Kurt's heart had been going through a lot of tests today.

He found out that his second father not only knew about his secret identity as a being from another world but also discovered that the man was already playing the role of husband and father for eight more people.

Not only that, he even tried to get him, his own son, nearly killed by having his two butlers chase him down like a wild dog just so he could unlock the power of the dragon inside of him.

And as if that wasn't enough, he now even tried to threaten the life of his own mother right in front of his entire family just to set an example.

The boy didn't know how much more he could take from that behavior.

Kurt tried his best not to impose his mentality on the situation again, tried to tell himself that maybe he just wasn't seeing the full picture, the same way it happened with Gaby.

He was, after all, an outsider in a new land, as well as a kid, and also someone that probably didn't know the full story of his father's intention.

Maybe his father had a bigger plan in mind, maybe this was just how things usually went in this world, maybe it was something he would comprehend better once he grew up.

He kept trying to find excuses and justifications in order to find some logic, any logic in that kind of behavior, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't help but think his father was completely insane.

And right now, as he stood there, watching that man holding the neck of his mother, the woman that raised him, protected him, and taught him how to be who he was with all the love and affection she could, even if she knew about who he really was, being threatened like that, before his very eyes, it simply was too much.

"Father... What are you-"

"These are my terms, Kurt!" Lian stated as he continued to squeeze his wife's neck, causing her to begin to choke, "Take it or leav- Eh...?"

The emperor suddenly had his attention captured once he noticed something glowing on Kurt's left arm.

Saramin who was just by his side also appeared to have seen it, even if the boy himself appeared to not have realized it due to all his focus being on his mother.

A red glowing mark in the shape of a snake was shinning above his skin like a tattoo that could glow in the dark, and the more Kurt's rage increased, the more brightly the mark shined.

"Let her go!" Kurt ordered as he covered both his hands with metal scales once again without even realizing it.

Those present in the room assumed Lian would have been infuriated by Kurt's defiance, but the red-haired man looked like he was just fascinated by the sight.

"Is this your doing, Sabiri?" he asked while moving her head and forcing the woman to look at her son, "Just what exactly have you been doing to him these past years?"

"I said to let her go!!" Kurt repeated as the mark continued to lighten the entire room like a mini red sun.

"This is so fascinating! The more I watch him, the more curious I get about just what was going through your mind while taking care of this kid!" Lian mumbled as he continued to have his eyes glued at the boy.

He tried to squeeze Sabiri even more to see if that would get a bigger reaction from Kurt.

"Aghh!!" she cried trying to breathe.

Kurt could no longer take it and began to prepare himself to dash towards his father and fight him, but the moment he placed one foot forward, his entire body began to feel extremely heavy as if his arms and legs were tied up to invisible weights.

"Huh!? What... Is... Going..." he muttered before closing his eyes and dropping on top of the floor face-first.

"Kurt?" Saramin screamed as she rushed to his side.

The girl turned off her metal claws and switched to the healing ability she memorized in order to treat any possible wounds he might have.

"Come on, little bro! Wake up!" she shouted, but no matter how much she tried to fix his wounds, the boy just kept sleeping like a log. Not only that, the strange red glowing mark on his arm had suddenly disappeared as if it was never there.

Lian's excited expression soon vanished once he realized Kurt was knocked out and finally decided to let Sabiri go.

The woman dropped to her knees and began to cough while rubbing her neck.

"Looks like show's over..." Hugh commented.

"Indeed..." Lian added.

Sabiri son stood up and began to run towards her son while desperately calling his name.

"Kurt! Kurt!"

Both her and Saramin stayed by his side as the young girl continued to do her best to help him, but he still kept knocked out.

Sabiri gave a good look at his state and just placed her palm over the girl's shoulder in order to let her know she could stop now.

"It's okay..." the empress explained, "He's just tired. He will be better by tomorrow."

"O- Oh... Okay..."

Lian kept staring at the scene for a little longer, quickly glancing at Anthony and Jefferson, still out of commission and filled with cuts and bruises over their bodies.

"Two warrior dragons in their second forms..." the emperor whispered, "Defeated by a pair of young dragons in their first forms..."

"What do you think, father?" the young blond lad that had just been enjoying the whole show in silence until now spoke.

"What do I think? About what, exactly, Larz?"

"This kid..." Larz commented while looking at Kurt, "You think he might be the one to do it? The one to finally put an end to the one being in this world that scares you?"

The emperor glared at his son while smiling, "And what is it that scares me, Larz?"

"We know what it is..." he replied while stretching his arms as if he had just woken up from a long nap, "That black metal thing that chases you around everywhere you go and slashes you to pieces with her blade every time she finds you!"

