Not but a few minutes have passed since Issei solely escaped Hell's clutches when a magnificent stream of water burst forth from the still open Hellhole. From the stream of water stepped out a small Purple haired child, luxuriously making her grand re-entry into the world of the living just as dry as ever in spite of this. The time has come.

"So, did you have fun in there?" Auros teased.

"Ugh, hardly." She rolled her Eyes, "By the time I fully Healed up all my blown up bits, Issei was already long gone. I did however see that idiot trapped down there while I was zooming on up."

Issei listened to this with a slew of complicated emotions. On the one hand, it was confirmation that his plan succeeded, and Schnell was now successfully trapped in Hell forever. On the other hand, he can't ever forgive himself for this betrayal. The man was a kind soul, someone who was merely looking out for not only his own humanity, but of his foes' as well. To hear such a man get badmouthed by the Gods with such blatant disregard for his good nature made Issei's stomach churn.

"He's just some guy..." Issei muttered.

"Say that again?" Aru's ear grew.

"He's jus-"

"I heard what you said!" She smacked him across the face, "Now listen here, your two girls aren't here to tell you this, so for now you're gonna have to deal with me—He is NOT just some guy."

"Why!? What makes him so different than me!?" Issei shot back, "He woke up in an unfamiliar world, only to immediately get attacked by us! You made us believe the world was gonna end if we didn't dispose of him soon, but we sure took our damned sweet time and look—Nothing happened!"

"...Are you doubting the Gods, Foreigner?" Auros glared at him.

"Quiet. Let me handle this." Aru stepped in between them, choosing to de-escalate the situation as she looked at Issei's Eyes with kindness and honesty, "After all, he's completely right. We tricked him."

"What...!?"

"Allucius!"

Thus, Aru told Issei the truth from start to finish, leaving nothing out as she did. What she said was abhorrent, and painted a completely different picture of the Gods in Issei's head. In the end, letting Schnell and the others roam around the world again would have essentially done nothing on its own.

"Our goal as the Gods of this reality is to see through each and every Universe Cycle in serial order." Aru sighed, "Think of it like programming a counter. Each and every iteration is a plus one towards the final number, and our goal is to find out where that number ends."

"What does that have to do with Schnell?"

"You don't get it?" She raised an Eyebrow, "He, Shaid and Olyahim are what we like to call wildcards. Free spirits who exist outside the confines of fate. Your friend Lune is also one such example."

"Lune is...?" Issei thought to himself.

Such cases weren't all that earth shattering by themselves. In every generation there should at least be one extraordinary individual that vastly progresses the human race as a whole, be it technologically, politically or even magically. But the Gods would always have to keep a close Eye on them just in case their free will somehow jeopardized the current Universe Cycle. If they did, then the Gods would have essentially wasted their time in that world, and would have to start the entire counter back from all zeroes.

"A single wildcard won't ever be able to produce such a crazy unpredictable result that it actually ruins everything." Aru added, "But if we got unlucky enough to have multiple of them meet at the same time and bounce off each other like some sort of echo chamber..."

"Their unpredictability gets amplified exponentially." Auros explained in short, "Two wildcards meeting would be scary for us, three is practically guaranteed to cause a disaster."

"So basically..." Issei frowned, "You weren't preventing a disaster that was gonna happen, you were preventing the tiniest possibility of it happening!"

"You're smart, Issei, so I don't get how you don't understand this." Aru shook her head, "Wildcards don't believe in "chances". If there's even a one in a googol chance that they change the Universe Cycle irreversibly, then you can be sure they'll do it. That's why they're called wildcards."

Issei understood what the Gods were trying to tell him all too well. He understood just the words though, but not the reasoning behind them. If a person was to be ostracized and sent to Hell purely because of their ability to become masters of their own destiny, then what's even the point of letting them exist? If the Gods feared them to such an extent, then just make a world without them.

"We can't do that either." Auros shook his head, "If we're making sure to see through each and every possibility to the tiniest bit of information, that means we have to live through the tough ones too. That's the price we had to pay to see everything."

"Issei, you saved this world today. And not just this one, but every future one after it. Be proud of that." Aru approached him, gently patting his head and stroking his hair, "Though it's not immediately noticeable, you can rest assured your descendants will have a world to live in because of you. Future Issei's too, they all exist because you did this today."

"So that's the case, eh?" A blonde skinny man woke up behind them, "The newbie actually did it? Man, we ought to recruit you, guy."

"Aaron!" Issei got up, "You alright?"

"Ngh, my head..." Pierre and Maxwell woke up as well.

"This place... Guess I haven't croaked yet." Jorgen said a cool one liner the moment his Eyes opened.

"Thank goodness, you're all awake!" Issei smiled.

