I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 186: A Merciful Death

“[Lineage Ending Nut Shot].”

Swish!

Plop.

Without hesitation, Aurus manipulated the sword of energy to slash at a certain part of Chonk’s body, a part most commonly known as the organ that allows one’s bloodline to proliferate for many generations.

Chonk’s nuts.

“AAAAAAAHHHH!!!” At the very instant both of his nuts dropped on the ground, surprisingly, Chonk was able to break free from the stun that Bell applied on him, opening his mouth as wide as possible as he let out a scream that seemingly pierced the heavens. Alongside that, the area where his nuts were cut off was bleeding profusely. Fortunately, Bell noticed this before he lost even more blood, piercing his proboscis on Chonk’s abdomen before injecting another foreign fluid into Chonk’s bloodstream.

“[Blood Manipulation Imbuement].”

“[Hemostasis].”

Whoosh!

And just like that, the flow of blood coming from Chonk’s nuts had stopped in an instant. Nevertheless, Chonk continued to scream out in pain since nuts have a lot of nerve endings. Add in the fact that his sensitivity towards pain was amplified by 10 times thanks to a foreign fluid, it would make sense that this would happen.

Herellia and Horell looked at Aurus from afar, both radiating an aura of fear after seeing what he had done to a vulnerable Chonk. Never once did they expect that Aurus was going to do that, making a mental note in their minds not long after to not get on his bad side.

On the other hand, Fenrir and Charisa looked at this as well, and just like Horell and Herellia, the two of them radiated an aura of fear, with Fenrir muttering, “I’m glad I’m on Master’s side. If I wasn’t…”

He then shook his head multiple times after saying it, not wanting to imagine what would befall him if he wasn’t on Aurus’s side.

Eventually, around thirty seconds or so, Chonk lost most of his strength to scream out in pain as his throat had gone hoarse, his scream gradually softening before it came to a stop. At this moment, his complexion had become pale. The fur on his body was not jade green anymore, it now took on a pale green color. His limbs were affected as well, buckling from the pain, but still barely holding on.

In that state, Chonk’s eyes focused on Aurus, with Aurus focusing his sense of vision back at him. It did not take long for Aurus to notice that there was some intent hidden in Chonk’s gaze, an intent of wanting to speak. After some time, he found out that Chonk lost most of his intent to kill him, being replaced with slight fear towards him instead.

Soon after, he sent a message to Bell through the connection they had, who still had his proboscis poking through Chonk’s abdomen. Obtaining Aurus’s message, Bell then muttered, “[Redirection: Torso].”

Whoosh!

In that instant, Chonk felt that something in his bloodstream gradually moved away from the muscles of his head, congregating towards his abdomen and limbs instead. He tried moving his jaw, slightly glad that he was able to do so. Not long after, Chonk looked back at Aurus, enduring the pain that was still lingering in his body as he asked him, “Why…did you do this…to me?”

“Well, you attacked our alliance,” Aurus replied to his question. Soon, he added, “Isn’t that enough of a reason for me to do such a thing?”

“Have you…ever wondered…about the reason…why I did it?” Chonk pondered over his response, asking this question soon after.

Hearing this, Aurus could not help but think about Chonk’s motives from a different perspective, taking quite some time to respond, “So…you’re saying that there’s a greater reason to this war other than becoming the ruler of Tempest Cliff?”

“I yearned…to reach greater heights,” Chonk answered his question, letting out a few grunts of pain here and there before continuing, “The peak…level of…a living being’s…existence…”

At this point, Aurus thought that Chonk declaring war against the three alliances was quite a selfish move, letting out a slightly disappointed sigh before telling him, “I presume the reason why you waged war against the three alliances is because your class has something to do with the Tempest Cliff, right?”

Chonk’s eyes slightly widened at Aurus’s response, muttering, “How…did you know?”

“Just a hunch,” Aurus soon replied. Not long after, his tone took on a hint of anger as he told Chonk, “Even though your class is related to the Tempest Cliff, you didn’t have to wage war with the three alliances, to be honest. Couldn’t you just ask them kindly about your plans? If you did that, then you wouldn’t be in this state.”

“…” Chonk was at a loss for words, thinking about Aurus’s words over and over again. It did not take long for him to realize…that Aurus was right. He had approached this problem at a wrong angle. With that in mind, he laughed out loud in a mocking tone, a mocking tone that seemed to be directed at himself.

