The Hunted Regressor: My Heretic Saint System-Chapter 6: Grown Grey

Click.

That sound announced the opening of the massive doors before Ignotus, welcoming him to the meeting hall.

It was a massive room with a long table, a high ceiling, and huge windows overlooking the gardens outside.

At the head of the table sat his father, sipping what smelled like black coffee. His mother, Flora, sat to his right, her hands folded neatly in her lap. His older brother, Acer, lounged casually, one boot propped up on the chair’s lower rung, while his older sister, Rosa, sat with perfect posture, glancing at her reflection in a small ornate mirror.

Ignotus looked at them one by one, and seeing them together like this... it dredged up flashes of memories he didn’t really want from the depths of his mind, reminding him of past lessons, scoldings, cold family dinners, punishments, one-sided bullying, and cold shoulders.

Acting completely beside himself, or at least the ’self’ they knew of, Ignotus gave them a polite nod.

"Good morning, Father, Mother, Elder Brother, and Elder Sister."

All of them blinked in surprise, not at all expecting this type of greeting.

Usually, he mumbled something like "m-morning" or nothing at all and kept his head down, but not today.

Genus and Acer should’ve expected it, seeing how Ignotus interacted with them earlier, but perhaps they had chalked it up to the rush of emotion and adrenaline after Ascending in a poor attempt to understand his sudden and inexplicable change.

"Excuse me~."

Without waiting for permission, Ignotus walked over and plopped into his seat.

Acer let out an annoyed scoff but said nothing more, knowing that his message was received.

Caring not for either action, Genus clasped his hand and ordered:

"Let’s talk."

Everyone glanced at Ignotus.

"Is something wrong today?"

Flora, his mother, was the first of them.

"You’re different than usual... the way you acted in the arena, too."

Ignotus turned to her.

"Do you know anything about a group of eight Higher Gods with really colorful eyes?"

She blinked once more, stunned, while across the table, Rosa stiffened, shooting him a warning look.

"It’s a simple question. Please answer it."

Underneath the table, Rosa kicked his shins hard, but he didn’t even appear to acknowledge her.

"No..."

Eventually, Flora shook her head.

"But if you focused on your lessons, you’d know that there isn’t such a group."

Ignotus nodded.

"Yeah, I know, it’s mostly the lower caste of Gods, the mostly dead ones, one for each Element, but it’s weird; I never knew this group existed, and that doesn’t make sense to me, like, at all. You can’t really live a life this long and not know such a gargantuan truth of the world... or perhaps that’s how it was always designed to be."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Dead silence met his words.

But, of course, he didn’t stop.

"I didn’t really attend the Academy; I was too busy trying to survive, so I don’t know. Maybe the upper-caste dogs there were taught that."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Everyone kept staring at him like he’d grown a second head, growing more confused with every other word that left his mouth.

"What? You all think I’m dumb?"

His smile widened a little.

"Oh, yeah, I am, at least academically, but I’m hoping I can fix that this time around."

"..."

They all wanted to say something, ’ask’ something, and his sister was the first to do so:

"Live this long?! Gargantuan truth?! Didn’t attend the Academy?! Upper-caste dogs?! Busy surviving?! This time around?! What the Hell are you on about?!"

Or rather, she was the first to snap, and before Ignotus could answer, his mother ’snapped’ too:

"Language, young lady!"

Though for an entirely different reason.

"I’ve taught you better than to utter such a word in vain."

After her... stern reprimand, she turned back to Ignotus, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"And you—can you stop being weird for one day? I get that you’re... lacking... but can you at least try to be more like your older brother? Or has failing your Ascension affected you this much?"

Ignotus glanced left, where his "older brother" sat, puffing out his chest like he was the Gods’ gift to humanity, or perhaps a rooster ready to fight.

"Hm."

That sight had him tilt his head.

"I’d rather die than be that."

"Huh?!"

Acer shot up, slamming his fists into the table hard enough to rattle it.

"Say that shit again, you waste of Divinity!"

Ignotus’s smile didn’t falter, his eyes returning to his mother.

"Don’t ignore me!"

"Ah... right."

He fully turned to him, seemingly coming to a realization.

"I’m not used to being cursed at again."

His head nodded a few times, as if his ’realization’ had turned into some Divine understanding.

"Sorry, brother, you can curse at me again, I’ll listen."

Acer, becoming as confused as the rest, began to calm, sitting back down.

"I... you..."

Ignotus tilted his head.

"Me? What is it, brother? Speak up."

’Snapped’ back to being more frustrated than confused, Acer clenched his fists.

"You—just stop talking that way!"

Ignotus sighed and...

"Hm? Do you want me to talk like you, brother? Do you not understand me?"

Shook his head.

"Ah, what an idiot."

Acer shot up once more, enraged.

And Ignotus’s smile widened even further...

’Baiting him into rage... oh, it’s so calming~.’

One day, he hoped he’d get someone mad enough to pop a—

"ENOUGH!"

Genus barked, his voice booming through the hall.

It was quite a bit more dramatic than Ignotus had expected, but that was fun in its own way.

He watched as his father’s gaze pinned his older brother back into his seat, such a sight making him feel way more satisfied than normal. Though that feeling didn’t last long, as he soon met those green eyes himself.

"Boy... you’re truly a lost cause."

"Honey—"

His mother started.

"No."

He ’snapped,’ joining the trend.

"Are you crabs pretending to be hu—"

"He needs to learn consequences."

Ignotus tried to joke, and his father cut him off.

Flora went quiet as well, wringing her hands.

"Your talent is worthless; the least you can do now is help stabilize our foundations."

"...Hm."

Ignotus nodded once, twice, and then a third time, while staring into his mother’s worried but also speechless eyes, who was clearly expecting and waiting for a proper reaction out of him.

A reaction that he wasn’t about to give.

He looked like he was enjoying this, and he certainly was.

Again, these people, though family by blood and memories, weren’t really, especially when considering his past life.

None of them really helped him, despite his sinking deeper into death’s embrace right before their very eyes.

He could understand why though... His mother couldn’t do much because of Genus, leaving her only to pity him and cover it up with fake kindness.

His father saw him as a liability, some tool to be bartered away. And his sister... she wanted to help, maybe, but not if it meant ruining her pretty little perfect image.

His brother, of course, was to be ignored. There was no hope for him; he simply needed someone to kick down to feel important.

All of this was a farce, a bad one.

...They had all died before him in that life. At least in truth. Because in the eyes of the world, he had died much earlier than they did, a plan he enacted to go into hiding... but before then, he heard... and saw them come to his grave.

The three of them seemed to have regretted how they treated him, and whether their emotions were shallow or not, perhaps an ingrained occurrence in humans after someone’s "death..." it didn’t matter.

Once, a very long time ago, he would’ve liked the thought of it despite his condition, but not anymore... such thoughts wouldn’t ever matter to him; nothing of it... it was way too late now.

Ignotus had grown grey.