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Return of the Fallen Volume 6 Chapter 36

Author: Blue_Rat

ch36

The sun rose and fell again and again. With it, the days carried on and time passed. As it did, the child grew and Kazuki came to realize he was not reincarnated but rather he was witnessing a memory. He first came to understand this fact after spending a few months trapped inside of the infant’s body. No matter how Kazuki tried to move the body, there was no response. Yet without his control or will, the body would move all by itself.

Kazuki at first wondered if something was wrong with his new body, after all, the one who carried him for 9 months had dropped him on his head at the top of the cliff. After a long while, he found that he wasn’t in control for the simple reason that the body never listened to him. Not only that, as time drifted by, he found that the events taking place were oddly familiar to him, as though he had seen them somewhere before. At the same time, some of the memories were blurry. Kazuki wondered if this was also due to the head injury the infant had suffered.

Every day the boar monster would care for him. Taking the infant back to its home full of thick brush and dense vegetation. It forced a female boar monster who had recently given birth to feed the human child its milk. As the years passed, the boar taught the human how to speak the language of the continent as well as showed him how to hunt the creatures of the forest. The boar was the undisputed king of this mountain and everything followed his word as though it were law. So although there were plenty of creatures who objected to the thought of a human child growing up in this mountain, none dared actually challenge the boar king.

The boar monster learned that the child was unnaturally strong and had a gift for the element of wind. Finding a magical beast that was adept with wind magic, the boar king made the creature teach his human son the ways of wind magic.

As the years passed, the human was now a young boy, almost 9. Seeing his son grow stronger day by day made the boar king proud but with it came some worrying behaviors. The boy was dumb. His mental acuity was very low and the boy had some weird eccentricities. Some times he would be unusually cruel, while other times he would be as happy as a lamb while rolling on the ground and singing a weird song. Still, the boar king loved his son.

Another year or so passed and the boar king grew older and with age came weakness. Many creatures plotted against the boar king. They knew of a secret power he held. One that could drive the humans away once and for all but the boar king refused to use it. This caused much anger and resentment as they were slaughtered continuously by the humans and pushed further and further into the depth of the mountain as their forest was cut away and invaded. With him growing older, they found that his rule was weak and that caused a few creatures to become greedy seeing opportunities.

One such opportunity came when the boar king did not expect it and after defeating several opponents, he was weakened and pushed back into the depths of his burrow. The other boars under him were being slaughtered, hunted, and killed by the forces of the mountain and he could only hide away. Day by day his brethren were hunted down and driven back and day by day he grew weaker. With little time left, he knew his rule would soon be no more and decided to at least try and protect his only son.

Before that though, he would kill as many enemies as he could. Storming through his territory, the mountain quaked beneath his feet as he swept through enemy after enemy. As he destroyed part of the mountain he delivered death and destruction to most of his foes but in the end, it wasn’t enough. This though was enough for his enemies to temporarily retreat. As he lay dying with his son kneeling next to him, the boy didn’t understand why the creatures on the mountain had betrayed him.

The boar king decided to tell his only son the full truth and told him about a great power he had received long ago from a wolf god. With such power, one could raise the mountains as they wished and flip them with the palm of a hand. When the son learned of this, he couldn’t understand why his father wouldn’t use such a power to prevent all of this conflict and save himself from death. The boar king could only reveal everything.

“My son, this power the wolf god gave me is not one that can be controlled. I’ve used it only twice in my life. The first time I did, my beast instincts took over and I nearly killed every one of my creatures. The second time I was desperate and was on the verge of death. When I used it the second time, I nearly split the entire mountain in half.”

The son looked at his father in shock.

“Why!? Why didn’t you hold back or stop yourself?”

The boar king shook his snout.

“This power starts from your soul and invades your mind. It comes with an undying hunger, one that takes over any and all thoughts. It calls to you, entices your will, and binds you from all control. Inside your head, it repeats time and time again until the only thing you can hear is a single word that echos inside the depths of your very being.”

“Father, wha…what word?”

“DEVOUR.”

The boy didn’t know what to think of all of this. For there to be such a strange type of power, for there to be so much chaos and destruction and greed for this one ability.

“Son, listen to me, I don’t have much time. Ever since I took you in, I have seen none else as family except you. I first took you in because I was curious but I found the more time I shared with you, that simple curiosity became love. You who are not of my flesh and blood are still my son. This technique…I still don’t know whether it was a curse that I received or a blessing.”

“Father of course it was a curse. Look at the forest, look at what

“ABURA! Look at my dying body and listen to my words. This technique is not the reason all of this has befallen us. It was merely the catalyst. Everything in this world has greed. Whether it be a small amount of greed or large, every living thing has it. If it wasn’t this power they were after it would have been my rule or my territory or something else. The power is just an excuse to take what doesn’t belong. That doesn’t matter now though. What matters is this power. I wish for my only son…for you to receive it. I believe that you could do many great things if you have it but most importantly, with it, you might just be able to survive today. I have always worried about you. You were injured in the head a long time ago and although you are strong, you don’t understand the world or common sense in general. I want you to take this power and survive. Find someone you can care about and who cares for you and live your life. Will you do this for me?”

Streams of tears flooded down Abura’s fat face as he hugged his father.

“Father please don’t die. Use the power and live, I don’t want you to die.”

The boar shook its head and blood spilled from its snout.

“I’ve lived long enough, you though have just started. Son, this is my only wish, will you really deny me this.”

“Father, but what if I lose control and it takes over as you said?”

“The technique, I can divide part of it when I place it into you. It won’t work for me like that but you shouldn’t have any problem. I just need to make sure I’m careful about it. So will you receive this gift from your father?”

Abura noded repeatedly. His entire body quivered in sadness.

“Good, come closer to me so I can imbed it onto your soul.”

Abura did so and the boar king placed its bloodied snout onto Abura’s chest. A moment later, its eyes began to glow with power and Abura felt something invade his soul. As soon as the power hit him, dozens of ancient symbols separated and then rearranged before fusing with Abura’s soul.

The very next moment, the boar king fell to the ground…dead.

Abura felt an itch within his soul world and it felt like a piece of his soul was dug out. With it came a terrifying force that began to spread from his soul to his mind. A soft whisper began to echo in his mind.

(de…vour.)