(Rudeus POV)
"WAKE UP!!!"
A loud voice boomed out of nowhere and sprang up with my eyes opened wide, ready to fight.
"What?! What is it?! Scorpions? Centipedes? Spiders-... oh. It's you."
As I prepared to take on any threatening creatures, I was greeted by the mosaic visage of the shitty god.
Looking around, I was back in the white room. The two beings floating above me again, chained up.
And looking back at him again, he doesn't have his usual irritating smile on. Instead, it was a frown of resentment.
Is it wrong for me to find this entertaining? Nah, who am I kidding, this is hilarious.
"You really fucked everything up. That thing should've killed you."
"Well, you don't always get what you want. Life isn't fair most of the time.
Thanks for getting me a powerful pet, by the way. He is really helpful for the situations where larger monsters come across."
"Grrr."
Oh my, he got angrier. Can he turn red from all the blood going up his head?
"That dragon was supposed to eliminate you, not become your pet."
"He was in a state of helplessness, so I took that chance and tamed him. It almost feels like I'm the graceful one instead of you."
A grin formed on my lips as I watched how he gritted his teeth from the irritation.
I sat down again, getting back to the main subject here.
"What do you want? You wouldn't be summoning me here just to have a chitchat. Is it perhaps about the monsters that appeared recently?"
"Hmph. You have no idea what chaos you have ensued. Your worldwide magic attack has damaged the natural flow of mana around the world."
He then moved his hand close to his scrunched up face.
"It even messed with my sight on my world. Nothing I see in my Future Sight is certain anymore."
"Ah, so you do have such an ability. And Orsted was invisible to that from the beginning, right?"
"That's not the point! Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you have caused?
There has already been a mana disaster happening on the Millis Continent.
The Red Dragon's Lower Jaw has become impassable and perhaps, over time, getting connected further with the [Dragon God's Hole].
We are lucky that your third one wasn't that big of a deal and hasn't dealt much damage to get noticeable, but that can change any time.
All of which I couldn't foresee before it was too late because of your stupid tantrum."
"And whose fault is that? If you have that Future Sight ability, then why didn't you stop it by telling me more explicitly about the Metastasis Event?"
"That's just the thing. I didn't see it until it already happened. That branch in my sight hid itself until it was too late. And so did your transformation and other things in the future that involved you."
"So your ability has become good for nothing. Moreover, why tell me all of that?"
When asked my question, his irritation seemingly vanished, and he got back to a composed posture with his arms behind his back, no smile to be seen.
"Do you remember what I said about Orsted's goal?"
It was odd that he suddenly changed the subject to Orsted, but there must be some meaning to it.
"If I recall correctly, you said he wanted to destroy the world, right?"
"Exactly. And how do you believe does that connect to me?"
"…"
I have a hunch, but I believe it might put me in an uncomfortable situation. I still had a long pause, but he waited for me to speak my guess.
"Does it have something to do if you die?"
"Right again. To be precise, me being alive is what keeps this world stable. There used to be five other worlds, but their gods have died, and the once six-faced world only has one left."
Six faced? As in, formed as a die? I'm not that well versed in planetary physics, but such a structure seems too unreal. Then again, we are speaking from another world here. For all I can say, this may as well be another dimension where physics works a little different.
"So you saw that you would die, that I'm involved in it, but have problems taking me down in the first place?"
"More like, you keep getting into the future branch where you live and become stronger. I can see various branches of the future with my eyes, but there are some people who have something called a strong fate that helps them avoid death generally."
"And mine is particularly strong to the point that you can't kill me."
"Yes. And it became even harder after you launched that mana explosion all over the world. New branches keep appearing and disappearing all the time. You could even say that you have damaged space-time itself."
His word already confirmed to me that he can see branches of my future and his own to see what result may cause a change.
Then, perhaps, the vision the little goddess showed me was from my perspective on where Zenith was trapped in. But, on whose perspective was the first from, the with Paul's death?
"Hm? Little what? Vision? And how do you know about Paul's death?"
"What?"
Did… did he just read my mind? Can he… hear me? Well, if that's not an invasion of privacy.
Is it because his abilities are currently in a disturbed state to not work properly? Or could the little goddess be the one jamming it for me?
I haven't seen her since the first time she showed up in this place, and there isn't any method for me to contact her in the first place.
Getting the confirmation now, she may have used Hitgami's Future Sight to warn me, like she did with the first vision with Paul.
But then as the name was mentioned, an earlier event and statement popped back up.
"You." I said in a threatening voice, "What did you tell Paul? And I swear, it better not have something to do with the calamity on the Millis Continent."
His smile reappears on his face, the role now reversed between us.
"Surprised? You're not the only one I have contacted during your time. Orsted actually killed some of them before you showed up. Though, I don't understand how your fate made you become the one and only exception he couldn't get rid of for me."
"ANSWER ME ALREADY!!!"
