Ubermensch – Chapter 169

Chapter 169

Mason looked at Michael.

“Is that what you truly desire? The misfortune of others?”

“Yes.”

“If you have the effort to spare for the misfortune of others,”

Mason said with a pitiful expression.

“Why not use it for your own happiness?”

Michael felt his heart waver. Mason’s words were true, and his eyes were filled with pity.

How long has it been since he’d felt such emotions?

Michael’s heart was still like a wall of ice, but it was also true that the wall was shaking.

Unable to hold back any longer, Michael poured out his boiling emotions.

“I was discriminated against.”

Michael looked at Mason.

“It would have been different if I was born to wealthy parents. It would have been different if I wasn’t born in a ruined city. It would have been different if I could have gotten a scholarship. But my life rolled down into the gutter without even a chance for me to choose.”

He unleashed a heavy and passionate malice, like lava simmering in his stomach.

“There were times when I wanted to be happy. There were times when I looked forward to the future. But I was discriminated against. I suffered injustice. So, I will make it fair. I will make everyone in this world suffer as much as I have.”

“Wouldn’t it be fair for you to be as happy as everyone else?”

Mason said with a pitiful expression.

“I can help you. Others can help you too. If you want to regain your youth, I can give it back to you, and if you desire wealth, I can help you obtain it.”

“It’s too late.”

“It’s not too late. Not at all.”

Mason extended his hand to Michael.

It was a large and thick hand, but it was soft and warm.

It felt as if he could be protected from all pain and misfortune just by holding that hand.

“Change your mind, wounded child…”

Michael reached out his hand unconsciously and clenched his fist to steel his heart.

“I am the bishop of the Destroyer.”

Michael looked at Mason.

“When I was Michael of Detroit, no one reached out to me. But now that I’ve become the bishop of the Destroyer, you’re reaching out to save me.”

“Michael.”

“I hate you, Oztalon, the Guardian Deity. The more benevolent and noble you are, the more I resent you.”

Michael gritted his teeth.

“Why didn’t you reach out when I needed you? Why are you only reaching out now that I’m of use to you?”

“…”

Mason was speechless.

Of course, Mason could make excuses. He could say that there were too many people to protect and too many urgent matters to attend to. He could say that he couldn’t watch over everyone in the world and had only just discovered him now.

But what would be the point of those excuses?

As Michael said, Mason had reached out too late.

“I’ve said all I wanted to say. Thank you for listening to the end to the impertinent words of a mortal.”

Michael said with a bitter smile.

“Now then… do what you must.”

Since he couldn’t persuade Michael, there was only one thing left to do.

To eliminate the bishop of the Destroyer.

The only difference was whether it would be through moderate means like mental purification or radical means like brainwashing or killing.

The Michael of the past would cease to exist.

Mason remained silent.

At the end of a heavy and long silence, he spoke quietly.

“Go.”

“…What?”

Michael was bewildered.

“If you refuse my help, all I can offer you is mercy. I will give you freedom, so live as you wish.”

“Oztalon! What are you saying?”

Izzet and Randy were astonished. To let go of the captured leader of the enemy?

“You’re letting me go?”

However, the most surprised person was Michael.

Mercy. It was something that didn’t exist in their cruel and bloody world.

“If you let me go, I will create Cthulhu.”

“That may be so.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just kill or brainwash me and avoid fighting Cthulhu altogether?”

Mason looked at Michael with a bitter expression.

“I would rather save one person and fight an evil god than kill one person to stop it.”

“Do you think Cthulhu will be weaker than you?”

“No. He will probably be stronger than me.”

The Cthulhu Mythos was originally a myth of cosmic horror, where evil gods and monsters ran rampant. Cthulhu was the main character and the face of that myth. He was bound to be a higher being than the Elder Gods, who were considered spin-offs or derivatives.

Moreover, divine power was honest.

It granted power to a god in proportion to the number of their followers and the strength of their faith.

Considering the number of cultists across multiple dimensions and the fanaticism of the zealots, the Cthulhu Cult was more likely to be stronger than the Oztalon Church, not weaker.

“If I am faced with the choice of sacrificing a cow for the sake of the many or sacrificing the many for the sake of a cow… I will make the same choice every time.”

Nevertheless, Mason would choose to fight Cthulhu rather than kill a single cultist.

“I will sacrifice myself.”

There wasn’t. Never had there been. There was no one.

No one had ever stepped forward to sacrifice themselves for Michael like that man, like that noble god.

