The Gods' Blight upon this New World 2

Aqua continued. "You have two choices. You can choose to start over at square one with a new life, or you can go to Heaven and carry on like an old woman."

Being X had lied to her, then. There was some sort of afterlife beyond reincarnation. Not that Tanya thought the bastard had been telling her the truth about most things that had spewed from his mouth, considering that he mostly ranted about how awesome he was and how doomed she'd be without him.

The girl leaned over conspiratorially, looked over her shoulders, and began to speak in a slightly lower but no less discernible voice. "To tell you the truth, Heaven isn't the dreamy place you all imagine it to be."

Tanya merely raised her eyebrows. She'd never imagined heaven.

"There's no TV, manga, or games. You have no physical body, so you can't do anything sexual." Tanya's anger spiked. How dare she remind her of-

Aqua just continued talking, ignorant of the angry whirlpool standing inches away. "There's nothing to do but bask in the sun and sing the praises of the Gods for all eternity." Tanya continued to glare. As if she'd ever sing the praises of any god.

The most she ever did was reluctantly scream them, when she wasn't-

Tanya bit down on her cheek again. Not here. She wouldn't remember here.

Mistaking the anger and fleeting panic on her face as shock, Aqua continued to speak. "Yeah, you don't want to go to a boring place like Heaven, right?"

"Of course not!" Tanya snarled.

Aqua nodded. "On the other hand, starting over from square one isn't so fun either." Tanya looked down at her body. No, it wasn't fun to be reincarnated, especially when you had your memories and were locked in a battle with a supremely powerful being.

She nodded hesitantly, a delicate looking eyebrow raised slowly. Aqua proceeded to lean into Tanya, almost yelling, "On that note, I've got a great offer for you."

Thoughts crystallized in Tanya's mind as she ignored the violation of her personal space.

Was she trying to sell something to Tanya?

Aqua definitely was. In fact, she was slightly panicking.

That book usually allowed her to formulate some sort of way to convince the gullible losers that came in here to do what she wanted.

Wondering how she would convince this girl to go fight the Demon King, Aqua looked down at her – it was hard not to – and noted the military gear and the bauble around her neck. It looked… magical.

Smiling sweetly, Aqua took a few steps away from the standing figure of Tanya. "You like having magic, right?"

Yeah. She was definitely trying to sell Tanya something.

Suppressing the urge to giggle at the thought that this reject goddess might get her to agree to something willingly before Being X ever did, she nodded and crossed her arms. She needed to appear that she was open to whatever idea this 'Aqua' was presenting.

She might as well hear it. Maybe it would be better than trying to sneak out of… wherever this was.

Not that Tanya would definitely bite. It would depend, of course, on what she offered and how this deal would be enforced.

She would listen to the girl, though. She seemed to be trying harder and more logically than Being X ever had. Tanya would give the girl a chance for that, if nothing else.

The girl struck a pose, and began to recite a speech that sounded like an ad for a crappy video game for a phone model that was three years old.

"That world, which had long enjoyed peace, is being threatened by the Demon King's army," she loudly declared, striking another pose, "Everyone lives in fear of the Demon King's army's merciless pillage and slaughter!" As she spoke, she made various gestures to drive home the point, and an additional, golden spotlight shined down as she finished.

The light faded, and she began to speak normally again. "Since that's the sort of world it is, everyone refuses to be reborn, so the population is declining."

Tanya internally rolled her eyes. If heaven could contain souls as they praised Being X for eternity, then there was likely a way to create new ones. Otherwise, the universe would have run out of them, eventually.

Probably. She didn't have a lot of information to go on, but that would be her working assumption.

It was much more likely that the population was declining due to the fact that someone was terrorizing an area, killing thousands. People wouldn't want their children to be born in a place where they could easily be killed, and would take measures to ensure that they didn't end up pregnant.

"So we decided," she explained, "'Why not send people who have died in other worlds there with their bodies and memories intact?'"

An interesting proposition. Of course, the girl hadn't gotten to the point of why she would want to start fighting, but Tanya was sure she'd get there eventually. Tanya nodded in comprehension, and the girl continued her speech.

"Additionally, I'll be doing you a big favor." Tanya looked up from where she had been mentally scheming, thinking about how fast she could rise in an army with the knowledge and experience she now held.

"I'm granting you the right to bring any one thing of your choosing with you. It could be a tremendous talent or a powerful weapon." Tanya's eyes widened.

