Return of the Fallen Volume 11 Chapter 7
All at once trillions upon trillions of memories flooded into Kazuki’s soul. From the most minuscule to the most abstract and ingenious, Kazuki absorbed all of these memories. From a man using a certain fishing technique, to a woman sculpting a masterpiece. It did not matter what it was, Kazuki took it all.
Not all memories were so pleasant across this small Realm.
Murder, plagues, destruction, chaos. This place, just like any other had terrible things within. Seeing all the bad, Kazuki couldn’t help but feel his anger rising.
(Because of people like them, others are made to suffer.)
Kazuki remembered Arc talking about him being a judge and executioner and how that may be too much. Kazuki though no longer cared what he was made out to be. If he had the power to go back in time and stop these crimes, he would have done so with haste. If there was someone who could have done the same for him if there was someone who could have come and stopped all of the bad shit from happening and they didn’t. For that type of person, Kazuki would curse until his dying day.
Kazuki read all of the souls in this particular Lower Realm in an instant. He could tell exactly what type of person someone was and he could see if they had committed treacherous acts in the past. A few had gone on to change their lives for the better and never committed such acts again. For those, he decided to leave alone for now. For the rest, for the majority of disgustingly evil scum, Kazuki released a simple thought into this Lower Realm.
This thought contained but a drop, a mere fraction of his power. With a single thought, hundreds of millions of beings dropped dead there and then. All across the Realm on many planets, a mass panic spread as people died left and right without explanation. Knowing who these people were, this panic turned into a celebration. Many fell to their knees and began to pray and thank god for this retribution while many more were left fearful and paranoid.
Kazuki did not care what they thought. Instead, he was glad to have destroyed the infestation of evil. At the same time, he reaped a small benefit as his soul reading ability absorbed all of the souls of the damned. The third and last fragmented art of his soul got a tiny boost and the healing to this damaged part suddenly increased for half a second before the process slowed back to its normal speed.
(So many died just now, yet my soul only healed by a fraction faster. I need to slaughter more.)
Arc chimed in.
(You’re not talking about the rest of the beings in this Lower Realm are you?)
Kazuki shook his head.
(Not to them, the rest are innocent. Even if I did though, it would do almost nothing for me.)
(Is that the only thing stopping you, their innocence? If so, don’t you think that’s kind of fucked up?)
Kazuki shrugged.
(Why do you even care? These people have nothing to do with you and your only goal is to find your missing piece. As a matter of fact, this whole thing of trying to get me into the Higher Realm, I thought for a moment you wanted to help me get revenge but in the end, me going to a Higher Realm simply moves you closer to your own goal does it not?)
(First of all, I don’t care for these little beings. Whether they live or die, whether you absorb their souls or reduce them to atoms, none of it is my concern. I was just curious. You interest me. Your life is a tragedy, yet where others would simply roll over and die, for some reason you continue on time and again. It is because of this tenacity, this endurance that gives me hope. Even if you are on your last leg, you will still push yourself to help me find my missing piece. With you by my side, Surely I have the best chance of recovering what is mine. So yes, it is true, I am helping you only to help myself but where lies the problem in that? You get what you want and I get what I deserve.)
Kazuki sighed inwardly, he didn’t have a problem with Arc’s line of thinking and understood it. Still, having Arc just say it like that felt annoying for some reason.
(There is no problem I guess. I just don’t like it when someone calls my life a tragedy. You know, sometimes a bit of sugar-coated bullshit is just what the doctor ordered.)
A bit of static bounced across the surface of Arc’s body.
(That is a stupid and confusing statement. Are you saying you want me to not say what I am thinking or that you want me to say what I should say but in a roundabout way to do what exactly?… Make you feel better? Don’t be ridiculous Kazuki. I will not change for you or anyone else, damn the feelings. It is this sensitivity that makes you being so weak. If you all were just honest with one another from the beginning, how many misunderstandings would be prevented, and how many foolish things would be left behind? Masking one’s self and twisting things for others’ feelings, is and always will be stupid.)
