The Crowned Greed: Transmigrated into a Demonic Dragon-Chapter 176: Falling Into the Depths Of The Abyss [5]

’Why... Why did that happen?’ I found myself asking inwardly while looking at Elizabeth’s face.

Michael was hugging her upper half gently, his tears flowing like a waterfall and his screams tearing through the air nonstop.

She wasn’t breathing.

Her Wheel of Luck had shattered.

Her soul couldn’t be seen.

And I... I was just looking blankly at her face, holding her blindfold that had slipped off her face.

My vision was becoming blurry and cloudy. I didn’t know whether that was because of the blood loss or the tears forming in my eyes.

I didn’t understand anything.

I just destroyed a relic. Did all that happen because of a relic? Was all that truly my fault or just some bad luck?

When I used Reclaim, I got back my lower half, but my heart and the missing part of my chest couldn’t be found.

Still, I didn’t care and only focused on her, the friend who had stayed in the same room with me, even though she knew about my demonic self.

’I... I can save her.’

Yes, Elizabeth wasn’t completely dead.

There was a way to save her. Only I could do it and save her.

Not only Elizabeth, I could save everyone in this camp. I could prevent all this from happening!

I raised my dagger, the decaying ritual dagger, and aimed at my head.

"Oh, look at this!" Greed’s disgusting voice, the voice that was identical to mine, resounded behind my ear: "Another hypocritical action, huh?"

"Weren’t you the one who stated clearly that he’d never lose a life for someone else?"

"Did you suddenly change your mind and decide that her life is worth more than one of yours? That’s not the Dante I know! Oh heaven, don’t tell me... did someone other than me possess your body?"

Listening to Greed, I had to admit... he was right.

When did I become like this?

Weak. Hypocritical. Pathetic. Childish. Disgusting. Murderous. Greedy. Foolish.

There was nothing good about me.

Nothing!

And now... I failed to protect one of the only two people I cared about, and the only thing I could think about was to kill myself and use the regression ability that wasn’t even mine.

I said that I would never risk my life for someone else, and here I was doing the exact opposite.

Since the beginning, I had been risking my life for her. Since the moment I had sent Fafnir with her, I had been weakening myself to protect her.

Despite that, she died.

And that was because of me.

My weakness. My choices... They were what brought Raga here and left me unable to do anything against him.

I lowered the dagger slowly, but then a bunch of misfortune spikes covered it.

’What is this?’

Why were they appearing now?

I never understood the misfortune spikes. I just ignored and avoided them whenever I could. So why were they appearing now?

"This is a warning." Greed sighed: "Your current return point was set after Elizabeth’s death. You can’t save her and will just waste a regression mark."

My hands trembled at his words. I couldn’t say whether he was lying or not.

’This... this can’t be real.’

I never kept track of time. The return point could be known if I kept track of time, which was impossible for me.

Not to mention that it used something called mental hours, which I knew nothing about.

But Greed likely did. If anyone in this world knew where I’d return after dying, it’d be him.

However... what he said was almost impossible.

Elizabeth had died just a minute ago. There was no way that the return point changed just now.

My Wheel of Luck was filled with misfortune, but that was coming from Raga, not my traits.

I was supposed to have enough fortune to prevent something like this!

The return point changed right after her death? That might have been the most unbelievable thing Greed had ever said!

"I’ll save her. I can do it. Just one quick death."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

Stab!

The pain lasted for only a few seconds. The moment I opened my eyes...

Thud!

"Huh...?"

...I fell down.

The pain returned, and I felt myself bleeding.

The only thing I could see was Elizabeth’s face. Her lips were a bit curled upward, as though she had tried to smile when she felt me holding her before she died.

My hand moved slowly toward her and touched her face. I wanted to see any reaction from her. Anything that would tell me that I was just hallucinating.

"NOOOO!"

All of a sudden, Michael came to us crawling and took Elizabeth into his embrace.

I tried to hold her, but all I grabbed was her blindfold.

’Why... Why did that happen?’ I found myself asking inwardly while looking at Elizabeth’s face.

Michael was hugging her upper half gently, his tears flowing like a waterfall and his screams tearing through the air nonstop.

She wasn’t breathing.

Her Wheel of Luck had shattered.

Her soul couldn’t be seen.

And I was just looking blankly at her face, holding her blindfold that had slipped off her face.

My vision was becoming blurry and cloudy. I didn’t know whether that was because of the blood loss or the tears forming in my eyes.

