When the conversation in the dark cage ended and Sevatar's smile—a mix of bloody tears and relief—froze on the screen, the command center of the Giant Gorge Ship fell into a dead silence.
These young warriors, accustomed to alien invasions and battles between gods and demons, were now rendered speechless by the inner monologue of a bloodthirsty villain from a distant Universe.
"Holy crap..."
In the end, it was Liu Chuang who first broke the silence.
His face, which usually carried a bit of a rogue's air, was now filled with unbelievable confusion. He scratched his head and looked at Ge Xiaolun and Zhao Xin beside him, his voice slightly airy:
"Is... is this guy really the same pervert who was skinning people and hanging them up on the battlefield? Why do I feel like... his mindset is almost the same as mine back when I was messing around on the streets, not knowing where I'd be tomorrow?"
"Yeah," Zhao Xin echoed with deep sympathy, "What's with that 'despised by both sides' and 'may they all be doomed forever'... isn't that just that 'I'm tired, let it all be destroyed, hurry up' kind of feeling? With such great power, he ended up living like an ordinary person, full of resentment and helplessness. This... this is too jarring."
"No, it's not jarring."
Ge Xiaolun's voice was very low. He didn't look at his comrades but stared fixedly at the screen that had gone black. As the "Power of the Galaxy," he could feel the massive chasm between that power and inner confusion more than anyone else.
"Haven't you noticed? He's just like us—or rather, like we used to be—someone extremely lacking in a sense of security."
"All his ferocity, all his brutality, was built on one thing: absolute loyalty to his boss."
"This is a kind of blind loyalty, a loyalty where one entrusts everything to someone else. Just like us... at the beginning, we unconditionally believed in the instructions given to us by Deno 3."
He took a deep breath, his tone becoming heavy.
"But what happened later? We learned about Angels, about demons, and the truth of the Universe. We started to have our own thoughts and began to question Orders. But we had choices, we had comrades, and we had Chief Lian Feng and Admiral Du Kao guiding us."
"And Sevatar... his 'boss' personally destroyed his home and severed all the roots of his faith."
"His system of blind loyalty completely collapsed overnight."
"He found that everything he had fought for was a joke. But unlike us, he had no one to give him a hand and tell him what the new 'Justice' was. So, he got stuck."
Ge Xiaolun looked up, his eyes showing an unprecedented clarity and lingering fear.
"He got stuck in the transition from being an 'absolutely loyal tool' to becoming a 'person with self-will.'"
"He could neither go back to being that bloodthirsty mad dog nor find the path to becoming a hero."
"So he could only stay in place, using the most extreme methods to express his disgust for his past 'stupidity.'"
"He's not some god or some demon; he's just... a pitiful person who doesn't know how to live after his faith has collapsed."
"Except, this pitiful person possesses the power to destroy the World."
Leina crossed her arms. This Chief God of Lieyang Star no longer had her usual pride on her face, replaced instead by a hint of sympathy.
"We all thought he was a natural-born demon, but now it seems he's more like a forced-ripened, ignorant child."
"His father gave him the strongest power but didn't teach him how to bear the responsibility of that power. When he found out his father was a bastard and the whole World was lying to him, all he could do was childish, all-destroying revenge—including revenge against himself."
Kaisha sat upright on her throne, watching the same footage. In her eyes, which had seen through thousands of years of change, there was no excessive emotional fluctuation, only a near-cold scrutiny and analysis.
"Stupid loyalty inevitably leads to a tragic end."
"Queen, I don't understand," Yan asked in confusion. "Isn't loyalty the most precious quality of a warrior? Sevatar fought bloody battles for his Legion; how could that be wrong?"
"There is nothing wrong with loyalty, but there is something wrong with the object of that loyalty." Kaisha's gaze fell on Sevatar's pained face on the screen. "We Angels are loyal to the concept of the 'Order of Justice,' not to a specific god or a specific king. Even if I fall, as long as the Order of Justice remains, we will fight for it tirelessly. Our loyalty has a foundation and a legacy."
"But Sevatar's loyalty is fragile and personal. He is loyal to his Primarch, Konrad Curze. When Curze's actions betrayed the 'justice' in his heart, his loyalty became a castle in the air without a foundation, collapsing instantly. All his previous killings and all his self-righteous 'judgments' lost their meaning."
"He despises the Emperor's hypocrisy and Horus's ambition, which proves there is still a sliver of desire for true 'justice' in his heart. But he is too weak."
"Weak?" Yan was greatly perplexed. "Queen, he is... an existence that can clash with the strongest warriors."
"I am talking about spiritual weakness." Kaisha shook her head, a hint of regret flashing in her eyes. "After his faith collapsed, he lacked the ability to establish a new, correct 'Justice' for himself to follow. He was crushed by his past sins and swallowed by his self-loathing. He chose self-destruction as his 'Justice,' which, for a warrior with such power, is the greatest waste and the most cowardly escape."
"He has the confusion and pain of a mortal, but lacks the courage of a mortal to rebuild a home upon the ruins. He simply chose to rot along with those ruins. This does not deserve sympathy, only vigilance."
[Kunsa Star · Demon Wings]
"Hahahaha! Look! Look at this pathetic worm!"
Morgana crossed her legs, slumped unceremoniously on her throne, laughing until she was doubled over.
"I, the Queen, despise this kind the most! He clearly had the chance to become the freest soul in the Universe—to hell with both sides, I'll play on my own! What a great declaration of fall! And the result? He actually ran off to imprison himself and started playing the 'I'm so guilty, I must punish myself' drama! Bitch! Truly an irredeemable bitch!"
She grabbed the comms and connected directly to Karl in the Styx Galaxy.
"Hey! Karl, you pervert, did you see that? This is the crap your 'Order' and 'Fate' produced! A good seed who could have become a top-tier demon was forced into becoming a self-pitying neurotic! He actually feels guilt, pain, and loneliness! Heavens, he almost lived like a 'human'! This is even more ridiculous than having him believe in that little bitch Kaisha's justice!"
On the other end of the communication, Karl's voice was as calm as ever, even carrying a hint of scholarly pleasure.
"No, Morgana, you didn't understand. This is precisely his most honest choice."
"Honest my ass! He's just stupid!"
"He's not stupid; he just figured it out."
Karl's voice was full of appreciation as he explained unhurriedly, "Think about it. When he found out that everything he worked for—loyalty, faith, war—was all a scam, what else could he hold onto?"
"He could only look back at himself, and as it turned out, the only real and true thing he held tightly in his hands were the crimes he had committed. So, he decided to use the most direct method to settle the debt."