I asked Paul not to speak out his name and to ignore his advice, but there wasn't enough time to explain.
My ever so great anger came back from its long nap, and I glared at the shit-faced wannabe god.
"And he's not the only one. I have other people set as my apostles, but you will struggle to find that out.
Who's your friend, and who's your enemy? Is someone among your friends already one of them, or were they never your friends to begin with?
Those you think are trustworthy and reliable enough could turn out to be nothing but dirty traitors or unknowingly set your demise in action.
Maybe I even made your lover into a spy of mine to keep you in check? Don't want another tantrum to happen, don't we?"
This… this piece of shit. He wants to throw me off my game and question everything and everyone around me. He did that intentionally right when we were in a crisis to bring forth a branch that could result in my death.
"And don't even think about joining Orsted. You're not only on bad terms with him, but you already know first hand how hard it can be to convince him when it comes to people that are my apostles. Do you have the confidence to stop him from attacking people you care about when it comes to thwarting my plans?"
I couldn't help but click my tongue from all this crap.
He wasn't wrong. I can't trust Orsted to not harm anyone away from anyone I care about. He was even merciless against Ruijerd and Eris, despite acting like they were old friends of his.
But at the same time, I feel the urge to stop anyone fighting him in the first place.
It could be the fear of how they could end up like me, or worse, should they engage in a fight against him.
Even Randolph admitted how faulty the monuments are when it comes to the ranking list.
And unless I get my cursed form under better control, I won't be able to stop him even if I should transform.
"Tough choice, isn't it? Now let's see how entertaining you can still be after all of that."
With those final words, my mind slipped away into the unconscious. This time without the immense painlike the previous occasions.
***
(Hitogami POV)
Once that pesky parasite vanished from my sight, I heft out a sigh before inhaling deeply again to scream my head off into the nothingness of this void.
I am the last of the gods that rule over the world, but never in those eons have I ever encountered such an irritation of a person before.
Not even Laplace was this troublesome in such a short period of time.
I had to at least predict with regular thought process how Orsted acts, but against this outworlder, it's always a last second gamble.
And what the hell is up with that pesky bitch that helped him get his curse's pain mitigated? Who even is she, and why can't I find a single trace of her?
He already thought about her a few times before, but every time his thoughts were getting rustled out by something. It must've been her doing.
I don't understand how she informed him about the possible branch in which Paul dies before him.
HOW DARE SHE HAVE THE SAME DIVINE POWER AS ME!!!
Giving Rudeus the gracious good side of me has long been gone after the incident with Paul at Millishion.
And even if I did continue that, there is still the unclear vision I'm scared about.
And then there are the creations of that fool I manipulated all those centuries ago.
A mistake that costed me numerous resources to seal away. And now these abominations are roaming around, threatening to ensue chaos everywhere they go.
Dealing with this otherworlder is already a pain in the ass, and now I have to think of something to stop both of those.
Knowing what lurks down there, as well as what is hidden away for so long, that parasite will only become more of a problem if I try to guide him towards the source.
As I activated my Future Sight again, I looked through the possible future that may come in less than a decade.
Before this vision appeared, there was the one where Orsted and some of Rudeus's descendants would have defeated me, but that will take another century to happen.
I already set up things for that one to vanish, since that brat has a lot of prejudges against nobles and royals.
But the one that is going to happen earlier is more disturbing. The one, where only Rudeus appears.
Within that unclear vision, I can see the world I have built all those eons ago crumble, catastrophes one after the other happening all over the place.
The reason I can see all of that is because the vision is coming from my perspective, the only clearest perspective I can still see.
A destructive power that rivals, perhaps even surpasses, that of Dragon God's rage over the loss of his beloved one.
And within the center of that chaos, was the vague silhouette of Rudeus's corrupted cursed form, having mutated and changing his appearance drastically.
The last thing my future self saw was him giving me the killing blow.
His expression when he did it was what made me bite my fingers in frustration. Although unclear because of the corruption, I could still tell what it was.
His face may have that of an off-putting ear to ear grin, but his black eyes showed that same rage like the other gods had when I put my plan for their demise into action.
Just like with the vision with Orsted, I have no idea what cause there is for me to prevent it. All I can do is killing them off before both of those visions come true.
Then again, killing Rudeus off might be the only option I need.
A lot of preparations have to be made, but this calls for my trump cards to be used. Perhaps, even more is needed for this.
Having set up my mind on this, I did something I never thought I would ever do.
I will stay doubtful about my future-sight and what it tells me, and fully concentrate on killing that outworlder for good.
"Just you wait, you pathetic parasite. I will show you what happens if you anger a true god."
I said those words up to the ceiling, unknown if It's where he was about to wake up, but all that doesn't matter now.
Turning my sight back to the front, I prepared my body and mind to greet the first one of my apostles.
'Victory, will always be mine. For I, am the only true god there is in this world.'
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