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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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The Goddess of Time sat on the sofa, explaining why she had come to the McLean house.
Sen, Adriana, and the Grand Witch stared at her, their eyes wide with astonishment.
“And that’s why I came here. You are the pieces needed to resurrect Daniel.”
Despite her gaunt appearance, her tone was condescending. Her silver hair was so long it spread out beneath the sofa like a carpet, making them hesitant to approach.
But Sen walked straight towards her, stepped onto the cascade of hair, and reached out, her hand clamping around the goddess’s thin neck.
“You! You did this to my brother!”
“Kegh, khek!”
The goddess had been certain her plan was flawless.
With Life’s help, she had gathered all the necessary information and performed a miracle descending in person to deliver it. She believed she could retrieve Daniel from that damned Death.
But she had overlooked one crucial detail.
Being incapable of considering others’ feelings, she hadn’t anticipated how she herself would be received.
“Kkieeek! Gweh!”
The Goddess of Time squealed like a stuck pig. Even gods suffered and felt pain when choked.
Realizing this, Sen’s grip tightened.
“Give me back my brother! Give him back!”
Thick tears streamed down Sen’s face. The calm demeanor she had maintained moments ago shattered, her emotions erupting.
Watching her, Adriana felt a pang in her chest, a bloom of resentment towards the goddess.
Sen had believed she would finally have a family once the apocalypse was over. But when they had overcome it, Daniel had vanished.
Though she had pretended to be fine, the situation was unbearable for someone who had believed a normal life was finally within reach.
Now, faced with the culprit herself, Sen’s eyes turned feral, radiating the chilling killing intent of her assassin days.
“You—!”
A dagger she thought she had long discarded materialized in her hand. She raised it, aiming to plunge it between the goddess’s eyes, but—
Vwoom!
A ring of mana snared her wrist, freezing her hand in mid-air.
“……!”
Sen glared murderously at the Grand Witch who had stopped her.
The cat-like girl was gone, replaced by a wounded wolf whose ferocity seemed to prickle the old woman’s skin.
But the Grand Witch held firm, silently keeping Sen restrained.
“Let us hear her out.”
“Hear her out? Hear what!”
Creak, creaaak!
Sen strained so hard against the mana ring that her skin tore, blood trickling down her wrist.
“Sen!”
Worried, Adriana rushed to intervene, but she was too late.
Sen used the restraint binding her in mid-air as leverage, launching herself upwards.
Thwack!
“Kuagh!”
A flexible rising kick struck the goddess squarely on the chin.
She tumbled backward over the sofa, her long silver hair fanning out, covering the furniture entirely.
“A wild beast indeed.”
The Grand Witch now bound Sen’s legs as well. Sen screamed, tears streaming down her face, her voice raw.
“Because of her! Because of her, my brother died! She made him endure an eternity in a frozen world until his mind broke! And you want me to just let it go? Just stand here and watch?”
“Aghh!”
“Come here! I’ll tear you limb from limb!”
The Goddess of Time scrambled away from the snarling Sen, rubbing her jaw.
She was only now realizing how dangerous descending to the continent had been after losing all her power.
She had never imagined she would take such a blow from the humans she had always disregarded.
“McLean would be so pleased to see you like this!”
“He’s gone anyway! My brother is gone!”
Though it had only been three years, Sen had tried desperately to wash away the bloodstains from her time in the Chokugen Faction.
Doing good deeds couldn’t erase her dark past, of course, but she had lived trying her best to help others. She wanted a future where she could offer aid, not harm.
But that three-year resolve shattered the moment she laid eyes on the source of her pain—the goddess.
‘Kill the goddess.’
Consumed entirely by murderous intent, Sen struggled violently.
Staying silent and frightened wouldn’t change anything.
The Goddess of Time reiterated her reason for coming, emphasizing it for Sen.
“Are you too heated to understand me properly? Let me make it clear. Daniel McLean can be saved!”
“Don’t lie! What are you trying to take from us this time with your honeyed words!”
Sen screamed, veins bulging on her neck.
Her grief-stricken cry momentarily silenced the goddess, but she didn’t back down.
“Think about it! Daniel McLean is dead. Neither I nor the God of Life can interfere after that point. There’s only one god who can.”
