This Is the Truth You Wanted

The moment the two of them stepped out, Number 2 sensed what Sakura had been thinking inside. He spoke to her loudly, his voice strained with discomfort:

"What's with that disgusting thought? Are you an idiot or something?"

While the two of them roughhoused and bickered, everyone outside stared at them in shock. And the two of them looked back at the crowd awkwardly, saying nothing. Then, in the instant the mirror had shattered, all the monsters around them regained their senses. They looked at one another, scratching their heads.

Because the black mist around Sakura was so dense, the monsters all charged frantically toward the two of them. The few who had been resting on horseback saw this and were about to dismount to help deal with the monsters when Number 2 tossed Til aside, gripped his scythe, and shot like an arrow into the swarm of monsters, fighting alongside the support of the spider lily vines. Within seconds, every last monster had been wiped out. Seeing this, the group ran toward where Sakura stood. But before they had taken more than a few steps, Number 2 hurled his scythe in their direction. The group assumed the half-human, half-monster thing meant to fight them and stopped in their tracks—but the scythe flew past them, toward the space behind them.

The clash of iron against iron rang out behind the group. Then a woman's voice followed.

"Oh my, oh my! So this is how you welcome me."

As she spoke, the pressure the woman radiated froze everyone present in place—everyone except Sakura and Number 2. Red spider lilies sprouted around the feet of the crowd, encircling them. Lu hurriedly warned everyone not to move. Sakura and Number 2 stood in front of the group, staring down this uninvited guest.

The woman said:

"It seems you've awakened earlier than expected!"

Sakura replied:

"So you're saying my appearing here, and everything that's happened to me, was all your doing? Aren't you going to explain?"

"Of course! Otherwise I wouldn't be standing here. And I'd ask everyone present to please stay still—I'd rather not do anything rude in front of my favorite guest."

Senyia and the others could only stand frozen in place. The pressure they felt was the awe unique to a god. Number 2, none too pleased, said:

"If we're your most important guests, then it's rather rude that we don't even know your name, isn't it?"

"Oh my, oh my! Look at me—so important I forget everything! I forgot to introduce myself. I am the god who governs death in this world. My name is Nocturnia Victoria. That may mean little to you, but for them, it couldn't be clearer."

The two of them looked at the crowd. The faces of the group were ashen, and some of the soldiers were trembling with fear.

Sakura then said:

"Now it's time to talk about me, isn't it?"

Victoria waved her fan and said:

"This isn't the place for a conversation. Come with me—to a quiet place."

Victoria turned and left, and where she vanished, a portal remained.

The two said nothing and followed right after her.

"Wait! An, where are you going?" Senyia was the first to ask.

The two walked past the group. Sakura stopped and said quietly:

"I'm not the hero you're looking for. I'll return this holy sword to the real hero. And please—don't follow me!"

With that, Sakura and Number 2 walked straight into the portal. The spider lilies beneath the feet of Senyia and the others all dissolved away as well.

---

Passing through the portal, the two arrived at a meadow overgrown with spider lilies, surrounded on all sides by towering snow-capped mountains. Victoria sat quietly on the grass, her eyes closed, waiting for Sakura to arrive, the breeze stirring her hair.

The two came to stand before her. Sakura said coldly:

"Now you can tell me what you actually did to me that night."

Victoria opened her eyes and asked mockingly:

"Do you remember why you were outside that night?"

Asked this question, Sakura's mood visibly sank, and her eyes darted evasively. But then Number 2 cursed coldly:

"Shut up!"

Number 2's voice startled Sakura. After coming back to himself, he hesitated again and again before finally letting out a "Mm."

The woman continued:

"I erased every trace of your existence from your original world. No one will—"

Before she could finish, there was a bang—Number 2's scythe struck the woman's fan. Sakura's eyes went wide, and she said nothing, a few tears silently slipping from the corners of her eyes. Number 2 demanded furiously:

"Why?! Doesn't doing that just deny the meaning of everything I've done to keep living up to now? Do you know what I've been through just to stay alive? Doesn't everything I've experienced become meaningless? Do you know—Sakura has always believed that that night, his parents only argued with him because they couldn't stand his laziness. And even if that weren't true, he'd only believe they didn't abandon him, that they just—just..."

