Chapter 58: A Day Full of Explanations

A couple of days have passed since we left the Neutral Zone and the parasite attack occurred. We were all quite exhausted from the events. After dealing with the attack, we decided to meet in Scheherazade, as Haramark was too far for the group to come, and Eva is a realm of crime and a disaster that I must deal with later. But for now, it's not good for the kids to spend much time there.

Therefore, after leaving some Golems to help with the cleaning of the parasites' corpses and saying goodbye to Teresa and master Maldong, I finally went to meet the rest of the group. Yesterday in Scheherazade, we had a small celebration and farewell. Today, everyone returned to Earth. Well, everyone except me. Before leaving, there was one thing I needed to take care of as soon as possible, and that is to explain everything to Hannah.

Yesterday it was impossible. After the celebration, everyone was very tired, and after drinking a lot, they fell deeply asleep. It wasn't until almost midday that they woke up and finally returned to Earth. We agreed to meet here in two Earth weeks, equivalent to a month and a half in Paradise time. But after spending so many months in the Neutral Zone and not returning to Earth, everyone was satisfied with that time.

Of course, not everyone will take that long. Odelette, for example, agreed to contact me on Earth so we could talk and return a few times during that period to meet. Seora has already prepared her schedule of activities and will stay with Seohui here in Paradise, only returning to Earth for a few hours a day. Hao Win and Tong Chai will not return to Earth; instead, they said they had to stay longer here in Paradise to put many pending matters in order. And I, for my part, would also have to be constantly returning to visit Teresa.

And with all that said, that brings me to the present. Right now, Hannah and I are in her office in Sinyoung, where I am finally explaining to her most of what I consider she needs to know about the situation and my plans to avoid the worst scenario I saw with the [Nine Eyes]. And of course, being in Sinyoung, I made sure that this room was completely isolated so that nothing we say is known by anyone else but us.

"Let's see if I understood correctly, you have several innate abilities, thanks to which you could access the use of mana even on Earth, and you have trained since you were a child to the point that you managed to break human limits in your adulthood and became a kind of superhuman on Earth.

That is why you were contacted by the Goddesses of Paradise, and they kept the Golden Invitation for you, hoping that you can save Paradise. And you accepted because your abilities allowed you to see that after Paradise, the next target of the parasites is Earth. Have I missed anything?" said Hannah with considerable fatigue and disbelief in her voice, even though I had already told her some parts before.

"Yes, you missed the part where I am the founder and leader of 'The Shadow' and also the behind-the-scenes owner of 6 of the 10 largest hardware, software, and communications technology companies in the world, and the richest man on Earth," I said, laughing a little at her incredulous face.

"Right, I missed that you are the leader of the most sought-after criminal organization in the world and about which very little is known, not to mention your near-monopoly on technology and communication," she said with considerable exasperation.

"You also told me that you were the reason for the parasite attack. Why are you so sure of that?" Hannah asked with considerable seriousness.

"Mmh, let's see how I can explain this easily, I got it! You know that the Queen is a Deity and she devoured the divinity of the Main Deity of Paradise, right?" At my question, Hannah just nodded and gestured for me to continue. "Well, imagine that by devouring the Main Deity she obtained part of his powers, and among them, the most important is the ability to see the future of Paradise and the paths to reach that future."

"Are you saying that the Bitch can see the future and knows how to make that future happen? Isn't that cheating? And how are we supposed to win against someone with such power? Isn't that impossible?" Hannah said, now alarmed.

"I understand how you feel; it sounds like a totally unfair and impossible battle to win, but is that really the case? Let's look at it from another point of view. Do you know the game called Chess?" I asked, and Hannah nodded in confirmation, which made my explanation much easier.

"Well, many call it a strategy game, and to some extent, it's true. If you take two people who have never played it, explain the rules to them, and have them face off, then the game is definitely about strategy.

But if, on the other hand, you take two chess masters, then they already know the board, which is severely limited in spaces and therefore in possibilities. They know that depending on the few opening options there are, the number of games is already defined, as the movement options are limited. That's why from the start, they can get an idea of how the game will conclude just from the first move," I said.

"I get what you're saying. You're saying that with her vision, she's a veteran, she knows what's going to happen, and no matter what we do, she can know how to counter it. That only makes things worse for us," Hannah said, annoyed.

