"Ahh... Ahh... Ahh... Argh!"
Zara clutched his stomach as he staggered forward through the darkness.
Blood continuously seeped between his fingers with every step feeling like stepping onto blades.
His body trembled uncontrollably.
One hand remained pressed against the wall to stop himself from collapsing.
Dark red streaks were left behind wherever his fingers touched.
Blood dripped from his stomach wound and splattered onto the stone floor beneath him.
The trail stretched farther and farther behind him.
"I... d-don’t... w-want... to die..."
His voice broke apart between sobs.
Tears stread endlessly down his pale face, cold sweat soaked his hair and clothes.
The winter air should have made him shiver.
Instead, he felt hot.
Terribly hot.
The fear of death had already consud his thoughts.
This was the first ti he had ever been shot; this was the very first ti he had ever felt death standing directly behind him.
Waiting and watching.
Ready to take him.
Zara stumbled forward blindly.
He wasn’t even paying attention to where he was going.
His vision blurred repeatedly.
The world spun around him.
"Why... ahh... ahh... why is this happening to ...?"
His breathing grew heavier.
Each inhale... hurt.
Each exhale... hurt.
Even speaking... hurt.
His cries echoed through the empty underground corridors.
Without realizing it, Zara had wandered into the prison chambers beneath the mansion.
The sa place where prisoners were locked away and forgotten.
The sa place he only visited either ones or twice in his life.
His hand suddenly slipped.
The fingers he had been using to support himself slid between the iron bars of a prison cell.
His balance disappeared instantly.
"Argh!"
His body crashed onto the ground.
Pain exploded through his wounds.
Zara cried out again as his body shook violently.
For several seconds he couldn’t even breathe properly.
Eventually, he grabbed the prison bars and desperately pulled himself upright.
Bang!
The gunshot echoed through the prison corridor.
A bullet tore through his right knee.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Zara collapsed instantly.
His leg twisted beneath him.
The pain was so intense his vision went white.
He rolled across the floor while screaming.
His hands clawed helplessly at the stone ground.
"AHHHHHHH! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!"
He cried like a child with no pride remaining and no dignity remaining.
Only fear.
Pure fear.
The fear of soone standing before death.
His tears mixed with blood while his body curled into itself.
"I... I’m sorry...I’m sorry, Ezra..."
His voice ca out weak and broken.
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Saliva spilled from his mouth. Mucus dripped from his nose.
The image was miserable.
Really pathetic.
The once-proud Zara Sterling no longer looked like the handso young master who enjoyed attention during noble gatherings.
The boy who loved showing off.
The boy who believed himself superior.
That person seed to have disappeared.
All that remained was a terrified child.
Why am I in this situation?
His mind repeated the question endlessly.
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
His fingers dug into his wounds.
"ARGHHHH!"
The pain only increased and his breathing beca more uneven.
Then...
Click!
The tallic sound echoed softly through the prison corridor.
Zara heard it and he knew exactly what it was.
But the pain consuming his body was so overwhelming that he couldn’t even gather the strength to turn his head and look at Ezra.
Every nerve in his body felt as though it had been set on fire.
His stomach wound continued pouring blood onto the floor.
His vision blurred.
His ears rang.
His entire body trembled uncontrollably.
"Ezra! Ezra! Please stop! Pleasseee!"
Zara cried with the last bit of strength he could gather.
His voice cracked halfway through.
Ezra stood there silently, his black eyes remaining fixed on Zara.
He looked at the person before him.
His twin.
His own blood.
The person who had shared the sa womb.
The sa childhood.
The sa surna.
Yet nothing in Ezra’s eyes reflected any of those things.
No anger.
No sadness.
No brotherhood.
No hesitation.
Only cold indifference.
He stared at Zara as though he was looking at another enemy.
Another obstacle.
Another person who had chosen to stand against him.
Nothing more.
"Ezra, I’m sorry! I’m really sorry for how I’ve treated you! Please don’t kill ! Pleas..."
Bang!
The gunshot exploded through the corridor.
The bullet tore through Zara’s other leg joint.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
His scream echoed through the underground chambers.
