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n“Yes. We didn’t know why at first, but it became apparent later when Luka dug deep into it. If Deus created Caelo out of curiosity and loneliness, then he created Myra purely as an experiment,” Etz Chaim explained slowly.

n“His train of thought was simple: since Caelo was created as an adult, that might be the reason he became rebellious against authority. So the next god he created should be a child that will look at him more like a father figure, and therefore be more attached as well as controllable.”

n“He eventually got bored, though, after raising Myra here like a father for a few decades and left her to grow on her own while he developed plans for the next universe and his next experiment.”

n“It was then that he tampered with the initially strict but benevolent Lara, turning her into a ticking time bomb that would only get worse with time, leading to the current situation,” Etz Chaim concluded weakly.

nDante frowned slightly. “I see. And why did you choose to hide this from me? There must be a reason that such crucial information was held back.”

nEtz’s expression changed many times until it became one of grievance. “Because… Because I didn’t want you to end up like Luka!”

n“Do you know what it’s like having to watch him and Myra suffer under the hands of Lara but have them forgive her when it’s time to finally punish her? I was born the moment Myra shared her power with Luka as children, starting as a mere seedling.”

n“During that time, I couldn’t even communicate, but I could see things from both Myra and Luka’s perspectives. Myra spent every day after Luka was taken from her in confusion and pain, finally deciding to age herself naturally after remaining child-like for centuries under Deus’ order.”

n“For Luka, it was even worse. Lara slaughtered his true parents and diminished his memory of them, then sent him to the foster home where she cursed the son of his foster mother with a deficiency while making her irrationally hate him, leading to abuse growing up.”

nEtz Chaim began to cry at this point, her eyes becoming red. “Every step of the way for the two of them was paved in suffering, and I was connected to them the whole time, able to feel it all from both ends but do nothing about it!” 𝘦𝑎.𝒸ℴ

n“And yet… and yet!”

n“After going through all that, they still decided to spare her life and simply seal her just because they felt pity for her!” Etz Chaim practically roared.

nDante was silent in the face of Etz Chaim’s revelation, but he sighed internally. He could perfectly understand how Etz Chaim felt because it happened to many people nowadays.

nThere was always one friend or family member that we cared about who had suffered at the hands of someone or something, but did not nearly hate that person or thing as much as you did. To you, it was baffling that the friend in question could possibly be willing to live in peace with the one you consider their worst enemy.

nFrom Etz Chaim’s perspective, Lara’s background or reason was unimportant. What was important were her actions and the consequences that occurred because of them, which was a fair and logical way to look at it.

nBut Dante also perfectly understood Luka at this moment.

n“So you were worried that if I found out this information, I would also spare Lara out of pity and kindness?” Dante asked gently.

nEtz Chaim wiped her tears and nodded weakly. Looking at her, Dante wondered how a millennia-old creature could be so infantile in behavior, but then what made people ‘mature’ was not time, but experience.

nEtz Chaim spent too much time in this meadow, locked away from the world and reality, so she never received any external stimuli to help her grow as a person. In fact, one could say the time spent with Dante was more useful in this regard than all the time spent watching over Lara.

n“If you think that way, then you don’t truly understand why Luka sealed Lara. I guess you might have insight into his mind and feelings, but it’s not as strong as before, right?” Dante inquired.

n“Huh? Yeah, sort of. He doesn’t mind, but when Myra was around, they would do certain stuff a lot, and I was not interested in seeing that,” Etz Chaim replied with a blush.

nDante did not register the thought and continued with his point. “If you claim Luka and I are similar, then his thinking is so; Lara is not the enemy. She-”

n“SHE IS!” Etz Chaim roared and interrupted Dante, but the fellow was not angry.

n“Calm down, let me finish, Etz. From Luka’s point of view, the final boss is not Lara, but Deus. Lara is just a tool that Deus used to harm Myra and hinder her growth for his own experiment, so dealing with Lara would only be playing into Deus’ hands.”

n“Likewise, Lara is just as much a victim as he himself was. When a person is mind-controlled to do horrible things, who do you punish? The person who was mind-controlled against their will or the one who implemented the mind controlling?”

nEtz Chaim was about to speak, but Dante glanced at her seriously, which shut her up. “It could just as easily have been you. As the representative bond between Luka and Myra, Deus could one day visit you silently and corrupt you just as he did Lara.”

nDante glanced sideways at Etz’s trunk. “The reason he hasn’t after all this while might be just because there is no need to since the original ‘tool’ is still alive. However, if it was ever destroyed, he might need to fashion a new one.”

nEtz Chaim was clearly thunderstruck, as if the very idea had never occurred to her. No young child would think that they might betray or harm their loving parent, so Etz Chaim never planned for nor envisioned a scenario where she would be used as a tool to harm Luka or Myra.

nEven if it happened to Lara, it was before Etz Chaim was even conceptualized. To her, from the moment she was born, Lara was already established to be evil, and she had never seen the ‘good’ Lara, so she tended to subconsciously ignore the ‘forcibly warped personality’ part.

nBut now that Dante had pointed out the fact, it made so much sense to Etz Chaim that she began to suspect if she had already been corrupted somehow and did not know. Before she could fall into a rabbit hole of doubt, Dante’s palm landed on top of her scalp with a bit of force.

n“Don’t bother yourself with such things. Trust in Luka and Myra. Even if Deus can play with you and me like toys, he definitely cannot easily do so to the likes of Luka or Myra, or he would have long reset all the rebellious gods back into the aether eons ago, right?” Dante asked with a smile.

nEtz nodded her head slowly. “Yes… that’s correct. They were directly created from Origo’s purest energy from the core area, their existence and their souls being of such a level that they can only be ‘dealt’ with if they enter Origo’s core physically.”

nDantenarrowed his eyes. “Hence why Deus invited them over. Meanwhile, everyone’s in a rush to power up and buy time for their helpers to grow, myself included. I see.”

n“Hmm, this Deus sure is a thinker. Why do all of this just to leave trouble for yourself? After one Caela, why continue creating more? After all, you’re just creating more enemies for yourself.” Dante folded his arms over his chest and used his right hand to rub his chin.

n“I don’t know. None of us knows, not even Caelo, which is why we are taking such measures,” Etz Chaim admitted after much hesitation.

n“Oh, to that, we won’t get an answer until the final moment. Rather than that, what I want to know is what kind of planner Deus is like. Is he like Aizen, is he like Light, or is he like Nigma?” Dante waved his hand to indicate that the previous question was unimportant, leaving Etz speechless.

nShe naturally did not know who any of those people were, nor did she want to know. Rather, the main question at the moment was how to deal with Lara, and Etz was hesitant to push Dante toward any resolution after all he had said so far.

n“Alright then, let’s do it,” Dante smiled as he placed a hand on Etz Chaim’s head and gave her access to his quantum space.

n“Huh? Do what?” Etz was taken aback by his sudden exclamation.

nDante looked at her as if she was lacking all the brain cells possible, something which made Etz become red-faced. “The method to deal with Lara. What you had planned to do originally. Let’s go ahead with it.”

n“Eh? Ehh? Ehhhh??” Etz Chaim’s eyes began to spin as she was completely lost on what was going on and why it was going on..𝘤𝘰

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