Chapter 24:

The sun sets for rebirth, Part 2

The Divine Punishment


Inside the house lived a girl in her thirties, she got scared as soon as she saw me, but I understood her, it's not every day you find a guy who has become a demi-god.

"H-hi," I said.

"W-who are you! What do you want from me!!!" the girl answered, she had blonde hair and was quite fit compared to all the other survivors.

"I don't want to hurt you, I'm the guy with all the kamien who restored water and electricity to the city... I had proposed something to the senator's old friends, it was very dangerous, and they didn't accept, but I said I would do it anyway, and then he had started hunting me, but I ran away."

"And what do I have to do with it?"

"I couldn't go back to my house, they would have found me right away, so I went looking for a dwelling I could go to, and this one seemed uninhabited."

"Well, it isn't... so please leave"

"I don't want to hurt you, I don't want to kill other people."

"OTHER?!"

"I mean the senator's killers!"

"You killed them?!"

"I had no choice."

"... This house is inhabited, so get out!" she said fearfully.

"Please let me stay here until I find a way to do what I need to do."

"What are you supposed to do?"

"It's a long story, if we sit down somewhere, I'll explain it to you."

"O-okay, but don't hurt me."

"It's okay."

And so I explained the whole story to her starting at the beginning of the trip.

"So that's what happened," she said, calming herself down.

"Yes, and if you would accommodate me until I find a way to destroy the kamien, I would be grateful."

"Well, after hearing your story, maybe I could, but how can I believe you? Maybe they're after you for some other reason and you're lying to me?"

"Please...Earth's life depends on it, you have to believe me!"

"In this situation, everyone could say the same thing."

"You want proof of why I'm innocent? I would have killed you by now if I didn't care about other people's lives."

"You're letting me live so I can give you food."

"No, I could easily get it for myself with my powers."

"..."

"Please believe me!"

"..... I'm not sure, but you sound convincing, I don't know how far a person can go acting, but if I were you, I would have already failed."

"...Thank you," I said appreciatively.

"...Well, my name is Sofia," she said, smiling at me.

"Huh... I'm Tenkei."

It had been a long time since I had introduced myself.

"Are you hungry, or do you need to go to the bathroom?"

"No, it's okay, I just need a place where I can make noise without bothering anyone, that's why I came here, I had guessed there was a bunker."

"Well, you have a very good sixth sense, not only do I have a bunker, but it's also huge, you can do anything you want there. My husband was a general in the German army."

"Really? Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, go right now, there's also a bed, it can easily become your room. I never go there anyway because it's quiet and I wouldn't hear any sudden warnings from the "government"."

"Thank you, I'll go right now to try experiments to destroy the kamien."

"Wait, I'll guide you."

"Oh, thanks."

She walked me to the bunker, which, I guess, would have housed me for a while, it was very large so it was perfect and comfortable.

"Wow, it's amazing! I promise I won't ruin it, and when I leave, it will stay intact."

"Don't worry, as I told you, I never go there, so you can even blow it up, as long as it doesn't touch the house on top."

"Don't worry."

"Good, so I'll leave you to it."

"Thanks, bye."

I had found a place to do my experiments, and also a person who could get me food, I couldn't ask anything better.

Half a month later, on August 18, 2020.

It had been about half a month since I had started.

I was proceeding to try different ways to destroy them, I had even tried to destroy them with the powers of the kamien themselves, failing miserably.

One day, however, after several attempts, something unimaginable happened.

I had a pretty deep pain in my chest, exactly where the kamien of the void was.

"I've overstretched it...", I thought.

And I wasn't wrong. The pain was immense, a kick to the balls was nothing in comparison.

I bent down on my knees in pain, held my hand on my chest, and squeezed it to try and reduce the pain, but I couldn't.

Or rather, maybe.

Since I was kneeling, gravity was on my side: the kamien of the void came out of my body, emitting a strange noise, like when you open a bottle of wine.

There was no trace of blood.

In the bunker of Sofia's house, there was a mirror. I did not wait even a millisecond and slid in front of it.

It was empty.

My chest.

It was empty, as empty as my heart, as empty as the Sahara desert.

It was a clean hole, the flesh covered the sides. I almost looked like a donut.

Maybe that was it, I was empty inside, just like the stone.

I needed love, friends, and so much more. But I'd had it, so this argument didn't hold water.

I put the sentimental nonsense aside and focused on the kamien herself who was still on the ground, untouched.

"What if it's a power?" I thought.

I wasn't wrong. The kamien's true power of void was...well leaving emptiness.