As Number 2 finished, the tears falling from Sakura's eyes visibly increased. He walked to Number 2's side and gently patted his shoulder. Number 2 turned and saw Sakura, tears streaming down his face, yet still smiling at the furious him. He said no more, silently withdrawing his weapon. Victoria then said:

"When you were thrown out of your home that night, your mental state had already reached its limit. You were only a few steps away from becoming a soulless walking corpse. When I appeared, I hurriedly sealed your personality and severed all your connections to that world, barely managing to keep you alive. But I never expected your sense of self to be so strong—and combined with the stimulation from the Twelfth Seat, it caused you to awaken early. If I hadn't saved you then, you would have been killed by a truck."

Sakura had been listening earnestly, but upon hearing that last sentence, she smiled and asked humorously:

"Don't tell me you're going to say that if you hadn't saved me, I'd have walked unconsciously into the middle of the road and then been killed by a truck that came out of nowhere. And then a goddess would suddenly appear before me, spout a bunch of meaningless nonsense, stuff me full of game-cheat-like skills, and dump me in another world. And then during my so-called journey in that other world, some woman would pop up out of nowhere and, for some unknown reason, fall inexplicably in love with me. And then I'd inexplicably defeat a monster in that other world that was incredibly powerful. And then this woman—who for some reason likes me—would like me even more, and kick up a fuss demanding to marry me. And then, to defeat an 'invincible' enemy, I'd grind that 'ridiculous' system—where everyone else is only level ten to ninety-nine but I'm level nine hundred ninety-nine—up to level ten thousand. And along the way I'd meet a 'creature' called a hero who's only level ninety-nine, and then the 'invincible' enemy would be solved by me in one go. And then that 'creature' called a hero, who doesn't know her place, would decide I'm utterly useless and kick me out of their hero party, then go claim the reward herself. And then, after going through some stories that didn't need to happen at all—that is, after going through countless things called 'hardships'—I'd finally, in front of the hero, oh-so-coolly take back what's mine. And then I'd go live happily ever after with that woman who came from nowhere and for some unknown reason suddenly fell in love with me. And then, when I ask this woman—who came from nowhere and for some unknown reason fell in love with me—why she likes me, she'd say, regardless of whether the occasion is appropriate, that it's because of my kindness. You're not going to tell me that, are you!"

At first Sakura was just complaining, but the more she went on, the angrier she got. When she finished, looking at the innocent Victoria, who had no intention of explaining anything, she thought to herself: Hey! Aren't you going to refute any of that?

She let out a helpless sigh and arrived at a conclusion: if she kept talking with this person, her intelligence was very likely to be insulted. Then she said:

"I'll go find the God of Light and have her tell me!"

Just then, Victoria said seriously:

"You won't find the God of Light! Since that battle all those years ago, her body has been too frail for her to appear anywhere! No more joking—I'll tell you everything."

Sakura, who had been about to turn away, stopped and listened quietly to the woman.

"We brought you here hoping to rely on you to end this pointless war between light and darkness. Light and darkness have been fighting each other since the very beginning of the world's formation, and to this day it has evolved into a war between factions. Now, because gods cannot break the laws of the world when using their powers, the gods are all searching for children suited to their power, granting them the identity of God's Child, and sending them to fight in their stead. And now you are to end this pointless war between light and darkness."

Sakura hesitated for a moment. Number 2 said:

"Since you could find me, then you know what kind of person I am and what I've been through, don't you? Why give me the identity of a Child of Light? Do you think I'm someone who would believe in the light now?"

"Of course I know. But we only chose you after observing you for a long time. Because you possess what all three of us—Light, Death, and Void—indispensably need. You hold yourself to strict standards, refuse to go along with the crowd, don't covet fame or fortune, and treat everyone with kindness."

Sakura knew everything she said was mockery. Being a person uninterested in money and power; treating everyone with kindness—that was the kindness forced out of him after seeing through all the truths of this world. He said, displeased:

"It's not like I chose to be this way!"

Victoria smiled and continued:

"Since a single personality can only bear the power of one god, and you—because of your experiences in the real world—actively evolved two additional personalities. Your Number 2: because your emotional system went so long without producing positive emotions, the emotional cells stopped being active. They could only absorb positive emotions from the outside, and the reality was that no one would give you love or care! So they were already severely overloaded. Gradually, in order to survive, they could only choose killing—that was the only way to keep living. So I grant you the power of death: the abilities of Death Rewind and Body Restoration."

