Galaxy's First Ruler

Aldrich's question was not only to the point, it was also a question striking the RECORD's heart, trying to dig out the deepest secrets hidden within it.

Aldrich had always thought about the need for a Mana field around a Boss Crawler's chamber. If RECORD could create different worlds, then why not put Boss in another dimension rather than going through this tedious process. The only reason Aldrich could find for it was that it wasn't something in RECORD's hands. It didn't create the Mana field because it needed to, but because it had to.

And Aldrich knew if he got the answer to the question he had asked El Cid, he would also get to know the reason for the doubt in his mind.

"Why?"

Aldrich narrowed his eyes as El Cid asked a simple question.

"Why?! Because I want to know…" Aldrich tried to explain, but the Boss El Cid shook his head in between.

"Not that why. Why, as in, why should I tell you anything?"

Yes, Aldrich never thought why in the world a Boss Crawler would cooperate with him. According to Aldrich, if there was a piece of information that could only result in benefits and no loss for any party, then it must be shared. There was no reason to even think of why El Cid should not tell him. But now he had to think of a way to make the already depressed Boss Crawler even more miserable.

Sigh!

Aldrich sighed in his mind as the only way he could force El Cid to open his mouth came to him. But this method was a double-edged sword. For him to use this method meant that he would certainly lose a very crucial thing he needed to do, which also required Boss Crawler's help.

"When you charged into Valencia's besiegers after already dying once, a legend was born that time. A memory got planted in the many enemies, your subjects, and even in the beings from beyond the uncrossable waters. Yet you, El Cid, never cared for those memories. Because it wasn't them that had made you bring yourself out of the clutches of Death."

As Aldrich looked away from El Cid and spoke these irrelevant words, a redness spread throughout the Boss Crawler's eyes. It was like his red pupils were two suns and there was a reddish hue surrounding them. Aldrich heard the sheer grating of teeth, and a fuming roar came out of El Cid.

"YOU DARE!!!"

Aldrich didn't mind the powerless Boss shouting at him. The only thing that mattered to him was El Cid's reaction, and he was pleased with it. He gave El Cid's frail and purplish face a deep look and continued.

"Who had won the battle and who had lost the war in your legend? Historians interpreted it at face value. They theorized that the reason for winning the battle was your wreaking havoc within the enemies' ranks. And the war was lost because it came at the price of your death. But that is not even remotely related to the meaning hidden within this sentence…"

Aldrich's eyes deepened as he dissected the history piece by piece, and an inevitable feeling of doom ran through El Cid's mind. The Boss Crawler wasn't the first to experience this look of Aldrich. Boomie used to see it too from time to time. Words like sharp needles poured out of Aldrich's mouth.

"Scholars thought it was Valencia and its citizens that had won the battle and lost the war. But how could that be the entire truth? You, El Cid, you had won the battle for the sheer Will that you had shown by coming out of the dead. But it wasn't you who had lost the war. It was Queen Jimena. It was for her you got revived, and it was only her memories you cared for. One saying two legends, connected by a thread of eternal love. Brilliant!"

Love was an emotion Aldrich was very familiar with and estranged at the same time. But he knew what kind of strength it could bring into some people in dire circumstances. The Boss Crawler, who could hardly even move his head, stood up and towered in front of Aldrich. The loathing in his eyes was burning with such intensity that it could even burn Aldrich to ashes. His voice, now on the brink of losing all rationality, reached Aldrich's ears.

"I thought… I have seen all the evil in the world in that purple-haired Devil's eyes. I thought that none was worthy enough to be called a Devil other than him. But you? You have surpassed all my thoughts."

By this time even the Boss had realised there was a difference between these two existence that had shared the same bodies.

Aldrich never cared for what other people thought of him. He just knew that when an opportunity presented itself, one needed to grab it as if their life depended on it. So what if he would be called a Devil or God for it? As long as he got his answer, all the paths leading up to the result would be meaningless.

"I will find Queen Jimena's Dungeon after getting out of here. Seal her and break her legend. I will rip her memories out of her, memories of you. She will never know who you were and what you had done for her. She will never know the existence of any love. A love that had made both of your legends. She will be nothing… nothing more than a useless puppet. Tell me what I want to know and I won't do these things. I promise."

Aldrich and El Cid stared at each other. The conviction in Aldrich's eyes couldn't be copied, and it wasn't needed to be said out loud, that Aldrich will definitely do what he had just said. The Tizona and Colada laid on the surrounding ground quaked with boundless rage, but then a gentle look took over El Cid's eyes. It didn't seem that he was looking at Aldrich, and there was a trace of remembrance in his eyes.

Thump!

El Cid fell back with a loud thump and stared at the bright sky. 'Death' came on his lips and an Ancient Saying escaped his mouth unwillingly.

"Mana doesn't create Life without a WILL, RECORD makes it do so…"

"… And 'RECORD' needs to pay a heavy cost every time this WILL is removed from us. Find out what a WILL truly is, and you will have your answer."