"That's right. As long as you're dead, none of this will ever happen again."
"So…"
Yide pulled out a sharp blade.
"Then please—go die!"
He suddenly lunged at Elliot's neck.
However—
The blade stopped right at Elliot's Adam's apple. Just one more centimeter and it would have pierced through.
Yide's hand was locked in Elliot's grip, completely immobilized no matter how much force he used.
Everyone froze in shock at the scene.
The bearded man also sensed something was wrong—he had just been about to twist the little girl's neck.
At that moment, Elliot slowly opened his blood-red eyes.
In an instant—
Death blanketed the entire ship.
The overwhelming aura blasted everyone's minds into complete blankness.
Their bodies trembled uncontrollably.
The primal instinct of death overpowered their reason, seizing control of their limbs.
They wanted to flee, but their legs had already gone limp.
In their eyes—
He…
was like a supreme demon god who commanded death itself, laughing wildly upon a throne built from mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
The karma Elliot had long suppressed finally seized full control of his body.
That suffocating killing intent was something no mortal could possibly endure.
"A bunch of worthless scum."
His eyes snapped wide, and the crushing pressure of a ruler descending upon his subjects crashed down without mercy.
In an instant, every pirate's heart on the ship burst apart.
"The mortal who suppressed us for years… defeated by these pitiful underlings."
"How laughable."
Elliot's crimson eyes narrowed as he clenched his right fist, letting out a cold, disdainful snort.
…
Before long, the pirate ship returned to Watatsumi Island.
Everyone on the island had already armed themselves, ready for the worst.
This ordeal had hardened them—they would never so easily trust outsiders again.
As the ship's anchor fell, the islanders gripped their weapons tightly, eyes fixed on the vessel with resolve in their hearts.
Then, Elliot appeared before them, exuding a terrifying aura.
Though his presence brought some relief, they couldn't shake the feeling…
that Elliot… had changed.
"One dead. The rest alive. Come find me yourselves."
Spreading his wings, Elliot left those cold words behind and vanished into the void.
Before anyone could react, he was gone—utterly, as if he had never been there.
But there was no time to dwell on it. One by one, the islanders boarded the pirate ship.
Soon, joyful sobs echoed across the vessel.
…
At that moment, Elliot slowly opened the wooden door of a hut and lay down on the bed.
"Trash who traffic children… breaking through your so-called impenetrable defense."
"Should I call you weak… or strong?"
"This time, I'll let you go."
"There won't be a next time…"
He closed his eyes.
When Elliot opened them again, a stabbing pain lanced through his head.
His mind was hazy, chaotic memories splitting his skull with agony.
Fragments of memory scattered like a scrambled Rubik's cube, each piece needing to be set in place one at a time.
Enduring the searing pain, he began piecing them back together.
The break began from the moment he first saw the pirate ship.
He worked carefully, until—crack. A violent wave of pain shattered the memories he had just restored, scattering them even further.
Breathing hard, heart pounding like thunder, his pupils dilated.
After a long pause, Elliot tried again.
But each time, the memories broke at the same point.
Once. Twice. Three times…
After countless failures, he finally made it past that moment.
Yide's words struck again and again, breaking through his defenses. But each time he picked himself up, his will grew stronger.
Still, the process was brutal—enough to grind a man's heart into something cold and mechanical.
He didn't know how long it took, but at last, Elliot pieced the lost memories back together.
"I've… fallen so far… that I needed karma to save me?" he muttered with a bitter, self-mocking smile.
"Don't fool yourself. We simply couldn't stand those people."
"We'll take this body with our own power—not by letting trash like them shatter your mind."
"Rest assured, there will be no next time. If you let them break you again, your soul will be locked in the abyss forever."
"Pathetic mortal—you can withstand our overwhelming assault, yet let a few worthless worms destroy you."
The voices of his inner karma echoed one after another.
Though it was true they had resolved the crisis this time, Elliot still refused to give them even the smallest chance to surface.
"I'll… atone for this."
At that, Elliot slowly rose to his feet.