Chapter 504: The Future That I Want

’What is it that I want?’

The thought echoed through Damian’s mind as he stood there in the snow.

’Want...’

A memory surfaced unbidden from a few weeks ago, inside the forest behind Stormhold Academy.

Back then, Sloth had asked him a somewhat similar question, and his reply had been–

"Want is a luxury that I can’t afford."

The figure’s voice spoke the exact words Damian was remembering.

"Wanting things is for people who have the freedom to choose."

Damian’s eyes widened slightly.

The figure continued, somehow knowing precisely what conversation he’d been recalling.

"This is what you told Sloth back then. You dismissed the entire concept because you believed you had no real choice."

Snow gathered on both their shoulders.

"And now you have that luxury as well. The freedom to choose, the freedom to want, the freedom to decide your own path."

’Do I really have it?’

Damian’s eyes found the shrouded figure, searching for answers.

’Is this truly freedom, or just another form of manipulation?’

But even as the thought formed, he knew it didn’t matter.

Whether this was genuine freedom or just a more sophisticated cage, the question itself was real.

What did he want?

He remained silent for a long time, just standing there in the snow, trying to find an answer that felt true.

Then he opened his mouth and spoke.

"Sloth also said one more thing that day."

His voice came out steady now, clearer than it had been since this entire conversation started.

"He told me that power is a sickly thing, that it’s a hunger which is never truly satisfied no matter how much you feed it."

Damian’s hands clenched and unclenched.

"I agree with him completely. It burns the most inside of me, this constant need for more power, more control, more ability to shape the world around me."

His eyes became distant.

"And yet I’ll still do everything possible to have more and more of it, even knowing the hunger will never truly end."

He looked down at his blood-stained palms.

"This makes me realize one thing clearly..."

His voice dropped lower.

"Maybe living beings were never meant to have all this power in their hands. Maybe the ability to reshape reality, to transcend mortality, to become Gods..."

He paused.

"Maybe that was the original sin of this universe."

The figure remained silent, listening.

Damian’s voice grew stronger.

"If there were no Demigods reaching for Godhood, no Gods competing for supremacy, no Divine Rulers and Demon Rulers playing games with trillions of lives..."

His eyes lifted to meet where the figure’s face should be.

"Then maybe the universe would finally have what everyone claims to want but nobody actually pursues..."

"Peace."

Silence spread around them as the word hung in the frozen air.

"So if there’s really a future that I want, if I’m supposed to decide what outcome I’m fighting for..."

Damian’s crimson eyes blazed with intensity.

"Then it’s one where there’s no way to chase power anymore! Where the worlds remain normal, where people live and die as they were meant to, without ever awakening to abilities that let them reshape reality!"

His hands spread wide.

"A universe where the game itself can’t be played because the board has been destroyed!"

Silence fell around them, heavy with the weight of what had just been spoken.

The figure stood completely still, that black energy swirling slower now.

"And do you realize the true meaning of what you want?"

The voice came out quiet.

"Do you understand what you would need to do to make such a future possible?"

Damian’s expression didn’t change, as the wind picked up around them, carrying snow in swirling patterns.

"It means..."

His voice came out steady, carrying no hesitation or fear.

"I’ll have to sever the path of cultivation completely! Devour every single drop of Aura in existence until nothing remains! Absorb every Law that governs reality, consume the very fabric of power itself!"

He straightened, his crimson hair catching the moonlight.

"And then, when I’ve taken everything into myself, when I hold all the power that exists in this universe..."

His eyes blazed with certainty.

"I’ll need to become what no one has ever achieved before..."

The words came out like a declaration.

"The True God."

BOOOM

Thunder crashed across the sky the moment those words left his mouth, the sound rolling across the heavens like the universe itself had heard and responded.

Damian’s mind flashed back to just a few days ago, inside the soul fragment’s world where his grandfather’s remnant had introduced him to the concept of a True God.

At that time, Damian had wondered what such a being would look like.

Whether it was even possible for something like that to exist.

’And now here I stand, already having my own answers and my own definition.’

The thought settled into his chest with strange finality.

A True God wasn’t someone who mastered laws or borrowed power from the universe’s foundations.

It was either a being who created those foundations just like the soul fragment mentioned, or...

’A being who consumed them entirely and became the only power that remained.’

The figure remained silent for a long moment, that black energy continuing its endless swirling around its form.

Then it spoke.

"What you want to do will make the entire universe descend into chaos."

The voice carried no judgment, just stating facts.

"Billions will die in the process. Every race, every faction, every being that has ever tasted power will unite against you. You’ll become the sole enemy of everyone and everything that exists."

Damian’s eyes found the moon hanging in the sky above them.

"Everything in the universe has a price."

His voice came out calm, almost serene.

"Power, peace, love, survival... Nothing comes without cost. The question isn’t whether you’ll pay, but whether the price is worth what you’re buying."

The figure shifted slightly.

"And the price you’ll need to pay for becoming something like this... might be you."

Those words hung in the frozen air.

"The peace you want, the future you’re trying to create... it might never truly be yours to enjoy. You could destroy yourself in the process of saving everyone else."

Damian fell silent for some time, just standing there in the snow as those words settled over him.

The wind carried distant sounds from the training center, faint echoes of a world that had no idea what was being discussed in the darkness beyond its gates.

Then he spoke, his voice coming out soft but carrying absolute conviction.

"If that’s what it takes to make sure Luna lives..."

He paused.

"Then so be it."

The words hung in the frozen air between them, simple and undeniable.

Damian turned back to look at the figure, and a slight smile touched his lips.

"Besides, it’s a fitting end to this story, isn’t it?"

His voice carried dark amusement.

"Those who crave power shall be destroyed by power. And those who crave peace shall be destroyed by peace."

The figure was silent for several heartbeats.

Then it chuckled, the sound emerging distorted and layered through that doubled voice.

"Indeed, it’s a fitting end to this particular story. Poetic in its own twisted way..."

The darkness swirled faster.

"But will the story truly unfold like that? Will it actually reach that conclusion, or will something else emerge from the chaos you’re about to unleash?"

The voice dropped lower.

"No one knows the answer... Not even me."

Before Damian could process that statement, before he could think about what it meant–

Whoosh

The figure appeared directly in front of him, so close that Damian could feel the cold radiating from that black energy.

"Are you really sure about your choice?"

The voice came out serious now, testing.

"Once you decide, once you commit to this path... there is no going back."

The phrase hit Damian like a physical blow.

’There is no going back.’

His mind flashed to another conversation that happened a lifetime ago.

An alley in his past life, the Beggar sitting in front of Alessio with that novel in his hands, about to reveal everything.

"Are you sure? When I start reading it, there is no going back."

Then another memory surfaced, sharper and more recent.

Gregor on the terrace of the orphanage, telling him what the Beggar had said before saving all the unnamed four.

"There is no going back. Are you certain this is what you want?"

’Is he...’

Damian’s eyes searched the void where the figure’s face should be.

’No, it can’t be.’

His thoughts raced despite his exhaustion.

’Why would he offer to undo his own manipulation?’

He shook his head sharply, cutting off the spiral.

"Is there even a need to ask?"

His voice came out steady.

The figure stared at him for a long moment, that impenetrable darkness revealing nothing.

Then it spoke.

"Then let me help you by becoming your first piece in this game you’re going to play against the entire universe."

The words hung in the frozen air between them.