Chereads / Tales of Aeolus the Outrageous / Chapter 5 - And So, I Choose...

Chapter 5 - And So, I Choose...

"Are you telling me I'm the evil the hero has to fight against?"

"If you want to be," Net responds with his usual icy persona.

"I don't understand." I sigh, feeling like I've just gone round a circle.

"You weren't chosen to be a villain Mr. Arisu, if that's what you're thinking," He begins with another explanation. "The Tato system only sees you as an existence with a great impact but your personality isn't really hero material so you can do whatever you want with that impact, however…"

"However?"

"You could also choose to be my champion," He states, for once with a chilling grin on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"There's nothing much to it really, there's just an issue over ownership of a large empty realm amongst myself and the other monitors back in Yggdrasil," He starts. "And it is something like tradition that every conflict be solved by an inter-realm arena type challenge where each of the feuding parties chooses a champion whose existence is large enough to be a great impact across multi-realms, and have each of the chosen champions compete to see which existence is strongest. The means in which the realms are changed by the will of the champion are not exclusive, so anything goes, be it hero or villain."

"So, you're saying you want me to be your champion and duke it out with your brothers' champions for you?" I ask.

"Brothers?"

"Uh… yeah, you said you were all created by the same person, right?"

"That's true, I guess I never saw it that way." He says with a mutter. "But in any case, you've got it right."

"How do you know I have that big an existence then?" I question, wondering if he got that from the tato process.

"Ah that was from a personal test of mine,"

"Test?"

"Yes, you may recognize this human form I'm in as the man known as Tsuki Ashita,"

"Ashita����� wait! Tsuki Ashita as in the genius creator of Kingdom Crawlers?!" I exclaim, finally realizing why he looked so familiar. He's a younger version of Tsuki Ashita, the worldwide known genius that created Kingdom Crawlers and the entire coded world of elrev online.

"So, you do recognize me? Good, that'll make this easier," He says, relaxing back in his seat. "I created the game Kingdom Crawlers to help my search for potential champions, and you Mr. Arisu came out as number one in that too, so I already had my eyes on you since long ago. Though I was waiting until you died naturally but then this happened."

"So that's why I look like this?"

"Yes. I thought you would find transferring comfortable in a body that you were used to,"

"Why can't I use my normal body?"

"The immense power an existence like yours should wield would not be effectively used in the feeble body of a human. You're destined for so much more, and as such it is a relief that you had maxed out all your character stats and levels because now you have the perfect body for adequate growth."

"I see," I say, mainly getting the gist of it. "Well, I don't mind."

"So, you accept the transfer?"

"Of course," I respond with a slight shrug. "I mean, it's better than death. Plus, I was bored anyways."

"Very well," Net exhales. I can't tell if he's relieved or happy, but it seems we'll be working together from now on. "So, what would it be?"

"Hm?"

"Would you rather play the hero like most usually do, play the villain to suit your character? Or be my champion and hold the entire world on your fingertips?" He adds, almost with a grin on his face. "There's also the option of dying if you find the other options unsatisfactory."

"You know," I start with a weak sigh. "You really need to work on your sales pitch."

He just gazes at me with a blank expression. Does he really think an average person would jump right into this smiling? Well, I suppose he is a god and everything. Probably doesn't know what it means to be normal, but then again, neither do I right?

"I'll do it," I say with a shrug while crossing my arms. "I'll be your champion since it's the only option that doesn't sound boring or makes me seem like I'm suitable to take over hell."