Chapter 24
I turned around to see the group of envoys quaking so intensely they couldn’t speak . I snickered, “See that? That is your future . ”
Behind me is the anthropoids’ Imperial City, or rather, once was . The palace that was akin to a long sword piercing the sky had now vanished, leaving just a pile of snow . There was now only a small section of the large city at the base of the mountain remaining . The snow came down from the sky similarly to a waterfall, burying the city underneath .
The Imperial City was reduced to half of its original size within an instant . Why? Because it had been reduced to snow . The mortar shot at the mountain and turned it into a volcano . The snow that had acc.u.mulated there for ages came cras.h.i.+ng down in the blink of an eye . It appeared as if the mountain itself would rip to pieces . The city at the foot of the mountain was basically Pompeii all over again, except that they were buried by snow .
“That is your ending . I gave you a chance, but you showed me no respect . Sending you here shows that your chief had no intention of negotiating with me . You just came to send me a warning, am I right? Or were you here to try and pry information out of me? You want to get news here from me?” I taunted . I looked at the envoys with faces as pale as corpses and raised my hands up, “In that case, sorry, but you failed . You wanted to defend your city with your last breath to get yourselves some bargaining chips for after your surrender, didn’t you? Forget it . You completely failed . I don’t think you’ll be able to explain yourselves if you return with this news, huh?”
I looked at them and drew my sword at my waist . I smiled, “In that case, let me help you solve your problem . You’re going to die anyway . Who knows, your family might welcome you back as heroes if you die to me . If you die inside the city, you’ll be considered cowards, won’t you?”
I looked at their expressions of despair and terror, their cold sweat and their lips that trembled so intensely they couldn’t speak . I surprisingly had a strange pleasurable feeling . I felt satisfied . I guess you could say their despair was my fire . I was excited about being able to control their lives .
‘I am your King . I have the right to kill you, because I am the King . You’re my prisoners . There’s nothing wrong with me killing, you and n.o.body will question me, for I have the right to kill you and the sword to kill you . Now, die . ’
“What are you doing?!”
Just as I went to kill them, somebody hugged me tightly from behind . I lingered .
Logically, a person only has two hands, so how was there something else around my waist? I turned my head around to see Ling Yue’s terrified gaze . I looked at her frown and s.p.a.ced out . I lowered the sword in my hand and asked, “What’s wrong, Ling Yue? Is something the matter?”
“These people didn’t do anything wrong! Why do you want to kill them? They’re just envoys . Why do you want to kill them?! They just came on orders! They did nothing wrong!!!”
“These people didn’t do anything wrong! Why do you want to kill them? They’re just envoys . Why do you want to kill them?! They just came on orders! They did nothing wrong!!!”
“If everybody could erase the sin of killing others just by saying ‘my commander told me to,’ while the people could avoid punishment by saying, ‘war has nothing to do with us,’ then this world would seriously be too perfect . ” I argued . I turned back to the group in front . “They are part of the machine of this war . That’s enough of a reason for them to die . ”
“This has nothing to do with them! They didn’t kill anybody! They’re just a group of envoys . They don’t know anything . They just did their job! Shusia said that you’re a fair tyrant, but aren’t you killing indiscriminately? This group of anthropoids didn’t do anything wrong . They came here for peace, but you’re going to kill them just because they didn’t bring you the conclusion you wanted?!” exclaimed Ling Yue, in a shaky voice . She looked at me with distress and sadness in her eyes . “Didn’t you promise me that you wouldn’t kill indiscriminately? What are you doing now? You’re killing indiscriminately . They haven’t done anything wrong! You want to kill them just because they didn’t bring you the conclusion you wanted!!”
“I… I…”
“Stop . Stop . You’re just numbing yourself . Luna’s death is not an excuse for you to kill indiscriminately . Do you think Luna would want to see you transform from the gentle you into a murderer who kills anyone who doesn’t fit into his ideal frame? n.o.body is willing to . You’re just numbing yourself in order to kill . You’re drowning in murder . You’re looking for excuses to kill people . Not only are you looking for excuses to kill, you’re also using them to justify your killing so that you don’t feel guilty! You’ve become a murderer . Stop now… Stop… Killing is not your reason . Your reason for killing people is because you want to kill!”
Ling Yue’s tears ran down her eyes as she looked at me . She looked at me with anxiety . I saw nothing but terror and anxiety in her gaze . I looked at her face, her weak gaze and her trembling body . I wanted to hug her . I wanted to hug Ling Yue, who was so terrified, that she was barely able to hold herself together .
