Amil stared at Neato, who knelt in front of him, bound by chains, head lowered. His body seemed weighed down not only by the chains but by something far more crushing—an emptiness that radiated from him.
"What do you mean I'm in your mind?" Amil asked, his voice filled with confusion and wariness.
Neato didn't lift his gaze. His voice was soft, barely more than a whisper. "It's as I said. You're in my mind."
Amil looked around at the barren desert surrounding them, the endless horizon littered with planes and dead skeletons. The world seemed so desolate, hollow, like a reflection of Neato's own heart. "Why does it look like this?" Amil asked, his voice catching in his throat.
"Hollow," Neato interrupted, still staring at the ground, his eyes lifeless and cold. "I know… I've achieved everything I set out to do. But now look at me." His voice wavered, a quiet despair hiding beneath the monotone. "No purpose. No hope. No feeling."
Amil's chest tightened. "Why did you do it? Why did you kill everyone?" He had asked before, but now, standing here in this mental wasteland, the question felt more urgent, more personal. It wasn't just about the world Neato had destroyed—it was about understanding why.
Neato's chains clinked slightly as he shifted his weight, though his gaze never rose from the ground. "The world needed to be fixed," he replied, almost mechanically. "I simply made the decision that everyone else was too afraid to make."
"You killed billions," Amil said, his voice rising, eyes searching Neato for some sign of regret. "Billions, Neato."
For a long moment, Neato was silent, as if the words didn't reach him. Then, with a quiet, humorless laugh, he said, "And now the world is at peace."
Amil felt anger swelling inside him, but there was also a deep sadness. "Peace?" he scoffed, voice trembling. "The world is dying, Neato. If we do nothing, it will just be empty. No life. Nothing but the sound of air and sand."
Neato let out another quiet laugh, this one bitter and tired. "I really did want to save the world, you know," he said, his voice softening. "But it's too late. There's no saving it now."
Amil took a step closer, feeling a deepening sense of dread. "What do you mean?" he asked, though he feared the answer.
Neato's shoulders slumped even further, the chains around him rattling. "When I killed all those humans… I absorbed their souls. None of them truly died. They've been with me this whole time. Living inside me. Trapped inside me." His voice faltered, a rare hint of emotion breaking through.
Amil's breath caught in his throat. "Then bring them back!" he demanded, stepping even closer, his eyes pleading.
Neato shook his head slowly. "It's not that simple," he said, finally looking up, his eyes dull and hollow. "They've been inside me for 28 years. If I release them now… they'll probably cease to exist. Their souls have been decaying. Too long without bodies, too long inside me. They're not the same anymore."
Amil's heart sank. The weight of those words crashed into him, a crushing despair filling the air between them. "Is there really no other way?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"No," Neato replied. His eyes met Amil's briefly, and in that moment, they both understood the depth of what had been lost.
Amil swallowed hard, feeling the inevitability of what was about to happen. His body trembled as the reality of their fate set in. "I guess this is really the end," he said quietly, more to himself than to Neato.
As Amil's form began to blur and dissolve into smoke, he felt himself merging with Neato, their minds intertwining, their fates becoming one. Neato didn't move, didn't resist, as Amil's presence engulfed him.
And as they became one, the barren world around them remained as hollow and lifeless as ever.
END OF CHAPTER 69