Void Devouring System

Chapter 2

The family gathering room was as quiet as a tomb and twice as cold.

Kael sat at the far end of the long mahogany table, nursing an injured wrist where the security guard had seized him. He looked at the polished wood, observing his own reflection. He appeared pallid, tiny, and utterly defeated.

The huge oak doors swing open. Victor Ashworth entered, followed closely by his wife, Eleanor, and Darius.

Victor did not sit. He stood at the head of the table, his hands resting on the back of his chair. He did not glance at Kael. He gazed through him, concentrating on a place on the wall.

"The stock dropped twelve percent in the last hour," Victor told me. His voice was calm and engaging. "Twelve percent. That's four billion credits wiped out because my son decided to destroy a national treasure on live television."

"It wasn't a decision," Kael said, his voice hoarse. "The stone... it reacted to me. It pulled."

"It rejected you," Victor replied fiercely. He eventually looked at Kael. His eyes were steely as flint. "It rejected you so violently it shattered itself rather than grant you power. Do you have any idea what humiliation you've brought to this house? The Ashworth name is synonymous with power. Excellence. You made us look like a joke."

"I tried," Kael muttered.

"Trying is for people who don't matter," Darius explained, sliding into the seat to Victor's right. He poured himself a glass of water, appearing calm. "Results are for Ashworths. And your result was... well, spectacular."

The side door opened. The nurse pushed Luna's wheelchair into the room. She looked worse than she did in the stadium. Her skin was transparent, and black circles bruised the area beneath her eyes.

"Kael," she gasped, extending a trembling hand.

Kael jumped up to approach her, but Victor slammed his hand on the table.

"Sit down!"

Kael froze and slowly slumped back into his chair. He looked at Luna and mouthed, "I am sorry."

"We are here to discuss the future," Victor remarked, smoothing his suit jacket. "Or rather, the lack of one."

Eleanor cleared her throat. She tapped her manicured fingernail on the iPad in front of her. "Dr. Aris sent the updated prognosis for Luna. The stress of today's event accelerated the degradation of her core."

Kael felt blood draining from his face. "What does that mean?"

"It means," Eleanor continued, not looking up from the screen, "that the standard treatments are no longer viable. Her body is rejecting the mana infusions. Without the Celestial Life Essence, she has... perhaps six months."

Six months.

The room swirled. Kael grasped the table's edge. "Then we buy it. We have the money. You said if I awakened—"

"If you awakened," Victor interrupted. "You didn't. You failed. And the Celestial Life Essence isn't something you just buy at the corner store, Kael. It costs one hundred million credits. It requires a specialized permit granted only to recognized heirs of noble houses."

"Darius is an heir," Kael frantically stated, glancing at his brother. "He can buy it. We can use his permit."

Darius took a slow drink of water. He lowered the glass with a quiet clink.

"That permit is for a single use per year," Darius explained. "I was planning to use it to secure a Void-Steel weapon for my advancement to SS-Rank. It's crucial for my career."

"Your career?" Kael got up, his chair scrapping against the floor. "We're talking about her life! She's your sister!"

"She's a liability," Victor explained.

The words hung in the air, thick and oppressive.

"What?" Kael whispered.

"Look at the numbers, Kael," Victor remarked, gesturing ambiguously. "You are a zero-mana failure who just cost the company billions. Luna is a terminal invalid who drains millions every month just to stay breathing. We are a business. We cut losses."

"We are a family!" Kael exclaimed.

"We are an empire!" Victor yelled out, his composure finally breaking. "And empires do not carry dead weight! Darius is the future. You two are the past."

Luna made a little coughing noise. She covered her lips with a handkerchief, her body convulsing from a wet, harsh cough. She peeled the cloth aside, and it was brilliant red.

"Luna!" Kael ran to her side, dropping to his knees. He grasped her hand. It was frigid.

"I'm fine," she wheezed, blood on her teeth. "Kael... don't..."

Kael glanced up at his father. Tears obscured his vision, hot and stinging. "Please, Dad. I'll do anything. I'll work in the mines. I'll be a servant. I'll sign away my inheritance rights. Just save her. Please."

