CHAPTER 75: YOU BASTARD II

***

From far above, Death watched.

Light swallowed Xenos whole, drowning him in white.

The air rippled faintly, and the sound of life finally faded.

Death lingered there, its black obvious in the bright clouds.

A being like it simply existed, a silent spectator to a story that refused to end.

And its eyes, if they could be called eyes, stayed on one Soul.

Xenos.

Even with him gone, the remnants of his Will glimmered faintly beneath the light.

That spark of madness, luck, calamity, and defiance... it pulsed through this white abyss.

"...strange."

It turned slightly, looking down.

Arc. Aspen. Deianira. Gaia. Ariadne.

The others, once broken and bloodied, were now fully healed, receiving their rewards.

Only Xenos had gotten the Runes, of course, but that didn’t mean they were given nothing.

All five were left with acceptable Divine Relics.

Death didn’t care for them, however.

They were alive; it had done its duty.

None of them mattered, not compared to him.

Because what Death had just witnessed was something wrong.

Xenos was not supposed to be.

He was a being of Luck and Calamity, two forces that should never coexist.

One brought miracles, and the other, ruin. Yet somehow, both flowed through him as though his body was made to host contradiction.

And still—

Death tilted its head slightly, curiosity shimmering in the void of its form.

"Why do I feel myself in him?"

The question had no answer.

For the first time in countless ages, Death didn’t understand what it was looking at.

This boy, this mortal, carried deeply the scent of an ending, like Death itself had marked him long ago, lacing his Soul with finality only for him to escape it and embody Life once more.

Death had seen ’countless’ mortals, ’countless’ Souls, and not one of them had slipped away from its grasp.

There was no chance it could be a result of his Luck.

And it definitely wasn’t due to his Will.

Something deeper was at play.

Death descended slowly, its cloak of void brushing against the ground.

It extended a hand, pale and boneless, woven from silence, and opened its palm.

A mask formed there.

Divine, but not the one it wore earlier.

This was Death’s own mask, as black as it was white.

Emptiness could be felt from it, for it was a part of Death itself.

It looked at the mask for a long time before speaking, the words carrying a tired tone:

"...you truly intrigue me, child."

There was something like faint amusement in its voice.

"You walk with luck in your left hand and ruin in your right, and still, you touch my shadow without fear."

The mask shimmered faintly.

"So then... let’s see what becomes of you."

With a soft motion, Death released the mask.

It fell slowly, vanishing into the light where Xenos had gone.

And Death, for the first time in a very long while, felt something other than inevitability.

"Perhaps you’ll come back to me."

It felt anticipation.

"Perhaps when that day comes, I’ll finally be free."

The world shivered around it.

"Xenos."

"The others... they are not better than you. They are simply born unlucky."

"Pain, trials, and tribulations—those are the gifts this realm gives to its chosen."

"As my existence has always been a battlefield, I have seen this truth."

"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest of Souls..."

"The greatest characters are seared with scars."

"Keep embracing your pain, Xenos."

"Never stop seeing the other side of the medal."

The light dimmed.

"You are, in fact..."

Its form began to fade, dissolving into smoke that rose toward the clouds.

"...the most talented amongst them all."

Death was gone.

***

When the light faded...

"STRANGER!"

"STRANGER!"

"STRANGER!"

Noise.

A wall of noise met Xenos.

He flinched, feeling deja vu.

’...it seems they picked it up from Death.’

Indeed, and the entire Colosseum exploded with its sound.

"STRANGER!"

"STRANGER!"

"STRANGER!"

Thousands of people screamed his new title, stomping and chanting.

Even the ground beneath him seemed to vibrate from the weight of it.

The whole place looked like it had gone insane.

"STRANGER!"

"STRANGER!"

"STRANGER!"

Something that Xenos found somewhat weird.

If this were in the game, he’d have no problem with it.

Players were desensitized to gore and the like; this dungeon was nothing.

But in this realm? Did that apply as well? He didn’t believe that.

Did that mean they had all forgotten what happened?

Did they see only the final cycle where they won?

And did his cohort forget the others too?

Had the situation been reversed?

Perhaps.

Again, as twisted as this realm was, he didn’t believe they’d react like that if they truly saw what happened.

Their minds most likely filled in the blanks... as brains liked to do, making sense of what didn’t make sense, even if by a lie.

A lie that Xenos wasn’t willing to break.

’Ignorance is bliss.’

More than that, he didn’t want to ruin the mood.

After all, this was something he enjoyed quite a bit.

"STRANGER!"

"STRANGER!"

"STRANGER!"

A small group was even waving a banner with his name on it.

’How did they do that so fast?’

While Xenos questioned that, forgetting that the game essentially took an entire day, giving them lots of time to do that and more, somewhere up high, Lothar grinned ear to ear.

Commentating now would’ve ruined the flow, so he simply watched the chaos unfold.

And what beautiful chaos it was, Xenos standing strong, while blankly looking at those roaring his title.

’I’ve never received such a welcome even though I was the second rank...’

Though enjoying it, he seemed more confused than victorious.

’Welcome back.’

But a beautiful voice in his head took him out of it.

It was Eris, her tone carrying a lovely smile.

Xenos grinned faintly.

’I appreciate it, my Lady~.’

He began to wave at the crowd, thanking them.

’You’ve done so incredibly well, I can’t even begin to—’

’There’s no need. We’re in this together.’

She took a moment only to giggle.

’Since when were you capable of saying something like that?’

Xenos shrugged while hyping up the crowd like a conductor.

’Death taught me a few things.’

And speaking of what he was taught...

Ding!

—

╔════════════╗

║QUEST UPDATED!║

╚════════════╝

[Main Quest: Break The World]

[Objective]

[• Be Seen As A Pillar Of Resistance]

[• Break The Great Houses’ Hold On The Realm]

[• Redefine It In House Eris’s Image]

[• Tear This Realm’s Very Core]

[Rewards: ???]

—

These objectives were somewhat vague, but...

’They are mine.’

And no one could deny that any longer.

Eris’s smile softened further at it.

Emotions had defeated Her.

So She stayed quiet.

For now, She’d let Xenos have his moment.

And certainly, he had it, rousing the crowd louder and louder.

"STRANGER!"

"STRANGER!"

"STRANGER!"

"STRANGER!"

"STRANGER!"

"STRANGER!"

He felt the realm only belonged to him in those moments.

Yet he eventually had enough celebrating and clutched his fists.

With a rough gesture projected to all, the crowd slowly quietened.

And now that he could think a little, he turned to look at his fellow Disciples.

Besides his cohort, there were maybe a few dozen Disciples left standing at best, all half-broken or dead.

Most weren’t even celebrating but were rather staring at him, their heads lowered, their eyes full of both fear and disbelief.

Those who weren’t looking at him were his cohort.

Arc was sitting on the ground, staring into nothing like his brain had short-circuited.

Dei sat beside him, one hand pressed to her temple, while Aspen stood behind them, holding on to a few items, his face showing obvious disappointment.

Ari was on her knees, clutching her whip and something else in trembling anger.

Gaia stood off to the side, crowded by a few people, one of them familiar.

’Theodore...’

It seemed that those were her family, checking more on the rewards she’d gotten rather than on Gaia herself.

Yeah, this wasn’t exactly a happy sight.

But Xenos, being Xenos, didn’t care.

He was rather focused on a promise.

One that he made just before the game.

And that promise came from a particular Lyacon.

"Aspen!"

Xenos’s grin widened.

"It’s time to get me my money—"

"YOU BASTARD!"

A voice cut through his words.

’Man...’

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

’It looks like I’m never getting that drachma.’