Sinbad remained silent. He could not answer the voiced question that they had all been thinking. He could not for the life of him fathom what that gigantic creature was. It was so enormous and brilliant that it made Envy look insignificant in comparison. And what did it call itself? A goddess? Was it really one of those so-called gods that had gifted the Eridius System? Was that what they were? Was that what they looked like?
Sinbad’s heart that usually beat only 10 beats per minute was now pumping furiously, reaching 120 beats per minute. It was slow compared to his fighting state, talk less of his desperation state, but it was still high enough to signify that his emotions had fallen out of his control. He was just that shocked.
The gods! He had once heard his mother mumble about them which led to him asking about them out of curiosity, but he could not get a real answer. His mother only told him that she didn’t know but it was likely that the so-called ‘Beyond’ that that some of the Blood Fiends and Devils worshipped was one of them, or was on that level.
The whole Beyond rubbish sounded like nonsense to him since nobody could provide evidence for its existence, but he did believe that gods existed. And that was thanks to the System. He had asked it about the gods and had been met with silence, but where most would feel annoyed or even angry, he had felt chills run down his spine.
This was because he had long ago come to the realisation that the ever so hated occasional silence from the system was actually an answer in itself. Regardless of the actual question, it was certain that the topic of the question existed. There was no need to be silent about nothing if it was so willing to answer pretty much anything else.
To put things into perspective, when he asked the System about the Beyond, it easily told him that it was the name of the entity that was worshipped by Blood Fiends and Devils. That of course made him surprised at first, but when he asked the System about its identity, purpose and location. He was answered with ‘Ding! The System does not possess knowledge of this entity’ 3 times.
This was different to the times he tried to ask similar questions about unaffiliated or distant people so it confused him. For example, if he tried to ask where Envy came from, the System would unhesitatingly tell him that he did not have the permission level to ask that question. (The ‘permission level’ is another one of those things that the System refused to talk about.)
In any case, when he finally decided to directly ask if the Beyond existed, the System replied that there were chances that it could, but that the System did not possess knowledge about the entity.
After a few more questions, Sinbad eventually came to the conclusion that the Beyond was indeed a fake.
But the gods… They were definitely real. And apparently one of them was here to get rid of Envy. Excitement began to rise in his chest as he thought about that and it was about to show on his face. Ah- He couldn’t allow that. He was the leader here and must always keep his cool.
He was the leader.
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His mood began to descend as he thought about Envy and his various Avatars.
He was the leader.
His mood continued to descend as he thought about the agonised cries of his people.
He was the leader.
His mood reached rock bottom as he thought about his mother…
…He was the lea-
A hand fell onto his shoulder and squeezed.
Sinbad turned to look at the owner of the hand. It was a male who was tall but slightly shorter than him, he had rare black coloured hair that was streaked with locks of purple and grey, a pair of electric purple eyes that were empty of emotion, a pair of wolf ears on the top his head along with a matching tail, sleeves of fur that covered his lower arms and lower legs, and finally, 4 purple coloured horns covered in lightning that decorated his head.
The mark of a Demon King.
The man was very handsome and would have been even more so if it wasn’t for the abnormal wrinkles lining his eyes and cheeks. He looked… old.
This was a highly rare phenomenon that Sinbad had seen only a handful of times. People could actually begin to die from growing too much. Their hair would slowly turn grey, they would develop wrinkles, they would lose their strength and speed, their minds would slow down and become listless, and sometimes they would even become smaller.
It didn’t make sense to him at all. What kind of joke was it to die from growing too much? People were supposed to get bigger and stronger over the years, not suddenly decline for absolutely no reason.
Apparently that was what would happen to all people but it was only their Mana that was pushing back the ‘deadline’. The more you progressed in cultivation, the longer you could live before your body had enough. That alone was understandable; cultivation brought wonders to all things, living or not. However, what he didn’t understand was why a body would suddenly decide to give up and die. It did not make the slightest bit of sense.
At one point Sinbad had thought that it was the people themselves who decided to initiate the dying process, after all, he had seen people kill themselves here in this Forest more than enough times. But that did not seem to be the case. A couple of those old people desperately wanted to live but they could not stop the… inevitable. It was a scary conundrum.
But what troubled Sinbad with this man in particular was that this person was not supposed to look this old. He was in the 4th Realm and was very powerful. He had a lot of energy in his body… even if it sometimes didn’t seem like that. This man…
“This is our chance, boy. If you can’t step up now I will completely abandon you. I cannot wait any longer.”
Sinbad felt a familiar piercing pain in his chest but he was used to it by now and did not show any sign of it. He merely nodded before speaking.
“Yes… you’re right. It seems that someone powerful has come for Envy; We can use this opportunity to deal him a severe blow and perhaps… perhaps even kill him.”
The man smiled then and let go of his shoulder, but said-smile did not reach his eyes. They were as emotionless as ever, if you didn’t take the sudden eerie glow into consideration.
“Good, it seems like you're still my pride and joy, my beautiful son. Come, let’s go and avenge your mother.” His father Balik said, as he patted him on the back before walking away.
“Father…” Sinbad whispered.