Chapter 35 - Finale - The God of Balance

I looked at my hands, then my legs. I was no longer human; my body had become something else entirely, as if my entire being had transformed to accommodate the newfound power bestowed upon me.

I manifested a mirror with my very will, and my body was entirely grey. I had wings sprouting from my back, and I wore robes very reminiscent of a god. My hair more or less remained the same, as did my face.

I was something else entirely; I had ascended to godhood proper.

I looked over at the Goddess, who sat calmly on her throne, then her expression turned to one of surprise.

“What are you doing here?” The Goddess glared at me through her blindfold. Her voice no longer had the same boom to it.

“Why do you think? To stop you.” I stated simply, there was no point in beating around the bush. I could tell my new form unnerved her, but then she smirked. A very tense smirk, unlike the cocky and cruel smirks she gave before.

Then she struck, and I fell dead.

Or at least I thought before I slowly was able to get up, I felt a rush of power, somehow, someway. I was immortal, unable to be killed entirely, and every time I got close to it.

I would simply regenerate and get back up.

Fitting. Because I refused to give up myself, and I would kill the Goddess if it’s the last thing I ever do.

Over time, I was killed repeatedly, and the Goddess even tried to erase my very being from existence to no avail.

Finally, I felt strong enough, I manifested a sword and shield, and slashed at the Goddess. With a harrowing scream, she was sent flying back, as if struck by an overpowering force.

I was not done.

“This is for Ryu!” I slashed.

“This is for Tetsuo!” I slashed again.

“This is for Elowyn!” I slashed a third time.

Finally, I slashed a fourth. “This is for everyone you hurt for your sadistic entertainment!”

The Goddess was defeated; she went down pretty easily. I could tell by her fading magic, she was dying.

“You’re wrong about me doing it purely for entertainment.” She spoke more softly now, as if a trace of a gentler being was reaching out.

“Then why did you do it?” I asked, curious now. The Goddess herself decided to sit up and sigh.

I decided to sit down next to her.

“I did it because I was born this way. I was created for the sole purpose of ensuring a steady collection of souls was passing from one life to the next. The reincarnation loop, the games, they were all a means to an end.”

Her voice sounded more reflective, but I could still tell she was deflecting the blame a little from herself.

“Think of me like a program, I was made for a specific purpose. I fulfilled that purpose. Even now, losing to you, I regret not a single thing.”

I suppose I couldn’t blame her.

“In the end, you had no autonomy as a being. Yet I’m sure you know what I must do; the purpose you were made for may be necessary. Yet you went about it wrong; you should be helping foster life, not destroying it.”

I was scolding a goddess as if she were a disobedient child. The absurdity of the situation was not lost on me.

“Yet at the end, I cannot let you continue. Even if it means risking the wrath of your creator, I’m sure you can understand.”

The Goddess got up not long after me, and she opened a portal to another room. “Follow me, the core is in here, I cannot stop you anymore from finding it.” We both walked through.

It was another empty void; in the middle was the core. It was circular and shiny, with a blueish color.

“There is one thing I want for you, Goddess. Your whole life, you never had to worry about death, to follow the most efficient pathway, at the cost of detaching yourself from the joys of life.”

I looked towards her.

“I’ll give you a second chance, like you did to me. Perhaps we’ll even meet again, but this time. You will have free will, a chance to be a better person than you are now.”

The promise was genuine, I knew in the end, she was evil, and deserved worse. But at the end of the day, perhaps this was what she needed. A chance to be good, to be better.

“No, I will fade away to nonexistence of my own will, the one act I will do on my own accord. Even if your offer is tempting, I think we both know this is for the best. Still, you are perplexing, neither representing death nor life.”

“Perhaps you are what the world needs, just a bit of balance between both.”

With that, the Goddess began to slowly dissolve, before long. A final smirk was given before she vanished for good. All that was left was to destroy the core. With a single strike, I willed to put my divinity to rest, to go back to being Razan Hamada in my own world.

But with a newfound appreciation for life, and just how truly lucky I am to be where I’m at.

Some time later.

I stood in a hospital, Tetsuo was reported missing by the press, and I had made a full recovery. Sadly, I had the feeling his parents didn’t care much. After all, nobody really bothered to look for him.

I came to the hospital for one reason alone. To visit someone, of course. I went into the children's wing of the hospital and towards a nearby room. The paperwork had been finalized with an agreement with her parents, not to mention me paying a month's advance to get her surgery done.

I read the small plaque that indicated the patient's name. Hina Yagami.

My phone went off, it was Miko. I had managed to confess how I felt to her at the movies, and she did say yes.

“Parked outside, I’m waiting for the two of you.”

I didn’t answer right away; I simply stood outside the room and walked inside. There were a few doctors, but Hina was all dressed and ready to go; her parents hadn’t even bothered. In fact, from what I heard, they fled town after word of their neglect caught on.

Perhaps I even had a hand in it.

“Hello there, Hina-chan, are you ready to go?” I extended a hand for her. I had friends and family who helped me up in my time of need. I was determined to do the same for everybody I could, in turn.

After all.

“A real man does what he can and tries his best.”

With a nod, Hina took my hand, and with a bit of paperwork filed, we left the building. Ready to embrace a whole new life.