# Chapter 119
At the tip of Raziel’s fingers pressing against Levi’s collarbone, he felt something hard that no ordinary human should possess. It was a small vibration like a heartbeat traveling through his fingertips.
Raziel drew a small, ornate dagger that hung decoratively at his waist. Soon his dagger pointed toward Levi’s collarbone, and the blade pierced precisely next to where the core was located.
Raziel smiled slightly as he watched Levi standing still without resistance, fully aware of what he was trying to do.
‘Yes, this is what you wanted too, isn’t it?’
From the moment Raziel opened his eyes to this world until now, he had never lived a single moment in peace. Fearing a lifespan that might end at any time, following a will that he couldn’t tell was his own or someone else’s, he spent his days until eventually, only resentment accumulated.
Why must I die?
The arrow of resentment painfully pulsed in Raziel’s heart, not knowing at whom it should be aimed.
That pain soon turned into a terrible agony signaling the end of his life. The more the intervals between those heavy warnings decreased, the more fascinating human existence seemed to him.
He couldn’t understand how people could live day by day without fearing tomorrow when each day lived was a step closer to the end of their lifespan.
It was the same even now, with the immortal original body right before his eyes.
‘My original body and brother, but I probably will never be able to understand you.’
The “human” that Levi desired wasn’t simply a ‘human-like’ being that didn’t need nourishment.
It was about living a life with a limited span, embracing rich emotions, and coexisting normally with humans. Even though what awaited at the end was the “death” that he had feared, Levi had always wished to become such a human.
Just as the golden beads had merged with humans and become them.
But for Raziel, who had never known a day without trembling in fear of death, understanding such a Levi was impossible, and he had no intention of trying.
‘If you don’t need it so badly, give it to me. Your destiny and immortality to me…’
I’ll become an even stronger and more merciless “Death” than you, so give me the power you’ve wanted to shake off.
Raziel’s hand gripping the dagger exerted more strength. The sensation of cutting through flesh was vividly felt through the blade.
Levi’s core was extremely delicate.
If the core was damaged, its power would scatter instantly and the body would begin to crumble, so absolute caution was necessary. For Raziel, since the fragment he possessed needed a “living” core to become the original body, he chose to carve out the area around where Levi’s core was located.
“Ugh…”
A moan escaped Levi’s lips at the pain of his flesh being carved out, and his body staggered once. Raziel dropped the “Emperor’s Sword” he was holding in his other hand and wrapped that arm around Levi’s waist to support his body.
Eventually, the dagger was withdrawn from the blood-soaked collarbone.
After dropping the dagger on the floor, Raziel’s black hand moved toward Levi’s collarbone. He inserted his fingers into the spot where dark blood continuously flowed out, slowly extracting the hard, round black core.
Levi’s body trembled violently. He shivered as if feeling a sudden chill he had never experienced before, and his breathing became rough as if he might lose consciousness at any moment.
Raziel embraced Levi while gazing at the black core that his black hand was holding.
In the center of the round black bead was a long, thin groove. The only piece that would fit perfectly in that spot was a small fragment lodged in Raziel’s collarbone.
Various emotions filled Raziel’s eyes as he stared at the black core.
The round core held in the black hand began to dissolve gently. The core instantly seeped into the dull red markings on his palm. Then, just as with Levi’s black palm, Raziel’s markings also turned blood-red.
“Haa…”
A long, trembling breath flowed from between Raziel’s red lips.
Levi’s core was moving through Raziel’s black hand toward the small fragment in his collarbone. Having lost its original body, the core instinctively resonated with the other fragment, trying to become one with it. Raziel enjoyed the hot sensation gathering at his collarbone, feeling the “power of death” filling his body.
That’s when it happened.
Levi, who had been quietly nestled in Raziel’s arms, suddenly pushed hard against his chest. Then he quickly thrust the dagger he was holding toward Raziel’s collarbone.
“…?!”
Because they were so close and it happened so suddenly, Raziel couldn’t completely avoid or block it, but thanks to his quick reflexes, the dagger ended up piercing his shoulder where the imperial emblem was attached.
Raziel pushed Levi away, stepped back, and glared at him as he staggered.
