What is power?

Is it the ability to command others? The capacity to influence the state of affairs of an entire populace? The authority to cause people to bend to your will?

Alaric had all of that as the child of a Baron, having two powerful parents who doted on him.

He was a golden boy!

In his Household and the entire Barony, no one could tell him what to do.

Everyone knew who his parents were!

The Baron and his wife wielded unimaginable control! All bowed before them, and as their son, he enjoyed all the benefits—wielding what he considered as immeasurable power.

But… one day…

"W-we greet the Earl!"

… He watched his seemingly invincible parents bow before a much more powerful figure.

—An Earl!

His worldview was shattered at that moment.

The Baron had power?

What power?

All of his parents' power was instantly snuffed out by a higher authority.

The older he became, the more Alaric got to know about the world. He realized the hierarchy of power, starting from the Slaves, to the Commoners, to the Low Nobility, then to the High Nobility, with the Royal Family standing on top. He also came to learn that his Baron Household was merely at the bottom of the High Nobility.

There are a thousand Barons in the Randalorion Kingdom—his family was not special at all.

The Earl that his parents bowed to was only one step higher.

After an Earl is a Viscount.

After is a Count.

After is a Duke… and after is the Royal Family.

Royalty… is that what true power means? Could that be what he was lacking?

If he managed to get into the Royal Family's circle, perhaps he could actually possess the power he thought he could have as a child.

Because of this desire, he hatched a plan to get the Princess's attention.

… But that was a foolish mistake.

"How amusing…" The voice of a man within flames spoke as he looked at the only two survivors who knelt before him, disregarding the scorching heat within the blazing expanse.

Damon Aditi, the lowly scholarship student… and the powerless son of a Baron, Alaric.

Everyone else was dead.

An Earl's daughter, a Count's niece, a Duke's nephew… and even the Princess of the Kingdom.

They were all slaughtered like animals—cut down as though they were pigs.

Everything was in flames, yet the entity within it didn't hold a hint of reverence or sympathy in his voice. A portion of his face was marred with burns, as though one with the fires of destruction, but he smiled without restraint.

He had just taken the lives of the most important students in the Academy, yet he felt nothing.

It was no different from squashing an ant.

Ah… it was a mistake.

Trying to visit this haunted place was a mistake indeed, one that Alaric unknowingly made.

But, perhaps it was also his greatest opportunity.

After all, within that despair, he got to witness what he had sought his whole life: POWER!

True power—in the form of a man.

A Leviathan!

"So you want to be a Leviathan? It's simple…" The man sneered as he watched Alaric beg him, while disregarding Damon, who had already fainted as a result of inhaling too much smoke.

"… Witness Apotheosis."

Those words sent a spark into him, starting his journey into the depths of darkness.

The man—no, something more—vanished after this.

He was no longer a man in Alaric's eyes.

Such a being… was a god!

Alaric walked out of the fire safely, dragging the only other survivor out to ease his mind of the great sin he committed that night. To save himself from scrutiny, he blamed their adventure on one of the dead nobles, and his accomplice—Damon Aditi—had to corroborate the story.

They never caught the culprit behind the wild fires.

How could they?

What could men do against a god?

"When will I become like that? Like him…?" After indulging in a myriad of memories, Alaric slowly opens his eyes, feeling an emptiness within him.

A hollow hunger creeps inside, and he feels his weakened body shriveling up.

"When will I become a Leviathan?"

Slowly, his head moves, and he raises it up, seeing the bright red light above him.

Then, he feels his body slowly lifting.

The walls of flesh around him shift, and the cocoon of darkness bursts. All the warm liquid has already grown stale and cold, and now they splatter everywhere.

Like a flower in bloom, the fleshy walls part, unveiling the naked Alaric.

His thin, nearly skeletal frame is revealed to the crimson world, forcing him to shiver due to the sudden exposure to the cold.

"What is… this?" He mutters, his wide eyes gazing at the world, "Where am I?"

His skin tightly clings to his bones, and his massive head no longer has a strand of hair. His eyeballs appear large, as though about to be removed from their sockets, and his morbidly emaciated frame gives him the appearance of a veritable skeleton.

He can barely be called a human at this point.

The lower half of his body is still attached to the fleshy monster, but all else becomes exposed.

Now several feet above the ground, he is elevated above everyone else. They watch him from afar, and he also has the range of vision to see all the chaos around him.

The corpses… the Rot Worms… the living… the dead.

He sees them all.

Then—

"What… have I become?"

—He sees himself.

His vision turns blurry as his breathing becomes shaky while staring at his own two hands.

