Returning home, the man went straight to his wife, who had been waiting for her son. Once she realized he wasn't with his father, she ignored the blood dripping from his face and his open wounds, an effort from his part to hide the actual truth.
"Where is my son?"
The man showed a pained expression, trying his best to execute his 'well-planed' scheme.
"W-we were just about to return from the park. E-everything went smoothly, we were laughing and having fun, you know? But then... then..."
He placed his hands on his face, sobbing.
"W-we were attacked... I-I wasn't prepared for that, I didn't even clearly see who it was! But they took our son! They've kidnapped him, Athina!"
The man tried to hug her, hoping to get some comfort from her, but she only took a step back. He desperately tried to approach her, only to feel his heart drop in his stomach seeing her blank face and empty eyes.
"... So you are telling me... that you were unable to protect my son. Is that right?"
The man, for the first time in his life, felt that he was fighting for nothing. He was 'hurt' and all he wanted from his wife was sympathy, but all she could think about was her son. His hope just kept decreasing, but he didn't want to give up. Her loved her way too much to do that.
"You have to-"
"Shut it!"
He felt a massive weight on his shoulders, almost making him kneel, and he coughed blood, his organs twisting. She grasped his hair and made him look into her eyes, making him even more hopeless as he didn't see any love or care in them.
"How many were there? Tell me everything you saw! Every single fucking detail!"
"I-I think they were five, and I also think they were from the Aspral family, they all had that brown hair... That's all I know! I d-didn't see much!"
She clicked her tongue, throwing him away.
"You better pray, you fucker! Pray that they didn't do anything to him! If they did, I swear on my fucking name I'll kill you too alongside them, YOU USELESS PIECE OF SHIT!"
She stormed out, leaving the man alone. He cried and laughed, laughed and cried.
He didn't know how much time had passed.
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But he was woken up by some footsteps.
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Ertex opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling. Arga was still sleeping, hugging him tightly. He used his ability, her head softly falling on the pillow he placed, not waking her up.
He left the house, going for a walk as he was a little bit confused.
'I sure as hell wasn't there when that happened.'
This only meant that someone knew everything that had happened and was forcefully 'telling' him. Now, the question he didn't have the answer to wasn't 'who', since he could only think of 2 people at most that could have done that, but 'why?'.
Why, whoever did that, felt that he needed to know? Is there something that must be found out? Then why would the dreams just stop like that?
Ertex shook his head as he stopped thinking about that. He will find the answer sooner or later; he was patient enough. Slowly returning home, he saw a woman standing on the roof of a one-story house. Looking at her face, he felt an odd similarity with what Artrus looked like when he first saw him, though she seemed even more depressed.
"Do you want to kill yourself or something?"
Startled, the woman almost fell. She looked to her right, only to see an unknown man that was sitting on her roof.
"W-who are you?"
"Why are you feeling suicidal tonight, ma'am?"
The woman stared at him before clenching her fists. She thought that maybe, just maybe talking with someone will make her feel at least a little bit better.
"I... I lost everything today. My team, my hope, and my will to live. I just barely got the chance to get out of the trial alive, but I really shouldn't have. I couldn't do anything to help them... I was useless!"
She was sobbing uncontrollably, while the tears were making her vision blurry. Ertex nodded.
"You are useless and dumb. Do you think that falling from around 5 meters will kill you? There was only a slim chance to die from that back in your previous world, let alone here."
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The woman didn't know what she wanted to hear, but most likely it wasn't anything close to that.
"W-what?"
"There are so many ways of killing yourself, yet you chose one of the few ones that simply doesn't work. You are just fooling yourself at this point. You never wanted to kill yourself... But I'd say you should."
"I should... kill myself?"
"Mhm!"
His smile made her ask herself if he was serious, or if that was somehow his way of joking.
"Why... are you saying that? You don't... even know me.."
"You said it yourself, didn't you? You are useless. And to me, it seems you don't want to change that. So do it! Give up."
