Chapter 185: Three Choices

Chapter 185: Three Choices

The strange changes within the mausoleum left Klein, who had his eyes tightly shut and his spirituality restrained, unable for a moment to know what exactly had happened, or whether the development was good or bad. Therefore, even though he had already recited the activation word and was gripping the Fate Stealer charm, he did not dare use it rashly, fearing it might cause a negative influence and produce the opposite result.

One second, two seconds, three seconds. Klein only felt that time was flowing with unbearable slowness, as if an entire century had passed.

At last, he heard Mr. Azik’s slightly hoarse yet uncertain voice:

“It’s you…”

Immediately afterward, a voice with no fluctuations, yet clearly belonging to a woman, rang out:

“You have three choices.

“First, continue forward, seek completeness, and allow Salinger to be reborn within you.

“Second, let me help you extract that half of your soul, then take it away with you and find a way to stitch it together yourself. This will allow you to return to your original state, no longer dying again and again and reviving again and again. But that does not equal the current you. The lives you have experienced in the past will truly degenerate into dreams.

“Third, abandon everything and leave directly. You will forever stop at your current level, unable to advance any further. You will still become one of the dead again and again, and again and again awaken having lost all your memories, repeating the process of searching for your past.”

Klein listened in a daze. He had never expected that another “person” had appeared deep within the mausoleum, and that this person seemed to hold absolute control, capable of offering different choices and making even the former Death Consul, Azik Eggers, only able to choose from among them.

“So this is the artificial Death hidden deep within the black fog?

“No. It did not seem to have much intelligence before. Even after so long, it showed no intention of communicating…

“Extract that half of his soul, then find a way to stitch it together… What does that mean? Was Mr. Azik’s spirit originally incomplete?

“Extract it from where? This ‘lady’ can actually do something even Mr. Azik cannot?

“And who is Salinger? Why would He be reborn within Mr. Azik? He—no, He is that Death who triggered the Pale Disaster, Mr. Azik’s father or grandfather? Did He foresee His own fall and leave the seed of resurrection inside Mr. Azik?

“The first choice is definitely rejected immediately and does not need to be considered. Both the second and third have their own problems. One means he will no longer be his current self and will become a strange ‘me.’ The other means forever bearing the curse of immortality, never able to obtain release… If he has confidence in himself, if he truly views each past life as an anchor, then perhaps he can consider the second choice and reconcile with himself, compromising with one another… But this involves the other half of his soul, the half that was split away, the half that has never experienced those lives. No one can guess what kind of change will happen afterward. Anchors may not be able to solve the problem…”

Thought after thought flashed rapidly through Klein’s mind. He was confused, curious, troubled, and bewildered, yet he could only stand far away, unable even to watch from the sidelines.

That was Azik’s life. That was the future Azik would have to face. No one else could make the decision for him.

And what Klein should have said, he had already said before. Helpless and worried, he stood where he was, waiting for Mr. Azik to speak.

Azik gazed at the beautiful hooded lady before him. For a very long time, he said nothing. The pale flames in his eyes swayed unsteadily.

The mountain-like Feathered Serpent, both illusory and real, seemed to sense some unfavorable change. Its tail abruptly whipped out, sweeping madly in every direction. Its head then lowered. It opened its huge…