His body convulsed violently.
Both hands clawed desperately at the ground.
The pain was so intense that more tears and mucus poured from his face without control.
"NOOOOO! NOOOOO! EZRAAAAAA!"
His body rolled across the cold stone floor, not even knowing where the strength ca from that made him turn.
Whether from Instinct, Fear or the desire to survive.
That was all that could remain.
"AHHH! AHHH! PLEASE EZRA! PLEASE!"
Finally, Zara managed to turn.
His eyes t Ezra’s.
And for the first ti in his life...
He truly looked at him.
Not the weak younger brother he always bullied, not the sickly child he mocked every day and not the trash he enjoyed stepping on.
The person standing before him now felt completely different.
Those dark eyes stared down at him quietly.
Cold, still and empty.
Unlike the first ti they et after Ezra ca back from the Trial of Steel, when Zara looked into Ezra’s eyes, he felt fear that made him carry his eyes away
But now...
There was none of it.
It was almost as though Ezra was looking directly at him for the first ti.
Not through him.
Not below him.
Not beneath him.
At him.
And sohow that felt more terrifying than the gun itself.
Blood continued flowing from Zara’s wounds, the floor beneath him gradually turned red while his Cognis struggled desperately to keep his body together.
But he was too weak.
Far too weak.
The damage was already beyond what his rank could stabilize.
Then...
Ezra began the real punishnt.
Bang!
Zara’s left ear exploded apart.
Blood splashed against the prison bars.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
His scream rose another level.
Bang!
His right ear followed.
The world instantly beca muffled.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
His voice sounded distant even to himself.
Bang!
The bullet shattered his shoulder joint.
Bang!
The other shoulder joint followed.
His arms instantly lost strength.
Bang!
A bullet pierced through the center of his palm.
Bang!
Then the other.
His hands opened uselessly.
Blood poured through his fingers.
Ezra finally lowered the gun.
The prison corridor fell quiet once again with only Zara’s weakening cries remaining.
The pool of blood beneath him continued expanding as his breathing beca slower and weaker.
His body felt colder, and deep inside him...
A crack appeared.
His Cognis Star.
The foundation of every Alchemist.
The symbol of their future.
It was beginning to shatter.
As cracks spread across the star, mories surfaced.
One after another.
The beginning.
The source of everything.
The source of his hatred.
The source of his jealousy.
The source of his envy.
Young Ezra.
The genius of the Sterling Family.
Even as children who barely understood the world around them, Ezra constantly amazed people.
He learned words faster.
Understood lessons faster and seed to rember things faster.
The adults always smiled whenever they saw him.
Grandparents.
Uncles.
Aunties.
Older cousins.
Especially Zavier.
Every gathering felt the sa.
Praise after Praise after Praise and more praises.
"Ezra is amazing."
"That boy is a genius."
"Look at how smart he is."
Zara rembered hearing those words endlessly.
The more they praised Ezra...
The more invisible he felt, the more isolated he felt and the more resentnt grew inside his heart.
Only Helen never treated him differently.
She loved both of them equally.
But she actually wasn’t the only one.
Ezra himself never treated Zara badly.
Whenever gifts were given to Ezra alone, he refused to accept them unless Zara received one too.
Whenever he learned sothing new, he eagerly taught Zara
Whenever adults praised him, he would pull Zara into the conversation.
Whenever Zara cried after being ignored, Ezra would comfort him and whenever Zara got into trouble, Ezra often stood beside him.
He never wanted his brother to feel left out.
Never.
But sohow...
That kindness only made Zara hate him even more.
Because every act of kindness reminded him of the difference between them.
It reminded him that Ezra was the one everyone admired.
Then the sickness ca.
Zara rembered that day clearly.
The first ti Ezra’s cold intolerance erupted.
The house had been quiet.
The servants were busy elsewhere.
Only the twins remained together.
Ezra’s body slowly turned pale.
His lips lost color, his hands shook and his breathing weakened.
The temperature around him felt like ice, even his heartbeat was beginning to slow.
And at that mont...
Only Zara was there.
No servants.
No mother.
No father.
