Kayn dropped further and further down the shaft before it eventually stopped going down and began to move horizontally. Even with his extreme speed, it felt like time was flying by as he moved through. the vent shaft.
The entire shaft was covered in extremely powerful concealment formations, which explained why Kayn couldn't find it even with his powerful Mana Sense. Eventually, he arrived at an intersection where multiple ventilation shafts convened and shot off into the distance like the webbing of a spider.
Kayn wasn't interested in where the other shafts led, he was only interested in seeing where the central ventilation led to. He continued following the massive shaft down once more until he was able to break out of the air unit which was blasting the air through the massive shaft. When he arrived in the room, a second unit was visible, but this one was bringing air into the facility rather than sending it out.
Finally, now that he was within the facility he could extend his Mana Sense out into it, and what he saw horrified him. Despite the countless corpses piled into mountains within Kayn's own shadow, the things being done here gave him the shivers.
At first, he thought the place might belong to a lich, but there were living people working here. A lich would never allow living people with a will to work in their labs. That wasn't all though as Kayn did notice a few of the dead among those moving around and helping with the ongoing atrocities.
He continued scouring the place trying to figure out what it was with his Mana Sense before he paused and focused it in on a specific person writing something down in a notebook. This person felt extremely familiar to him, only something was off about them.
He tilted his head in confusion because if the person was who he thought, they would have mana, but this one didn't. His chest tightened up a little bit, but he wouldn't get any answers by staying where he was. Slinking his way through the shadows, he made his way to the presence stealthily as he didn't want to set off the alarms to the facility just yet.
The door to the person's research area was closed, and Kayn even sensed an alarm formation if someone opened the door. He stood there for a bit before disabling the alarm formation and opening the door. He walked in and closed the door, turning to view the person with his own eyes, but what he saw stopped him in his tracks.
…
Lydia was working on theorizing the next part of the experiment that Emperor Carnet tasked her to work on. She hated this life, she was tortured weekly, her core was crippled, and most of all she felt some outside compulsion to work on this research with everything she had. She prayed for the day when she could die and be free of this life, this horror, but year after year her desire to die never came.
She was always kept alive, if only barely. As long as she could think, she was tasked with work. At first, the projects were all about compatibility between organs of different races and how to incorporate an organ from one race into another while keeping all of the racial benefits.
However, as time moved on, she was tasked with forcing mana compatibility as well. Lastly, within these last few months, the project moved on to changing a core to be able to use all of the elements.
She knew why this change happened. She heard the rumors from the surface about the Death God. Someone with the ability to wield every element that was systematically destroying everything that Carnet and Inmortuae had done and hunting their powerhouses down one by one.
Thinking about someone with the ability to wield all of the elements caused her to reminisce about her late disciple. At first, it was a small sliver of hope that the Death God was Kayn, but it just wasn't possible no matter how she thought about it.
This Death God was supposedly so powerful that he was erasing entire fortified cities all by himself. In order to have accumulated that much power, she figured the individual was at least a few thousand years old, if not even hundreds of thousands. There was no way that Kayn, who last she knew was only at the 3rd stage as a teen would have been able to reach such a peak in a mere 15 or so years.
Plus, she already knew Kayn's fate and the fate of his family. She had heard many years ago, not by chance that General Ezekiel had been looking for her and was branded a traitor. After that, his entire family was wiped out and a massive explosion destroyed the entire Vestarius Estate and everyone within.
At first, she hoped Kayn survived as he was in Myrem working as an adventurer and healer, but then the emperor tortured her while screaming about how she didn't emphasize the importance of the child she was training. About how he lost a key worker for his projects.
She suffered not only his physical abuse at the time, but also the mental torture of knowing that the only people she cared for were dead because of the man she was forced to work for when all she wanted to do originally was make a difference.
As she was writing, she heard the door to her room open. She set her writing utensil down and turned her wheelchair to face the door, expecting to see the person who brought meals to her room. However, what she saw caused her heart to leap from her chest and hope to come to her eyes.
A figure garbed in black from head to toe stood just inside her doorway, unmoving. He wore a hood that had a veil so black it was like staring into the abyss, so she couldn't see their face. However, Lydia knew who this was, she knew the description of the rumored Death God, and this person hit the mark. Finally, she would be free of this wretched life.
The Death God just stood there, silently staring at her, so she decided to open her mouth first. "I hoped that you would show up some day Death God. I assume that you're here to destroy this facility and all those who are helping with these abominable acts. I only have one thing to say, thank you. Thank you for freeing me from this prison. Thank you for destroying this place where the mad emperor has us perform nightmare inducing acts."
