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Chapter 364: The Weight of the Soul (5)

Instinct.

That sense, honed across countless battlefields, screams.

That the being standing before him right now is not Chan.

‘A vessel.’

Just as Itaca had used him as a vessel, Chan too had merely become someone else’s vessel.

Only, unlike coexistence, this one was theft.

“Hoo… haa.”

The thing that had taken over Chan’s body exhaled deeply and lazily stretched out both arms.

Then, as if appraising an object, it turned its palms over, examining its new body.

“Not quite to my liking. But for temporary use… it’s not bad.”

“…Who the hell are you?”

The opponent gave no answer to that blunt question.

It simply stared intently at his face, as if trying to understand something.

“……”

An unpleasant gaze.

It felt as though it were checking whether even the slightest scratch had marred something precious.

And above all, he didn’t like those hollow eyes, as if detached from everything.

‘Like….’

The moment a presence he did not want to recall brushed through his mind—

Chan, meeting his gaze directly, moved his lips.

“O, sca.”

He called his name.

“Sage.”

“……!”

Not Crucian, but the name from his previous life.

Oscar’s eyes widened in shock, and the following words continued in a whisper.

“Was it worth it… to throw away everything precious?”

“What?”

“The brief peace… you gained by killing me.”

For a moment, his thoughts stopped, and his mind went blank.

“……What?”

Like a stupid parrot.

Like a broken grandfather clock.

He could only repeat the same words.

Watching him, Chan tilted his head to the side.

“Strange. There’s no way… you don’t know who I am.” 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Silence followed.

Srrk, srrk.

The only sound filling the space was that of black lines slithering like snakes.

“Ah.”

At that moment, the other spoke.

“So… that’s how it is.”

As if he finally understood, he slowly nodded his head.

“You… have been denying me all this time, haven’t you?”

BEEEE—

The moment he heard those words, a ringing filled his ears and his vision wavered.

Chan’s figure split into two, then three, and his heartbeat began to accelerate.

Thump, thump.

His breathing grew ragged.

Cold sweat spread across his skin, and his head burned hot.

“……”

Truthfully, he had known.

When he consumed the Dragon Heart and peered into his inner self, the moment he encountered that demon there—

he had felt its demonic energy.

‘The demonic energy possessed only by the Four Counts… and the Emperor.’

No matter how much time had passed, no matter that the body had changed,

it was so dense that it could never be forgotten.

The energy that being emitted was unmistakably that.

‘…But the Four Counts are still alive.’

He had even met one of them—Descartes—in person.

Then that thing before him was not one of the Four Counts.

Which meant all other possibilities naturally vanished, leaving only a single answer.

“…Why?”

A heavily cracked voice escaped Oscar’s lips.

“Why are you… still alive?”

His stomach churned.

Nausea surged upward.

Marlon, who had told him to act as his heart guided him no matter the outcome.

Radan, who said he would believe in him regardless of the result.

Magiro, who muttered that this was madness yet stayed with him until the very end.

The faces of those who had given their lives to kill that bastard flickered before his eyes like worn-out photographs.

And the words he had told those who doubted him came to mind.

Your deaths will not be in vain.

That noble sacrifice will grant humanity peace—a future called tomorrow.

That was what he had said.

And he had made them believe it.

That this choice was right.

That it wouldn’t be wrong.

With carefully embellished words, he had driven them toward death, and they had willingly died alongside him.

But the result—

“…No.”

Oscar slowly raised his head and stared at the being before him with empty eyes.

“You shouldn’t be standing in front of me right now. If you are… then what meaning did their deaths even have…?”

“Hm.”

Chan looked at him with pity, as though observing an abandoned animal.

“You still cling… to such fleeting things.”

“Talk!”

At Oscar’s lion’s roar, the space trembled.

The black lines writhing along the walls all froze at once—

like herbivores holding their breath upon hearing a beast’s roar.

“Tell me why you’re standing in front of me.”

