I Am a Hero With A Hundred Abilities
Chapter 105 - 105: Ch 104. Devotia

Inside the Ward

The heavy silence that followed Saint Theresa's words made every step feel like they were walking through fog. Amelia and Sophia had already prepared themselves for the worst. The Saint's solemn tone and guarded expression had made it clear—whatever awaited them beyond that door was not good.

But when they stepped inside…

Their breath caught in their throats.

Richard Lancaster—the patriarch, the man clinging to life for weeks—was no longer a shadow of himself.

He was sitting upright in bed, the tubes and life-support devices that once fed him gone, his skin vibrant with color, his frame no longer gaunt or withered. The Meta Essence Carcinoma that had ravaged him was… gone.

Amelia gasped, her hands flying to her mouth in shock. Then, overcome with emotion, she rushed to his side, tears welling in her eyes as she embraced him.

"Welcome back…" she whispered, voice shaking.

Richard smiled, voice deep and steady again.

"It's good to be back."

His gaze then shifted past her—toward the doorway, where Sophia stood frozen. She stared at her father, unable to move, her mind racing. Memories flooded her: childhood stories, words of advice, the warmth of his laugh, the moment there relationship fell apart, his strict gaze and finally the cold silence of seeing him bedridden and fading.

She couldn't move.

That was, until Ethan gently pinched her side, jolting her from the daze.

"Don't keep your father waiting," he said quietly.

Sophia looked at him—his comforting smirk, the subtle reassurance in his eyes—and then turned back to her father.

As She instantly dashed forward.

In a blur, she crashed into her parents, throwing her arms around both of them, her sobs bursting out in heavy waves.

"Dad… me and Mom missed you so much," she cried, her words barely intelligible through her tears.

"Please… please promise you'll never leave us like that again."

Richard gently rubbed her back, a single tear trailing down his cheek.

"I promise," he said, voice thick with emotion.

"From now on, you'll have my undivided attention."

Ethan stood by the door, quietly watching the reunion unfold. A warmth flickered in his chest—but it was quickly followed by a twinge of distance. He leaned back slightly against the wall, his thoughts drifting.

' I wonder what Lisa made for dinner…'

In the Hallway

Saint Theresa gave Ethan a subtle nod. As He followed her out of the room, the heavy door closing softly behind them. As they walked down the estate hallway, she finally broke the silence.

"I've done what you asked. Richard is healed."

Ethan inclined his head slightly.

"Thank you," he said. "But… if he was fully healed, why didn't you just tell us right away?"

The Saint stopped walking and looked at him seriously.

"Because I haven't fully healed him yet."

Ethan's brows furrowed.

"What do you mean…?"

She sighed.

"The carcinoma had spread too deep by the time I began treatment. I was able to remove the illness… but not without a cost."

"What kind of cost?"

Her voice was steady, but solemn.

"His Aether Factor—the core of his abilities—is gone. Richard Lancaster… will never be able to use his powers again."

Ethan's eyes widened.

"Don't tell me…"

"Yes," Saint Theresa confirmed. "He's lost everything that made him a Hero. He'll live—but as a man without power. I left it for him to tell them himself."

Ethan exhaled slowly, now understanding. To a man like Richard, losing his abilities was like losing a part of his soul. Letting his family learn that from someone else would've been a cruelty.

Saint Theresa turned to go but stopped, glancing at Ethan one last time.

"Before I leave… I need to tell you something."

Ethan's eyes narrowed slightly, sensing the shift in her tone.

"The first time I saw you, I sensed… something. It didn't seem harmful, so I ignored it. But while treating Richard, I figured it out."

Ethan raised a brow.

"What did you sense?"

"Devotia," she said.

"...Devotia?" Ethan repeated, confused. "What's that?"

Saint Theresa blinked, surprised.

"You don't know something as basic as that?" She sighed. "Devotia is a drug that increases the affection one has for a person tp dangerous levels making it banned in all the cities."

Ethan stood quietly, processing her words.

She stepped closer.

"You need to understand, Ethan… people who have been given Devotia are capable of doing anything for those they desire and in worse cases they will throw away their life if they can't have them."

Ethan's eye widened in shock at that revelation.

"But you don't have to worry the effects have been neutralized and I can no longer sense any dangerous effects from the one you ingested but that doesn't mean you should lower your guard."

Ethan nodded his head. " I promise I won't."

"Good."

With that, Saint Theresa's form began to glow, and in a blink of divine light, she was gone.

Ethan stood alone in the hallway, her words echoing in his mind. The knowledge of Devotia stirred something deep and unsettling within him.

And then his thoughts shifted—back to the past.

'So Alex and Emily… drugged me.'

A dark cloud passed over his eyes.

His aura flickered.

A cold, dangerous bloodlust seeped from his body, silent and sharp as a blade.

"I should pay those two a visit."

****

Within a Shadowed Chamber

In a room drowned in darkness, where even the flicker of candlelight dared not intrude, a man with azure-blue hair sat cross-legged in the center of a circular sigil carved into the obsidian floor. His bare chest glistened with sweat, the skin faintly pulsing with streaks of golden light as met essence coursed through his veins. The very air around him trembled with pressure.

He was cultivating a Divine Ability, the only method reserved for those on the brink of transcending mortality.

He had climbed the ladder of power, shed blood and broken realms—now, he stood on the cusp of becoming a Saint. Yet the final tether remained elusive. So close, and yet still…

Not enough.

Then—

BOOM!

The heavy doors to his chamber slammed open, the sacred silence shattered.

The man's eyes opened, glowing like two sapphire flames in the dark. His aura flared briefly—dangerous, divine, suffocating.

"What could be so important…," he asked coldly, his voice echoing like thunder through stone, "...that you would dare interrupt my cultivation?"

A woman stood in the doorway, her chest heaving. Her crimson eyes glistened with unshed tears, but her voice was clear and direct—pierced by pain.

"Our son… Kairo. He was murdered at the Crownspire Ascension."

Time slowed.

The meta essence around him snapped and vanished, the sigil beneath him shattering into fragments of glowing dust.

For a long moment, the man did not speak. He simply stared, as if the words needed time to burrow into his soul.

Then his aura exploded—

A surge of golden and black light cracked the stone beneath him, and the walls trembled.

"What…?"

His voice was low, deadly.

"Explain. Now."

She did. Every word—every name, every fact. The opponent. The witness accounts. The impossible truth: their son, a prodigious Ascendant of the Draeven Family, had been slain by a mere Level 3—a nobody named Ethan Cross.

The man's hands clenched into fists, glowing veins pulsing with pure rage.

"A Level 3 dares to strike down a Draeven...?"

The air twisted around him with malice.

He turned to his wife, his eyes sharp enough to cut steel.

"Bring me every scrap of information you have on this Ethan Cross. Family. Friends. Clan. Affinities. Weaknesses. Where he sleeps. What he dreams. Everything."

"Yes, my lord," she said, bowing swiftly before vanishing down the hall in a blur of motion.

Now alone in the shattered silence, the man remained still—but the fury in his soul churned like a divine storm.

His fingers dug into his knees, teeth grinding.

"You took my son… Ethan Cross…"

His voice was a whisper—but filled with vengeance.

"I will make sure you pay for everything… in full."

END OF VOLUME ONE

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