[118] Just One Pantheon? Nah, I’d Win.

[118] Just One Pantheon? Nah, I’d Win.

Chapter 118: Just One Pantheon? Nah, I’d Win.

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We walked by the golden beach side as the sun set in the far. We talked about the scenery for a bit, before falling silent and enjoying it.

Only a few minutes later did we move to more important discussions. Surprisingly, it was Ruby who did it.

“Why are you so... different from when you were Doctor Gorou?” she faced the last shine of the sun and asked.

“Memory loss,” I admitted, staring at her side profile. “Right before the end of my 9th life, I had a big fight with a powerful, multiversal organization. They went by the name of the Order of Crimson Abyss. Their goal was to kill me for good so that I don't reincarnate anymore.

“But they didn't quite succeed seeing as how you're here?”

“Kind of,” I shrugged. “They did manage to damage my memories exceptionally. I forgot the details of my lives till then and even experienced a series of reincarnations that I have zero memories of even to this day. During my 10th life as Gorou too, I didn't have my earlier memories. Why else do you think I never treated your illness with magic, Ruby?”

“Well...” she stayed silent. I'm sure she had theorized this much herself.

I continued, “My consciousness as well as my memories were amiss during the many reincarnations I've missed. So in those unknown numbers of lives between my 9th and 11th, I didn't have a sense of self. Only out of pure luck, did I even remember my life as Gorou after waking up as Aqua.”

“....”

“So essentially, the reason Gorou and I act differently is because he had memory loss and I don't.” I finished. “You know, some philosophers may argue that Gorou and I are completely different people, as memories make a man.”

“Are you trying to reassure me or giving me more anxiety with that last line?” Ruby asked with a frown and I laughed, pulling her into a hug.

“Why? Did that shake your belief in me?”

“...No” she wrapped her arms around him. “Thanks for telling me. Now I understand things a bit... Does she know?”

She meant Ai. “No, she doesn't. I haven't even told her that I'm Gorou, that will go and needlessly complicate things. Why, aren’t you happy being the only one to know these secrets?”

“Yes,” she giggled and rubbed her face on my chest. “I love getting special treatment from you.”

And honestly, he liked giving her that. His memories and emotions from his 10th life riled up in happiness when he saw Sarina be so happy around him. Even outside that, it was rare he had a sister in his life, let alone a twin. As his other half, he wanted to pamper her.

“You’re so clingy,” he ruffled her hair.

“I just can't keep myself away from you,” she sighed. “Am I annoying?”

“I didn't say that,” he kissed her head. “I would rather find you adorable and cute.”

“Well, that's because I am.” She looked up at my face with a small grin. “Do you remember the promise?”

It could be any promise, she didn't give enough context to give an idea. However, I still had a clear idea of what.

It was about the promise that Sarina made that she'd marry me when she turned 16... She's a few months away from turning 16.

It was about 1 AM now, and everyone was sleeping. I wasn’t sleepy tonight since I slept last night, so I sat at the beach and watched the moon and the stars. Sipping on hot tea, I once again lost myself in the melancholy of the cosmos. It happened often, whenever I enjoyed a particularly happy session and then found myself alone at a later time.

“It’s hard not to miss some people during your happy moments, you know? You just wish that they were beside you to experience that.” I wasn’t talking to myself, those words didn’t even come out of my mouth.

I turned to the side to find a little girl sitting beside me, her white hair swaying in the air as her blue eyes stared at the moon. “Amaterasu?” I muttered.

“You’ve done well,” she turned to look at me with a smile.

“Oh, thank you, I wouldn’t have known if your Divine Self didn’t come down from heaven just to tell me that.” I gave her a dry stare. “What are you really here for?”

“Oh, how impatient the young generation is,” Amaterasu giggled and looked at me. By now she knew better that the chance of me being a ‘young generation’ was too little to count, yet she found it worthy of teasing. “I’m just here to warn you. Now that your family is back to its happy times, I’d hate to see it crumble just because some Gods want to play politics.”

I decided to take her words a bit more seriously as I nodded, “Is it about Norse?”

“It is,” she said. “They’re after you. Not just Asgard, but the entire Pantheon.”

“Just a single Pantheon? I’m not worried. I’m sure my lovely Amaterasu-sama and her pantheon will keep me and my family safe from those bad guys.” I said as I looked at her.

She laughed but there was no humor in it, “We’d try to stop them from getting into Japan, surely, but we can’t reach out our direct help to you. We don’t want a Pantheon War; you know?”

“Aren’t they declaring war on Shinto if they slide into Japan to begin with?” I asked and her smile thinned.

“Unfortunately, no. Since some minor parts of Japan are occupied by different factions, such as Kuoh under the devils, we don’t operate there. It is an agreement between us, they’re not parasites. So if trouble does bloom there, we can’t intervene. You’ll be on your own.” She looked at him seriously and then shrugged easily. “But I’m sure you’ll be fine. You did call me a ‘mere planetary deity’ before, so it shouldn’t be hard for you to deal with a few of my kind.”

“To think the Great Goddess would take a mortal’s spiteful words to heart despite all the legends about her being a benevolent deity and hold a grudge, count me astounded.” I joked with a small smile that she returned with a playful shrug.

“Thank you for letting me know, but yes, you’re right,” I slowly stood back up and looked back at the mere planetary deity. “I’ll be fine.”

The Goddess giggled and thinned in the air, her form scattering like stardust as I turned back to the cosmos above. This vacation has been extremely productive, my family and therefore my Sect have gained a lot of extra firepower. But it’s not enough, apparently.

It has been 15 years since I’ve been on this little rock planet, taking it slow and enjoying life. But it appears I’ve been a little too laid back if some irrelevant pantheon of Gods dreamed of fighting against me.

“Disgusting little ants.”

The grip of my willpower shattered the teacup into pieces, and the same will spread out to call forth hungry waves and roaring sea storms. That night, we had to cut our trip short as did everyone else around the island.

Tsunamis engulfed the beaches all around Japan, and if it wasn’t for the different Sea Gods working behind the curtains, it’d have spread all over Asia.

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