Chapter 225 : Chapter 225
Chapter 225. Pride
The entire hall fell silent.
Only that boy’s young yet resolute voice echoed again and again beneath the grand dome of the assembly hall, like a thorn driven into the eardrums of everyone present—and into the long river of time itself.
The scene froze.
Within those heterochromatic eyes burned an almost pathological longing for “absolute freedom.”
Clap. Clap. Clap.
A burst of abrupt applause shattered that heavy sense of history.
The red-eyed “Logaris” seemed to feel that the moment was ripe. He no longer roared. A mocking smile hung on that face identical to the original as he drifted like a ghost behind the figure sitting there in silence, staring blankly out at the curtain of rain beyond the window.
He bent slightly at the waist, his chin nearly resting on Logaris’s shoulder. Warm breath carrying a faint scent of blood brushed against his ear, and his voice trembled with the feverish urgency and excitement of a blade finally laid bare.
“Did you hear that, Logaris?”
“Absolute freedom!”
“No one can restrain you! You said that yourself. It was your own vow, carved into your soul!”
The red-eyed duplicate suddenly thrust out a hand and pointed toward Sylvia’s lingering image in the void. That image flickered in and out through the rain, looking especially fragile. His tone sharpened, becoming like a surgeon’s scalpel as it viciously cut open the most hidden corner of Logaris’s heart.
“But look at yourself now. What have you become?”
“A domesticated hunting dog? Or some anxious, ever-fearful steward?”
He moved around to stand before Logaris, then slammed both hands down upon the dusty long table with a heavy bang, shaking up a cloud of rotten dust.
Those blood-red eyes locked onto Logaris’s face, trying to find even the slightest flicker in those overly calm eyes—fear would have sufficed.
“All these years, Sylvia has been the only one who ever made you stop, made you dull, made you forget your ideals. You have wasted too much of your energy, too many of your calculations, too much of your care and effort, on that woman.”
“Where is your reason? Has a dog eaten it?”
The red-eyed duplicate let out a cold laugh. It was the ultimate mockery of human nature, and a ruthless dissection of political logic.
“From the perspective of the underlying logic of an exchange of interests, Sylvia values you now, listens to you now, and even places half her life in your hands because you are a useful blade. Because the magitech in your head can help her win this war and help her ascend the throne.”
“But what about once the war is over?”
He leaned closer, and his voice dropped low, every word squeezed out like a curse from between clenched teeth.
“Once she ascends the throne, once she holds supreme power and becomes the queen of Astrelia, do you really think she will tolerate a variable at her side—someone who knows all her secrets, understands all her weaknesses, and can even threaten royal authority through sheer power?”
Logaris still sat upon that moldy bench, his eyes lowered, almost as though he had fallen asleep. He gave no response at all.
The red-eyed duplicate thought he had gotten through to him, thought the cruel truth had shattered his defenses. The red light in his eyes flared brighter at once, and he immediately strengthened the temptation. His voice grew enticing, like gospel whispered from hell.
“Have there not always been plays of ‘When the birds are gone, the good bow is hidden; when the cunning hare is dead, the hound is boiled’ throughout history? The bloodline of the Astrelia family itself runs with betrayal and cold-bloodedness. She is an ambitious ruler, and you are an uncontrollable madman.”
“She will draw her blade against you sooner or later.”
“Rather than wait to be betrayed, why not sever this ridiculous bond now?”
The red-eyed duplicate suddenly flung both arms wide. Black mist churned behind him, as though he were embracing the entire world—or displaying some supreme authority.
“Here and now, cut away that weak humanity. Embrace pure divinity. Then accept Maxim’s legacy.”
“Unburdened by ties, with no father and no mother, with no ruler and no subject.”
“Morality, law, the judgment of the world—none of them will ever restrain you again. With pure reason, you will ascend to godhood, grasp the truth of the world, and look down upon the joys and sorrows of these insects.”
The red-eyed duplicate brought his face close to Logaris’s. Their noses were nearly touching.