The same scene.

Everything was the same.

I regressed, but my regression was just a waste.

I acted counter to my words and killed myself for her, but I still couldn’t do anything!

I failed. I should... I should have listened to him.

’I hate this.’

Why did Greed have to be right this time?

Why did she have to be so vulnerable?

No... why did I have to be so weak? Why couldn’t I have saved her?

Why... wait.

’Ah... I see.’

I used Reclaim and got back my lower half. After that, I forced myself to stand up using tendrils of shadow.

My eyes flickered with enlightenment. I knew my mistake.

My mistake wasn’t that I didn’t listen to Greed. Not listening to him was just common sense. It was never my fault.

The outcome had never been good whether I listened to him or not. I was sure that this was intentional. Maybe he even made me destroy that relic to show me the consequences of doing that again.

My real mistake was something else.

She would have lived if I rejected Skylar and didn’t take her with me.

She would have lived if I didn’t spend too much time with her.

She would have lived if I didn’t stop her from going to her kingdom early.

That was all because of my greed and selfish self. I wanted her to stay a little longer with me. If I was selfless, she would have survived.

But if I kept her longer... if I hid the truth, she would have stayed with me safely, far away from this war.

In other words, if I stayed greedy, she would have also survived!

The problem was never about being selfish or selfless, it was the hypocrisy!

"I can’t keep moving between two paths. I should have fucking chosen one!"

My mistake was being a hypocrite. If I wanted to be selfless, I should have let her go earlier. If I wanted to be selfish, I should have kept her with me and kept her safe. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

And there was another mistake.

"That man was right."

If there was a problem that couldn’t be solved with power, then my power simply wasn’t enough.

I never tried to grow stronger. I never tried to create new spells or techniques. I never tried to train seriously or show real resistance to how I was used by Greed and the dark entity.

I didn’t have a real goal or dream, but that didn’t mean I had to stop growing. I could always find a dream to chase later, but staying weak like this would bring me nothing but pain and regret.

And I was now experiencing it. If I was stronger than Raga, would he have dared to harm Elizabeth? If I was stronger than Greed, would he have tried to possess me?

Remaining passive and weak was my second mistake.

"...!"

All of a sudden, a wave of shiny particles came out of Elizabeth’s head and went into the blindfold in my hand.

The blindfold glowed slightly and shattered, turning into thousands of particles that went directly into my soul, filling my mind with knowledge.

"Oh, how lucky you are." Greed appeared again and chuckled: "Can you see this? You were actually lucky! If the regression returned you farther back, you’d have lost the opportunity to get this relic!"

My eyes twitched at his words.

He was right, I was lucky. Feeling the abilities of that relic, I was indeed lucky.

That was the result of me reducing my misfortune relentlessly and sealing the parasite.

I glanced at Elizabeth’s corpse, unable to hold my tears.

"If this terrible outcome was the fortune I have been searching for... then why was I avoiding misfortune? What was the purpose of everything I did?"

ROAAAAAAAAR!

All of a sudden, another roar tore through the air and made the earth tremble.

Looking at the Abyssal Gate, I saw that it had expanded even more.

Something else passed through it.

That was a catastrophe for this world. Even Raga seemed to be struggling with it and it had just started.

I caused it. Elizabeth died from it. Many people were going to die from it.

Yet, it saved my life. The monster targeted Raga and took him away. That caused Elizabeth’s death, and it also saved me.

"Misfortune... It always saves my life."

"My parents died, but I lived. My uncle died, but I lived. The villagers died, but I lived. Many people in the convoy died, but I lived. Elizabeth and the other soldiers died, but I lived."

It was strange.

Sometimes I saved people, sometimes I caused their deaths, and other times I survived at the cost of theirs. Misfortune was never predictable, and I was never the only one suffering from it.

Yet, it never truly harmed me. In its twisted way, it brought me nothing but gains. It was like a sadist showing me favouritism.

My first ability allowed me to see the misfortune spikes, my second ability allowed me to make my misfortune explode like an attack.

The second part of my class name was Doombringer.

I had the Misfortune Aspect, and my attunement had been ’Greater’ since the start.

Misfortune was a part of me and my existence, yet I had been avoiding and rejecting it.

That was my third mistake.

Not accepting Misfortune was my third mistake.

"What should I choose?"

I had to choose a path now. I couldn’t just stay like this after knowing my mistake.

Selfless or selfish.

