Chapter 442: Turning Point (2)

And here I thought I had learned to control my expressions perfectly.

I was completely wrong.

I was still the same person, after all.

No matter how much I suffered, no matter how much stronger I became, no matter how much more I understood of the world around me...

Nothing had changed.

If anything...

It had only gotten harder.

Face-to-face with Ghost, I opened my mouth and spoke a few words.

And in that moment, Ghost’s eyes widened in shock.

His expression twisted in disbelief.

For the first time ever, I saw Ghost’s face break into such raw emotion.

Unable to accept what he had just heard from me, he asked again.

"Are you serious right now?"

In response, I nodded.

"...Yes."

Lowering my head, I continued.

"There’s no other way. This is the only thing we can do."

I spoke in a calm, quiet voice.

And that seemed to infuriate Ghost even more.

He lunged forward and punched me hard across the face.

The blow sent me stumbling backward, crashing into the cold wall behind me.

But he wasn’t done.

Ghost tackled me to the ground, grabbing my collar as we rolled across the snow, soaking my clothes completely.

He was truly angry.

"...I don’t understand you, Frey. I thought I did once. But now I realize just how wrong I was."

"..."

Slowly, a thin line of blood slipped from the corner of my mouth, the aftermath of Ghost’s punch.

Tasting the bitter iron of blood, feeling his grip on my collar tighten, I met his gaze in silence ..unable to answer him.

His reaction was a result of what I had told him earlier.

I had asked for his help.

The Silver Dragon Guild was guarding Danzo, so if I wanted to get him out without anyone noticing, I needed Ghost’s skills as an assassin .. and the influence of the Shadow Court.

With his help, we could extract Danzo without raising any alarms.

And once we were far enough away...

I would finish it.

I would end it.

I would kill him.

Truthfully...

I could have simply teleported directly to Danzo’s room. But doing so would have risked triggering the demonic power sleeping within him, unleashing a catastrophe.

That’s why I needed to take him somewhere remote and isolated, where no one would be caught in the aftermath.

And that...

That was what Ghost couldn’t accept.

"Didn’t you say you’d save him no matter what it took? That you’d do whatever it required? That’s your specialty, isn’t it? Turning the impossible into reality..."

"Surviving the Moonlight family, winning the Victoriad, journeying to Londor, staying alive alone in the Ultras continent when everyone thought you were dead... defeating a thousand men single-handedly... You’ve always found a way to win, no matter what.

So what’s different now?!"

Ghost shouted, his voice raw and breaking .. something I had rarely, if ever, heard from him.

His relationship with Danzo had been rocky at first. They bickered endlessly.

But over time, Ghost came to respect Danzo. To see him as a friend.

And that was why he couldn’t accept what I was saying now.

He’d watched countless people die in front of him before. But this time... it was different.

"I tried..."

I spoke quietly.

"I tried with everything I had.

I did everything I could..."

But in the end, I failed.

I underestimated the Devil’s Seed—treating it like any ordinary curse.

But there was a reason why surviving it was impossible.

The one who created the Seed had already transcended the Law of Life and Death.

He made the Seed a living creature in its own right.

Separating it from Danzo was impossible.

They had become one.

To save him, I needed a power that could also surpass the Law of Life and Death—something that existed within Nameless’s memories.

But acquiring that power was utterly impossible.

Because I was human.

To obtain that power, I would’ve had to do what Nameless did ... spending countless lifetimes studying every species and creature, slaughtering an uncountable number of beings just to complete his mad research.

And even if I had an immortal body and infinite time like him... I doubted I could’ve achieved what he did.

I was not Nameless. I didn’t have his wisdom, nor a fraction of his power.

So how could I ever hope to acquire such a power, when I only had a few hours left until the Final Quest ended?

You cannot defeat a world-breaking ability unless you have another world-breaking ability of equal or greater magnitude.

That’s what the Engineer told me.

It was impossible from the start. My failure was inevitable.

Maybe there was another way—something I could’ve found if I still had a question left for the System.

But I used that long ago.

That was why the Engineer said I would regret it.

