Chapter 1008: Who Can Break Schiller's Defense (Part 2) (Patreon)

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Schiller took hurried breaths, pursed his lips, then looked up at Constantine, saying, "Have you gone mad?!"

He emphasized the word "madness," his facial muscles tensing around his nose, teeth slightly parted, jaw stiff as he spoke as if the words were being forced out by the air from his throat.

"Tear apart a complete Soul?! Are you truly insane, Constantine...?" Schiller took a deep breath, as if recalling something, murmuring to himself, "That is the most painful thing in the world. No one would willingly commit such a foolish act..."

Schiller scrutinized Constantine's Soul within the orb, until he noticed a familiar wound on the edge of Constantine's Soul. He was intimately familiar with that kind of wound because he had been repeatedly tearing at it over the past few days, trying to mend it with another fragment.

However, unlike Schiller's fragmented personality traits, each taking different shapes like a vase suddenly shattered, the wounds on Constantine's Soul fragments seemed more deliberate, as if intentionally inflicted.

This made Schiller feel incredulous; no one could possibly cut their own Soul in half while still alive.

Dissociative Identity Disorder, though involving multiple personalities, was more akin to childbirth, where the primary personality, due to certain traumas, refused to face reality and thus gave birth to another personality within them. This process wasn't excessively painful, and afterward, the primary personality could use it as an escape from reality.

But directly cutting the Soul into pieces wouldn't create another personality; it would simply drive one mad, rendering them unable to control their body without special methods. Without such methods, they could never lead a normal life in society, a lesson Schiller had learned firsthand.

Yet now, before him stood a living example: Constantine, a damned Rotten, a fool who had accomplished a miracle in the fields of psychology and mental illness by tearing his own Soul into two halves.

"I did indeed want you to pay for your prank with the broccoli..." Schiller said with a hoarse and dry voice, pausing for a moment before not completing his sentence.

Just as Schiller was staring blankly at Constantine's Soul orb, Lucifer Morningstar suddenly withdrew his hand, causing the orb to vanish. Schiller lifted his gaze, staring at him with a dangerous look.

"Don't look at me like that; I have nothing to do with this."

"Here's what happened: one night, I was sleeping soundly when Constantine approached me. Seeing his state surprised me too. He asked me to use a Soul storage container to store his Soul and bring him to you."

"He said he wanted to apologize to you." Lucifer Morningstar looked at Schiller and continued, "He told me that his mental state might not be suitable for rational conversation, so he hoped I could convey his message to you."

"He didn't intend for the broccoli to cause you such great harm; hurting a friend was not his intention. But since the harm has been done, someone must pay the price. He doesn't know if the price he's paying will satisfy you, but it's undoubtedly the heaviest and most painful lesson he can endure."

"Additionally, he asked me to tell you that Batman and Zatanna are fools, but that's entirely unrelated to him. He said he knows you won't easily forgive anyone involved in this matter."

"But, just like you once did..." Lucifer Morningstar, with his eyes gleaming, looked at Schiller, saying, "He is willing to pay the price for his friends, Batman and Zatanna."

"From now on, you won't see Constantine again. He will sink deep into the Dreamland, guarding the key left by Morpheus in the innermost dream within the dream until the arrival of the next dream god."

"Furthermore, he said..."

"Stop." Schiller took a deep breath until his chest was fully expanded. Seeing Lucifer Morningstar about to speak again, he raised his lips, letting the words flow out from between his teeth, "I said, shut up."

"Constantine? Ha?" Schiller's face grew paler, but his speech quickened, "Who does he think he is, the savior?"

"Your condition isn't too good." Lucifer Morningstar frowned at Schiller. His tone was very gentle now because Schiller was not only in a bad state, but even though Lucifer Morningstar didn't understand psychology well, he could see that Schiller was teetering on the brink of collapse.

Schiller furrowed his brow in pain, squinting his eyes. He slowly half-knelt, clutching his chest as if he couldn't catch his breath. Batman and Clark, who were arguing nearby, noticed his condition and immediately flew over. They heard Schiller speak in a muffled voice:

"Very... well... you found... a good... knife..."

Batman grimaced fiercely, turning his head to look at Lucifer Morningstar, then said, "We can go back on our own, but you must resurrect Schiller because his body is already dead."

"He must leave here now and go to the hospital for proper treatment. You've seen it; his Soul and his personality fragments are both unstable."

Lucifer Morningstar paused for a moment, sighed, and said, "Fine, then I'll..."

But just then, Schiller began to sway unsteadily. He struggled to open his eyes and looked at Lucifer Morningstar, saying, "All those Demon lords who harass you and want you back in hell every day have been severely injured."

"Hell will have a long period of peace. You won't be bothered anymore and can focus on your affairs in the mortal realm."

