I wondered what on earth that noise was.
Since I couldn’t be seen on the screen, I thought they could say anything about me without a care.
After all, the God of Life wasn’t someone who would show me courtesy or be tactful.
But what they just said made even the Goddess of Death, another god, take a moment to mull it over, looking a bit flustered.
“Do you really understand what you just said?”
“What’s the problem?”
“You told me how to revive Daniel, so why ask me to ensure that he doesn’t come back?”
At that, the God of Life frowned.
“As the goddess of death, don’t you have any thoughts about a dead person coming back to life?”
“Well… it’s a bit unsettling, I suppose?”
“I find it disgusting.”
With a twisted expression, they clenched their fists and spat out their outrage. The God of Life was trembling intensely as powerful emotions surged within.
“A dead person cannot be resurrected. That is a rule I set. I cannot easily forgive those who try to carelessly surpass that rule.”
Having met the God of Life a few times, I thought they possessed a calmer demeanor compared to the gods of death or time. So it was surprising to see them erupting in such fury.
The Goddess of Death seemed almost unfazed by it all.
“So you want me to stop Daniel’s resurrection?”
“Not only that. His demise was beautiful because it was death.”
“……”
“In the end, he achieved his beliefs even at the cost of damaging his own body. As the one who has always witnessed death up close, you should understand well.”
The Goddess of Death didn’t bother to respond, but it looked like she was holding back her words, tightly pressing her lips together.
“Time has been longing for him while damaging itself, and now it’s trying to meddle in the part that a god should never touch — resurrection.”
“……”
“If I allow Daniel McLean to return, what about the next time? After he’s brought back and grows old, will you resurrect him again? If someone similar appears, will you save them too?”
“……”
“Once a line is crossed, it’s easier to cross again. Preemptive measures are the best.”
While the God of Life passionately expressed his views, the Goddess of Death merely folded her arms and listened in silence.
The expression she wore was sharply cold, making me wonder if this was truly the goddess who had just been bickering with me.
“Time cannot empathize. Only those of us who govern life and death can understand each other. What do you think, Death?”
Finally seeking agreement at the end of her elongated remarks. The Goddess of Death opened her mouth, still wearing an expressionless face.
“So why did you tell Time how to resurrect?”
Cutting straight to the point, she bluntly told the God of Life to skip the nonsense and just state the purpose without either siding or arguing.
Again the God of Life frowned and shook his head.
“Time will follow the resurrection method I provided without a doubt because I am the one governing life.”
“That would make sense.”
“Thus, conversely, it means I know every path she will take. Blocking a well-known path is quite easy.”
“……”
“I need to make it absolutely clear to Time that the resurrection of humans is an unwritten rule that even time shouldn’t dare to breach.”
“……”
“I hope that after experiencing this incident, she fully gives up on Daniel McLean. Realizing how dreadfully deep and dark the boundary of life and death is will help her avoid being swayed by those who merely exist for a brief moment.”
There was a need to ensure that the Goddess of Time completely forgot about my existence and to prevent her from carelessly invading the realms of life and death.
With being a god, the scale of the situation was quite large.
“You know,”
The Goddess of Death looked at the God of Life with genuine disgust.
“You’ve been acting filthy for quite some time.”
“……What?”
The God of Life seemed shocked, exhaling as if he didn’t expect such a response.
“You say you want to make gods behave like gods, yet what are you actually doing?”
Shrugging her shoulders, she disdainfully continued.
“You want Time to walk the path you’ve laid out for her, just like a human.”
The heat from deep within the screen surged up threateningly and began to pour forth. The God of Life’s face was gradually turning red.
“And now you tell me to stop Time? You’re going to reveal all your methods and paths to me, huh?”
No answer.
Yet the seething fury like a raging fire continued to invade the room. But this was the Spirit Realm.
Even though the cold darkness had not instructed me to repel the heat to protect my master, instinctively I was pushing it away.
