Novel Full Chapter 1759: Life
Chapter 1759: Life
He had watched the soldiers cut down his father’s rotten corpse and throw it away like refuse.
He had carried the remains himself. Then buried them beside a waterfall deep within the forest. A beautiful, peaceful place.
He hated his father for what he had done. Yet he hated himself even more. His actions had caused this.
Still, his father’s words never left him. He would protect his mother and sister. No matter what.
But he failed at that too.
The town head’s men, having gotten away with killing the father, soon turned their attention toward the mother.
They visited some nights after.
Askkarl returned from training late one evening to find his home engulfed in flames. His heart skipped a beat. Then he ran. He crashed through the doorway and stumbled into the burning house.
His mother and sister lay on the floor. Motionless and lifeless. For a long time, he simply stood there.
He failed... again.
A broken sound escaped his throat, and he wept into the night. When the moon was full, he buried them beside his father.
Afterward, he sat before their graves without moving. Days passed. He remained there until hunger hollowed him out and exhaustion weighed down every limb.
When he was on the verge of collapse, a venomous snake slithered from the forest.
Askkarl watched it approach with vacant eyes. The serpent hissed. Its tongue flickered. Then it began to coil away.
Suddenly, it struck.
Askkarl’s arm moved on instinct. He grabbed it by the throat and bit off its head. Blood spilled down his chin as he chewed savagely. Then he lay back beside the graves, staring blankly at the night sky.
That day, he had wanted to die. The poison should have ended him. Yet a few hours later, he awoke filled with vitality. Stronger. Faster.
For hours, he wandered in confusion. Then his gaze fell upon the graves. His fists slowly clenched. A new emotion took root within him that day.
Vengeance.
And so, over the following days, he searched the forest for venomous snakes, devouring every one he found.
Each time, he would fall asleep. Each time, he would wake stronger. The discovery thrilled him. For the first time since his family’s deaths, he had found a path forward. A way to become stronger.
So he began testing its limits. Herbs. Animals. Anything he could consume. Before long, he discovered a pattern. The more potent the thing he devoured, the greater the strength he gained from it.
He named the ability Devour.
And so, month after month, he hunted relentlessly, consuming everything he believed could make him stronger.
Eventually, he reached a point where the little town could no longer comprehend his existence. He had become something beyond it.
Then he stormed the town. Captured the town head and his entire family, bound them, and made them watch.
He attacked everyone.
The people who had watched his father hang. The people who had stood by and done nothing. The people who had looked away from injustice because it was easier.
He slaughtered them all.
And when it was over, he cooked their bodies and devoured them before the town head and his family.
They sat frozen in place, pale, trembling and terrified beyond words. Yet Askkarl’s expression never changed. One by one, he butchered them while the town head watched. The children. The wife. Every last one of them.
Only after it was over did he turn his attention to the town head himself. Then he killed him too, and devoured him.
Silence swallowed the town.
Askkarl sat amidst the corpses and empty streets, feeling as hollow as the place around him.
What now?
The question lingered in his mind for many moments. So he returned to his family’s graves, as though seeking an answer from the dead. He stood before the crude tombstones for a long time, staring.
Then, eventually, he found one.
He would create a family of his own. And he would protect them from the world.
Askkarl left the town carrying that resolve.
He grew stronger. Fought battles. Experienced life. And after countless deaths, wars, and genocides, he eventually rose to lead the planet as—
The Spirit King.
He found a wife. Had children. Built a family. Everything he had once dreamed of. Yet the world kept coming after them. No matter how many enemies he killed, more always appeared.
No matter how many threats he buried, new ones emerged. Eventually, the answer became obvious.
The problem was the world itself. As long as the world existed, there would always be threats. There would always be suffering. There would always be someone trying to take away the things he loved.
Without the world, there would be no threats. His family would finally know peace.
And so he sacrificed. Plotted. Devoured. He climbed and kept climbing. Higher and higher. Stepping over mountains of corpses and oceans of blood. Until eventually... a child crushed his head beneath his foot.
He had failed.
Atticus watched the Spirit King’s end as though he weren’t the one responsible. As though he weren’t the child who had crushed his head beneath his foot.
He had long since realized. What he had just witnessed wasn’t some carefully crafted illusion. It was a life.
The life of the spirit king.
"Remarkable, isn’t it?"
Atticus narrowed his eyes. The world around him rippled. The graves, the corpses, the cities, the countless years of memories all began to recede like a fading tide.
A moment later, everything vanished.
Now he stood at the edge of a cliff. A cold wind swept across the landscape, tugging at his clothes and hair. Far below, endless clouds stretched toward the horizon.
Ahead of him, the Spirit King stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing out into the distance.
His expression remained unreadable, as though he were staring at a world that no longer concerned him.
Then he slowly turned his head and looked at Atticus.
"Atticus Ravenstein."