V2 Chapter 8: Prince and the Summit of the Stupid People

When I turned my eyes at the people who lived in the world I conjured, an old memory when I was not Fearless returned. I was Fearless, but I was not. I was Phúc at the time. I woke up from a strange nightmare, a nightmare where everyone in the world started looking like Thùy Dương for unknown reasons. They did not just look like her. They sounded like her as well. Everyone in the world became Thùy Dương. That is the most toxic world for a person like me to live in, no, that is for anyone other than Thùy Dương to live in. A single Thùy Dương is already enough. Two is too much. A world of full of Thùy Dương is impossible to live.

But the people of my dreamland, they managed to upset that prejudice in me.

The people of this dreamland, they made a world where everyone is Thùy Dương looked like a candy store, all sweet and sugary because, at the very least, Thùy Dương is a smart woman, a real prodigy.

I tried to create people who would be as smart as and as just as FY. I got people who were as stupid as and as unjust as me. I repeatedly tried to create more people until I would succeed. I still got a bunch of wackjobs who was about as stupid as me. That was when I knew I had to stop creating more people. I then allowed them to live their lives on their own without any interference from me. I was stupid enough to believe that there is hope in these people. I was stupid enough to believe that these people, as they progress in time and become more civilized, they would become smart.

I was wrong.

The people of this dreamland, they branded themselves as “The stupid people of Fearless” and held that designation in their heart with pride. A toxic bunch, they were, the whole lot of them, man and woman, the old and the young, the brave and the coward, the weak and the strong. They are the most toxic community that I have ever seen. They spoke like me, they acted like me, they were as irresponsible as me, and the best specimens of their kind were those who were equally as stupid as I was. Furthermore, when they formed their own unique social structure, religion, and communities where every man and woman was equally as stupid as each other, the toxicity level of everything was turned up to a hundred where the maximum base score to measure toxicity is ten. These people made me realized why I was so against the idea of unprotected sex.

The world only needs one Fearless, no more.

But, even when these people were poisonous and cancerous, they had their use. With the correct amount and the correct administration, a poison can become a medicine.

Within the imaginary land of the stupid people, a Summit was held to decide what kind of relationship that I should adopt toward those brainless Immortals who wanted nothing more than to tear me into pieces.

The first speaker, stood on the podium and presented all the facts that lead up to my inevitable collision with the Demon Lords, gods, and goddesses of the ROC universe.

“…Thus, my stupid people, URLOX have set us up with that prophecy. URLOX set us up so that we would come into conflicts with these brain-dead immortals. There is nothing we can do now to change or rectify that at this point. Due to that prophecy, these morons would not leave us a chance for us to live and operate in our freedom. We are too great of a threat, too great of an unknown, too great of a champion, too great of a human. With or without that stupid prophecy, these brain-dead morons would never leave us alone due to our greatness, for we are the Prince of The Alliance.”

, he spoke with passion, the calculating asshole. He struck his fist into the air in such an enthusiastic manner as he spoke, wild and brimmed with frustration and pride, which resonated with the beating heart in each and every single one of the Fearless who presented at Summit. spoke at length and moved everyone to tears even though he was only presenting facts. Then, he stopped, taking a deep breath, be stilled for a moment to draw everyone’s attention as he swept his eyes through the hall that I built, to inject his will into everyone presenting at the Summit.

“They want to Pick us as their representative and champion. But we can only champion one of them and there is only one of us.” loudly declared the fact while thumping his chest with his clenched fist in a spur of bravado. With his enthusiast alone, he managed to turn a No-shit-Sherlock moment into something epic.

“Therefore, it’s only logical that they have to Ban us, my stupid people. Forcing us to accept the role of neutrality under Death’s protection is how they decided to Ban us. And that’s why we are here today, my stupid people. That’s why we are having this Summit to decide our future.

I ask you, my stupid people, should we accept this Ban? Should we accept living the rest of our lives in Neutrality? Or should we search for a different option? Should we Unban ourselves through this dilemma knowing that we would butt head against not one or two, but many powerful enemies who have lived through many timeless eons, all at the same time? Are we even capable of pursuing such a path? I hope we shall find the correct answer through this Summit. Here, I shall end my speech. Without further ado, let the first Summit commence.”

The entire Summit erupted with the sound of clapping hands when concluded his speech and stepped down from the podium.

With my position of the Ultimate Judge and the Arbiter of the Summit, I knocked my mallet and called for order. “The first speaker has finished presenting the fact. The faction, please present your argument.”

