Book 2: Seven Demon's Hearts

Episode 35: Breaker

Episode 35: B r e a k e r

"On your feet!" V angrily boomed at the petrified kid.

"Father..." Aiko looked back at him with tears in his eyes, a few cuts and bruises already littering his exposed skin. V shut his eyes, refusing to let that consume his emotions.

"I said..." he charged his power up into the center of his palm. "GET UP!" With lightning speed, the blast flew right at Aiko, scraping the boy as he was barely able to get up and dodge it.

"Why are you doing this? Please stop!" Aiko stumbled back, holding onto his bloody shoulder.

"Heal yourself." V's orange flames died down, ignoring the boy's pleas and questions. After all, it's only been a few hours since he's woken up from earlier. V had waited until his powers were charged up before he started sparring him. The only issue was, Aiko strongly expressed how he had no reason to hurt him. And that selective choice that suppressed his powers scared V.

"I...I don't know how to..." Aiko looked at his cuts with confusion.

"You always do it without knowing. Now it's critical to know!"

"I...but I'm trying!" Aiko stuttered, wiping his tears before he winced at his injured shoulder. Angrily, V appeared and grabbed onto his bad shoulder. His son let out an ear-piercing scream, falling to his knees with weakness as the pain took over his body.

"Do you feel that? Do you feel how painful that is, Aiko?!" V continued to lecture him over his squeals, biting back on his nagging heart and shutting off any connection to his emotions. "Learn how to stop it now! Stop it now or it won't stop hurting!"

"Father!" Aiko's small hands tightly grabbed onto V's. "Please stop it! It hurts! It hurts so much!"

"I know it hurts! I'm telling you to heal yourself so it won't!" It was the only logical way to make demons who were just born to realize they had the power of healing. Most of them caught onto it quickly but some weren't able to use it all the time. They'd often train the boys this way and many of them would give in to the pain quickly. It baffled him as to why Aiko chose to endure it all instead.

"Please," Aiko's glossy iridescent eyes looked up at him. "I-I really can't."

Frustrated, V finally let go, glaring down at Aiko for a second until he slashed open his own arm.

"Father!" Aiko gasped, quickly grabbing on to V's bloody arm. He watched his actions carefully and only then did it almost seem like it was natural. The way his arm was overtaken by a powerful holographic glow as it started to heal back to normal. The boy bit down on his trembling lip, tears overflowing from his eyes as he focused everything on healing his father's arm.

But it angered V. It angered him so much he had to push Aiko off, finishing the healing instead.

"See!" V held up his hand. "I did it so easily! And so did you! Right now, you just proved to me that you could heal my arm, so why couldn't you heal your own?"

Aiko's silence made it even worse for V to control his already raging temper. "AIKO!" His voice sent the boy's body jolting with fear. "I asked you a question. Answer me. Why aren't you healing yourself? Do you think in the future when you get hurt your mother or myself will always be there to help? You need to start relying on your own powers Aiko! I need you to learn how to control them and when to use them!"

"B-But I'm trying!" Aiko looked up hopefully.

"That isn't enough! Try harder!" V's body overflowed with a bright orange flame. "Aiko, I won't let you see your mother if you don't start learning." The fear flashed through the boy's eyes, but it was a good use of words. V quickly found out that Hanul was a huge trigger for Aiko. The look of newfound determination was slowly starting to cement.