CHAPTER 203: CHAPTER 199: DO YOU AGREE?

Kais looked at the tribals surrounding him and smirked.

"Choose a way to die? Very well," he mumbled. "I’ll duel you all to death, one after the other."

"An honorable death indeed," Xilo nodded, readily agreeing.

The lord had instructed to give the hell raiser whatever he pleased. If that was the case, then so be it.

Xilo looked sideways, selecting a muscular individual from their group. He was the youngest there, and by far the most inexperienced one. The boy would most certainly perish in the duel, but it would also give others the opportunity to exchange blows with a legendary warrior.

However, as the young man was about to strike, something changed. His eyes turned completely black, and he stood still on the spot. Right before their eyes, the man’s body began writhing from the inside.

Seconds later, a completely different man stood before them. The moment the Decans saw him, they went to their knees, praying loudly.

"You’re... their god?" Kais asked.

"A quick observer," Blaze said, smiling. "Since you wanted an honorable death, I decided to help you out."

Kais didn’t reply. He just stood there, frozen in place. It wasn’t because of fear, but more like the dose of reality had been too much for his feeble mind to handle.

Finally, it dawned on him why the Decans worshipped the so-called false god. Kais had been in the service of the thousand gods for as long as he could remember, yet not once had any god granted them an audience like the God of Decay did.

The entire definition of God crumbled in his mind, replaced by a single image of Blaze.

"My Lord... he is unworthy—" Xilo wanted to say something, but one look from Blaze shut him up.

"Unworthy? In my eyes, he is worth a dozen of you," Blaze replied. "Aren’t you, Kais... or should I call you Kaiser?"

Kais’s eyes widened in disbelief upon hearing his long forgotten name.

Kaiser was once the next-in-line to be the chieftain of his tribe. But then his village and everything in it were taken over by Solians. But it was for the better.

Suddenly, they had education, food, and order in the otherwise rowdy tribe. Their status of life went through the roof, but at the cost of their freedom.

Some tried to object, Kaiser’s father being one of them, but was silenced literally, never to be seen or heard again.

Kais clenched his head and fell to his knees as long-lost memories resurfaced. The memory he remembered was nothing but falsely implanted into his head to ensure loyalty to Solia.

All of the thousand temples they had conquered... not one of them had been half as peaceful as they taught the children. They just brainwashed everyone to obey and follow their version of history.

As for how Blaze knew about it, it was simple. Because he was the one who created those memories.

Was the Solian kingdom really so ruthless?

It was debatable, but the kingdom never harmed Kais, or Kaiser, as Blaze had renamed him.

Kaiser and Blaze had held their gaze for a second, and that was enough for the latter to implant a bazillion false memories in Kaiser’s head.

After all, just diseases and might weren’t enough to bring down Sadarla’s greatest kingdom. By planting false memories, he had turned many people within their kingdom into his loyal subjects.

Every plan, every move, every breath of the Solians was reported to him. That was Blaze’s secret weapon, and it will remain a secret for all eternity.

I have the Solians to thank for it. After all, if I hadn’t captured their intelligence agents by chance, I’d have never been able to form such a convincing lie to tell everyone.

"N-No... what is this!?" Kaiser panicked and began hitting his head on the ground. "This isn’t real. It can’t be."

Blaze casually walked over, patting the man’s head.

"Don’t fight the memories, it’ll only make you miserable," he whispered in Kaiser’s ear. "Embrace the truth."

"...truth? This... no, it can’t be... can it?"

Xilo and the others were confused. They were the ones loyal to decay, yet they had never seen or felt their lord being close to them, as he was close to a non-believer.

Perhaps they should betray the lord, too. Maybe then their lord would coax them like he was coaxing Kais.

That was the thought in all of their minds, but the moment such thoughts appeared, a sense of dread washed over them. It was like someone was squeezing their hearts, wanting to crush them.

The next second, they all banged their heads on the ground, groveling for forgiveness. They knew it was their god’s doing. They had heard others feeling something similar whenever the thoughts of betraying the decay appeared in their minds.

For once, they were right about something. It was indeed Blaze’s doing. It just went to show the level of control he had over those miserable people. Not even their thoughts were their own anymore, forget about anything else.

Fools.

Blaze wanted to teach them a lesson, but he didn’t know how much that one lesson would cost him.

"NO!" Kais roared, shoving Blaze back. "I am Kais Bula! Not Kaiser! My loyalty only lies with Solia, not some heretic god!"

The people were shocked, as for Blaze, he just stared at Kais. Just a minute more, and Kais would have turned into Kaiser. Even so, Blaze didn’t think Kais could overpower his will.

"Very well, Kais Bula," Blaze smirked, and even clapped for him.

How could he not applaud Kais when he was the first person on Sadarla to outright resist Blaze’s control?

Kais stood there panting like he had clawed his way back from death. In a way, that was the case. If Blaze had succeeded, Kais would have died, replaced by Kaiser.

However, that trait of his, that willpower... Blaze wanted to have it.

"Kais, so you still want your duel?" Blaze asked.

Kais, having learned from his mistake, didn’t dare to look Blaze in the eye, but nodded.

"Very well. Then I shall be your opponent," he mumbled. "If you win, I’ll turn into a dog for Solia. However, if I win, every fiber of your being will belong to me... alive. Do you agree?"