Chapter 203: The End of His Second Beginning

The Cognis surged through the barrel system of the Barrett M107.

Like streams of white energy, it flowed through the circuit lines engraved inside the sniper rifle, rushing toward the bullet that was about to be fired.

The circuits glowed brighter.

The trigger force increased.

The pressure inside the weapon rose to another level.

Then...

BANG!

The bullet shot out.

For a brief moment, it looked less like a bullet and more like a beam of light tearing through the prison chambers.

Zavier had just landed on one knee.

His eyes widened.

All he saw was a flash heading straight toward his stomach.

BOOM!

The impact exploded.

A violent shockwave erupted outward.

Broken stone, shattered wood, and debris from the ruined mansion were thrown into the air.

The force blasted Zavier backward.

At the same time, Ezra was also thrown back by the recoil of the Barrett M107.

The pressure generated by the shot exceeded anything he had previously fired.

His body slid across the ground violently.

The entire underground prison chamber shook.

Cracks spread further through the walls.

Parts of the ceiling collapsed.

The mansion above groaned like a dying beast.

Walls continued falling apart.

Tiles broke loose and crashed into the prison chambers below.

Water sprayed harder from the damaged pipes.

The fires burning throughout the mansion grew larger.

The entire estate was beginning to collapse.

"Ah... Ah... Ah..."

Zavier’s breathing came out broken.

Pain twisted his face while his body trembled.

A massive hole had been blasted through his stomach.

Blood and pieces of flesh covered the floor around him.

He tried to move.

Nothing happened.

He tried to stand.

His body refused.

The only reason he was still alive was because his Cognis continued desperately trying to heal him.

But the injury was too severe.

Far beyond what his level could recover from, and his Cognis reserves were almost empty.

"COUGH! COUGH!"

Blood burst from his mouth.

It stained his chin and soaked his already ruined clothes.

"I’m going to die..."

His voice came out weak.

Barely audible.

Then...

He heard it.

Step.

Step.

Step.

And a dragging metallic sound echoing through the prison chambers.

Slow and steady.

Getting closer.

"Heh... Heh..."

Zavier laughed weakly. He already knew who it was.

"You really are a stubborn bastard."

His voice cracked.

"No matter how many times you were supposed to die...Cough!"

Blood spilled from his lips again.

"You continue to live."

The footsteps stopped.

Zavier looked up weakly.

Ezra stood before him.

The Barrett M107 rested against the ground like a walking cane.

His body looked terrible.

Blood dripped from multiple wounds.

His clothes were torn apart, signs of frost had begun to grow more on his skin.

Yet he remained standing.

"Ha... Ha..."

Zavier laughed again, a weak, dying and mocking laugh.

"Is this what you wanted?"

His fingers twitched.

The three stars inside his body had already begun cracking.

"Is this everything you wanted?"

His eyes looked directly at Ezra.

"To destroy this family, over your revenge?"

Pain surged through him.

His veins bulged; his body screamed.

Yet he forced himself to continue talking.

"How do you feel now?" His lips curved slightly. "How does revenge feel?"

For a moment, silence followed.

Only the sounds of collapsing structures remained.

Then...

"Refreshing."

Ezra answered, in his usual flat and direct tone.

"It feels refreshing."

He repeated it.

Allowing every word to sink into Zavier’s mind.

Zavier froze, his eyes widened as shock spread across his face.

"Cough! Cough!"

Blood poured from his mouth again.

"Refreshing?"

His voice carried disbelief.

As if he couldn’t understand the answer.

"I could have chosen another form of revenge, Zavier."

Ezra’s voice remained weak, but calm.

Blood continued dripping from his eyes, nose, ears, mouth, arms, legs and his hand.

His Cognis was almost exhausted, so healing was no longer keeping up with the damage.

"Maybe I could have watched you all slowly drown in your own hatred."

He stumbled slightly.

Using the Barrett M107 to support himself.

"But..."

He exhaled heavily.

"I’ve never been the type who enjoys watching enemies continue living while I live too."

The firelight reflected faintly in his dark eyes.

"The world we live in has a habit of forgiving people."

His breathing became heavier.

"Even people who have committed enough evil to stain their souls black."

He slowly sat down.

His strength was fading, but his gaze never left Zavier.

"So, basically..."

Ezra looked at him without any attachment.

Without any warmth.

Without seeing him as family.

"Baron Sterling."

The title sounded colder than any insult.

"I’m not giving any of you the chance for a happy redemption."

His voice remained calm.

"I am returning the pain you gave me, the death you wished upon me, and the grave you prepared for me. With death."