Among the forest of faction, a figure rose with confidence and aligned the podium. He was .

started his speech by reinforcing the fact that we, Fearless, are at the absolute disadvantage in our current situation.

“My stupid people, we are currently playing the biggest handicapped game of our lives. Never before had we given such this many large handicaps to this many powerful opponents. We are all alone in this world. FY is not here with us to tell us his strategies and shows us the clearest path to victory. Merleon is not here to cover and protect our exposed back. Misery is not here to lighten our loads and be our failsafe. Fantasy is not here to provide us with his usual supports.” spoke in a controlled coldness despite the topic that he was presenting was an emotional one, which fueled a fit of billowing anger in every Fearless presented at the summit.

If was already a calculating bastard in the way he presented his speech, redefined the word “a calculating bastard” by establishing a new standard.

By appealing to our anger, by showing us how truly alone we are in this world, being the lone member of The Alliance participating in this wicked game, made us understood his anger and resignation. He made everyone understood that he was forced to make a hard choice, a choice that he did not wish to make, a choice that he chose to make because he had no better option. His tone of controlled coldness was there serving as a mask to hide his frustration and resignation.

“My stupid Fearless people, we are truly alone in this game. We are playing against fifty or so opponents. Our enemies overwhelm in numbers and might.” continued to speak with a cold and calculating tone of acceptance, “My stupid people, if we Unban ourselves from the position of Neutrality, only destruction await us. We cannot possibly face this many brain-dead morons while being alone. Besides, we would not just face them, these brainless morons who have lived a timeless eon of a lifetime, we also have to face their representatives, their champion. My stupid Fearless people, I urge you to be smart for once…”

“SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM.”

A booming voice filled the hall. That voice did not just fill the hall. It ruptured the ears of every Fearless presenting inside it. Amidst the ocean of the faction, a Fearless rose. His name was .

“SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM,” he shouted, shattering that calm and cold acceptance atmosphere that projected.

SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM. If you want peace, prepare for war. Every Fearless who participated in the Summit knew that phrase and we did not just know that phrase, we understood its philosophy and practical reasoning.

“SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM,” kept on shouting that phrase and disrupted the summit. As the Arbiter, I struck the mallet and ordered him to show respect to the speaker and the rest of the participants of the Summit.

“SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM,” he kept shouting, and shouting, and shouting, fearlessly, even when I have ordered him to be dragged out of the hall to face a firing squad for disrupting the summit. An example needed to be made for these Fearless people to take my warning lightly.

“A true Fearless among the Fearless people until the end,” I heard a quiet whisper coming from the faction when the sound of gunfire filled the hall. I called for order and asked to continue with his speech. However, boy o boys, no matter how perfectly he presented his speech, he could not put the audiences under his spells again. Not when has exposed and shattered his illusion in such a disruptive manner. Realizing that his spell has run out of its magical effect, concluded his speech shortly on a very non-consequential manner before returning to his seat among the forest of the faction.

I called for the faction to present their counter-argument against the proposal of the faction.

Another figure coolly rose from the ocean of the faction. He aligned the podium with grace.

“SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM,” he shouted and started chanting that phrase as if it was a motto of his faction.

Fuck, I clutched my head, should have expected that… These Fearless people, they are a part of me. They speak like me, walk like me, and behave like me. They are just as stupid as I do and they behave in the most infuriating manner as I do. I hammered the mallet and gave the bastard a stern warning. Being stupid, he did not heed the warning and kept on chanting, “SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM,” continuing to disrupt the flow of the summit in the most unproductive manner. Thus, he too faced the firing squad.

Boy oh boy, I sighed internally, face-palming myself, cursing myself when I gave out the sentence to send that bastard to face the firing squad. Have I always been this annoying? I knew exactly what would happen when I have to make the choice to send that bastard to face a firing squad.

“SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM.”

Those two bastards of the faction martyred themselves for their belief. Who the fuck says that stupid people are incapable of being calculating?

“SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM.”

Two stupid Fearless people of the faction went down, a thousand rose to replace them.

“SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM.”

“SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM.”

The entire hall shook with the chanting of “SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM” coming from the faction. Every stone and tile that made up of the hall of the Summit rattled to the chant “SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM” of those stupid people.

I struck the mallet in resignation, sending a thousand of those “SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM” chanting people to face the firing squad. Otherwise, the summit could never proceed.

