Kaito pulls the carriage to the side of the road. The sun was setting, and it wouldn't be long before night was upon them. They setup camp and began eating the little bit of rations they had left.

"You know I've been meaning to ask. Why did you suddenly start questioning Brandon about him becoming God back at the castle? I mean this whole time you've seemed fine with once you found out he was crazy." Kaito asked, chewing on some jerky.

"Honestly I was fine with it, until I had a chat with Chandler at the hospital when Brandon was recovering. He opened my eyes some and showed me a new perspective on the matter." Nozomi explained.

"He made you question it with a single talk? What exactly did he say to you?" He asked, as he ripped off a piece of jerky.

Nozomi thought back to that day in the hospital.

Nozomi walks out of Brandon's hospital room and towards a break room.

"Man, that behemoth was scary, I can't believe he went out there alone like that." She thought to herself as she entered the break room and headed straight for the coffee machine.

"You and your brother know about his plans, right?" Chandler asked, leaning on one of the walls in the hospital waiting rooms.

Shocked by his voice, Nozomi turned from the coffee machine and looked at him. She had walked right by him and didn't even notice.

"What do you mean his plans?" She asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"His plans to kill God and replace him." He said bluntly.

"Yes, we're both aware of those plans. What's so wrong with it? He wants to change the world, to rid it of evil." She said, taking a seat in a brown-leathered chair.

Chandler lets out a sigh and sits across from her. He scratches the back of his head. His hair was short and smoothed back with some hair gel. He looked at her with his soft steel-blue eyes, a scar sits across his face diagonally.

"Think about the bigger picture, what's going to happen to everyone if he succeeds? Is he just going to decide who is good and who is evil? What if someone did something that he perceived as evil, but to someone else, it's not. What is he going to do about the evil? Is he just going to slaughter every single person he deems evil? What if God decides he doesn't want to give up his role anymore? If they clashed on our planet, no one would survive. These are the questions you should be thinking about. What happens to the world when there is no darkness, no evil. How would life move on without balance?" He questioned, bombarding her with as many questions as he could.

"I and my brother lived through our entire village being decimated. What is wrong with wanting a world of peace?" She questioned back.

"There is nothing wrong with wanting world peace, but there is a difference between world peace and completely changing the world. You only know good, because you've either experienced or witnessed evil happening. If evil didn't exist, we would mark everything as good, and with that everything would be the same. It wouldn't be a balance, there would be no difference between things. New generations would rise as mindless drones moving about their lives having no value for anything. All because they only know the good that Brandon wants this world to have. We collectively can rise above our greed and achieve world peace if we tried hard enough. But this, this would be a dictatorship. He would decide what can and cannot be in our world. We may have to live with sorrow and bad things happening, but at least we're FREE." He said, hoping she'd see his logic.

She sits there at a complete loss of words. She'd never thought about it to this level before, she only ever thought about her village when Brandon spoke about bettering the world. She sits her coffee in the cupholder on the arm of the chair.

"I honestly never thought about it like that. When he first explained it to us I thought he was just crazy. But, over time as he explained things, it started to make sense about how he could achieve this. With each time he talked about it, I just kept thinking back to my village and my parents. All I could feel was hatred for what happened and here someone was, talking about making sure something like that never happened again. I guess you could say I got blinded by the perfect fantasy aspect of it all." She said, looking down at her feet.

"Don't feel too bad about it, if most people found out he wasn't crazy, they'd support him too. It's expected to do that when there is talk about no more pain or suffering. So, thinking about it in this way, are you still going to support him?" He asked.

"I owe him more than I could ever repay. When I first met him, I was at my wit's end. Every day was Hell in Rodon, each day a fight for survival. Too weak to leave to go to another city, too poor to afford shelter. Fighting and stealing for food, the whole city was set up by crooked nobles and con artists who profited off people like us. Thirty thousand people in that city, and not once did someone help us. I couldn't even be saved when a shopkeep decided to try and rape me just to teach me not to steal when I was fourteen. I had to save myself and my brother every day, every waking second. But suddenly, one day someone actually helped us. I just couldn't take that city anymore, I was going to do whatever it took to have Brandon take us from that city. I didn't expect him to train us and have us become his travel companions. I just wanted him to get us to a better city, and he went above and beyond. I don't think there is a day that will pass when I can't support him." She explained, trying to hold back tears.

"I understand, I appreciate you hearing me out on the matter." He said, standing up from his seat.

Chandler grabs a cup of coffee from the machine before sitting back down with her.