Hearing the description of her abilities, Sakura stared wide-eyed at the woman before her, then smiled. Number 2 asked excitedly:

"Really?"

"Mm!"

But Victoria poured cold water on it:

"Although you have these abilities, I think you know your own body and mental state best! If your mind bears the burden of too many Death Rewinds, your killing cells will grow more and more active, and then your powerful sense of self will find it hard to control your body—you'll be replaced by the killing Number 2. And what little humanity Number 2 has left will vanish too, turning him completely into a monster that knows nothing but slaughter."

Sakura retorted:

"How do you know my body better than I do? How much of my life have you been watching?!"

"Who knows!"

Sakura seemed to think of something and hurriedly asked:

"Wait! Since Number 2 is here, what about 'him'? He hasn't already run off somewhere else, has he?"

Victoria answered:

"At this stage, Number 3 hasn't awakened yet. You defined him as the final protective shell, so he'll appear when you need him most. That day, the God of Void granted his power to Number 3—what exactly it is, I don't know for now."

After learning of his situation, Sakura asked:

"I want to know—why bring me here to end this so-called pointless war? If someone absolutely has to be found to end this war, I don't think I'm the most suitable person."

Victoria answered:

"Perhaps you're right! I don't think I need to explain again what people are like—you may be overestimating them a bit. Normal people's tolerance is far too fragile. So only someone without emotions like you can do it. As for why this war is a pointless war—it may sound a bit absurd, but you'd better prepare yourself."

Sakura said "Mm."

The woman continued:

"Before the world was formed, there existed two gods: Darkness and Light. The two gods stood in opposition, fighting for thousands of years. Because for thousands of years there were only the two of them, they grew familiar with each other, and sometimes they would play together—so they became each other's good friends. And because the two gods cared for each other, the world became the beautiful place it is now. After that, we gods were slowly awakened, summoned by the two. And after that, the God of Darkness, for some unknown reason, became very strange. The two gods began their standoff again. And we gods were divided among the factions of the gods who had originally summoned us. And the current situation is that the dark faction occupies three-quarters of the world's land, while the God of Light, gravely wounded, cannot appear in this world."

The woman seemed to suddenly think of something and said excitedly:

"I forgot to tell you—your holy sword can only be fully unleashed three times."

This news greatly shocked Sakura, who then joked humorously:

"Why didn't you wait until the God of Darkness was at my doorstep to tell me!"

The woman laughed awkwardly and said:

"It's all your fault for making me talk about you so much that I forgot."

Sakura said helplessly:

"Huh? So it's all my fault?"

Sakura sighed and said:

"So what am I supposed to do now?"

"The God of Darkness occupied three-quarters of the world's land over a hundred years ago and can launch an attack at any time to take the rest. As a child of light, you need to go back and prepare for an invasion at any moment. You cannot let the world fall into darkness without light."

After hearing this, Sakura looked at Number 2, then turned to the woman and asked:

"Then do you know how to make a personality return to my body?"

"If you mean making Number 2 like in the real world—only able to exist inside your body—then I have no way. But if you just want him to return inside your body, then you only need to calm him down. Look—during our conversation just now, he's been watching from the side the whole time. And now, he's completely calmed down and will soon return to your body on his own. That's all the information I can give you. So for the time being, just live in this world for a while! If a full-scale attack is launched, I'll secretly let you know. So there's no need to worry too much for now."

As she finished speaking, a portal appeared behind Sakura. Sakura understood the portal's sudden appearance meant: You should go now. Sakura looked at Victoria, who was hiding her face behind her fan, and Victoria looked back at Sakura with an unfathomable gaze. After the two held each other's eyes for a few seconds, Sakura and Number 2 turned to leave. Just as Sakura was about to step into the portal, she turned her head and said to Victoria with a smile:

"Thank you for saving me!"

With that, she stepped through the portal.

And Victoria, as if she had expected Sakura would thank her, turned around with her back to the portal and said:

"It seems you really are kind! But the world is cruel—you'd better be prepared!"