Chapter 170: Death Incarnate?
Chapter 168
"Uh... what did you say?" Elyon blinked in confusion, his voice trailing off as he processed the statement.
"I said; let’s kill the kid right here, right now," Bruce repeated with a much firmer, more dangerous tone.
Ray was now instantly on guard.
Unconsciously, arcs of lightning began crackling around his legs, his body tensing in preparation for anything that could happen in the mental landscape.
’At least my abilities work here. But damn it, damn it! Why would he suddenly decide to kill me? Can he even do it?’
’Of course he can, dumbass!’
Elyon seemed to be lost in deep thought as he stared into Bruce’s eyes, searching for some sign of hesitation, but all he met back was cold, unwavering determination.
With a weary sigh, the celestial shook his head.
"Why should we kill him? In case you have forgotten, we currently exist because of him. He is the one hosting us; otherwise, we will perish into nothingness. Shouldn’t we be grateful to him for our survival?"
"Right," Ray added with a sharp nod, totally agreeing with the celestial’s logic.
Bruce scoffed, the sound echoing through the mind space.
"As if he even has a choice in the matter. In case you have forgotten too, he needs us to survive.
Without us, he wouldn’t have the opportunity to grow any stronger, and eventually, something or someone will just finish him off. A beast, an Aberrant, or even a human."
’Seems he is being real serious right now.’
Ray was now on his feet with a grim look on his face, staring at the werewolf and ready for any sudden movement.
Elyon thought for a moment before shaking his head again.
"Still. If we kill him, how do we find out about our origins? How do we discover what happened that led us to the mind space of a human? Don’t you at least want to know the truth and have your revenge?"
Bruce scoffed once more.
"So what? I should just keep living here..."
"... Rent free," Ray interjected with a grim look on his face.
Bruce scowled at him for the interruption, his claws lengthening slightly.
But Elyon stood up and positioned himself directly in between the duo, his eyes flashing a brilliant white for a moment to assert his presence.
"This is teamwork, in case you don’t know. We all need one another to survive. He needs us for the power to vanquish his foes, and we need him for our very existence."
Elyon paused for a second, a flicker of hesitation crossing his features before he turned around to face Ray.
"I hid something from you both."
Both Bruce and the boy lifted an eyebrow simultaneously at the sudden admission from the celestial.
Clearing his throat, Elyon continued.
"I—I indeed can’t recall anything, and the harder I try, the more pain I receive. It seems like a mental code has been set on our minds to prevent us from remembering anything about our previous lives for a specific reason. But one day, I managed to push past the agony and saw a faint image."
Bruce and Ray both leaned in, waiting to hear the significance of his vision.
"I—I saw death. I saw war. A war involving multiple races. I couldn’t see exactly who or what was battling, but I saw alliances being formed, and at the head of the enemy side, I saw death incarnate.
A—A foe so powerful, they were vanquishing everything that stood in their path. Blood flowed like a river. Realms shook and—and—and then the pain became too much to bear."
Ray had been listening in attentively, a grim look settling on his face.
Death incarnate?
A foe too strong for multiple races and realms to form an alliance against?
What exactly was he hinting at? What could this foe possibly be?
A werewolf? A celestial? An elf?
Or was it the Aberrants?
So many questions were flooding Ray’s mind, making him more confused than ever as he stared at the celestial, searching his eyes as if the answers he sought were hidden... trapped behind them.
Unfortunately, he found nothing.
Bruce, on the other hand, was just quietly listening to Elyon’s words.
He didn’t say anything because he had seen a fleeting image very similar to what the celestial described.
That was part of the reason he had been silent for days.
He was still dealing with the painful drawback from trying to push past his mental limits to at least get a glimpse of his past life.
He felt agony—immense, sharp pain too great for his mind to bear.
It felt like his brain was being torn apart the more he tried moving past the barrier.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, he simply wasn’t able to endure the strain.
Which was why he had remained quiet, silently trying to heal himself when Ray decided to disturb his recovery with his useless chatter.
"Ray," Elyon breathed out, a hint of despair clouding his face.
"I honestly don’t know why we are here nor how we got here. I do want to know, but one thing I also want is for you to save your race."
"Hm?" Ray cocked a brow in confusion at the celestial’s sudden words.
"... I don’t know what it is, but I feel with each passing day that something will come for you. What it is, I don’t know, but I sincerely hope you will be strong enough to handle it when it does come."
Ray sighed while rubbing his temples in exhaustion, the weight of the conversation pressing down on him.
"I guess being trapped for months in a dark, gloomy space with nothing to do but watch a kid go about his life daily is enough to make anyone go mad."
Without saying much else, he headed toward the chair and sat down heavily.
"You both need rest. I won’t say I totally believe what you are saying, but think about this; whoever might have placed the restriction on your memories, don’t you think they also have the power to alter them as they like? For all I know, you could have merely seen a flash of an altered memory."
Ray thought for a few seconds before adding firmly,
"Like I said; I’m not humanity’s savior and I will never be. But I will definitely protect my dear ones."
Before he fully returned to the real world, the boy glanced at the motionless werewolf.
"... I know you want to kill me badly, but just like Elyon said, we all need one another. So you can hold off on your killing thoughts until we figure out how to save you both."
As he turned around to leave the mind space, a grim thought appeared in his mind.
’I have to speak with Felix. He is a werewolf, and Bruce is one too. That pervert should surely know something.’