Chapter 869

Dragon Clan.

"If Sisyphus pushes the stone up the mountain, the stone is destined to roll down; this struggle with the gods he can never win, but he has never given up." Caesar said, "As Lu Ka said, there are truly too many battles in life that cannot be won, but if we judge by results, life is simply an irredeemable tragedy."

"Among them, death is the final battle; everyone will lose to it——this is destined, for thousands of years no one could defy it, even the black dragon Nidhogg died at human hands. Even in the universe, 【Procreation】, 【Expansion】, 【Immortality】, 【Purity】 and other star gods either died or disappeared, leaving only masterless fates……This shows that death is a war that even some star gods find hard to win, so I think those 'unwinnable battles' Lu Ka mentioned are actually not crucial."

"Oh? It seems you've gained quite some insight during your time in Japan? Too bad you're not inside Kasaier Xueyuan now; even if you wanted to make up for Western classical philosophy, I couldn't give you a grade." Angre lit a cigar, his eyes showing a hint of satisfaction……Being able to make Caesar say these words shows he's been in frequent contact with these people from the Japanese headquarters.

"Working as a host in High Heaven Plain, if you can recite some lofty-sounding yet meaningless lines, it's definitely a plus for wealthy women—they'll think they're courting a poet from the Edo period." Caesar shrugged, "Principal, do you think Lu Ka is avoiding something?"

"It's normal for young people to suffer setbacks; the problem isn't losing confidence from the blow, but whether they can get back up after being knocked down." Angre slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, "…There's always someone better, there's always a higher heaven, just like countless young mathematical researchers exhausting their lifetimes' energy merely to save a cup of afternoon tea for true mathematical geniuses—being struck down is human nature, never crucial; what matters is whether they can rekindle their passion after being struck down."

—

"Lu Ka finished speaking and fled deeper inside, where Botai Ou was holding a gun and confronting him, reenacting the scene from the martial arts demonstration ceremony."

After a few gunshots, Botai Ou vanished on the spot, leaving only Lu Ka standing there, spirit wounded.

"Old man, I think you lost with dignity. Not everyone has the guts to face a black hole's barrel and still rush forward to punch him." Tail said.

"What else can I do? Turn and leave? Admit defeat? How is that essentially different from rushing in to fight? No matter which I choose, at that moment my life wasn't in my own hands." Lu Ka shook his head, "You get it? As long as he wants to kill me, I have no room to resist. In the end, it was Mr. Botai Ou who spared my life."

"I hate this feeling… I feel powerless, held in someone's palm, no matter how I resist it's like a joke." Lu Ka lifted his head, "That kid Magi, when facing illness, must feel the same, right?"

"Idiot, what in this world isn't 'held in the palm' by the universe? Even our ancestors of Suiyang were trapped in the furnace, even star gods must walk the path of fate. Freedom? Is freedom important?"

—

Attack on Titan.

"Freedom is certainly important!"

Hearing Tail's words, Eren couldn't help but shout a rebuttal, although he knew Tail couldn't hear him, he still wanted to say.

"Without freedom, what's the difference between humans and livestock?"

Eren's chest rose and fall violently; his words drew the gazes of many Survey Corps soldiers in the cafeteria, Armin jumped in fright and quickly grabbed Eren's shoulder, forcing him back to his seat.

"Armin, I think you've misunderstood Tail's meaning." Armin said softly, "Tail's words aren't denying the importance of freedom; he's just viewing freedom from a higher standpoint."

Armin turned to look behind him; on the distant horizon stood a wall that could decide humanity's survival.

"You might think people living inside the walls are merely the Titans' livestock, and once the Titans are eliminated humanity can regain freedom. But have you considered, for this land beneath our feet and the sky above our heads, the Titans might also be beasts trapped between heaven and earth?"

……

Eren lowered his head; the excitement on his face receded like a tide, leaving only a pallid blank……He had indeed never considered viewing 'freedom' from a higher angle.

All along his belief has been to fight the Titans beyond the walls, the concrete embodiment of imprisoning freedom. But what Armin and Tail said felt more like an invisible shackle of fate……He didn't know how to rebut, only a deep sense of helplessness spreading through his limbs.

—

"Lu Ka turned around, gritted his teeth and said: 'You don't understand, Old Man Tail, I just don't want to lose.'"

After saying that, Lu Ka ran deeper again.

Tail continued following his footsteps; not far off he found Lu Ka besieged by a swarm of inner demons, who shouted desperately for Lu Ka to flee, return to Bello Berg, and abandon the beautiful dream of returning home in glory and achieving fame.

After clearing the noise brought by those inner demons, Lu Ka's consciousness also seemed to finally clear up a bit.

"Lu Ka, the noise disturbing your heart has been cleared away by me—pull yourself together!"

"Noise? Mr. Jiepade—an officer of Bello Berg—said something similar to me." To this day, Lu Ka finally understood Mr. Jiepade's earlier advice.

"When facing Mr. Botai Ou's black hole barrel, I found Mr. Jiepade was right. My heart filled with calm, only one voice kept shouting, growing louder until it drowned out everything around……That voice said: 'Run! Run! Run! If you don't run now you'll die!'"

"That is my truest voice when in danger. I think this perhaps means I'm not as strong as I imagined……"

"Then why did you still rush forward when your heart told you to run?" Tail laughed.

"Because at that moment there was an even fainter voice, barely audible, but it still clearly reached my ears……That voice said: 'If you run now, you might as well just die.'"

Tail greatly appreciated his approach: "So you did well, you rushed forward!"

"But I lost, Old Man Tail. I followed that 'extremely important voice' and then lost utterly."