Then he looked back at Shizu and said, "I thought you were going to try to convince me to do otherwise." "Or are you?" he asked.
"I don't know, myself." But maybe it's because I value people, and the thought of the gods whom we worship and revere now turning their backs on us makes me sick to my stomach. "Knowing this now, I might even support you on this suicide mission," she replied, and the two others gasped, not believing what they had just heard.
"If humanity is to have any chance of survival, we have to either fight back or hope for some miracle to happen in our favor," Shizu explained, "but the latter would be impossible, as the miracle workers themselves are the ones who have turned against us."
"So you mean... if we want to survive, then we have to fight?" Genta asked.
"That is exactly what I mean, Genta," Shizu replied plainly. "We can't just sit back and do nothing knowing that those beings are against us." "Left to me, I would rather die fighting for the survival of those precious to me than live with the assurance of destruction and eventually die knowing that I could have done something about it but didn't."
Orihime smiled, "You are right," she said to Shizu, "but this is so crazy!"
"You are crazy!" she said to Kazuya, "but I'm also crazy." stupid enough to stick with you and support you, even at a time like this. "Count me in," she said to him.
Kazuya nodded. "Thank you," he said to her, and she was almost startled by his response. Kazuya was glad that they were still sticking with him, despite the absurdity of his goal.
"Quit the act of gratitude, big man." Orihime replied, "It doesn't suit you."
Kazuya then looked at Shizu and asked, "Do you know how we could go about this?" Last I heard, all three members of the Mikami resided in the heavens, a realm far beyond our reach. "Any ideas?" he asked her.
"Though I am an expert in hidden magic, I'm sorry to say that the complexities behind finding their realm are way beyond my level of expertise," Shizu replied, "but I do have a theory on how to get their full attention."
Kazuya folded his hands. "Alright, I'm listening," he said attentively.
"If what the folklore says is true, then the divine system of the gods primarily fuels their power from our worship." "In other words, the more people worship them, the more powerful they become," Shizu explained.
"Alright," Kazuya responded, still listening.
"I believe their main power source is at their main temple," Shizu replied. "That is where each of the gods gets their power, as those are the places where most worshippers go to pay their respects." "If we get there and successfully destroy their offerings and idols, I theorise that it would greatly affect and draw them to us."
"How long would that take to happen?" asked Orihime.
"Trust me, young woman. "They will arrive faster than you think," Shizu replied.
"Okay then, so we would have to get to the temple of Sarasa?" he asked.
"Exactly," she replied.
"Where is the temple?" asked Kazuya, and Shizu looked at him like he had just asked an invalid question.
"Back in my village, we worshipped Raijin, the god of the sky, and we barely even knew about his theology, let alone about the other gods and their main temples," Kazuya explained.
"Same here," Orihime added. "Given the troubles I endured while growing up, believing in any god made little sense to me, so I barely got involved with any religion."
"Well, it doesn't matter for now." "We have to get to the snowy mountains; that is where Sarasa's temple is located," Shizu explained.
"So what are we waiting for?" If you know where it is, then let's get going," Orihime said. "You can just open up a portal leading us straight to the temple, right?"
"Don't be stupid," Shizu replied. "We barely stood a chance against Beelzebub, a creature that can be destroyed by the powerful goddess with minimal effort, and yet you are in a hurry to fight against her." "At your present level, she would murder you in less than a second."
"You first need the power capable of destroying a god," Shizu replied, "or you would just be throwing your life away, meaninglessly."
"Isn't that what this is all about?" Orihime asked, "Wait! We can have the power needed to destroy a god. "Does that even exist?"
"Yes, it does exist," she replied, "but the materials required for it are almost impossible to get." "But even if we get them, we would still stand a little chance against her."
"So where do we get these materials from?" asked Kazuya.
"I already have them—back at the guild," Shizu replied, and Genta held her by the cloak, showing she was against this. She knew the items Shizu was talking about.
"If you use those materials, it would be the end of our guild," she said to Shizu.
"At this point, I don't think we have much choice, Genta," Shizu replied to her, "however, I will make it up to the guild." They will be the ones to decide if it is okay for us to use them. If they don't, then we would have to hunt for those items ourselves."
"So we are heading back to the guild?" asked Kazuya.
"Yes, as I said, that is where we will get the items we need. To fight a god of such power, we need better equipment and magical reinforcement. "We need to transcend even beyond what it means to be a human if we are to stand a chance against a god," she said to them.
"When we get back to the guild, I will inform everyone of the current predicament based on the information we got today." "Based on what I tell them, they will decide if they will help us or not," she said.
Kazuya needed some alone time to talk with Gaichu about this. The more Shizu talked, the more things made a lot more sense to Kazuya. But at the same time, he could not help thinking this was just another objective in the game.
Could it be that fighting against digital deities and entities was part of the actual game? Could it be that victory is possible because that is what the game is all about? Could it be that the destruction of the gods is what this universe was built for?
It all made sense the more they thought about it, and it gave Kazuya more assurance that what they were about to do was possible.
"Everyone!" he said to them.
Then they all looked directly at him, and he nodded at them. "We will do this!" he assured them.
Slowly, they all nodded in agreement, putting aside their fears and doubts for the moment.
"So can we get going now?" Orihime asked Shizu.
"Yes, we can," Shizu replied, almost amazed by Orihime's impatience. She cast another spell, opening a portal leading to the entrance of the cave.
"Get in, all of you," Shizu instructed. Kazuya went first, and Orihime walked right behind him. Then she noticed Genta was still standing where she was, looking at the dead young man lying in a pool of his blood.
Orihime placed a hand on Genta's shoulder, "That cute boy always had it coming, trust me," she said to the young girl, "Let's go."
So Genta went with Orihime into the portal, and Shizu went last before it closed up.
They left a pitiful sight of the young man, who believed in a goddess saving him from death, now lying dead and helpless, ruined by the same hope he had delighted in.
But out of all the moments when something spectacular could have happened, it was now that a bright light shone. It was a light so bright it could have blinded anyone present in the area at that time.
After it dimmed, it revealed a beautiful woman standing before the young man's dead body. She appeared standing, but her feet did not touch the ground.
She donned a white kimono, and her glowing white hair waved through the air as if she were underwater. Her silver eyes glowed brilliantly, and her skin was as white as snow. Her lips were plump yet not too tender; they were vibrant pink in color but not too dark. Her shape was slender but not pale.
She was beauty at its finest, and there was no irregularity about her in that regard.
She looked down at the man on the ground and recognized him immediately, despite his disfigured appearance. She frowned at his pitiful state, disgusted by what she was seeing.
"Pitiful," she remarked.
She walked past his corpse like it was just an ignorable piece of trash. She looked around the area, seeing several signs of intrusion. Her deductions were spot on, thanks to her great wisdom.
What she discovered piqued her curiosity, and she became quite excited. "Rebels?" "Already?" she asked herself.
She had seen the other parts of the cave, where hundreds of goblins and several ghouls were slaughtered. She also appeared where Beelzebub lay dead and in the irregular rocks that surrounded it. At this point, she didn't need her great wisdom to deduce what had happened.
"I guess Maou Mazoku was right: Humans do catch on quickly when their end is nigh. "But if that is true, then we might have to take action immediately."