Shiller took a few hurried, short breaths, moistened his lips, then looked up at Constantine and exclaimed, "Are you insane??!!"
He bit down hard on the word "insane", then wrinkled the muscles around his nose, opened his teeth slightly, and held his jaw stiffly as if the words were being blown out of his throat by air.
"Tearing a complete soul apart?! You're really insane, Constantine..." Shiller took a deep breath and murmured as if recalling something, "That's the most painful thing in the world, no one would willingly do such a stupid thing..."
Shiller took a closer look at Constantine's soul in the orb, until he saw a familiar wound on the edge of Constantine's soul. He was all too familiar with this type of wound because in the past few days, he had been repeatedly tearing at a similar wound, trying to attach it to another fragment.
Yet, while each piece of Shiller's personality was different in shape, like a vase smashed suddenly, the wounds on Constantine's soul fragments looked like intentional cuts.
This made Shiller feel even more incredulous, no one could possibly self-inflict such a division of their own soul.
Dissociative identity disorder results in multiple personalities, but that's more like childbirth—it occurs because the main personality, due to some trauma, refuses to face reality and nurtures another personality within itself. This process is not too painful, and afterwards, the main personality can use it as an escape from reality.
But cutting the soul directly would not result in another personality. It would drive a person mad, unable to control their own body. If left untreated, they would never be able to lead a normal life in society. Shiller knew this all too well.
But now, he was faced with a living example. Constantine, a damned scoundrel, a dumb idiot, a worthless piece of clay, had achieved a miracle in the field of psychology and psychiatry—he had torn his own soul in half.
"I did really want you to pay the price for your broccoli prank," Shiller said in a hoarse and dry voice, pausing a little but not finishing the sentence.
As Shiller was dazedly staring at the orb containing Constantine's soul, Lucifer suddenly withdrew his hand, and the orb disappeared. Shiller looked up and directed a dangerous glare at him.
"Don't look at me like that. I had nothing to do with it."
"Here's what happened: one night while I was sleeping, Constantine came to me. Seeing his state, I was a bit surprised. He asked me to store his soul in a vessel and bring him to see you."
"He said he wanted to apologize to you," Lucifer looked at Shiller, "He told me that he might not be in a mental state to talk rationally afterwards, and hoped that I could relay his apology."
"He never expected that broccoli would hurt you so much. Hurting a friend was absolutely not his intention. But now that the hurt was done, someone had to pay for it. He doesn't know if what he's offering in recompense will be satisfactory to you, but it is indeed the most brutal and painful lesson he could stand."
"Also, he wanted me to tell you that Batman and Zatanna were both fools, but they had absolutely nothing to do with this. He knew you wouldn't let any part of this slide."
"But just as you once did..." Lucifer cast his sparkling eyes at Shiller and said, "He's willing to make amends for his friends, Batman and Zatanna."
"From now on, you won't see Constantine anymore. He will be submerged in the deepest parts of the Kingdom of Dreams. Within a dream within a dream, he will guard the key to the Kingdom of Dreams that Morpheus left behind, waiting for the arrival of the next dream god."
"He also wanted to say…"
"Enough!" Shiller took a deep breath, filling his chest completely. Seeing that Lucifer was about to open his mouth again he lifted his lips, allowing the words to escape from between his teeth, "Stop talking."
"Constantine? Huh?" Shiller's face became paler but his words came out faster: "Who does he think he is, the Savior?"
"You're not in a good state," Lucifer said, looking at Shiller. His tone was very tactful, because Shiller's condition was far from good. Although not a psychologist, Lucifer could tell that Shiller was teetering on the edge of a breakdown.
Shiller squeezed his eyes shut in pain, a frown on his face. He slowly knelt down, clutching his chest, and looked as if he couldn't catch his breath. Batman and Clark, who had been arguing nearby, noticed his condition and immediately flew over. Then they heard Shiller's words, murmured in an indistinct voice:
"Very...good...you've found a...good...knife..."
Batman frowned deeply, turned to look at Lucifer, and said, "We can go back on our own, but you must resurrect Shiller, because his body is already dead."
"He needs to leave here now, and go to the hospital for official treatment. You can clearly see, his soul and his personality fragment are both unstable."
Lucifer hesitated for a moment, sighed, and said, "Alright, I'll first..."
Just then, Shiller staggered to his feet, forcing his eyes open to look at Lucifer, "The demon lords who have been bothering you in the human world, trying to make you go back to Hell, have all been blasted into severe injuries."
"Hell will have a long period of peace, you won't be bothered anymore, you can focus on doing whatever you want to in the human world."
"I've taken care of your biggest headache. In return, should you... resurrect me?"
