What was the cause of it all? Why were they branded and enslaved by their own flesh and blood? Why were they forced to hunt their own kin, only to be disposed of completely when defeated?
Despite what you might believe, the Shiga brothers are much like Takae in that they aren't full-blooded djinn.
To men obsessed with reaching the conclusions of their twisted fantasies, blood means nothing—unless it is used to smite them. It all began when a man like this became the King of Wolves.
Avios Nether had always possessed a twisted sense of curiosity. From a young age, intrusive thoughts nagged at him endlessly, but he had no outlet to seek answers, so he remained silent—almost invisible.
When he became king, he heard a rumor: that blending human and djinn genes would result in the birth of powerful offspring.
There was no real basis for it, yet the idea clung to him, just as such thoughts always did. But this time, things were different. He was now the king of one of the Seven Djinn Clans. That title alone, in his mind, justified any action under the banner of nobility.
So he acted on that question—by kidnapping a human girl who, at the time, was nothing more than a teenager.
Her name was Atsuko Shiga.
What came next was to be expected. Assault after Assault after Assault. It was never ending and at some point she stopped resisting and accepted her fate.
In the span of ten years she bore two pairs of triplets with two other children being born separate before and after the pair, in total eight children.
How would one expect an Assaulted woman to treat the fruit of her pain, one would expect that the sight of them alone would be a bane to them causing them to relive their pain over and over again.
That wasn't the case for Astuko Shiga. Despite all she had been through she didn't despise her children, not one bit it was quite the opposite really.
She loved them all and called them by their names that she had given with a motherly compassion.
"Children aren't responsible for the sins of their fathers,"she would always tell herself," and children aren't tools to seek revenge against those sinful fathers. The only thing that that they deserve is love so that they don't become like those fathers."
Her children all inherited her last name as was dictated by the customs of the djinn, bastard could only inherit their mother's name.
Though this was meant to smite them as unwanted by their own blood, Atsuko was glad that she didn't have to call her children by that horrid name. Instead she pridefully called them by the name Shiga.
Raising eight children by herself was no easy task for a woman in her mid twenties but she tried her best even as she had to come to terms with the fact that they weren't all the same.
It was by no means a surprise, some children were just always meant to shine more than others.
For her it was her youngest daughter, Rie Shiga.
These children weren't fathered for no reason they had a purpose, a purpose that their father was dead set on achieving and that was to answer the question, did human blood really elevate or downgrade the quality of djinn offspring.
The question itself wasn't and easy one to solve. All the children were proficient in their own right but average at best that was except for her.
Rie was born with a special ability one that would only continue to bloom as she grew and this led to her gaining a deep sense of superiority against her brothers.
The only person who treated her equally with her brothers was her mother, Atsuko and for that reason she found herself growing distant from her and even harbouring a sense of subtle hatred.
Avios spared no effort in spitting her brothers infront her so what made her think that they were the same.
She wasn't the only one to notice this fact though as all her brothers infact did know of her deep seemed hatred of them and her displeasure at her mother but they said nothing.
The then young Ryuji was by far the most adept when it came to thought but he never showed it.
He would often sit alone by himself asking the same questions over and over again.
"What was the disparity between those with talent and those without it?"
He would often wonder why is it that some individuals are born more gifted than others.
"Is the no true equality in this world not even in birth?" He thought," There are those who claim that hardwork can bridge that gap but I believe that that is a fool's notion because if even birth the only true marker of equality couldn't bridge that gap then what else can?"
This belief led to a the stemming of a deep seated sense of inferiority which caused him to hate himself. So much so that when he was younger he couldn't even stand to look at his own reflection.
Though the other brothers shared his view almost completely, there was one who rejected it entirely.
Asahi Shiga was the oldest among the eight and a natural-born hard worker. He clawed his way to strength that would have eluded his untalented self through pure determination.
Ryuji often watched him train, and subconsciously he rejected his claims completely.
Why would he keep going on and on, preaching the virtue of hard work, when deep down they knew that gap would always exist? Such ideals could only result in futility.
Even so, he kept it up anyway and unknowingly became an inspiration to his younger brothers—but an irritating fool to Rie and Ryuji.
Their mother voiced her support all the way, always believing that he would achieve the acknowledgment he sought so desperately.
This made the rift between her and Rie grow even stronger. The heart of a young girl is always clouded with all sorts of emotions, but they could all be summed up in one question.
"Why don't you look at me the way you look at him if I'm the talented one?"
Her hate became all too apparent until it reached a point where they barely even spoke anymore.
Atsuko tried her best to bridge that gap, but she was already too far out of reach, so all she could do was watch helplessly as she soared to even greater heights without her.
When the king finally acknowledged Asahi, it was with that unbearable word—talent.
It was no secret that Asahi wasn't special, yet he still praised him with that word that undermined his efforts.
All it did was prove to the young Ryuji that hard work meant nothing if that too would be masked as talent—but despite that, he still had a childlike envy toward him.
So all he could do was watch as they soared, leaving that average boy behind with nothing.
These tensions kept pressing on until one mistake made them all boil over.
Other than the Shiga children, the king had one more child—a true-born son, Cannis Nether.
