575 Sovereign Kreo's Power
Kreo's wife Catherine was killed by the abyssals in a fierce war many, many years ago.
It was so long back that any normal person's memory of that event would've blurred.
But with his own divine path acting as a curse, Evander remembered exactly how she died.
And how it changed everything forever.
It was a war on one of mars' planetoids.
Back then, humanity was significantly weaker than the abyssals. They were just starting the re-conquest of planetoids.
Albert and Kreo weren't Sovereigns yet.
Catherine was a high awakener with a bright future. Her daughter was ten years old and she too was expected to be a genius.
The war was going well.
Humans were gaining a grip on the planetoids.
Catherine was about to bag promotion with her merits. And then it happened.
A sudden reversal that no one expected.
Abyssals stormed the garrison Catherine was staying at, killing every single human.
As the head of that garrison, she was the 'prize'.
Evander was still a kid. He and Kristie were watching the news when someone hacked the entire network.
It was the abyssals.
Humanity back then had a much weaker cyber defense and was prone to hacks.
Thus, not only Evander and Kristie, but billions of humans saw the sight abyssals wanted to show.
The head of a woman hanging by a building.
It was her face.
The woman who he thought of as a mother.
Evander's heart dropped as he froze in shock.
"Kyaaaah!"
With a loud scream, the girl beside him fainted.
Evander hurriedly held her from falling down and shook her. "Kristie! Kristie!"
There was no response.
Soon, the news showed more and more gore pictures.
Evander fainted soon after.
The next time he saw Kristie, it was in a white room.
She was clawing the air, screaming and thrashing.
She muttered. 'Mom, mom, mom.'
She'd keep laughing for hours before suddenly breaking down into tears. She'd also be silent for days before breaking into a fit of rage.
She had gone crazy.
Kreo took the matter into his own hands. As a renowned psychic, this was within his domain.
He focused on healing her all the while fiercely retaliating against the abyssals.
Kristie should've recovered.
But abyssals got back at him for his fierce retaliation.
With the help of a betrayer, they added a drug into Kristie's food.
"Arghh!"
She never recovered.
Kreo focused on his work but was still fatigued by the loss.
Evander didn't see him for a long time and even when they met, their talks were limited.
The few times he did see Kreo was when he visited Kristine.
The last time Evander visited her was almost thirty years ago.
She was a little girl in a woman's body. And the girl herself had gone crazy.
It broke his heart.
That's why he…
*** *** ***
"Kristie calls you to play sometimes." Kreo looked into Evander's eyes and said.
"I see," Evander responded in a plain voice.
There was no trace of emotion in his voice. It was all too plain.
"I forgot. You don't remember much about her anymore." Kreo slapped his forehead.
Evander opened his mouth but finally refrained from speaking.
"Forget it. I was the one who suggested diluting her memories." Kreo said lightly.
"Is this all for nostalgia?" Evander looked uncomfortable and filled his glass.
"Thanks to that, you were able to fully focus on your family." Kreo continued.
Kacha!
The glass in Evander's hand was crushed.
"Your wife. Your son. Your daughter." Kreo continued.
"Sovereign Kreo, I still have my patrols now. Let's save the drinking for later." Evander said and was about to get up.
"Don't you want to avenge them, Evan," Kreo's voice was still low, but grew a bit more assertive.
"I will kill all abyssals," Evander said with a bit of agitation.
"Wrong." Kreo shook his head and looked him in the eye. "We're both very similar. Not only in our tragedies, but also in our hatred."
Evander narrowed his eyes at those words.
"We hate all non-humans and wish to eradicate them."
Silence.
There was absolute silence after those words.
"You're picking on Enigma? I should've expected better." Evander looked at Kreo with a touch of contempt.
"Heh." Kreo chuckled. "You of all people saying that…"
"What do you mean?" Evander didn't understand what he was talking about.
"This should bring back the sealed memories." Kreo snapped his fingers and said.
"Sia."
Evander bent down and clutched the table. He felt like his head was about to split as a barrage of memories flooded his brain. Veins popped up on his forehead and his face turned red and blue.
"Haa! Haa!"
Evander collapsed on the chair and took in heavy breaths.
His eyes widened as he muttered.
"H-How…how could I do that?"
Kreo looked at Evander's state and nodded to himself. 'Almost there. I need to shake his emotions a bit more.'
"Because you hated all non-humans. You handed over the cadet in your academy to the Xanders." Kreo said lightly.
Evander shook his head fiercely. "I hate them. But I am not the person to do that."
Then, he glared at Kreo. "What happened to my memories? Why don't I remember her till now?"
The air grew heavy and it looked like the entire space substation was going to collapse at any moment.
Kreo shrugged nonchalantly without any pressure.
"Xanders approached me to convince you to give them Sia. I can't do it forcefully. But I saw another way.
After your wife's death, your head is full of hatred for non-humans. I just exploited it and tweaked your decisions." Kreo explained the past.
"You!" Evander slammed the desk and stood up.
Rage and shame engulfed him.
"Then you felt too guilty about it. Oh, and I raised the guilt you felt too. So, you asked me to seal those memories. I did seal them." Kreo said with a smile, but it only appeared sinister to Evander now.
"You forgot about Sia just like your disciple, Varian, oh, should I call, Dreamer, forgot about her."
"How did you—" Evander's body trembled in a flood of emotions.
He was never this shaken for a long time.
And that was also exactly what Kreo was looking for.
Swish!
"Kreo, you fu—" Evander froze abruptly.
The last expression on his face was that of utter disbelief. He couldn't believe Kreo was doing this.
Light flickered in and off his eyes as the man tried to regain his senses.
The pendant on Kreo's neck shone and a fierce psychic power assaulted Evander's senses.
"Forgive me, Evan," Kreo said with a soft smile. He walked to Evander and rubbed his head.
"Even though I shouldn't feel this, I feel angry whenever I see you being so happy. You spend your days in glory while my daughter still remains crazy. It's not fair."
Evander stood like a statue.
"Don't worry. Once you're done with this, I'll use my powers to seal this memory of yours." Kreo said with a kind smile.
His mental sense probed Evander and noticed his power.
Kreo patted Evander's cheeks and laughed. "You grew so strong. I can't control you without my artifact."
It was hard to maintain even with an artifact!
"Varian and Enigma need to die. You are our best bet." Kreo pushed Evander. "Go."
Evander's body flickered and he disappeared.
Reaching his spaceship, Evander sat down and instructed in an emotionless voice.
"Earth Ruins!"
