Divine Protection: The Pride System
Episode 21: The Chaos That Reoccurs
The fire was burning, burning, and burning everything.
Home, memories, friends, village, people, family, neighbors, sister, father, mother, and everything she had were already burned at the meal by the blazing fire—
“—Why?”
The sound of a small child was heard in the midst of the village fire.
There was no strength to stand, all he could do was creep and move forward.
There was no air to breathe, all he could do was hold the breath he now had and continue living.
There was no one to ask for help, all he could do was accept the pain alone and scream.
There aren't. Everything is not there, everything has disappeared. Nothing, no one else, everything's been burned.
Lalu—
“... Why?”
—Who did he ask? Who asked? What did he ask? Why did he ask?
Did he ask about his condition? Did he ask about anyone else? Or maybe he asked about the current situation?
But, if it is. Who can he ask? Did he ask himself or anyone else?
Other guy? Wh who? There was no one else in the village...
“... Why?”
His throat became raspy filled with the smoke of the fire he was breathing.
His respiratory system began to heat, hurt, tight and seemed to want to destroy his lungs.
His entire body was injured and his ever-flowing cries made his face dirty.
He crawled up and stretched his hand forward hoping to touch something, but only hot coals he touched.
The pain continued to spread to all parts of his body, everything felt very hot.
“... Why?”
The question kept being repeated as if his mind would be corrupted with just that question.
No one answered his question, his eyes only saw fire and ashes, only red and black, only corpses and blood.
The previous beautiful scenery had disappeared in the flames of despair.
“... Why?”
However, the boy kept asking until he got the answer.
Did he ask because he was sad? Or is he asking because he's angry?
Whatever it was, everything he saw was completely inhumane. If humans are social beings...
What if humans lose their humanity? What will they be? Are they going to be monsters or what?
Human existence is really something that is difficult to understand, he thought.
Why do they live if life itself torments him and only gives him suffering.
Make what? Why should humans exist? Do they live only to suffer? Is that punishment?
“... Why?”
“Hei, Aren-kun. It turns out you're alive, amazing. You're really great..”
Moonlight enters the view of a boy named >Aren<.
He looked at the moonlight that was shining viciously as if it was mocking him and laughing at his rice.
But, as he narrowed his eyes to see even more clearly, what he saw was not moonlight.
... Except for a white-haired young man with a gentle smile.
Aren knows who that young man is, he was the one who caused this mess.
Even now his name has become very famous since 3 years.
Even though Aren was just an ordinary country boy, he still knew the rumors and reputation of the young man.
Sometimes a merchant comes to his village and tells him something about rumors or interesting news.
Aren liked all the stories told by the merchant, he always sat at the very front and listened to them excitedly.
Therefore, he knew who the young man in front of him was now.
He had heard it from one of the stories the merchant told...
The young man was a vile demon who went around burning the villages mercilessly. The nickname is >Devil White<.
It was rare to see anyone who had white hair, Aren thought he was a spooky monster with an all white body.
So he was really surprised when he saw the form of >White< Devil was the real one. But besides that, he was also very angry.
“... You!”
Those words were filled with great hatred and anger.
Although Aren was currently completely angry at the young man, he was now completely unable to move freely.
He could not get up and hit the rotten face of the demon, nor could he spit because his saliva was already dry.
“Hei, Aren-kun. Now what do you want to do?”
The question from the young man made Aren's eyes widen in astonishment.
He simply did not understand the purpose and purpose of the ambiguous question.
“I mean, look. Everyone has earned equal happiness, but you didn't get it, did you?”
Only confusion is obtained by Aren, but after Aren stared at the fire that burned his village.
His mind instantly swayed, he began to think what should he do now?
Once again, the young man spoke in the same tone as before.
“... That means you have to choose your own way of life, do you want to stay here waiting for happiness? Or are you going to leave here looking for enjoyment?”
What the young man wanted to say was if Aren continued here, then he would die.
And if he leaves here, then he will suffer.
So, what should he do now? The young man had given him two very cruel choices.
What will he choose? Will he choose to die or suffer?
If Aren decides to leave here and decides to stay alive.
Then all he got was suffering, how could he continue to live after experiencing this incident?
Is he still able to maintain his senses and live normally? Of course not, he would forever suffer from regret over his decision.
