Lilith had an extremely deep frown hearing Simon’s words, and she could not help but look at Simon with doubt.
Obviously, she did not fully believe him, but deep in her mind, this made more sense to her.
"If you are truly the Demon King of Death, then why did you react the way you did when you read that the hero’s flesh and blood was used by his companions to become Demi-Gods?"
Simon chuckled softly.
"Because I couldn’t believe what I read. I fought the hero and his companions many times, and from what I could see, they seemed... righteous."
"They were very close friends and a few even sacrificed themselves so that the others could live in certain battles."
"That’s why it was so shocking to me when I read that the his flesh and blood was used by his companions to become Demi-Gods."
Lilith looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes filled with suspicion.
"You were shocked when you read that your enemy’s flesh and blood was used by his companions to become Demi-Gods, but you were not shocked when you read that your kingdom, riches, princes, and princesses are no more?"
Simon’s lips curled into a sad smile.
"Of course I wasn’t sad about that, Lilith."
Lilith folded her arms and scoffed.
"And why’s that?"
Simon’s sad smile remained.
"Because I already expected such a thing to happen before my death."
He turned and looked to the side, his sky blue eyes reflecting the image of an Initiate going through a shelf containing cultivation techniques.
"There were many Demon Lords who were envious of my position as the sole Demon King of the demon realm."
"My kingdom was the only kingdom in the demon realm, and after my death and the death of many of my powerful and loyal subordinates, there’s no way those who were envious of me would not go after my weakened kingdom."
"It’s something I expected a long time ago before my death and after my reincarnation. So, I wasn’t surprised by what I read."
Lilith looked at him with her arms still folded and her eyes still filled with suspicion.
"You had an authority of death, but your personality is far too different from those who had an authority of death."
"Normally, those who have the authority of death do not cling unto life so easily, and they do not say that they have pride in the fact that they escaped the jaws of death."
Lilith’s eyes narrowed the more in suspicion as she spoke.
"You do not fear death, but you cling unto life and want to avoid death no matter the cost. You are far too different from those that have the authority of death."
Simon immediately chuckled after Lilith finished speaking, drawing a few stares from the Initiates nearby.
He completely ignored them.
"The reason why I chose the path of death is exactly because I don’t want to die. Since I don’t want to die, then why not study the power of death and understand it."
"As you can see, it worked."
He stretched out his arms wide with a bright smile behind his mask.
"I am not dead... I am alive."
"Those who readily embrace death have chosen their paths, mine is different."
He lowered his arms, and his smile and eyes brightened a little bit more.
"And by the way, I was not wrong with the statement I made back then."
Lilith frowned. "What statement?"
Simon chuckled softly, then he repeated his previous words, word for word.
"At the end of the day... It’s the living that rewrites the story of the dead."
"If the living decide to paint a good dead man as evil, can the good man defend himself?"
"If the living decides to make an evil dead man good, can the actions of the evil man change the script? None would believe that he was actually evil because a dead man can do neither evil nor good."
"So it is foolish to say that, because of pride, you would refuse a path that grants you life."
Lilith’s eyes flickered with an unknown emotion as he repeated these words again.
Simon released a soft sigh once he was done.
"After I died, everything I built and owned was gone. Even my corpse was used by other demons."
"As for the hero, his name and reputation was tarnished and smeared with shit. I don’t know if his kingdom still remains, but if it does not, then death dealt him a heavier blow than me."
He paused, and his expression became solemn.
"Life is all vanity honestly."
"If I truly died, then all the things I worked for and built for years would have been for naught. It would have been in vain."
"If there was no path for us to live longer, become stronger, and avoid death, then... everything is just vanity."
He shifted his gaze to Lilith.
"But there’s a path for us, for me, to avoid death and you’re wondering why I won’t take it?"
"Of course I will."
"Why would I allow everything I’ve done and accomplished to be in vain. Look at my kingdom and the hero’s reputation. Everything we did was in vain."
He paused, then he looked up at the ceiling and stretched his hand towards it.
"I am not the wisest nor the strongest, but what I want to have is the perseverance to live and to escape death."
"Even if I have to do it again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again... I’ll do it... I’ll always choose to live than to die."
"I’ll build up my perseverance, even if its foundation is built on a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood."
He lowered his hand, then he looked at Lilith with a light smile.
"Besides, Lilith, how could a human reincarnate as a demon? And a hero for that matter?"
"Do you think it’s possible? Have you ever heard of such a thing happening before?"