Chef in the Apocalypse

Jayce watched on as the petite figure within his hands struggled, letting out shrill screams as it burned to death. There was no trace of emotion on his face, as if he were doing a simple task like taking out the garbage or washing the dishes.

Soon enough the Dryad stopped moving, yet Jayce let the fire continue to burn until nothing but ashes remained. It was far too dangerous to take any risks, especially with what atrocities that small thing had committed in his past life.

Lianna who was still battling the water mage, suddenly saw her opponent drop lifelessly to the floor, like a marionette who had its strings cut. The vine which had been supporting it suddenly withered, as if it had lost its source of power.

"Leah!" She quickly disregarded the lifeless body of the man and ran towards Jayce. "Is she okay?" Despite having blind faith in Jayce, she still felt nervous seeing Leah’s unconscious figure on the ground next to him.

Without waiting for a response, she quickly got down on her knees and began checking her sisters vitals before casting some healing spells on her. Jayce watched on, finally showing a touch of emotion on his face.

Besides the two sisters, he was probably the only person on the Earth who had experienced what they had both gone through. While he had not had to live through it and it had been merely a glimpse of the whole affair, he had had access to Lianna’s thoughts throughout.

Therefore, guilt wracked his entire body, knowing what would happen next. He lowered his head, wanting nothing more than to shut his eyes and close his ears during the next few minutes. Yet he quickly shook his head, this was his choice, he would have to live with it.

Leah’s body arched and she began to seize violently, letting out a breathless scream. He body thrashed around, writhing around in unspeakable pain.

"W-What’s happening?" Lianna panicked, increasing the amount of mana she was pouring into her sister. Her eyes began to blur as tears started forming, before falling down like a natural waterfall over her face.

"Jayce! What do I do? How can I help her?" she turned around, looking towards her emotional pillar. Whenever things looked bleak, he always had a solution, like he could see the future.

Yet when she looked at him, there was no look of confidence, no reassuring smile or gesture that would ease her of the anxiety. His face was contorted with sadness, biting his lip in frustration.

"I-I’m sorry Lianna." He said simply.

Lianna merely looked at him in confusion, the tears still falling down her face. No, Jayce always had a plan, he never did anything without having a backup just in case. So why was now any different?

"But, we have to save her."

Seeing the look of desperation on her face, Jayce felt a sharp pain in his heart. Had he made the right decision to kill the Dryad, even knowing that Leah would not be able to survive the aftermath?

He could tell that Leah had been possessed for much longer than Lianna had been, mostly because she had lost her memories. She did not even recognize her dear sister, even going so far as to ask about their deceased Mother and jailed Father.

Lianna had been possessed by the Dryad for only a few hours, this meant that the brand was not yet at its full capacity. Even with such a weak brand, it had taken the two of them sharing the pain to successfully survive the ordeal.

What kind of pain would Leah be enduring with a fully-fledged brand on her soul right now? From Jayce’s point of view, there was no other way around it. The Dryad had to die, and he did not know of a way to remove the brand.

Thus, he could only make the decision which was for the greater good of humanity, despite the repercussions. Unfortunately, this meant that he had condemned Leah to a torturous death. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Leah continued to thrash on the ground, letting out screams of pain as her body contorted. Lianna stared at Jayce, her face flashing with determination.

"Teach me your Empath skill."

Jayce was startled for a moment, not expecting this request. His mind began to work, thinking about some possibilities that may have not been within his calculations beforehand.

"I can’t teach you my Empath skill." Jayce said simply, however Lianna saw the look in his eyes change. It was as if her emotional crux had returned, filling her with hope. Therefore she did not despair, merely nodding.

"Tell me what do to." She once again placed her full trust in him, after all her sisters life was on the line.

Jayce hurried over to Lianna and knelt down, "We don’t have a lot of time. Continue to heal your sister and don’t pay any attention to me."

With that, he placed his hand on her shoulder and closed his eyes. Lianna did as she was told, sending her healing spells onto Leah who seemed to be in torturous pain.

Using his Empath skill, Jayce focused on the mana that was traveling through Lianna’s body. He tracked its movements, paying close attention to the point where it was turned from raw mana into the restorative and pure healing mana.

His idea was simple, if he could learn how to manipulate healing mana, there might be a way to create a skill which could dispel the brand that was on Leah’s soul. Unfortunately, he didn’t know how much time he had to grasp such a technique.

Not only were clerics the rarest class, he could already tell that producing the right kind of mana would be immensely difficult, let alone under such pressure. Yet he did not have a choice in the matter.

He continued to watch the process and began to pour mana into his own hand, trying to achieve the same result. And then, Jayce suddenly felt a shock run through his arm, causing his arm to ache in pain.