Having something that she didn't have to pray to Being X to utilize? Now that was tantalizing.

"You'll be able to redo your life with all of your original memories. To top it off, you'll be able to bring one thing of your choosing! And the people of the parallel world will earn them someone battle-ready to help them. Not a bad deal, don't you think?"

Tanya nodded. This was a good deal for all of the parties involved. The gods also benefited, of course; they didn't have to keep housing lazy squatters in heaven when they could be praying or spreading the faith.

But most of all, Tanya benefitted. She'd get another life and continue to spite Being X.

If he even knew where she was, anyway. He wasn't interrupting this proceeding, so she would just marvel at her good fortune in the back of her mind.

The girl now stood, straighter and more serious than Tanya had seen her yet. Tanya steeled herself, curling her fists for a moment, before launching into her questions.

"Ma'am, I do have some questions. Will I keep this… magical focus of mine? I don't really want to give it up…"

The girl waved her off. "I'm sure that nothing you smelly apes have created could possibly affect the system. You won't have to give it up," she said arrogantly.

Perfect.

Tanya smiled widely. Aqua thought the smile was created in thanks of her generosity, but any normal person could have told the goddess that the grin was, from one to ten, a fifty-three on any creepiness scale.

Tanya smoothed out her features, and began to speak again. "Another question. When you say 'original memories', do you mean the ones that I can remember now?"

She didn't want to lose what she had remembered and learned in either of her lives.

Aqua rolled her eyes, seemingly annoyed that she had to answer these questions. "Yes, that's what I meant. Sorry that you couldn't keep up, little girl."

Oh, how Tanya wished that she had her gun so she could split the head of this annoying girl open… or at least some way to contact an HR Department and get her fired for insulting a customer.

But she didn't, and, more importantly, she needed this so-called 'goddess.'

Tanya smiled. "I have one last question. What do I get out of this besides going to another world?"

This brought Aqua up short. Didn't she think it was a privilege enough that she got to be reincarnated by her, Aqua?

She groaned, and began to answer the question. "Usually, we save this until you're already leaving, but if you survive, you get one rule free wish."

Oh.

Well, now she had to go. Being reincarnated again might spite Being X, but if she did this, she'd get a single wish. She could do anything. Become immortal. Have her old body back. She could go back to her original life, or to her second life! She could…

She smiled. She could wish that Viktoriya and all the members of the 203rd were alive, or even that the World War hadn't happened. She could-

Tanya's eyes widened and she took a deep breath.

She could even take direct revenge on Being X.

All of her second life, it had been her goal to get to the rear and spite Being X by surviving and being reincarnated. As she'd come to command her troops, those closest and most loyal to her had been worked into her plan. She'd wanted to take as many of them as she could with her.

But this…

She wouldn't just spite that once unassailable Being.

No, she could exact her revenge, pound for pound, blood for blood, every single pain and embarrassment for something equally bad.

And, if this new world proved to be too dangerous, she could just run away. She wouldn't have any documentation, and could likely just fly to some other country.

A wide, insane grin split Tanya's face. "What are you waiting for, Aqua? Show me- "

Then Tanya stopped, and the grin fell. What would stop them from simply going back on their deal?

Aqua, oblivious to the fact that the nasty smile on the human's face had not been one of awe, began to groan. How did she still have questions?

Suspicious once more, Tanya glared at the being. "Wait, how can I ensure that you won't back out of the deal once this 'Demon King' is dead?" she asked, staring at the blue beauties face.

The, apparently welcoming this question, rushed over to her table, from which she pulled out what looked like a pamphlet. "This is a contract. In essence, it details what you need to do, what we'll do, and how this process will work.

Smirking, Tanya ripped the thing out of the girl's hands. She'd be studying that. "Alright, now I'm done. Proceed with the theatrics," she said with a small motion from her hand.

Aqua, relieved that the annoying girl was done, went on to the next stage. "Wonderful! Now, chose! I'll grant you one power that is second to none!"

--OxOxO--

Tanya had figured out a few things.

Firstly, every single thing that Aqua offered was completely overpowered compared to anything she had ever heard of, excluding the cursed Type 95.

The blue brat – because that was what she was: an annoying, self-absorbed, water-themed brat – had kept badgering her to hurry up, spouting demeaning drivel to incentivize her.

It was getting on her nerves, but Tanya endured her annoying attempts to get her to hurry and suggested that she go back to sleep while she was choosing. Aqua had thought her suggestion was excellent and had promptly dozed off.

