Immaculate Blood Demon in Supreme Magus!

As soon as Raaz and Elina saw Orpal lying down, vomiting, with the creamy, undigested soup still visible, they understood what had happened. 

They had already been suspicious. Every time it was Orpal's turn to feed Raizel, he always seemed hungrier than usual afterward. 

Raaz was furious! "You little..." 

"Orpal, I am very disappointed in you," Elina added. 

"From now on, Elina will be the only one feeding Raizel. You will take over all of Elina's tasks in the stable. I doubt even you would want to eat hay," Raaz said firmly. 

"But, Father..." Orpal tried to defend himself. 

"No buts, young man!" Raaz cut him off. "Elina, feel free to get another bowl for Raizel. Take it from Orpal's portion. He needs to learn that bad actions have consequences." 

Orpal began crying and apologizing, but Raizel made sure to cry even louder. Elina rushed to his side, speaking sweet words to calm him down. 

Days passed, and Raizel made many discoveries about this new branch of magic. 

Using spiritual magic consumed a lot of mana, so every trial and error was analyzed meticulously. 

Spiritual magic wasn't visible through normal means, and without a way to visualize the spell, Raizel used this as training to improve his mana sensitivity. Raizel also discovered that every advancement in his understanding of spiritual magic applied to all other elements. Now he wouldn't need to waste unnecessary mana every time he wanted to evaluate his control over a specific element. 

This progress in his understanding of magic allowed him to refine his breathing technique further. 

Through accumulation, Raizel could perceive how much mana his core held, which helped him understand his bottleneck state. 

The bottleneck would occur whenever Raizel tried to absorb energy from the world while his core was already full. Unless his body compressed the core, the world energy within his body would cause internal damage.

With increased control over the mana inside and outside the core, Raizel also managed to modify rejuvenation in such a way that whenever he mixed his mana with the world's mana, he could push beyond his maximum capacities.

Raizel noticed the qualitative changes in the use of rejuvenation. He never got sick, and when he did, it would pass within a few days.

Three months flew by in the blink of an eye.

The constant practice of magic and the use of rejuvenation worked wonders for Raizel. Even though hunger slowly dulled his senses, causing him to frown all the time, it was far from enough to affect him.

_______________________________________

[Status]

Name: Raizel

Age: 7 months

Height: 70 cm

Weight: 7.1 kg

Soul base: 100 human souls (for those who haven't read RI, this means his soul is 100x stronger than that of an ordinary human)

Mana core: Bright red

Condition: Healthy, mildly hungry

________________________________________

His system remained the same.

As time passed, the rift between the brothers only grew larger.

Orpal started blaming Raizel for all of his misfortunes. Whenever he did something wrong and was scolded, Raizel would make sure to laugh and smile. 

Raizel didn't care about Orpal; he felt no anger or hatred toward him. But he knew the boy would be a problem sooner or later. For his plans to move forward with this family, the need for self-sufficiency was essential. 

Raizel took advantage of every situation to babble a few words and draw attention. He would always say "mama" when Elina was near or "papa" to Raaz when the man entered the house. 

When Raizel was ready to crawl and stand, he made sure to call attention by waking up Elina with a big smile on his face. 

Every little action, no matter how small, was amplified by his cuteness as a baby. It was through these small actions that he began to set the stage for his future plans. 

When Elina woke up, the sight before her made her heart leap. Her baby was on all fours, his big eyes blinking with undisguised curiosity. He used his little hands to touch Elina and took the opportunity to say "mama" with almost perfect pronunciation. 

Elina rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing correctly, but her ears didn't deceive her; Raizel kept saying "mama" nonstop. 

After showering him with kisses, Elina rushed to call her husband. 

As soon as Raaz walked through the door, still half-asleep, he heard Raizel call him "papa." 

After many hugs and kisses, they took Raizel to the living room. Raizel knew the place like the back of his hand, but he decided to entertain his parents. 

Raaz gave him some old toys, and Raizel put on his best curious expression. 

After grabbing the toys, Raizel started using spiritual magic to make them float a few centimeters above his hands.

"Look at him. All he has are some old toys, but to him, it's like he's holding the whole world in his hands."

