Royal Bastard's Bloodstained Regression-Chapter 103: The Knife That Chose

William's breath caught.

His hands trembled around the cleaver, eyes wide with shock.

"W-What...?"

Albert's voice broke through the silence. "Did that albino bastard just tell you to kill us?"

"Will, don't listen to him!" Daniel shouted, squirming in his bindings. "He's crazy!"

William looked up at Daemon, desperation in his eyes.

Daemon met his gaze, calm and cold. "If you don't want to do it, just say it."

He shrugged. "I'll untie them. Let them go. And you can go back to your old miserable life. Getting kicked, spat on, used. Until one day... they kill you."

"William, come on," Albert snapped. "We're family! We grew up together!"

"We looked after you," Daniel added. "Fed you when no one else would. Even if we're not blood—we raised you!"

William's vision blurred.

Memories flooded his mind—eating scraps with them, laughing once in a while, being dragged through alleys, scolded for stealing poorly, beaten for backtalk. Survival. That's all it had ever been.

"If you let us go," Albert promised, voice softening, "we'll take care of you. Like before. We promise."

His hands trembled.

He looked down at the cleaver.

Is this right?

Daemon didn't speak. He just watched.

"Daemon... I don't know if I can do it," William whispered, tears running down his cheeks. "I grew up with them... It's hard to hate them."

Daemon's jaw tightened.

"Oh. That's sad." His voice turned cold. "So maybe I should free them. Let them keep ruining you. After all, you must like being a slave."

That last word cut.

Nyxtriel glanced at Daemon, catching the subtle shift in his aura—anger, not at William... but at the reflection of something deeper.

"You remind me of someone I used to be," Daemon said flatly. "Naive. Foolish. Soft. And I paid for it with betrayal and blood."

William sobbed.

"William!" Albert barked. "Come on! Free us already!"

Daemon narrowed his eyes.

"No," he said.

"I won't free them unless you cut off your arm."

William froze.

"What...?"

"You heard me. If you're not going to fight—then bleed."

Daemon's tone was sharp as steel.

"You've wasted our time. Nyxtriel wasted power tracking them. I used energy healing you. For what? So you could kneel again?"

William began to sweat. His breathing grew erratic. Fear clawed at his throat.

Albert and Daniel, still bound, shouted over him—

"Yes, yes! William—cut it off! We'll take care of you!"

"Just do it, Will! You belong with us!"

"DO IT!"

William dropped to his knees, shaking, cleaver still in hand.

And in that moment—

he had to choose.

Nyxtriel stood off to the side, arms folded, watching the tension stretch thin in the humid air.

It had been more than ten minutes.

Still, William hadn't moved.

He sat trembling, the cleaver still by his side, eyes locked on the dirt—not the boys. Not Daemon. Not anything.

Nyxtriel sighed. "My lord... are you sure he'll decide at all? He looks lost. Like a child who doesn't know where he is."

Daemon didn't answer immediately.

He knew she was right. William was only twelve. Fractured. Beaten. Broken.

But that wasn't an excuse.

"I killed my first man when I was five," Daemon said coldly, eyes still on William.

Then he turned to her. His voice was steel.

"In this world, weakness is a default. If he wants to crawl back and suck their boots, then he should cut off his own arm and be done with it."

William flinched. He'd heard it.

But he still didn't move.

"Damn it, William!" Albert barked. "Just do it already! Cut off your arm!"

"Or give us the damn knife—we'll do it for you!"

William looked up, eyes wide. "You'd do it instead of begging?"

Albert scoffed. "You dense idiot! Just free us already! All of this is your fault!"

Your fault... your fault...

William slowly wiped the tears from his face.

His breathing calmed.

And in that moment, something in him snapped.

Daemon's words echoed in his head.

"This world doesn't deserve your kindness."

"Even beautiful smiles are poisonous."

He clenched his fists.

Then he picked up the cleaver from the ground.

His eyes had changed—no longer soft, no longer pleading.

They were dark.

Still full of pain—but now sharpened by rage. freewēbnoveℓ.com

He stood.

"W-William...?" Daniel stammered, suddenly pale.

"What's this bastard doing?!" Albert barked.

Daemon didn't move.

Nyxtriel narrowed her eyes.

"You were right, Lord Daemon," William said, stepping forward slowly. "This world... doesn't deserve kindness."

He lunged.

"Aaaaaaaah!"

William stabbed Daniel—again, and again, and again. The blade sank deep into his side, then his stomach, then his chest. Blood sprayed against the bark. Daniel's screams turned into gargled gasps.

Albert shrieked, thrashing in his restraints. "ALBINO! PLEASE—SPARE ME! I'M SORRY!"

Daemon blinked once—then smiled behind his hand. His crimson eyes gleamed, reflecting the blood like gemstones in the dark.

Even Nyxtriel, for all her cruelty, looked faintly surprised.

William had changed.

Albert screamed, voice cracking under panic.

"W-Wait! Please! I'll do anything! I'll tell you something—something important!"

Daemon raised a brow, unfazed. "Oh?"

Albert saw his chance and pounced. "That old man—Ben—he's not who you think he is!"

William paused, blade still gripped tight, breath heavy.

Daemon's eyes narrowed slightly. "You mean Ben?"

"Yes! He's hiding something! You think he's just some washed-up pirate? What if I told you... he's a mage too!"

There it was.

His desperation. His final card.

Daemon tilted his head, slowly walking toward Albert.

"Mmm... that's sad."

Albert blinked, confused.

Daemon gave a casual shrug. "Because I already know."

Albert's eyes widened.

"W-Wait! Please—at least hear me out—!"

Thud.

A wet, dull sound cracked the air.

Albert looked down—

Daniel's severed head rolled to a stop beside his feet, eyes wide in death, mouth frozen mid-scream.

Albert recoiled and vomited, bile and panic spilling out of him.

"You're monsters! The gods will punish you!" he sobbed. "We're just kids too—we're only fifteen!"

Daemon's voice was cold as frost.

"That's why I made William kill you."

Albert looked up just in time to see William stepping forward, blade raised, his eyes hollow, jaw clenched tight.

"No—please—!"

SHINK.

The cleaver sank into Albert's side. Then again. And again.

Screams turned to choking.

•••••••••

Inside the small, creaky house, Varian sat across from Ben, nursing a chipped mug of tea. He was in the middle of a story about nearly getting eaten by a sea serpent when Ben raised a brow and looked toward the door.

"Hey," Ben said slowly, "I think they're back."

Varian turned to look—and froze mid-sentence.

Daemon, Nyxtriel, and William walked through the fogged treeline, stepping quietly up the path toward the house.

Daemon was calm as ever.

Nyxtriel unreadable.

But William—

He was covered in blood. His clothes stained red. Dried streaks ran down his cheek, and he didn't even seem to notice.

Varian blinked. "Uh... why does the kid look like he crawled out of a butcher's shop?"

Ben stood up sharply. "What happened to him?"

Daemon said nothing at first.

Then he casually dropped a large, heavy cloth bag on the ground near the porch. It hit the wood with a wet, muffled thud.

Blood soaked through the bottom.

Ben's eyes narrowed.

William stood behind them, blank-eyed. Still. As if part of him had been left back in the woods.

Just then, Marian stepped out from the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel. "There you are. I was wondering if you'd all gotten lost—"

She paused.

Her eyes fell on William. Then on the blood. Then on the bag.

"...What happened out there?"

Daemon smiled—soft, pleasant, perfectly rehearsed.

"Oh this?"

He nudged the bag with his boot.

"We happened to catch a wild boar."

He looked at Marian.

"I hope you don't mind cooking this too."