Published at 25th of June 2024 3:36 am

Chapter 1016: The IndiviDuality of Riley's Child

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"Father can't be evil, it is not possible."

Somewhere out in the expanse of space, Renna was currently seated on a large asteroid; hugging her own legs like a little child. Her face was still incredibly stoic, and yet the sphere of tears dancing in front of her eyes showed just how heartbroken she was.

And although no normal sound could really survive in the swallowing darkness, Renna's voice could be heard clearly and normally almost as if she was inside a breathable atmosphere — no, she was.

She is inside a breathable atmosphere. The asteroid was not an asteroid at all, it was in the shape of half a sphere; it had plants, a lake—or perhaps it was a small ocean, as it was extending to the end of the asteroid—no, to the end of the artificial planet she created.

An artificial planet — perhaps that was the best way to describe where Renna was currently expressing her sorrows, as it even had clouds and a slight hint of a sky whenever it spun just right enough to get a view of the nearest star.

An artificial planet she created all on her own, a feat she could already do when she was only four years old.

"Father is a hero…" Renna whispered to herself again before almost biting her fingernail but stopped as she realized that what she was about to do was quite unhygienic. But as soon as she looked at her hands, however, she could not help but shake her head as she imagined it filled with blood, "...If, if Father has killed children before, children who have mothers and fathers, then…

…do I really deserve to exist? Do we deserve to exist?"

"The gods have done far worse."

"...Big Sister Karina?"

Renna then quickly sat up; collecting herself and waving away the bubble of tears in front of her, "I… I was not crying."

"No, you weren't," Karina, who found Renna despite her being in a random corner of the universe, just casually flew by her side and sat close to her; not even looking at her as she smiled.

"And…" Renna did not really question Karina's sudden appearance, as she was already used to people doing that inside her family, "...It does not matter if the gods have done far worse, that does not mitigate and erase the fact that Father… Father was a supervillain, the worse one."

"Nope, it doesn't at all," Karina let out a long and deep sigh as she looked at the sky that Renna created, "But there's also the fact that ever since you were born… Dad has been trying to change—no, he is fooling himself to change, and that might not be good enough for me, and it shouldn't be for you or anyone else…

…but if you think about it in a matter of proportions, Dad has saved more lives than he had killed."

"Hm…?" Renna squinted her eyes as she looked at her sister.

"You like numbers and stuff, right?" Karina let out a small chuckle, "I'm not very good at it, but… what percentage of people has our dad killed off the multiverse during his time? When there were still trillions upon trillions of us roaming around?"

"...I suppose it would be barely a drop," Renna let out a small breath.

"Yes, maybe," Karina shrugged, "And what percent of the population, as it is right now, has our dad saved from being killed due to him reviving the Hero Association?"

"Based on the news and all the statistics from yesterday, my projection would be around a quarter, Big Sister Karina," Renna placed her hand on her chin as she started thinking.

"And what percent of the population has he saved just for being here?"

"Hm?"

"When the god visited us in your apartment, if Dad had not been there and the situation turned violent…"

"All life might have ceased to exist," Renna blinked a couple of times as she looked at Karina, "Father… is still a hero."

"...I guess you could say that?"

"But, Big Sister Karina…" Renna then stood up while shaking her head, "...We should not represent people as numbers and percents — they have their own lives and their own individuality, all of us do — people's lives… should not be broken down into numbers."

"Wow…" Karina blinked a couple of times as she looked Renna in the eyes, "...I was wrong. Despite you and him talking the same way, you're the least like dad among us. You're… inherently kind."

"Me?" Renna blinked in confusion, "But the words I uttered just now, they belong to Father."

"...I don't know if I should be relieved with that statement or terrified of it," Karina's body almost shivered, "But for some reason… I could actually imagine Dad saying that even before, weird. Anyway…

…Let's go home."

"I… would like to stay here for a while."

"Nope, no. That's enough mocking around and sulking," Karina grabbed Renna's hand, causing her to let out a small gasp, but accepting it in the end, "That said he was going to cook for us. It's our first dinner as siblings, I want us to be complete, please."

"That…" Renna looked at Karina's hand for a while before nodding her head; a small hint of a smile, subtly crawling on her face,

"...I would like that too, Big Sister Karina."

***

"So, our Dad was evil, huh? Did you know that, Enel?"

Back in Riley's apartment, Arthas told Katherine and the other mothers what happened, about Riley revealing the truth of his past to them, causing the mothers to once again gather around to talk about how they should approach this situation… leaving Arthas to watch Enel alone in the living room.

Arthas was trying to talk with Enel, but Enel was completely ignoring him as he was busy playing with his building blocks; creating some sort of dome with several small buildings in it.

"I don't really know how to process that information," Arthas let out a small sigh as he continued talking to Enel, not minding at all that he might not even be listening to him, "I've only really known him for like 3 days, you know? I'm not close to him like you and the twins are. Wait, Renna and Lucy are considered twins, right? I… don't really know anything about you guys."

"Enel!" Enel pointed at himself before just continuing to play with his building blocks, grabbing a toy plane on the floor.

"Yes… you're Enel," Arthas chuckled as Enel finally responded to him, "What can you do anyway? Karina could delete everything she sees, Renna and Lucy… they're probably strong too. But you… everyone's saying you're a normal child, not even a super. But didn't you just fly? Or was that someone else's doing? You—"

And before Arthas could finish his words, he was interrupted as soon as Enel let out a whispering whistle and… crashed the toy plane he was holding on the dome he built.

"...Stop that," Arthas's eyebrows lowered as Enel once again picked up the toy plane and started slamming it toward the dome. Arthas's thoughts, repeating Karina's suspicion of Enel being Nothing. And although Arthas had no idea who or what Nothing is, it couldn't be anything good if Karina was antagonistic towards its existence,

"Enel, stop that."

But once again, Enel completely ignored him as he just started slamming the plane toward the dome. It might not mean anything since he was basically just a small child playing, but Arthas could not help but feel uncomfortable.

"Enel, I said stop it," and with those words, Arthas's clear eyes glowed black. And as they did so, Enel's eyes also turned black as he suddenly dropped the toy plane and stopped what he was doing, "Why are you doing that? That's not good, Enel."

Enel did not really say anything and just stared at Arthas. Arthas also just looked at him, but as he realized Enel was not going to answer, his eyes started to return to normal, and so did Enel's.

"I'm… sorry I did that," Arthas gritted his teeth and closed his eyes as he gently brushed Enel's head, "I just… don't turn evil, okay?"

"Shh…" Enel quickly shook his head before shushing Arthas, "...Be quiet, big bro. The giant eyes are watching us — they know almost everything."

"The giant eyes…" Arthas turned to look up at the same time as Enel, "...Are they your imaginary friends or… you're really seeing them?"

"I'm not just seeing them…" Enel leaned closer to Arthas and whispered, "...I hear them, they tell me things I shouldn't know."

"What—"

"Sshh!" Enel once again shushed Arthas, "...They are listening."

***

"Our Father is evil — I suppose it makes absolute sense now."

"Does it, really? Does that mean we are just products of those who came before us?"

"Product. Before me."

Somewhere in the New World, Lucy was currently standing in front of a mirror; his palm, touching his reflection as he seemed to be speaking to himself. And if one were to look just a little to the left…

…one could see a mangled corpse just lying on the side.

And while Lucy had his eyes closed and his face rested, his reflection was smiling back at him.

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