489 Chapter 489: Crumble

Perseus POV

In the aftermath of the battle, I could see Cain still getting up as this meaty blob, and he was naked this time as I erased every possible nanomachine and every other gear he had on his body.

In a mesmerizing and disgusting display, Cain's body reconstituted itself from what seemed like nothing, a relentless cycle of dissolution and rebirth. His skeletal structure reemerged, accompanied by the slow reconstruction of organs and tissues. 

His muscles began to reform, the sinewy fibers intertwining and knitting together. Flesh regenerated with supernatural speed, closing wounds and erasing the scars left by the earlier clash of power.

The wounds, inflicted just moments ago, disappeared, leaving no trace. It was a sight that sent shivers down my spine, a relentless adversary who could recover from the brink of obliteration.

Luckily he's still mortal, so I don't have to worry about him. I took a deep breath, reassured by the thought that, despite Cain's unsettling regeneration, he remained mortal at his core.

I head toward him, and the guy still tries to throw a jab once I get close, but I counter it and crack his neck with a right hook. That hit would have killed a normal person, but no, he healed back, I picked him up and dropped him hard onto my knee that was heading up so fast and hard that I snapped his spine.

I threw him on the ground and stomped on his shoulder.

"Remember all of those times I was tortured by you?"

"I don't." he spat at me.

"Right, after all, I was only one of many. Guess I'm just one in a long line of forgettable faces."

"I guess you are."

His glare was cold, this man had no remorse whatsoever as I continued to press my foot on his shoulder harder than before and broke his bone, his body tried to heal itself, but I continued to hurt him and have him injured and heal over and over again.

"You're afraid, aren't you? Terrified that when your time finally comes, there won't be anything waiting for you beyond the darkness. All your research, all your grand plans...And yet, here you are, clinging to a pitiful hope that you can secure a place beyond the darkness when your time finally comes. How does it feel, Cain, to realize that all your grand schemes amount to nothing in the face of the inevitable?

"Even if I go, You're playing with forces you can't comprehend. The people I called here will stop at nothing to kill you. You're delusional if you think you understand."

"It's nothing more than a desperate attempt to stave off the terror of disappearance. You're scared, Cain. Scared of the void, scared of what happens when your existence flickers away, and there's nothing left."

 "You can't comprehend the burden I carry."

"Burden?" I laughed, a bitter sound that echoed across the battlefield. "Your burden is the fear of vanishing into nothingness, a fate you've brought upon yourself with your insatiable quest for power. No amount of nanomachines can fill the void you've created, Cain. You're just a desperate soulless husk, haunted by the impending disappearance that even your immortality can't escape.

"Unfortunately for you, the darkness you feared is closing in, Cain. You're on the edge of the void you tried so desperately to avoid, and there's no escape. You played with forces beyond your understanding, and now, the consequences are catching up with you. You messed with the wrong man.

"No amount of technological prowess can shield you from the darkness that awaits. You sought to defy fate, but all you've achieved is sealing your own doom. HAHAHAHA, this is funny, the guy who tried to change time, tried to change fate is now facing his end, this is funny.

"Time has caught up with you, Cain. Funny, isn't it? You, with all your power and ambition, are now reduced to a pawn in a game you thought you could master. All those schemes, all those attempts to carve your own destiny, they are now crumbling before the unyielding force of reality.

"You're not a god, Cain. You're just a man, and men are bound by the very laws they seek to defy. You believed you could rewrite the script of existence, but now you're left with a tragic tale of your own making. And in this final act, you'll meet the fate you tried so desperately to escape."

"Do you think you're some sort of hero?!" he snarled

"Hero? No, Cain, I'm no hero. I've never claimed to be one. In fact, I'm not the protagonist of any noble tale. I'm just a guy, a selfish guy who happened to be the protagonist of a story where he always comes out on top."

"What are you blabbering about?"

"Protagonists never meet their end," I responded "That's the essence of our stories, Cain. A truth you've overlooked from the start. You thought you could manipulate the threads of fate, but you made a fatal mistake. You messed with a guy who never meant to lose.

"You underestimated the power of a protagonist who refuses to conform to the script. In a tale where survival is the only measure of success, I am the one who dictates the narrative, not the other way around."

"You are delusional."

"Perhaps I am, but...it's not like you can live long enough till you see these delusions of mine become a reality...oh man, this is hilarious. How does it feel, I wonder? To have everything you fear, your worst nightmares, unfolding before your eyes. Your carefully crafted plans, the very dreams that almost came true, now crumbling into dust.

"Isn't it agonizing, Cain? To witness your own fears materialize, to taste the bitter truth that your grand designs were nothing more than a house of cards waiting to fall. You played with fire, Cain, and now you're getting burned. The arrogance that fueled your ambitions is now your greatest downfall. 

"If only you didn't torture me...if only you took the long way round...if you did it all in a somewhat humane way, I wouldn't have had this grudge, and you would have achieved your grand goal."