Chapter 1002 1002: Funny, No?
More than 600 years ago, in the Domain of the Gods, Joao was busy blowing all of his treasure in creature fights in the Summoner's City. He had nothing better to do as he had been trapped in the upper plane for hundreds of thousands of years; like most gods, he was just wasting his immortality away until something entertaining actually happened — and perhaps his wish was granted to the point that it was too much.
A black-clad god visited the city and started laying waste to everyone, demanding that Randall resurrect the little mortal he was holding. Of course, Joao was the first to croak as the black-clad god seemed to have targeted him first because of his age; perhaps the most awkward thing about that was that considering every god in Summoner's City, he was probably one of the youngest ones.
He just looked that old because he reached godhood late in life; although unspoken, older-looking gods actually tend to be weaker than the younger-looking ones because of that. It meant they had less potential than those who became god younger than them.
And so, he just pretended to be dead; hid away in the mountain of corpses while watching everything unfold. And then, a white-haired god suddenly appeared and just erased the black-clad god out of existence before asking Randall to revive someone...
...only to torture the mortal he asked to revive over and over again.
Joao was there, he was there when Death suddenly appeared in the plane — he was there when the very same white-haired god who was not holding his finger fought toe to toe with Death, the literal embodiment of Life's end.
"I apologize, Joao... But I do not think I will let you leave after all."
And now, he was not being allowed to leave at all.
"What... does that mean?" Joao took in a small gulp before looking toward Karina; his sunken eyes, almost pleading. Karina was at a loss as to what to do — if a fight between Riley and Joao were to break out, the entire New World and all of its innocent inhabitants would disappear in less than a blink of an eye.
At the same time, however, if Riley let Joao go, there was a chance that he would inform the other gods living there that she and her mother had broken the agreement. And before she could even voice out her concern about the situation, Riley stood up from the sofa while still holding Joao's wrinkled finger.
"You made a mess of my house, Joao," Riley whispered as he looked at the pool of blood oozing out from Lucy's gaping wound, as well as the dessert mixing into it,
"And you broke the Margrea Oath in front of several people — as the President of the Hero Academy and Association, I am afraid my hand is forced to deal with you as I see fit."
"Dad..." Karina raised both her palms in the air as she stood in front of her father, "...It's fine, Lucy's... completely unharmed. Don't do anything that would jeopardize the hundreds of years of peace. I might not agree with what the New World means, but it has kept people safe."
"L...listen to your daughter, White Father," Joao whispered out as he looked at Riley, "You—"Thê source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n))
And before Joao could even finish his words, he suddenly found himself in the vacuum of space; the New World, now just a colorful bright marble a million kilometers away. He did not even see or feel what just happened, he was just there all of a sudden... with Riley still holding his finger.
"You... know who I am?" The captive, Banshi, squinted his one single eye as he looked at Joao from head to toe; his hands which only had two fingers and a single thumb, placed on the glass as he seemed to want to be free from his enclosure,
"You're a god," Banshi then whispered.
"You have been missing for a few years, everyone thought you'd left to dive into the empty universes, "You... Were you here the entire time?"
"And now you are here too, my friend," Banshi just closed his eye as he stepped back; sitting on the ground with his reverse jointed leg while just shaking his head, "I am afraid you have been captured by the Empyrean Warden — my fate awaits you."
"Let's escape!" Joao placed his palm on the cage, "We can escape if we work together, I'm still outside, I can help you."
"Outside?" Banshi shook his head, "Seek yourself again and see if you are outside, my friend."
"What are you—" And before Joao could even finish his words, he suddenly realized that he wasn't outside at all, no — he was inside a glass cage.
"My advice to you, my friend," Banshi then very slowly turned around, "Do not break the glass, or the Empyrean Warden will break you."
Joao could not even let out another word as he noticed the scars littered on Banshi's back; they wanted to heal, but all his flesh could do was wriggle as something invisible seemed to be eating him from the inside out.
"Pain, my friend..." Banshi's voice turned meek as he completely looked away from Joao, "...My fate is eternal pain, and my dream is death...
...and soon it will also be yours."
Joao started to scan the hall, only to see Riley just casually walking around and seemingly admiring his work. He then watched as Riley stopped in one of the cages, opening it and freeing the tigerman inside it before glancing back to Joao,
"You do not have to worry, Joao — pain is not your fate," Riley smiled, "Your fate is similar to this one. Arguar the Warclaw, it is time for you to wreak havoc. Seek out Ambrucx the Lightclaw...
...and kill her children again. That would be funny...
...no?"