“I told you, the Gary Stu had a pain redirection passive,” Menor explained, “I only punched his chest. His natural instincts, of self-preservation, redirected to parts that were no assistance for survival. It was unfortunate that his instincts did such a thing. Diverting the damage all over his body to a single location was not my fault. I held back. My intentions were to cause rupture his organs, break every bone, throw his magic into disarray and cause internal bleeding. Sprinkling a bit of healing magic would have fixed his wounds.”

“So,” Furias summarized, “You punched him so hard, he turned into a girl?”

“Yes, but it was not my intention.”

“But…”

“Even if it’s not your intention,” Sors muttered, “You probably caused the female population to skyrocket in the future. Even I felt that pain.”

“Father, please do not do that again.” Memora requested.

“Why would I?” Menor shrugged, “I received payment.”

“So that’s what the silent message was about,” Sors gasped.

“I’m so confused,” said Igno, “What in the world happened when I was away?”

“I don’t really know,” Desyra agreed, “What I know is that the heavens are moving.”

Due to the unexpected rich request, the world was in a state of high alert. The divine domain had increased the number of angelic patrols and was preparing for the worst. They hoped to find the cause of the empathetic wave. Due to the strength of the punch, the entire world shook, hiding the wave's origin point. The only bit of information they had was that their Hero was involved. However, the hero was held captive by his entourage and was lifeless. No amount of sympathy could cure the pain he felt.

As the mess was escalating, the four decided to take the initiative and declare war. Currently, they were in a random mountain range, looking for messengers to "hire". Having one of their own people to pass the message was too lackluster. Capturing the patrolling angels to use as a messenger was a perfect plan.

Seizing an angel in the middle of no-where allowed them to “hide” their home base. Leading the opposition around on a goose chase was always fun to do. Also, they needed a way to force the enemy to play on their field.

Being considerate they had captured multiple angels. Having more angels sent as messengers would affect the enemy’s morale. Although they had a flawless plan, they could not decide on the number of angels to send. It did not help that Igno plucked most of their feathers out, but angel feathers were a commodity in various professions.

“And that’s the twentieth group,” Memora counted. “That would make it a hundred messengers.”

“Hm…” Desyra pondered, “We should subdue at least three times more. I doubt the message had got across.”

“The last thing everyone needs is for you to capture all the angels.”

“Eh? That wasn’t the plan?” Igno asked.

With a sigh, Memora could not stop the four. Even the tagalongs, the old heroes, managed to only smile bitterly. It was not impossible if the four decided to hunt all the angels. Admittedly all they had to do was set up a giant fly net and use some sort angelic bait. Catching every angel in a day’s time.

After an hour the number of messengers had doubled. The drastic increase of captives was due to a change in plans. Instead of releasing the caught angels after relaying their message, they were thrown into a cage. Becuase angels were disappearing others came to investigate, but they ended up being caught and caged. How would anyone know what was happening with Igno around?

When the temporary cage, created from hardened earth, became full, all of the angels were released. During the moment a shockwave resounded. A spear fell from the sky as if it was a meteor. Its target was the area the four and the old hero party was standing.

With a click of a tongue, Igno caught the spear before it touched the ground. With a quick spin, he sent the spear back to its source. Not only did he return a spear that could destroy a city, he had attached a drop of his slime to it. From the single drop, a nasty surprise of an acidic ocean would sprout.

KABOOM!

An explosion shook the earth and rain of acid fell. Out from the clouds, a person with two pairs of pure-white wings fell. Parts of its former armor of glistering gold and silver were melted. Streams of steam and feathers trailed behind the person. Countless wounds and melted skin littered the person’s body. With an ungraceful landing, the person crashed into the ground unconscious.

“A-a-a valkyrie!” Vendra shouted.

“Why am I not surprised?” Astra said.

“Do you still not understand the greatness of my teachers?” Furias spoke.

“Stop blabbering,” Imata complained, “I’m still dizzy from being kicked around like a ball.”

Watching the four approach the valkyrie, they had no right to complain. The power of those four was unparalleled. Even a valkyrie, who was granted divinity for their battle prowess, was destroyed by a simple counter. A valkyrie stood higher than normal angels, yet they were flies in the eyes of the powerful.

