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endbook rogue 5 5 4
With a swing of a sword, the monster with the head of a man and the body of a Lung dissipates into nothingness.
Yet another mad vision of Sui, yet another fallen self... Chongyue wipes the blood off his blade, continuing his wandering amid the flux of change.
When the one-twelfth of the self roused him from his standstill, when the truth was revealed to him, Chongyue knew he would agree to Wang's request.
For in that fantasy, he had already rejected his identity as a Sui proxy.
He is a lone self.
Within the many prisons Sui created, he sees many versions of this self:
A tyrant bathing in a sea of blood.
A tycoon hoarding gold and grain.
An apothecary sowing toxic seeds.
A smith who forges chains and fetters.
They all submitted to Sui, and these were their visions for vengeance against humanity. Thus:
The tyrant is drowned.
The tycoon is reaped.
The apothecary is poisoned.
The smith is imprisoned.
Its thoughts are used to destroy Its fantasies, which leads Sui's ire to resound throughout the Tomb. But this was Chongyue's plan all along. While It focuses on annihilating him, Wang will have the space to implement his plans, seeking within this mausoleum a lifeline for all.
Even so, things seem bleak. Its thoughts are filled with his surrendered selves, and Sui has already evolved beyond what resistance lies within those memories. Given time, It will certainly—
Chongyue suddenly realizes that, if he were to rely solely on force, he would never be able to stop Sui. If all that is left in his heart is bloodthirst, he may return to being Its puppet, turning to kill the one who pulled him out of the silence.
He looks down at the black stone in his palm.
His nature and Wang's, and that of the other Sui proxies, are not too different from one another. They are all continuations of Its thoughts, there to implement Its will in the mortal realm. But now these thoughts are resisting Its mind, like cells attempting to resist the body whole—something utterly absurd in the eyes of the master of that body.
Sui is like an irresponsible officer, throwing newborn babies to the front lines and ordering them to bring It the heads of Its enemies. However, It has never told them how to stand, how to walk, how to defend themselves, or how to actually slay those enemies.
As for their 'enemies'—those humans, once regarded by the gods as mere ants—they gave them shelter, showed them new horizons, cultivated their tastes, taught them ethics and virtue, allowed them to understand the truth about themselves as non-entropic beings, and allowed them to truly become themselves, to learn why one lives.
With all this in mind, when they recall their creator's command, will they be able to turn their heads and slaughter the humans that raised them?
They stand across from Sui, using their dreams, their craving for life, to resist Its order.
However, power is the strongest tool Sui has to control the proxies. Their desire to become human allows them to use the gifts Sui left behind as they please, but it also serves as shackles to bind them.
Chongyue thinks back to the time before he became the True Lung, when he still wandered the land. His power was great enough to accomplish anything he could think of—just like Sui. But when he bent his head to toil alongside the farmers, and grasped tight his sword beside his fellow soldiers, he knew that what he yearned for, power could not grant.
This yearning allows him to throw off the shackles of paracausality, the enticement of power, and the pain of rebirth, allowing him to mold a perfectly ordinary body.
Allowing him to gain a true heart.
Chongyue places all this within the black stone, then throws it into Sui's thoughts with great force.
If he does not survive, if It seizes this body, so be it. It does not matter.
His final cheer for humanity shall echo throughout Sui's remnant consciousness for all eternity.
