186 Self-Destructive Tendencies

Looking at Yuan Chen in front of him, Ne'Zuk's face was full of surprise and uncertainty.

But after a moment of silence, Ne'Zuk finally shook his head and said:

"Forget it. If the Void has truly arrived in Ixialia, it proves that the gears of fate have begun to turn, and who you are is of no use."

"... What's the meaning?"

Upon hearing Ne'Zuk's words, Yuan Chen frowned in confusion:

"You don't seem to care about Ixialia's safety at all?"

"Ixialia's safety?"

Upon hearing Yuan Chen's words, Ne'Zuk scoffed as if he had heard a joke, and said with a mixture of annoyance and coldness:

"How can you know the despair I endured if you haven't faced the true Void? Give up. Runeterra won by chance a thousand years ago, but a thousand years later, the Void will only be more ferocious. Using the entire material realm as a measure of destruction, Ixialia is merely a large grain of sand within it."

"... Are you scared?"

Upon hearing Ne'Zuk's words, Yuan Chen raised an eyebrow:

"Was it destroyed along with the Monolith Fortress, and also with your pride?"

"Ha! Your reaction is exactly the same as Yuan Chen's!"

With his arms Ne'Zuk sneered as he leaned forward, his gaze towards Yuan Chen filled with disgust as he said:

"High above, seemingly in control of everything! But you know nothing, you have no idea what we see in the Void!"

"It wasn't some powerful creature, nor some extraordinary evil spirit; what we faced wasn't death—death is irrelevant! We know! We all know!!"

"That's pure nothingness!!" Ne'Zuk glared at Yuan Chen, as if he were staring at a bystander who stood on the shore watching others save lives and then pointed fingers and said things shouldn't be done this or that.

"It was all over long ago, the outcome was predetermined from the very beginning. More tragic than death, it's like... there was nothing at all from the start."

Ne'Zuk was unusually excited. Yuan Chen knew that it was not fear or unease, but the despair of everything being proven wrong.

It's as if humanity has found the end of pi and discovered that everything in this world is artificially constructed.

It's as if nothing in the world is random or accidental; the framework of all the ideas, theories, and thoughts that constitute civilization has collapsed—no, not collapsed, but never existed in the first place.

"The moment the first rift in the material realm connected with that sea of nothingness, we ceased to exist!"

Ne'Zuk looked at Yuan Chen with a pitiful expression:

"Everything... is meaningless."

"Destroy them all! Destroy them all!"

Ne'Zuk roared, and with the roar, his skin was once again covered in a repulsive dark red.

This made Ne'Zuk even angrier.

The material and spiritual realms influence each other.

Even though Ne'Zuk has now escaped the curse that resides above the soul and is no longer tormented by constant being torn apart, his physical form will still continuously influence his projection in the spiritual realm.

Faced with this alienation, the enraged Ne'Zuk once again opened his claws, tearing at his own flesh.

Seeing this, Yuan Chen did not wait any longer. Instead, he decisively dispelled the state of consciousness fusion and banished it from his mental space to the outside world once again.

Ne'Zuk could actually resist this process, but Ne'Zuk clearly knew something about Yuan Chen.

Or perhaps it was because Ne'Zuk himself deeply loathed his Dark Descendant form that Ne'Zuk didn't resist, but simply left.

This relieved Yuan Chen.

Although Ne'Zuk is currently filled with negativity, pessimism, indifference, and even a somewhat self-destructive "let's all die" attitude towards resisting the Void, it is clear that Ne'Zuk still retains his rationality.

However, this kind of rationality is no longer a good thing...

Beside him, watching the blood-red light flash out from Yuan Chen's body once again, King Yuen took a deep breath and then silently tightened his grip on his staff.

Upon opening his eyes, Yuan Chen shook his head at King Yuen:

"Ne'Zuk has regained his sanity... but he has long been overwhelmed by everything he has seen."

Seeing that Yuan Chen was unaffected by Ne'Zuk, King Yuen breathed a sigh of relief, but then asked with a puzzled look:

"Crushed? What does that mean?"

"You can ask him yourself."

Yuan Chen raised his chin at the writhing blood-red light in front of him and said with a hint of helplessness:

He can see and hear you right now. It's just obvious he doesn't want to talk to you.

Yuan Chen considered many possible outcomes, such as failing to awaken Ne'Zuk's consciousness completely collapsing during the awakening process, or Ne'Zuk forgetting a large amount of his memories after being awakened, just like Styraatu.

Now, feeling the intense self-destructive tendencies of Ne'Zuk, Yuan Chen also felt inexplicably powerless.

The self-destructive tendencies born from such intense despair cannot be easily resolved with just a few words.

This can be seen from Yuan Chen's brief exchange with Ne'Zuk.

Titled with wisdom, rationality, and enlightenment, even after thousands of years of torment, he has never forgotten his past glory, demonstrating the intense pride within Ne'Zuk.

However, when Yuan Chen and Ne'Zuk were talking, even when the words were sarcastic or belittling, Ne'Zuk did not try to refute them.

Pessimistic, negative, low self-esteem, self-limiting, questioning one's abilities and achievements, lacking confidence and initiative, unable to resist negative feedback, constantly negating oneself and even everything that was once a source of pride...

This all indicates that Ne'Zuk is gradually losing its ability to self-regulate.

Even those who are arrogant, short-tempered, or easily angered can still communicate and cooperate through provocation.

But now, this complete abandonment and self-destruction, this mentality of wishing the world would end quickly, is ineffective against anyone.

"Although I've long known that those in this world who possess extraordinary power tend to be somewhat obsessive and deeply ingrained, this kind of..."

As they were talking, after a moment of silence, Yuan Chen shook his head and said, "Perhaps we simply cannot understand what he has seen and endured."

Meanwhile, King Yuen, who had overheard Yuan Chen's words, appeared utterly bewildered.

Unlike Yuan Chen, who viewed "awakening Ne'Zuk" as an opportunity to turn the tide of battle.

Located in Yishuaoken, the scholars who remained there truly believed that once the ancestor Ne'Zuk awoke, the current situation would change.

And now...

Ancestors.

King Yuen's voice trembled slightly as he spoke:

Have you really abandoned us?