VIP Chapter 528: “Bury me with her.”
However, although this would surely lead to victory, and it was a battle he himself had fought to win, for him standing there, it felt incredibly satisfying.
It was a battle that cleared away years of unjust accusations against him. It was a battle that untangled the fate that had entwined him for over a decade. It was a battle that annihilated his true, greatest enemy.
He had obtained the information he desired, the victory he sought was within reach, and he had even enjoyed a dreamlike experience of crushing the opposition.
But…
Will felt something was still “missing,” especially…
“Outsider, if you want to kill me, is this soft attack all you’ve got? Put more effort into it—!”
“Will, Carver might only have a residual warmth left…”
—As Treya said this, Will heard the sound of the great axe, which had been a nightmare weapon for him for a long time, landing in the distance.
His right eye, which had been battling Carver across four dreamscapes, saw Carver’s right half of his body shot through by a cannon blast, and especially…
The “head” of the Undead Warrior on his right shoulder.
The Undead Warrior, unable to exist in physical form, had a hole in its head, shaped like the hollow center left by smoke after a gunshot.
*Bang.*
The axe landed heavily on the ground, making a loud noise.
“Hoo…”
Carver panted, his breath ragged. Even the Undead from the Death Hall on his shoulder couldn’t maintain its posture. At this moment, Will understood that the outcome was decided.
“Carver Hysterm. You have lost.”
“Your Majesty, your judgment is unnecessary. The moment my most dreaded enemy truly appeared before me, I knew I had lost.”
Through the hole in Carver’s body, his halved heart gave two final beats. But these beats were futile, only serving to spray the last of his blood further.
However, just as Will could see a patch of blue sky through the immense wound in his body.
He also felt Carver looking at him through the “copy” of him, Will, before his eyes.
“…”
Although the power that defeated Carver was that replica, the person Carver truly feared had always been himself.
The embodiment of that fear was the Will that Carver had imagined.
“I am not an outsider, nor should I be the object of your fear, Carver.”
“…Will?”
Treya looked at Will in surprise as he walked forward step by step.
“You might believe that I, having acquired more information, came here from a higher dimension, and thus possess greater abilities and a more powerful future, enough to overturn your twelve attempts…”
He stopped directly in front of Carver.
His palm rested on the great axe that had fallen to the ground.
Although he had clashed with this axe countless times, this was his first time observing it at a standstill and up close. Its height was nearly the same as Will’s.
“But, it’s not like that. I… perhaps there was a time when I was the ‘outsider’ you spoke of.”
Carver, no longer able to stand, slumped to the ground, his body leaning forward to prevent him from completely falling.
“I, too, once believed in fate. I once thought this world was a machine that moved relentlessly according to destiny. I once didn’t see myself as Will, living in this world.”
After Carver sat down, Will also slowly squatted down.
He couldn’t actually see Carver’s eyes; the reflection on his gold-rimmed glasses made it impossible to tell if he was alive or dead.
But Will didn’t stop what he wanted to say. These words weren’t just for Carver; more importantly, they were for himself.
“But I discovered that it was through the impossible threads and coincidences hidden beneath ‘fate,’ relying on things only my personality and destiny could accomplish, through… my connections with them, that I ultimately arrived here as ‘Will’.”
He paused.
Blood stained Carver’s pristine white suit. Although Will knew that a noble merchant like Carver surely owned more than one suit, this particular one reminded Will of the first time he saw his “father” at a banquet.
Back when he didn’t yet consider Carver “father.”
“That’s right. I couldn’t fully master Iaar’s ‘Ice Array,’ nor did I truly become a part of the Witch. As for the demon’s power, as you saw, it was at its limit just by retrieving your memory three times.”
Will placed his hand on his chest and spoke with utmost sincerity.
“So, I am indeed not as ‘invincible’ as you fear. I am certainly not someone who uses information disparity to dominate like you imagine—in fact, I can’t even remember that much information. If it’s not written down… even if it is, I’ve forgotten many details.”
“Will…”
Treya walked up behind him, spreading her enormous wings.
Her spread wings stood like an nameless tombstone on the sun-drenched grassy plains of Zeroth Heaven. Their shadows trembled with the swaying of the grass in the wind.
“But I defeated you. Even without your fear, I would have defeated you. I held you back, giving Treya the opportunity to complete this possibility of ascension. So…”
Will paused and sighed.
“So, I am not some ‘outsider’ with no connection to me or this place, as you say. I am simply living in this world, the youngest Young Master born into the Hysterm Family, the Young Master whom Iaar serves, a student of that Witch, and the fiancé by engagement to Treya.”
“Listen carefully, Father.”
“You are indeed an ‘Anchor,’ but the one who defeated you is the child you disliked the most, Will Hysterm.”
After saying this, Will finally understood the source of his displeasure.
Ever since Shuna rescued him from that basement, wanting him to live, he had already understood…
No matter what this world was like, the love, desires, pain, and death he felt here were real.
He, Will Hysterm, absolutely did not want to defeat Carver in this battle as an “outsider.”
Unlike Carver, who had become numb to this world, numb to his own life, and numb to his entire existence…
“—Absolutely not the outsider you think I am.”
He had already found his true sense of being alive.
Therefore, no matter what, he had to prove this to Carver.
“This world that has been entrusted to me will not meet its end. I can already see that path before me.”
“Heh…”
Carver, whom Will thought had already breathed his last, let out a soft laugh.
“Then, try it. If you fail, I’ll wait for you next time.”
He twitched his shoulders as if wanting to reach out and do something, but both his arms had been dislocated.
So, as if using his last strength, he turned his head fiercely, letting his gold-rimmed glasses fall into his own pool of blood.
“If you want it so badly, Patriarch, I’ll lend it to you for now.”
Will watched Carver’s action…
And remembered that time at Treya’s engagement banquet, when Carver personally poured him wine instead of juice, and they clinked glasses.
They didn’t really need each other’s “approval.”
But they didn’t reject expressing it.
“Alright, Mr. Hysterm. However, I think you, like me, don’t want to meet at the starting point of the next world.”
“And… if you’re still willing to hold a funeral for me, stop Daisianwei from playing that messy funeral music… you should know what I want to hear at my funeral.”
Carver resisted the blood gushing out and finished his sentence.
Will didn’t know the agreement between them, but he knew that song was what Mits had been humming incessantly during that long memory.
As expected, this guy…
At the final step of his life, he could finally admit he wasn’t as “numb” as he appeared?
“Okay.”
“…”
After a moment of silence, Carver, who had already sacrificed all his “memories,” spoke his last words—
“At the new Hysterm Family residence, there is a grave for her. Bury me with her.”
“I will.”
? Final Volume ?
