Chapter 33: Ow, Bullets Tingle. / The Combination Of Two Digital Dimensions. / Damn Cults.

“Alright. First thing. 'Mana source' is not the correct term for anything other than a mana cores main useage. You could call a core a mana source, though. Second… you don’t know what valves are?” Evan asked.

“I’m not all that interested in magic. I barely use it. And what I have is plenty. Mostly, I just use it at home. I was told about your lectures, too. And to stop them if I have the chance. I’m not exactly friends with you. You can just ignore me.” Mizu said.

“So cruel. You use me and then you toss me away?!” Evan faked, loudly.

He handed her the candy in his hands, getting out of his seat and switching sides.

“Why you-what the hell?” Mizu asked.

A gunshot went off.

Evan was shot in the head.

A woman screamed.

“I know how these go. One of you little idiots wants to be a hero, maybe? If not, imma tell you. I like movies. A lot. Especially ones with bomb scenes. This is the typical bus that goes at a certain speed or blows up type of hijacking. You have no idea how hard it is to get plastic explosives, or Learn how to use them. I'll give you guys a chance. Once you find the hidden bomb, you only have to diffuse it, and do that 5 more times, with 5 different bombs.” An idiot yelled.

“Oh. So that’s all it was? I can just diffuse those explosives with a snap.” Evan said, snapping his fingers as he jumped back up onto his feet.

He started walking to the front where the idiot was, a small amount of killing intent leaking out. The devils' smile adorned his face.

“Yknow. Bullets are annoying. So are explosives. They kill.” Evan said, grabbing the mans now shaking hand, crushing it.

“Do you know why you annoy me? Answer me.” Evan said.

“I-I..I have no idea… s-s-sir.” The man said.

“Because you are a human. Not a person. I hate humans. Loathe them to my very core. I like people, though. You, a human, tried to hurt people. A thing I hate attacking that which I like. Of course it annoys me. Tell me. How should I kill you?” Evan asked.

Someone kicked Evan in the head from behind.

He wasn't fazed by the blow, nor did he even sway.

Evan crushed the humans legs, immobilizing him.

He turned around.

“Who are you, kid?” Evan asked “And why did you kick me?”.

“You were going too far. You could have just apprehended him!” The kid said.

“You are, without question, one of the stupidest idiots I’ve ever met.” Evan said shaking his head.

“What did he even do to you? You don’t have to snap his legs or crush his arm!” The kid said.

Evan looked at everyone else on the bus and asked them.

“Yeah. Do you guys know what he did to me?” He asked them.

“Ye-yeah! He shot you in the head!” A man said.

A woman shushed him.

“You idiot! Do you not know who that kid is?” She whispered.

“Uh… huh. I see. So it’s the case of a spoiled brat who doesn’t know how the world works. Tell me who you are, then.” Evan said.

“Ha. My influence isn’t gonna do anything in the fight between us right now. Bring it.” The kid said, provoking him.

“I suggest leaving him alone! He’s some kinda world famous martial artist from a powerful family!” A guy yelled to Evan.

“You can’t just give up now. I’ll beat the shit outta you like you did to him!” The kid said, sneering.

“So, you're inflicting the damage I dealt to him back onto me yourself? I’m assuming I can do the same, right?” Evan asked.

“Yup!” The the kid said.

*Click*

Evan held a gun to the boys forehead.

“You seem to have forgotten what he did to me. This will hurt you a lot more than it did me.” Evan said, a crazed grin spreading across his face.

“N-No, th-there’s no way he shot you in the forehead and you lived! Besides, an old man like that hitting you in the forehead is unbelievable by itself. Don’t lie! Fight honorably!” The kid said.

“First, you introduced yourself after attacking me from behind. Cowardly. Second, you don’t understand the definition of the word honor. Third. Does this count as enough proof that I was shot in the forehead and lived?” Evan asked.

He shot himself in the head, and then in his mouth. One bullet rolled on the ground. He spat out the other one.

