Chapter 280: I Want It All!

Chapter 280: I Want It All!

The black flame of Order flickered slightly upon Bernard's chest, casting no illumination but rather dimming the cave further, turning the play of light and shadow upside down.

Time drifted past sluggishly.

Throughout this interval, Karen remained silent, merely sitting there without casting his eyes toward Bernard nor deliberately averting them, acting as though everything transpiring before him held no personal relevance, purely waiting for the kindling to burn itself out.

Bernard opened his mouth to speak several times only to shut it again, a chaotic clash of various emotions twisting through his gaze.

A person who had already died once rarely became detached from existence; rather, they harbored an even deeper dread of death, or to be precise, a dread of finality.

On this particular matter, Karen possessed considerable insight.

He knew with certainty that Bernard must be enduring immense torment right now.

This had nothing to do with what sort of man he had been in life; the looming presence of death stripped everything away from him, leaving his mind resembling a newborn serpent that had just broken through its shell.

Furthermore, the burning of the Order flame required the spiritual power within his corpse as fuel, producing a pain akin to the roasting of one's very soul, because the current foundation of Bernard's existence rested entirely upon that remaining spiritual residue.

Admittedly, there were those possessing such unshakeable faith that they could look upon life and death with indifference, but Bernard was unequivocally not among them.

"You are a demon, you are a demon, you are a demon!"

Karen remained entirely unmoved while tears gathered at the corners of Bernard's eyes and mucus ran from his nose; he was not merely approaching the brink of collapse, he had already shattered completely.

This had arrived far swifter than Karen had initially anticipated.

Because Bernard had died peacefully, a massive reserve of spiritual power remained within his body, which meant he possessed a vast amount of fuel left to burn.

Someone like old Saman from the previous occasion could remain active for nearly three days, and even without the natural decay of bodily organs causing complications, it would take roughly a day and a half; thus, even with the flame of Order consuming his chest, Bernard could endure for nearly five hours.

Though the soul and spiritual power could not be compared through simple equivalence, under normal circumstances, the spiritual power trapped within a corpse proved far more resilient against the flames than a soul.

Yet, a mere five minutes had slipped by.

Judging by this current rate, Karen calculated that Bernard would likely continue cursing for another fifteen minutes to half an hour, and after thirty minutes at the absolute most, he would beg desperately for a swift and merciful end.

Those who had never truly experienced the punishment of solitary confinement could never comprehend the sheer horror of such isolation, and what Bernard endured now was a torment countless times more profound.

From physical form to the psyche, from the initial setup to the present progression, step by step and bit by bit, his internal defenses were systematically ground to dust.

In the end, an ambitious schemer who could have been considered a formidable figure was reduced to a weeping, miserable wretch.

Karen had truly never realized before that he possessed such a distinct talent.

He genuinely had not, for the knowledge and skills he acquired in his past life were intended to alleviate inner distress and mental burdens; this instance could be seen as an exploration in the exact opposite direction.

Well, the results of this particular exploration proved remarkably effective.

Bernard railed and cursed for a full twenty minutes before his voice began to dwindle.

Fear began to take hold of him.

In this world, there existed many things far more terrifying than death itself.

He was gradually losing his grasp on self-awareness, his thoughts descending into complete chaos as he lost his sense of identity; currently, he felt as though he had been cast into a bottomless abyss, falling endlessly without ever perceiving a solid ground.

Karen chose this moment to turn his body slightly, presenting his side to the man and completely removing his gaze from him.

Because Karen understood perfectly well that at this very juncture, even a glance from his own eyes could offer Bernard a sense of warmth and security, and Karen chose to be exceedingly stingy.

He really ought to have brought a book along; presently, he needed Bernard to see him absorbed in an activity, making it clear to the man that he occupied no space in his thoughts whatsoever.

Left with no alternative, Karen pulled out his cigarette case once more, slipped out a cigarette, and lit it.

He did his utmost to look as though he were thoroughly enjoying the smoke, appearing intoxicated and entirely lost in the experience.

"Whimper... whimper..."

Bernard began to weep aloud.

Karen clamped his lips tightly around the cigarette, holding back his reaction, ensuring he did not laugh.

"Whimper... whimper..."

An infant was most adept at using this precise method to draw the attention of an adult.

