The Essence Of The Darkness
Episode 40: Old Revenge

Xavier immediately stood up, still with his wide smile. Meanwhile, Akram was unmoved, standing a considerable distance away with a dark expression and sharp eyes, watching Xavier's every move vigilantly.

Five years Xavier has disappeared since the crash to recuperate. But, at this moment when that Xavier was before him, the man did not seem to age in the slightest.

Although Xavier was five years older than Akram, he had a much younger appearance than his real age. This cunning creature in front of him always appeared with a charming face like a sinless angel, even though in his soul it was so black and full of sinful cruelty like a demon from the most basic crust of hell.

With confidence, Xavier stepped closer to Akram and stopped when he was right in front of Akram. Not minding the freezing cold gaze that Akram threw at him in his every move, Xavier instead presented a smile as bright as the sun and extended his hand in a very friendly gesture of wanting to shake hands.

"Are we not supposed to shake hands after a long time without seeing each other? I'm so happy to see you again, Akram. And I also assume that you're happy to see me, aren't you?" Xavier still reached out as if offering peace, waiting for a reply from Akram.

However, Akram has absolutely no intention of replying to Xavier's hand. His arms crossed increasingly stronger, while his body was unmoved, with his face growing grim.

"You have the guts to show your nose in my area. Did your accident five years ago not teach you a lesson?" Akram snapped with a cold snarl. Threatened.

Seeing the hostile attitude given by Akram clearly, Xavier was completely undaunted. With a self-respecting attitude, the man pulled back his hand that was rejected by Akram, then returned to his amazingly sweet smile.

"I did need five years to recuperate." Xavier spread out his hands, as if deliberately showing off his body that was back in one piece and perfect after the accident. "Even I should still rest in my bed for the sake of my health. But my love and longing for you, my beloved sister, made me ignore my condition and decided to come here just to see you again."

"You're not my brother. Not bloodily nor legally after dad forced you to change your surname before his death." Akram narrowed his eyes with a cruel murderous gaze. "I'm sick of your sweet mouth, Xavier. Tell me what your purpose is to come here and get out of here immediately," Akram kicked out in a rude tone.

Xavier chuckled, not at all hurt by Akram's fierce attitude towards him. Akram's hatred of Xavier never seemed to be extinguished, even after five years passed without interaction.

It seemed like the entire scars he had left deep in Akram's soul had been so imprinted that there was no more left for the other emotions. But Xavier was happy about it. Akram's hatred was worth it to him. It was not in vain that he used all means to damage Akram's soul until it became as dark and densely scarred as it is now. Xavier has vowed to bring Akram into just as much damage as his soul has suffered, and he has managed to do so.

Because if Akram hated him so much, Xavier's hatred for Akram was even more than many times greater. An old grudge that was nurtured bit by bit until his heart was even unable to hold any more. Making that hatred seep out, draining every vein of his, poisoning every cell in his body and contaminating every breath of his.

"I came because I was worried about you. I heard you had an accident recently. As a good brother, of course I have to come get you, right?" answer Xavier with deliberate false sincerity.

Acram gritting teeth. "Omong empty. The accident was clearly caused by you. You're here to see how much damage you've done? Sorry if you're disappointed, but I wasn't affected by the accident at all."

"I can see it." Xavier watched over Akram and as much envy flashed through his mind at how sturdy and sturdy Akram's body was.

Akram inherited the Night family's genetics with the blood of the pioneers flowing in his body, making him naturally have a sturdy, tall and sturdy body without the need to do any meaningful exercises. While he, who had absolutely no Night's blood on his body, had a slender body that could not be developed even with years of strenuous exercise.

Despite that, Xavier has mastered the results of his special martial training which is able to make him defeat enemies with bodies many times larger and higher, respectively, by using his techniques as well as his highly skilled martial arts abilities.

Xavier finished scanning Akram's body, then looked at the man with provocation. "You have no shortage of anything. I think such an accident is less powerful to injure the extremely formidable Akram Night" he concluded slowly.

"Quite a stale base sickens you. You got your wish by looking at me, so now you can go, right?" Akram frowned, fed up with Xavier's provocative attitude which he deliberately displayed to irritate Akram.

Xavier raised next to his eyebrows. "Don't feel hurt to me, Akram. The accident was just a greeting from me, to tell you that I'm back" Xavier said guiltlessly.

