GUARDIAN OF THE END

"But he couldn't have been that strong." Jason stated.

"Julian has an ability that is absolute in any place. Any person with a lower status ranking than him will have to kneel in front of him and obey his command. Its a duel ex machina that can't be fought with.

Fortunately, it has loopholes. For example, there is a chance that you don't count in the social hierarchy. Something similar happened for me and Issac since we had long since distanced ourselves."

Jason wanted to ask something but decided not to after seeing the expression on Risa's face. She looked regretful and sad yet their was a dangerous look in her eyes.

The look belonged to someone who still had a tiny spark of rage burning inside them. Jason was quite familiar with this.

"We reached out some of our friends who were facing similar problems. All of us decided to band together and fight Julian. In other words, we were rebelling.

All of us were strong enough but couldn't be considered at our peak due to some reasons. When the fighting began, we had the upper hand despite being severely outnumbered. But soon enough, Julian started manipulating the prodigies from the noble houses.

One by one, the disadvantages started piling against us. Not only that but he also started targeting the people in the families of our side. One of them was Silvia who, unfortunately, was a member of the hierarchy.

Had we known that before, we wouldn't have let her go to the front lines. Once she was captured, it was kinda over for us. Julian made sure to effectively blackmail us, starting by sending us Silvia's middle finger in a gift package." Risa gritted her teeth.

'Damn… not only are we cursed, we have a bad past.'

[ Be prepared for the future, host. ] The system replied in a concerned voice.

'Well…'

"That's when things really started cracking apart. Me and Issac had no choice except going to the royal palace and meeting Julian face to face. He, of course, tried to enslave us. But it didn't work since we were protected by powers far higher than his level.

In the end, we were forced to swore an oath which stated that no matter what happened, we can't go against him. He also placed the curse on us before setting out to capture the remainder of the rebels.

Michael returned to the continent with the news of him getting married but what awaited him was a broken family. Ray slowly started excluding himself and went to the demi-human kingdom.

Michael on the other hand was dead set on killing Julian and dragging his head through the ground. But Julian is no fool. He carefully used Michael's love for his sister and made sure that he would swear an oath too.

The war between the rebels and the crowns finally ended with Julian marrying Silvia…"

Jason blinked in confusion when he heard the last line. He asked the system for confirmation to make sure that he had heard the right thing.

"Don't look so surprised. Julian was far more dangerous than we had realized. He had his eyes set on Silvia during the first ceremony and had been concocting a plan since then.

His goal was to ensure a line of successors with good bloodline as well as keep us trapped forever. Even if we dared to break the oath, we wouldn't be able to do anything as long as Julian had Silvia under his control.

Since she is also connected to our bloodline, he can deal some major curse on me and Issac by directly using her blood. Fortunately, we have been under protection for a long time." Risa finished, her body sagging.

"Is that the reason that you know how to break numerous curses?" Jason asked in a low tone.

"Indeed. Yet till this date, I haven't been able to break the curse placed on us." Risa sighed. "I wished the suffering had ended there but no, the world wasn't satisfied yet."

"Your father's wedding was the next major event we attended as a family. It happened three years later due to some reasons but at that event, every member of the Syrward family was present. Silvia did attend the event but she was kept under heavy surveillance.

Julian was also present with her and was hoping to get more details on the demons, since the wedding was held on the demon continent. Silvia also had a child with her, her first born and Julian wanted to make sure that the child never got to know of his grandparents.

I could only watch her helpless self while wishing Michael and Evelyn the best of luck, still not knowing that there was another disaster waiting in the distant future.

Unsurprisingly, Evelyn got pregnant one month later and that's when the real danger began. The new demon king ascended the throne and he wanted Evelyn to stay in the demon realm.

He originally wanted her to become the Demon Priestess, someone who is directly connected to one of the nine major demon gods. However, the requirement for one to become a priest or priestess of that caliber was to retain their virginity.

Since the demon king already knew that there was no point in going after Evelyn, he decided to go after her unborn child. After all, the child would have the blood of one of the higher nobles as well as one of the strongest human families."

Risa stopped talking and let Jason absorb everything she had said till that point.

'It makes sense that the demons tried to kidnap me twice, not counting the attempts made before my birth… '

Jason realized that most of events in his life could now be reasoned with. Many of them could be traced back to the past.

Risa continued after a few minutes had passed by. "Michael and Evelyn kept moving through the human continent to shake off their pursuers. Julian didn't offer them any support and even helped the demons indirectly.

They had no choice except to run towards the nearby kingdoms but one by one, their hiding spots got limited. At last they were cornered in Duphia since that was the only place they could remain at and have a chance of winning."

"It was also the place where Michael asked me to promise something to him," Issac's voice suddenly entered the room.

Jason and Risa turned their heads to look at the door. Issac was standing their with an expressionless face.

He had probably been standing there for quite some time and yet had gone unnoticed. Jason noted this down and asked the system to remind him to ask Risa and Issac about this special skill later on.

"Michael made me promise that no matter what happened, I would make sure that you survived. He also wanted me to prevent you from getting involved with the matters of the kingdom but I guess I couldn't do that." Issac sighed.

He entered the room with a dejected look. Issac went towards the window in the room and opened it, letting some natural wind enter the room.

"Ten days later, Michael vanished. He had already told us this would happen but regardless of that, it was quite shocking. Every physical proof of his existence, excluding you, vanished without a trace.

The demon king as well as the sins and commanders working under his command retreated back to the continent and made no further advances towards you. A rumor soon spread that Michael and Evelyn had died.

But in reality, no one knew what had really happened." Risa finished and sighed.

Jason looked at her before looking at Issac. His grandfather stood near the window with an expressionless face.

Issac seemed to be engrossed in old memories that he had once buried inside or at least that's what Jason believed.

'System, do you think my mother knows what happened to my father?'

[ Maybe, maybe not. Things can only made clear if you meet her. ]

Jason didn't reply since he didn't know what to say. He got up from his bed and lightly stretched his body.

"Grandma, where is my mother currently staying?" Jason questioned without looking at Risa.

"Evelyn is currently staying at the Central continent in a secluded temple. She is under a the protection of someone and as long as she stays there, no one can touch her." Risa replied.

[ She's probably doing that so that no one can take her hostage. ]

'Hmm…' Jason, once again, didn't know what to say.

Though Evelyn was responsible for bringing him to this world, he didn't really know her. For him, she was an unknown figure who he had never met.

p Risa and Issac were the ones who had truly taken care of him since he was little. Truth be told, Jason wasn't even that close to Ray and Zara.

[ I don't think Ray ever let anyone get close to him… ]

'If that's the truth, I don't blame him. Things can get quite difficult once something like that happens.' Jason agreed.

The next five minutes were spent in silence. No one was willing to say anything since they trio was engrossed in their own thinking.

"I will ask one last thing. Who was the child that Aunt Silvia gave birth to?" Jason broke the silence as he couldn't contain his curiosity.

"The child is rather well known. Julian even considers him the 'perfect heir' he could have gotten," Risa explained.

Jason silently guessed the person's name and waited for confirmation.

"The child born to Silvia and baring the blood of the Syrward family is," Issac said. "Hiro Vancouver, the crown prince of the kingdom."