He looked at the still-silent version of himself and whispered the final ultimatum like a spell.
“Come. Tell me your choice.”
“Will you continue to be a dog that wags its tail and begs for scraps, one that can be slaughtered at any time...”
“Or will you become the god... of a new age?”
A deathly silence spread through the ruined wooden shack.
Only that drafty roof kept dripping rain, one drop after another. The water struck the muddy ground and splashed up murky droplets. Every sound was like the pendulum of a countdown clock, striking against stretched nerves.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
At last, Logaris moved.
He slowly lifted his head, unhurried, as though he had just finished savoring an afternoon tea. A cold glint flashed across his lenses, hiding the emotion in his eyes.
Within those pale blue eyes, there was neither the anger of having his private thoughts exposed nor the struggle of someone standing before a difficult choice.
There was only one emotion there.
The look one gives an idiot, full of the indulgent pity reserved for a witless child.
“Finished?” Logaris asked blandly.
The red-eyed duplicate froze, his expression locking in place.
Haa—
Logaris let out a sigh and slowly rose to his feet.
“I must admit, your eloquence is quite good. This entire line of persuasion forms a complete logical loop, with emotions rising layer by layer. If you went to the Northern Territory to sell insurance or run pyramid schemes, your results would certainly outstrip those of the locals.”
Logaris looked at the figure before him, someone with exactly the same face as his own yet with a villain written all over him, and shook his head helplessly.
“Cut away humanity? Embrace divinity?”
“What are you, some third-rate villain from a cheap street novel? Even the bards by the roadside cannot be bothered with lines like that anymore. They are painfully outdated. Truly.”
Logaris stepped forward once, and the aura of that refined scoundrel instantly bore down on the other man, forcing the red-eyed duplicate to retreat half a step on instinct.
“I do not need any so-called cutting away. All I need is to be myself.”
“Joy, anger, sorrow, delight; greed, wrath, obsession, hatred—those are the flesh and blood that make up the individual called ‘Logaris.’ Without them, I would be nothing more than a finely crafted alchemical puppet.”
He raised one long forefinger and tapped it lightly against his own chest.
“I keep them not because I am weak, but because I want to live like a human being. Even if that means being a calculating villain, it is still better than becoming some lofty yet hollow idol.”
“As for Sylvia...”
When he spoke that name, a curve rose at the corner of Logaris’s mouth.
It was not a gentle smile. It was a confidence carved into the marrow of his bones, or rather—
Pride.
“You think I am afraid she will betray me?”
“You have made a mistake in the most basic logic, my ‘other side.’” Logaris lifted one finger and waved it lightly before the red-eyed duplicate. “I remain at her side not because I need her pity, and certainly not because I need her promises.”
“It is because I have enough confidence—”
Boom!
A terrifying surge of mana suddenly erupted from within Logaris.
The storm and rain reversed in midair, forming a dreadful vacuum domain inside that dilapidated shack. Roof tiles burst away, the walls groaned, and the entire illusion trembled under that force.
Logaris stood at the center of the storm, his robes snapping violently, his hair whipping in the wind.
“Even if she truly betrays me, even if the entire world stands against me, I still possess the power to suppress everything!”
“My sense of security has never come from the love of others, nor from the favor of kings, nor from contracts that can be torn apart at any moment.”
He looked at the red-eyed duplicate, whose expression had turned ugly, and his tone became icy. Every word struck the air like a hammer blow.
“My sense of security comes from the gun in my hand, from the knowledge in my mind, and from the strength I possess to overturn the board whenever I choose!”
“If she wants to kill me, then she must first weigh whether she can bear my retaliation. If this country cannot tolerate me, then I will change countries, or even... change worlds.”
Logaris pushed up his glasses, wearing that signature false smile once more—the one that sent a chill down people’s spines.
“My wish has never changed. No one may restrain me. No one may force me to do what I do not wish to do. Sylvia cannot. That damned Mad King cannot. And you... even less so.”