"Ordinary people will tell you the news over the phone, while you're delivering the news through an attempted murder," Akram growled furiously. "You're still the same crazy bastard even after all this time. You'd better get your feet up, or I'll have my men drive you out of here rudely, no matter you've shown your goodwill with no weapons at all."

"Ah... alright, I guess you are still my dark and rough-spirited sister who used to. I'll go so you don't explode in anger, Xavier grinned, his eyes shining implying a peerless vile madness. "Although I can't promise that we won't see each other again after this. I'm still not satisfied with missing. So, I can't wait for the moment where I can be involved in your life later," he said, full of threats wrapped in a sweet smile.

"God!" Akram snapped, almost out of control. His reaction even made Xavier's grin wider.

Xavier then stepped past Akram's petrified body giving no reaction. But, when he reached the door and opened it, Xavier suddenly stopped his steps and turned his head back towards Akram.

"Rumors develop out there, that Akram Night is always changing lovers and bedmates like changing ties, like changing ties, for the past three months it has not been at all seen to have a lover that he usually always takes from the upper class and celebrities to enjoy without a heart...." xavier's eyes flashed with a probing gaze full of judgment. "Either because Akram Night is too busy with his work, or maybe because Akram Night has a favorite girl and does not want to change again so keep the girl in a closed cage to be enjoyed alone."

Xavier watches over Akram's back with a judging look, noticing that Akram's body stiffened at his words. "If my second guess is correct, I would be very curious to see firsthand what kind of girl can make an Akram Night bend their knees and willing to be loyal for up to three months without changing partners. It would be delicious, if I could taste it myself..."

After saying that hanging sentence, Xavier stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him, leaving Akram who was still frozen by himself.

Akram's expression darkened as his heart throbbed by the anxiety that instantly choked on his chest. It was as if the trauma of the past that he had stored so deeply at the bottom of his soul, wriggling awake again and was about to poison his entire vein with a tormenting dark fear.

Akram clenched his grip until the veins in his hand protruded, then touched his head which began to hurt with frustration. He closed his eyes with a deep frown. Cold sweat began to drip down his temple as he - with all his might - tried to stem the dark memories of the past that instantly came flooding into his memory.

***

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Xavier Light was Xavier Night. A four-year-old boy with above-average genius adopted by Baron Night and his wife Marlene Night with the goodwill to make him their son and also to convert him become the next Night family successor.

The marriage between the Baron and Marlene had been going on for ten years, but after every effort, Marlene was not pregnant. Medical examination showed that Marlene's weak body made him unable to produce healthy eggs with perfect size to be fertilized. Meanwhile, the Baron who loved Marlene too much with all his body soul, was unable to fuck another woman even for the reason of continuing his bloodline.

Although Marlene willingly asks Baron to find another woman who can conceive her child in order to continue the Night family's bloodline, Baron insists on taking the opposite step.

One day, Baron brings home Xavier, an orphan known for his extraordinary genius, with brainpower equivalent to three times his age. The baron then decides to adopt Xavier, naming the Night family behind his name and elevating him to crown prince who will later be entitled to inherit all the power and power of the extraordinarily large Night family.

However, man cannot precede the predetermined destiny even before he is born. Just a few months after elevating Xavier as part of their family, Marlene was suddenly awarded an unexpected pregnancy.

The resolve to appoint Xavier as crown prince of their family changed with the happiness of Baron and Marlene to welcome the biological son, the fruit of love that inherited the blood of both of them. Even so, both of them still treat Xavier well and lovingly, consider Xavier as a bearer of luck, because with his arrival, Marlene who was originally set impossible to get pregnant, can even contain normal and healthy.

For Xavier himself, a whole family for his orphaned self was very grateful. She gained abundant affection and she did not mind the presence of a new sister for her. The fact that he was no longer the crown prince of the Night family was well received.

When Akram Night was born, Xavier became the most protective brother in the world, caring for and loving Akram with all his heart, protecting with all his body soul, and his family, and it adds more happiness to the little family who love each other.

At that moment, it was as if the Night family had been given a bright path without hindrance, to become a happy family that would continue to support each other in the future....

Unfortunately, once again fate turns things around. At the age of nine years Xavier and four-year-old Akram, a group of criminals who target the children of a rich family and ask for ransom, kidnapped Xavier.

