Chapter 93: Hell On The Estate
— 5 Minutes Before the Explosion —
"Aaaaaah!!!"
Terrified screams echoed throughout the Thorne Main Estate. Maids and servants scrambled frantically down the corridors, dropping everything in a blind panic.
Tracy stepped cautiously out of her room, her eyes wide as she took in the chaotic commotion that had erupted right after Vincent’s warning.
’Everyone is completely freaking out. Is it really that bad?’ Tracy thought, shrinking against the wall as she watched a maid desperately try to steal an expensive vase as she ran past. ’I guess a disaster is just an opportunity for some people.’
"Hey, girl!! Why are you just standing there in a daze?! Hurry up and get out of here!!"
A heavily armored guard yelled at Tracy, skidding to a halt outside her open door.
"Me?!" Tracy gasped, pointing at herself.
"Yes, you! Who else is standing next to you?!" the guard yelled. Without waiting for a response, he grabbed her wrist in a tight, hurried grip and forcefully pulled her along, sprinting down the hallway.
"Aaah... Sir, you are grabbing me too hard!" she cried out, desperately struggling to keep her footing as she was dragged behind him.
"Do you even understand our situation right now?! You heard what Sir Vincent roared across the estate! When that man says something, it usually happens, and I am damn sure as hell not going to die in here!" the guard yelled back, grabbing Tracy’s arm even tighter.
"Then why did you stop to help me?! You could have run much faster if you didn’t have me slowing you down!" Tracy argued, starting to pant heavily.
"Because you reminded me of my daughter! And I know for sure that I wouldn’t have a peaceful life ahead of me if I just ran away and left a terrified girl behind to die!" he shouted, the image of his own family flashing in his mind.
"I see... then... thank you!" she gasped.
They sprinted down the final grand staircase and miraculously made it to the massive main doors leading to the front courtyard.
But the moment they burst outside, Tracy froze.
Hundreds of people—guards, maids, and servants—were just standing completely still in the courtyard. No one was running to the gates. They all had their heads tilted upward, staring at the night sky with expressions of absolute, paralyzed shock.
"Why is everyone still standing here in a daze? What are they stari—"
Before Tracy could even finish her sentence, she looked up. High above the clouds, three giant spheres of roaring fire were rapidly descending toward them.
"What the hell is this?! What use is evacuating from that?! We are all gonna die! I’m sure even the people down in the village aren’t safe from this!" a random guard started screaming hysterically, dropping his sword.
"Didn’t people say working for the Thornes was the easiest, safest job in the world?! Then what the hell is this?!" another servant sobbed, falling to his knees.
"Hahahaha.." a man started laughing loudly, catching the gazes of others."Well... since I’m gonna die anyway, I better do this right now so I won’t regret it in the afterlife!" The man suddenly yelled.
SHLUCK!
Without hesitation, the man pulled a kitchen knife from his belt and violently stabbed the guard standing right next to him.
The stabbed guard coughed up blood, looking down at his chest in absolute shock. "Why.."
"Did you honestly think I didn’t know what you were doing with my wife, you ungrateful bastard?!" the man screamed, twisting the knife. "Since I’m gonna die anyway, I always dreamed of doing this."
After that, total chaos consumed the courtyard. People began trampling each other, fighting, and screaming in sheer despair.
’Everyone is panicking, and scared...’ Tracy thought, shaking and sweating as the intense heat from the descending fireballs began to warm the night air. The guard next to her had finally stopped running. He was still gripping her arm tightly, tears streaming freely down his face as he stared at his imminent death in the sky.
"IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!! WHY ARE YOU JUST STARING AT US, DOING NOTHING?!"
A furious shout cut through the chaos. A man was pointing wildly up at the top floor of the mansion. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up. Standing safely behind the glowing blue dome of Sidd’s mana shield in the study window were Jacob and Martha, looking down at the chaos in horror.
"It’s Miss Martha.." Tracy said in a low shaky voice also staring at the window.
