Debuff Master-Chapter 1066

Chapter 1066
Dragging the giant squid up to the surface was not all that difficult. The giant squid could no longer swim with all its tentacles severed, except for the two clinging to Albion, which meant that it had no way of resisting Siegfried.
“
I’ll help you!”
Albion had awakened at some point. He broke free from the giant squid’s remaining two tentacles and moved his tail, propelling both himself and Siegfried toward the surface.
“
What’s with you? Switching sides now, are we?”
Siegfried sent a telepathic message.
“
I know how to repay a favor. No matter what happened between us, you did save my life,”
Albion replied.
“Oh? Even though you tried to kill me?”
“Erm...”
Albion fell silent for a moment, unable to retort to what Siegfried said.
‘
S-Should... I just bail?’
He actually considered fleeing again right then and there, but he realized that it was useless.
‘
That stubborn land beast is just going to chase me down again...’
Albion had no idea why, but he was certain of one thing—Siegfried would follow him to the ends of the world if needed. He knew there was no point in running, as Siegfried would be on his tail without fail.
Thus, he gave up on fleeing and decided to accept the reality.
He would eventually collapse from exhaustion if he allowed Siegfried to continue hunting him, so Albion decided that it was better to just cooperate with Siegfried for now.
“I’ll help you, so please spare me. I’m sorry for what I did.”
“What if I don’t need your help?”
“P-Please... What’s the point of killing me? It’s not like you would gain anything from it—”
“It would be satisfying.”
“T-That is a bit...”
Albion couldn’t say anything, no matter how mad Siegfried seemed.
Why?
It was all because he knew that he had taunted Siegfried and was hostile from the get-go.
“
I... I am really sorry...”
“Are you? Then can you die if you’re really sorry?”
“N-No! I said I’m sorry! Seriously! What’s wrong with you?!”
“That’s why I’m telling you to just die if you’re really sorry~ Do you know how many of my people died because of you?”
Siegfried was referring to the forty or so sea monsters under his command. They were valuable naval assets, as forty of them had the same combat capability as a full fleet from a large nation.
“W-Wait! You can’t kill me! I’m useful!”
“Useful how? Your meat?”
“No! Not that!”
“Then what?”
“I’m a prince of Atlantis!”
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean? Do whales have kingdoms, too?”
“No, you misunderstood me. I’m not originally a whale.”
“Eh?”
“I’m a prince of the underwater civilization known as Atlantis.”
“...What the hell are you talking about?”
“It is exactly as I said. Somewhere deep beneath this ocean lies a civilization unknown to you, land-dwellers. That civilization is called Atlantis.”
“Okay, so? What does that have to do with me?”
“I was once a prince there, but I was banished and ended up in the form of a sperm whale. So if you spare me, then I swear I will be of help to you someday.”
“Hmm...”
Siegfried paused and thought, ‘
Is this guy bullshitting me right now?’
It was entirely possible.
Anyone would say anything if their life was on the line, so it was probably not so different for Albion.
‘He’s kind of annoying, yeah. But once I retrieve Michael’s wing, then I’ll have gotten what I came for, no? If he’s lying, I can always track him down and punish him later.’
Siegfried figured he had nothing to lose, so he decided to take a ride on the so-called Albion Coin. He had once cashed in big on the Metatron Coin after all, so he was not about to throw away another potentially major connection.
“Fine, I’ll spare you for now. Save the story for later.”
“R-Really?!”
Albion relaxed the moment he had heard that Siegfried would spare him. Then, he pushed from behind to help move the giant squid toward the surface.
Swoosh!
Siegfried’s speed increased dramatically thanks to the sperm whale helping him.
And so, with the help of the self-proclaimed prince of Atlantis, Siegfried ascended toward the surface with the giant squid in tow.
***
After breaking through the surface of the water..
The first thing Siegfried did was yank out Michael’s wing embedded in Albion’s back.
[Alert: You have obtained Michael’s Wing!]
[Alert: You have made progress for the Quest — Look for the Archangel’s Wings!]
[Alert: Congratulations!]
[Alert: You have leveled up!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 418!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 419!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 420!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 421!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 422!]
Thanks to the quest reward from the quest, Siegfried gained five levels in one go.
“
Tsk... That thing was an awesome source of energy...”
Albion grumbled, expressing his disappointment at losing the wing.
However, he did not seem that disappointed over it.
“Nice,” Siegfried muttered with a smile after seeing the level-ups. Then, he turned his eyes toward the giant squid and said, “Next up is...”
The giant squid was now flailing weakly with only two tentacles left.
Without hesitation, Siegfried walked up to the giant squid and grabbed the wing embedded in it.
Badump!
“
Huh...?
”
Siegfried’s eyes widened in confusion as the scenery before him suddenly changed.
What he was seeing now was a vision or an illusion. However, this was not just some meaningless scene.
“Zerachiel.”
Michael, who had all twelve of his wings, stood before the Archangel of Death.
“Big Brother.”
Seating all alone, Zerachiel turned and greeted Michael warmly.
‘
Is this...?’
Siegfried realized what this strange vision was.
It was a memory.
This was not just a mere illusion, but rather, it was a fragment of Zerachiel’s memory.
By touching the wing, Siegfried had been granted a glimpse into a part of the Archangel of Death’s past.
***
“Why the long face, Zerachiel?” Michael asked gently.
“It’s just that... I just feel overwhelmed with sadness sometimes,” Zerachiel replied in a voice tinged with sorrow.
“Sadness, you say... Did something happen?” Michael asked.
“No, nothing happened,” Zerachiel replied, shaking his head.