“Bleh. Hate the taste of iron. There. Good enough?” Evan asked.

“Wh-n-no! It’s a fake gun, then!” The kid said.

Evan shot the kid in the thigh.

“So. Are we done?” Evan asked.

He let his killing intent drift slightly near the kid.

He instantly called it back.

The kid fell on the floor and coughed up blood.

“Who is your influence, boy? Stop annoying me. I had to use magic to steer the damn bus since the driver fainted. I can’t drive perfectly, so I need to take care of that. So just let me know.” Evan said.

“I...concede…. I give up…. it’s the only people around here powerful enough to have influence. Please don't kill me!” The boy said.

“Hey! Mizu! Isn’t that your family? The hell are you guys doing?” Evan asked.

She walked forward.

“Yeah. I sort of recognize this kid. And as for what we’re doing right now? At the moment, because of you, extreme amounts of work. As for me, personally? I am escorting god to our home. He first needs to be worshipped at the shrine. He insisted on using a bus. I guess that was a mistake.” Mizu said.

“God? Ha! Keuh! Heh. To think that the female heir went crazy. How do you think things will be if people hear of your evil deeds?” The kid asked.

“Evil? You guys are evil? Seriously? Wow. I’m surprised I actually just went along without question. Eh, you’re Nokia’s friend so I trust you enough I guess. As for me being god? Yup. I’m god. I’d say nice to meet you, but I fucking hate your guts. Unfortunately, you’re still a person, so I don’t really wanna disable you. Speaking of, lemme just fry that human.” Evan said, creating a sphere full of fire. He picked the man up with mana, and pushed the ball of flames onto him, burning him alive. Well, he’s dead now, but you get the point.

“Is that enough proof for any of you? If so, please stop bothering the object of our family's worship. He has a very unstable mood. Well, not exactly. I guess getting shot in the head would annoy anyone a bit. Evan. Are we taking the kid with us?” Mizu asked.

“You knew?” Evan asked.

“Well, I can see you healing him. You’re doing it right in front of everybody. Why are you doing this, anyway?” Mizu asked.

“I said earlier. A person, bad or good, is always a person, and therefore they can be redeemed or they can fall from grace. This boy is a person. Of course I would help him. Though, coincidentally, I am indeed bringing him with us.” Evan said.

“So god… does care about us?” One of the people asked.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I do. Sorry I was gone for what, 4 centuries in my time? Basically forever 4 times over for you guys. Yeah, I had stuff going on myself. As for caring, I’m even opening a gate people can go through soon to get to other worlds. I suggest visiting if you have time. Some of them are pretty cool.” Evan said.

“Really? I think I’ve seen enough to believe that, actually… I mean, I’m literally watching you float in front of my eyes.” The person said.

“Oh! Don’t be mistaken. There are people who aren’t god that can do this. It’s magic, pure and simple. This right here is a sample of god.” Evan said, pulling up the console with a gesture and typing stuff in. The inside of the bus expanded, the exit the only thing remaining of what had previously been a normal bus's interior. He spawned in some stuff, like tables and chairs, a rug and a heater. On the table he put things that he was going to use to make hot chocolate.

“Wait, is that nectar?” Mizu asked.

“Huh? Yeah, it’s one of the many drinks I make that people call nectar, I guess. It’s hot chocolate.” Evan said.

“Are you going to make enough for everyone?” Mizo asked.

“Only one cup each. Too much is bad.” Evan said.

“An entire cup?!? In the records, all they do is just rave about the drink! It’s one of the only things that isn’t complex or formal with its wording. And it said they only had the chance to drink a capful of it. Our family has had a long-standing tradition to try and recreate ambrosia and nectar. At this point, it’s just learning the finest differences in hot chocolate and ice cream, and how to make it. Every member of our family knows the motions by heart, and the people with my position are made to become the best in the world at making hot cocoa and ice cream. The head of the family or our heir are always in the top two. I'm addicted to hot chocolate!” Mizu said.

