Chapter 453: A Tempting Offer
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Silence stretched briefly as Neji stared at her as if she made a bad joke. With a soft chuckle, she waved her hand, and their surroundings changed. They were standing in outer space now.
Stars moved past them, galaxies moved closer, and they moved at a speed that was beyond anything mortal could perceive.
"...The previous Gamer was my adopted son, as well. He didn't have a mother; his early stages of life are unknown to me, but when I met him for the first time, he was basically alone. I accepted him as my son." She said as if Neji had asked.
Their position in the cosmos came to a halt near the solar system, which was too far from Earth. No, Omniscient said this was a different universe entirely.
Godmother pointed a finger toward an icy blue planet in this stat system, which was as big as Earth's Sun. Their position zoomed forward to appear in the planet's sky.
Her finger was pointing at a sleeping ice dragon on top of a high mountain, and the dragon was the size of Earth…
[Wrykrì — Demonic Ice Dragon — Mid Class 10]
"Where we stand is a universe just beside the DxD universe. You can assume it to be DxD's sibling universe. And you can consider this Ice Dragon to be this verse's Great Red, except she is much stronger." Godmother said. "It's because she's not a normal Dragon God like Great Red, but a Demonic Dragon."
"You see, Dragons are very close to being a Demon. In the Bible, for example, since you're cosplaying as it's God right now, the Devil was referred to as a Dragon. On the larger scale of things, dragons are, of course, different entities than Demons or Devils, but they are close enough. The first Gamer was a Black Dragon, large enough to swallow a universe back when we first met. I took him in and granted him a more Demonic form of a dragon... His power growth was exceptional with that."
"Alright…"
Neji was unsure what to say, so he just agreed. He was holding the hand of the fusion of his girls, Chaos, in case they got lost accidentally.
"Now, please see this." she raised a finger in the sky and brought it down. A bunch of stars from hundreds of light years far from here came rushing toward the Dragon.
The dragon woke up, and Neji, Chaos, and Godmother teleported to the edge of this star system. From there, they watched as the dragon swallowed literal stars that were pulled from another galaxy with one or two gulps.
She smiled seeing Neji's stupefied look. At this point, Neji could do the same; at least, he felt like he could, so why was he surprised? Because this Dragon was the variant of this universe's Great Red, which was a twin to DxD. He knew for sure that the Great Red wouldn't be able to do anything like this.
"Indeed, the Great Red can't do anything like this. Moreover, the original Great Red. You are aware that your DxD Universe was amplified somehow, right? Hmm, if I have to put it in Gamer terms, the original Great Red is just a Tier 29 being. While the Ice Dragon is a Peak Class 10 entity, keep in mind that this world's power level is untampered."
After explaining that, the Godmother moved them back to Earth. In the process, she showed off a bit more as they blurred across other universes, multiverses, where the faces of many entities stared at them.
Soon, they finally returned to the sky of Earth — in the realm of Hindu Gods.
"As I said, the first Gamer was a Demonic Dragon. And I wish to turn you into a Demonic Dragon as well. This will, in turn, turn you into a Demon God instead of the Holy God that you currently are. It does sound a little negative in name, but I doubt you care since you killed your Local Gods without a single hesitation. I think the path of pure Evil is more suitable for you than this nuisance mindset you follow, where you only go evil when pushed to a corner." The Godmother finished.
"Sounds great, but all of my senses say you are not trustworthy," Neji frowned at her.
"I gain nothing from tricking a little child like you, hah... You see, Gamer, I am older than most things in the Prime Omniverse. But when it comes to the Cube Omniverse, I am older than its entire existence. I existed before those two Outsiders who claimed to be Beyond Omnipotence came to this realm and placed a [Cube Artifact] in the Void, which slowly transformed into the Cube Omniverse." She argued.
"You gain nothing from tricking me, but what do you gain from helping me?"
"A son, of course. Someone who will make me be able to enjoy life at this point in time. The First Gamer was able to do it, so I think you can do it, too. That's the only reason I am here. I don't wish to take your life. It was that woman, Eurynome, who sent these criminals after you. I only tagged along with them to make sure they were properly killed by you."
"Yet you were suppressing the Omniverse's Will from helping me," Neji argued, making her shrug.
"I wanted to make sure you get enough Experience Points. If they were too weak, you wouldn't have benefitted. Plus, ah this might convince you, I was not suppressing the Omniverse's Will. That young thing respects and loves me, so I just asked it to withdraw its influence a little."
"…."
[Ding! The Omniverse's Will vouches for the Godmother's claim. However, it does not suggest you agree with Godmother's deal based on this. The choice is entirely up to you. Please think carefully.]
