The ship kept drifting far away from the beach, but on it, Eyla kept shouting and crying for Huston, while Ariel, with his newfound strength, was able to hold her in place despite being thrashed by his grieving mother.
Uriel's eyes looked red and blank, but tears never stopped flowing down them. She had witnessed the death of her father, something a child her age should never have seen.
Soon, the beach and the forest were nowhere to be seen as the ship drifted farther and farther away.
Having exhausted all her strength, Eyla fell weakly on the deck, but she kept sobbing.
"It's my fault. If I had awakened my bloodline as well, Huston wouldn't have died. I would have been more useful. Waaahh!" Eyla said in a choking voice filled with pain as her shoulders trembled and her cries broke unevenly.
Ariel's heart stung with pain when he heard what Eyla said. He knew she caused none of this. He went to Eyla and Uriel's front and knelt hard, the deck echoing violently.
BANGGG!!
He banged his head hard on the deck. He knelt, bowing to Eyla and Uriel, who were shocked out of their grief and stared at him.
"I'm sorry!" Ariel shouted, his immature voice breaking into a high pitch as tears streamed down his face.
"It was all my fault! If I wasn't blinded by rage! If I hadn't attacked them! If I hadn't killed any of them!" Ariel kept saying it in a heavy, grief-filled and condemning voice.
"None of this would have happened! We wouldn't have had to run away! Father would still be alive. Waaahh!"
"It's all my fault! I'm sorry I caused you this tragedy!"
Ariel cried, apologizing as he raised his head and slammed it again on the deck. And again. And again.
Blood flowed out from his forehead, unrestrained, dripping down and staining the wood beneath him.
Eyla saw this and instantly her motherly instinct flared as she hurried forward and stopped Ariel from continuing to hit his head on the deck.
Immediately, she pulled him into her arms and subconsciously held him tightly, almost desperately, as if afraid he would hurt himself again.
"It's not your fault! None of it is your fault! It's my fault for not letting you and Uriel know about the world," Eyla whispered, her voice shaking. "If I didn't beg your father not to expose you to the world yet back tgen, none of this would have come as a shock and led to this. I'm truly sorry for my selfishness."
Eyla, while holding Ariel in her arms, crawled toward Uriel and pulled her in as well.
The three of them clung to each other, their quiet sobs blending into the sound of the sea.
But Ariel's mind was beyond grief, as he felt he was the true cause of it all.
Although the world might have been suffering before he was born, it was his wish and prayer for a world not of peace but of war, which Truck-kun delivered.
He felt that if he hadn't been reborn into this family, the Ariel who might have been born in his place would have done something to protect everyone.
'This is the consequence of my wish, and I must pay for it! I'll protect my family! No matter what!' Ariel silently vowed within himself.
But deep inside him, the symmetric red lines on the black cube pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat. The glow reflected briefly on his body, then spread to his mother and sister before vanishing as if it had never existed.
Ariel felt nothing. He knew nothing about what just happened. Even his mother and sister noticed nothing as well.
"Well! Well! Well! If this isn't a touching family scene, I don't know what is!" A woman's voice sounded.
"!!!!!!"
Because of what they had just experienced, Ariel, Eyla, and Uriel's hearts skipped.
Without even turning back, Ariel broke free from his mother's embrace and, like a cheetah, dashed at a very fast speed toward where the silver staff lay. He picked it up in a flash and dashed back, standing in front of his mother and twin sister in a protective stance.
All of this happened in a blink of an eye.
"Woah!! That's an impressive speed you got there, kid! I knew it! You've awakened your bloodline! And it's a physical-related type! Hahahaha! What a stroke of luck!" the woman said in a surprised yet excited tone.
On the other side of the ship Ariel and his family were on was an even bigger ship, where a woman stood confidently on the bulwark.
She was dressed in a long black jacket and a tight black shirt that hugged her figure but still looked flexible. Her black trousers fitted her neatly without being too tight or too loose, and her boots nearly reached her knees.
On her head, she wore a black tengade cap that blocked the sun. She looked to be in her mid-twenties.
She had a wide grin on her face as she looked at the family, especially Ariel.
It seemed she was the only one on such a huge ship.
"You people are quite lucky the weather is calm and nice today. If not, you don't want to know what would happen otherwise," the woman said with a smile, her tone dropping slightly at the end.
Ariel tensed because he knew the woman was right. From countless life stories and films he had seen in his previous life as Michael, he knew she wasn't exaggerating.
"Who are you? And what do you want?" Ariel asked with a brave voice, though inside, he felt some relief that it wasn't the dark elves or goblins chasing them. Still, he remained cautious.
"Oh my! Is that how you talk to someone who saved your lives?" the woman said, sounding slightly offended.
Ariel gritted his teeth when he heard her words.
"Saved our lives?!" Eyla snapped, her voice rising as tears returned to her eyes. "My husband died out there and you say you saved our lives?!"
She staggered forward, but Ariel quickly shouted,
"Mother, please calm down!"
Hearing her son's voice, Eyla forced herself to stop, though her glare at the woman burned with anger.
"Uriel, please calm mother down, okay?" Ariel said softly.
Uriel weakly nodded. She still hadn't found her voice.
"My, oh my! The behavior you didn't dare show to the dark elves, you're showing to me. I see," the woman said thoughtfully. "Well, it doesn't matter since my heart is bigger." She smiled widely.
But Ariel, who had dealt with different kinds of people in his past life as a hacker, knew better. That smile wasn't kind, it was dangerous.
And just like a wave crashing through the sea, a heavy pressure exploded from the woman, pressing down on Ariel, Eyla, and Uriel.
Uriel fainted immediately.
Eyla swayed, her vision darkening, but she clenched her teeth and forced herself to stay conscious. As a mother, she refused to fall when her child was still standing.
Ariel gritted his teeth as his body trembled under the pressure. His fingers tightened around the silver staff, his knuckles turning pale, but soon he realized he couldn't even move from where he stood.
'This woman is way stronger than that dark elf woman!' Ariel thought, anguish rising in his chest.
If she decided to kill them, he couldn't resist.
And that… that was what hurt the most.
"See? I told you, my heart is bigger!" the woman said with a smile, though the pressure she released made her expression look twisted.
And the biggest problem was…
No one saw when she appeared right in front of Ariel, crouching down to his level.