"The God of wisdom has arrived!"
As the guard bellowed those words, the entire hall has been engulfed with silence as all eyes turned towards us. They really are celestial beings, just the aura they normally exude is enough to make an average human fall down to their knees.
"Oh? Gabriel-san! We've been waiting for you, what took you so long?"
The silence ended when a man's voice rang out from among the crowd. Some of the Gods immediately stepped aside to open a path for the God whose voice just called out to us.
"Apologies, Horis-san, I just took our otherworlder here on a tour around the God realm."
As Gabriel mentioned my presence, Not just Horis, but also all of the Gods inside the hall turned their gazes on me. Most men were looking at me with scrutinizing eyes, while almost all of the women, were wide-eyed in surprise as they my appearance.
"Ara? this young one looks beautiful"
"Indeed, it's the first I saw a human with such a beautiful demeanor."
"The aura around him seems different from the former otherworlders."
"Yes, it's like he's one of those royalties from Greis."
"I wonder how good he is at bed."
"Goddess of love, please keep your lust in check."
As these Gods threw their opinions of me around, Gabriel gestured for me to follow him to the podium. I walked behind him normally to the stage under the intense gazes from the audience.
"What’s with these people? It’s not like I’m the first human they saw" I thought to myself as I looked at the people around me expressionlessly.
We reached the stage and Gabriel motioned for me to stand beside him. After positioning myself, Gabriel cleared his throat and started to speak in a dignified voice, unlike the voice that I'd been hearing from him earlier.
It's like the Gabriel then and the Gabriel now are two entirely different people. His voice became more clear, loud, and dignified and he's releasing out an aura befitting of a God.
"First of all, I would like to thank everyone who participated in this important event. This event which is held every 20 years in honor of the promise made with the creator of the world named 'Earth'. Now, I would like to introduce the 142nd human from Earth to be sent to the overworld 'Greis'. Lucas."
I still bowed my head a little in greetings of the Gods and Goddesses.
However, there is one particular person among the crowd who is showing hostility towards me. No, Hostility is an understatement. Killing intent, That's what is being directed to me right now. I turned my head to look at the source and I spotted a fairly pretty woman who looks like in their late 20s, she has peach-colored hair, wears a night gown, and her body looks sexier than the average human, although her chest is fairly lacking compared to others.
“If she heard my thoughts, she would’ve probably gone insane.”
Realizing that I have noticed her and her killing intent, she slowly walks forward and finally stopped at around 5 meters away from me while looking at me with eyes of hostility.
She withdrew her gaze from me and turned to look at Gabriel who seems to have realized the gist of what is going on.
"Goddess of life and death, Yumi, what seems to be the problem?" Asked Gabriel with a slightly grim face.
"Gabriel-san, I know that I'm being unreasonable with this request seeing that the past otherworlders were delivered without a problem, but I can't agree on sending this repulsive and horrendous person to Greis, the purpose of the promise was to help develop Greis with the help from humans of earth. But I think that sending this abomination will just cause troubles and even misfortune there!"
"Oh? Can you please elaborate for us?" Gabriel-san seems a little curious about what this God named Yumi has to say, so he asked her to explain the situation clearly. He even stepped aside so that Yumi can use the podium.
Yumi then walked towards the podium while keeping her distance away from me.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"I wonder what she just saw in me to say that?"
"Please hear me out, my fellow Gods and Goddesses." Yumi started speaking.
"All of you know me, one of the 13 Supreme Gods, Goddess of life and death already. And my abilities allow me to give and take the life of anything. And all of you already know about my eyes that can see... How many lives a person took."
At the drop of those words, the atmosphere immediately became tense and quiet, it's too quiet that one can hear a needle drop onto the floor.
"Ohhh, so that’s what… damn", I thought to myself.
Yumi continued her talk after glancing at me.
"Right now, the God of war, Alvion, who has a kill count of 104,826,252 humans is the person with the highest count I ever met. And that is from long ago already and the numbers remain the same until now."
Yumi said as she looked at a person in front of the crowd, he has tanned skin, a scar on his face, and dark indigo hair with blue-green eyes.