She'd tried to read the contract, but the pamphlet-sized housing for the contract was impossibly enormous. Whenever she turned a few pages, preceding pages would disappear and new ones appeared in their place, creating something that was a few hundred pages long, at least.

She had gotten to the parts she was interested in, however.

She had to stop the Demon King, or the contract would kill her.

Or, at the very least, she had to side with whoever opposed him. There were quite a few loopholes she could see from even the first few pages, but considering the fact that Being X was overworked by his failed business model, she guessed that he wouldn't be able to write a foolproof contract.

This meant that she could abandon the fight against this person, as long as she helped the people opposing him from time to time. That went for her new 'Divine Relic' as well, if she didn't fight the person…

It would disappear. She wondered if it would also take her Type 95 – and that would be a good thing, considering she literally couldn't get rid of it. She had tried to damage the thing with knives, but her body's control was taken from her if she dared to try. When she'd tried to toss it into some unnamed river deep in Russy territory after-

She shook her head and ignored her most recent horrible memories and focused back on her situation.

The wish was enforced by heaven's mana, and couldn't be surpassed by anything. If the wish was voided, then she, as the Reincarnated, would be free to go and no longer beholden to the contract, and heaven would face serious… repercussions.

With that over with, she had started to survey the veritable flood of overpowered… things.

Because it wasn't just weapons. There was clothing and armor, abilities that sounded fanciful, and even race changes. This world, it seemed, would be much more diverse than her second one.

In that world, it was just humans, as far as humans could tell. Here, there were apparently elves, dwarves, beastmen, and all sorts of other things.

But, eventually, she whittled down her choices to simply three.

Her first option was a power boost. It was probably the best for ensuring her own survival, regardless of whatever happened.

The paper that described the object was titled 'Circlet of Greatness.' When activated, it boosted whatever the wearer's best attribute was by a factor of ten.

Tanya was salivating at the thought of how much mana she would have access to. The downside was that it would also devalue the wearer's worst attribute by that same factor.

'You might have the charisma of a god, but if your stamina's lacking, even charisma won't help you,' was the tagline of the card. Tanya had grumbled about extremely powerful perverted beings upon reading that and thought of the practical applications instead.

Sure, her physical capabilities wouldn't be wonderful , but she'd have so much mana, she didn't think that anything could kill her, besides Being X.

Not having to pray to Being X every other week and losing her memory would be nice, as well. With that much power, the Type 95 wouldn't be necessary for much.

Of course, wearing something that looked like a crown might get her a few odd looks, but she was sure she'd be able to wear a hat over it or something.

The next thing she could get was far more… indulgent than the first.

It was a skill called 'Shapeshifting.' The more she powered it up, the more she could change her body.

Early stuff would be hair and eye color, with bone structure and muscle density would follow. The final abilities included being able to make pieces of your body into weapons and armor. It seemed good, but Tanya liked being away from the danger, and this ability seemed to lend itself to stealth or physical fighting.

On the other hand, this could help her escape, if need be. She could become anyone and everyone.

And, of course, she could look and feel like her old self again. Which was a big plus.

The last option she had thought of was probably against the rules, but she included it nevertheless.

As Aqua had said that she could take anything that she saw before her, Tanya had thought to take the self-proclaimed goddess with her. Sure, she was more than a little annoying, but Tanya had labeled everyone who wasn't a superior or trying to be the ideal soldier in the last life annoying, for a time.

She'd even thought that about innocent Viktoriya, when they hadn't known each other well.

How bad could she be once they got to know each other?

Besides, regardless of her ability to connect with the goddess, the practical bonuses of having someone as powerful as her should outweigh the possible negatives.

As she deliberated, mind whirling between possibilities where each of the things she could take with her, she reached a decision.

Tanya stood, and walked over to Aqua. She nudged her, and she rose easily this time. Tanya didn't really want to slap her anymore. She didn't want to risk this opportunity.

Aqua looked around worriedly, probably concerned that that Eris person, likely some other powerful being, was there. Her dark blue eyes met Tanya's vivid blue ones. "Oh, it's just you," she said. She sat up straighter in her chair, and whined, "Do you have more stupid questions, little girl? I really-"

Tanya snarled out a response. "No, you-!" She calmed down, and bit out a response between clenched teeth. "I've made my decision."

She seemed relieved. "Finally. So what have you chosen?"

"I choose…"