Chapter 464 - Get Lost.
I lifted my heavy eyelids and barely managed to open my eyes.
"...?"
The moment I regained consciousness and opened my eyes, what I saw was a vast expanse of water.
'What?'
I didn't flail around and let my breathing go ragged.
I carefully rolled my eyes to check my surroundings, but no matter how I looked, I couldn't see anything but water.
'...What the hell is this.'
Just what kind of fucked-up situation was this now?
How did I end up in a place like this?
I struggled to recall the situation just before.
The matter of Sin Noya appearing, and me smashing the egg called the 'vessel' with my own hands.
Then being swept away by water as the vessel broke.
Along with that, even the fact that I had been killed once when Tianzun pierced my heart rose up in my mind, piece by piece.
Recalling that, I looked around again.
Nothing but water.
Truly, I couldn't see anything but water. I tried moving my arms.
Fortunately, moving didn't seem particularly uncomfortable....
'Could all of this be that water from before?'
The water that had enveloped me as I shattered the vessel.
Could that water really be this water?
The space hadn't looked narrow at all, yet enough had poured out to fill it like this?
I looked around a few more times, then soon shook my head.
Come to think of it, there was no need to worry about this.
It wasn't a real space anyway.
There was no need to think about what the water was like or what the space was like.
'What matters is what I do now.'
Why was I here?
I had to figure that out first.
According to Noya, I would cease to be human upon breaking this vessel.
'What changed?'
Right now, I couldn't tell what had changed.
I was simply letting my body drift on the calm currents.
I raised my head and looked up at the water's surface.
It was a height that seemed reachable if I tried to go up.
'What's up there?'
If I went up, maybe I could get out.
'Breathing.'
Seeing as I wasn't suffocating right away, it seemed breathing itself wasn't a problem.
I thought I should swim up like this for now.
Just as I moved my body to face upward.
Sssssss....
—Stiff.
My body froze solid.
I felt a presence.
Where? Where was this presence coming from?
The very fact that something existed in this space, which I had assumed held only me, was a problem.
Ssss....
Goosebumps rose from the tips of my toes to the top of my head.
This wasn't just a faint presence.
Something was different.
I could feel it instinctively.
Sssss... Sss... Ssssss.
An unusually clear sound lingered by my ears.
The presence was gradually drawing closer, but for some reason, I couldn't catch it in my sight.
What the hell?
What's there?
A chilling sensation I felt instinctively.
Was this what they called killing intent?
It was something shallower yet far more cloying than that.
Cold sweat ran down.
I wondered what sweat was doing flowing underwater, but the sensation I felt was unmistakable.
Sss.
The presence I had felt for so long was abruptly cut off at some point.
Then, the tension I had felt just moments ago melted away from my body as if it had all been a lie.
'...'
Even so, my eyes were still busy looking around.
Because this wasn't something that would disappear so easily.
'Where are you.'
I looked all around and rolled my eyes like crazy.
I looked into the void, but still couldn't see anything.
I scanned my sides and looked at the bottom, but all I saw was an endless darkness....
Sss.
"...!"
Fuck.
The moment I looked down, I cursed inwardly.
I saw darkness.
Darkness draped so deep that its depth couldn't be known.
"..."
Yes, it was definitely there.
Ssslik.
That very darkness was the place where the unknown presence was felt.
Was something hiding in the darkness?
That's what I thought at first, but not anymore.
I had only watched for a few more seconds, but I could tell well enough.
That bastard wasn't hiding in the darkness.
Sssssss...!
It was the darkness itself.
Krrrrrk.
Did it realize I had noticed?
An abnormality occurred in the darkness.
A pure white gap gradually formed and began to stretch long.
Its appearance was like.
'A mouth?'
It resembled the maw of a beast.
As if flustered, I widened my eyes.
Kuuuuung—! Kraaaaa—!
'Fuck!'
The massive darkness rushed at me.
Kwaaaa—!
I urgently twisted my body at the sign of its charge, but.
Crunch—!
'Kkueuk...!!'
Because I was underwater, my movements were sluggish, and I couldn't guard one arm.
The bastard bit down on my arm and began swimming roughly through the water.
Its speed was much faster than expected.
'What is this bastard...!'
I examined the thing holding me, frowning and groaning from the pressure.
I hadn't known when it was shrouded in black, but seeing it up close, I could make out its form to some degree.
'What the hell is this?'
I could see its elongated body swimming smoothly.
At a glance, I thought it might be a snake-type demonic beast resembling a red snake, but.
