"I was only three years old, you know? Can you imagine how I felt seeing everyone and everything I cared about get destroyed?" Kuzon's tone was calm.
His eyes showed no emotion, and everything about him felt empty.
Even Ana felt a chill run down her spine as she looked at his completely stoic face. He was utterly cold.
"That was Kido and his partnership with the Demons, the Whites. I had nothing to do with it."
"But you benefited from it. Isn't it your joint goal to obtain all the Arcanas? No matter the means, you'll do whatever you can to get it."
"N-no, I—"
"Even setting waste to an entire civilization. Exterminating thousands of people. Did you even feel any tinge of remorse after hearing all that happened?"
Beruel was silent at this point. His tired face seemed like it couldn't take any more talking, but Kuzon wasn't done yet.
"I'm not here to discuss what happened back then. I just want you to understand that the pain you feel now is incomparable to my loss. I killed that Fairy simply because of the chain of events your organization started."
Beruel couldn't defend himself. He knew the boy wasn't wrong. Obtaining the Arcanas at all cost... that was what he wanted, wasn't it?
"Just so you know, I have no personal vendetta against you or your organization. However, if I am to choose between killing or sparing you, I'd choose the former. Killing any of you won't bring back the dead, but..."
Kuzon drew closer to the Fairy King, his hands now in his pockets as threads swirled around him.
"... It brings some form of satisfaction, at the very least."
He now stood in front of the powerless Beruel. As the boy stared down at the Fairy King, and the latter looked up to meet his gaze, a tense silence began.
After a few moments, Beruel looked away first.
"I... I will be honest with you. I do not feel guilty about joining the Cult. I also do not feel responsible for the acts the members have committed—whether good or bad. I joined for my own goals, and I still stand by them."
Beruel's tired eyes showed absolute seriousness.
"I'm dying. And I want to avoid that at all costs. It might seem selfish to you, but there's a lot I still want to do. I despise the gaps in my memory, and I also feel frustrated with how pieces of my identity are slowly scraped away as time passes by. I want to be whole..."
"I don't care." Kuzon cut the old Fairy short with his unfeeling gaze and completely disinterested tone.
He simply desired one thing. Everything else seems secondary.
"I know you don't. I also know I'm a hypocrite for blaming you for his death when in fact... he only joined the Cult because of me." Beruel gave a smile for the first time.
It was bitter and sad—distant as well—but it was genuine.
"Young Midas... I indeed joined the Cult to retrieve all the Arcanas, but I never approved of the massacre. Your people weren't mine, but I grieved for them. You may not believe me, but... I did."
Beruel's tone was completely different from before. It felt honest and genuine.
"I already told you. I don't care. I just want information on Kido. If you want me to spare your life, then fine. You don't have long in the world, anyway, and your Cult won't be able to acquire all the Arcanas. In the end, you'll die... without my intervention."
Beruel sighed.
"So... spill."
A brief moment of silence spread throughout the room. Ana was still shaken by Kuzon's change in tone, and Kuzon awaited Beruel's reply.
However—
"I... I can't."
—The old Fairy refused to budge.
"Why not? Does the Cult have some sort of hold on you? If you divulge information about them, will you be killed?"
"No. That's not it. No member of the Nether Cult has seen my real body, let alone being able to subject it to such."
Beruel's eyes were distracted, and his body felt completely like a statue.
"Then why? You have attachments towards them then? You wouldn't betray your comrades, is that it?"
"No. I despise Kido, and I'm mostly indifferent about everyone else in the Nether Cult. I do not share their values, neither do they share mine..." Beruel muttered, barely audibly.
Even when his subordinate died, none of them could have cared less. They simply overlooked it and went on with their grand scheme.
What did he expect from the same group that had been fine with genocide—both of the Midas Race and also the Demons?
He couldn't bring himself to agree with their core tenets.
However—
"My goals... I will not do anything to jeopardize it. I have endured countless centuries of this pain. I was among the first three members of the Cult. I have come this far..."
"If you die by my hands now, then there's no point." Golden lightning flashed on Kuzon's body as his stoic expression turned into a glare.
"You're right. Such a dilemma, isn't it? But, at the very least, I'll die knowing I didn't do everything in vain."
If he chose to give the boy valuable Intel, then he wouldn't be able to obtain his desire. He would live his life forever losing himself, and his mind would expire long before his body would.
Beruel didn't desire such an end.
"Pfft.... haha... hahaha... hahahaha!"
The old Fairy's eyes widened in shock to see his interrogator burst out in laughter. One or two beads of tears formed in the young boy's eyes as he laughed in seeming delight.
"Haha... I see. Is that so? Well, that's good. At least you're different from everyone else I've asked."
"O-oh, even my subordinate...?"
"He didn't know much, to begin with. He tried to hide the little he knew too, based on his loyalty to you, I suppose. However..."
Kuzon's grin grew wider as his eyes displayed a glint that made Beruel's fragile heart pound in fear.
"... I really don't need your cooperation to get the information I require."
Amid the emotional appeal and exchange of questions, it seemed like everyone had forgotten one major factor.
"I have [The Emperor]. You have to do as I command."
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