Ted grabbed the boy by his hair and dragged the boy toward the middle of the room. “One of you, hold this brat.”

“Okay, boss!” Scar Face said eagerly. He wanted nothing more than to vent his frustration.

Since he couldn’t possibly hit the book in case it would be broken, he would definitely beat the boy to his heart’s content.

“Hahaha! I’ll absolutely make you regret messing with us!” Scar Face said in a mocking tone as he held the boy by his arms and made him stand up.

Bang!

“UGH!” The boy was kicked in the stomach again, he couldn’t do anything as he coughed blood again.

“Very good, you little sh*t! Now I’m going to be a laughing stock!” Ted shouted in anger. He was infuriated when he thought about how his other pals would ridicule him when they learned about this.

The boy couldn’t do anything, he used all of his strength just to stay awake.

Ted grabbed the boy’s hair and lifted it up and asked, “Tell me, where the f*ck are the other brats?!”

“Yeah, tell us you brat!” Scar Face joined in.

The boy was in a weakened state, he slowly opened his eyes, Ted could see the resentment in his eyes.

“Why should I answer you f*ckers?”

Pa!

Ted slapped the boy in the face. “The f*ck did you say?! It seems like I'm still too soft to you.”

Crack!

“AARGH!”

“Serves you right, hahaha!” Scar Face said as he laughed mockingly.

Ted broke the boy’s left hand’s thumb, making him scream in pain.

“Hey! Stay still!”

The grimoire was trying as hard as it could to shake off the thug, but it couldn’t do it.

“Don’t let it escape from your hands and don’t do anything to it or it will reduce its price if it’s damaged!” Ted ordered the thug who was holding the grimoire and then turned around toward the boy.

“Where are the kids?!” Ted asked as he grabbed the boy’s hair again to make him look up.

“I don’t know.”

“How dare you lie to me!”

Pa!

“Huft, huft…” The boy was barely hanging to stay awake. His face was swollen from all the slaps.

“I keep feeling something about you that has been irritating me since long before… but it’s not about how cocky you are, it’s something else. It makes me want to beat you up even more.” Ted said slowly but clearly in an irritated tone. “But I don’t know what.”

He gritted his teeth and shouted.

“Aargh! Whatever! Just you wait! I’ll make them pay a hundred folds when I find them!” Ted cursed in anger and continued, “I will f*cking sell those brats to slave traders when they are older!”

The boy’s brows twitched when he heard it, he opened his eyes and looked toward Ted in hatred.

‘Hm?’ Although he was infuriated right now, Ted still could realize the change in the boy’s expression. An evil smirk appeared on his face.

“Oh, that Summer kid has quite a potential. I think I’ll sell her to the brothels? I bet she will fetch a sum.” Ted whistled mockingly.

Since the boy wouldn’t tell him where the other kids were. He would infuriate the boy to death before sending him to hell.

‘Haha! I’ll play you to death, I’ll torture you until you regret being born in this world!’ Ted laughed evilly.

The only thing in his mind right now was how he would make the boy suffer.

“Stop saying sh*t! F*ckers!”

Ted just ignored the boy and continued, “Adle and Roxel were given to me as part of the deal I had with their parents. I still remember when those brats were here on the first day, they were crying non stop, so I beat them up.”

Adle and Roxel were different from the other kids including the boy. They had parents. They were living together in the slums before. However, their parents borrowed money from Ted but couldn’t afford his exorbitant interest rate. Eventually, they were forced to hand their children over to Ted.

Not long after that, their mother passed away due to the stress she was in after being forced to hand over her kids.

Their father then fell into a depressed state and decided to end his life at his house.

At the thought of this, the boy gritted his teeth.

When Adle and Roxel learned about it, they couldn’t hold back their sadness and cried for three consecutive days. During that period of time, the boy took care of them while trying to raise the minimum sum they needed to earn in order to not get beaten by Ted and his gang.

Was it tiring to take care of them?

Of course it was.

However, the boy still chose to do so.

When he looked at the kids’ faces, their expressions as they hugged and cried together...

He had never experienced the feeling of losing someone dear to him at that time, but he knew how it felt like to be helpless. The feeling of being alone in this world without having anyone on his side.

It felt like he had been abandoned by the world.

It was painful.

So he chose not to abandon them and become someone that they could rely on.

As he thought about Adle and Roxel, his eyes dimmed.

Adle and Roxel’s faces flashed in his mind. Their nervous looks when learning how to steal bread for the first time, their panicked faces when chased by the guards…

Their smiles when he brought them something to eat.

And finally…

Their last moment.

His eyes started to get teary again, the boiling anger inside his heart was resurfacing and it made him get out of his groggy state. He looked at the grimoire who was held by Tank, the drenched thug who just came before.

‘Maybe it’s a good thing that I can’t really move recklessly right now…’ Looking at the grimoire calmed him a bit. He regained his sanity and could think clearly.

The boy closed his eyes, he finally had the right moment to unleash his trump card.

‘They are underestimating me! This is a chance!’

His breathing rhythm turned calm and systematic.

‘What is this feeling?!’ Ted and the thugs frowned. They felt a sudden pressure from the atmosphere.

The boy absorbed the mana on his surroundings and converged them into one spot and opened his eyes.

“HAAAA!”

Red flames engulfed the boy’s right hand. The sudden heart alarmed Scar Face. He instinctively released his hold and backed off.

“WHAT THE F*CK!?”

A red flame dagger was formed and lit half the room up, the boy directly slashed behind him. Scar Face who was in shock didn’t see it coming and got hit on his left side abdomen.

“AAAAAGH! HOT! IT HURTS!”

The hot flames evaporated even the blood from his injury and immediately charred Scar Face’s skin black. The boy could only slice halfway and then pull out the flame dagger from Scar Face’s abdomen.

Scar Face fell to the floor, he couldn’t even say anything apart from screaming and then blacked out.

It all happened in a matter of seconds. Ted couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the flame dagger. He unconsciously stepped back.

“IMPOSSIBLE!”

Tank and Ted were horrified by the scene, they both shouted in unison.

With determination in his eyes, he looked at Ted and ran toward him.

His anger reached the peak when he saw Ted’s face that was highlighted by the flames. His feelings soared and became hatred. He gritted his teeth as he slashed his flame dagger from the side.

The crackling red flame slowly turned darker and darker as it got closer to Ted and finally became a pitch black flame!

Bwoosh!

“DIEEEE!” The boy thrusted his black flame dagger towards Ted. The crackling black dagger was in a very high temperature.

The only thing in Ted’s mind right now was he should avoid this at all cost!

“F*CK!” Ted hurriedly jumped back to avoid the boy’s attack, but just when his foot was about to land on the floor…

“AH!?”

He stepped on an empty alcohol bottle!

It made him lose his balance!

The boy seeing that Ted was completely off guard didn’t stop his charge and trusted his weapon toward Ted’s chest.

“HAAA!”

Crackle, crackle!

Stab!

Ted blocked the attack with both of his hands and managed to stop the boy temporarily.

“AAAAH!” The burning black flame was painful, he screamed in pain and fell to the floor.

Cough, cough!

The boy coughed some blood and looked at Ted’s eye who was filled with fear.

“This is payback from us!” The boy shouted in anger as he twisted the black dagger in his hand and thrust it deeper using his whole body weight.

Crackle, crackle!

Bwoosh!

The black flame grew bigger and bigger. The dagger stabbed Ted’s chest and engulfed him in flames.

“AAAAAGH!”

Screams of pain resounded throughout the rainy night.