Exiled Prince: I'm the Unexpected Extra in the Novel-Chapter 114: The War for the North[2] The Withering Duchy [2]
But...
Doing this was equivalent to lighting a flare in a dark room.
If he used Holy Mana that pure and intense energy wave would be instantly sensed by the Obsidian Dawn mages in the region and especially by those damned Princes.
His presence would be revealed. His stealth plan would collapse and he would become prey before reaching the Duchess. His mission was to save the entire North he could not risk millions for the sake of saving a single family.
This cold ruthless logic occupied Cassian’s mind. He was not a hero. He was not a Saint.
With an expressionless face he continued to look at the pitiful sight before him. Then he made his decision.
Without saying anything he slowly turned around. He stepped out the door to leave them to their bitter fate in this cold room.
Just then...
From behind him a weak broken voice rose from the little girl holding the knife. A pure primal confession drowning in sobs.
"I am hungry..."
Cassian stopped. His hand remained suspended on the doorframe.
"Please..." the girl whispered as if she didn’t even have the strength to hold the knife anymore. "I am just... very hungry."
Cassian looked back over his shoulder into the room one more time. The girl’s giant tear filled pleading eyes... Those gazes echoed in the void of memories he had sacrificed that were locked in Cassian’s mind.
The days he was starved in the laboratory... The nights he shivered from the cold... The moments when no one came.
Cassian stood there for a while hesitating gritting his teeth. His logic said Go. His conscience or whatever was left of it said Stop.
Slowly very slowly he turned his body.
He took a step toward the little girl. The girl flinched in fear tried to raise the knife again but her arms were trembling.
"I won’t hurt you" Cassian said his voice as soft as possible but it still sounded alien in that room.
He reached his hand into the void. He opened the invisible mouth of his dimensional bag. He took out a piece of high quality nutritious dried meat and fresh bread he had prepared for the journey.
He gently placed the food on the ground within the girl’s reach.
"Take it" he said.
The girl looked at the food on the ground then at Cassian then back at the food. She hesitated. Was this a trap?
But hunger was stronger than fear.
She dropped the rusty knife in her hand onto the floor. Clang.
She lunged forward like a wild animal fell to the ground and brought the food to her mouth as soon as she grabbed it. She started eating greedily without chewing without breathing. She was eating so fast that she almost choked.
"Cough! Cough!"
The girl coughed and hit her chest.
Cassian took out the water flask at his waist opened the cap and handed it to the girl. "Slow down. No one is taking it from you. Drink this."
The girl grabbed the flask and chugged it. She drank greedily as water spilled down her chin onto her dirty dress.
When the flask was empty she took a deep breath. An instant color brought by the food entering her stomach had returned to her face. She forgot her knife she forgot her illness.
Sitting on the floor she raised her head and looked at Cassian. The fearful looks from a moment ago were replaced by deep shame and infinite gratitude.
"T-Thank you..." she mumbled her voice trembling.
Cassian looked down at her. That tight feeling inside him hadn’t passed. He had only given them one day to live. The disease was still there. Death was still at the door.
Cassian said nothing. He stood there for a while. He closed his eyes. He remained motionless like a statue for minutes under the girl’s curious gaze while she sat on the floor.
He dove into the depths of his mind.
"System" he called internally "What do you want for a barrier to isolate this village from the outside world?"
A blue holographic panel appeared in his mind. Numbers flowed rapidly.
[Calculating...] [Required Cost: 1 Month Lifespan]
Cassian gritted his teeth. One month. This was a huge loss in the current situation. His already limited time was like sand slipping through his fingers.
Cassian asked with a glimmer of hope "Apart from lifespan and memories... Is another trade possible?"
The system remained silent for a moment.
[Request detected.] [Preparing alternative offer...]
A new list spilled before his eyes in blood red letters:
Ice Element: Will be locked by the System for 1 month. (Access Denied)
Storm Heart Ability: Will show 20% slow effect.
20 mortal lives will be sacrificed to the Demon God Zevstyle.
Note: The user is free to choose the people to sacrifice. These killed lives will not be added as soul points to the Crimson Night ability.
Cassian hesitated at this offer. The system had offered him a way out but this path was full of thorns and glass shards.
The Ice element was the element Cassian used the most. It was the backbone of his defense and the second most useful element for attack.
Not being able to use it for 1 month meant having one arm tied on the battlefield. Especially when there was a possibility of encountering the Obsidian Dawn.
And the Storm Heart... Speed was Cassian’s greatest advantage.
That superhuman agility that allowed him to appear behind the enemy before they even drew their swords... A 20% loss could create a fatal margin of error.
He opened his eyes. He looked at the innocent girl in front of him. The girl looked at him with the empty flask in her lap trying to understand what he would do.
He cursed himself heavily internally. "Why now?" he asked himself.
"Why did you take pity on a child now Cassian? Didn’t you kill hundreds of children with your own hands just a few years ago to escape Dr. Aris’s laboratory to survive?"
Cassian took a deep sigh. Even the air filling his lungs felt heavy.
"System" he said in a firm tone. "I accept the offer. Activate the ability and fulfill the deal."
