A glass bottle. That was the object Hans Mason used to vent his anguish on his own son, Liam. Liam, in turn, remained silent.
Everyone did.
The neighbors, who adored Liam, his smile, and the way the child carried himself, stayed quiet.
Hans' colleagues sometimes tried to intervene by hiding Liam, but in the end, the boy always bore the brunt of it.
So everyone stayed silent.
From local authorities to villagers, no one dared to stand up for him. After all, who would be crazy enough to raise a hand against a colonel-general to protect a Le Fay?
In Egon, the largest empire on the continent, there was once a woman accused of witchcraft many years ago. Acting as a false prophet, "Morgana Le Fay" suddenly disappeared, leaving only traces of her existence in her descendants.
Everyone who carried the Le Fay surname was judged by their ancestor's actions, regardless of their own. These children were quickly excluded, having almost no rights in society. Except for the nobility, of course.
But what led Hans to behave this way? After all, until Liam was four, the relationship between father and son could be summed up as "perfect."
Everything changed when Liam was four. On a summer morning, he received the news that he would have a younger sibling.
The child's eyes sparkled like the sun that morning. He even grew anxious during the long wait that seemed endless.
When the "perfect day" finally arrived, the lives of the two men in the family took a drastic turn. Mavie Müller, Liam's mother, died suddenly during childbirth.
At the time, young Liam couldn't fully comprehend what had just happened; he simply watched his mother through a glass window.
As for the baby, it was a girl who lived just long enough to draw one last smile from Liam. The two siblings faced each other, but just a few minutes later, the little one also passed away.
As a four-year-old, he didn't understand what had just happened.
For Hans, it was obvious.
Liam carried the Le Fay blood, and that was why his wife and daughter had died. Liam was cursed. He blamed the boy for something he didn't even know.
Hans forced Liam to train as a soldier, throwing away his entire childhood and adolescence to make "something good" out of him.
Until the age of fourteen, Liam was beaten daily by Hans, who used a glass bottle to cut his son's face. He learned to swallow his tears and remain reserved, speaking to no one unless necessary.
Hans subjected his own son to a "mental reprogramming" program, where he underwent brainwashing.
Liam had no choice. His mind, knowledge, thoughts—everything was blank. A blank slate prepared to be rewritten at the army's whim. At sixteen, he was forced to enlist as a soldier.
It was during this time that he began to demonstrate his capabilities as a soldier and was quickly appointed as lieutenant of the third squadron. A title he held for three years, until the day Emperor Egon visited the camp where Liam was stationed.
The emperor's carriage caused a crowd of soldiers to gather around, surrounding him and praising him.
The emperor's two older sisters stood by his side, eyeing the most handsome men and winking at those who caught their attention. Until they both looked at Liam: he was tall, with long, straight blond hair. His blue eyes stood out against his pale skin, and the scars on his face gave him a more mature appearance.
"Hey, look at that one. If he didn't have so many scars, I might go for him."
"They're probably battle scars… Maybe I want him."
It had been a few minutes since his sisters had been commenting on the soldiers' appearances, so the emperor grew bored.
He closed his eyes and clicked his tongue, preparing to reprimand them, but by some twist of fate, Kaiser Egon looked at Liam. His eyes widened when they met the downcast soldier's gaze. The two weren't far apart in age. Kaiser was only three years older and had just inherited the throne from his recently deceased father.
As a noble, he was revered. Coming from a victorious lineage, he was treated as a hero despite never having accomplished any such feats. Kaiser was the opposite of Liam. While one had suffered, killed, and been traumatized to reach that level, Kaiser had always been there. Without a single wound or scar, neither in body nor soul.
The emperor jumped from his carriage and stopped in front of Liam. Ignoring the squadron captain and even the colonel-general, Hans Mason, the emperor ordered the lieutenant:
"You, introduce yourself."
Since Liam was looking at the ground, it took him a few seconds to respond. But when Hans nudged him, and he snapped back to reality, Liam replied:
"Liam Mason Le Fay, lieutenant of the third squadron."
"Your age and ethnicity."
"Nineteen, Egorian."
"Nineteen?" one of the sisters whispered, her cheeks turning red.
Kaiser pulled Hans aside, seeking a private conversation.
"You know what this means, right?" said James, Liam's sub-lieutenant.
Like his lieutenant, James was a Le Fay. Unfortunately, he shared Liam's experiences. This brought them closer, despite their distant familial ties to the witch Morgana.
"No," Liam whispered.
James threw an arm over Liam's shoulder.
"Look, we're cursed simply because we didn't inherit anything from anyone. Meanwhile, the nobility has hereditary traits…"
"I know, idiot."
"Let me explain!" James cleared his throat. "They say the Egon family's trait lies in their eyes. The former emperor could detect your connection to Morgana—that's how he chose his closest soldiers. As for Kaiser…"
The sub-lieutenant glanced sideways at the emperor's sisters and Kaiser himself, trying to distance himself further.
"He can see the flow of mental energy within each of us. Something beyond what the physical world offers. The brighter your energy, the more likely you are to die in battle. But the darker your Weltna ((Weltna: In German, 'Welt' can be translated as 'World.' Meanwhile, 'Na' refers to the witch Morgana. Combining the words and considering the vocabulary of the Egon Empire, Weltna means 'Morgana's World.'
This concept can be easily understood as 'The energy that brings curses,' responsible for magic. For a better understanding, imagine it as a substance that makes powers possible, like mana or similar concepts.)), the more powerful you are. This is influenced by the individual's mentality and strength."
"What does that mean for me?"
"Kid, look at your life. You've killed several of Mikoto's lieutenants and won unimaginable duels within Egon. You witnessed the Xianzhu massacre. How do you think your Weltna looks to the emperor?"
The void.
To Egon's eyes, Liam was covered in a line of black energy. A stain, to be more specific. That was what caused such admiration in the emperor.
"Colonel," the emperor said, looking at Liam with a smile plastered on his face. "Your lieutenant, from today on, will serve me. He might even become a general in a few years."
"Yes, I became…" Liam thought briefly. "The strongest of them, but in exchange for… what?"
Indeed, he had become something so grand that he was proclaimed "absolute." The first and only man to be deified in Egon.
Colossus Slayer. Savior of Zhuang. The universe's true son.
To Liam, they were nothing but titles. After all, that's all they were. Nicknames wouldn't revive the lives he'd taken, nor erase the nonexistent remorse.
If you stop attacking, you die. That was the motto Liam carried on his shoulders. And that was the reason for his sudden death.
His eyes grew heavy, his stomach was bleeding, and an immeasurable cold enveloped him. Everything around him was swallowed by deafening silence.
The memory of every battle and every death he caused fell like rain in Liam's eyes. The crimson glow of the blood moon transformed into the blood he had spilled.
On his deathbed, Liam didn't even know who had wounded him so severely. He wasn't surprised that he felt no pain or fear of death, as it was something he had begged for every day.
'Liam Mason Le Fay…' a hoarse, commanding voice whispered.
A freezing mist gripped him, touching his nearly exposed entrails.
As on his deathbed, it's natural for people to regret certain things and have their sins forgiven.
Yet, as incredible as it may seem, Liam felt none of that. He regretted none of the lives he had taken, none of his actions; he regretted absolutely nothing.
"I know you're watching me from above, and you must hate me since you won't let me pay for my sins…" He joked, looking at the sky. "I hope there's no hell after death. I'm not in the mood to live again."
His eyes grew heavy once more, and Liam let out his last breath in the world, but they remained open, his final sensation being that his body was being pulled into the ground.
"What a weight…"
The feeling of death was… ethereal.