As for you and Ozia, you shall be tasked with wiping out every human on Planet Green Cloud".
"Wait what?"
####
Six figures appeared in a vast space with nothing but darkness. The entire region was void of any lifeforms and matter.
At the far edges of the realm, eight multi-colored horizontal and vertical lines indicated that these six figures were inside some sort of humongous cube.
This was the Pantheon realm that Krene had created just now after Al'ravee and the others had officially formed the Pantheon.
"Why do you want me to wipe out every human on Planet Green Cloud, isn't it fine just the way it is?" Al'ravee asked. He might have no qualms about doing some terrible things but... Completely killing off every human on Planet Green Cloud was still a bit too much for him.
Jurdelious who floated beside him smiled "That feeling you have there, make sure to remember it. It's the reason why most gods would never get too attached to mortals".
Al'ravee remained silent. Yes, he felt a sense of attachment to the mortals of that planet. A lot of his memories were made there. Eva, Murry, Ivan, Selou, his first children, it's all there.
"Don't worry, it's not like I'm asking you to destroy the planet, leave that to me. Besides, you get to keep the souls for yourself, all you have to do is kill as many as you can." Jurdelious said.
"..." Al'ravee.
Krene flew upwards from their presence and spread her arms wide.
*RUMBLE*
With every wave of her hands, mountains, trees, and rivers formed on a molecular level. First, one atom appeared, then two, then four, then eight, multiplied more and more. Before he knew it, Al'ravee was standing on a flat land.
"We want the souls Al'ravee, I hope you don't think that we just wait for someone to die before we take the souls?" Jurdelious asked as he stared at Al'ravee.
Again, Al'ravee didn't say anything. He had indeed thought that they just wait for the mortals to die before collecting anything, like in the books.
"We only do that when we don't need it then. We need the souls now that we are going into Slumber. Most of the people on that planet are unbelievers by the way. Gone are the days when they used to supply me with a bit of faith essence. Now they are more focused on exploring the space outside the planet Green Cloud." Ozia stood beside Jurdelious as he watched krene work her wonders.
"Ozia won't be around to watch over you too. He's the traveling type, always going somewhere and coming back later. And I can't force him to stay with you either. Ris and Stylaff would be occupied by their own thing so their help would be limited" Jurdelious continued.
Al'ravee stared in awe as a beautiful, large tower formed with bricks and glass fragments flying out of the soil to complete it.
A nice garden appeared around the tower and kept on expanding.
"We could have given you the whole of Green Cloud, but... We scrapped that idea. You need competition. Plus, if you ever meet a god with the concepts of fate, destiny, or karma, they could use your Karmic connection to Green Cloud to harm you. That's if it still exists".
'Karmic connection?' Al'ravee barely understood what his father just said but let it slide. If anything, he knew it was only a matter of time before he got to know about it.
"...Since this is so, you have to leave this galaxy. Forget about the other suitable planets in our territory, our followers occupy everything. Even the ones outside our territory are owned by other gods way more powerful than you".
Al'ravee's eyes widened in shock. He had honestly thought that they would carry him through. 'They are evicting me?' He asked himself. 'What happened to the privileges of having powerful parents.'
"There is a galaxy quite a distance from here with a lot of habitable planets. But the galaxy is mostly occupied by gods at your level or higher. It's a perfectly competitive environment. We won't be there so you'd have to fight for resources yourself."
"What if I get killed?" Al'ravee asked, his mood now in shambles.
"Well, let's hope you don't. Don't worry, you can call us if you ever need help." Jurdelious answered.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Sigh, that was what Al'ravee could do, just sigh. "How am I supposed to get there? I've never done interstellar travel before and I don't even have a spaceship"
"I'll take you there after we are done with planet Green Cloud," Ozia said.
Ris came over with that same old butler vibe around him. "No fret, it's only natural. Even my and Stylaff's territories aren't in this galaxy, we are here because of you and the pantheon contract. If not for the warp speed to our galaxy, we wouldn't have been able to travel about so easily though."
Al'ravee didn't know what to say anymore. To them, his face was starting to show a bit of emotion though. 'I guess I can always ask for help through the link.'
"Apart from you healing your Souls, what else are these souls used for?" He had been meaning to ask for a while now.
"Oh, they can also be used as a form of currency. You know, to buy stuff and all from other gods. By the way, didn't you want to test out your powers?" Jurdelious smiled after saying that, he quietly observed the environment that his lover had created.
Hearing that, Al'ravee's eyes glittered with anticipation.'
And like that, the fate of planet Green Cloud and its inhabitants was decided.
#######
*Starry Space*
Right outside the atmosphere of planet Green Cloud, space seemed to ripple like the surface of a lake and a golden moon-sized object revealed itself in the void.
This golden object was round and had a distinct resemblance to an eyeball. This was the very spaceship Ozia had used to blast that Red giant right through a planet and in the process, destroyed that said planet.
At the center of this massive vessel were Al'ravee and Ozia standing side by side in a round room, gazing upon the holographic image of a beautiful green and blue planet.