Oscar growled lowly.

Facing that raw fury head-on, Chan slowly opened his mouth.

“…People all die someday.”

His voice was calm, as if stating that the moon rises at night and the sun rises in the morning.

“Even at this very moment, somewhere on the continent, people are dying. And they likely didn’t even get to choose the day they would die.”

Chan tilted his head slightly.

As if he couldn’t understand such an inefficient conversation at all.

“From that perspective, at least your companions—who chose their own day to die—didn’t they make the better choice?”

“……!”

A better choice?

Those words pierced his ears strangely.

They stabbed into his heart.

Thump, thump—each beat brought a dull pain.

“Stop…”

Oscar barely opened his mouth, forcing out his voice.

“That’s enough. So stop talking.”

He didn’t want the word choice to be used for their decision.

They had been driven to the brink, pushed by people’s expectations—

and they had made that decision because they believed in someone as pathetic as him.

“Don’t spout bullshit like you understand everything.”

Oscar’s gaze changed sharply.

“Once you’re gone, there won’t be any problem anyway.”

Crunch!

In an instant, the blade of divinity he swung pierced into Chan’s neck.

“……”

But the blade merely touched his neck—it did not cut through.

“I felt it even when I was inside. You’ve obtained quite an irritating power.”

A palm wrapped in demonic energy gently pushed the divine blade away.

Crack.

The blade shattered into pieces and scattered, and an even more vile demonic energy filled the laboratory.

“But what matters is the result. Though the plan went slightly awry, in the end… I have returned.”

Chan—no, the Emperor—declared his return in a small rural laboratory with an expression devoid of emotion.

Srrk.

Then he turned his head and muttered,

“It will arrive soon.”

“……”

There was no subject, but he knew what he meant.

What came to mind were the black lines streaking across the night sky.

He remembered they were headed toward the city.

“Are you… really fine? Staying here like this?”

“……”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“Thousands. They will become my sustenance… and die.”

The Emperor’s gaze returned to Oscar.

And he whispered softly, as if tempting him.

“Choose. Save the people… or fight me.”

“……”

It felt similar to 21 years ago, when he stood on the hill overlooking the Emperor’s fortress.

When he had the wounded Emperor right before him,

he had dangled the bait of the White Tower and urged a retreat.

“Now then… will you make the same choice as back then?”

“……”

“Will you abandon the people again?”

“……”

Everything fades.

The sound of the black lines writhing.

The pounding of his heart as his breath grew ragged.

All of it grows faint and distant.

Thump, thump.

Only the sound of his heart echoes in his ears.

“……”

Oscar slowly lowered his head.

A floor filled with black lines.

The lines split apart, revealing a scene.

The hill from which the Emperor’s fortress could be seen.

The fierce wind of that day, the bright moonlight, the heavy scent of earth.

And the eyes that had looked at him.

“……”

Much time had passed since then, yet he still stood here.

Nothing had changed from that day.

The same question.

The same man.

“……”

Oscar remained silent for a long time.

Then slowly, he raised his head and looked at the Emperor.

“Hm.”

Eyes firm, without even the slightest wavering.

The moment the Emperor recognized he had reached a conclusion—

KWA-A-A-ANG!

A beam of divinity shot forth like a laser.

“As expected.”

The Emperor lightly deflected it and nodded.

“So you haven’t changed.”

The same question as 21 years ago, and the same answer returned.

“But will you be alright? The divinity you possess has lost most of its power. At best, you can maintain combat using that power for about three minutes.”

Just as divinity had assessed the Emperor, he too had grasped its limits.

Oscar did not answer and instead forcibly drew up more divine power.

—You need to calm down!

Itaca, seeing Oscar this enraged for the first time, tried to stop him.

—If you move like this, you’ll only help the enemy! Using this level of output will drastically shorten the time I can maintain my power—

“It doesn’t matter.”

Before the words could even fade, Oscar’s figure shot forward.