After she finished speaking, she fully expected the Death God to kill her, but they just stood there. They were just staring at her, unmoving. Then they started shuffling towards her while reaching their hand up to the hood that covered their face.
"Thank you, Death God."
On the other side, Kayn was left in absolute shock when Lydia turned around in her wheelchair to face him. She looked much, much older. What was left of her hair was grey rather than the bright blue it once had been. Scars all around her head left what hair did grow to grow in clumps rather than the long locks that used to fall down her back like ocean waves.
Her arms were covered with scars as was her face and what was exposed of her neck and shoulders. She wore nothing more than what Kayn could only equate to a potato sack. He couldn't sense any mana coming from her, and worst of all, her legs. She didn't have much left of either leg. Kayn could visibly see that her legs were ripped apart and then crudely healed to keep her alive.
Lydia was speaking to Kayn as he examined her visually, but he couldn't hear what she was saying as the rage and sorrow was building up within. Silence took over the atmosphere for a few minutes as Kayn came back to himself and began shuffling forward. Irrational as it was, Kayn feared that anything he did would somehow kill his frail master.
As he walked towards her, he raised his hand in her direction, but then moved it to his hood to remove the veiling feature as Lydia bowed her head and thanked the Death God. Then Kayn realized she had no clue that the Death God was him.
The veil vanished from in front of Kayn's face as his sorrowful voice caused Lydia to lift her head and look at him. "Master Lydia, I'm so sorry it took me so long to find you."
"Huh?"
Lydia looked up only to recognize the face looking back at her. His voice was deeper and more mature than she remembered. His eyes were different and his face aged to that of a handsome young man, but it was definitely him…the disciple she thought long dead. But how?
"Kayn? Kayn is that you?"
Kayn finally arrived by her side and gently placed his hand on her face as tears began to build up within her bloodshot eyes. Tears were already sliding down Kayn's face, but the state of her body that came from his spell's feedback caused them to fall even faster.
"Master…what did they do to you?" Kayn asked as Lydia felt a soothing and relaxing feeling flood her body, easing the pain she felt.
Lydia looked into his eyes that were essentially just black orbs in his eye sockets. Gazing into them she felt as if she was being drawn into a space as dark as the veil that once covered his face. She saw the tears running down his face as the healing she was receiving became more intense.
"Kayn…stop." Lydia uttered, "Just stop. Please."
"But I can heal you! I can give you back what they took! I can even heal your core! I became this strong to protect the people I love! Let me protect you! Please!" Kayn argued back, but Lydia lifted her arms and moved Kayn's hand from her face into her own.
"Saving me from this wretched fate is enough Kayn."
Kayn dropped to his knees, his head drooped low as tears fell to the floor and his sobbing voice echoed within the room and out into the hallway as he reluctantly stopped pouring light mana into Lydia.
It was at that moment that the person who usually delivered Lydia's food arrived at her room and noticed the door open. He was actually one of her watchers, a guard to ensure that she continued working and didn't escape, but he had to leave his post to grab her food from the kitchen.
He dropped the tray and rushed into the room, weapon in hand. Unfortunately for him, he intruded upon the reunion of master and disciple. Before he could utter a single word, a hole was blown through his head and his body disintegrated shortly after.
The moment Kayn sensed the man enter the room, a Magic Bullet made up of Extinction Wind at the man who was actually a 5th stage magic warrior. Lydia couldn't even say anything before she watched the man who had been her guard, butler, and torturer vanish into thin air as if he never existed. She couldn't feel Kayn's mana or even see that he did anything, but if he killed someone at the 5th stage that easily, he must be extremely powerful now.
"So, it is you then? You're the one running around the continent killing the Carnet and Inmortuae armies, aren't you? The Death God." Lydia spoke as Kayn finally lifted his head from looking at the floor. He hadn't even looked back to cast that spell, he merely cast the spell without moving and the man died.
"Yes, only a few know my real identity. However, even I don't know who I really am. I'm both a reaper that brings death, and a savior to those who have been suppressed. Are the lives I've saved enough to make up for the millions, no hundreds of millions that I've taken? It's hard to think I'm anything but a monster." Kayn said ruefully as he looked down at his hands firmly held within Lydia's.
"Kayn, you're not a monster. To me, you'll always be the bright child who I took as my disciple. Always eager and willing to help out, no matter what it entailed. You've just had to dip your toes into the darker side of things for a while. You have no idea how proud of you I am. Just look how strong you are now!
"I know it's not my place to say it, but I'm sure your parents would feel the same. Kayn…what happened back then? How are you here before me? I heard that you died in the mansion explosion, even the emperor thought so." Lydia spoke gently before asking the question she was most curious about.