Ling Yue’s tears ran down her eyes as she looked at me . She looked at me with anxiety . I saw nothing but terror and anxiety in her gaze . I looked at her face, her weak gaze and her trembling body . I wanted to hug her . I wanted to hug Ling Yue, who was so terrified, that she was barely able to hold herself together .
However, when I reached my hand out, I discovered the sword in my hand didn’t allow me to hold her hand . I paused . I looked at Ling Yue on my chest . I looked at her with my sword in my hand . I didn’t know what exactly I wanted to do…
I recalled that day in the dungeon . Mommy Elizabeth pa.s.sed me a sword . It was this Elven King sword in my hand . She told me that the group of people in there were the ones who hurt Luna and got her killed, so I killed them . I didn’t know if they actually had to do with it . As a matter of fact, I knew some of them had nothing to do with it . The child had nothing to do with Luna . Still, I killed them in the end . I killed the group related and unrelated one by one under Mommy Elizabeth’s watch .
I killed every single one of them . I was covered in blood . In fact, I almost collapsed due to exhaustion from killing . I had now completely forgotten their faces, but I could still remember Mommy Elizabeth’s words .
“You have the right to kill them . You should kill them . ”
Therefore, I killed them . Therefore, I thought I had the right to kill everyone . I could kill anybody who opposed me .
“I’m the Emperor . I’m the highest ruler here . I have power, so I can kill everyone . I can kill everyone I’m displeased with,” was my thought process .
Therefore, I killed them . Therefore, I thought I had the right to kill everyone . I could kill anybody who opposed me .
“I’m the Emperor . I’m the highest ruler here . I have power, so I can kill everyone . I can kill everyone I’m displeased with,” was my thought process .
“You are killing indiscriminately! They haven’t done anything wrong . You want to kill them just because they didn’t bring you what you wanted!!”
‘Ling Yue… is right… I seemed to have changed . I can kill now, but I shouldn’t kill indiscriminately . I’ve been killing indiscriminately ever since I began killing in the dungeon . I’ve been killing indiscriminately . ’
I used countless excuses to tell myself that they deserved to die . However, that was my perspective, alone . It was just my way of tricking myself . How hypocritical have I been during this period? I killed while telling myself I wasn’t killing senselessly . They’re all dead . They’re all dead just because I wanted to kill!!’
‘How far has Mommy Elizabeth led me? How far have I chased after her for?’
*Clang…*
I turned around to see the group of envoys quaking so intensely they couldn’t speak . I snickered, “See that? That is your future . ”.
Behind me is the anthropoids’ Imperial City, or rather, once was . The palace that was akin to a long sword piercing the sky had now vanished, leaving just a pile of snow . There was now only a small section of the large city at the base of the mountain remaining . The snow came down from the sky similarly to a waterfall, burying the city underneath
The Imperial City was reduced to half of its original size within an instant . Why? Because it had been reduced to snow . The mortar shot at the mountain and turned it into a volcano . The snow that had acc.u.mulated there for ages came cras.h.i.+ng down in the blink of an eye . It appeared as if the mountain itself would rip to pieces . The city at the foot of the mountain was basically Pompeii all over again, except that they were buried by snow
“That is your ending . I gave you a chance, but you showed me no respect . Sending you here shows that your chief had no intention of negotiating with me . You just came to send me a warning, am I right? Or were you here to try and pry information out of me? You want to get news here from me?” I taunted . I looked at the envoys with faces as pale as corpses and raised my hands up, “In that case, sorry, but you failed . You wanted to defend your city with your last breath to get yourselves some bargaining chips for after your surrender, didn’t you? Forget it . You completely failed . I don’t think you’ll be able to explain yourselves if you return with this news, huh?”.
I looked at them and drew my sword at my waist . I smiled, “In that case, let me help you solve your problem . You’re going to die anyway . Who knows, your family might welcome you back as heroes if you die to me . If you die inside the city, you’ll be considered cowards, won’t you?”.
I looked at their expressions of despair and terror, their cold sweat and their lips that trembled so intensely they couldn’t speak . I surprisingly had a strange pleasurable feeling . I felt satisfied . I guess you could say their despair was my fire . I was excited about being able to control their lives
‘I am your King . I have the right to kill you, because I am the King . You’re my prisoners . There’s nothing wrong with me killing, you and n.o.body will question me, for I have the right to kill you and the sword to kill you . Now, die . ’.
