"I know I'm weak—!!!"
『Then get stronger』
"It's not that... easy."
『Then struggle』
"I can't..."
『What are you doing now?』
"...."
『What are you... doing now?』
"...."
『Brother... what is it, that you're doing now? Look at yourself and tell me』
"...."
『You're struggling. Your hands are dead, yet you use them. Your will is broken, yet you refuse to back down. Your eyes are half blind, yet you still look at me. Your throat is torn, yet he still speak I defiance against my words.... So why, why are you being so depressed and down as if you've really done all you could?』
"...I..."
『You haven't done jack-shit, believe me. We are just teenagers out here seeking a life we can adapt to. A place we can belong, a place we can now call... home. If anything, we are children exposed to a new life. A life of suffering, a life of war, and life of death』
『And in such life, we have yet to reach our prime, and yet here you are, acting like you've actually tried your best... Look at yourself and reflect, did you..? Did you really try your best, with all that sealed up potential ready to burst?』
"...."
『Are you going to let someone you barely know, prove to you what you can, or cannot do? A man who has reached his prime, and still got mercilessly beaten up, then Sealed. The same person who is not even at the peak of power, let his own prime?』
"...."
『...You should know yourself more than anyone, little Su. Even if someone tells you that you are Su Han, Deny that, and say you're Su Han. Say it yourself, and don't let someone act like they know you better than you know yourself』
"...!!!"
Su Han grit his teeth as tears fell down from his eyes silently, not saying anything at all. He only listened as a friend, a brother and a fellow True God reprimanded him.
『Look, you are a brother of mine, of Allen, of Takashi. An equal, someone who should be our only equal when we reach the peak. Yet, what do you think any of us will feel when we see you so pathetic and down low?』
"...."
『Athena is a War Goddess, there is completely nothing attractive to her from the current you. I'm Hopeless, I give up on people easily. Allen is languid, he doesn't take a lot of things seriously. Yet... here we are, going out of our way for you... just for our you gest brother 』
"...."
Enigma sighed and stretched out his hand, sending out silver wisp of power towards Su Han's hands, his black charred hands to be precise.
『To be honest, I'd say Athena likes you... or rather, she has a good impression of you. In fact, she might be watching us right now』
He said with a bitter smile, the stars glowed and moved towards Su Han, mixing up with his soul, making his soul to glow brighter and brighter. A shade of brightness exceeding that of countless stars.
『Allen thinks highly of you. He once told me that out of us brothers, you might be the only one who could be able to stay happy throughout this journey... at least, positive enough to bring us out of Despair if the day ever comes』
Su Han's soul glowed brighter until it evolved into a golden soul with bright stars revolving within. His hands also turned gray from black, reflecting his red blood veins over the gray layer of his skin.
Just his hand alone oozed out a lot of power, a power created to oppose all things created. The source of Defiance and Opposition, a single unit of Dei-Force.
"...."
『As for me, I... I'm the pathetic one to be honest. I'm the one whose really hopeless, broken, and lost. I look up to you, all of you guys... so much so that, sometimes I wish I was like you』
Su Han's golden eyes reflected the vast universe as life slowly returned back to them. He seemed shocked, as if he misheard something. Something he thought he would never hear from Enigma.
『If possible... I'd do a lot for you guys to live, I'd sacrifice my life for you guys, we are family after all... haha, yeah, I know I'm not usually this sentimental, but...』
Everything slowly began to fall back, turning into clear mist, leaving only Su Han by himself. "Wait, Enigma, what do you mean?! Hey, don't just kill yourself for us... nobody wants that... nobody does!! Enigma..!!"
He roared out loud, unfortunately his voice was hoarse and his body was heavy. He fell down on his knees, tears subconsciously rolling down his cheeks as everything slowly began falling apart, "...What was all that about, calling me pathetic then acting pathetic yourself. Some big brother you are..."
"Really... what's wrong with us?" He thought as he woke up from the strange dream he had. Above him was Su Xue, who watched over him with worry and joy, tears gushing down her eyes.
"Godfather!!!" She threw herself at him, and hurriedly hugged him, temporarily forgetting about his injuries. But Su Han really missed her and let her do as she pleased, plus, he could bare this much pain.
"You're awake." A middle-aged man walked over with a smile of mockery. Bellum. It was Bellum, who seemed to look no different than before, but more neat and formal without the bloody armor of his.
Su Han was about to say something, but before then, an interface from True Will appeared in his mind, alerting him of the changes that occurred to his body.