Aren is not a strong boy, he is just an ordinary boy you can find anywhere.
But, can he still do that now? No, that's not the problem...
He could have such happiness while all his family and friends died in agony.
It was clear that would make Aren only filled with regret and despair.
—{Then, now what should I do?}
The question once again emphasized Aren's thoughts with the second choice.
What if he decided to stay in this burning village and wait for his death?
If he dies, it'll all be over.
No suffering, no dreams, no sadness, no problems, no love, no meetings, everything will just end and end.
It must have been the easiest path for him, he had no need to regret choosing that option, since it was all over.
So, there would be nothing wrong for him to end his life here, in his village that had been destroyed in flames.
He would die miserably like his family and friends. That way everything is fair...
However, even so, Aren was afraid of death. He doesn't like pain, he's afraid of death.
It was a natural instinct for all living beings, he was also afraid of death. That's natural...
His desire to die and live overlapped to the point of making him lemma by eternal confusion. So then...
“... Me...”
—{What should I do now?}
The question repeated itself constantly in his head like a curse.
There was already no time to think back on it, he had to immediately decide on his choice.
Use your entire brain to think and keep thinking until your brain is destroyed.
Destroy all your brain cells just to think of the best path you can get. Think, think and think—
—What should I do? What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? What the hell am I doing? What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? What should I do??!!...
Everything was constantly repeated and repeated again until it completely destroyed his mind.
... This is the suffering of eternal confusion.
His head was very sick and dizzy, he was confused, confused, confused, confused, and confused.
After that—
“... L'm... Want to die.”
—It was a wish that came out of his mouth and heart.
He chose the easiest path, his mind had long since shattered, his eyes were spitting out an enormous amount of blood.
He glared as if his eyeballs wanted to come out, he thought too much to the point of breaking himself.
.... What a poor boy.
But—
“Hehe, you are amazing! It's great! You choose happiness over your own desires!! You really are a great kid, Aren-kun!”
—The young man who heard it laughed, smiled widely, and praised Aren's prowess.
A little boy who decided to die, it was a prowess that was beyond reasonable.
But for that white-haired young man, for that white demon, for that existence called >Night Rogant< it was all very extraordinary.
The desire of a child to reach death is truly extraordinary.
He deserves praise and appreciation for his pure desire to earn death.
A sad little boy has chosen death in search of happiness.
... Because kamatian is a form of true happiness.
“Death and achieve happiness, Aren-kun! These fires, these fires, they are all celebration parties to welcome your death.”
Rogant's smile was like that of an old man who saw his son grow up to be a great man.
His hands stretched as wide as possible to welcome the death of the little boy named >Aren<.
He looked at Aren with a warm look of tenderness.
Everything is full of madness and absurd, but Aren looks at Rogant as if Rogant is his god.
Although the boy chose the easy path, Rogant still smiled praising the boy's choice.
For Aren it was enough to make her cry in happiness.
All the words Rogant said made Aren's heart full of tenderness and warmth.
Is this some kind of magic? If it is, of course, this is magic that makes people's hearts filled with happiness.
His eyes began to blur, his consciousness began to fade, his body began to feel tired, his ears could not hear anything anymore, his lungs were no longer useful for breathing properly, he wanted to sleep...
Sleeping forever, sleeping and never waking up again, death has picked her up.
“... Ii'm sorry... Lina.”
The young man recalled back to the friend he had always been with, he imagined the sweet face of the little girl he liked.
But he's dead, he's killed by someone. The girl had died horribly at Aren's own hands!
He had killed his own friend, he had even forgotten why he had to kill him.
At the moment before all this happened, the villagers started killing and wounding each other. Everything went crazy...
At that time Aren hid with Lina both to avoid the madness of the villagers.
In the end, they fought and killed each other. Everything turned into madness beyond reason.
... He doesn't know why this is all happening.
As Aren thought about that, he was a little regretful with what he did and—
“... How sad.”
—After those words, Aren was crushed to death by the ruins of a collapsed house until it made him drown.
Only his hands were visible, his hands were stretched out as if he wanted to grab something.
... And it was the corpse of his friend that he killed using his own hands.
Aren still died horribly filled with very cruel regrets.
“Alright, it's over. I have to get together with Meily again now. He will be angry if wait too long.”
—Thus, a demon decided to leave and once again has managed to spread chaos in this world.
