Shouting this out loud didn't bring the catharsis she imagined; instead, it felt like all her remaining strength had been drained.
Tendou Kisara's legs went weak.
Her gracefully curved long legs, encased in black over-the-knee socks, could no longer support the weight of her body.
With a "thud,"
She collapsed back onto the dusty floor.
The skirt of her black sailor uniform spread out.
So tired.
Truly so tired.
Every time she recalled the sound of her parents being devoured by Gastrea ten years ago...
And the endless days of swinging her sword while sick, the numbness every time she saw bright red blood flowing through the tubes during dialysis...
And...
Just a few minutes ago.
Rentaro, the one who promised to always stay by her side as her final knight—
He just left.
"Heh..."
Tendou Kisara lowered her head, her messy black hair obscuring most of her face, as a bitter laugh escaped her throat.
Nothing was left.
No family, no healthy body, no clan, and now, not even her last reliance.
What was she still trying so hard for?
Was she venting?
Or was she hoping that this man, who possessed the terrifying power to instantly heal her dying partner, would grant her a quick end?
But now...
"..."
The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet.
This abnormal silence made Tendou Kisara subconsciously lift her head.
Her gaze cut through her scattered strands of hair.
She saw the man.
He was just watching her quietly.
Not interrupting, not arguing, not even frowning once.
He sat cross-legged on the ground, his chin slightly resting on the back of his hand, his dark, deep eyes reflecting her wretched figure.
"..."
This sight made Tendou Kisara instinctively glare at the man who claimed to be a God.
Waiting for him to retort.
Waiting for him to show displeasure.
Waiting for him to lecture her, like those adults, with a condescending attitude, spouting nonsense like, "Do not disrespect the Gods."
However,
Heimer merely tilted his head slightly.
"Are you done venting?"
A light, casual sentence.
Without any emotional fluctuation.
Tendou Kisara's heart clenched upon hearing it.
She had prepared herself to be lectured, prepared to be mocked, and even prepared for this self-proclaimed God to suddenly change his demeanor.
But she wasn't prepared for this.
She stared blankly at Heimer.
His excessively handsome face showed no anger, no impatience, not even any negative expression.
If this man had acted even slightly fierce,
Or even shown a tiny bit of contempt towards her, she might have been able to maintain her composure.
Even if she had to die, she wanted to die like a Sword Demon.
But...
It was precisely this lack of reaction that easily shattered her already riddled hard shell.
"Wuu..."
Tendou Kisara's eyes welled up again.
The long-accumulated tears could no longer be controlled, rolling down in large drops.
At first, it was silent weeping, followed by uncontrollable sobbing, which finally erupted into heart-wrenching wails.
Human emotions are so contradictory.
Arming oneself like a hedgehog covered in thorns, baring fangs at everyone who tries to approach, all to conceal inner weakness.
But once this disguise is uncovered, one who has licked their wounds alone in the dark for over a decade might completely break down over a single word of comfort from someone else.
...
Tendou Kisara didn't want to cry, she really didn't.
As the master of the Tendo Style of Swordsmanship, a demon striving for revenge, how could she cry like this in front of a strange man.
But her body seemed heartbroken and no longer obeyed her commands; the grievances accumulated over ten years demanded to be emptied in this single minute.
Heimer watched quietly.
He didn't interrupt, nor did he clumsily try to comfort her like the male leads in cheap romance dramas saying, "Stop crying."
It was better to cry it out.
Some poison will rot the heart if not expelled.
So,
Heimer waited patiently.
Until Tendou Kisara's crying turned into intermittent sobs, until she cried until she had no strength left, only able to kneel on the ground, her shoulders shaking as she hiccupped through her sobs.
Only then did Heimer pull out a handkerchief from his pocket and offer it to her.
Tendou Kisara froze upon seeing it, instinctively shrinking her neck and turning her head away, trying to dodge.
She was not used to intimacy with others.
Even less used to accepting such charity-like kindness after showing weakness.
But Heimer gave her no room to evade.
Her tear streaks were gently wiped away.
