The setting was the yard of their home. He and Russell were tilling the soil to plant root vegetables, while Hue sat on the porch, separating the rice from its impurities.
Russell was clearly startled. He stopped what he was doing. “Don’t make things up. You only awakened yesterday afternoon, and you’re already asking me to fight you?”
‘Hey, arrogant jerk. I awakened when I was two.’
“Don’t ignore me. I want to measure my strength—”
“Stop fooling around. You could get seriously hurt.”
“Big brother, you’re seriously underestimating me—wait, is that why?” Yan stopped what he was doing as well.
“What are you talking about?”
“Come on, don’t pretend. You’ve been acting weird and ignoring me.”
“Children! Don’t fight!”
‘Ha. Who are you calling children, Mom?’
BOOM!
Someone was hurled through the air and landed hard in their yard—Yan nearly exploded when the person crushed the soil he had already tilled.
The man was a bloody mess. Hue hurried over in a panic. “Sir, are you okay? What happened?”
“Ukh… r-run! Run!”
Anxiety washed over him. Yan looked around and realized people were beginning to gather, running about in every direction. A horde of demon gifted with skull tattoos on their arms was attacking indiscriminately.
‘Skull tattoos… They’re members of the demon gifted.’
The screams of children and women stabbed at his eardrums. Before Yan could react, a rock the size of a car came flying down from above.
‘An earth-element user?’
CRACK!
Yan rolled to the side. Coughing, he got to his feet and searched for his two family members. Hue grimaced in pain in Russell’s arms. Yan’s heart pounded.
“Big brother!”
“We’re fine! We’re both okay!”
Yan clenched both hands. “Keep protecting Mom, big brother.”
“Yeah. I’m holding her.”
His mother had been struck by rock fragments. Yan tried to think. The horde of demon gifted that had suddenly appeared was clearly low-level. He could defeat them easily with his wind element. But he couldn’t reveal his wind element while his mother and brother knew he was a water-element user. How was he supposed to defeat them all using only the water element he had obtained yesterday?
‘How? Think, think. What can I do…?’
“Ha! Take this, you ungrateful humans! HAHAHA!”
The demon gifted hurled fireballs and rocky debris, provoking heart-wrenching cries all around them. Yan felt as though he were in the middle of a war. It was alarming, because there weren’t many gifted people available in this small village.
‘Why are they attacking this small village? I don’t remember writing a plotline like this…’
“Yan!”
His brother shouted. Yan realized his face would have been scorched by the fiery embers if Russell hadn’t dodged for him.
‘Damn it, I lost focus. Think…’
When he saw rocks flying toward his mother and brother, Yan reached out and shattered them with a stream of water. The earth-element user’s grim face twisted with displeasure.
“Brat… are you challenging me?!”
“Don’t come near my little brother!”
Yan glared when he saw his brother about to leave their mother.
“Big brother, stay where you are!”
“HAHAHA! WHAT KIND OF DRAMA IS THIS? DISGUSTING!”
Yan steadied his breathing, his eyes darting around as he took in the situation. That was when he spotted a strange portal in the distance—a red portal like a pool of hell.
His eyes narrowed as he watched members of the demon gifted emerge from it.
‘Of course, a portal… I remember creating that portal. So that’s why these damn demon gifted never run out.’
“Big brother!”
Yan smiled sweetly. Russell looked at him in confusion.