Published at 22nd of August 2024 6:52 am

Chapter 1048: The Key

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They listened to Riley. Butcher listened to Riley, Whiteking listened to Riley, everyone inside the Hope Guild's ship listened to Riley.

After all, what other choice did they have?

Even before, they already had no chance against him - how could they even hope to touch even a single strand of his hair now that Riley was capable of erasing universes? None of them knew that, of course. Riley was telling them as part of his story, but they couldn't actually just believe him outright.

"Wait - wait, no..."

And perhaps out of all of them, there was someone who truly refused to believe Riley's words.

V.

"What do you mean I turned into a junkie? I don't even smoke! I'm 16!" The youngest member of the Hope Guild, V, "And what do you mean I was sent to prison for killing millions of people!?"

"That is unimportant to my story, Miss Victoria."

"What the-why are you calling me by my name!? What the fuck is this!? Is this some sort of prank, guys?!" V, who was still inside her mecha was starting to leak dangerous amounts of electricity from her body, causing Bulwark to approach her and try to calm her down, "Was this your idea!?"

"No one is pranking you, child," Bulwark whispered before glancing at Riley, "And do you truly expect any of us to believe you? You know that I am married to Prophet, but you could have gained that information from your father - which we should also truly be arresting."

"We should hear him out first," Empress said as she stood close to Bernard, "He's a father, Bulwark. He believed he had to do what he had to do."

"That's bullshit," Vraised her voice, "We don't know how deep Whiteking is in all of this - maybe he is the mastermind in all of this and he raised that... that good-looking albino to be a murdering psychopath! You all said it yourself before we got here, you held him in your arms and he was a normal baby - he was brought up like that by him!"

"Children often develop lifelong trauma after..."

"Uh... guys? Can all of you like shut the fuck up first?" And as the Hope Guild started to discuss by themselves. Hera, who had been staring at Riley the entire time finally spoke up and stood up from her seat,

"I don't think any of you are seeing the case here - the dude literally just said that he needs to kill all of us. And I am just gonna say it since no one else would, but he could do that if he wants to...

...I can feel it through my bones. He can kill all of us with the snap of his fingers and we wouldn't even know we were dead."

"My son is not killing anyone," Bernard got in between all of the members of the Hope Guild, "He had already promised to go away and never come back. My son never breaks a promise I think the important factor here is that this is done. The threat of Darkday is gone, my son will leave the planet. And if you want to have someone paying the price for his crimes...

...then just tell them it's me. That I'm Darkday."

"None of you know the most important thing here."

And finally, Riley spoke up again, causing everyone to just shut their mouths and listen.

"I have already told you my dilemma, Father," Riley sighed, "Whether or not you believe it, doesn't really matter. I am only asking for your opinion. Which would you choose? I talked to Alice, and she told me that if I had to choose between the two, then I need to make a third option and choose both of them in exchange for my life - but as I have told everyone here, that is not possible since I can't die...

....I just need to hear your answer, and I will disappear from this reality forever."

"I..." Bernard opened his mouth, but no words could really come out of it. There were only whispers of a breath, but nothing more. It wasn't until he looked at Hannah, who was still completely unconscious and just lying on a table, that he was able to face Riley, "...The easiest and only answer should be your sister."

"T-"

"...Is what I should say," Bernard took in a deep breath, "But from the scenario you gave me - choosing one family over the next. A family that I love equally... then the only answer I could really give you is...

...I don't know."

"That is not very helpful, Father."

"It shouldn't," Bernard shook his head, "But you can be sure about one thing, Riley - I will not stop finding a way where both will live."

"That is still not very helpful, Father," Riley shook his head, "I have already resolved myself to do just that."

"That-"

"Is enough," Riley then let out a very long and deep sigh before he casually approached Hannah; brushing his hand along her hair before just taking a step back and shaking his head, "I know this Black Tower will connect me to Paige Pearson, but I truly can not proceed with this trial if it meant killing Sister - I suppose this is goodbye, everyone." "Riley...?" Bernard squinted his eyes, "You... are not going to kill yourself, are you?"

