As always, Ras opened his eyes today, stretched to drive away fatigue, and while waking himself up with a cup of coffee, the sound of someone knocking on the door could be heard from outside.
- Ra~s!!!! Open the door!!!
Unable to stand the continuous knocking, Ras opened the door, and what he saw was
Kali, who had now grown somewhat and was almost an adult, standing there with his colleague.
Kali, with a red face and in an embarrassed state, had come to the house where I lived, holding a cake box..
And seeing that, I realized that today was my birthday, and let Kali and the colleague into my house.
After entering, they looked around my house here and there and then spoke to me.
- Father!! Your house is really nice!!
For reference, Kali currently thought of Ras as her father and the colleague... no, Ras's colleague named Areis, as her mother, living a family-like life. Kali was still living in the house where neighbors who had helped in her growth resided.
Even so, Kali was satisfied with that life, but we wished she would distance herself from those would-be criminals. However, the very affectionate Kali was still helping them, upholding the convictions I had taught her, and moving forward.
Thus, Areis and Ras couldn't stop Kali, and eventually, the incident erupted.
As always, Kali worked hard today for the neighbors who had cared for her, and for her father and mother. Finally, she went to the Hana Association today to get her Fixer Registration Certificate. After obtaining it,
to repay the kindness to her parents and for the resident neighbors who had lived with them and helped a lot, she worked, even lent them money, and helped the residents who had cared for her so their lives could continue.
She continuously upheld her personal conviction of 'repaying good deeds with good deeds' and the convictions learned from her father.
Perhaps because Fixer work suited her, she quickly raised her grade, helping more people and
wishing for this City to improve.
But it seemed the City's residents who had cared for Kali were not like that, and eventually, the incident erupted....
The residents who had cared for Kali thought she was wealthy. They made absurd, stubborn claims, wondering if she was hoarding money somewhere and spending it lavishly only on herself. That night, while Kali was sleeping, her body was bound by the residents.
As she watched her home being violated by the residents' desires and them ransacking the house, Kali's heart was gradually breaking. Kali tried to think this situation was just a prank by her neighbor residents and trusted them, but
as time passed, she realized the reality and was about to fall into despair. At that moment, the house door opened, and what she saw was...
- ....Father?? Mother?!
There was her father, who looked very angry, and her mother, whom she was seeing get angry for the first time..
After that, Kali witnessed her father's true wrath, and it was etched into her eyes and memory.
Her father cursed every curse imaginable, beating the neighbors insanely, either making them leave this house entirely or making them realize what they had done, forcing them to kneel and apologize to Kali.
Some neighbors who came to their senses apologized to Kali, and after that day, they disappeared somewhere.
Kali received apologies from the residents until the building itself was emptied, and after that day,
she decided to live together in one house with her father and mother.
Kali, now living with her father and mother, after that incident, devoted herself to Fixer work every day.
Like her father, she quickly rose to become a Grade 2 Fixer.
That day, for the first time, she, her mother, and her father took on a request from the Association to subdue a Distortion coming from the outskirts towards the city. At that place, Kali witnessed with her own eyes her father ascending to become a Color.
The Hana Association gathered people to kill the (monster) Distortion coming from the outskirts towards the city. Many people stepped forward, hoping to get the high reward, and tried to kill the Distortion rushing rapidly towards this place from afar, but soon everyone fell silent at the horr sight.
The Distortion running towards the city was {The Mountain of Smiling Corpses}, commonly known as 'Smiling Corpse Mountain'.
And the Smiling Corpse Mountain, seeking more corpses, charged towards the city, screaming.
People felt terror at the sight and tried to run away, but only those who looked strong, including
her father and mother, drew their respective weapons..
And the one who stepped forward as the vanguard here was her father...
Her father let out a sort of battle cry and charged at the Smiling Corpse Mountain. At that moment, Kali was worried her father would get hurt, but she closed her mouth after seeing the firepower erupting from her father's left prosthetic arm...
- Kabooooooooooooom!!!!!!!!!
