Chapter 90 The End of Childhood - Four (III)

Chapter 90 The End of Childhood - Four (III)

Beneath the cloak of night, Seraphina aimlessly wandered outside the village. Her vacant gaze rendered her akin to a soulless corpse, her desolation and emptiness surpassing even the solitude she felt trudging through the heavy snow in Red Frost territory. For at that moment, she was subjected to the torment of morality, the torture of faith, and the slaughter of ideals.

Yet at this juncture, the accumulation of all that Seraphina had endured over the days was... even more brutal, an unrelenting cruelty.

It was the destruction of her very self at its root.

The Seraphina reflected in her own eyes and the Seraphina perceived by the world were no longer the same entity. In the eyes of her beloved, she was no longer the village's finest hunter, nor the hot-tempered child, nor the prodigy who might have had a promising future but had squandered it. In this village, in the eyes of all those she loved, everything Seraphina Marlowe had experienced before... held no value anymore. For she was reduced to a single attribute — a vassal of Hydral.

What remained of Seraphina was not her loved ones, nor their love for her. In their boundless love, they saw her efforts as atonement for Hydral, as groveling before Hydral, binding her sorrow, joy, anger, and numbness all to Hydral. She had become a person born for Hydral, a parasite she despised — that's how she was seen in the eyes of her loved ones. And what was even more absurd was that, unknowingly... the reality had become just that. Just as the phantom of Hydral had said to her —

"Isn't that the truth?"

Seraphina Marlowe was dead. The proud, confident fool who dared to challenge any authority, the wild beast, was killed by everything she loved. Nothing mattered anymore. Her worth, her existence, from now on... in the eyes of everything she cherished, she would live only for Hydral.

When Seraphina's spirit had died, a deep, hoarse voice suddenly echoed from ahead.

"Has it come to this?"

"No, quite the opposite." Wendigo took another step forward, and under the moonlight, his massive shadow almost completely enveloped Seraphina. "You must not become his pact head; we will do everything we can to prevent Hydral from having a pact head." Wendigo's voice was cold and hard as iron at this moment: "A complete Hydral is a disaster for humanity, no less than Flamefeast. Flamefeast needs to be destroyed, and so does Hydral." "But fortunately... this generation's Hydral, Ansel of Hydral, has not yet possessed a pact head, and Flamelle's life is coming to an end. As long as we ensure that Ansel still has no pact head when Flamelle falls, we can safely cooperate with him to overthrow the empire and create a new world." "Seraphina Marlowe, Hydral's intentions towards you undoubtedly indicate that he sees you as a pact head."

The man raised his hand and emotionlessly said:

"So now, I give you two choices." "First, watch me destroy your village and kill everyone in it." "Second, commit suicide right now."

Seraphina looked at the monstrous figure before her, and her already dead and hollow heart stirred slightly. But it was not out of anger or fear, but rather... absurdity.

"Haha... hahaha..." Seraphina did not laugh loudly, but rather convulsed with laughter, completely devoid of reason.

What has become of this world? Nobles, Hydral, the revolutionary army. The revolutionary army, which claims to overthrow the decaying rule of the empire, wants to force her to commit suicide by killing everything she loves. All just to prevent Hydral from having that pact head, to keep him from becoming too powerful, so that he... can join the revolutionary army?

And the nobles... have been helping her village all along, providing them with extravagant resources without asking for anything in return. Even if it was for Hydral's sake, they made the village a better place.

Hydral... what about Hydral? He is the object of both sides' courtship and competition. The nobles flatter him, and the revolutionary army boasts about him.

"You may not believe that Hydral is willing to join the revolutionary army, but I can tell you that Hydral has never stood with the empire, nor is he tied to the emperor." "He only stands with those who can give him [rationality], and that's all." Wendigo raised his head slightly, his confidence and composure beyond doubt: "And we have the confidence to give him what he needs." "So... do I have to die?" Seraphina laughed, "Haha, am I going to die for this?" She no longer knew what words to use to describe the absurdity she had heard, or perhaps the girl who had lost her reason had almost no interest in thinking about these things anymore.

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