Lucifer cocked his head and, looking into Shiller's eyes, asked, "...what are you saying?"
"Do you think the price is not enough? It seems the cost of resurrection here is more than I imagined. But no matter…"
"Oh, you're saying you've taken care of my headache? Thanks a lot for that, it's been bothering me. Many of my friends wanted to help too, but they just couldn't manage, and ended up complicating things more. You, however, always understand just what I want. That's the kind of connection old friends have, right?" Lucifer shrugged, flashed a smile and said.
"Come on, let's get you back. I really don't know how you ended up like this; as dangerous as Hell is, it's not that scary, is it?" Lucifer looked around and said.
"It seems Beelzebub is missing. Was it him that did this to you? Don't worry, soon, I'll kick him out of his palace, take revenge for you..."
After saying this, Lucifer was about to fly away, supporting Shiller by his arm. But Shiller shook off his hand and said, "So, what exactly is the precise cost? You have to tell me, so next time I can..."
"What cost?" Lucifer's eyebrows arched in surprise. "Are you talking about resurrection? What cost is there to resurrection? No one else in this world besides me can resurrect people at will."
"And apart from my friends, I won't resurrect anyone at will. You don't think if someone offers a price, I will grant their wishes like a wishing well? I am Lucifer Morningstar!"
Then suddenly, Lucifer paused, a sparkle in his eyes as he gazed into the timeline.
He stiffened for a moment, then walked up to Shiller, looking into his eyes and asked, "...you represent Arrogance?"
"How ironic, so do I." Lucifer tilted his head and stared intensely into Shiller's eyes, "Now, I understand what's happening."
"You thought we couldn't possibly truly care for you, so, on behalf of all people, you prepared ample compensation."
"You cleared Constantine's debts. Ostensibly, you wanted him to feel guilty, but in reality you gifted him health and vigour."
"You dragged Batman to Hell, seemingly wanting to warn him not to trespass into your innermost sanctum, but in truth, you prepared Beelzebub's energy for him."
"You timed your disappearance to prompt Oliver to search for you, serving as your sword against the Demon Lord. But in fact, you provided him with experience in battling within the mines and infrastructure construction."
"You let Clark severely injure all the demon lords, thus relinquishing the debts you inherited from Constantine. However, you granted him an incredibly rare opportunity to hone his combat skills against an adversary of equal power."
"You took advantage of the commotion in Hell to draw me in, to resurrect you, but ultimately, you cleared out the least powerful but most troublesome Demon Lords, allowing me to enjoy some peace for a time."
"In every facet of your plan, while seeming diverse, you accomplished the same objective."
"Based on individual characteristics, you utilized the potential of every friend you know, and then rewarded them with what you believed they needed, achieving a seemingly win-win ending."
Lucifer gently shook his head, watching as Shiller's face turned increasingly pale, "And now, the reason you're so weak and in pain is because you've realised that your friends don't care about being used by you and don't need your rewards."
"You put yourself into others, never humble, never repentant."
"Arrogant, arrogant, arrogant..." Lucifer shifted his gaze from Shiller, looking at the distant sky of Hell, speaking in a low voice.
"We are so similar, so, eventually, you will discover the truth of the long-standing secret between Heaven, Hell and the Human World–how exactly I fell from grace."
"When I relinquished my glory as the Morningstar, leaping from Heaven into the filth of Hell, you might think I hated God."
"But the reason I took the leap was because I thought God loved mankind more than me... but, He loved me."
"I refuse to repent, so I deserve to fall."
As Lucifer's words echoed solemnly, Shiller had reached the edge of the stairway. Standing higher than all, he looked down upon Batman, Clark, Oliver, Zatanna, Lucifer, and Constantine and said,
"I used to think that in order to live in a normal society, I had to pretend to be a normal person but now I see..." Shiller drew out his words before opening his arms.
In that instant, everyone before him reached out, trying to grab hold of him.
But Shiller plunged from the steps, dropping into the gates of the High Tower, falling like a leaf in late autumn, light yet carrying an immense weight.
With a "bang", the grand door closed, leaving behind Shiller's last words:
"I'm just an ordinary person, you are the mad ones."
The next second, Batman sat up from his chair. He was in a daze for a few seconds, the extraordinary experience feeling like a big dream.
But instantly, he jumped up and dashed out the door, sprinting towards the phone booth from his memory.
When Batman arrived at the mouth of the alley, Shiller stood up amidst a burst of light, his wounds had completely disappeared. He had fully regained his health, allowing Batman to breathe a sigh of relief.
But the next moment, Shiller shut his eyes and fell into his dried-up blood pool.
Just like an ordinary person, he passed out.