CHAPTER 98: KAEL... I’M SORRY!

Rain pounded down on Kiran Mountain, as if the sky refused to stop its lament.

Deep in the bamboo forest, a small wooden hut shook with every drop that fell on its roof. The sound was deafening, a relentless rain that seemed to want to drown out all silence.

Inside, on an anvil as large as a sacrificial table, Alessia lay bound tightly. Her body trembled. Her eyes, black as night, moved desperately, searching for a way out, an explanation.

She didn’t understand why she was there. She didn’t know what Jasper was looking for, or why he had taken her to that remote place. But fear gripped her chest. And with every passing second, the silence inside the shed weighed heavier than the roar of the storm.

Jasper, after getting all the ingredients ready.

"Let’s begin... with the creation of the perfect weapon."

After uttering those words, Jasper began to murmur in an ancient language. His voice became guttural, devoid of all humanity. The runes carved on the anvil began to glow bright red, pulsing as if they had a life of their own.

He then took out an object wrapped in a black cloth stained with dried blood. He unwrapped it slowly: it was a triple cross made of blackened wood. Hanging from its ends were three golden figures of crucified men.

Jasper placed the cross on Alessia’s abdomen.

She shuddered instantly, but could barely utter a sound before the cursed cross began to sink slowly into her flesh. It didn’t pierce her; it melted into her. It was as if the black wood had a consciousness and was hungry. As if it wanted to devour her from within. The runes on the anvil responded with a blinding red glow, pulsing like a monstrous heart.

The pain was immediate and absolute.

Alessia arched her back. Her throat opened in a scream that didn’t seem human.

"AAAAHHH!"

The cross continued to sink, dragging strands of dark matter clinging to her organs with it. Her skin cracked like burnt leather, her blood boiled, and her body shook violently, writhing beneath the restraints.

Jasper didn’t stop.

With steady hands, he began to embed the other materials: fragments of human bones carved with symbols and more. Each piece melted into Alessia’s body as if it had always belonged there.

The anvil glowed brighter and brighter, pulsing with an unnatural rhythm.

With each new contact, her body underwent an excruciating reaction: uncontrollable spasms, dark vomit, and cracking sounds revealing her broken bones. Her fingers twisted, her veins protruding like black roots.

And yet, amid all that horror, Alessia trembled... and spoke.

Not with hatred. Not with curses.

With love.

"My little one... Kael..." Her words came out softly, almost motherly, wrapped in tears. "From the first day I held you... I knew the world would try to break you... just like it did to me."

She coughed up blood. Her lips trembled, but her voice remained sweet.

"I wanted to show you that even in this hell... There was warmth. That even between us... We could protect each other... You and me, alone against the world."

A tear fell. Not from physical pain, but from the soul.

"I... knew I couldn’t follow you forever... that one day... I would have to let you go. But not like this... not like this..."

Her body shook with a violent convulsion. Even so, she continued speaking.

"Forgive me... for being weak... for not being able to save you from what the world forced you to be... for not being there when you needed me most..."

And with her last breath, as her chest arched and the cross melted into her, Alessia screamed.

Not out of rage. Not out of pain.

Out of love, torn apart.

"Kael... I’m sorry!"

Jasper, his eyes empty, picked up a hammer, heavy and misshapen from use. It still had bits of flesh stuck in its cracks and dried bloodstains.

He approached the anvil, Lydia’s body.

Without pausing for a moment, he raised the hammer above his head and brought it down with brutal force.

...

On the last level of the vault, Kael watched as the status windows appeared in front of him while the Zu was being refined.

[Mana capacity has decreased by 45%]

[...Has decreased by 55%]

[...Has decreased by 66%]

[Has decreased...]

Kael followed the refinement process closely. As he was new to the world of the Zu, he could learn some methods from the system that might be useful to him in the future. Since he couldn’t completely trust it.

After about five minutes, a notification window popped up.

Ding.

[Bloody Sage of the Seventh Heaven Zu has been successfully refined]

Kael brought his consciousness to the core without wasting any time. Inside, the sea of mana, a coppery green color, was quickly recovering with a steady, constant flow.

There were the two Zu he had previously refined: one playing with the essence of mana, constantly moving, and the other, newly refined, resting in the center of the core. It was completely motionless, as if the system itself had temporarily sealed it.

Without wasting any time, he withdrew his consciousness from the core and returned to reality. He had already obtained what was essential, but he knew that it never hurt to take a little extra. He took several rings with space runes and began filling them with everything he could find. He wasn’t doing it out of necessity, but out of convenience. Whatever he didn’t use, he would sell.

Everything was useful if you knew how to trade it.

A few minutes later, Kael had filled all his space rune rings. Without wasting any more time, he turned around and began to walk steadily toward the exit of the vault.

As he climbed the levels, he began casting rank 8 fire spells one after another. If he couldn’t take any more resources with him, then no one else would.

The flames began to consume the third level, then the second, and so on, devouring everything in their path with searing heat. Relics, materials, registers, everything was reduced to ashes without a moment’s hesitation.

Upon reaching the entrance, Kael recited the chant once more. The vault door slammed shut with a loud bang, and the ancient seals and magical symbols immediately activated, completely sealing off the entrance.

Without looking back, Kael left the place at full speed. He felt a strange pressure in the air, an indefinable premonition telling him that he shouldn’t stay a second longer.

As he made his way through the corridors, chaos was imminent. The wild beasts had already broken into the mansion, though not in large numbers; most had been intercepted by members of the great families and the Medici Clan.

Kael glided through the corridors like a shadow, dodging bodies, debris, and desperate cries. He crossed one of the collapsed galleries and emerged outside. Before him, a forest of bamboo stretched out under the heavy rain that had not yet let up.

He recognized it instantly. He knew exactly where he was.

He was about to turn, change direction, get back on track... but then he heard it.

A voice. Unmistakable. One that could pass a hundred lifetimes, and he would still be able to recognize it among a million.

"Kael... I’m sorry!"

A shiver ran down his spine. Inexplicable. As if an invisible bond had been broken on the other side of the world.