Chapter 368: The King Who Kills Others, The God Who Kills Himself - Finale
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 368: The King Who Kills Others, The God Who Kills Himself - Finale
The death commanded by the Golden Lord drew near to Peru. But just before it reached her…
The ceiling and floor stopped, just for a moment. In the Golden Palace, which moved according to the Golden Lord’s will, this meant only one thing.
The Golden Lord was hesitating.
He had seen something in the dying Peru. He saw it, felt it, but the Golden Lord could not skillfully put the feeling into words.
His original, Demo, had never understood humans; it was too much to ask the Golden Lord, a homunculus created to rebuild the Golden Empire, to articulate human emotion. So let me put it into words for him.
I can’t read his thoughts. But one doesn't need mind-reading to understand another person.
If the Golden Lord was modeled after a human, then the same would apply to him.
“You feel a certain… reluctance, don’t you?”
My Unique Magic, Finality of Gold.
I drew a card across the wall. The once-solid fortress wall was sliced through like tofu. This was a feat only possible because we were in the Golden Palace, and because I was applying the Golden Lord’s power to Peru’s Unique Magic.
A shiver ran through me as I wielded the forces of both creation and destruction, cutting my way into the Golden Lord’s world. I stepped inside the Golden Palace itself, speaking to him directly so he could no longer look away.
“A human who loves her country, no matter how ugly and filthy, and acts for its sake. Only to be abandoned by the king she respected and followed, now on the verge of death. She resembles someone, doesn't she?”
The reason the Golden Lord couldn't kill Peru was simple.
She reminded him of his original self, who had died so miserably. On the brink of death, abandoned by the one he had trusted and followed, he felt a sense of kinship.
The ceiling and floor vibrated ominously. The Golden Lord stuttered as if something inside him had broken. His voice dragged, drawn out. After a long moment of deliberation, he tossed out a single phrase by way of an excuse.
[…It is different.]
“How is it different?”
[This country is not the Golden Empire. I am not her king. Her circumstances, too, are different from mine. The differences… are too many….]
Of course they were. This wasn't a regression; things couldn't be identical. If they were, it would only lead to the same result.
But pointing out a few differences was proof that similarities existed. Whether he wanted to or not, he couldn't help but see them. And once you find them, they’re all you can see.
“That’s a fair point. Shall I tell you another difference?”
[…What is it.]
“The one making the choice isn't Elric. It’s you.”
He’s been through it once, so he should be better at it this time. There’s a reason the world values experience. I wondered what choice he would make in this situation.
“You were abandoned once and went through hell. You plunged yourself into endless guilt. Even death was no escape from your suffering. But in truth, that was what the country did to you. You were simply sacrificed for its sake.”
Even with the power of the Golden Lord and Peru’s Unique Magic, my own meager mana only allowed me to affect an area the size of a single card. After a great deal of trouble, I finally reached the same floor and walked down the dark corridor until I stood before Peru. I stopped a few paces away, wary of the power of Wither, and shouted to the Golden Lord.
“It’s not fair to always be the victim, is it? So I’ve created the same situation. Now you’re the one doing the abandoning, for the sake of your country!”
Her ragged breathing was slowing. It felt as if Peru’s life could be extinguished at any moment. With her lying before me, I pressed the Golden Lord for a choice.
“Decide what you will take with you to the nation you will build, and what you will leave behind. Choose.”
If he let Peru die, he would be affirming the death that had come for him. If he saved her, he would be showing room for compromise. What would the Golden Lord choose?
The deliberation was not long. It couldn't be. Peru’s life was like a burning fuse, and a decision had to be made before time ran out.
Tinkle. A bell chimed. Seeing a light approaching from the far end of the corridor, I smiled.
The Golden Lord was walking toward us, bell in hand.
Even a Divine who used the lives of others—and his own—as material could not deny himself. The moment he saw himself in Peru, the outcome was set. To abandon her here would be to affirm his own abandonment in the Golden Empire.
The Golden Lord crossed the corridor in an instant. He placed the golden bell by Peru’s head and sat beside her. The Alchemical Glow shimmered over her dying body.
Peru’s hands and feet, ravaged by the power of Wither, were stained pitch-black. Blood, not air, passed through her punctured lungs. Those parts of her body could no longer function. Amputation was the only solution, but the Golden Lord filled them with something else instead.
He had already completely mastered the mechanical structure of a human. His homunculi had been imperfect because other parts were lacking, but in terms of function, they surpassed humans.
One look at the Golden Lord himself, a homunculus moved by his own consciousness, was proof enough. As long as there was a will to move the flesh, his homunculi would be no different from real humans.
The Golden Lord used alchemy to repair Peru’s broken parts, as if to assert that humans were no different from machines.
“…Ah, ugh.”
That assertion was proven when Peru’s eyes fluttered open. She gasped for breath, looking up at her king.
“…My Lord.”
[Do not misunderstand. My will to rebuild the Golden Empire remains unchanged. I have merely kept you alive.]
The Golden Lord said, looking down at Peru with cold eyes.
[The rebuilt Golden Empire will need someone to carry my words to the outside world. With the Dominarch gone, you can take his place.]
“…Lord Hector.”
[You will have to follow me as well. Alchemy is the power of change. Your body is now filled with it; you will not be able to stay outside the Golden Palace for long anyway.]
With parts of her body replaced by external matter, Peru was now little more than a machine in need of adjustment. From now on, she would have to remain by the Golden Lord’s side.
But Peru did not fear him. Still not fully conscious, she reached out and took his hand.
“…Thank you for your kindness. It is shameless of me, having received such mercy, but.”
