Chapter 116: Homecoming part 2

A/N: We finally arrived at the last chapter of the second volume. It took me slightly more time than I anticipated, and the final chapter got too long; thus, I had to split it in two, but nevertheless, here it is... I hope you'll like it. I have already started planning the following parts of the story, and new chapters will be released from Monday onward.

What followed was a quick one-sided massacre as I sent a massive shockwave at the largest group gathered around the carriages and then began slaughtering the rest with a combination of earth spikes and stone bullets.

"P-Please... don't kill me!"

'Huh?' I furrowed my brows, finding this voice weirdly familiar. I ripped the mask from the kneeling person's face and froze. "Sam?"

"Please! You have to understand... I was just following orders! They said you are already out of the picture... if I knew you were still alive, I would never have come here!"

My eyes turned cold as the identity of the assailants became quite clear. "Where is Dominic?"

"I-I don't know... He took the Alchemist with him and skipped the town... I was told to get the elixirs and follow after him." Sam hurriedly answered. He looked utterly terrified from seeing me effortlessly slay all his men.

"To where?"

"He didn't tell me! Only that I should wait for him in the next town down the main road, and he will contact me!"

So Dominic's gang had some sort of agreement with whoever was behind the plot... 'But then he decided to double-cross the nobles and steal Theodore for himself? How gracious of him...'

I couldn't help but burst out laughing as I found this whole situation absurdly hilarious for some strange reason. They still seem to have no idea it was me who was crafting the potions in the first place.

If it weren't such a horrifying situation for poor Theo, I would find it extremely funny and given anything to see those bastards' faces when they finally find out the truth and realize that all those hefty profits they imagined for themselves are gone.

Looking back at the cowering figure of Sam, I realized I wouldn't be able to get any more useful information.

Thus, I finished him off with a quick hand gesture as an earth spike manifested behind him, running him through, 'I won't be leaving alive anyone who could threaten the lives of my family or me...'

I looked around once more while making sure that every attacker was dead before I went to explore further. As I walked, everything was quiet. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of crunching glass underneath my feet.

There were countless broken vials everywhere I looked as my shockwave smashed all the precious elixirs to bits. Usually, losing such a mind-boggling amount of money would make me furious, yet right now, I didn't care at all as I had much bigger worries.

First, I quickly checked the servant's building in the courtyard. However, as soon as I entered, an unmistakable stench of blood struck me. I widened my eyes as every servant who slept there was dead.

They once again slit everyone's throats. Yet, as I looked at all the bodies, one particular was missing. 'Where is Bernadette?'

There was no reason for her to be anywhere else in the middle of the night, and if she heard the attackers and woke up, there was no reason not to warn the other servants before making her escape. Unless...

A gnawing suspicion began to manifest in me. Yet, I still didn't want to come to any premature conclusions before I learned all the facts, so I quietly exited the building, heading across the eerily quiet courtyard into the main building.

A sense of dread grasped my heart as I entered, not detecting any signs of life anywhere on the ground floor.

But I reassured myself that this didn't have to mean anything as my magic sense couldn't pass through walls, so there was still hope. Therefore, I hurried toward the winding staircase that led upstairs.

Ascending the last few steps, I came to a sudden halt as a horrifying image welcomed me. The hallway in front of me was full of charred corpses. 'What had happened here?'

But as I made my way forward, I quickly found an answer. Some distance away, in front of my sister's room, laid my master in the middle of a circle made out of mangled corpses.

I released a wistful sigh as I kneeled beside Lily's cold, dead body.

She always acted so cold and indifferent... I had no doubts that she certainly must have been given the option to stay out of this given her exalted status, or even if she didn't, she was more than capable of escaping... yet in the end, she chose to stay and fight.

I couldn't help but show a bitter smile as I stretched out my hand to close her eyes. "Thank you... for everything..." I whispered softly.

Even though they must have taken her by surprise and forced her to fight against overwhelming odds in close quarters, which was the worst possible situation for a mage, she still managed to take out a whole dozen of them before they seemed to finally overcome her with numbers.

With another sigh, I slowly stood up, and with shaking hands, I slowly opened the doors leading into Helga's room while simultaneously being terrified of what I was going to find inside.

Yet, as soon as I entered the dimly lit room and spotted my sister sitting on a chair, I exhaled in relief as I immediately noticed her chest slowly moving, signaling she was alive.

'Thank the gods...' I quickly ran up to her to make sure she was okay.

Helga raised her head, looking at me with a distant look in her eyes. "Darian… Y-you came…" She whispered with great effort as she showed a weak smile.

It was then that I noticed the large wound in her belly and the small pool of blood underneath her.

'Oh no... I hurriedly took out an elixir from my satchel, and without wasting a moment, I poured it all over her belly.

The wound softly glowed red, sizzling as it slowly disappeared. Yet Helga's body remained cold, and her condition wasn't improving at all.

With horror grasping my heart, I realized that she must have lost too much blood. I began to panic, and for the first time, I didn't know what to do.

Helga, on the other hand, kept smiling the whole time and then, with her last remaining strength, took my hand. "It's alright... Tell our parents... that I love them."

She then paused for a moment before looking into my eyes and saying. "I'm so glad... that I got to spend all this time... with you..."

At some point, I started crying. My tears slowly dropped from my face, mixing with the crimson blood beneath us as I held Helga in my arms as she breathed for the last time.

I stayed like that for some time. I had no idea for how long, at that moment, I didn't care about anything, but then... I overheard a sound that finally brought me back from the depths of my grief.

I blinked a few times as I couldn't place it at first, but then a realization dawned on me - the bells were loudly tolling with insistent urgency.

'Ah, at last, they decided to sound the alarm...'

I stood up before looking again at the tragic scene before me. I clenched my fists as the images of my enemies flashed before my eyes.

Dominic and his mysterious merchant friend... Sir Roderick... The haughty Chancellor... And finally, the mighty Count, who I hated the most as he got me to this situation in the first place by making me into a target of hatred and envy of all the nobles with that damned betrothal of his.

My eyes shone with incandescent light in the dark. 'I will kill them… I will kill them all…'

Overcame with hatred and grief, my essence surged forth, and everything around me was enveloped by hungry flames. 'If I can't have this... nobody will.'

Throwing one last look at the burning room, I tenderly picked up Helga's lifeless body and jumped out of the opened window, quickly disappearing into the darkness of the moonless night.

***End of Volume 2: Apprentice***