The again sent their next representative and speaker to align the podium, . He presented a multitude array of tactics, strategies and battle forecasts of his faction to the future where we, as Fearless decide to have a face-off against the Demon Lords, Gods, and Goddesses of this ROC universe.

Amidst the presentation, those stupid “SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM” chanting people kept popping up like cockroaches to disrupt the presentation. I kept being headstrong, sending them to face the firing squad, continuing to make examples for as long as I must, Until these morons learn their lesson. I told myself. Slowly, that ocean consisted of Fearless people thinned out to but a single person.

“…The best case scenario if we pursued this strategy is a stalemate, a stalemate that would last until infinity and beyond. Otherwise, we shall have victory for three short years with these presented tactics before we face the ultimate destruction. I ask you, my stupid people, is that worth it? Three shorts years of continuous meaningless victories? Is our life only worth that much? What’s wrong with bending our neck a little bit for the sake of safety and peace? What’s wrong with retreating from an enemy that we could not defeat?” appealed in an emotional tone with urgency in his voice.

“There is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with admitting our disadvantages and resign. As great as we are, we cannot do this alone. We cannot win this game alone. Accepting the role of Neutrality is not an act of fear. It is bravery. It is the bravery of a wise man who understood the threshold of his limit and willing to admit his limit. That is bravery in the truest sense. My stupid people, as Prince Fearless of The Alliance, we have done everything to prove ourselves and to not drag that name to the mud. We have been tested and tested, again, and again, and again and we have proven ourselves on every occasion. We have nothing else to prove now.

Being Banned from the Game in a vote of confidence is the highest caliber of honor and praise that a person can ever receive from these brain-dead immortals. We are the first and only person to be Banned from this Game. We should be proud of that. That alone speaks of the amount of fear and uncertainty that these brain-dead morons had for us. This alone is a Draw. Being able to score a Draw on that many opponents at once should be considered a victory us.

However, my stupid people, if we pursued the other paths, only defeat awaits us.

The path that leads us to that stalemate is a mutual destruction for those brainless morons and us, neither them nor us win in this scenario. That’s a mutual defeat.

And this path, three years, we shall win battles. In these three years, I am sure that we will kill many immortals. In these three years, I’m sure that our name will be sung across this world. And in three years, everything that we have built, everything that we cared will go up in flame. Our name and the name of The Alliance will go down in ashes. We will face true defeat. We will be defeated. I urge you my stupid Fearless people, do consider the consequence of your action.”

When finished his emotional speech, he was received with thunderous applauds from his people.

I hit the mallet and ordered silence. I sighed a bit, turning my head at the last of the faction. In the area where an ocean of Fearless people sat once, a lone figure stood, being the last of his clan, the only person of his faction who has yet to shout “SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM” to disrupt the summit.

“The faction, please present your argument.” I ordered in the resignation that this stupid Fearless person would shout “SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM” to his grave like his entire clan did.

Quietly, he walked to the podium. He was , the first speaker who started the summit as well being the last of his faction.

“Stupidity is a commitment. Stupidity is a choice, a choice that we make while knowing the consequences of making such a choice.”

Surprisingly, what escaped his lips was not “SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM.”

“My stupid people, we are stupid, but not because we are born ignorant and naiveté. We are stupid, but not because this is the role that the world has forced upon us. We are stupid because we make the choice to be stupid. We chose to be stupid. We make the choice to be stupid and we are proud of that choice.” He spoke passionately, appealing on the pride of the stupid Fearless people. He then pointed his finger at the execution ground, “The people of my clan, those morons, they died while chanting “SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM” in such a disruptive manner. They deserved to die for causing unnecessary chaos in such an important moment when we have much to lose if we made a single mistake.” He bowed to the faction in the most respectful manner. “I apologize for their conduct”

“They deserved to die. Your Honor, you were not wrong to execute them.” He then bowed to me.

“As a member of the clan, I apologize for their action. I agree with your decision to execute them. They truly deserved to die,” he restated firmly without a hint of emotion in his voice. “And yet, if you may allow me to defend the meaning of their action…” he hesitated while looking the forest of the faction and me.

Only when I nodded my head out of sheer respect and the faction approved him out of compassion, started talking again.

“Those morons of my clan, they did not die while chanting SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM. They chanted “SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM” so that they could die in such a manner. Your Honor, we all knew that your warnings are not meant to take lightly. Those morons, they make a choice to ignore your warnings. Stupid people, for that, they deserved death,” shook his head in disapproval and stated firmly. “I do not approve their method and choice.”

