NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 287: I Will No Longer Be Swayed By Emotions
The sky broke apart like glass, scattering fragments that held reflections of 300,000 lives within their gleaming surfaces. Below, people stopped running, their panic forgotten as they watched their own bodies dissolve into specks of blue light.
They were becoming memories now, nothing more than shadows of who they once were.
The dying world filled with a symphony of last breaths - bitter curses mixing with quiet acceptance and muffled tears. As the city crumbled around them, Ren could only hold Kiana close, silent.
He'd always thought of himself as the clever one, the puppet master who held all the strings.
But it was this confidence, this arrogance, that had left him vulnerable to something he couldn't control, couldn't manipulate—emotions. A realm he had never known, a warmth he had never experienced.
His interactions with Kiana had drawn him in, closer than he had intended, and now, his arrogance had brought him to this.
The walls he'd built around himself had cracked, letting in warmth he'd never known he needed.
Now the master of deception found himself deceived. Kiana had seen through his carefully constructed mask and played him at his own game.
"I'm sorry, Ren. This time, it's my turn to trick you." Her smile was pure sunshine even as her body started fading, firelight dancing in her eyes like stars about to burn out.
She looked so young in that moment, proud of her clever plan.
But Ren couldn't smile back. Kiana didn't know the true nature of his plan.
His own plan would have erased her completely, cutting away the very bond that now made his chest tight with grief.
"You fool..." His voice cracked, but he forced a smile. "You could have just told me the truth."
He didn't reveal the truth; it was too late now. The moment Kiana had chosen to shield him, their fates were sealed.
"No way. You lied to me so many times - you even pretended to die right in front of me. Did you ever think about how much that hurt?"
Her words cut deep, making the master manipulator finally taste the bitterness of his own medicine.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, the words rough in his throat.
Hearing his apology, Kiana's smile softened. She paused, as if gathering her strength.
"It's okay. I forgive you," she replied, her voice earnest and sincere.
Because apologies deserved to be acknowledged.
The world dissolved faster now, the city's edges bleeding into nothingness as Kiana's form flickered like a candle in the wind.
"And just so you know - I'm not some Phantom. I'm Kiana. The same one you met in ARC City, the same one you said goodbye to in Nagazora. I'm real, not just some shadow or dream you made up."
"I know," Ren lied, clinging to the belief he had maintained throughout the illusion. It was this lie that had allowed him to open his heart, to feel, however briefly, the warmth he had always denied himself.
But a question gnawed at him: Why?
Why hadn't he seen it sooner? If he had, he could have stopped it, broken free.
If he had killed himself, the illusion would have shattered, and she would have been spared.
"Ren," Kiana's voice was barely audible now, a whisper lost in the dying world, "I heard that when I wake up, I won't remember any of this. Will you come find me, tell me everything that happened? Don't avoid me, don't hide from me, and don't… lie to me again."
Kiana's form was almost completely transparent now, fading into the light. Ren remained silent, the knowledge that all memories of her would be sealed away, lost to him even within his own mind, a heavy weight in his chest.
"Is that... a no?" The light in her eyes dimmed.
He pressed his forehead against hers, close enough to feel the snowflakes melting between them.
"No," he murmured. "I was just wondering - if I found you someday and told you we spent twenty days together in a dream, would you believe me?"
"Of course I would. I'd believe anything you told me."
Her smile bloomed one last time, radiant as the dawn.
"Ren."
"Yes?"
"Lean closer. There's something I want to tell you."
He lowered his head, his ear close to her lips, the faintest whisper of her breath against his skin.
"I…"
The boy knelt in the ruins, his posture that of one listening intently, but his arms were empty.
A long time passed. The remnants of the shattered illusion were only meters away. Ren finally looked up, his eyes fixed on the fading blue motes of light, a single tear tracing a path through the grime on his cheek.
"I heard you," he whispered, the words lost in the wind.
…
"You have succeeded. The Herrscher of Reason core is yours now, including the thirty thousand wills within. Whether you choose to erase them, including myself, is entirely up to you."
"Do you think, after their betrayal, I would allow them to remain?"
"That is your prerogative. I have done all I can." Joyce couldn't resist Ren's control. His only act of defiance had been to guide Kiana into the illusion. Now, the outcome was beyond his influence.
The black Herrscher core spun in Ren's hand, its surface fracturing, black lightning sparking. He stared at it, his grip tightening.
His gray eyes were cold and emotionless as he watched the core crumble. Finally, with a final surge of power, he crushed it.
Crack.
"A useless toy." Ren opened his hand, the fractured core lying inert.
He tossed it aside dismissively.
He infused his consciousness into the core, integrating the 300,000 wills. In a sense, he became the core's new will.
This way, whoever inherited the Herrscher of Reason's power, Welt or Bronya, would be working for him.
The core returned to imaginary space. Whether Bronya could retrieve it remained to be seen.
…
The Theater of the Domination, which had enveloped the entire city, finally vanished. The concert seemed to be nearing its end. Ren's plan was a complete success; everything was over.
Ren stood on the concert hall's rooftop, looking down at the grand stage through the glass dome.
The mental vulnerability that had plagued him was gone. It was time to embark on a new journey.
From now on, he would no longer be swayed by emotions. Truly.
—Because he was going to start controlling them.
"Kiana, perhaps I really have… fallen for you."