“Oh! Oh, that’s the side effects of the one that wasn’t very good. It’s taste isn’t exactly the best, and it caused extreme addiction on a genetic level.” Evan said.

“So? That’s fine, it’s amazing! Wait… did you just say that one wasn’t very good? The nectar that the texts rave about? The one which my blood itself longs for? It’s not as good as what you’re….. oh my god…. what…. this is…. beautiful. Godly. This technique….” Mizu said.

“Oh. Yeah, it was a pretty bad addiction, that’s why I only allowed a capful. This one tastes better. Tell me, Mizu. How do you make hot chocolate? Show me.” Evan said, making an enormous selection of ingredients and kitchenware appear. Tools of all shapes and sizes. Multiple of every kind of appliance. Fridges which held even golden eggs.

“I’m putting stasis tech on your hot cocoa. It will be the perfect temperature still when you drink it. I’ll hand out the other peoples hot cocoa.” Said Evan.

He hurried back to stopwatch what she did.

“Go!” Evan yelled, starting a stopwatch.

She used fire mana, which conflicted with her frost, to clean her entire body. Washing her hands would actually make her less clean at this point.

She didn’t rush.

Evan smiled, throwing away the stopwatch.

She at least got that much right.

She used different techniques that impressed Evan.

Unlike the others he had taught before, she had actually tried using magic in cooking, using her fire and flame to exact degrees, which made Evan decide to do something for her when she finished. He wanted to teach her how to infuse mana into food, properly. She already used it to cook, something that everybody thought seemed cool, but it was so hard to control that it became nearly forbidden for non self taught chefs. She was a self taught chef, though, having undergone her own practice instead of her family's. He saw the sparkle of a hot chocolate creator's ideal in her eye. It took her quite a while, but she finally brought him her finished product. It was incredible.

“Hey, Mizu. Come here for a sec. Watch and feel what I do VERY closely. I’ll make sure you learn it while I’m here. It’s called mana infusion and mana injection. There’s others, but for hot chocolate, those are the two that matter. Think of infusion as mixing sugar and water, the mana being the sugar, and the hot cocoa being the water. You know how you move mana, right? Twirl it. Spin it. Mix it. Not too hard. I’ll be having you work on that first, because it’s the main one. The second one is mana injection. You see this?” Evan asked, holding up a piece of chocolate.

“Yes?” Mizu asked.

“Feel it with your mana.” He said.

She felt nothing.

“There’s nothing” Mizu said, confused.

“I wanted you to confirm that I infused my mana right now, so you don’t think I was cheating. That’s how hard this can be. It’s more time consuming than it is draining. I have two chocolates. One is going to be the simple mana injection, which I’m going to be having you learn, and the other is to show what I can do.” Evan said, activating his mana on the two chocolates.

She looked at them again, in shock.

And then she double checked.

The one he was trying to have her learn alone was insane, she thought.

“I know what you’re thinking. I’m not insane. The reason you use hard chocolate like this is because you aren’t going to be condensing it the day you use it, you will inject mana into it over time. You will be gradually condensing them. That way they will be ready for use quickly. Think smart, not hard. This is how you inject it.” Evan said, guiding her.

“Oh! This is genius!” Mizu said.

“Well then, since you understood that, the next thing we’re going to be practicing is the one we will be doing the most. This is the one that requires training, and not practice. For injection, you can learn it once and practice it virtually whenever, wherever. For mana infusion…. it’s a lot different. Here, do you understand this?” Evan asked.

“Huh? Ah!!!! Right!!!! One sec!" Mizu yelled, preparing.

He taught her for a few minutes, until she understood the basics.

"That was tough." Mizu said, stretching.

"Oh, I nearly forgot about this. What’s a stasistech cup?” Mizu asked, walking towards the middle of the bus.