Silence followed for a brief second, then...

"Heh..."

Zavier laughed.

A genuine laugh.

Not a mocking one, not a sarcastic one.

A real laugh.

The reaction surprised Ezra slightly, though his face never showed it.

"What kind... of logic... is tha..."

Zavier muttered.

His voice grew weaker.

The cracks spreading through his three stars widened.

Then...

Shatter.

The stars broke apart.

Their fragments drifted into the air like glowing sand.

His eyes slowly closed and his body became still.

Zavier Sterling was dead.

Ezra stared at the corpse quietly.

The sounds of fire.

Water.

And collapsing walls echoed around him.

Then...

"Zavier?"

A voice suddenly called out.

Ezra looked up.

Helen emerged from one of the partially collapsed sections of the prison chamber.

She had hidden behind fallen debris while the battle continued.

Several holes created by gunfire and spear attacks connected the destroyed areas together.

And now she had finally made her way through.

The moment she saw the scene...

Her body froze.

Her hand immediately covered her mouth.

Blood, the hole in Zavier’s stomach, the destroyed prison chamber, the ruined mansion.

And Ezra.

Covered in blood.

Missing chunks of flesh from his hand.

Barely able to stand.

"No..." Her voice trembled. "No... no... no... ZAVIER!"

She screamed while running toward the corpse.

Dropping beside him, holding his body and shaking him repeatedly.

"Zavier... wake up..."

Her tears poured endlessly.

"Zavier wake up!"

Her voice cracked.

"Why did you leave me?"

She pushed his body back and forth.

"You promised you would stay with me forever!"

Her cries echoed throughout the prison chambers.

"Why did things have to become like this?!"

She screamed and cried louder.

"Zara is gone, March is dead, Ezra died a long time ago, and now you..."

Her voice broke completely.

"ZAVIER WAKE UP! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Her scream echoed through the collapsing mansion.

Ezra stared at her in silence.

His body no longer listened to him properly.

Every muscle ached and his bones felt heavy.

The hand that had been pierced earlier still trembled from pain, while blood slowly dripped from several wounds that his nearly exhausted Cognis could no longer heal properly.

Even if he wanted to kill her at that moment, he doubted his body would obey.

Yet...

As he looked at Helen closely, truly looking at her, something stirred inside him.

Something he thought had already been buried.

Something he believed should have remained locked away forever.

Memories.

Old memories.

The image of younger him watching Helen smiling while brushing his hair.

The image of her holding his hand when he was sick.

The image of her scolding Zara whenever Zara bullied him.

The image of her secretly bringing him gifts for his birthday and singing with him whenever the rest of the family ignored him.

The image of her nagging at him whenever he stays up awake reading books he took from the library.

One memory after another surfaced inside his mind.

Compared to his previous life...

Helen had been a good mother.

Perhaps not perfect, but she loved him.

Even after he became the trash of the Sterling Family.

Even after the doctors declared that his body was weak.

Even after everyone began abandoning him one after another.

Helen had remained beside him.

She never wanted to see him cry.

She never wanted to see him suffer.

She never wanted to see him sad.

But...

All of that love had still ended with betrayal.

The same result.

The same ending.

The same abandonment.

"Why?"

The word escaped from Ezra’s lips before he realized it.

His voice was low, weak and broken.

"Why?"

His injured fist slowly tightened.

Pain shot through his entire arm.

He ignored it.

Because the pain in his chest hurt more.

"WHY DID YOU ABANDON ME?!"

His voice suddenly exploded through the ruined prison chamber.

The sound echoed against the cracked walls.

"WHY DID YOU ERASE ME AS A DEAD CHILD?!"

The veins on his neck bulged.

Years of confusion and pain all burst out at once.

"WHY?! WHY?! MOTHER!!"

His teeth clenched so hard that blood almost seeped from his gums.

The emotions he had buried throughout the Trial of Steel finally surfaced.

"You were supposed to be different."

His voice cracked slightly.

"You were the last one."

The words came out slower and more painful.

"Why?"

Ezra stared directly at her.

Not, at a stranger.

Not at an enemy.

Not at... a victim.

But, at the woman who had given birth to him.

The woman he had loved despite everything.

No matter how many times he had convinced himself that he would kill her together with the others.

No matter how much he had hardened his heart.

Helen still occupied a different place in his memories.

More than Zavier.

More than Zara.

More than anyone in the Sterling Family.

She was tied to almost every warm memory he possessed in this world.

Helen froze.

Her crying stopped.

Only tears continued falling from her eyes.

