"I..." Kyle said.
He wasn't sure what he should say.
Was this person after a specific answer?
If he answered wrongly, would he be killed?
Obviously, this was someone who could do whatever they wanted.
This was someone with actual power.
Killing a mere Primal wasn't difficult.
Was this another Parasite?
But then, why would the Lord send someone this powerful?
Wasn't he afraid of unveiling this Parasite?
No, this made no sense.
Why was he here?
"I don't want to hear what you think I want to hear," the man said, like he had read Kyle's mind. "I want to hear what you think is right."
"There are no wrong answers."
"Only opinions."
Kyle took a deep breath.
"Well," Kyle said. "I… It's not easy to answer."
"Why not?" the man asked.
"After you gave me context," Kyle awkwardly said, "I feel like I'm missing context."
"Interesting," the man said. "What context are you missing? You know that the God of the Cult is fighting the God of this Cosmos."
"One is a power associated with Energy."
"The other is a power associated with Death."
"One harbors an entire Cosmos of living beings."
"The other one travels from Cosmos to Cosmos to consume these beings."
"What other context do you need?"
Kyle grimaced a bit. "Well, it sounds like a clear-cut case, but after you gave me more context, I'm no longer sure."
"Things don't seem so simple anymore."
"Yes, one side is just a marauder, burning down villages they ransacked. That seems pretty fucking bad. Feels like proper dickhead behavior."
"Yet, for some reason, I also don't like the other side. I don't know why. Everything you've said makes them seem justified in their actions. They're dealing with this marauder, and it's the right thing to do to stop them."
"But I just don't like that side either. I don't know why. I just don't like this God."
"Something seems fishy."
The man swallowed another mouthful of Burning Heart.
"Why do you feel like this?" he asked.
Kyle got reminded of several things.
The time he had been helpless in front of the underground gang on Earth, forced to do their bidding.
The time had been under Theodor's thumb, once again forced to do someone else's bidding.
The time he had been under Magic Lady's command, doing her bidding.
Right now, he was doing the Cult's bidding, even though he had kind of accepted the job of his own volition.
Now, he also felt like he was doing this weird God's bidding by following his stupid rules of Karmic Luck.
He was supposed to contribute to the war effort. He was supposed to help the Cosmos become stronger so that the God could kill the marauder.
Was it the right thing to do?
Yeah, probably.
But why did it feel wrong?
'Why? Why does it feel so wrong?' Kyle thought.
At that moment, Kyle realized why it felt so wrong and why he really didn't like the God.
"You know what a car is?" Kyle asked.
The man nodded.
"Imagine you're in a car. You're currently driving somewhere, and on your way to your goal, you hear about a police chase on the radio. Some crazy guy is barreling through the busy city at ungodly speeds."
"The radio tells you where the guy is currently headed, and you realize that he's coming to your crossing. You hear police sirens, and you hear a speeding car. You make the choice to ram into the guy's car to stop him. Something might happen to you, but you will save many lives."
"Sounds good, right? Doing that is the right thing, right?" Kyle asked.
The man nodded with a smile.
"It sounds like a clear-cut case," Kyle said. "Sure, nobody expects you to do something like that. Nobody expects you to risk your life for others. It's also fine to just go to the side and let other people deal with the issue. However, doing it would be considered a selfless act of heroism."
"It's a good deed that you don't need to do."
At that point, Kyle emptied his entire cup of Burning Heart and rammed it on the table.
"But fuck this guy! I hate this fucking guy!" he shouted. "And you know why?"
"Because his family is in his car with him!"
"This weird fucking God goes on a quest for righteousness, and he's forcing us to help him!"
"This Cosmos, or whatever this is, is his car, and we are passengers!"
"Also," Kyle added, "my metaphor might be even more fitting than I thought, because it gave me another question."
"The speeding car never aimed for our car."
"Who's the actual aggressor?"
"Did the God of the Cult suddenly attack this Cosmos?"
"Or did our God attack the other God?"
"And if he did, what's the reason behind it?"
"Is it selflessness or something else?"
"Is the reason important?" the man asked calmly. "Do you need to have a reason to do the right thing?"
"You can do whatever you want for whatever reason," Kyle answered with conviction. "But if it involves other people, you'd better have a good one. "
The man chuckled a bit.
"Let me borrow your metaphor," he said. "The man in the car hears the identity of the driver of the speeding car over the radio. He knows that person. The driver of the speeding car has done horrible things to the man in the car."
"This is the person he hates most in his life."
"The driver in the speeding car doesn't even know that the other driver is here. His goal is a completely different place."
"The man in the car veers into the lane of the speeding car."
"The driver of the speeding car didn't expect that. In essence, it's a trap."
"And at this very moment…"
"We are in a very, very slow and prolonged car crash."
"We don't know who will come out alive."
"This is our current situation," the man explained.
"With all of that said, what do you think about the rules dictating Karmic Luck?"
Kyle snorted. "Fuck them! I don't want to be pulled into your vendetta. I'm strong enough to have a choice in the matter. I have to follow your rules, one way or the other, but I sure as hell don't like it!"
"If the Cult attacked this Cosmos of their own volition, I would totally be on the God's side. That is a defensive war. He's just doing the necessary things to help all of us survive."
"But fuck this selfish-selfless act of heroism."
"I don't want to be part of that."
The man kept smiling. "Even if there are benefits? You know, helping one side defeat the other will come with extreme power and riches."
"The God of this world is not stupid, and he's very convinced that he's doing the right thing. If you help him, he will also help you with his power."
"While the God of the Cult is about as selfish and power-hungry as it gets, he's very efficient about his goals. He's not interested in giving any power to you, but he's interested in what you can give him. However, when he sees that you give a good return on investment, he will keep investing in you."
"And the best thing is that he doesn't need to control you. He's someone completely convinced of the concept of power. In his mind, if there's someone who betrays him and kills him, that's his own fault. His goal is supreme power, and if someone managed to kill him, it just means that he wasn't powerful enough."
"Meanwhile, our God is far more about control. He must make sure that his people do not commit atrocities with the power he has handed to them."
"Both sides will reward you handsomely as long as you help them. "
"Do you still not want to join either of them?"
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