It wasn’t Sen, but Adriana who answered the unspoken question.
“The Goddess of Death…….”
Whispering the name with dawning horror, Adriana’s voice made Sen snap her head around, suddenly regaining some clarity.
Adriana, her expression darkening, questioned the goddess further.
“Can she really keep a dead person like that?”
If so, didn’t everyone’s end ultimately mean being a plaything in the Goddess of Death’s hands?
But the Goddess of Time shook her head.
“No, even Death cannot awaken the souls of the dead as she pleases. Especially not now that she has lost her power.”
“Then……?”
“It must be due to Daniel McLean’s unique nature. He’s connected to me, and his mental fortitude surpassed human limits. Though he refused until the end, his spirit was essentially that of a demigod.”
The Goddess of Time speculated that because he had spent so long intertwined with her power, his soul hadn’t simply fallen dormant upon death but had awakened midway.
Even she didn’t know everything about the domain governed by the Goddess of Death.
Catching her breath, the Goddess of Time explained again, clearly.
“So, right now, Daniel is captured by the Goddess of Death, suffering all kinds of torment and torture! The only way to save him is resurrection, and astonishingly, he is capable of it.”
This time, the Grand Witch, who had been silent, raised her hand.
“How is that possible?”
This was the question the Goddess of Time had been waiting for. She clenched her fist tightly and exclaimed.
“Eris Anen Serier! The fragment of him possessed by that elf, the one Daniel McLean trusted until the very, very end—that makes it possible.”
Her eyes shone, sparkling like her silver hair.
“Using that, we will save Daniel from the clutches of the Goddess of Death!”
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“Kuaah!”
Drenched in sweat, the Goddess of Death collapsed onto the floor. Standing beside her, Daniel wiped the sweat from his own brow with a satisfied smile.
“Hoo! Nice, isn’t it? Being able to sweat even after dying is quite a blessing.”
“I think I’m actually going to die. I can’t do this anymore.”
Forced into exercise after being dragged around by him, the Goddess of Death was now crawling on the cool floor.
The chilly sensation spreading through her body seemed surprisingly pleasant, and she spread herself out wider.
Her expression was so relaxed, she looked like she could fall asleep right there if the floor wasn’t so hard.
“Hey, shower first. You’ll feel gross lying there like that.”
The Goddess of Death showed no sign of getting up. She was living up to her name, pretending to be dead.
“Get up. I want to wash up, isn’t there somewhere I can do that?”
“Stop poking me. They say even bears leave you alone if you play dead, why can’t you?”
“You know, playing dead in front of a bear isn’t actually a great strategy.”
“Did you try it?”
The Goddess of Death tilted her head slightly, looking up at him.
Her gaze clearly asked,
‘Really?’
He shrugged.
“No, I read it in a book.”
“Right, why would you play dead for a bear? The bear should be playing dead for you.”
“……”
Since she wasn’t entirely wrong, he clamped his mouth shut. He pressed again about needing a place to wash, but the Goddess of Death snapped irritably.
“Where would there possibly be a place to wash! Why would dead people need to wash! And I’ve never sweat a day in my life, so I never needed such a thing!”
At that, Daniel McLean slapped his forehead, then, as if realizing something, slowly backed away. He casually pinched his nose shut with his fingers.
“What is it? Why are you doing that?”
That gesture thoroughly displeased the Goddess of Death. She slowly sat up, leaning against the bed as she asked.
Daniel put on a benevolent expression and shook his head.
“No, it’s nothing.”
“That’s not a ‘nothing’ expression. It’s very unpleasant and grating. What’s the problem?”
“……Think about it.”
Daniel deliberately took another step back. The gesture, clearly indicating he didn’t want to be near her, irritated the goddess even more.
“You’ve lived since the continent was created, but you’ve never washed once. Doesn’t that mean you’re incredibly dirty?”
The goddess’s face turned bright red.
Just moments ago, she had been whining that she couldn’t possibly get up, but now she shot to her feet, screeching.
“You’ve got the cause and effect wrong! I don’t wash because I’m not dirty! I’m inherently pure and clean, so there’s no need to wash!”
“Right, right. Male students often don’t notice the smell in their own rooms either. You get used to it.”
