Chapter 135: Cardoon Zorba [2] — The Malevolent Plotter Spiral

“Once the conditions were met and I made you believe I was gone—even though I truly did die—the Spiral activated, breathing life back into my corpse. Even now, I exist in a bizarre state between life and death. Some call me a Dead Walker. Others say ’Zombie,’ ’Ghoul,’ or something else. I don’t mind. This state has granted me new abilities, allowing me to crush the competition and reach the power I now hold,” Veynar explained.

Zorba listened, his disbelief growing as the truth of his life—of that incident that had marked him forever—unraveled. His brother was alive. He had somehow orchestrated it all from the beginning, just to gain more power. He had pushed his own little brother to commit the unthinkable.

Yet he did not feel like a victim. A certain darkness stirred deep in his heart, a whispering vice urging him to kill his brother for good now. At the same time, the lingering thread of his humanity remained, reminding him of how much he had cried over his brother’s supposed death.

For a moment, Zorba found himself speechless, unable to express anything beyond a strange, bizarre sense of relief. Perhaps what had defined his entire life was not what he had believed it to be. Perhaps…

He was more human than he had ever thought.

“What do you think now, Zorba? Are you happy that I’m still alive?” his brother teased, stepping closer. “Are you going to keep crying?”

“…Veynar,” Zorba said, looking up at his brother with a small smile. “I’m glad you’re alive…”

“…You!” Veynar’s face twisted in disgust. “Why…! Just why?!”

“Why what?” Zorba asked.

Veynar lost control. He seized Zorba’s shirt by the collar and lifted him, rage burning in his eyes.

“Why aren’t you mad?! Why aren’t you attacking me?! Why aren’t you showing me that you hate me as much as I hate you, Zorba?!” he roared. “I envisioned this! I planned this! And yet…! Why…? Why are you so fucking happy?!”

Zorba looked down for a moment, then laughed softly. “It seems you never really knew me that well, brother… Am I really the type of person to do that? Do you truly believe I am?”

Veynar hissed in fury. His emerald eyes glowed red as he prepared to slam his brother’s face into the ground with all his strength… but he couldn’t.

He dropped Zorba on the floor. Zorba slowly stood and faced his brother, who turned and walked away.

“I see how it is now,” Veynar said, glancing back. “You’re more messed up than I thought… Hahaha…”

Zorba watched his brother with a mixture of sorrow and quiet happiness in his eyes.

“I’m going to kill you now, Zorba,” Veynar said, smiling once more. “So die for me, will you?”

Zorba had no strength left to fight back. He stood there, awaiting his fate.

And yet…

Something deep within his mind began to blossom—memories of a world he had never visited, experiences from another Zorba.

Those dream-like memories he had glimpsed, so unclear yet so vivid, the ones that had somehow made him trust Louis and follow him without hesitation.

Yes…

Throughout his entire life, Zorba had never truly felt the desire to keep living. He had drifted between life and death simply because it was what he could do in the moment.

But he had never possessed a genuine will to continue. That would have remained unchanged even now, as his brother came for his life.

Until this moment.

Except that… this time, something changed.

“Lord Louis…”

His proud demeanor, his golden eyes, his long, beautiful white hair.

His fierce determination, his unyielding desire to live and fight no matter the odds.

His will, his spirit, his heart.

The more Zorba thought about his lord, the more desperately he wanted to live.

To witness how far Louis would go.

To see whether his words would prove true, and whether he would truly forge a world where they could all live in peace.

As his brother pointed his hand at him and shadows coalesced into a long black spear…

As that spear lunged straight toward his heart…

Zorba asked himself the question once more.

“Do I want to continue living?”

More images of Him flashed through his mind.

Their time together had been brief, but the more Zorba watched him fight, the more he saw him triumph, and the more he learned of the thoughts and burdens within his mind… the more Zorba felt compelled to serve him.

To stand by his side. Because Lord Louis was like him—someone who, beneath the struggles and pain, carried a profound loneliness.

The loneliness in his eyes, hidden behind bravado and recklessness, could not be concealed from Zorba, who understood that despair all too deeply.

Thus… even in this moment, with his brother alive and coming to kill him…

Even when he should simply accept death and allow his brother his revenge…

Zorba wanted to be selfish.

CRASH!

“Zorba… You…!”

When the spear struck, Zorba moved. Only for an instant.

But the spear meant for his heart pierced his left shoulder instead.

“Nngh…”

“Why?! I thought you wanted to die?! Why are you…! You bastard!”

Veynar raged, kicking Zorba’s face and sending him tumbling across the ground.

Zorba slowly rose, clutching his bleeding wound tightly to stem the flow.

“I found someone, brother…”

“What?”

Zorba closed his eyes and smiled softly, his desire to live burning brighter.

“Someone I must follow no matter what.”

Veynar’s face twisted with anger and disgust as he stepped closer.

“Is that so?”

He leveled his black spear at Zorba.

“If you’re now fighting to live for someone else instead of yourself, doesn’t that make you even more pathetic than before, Zorba?”

“Whether I am pathetic or not doesn’t matter. I have always been pathetic, after all. I have always been despicable, hated. Nothing about that changes for me, brother.”

“So that’s your new resolve? Risk everything for the Prince? The very man you were sent to KILL?”

Zorba smiled warmly. His delusions warped his Aura.

For a fleeting moment, he could feel Louis’s presence within that Aura—right beside him.

“Yes… I am simply doing what I’ve always done, brother. I am following my heart.”

“Then fight me.”

“Hecatoncheires, you may go wild.”

“ROOOAAARRRR!”

“…?!”

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