Chương 59: The One Thing Infinite Mana Couldn’t Save

The shadow moved through the smoke above the ruined ceiling, and Sieghart immediately raised his left hand. Water gathered beneath his palm as he prepared Water Cannon. He did not know whether the figure caused the explosion, but waiting for an explanation seemed dangerously optimistic. Before Sieghart could release the spell, another explosion erupted behind him. The remaining wall shattered inward, and the shockwave lifted Sieghart from the soaked floor.

He flew through smoke and burning fragments with no control over his body. Protection absorbed part of the force, but the impact still drove the breath from his lungs. His prepared Water Cannon collapsed before he could aim it. Sieghart expected to strike the opposite wall. Instead, a hand emerged from the smoke and caught him by the shoulder. The figure pulled Sieghart close before leaping through the opening in the roof. Wind roared around them as the man carried him away from the collapsing room.

A third explosion tore through the farmhouse before they landed. Flames erupted from the upper floor, followed by another violent impact near the kitchen. Windows shattered outward while burning furniture and broken wood scattered across the yard. The stranger jumped again without releasing Sieghart. A sequence of explosions traveled through the house behind them, destroying one section after another. Each blast carried enough power to tear walls apart.

The farmhouse seemed to fold inward as the support beams broke beneath the repeated impacts. The stranger landed beyond the wooden fence and rolled across the grass while shielding Sieghart with his body. Burning fragments rained behind them. Sieghart remained disoriented for several seconds. His ears rang, his vision shook, and every breath carried smoke into his lungs. When his sight cleared, he looked toward the farmhouse. The entire building was burning.

Flames covered the roof and poured through the empty windows. Half of the upper floor had collapsed into the rooms below, while the remaining walls leaned at dangerous angles. Another section broke apart while Sieghart watched. The stone chimney split near the middle and crashed through the kitchen roof, releasing a cloud of sparks. His mind went completely blank. The farmhouse had represented safety for most of his second life.

It contained his books, his training notes, their meals, and every ordinary memory he possessed in this world. None of that mattered. Sieghart searched the yard for his grandparents. He looked toward the barn, the fields, the road, and the sections of ground untouched by the explosions. Neither Edric nor Elara appeared anywhere. They had been sleeping downstairs. Their room occupied the opposite side of the house from Sieghart's, near the section that collapsed first after he escaped.

The stranger continued gripping Sieghart's shoulder. His hood had fallen during their escape, revealing short dark hair and a face partially concealed by soot. Sieghart did not recognize him. That realization broke through the emptiness inside his mind. An unknown man had appeared inside the farmhouse moments before a sequence of explosions destroyed it. Sieghart raised both hands. Earth gathered from the ground around them and compressed into dozens of small projectiles.

He fired before the stranger understood what he was doing. Earth Bullets struck the man across his legs, waist, arms, and chest. The impacts produced a rapid series of dull cracks as the stranger twisted away. His clothing prevented the projectiles from piercing deeply, but several tore through the outer fabric. The remaining bullets struck with enough force to bruise flesh and damage bone. The stranger released Sieghart and staggered backward.

"Ouch! Stop! I came here to help!" Sieghart prepared another group of Earth Bullets.

"Let me go!"

"I already did!" The stranger raised both hands while retreating another step. His face tightened with pain when his weight shifted onto his right leg. Sieghart dropped to the ground and rolled before rising into a crouch. The sudden movement made the yard tilt around him, but he forced himself to remain standing. The man examined his damaged legs and massaged the place where several Earth Bullets had struck. His trousers were nearly pierced in multiple areas.

The projectiles had probably cracked or bruised the bones beneath the impact points. The stranger still remained upright, which suggested some form of combat Aura strengthened his body. Sieghart did not care. He turned toward the burning farmhouse and began running.

"Wait!" Sieghart ignored him. He needed to extinguish the flames, remove the debris, and find his grandparents. Everything else could wait until afterward. The heat became more intense with every step. Burning pieces of wood covered the yard, while sparks drifted toward the barn and nearby fields. If Sieghart failed to control the fire quickly, it would spread across the farm. The dry crops could carry the flames farther than Water Cannon could follow. That problem barely registered inside his mind.

He continued looking for movement between the burning walls. Perhaps Edric had escaped through a window. Elara might have reached the kitchen or protected herself with water magic. They had years of magical experience. They could have survived, even if the house had collapsed before Sieghart reached them. The stranger caught up despite his damaged legs. His hand closed around Sieghart's shoulder again before pulling him to a stop.

"Don't go in there." Sieghart tried to break free, but the man's grip remained stronger than his physical body could overcome.

"Let go!"

