Ten years ago.
"Please, big sister! The brothers are mistreating me!" A little boy with black hair shouted to the older girl, she had long white hair and lilac eyes, extremely lonely and profound.
The girl herself looked like a large doll who could barely speak. She was quiet and serene most of the time, completely indifferent and uncaring of cruelty.
"Leave," she said, as cold as ever. Once again, the little brother clung to her dress. The age difference between them was quite significant. The boy was only eight years old, and the girl, sixteen.
"Please, sister!" He cried as he knelt down and clutched her black dress. However, the girl didn't care.
*Bak*
The boy received a strong kick strong enough to send him flying. It wasn't a fatal kick, just a big shove to push him away from the girl.
The boy's tears began to fall as he watched the woman walk away. Like he was just a bag of garbage, he stood there for hours until a man appeared and took him away.
Jason, the name of the knight who helped him and accompanied him in his recovery. Several days passed, soon days turned into weeks, and so on.
"The youngest son of Vorah?" He said as he struck a dummy, using his wooden sword, which unfortunately had no technique whatsoever.
"I failed the selection ritual, no spiritual weapon wanted me," he said, slicing through the wind, clumsily guided by anger.
"Sword talent? I don't need that!" He roared as he struck alone in the empty training field.
"Effort surpasses natural talent!" He shouted and hit the dummy again.
"Well, if it isn't the Damned Strax, or rather, the Failure of Vorah!" A boy's voice was heard, and the boy, Strax, turned to look at two boys approaching. They were Strax's older brothers.
"Hey, little brother, why do you keep wielding that sword for no reason? Come on, you're a failure," one of them said, he had golden hair and red eyes.
"That's right, where did you leave your sword?" The other questioned, subtly laughing. Of course, to them, it was funny. This one had black hair and purple eyes.
"Yeah, where did he put it, Virgil?" The one with golden hair asked. "I don't know, Dominic, maybe because he doesn't have one?" He asked Dominic while holding back laughter.
"HAHAHAHA," the two laughed as they approached Strax.
"Answer," Virgil said, but Strax just stayed silent as he continued to wield the sword silently.
"When your older brothers speak, you answer!" He shouted and kicked Strax in the stomach.
"Urgh!!" He screamed in pain. The kick was so strong it could have broken one of his ribs.
"Worthless bastard, why don't you just kill yourself?" Virgil growled as he walked toward the fallen boy. "Why do you keep using that pathetic wooden sword? You don't even have a reason for it!" He shouted, his voice voracious and angry.
Again, Virgil endeavored to be the worst of the worst and stepped on Strax's hand. "Urgh! Stop!"
"Look, Dominic, despite being a failure, he's still retaliating... do we need to teach him a big lesson? These pathetic eyes are annoying me." Virgil said, laughing. "Stop, please!" He pleaded, but they continued to laugh. However, the torment from his older brothers was interrupted.
"You disgust me." The woman's voice echoed. She looked into Strax's eyes and said nothing. At the same time, she turned to the other two, glaring heavily at them with a murderous look that made them tremble.
"X-Xenovia! We were just teaching him how to use a sword! Isn't that right, Virgil?" Dominic said quickly as he looked at his brother who was static, and then he stepped on his foot. "Urgh! Why did you do that?" Then he turned back and looked at who was in front of him.
"XXXXXXXXENOVIA!" He quickly shouted. However, before he could say anything, "Kneel, I never allowed you to speak to me." She said, and the two were forced down to the ground, leaving a huge crack in the ground as their bodies were crushed by the purple aura emanating from Xenovia.
Strax watched that scene as his brothers agonized, and then, soon, he returned to reality.
"Why did it have to be Xenovia... What does she want?" Strax asked Jason in front of him, who couldn't help with that.
[Main Mission - The return to Hell has been opened. Complete the remaining missions to begin this act.]
"Unfortunately, I can't go now, Jason," Strax said, seeing Jason's expression change completely. He now seemed... grim? I guess that's how you can say it.
"I don't think you understand, Young Master Strax. It's not a request. It's an order," he said, raising his aura. "Even if you can't go, you will go." He said, looking into his eyes. Strax, however, blinked twice and looked at the man confused.
"Hey, idiot brute, I'm saying I'll go, but not now! I need to deal with an issue that Beatrice's Butler caused me," he commented, and Jason looked, clearly wanting an explanation.
Strax sighed heavily and began to explain what had happened between him and Beatrice. Of course, he left out some details, like the mine he found and the problems he faced. He just gave a brief summary.
"How dare a mere butler..." He murmured, and Strax looked at him and just said, "And since when do I have any status? Since those idiots banished me, I'm no longer the Young Master, only you treat me like that, Jason," Strax said emotionlessly. To him, it was completely natural.
"Even so... You're still a Vorah..." He murmured.
'Of course, always this nonsense about being a Vorah. How could I not take that into account, huh? Well, if my older sister is calling me, the Vorah are still keeping an eye on me, aren't they?'
As he thought, Jason stood up. "I will help you so we can go to the Duchy as soon as possible. Once we're done, you need to quickly go meet Xenovia. Are we understood?" Jason asked. Strax, however, couldn't deny a second.
"Okay, follow me," he said, and they both headed towards the Baroness's mansion.