Aurus and the others looked at this in silence, sensing the great melancholy that was radiating from him. While he was still laughing, Aurus teleported to where Fenrir and Charisa were, telling the both of them, “Let’s dispel the Ignis Zephyr Anima Form. It seems we don’t even need to use the forbidden art anymore.”

He then focused his sense of vision towards Chonk, uttering, “That wolf…has lost his will to fight already.”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

It did not take long for the aura emanating from the three to return to their original states. Coincidentally, Chonk was finished laughing, with his eyes fixated towards Herellia and the hovering Horell. After looking at them for quite some time, he then said something that made everyone in the area look at him with shock.

“By the looks of it…I’m undoubtedly…going to die…here. Let’s settle…our grievances…here and…now.”

Everyone in the area, except for Chonk, looked at each other, wondering if they had heard it correctly. Noticing this, Chonk took in a deep breath as most of the pain he felt subsided before saying once more, “Let’s settle our grievances here and now.”

With Chonk repeating his statement, Aurus then looked at Herellia and Horell, with Herellia radiating an aura that she was raring to settle their grievances. As for Horell, the aura he had was around the same as Herellia, just that there was a slight difference.

A hint of pity.

Aurus thought about this and concluded that it was understandable. Horell’s life was saved by Chonk, and here he was, on the opposing side of the one who saved his life. Horell did hate the fact that he was used as a tool by the one who saved him, but once Horell thought about it, it was akin to repaying for what Chonk had done.

Sensing that the aura emanating from Herellia had intensified quite a bit, Aurus looked at Bell and sent a message through the connection.

“Bell, dispel pain sensitivity. This fight is approaching its end.”

“Alright,” Bell responded through the connection, disabling the amplification to Chonk’s pain sensitivity before retracting his proboscis and hovering a couple of meters away from Chonk.

At this moment, Aurus held a bit of pity towards Chonk, knowing very well what aiming for the peak entailed. In that path, there were times where one would make mistakes, possibly getting tens…hundreds…thousands caught up in a disaster that they didn’t expect to befall them. But since Chonk was an enemy of the alliance, this was the least he could do out of pity before ultimately ending the enemy’s life, letting out a sigh as he told Herellia, “Go and settle your grievances, Herellia. You’re raring to go at him at this point.”

Whoosh!

Hearing those words, Herellia did not hesitate to dash towards Chonk at the shortest time possible, clenching both fists before sending a barrage of punches on Chonk’s vulnerable body. With each consecutive punch, the strength behind it gradually grew, inflict more pain on Chonk as time passed by.

Of course, with his pain sensitivity back to normal, the amount of pain he felt was now negligible. He slowly turned his head to look at Aurus, who was a decent distance away from him and gave him a look of silent gratitude. Nevertheless, the words let out by Herellia would inflict more pain on him compared to getting his nuts cut off.

“Why…why did you kill everyone in those two alliances?” Herellia shouted in a melancholic tone before changing her tone to that of anger. “What did they ever do to you?!”

“They were only minding their business, but you just went ahead and decided to wage war against them on a whim. Don’t you think that’s fucking stupid?!” Herellia continued to yell amidst the punching.

“Have you ever wondered what their expressions were like? What they were feeling? What they thought about while fighting against you? OF COURSE NOT! YOU KILLED THEM WITHOUT GIVING A DAMN AS TO WHAT THEY THOUGHT!“

“Sure, us Inanimates may not be on the same level as you Animates, but we still have souls, we have a conscience of our own,” Herellia muttered, her tone becoming melancholic once again before reverting to intense rage. “You did not even think about that, did you? You thought of us as some mere sticks and saplings that you could just break without worrying about the repercussions, right?”

“To me…” At this moment, Herellia stopped punching, retracting her right fist as multiple blood-red tendrils manifested near her right wrist, wrapping around the clenched fist like boxing gloves. She then channeled all of her aura towards her right fist, sending it out at her full strength.

“You’re just a murderer.”

“[Forbidden Sanguine Art: Crimson Spirit Zero].”

“[Repentance].”

Whoosh!

A large gust of wind had been formed from the punch, with Chonk closing his eyes in response to the feeling that this punch could possibly end his life. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, wondering why his body did not feel any pain yet, prompting him to open his eyes a few seconds later.

