Chapter 1837: A Father who lost everything...

Allen and Jonathan were grieving over the deaths of the women they had loved.

Crack

A shard of glass fractured beneath the weight of a foot.

Both men slowly looked up.

"Where... have you been?"

Jonathan’s voice was cold, but beneath that coldness was something far more fragile.

Maiuri’s headless body lay motionless in Jonathan’s arms, her clothes stained dark with blood. Jonathan held her with both hands, almost carefully, as though some part of him still believed that if he held her tightly enough, death might somehow loosen its grip.

Young Aether’s gaze remained fixed upon Maiuri’s lifeless body.

"I... I—"

Before he could finish, Allen suddenly moved away from his dead wife.

His hand shot forward and seized Young Aether by the collar.

"WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN?!"

It was not anger alone. It was fear, desperation, and the raw agony of a father who had already lost too much and could not bear the thought of losing anything else.

Tears streamed down Allen’s face as his fingers tightened around Young Aether’s collar.

"Where are they?" he demanded again, "Where are Lily and Noah?!"

Young Aether trembled beneath his grip.

"We... We were enjoying ourselves on the beach when..." His voice faltered as he swallowed hard.

"Someone suddenly attacked us. We tried to fight back, but... they took Lily."

Allen stared at him.

For a moment, he seemed unable to understand the words.

His grip slowly loosened.

His lips began to tremble.

"N-Noah?"

The question came out almost as a whisper.

Young Aether lowered his head.

"..."

He could not answer.

Allen’s expression changed.

The tears continued falling, but his face became strangely empty, as though something inside him had simply stopped functioning.

Thud.

Allen collapsed to his knees, his eyes fixed blankly upon the floor.

"So... they took her as well?"

Jonathan muttered coldly.

He looked toward Allen, watching the tears continue to run down the man’s face.

His wife was dead.

His children were gone.

And whatever remained of his family was being torn away from him piece by piece.

It was the kind of grief that left a person alive only because their body had not yet realised there was nothing left worth waking up for.

Young Aether took a hesitant step toward Allen.

He wanted to comfort him.

He wanted to say something, anything, that might keep his friend from completely breaking apart.

!!!

Then a shadow flickered beside Allen.

A child stood there.

The faint light caught his ice-blue eyes.

Young Aether froze.

His entire body shuddered violently.

For one brief moment, genuine fear crossed his face. His eyes met the child’s for only an instant before he immediately turned away.

He forced himself to look toward Jonathan instead.

"W-What happened here?"

Jonathan gently lowered Maiuri onto the floor.

He treated her body with an almost unbearable tenderness, despite the blood covering his hands.

Once he released her, he slowly stood.

"They took Sasha as well."

??

Young Aether blinked.

"Sasha? Who took them? What happened while I was gone? And..." His eyes moved toward the bodies. "Why are Maiuri and Emily dead?"

Jonathan said nothing.

His eyes shifted toward Allen.

Allen was still on his knees, quietly mumbling his son’s name over and over.

"Noah... Noah... Noah..."

Jonathan slowly drew in a breath and clenched his blood-covered fist.

"The Governor of Zeta."

Young Aether stared at him. "Why would the Governor do this?"

Jonathan did not answer immediately.

He walked toward the broken cooler lying among the debris. He bent down and picked up one of the remaining bottles of beer.

For a moment, he simply stared at it, then he opened it and raised it to his lips.

He drank the entire bottle in one long swallow.

The bitter liquid burned down his throat, but it did nothing to numb the pain.

His fingers trembled around the bottle.

A thin trail of beer escaped the corner of his mouth and ran down his chin.

Jonathan wiped it away with the back of his hand, but his hand was shaking too badly to hide it.

He tightened his grip around the bottle.

The memories returned anyway.

Maiuri’s voice.

Her smile.

The warmth of her hand.

The moment everything had been taken away.

He had drunk to forget.

Instead, every swallow only seemed to drag the memories deeper into the light.

Jonathan lowered the empty bottle.

His eyes remained fixed on nothing.

And beneath the blood, beneath the anger, beneath everything he had left standing...

There was only a man mourning the woman he could no longer bring back.

"FUCK!!!"

Jonathan’s roar tore through the room as his face twisted with uncontrollable fury. He hurled an empty bottle against the wall with every ounce of strength he could muster.

SHATTER!!

The bottle struck the wall and exploded into countless fragments, scattering across the floor as tiny pieces of glass glittered beneath the dim light.

Jonathan stood there breathing heavily as he stared at the shattered glass.

"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FFFFUCCCCKKK!!"

His voice echoed through the ruined room while he repeatedly stomped against the floor, each movement fueled by rage that had nowhere else to go. His fists remained tightly clenched, and his shoulders trembled as tears threatened to spill from eyes that had already endured more grief than they could contain.

Young Aether quietly remained where he stood, watching the scene unfold without interrupting Jonathan’s outburst.

Two women had lost their lives, while the men who loved them were still breathing, yet neither man looked truly alive anymore.

It took several long moments before Jonathan’s breathing finally began to settle. His shoulders gradually stopped shaking, although his hands continued trembling as he tried to regain control over himself.

