“…are you doing with the SS-Class serpent?”

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