Dear diary, 3 weeks passed since that incident. Everything went back to normal. We were, as always, in the Great Kingdom, playing our role as heroes. Some criminals at a water park had stolen the money and belongings of many people, so we were chasing them. There were about 6 of them and they were pretty slippery, but it didn't matter much since we caught them before they managed to leave the park. They were some kind of frogs, so they moved through the water by swimming. I, with electric swimming, managed to catch up to them and knock them unconscious. Mary, on the other hand, was very fast, so it didn't take her any effort to catch them. And as for Jake, now that he was half demon, water made him uncomfortable. Even though he hadn't told us, it was easy to notice. But despite that problem, he managed to capture the leader of the group of criminals.

  We completed the mission, but we ended up with all our clothes soaked. While we waited for the police to arrive and take the thieves away, Jake used his fire to dry our clothes. Once the police arrived, the sheriff said to us:

  "Thank you very much, guys. As always, you help us a lot with our work. But you work too much, you should take a break."

  I replied:

  "Don't worry, sheriff. We do this because we like helping Totium."

  Just when I was about to say we didn't need a break, Jake interrupted me and said:

  "I think the sheriff is right. Let's go have some fun for a while. The police can take care of everything for today."

  At that moment I thought:"Now that I think about it, we haven't had a break since that day. Lately I haven't been sleeping well and I'm always a bit sleepy, but it doesn't bother me too much."

  Even so, we decided to take a break. Jake suggested resting where we were at that moment, but I rejected it since, after the incident, I didn't really like water anymore. Besides, Jake didn't like water either, he just pretended he did. Then Mary suggested going to a circus that was performing nearby. I had never been to a circus before, so I accepted.

  We quickly arrived at the place, although it was already getting dark. We bought our tickets just before the show started. We also bought food: popcorn, hot dogs, sodas, and nachos with cheese. We entered just as the show was beginning. We sat in our seats and started enjoying the show. Well, Mary and Jake did. I just ate. Honestly, none of that impressed me. Those acrobatics were things we could do without much effort. But well, at least the food was delicious.

  2 hours later the show was still going. The entire audience was screaming with excitement, except me, obviously.

  "Oh shit, I need to piss," I thought.

  I was enjoying watching Mary excited, she looked very cute, but I had to go to the fucking bathroom.

  "I hope this show ends soon. I want to go home and train. Wait... since when do I like exercising? I've always hated it. But since I met Mary I think I started enjoying it, because now I have a reason to do it: to get stronger as fast as possible to protect Totium and protect Mary and Jake."

  After taking a piss I finally returned to the show. But for some reason I couldn't hear anything. There was too much silence.

  "Did the show end or what?" I muttered.

  Before I could open the door I got kicked in the face. That hurt like hell.

  "Hey, I told you to keep watch so no one left. The master will be very angry."

  "Shut up, sister. It doesn't matter that this guy got out. We just have to kill him and that's it."

  They were two of the guys who had been doing acrobatics in the show. For some reason they wanted to kill me.

  "From what they said, I imagine they're not planning anything good. Their boss must be the clown who was presenting the circus. I think his name was Tiny. I can't hear anything... don't tell me these guys killed Jake and Mary. Are they really that powerful?"

  Fear flooded my heart and my mind.

  "I don't have time to waste. I need to find out what's going on."

  I quickly activated electric agility, but even so those guys were pretty strong.

  I told myself: "I should have used electric fists. Shit, I don't want to waste more time."

  I decided to propel myself with my True?ioion as fast as I could. I managed to get past those guys, but I also ended up smashing my face against the floor because of how fast I went. Even so, I managed to enter the stadium.

  Despite the pain in my face, it didn't matter, because at that moment I felt relief... and also confusion.

  Mary and Jake were completely fine. But they, along with every person in the stadium, were sitting still without moving or making any noise. They were just staring straight ahead without blinking.

  I tried to make Mary and Jake come to their senses, but it was useless. No matter how much I talked to them or shook them, they didn't react.

  "What the hell happened? It looks like they were hypnotized or something," I said out loud.

  Suddenly the clown appeared and shouted:

  "IDIOTS! I told you not to let anyone leave the stadium, you useless bastards. Well, it doesn't matter, it's just one against many."

