What is Sin? What is Virtue?

*BOOOM!*

A crushing sound came from behind Noah as something at supersonic speed rushed out of the area that was enveloped in the bluish light.

Noah didn't need to look back to see who was rushing towards him...he smiled mysteriously and his heart relaxed...

He was under pressure constantly because of one reason...

Ever since he felt the eerie feeling coming from Valentina's Scythe, he was on constant alert of both the [Immortals] around planet Earth.

Noah did not want anybody to find Valentina's existence who can use something similar to Sword and Saber Intent with her Scythe.

As a mortal, [Immortals] would find her quite interesting and would hunt her down to find out about her secrets.

Although Noah could protect her, eventually the pressure of defending against many [Immortals] will eat away his mind.

One was sitting in an underground structure built near Gabon city. Although they were young, and only 50000 years old, yet he could not take any risks.

The other was relatively much far, yet he was not willing to bet on his chances and prepared for the worst-case scenario.

He had several countermeasures active in case any [Immortal] tries something funny...but now he could relax.

He was curious about Valentina's abilities but he was not in a hurry...

After all, now he will have thousands and thousands of years to satisfy his curiosity.

He was feeling genuine contentment as his eyes sparkled with merriment.

*Whooosh!*

The golden-colored trident in Saintess Esther's hand shined brightly as she approached Noah and was about to rip his heart out of his chest.

But-

Suddenly,

A small, feminine finger that flickered with neon-blue light held the tip of the trident.

The finger didn't budge in the slightest and Saintess Esther felt like she just hit a mountain.

*Crack!*

"AAAARGGHHH"

A woman screamed in pain and agony.

Saintess Esther's right shoulder which was holding the trident dislocated because of the sudden recoil of hitting a mountain with all her strength.

*Swooosh!*

A golden-colored light surrounded her entire body as her injuries healed in an instant.

Her pain subsided immediately as she retreated a few steps back only to see,

A woman with long exotic pink hair, ice-cold blue eyes which were glittering like chandeliers. and stunning curves, wearing a tight fitted neon-blue colored outfit with high heels of the same color which were scintillating like a blue sun.

The outfit was much more slender and didn't look like 'clothing' at all, as if it was a part of her body. It covered every part of her body up to her neck.

Although Saintess Esther was surprised because of Valentina's superior strength, eventually she thought, 'No wonder people fear her'. But Saintess Esther was not scared... so what if Valentina has superior strength? She had the blessing of the Divine Goddess.

"MOM!" Ares rushed towards Valentina as she hugged her and cried as if a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders.

Although she was calm on the outside because she trusted Noah, her thoughts were chaotic on the inside.

The only woman she loved was Valentina.

Her increasing jealousy and possessiveness in recent days caused her to completely disconnect from any other women.

Valentina has always showered her with all her love and care, so how could she not feel uneasiness in her heart when her mother's body was being destroyed like a fragile piece of glass.

She didn't know why Valentina was wearing a different outfit than the battle-suit which Noah gave them but she was in no condition to think about other stuff as she only wanted her mother to be alright.

As Valentina was hugging Ares, she glanced towards Noah who was completely unbothered by her outfit that came out of nowhere and her superior strength of pushing back the Saintess without any effort.

Noah displayed a small mysterious smile and Valentina understood many hidden meanings within that smile.

"We need to talk later, Noah," Valentina said with a small smile as she turned around to face the Saintess.

"By the way, are you still stronger than me?" Valentina asked mentally...

"Hahahahaha" Noah laughed out loud in response,

But-

Ares thought her brother suddenly lost it and has become completely crazy,

but when she felt his feelings through her connection, she relaxed as she felt, Noah was just delighted and joyful.

Valentina frowned because she understood the meaning behind his laughter but a second later her eyes were filled with excitement.

"Can I now have my vengeance?" Valentina asked Noah mentally.

"Huuh?...Are you crazy mother? why bother with ants? l prefer to play their games and crush them in their own games repeatedly. The feeling you get when all their hopes are crushed again and again is the truuueeee satisfaction~" Noah replied mentally as he shook his head slightly as if he was enjoying a puff of smoke.

Why would humans care about pigs waiting to be slaughtered for their meat?

Why would humans care about chickens waiting for their eggs to be snatched and later killed in a henhouse?

To a [Immortal] like Noah, it made absolute sense to not care and play the games of the chicken while the chicken keeps thinking you are nothing but a dumb rock,

then later you 'eat' them with absolute strength.

Valentina slightly nodded as she understood his thought process...