"Indeed, the last time I slaughtered a human is already around 10,000 years ago. Now, I'm only going for the heads of monsters and demons from Greis." The God of war said with a stern look.
"Then what are you trying to point out here, Yumi-san?" Asked Gabriel with a straight face.
"Maybe that Lucas human has killed more than a million humans?"
"What? isn't that too much? he's the first human from Earth to ever reach that count."
"Now I understand why Yumi-sama is acting like that."
"It turns out, this Lucas person is a hideous human."
"You really can't judge a book by its cover huh? Who knew that under his beautiful looks hides a horrid soul."
"So? How many did he kill? 1 million? 3 million? or a staggering amount of 10 million? that would make him one of humanity's most loathsome sinners."
As all these Gods hurled insults and remarks at me, Yumi who was standing at the podium with a grim face opened her mouth.
"138,829,512"
Silence...*
The Main hall, once again was engulfed in silence. Nobody expected Yumi to utter such a ridiculous amount.
"Eh? D-did I hear her wrong? Did she just say somewhere around 138 million?"
As the Gods in the hall were clamoring in confusion over what they heard, Yumi spoke again in a cold tone of voice.
"You heard me right. This human named Lucas has killed 138,829,512 humans in his entire lifetime."
Silence engulfed the entire hall once again.
"What the f***!?"
"Oi, yumi-sama, don't you think your joke went too far?"
"He's just a human you know!?"
All the Gods were now asking questions of Yumi.
"Yumi, is what you said just now true?" Gabriel asked in a grim tone of voice, as if the moment Yumi lied about what she said, he will kick Yumi out of this banquet.
"Do you think I have anything to gain from lying about this? I'm a Goddess that does her work honestly, do you think I, would lie about something as grave as this?"
Yumi answered back with a serious expression on her face.
"Since all of you seem to not believe my words. God of Justice! Answer me, did I lie about the accusations I made about this human?" Yumi shouted these words out loudly.
All the Gods turned to look at someone walking forward. He's short, has black hair, and has a childlike appearance like a 13-year-old kid. He stopped in his tracks, turned to look at Yumi, and opened his mouth.
"What the Goddess of life and death said is the truth."
The moment he said these words, all the Gods looked at me with a strange look at their faces.
I slowly opened my mouth to talk.
"Gods really are amazing huh, you were able to find out how many humans I killed by just one look. I am in awe of your abilities, Yumi-sama."
Yes, what I said just now was equivalent to admitting to Yumi's accusations. However this count is not something that I want to hide, this is something that I chose and didn't regret. If I was given a chance to go back in time, I would still make the same choice.
"Lucas-dono, does that mean you admit to the words of the Goddess of life and death?"
"I don't know, I lost count ever since the hundredth I think? So? is there a problem?"
My answer made all the Gods shut their mouths as they looked at me incredulously.
"You killed hundreds of millions of your brethren, and you still have the confidence to say it in front of the Gods!?"
"How arrogant!"
"A human like you doesn't deserve to set foot in the realm of the Gods."
All of them once again threw insults and threats at me. I just stood there taking all of their curses.
Finally, the God of war who has been silent all this time spoke in a cold tone of voice."
"Why?"
He asked me as if he knew that there was another reason behind my killings, his voice silenced all the other gods. After all, this is the God of war, one of the most powerful beings in the universe.
"It's for the sake of making Earth a better place."
The God of War turned to look at the God of Justice.
The God of Justice announced to everyone.
"He spoke of the truth."
The people in the hall once again looked at Yumi, Alvion, and me who is currently at the front.
"Alright, human, I challenge you to a duel."
The God of war suddenly said to me with a straight face. His words shocked everyone in the hall. It was the first time they saw the Mighty God of war formally challenge a human into a duel.
"And what if I refuse?" I responded.
"You have no right to. I will judge in battle whether you are a threat to Greis or not or if you carry the power to take responsibility for all the lives you took."
Seeing as there is no way out of this, I just accepted his challenge. Also, this is a genuine God of war, a literal God. Just the thought of fighting him makes my blood surge.