“Would you look at that,” Igno spoke, “Such a large catch.”

“Indeed,” Sors agreed.

“Large catch?” Desyra questioned, “This is puny! Her worth doesn’t even surpass a gram of pure carbon.”

“Welp,” Sors replied, “At least our work has been cut out for us. I believe we should hunt- I mean, find more messengers to-“

“I’m going to eat her.” Igno declared.

“-convey our intent would be great," Sors said.

“Agreed…” Desyra nodded, “Wait! What?”

Turning their heads to look at Igno, everyone held looks of disbelief. They knew Igno was a glutton and would eat anything, but really? At the current moment sending a valkyrie as a messenger was needed.

Retorting the claim, Igno revealed the known truth. They had sent enough messengers and were at the point where it turned into a pitiful competition. Looking away the three other powerhouses pretended it was not true. Not only that, Igno claimed each one of them had deliberately rigged the messengers with diseases, poisons, and explosives. Making such allegations, Igno claimed he deserved a snack.

Taking a deep breath, Menor, Sors, and Desyra looked at each other. With a quick nod, their bodies jumped into action. Desyra had grabbed the valkyrie and Menor conducted emergency healing. In a split second, the valkyrie was flung into the air. Not letting up the chance Igno created another body from water vapors to catch the escaping snack. Although he had perfectly calculated the trajectory the valkyrie somehow slipped out of his hands.

“I TOLD YOU TO UNINSTALL THAT,” Igno yelled, noticing what had happened.

“What’s absorbed is never forgotten,” Sors shrugged.

“Says the one who can delete!” Igno retorted, giving up, “I’m going to sleep.”

In the current situation, it was his loss. With Sors’ ability, continuing would only result in embarrassment. With a snicker, he turned to leave. Planning to go into hibernation till the war his body began to shrink. However, before he could disappear he detected the presence of unwanted individuals.

“Let’s see,” Menor calculated, “The average response time is short. With the added benefit of telepathy, the time response is near instant. I made sure to scramble the memories of our messengers and I overlapped memories too… Oh, I see a hive mine colony.

“Now that would be a great messenger,” Sors pointed out.

Rolling her eyes Desyra agreed. The individual that was floating above her held an immense power that could fear into any mortal. Poor Vendra was forced to kneel under the pressure. While everyone else stood boldly defying the radiant power that rained down on them.

“Nevermind,” Igno spoke, licking his lips, “I’ll pass on the valkyrie.”

“What a lucky guy,” Desyra muttered, “He hasn’t detected us but somehow landed here. Sors?”

“I did not go that far in tampering,” Sors denied.

“Damn the war’s tomorrow,” Memora frowned.

“You sure they’re stronger than gods,” Imata asked.

“Of course they are,” Furias answered, “They dared to do… Things to me…”

“Desyra would of course win,” Astra yawned.

“Please have mercy, please have mercy.” Vendra prayed.

“Um… Whoops,” Menor spoke.

Hearing Menor’s odd words unfit for the circumstance, everyone stared at him. As if destined to ruin everything, an arrow fell from nowhere. It pierced the source of the radiant power, killing it in an instant.

It was a god.

A god shot down by an arrow.

To be exact a god of foresight.

The god knew it was going to die. So it risked its life for the slightest bit of information. Unfortunately, death was the only thing that greeted it.

Originally it had seen that its end would be from an archer… months ago. The god pondered if their powers had weakened as it was still alive. Never was there an instance where its power to predict the future was wrong. Unfortunately, its visions had never taken into the account of time dilation.

“Was this part of your calculations?” Sors nudged, with a mischievous smile.

“No,” Menor admitted.

“Then what did you plan to hit,”

“Your head,”

“…” Hearing the abrupt answer she had realized Menor was literally tempting fate. Using her own powers against her. Scratching the back of her head, another person desired to retire for the day. Even Menor was in the mood to rest.

As the graceful god fell to the ground, its escorts, arch-angels, fell into a panic. Not understanding what had happened hysteria had spread.

First the missing angel patrols, next to the wounded valkyrie, and finally the murder of a god. It was a declaration of war the angels though. As they could not detect the source of the attack the only option left was to retreat.