Nobody.
Just him and Ezra.
For the first ti in his life...
A terrible thought entered his mind.
What if he dies?
Zara rembered standing there.
Watching and waiting.
He didn’t call for help, he didn’t even move, he just simply watched.
A part of him felt terrified and another part felt curious.
If Ezra disappeared...
Would everyone finally look at him instead? Would everyone finally praise him? Would he finally beco the important one?
Before anything could happen...
Helen arrived and a maid followed shortly after.
Ezra survived.
And after that incident...
The entire balance of the Sterling Household changed.
The praise.
The attention.
The expectations.
Everything that had once been directed toward Ezra suddenly shifted completely toward Zara.
Not little by little.
Not gradually.
Instantly.
All because the doctor’s final diagnosis had destroyed whatever future everyone once imagined for Ezra.
His body was too weak.
His red blood cells were defective and his constitution was unstable.
No matter how brilliant his mind was.
No matter how talented he appeared.
His body simply couldn’t support him.
Zavier had refused to accept it at first.
He sat across from the doctor and asked the sa question repeatedly.
"If Ezra awakens Cognis and becos an Alchemist, wouldn’t his body beco stronger?"
The logic was sound.
After all, every Alchemist gained stronger physiques as they advanced.
But the doctor’s answer remained the sa.
The problem wasn’t strength.
The problem was strain.
Ezra’s body could not withstand the burden that ca with Cognis.
The very thing that made Alchemists powerful was the sa thing that threatened to kill him.
Awakening Cognis could kill him.
Advancing ranks could kill him.
Training too hard could kill him.
Even if he sohow survived all of that...
His lifespan would still be shorter than normal except he managed to miraculously brake through faster before his body finally breaks down and the worst thing was that even the doctor didn’t know when that ti could co.
At that mont, the Sterling Family silently reached a conclusion.
Ezra was already dying.
Maybe not today, maybe not even tomorrow, but eventually and that was enough for them.
From that day onward...
Zara beca the light and Ezra beca the trash.
The reason Zavier never truly believed in Ezra, even after witnessing his talent countless tis, was because of that diagnosis.
In Zavier’s eyes, all Ezra’s intelligence and talent ant nothing.
Because at the end of the day...
A dead genius was still dead.
Whether Ezra died trying to beco stronger or whether he died because his body finally gave up.
The result would be the sa.
So why invest in him? Why place hope in him? Why risk everything for a child destined to disappear?
That was how Zavier thought.
And Zara embraced that thinking completely.
The mont he realized the family no longer cared about Ezra...
He stopped holding back.
Every insult.
Every shove.
Every humiliation.
Every beating.
He enjoyed all of it.
The feeling of seeing the once-praised genius beneath him awakened sothing ugly inside his heart.
A strange satisfaction.
A pleasure he couldn’t explain.
The more Ezra suffered...
The happier he felt.
The more Ezra lost...
The better Zara slept at night.
That was when the bullying truly began.
Not because Ezra had done anything wrong.
Not because Ezra fought with him.
Not because Ezra hated him.
Simply because Zara enjoyed it.
anwhile, Helen beca increasingly protective of Ezra.
She watched over him.
Defended him.
Comforted him and loved him more than ever.
And that only made Zara hate Ezra even more.
Every ti he saw them together.
Every ti he saw Helen worrying over Ezra.
Every ti he saw her smiling at him.
The sa thought would quietly appear inside his head.
When will this trash finally die?
Then...
The opportunity ca.
The Trial of Steel.
The perfect place.
The perfect ending.
Ezra was sent away.
Sent to die.
Or so everyone believed, but fate had a twisted sense of humor.
The one who returned wasn’t the victim.
It was the survivor.
Zara’s vision blurred further.
The prison ceiling above him beca distorted.
His breathing weakened and his body felt colder.
He forced his eyes open one last ti and looked at Ezra.
The twin he had spent years tornting.
The twin who now stood above him.
"I..."
His lips trembled with blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.
"I’m... so..."
His voice barely existed anymore.
"All... I... ever wanted..."
His chest rose weakly.
"...was to...prove...that...I...was...better..."
