Chapter 8: Beneath the Sunlight

I was ready to kill everyone here if that meant gaining freedom… and I knew I wouldn’t feel anything toward them.

But now… this girl exceeded all my expectations.

I grabbed 02 by the collar, feeling her life begin to fade away, yet that smile was still drawn on her face as she answered my shout,”Because I want to.”What did she mean by that?

With the little strength she had left, she raised her arms and wrapped them around my waist, then pulled herself toward me until our bodies were pressed together.

Before I could push her away, she spoke, blood spilling from her mouth.”If you feel anything toward me, even a little pity… take me with you. I want to see the sun before I die.”Then she rested her forehead against my chest and added,”This is my only request.”

I hesitated, not knowing what to do. I couldn’t understand what I was feeling in that moment.

Then I did something I never imagined I would do… I lifted 02 in my arms and ran toward the instant teleportation gate.

It was close, and there was nothing stopping me from reaching it.

All I could hear was the sound of her dying breaths in my arms.

Then she coughed, droplets of blood scattering as she spoke weakly,”01… do you have a name?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Then what is your name?”Her voice was so faint, as if she would die in the next moment.

“If you want to see the sun, then save what little strength you have left!” I shouted at her.

But she only smiled and rested her head against my chest.”Please…” she begged.

I bit my lip, cursing inwardly.

She was supposed to die in the explosion… or by my sword.So why had things ended up like this?

“My name is Caius,” I answered.

“Caius… Caius…”She repeated it as if tasting the name on her tongue, then said,”It’s a beautiful name… unfortunately, I don’t have one.”

I arrived in front of the instant teleportation gate. A screen appeared before me, asking me to choose a destination. I saw many options, but I didn’t recognize any of them.

Perhaps they were other regions.

After searching, I found a place I knew: [Edgewood Forest]

. I selected it, and the gate began to ripple. A progress bar appeared on the screen along with a message asking me to wait while the coordinates were prepared.

I stood there, listening to 02’s faint breathing in my arms.”Caius… have you seen the sun before?” she asked.

I found myself answering,”Yes.”

“What is it like…?”

I knew what she would ask next, so I continued,”It’s a circle of light hanging in the sky. Something that makes you feel warmth before your mind can even understand it.Its light doesn’t press against your eyes; it flows gently, as if telling you that the world wasn’t always cruel.When you stand beneath it, you feel that your shadow exists… and that you exist with it.”

The words slipped from my mouth—words I never imagined I would say in my previous life.

“And the sky?” she asked again.

I answered,”It’s a boundless void of beautiful blue. When you look at it, you feel as if all your problems cease to exist.”

She laughed softly, mixed with coughing.”I told you, Caius… you’re kind.”

What was this girl saying? Kind?I remembered what I had done just minutes ago… how I slaughtered them without hesitation or mercy.How I was ready to kill her without a second thought.

And now… she was calling me kind.

Finally, the gate finished preparing.

I stepped forward into it.”You’ll see the answer to your questions now.”

I felt her head press against my chest.”You’re warm… I wonder, which is warmer… you or the sun?”Her voice was fainter than ever.

Then my vision distorted, and the transfer began.

I felt slightly dizzy,before the scene changed.

A clean breeze brushed against my skin, along with the familiar warmth of sunlight—something I had never felt in this life.

I stood in the middle of a beautiful green plain, and ahead of me was a line of trees forming a forest.

The sky was clear and blue, without a single cloud. A strange feeling washed over me as I saw it.

I looked down… at the girl in my arms, and said,”Do you see? This is the answer you were looking for—”

The words stopped in my throat.

There was no response.

Her eyes were closed, a peaceful smile on her face… like someone who had found warmth in her final moments.

She was dead.Dead without seeing freedom.

Yet for some reason, that smile seemed to say otherwise.

Inside the laboratory… 5 minutes until explosion.

Chaos filled the place. Corpses were scattered everywhere, and blood and debris covered the corridors that had been clean just yesterday.

But on the highest floor of the laboratory, there was a place untouched by the chaos.

Inside one of the rooms filled with complex machinery, a man moved back and forth, wearing a white lab coat.

It was the same doctor who had conducted the experiments on Caius.

He finally stopped in front of one of the screens, reading its contents while holding a glass vial filled with a black liquid.

The next moment, the vial slipped from his hand and shattered on the floor, its contents scattering everywhere.

He didn’t care.

“How… how did I not see this before…?”He muttered, shock written clearly on his face.

3 minutes until explosion.

“But this makes no sense… they… they all died thousands of years ago!”He spoke to himself, trembling violently.

2 minutes until explosion.

“01 was… but how is this possible? I have to inform headquarters immediately!”His hands moved rapidly across the keyboard, shaking as if he had discovered a secret no one was ever meant to know.

5 seconds remaining.

His hands finally stopped.

2 seconds remaining.

His hand moved to press the send button—but before it could reach it—

The timed bomb detonated, along with the reactor core.

An explosion of pure white flames erupted, engulfing everything.

There was no sound.

Everything was erased… metal, concrete, humans, and monsters alike.All of it turned to dust in mere moments.

On the surface, a powerful shockwave spread across the northern borders of Solaria.

To the north, far away from that region…

There was a dense forest, and beyond it, a vast plain of green grass.

A single tree stood atop a hill.

Beneath it, a young man was digging a rectangular hole the size of a human body, using only his bare hands.

Beside the hole lay a girl on her back, her eyes closed, a smile on her face… she looked as if she were sleeping peacefully.

At last, the young man finished digging. He climbed out of the hole and walked toward the girl. He looked at her for a few moments, then lifted her and gently placed her inside, beginning to cover her with soil.

She didn’t react… because she was dead.She was 02, and the young man was Caius.

He scooped the earth with his hands and threw it into the grave, handful after handful, until it was completely filled.

Then he walked to the tree and carved a sentence into it with his fingernail:

“Beneath this soil, her final dream remained alive… to see the sun.”

He stood there, staring at the grave with an unreadable expression.

Then his lips moved as he spoke to himself,

“The only thing I can do for those who died… is to live.”

His voice echoed across the plain.

“I will live… I will live and grow stronger… far stronger.”

He extended his hand forward, as if trying to grasp something and crush it.

“And then I will return… I will return to them and extinguish their souls forever… all of them. Not a single one will remain alive.”

He clenched his fist.

“They want to revive the Devourer… I will make sure that never happens.”

His voice carried an unshakable resolve.

“No one… and nothing… can stop me.”

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