Volume 9, The End NO.10: Eternal (1/2)

Volume 9, The End NO.10: Eternal

My vision was filled with numbers again, and the world once again returned to its original state. But to save X, there was no other way… Wait.

Microchip, can the notifications be turned off?

“…”

They really turned off.

So, um, how did this happen? Before, these functions could never be turned off. How did this suddenly happen?

Additionally, there were several other things that weren’t quite right, the most glaring one being… that Charles was still alive.

After he acted against Gēge, after Gēge gave the order to kill him, and after I realized his significance level was approaching Gēge’s, Charles was still alive.

Does this have anything to do with Gēge doing so many strange things?

It must, right? Gēge definitely did this on purpose. It’s just that letting Charles become more significant than him is absolutely unthinkable. Huh, just how high is Charles’s significance level now?

Microchip, evaluate Charles Endelis’s significance level.

Evaluating. Level of significance is ninety…

Never mind!

Microchip, permanently shut down the significance level evaluation function, and only turn on battle related notifications during combat.

Most of the time, it’s better to look at a clean, numberless world.

Charles was right. Everyone is significant.

“Ah Ye, kill him!” The Sun Emperor roared, “Don’t tell me you’ve really stopped listening to me? Is a lowly butler more important than me?”

The young master clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles went white, and his eyes were so wide it was almost as if his eye sockets would split open. Glaring fixedly at his older brother, he was nevertheless able to say to me through his gritted teeth, “Charles, go!”

The Sun Emperor smiled coldly, saying, “If you dare leave, the adjudication squad members on the battlefield will simply turn around to engage the Extraordinaries troop. Hmph, the Elysees family may certainly be good at hiding away, but in the end, I was able to force their hidden strength out into the open.”

With this one brief statement, the Sun Emperor had made it impossible for me to escape, no matter how quickly I could run. Even if I were to make a move and attack the opposing party, the young master was standing to the side, body riddled with scars, and the microchip in his brain was giving him only the option to follow the fundamental meaning of his existence and protect his older brother. How could I possibly I attack the Sun Emperor?

With just this one sentence, I had been trapped between a rock and a hard place. Sun Emperor, what need do you have to force out someone’s hidden strength? Do you truly even know what fear is at all?

“Charles…” The young master clenched his teeth. He had released his fists by now, but extended his metal fingernails instead, transforming them into his even deadlier claws. He howled, “We went through so much just to escape. Don’t throw away your life in vain, hurry and go!”

“Ah Ye!” The Sun Emperor’s expression darkened. He pointed at me and continued, voice not changing at all, “Dark Sun, kill him!”

The young master turned his whole body around, movements stiff like a broken-down android. His expression had already become Dark Sun’s as he coldly said, “Not leaving is a mistake. You’ll only lose your life for no reason.”

He lifted his claws, the light from his flashing metal fingernails practically painful as it shone into my eyes.

“You have already done your utmost to help me rescue X, knowing full well that there was no hope for success but still making the mistake of persevering. Since this is the case, will you not let me choose to make a mistake and lay down my life for no reason as well?”

I closed my eyes. If my own death could allow the young master to understand and no longer use scores to judge people, that would be wonderful.

“Ah Ye, have you still not made your move?” The Sun Emperor’s angry voice resounded. “Kill him!”

I took a deep breath, waiting to meet my end. I heard the sound of a fist striking flesh, but unexpectedly, there was no pain all. Confused, I opened my eyes. The scene before me was astonishing.

The Sun Emperor had fallen to the ground. A trickle of blood was leaking out of the corner of his mouth, and half his face was starting to swell up into a large lump.

The young master was backing up step-by-step incredulously. He looked at his own fist, then back at the Sun Emperor, murmuring, “No way, there’s no way I… Anyone who harms Gēge must die, I…”

Hearing this, my expression changed completely. The young master would not commit suicide, would he? I immediately stood and rushed forward, preparing to prevent him from doing something foolish at any given moment.

The young master raised his head and stared at me blankly. In a daze, he said, “Charles, I… I hit Gēge. This isn’t right. T-the meaning of my existence is to protect Gēge. I—”

I cut his comment off, saying sincerely, “With all due respect, Young Master, you certainly struck true. Recently, the Sun Emperor has very much been in need of someone to smack him awake!”

The corner of the young master’s mouth twitched, and it looked like he wanted to smile. However, alarm struck him once more, and his smile was unable to appear. The young master’s entire body went rigid, as though he were a marionette.

“Isn’t this easy to understand?”

The young master and I turned to face the Sun Emperor, who was now sporting a large, extremely painful-looking lump on one half of his face. It gave me a certain sense of satisfaction.

He gave a cold, short laugh, saying, “If you are able to lay a hand on me, then the meaning of your existence is no longer my protection.”

With guilt, the young master yelled, “Gē, I didn’t mean—”

The Sun Emperor roared, “There’s no use denying it! The microchip can’t control you at all. Any fundamental meaning to your existence no longer means a thing! You were never an obedient child, both when you were young and now that you’ve grown up!

