Golden locks of hair laid unmoving in the crimson-puddled floor. They framed a beautiful face free of blemishes. Her eyes were crimson. Like mine. Though, hers were half-lidded—staring up at the ceiling without movement.
Half-lidded and lifeless. Dead. Alice was gone. My younger sister was by a Dead Apostle because of my negligence.
We were cut from the same cloth. Formed of the same womb. I had presumed her strength be adequate in fighting Dead Apostles during the full moon. I presumed wrong.
Now she was lying in a pool of her own blood, her chest having been punched through by the corpse that I had burned into ashes. Dead. Just like my clan was.
She was my last living relative. Yet I failed her.
I shuddered as I took a deep breath. Tears dribbled from my eyes as I kneeled beside her. I wiped my eyes as if to dry them, but my beads of sorrow had long evaporated from the rising heat of my anger.
Anger at what, exactly?
There was no one to blame but myself.
There was no one to punish but myself.
I gently lifted her up. The cold sensation of her skin made me wish to wretch. But I couldn't. Such a reaction would only violate her presence.
My legs pushed off the ground. I landed on a building fifteen metres high. And then I did it again, leaping up to another rooftop.
It continued on until I reached what used to be our mansion.
The familiar interior blurred as I rushed off to the basement.
I set my sister's corpse up on the desk I used to write magecraft theory in.
An elaborate magic circle formed of archaic symbols encircled another ring of magic symbols. In the space between them were black, pulverised diamonds. The powder was densest at the interior ring, while the area closest to the outer ring was sparse with them.
A heavy sigh escaped my lips as I pictured what would happen next.
Before I would continue, I had two things to do still.
I grabbed my mobile phone and messaged to my fiance: "Lady Barthomeloi, I apologise for my early departure—I must complete my clan's final objective. As I will not be there to sire you an heir, there is a capsule containing my genetic material in the old estate."
Forever seemed to have passed before I clicked 'send.'
The moment I did, I crushed my phone. I wished not to see her response.
As for what I needed to do last, I faced my sister once again. I cleared her hair from her forehead before I gave it a brief kiss. "May your soul reincarnate with a better brother," I said somberly.
And finally, I turned back and walked into the dead centre of the magic circle.
My countless magic circuits roared into heat the moment I pictured the strike of a blacksmith's hammer. I chanted:
"Verschmelzen. Kompresse. Kugelblitz."
Like an engine's roar, my circuits sounded out as they processed every bit of mana in the atmosphere and compressed the energy into one microscopic point.
Compress.
Compress.
Collapse.
In an instant, I was enveloped in black. Rather than enter my eyes, light had become trapped.
The World and Humanity had noticed my presence. They must have realised the destructive effects of my spell.
I could feel it. The Counter Force had already summoned the Guardians in order to dispose of me. I would die if I even dared to slow down.
Which was why I didn't. "Forme vor mir, Kugelblitz! (Form before me, 'Black hole!')"