# Chapter 47
One week after the end of the summit.
A tense atmosphere hung between the Delos Empire and the Caron Empire as the temporary truce for the summit ended and they returned to a state of war. Or more precisely, all countries bordering the Delos Empire had entered a state of extreme vigilance.
Rumors that the Delos Empire could create an immortal army had already spread everywhere immediately after the summit. As a result, all countries adjacent to the Delos Empire couldn’t rest easy for a moment due to the anxiety and tension of not knowing when they might be attacked.
At a time when it wouldn’t be strange for any country, whether the Delos Empire or others, to start a proper war—
Raziel deliberately informed Levi of the current situation.
Listening to the story from his bed as always, Levi hunched his already weak shoulders even more.
“I don’t understand difficult things. But… I know that when war happens, many people die.”
“Yes. Countless people will die and many things will be destroyed.”
For Levi, who was extremely reluctant to kill anyone despite possessing the ‘Hand of Death,’ Raziel added one more sentence.
“I will likely be among them.”
“…”
The recent assassination attempt on Raziel flashed through Levi’s mind. Not only that, but the assassinations of high-ranking nobles he had carried out under Kalvern’s orders also began to resurface one by one.
Imagining Raziel dying at the hands of an assassin sent chills down his spine, making his shoulders tremble. Though Raziel, proving to be Levi’s brother, also claimed he wouldn’t die even if his heart was pierced, that didn’t mean he would remain perfectly fine if he was completely shattered.
Levi placed his hand on his collarbone, trying to suppress the anxiety rising from deep within.
Raziel, who had been quietly observing Levi, glanced around the bedroom.
The plants in the bedroom had all died due to the black hand’s influence, so they had been immediately removed. After clearing away all the plants that had turned black as if burned, no living things were brought into the bedroom afterward. More important than aesthetics was avoiding unnecessary psychological damage to Levi.
The same applied to the window. After unintentionally killing a small bird previously, Levi tried to avoid going near it. He seemed afraid that if something small came through the window again, he would helplessly kill it as before. So Raziel firmly closed the window and added a lock, making it impossible for anyone to open without a key.
To others, this might have seemed like excessive interference, even with something as simple as opening and closing a window, but Levi actually appeared more comfortable. Having avoided going near the window, he only started to move his feet when he realized he couldn’t open it himself. He seemed reassured, approaching the window more often to silently gaze at the small bird’s grave beyond it.
‘It’s time for a new stimulus.’
Since it wouldn’t be good to push him too intensely in succession, Raziel had let him rest quietly in a space tailored for him. It was now a good time to gradually insert a wedge between the complex thoughts that had settled in Levi’s simple mind.
Raziel took hold of Levi’s black hand. When he first came here, Levi would flinch at every touch, but now he remained calm even when caressed gently.
“Let’s go out for a change.”
“Going out…”
Levi mulled over the words before slowly shaking his head.
“No. They’ll die again.”
For Levi, this bedroom was comfort itself. He didn’t have to kill anyone, and he was confined so that he couldn’t kill. Raziel, who wasn’t affected in the slightest by the poison Levi emitted, also came to see him whenever he had time.
The thought of leaving such a space made Levi fearful. He was afraid of harming innocent lives against his will.
“It’s all right. No one will die.”
Raziel took out a round bracelet from his possession. It was a white ring inscribed densely with ancient language, and it gave off an eerie feeling somehow.
Just as Levi hesitated with an inexplicable sense of aversion—
“It’s a restraint that can seal the ‘death’ your black hand possesses.”
At those words, Levi’s eyes instantly sparkled.
“While wearing this, the power of your black hand won’t manifest. You won’t kill anyone.”
Raziel’s words were utterly tempting to Levi. He said it not only prevented the uncontrollable power from flowing outward but also stopped the power itself from manifesting. If so, he could touch anyone with this hand without killing them.
Raziel’s eyes narrowed subtly.
“You’ll be just like a human.”
Levi’s heart began to pound harder.
The desire to be like a person was almost instinctive for him. His body that imitated them, his practice of putting things in his mouth to chew and swallow like them, his gradual addition of emotions similar to theirs—all were created by Levi’s instinct to “become like a human.”
