The X Guide-Chapter 126: A Mother’s Curse (3)

Did Ayen feel jealous witnessing such a heartfelt scene that made his emotions stir? He was not feeling anything like that, not even something close to it.

He had long accepted that parental affection was not for him, nor did he seek it.

Ayen was mesmerized, sure. He got to see a different love from another perspective, which was amazing in itself.

He was not there to criticize the mother either. Ayen had no intention of thinking of any possible solution other than what she was doing.

Ayen did not think he deserved to talk about this matter when he was also confused about a lot of things.

The mother had almost completely drained her mana and life force, and her existence became extremely faint. The child in her arms had also fainted from the surge of mana transferring to his small body.

She looked at her child and wiped the tears on his face with her fingers. Her hands were no different from a skeleton’s, but with skin. The woman seemed to be crying, but even tears could not come out of her eyes anymore.

"I,I’m sor...ry." Her voice was hoarse and dry. At this point, even breathing was a chore, much less speaking.

She stared at her child for a few minutes. Her eyes were incredibly sunken into their sockets, giving a terrifying appearance, but Ayen still found her gaze so beautiful.

The woman continued to stare at her child like that as the mana suddenly became disturbed around her, surging from every direction towards her.

She gritted her teeth and let her body suck the mana before transferring it to her child. Her body had become a filter, which gave a horrible toll on her.

Ayen frowned.

"Her mana alone isn’t sufficient for what she’s planning to create," Devion commented then, and Khal agreed with a hum.

Ayen quickly understood. The woman was using the residual mana in the air to help her. It came from despair and resentment of the citizens, monsters, espers, and even guides.

They were negative mana, and so she used her body to transform them into pure mana to transfer to her child. This was something difficult, and not everyone could do it.

She was special because her ability was like a mana disturbance source. The woman created a loophole yet again in exchange for suffering a pain more terrifying than death.

As time passed, the scene seemed to fast-forward in their eyes. The chaos outside intensified before the whole town fell into an eerie silence, save for the howls of the monsters.

The association building had long been burning, but the guiding rooms were protected and remained isolated from the world.

The scene changed so many times, but it looked like nothing actually happened. It was like a significant amount of time had passed. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The town was shrouded by desolation; no signs of life could be detected except for the monsters. They raided the whole town, but for some reason, they were afraid to enter the association building.

Soon, the monster had even begun to dwindle in numbers. Just like the citizens, the monsters were also unable to leave the place due to the mana restrictions.

Outside the dungeon gate, the rules restricting them seemed to no longer matter anymore. They began to prey on each other to survive. Until... There was barely one remaining.

The monsters, which killed and wreaked havoc around the town, destroyed themselves on their own.

Perhaps a year had passed or two; Ayen was not sure. The traces indicated that it had been a while since the town fell. Yet, the woman and her child remained inside the guiding room.

However, the woman was now a withered corpse despite the faint signs of life, and her mana wavelength was continuously filtering the mana in the air without stopping.

The woman had already died, but her will continued.

In her embrace was a cocoon, which originally was the child.

There was an obvious heartbeat and traces of life inside. However, it was uncertain whether the child would still be human once he emerged from the cocoon.

Ayen blinked and turned to the child.

The child’s gaze was still dark and cold, but there were now tears at the corners of his eyes.

Ayen sighed and covered the child’s eyes, and the surroundings quickly changed, returning to a paradise. The tormenting memories disappeared.

"Go on. Cry, aegi..." Ayen watched as the child’s shoulders trembled, and soon he began to sob so hard.

Ayen’s hand became damp with his tears, but he did not pull his hand away, and instead, his other hand reached out and stroked the child’s back.

He was not good with words, and he did not think the child needed his comforting words.

"Mom..." the child sobbed as he called his mom.

He might have been so lonely, which was why he created the world as a replica of the past. However, Ayen did not know why the child chose the few weeks leading up to their end to replicate.

Ayen had no intention of asking.

Devion and Khal also watched the child and could not help but sigh inside. Sometimes, no matter how indifferent they became to a person’s life and death, that did not mean they stopped caring as a whole.

It was only that this same scene was not unique, and the world continued to experience the same scenario.

Devion and Khal were powerful, but they could not be in so many places at once. They were still humans, after all. The world might need salvation, but they had no intention of sacrificing their lives for the world.

Their contribution to humanity was already the biggest and unmatched.

It was only ironic that the government and the clans, who should be protecting the common citizens, were not at war against each other for hegemony.

The false sense of peace and security was crumbling.

Devion and Khal chose not to get involved.

Was it because they did not care?

Absolutely not.

Khal’s gaze darkened with a thoughtful look.

This was the biggest opportunity for something to change.

Treating superficial wounds was not sufficient anymore; it was time to cut off the toxic part of humanity.

They would need to bleed, excessively so.