To the eyes of others, he was more valuable than all the others combined, just because he didn't have human blood like they did.
So it would only make sense that a child like him would be more talented—but that was false. Just like his half-brothers, he was outshined by Rie completely.
His resentment toward her wasn't subtle. From blatant teasing to outright disrespect—but she looked past it all, believing she was superior to him too, and that no amount of royal blood would change that.
That was until he said something that set her off completely.
Assault doesn't come without side effects, which was the case for Atsuko. After three consecutive miscarriages, it was clear that she was quickly losing her purpose.
Still, she kept up a smile in front of her children as if nothing was wrong—but she feared that she would lose them.
Then came the fourth miscarriage. Nothing much was said about it, but the coming consequences were clear—and Cannis made sure to make that known.
"It doesn't look good for you or your scum siblings now that you're mother is outgrown her use," he whispered in her ear one day—but she said nothing, which only irritated him more.
"Just you wait," he said, the hatred for her blaring in his voice, "I can't wait to drag you and your siblings through the dirt like those dead baby sisters of yours."
What came next, even she didn't remember. All she did remember was opening her eyes to the sight of bloodied clothes, along with a body resembling Cannis lying on the ground before her.
Why did she do it? She didn't care about those failures she called brothers—so why? Why? Why did hearing him insult her dead sisters hurt so much?
She couldn't say, so she stood there in front of the body, paralyzed—until a scene erupted.
"Damn you, you human pieces of shit, you'll pay for this!" the boy's mother yelled as she whipped her. "I swear I'll skewer you alive."
She felt nothing—and her brothers, who watched, did nothing. Some of them even felt a bit happy at what they were seeing—but that didn't last long.
It was sudden, but she didn't feel that pain anymore. Opening her eyes, she came to know why.
Atsuko knelt in front of her, hugging the girl who was barely taller than her as she knelt, taking all the whipping onto her own back.
"Stop, please," she begged. "She's my only daughter."
Why? Why did she stand up for her after she had cast her away? One look into her teary eyes made it clear—she didn't care if her own daughter hated her; she was still willing to put her life on the line for her.
"Please, please, I'll do anything," she begged. "Just please don't hurt her anymore."
She didn't stop and kept taking the blows until the clothes on her back were torn away and she was bleeding profusely.
Even then, she didn't stop hugging her. All she did was tighten her grip. She never said a word or cried or screamed or yelled—she just knelt there.
The brothers watched on in horror. Finally, Asahi stepped forward, pleading, "Please, take me instead."
Cannis' mother glared at him and yelled, "You stay out of this, you filthy mutt—this is between me and the deplorable human bitch whose daughter took my son from me."
"I won't stop!" she continued. "You can't make me!"
It was then that Ryuji caught sight of Avios watching the scene from a balcony. It was only when she noticed him that she stopped—but before she could say anything, he scoffed and turned around, leaving without a single word.
That was the nail in the coffin. The woman grabbed a knife from a servant standing nearby—and with it, she stabbed Atsuko in the back over and over and over again.
The boys watched the sight in horror, but they couldn't do anything. Despite the pain, she didn't flinch at all—until she stopped.
"Are you okay?" she whispered into Rie's ear.
"Why? Why me?" Rie asked, her eyes staring at the woman as she walked away. "I thought you hated me."
Atsuko put her hands on her cheeks, the white mask she wore keeping Rie from feeling her warmth.
"I could never hate you," she said, her voice weakening, "because my daughter is just as human as I am."
With that, her grip weakened—and she fell to the floor, blood spilling across the ground around her.
The brothers surrounded her—some crying, others tugging at her robe, trying to force her awake while they desperately called out her name—but there was nothing.
Rie stood still, as she had been the entire time—not a single tear running down her cheek.
Ryuji looked up at her through his teary eyes, his face twisting in anger—but he said nothing and simply watched her.
They buried her deep in a forest, away from Avios, in hopes that his hatred would never reach her again.
Throughout the burial, she remained silent—and so did everyone else. But then all the pent-up frustration that had been building spilled over at once.
She never shed a single tear and even turned to leave—but as she walked away, Asahi grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back, throwing her to the ground with surprising ease.
"Is this how you repay the mother who died for you?!" he yelled, tears in his eyes. "How dare you walk away!"
She stood up and shoved past him. He grabbed her again, but she pulled away.
Without even looking back at them, she said, "I didn't tell her to throw her life away. She did that on her own."
"You expect me to get sad over that."
The slap on her face from Asahi rang out. She stood in shock as she looked at him.
"Don't talk to me like that!" he yelled. "What gives you the right to mouth off to your older brother?"
She shoved past him again, saying, "You're not my brother. None of you are—not anymore—so don't get in my way, you failures."
Asahi raised his hand to strike again, but Takeru and Kenji stopped him.
"Please stop this, big brother," Takeru pleaded.
"Not like this, not in front of her grave," Kenji added.
Asahi struggled but eventually calmed down.
Ryuji looked at his mother's grave, then at Rie as she walked away. Then he asked himself again, "What is the disparity between those with talent and those without it?"
"Are those with talent beyond the need for a family?"
No one answered, so he watched as she walked away with the hope that she might turn back.
But she never did—not even once.