1/10/999 - Calendar Reboot The Unified Calendar
It was supposed to be an ordinary day, just the usual routine, but something happened that disrupted that. It was hell on Earth—there was no better word for it.
Lying on the ground, having lost all his strength, his body in shreds, a boy was breathing heavily. He couldn't move anymore. Fleeing was impossible, even if he had wanted to. Screaming was out of the question as well. He knew it: his time had come. He had hoped to start a relationship with the girl of his dreams, wanted to be the big brother his sister deserved, and the son his mother could be proud of. Sometimes, you don't get to choose how you die, but in his case, he wished he could have chosen.
Theos woke up after a long night's sleep and realized that his sister hadn't come into his room. That meant everything was fine with her. But as soon as he opened his eyes, his sister's voice echoed in his ears. They were supposed to play together, after all, he had promised.
—Later; he said. It was the weekend; he couldn't avoid it.
After checking the time, he saw it was nine o'clock. I didn't play long last night, why did I sleep in so late?! he wondered.
— Okay, later then; his little sister replied. Since Theos's bedroom door was never fully closed, her voice carried, even from the hallway.
— Fine, later; he muttered.
However, moments later, someone knocked on his bedroom door.
—Hmm?
—Louise?
Theos got out of bed to open the door fully, and was surprised.
—What the…
—Who is this?
In front of him stood a girl with completely white hair and an innocent look, dressed in a kimono that resembled a priestess's, but in a modernized version. Theos was surprised; no one had told him they had guests. Unless she was a friend of Louise? It was strange but not impossible.
—Who are you? Theos asked without even greeting her.
The girl smiled.
—My name is Isha, goddess.
She had managed to say those words with such lightness and seriousness at the same time, thought Theos. Frankly, he figured she must be a cosplaying friend of his sister's.
Not wanting to be rude, he observed the girl, who was probably around the same age as his sister, about fifteen or sixteen. What she had just said had to be a joke.
—Louise's room is right next door; he said, trying to close the door slightly to hide his pink pajamas.
But the mysterious Isha was quicker.
—I came to see you, Theos. Will you let me in?
She was polite, too polite. Theos opened the door wide. He had nothing to lose by playing along; maybe she was the daughter of one of his mother's friends or his sister's. It was with that mindset that Theos let Isha into his room.
But the real reason he listened to her was curiosity. Since he was born, he had never seen a person with skin so pure, a white so bright. She looked like a new kind of human.
Everything about her intrigued him—her strange kimono, the color of her eyes that resembled pure gemstones.
Isha approached Theos's desk, turned the swivel chair towards her, and sat down.
—She's comfortable, apparently; Theos thought.
He followed suit and sat on his bed.
—So, what does a goddess want with me? he asked.
—As I said earlier, I am Isha, a goddess; she calmly replied.
Theos remained impassive at her declaration, used to his friends' jokes.
—Oh~ So you believe me without asking any questions? she teased.
He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. If she stopped the conversation now due to embarrassment and ran away, who would he ask his questions to?
—Not really, but I can still listen to what you have to say in return. I might even ask you a few questions if you want.
He could have easily left the room and gone to check with his mother who she was, but his curiosity kept him there.
—If you insist, I can show you what I can do; she said with a smile.
How many times had he heard friends say that? He had decided to play along, but...
—Wait, are you... floating? he blurted out suddenly, surprised.
Isha, who had been sitting, was now floating a meter above the chair.
He hadn't phrased his question well, but in his shock, it was forgivable.
—All the preparations have been made, so why not start? Thus spoke Isha.
As soon as she uttered these words, she snapped her fingers.
Theos's room shook violently. No, it would be more accurate to say the entire building was caught in a terrible quake, a tremor of great magnitude.
Theos, taken completely by surprise, fell. Fortunately, he was not injured, as the shaking lasted only a few moments. However, everything he had accumulated in his room was either in complete disarray or destroyed, but he didn't have the luxury of checking everything.
What just happened?
Theos couldn't understand, and the person responsible, who was supposed to be there, had vanished, as if her presence had been nothing but a lie, as if all of this had been a waking dream. But the scream that preceded her disappearance etched the cruel truth into Theos's mind. He had a terrible premonition about it.
—I will get out of my room, take my will, go to the living room, everything will be fine, everything will be fine.
But that was just a pious dream. Once in the living room, the scene was indescribable. The girl who seemed to be a character straight out of a dream—a nightmare!
She stood there, surveying her work without any particular emotion; it was like those objects you crush without even attaching any feeling to it.
— What happened?
Isha saw Theos arrive, and this time, her expression changed: was it joy? Was it anticipation? Theos was on the verge of breaking down.
The sparkle in Louise's eyes had just extinguished. After all, Isha was holding her by the throat, floating above the ground, as if she were gently strangling her, and she had just succumbed. Isha threw her body near that of Theos's mother.
Theos's mother lay in a pool of blood. It was a true massacre; had she been squeezed like a lemon?
Where had all the beauty and kindness of this woman gone? All of it was vanity in the face of death. This body, which had maintained its health and worked hard for its family, was now just a mass of flesh.
The configuration of the scene left no doubt: Theos had just lost his family in an instant.
But deep down, Theos wanted to deny it, for everything that had been happening since he woke up was absurd. He approached his mother and touched her body.
He could feel it was indeed a human body; his sense of touch did not deceive him; it was indeed his mother, not an illusion. He held her in his arms and also checked Louise's body. A multitude of emotions surged within him as he held them against his chest.
They were truly dead.
— Theos, isn't it amusing? We won't be bored now, will we?
Had she really massacred his family out of boredom? No, all of this was just a dream, a...
I know that when I wake up, Louise will be there, as usual, sneaking into my room.
Although he thought this, pain flooded him. For the second time in his life, Theos cried.
