Supreme Magus novel Chapter 4400

Chapter 4400: From the Same Cloth (Part 2)

The grueling training with the Firstborns taught the undead Ranger how to use his body and powers to their full potential. His magical studies under Baba Yaga’s tutelage strengthened his foundations and widened his horizons.

Acala knew that, like Kelia for Dusk and Orpal for Night, he was Dawn’s weak point. The crack into her perfect crystal that the Dead King would one day exploit to bring her down, as he had already done with the Red Sun.

Acala endured his defeats at the hands of the Firstborns to discard his pride and learn humility. He grew stronger by the day, not because he had something to prove, but because he refused to let a madman take away everything he had.

Finding himself in the shoes of his victims had been a crushing yet enlightening experience. It had led Acala to realize that there was only one difference between the man who had once betrayed the Rezar clan and Orpal.

While the Dead King refused to look himself in the mirror and screamed to force the rest of the world to listen to his twisted vision of reality, the undead Ranger kept his eyes open and his mouth shut.

Acala didn’t like his reflection one bit, yet he refused to avert his gaze from the truth and delude himself that he was a victim of his circumstances. He looked the monster he had become in the eyes, judging himself as harshly as the rest of Mogar did.

’Orpal and I are the same.’ Acala saw the Chaos Annihilation nearing completion and attacked in a frenzy, even if it meant suffering deep wounds for little or no gain. ’Our foolish pride, reckless ambition, and undying envy are cut from the same cloth.

’We made the same choices, perpetrated the same horrors, and didn’t hesitate for one second to bond with a cursed object in order to take by force what we thought the world owed us.

’We have been blind for most of our lives, preferring to believe our own lies rather than accepting our limits and admitting we weren’t as good as we wanted to be. What I did to the Rezar clan is monstrous.

’I repaid kindness with selfishness, acceptance with envy, and love with hatred. There is no justification for what I did, and Nalrond has every right to despise me. I could blame my action on Dawn and claim that she controlled me, but I know that’s not true.

’I was in full control when we first bonded. She needed my permission to do anything, even shapeshift my body into hers. Dawn massacred the Rezars because I allowed her to.

’I used her rage to hide the shame for my actions. I let her kill the people who had saved my life and considered me family because I was afraid that the Rezars might reveal the truth behind my newfound strength to the Kingdom.

’I was a monster no better than Orpal. I’m still that monster, and I always will be.’ The Undead Ranger was honest with himself.

He knew there was nothing he could do or say that would change the past. It was the reason he hadn’t apologized to Nalrond or Salman and avoided meeting them unless absolutely necessary.

Saying sorry wouldn’t bring their loved ones back to life.

It wouldn’t help the survivors of the massacre overcome their grief or make them sleep better at night. Acala saying sorry would only enrage them further, making it seem as if he had moved on from his crimes and was asking them to do the same.

The only person that would feel better from the apology was Acala himself, and he knew he didn’t deserve it. He kept his pain as raw as that of his victims to ensure that he would never forget that his new life was built upon the graves of the Rezars.

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