"Ah... Her..."

Lian glanced at Kurt one more time and began to draw a picture in his mind.

On one side, the hideous girl that tormented his nightmares by pursuing him to the ends of the world and unleashed all her accumulated hatred towards him by swinging her gigantic claymore at his body.

And on the other, his own son after he fully mastered his newfound power and managed to put up a strong front against her might.

He couldn't stop thinking about these two facing each other in an eternal battle that could last until the ends of time and finally giving him the freedom he sought for so long, a freedom that he needed in order to rule over every other kingdom once they finally lost its only defender.

"Yes... I finally found it..." the emperor whispered while covering his face with his hand in order to hide his devilish grin, "I finally got my replacement!"

Lian Garen had finally discovered the one that could save him from his biggest enemy.

He had found his hero.

_____

_____

Once the commotion was over, Sabiri and Saramin lifted Kurt up and carried him into another room in order to let him rest properly.

All of the guests, empresses, and even the emperor himself had exited the room and returned to the dining area.

Except for one, who was standing on their path with an emotionless look on her face as she kept staring at Saramin with her arms crossed. It was an old woman with chocolate skin and long dazzling white hair, much like the girl herself.

"Mother..." Sara mumbled once she noticed Karina staring at her.

The girl assumed she had come to check on her, maybe see if she was injured, and confirm that she hadn't suffered any sort of trauma.

"Sabiri, dear, would you mind giving me a moment with my daughter, please?" Karina asked while smiling at Kurt's mother.

The blond woman glanced at Sara, who in return just nodded back, "I'll continue to treat him once we're done talking, don't worry."

Sabiri just nodded as well and kept going her way into one of the rooms.

Once the doors closed, Karina turned towards Saramin and stared at her from head to toe.

"Mother, I'm fine, don't worry" the girl commented.

"You're fine?" the woman repeated.

And faster than she could react, Sarami suddenly found her gaze aimed at the wall after she got her face forcefully turned by a slap to the check from Karina's backhand.

"Mo- Mother!?" she gasped while pressing her palm against her face.

The look on her mother's face sent chills down her soul. It was a face much more terrifying than anything either Anthony or Jefferson showed her that night.

"Do you have any idea the amount of humiliation I had to endure today...?"

"Humiliation? Mother, I-"

Another slap, this time on the other side, even stronger than before, powerful enough to make the girl fall on the floor.

"You couldn't win without that cursed woman's child to help you... Right in front of the emperor! Right in front of those other pests! You looked pathetic! Weak! And when you do this, you make ME look pathetic and weak!"

Saramin could not believe what she was hearing, "Are you serious right now? I nearly died today and all you care about is what that psycho thinks of you?"

"Watch your mouth, you little ingrate" she ordered while stepping closer, "Everything you are, everything you have today you have it because of me! The least you could do to repay me is by making yourself useful and getting him to look only at us! At you!"

"Is that really all you have to say?"

"It's all that needs to be said" she replied while turning around and returning to the dining hall, "Tch! To think you even went as far as relying on that woman's talent... The least you could have done is let that damn boy die before her eyes..."

Saramin watched as her own mother walked away and began to press her cheeks once she was gone.

"I'm fine, by the way... Thanks for asking..."

She then used her memorized healing ability in order to remove the red marks from her skin, and at that moment a scary thought crossed her mind once she glanced at one of the mirrors in the hallway and noticed that she couldn't find a single trace of her bruises on her face.

"The ability to make it as if no wound was ever there..." she whispered while carefully inspecting and touching her cheek, "I wonder how many wounds you were hiding this whole time, little bro..."

She finally entered the room where Sabiri had moved into and noticed the woman on a chair with Kurt sleeping peacefully on a bed.

"Everything okay?" the lady asked once she saw her coming in.

"Yeah, just going through some mother-daughter bonding moment..." Sara replied before coming closer and continuing to perform his treatment.

Using Kurt's healing power was still something she wasn't used to doing, but she could feel she was getting better at it the more she tried.

Instead of just unleashing everything like a cannon the same way she did whenever she memorized an elemental ability like Gaby's lighting, she needed to take it easy and slow and try her best to spread the energy as much as she could.

This had always been the hardest part of her talent, always having to shift how it works in order to match the situation, like a mother changing the way she would talk in order to speak with her kids who all were going through different problems.

Sabiri then gestured for her to stop again, "You don't have to worry, he's not injured. This is... This is something else..."

"Something else? What exactly?"

Sabiri turned quiet for a moment and began to stare deeply into Saramin's eyes, trying to read her face and find out if she could trust her.

"Sara... How much do you know about curses?"