Arcanum: Chaos Path

Chapter 419 The Nature of the City of Calamity

If it were a complete source substance, Rolin really didn't have a good way to safely contain it, but for an incomplete source substance, the method he copied from Bubble's homework was very useful.

"Tsk!" Medici didn't refute it, because Rolin was right; He himself didn't have much desire to become an Old One.

The next second, Medici seemed to realize something, picked up the kitten in his hand and held it in front of him, then smiled smugly and said, "Should I say it's been a long time?"

He and Bansi's City of Calamity are old friends.

"Pah!" The will of the City of Calamity spat, but before it could even touch Medici's face, it was burned to ashes. This made Him grind His teeth and say, "All you can do is rely on others. Thousands of years ago you relied on the Sun God, and now you rely on this thing."

Upon hearing the words of the City of Calamity's will, Medici seemed to chuckle. He wasn't angered at all by the City of Calamity's will's words, but instead said matter-of-factly, "Submission to those worthy of submission is the hunter's destiny. What, are you jealous?"

"Who would be jealous of you!" The voice of the City of Calamity's will rose considerably, but it couldn't help but recall some past events. As a source, it wasn't that it hadn't submitted to beings of higher status, such as the Creator or God, but neither of these two were reliable beings.

"Yes, yes, you're not jealous of me, you're just recalling some unpleasant memories." Medici glanced at the will of the City of Calamity and guessed what was going on, then spoke lazily.

“You—” The will of the City of Calamity seemed to want nothing more than to burn Medici to the ground. He gritted his teeth and said, “I should have turned you into a puppet long ago.”

"Get this straight, friend, the reason you didn't turn me into a puppet soldier wasn't because you were merciful, but because you couldn't." Medici scoffed, his red eyes fixed on the will of the City of Calamity before him, and said:

"I'm just giving you a friendly reminder. Since you've already fallen to this state, you should behave yourself. If you behave yourself, you might be able to retain your own will in the future. Otherwise, someone won't show any mercy to a restless source material."

Upon hearing this, the will of the City of Calamity froze for a second, then said, "Are you threatening me?"

"Just a reminder," Medici said, pinching the cat's soft paw pads. "It'll be good for both of us if you cooperate a little."

That's the truth. Even with Rolin's seal, Medici can still use the power of the City of Calamity branch even if the will of the City of Calamity doesn't cooperate. But if the other party is willing to cooperate, this power can definitely be used more smoothly.

The will of the City of Calamity fell silent. It was hard to say what He was thinking at that moment. After a long while, He spoke with a self-deprecating tone, "It seems I have no choice."

“You can choose to die.” After watching for a long time, Rolin spoke with a smile. He looked at the will of the City of Calamity and said slowly, “You should be very familiar with the choice between submission and death.”

The will of the City of Calamity raised its eyes to look at Rolin. The emotions in its iron-black eyes were unlike those of a human. It suddenly became quiet, as if all its emotions had been erased at this moment, or as if everything just now was just a deliberate performance.

The will of the City of Calamity simply asked, "I don't understand why you chose Him? He is neither the best hunter, nor as mad as the witch, nor even the one chosen by fate. What is so special about Him that you would favor Him?"

Seeing this, Rolin raised an eyebrow, then curled the corner of his mouth and met the pair of inhuman, dark eyes, saying, "Do I need a reason to choose someone?" The will of the City of Calamity was silent for several seconds before saying, "Your choice is the truth, and indeed, no reason is needed."

“You look much more obedient now.” Rowling smiled, gazing at the cat before him. “This is your true nature!”

Ultimately, as the embodiment of the source, how could the will of the City of Calamity possibly possess such rich emotions? Tyranny and madness may be real, but most of the emotions are just an illusion, an imitation.

"He was right about one thing: submission is the hunter's destiny, and submission to the stronger is ingrained in my very logic." The face of the City of Calamity's will wore an expression that was hard to decipher—it was neither self-mockery nor anything else. He said:
"I conquer others, I dominate others, and I am conquered and dominated by others. I long to escape the cycle of conquest and domination, but I cannot resist fate, nor can I resist my own instincts."

"As a source of existence, fate has already revealed a glimpse of the future to me, but you are not among them." The will of the City of Calamity met Rolin's gaze and said:
“You are change, you are chaos, you are truth. I cannot resist the instinct to submit to you. I crave to be dominated by you. As the source, my instincts far outweigh my reason.”

“You don’t look crazy at all right now,” Rowling chuckled, speaking slowly. “But your willpower makes you yearn to escape.”

The will of the City of Calamity did not deny it, but said: "This world is just like this. Even the source matter cannot resist madness and instinct. Rather, it is precisely because I am the will of the source matter that I am even less able to resist my own madness and instinct."

"So what is your choice?" Rowling asked with a smile.

“You have conquered me, therefore I submit to you, I obey your will,” replied the will of the City of Calamity. “This avatar of mine can belong to the being you choose.”

“But it is only this one of my clones. Conquest and domination are my instincts. As a clone, I can submit to Medici, but if he cannot conquer my main body in the future, he can only submit to my main body and become a puppet of the City of Calamity, unless…” The will of the City of Calamity looked at Rolin and said, “You can completely conquer the City of Calamity.”

"But you probably can't do that now."

The final words of the City of Calamity's Will carry a hint of provocation. Submission and domination are etched into His very being; He longs to submit to Rolin, yet He also desires to dominate him.

The desire to submit stems from the strength of the other party, while the desire to dominate stems from their weakness.

"Ha!" Rolin naturally understood the hidden meaning in the words of the City of Calamity's will. The other party seemed to be saying that Medici should become a puppet, but in fact he was implying that if he could not conquer the other party, he would also suffer the consequences and become a puppet of the City of Calamity.

No source material is simple, and the City of Calamity is certainly not a peaceful place.

"You're starting to look interesting, Little Disaster," Roland commented, reaching out to ruffle the cat's fluffy head. He suddenly smiled and said, "Since domination and submission are ingrained in your bones, I'm curious, as a fragment of your will, have you ever thought about making your main body submit?"

(End of this chapter)