Once in a while, a black humanoid robot with red eyes would pass by, heading off to prepare for the invasion.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Ozia asked in that weird robotic voice of his. Although there was no such thing as an average height among gods, Ozia was short compared to the others, only reaching Al'ravee at his shoulder.
"What? The planet or the ship?" Al'ravee answered the machine god's question with another question, turning to Ozia with a smile.
Ozia looked into Al'ravee's eyes with his own emotionless red eyes. "What do you think?" He smiled for the first time since Al'ravee met him.
"The ship is quite nice, not that I've seen another one before, I thought it was some gigantic eye at first. As for the planet..." Al'ravee paused as he stared at the planet.
He could imagine the people living on it, minding their own business, waking up in the morning, going to work, having a romantic relationship, making mistakes, having children, and many other mundane things.
Every one of them had a life to live, and he was about to assist Ozia in taking that away from them. He might be a rotten degenerate and evil-minded man in the eyes of the mortals and that was true. But he could not help but notice a feeling inside of him, wanting him to stop for a second and rethink his decision.
"You feel guilt, don't you?" Ozia said, his voice taking on a deeper robotic tone to grab the young god's attention.
Al'ravee remained silent. He had long taken on a habit of becoming quiet anytime he didn't want to lie to certain people. Yes, he felt guilt. That feeling that was making him think of taking a step back was guilt.
"Did you know..." Ozia began with narrowed eyes, "... That the feeling of guilt is the most useless feeling..." He paused, allowing his words to sink in before continuing ".... Yet it is also the most useful feeling."
Al'ravee raised an eyebrow in confusion "How?"
Ozia shook his head "You have been so occupied with your inner turmoil that you didn't even know you had that answer all this time."
Al'ravee remained calm and brushed through his memories for any reference for what Ozia said.
Ozia was right, he had learned something related to this scenario from the Learning Pod, in the section of psychology. Ozias' next word confirmed his thoughts.
"Guilt is useless in the sense that it's one of the major hindrances in effective decision-making. It's one of the reasons why poor people remain and would remain poor you know. The rich elites of any community don't have time for guilt but I guess you should already know that.
If one cannot get over their guilty conscience, then they will be trampled upon by those who don't give a fuck, and those who don't give a fuck can be found everywhere.
This often leads to the phrase 'Had I known...'
Then again, it can be very useful in forcing someone to do something without actually you doing anything. A few emotional blackmails and guilt-tripping and you can make someone donate money to the hypothetically hungry orphans or less privileged demographic just so that they feel good about themselves.
An effective weapon in the hands of content creators, lawyers, doctors, politicians, and even media houses."
Ozia paused. Talking at length without any interruptions was normal for these beings. He just paused to check if what he said had any meaning to Al'ravee.
Al'ravee himself knew what Ozia was talking about "Guilt is a double-edged sword and only those prepared to achieve their goals no matter the obstacles can use it then."
Al'ravee just realized that he had done something that he thought he would never do again. He allowed himself to be influenced by his emotions.
Ozias' countenance suddenly became stern "A word of advice Al'ravee, try not to allow your emotions stand in the way of doing what is necessary. If not, you might not even know how you died."
Ozia wasn't threatening Al'ravee, he was just giving a warning. Al'ravee was once again reminded of how dangerous the universe was without the protection of these gods.
Al'ravee nodded his head to accept the advice while silently crushing that feeling of guilt viciously.
He put the exchange at the corner of his mind for now as he focused on the job at hand "How do we go about this?" He was referring to the harvesting of every soul on the planet.
Ozia turned back to the holographic image of the planet Green Cloud. "I would drop you off on the Divera continent, start from there. I would handle the rest and we would meet when you are out of reserve energy."
Al'ravee had not forgotten that this Ozia was a very powerful god, the type whose power could affect an average-sized continent without the assistance of his spaceship. As a god who focused on the concept of machinery, Al'ravee wondered what method Ozia would use to start this apocalypse.
A circular hatch opened up in the centre of the room into a long tunnel which gave them a realistic view of the planet.
"Oh, I suggest that you find one of your descendants to serve as a herald in the new world I would be taking you to."
"Oh, Any reason?" Al'ravee knew how to do what Ozia suggested. It was all in the guide that Krene gave him.
"Trust me when I say, you definitely don't want to go to a world and go through the hassle of finding followers and establishing factions. Leave that to your followers."
Ozia handed a small box to Al'ravee "This is a beacon for an interstellar transport vehicle. When you have chosen, just press that and he or she will be taken there and will arrive before you."
Al'ravee nodded and kept the device in his pocket. "Do I just jump?" He asked with uncertainty.
"Yes, ten percent of your total energy has already been manifesting in the form of your body. You are already comparable to a level 40 mortal with a strong body. A mortal like that would still be injured from this fall but you are a god, not a mortal".
Al'ravee looked through the hole. After confirming that he was above the Divera continent, he jumped down.
Al'ravee didn't trust Ozia, but he jumped anyway, partly because the excitement was still clouding his judgment.
As soon as he breached the atmosphere completely, his entire body lit up with flames causing him to look like a falling ball of fire.
Meanwhile, the surface of the moon-sized golden-eye spaceship rippled like the surface of a lake before disappearing.