Parallel Vol. 5

Chapter 51: And then...

In a land where the sun never rose, forever lit by a lonesome moon, thousands of men battled intensely for an eternity. These men would slaughter each other until only one remained. At which point, a thousand clones of that survivor would appear, causing the process to restart. These battles had been ongoing for hundreds of years. From the current trends, it appeared those battles would continue for thousands more barring any interference.

A little ways from the battlefield, one of the clones rested against a mountain as he observed several screens depicting the events unfolding in Drakase. The red-haired god sneered when he heard the loathsome Adjudicators' voices. "See? You were wise to accept my offer, were you not? Even after all your experience, you are yet to truly fathom the depths of human greed and envy."

Following the man's joke, a figure shimmered into existence by his side. The newcomer, dressed in loose robes, had beautiful almond skin, a pair of piercing dark gray eyes, and long, braided hair that fell loosely around his shoulders. Most notably, though were a pair of rectangle-rimmed glasses which a being like him definitely did not require.

Razznik turned to look at the figure with a pair of disapproving eyes. "Seriously, Genesis, of all the appearances, why do you insist on choosing this old ghost?"

The being revealed to be the super A.I tasked with overseeing everything in Live No Evil, Genesis, returned Razznik's gaze with a similarly disapproving glare. He habitually fixed his glasses before chastising the Chaos God. "This Old Ghost, as you put it, is, at the very minimum, tangentially responsible for your existence in more ways than one. You should show more gratitude."

Razznik frowned, slightly annoyed because he could not in good conscience argue that point. If Suzuki were here, he would have been just as stumped, as Genesis had taken on the appearance of Mato Ryumaki, Suzuki's dead father. In the end, Razznik slightly huffed and turned to the screen. This was not the first time Genesis took this form. The A.I would choose this body six out of ten times. Razznik had seen enough of it over the millennium to have grown numb to it. "Whatever. Just admit you were wrong to doubt me this time."

Genesis smiled as he looked at the screen. Of course, him being who he was, such a rudimentary action was not necessary as he was aware of everything, everywhere, all at once. That said, there was a certain charm in viewing events through a screen as opposed to several trillion bytes of raw data sent his way at every second. "It would appear that I underestimate how irrational humans can act when greed, envy and hatred marry. This is a good eye-opener. It will certainly aid in building more realistic questlines."

"It never ceases to amaze me how you can think about questlines with the massive Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads." Razznik's gaze was steady, but a hint of worry flashed through his eyes. It was strange. Razznik was the strongest being in the world. What could possibly make a being like him worried?

Fortunately, Razznik was a being whose strength of will could not be measured by any standards. He promptly squashed his worries and instead said, "You helped me hold open that portal, and now, as promised, I will give you that which you want the most."

Genesis subconsciously tightened his fist as he looked at the golden heralds who were descending upon Oni Hill. "You took a massive gamble on both our lives. Was meeting Suzuki worth it?"

"Was meeting Suzuki worth it?" Razznik's gaze suddenly turned fierce as ferociously intense pressure exploded around him. "I would willingly burn the entire cosmos for a meeting. Does that answer your question?"

"Did Kashi call you a tsundere?." Genesis murmured as he rolled his eyes. " He must have no idea. This madman is the worst yandere I've ever seen in all works of fiction combined."