Here we go:
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Chapter 14: A Past Best Left Forgotten
(Kai's POV)
The journey back to the Gremory mansion was long. The cool night winds swept across the sky, carrying the scent of flowers and the faint aroma of distant fires. Vali, in her usual frosty silence, flew ahead, while Azazel lazily trailed behind, chatting idly with some of his subordinates.
I flew at a slower pace, letting the chill winds brush against my skin.
There was a storm brewing within me, one only I could feel.
"I keep forgetting... I don't belong here," I mused, my icy breath forming tiny frost trails behind me.
"No matter how much I smile, flirt, or fight... I'm a stranger in this world."
The memories of my old life clawed their way back up from the depths of my mind.
And for once, I didn't push them away.
---
Flashback
The biting cold of the alleyways was the only companion I ever knew.
Torn clothes, bloody knuckles, empty stomach — that was my world.
I remembered that day so clearly.
I was barely twelve when I saw it: a shiny silver laptop half-buried in a dumpster behind a restaurant.
"Jackpot," I had whispered, my fingers trembling as I pulled it out.
Surely... surely this would feed me for weeks if I pawned it, right?
But curiosity was a deadly sin.
I found a half-broken charger in a nearby electronics bin and somehow managed to power it up in an abandoned laundromat.
One click. Then another.
I fumbled through the files, the screen cracked and flickering.
Anime.
Bright colors.
Heroes shouting about friendship and dreams.
Worlds where even the weakest could rise, where loyalty and power mattered more than money or blood.
I was... hooked.
In that rotten, filth-stinking laundromat, I watched 'Naruto,' 'One Piece,' 'Bleach,' and even stumbled onto an old series...
High School DxD.
(Funny how fate works, huh?)
I lost hours, days even, forgetting the hunger, the cold, the bruises.
For once, I wasn't a nobody.
I was a boy chasing dreams alongside kings, pirates, and devils.
But reality was cruel.
When I finally stumbled into a pawnshop, clutching the laptop like a lifeline, the owner squinted at me.
A homeless brat.
With a laptop worth hundreds.
The police were called.
Beatings followed.
Accusations I couldn't even understand were hurled at me.
In the end, I was left with nothing again — bruised, bloodied, and somehow... hollow.
But the dreams stayed.
Even when my body broke, even when my soul cracked...
The dreams never left.
---
The memory burned like acid through my veins.
I clenched my fists, ice crackling around my knuckles.
"I wasn't supposed to end up here," I thought bitterly, glancing up at the star-streaked sky.
"But now that I am... I'll live like the hero I used to watch."
No more begging.
No more starving.
No more being looked down on.
I was Kai now.
I was the Frost King.
And this world... this world would remember my name.
---
"Yo, Kai!" Azazel's voice broke through my dark thoughts, pulling me back to the present.
I turned, shaking away the frost gathering on my shoulders.
"Lost in thought?" he teased, a knowing smirk playing on his lips.
Beside him, Vali shot me a rare glance, her silver hair fluttering in the wind, curiosity flickering in her pale blue eyes.
"Just... remembering old mistakes," I said coolly, forcing a smirk of my own.
Azazel chuckled, throwing an arm lazily over my shoulders — ignoring the cold aura I naturally exuded.
"You'll have plenty of time to make new ones, kid. Trust me."
I laughed quietly, genuine this time.
Yeah.
I would make mistakes.
I would fall, stumble, bleed.
But unlike before...
This time, I'd rise stronger every single time.
---
Later That Night...
The mansion loomed ahead, its gothic architecture bathed in moonlight.
Servants bustled about preparing for another one of Rias's upcoming social gatherings.
I sighed.
Another party, another chance for political sharks to sniff me out.
Still, my mind drifted back to that battered laptop...
to that small window of hope in a world that had offered me nothing.
And now?
Now I had everything.
A new life.
New dreams.
New... family.
As I walked through the massive ornate gates of the Gremory estate, a strange feeling filled my chest.
Not fear.
Not bitterness.
Hope.
This was only the beginning.
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End of Chapter 14