『You have awakened your Innate Origin Trait of this Era, "Diligence"』
『You have become 'The Lord's Diligence', and have awakened the Law of Diligence. You are now the God Realm's God of Diligence and Hardwork along with being the Heavenly God of Diligence』
『You have awakened the divine skills "Self-Power Bestowal", "Transcendental Angel Physiology" and "Empathic Creation"』
『You have recieved ???? Skill "Cosmic Symbiosis" from an anonymous figure』
『Your hands have been transformed into bio-technological Lost Divine Artifacts. You have recieved the following Divine skills "Counter-Veins", "War God's Heaven(Planetary)" and "Star Conversion"』
He was surprised, but managed to hold in his doubt. But he still had a lot of questions, like, 'Who is the lord? Wasn't that Enigma I met in the dream? How could Enigma be this strong though?'
Now that he thought about it, that person was way too emotional, enough to match his own destabilized emotions. And that was definitely not like Enigma!!
That was not all, that person, had blatantly created a universe with a wave of his hand. Even his physical body seemed to be a personification of a universe itself, and seemed homogenous.
'Who... did I meet back then? Who is this so called 'Lord'? And what does he want with me?' Su Han thought with a frown. It was visible to both people within the room with him.
Su Xue hurriedly pulled back and inquired with a concerned and worried expression. Afraid she might have gone too far, "Godfather? Ah, I-I'm sorry, did... did I hurt you?"
"No, you didn't do such a thing, Xue'er, my dearest." Su Han smiled at her and gently patted her head, disregarding their contradictory physical appearance in Age.
He was probably the toughest out of everyone within his group. Even Enigma and Allen had to accept that his durability was top notch, if not nigh-indestructible.
"D-Dearest?" Su Xue was surprised by Su Han's change in temperament. This gentle side of his was way different compared to his usual blatant and bold personality
"...."
Bellum watched this happen from afar and did not comment. But he had small frown on his face when he saw them acting all lovey-dovey as father and daughter.
"...You don't like it? I'll change it." Su Han said immediately replied without hesitation. Perhaps every true god was like Enigma, and spoiled their children rotten.
"No, it"s fine, godfather can call me whatever you like." And perhaps every child of a true god loved their parents unconditionally... except Enigma of course.
"...So, you always wanted a daughter huh? Is that it?" Bellum suddenly erupted in mild rage and scoffed at Su Han coldly. His displeasure could be felt, and both of them were left speechless.
"...."
"...."
"Forget it. Since you are up now, you remember the bet?" Bellum realized his mistake but didn't change his expression. Instead, he continued with a cold tone, causing the duo to become speechless once again.
"...."
"...."
Seeing their silent but defeated expressions, he knew that Su Han remembered their deal, "...If you do, pack up and leave."
Su Han sighed and looked at Su Xue bitterly, but after a moment his expression steeled and he looked at her with full determination. "Xue'er, godfather has disappointed you."
"Godfather..." Su Xue didn't know what to say to make him feel better. Anything she says might sound useless or forced, so she kept quiet and looked at him with teary eyes.
It's been many years since she met Su Han. Ever since birth, unlike her fellow clansmen, she was born out of high concentration of mana within a strange stone.
Then for a few years, she learned how to fight and ended up leading a small Tribe of monkeys, that looked similar to her, but were genuine Monkeys instead.
She continued on her journey and became a powerful small ruler within the region she ruled. That was, until a day came, where she met Su Han and began following him.
Unlike other monkeys, Su Han was a demihuman, and thus seemed strange compared to others. But not her, she was also a demihuman, a monkey-type demihuman.
They ended up becoming close, and maybe because of her strange Constitution, she easily mixed Su Han's Blessing with her Bloodline, slowly changing her Bloodline to his.
The higher ranked the blessing, the purer the Bloodline became. All the way to the point where they look similar through their appearance and personalities.
In fact, by now, she truly saw Su Han as a father figure, no, a father. After learning about gods and what ancient origins were, she knew that Su Han was way older than he seems, and definitely older than her.
Which was why she didn't have any problems seeing him as a father. And now, and now... that father was about to leave her. Even though she knew they didn't have a choice.
Even if she knew that it's not his fault, even if she knew that she had to be strong for him, she still couldn't help but tear up.
"I promise... I promise you that the next time we meet, I'll be strong enough to take you back with me. By then, your godfather will be the strongest person under the vast Realities." He said after changing his clothes.
He now wore long black pants, along with black sandals. His top was bare, and he only wore something that resembled a greek palla, crossing his shoulder from his waist, then crossing his back, back to the waist.
"Hm!!" A grown up beautiful women, around her early twenties, rubbed her tears and strongly nodded her head. Su Han smiled and patted her head.
He then turned to Bellum, bowed towards him and left without saying anything. He was thankful for being spared, no, to be precise, he was thankful Su Xue, Code, Hera and Herara were spared.
Oh, and those three returned back to the Empire so it seems. And Su Han was out cold for two weeks, making this weak the fouth week of the new year. He was thankful they were all alright.
As Su Han left, Su Xue removed her tears and wrapped herself with her hands, warily looking at Bellum. Acting all defensive, as if he was going to do something unspeakable to her.
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