Chapter 1570: The Only Thing

Eccar slowly stepped toward the creature he believed was the Chaos God. His blood boiled with rage, rising to a level he had not felt in years.

He did not even realize that his face had twisted into a snarl or that his eyes were wide with murderous intent. Every step carried him closer to the being responsible for the greatest tragedy of his life, yet Eccar did not rush. He wanted to savor every moment before he finally destroyed the creature standing before him.

"Ah, our hero has finally arrived."

The Chaos God spoke in a shrill voice that sounded strangely young, almost like a child, yet something ancient lingered beneath its tone. He smiled as he watched Eccar approach.

"Welcome. I knew you would come here as soon as I took your humans."

Eccar gave him no answer. He simply continued walking. His steps were still slow and steady as though nothing in the world could convince him to stop. The Chaos God watched him with growing amusement.

"Hmm? Are you angry?" His mole-rat face somehow managed to form an expression of curiosity. The sight looked deeply disturbing, but instead of frightening Eccar, it only made his anger burn hotter. "Be careful there. If you become too angry and lose control here, you might kill the very people you came here to protect."

Those words immediately stopped Eccar in his tracks.

The Chaos God noticed the change and grinned even wider. More sharp teeth appeared between his lips as his disturbing smile stretched across his rat face.

"That’s right, Dragonborn. You cannot escape your nature, can you? You are a protector, aren’t you? Even though..." He tilted his head slightly. "Well, you already let some of them die. In fact, you killed two of them with your own hands."

Eccar’s face twitched.

He blinked several times as an uncomfortable sensation spread through his chest. He wanted to deny the accusation. He wanted to tell the Chaos God that it was lying, but no words came out. The creature had touched a wound Eccar could not defend.

He indeed had killed two of the pilgrims himself.

He remembered the stone wall collapsing, the two bodies beneath the rubble, their blood and their torn clothes.

He remembered the look on the other pilgrims’ faces. He remembered the disappointment in the old man’s eyes.

And after that, he had made another mistake.

He had left them, become consumed by the battle against the mole rats and stopped thinking about the people inside the dome. By the time he returned, they were already dead.

The Chaos God watched Eccar struggle with those memories and seemed to enjoy every second of it.

"You already failed," he said. "So why keep trying?"

Eccar’s fists tightened. "What?"

"You heard me." The Chaos God took a slow step forward. "You failed them. You failed your family. You failed everyone who trusted you. Yet you still keep pretending that you can protect someone."

Eccar’s breathing became heavier.

The Chaos God tilted his head and smiled. "Do you really believe those pilgrims are still alive?"

Eccar froze. For several seconds, he could not answer.

Then his eyes slowly widened as he remembered the creature’s words from earlier.

"I knew you would come here as soon as I took your humans."

The Chaos God had not said that he captured them. He had said he took them. And now he was asking if Eccar believed they were still alive.

Eccar stared at the creature’s grin and the heart inside him sank. The Chaos God had already killed them, he was certain of it.

He could feel the possibility settling into his mind, and that possibility terrified him more than the creature.

The corpses inside the dome suddenly returned to his thoughts. He had failed them again.

The Chaos God chuckled and said, "You finally understand."

"No..." Eccar whispered.

"You always do the same thing," the Chaos God continued. "You fight. You destroy. You keep moving forward without thinking about what happens around you thinking that you can somehow make right of your past. That is what you are good at, isn’t it?"

Eccar shook his head. "No."

"You don’t think about protecting people. You think about defeating whatever stands in front of you."

"No."

"You let the people who trusted you die while you fought."

"Stop."

"You did it to those pilgrims."

Eccar’s breathing became unsteady.

"And you did it to your family a long time ago."

Eccar’s entire body went rigid.

The Chaos God stepped closer. "Your wife, your son, your village. They trusted you. They loved you. And what did you do when the Chaos came?"

Eccar’s eyes trembled.

"You fought them, indeed. But you kept fighting while the people you loved died around you."

Eccar’s expression broke into disbelief and shock. "No..."

"You couldn’t save them, couldn’t protect them."

"Shut up..." Eccar said desperately.

"And now you did the same thing again."

Eccar staggered backward.

The Chaos God’s voice continued to echo through his mind.

"You found people who trusted you. They believed you would protect them. You promised that you would protect them. Then you left them alone while you fought."

Eccar’s head began to shake violently.

The Chaos God smiled wider. "You already know it is true."

Eccar’s breathing grew ragged. His eyes moved toward the ground as images of the dead pilgrims flashed through his mind.

Then he remembered his wife, his son, and finally his village.

The same pattern seemed to connect everything.

Eccar wanted to reject it. He wanted to believe that the Chaos God was manipulating him. He knew the creature was cruel and knew it wanted to break him.

Yet beneath that knowledge, another thought slowly emerged: What if he is telling the truth?

Eccar immediately tried to crush the thought. "No. He is lying."

But another voice answered from somewhere inside his own mind. "What if he isn’t?"

Eccar’s legs began to tremble.

He covered his face with one hand and struggled to breathe as disbelief and fear collided inside him. The more he remembered, the harder it became to dismiss the creature’s accusations.

Maybe the Chaos God really had killed the pilgrims. Maybe Eccar really had failed them. Maybe his greatest strength had always been the same thing that caused the people around him to suffer.

And perhaps the most terrifying possibility of all was that nothing had changed since the day he lost his family.

Eccar had always believed that he fought to protect the people.

But now he wondered whether he had only been fighting because fighting was the one thing he knew how to do.

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