“Stasis tech is something I designed and created before I made this reality, but it’s still useful now. It keeps stuff at the perfect temperature forever, and it doesn’t freeze time or anything. Well…. stasis tech technically has different models, depending on what each one freezes. This one is temperature, not time. It causes the movement of all particles to stay consistent and evens it out. Some outright stop all of the particles from moving at all.... But we should help these people get going. They’re fine, but mana can make people dizzy. Some people are downright allergic to it, too. Like Kane was.” Evan said, helping everyone.

“Oh. This is the normal bus. I’ll just return this to the transportation company or something later.” Mizu said.

"It’s you two....” The kid said.

“Hey…..uh…what was your name, again? I forgot.” Evan said.

“I…don’t think I told you. Why exactly did you save me. Or hurt me. Or any of that. And why is the heir to the household drivi-no, wait, hold on. Before that, why is the god of our family riding on a bus?! We aren’t poor. Anything but that. Considering what I live in is pretty much a mansion. And it isn’t our only home.” The kid said.

“I still don’t know your name.” Evan said.

“Ugh. damu. It’s damu.” He said.

“You're joking. Seriously, I want to high five whoever named you.” Evan said.

“You did….Apparently.” damu said.

“Huh?” Evan wondered.

“Evan, you handed down a law that stated what each child of his family must be called. The man who annoyed you back then is his ancestor.” Mizu said.

“I know why you seemed familiar, now. Wait… didn’t he kick me, too? Actually, you are pretty much the exact same person. Well, I guess it was a long time ago. He also shouted about honor a lot….damn. I feel nostalgic. You really are just like him. Fine. Mizu. When we get there, remind me to lift the punishment from their family. And get him a new name.” Evan said.

“No.” Damu said.

“Why?” Evan asked.

“I don’t mind you lifting the punishment, rather I’m happy about that, but my name is my name. Whether it means dumb or not, it doesn’t matter.” Damu said.

“Now, that? That is definitely inherited. As much as I hated you at first, the less I’m starting to hate you now.” Evan said.

“You’re just looking at me and thinking about my ancestor, not me.” Damu said.

“Hm? Oh. Not what I meant. Your ancestor was…. an utterly hopeless, complete fucking idiot, but he was a good person. I’m saying you are, too. The reason I even made that punishment was because I had made a bet with him, and he got mad at me for losing on purpose. He gave me conditions for the names and started calling me an idiot as well. So, since he had told me to write down every other word as the next generation of his family's name, I chose to write idiot and stuff because I was being petty. That’s why your name is literally dumb. Now that I think about it, that may have carried into his sisters families too, actually. Oops.” Evan said.

“Was that you trying to convince me to change my name?” Damu asked.

“Oh, god no. I wouldn’t go that far. I just remembered the story. But….I didn’t expect it to actually carry on for this long.” Evan said.

“We take our traditions very seriously. Even I do. And I have to admit, I’m not the smartest. But thinking about it, the god that appears in all of the family records is you? So that means you probably know more details, right?” Damu asked, suddenly very interested.

“Yeah, to me it feels like it’s been barely a few years, though. What did you want to know?” Evan asked.

“My family has a long standing tradition where the father has to go out and try to find our ancestors staff after at least one child has been born. We know almost nothing about it, but we keep copies of a map, and a riddle that he left behind. Do you have any idea what it could be? And can you tell me what that staff does?” Damu asked.

“Oh. Riddle, huh? Sounds like him. He would always hide stuff from his child when he misbehaved, but he left riddles and clues. If he solved them, they were his until the next time it happened. It encouraged him not to be bad, and if he did, it encouraged him to work for it. Kinda. He tailored it to a person's intellect. That’s why he told me I wasn’t allowed to try it out. As for his staff? Yeah. That thing is cool. It’s based off of the stick that can shrink and grow at will. He knew the story and history, not me. No idea where it’s from. But one thing that always pissed me off was how he used it. While I designed it to be Unbreakable too, I focused a lot on the shrink grow feature. He didn't use it much, only in grave situations.” Evan said.

