324 Star's Howl

Bass!

A bloody gash spread across Nefes's neck, and then the collar that had been embedded in her skin came off and fell to the ground.

Snap.

Li Aoz stepped on his toes and said calmly, "You're free."

Nefes looked up. Li Aoz lifted the healing spell on her, and the wound on her neck was healing rapidly. Her flesh was regenerating, and her retinas were gradually regaining focus. She looked at Li Aoz, hesitated for a moment, but then chose to speak and ask:

"... Why didn't you kill me?"

"Why would I kill you? You have no grudge against me."

Li Aoz sheathed his crimson sword and asked with a strange expression.

"I was once known as Gabros, and I killed countless people and destroyed several planets..."

Nefes thought for a moment and said, "In fact, I am deeply sinful..."

"You said it yourself, the murderer was Gabros, who was treated as a commodity." Li Aoz shrugged. "Besides, did you ever feel guilty?"

Nefes raised his hand, looked at his blood-soaked palm, and murmured:

"No."

"I have taken countless lives with this hand. As the company's war machine, I bear the sins of destruction and slaughter... But now, I still want to live."

"It's good that you're aware of your sins. It means you still have some conscience and know that 'murder' is wrong," Li Aoz said calmly. "If you were not aware of your past sins, I would immediately grind you into mincemeat and seal you in a two-dimensional space, where you would be eternally trapped between the states of life and death."

"... You've decided to forgive me?" Nefes frowned, looking puzzled.

"Of course. I have the power to do so; I can kill you anytime."

Li Aoz stated frankly, "In pursuit of my goals, I may have killed no fewer innocent civilians than you. But the reason I forgive you is not because I pardon your crimes, but because: you are now afraid, uneasy, and feel guilty—this shows that you have developed a personality. This means that you will no longer be controlled by the company."

"... and one more thing."

Nefes stared into Li Aoz's gray eyes, whose gaze was very calm.

It wasn't the kind of detached calmness one displays, but rather the way one treats ordinary mortals who pose no threat.

She opened her mouth and asked the final question:

"Lioz, I don't understand, why are you granting me my freedom?"

"I used to be Gabros, with outstanding Combat Power. Given your current situation, you also need Zeta-rank (6) powerhouse to join you."

"From the perspective of maximizing efficiency, you should enslave me and turn me into a subordinate or a fighting machine."

"I'm not a capitalist; I don't need someone to support me to survive."

Li Aoz had his hands in his pockets, looking completely nonchalant.

"I have no intention of imprisoning anyone's personal freedom. As you have seen, with my power, even Narrative-level Civilization can't do anything to me right now."

"But your planet..."

"That's not my stronghold, I don't care that much about it."

Li Aoz glanced in the direction of White Candle Star and casually said, "A place like White Candle Star is nothing to me. It doesn't matter if it's destroyed."

[You have committed a lie, and your [Charm] attribute is being assessed...]

[Specialty: "Compulsive and Autocratic" activated!]

[You passed the charm test; the other person believed your lie.]

"I see."

Nefes nodded. Li Aoz's calm and composed attitude didn't seem feigned; the natural divinity emanating from him indicated that he had already delved deeply into the realm of divinity.

—The group shouldn't have touched Lioz...

Nefes thought to herself.

—Lioz has no weaknesses. Lioz is a Deified Person with little humanity. It is pointless to try to threaten him with hostages.

However... there's no need to report this information to the group anymore.

Nefes stood under the starlight, but her mood remained unchanged.

Even after killing Nalia, she didn't feel any relief, because she never had those emotions to begin with, and her hormones had already been dealt with.

She may appear to be a humanoid being, but inside, she is already a bio-monster.

"Free..."

Nefes murmured, "I have never, ever felt anything like this before."

She lowered her head, spread her hands, unsure of what to do, and simply stood there blankly, confiding to Li Aoz: "... When I was very young, maybe 4 or 3 years old, I was taken out of the tribe. The elder took the money from the company and then gave me a stick to participate in the fight."

"It seems like I was thrown into a dark cave, and then, in order to fight for a piece of bread, I had to fight against Tomac Man-eating Worm, against Pronghorn Spirit Deer, against Electric Bird, against my younger brother, against my older brother... In the end, my sister and I survived."

Li Aoz was somewhat surprised. Nefes in his previous life had no backstory; it was only because of its overpowered strength and overpowered template that it became a hot topic among players.

Once the version was updated, her limelight was immediately overshadowed by the new BOSS and level, and no one bothered to investigate her background anymore.

Now, Nefes recounts her origins in her own words.

"... My sister and I, the two of us, have been fighting all the time. In order to survive, we asked to learn all kinds of skills: climbing paths, piloting spaceships, seizing weapons, assassination, demolition, interrogation, counter-interrogation, and infiltration."

"We live in a huge cage, like a beehive, densely packed with children selected from remote planets. The company arranges us like an assembly line, calmly and methodically selecting, training, and transforming us into warriors in batches, and then sending us to participate in various battles to kill civilians..."

"For a long time, we weren't called by our names, but rather ' Gabros.'"

"In the language of dragons, this word means 'executioner'."

Nefes said without any emotion:

"Our bodies are modified, glands are removed, we lose our vital organs and emotions, and then nanomachines are implanted to control our minds. If we disobey or develop self-awareness, we are given an electric shock—the cells in our body release an electric current instantly, causing every inch of our muscles to lose control."

"I once saw with my own eyes a Gabros that was electrocuted for dozens of hours because of its defection. Its muscles were completely relaxed and necrotic, and it eventually drowned in its own excrement."

"My sister and I... I can't really remember what she looks like or her name. I only remember that during a loyalty training exercise, I was ordered to fight her to test my loyalty."

"She didn't beg for mercy. In her eyes, I could see that I had the same cold expression as her—then I raised my hand and snapped her neck. The leaders who were inspecting the area laughed and applauded, and ordered me to dispose of the body and personally sink her into the dissociation fluid. After that, I peeled the silver armor off her body."

"Etc--"

Li Aoz was taken aback, then immediately realized something. "... Have you been wearing her armor since then?"

"Yes," Nefes said calmly. "To demonstrate my loyalty, the administrator made me wear the armor of my sister, whom I killed with my own hands, and gave me a nickname."

"—The Silver Armor."