Garden Of Poison-Chapter 279: Storm Brothers

Raylen’s cold, blue eyes stared at his half-brother, whose face was marred with blood. He observed how Logan attempted to conceal his annoyance behind his smile before eventually looking up to meet his gaze.

"It was very rude of you to not let me know that you were around, because I thought you were vacationing in Hell all this time," Raylen remarked, the unmistakable scent of Emily lingering heavily in the air, leading towards the back door of the kitchen.

"You killed me with your bare hands. What did you expect?" Logan retorted, spitting the blood that had accumulated in his mouth onto the ground beside him.

"For you to stay dead for good?" Raylen casually shrugged his shoulders. "But then you know that you deserved everything that happened until now, don’t you, Brother?"

"Fucking son of the Devil," Logan glared at him before pushing himself up to stand. "You are no brother of mine. You were never my brother."

"It is unfortunate that we share the same mother," Raylen stated as he carefully gauged Logan.

How many years had passed since they last saw each other? Raylen had decided to bury the memories of his family members when he massacred them all in the castle, wanting to consign them deep beneath the ground, not expecting any of them to rise again one day.

Despite being the son of the Devil, these were the people he had once considered family, and all of them had betrayed him. Every single one of them, Raylen thought in his mind. He had cared for them in his own way, only to be rewarded with a death sentence.

"You must agree that I took better care of her than you have in these last few days." Raylen clicked his tongue in disapproval. "Her skeleton appears to have withered away entirely. It’s a pity that you couldn’t keep it the way it was. Perhaps, had you not meddled, she might have remained alive."

This was enough to incite an intense fury in Logan. Unable to tolerate a single disparaging word against his mother, the lowly demon pulled out a dagger specifically crafted for combat against demons.

Logan lunged at Raylen, his dagger up and ready to strike the brother he had despised all these years. However, just when he believed he had inflicted the blow, the Archdemon cleverly moved to the side. Yet, this did little to dissuade the lowly demon from persistently attempting to attack him.

Logan’s words carried both a threat and a promise as he exclaimed, "How dare you speak about our mother like that?! I will make sure you understand the true meaning of Hell." He thrust his dagger at Raylen, attempting to stab him and swiftly ducking when the latter tried to seize him.

"It looks like you stole what technically belongs to me. But why am I not surprised?" Raylen questioned wryly, luring Logan into thinking he was evading to the left to dodge his attack, only to swiftly switch to an offensive move. Raising his leg, he executed a swift turn, his foot delivering a powerful blow to the side of Logan’s body. The lowly demon was sent flying from where he stood, not only crashing into a wall but shattering it upon impact, resulting in a cloud of dust billowing into the air. "To go and steal from the Devil, how stupid. I am glad you don’t identify as my brother; I would be ashamed to know I am related to such an idiot."

Through the lingering cloud of settling dust, a dark chuckle emanated from Logan. He rose to his feet, an eerie smile curling on his lips as he locked his gaze on Raylen.

"Hell makes mistakes too, and big ones. And you’ve just made an even bigger one. Capture!" Logan yelled, and a red light illuminated the ground beneath Raylen. "You can stay here forever while I go and get my mother back. Even if I don’t get to Emily first, Nathaniel will," he laughed ominously.

A frown creased Raylen’s brow, as he hadn’t expected Nathaniel to have been here. His gaze shifted towards the door before returning to look at Logan.

"Even if you were to bring Mother back to life, do you honestly believe she would be the same, Logan?" Raylen’s head tilted in question. "A soul that has undergone judgement in Hell is never going to be the same. She is as good as dead because of you," he stated calmly, further infuriating Logan.

"Shut up!" Logan snapped at the elder Storm brother. "Had Mother not had you, she would still be alive."

Raylen let out a soft scoff in response to Logan and said, "Stop being delusional. You were all earthlings, and we all know an earthling’s days are numbered in the living realm. The mother you speak of prayed and begged to have me, unlike you, whom she didn’t much care about. You were just another child of hers. But I was the one she truly sought."

"She wanted you dead! Because of you and what you are—"

Raylen clicked his tongue, shaking his head with a condescending look on his face as if chastising Logan. "I am more earthling than you, you idiot. Take a good look at yourself," he said, snapping his fingers.

An ice-like mirror materialised next to Logan, reflecting the lowly demon’s appearance, which looked far more hideous and ghastly. Logan clenched his teeth and declared, "I don’t care how I look. She loves me and will accept me! I am the only son she will ever need, and I will bring her back to life! I have everything that I need to extract the Barter Soul and keep you here for all eternity."

