"He is cursed, Irene! Why don't you understand me?" The man's voice was sharp, reverberating through the small house. Each word cut through the tense air like a knife.

Inside the dimly lit kitchen, a small child sat curled up in the corner, trembling. His face was pale, lips quivering, eyes wide with terror. His knees were drawn to his chest, and his tiny arms wrapped around them as if trying to shield himself from the harsh reality unfolding outside the door.

Beyond the doorway, two figures stood locked in a fierce argument. A man and a woman, both of similar age, their faces contorted with anger. The man's fists were clenched, his stance rigid as he glared at the woman. His voice, dripping with venom, filled the space between them.

"Mind your words, ——!" The woman's scream was sharp, fueled by raw emotion. Her face flushed with rage as she took a step forward, her hand trembling slightly. The name of the man remained elusive, as though a strange fog had settled over it, muffling his identity. She was furious, but also desperate, clinging to something that was slipping away.

"You can deny it all you want, Irene," the man spat back, his voice growing louder, more hostile. "But the truth remains. You've seen what he can do. You know what he is. You're raising a demon—a *demon*!"

The word echoed in the child's mind, and he squeezed his eyes shut, his body shrinking further into the corner as if he could disappear.

"Shut up, ——!" Irene's voice cracked as she shouted, her body visibly trembling. "I will not let you say another word. He is our child!"

The man's gaze turned cold, his eyes hardening like ice as they settled on the small figure hiding behind the woman. His expression darkened, his features twisted with disgust. "That thing is no child of mine," he said, his voice low, each word deliberate.

Irene flinched as though struck, her shoulders sagging under the weight of his words. Her hands, which had been balled into fists, fell limp at her sides.

The man turned sharply, his back to both of them. "I'm going to the clan leader," he said, his tone final. "This is the last time I'll say it—give up. That thing isn't human."

Without another glance, he walked away, his footsteps heavy against the wooden floor. Irene stood frozen in place, her lips parted but no words came out. Her entire body trembled as she stared after him, unable to move, unable to think.

The child didn't dare lift his head. He remained curled up, tears streaming silently down his face, too scared to make a sound.

Then everything around him shattered.

***

Levi jolted awake, tears streaming down his face. He blinked in confusion, disoriented as if trapped in a strange daze. His hand instinctively moved to his eyes, wiping away the tears. It took him a moment to realize he had been crying.

"What happened?"

He couldn't remember. The reason for his tears escaped him. All he recalled was closing his eyes in this cursed place

"Must've been a nightmare," he muttered.

It was the second time this had happened, and he wondered if the isolation in this forsaken land was beginning to take its toll on him. He didn't know for sure. His thoughts were quickly interrupted by a bird landing on his shoulder as if it owned the spot.

Levi blinked and looked at the black bird, now slightly bigger and longer than before.

"Did you sleep well, Noir?"

Caw!

The bird let out a soft cry and nudged his face affectionately.

"You seem like you had a better dream than I did," Levi chuckled, stroking the bird's small head.

It had been a long time since Levi had fought the Black Wing of Lunacy, though he had no real sense of time. His citizenship watch didn't work in the sanctum, leaving him to guess. In that time, he had focused on healing and further exploring his demonic transformation whenever possible.

He had learned much.

First, he gained better control over his abilities. Starting with his Demonic Transformation, he discovered it offered far more than just enhanced strength. While in the transformed state, his strength nearly doubled, and his healing ability significantly improved, which was a crucial advantage, especially in the aftermath of his last brutal fight.

In addition to strength and healing, the transformation accelerated his essence regeneration, though not quite doubled, about 50% faster based on his experiments.

Levi also mastered better control over the essence usage during his transformation, now able to sustain it for around two minutes without straining his body as he had in his previous battle. Since this ability couldn't be revealed to others, he knew he had to be cautious.

Then came his second ability—Domination.

This one still remained a mystery. While Levi had a better grasp of its effects, he still didn't know when or how it would activate. Unlike his Demonic Transformation, Domination appeared to be a passive ability, triggering under certain conditions. As for what those conditions were, Levi had no clue.

Finally, there were his innate abilities. Unlike the traits, his innate powers weren't bound by constraints, allowing him to train them more freely.

And among them, the one that had shown the most improvement was undoubtedly his Lunacy!

He had been constantly keeping Lunacy active whenever possible. Now, he could extend the green aura up to 30 meters, a significant improvement from the previous range of 15 meters—and even then, he had to strain to reach 20.

The backlash from Lunacy had also started to diminish. Though he still felt some mental pressure, the eerie voices that once echoed in his head had finally subsided, which was a relief, and a definite sign of progress.

However, it was hard to gauge the true effectiveness of his improvements, given that he didn't have any live targets to test it on—aside from Noir, of course.

That's right, he had been training with the little bird. Surprisingly, it had proven beneficial for Noir as well, as the bird seemed to reap some of the ability's benefits!

---***---

Sorry for the late chapters~