Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power-Chapter 466: Singular Choice

Chapter 466 – Singular Choice

"Argh."

Kaden let out a deep, grating growl from his tight throat as consciousness crawled back to him. The first thing he felt was neither ease nor his usual sense of strength, but a sensation he barely had words for.

He felt disembodied, like an intruder inside a vessel that wasn’t his, and it sent a sharp jolt of terror through his mind.

Yet it hurt.

His body hurt so much that he felt one ambitious movement away from True Death.

’Blood and ashes!’

Another groan escaped him, and with worrying effort he turned himself over. Now lying on his back, chest thundering with the beating of an overworked heart. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Body trembling, Kaden forced his eyes open after a few seconds.

A hiss of pain tore through his clenched teeth as the blistering light of the church burned his eyes mercilessly.

He shut them again on instinct, then tried once more a heartbeat later. He kept at it until his eyes finally adjusted, earning him a soft sigh of relief and a view of his surroundings.

The sight dropped a cold lump of ice into his stomach.

’Where is this?’ Kaden thought tiredly, shifting his head around. ’A church?’

His head turned to one particular side and stopped, resting on an altar built atop a high grey platform, strange inscriptions carved into the stone.

His throat went dry instantly seeing Rea lying on that altar like something put on proud display.

Black tears ran continuously down her cheeks — yet they never touched the altar’s surface — her face still peaceful beneath them.

Then he saw something else. Something so subtle he would have missed it without pure chance. Rea’s face was shifting. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, altering to take on the shape of something unknown.

Something he would have rather preferred stayed unknown.

Kaden sprang to his feet. Or at least, he tried to. He failed embarrassingly, falling face first the moment he put one foot forward.

The fall was brutal. The bones of his face cracked, a trail of blood trickled from his nose.

’Curse!’

"You need to rest, Kaden." Reditha said suddenly, emerging from his body, her eyes carrying a genuine level of concern as they settled on him.

Kaden’s face held a mix of anger and confusion. The weakness flooding his body was strange; as if he had been reduced to a newborn state, as if something primordial to his very essence had been stripped away.

"What... what is happening to me?" He asked, voice slightly wavering, staring at his arms shaking without stop.

"You have lost your heart, Kaden." Reditha said, voice tight. "Your Heart of Fire is no more."

"Does that mean—!"

"Blanche is dead." Her voice was blunt.

Kaden’s face lost all colour, dismay painting his expression in a sombre shade.

He lay there in complete silence, Reditha’s words repeating themselves over and over.

’Blanche...’ he croaked inwardly. ’Dead?’

The first thing that surfaced when the news settled was the promise he had made to her.

The promise of helping her find her family so she would no longer feel alone. The promise of recovering the years of memories she had lost for reasons still unknown.

His promises to her.

And now she was dead? Dead because of him?

’H-How? How is that possible?’ His mind felt heavy, and his empty chest felt on the verge of caving in.

But fortunately, Reditha spoke again.

"Don’t spiral, Kaden." She whispered, pulling him into a hug. "There is still a sliver of hope. She told me before disappearing that she could still return. But for that to happen, you need to regain your Heart of Fire."

"My Heart?" He echoed, lethargic. "It didn’t regenerate?"

"No. Only one heart remains inside you. But your body had already grown accustomed to running on two. You can imagine what it feels like when one heart is doing the work of both. And a recently obtained one at that."

Realisation dawned slowly on his face. He swallowed.

"So I’ll remain this weak," he started, feeling the incompleteness of his own body more deeply, "until I get my heart back?"

"Yes."

He barely suppressed a curse. But that knowledge lit a small candle of hope inside his gutted chest.

Blanche could still come back. That alone was enough to make him think of how to solve his current problems.

The loss of the heart had weakened him far beyond the physical. The Heart of Fire was the home of his Seed of Prometheus. With it destroyed, his fire abilities were completely gone.

And the only way to rebuild it was to find the core of the Seed within the mangled remains, find a real heart capable of bearing it, and fuse all of it back within himself.

That was when his first question came back to him.

"Where are we, Reditha?" He asked, still flat on the ground, finding neither strength nor will to get up.

This time, Reditha didn’t answer. She wasn’t even given the chance.

The Will answered first.

[Welcome to the Village of the Unfinished Tower.]

Kaden’s eyes sharpened at once, his full attention snapping to the notification panel appearing before him.

[You have discovered the True Dungeon of the Origin of the Whimpering Saintess.]

[Unprecedented Occurrence!]

[Rea Thornspire, God-Touched of Sorrow, is undergoing her Grandmaster Rank Quest. The outcome of her Evolution depends on you and you alone, Kaden Warborn.]

A brief, heavy pause. Then...

[You have received your Quest according to the current situation.]

[Quest: Observe and Choose.]

[The Village of the Unfinished is the home of the Malan Tribe. Your task is singular: Make a Choice.]

’What?’

[After observing the Malan tribesmen and living among them, you must choose to either Finish The Tower or leave it Unfinished.]

[Each option leads to the following results:

1. By finishing the Tower, you will obtain the Ring of Pandora, primordial to keeping Rea Thornspire as you have known her.

2. By leaving the Tower unfinished, you accept Rea’s own choice. And you will watch her wake up no longer as a mortal. But as a Goddess.

Make a Choice: The version of the woman you love? Or the version of the woman you loved?]

[Time Limit: None.]

[Rewards: Dependent on choice and how that choice is carried out.]

Kaden’s head felt like it was splitting. His face was aghast, reading the quest over and over as if his comprehension had been suddenly stolen from him.

His mind clawed uselessly at the words, but the exhaustion weighing on his body was dragging his mind down with it.

And then...

CREAK—!

He turned his head gingerly toward the sound. The stone door of the church was parting open. A few people stepped inside with heavy, purposeful strides.

The air froze — as if some unseen hand had fisted it in a tight grip — as Kaden’s eyes locked onto them and took in their appearance.

Nothing was said between them. But he could already feel it.

’The Quest has already begun.’

And that, with him unable to stand without falling like a newborn.

’Blood and ashes!’

—End of Chapter 466—