"I escaped with my newborn little sister due to my mother's sacrifice. We named her Lara in your honor by the way." Kayn answered with a half-truth. It wasn't exactly true that he escaped because of his mother's sacrifice, but it also wasn't a lie as Wrath would have never taken over if he didn't watch his mother die right in front of him.
"Lara, that's a wonderful name. Where is she now? What about you? What have you been up to?" Lydia asked as she was trying to distract Kayn from all of the bad in his life.
"It's kind of a long story, so I'll give you the short version. I'll start with where my sister and I ended up after the assassination attempt." Kayn answered as he began to recount his tale.
For the next few hours, Kayn told Lydia of his journey, both the good and bad. Someone would occasionally pop in the room because the noticed the missing guard, but they were all killed instantly by Kayn who didn't pause his story for a single moment.
After Kayn finished telling his tale up to the point they were at now, Lydia looked at him with a saddened expression.
"I'm so sorry Kayn. If it wasn't for me, you would have never had to experience those things. If I never submitted that report to the Carnet Empire, your family would have never been silenced because of your care for me."
"Master, don't you dare say that! None of that was your fault! I know that for a fact…" Kayn's head drooped, but he quickly recovered and looked into Lydia's eyes with a serious expression.
"Please, let me heal you. I can return your appearance. I can return your core to you. I just need some time. I can keep you safe until I finish this war, then I'll dedicate everything to returning you to how you used to be!"
Lydia's expression dropped as Kayn brought up the one topic she was trying to avoid until the very end, but she knew their reunion couldn't last forever.
"Kayn, look at me. Even if you could heal what I've lost physically, I'll never be the Master that you knew again. Some wounds can't be healed with magic…" Lydia spoke as she tapped on the side of her head with a finger.
"I know I'm asking a lot Kayn, but I have a final request for my disciple."
Kayn dreaded what she was going to ask of him, but he wasn't going to betray the bond between them. They were family and he owed it to her to do what she asked. "Whatever you need of me, I'll do it Master Lydia."
"Kill me. Please, I can't live with what I've been a part of…what I've been forced to research…how the research was performed."
Kayn clenched his fists so hard that his nails dug into his palms, causing blood to drip from his hands to the floor. His hardened expression showed his reluctance to doing what she asked, but the expression she was giving him begged to set her free. A few minutes of silence later, his fists relaxed and he gave in to her request.
"How?" This was all Kayn said after the many minutes of Lydia awaiting his response.
"Preferably quick and painless. But Kayn, before you do it there is something I need to tell you." Lydia said.
Kayn only nodded as his eyes were already beginning to tear up again.
"The emperor is powerful, overtly so. He also has some weird ability to get what he wants from people. I don't know how to describe it, but it's the only reason I continued this research for so long. If he wants what another has, he can compel them to give in to his demands somehow. Please, be careful of him." Lydia warned earnestly. Even with how strong Kayn was, she knew the emperor wasn't someone to be trifled with.
"I have an idea on that ability. I heard something similar a while back from someone else and I've been thinking about it since." Kayn paused for a moment then pulled Lydia into his embrace, hugging her tightly.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to find you. I promise I won't let that man get away with everything he has done to our family." Kayn spoke as he felt Lydia return the embrace as tightly as she could manage with her broken and weakened body.
"Just be safe Kayn. Don't approach anything until you know you can finish it. I don't care about anything else. I know our relationship is that of master and disciple, but after being accepted by Zerana and Ezekiel, I came to see you more as a little nephew. A nephew I love as any family member would. I'm glad I got to see you one last time."
Kayn released her from his hold as the tears poured down his face. He placed one hand above her head and another just above her heart.
"I love you too Mas-, no Lydia. You weren't like family to me, or the others. You are our family. I'll never forget what you've done for me, for all of us. Thank you."
Lydia gave him the brightest smile he had seen since he found her here, and as the tears streamed down both of their faces, she nodded. Kayn injected mana from both of his hands, one to stop her heart and another to keep her from feeling any pain by putting her to sleep and blocking her nerves.
Not even a second after Kayn removed his hands, Lydia's lifeless body fell forward into his chest. Kayn gently lifted her before placing her onto the shabby bed that she most likely slept on ever since she was abducted.
He closed her eyelids and stood back, staring at her with tears and rage in his eyes. Kayn pulled his hood back up as he lit Lydia's body aflame. His head hung low as her body and the bed turned to ash.
Kayn turned towards the door and opened it, the room behind him igniting in black flames. He walked out of the room with the fire following his every footstep, destroying anything and everything as he strode forward through the facility.