Chapter 760: The Truth

"Tank! Stop this!" Eisen yelled out at the child that was going on an uncontrollable rampage, killing his friends and family, who were offering their bodies to this cause freely. It didn"t even seem like they were being actively controlled. Brainwashed, sure, but they were still offering themselves to be killed, just so that Eisen could gain a level or two at best? How ridiculous was this?

"Heh, if you want to stop this, there"s really only one way to do it. You have to completely destroy their bodies." The Demon explained to Eisen, who glared at it angrily, "Why would I ever believe a single word you say?!"

"What? I don"t lie! I hide stuff, but I don"t lie~! If  I tell you that"s the only way to do it, that"s the only way to do it." It replied bluntly, while Eisen couldn"t do anything but stand there, unsure what he should do. He didn"t want to kill Tank, but he couldn"t just watch all those people continue being killed just for his sake, "I"m sorry... I"m really, really sorry, child..." Eisen muttered, as he stepped forward toward Tank, cutting through his neck. Tank"s head rolled off his shoulders. But even then, his body didn"t go limp, or even stop moving. It continued ripping apart these living people, without even minding Eisen"s existence. Eisen turned his head and looked at Tank"s head, just laying there on the ground, before that slithering, solid darkness sprouted into legs right where Eisen had cut the head off Tank"s shoulders. The spider-like limbs carried the head back onto its body, forcing them together like some sort of frankenstein.

Clicking his tongue a few times, the Demon shook its head, "I just told you, you need to "completely" destroy their bodies. No trace of their physical form, you know?"

Eisen ground his teeth, furiously. He knew that he clearly couldn"t kill that Demon right now even if he put all his power into it, simply because he wouldn"t even be able to land a hit on it, so the only thing he could do is take care of Tank.

"I"m... I"m sorry." He said, while placing his hand onto the gaping hole in Tank"s chest. Mana gathered in Eisen"s right arm, before Tank"s whole body was incinerated in a single instant, leaving behind just a single trace. A small, black orb with a flowing, light liquid inside. Eisen had seen it before, having forced it out of the bodies of a few monsters he killed, but he had never seen it like this. This was Tank"s soul. Trying to suppress his anger, so that he could pick the orb up without shattering it in his hand, Eisen reached down, holding it in his hand. Silently, he walked past the corpses of the people that used to live here all around him, and began his search for the others. The next one he found was Ranger, who was doing the same thing, barbarically ripping everyone apart. And again, the only thing he left behind was an orb containing his soul.

The next one he found was Supp, currently climbing out of the well in a b.e.a.s.t.i.a.l manner, jumping into the crowd that had gathered there, ripping then apart with his hands and mouth as if he was trying to feed on them. Right behind him followed Deedee, who followed suit, quickly taking out half the crowd before Eisen got there. And a moment later, their bodies burnt up, and Eisen was holding onto two more souls.

He climbed into the well, knowing that they were coming from down there. He couldn"t find Croco anywhere yet, so maybe she was still alive? She might be fine... he might be able to still save her. Eisen ran across the room, pus.h.i.+ng away any of these insane cultists he could together with the shadowy apparitions of the Demon standing amongst them. He ran over the bridge that was hanging across that deep drop in this mummified, giant corpse that hadn"t even been fully hollowed out yet.

And then, Eisen reached the room with the altar, and the memory soon stood right where the current Eisen did, staring at the altar, where Croco"s own father was holding a pitch-black dagger into her heart, causing the darkness to spread throughout her whole body.

He watched Croco"s small frame go limp, before being forcefully pulled awake. The first thing she did was rip her father"s throat to shreds, while Eisen just stood there, petrified. Or well... maybe he just didn"t want to save the kind of person that would do that to their own child. While that man"s body fell to the ground, before he even stopped twitching, Eisen incinerated Croco"s body, now holding onto her soul as well.

Croco"s father locked eyes with Eisen. All the old man could see was an expression of glee and happiness. He killed his own child with that kind of expression. Eisen clutched the five marbles in his hands tightly, as he stared at the puddle of blood gathered on the altar, still dripping down its rough sides.

"You don"t deserve to remain here, while they"re gone..." Eisen muttered, as flames poured out from his body, enveloping this whole underground structure, even burning away the rest of the flesh left inside this giant corpse.

Eisen killed everyone left inside, and then climbed out of the deep, deep well. And when he came outside, seeing the gleeful expression of the cultists in front of him... he killed them too. Their bodies fell apart in the flames that started to spread throughout the whole town. This place that had existed in bliss just yesterday was now gone, nothing but a speck of dust in this wilderness.

The Demon watched Eisen"s despair, and simply disappeared. And that was where the memory ended. Eisen fell to his knees, looking at the altar where all five of the people waiting upstairs had been killed by their own families. How could he ever tell them about this? Those children who he had looked after whenever he was here... he had watched them grow day by day, month by month, year by year. He ate and laughed with their families, and then, it all went to h.e.l.l. Now Eisen understood why he did what he did. He wanted to protect them from learning about this horror. He shouldn"t have, though. He should have just told them. But maybe he just couldn"t. Instead, he just fed them lies about how they died, and maybe even lied to them about how they lived their lives.

And all those messages sent to the five of them? They were sent by the Demon, trying to lure them back. Eisen probably returned sooner or later to try and kill the Demon again, finally succeeding at some point. And this black darkness, now trapped in this crystal sphere, was all that was left of the being that did this. Eisen ground his teeth together and stared into the abyss he held in his hands, "If there"s even a speck of consciousness left in there... I swear I"ll completely destroy you..." He whispered, before slowly turning around.

He made his way back to the entrance, and flew up the well, where those five were waiting for him. They stared at the old man with hatred and disgust, the same way that Eisen stared at the Demon back then. For a few moments, he was considering just continuing to hide this. Maybe he should just try and lie to them, and make them hate him even more. Well, even if he told them the truth, they would hate him for hiding it from them. He would hate himself as well.

Slowly, Eisen opened his storage, and grabbed a scroll out of it. He wrote some conditions onto it, and showed it to the five beings in front of him, "With this contract, I swear that I will tell you the details of the memories that I just recovered. And if I lie, my head will roll off my neck right in front of you." He said, activating the fate contract, while the five of them looked at him confused. Clearly, they knew how the contracts worked, watching as the being that would fulfill the contract appeared above Eisen, placing a scythe onto his neck, ready to cut through it at any moment.

And then, Eisen told them the truth, for the first time. He told them why this all happened, and watched the faces of the people he had tried to protect for tens of thousands of years as they learned why, and how they truly died.