Heimer's gaze fell upon Tendou Kisara's face without any avoidance.
It had to be said.
As a high-potential candidate, Tendou Kisara possessed astonishing appeal.
Even now, weeping like a pear blossom in the rain, with a red nose, her beauty was in no way diminished.
On the contrary,
Her messy, waterfall-like black hair contrasted with her face, pale as paper due to years of illness, giving her a breathtaking sense of fragility.
Her tear-dampened long eyelashes trembled slightly.
And her slightly reddened eye corners.
She was simply a sprite capable of evoking a desire to protect in anyone.
If those old lechers in Heaven saw her, they'd probably start fighting.
At this point,
As the tears were wiped dry, Tendou Kisara sniffled and looked somewhat dazedly at the man close at hand. The hysterical emotional tide gradually receded, and reason slowly returned.
A belated sense of shame began to spread in her heart.
What... what exactly did I just do...
After cursing the benefactor who saved her life with the ability to bring the dead back to life, she cried her eyes out again.
"...You..."
Tendou Kisara's voice carried a heavy nasal tone as she looked at Heimer, her eyes flickering.
"...Aren't you angry?"
After experiencing all of this, Tendou Kisara's speaking confidence was noticeably diminished; she spoke cautiously.
"Angry?"
Heimer raised an eyebrow.
"Why should I be angry?"
"I denied the existence of God. As someone who claims to be God, you shouldn't—"
Tendou Kisara mumbled.
For any powerful individual, dignity is an inviolable reverse scale, let alone for a being who calls himself God.
"Should what? Fly into a rage? Call down thunder from the heavens? Or directly cast you into the eighteenth layer of hell?"
"If you truly think that, then your understanding of the divine is far too narrow."
"Would a human be angered by an ant's aggressive posturing?"
"Of course not."
"Then neither would a god."
"Furthermore—"
"If one's own child suddenly had an emotional breakdown, what else could a parent do besides feel heartache?"
Upon hearing these words, Tendou Kisara was slightly taken aback.
She instinctively wanted to look up to confirm, but then she flusteredly averted her gaze.
Her own child?
The words this man had spoken to her surfaced in her mind—
—he had come specifically for her.
Five minutes ago, she would probably have dismissed these words as sweet talk.
After all, since childhood, she had seen too many people approach her under various pretexts, trying to use her or the Tendou Family.
Those people spoke of so-called 'grand causes,' 'the future,' or 'the will of the gods,' but behind the scenes, they were all engaged in shady schemes.
But now.
For a moment, she felt a flicker of dizziness.
The last rays of the setting sun filtered through the window lattice, casting a golden edge on his overly handsome face, making him look truly... truly not like an ordinary mortal.
As if he were truly a god descended from ancient myths, looking down upon a lost lamb.
"Moreover."
Heimer extended a finger and gently shook it.
"Regarding the question you just raised—if gods truly exist, then why don't they come to save this world?"
"This question itself has a serious flaw."
"Do you really think it's the gods' responsibility that your world has become this wretched state?"
"What do you mean?"
Tendou Kisara looked up in confusion, her mind struggling to keep up with this sudden shift in topic.
"The Gastrea Virus."
Heimer uttered the term that struck fear into the hearts of people worldwide.
"The catastrophe ten years ago did indeed set human civilization back decades, causing over seventy percent of the population to die unnatural deaths, and turning the entire world into a playground for monsters."
"But—"
Heimer's voice lowered slightly, carrying a persuasive tone.
"Have you ever considered where this virus, which nearly drove humanity to extinction, actually came from?"
"..."
Tendou Kisara opened her mouth but couldn't make a sound. She could only shake her head.
She didn't know.
And it wasn't just her; the vast majority of people in this world didn't know.
The official explanation for the origin of the Gastrea Virus had always been 'unknown.'
Rumors abounded: some said it was a bioweapon deployed by aliens, others claimed it was an ancient plague unearthed from deep underground, and there were even conspiracy theories about it being a doomsday experiment by a mad scientist.
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