"Brother Hope… What do you mean?" Serenity asked.
"This G.o.dkiller. It is still within me," Hope answered. "What you see now is me forcefully using all my divine power for one last time. It is very powerful but it will end soon, and so do I. I am like the last flame of a candle that burned brightly before it is extinguished."
"No…," Love was unable to say anything else. There were too many distressing things happening today.
"Are you sure you should reveal this to me?" Greed asked. "I'm sure this is meant to be a secret considering you have just threatened those other G.o.ds. If they knew you are gone, your threat is meaningless."
"I have seen how you helped Serenity and Love. I believe in you," Hope replied. "I have high hope for you."
"You are unbelievable," Greed said.
"Is there nothing we can do?" Love said. She didn't want to believe another of the good G.o.ds to disappear.
Hope shook his head. "Fear is right. Whatever this G.o.dkiller is, it truly can kill a G.o.d. I can feel my existence dissipating. It won't be long now."
"Then… Then, shouldn't you kill Fear? After all he had done!" Serenity exclaimed.
"Vengeance is not the way. You who represent peace should know better," Hope said.
Serenity turned away. "If what he and Pride said is true, then we are all lies. I am not a G.o.d and neither do I symbolize peace…"
Hope grabbed Serenity's arm and said, "We are what we choose to be. Do not let Fear's words disconcert you!"
Hope let go and spoke to everyone, "My time is short, so please heed my words. It doesn't matter if Fear is right or if he is being fed lies. It doesn't matter whether our world is real or fake. It doesn't matter if all our beings are what our creator had chosen for us. What does matter is whether we choose to believe it to be our purpose. If you do, then you stick to it!
"I am appointed by our creator to represent the hope of this world. Fake or real, I choose to live by its virtue, and that's all that matters. I choose that to be my purpose and I will uphold it until the end of my time, which will be soon. For that, I will lay my hopes on the three of you to take care of this world once I am gone.
"If you choose that you no longer want to uphold the virtues that our creator had given you because you think they are fake, I won't hold it against you. You do what you believe in. But first, you need to know what you believe in. Don't take everything others said at face value. Even if what they said seems to be an irrefutable truth. If you have faith in your belief, then don't let go of it. For that is what we all truly have in the end.
"I will die with my belief intact. I have no regret about it."
Serenity and Love didn't know what to say. As divine beings, they were always detached from the feeling of losing someone. They might have felt it a little when they found out that Courage and Joy were gone. But now, when it was happening right in front of them, they weren't sure how to process what they felt. Even Greed somehow felt sad for Hope. He refused to show it, though.
"About killing Fear," Hope laid his hand on Serenity's shoulder. "I would have done it if I could. If I try, I will expend too much energy and die sooner. Wrath and Pride will see through my bluff then, I might not even successfully kill Fear. At that time, the conflict will continue again between the six of you. By scaring them into hiding, I can at least buy you all some time to think of a solution."
"Brother…"
Hope gave both Serenity and Love an a.s.suring look. He then said, "What I'm more worried about is the outworlder who colluded with Fear. He has proven to be even a menace to us by providing this G.o.dkiller to Fear."
"Then should we eliminate him?" Serenity asked.
Hope shook his head with a smile. "We are the good G.o.ds. We don't interfere with mortals' affairs. If you wanted to go search for your belief and purpose, then do so. But if you consider me as your brother, please heed my request. Do not interfere with mortals' affairs directly unless another divine being is involved. It is a code that governs us all. I implore you to stick by it. If not for you, do it for me. Take it as my last wish."
Serenity and Love stayed silent, but they nodded weakly.
Greed said, "I can't promise that. But out of respect for you, I will do my best to stay out of mortals' affairs."
Hope nodded. "Well, I did say directly. If you wish to help them indirectly, I guess that's acceptable. I know some of you have done so. I didn't approve then. But after learning about this outworlder with creator-level knowledge, I guessed we still need to do something about him."
Hope turned to Serenity. "Serenity, that outworlder you favor. He is the one leading the resistance against the outworlder group in league with Fear, isn't he?"
"He is," Serenity replied.
"Summon him here, please," Hope said.
Serenity made a gesture and Jack appeared with a flash of light. He was pointing at something and was in the middle of a speech.
"… came and stopped the fight, F*ck these…"
He blinked a few times before realizing that he was no longer where he was before. When he recognized the ones before him, he at first panicked before quickly smiling broadly, bowed, and said, "Revered G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, it is an honor for this lowly one to stand before you."
"Hm… I have seen that smile before, you must be hiding something," A voice came from Jack's side. Jack turned and saw Greed there.
"Holy mother of…! What are you doing here?!" Jack jumped out of surprise. Just as how his radar couldn't detect these divine beings, his mana sense also couldn't sense them unless they intentionally released their power.
Jack quickly ran to Serenity's side.
"You looked like someone who has done something guilty," Greed said. "Tell the truth, why did you panic?"
Jack panicked because of what he was saying when he was being teleported here. It was something that sounded like this, "Those G.o.ds are truly annoying. They didn't come when we are losing. When we are winning, they came and stopped the fight. F*ck these G.o.ds!"
"You are imagining things!" Jack exclaimed while laughing awkwardly.
Someone suddenly stepped in front of Jack. That person was Hope.
"Storm Wind, are you the one opposing the outworlder Fear is in league with?" Hope asked.
"Uh… Yes... I fought against Master to stop him from conquering this world," Jack replied.
Hope nodded. "In that case, I will grant you my sanctification."
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