"My name was Casper."
"My parents chose that name because they hoped I would grow into someone steady, persistent, and capable of seeing things through to the end."
"I lived up to their expectations."
"I really was persistent."
"Back in elementary school, I studied hard and worked constantly. I got into a reputable middle school, then a good high school, and eventually even entered an excellent university."
"I wasn't like those geniuses who could effortlessly memorize every formula and immediately apply what they learned to new problems."
"I was just an ordinary person."
"Other than being unusually persistent once I committed myself to something, I had no particular talent."
"Everyone called me a genius and a top student."
"On the surface, I acted like I didn't care."
"But deep down, I was always happy to hear it."
"Then I entered that university and realized I was nothing special."
"There were many people just like me."
"Some were more talented than I was."
"Others worked even harder."
"I really wasn't anything extraordinary."
"That was when I realized how exhausting my old life had been."
"I stopped obsessing over earning better evaluations."
"After graduating from university, I found a stable job and began living an ordinary nine-to-five life."
"No girlfriend."
"No smoking."
"No drinking."
"I only cared about games."
"Because games were the only place where I could experience things I had never experienced before."
"Whenever I became completely immersed in a game, whenever I truly imagined myself as its protagonist, it felt as though I were living an entirely different life."
"That peaceful life should have continued."
"Then, for some inexplicable reason, I transmigrated."
"A System chose me."
"The System took me to another world, one from a game I had played before."
"It was a very standard hero-versus-Demon-King fantasy world."
"I used my knowledge of the plot to earn my starting capital and obtain several valuable items and pieces of equipment."
"Then I handed everything over to a hidden character from the game."
"In exchange, that character gave me a rare class-change template."
"After the System recognized it and I completed the class change, I crossed the boundary of ordinary life and reached the First Rank, surpassing ordinary mortals and the vast majority of living beings."
"At first, I treated myself like an adventurer."
"If I encountered someone who needed help, I helped them."
"Most of the time, I didn't even ask for a reward."
"A simple word of thanks was enough."
"Then I developed too quickly."
"I grew even faster than the hero from the original story."
"Because of that, the Demon King decided that I was the real hero."
"And then he killed me."
"Yes."
"I died."
"So why am I still here telling you this story?"
"Because before my consciousness disappeared, or rather, before my soul completely dissipated, a ghoul ate me."
"The System wanted to preserve me."
"So it fused me with that ghoul."
"Our consciousness and memories merged, creating an entirely new existence."
"I became a monster."
"A ghoul."
"My own flesh and brain matter were still smeared across my mouth."
"After becoming a monster, I no longer possessed the same moral principles as before."
"I also lost that instinctive sympathy and compassion."
"I ate the protagonist's entire party."
"Then I ate the Demon King too."
"Using the points I earned from completing numerous missions, I exchanged them for the Blacklight Virus."
"Then the virus devoured the ghoul."
"And a new existence composed entirely of the virus was born."
"I returned to my original world."
"I had only enjoyed a few quiet days when one of my relatives regretfully told me that my parents were dead."
"They had been run over by the spoiled son of a wealthy family who suffered from mental illness."
"Because of his condition, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment."
"In reality, he would have been released not long afterward."
"All I received was several million in compensation."
"My response was simple."
"I ate every living creature in that world."
"And just like that, I reached the Second Rank."
"Everything after that became repetitive."
"I spread the virus."
"I devoured."
"I evolved."
"Again and again."
"Until I met you."
The young man finished telling his story.
"It's a very cliché story."
"Nothing special."
"The kind of dull little descent-into-darkness story that most people would hear once and immediately forget."
Caelus stopped writing with his quill and looked at the young man before him.
"What is your name now?"
The young man froze for a moment.
Then he answered without hesitation.
"Blacklight."
"Blacklight, as in the Blacklight Virus."
"As for Casper, the protagonist of that story, he died a long time ago."
"He died at the hands of that Demon King."
"What came afterward was merely a ghoul carrying his personality and memories."
"And as for that ghoul..."
"I think you already know what happened to it."
"Even without that accident, you would have done the same thing, wouldn't you?"
"Yes."
"Did that wealthy young man really kill Casper's parents?"
The young man fell silent.
Despite how calmly and openly he had spoken until now, he said nothing this time.
"A ghoul does not possess ordinary familial affection."
"Nor does it possess ordinary human morality."
"Of course, inherited memories and personality can still restrain its actions."
"But the moment it chose to consume its own kind in pursuit of power, that personality and those memories had already begun to weaken."
"Then the Blacklight Virus killed the ghoul."
"It inherited the ghoul's memories and personality."
"And along with them, it inherited Casper's memories and personality."
"Allow me to make a bold guess."
"The only reason you did all of that was to give yourself an excuse."
"To give the remnants of Casper's soul a reason to completely stop resisting and finally fall."
"Isn't that right?"
After listening to Caelus, the young man calling himself Blacklight nodded.
He offered no rebuttal.
No questions.
No accusations.
He simply nodded calmly.
"You're right."
"I was responsible for Casper's parents dying."
"I controlled that wealthy young man and made him run them over."
"I also controlled his father and arranged for him to escape punishment."
"I did everything."
"And the only reason was to make that remaining soul finally give up struggling."
Caelus closed the book.
"From a human perspective, you are a complete monster."
"A monster that wrapped itself in something resembling humanity."
Blacklight responded with a deeply mocking smile.
"Coming from you, that sounds almost funny."
"Compared to me, aren't you the one who looks more like a monster wearing human skin?"
"In your eyes, what kind of beings are Ultramen?"
"They aren't carbon-based life-forms at all."
"They merely possess humanoid shapes and incomparably powerful abilities."
"Does that make them monsters?"
"What about beings who freely hurt others, take pleasure in their suffering and despair, and consider screams and crying the finest music?"
"Those are unquestionably monsters, aren't they?"
"A nonhuman existence can still be human if it accepts human morality and pursues the virtues humanity considers beautiful."
"Compared to you, even if I were only something wearing human skin with nothing but emptiness inside, I would still be more human than you."
"Besides, I possess love."
"And there is someone who loves me."
Blacklight remained silent for a long time.
Then he asked, "What is love?"
"It is the heart that cannot stop caring for someone."
"Farewell, Blacklight."
The power of the Finality of Unity manifested.
In a single instant, the concept known as Blacklight merged into the world.
The flesh fragments he had scattered throughout most of the planet's living creatures became part of their bodies, strengthening them.
His primary body became nourishment for the world itself.
For a long time to come, the resources of this planet would likely become considerably more abundant.
That included the fragments he had previously separated from himself and sent fleeing into deep space.
Those fragments had been completely disconnected from the main body, with no remaining connection between them.
The Blacklight fragments escaping through outer space, the pieces of flesh driven by nothing but the pure instinct to survive, had been Blacklight's true struggle for survival.
Everything else he had done, including the resignation and calm acceptance he displayed, had merely been another mask.
A performance designed to divert attention and conceal his real method of escape.
When Caelus had previously said that he could sense Blacklight's emotions, it had sounded as though he were merely exposing the young man's forced composure.
In reality, Caelus had been pointing out something else.
There had not been even the slightest fear in Blacklight's heart.
Only a pure desire to survive.
He knew.
And Blacklight had still done everything he could to keep acting.
All for the smallest chance of survival.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)