"Jonny?"

Young Aether spoke softly.

Jonathan slowly turned toward him. "S-Sorry. Sorry, what did you ask?" He rubbed his face with one hand and swallowed hard before continuing.

"Yeah, right... why? Why the Governor?"

He nodded several times as though forcing his scattered thoughts back into place. Then glared at Allen as if he was responsible for this.

Young Aether almost moved instinctively when Jonathan suddenly lunged toward Allen.

Jonathan grabbed Allen by his clothes and violently pulled him upward, forcing the broken man to face him.

"FUCKER! TELL HIM WHY!"

"WHY DID HE HAVE TO DO THAT?! BECAUSE OF YOU, I FUCKING LOST MY WIFE!"

Jonathan’s face was twisted with rage as tears finally escaped from the corners of his eyes.

He spat directly into Allen’s face.

Yet Allen did not react or raise his hand or glare back or... even seem to hear Jonathan anymore.

His eyes remained vacant as his lips continued moving almost mechanically.

"Noah... Lily..."

He repeated their names beneath his breath as though those names were the last fragments of his family that remained within his reach.

Jonathan stared at him for several seconds, and the sight only seemed to make his anger burn hotter.

He shoved Allen away and clicked his tongue repeatedly while shaking his head in frustration.

"Tch... damn it..."

His breathing became uneven again as he clenched his fist; his knuckles creaked beneath the pressure.

Then he swung his fist toward Allen’s face.

BAM!

Or so Jonathan thought.

Young Aether suddenly appeared between them and caught Jonathan’s fist before it could connect with Allen.

"Jonny..."

Young Aether’s voice remained calm, but there was a warning hidden beneath it.

Jonathan froze as he stared at his fist trapped within Young Aether’s grasp. His lips trembled while the anger in his expression slowly gave way to exhaustion.

His fingers gradually loosened.

Jonathan lowered his arm and shook his head.

"Man... this is so messed up. Fuck..."

His voice became quieter as his eyes settled upon Emily’s lifeless body.

"It’s all because of his wife, Emily."

Jonathan pointed toward Emily’s corpse.

"The Zeta Governor, the Manager of this Brothel City, took an interest in Allen’s wife."

Young Aether’s expression hardened as he listened.

Jonathan continued speaking,

"Because he was the Governor of the Brothel City, he asked Allen to give him his wife for just one day, but Allen refused."

"However, Allen couldn’t directly refuse him because his Aevum was too low, so he contacted me instead and asked me to intervene."

"And... I used my connections to reach my Governor and pleaded with him to approach the President on our behalf. After several transactions and negotiations, the Governor finally backed away from Allen and his family."

His expression darkened.

"But he only backed away on the outside."

Young Aether remained silent as Jonathan continued.

"Behind the scenes, he kept pushing Allen into increasingly dangerous missions, deliberately placing him in situations where he was obviously expected to die."

Jonathan looked toward Allen.

"Every time, Allen somehow managed to survive and return alive."

Young Aether frowned as he tried to understand the connection.

"But what does any of that have to do with this?"

His gaze shifted toward Emily’s dead body before returning to Jonathan.

"If getting Emily was the Governor’s original goal, then why would he kill her instead?"

Young Aether’s eyes moved toward Maiuri.

"And why did Maiuri have to die as well?"

Jonathan remained silent for several seconds.

His eyes slowly moved toward Allen, who was still lying on the floor and repeating his family’s names with a hollow expression.

"Noah... Lily..."

Jonathan looked away.

"Since I came here with my wives, his target was obviously both of us."

He took another breath, trying to keep his voice steady.

"We were the ones who made him look powerless and humiliated in front of the President, so he must have wanted revenge against both of us."

Jonathan’s jaw tightened as he continued explaining.

"Since he couldn’t get Emily, he decided that eliminating her would be the next best thing."

"And when Allen tried to save her..."

Jonathan stopped speaking.

His lips trembled as his vision slowly blurred with tears.

"Maiuri... Maiuri was killed while trying to save her."

For several seconds, he said nothing more.

Then his gaze slowly returned to Allen.

There was grief in his eyes, but beneath that grief remained an ugly, desperate anger that refused to disappear.

Because even though Jonathan understood that the Governor had caused all of this, some broken part of him still needed someone closer to blame.

And right now, that person was Allen.

Young Aether’s frown deepened as the pieces of the situation finally began falling into place.

"Then... Lily and Sasha?"

Jonathan clenched his fist so tightly that his knuckles turned pale. He bit down on his lower lip as anger and helplessness fought across his expression,

"He must have... taken them to shame us."

His voice trembled as he struggled to contain himself.

"He wanted to humiliate us! THAT MOTHERFUCKER! I’M GOING TO RIP HIS HEAD OFF!"

Young Aether remained silent as he processed everything Jonathan had told him.

He had more or less understood the situation now.

Young Aether slowly nodded.

"Then let’s go to the tower and kill that fucking bastard."

Jonathan looked at him in surprise, seemingly unable to believe what he had just heard.