Karen smoked three cigarettes back-to-back, and each time he extinguished a stub, Bernard's weeping grew louder; he still harbored hope, still wishing that Karen would notice him after putting out the cigarette.

Yet Karen consistently and unhurriedly lit another one immediately after.

Bernard, your sins are truly heavy; I had quit smoking for such a long time, yet you might just cause me to relapse.

Karen felt somewhat helpless, but he could only maintain his facade of absolute tranquility.

Finally,

the subsequent phase arrived.

"Kill me... kill me... kill me!!!"

Karen continued to pay him no heed.

"Please, kill me, kill me, I beg you!"

Karen lit yet another cigarette; no matter how heavy a smoker someone was, consuming cigarettes in such rapid succession would inevitably induce nausea, yet Karen had to maintain his expression of deep satisfaction.

There was no helping it; this was the process of taming a hawk.

When considering what Bernard was currently enduring, well, the discomfort of an overdose of nicotine and tar became entirely bearable.

Originally, Karen could have made things much simpler.

But now he wanted to test something; if they proceeded according to this rhythm, he ought to be able to extract a full confession from Bernard.

Karen desired to learn which faction had instructed Bernard to murder Philias and the others.

He wished to gather more specific information because he possessed a premonition that he would inevitably clash with them at some stage in the future.

Karen was also examining himself, analyzing the differences between himself and Philias.

This was not a distinction between Light and Order, but rather a difference in their respective levels of development.

He acted with far more caution than Philias; even his captain, while aware of certain secrets, remained entirely ignorant of Karen's deepest thoughts regarding gods and faith.

Philias was entirely different; Philias had genuinely been proselytizing.

If Bernard had not turned traitor, and if the orthodox churches had not noticed Dark Moon Island at that time, it was highly probable that the Church of Light would have taken root here—a Church of Light that revered the Light itself but did not worship the God of Light, essentially a Protestant variant of Light.

It appeared that once he returned, it would be necessary to rein in Alfred a bit; he could not simply allow him to spread the faith so joyfully, or else they would easily attract the attention of that mysterious organization.

Then again, he did not truly possess the proper soil to openly preach his faith anyway.

The situation Philias had faced was one where the Church of Light had already disintegrated and scattered, meaning there was no institutional hierarchy looming above him; he himself resembled the leader of a remnant force of Light.

His own circumstances were entirely different; if he brought things out into the open, that organization wouldn't even need to act before the Church of Order crushed him with thunderous force.

"Please kill me... Father... Father... kill me... kill me... I beg you, Father..."

Release; he desperately required release, which had now become his singular obsession and desire, countless times more intense than an addiction to drugs.

Dignity, grand ambitions, status—all of these became utterly trivial once self-awareness was stripped away.

A human mind would rapidly degenerate under such conditions, allowing basic instincts to dominate consciousness entirely.

Karen reflected that if it were Pu'er in this exact predicament, she could probably endure it; if she were burned for hours, she would likely spend those hours cursing without pause.

After all, she had spent a century existing as a cat, and another way to phrase her unaltered nature was that she had long since grown accustomed to absolute solitude.

Bernard and Purr belonged to the same era, but Bernard had spent the intervening time in slumber; lacking a century of tempering, he was hardly some ancient monster.

In short, Bernard was far weaker than he himself had imagined.

It was nearly time; if this dragged on any longer, Bernard would enter another stage, one where his consciousness would be completely lost, which was not what Karen wanted.

Karen finally turned around and looked at Bernard.

"Please, kill me, kill me!"

Seeing Karen cast his gaze upon him, Bernard began to laugh and cry at the same time.

"I awakened Count Recal of the Allen Manor."

"Please, kill me!"

"I awakened a senior artisan priest of the Pamires Faith, a man named Saman."

"Kill me!"

"Right now, they are both sealed within a coffin, waiting for me to awaken them again in the future, because only in this way can I grant them eternal existence. I have prepared twelve such coffins; two are used, ten remain."

"Please... I want it! I want it! I want it!!!"

Looking at Bernard, Karen smiled faintly and said, "My apologies, you do not deserve it."

"Please give it to me, Master, please give me the coffin, Master, Master!"

"You do not possess the right."

"I know, I am base, I am livestock, I am low-born, I..."

Karen stood up and stretched his back.

Bernard immediately cried out, "Those people call themselves the Silent Ones; they are an organization that has inherited many eras, and their existence predates many of the orthodox faiths!"