"Why are you guys just standing up there?! Come down and help us!!" the servants started cursing, throwing rocks that uselessly bounced off the thick stone walls.
...
"Are you absolutely sure we can’t do anything to help them?" Martha asked, her face pale and her expression complicated as she looked down at the terrified people cursing them.
"We can’t, Lady Thorne," Sidd gritted his teeth, sweating profusely as he held his hands up to maintain the blue dome. "If anyone walks out of this shield—or tries to enter it—the delicate mana structure will instantly collapse, and we will—"
BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!!
Before Sidd could even finish his sentence, the three colossal fireballs slammed into the earth. They fell so fast that no one saw the final impact coming. They struck three different locations simultaneously—all directly inside the main estate walls.
The explosions were absolutely catastrophic. A blinding flash of white light erased the night, followed by a shockwave that violently shattered the earth. The massive blast radius expanded instantly, entirely consuming the Thorne Estate and violently sweeping down the mountain, instantly incinerating half of the nearby village.
Down in the village, the frantic cries for help and the screams of the burning echoed into the night.
But inside the Thorne Main Estate, there was only a horrifying, dead silence.
The grand mansion had been completely pulverized into ash and rubble. Everything was in ruins, and hellish fires burned fiercely across the blackened craters.
...
"Cough... cough...!"
High up on the mountain ridge, Evan collapsed onto his hands and knees. Completely drained of energy, he started coughing up thick handfuls of blood onto the grass.
’It hurts so much... my heart feels like it’s going to explode at any second!’ Evan thought, frantically clutching his chest as his vision blurred.
"Only three fireballs... huh? And they aren’t even that hot. A true Eighth-Circle spell should have melted the very earth before impact," Number 17 suddenly mused, stepping to the edge of the cliff and looking down at the burning ruins below.
’What the hell is this guy even talking about?! He has been acting completely weird today!’ Evan thought, struggling to lift his heavy head to look at 17.
"Hey—" Evan tried to speak.
"But for a mere Fourth-Circle Mage with absolutely zero experience to do this much damage using an Eighth-Circle spell spell no less... I’m honestly shocked. That is some real, unpolished talent you have there. And the most impressive thing of all is that you didn’t even die from the mana recoil," 17 said, entirely cutting Evan off.
"Even though I did end up giving you some of my own mana to help keep you alive snd for the spell too," 17 added casually.
"Giving me... your mana?! What about 13—"
Evan froze. As he turned his head, he finally saw the horrifying sight lying in the grass behind 17.
13 was dead and he wasn’t just dead—his body was completely shriveled and mummified, looking like a dried husk that had been entirely drained of blood, water, and mana.
"Ooh... you really should have seen him when I started sucking every last drop of mana he hoarded in his body. In his final moments, he was desperately scratching me all over trying to fight back. Look," 17 chuckled, casually pulling up his sleeve to reveal deep, bloody scratch marks running down his forearm.
Evan’s eyes widened in sheer terror, but his body was completely failing him. His eyelids grew impossibly heavy.
"Oh, you seem to be about to go to sleep," 17 said softly, looking down at Evan, who was losing his desperate struggle to stay conscious.
"You don’t have to worry at all. I will keep you perfectly safe while you are asleep," 17 whispered, watching Evan’s eyes finally roll back as he passed out in the grass. "There is absolutely no way I will let someone with a talent like yours rot in a pathetic place like the Eden Guild, doing mundane assassination work. I have grand plans for you... my new student."
17 turned his masked face toward the two remaining guards who were trembling in the shadows.
"You guys, pick him up and carry him safely back to the Tessan Kingdom," 17 ordered.
"W-What about you, sir?" one of the terrified guards asked, hurriedly picking up Evan’s unconscious body.
"Me?" 17 chuckled darkly, turning back to look down at the burning ruins of the Thorne Estate. "I will stay right here and watch the fun. It’s not every day you get to see cornered rats fight for their miserable lives, maybe they can entertain me a little. "