The Fool, The Death, and the Little Girl

"...U-Um, your heart...is it okay now, big brother?"

Some time after we left the place where we met--and the place where she almost killed me, she asked me that question.

"W-What? Huh?" I got startled. "Y-Yeah, I think. My palpitations have stopped already."

"...S-Sorry for scaring you, big brother." She spoke with her voice filled with guilt and regret.

"How many times do I have to say 'it's alright'? I'm already fine, so don't feel bad about it. However, as much as possible I don't want to experience it again." I told her as we went through the path filled with yellow stones on our way back to the entrance.

After what happened, she turned gloomy while repeatedly saying 'sorry' to me. I don't know what to feel about it, maybe I will let her like that until we get out of here or tell her that I'm okay, if she won't stop apologizing to me I might finally snap.

"I find it hard to believe that you're apologizing to me for what you did even though you're a Death Goddess. Should you be more ruthless when someone messes up with you? Ah, it doesn't mean that I want you to be like that, okay? I'm just saying that because my impression on you is different from what I expected."

The Death Goddess looked down to the ground when I said that. "...I don't want to be like that anymore, big brother."

"H-Huh?" My feet stopped walking due to surprise.

"...Indeed, I am ruthless whenever I get mad, but the truth is, I just want to protect myself from being hurt. I may have killed millions already, but I'm not an evil god like they always say. I am a Death Goddess not because I wanted to, but because that is my purpose here in this world. It hurts to think that everyone equates 'death' as something 'evil', and because of that I don't have any choice but to become ruthless and evil just like what they say."

Her hands gripped tightly on her dress while remembering how she was treated back then.

Right now she's telling me that she's not as ruthless as her title say, but my mind still thinks otherwise. I already saw what she can do if she gets angry at someone, and there might be a possibility that she might create a rampage if she lost control of her powers. For now I'm still wary about making her as my companion.

"...Even though I'm saying all of that, I know that deep inside you're still afraid of me. Am I right, big brother?" She then asked me while putting up a light smile on her lips.

'Dug-dug', my heartbeat suddenly became faster when she asked me that.

"...Fufuu, even if you're not talking I know what you honestly feel just by listening to your heartbeat! Big brother, you told me to not worry, right? That's why I'll tell it also to you: Don't worry, because I'm here as your little sister! I won't do anything to hurt you!" She said as she grabbed my hand all of a sudden, and gave it a light squeeze.

When I looked at her eyes, they seem to tell me that everything she told me was true and I should rest easy, but still...it's not easy for me to fully trust her yet.

"Moreover, you shouldn't worry because you now have the ability to stop me." She added.

"A-Ability?" I asked her.

She nodded. "...Yes! An ability, or should I say...a blessing from me, the Death Goddess!"

"H-Hey! W-Wai--"

When she said that she pulled me as she started running, until we reached the place where I fell and is leading to that large room.

"Oh, I can't believe that I fell for such petty trick. If I used my hands more carefully at that time, I would've discover that torch beside the rock-shaped trigger." I said in disappointment while looking at the hole that I made earlier.

"...But because of that we met each other, right? Think of that incident as a stroke of fate!" The Death Goddess said to me jokingly with her clinging to my arm tightly.

"Y-Yeah...Anyways, what do you mean by 'blessing'? How did I got such thing from you?" I asked her while feeling skeptical.

The Death Goddess, chuckled all of a sudden.

"...Fufufu, I didn't expected that you're not aware of it even until now! Fufufufu..."

"Stop with the suspense", I told her. "Just tell it to me already or else I'll leave you behind."

The Death Goddess' expression suddenly turned into a frown when I told her that. "...Big brother, you meanie! Okay, okay, I'll tell it to you--but please listen to everything I say first, understood?" She reminded me.

"Okay. I'll listen."

The Death Goddess took a deep breath before speaking. "...The reason why you received my 'blessing' is because...of [that]."

"The...what?!"

"...Muuuu, just listen to me first, big brother! I'll let you ask anything from me once I'm done explaining things to you!" She scolded me.

And so, she told me her story.

According to her, she--along with the other gods, governed the two planes existing in this world: the [Mortal Realm] where humans and other mortal beings live; and the so-called [God Realm], considered to be the highest place in the heavens, and is where the gods live and do their duties. Moreover, the gods aren't the ones taking care of everything alone, as they are being assisted by the lesser deities which they called [Seraphs]. Since time immemorial the [Old Gods] and the [Seraphs] harmoniously worked together in keeping both realms peaceful, happy and prosperous, until the time when she revolted against the gods, causing a war that lasted for thousands of years which destroyed not only the mortal world, but the heavens as well.

For almost a thousand years the Old Gods had the advantage in all aspects of battle, for they were able to thwart her attempts to overthrow the gods for so many times without having much losses for them. Because of that she grew more frustrated for the disappointing results that she received from all fronts of war, but the tables started to turn when the Seraphs themselves offered their assistance to the Death Goddess in her efforts to destroy the world, in exchange for them being recognized as being 'gods' too, which she ultimately accepted.