So that confirmed it…
Neji trusted the Omniverse's Will quite a lot. It was the sole thing that kept him alive till now. So if it vouched that it respected the Godmother, then maybe she wasn't that bad after all…
"One last thing," Godmother said. "If you have reached Level 10,000, then you'd be proposed with a Quest to complete your Class and Subclass Advancement. From what the previous Gamer told me, you'd get three paths to choose from there. It's a very long process. However, one of the paths is a Demon-focused one. I can help you advance in that right away. Years of work will be done right away."
Right, Neji did receive a quest like that… He had yet to check its contents, though.
"Looks like you're finally considering it. That means you're Level 10,000, right?" the Godmother asked casually, and Neji opened his mouth to reply.
"Don't tell her,"
But a voice interrupted him.
"She is not trustworthy." A hand fell on his shoulder from behind. "Old vixen."
The sky was rumbling with Godmother's song until now. [Who is She?] had been playing all along until now. But all of a sudden, another song began to beat beside it. The sound of guitar strings rang through the universe as [Don't Go Yet] played.
Neji looked at the person with one of her arm around his shoulder. Turning to the side, he found a sculpture of nature and life. Her green hair was filled with vibrant energy, and her emerald eyes were filled with intent.
Unlike the dark and gloomy Godmother, Neji found her much more trusting, mostly because of her identity.
[Lady Life – Abstract Entity – Tier Indecipherable]
Neji couldn't tell what Tier she was, but from what he learned from Lady Luck, this woman should be a Class 1 Entity.
Speaking of…
Another figure formed beside Lady Life. White hair and golden eyes, coupled with horns, where a few strands of her hair clumsily hung.
[Lady Luck – Abstract Entity – Tier Indecipherable]
If Neji wasn't going to heed Life's words before, now he was sure she was an ally.
"Neji!" Lady Luck jumped into his arms as Lady Life gave them space while still staring at Godmother ahead.
"You escaped prison?" Neji smiled like a little kid and asked her, who quickly kissed his lips and nodded.
"I did. It's been a while since I did. But anyway, there is another person with us. I think you'd love to meet her."
"Who…"
Neji turned to the side and his heart skipped a beat.
The wind blew like a whistle, and periwinkle hair swayed in the air as the two siblings stared into each other's eyes. Their eyes, both of which used to be blue, were now different. Nejire's sharp golden eyes stared into his cosmic blue ones as he let go of Lady Luck.
[Nejire Hado – Supreme Deity – Peak Class 6]
"Uh, hey… sis."
"At least smile a little."
Her voice was the same, even if tired. Neji pulled her into a tight hug. Nejire gently hugged back… before she failed to hold it in and hugged him tightly. The grip strength could have made a galaxy explode.
"Liar. Why didn't you tell me you were a reincarnator?"
"…." Neji froze.
"It wasn't hard to connect the dots. In the Tensura world, there were many people who were reborn or summoned from Earth. So, at one point, I realized that you have acted like a reincarnated person since you were young."
"Ah…"
Neji wasn't sure what to add to that. She still hugged him and looked at his eyes, even though she was frowning. "After realizing that, I thought that my real brother was replaced by you… when he was eight years old. That day when Neji got lost in the park and Mom made a scene. After that you started acting weird, you always wanted to travel the country after that. Later, you said you traveled to complete Dungeons around Japan."
Did she think that? It made sense, from her perspective… But did she really think he wasn't her brother?
"I didn't replace…"
"I know." She interrupted him. "I just told you this because I wanted to let you know that I was angry at you for a few years. But Lady Luck explained things to me already. She confirmed that you have been 'Neji' since the day 'Neji' was born, and it's not some weird possession."
Phew. Neji pulled her up and kissed her. She didn't resist. She gave in to the kiss and hugged him tightly.
Even when the kiss ended, she was still forming. "But still, you should have told me… us, about this." She added 'us' when she looked at the woman beside Neji.
The Goddess of Chaos, the fusion of the girls. Nejire smiled at them. "Hey, girls."
"Hi," the woman waved a hand as her voice vibrated. When Neji let go of Nejire, Chaos hugged her. "We missed you a lot."
"I know. I missed you too, Momo, Rumi, and Ryuko." Nejire said, easily seeing through who was fused in this entity. Then she frowned again. "Where is Kimi?"
"…."
"I think that's enough for a reunion," the Godmother stepped into the conversation, her voice trailing off smoothly. She looked past Lady Life and Lady Luck and at Neji. "It is not a bad offer, Gamer. Take it."
"That sounds like a threat, not an offer, you old hag," Before Neji could reply, Lady Life said in his stead. "Been a while. I hate to see your face as always. Please, get out of here before I get angry."
It seemed Neji didn't have to haggle with the old lady. Someone was doing it for him, and from how she turned back and winked at him, she seemed capable at this job.
However, Neji was feeling conflicted.
Godmother's offer… was too good.
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*Character Pictures of Lady Life, Lady Luck, and Nejire in This Paragraph.
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