That’s what he meant.

"...Whatever happens to Danzo now, it’s my fault. No one else’s."

Hearing that, Ghost fell silent for a while before speaking again, his voice filled with bitterness.

"...Why Danzo, of all people?"

Even if the Devil’s Seed was real...

He couldn’t understand why it ended up in the hands of the Ultras.

A complete Devil’s Seed was rare. Immensely powerful.

Its presence here on Earth made no sense.

And of all the people in the world... it ended up inside Danzo.

"Why?!"

He wasn’t special.

He was just an ordinary human.

Nothing more, nothing less.

"...Most likely, I’m the reason for that too."

I once thought it was just bad luck.

But I was wrong.

Something like this doesn’t happen by chance.

Whether it was the Engineer, the Demon King...

Or someone else pulling the strings behind the scenes...

This was planned.

And the reason Danzo became the target was because... he was close to me.

That’s all.

It was a carefully crafted conspiracy, one designed to tighten this noose around my neck. And they succeeded.

We’d reached the point of no return.

Ghost stared at me for a long time, a storm of mixed emotions in his eyes. He was furious.

He wanted to call me a liar.

To claim that everything I said was nonsense—that there was no proof the Seed even existed.

But then...

He remembered.

All the bizarre phenomena he had witnessed while staying by my side.

And he knew.

I wouldn’t say something like this without reason .

I saw a trace of contempt in his eyes .. fleeting, born of the heat of the moment.

There, in those desolate alleys, on ground blanketed by cold snow, we stood in silence for a long while, swallowed by a void neither of us could escape.

Then, after a few moments, Ghost stood up and turned his back to me.

"I’ll help you."

His words caught me off guard.

I hadn’t expected him to agree so easily.

"Ghost..." I called, unable to stop myself.

But he continued, his voice calm once more.

"I chose to be your shadow a long time ago.

That’s why I’ll share this burden with you. I’ll carry this sin.

But, Frey..."

Turning to face me, his usual quiet resolve returned.

"You know what happens next, don’t you?

Once we cross this line, there’s no going back.

We’ll carry the consequences, face the punishment when the time comes.

Are you ready for that?"

In response, I nodded.

"I am."

...But would I truly be able to live with myself afterward?

After killing Danzo with my own hands?

I stared down at them .. imagining his blood staining them.

And every time I did, the image shattered me. I couldn’t bear to face it.

I didn’t know what would become of me once I did it.

But I was certain of one thing ..

I wouldn’t be the same person anymore.

I tried not to dwell on it. But the end was near.

It was only a matter of time now.

Ghost saw right through my turmoil, but he didn’t say anything.

He simply turned and began walking away.

"I’ll submit your request to the Shadow Court. I’ll lead the operation myself.

Stay where you are until I contact you.

When the time comes... prepare to stain your hands with blood."

"..."

I said nothing.

Ghost vanished, as if he had never been there in the first place.

And I was left alone, lying on the cold snow.

I wanted to leave. But my body wouldn’t move.

All I could do was stay there quietly, waiting.

"The weak have no right to decide anything in this world."

Only the strong get to shape their lives the way they want.

Only they have the power to dictate the fate of others.

I was weak.

Pathetically weak.

And that weakness...

That’s why the powerful swarmed around me, steering my life as they pleased.

It’s why my father died protecting me.

Why so many others perished.

And now, why I was about to kill Danzo.

All of this... because I was too weak.

But...

"What kind of strength would it take to break free from this cage?"

Would I have to become a heartless monster like Nameless?

Or a tyrant like Agaroth, wielding overwhelming power?

If that was the answer...

What price would I have to pay to reach it?

And could I even bear it?

"I don’t know..."

I didn’t know anything.

I had always been this way.

And in the end, nothing had changed.

"Perseverance doesn’t guarantee success."

No matter how hard you struggle, no matter how much you try,

success is never promised.

This is life.

It throws you wherever it wants, never where you choose.

"What a cruel world..."

Leaning against the wall, I sat there quietly.

Waiting for the moment of truth.