I could quickly tell that wasn't the case.
'It has limbs.'
It had arms and legs that snakes didn't have.
Its scales looked much thicker and clearer than those of a snake.
Though I couldn't see clearly, it had strange horns on its head, and the fur lined on its back extended to its tail.
'This is...'
What the hell is it?
It was a demonic beast of a form I'd never seen before. It was neither snake nor beast.
Crunch—!
"Grrrr!"
In the brief moment I kept examining its form, my body collided with something.
It seemed the bastard had slammed me straight toward a wall.
Thud—!
'Kkik...!!'
I felt a tearing pain from my bitten arm.
Something twisted.
I bit my lip and held back a scream at the ensuing pain.
The moment I tried to move while enduring the pain, somehow needing to escape.
[We are noble.]
An unknown voice was felt through my bitten arm.
[All races except us are lowly and inferior.]
For words spoken so calmly, they contained terrible arrogance.
The voice resonated throughout my whole body and, as if that weren't enough, began to coil madly around my mind.
[You must escape quickly. Escape this disgusting vessel and become a more brilliant body.]
'...Look at this bastard.'
I looked at the bastard while listening to the tone that dug into my mind like it was throttling me.
The owner of the voice was obvious.
It was this bastard biting me.
[A truly worthless body. Unable to break the frame and reach the realm—how could it not be wretched?]
[Do you not wish to rise higher than anyone else and look down from above? Do you not wish to enjoy eternal life, filling a noble name while the lowly kneel?]
[Then hesitate no more and embrace me. Abandon the worthless frame and be born anew.]
'Uurk....'
The more the voice spoke, the more my head felt like it would burst.
Moreover, something welled up inside.
What welled up in my body was a festival of all kinds of emotions.
Arrogance, an unknown pride, and even a strange desire to climb higher.
'Is this it.'
I wrapped my remaining arm around my forehead and recalled.
It was about the warning Shin Noya had given.
Noya had said.
Break the vessel, and death as a human is certain.
And of course, when you open your eyes, you won't be human.
'I might not be myself.'
He said I might not be able to open my eyes as the being called 'me.'
Now I felt I finally understood the reason behind that inexplicable warning.
'It was you.'
I could see its clear blue eyes.
'It was you.'
The moment I gave up being human and became something new.
'Are you trying to take that place?'
The bastard trying to take the seat thus created.
That seemed to be this bastard.
[Do you not wish for it?]
My ears were filled with ringing.
[If it were me, I could easily achieve the ideal you desire.]
[Did you not wish for peace?]
[Hand it over to me.]
[Your lingering attachments, anxieties, and regrets. Hand them all to me and find peace.]
"..."
I felt like I was really going crazy.
The voice ringing without rest was enough to make me let go of my mind.
The putrid, shitty emotions filling my chest were too much to block.
Not to mention.
'...Peace?'
For some reason, the bastard's words even sounded so sweet.
The words telling me to hand over everything tied to me.
The temptation that if I did so, I could so easily reach the place I desired.
An unknown instinct was telling me those words were true.
How the hell did I end up like this.
Why did I have to stop being human after living as one.
What the hell do I become if I'm not human.
I couldn't know anything, yet it was a temptation that made me think it would be fine nonetheless.
[Hand it over to me.]
[Find peace. Ouyang Tian.]
[Then you shall achieve everything you desired.]
What I desired.
To block all the blood tribulations that would strike before death.
To ensure those who died for me and lived for me could live in a peaceful era.
By doing so.
To settle my lingering attachments and regrets.
To give myself peace.
As I recalled this.
[I shall do that for you.]
The bastard kept whispering in my ear.
[Did you not wish for it? Did you not so desperately wish for someone else to do it in your stead?]
I did.
I had wished, to the point of death, for someone to do it in my stead.
I wanted to put down this terrible karma.
[That time is now.]
[Hand it over to me.]
Crackle.
Bloody fluid flowing from my nose spread through the water.
I even felt the blood vessels around my eyes bursting.
"...You... you... what are you?"
Words I had spat out without realizing.
It was truly strange for such a clear voice to come out underwater, but now wasn't the time to think about that.
Perhaps because it heard my question.
Karururu.
The corners of its mouth rose. It looked like it was smiling.
[I am a noble being.]
[Unlike you lowly beings, a great race permitted transcendence since the primordial era.]
[A miracle that an inferior being like you has been permitted to touch.]
Arrogant, so arrogant.
And yet, those words felt so fitting.
Why did such bullshit suit this bastard so well? Even in the middle of pain, I found it funny.
