There wasn’t a single statue with a smile, or even looking neutral. I stopped, held my glaive tighter when I spotted someone sitting on a high seat, made out of golden purple ore like gens, sparkling and giving such a feeling of it being a throne.

And on top of it, a man sat there. It was the same man who the statues here described.

“Do you like my art?”

And as I was preparing for a hellish fight, he suddenly spoke, raised his head and my eyes met his.

This… I didn’t feel a single speck of hostility coming from this man, only desperation and sadness.

“What? Looking surprised?” he seemed to notice my shocked reaction, “please, don’t be. All who came to see me over the long course of years either wanted to gain my power, or tried to kill me.”

“Are you this famous?” I couldn’t help but ask, while looking around, trying to see through this play here.

What the heck was going on here? Where was this weapon?

“Are you perhaps wondering about… The weapon?” he suddenly laughed, one that held enough bitterness to let worlds soak with sadness, “don’t. It’s me, I am that weapon you are looking for.”

He stood up, raised both arms in the air, letting his golden purple coat move aside, exposing his bare chest filled with muscles.

And in the place where his heart should be, a weird glass thing was there. I could see something flashing with purple arcs inside, like dancing lightning.

“Surprised? Or better to say… Confused?”

“Both,” I finally spoke, pointing my glaive towards him, “I came here to destroy this weapon.”

“Then you shall kill me… See this little thing here? I got it once I was born. A blessing as my creator told me that day, a curse if you wanted my opinion. All this, this misery, this torture, this pain… All this was caused by this little thing that’s powering up my body.“

“You… You are a living person?!” This was another shocking piece to me. I knew he was a living person, but what I meant was that the weapon was this living weirdo.

“The ability to shake even the mightiest shields in this cosmos… This is my blessing, and curse,” he laughed again, in his own bitter and unique way, while pointing at that glass thing, even knocking on it like he was knocking on a door.

“Will you believe me if I told you I tried? Tried to smash that little thing, or grasp it out from my body. Yet each time I fail, and my will is the reason and nothing else. Come, smash that mighty looking thing in your hand at this glass. It has no defensive power, nothing to resist you, and nothing will happen afterwards but me falling dead here.”

“This…” I had to be honest, I never expected such a weird encounter to happen, “are you a race? A cursed race?”

Well… My history with cursed races ran long before meeting this dude. It was the first thing that popped up in my mind when I heard what he said and saw what he was like.

“You can say I’m the first, and last of my kin. After my creation, the wise old man died at the hands of those who craved my power. They are the nasty ones, the darkest race in the entire cosmos. They lived on wars, bloodshed, and even would celebrate when hearing wails rising up from the universe. Come on, put an end to my misery, and help me and many others to have a moment of peace.”

“You said… Many came to see you before me. What happened to those?”

“Whoever wanted my power had to go and meet those who controlled me since my birth,” he shrugged, returning to his throne before adding in such a tiring tone, “I never saw that place, but a portal would open whenever anyone tried to take me away from here. They’ll go there, sucked into that portal, and never be seen or heard from ever again.”

“And those who tried to kill you?” I grew vigilant towards what he was going to say next. After all, it seemed whoever designed this place made sure no one would enter and leave with their trophy.

Then killing this dude was a far harder task than it might seem.

“Not a single one who came here resisted the greediness of taking me under their wing. I saw what you did, watched every single struggle you pulled. You fought so well to be honest, did something I never imagined to happen by making peace in between two warring universes. You are amazing. I even can’t sense any speck of greed towards my power from your heart. Only empathy and might be… little sadness and pain. Am I true?”

“Can you sense my heart?”

“I can sense what I wanted, as I’m a higher being than you,” he sighed, “this concept is too much for such a weak descendant of such a nameless race to understand. I can see your doubts, smell your regret of having to kill me, and above all I can feel your desire to bring peace to your universe.”

“…”

I frankly was having all these conflicting thoughts and feelings. I didn’t know what I should do now. Would I just kill him? Was he really the weapon? Or was this another prick of that damn mysterious enemy?

“I’m not lying,” he suddenly closed his fist, landed it heavily over his glassy thing before coughing blood out of his mouth. He really did hit his heart with all his might, even to the extent of growing weak and falling on the ground.

“Please… End my misery… Put an end I couldn’t before and wouldn’t without external help… Cough… Cough…”

He kept coughing and I looked at this supposedly terrifying weapon with daze and loss. Was this a scary weapon? The one that tore apart universe shields and made them enter an era of chaos.

Was this… Miserable looking man with that mighty and terrifying weapon?