"Now let's see if what you said is true." Saying that, she put her index finger on his forehead and then smiled, but before, if the smile brought a warm feeling inside his heart, now it made his whole body shiver.
And the next moment, he felt a great deal of pain rise up in his head, which made him howl in pain. The next second, his vision turned black, and memories from before his arrival in the hall started to appear in his mind in a backward motion: from how he had come out of the bakery and was covered in light, to his conversation with Sumit on the phone, to the first day of his college where he was bullied by his fellow students and was saved by Sumit, to the time his father had bought him his first bicycle for passing the tenth grade with good marks. All those memories of his life continued to flash before everything turned dark. and his vision returned to normal.
Karna was still in the same position as he was before he felt the unbearable pain in his mind; the only difference was that the goddess had retracted her hand and he was also bleeding from his nose. The blood continued to seep out of his nose, only to stop after a minute.
"Huff-Huff-Huff"; his breathing was also irregular.
"Oh, so you were actually telling the truth. Huh-well, still, it's always good to be sure." saying that she waved her hand, and then Karna fell on the floor. He had expected the floor to be cold, but it was actually warm.
Karna, who was now lying on the floor, felt anger and disgust build up inside him, but he pushed all those feelings aside because they were useless in this situation. The only thing Karna wanted right now was to return to his world.
"Now that—huff—you have confirmed what you wanted to, can you please send me back to my world?" He was still feeling nauseous, but he gritted his teeth and asked, looking straight towards the goddess.
Hearing Karna's voice, the goddess raised her right eyebrow. "Well, you are right. I can send you back now; but... why should I waste my divinity on a useless mortal like you?" "Why should I use my precious divinity to send you back when we both know you would just be another useless mortal?"
Hearing the words of the goddess, Karna's face crumbled, and he spoke in a trembling voice. "N-No, you promised; you said that you would send me back after you were done with those eight. Please, I beg you; my parents need me. If they don't find me, their hearts will crumble into pieces."
"Mhm, yeah, from what I have seen, you are probably right," said the goddess, sighing and shaking her head side to side in a regretful manner.
Meanwhile, back in the Divine Hall, on the second platform, where the magic circle was still present but now had no violet-colored crystals on its eight vertices', only three people could be seen standing near it. They were Luxuria, Tiamat, and Hephaestus.
All three of them had just sent the eight human heroes to Pandora.
Tiamat was the first to speak, turning away from the magical circle and gazing toward the lowest platform, which was now vacant. "I should probably leave to make the announcement about the hero's successful dispatch." Her tone was gentle and lovely.
Luxuria, hearing her words, smiled and nodded her head in agreement. And Tiamat also returned the smile and then left the hall the next second.
"Umm, Goddess Luxuria, then I should depart as well." "My workshop was completely messed up trying to create those eight heavenly systems."
"Haha, you are right, and again, thank you, Hephaestus, for all your hard work." She said without looking away from the magic circle.
"No Goddess Luxuria; it is I who should be thankful to you for giving me the opportunity to serve the four great goddesses."
"And it's not like I gained nothing by creating those eight heavenly systems; my level of knowledge has reached a new level."
Luxuria only smiled at his words. Then Hephaestus also left, leaving her alone. Now standing all alone in the majestic large hall, Luxuria's figure looked lonely; there was no smile on her face anymore.
Only she knew what she was thinking right now. She sighed and then also left the hall.
Back in the magnificent room, sitting on the golden throne of unparalleled beauty, Rebecca spoke with an expressionless face.
"But then again, why should I care about the lives of two mortals who are useless to me?"
Hearing her words, Karna grimaced. He slowly raised his weak body while he spoke, "You-huff—then what do you want to do to me?"
"Do you want to send me to that world of yours?" "I would rather die than agree to that."
But, as soon as he finished speaking, he felt a great deal of pressure descend on him, even more than the one before, forcing him to kneel on the ground.
"Know your place, mortal." The chilling voice of the goddess reverberated in the room.
"Actually, the idea did cross my mind." "I thought that if, like the other eight humans that I summoned, you also had excellent talent, then I might have manipulated you a little into agreeing to go to that world and kill the demon emperor."
"Because, you know, having an extra bullet is not a bad thing."
"But then I changed my mind; I do not like that blacksmith being around that thing anymore. That thing needs to be destroyed. It is a little regretful."
"But the thing is, you only have mediocre talent, and even your mana affinity is low, which makes all my regrets dissipate."
"You are nothing but useless trash in my eyes; I was thinking about giving you a peaceful death, but now I have changed my mind; you don't want to go to Pandora." "Then that's what I am going to do to you." Ending her cold words with that she increased the pressure surrounding Karna.
"No! You can't do this to me; you can't! Please send me back. I am begging you. Plea-Ahh!"
He made an attempt to plead, but the pressure surrounding him only made his body tremble more, and he clenched his fists and jaw. His head and torso were fully stuck to the ground now since he was unable to stop himself from doing so. He soon lost consciousness as a result of the persistent, rising pressure. Saliva, with a mix of blood, could be seen coming out of his opened mouth.
Seeing him unconscious, Rebecca smiled coldly and, without turning her gaze away from the unconscious mortal, she shouted.
"GUARDS!" With those words, the large gate of the room opened, and two beings that were more than 2 meters in height and clad in white armor from head to toe entered the room. The two beings stopped some distance away from the goddess and kneeled.
"Yes, Supreme Goddess Rebecca."
"Take this man and transfer him to Pandora through the magic circle." "Right now there is no one in the hall, so you can go now."
"Yes, Supreme Goddess Rebecca." "May I ask which kingdom?"
"Hmmm... send him to the demons' territory."
"Yes, Supreme go... The armored being, like usual, was going to agree but stopped and looked toward Rebecca, who in turn raised her eyebrows. "Is there a problem?"
"No, Supreme Goddess Rebecca," he answered strongly.
"Then leave." Hearing the annoyance in her voice, they hurriedly stood up to leave and bowed.
Then one of the two armored beings picked up Karna on his shoulder, and then both beings bowed once more and left the room.