Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power Chapter 496: Finally

Chapter 496 – Finally

They walked through the crowd of tribesmen, none of them quite willing to let their eyes rest on the two of them for more than a glance.

Yet some couldn’t help it — just for a moment — to linger on the weeping Pandora, her hand held protectively by Kaden.

For their silence alone, he was grateful.

It was hard to keep his eyes on Pandora as he led her toward the church door. Harder still because the young girl couldn’t stop the tears running ceaselessly down her face.

Yet no sound left her lips. It was as if they had been sewn shut, and yet Kaden could hear perfectly what her chest sounded like: like a kettle boiling so profoundly hot that it churned and burned her from within with a pain that went far deeper than anything visible.

He said nothing. Or rather, he couldn’t say anything. Because whatever came out of his mouth at that moment would only be words trying to justify his own hypocrisy to her.

’You have no choice, sweetheart.’ Blanche said, her soothing voice doing nothing to soothe him. ’You know that. Stop torturing yourself with guilt. Let it go.’

’If I do, I lose something greater than the pain.’ Kaden retorted. ’This pain at least proves I haven’t gone too far. It proves there’s something of the old me still alive, something that still cares about others more than my own goals.’

’Do you still want to be that person, sweetheart?’ Blanche whispered back, her voice anguished.

’I don’t want to. But I need to. A man whose myth is Bearing Burdens fails himself the moment he can no longer care enough to carry the weight of others.’

’Is that what you learned?’

’Aye.’

’Does the answer satisfy you?’

’It doesn’t matter, Blanche.’ He smiled wryly. ’It doesn’t matter.’

Blanche fell silent, watching her master completely different from who he had been before this quest began.

It had cost him so much that even he didn’t fully know what to make of it. This was the hardest quest The Will had ever given him.

Not because the opponents were powerful. Not because his life was at risk. He almost wished it had been that, that would have been simpler.

But no, what was being threatened and tested here was his own philosophy. His own moral and ethical values, laid bare and battered by The Will’s merciless design.

’Only in this situation do I understand that fighting was always the simplest thing in the world. You don’t need to be particularly strong to fight, to trade blow for blow, wound for wound, to kill your opponent. You only need to be courageous enough. Or reckless enough.’

But to protect your Self from being worn down by the kind of struggle that had nothing to do with a physical blow, that required something far beyond strength.

’Now I understand why the gods are all mad.’ Kaden added, his wry smile still in place as the church door loomed a few paces ahead. ’They live longer because of their power. And by living longer, they experience more: The life and death of billions. The birth and ruin of entire civilisations. The extinction of entire races. Battles that shatter the world and leave dead gods in their wake. All of that...’

He chuckled, loud enough that Pandora heard it. And she flinched at the coldness and dryness of the sound.

’...makes it a genuine struggle to keep themselves together and not come apart. So they lose, piece by piece, the compassion and love and trust that made them truly alive. And once those things are gone, no action is too great if it earns you what you desire at the end.’

At that thought, Kaden stopped. He was standing in front of the church door now, a wisp of power breathing from the other side.

Pandora was reluctantly beside him, her crying intensifying the moment they arrived...yet something had subtly shifted in the way she cried.

Finally, Kaden couldn’t help himself.

"I am sorry." He whispered, turning to face her, crouching to meet her eyes. "I am truly sorry, Pandora."

His voice was thick with emotion. His eyes burned with pain and grief. Pandora saw it all perfectly, and understood that Kaden was suffering just as much as she was.

Remembering the joyful moments she had known because of him, the young girl forced a smile onto her tear-and-snot-stained face.

"It’s... it’s fine." The words and the smile were so false, so laboured, that Kaden felt his new heart burning inside his chest. "You have been gentle with Pandora. The only one who played with Pandora."

Kaden ducked his head, unable to hold her gaze...unable to watch the joy and affection she still had for him shining through her overwhelming fear of being sent somewhere she knew would mean her end.

He stayed quiet for a while. Then, as if a decision settled inside him:

"Will you allow me to bear your burdens?" He asked softly, still not looking up.

Pandora blinked at the question, dazed for a moment. Then she smiled — strangely — and nodded her head.

"You are the only one willing anyway." Her voice and tone were different this time, as if it was not the same Pandora speaking. "He— no. Intruder."

Kaden glanced up, seeing nothing visibly unusual...except that Pandora was no longer crying.

"Let’s go in, then." He said, rose to his feet, and pushed the door wide open.

Peaceful darkness broke open and a concentrated wave of power cloaked the interior like a heavy bedsheet.

Kaden and Pandora drew a breath at the same time.

They stepped forward together, entering the Church, and slightly behind him, Pandora murmured one last thing, the voice belonging to someone older and more ancient entirely, carrying something wicked yet pure and deeply loving:

"Finally. Take me back, my dear."

...

Sabine’s soft, rhythmic steps left bloody trails on the floor, an eerie sight with no visible body to explain them to the world.

She was inside the Red House of the Warborn now, hands dripping, killing soundlessly anyone she encountered, leaving not a single soul behind.

Unseen, and with mental power far beyond anything this world expected, she sliced through their minds with mental threads before they were even aware of her presence.

She walked on, careful to mask herself from Lady Heavens and Lady Ouroboros, unwilling to be interrupted in her glorious, holy work of vengeance.

Through alleyways and twisting corridors, leaving behind bodies and carpets of blood, Sabine finally reached the training ground of the Red Crown’s sole daughter:

Daela Warborn.

She stopped for a moment, closed her eyes, as if fighting the euphoria threatening to take over her completely.

"Oh, finally." She whispered, remembering the tedious process of planting the seed of corruption inside this body when she had first come to this world to meet Forbidden, nurturing it over long years until she could take hold.

It took so long. But worth it.

"Finally, I can begin."

And begin she did.

With her Mind Power, Sabine sliced the door into a perfect circle the size of her frame. She allowed no sound. She compressed the cut piece into a tiny ball with telekinesis and erased it.

Smiling without smiling, she stepped inside, and froze halfway through.

Her blue eyes settled with chilling intensity on the sight in front of her.

"Oh my. Oh my, oh my." Sabine muttered.

Daela was fully awake. Her lone red eye was piercing straight into Sabine’s blue ones, twin swords in hand.

"Already awake?" Sabine slurred, then continued forward anyway, swaying lazily, unbothered; if anything, appearing more pleased that Daela was conscious for this.

"How did you sense me? Oh, don’t answer that. It doesn’t matter. I’m no longer lonely with you here. No longer, no longer, no longer."

She repeated the words with a wide smile, stopping a couple of paces away, cocking her head with false innocence.

"How about a talk before we begin, Kaden Warborn’s sister?"

Daela didn’t move. Didn’t speak. She only stared, something deep inside her activating at Sabine’s presence.

Sabine continued, her words carrying a knife-like grace.

"Yes. A talk." She breathed. "A talk about a little whore who fell in love with a gentle prince...only for the prince to be killed by..."

Her face went dead cold.

"...a devil."

—End of Chapter 496—