BXBX NOVEL Chapter 417: Who is it this time? [2/2]
'Then {Recursion} will always have that judgment crap?'
{Only if you use more than you have.}
'Fucking capitalist! Ugh, whatever. I'm going now!'
{See you around... Buddy.}
'Huh? Wait a fucking minute? {Rewind}? You fucking asshole!'
Then I felt my consciousness being pulled out, like I was going through a warp.
***
I then opened my eyes and saw a world of white.
"I'm getting really tired of this white world shit. Who is it this time?"
"That would be my fault."
I turned to see the Slayer. He was wearing the same armor, but he wasn't wielding his polearm. In reflex, I clenched my hands into fists and got into a boxing stance.
"[Inventory]. Ebony, ivory!"
The Slayer waved both arms frantically as he held them up.
"Wait! Wait! I surrender! I am not here to fight! We are both on the soul plane."
A term I hadn't heard before, but I understood what it meant. This must be some kind of domain between worlds.
I watched a lot of anime and manga, so I understood. Whenever the hero dies, he meets a bunch of people for some kind of philosophical crap.
If you count what {Rewind} tried to do for me, it was similar. Although I kind of got the feeling that bastard just wanted to torture me.
"Let me guess, this place is somewhere between life and death? Are you saying goodbye in a clichéd way? What? You want to tell me your life story or something?"
The Slayer froze as he began to scratch awkwardly at the back of his helmet.
"You're wearing a damn helmet. How can you even scratch your head, you fucking moron?"
Robert then began to laugh out loud while holding his stomach.
Somehow, in the few minutes I had with him, I saw the Slayer express more emotion than ever before.
"HAHAHA, good one. Sorry, force of habit. You hit the nail on the head. I came to give you a warning."
"Why? We are enemies. Why would you want to help me?"
"Oh! Right! Then let me be brief. You saw what my face looked like under the helmet, right? The black skull? Basically, my body was in the Blood Moon.
So I was sort of dead the entire time."
I see, no wonder he couldn't be killed. Come to think of it, the demon only came out after Lilly and the girls started shooting at the moon.
"Okay. So what?"
The Slayer made a thoughtful face and started humming loudly.
"Mmm. Let me think for a moment."
After a few seconds, he held out his hand to me.
"What? You want a handshake?"
"It would be quicker to show you. Only takes a minute at the most. Your girls have already returned your soul," he replied.
"I what?"
"Your soul. You just experienced a soul collapse. That's what happens when you run out of souls after a big battle. Call it delayed stress."
"How do you know that?" I asked cautiously.
"Because I am inside you."
"You what?"
"Oh, come on; you can't be that stupid. Why do you think they call our currency souls? Why do you get souls when someone dies? Grim Reaper? Any of that ring a bell?"
"..."
Well, fuck. So, souls were literally souls. Like dead people. So that was why you went crazy when you had over 100,000? It was not just malice, but taking in the souls of literally a hundred people? I just won 4,000,000, no wonder I broke.
"Looks like you understood to some extent. Anyway, my time is short. In a nut shell, what I want you to watch out for are the Revenants and IRIS. They are not allies of the Reapers, nor of humanity."
"What?"
"My family was massacred. In my grief, I created the {Blood Feast}. My {Fate} only serves to store enough malice and blood to give birth to a demon. My original body was used as the vessel."
"Did you at least manage to kill the murderer of your family?" I asked sympathetically.
"How could I? You killed me before I could gather enough power."
"Who did you want to kill? Even with all that, it wasn't enough?"
"It was David Thomas."
"What?" I said like an idiot.
"David Thomas killed my whole village. My parents, my children, and my wife. Everyone I ever knew died at his hands."
"..."
"I didn't make {Blood Feast} by accident. David made me wish for it. He taught me how to create a {Fate} that would give birth to a demon. And told me I could kill him with it."
"..."
Come to think of it, according to Exa, David, Xander and Eva were Connie's guests. From the speed with which he arrived, Raymond must have been the specter guarding the zone.
Which meant that the moment the Andromalius came out, every Specter present charged into the battle zone. All except the fucking Revenant. I felt myself swallow with nervousness. As if I had learned something I shouldn't have.
Then I remembered how Xander had lost his wife. According to him, it was because David lost control. And Xander tried to kill him with the Saviors, only to have them all die except for the man in front of me.
"Was he perhaps suffering from a soul collapse? Did he act like a lunatic?"
"No, he was sane. And Zachary Lynch was with him. They started executing people after telling them to kill each other. Those who refused were murdered on the spot."
"..."
What the fuck? Why would David and Zach do that? I thought the guys from North America were better than those from Europe. But if what Robert said was true. How could any of them be better?
"Anyway. My time has come. Thank you for freeing me, John. I am glad that you stopped me. If we meet again in the next life, I will follow you forever. Be careful.
I am rooting for you."
"Wait! Robert! Come back!"
Like a video on fast forward, my distance from Robert grew rapidly, even though he only took less than ten steps. As he turned, I saw a group of silhouettes grab him and drag him to the ground.
And then he was gone.
"That didn't look peaceful at all."
The more I learned about Hellsgate, the less I knew. But when I looked at the white world. I knew two things.
One, even though I still had questions, I knew more than when I started.
And two, even if I didn't have all the answers. I didn't have to find them all on my own. Unlike when I started, I had the Sirens. And now I had Hellsend.
Though no one believed it was possible, my army and I managed to defeat a greater demon. Even though Robert's story had shaken me a little, it didn't change what I had to do.
My goal had nothing to do with David or any of the Revenants. And as long as I kept getting stronger, It didn't matter what stood in my way.
I steeled my mind, allowed my soul to leave this place, and returned to Hellsgate. The place where Hellsend and my battle harem were waiting for me.