Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint-Chapter 396: It Didn’t Fall From the Sky - 15

The chaos outside was conveyed to the Lightning Thief, and I continued speaking.

"Fighting for faith is for faith. Fighting for ancestors or one’s race is exactly for those ancestors and that race. If you're killing humans in the name of those causes, how is that supposed to benefit humanity? Sacrificing a few for the greater good? Only those who survive today can enjoy a tomorrow. For those who die today, tomorrow doesn’t exist."

Before the Lightning Thief could respond, I quickly added,

"Oh, I’m not criticizing or anything. It’s natural for beasts to kill each other—whether it’s for food, a mate, or territory. Killing others for something you need isn’t new, and it’s nothing surprising."

"Are you saying even that massacre is acceptable?"

"Would denying it make it disappear? Would blaming me for it change anything? The ones stopping that massacre out there aren’t the Holy Crown Church or the vampires. It’s not you, who’s already dead, or me, standing here rambling. Only the beast who genuinely loves humanity is desperately trying to stop this fight."

Declaring what’s right or wrong, deciding what ought to be done—that’s far too un-beastlike. Even a hermit crab in the mudflats froths at the mouth, saying we shouldn’t just watch what’s already happened.

"You want to save humanity? Then prove it. Stake everything and use your power here. Even though you’re dead, the traces of the demon lord remain etched into the world, so you still have the ability to act, don’t you?"

"There’s no need for that. Claudia’s defensive mechanisms exist for situations like this. Once they’re activated..."

"You mean the power the Thunder Overseer can use? Who do you think she’ll target with that power? Will it really be for the 'humans' you’re talking about?"

The Thunder Overseer would most likely aim at me and Peru first. Elders can’t die unless it’s close to suicide or assisted murder, so she’d definitely kill me, the easiest target, first.

"If that’s your decision, I’ll accept it. But don’t go claiming it’s for humanity’s sake afterward. I won’t acknowledge it."

"I don’t need your acknowledgment."

"Then let me rephrase. If you abandon them, even you won’t be able to recognize yourself as human."

Azzy and the regressor Shei might manage, but Peru would certainly die if left alone. The power of Verdant she wields eats away at her body, which has been reconstructed by the Golden Mirror. All humans are living on borrowed time, but Peru’s end is much closer than others. Now, that cruel clock is ticking down several times faster.

There isn’t much time left. The choice now lies with the Lightning Thief. Realizing he was being tested, he clenched the cables tightly and said,

"Are you testing me?"

"You’re awfully talkative for someone dead. Make your decision quickly. I’m curious to know what kind of 'humanity' you’re shouting about."

It didn’t matter what choice he made. It was just that kind of situation. However, the Lightning Thief in front of me was etched into the world. The inner feelings I read with mind-reading couldn’t lie or ignore the truth.

If he truly chose faith, he should hurry to the side of the heavenly god.

"...What is your goal, King of Humans? Do you want to return this world to a savage age? Back to that horrific era before Year One?"

"Do I look like someone who can turn back time? How would I even do that?"

"Then why? Why are you chasing knowledge that could destroy humanity or summon the demon lord? What are you trying to do?"

Of course, I couldn’t lie here either. Not that it mattered—I’ve always been an honest person.

New novel chapters are published on freewёbn૦νeɭ.com.

"I’m doing it to remind humans that they’re just beasts."

I conveyed my true thoughts to the Lightning Thief calmly.

"Idealism, justice, truth, morality, righteousness—no matter how beautiful or grand they may seem, they’re nothing but tools humans created to serve their own whims. They use them to justify killing others and then claim it’s for some higher cause. If that’s true, then I should fight in humanity’s place against those concepts. But unfortunately, they exist in the human heart, where I can’t see or destroy them. Should I crack open their skulls and pull them out? Or should I kill all humans to eliminate them? I can’t do that, can I?"

Or can I? Is that what the King of Sins is? Well, that’s not my concern—it wasn’t my doing, nor will it ever be. Anyway.

