Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 697: Cherished Siblings

That voice echoed from behind, familiar like the ache of ancient wounds.

"Kaiden Grey."

He refused to turn.

"We must speak. Immediately."

Selena Ashborn’s tone held the sharp command of someone raised to have her orders followed without question. From her direction, Kaiden caught the sound of two additional pairs of feet scraping against the rock, and he knew exactly whose they were. The twins moved just as they always had, trailing a beat after their elder sister, their steps synced like they’d never fully parted since sharing a womb.

Kaiden let his legs hang freely off the ledge while fixing his gaze on the basin below.

"You’ve crossed the line." Selena’s boots halted several paces away. Her words turned into a low, slicing whisper meant only for their ears. "Father’s rage is at its peak. Do you grasp the mess you’ve created? The price you’ll pay for that stunt?"

"He was furious before," Kaiden replied. His words directed toward the basin.

"This crosses a new threshold, and you’re aware of it." She advanced a step. "You’ve maintained your distance and stayed in your role until now. But this time, you sought to shame him before the whole nation. Before his guild. You positioned yourself as the defiant one and turned him into a laughingstock on live feed."

"Cassian. Calix." Kaiden spoke evenly. "How have you both been?"

The twins held back their responses at first. One adjusted his stance, producing a faint scrape of boot against stone.

"Stop evading!" Selena barked. "Father has shown you more tolerance than you’ve earned. He overlooked your streams. Turned a blind eye to you flaunting those women and tarnishing the family name. He allowed your antics since dealing with you wasn’t worth the trouble."

Kaiden inclined his head slightly. Eyes still forward.

"Yet you confronted him openly. You posed a query he couldn’t possibly respond to, in view of a million viewers, all to strike at him. Don’t deny it."

"I posed a fair question," Kaiden stated calmly. "Had he a fair reply, none of this would be an issue."

"He won’t let this slide." Selena’s voice quivered on the fringes, not from sorrow but from intense, raw anger. "You’ve been pushing his limits for weeks, and now you’ve shattered every boundary. Once the contest concludes and the broadcasts cease, repercussions will follow. Severe ones. Your streams, public favor, or Association forms won’t shield you."

"She’s correct, you know." One twin rumbled. Calix. He always backed Selena with rougher edges and fiercer intensity. "You sealed your fate with that display."

"She’s right," Cassian chimed in, softer. "You can’t prevail here, Kai. Not over him."

Kaiden paused in silence.

A breeze swept over the ridge, bearing faint remnants of ozone from the basin beneath, as his legs swayed lightly above the void.

"Selena."

The timbre of his voice shifted.

"Recall your sixteenth year?"

Selena offered no reply.

"You’d returned from your initial guild training. Excitement bubbled over; you chattered endlessly at the meal about the teacher, the exercises, the thrill of your mana linking to the practice device." He halted briefly. "Your eyes actually shone. And you kept glancing my way across the table, hoping I’d be amazed."

Absolute quiet fell behind him.

"I was amazed. So much so that I lost my appetite. I gripped my fork and thought, ’My sister is the most incredible being on earth.’ I yearned to mirror you. Not our parents. Just you. Your assurance. How you entered any space and drew every eye."

He allowed the statement to linger.

"And Cass, you trailed me through the manor like my constant companion. You’d pull at my sleeve, begging for stories because you claimed my character voices outdid the teachers’." A quick inhale. "Cal, you persuaded me to raid father’s office, insisting a talking sword hid there. We hunted for it over half an hour. Turned out to be a mere hanger."

No chuckles broke the air. No one stirred.

"Those moments top my cherished recollections. All of us in that home, back when nothing weighed heavy. Prior to mana, prior to ranks, before registry labels defined worth."

He sustained the hush.

"Then my awakening never came."

The warmth drained from his tone like hues fading from sun-exposed film.

"You first, Selena. Then the twins together on one day. I lingered in anticipation. Months passed. A year. Two. Trapped in that home, witnessing those near me gain powers that elevated them beyond human limits, while I remained utterly ordinary."

"Don’t-" Cassian began.

"I haven’t concluded."

Cassian fell still.

"I might have endured it. Most of the world—eighty-five percent—never awakened. I’d have plenty of peers. I could’ve served as your aides, your supporters, freeing you to pursue advancement." His delivery stayed steady, like a man long reconciled, now voicing long-held insights. "But reality unfolded differently."

He gazed across the basin. The amber glow dimmed into gold.

"Instead, my admired sister began viewing me as refuse. The twins who once shadowed me started averting their gazes. Each evening at dinner, I observed my family awaken to the truth, one after another: I shamed them."

He sensed Selena’s wrath radiating behind, stiff and scorching, yet she held her tongue.

"Alice made efforts," he continued, his tone gentling briefly. "She’d slip into my bed nightly, rest her brow on my arm, and murmur that ranks meant nothing to her. I remained her elder brother, and that sufficed."

Stillness enveloped them.

"Mother attempted too, her style. Fees covered. Quarters upheld. Servants instructed to show me courtesy." He paused. "Practical support without reproach. That defined her affection, and I comprehended it young."

His legs dangled over the precipice.

"Yet nothing altered the reality: those I’d grown alongside, the siblings I adored, chose to ignore me. I often pondered: what was my fault? A trial I botched? Dialogue I overlooked? Some instant where proof of my value was needed?"

No one spoke.

"Or was the offense simply falling into the unlucky eighty-five percent?"