  Before I could say or do anything, everyone in the stadium stood up from their seats and started walking toward me. Obviously to do things that wouldn't be very pleasant.

  "If the clown is the one controlling them, then he's the one I need to kill. But there's also the risk that he could hypnotize me too. I don't know how the hell he hypnotized all these people, so I need to be careful. I also have to make sure I don't hurt any innocent people."

  I still had electric agility activated, so I used it to dodge everyone. The hardest ones to avoid were Mary and Jake, naturally.

  But it didn't matter, because once again I propelled myself at full speed with my True?ioion, this time aiming straight at that shitty clown.

  I managed to cut off his head before he could even react.

  "Wait... don't fuck with me. I killed this guy, but everyone is still attacking me. So how the hell do I break the trance?" I said out loud.

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  "Hahaha, did you really think you finished me, Thunder Knight? You're very wrong."

  The severed head said.

  Suddenly, a kind of black smoke came out of the clown's body. That smoke transformed into something I never expected to see again.

  I still remember it as if it were yesterday.

  The day I always wanted to forget.

  7 years ago, when my parents died.

  They sacrificed their lives to seal that demon.

  But for some reason that bastard was standing right in front of me.

  His form cannot be described, because he is a cosmic being.

  My entire body started trembling. I also began hyperventilating.

  The bastard who caused my parents' death was just smiling.

  Not even with Crag, Reficul, or Zyn had I ever trembled like this.

  I wanted to cry.

  "Mom... dad... please help me. I'm really scared. I can't take it anymore. I can't take it anymore. Leave me alone. I want to get out of here. I want to be safe. I want to be with you. Please save me."

  "Goddamn it, I'm a piece of shit. I abandoned all those people, I abandoned Mary and Jake. I can't stop shaking, I can't stop crying. All these feelings I kept buried deep inside me for so long have finally come out. I thought I could change. I thought I could be better. I thought I could be like my parents, strong and brave. But no... I can't. I don't deserve this power I have. Why was I chosen? Tell me, True?ioion, why? WHY DID YOU CHOOSE ME? I'M USELESS, I CAN'T DO ANYTHING, I'M WEAK. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE ME THEN? I DON'T UNDERSTAND. JAKE WAS MUCH BETTER THAN ME. WHY DIDN'T YOU CHOOSE HIM? WHY WAS I BORN? I SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN BORN. I'M A MISTAKE. I ALWAYS KNEW IT BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO ACCEPT IT. I ALWAYS WANTED TO BELIEVE THAT I WAS ACTUALLY WORTH SOMETHING, THAT THERE WAS A REASON YOU CHOSE ME. BUT IT WAS PROBABLY JUST A DAMN MISTAKE. I WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE THE THUNDER KNIGHT. I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE. I DON'T WANT TO BE THE THUNDER KNIGHT ANYMORE. I WANT TO DIE. I HATE MY LIFE. I HATE MY EXISTENCE. I HATE MYSELF. I WANT TO DISAPPEAR. PLEASE JUST KILL ME ALREADY."

  "Goddamn it... I can't even kill myself. I'm truly useless."

  While I was driving, I was about to cut my throat with the True?ioion, but I couldn't. I didn't have the courage. I didn't want to abandon them. I was the only one who could save them.

  I landed near my house. I could hear the crowd getting closer. Apparently, he had hypnotized many more people.

  "I have to do something, but what can I do? I have no idea."

  "The only thing I can do is kill the demon that's controlling them all, but how the hell am I supposed to kill something that even my parents couldn't kill?"

  "Somehow I have to do it. If I don't, all of Totium will be finished."

  I decided to come up with a plan.

  When the hypnotized people were already very close to my house, I used controlling lightning to make the car fly away automatically. That made most of the hypnotized people chase after it, thinking I was inside.

  The bad thing was that only two hypnotized people didn't chase the car and instead entered the house.

  Obviously Mary and Jake.

  They were also accompanied by the clown and his circus.

  I tried to attack them with controlling lightning. I managed to immobilize everyone except the damn clown. He quickly approached me and, before I could close my eyes, he put some kind of clock in front of my face that started spinning rapidly.

  And suddenly I couldn't control my body.

  "Hahaha, finally, finally I'll be able to take revenge on those two humans who imprisoned me 7 years ago. I have their two children under my control. This planet will be completely dominated by chaos, but unfortunately you won't be part of my army. You have one of the elemental weapons, you're far too dangerous to stay alive. So I'm sorry, cut your throat right now."