Half Magivore… Half human.

That is what Alaric sees with his bulging eyes.

Not a Leviathan.

Not a god.

"Have I… become a Monster?"

Indeed… what currently floats in the air, elevated above all else, is nothing like what he was promised. There was no enlightenment, no exaltation, no Apotheosis.

No reward for his decades of tireless effort!

"I failed… in the end…"

Silence.

The chilly breeze beats his naked flesh as the brilliance of the crimson lights shines brighter.

"UARRRGHHHHHHH!!!"

His anguished scream pierces the air, so raw and pure that all the bliss he felt earlier seems like an illusory dream… a bad joke.

"I FAILED?! AFTER EVERYTHING?! WHY?! WHAT DIDN'T I DO RIGHT?! WHYYY?!"

No one answers.

"WHY DO YOU HIDE YOURSELF FROM ME, GOD?! WHY CAN'T I BE LIKE YOU?!"

No one…

"WHERE IS MY REWARD? TRUE POWER! WHERE IS IT?!"

… Answers.

The painful despair is evident on Alaric's face as his eyes squeeze out the last drops of tears his failing body can muster.

While he weeps in anguish, the vines around him lash out, causing more chaos and destruction.

But, there is only rubble within range, so their actions are as significant as a child kicking sand: they make no difference whatsoever.

It is all meaningless.

Deep pain.

Unimaginable agony.

Endless despair.

Such is the reward for one who diligently seeks god and wishes to tread that path.

Alaric sees that now… but it is already too late.

His madness has disappeared, and without the blindfold of insanity, he has one final moment of clarity as he remembers everything.

Alaric casts his gaze below one final time, and amidst the crowd, he spots Damon Aditi looking at him with sheer horror. Since he went through his notes, he is well aware of Damon's obsession with the same entity.

'Give up… Damon…' His thoughts flow quietly. 'Such a power… is not for us to have.'

Just as day is not night, and beasts cannot turn into plants.

So also are men not allowed to become gods.

"Men…" With a loud cry, Alaric howls into the air, his voice ascending far into the heavens and deep within the earth.

"… Cannot be Leviathans!"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

In that moment, his body self-destructs, scattering blood and gore everywhere.

The instant he dies, the brilliant crimson pillar shatters apart, turning into tiny specks before fizzling out of existence. As for the giant body of the Cadre 4 Magivore, it begins to wither, rapidly deteriorating.

The wilting process takes only a few seconds before everything suddenly gets pulled into a strange vortex at the very center of the explosion.

It appears as though space collapses upon itself, leading to an implosion of some kind.

All the dispersed energy is absorbed.

Everything returns to its source, leaving no trace element behind.

As this happens, all look up and witness the grandiose sight unfolding before them. Complex feelings rise up within them as a ray of brilliance shines upon the world.

Strange.

It has barely been an hour past midnight, yet dawn appears right at that moment.

All the Rot Worms disintegrate as the glorious sun slowly peeks above the horizon and blesses the world with its brilliance.

The Royal Academy, at this moment, witnesses reprieve, and the first sigh of relief seeps out.

It comes from none other than Damon Aditi.

"He perished due to the incompatibility between himself and the Magivore. If it had been a Beast-type Magivore, the synergy would have been better, hence he would have lasted longer. He may not even have perished and could have become something… new."

Despite muttering those words, his tone seemingly indicating what a shame this sight is, he still has a smile on his face.

The worst is over… and the threat has vanished.

Everyone is saved.

************

I watch the brilliance from a short distance.

Alaric Duskryn… I saw him emerge and look at the world.

I saw his madness.

I saw his pain… his despair… and his regrets.

I also heard the last words he spoke before his final descent into complete destruction.

Men cannot become Leviathans.

This…

Right now, unrecognizable feelings rise within me.

'If Uncle Damon had tested the experiment on himself, could he also have become like this?'

I can only ask myself this question as I stare at him from where I stand.

My uncle's obsession never ended in my past life, but I can only hope that things are different this time around. At the very least, with my eyes now fixed on his kneeling figure, I can only hope he moves on from this path.

If he doesn't, perhaps the same fate awaits him.

In the end, Alaric desired to transcend the realm of humanity and became a monster instead.

His pursuit of power brought about his destruction.

I don't wish that for Uncle Damon.

But—

What about me?

As the days go by, I slowly realize how impossible my dream of freedom is. Without power, it is but an ideal that only exists in my head.

To achieve freedom, I need power—far more than I currently possess.

I also do not want to give up on this dream of mine.

And so I am afraid.

One day… will this pursuit of freedom also bring about my end?

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