"Huh, so, it's more of a personal thing," Kyle said.
"Apparently, so," Horatio said with a smile.
Kyle thought about what Horatio had told him.
This was a much bigger war, a war between Gods.
In that sense, getting rid of a world didn't represent the end of existence but just the destruction of a town or something like that.
Kyle looked at the world again.
'But there are so many innocent people.'
Sure, Kyle didn't care a whole lot about the lives of individual people. He was much more interested in his own life.
Yet, destroying an entire world felt very different from destroying just a town.
'Dude, why do I have to be involved in these wars? Come on, man! I just wanna grow stronger and live my life.'
'I don't give a shit which side wins. I just wanna do my stuff, become stronger, and that's it.'
Kyle sighed.
'Life on Earth was so much easier. At least there, I didn't have so much responsibility.'
'Now, one of my decisions decides the fate of millions of people.'
'Ever since I accepted the contract, I've essentially been subject to the Array of Stars.'
'With their stupid stunt, they completely ruined my future and made my life hell.'
'At the same time, I also got oppressed by Theodor.'
'Theodor would have forced me to kill a bunch of innocent people and children if I hadn't gotten rid of him. Sure, in hindsight, what Theodor wanted was nothing compared to what the Array of Stars made me do, but it seemed pretty bad to me at the time.'
'Then, Array of Stars forced me to kill so many more people and forced these horrendous Sin Flames on me.'
Kyle looked at Horatio.
'And I'm sure that I will be subject to even more suppression if I join Horatio. It's more than clear that he wants to recruit me.'
'It's like I'm back in the wage cage, except that I can't quit without getting killed.'
'I fucking hate this! I just want to do my stuff!'
Kyle sighed.
'But whatcha gonna do? Can't get worse than it already is with these stupid fucking Sin Flames.'
'Also, if these worlds belong to this weird God, it means they probably also make the rules. So, in a way, this weird God also decided that I should receive these Sin Flames.'
'Fuck, dude! Everyone wants me to do shit!'
'Can't you just leave me alone? Is that too much to ask? Do I always have to choose a fucking side?'
'Can't I just be neutral?'
Kyle sighed again.
"Alright, make your pitch," Kyle said.
Horatio's scaly brows rose. "You want me to throw something? "
"Your sales pitch, your offer, whatever," Kyle said. "You want to recruit me, right?"
Horatio's smile widened. "Yes, we want to recruit you."
"Alright, shoot. What do I get?" Kyle asked.
"Out of this world," Horatio said. "If you decide to join us, you will join our main camp."
"You won't go to another Tertiary World. You won't go to a Secondary World or even a Primary World."
"You will directly join the Supreme World."
Kyle's eyes widened. "Dude, there are so many powerful people there! What am I going to do there?!"
Horatio laughed. "Kyle, people still have children. Do you believe every child born into the Supreme World is in the Tenth Realm? No, they grow up like any other child. The Supreme World also has Mortals."
"Oh yeah, right," Kyle said. "Makes sense. But wouldn't there still be a bunch of powerful people who could kill me? I mean, I have a True Sin Aura. That means anybody gets a Karmic reward just by killing me, no matter how strong they are."
"Kyle," Horatio said as his smile widened again. "The fact that you have a True Sin Aura is specifically why we want you and why, arguably, you will be even safer in the Supreme World than without it."
Kyle blinked a couple of times.
Then, he remembered that Magic Lady had said that a True Sin Aura had other effects that hadn't been relevant to him.
"In what way?" Kyle asked.
"If you join us, we will explain everything to you," Horatio said. "We can't get into too much detail right now. Just know that condensing a True Sin Aura in the Supreme World without dying first is very difficult."
"Okay, sure," Kyle said. "So, what do I have to do? You would want me to do something, right?"
"Of course," Horatio said. "However, I can promise you one thing with certainty."
"Whatever the Cult wants you to do is far more to your liking than what the Array of Stars wants you to do."
"Our God is not stupid. Our God knows that a flock of sheep that likes the shepherd is more likely to follow their order."
"You are allowed to make mistakes. You are allowed to ask for things. You are allowed to negotiate. You actually have freedom."
Kyle looked with skepticism at Horatio.
That sounded too good to be true.
"You don't believe me," Horatio commented. "Let me rephrase it."
"Our God wants to kill your God. For that, he wants to cause as much damage as possible to your God. An adult man can cause more damage than an infant. In the same way, someone in the Tenth Realm can cause more damage than someone in the Fourth Realm."
"The Array of Stars doesn't want you to become powerful."
"Our God wants you to become powerful."
"Why does the Array of Stars not want you to become powerful? Because they have treated you horribly, and if you become powerful, there is a high chance they would have made a new, powerful enemy."
"Our God wants you to become powerful. That's why our God won't treat you horribly. After all, our God doesn't want you to join the enemy."
"Do you understand?"
Kyle could see how that made sense.
For a moment, he just thought about Horatio's offer.
Then, he looked at the world.
He was stuck here.
Forever.
The Array of Stars would never let him leave.
An unending life of no progress.
After getting a taste of how it felt to become stronger, Kyle had become addicted.
He loved watching himself become stronger.
'I've become a fucking athlete,' he thought with a snort. 'I just want to better myself endlessly by pushing boundaries.'
'Or maybe, it would be more fitting to call me a professional perfectionist. I dunno. Fuck metaphors and comparisons. I just wanna get stronger.'
Kyle looked at the people in the world.
'Yeah, well. Sucks to be you.'
Then, he looked back at Horatio.
'Time to make some gains.'
"I accept."
tg://resolv?domain=StrongestHammerGod
The author's patreon. If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.