"...When the [Seraphs] started helping me, our losses became lesser and lesser every battle, until it became almost negligible for me to even consider. I was so happy at that time because, at last my dreams of destroying the world will be finally achieved. Because of that, I hastily made a proposal to vanquish the [Old Gods] once and for all in front of the [Seraphs]. In the end they accepted my proposal, and then they went ahead and showed to me a plan that they already been creating for so long."

It was a very concise and well-structured plan, she told me, that she couldn't see any potential problems or pitfalls should they execute it in the battlefield. She approved it immediately, and went on preparing for the final battle between her and the gods which will take place at the [Mortal Realm].

When the day the battle happened came, she led the charge while commanding a force of almost one hundred thousand Seraphs against a much larger force, commanded by all of the 22 Old Gods, excluding her. The battle then raged on for days, months, and continued for almost a hundred years,

until such time that she grew tired of the plan and went on to fight for herself.

"...I grew impatient because of the long battle that I decided to go head-to-head against those twenty-one gods whom I called 'family' since everything began", she said. "Even though I'm just alone, with me being the Death Goddess, there's no way that they could defeat me! It was just...it was too late when I realized something was off."

She wasn't informed by the Seraphs that they created a divine weapon as powerful as the her, a power of that level being able to kill even the gods themselves. By the time they used that mysterious weapon the twenty-one gods was inside the area of effect, so all of them (excluding her) instantly died.

"...To think that it was their plan all along to kill all of us [Old Gods], unforgivable!" She spoke angrily as she clenched her fists.

The twenty-one gods, instantly lost their divine powers upon activation of the divine weapon that she described to be some sort of white flash that arced throughout the bodies of the gods. Having their divinity depleted, they were then exposed miserably to the Death Goddess' aura, which ultimately led to their demise. Although it was her plan to kill them, she said, she never expected that it would happen that way.

"...When I realized that I was fooled by the Seraphs all this time, my hatred for everything grew even worse that I tried to unleash the most powerful attack that I could make, capable of destroying everything and leaving no trace. As I was about to activate it, I was struck by a bolt of lightning, and then another one, which rendered me immobile. At that time, more than ninety percent of my divinity's been drained.", she said.

After that, the Seraphs captured the already vulnerable her and then sealed her inside a cave in the middle of a desert, in which she remained in slumber for almost two thousand years. With her being the Death Goddess, she's the only one in this world who's truly immortal, meaning she can't be killed no matter what.

"...And the rest, big brother, is history. You freed me from the seal, that's why I can finally move my body now and freely wander in this world again!", she said to me while smiling.

"But you never said anything about the 'blessing'?" I asked.

"...Oh, I forgot! A-Anyway, it all started when I restrained you with my power. I was surprised--and worried at first that your body reacted strange with my power, but I found out the reason why your body's like that. [That], that thing...you have that thing in your body! You have [The Fool] in you, big brother!" She said in high spirits.

The...the...the what?

"...You heard me right, big brother! The Zeroth Arcana, the [Fool]! Whoever has that Arcana has the ability to absorb magic coming from other people, creatures and even gods themselves! That's why when you got exposed to my power, the [Death] Arcana, your body accepted all of it and making it yours as well! Big brother, you now have the powers of a god in your hands!"

When she said that, I subconsciously looked at my own hands. These hands, has some great power in them?

"B-But...how in the world did I got that [Fool] Arcana? No matter how hard I think of it, I can't remember anything that would give clues as to why I have it..." I asked her while feeling doubtful of her words.

The Death Goddess shook her head. "...Even I don't know anything about it, big brother. When I first saw you, I instantly noticed that you have an Arcana, but it was only until this point that I confirmed that it was the [Fool] that you have in your body."

So it was a mystery, huh.

"...Awww, don't worry about it too much, big brother! Just think of it as you being so lucky to have that kind of Arcana from the get-go! If not, you are already killed by just my aura alone!", she said to me in a comforting manner.

'Lucky'. I think that might be the reason why I have [that].

For now let's not think of it too much, as my head's already spinning from all the information this girl's been telling me.

But even so, at least...

"Thanks..." I said to her in a shy manner as we continued our way out of the cave.

"...Hm? For what, big brother?" She asked me in wonder.

"U-Um...for, you know, explaining things to me. I appreciate you being considerate of me, even though I'm not that kind of person who's more deserving to receive all of it."

"...There's no way someone would be more deserving other than you, big brother!", she protested. "Having my powers means that you're already deserving to be by my side as my big brother, and sharing everything I know is the first step for you to be fully aware of it! There's nothing for big brother to be ashamed of!"

When she said that she walked behind me and jumped right on my back. I was surprised when she did that, but I didn't do anything to stop her.

"...For the meantime let's hurry up getting out of this place, big brother! I want to see how much has changed in this world after not seeing it for thousands of years!" She told me while patting my back.

"Hey, I haven't agreed on you calling me 'big brother' yet!" I yelled at her.

"...Fufufu, resistance is futile, big brother!" She chuckled.

I wanted to argue with her, but remembering how much terror she caused me just a while ago, I have no choice but to go with the flow.

And thus, I carried the Death Goddess on my back until we got out of the cave.