They mistook him for a precious son, the crown prince of the Night family, and considered him so valuable that he applied for an unusually large ransom, in a fantastic amount that could even destroy the financial foundation of the Night family company until it collapsed.

Of course Baron Night rejected him, not because he did not love his adopted son, but rather because Baron Night thought of his company supporting the lives of tens of thousands of employees and being a great contributor to the financial stability of the country.

If the influential companies controlled by the Night family were to collapse, not only would the tens of thousands of employees below them lose their livelihoods, but the country's economic system would also suffer shocks, which will affect the hundreds of millions of citizens who live under it.

That is why, the Baron decided, it is better to sacrifice one small fish, in order to save millions of other large fish. So, when the negotiation process for the reduction of the ransom was deadlocked, Baron let Xavier go and handed over all of Xavier's release efforts to the authorities.

When Xavier was hospitalized, doctors said that during his three months of abduction, Xavier had been subjected to various kinds of extraordinary torture. Various punches, incisions, kicks, and also his body suffered from severe hunger and dehydration. Xavier's body was thrown in a ditch to be left to die slowly drained of blood. However, fate still wants Xavier's participation in this world, because Xavier was saved just before his life was lost.

More sadly, Xavier apparently endured countless merciless sexual abuse from his male captors. A horrific atrocity that a nine-year-old child should not have endured. Marlene even fainted instantly filled with a deep sense of regret and sorrow upon hearing that information from the doctor who treated Xavier.

Xavier was in a coma for three months, while his entire shattered body, full of bruises, incisions and broken bones, was treated at all costs to make him recover.

After three months had passed, Xavier finally opened his eyes, his body recovered, but his damaged soul was already beyond repair.

At the beginning of his return home, Xavier refused to speak, only staring blankly like a lifeless shell. But, without giving up, Marlene takes care of Xavier lovingly, continuing to fight for Xavier's mental recovery, even to the point of ignoring Akram, her own biological child.

As time went on, Xavier's mental state seemed to heal, the boy did become more reserved, but he seemed to start adjusting to life and forgetting his trauma.

Unfortunately, what had been destroyed could not be reunited, the seeds of hatred for Akram and endless madness began to grow in Xavier's soul, flourishing and controlling his soul. Xavier blames Akram for the kidnapping that happened to him, making him want to take revenge and also give the same pain.

It starts with the little things. What Akram loved, Xavier must have wanted to take it. If he could not take it, it would have been destroyed.

For him, if he can't have what Akram loves, then Akram can't have it either.

The madness starts from trivial things like Akram's toys. If Akram shows the slightest interest like a glance, then Xavier will seize and destroy it. In those days, the Baron who was busy with his business was rarely at home, while Marlene, who was still plagued with guilt, allowed Xavier's cruelty to run rampant, to the expense of her own son.

Xavier then grows up to be a manipulative and cunning child, knowing that Marlene feels guilty and exploits him to the end.

Every time he snatches Akram's property and Marlene reprimands him, Xavier will remind him of the kidnapping incident he experienced. Re-emphasizing that Akram was the one who was actually targeted in the kidnapping, and if he was not the one who was sacrificed to take Akram's place, then maybe Akram will end up with a terrible fate like himself, tortured with unparalleled cruelty.

Every time Xavier said that, Marlene would back down and give in, helpless and letting Akram be oppressed by Xavier.

Xavier's crazy spite not only ends in toys, books, Akram's stuff and other inanimate objects. His madness then penetrated into living beings.

When Akram picks up a cute kitten he was about to care for, the kitten ends up hanging from the ceiling, suffocating around his neck and dying horribly. When the Baron gives Akram his tenth birthday present, a cute puppy Akram loves, the puppy ends up dead with a mutilated body in the backyard, leaving shock for the waiter who accidentally found his body.

Over the years, the family tolerates Xavier's matchless madness. Even Akram himself grew up with a broken soul, he was trained to never show his interest even if only a speck on anything to anyone. Because, Akram knows if Xavier finds a speck of light in his eye an interested sign, then Xavier will destroy it, whatever it is.

The climax is when Akram teen has graduated from his school. In order to protect Akram from Xavier, Baron has admitted Akram to a male-only boarding school, since Akram was in high school. But, of course Akram could not take shelter behind the walls of the school dorm forever, he had to go home.

As it turned out, his return to the house brought a great calamity that made the Baron finally intervene against Xavier....

