Asher slowly raised his hands, hesitating as if to return Logan’s embrace.

However, the moment was fleeting, as he gently but firmly pulled back, his expression etched with a profound solemnity, “I am not…The Cedric you guys remember is long dead.”

Logan and Isla exchanged bewildered looks, the room thick with tension while Amelia had a worried look, wondering if he was really going to reveal everything.

Isla, her voice trembling, managed to say, “Wha…What are you talking about? You just said-“

“Yes. I was Cedric and I died. That part can’t be less true,” Asher affirmed, his words settling like stones in the silent room. Logan and Isla shared a troubled glance while Amelia, listening intently, clutched the fabric of her dress, her face a picture of mixed emotions.

“But I got a second chance at life, albeit in a way I never expected. I still could have tried to become Cedric again and lived as if nothing happened. But I would rather die than do that,” Asher continued, his jaw clenched with resolve.

Logan, struggling with the information, asked, “Why? If you-“

“The fact that the world abandoned and crucified me despite dedicating my entire life and killing the demon king for them is nothing compared to the betrayal carried out by the people I loved and trusted like Aira, Derek, and the WHA I pledged my life for,” Asher declared, his tone intensifying with each word, revealing the deep scars of betrayal that marred his soul.

Logan and Isla’s expressions shifted from confusion to shock as they absorbed the gravity of his words, “All they needed was an excuse, a farcical prophecy from the Oracle to get rid of me so that they could shape the world the way they want to, especially Derek. I must have been an obstacle in the path of their ambitions.”

“No…how could they be that evil…” Isla murmured, her voice a whisper of disbelief as she remembered friendly and warm exchanges with Derek and, especially, Aira.

Since Amelia was Rachel’s best friend, their families were naturally close as well. Isla found it hard to believe her best friend, Cecilia’s husband, had such a dark side to him.

“Aira couldn’t have done that to you… She loved you so much, more than anything in the world,” Logan added, his voice low, struggling to reconcile the image of the woman he knew with the actions described.

“So did I believe that as well and somewhere deep inside I was willing to forget for a brief moment, thinking that I can’t blame her if she chose self-preservation and considering she had the entire Evangelion Family to protect or that she had some other good reason to betray me like that. But that was until I learned of what happened after my death which changed me for good,” Asher concluded, his voice carrying a chilling finality.

“Changed you?” Logan mumbled while feeling a great sense of uneasiness for some reason which was shared by Isla as well.

Asher gave a solemn nod, his once bright gold eyes turned murky, reflecting a darkness that seemed to consume him from within, “What Aira did to me hurt me more than anything ever will. If she had stood beside me that day, we would have been unstoppable, and I would have lived as Cedric to somehow turn things around. But most importantly, none of the people who I loved and who truly loved me wouldn’t have died if not for her betrayal,” he said, his voice a mixture of sorrow and bitterness.

His golden eyes, which were once a beacon of warmth, now darkened, becoming a bottomless void that seemed to suck the light from the very room. The sunlight, as if sensing the malevolent energy radiating from him, retreated, casting the grand hall into a chilling darkness.

Logan and Isla felt an icy chill creep up their spines as Asher continued, “Irina, Elizabeth,” Asher’s voice boomed like a thunderclap, his dark yellow eyes fixated on Logan and Isla gleaming dangerously, growing increasingly intense as they took on an eerie hue of ominous green.

In sync with his chilling words, a network of vivid dark green lines etched themselves onto Asher’s complexion, sparking abject uneasiness in the two.

Flesh sloughed off in small patches, gradually revealing charred remnants underneath, “Uncle Charles, Professor Orion… Reinhard… Oliver… Bert… Morrison… Linda…” Name after excruciating name rolled off his tongue, thickening the very air in the room with cold grief and rage.

With each name he uttered, it felt as though a dagger twisted deeper into not only Amelia’s but Logan and Isla’s hearts as well. Most of these people were ones they held dear.

