Reverse Apocalypse: The Devil's Revenge

"If not for the boulder, he would have created more trouble for you guys in the future, and even more so for me. At the end of the day, I would have killed him if not for him inviting death himself by being too smart and arrogant for his own good!" Liam revealed openly, not even bothering to try hiding what he had in mind.

Nonetheless, his gaze flicked to Felicia seemingly in an attempt to show what Ludwig's actions had caused. Liam didn't really think that it was necessary for him to care about Kian's opinion, but the young athlete should be able to put two and two together.

In the near future, Ludwig would have caused more problems, possibly killing everyone in the group.

That was not the reason why Liam would have killed Ludwig sooner or later but he could leave that out for the time being. It was not necessary to share every single thought he had in his mind with others.

Kian opened his mouth and he was just about to say something when Olivia got up from next to Felicia.

"He deserved to die!" She said, in a determined voice, relieving the tensed-up anger that had accumulated within her as she added, "If not for the boulder taking his life, I would have killed him!"

Olivia's declaration was filled with coldness and pure wrath. Nobody had ever seen Olivia like this, not even Felicia. Kian looked at her, apparently flabbergasted. His mouth opened and closed several times. He wanted to say something but he couldn't really get himself to actually voice out what was on his mind.

In the end, Kian looked to the ground, while grumbling to himself, "Nobody deserves to die like this…can't we retain a little bit of our humanity?"

Liam heard what Kian said and he couldn't help but laugh.

"If you think that it's inhuman not to care about his life and death, you really have to learn a lot in the next few days, months, and years. Forget the life you had before the Arcane Apocalypse because it will never return. You can keep your ideals for yourself, but you won't be able to force them onto others.

In the Nine Realms and Haltan, the only thing that matters is to survive and to kill, or get killed. Ludwig made a stupid mistake and his death was what followed suit. The strongest survive, not the most arrogant!" Liam clarified, his eyes staring daggers at Kian who was still with the others, more than a hundred meters away from his current position.

"Like, seriously…how can you feel nothing? I mean, at least feeling a little sad that you lost a valuable asset that could help you kill the Shedim would be enough…" Kian blurted out, unable to keep his mouth shut. He just couldn't understand Liam's attitude or his indifference. It was inconsistent and didn't really make sense to Kian.

Liam had to agree that though he did not feel any remorse, things had gotten a little more complicated with Ludwig's death. At least that was the case when it came to finishing the raid on the underground tower. On the other hand, Liam didn't have to trouble himself with fighting and killing Ludwig. In that regard, things got a lot easier. Thus, he didn't really bother being sad or honoring Ludwig's death with any kind of emotion in the first place.

"Was Ludwig your best friend?" He thus asked Kian, who didn't expect to receive such a question.

"...No, he was not my best friend. I didn't really like him, in the first place…but how does that matter?" Kian retorted, continuing to show his anger and frustration.

Liam's hand slowly slipped to the Casket of Trickery, feeling the itch to retrieve a Black Tarthear Needle and to end this annoying discussion by eliminating Kian for good. However, he chose against it, thinking that it would be a hassle to have one more death and cause further ruckus just before they reached the Boss Monster of the underground tower.

"Then let me tell you something that will show you quite clearly why I don't give a fuck about Ludwig's death. After all, he is a nobody to me!" Liam replied after he took a deep breath to reveal something that he would have never expected to tell the ducklings.

"I lost every single person I loved, and most of them because of my mother and eldest brother. While I was on the battlefield, they got hold of the only people I loved in my entire life. They took them hostage in order to capture me when they thought that I might be useful. They thought I was valuable enough to be paid attention to once again.

When I arrived at my mother's palace, she and my eldest brother beheaded my best friends, their family, and the woman I loved right in front of me…They killed everyone I loved…" Liam stared deep into Kian's eyes as he took a pause to take another deep breath. He tried to keep his emotions buried in the pits of his heart like always but that was much harder than he wanted to acknowledge.

The emotions had bubbled up and reached the surface of his consciousness, fueling the anger, rage, sadness, frustration, and guilt of having been too weak to do anything, of having been unable to do anything to protect the people he loved…all these emotions slowly resurfaced and they caused Liam's otherwise neutral expression to morph into one of unbearable pain.

"I know what pain is, and I know what it means to lose everything you fought for. I KNOW what it means to be thrown aside, discarded like a used tissue, and forced to heed the exact same people who abandoned me when they thought that I might be useful once again.

I KNOW what it means to be detested, ignored, feared, and even hated by the people around me. After all, I'm a misfit, something that was never supposed to be born, an existence that should have never seen the light of the day.

I know what I have to do to get my revenge, and I will do everything in my power to do that," Liam said, his voice growing colder and colder as he added, "I warned you guys about the dangers of the Apocalypse, but you guys don't seem to understand how unpredictable life is even after mindlessly killing hundreds of Rats, Meheks and Lesser Demons. Either you get your act together and use your guilt, anger, sadness, and frustration as fuel to become stronger, or give up and get out of my fucking sight!"

"I don't need a fucking weakling questioning my emotions…" Liam bellowed, his voice thundering through the underground arena. Olivia and the others flinched and subconsciously retreated due to Liam whose presence was unbearable even from a distance of close to a hundred meters, and Liam was not even speaking to them.

Their heads moved in unison over to Kian, whose body had begun to shake. His eyes quivered as Liam's Devil's Eyes stared into the depth of his soul, planting a nightmare seed, that was filled with fear of the things Liam would to do him if he were to ever question him again.

"...and I will fucking kill you if you ever dare to question me again. I have put up with enough of your stupidity and entitled behavior. Shut your mouth, or I will make sure that you will never be able to open it again!"