Chapter 305 The Choice
"All the domain guardians respected my brother's decision, or at least they pretended they did for the next few years,"
"It was five years later, only a few days before Ahura was going to officially lose his status as the domain Ruler, when the oldest and mightiest domain guardian, named Ezekiel, decided to make his move."
"Ezekiel was respected as a great elder for his strength and his wisdom, and he was also a mentor to my brother and me, a figure so influential in our lives that he held a position akin to a fatherly figure."
"So when he told me that he had discovered an ancient tomb sealed by demonic language and wanted me to accompany him to see if I could be of help to unseal it, I agreed in a heartbeat."
"I went to the coordinates that Ezekiel gave me. It was a barren island far into the endless ocean that did have a sealed tomb related to demons, but I quickly realized it was all a setup to keep me busy to buy enough time to seal the whole continent in a barrier to cut my escape."
"Ezekiel was half-step transcendent, half-step tenth Rank if you measure it in Ranks, and while I was also a peak Elemental Ruler, but there was no match between him and me, "
"I prepared to struggle for my life, but before we could start our clash, my brother arrived to my rescue, or so I thought."
"Even though Ahura was enraged at Ezekiel for trying to kill me, he was still his teacher, so he didn't want to clash with him and end the matter without any more chaos,"
"However, instead of backing down, Ezekiel, whom we saw as our father, said words that ring in my ears to this day," Ahrimon said, and after a moment of silence that he spent looking above, he continued.
"Ahura, did you think that you could just decide not to be a Ruler anymore, and all you would lose would be just the benefits you were enjoying as one."
"No, no, Child, after you are chosen as a Ruler, your life does not belong to you anymore, and in return, you enjoy benefits of unfathomable value, but now that you don't want to stay as one, you need to forfeit both of these things."
"But you can still change your mind and kill your brother, and we will let the bygone be bygones, but if not, then I am ordered to kill both of you and don't expect any mercy,"
"So make a choice and do it quickly."
"With these final words, Ezekiel drew his spear and prepared for battle, so having no choice, we prepared to defend our lives."
"Ahura was a peak stage elemental Ruler and a widely stronger one, and with me as his backup, we were an unmatched due against any singular opponent, or so we thought."
"Even though we knew Ezekiel was a monster, only after the battle began did we find out how much of a monster he was, as he showed us why he was a creature who truly stood at the cusp of this world."
"We were no match for Ezekiel, and in just a few minutes, we knew that only one man would be walking alive from this island, and it was not going to be one of us brothers."
"While I accepted my fate of dying beside my brother, the same was not true for my brother as he told me to stay back and prepare my strongest attack as he had a plan that could make us both get away, but for it to work, Ezekiel needed to be occupied."
"So without question, I created a safe distance and started preparing my attack while Ahura clashed alone with Ezekiel, but who knew this was the last time I was going to speak to my brother."
"Seconds into my preparation, I saw my brother getting pierced through his chest by a spear, and before I could even register what was going on, my brother held Ezekiel by his arm, and even before that old monster could understand his intention, Ahura exploded his soul."
"The soul explosion generated such a deadly soul attack that it obliterated Ezekiel's soul in an instant while it knocked me out cold for the next four days," Ahrimon said, his cold eyes wet with tears.
Yet, his aura was laced with such killing intent that Alex felt like being suffocated with his head on the edge of exploding.
'Now his story might be just a load of crap, but it is making too much sense, and it is scary,' Alex thought, his mind flooding with the worst of the scenarios.
'If he is telling the truth, then would I also be given a mission to kill my family?' Alex questioned, as memories of his family flashed in his mind.
'How do I get out of this mess,' Alex thought, as his first instinct was not to question if what a ruthless and heartless demon like Ahrimon told him was true but rather find a solution to it if it was true.
"I buried my brother and swore an oath that I would destroy whoever is behind picking domain Rulers, and I would start by destroying the Malefis Domain," After moments of shedding tears and silence, Ahrimon continued.
"I told you this long story to give you a choice my brother was not given, and I have my selfish reason for doing so as clearly you have tremendous talent, and you would be a great help in my cause,"
"I am willing to take you under my wing and give you power, money, and influence only lower than mine over the demon race, which is the most dominant force on the continent,"
"You would stay a free individual, not a slave to some unknown purpose, but you have to make this choice before your Ruler authority reaches Fourth Rank because after that, even If I can save you from being hunted by the guardians, I won't be able to save you from the Bitch who controls the system,"
"I know you wouldn't want to work for someone like me who will plunge this whole world into chaos and destruction and cause the deaths of an untold amount of individuals to get my revenge."
"But even if you don't join, I will still do it, and nothing would change except if you joined me, you would stand beside me, and if you don't, you would stand against me,"
"If you did stand against me, then I would need to remove you, as your presence is an obstacle to my revenge, and by removing you, I mean killing your real self, not this twisted VR avatar,"
'If he is aware of VR, what other knowledge might he possess?' Alex pondered, his thoughts spiraling as his previous concerns faded into the background.
All the Ancient world inhabitants who knew about players knew that they came from another world and their ability to respawn came from the mysterious watcher but was all there to it.
The inhabitants didn't know anything about what earth was like, the culture, the society, and other matters, and the players were prohibited from sharing it as even if someone wanted to share it, they wouldn't be able to speak.
So, there should be no inhabitant who has knowledge about what VR is, what players are, and how things work, but clearly, this was not the case.
"The time I could stay has come to an end, but we would meet again either as comrades or as sworn enemies," Ahrimon said, with a smile plastered over his face.
Alex came to his senses, and a moment later, he heard a high-pitched noise from above, and looking at its source, he saw a massive hole in the dark barrier.
"Domain Ruler, Are you alright," A soothing female voice sounded next to Alex, followed by a falling sound that came from Ahrimon's body falling to the ground.
'I need to ask a lot of questions, but more than that, I need some time alone to think things through,' Alex thought as he looked at Lady Margaret, who had her hands placed on his shoulder.
"Lady Margaret, I am fine, and thanks for coming to my rescue, but currently, I have a lot of things weighing on my mind, and I just need some time alone, so please look after my body," Alex said, and only after seeing her nod did he gave the logout command.
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