(Note: If only you knew... hahahahaha)

~~~~

The following years were peaceful for Raizel.

He finally began speaking, but had to think carefully about each word choice. Even though his vocabulary was already developed, Raizel had to create a convincing alibi for knowing so much.

Through various questions asked to his parents, Raizel discovered that he lived in a village called Lutia, which was part of a county called Lustria, which, in turn, was in the Griffon Kingdom.

His parents knew the names of the neighboring countries, but that was it. They knew nothing about life outside the village and didn't care.

In their eyes, the king was just a mystical beast. The only political figure they placed their faith and concern in was the Count of Lustria. Not only did he govern the land, but he was also a present figure, always appearing at the spring festival as a guest of honor.

His parents never told him anything about war, history, or magic. At most, they told him some stories about heroes, princesses, and villains, which could easily be discarded as fiction.

Raizel had already expected that his parents wouldn't have much knowledge, but that didn't lessen his dissatisfaction. Even so, he didn't let it affect him. With just his knowledge and experience, he was already guaranteed to become one of the most powerful beings in the world, not even considering his system.

He also learned a lot about his family tree. Raaz and Elina had married when they were sixteen. Raaz was an only child, inheriting from his father the farm they currently lived on. Elina became pregnant with the twins, Orpal and Rena, shortly after the marriage.

So, she became pregnant every two years. This means that Elina and Raaz are currently 25 years old, Orpal and Rena are 8 years old, Trion is 6 years old, Tista is 4 years old, and Raizel is 2 years old.

Spending more time with the rest of the family, Raizel understood why, despite having a beautiful farm, a barn, and a chicken coop, they struggled to put food on the table.

Tista was born with a rare congenital condition that prevented her from doing any physical exertion and made her more prone to illnesses.

The fast pace was enough to leave her out of breath. She would choke from time to time, and when things were about to worsen, her coughing would become violent.

At this point, one of her parents would have to run to the village to let Nana visit her and cure her. But Nana couldn't truly cure her, only alleviate the symptoms and return her to her natural state.

And while a check-up wasn't expensive, the treatment was. Additionally, even if Raaz went to fetch her and brought Nana back home, it would still cost extra.

Making a round trip meant losing out on business, so she needed compensation.

It was the constant need for the healer that put so much pressure on their budget.

Raizel saw an opportunity in the girl's illness.

He hadn't yet started practicing with light and darkness magic. But once he had what he needed to start hunting, he could use animals as training material.

Pretending to be a child was a test of Raizel's patience.

As a child, he had to be energetic, but not too much. He couldn't help with the chores and was forbidden from practicing task magic.

He would be stuck with these restrictions until he grew older.

His one-sided rivalry with Orpal only worsened, and he could feel Trion's hostility in his brother's name.

Unlike Orpal, Trion didn't completely ignore him, even when their parents were absent.

Raizel realized that whenever Trion helped him, it was only to be polite. So he began his plan: divide and conquer.

Orpal's problematic behavior was separating him from the rest of the family, he just hadn't realized it yet.

Raizel decided that he should form a 'bond' with Trion while being kind to Orpal. His main goal was to create a rift in the relationship between the two while undermining everyone's opinion of Orpal in the house.

Creating an image of a 'model child' was essential to his plan.

If someone were to ask Raizel: don't you think that's an exaggeration? He's just a boy.

Raizel would smile and answer: Compassion should not be underestimated or ignored. It is a tool, like any other, and can be used strategically. Demonstrating compassion at calculated moments can win allies, mask your true intentions, and deceive your enemies. In other words, compassion can be a means to achieve your goals, as long as you control it, and not the other way around.

True strength lies in knowing when to use compassion and when to discard it. Knowing how to balance rational coldness with a touch of strategic humanity is what distinguishes a calculating player from a victim of their own kindness. In short, compassion has value, but only when used under control, like a piece on your board, never as the hand that guides the game.

Unfortunately for the boy, compassion is one of the tools I use the least.

- - -

When Raizel turned three, it was time to start acting.

It was a stormy afternoon, and everyone was gathered around the fireplace.

Elina was teaching her daughters how to sew. Raaz was teaching Orpal how to carve wood, while Trion and Raizel could only watch. They were too small to handle any sharp objects, and even sewing was off-limits.

Raizel waited until Raaz finished instructing Orpal to ask him for a favor. Using his puppy eyes, he said, "Father, teach me to read, write, and count!"

Raaz was stunned. "You're so young! Normally, children wait until they're six years old to go to school and learn. Don't you think that's boring?" That was the philosophy his lineage followed.

"Boring? What could be more boring than sitting here doing nothing? Please, father, I've never asked you for anything." Raaz didn't know how to say no. Raizel had never asked him for anything before.

"He's always been considerate and understanding. Even when he's hungry, he never asks for a second helping." Raaz thought. "Unlike Orpal. I don't know if he's too good or if I've spoiled Orpal too much."

He really wanted to find an escape, but Elina was watching him. Even though her mouth continued giving lessons, her eyes were fixed on him.

Seeing Raizel's puppy eyes, his heart ached. But he still said, "I'm sorry, son. We don't have the tools necessary for you to write."

"That's not a problem, father." Moving quickly, Raizel grabbed the biggest tray they had and filled it with ashes collected from the fireplace.

Raaz and Elina were impressed by the boy's ingenuity. With no more excuses, Raaz sighed and asked, "Alright, where do you want to start?"

Even though he already knew how to read, write, and count, Raizel still needed to create an excuse to explain his knowledge.

"Counting," Raizel said excitedly. Raaz sat down beside him and started drawing lines with his fingers. Aside from the numbers being different, the calculation methods were the same.

Even though he already knew what each number represented, practicing with what others expected only solidified his knowledge.

Orpal couldn't hold back and sarcastically asked, "What's 124 x 11?"

Raizel pretended to concentrate and used his hands as if he were counting. After a few seconds, he answered, "1,364," leaving everyone speechless.

Elina stood up and pulled Raizel into a big hug.

"My little genius! I'm so proud of you." In less than an hour, her son had mastered what usually took at least a year to learn. Rena and Tista joined the hug, while the male side of the family was left stunned.

In rural areas, people only learned enough arithmetic to avoid being cheated, focusing solely on addition and subtraction while discarding division and multiplication.

Raizel pretended to be studying. He would have to feign learning to read and write to avoid drawing even more attention. Controlling how much "talent" to display required patience and constant analysis.

Seeing everyone celebrating his younger brother's brilliance filled Orpal's heart with envy and disdain.

- - -