Kyle couldn't believe what he was seeing.
'Is she fucking insane?! She went through the Elemental Dimension just to deal with me?! Dude, you could've just called someone! Why are you so dead-set on killing me?!'
'Is it because of my lack of Karmic Luck? Did my bad luck influence which Investigator was sent?'
As Kyle looked at the Investigator, a ton of thoughts and emotions shot through his mind.
Rage, frustration, fear, helplessness, regret…
"Do you have any last words, Descending Mountain?" the Investigator asked with a cold voice.
Kyle sighed. 'Well, seems like they made the connection. For fuck's sake, the Contrast Empire always needs years or centuries to make a decision, but when it comes to me, they act within minutes!'
"Yeah, I have some last words," Kyle said. "Why the fuck did you do that? Why did you risk your life just to kill me? You could've just called someone else."
The Investigator looked at Kyle for a moment.
In truth, the two of them didn't have any personal conflicts. They hadn't even seen each other before. She had just been sent to deal with him, and that was it. It was her job. She didn't hate or like Kyle. He was just the person she was tasked to kill.
"Your Karmic Weight," she answered.
"Karmic Weight?" Kyle asked. "That's the first time I've heard of Karmic Weight."
"The more outstanding the person, the larger their Karmic Weight," she said. "You have killed several Unique Crushers as a Fulfilled Crusher. Your actions have influenced several Peak Organizations. Your Karmic Weight is as substantial as the Karmic Weight of a powerful Sage or even Spirit Lord."
"You have a True Sin Aura. Due to your Karmic Weight, killing you will give me Karmic Luck equivalent to killing a Sage or Spirit Lord with a True Sin Aura."
"Killing you will improve my Karmic Luck by at least one level, most likely two," she said.
The Investigator pulled out a sword and pointed it at Kyle. "If you want to blame someone for your death, you can only look at yourself. To condense a True Sin Aura, you must have affected a great number of people negatively. If you hadn't condensed a True Sin Aura but managed to go to the Hell Dimension anyway, I would not have followed you."
"The world has rejected you, Descending Mountain. It has deemed you irredeemable. You are a threat to all of us. You are no different from these fanatics from the Cult of Final Fate."
"You're our enemy."
"Today, I will get rid of our enemy. "
Kyle raised a skeptical eyebrow. "First, you say that you're here because of the reward. Then, you say that you're here to get rid of the world's enemy. Well, what is it?"
Light gathered on the Investigator's sword. Despite the fact that Kyle called out her hypocrisy, she didn't seem perturbed. "Two halves make a whole. Try to be a better person in your next life."
Kyle could feel the unreal amount of Energy gathering on the Investigator's sword. The level of her Complex Law was even higher than his Law of Black Hole. The amount of Energy stored inside the light aura was over five times higher than all the Energy Kyle had stored in his Center.
'Yep, there's no way I'm surviving this,' he thought.
As the Energy gathered on the sword, Kyle's life shot through his head, and as he thought back, he felt mixed emotions.
In the beginning, he had felt hopeless. The only way to deal with the oppressive reality was to cope and to act as if the negative events didn't affect him.
Then, after getting to the Tertiary World, he had become a bit more hopeful, but he still hadn't been happy. Even though he had buried it deep inside, Theodor's constant nagging and pressure had still turned the world grey.
When he had been free of Theodor, he had finally had some time to focus on himself, but he found that he had forgotten how to relax. The only things he knew were how to increase his power and fight. Meeting Sebastian made it easier since he finally had a real friend.
His time as Overseer was the worst. It felt hopeless and oppressive. Yet, he had persevered, hoping that he could find a way to escape.
When he had joined the Cult of Final Fate, he had felt mixed feelings. On one hand, he was happy that he was free again, but on the other hand, the deaths of almost everyone he knew still made it hard to relax.
After joining the Array of Stars, Kyle's life finally felt like it had regained some color. While he knew that he would one day betray his friends, he still managed to look past the grey veil and see some color.
As he grew more powerful, he also realized that he gained more agency. Things finally looked hopeful. He had something to work towards.
But now, everything was crashing down.
It was over.
Finally, the chaotic and multicolored pool of emotions calmed down. All the colors gave way until only one remained.
A light grey, almost white.
Acceptance.
He would have loved to continue, but everything had an end. 'My life started out chaotic, but it became clearer with time,' Kyle thought as he saw the light intensifying. 'If I could change one thing, it would be my tendency to always be alone.'
'I should've spent more time with my friends.'
At that moment, the image of Star Genesis shot through Kyle's mind.
'Maybe I should've accepted when she made her move. Been forever since I had a relationship.'
'Although, maybe it's for the better.'
'I don't think I can feel a lot of love.'
Kyle chuckled. 'I'm a bit too fucked in the head for her.'
Kyle calmly looked at the sword.
'Goodbye.'
BANG!
The light shot forward, but it didn't shoot towards Kyle.
Instead, it shot towards a random spot beside him.
The next instant, the Investigator flew backward as even more Energy gathered on her sword.
BANG!
A clap of thunder.
A bolt of lightning.
"You ruined my entrance! Rude!"
Kyle's eyes widened as he looked at the person who had just appeared in front of him. Bolts of lightning still arced around his body as he looked at the Investigator. He had long silver hair, and his hands were in the pockets of his dark blue uniform.
After a moment, the Investigator's careful stance relaxed, and her eyes narrowed. "I didn't expect that the Array of Stars would send someone to rescue a criminal, but I also didn't expect them to send a mere First Refinement Sage."
"Hey, I just got here! Give me a break," the man said with a roll of his eyes.
A moment later, the man turned to Kyle, who still looked in shock at the new person.
When the man saw Kyle, he just smiled. "You've lost weight. The Kyle I remember had a lot more muscle on his bones."
Kyle blinked a couple of times.
A moment later, he felt something familiar about the person in front of him.
Then, it hit him.
"Sebastian?" Kyle asked.
The man in front of Kyle smirked.
"The one and only."
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