Anomaly #33 let him wake up.
He was a puppet in the play orchestrated by Anomaly #33.
The monster wanted to let Neo be aware of this fact—
"Mayor! We should eliminate the threats to our city!"
Neo woke up from haze again.
He was sitting in the mayor's office.
Three people stood before him with furious and anxious gazes.
"What do you an by that?" Neo's mouth moved on his own.
'Anomaly #33 is controlling my body,' he realized. 'Seems like it wants to know what is happening.'
"We can't let this continue anymore, mayor! Those statue monsters have been attacking the city for two weeks.
You have to face thirty of them every night! It won't be long before those monsters will overwhelm you with their growing numbers!" the oldest person among the trio exclaid.
"What are you trying to say?" Neo questioned, his body under Anomaly #33's control.
"We should expel Kane Carter from Arzew! He might be your friend, but his presence is a threat to our city!"
Neo played with the pen while thinking over the man's words.
The statue monsters' targets were Neo and Kane.
Those monsters would invade the city each day.
No matter how many Neo killed, they would return stronger.
"If that is true, I should also leave the city. Kane isn't the only one being targeted. I'm also a target of those monsters."
"No! That isn't true! Your case is different! You are fighting those monsters, but Kane is just hiding! He doesn't deserve your grace—"
Neo slamd his hand over the desk.
He glared at the n.
"Kane is not going to be expelled. I won't sacrifice anyone."
Neo's consciousness grew hazy—
He woke up in the evening a few days later.
"I can control my body this ti."
He clenched his fist and opened it.
"What is Anomaly #33 trying to do?"
Just as he was about to leave his office, he heard murmurs from the outside.
"Hey, do you really think mayor—"
"Shh! Shut up! Mayor is just one wall away from us! What if he hears us? He is an awakener with high senses!"
"Does it really matter? Half of the city is talking about the rumors already."
Neo frowned.
He dug into his mories, checking what had been happening while he was asleep and his body and mind were under Anomaly #33's control.
In his mory, a group of awakeners stord into his office.
They claid Neo used his position as the mayor to have a girl do 'night shifts.'
Neo threw them out without listening to their allegations.
The people were angry.
But they couldn't do much when the girl herself said Neo did not do anything unsavory to her.
The rumors of the incident spread.
As ti passed, more won ca out with evidence of Neo's wrong deeds.
"This is a headache."
Neo massaged his brows.
The city had been divided into two factions due to the current incidents.
The first faction believed Neo was innocent.
After all, Neo was fighting statue monsters every night, even the ones chasing Kane, without asking for compensation.
He was a saint, according to the first faction.
The second faction was against Neo.
They believed Neo's saintly deeds were a cover for his true nefarious self.
Neo heard the murmurs from the office next door.
"Think about it. Mayor calls himself Divine Ruler. Isn't this weird? He was a lone wanderer. How can soone like that be called a 'Ruler'? This just ans…"
"It ans?" the coworker urged his partner to continue.
"Mayor must be the leader of a community sowhere else. That's why he calls himself a Ruler!"
"Huh? Are you stupid? There is no way soone who rules a community would beco a lone wanderer in these tis."
"Hahaha, I bet he was exiled from the community after they caught whiff of his evil deeds.
He must have co to Arzew to sink his fangs into our city after being thrown out of his own place!"
Neo didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he heard the gossip.
Anomaly #33 was using his plan of using Divine Ruler against him.
…
Valencia, Spain, mory Shadow World
"Urgh… hhhh…"
Jack doubled over.
Blood spilled from his torso.
He raised his head slightly to look at the n laughing at him.
"Hahahah, I can't believe this fucker was duped so easily!"
"Lol! It was thanks to my acting though. 'Please save… Please… they kidnapped my daughter'!"
They laughed heartily.
Tears slipped from Jack's eyes.
What had he done wrong?
He only tried to help them.
Was it wrong for him to show kindness to others?
Watching them laugh made Jack's blood boil.
He glared at them.
