Chapter 48 - Gods Against Mankind
While the man was still speaking, a portal formed beside them, and out of that portal came Shizu, Genta, and a tired-looking Kazuya, who looked as if he had just gotten up from sleep.
Orihime looked at them after they had come out of the portal and smiled when she saw Kazuya healthy and without injuries.
"How are you feeling, big man?" she asked him.
"Like my brain was taken out of my head and forcefully put back in," he replied. "The funny thing is, the master didn't even want Genta to heal off the pain for some reason."
"I thought I made it clear," Shizu said to him, "that Genta's magic isn't one to be used carelessly on a whim." But only when necessary; she is your comrade, not your caretaker.
"I don't mind," Genta chimed in, but got rebuked immediately by her master.
"With that naive mindset, you will become everyone's toy with no respect or dignity," Shizu rebuked. "That is not the future I desire for you, Genta."
Orihime sighed, not missing their unnecessary talk but glad that they were here—especially with her partner looking safe and sound.
"I don't know how you all managed to get here, but you arrived just in time. This man does have information, but it all sounds too fanciful to be true. Catch this: "He was made the ruler of this cave by a goddess." "How ridiculous is that?" she asked them.
"A human in charge of a place like this?" asked Genta. "How is that possible?"
"Well, I think it's best if you hear it from the cute boy's mouth," she said as she looked at him. "Alright then, spill it in their hearing! "Who put you up to this?" she asked.
"Sarasa, the goddess of wisdom," he answered.
Shizu placed a hand on her chin, pondering. It did sound too fanciful to be true, but if taken seriously to some extent, it could explain a lot of the weird recent events for which she didn't have an explanation.
The sudden sentience of the goblins was the most confusing predicament, which could be easily explained by Sarasa's interference. After all, she was believed by her worshippers to be the one who granted wisdom to man. It was her granted wisdom that made mankind mentally superior to all other species, despite their physical shortcomings.
It was all thanks to Sarasa, the goddess of wisdom. If not for her, nothing would differentiate the cultural practices of mankind from those of a common animal.
"You see?", Orihime said, "This was just part of what he told me, and everything he said to this point seems sincere but ridiculous." "So I'm clueless at this point."
"No problem," Shizu replied. "It all makes sense now."
"What?" asked Orihime, not expecting such a response from her.
"Did you need to go this far?" Kazuya asked, grabbing her attention after seeing the man's battered face and missing teeth scattered on the floor.
"Trust me, big man. Given what I went through before I could reach him, if it were you, you would have destroyed him by now," she replied to Kazuya. before looking back at the man.
"What does a deity have to do with all this?" she asked him.
"She did not tell me a lot, but she gave me a new life, and that was enough for me," he smiled, his ugly smile restored, making Orihime wish she had never hit him the way she did.
"What do you mean by "new life"?" Orihime asked.
"She gave me everything I have ever wanted, everything I have ever dreamed of, and so much more," he said, his smile even broadening all the more.
"Apart from the fact that she may have fulfilled a few wishes for you... You have no idea why she would be behind something like this?" "Why would she even have a structure like this with you being in charge of it?" Orihime asked, not understanding anything, but at this point, Shizu had gotten all the information she needed to come up with a valid theory.
So the old woman decided to ask him for herself. "You have done well, Orihime," she commended the young adventurer. "But I'll take it from here." "So can you step aside for a moment?"
Orihime let go of the man without hesitation, stepping behind, while Shizu stepped towards him. With her telekinetic magic, she stretched forth one of her hands, and it levitated the man over three feet above the ground, with more force emphasised on his throat, increasingly choking and strangling him while he struggled to breathe properly.
"Alright, young man," she said to him, "don't let my looks fool you. While I may look old and frail, I can do far worse to you than the young woman ever could." "So you better be upfront and honest with everything I ask of you, am I clear?"
The man nodded in response, still struggling to breathe properly due to the magical strangulation.
