Please read the author’s note at the end of the chapter!!!
*******
The monsters arrived, but fortunately, none reached them.
However, the chaos outside was enough to terrify the family.
As a father and husband, he should have taken the lead, providing security and reassurance for his family.
But such thoughts didn’t even cross his mind.
Overwhelmed with fear, he ran to his room, intending to lock the door behind him.
“D-Don’t leave. Let’s move the sofas to block the door,” his wife pleaded, trying to stop him.
It was apparent that she had taken on the responsibility of thinking for the family instead.
Perhaps it was a natural instinct for someone who had long been forced to play the role of both mother and father in their household.
The same reaction had been seen with Aunt Mia when the chaos began, only for Michael to take over and ensure better safety than a few sofas could provide.
Unfortunately, her words didn’t bring him to his senses or awaken any semblance of responsibility.
Chaos and panic had stripped him of reason.
In anger, he shoved his wife away. “Leave me!”
But while the sight of blood and monsters had filled him with fear, it seemed to have emboldened her.
Refusing to let him abandon them, she held on firmly.
“Don’t leave—”
Before she could finish, he grabbed her head and slammed it into the wall.
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This wasn’t the first time he had resorted to violence against her, but it was the first time fear had driven him to such extremes.
The force he used was far greater than he intended.
Worse, the section of the wall her head struck had sharp edges.
Blood flowed.
“No…no…no…”
“Ahhhhh!”
Her fall was joined by a scream of fear from his daughter.
Hearing her cry jolted him back to some semblance of awareness.
The weight of his actions hit him like a brick. The civilized thoughts one might have in such a moment of horror filled his mind.
Nobody could find out.
Driven by panic, he turned toward his daughter, who had begun retreating in shock and fear.
Bang!
They fell to the floor, her small body pinned beneath his.
“It wasn’t on purpose. I didn’t mean to do it. I swear I didn’t mean to do it,” he mumbled in broken sentences, his trembling hands covering her mouth to stifle her screams.
But adrenaline can do strange things to a person. His body acted on instinct while his mind lagged behind.
By the time he realized it, his daughter had stopped moving. He had suffocated her.
In just a few short moments, for the first time in his life, he had taken not one but two lives.
Panic consumed him.
Then came the screams outside, jolting him from his spiraling thoughts.
He moved to close the window.
The scene outside was a nightmare brought to life—blood pooling on the streets, monsters roaming, people screaming, and the ominous red cracks in the sky splitting the heavens.
“It’s the end of the world,” he whispered, trembling. Then he began to laugh, a hollow, broken sound. “Haha… It’s the end of the world and I killed someone. I killed someone!”
The rapid series of events, the overwhelming guilt, and the terror of the apocalypse all conspired to shatter his mind.
In his madness, he closed the window, locked the door, and collapsed onto the floor, tears streaming down his face.
“It’s the end. It’s the end. It’s the end.” He kept repeating, his eyes fixed on the lifeless bodies of his daughter and wife.
The nighttime setting and the fact that they were in their own home meant they were dressed in little clothing.
As he gazed at his daughter’s exposed skin and his wife’s matured body, her head still bleeding, a maniacal smile spread across his face.
“The world is going to end anyway. Even if the government steps in, they’ll arrest me. They’ll arrest me. Let me go all out then, haha. Haha.”
******
Michael frowned at the sight, struggling to comprehend the scene before him.
For one of the few times in his life, he failed to understand the thought process that led to an outcome.
How could one do this to their family?
He couldn’t fathom it.
Michael was rarely ever a hypocrite. He acknowledged that he had started to see things differently since his awakening, but he believed this change was a natural consequence of his newfound power.
He knew he was starting to feel distant from his family, but he never thought it would lead to forgetting about them.
At least, he didn’t think he’d ever reach that extent.
If anything, he felt distant in the sense that he no longer saw the need to be in close proximity to them.
Separation was inevitable as he continued to grow, and it seemed it was his turn.
But that didn’t mean he’d forget his family.
He had plans for them – establishing a business for his aunt and providing resources for his cousin to aid her cultivation.
Awakening wasn’t a guarantee, but success in cultivation could be influenced with capability.
He envisioned making both his aunt and cousin successful supernaturals, allowing them to live as long as possible.
This was a goal he had in mind, though he hadn’t yet started implementing it. His life had only begun changing significantly for barely a week.
To Michael, family was a way of life.
Few things could compare to the importance of family, especially for him, where the two Michaels happened to value this relationship deeply, even sharing the same name.
This couldn’t help him understand what he was seeing in front of him.
Instead, he felt angry.
******
A/N: It seems the chapters might have been a bit dark and detailed. If it felt too heavy, I’ll try to smooth out the process in the future. However, I’d like to clarify that this is an apocalypse-themed novel with Necromancy as a core element.
This doesn’t mean the entire novel will be dark, but if we want to maintain realism, there are some things we can’t completely avoid. Michael is a Necromancer. While I won’t turn him into a scum, it’s important to note that as someone who works with corpses, he can’t fit the exact definition of a hero—even if he is one in his own way.
And no, I’m not going to turn some characters into scapegoats just because I can Haha. That’s bad writing.
I hope you enjoy the chapters, and I apologize if they felt too intense. Second chapter is done, and a mass release of three chapters is coming next. Thank you for reading!
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