Novel Full Chapter 1760: I Accept
Chapter 1760: I Accept
Atticus frowned.
"Remarkable? I’ve just watched you slaughter trillions pursuing a goal, only to fail in the end. What exactly is remarkable about that?"
He had also failed, but it was his burden to carry. One he wouldn’t shy away from.
"That’s because you’re looking at the wrong thing." The Spirit King tilted his head slightly. "What you witnessed was a journey. A powerless, clueless boy becoming a force capable of shaking the universe. Why do you think that happened?"
Atticus wanted to say it was because he had been blessed with a broken ability, but he knew that answer was shallow.
"...Longing," he said a moment later.
"Yes. Exactly."
His gaze drifted toward the distance.
"Longing is what drives us to pursue a goal despite ourselves. Despite reason. Despite morality. To long is to reach beyond who you are. To grasp for something impossible. It gives us purpose." His eyes softened. "I longed for a family. I longed to protect them. Everything I did, everything I achieved, was in service of that desire."
"Is that how you justify the trillions of deaths and lives you ruined?"
The Spirit King chuckled.
"You say that as though we’re different."
"I am nothing like you."
"You’re not?"
The Spirit King raised a hand. The air rippled, revealing Atticus standing within the Zorvan World, deep in a stance.
He knew what was coming.
Then the scene shifted. Multiple comets descended, wiping out an entire civilization because he had wanted to strike fear into the world heads.
Then another. And another. Each time, millions. Billions. All dead by his blade. Soon, the scene vanished, and the Spirit King studied his darkened expression.
"You’ve killed, like me. You’ve ended civilizations, like me. You’ve destroyed, slaughtered, and ruined lives because you wanted to protect your family." He met Atticus’ gaze. "Like me."
Silence stretched.
"We wear different faces, but we’re far more alike than you’d like to admit."
The Spirit King had gained access to his memories when he absorbed the fragment. He had seen everything, he realized. Atticus silently clenched his fists.
"You still doubt it?" The Spirit King asked. "Tell me, Atticus. When you reach the peak of strength and gain absolute power, what do you intend to do?" His eyes locked onto Atticus’. "Do you truly believe my goal is absurd?"
Total annihilation of the universe. It was absurd on so many levels. Atticus wanted to nod. To tell him he was insane. Yet somehow, he couldn’t. Still, he wouldn’t allow the man to get to him.
"...What do you want?"
"To help you."
Atticus frowned. The Spirit King’s face had returned to its usual expressionless mask. Not a trace of deceit lingered on it.
"...How?"
The situation was as hopeless as they came. What help could he possibly offer?
"I will fuse with you. We will become one. You will gain my power. Devour."
Atticus was stunned into silence. He remembered. This had happened before. Lumindra had fused with Zoey because she had wanted to save her. They had become one in both soul and mind.
He would gain Devour. With it, he could devour anything. Including—
Yet he still failed to understand why the Spirit King would do this. He couldn’t keep it in any longer.
"...Why?"
Why would he help him?
The Spirit King didn’t answer immediately. When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter than before.
"Because even in death, I still long."
"For your family’s safety."
He nodded.
"The time we’ve spent here has shown me your heart. Your mind. Your longing. It rivals my own. If anyone can do this, it is you."
He paused briefly, as though speaking his final words.
"I wish for my family’s safety. I want them to know peace."
"...And you trust me to give it to them?"
"I trust your heart." The Spirit King slowly extended his hand. "And I trust you’ll make the right choice."
Atticus stared at the offered hand, hesitating.
’He’s right.’
The two of them were more alike than he would have ever admitted. They had both killed, massacred, destroyed, all for the sake of protecting the people they loved.
To think he had once felt disgust toward the Spirit King when they were so alike. Who was he to judge him? With everything he had done, he should judge no one.
Still, Atticus wasn’t even the least bit remorseful. And he could see none of that remorse in the Spirit King’s eyes either. They had both longed for something and gone to unimaginable lengths to achieve it. Such was humanity.
The only sin here was failure. To fail meant that after everything. the lives lost, the blood spilled, he had still fallen short. It meant the trillions had died for nothing.
Perhaps it was sick. Perhaps it was selfish. He didn’t know. But Atticus held a deep conviction that achieving his goal would grant meaning to every life lost along the way.
It would bring him peace.
It would ensure none of it had been for nothing. In that case, no matter what happened... he could never fail.
Atticus exhaled slowly through his nose. His decision had already been made. But he remained cautious. They shared the same longing, yet that didn’t mean he would blindly trust someone as cunning as the Spirit King.
He accepted the handshake while keeping his soul at full power. However, the Spirit King simply dissolved into light and surged into him.
Atticus felt no resistance whatsoever as the man merged with his soul. The world turned white, the Spirit King’s fading voice echoing around him.
"There’s still one obstacle left. You must convince him. I leave my family in your care."
Then he vanished.
