After the attack, there was pure chaos in the holy city. Nero calmly walked through its streets and saw how the people all panicked and went into their houses and barricaded themselves.

No one knew that he was to blame for the chaos on the outskirts of the city. Nero had taken clothes from one of the corpses so that no one would notice that he had come out of the cave. His hands were bleeding profusely, but he had covered them with gloves from one of the knights.

He knew he had only a small reserve of strength left in him before he was completely drained. His previous attack sucked too much power, but Nero was more than pleased with the results.

He was more than powerful enough to get his revenge. For that, however, he first had to get to his home village, but he had no idea where it was. So he walked down the street and asked a passing guard for the nearest library.

The guard looked at him confused and asked him if he hadn't heard what had happened. Nero said he heard of it and wanted to travel to his homeland while he still could, but he did not know the way. Therefore, he wanted to quickly go to the nearest library to look up the way. The guard thought for a moment, then gave a short description,

"But I don't know if it's open right now. It may be closed."

Nero made a dissatisfied face but then thanked him anyways.

The guard went on immediately, without turning around again. Nero suppressed the desire to kill him. The library was not far away.

Like everything else in this city, it was overly large. Nero tried to open the door, but to his disappointment, it was firmly closed. He knocked firmly against it. It took a while, but finally movement came through the door and it swung open. Behind it stood a little old man who looked at Nero with annoyance,

"What do you want?" he grumbled.

-What do you think, you stupid idiot?-

Nero smiled desperately, "I would need to buy a map of the region. I need it to find my way home. Please help me."

The little man sighed, "Where did you come from?"

Nero had to think for a moment, "From...Tense..."

The librarian frowned,

"Do you mean Tanzis?"

Nero's eyes lit up,

"Yes, that's right. Sorry, it's been quite a long time since I left Tansis."

Again the little man sighed,

"I think we have a map like that. Wait a minute, I'll bring it right out. But it's going to cost."

Nero had already considered this and had taken money from the corpses.

A short time later, the little man came out again, with a large map in his hand. He showed Nero where to find his village, and then gave it to him in exchange for a few coins. Nero quickly thanked him.

The little man just waved his hand,

"After all, we are a library. Now go, I want to sleep."

Only now did Nero realize that the library was closed not because of his attack, but because the little man was simply asleep. Somehow the thought amused Nero. But it didn't matter now, he finally knew how he got to this cursed village.

Just a month ago he thought he would have to endure more than ten years in this cave just to get the chance to get his revenge, but now he was endowed with a supernaturally powerful force.

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Nero was full of confidence and excitement, but first, he had to get to this village. That was easier done than said because the journey took almost a month.

While Nero didn't think he could die from any creature or anything, diseases were no small danger. Especially considering that Nero's immune system was severely weakened due to his long stay in the mine. Besides that, food and water was scarce resource along the way.

Therefore, Nero quickly went to a merchant and bought some supplies.

From the looks of it, the news of his deed had not yet reached this part of the city. But this was not a big surprise, considering how huge this city was. After that was done as well, Nero finally set off.

The journey was arduous and enduring. Nero was sparing with his rations and meanwhile, he noticed something abnormal.

His body seemed much more robust. He could easily walk for hours without feeling the slightest bit of exhaustion. Nero even went so far as to bang his bare fist against a tree. To his surprise, his hand didn't hurt afterward, but actually made a small notch in the tree.

He wasn't exactly certain, but he believed that his healing ability and even his immune system had also become stronger. He was more sure about his healing ability than his immune system. Except for old scars, Nero estimated his wounds were closing about twice as fast.

Nero wasn't completely sure, but he assumed it was also because of that strange black crystal that gave him his magic.

Finally, Nero arrived at his old home village. He smiled slightly. His magic has already fully restored itself and he felt the darkness wall around him. He walked into the village.

He sighed as he looked around. Indeed, it looked quite different without all the snow.

Soon he came to the first house. He knocked and an old Lady opened the door for him. Nero recognized her. Despite a long time, he knew the face of every single person who had been present at his mother's execution that fateful evening.

"Hello," said Nero with a friendly smile.

"Hello?" the woman replied with a furrowed brow, "How can I help?"

"You?" Nero laughed and walked past her, "I'm afraid you can't help me."

The woman went after him, "What are you doing?" she asked, "Get out of my house now!"

"No."

Enraged, the woman reached out for him. Nero turned and just hit her hard in the face. The woman crashed into a table, crying out in fright. A red mark had started to form on her face as she looked at Nero in fear.

Suddenly an old man came storming down the stairs. Behind him followed a slightly younger man and a little girl.

"Ohhhh," said Nero with joy.

"Who are they? Wait let me guess." Nero pointed to the old man, "Your husband. Then that's your son...and then that's probably your granddaughter."

The old man looked at his wife lying on the ground, then at Nero,

"Who are you? What do you want?"

Nero frowned, "Amazing." he said. "

I remember both of you, but you can't remember me? Yet I was only eight years old."

The son of the family got in a rage when he saw his mother injured on the ground. He stamped towards Nero with clenched fists.

Nero kicked him between his legs with all his might. The man let out a deep groan and went down.

The old man looked at Nero and was about to go for him when Nero raised his hand.

He pulled a knife out of his pocket and held it to the son's neck,

"Let's make a game out of it. If you can guess who I am, I'll let your son live. If not...well, that's obvious I guess."

"Dad!" the girl said, startled, but everyone ignored her.

The man was angry, "HOW SHOULD WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE? WE NEVER DID ANYTHING TO YOU!"

Nero looked at the woman, but she was equally perplexed,

"Okay." said Nero gleefully, "I'll give you a hint. You know me from a short day in the long winter of nine years ago."

The man was still just as perplexed, but the woman's eyes lit up.

"You are the son of the witch."

"Witch..." Nero's laughter died away and he rammed the knife into the man's throat. The girl screamed out. The old man roared. He ran at him and lashed out with his hand. Nero knocked him down with a deft blow.

The woman scrambled to her feet,

"You...you demon. You will burn in hell for this, you son of a witch. You spawn of Satan." she stammered full of hate.

Nero looked at her coldly,

"My mother...was a good woman. She was kind and courteous, intelligent and wise...and you burned her..."

"We had no choice. We almost died because of her curse."

"Oh no, you killed an innocent woman. I know that for a fact. Do you want to know why?"

Nero went to the girl and lifted her up by her neck. The old man roared angrily, but Nero kicked him again. His gaze was on the girl. She was young. Probably about eight or nine. Nero didn't really want to kill her, since she wasn't to blame. But unfortunately, she was born into the wrong house into the wrong generation,

"I know that because it wasn't my mother, it was me who cursed you." with that, a long shadow went through the girl's neck and exited her head again. She fell to the ground dead,

"NOOOOO!" the woman screamed with tears in her eyes.

"You have stolen an important person from me and are indirectly responsible for the death of my sister. In return, I will kill all of you. As my sister said, 'We're going to burn them, torture them, and destroy their beautiful little town! We'll kill their mothers and their fathers and murder their children and grandchildren!' I owe her that. For everything she did for me."