"We’re not such grand beings. We’re just lowly, insignificant beasts. Not chosen by gods, not granted the right to wield all the world’s creations as we please. What we do is no different, in essence, from a beast wallowing in mud under the scorching sun. I do it for myself, and to convince all of humanity."

That’s why I’m still the King of Beasts. I muttered calmly as I looked at the Lightning Thief. His face was twisted with contempt, disgust, and unease.

I didn’t feel bad. That expression wasn’t directed at me.

"...I still can’t agree with you."

"It doesn’t matter if you don’t. I already know what you’re trying to hide. The moment you stepped here, all your secrets were laid bare."

Why was he here in the first place? Despite devoting himself to faith and becoming its lackey, despite agreeing to return the lightning to the heavens and make it the heavenly god’s, despite letting his tale become a fable of foolish theft, his true thoughts remained here. What did that mean?

"When lightning struck you, when it flowed through your body along the cables—what happened?"

"...!"

"What did you feel in that lightning that made you so afraid of its power being revealed? Why did you fear the rise of homunculi in a land that didn’t even exist yet?"

The truth the Lightning Thief wanted to hide. He, who had never feared falling lightning, trembled after being struck. A horrifying secret, a truth he should never have glimpsed, left him shaking.

"The lightning you stole and gave to humans was just a fragment of the heavens. But the real lightning wasn’t in the sky to begin with."

Lightning didn’t fall from the sky—it had always been here.

The Lightning Thief, Fran, had been struck. In that moment of impact, like a bolt searing his mind, he realized something. As his hand and arm, clutching the cable, trembled violently, and his brilliant intellect and calm reasoning faltered, even his bladder gave out, soaking him in disgrace.

At the peak of his physical and mental limits, Fran understood. The lightning was moving his body, not his will or faith.

No wonder he wanted to hide it. If a body could be created through the Golden Mirror’s alchemy, then its senses and mind could be animated by lightning. It wouldn’t be simple, of course, but for someone like Fran, who placed unparalleled trust in the purity of intellect, even entertaining the possibility must have been unbearable.

"Don’t feel wronged. This truth would’ve been exposed eventually. The idea of directly engraving lightning into a body isn’t exclusive to you. Though, I doubt anyone else would willingly go through with it."

"...I still can’t follow you."

Fran glared at me with murderous eyes, wrapping the cables around his arm and pulling. It felt as if he were tugging at lightning hidden in the clouds. The distant bolts responded, dragging down toward him. The current surged through the cables, burning Fran’s body. Sparks gnawed at him, yet he remained unaffected.

Not because this was an illusion, but because, from the start, he and the lightning had been one.

"King of Humans. I don’t agree with you, but this time, I’ll move according to your will."

The incarnation of lightning extended his hand.

The Elder’s concept of their progenitor is one of both beginning and end. The savior who rescued them from death and the master of their second life who will one day reclaim that life. A king to whom they must devote their entire being, a god of their race whom they must revere and worship.

Thus, vampires do not believe in gods. No fool would choose heresy when a living god moves before their very eyes.

“Don’t act recklessly. Tyrkanzyaka will arrive soon.”

In this sense, Shei was a heretic, a livestock who dared to invoke the name of the progenitor as though she were a friend. Vladimir wrestled with his reaction—whether to be enraged at Shei’s audacity or to hold his judgment, as she might truly be a friend of the progenitor. He ultimately chose to withhold his decision. Gathering more information before taking action wouldn’t hurt.

Vladimir turned his gaze toward Claudia. There, a structure the size of a hill loomed.

Shei had no means to stop the battle between the Steel Saint and Tyrkanzyaka. In fact, no one could halt these nearly invincible beings.

So, she separated them. Using Jizan, she raised the ground, forcing the two apart and sliding them in opposite directions. Although both Tyrkanzyaka and Peru were monsters capable of breaking even the earth itself, they could not stand without something to support them. As dictated by the laws of nature, they slid apart.

Thus, Tyrkanzyaka arrived here. Scanning her surroundings sharply, she suddenly spotted a familiar face lying prone. She hurried over.

“...Hugh?”