Raze could feel the energy flowing through him from Belil. He had already taken in a lot of energy; his dantian had felt full for a while now, and it was spreading everywhere else in his body.
His dantian almost felt overstretched, forcing it to expand, and it was painful, like a stomachache. He was sure that this wouldn't just be it.
There was more pain to come, judging by how his body would reconstruct itself, according to Belil's words. It wasn't normal for a body to contain this much power without going through real experiences and growth on its own.
His body was being forced to go through these experiences, and it might have been where the excess energy was going.
Thankfully, with Raze's energy filling, the wounds on his body from before were now healing, and his Blazer, as always, was doing its trick, taking care of his body nicely.
Now, since Raze could speak freely without much pain, he had questions for Belil—things he had to ask after everything was being done for him.
"Belil, I still don't understand why you're doing this for me. It makes no sense," Raze said. "I am not the person you or Bofan think I am."
"I don't care about Pagna, and I don't even care about Alterian. The only reason I did all of this was for my own selfish revenge. The only reason I want the Golden Globe is so I can go back to Alterian and kill those who ruined my life!"
Raze spoke with strong conviction and passion because he was afraid of something—afraid of the outcome of all that was taking place.
A weight was being placed on his shoulders without him even asking for it.
"You could have gone to the island yourself. You said it: you're the strongest warrior; you could have dealt with them all and stopped them."
"Even if you give me your power, I won't be able to use it like you. It won't be the same… and I could have grown stronger later!"
Although Raze had the energy to talk, there was still a strange force on his stomach, almost an attack of sorts from Belil, keeping him pinned down and preventing him from moving freely.
Belil laughed, as usual, at Raze's words.
"I told you, I am following his will, and you are the closest person to it all."
"Raze, Dark Magus, Demon, White Dragon, and my son—I want you to listen to my next words carefully. Right now, what I'm giving you is something that everyone wishes for."
"Hundreds of years of cultivation obtained just like that, in less than an hour. The life of immortality is considered a boring one, but the truth is, I found myself changing even after a few hundred years!" Belil laughed again.
"I want you to look after my daughter and my son Dame. I tried to raise them correctly in this world, but they're a bit too soft."
"I do care about my other two sons, but I've already seen instances where they've done wrong. If they were to fall by your hand, then I would accept that, but maybe, if you could steer them in the right direction, like what happened to me, then that would be good. Think about it as well."
"All of them run the clan, and they will soon all look up to you. Which means the Neverfall Clan and its legacy are practically in your hands now."
Inwardly, Raze was shaking his head. The way the words were being spoken, the way they were trailing, he knew where it was going. Where all of this was going, he wanted to tell Belil to stop, to stop right now.
The thing was, he knew how stubborn old fools were, being one himself, and in particular, Belil as well; he had already made his decision in all of this.
If he interrupted him, he would be the arsehole in all of this.
"I listened to what you said—you don't care about the world of Pagna, but I hope that at some point, you will. With my power, I'm sure you'll have a long life, so there's a chance you might change your mind. I've heard things have already been changing for you slightly." Belil laughed.
"Lastly, it doesn't matter that you don't know my techniques; you have the Dark Edge Sword Arts. Now, with my Qi, you should be able to perform all eight techniques."
"You will be practically unstoppable in Pagna, but Raze, I don't know how strong your enemies are."
"Maybe they're as strong as those who wish to harm Pagna. They might even be stronger, based on how crazily you have been seeking strength."
"So I have one last request: get stronger, get far stronger than Bofan or I ever did!" Belil let out a loud belly laugh.
His Qi was immense with each laugh, and the strength could still be felt around Raze's chest, until the pressure was gone from his stomach.
Slowly, Raze moved his hand and placed it by his side. His body felt frozen, but eventually, he lifted himself up and looked at Belil.
His eyes were wide open, and he still had a large grin on his face, one that was permanently there. Now that he looked deeply into the smile, he realised, it was the same smile that he would always see on Belil's face, a smile that was intimidating when they first met, but now it looked extremely friendly.
Finally, someone who had been watching for a while now descended. Brack moved in cautiously, assessing the situation as he saw Raze just looking ahead.
"Is everything okay? I thought you might have been a goner there," Brack commented.
When he got closer, he could see that Raze was just staring ahead at Belil, and only then did he realize that Belil hadn't moved the entire time.
"What happened?" Brack asked, afraid to even wave his hand in front of Belil's face.
"He's… dead," Raze said.
Right after saying those words, a striking pain shot through Raze's body.