The gray demon’s pupils immediately shrank.
The sobbing side of him remained unresponsive, but the other side showed pain.
Under his pupils, a rainbow-colored light slowly lit up.
Everything around seemed to pause and then rapidly rewind… In the blink of an eye, Annan found himself looking at a cathedral.
—That was the Bone Burying Cathedral.
Annan recognized the place quickly.
This statue belonged to the Bone Burying Grandma, the same one that was crushed by the Venerated Skeleton not long ago.
And now it was enshrined high in the church.
The giant young man, with white hair and skin, and a single amber eye reminiscent of the sun, knelt on one knee.
He looked up at the statue of Bone Burying Grandma. His face was solemn, and his eyes seemed to be shining.
“—Midas·Eternal.”
“My son. My heir… my continuation.”
“The current generation’s Eternal Duke.”
The [Eternal Duke], who wore a pure gold mask and was draped in pristine white armor, solemnly inquired with his head bowed. His hands supported a dark gold greatsword engraved with a string of runes, saying:
“How are you going to treat my people?”
“What are you going to do with this country?”
“What do you see yourself as?”
Three weighty questions were fired in a row.
However, the youth with amber eyes did not waver at all.
The boy, without any hesitation and eagerly, recited the oath to his father that he had already thought of.
“I swear that I will show mercy to all living beings and care for the weak at all times;”
“I swear to be impartial and to strictly abide by the law at all times;”
“I swear that until the day I die, I will always have justice and love in my heart;”
“I swear, I will be the one who eliminates the most pain, and I will be the one who creates the greatest happiness;”
“I will be a candle, and I will burn out. But before I burn out, I will do my best to dispel darkness for future generations;”
“I shall erect monuments and bury those things that are dying but not yet dead; within my sight, I will not allow the dead to walk the earth.”
“I’ll give everything I have and then turn to dust — and my bones will end up being the foundation for the giant to rise again.”
But only his dad knew how tough that promise would be to live up to… how heartbreaking the oath.
—You will regret this. The father thought.
However, the father didn’t say anything in the end.
Respecting the next generation of Eternal Duke’s will was a curse passed down from generation to generation in the Eternal Family.
“Then, as you wish.” Eternal Duke said in a deep voice.
He lifted the big sword and tapped it once on each of his son’s shoulders, left and then right.
Then, he handed the giant sword into his son’s hand, turned around, and took off his cloak.
Very few people knew.
Few would know. On the back of the Eternal Duke’s armor, there was a crack like a pupil.
That position was for…
“Farewell, father.” Midas muttered in a low voice, pointing the giant sword at his father’s back — and thrusting it hard.
The moment the blade stabbed through its victim, it burst out with a divine heat.
Without any resistance or pain, the previous generation Eternal Duke turned to ashes in the blink of an eye… The sacred armor worn by Eternal Duke as the “Great Paladin” also fell to the ground in pieces.
Midas was silent and put on the white-gold armor that fell on the ground.
As the Eternal Duke, he was not even qualified to collect the ashes as a remembrance.
At that moment, Eternal Duke felt self-loathing, and a vague idea came to his mind.
“I want to break away from this disgusting tradition.”
It was for his descendants who no longer had the right to keep his father’s ashes.
It was for [Justice] and [Love].
“I will be a candle, I will burn out.”
But before it burns out… I will do my best to do good.
The next moment, the whole world turned gray and came to a pause.
“Do you remember now, Midas?”
Elle, who was the only element possessing color, stood where Midas’ father disappeared. She looked at his gray-white back that was paused.
“…Your first dream wasn’t about getting a body or becoming a deity. It was about breaking this cycle… It was the noble wish of [hoping this tragedy wouldn’t happen again].”
It was a simple and lofty dream like “I want to be a hero of justice.”
It was a genuine wish without any issues or dirt to speak of.
Eradicating the undead, helping the weak, helping those who could be helped, and saving those who could be saved.
This was what Midas did during the first 30 years after he inherited the position of “Eternal Duke”.
Of course. He was only human, he would fall in love too.
