Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power - Chapter 350

Chapter 350: Chapter 350: Is it worth it?
Chapter 350 – Is it worth it?

Kaden held the limp body of Aurora tight between his arms. He felt the coldness of her body, a coldness deeper than anything he ever felt…a coldness that gave him a chill despite the warmth of his own body.

His face was blank as he looked at the sightless eyes of Aurora, still looking at him with a smile.

A smile that didn’t disappear even after her death.

A smile that hurted Kaden more than he ever imagined.

His tears were running down freely from his cheeks, yet no sound escaped his mouth and no emotions could be seen inside his crimson eyes.

Kaden’s Will was shattered.

In the face of the death of a loved one, Kaden was no longer the one who made a god helpless in the face of his Will.

Right there, in the middle of nowhere, he was no longer Prometheus. He was simply a child mourning the death of the one he loved.

A death caused by his own inadequacies.

‘I-I was the one supposed to save you.’ Kaden thought brokenly, looking at the eyes of Aurora, inwardly hoping that those eyes would regain their starry luster and begin to look at him again.

He hoped. He truly hoped.

No, Kaden did more than that.

He did something he had never done since he was born.

He prayed.

He prayed to any gods, any Wonders, any demons, anything and anyone…he prayed for them to return the life of Aurora.

He was ready to do anything. He was ready to bear the weight of the world if needed. But just…just…

‘Return her to me…’ Kaden’s tears fell faster, his face soaked with them. None could properly see him.

He sensed his Origin warming considerably, the previous pain that swallowed him steadily disappearing while at the same time letting place to something Kaden could not begin to fathom yet.

He began to hear a distant voice calling out to him. It was loud yet muffled. Something was shouting his name, telling him to wake up…but Kaden didn’t hear.

He only kept Aurora tighter to his body, hoping that the warmth bathing his own flesh could enter her body and chase away the coldness of death.

He was hoping too much it seemed. Something only mortal and weak beings would do.

But wasn’t it what he was?

A mortal? A weak being?

One who failed his words to save someone? And worse, at the end that person lost her life to save him.

At that moment, Kaden wished something he always wished.

He wished death.

But this time…he wished True Death.

He was tired. He was exhausted.

He thought himself strong and steady. But he was not. So let him go.

Let him di—!

“KADEN!!!!!!”

Kaden’s eyes snapped open at the booming voice reverberating inside his skull.

“Kaden…Kaden…please…” Reditha began to whimper and weep, her body made with crimson stars as she hugged him tightly from behind.

‘S-Since when was she here?’ Kaden absentmindedly asked himself.

“…don’t die, Kaden.” Reditha begged him, while behind them Shamsi was just minutes from them, “don’t abandon, Kaden. You cannot allow yourself to die!”

Kaden looked at Reditha, yet his eyes were somehow still empty. The pain inside him only intensified.

Just minutes ago, he was suffering because Reditha was dying. And now he was suffering because Aurora decided to die so that Reditha could come back and for him to live.

‘Is it worth it?’

“It is, Kaden!” Reditha didn’t know what to do anymore.

Kaden seemed completely lost and broken. She had never seen him like this.

Never.

But she knew that if there was anything that could make him come back…

“Your family is waiting for you.” Reditha whispered, and Kaden finally began to regain himself.

“Your father, your mother, your sister, your brother…” she listed, and Kaden trembled more and more, “you have Lady Meris, you have Lady Inara, you even have your fiancée Lady Rea to make up for everything.”

“You have your friend Asael, and his daughter to meet. Did you forget? You said you will be the best uncle for her.”

Kaden’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly.

Reditha smiled painfully seeing her master finally aware of his surroundings, of himself.

Shamsi was now almost here.

So she pressed, for Kaden had received a burden. He must bear it.

It was unfair for her to make her master already carry a heavy burden after such a mental breakdown, but there was no choice.

Aurora had given everything to him. So…

“You must honor her, Kaden. Bear her burden, bear her existence, bear everything she was.”

“You can allow yourself to cry, Kaden. But you cannot allow yourself to die.”

“You can allow yourself to feel low, Kaden. But you cannot allow yourself to abandon.”

“Kaden Warborn…” Reditha called, her tone weirdly firm.

“Y-Yes…” Kaden answered weakly.

“Your life is no longer your own. And it will never be your own ever again. That’s your fate. That’s your burden. So get up and bear it.”

“Aurora thought you worthy to give everything of herself to you.”

“She said you are honorable. So honor her.”

She paused, then slowly…

“Stand up, Kaden. You are not done.”

Kaden began to stagger back up, still holding Aurora. He swayed and fell. He gritted his teeth, then put Aurora on the ground and closed gently her eyes.

He tried again to stand up. Behind him, his Mark of Burden glowed with blinding intensity.

[Mark of Burden has activated.]

[Aurora Starborn has sacrificed her whole existence to you.]

[You bear her Will, her Intent, her Origin, her life…her whole existence in its entirety.]

[The intensity of Aurora Starborn’s love for you was unfathomable. You have gained access to the very core power of the Origin of Stars, Vesper Asterion — The Knower of Stars.]

[You now have the power to obtain the power of one star whose name you know.]

