Chapter 144: The Xesie Family Is… (Volume 1 End)
The chains that had attached themselves to the Hidden One had truly gone unnoticed.
Cillian’s gamble of keeping the ’God’ distracted paid off.
However, during that brief chaotic fight, Cillian was forced to keep his eyes on the ’God’ after being cornered right before the Artifact activated. It was then that he saw nine chains.
There were four chains on the Hidden One’s ghastly legs, another four on its two hazy hands, and finally, the largest chain was bound around its neck, sealing the deal Cillian had been waiting for.
That’s why he was confident.
When Cillian saw the description of the God’s Killer after putting it into his Inventory to examine it, he knew his chances of success had increased. The name alone was enough to give him confidence.
But when he saw the God’s Killer suddenly react for some reason, with the chains beginning to move toward the Hidden One, who couldn’t see them from his point of view, Cillian knew he only had to buy time.
Still, killing a God with his own strength alone would come on a later date.
’Well, how am I supposed to defeat a God? I’m only a certified copycat for now. At the very least, I contributed half of it.’
Cillian couldn’t help but look at the exhausted Oliver beside him. His breathing was ragged and unsteady, full of injuries around his body from the thunder strikes.
But he was alive.
If this were a mission, Cillian would choose this dude as the MVP.
’No wonder the main character praised this dude in the novel. A Piece that lets him traverse to different locations at will by simply ’sliding’ his hands and creating a ’window’ for them to enter, then ’dragging’ people inside it, is very fucking overpowered. I wish I could copy it.’
Cillian couldn’t deny that Oliver had contributed the most during their attempt to target the Hidden One. Without his help, Cillian might not have even attempted it.
’Yeah, excluding the fact that I’m a crazy person for pushing this instead of staying put, the reason is that there are three things we can work with. First, Oliver even said they traveled from a very far place. Is that what he specifically said? Ugh, I don’t know, but I’ve been inside Hensel for over an hour. Traveling from somewhere that far before coming here isn’t something anyone can do unless they have certain powers.’
Then there was the God Killer, which was the second thing that could help them in their current predicament.
If used correctly, even if it posed great risks, it would bring everything into its right places.
As Cillian always said.
"Accurate, not perfect."
Cillian smiled.
Even if he was hurting all over his body, Cillian’s lips managed to say something from his mouth.
"I fucking won."
He stopped his family from dying.
Then, he thwarted the Shepherd’s plan.
And then, he contributed the most to the Hidden One’s death.
Winning is so fucking good.
[A scent of Death within you congratulates you.]
[A scent of Death within you said "now, we’re quits".]
His smile soon froze.
At this point, every time Cillian saw the scent of Death commenting on something, it was either a troll, something eerie that gave him the creeps because he felt like he was being indirectly influenced by it, or something that straight-up wanted him dead.
Sometimes, it even contradicted itself, considering that the scent of Death had helped him this time.
This made him come to the third point.
The scent of Death helped him, making him aware of copying Hidden One’s thunder strikes.
If not for this, Cillian would have no idea how he could hold the Hidden One in place, judging from what he had observed of the Shepherds’ actions.
"Are you happy, huh? Were you also affected by the luck given by the Death Coin too, huh?"
This time, the scent of Death didn’t reply, as if trying not to confirm anything.
Even though Cillian had received some kind of help from this entity, he still wished it to be removed from inside him.
It was almost akin to having a Possessive Piece with full control over his body. Even though it wasn’t doing anything to him yet and was only influencing him through subtle gestures through replies, and some other things he had started to notice, Cillian didn’t like sharing, especially when it came to his body.
’You hear me, scent of Death? I will definitely remove you! Read my mind, I don’t give a shit!’
Soon, the roaring thunderstorm that had appeared in the sky dispersed, giving a clear view of the moon hanging in the lightless night. The area the Hidden One had focused on destroying during his rampage had become clear.
It was a mess.
No, the entirety of the Viola was a mess.
Then, something fell from the sky nearby.
Thud—!
Looking around to see if any loose shepherds might have suddenly popped out of nowhere, only to see that there were none of them, Cillian walked forward.
"..."
Eventually, he reached the area where this ’something’ had once been someone—someone who human before becoming nothing more than a puppet being controlled by the players.
It was Arthur.
Burnt to a crisp, full of stab wounds, with a disgusting hole in the middle of his head. There was a wavy, ghastly cloud above his head, which Cillian ignored for a while.
He was still breathing.
But not for long.
’Just how is this bastard still breathing?’
Cillian pondered for a moment before conjuring a spell.
"Fireball."
Cillian aimed the last Fireball he could conjure for the moment, a simple one that didn’t require any hand seals. However, he poured every last bit of his mana into the spell.
"I’m sorry, everyone."
Just as he was about to shoot it, Cillian heard Arthur speaking, but his words weren’t exactly directed at him.
They were meant for the dead comrades he wished to resurrect, which shouldn’t have involved any innocent people unless Arthur himself was the one who had to be sacrificed to make it happen.
But how could he have known that he wasn’t himself? His actions were being controlled from time to time, with his past trauma being removed just so the Hidden One could continue pushing his summoning.
No, he was aware of it. At least, some of it.
It was just that Arthur clung to the hope that everything could still be done. And when things didn’t go according to his plan, he blamed the Hidden One for it.
This made Cillian frown.
’You’re sorry?’
Cillian scoffed.
Then, he decided to do something. Something that Arthur would remember even in the afterlife, if there was ever one.
Cillian began to change his face.
Cillian tried to remember the outline of the woman’s face in the picture frames while recalling the contents of Arthur’s diary, in which he had continued to describe this woman from time to time.
A gorgeous woman with brown hair fell over her shoulders.
A killer face with smooth, pale skin.
Cillian couldn’t confirm whether Arthur could still see in such a situation. However, just a second later, he saw Arthur freeze.
’Heh. You’re breathing even with those nasty injuries. The least you could do is see me.’
Arthur’s supposed eyes wavered.
"Ivana...?"
What Cillian transformed into was Ivana, Arthur’s deceased wife. However, this wife of his, who was supposed to be dead, slowly knelt down and aimed her Fireball directly at his face.
She was about to kill him.
The view of the moon behind his exhausted wife’s face, whom he was seeing for one last time... It was picturesque.
Yet instead of being afraid, Arthur chuckled.
There’s no way it was his dead wife.
Arthur knew exactly who this person was.
’You’re laughing? You’re supposed to be breaking down more, you bastard. Your wife’s about to kill you—’
All of a sudden, Cillian felt Arthur pull him by the collar of his clothes, acting as if he were giving him one last kiss that he almost shot his Fireball out of fright, until Arthur reached for his ear.
Then, he called out his name in a serious tone.
"Cillian."
Arthur paused to catch his breath before forcing himself to whisper directly into Cillian’s ear instead of simply saying it out loud.
Who knows who might be listening?
"The Xesie Family is..."
Arthur gritted his teeth before revealing information he had kept to himself.
"The Xesie Family is... working with the Shepherds."
Volume 1: Faceless – End
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A/N below!