Chapter 149 - Black Palace – 4 (1/2)

Black Palace – 4

“What about the fallen…humans inhabiting the bodies of monsters?”

[It is Satan who laid the groundwork for the technique of injecting a soul into the body of a monster.]

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. It felt like I wouldn’t survive if I didn’t. Exhaling, I opened my eyes again.

“Why?” I couldn’t ask him to empathize with my humanity. He was doing as I commanded; I was the one who directed him. I wanted to let go of everything, but I still had to hold onto the string of consciousness. The sins I committed were plain before me. Not only to the farmer Fate, but many others I killed either directly or indirectly. I even created the beings called fallen and was behind the Rookie’s Battlefield. Which meant I influenced the creation of the Chaos Souls as well. It was too much for just an individual to achieve.

[Are you okay?]

“No…” I shook my head and pushed on.

“Why is the battlefield and the underground still around?”

[As I said, it is because of Satan and the arrogant one. The representatives of those two worlds have lost their power, and thus they could not be completely connected.]

That was the cause of the underworld’s issues—the dungeons connecting with Earth and the soul monsters being born on the battlefield. No doubt, more side effects were happening that I wasn’t aware of.

[If you leave it alone, both worlds will disappear sooner or later.]

The twisted connection of dull mana between the two remained.

“How do I correct this?”

[You can forcibly connect one of the two worlds with the other to merge them. You are already doing that.]

‘Alright, I’m already doing that.’ Perhaps the next battle would be the last, then.

[As you regain your strength, the arrogant one must also regain his. You must be careful, as the battlefield overflows with distorted human souls.]

“Ah, yes. Right.” Only after listening to him did a thought pop up in my mind. The purpose of developing the Chaos Souls. I thought they were meant to clean up humanity and fight demons, but now I knew. Learning that the arrogant one was as weak as I was, it became possible for me to think of a new line of reasoning. Perhaps the Chaos Soul was, from the start, studied to restore my adversary’s power. The Chaos Soul army was just a by-product.

“Hahaha…” He was annoyingly vicious, but I couldn’t fully blame him. I felt like I was a villain, no different from him. I had the sole purpose of surviving myself. I lived by trampling on everyone else. But, despite that, I still wanted to live. In this world, I wanted to survive. It’s not that I wouldn’t admit to my sins. To deny my past would be to deny myself. Even if I had to carry them all on my back, I wanted to survive. Even knowing how bad I was, how many died because of me, I still wanted to live.

It was a selfish and ugly desire, but I wanted to live with those precious to me. I knew now how precious and brilliant a life could be. But I would break those bright and beautiful lives if it meant protecting myself and those I cared for. I hated myself for thinking that way, but I couldn’t help it. I recalled the time I woke up as a goblin. When I moved with only the desire to survive. Nothing had changed since then. So I made up my mind. I accepted my ugly self and forged a new will that wouldn’t be broken by anyone.

“I will survive, Batsago.”

[Do that. Satan will reign over the underground.]

Even after calling his name, his power couldn’t be recovered since it was tied to the battlefield. However, he nodded, happy to have his name back.

[Then, I will tell you of the present and the future.]

“…” The real task I had entrusted to Batsago started now.

[Heaven has started to move. They realized that the Great Fusion might have a worse consequence for them.]

“…”

[It divided the underground in half, but at the same time, it provided them an opportunity. They had been unable to show their strength due to conflict, but whoever would win that fight would have access to enormous power above Heaven. They began to prepare troops to destroy each side individually.]

“What about a group of self-proclaimed warriors?”