Strongest Hammer God

Chapter 1080: Ultimatum

Kyle remained silent for a while.

'Or am I just coping?'

'What if Swamp Dragon promised the Overseer something in exchange for our lives? What if he placed some kind of dummy body in another Elemental that looks like me?'

'I wouldn't put it past Swamp Dragon to also sacrifice himself if it means that the plan succeeds.'

Silence.

'I don't know. Are they all still alive or are they all dead?'

Kyle didn't even know what he was feeling anymore.

Hope, hopelessness, betrayal, hatred...

He looked at the countless tiny Karmic Lines and focused on their color.

Yet, two Karmic Lines had stronger colors than all the others. The colors of these two lines represented goodwill.

Two people out there wished Kyle all the best. In order to feel such goodwill for someone, one had to know the other person.

'Everyone is connected by Karma. When a line is cut, a new one is formed, but the new one will be far weaker than the old one.'

'These two lines must be the new Karmic Lines connecting me with Sebastian and Fierce Breaker.'

'They are most likely still alive.'

Yet, Kyle couldn't be completely sure. The world had recovered by now. What if two people had heard about him and somehow felt intense emotions for the image they had painted of him in their minds?

'If this is a ploy, why has Swamp Dragon also cut his own Karmic Line? He should know that I would become suspicious. If he had left his Karmic Line intact, I wouldn't even have thought of the possibility that Sebastian and Fierce Breaker might have cut their Karmic Lines.'

'Is it a message? Does he want to force me to choose? Does he want me to willingly follow his schemes?'

Kyle felt intense refusal when he thought about doing what Swamp Dragon wanted him to do.

'But this wave of Energy can't be faked. Swamp Dragon can't launch such a powerful wave of Energy. I've seen its effects. I've seen it destroy over a hundred Major Elementals. Not even a Three-Infused Ascendant can launch such a devastating wave of Energy. Even more, the Elemental Energies are still in chaos, which means the destruction stretches further than I can sense.'

'Either the Overseer has really killed Sebastian or...'

'She's working with the others.'

A dark feeling of isolation rose in Kyle's chest.

'It went from us against her to them against me.'

'If that's so...'

'I'm truly alone.'

Kyle looked at the two Karmic Lines. If he hadn't known the Law of Karmic Causality, he might have believed that even the colors of these Karmic Lines were fake.

Yet, he knew the Law of Karmic Causality, and he knew how difficult it was to fake these colors. One would need to brainwash oneself to genuinely feel these feelings, and that was far easier said than done.

'What's your plan? What's your true goal? What did you actually do?'

'Are they dead? Are they alive? Are some of them dead?'

'If you had spared your own Karmic Line, I would have fallen into the depths of hatred and despair. The Gate of Death would have appeared.'

'Why risk your plan failing?'

'Or did it actually fail, and the Overseer just killed you accidentally?'

'The more time passes, the more certain I am that everyone's still alive. After all, I'm still alive. If I were the Overseer, and if I wanted to destroy anyone hiding in the Elemental Dimension, I wouldn't overlook a singular Major Elemental that just so happened to survive my attack.'

'This confirms it. They're working together.'

A dark and foreboding feeling rose in Kyle's chest.

'Now, I can see your angle. You've promised the Major Law of Death to the Overseer. However, you wouldn't give it to her directly but by using me as a proxy. You told her that I would enter, and she cooperated.'

'But what if I refuse?'

'In that case...'

'The Overseer would kill all of you, and I would lose all of you for real. If the fake death doesn't work, maybe a real one will.'

Kyle gritted his teeth.

'Swamp Dragon!'

'Follow you, or everyone I value will die! Is that it?!'

'You've pushed the choice onto me! If I refuse to follow your plan, I will be killing Sebastian and Fierce Breaker! I have the power to save them! I could save them!'

'I just have to do what you want me to do!'

'But that's not a choice but an ultimatum!'

Kyle's entire body shook with frustration and hatred.

BANG!

The Elemental around Kyle dispersed, and he appeared in the Elemental Dimension with his human body.

There was still a chance that Kyle was wrong and that his friends were actually all dead. Revealing himself like this would be suicidal.

'But who gives a shit?! If everyone's already dead, what's the point?! Who would I be fighting for?!'

"Overseer! I'm here!" Kyle shouted, his message traveling through the Elemental Dimension via Energy fluctuations.

"He revealed himself," the Overseer commented from beside Fierce Breaker and Swamp Dragon.

"Just as you have predicted."

Swamp Dragon's expression didn't change. "This is as far as my predictions go," he said. "Ever since the Will of Death has arrived, the future has been set in stone. I believe the biggest reason why the Will of Death has stopped you is me. He saw how I led you to your doom. He saw that you will die with 100% certainty unless he intervenes."

"He doesn't like it when someone is controlled by someone else to such a high degree. He wants everyone to have some degree of freedom."

"If I want the Gate of Death to appear, I can't force Kyle. If I had spared my Karmic Line, it would have appeared, but the Will of Death might have interfered once again. I must let Kyle know. The Will of Death knows that I know these things. He has revealed his plan to me openly and clearly."

"And, as always, I will walk in the direction he wants because it is the direction I chose to walk in."

"Kyle does not have the same luxury. I can not control reality to the same degree. He has two choices, and he doesn't want to choose either one."

"I wish I could grant him the same kindness the Will of Death has granted me."

"What will you do, Kyle? Will you choose to sacrifice everyone, including yourself, or will you choose to sacrifice only yourself?"

The Overseer silently listened to Swamp Dragon as she watched Kyle.

Kyle waited.

He didn't receive an answer.

'There is no way she didn't hear me, which means I was correct with my assumption,' Kyle thought.

'I have a choice.'

'If I choose to resist, everyone else will die. If I still refuse, the Overseer will try to drive me into the depths of despair until I either summon another Gate of Death or die. All secrecy is gone. My life is in her hands.'

'I have a choice, but is this truly a choice? An ultimatum and a choice can be considered as the same thing, but they can also be considered vastly different.'

Kyle's body lost all power as he looked upward into the nothingness.

'What do I want to do?'

Kyle listened to himself in silence.

Faces, memories, and experiences shot through his mind.

He wanted to refuse. Fuck Swamp Dragon! Fierce Breaker might also be an ass, but that wasn't set in stone.

Sebastian's face shot through Kyle's mind.

'Swamp Dragon didn't expect you to survive. I've saved you by risking my life and jumping into the unknown.'

'And now, he's using you against me.'

Kyle looked down.

'But you've also chosen to follow him.'

'You were complicit in this scheme. You knew what would happen.'

Kyle felt a deep sense of betrayal.

'Out of all of my companions, you're the only one I haven't betrayed before.'

'I guess this is how my other friends must have felt back then.'

Kyle remained silent.

'If it weren't for you, I would say fuck this world and everyone in it.'

'Despite your betrayal...'

Kyle closed his eyes.

'I still don't want you to die.'

A fluctuation traveled through the world.

A gate appeared in the Elemental Dimension.

Kyle's eyes opened weakly, and then...

He lifelessly floated towards it.

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