Chapter 105: Because in death... they were truly great

Chapter 105: Because in death... they were truly great After leaving the mansion, Kael looked toward the city with a cold, distant gaze. From where he stood, he could partially see what was happening. "They finished off the silver wolf," he muttered as he walked toward the city. On his back were three swords, and covering the lower part of his face was the coin mask. His hands were covered with rings inscribed with runes of space, where he kept everything he had taken from the vault. Now he just had to leave the mountain. He had already made all the preparations; he just had to leave. As he made his way through the cobbled streets, they were filled with blood and corpses, both of beasts and people. The rain was still falling, though it was beginning to ease off. In the distance, the echoes of a persistent battle against the viscount-ranked lightning boar mingled with the murmur of the water, like a drumbeat. Soon, that confrontation would also come to an end. Kael advanced through the rubble and charred bodies of a disaster he had caused, as if he were a mere spectator. He showed neither pride nor guilt. He walked with the indifference of one who has already charted his path beyond life and death. And yet, he thought. He pondered. This mountain had offered him something he believed to be extinct: the warmth of a mother, and then the emptiness left by her loss. Those memories, as foreign as they were intimate, now lay buried deep within his consciousness. In this life, his path had changed. What came before no longer mattered. He obtained a system that freed him from an invisible curse that had corroded his destiny from the beginning. It awakened a talent he should never have possessed. He experienced pleasant days that had been completely denied him in his first life. Even his father, that symbol of absence and contempt, offered him appreciation. But none of that was enough. He conversed with an ancient being. He studied. He made decisions that changed destiny. He killed without remorse, but not for pleasure. He cried for a loss, but not out of weakness. The Kiran mountain gave him a lot... and for that, it took everything away from him. And now, having lost the only anchor that still tied him to the world, that person called mother, he understood an inescapable truth: "Nothing in this world has value if it cannot be used. No bond, no tear, no memory." He felt the darkness inside him settle, dense, silent, pure. A darkness with no return, no morals, no comfort. He took one last step. The water hit his back hard, as if trying to pull him back. But it was too late. And in that instant, under the gray light of the broken sky, his back became immense, like a mountain abandoning the world. Without looking back. ... After a few minutes of silent progress through the deserted streets, Kael scanned the surroundings with absolute calm. His perception was focused on detecting traces of infiltrators from the Lion Kingdom and the Holy Empire. He had no intention of getting caught inside the blocking formation. If his calculations were correct, the formation would be activated as soon as they managed to eliminate the viscount-ranked lightning boar. He had to get out before that happened. Then he felt it. A direct, undisguised gaze, like an icy knife grazing the back of his neck. He turned around without hesitation. There he was. Standing on the roof of a partially collapsed house, Michel Abraham was watching him as if he had been waiting for him. "Well, well," Michel said with a mocking smile. "I never thought I’d run into you here." Kael looked at him without stopping. His voice, devoid of emotion, replied with disdain: "Weren’t you busy annihilating the clan members?" Michel’s eyes narrowed for just a moment, but he descended from the roof lightly, landing in front of Kael. He watched him closely, staring directly into those deep, empty black eyes. "I was ordered to kill you." Kael let out a short, dry laugh, barely more than a contemptuous snort. Then he curved his lips into a half-smile. "What a surprise. Well? If you’re going to try, do it now. I don’t have time to waste on you." He kept walking as if Michel didn’t exist, without looking back. Michel was silent for a second, then let out a soft laugh, as if he had just confirmed something he already suspected. "You are unique, Kael... Why are you in such a hurry to leave town? Aren’t you going to stay and help your people?" Kael paused for a moment, without turning around. "They are not ’mine.’" And without adding anything else, he resumed his walk, leaving Michel alone among the ruins... and with an increasingly broad smile on his face. Michel didn’t stand still. With calm steps, he began to follow Kael down the deserted street, walking beside him, barely a meter away. He had no intention of attacking him, at least not yet. "You know... most people would be shaking just hearing that I was sent to kill him," he said lightly, almost as if he were talking about the weather. "But you don’t even pretend to be afraid. It’s almost insulting." Kael didn’t answer. "Are you like this with everyone? Or just with me?" Michel insisted, turning his head slightly to look at him out of the corner of his eye. "Or is it that you don’t feel anything?" Kael’s silence spoke louder than a thousand words. He continued walking, as if Michel’s existence was as irrelevant as a leaf blown by the wind. "Tsk. You intrigue me, Kael," Michel said with a crooked smile. "But don’t worry, I won’t kill you... yet. It would be a shame to finish off someone like you without first understanding what the hell you are." Kael just muttered, without turning his head: "Curiosity kills more than the sword." And he kept walking, while Michel let out a short laugh, as if he had just received a compliment. ... Back on the battlefield, Colson and Milson could barely stand. Their bodies were broken: bones cracked, muscles torn, organs writhing under an unbearable weight. Blood dripped relentlessly from their open wounds, forming dark pools beneath their feet. And yet there they stood... upright like pillars about to fall. In front of them, the Lightning Boar snorted furiously. Its sides were covered in cuts. Thick steam poured from its jaws, mixed with spurting blood. A clap of thunder boomed in the sky as a prelude. Colson looked at Milson. Their eyes met for a moment. They didn’t say a word. It wasn’t necessary. They had lived, fought, and bled together for decades. And at that moment, they both knew what had to be done. In perfect synchrony, they channeled all that remained of their life force. And then... they charged. The Boar roared, charging with all its might. Lightning flashed across the field. The impact was instantaneous, brutal, and blind. Claws, fists, steel, and flesh collided in a storm of pure violence. And amid that final collision... a light. The Boar’s roar broke. Its body trembled... and fell. Silence. The rain, which until then had been beating furiously on the rooftops, suddenly stopped, as if the sky were holding its breath. The clouds began to dissipate slowly, and the first rays of sunlight crossed the sky, breaking through. And there they were. Colson and Milson, standing over the corpse of the savage beast. Their backs were bathed in golden sunlight, as if the sky itself was calling them home. Their figures, stained with blood and wounds, looked like eternal statues sculpted by war. And so, there were no words. Only silent tears that spoke for everyone. In front of them stood the broad backs of two elderly men from different families. Men who had once been rivals, but who today had fallen like brothers. And so, the lives of two pillars of generations came to an end, not in defeat, but in redemption. Their lifeless bodies were bathed in the golden light of the sun, as if the sky itself were honoring their final act. Because in death... they were truly great.