Seeing the god’s body being teleported away, Igno quickly threw a vial. Within the vial was the poison Igno had Vendra mix. Using powers of biological manipulation he had turned the poison into an undetectable air-born virus. He also increased the potency of the virus to overcome the everlasting, divine healing magic. After a day’s time, the residents of the divine domain would crowd around the restrooms. Maybe a god of feces and shame would be born from the chaos?

Deeming that accidentally killing a god was a decent message, everyone returned to their base of operations. During their journey back everyone was in deep thought. Many things were going through their minds. The main thought was: “How in the world will the four mess the war up?”

The moment they had returned to the capital, Memora had rushed off to prepare. She had dragged off Imata despite her complaints. Even if everything was done, she had to move her fighting force to the war zone.

After eating a bit Igno, Menor and Sors headed off to sleep claiming they had mental fatigue. As dawn passed the only ones still awake were Desyra, Furias, Vendra, and Astra. As there were not many things to do right before a war, they wasted away the hours. During this opportunity, Desyra took a notebook and scribbled a few things in it.

“I never knew you ran a business,” Furias spoke, noticing the numbers being written. “Never did take you for the one who could trade. Also, don’t you have an excellent memory?”

“It’s an old habit,” Desyra replied.

Quickly writing away the notebook was swiftly filled. The moment the last page was completed Desyra burnt it. Unspeakable knowledge, the meaning of life, to the equation of existence no one knew what was written. No one but Desyra knew what valuable information was burnt.

Across from her, she noticed Vendra hugging a ball of slime. She asked the shrine maiden if she knew what that was. The response she received was the ball was Igno’s “body”. With a wry smile, Desyra explained the orb of smile was in fact not Igno.

The true identity of the ball of slime was a dimensional anchor. Due to his nature, Igno had a habit of vanishing from reality when he rests. If he needed to quickly return after sleeping a waypoint was needed. Even If the anchor was lost Igno should be able to find his way back somehow. He knew how to travel through time so it was not a big deal, but it did save a lot of hassle.

A wicked thought had crossed Desyra’s mind. To get back at Igno she could pop the ball. Although a bit of prewar fun would be pleasant, she remembered that Igno was aiming for her warehouse. Shaking her head she pushed the idea away not wanting to provoke him.

With a comment about how there were too many instances of eating, everyone retired for the night. Seeing Vendra and Furias off, Desyra stayed behind to drink one last bottle of wine. Astra who insisted on accompanying her was forced to leave. Becoming worried she hid around a corner.

Slowly drinking her aged wine akin she fell into a trance. After the passing of an hour, the canteen was void of people. With the last cup of wine down her throat, Desyra sighed. As the war was tomorrow it would not allow time for bantering. The event would happen at that moment.

“Weren’t you satisfied with beating me up yesterday?” Desyra asked, placing down her cup.

Stepping into the room, Memora replied, “I only pulled you into the ground. It was nowhere near enough.”

“I guess that’s true, so let’s get this over with,” Desyra muttered, noticing the resentful expression Memora held.

Desyra stood up wanting to get it over quickly. Before she could straighten her posture a fist slammed into her face sending her flying. Not even trying to defend she was kicked across the room. Colliding with the wall her veil had flown off. Under the dim moonlight her natural charm raged in full force, but…

Memora who was staring straight at Desyra was unaffected. Instead, it seemed it fanned her flame of rage. Holding no restraint Memora pummeled Desyra. With movements quicker than light, damage accumulated on the succubus’s body.

It did not matter how strong Desyra was, the body she made was not perfect. Instead, it was quickly thrown together on short notice. Being flung around by Memora, who had the strength to surpass gods, it was not long before her body was covered in bruises and blood. The damage inflicted could kill mortals millions of times over.

She could not block, defend or even retaliate. It was not due to being overwhelmed but rather, Desyra had no right to. She knew the reason behind Memora’s rage was justified. The fault was hers. It was something she had to repent for. All she could do is kneel and take the beating. She did not deserve the right to apologize nor to beg for forgiveness.

Astra who was watching the events unfold was speechless. She did not expect that Desyra would be beaten so badly. Before she could even act to help her desired it was over. Desyra on the ground near death and Memora with fists covered in blood.