“What are you doing?!”.
Just as I went to kill them, somebody hugged me tightly from behind . I lingered
Logically, a person only has two hands, so how was there something else around my waist? I turned my head around to see Ling Yue’s terrified gaze . I looked at her frown and s.p.a.ced out . I lowered the sword in my hand and asked, “What’s wrong, Ling Yue? Is something the matter?”.
“These people didn’t do anything wrong! Why do you want to kill them? They’re just envoys . Why do you want to kill them?! They just came on orders! They did nothing wrong!!!”.
“If everybody could erase the sin of killing others just by saying ‘my commander told me to,’ while the people could avoid punishment by saying, ‘war has nothing to do with us,’ then this world would seriously be too perfect . ” I argued . I turned back to the group in front . “They are part of the machine of this war . That’s enough of a reason for them to die . ”.
“This has nothing to do with them! They didn’t kill anybody! They’re just a group of envoys . They don’t know anything . They just did their job! Shusia said that you’re a fair tyrant, but aren’t you killing indiscriminately? This group of anthropoids didn’t do anything wrong . They came here for peace, but you’re going to kill them just because they didn’t bring you the conclusion you wanted?!” exclaimed Ling Yue, in a shaky voice . She looked at me with distress and sadness in her eyes . “Didn’t you promise me that you wouldn’t kill indiscriminately? What are you doing now? You’re killing indiscriminately . They haven’t done anything wrong! You want to kill them just because they didn’t bring you the conclusion you wanted!!”.
“I… I…”.
“Stop . Stop . You’re just numbing yourself . Luna’s death is not an excuse for you to kill indiscriminately . Do you think Luna would want to see you transform from the gentle you into a murderer who kills anyone who doesn’t fit into his ideal frame? n.o.body is willing to . You’re just numbing yourself in order to kill . You’re drowning in murder . You’re looking for excuses to kill people . Not only are you looking for excuses to kill, you’re also using them to justify your killing so that you don’t feel guilty! You’ve become a murderer . Stop now… Stop… Killing is not your reason . Your reason for killing people is because you want to kill!”.
Ling Yue’s tears ran down her eyes as she looked at me . She looked at me with anxiety . I saw nothing but terror and anxiety in her gaze . I looked at her face, her weak gaze and her trembling body . I wanted to hug her . I wanted to hug Ling Yue, who was so terrified, that she was barely able to hold herself together
However, when I reached my hand out, I discovered the sword in my hand didn’t allow me to hold her hand . I paused . I looked at Ling Yue on my chest . I looked at her with my sword in my hand . I didn’t know what exactly I wanted to do….
I recalled that day in the dungeon . Mommy Elizabeth pa.s.sed me a sword . It was this Elven King sword in my hand . She told me that the group of people in there were the ones who hurt Luna and got her killed, so I killed them . I didn’t know if they actually had to do with it . As a matter of fact, I knew some of them had nothing to do with it . The child had nothing to do with Luna . Still, I killed them in the end . I killed the group related and unrelated one by one under Mommy Elizabeth’s watch
I killed every single one of them . I was covered in blood . In fact, I almost collapsed due to exhaustion from killing . I had now completely forgotten their faces, but I could still remember Mommy Elizabeth’s words
“You have the right to kill them . You should kill them . ”.
Therefore, I killed them . Therefore, I thought I had the right to kill everyone . I could kill anybody who opposed me
“I’m the Emperor . I’m the highest ruler here . I have power, so I can kill everyone . I can kill everyone I’m displeased with,” was my thought process
“You are killing indiscriminately! They haven’t done anything wrong . You want to kill them just because they didn’t bring you what you wanted!!”.
‘Ling Yue… is right… I seemed to have changed . I can kill now, but I shouldn’t kill indiscriminately . I’ve been killing indiscriminately ever since I began killing in the dungeon . I’ve been killing indiscriminately . ’.
I used countless excuses to tell myself that they deserved to die . However, that was my perspective, alone . It was just my way of tricking myself . How hypocritical have I been during this period? I killed while telling myself I wasn’t killing senselessly . They’re all dead . They’re all dead just because I wanted to kill!!’.
‘How far has Mommy Elizabeth led me? How far have I chased after her for?’.
*Clang…*.