A Hell Called Serestral - Chapter 59

“Your father did what?” Aries could not believe that Gale would casually say things like that about his father.

“Gust and I never talked about our family,” Gale sighed with dismay. “How can we tell other people that there is more hate than love in our family? Twins turning against each other is a normal thing. It frightened us. Adding to our fear is the truth that Gust is fated to be a Zodiac Knight and a house leader. Father is forcing Gust to become a ruthless house leader. That was the reason Gust begged Guardian Aika to help him become better than the rest of their family. My twin brother did not leave the dungeon until the guardian agreed, even if he was about to die, Gust stayed in that place. He said back then that it is better for him to die rather than kill his twin brother in the future. After learning some skills, he had taken me out of our mansion. We found this place and treated this as our home. We promised that no more twins will grow up like us, that we will stop the killings. But Gale suddenly accepted that hateful position.”

“Why did he open up an arena? Is it a regular thing here in the House of Twins?” Aries inquired.

“The arena…” a bitter smile curved on the lips of Gale. “I kind of liked it at first. Gust commanded that all our family affairs should be settled in the arena. It is better than backstabbing each other.”

“But the punishment…” Princess Pieffer began to argue but decided to keep her silence. “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be,” Gale said with a shake of his head. “I was surprised that Gust would do something like that. But we already told you, Aries. We don’t care about anything else but ourselves. And my family already felt like they had been corrupted long ago. Nothing will change even if they get possessed. Gust eliminated most of our family members using the arena. He spared the young ones but he had given them under the care of Guardian Aika. He told her that if they show signs of wickedness, she must report to him and he will bring them to the arena to fight.”

“How can you still talk to Guardian Aika?” Aries wondered.

“She was visiting this place once in a while to report to me,” Gale smiled bitterly. “I hope Gust will do the same but he never set foot in this place since he became the house leader.”

“We should stop Gust,” Aries tightened his grip on the bowl he was holding.

“I am trying ever since but I cannot win in the arena,” Gale sighed with disappointment. “I want to be the victor and ask him to grant my wish.”

“I will defeat his army,” Aries said with determination. “We will save him, Gale.”

“Let’s save him,” Gale nodded with tears in his eyes.

A strong wind had blown not far from where they were eating. They quickly got up on their feet and glanced warily at the wind vortex that formed near their location.

Gust gracefully shot out of it and landed with a commanding aura in front of Aries, Princess Pieffer, and Gale.

“Who needs saving?” his green eyes were confusingly impassive.

“You,” Aries answered as coldly as Gust. He was annoyed at how he suddenly changed and continued with the destruction of his own House. But his sins could not change the fact that Gust was his brother and he would save his only family at all cost. “I will bring you back to our senses.”

A mocking smile curved on the lips of Gust as he told Aries, “Are you strong enough to do that? You and Gale had never won against me.”

In the memories that Aries remembered, those words were true. But that was a long time ago. Things had changed. If Gust became a ruthless house leader, he had turned into a merciless assassin. He called his crimson blades and attacked.

Gust summoned a wind vortex to dodge and used the same technique to attack Aries from behind. He was also using dual swords with jade green blades. The latter managed to get away with a grazed overcoat.

“Save me, huh?” Gust disappeared again with the wind vortex and reappeared in front of Aries. He relentlessly swung his blades.

Metal clashed against metal as Aries deflected each slash. Gust had greatly improved and he was not yet using his spellcasting ability.

The Twin House Leader continued with his aggressive hacking and Aries was compelled to take backward steps. He retreated to where more trees were standing. He needed all the shadows in the forest.

“You promised,” Gust slashed his blades with eyes glinting with fury.

Aries felt the intensity of that rage as his crimson swords caught the jade green blades and the sharp winds that came with the blow. His sleeves had been shredded and so was the skin underneath. He quickly moved away, but Gust chased him using the wind vortex.

“You didn’t return,” Gust sliced his jade-green blades with the same intense fury and Aries managed to hop away before the sharp wind hit him again. But as soon as his feet touched the ground, Gust was already a few inches in front of him and with a slash of his jade-green swords, Aries was forced to dash backward until his back hit a tree.