The white slowly receded, and Atticus found himself standing atop a massive rock drifting through space.
Ahead stood a man with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing at the world below with longing.
’Solvath.’
He had taken the shape of a man in his final moments. Perhaps for symbolic reasons, Atticus had no idea.
He exhaled. He could feel his will had changed. Morphed. Intertwined with something else. The Spirit King’s memories flowed through his mind as well, yet he ignored them, focusing instead on himself.
A flame flickered to life in his palm. It was no longer crimson. It was dark. The fire seemed to devour the very air around it. The name surfaced naturally within his mind.
Devourer Flame.
Snuffing out the flame, he paused as more of the Spirit King’s memories flashed through his mind. He exhaled. Now was not the time to reflect. He was Atticus. Only Atticus. Later, he would sort through everything.
He stepped forward and stopped beside Solvath. The Primordial allowed it. Below them stretched the universe, or what Atticus assumed was a copy of it.
People wandered. Laughed. Cried. Lived.
A moment passed, then a single tear slipped from the corner of Solvath’s eye.
"Beautiful, isn’t it?"
He didn’t wait for an answer.
"It’s perfect. Truly perfect. Free will in all its unpredictability. They drift apart when their desires clash. They come together when something threatens them. They discover. They live. They harmonize. This world is everything I ever longed for. Harmony in its purest form. I love it. I cherish it."
His gaze remained fixed on the world below.
"Harmony thrives in unpredictability. In the unlikely becoming one. Once free will is stripped from this world, it will stop being the world I love. What a shame. What a tragedy."
The sadness in his voice was profound. Like a mother watching her child die before her. Except this mother was a Primordial Star, their creator, and the one Atticus needed.
"I—"
"You’ve come to devour me."
Solvath turned. Atticus felt as though the entire world had shifted its attention toward him. He felt infinitesimally small. His body tensed.
’Calm down.’
The souls within the fragments were currently being expunged by Solvath in his attempt to awaken. One thought. That was all it would take for Atticus’ soul to vanish as well.
Yet he was certain Solvath wouldn’t do it. Starkiller bound Solvath himself. The Primordial could not escape without reclaiming his full power. But before that could happen, Asmerion would absorb him.
Right now, Atticus was their only hope.
He met Solvath’s eyes and nodded.
"I have."
Solvath laughed.
"You’re brazen. Very brazen. I don’t remember creating your kind to be this brazen."
He stared at him.
"Why would I give you my power? I’ve seen your heart. The darkness inside it. I know what you intend to do once you gain enough strength. You’re no different from the brethren who betrayed me."
Unfathomable anger burned within his eyes. Atticus silently took note of it.
"I can offer you something none of them can."
"Oh?"
"Revenge."
The air froze. Below, the bustling people stopped mid-step. Even Atticus couldn’t move. He kept his gaze fixed on Solvath’s motionless figure.
’Did it work?’
He needed Solvath to surrender willingly. Only then could he devour him. Right now, revenge was his only leverage. He was betting everything on the Primordial’s hatred. On the countless years of silence. Of simmering rage. Of festering resentment.
If this failed, everything was over.
It had to work.
An uncomfortable amount of time passed. Then slowly, Solvath’s lips curled into an unnatural grin.
He burst into laughter.
"HAHAHA!"
The sound boomed across the cosmos, shaking Atticus to his very soul. Eventually, it faded. His eyes had turned deep violet, carrying boundless rage.
He had him.
"I convinced my brethren to help create this world because of my longing. I treated them as my own. I loved this world dearly. All I ever gave it was love, and they took everything from me. They betrayed me. Tore me apart over a handful of rules."
His voice trembled.
"I spent countless years in silence. In despair. In pain. No one can understand what that feels like. I loved them. Every one of them. And they betrayed me."
He lowered his gaze and let out a slow breath.
"Haa..."
Then he looked back up.
"You’re right, my creation. My rage burns within me. My anger burns within me. I cannot contain it anymore. It demands an answer. A reckoning. Revenge."
His violet eyes seemed to blaze.
"Yes. You’re right. This is what I desire. What I have desired all these years. Vengeance upon my brethren."
His body blazed violently.
"My creation, I will grant you my power. I will forsake everything—my longing, my power, everything—if you promise to give me what I desire most."
Atticus straightened, gaze serious.
"I will."
"Then I accept!"
His voice boomed across existence.
"Take my power and bring reckoning upon those who stabbed me in the back! Be my blade. Be my sword. Let them tremble at the name Solvath!"
Before Atticus could react, Solvath erupted into blinding violet light that engulfed everything. He hovered within it, untouched.
’I guess it’s my turn.’
Atticus turned inward, reaching for his will.
"Devouring Flames."
Dark fire burst from him and spread in every direction, swallowing the endless violet radiance. His body shattered into countless fragments. The last thing he felt was pain. Overwhelming. Mind-numbing. All-consuming pain.
Then there was only darkness.