“Love?”
At the word love, Ircadeon’s eyes gleamed. His hand slightly lifted Abrisius’s trembling chin.
As his head was raised, their gazes naturally met. A tenacious gaze swept over Abrisius. The moment he confirmed without difficulty the source of desire within him, Ircadeon’s expression became subtle.
“Yes, love, love. Hmm…….”
Love.
Ircadeon had it too. A time when he loved someone enough to give up everything.
Seeing his son wishing for the same thing as his foolish past self, a bitter smile spread across his face.
‘As expected, bloodline cannot be deceived.’
Would this child walk the same path as himself, who lost love and came to crave revenge?
“So, what you want is love. You’re worried because that love cannot be fulfilled?”
“……Yes.”
The mouth of Abrisius, who had been quietly holding his breath, cautiously opened.
He knew. How foolish it was to reveal his innermost feelings to Ircadeon like this.
Abrisius wasn’t unaware of his hidden intentions to someday take over the surface.
What kind of scheme did he have to come all the way here? Thinking about it, the right answer was to say nothing to Ircadeon.
And yet, the moment he faced him. The Power of Desire Amina had planted was fanning Abrisius’s heart without him knowing.
“There’s someone I love more than anyone. But he doesn’t love me. No matter how much I whisper love to him, far from looking at me, he only pushes me away.”
To make him strongly think that if he told him everything, it might come true.
“I want to be with him forever.”
Amina’s power that grants desires thus burst open the deep desire latent within Abrisius.
“I wish he would love me. I wish he would look at me as much as I love him.”
No, perhaps it wasn’t simply Amina’s power at work alone.
Perhaps a faint conviction that Ircadeon might be the key to solving this situation. An unrecognized desire was fanning Amina’s power.
“Can I make that happen?”
“Of course.”
When he asked Ircadeon in a sobbing voice, he gently nodded and wiped away the tears pooling in Abrisius’s eyes.
“You have my power. Having inherited the deepest and most intense power, there’s nothing you can’t do.”
Carving teachings one by one into his lacking son’s ear, Ircadeon reached out his hand. Cold fingers touched his chest and slowly drew a circle.
“You may not trust me. But know this much. I’m always on your side, Abrisius.”
Of course, that was only on the premise that Abrisius was useful to him.
When the moving hand stopped, heat began to rise gradually from Abrisius’s chest. As he lowered his head at the feeling of his body burning, the rising heat was rippling like flames within him.
“Amina blocked it. But it’s okay now. I’ll reawaken the underground power he blocked.”
“……What did you say?”
At Ircadeon’s proposal, Abrisius’s eyes widened. He had blocked that underground power to be with Seianes, and now he was saying he’d bring it out again.
At the absurd words, his body hesitated and moved away from Ircadeon.
“Don’t say such ridiculous things.”
His scattered mind snapped to attention.
What could he trust about this person who might bring some harm to the surface? What led him to reveal his innermost feelings and cry like this?
Not knowing that the reason might be due to the deep Power of Desire. Abrisius regretted the foolish actions he had committed.
“You didn’t know, but I…… I’ve been suppressing the underground power. To stay by his side!”
The face laughing alluringly before him, bewildered and not knowing what to do, was detestable. Just as he was about to turn around and leave this contaminated land.
“I know what you’re worried about, Abrisius. But just because you master my power doesn’t mean your identity will be exposed. Rather, it might be necessary to fulfill your love.”
“…….”
Absurd talk. No, it didn’t make sense. Everything he was saying was nothing but flashy, good-looking but worthless nonsense.
However, the hope that there might be a small possibility held Abrisius back. Perhaps what he said could be true.
If Amina’s power didn’t disappear, wouldn’t no one know even if the underground power was returned to its original state?
The Power of Desire deeply engraved in his chest rippled within him.
‘The power needed to fulfill love.’
Among all the futures containing countless possibilities, Amina’s desire was whispering within Abrisius that going to Ircadeon was the right answer.
‘Go quickly. Go to him.’
The desire raging in his chest made him turn toward Ircadeon. Finally, the feet of Abrisius, who had succumbed to desire, moved slowly.
As if possessed by the devil’s whisper, it moved him and finally placed him before Ircadeon.
“Can your power help me fulfill my love?”
Gulp.
His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed. A faint excitement that his desperate wish could be fulfilled and fear that it might not were complexly tangled.
“Of course. Abrisius, the one you love must be the most beautiful person on the surface, right?”
When Ircadeon waved his hand, smoke rose from within his hand and the form of Seianes appeared.
His figure walking freely through beautiful fields was moving within his hand like a puppet show.
“How do you……?”
Even though he hadn’t talked about Seianes, Abrisius trembled as Ircadeon’s ability to know everything became newly real. Perhaps he knew much more than he thought.
At Abrisius’s words, Ircadeon deliberately didn’t answer. The next moment, Ircadeon’s hand moved with a swish. The smoke rippled and this time Abrisius’s form appeared and stood next to Seianes.
“Despite you being an underground being, he accepted you.”
The next moment, an image of Seianes holding Abrisius’s hand was drawn.
“But it cannot be fulfilled. Whether he wants it or not. Because you and he are different from birth. Henelion’s son. And my son. A fate that could never be connected from the start.”
Soon after, the two forms separated from each other. The sight of them desperately wanting to hold onto each other but unable to vividly unfolded before his eyes and then disappeared.
At the terrible sight, Abrisius’s expression darkened. The cruel ending of the small play unfolding in Ircadeon’s hand was showing the two’s future in advance.
“Even if he accepts your heart, can the two of you with different fates be together? Amina is protecting you right now, but how long do you think that will last?”
“…….”
Looking intently at the silent Abrisius, Ircadeon continued speaking.
“Amina’s power is strong, but just as a strong rock cannot block crashing waves for a lifetime, it cannot hide the power surging within you for a lifetime.”
“Then…… what are you telling me to do?”
You cannot be together for a lifetime. Because it was a fate that was never meant to be connected from the start. Even if Seianes accepted him, they would have to continue a precarious life like walking a tightrope.
“Your power, drawing out the power as an underground divine being within me would be even more dangerous!”
Smoke rose again from Ircadeon’s hand.
“If you’re desperate to hide for a lifetime, someday Henelion will notice your existence. When that happens, you’ll have no choice but to separate even if neither wants it. But if you open both powers in advance…….”
The smoke swirled and transformed into Abrisius. Abrisius, looking like a powerful demon king, was flaunting his power. And he embraced the form of Seianes standing next to him as if binding him.
“You can capture him and make him yours before Seianes can even refuse.”
Finally, the form of a black gate appeared below the two smokes.
Seianes, captured by Abrisius, fell helplessly into the cold darkness where no one knew what might be there.
“Fall with him not to the surface, but to the underworld, Abrisius.”