But Logan and Isla’s eyes widened in horror as they watched Asher’s charred, blackened skin peel away, revealing the bones beneath, engulfed in dark green flames. Bone by bone, the grisly transformation revealed itself, making it seem as if it was not only eating away at his flesh but his soul as well.

His voice deepened into a grave, ominous tone. “…All I had were these people who tried to stay true to me even after my death despite knowing they were putting their lives at risk. They were my family and friends, but all were murdered in cold blood despite what they did to protect this world as well. That is why…I decided I had to become something…a monster to destroy the monsters plaguing this world after making them regret their every act,” Asher declared, his skeletal form now fully engulfed in dark green flames, standing as a haunting figure of vengeance and sorrow. The hall fell into an ominous silence, broken only by Isla’s gasp, “H-Hellbringer…Y-You…” Tears streamed down her cheeks as she covered her mouth, unable to bring herself to believe what she was seeing.

Amelia, standing anxiously behind her mother, reached out to provide some semblance of comfort and also to make sure her mother wouldn’t instinctively do anything, making her own heart pounding with anguish.

Logan, visibly shaken, struggled to find his voice, his eyes glossy with a myriad number of emotions as he stared at the one of the most feared demons standing before him.

Amelia could see that the sight of Cedric, transformed into a demon, a being of vengeance, the Hellbringer, was too much for her parents to bear, shaking them to their core.

“You two never must have expected me to end up like this. Do you feel disgusted that I have become this? I wouldn’t blame you if you do because I did monstrous things to get here, and that is why I said Cedric died that day. Now I am Asher, the king of the Bloodburn Kingdom or the Demon King, as you humans call me. And I am here to destroy every trace of the WHA from this planet along with Hunters like Derek. Nothing more. Nothing less,” he declared, the dark green flames around him blazing with his cold resentment.

Logan’s face was a storm of emotion, his beard quivering as he took a step forward, his eyes locking into the hollow, glowing sockets of Asher’s skull. The sight was terrifying, and any other Hunter in Logan’s place wouldn’t think twice about cutting down the demon king while he was alone and still not in his peak state.

Amelia, tense and uncertain, watched with bated breath, fearful of her father’s next move now that Asher revealed himself as the Hellbringer. What if her parents-

Disregarding the danger, Logan suddenly took a step forward and, to Amelia’s shock, enveloped Asher’s blazing figure in a tight embrace. Logan’s voice was choked with regret as he muttered, “It’s all my fault… If only I had done better… you wouldn’t have had to suffer so much.”

Logan prepared himself to endure the flames and accept getting burned by them as punishment, though to his surprise all he could feel was warmth enveloping him.

“It’s mine as well,” Isla said as she joined the embrace, her arms encircling Asher with a mother’s love, her own tears streaming down her cheeks. She added, “Even if we were blind and was too late to save you from getting betrayed, we…we should have been there for you even after your death, but we let you down. You must have felt alone in your suffering all this time, and I can’t begin to imagine what all you must have gone through to become this. But…we are here for you now, even if you think it’s too late.”

The flames enveloping Asher’s body briefly flickered, as if he wasn’t expecting these two to accept him like this. He had prepared himself for the worst considering everything he experienced. Moved by her parents’ unconditional acceptance, Amelia’s heart trembled.

She realized that she had underestimated the depth of her parents’ affection for Asher. Even as the world condemned him, even as he bore the scars of his cursed fate, her parents’ love remained unwavering.

They must have truly loved him like family. She regretted not realizing this early and instead worried about her parents turning against Asher if they knew the truth. Asher’s bony hands hesitantly rose to return the embrace as his charred flesh began to knit itself together, the flames dying down as if soothed by their touch, “You say you should have been there, but I was the one who pushed everyone away,” he rasped, his eyes regaining their golden luster, “To have you both embrace me, not just despite what I’ve become, but because of who I am… it’s more than I ever hoped for.”

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