The air of Artoria was thick with electricity and saltiness.
I paid Jack with three gold coins that I took from the ring and I stepped out of the car in front of Bar Plantis feeling the weight of destiny on my shoulders.
"Wait for me here for twenty minutes Jack." I said handing him a generous extra.
"This money will serve for your daughter's studies."
Jack nodded with gratitude mixed with worry but he asked no questions.
I could not allow history to repeat itself.
In the original novel all the hostages of that night were sold to mad scientists for unspeakable experiments on elves vampires and humans.
Amis would have discovered everything too late finding only corpses and blood.
I was there instead to change the ending.
Bar Plantis was an architectural wonder made of glass and polished steel a monument to the unbridled wealth of the Empire.
Despite the high-tech luxury of the structure it hid a black and pulsing heart of depravity.
I opened the system interface while I was walking toward a dark alley.
I spent 600 SP to buy a [Mana Pulse Bomb - Rank B] and a [Void Mask] with the remaining 200 SP.
I put on the mask which adhered to my face like a second skin becoming invisible so as to hide my features.
I approached the side entrance where a man in a technological tuxedo checked the access via a retinal scanner.
"The moon does not shine for the dead." I whispered the secret password that I had read between the lines of the novel.
The man nodded and let me pass without asking any questions.
I entered the underground floor of Bar Plantis.
It was a vast circular space illuminated by beams of blue and purple neon light that danced on holographic gaming tables and magical barriers.
The light in the auction room was very dark and the only lights were exclusively pointed at the cage in the center.
There dozens of people were crowded together with torn clothes.
Some had red eyes which was a sign of incessant tears while others had almost no sign of life.
Their eyes had lost any will to fight to stay alive.
I tried to distract myself from the emotions that were passing through my heart because I still had an objective.
I approached a dimly lit corridor toward the central energy plant.
I saw in the distance two guards who were talking to each other in front of two normal-looking doors.
[Marcus] (Rank D+).
[Jonathan] (Rank D).
They were stronger than me, but it was nothing that I could not handle with the element of surprise.
I tried to control the mana around me forming four crystal needles of medium size.
One of the guards turned suddenly but by then it was too late.
The mana had condensed into pure ice and the needles crashed with precision into the legs of the two men.
I did not give them time to process the situation.
With a lightning-fast sprint I found myself in front of them summoning a sharp spear.
[Tide Spear] ★★★.
The water spear overwhelmed them pushing them against the walls and making them faint instantly.
I entered the engine room with a decisive movement and I hit the mana core that powered the entire building.
A series of mechanical noises were heard and immediately after total darkness swallowed Bar Plantis.
The screams of panic began to resonate everywhere.
I moved quickly toward the cages and I threw the mana bomb up.
The sound of the explosion filled the entire space.
The structure that was once impeccable began to crumble upon itself.
I did not have time to think because my ears were ringing and my heart was pounding wildly.
I ran toward the auction room where the central cage was still closed.
"Get out of here!" I screamed concentrating every ounce of my ice mana.
The freezing explosion shattered the bars of the cage allowing the prisoners to escape in the chaos.
But while I was trying to make everyone escape in the confusion I noticed three figures who remained motionless.
Two boys and a girl were crouching on the ground with their gaze fixed on the void.
I looked at their eyes and I immediately understood the reason for their choice.
Their will to live had already ceased.
I did not dare to imagine what they had experienced in the laboratories of the bar.
I tried to push them to move but I did not have time.
An explosion of roaring flames destroyed the main door.
Victor the boss of the bar entered the room with an expression of pure madness.
"No one escapes from my property!" He roared unleashing a wave of incinerating fire.
In an instant the three kids in front of me were enveloped by the flames.
Their screams did not seem human they were excruciating sounds of agony that stopped with a sinister cracking of bones.
I saw their skin turn black and split while they became human torches before my eyes.
The smell of charred flesh hit me deeply making me lose my breath.
Only a little girl a fainted vampire girl and an elven boy remained.
I used all the remaining mana to summon a swirling water barrier to protect us.
"Take the girl and run!!" I yelled at the elven boy.
He nodded with pure terror and he grabbed the vampire while I took the small child in my arms.
I smashed a side window and we ran into the darkness of the night with our lungs burning.
Jack was still there with the engine running.
We got into the car urgently closing the doors.
"Jack drive to the Hotel Osem." I ordered with a raspy voice.
The journey was full of tension.
Next to me the elven boy was shaken by a devastating emotional turmoil.
It was not a soft crying but a convulsive trembling that shook his frail body.
He sobbed without stopping and his fingers gripped the clothes of the vampire so hard that his knuckles had turned white.
Every time he closed his eyes he seemed to see again the flash of fire that had reduced his companions to ashes.
We arrived in front of the Hotel Osem which was a luxury giant in the heart of Artoria.
We entered the hall dirty with soot wet and trembling attracting the stares of everyone.
The receptionist looked at us with disdain and confusion.