"Brandon's talked about you before, I thought you two were friends. But once I saw the way you looked at him, I saw something that you see every day in Rodon. The look of a killer, you stared at him with the desire to kill him. Why is that?" She puzzlingly asked.

He takes a long sip of his coffee and lets out a sigh.

"We used to be friends, but honestly I think he still considers me one. If he does, then it's extremely one-sided. I will admit I owe him a lot, well everything actually. He's the reason why I can run the DHA, he's the reason why I've gotten as strong as I have. The reason I'm able to save so many people now, he started everything I ever wanted in my life for me and helped me reach my goals with ease. When I wanted to start the DHA, my father and the city were going through a rough patch. Money at the time was low for everyone, even the nobles due to a drought. We spent practically everything on supplies from neighboring cities to just survive. Brandon gave me every gold piece I asked for so I could start the association up. Unknowingly, this had actually saved the entire city. A demon had been nesting nearby and was the cause of the drought. Its magic could affect the way the weather worked, it made sure there were no clouds for days on end. Thanks to his money, I bought the gear I needed, hired anyone who'd volunteer to join me, and once we discovered where that demon was residing, we killed it. Killing a demon is not a simple task and each one can be different in its own way. With the money he gave, we were able to buy enchanted weapons and armor to vanquish it. From there, he constantly donated money to help the association expand across the country, and before long, we had a base in every major city, and two in this one. Ten thousand hunters are on my payroll as well, we're a force to be reckoned with. One day on a hunt, we ran into Brandon. We had tracked down a demon terrorizing a small town and when we found its lair, Brandon was already there, standing over its corpse. The demon had been in possession of one of those holy artifacts Brandon is going around and collecting. That day he explained everything to me and asked if I and the DHA would support him. Help him find everything he needed to kill God. I called him mad, but I believed him. So I drew my blade on him, which is the reason I have this nasty scar across my face. I think what pisses me off the most about it is, that he's encouraging me to get stronger to kill him. Since that day, we have crossed blades several times, each time ended in my defeat. Though, I've never hurt in any of those times besides the first. It's as if the first time we fought, he cut my face to warn me that he will kill me if I got in his way. After that, each time we fought, he made it out as if we were simply sparring and training together. I asked him why he didn't just kill me since he knew I was going to keep trying to kill him. He explained to me that he too is trying to kill someone whose power is far outside his grasp. That in a way, I was similar to him in that matter. So he's wanting to keep pushing me, to see if I can reach my final goal in life. He knows that before long, there is going to be a fight where he has to kill me, or I'll kill him. He wants it to be an even playing field it seems." He explained.

"It sounds like he still values you as a friend. It's not like he's doing it to toy with you. Where you have anger from his actions, I imagine he has sorrow from yours. Think about it from his perspective, you're probably not the first one to try and stop him from going down this path. He mentioned before that he prefers traveling alone and not making friends and that's probably why. If I know him, and I sorta do, I would imagine every time he sees you or thinks about you, he's filled with regret that things have to be this way and wishes you two could keep being friends. He's a kind and caring man at heart, I don't think he'd ever draw his blade at you with any anger or ill-intent." She explained.

Chandler was taken aback by her words, then lets out a soft chuckle.

"Seems we both gave each other new perspectives to look through." He said standing up from his chair.

He makes his way over to the room's exit and pauses for another second.

"Honestly, when the time comes and we do fight to the death, I hope he's the victory. I don't want to kill someone I used to be close to, but I can't stand by and let him change the world like this. Damned if I do, and damned if I do." He said opening the door.

Before Nozomi could respond, Chandler had already made his way into the hallway. She takes a moment to think about everything she had learned and decided it'd be best to keep quiet about everything for now. She grabs a cup of coffee for Kaito and makes her way toward Brandon's room.

"And that's more or less everything he said." Nozomi said, taking a sip of water.

"Man that's messed up, friends having to fight like that. Both of them have sides they fully believe in and that's going to lead to one of their deaths. I feel bad for them." Kaito said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well what do you think about what he said? Don't you think we should at least think about the repercussions of him becoming God?" She questioned.

"Honestly Nozomi, I'm sticking with Brandon no matter what. Not because I feel like I have a debt to him or anything. But because I see this as the best way for me to get strong enough to kill that demon and avenge our family. I guess you could say I'm not on anyone's side but ours and the side of revenge." He said.

Nozomi falls silent at his words, she always hate when he talks like that. She wished he could live a normal life, not one filled with anger and thoughts of revenge. They quickly finish their rations up and snuggle into their sleep bags. They slowly fall asleep as the fire quietly crackels in the night.