“You thought that since Time and I had lost our powers, we could be taken lightly. Time seemed half-broken, and I wasn’t coming out of the Spirit Realm, so it must have frustrated you that we were gods just like you.”
“……”
“Were you really so desperate to be the only god of the continent?”
It was a good opportunity.
Three gods uphold the continent.
Life, Death, and Time.
Out of these three, two had completely lost their powers and entered a state of recovery.
Of course, Life would be envious.
“Were you hoping to put us under your command too?”
Piercing right to the core, the goddess’s words, but the God of Life slowly withdrew his fiery aura and responded.
“Yes.”
With an assertive and firm stance.
“It’s frustrating to see you all grovel before humans without any power. I can’t believe that I would be on the same level as you pathetic beings.”
“That’s some terrible talk.”
“Is it wrong? A god should act like a god. Why are you changing to be more human?”
“Are you crossing the line today?”
The goddess glared, but the God of Life merely scoffed with a smirk.
“A powerless one’s barking is no different from a dog’s.”
“You…”
As she relaxed her crossed arms, her fists twitched as if they were about to launch at the God of Life at any moment.
Feeling sorry for her, the God of Life shook his head.
“It would have been better not to know. Being a puppet in a half-broken state like Time might have made you happier.”
“That’s nonsense.”
“Heh, heh heh.”
The God of Life suddenly started laughing, clutching his belly. The sound of laughter was bizarre to the point of sending chills down the spine, making even the Goddess of Death frown.
“If you’ve noticed, then there’s nothing more to be done.”
“……”
“Prepare to receive your due in the Spirit Realm, eternal rest awaits.”
Whooosh.
The distorted space returned to its original state. Only the cold scenery of the dark room wrapped around us.
“You crazy bastard.”
The goddess cursed rarely as she calmed herself.
So much had suddenly happened that she needed to sort out her thoughts, so I carefully stepped aside.
Sitting on the bed, she began to mumble and ponder, biting her nails.
Meanwhile, I started to tidy up the candles, iron balls, and torture devices I had used during the exercises, one by one.
Of course, while doing so, my mind was racing fiercely.
‘It’s a dangerously precarious situation.’
Two out of the three pillars supporting the continent had lost their strength. An excessive imbalance in power could lead to disaster.
If the God of Life was this confident, it was clear that victory was within his grasp.
‘This isn’t just a problem for the gods.’
I instinctively sensed that this could pose a great threat to our continent as well. It was just like during the apocalypse.
Originally, Life and Death were supposed to bring about the continent’s destruction to create a new one, but because Time firmly opposed it, we had been given a chance to avert the apocalypse.
But what if two of the gods disappeared?
The deterrent to stop the God of Life would vanish, and it would become a world where he could do as he pleased. There would be no way to stop him if he suddenly decided to annihilate everything.
And now, regression wasn’t an option anymore.
‘This is troublesome.’
I glanced back at the Goddess of Death. She was already staring at me, and I was a bit surprised.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
I hadn’t realized she noticed my gaze.
Thinking her senses had dulled, I saw her frown without providing an answer.
Finally, she sprang up and approached me.
“You heard every word just now, right? That Life guy suddenly revved up wanting to take over everything.”
“……You sure have a light way of explaining things.”
I was a bit taken aback by her very simple explanation, but the Goddess of Death merely shrugged as if it were no big deal and continued.
“You know this isn’t just an issue among the gods. It’ll have a huge impact on the continent.”
“Yeah, that seems likely.”
“Sigh, I never thought I would have to say this.”
Gripping my shoulders tightly, the Goddess of Death declared.
“Let’s resurrect. We need to go back to the continent.”
I expected that line.
She sighed, pressing her temples as if she had a headache.
“Right now it’s impossible, though. They’re trying to resurrect you from the continent…”
“I don’t want that.”
“……Huh?”
The Goddess of Death, who had started to share her plans, hesitated and looked at me. It seemed she hadn’t properly understood, so I reiterated my stance.
“I said I don’t want to be resurrected.”
