Chapter 332: Domain III

The memories surfaced, Alaric’s words painting pictures.

"’Please... treat him as your own. Give him a normal life. Away from all this... Away from the darkness... Let him be happy... Please let my baby be HAPPY.’"

"’I love you~ Mommy loves you so much... Be happy, my Little Crimson... Be safe... Find people who love you... Live the life we wanted to give you~’"

"’I’m sorry I can’t stay... I’m sorry I can’t watch you grow up... I’m sorry for everything. But Mommy will always love you... Always... Even from wherever I’m going... I’ll love you forever~’"

Damian’s breath shuddered.

"But this time, I understood everything. I saw the truth with perfect clarity."

His crimson eyes met Nerra’s dead ones directly.

"A mother wants nothing except for her child to survive, to be safe and to be happy."

The fog began dissipating slowly, pulling away from his body.

"A mother doesn’t blame her child for things beyond their control."

Nerra’s corpse remained unchanged, just staring at him.

"A mother has nothing but love for her child, even when facing death, even when saying goodbye forever."

His voice dropped, becoming quieter but no less certain.

"A mother wants her child to find joy, to live fully even after she’s gone."

The fog continued retreating.

"A mother would gladly sacrifice her life if it meant giving her child one more day, one more chance and one more breath of existence."

His voice became softer, carrying weight that shook the Domain itself.

"That’s what mothers do... That’s what they are."

Tears flowed freely down his face.

"That’s what you were to Alessio... That’s what Lyandra is to me."

His voice cracked.

"And that’s what Mariana was in her final moments, walking to her death, looking back at her baby one last time, hoping he’d survive even though she wouldn’t."

Then Lyandra’s final words echoed through his mind, the promise she’d made in that car.

"They’ll settle eventually. And when they do, you’ll know what Nerra’s last thoughts really were."

"How?"

"Because you’ll finally be able to forgive yourself enough to hear the truth instead of the punishment you think you deserve."

Damian’s hand rose slowly, reaching toward Nerra’s face, his fingers trembling as they approached her dead cheek.

Then he stopped, his hand hovering just inches away.

And he whispered, his voice carrying finality that felt like chains breaking.

"I don’t know what your last thoughts were."

His hand trembled in the air.

"And maybe I never will."

The simple acceptance cut through everything, quiet but absolute.

"But I do know one thing with certainty."

His fingers passed through her face, feeling nothing but cold air.

"You’re not her... You’re not Nerra... You’re just what I created. What my guilt manifested."

Tears streamed faster down his cheeks.

"The real Nerra died that night in the house."

His hand dropped away from her face.

"And Alessio died the day Damian Valcor was born."

His voice became firmer and more certain.

"I can’t keep living in the past when I have a present that needs me. When I have people who care about me now, in this life and in this world."

He looked at her one final time, at the manifestation his guilt had created.

"So... I let you go."

Nerra’s corpse began to fade.

Just dissolving.

Becoming transparent, then translucent and then nothing at all.

The dead eyes faded last, disappearing into empty air.

Gone.

Then the other corpses from Alessio’s life began following.

The gang members dissolved, their bodies becoming transparent before vanishing completely.

Everyone tied to Alessio’s existence, everyone from that timeline, everyone from that past.

All of them were released.

All of them were let go.

But the portal students remained, Brian’s family stayed, Zavier’s parents continued floating and all other gang members as well.

Those were Damian’s failures, Damian’s choices and Damian’s guilt to carry in this life.

The Domain didn’t disappear.

It evolved.

****

[Physical World]

Damian’s hand emerged from his chest slowly, blood dripping from his fingers, his heart still beating safely inside his ribcage.

His self-healing skill activated immediately, Aura flowing through the wound, sealing torn flesh, repairing damaged tissue.

Within seconds, only blood-soaked clothing remained.

****

Inside his Domain, Damian stood alone in the endless darkness, surrounded by the corpses that remained, bathed in black fog that was his to command.

And for the first time since awakening Alessio’s memories, he felt something close to peace.

His mind reflected on everything, not running from it and not suppressing it.

Just acknowledging it.

Understanding what despair truly was.

The culmination of hopelessness when you believed nothing would ever improve.

The isolation of feeling like you were drowning while everyone else breathed air.

The powerlessness of watching terrible things happen and knowing you couldn’t stop them.

The resignation of accepting that suffering was all you deserved.

The grief that had nowhere to go, no outlet and no resolution.

He’d lived all of it, carried all of it and become all of it.

And now he understood what it meant.

The Domain responded.

The black ground trembled beneath his feet.

The crimson sky pulsed faster and harder.

The fog exploded outward, expanding in all directions, growing thicker, denser and more oppressive.

The Domain was evolving.

Range spreading from one hundred meters to two hundred. Three hundred. Four hundred...

Five hundred meters of absolute despair radiating from him in waves that would break minds and shatter wills.

The remaining corpses no longer felt like accusations.

They were just witnesses to truth rather than judges of guilt.

And surrounded by death and darkness and overwhelming negative emotion, Damian felt peace.

True peace...

The kind that came from acceptance rather than suppression.

The kind that acknowledged pain without being consumed by it.

The kind that let go of ghosts instead of chaining them forever.

He opened his eyes in the physical world.

****

Damian’s crimson eyes focused, coming back to reality, adjusting to the dim light after the overwhelming brightness of his Domain.

He looked down at his chest, blood still staining his black shirt darker, pooling on the floor beneath him in patterns that looked almost artistic.

His fingers moved through the air, accessing his status screen.