942 Why Did You Never Try For Peace?

Under Varian's tactics, the abyssal crowd was slaughtered. But before he could rejoice, Abyss Emperor's clone sneak attacked another turtle and killed it.

Even though he warned the turtles to be wary of this cheap trick, the simple-minded creatures with little battle experience couldn't do much. Their strength enabled them to control the Twilight Zone with little skill. Now that came to bite them in the back.

So, Varian had to face a million abyssals by himself again.

Thankfully, he figured out his own way to deal with the masses while minimizing his consumption.

Perhaps because the turtles weren't really battle savvy or perhaps Varian was using his powers properly, he was able to kill more abyssals per second than any turtle.

As the battle continued, Varian continued to be injured, healed, and injured. His fight was against exhaustion and not injuries.

'Either I'll finish off the abyssals or I'll get exhausted and die,'

Thankfully, having eight paths meant plenty of aura. And while he used one path, the others would recover.

As a result, even though his stamina continued to fall, Varian estimated he'd finish off the abyssals sooner.

As he's about to change into another tactic, two intense auras wavered like a candle flame in the wind and disappeared.

"Kreo,"

Even as he died, the old man was glaring at Varian with hatred all over his face.

Perhaps if Kreo knew that despite him trying to 'assassinate' Varian after the Solar Banquet, and despite him erasing Varian's memories of Sia, Varian chose to let go of his daughter and even ensured her safety.

'Rest In Peace,' Varian shook his head and focused on finishing the remaining abyssals.

A few more minutes later, the Abyss Emperor's clone killed the third and final turtle dealing with the crowd.

The abyssals were now no longer suppressed by the turtle and rushed to attack Varian. But after so long, only a pitiful 100,000 were left.

So, Varian didn't have much trouble finishing them off.

By then, the battle had another development.

The Diamond Duchy's Sovereign cooperated with Abyss Emperor's clone once again and in a suicidal attack, the two managed to kill the remaining turtles.

The price was that the Diamond Duchy's Sovereign died while Abyss Emperor's clone was severely injured and was pushed to the brink.

"Finally," The injured clone appeared in front of Varian and looked at him with interest, "So, you are the one who snatched the ghostship."

Since the dead were 'revived', they only had memories until their death. Since the creation of the clone needed a strand of the Emperor's soul, it was treated as a being and not a puppet. Hence the reason it was revived.

"Indeed, I am the one," Varian looked into the Emperor's eyes and nodded fearlessly.

For some reason, even though he still treated the Emperor as his most dangerous enemy, he no longer felt intimidated.

"Interesting, interesting…" The clone chuckled in amusement as it looked around. "To think a thief and a human at that can appear in a bizarre place like this. A strange force revived me, promising a chance of revenge.'

He looked at the corpses scattered on the ground. Everywhere the eye could see, there were corpses, corpses, and corpses. And most of these corpses belonged to abyssals.

The Emperor's eyes shone with bone-chilling coldness as he smiled. "To think you killed so many of my race, it's a correct decision to exterminate humans. You guys are a ticking bomb."

Varian narrowed his eyes and a thick killing intent spread out from him.

The killing intent developed after killing tens of millions and going through thousands of battles would make even a Sovereign uncomfortable.

But the Emperor's clone ignored it and smiled at Varian, "But seeing you still alive, it seems I didn't succeed in eliminating the human race. Yet."

"Yet? Is that how you thought before my debut?" Varian sneered.

"Hm?" The Clone looked at Varian in suspicion as an ominous premonition rang in his mind.

"Just so you know, I thwarted your plans, made your decades-long planning futile, and single-handedly killed tens of millions of you bastards. And yes, I vowed to kill every single one of you in the solar system. If, no, when I can, I will come to your real home and return the favor." Varian said slowly but his words carried a weight that couldn't be ignored.

The clone inherited both the personality and the memories of the Emperor. So, while it was incredibly angry, it didn't act impulsively.

With a simple smile, the clone said, "Let's see. If you really did what you claimed, know this. The more you block me, the more I'll try. If you leave me with no options, I'll come to the Solar System by myself. It'll be the end for you lot."

Varian shook his head, dismissive of his words on the surface. But inwardly, he felt a heavy weight pressing down on him. If the Emperor did come, then it's all over.

"I always wanted to ask you something before I killed you," Varian looked into his eyes, "But I didn't expect that to happen like this."

In a way, Varian was about to kill the Emperor. And unlike the time in ghostship when the clone couldn't even communicate, this was the closest he got to dialogue with the Emperor.

"Why didn't you try a method of peace when contacting us? Why kill all of us?" Varian asked with a scorching gaze.

Abyssals came more than a hundred years ago and started the first complete war. It's the biggest, longest, and most tragic war humankind ever witnessed.

If the abyssals came in peace, if they tried talking before killing, maybe so many wouldn't have died. So much bloodshed could've been prevented. The uncountable tragedies would've been avoided.

So why…

"It did cross my mind," Abyss Emperor's clone was severely injured and had little chance of winning against an exhausted but still relatively well-off Varian. So, it decided to speak up, "Maybe we can try peace or talks or trade…it seemed like an option. Then, I can only trade something for that legacy.

But there's nothing I can give equivalent to the legacy. Any trade henceforth would only be unequal and tilted in my favor. You'll either refuse outright or grow resentful. Since my race has a deadline, we'll have to get that legacy no matter what. We'll have to snatch the legacy and it'll only result in great hostility and bloodshed.

But let's say even if you're happy to hand over the legacy, what's the guarantee that one of you won't leak the information to the Zions? Even the Sovereigns of your race aren't trustworthy, much less the weaker powerhouses.

One of you will surely be sold out and will inform the Zions or anyone else for some cheap money. No matter who you inform, Zions will get to know and my race will be slaughtered in the next hour. The Zion Emperor is so paranoid that he'd rather kill the last one of us before checking if we're really a threat.

I have to be assured that no information would leak. So, it's the only way."

Varian listened to Abyss Emperor's reasoning and perhaps the justification for his decision to exterminate the humans instead of negotiating with them. The more he listened, the more felt that it made perfect sense.

From an abyssal point of view, it was the most rational option. And that's also why abyssals and humans can never have peace.

"Hahahahaha!" Varian started laughing all of a sudden, but his eyes grew increasingly cold.

Even the Emperor's clone felt a creepy feeling facing those eyes. But maintaining his majesty as the ruler of the Abyss race, he said calmly, "Maybe you think I'm giving a cheap excuse. If you think so, I wouldn't blame you. When you shoulder hundreds of billions of lives, you should be paranoid enough. Even a single mistake can cost innumerable loss of life."

"No, on the contrary, I completely understand why you did what you did," Varian said honestly.

"Oh, not only the strength but also the insight," The Emperor's clone smiled at Varian as his body continued to bleed from the injuries. "I hope my main body won't miss killing you or you'll be a dangerous threat to my people."

"Try your best. Or I'll end up erasing the abyssals from existence," Varian said and snapped his fingers.

The space around the clone exploded and shredded it to pieces.