Logan pulled out a small glass vial containing green liquid. Upon throwing it at where Raylen was standing, intricate threads started to form in the air, as if to ensnare the Archdemon, preventing any movement.

"Blame it on your father for leaving these things out in the open. He should have secured them better, instead of allowing someone to use them on his own son." Logan clicked his tongue, his lips twisting, and he began to mutter more spells.

"Logan," Raylen addressed his half-brother. "Why did you kill Alice?"

Logan took a moment to consider the question before replying with a blank expression, "She deserved it. Why else? You should have heard her scream in pain. It’s how Emily will scream too."

Raylen’s blue eyes darkened at the mention of harming Emily. He said, "Funny that you chose to go after the very person who happens to be my soulmate. Are you that obsessed with me?"

"You wish," Logan replied, rolling his eyes. A faint smile appeared on his lips as he watched Raylen being trapped within the web of threads that now caged him like a prisoner.

The lowly demon couldn’t understand how he hadn’t foreseen this turn of events. He had meticulously arranged for the Blackthorn Princess’s heart to corrupt itself from anguish, severing her connection with her destined soulmate. However, he had not anticipated someone else stepping into that void—someone whom he despised.

"If only you had never been born," Logan muttered, remembering himself surrounded by blood.

Raylen didn’t care for the hate that Logan carried in his eyes towards him. The day he had been set up for the witch hunt, poised to be burned alive, any and every feeling was consumed by the flames, leaving only memories of ashes behind.

"Are you done?" Raylen asked, his voice devoid of any emotion.

The Archdemon touched the threads, causing his fingers to bleed upon contact. He said, "These are made even for Archdemons, hm? What about me, with the Devil’s blood in my veins?" He gathered the threads in his hands, causing more blood to drip onto the ground, but then the threads suddenly caught fire, burning into nothingness.

Logan, who had prepared to follow Emily, stood there with his mouth agape. His hand rummaged through his pockets for another vial, ready to hurl it at Raylen, but at the same time, the Archdemon stepped forward, despite the markings the lowly demon had set in place.

As Logan threw the next vial, Raylen caught it in his hand and tossed it against the wall, causing the wall to melt upon impact.

"You seemed to have overestimated yourself, Brother," Raylen remarked calmly as he continued to close the distance between them. "As much as I would like to entertain your childish attempts to make it seem like you achieved something during your years in hiding, living like a rat, there are other more pressing matters at hand."

Logan lunged back into the fight with Raylen, and their hands and legs moved swiftly as they attempted to land punches and kicks. The lowly demon seethed with anger as he finally realised the disadvantage he was facing because, while he had broken into a sweat, Raylen barely seemed fazed.

"I will kill you!" Logan exclaimed, raising his hand high.

Raylen landed a powerful punch into Logan’s gut, causing the lowly demon to throw up blood and cough. Raylen caught his brother’s neck and forcefully rammed his head into the wall. Logan groaned and, for a fleeting moment, succeeded in stabbing Raylen’s thigh with the dagger, hearing the sizzle and smelling the burning of muscle tissue filling the air.

Logan felt himself yanked backwards by his collar and forcibly turned to face Raylen. In the dimly lit room, punches and blows rained upon him, leaving him battered and bruised.

With a strained voice, Logan managed to whisper, "How does it feel to be abandoned by your own mother?"

Raylen’s lips curled into a sinister smile, a glint of malevolence in his eyes as he met Logan’s defiant gaze. The Archdemon retorted, "I’ve always been more of a father’s son than a mama’s boy." As he spoke, he drove his fingers deep into Logan’s chest, reaching for his heart. "As a parting gift, how about I ensure Mother’s soul endures even greater torment than before, with you to witness it? This is personal, Brother."

With those words, Raylen’s fingers closed around Logan’s heart, rendering the younger brother’s desperate struggles futile against the Archdemon’s cruel grip. Raylen extracted the heart from Logan’s chest, observing with a cold detachment as darkness seeped into his brother’s eyes.

"Balor," Raylen summoned his imp, whose form gradually materialised before him.

"Master?" The imp’s eyes widened as they fell upon Logan’s lifeless body.

"Take his soul to the dungeon and ensure you don’t lose it," Raylen commanded, before turning away and striding towards the kitchen’s back door. The imp wondered where its master was heading, its eyes following his movement. Raylen’s hand clasped the doorknob, and he remarked, "I have a wife to retrieve."