"We still need to have a talk though..." Valentina reminded him to not avoid this 'talk' as she had many questions...like the feeling she was getting right now was as if her entire species changed...she felt less like a human and more like a being that was superior to other beings.

She felt like she was invincible and even if someone kills her...

...she wouldn't die.

It was a strange feeling!

And when she looked at Noah, her instincts were telling her that he was no different from her.

"[Jouloid]" she muttered under her breath and her senses spread through the entire planet searching through the [Energy] signatures of each and every being.

She could feel Noah's [Energy] signature which was monstrous compared to all the other beings as she tried to spread her senses through the entire planet.

But-

Except for one person near Gabon city, whose [Energy] signature was much weaker than Noah's, nobody else piqued her curiosity.

But her technique was half-baked, she could read Noah's [Energy] signature because he purposefully displayed his [Energy] signature to her for a moment, and 'The Queen' didn't care about anything except that man so she didn't bother to hide her existence...

Normally powerful beings can create techniques to hide themselves, and Valentina's half-baked technique had many flaws.

This is also the main reason why 'the Queen' was not able to find Noah because he concealed himself very well and her 50000 years of experience was nothing compared to someone like Noah.

Hence only when Noah used his [Gravity] based techniques, was she able to sense that he was nearby.

Originally, she planned to visit from world to world to find him, but as soon as she stepped foot on Earth, she felt his [Gravity] fluctuations and decided to find him here.

There was a simple method to find the man she loved with all her heart, which was to destroy the entire planet and eventually, he would reveal himself...but she was afraid that the past might repeat itself and she wouldn't get what she desires, again...

Thus she decided to silently lookout for him using her goons and find information about people who may be using [Gravity] law...

Hence, many powerful beings would have been able to hide from Valentina except 'The Queen' who just didn't care, and Noah who wanted Valentina to know that he was different just like her.

At this moment,

"You!" Esther looked towards Valentina in rage.

"You what? why are you trying to hurt Noah? It is not like he pooped on your Divine Goddess and made her praise his poop!" Valentina retorted in an annoyed tone.

She didn't like the Gods and Goddess, because nobody answered her prayers when she was suffering.

And their dogs kept nosing around in other people's business in the name of faith.

She knew about the 'deal' that the Holy church wanted to make with Noah's 'FashionX' and the little bit of lingering faith that she had was crushed.

"Who do you think you are?" Saintess Esther's eyes brimmed with fury and rage upon hearing such derogatory words regarding her Goddess.

"[Judgement]" Esther yelled as an ethereal figure of a beautiful woman with golden hair appeared behind Esther.

She was blindfolded and was wearing a pure white summer dress.

The figure was as tall as Esther, standing right behind her holding a 'weighing scale' in one of her hands.

Noah asked Valentina mentally to back off as he stood before Esther waiting for his 'Judgement'.

Valentina didn't ask as she trusted Noah and backed off with Ares in tow.

"Oh, the Divine Goddess! Punish this sinner! Punish this heretic! Punish his body and [Soul]! Punish him to eternal damnation! for the sin of committing heinous acts and going against your will"

The ethereal figure lifted her hand carrying the weighing scale and a bright ray of golden-colored light approached Noah instantly.

Seeing this, Saintess Esther smiled smugly.

She knew if anyone has committed any act that did not follow the norms of 'righteousness', the person's [Soul] will get damaged according to the severity of their crimes.

And of course, she was also confident that not a single person has done only good deeds through their entire life and committed not a single act that was against the norms of true righteousness.

Actually, Noah didn't need to force Valentina to retreat, he knew she would survive this because she became a [Immortal] just like him, and even if she dies... she would be able to revive herself since Noah has already noticed that Valentina [Soul] was not a normal [Soul] anymore.

It was made up entirely of [Energy] which carried her will and consciousness.

And nothing can wipe her consciousness. Not even Noah himself could kill her for good.

Young [Immortals] who attain [Immortality] usually don't have ways to revive themselves immediately, but how could Noah not notice Valentina's peculiarity especially being so close to her.

He could have also crushed Esther with absolute might, but why should he do that when he can see...

"W-what?" Saintess Esther muttered in disbelief as her face displayed various emotions.

She was confused, bemused, puzzled, and nonplussed that she didn't how to react!

She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Her eyes popped out of her skull and her jaws dropped to the ground.

The golden light surrounding Noah dispersed immediately upon getting in contact with him and the Ethereal figure of the woman vanished.

