Chapter 173: Drawn Out Line.

"They were your fodder in life, and even in death you refuse to let them rest. You want them to die for you all over again."

The words came out harsher than Damien intended, but he was beyond caring about how they sounded. His eyes remained fixed on Andrea and then drifted toward the bodies lying behind her.

Broken armor, dried blood and lifeless faces filled the cave, men who had already paid the ultimate price and should have been left in the ground. To Damien, there was something deeply wrong about dragging them back into the world simply because their corpses could still be useful.

Yuri tried to get between them, but Andrea actually kept her from doing so. She stopped Yuri with one arm, preventing her from stepping into the space between them while Damien continued to glare at her.

Andrea responded. "You’re awfully emotional about this. You’re the same guy that gave the whole speech about weeding out the weak and allowing only strength to foster. You didn’t seem unwilling to allow Leslie to continue her rain of terror on helpless men, women and children."

Damien seemed stunned that she had brought that up. For a second, the comparison caught him off guard, but the anger quickly returned. As far as he was concerned, the context here was considerably different. Leslie had been a powerful awakened, and he had even later accepted that some people would have to die because of the choices they made.

But these people were already dead. They had fought, fallen and been buried by the world, and now Andrea wanted to drag them back simply because their remains could serve another purpose.

"Did you forget I also mentioned having a line I would never cross? Well, Andrea, this is it. The line, drawn out for you." Damien’s voice was firm despite the anger behind it. "I admit I have done questionable things for the greater good of everyone, but I will never go as far as turning my fellow humans into undead."

He wasn’t pretending to be innocent. Damien knew exactly what he had done since arriving in the tower. He had killed people, raised corpses, experimented with things that should probably never have been touched and even corrupted an Eidolon Priest with the Tome of Avarice.

He could acknowledge all of that without hesitation. But that was precisely why this mattered to him. There had to be something he refused to do, something that remained outside the collection of compromises he had already made. If every boundary could be erased whenever survival demanded it, then eventually there would be nothing left separating him from the things he hated.

Yuri didn’t know what to say to stop them from arguing. It seemed like things might devolve into a fight, and she could feel the tension between them growing heavier with every word. On one side was her friend Andrea, someone she had trusted through life and death. On the other was Damien, someone she had also fought beside and for whom her feelings had grown far beyond friendship. She stood between those two truths and couldn’t find a way to make either one disappear.

Damien looked toward Yuri, his anger shifting toward her when he saw that she remained silent. "How can you allow her to go this far? These people deserve a proper burial. I expect this from Andrea, but Yuri. How can you even stand there without being disgusted by her actions?"

Yuri opened her mouth, but she couldn’t speak. There were many things she wanted to say, but none of them could make it past her throat. She wanted to explain herself, wanted to tell Damien that she wasn’t simply standing there because she agreed with Andrea, but the words refused to come. It was a horrible feeling, being trapped between two people she cared about and knowing that anything she said could make the situation worse.

Damien shook his head when she remained silent. "Oh my god, you can’t, can you? You’ve got your head so far up her ass you can’t even see how insane this is. We’re trapped in a magical tower. We’re not being forced to do anything that goes against our morals, but the moment we choose to, that makes us even more monstrous than the monsters themselves..." His voice hardened as he looked between them. "I’m not the bad guy here."

Andrea stepped closer. "Stop. I’m the one that asked you, not her."

Damien wasn’t convinced. He was too enraged to even consider what they were saying anymore. The bodies behind Andrea had become the only thing he could see, and every explanation sounded like an excuse to him.

"Of course not." He turned to her again. "She’s just a puppet of yours, just like the others."

The words struck Yuri harder than Damien seemed to realize. Her eyes reddened, but she turned away from them before either of them noticed. She didn’t want Andrea to see the hurt, and she didn’t want Damien to see it either.

Claire stood to the side and frowned darkly. Andrea’s status effect was a secret known only to a select few, and for some reason, the fact that Damien now knew about it felt dangerous. He was a member of the Round Table, someone they had accepted as an ally, but he was also far too wild and careless for Claire’s liking.

Damien had never been particularly good at keeping his opinions to himself, and now he was angry enough that whatever restraint he possessed seemed to have disappeared entirely. The situation had already become much more complicated than simply asking him to use his ability.

Damien didn’t know what to say to convince them anymore, so he scoffed and decided to walk away.

"Damien". Andrea said coldly. "If you leave, just know that you are going to be the sole reason many more of us will die before this quest ends, everyone out there is counting on us, the round table isn’t just some fancy seat you can take at your leisure, it has responsibilities that come with it".

Damien didn’t even bother turning back.

"Go fuck yourself Andrea".

Claire’s eyes went cold, and her body shot through space.