The "human" seemed alive, yet a strong aura of 'death' enveloped him, causing Roy to furrow his brow!
"Why are you so indifferent?"
"Watching your wife being eaten like that, aren't you sad or upset?"
Roy had many questions to ask, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he couldn't say anything... His past life taught him that when facing the evil in the world, where people's hearts aren't what they used to be, one should adhere to the "three commandments" in life....
"Respect others' destinies, let go of the urge to help, and avoid self-pity,"
especially now, in the crisis-ridden Dark Continent, don't listen to what you shouldn't listen to, don't see what you shouldn't see, don't ask what you shouldn't ask, but...
As a "human," as someone who pledged to his great-grandfather to be a light in people's hearts, Roy stepped forward... With a sudden extension of a "hundred-meter blade," he pierced through the magical beast that was "like a tiger but not a tiger," with a lion's head!
[Hint... "Life Energy" +30....]
[Demon Inventory Recorded....]
[Liger: C-class magical beast, has been killed!]
[Innate Telekinesis "Ferocity" extracting.....]
[Hint: Extraction complete.....]
["Ferocity": Trading "rationality" for a substantial increase in "Nenryoku"... The more "ferocious," the more powerful, yet also more insane....]
No madness, no survival... Did this liger become insane because it ate too many people... or did it choose to eat people because it was insane?
Roy caught the liger off guard with a "Divine Spear," tossing it aside like trash, smashing it into several large trees, finally... with the thunderous sound of trees falling, he walked out of the swirling dust, approaching the half-eaten old woman....
He squatted down, extended a hand, invoked a strand of "Nen" attached with [searing truth], turning it into a flame, enveloping... cremating....
"Dust to dust, soil to soil, cloud and moon to cloud and moon, Lady Nora Lawrence, may you find bliss in the afterlife, should there be a next life, live under the sun, undisturbed by darkness and dirt....."
With a light blow by Roy, the flames instantly surged!
Nearby, the elderly man who was numb and dazed, like a fish on the chopping board awaiting the knife, finally reacted. He turned his stiff neck, staring blankly at Roy, and the wife slowly being melted, moved his throat weakly asking, "How do you know her name?"
Old Mark could swear to the "storm" that never in his life had he seen this young man with thick and beautiful black hair before him.
"She... told me herself....."
The fire burns... the flames leap.....
Roy never glanced at Old Mark, allowing the "Nen" attached with [searing truth], to cremate the old woman... When the last bone fragment disappeared... a hunched figure appeared in the fire... She had kind eyes, just like the neighborly grandma... lifting her skirt slightly, she bowed to Roy,
then turned her head to old Mark with a smile, reminiscent of when they met, fell in love, and knew each other in their youth... Making old Mark's once numb heart, suddenly twitch, and with his face densely lined with wrinkles, finally unable to control himself... Tears rolled down his cheeks...
"So that's how it is,"
"I thought it was someone, it was you who told him, Nora..."
The old woman remained silent, only caressing Old Mark's face with infinite affection, never expecting that her hand would pass right through his body... After the flames, they were already separated by life and death....
"Heh heh... don't worry, I'll be joining you soon......" Old Mark laboriously raised his head, bearing two streams of hot tears, smiled at Roy saying, "You killed that beast, now I can't die... Young man,"
"take that beast's place, kill me!"
Old Mark's neck strained visibly... Roy turned around, frowned staring at him, momentarily, falling silent....
He knew the old man wasn't joking, he was serious... But precisely because it was true, it felt like a fishbone in Roy's throat, leaving his heart shrouded in mist....
He had lived through two lifetimes, whether in the Hunter World, Demon Slayer World, or Hokage World, he had always seen people struggling to live, it was his first time encountering... someone yearning desperately for death...
The young man silently made eye contact with the old man for a moment, then grumbling, asked, "Why?"
Old Mark reached to hold his old companion Lady Nora's hand, exchanged a glance, smiled saying, "There's no reason, only if we die, can our granddaughter, little Marty, survive."
Little Marty?
Using [En], the [Mental Bug] squirmed along the nearly tangible causal line, sinking into Old Mark's heart... Under this ruined and gloomy sky, Roy stayed watching... He saw little Marty, a little girl with hair as dark as dead grass... also,
He saw Old Mark and Lady Nora's past... Their struggle to survive, yearning to obtain an "admission pass" to move into Bander City, to get away from the slums... Their desperate toil for meager pay, monthly deductions under various "tax reasons" by the mayor's mansion, compelling them to sell "Nenryoku" to survive... Their son's illness, unable to afford treatment, leading to his heartbreaking passing... Their daughter-in-law's compelled entry to the city for money, vanishing thereafter in despair... Their granddaughter, their friends, all their everything... forming a huge hellish picture....
This painting is filled with suffering, it is the majority of rejects like Old Mark's family!
After hitting rock bottom... first abandoned by the Seven Gods for "disrespecting the divine," then further exploited by figures headed by the "House of the Coloreless" security group... Born as consumables, nothing more!
Roy walked along the desolate furrows of Old Mark's broken heart, silently witnessed his life, eventually discovering the answer to why the duo sought death....
The "House of the Coloreless" Bander City had an unspoken rule, also... a "redemption" given out of compassion from those security group leaders inside to fellow outcast citizens outside, that is—
[Die before entering the city by forty]
[And die inside a magical beast's belly]
[Once confirmed dead, securing their descendents, granting the chance to enter a citizenship test]
Old Mark and Lady Nora aimed for this, to trade their death for little Marty's "life," at least... Once inside the city, little Marty might obtain better job opportunities, even... if she finds her missing mother inside, Old Mark and Nora would... die without regret....
The painting rolled to its conclusion... In Roy's silence, he saw Old Mark and Lady Nora deceivingly telling little Marty to gather mushrooms for her soup, and thereafter, without hesitation, leaving the slums, leaving Bander City's protection, never looking back, resolutely venturing into the New Moon Forest.....
Roy felt a tremor in his heart, empathizing with their experiences, entering Old Mark's shoes, for the first time, tasting "happiness"... That was the beautiful vision of their granddaughter being able to enter the city to lead a decent life... also, it was hope!
"Creak—"
The painting of Old Mark's life stopped here.
The Mental Bug absorbed enough "negative emotions," burping fully... squirming back into Roy's body....
Promptly, the panel hinted—
["Negative Emotions" +300%... Automatically stored in the "Unconscious Domain"....]
Roy took a deep breath, refocused, facing Old Mark's neck in a plea for death... reversely struck with a blade....
Severing the arrow wreathed with [Shu] stabbing towards his back!
"Hehehe... Where did this wild monkey come from?"
"Dare to meddle in the security group's affairs?!"