Chapter 25 - Special

Arthur never wanted to be special. He had that desire ever since he was conscious of his surroundings. Whenever he saw people praising him and calling him 'genius', he felt strangely annoyed. What was so different about him that made him a special? What was so great about him that made him a genius?

He had these questions as far as he could remember, he did not know when it began, and at one point he just realized he had an aversion to anything special. He wanted to be normal, he wanted a normal family, he wanted a normal life, he wanted to play normally like other children did.

Apparently when he was just a year old, his 'talent' was discovered, he had a high level and realm of existence, at least for a baby. He was in the intermediate stage of the Master realm. A realm of strength some might never reach in their lifetimes.

Among all the children born around the time he was, he was the only one in the intermediate stage, the only other one who was in the master realm with him was a girl called Layla Eryrth, the daughter of one of the four Devilian Grand Dukes.

Even so, she was in the inferior stage while he was intermediate, it was only a difference of one stage to him but to others it was different. He never understood the real reason for the joy of the Devilian nobles when they celebrated this.

That was only natural, he was just a year old boy who had not learned how to walk properly yet at that time, what could he have possibly known. Every year he had a birthday celebration, more and more people came to meet him, hoping to imprint themselves in his memory for hopes of him remembering them in the future.

Arthur never understood their reasons for this, they were always so eager to push their children towards him saying he should make friends with other members of his generation.

When he was two years old, during one of his father's visits, he got a picture book as a gift, it was a story of a swordsman who slayed a dragon with just his sword. He was excited as he looked at the pictures, he wanted to become a swordsman who could slay dragons too, it was his dream at the time. Upon telling his parents, they just smiled and patted him on the head, he did not know why but it felt pleasant so he said nothing.

His father brought him more picture books about various swordsmen defeating evil monsters with flashy sword skills and techniques. He wanted to learn those techniques too, every time he read his picture books, he wished to be like them more and more.

He first picked up a sword when he was just three years old, it was a training sword used by the knights of the castle, he had wandered over to their training grounds while he was playing hide and seek with his mother.

Upon arriving there, he noticed a Knight hiding in a corner swinging his sword strangely. The knight seemed to be making little noise for some reason, probably to prevent others from realizing he was there, however Arthur's senses have always been sharp, his mother once told him that he could distinguish auras ever since he was just a baby.

Looking at the knights strange movements, Arthur felt it was probably some sort of sword technique like the ones he saw in his picture books, he began imitating the Knight. At first, it was difficult but after a few hours, he managed to get it right. His mother had long found him but she was just simply watching him swing his sword while hiding her presence and said nothing.

His mother's elder brother, then came into the training ground and discovered both him and the knight. The knight immediately kneeled in respect but Arthur just kept swinging the sword, he was enjoying it, the feeling of the wooden sword slicing through the air, it was a new experience for him.

Upon noticing his uncle, he ran towards him happily and showed him the sword movements, he even pointed at the knight saying he learnt it from watching him. It was then his mother showed herself, she patted his head and spoke,

"My little boy is a genius."

He could not understand what was so genius about imitating a few sword movements,

"The knight was doing it so easily, so it must have been easy movements right?"

That was what he said in reply, he even looked at the knight for confirmation, however the knight's look was strange.

Anger, envy, hatred, resignation.

Different emotions swelled in the knight's eyes however, he just kept quiet and bowed his head. Arthur could not understand why, neither could he understand the emotions he felt from the knight.

The next time he got to the training center, he could not find the knight, after asking his squad mates, it turned out the knight had quit.

'Why?'

He could not understand it, rumors then began to spread that he was a genius with talent for the sword.

'But I've only touched a sword once and imitated easy movements, why's everyone saying I'm a genius?'

It was only later that he discovered that the movements he imitated were the movements of a technique the knight had been practicing for years, he then understood why the knight looked at him that way.

Anger at the fact that Arthur had the talent to easily accomplish what he had not for years, Envy at Arthur's talent, Hatred towards the person who had more talent than he had and Resignation at the fact that he could never be as talented at that.

He felt that he had trampled on the knight's pride, simply because he was 'special' and a 'genius' did not mean he had the right to do so. It was around this time he probably became averse to the being called such, he just wanted to be normal like others.

This discouraged Arthur and made him want to give up his dreams of being a swordsman, however the look of disappointment on his mother's face as he said that made him continue. She simply felt that he was talented and did not want his talent to waste, but to him it felt like he did not meet his mother's expectations for him.

He did not want that, he did not want to disappoint his mother, she had taken care of him ever since he was born, he felt meeting the expectations she had for him was the least he could do to pay her back.

At age seven, he discovered something else, that he was the child of a prophecy. It sounded absurd, however after finding out the truth from his mother he was nonplussed. He finally understood why his dad was never always home with him and his mother, they were from different races and were supposed to be enemies in the first place.

Finding out about his origins was a shock to him, he was half-devil and half-god, his father was a god of another pantheon. Finding out about the prophecy that said he was going to bring an end to his father's race was even worse.

'Why in Hell would I do that? I love my dad, there's no way I'd kill him even if I could.'

At that point in time, he finally admitted the reality that he was the furthest thing from the normal he always wanted. The friends he thought he had were not true friends, they were just children who were sent to befriend him for the purpose getting closer to him, he was the son of the Devilian princess after all. His father was also the brother of a King.

There were many people who would stop at nothing to be on his good side. His mother knew this and was worried for him but she did not take any action, the devils had a hands off policy when it came to dealing with the younger generation.

Excessive interference was not allowed, his mother wanted nothing but to rid him of all his fake friends and beat up all those who wanted to use him for their selfish goals but she was not allowed to.

"If he ends up being used by them, it would be his fault and will serve as a lesson for him in the future, he is quite mature for his age so he should be able to find out who is true or useful to him and who is not.

You should shouldn't you?"

Those were the words he heard his grandfather, the devil king, say to his mother, he felt like the last part of the statement was meant for him and not his mother, after all there was no way his grandfather would not have realized he was hiding behind the door that day. He was probably the one who prevented his mother from knowing he was there too.

Pondering on his grandfather's words, he realized he was right, although devils matured quickly, Arthur was an anomaly, he matured way faster than his peers. He was also far more capable than them in other areas too. He decided to cut off contact from those who were not true or useful to him.

When he told his father this, the man smiled and said,

"Do whatever you want son, your mother and I would support you all the way."

That was when he made the decision, he would not be used by anyone, he would become strong enough that no one would see him as someone they could deceive.

He would not be used by any of the Devilian nobles, no matter the rank. Whether it was one of the Four Grand Dukes, or any of the Six Dukes.

He decided to embrace it, his specialty, his genius, he decided to stop averting himself and embrace it all. The frightening talent he had, he would use it to make himself stronger, with his genius intelligence, he would make himself smarter and wiser.

That day, Arthur was just eight years old when he made the decision to be stronger than everyone in every way, it became his creed, one he would stick to for the rest of his life.