Ethan stood in front of the mountain of corpses, his back to Roly. “A demon? I gave you a chance. Twice.”
Roly's howl caught in her throat.
“The first time, out of thirty-seven bunkers, I let you choose ten, leaving twenty to live. You chose. I kept my promise. The second time, out of twenty bunkers, I asked you to choose five, leaving fifteen to live. You didn't choose, and you attacked me.”
Ethan turned around, his gaze falling on Roly.
“Your clansmen died because of your choices. And they died because of your lack of choices. When you chose, a portion of them died. When you didn't choose, they all died. When you attacked me, they all died as well. Roly, from beginning to end, I was the one who did the deed, but you were the one who made the choice.”
Roly's lips trembled violently.
She stared at Ethan's face, at those completely placid eyes.
“You're lying! You killed them! It was you!”
“Yes, I killed them.” Ethan nodded. “I never said I didn't. But have you ever wondered—if you hadn't resisted from the very beginning, if you had just been obedient from the start, why would I have needed to kill them?”
Roly froze.
Ethan walked up to her.
The vines suspended her limp body in midair, bringing her exactly to Ethan's eye level.
“You call me a demon, a bastard, and curse me. But have you ever considered that every single curse you hurl at me is causing more of your clansmen to die?”
“No, that's not true! It's not!”
“It is exactly like that.” Ethan interrupted her. “You thought that cursing me was defending the backbone of the Amons. You thought that resisting me was honoring your mother's spirit in heaven. You thought that refusing to choose was guarding your people's dignity. And what is the result?”
Ethan pointed to the mountain of corpses behind him.
“Forty thousand corpses. Your backbone, your protection, and your dignity have bought you forty thousand corpses. Roly, do you think your clansmen will thank you in the afterlife? Do you think their parents, children, and lovers will thank you? If not for you, they could have lived. At least a portion of them.”
Roly's body convulsed violently.
“No, it wasn't me! It was you!”
Ethan grabbed Roly by her hair, ripping her from the vines' restraint. He dragged her to the mountain of corpses and pressed her face against the pile of bodies.
“Do you see them clearly now?”
Roly's vision was filled with pale green skin, congealed blood, and contorted limbs.
Her clansmen.
Her compatriots.
Her own kind.
Roly let out a sharp shriek.
“It's them! Look closely! They died with your every choice, they died with your every act of resistance, and they died with your every curse! The more you resist, the less I will spare them. The more you curse, the more cruel my methods will become. You know, I originally planned to keep you by my side and kill you once you outlived your usefulness. But I've changed my mind now.”
Ethan let go of her hair, leaving her to descend into a mental breakdown, muttering unconsciously.
Ethan looked down at her.
“Hehehe, the breakdown of an Outworld girl. It seems the time is about right.”
Of course, he didn't do this just to enjoy the pleasure of torture and slaughter.
Well, maybe a little.
The feeling of taking away another's life at will was indeed quite exhilarating.
But his primary objective was to completely break this Amons native.
To conquer this world, Jade Shadow Star needed not only land and resources but also a large number of living Amons to run it.
Relying solely on slaughter would not work.
Back when he was pouring over that high-level knowledge book in the tree house, Ethan had heard that some Wizards were already trying various methods to help Jade Shadow Star achieve this goal.
Ethan was ambitious as well. Naturally, he wanted a piece of the action.
And this illegitimate daughter, who was so familiar with the Sacred City, had been designated as the core of his plan from the very moment she was hung up by the vines.
He would elevate this illegitimate daughter to become the new savior of the Amons, the pope of a new sect, a new spokesperson to replace High Priest Orion.
Of course, the main reason was that this woman's ability was simply too useful.
It was so useful that Ethan had finalized this plan the very first moment he saw her.
“Roly.”
Roly's shoulders trembled.
“Lift your head.”
She didn't move.
Ethan raised his foot and stepped on one of her fingers, slowly applying pressure.
The bones ground together slightly beneath his foot, and the joint began to deform.
Roly's body suddenly tensed, a muffled groan escaping her throat, but she still didn't lift her head.
“Look at me.”
Roly slowly lifted her head. Her amber eyes were caked with tears and dirt, her pupils entirely out of focus. Her lips quivered, squeezing out a few fragmented syllables from her throat that were impossible to make out.
“You feel that I killed your clansmen, and you hate me.”
“I hate you,” Roly's voice squeezed from the depths of her throat, raspy like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together. “I hate you. I will kill you. I swear, I swear...”
“Very good. Hate is fine.” Ethan crouched down in front of her, his right hand splaying open as an emerald-green light lit up in his palm. “Then do you want to save the others?”
Roly's pupils contracted sharply. The word “save” was like a needle, piercing deep into her already numb consciousness.
“What... what do you mean?”
“Literally.” Ethan's voice was unhurried. “You think I killed forty thousand Amons, that I'm heinous, a demon incarnate. But have you ever wondered—what if I could make it so your clansmen are no longer killed? What if I could make them survive, and live even better than before?”
Roly's lips quivered. A crack appeared in the hollow numbness of her eyes.
“The people of Red Sand City are dead. But how many are still left outside Red Sand City? Ironwood City, the Frost Whisper Tribe, the Sandstone Tribe, the Blackwater Tribe, and all those small tribes hiding in the forests, the marshes, and the ice fields. Do you know what they are going through right now?”
Roly's breathing quickened.
“They are being hunted. They are being wiped out. They are being slaughtered. Every day, every moment, your clansmen are dying. Dying just like today. Dying just like what you saw moments ago.”
Ethan reached out and patted Roly's cheek, neither too hard nor too soft, as if patting a disobedient pet.
“But I can let them live. I can let you step forward and become their savior. Tell them that as long as they lay down their weapons, as long as they submit, no one else will die. You can become a new High Priest, a new leader. Your mother was a Guardian Priest, you grew up in the Sacred City, and the blood of priests flows in your veins. You are qualified. You have the identity. You only need to listen to me and do as I say, and you will save countless people.”
Roly's lips trembled violently.
“You... you're lying to me... you want me to be a traitor... you want me to betray all my clansmen... I curse you...”
“Curse me?” Ethan stood up.
“Who do you think you are right now? A prisoner dragged behind me? A piece of trash trussed up by vines? A pathetic wretch who watched forty thousand of her clansmen die right before her eyes yet could do nothing about it? Roly, do you think you can change anything just by throwing a few insults and curses at me?”
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