“What? This puzzle that gets handed down is clearly for you, then…. ” Damu asked.

“Uh, well...hm. They don’t teach this I’m guessing.” Evan said.

“Evan. If you want to share it, that’s fine, but I’ll let you know that the family decided to keep that knowledge to the heirs.” Mizu said.

“And? Is he not…. wait, you aren’t?! Mizu, why isn’t he an heir? His family should be prominent in the main family. He’s the descendant of Guzos best friend, and a good friend of mine too, Chen. Golds brother. What happened?” Evan asked.

“You don’t know the story. Our ancestor left a test for being the heir. If you fail, you fail. It’s… a hard riddle. And I'm not very smart.” Damu said.

“Let me check this map, he probably stayed up for like 3 nights concocting the perfect riddle. Let’s just cheat a little. Some of his riddles actually required cheating. Ah. Yup. That’s some foul play. There’s some. Oh. Okay, I get it now. All I have to say is one word.” Evan said, studying the paper damu gave him.

“I’ll tell you now, and again to your family. While all I have to do technically is say one word, that doesn’t mean I can’t give a slightly more… acceptable answer. Tell me what you think of when I say the word. Mountain. That’s it. That’s the word.” Evan said.

“That’s… not very good acting. That entire thing was fake.” Damu said.

“Damu. Don’t take everything at face value. It may mean more.” Mizu said.

“No, that’s exactly what he needs to do, actually. Take things at face value. Ah. Well, it’s not like he would- oh my me, he does.” Evan said.

“It makes sense! You really are god!!! Even if you aren’t, this can give us a happier ending to the entire name problem! I may not exactly understand why, but this makes me feel a fuzzy feeling. Like when the nervousness gets reversed.” Damu said.

“Relief? Anyway. You are just as entertaining to screw around with as your ancestor.” Evan said.

“Wait, what? What’s that mean?” Damu asked.

“Hm. I used to be dragged by him on pointless adventures. Well, I guess fruitless adventures? No, an adventure that…. hm. Like when you fail an impossible task, and you learn from it. He was a very worldly man. Of course he changed quite a lot after…. that. He became pretty peaceful.” Evan said.

“After what?” Damu asked.

“His first child. I wasn’t really there for it, though. The time adjustment setting that I fiddled with sped up time here, so technically a year here is about a day or two in the first world. So I was able to be in here a lot longer. I realized this a while ago, but it seems your world collided with the game dimension I created. They fused. It’s barely recent. Mizu. How long have you and Nokia been friends, probably a long time right?” Evan asked.

“Whole life.” Mizu said, chewing on a chocolate bar.

“Hm. Oh, right. Why do you guys have a gang?” Evan asked.

Mizu was startled to the point that the bus swerved, and the food she was eating got stuck in her throat.

“You good?” Evan asked, handing her a napkin.

“Yeah, fine. Just gotta know. What exactly have you found out?” Mizu asked.

“You mean, including Tetsu's part in it?” Evan asked, amused. He had taken a guess. A rather educated one.

“You know about Nokia’s involvement too?” Mizu asked.

“She has none…” Evan said, knowing that much.

“Shit. You do know.” Mizu said.

“Well… that last one wasn’t exactly a hard question. Nokia is anything but the type to get involved with crime. I’m curious about how you met Tetsu. From the information I’ve figured out by sitting and doing nearly nothing, except fight and follow people around while super bored, it’s that she is probably the heir of another family. Is that right?” Evan asked.

“Yes….” Mizu said.

“Let me guess, the next two are Kaze and Kaen?” Evan asked.

“.........yes.” Mizu said.

“And they’re a part of the gang?” Evan asked.

“If you're part of us, wouldn’t you know?” Mizu asked.

“No. Not everyone is paying attention to everything. Honestly I heard about us having some sort of element 4 or stuff, mostly thought it was a joke. Let alone them being actual people. I heard something off handedly and got curious.” Evan said.