“However, people, your strategies and tactics and battle forecasts, we all knew that. We could see such futures. We knew that the act of Unban ourselves would lead us toward destruction and defeat. We knew that there is no shame in bowing our heads toward something stronger and greater than us. We knew that there is no shame in admitting defeat, we all did. And yet, these morons chose death over making such a choice. Why? Why are they making such a choice? Your Honor, you should already know the answer. My people, you should already have the answer.” looked at us in earnest and stated.

“We are only deluding ourselves in the illusions that we conjured. We are only lying to ourselves through our illusions. We are using facts and smart arguments to avoid facing the most important matter, the only matter that truly matters. And yet, we are beings who are incapable of falling for own lies and illusions. We can lie to ourselves. We can delude ourselves but we are incapable of buying them.

Since nobody mentioned that, I will.

What does this Neutrality cost us? We are avoiding facing this question. Why? Because we don’t want to admit that by accepting Neutrality, we would make a compromise with our principles.

The enemies are strong and we are at our weakest. In order to live, we must make a compromise with our principles to avoid this collision. Should we? Yes, we should, to live.

But, should we?

These enemies have ignored our warnings on three separated occasions. The first time was when Clariciel invaded our dream, the second time and the third time was when we executed Bloodbeard and his gang.

They deliberately ignored our warnings. They chose to invade this world, our world, our dream. They gave themselves the right to trespass and twist our dreams according to their design. We should punish them for making such a choice. Even if we cannot punish all of them, we should make an example of a few to make the rest learned the lesson. If we don’t, these brain-dead bullies would keep pushing the boundary of our compromise.

Our memories and dreams are our sacred place. Whether they brought us pain or joy, suffering or peace, our memories and dreams are ours. We, stupid Fearless people, we are people of no nation. Our home was lost to us and now we are stranded in a strange land. Our memories and dreams are what connects us to our lost home, family and nation. We cannot tolerate these invaders for toying with them. We cannot allow such impudence to go unpunished.

I ask you, my stupid people. Can you forgive these invaders for tainting the most sacred part of your memories and dreams with their intruding presence? Can we allow them to twist and redesign our dreams to their will? Can we allow them to alter our memories? No, we cannot. We must not allow such a thing to happen. If we allow such a thing to happen, one day they will make us forget who we are.

If they kept making small alterations to our memories, one day, we will be Fearless no longer.

One day they will make us forget why we are Fearless. One day they will make us forget everything that makes us, us. We must not allow that to happen. These people of mine, they rather die than allowing something like that to happen.”

channeled all of his emotions and energy into his speech. He spoke with passion. He spoke with conviction.

“You, the people, I ask you, are you capable of living such a future? Do you want to live such a life? Do you want to live a life where all of your cherished memories are altered and the most important people inside your precious memories are falsely redesigned for someone’s entertainment and purposes? I rather fuck Death in her assh…” shielded his mouth in a rushing hurry, knowing that his words and emotion were getting out of control. He just cursed right in front of an important Summit and, above all before his God and Progenitor.

He apologized wholeheartedly as I and the Summit forgave him, knowing only too well that we are no better than him. When we are being too emotional, our speech-craft became weird and we started losing control over the content of our language.

only continued when he earned the forgiveness of the majority of the Summit.

“What I mean is I would rather die first before that happens to me.

You, the people, I know you will use your logical reasoning and tell me that you will ask Death to prevent that from happening.

Will she prevent those brain-dead morons from twisting our dream?

Yes, she will. However, when you present such an idea to her, she will execute that idea on all of us out of her perverted infatuation with us. If she could sentence us to live and suffer for an endless eon to make us love her, there is nothing to stop her from altering our memories and tainting our dreams to make us love her. I will rather be torn into pieces and died suffered than living such fate. My people have already chosen death over such fate.

However, before that, before these invaders could change our dreams and twist our memories, we are defeating ourselves here by having this discussion.

Your Honor, you have the power to observe them. You are observing them right now. You are listening to their conversation right now. Do they appear to be the agent of justice to you? Do they sound holy like Buddha, gods and goddess on earth to you? Do they sound human to you? Or do they sound like demons to your ears? They look like us. They smell like us and above everything, they sound and act like us. Therefore, they cannot be anything but demons and injustices.