I could take it off at will from now on. However, I didn't understand what the trigger that allowed me to gain this kind of power was.

So I went on experimenting and found out that I could even remove individual stones from the kamien of the void without moving a finger.

It was as if I could command the kamien out of my body, but not only with the void kamien, but also with the others.

So I tried the others, the water one first, and got a big surprise.

The rock was slowly cracking using the force of the water.

It didn't have a body, an organism that could withstand the force of the god sealed inside, that it allowed itself to get out.

Without a second thought, I picked up the kamien and headed outside.

The bunker was just a cover for sleeping, eating, and socializing. But it wasn't a place for experiments, because, if I wanted to, I could have done them even miles away from where I was, where no humans nor the guards were looking for me.

The ideal place for experiments was, indeed, outside.

But first, I said goodbye once and for all to Sofia.

"Sofia... I was successful with the experiments. I thank you for these weeks spent together, you've been like a big sister to me," I told her.

"Tenkei...thank you. It was nice. If we ever meet again, I'll be your girlfriend!" she said smiling, obviously joking.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you Sofia, but my heart belongs to someone else!" I answered her tearfully.

"She must be really lucky then. Well, good luck Tenkei. Goodbye!"

"Bye..."

I headed far enough away from the city, I had promised her no harm done to her residence.

I continued to activate the water kamien without having it on my chest.

The rock that contained the essence cracked until it broke.

The god inside, or rather, the essence of the energy rose into the sky like a soul after death. Only to have the entire atmosphere covered in black. Nothing could be seen.

When the light returned, the water had returned.

The river next to where I was had filled up. The water was back everywhere.

Without waiting too long, I did the same with all the others.

Everything came back.

The electricity, the wind, everything.

What I called "The Post-Apocalyptic Storm" happened.

I had never been so happy to see rain, tornadoes, and lightning in my life.

All the essences of the gods rose to the sky.

Every single energy came back, even the somewhat useless ones, like the black hole. In fact, the black hole reformed exactly where it was, in the galaxy.

I could see it thanks to the ultra vision I had inherited from Izanami.

All the kamien. The rocks were not destroyed though, they were now just hard stones. They were back in my chest. They no longer contained energies, but the power of Izanami.

Izanami's power also included that of the kamien, so I had not lost my powers. I could still use them freely as if I still had all the kamien, it was great. I was still a demi-god, but I didn't feel superior to the others, everyone had given their best for the Earth.

I had saved the world.

Everything I had been looking for had been finally resolved. My dream was accomplished.

The restoration of the world, however, had only begun.

It would have been a long time before we could have returned to full civilization and reconquered the meteorite-destroyed territories.

January 9, 2021, Berlin.

I was walking in front of the crowd, everyone was cheering me on. I had just turned 18, January 3 was my birthday.

It had been five months since all the energies had returned. Everyone was back to living comfortably. But this world was missing something, or rather, someone. It was far from civilization. That was why I was there.

During these months, the "apocalypse" center had moved to Berlin for convenience.

There were various presidents, senators, and other people governing, but no one trusted them. Many had become corrupt over the years, except for Mr. Weber, who was the only one the whole of Europe trusted.

But he hadn't been around for a year. A new leader was needed. A person people trusted.

I walked up the stairs on a red carpet.

I felt like some kind of celebrity.

Up the stairs, I found two of the representatives of the post-apocalyptic center of Berlin.

They welcomed me and shook my hand.

The corrupt Frankfurt guards were gone. Now there were only trusted people, real guards who would know how to do their job.

And among those trusted people was me.

My name now echoed throughout Europe, I was famous.

I had saved the Earth, after all.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the new president and leading figure of the New European Union. At only 18 years old, he has made his way among the most important people in the world. He is... TENKEI NOWAK!" said an announcer with a microphone.

"YEAAAAAAH!" the choruses shouted.

It was the best day of my life.

The announcer handed me the microphone and I had the honor of expressing my opinion.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for the warm welcome. I am truly pleased to be here today, I will be here forever from now on. I will lead the New European Union to civilization and the reconquer of the world. I will not promise anything unfeasible like the politicians. I promise that in the next 15 to 20 years, we will be able to bring the world back to brightness, but be careful, danger can always show up. Thank you all."

With the speech over, the bodyguards (not that I needed them) took me into the office. This was originally the palace of a powerful German governor.

I sat down, picked up my pen, and signed the first paper when a young man came into the office carrying even more papers, to be read and signed. The real work had only begun.

"Good luck with your work, sir Nowak!"

So the phenomenal rehabilitation of the entire world had begun.

The end.

Gyro2077
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