On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

Clack! Clack! Clack!

A pebble falls down the crater I am in and stops beside my right foot. I look up at the surface which is 150 feet above me.

Stab!

Someone plants his sword into the ground, attracting my attention. I turn to that person and watch silently as he coughs out a mouthful of blood while looking at me in rage.

Alivert Storm, the legendary Swordmaster that everyone fears, looks no different from dying cannon fodder. We have been fighting for the past half an hour, which I have to say is the most exhilarating thirty minutes I have ever had in my life.

Alivert was stronger than me; it took me seven Power-ups before I could properly trade blows with him. That being said, though, he is not as exceptional as I expected. He dealt a lot of blows to me but none of them rendered me immobile. The injuries looked horrid but they barely held me back.

I was slightly disappointed but I still had fun. It has been quite some time since someone managed to hurt me.

"It is time to end it, old man."

Panting heavily, Alivert replies, "Am I so weak that you felt the need to cripple yourself?"

"I will never do something as stupid as that. I was just playing around, old man." At my responses, he points at his face, making me realize that he is talking about my mask, not my Origin. "Hoh? You can tell that my mask is special."

"An Indigo Rank Relic is distinct—I knew it as soon as I saw it…. Why? Why did you limit yourself?"

"First of all, if you are thinking that I am someone who relies on Relics, you are wrong. I don't need a Relic's help to win," I answer. "Still, the reason why I took it off is that I know you can destroy it. It was a gift from my mentor, so I don't want that to happen."

"Only for that reason…"

I shrug. "Well, let's get out of this crater, shall we? We have been spending too much time in craters."

This is not the only crater we made. There are tens of other craters that are deeper than this. The first one that we made is the deepest—250 feet deep. Alivert likes to bring me into craters, which I believe is his attempt to save the Knights on the surface.

Kicking the ground, I charge at Alivert. He immediately takes his sword out of the ground and propels himself upward. I abruptly stop in my tracks and kick the ground to follow him. I use Wind Magic to accelerate my speed and we get out of the crater at the same time.

As we are about to land, our swords clash, pushing us in two opposite directions. He is sent to where his remaining soldiers are waiting for him, meanwhile, I am sent to the tiny patch of land before the biggest crater that we made.

"Sir Alivert, it's time to go!"

"I am sorry but your son can not be salvaged."

"Let go of me…"

"But sir…!"

"Please…Neroel is the only thing that my wife left for me."

I don't know why I think it is a good idea to watch Alivert and his soldiers have their soppy moments. Maybe, I am hoping to get more excitement from killing Alivert. I can tell it doesn't work, unfortunately. None of their sorrow will excite me because they are not my real targets.

I have vented my frustration enough. Now, killing them feels like a job I should finish.

As I am about to kick the ground to charge at Alivert, he does the unthinkable. Spinning on his heel, he cuts the six Knights surrounding him at once. All of them still have disbelieving looks on their faces as their bodies touch the ground. Alivert, on the other hand, looks detached and cold.

Swish!

He propels himself toward me but doesn't show me any hostility. I still don't lower my guard and prepare myself to bisect him even as he stands defenselessly in front of me.

"Let's make a trade," he says roughly.

"Are you aware of how ridiculous it sounds?"

"I know…but you won't regret this trade."

I scoff in amusement. "You implying that there was even a trade before this is funny."

Alivert stays quiet and then takes out a lump of red, pulsing flesh surrounded by a golden case made out of Mana. It is a healthily beating heart, and I am not too sure to whom it belongs.

"A heart for a heart. I trade this heart for my son."

"That is a heart for a life, old man," I retort.

"This will save that girl's life too, no?"

Alivert is looking at the girls who are standing a thousand feet behind me. To be specific, he is staring at Celia who is being kept alive by the extremely exhausted Lunea. I look at him with a quirked eyebrow. I wonder why he is willing to make this trade.

"My life is timed but my son…he still has a long way to go through," he speaks. "This is the heart of Princess Celia. The one I gave to Holy Maiden Brianna was the Queen's."

The revelation is something that I didn't expect. I thought he had given Brianna a random person's heart but he gave the Queen's instead. He explains to me why he did that soon. He says that he has figured out the Queen's affair with Mark and he can't watch that any longer.

He has become fond of Mark, unfortunately, so he can't talk about it with his King. The King is also his friend, ironically; he couldn't decide whom to choose. He tried to warn the Queen about her wrongdoing but she didn't listen, further frustrating and torturing him with guilt.

When he heard that Brianna and Mark ask the King to allow them to sacrifice the Princess, he was maddened; he found the reasoning absurd. Therefore, it was much to his disappointment and disbelief that the King gave them the green light.

He knows Celia well. He had been around since she was just a toddler. He didn't want Celia to die, so he devised a crazy plan—one that would punish every wrongdoer around him. He partook in the plan Brianna devised, killed the Queen, and took her heart.

"Internal discord is unavoidable. Sooner or later, the King will realize the adultery that the Queen committed. Killing her is the only way to prevent that from happening."

"That bastard can't Ascend now, can he?"

"Technically, he still can…but I don't know if he will."

I chuckle throatily at Alivert's bitter look. He seems to have grasped what kind of person Brianna is, so he knows what she will do when she finds out that the heart she is holding is not Celia's heart: she will find a way to not sacrifice hers.

I snap my finger, prompting Teanosvera to appear beside me with the unconscious Neroel. Alivert sighs in relief upon seeing his son's visage and hands me Celia's heart even before I hand Neroel.

I intentionally hold Neroel back to see how he will react to it but, much to my surprise, he doesn't even urge me to give his son back. When Teanosvera offers Neroel, he even shakes his head as if he doesn't want him.

"I just want you to let my son live until he dies of old age. At this point, everyone should already know that I am a sinner, so my son will have to bear the same sin," he explains. "I shall die here and my son shall live."

"You are quite sneaky, aren't you, old man?" I remark with a faint smile. "I am curious, though. Are you aware that you are leading your kingdom to destruction?"

Alivert stares at the unconscious Celia and Neroel for a few seconds before shaking his head faintly. "It doesn't matter. I will sacrifice anything to keep my treasures safe."

Handing Celia's heart to Teanosvera, I tell him to deliver it to Lunea. I pick Neroel's body up from the ground and position him in a sitting position. Alivert looks at me with a quirked eyebrow until he hears a sob. His eyes widen as he takes a step back.

"Neroel…you are awake."

"Father…why did you…"

Alivert clenches his hand and says nothing. Smiling bitterly at me, he nods his head. I walk toward him and make him kneel as soon as I stand behind him. Neroel looks into his father's eyes deeply in sorrow, tears profusely streaming down his eyes.

"Honor your father's sacrifice, contemptible son," I say just for fun, which seems to make the guilt Neroel is feeling stronger.

"Live, my son."

After the last words were uttered, I take out my dagger and decapitate Alivert.

Slash!

I used to hate him. I learned what kind of person he was through our fight and I stopped hating him. When he revealed his plan, I respected him. I would like to take him under my wing but I wanted to honor his wish; thus, I killed him.

"No!!! Aaaaahhh!!! Father…!"

Neroel wails as he cups his father's head. I stay there and stare at him silently as my way to paying respect to Alivert. I only walk away when Neroel's tears run out. I am soon stopped in my tracks, though, as someone is holding my ankle firmly.

"Take me under your wing. Let me atone for my sin."

"Do you realize that you are saying that to a Demon?"

Neroel looks up and stares at me with cold rage concealed in his eyes. "I am ready to go to hell."

I smile. "Good. You will make a good pawn."