At the very instant he opened it, he saw that Herellia’s fist was only a few centimeters away from his face. After some time, the fist in front of him gradually shrunk in size as the blood-red tendrils covering Herellia’s fist shriveled up before she retracted it. Nevertheless, this did not stop her from radiating an aura of disgust towards Chonk, muttering, “I want to hit you so hard that it would kill you, but death wouldn’t bring back the souls of the dead.”

After saying those words, she turned around, with Horell gradually making his way towards him. At this point, a feeling of intense regret enveloped Chonk’s body. He had the intense want to turn back time. If he was able to, he would change his approach to attaining the peak into one that did not harm innocent beings in the process. Unfortunately for him, he did not have the power to do so.

Drip.

At the instant Horell had appeared in front of him, tears were already trickling down Chonk’s face, silently sobbing from the thoughts that were in his mind. Of course, this wasn’t left unnoticed by Horell, his aura gradually changing from hatred to pity as he sensed that Chonk was feeling regret over his past actions.

Nevertheless, Horell still had a lot of hatred towards the wolf in front of him, muttering, “Chonk, I don’t have much to say regarding making me as your servant since you saved my life. That was more or less a means of repayment for what you’ve done.”

“But have you ever wondered the feelings of those who you forcefully turned into servants?” Horell continued talking as a small ball of energy manifested above his head. Chonk did not notice this small ball at all, continuing to silently sob as he was apologizing in his mind, his sadness intensifying, knowing that his apologies wouldn’t bring them back.

“Have you ever wondered about the feelings of those that joined your army? Of course not.” At this moment, the small ball above Horell’s head radiated an intense aura of power as he sent it flying towards Chonk while saying:

“You only thought about yourself.”

Bang!

An explosion soon occurred on Chonk’s abdomen, snapping Chonk from his daze of profusely apologizing in his mind, sensing the pain that came from the explosion. Just as he thought that he would feel more pain from the explosion, it had abruptly stopped, with Chonk promptly looking at Horell, who was radiating an aura filled with pity at this point.

Without a word, Horell turned around, sending Aurus a message through a strand of energy, to which Aurus sent one back in response. Not long after, Aurus made his way towards Chonk, with Chonk looking at Aurus with a lamenting gaze.

Just as Chonk thought that Aurus was going to attack him with the strongest skill, Aurus spoke to Chonk instead, telling him something that made Chonk look at Horell with a look of slight gratitude.

“I understand your perspective quite well, Chonk. But alas, you truly have made the wrong choice,” Aurus said to him before adding, “Fortunately for you, Horell tells me to spare you. With this, you’ll get a new lease in li—”

Before Aurus could finish his sentence, Chonk sent him a strand of energy as he looked at Aurus with a gaze of expectation, saying, “I’ve killed too many beings already. I can’t live without regrets in this world anymore.”

“Please kill me instead.”

Hearing Chonk’s voice resound throughout his mind through the strand of energy, Aurus pondered over Chonk’s words for a bit before letting out a sigh. He then focused his sense of vision towards Bell who was still floating a couple of meters away from Chonk and sent a message through their connection.

“Bell,” Aurus said.

“You’re free to suck him up.”

“You sure?” Although Bell was eager to go ahead and suck Chonk dry, he could not help but think twice, wondering if it was truly okay to do so as he sent a message back.

“Yeah,” Aurus soon replied before adding, “That’s what he wished.”

“I won’t hold back then,” Bell replied before activating a few skills not long after.

“[Ranged Absorption].”

“[Vitality Siphoning].”

Slurp!

A few seconds later, Chonk felt his energy hastily being sapped away by an unknown source, prompting him to look at Aurus in front of him with eyes of gratitude, muttering two words before all of his energy was sapped dry.

“Thank you…”

Thud.

And so, on a fateful day, Chonk, known as the Demon of the Tempest Cliff by the Inanimates, fell to the ground near the base of the Tempest Branch Alliance with a thud, his remains being a dried corpse.

After the war, rumors had spread across the whole Tempest Cliff that Chonk wished to die after having a change of heart, but only a handful of beings knew what had truly happened.

Nevertheless, the War of Tempest Cliff had finally come to an end.

The Tempest Branch Alliance had won.