Erebus could barely maintain his false smile, his fists subtly clenching in his sleeves.
"Are you saying that whoever has the bigger fist is righteous?"
He took a step closer to Rhode, his sharp eyes fixed on him.
"Staying by Astrea's side, is this the conclusion you've drawn?"
Rhode calmly stared at the black-haired God's somewhat angered face, slowly curving his lips.
"A big fist isn't necessarily justice, but a big enough fist can define justice."
Erebus scoffed, wanting to refute, but then Rhode playfully said,
"If I told you I had an ability, that as long as I sacrificed you, I could go and kill the Black Dragon, would you agree?"
Erebus was silent for a moment, then met Rhode's gaze frankly.
"If what you say is true, I think I would agree."
A collective gasp of "wow" spread through the onlookers. Everyone looked at the male God with admiring and moved eyes.
Rhode clapped his hands as if deeply touched.
"Good, good, good, worthy of a God who loves humanity...."
"But what if, without telling you that I was doing this to kill the Black Dragon, I sacrificed an ignorant you without your consent? Would you still approve of me? Would you still think such an act is just?"
"!!!"
Erebus finally came to his senses, his black eyes, like the darkness of the abyss, fixed on Rhode, trying to see through him.
This guy... definitely knows something!
Not only that, after knowing everything, he deliberately said such things to mock my plan!
The kaleidoscope quietly appeared in Rhode's crimson pupils. He confronted the Evil God, who commanded the Primordial Nether, without flinching, and said indifferently,
"It seemed someone was quite moved by your words just now...."
"But if I were to further ask, to counter the Black Dragon that will end the world, if half the people here were sacrificed, would those moved people just now agree?"
All the passersby couldn't help but shiver.
Wherever Rhode's icy gaze turned, the crowd there desperately lowered their heads, some even quietly fleeing, unable to bear the pressure.
What a joke, who would agree to such a foolish thing!
Sacrificing myself for others to live, I wouldn't be such an idiot!
Almost everyone roared this internally.
After guiding the situation to this point, Rhode looked at Erebus with disdain and spread his hands.
"Now do you know my answer, and humanity's answer?"
Erebus slowly closed his eyes.
Although he was mentally prepared to be treated as an evil god, he never expected to be cornered by a human with just a few words at the very beginning.
I was the one who started with a trial mindset, but it turned out I was the one being tested.
I had previously intended to use this method to interrogate the Fairy Girl next to me, who clearly looked more naive... but it was used on me first.
Heh heh heh, is this my twisted sense of humor getting its comeuppance?
Was it foreseen, or was it a premonition? Never mind, it doesn't matter.
I ultimately underestimated humans.
No.
I should say, I underestimated you.
The one person I can't see through, Rhode!
Previously, he had a small, self-satisfied expectation that after he became the necessary evil and a cornerstone of the era, he would watch humanity overcome the Black Dragon.
But at this moment, Rhode cruelly eliminated the possibility of such a final sense of salvation ever being born.
Because the self-deceiving answer had been ruthlessly exposed before him.
—Selfish and short-sighted humans do not wish to achieve others' goals through their own deaths.
But he couldn't give up his plan because of this.
What he was going to do next was no longer the necessary evil for justice, but the absolute evil of ignoring others' pleas and exercising tyrannical dictatorship.
Erebus opened his eyes again, his demeanor and tone changing. The smile that appeared on his lips was undoubtedly that of an evil god.
"Rhode, ha ha ha, you are indeed different from everyone else here~"
"I'm curious, if you were in my position, what would you do?"
Rhode chuckled faintly.
"How interesting, a confused god seeking answers from a mere human like me."
Erebus, at this point, didn't care anymore and raised his hands, indicating his surrender.
"Ah, ah, let's not quibble. I admit I can't beat you in this regard, so do I need to kneel to hear your answer?"
"I don't have such a twisted sense of humor. If you insist on hearing my answer."
A god who claimed to be omniscient and omnipotent was obsessed with the hero's historical view, not even touching the rudimentary form of a human historical view, which Rhode found uninteresting.
But since he had accepted the prayer, even though he didn't approve of the other party's actions, he decided to treat it seriously until the end.
This was both out of respect for the other party's act of saving humanity, despite their differing stances, and for a more generous final reward.
Rhode paused, and in front of everyone, including the trembling Lily and the bewildered Ryu, he delivered a conclusion that was almost cruel.
"A civilization destined to reach its end without the help of other beings is meaningless. If the people who make up this civilization are so weak that they only rely on others, then this civilization might as well perish sooner."
Erebus's eyes widened.
Silence, a long silence.
Then he covered his forehead and couldn't help but laugh uproariously at the sky.
"Hahahahahahaha!!!"
Erebus seemed to find it genuinely amusing, eventually clutching his stomach and laughing until tears streamed down his face.
Lily also seemed to realize that the other party was not a benevolent god at all. Although scared, she still stood by Rhode's side, raising her small fist and mustering her courage to stare at the other party.
Erebus glanced at Lily, raising an eyebrow in surprise, then averted his gaze and looked deeply at Rhode, his lips forming the smile of a cruel predator.
"Thank you for clarifying, Rhode~"
"I've decided, you will never be a hero, nor do you deserve to live into the next era!"
Erebus declared the start of war as an evil god.
"Next, I will use every means to eliminate you. Let me see what your limits truly are."
Although Ryu's mind was a chaotic mess due to various ideologies, when she heard the other party threaten Rhode right in front of her, rage burned away her remaining sanity.
"I don't care who you are or what your goal is, but you dare.... I absolutely won't allow it!!!"
The hurricane caused by the runaway magic almost blew up the entire street.
If Rhode hadn't held her back firmly, Ryu in her berserk state might not have killed the other party, but knocking them down and crippling their limbs would have been beyond doubt!
Even after Rhode had led Ryu and Lily far away from that street, Ryu still occasionally clenched her wooden sword, her mood gloomy.
Lily was startled by the chill emanating from Ryu, quietly swallowed, and asked softly, looking up.
"Brother Rhode, he said all that, why did you still let him go?"
Ryu pretended not to care, but her pointed ears subtly perked up.
Rhode smiled and ruffled Lily's small head, saying lightly.
"After all, if you want to quickly clean up all the trash, even if you find it disgusting, you can't just blow up the trash can at the beginning, right?"
He didn't want to fight a protracted war.
The Great War could lure out all of Orario's Dark Factions in one go. As long as he made sure not to let a few original stragglers escape, then this world would have no more worries.
After hearing Rhode's explanation, Ryu's tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed.
Recalling Rhode's previous statements, her long-held beliefs began to subtly change without her realizing it.