Chapter 28: Fragment of the Past (4)

'Look closely, Arias. You'll now witness the true ugliness of those mages.'

As Regis said that, the magic of the enemy was activated.

The body of the gathered captives in the plaza suddenly convulsed. All of them cried in agony as if they are being boiled alive.

Few moments after that, they began to vomit blood. What followed that was eyes of the captives began to redden as their tears became blood. Their nose also began to bleed as well as their ears.

As if there are being drained with their life, the blood that flows out from the captives continues to overflows. And because of losing too much blood, few children from the captive died because of blood loss.

"—Ah!! Just what the well is this?! How can they do this?"

Looking at this scene, the pale-faced Arias silently began to cry as she as biting her lips, so much that it starts to bleed. Her fists are also clenched so tightly that it turned white. She's clearly trying her best to hold herself back from breaking down to finish watching everything.

After some time, when the blood that was being spilled reached a certain volume, the leader of the black-robed mages once again chanted another spell.

The blood spilled by the villagers suddenly glowed, then as if it was being manipulated, it moved like a snake and began to spread around the whole village, forming a huge magic circle. When the magic circle was completed, all the black-robed enemies suddenly vanished like smoke and all of them reappeared outside the huge magic circle as they surrounded it.

Arias was moved by Regis as she is now floating a hundred meters above the ground. She looks at the whole village from her position and because of that, she can see every single detail from above.

After moving out of the village, the leader of the black-robed mages once again raised his scepter up high with the bloody red crystal on it shining brightly. As if responding to that, the huge magic circle made from blood also glowed brightly that the whole village was swallowed up by the red light.

Exactly after a minute, the brightness of the red circle began to subside. And what greeted Arias was the still burning village. But as she looks at it, she noticed that something was amiss. As if the life essence of the whole village had vanished.

The black-robed mages once again entered the village and all of them headed straightly to the plaza. Regis also began to manipulate the scene and moved Arias to the plaza to let her see what's happening.

'Look, Arias. That is what they did to my village… Willing to sacrifice anyone for their cause…. How laughable… Just because of making that damned crystal, I lost everything…'

In the plaza where the captive villagers bled to death, in the very spot where the bloodied bodies should be lying, a boy and a single piece of red crystal similar to the leader of the black-robed mages was there. The boy was obviously the young Regis, as he was the only survivor of the village.

After some time, when the blood that was being spilled reached a certain volume, the leader of the black-robed mages once again chanted another spell.

The blood spilt by the villagers suddenly glowed, then as if it was being manipulated, it moved like a snake and began to spread around the whole village, forming a huge magic circle. When the magic circle was completed, all the black-robed enemies suddenly vanished like smoke and all of them reappeared outside the huge magic circle as they surrounded it.

Arias was moved by Regis as she is now floating a hundred meters above the ground. She looking at the whole village from her position and because of that, she can see every single detail from above.

After moving out of the village, the leader of the black-robed mages once again raised his scepter up high with the bloody red crystal on it shining brightly. As if responding to that, the huge magic circle made from blood also glowed brightly that the whole village was swallowed up by the red light.

Exactly after a minute, the brightness of the red circle began to subside. And what greeted Arias was the still burning village. But as she looks at it, she noticed that something was amiss. As if the life essence of the whole village had vanished.

The black-robed mages once again entered the village and all of them headed straightly to the plaza. Regis also began to manipulate the scene and moved Arias to the plaza to let her see what's happening.

'Look, Arias. That is what they did to my village… Willing to sacrifice anyone for their cause…. How laughable… Just because of making that damned crystal, I lost everything…'

In the plaza where the captive villagers bled to death, in the very spot where the bloodied bodies should be lying, an unconscious boy and a single piece of red crystal similar to the leader of the black-robed mages was there. The boy was obviously the young Regis, as he was the only survivor of the village. Tears continuously flow down on Arias' face as she looks at the pitiful figure of her lover's past self.

Beside the young Regis is the red blood crystal that was currently pulsating faintly as if it was alive. From that crystal, Arias can clearly feel its brimming energy that far surpasses the amount contained by the magic crystals she knows at the Empire's treasury.

'That crystal is what they call Blood Essence Crystal and it can only be made by sacrificing human lives with their whole body as the offering. Together with the life essence of the whole land surrounding it, the bodies of the human inside the magic circle will be condensed into a single piece of crystal.

Hearing the information that Regis said, Arias' tears abruptly stop as she stared at the stone dumbfounded.

"—A whole village? M-made into a single crystal? Then how can you… How did you survive that, Regis?"

'….Those magic practitioners, using forbidden magic, they made our whole village die. I survived that time because of the nature of my magic. As you remember, my magic is derived from the absolute Origin Magic, the Black Origin Magic. I was also able to bring back Reena when I reach the full mastery of my magic but it was flawed so she will forever remain like that, a six years old little girl.'

Ever since then, Regis is carrying the weight of the entire Tomana village's will as the only survivor. With his young body and mind since ten years ago, he devoted himself to train, to prepare everything and to finally exact his revenge. He was also able to bring back his one and only family member by sacrificing so much of himself in the process.

In this very moment, Arias renewed her resolve as she wants to support Regis on everything he'll do in the future.

"So that's the reason why you cannot tell me everything that easily. Those secrets of yours when the time comes, I'll also keep it for you. And don't worry Regis. I'll accompany and fully support you on everything you'll do. Even against the whole world, I'll be by your side—"

—as your one and only partner; your other half…

Wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her uniform, Arias took a deep breath and fixed her eyes in front.

"I'll see through this till the end!"