"Why would the goddess put you up to this?" asked the old woman as she loosened her magical grip on his throat so he could speak. "What was her reason?"
He breathed in and out heavily for a few seconds before answering, "She didn't say much." "But she implied that it was the will of the gods for a new race to triumph over mankind," he replied.
"What?" asked Genta, also knowing the implication of this, while Kazuya and Orihime stood behind, clueless on that part but angrily confused.
They wanted to be sure who or what was behind the goblins' attack on those closest to them, but at the moment, they did not know what to believe.
Orihime stepped forward, placing a hand on Genta's shoulder, and she looked back, asking, "Why are you both reacting like that?" She then asked, "Tell me what is going on!"
"According to magical folklore, Sarasa, the goddess of wisdom, was the one in charge of bestowing wisdom to all creatures," explained Genta, "and she is the one who gave the highest wisdom to mankind, and it is thanks to her that we are the dominant creatures despite our physical shortcomings."
"So if she and the other gods plan on making another species replace us in that hierarchy, they would start by bestowing the required wisdom on the other creatures to wipe us out first," Kazuya said with a pitiful smile as he clenched his fists, "Those divine bastards!"
Orihime widened her eyes, "Huh, and there I was thinking gods were merely a fabrication of the human mind!" she said as she combed her fingers through her hair, laughing maniacally, "Little did I know that they were behind the biggest tragedy of my life!"
"Why would the gods want to do such a thing?" asked Shizu, now with a tighter grip on the man's throat.
"I... I don't know... "She showed disappointment and disgust whenever she spoke about humans," he replied, struggling to breathe well. "Oh, and she said that we have failed the gods and haven't lived up to their standard." So they wish to have us replaced! But that is all I know, I swear!"
"Is that so?" Shizu asked. "Because if that is true, then you are in a whole lot of trouble, young man!"
"No, I'm not," the man replied. "Sarasa promised to keep me safe when the time comes." She kept me safe by making me ruler over all the sentients in this cave, despite my being just a mere human. "If she could do that, then she will also keep me safe from the coming tribulation."
"Don't be naive, young man," Shizu said to him. "If that were all true, wouldn't she be here to save you from us right now?" "Wouldn't she have stopped us from slaughtering all the goblins at your disposal?"
"Give it up, cute boy," Orihime said to him. "Your goddess has forsaken you!"
"You lie!" the man yelled back despite being short of breath. "She promised never to ignore my sacrifice! I gave up everything I once held dear for her cause! "She will never abandon me, never!"
"I have never seen a cute boy as pitiful as you are right now," Orihime replied. "I feel so bad for you, and I can't believe I even fell for you!"
"Shut up, vile woman!" he yelled at her, even though every sound he made came at the expense of his breath. He felt like, with every word, he was getting a step closer to passing out.
I will not subscribe to any of your lies! All of you can rot in hell for all I care. Even if I die, at least I will rest in the bosom of the goddess and experience true peace for all eternity!" he cried out, now spreading his hands out wide instead of around his neck to ease the strangulation and showing he was no longer afraid to die.
Shizu sighed, not believing how stupid the young man was. Was he even listening to himself?
"Gee, I'm sorry. But I think all the goddess did when she saw you was take all your wisdom away," Orihime said to him. "You seem way too deep in pointless idolatry for any thread of rationality to still exist within you." "Everything about you is in service to a goddess who couldn't care less about you, and you can't even see it!"
"At least I will die in peace," he replied, slowly about to pass out, and right at that moment, Shizu let him go.
He fell to the ground, catching his breath, relieved to finally be able to breathe properly, but disappointed that she didn't let him die.
"You know nothing about death, do you?" asked Shizu. "But as an expert in hidden magic who has traveled to different hidden realms, including the world of the dead, I will tell you about it...
"It is far worse than what you imagine it to be, and if I took you on a trip to the afterlife, you would never wish to be dead in your life again."