"I do not believe you."

"It is true, they truly exist! I did not believe it either at first, but of the two men who came to find me, one was a Priest of Light, and the other was... was a Priest of Eternity! I could sense their strength, a strength I could not contend against. That terrifying pressure made me feel like an ant before them.

One of Light, one of Eternity. The Light I could dismiss, but a powerful Priest of Eternity also appeared before me—the Church of Eternity, a church that has already been extinct for two eras!"

"If they are so powerful, why did they need you to act?"

"Because they are constrained and cannot truly make a move. They said they are waiting for the return of the Gods, and at that time, they will receive the divine blessings."

The return of the God of Light was one thing, but would the God of Eternity return as well?

What was the purpose of such an organization's existence? To guard a house?

Karen knew that Bernard could not possibly be very familiar with this organization; he only knew some peripheral information.

"They promised me that when the Gods return, I will share in the blessings. As the Patriarch of the Dark Moon, I will lead the Dark Moon into the new Church of Light, become an elder of the new Church of Light, and receive the guidance of the God!"

"How did you come to be tempted by this?"

Given Bernard's temperament, if the other party told him they could not intervene, would Bernard willingly bow his head in submission?

"Because... because I saw the God of Light!"

Karen’s gaze focused sharply.

"The God... smiled at me."

This description was somewhat abstract.

"I truly saw it, though I do not know how to express it in words, but I truly saw it. I received acknowledgment from the God of Light. When the light dims, it becomes the dark moon; the road to my future became clear in an instant!"

Hypnosis?

An illusion?

It should not be; Bernard was not that easily fooled. Then what was it that he truly saw?

Karen did not believe it was the God of Light, but how did the other party manage to make someone of Bernard's caliber believe instantly?

Karen could not help but think of himself; if he were to play the role of the descending God of Order, the difficulty seemed much lower.

Therefore, whatever had deceived Bernard must have contained at least a certain degree of reality within it.

Furthermore, that this organization actually possessed Priests of Light and Eternity, and could be described as "powerful" by Bernard, spoke to the organization's mystery and transcendence.

Karen felt a slight headache; he did not really want to think about these things right now, and was even quite averse to coming into contact with this organization. Its existence, based on its currently known purposes, seemed to be to eliminate people like himself and Philias.

The Silent Ones... maintaining silence toward divine authority?

Whoever dared to speak out would be erased?

Did the orthodox churches know about this organization? It ought to be a top secret; would he be able to find out upon his return?

The Captain certainly did not know, because Philias only knew that Bernard had betrayed them, subconsciously believing it to be a case of abandoning the hound once the hunt was over.

So, should he tell the Captain about this?

"The God of Light gave me a promise, letting me go to the altar on Black Base Island on October 10th of the Dark Moon Year 1735 to receive the divine guidance, where the God will fulfill all promises to me!

Because there was still more than a century left, they were willing to arrange a long slumber for me after the deed was done, but I refused, because at that time Philias happened to breed insects that could aid in a long slumber."

The Dark Moon Year...

Karen began to convert the dates in his mind; in other words, three years from now?

So, Bernard's awakening had been brought forward by three years by Karen himself.

An organization called the Silent Ones had sent two powerful priests, one of Light and one of Eternity, to find Bernard, and had even let Bernard see the God of Light.

Regarding the sight of the "God of Light," Karen harbored doubts; he did not believe the God of Light would truly manifest to do such a thing, but the scene and atmosphere at that time had left Bernard utterly convinced.

No, there was another question.

They were willing to provide Bernard with a method for long slumber, but because Philias had developed insects with the same effect at that time, he refused them.

Karen naturally understood that Bernard surely trusted Philias’s character and knew exactly what kind of genius Philias was, so he had no doubts about the effectiveness of the insects Philias developed.

But because he already had his own, he refused.

Heh,

If it were a matter of bargaining,

If you are willing to arrange something for me that I can already arrange myself, shouldn't you offer some other form of compensation?

Yet, why hadn't Bernard mentioned this? In his current state, it was impossible for him to still be hiding things or holding back from Karen.

If he still held back under these circumstances, even just a tiny point, it meant his confession was not absolute, which was equivalent to...

Karen frowned slightly.

"Please... Master... Master... I am useful... keep me... keeping me is keeping a way to cope... in the future... you will face them too... Master..."