His words wounded herself even more. But maybe he was right. Maybe she should really do it.
She carefully got down, quickly entering the house and taking a knife in her hand.
"A bit better. Stab your heart or your neck from one side to the other. Or both. You shouldn't be able to heal that fast, but if you do, just do it again and again. You will die at one point or another."
Hearing him, her hand began shaking on the knife, slowly pointing it towards her heart, her tears hitting the ground.
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Suddenly, the sound of a metal object hitting something echoed through the kitchen.
"I-I can't! I fucking c-can't! W-what would my team think of me?! The Lord! FUCK, WHAT WOULD THE LORD THINK?!"
She lowered herself, hugging her knees as her tears only fell faster and faster.
Ertex rolled his eyes.
"Stop exaggerating. She doesn't care at all about you."
The woman stopped sobbing, turning her head towards him.
"H-huh?"
"The Lord, The Creator, The Savior, however you want to call her. She doesn't give a fuck about any of you, so just do it."
"W-what do you mean by 'her'?"
Ertex was confused hearing the question, only to realize afterwards why she didn't understand.
"Right. I guess it's not really universally known that the person you all worship oh so much is a woman. The irony, now that I think about it! You don't even know where your faith goes.."
The woman got up, leaning on the countertop for support.
"B-but that makes no sense. There is no proof that the one that created everything is a woman! Why would everyone else say that The Lord is a man then?"
"And the proof that she's a man is...?"
"..."
"How... do you know?"
"What do you mean how? It's..."
Ertex stopped, placing a hand on his chin.
"Right... How the fuck do I know?"
He squinted his eyes, trying to find the answer. It seemed to work, as he vaguely remembered a certain someone with a very, very dark hair telling him how everything began to exist and how there were only a few women at the beginning of all.
"... I guess my mother told me."
At this point, the woman stopped crying, even forgetting what had happened before, trying to understand.
"... Why would you say he... she doesn't care?"
"Fucking hell, you don't even have water in here?"
After not finding any bottle of water, he just decided to drink from the sink, filling a glass.
"You know, that's really on you here. It's your fault that you all believed that someone that is capable of doing anything would just be a good person. That may be the single thing I'm on the same page as her."
"... That doesn't explain anything, does it?"
Ertex sighed, taking a sip from his glass.
"Think a bit about all of this, you idiot. Why are you here right now? Supposedly, to save your planet, right?"
"Y-yeah?"
"Fucking imbecile..."
He finished his glass of water, placing it back.
"Fine, I'll explain it in a way that even you can understand. You have been forcefully brought here to fight for your and many billions other's lives. 'Here' being a place where you can die, and many did. If that Creator is such a good person, why would she allow her own creations to suffer and her other creations to do whatever they please?"
The woman thought about what he said, and it more or less made sense. But she refused to believe that everything she thought of and prayed to was just a lie.
"Aren't... Aren't the good and honest people rewarded afterwards?"
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Ertex burst out laughing, putting a hand on his eyes.
"Of course, of course! She'll even kneel before you and lick your pussy or suck your dick, depending on what you are! No, darling. The correct answer is: She doesn't care! She never did! Why would she? On the contrary, she even likes seeing that! Because being evil is just the easier option. Why wouldn't she do it?"
The woman's head throbbed. She wasn't at all prepared for the things she went through today.
"Shall we test my theory?"
He grasped her chin, making her look at the sky.
'What? We were inside just a second ago!'
"I've been badmouthing her for quite some time, she should be really furious at me right now, right? Let's test that little faith of yours!"
Her heart began beating faster and faster, not knowing what will happen.
"W-what are you doing?"
"I'll just kill you. If you are right, you'll be saved by her before dying, or at the very least, get that reward you've been talking about. But if you aren't... you'll just die."
The woman paled instantly, tears once again starting to fall.
"Don't cry just yet, honey. Why are you so afraid?"
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"She'll just save you, right?"