And here I thought I had learned to control my expressions perfectly.
I was completely wrong.
I was still the sa person, after all.
No matter how much I suffered, no matter how much stronger I beca, no matter how much more I understood of the world around ...
Nothing had changed.
If anything...
It had only gotten harder.
Face-to-face with Ghost, I opened my mouth and spoke a few words.
And in that mont, Ghost’s eyes widened in shock.
His expression twisted in disbelief.
For the first ti ever, I saw Ghost’s face break into such raw emotion.
Unable to accept what he had just heard from , he asked again.
"Are you serious right now?"
In response, I nodded.
"...Yes."
Lowering my head, I continued.
"There’s no other way. This is the only thing we can do."
I spoke in a calm, quiet voice.
And that seed to infuriate Ghost even more.
He lunged forward and punched hard across the face.
The blow sent stumbling backward, crashing into the cold wall behind .
But he wasn’t done.
Ghost tackled to the ground, grabbing my collar as we rolled across the snow, soaking my clothes completely.
He was truly angry.
"...I don’t understand you, Frey. I thought I did once. But now I realize just how wrong I was."
"..."
Slowly, a thin line of blood slipped from the corner of my mouth, the aftermath of Ghost’s punch.
Tasting the bitter iron of blood, feeling his grip on my collar tighten, I t his gaze in silence ..unable to answer him.
His reaction was a result of what I had told him earlier.
I had asked for his help.
The Silver Dragon Guild was guarding Danzo, so if I wanted to get him out without anyone noticing, I needed Ghost’s skills as an assassin .. and the influence of the Shadow Court.
With his help, we could extract Danzo without raising any alarms.
And once we were far enough away...
I would finish it.
I would end it.
I would kill him.
Truthfully...
I could have simply teleported directly to Danzo’s room. But doing so would have risked triggering the demonic power sleeping within him, unleashing a catastrophe.
That’s why I needed to take him sowhere remote and isolated, where no one would be caught in the aftermath.
And that...
That was what Ghost couldn’t accept.
"Didn’t you say you’d save him no matter what it took? That you’d do whatever it required? That’s your specialty, isn’t it? Turning the impossible into reality..."
"Surviving the Moonlight family, winning the Victoriad, journeying to Londor, staying alive alone in the Ultras continent when everyone thought you were dead... defeating a thousand n single-handedly... You’ve always found a way to win, no matter what.
So what’s different now?!"
Ghost shouted, his voice raw and breaking .. sothing I had rarely, if ever, heard from him.
His relationship with Danzo had been rocky at first. They bickered endlessly.
But over ti, Ghost ca to respect Danzo. To see him as a friend.
And that was why he couldn’t accept what I was saying now.
He’d watched countless people die in front of him before. But this ti... it was different.
"I tried..."
I spoke quietly.
"I tried with everything I had.
I did everything I could..."
But in the end, I failed.
I underestimated the Devil’s Seed—treating it like any ordinary curse.
But there was a reason why surviving it was impossible.
The one who created the Seed had already transcended the Law of Life and Death.
He made the Seed a living creature in its own right.
Separating it from Danzo was impossible.
They had beco one.
To save him, I needed a power that could also surpass the Law of Life and Death—sothing that existed within Naless’s mories.
But acquiring that power was utterly impossible.
Because I was human.
To obtain that power, I would’ve had to do what Naless did ... spending countless lifetis studying every species and creature, slaughtering an uncountable number of beings just to complete his mad research.
And even if I had an immortal body and infinite ti like him... I doubted I could’ve achieved what he did.
I was not Naless. I didn’t have his wisdom, nor a fraction of his power.
So how could I ever hope to acquire such a power, when I only had a few hours left until the Final Quest ended?
You cannot defeat a world-breaking ability unless you have another world-breaking ability of equal or greater magnitude.
That’s what the Engineer told .
It was impossible from the start. My failure was inevitable.
Maybe there was another way—sothing I could’ve found if I still had a question left for the System.
But I used that long ago.
That was why the Engineer said I would regret it.
That’s what he ant.