Petrified and panicked all at once, the young master was at a loss for words, and the syllables coming out of his mouth were impossible to put together into coherency.

“Gē… I-I’m obedient… E-even if I don’t listen sometimes, the microchip… existence… significance level—”

The Sun Emperor expressionlessly cut off the young master’s incomplete thoughts. Frigidly, he said, “The microchip has long since become unable to control you. There’s no need for you to lie to yourself, and don’t even think you’d be able to lie to me! Who do you think I am? No one can lie to me! You…”

I stood behind the young master anxiously, watching his back tremble with fear.

“Ri Xiang Ye, you don’t need to protect me anymore,” the Sun Emperor said cruelly, “because you are no longer the Dark Sun who lives and dies for my sake; if need be, you could even set about killing me!”

The young master bellowed, “Impossible!”

The Sun Emperor’s lips curled, and he even deliberately turned his injured face for the young master to see as he said, “Look at my face and say it again. Is it truly impossible?”

The young master fainted.

“Sun Emperor!” I roared, promptly supporting the young master to the ground. Only then did I notice that his face was covered in tears. Even in unconsciousness, his face was terrified. Suddenly, new loathing welled up and fed my initial resentment. First was X’s death, then even the young master was abandoned? The Sun Emperor was truly deserving of his title; he genuinely had no need for any sort of personal attachments, not even with his only relative in the entire world!

Once I had ascertained that the young master truly had only fainted, I stood and stared at the solitary Sun Emperor. I could not see if there were people hidden in the surrounding area ready to protect him, but then again, with x-speed, was there anyone who could stop me from killing this emperor?

Everyone says I am quite fast.

I extended my claws and charged at the high and mighty king—

“E.X. is alive.”

My claws stopped in front of the Sun Emperor’s face. The distance between them was less than ten centimeters.

Faced with a vampire’s razor-sharp claws, the Sun Emperor nevertheless said calmly, “Charles Endelis, you pass.”

…Huh?

Is this still a test? I found it hard to believe as I stared at the Sun Emperor, but I grit my teeth. I could not let him lead me by the nose; perhaps he was only stalling for time…

Impatiently, the Sun Emperor said, “Do you think I don’t know how fast you are? If E.X. really had died, what would I be doing standing here in front of you? Do you think I’m tired of life? Ah Ye still hasn’t gotten married and had any kids. I have to stay alive no matter what!”

“… But how could X have survived?”

The Sun Emperor laughed for a moment, saying, “He was never in that truck in the first place. Long before then, I had people spirit him away and replace him with a fake. X didn’t even spend the night in the Sin Elimination Committee. This was a condition he gave for his cooperation; before sunrise, I would have to let him escape from the Sin Elimination Committee.

“I personally saw him in the truck.” I did not dare to hope, but the Sun Emperor’s actions really were off; his appearance here fundamentally made no sense. However, could this be possible? Is X still alive?

The Sun Emperor gave a cold snort and said, “In this day and age, can you really trust your eyes? Since you’re a vampire, you must have heard of ‘shapeshifters’ before, right?

I had indeed heard of them, but they were practically a countryside legend, and I had certainly never met one.

“I heard the shapeshifters went extinct a long time ago.”

“They haven’t gone extinct. Though there really aren’t too many of them left, they’re still around. They’re especially fond of disguising as dogs and wandering through the city.”

Dogs? No, they were wolfmen! I remembered. When we were in the Sin Elimination Committee, there had indeed been an especially giant wolfman that had been captured. Could that have been him?

I asked, refusing to get my hopes up, “You are actually able to incite the shapeshifters to action?”

That would truly be too terrifying. The shapeshifter clan’s power is so formidable that, if they follow the Sun Emperor, I am afraid the whole world would be…

The Sun Emperor said lazily, “Don’t tell me you think I’d use the shapeshifters’ powers to control the world? That I’d replace all the important figures in the world with shapeshifters or something crazy like that?”

He suddenly gave a short laugh, though because it pulled at his swollen face, his expression suddenly became somewhat odd.

“If that happened, this world would really become too boring.” The Sun Emperor regained his serene expression and said, “It was just an exchange of terms, that’s all. They would send someone to meet their death, and I would shelter their race. Not only am I not allowed to exploit the shapeshifters, but no matter what great powers capture one of them, I must help rescue each individual. “

My head was a tangled mess, and my only thought was that this was simply inconceivable. I could not help but acknowledge how much I wanted to believe him. If this is true, X must still be alive!

But…

“In any case, there is no way X would cooperate with you.”

The Sun Emperor snorted coldly and said, “What no way about it is there? I need only propose enough of a benefit to draw someone in, and any- and everyone would cooperate with me. For E.X., say: ‘help him permanently escape the Church’s pursuit, and ensure that Charles Endelis will never be linked to him again.’ This benefit was enough to convince him to cooperate with me.”

Permanently escape the Church’s pursuit? That is true, X is already “dead.” Of course the Church will no longer hunt down a vampire that has already been killed.