In truth, Lazarus was never supposed to get to the point where it could cause Xa’hurl to experience fear or affect it with emotions.
Even with him reaching the fifth level of emotive magic, Xa’hurl was a primordial being.
The gap between the two was still extrely large.
It should still be impossible for Lazarus to affect a Primordial being.
And indeed it was impossible.
All he could do was slightly manipulate the orbs at his will.
That was his limit before dying.
But if there was one thing that Lazarus had an infinite amount of, it was ti. Emotions, even in a loop, carried through to the next reiteration. So long as the ones in the loop could rember everything, the emotions would carry through.
...And as a result, Lazarus started to chip away at the monster’s defences.
From anger to fear, he slowly and surely manipulated the monster’s orbs, slowly making it so that it would start to consu its entire mind.
It took a lot of ti and a lot of deaths.
Lazarus had most likely died over tens of thousands of tis.
All the torture and pain he had endured led to this very mont, where the purple orb had completely consud the primordial being.
’This is the mark that Lazarus left before leaving.’
Opening my eyes to stare at the gigantic monster in front of , a flood of emotions filtered through my mind.
It... had been a while since I had taken control of the body again.
In so way, it felt a little foreign to .
But thankfully, I was able to get adjusted to it rather quickly as I tried my best to filter out the lingering emotions within my chest.
[S... stop. Make it stop.]
Fear had completely taken over the monster’s mind in that mont.
Staring at it, I kept my hand firmly placed onto the eye, pouring all the pent-up and lingering emotions that Lazarus had left behind.
I knew that I couldn’t kill the monster.
I was still incapable of that. But at the sa ti...
I wasn’t going to let Lazarus’s ’mark’ go in vain.
[S-stop! Stop!]
Despite Xa’hurl’s cries, I continued to pour everything that I had into the eye. The surroundings shook as a result of the situation, and my right eye was so hot that it almost felt as though half of my face was lting.
But I still persevered.
[Stop!]
Rumble! Rumble!
The surroundings shook further, the red orb threatening to overtake the purple one as Xa’hurl started to grow angry. But I didn’t let that happen. The mont the red orb started to take over, I imdiately pressed it down and shrank it to the point where it no longer appeared.
The rumbling stopped in that mont, and all that was left was the trembling eye before .
[S... stop.]
A weak whisper filtered through my mind.
It was a pathetic sound.
Staring at it and seeing how it was completely taken over by fear, I understood that it was finally over as I pulled my hand away and took a step back.
"...Okay, I’ll stop."
The world grew silent in that mont, the eye pausing for a mont as it looked at , unable to understand the situation.
I could see other emotions starting to grow from within it, but I quickly pushed them down.
The only emotion that I wanted to see was fear.
"Don’t mistake my courtesy for anything else. I am rely providing you with a chance. If you wish for all of this to end, then you must follow my demands."
[Demands...?]
"Yes."
I didn’t hesitate to nod as I stretched my neck.
"You’ve caused quite a bit of inconvenience for these past few months. I’d like to get so proper compensation for all of that, don’t you think?"
The eye stood still, its thoughts unknown to .
But even though its thoughts were unknown to , its emotions weren’t.
Whether it tried to pull sothing on or not, I’d be able to tell. Nothing could escape my eyes at this very mont.
[W-what... do you want?]
Thankfully, the fear had simply consud all of its thoughts, making it subservient to as I quietly nodded to myself before listing out my demands.
"If you wish for this loop to end, then..."
I raised my head to look up. In the direction of where the real body of the beast appeared.
"...Release the woman that you’ve absorbed."
[But—]
"There’s simply no way for you to absorb her in one go. My best bet is that she’s still lying dormant within your body."
[....]
The beast didn’t answer, but its silence was all I needed to hear in order to confirm my thoughts.
I was more curious about how it had managed to defeat Delilah.
I hadn’t seen the fight, so I wasn’t sure, but I refused to believe she’d lose like this.
There had to be sothing else.
Sothing... More.
[...That can be done.]
In the end, the beast accepted the term.
I could tell that it was reluctant to do so, but its fear was simply making it irrational at the mont.
I took advantage of that irrationality to list out another demand.
"....Your bone. I’d like your bone."
