Chapter 87: The Trial of Illusions

Kicking up with my foot, Dokujin was tossed upwards out of my boots. I caught it with one hand as I grabbed the wrist of a baboon-like Magic Beast that had been attempting to jump on me with my other. Throwing it to the ground with ease, I twirled Dokujin around so that it was the correct orientation and stabbed down onto the beast's heart.

With no time to rest, I pulled my weapon out and quickly prepared for my next targets. A tiger and an ogre charged at me in a pincer attack, but I jumped up right at the last moment, taking advantage of the ogre's slow movements and letting it hit its own ally instead. The tiger was knocked out cold as I dashed back to the ground from mid-air, using my momentum to cut the ogre's head clean off in the process.

"Damn, this weapon is great," I chuckled, then moved on to continue butchering the various enemies that came my way.

As I continued to cut down the Monsters and Magic Beasts ruthlessly, I found myself lost in the slaughter once more. Before I knew it, I was laughing in triumph after every kill. At that moment, I was almost similar to… Nadeshiko.

With a hysterical smile on my face, I butchered the Monsters and Magic Beasts one by one. Even if they attacked me together, that didn't matter. I dodged out of the way, letting them hit each other, before going back in to finish them off while they were injured. Yes, I was going on a bloody rampage, but my combat abilities and tactics were still as clear as ever.

Before long, there was only one Monster remaining. A poor, lone, humanoid figure, Tainted by Malevolence. His blood-red eyes, which were meant to inflict fear in his enemies, now were the ones showing fear instead as I slowly walked towards him.

My face, armor, and dagger were all stained with the blood of Monsters and Magic Beasts alike - blue mixed with red, forming a dark and ominous purple.

"G-Grahh… ah…" the Monster whimpered quietly as he tried crawling away from me.

I wiped the blood off of my dagger, and smiled.

"That won't help you… poor little insect."

I threw Dokujin. It struck the Monster directly on the back of his head, silencing him forever. The humanoid figure collapsed to the ground, my dagger still lodged in his head. I walked over calmly and pulled it back out, blood spurting out of the wound.

[SuCcEsS. ThEy aRe DeAd. YoU aRe NoT. OnE mOrE tO gO, yEs?]

The male AI's distorted voice snapped me out of my killing spree. The light returned to my eyes as I looked down at my body. I dropped Dokujin on the ground in terror, falling towards my right side. My arm hit the wall as I felt the disgusting urge to vomit.

"Blegh… ugh… hah… hah…"

Slowly, I slid down the wall and sat down on the ground, a short distance away from the puddle of puke. I needed some time to calm down.

This wasn't the work of Aisa… she wasn't influencing my mind anymore. I could sense it. This was the result of her previous influence, combined with my own instincts to survive.

There was nothing wrong with what I was doing. Killing Monsters and Magic Beasts to protect myself was perfectly fine. But as a boy who has grown up in modern-day Tokyo, where killing wasn't a daily occurrence like it was here, the very idea of murder made me sick, even if it's mere beasts and monsters.

I just… wasn't used to it.

At least, I wasn't supposed to be.

Yet, seeing how easily and ruthlessly I had killed these creatures… I couldn't help but wonder. Was killing a part of human nature, or was it just me? I didn't want to believe the latter, but the former was just as sickening.

If it came down to it, and I was surrounded by other humans instead of mere Magic Beasts and Monsters… would I be able to kill the humans so easily like this too? That wouldn't be just killing anymore - that would be genocide. I gritted my teeth and punched the floor, letting the pain course through my arm.

To other players, killing in this world would be easy. They saw this all as just a game. A virtual reality, where taking lives was the method to get stronger. Hell, even the system itself tells you to kill Magic Beasts and Monsters for XP, and even other humans for their loot.

But I was different. I knew the truth about this world. Every life I took here could not be replaced, even with the omnipotent powers of A.R.X.A. She could create clones - exact replicas - but even she could not bring back the dead original. Like she said, the 'server' I was in was the 'real' reality plane. All the other servers were exact parallel copies of this plane, but they were, in the end, fake. That made it all the worse for me.

The more I thought about this, the more I understood just how cold and heartless A.R.X.A. truly was. To her, lives were meaningless. The lifespan of a person was more like an expiration date to her. How much longer they could serve her for. Even if she was in the body of a little human girl now, the 'artificial' part of artificial intelligence in her was still as clear as day.

Still, I knew. In this world, killing was how people solved conflicts. Even if players were out of the picture, the natives of this place would still be fighting and killing constantly. Duels between cultivators, battles between sects, or even full-on wars between races. Each and every one had the risk of taking lives.

I wasn't some hero. I didn't care about what the others did, and I had no intention of stopping the practice of killing in this world.

So, I made up my mind.

Rather than be frustrated with this bloodthirsty self of mine that comes out whenever I start killing numerous enemies, I would embrace it. Accept it, and control it. If I couldn't outright purge it, then this was the best I could do. Besides, I didn't want to completely get rid of this side of mine either, since the ability to mercilessly kill was an important one in this world, where it was either you die, or they die.

Right now, I still had most of my humanity remaining. I could still control my body and my urges. But if Aisa taints it some more or I lose a bit more some other way… I may lose my original self completely. What would I do then? I had no idea. I didn't even want to think about it.

But there was one thing I did know with full certainty now: killing was necessary. I had accepted that, today.

Ironic, isn't it? I received an enlightenment of truth inside a Vault of Deception. A Trial of Illusions, no less.

Slowly, I forced myself to get back up to my feet. I took a gamble and tried using a sickleboar skin to make a towel of sorts using the Crafting system. Surprisingly, it worked. I used the resulting towel to clean all the blood off of me. Unfortunately, there were still very visible stains on my armor, though my face, hands, and Dokujin had already been cleansed thoroughly.

Tossing the towel away since it was already dirty beyond recognition, I took a deep breath and stepped through the door that had opened, now that I have defeated all of the enemies.

However, the moment I did, a sudden white light enclosed me.

"What…?"

Blocking my eyes to avoid being blinded, I waited for the light to subdue. And when it did…

"Back from school, Kaze?"

My eyes widened. Sitting down on a couch in front of me was a man. He had black hair and blue eyes… similar to my own. He was reading a newspaper, and had a charismatic grin on his aged face. He looked like an older version of myself.

For a reason I couldn't explain, tears began flowing down my face. As I took in the scenery around me, I realized that I was no longer in the wooden corridor of the Vault of Deception, but a normal house.

"Dinner will be ready in just a few more minutes, okay?" a female voice said gently, and I whipped my head around to see who it was.

A woman, standing in the kitchen and wearing an apron, smiled at me warmly. I could feel my emotions breaking up.

All my life, they hadn't been there. All my life, I had only been shown pictures of them.

But now…

"Father…? Mother…?"

I covered my face with both my hands, trying desperately to hold the tears in. But I couldn't anymore. This feeling… this warm feeling of family… it was too much for me.

I heard the shuffling feet as the man got off the couch and walked over, patting my shoulder gently.

"It's alright now, Kaze… you're not alone anymore."