"I will," Riley shrugged, "You do not have to be so dramatic, Father. This is not the first time I will be dying, or killing myself for that matter. I can not die, and hopefully, I would actually be sent back outside the Black Tower instead of just reviving here and being forced to actually complete all of the trials. But then again, I would just have to wait for Sister to grow old and perish, and then I can proceed with the trial. Hm... interesting."

"Wait, Riley. Wait!" Bernard reached out his palms to Riley, "You don't have to kill yourself, you can just fly away, like you initially planned. Just... fly away."

"I would have, but I do not belong here, Father," Riley shook his head, "This is not my reality.

So..."

And as Riley raised his finger and pointed it to his head, Bernard gritted his teeth and quickly rushed toward Riley. V, however, quickly blocked his path.

"Are you really stopping Darkday from killing himself!? I won't-"

Before V could finish her words, however, Bernard pressed something on her mecha suit which completely shut her armor down except for the function limiting her powers, just

leaving her completely frozen.

"What the-Bernard!? Release this, now!"

Bernard was about to move away from V, but Bulwark and Butcher also blocked his path.

"Take another step, Whiteking, and I will not hesitate to slice your neck." "Listen to reason, Bernard," Bulwark whispered, "This is the only way we can truly get rid of Darkday."

"He is my son!" Bernard roared as he tried to force his way out, but could not do so. The only thing he could do was look at Empress, "You... understand, don't you? You understand."

"I... understand the pain of losing a child," Empress closed her eyes before walking toward him, "But Riley is evil, Bernard. He can't be stopped."

"W-"

And before Bernard could say anything else, Empress punched him right in the jaw,

completely knocking him out.

"Thank you, Empress."

"Shut up, I didn't do that for you," Empress's tears trailed from her eyes, "I did that for him. No parent deserves to see their child die, even if that child is you."

"Thank you, Empress," Riley still repeated his words, "And you did not fail, Empress - no one could have stopped Alice when she went insane and killed me. Everyone, good-"

"Wait, wait!"

"What... are you doing, Hera?"

Riley was about to kill himself, but Hera suddenly raised her voice; her almost wheezing breaths, whistling throughout the ship. Empress could really only raise an eyebrow as she watched as Hera very slowly walked toward Riley with both of her palms raised; beads of

sweat, showering her face.

"Don't... don't do it, Riley Ross," Hera gulped as she stared at Riley, "Don't kill yourself,

please..."

"Hera...?" Empress approached Hera, but Hera completely ignored her, "What are you

doing?"

"I feel it, I can feel it..." Hera took in a large gulp as she looked Riley in the eyes, "If... if you kill yourself... everything... everything will disappear."

"Oh..." Riley blinked a couple of times, "...I suppose that makes sense - this reality only exists in the Black Tower's trial. Without me, then it won't exist."

"Don't-"

"But I suppose that is completely different from killing everyone, since you would cease to exist like you did not exist in the first place. You do not have to worry, you will exist again like nothing happened once I decide to take the trial again," Riley shrugged, "Pavoom."

"W-"

And before Hera could finish her words, Riley once again found himself staring at the walls of the Black Tower. He then quickly looked up, just to see a single ring of light surrounding the

Black Tower.

None of the people watching him underestimated him, however - not after what they saw during his trial, and what he was capable of. No.

Some of them were not even looking at the ring, or at Riley, or the Black Tower for that

matter.

They were looking at the person who was now suddenly standing behind Riley.

"Oh...?" Riley also turned his head toward the person they were looking at. And once again, he

experienced a moment where he was legitimately surprised.

"Where... where am I?"

"Interesting," Riley tilted his head to the side, "This must be more confusing to you than it is

to me...

...Miss Hera."

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