Not caring for her chances the love-struck girl charged at Memora. However, Desyra told her to stop. Hesitating, she continued her attack. Yet Astra’s beloved reinforced her to stop via telekinesis. She even threatened to kill her if she disobeyed.

“I deserved this,” Desyra admitted.

“Of course you do,” Memora replied coldly, “But Ariey doesn’t.”

“I know,”

“She still hates you,”

“I know,”

“As everyone else told you, visit her at least once. You failure,” Memora spoke turning around to leave. She did not glance back. There was no need to.

After Memora had disappeared, Astra rushed to Desyra. When she attempted to help her up she was stopped. Desyra had told her she wanted to bask in the feeling. Slowly nodding, Astra sat beside her.

“I guess I should explain,” Desyra spoke with sorrow in her voice, “I had a daughter; a long time ago. Though I don’t think I could claim to be her mother anymore. Due to some circumstances at the time I had to give her up to my worst enemy. No, it was not through blackmail or any threats. It was of my own volition. Because of me, her fate would be disastrous. I had no choice, I cared too deeply for her. I was lucky… he adopted my daughter after everything I did.

Yet this failure could not stand to meet her own daughter. I had already given up everything at that point. During the time after, I could not remember what I did. It was all a blur. I was driven by despair. From what I heard I went on an endless rampage…

You should be able to piece together the story. The debt I owe and shall never be returned. Along with Memora’s anger…

I missed everything. My own daughter’s first steps, her first words, her childhood. I even lost her trust. All she had of me was hatred. For not being there for her, for not being her guardian, or even being an actual mother.

I envy him; I’m supposed to be on par with him… Yet, there are no other words to describe it. I am a failure. I failed my race, I failed my people, and I failed my own daughter. This is what I deserve, my punishment for being a failure. Even with all this wisdom, knowledge and experience… I… I can’t face her.”

Confessing her biggest regret, tears streamed from her eyes. An immortal, which can be considered omnipotent and omniscience was reduced to a state of despair. After living for so long it was a wonder how she could keep making the same mistake over and over.

“It seems like you have done a lot of bad things,” Astra said, returning Desyra’s vial that was nearby.

“Of course,” Desyra replied, “It’s just that I just take and take. If it weren’t for my daughter I would have been killed. There’s no if, it’s true. No one trusts me nor can I trust anyone else.”

“But I-“

“No, you were caught in the delusion of my charm. People say the eyes are the windows to the soul. It’s true. All I can see in your eyes is lust, no appreciation, no empathy, no respect. Only worship. I’m sorry.”

“NO,” Astra gripped her dress, “That can’t be true. These feelings, these feelings are-“

“Only an aberration created from an enhanced desire towards a single subject. Don’t deny it.”

Hearing the blunt words Astra ran away. She could not believe what she heard, but it was the truth. Any reasonable person could understand.

Gratitude through mental control was never genuine but only is to those who were ignorant. Looking back a few times, she could not accept the reality. Acting if her life was a lie.

Watching the back of the one she had fallen, Desyra sighed. Another one had left. It was routine at that point. She did not know if Astra would return but she did not hold high hopes.

“You know it’s a given that fiction can turn to reality when given time,” Menor said appearing next to her.

“Are you here to rub it in?” Desyra asked.

“Nope,” Menor answered, extending a hand.

"Don’t you despise me?”

“Of course, everyone hates everyone.”

“Then…”

“We first passed each other as strangers, met when we became twins, conducted a disastrous war centuries later. After which you gave up your world for your daughter. You even handed me your memories for safekeeping. How does it feel to receive empathy from a cold, emotionless shell?”

“You really are horrible”

Helping Desyra up, Menor walked away.

“If only I had a different goal back then, maybe I could have turned out differently,” Desyra continued.

“As if that would change anything. But, really, visit your daughter. She’ll become the death of you if you don’t. Also, nice job restraining yourself. Tomorrow is the big day so try to have as much fun as possible.”

Being left alone, Desyra repaired the place with magic. Tending to her wounds she looked at the moonlight. She became nostalgic, remembering the time she first saw the vast sky.

With a bitter laugh, Desyra muttered, “So unfair, such subtle powers are bullshit.”