“What are you doing?”
Raziel let out a short, hollow laugh as he pulled out Levi’s dagger from his shoulder with one swift motion.
“If you wanted to stab me, you should have done it after I became complete.”
Even if the fragment in his collarbone was destroyed now, he wouldn’t die immediately since not all of Levi’s core that had seeped into his body had migrated. And trying to destroy the absorbed core was impossible now that it had become a liquid like blood flowing through his body. There was no doubt that Levi’s timing for the attack was terribly wrong.
Raziel looked down at Levi’s dagger, soaked with his own blood, and smirked.
“Have you finally begun to fear the finite?”
Just as he had thrilled at the “power of death” covering his entire body, Levi too must have felt the desolate “aura of mortality” sweeping over him.
If it had been the Levi of the past, he would have started turning to black ashes the moment his core was taken. After all, a body without its core was nothing but an empty shell.
But now, far from turning to ash, he was maintaining his body just fine.
Because the one who had taken the core was a fellow black hand and the last remaining black fragment, it was simply considered a “body transfer.” It was natural that the cores and fragments possessed by both bodies would have to move to one side to form a complete form.
As a result, the current Levi was merely a “human” without any abilities.
Raziel thought Levi’s sudden attack with the dagger was simply because he had experienced a fear he had never felt before. Despite the stinging pain in his shoulder, he felt strangely good.
Now that you’ve experienced it directly, how does it feel?
Can you understand me even a little?
It was a fear that no one could understand. Raziel felt as if he had finally received empathy for the emotion he had been suppressing so deeply.
“You have always been the most incomprehensible being to me. You too must not have understood me, who desired the power you wanted to discard.”
Levi, who wanted a life opposite to his own—a temporary life with a clear end—was now beyond fascinating to the point of being marvelous. Raziel had wondered if he could empathize even a little after absorbing the power of death containing immortality, but it was quite the opposite.
Savoring the strong sense of fulfillment that made his heart race, Raziel arrogantly opened his mouth.
“Now you can just watch as a human how your revenge meets its end. If you interfere with me, I will take your last breath, even if you ‘were’ the original body.”
“I have…”
Levi, who had been keeping his head down while covering his bleeding collarbone with his hand, let out a moan-filled voice.
“Not once… did I want revenge.”
“That’s because you had forgotten the memories possessed by the second fragment.”
“No.”
Levi slowly shook his head and then looked up. There was no fear of mortality that Raziel had expected on his face, nor any sign of fear toward Raziel himself becoming the new “Death.”
The emotion that appeared on Levi’s face was clearly “pity.”
“Not once have I ever hated humans.”
Raziel’s face visibly twisted.
The memories possessed by the second fragment should have been properly transmitted. During several days of sleep, he must have relived those horrific memories as if living through hundreds of years again, and Raziel thought that like himself, Levi would despise and hate humans.
That’s how it should have been, but Levi firmly shook his head.
‘Why?’
It was as incomprehensible as his desire to become human.
“You know what humans did to you. Because I share the same memories as you, I hate humans this much and want to eliminate all of them…!”
Raziel, having said that much, suddenly felt a strange sensation.
His shoulder hurt oddly, and a peculiar sensation began to spread. Along with it, he felt that the black core moving from his black hand toward his collarbone had stopped moving.
‘Why?’
Just as he was confused by the abnormal phenomenon in his body, Levi’s voice continued.
“I like humans. Very much.”
As Levi was catching his breath, someone gently embraced him from behind. Levi’s staggering body leaned against him, breathing somewhat more steadily.
Ion Verdit’s left hand, covered in white armor, was placed on Levi’s bleeding collarbone. When his hand was removed, Levi’s collarbone was perfectly healed as if nothing had happened.
Only then did Raziel realize something had gone wrong.
He looked down at Levi’s dagger that had pierced his shoulder.
It was clearly the weapon that had stabbed Ion Verdit and tasted his blood.
Somehow, the blood of both men had completely mixed in Levi’s dagger, becoming indistinguishable.
Raziel looked back at Levi with bewildered eyes.
“So I’m going to stop you.”
In Levi’s eyes, there was more definite vitality than ever before.
