leonardwarren Chapter 418: Torment
Chapter 418: Torment
APOLLO'S POV
My head felt like it was about to burst from all the memories I had tried so desperately to bury.
The suffering kept flashing before my eyes.
One memory after another.
Relentless.
Merciless.
Filling every corner of my senses with pain.
All of a sudden—
I was there again.
Curled up in an empty corner.
Small.
Alone.
Like some abandoned stray animal nobody wanted.
An outcast with no one to love.
No one to lean on.
No one whom wanted to be my saver.
As the nightmares spread through my mind, countless voices began echoing inside my ears.
Whispers.
Mockery.
Laughter.
Accusations.
They kept saying something.
Repeating it over and over.
I tried to block them out.
Tried to silence them.
Yet they clung to me like hungry beasts.
Like black ink spilling across white paper.
Their words stained every part of me.
Their malice drenched my body.
Seeping through my skin.
Crawling into my bones.
Draining every bit of warmth I had left.
I don't understand...
The voice inside my head trembled.
Wavered.
This pain.
These emotions.
How was I supposed to handle them?
My teeth ground together so hard my jaw hurt.
I was hurt.
And I had already accepted it.
Accepted that people misunderstood me.
Accepted that they looked down on my weaknesses.
Accepted that life simply wasn't fair.
Yet...
It turned out—
"It was a lie."
A lie you made.
My heart began pounding violently.
Each beat felt heavier than the last.
My arms trembled.
Not from fear.
Not from weakness.
But from panic.
I tried to get a hold of myself.
Tried gathering every scattered thought.
Every emotion.
Every fragment of reason.
I wanted to calm down.
To suppress this feeling.
To weaken it.
To bury it again.
However—
it didn't work.
[Warning. A sudden anomaly has been detected.]
[The System will shut down every variable involved in this phenomenon.]
The mechanical voice rang inside my head.
Different.
Clear.
Stable.
For a moment I gasped.
Like a drowning man finally reaching the surface.
"Jeremiah..."
I called.
Immediately—
he answered.
[Yes... Creator?]
His voice sounded unusually careful.
Worried.
"Stop..."
My voice cracked.
"I want..."
[Pardon?]
I closed my eyes.
My fingers dug into my palms.
"I want the pain."
The words came out quieter than expected.
Uncertain.
Even I wasn't sure if I truly meant them.
[Are you sure, Creator?]
Jeremiah sensed it.
The hesitation.
The fear.
The uncertainty.
Yet despite everything—
I nodded.
"It's okay..."
My chest tightened painfully.
"I need this."
This suffering.
This realization.
This truth.
A twisted smile pulled at my lips.
Painful.
Ugly.
Broken.
I needed this.
Because I needed to accept reality.
My gaze drifted toward Emilia.
And for the first time—
I could finally see it.
Was this the reason you were kind whenever my brother wasn't around?
So you could use me?
So every happy memory I had with you was merely part of a script?
Part of a plan decided long before I was ever born?
So now you're telling me—
Tears gathered in my eyes.
Hot.
Burning.
I immediately clenched my jaw and forced them back.
Refusing to let them fall.
With gritted teeth, I finally faced the truth I never wanted to accept.
Every pain had been orchestrated.
Every wound.
Every humiliation.
Every lonely night.
Carefully arranged.
So I would become something useful.
The pain I thought belonged to me.
The pain I thought shaped me.
It had been manufactured.
Created.
Designed.
So...
What now?
How was I supposed to take revenge?
How was I supposed to hate them?
Everything they did was part of a plan.
A script.
A game.
And I didn't want to become another piece moving exactly where they wanted.
Yet—
I couldn't let go either.
Because manipulated or not—
that pain was still mine.
I felt it.
Every second.
Every tear.
Every scar.
They weren't innocent.
Manipulated or not.
Every choice had still been theirs.
Would you really abandon your son?
Would you hurt him?
Would you watch him suffer?
My fists clenched harder.
Blood trickled between my fingers.
Warm.
Sticky.
Yet I didn't loosen my grip.
If you were in your right mind—
would you hurt your brother?
Would you push him into a lake and watch him struggle for air?
Would you allow him to be punished for things he never committed?
Madness and reason battled inside my head.
And amidst that chaos—
my eyes drifted toward Eros.
Tell me...
Brother.
Would you still whip me if she hadn't swayed your heart?
Would you still stand there?
Would you let your teacher steal my power?
Would you watch me suffer?
Would you?
The questions burned.
The agony left me frustrated.
Yet another question surfaced.
If you were me—
would you forgive them?
Would you choose a sword drenched in blood?
Or a hand filled with love—
even if that hand carried scars?
[Creator.]
