"So then, Astraea-sama, I still have some other things to take care of, so I'll be going now. But if there's danger, I'll come find you and get you out of Orario."
Astraea could naturally tell that Genichi did not mean everything he said.
Standing there in front of her, the boy's eyes revealed something else. Genichi had definitely stayed in Orario for some other reason.
Astraea had no intention of exposing it.
She did not need to know what his real objective was.
She only needed to know that with a Level 6 adventurer here, she had one more source of support.
Whatever Genichi truly wanted to do did not matter.
With the coming crisis so close at hand, every person willing to remain was valuable fighting strength.
More importantly, Genichi had already proven he could be trusted. He had destroyed the man-made labyrinth, killed countless members of Evilus, and forced three gods to commit suicide and return to Heaven.
No matter what selfish motives he might harbor, his actions had objectively been the eradication of evil and the protection of the innocent.
That was enough.
"You should go," Astraea said softly. "I'll be careful."
Genichi nodded and turned to leave.
But after taking a few steps, he stopped and looked back at her.
"Astraea-sama."
"Yes?"
"Have you ever hated?"
The question came out of nowhere, his tone strangely distant. "Hated the people who took away what you treasured? Hated the people who made you suffer and despair?"
Astraea froze slightly, then fell silent for a moment.
Of course she had.
When her children had fallen one by one in the Dungeon, when her Familia had been wiped out in a single night, when her last remaining child had begged her to leave Orario, how could she not hate?
She hated the villains of Evilus. She hated the gods hiding behind the curtain and manipulating everything.
But as the goddess of justice, she knew hatred solved nothing.
Hatred only made people blind, obsessive, ugly in the same way as those they despised.
So she chose to let it go.
At least, she had thought she had.
"I have hated," Astraea answered honestly at last. "But hatred changes nothing. It only traps you in the past and keeps you from moving forward."
Genichi listened, then curled his lips into a meaningful smile.
"Is that so?"
He spoke softly. "But I'm different. I won't let go, and I won't forgive. The people who hurt me, the people who made me suffer. I won't let a single one of them off."
Astraea looked at him, something complicated flickering through her eyes.
This boy carried a very deep hatred inside him.
"Then what are you going to do now?" Astraea asked.
Genichi turned away, his gaze shifting toward the direction of the Dionysus Familia's home in the distance.
"I'm going to find Dionysus."
His voice was calm, but the chill in it was enough to send a shiver down the spine. "I'm curious what kind of mood that god is in right now, and whether his plan is still something he can even use."
Astraea's pupils contracted slightly.
Genichi continued, "To put it simply, I want to watch the show now. And not just any show. I want to watch a god make a fool of himself. I want to see the look on his face when his plan fails and twists him out of shape."
He looked back at Astraea, a dangerous light glinting in his eyes.
"And if I get the chance, I'll find a way to kill Filvis Challia. Who knows, maybe killing that woman will even earn me the feat I need to level up."
Astraea fell silent.
She looked at Genichi as if she were meeting him for the first time.
He had stayed in Orario not to protect the city, not to save the innocent, but for revenge.
To enjoy watching a god suffer.
To kill the enemies who had once wronged him.
To vent the resentment in his heart.
"Genichi," Astraea said slowly, "if you do this, what makes you any different from the people of Evilus?"
At that, Genichi gave a quiet laugh.
"Different?"
He said flatly, "The difference is that they hurt innocent people, while I hurt the guilty. They do evil for fun. I take revenge for justice."
He paused, and his gaze sharpened further.
"Astraea-sama, you've experienced loss, so you understand that feeling. The people who took everything from you, the people who made your life unbearable. Can you really forgive them without any bitterness at all?"
Astraea opened her mouth, only to realize she could not answer.
Of course she could not.
She had merely chosen not to think about it, chosen to avoid it, chosen to let time wash over the wound.
But the wound was still there.
It had never healed.
"I'm not going to force myself to forgive," Genichi continued. "I suffered that much. I paid that much. If I become strong and still have to hold back over this and that, then didn't I get strong for nothing?"
There was a trace of mockery in his voice. It was hard to tell whether he was mocking Astraea's innocence or the absurdity of the world itself.
"So I'm going to pay back everything I suffered before. An eye for an eye. Blood for blood."
With that, Genichi turned and strode away.
Astraea remained where she was, watching his retreating back for a long time without speaking.
She did not know what to say.
His words had struck the deepest wound in her heart and forced her to face a truth she could no longer deny - she had never truly let it go. She had only chosen to avoid it.
And now, a boy had told her in the most direct and naked way possible that running away was not an answer.
Only by facing hatred head-on could one truly rise above it.
Or be devoured by it.
Astraea did not know which path Genichi would walk.
She only hoped that when the dust finally settled, the boy would still be able to find what he truly wanted to protect.
Night deepened, and the streets of Orario grew empty. Only the occasional patrolling adventurer passed by.
The air was thick with tension, like the stillness before a storm.
Genichi walked down the street, every step steady and firm.
Images kept surfacing in his mind.
The moment his DanMachi self had his neck snapped by Valetta's kick.
The despair of his DxD self, nearly killed by a fallen angel.
The grotesque state of his Bleach self after being stripped by Yhwach's Auswählen, already on the edge of death, only to have a Hollow tear out his heart and guts.
And then there were the eyes of all those other versions of himself he had personally killed in the coliseum, right before they died.
Every last memory filled him with hatred.
Hatred for the people who had hurt him.
Hatred for this unjust world.
Hatred for that coliseum that had forced him to slaughter one another.
But more than anything, he hated Dionysus - the one who had hidden in the shadows like a rat.
Dionysus.
The name burned in his mind.
Genichi remembered what Demeter had once told him: Dionysus had given her a grimoire. She did not know why, but from the very beginning, that god had been plotting against him.
Treating him as a chess piece, as a tool, as some toy to be manipulated at will.
"What a joke."
Genichi let out a cold laugh.
Who did they think they were?
Gods?
So what?
He had even killed another version of himself. Why would he fear some god?
Besides, the three gods who had committed suicide had already proven one thing.
Gods were not invincible.
They could fail. They could despair. They could choose suicide to escape the consequences of failure.
If gods could be driven to suicide, then of course they could also be killed.
All it took was finding a way.
All it took was becoming stronger.
(End of Chapter)
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