  My hand moved on its own. I grabbed my True?ioion and brought it closer to my throat. I couldn't control my hand, no matter how hard I tried.

  "Please, please, please... PLEASE!!!"

  "Huh? Where am I? I can't see anything, there's only darkness. I can't hear anything, there's only silence. I can't feel anything. Am I dead?"

  "Yes, you are dead."

  "Who said that?"

  "Me."

  In front of me stood a guy dressed in a black robe with a scythe in his left hand.

  "Who are you?" I asked.

  "My name is Jack, although you mortals know me as Death."

  "Wait, I can't die. Mary and Jake need me. Totium needs me. I have to go back. LET ME GO BACK."

  "Yes, yes, I know. You want to go back, but it's impossible. You can't come back to life. But don't worry, with everything you did in life, you'll definitely go to paradise so your soul can rest."

  "I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THAT. LET ME GO BACK, DAMN IT. I HAVE TO SAVE THEM."

  I tried to punch him, but my fist couldn't even touch him. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't touch that guy.

  And now that I looked at him more closely, I realized he was just a talking skeleton.

  "Goddamn it, this can't be happening. Why am I going to paradise? I don't deserve it. I'm useless, I'm a coward. I abandoned them. I don't deserve to go to paradise..."

  "Wait... I have an idea."

  "Hey, let's make a deal."

  "HAHAHAHAHAHA. It's been a while since someone said that. Most people simply accept that their souls will go to paradise or they beg me not to send them to hell. Only a few have offered me something in exchange for reviving them or sending them to paradise, but no one has ever offered anything worth it. Come on, Thunder Knight, tell me what you offer."

  "As far as I remember, your rank is higher than that of angels and demons. The one who killed me was a demon. If you revive me, you'll be able to possess my body for a while so you can take that juicy demon soul. You're authorized to punish angels and demons if they interfere too much with mortals, right? So come on, revive me and you'll be able to use my body to punish that demon."

  "HAHAHAHA, what an interesting human. You're quite well informed for a mere mortal."

  "Well, my mother was a witch, and when I was a kid she let me read her books, and that's where I learned some things. But anyway... are you going to accept the deal or what?"

  Jack, Death, didn't respond. He just remained silent and suddenly disappeared.

  "Fuck... did remembering all that stuff from my childhood end up being for nothing?"

  I opened my eyes. I stood up from the floor, but I couldn't control my body. I was being controlled—but not by Tiny.

  This time by Death.

  I had been revived.

  The wound on my throat was gone, although there was still blood on my neck.

  I could see the demon Tiny looking terrified, just like his henchmen.

  Suddenly I felt nauseous. I vomited something and regained control of my body.

  I could see Death, in a gigantic form, grabbing the demon while he screamed in terror. He was shouting words I couldn't understand. His screams were horrifying.

  He tried to escape. He began distorting reality.

  The ground split open.

  The sky turned black.

  Mary and Jake were unconscious and fell into the crack created by Tiny.

  I propelled myself with the True?ioion and saved them.

  Many pieces of debris were falling. I decided to use electric intangibility to protect myself and the two of them.

  They were pretty heavy, but we managed to get out of the crack.

  Then we were lying on the ground. Them because they were unconscious, and me because I was extremely tired.

  I could hear Death devouring the demon Tiny.

  Even though I should have been happy to hear my parents' killer dying, the sound was horrible. And the only thing I could think about were the corpses of my parents that I saw 7 years ago.

  I will never forget that scene.

  The ground and the sky returned to normal, and Death disappeared after telling me:

  "We'll see each other again soon."

  I couldn't stop myself from crying.

  "I'm really scared. I'm scared of dying. I'm scared of them dying. I'm scared of moving forward. I'm scared that I'll never be able to overcome this pain I have. I'm scared that I'll never manage to become strong. I'm scared of everything... because I'm very weak."

  That's what I was thinking while I covered my face with my arms and cried.

  Mary and Jake woke up. They saw me crying.

  They ran over and hugged me.

  Now that I think about it, even though they were hypnotized, they were probably conscious when I died.

  They started crying too.

  The three of us hugged each other and cried while we heard the police getting closer.

  End of Chapter 10.