The young teenage girl continued to clutch her mother's cold corpse with a desperate, crushing embrace, screaming hysterically and madly in a display filled with profound agony and intense, searing heartbreak. She did not even take notice of what had happened to the attackers surrounding her—those men who were currently shrieking in blatant terror, cursing in fear, and pleading in utter despair as they underwent their gradual disappearance and strange evaporation before their own horrified eyes.
None of this reached her shattered consciousness. She did not hear their death rattles, she did not witness their vanishing acts, and she did not feel a single thing happening around her. Her entire world had collapsed; her awareness was confined solely to the cold body held between her trembling arms. She continued her ceaseless screaming and hysterical weeping for a long duration without pause, until finally, her voice broke. Due to the extreme strain on her vocal cords, no audible sound could emerge from her throat any longer. There was only an open mouth, but no sound.
Yet, despite this, she persisted in her attempts to scream even though no sound actually came out. Her mouth was wide open, her face contorted with pain, and her body shuddered violently, but the silence remained absolute. She was in a state of complete psychological collapse and perhaps temporary insanity. Her mind had ceased to function normally, and her consciousness had detached from reality, as if her very soul had been pulverized into dust.
At that exact same moment, Dan opened his eyes once more. He spoke in a low, annoyed voice, muttering to himself: "Damn this troublesome human side."
In truth, with his current precise control over his own body, he could very easily achieve a state that was entirely non-human. He could literally switch off and disable the emotional and sentimental centers in his brain, either temporarily or permanently. By doing so, he would become like a cold, purely rational machine, devoid of any feelings that might distract or weaken him. No sadness, no pity, no anger, no love, and no hatred. Just a cold intellect, precise calculations, and purely logical decisions. This would render his efficiency absolute and prevent him from being swayed by emotions, allowing him to utilize his power in its purest, most clinical form.
But he did not do this, nor would he ever. Or rather, he absolutely did not desire such a state and rejected such a measure with extreme prejudice. For what was the true purpose of a long immortality and gargantuan power if one could not even maintain their basic humanity? What was the use of living for thousands of years if those years were spent as a cold machine without feelings or human essence? To him, the answer was crystal clear: there was no use at all.
Real life, in his view, meant feeling, perceiving, and experiencing the full spectrum of human existence—enjoying every part of it, from joy and sorrow to love and hate, and from happiness to pain. All of this constituted complete humanity, and he did not want to lose it regardless of the cost.
Furthermore, there was another very important matter for him: he never wanted to lose his moral and conscientious side—that internal voice that distinguishes right from wrong. If he were to disable his feelings and emotions entirely, he would inevitably lose his capacity to feel guilt, remorse, and empathy! This was specifically what he absolutely did not want; in fact, he rejected it vehemently.
He knew well, from his realism and deep understanding of his own nature, that by continuing to live in this violent and brutal world, he would inevitably be forced to perform many, many acts that were evil, cruel, and sometimes unjust—for his personal benefit, for the sake of his family, and to achieve his grander goals. These were actions he would see as necessary for himself, yet they were undoubtedly evil from an ethical standpoint. At the very least, he wanted to bear and feel the heavy weight of guilt and remorse that would inevitably follow those evil deeds. He considered this guilt to be a personal punishment and an internal deterrent at the same time. it prevented him from transforming into a total monster, kept him human in some way, and preserved the remnants of his conscience.
This was especially crucial as his power would continue to increase more and more without any visible stop. He would become stronger, and stronger, and stronger, until he surpassed all known boundaries. The real danger here lay in the fact that Dan never wanted to reach a perilous stage where he viewed ordinary humans as beings far beneath him—as mere insects or tools. He did not want to feel that he had become transcendent and entirely above humanity, a being of a different species altogether. Such thinking was extremely dangerous and destructive, leading toward absolute brutality. He feared this path, warned himself against it, and wanted to avoid it at any price. Therefore, he would preserve his feelings and his humanity, no matter the cost, as a self-deterrent, a protection against himself, and a red line he would never cross.
Then, suddenly, he vanished from his spot. He reappeared directly in front of the collapsed girl who was embracing her mother's corpse in the middle of the destroyed village. He felt a flicker of genuine pity toward the shattered girl. Even after he allowed his physical presence to manifest and become apparent to the material world—whereas normally he did not permit his presence to show, and no one could see or feel him when he did not wish it, remaining like a ghost that is present yet absent—the girl before him did not notice him at all.
She remained fully bent over her mother's body, and small, incoherent, broken whimpers began to emerge from her wide-open mouth, replacing the previous loud screaming and hysterical crying.
"Mother... Mother... Mother..."
Dan stepped toward her and then knelt directly in front of her, near the cold corpse. The girl still did not notice him, as if she were in a state of total hysterical madness or complete dissociation from reality. Her eyes were open but they did not see; her ears heard but they did not perceive; her consciousness was entirely absent.
Then, he reached out his hand and gripped her chin gently. He lifted her face softly toward him so he could see her clearly and look directly into her eyes. He noticed immediately that her eyes had completely lost their natural luster; they had become dead and vacant. Her tears had dried up due to the long and continuous weeping; there were no more tears left for her to shed. Dead eyes and a shattered soul—that was all that remained.
He also noted the features of the young girl's face. She bore a strong resemblance to the inhabitants of the future Land of Lightning that he knew from the original story—dark skin, slightly greyish hair, and distinct features. He then focused his gaze deeply into her dead, entirely vacant eyes. She had lost everything; there was no hope, no future, and no life within them.
Dan thought to himself with an internal voice: "Damn you mad bastards."
Then, finally, he spoke in his cold and direct voice, addressing the collapsed girl before him:
"Do you want revenge?"
A simple, direct, and clear question. A question that might entirely change her fate, opening a new path and giving her a reason to live. Or perhaps it would destroy her further, turning her into a monster and stealing whatever remained of her innocence. Who could say? This was the most he could offer her out of pity, at least for him. The offer was laid out before her, and the choice was hers.
"Do you want revenge?"
Yes or no?
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