Akram can't help falling in love for the first time with his childhood friend's daughter who has grown into a charming young girl. Her young blood is turbulent, filled with the love of a colorful romantic youth. The beauty of the rainbow falling in love makes Akram off guard, forgetting that there is a crazy demon nearby who always loves him with hatred.

It didn't take long for Xavier to lower his sinful hand and smash the woman to pieces. Xavier kidnaps the woman Akram loves, rapes and tortures her vilely, then pays a gang of criminals to destroy her body beyond help.

When she first regained consciousness in the hospital after being rescued, she took immediate suicide, hanging herself with a blanket tied to the ceiling and trapping her neck to death.

At that moment, Baron acted, knowing that Xavier was intolerable. His power and money did get Xavier out of prison, but the Baron immediately gave Xavier a large amount of inheritance to cover up his guilt, then banished Xavier from the family lineage.

The Baron forces Xavier to legally renounce Night's name, leaving Xavier helpless against Baron's power to change the first letter of his surname to Xavier Light. And from that second on, Xavier had no relationship with the Night Family anymore.

Unfortunately, even though Xavier finally left, the damage left by Xavier in Akram's soul was already too deep. Akram has been abandoned by his first love in a very vile way. And he swore he would no longer show interest in anything. Most notably, she will never fall in love again, because she knows that Xavier will stop at nothing, like a mad demon who keeps eyeing in the dark.

Year after year passed and instead of being muffled, Xavier instead gathered strength until he finally became the biggest enemy that always blocked the path of Akram, the thorn in the flesh that Akram could never get rid of got to the bottom because it was bound by promise.

Even before his death, his mother still loved Xavier and was filled with guilt. Forcing Akram to swear not to kill Xavier no matter what.

"Remember Akram, if it wasn't for Xavier, you would have suffered from the abduction. He becomes your substitute, he bears suffering for you, if it were not for him, you would not be standing here in the perfect condition you are now!"

Such was the last message of his mother that always ringed in the mind of Akram, poisoning him with guilt until sometimes Akram hopes that he alone should have been kidnapped at that time.

***

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Xavier stepped staggered with his hands*** his head. As soon as he stepped out of the VVIP waiting room where he met Akram, the bodyguards immediately followed him without further ado, showing clearly the intention to lead Xavier out of this area.

However, Xavier did not care about it all, elegantly turning into the door of the first employee toilet room he found, staring coldly at the entire bodyguard behind him, so that no one dared to follow him in and just waited in front of the bathroom door.

While alone in the bathroom, Xavier loses his elegant demeanor. The pain that was pounding on his head was getting crazier, banging his head until his ears were ringing. Xavier painstakingly stepped into the vast area of the sink that extended to fill one area of the wall with large glass in front of him, then leaned there with a deep frown and sweat the size of corn kernels running down his face.

The accident may have taken place five years ago, but the impact had crushed his body to pieces. Indeed, Xavier's body is still weak and has not healed properly. At this time, he should still have to lie recuperating. Unfortunately, his desire to raise the war flag back directly in front of Akram's face has overcome his logic and concern for his own body.

Xavier fingered his pocket and took out a small white pill to ease the pain in his head, he swallowed it without water, while his nose and mouth started to fill with a thick, rancid aroma, blood will flow through his nose.

Xavier let out a short sigh several times and was patient until the medicine reacted to relieve the pain in his head. His hand moved to press against the base of his nose to prevent bleeding. Meanwhile, his eyes searched for tissue that is usually available in the sink area, but did not find it.

"I'm sorry? Maybe you need this?" a voice slowly behind him sounded doubtful as well as anxious.

Xavier instantly turned his body around in alarm. His eyes anchored on the female figure of the officer in the cleaning service uniform standing in front of him still carrying the bucket next to his hand while his other hand held out a box of pure white tissue towards him.

Xavier was completely unaware of anyone else's presence in the employee's toilet when he walked in. It looks like she was cleaning the toilet in one of the closed rooms when Xavier came in.

Xavier's clear eyes instantly watched the tiny figure before him. There was no trace of the woman's enchanted attitude towards her physical perfection. There's only sincerity there.

The sincerity and anxiety embedded in those innocent eyes touched his heart until Xavier finally welcomed the woman's hand and received the tissue extended to him.

"Thank you," he whispered in a hoarse voice as he presented his sweetest smile.

***