"You can't help them." Sieghart turned his head slowly.

"You don't know that!" The stranger's expression hardened. Smoke moved between them while flames reflected across his dark eyes.

"I can't sense their presences anymore." For a moment, Sieghart heard nothing except the burning farmhouse. Even the ringing inside his ears seemed to disappear. The stranger continued speaking, but Sieghart no longer understood the words. His mind focused entirely on the hand restraining his shoulder. Sieghart gathered wind above his palm and swung toward the man's head. Wind Blade crossed the short distance almost instantly. The stranger released Sieghart and twisted aside.

The crescent of compressed air passed beside his face and cut through several strands of dark hair. If the man had reacted slightly slower, Wind Blade would have opened his skull. Sieghart felt no relief that the attack missed.

"You little—" Sieghart ran before the stranger completed the sentence. Heat struck him as he approached the farmhouse. Protection spread beneath his skin and adjusted slightly, taking on the flowing nature he previously used against the Firian leader's flames. The spell reduced the temperature touching his body, but breathing remained difficult. Smoke gathered across the yard and entered his lungs whenever the wind shifted. Sieghart pointed both hands toward the burning roof.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Using Water Cannon directly against unstable walls might cause the remaining structure to collapse. He needed to distribute the water over a larger area. Sieghart aimed upward and activated the spell. A thick column of water erupted from his palms and climbed into the night sky. He adjusted the stream until it curved above the farmhouse. The water lost pressure near its highest point and broke apart.

Thousands of heavy droplets fell across the burning structure like artificial rain. Steam exploded from the roof as water struck the flames. The fire weakened in several places but continued spreading through the lower floor. Sieghart maintained Water Cannon until the spell reached its limit. Several seconds of continuous water covered most of the house and soaked the surrounding ground. The moment the spell ended, Sieghart activated it again. His infinite mana supplied water without hesitation.

Mental strain built behind his eyes, but he ignored the pressure and continued flooding the flames. Several roof beams collapsed as the water increased their weight. Sieghart saw them falling and adjusted the next blast away from that section. He needed to extinguish the fire without burying whatever remained beneath additional debris. The balance required more control than using Water Cannon as an attack. Sieghart launched water upward for a third time.

The artificial rain covered the center of the house while steam rolled across the yard in thick clouds. The stranger remained behind him, no longer attempting to interfere. Whether he feared another Wind Blade or understood that stopping Sieghart had become impossible no longer mattered. Water could not reach every section. Some flames burned beneath collapsed walls and broken furniture, protected from the rain by layers of debris. Sieghart extended both hands toward the ground.

Sand and loose soil rose from the yard in broad waves. He guided the material toward the burning sections of the house and spread it over the exposed flames. The sand smothered one area after another without striking the structure violently. It also covered the glowing embers that Water Cannon failed to extinguish. Sieghart controlled as much ground as his range allowed before stepping closer. The heat weakened, but collapsing walls remained dangerous. A burning beam fell toward him from the upper floor.

Sieghart raised one hand and released a wind blast that pushed it aside. The beam landed near the fence and scattered sparks. Sieghart immediately buried it beneath a layer of wet sand. He continued alternating between Water Cannon and Sand Control. Water weakened the largest flames, while sand suffocated whatever remained. The farmhouse gradually disappeared beneath steam, smoke, and darkness. Red embers replaced the orange flames until those also vanished under soaked earth.

Sieghart lost track of how many times he used Water Cannon. The pressure inside his skull intensified with every casting. His arms became numb from recoil, and his small body trembled from exhaustion. None of those limitations mattered while even one flame remained. It did not take long to extinguish the fire completely. With infinite mana and several elements under his control, Sieghart accomplished in minutes what ordinary people might have required hours to achieve. The farmhouse remained a ruin.

Most of the second floor had collapsed into the first. Only part of one exterior wall remained standing, blackened and soaked by water. Sieghart stared at the wreckage while steam drifted around him. Now that the flames had vanished, the silence felt worse. He still could not see his grandparents. Sieghart stepped into the ruins. The stranger followed several meters behind him but made no attempt to interfere. His damaged legs caused him to limp across the wet ground.

Sieghart used Wind Magic to push smoke away from his face. He controlled the air carefully, avoiding enough force to disturb unstable debris. His grandparents' room had been located near the eastern wall. That entire section was buried beneath the collapsed upper floor and part of the chimney. Sieghart climbed over a broken beam before using sand to support the unstable ground beneath him. Water dripped from everything around him. The remains of the staircase leaned against a shattered wall.

