Chapter 73: The Quest To Save Lily [14] [EXTRA]
Chapter 73: The Quest To Save Lily [14] [EXTRA]
(BONUS CHAPTER FOR 45 GOLDEN TICKETS!)
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From the start, Amon knew that the battle was futile.
Even though armentists were generally weaker than clovists, the gap between a borderline 2nd-Order clovist and a 4th-Tier armentist was still very large.
With each rank up in both classes, the gap between the previous and next rank would grow larger and larger.
And because of that, he knew that it was his loss here.
Furthermore, it was only a matter of time before the guards at the staircase would wake up and join the battle.
At one point, when there were only some seconds left for his mark timeout, he thought of escaping and coming back another day.
However, it was still going to be a problem.
After this raid, the security was going to get even tighter and places would be investigated, trying to find where he entered from.
It would almost become impossible to ever rescue Lily if he did that.
Additionally, the killing of so many child slaves would also throw Norman into stress later.
There was a chance that he would shift the slaves and it would again become impossible to ever rescue Lily.
Which was why, he dismissed the thought of escaping and his mark disappeared.
At one point, just for a tiny moment, he thought about whether it was even worth it now to rescue Lily.
He thought of her as his little sister. But was that really the case?
Had meeting with her for 1 or 2 hours over the course of 2 weeks really been enough to get her this close to his heart that he was risking his life to rescue her?
Maybe not. Since it did sound nonsensical from a normal point of view.
But aside from his closeness to her, in the end, maybe it was just his personality to play the hero.
To save those in need. After all, it had been the reason why he had grown so attached to The Hero's Ascension.
He loved Michael's personality. To save those in need.
It was quite similar to his personality. To help others.
But in the end, it was his personality that had gotten him killed. No?
His personality forced him to choose the old man over his young sister. Wasn't that the case?
It was his personality that forced him to jump into this mess of saving Lily.
And what happened? He was going to die and he would fail his mission.
Tens of children died because of just his futile attempt to save Lily. His constant heroic
attempts to attack Norman ended him getting those children killed.
If he had just resigned to his fate from the start and not attacked, wouldn't the outcome have been a little better?
Those children would still be alive at least.
His eyes widened at that moment.
Yes. Wasn't his personality still same to Michael right now as well?
In all his bright and shine that he had been focused on so much in the novel, he had forgotten the sins he had committed.
Hadn't he trampled upon lives as well just to keep his loved ones safe?
Weren't those trampled ones loved ones of someone as well?
And wasn't he doing the same?
Who knew that the children that died today, exploded today, just cause of him, had parents out there that were still crying to this day to get them back?
He was doing the same shit.
Deeming other people live's insignificant just to save those close to him.
And he thought that this was a heroic personality? Saving people when you didn't even know them properly?
Bullshit.
What about the other ones? The ones that required saving as well?
Were they not worth saving just cause he didn't know them?
It was all a facade. No one was a hero in this world.
Rather the hero word didn't exist. Either that or its definition was complete and utter
nonsense.
Saving people? What about those that were killed in the process of saving?
Did they not require saving?
Amon visualized a pile of corpses underneath his feet. He was standing upon all of them.
They were all those who had died to his actions. His actions to save someone.
Was this what being a hero was like? No. Definitely not.
The Hero's Ascension. A bullshit book. A shit author.
Suddenly, the pile of corpses started to move.
The eyes of the buried started to move. They sharply locked with his gaze.
His eyes trembled with fear and his body took a step back in response.
Finding no platform to step back, he lost his balance and fell.
The corpses started to spread out and slowly crawl towards him.
Fear crept up his being as he looked at each one of them in their eyes.
They were the eyes of the dead. Eyes that were previously soulless but now filled with rage
and hatred.
Who was the cause of all this? Amon himself.
He had killed them all for these selfish reasons.
Before he knew it, he lost the energy to crawl back.
He couldn't run from his sins.
The corpses crawled up to him.
Their hands reached out and touched his chest.
Cold and without life. Dead.
Their hated faces neared up to him, wanting to devour him whole.
The corpses slowly started to cover his whole body with their large number.
The cold lifeless hands reached out to his cheeks, grabbing them hard and pulling him
towards them.
He wanted to scream but he couldn't.
Was there someone here to bear his sins?
Someone to hold his bloody hands?
Someone to embrace him?
No one, he thought.
The corpses were almost done, with their hands reaching out to finally cover his eyes.
However, at that moment, he felt someone warmly embrace him from behind.
The hands vanished into purple flames along with the corpses, returning light to his eyes.
The cold black landscape transformed into a natural one.
The black lifeless rough ground was replaced with purple fountain grass and tibouchina flowers as far as he could see.
A full moon brightly shone in the sky.
He felt all emotions being sapped out of him as if an endless void was filling his being.
The remorse and regret completely vanished.
However, this void didn't feel bad. It brought warmth to his being.
The world. It felt so wonderful right now.
As if there was nothing in this world that could make him hate or love anyone.
Nothing could harm him.
His gaze moved to the corner. Finding Zephyra hugging him from behind.
Her face was awfully close to his, her warm cheeks touching his.
Her body was pressed to him with her long lilac hair draping across her back.
His onyx black eyes met her aubergine ones and her lips curled into a gentle, charming smile.
"Do not worry. I'll be the one to embrace your sins." She said gently.
Her warm hand clasping his bloody one.
And at that moment, the world around him shattered, sending him back to reality.
Nothing had changed. Not even a second had passed from his visualization. As if it was
nothing but a dream.
But there was one change the he suddenly took notice of.
His shadow. It suddenly started to wriggle and solidify.
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