Jeremiah's voice interrupted my thoughts.
Soft.
Concerned.
I knew exactly whose voice it was.
"I'll be fine, Jeremiah."
I swallowed heavily.
"I just need to think."
Silence followed.
Yet I could feel him.
Like a tiny wisp floating anxiously inside my consciousness.
Watching.
Waiting.
Worried.
A broken smile appeared on my face.
How ironic.
How was it that something artificially made could make me feel more warmth than most humans ever had?
"Haa..."
"Haaa..."
Inside my mind—
I screamed.
Released every ounce of anger.
Every frustration.
Every question.
Every wound.
Then finally—
I laughed.
A laugh as twisted as my heart.
"Hah..."
The sound escaped my lips.
Empty.
Broken.
"...I see."
I could only say as my heart grew colder.
━━━━━━━━━━
"If that's true..."
Eros' voice had become hoarse.
His throat visibly tightened.
"Then what else have you done?"
His eyes shook.
"Were all those years a lie?"
"Everything you did for me?"
"Every smile?"
"Every promise?"
His breathing became ragged.
"Was it all just another way to break me apart?"
For the first time—
fear appeared on Emilia's face.
Small.
Brief.
Yet undeniable.
Eros saw it.
And that was enough.
His entire world shattered.
Every memory.
Every conversation.
Every promise.
Every moment they shared.
Doubt spread through them all like poison.
And for the first time—
Eros no longer knew which memories belonged to love.
And which belonged to manipulation.
The brothers, torn between truth and lies, became burdened by emotions created by a single person.
Emilia.
Her existence had brought both love and torment.
However—
why reveal such a truth now?
Why choose this battlefield?
Why confess something so monstrous amidst death and destruction?
For that reason—
the atmosphere became silent.
Heavy.
Oppressive.
The stillness between Emilia and Eros suddenly shattered.
Because something drew their attention upward.
Above them—
Apollo laughed.
A small laugh.
Quiet.
Yet somehow completely broken.
He looked wrong.
The boy who always carried confidence.
The young lord who stood above everyone.
Now simply stared at the battlefield below.
Laughing.
His snickering echoed through the ruined streets.
Completely devoid of emotion.
The sound alone made everyone tense.
Even Emilia's body stiffened.
Her fingers tightened around her weapon.
Though moments later she forced herself to calm down.
Slowly—
Eros lifted his head.
Above the clouds.
Fully revealed.
Apollo floated motionless.
His head lowered.
His shoulders trembling.
Laughing.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Until eventually—
the laughter stopped.
Slowly—
he raised his head.
His golden eyes stared downward.
Empty.
Not angry.
Not furious.
Not even sad.
Simply empty.
And somehow—
that was far more terrifying.
The sky darkened.
Apollo's tear-stained face contrasted sharply with those emotionless eyes.
Tears traced silent paths down his cheeks.
Yet his gaze remained cold.
The sight sent chills through everyone present.
More chilling than the burning armadas falling from the heavens.
"I see."
The words drifted downward.
Soft.
Yet everyone heard them.
Confused.
Uncertain.
Only Emilia seemed troubled.
Her grip tightened around her sword.
Apollo continued staring down.
His hearing caught every detail.
Every heartbeat.
Every breath.
And Emilia's heart was racing.
Far too fast.
Which meant—
he was right.
The realization made something inside him snap.
Mana throughout the capital began trembling.
Buildings cracked.
Windows shattered.
Dust cascaded from ruined structures.
The battlefield fell silent.
And without anyone noticing—
something transcendent descended.
A presence akin to death itself.
An invisible terror that gnawed at everyone's mind.
Their bodies stiffened.
Their instincts screamed.
Their souls begged them to run.
Yet none could move.
The source of it all remained exactly where he was.
Apollo.
For several seconds—
nothing happened.
Then—
Apollo took a single step forward.
BOOM.
The pressure alone forced soldiers to collapse to their knees.
Armor rattled.
Weapons slipped from trembling fingers.
Several mages nearly lost consciousness.
Yet Apollo never looked away from Emilia.
Not once.
A thousand memories flashed behind those golden eyes.
The maid.
The loneliness.
The hunger.
The punishments.
The years spent wondering why.
And now—
he finally had an answer.
"You..."
His voice was barely a whisper.
Yet everyone heard it.
"You did all that..."
A smile appeared on Apollo's face.
It was twisted.
Yet Broken.
And in Pain.
"...for a plan that didn't even work?"
No one answered.
No one dared.
The air itself felt frozen.
Apollo drew closer slightly.
His shadow stretched across the battlefield.
"What..."
His face moved even closer.
His expression twisted between grief and fury.
"...do you want me to do now?"