Chapter 431: Party

"Hello, everyone!"

Mark’s family collectively gasped as Nathan appeared in the middle of Ethan’s living room, having phased himself and his passengers through the ground without so much as a warning.

Ethan, Mark, Kaela, and Elara barely reacted.

They had sensed Nathan’s arrival, and their reflexes were fast enough that whatever surprise they might have experienced had vanished before it could register on their faces.

Nathan, meanwhile, was already making himself comfortable.

He greeted everyone with his usual boundless enthusiasm before walking over to Ethan and wrapping his arm around his shoulder.

"What’s up, bro?"

Ethan stared at him.

He still had a lot of explaining to do about suddenly acquiring another brother to Mark’s family, and Nathan’s attitude wasn’t making the situation any easier. The bastard acted as though they’d grown up together rather than discovered their relationship under circumstances that would have given anyone else a headache.

Ethan raised a hand and attempted to slap the back of the man’s head, but his hand passed straight through.

Nathan burst out laughing.

"Did you really think that would work? They don’t call me Phantom for nothing."

Ethan studied the man.

’He must have to activate that form, so he’s fast too, but even in that form there’s no way that he’s invisible, right? There must be some sort of mental attack that can still hit him, or a way to force him back to normal.’

He sighed.

"One of these days, I’m going to figure out how to hit you."

"Sure you are."

Nathan wandered over to Mark with a grin.

"What’s up, bro? A brother of my brother is my brother too."

Mark stared at him for a moment before glancing at Ethan, who could only shake his head. Nathan was completely ridiculous, but Ethan couldn’t deny that he was funny, and Mark didn’t seem to mind him either.

’I guess craziness is hereditary.’

Isabelle, meanwhile, was delighted to see everyone again.

She’d been visiting frequently enough that the house was becoming familiar to her, and after greeting Ethan, she immediately ran off to play with Adonis. The two children had gotten along remarkably well, and watching them together always brought a strange warmth to Ethan’s chest.

Jessica, on the other hand, stood there awkwardly, looking slightly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of insanity unfolding around her. Between Nathan’s ability, the unfamiliar people, and the casual way they treated things that would have terrified most people, she wasn’t entirely sure what to make of any of it.

Ethan greeted her with a nod, unsure what else to say.

But surprisingly, Elara was the one who approached her first.

The two women began talking, and to Ethan’s growing horror, they seemed to get along remarkably well. Before long, they were comparing stories about him, occasionally glancing in his direction with expressions that suggested he was the subject of a particularly entertaining discussion.

Ethan couldn’t help but overhear what they were saying, and somehow that made it worse.

Kaela lounged on the sofa with a drink in hand, watching the scene unfold.

"That must suck," she whispered.

"It definitely does," Ethan muttered back with a laugh.

Despite the teasing, the evening turned out to be enjoyable.

They ordered a ridiculous amount of pizza, spent hours chatting, and allowed themselves to enjoy a rare stretch of normality. Well, as normal as things could be with such an array of characters.

Eventually, Nathan checked his phone and sighed.

"I’ve gotta do something for the old man, but I’ll have someone pick them up if they don’t wanna stay."

Ethan appreciated the fact that Nathan looked after Isabelle and Jessica, even if his supposed brother had a couple of screws loose.

"Say hi to him for me."

That was about all Ethan could bring himself to say to Victor Crowe after witnessing the memories of his life. He pitied the man and understood him more than he’d like to admit, but he couldn’t pretend to feel the kind of love one was supposed to have for a father. Nor could he bring himself to regard the man as such, at least not yet.

Nathan grinned.

"I’m sure he can see what’s going on here with that creepy eye of his anyway."

Before Ethan could question him on that, Nathan sank into the ground and disappeared.

Ethan stared at the spot where he’d been standing.

’That bastard.’

He decided not to dwell on it.

The party continued, and for a little while longer, everything felt perfectly fine.

But eventually, Ethan rose to his feet.

"I’ve got something I need to do."

He said his goodbyes, making sure to spend a little extra time with Isabelle. Of everyone present, she was the person he hated parting with most. He’d already missed the key years of her childhood, and even now, despite the time they’d spent together recently, leaving her still felt wrong.

Nevertheless, he had something important to take care of.

Despite it being his own housewarming party, Ethan was the next to leave, and he did so alone.

No one bothered to try stopping him.

The night air was cool as Ethan wandered through the city, allowing his feet to carry him wherever they pleased. With so many people around him lately and the endless stream of supernatural insanity that seemed to follow wherever he went, he needed some time alone to clear his head.

He pulled his hood over his head and kept it low, blending into the passing crowds as he walked.

’Those wannabe thugs haven’t been around recently.’

The thought brought a faint smile to his face as he remembered the days before receiving his Title. Back then, he was lost and angry, and even before that, his ambitions were much simpler.

’There was once a time when all I wanted to be was a top gangster, like Al Capone or Lucky Luciano.’

He’d dreamed of power, money, and respect, imagining what it would be like to climb to the top of the criminal underworld. In the world he’d grown up in, that had seemed like a perfectly reasonable ambition.

But everything had changed when the Gates appeared and Titles became the new measure of power.

These days, it hardly mattered how feared a gangster was if he wasn’t Titled. Ordinary weapons and street-level muscle meant very little against people who could tear apart buildings with their bare hands or summon monsters capable of destroying entire neighbourhoods.

It was a funny reality, really.

The world had changed so much that even the dreams he’d once held seemed almost quaint. Eventually, Ethan found himself heading toward the bodega on the corner near Black Howl.

’I can’t remember the last time I came here.’

It was where he’d worked for a short while after getting out of prison, thanks to Mark helping him secure the job. Of course, that hadn’t lasted very long. His brief career as a convenience-store employee had become little more than a distant memory since receiving his Title.

Still, he couldn’t help but go inside.

Ethan pushed open the door and stepped inside.

Instead of the old man he remembered, he found a young-looking Asian girl standing behind the counter.

"Where’s Old Man Cho?"

The question caught her off guard.

She had no idea who the hooded man was, yet he spoke as though he knew her grandfather well. Something about him seemed familiar, too, although she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

She stared at him for another moment before snapping out of her thoughts.

"Oh! Gramps has been unwell lately."

Ethan nodded.

"Got it."

He asked for the cheapest cigarettes she had, and she handed him a pack. Without another word, he left a pile of cash on the counter and turned toward the door.

"Wait, you paid way too much!"

Ethan was already outside.

He strolled through the city, smoking his lungs away as he walked. It was a habit he was increasingly annoyed with, but there was something about the familiar burn and the steady rhythm of walking that helped him relieve some of the stress he’d been carrying.

He knew it wasn’t healthy.

He also knew that, considering the things his body had endured and would continue to, smoking probably wasn’t the greatest threat to his life.

Eventually, he found himself back at the house.

The party was still going strong downstairs. Laughter drifted through the walls, and the smell of pizza lingered in the air. Ethan paused outside for a moment before jumping up and climbing in through one of the windows rather than walking through the front door.

Mark, Elara, and Kaela had sensed his return.

More than that, they could almost feel the tension clinging to him, even though his outward behaviour suggested nothing was wrong. He headed straight toward his room, and to anyone else, it might have looked as though Ethan had simply grown tired and decided to go to sleep.

The three of them knew better.

They could practically imagine what he was about to do.

Another night in the Tower, another battle against wild beasts, and another attempt to grow stronger, no matter how much it hurt.

They were exactly right...