Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power Chapter 499: Pandora’s Wrath

Chapter 499 – Pandora’s Wrath

"BE FAST!!!"

Pandora’s loud, restless shout boomed through the soon-to-be-destroyed church. Whatever she was doing, it was clear she could only sustain it for so long.

How long?

That was the question Kaden needed to ask; but he stood there, rooted, the revelation still crashing through him in waves, incoherent thoughts parading through his mind.

’Rea... is Pandora.’

Or something along those lines. And at that, everything from the very beginning unravelled before him.

Why Rea had been afflicted by the Goddess of Sorrow since birth. Why she alone was able to hold the goddess within her without losing herself completely. Why the goddess was so obsessed with obtaining her, willing to do anything.

All of it was simply because the Goddess was deeply, profoundly linked to Pandora — who was the Tower she had created herself and sent down to the mortal realm as a sign of her authority. A way to filter and amplify the sorrow energy she received.

Yet somehow, through some strange turn, the Tower had later become one of the Seven Wonders, alongside the likes of The Witch and The Hero With A Thousand Faces.

’Which means,’ Kaden clenched his fists tightly, ’at some point in the past, Pandora succeeded in escaping the Goddess’s grasp. Then...’

His eyes went wider still.

"I’m in another timeline." He muttered in disbelief, then cursed furiously under his breath, wondering how he hadn’t made the connection sooner.

But if this was truly a different timeline, how had his grandfather ended up here, hidden in it? And why?

What had happened to his grandfather in their original timeline? Was he still alive there?

Kaden shook his head, wryly and painfully. He knew the answer. What his bloodline had felt that day was not false.

His grandfather was dead.

"I don’t understand." He whispered, holding his head like a man lost in a labyrinth, each corridor another secret he couldn’t reach. "I don’t—!"

"DAMN YOU!" Pandora’s fury erupted like a crack of thunder, and this time the fog of confusion and shock over Kaden’s mind shattered under its force.

She was glaring at him with eyes dripping in rage, still holding Rea’s body, unmoving through the pain of it.

"WE ONLY HAVE THIRTY MINUTES!" She continued, teeth clenched, bearing the goddess’s assault on every side. "IF IN THIRTY MINUTES I DO NOT HAVE MY RING YOU WILL LOSE ME! YOU WILL LOSE YOUR WIFE, YOU DAMNED BASTARD! WAKE UP!!"

That was all Kaden needed.

Every question, every doubt, every thread of confusion — he pushed them all aside.

There was only one thing to do right now. Find the ring. And for that, he needed to complete the Tower.

Or so he thought.

"My Grandfather!" Pandora’s voice came again, calmer now, or rather, no longer having the strength to shout.

Kaden’s heart skipped. He could see his blood barrier cracking under the goddess’s residual power alone, despite Reditha and Blanche working together to hold it.

How Pandora was bearing it...he didn’t dare think too long about it.

"My Grandfather has my ring!" Pandora said, then coughed blood that was wasted energy. She cursed and pressed on. "I gave it to him for this day. I gave it to him thinking he could carry it, but he went berserk and wounded me in return!"

A deep sadness coloured those words. The kind that came from Rea Thornspire, who had spent years seeking vengeance for her grandfather’s death.

But for Pandora, it was different.

The moment she had seen a member of the bloodline she herself had created — without the Goddess’s knowledge — enter this forbidden timeline, just as He had once promised her, she couldn’t stop herself.

She had tried with everything she had to escape Woeful’s grip and become her own person.

To be free.

She hadn’t known, at that time, that her Seed of Sorrow had found a worthy vessel and been fully reborn and that Vainglory was her grandfather.

She hadn’t known. And even if she had, Pandora knew she would have done the same.

Her ring had been forged from everything — sorrow, illness, ailments, all things bad and corrupt — created by using the goddess herself as a medium.

She couldn’t hold it herself for she was too deeply linked to Woeful.

But a mortal? A god could not reach a mortal so easily without paying the price The Will imposed.

And Pandora had been hindering her master, making it harder and harder for Woeful.

Those same actions had eventually drawn Woeful’s attention to the Thornspire bloodline hidden in Darklore and led to the goddess learning of Rea, still in her mother’s womb, and beginning to plan.

One thing led to another and another and another...until that day came. The day Pandora and Rea found each other, with Kaden at the centre of it all. Because after everything...

"You told me to create the ring, bastard!" Pandora cried out at him. "But you have forgotten your own words. Your own oath! Like always. Like always! Again and again and again, you refuse to be one and only one. Who are you now? You have lost your true core by being so many things. Lost! Lost! But it doesn’t matter! We are fated, you and I! Like the Star! Like the Madness! Like the Voice! But you have forgotten! Oh, damn you! You made us all forget!"

Tears were streaming down Kaden’s cheeks before he even noticed them, a profound sadness and shame flooding his entire existence.

Something told him he had lost something primordial. Something he could never reclaim no matter what.

"So go!" Pandora continued, her eyes dropping shut as the last of her voice gave out. "Find my Grandfather. Take my ring. And uphold your Oath!"

He didn’t know if it was the urgency of the situation or simply the need to flee from the agonising feeling inside him. But either way, Kaden turned his body and bolted out of the church.

He was a blur. Moving so fast and so silently that no one in the village noticed him until he was already inside the Historian’s house.

There, he came face to face with Karim, scratching his beard, leaning against the wall that led to the secret place where his grandfather had been.

But there was someone else beside him.

An old woman. Grey hair and matching eyes, skin a polished white like marble.

A deep light of wisdom lived in those old eyes, accompanied by recognition, as if she saw in him something from a distant past.

Her lips pulled into a warm yet forlorn smile.

Kaden didn’t have the presence of mind to return it.

Karim noticed immediately. He straightened, his expression going serious. "Is it time?"

Kaden nodded, jaw clenched, wiping his tears with the back of his hand.

"It’s time." He said, drawing a slow breath. "It’s time to meet Vainglory."

—End of Chapter 499—