"Why give it life and intelligence?"

Cillian hadn't expected what was now a Brain worm in Damons domain to ask him such a question.

Truth be told, he had never taken this creature too seriously. The only reason he had captured it was because he believed a great deal of knowledge could be found within a swarm's will-node like this. At the very least, he could analyze part of the hive will's structure through it. That was why he had gone out of his way to seize the creature in the first place.

As for why he had given it life and wisdom…

"Lord, are you going to answer it?"

"I'm sorry to take up your time, but this brain worm… it's quite an interesting fellow indeed," said Damon.

At that moment, the brain worm was being analyzed under Damon's supervision. It was clear that the creature had no ability to resist. The only reason Damon had helped transmit its message to the Lord of the Abyss was out of curiosity, and some faint, indescribable feeling of pity mingled with affection.

Damon himself was an anomaly, a failed product of the reverse-ascend experiment within the Sea of Mind. Because of that, he possessed a strange empathy for creatures that were rejected by their own kind.

Once, it had been nothing more than a relay node for the hive's collective will, its only function to amplify and transmit commands. It had no thoughts, no individuality, no need for self-awareness or a soul. Its existence was mechanical.

Until the day Cillian turned the Ring of the Seven Deadly Sins and let the breath of the Abyss seep into its flesh.

Everything changed after that.

The brain worm gained a will. It began to think. To feel. To fear. It became aware of its own existence, it's even resisted the order from its own Hive mother to lay down ans die.

And with that resistance came the first taste of emptiness. Of confusion. Of pain.

Damon, through his immense mental field, could sense every fragment of that turmoil. Yet, even he could not understand it fully. Unable to interpret what he felt, he chose to relay everything to Cillian, leaving the decision in his hands.

"It's selfish of me to bring this up," Damon admitted quietly, "but the brain worm's consciousness contains knowledge we can use. It helped me fill in the flaws of the original plan."

"And the only thing it asks in return," he continued, "is that you answer a single question. Please, my Lord, don't ignore this chance for the Endless Abyss to evolve further, all because of my subordinate's foolishness."

Cillian could feel Damon's unease even without looking at him.

He knew the creature feared him, not just as a superior, but as a force that could erase his existence entirely. Damon had mixed personal emotion into what should have been a pure process of analysis, and for beings who served under great powers, such "extra thoughts" were often despised.

But to Cillian, this was trivial.

He understood Damon's motives, and more importantly, he didn't mind them.

A faint smile curved his lips. "Alright," he said. "I'll answer it."

A wave of joy rippled through Damon's consciousness. "Thank you, my Lord. Thank you, great Lord of the Abyss. I will tell it the answer—"

"No need," Cillian interrupted. "I'll go there myself."

Damon froze.

"I'll visit your dimension," Cillian continued, "and meet that little one personally. Oh, and Damon, well done."

The Sea of Mind quivered at those words.

Cillian's tone was calm. "You're part of the Abyss now. Don't bind yourself with unnecessary restraint. Be bold. In the Abyss, thought itself should be free."

"…Yes, my Lord."

The next instant, a shadow surged across Damon's domain. Endless black mist descended upon the ocean of brains that made up his dimension. Countless neuron-clusters contracted, clearing space at the center.

There, Cillian appeared.

Before him stood the brain worm, a thick, pulsating creature covered in luminous dream-crystals. Its past wounds had already healed under Damon's care, its severed limbs restored.

"Squeak!"

The creature shrieked in alarm. Instinct drove it to lash out, limbs tense and ready to attack the intruder before it..

Damon froze in horror. The brain worm's reaction was an act of blasphemy. Any demon who witnessed such defiance would have torn it apart on the spot.

But Cillian only lifted a hand.

"Enough."

Black mist rippled around him, dissolving the dream-crystal barrier that had restrained the brain worm. His voice was calm, almost gentle. "I understand. Without the Hive's command suppressing your will, instinct takes over. It's natural."

The brain worm stiffened. Its body trembled slightly, and then, awkwardly, it drew back its limbs. Hesitantly, it extended a few smaller appendages, mimicking the etiquette Damon had shown it earlier.

Its voice was clumsy but clear as it spoke in the Abyssal tongue Damon had taught it.

"Great Lord of the Abyss… I wish to know… why you gave me life and wisdom."

Cillian's expression did not change.

The brain worm continued, its voice trembling slightly.

"Why… did you let me fall into such pain and confusion?"

"And what… is the true meaning of my existence?"

The air in Damon's dimension grew still. Even the murmuring thoughts within the Sea of Mind fell silent as all attention focused on the Lord of the Abyss and the fragile creature before him.

These were the questions that had tormented the brain worm ever since it gained life.