[Therefore.]
[Hand it over to me.]
It was spitting out the same words over and over.
Every time I heard those words, I found myself wavering.
Just hand it over and be comfortable.
Wasn't it hard anyway?
Who are you to block a blood tribulation?
Such thoughts surged endlessly.
Every time I tried to do something, things always got twisted, and somewhere I was even treated as a calamity.
Though I was told I was better than my previous life, I wondered if I could stop the Heavenly Demon like this.
Now, to top it off, there was the Blood Demon too, so I had too much to think about.
Why do I have to do that?
Even the lingering attachment that had kept my center wavered.
Why must I walk that arduous path?
If I could entrust everything as the bastard said, wouldn't that be the best way to find comfort?
'Ah...'
Snip.
The threads connecting my mind were snapping one by one.
At that sight, the bastard's smile deepened.
If I handed something over as the bastard wished like this, what would become of me?
Would I disappear?
'Is that a problem?'
If I could run away like this, what was so scary about disappearing?
I had never cared much about death to begin with.
[Yes. That's it.]
A voice full of laughter rang out.
[You need only entrust everything to me and rest.]
"..."
Slowly, I scattered.
The mind I had barely held onto was drifting away.
What had I been struggling so desperately for?
"..."
That's right.
Let go.
Now, enough....
"—I wanted to live a normal life."
"..."
Just as I was gradually falling into rest, a memory brushed past for some reason.
Recalling it, my gradually blurring vision was firmly seized once more.
It dug into my heavily sinking mind, making me grab hold of my spirit just before I lost it.
They rose. Unintended memories rose like turning the pages of a book.
The first was the wretched expression of a woman with blonde hair.
"—Thank goodness...."
The second was the sorrowfully smiling face of a white-haired woman.
"—Survive."
The third was the resolute words spat by a woman with a cold face, soaked in blood.
"—I am truly sorry to you."
The fourth was the image of a woman who had lost her eyes, offering an apology.
After that, all sorts of memories rose and began to drag down the emotions that had been swelling.
"Ah...."
My darkening vision quickly returned.
Just before my stifled breath burst out.
Before that, my right arm moved first.
Stab—!
!!!—!
I put strength into my fingertips and thrust my hand into the bastard's eye.
Then the bastard let out a shriek and thrashed its body this way and that.
Khaaaaaaa—!!
In that gap, my trapped body was freed, and I barely managed to escape.
[You bastard...!!]
[Why!!!]
The bastard looked at me with resentment.
I could see blue blood flowing from the eye I had stabbed.
[You lowly bastard...! It would have been comfortable if you had simply entrusted your body! To dare wound me—!!]
I smiled and spoke to the bastard shouting as if it were unjust.
"You bit my arm, so let's call it even with this."
I showed my dangling left arm and cracked a smile.
Of course, it didn't seem willing to let it go so easily.
[How could you make such a choice!]
I furrowed my brow at the booming voice.
I shook my still-throbbing head to clear it.
The reason.
"...No, I just thought about it a bit, you see."
It's not some grand reason...
It would have been comfortable to leave everything to that bastard.
Whether it would actually act according to my wishes was unknown, but I could instinctively tell.
Whatever it became, at least the chances were higher than if I did it.
[Even knowing that—!!]
"...But how should I put it."
That thought suddenly came to me.
"If I make someone else take responsibility in this life too, I won't have the face to see the kids."
If I've set my mind to do something, I must see it through to the end.
I must not hesitate or waver.
There are things I must do myself, things I can't entrust to anyone.
I wished I had known such a basic fact in my previous life too.
That was a bit regrettable.
The bastard let out a low breath after hearing my words.
[... I shall give you a chance even now.]
While I was examining my mangled arm, it addressed me as if this were the last time.
Its voice once again resonated through my entire body, causing a headache.
Fortunately, it felt much better than before.
What the hell is that thing?
Why did it pop out of nowhere and try to take my body?
Could it be that guy who kept growling?
It doesn't seem like it....
I don't know.
If I don't know, I just need to find out from now on.
"Yeah, since when has my life been easy."
It was always like this.
If it's a situation that can't be resolved through conversation.
In this shitty Central Plains land, there was only one solution.
I myself know well that I'm a man better suited to that than words.
[Krrrr....]
The bastard bared its teeth as if to threaten.
I looked at such a bastard and smiled the best smile I could.
And in that state, I spat out words.
"Get lost."
Starting with these words.
Khaaaaa—!
The bastard opened its mouth wide and rushed at me.