“That… that’s a fair point. Well, as you have probably guessed, we have four elements. Yay. Kaen is fire, and obviously is our strongest fighter. Well, second strongest. Technically Tetsu can mow him down like grass but she can’t get near him without me. As for kaze… she’s… she’s a bit of an airhead. Luckily I’m not like an ice queen in manga.” Mizu said.

“You’re water. Not ice. So you’re cool.” Evan said.

“Huh? No, I’m ice, despite the name.” Mizu said.

“Okay. Open the door, and try to use an ice block but don’t squeeze the mana, if that makes sense. Don’t condense it at all.” Evan said.

They headed outside.

“All right. Here goes something. Probably my hopes and dreams. ” Mizu said.

She readied her mana.

She imaged summoning her ice, but not gripping it hard, rather, holding it loosely, like it was slipping out of her grip.

Evan backed up. A lot. damu looked up, his eyes wide.

“Damu. If you don’t want to get wet, get back. Water magic like this can’t be dispelled... Hey!! Mizu!!! Open your eyes!!!” Evan said.

“Gotch-what the fuck?!” Mizu said, waving a massive sphere of water around, realizing it was hers. She lost concentration for a second and it slipped. She got soaked.

“Why was it so big?” Mizu asked.

“What? Oh! I thought I was wearing my black jacket!” Mizu said.

“Here. Dry off. Wear clothes.” Evan said, dying her off and putting clothes on her magically.

“Wow. This is what you can achieve in magic, eventually? That’s pretty damn cool. Wait, no! How did I do that?!” Mizu asked.

“You felt it yourself, so you should know. At this point you should understand mana to a certain extent. On that note, if you want to stop blowing up randomly, condense spheres of mana and freeze them. Whenever your mana is nearing the maximum storage capacity, condense the mana a lot. Like, a lot a lot.” Evan said.

“I’m usually in public. I don’t want to be seen as an explosive menace.” Mizu said.

“Hm. Then let cold mana leak out. The room will seem to get dramatically colder whenever you walk in. But if you condense it, it just makes a small blizzard in a ball, oddly enough. It will make it snow in a small area. That’s because the force of ice mana specifically has an extreme drop off in power compared to every other type. It is extremely solid but brittle, and it melts. While that seems like it’s better, it doesn’t travel as far due to its weight and the air resistance. In fact, plasma and fire are the strongest because of how little drop off they have. The radius of the damaging burst is massive. Ice is like a bullet, whereas fire is like a bomb. Here, watch.” Evan said.

He made hundreds of small balls of water in the air, shaping and freezing them.

He pointed at a tree, letting them fly.

The tree was ripped to shreds, and the trees behind it took heavy damage as well.

“Ugh, leaves.” Evan said, slapping stuff that had blown into his face.

“Wait, can you explain that?” Mizu asked.

“Hm? Ah, sure. Here, do this for the beginning.” Evan said.

She did what he taught her, but she couldn't make as many as him, and they seemed slightly wobbly in the air.

“Why aren’t mine shredding the tree?” Mizu asked.

“Don’t worry, that’s more than enough to easily kill someone who isn’t prepared. If you wanna see something really cool, watch this.” Evan said.

He encased his arm in ice, with what looked like a massive rail gun.

He summoned a lot of frosty air and condensed it with a few other elements, and conjured some bullets inside of it as well, a small metal bead surrounded by bullet shaped ice.

He aimed at a tree, and blew a large hole all the way to and through the mountain in the distance.

“Fuck. Don’t worry, I can fix that.” Evan said, pulling up the holographic console.

He typed in a few things and the mountain seemed to magically restore itself.

Well, it did magically restore itself.

“That was certainly…. impressive.” Mizu said.

“How did you fix that giant hole?” Damu asked.

“Well, I scanned the area over there from a log that appeared a few moments before I destroyed it and restored that. But, I found that staff in the scan. Huh. Odd. That mountain… it’s old, isn’t it?” Evan asked.