Moreover, using human lives as nourishment and selectively killing them according to his own rules also stemmed from the same desire.
Knowing this, Raziel could easily sway Levi.
“Only I can remove this restraint.”
One side of the ring broke off in Raziel’s hand. There was a thin hinge in the middle of the opposite side, allowing it to open naturally.
“Without my permission, you won’t be able to take this off and consume nourishment, but conversely, even if starvation comes, you won’t lose your mind and go on a rampage.”
“Really?”
Levi asked desperately with wide eyes.
“Really? Even if I reach starvation, it’s okay? I won’t rampage?”
“Yes. But in exchange, your self-healing ability will be significantly reduced, making wounds heal more slowly. Like ordinary humans.”
Levi’s state of starvation and self-healing ability were quite closely connected.
The state of starvation occurs when instinct, detecting that the body’s self-healing ability is depleted and strength is about to fail, rampages while mercilessly craving surrounding nourishment to preserve the body somehow. If this rampage phenomenon is prevented, his self-healing ability will gradually bottom out and his strength will weaken without any warning.
Levi didn’t mind. He would rather collapse than wield his black hand in search of nourishment to prevent it arbitrarily.
Moreover, as Raziel said, that was exactly like an “ordinary human.”
For Levi, who had instinctively yearned to become human from the moment of his birth, this white restraint might be the key to making him human-like.
“Put it on me. I want it.”
As Levi extended his black hand and spoke with childlike urgency, Raziel continued, as if to alleviate any possible concerns:
“If starvation comes, I’ll prepare nourishment before your body suffers too much.”
“Nourishment…”
Levi flinched and lowered his hand. His eyes wavered at the word ‘nourishment.’
“Can’t I just keep wearing it and not eat any nourishment?”
“Your body wouldn’t last.”
“But I don’t die, do I?”
Levi’s eyes unconsciously turned toward the window. Though not visible from this distance, beyond it lay the small bird with a peaceful face, now resting beneath the ground.
“With this hand… I don’t want to consume anyone anymore.”
A monster’s hand. A life that can only be sustained by killing life with this hand.
He wished this hand could be sealed forever. A hand so clearly different from humans, a hand that uses them as nourishment…
Raziel, who had been watching Levi, raised his black hand to his chest.
“The nourishment you’ll consume when I remove this restraint will be different from before. You won’t have to directly kill humans and use them as nourishment.”
Raziel’s words became more surprising the more Levi heard them.
“How?”
Levi had thought that only human life could be used as nourishment. For him, Raziel’s words were a kind of hope, but also a bundle of questions.
Raziel’s eyes sank deeply as he fastened the ring around Levi’s wrist.
“I know what troubles you.”
More than anyone else.
The realities and facts he had to know whether he liked it or not, and Levi’s feelings.
Raziel showed a bitter look as he reflected on himself, who had no choice but to use all of this, but Levi didn’t notice.
“So I’ll prepare nourishment that won’t trouble you when you eat it… with my own hands.”
The ancient language on the white ring positioned on the thin black wrist briefly shone as if sparkling. Simultaneously, the red mark that had been wavering on Levi’s palm gradually became dull, eventually becoming more faint than when he was entering a state of starvation.
Levi turned the ring on his black hand this way and that. It felt like strength was draining from his body, but it wasn’t unpleasant. More than that, he was so amazed that this translucent ring could block his power that he looked at it with sparkling eyes, examining it from different angles. It was a cute reaction, like a child encountering a fun and fascinating object.
“Now, let’s go.”
Raziel, holding Levi’s hand, led him to the door. When he opened it, several servants who had been waiting outside were already bowing.
Seeing so many people unexpectedly standing there, Levi instinctively hid his black hand behind his back and hesitated.
“Where are we going? Can I… really go?”
“Of course.”
Raziel, who had received a black robe from a servant, gently draped it over Levi’s shoulders.
“We’re going to your home, where you were born.”
Levi’s eyes shone as brightly as before.
Levi’s home, where Levi was born.
It was the Forest of Death, surrounded by deep darkness and black thorny trees.
