"Everyone, get away from that thing!" Sevor yelled out with much urgency in his voice.

The monster of tar grew further in height and width as he absorbed more unfortunate souls within its body. Stratiotes that became a part of him poked out from the gooey substance of his form. It was like Segreth became a carbuncle of repulsive mutation that you can never escape from.

They wanted me to marry this thing? I must be the luckiest man to have ever lived. Imagine waking up to this grotesque handsomeness—I would never want to wake up again.

My head throbbed painfully and my vision became blurry. I was still losing an excessive amount of blood because of uncrowning myself. It was weakening but I never felt this free.

That crown was the very reason why I was suppressed. It silenced my voice, shackled my heart, and bound my wings. Though dethroning myself was the reason why I was bleeding now, keeping that crown would only cause me to bleed for eternity.

Segreth's emerald eyes became clouded like a dead fish and his new form swayed abnormally as if he was dancing. Arms were thrown left and right, aiming to hit anyone too slow to dodge. I managed to avoid the darts of his assault but my body was warning me of my limits.

The voices inside my head, including that man who always spoke whenever I was overwhelmed by negative emotions, became quiet.

Children screamed in fright and the adults led by Elik assisted the little ones up to the cliff.

At first, Segreth's movement was sluggish and harmless, but as we continued to dodge his eccentric motions, he became more aggressive and harder to avoid.

A limb shot out from behind him and made its way towards the fleeing group of adults and children.

My left foot ground firmly on the floor and a wall of steel loomed in defense. More limbs grew out of his back to pursue them but shields of steel continuously rose in response to his every assault. Wooden spears with metallic heads pierced through his body of tar and I summoned dark clouds from the skies to shoot electricity towards the blob.

Segreth screamed menacingly and I heard Sevor shout:

"Lucian no! Burning tar will release poisonous chemicals to the air!"

To reverse the effects of my harmful attack, I swerved the smoke away from anyone and splashed polluted water on the burning tar. Due to the lasting effects of the blaze, Segreth continued to emit smoke.

Sevor leaped and landed by my side before taking a deep breath and inhaling the smoke into his lungs. The strength and capacity of his lungs were outstanding and almost everyone lost their toes as he breathed in.

Slade, Crowley, and Caleb hurried in rescuing and reviving children who had lost consciousness after being deprived of oxygen.

Their expressions were disheartened and frightened. Slade's voice cracked as he screamed the name of the child who he was trying so hard to save.

"Oi, Maru, wake up damn it! Wake the fuck up! You can't just leave like this, kid. Open your eyes! Maru!"

His scowling face may show coldness and uncaring nature, but Slade was the one who cared for these children the most.

And it was my fault that these children were suffering now.

If I wasn't here, this wouldn't have happened to them.

I was the cause of their deaths.

All of this was my fault.

Kox floated beside me and moved from one spot to another before a limb could reach for him.

"This is bad," Sevor murmured before coughing badly. "My lungs...can't filter this kind of—" he collapsed on his knees before his body was racked with intense barks of cough.

I went in front of him and knelt before lifting his head and placing my lips against his.

The older twin was taken aback by my action and when he realized what I was doing, he weakly tried to shove me away.

I took the hazardous element from his body and kept it concealed in mine. It was true that a dragon's lungs were the strongest of all races so what can my lungs do to compete against it?

Nanimo (Nothing).

I just simply did not want to burden anyone with my mistakes.

I will take responsibility for everything, even if it ends me.

Sevor fainted and I let the winds carry him away. I will have to last longer than him. I need to.

"Cage him, "Kox instructed.

My head jerked to the right and enclosed steel hovered over the giant and encased him in place. My eyes stared down as if they were being influenced by the heaviness of my heart, and my lungs felt like they were being stabbed by thousands of needles.

It was laborious for me to breathe and I was sure that this was what those children felt as they sank into their deaths.

They were alone, hopeless, and scared.

The children who lived lost their precious brothers and sisters. Their plans of a new game tomorrow or the next day, the stories that they tell each other, the bond that they shared as a family, all of those were stolen from them.

I can never look at them straight in the eye anymore. How will they look at me after this? They had the right to blame me for their misfortunes.

Segreth's growling never stopped as his vicious body clashed against the metal aggressively, creating small dents.

A line of silence was drawn once the monstrous growling halted, yet the line was abruptly severed when a metallic stinger jabbed through the cage which allowed spiky and familiar tentacles to slid through the gape.

"Number VII?" I murmured.

The tentacles easily stretched the hole
and Bebe's urchin head rolled out. VII then transformed back into the viscous XIII and mutated into another form— someone I haven't seen yet. He was a well-built man, based on XIII's construction. He hit his fist against his palm and multiple balls of tars floated above us before erupting.

Before the drops of tar could touch a single person below, the soil from the surrounding walls bridged over us and caught the drops. He hit his fist against his palm again and more balls of tar appeared, but this time near the ground.

I managed to contain the spherical tars inside the steel balls which made the mysterious number smile with jagged bronze teeth. He stole the play from me and made the balls his orchestra, toying with them and hitting them from wall to wall.

