Chapter 256: Chapter 256: Worthless [2] Chapter 256 – Worthless [2] Worthless. It was a simple word, but one that could break the hardest man alive... if the right conditions were met. It was a word that could make you feel all the negative emotions in existence. You’d feel pain, jealousy, envy, anger, hatred... all boiling at the fact that you were, truly and utterly, worthless. You would be angry at yourself, but even more than that, you would be angry at the world. Because at the end of the day, it was never you who chose the standards that decided what made someone ’worth something.’ It was the world. It was the world that imposed those standards on you. And so, when Alice spoke that word, it wasn’t just Lewis who felt its weight. Even the world itself began to weep. The atmosphere thickened instantly, heavy and oppressive. The sky of the shadow realm was already dark, but now it wasn’t just dark... it was gloomy, like the entire realm was succumbing to emotion, like it too was collapsing beneath the weight of worthlessness. Space shimmered unnaturally. The weeping didn’t stop there—time itself paused, almost as if it needed a moment of reflection, to sit with its own failure, to grieve the weight of its own uselessness. The trees, the rocks, even the grass... everything was affected. Everything. And that’s when it began... Rain. A sudden, heavy downpour crashed down across the realm. The kind of rain that wasn’t just water but emotion itself. Rain that spoke of everything stuck in a throat, unsaid. Rain that blurred invisible eyes, soaked invisible grief. But all of this... all of this was just background noise. Because Alice hadn’t cast that word to strike the realm. She had spoken it... to break Lewis. So now, a question must be asked... If the realm was like this... what about Lewis? He was on his knees. Clothes torn, his body half-burned and frozen by Neko. Charred skin and blackened cracks marked his flesh. His hands dug so tightly into his skull you could see the fingertips beginning to sink into his scalp. His eyes were wide, but no longer black. They were red, trembling violently, like a leaf caught in a hurricane. Fear was etched into every part of his face. His body shook uncontrollably, so violently it looked like he was phasing in and out of existence. He was completely, utterly... Afraid. Neko, Alice, and Zara looked on in silence. Indifferent. Not an ounce of pity. No compassion. No mercy. No empathy. Just... nothing. They weren’t here to be merciful. They were here to make this realm cry. To make it bleed. Because this realm had done something vile to one of them, and it didn’t matter who had pulled the strings. Everything would suffer for it. Unjust? Cruel? Unfair? Yes. Do they care? Absolutely not. And so, with faces that showed nothing but cold indifference, they walked forward, their wings spread behind them as they moved calmly through the sky. Each wing was unique. Each horn was different. Alice’s wings and horns looked like they were made of leaves and trees, soft and oddly sacred. Neko’s, in contrast, were made of pure FrostFire—black flames coiled in jagged, frozen edges. But Zara’s... Zara’s wings and horns looked like concepts made physical—constantly shifting between shades, reflecting the very emotion pulsing inside her. And right now... They were pale grey. Lifeless. A color that could make even the strongest sink into despair just by being near it. They stopped when they reached a certain distance from Lewis. And then they heard it. The whispers. Lewis was mumbling under his breath, a chant repeated again and again—barely audible, but filled with desperation. "I am worthy... mother, father... I am worthy..." "I changed... I changed... I am worthy of your love... I am worthy of you..." "Please... forgive me..." Then he paused. His breath caught. As if the next words were ones even he didn’t dare to say out loud. But Alice and Zara’s combined skill made it impossible for him to resist. The emotions within him overflowed so uncontrollably and violently that he finally muttered: "...forgive me for... for killing you." The trio raised their eyebrows. A son... who killed his parents? For what? They didn’t know. They didn’t ask. They didn’t care. What mattered now was simple... They knew what emotion to amplify to break this man completely. Because World Dominator rank or not... If your mind is weak, if your ego is fragile, if you’ve built your identity on lies, if you’re a hollow shell refusing to face your own truth... Then you are nothing. You are worthless. Because how can you fight in life, how can you win, if deep inside you’ve already lost? You can’t. And Lewis was the proof. He was World Dominator rank. But here he was, reduced to a begging child, weeping for affection. All because three women refused to show him mercy and because his own soul was built on cracks. And they weren’t done. Neko raised her hand and used her FrostFire, not to harm, but to numb. She muted every good and positive emotion inside Lewis. Joy, love, hope—all gone. Either frozen or burned by her. Only the negative remained. And with nothing to balance it, the weight became unbearable. He broke further. He wept. He cried. He begged again for forgiveness—for killing them, for destroying their souls. Then Zara and Alice moved again. They repeated their combo technique. This time, Zara concentrated all her power into a single emotion. She poured it into a voice-speaker. And Alice, master of Word Magic, took it. She amplified it and spoke, "You are... guilty." The words struck Lewis directly. Straight to the mind. His eyes went blank instantly. He stopped trembling. He stopped muttering. He stopped crying. His body froze. Not even breathing...dead inside. Because his mind...his fragile, broken mind had finally shut down. Lewis, a World Dominator Rank... had died. Not by sword. Not by fire. But by guilt. By emotion. By the weight of unresolved feelings that festered, corroded, and consumed him from within. Isn’t that how it is? Isn’t that what happens across the worlds? People dying, not by violence, but by the crushing weight of emptiness. By pain. By hatred. By sadness. By guilt they never resolved. By wounds they would never let go of...or worse, never could let go of. And what a shame. Because if even a World Dominator rank could fall like this... What about the mundane? That is why the power of words... and the power of emotion... are so terrifying. Because words can mend. Words can break. Words can shatter or uplift. They can trap you in depression or make you believe you’re worthless or they can make you believe you are the best of the world. And wherever there are words, there are emotions. Because no word is empty. Every word comes with intent. Every word is tied to a feeling. Maybe that’s why Zara and Alice are so close. Because they complete each other. Two women with similar powers, but different expressions. And so... After killing a World Dominator... They completed their condition to evolve. And a deep and unfathomable voice echoed across the space, "Epithet." —End of Chapter 256—