Starting to Gain Experience from Push-Ups Chapter 1212 - 589

Rays of sunlight streamed through the tall, slender stained glass windows on either side, splashing vivid pools of color across the expansive stone steps.

Within the grand golden hall, a serene and reverent air hung heavy.

Fang Cheng held back from rushing into any vows.

He spun around and settled once more into the enormous Golden Throne.

His back pressed against the chill of the throne's rear, arms slung lazily over the rests.

Gazed down upon the red-haired man prostrated below, he questioned in a steady tone:

"Tell me about your origins and your personal vendettas. What’s the tale?"

Shanks held his single-knee kneel firm.

Head bowed low, fists gripped hard, his wide chest rose and fell repeatedly.

When his voice emerged again, it rumbled low and choked:

"I hail from an ancient lineage in Eastern Europe, carrying a thousand-year legacy, home to a colossal castle nestled deep in the Black Pine Forest, walls entwined with verdant vines and gardens bursting with vast fields of crimson roses."

Shanks’s eyes grew distant, as though piercing beyond the holy hall into long-buried recollections.

"Back then, the castle echoed with joy. My grandfather, though stern, always returned from his trips bearing toys for me. My parents, kind-hearted, oversaw the household with perfect harmony."

He halted, lips twisting into a deeply bitter grin:

"I had a brother nine years my senior. A prodigy, he was my hero."

"On warm summer afternoons, he’d train with his sword in the yard, bare-chested, sweat tracing his sculpted muscles. The whoosh of the blade cutting air—I recall it vividly still."

"And my sister, Emily..."

As her name escaped his lips, Shanks’s voice quivered uncontrollably.

"Just seven years old then, she adored her lace-trimmed white dress, darting after butterflies amid the roses. Exhausted from play, she’d tumble into my embrace, laughter bubbling endlessly..."

Shanks squeezed his eyes shut, jaw muscles spasming fiercely.

"I believed those blissful days would endure eternally. Until fifteen years past, when that man rapped upon the castle gates..."

The hall’s air turned icy as his words darkened.

"Clad in a long gray coat, his face mostly shrouded by the hood’s shadow. That night, he lingered in my grandfather’s study till dawn."

"None fathomed their discussion. Yet come morning, after his departure, Grandfather was utterly transformed."

"He barred the study door, confining himself within day after day. From beyond, I’d hear beastly howls escaping him."

"Soon after, my brother left with that man, claiming a journey to roam the world and hone his skills."

"A month on, his return to the castle revealed a stranger in his skin, profoundly altered."

Shanks’s eyes snapped open, blue irises veined with red, seething with raw fury:

"His stare turned glacial. Family meant nothing to him anymore—he eyed us like livestock awaiting the knife. Clashes with our parents escalated, his rage exploding wildly."

"Daily sword practice ceased; instead, he’d string up hunting dogs from branches, flaying them alive bit by bit, cackling through their agonized yelps."

"Worse still, he’d prowl the night in his car, preying on vagrants from nearby towns..."

"My sister, petrified, sought refuge in my chamber nightly, clinging to my garments, body shaking violently."

Shanks’s fingers raked the marble floor, nails screeching against the unyielding stone.

"Tears streaming, she pleaded: ’Why does Brother stare at me so? Does he mean to devour me?’"

"I cradled her close, soothing her locks, deceiving her repeatedly: ’Fear not, with your second brother here, all will be well...’

Here, Shanks’s words cut off sharply.

His throat bobbed fiercely, as if gulping shards of glass, face contorting in anguish.

Moments later, with a desolate smirk full of woe, he pressed on:

"Yet nothing improved."

"Months hence, the gray-coated man reappeared, ushering doom upon our kin!"

A single tear traced from Shanks’s eye, trailing his cheek to splatter mutely on the marble.

"That fateful day, I was away at university across the border, narrowly spared."

"News reached me, and I raced back like a fiend... Torrents of rain lashed the yard, ground awash in sinister crimson puddles."

Shanks’s torso surged with ragged breaths, sobs wrenching from his core amid gasps:

"Grandfather, Father, Mother... over a hundred souls in the castle, slaughtered..."

"Corpses strewn haphazardly down halls and stairs, the atmosphere thick with blood’s reek and fire’s acrid smoke."

"Ankles-deep in gore, I scoured every chamber. At last, in the grand hall’s wall, there hung Emily..."

Shanks smashed his forehead to the floor with a heavy thump.

Prostrated and shrimp-like in curl, he bellowed rawly:

"Impaled by a blade! Her lovely white gown, long drenched to black in blood!"

"I dropped to my knees in the blood, clutching her frigid remains, weeping till my cries gave out!"