"Can I help you? This is not a shelter kids." she said with a cold voice seeing children asking for an apartment for two nights.
"Do you even know how much a room costs here?"
"The name is Rain Glaciel." I said with a cold whisper that cut the air.
The effect was immediate.
The woman turned pale and her hands began to move hurriedly on the keyboard.
The name of one of the Great Ducal Families inspired a reverential fear.
"My apologies, Mr. Glaciel, I did not recognize you," she stammered, directing us immediately toward the imperial suite after I gave her a gold coin.
Once we arrived in the apartment I saw an immense double bed in the center of the room.
I helped the boy to lay down Iris the vampire girl and Miri the small child.
The boy curled up next to them seeking warmth and protection.
He seemed familiar with them as if they had been imprisoned in the same place for a long time.
"What is your name?" I asked trying to maintain my calm.
"Levi." he murmured with swollen eyes. "And yours?"
"Rain." I answered briefly.
Levi nodded and he fell asleep almost immediately because of the shock and exhaustion.
Only when I was sure that everyone was sleeping did I head toward the bathroom and I closed the door.
I fell to my knees in front of the toilet and I began to vomit violently.
My stomach turned over until nothing remained but the acid taste of smoke did not want to leave my throat.
I dragged myself toward the sink and I splashed my face with freezing water.
I could still hear their screams tearing the silence.
Outwardly I seemed stoic and controlled but inside of me chaos reigned.
My body trembled without stopping while I tried to stifle a cry against the cold marble of the sink.
Every time I closed my eyes I saw the scene again in slow motion.
The orange glow of the flames that covered the faces of those people a moment before they disappeared into the smoke.
It was not like reading a book.
This was reality.
I clung to the edges of the sink so hard that my knuckles turned white.
"Why did they not move?" I whispered to my reflected image.
I knew the answer.
The trauma was not only physical but also mental.
Victor had not only killed their bodies but he had consumed their soul.
I looked at my reflection and for an instant I did not recognize the person in the mirror.
The features were those of Rain Glaciel but the eyes belonged to someone who had just seen hell and had come out with dirty hands.
I left the bathroom trying not to make noise on the luxurious rugs of the suite.
The room was immersed in silence broken only by the heavy and irregular breathing of Levi.
He was still sleeping curled up on the edge of the bed protecting the two girls with his own body even in his sleep.
I approached the window and I slightly moved the silk curtain looking out toward the skyline of Artoria.
The lights of the skyscrapers shone like artificial stars unaware of the fact that a few kilometers away a bar was burning along with dozens of secrets.
I knew that by morning the news of the attack on Bar Plantis would travel through the Empire.
I had to return to the Exas Academy and pretend that nothing had happened.
I sat on an armchair in the dark corner of the room keeping my back straight.
The trembling in my hands was fading replaced by a cold determination that scared me.
If I wanted to save billions of people I had to accept that I could not save everyone.
Levi Iris and Miri were no longer just background characters or sacrificial victims.
They had become the living proof that destiny could be bent.
I felt the weight of exhaustion crushing my shoulders but my mind continued to race.
I had to think about how to hide these three kids.
They could not stay at the Hotel Osem for long.
The staff of the hotel was discreet but the Glaciel name attracted too much attention.
I would have to find a safe apartment in Artoria.
I looked at Levi and I noticed that his clothes were torn revealing thin and geometric scars on his back.
They were marks of magical experiments.
Bar Plantis was not only a brothel or a clandestine auction but it was a sorting center for high-quality human materials.
The anger that I had tried to stifle came back to the surface cold and sharp.
The Empire bragged about its modernity and its etiquette but on the lower floors evil still ruled as queen.
I stood up and went toward the small bar of the suite pouring myself a glass of water.
My hands were no longer trembling.
This was the real change.
It was not a system skill or a magical enhancement.
It was the awareness that in this world mercy was a luxury that led only to death.
I had saved Levi and the girls not out of kindness but because I knew they would have a role in the future that I was building.
Iris was not a normal vampire but the daughter of the current queen of the vampires.
During a journey to the planet of Levas the humans kidnapped Iris and she was never found again until the second half of the novel.
This thought made me feel even dirtier but I accepted it.
If the price to save the world was becoming the villain of my own story I would pay it gladly.
As the first light of dawn began to filter through the curtains illuminating the dust that danced in the air I approached the bed.
I observed Iris, the vampire girl.
Her breathing was weak and her skin was so pale that it seemed transparent.
Miri, the child,was clutching the pillow tightly murmuring something in her sleep.
They were so fragile.
And yet they had survived Victor.
I took my bracelet and checked the messages.
No signal from the academy.
No alarm for my absence.
It seemed that the chaos at the bar had covered my tracks better than expected.
I sat down again in the darkness waiting for the sun to rise completely.
The Rain Glaciel who had entered that bar died in the flames along with those three prisoners.
The one who sat now in that room was someone different.
A man who would no longer wait for events to happen but who would force them with any necessary means.