Chapter 77: The Fall of a Frozen World(12)

One of the hardest choices for a human to make is whose life he should sacrifice. When given the option, which is the correct one? It’s a classic, one that many ask themselves, yet never get in the position to actually answer it.

But here he was.

That was the third floor, having to choose which life he should sacrifice. He was sitting in front of two prisoners. Both were screaming at him for mercy, trying to make them choose them.

Most people would look over their records to see who’s more evil. But there is a big emphasis on more. It’s not choosing which is evil and which is nice. You had to choose between two evils.

They wouldn’t be here if both of them hadn’t committed a grave sin. And in a world like this, even disrespecting the Queen could be a great sin, so who knows how guilty of evil they were. But either way, there was no way to tell.

So, without the background, how do you choose between the two?

Worth. That was an option, just one hard to understand. Human worth is hard to explain, and it is better not to even think humans have worth. Those mindsets are worth millions, but few possess them, as they often succumb to the harsh reality of this world.

Worth is a subjective thing, as for some, a life can be worth millions, yet for others, nothing. For example, a child. For the family, it doesn’t have a price; that’s how valuable it is, but for a random person, its value isn’t so great.

That was why the idea of a human life having worth doesn’t really work, since it would be valued differently by everyone. But still, he didn’t know any of them, so maybe he could use that to try and see who’s more worthy to survive. He didn’t have feelings towards them, which meant they wouldn’t get in the way of his rationality.

…

Normally, this trial would be impossible to choose, as the more you think, the more you realize there isn’t a right answer, and the harder it is to choose. The Two probably knew this, which was why he had chosen this trial.

He also had a theory that if he didn’t choose, then both of them would die. That was what the Knight was trying to test: whether his emotions would get the best of him, to see his empathy and mercy betray him.

And if they didn’t choose in the end, to see them crumble as they both died, because he couldn’t choose.

Choosing, though, wouldn’t be a problem for him.

He gripped his blade, cutting the head of the first. And listening, as the Codex didn’t appear. As the second started to give him his gratitude for choosing him, he drew his blade and thrust it right into his heart. Killing both.

…

“Empathy for an illusion, how pathetic.”

The codex had not announced their death, which couldn’t mean they were human, nor beast. But they couldn’t be non-awakeners, as they would be frozen in time, which only left one option. They were illusions, created to repeat the same cry over and over again

It was almost scary how advanced they were. They had no flaws; they looked perfectly like a human did.

Either way, he had cleared the third floor, and without any injuries, which was amazing. The Fourth had The Two. But he wasn’t worried, since, because of these trials, he knew some things about him.

Aether climbed the stairs, opening the door to an empty room, just like the one The Ace had. He saw someone standing in the middle, but he didn’t have time to take a good look, since he was already being attacked.

He clenched his blade with both of his hands, putting it in front of him, as a sword came down on it with great force. His arms shook, but if he stopped, the blade would hit him right in the face.

The wielder of the blade looked to be a small boy, with big green eyes… they almost looked fake, which gave him an uneasy feeling. His hair was like his, a glance of the sun. Blond hair that looked to be valued like gold.

He was shorter than him, which was surprising, since he was a Knight.

Also, there was no armor on his body, not even a little. This made him question what his abilities were to make him think he could take on any attack without any armor. But he wasn’t mad about it.

As he was struggling to keep the blade from reaching his face, someone called out from the middle of the room.

“Calm down, Thanatos, at least let me meet our old friend.”

He boy rolled his, trying one last time to get through his guard, only letting go whenever he realized he couldn’t. He crossed his arms, waiting to attack again, after he talked to the figure.

Aether turned to finally look at the figure he had seen in the middle of the room. But what he didn’t expect was for it to look exactly like the boy who had attacked him. But the other one was still next to him, so how was he standing there?

…

“Of course, there are two. It’s The Two.”

Aether took a deep breath, approaching the other boy.

“Aether… how nice it is to see you again. We have missed you so much. Do you remember me? Little Eros?”

He was acting nice, too nice. After his experience with The Ace, he knew how fast humans can change, so he knew that this was probably all an act. But a part of him thought it wasn’t, it thought that maybe one of them was nice, and the other evil.

“Eros, can we kill him already? You said that you wouldn’t take long.”

Thanatos spoke from the back, which made Eros’ face darken, a vein popping on his head as he tried his best to keep his personality, but he knew it was crumbling.

His words also proved something to him: that it was all an act. Just like The Ace, they were going to kill him, well…

try to kill him.

But that wasn’t going to happen.

Aether walked forward, right until their faces were almost together. Putting his hand on Eros’s shoulder.

“You know, I’ve killed Guliot, right?”

The Knight laughed, but he knew that behind it was an unimaginable anger. Who laughed at their friend’s death, not even he did something so cruel.

“I do, it is quite impressive. All of the Knights know, even the Queen. She isn’t happy, you know.”

Even the Queen? He really hoped that she wouldn’t do something until it was her turn to die, because if she came to kill him earlier than intended, he was dead. Even more if he was challenging a zone. But she wouldn’t do it, she is too arrogant to come herself. She would just let her Knight handle it.

“It is, and it took me a lot of time, more than I wanted. So I want to finish this today. So I’m on track again.”

Eros chuckled again, this one even more false, almost nervous.

“What do you mean?”

…

“You Knights are all arrogant, you see me as weak, and you underestimade me. That is how I will kill you all.”

Eros had wanted to respond. But before he could even say something, a sword appeared from Aether’s mark, running straight into his shoulder.

Thanatos rushed to help, but before he could attack Aether, he had already taken his blade out and drawn his blade to pierce his heart. And for some reason, he couldn’t move; it was like an undeniable pain was taking his ability to move. But… he has only seen something like this with the Queen. With the Abyss’s soul attack…

But Aether was of Praise, so how…

…

[You have killed a Seeker Monster, The Two]

[You have gained a relic]

He had never thought the ability to summon his blade instantly would be so valuable. But maybe just like how The Knights had underestimated him, he did the same for the ability. It can serve as a very good surprise attack, which worked perfectly in this situation.

Whenever Eros died, Thanatos did too. So he didn’t have to deal with that bastard.

He had done it very quickly, but that was what he wanted and needed. If he waited too long for each Knight, he would never finish. He needed to speed things up. To get through the trials faster and find a way to kill the Knight without any inconvenience, just like he had done today.

Now, the place was going to fall down upon him. But first, he wanted to see something.

[Relics]

—[Hair extension]

— [Cloak of Dread]

—[VoidPiercer Wound (Replica)]

—[Card of The Beggining]

—[Card of Harmony]

***

He had gotten another card, which was really valuable since the memories it gave helped him in finding what really happened in this world. But he didn’t have time to read it, as the place was already falling apart. He would have to do it later.

But outside the exit. Someone was waiting for him, someone he had met quite a lot until now.

Someone he would he woud have to kill one day. And one of the Strongest Knights of the Queen.

J.

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