Slade caught the ball that was spiraling towards Crowley but because of the lack of preparation, he was knocked to the lake.

"DId yOu think thAt I wAs just a sImple blOB of tAr?"

My eyes narrowed at him as he hauled a burst of coughing laughter.

"I Am XIII, I cAn bE of aNy nUmbEr of the HIghEr OrdEr."

"Are you at your limit?" Kox asked me.

The fresh wounds on my scalp sustained blood that never ceased to race down my cheeks. My heart thumped loudly and I can hear my breaths becoming more strained. With every breath I take, it was as if a knife would pierce through me.

My legs gave up and I clenched my chest.

"Kox, get Lucian out of there!" Crowley shouted.

Kox hummed and looked away from me. "That's not written in these pages..." He murmured. "You are supposed to be plucked away from here and I am not supposed to lift a single finger about it."

"Lucian, I'm coming!" Caleb growled.

My body couldn't follow any more commands and I wasn't even capable of emitting any Mana to protect them.

"Kox what are you doing you, idiot?!" Crowley snarled.

Kox rolled his eyes. "Forgive me, it's nothing personal," he muttered before turning away.

I was not even surprised by that child's behavior.

This rotten wing behind me became onerous to carry. There was no doubt that my parents were keeping something from me. Perhaps it was the very reason why I was kept like that.

All these deaths, my weakness, my incapability to protect...perhaps I was never meant to be released from that darkness.

But for a moment, it was nice to feel the warmth.

It was nice to see how the sun rose in the sky.

It was nice to not feel alone anymore.

It was nice to feel even when there were days when it hurt.

Segreth's multiple limbs launched towards me and I shut my eyes, feeling two hands placed comfortably on my shoulders.

"We wILL bECOMe oNe Prince Lucian and nO oNe cAn spLit uS aParT!"

"Onii-chan!" Buck's voice pierced through my senses as I was tackled to the ground.

Buck's eyes were filled with tears and he laid on top of me, trying his best not to cry.

The wails of children became louder in my ears as I slowly lost my vision and my ability to breathe.

Buck's tears cascaded on my cheeks and he pulled my torso up and hugged me. I felt the tremble of his body, as he tried to protect me against this monstrous force. Rui ran in front and shielded us both— two small children standing up against this bakemono.

My hearing started to fade and my eyes could only recognize the light. I embraced Buck back and petted his head.

"Thank you..."  I murmured.

For still protecting when you shouldn't.

For still accepting me when you shouldn't.

For still being there when you shouldn't.

I felt my body rose up on its own and my feet dragged themselves forward. My hand grasped another head that must have belonged to Rui, and I ruffled his hair.

A limb snaked its way around my waist and I was hoisted up like a doll.

With the intent to just give in, my vision and hearing miraculously returned.

"LUCIAN!" Caleb shouted.

At that point, I felt my other hand being pulled from below and found the werewolf playing a tug of war against Segreth.

The other half of my back ripped open and a colorful wing of petals emerged in contrast with the other.

"You have already died once nephew, we won't let that happen again."

Light blasted XIII away and I regained my breathing. My chemically filled lungs were suddenly purified.

Caleb caught me and I looked at where I sent XIII's body. The light pestered him and zapped him back to his normal form, making him approachable for the vengeful living.

Though my lungs were saved, I still cannot deny the fact that...I was still losing a substantial amount of blood.

My head lagged back and Caleb panicked.

"Oh, dear...."

Echoes of voices, a wave of whispers, and the peaceful chirping of birds brought me back into a thinking mind.

I was in a bright place with colorful shades of plants, a crystal-blue lake that was sparkling from the sun's rays of light, and the smell of grass helping me focus.

A long raven-haired man stared down at me with the gentlest, most caring, and wisest eyes. A flower crown adorned the top of his head and he wore a white thick robe.

"You're awake," he whispered. "You had us all scared."

The man helped me sit up before rubbing the top of my head where my crown was supposed to be.

"Ripping the proof of your royalty is not the wisest of things. It made your body weaker, less durable. It lessened the capability of your body to handle mana. Why would you do such a thing?"

"It held me back," I answered. "I did not want it."

Lucius will have the same question once he realized that something was missing from me.

The man sighed and tucked some of the long strands of hair behind his ear.

"Such a troublesome child, that is what you are. You are much like your brother, a man of troublesome nature," he chuckled.

"You know my brother?" I asked.

He must be the uncle's voice. Where was the other one? Was I inside my own head?

The man tilted his neck.  "Yes, he is my nephew and so are you."

I faced him and folded my knees underneath me.

"Who are you?"

He smiled softly at me and brushed my cheek with the back of his hand.

"My name is Caspian, the husband of Queen Titia, your mother's sister. I'm also very much dead."

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A/N: AHHHH GOMEN GOMEN GOMEN. I HAD NO PC TO WORK WITH AND I HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO TYPE THIS ON MY PHONE. COMMENT AND VOTE? Anyway, in case, you forgot:

-Elik was the Prince sex slave of Prince Frey
-Titia is the Queen of Catastrophes