"Yeah, no need to get all emotional all of a sudden." Aaron pushed him off of him, "Yeah, we're in better shape than ever. I assume we have you two to thank for this?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Referring to the Gods standing behind Issei, the Generals profusely thanked them for the assistance. With each praise, Issei felt his sanity start to dwindle. He had now finally seen the true faces of these so-called Gods, and in spite of that ugly appearance, they were still getting praised by the humans below them. This was what truly made Issei sick that day...

----------------------------------------

***

----------------------------------------

"Alright, let's get a move on. Quickly now!" Auros stood up, instructing the others to get on his shoulder so that he could carry them up to the surface, "This idiot took way longer to deal with, so we're gonna have to really hurry if we wanna make it in time for Olya."

"...I'm gonna sit this one out." Issei said as Auros speedily climbed up the walls of the hole.

"Don't bullshit me, you can't back out now!" Aru got angered by this.

"Haven't I done enough?" He shot back, "Besides, my backpack is fried. No more gadgets means I'm absolutely worthless in battle."

"You said that before you won against Douglas too, so we know you're lying." Auros declined giving him the pass.

"You two, he did something none of us could do, and we're your specially tasked fighters." Max defended him, "Surely he can lay low and let us handle the rest, can't he? We owe him that much."

"I agree, and besides." Pierre gave the Gods a deadpanned stare, "I didn't really see you guys do much of anything either during this whole ordeal."

"Wha-!? How dare you!?" Aru grit her teeth, "Insolent human! Who dug this hole to the literal gate to Hell, then!?"

"And who's the reason you all are still breathing, huh?" Auros added, "Mhm, constant Healing ain't easy, just so you know."

The Generals weren't awake while Issei was getting told the truth behind Schnell and the other two, so at best they just assumed Issei was too tired to continue fighting. Then again, the depressed, sluggish expression on his face paired with the tattered clothes made them all too certain this was the case. Issei didn't bother correcting them, however, since as the Gods said—They still had two wildcards to kill.

"What I accomplished just now was nothing more than a fluke." Issei still tried to play it off as nothing special, "Even then, I used almost all the clothes I have on me. You want me to fight the other two with my thing out?"

"Boy would that be a sight..." Aaron muttered to himself.

"Auros, the hell are you doing?" Aru snapped her fingers as got bestowed with brand new clothes and a backpack filled with his old gadgets, "No wonder he doesn't feel like fighting. There, that better now?"

"No, I don't want this." Issei began taking the backpack off when the Generals all urged him not to.

"Stop!" They all ganged up on him, "At this point, it's rude not to accept! Yeah, what he said! C'mon, with these gadgets at your disposal again, it'll be a cakewalk! Schnell was tough 'cause he was in his prime, but Olya's an old man!"

Staring at them with a gaze of bewilderment, Issei silently turned to glance at Jorgen for advice. The veteran fighter and certified badass merely looked on, but not before giving a solemn nod. This nod could have been interpreted in all sorts of ways, sadly, because Jorgen is just way too vague of a person when it comes to giving signals. Still, in Issei's mind, he heard "Do what you think is right", and Issei already knew from the start what "right" was.

"Sigh, you guys sure know how to peer pressure..." He ultimately gave in to the Generals, "Fine, I'll try my best. But no promises!"

"Haha! Of course, Foreigner!" Auros guffawed loudly, his strong laugh reaching the very surface of the island, "I knew you'd come around! Aru's a master at emotional manipulation, after all!"

"Hey, we JUST earned his trust back, stop making us seem sketchy again!" Aru dowsed his face in cold water, "Geez, sorry about that, Issei. For what it's worth, I'm glad you understand we mean well."

"In terms of that, I don't think I fully do yet." Issei replied calmly, "But you were honest enough to be transparent with me. You gave me the nitty gritty without making it sound good at all, so I have to assume you guys meant what you said."

"Attaboy, haha! Ehh... What did we say, exactly?" Auros stopped chuckling to ask Aru.

"Hrmm... We said that he saved the world with this victory." Aru grumbled.

"And not only that, but all the future ones too." Issei smirked confidently, "But if what you said is 100% true, then that's still not the case yet."

They were fast approaching the surface, the morning Sun was hitting their Eyes at the perfect angle to practically blind them if they looked up for too long. Still, it was a welcome and optimistic sight. Though they were bruised, battered and uncertain of whom to place their trust in, they knew that the only way left to go now was forward. When looked at like that, Issei couldn't help but laugh at his past self from just a few minutes ago that was begging to not attend this battle.

"Schnell's been dealt with." Issei counted down, "That leaves two, out of which Shaid still hasn't been found. Maybe he never got revived in the first place, but it's way more probable that he did, somehow."

"So what about the old man?" Jorgen asked, "We gonna construct a proper plan against him or are we winging it again?"

"You're awfully methodical for a gang leader." Issei laughed, "Nah, no more plans. Plan each step meticulously, and you just might find yourself tripping over the first one!"

"Someone's in a hurry, got something planned for when you get back home?" Pierre chuckled with him.

"Hell yeah." He grinned, "A nice, long bath!"