UTOPIA ✔

Chapter 18 - Hope

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Eric left the little girl in Desmond's care and ran back towards Kenji and Izumi's location. Logan, Max and Ishita followed him, ignoring his words "Don't follow me. I don't want to put you guys in danger." Eric ran faster to avoid them from trailing him any further. Despite everything they followed him until they reached the location. They followed the blood trail and found Kenji and Izumi sitting down, covered in mud and blood with minor scratches.

'What happened here?' Eric asked, looking at Kenji and Izumi. He was breathing heavily from all that running. He then looked around them.

'We chopped them up. Pretty nasty if you ask me. And they taste like shit!' Izumi spat.

'But how did you do something like this?' Eric asked as his gaze shifted at Izumi's hand. 'Izumi... So that's your right hand?' Eric pointed at it.

'Well this is what I use to chop things I don't like. No one has ever lived after seeing this' Izumi stood up. His hand was covered in blood but they could still see it. The turquoise colored scales had covered his entire hand, shining like a diamond every time the light embraced it, something so mesmerizing that they forgot the fear behind it.

The remains of those wolves that were scattered around started to dissolve. The virus lost its living host's body and now was devouring the last of the remains without being able to regenerate any further. In a couple of minutes the remains completely disappeared and only it's blood remained.

Izumi's hand, they saw it and he told them about it. His hand was covered just like a dragon's scale. It was hard as steel. His fingers, like its claws that could pierce anything in its path. The beauty was only from the outside but the suffering he caused to others with his hand was immense. The bloodstains that no one could see but only Izumi were always there on his hand, telling him, reminding him of his sins.

He was injected more than a thousand time with the reaper. In that moment, even slightly, they understood the burden, the pain he was carrying on his shoulders.

Izumi wrapped his hand with the blood-coated bandage and they headed back to the lighthouse. On their way Kenji revealed another truth about Adam.

'This might be a bit late now. I've already told Izumi about it but there is something that everyone needs to know' Kenji said. 'First, your real father was assassinated Eric.'

'What? What are you talking about?' Eric asked, now in more confusion. One after the other things that Eric never thought of were coming towards him at a tremendous speed.

'I'm sorry for keeping quiet about it. Elina left him for Adam. Your father wasn't a good person and treated Elina like a slave. After I killed my father, I started working with Adam. I had no one to call family and all I did was to keep myself away from despair that was already brewing in my heart. At that time Elina gave me an order to assassinate your father. I didn't hesitate and killed him. It was an order. I'm sorry... Eric' Kenji said with a sad finality.

'I don't even know what to say. This world is crazy right?' Eric looked at Kenji with a sad smile. 'I already knew about his death but now I know who killed him. I saw those scars on my mother's neck and hands and I can't bear to see my only family get hurt' he walked towards Kenji. 'If what you're saying is true and if my mother is sad because of him. Then I'll erase him from this planet. I'll kill Adam' he said, assuring that he forgave Kenji.

They reached the lighthouse and told everything that happened out there. Enna was in the other room with that girl when she heard Kenji's voice and ran towards him, 'Ken, I know her' she said hurriedly.

'What? Who is she?' Kenji asked.

'She's my best friend, Molly.'

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