Extra 5: Abyss Young
Before becoming a feared demon, Ashura was just a nameless "bastard" on the edge of the abyss.
His very birth was a mistake. His mother was a lowly maid of the ghost tribe, and his father... was said to be a celestial noble who had fallen here, his powers utterly lost. This union was considered a stain by both races. His mother died in childbirth, leaving behind him, a sinister creature with ominous silver-gray eyes and strange red-black hair.
He grew up scorned, despised, and starving, huddled in the depths of an abandoned mine, battling rot and demonic rats for food. The ghost children saw him as an alien and often took pleasure in beating him. His body was always covered in scars, both new and old.
The only person who treated him with some gentleness was a similarly skinny ghost boy named Lei. Lei was an orphan, and perhaps out of sympathy, he would occasionally secretly share some moldy bread with him, or clumsily help wipe his wounds when he was beaten all over.
"Ashura," Lei Zeng looked at his eyes that stubbornly refused to shed tears even after being beaten, and whispered, "The color of your eyes... is like the shattered light of the moon, which is actually very beautiful."
That was the first time he got a proper name, and also the first time he got a tiny bit of warmth. He regarded "Lei" as his only friend and protected this little starlight with his life.
A turning point came during a sudden demonic attack. A pack of low-level demon dogs rushed into an abandoned mining area where children were playing. In the chaos, the young son of a high-ranking ghost commander in charge of the area froze in fear, about to be pounced upon by the demon dogs.
All the children ran away screaming.
Only Ashura rushed forward.
He didn't know where his courage and strength came from, perhaps it was just an instinct honed by long struggles on the brink of life and death. Like a cornered beast, he roared and lashed out with stones, nails, and teeth, frantically attacking the demonic dog, which was several times his size. He forcibly dragged the terrified child from the canine's fangs, but his own back was torn open with deep wounds that exposed the bone, and blood flowed profusely.
The demon dogs were driven away by the adult ghosts who came after hearing the news.
Asura collapsed in a pool of blood, almost fainting from the severe pain and exhaustion, but a faint hope arose in his heart - he saved the general's son, so... could he finally be accepted a little bit?
However, the rescued child was still in shock. He pointed at the blood-stained, horrible-looking Ashura and cried out, "It's him! He's the one who brought the demon dog! He wants to kill me!"
Fear made the child choose the most despicable lie to shirk responsibility, and his identity gave this lie a terrible weight.
The eyes of the adult ghosts who had been grateful just now suddenly became cold and disgusted.
"He's a filthy bastard! Such a vicious heart!" "He shouldn't have been allowed to live!" "Beat him to death! Vengeance for the young master!"
Fists and kicks fell like hail, more painful and colder than the bites of demon dogs. Asura tried to argue, but his weak voice was drowned out by the angry scolding and the whistling wind of fists. He curled up, protecting his head and face, golden blood oozing from his mouth and nose.
He raised his eyes with difficulty, and amidst the chaotic swarm of people, he saw Lei, hiding behind the crowd. Lei's face was pale, his body trembling like a leaf in the wind, and his eyes were filled with fear. When Ashura's eyes met his, Lei suddenly lowered his head, quickly retreated, and finally turned and ran away.
At that moment, Ashura felt as if his heart was completely crushed by something, a thousand times more intense than the pain in his body.
Even you... betrayed me?
Despair and huge resentment were like the ice at the bottom of the abyss, instantly freezing his last bit of warmth.
Just as he was about to lose consciousness and thought he was going to die in humiliation, the child he had saved, perhaps to make his lie more credible, or perhaps out of pure malice, actually picked up a sharp piece of ore and stabbed it into his eyes while screaming!
"Die! Monster!"
The threat of death and extreme malice became the last straw.
"roar--!!!"
A roar that was completely unlike a child's, full of pain and violence, erupted from the depths of Ashura's throat!
The chaotic and powerful force in his body that had been suppressed and came from his parents suddenly broke through all constraints under the stimulation of extreme pain, betrayal and despair!
Strange dark red lines instantly covered his tiny body, and his silver-grey pupils were completely dyed an ominous blood-red! A violent force exploded from him, violently knocking all the surrounding perpetrators away!
He staggered to his feet, his small body enveloped in a thick, dark red mist, like a young demon crawling out of hell. He raised his hand and easily grasped the wrist of the frightened child as he stabbed again.
Click.
The sound of bones breaking could be clearly heard.
The child's screams were heard.
Asura's blood-red eyes held no emotion, only a dead madness and a desire for destruction. He looked at the adult ghosts who had been ferocious just moments before but now retreated in fear, and at this cold, cruel, and irrational world.
What's the point of being kind? What's the point of protecting others? It's better to just... destroy everything.
When his best friend Lei hurried back with a few adults who had heard the news, this was the scene he saw—
The little Ashura stood among a group of wailing wounded, with a terrifying evil aura surrounding him. He stepped on the broken arm of the general's son, and looked over with blood-red eyes, cold and strange, without any trace of the past.
"Strange...monster..." Lei was so scared that he collapsed to the ground, muttering incoherently.
Asura's gaze swept across him, as if looking at a dead object, without the slightest fluctuation.
From that moment on, the cub, who longed for warmth and would fight for even a little kindness, died. The only one who survived was Ashura, the avenger of the abyss.
He chose this name for himself, which meant turning away from all light and mercy and heading towards endless blood and fire.
Many years later, when he stood on a sea of corpses and blood, becoming a being feared even by the Demon God of the Abyss, he might occasionally wake up in his dreams at midnight and see that abandoned mine and his friend Lei, who eventually betrayed him and was frightened by his complete transformation into a demon.
The kindness that was completely crushed turned into the hardest armor and the sharpest blade, and also became a festering scar in his heart that would never heal.
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