"Yes. If this were Chess, the Main Deity's vision would make her a veteran, and that puts us in serious trouble. But the point is that this is not chess, and what she's seeing is not a board with few pieces and few possible scenarios. She's seeing an entire world as the game board and people as pieces. But unlike the pieces on a board, people have will and act with free will.

Sure, certain actions can be taken and someone's action can be coerced, but even under certain circumstances, people can still act unexpectedly. So, even though she can see the future and knows what to do to get to that future, she can't control that things actually happen as she expects.

For example, let's say she sees her victory, and for her victory, she must destroy a piece. In that case, let's say the piece is me. In her view, she can see a piece to destroy, but when she sends her own pieces to destroy said piece, her pieces are also living beings and don't know who the piece is. They won't see me as the piece to destroy because they won't know if I'm that piece or if it's another human. That's why she first has to know the identity of the piece. And that's why she made that attack, to confirm my appearance, my capabilities, and thus know how many pieces or how many troops she needs to move in the future to finish me off," I explained the current situation of our confrontation with the Parasite Queen as best as possible.

"Wait, I understand what you're saying, but then if things are like that, your actions don't make sense. You said you went to face her main army in Haramark and even revealed your identity to the enemy army leader and left him alive just so he could identify you. That's practically suicide. Why did you do that? Are you crazy?" Hannah asked, now really annoyed.

What happened is that when I faced the parasite army in Hatamark and confronted the leader they sent, I realized that it was all a scouting mission by the parasites to try to discover my identity. It may seem stupid to believe that with an attack they could discover my identity, but in reality, it was a great idea because no matter the outcome, the Parasite Queen would benefit from her attack.

The Queen, upon seeing me enter Paradise, immediately sent her attack, and the only possible conclusions were that I would come out to change the outcome, or I wouldn't come out, and with that army, she would surely manage to destroy 2 or 3 human kingdoms before the rest seriously joined to stop the attack, and I would be forced to come out to fight sooner or later and would be quickly identified. After all, I would be a human who had just entered Paradise, and despite everything, would show great feats in battle. And since there are traitorous humans, the news would not take long to reach the Queen.

I could also have chosen to hide my identity in some way and delay being discovered as long as possible, but I don't like playing cat and mouse; it would have taken a lot of time and is not convenient, especially because right now I have everything in my favor. Especially the fact that I deceived the enemy army leader into believing that I am a Warrior who does not know how to fight, that I only have brute strength, and I boasted that the sword I carried is a deadly artifact that was given to me by the Martial God and that it could surely easily cut the Queen. Right now, the Parasite Queen is surely having existential problems after knowing that.

"It was necessary; my plan requires that she knows about my identity as soon as possible. Right now, I have everything in my favor, and I have to take advantage to strike her a blow from which she cannot recover soon. The biggest problem we have is that even if we win the game on the board, she is the only player. If things go against her, she can choose to simply stop playing and throw the whole board away, in other words, destroy Lost Paradise.

That's why I revealed my identity to the leader of the army they sent and why I let him live, so that the Queen can know everything and send her most powerful pieces to finish me off. My plan is to take those pieces off the board and force the Queen to act personally. No player expects that when trying to throw the enemy pieces off the board in a fit of rage, they end up losing their hands to those pieces. That's my plan; when she intervenes personally, I will cause her terrible damage. I have the necessary means to achieve it, and I am using myself as bait to attract her," I told Hannah.

If I manage to eliminate several enemy commanders, the Queen will surely show her face, and since she is still under the restrictions of the Supreme Deity because she has not yet fully digested his divinity, then any personal appearance she makes will cost her dearly.

Ideally, I would be able to kill her at that specific moment, taking advantage of the circumstances. The novel showed how vulnerable the Queen can become when forced to appear on the battlefield and after using her power due to the restrictions of the divinity of the Supreme Deity. But I'm sure that killing her is not that easy, and surely Causality would prevent me from achieving such a feat without having the absolute means.

But if it is just about causing her great damage, I'm sure that not even Causality can intervene when I have all the means more than necessary to achieve it.