'When your sense of righteousness is fucked up, even the Divine Goddess wouldn't be able to judge you...hahahaha" Noah laughed coldly in his heart as he thought how rigged the system of [Judgement] is.

Noah had no sense of virtue or sin.

There was absolute indifference in his gaze for people he didn't care about.

He only cared about his people, other's can get buried under a mountain for all he could care.

In his eyes, they were nothing more than ants.

Would you care if a few ants were crushed underneath your foot?

So what if Noah killed a human? People kill animals for their survival, for food.

Animals kill other animals for food as well, it is the beauty of nature. But nobody condemns a tiger who kills a deer to survive. So how could killing another being decide whether Noah was a sinner or not?

So what if Noah lied? Truth and lies differ from perspective to perspective. According to him lie was nothing but just a 'few words' and truth was also nothing but just a 'few words'.

How can a 'few words' decide whether you are a sinner or not?

Furthermore, in Noah's eyes, there was only one sin, touching his people without his permission!

He absolutely could not accept that. Other things mattered not!

Seeing Saintess Esther's reaction, Noah reminded her:

"Go back and stop barking in our face"

"Even your Divine Goddess believes that I have done nothing wrong and since you don't have anything against me or my mother..."

"you should stop being a nagging woman who annoys her husband just because he came late and then cheats behind his back."

Saintess Esther was in a bind that she has never been.

Prince Noah is 'the' most righteous individual!!

'What the fuck!' she thought with a perplexed expression. She didn't hear anything as if she turned deaf.

She was having the trauma of her life thinking about 'how is this possible?'

Though he may not have killed anyone, any other sin like even lying puts a lot of pressure on the [Soul] of individuals during [Judgement].

They may suffer some minor injuries for lying...

But-

Noah was standing just fine like nothing happened.

HOW?

Her teachings of the church said that a person like Noah should be worshipped but here she was trying to kill his mother.

Furthermore, she had no claims which proved Valentina was a heretic.

What was she supposed to do in such a situation? She didn't know?!

Noah understood her emotions like the back of his hand so he took the initiative to cool down the situation, after all, he has already humiliated her enough to his heart's content, he wanted to see what she was up to in the future.

If Noah kills her right now, it would get boring for him...He wouldn't be able to crush her again sometime in the future and see the confusion that he is seeing right now again.

He wouldn't able to see her expressions of despair and hopelessness when she finally realizes that she was just a mosquito trapped in a cage created by him.

Was he a sadist? Maybe-*cough* Who knows?

After all, [Immortals] tend to develop peculiar personalities after living for so long...

"Saintess Esther, I apologize for my rudeness earlier but you would know how a child would feel when someone tries to kill their parents in front of their eyes." Noah said with the most 'honest' expression from his 'book of expressions'.

"I hope the Divine Goddess could forgive me and I ask for forgiveness from you as well!"

"I believe what happened earlier must have been a misunderstanding."

Noah bowed slightly in 'respect' and apologized 'humbly'.

Saintess Esther didn't know what to do but even she knew, killing Emperor's concubine without any valid claims will only cause more trouble than she was already facing...

She had nothing against Valentina, Ares, and Noah to blame them for now... and the fact that Noah was the most 'righteous' individual still caused her eyes to quiver and lose focus as if she was having a headache.

She was having a hard time deciding what to do next about her 'plans'.

How could she go against people with absolute 'righteousness' who should be worshipped...

"Prince Noah, watch your mouth next time or I wouldn't care who you are or whether you have committed any blasphemous sins or not." Saintess Esther slowly calmed down after her outburst to which Noah nodded at every word as if he was 'truly going to listen and keep it in his heart for eternity with the most 'serious' expression he could muster.

Saintess Esther thought that probably, the oracle made a mistake or maybe the person she was looking for, was not Valentina.

She could only shake her head in annoyance and turn around to leave to attend 'matters' which she left because of the sudden announcement made by the oracle.

Noah smirked then turned to look at Valentina who was suspiciously looking at him while squinting her eyes into needlepoints.

'When did my son become a righteous individual' she couldn't help but remember his personality which was quite similar to hers.

Although he was not someone who seek thrill in fighting stronger opponents, he was not someone who dedicated himself to train... yet his cold and ruthless personality was exactly like hers.

Show warmth to people you care about and indifference to others! But Valentina knew her son was anything but righteous!

Noah scratched the back of his head in embarrassment with a wry smile but then he suddenly heard a sweet voice coming from Valentina's side.

"Where is King Abbott?" asked Ares cutely as she looked around to find her host!