"You... would do that for me?"

Young Aether gave him a small smile. "Of course. We’ll go there together and save them."

Before he could respond, however, a quiet voice came from behind them.

"What’s the point?"

Both of them turned around.

Allen had finally stopped mumbling.

He slowly raised his head and looked at Jonathan and Young Aether, his vacant eyes reflecting nothing but exhaustion and despair.

His face was wet with tears, his cheeks stained with dried blood and dust.

"What’s the fucking point of going there?"

Allen stared at them with hollow eyes.

"What’s the point?"

His lips trembled as he struggled to understand why they were still talking about saving anyone when, in his mind, everything worth saving had already been taken away.

"They died... THEY FUCKING DIED!"

The words erupted from him with such raw anguish that Jonathan instinctively fell silent.

Allen’s eyes widened as tears streamed freely down his face.

"Everyone is dead!"

"HAHAHA... my children... my wife..."

A broken laugh escaped his throat, but there was no happiness within it.

"My children... my wife..."

Young Aether’s lips trembled as he watched his friend fall apart before him.

Allen lowered his head.

"There is... no point in living anymore."

His voice became quieter.

"There’s no point."

His fingers slowly curled against the floor as he stared at nothing.

"There is no home."

The words escaped almost unconsciously.

"There won’t be Noah running toward me anymore... Lily won’t be calling for me anymore... and Emily..."

He could not finish his wife’s name.

His face crumpled as another wave of tears rolled down his cheeks.

"T-There is... nothing left."

Young Aether took a hesitant step toward him.

Allen’s gaze drifted toward the shattered glass scattered across the floor.

"There is... no point."

Before either of them could understand what he intended to do, Allen suddenly lunged toward the broken pieces and grabbed one.

Allen raised the glass toward his own throat with desperate, trembling hands.

Chuckkk!!

Jonathan’s eyes widened in horror.

"Aether!"

The shard pierced through Young Aether’s right hand just a few millimeters away from Allen’s neck.

Blood immediately spilt across Young Aether’s fingers and splashed against Allen’s face.

Allen froze.

His fingers slowly loosened around the glass.

Then something seemed to snap inside him.

His eyes trembled as though he had suddenly awakened from a nightmare and finally understood what he had almost done.

"I... I..."

His gaze shifted toward Young Aether’s wounded hand.

"I didn’t m-mean to..."

Young Aether smiled gently despite the blood running from his hand.

"It’s alright."

He carefully removed the glass from his wounded hand before pulling Allen into a soft embrace.

"It’s alright, Allen. You don’t have to apologise."

Young Aether gently placed his hand against Allen’s back.

"I know it hurts.... I know what it feels like to watch someone you love get hurt and realise there is nothing you can do to stop it."

Allen’s body remained rigid for several seconds.

Then his fingers slowly curled into Young Aether’s clothes.

Young Aether continued speaking softly.

"I know the feeling of losing someone you love."

His eyes shifted toward the corner of the room.

The child was standing there.

Watching him.

Those ice-blue eyes remained fixed upon Young Aether with an unsettling intensity.

Young Aether’s body trembled.

Fear passed through his eyes before he immediately averted his gaze and pulled Allen slightly closer, refusing to look at the child again.

"But... can you believe me one last time? Everything will be alright. You will be smiling with your family very soon. I’ll make sure of it."

Young Aether tightened his embrace.

"Please."

Allen’s face twisted with unbearable pain.

"I... I lost everything, Aether."

His voice broke as tears continued streaming down his face.

"E-Everything..."

A weak, broken laugh escaped him.

"Ahaha... ah..."

He covered his face with one trembling hand, but it did nothing to stop the tears.

He remembered Lily’s laughter.

He remembered Noah running toward him.

He remembered Emily’s smile when she looked at him.

He remembered the small, ordinary moments he had once taken for granted because he had believed there would always be another tomorrow.

Now those memories were all he had left.

"I... I’m s-so worthless. I couldn’t even protect my family."

His voice became increasingly broken as guilt consumed him.

"I...I-I was supposed to p-protect them."

He swallowed painfully.

"I... I shouldn’t have had a family."

Young Aether’s expression tightened.

Allen continued speaking through his tears.

"I... I shouldn’t have loved her."

His voice cracked as he remembered Emily.

"If I had never met her..."

He stopped to breathe.

"If I had never loved her... maybe she would still be alive."

"I-If not for me—"

"Shush."

Young Aether gently placed his finger over Allen’s lips, stopping the words before they could leave him.

"Don’t say it."

Allen stared at him through tear-filled eyes.

Young Aether pulled the broken man into his arms again.

"I-I am here... believe in me, my friend... Believe..."

Allen blinked before the warmth of his friend hit his body... The last remnants of his composure vanished as he began bawling like a child who had suddenly lost everything that had ever given his life meaning.

His body trembled violently with every sob, while his fingers desperately clutched Young Aether’s clothes as though he were afraid that even this final source of comfort would disappear.

But while Young Aether comforted the broken man in his arms, his eyes gradually shifted toward Jonathan.

For a brief moment, his gaze became unreadable.