Chapter 10: The Past

"Are you aware of the sin you have committed, O God of Destruction?"

A tall man, clad in dazzling golden armor and wearing a divine metal crown, was the father of the gods, the Heavenly Father Amonga.

The man seated before the Heavenly Father was bound by hundreds of chains used to subdue powerful monsters like the Heavenly King, but instead of showing pain, he remained silent. His eyes, the eyes of destruction, were veiled in a sealing cloth, unseen in a trillion years, yet Amonga could see that he looked at him with contempt rather than suffering.

"I don't call it a sin, Father. I call it the punishment I inflict upon gods like you." That mocking voice irritated the Heavenly Father.

He paced around him, speaking in a displeased tone.

"You used to be a heartless being, ready to destroy anything without caring about the feelings of those who lived in those worlds, but when you started making a slave contract with that girl, you began to change, and you even killed a god who came to destroy the rebels... what the hell is going on with you, God of Destruction?"

Amonga asked the God of Destruction, but he only remained silent, spitting in his face.

Amonga said nothing, only wiping away the stain before turning and leaving the room. "Just stay here and wait until tomorrow morning." Amonga was gone, leaving only the God of Destruction sitting there, waiting for tomorrow morning, the day the gods would execute him.

The room was dark, with only a few flickering magical flames on the walls, their light reflecting off the sacred chains binding the God of Destruction. The space was silent, only the gentle clanging of metal could be heard whenever he moved.

"Execute me?" The God of Destruction chuckled softly, his deep voice echoing in the empty room. "That sounds... ridiculous..."

He stretched his arm, the chains trembling, emitting a sharp, cold clang. But no matter how hard he tried, they wouldn't budge. These chains weren't just ordinary metal; they were imbued with countless binding spells.

He leaned his head back against the cold wall, contemplating what had happened. He was once a powerful god, wielding the power of destruction, indifferent to anyone or anything. But then...

A girl appeared.

She wasn't a god. She didn't possess any special powers. She was just a small human.

And yet...

She had caused a God of Destruction like him to change.

He closed his eyes, the moonlight from the Moon God bringing back memories of the past.

Back then, he was just an emotionless god of destruction, relentlessly destroying thousands of worlds, trampling countless lives underfoot, until a brave girl asked him to cooperate with her.

Her name was Izumo. She was initially a girl living in an ordinary world with a younger brother and a happy family. It could have been a happy story until a nightmare struck. A god, bored with his world, decided to destroy this planet and create another. Her family perished in his purge. She embraced her brother and wept. A member of a resistance group fighting against the gods invited her to join their organization.

Her anger over her family's death led her to decide to join them. One fine day, Akzuha met her after he had destroyed yet another world. She used a special device to subdue him like a beast.

The God of Destruction didn't care about her at the time. He was too used to humans and other creatures trying to fight him, only to die meaninglessly. But Izumo was different.

She didn't just want revenge. She wanted to change fate.

With a special weapon, she bound him in a slave contract. Something no one had ever done before.

For the first time in his life, the God of Destruction was forced to obey a human.

At first, he only saw her as a joke. A tiny ant trying to control a dragon. But as time passed, something changed.

She didn't force him to kill, didn't exploit his power for personal gain. Instead, she wanted him to protect the weak.

"You don't want to destroy everything," she said on that fateful day. "You just never had anyone to give you a reason to do the right thing; you're just a child who doesn't know what to do."

Those simple yet powerful words made him doubt himself for the first time. And then, gradually, he began to change. He no longer destroyed worlds indiscriminately. He began to observe, listen, and even protect them. But this change was unacceptable to the other gods. One member of the organization had betrayed his own comrades, and in the final battle, they had lost. Thousands had been executed, and now… only one remained.

"Bring him to the platform!" shouted an angel, and two other angels led him to the execution platform, below which thousands of celestial beings hurled insults at him. A light tore through space, and Amonga appeared, slowly descending. "Do you have anything to say, God of Destruction?"

Hearing his words, he pondered deeply, remembering his time in the organization…

He was sitting on a cliff. He gazed at the rocks, watching the waves continuously crash against the cliffs, the sun slowly setting, creating a peaceful scene. A man constantly at war like him had never seen anything so beautiful.

"Why are you here?" Izumo approached from behind him, sitting down beside him. "Are you admiring the view?" she asked, but only silence followed.

Izumo said nothing more, simply sitting silently beside him, letting the sea breeze blow over them. She had grown accustomed to his taciturnity.

After a while, he finally spoke, his voice carrying a hint of distance.

"I once thought... everything in this world was meaningless." "Worlds, lives, civilizations... All are merely things for me to destroy." He picked up a leaf.

Izumo tilted her head, looking at him. "Then why are you here now, watching the sunset?"

The god was silent for a moment, then a faint, almost imperceptible smile flicked across his lips.

"I don't know anymore. Every time I see something peaceful, the destructive mind that constantly screams inside me becomes strangely calm."

Izumo looked at him, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

"Do you regret what you've done?"

This time, he didn't answer immediately. He looked down at his hands, hands that had once destroyed countless worlds.

"...I don't think someone like me has the right to regret anything, Izumo."

