The 0th Corps Commander Became Trash! [ TCF x INTKOT ]

Side Chapter: An older brother's perspective

This is a side chapter of Cruel's POV in the last chapter as requested by some people! You're welcome to skip through or read it <3

(Next chapter will be up after this chapter as soon as possible)

***

"You know Cruel, I've been noticing how close you've been around Deon Hardt these days."

Cruel flinched at Starbe's observation. These past few days, the duke has been on edge and sharper than usual. It made him paranoid about the fact that the duke would eventually find out about his plans.

"I'm sure that's not the case though right? You're just there since the Emperor has been calling you in these days."

"That's correct your grace."

Thankfully, Starbe had still not caught on to his plans. Which was a relief, if he had gotten discovered he'd die before he could figure out why the duke was so adamant on killing his brother.

"Then you can go now."

"Yes."

Cruel quickly left after being excused by the duke and walked out of the duke's office. By the time he had reached his room, he looked at a photo that looked as new as ever. He held up the photo and looked at it with nostalgia.

It was a photo of him and Deon with their parents. However those days have now come to an end, now it was just him and his younger brother. He recalled the moment he saw Deon when he had finally gotten home, that was when he decided to protect Deon, the only remaining family he had left.

Cruel placed down the photo as he made his way to his bed. He thought about Deon who was currently in the Demonic Realm, if the time comes he should bring Deon over there for safety before the duke decides to plan another assassination attack on Deon.

He laid there in silence while looking at the ceiling before his eyelids started to feel heavier before he drifted off to sleep that a certain god caused.

***

Opening his eyes, Cruel noticed he was in a pitch-black room. He realized he was again back in the God of Death's place. Sometimes he'd go to sleep and find himself in this room with the God of Death and he would train him.

'He acts strange though...'

The God of Death tended to gush about his younger brother in front of him. Though he really can't talk at all, he will admit he had the same thoughts as the God of Death.

"Here you are." 

The God of Death appeared right before Cruel. This time without the veil, he noticed that the God of Death wore veils sometimes and didn't the other times. He wasn't sure why but it wasn't his business to talk about.

"I need to talk to you about something, it's important and it's regarding Deon."

"I'm listening."

"You must've already known about me making you my saint to protect Deon. But you also don't know the full story about it. Do you recall someone bringing up Cale Henituse?"

"The otherworldly people?"

"That's right, they're searching for Cale. Specifically Deon."

Cruel widened his eyes at the sudden revelation. He knew something was up with Deon and those people from the shamans but he didn't anticipate him to be the person they were searching for. Did that mean Deon wasn't his brother? He had too many questions, but he decided not to jump to conclusions. It didn't matter, his only objective was to protect Deon though he did feel a tinge of guilt for not noticing the changes even if it was slight.

"Don't worry, he's still Deon. See, this is why I like you more than the rest, you don't jump to conclusions."

"This is just a little shocking to hear..."

"That's true. Then I'll start explaining now, or well show you."

The God of Death made a holographic screen appear in front of Cruel. It played the beginning of Kim Rok Soo's life then it transitioned to his new life as Cale Henituse before it slowly morphed into a nightmare not even a heartless person would dream of before it showed a scene of the gods reincarnating Cale as Deon, leaving out the thousands of attempts to save him.

Cruel stared at the holographic screen in disgust. That was no way to protect someone you loved, though his approach wasn't the best and caused many misunderstandings to ensue between the two of them, locking someone up and stripping them of their power isn't protecting anyone. That would slowly kill them 

"This isn't how you protect someone... I'm surprised Deon even managed to survive for two years."

He felt a load of emotions at once. Anger, sadness, disappointment, sorrow, ambition, and relief. Cruel felt angry and disappointed in this 'family' and sadness and sorrowfulness for Deon while he also felt more ambitious to protect Deon and relief that he was no longer with those people. He was really a fool for his brother, wasn't he? 

The fact that Deon reincarnated didn't matter to him. Deon will always be his younger brother no matter what happens.

'I'll need to get stronger.'

He decided that he'd need to get stronger even more now. Not just to protect him from the duke but to also protect him from his past family. He'll make sure of it, even if it costs his life.

"So you now know why we reincarnated him. Let's move on to you before your brother arrives."

"There's something about me too?"

"Yes, regarding Deon being born in your world. How do I put this... Originally you were never supposed to have a brother. This only happened because of me, I forcefully reincarnated him there which is why he was born weaker due to the after-effects."

"Deon was never supposed to exist...?"

Now this was shocking news even for him. What did the God of Death mean that Deon wasn't supposed to exist? He couldn't imagine a life without his younger brother.

"Well, you were supposed to be an only child... Then I made him reincarnate into your family, though I didn't expect a guidebook made by one of my friends to actually work."

The God of Death recalled the novel 'I'm Not That Kind of Talent' that his friend wrote. He at first didn't get why he was handed this guidebook and decided to throw it down into Earth One where Kim Rok Soo had picked it up and read it.

"That means there's only one universe with Deon in it because Cale Henituse is a variable. A strong one at that. And there's only one Cale Henituse, he had already changed the fate of the other Kim Rok Soo so there is no longer a second Cale."

That meant that, if Deon died here it would be over forever. His soul would most likely either shatter into millions of pieces and cease to exist or he would go back to his world, but it would most likely be the latter since his soul was just extremely strong even if his soul broke.

While the God of Death explained the situation to Cruel in even more detail about his soul and how it was linked to the Demon King as well due to the previous hero, Deon had finally appeared in the God of Death's domain.

Both Cruel and the God of Death turned to Deon who walked over to the both of them. The God of Death's expression immediately changed into a joyful face.

"You're finally here, you were the last to arrive my child."

***

I was multi-tasking while writing this lol