Arc was right on some level but there was more to it than that. At the same time, Kazuki had no mental energy to try and convince or give nuance and context.
Instead, he took off into the skies and traveled into the depths of space. He was hoping to have gathered more useful knowledge than what he got but this Realm seemed to be fairly new, only a few billion years old so the species within it were not very advanced. His collection of useful memories did not grow very much but since he had gathered what he could it was time to move on to the next step. Kazuki needed to help Arc gather as much Origin energy in this Lower Realm and then they needed to move on to the next few Realms until they had enough Origin energy gathered to get them to the so-called grand source Arc mentioned.
Once they entered the Lower Realm with the grand source of Origin energy, Arc would gather enough power to get the two of them into a Higher Realm.
Traveling through this Lower Realm, it only took Kazuki and Arc a few days to devour the stars. Kazuki would either eat the stars with his devouring ability or he would store the energy in Cosmic crystals. After the stars were weakened by a certain degree, Arc would absorb the Origin energy at the heart of these stars.
Again, people seeing stars here and there disappearing from the night sky was terrifying but Kazuki no longer cared about warning people. He still stuck to not eating any stars that helped support life but beyond that, everything was fair game.
Coming back to the small planet where Alutra and the rest were, Kazuki decided to ask one last time to be sure.
Walking into Old Tilly’s mansion, he found everyone was sitting in a courtyard that Lin had made. Lin was walking around watering things by hand while Alutra sat at a small table. Mei sat across from her and Kosaru was in ALutra’s lap while she was reading a book she had found inside to him and Mei.
While Kosaru was listening happily, Mei still wore that blank expression. This hurt to see but Kazuki could not give Mei what she wanted. He knew if he even tried, he would not be able to leave and he would be stuck here forever. In order to seek his revenge, he had to cut things out or be anchored to this place.
Kazuki called his uncle over and everyone sat down.
“Son, what is it?”
Kazuki flashed Lin a cold look.
“Do not call me son, not anymore.”
Lin got choked up and swallowed hard but in the end, he relented.
“Sorry. Ka…Kazuki, you wanted to say something to us.”
Kazuki just laid it out.
“I’m leaving. I would like to ask you both one final time. Will one of you, send me to the Higher Realm. To travel there with Arc will take a while. Who knows what will happen between then and now. The faster I get up there, the quicker I can gather the information and strength I need and end things once and for all. If one of you sends me, things can be don
“STOP! Don’t ask me that, don’t ask either of us that. You want me to send my own son to his death! I won’t do it and neither will Alutra so don’t ask this ever again.”
Kazuki calmly spoke to his uncle to make things clear.
“I thought I told you not to call me son. If you won’t help, fine, but don’t interfere, you cannot decide for Alutra.”
Kazuki then looked at Alutra and Alutra avoided his eyes and kept quiet. Alutra was no longer the same playful confident woman she had been. Now she was scared, even more, scared of when she was tied to her father’s side. This wasn’t a fear of fighting but rather a fear of needing to protect the children. She could not lose them like she lost Detra. Kazuki understood this fear. It was this fear of losing the kids that made him determined to leave, determined not to be tied to this place.
Kazuki nodded before standing up.
“I understand your decision Alutra. Everyone, goodbye.”
With that, Kazuki reached out and grabbed at the fabric of space.
“Kazuki don’t do it!”
Lin tried to stop Kazuki but before he could Kazuki had already stepped into another Realm and repaired the tear before Lin could. Even if Lin ripped open the fabric of this Realm in the exact same place Kazuki had, there was absolutely no guarantee he would enter the same one. With no way of tracking Kazuki, it was already too late, he was gone.
“Kazuki!”
Lin pounded his fist on the ground and crushed the ground beneath him. At the same time, Kosaru was left confused and asked.
“Where is big brother going. He’s coming back, right mama?”
Alutra bit her lower lip and a bit of blood began to roll down her chin. She couldn’t answer him. Across from them, Mei sat there, her face remained blank but tears began to stream from her eyes.
(Big…brother.)
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