Cyrus drew his sword to the side, it erupted in golden fme.

  I summoned Walpurgis Festival to my side.

  "Utopia, has everyone evacuated?", I asked.

  "[Yes, Your Majesty.]", he confirmed it.

  Very well...

  I can go all out.

  "Utopia, keep a record of all of the data that might get destroyed here."

  I tapped the cane into the pavement. In an instant, hundreds of magical circles appeared around Cyrus and fired.

  But to my surprise, he charges through.

  I switched out the cane with Quirinus. Imbuing both sword and nce with Maloce and Delusion—

  I am already fast, in Argent Overdrive I am even faster without neuro dey, and then the speed buff from Marmyadose...

  The ending was swift.

  I came in front of Cyrus before he even noticed, I sliced off both his arms, stabbed him in the chest, performed an upward spin, and cut off his wings. Then I stabbed him—

  I hesitated.

  My arms trembled slightly...

  And I stopped...

  Cyrus tumbled down, crashing into another wall...

  Ah...

  I just can't kill people with my own hands.

  It's not like I despise killing but with humanity...

  It is hard. This situation is simir to Ghenghis Khan, but I was already prepared to fight them...

  But... I feel like he isn't like any other Juries of Earth I know. He is someone far stronger and better in a way.

  "Why... did you not finish me?", Cyrus' voice echoed.

  "Because without a lot of preparations... I can't bring myself to kill humans.", I showed a decrepit smile, "It's hard..."

  "You are a cruel being, Argent Monarch.", he let out a hollow ugh, "Is this as far as your resolve go?"

  "I am the defender of humanity. I am unable to end the life before my eyes...", I stare at the two weapons in my hands, "I wanted to be better than this, I wanted to be swift... all I know is cruelty and malice."

  The memories I lost, everyone around me treated me like I was uncontrolble. They were right. They tried to change me, through force at first, but as my power grew they tried to be gentle.

  In the end...

  Nothing changed.

  "A cssic dilemma of Regression.", he got out of the rubbles, his arms were covered in fme and were regenerating, "Those with Regression can never change, no matter what. So, for a ruler who cannot change no matter what."

  He hit me with a question.

  "What can you do?"

  The answer...

  I already knew.

  "Keep on living my way, even if I don't accept this detachment of mine.", I stated, "I cannot betray myself."

  So I will keep on struggling.

  That is what it means to be human.

  "I am the Argent Monarch of Humanity, I know how evil humanity can be. From the cycle of violence inseparable from our nature. But humanity is much more than that..."

  I pointed Marmyadose at him, "Tell me, do you agree with my view of humanity, being a king yourself? Can humanity strive beyond the system the World pced on it? Personally, I don't see a way to escape it, but I am welcome to be proven wrong at any time."

  For my Imperfect Paradise... please...

  "You are desperate.", he hit the right mark.

  Yes, I am desperate. The destiny of humanity is something I cannot control, whether it leads to destruction or something more... I cannot tell. But I hope that humanity will strive further.

  "I had confirmed what I wanted.", he nodded to himself, "However..."

  In an instant, the building behind him was cleaved apart.

  No... no!!

  I dropped both of my weapons in an instant. My halo switched to gold and vender.

  "Phantasmal Denial!!!"

  I trapped the space in front of me in a bubble, frozen in time. Cyrus stares at me, unaffected by my power.

  "So you do care.", I can feel him smiling mockingly, "Goodbye."

  And he left in a storm of golden fme...

  Finally, Vd came rushing in.

  "What happened?!", he yelled at me, obviously thinking I was the culprit.

  "No time to talk, do you still have the Philosopher's Stone?!"

  Phantasmal Denial is an explosion-type of power, I can't hold it for long...

  Vd immediately switched his stand, "Yes, what do you need to do?"

  "Left pocket, take out the blue paper and pce the stone on it.", I instructed him.

  He followed my order, not minding the pressure of my Soul literally crushing him and making him bleed, taking out the blue paper and unfolding it, pcing the stone on the Alchemical Ritual Circle.

  "Think about healing and restoring biological damages!!", I cannot hold on for long.

  Almost instantly, from the blood-red stone, tendrils of blood came out— I canceled Phantasmal Denial. The tendrils immediately came inside the destroyed building.

  I also use this chance to send out Reverie Sludge, covering the entire building in bck oil-like goo to support it.

  "Go in, rescue the people.", I commanded.

  Vd nodded and came inside the building

  Never again will I leave without being fully armed. Being caught off guard two times was enough.

  Taking off my trench coat, I snapped my finger, summoning Solomon from the Gate of Akasha. The strips of fabric wrapped around me, forming a trench coat. I equipped Gatine, putting it in my holster.

  With Reverie, I made a scabbard and put Carwennan inside it. Putting on Incognito Zero as the st piece, I've fully equipped myself.

  The Treasury of Monte Cristo is another matter, for combat effectiveness, it is very situational. The green fme of vengeance is weaker than Judgement, but it's more painful so it has value in torture.

  "Hah... the situation is not good...", I facepalmed, "At least that's all for—"

  Utopia cut me off, "[Your Majesty, a swarm of drones is sweeping over former China territory. I have identified them to be German in origin.]"

  Ah, finally, some good news.

  "Let them be. The matter of mankind itself, I cannot intervene.", I smiled, heading inside the institute as Reverie began to repce and fix the broken building.

  I saw Vd standing in front of several people lying down... their vitality is still there but...

  I closed my eyes and shook my head.

  "The fire of Judgement can burn the soul itself.", I stated.

  Seeing the repair is almost finished, I deactivated Argent Overdrive.

  "But I can try a few things. Can you give me their names?"

  Vd nodded and gave me the names I needed. I didn't need to do that, but this was a good chance to convince him about my goodness.

  I closed my eyes and entered the Library. It has been a while since I got the Book of Akasha.

  I spoke the names of the people, collecting their books.

  Hah... if the Soul is the problem, can't I just cut off some bits of my Soul? The Soul of the Akasha is theoretically infinite.

  But seeing that I didn't just colpse into a bck hole, there must be a limit.

  I summoned a sword made of Justice Mist...

  And I stabbed myself, cutting off some extremely tiny bits of my Soul... yeah, this is painful as fuck.

  With my silent commands, the bits flew into the books, imbuing them with pieces of my Soul.

  I opened my eyes, returning to reality. In my hands was a sack of books.

  "Pce these books on the correct person, the name should be on the spine.", I stated as I put the books down on the ground.

  "Will this method work?", Vd looks at the books skeptically.

  "I don't know.", I admitted, "This is the best I can do."

  The rest is up to them.

  "To make up for today, I'll give you another Philosopher's Stone and the recipe to make the cure, no strings attached.", summoning the Book of Akasha, I pulled out another Philosopher's Stone, "Utopia, send over the recipe for the cure."

  I turned around and left.

  Because I was happy.

  Very happy.

  The Second Great War is about to start.

  Rhaps