“Come now. Don’t lie to your big brother,” Michael said gently as he sat down beside him. Then, he added, “You’ve never been good at hiding your emotions, Zerachiel.”
“...”
“You might be an archangel, but you are far gentler than anyone I know. Your emotions appear all over your face, Zerachiel,” Michael said. Then, he added, “If you tell me nothing’s wrong while putting on a face like that... How am I supposed to believe you?”
“Big Brother...”
“You can talk to me freely, Zerachiel,” Michael said, smiling gently.
The look in his eyes was that of an older brother soothing a younger sibling.
This made sense, as both Michael and Zerachiel were archangels born at the beginning of time, so they were, in fact, brothers.
“It’s the things that fade away... they make me sad. Why do the creatures of the Middle Realm all have to disappear at some point?” Zerachiel said, his voice heavy with sadness.
“What do you mean?”
“They die. They only live for such a short time... a fleeting moment compared to us...”
“
Hmm...
”
“Even in that fleeting moment, they suffer so much pain and anguish. For them, pain lasts for a long time while happiness is fleeting. Why is that? Why did Father create them that way?”
Zerachiel wondered about the will of his father, the Creator. As the Archangel of Death, he had spent eons watching the mortals in the Middle Realm go through the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death.
Thus, he couldn’t help but question why the Creator would make such fragile beings.
“Even we, the archangels, can’t fathom His intentions. It is impossible to understand Him, Zerachiel.”
“I know, but still...”
“There’s a reason for everything. And maybe...” Michael said, pausing for a moment. Then, he continued softly, “Maybe He did not grant them immortality precisely because their lives are meant to be treasures. Their brief existence could perhaps be a gift that we, angels, will never know—a blessing we were never meant to have.”
“Do you think so...?”
“I can’t say for sure, but that’s what I believe. So, don’t be burdened by such thoughts anymore, Zerachiel.”
“If you say so, big brother...”
As Zerachiel nodded slowly, the scenery began to change again.
‘
This is...’
Siegfried realized he was now seeing another memory.
It was a different one, but it was still from Zerachiel’s past.
“I don’t want to... die... Zerachiel. I don’t want... to be separated... from you," a young girl pleaded in a trembling voice.
She looked terribly pale and gravely ill. Her complexion alone showed that death would be coming for her at any given moment.
“Lunea...!” Zerachiel wept at her side.
These two were lovers.
The Angel of Death, Zerachiel, and a mere human, Lunea.
They met by pure coincidence in the Middle Realm and fell deeply in love with each other. Unfortunately, Lunea was suffering from an incurable illness, a terminal disease that would cut her life short.
“I’m sorry... I’m so sorry...” Zerachiel wept, apologizing over and over again.
There was nothing he could do. As the Archangel of Death, he couldn’t intervene in the fate of those destined to die.
Nobody and nothing could help her. The Law of Causality had sealed her fate, and nothing was going to change it.
“I’m... going to miss you... so much...”
All Zearchiel could do was bow his head and whisper those words weakly. He was sending off the woman he loved while feeling pathetically powerless.
In the end, he had no choice but to let Lunea go.
Thus, that was the moment he began to wrestle with the meaning of life and death. The more he pondered, the more his own self began to fade, changing into something no longer recognizable.
And on the thousandth year since Lunea’s passing...
“The lives of mortals are full of pain and sorrow. In the end, they all have to part ways with one another. It is my duty to grant them peace... I will give them peace,” Zerachiel muttered resolutely.
He made a decision to guide all creatures in the Middle Realm into the cradle of death.
As the Archangel of Death, he now wished to grant the living the gift of eternal rest.
***
And just like that, the vision came to an end.
“...So that’s what it was all about.”
Siegfried finally understood why Zerachiel had such a twisted mindset and ideology for an archangel.
After spending so long contemplating the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death that all mortal beings were fated to suffer, he had made up his mind.
In the end, his personal experience had led him to adopt a deeply pessimistic view of life.
To live was to suffer...
This was the reason that he had decided to use his powers to bring death to all mortal beings, transforming them into wraiths and offering them what he believed was a gift.
“Well, I guess that makes sense.”
Zerachiel was born at the dawn of creation and had lived for hundreds of thousands of years.
From the perspective of such an immortal being, the fleeting, fragile lives of mortals might look utterly meaningless.
In the case of Zerachiel, he had to watch the woman he loved die in his arms, with him unable to do anything to stop it.
In lieu of that, his actions were not surprising.
However, the problem was that Zerachiel merely observed how the mortal creatures lived in the Middle Realm, but he had never lived such a life himself. It was precisely from this lack of firsthand experience that he never understood things from the perspective of the ones he pitied.
As a result, his lack of knowledge was what empowered him to commit such massacres, all while justifying his actions.
“At least now I know why the hell he’s such a psycho.”
Siegfried realized that seeing Zerachiel’s memories could prove to be a crucial advantage in the upcoming rematch.
Battles were not won by might alone. A thousand variables could sway the battle, and the most powerful of those variables was one’s emotional state.
If Siegfried could shake Zerachiel at a critical moment by confronting him with his past, then he might just be able to force an opening.
Moreover, exploiting the enemy’s emotional state by using psychological warfare was one of Siegfried’s main specialties.
‘
Let’s go.’
With that, Siegfried turned his ship around with the wings of Michael and Zerachiel secured.
His first priority was to save Michael, and then he would find Zerachiel for their rematch.
“I’m not going to lose this time,” Siegfried said, swearing under his breath. Regardless of the opponent, Siegfried swore over and over again that he would never lose to the same enemy twice, even if his opponent was the Archangel of Death, Zerachiel.