"...Whatever happens to Danzo now, it’s my fault. No one else’s."
Hearing that, Ghost fell silent for a while before speaking again, his voice filled with bitterness.
"...Why Danzo, of all people?"
Even if the Devil’s Seed was real...
He couldn’t understand why it ended up in the hands of the Ultras.
A complete Devil’s Seed was rare. Imnsely powerful.
Its presence here on Earth made no sense.
And of all the people in the world... it ended up inside Danzo.
"Why?!"
He wasn’t special.
He was just an ordinary human.
Nothing more, nothing less.
"...Most likely, I’m the reason for that too."
I once thought it was just bad luck.
But I was wrong.
Sothing like this doesn’t happen by chance.
Whether it was the Engineer, the Demon King...
Or soone else pulling the strings behind the scenes...
This was planned.
And the reason Danzo beca the target was because... he was close to .
That’s all.
It was a carefully crafted conspiracy, one designed to tighten this noose around my neck. And they succeeded.
We’d reached the point of no return.
Ghost stared at for a long ti, a storm of mixed emotions in his eyes. He was furious.
He wanted to call a liar.
To claim that everything I said was nonsense—that there was no proof the Seed even existed.
But then...
He rembered.
All the bizarre phenona he had witnessed while staying by my side.
And he knew.
I wouldn’t say sothing like this without reason .
I saw a trace of contempt in his eyes .. fleeting, born of the heat of the mont.
There, in those desolate alleys, on ground blanketed by cold snow, we stood in silence for a long while, swallowed by a void neither of us could escape.
Then, after a few monts, Ghost stood up and turned his back to .
"I’ll help you."
His words caught off guard.
I hadn’t expected him to agree so easily.
"Ghost..." I called, unable to stop myself.
But he continued, his voice calm once more.
"I chose to be your shadow a long ti ago.
That’s why I’ll share this burden with you. I’ll carry this sin.
But, Frey..."
Turning to face , his usual quiet resolve returned.
"You know what happens next, don’t you?
Once we cross this line, there’s no going back.
We’ll carry the consequences, face the punishnt when the ti cos.
Are you ready for that?"
In response, I nodded.
"I am."
...But would I truly be able to live with myself afterward?
After killing Danzo with my own hands?
I stared down at them .. imagining his blood staining them.
And every ti I did, the image shattered . I couldn’t bear to face it.
I didn’t know what would beco of once I did it.
But I was certain of one thing ..
I wouldn’t be the sa person anymore.
I tried not to dwell on it. But the end was near.
It was only a matter of ti now.
Ghost saw right through my turmoil, but he didn’t say anything.
He simply turned and began walking away.
"I’ll submit your request to the Shadow Court. I’ll lead the operation myself.
Stay where you are until I contact you.
When the ti cos... prepare to stain your hands with blood."
"..."
I said nothing.
Ghost vanished, as if he had never been there in the first place.
And I was left alone, lying on the cold snow.
I wanted to leave. But my body wouldn’t move.
All I could do was stay there quietly, waiting.
"The weak have no right to decide anything in this world."
Only the strong get to shape their lives the way they want.
Only they have the power to dictate the fate of others.
I was weak.
Pathetically weak.
And that weakness...
That’s why the powerful sward around , steering my life as they pleased.
It’s why my father died protecting .
Why so many others perished.
And now, why I was about to kill Danzo.
All of this... because I was too weak.
But...
"What kind of strength would it take to break free from this cage?"
Would I have to beco a heartless monster like Naless?
Or a tyrant like Agaroth, wielding overwhelming power?
If that was the answer...
What price would I have to pay to reach it?
And could I even bear it?
"I don’t know..."
I didn’t know anything.
I had always been this way.
And in the end, nothing had changed.
"Perseverance doesn’t guarantee success."
No matter how hard you struggle, no matter how much you try,
success is never promised.
This is life.
It throws you wherever it wants, never where you choose.
"What a cruel world..."
Leaning against the wall, I sat there quietly.
Waiting for the mont of truth.
User Comments
0 comments from readers