Michael staggered.

The urge to kneel down and convert to Oztalon’s faith seized him. All the sins he had committed filled him with regret, and all the malice he had harbored felt lamentable.

But at that moment, Michael met Izzet’s eyes.

She was looking at him with contempt.

Just as everyone else who had looked at him…

“…”

Only then did Michael feel as if he had been splashed with cold water, his mind snapping back to reality.

He couldn’t be forgiven. He couldn’t be saved.

Even if he was forgiven and saved, he wouldn’t dare accept it.

That’s right.

He had come too far.

He had walked the path stained with blood and sin for too long, the stench of blood clinging to his every footstep.

Even if God forgave him, people wouldn’t.

So, Michael wouldn’t beg for forgiveness.

Especially not in front of a woman of color!

“Then, I will take my leave.”

Michael turned and walked out.

“Tsk!”

At that moment, Izzet swung her Cat Claw, aiming to pierce Michael’s neck.

Thud!

But before she could, Mason’s arm grabbed her arm.

“Oztalon!”

Izzet struggled to pull her arm free, but Mason’s monstrous strength held her arm like a vice.

In the tense atmosphere, Michael looked at Mason.

“…”

Michael turned his head again and started walking.

Crackle.

The barrier stimulated his skin, but the barrier was meant to prevent entry from the outside, not exit from the inside.

Truly, Oztalon wasn’t stopping him…

“…”

After a moment of hesitation, Michael continued walking.

His figure soon disappeared into the crowd of the city.

Izzet looked at Mason.

“I am astounded by your foolishness, Oztalon.”

“Didn’t you say you respected me?”

“That was before I saw your true colors.”

Izzet shouted at Mason.

“You let the bishop of the Destroyer go for such a childish reason as not wanting to get blood on your hands! You are a god who participated in the War of the Gods, a War God, no less!”

“I don’t fight to kill. I fight to protect.”

“Do you think Michael is a pure soul? An innocent person?”

“No. He has committed many sins, and he will commit many more.”

“Then wouldn’t stopping him be the right thing to do for the world?”

“Perhaps.”

Mason said calmly.

“But that is not my way.”

“You stubborn fool!”

Izzet tried to storm out.

But Mason spoke quietly.

“Sit down.”

As the god commanded, so it shall be.

Izzet sat down on the floor, glaring at Mason with venomous eyes.

Mason suddenly felt Randy’s gaze.

“Do you also think I’m foolish?”

“Yes.”

Mason chuckled bitterly.

However, Randy wasn’t finished.

“But, at least you’re not wrong.”

“…”

After a moment of silence, Mason said.

“Thank you.”

๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑

While Mason was talking to Randy.

Izzet closed her eyes.

๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑

Michael walked on, dragging his feet.

He didn’t know the direction or the way. He just walked because there was no reason to stand still.

His vision was blurry. Tears dripped down his face.

‘Damn… Damn Oztalon…’

There was a peculiar righteousness in his life, a righteousness typical of a warped person.

He could say that the world didn’t give him a chance, that the world made him this way, so he would hold the world accountable for its sins.

But now it was different.

Oztalon had given him a chance, and Michael had rejected it.

The purity of his malice had been tainted.

He was no longer a villain out of necessity.

‘What should I do? What should I really do?’

After today, if he committed evil deeds, he could no longer blame the world.

Because he would have chosen to become a villain.

‘Is it not too late even now?’

His hands were stained with blood and sin.

But if there was someone who would hold even such dirty hands… if it really wasn’t too late…

“Ha…”

When he stopped with a long sigh, he was standing by some water.

And, there was a cat approaching him.

“…”

Michael instinctively realized.

That the cat wasn’t an ordinary cat.

But before he could do anything.

Stab!

An Egyptian woman with short hair, who had appeared out of nowhere, plunged her Cat Claw into his body.

“Heh…”

Life and will were draining away through the wound.

‘I worried for nothing.’

Splash!

As his lifeless body tumbled into the water, Michael gave a bitter smile.

‘It was already too late…’

And so, Michael Fieldman closed his eyes.

๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑

And so, the blood that flowed from his corpse traveled down the river.

Beyond the river, to the sea. Beyond the sea, to the depths.

And finally, to R’lyeh, his abode where the evil god, on the verge of being born, slumbered…

Flash!

The moment Michael’s blood touched him, the evil god opened his eyes.

The evil god slumbering in R’lyeh opened his eyes.

And, Cthulhu shall slumber no more.