Black lines rained down like spears from all directions, but he didn’t bother dodging.

Wooooong!

Divinity surged like waves, erasing the incoming lines all at once.

Oscar forced his way through the brief opening created in that instant.

—Twice! At this output, you can only use it twice!

Meanwhile, the Emperor remained relaxed.

With just a light wave of his hand—

Srrk, srrrk.

The black lines, as if they had never disappeared, swelled and reappeared once more.

‘Twice, huh.’

Oscar glanced around.

Dark.

Pitch black.

In this place overflowing with black lines, there wasn’t even a single square meter for him.

KWA-A-A-A!

A black line suddenly surged up from the ground and lashed him like a whip.

“Ghk!”

Oscar was sent flying backward, tangling with laboratory equipment as he rolled across the floor.

But there was no time to groan in pain or check his wounds.

Shwik! Shwaeek!

Thousands of black lines shot toward him—sometimes like spears, sometimes like whips.

Each one deadly enough to threaten his life.

“Itaca, we break through to the Emperor in one go.”

—Remember. Only twice. Even if you reach him—

“It’s fine. I’ll handle the rest.”

—…Understood.

Itaca complied.

In an instant, sacred power poured forth relentlessly from his entire body.

—This is the first.

“Thanks. I’m going!”

Oscar charged recklessly toward the Emperor.

The black lines rose like a wall to block him, but he forcibly broke through them.

‘It’s working.’

The Emperor still hadn’t fully recovered.

Which meant—wrapped in divinity like this,

there was no means for the opponent to stop him.

‘…Just a little more!’

With each passing second, the divine energy emanating from his body grew fainter.

In the end, the divinity ran out just five steps away from the Emperor.

“Itaca!”

—…Good. Go! This is the best I can give you!

The dim, candle-like glow of divinity suddenly burst into brilliance like the sun.

At the same time, Oscar hurled himself toward the Emperor.

‘Reach him.’

Breaking through dozens of layers of black walls—

Just as Oscar’s fist was about to strike the Emperor’s chin—

“…It reached.”

The Emperor’s voice became clearer.

Their eyes met midair—those emotionless eyes—and Oscar realized.

‘The black lines…?’

The black lines the Emperor had sent out had just now connected to the citizens of Rangle.

Crunch!

Immediately after, the body of a Level 7 martial artist twisted Oscar’s wrist.

“Ghk!”

“Your momentum is the same as before. But there is one difference between then and now.”

The Emperor grabbed Oscar by the neck in return and slowly lifted him up.

The overwhelming strength tightened around his throat, cutting off his breath.

“That is… you are not as strong as you were back then.”

His vision blurred rapidly, and his consciousness grew hazy.

If he closed his eyes now, would he be able to see them again?

“……”

He didn’t know.

But if he were to meet them again, there was something he wanted to say.

‘The truth is… I never had any certainty about the choice I made that day.’

So perhaps their deaths had been in vain.

That he was sorry.

Even now, he still didn’t know what the correct answer to the Emperor’s question from 21 years ago had been.

But at least, he felt like he knew the answer to the question he was asked today.

“First of all… I don’t like either option.”

Oscar groped at his waist.

Then, the moment the Emperor sensed something and shifted his gaze—

Crunch!

Like a ghost, Oscar pulled something out and stabbed it into the back of his neck.

“…This is.”

For the first time, the Emperor frowned, showing emotion.

Looking down at him, Oscar curled one corner of his lips upward in satisfaction.

It was a part of a machine from the laboratory.

“Magiro was right. Turns out… I’m a bit greedy.”

He didn’t want to sacrifice anyone again for the sake of a goal.

But he also had no intention of dancing to the opponent’s tune.

“So first… I’ll swallow you back.”

Click.

As Oscar pressed the button, a short beep— echoed through the space.

“Ghk!”

From the Emperor’s body, a soul began to be extracted.

[Translator - Night]

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