The notifications paused, then…

[You know the name of one Star.]

[Name: Aurora, The Star of Love and Sacrifice.]

[Abilities: Star Sword, Aurora’s Eyes (passive), Eyes of Crimson Stars (transferable), Aurora’s Embrace.]

Kaden was now fully standing, his body enveloped by a blinding crimson light. A light so bright that it shot toward the sky and pierced the overwhelming darkness surrounding the whole Empire.

The darkness parted away hastily, as if afraid of the light.

There in the sky, one crimson star began to glow. The glow was so bright that the whole Empire began to be bathed in it.

All the folks started to get out of their hiding to look at that one star.

That one single star.

They didn’t know why…but tears began to run down their cheeks at the sight of it.

Shamsi stopped a couple of steps from Kaden, her eyes dilating. Behind her, Soleil finally arrived in what was Silver City, his whole body burned completely for some strange reason.

Kaden’s appearance began to change, as the power of Aurora finally crystallized inside him.

He felt a clicking sound inside of him, inside his Origin, and he felt Reditha closing her eyes in euphoria.

[Your Origin has evolved.]

[Your Origin has reached Mythic rank.]

[Kaden Warborn, you are now a Myth Holder.]

Kaden’s hair shifted and became black, the tips of his hair now starry crimson. His red eyes remained the same, except now they were shrouded in blinding stars in a mesmerizing fashion.

Behind him, his Mark of Burden, inside the Black Sea, now bore a star etched on it with the name Aurora written in runic language.

Kaden stood tall. He raised his head and rested his eyes upon Shamsi.

The Empress unconsciously took a step back, her heart skipping a dangerous beat.

She felt a deep seething terror inside her at the sight of his eyes. No, not only that.

She felt death. She felt inside the crimson starry eyes of Kaden the inevitability of her death.

‘Shamsi! Run! You will die!’ Blanche warned her contractor, feeling the abnormal power radiating from Kaden.

Shamsi might not have noticed it because of her weakness and her clouded mind, but she could.

The scene at that moment was anything but normal. Blanche could feel the weight of the situation and the shift in the tapestry of fate and destiny. This was the birth of a Myth.

And a Myth with obscene power.

She shivered once more, ‘Who is he? WHO IS HE?’

Blanche was losing her mind.

Yet as expected, Shamsi didn’t run, “I am the Sun.” She growled, taking one step ahead, “I AM SHAMSI APOLLONIA ASTERION! I AM THE SUN! I AM AN ASTERION!!!”

The whole Empire began to hear her scream, and it trembled.

Shamsi rested her searing unwavering eyes upon Kaden,

“If I am ought to die. Then I will die as a Sun. As an Empress. And not like a coward. And I will take you with me, Prometheus!” She growled as her body began to glow with incandescent light.

Shamsi could feel her death, and at her level of power that was a sign not to take lightly.

So she would put everything on the line.

Her soul, her Origin, her Intent, her Concept, her Title, her body…her whole existence.

And she would explode everything and…

“I will bring you with me, Prometheus! I WILL BRING YOU WITH ME!!!”

Behind, Soleil kneeled, waiting for his death while crying golden tears.

Kaden, meanwhile, was facing something.

{Aurora Starborn, Lady of Stars, is dead.}

{You have changed her fate of dying miserably as a puppet. Now she died on her own terms, and she lives within you.}

{It’s an end worthy of a star.}

{That’s satisfactory, Heir of Death.}

{You have completed—!}

‘I am not done.’ Kaden interrupted The Will and imposed his own Will over the world around him.

In one frightening instant, Kaden’s overwhelming Will shrouded half of the Empire.

‘I am not done yet. I cannot go back without finishing.’

He raised his hand to the sky.

The Sun Empress’s eyes at that moment were wide with fear, for she felt that she could no longer move. Her existence was completely frozen by the Will of Kaden.

An Elderling. She was an Elderling, yet a man still at the cusp of Grandmaster made her freeze?

It was shocking. But not at all. With the event just now…Kaden’s Will had taken the next step.

Blanche cried out in horror at the Will, ‘THE SLAVE?’

Kaden closed his eyes next, and the world became silent.

In the sky, the crimson star began to rain down crimson starlight upon Kaden. They coalesced and formed the shape of a woman with a smiling face and mesmerizing starry eyes.

The woman wrapped her arms around Kaden, and put her chin on his shoulder.

A tear fell down on Kaden’s cheek, and starlight began to form a sword shape inside his raised hand. The sword was the exact copy of Reditha.

The space around began to crack and shatter.

Kaden opened back unhurriedly his starry crimson eyes, then…

“I accept your burden.” He whispered. The starry woman behind him smiled even more, then slashed downward.

The slash was slow yet impossibly fast and landed on The Sun Empress instantly.

Her body was severed in perfect half, soundlessly. And yet that was not the end.

The whole Celestial Empire was cleaved with her, followed by a burst of crimson stars that shrouded the sky, where the face of a woman could be seen smiling down on the Empire.

The folks watched while crying. They did not know why, but they knew they were mourning.

They were mourning The Last Star.

Thus, the Sun Empress died.

But at what cost?

—End of Chapter 350—