His room had disappeared completely, leaving only several fragments of furniture buried under the roof. Sieghart ignored the destruction and moved toward the place where his grandparents should have been sleeping. He used Wind Magic to lift smaller pieces of wood and push them aside. Larger beams required sand to distribute their weight before he could move them safely. Every removed piece revealed more broken furniture, scorched cloth, and shattered stone. Sieghart searched each new opening for movement.

"Grandpa!" His voice sounded small beneath the ruined walls.

"Grandma!" No one answered. Sieghart continued digging. The stranger approached but stopped when Sieghart glared at him. He raised his hands again and remained several steps away.

"You shouldn't have to see this."

"They might still be alive!" The man's expression tightened, but he did not repeat what he sensed. Perhaps he finally understood that Sieghart would not accept words as evidence. Sieghart pushed aside the remains of a cabinet and recognized part of the bedroom floor beneath it. He had reached the correct room. The bed had been crushed beneath several support beams. One side disappeared under pieces of the stone chimney, while the other had broken completely.

Sieghart strengthened Protection and grabbed the closest beam. His physical strength could not move it, so he used wind from beneath while sand supported the opposite side. The beam rose slowly. Sieghart pushed it aside and immediately searched the space beneath it. Broken blankets and clothing remained trapped under the debris. Something pale extended from beneath a blackened section of wood. Sieghart stopped moving. At first, his mind refused to identify what he saw.

It looked like a piece of scorched material covered in ash. Then he recognized the fingers. An arm rested beneath the broken beam, separated above the elbow. A familiar metal ring remained around one finger. Elara always removed that ring while working in the fields because she feared losing it in the soil. She wore it at night and during meals. Sieghart stared at the hand without breathing. His thoughts vanished again. There was no fear, anger, pain, or understanding inside his mind. Only emptiness remained.

The stranger said something behind him, but the words sounded distant and meaningless. Sieghart reached toward the arm before stopping several centimeters away. It could not belong to Elara. Perhaps the attackers brought someone else into the house. Perhaps the ring merely looked similar beneath the ash and darkness. Sieghart moved another section of debris. A leg appeared beneath the remains of the bed. The lower half had been separated near the knee, but the boot remained recognizable.

Edric had repaired that boot several times rather than purchasing another pair. Elara frequently complained that it would eventually become more patches than leather. Sieghart remembered listening to them argue about it during breakfast. His vision blurred. He blinked repeatedly, but the ruins remained distorted. Tears rolled down his face and mixed with the water, soot, and dust covering his skin.

"No…" The word escaped quietly. Sieghart moved faster. He threw smaller pieces of debris aside with Wind Magic and forced the sand beneath larger sections to lift them. His careful control began breaking apart. Wood struck the remaining walls. Stones rolled across the soaked floor, while damaged furniture shattered beneath the force of his movements. The stranger approached again.

"Stop. The structure is unstable." Sieghart did not respond. He found another arm beneath the collapsed chimney. Then part of a torso appeared under the broken bedframe. The explosions had torn the room apart before the fire spread. Edric and Elara probably died without ever understanding what happened. Sieghart continued searching because leaving any part of them beneath the house felt unbearable. He could not explain why gathering everything mattered, but stopping was impossible. He cried openly while working.

His breath broke into uneven gasps, and his hands trembled whenever the magic failed to respond immediately. The adult mind carried from his previous life provided no protection. Knowing what death meant only made each discovery worse. Sieghart had died once. He understood that there might be another world, another life, or some strange awareness waiting beyond the end. That possibility offered no comfort. Even if his grandparents continued somewhere else, Sieghart remained here without them.

He found the remaining pieces one after another and carefully moved them away from the unstable debris. The wind that had thrown beams aside became gentle whenever it touched them. Sieghart arranged what he recovered on an intact section of the floor. He tried not to look closely, but he recognized their clothing, hands, and familiar belongings. When everything had been found, Sieghart knelt beside them. His mana remained infinite.

He could produce enough water to drown the ruins, enough fire to create a crater, and enough wind to lift himself from the ground. None of it mattered. Sieghart placed both hands against what remained of his grandparents and activated First Aid. Mana flowed from his palms. Nothing happened. There was no pulse for the spell to strengthen, no blood carrying mana through living vessels, and no wounded body attempting to recover. First Aid could help someone who remained alive.

It could not decide that scattered remains still counted as a person. Sieghart continued casting anyway. He poured more mana into the spell, forcing it through both hands until his head felt ready to split apart. The magic dispersed without finding anything it could heal.

"No…" His voice cracked. Sieghart tried again. Infinite mana answered every command he gave, but for the first time since his reincarnation, endless power felt completely useless. He lowered his head over the people who had raised him and cried until he could no longer see the ruins around them.