The Scum Emperor's Redemption System - Chapter 84

Chapter 84: The Unmasked Truth

She did remember. Oh, how she remembered – Denzelle’s cryptic warning about his master’s penchant for “having fun.”
But how long had this “fun” been going on? Days? Weeks? Or had it been unfolding right under her nose, too subtle and insidious for her to notice?
And where was the real Uzak in all of this? She didn’t want to remember, didn’t want to entertain the violent possibilities. So here she was, standing frozen, utterly thunderstruck.

The man in the cloak. She knew who he was now. The pieces that had seemed so disjointed, so impossible to fit together, suddenly clicked into place.

The revelation was as clear as daylight and just as blinding.

But here was the rub: how had Denzelle not recognized him? Because surely, surely, Argider did.

“I’ve had enough of you,” the man said, his tone flat and final, like the closing of a heavy door.

“But… master!” Denzelle’s eyes widened as he stumbled forward, his desperation pouring out like water from a shattered vase. “What did I do wrong? I’ve been serving you for years! You… promised! You promised you would give me power! Why are you suddenly abandoning me now?”

The master, or whatever he was, tilted his head, almost lazily, as though considering the question was beneath him. “Denzelle,” he said, his voice like velvet dipped in poison. “You should have known that you sold yourself to the devil.”

Silence. A silence so thick and oppressive it seemed to muffle even the sound of her own breathing.

Argider felt it press against her chest, felt it creep into her throat like a hand trying to choke the life out of her.

She didn’t want to say it. Saying it would make it real, and she wasn’t ready for that. This was a curse. No, it was worse than a curse. It was a truth.

“You…” she began, her voice trembling but sharp enough to cut through the suffocating quiet. “You’re me, aren’t you?”

The man smiled. She couldn’t see the smile, but she knew he was smiling.

It wasn’t a kind smile. It wasn’t even a human one. It was the smile of someone who had been waiting for her to figure it out, who had always known she would, and who relished every second of her slow, dawning realization.

“Ah,” he said, spreading his arms in mock celebration. “There it is. Took you long enough.”

Denzelle stiffened, his lips pressing into a thin line. The revelation seemed to pierce him, but he held his ground. She could see the tension in his shoulders, the barely concealed fury in his eyes.

Then it happened.

Without warning, without even a flicker of movement from the master, Denzelle’s body convulsed.

A sickening crack echoed through the chamber, followed by a series of wet, grotesque sounds.

Her breath hitched as she watched, frozen in horror, as his form seemed to collapse in on itself. No. Not collapse.

Splinter.

Pieces of Denzelle, arms, legs, fragments of his torso, scattered across the floor as if an invisible blade had torn through him with surgical precision.

Blood sprayed in violent arcs, painting the walls and pooling at her feet. His head hit the ground last, rolling to a stop just inches from her, his lifeless eyes still wide with shock.

Bile rose in her throat. She wanted to scream, to cry out, but the sound died in her chest.

The master, unfazed, lowered his hand with a casual finality, as if swatting a fly.

“I warned him,” the master said, his voice devoid of emotion. He turned his gaze back to her, his smile returning. A predatory curve that made her blood run cold. “Now, where were we?”

— [Mission Successful: Kill Denzelle]

— [Time Span: 1 month]

— [Rewards: ????]

— [MISSION ERROR: ANOMALY HAS BEEN INTERJECTED]

She saw the interface. A cold, unfeeling grid of data and commands. Horror made her insides burn, but there was an odd, flickering relief buried beneath it.
At least she didn’t have to be the one to kill Denzelle. But when her gaze fell upon his body, mangled and barely recognizable, her throat tightened. Her tears threatened to spill over, but she held them back with a trembling resolve.

“What have you done?” she demanded, her voice cracking under the weight of her emotions. It was less a question and more an accusation, sharp and raw. “Is that why there was another Fialova?”

“Another Fialova?…” he echoed, his expression shifting into something between curiosity and unease. For a moment, the sharp confidence he carried faltered. “So she came here too, huh?” he murmured, half to himself. “Interesting…”

Her mind raced, trying to stitch together the frayed edges of understanding. What was happening? Was there some kind of secret organization of impostors, weaving their webs across the palace and beyond? But then, no.

The memory snapped into focus, sharp as a knife. Fialova’s chilling words echoed in her mind: Whatever universe, whatever timeline, I will kill you, Argider.

She sucked in a breath, the weight of realization crashing over her. “Are you guys… from a different timeline?”

The other Argider’s lips curled into a smirk as he held the artifact in his hand—a twisted, jagged relic of obsidian and bone. Its edges pulsed with a sickly green light, like something alive and hungry. He relished the flicker of fear in her eyes, though she tried to mask it with defiance.

“You want the truth?” he sneered, his voice dripping with mockery. “Then let me show you.”

Before she could protest, he thrust the artifact forward, its dark energy surging like venom. It didn’t strike her skin. It seeped into her, threading through her veins like poison. She gasped, stumbling back, but he didn’t let her fall. No, he needed her to stay upright for this part.

“Don’t fight it,” he whispered, his voice now low and coaxing, like a serpent winding around its prey. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it? To see everything?”

Her body shuddered, her breath catching as the artifact’s power took hold. With a cruel smile, he felt the pull—the artifact dragging him inside her. His consciousness invaded hers like an unwelcome shadow, his presence pressing into the corners of her mind.

She let out one final, strangled cry before collapsing, unconscious.