Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1148: Don't Like Deities Very Much



The first thing to register in Replicus' mind at Suzamete's words was the shocking detail she and Actuass had glossed over before in their exchange.

The fact that Deities knew everything that would happen in the world they created had been quite surprising to the Warmoth's Progeny, but he had also felt that he was stupid to not have considered it. It only made sense.

He tied the nuances of this back to what the Emissary had told him and the other Faction Leaders of the Severed Union days ago - that Boron's return was inevitable. Maybe that wasn't the most prudent and sufficient way to describe that event. Maybe Quintess, Listafelle and Suzamete had, on top of feeling obligated to release Boron from his shackles for reasons not too clear, had also foreseen it happening regardless of what they did, whatever measures they took.

Replicus scoffed.

The thought, instead of mystifying him, only made him see the Deities in a weaker light. Somehow, Quintess and Listafelle leaving Aigas to Suzamete felt like a couple of guilty cowards running away from a proper confrontation with an old friend to him.

It was this line of thinking that made Replicus less impressed when facing Suzamete in a mortal - seemingly - vessel.

She stared daggers at him.

The term she continued to use to address him - 'anomaly' - annoyed him. There was a note of blame in the tone with which it was delivered. It almost sounded, to Replicus, that even though Actuass had caused a lot more devastation to Aigas than he did, Suzamete saw him as the prime problem.

But how could Replicus be a problem?

If anything, he was a victim.

If anything, he was something of a hero.

It had long been established, even by Actuass, that the Deities had this sense of passivity - inaction, really that allowed trouble to proliferate.

It showed now. Rather than treat the cause, Suzamete manifested to deal with the aftermath, and she dared to say she was cleaning up after the Warmoth's Progeny!

Replicus frowned.

"First I had to put down a menace you didn't have the guts to kill yourself - your own son - and now I just stopped another problem on your hands and you won't even acknowledge me by my name?" he said indignantly.

<As I said. You think like a mortal, quite like my son. Hmph, the irony of it all.> Suzamete said with a scoff. <I shudder to think how I, a Deity, can understand that there are rules and limitations in reality better than you who have only just now come into meaningful power. The irony. You are like an unenlightened version of that sordid Fulgardt. At least he genuinely got a grasp of how the world worked; that he was merely a speck in a desert storm. If only his ideals weren't foolishly misguided. But here you stand. You are yet to apprise yourself with what motive your power is to be used for. Instead, you stare at me as though you were my equal. What an empty gaze.>

Replicus didn't know if there was anyone or anything on Aigas that ground his gears more than this Deity. Quite honestly, he was alarmed by just how much her words grated him.

He had opened his mouth to retort when...

"That's enough. I assume you descended with a purpose. Why waste your words on a mortal you loathe so, then?" Serenity said, gliding between Suzamete and Replicus.

The latter, however, refused to be sidelined.

He waded around Serenity and met Suzamete's eyes.

"Stop being so self-important. You speak of some rules that someone like me couldn't possibly understand, but all I hear are EXCUSES. Even your own son saw through your act. I wonder... will all the people who died in the wake of your son's plans, or those that died because of the prelude to Boron's rising, see your high and mighty act as reassuring, as holy?" Replicus scoffed, "And right, when Boron finally shows up and does even greater, malevolent deeds to this world, perhaps rip it up like Caxellac did, will you also stand by and watch, chancing upon the fact that someone like me will stop him?"

Suzamete fumed.

But Replicus wasn't done talking.

He manifested the Fallen Reincarnator's Shadow.

"I had many thoughts and doubts, but you really don't seem to exist in a higher dimension of your own, Deitess. I wondered, you see..." Replicus said, his curved eyes turning sharp and narrow, "Why wouldn't you detain your son when he had brought himself to your doorstep? Why did you just allow us to leave? As prepared as that necromancer was, you are a Deity, and you knew he would come. But then, the thought slithered into my head through my phantoms... You knew your son's death was necessary to beat Caxellac, didn't you? Even he was a pawn in a grand game you think mortals like me can't see."

Suzamete had no reaction to Replicus' words. The Warmoth's Progeny wasn't surprised. He supposed she had seen herself having this conversation already, but then doubted that fact immediately. Maybe Suzamete's knowledge of everything on Aigas wasn't as complete and fine as he imagined, after all, she seemed quite livid when she stared into him.

<Is that the extent of your reasoning then? What you are so proud of? Well, if I were you, I would do well to remember to tread lightly.>

Right as Suzamete said those vague words, Replicus felt his face get brushed by a whipping wind. The sound of waves crashing against each other became exceptionally obvious below him and as he looked down, he saw the ebony sea emerge once again. Gravity was restored, and Replicus was pulled down to stand over the waters, marvelling.

The transition from darkness to a vibrant world with a shattered sky, broad horizon, mana, time and a great landmass so many thousands of kilometers away, was quite pleasing to the Warmoth's Progeny's eye.

It was done.

The Rules had been fixed and Aigas was restored from the state Caxellac's Serene Grace had

left it.

The powers of a Deity were indeed magnificent to behold, but Replicus soon returned a hard gaze towards Suzamete. She had turned, joining her followers back into the great crack in

space.

She spared one last look at Replicus before walking in and vanishing like the rest.