Chapter 517: Adult

3rd Person POV

Despite the crippling blow from the Perseus' attack, God managed to cling to life, his form battered but his spirit unyielding. As he gazed around at the devastation wrought by their battle, a sense of bitter resignation washed over him.

He wanted to give up for the first time when color and sound came back into his ears. Perseus...was the result of his negligence.

The fallen god's eyes swept over the battlefield, taking in the devastation with a heavy heart. Everywhere he looked, he saw the remnants of lives lost and dreams shattered. The air was thick with the stench of death and decay, a grim reminder of the toll that war had taken on both friend and foe alike.

And amidst the wreckage, he saw the fallen bodies of warriors, their lifeless forms serving as the futility of their struggle.

Even the heroes who survived the attack outside the barrier had most of their limbs turned to ash and slowly healing, but even then...most were dead, the demon lord was being confronted by Reiner, the Prince who apparently died quite a while back...he had a sword on the demon's neck and 2 future saints to tie him up.

As God surveyed the devastation around him, his heart weighed heavy with regret. Everywhere he looked, he saw the consequences of his negligence, the shattered lives, the broken dreams, all came from his failure to intervene when it mattered most.

He had stood idly by as his experiments spiraled out of control, too blinded by his own arrogance to see the danger that lurked within. And now, as he looked upon the vengeful figure of the god of victory, he knew that he was reaping what he had sown, the bitter fruit of his own negligence.

Perseus became too powerful to stop. To vengeful to convince otherwise too.

For if he had only intervened when he had the chance if he had only stopped Cain. But now, as he faced the consequences of his inaction, he could only hang his head in shame, knowing that he alone was to blame for the suffering that had befallen the world. Perseus got all the power and no one to truly oppose him.

And as he looked upon the figure of the god of victory, a sense of bitter irony washed over him. For in the end, it was his own negligence that had given rise to the very being who now sought to destroy him, a being born from the ashes of his own failure, fueled by a vengeful fury that could not be quenched.

"Surrender." Perseus asked as he returned to his original form and held his word to God's neck, "Give your power to someone else, give it to Gabriel...this world and the other one no longer needs you."

Phineas tried to attack Perseus, but a gate appeared in midair and sucked him right in. Lust watched from afar, but Dawn was there right next to her, having the sin of giving herself up because she knew that they no longer had any chance.

"Very well," he conceded, his words heavy with the weight of his decision, "I will surrender my power as you ask, and I will give it to a Gabriel."

"Promise me that none of you will invade us, visitations maybe, but never to help anything that can harm anyone in this world."

"I'll make sure to do so. But know this, as the most powerful being in this world, you will always be a target. There will be those who seek to challenge your authority, to take your power for themselves. No one will rest knowing that a person of such immense power exists."

"Don't worry, I got people to make sure that this kind of thing will never happen again."

"Your optimism is admirable, however, just because you have won the war does not mean that the battle is over. The seeds of discord and mistrust run deep within the hearts of humans and demons alike, and they will not be easily eradicated. Racism, hatred, greed...they exist and will continue to do so, this war..means nothing."

"Nothing?! The so-called almighty called my goals nothing?! So you believe that coexistence shouldn't be a thing?! What the fuck is wrong with you? Even if coexistence is beyond our reach, we must strive to make whatever difference we can. You're fucking pathetic."

"Me...Pathetic?"

"Yeah, you're fucking old, you're stuck to the stupid belief that you're always tight. Damn you immortals and your stupid egos, all you had to do was to understand, and y'all had hundreds and thousands of years to do so. Yet you let a fucking guy like me educate you while having so much lesser time breathing, that's shameful...

"I'll let you live as a mortal in that world, and I want you to observe just how we live, and what you've been doing all this time is nothing but useless...you're supposed to guide people toward the light, and...if this is the light I'm supposed...if this is the light you were supposed to lead us to, then we're all better off stumbling around in the dark.

"Useless and pathetic, that's what you are. you've done only a bit at the beginning and then look at what happened now, changes are needed, some gods need to step down toward a better future, all you did was live in your own head and the past.

"Oh humans did this, demons did that," Perseus shouted to everyone else, "So both sides suck massive dicks and kill people, there you go, both make mistakes! What a revelation! Congratulations, you've all figured out that both sides are capable of making mistakes.

"But instead of whining and pointing fingers like a bunch of children, how about you grow up and accept reality? We're all just trying to survive in this messed-up world, so stop acting like you're so much better than the other side. Suck it up and deal with it! So stop your whining and start acting like adults! Fucking dumbasses."