Gust pierced the tree and crossed his blades an inch away from the neck of Aries.

“You are a liar,” his voice was low but it was fuming with rage. “You cannot change anything now. You came back too late.”

“It will only be too late if you are dead,” Aries stepped into the shade of the tree and it felt like he had been swallowed by the trunk where he was leaning. “You are still alive and there was still hope.”

He walked out of the shadow and swayed. He had forgotten about the curse inflicted on him. He had to end that fight before the curse drained him once more. Fortunately for him, Gust was still facing the tree and did not notice his struggle in steadying his knees.

“You learned a few tricks,” Gust used the wind vortex to close in on Aries.

In the next second, their dual blades were once again clashing intensely against each other.

Gust swung his blades. Aries bent his knees to dodge then dashed for a counter but his crimson blades were caught by the jade green swords and had been shoved to give Gust a space for swift assaults.

Aries caught one of the jade green swords and sidestepped to avoid the other one. He quickly turned around and successfully landed a kick in the face of his opponent.

The intensity of the kick had thrown Gust a few feet away. His back would have hit a tree if he did not use the wind vortex. He reappeared in front of Aries and relentlessly waved his jade-green blades until he grazed the latter on the cheek.

Aries had to escape through the shades once again and prevent his face from being shredded. When he stepped away from the darkness, Gust was nowhere to be seen. Then out of the blue, he heard the wind vortex reappearing from behind him. He quickly turned and saw the jade-green blades swinging in his direction. He parried both blades but his knees buckled and he stumbled on the ground.

Gust hopped a few feet backward and took a quick three hundred sixty degrees turn with one leg raised. His kick had hit empty space but it was the blast of air that formed in his stunt that hit Aries and sent him flying in mid-air.

Before he could hit a tree, he heard the wind vortex and Gust appeared in the direction where he soaring out of control. He violently swung his jade-green blades to form a pair of sharp air currents. It painfully hit Aries and hurled him in the opposite direction until he finally hit a tree. As his beaten body slumped on the ground, Gust reappeared in front of him and stabbed his right leg with one of the jade green swords.

Aries winced as pain shot from his stab wound and scattered all throughout his body.

“I told you, it is already too late,” Gust left one of his blades pierced at the leg of Aries. He leaned away and raised his other blade. “Let’s end this now.”

“Gust, no!!!”

Gale appeared between Gust and Aries through a wind vortex. His curved swords caught the jade green blade of his twin brother. But both had been shattered by the intensity of the plummeting blade.

Aries grabbed Gale by his collar and grabbed him towards the shadow but his right leg was stuck in the ground because of the jade green blade. The next thing that came to his mind was to shove Gale away from the plummeting blade which he, fortunately, did in the nick of time, but he failed to save his left abdomen from getting stabbed.

Gust was momentarily petrified.

“Aries!!!” Gale yelled and dashed towards his twin brother but Gust had quickly recovered his senses and escaped through the wind vortex.

He had left his jade-green blades but it eventually vanished a few seconds after his flight and left Aries bleeding on the ground.

“Aries, I’m sorry…” Gale ripped his overcoat to cover the bleeding wounds.

“Princess Pieffer can heal me,” Aries took the ripped overcoat over his wounds. “Just take me to her.”

Gale nodded, carried Aries in his arms, and used the wind vortex to easily take him back to the bed inside the hut.

The princess was patiently waiting at the dining table and the moment he had seen Aries bleeding, she had quickly approached him.

“What happened?” she asked while her magical hands began healing Aries.

“Gust… he did that…” Gale was still crying but the rage was slowly showing in his tearful eyes. “I will make him pay for hurting you!”

Aries feebly grabbed Gale by his arm and told him, “Stay here… and wait… please… I don’t want you… to kill each other…”

He could sense his energy quickly fading away and he noticed that the princess had also started shedding tears.

Despite his weakening body, he held the hands that were trying to heal him and whispered, “I… will be fine… I just… need to sleep…”

He closed his eyes and his consciousness had swiftly drifted away.

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