Her anger flared at his nasal voice, pretending to understand.
The Goddess of Death stomped towards him.
“No! It’s not like that!”
He knew.
When she had hugged him earlier, there hadn’t been a foul smell, rather, a luscious, captivating fragrance that overwhelmed the senses had dominated his nose.
Still, he figured acting this way might get her to conjure up a shower room or at least a place to wash.
And.
‘Is it because this is the first real conversation I’ve had in ages?’
He realized he was talking much more than usual, actually enjoying himself.
After being silent for so long waiting for Eris, aside from the talks with the Goddess of Time, this was the first real conversation he’d had with someone in what felt like forever.
A small smile touched his lips without him realizing it.
Just because she didn’t need to wash didn’t mean a place to wash didn’t exist.
A proper shower or bath was obviously too much to ask, but when he followed the goddess out of the castle, he found a grey river flowing nearby.
“What’s this place? Why is it so dirty?”
“Dirty? What are you talking about? The River of the Underworld is cleaner than any water on the continent, you know?”
Its murky color made it look like wastewater had been dumped in it, but when he scooped up a handful, it appeared transparent, suggesting she might not be wrong.
“Hmm.”
“It just looks that way because of the underworld’s color palette.”
Hearing that, he glanced around.
A black forest surrounded the massive castle they had just exited, under a cloudless grey sky.
It felt similar to the Demon Realm’s forests, but lacked the sticky air and heavy mana characteristic of that place.
“Ahem, still don’t believe me?”
The Goddess of Death eventually entered the river first. The water temperature felt perfectly cool, so she showed no hesitation.
Seeing her in the river, Daniel scooped up some water himself, a strange expression on his face.
Her reaction was odd, making him wonder if there was something wrong with the water, but it didn’t seem like it.
He cautiously stepped into the river. Cool water enveloped his entire body with a tingling sensation.
The heat from his sweaty workout washed away, calming him down.
“Wow, the water’s nice.”
He felt the urge to swim, so he dunked his head under, then splashed deeper into the river. The center was surprisingly deep, which made swimming enjoyable.
“Hnng.”
A strange moan sounded beside him.
He glanced over to see the Goddess of Death submerged up to her shoulders, eyes closed, savoring the sensation.
“Hnnngh.”
“……”
“Haaaah.”
“……”
“Huaah.”
He tried to ignore it and continue swimming, but the lewd sounds were starting to get annoying.
He glanced back again. Now she was lying almost flat, only her face and chest floating on the surface.
The sight of her, eyes closed in pleasure, inexplicably caught his eye.
“What’s with that reaction?”
“Ahem.”
His words finally snapped the Goddess of Death back to reality. She carefully stood up, then, blushing, started making excuses.
“I, I just didn’t realize letting my body drift in the river felt this good.”
“Huh?”
He thought she was saying something strange, like a newborn babe, but the Goddess of Death continued hesitantly.
“Since I can control darkness, there was never any need for me to move myself. So this is the first time I’ve ever actually exercised or washed myself in a river.”
“……”
“It feels… surprisingly good.”
He knew that possessing absolute power often meant losing other things. Kurika, for example.
He had saved the beast-kin, become a hero of the founding, and sat on the throne as the first king, but his overwhelming power had forced him to distance himself from his own people.
He suspected the Goddess of Death felt something similar.
Her mighty and versatile abilities, which required no effort on her part, had ironically robbed her of perfectly ordinary, mundane experiences.
Watching the goddess turn away shyly, various thoughts crossed his mind. The strongest one that struck him was a possibility.
‘If I keep spending time with the goddess like this, could I learn why she wanted to destroy the world?’
The Goddess of Time had simply said the world was too corrupt, so she would destroy it.
He knew that wasn’t entirely wrong, but perhaps the gods, possessing absolute power, hadn’t been able to see the world properly?
Could it be that because they never knew these simple joys, their solution their salvation for the continent’s corruption became destruction, an extremely cynical, violent, and drastic measure?
“Wow.”
The goddess scooped water into her hands, then spread her fingers, letting it cascade down.
Seeing her laugh, finding joy in such a simple act…
He couldn’t help but entertain these thoughts.
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[Your Text Here]
So the gods is just weird brats who didn’t grew up right