[225] Will You Kill ?
Chapter 225: Will You Kill ?
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The wind howled around them, carrying with it the scent of blood and despair from the battle below. Yet, at this mont, the chaos of the world seed distant, almost irrelevant. His focus was entirely on her, the woman who had once been his wife, the one who had killed him in cold blood.
The Venerable One stood motionless in the sky, his dark eyes fixed on her. Lilithra, the demoness, the one who had started it all—the catalyst for his many lives of tornt.
So it has co to this, his thoughts murmured, as he considered the cruel irony of fate. The mistress behind the domino. The one who, with a single act of betrayal, set him on a path of madness and destruction. If not for her…
He allowed the mories to wash over him, one by one, each life linked to the last by the chain of events she had set in motion. His second life, as the Hero of the Empire, had been one of hope and purpose. He had fought for justice, for the betternt of the world, and for the love he had believed was true. But her dagger had shattered that illusion, plunging him into a darkness he had never known.
If not for her betrayal, he wouldn't have gone mad as Genghis Khan in his third life. The rage and bitterness that had festered within him after his death as a hero had manifested in a reign of terror. He had embraced his fury, leading armies across the world, leaving devastation in his wake, sacrificing millions with demonic arts.
If not for that madness, he mused, I wouldn't have sought redemption in my fourth life, as the Wandering Beggar. I wouldn't have embraced the false righteousness that led to live that embarrassing hermit life.
The mory of Sangha's tear-streaked face, her expression twisted in pain and betrayal, flashed through his mind. He had tried to save her, to redeem himself through her. But his righteous path had only brought more suffering, more pain.
His fifth life, as the vampire, had been one of self-loathing. He had sought to erase his past mistakes by rejecting his very nature, denying the darkness that lingered within him. And that led to betrayal—this ti, he betrayed soone else; his own mother.
His sixth life had been different.
A ti of peace, where the echoes of his past had finally begun to fade. It was in that life that he started to break free from the cycle, to find a asure of peace. It was because of the dying words of Emmanuel Draconia Celestine in his last life, at the very last loop, as she held his chin and told him to move on. That was the last loop, the last ti he saw her. That’s why his sixth life had gone well.
His seventh life, too, had gone well. For a ti, he had believed that the curse of the domino effect had finally lifted.
But then his Empress died. His eighth life began in rage and repression, that life had brought it all crashing down again. Drowning in lancholy, he recalled the peaceful tis of his lives. He recalled his demon wife.
Depressed and filled with despair, he had burned a world to ash, seeking solace in the destruction. The dancing red fire showed him the image of his red-skinned lover. In his dreams, he had relieved his best mories, clinging to them as a drowning man clings to a piece of driftwood.
And then, his ninth life had begun. This ti, there had been no pretense of redemption. He had embraced his darkness, becoming the Heavenly Demon, and then the Venerable One. He had committed atrocities not out of despair, but just for the fun of it. He did not have the excuse of his eight life’s depression here. He had no excuses this ti, no justifications.
However, he didn’t stop. He was what the world feared—a force of chaos, a being who thrived on destruction. A cosmic devil.
And now, here we are, he thought, his gaze hardening as he looked at Lilithra. The woman who started it all. What a day.
The world humd, but the Venerable One’s focus remained solely on the woman before him. Her presence stirred sothing deep within him, a mix of rage and longing.
“Husband, you’re staring a lot,” she said, breaking his silence as he chuckled softly. But as he opened his mouth to speak, a movent below caught his attention.
Duchess Elara had seen enough. Her face contorted in fury, her emotions boiling over with such intensity that the very air around her seed to tremble. As she kicked off the ground and shot towards the sky, her rage manifested into a tangible force.
A shimring hexagon symbol ford overhead.
The [Blade Icon] manifested, its sharp edges gleaming with deadly intent. The spear in her hand pulsed with the energy of her wrath, its tip aid directly at Lilithra.
Her eyes, blazing with uncontrolled hatred, locked onto the demoness. A growl rose in her throat, deep and primal, as she prepared to strike with all the force of her fury.
“You demon whore, you dare show yourself in front of ?!” Elara’s voice rang out, filled with venom as she swung her spear with all the force she could muster. It was a move that could cut down mountains and beyond; an ultimate technique.
Lilithra, however, did not flinch. She cast a glance at the Venerable One, a smile playing on her lips as if amused by the display of power. With a casual snap of her fingers, a do of energy blossod around them. It was a barrier so impenetrable that even the might of Elara’s [Blade Icon] failed to leave a scratch. Instead, the impact force sent Elara reeling back, leaving her outside the barrier.
The light within the do dimd, and everything went dark, leaving only the echoes of Elara's shout hanging in the air. The music still played though.
The Venerable One didn’t blink even as the world around him shifted. The battlefield, the sky, and even the tension lted away. He felt soil under his feet. When the light returned, he found himself standing on the warm sands of a tropical island. The ocean waves lapped gently at the shore, and the sun hung low in the sky, casting a golden hue over the landscape.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” A voice called, and he turned behind. Lilithra stood before a hut, adorning a white sundress, her golden eyes gleaming as she t his gaze. The world had changed, but the tension between them returned.
The Venerable One stared at her with a small, unmoving smile. "What ga are you playing, Lilithra?" he asked, as she put a hand on her hip. The scene before him shimred with a sense of unreality, the weight of a thousand lifetis pressing down on him.
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