He would also get married, have children… His son would eventually take his place.
But the initial trouble showed up.
His son turned out to be a fool.
“—Your Majesty, I’m going ahead.”
These were the last words of his wife, who took her own life with the sacred sword [Embers of Burial] after their son had grown into adulthood.
One swing was enough to wipe out undead for ten miles.
However, such a holy sword was most commonly used to commit suicide.
At that moment, Midas had an unprecedented resistance to [Mission] and [Oath].
as well as…
[Death].
A giant should not have had such thoughts.
Since they were kind of indifferent to each other, they just lived for themselves. Even for the most weary among the Eternal Family, they got a ‘special pass’ to only live 40 years… Once their kid was grown, they could just hand down the armor and the sacred sword to the next generation.
From this point of view, even the Eternal Duke… had the same ideology in life and death.
However, the instant his wife died, a nearly absurd sense of mission arose in Midas’s heart.
If I die… can my son really inherit his path?
But when he sharply realized that, no matter what, he alone couldn’t fight against the heavy ‘tradition’ built up over a thousand years… Duke Midas cowardly took a step back.
He was not helpless.
20 years after he inherited the throne of Eternal Duke, the year his son turned 16.
After the white-haired kid and the Eternal Duke went back into the secret room, just like before… only the somewhat crazed-looking Eternal Duke came back out.
But no one knew.
The person who died this time was not the Eternal Duke of the previous generation… but his idiot son.
“Perhaps at this moment… your original wish had changed.”
—Killing his own son with his own hands.
It was undoubtedly the most unforgivable sin in any country.
And after gaining ’20 years’ of time from killing his son, as well as a new wife and son… even though this son was intelligent, his abilities could not possibly surpass Midas, who already had 40 years of ruling experience.
“I will be a candle, I will burn out… but my life is more valuable than theirs.”
With this in mind, Midas killed his wife and son again.
In this way, generation after generation… he killed all his children and spouses, playing the role of “Eternal Duke” with different personalities from generation to generation.
Finally, he faced his greatest limit: the invisible wall called [lifespan].
The “limit” that was almost impossible for the giant race to reach.
Midas, unable to let go, ultimately chose the greatest taboo.
Throwing morals out the window. Breaking the law. Backstabbing the ones he loved…
He had committed all the forbidden things.
“Dreams are the poison that makes good people confused and evil people crazy…”
Annan murmured quietly.
When did it start…
When the youth with brilliant eyes fell so deep?
“You were betrayed by your own dream in the end. Your talent exhausted, spirit withered, abandoned by all… you ultimately betrayed your own dream.”
“That is Elle’s covenant. It transcends time, space and cause and effect, confirming the very root of the truth of [betrayal] — and that’s you, the Eternal Duke.”
“From the beginning, you have been living under Elle’s curse. The most ridiculous thing is that Elle was born out of your fear and regret for the [skeleton].”
“The dream betrayed by you has become your biggest curse and deepest nightmare, haunting you for the rest of your life…making you regret everything you abandoned for the rest of your life.”
If the Venerated Skeleton didn’t intend to snatch Elle’s body, then the fact that He was killed by Elle was enough to make him the real Betrayal Deity — it was precisely because of his instinctive dislike of the “skeleton” that he lost his body and the ability to respond to rituals.
And now…
“Here, the Truth of [Betrayal] is completely proven.”
Annan opened her eyes and returned to the broken world full of sand and dust.
The next moment, a rainbow-colored brilliance condensed on “Elle’s” fingertips.
Under the gaze of the tired gray demon who was pierced by countless rainbow chains.
A strong rainbow brilliance rose from the ground.
“Elle’s” voice was full of rumbling echoes.
“As you yourself said… what you fear is not ‘death has come’, because you have already known that ‘death has come’. Just like the oath you made, “I will be a candle, I will burn out.”
“You looked in the wrong direction from the beginning, Tombstone…”
“You will burn out here.”
A ray of light condenses in Elle’s hands.
That was the Book of Truth that carried the principle of [Betrayal].
—”Atonement”.
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