'They are hideous.'
The people of this era killed, looted, unleashed their impure desires by saying they were doing their best to survive.
'I want to kill them.'
The pain from his injuries muddled his thoughts.
'Yes, this is fine. They are just shadows in the end. There won't be any consequences even if I murder them.'
Until now, he had held back because they looked like humans.
Jack closed his eyes, and a small chuckle left his lips.
"Sorry, Neo. I'm not strong enough to hold onto my morals."
The n realized sothing was wrong.
The air around Jack had changed—from a wimpy kid who was afraid of dying to one who was afraid to kill or be killed.
His eyes were lifeless.
Jack chanted.
"O Darkness—"
The air in the room churned.
"H-hey, stop him!"
"You do it!"
"—Consu my enemies."
The shadows beneath Jack stretched.
Before the n could react, a jaw of Darkness clamped down on their heads and ate everything above their necks in one gulp.
The corpses fell with a dull thud.
Jack stood up with a stagger.
He opened his Shadow Space and consud a sip of healing potion.
His eyes wandered to the corpses, at the blood spilling out from their necks.
He ford hand signs.
"Darkness… Devour."
The darkness beneath him blood.
As the Darkness chewed the corpses, he felt a throbbing pain in his head.
Jack withheld his grunts.
[Strength 5]
[ Strength Debuff Incantation]
[ Partial mories]
The pain increased as knowledge about a new Incantation and mories appeared in his head.
Jack ignored the Incantation.
He focused on the mories.
They showed him the lives of the n he consud.
"Disgusting freaks…"
Jack bit his lips.
They were far worse than he had imagined.
"I shouldn't have let them die so easily."
He raised his head and stared at the destroyed city.
The n he defeated weren't alone.
There was a group of them that attacked unsuspecting wanderers and took advantage of them.
n were killed or used for manual labor like slaves.
Won were treated like toys and thrown away after they broke.
That wasn't all.
Cannibalism, torture, organ trafficking, illegal human experintation, human sacrifices.
There was no end to what had been happening.
"This place is a paradise…"
Jack massaged his temples.
The voices of Darkness were threatening to overwhelm him.
"I can eat all of them without gaining any guilty conscience."
His thoughts were incoherent and jarring.
There was a reason why people advised against using Darkness.
It drove its users insane.
But Jack had no intention of stopping.
"I'll conquer Darkness… I can do it…"
Was it because he hated this place, or because he wanted to grow stronger?
Or was it because Jack was being influenced by Darkness already?
Jack wanted to tear everything down.
Even if he had to use Darkness for it.
…
Neo woke up.
He looked around, noticing himself on a rooftop.
The moon shined dimly, casting a weak glow on him and Kane.
"I should leave the city," Kane muttered. "These rumors are all appearing because they hate you for not kicking out.
"If I leave, they won't target you anymore."
"…"
Neo didn't answer Kane.
He had no intention of doing so.
'This fucking Anomaly #33.'
Kane was currently under Anomaly #33's control.
The words he spoke were spoken by the monster.
'It's enjoying controlling us like puppets.'
The Anomaly #33 was weaving a story.
It allowed Neo to wake up from its control to show him—the audience—the play.
Neo shook his head.
'Enjoy it while you can. The play will end soon.'
His consciousness dulled—
Neo woke up inside the office.
"What are you doing!?"
The door burst open, and the city's police entered swiftly.
They were shocked when they found the leader of the Defense Team lying bloodied on the floor.
Neo held a sword in his hand and stared at the almost-dead Defense Team leader.
"Mayor! Why did you kill him!?" the policeman questioned.
"Stop shouting," Neo scoffed, his body under Anomaly #33's control. "He is alive. I punished him because he ambushed inside my office."
"Yes, I ambushed you!"
The Defense Team leader glared at Neo.
"I'll kill you! You are not a benevolent Mayor! You are a tyrant!"
"…"
"Even my sister…" The Defense Team leader cried. "What did she do to have been targeted by you!?"
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