Karen did not speak, but instead reached out and waved his hand gently over the flames of Order. The fire surged, growing larger than before.

"Ahhhhh!!!"

Bernard let out a miserable shriek, and while screaming, he continued to beg Karen.

This manner of playing with him—giving despair first, then hope, repeatedly—utterly tortured him.

Karen just stood by the coffin, watching Bernard, remaining silent from that moment on.

Time, a full hour had slipped away.

For an entire hour, Bernard begged, and for that exact same hour, he despaired. He was like a stalk of sugarcane, chewed over and over again, ravaged round after round.

Finally, with roughly a minute remaining, Karen reached out his hand and turned down the flame, stretching that single minute into another hour.

"You..."

Bernard was completely driven mad by this. One moment he cursed Karen, the next he pleaded with him; at times he cried out the names of his father and mother, and at others he shouted for Pearl. His entire consciousness had been thoroughly shattered into pieces.

In the end,

Karen grew tired of the game.

Bernard lost consciousness. The tiny remnant of his spiritual power was no longer enough to sustain his thoughts or reactions; he was completely, utterly dead.

When the flames of Order finally flickered out, it signified that the body had been scorched bone-dry, the equivalent of an extremely thorough purification.

Karen replaced the coffin lid, clapped his hands clean, and walked out of the cave.

Moments later, the teleportation array outside the cave activated. This cave—no, this entire island—fell into silence.

Another two hours passed, and dawn was approaching, but Karen's silhouette appeared at the mouth of the cave once more.

Walking back to the stone sarcophagus, Karen reached out and pushed aside the lid he had previously shut.

Bernard's corpse still lay there in silence.

Karen raised his hand again, and black chains manifested beneath his feet, coiling their way onto Bernard's body.

"Order—Awaken!"

He cast the awakening spell upon a corpse completely drained of spiritual power, yet the body showed no reaction.

Sigh,

was I overthinking it?

However, Karen was in no hurry to retract the chains beneath his feet; the attempt to awaken him continued. For him, the energy required to maintain the awakening technique was so small it could be ignored, especially when used against an empty shell.

Yet patience always has its limits. Just as Karen was finally about to admit he had overthought things and prepare to withdraw the black chains, he suddenly sensed through the links that a certain spot on Bernard's body seemed to have ruptured, engaging in a tug-of-war with him.

Karen immediately increased the power of the black chains, locked in a stalemate with it.

Finally, as if something had snapped completely open, a surge of spiritual power gushed from Bernard's head—more precisely, from his eyes—and began to spread throughout his entire body. Consequently, the awakening technique took effect.

Bernard's body was actually awakened once more!

But the newly successful awakening technique quickly went dark. The spiritual power he had just ignited fell back into stillness because the power of a soul had emerged.

When a body still possessed a soul, it meant he was not yet dead. With the spiritual power having a "master," it was naturally impossible to awaken it.

Bernard's eyes snapped open as he looked at Karen, his gaze dark to the absolute extreme.

Because he knew that all the excruciating torture he had just endured had, at this very moment, been completely in vain!

One had to understand that he had just survived the agonizing torments of hell—no, even hell was not as terrifying as what he had just experienced!

He despaired. This time, he was entirely, utterly broken.

Karen let out a couple of chuckles, sighing with heartfelt admiration:

"Heh, Bernard, I really admire you a little!

To think that a second life was sealed within these eyes of yours. This must be the reward they gave you for killing Philias, as well as the method of eternal sleep they bestowed upon you."

Karen leaned his body forward, staring intently into Bernard's eyes, and continued:

"Are these... the true Eyes of the Dark Moon?

You clearly could have treated these eyes as a sacred heirloom, passing them down for generations of your clansmen to safeguard. After all, when the time came, you could have used the soul and spiritual power sealed within these eyes to find a new body and resurrect yourself.

Oh, you weren't willing to hand them over to your descendants because you didn't trust them. You still wanted to preserve your original body, which is why you used the insects cultivated by Philias.

Bernard, you really are greedy, and truly selfish."

"I curse you: you will meet the same end as Philias! You and everyone around you will come to a tragic and miserable end!"

"Yes, yes, I will, I will. But before I meet that tragic and miserable end...

Miss Pearl is mine.

These eyes of yours are also mine.

I,

Raniedal,

want it all."

—

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