[After wiping out the Fatui, you don't rush back to bring Yelan and Chenxi out.]
[You simply stand where you are, raising your hand to study the ice sword in your grip, now stained a deep crimson.]
[Ever since joining the Fatui, countless people have died because of your schemes.]
[But you rarely killed with your own hands.]
[This is the first time you've personally ended so many lives.]
[Facing the corpses scattered across the ground, you can't quite describe how you feel.]
[Satisfaction? Excitement? Or guilt… remorse?]
[These Fatui were your enemies, accomplices of the people who killed your parents.]
[But perhaps they also had parents, lovers, children waiting for them to return home.]
[To the people of Snezhnaya, they were soldiers defending their homeland.]
[From their perspective, you were no different from an executioner.]
[Who was right? Who was wrong? Who was truly on the side of justice…]
[Many years ago, in order to sabotage the Fatui's plans, you indirectly caused the deaths of an entire merchant caravan.]
[That was the first time someone died because of you.]
[They were ordinary people, just like your parents, working tirelessly for their families.]
[Because of a single decision you made, their vivid lives were wiped out.]
[Among them was an apprentice who had just turned sixteen.]
[His life had held countless possibilities.]
[But because of you, it ended abruptly.]
[You locked yourself in a room, refusing to sleep, refusing to eat or drink.]
[Guilt tormented you until you were on the verge of collapse.]
[You kept asking yourself whether your choices had truly been right.]
[With innocent blood on your hands, how were you any different from the Fatui?]
[You nearly abandoned your plan altogether.]
[You once thought about repaying blood with blood. You even considered ending your own life to accompany those who had died because of you.]
[As you formed an ice blade in your hand and moved to plunge it into your chest, your gaze caught the toy your mother had left behind.]
[Bathed in sunlight, it gleamed with a cold metallic sheen.]
[Its mechanical eyes stared back at you, as if questioning you.]
[Had you forgotten how your parents died?]
[Had you forgotten your young sister?]
[You hadn't completed your mission yet. What right did you have to be weak?]
[What right did you have to use death to escape all of this?]
[From that day on, you became who you are now.]
[Cold. Detached. Indifferent to life and death.]
[Every time you felt like you were about to break, you reminded yourself of one thing.]
[Everything you're doing now is to save more people.]
[Sacrificing a small number of lives to make the world a better place.]
[It's a good trade, isn't it?]
[But… is it really?]
[You stare at the ice sword in your hand, beautiful as a ruby after being soaked in blood, and all that remains in your eyes is sorrow and desolation.]
[No matter how beautiful it looks, it can't mask the stench of blood clinging to it.]
[No matter how righteous your reasons sound, they can't erase the sins you bear.]
[Everything should end today.]
"…Sigh."
Kael lets out a quiet breath.
The Kael within the Life Simulation is the real him.
That's why he understands every choice his simulated self has made.
He can empathize with everything "he" has been through.
That is also why Kael wants to end this Life Simulation.
Even if there are still ways to survive, he doesn't want to continue anymore.
Because "he" no longer wants to live.
Chenxi now understands his suffering, and the Fatui have already been dealt a devastating blow.
He has nothing left to ask for.
Someone like him has no right to desire more.
Whether it's Hu Tao's love or Yelan's devotion.
To the him inside the Life Simulation, none of it is something he deserves.
Only death awaits him in the end.
"System, could you at least give me an easier background for the next Life Simulation?"
"This one was just too damn painful."
"Even if I die horribly in the end, that's fine. At least let the journey be
[Host, I'm afraid I can't fulfill that request.]
[Everything that's happened is the result of your own choices. I don't have the authority to alter the host's personality.]
"Tch."
Kael curses under his breath.
So it's all self-inflicted, huh?
[Your thoughts race, yet only a few seconds pass in reality.]
[As your hand holding the sword lowers, all those tangled emotions are pushed aside once more.]
[You become Kael again, unbreakable and resolute.]
[You look toward a massive boulder not far away and speak calmly.]
["Enjoying the show? You can come out now."]