Because the voice she had just heard wasn’t the cold voice Ezra had returned with after the Trial of Steel.

It wasn’t the flat voice.

It wasn’t the emotionless voice.

It was the voice of her son.

The voice she remembered so well.

The voice she hadn’t heard for a very long time.

"E... Ezra..."

Her lips trembled.

Slowly, she turned toward him.

Her gaze landed on his face.

The face of her child.

The face she had forced herself to accept as dead.

The face she saw every night whenever guilt refused to let her sleep.

"Ezra..."

Helen crawled toward him.

She ignored the rubble.

Ignored the dust.

Ignored the blood staining her clothes.

She crawled until she reached him, then her trembling hands rose.

They gently held his face.

"Ezra..."

Her fingers shook violently.

As if she was afraid, he would disappear if she loosened her grip.

"Ah..."

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Ah... Ezra..."

A small smile appeared on her face.

The same smile she always used whenever she looked at him.

The same smile from his childhood.

The same smile that had comforted him countless times.

"I’m sorry..."

Her voice broke.

"I’m sorry, Ezra..."

She cried again, the tears refusing to stop.

"I failed you."

The words came out filled with regret.

Filled with guilt.

Filled with self-hatred.

Then Helen wrapped her arms around him.

She hugged him tightly.

As though trying to make up for years of failure in a single embrace.

And as she cried...

Memories resurfaced within her mind.

She remembered the night when Zavier returned home after attending a gathering as a Baron.

She remembered him entering their room and telling her about the order from Ashenlocke.

An order demanding that children from every branch family participate in the Trial of Steel.

She remembered the anger she felt.

The fear and the disbelief.

She had shouted at him.

Argued with him.

Questioned how a family could force children into something so dangerous.

The argument had lasted for hours.

At one point, Helen even suggested running away.

She wanted to take both Zara and Ezra.

Leave everything behind and hide in some small town where nobody knew their names.

Live ordinary lives.

But Zavier had crushed that hope immediately.

He explained how impossible it was.

The Ashenlocke Family was making use of the Blood Alchemists of Derlis.

A terrifying Duke family of Alchemy capable of tracing bloodlines and locating descendants connected to any person or family.

Running away would only delay the inevitable.

Helen had been devastated hearing all that.

The fear consumed her and the helplessness ate her up.

Then...

Zavier revealed the plan he had already prepared.

A plan he had secretly decided upon long before speaking with her.

A cruel plan.

A wicked plan.

Using the fact that Ezra’s identity was already unknown to almost everyone, Zavier proposed replacing Zara with Ezra.

After all, the records only acknowledged one son of Baron Sterling.

If Ezra was sent instead of Zara, very few people would notice.

Very few people would care.

And by the time anyone found out...

Everything would already be over for the main family to even give a damn about the whole situation.

Zavier looked at Helen in the eyes that night and told her plainly.

’Ezra has to go.’

Of course, Helen refused immediately.

The argument that followed shook the entire household.

For the first time in years, she openly opposed her husband without backing down.

She shouted.

She cried.

She begged.

She threatened.

Anything she could think of.

Yet none of it worked.

The arguments stretched for days.

One day became two.

Two became three.

Three became a week.

And slowly...

More people became involved.

Zavier’s grandparents.

Helen’s own parents.

Uncles.

Aunts.

Brothers.

Sisters.

Relatives from both sides.

One after another.

Every single one of them supported Zavier’s idea.

Not a single person stood beside her.

Not one.

Their words slowly surrounded her from every direction.

Ezra was going to die anyway.

That was what the doctors said.

That was what everyone believed.

That was the reality they kept forcing into her ears.

Again.

And again.

And again.

The choice they presented was simple.

’Would you rather watch Ezra die in front of you? Or allow him to die somewhere else?’

Every conversation eventually returned to the same cruel question.

The same impossible choice.

Then...

Zavier said something that finally shattered her resistance.

"We can always have another child."

The words still echoed in her mind.

A replacement.

That was what they called it.

As if Ezra could simply be replaced.

As if another child could fill the empty space left behind.

As if his existence was something disposable.

Helen had hated those words.

She hated them then.

She hated them now.

Yet...

Under all that pressure.

Under all that fear.

Under all those voices constantly convincing her.

She finally agreed.

Not because she believed they were right.

Not because she stopped loving Ezra.

But because she was weak.

Because she was afraid.

Because she was a coward.

Deep inside her heart, she knew the truth.

If Ezra died in front of her...

It would destroy her completely.

So, she chose the path that allowed her to run away from that pain.

She chose the path that allowed her to pretend.

To lie to herself.

