Chapter 103: Fireball
— AT THE MAIN ESTATE —
’Should I have never run away from home in the first place?’ Tracy thought deliriously, her crushed legs completely numb beneath the heavy stone pillar. ’No... if I had stayed home, I would have died at the hands of those people either way.’
While she was lost in her dark thoughts, the crunching of approaching footsteps snapped her back to reality. She slowly turned her head and saw Sam crawling back into the space.
"It’s you... how is the search going?" she asked, her voice incredibly weak and raspy.
"They are still digging out there," Sam sighed, sitting down in the dirt next to her. "I honestly can’t believe people are buried that deep under this massive wreckage, and those guys are still saying they are alive."
"Then why are you back here? You should be out there helping them dig. They are the nobles of this house, after all," she whispered.
"That is exactly why I got away from there... because they are nobles," Sam admitted, scratching his dusty head. "Me, a lowly commoner, being around them was making me really uncomfortable."
"A commoner, huh..." Tracy murmured, her eyes half-closing.
"To tell you the truth, I am easily scared of almost anything. I overthink things way too much. So when I was trying to help them dig, I was just causing them more trouble. I ended up making that serious, terrifying noble kid furiously tell me to leave," Sam explained, referring to Isaac.
Tracy only stared blankly at him for a moment. Then, a faint, fragile smile touched her lips. "It must have been fun."
"Fun?!" Sam balked, completely confused.
"Yeah... being born as a simple commoner. You guys seem so free. Growing up without constantly being told what to do... and not being controlled by anyone and also not disappointing anyone..." she whispered, her eyes losing focus.
"I think being so close to death is causing you to hallucinate a bit," Sam said with a nervous chuckle. "Aren’t you a commoner too? You are literally wearing a standard maid uniform."
"A maid... yeah. Why did I even become a maid in the first place?" she muttered, her voice drifting.
’Man, those guys up there really need to hurry up. She is losing her mind here’ Sam panicked internally.
"MOM!!"
Isaac’s frantic, booming voice suddenly echoed through the rubble.
"Hahaha! Hey, Adam, we finally found them! They seem to only be unconscious only and no injuries I can see!" Zena yelled joyfully.
"Hey, did you hear that, Tracy?! It seems they finally found them! You can be saved now! They can help you out and heal you!" Sam said with pure excitement, turning to the pinned maid.
"Mom... right. It all started with Mom. It was my fault that she died..." Tracy mumbled to the empty air, completely ignoring Sam as thick tears started to flow down her dusty cheeks. "I’m so sorry, Father... this girl is such a massive disappointment... I can do much better... please... just give me another chance..."
’Oh my God... she is an absolute goner if we wait any longer!’ Sam panicked, terrified by her hallucinatory ramblings. He suddenly scrambled to his feet and started running through the gaps in the rubble toward where Vincent and the others were desperately pulling Martha and the others out.
...
High up in the night sky, far above the ruined estate, 17 floated effortlessly in the air. He had completely removed his black mask, revealing the youthful, unblemished face of a young boy.
"I honestly can’t believe they survived that catastrophic blast and even from idiots assault. And to think that idiot Guildmaster got himself killed too," 17 sighed, looking down at the burning village below.
"I should probably clean this entire mess up permanently. If the other kingdoms find out that my Kingdom is secretly sending crazy, mass-murdering criminals to run rampant inside their borders, they will definitely gang up on me."
17 slowly descended from the clouds, his eyes locking onto the survivors in the crater. "This is exactly why I hate using muscle-heads as leaders. This moron Ronny ended up blabbing our entire information to an enemy... and then he pathetically gets himself killed in the process, talk about being cocky and looking down on your enemies."
Suddenly, an bright ball of pure flame ignited in the palm of his right hand. Without a single ounce of hesitation, 17 casually tossed the fireball down toward the survivors.
...
Down in the crater, the group had just finished carefully laying the four unconscious bodies—Jacob, Martha, William, and Sidd—flat on the dirt.