It was not to shatter his hand with Wither. Peru placed her hand on his and pleaded.
“…Could you not show this kindness to others as well…?”
[I cannot. The Golden Empire will be rebuilt.]
His voice was firm. But having saved Peru, a crack had appeared in his resolve. Unaware, Peru pushed at that opening.
“…If you would grant a place for others in the Golden Empire you will create.”
[They are not citizens of the Golden Empire.]
“…They lived on the lands of the old Golden Empire. They are the sons and daughters of its people. They simply make their living with alchemy instead of metallurgy… They are no different.”
[There is a difference. They are not the Golden Empire.]
The cold, resolute answer was repeated several times. Peru, breathing heavily, asked.
“…How can it be a nation if there is no one in this land…?”
[They are not needed. I will create them.]
“…Is a nation filled with homunculi the Golden Empire? What… is the Golden Empire…?”
[The Golden Empire is.]
The Golden Lord, about to answer, suddenly stopped. A look of confusion appeared on the face of a being who had realized one of the greatest truths and ascended to the level of the Divine.
The ideal Golden Empire he sought to create was a utopia where diligent homunculi cultivated a beautiful land. He had acted personally to hunt down and kill all the dholes gnawing at the nation and to create a country that would prosper forever. He had intended to alchemize the entire Fallen Dominion.
[The Golden Empire is….]
But now, hearing Peru’s question, he was faced with a fundamental doubt.
What is the Golden Empire?
“The Golden Empire? It’s an illusion.”
I did cheer him on. I admit I might have pushed him a little to create it. But you never know until you try, so it couldn't be helped.
If you don't try, you'll never even know it's impossible.
“It’s funny how humans get so hung up on things they don’t even understand. It’s not just concepts like faith or good and evil; they don’t know what a nation is, but they define it as they please. They’ve never even seen it properly, yet they act like they know. No matter how much a mere beast cries out for an ideal, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s an illusion.”
Caught in his doubt, the Golden Lord looked to me for an answer.
[The Golden Empire is not an illusion. It certainly existed.]
“Because you believed that, I had no choice but to support you. Even though I knew it was a wish doomed to fail.”
As I’ve said before, the Golden Lord doesn't know what the Golden Empire is. He wanders from country to country, saying he’ll build it, fix it, all without knowing what it is. The biggest problem he creates stems from that ignorance.
Even the Golden Lord, who became a Divine by realizing one of the greatest truths, has not escaped the grand delusion created by the Saintess of Origin.
“Let me ask you again. Have you ever seen all of the Golden Empire? Have you taken in all its territories and facilities with your own eyes? Have you interacted with all of its people? Do you understand how it functioned?”
[One does not need to see everything to create it. One only needs to grasp the principle that runs through it.]
“Don’t be mistaken. You’ve only grasped one of the great truths. Do you think the truths that make up nature are the same as the concept of a nation, something created by humans? Not at all! How can something so haphazardly made by creatures that are fundamentally beasts be so beautiful and intricate that it has a single, penetrating principle? That’s not the Golden Empire. Your Golden Empire?”
I answered him with a sneer.
“It’s just a name you’ve given to the time when you were happy, something you long for as you please.”
If you’re a beast, you should think like a beast. But their clumsy attempts at thought only lead to misunderstanding.
“It’s a box to hold your feelings, isn’t it? Longing and happiness, love and friendship. You put all the good times you experienced into a box and call it the Golden Empire. The bad experiences and painful memories, you label them as sin, or responsibility, or the Fallen Dominion, and shove them aside. Then you keep watching that beautiful time capsule called the Golden Empire, longing for it. And in doing so, you delude yourself.”
Even if he has realized a great truth, he is still human. And what humans create is not perfect, because humans are not perfect.
Even the relic born from that truth is capable of such a human delusion.
“What you truly want is that happy time. You act as if rebuilding the Golden Empire will bring it all back.”
It was pathetic. There was no way it could ever return.
“The Golden Empire is gone now. King Elric, its people, its identity—they’re all gone. Some of it, you destroyed yourself. As long as alchemy exists, the metallurgy that sustained the Golden Empire no longer holds the same value. There’s no way it can return as it was.”
What is lost cannot be reclaimed. All the Golden Lord could do was find a new happiness.
He would have to find something better than creating a doll of King Elric and seeking comfort from her. Mental self-gratification is no different from burning happy memories as kindling just to stay warm. The little match girl’s fire may seem warm, but it's just an illusion that vanishes like a mirage when you open your eyes.
“Escape the illusion and return to reality. Start by seeing what’s in front of you, hearing what’s in your ears. Listen to the words of the human who has come so close to your side.”
The Golden Lord followed my words.
The Primarchs. Those who carried on the progress of alchemy. The Golden Lord’s disciples, and the few beings who could communicate with him.
Peru had risked her life to finally reach him.
When his disciples came to him, the Golden Lord would build them a Juggernaut. He would gift them, free of charge, a mechanical device filled with dreams, designed to suit their abilities.
What meaning was there in that? Was he simply imitating King Elric? Or did he enjoy it himself?
A monologue receives no reply. Perhaps the Golden Lord, being so far beyond others, welcomed those with whom he could have something of a conversation.
[…I think I understand, just a little, why His Majesty took on disciples.]
Muttering that one phrase as if in reminiscence, the Golden Lord did something.
I couldn't read his thoughts, so I didn't realize exactly what he had done. When I came to my senses, the entire landscape around me was collapsing. The Golden Palace crumbled like a waterfall, flowing to the ground as rubble. It felt like the world was ending.
As I was buried in the debris, I screamed internally.
Ah, what a terrible time to be unable to read minds.