Sorath squinted his eyes at her, though it was more like he found her words amusing rather than trying to sympathize with her.
"Nothing matters?"
Nihila nodded.
"Yes."
"Even your life?"
"Yes," she said immediately.
Smirking, Sorath crouched and sat. His legs dangling on the cliff, just like hers. If looked at from afar, they looked like a couple who were waiting for the world to end.
He glanced at Nihila.
"Do you not value your life?"
"What is there to value if it has no value in the first place?"
Finally, Sorath faked his emotion right after she said that. He looked at her with a fake worry on his face.
"What makes you say so?"
Nihila stared at him and then waved her hand. "Don't look at me like that."
Sighing, she continued, "I don't understand why you have so many ranges of expressions. Sometimes, you showed a friendly facade. Sometimes, it was a hostile one. Why are you doing that? Is there a purpose in that?"
When Sorath was about to answer, Nihila continued her rabble, cutting him off.
"No. Even if there's a purpose. The question is still why. Why? Why do you need to do that? You are aware that, in the end, everything you did was useless, right?"
After saying all that, she went silent. Her words were carried by the chilling wind, entering Sorath's ear and leaving the other side.
Sorath looked away, staring into the distance.
"Why did I do that? Of course, it's for my goal," he said. "I know I will die somewhere in the future, whether I was killed or died of age. Human life is meaningless, right?"
He smiled.
"Why are we born if, in the end, we end up dying anyway. What's our purpose in this world- no, in this Tower?" Sorath paused, letting his words seep in before continuing, "What's even on the top of this Tower? Does this place even have that? The old generation said they were forced into this mess, and we, the young generations, were expected to climb and conquer the Tower. Why should we do that?"
"Without knowing what was on the top. The Ascender still climbs it regardless, believing they could escape this place if they conquered it. That's their purpose. However, if what that outsider said was true, they would lose their purpose for living."
Nihila nodded and looked down at the abyss.
"That's what I meant. Nothing matters in life. Everything has no value. If nothing has no value and purpose. Then why are we here? Isn't it better to not be born or exist in the first place?"
Sorath chuckled.
"No," he said and rose to his feet. "If nothing has no value or if your life has no purpose. Then assign value to something yourself and search for your purpose in life."
He turned around, glancing at Nihila.
"If you can't do that, then why don't you end your life right here right now?"
"Because it's not right to end your own life," she answered blankly.
Sorath smiled.
"Is that so? Well, what about I kill you? Will you accept that?"
Nihila glanced over her shoulder.
"There's someone that promised me to end my life. It's been six years since then, and he hasn't killed me yet, saying that there are many things I still need to do for him," she said, staring at Sorath. "If you can grant me death sooner than him, do it."
"Very well. I'll kill you."
He faced Nihila and asked for the katana he had given her earlier.
Standing before him, Nihila stared at him blankly and then closed her eyes, ready to accept her end. However, Sorath stopped after unsheathing the sword from its scabbard.
"This won't do."
Nihila opened her eyes.
"What is?"
Sorath waved the sword in front of her.
"This thing. I can't kill you with this. Forget about sending you to death. It would only send you back to the real world instead."
Nihila searched her clothes, pulling out a purple-bladed knife.
"Use this," she said, handing the knife to Sorath.
Examining the knife, Sorath chuckled as he thought about what could kill a candidate was something so simple and trivial.
It wasn't because that purple-bladed knife had a unique effect engraved in it that it could bypass the rule of immortality in the Awakening Phase. It was simply that the weapon was from the real world... Tower.
'It's just a dye. But since no one other than the Syndicate members knew about this, they thought it was a specially made knife.'
Although already knowing that, Sorath asked about the weapon, just in case.
"What is this?"
Nihila shook her head. "I don't know. But the person who promised to kill me said it could kill someone in the Awakening Phase. Not sending them to the real world, but a true death."
"I see..." Sorath said, putting the knife away.
Frowning at him, Nihila asked what he was doing.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm taking this."
Confused, Nihila tilted his head.
"What?"
"I have changed my mind," Sorath began. "I'll kill you. But you need to help me first."
Even though Nihila already expected it, she couldn't help but be disappointed in Sorath.
"I thought so," Nihila sighed. "Well, what is your request? Who or what do I need to kill?"
Sorath smiled.
"A tree."
...
"What's happening here? Why is Brandon tied up?"
After he arrived at the camp, Sorath found the group was in a tense atmosphere. The three original members surrounded Brandon, who was tied up in a rope.
Enri had her spear pointed at the innocent-looking boy. "This bastard was trying to kill us!"
Sorath looked at Atri. The moment she caught his gaze, Atri nodded, proceeding to explain before Sorath could say a word.
"We were talking about what we would do after awakened and received our Trace. And suddenly, Fred screamed for us to get away. If not for his warning, we would have died in the explosion over there," Atri said, pointing at the explosion trace.
"Coming from on top of the tree, Brandon laughed hysterically and attacked us out of nowhere. Because of that, we had no choice but to subdue and tie him up."
Sorath nodded, "I see."
He looked at Brandon. Other than being tied up, his mouth was also covered by a cloth, blocking his voice, which turned to inaudible noises of struggle.
"We don't need someone who could stab us in the back."
Pulling out a purple-bladed knife, he turned to Nihila and handed the weapon to her.
"Kill him."