Axel eventually calmed down slightly, but his mind was a disgusting mess that refused to think of anything else. He didn't understand why those memories suddenly appeared right after integrating with the demon bloodline.
But the emotions were engraved in his very soul. He couldn't help but doubt what happened to the soul of the original Axel. Did he perhaps fuse with the injured soul or mind of the original Axel and then reincarnate in his body?
He glanced towards the dead body of Ivor and decided to bury it.
After doing so, he eventually went down the mountain. Axel didn't have much time before the effects of the sleeping gas wore off. He needed to get back to the tent; he needed to rest. Otherwise, if he did not manage to control the foreign emotions, he might trigger a demon transformation.
It didn't take him too long to come back to the tent; thankfully, the guards were still asleep. He showered and cleaned himself so that there was no trace of blood or injury on him. Axel also fell asleep in a few moments. It was already close to the morning, and the guards woke at the cusp of dawn. They tried to wake Axel up early as well, but later told them to go and gather information; he would wake up a bit late.
Thorne went to the village to see if there were any changes. To his surprise, there was indeed a change, and a significant change at that. Many of the people who had shown initial symptoms of illness had recovered completely, and the red bees that had been constantly hovering over the crops were gone.
The crops were even turning back to normal. Those who were too highly affected by the redness were dying out rapidly. Except for those who were in a critical condition, most of them were showing some signs of recovery, though barely.
If only it were just a few small changes affecting only a few people, it might not have been a big deal. Yet, for so many changes to occur at once. The guard could not help but wonder whether anyone had developed a countermeasure or had found the source of the problem.
The guard tried to ask around if anyone knew about anything, but he only received cold shoulders and curses in response. But he understood that no one knew what was going on or how the problem was being solved. However, it was too soon to think that the problem had been solved. So, they had to wait a few more days.
Axel didn't wake up until it was almost afternoon. The guards shot worried glances at him, but he reassured them that nothing had happened to him. He didn't sleep well last night. But the two guards noticed some changes in him; they couldn't pinpoint exactly what, since the changes were quite minute.
Unless he did the demon transformation, Axel would be no different from a human. He could be considered a partial demon at this moment. Even then, he had grown a few inches taller, and Axel looked slightly sharper, which made him look more handsome as a side effect.
It was a clear sign of his growing strength. The guards tactfully ignored the change, since Axel himself did not want to discuss it. He heard the report from Thorne and showed surprise. He knew the problem would be solved right after taking care of the Demonic plant.
He wanted to go and see the changes himself, but, subconsciously, chose not to that day, thinking about Ivor's mother. But he did go to the village the next day. As expected, the situation had turned around.
After paying a villager, he eventually found Ivor's home. The villager told him that the redness was too infected; Ivor's mother was already too sick beforehand. He went inside the hut with considerable hesitation.
A sick and skinny older woman with redness all over her body was lying on the bed like a half-dead person. She continued to whisper, "Ivor, Ivor, Ivor, Ivor, my dear son, why haven't you come back last night, my son, why? Why?"
Axel's expression could not help but twist in guilt. He opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't. The two guards also noticed his abnormal behavior earlier. But he ordered them to remain outside. Axel felt lost; he didn't know what to do. Should he tell her? But would that not make the situation worse?
The woman continued to mutter, "Did you finally leave your useless, sick mother?" "Or did something happen to you...my son, my son."
The woman seemed to have already lost a part of her reasoning, yet the words she said almost brought tears to his eyes. He barely contained them. He ran outside in a hurry and left the village, his face cold and expressionless. The women never noticed him.
The two guards exchanged a glance but said nothing. Axel ordered them, "It's time to go back."
Axel went in the carriage, and they started their journey backward to the Dusker Dukedom. He left that place unable to handle his complicated emotions anymore. He knew in his heart that he had left the poor woman to die alone. After all, there was no cure for the ones that became too infected, at least not in the human lands as far as he knew.
He also couldn't tell the woman the truth that he was the one who killed her only son. He gritted his teeth for the umpteenth time. A voice in his subconscious spoke at this moment,
"It wasn't that you could not tell her the truth, but you did not have the guts to do so. You didn't find that hassle worthwhile to do such a thing."
"It wasn't that there was no cure for her, rather you didn't care about it enough to do something for her by going out of your way."
"It wasn't that you did not want to kill Ivor; you knew it was too hard for you to kill him, so you justified it by thinking about his sick mother."
"The only thing you pretentious bastard care about is yourself and only yourself. What would be useful to you, and what would not be, or what would be a hassle for you? Those are the only questions that ring in your mind in truth before you decide to do anything."
The voice continued its sinister whisper,
"Maybe, you don't care about Mira either, or what happened to her or the original one of this body. Since that bastard Ken had offended you, for that reason, you decided to go against the Dusker's, not for anyone else but rather for your own benefit and survival."
Axel clenched his fists tightly and rubbed his eyes. He knew in his subconscious that maybe, just maybe, it was true. Most of it was true. And he didn't like the truth.
"Accept it, accept it, Tyler Cross, accept the disgusting piece of wretch that you truly are!!!!!"
His subconscious continuously tormented him due to the intense guilt. On one side, his anger knew no bounds for the Dusker's for the disgusting action that those bastards did. There was a bottom line that Axel couldn't cross, and he wouldn't forgive anyone else who did so as well.
But another part of him forced him to think, didn't he leave that woman to die right there without even trying? He was no saint either. Yes, he killed Ivor to survive. But his mother? Did the woman deserve to be separated from her only child in her last moments?
After a whole night in which conflicting emotions raged through his mind, he decided to focus on getting stronger. He could do nothing about any of those cases; he couldn't take revenge for his mother. And decided to accept the guilt of leaving Ivor's mother to die alone.
The day after coming back, the butler came to train him. William would no longer be his instructor. The butler and his father both noticed the subtle changes in him, both physical and emotional. But none of them spoke about it or asked about it. Axel was thankful for that.
He did not know if he would be able to control his emotions if they decided to interrogate him thoroughly. He also had no confidence in his ability to lie to his father successfully. He was an experienced man who knew how to deal with even complex people with ease.
The butler first handed him 4 Iron bracelets made of special material. Each of them was 5 kilograms. Two for his hands and two for his feet. He had to wear them day and night, all the time, until the competition. Even with his increased strength, he could barely walk or move at all while an extra 5 kilos of weight was attached to all 4 of his limbs.