Crack.
The sound ca from deep within him.
His Cognis Star shattered completely and the remaining life in his eyes vanished.
His head tilted sideways.
And Zara Sterling died.
Silence filled the prison.
Ezra stood there quietly, then he exhaled.
Not from relief.
Not from satisfaction.
Just a simple breath, like a task had ended.
Nothing more.
As he turned to leave...
A weak voice stopped him.
"Please..."
Dan’s voice was broken and fragile.
Filled with fear.
"Please... save ..."
Ezra looked toward the prison cell.
Dan remained chained to the wall.
His body was covered in cuts, bruises, dried blood and fresh blood.
His clothes had long since been torn apart.
Tears slowly rolled down his face.
"Please, Young Master Ezra..."
He begged.
The sa man who had followed Zara.
The sa man who had watched countless things happen.
The sa man who had chosen his side.
Bang!
The gunshot echoed through the prison chambers.
Dan’s voice disappeared imdiately.
His body went limp and his head slumped forward.
Blood slowly dripped from the hole in his skull while smoke drifted from the muzzle of Ezra’s Kel-Tec PMR-30.
For a few seconds, Ezra remained standing there with his arm extended, then he lowered the handgun.
Turned around.
And walked away.
When Ezra finally stepped out of the prison chambers, the sight that greeted him barely resembled the Sterling Estate he once knew.
The beautiful mansion was gone.
Parts of the estate were still burning.
Orange flas crawled across shattered furniture and collapsed roofs.
Black smoke rose into the night sky.
Broken antiques lay scattered everywhere.
The stone paths were cracked.
The walls had collapsed in several places.
The once-neat gardens had beco battlefields filled with blood and corpses.
The entire estate looked like the aftermath of a war.
Ezra calmly climbed the stairs.
Step.
Step.
Step.
His expression never changed.
No childhood mories resurfaced.
No attachnt remained.
No nostalgia existed.
Whatever connection he once had with this place had died long ago.
Eventually, he arrived before a familiar door.
Zavier’s office.
Ezra pushed it open gently.
Creak.
The room was quiet.
"You managed to make it here alive."
Zavier’s voice sounded sarcastic.
The Baron stood before the large Sterling crest mounted on the wall.
His back faced the entrance with his hands resting inside his pockets.
His gaze remained fixed on the family symbol.
Ezra didn’t respond.
Not even a word.
His eyes briefly moved toward Helen.
She was crying.
March stood beside her, trying desperately to calm her down.
The old butler looked exhausted.
Emotionally exhausted.
The events of the day had visibly aged him.
When he noticed Ezra entering, relief appeared in his eyes.
"Young Mas..."
Bang!
The gunshot interrupted him.
The sound exploded through the office.
March’s head snapped backward with blood spraying across the floor.
His body collapsed instantly.
Helen froze.
Her eyes widened and her mouth opened.
Yet no sound ca out.
She stared at March’s fallen body.
Blood slowly spread beneath him with terror filling her eyes.
***********************************************************************
Hi guys!
Shaless Author Joe here...
So, it seems everyone really wants an extra Chapter, and I truly appreciate the enthusiasm! Unfortunately, I won’t be able to release one right now because I haven’t built up enough Chapter stock yet.
That’s also why you may have noticed that I haven’t held any events where reaching certain goals unlocks extra Chapters.
But...
I am actively working on stockpiling Chapters because I want to be able to consistently give you guys the content you deserve.
Around the third or fourth week, I’ll be dropping another Mass Release of 10 Chapters with no strings attached. Before then, I’ll also be introducing Chapter goal events where you can help unlock even more Chapters.
Please bear with a little longer.
Thank you for all the support!
Also, I have a FPs code that I’ll be giving away to ten fans.
Make sure to join the Discord server because that’s where the giveaway event will take place.
All Top 5 readers, please join the Discord server and send a private ssage to claim your code. As for the remaining five winners, I’ll post the details on how they’ll be selected in the server.
Thank you all once again for your support and appreciation. It truly ans a lot to !
Discord Link: sdiscord.gg/m8YbJMX5
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