They are the injustice and we are the greatest injustice. There is only one choice for us to make here and we all know what that is. If we cannot kill them all, we are not the greatest injustice, and thus our principle will become a lie. My people rather choose death than living such a lie. What about you, people? Can you live such a lie? Can anyone of us present here truly live such a lie?

My stupid people, I ask you, what is the point of having this summit? Your Honor, why are we even having such a discussion?

We already know the answer, our answer. You should already know the answer.

We must not compromise with these brain-dead morons, not our freedom, not our principle, not our pride and cherished treasure. We must not compromise with them.

Instead, we should rejoice in this opportunity. We should take this opportunity as a test, a challenge to our name and principle. We should teach these invaders that we are the Mt. Himalayan of this game and they are some random average climbers. We should teach them that we are the ultimate raid boss of this game and they are just some low-level noobs. Even when we are alone, weakened and handicapped, the Prince of The Alliance is a name to remember with respect and fear.

Make them learn our name, my stupid Fearless people. Make them tremble with fear when they hear our name, Your Honor. You are Prince Fearless of The Alliance, Your Honor. If you don’t crush these low-level noobs who do not understand their place, you are sullying the name of The Alliance, you are sullying the name of The Prince of The Alliance, you are sullying the name of all the players you have crushed in the past. Crush them, Your Honor. Let our black and gold flag becomes their trauma.” pleaded to me, his God in the most heartfelt manner of speech as his face was awash in tears. His words were powerful and sharp, like the edge of Enfermé.

His words moved many of the stupid people of the clan to tears. It was this moment that a realization has finally dawned upon many of the people of the clan.

Those who went out dying while shouting “SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM,” were martyring themselves for their cause and belief. They died shouting “SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM” in the most stupid manner so that the last one of their representative could gain the best chance to make a clear difference in this Summit.

This is not a strategy that smart people would come up with. Only the stupid people of my dreamland would employ this kind of strategy.

, he was the most stupid person of his clan. That’s why the final job and the most important responsibility was given to him. He represented the will of all those stupid people who went out in a blaze of a fire while shouting “SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM”.

With his words, he turned the stupid people of the clan into the monsters of their own emotions. But, logic and smartness have nothing to do with emotions. Logic and Smartness should be cold and calculating. And yet, this one Fearless among the stupid people of the clan managed to twist logical reasoning by appealing to the Summit with emotions.

While the faction tried to make me change my mind by presenting with facts, numbers, forecasts and logical reasoning, , contrary to his name tried to make me, his God forge ahead without looking back, fighting a war with nothing but emotions in my hands.

He appealed to me by currying my desire for true freedom. He appealed to me by using my pride and sense of identity. He appealed to me by using my love and respect for the name of The Alliance. He alone understood my will ahead of everyone participating at the Summit.

I have already made up my mind about whether I should butthead with those brain-dead immortals or cower before them. I merely called upon the Summit to see if there is a different path.

, he saw through my mind. Therefore, he convinced his clansmen to die and martyr themselves for a greater purpose, to convince me to stay committed to my stupidity until the end.

If only I was less stupid, this strategy would have an impact on me as it did to the stupid people of the clan. As their God and Creator, I would say that these stupid people are either less stupid or equally stupid as me. They are unable to become more stupid than I am. And thus, I understood their stupidity better than themselves. I understood the kind of strategies and tactics that the stupid people would employ and above all the reason why they would employ such strategies and tactics.

, he was one of those who could see that this dreamland world could vanish at any time. The stupid people of Fearless are divided into three kinds when such brutal knowledge dawned upon them. The first are those who would calmly and slowly lose their shit. The second would try to live to their fullest until doom came upon them. The third are those who wanted to die in a blaze of glory to be remembered by their God.

, when he saw through the façade of the Summit, he used it as an opportunity to be remembered even when this dreamland vanished, in other words, to be immortalized within my memory.

And he will, because there is just no way that I could forget such exemplary illustration of commitment to stupidity, as I kept my thought a secret, a Fearless raised from the rank of the stupid people.

Whereas the majority of his people either have been converted into the clan or entered their self-doubting mode, this stupid person rose to challenge the argument presented by .

He was .

“We can win battles. Sure! We can crush them. Sure! Ten or twenty of these brain-dead assholes, or perhaps more. But there are fifty of them. What’s the point of crushing only twenty of these brainless morons only to face our inevitable defeat in the end? That’s a lost cause. Realistically speaking, we cannot win this war. So instead of fighting them and lost, we should try to compromise and find a method to mitigate their authority over us.”

smiled as if he has been prepared to face this question. “How can you be so sure that we cannot win this battle?” He inquired.