Izumo sighed, resting her chin on her knees. "You're quite stubborn."

A cold wind blew through, carrying the salty scent of the sea. Izumo shivered slightly, but she didn't leave.

"Listen, you silly god, if one day you had the chance to start over, what would you do?"

Akzuha was slightly surprised by this question. He turned to look at her, but Izumo just silently gazed at the setting sun.

Start over?

A god of destruction like him... would he even have that chance?

Izumo placed her hand on his face, trying to force a smile. He asked, confused, "What are you... doing?"

"I'm trying to make you smile. I've never seen you smile before."

The god was slightly taken aback by Izumo's actions. This girl... was really trying to make him smile?

He had never paid attention to that. For a god, emotions were meaningless. Laughter, tears, anger—nothing mattered to a god.

But when he looked at her face... Izumo was awkwardly trying to force a smile, yet he had a strange feeling.

"How strange..." he muttered.

Izumo frowned. "What's strange?"

He gently touched her hand, which was still resting on his face. "You. Do you really think someone like me can smile?"

Izumo lowered her hand and crossed his arms. "Of course. Do you want to keep that cold expression on your face forever?"

He was silent for a moment, then closed his eyes. "Perhaps... if I had another life, I would try."

Izumo was slightly taken aback by this answer.

She had expected him to contradict or mock her. But for the first time, he was actually thinking about something other than destruction.

She chuckled. "Even a god like you knows how to dream?" "That's good."

A moment of silence passed.

Then he spoke softly.

"...If I could start over, I would live the way I wanted."

Izumo looked at him, her gaze softening.

She didn't know if that day would ever come, but if it did, she hoped Akzuha would find his own path.

Back to reality.

The God of Destruction finished his thoughts and looked ahead, his once disdainful eyes now strangely peaceful.

It seemed that after that flashback, he had almost accepted being killed.

He looked at his father and spoke.

"In a way, I'm quite a gentleman... old man."

An angel wielding a glowing sword stepped forward, its blade reflecting the radiance of the heavens. He raised his sword, his voice filled with majesty.

"God of Destruction, you have committed a grave crime, betraying the heavens, murdering gods, and breaking the laws of the infinite worlds! In the name of the Heavenly Father God Amonga, I pronounce your death sentence!"

Izumo, it seems I truly have a chance to start over. That's what he thought.

The sword came down.

Slash!

Blood splattered into the sky.

And...the God of Destruction was dead.

He fell into a deep ocean. The conversation from that time echoed in his ears.

"So...if your family were still alive...what would you do?" he asked Izumo.

Izumo gazed at the waves and said, "If my family were still alive... I would be a farmer."

He wasn't surprised and asked, "Why... why?"

Izumo smiled softly, her eyes following the waves crashing against the rocky shore.

"Do you know, God of Destruction, when I was little, my father was a farmer. He always said that farming was the truest way to understand life. Planting a tree, caring for it, watching it grow day by day... It's a wonderful feeling."

She closed her eyes, as if reminiscing. "When I was little, I always followed my father to the fields, helping him water the plants and sow the seeds. Those days were the happiest time of my life."

He listened in silence. A god of destruction like him had never thought about planting trees or farming. To him, life was fragile, born only to be destroyed. But Izumo's words painted a different picture—a world where people create life instead of destroying it.

He shrugged. "I don't understand. You once wielded weapons, once fought against gods, and yet you want to be a farmer?"

Izumo laughed. "It's precisely because I've lost everything that I yearn for a normal life; that's what I truly want more than anything." She turned to look at him, her eyes filled with sincerity. "And you? If one day you could start over... what would you do?"

He didn't answer immediately. He pondered the question, and now he had an answer.

"I want to explore this world."

"What do you mean?" she asked, and he just shook his head. "I always destroy everything because that's what I have to do. I used to wonder if what I was doing was right. No one ever told me what was right or wrong, but after meeting you, I've finally understood."

"If there were a new life, I would dedicate all the time I could to it, in whatever form, exploring that world and all other worlds, so that I could understand and feel things I could never have understood before."

A light appeared before the dark abyss.

"This is...the beginning..."

The light faded, and now all around him was only urging.

"Come on, the boy's almost out!"

Tense and hurried voices echoed around him. The sounds of screams, splashing water, gasping breaths—all combined into a chaotic symphony.

The God of Destruction felt his body being squeezed, pushed out of a dark, damp place. A sudden pain spread throughout his body, and then—

"Oe oe!!!"

He cried.

Not from pain. Not from fear. But... the natural reflex of a newborn baby.

"Wait..." He suddenly realized something.

Did he just cry?

Gentle hands took him, wrapping him in a soft cloth. A warm sensation spread throughout his body, a stark contrast to the cold of the dark abyss just moments before.

"Congratulations, it's a healthy baby boy!"

A midwife's voice rang out. Then, he was placed in the arms of a woman. She looked tired, but her eyes were full of love. Beads of sweat still clung to her forehead, but she still managed a gentle smile.

"My child..." the woman whispered, holding him tightly.

He looked up at her face. A strange feeling welled up inside him. Was this... his mother?

He had truly been reborn.

He was no longer a god of destruction; now he was simply a human being.

End of Chapter 10