Death… And Me

Chapter 3244: Conclusion of Marevʼs Tale

”Xutrin, do you know this name?”

Rean pondered a bit and nodded. Right after, he waved his hand, and Rifindio appeared. ”He does.”

”Eh?” Rifindio had just just not long ago, so he didnʼt know why he was called back. Of course, he soon noticed Foliana and the others there. ”Oh! They are back. But... what do I know?”

”Xutrin,” Rean spoke. ”You have dealt with him, right? I only know his position in the Inquisition Hall, but nothing else.”

Rifindio was a little lost in the conversation, but he confirmed nonetheless. ”Well, obviously. Xutrin was one of the two vice-leaders of the Inquisition Hall four hundred years ago. At the same time, he was the head of the Formations Master Branch in the Inquisition Hall. When it came to the main formations of the Inquisition Hall around the planet, he was usually involved with them. He also helped me set that formation I used to trap you back then.”

Rifindio then looked at Rean. ”In any case, you know what happened. He was swallowed by that black hole and died with the Inquisition Hallʼs Leader of that time and the other vice- leader. You were there, so you probably remember him.”

”So... Xutrin died, uh?” Marev couldnʼt help but sigh. ”No wonder he hasnʼt visited me even once in the last four hundred years. My mind wasnʼt in a good state, and the constant anger only made me think he had given up talking to me.”

Marev quickly shook his head, putting those feelings away. ”Since you know Xutrin, it makes things faster. I was one of the subordinates working with Xutrin back then, and I had quite a high position in the new project he was working on. It was a set of formations capable of transferring Spiritual Energy between planets. It was something crazy and of unprecedented scale for a planet like ours.”

”Since I was under his direct command and my loyalty was unshakable due to the worm, I didnʼt question anything. He also told me that the idea was to use it to balance the Spiritual Energy of the planets in our Solar System, nothing else.”

”However, Iʼm not an idiot. The more I helped, the more suspicious I became. But since Xutrin occupied a higher position in the Hall, my loyalty to the Hall made it impossible to question anything. I just worked and helped nonstop.”

”At some point, I finally figured out the true use of that research. It was improved to the point where not only could it receive Spiritual Energy from other planets, but it could also rob all living beings of their Spiritual Energy and Life Forces. For the first time, I wondered if that was truly for the sake of the Werdlem Empire and the Solar System.”

”Yet, another feeling appeared in my mind, a feeling I hadnʼt felt for a long, long time. I was afraid. Not because of me, but my brother instead. I still thought of myself as nothing but collateral damage since I was working for the Werdlem Empire. In any case, I knew my brother lived on the same planet, and the idea of this formation killing him kept growing in my head.” Marev turned to Rean again. ”Finally, one day, I felt like something clicked in my soul. You said that the Werdlem Soul Worm was damaged somehow, right? That it might have been my strong emotions. From what I experienced, I think you were right. I just couldnʼt accept the idea of letting my brother die.”

”Once that click happened, a little bit, just a little bit of my own real mind seemed to get free. However, the worm still held my soul tight, so I couldnʼt really go against it. So, I didnʼt do anything. Instead, I came up with an excuse that my own loyal-to-the-Werdlem-Empire mind me going to meet my brother.”

Rean and the others remember that part of the story. Karev mentioned that his brother seemed completely fine until he asked to have a private conversation. Only at that point, he seemed to have ʼawakened.ʼ

”When Karev and I got alone, I used that little bit of free will I had to fight against whatever was inside my mind. Of course, back then, I had no idea it was the Werdlem Soul Worm. I just knew that something was there, and I had to suppress it to the best of my abilities. I used all my strength and emotions and isolated that thing in my mind for a short moment. Finally, I told Karev to flee the planet.”

”After that, the worm got free again, and my loyalty to the Werdlem Empire returned to normal. The good thing was that I was able to hide my conversation with Karev. But... once I returned to the Inquisition Hall, the thing in my mind seemed to have got somewhat different. It couldnʼt keep my mind under perfect control as before.”

”At some point, I started to feel angry, and then angrier and angrier. The Worm couldnʼt control me anymore, and my hate for the Werdlem Empire began to swell. Yet, the anger also made it impossible to hide my true feelings, and the Hall, especially Xutrin, noticed that something went wrong with the Worm. Itʼs just that I still didnʼt know about the worm back then.”

”They locked me, sealed my cultivation, and made several tests on my head. Truth be told, someone like me was supposed to have been eliminated. There were some very rare cases where similar occurrences happened. Yet, because of my contribution to the formation and especially our connection to each other, Xutrin made it so I wouldnʼt be eliminated but kept in confinement instead.”

Everyone was surprised that Xutrin, who was from the Divine Realm, would care about a cultivator of the Mortal World. Regardless, it was also thanks to this that Marey was alive.

”Well, the rest of the story you know already,” Maved moved to the conclusion of his tale. ”There I stayed until Karev and the others finally broke into the Detention Center and got me out.”