It was nothing like what philosophers or scholars described, the so-called "beauty of being alive." To it, life was not beautiful. The only thing it felt after awakening was pain a deep, suffocating confusion that never ceased.

Of course, this pain was not physical. It was mental, even spiritual.

Hearing the creature's trembling words, Cillian narrowed his eyes. He studied the "little worm" before him for a long moment, interest flickering across his face, before finally speaking.

"You think that your current state is painful? That you feel lost and confused?"

He didn't answer directly. Instead, he questioned in return.

"That's right, great Lord of the Abyss," replied the brain worm. "Although I've only been alive for a short time and still don't understand many of my emotions, with Damon's help, I know this much, what I feel now is pain and confusion."

"I don't know why I exist, or why I was born into this world. I don't even know what kind of being I am."

Its voice was calm, too calm for a creature in its condition. Unlike the chaotic demons of the Abyss, the Zerg possessed an eerie kind of reason.

"To any Zerg," it continued, "I am an outsider. I have thoughts of my own. I broke away from my Mother, the Hive Mind. And what's even more unbearable is that after breaking free, I still…"

The brain worm hesitated. Its mandibles trembled slightly before it forced itself to continue.

"In the end, driven by instinct, I rebelled against the Hive Mind's orders."

"All of this… makes me suffer."

"But what hurts the most," it said quietly, "is that I've received no orders since then."

"In my old ways, I always obeyed. From birth to death, orders guided every action. I ate because I was told to eat. I built because I was told to build. Every motion, every thought was dictated by the will of the Hive Mind."

"But now…"

Its black compound eyes flickered with confusion.

"Now I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"I don't know when to eat. I don't know where to go. Without orders, I feel… nothing. Just emptiness. As if my existence has no meaning at all."

Cillian listened silently, a faint smile touching his lips.

"This question of yours," he said at last, "is absolutely foolish, little insect."

A black and red vortex turned slowly in his eyes. "But perhaps you can understand through a simple experiment."

He raised a hand, and a wisp of black mist swept across the brain worm's massive body. Within that instant, the mist told him everything.

The creature did possess a Sea of Mind, and a soul, but both were undeveloped, embryonic. Like a fetus with a heartbeat but no consciousness, its mind and soul were still in their earliest stages.

Still, that was enough.

Because now, Cillian knew it was capable of feeling pain.

"Squeak!!!"

The moment his gaze deepened, another surge of black mist lashed out, searing across the brain worm's body. The creature convulsed violently, its limbs curling and thrashing in agony. Its plump form quivered, every nerve screaming.

In the Abyss, pain was the cheapest thing in existence.

Cillian had only gathered a few fragments of soul-pain drifting within the depths of the Abyss, yet it was enough to make the creature's very spirit tremble and collapse.

"Lord!" Damon's voice wavered. He could sense the agony reverberating through the Sea of Mind and felt a rare spark of distress.

Cillian ignored him. He bent forward slightly, a smirk curving his lips as he watched the creature's spasms.

"Tell me, brain worm… how does it feel?"

The brain worm's instincts screamed. The pain that would have instantly killed a mortal being was tearing through its mind, but it still managed to respond.

"It's… painful…" it gasped. "But… I… don't… understand…"

"You don't understand how this relates to your question?" Cillian's tone was soft, almost mocking.

"Yes!" the worm hissed, foam bubbling from its mouthparts as its body convulsed harder.

Cillian snapped his fingers.

Another wave of black mist descended.

"Squeak!!!"

The pain redoubled. Every muscle fiber writhed, every organ boiled. Even its mind screamed in raw, wordless despair.

And through that storm of agony, Cillian finally spoke:

"The answer to your question," he said, his voice almost gentle, "is very simple."

"There is no life without pain."

"To live is to suffer."

He smiled faintly as he spoke. "Birth is pain. Death is pain. And everything between the two… is also pain."

"But the greatness of life," he continued, his tone deepening, "lies in the ability to turn pain into purpose. To transform suffering into the will to live."

"Those who live accept pain as part of life. They lie to themselves, tell themselves that their struggle has meaning, just so they can keep moving forward."

He conjured a sphere of black mist in front of the brain worm, its surface swirling like molten night.

"So I despise those who speak of 'the meaning of life.' Life has no meaning. None worth seeking. Meaning is something created by idle beings who can't accept the truth of their existence."

He gestured toward the mist.

"If you wish to end your suffering, touch it. This mist is my divine fire, it will erase you in an instant, body and soul."

"But if you choose to endure… the pain will fade in an hour."

His gaze sharpened, eyes glimmering with crimson light.

"Will you end it all? Or continue suffering?"

The brain worm trembled violently.

Its limbs reached slowly toward the black mist… inching closer and closer to the power that could end it all.

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