"You, Hero, have been most miserable."
The Goddess points her finger at him. Her ethereal voice although shows no signs of changing, yet to the Hero, he feels like she is furious.
Lord Kan hears that, and he can just not agree more.
"What is there to be proud of just by winning? Did you manage to destroy your opponent?"
I don't understand. I won. Isn't that enough? He thinks.
"Foolish."
*Whoosh*
His body floats into the air. All four limbs spread out wide like they are being pulled.
"Ack! Argh! Keough!"
He tries his best to move, struggling to find a way to breathe. Of course, his efforts mean nothing in the presence of the Goddess.
No! I can't breathe! Let me breathe! Why can't I move?!
He screams on the inside. Fear envelops his feeble mind.
Soon, Hero's eyes turn upward, revealing the sclera, and his face gets completely pale.
Am I dying? Is this how dying is supposed to be? Oh, God! Save me! Anyone!
Kan looks at that scene with not just terror, but with more commitment in his heart. He does not know who this Goddess is, but he will follow her to the end of time.
"You are here to conquer. You are here to kill. Still, you left your enemies live, did you not?
Do not think that just thinking in your mind will make me oblivious!
I am a being so superior you can not comprehend. Mind reading is children's play. Test me again, if you will, and I will give you pain for eternity."
*Thud* *Cough cough*
The Hero drops down on the floor. As he keeps on inhaling, he gradually returns to normal. But in his eyes is the look of pure terror.
"I gave you powers beyond imagination. And what have you been doing? Having coitus.
Procreation is not a bad thing, but you managed to let it be known all over this planet.
Such idiocy is worthy of the title of an imbecile."
I...I didn't expect to be found out like that. I'm sorry Goddess. Please forgive me.
Kan nods inside.
"You don't know the enemy, you don't know who you are fighting with. What use do I have for you?"
The Goddess opens her fingers. Immediately, a ball of rainbow light comes out from his chest and falls onto her palm.
Hero's expression changes into despair.
What!? Please! I can not feel the elements anymore! Don't take it back!
"If you want to have it, then answer my questions correctly. Who are you dealing with?"
"Mmmmhfhhss! Maashfffmmmm!!"
I don't know! I'm sorry! I don't know! Please, Goddess, give it back! Without elemental affinity, I'm worthless!
With the vocal cords still disabled, Hero can not mutter even a single word properly. He cries like a baby, bowing his head on the floor.
"You are worthless without this? No, no, Hero, this is where you are incorrect. Even with this, ..." The rainbow orb floats in front of Hero.
There's still hope for me. There's still hope. The Goddess has not left me yet.
Seeing the most important thing in his life returning, he extends his arm to catch it with a nervous face.
"... you are still worthless." The Goddess says.
Without a sound, the light orb vanishes into thin air.
Argh!? No! NO! Why!? Please, Goddess! MY POWER! My everything!!!
The Hero is devastated. He is terrified of the fact that he is now normal again. He is now the student back in that dimension, no magic, no mana.
From being the prodigy, to be the nobody. That kind of torture is simply immense.
"Answer me this. What is my virtue?"
It...it's curiosity...please Goddess...bring my powers back to me...I can't feel the elements anymore...Please...I beg you...I'm nothing without it...
"Then have you done anything to praise that virtue? Use your monkey brain and think, for a second. Your eyes are the cameras only, you need to see with your brain at the same time.
Observe your lover, and tell me what you notice."
She...she is thin...She is unconscious...She does not have an eye...
"Do you understand now?"
I..I don't...
The old man kneeling beside him nearly shouts. He just can not believe how stupid this Hero can be. The suspect is as clear as day or at least, the closest to the suspect is clear.
"Why did I choose you in the first place? Which eye is she missing?"
The left eye...
"Which eye has the heads of the guards missed?"
The left eye...
If Kan did not ask him the same thing before, then probably Hero would also know nothing about this.
"Ask questions. Show me your curiosity. Show me progress. If you can not do this much, then I have no use for you."
The only thing...about the left eye missing...I can remember...is that guy...
But how could he have done...this? He did not show such power...
What if...it is all just a coincidence?
"If you have lovers, others can have lovers, too."
Then...his girlfriend did this? It makes sense...yes! It makes perfect sense!
That girl! That masked girl was very aggressive! She was ordering me around to heal him!
Then it is all because of him? What a loser! He ordered his girlfriend to do the things he couldn't.
"That person is your enemy. Eliminate him. Eliminate his girlfriends. By your hands, show me that you are at least capable of listening to orders."
I...I can't...I...just can't kill another human...
"Either that, or you will forever lose your powers."
I...I...what if...I stun them and the Goddess kills them...?
"Blasphemy."
*BOOM!!?*
The back of the Goddess blows up, destroying all the walls behind Her. The explosion was so extreme that there is literally nothing left.
As if the whole mansion has been built with one side only, without doors and walls on the other side.
"Did you order me to work for you?"
Once again, the Hero is brought back up into the air.
*Crack crack crack crack crack*
Very slowly, his limbs, including the head, start to twist.
First, the fingers twist 360 degrees, breaking all the smaller joints. Then comes the hands, the elbows, the armpits.
The same happens on the feet.
His head twists from left to right. But then, it moves further beyond, bending backward.
But most disturbingly, Hero is alive and fully conscious.
ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!! ARRGGHHHHGGGGG!!!!!
GAAAAAAAAH!!!! PLEASEEEEEEE! AAAARRRHHHHHH!!!
Kan looks at the horrifying spectacle with awe on his face. Such power, he wants to be under such Goddess. Not the Goddess of Love who has not had a blessing in years.
"If I kill anyone, then all the others will be able to kill my worshippers." Her voice remains indifferent throughout everything.
*Crack crack crack crack crack crack*
IAMSORRYYYYYY!!!! ARRGGHHHGHHSHHAAHHHHH!!!
He then folds himself like a sheet of paper.
"My Selection is coming up in one month. When the time comes, all that I deem worthy will be transported to my domain.
Everything will be transmitted throughout the Universe for others to see. This is the basic rule of Selection.
Because of that, I want you to dispose of all of them in the most wonderful way possible, in front of the whole Universe.
Then, I want you to say that you are under me, the Goddess of Curiosity.
Do not. I repeat, do not disappoint me, Hero."
The Goddess then turns her face at Kan.
"You can leave them for now. No need to send anyone after them. This is a test."
Kan instantly replies with zeal. "All according to the Goddess's will!"
"Very well."
She nods and disappears.
Bowing a few more times until the sound of cogwheels has stopped, Kan stands up and looks to his side.
In his vision, the Hero is standing still as if nothing happened. Except for the nightmarish look in his eyes, he is completely normal.