I became a legion lich

76 Caio and Emilia’s Past

The city sewer, amidst the wreckage.

A part of the stones began to shake before moving to the side, revealing Emilia’s burned body. She spat the dirt into her mouth as she tried and failed to get up. In his right hand, two rings glowed with magical power. Its silver surface cracked from the excess energy that flowed into it, quickly losing its luster and the enchantment fading.

Emilia had poured almost all of her mana into the two rings on her right hand in a desperate attempt to survive. The first was a magic ring capable of forming a dome of light, something common for any mage.

The earthquake dust in the explosion made the ground brittle and the shock wave pushed the dome of light like a wrecking ball against the ground. Inside the small dome, Emilia’s body slammed against the walls of light quickly, but she managed to conjure a pillow over her head, avoiding a concussion and fainting spell that would have been fatal in that situation.

But she was forced to scream in pain as the heat from the flames hit her unprotected body with full force, causing her flesh to boil and her skin to burn. Emilia was unable to breathe, her lungs boiling from the hot air, hurriedly activating the second ring. The ring had a continuous healing enchantment, which healed all the damage Emilia had suffered the moment it was made, but did nothing to assuage the pain of being burned alive.

Emilia was trapped inside the dome of light while being burned alive without stopping. Those were the most harrowing minutes of her life, but she managed to survive. In her desperation, Emilia fed the rings more power than they were able to handle, overwhelming their enchantments and rendering them useless.

The tiny dome of light around her disappeared as did the healing, but the heat was no longer intense enough to kill, just enough to make severe burns all over her skin. Debris fell over her body and buried her alive, but her enhanced body was able to withstand the weight crushing her.

Emilia poured what little mana she had into her arms, gritting her teeth at the pain of moving her body. Her hands bled and her skin melted into her flesh as she pushed the rocks away from her body, the skin sticking to the wreckage like glue, ripping pieces of skin every time she pushed a rock.

For a few minutes, Emilia just breathed hard, filling her burned lungs until they almost couldn’t function with the cool night air. The skin of her eyelids had melted against her eyes, so it was impossible for her to see, but Emilia could hear the sound of footsteps coming from somewhere.

.....

Emilia didn’t try to resist. She was too weak even to think coherently. The continuous healing drained all of her strength, to the point where even if she weren’t killed, she would have died within minutes of multiple organ failure. All she’s done so far is delay the inevitable and prolong her own death.

A blade pierced her heart, killing her quickly. Compared to all the pain she was feeling, that quick death could be considered an act of mercy.

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Amidst the wreckage of the sewer, Caio’s skeleton silently looked at Emilia’s body that he had just killed. He was crying with pain inside, fighting with all his strength against the chains that bound him, but it was in vain. He killed with his bare hands the only person he loved in this world.

Caio was an orphan who grew up to the age of 12 in the port city of Fryar in Belaster country. He was a slave to a group of pirates who constantly attacked the merchant ships that crossed the Caprio and Adula continents, causing a headache for the ruler of the port city.

In one of their attacks, they mistakenly attacked a ship of the order of magic, where Lukas Ripha, the head of the Ripha family and Emilia’s father, was. The ship he was on was a magical tool he had created and was returning after testing his firepower against sea monsters. Obviously, the pirates were annihilated against its destructive power.

The pirate ship was destroyed by the magic ship’s initial bombardment and the few surviving pirates were captured by the magic ship’s crew. Lukas killed all the pirates who couldn’t use mana and forced the few who could to hold a wand while circulating mana through their bodies.

If they had any talent for magic, their bodies would absorb the world energy the wand drew and strengthened beyond their limits. Most pirates failed to improve beyond their limits, being considered useless and killed on the spot. All were killed except Caio.

He was spared thanks to his magical talent and taken in by Lukas, but his status as a slave did not change. No, your treatment can be said to have gotten worse since he was taken. The pirates didn’t mistreat him and all he had to do was clean the ship, cook meals and help carry the stolen goods from the ship to their base.

He ate the same food he cooked for the pirates, so he never went hungry. Caio was also free to do whatever he wanted when he wasn’t working. He even received a promise to join the pirates as a member instead of a slave when they realized he had awakened their core.

Life as a Ripha slave was hell in comparison. He wasn’t given food, just disgusting nutritional bombs with everything his body needed. He lived in an isolated village God only knows where, along with other slave children and teenagers with a talent for magic.

They woke up before sunrise and practiced magic for their respective elements until noon, where they would receive nutritional bombs and stamina potions. The training in the afternoon was purely physical. They would fight each other, the instructors or captured monsters. They would continue fighting under the supervision of mages until nightfall.

Caio spent approximately 7 years in this hell, when he was finally considered ready and finally allowed to leave the village. After all this torture, the only thing that awaited him when he left was to become the servant of Lukas’ youngest daughter, Emilia. She was just 13 when they were introduced and her first impression was terrible.

She was a tomboy who didn’t pay attention to the rules and whenever she ran away, it was Caio who was punished. But despite everything, he ended up enjoying her free spirit. She was the only person who treated him like a human, rather than a slave.

Her father wanted her to be a mage or a rune smith like most of the family, but Emilia always preferred to fight and soon her talent in combat became clear.

At the age of 14, Emília defeated the eldest of her brothers and the future heir of the Ripha in a simulated combat. He was a 22 year old man named Hardin Ripha and his defeat at the hands of Emilia was an embarrassment to him and a shock to his family. He was a talented runesmith and not adept at combat, but losing against a child was still humiliating for him.

To make matters worse, his brothers used this against him, lowering his status within the family. This turned shame into rancor and made him want to get rid of Emilia. He arranged for an acquaintance of an allied family to meet Emilia and quickly become interested in her.

He happily reported the ally’s love interest to his father, who immediately consulted with the Allied family and arranged the marriage. Lukas consulted everyone involved except Emilia. She was informed only when everything was ready. Emilia tried to rebel and cancel the wedding, but it was an effort in vain.

Canceling the wedding would ruin the relationship between the families, so Emilia was forced to leave the family in order not to tarnish the Ripha’s name. At that time, Caio thought he would never see her again, but Lukas freed him and allowed him to follow her, on the condition that he protect Emilia.

Lukas was born and raised a noble, so arranged marriages were common practice for him. At no time did he think he was doing anything wrong in getting an arranged marriage to a prestigious family, but he understood his daughter’s desire for freedom. His only regret was having to watch her go without being able to help her at all. How she was running away in ‘secret’ would be suspicious if she received any parting gifts. The most he could do was give a teleportation crystal with the family symbol, something common for any Ripha to carry.

That was over 20 years ago.

‘It’s no use thinking about it.’ Caio thought, coming out of his memories and looking sadly at Emilia’s body. She was the only family he had and now he had to kill her with his bare hands. It weighed heavily on his mind and he screamed with rage inside, but his body remained unperturbed.

Caio shouted his hatred towards Athos, ignoring the sensation of losing consciousness. He watched in horror as his own body looted Emilia’s corpse as if it were loot and then dragged her corpse out of the sewers where that hateful skeleton was waiting.

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