Chapter 199: Forgotten Hero

Ishiki’s eyes were wide with shock and realization.

’He… he just called Mandecium, his father. So does that mean… he is the Demigod of Charity!! ’

Ishiki was utterly speechless at the revelation. He didn’t know what to think of it… so the person the who was sealed here was the Demigod of Charity and the person who sealed him here was none other than the God – Mandecium.

That would explain why he was forgotten all of a sudden and then never remembered again.

“You’re the Demigod of Charity,” Ishiki said quietly. “The one who conquered kingdoms without a single defeat.”

At that… the figure’s eyes widened and it looked at Ishiki with a look of longing in his single eye.

“That… was… my… name…” The voice carried wonder, as if the creature was rediscovering something lost. “I… had… a… name…”

Then its eye focused on Ishiki with renewed intensity. The pupil dilated and contracted rhythmically.

“You… know… me?” The desperation was back.

“I found records,” Ishiki said. “Documents that mentioned you and a newspaper from the Year 517 of Divine Protection.”

The Demigod made that sound again, the one between laughter and sobbing.

“Re…mem…bered…Not… for…gotten… some…one… knows…”

The emotion in that broken voice was raw and painful to hear. Ishiki stood there, unsure what to do or say.

“What happened to you?” he asked finally. “Why are you here?”

The Demigod’s expression changed. The momentary joy faded into something darker. Its gaze shifted to the chains, to the chamber and to the blood-stained floor.

“Pun…ish…ment…” The word dripped with venom. “For… For… something”

Its eye closed. Golden tears continued to stream down the cracked face. It was like he wanted to say something but he regretted his decision.

Ishiki calmed himself down and sat down again… his body was slowly healing. “What did you do to deserve something like this? Do you regret doing that?”

“I… do… I… had a… wife. She was… beautiful… and mortal.” He went quite for a second as if remembering his past. “They… even… killed her.”

“…” Ishiki was silent, for a long moment… “I regret it too… I regret living up to now. I… never asked for this, didn’t ask for any of it.”

“None… of… us… asked…” The Demigod’s gaze drifted to its own ruined form. “For… what… we… be…came…”

Ishiki looked at this creature and his eyes narrowed. This being that had once been a hero, a conqueror, a son of a god was now reduced to this broken thing chained in darkness.

“I killed someone today,” he heard himself say.

The confession hung in the stale air. The Demigod’s eye fixed on him with what might have been understanding.

“There’s a curse,” Ishiki continued, the words spilling out. “Attached to my life. When someone speaks ’Memory Reaper,’ I lose control. My body moves on its own.” His hands trembled.

He couldn’t finish. The image of Nina’s face, of Sorrow’s Edge piercing her chest, flooded his mind.

The Demigod was quiet for a long moment. Then it spoke, voice softer than before.

“Cursed… to… hurt… what… we… love…” Its eye closed. “We… are… same… you… and… I…”

“I’m a monster,” Ishiki said flatly.

“Mon…sters… don’t… cry…” The Demigod’s working hand lifted slightly, pointing at Ishiki’s face. “You… are… crying…”

The words hit harder. He didn’t realize when he had started crying.

“I don’t want to be this,” he whispered.

The figure raised his hand and put it on Ishiki’s shoulder.

The Demigod’s body shuddered as soon as he touched the human boy. But this time, something was different. The golden blood oozing from its wounds was darkening. The cracks across its form were widening, flesh beginning to separate.

In Ishiki’s vision a single message burned.

[Unknown Protocol Recursive Anomaly Activated]

“What… what is happening?” Startled Ishiki crawled away from the Demigod.

The Demigod’s chest split open with a wet tearing sound. Ribs separated, exposing the cavity beneath. Revealing something that was certainly not a heart.

The Demigod’s cracked lips pulled into a genuine smile. For just a moment, through all the corruption and decay, Ishiki could see the hero this being had once been.

“Thank… you…”

Then it began to fall apart.

The cracks widened all at once. Deep fissures split through skin, muscle and bone. Golden blood sprayed in thick streams, painting the floor and walls. Chunks of flesh sloughed off like melting wax, splashing onto the stone in puddles of corrupted matter.

The arms separated from the torso with wet popping sounds. The chains held the severed limbs in place, but the rest of the body was collapsing. Legs split at the hips. The spine became visible as flesh peeled away in sheets.

The head remained longest. That single eye stayed focused on Ishiki even as everything else disintegrated. The Demigod’s mouth moved, forming final words.

“Not… a…lone… any…more…”

Then the skull split down the middle. The two halves fell apart, and what was inside—brain matter turned to something else, something that writhed and pulsed and then it spilled onto the floor.

The entire process took perhaps thirty seconds.

When it ended, when the last chunk of flesh had fallen and the final breath had escaped, only two things remained.

Two spheres floating in the space where the Demigod’s chest had been.

One pure black, absorbing light like a void.

One deep blue, shot through with luminescent threads.

[You have Slain the Demigod Of Charity]

[You have Received 50,000 Data Fragments]

Ishiki stood frozen, unable to look away. His eyes were wide with horror and Confusion.

’What? What just happened? How did I kill him? How did this weird protocol activate?’

Several questions seared through Ishiki’s mind. But his attention was taken away by something else.

The black substance suddenly moved.

It shot forward with terrifying speed, striking Ishiki’s chest before he could react. The impact didn’t hurt. Instead, the black jelly simply sank through his clothes, through his skin, disappearing into his flesh like water into sand.

Ishiki gasped as he felt it spreading through his chest cavity, wrapping around his broken ribs, seeping into damaged organs.

Then the blue sphere moved.

It launched toward his face. Ishiki’s hands came up instinctively, but the substance passed through his palms like they didn’t exist. It struck his mouth, forcing itself between his lips.

The taste was overwhelming—That thing had never been meant for human consumption. Ishiki gagged as the blue jelly pushed down his throat, sliding deeper despite his attempts to expel it.

His body convulsed. He collapsed to his knees, Sorrow’s Edge clattering away. His hands clutched at his throat as the substance reached his chest, merging with the black matter already there.

Heat exploded through his torso.

Not exactly… it was not burning, but close. Every nerve fired at once as the two substances began changing him.

Ishiki screamed.

The black matter wrapped around his broken ribs. He felt them shifting and realigning at impossible speeds.

The sensation was… agonizing.

The blue substance went directly to his heart.

Ishiki’s heart started beating at a terrifying speed and then suddenly burst apart.

The black tendrils crept through his bloodstream.

Ishiki could feel something moving inside his whole body… He was being altered at a cellular level. His blood felt thicker and more potent.

Notifications flooded his vision.

[You have Received a Relic]

[You have Inherited a Protocol]

[You have Inherited an Achievement]

But Ishiki couldn’t focus on any of it. The pain was too overwhelming. He curled into a fetal position on the blood-soaked floor, body wracked with convulsions.

His vision swam between clarity and darkness before his consciousness faded and he died.

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