The victory in the dark kitchen was short-lived.
Before Asuka could even catch his breath, the temperature in the room plunged to near-zero. A subtle distortion warped the shadows behind him, and from the pitch-black corner, a figure draped in a heavy, void-black coat materialized without making a single sound.
A jagged, anti-divine blade flashed in the dim light.
THWIP!
The blade drove straight through Asuka's back, puncturing clean through his heart and bursting out from the center of his chest in a spray of deep crimson.
"Augh!" Asuka gasped, his eyes widening in violent shock. Blood instantly flooded his mouth, spilling over his lips. He strained his neck, turning his head just enough to glimpse the cold, mocking face beneath the black hood.
"...You..." Asuka rasped, his voice rattling in his throat. "I know you... Ken... Carson..."
Ken Carson let out a soft, venomous chuckle. He twisted the blade inside Asuka's chest, leaning down to whisper in his former instructor's ear.
"Of course you would know me... Teacher."
Without a shred of mercy, Ken pulled the blade back and began stabbing Asuka repeatedly in his ribs, his stomach, his shoulders slicing through flesh and muscle until the former soldier collapsed onto the blood-soaked tile floor in a lifeless heap.
"BAE! RUN...!" Asuka screamed with the last reserve of air in his collapsing lungs.
Even with his throat torn and his lungs filling with blood, the primal instinct to protect his family forced the agonizing cry past his lips.
Upstairs, the heavy stomps of boots echoed as three more red-cloaked operatives breached the master bedroom. Screams of terror echoed down the hallway as Rin fought back, but the operatives opened fire with specialized high-frequency suppressors. Because elves possessed legendary regeneration, the squad didn't just strike once; they rained down a relentless volley of anti-healing rounds and blade strikes to kill her faster than her body could recover.
"BAE...! LET GO OF HER!"
Downstairs, Asuka's body twitched. Driven by sheer, insane willpower, he forced himself back onto his feet. His veins were exposed, black from poison, and his heart was shredded, but he took one staggering step forward, trying to unleash his wind technique to save his wife.
He fell short. His legs gave out, and Asuka Asura slammed face-first onto the ground, his single blue eye losing its light as his breathing stopped entirely.
Seconds later, Rin's broken body was thrown down the stairwell, tumbling to the bottom of the steps right beside her husband.
Eight-year-old Null snapped awake in his bed upstairs.
Before seven-year-old Haruto could even stir from his sleep, Null slipped out from under the covers. His chest felt heavy, an unnatural dread pulling him toward the hallway. He moved silently, tiptoeing down the stairs into the dark living room.
Then he saw them.
His mother and father lay motionless in a pooling sea of crimson on the kitchen floor.
At eight years old, Null's mind couldn't comprehend the sight. He approached them slowly, his hands trembling as he reached out to shake his father's shoulder.
"Dad...? Wake up... Dad, stop playing..."
No response.
He moved to his mother, pulling at her sleeve. Her skin was already turning ice-cold. He shook her harder, his breathing becoming ragged and shallow until the brutal reality of death finally registered in his young mind. His chest locked up, tears blurring his vision as he stared at the lifeless eyes of the parents who had held him just hours before.
Shadows flickered outside the broken kitchen window. Ken Carson and four surviving operatives watched from the tree line, waiting for the perfect moment to move in and finish off the young heirs, intending to wipe the Asura name from the Great Families once and for all.
Suddenly, Rin's fingers twitched.
She was barely conscious, her soul clinging to life by a thread. Using the absolute last remnant of her strength, she reached deep into her own chest, drawing out her glowing stone with a shaky, blood-stained hand. She knew her single stone wouldn't give her son enough power to survive, so she dragged herself a few inches further, reaching into Asuka's chest to extract his stone as well.
With her cross-shaped eye darkening as life faded from her body, Rin pushed both glowing stones into Null's small hands. She offered him a faint, heartbroken smile.
"Calm... down..." she whispered, her voice barely a breath.
Null sat frozen, holding the two warm, pulsating stones given by his mother. As Rin's hand fell limp, the stones dissolved into pure origin essence, sinking directly into Null's chest.
CRACK!
The forced absorption of two extra divine stones split Null's eight-year-old soul in half.
The primary consciousness of the young boy was instantly pushed into the deep recesses of his mind, and the Second Soul the dormant, bloodlusted demon within his Prime Stone swapped places and took complete control of his body.
Null's black hair stood on end. His sky-blue eyes vanished, replaced by an absolute, pitch-black void with jagged white pupils.
"Die."
The voice that came out of the child was double-layered, echoing like an ancient cosmic monster.
Null raised his small right arm. A massive, ink-black dark matter whip materialized in his hand, humming with volatile, higher-dimensional energy. With a single, casual backhand flick, Null unleashed the whip across the yard!
BOOM-CRASH!
The dark matter wave detonated across the tree line! Four red-cloaked operatives were instantly vaporized into black ash before they could even draw their weapons, erasing half the squad in a fraction of a second!
Ken Carson's eyes widened in sheer horror as the kinetic shockwave caught his shoulder, shattering his arm and throwing him backward through the trees.
"These demons... even cultivated a monster of their own...!" Ken spat, clutching his bleeding arm in terror. "RETREAT!"
Ken and the remaining three injured operatives didn't hesitate. They scrambled into the darkness, fleeing as fast as their legs could carry them.
The Second Soul didn't pursue. The dark matter whip dissolved into dust, and the pitch-black aura faded.
The Second Soul receded into the background, leaving eight-year-old Null standing alone in the ruined kitchen once again.
His mind was completely blank. He couldn't process the blood, the stones, the sudden dark power, or the massacre that had just taken place. He stood frozen over the bodies of Asuka and Rin, his tiny hands covered in his mother's blood.
He didn't cry anymore. A cold, absolute promise ignited deep inside his chest. He would find every single one of them, and he would kill them all.
Upstairs, he heard a soft rustle from the bedroom. Haruto was starting to wake up.
Null turned toward the staircase, his mind completely numb as he tried to figure out how he was ever going to explain this to his younger brother.