[Deal Accepted.] [Applying Restrictions...]
Cassian opened his palm to test it. He called that familiar ice coldness in his mind wanting to create a small crystal in his palm.
Nothing happened.
That coolness he always felt at his fingertips was gone.
He felt as if a limb had been cut off. The feeling of emptiness was nauseating.
He sighed and slowly stood up from where he was sitting. His shadow lengthened in the room.
"Nivelle" he called into the void. His voice was commanding.
The little fairy girl appeared in the air glowing green.
"I am here big brother" Nivelle said her voice gentle as always.
"I am going to give you and Zagna a small task" Cassian said. "The cult members in the village... Find them all. And finish them."
Nivelle paused for a moment. "Are you sure brother? This will make too much noise."
"Yes I am sure" Cassian said fixing his eyes out the window at the center of the village.
"If I leave them alive they will leave a trail behind us. It will be bigger trouble for us. Besides... there is a price to be paid."
He raised his hand and threw a small black sphere made of pitch darkness that appeared in his palm out of the window right into the middle of the village. The sphere glided whistling through the air.
Then that terrifying name fell from his lips.
"Zagna."
The black sphere falling into the village square opened like a black hole. And that creature torn from the realm of nightmares burst out of it.
A massive monster three meters tall with muscles stretched like steel cables and four arms... Zagna landed in the center of the village like a meteor. The moment he stepped on the ground a tremor spread that was felt throughout the entire village. BOOM!
The ground cracked dust clouds rose into the air.
Cassian opened the window and stuck his head out. He looked at the chaos below the people running away.
"Slaughter them all Zagna" he whispered.
Zagna raised his head as if he heard his master’s voice and looked at Cassian with his black wild eyes for a second.
Then he turned his massive head. He locked onto his first target a mage running with a staff in his hand.
His rear leg muscles tensed and he launched like a spring.
Cassian closed the window calmly. The hell outside contrasted with the silence inside.
"GRAAAAAGHH!" Zagna’s roar shook the glass. Then came the sound of collapsing houses.
CRACK! BOOM! The sounds of exploding spells the buzz of fireballs... And then human screams. Screams full of pain full of horror.
Cassian ignored none of this. He was as calm as if it were raining outside.
He turned around and went to the little child trying to get under the bed out of fear. The girl was terrified by the sound of the monster outside.
Cassian put his hand on the girl’s trembling head.
"Don’t be afraid little one" he said. A rare slight bitter smile appeared on his face. "Today is your lucky day. Because... I decided to be a damn good person."
The girl could not understand what Cassian meant.
She tilted her head in tears and surprise. Who was this man? A demon summoning monsters or an angel feeding them?
"This might hurt a bit" Cassian said. "But don’t worry I will be quick."
Cassian summoned the Holy Mana.
A beam of light a mixture of pure white and gold radiated from his palm. The light illuminated the dark room like a sun.
This energy spreading from the girl’s head to her body felt like a warm wave at first. The girl felt immediate relief. There was no pain only peace. She surrendered herself to this warmth to the compassion of the Holy Mana.
Within seconds the miracle happened.
Those spider web like black veins on the girl’s neck and arms began to fade.
They vanished like ink dispersing in water. A pink vitality came to her grey dead looking skin.
The dark circles under her eyes were erased. Her sunken cheeks filled out.
Before the girl could understand what was happening she had recovered full of life as if she had never been sick. Her lungs filled with clean air.
Cassian slowly pulled his hand away from the head of the child frozen in surprise. A drop of sweat had gathered on his forehead. This energy disgusted him but it worked.
He moved quickly to the bed.
The old man lying there was about to take his last breath with wheezes. His body was in the final stage of the plague his skin had turned almost black and sores had opened up. He was the source of the smell in the room.
Cassian placed his hand on the man’s chest without hesitation.
"Your turn old man" he said.
The Holy Mana flashed once more. This time he applied a more intense more aggressive healing. The light literally burned the blackness in the man’s body destroyed it.
The man’s body tensed like a bow his eyes opened for a moment filled with white light and then relaxed.
His wheezing breaths were replaced by a calm and deep sleep breath. His wounds closed his fever dropped. He had been pulled from the edge of death to the edge of life.
When Cassian pulled his hand away he staggered slightly. Using Holy Mana was tiring him.
The noises outside had subsided. The screams had stopped only Zagna’s satisfied growls and the crackling of burning buildings could be heard.
Cassian put his emotionless mask back on as if he hadn’t created a miracle in the room. He walked to the window without even taking a last look at the girl.
He stepped on the frame and dropped himself into the void.
He landed on the ground with a soft landing. The village was in ruins. Collapsed walls fallen trees... And there were bodies everywhere.
Zagna had done a clean job.
All the bodies on the ground had one thing in common. That damned symbol was engraved on their skin visible under their shredded robes: 4 Obsidian Colored Suns.
Cassian looked at the tattoo on a corpse on the ground with disgust.
"We better get moving..." he said to himself.
Cassian’s body began to merge with the shadows of the darkening weather. Leaving behind two saved lives and twenty slaughtered cultists he set off for his next stop.
