Ye Chen lowered his head to look at Jietisikoki's "corpse," holding his breath in silent concentration.
Jietisikoki, mangled beyond human recognition, continued speaking with calm composure:
"I am not some isolated case. I am a symbol."
"A symbol of human nature—or rather, a symbol of humanity's evil desires."
"Once anyone gains power, they will always want to do something with it."
"And that is how I, the Butcher, came to be."
"And then, even if you destroy me, so what?"
"So long as creatures like humans have not gone extinct."
"One Butcher may fall today, but tens of thousands, millions of Butchers will be born in the future!"
Ye Chen answered in a low voice:
"The Holy Light will not allow such an outcome to happen."
"Setting aside the external enemy that is the Abyss, our current social system is highly mature."
"It is completely different from the 'old world' you speak of!"
Upon hearing this, Jietisikoki let out a sinister, rasping laugh.
"Hehehe..."
"That is only because Angrinonde, through the Church, has put dog collars around all your necks, isn't it?"
"Otherwise, without a true god watching over you, do you think you 'subjects' would really all conscientiously obey order?"
"What's more, even with the Holy Light, this true god, supervising things from behind the scenes, doesn't the Church still send death-row prisoners to the Academy every year to help those students train by killing?"
"By that logic, even with a god disciplining it, this society is only this much. Doesn't that make it all the more beyond saving?"
Ye Chen paused for several seconds before answering again:
"Because the existence of the Abyss has tied up all our energy. However, once Havijordan is completely eradicated a year from now, the Church will surely have the capacity to