"At least mother seems to be perfectly okay," Isaac said with a relieved smile, sitting next to Martha.
"I honestly didn’t know Isaac was like this in front of his mother. If you look at him right now, he seems to be a genuinely good, caring boy compared to what he usually acts like." Zena said with shock.
"Yeah, he finally seems calm now," Adam agreed, wiping sweat from his brow. "Anyway, how do we wake up the Mage... sorry, I mean your uncle?"
"It’s o—"
"EVERYONE GET THE DOWN!!!"
Vincent’s terrifying roar shattered the peace.
Before anyone could even blink, Vincent coated his entire body in his suffocating crimson Aura and dashed straight up into the air, intercepting a glowing projectile falling from the sky.
’How did I not even notice this magical attack before it got this close?!’ Vincent thought in absolute shock. ’I should at least be able to defend against it... it’s just a simple fireball, after all!’ Vincent crossed his twin crimson blades to block the small sphere of flame.
BOOM!!!
The exact moment the tiny fireball made impact with his Aura, it erupted with devastating, concentrated force! The shockwave blew Vincent out of the sky, sending him crashing into the dirt crater like a meteor.
"What the hell is with the sheer density of that spell?! That’s absolutely no ordinary fireball!!" Vincent cursed, struggling to get back up on his feet, his arms shaking from the impact.
"Vincent!!" Adam yelled in shock.
"EVERYONE GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!!!" Vincent roared, his voice laced with pure, desperate terror.
"Ohhh... I am so sorry to be the teller of bad news, but no one is getting out of here alive," a voice echoed from above.
Everyone looked up. Slowly floating down toward them was a young boy, but the voice coming from his mouth sounded exactly like an old man.
"Who the hell are you?!" Vincent demanded, clutching his bruised ribs.
"If you want to know what to call me, I would prefer 17," the boy smiled coldly. "As for knowing my real name... I don’t think that is necessary for dead men."
"What do you want with us?!" Vincent yelled, his crimson Aura flaring dangerously.
"Isn’t it obvious, boy? For all of you to die," 17 stated.
Just after saying that, another dense, burning fireball materialized in his hand. With a flick of his wrist, he sent it directly at Vincent!
"Shit!!" Vincent cursed, aggressively throwing himself to the side.
BOOM!!!
The ground shattered exactly where Vincent had been standing a millisecond prior.
"Hooo... you actually dodged it. That’s being quite smart, I suppose," 17 chuckled darkly. He slowly turned his gaze toward the, unconscious bodies lying on the ground. "But what about them?"
Another condensed fireball instantly appeared in 17’s hand. "Do you honestly think they can dodge?"
Without warning, 17 sent the fireball straight toward Martha!
"MOTHER!!!"
Isaac screamed, sprinting blindly forward, throwing his entire body directly in front of the incoming fireball and tightly squeezing his eyes shut.
"NOO!!!" Vincent roared in horror.
But to everyone’s absolute surprise... the fireball didn’t explode at all.
Thump.
The fireball harmlessly hit Isaac’s chest but it was warm and it instantly dissipated into a harmless puff of smoke.
"Huh...?" Isaac opened his eyes, blinking in pure confusion. He quickly touched all over his chest and arms, a relieved smile breaking across his face. "It didn’t explode at all... I’m okay!"
"It was just a dud..." Vincent breathed a massive sigh of relief.
But then, Vincent glanced up at 17 in the sky. The boy was staring down at Isaac... smiling crazily.
’Wait... something is wrong...’ Vincent panicked, his instincts screaming.
"Burn," 17 whispered with a smile.
"AAAAAAAH!!!"
Isaac suddenly screamed in excruciating pain. Out of nowhere, violent, roaring flames erupted from the inside of his clothes, completely engulfing his entire body in a raging inferno!
"ISAAC!!!" everyone yelled in pure horror.