"I helped you deal with your biggest nuisance. As a reward, shouldn't you... resurrect me?"

Lucifer Morningstar tilted his head, looking into Schiller's eyes, and said, "...What are you talking about?"

"Do you think this price isn't enough? It seems that the cost of Resurrection here is higher than I imagined, but without a relationship..."

"Oh, you helped me deal with trouble? Well, thank you, I was really worried about it." Lucifer Morningstar shrugged, giving a slight smile. "Many of my other friends want to help me, but they always mess things up. Only you seem to understand what I want the most. That's the tacit understanding between old friends, right?"

"Let's go, I'll take you back. I really don't understand how you ended up like this. Hell might be dangerous, but it's not that terrifying, is it?" Lucifer Morningstar looked around and continued, "I see, Belial isn't here. Did he make you like this? Don't worry, in a couple of days, I'll kick him out of his palace, I promise to help you vent..."

With that, Lucifer Morningstar tried to support Schiller's arm to fly away, but Schiller shook off his hand and said, "So, what's the exact price? You have to tell me so I can..."

"What price?" Lucifer Morningstar's eyebrows arched up and down, showing a very surprised expression. "You mean Resurrection? There's no price for Resurrection. Besides me, no one in this world can casually resurrect others."

"And I won't resurrect anyone except my friends. Do you think someone can just name a price, and I'll grant their wish like a wishing well? I am Lucifer Morningstar."

Suddenly, Lucifer Morningstar paused, his eyes blinked with light, and he looked forward along the timeline.

Then, he stiffened for a moment before walking up to Schiller, looking into his eyes, and said, "...Do you represent pride?"

"How coincidental, I do too." Lucifer Morningstar tilted his head, staring directly into Schiller's eyes. "Now, I understand what's going on."

"You think that we couldn't possibly genuinely care about you, so you've prepared ample rewards for everyone."

"You cleared Constantine's debts for him. On the surface, you wanted to make him feel guilty, but in reality, you gave him health and vitality."

"You dragged Batman down to hell. On the surface, you wanted to warn him not to enter your inner space casually, but in reality, you gave him Belial's power."

"You calculated the time he went missing so Oliver would come find you, acting as your blade against the Demon lords. But in reality, you gave him experience from the struggles in the mines and practical experience in construction."

"You made Clark blast all the Demon lords into severe injuries, avoiding the debts inherited from Constantine, but in reality, you gave him an extremely rare opportunity to hone his combat skills against an opponent of similar power."

"You used the commotion in hell to attract me and have me Resurrect you, but in reality, you cleared out the noisy Demon lords who weren't strong enough, giving me some peace for a while."

"Every step in your plan, though seemingly different, is entirely consistent."

"Using all your known friends to their fullest potential, then giving them the rewards you think they need, achieving a seemingly mutually beneficial outcome."

Lucifer Morningstar shook his head lightly, looking at Schiller, whose face had paled to the extreme, and said, "And now, you're so weak and in pain because you've realized that your friends don't care about being used by you, nor do they need your rewards."

"You, always projecting yourself onto others, never humble, never repentant."

"Pride, pride, pride..." Lucifer Morningstar shifted his gaze away from Schiller, looking towards the distant sky of hell, speaking in a low tone:

"We are so alike, so one day, you will learn the truth that has been circulating in heaven, hell, and the mortal realm for a long time—how I fell from grace?"

"I didn't fall because I hated God."

"But because, at the time, I thought God loved the world, but not me... Yet he loved me."

"I have no regrets, so I deserve to fall."

As Lucifer Morningstar spoke in his deep and distant tone, Schiller had reached the edge of the steps, standing higher than everyone else, looking down at Batman, Clark, Oliver, Zatanna, Lucifer Morningstar, and Constantine. He said:

"I used to think that in order to live in a normal society, I had to pretend to be an ordinary person, but now it seems..." Schiller dragged out the last note, then opened his arms.

In that moment, everyone in front of him reached out their hands, trying to capture him.

But Schiller fell from the steps, dropping into the door of the high tower, like a leaf in late autumn, light yet powerful.

With a "bang," the door closed, leaving only Schiller's final words:

"I'm just an ordinary person. You all are the mad ones."

The next moment, Batman sat up from his chair, his mind somewhat dazed, the mystical experience feeling like a dream.

But in an instant, he stood up at lightning speed, rushing out of the door towards the Telephone he remembered.

When Batman arrived at the alleyway entrance, Schiller stood up in a burst of light. All the wounds on his body disappeared, and he was completely healed. Batman breathed a sigh of relief.

But the next moment, Schiller closed his eyes and fell into his own dried-up pool of blood.

Just like an ordinary person, he fell unconscious.

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 1009: Is This Batman? (Part 1)