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The surroundings shook at my next request, the red orb growing so fast that for a mont, I nearly lost sight of the situation. However, before things could fully go out of control, I pressed my foot forward and touched the eye, imdiately shutting down whatever was happening as the red orb stopped growing before shrinking back.
I didn’t stop there.
Putting more force into my hand, I stared right at the eye as I cocked my head and hoarsely spoke.
"...It looks like you have yet to fully agree with . In that case, we should continue our little play for a little bit longer. Like I said... I can do this forever."
[No, wait—]
I didn’t wait for the beast to finish, as I poured even more fear into it. While the purple orb couldn’t grow any longer, I could still manipulate the other orbs to take over the space before making the purple orb swallow them.
This most likely heightened the fear that the beast felt, making it tremble further as it started to shake.
[A-h... no, human. Please! I’ll listen! I’ll listen to you!]
It was a pitiful sight.
What once was one of the apexes of the mirror dinsion had been reduced to nothing but a begging eye before .
Lazarus’s death and struggle...
None of it was in vain.
All his struggles were for this. For this very mont.
For the mont when an insignificant being took down a primordial being.
Swooosh!
A pale white light suddenly flooded the surroundings, montarily startling as I was about to increase the intensity of the emotive magic even further. But right as I was about to do so, my thoughts paused as I stared at the black substance that stood before .
I frowned while staring at the substance.
It felt like so sort of viscous goo. Like... oil to so extent.
What was this supposed to be?
However, I realized rather quickly what it was as the primordial being spoke.
[This is my bone... you can take it.]
A bone...? This was?
No matter how much I looked at it, it didn’t look like a bone at all. In fact, it looked more like blood than a bone.
Was it lying to ?
’No, it doesn’t seem like it is. Then this is really its bone?’
I looked at it for a second before reaching my hand towards it. Eventually, the bone hovered towards my palm, and I felt a terrifying energy coming from it as it started to pulse in my hand.
’Yes, this does feel like a bone... It’s just that I’ve never seen one like this.’
I nodded slowly before putting the bone away.
"Alright."
I turned my attention towards the beast once more.
"I’ll take the bone."
[Then will you...]
"...Don’t worry, I will end the loop. There are just a few things that I need to make sure happen once this loop breaks."
The first thing that I wanted was for the monster’s skill to finally be removed. I didn’t want my existence to be completely erased from the world.
While to so extent, it was convenient, I also understood that it was extrely dangerous.
Xa’hurl’s skill didn’t just erase my presence from the world, but it also erased my identity. I knew that it wouldn’t be long before I completely faded from the world if things continued like this.
Furthermore...
I was also certain that while it could erase my presence from the world, it couldn’t erase it from Sithrus’s mind. I was sure he’d be able to tell the mont he stared at , or sensed .
It was dangerous, and I needed it gone.
"Remove whatever thing you’ve done to ."
[It... can be done.]
I nodded.
I wasn’t done with my requests.
There was one more thing that I wanted. Most probably, the most important thing.
’I can’t guarantee my own safety after all of this is over. I need to make sure that it won’t attack anymore. However, how exactly can I do that?’
Killing Xa’hurl was simply out of the question.
Even though it was currently completely consud by fear, it could still kill with the flick of its tentacles. The only reason it didn’t do it now was because of the loop. But once it was gone...?
Who was there to say it wouldn’t kill on the spot?
I needed to make sure that I could guarantee my own safety after all of this was over.
"I need you to guarantee my safety once all of this is over. I simply don’t trust you. Who is to say that you won’t try sothing once I end the loop? Provide with so sort of ans to guarantee my safety, and I will let go of you."
[I... is that really your last request?]
"Yes."
There were tis when the purple orb within the beast’s body showed signs of receding, but I quickly brought it back up to ensure it kept the sa level of fear for .
In the end, as the creature fell silent, it spoke once more.
[It... can be done. I have a way to make sure you can entrust with your safety.]
"What is it?"
[It’s—]
Halfway through its words, Xa’hurl paused.
Its entire figure froze in place as though it were frozen in ti. I stared at the eye in front of in confusion, unable to understand its sudden action.
But most importantly, staring at the eye and seeing the purple orb grow even larger than before, I grew alard.
What?
’What is happening? Why is getting scared? What is making it so scared? Wha—’
Before I even had the chance to figure out the answer, the eye faded from the spot, disappearing as though it had never been there to begin with.
And then...
RUMBLE!
The world shook.
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