Arcanum: Chaos Path

Chapter 401 He never regretted having humanity.

But even the smallest bit of humanity is still humanity. How could a soul that has seen beautiful things willingly become an executioner? So, as the Pale Calamity was about to erupt, when Death commanded His most favored offspring to be the executor of the Pale Calamity, the silent Death Archon chose to rebel against his father for the first time.

This was a fierce resistance, but also a failed one. The Queue 2 Feathered Serpent was like a newborn cub before Death, and the Death Archon was nearly killed.

"...Perhaps I shouldn't have let you read those stories. It seems those stories have given you something you shouldn't have."

On his deathbed, Azik heard Death's cold voice. At that moment, he couldn't tell whether the dying person was him or the Death Archon in his dream, or perhaps there was no difference. But he and He spoke up almost simultaneously in rebuttal:
"No, emotions are never something that shouldn't exist. Only by abandoning the existence of humanity will one be abandoned by this world."

In the dream, the dying feathered serpent raised its eyes and looked up at its father, who was carrying it with one hand.

Outside the dream, Azik's expression was firm yet gentle as he looked straight at the murderer who had caused his soul to be incomplete and to be reincarnated for thousands of years.

He/He said, “Father, why don’t you look at yourself? How insane, how ridiculous! You abandoned your humanity and what you got in return is this uncontrollable monster?”

At that moment, Death's expression became incredibly terrifying.

Azik heard laughter, his laughter, the laughter of the Death Consul.

The feathered serpent had never laughed so happily since birth, even though it knew perfectly well that such laughter might bring about irreversible death.

The Death Archon thought that perhaps He should be patient, patient until everything was over, patient until the future He had foreseen arrived.

But, but!

He had witnessed the beauty of humanity, and He could no longer tolerate it. He could not act as a cold-blooded executioner as He knew history, nor could He refrain from mocking the man before him who was destined to fail.

Will it end like this?

Will He face death?
Azik didn't know, but at this moment he couldn't help but think about what death really was. He had died before, and death was not unusual for the path of death, but the death brought by the god of death would be different from those deaths he had experienced before.

But the death-dealing consul ultimately survived.

It wasn't out of mercy or emotion, but because His father no longer had the energy to create a suitable vessel for resurrection. The Grim Reaper, who had contained the Red Priestess's uniqueness, no longer had the strength to forge a perfect vessel at this critical juncture, just as before.

So Azik survived, but this was not a happy ending; rather, it was the beginning of a nightmare.

"Do you really think you can defy me? Azik, my child, my vessel, it seems that the freedom I gave you has given you some delusions, made you forget that you never belonged to yourself."

In his dream, the Death Archon heard Death speak to him in this way, and the days that followed became a blur. Only occasionally would the Death Archon regain his senses and be shocked to find himself sitting on a throne of bones, with the bones of countless living beings prostrate before him.

Azik, outside the dream, helplessly watched as the feathered serpent's expression turned cold, becoming eerily similar to that of Death. The last vestiges of humanity seemed to have been erased from it; the divine puppet that had finally regained a semblance of self had once again become an empty shell—no, not even an empty shell, but a puppet filled with impurities not belonging to the Death Archon. The puppet was obedient and compliant, perfectly conforming to Death's will. Only in very rare moments would the humanity belonging to the Death Archon struggle to rise, opening its eyes in despair.

This is the power of Death. He has always been influencing the Death Archon. However, this influence was previously suppressed by the mask and by the awakened self of the Death Archon. Now, under the deliberate guidance of Death, all obstacles have been cleared away, and the Death Archon has once again become an extension of Death's will.

Perhaps I was wrong, perhaps I shouldn't have allowed the divine puppet to have emotions ahead of time... Azik thought bitterly, even though he didn't know where this thought came from.

But then Azik would have another thought, a thought that told him—no, He never regretted it.

Even at a terrible cost, the divine puppet would never regret possessing humanity.

I have absolutely no regrets about having humanity!
Azik thought this for a moment.

The only thing to be thankful for is that this dark period didn't last too long. Although it would still be a long time for ordinary people, enough for an infant to grow into an adult and finish college, it was still considered short for mythical creatures.

As Azik had learned in history, Death ultimately succumbed to the alliance of the gods and met its demise.

Even though the Death Archon split his soul in two before Death himself fell, he gained the freedom he had always dreamed of.

The remaining time is a cycle of thousands of years, a life of repeatedly forgetting the past and repeatedly remembering it. The Death Archon is trapped in this cycle. Sometimes He is a child returning from the battlefield, slowly recounting His experiences on the battlefield under the concerned gaze of His parents.

Sometimes, he is the knight who protects the "princess." Although the princess is not really a princess, the knight is not a real knight either. So, in that short but wonderful time, the princess and the knight fall in love and have a child of their own.

That was the first time the Death Archon had become a father. Looking at the baby in his swaddling clothes, whose skin was wrinkled and looked like a red-skinned monkey, Azik felt no disgust at all, only a little dazed.

This is His child.

So it turns out he can have children too.

In that instant, the Death Archon suddenly understood some stories that He had never been able to comprehend before, and understood the meaning behind the gazes He received from the parents of the person He had long ago when He put on that mask, took their place, and returned to their side.

In the years that followed, the Death Archon witnessed his child's growth. It wasn't an entirely pleasant experience; there were some minor troubles, but the Death Archon cherished it all immensely.

But fate is often unkind to the feathered serpent. The aftereffects of having his soul split in two forced Azik to fall into a long slumber while regaining his past memories. When the Death Archon opened his eyes again, much time had passed.

Having lost all his memories, Azik lived his life under a new identity without any awareness. He didn't know what he had experienced or what he had lost until one day, when he saw the familiar tombstone, the Death Archon realized that his child had long since died and hadn't even seen him one last time.

(End of this chapter)