Chapter 162: Téra. (1/2)
The hidden effect of the Fifth Black Art, 'Final Grace', takes both the caster and the target's minds into a spiritual world where time flows considerably faster.
Karaskan looked at himself and saw that his injuries were gone. His surroundings were a 'mortal' warzone. It wasn't like a battlefield created by magic. It was a withered land that suffered mortar and bombardments.
Cartridges on the ground, smoke rising on the horizon, trenches and sandbags, fire and corpses, and a strangely bright sky. Karaskan observed the scenery then looked at the front, at the man blending in this landscape.
Arima was sitting there, on few sandbags, smoking a cigar. He was in his human form and wore a batter version of his coat. He was staring at Karaskan with an emotionless face. The god returned his stare with a smile.
Arima stood up and walked up to Karaskan. ”First of all, let me make you understand why you're going to die today,” he spoke and punched Karaskan in the stomach. The latter coughed and held his right side as he staggered a few steps back.
He realized with that strike that this world was special. Both his and Arima's physical abilities were not stronger than a normal human. The punch he took was nothing more than a blow made by a human to hurt another.
He was then punched in the jaw, followed by a kick in the ribs, a knee in the stomach… Each time he took a hit, fragments of memory entered his head and anchored themselves as if they were the only true memories that he should ever remember.
When he collapsed on the ground after a final punch, Karaskan laughed and coughed some blood at the same time.
”I…see,” he muttered while covering his eyes. ”I understand. This is painful indeed…”
Arima snorted and sat down again. ”Since we have time, what was the purpose of your Seeds?”
Karaskan snickered and looked at Arima with oddly serene eyes. ”You know, I loved this Reality at first.”
”This Reality, huh?” Arima scowled.
Karaskan chuckled. ”I'm sure you've heard of it by now since you went through quite an eventful Life Judgment.”
Arima raised an eyebrow and Karaskan grinned. ”The world is bigger than what we can fathom,” he said. ”I was there, with Azes, Chronos, Odin, and Gaia at the birth of this Reality. We were present along with the other gods from the different planes and the Guardians. I was a regular god back then.”
The Mad God told with an unperturbed smile. ”I didn't become the 'Mad God' because I wanted revenge or something. After all, I'm one of the first gods, for what would I get revenge? I had the highest authority, no one could get me before I got them.”
”When was it? That I started to hate this world…” Karaskan straightened his back and looked at Arima with his bruised face. ”Oh, don't misunderstand. I'm quite different from Azes. He's trying to fix things; I just want them to disappear. For me, this world was too ugly, without even taking the gods into account.”
As he was talking, a skeleton appeared from thin air just beside Arima. The two had the exact same height and 'shape'. The skeleton's eyes were burning with a red flame, radiating with unrestrained fury. Karaskan's smile became wider when he saw this.
”In any case, you asked me why I created the Seeds of Chaos, right?” He continued. ”I just gave you the answer. I was still quite young and didn't know how to face the hate I was feeling for this world. Everything was imperfect, even if there was a balance between light and darkness, I only saw ugliness.”
”Both sides were incredibly stupid,” Karaskan scorned.
”Bad people? What is that? They're worth nothing. Kill them.”
”Good people? How silly is that? They only make things worse. Erase them.”
”Pathetic fear wielded by people who don't understand what it really is. You need despair to make others feel horror.”
”Nobody needs fairness or rules wielded by simpletons. What people want are justice and impartiality.”
”Neither of those types of people could do something so simple.”
”Whoever decides to become evil needs to understand what it is to be on the dark side of the coin.”
”Whoever chooses to be humane needs to know what it is to fight in the light.”
”People who kill for a trivial reason and others who rightfully apprehend those pitiful criminals don't understand anything.”
Karaskan looked at both Arima and Malum. ”I'm sure you know what I'm talking about,” he said and Arima answered with silence. Even Malum could only grunt.