And that's why if I manage to achieve my goal of killing several commanders, securing their divinities, and even severely wounding the Queen, then I will have finally completed phase 1 of my victory plan. With phase 1 complete, I will gain at least 1 or 2 years of safe time with which I plan to move on to phase 2, which is to put Paradise in order and unite all forces into one and train to become strong enough to defeat the queen once and for all with my own power.

"But if you do that, you'll be putting yourself in grave danger. You don't have to do that; you, who have so much on Earth, are really the last person who should come personally to Paradise and worry about these problems. It can't be that you are really so selfless to the point of risking everything you have and the people who are important to you for another world you don't know when you can pay professionals or even send your subordinates from 'The Shadow' in your place," she said, annoyed.

For the most part, she is right, but there are greater reasons that forced me to save Paradise from the beginning, reasons that I cannot tell anyone. After all, the fact that I was reborn is a secret that will go to the grave with me. That's why I can't tell anyone that I was reborn and that the Deity who gave me the opportunity warned me that the Destiny of the soul of the Golden Constellation with which I merged was to save Paradise, and if I don't fulfill that Destiny, then I will have to deal with the consequences, and I have no idea what those consequences are, but they are surely not pleasant.

That's why I chose to explain it differently and said, "You're misunderstanding many things, Hannah. I don't do this out of selflessness, nor do I do it because I'm a good person. I do it out of my selfishness. This is the world of two of my girlfriends, and if the parasites win, they will be left without their world, and then the parasites will go to Earth where most of the things you say I have are. That's why I came to fight here, to prevent the parasites from winning, destroying this world, and then destroying Earth. And the reason I act personally is that I don't trust that anyone else besides me can face the Queen and win. With my abilities, I'm the only one who has a real chance," I said, explaining my other reasons for personally saving Paradise. She seems to understand the situation better because of that.

Then I continued explaining the rest of my plan, the pros and cons, and the best and worst case scenarios that could occur. As she listened to all those details and as I answered all of her doubts, I finally saw how the screen that showed Hannah's worst scenario, which until now had only weakened, finally disappeared completely.

**

** Parasite Queen (POV) **

That star, I underestimated it terribly. The moment it awoke, it did so with undeniable strength and brilliance. When I saw its awakening, I felt a chill run through my body and did not hesitate to send the armies I had ready and waiting to attack. But the terrain prevented me from sending ground forces to most human realms, so I focused my main force on Haramark. I thought that those forces, even without a commander from the 7 armies, could destroy that small realm and a few more along the way until that star was forced to come out.

But it did not turn out that way. To my surprise, that star shone with great intensity and illuminated and attracted all the stars that were moving on their own. All the stars began to move around that star as if commanded by it, and my army was completely massacred without even causing the slightest damage to the humans.

But at least the most important task of my army was completed: to identify the human identity of that star and its capabilities, 'Seol Jihu,' 'The Champion of the Goddesses,' 'The Hero of Paradise,' and most importantly, 'The Bearer of the Martial God's Sword.' I don't know which sword it is, but if it refers to the personal sword of the Martial God, however unlikely it may seem, I cannot dismiss the possibility. Just remembering that cut with which I was split in half and lost a great part of my divinity which I had accumulated over millennia makes me shudder.

But thanks to the superior species I sent to gather information, I was able to find out all this, that this human is still immature and, although he has great physical capabilities, he does not know how to fight properly. That superior species only lost because it had no way to face the Martial God's Sword. It said that its own weapon and shield were cut without the slightest resistance, that this sword was capable of cutting anything. And if it really is one of the swords, or worse, the true sword of the Martial God, then I have no doubts about it. That weapon can even harm me in my best condition, no matter who wields it. That is why that human must be eliminated as soon as possible, but at the same time, I cannot be careless in my haste; one mistake and that sword could be pointing at my neck.

There are 4 months left for my Commanders to return. With all of them together, I know they will be able to eliminate that star, and without that star, everything will return to normal.

That's why I ordered my Nests to start producing troops. I will need to send a large army along with my Commanders. That star will have to be forced to come out when the time comes, or my army and my Commanders will destroy all human territory so that it has nowhere to hide.

I closed my eyes and continued digesting the divinity of the Supreme Deity. I feel that I must hurry. There is something in all this that bothers me and I do not like it, but I don't know what it is. However, I am sure that once I get rid of that star, everything will return to normal.