Location: Unknown.
"What is this place?"
Looking around, Link only found darkness everywhere.
’I don’t sense Lia and Riya’s presence nearby. It seems we all have been separated after entering through that portal...’
’I need to regroup with the others and make sure Riya is safe-’
Just when Link was thinking about what to do next, suddenly a door opened with a loud bang, and the light from the other side of the door lit up this dark place slightly.
Only then did Link realize that he was actually standing in his own room that he has lived in for his entire life!
’This the Rex Mansion!’
Before Link could understand what was going on, the person who had forcefully opened the door and entered the room snapped his fingers, and the lights in the room turned on, revealing the full picture of the scene!
The person who had opened the door was none other than his father, Ashtel Rex.
Link could even see a 16-year-old version of himself sitting on the ground, curled up in his own arms and crying.
"I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it... no, no.... no..."
Link felt a weird sensation run across his entire body as he got goosebumps looking at that weak and pathetic version of him.
But before Link could realize what was going on, Ashtel Rex, who seed furious for so reason, walked over to the young Link’s side and spoke in an angry tone.
"All that talent, all that training, all those resources, and this is all that it has amounted too!?"
"You had one f*cking task Link!! When you got engaged to that girl, it had already been determined that it was your duty to protect her life!!"
"You had one task! Keeping her safe! But look at you!! You couldn’t even keep your fiancée safe! How the hell do you expect to trust you with the responsibility of this nation if you can’t even keep one person safe, Link!?"
Hearing those words, not just the young Link but even the current him felt his heart shake in guilt and fear.
Link rembered the day of the New Year festival as if it were just yesterday, even now.
That day, he almost got his most beloved person taken away from him forever!
Thankfully, Rio arrived on ti and helped him deal with the situation, laying the foundation for Rio and Link’s friendship, but Link still sotis fears what would have happened if Rio hadn’t arrived on ti.
Looking at his father’s angry face, the younger Link felt ashad of himself, and the present-day Link could only sigh.
’Is this so kind of illusion or so kind of ntal attack thod? It seems soone is trying to use the deepest fears in my heart to attack ...’
Link’s deepest fears include losing Riya and disappointing his father’s expectations of him, and this scene in front of him was showing both of those things at the sa ti.
Thus, it was easy for Link to realize that soone was likely trying to exploit his weakness and affect his ntal stability.
"I didn’t do it, I-I tried my best.. I-I"
While Link was busy thinking about a counterasure for this illusion, the scene continued as the younger Link tried to justify himself.
"Shut up!! Not only did your actions get Riya killed, but you even went on a rampage and murdered hundreds of innocent civilians and other students of the academy in front of everyone!?"
"Are you f*cking insane!? Is this all your talent and powers amounted to!? Is this what your mother sacrificed her life for!?"
Tears appeared in Ashtel’s eyes, and his aura beca unstable and weaker while reprimanding Link.
Thinking about how disappointed his wife would be in him if she knew that he had done a big mistake in raising Link the wrong way, Ashtel felt that a part of his heart had shattered in that mont.
Seeing his father in such a weak state, the young Link tried to beg for forgiveness, but it was pointless.
"Don’t ask for forgiveness, Link. If you really want to make ands, go to the families of the victims, bow your head in front of them, and ask them to forgive you for killing their children!!"
"Ask Raji Croft for forgiveness about not protecting the sister she entrusted to you with great expectations! Ask Riya’s departed soul for forgiveness if you really want to be forgiven!"
Despite trying his best, tears could not stop falling from his eyes.
The strongest man on the planet was reduced to a helpless crying old man because of his son’s mistakes; the incident was so traumatic that it left a major scar even on Ashtel’s indomitable heart.
Ashtel turned around to leave, but before leaving, he spoke in a solemn voice.
"Link, you are forbidden from calling yourself a mber of the Rex family from today onwards, and you are not allowed to ever return to this mansion again!"
"Unless each and every victim of this incident forgives you, I will not accept you as my son anymore; disappear from my sight before I do sothing irrational..."
"And keep in mind that the only reason I am letting you live after killing so many people is because I promised your mother to protect you... if you weren’t my son, I would have killed you on the spot for harming the innocent people of our nation."
Ashtel had a duty; he was loyal to his duty as a protector of the nation, but he cared about his family just as much too.
The promise he made to his wife was more important to him than his own life or the entire nation.
That’s why he didn’t attack Link; if it was anyone else who had gone on a rampage and killed so many people indiscriminately, Ashtel would have slapped them to death on the spot!
"Leave and don’t show your face in front of again! I don’t know what I will do if I couldn’t control myself anymore..."
Frightened by his father’s overwhelming aura, Link ran away from ho like a pathetic holess dog with no place to stay and no one to rely on.
From that mont, Link had lost the support of everyone.
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