To tell herself that maybe it wouldn’t happen.

Maybe some miracle would save him.

Maybe fate would be kind.

But...

The moment Ezra left for the Trial of Steel...

Something inside her broke.

Something that never recovered.

She remembered standing there.

Watching him disappear.

Watching her son walk toward a place everyone believed was his grave.

And she remembered doing nothing.

Nothing.

The guilt followed her every single day afterward.

Like a curse.

Like a voice whispering into her ears whenever she tried to sleep.

What kind of mother sends her child away to die?

The question never left.

Not for a day.

Not for an hour.

Not even for a moment.

It followed her constantly.

Until eventually...

She stopped noticing when her mind began falling apart.

Until eventually...

She stopped noticing when she became truly broken.

Tears continued rolling down Helen’s cheeks.

Her hand gently held Ezra’s.

"I’m sorry..."

Her voice shook.

Every word seemed harder to say than the previous one.

"I failed you."

She smiled weakly.

The smile looked painful.

A smile belonging to someone who already knew she didn’t deserve forgiveness.

"I failed you, Ezra."

Ezra looked at her.

The brief crack in his emotions disappeared.

The warmth that surfaced earlier sank back into the depths of his heart.

His face slowly returned to its usual expression.

Plain.

Quiet, and unreadable.

Helen noticed, but she didn’t complain.

She didn’t cry harder and she didn’t beg.

Instead, her gaze lowered.

The Desert Eagle.

During the hug, she had already noticed it.

The handgun Ezra had been pointing toward her stomach.

A weapon meant for her.

A weapon he intended to use.

Slowly and carefully.

She wrapped her fingers around it.

The gun was very heavy, far heavier than she expected.

For a normal person, lifting an alchemy weapon was miles beyond their physical strength.

Her hands trembled hard, but she still held it.

The soft smile never left her face.

"I hope..."

Her voice cracked.

"I hope you’ll be able to forgive me one day, Ezra."

She slowly raised his arm.

The movement was difficult.

The handgun weighed heavily in her shaking hands, but because Ezra was still holding it, she managed.

Little by little.

The muzzle rose.

Until it rested against her forehead.

Helen closed her eyes briefly.

Then opened them one final time looking directly at him.

Trying to memorize his face.

Trying to remember every detail.

The same way she did when he was born.

The same way she did when he took his first steps.

The same way she did when he first called her mother.

A tear slipped from her eye.

"I hope..."

She smiled softly.

"I hope you find people who will cherish you properly."

The words came out quietly.

Without excuses.

Without justification.

Just a simple wish.

A mother’s final wish.

Helen slowly closed her eyes.

The final tears escaped from beneath her eyelids.

The prison chamber continued collapsing around them.

Water dripped from the broken pipes.

Fire crackled in the distance and stones fell from the ceiling.

Yet everything felt strangely silent.

BANG!

Ezra pulled the trigger.

The bullet pierced through Helen’s forehead, then exited through the back of her head.

Her body jerked violently.

Blood sprayed across the floor.

And then she fell with the smile remaining faintly on her face, before everything became still.

Ezra’s arm slowly lowered.

The Desert Eagle slipped from his fingers.

Clatter.

The handgun landed on the ground.

He stared at Helen’s body.

For a moment. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Just a moment.

No expression appeared on his face.

No tears.

No anger.

No satisfaction.

Nothing.

Then he slowly looked upward.

The mansion above continued collapsing.

Wooden beams fell.

Walls cracked apart and majorly the steam-engine that powered all the lighten and device in the house was reaching its final end before it would explode.

The entire Sterling Estate was reaching its end.

Just like the family that once lived within it.

Ezra exhaled heavily.

His body finally gave up.

The exhaustion crashed into him all at once.

His vision blurred; his muscles refused to respond.

"I can’t move."

His voice came out weak.

Almost like a whisper.

Then...

"Don’t worry, Master."

A familiar voice answered.

Lucy appeared beside him.

Her figure emerged from the smoke and dust.

She immediately wrapped a dry blanket around his freezing body.

The warmth was small, but welcoming.

"I’ll carry you."

Ezra looked at her blankly.

"Thanks."

His voice remained flat, but it carried a trace of genuine gratitude.

Lucy nodded, then carefully lifted him.

She glanced around at the destroyed prison chamber.

The burning mansion.

The dead bodies.

The ruins of the Sterling Family.

A place that had become nothing more than a graveyard.

Without another word...

She disappeared.

Flashing away in a blur.

Leaving behind only the collapsing remains of a family that had destroyed itself long before Ezra ever pulled the trigger.