“It is indeed. We have no idea how it hasn’t changed at all. Oh. That’s what you meant when you said you found the staff. That explains a ton of our questions.” Mizu said.

“Yeah. That’s not a story for now, though. Weren’t we going to your family?” Evan asked.

“Ah. Right. Let’s go, I’ll drive us there.” Mizu said.

They headed onto the bus, and towards Mizus' family.

“Hm. I like the house. Very nice pond.” Evan said, looking around.

“It is quite nice. But we’re here.” Mizu said, stopping in front of a large doorway.

“Oh. So this is where the elders of your family are?” Evan asked.

“Yeah. They’re waiting.” Mizu said.

“That’s no way to talk to our god. I thought we raised you better than that.” Mizus mother said.

“I don’t mind it, so let it go.” Evan said.

“Yes, your holiness. I shall obey your every word.” She said.

“Name?” Evan asked.

“Shine, my lord. That is the name bestowed upon me by the family head.” Shine said.

“Mizu, your mother seems a bit…. odd.” Evan said.

“Apologies my lord, I shall correct this inconvenience at once and atone for my sins with my life.” Shine said, taking out a knife and attempting to kill herself.

“Idiot. I don’t want you dead. Honor me by treasuring your own life.” Evan said, creeped out.

“Truly, our god is the object of our worship for good reason.” Shine said, kneeling.

“Hm. I’m going in. Mizu, can you watch your mother for me?” Evan asked.

She gave an affirmative nod, and Evan headed into the chamber.

"Tch. Damn stupid cultists...." Evan whispered.

“What is this place? Such a long hallway. Dark, too.” Evan said, walking forward.

He eventually reached a chamber with five large podiums. On four of the podiums sat the family elders.

“So this is my seat, I’m guessing?” Evan said, sitting on a chair in the middle of the room.

“Your holiness, your seat is up there.” A voice said.

An old lady came to him and led him into the room atop the largest podium.

It had a comfortable bed, and its curtains blocked people’s view of him.

“I feel like the mysterious head of one of the super affluent families that you see in anime or manga.” Evan said.

“You are much greater than that, your holiness. No family is greater than ours, and our family isn’t as great as you.” The old lady said.

“I see. So, why did you bring me here?” Evan asked.

The elders looked at each other.

“Well… we don’t think that there is a single place in the world that can accommodate you properly. We assumed that we were the best suited to care for any of your needs and desires. We brought you here to help you with anything you need, even if it were to destroy the family. We will carry out your will gladly.” The old lady said reverently.

Evan shivered.

“Jeez, that’s a little bit too much devotion, isn’t it?” Evan asked.

“No. In fact, among all of us, I’d say my devotion to you is already below an acceptable amount. We don’t deserve to even breathe the same air as someone of your greatness.” The old lady said.

Evan noticed that the others were starting to suffocate themselves in agreement.

“Stop! I command you, cease this at once!” Evan said.

“Yes, your holiness. We obey your will.” They said, immediatly complying.

“Oh my god, this is annoying. You brought me out here just to take care of me? I appreciate it, but I’m going back. I have things to do.” Evan said.

“As you wish.... Your holiness, you seem to get along well with our heir, Mizu, yes?” The old lady asked.

“Yes? Why?” Evan asked.

“We wish to present her as a gift to you, as a sign of our faith.” The old lady said, bowing.

Evan was appalled.

“You... what? Mizu is a person, not an object! How can you just decide that on her behalf?! Do you do this often?!” Evan asked.

“No. We thought that a god would appreciate a human sacrifice, we apologize for our grave transgression.” The old lady said.

“Sacrifice? Wait... You were giving her to me so I co-? You… willingly sent her to her death, without her consent? You thought I would kill her?! Me?! That’s disgusting!... Well, at least you aren’t killing yourselves like everyone else.” Evan said.

“We wish to do so for our mistakes, however, the ancient script details your annoyance with trying to stop people from doing that.” The old lady said.

“.....”

Evan left silently, disturbed.