Chapter 596 Dead

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...

Silence enveloped the world.

The sound of the ground being ravaged and torn by the attack spell 'Unseen Hands'.

The sound of trees being severed by the dark, shadowy hands.

The mad roar of Petelgeuse.

The chirping and rustling of creatures in the forest.

In that one moment, all sounds disappeared from Fang Li's ears, heart, and mind.

Only one sound remained, echoing softly in Fang Li's mind.

"Pā Jī..."

It was the sound of something shattering.

That sound could be the shattering of anything.

But at that moment Fang Li instinctively understood it, even without conscious thought or cognition.

The source of that shattering sound was none other than the soul.

Petelgeuse's soul.

As his dagger pierced Petelgeuse's chest, cutting through the death line that only belonged to the soul, Petelgeuse's soul was killed.

Thus, the soul of this madman was shattered.

Fang Li could confirm this.

For a long time, the same shattering sound had been heard in Fang Li's own soul.

Unable to withstand the constant recording of death, under the heavy burden, Fang Li's soul had shattered that day, accompanied by such a sound.

Now, the identical sound that entered his mind caused Fang Li to have an epiphany almost immediately.

"This is the death of the soul..."

Petelgeuse, who wanted to use death as an opportunity to resurrect, had no way to resurrect once the results of his death were fixed, and his transferred soul was erased.

But this was only a matter of the result.

If the result of death was not fixed due to the ability of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, then death would only be a stage for Petelgeuse to transition to a new life.

In that case...

"When the soul enters the stage of death, does that really mean that it can only perish?"

When a human body is destroyed, death happens in most cases.

This is common sense.

But in this mysterious world where anything is possible, there are still beings who won't die even if their bodies are destroyed.

Therefore, for such beings, the death of the soul is often considered to be the true death.

But this is limited to these worlds.

What if there were beings whose souls could be destroyed without dying?

Surely such beings exist in God's Main Dimension, which holds all possibilities, right?

But even for such beings, as long as they're alive, Fang Li's eyes can kill them.

In other words, their only value to Fang Li is death.

All things have death.

Fang Li is the existence that can record all those deaths.

Even so, there are things that Fang Li's soul cannot record.

That's the essence of it.

A soul that can record death, but cannot record its own demise.

This confirms the insight Fang Li gained from observing Subaru Natsuki's death.

"Although the death of one person may seem insignificant in the face of all things, sometimes the death of that one person can accomplish what the deaths of all things cannot.

Humans have a saying: "Even in death, one must die with value."

In other words, the concept of "death" is not measured by quantity.

The death of all things is death.

The death of a person is also death.

Since both are death, why does the side with more quantity have an advantage?

Isn't everything just death?

The death of the body is death.

The death of the soul is death.

However, Petelgeuse can transfer his soul to another body when his body dies and continue to live.

This result is not death.

But when his soul is killed, Petelgeuse really dies.

That's death.

Death is only one result.

Whether it is the death of the body or the death of the soul, as long as the being is still alive, it is not considered dead.

Only when it is terminated is that death.

So...

"Even if the soul shatters, as long as it's not terminated, it's not considered dead." Fang Li seemed to understand something.

As an entity that gives death to others, what else could he expect at the end but death?

Although he still didn't understand why his own soul could record death, and the origin of his own nature remained elusive, through Petelgeuse's death, Fang Li seemed to have some idea of what to do.

"Biri..."

The ice-blue Mystic Eyes in Fang Li's eyes dimmed, returning to their dark hue.

"Hum..."

In this room, the countless Unseen Hands that had been raging around unconsciously stopped and gradually dissipated.

Around them, the surrounding area had turned into a complete ruin, with pockmarked craters and scattered remnants of trees, a scene of unimaginable devastation.

Only Fang Li remained standing with one hand still clutching the silver-haired Half-Elf girl, the other holding the Moonlight Dagger that had been thrust into the chest of the person in front of him.

There, Petelgeuse maintained his frenzied appearance, frozen in place as if time had stood still.

All traces of fear had long vanished from his eyes.

When Fang Li pulled the sharp dagger out of Petelgeuse's body, there wasn't a single scratch on his body.

Petelgeuse died in that state.

Seeing Petelgeuse in this state, Fang Li couldn't help but feel sorry for him, breaking the silence around him.

"To maintain this insane attitude even in death, you are truly incurable, Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti..."

In addition to Fang Li, another person present also felt something.

Seeing Petelgeuse die in a frenzied state, a feeling of indescribable sadness surged into Emilia's heart.

"Huh?"

When it finally dawned on Emilia, tears streamed down her face.

At that moment, Emilia quickly wiped away her tears and then became confused.

It was as if she was surprised by her own sadness at the death of this madman who didn't value human life.

If Petelgeuse had remained this mad until his death, perhaps Emilia had also retained her innocence and goodness until her death.

This was both a flaw and a virtue in Emilia's character.

That's why Fang Li didn't disturb Emilia but silently waited for her to adjust her emotions.

After a while, Emilia regained her composure and spoke softly to Fang Li.

"Let's go..."

Fang Li nodded.

Even though Petelgeuse was dead, things were far from over.

The battle against the Hakugei (White Whale) was still ongoing.

However, in this situation, the outcome was already inevitable.

...