He screamed, bit himself, but he never woke from this nightmare.
— I don't know how something like you went unnoticed, how I could have failed to realize that a human with such characteristics didn't exist.
His mind was veiled!
— But I believe you, you are a God.
Mmm.
Isha did not respond, as if she were waiting for him to finish expressing his opinion.
— And you deceived me! This story of wars among deities?
— Oh, that? The gods are indeed at war, but I'm tired, so I plan to do something much more fun!
So, they died just for something more entertaining? Amusing? Theos regained a semblance of calm. Perhaps it wasn't the most appropriate question in such a situation, but he could no longer think clearly.
Isha snapped her fingers again, and as expected, another tremor struck the building. Objects flew in all directions, toppling over, but none of them were shaken. Theos got up. Once the tremor ceased, he picked up the lifeless bodies of his mother and sister and gradually placed them on the couch.
— What is this about?
— I just did a bit of cleaning!
— Cleaning?
— A bit of cleaning? Theos truly did not understand what she meant. Everything she did was incoherent. And now, what will you do? he asked.
— I already told you how many souls you need to accumulate to be reborn. Oh, and as I said, if the price is so exorbitant, it's because of the configuration of this world.
— I admit that I could have done it without all this, but reincarnating you at the cost of an apocalypse, isn't that an interesting development? Amusing, intriguing?
The more Theos listened, the more his ears felt dirty, and the more his anger grew. The conclusion came quickly: she had to die. It was not just emotional reasoning; it was also logical reasoning, and that is what made Theos so terrifying. But he still had to prove that he was capable of killing a God.
At that thought, his body had already begun to move.
Did Isha sense it? She backed away in an instant, but behind her was a wall.
Without any guard up, in one of the most basic movements of martial arts, Theos rushed at Isha and threw a punch, which Isha avoided by slightly tilting her head.
Bam.
Theos's fist had just pierced a wall. Perhaps it was the coating that covered it, but it was still a thick and hardened layer, and he had penetrated it.
— Scary, Isha said to Theos with unmatched calm. Yet, Theos had almost managed to touch her. If an average human had received that blow, they would have been knocked out on the spot.
Given how close they were to each other, Theos was not really surprised that she had been quick enough to avoid such a blow. Or perhaps it was a reflex, but he was sure of one thing at that moment: this thing had a human body, a body that could be damaged, a body that could...
...die?
Isha raised her hands toward Theos's face.
He watched as Isha touched his face, and rage flooded his heart.
— Yes, by trying this, given the absence of divinity in this world, the world imposes restrictions on itself, which impacts everyone present. And add to that, your brain, to protect you, limits your capabilities. What would happen if I broke all these chains that bind you?
She squeezed his face even tighter.
Restructuring.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
Theos screamed in pain, a wave of heat overwhelming him.
He felt a fatigue and a desire to sleep, but this was constantly repressed by the irrepressible pain. How far would she go to make him suffer, he thought.
As the pain increased, Theos's skin turned red, and red veins appeared in his eyeballs.
Badum. Badum. Badum.
His heart beat slightly faster.
— If you could see your face, you would be terrifying, Isha said sarcastically.
She began to laugh softly, although she was not extravagant. She was slightly distracted, looking to her right. Theos did the same, but there was nothing there.
— Oh, has it already begun? Ah, don't worry, I won't forget you, my dear Theos.
The pain had diminished, but it was still present. Theos mentally checked the changes in his body. He regained his composure for a moment. She is going too far; something doesn't fit, and I feel like my mind is in a fog. She's not alone?
The more he thought about it, the more he realized that there were even more questions, and the more it brought him back to his sister's death.
He gritted his teeth and screamed.
In a fit of rage, he seized his enemy by her kimono, quickly positioned himself, and lifted her. The movement resembled what could be called an *ippon seoi nage*, but mid-movement, he decided to throw the girl away from him. Where his enemy should have been brought to the ground in the initial movement, he projected her against the wall several meters ahead of them.
But what happened next was even more surprising: every time she was supposed to hit a wall, it eluded her—simply put, she sustained no damage, as she did not actually touch those walls. It was incomprehensible, and it was all the more astonishing that Theos could see what was happening so quickly.
Several walls collapsed one after another. She had fallen outside; Theos lived on the sixth floor. Such a fall could be considered fatal for any human in this position.
Theos wanted to see what would happen, so he slowly walked through the holes in the walls, finally reaching the last one. He looked down; he now had a very good view. Everything below was clearly visible to him. As God had predicted, Theos didn't know if he had caught her by surprise, but the girl's smile never faded.
— So, is this the value of the human summit? Being freed from these chains?
Provocation. What are you trying to achieve? A question directed at Isha, but that Theos did not articulate. After all, at this stage, he didn't care.
— I thought I would have to disable your autonomic nervous system to let you control it, but in the end, you would have died instantly at the moment I disabled it. Although it would have been interesting to see what you could do while controlling it, for now, you can't bear it.
— This is unpleasant!
Theos decided to take the bait; his goal was clear. He no longer wondered how he could hear his enemy despite the distance separating them, even though she spoke so softly. The same went for him. *
— You haven't seen anything yet, he replied to Isha's remark.
He looked at Isha one last time, turned away from the opening, and calmly left the apartment. Fortunately, everything still worked. He took the elevator, went down to the ground floor, and exited the building. He was so happy to finally see Isha.
He stepped out of the building, looking so calm, as if it were just an ordinary day, or that he was about to meet an old friend.
There was no one around, and what was even stranger was that Theos had not encountered anyone while leaving the building.
Once outside, he found himself about six meters from where Isha had fallen.
The two locked eyes, and as if to follow up on Theos's declaration:
— Show me how far you can go beyond your limits!