The explosive force of the firepower from her father's prosthetic arm was tremendous. It seemed the Smiling Corpse Mountain had vanished without a trace from the shockwave and explosion, but
- Kreeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!
The monster emerged perfectly fine and charged at Kali.
And at this time, Kali tried to attack the creature that had instantly closed in before her, but...
She was already in a situation where her arm was almost eaten. Her body froze from the fear she felt in that instant.
At that moment, her mother pushed Kali away and had her own arm torn off and eaten in Kali's place.
Her mother was almost eaten right before her eyes, but
her father hurried over, struck the monster, and pushed it away, averting the danger.
But for some reason, her father's condition seemed strange...
*His daughter was almost eaten... His colleague... no, his wife was almost eaten.* At that moment, he felt something snap in his head, and something whispered in his ear....
- Kill... everything that gets in your way.. not a single one left.. then you'll be at ease...
- Come on!! Let's kill everything that bothers you!!!!
- Let's kill that annoying [(Areis) woman] and that [(Kali) brat] too!!!
It was a voice like an auditory hallucination, tempting him... If this voice had spoken to me, the me from the past when I first came to this world, Ras might have followed its words and harmed those two. But for the current Ras, it was a useless temptation.
In Ras's current heart, Areis and Kali had become beings more precious to him than anyone else.
Enraged by the absurd suggestion from the unidentified voice to kill his wife and daughter, he simply answered with anger..
- Get lost..!!!! And don't say such things!!!! They are my beloved daughter and wife!!!
At that moment, the headache he felt every time he used E.G.O. gradually disappeared, and finally, along with {Transcendence Conditions Met} on the status window, the condition for Transcendence he hadn't known until now surfaced...
- {Transcendence Condition - Be Honest with Your Emotions}
Seeing that condition, I let out a hollow laugh and approached my wife, who had raised Kali with me, not just a colleague anymore. I injected an expensive K Corp Serum Ampule, healing my wife. With a feeling of relief and something having suddenly changed, I told Kali... no, my daughter, who was looking at me as if worried about her changed father, not to worry.
Because of his feelings for his family, Ras could finally fully reach his own 'Well'.
Thanks to that, he awakened numerous Virtues simultaneously.
=-
- { The Will to Stand Upright }
- For my family, I will rise as many times as needed.
- { The Hope to Become a Better Being }
- For my family, I will become a better being.
- { The Courage to Continue Living }
- I will continue the daily life with my family.
- { The Courage to Protect }
- I will protect my precious family.
- { The Eye That Severs Subservience and Confronts Fear }
- I will sever my foolish former self and not run from the approaching fear.
- { The Eye That Accepts the Past and Creates the Future }
- The past is a part of me, so I will accept it and move towards the future.
- { The Thinking Self }
- For my family, I will think incessantly.
=-
Awakening to numerous Virtues and using the power boiling over in his heart, he once again used his Blooming E.G.O. (Mad Savage Hound-Dragon).
Unlike before, where only parts transformed, his entire body transformed. Assuming a stance, he spoke to his daughter and wife.
- Daughter!! Honey, can you step back a bit??
While Kali was surprised to be called 'daughter' by her father for the first time, Areis, upon being called 'honey', asked if this was a confession and let out a 'Kyaak!'. Ras boldly told his wife,
- Once this fight is over, I will confess to you properly!! So you better be prepared!
In the past, she disliked him, but after a certain incident, Areis fell for Ras's bold and brave demeanor. After that incident, she fell in love with him. Hearing such a bold statement from the man she loved... the woman who was Kali's mother and Ras's wife blushed at the news that the man she had liked for a long time would now formally confess. Ras, remembering his wife's face, charged at the Smiling Corpse Mountain at tremendous speed.
After that day, having single-handedly overwhelmingly defeated the (monster) Distortion, I ascended to the position of [Color]. Based on his appearance at that time, Ras received the title of [Black Mad Dog].
And around this time, based on her achievements and numerous deeds, Areis also received the title [White Sword Demon], but for some reason, she refused the position of Color. Not long after, Areis stepped down from the profession of Fixer and retired of her own accord.