Victor stared down at his pleading kid. There was no pity in his expression. Only disgust.

"You have nothing to offer, Kael," Victor replied coldly. "You have no inheritance rights to sign away because you are no longer my son."

Kael froze. "What?"

"I've already drawn up the papers," Eleanor explained, slipping a sheet across the table. "Disownment. Exile. Effective immediately. You and Luna are to leave the estate by tomorrow morning. Your accounts have been frozen. Your access passes are revoked."

"You're kicking us out?" Kael inquired, his voice shaking. "She needs medical equipment. She needs daily care. If you kick her out... you're killing her."

"She's dying anyway," Victor murmured, looking away. "At least this way, she won't die in my house."

Kael looked at the man who had raised him. He gazed at the woman who had replaced his mother. He stared at his sibling, who shared his blood.

Monsters. They were all monsters.

"You can't do this," Kael muttered.

"It's done," Victor said. "Darius will inherit everything. The company. The estate. The legacy."

Darius stood up and walked over to where Kael was kneeling. He placed one hand on Kael's shoulder. It felt weighty and oppressive.

"Don't worry, brother," Darius murmured quietly, so only Kael and Luna could hear. "I'll take good care of Luna."

Kael looked up, his uncertainty mixed with wrath. "What?"

Darius smiled. It was a nasty and twisted thing. "Think about it. The tragic, sickly sister, cast out by a cruel world, dying in the arms of her heroic older brother who tried to save her but was too late? The media eats that stuff up. Her death will boost my public approval ratings through the roof. I might even start a charity in her name."

The understanding struck Kael like a physical punch.

They were not simply letting her die. They were banking on it. They sought sympathy. They wanted to know the terrible tale behind Darius' rise to power.

Luna was merely a prop for them. A throwaway asset that will be liquidated to maximize public relations value.

Kael began to make a low, feral growl. Rage, fierce and blinding, filled his veins. He rose up, shaking off Darius' hand.

"You..." Kael stepped forward with his hands clenched. "I'll kill you."

Darius laughed. He did not even flinch. He simply glanced at Kael with amusement.

"With what?" Darius inquired. "Your zero mana? Your broken pride? You're powerless, Kael. You're nothing."

Darius drew in closer, his voice a whisper of pure hatred.

"Do us all a favor. Take her, leave, and find a quiet ditch to die in. It's the most useful thing you'll ever do."

Kael swung.

It was a sloppy, desperate blow aiming directly at Darius' exquisite jaw.

Darius did not even block. "He just..." moved. A flurry of action, and Kael was hurtling backwards. He crashed against the wall, knocking the wind out of him. He slid to the ground, gasping.

"Pathetic," Darius replied, wiping the imaginary dust off his lapel.

"Enough," Victor concluded, checking his watch. "Security will escort you to your rooms to pack. You leave at dawn."

Victor moved away without looking back. Eleanor followed.

Darius paused for a moment. He looked at Luna, who was quietly weeping, and then at Kael, who was broken on the floor.

"Goodbye, little brother," Darius replied. "Try not to take too long to disappear."

He departed.

The only sound in the room was Luna's rapid breathing.

Kael hauled himself upward. His ribs burned. His heart felt as if it had been cut out of his chest. He crawled up to Luna's wheelchair and buried his face in her lap.

"I'm so sorry," he wailed. "I'm so sorry."

Luna stroked his hair with feeble but kind fingertips.

"It's okay," she said softly, her voice shaking. "We have each other. That's enough."

Kael gazed up at her. He saw fear and resignation in her eyes. She knew she would die. She'd accepted it.

But he had not.

He gazed at the closed door where his family had left. The wrath inside him did not subside. It crystallized. It transformed into something cold, harsh, and sharp.

"No," Kael replied, wiping his face. He got up, his legs shaky but steady. "It's not enough. They took everything. They think we're trash. They think we're just going to fade away."

He stared at Luna, his eyes glowing with a dreadful intensity.

"I'm going to save you, Luna. I don't care what it takes. I don't care who I have to hurt. I'm going to save you."

"And then," he said quietly, staring at the vacant chair at the head of the table, "I'm going to burn their empire to the ground."