Chapter 158 Main

But of course, Nero wasn't going to take the old man's words at face value. 

He peered into the depths of his soul, his gaze like an abyss that stripped away all pretense. 

And then, with a mere thought, he acted.

The old man's body trembled violently.

"Noooooooo!" His scream was one of pure, unfiltered terror. 

It wasn't pain that tormented him—it was something far worse. 

His very essence, the sum of his entire existence, was laid bare before Nero's eyes. 

Memories he had buried, sins he had tried to forget, fears he had suppressed for eons—all of it surfaced at once.

And then the horror deepened.

The old man was no longer just recalling his past; he was reliving it. 

Every joy, every sorrow, every triumph, and every failure—he experienced them all anew, exactly as he had before. 

The sweet moments of love turned bitter as he remembered how they ended.