“Did you fall asleep during our presentation? Our calculations and battle forecasts have shown that we cannot win this war.”

Undaunted, rebuked, “Our calculations and forecasts are not absolute. They can change. They can have errors. Besides, we have forgotten to count in that man who quitted on us into the equation.”

“That’s a fallacy. Just because he could win against Heavennet, it doesn’t mean he could win this war.” spoke the truth.

“That’s a fair argument. However, all of our calculation and forecast are made base on the premise that these brainless immortals are mentally unbreakable and unshakable. I doubt it.”

“We should always assume the worst.”

“That’s too pessimistic. I do not believe that we cannot break their mind with our combined stupidity.”

“That, again, is a fallacy.”

The two stupid people argued back and forth without relenting for hours. One of them used facts, numbers, and logics to back up his reasoning whereas the other used emotions and fallacies to spur his arguments. Regardless of their differences in ideology and political outlook, as far as stupidity is concerned, they are the equal of each other.

One embraced the hopelessness of the future whereas the other earnestly tried to combat such hopelessness. One selfishly sought immortality for himself and his people through martyrdom whereas the other selflessly sought to protect his God from the inevitable doom even when he has already all but vanished into the clouds of a dream. And yet, through their argument, the selfish one appeared almost holy to everyone whereas the selfless one appeared as a devil who tried to convince his God to be less than a God.

Harsh facts, numbers, and logic cannot convince people but emotions do. Every Fearless presenting at the Summit knew that.

Therefore, in order to convince people, had to take the extra steps to convert facts and numbers into visceral pictures of doom to convert them again into emotions. Because he had to do those two extra steps to present his arguments, was able to exploit the gaps in the between of his arguments. In the format of a debate and a clash of argument, would win that battle without a doubt.

Therefore, the end of their argument was predictable. In the truest fashion of a stupid person of the stupid people of Fearless, , he fought false martyrdom with true martyrdom and a true-hopelessness with a lingering false-hopelessness.

murdered in the middle of their argument.

“SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM” were the final words of , spoken with unremorseful arrogance.

“Your Honor, please take care of yourself,” were the final words of , spoken in the most earnest manner as he headed to face the firing squad to conclude the Summit. He knew he could not change my mind regarding the matter. He knew that at the end of his path lies his defeats and failure. He made an example of himself to show me his selflessness.

Two truly stupid people until the very end.

Technically, they are me, so why are they so different?

“My stupid people, I ask you, what is the point of having this summit? Your Honor, why are we even having such a discussion?” The voice of echoed within my mind. He asked the damn question that nobody dared to ask. There is no meaning in having that discussion or holding that Summit.

If my path was destined to collide with those brain-dead beings and the only way to prevent the collision is to compromise one’s identity, purposes, and principles, I will not be the person who avoids the collision.

If war is inevitable, then there is no reason to avoid it. Instead, one should embrace it and combat it. As the God of the stupid people, I must combat war with war. SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM, that is the science of war of the stupid people.

War is not a game. War is a clash of ideology and value. War is a twist of politics, the battle between selfishness and selflessness. War is not a game. War cannot be fought like a game. War is costly and the most important resource in war is human’s life. Therefore, the one who wages war must be prepared to pay for it with his life. War cannot be fought with the knowledge and ideology of a gamer, that, the stupid people of Fearless have shown me.

The one who fights war must be prepared to be undone by war. So, what’s the point of worrying about one’s inevitable defeat?

Result matters. Legacy matters. History matters. Even if I must face my inevitable defeat, my ideology and wills must survive and win the war as has shown me through his example.

So how can one’s legacy survive when one is defeated?

Through the combination of Example and Cost, as both and have shown me through the result of their conflicts.

I will not forget the two of you.

So, how can one’s legacy win the war when one is defeated?

“Make your enemies paid for the war more than you did. Make it costly for them with examples.”

I mulled for a while before returning that water abyss to give Phúc a piece of my mind and his final warning. Whether he decided to quit lying to himself or not, whether he decided to take away my control as the god of this world or not, he could no longer stop this war. He can try to salvage it but war can no longer be stopped.

Immortals, you sold me a fight without showing any regard for my repeated warnings. I am buying it. In return, I will sell you a war, the most costly war in your lifetime.

“Are you prepared to pay for it?”