For me, the answer had never been clearer.

I was a Greed Demon.

I was chosen because I was greedy by nature.

I was never meant to be selfless. For someone like me to be selfless, it caused more harm than good.

I never deserved to have Elizabeth as a friend who accepted me, because I never accepted myself.

I glanced at the misfortune parasite and made up my mind.

CRACK!

With a wave of my hand, the shackles broke, releasing the parasite.

For a moment, we just stared at each other. The parasite didn’t start absorbing misfortune blindly, hinting at its intelligence.

"You..." After a second of hesitation, I smiled at it: "I don’t know what you are, but you lived with me long enough to become my trait. No, to become two of my traits."

"You have always been mine, I just didn’t want to accept you, just like how I never accepted myself. Not accepting you... it is my fourth mistake."

The parasite didn’t make a move, as though it was listening seriously. I was left more amazed with its intelligence.

I took off my mask and wiped my tears. Finally, I extended my hand and said: "I’m still mad at you for everything you have done, but I’m not any better."

"How about this? Let’s turn over a new page and unite. I’ll let you devour as much misfortune as you want. In exchange, you should allow me to use you like a real trait."

For a moment, I saw a hint of confusion from Greed.

’I see.’

My smile widened upon noticing a small detail. That Rank 3 guy was right.

Maybe... maybe I could get rid of them if I grew stronger faster than what they could manage.

And for that...

"They used you too, right? You never wanted to be stuck in my Wheel of Luck. You never wanted to be here!"

One of the parasite’s tendrils twitched, and that was all confirmation I needed.

Why would that parasite be with me? Maybe I had the Misfortune Aspect, but I was sure that I wasn’t the only one with it.

And there was no way the parasite was born right next to me. Someone brought it into my Wheel of Luck, separating it from its real home.

Just like me, it was used!

"Aren’t you angry too? Aren’t you hating them too? Don’t you want to make them regret it too? Hold my hand! Hold my hand and let’s accept each other!!"

"Let’s ignore how people see our true nature and accept ourselves! Let’s ignore our enmity and accept each other. Let’s fix our mistakes and grow together!"

"We are both beings of misfortune. We are destined to bring disasters and calamities to our enemies, not to ourselves!"

"Misfortune is unpredictable, it’s uncertain, it’s the only thing we have that they can’t control or see!"

"Come on! Hold my hand and accept being mine!"

One of the parasite’s tendrils moved slowly toward my hand. It suddenly moved faster and wrapped around my hand, holding it tightly.

That parasite existed like me. Although not all people could see it, it was alive and sentient, and I could clearly feel its tentacle around my hand.

It accepted me. Now, it was completely mine. My ally, not my enemy!

I suddenly felt it pulling my hand, but at closer observation, it was doing the opposite.

It used my hand as a supporter, using it to pull itself toward me out of my Wheel of Luck.

The parasite was struggling, as though something there was holding it back.

Because of this, I decided to help it and pulled it!

I enhanced my body with demonic energy and mana. And for the first time, I enhanced my body with the silver Ether, ignoring all the risks.

The parasite wrapped more tendrils around my arm, my legs, my body, and my head.

We helped each other, and gradually, it was coming out of the Wheel of Luck.

My forehead suddenly started glowing subtly, and strange dark-violet runes appeared around us.

But we ignored them. This moment was more important than them!

"You can do it!"

"Just think of everything we can do together. Let’s make them regret everything! Let’s show them how it feels like to be used! Let’s start causing real disasters to them!"

I had to use several shadow tendrils to resist the pull and help the parasite.

The parasite’s figure came closer toward me, and whatever was holding it back was becoming weaker with every second.

Subconsciously, my eyes landed on Greed.

He had been watching the whole process without muttering a word, but I could see it in him.

He didn’t predict this.

He didn’t predict this!

The resistance finally stopped, and the parasite was shot toward me.

It was no longer stuck in the Wheel of Luck. It was standing on my arm.

A being with countless tendrils that could spread misfortune. The back of its body had a mouth that could absorb and devour misfortune. The front of its body, the part that was just revealed, had a face that looked like a black skull, and it also had countless black eyes.

The eyes suddenly moved on their own, spreading to the tendrils and looking at me.

It was the parasite I had always avoided, the parasite I had always hated.

If that was the old me, I’d have crushed it or kicked it.

But this time was different.

"Now, we are together!"

"HEHEHEHAHAHAHAAHA!!"