The truth about the Lichtkrieg 3

"Genova... is the one who ended the Lichtkrieg?" Tyler repeated, dumbfounded. "But how? Didn't you say something about him being occupied to keep the Silent One captive?"

"You're right, Genova was and still is focusing most of His efforts to keep the Devil jailed, even making a single move anywhere outside of the realm where He is requires him a considerable amount of time and preparation" Yoria said. "Years are needed to focus enough energy outside of the realm, and the place must be chosen beforehand. At that time, we were arrogant due to our victory, and we didn't even take in account this possibility: after all, creating the appropriate settings for Genova to truly change the outcome of the battle seemed impossible... Unless in one case, that we didn't envision at the time: if from the start, the battle between the Angel and the Great Sins had been planned since even before the start of the saint war... even before the Lichtkrieg"

"Even before? I can't understand anymore... I thought you people acted in a way where the Council couldn't discover the existence of the Great Sins and the Silence cult, so how could they know? Did you really not think to verify if they actually didn't notice what was happening in the Andromeus Field or if they were just feigning it?"

"That's pretty offensive of you, of course we thought of it. I personally sent spies to spy on both the Council's official senators, their special agents, their war spaceships and even their secret forces, and there was nothing out of the ordinary. I can garantee you that they had no idea of what was coming at them. No, Genova... He acted separately from them... most likely separately from His curch too. At that time, only one person helped in His scheme: a saint, part of the Council but walking his own path. He's the one that saw through our plan by throwing a few glances at the galaxy, and predicted the location of the final battle from the very beginning by throwing a few glances at everyone action"

She paused for a second. During this second, by carefully observing her, Tyler got the feeling that she was hesitating. Hesitating on an information, to decide if it was worth giving it to him. And happily for him, she eventually did, at least partly:

"Until recently, I had no idea who it was, but I got the opportunity to meet him recently, or at least I think it is him" the Geat Sin of Sloth said. "And I'm not sure if your suffering was intentional or not but what I'm sure of, however, is that he is the responsible of what you experienced while you were dead"

The... responsible? Really? Tyler thought for a bit, maybe Yoria was lying to cover up for herself... but most likely, she was telling the truth. The best way to know would be to learn who this saint was but right now, Tyler had a better question to ask:

"I thought you said we Blessed could only live around three hundred years, at most four hundreds, but the Lichtkrieg started in 3166" he said. "Then considering he was already an adult with a certain experience back then, wouldn't that make him at least seven and a half centuries? What's the trick, does his Blessing can help prolonge his life?"

"I don't know, but I don't think from what I could see" Yoria replied. "Maybe Genova gave him a special type of Blessing that prolonges one's lifespawn even more, or maybe he just used a secret technology of the Council that could prolonge life this much, even thought the most performant known yet can only add a bit more than a century to one's lifespwan, I have no idea"

"Even you have no idea?" Tyler asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, I can't know everything" Yoria replied, shrugging. "And as a Great Sin, I am just a demigod, I can't affirm I know the depth of a true God's might. And as a human, I was a psychologist, and I am a war strategist, I can't know the depth of the highest technologies' might either. Believe it or not, Tyler, but limitations aren't inherently human, dieties also have many limits, just to a lesser degree, even Genova and the Silent One. No matter what people can say, even God has His own limit"

She let these words sink in for a bit, as silence once again filled the room. Tyler's mind, already exceptionally weak and unstable, was struggling to assimilate all these thoughts and all these new informations, especially when then went in opposition with everything he ever believed.

Yet, he still wanted more.

Just like Saginus was filled with greed for other's dreams destruction, Tyler was filled with greed for the truth of the world. He died because of these truths, he really died. Died, died, FUCKING DIED! It was his right to know, and he needed to. He had to know it all. He had to.

"And so, what happened during the last battle of the war?" he finally asked.

For the first time Yoria revealed a crooked smile as she replied:

"Well, Genova launched His final attack, and Cain manifested him at that time to make sure the Angels got touched too, and even more badly" she narrated. "Five Angels out of six and four Great Sins out of seven were touched more severely and are still in some sort of coma as we speak. For a long time, I thought that Cain had successfully fooled everyone, but I only now realize that Genova and the saint acting on his behalf had planned it all from the beginning: this way, with even more of the deities out of the equation, they finally reached a satisfying level of 'freedom', this disgusting artificial freedom they strive for beyond everything else..."

She waited for a second, observing Tyler's expectations as they were written on his face, and then shrugged:

"The end" she concluded.

"...

What?"

Tyler failed to understand the meaning of these simple two words. The greatest battle of the Milky Way's history, and that was everything she had to say about it? As he had this thought, Yoria looked straight in his eyes:

"You heard right, that's the end of the story" she said, before adding: "Well, at the very least, that's the end of the free content"

At this moment, the look on Tyler's face would've made even the Devil Themselves burst into laughter. Finally, Tyler snapped: heactivated his Blessing, walked to the traitorous stellar commander and grabbed her by the collar:

"Don't fuck with me!" he shouted. "The end of the free content? What, do I have to force a fucking usb key through your forhead for a DLC? You didn't tell me where did the S-rank nova beast corpse come from, you didn't tell me the reason why Feng Chang left, you didn't tell me what Blue Jass, Hawk Grimms and Nightingale did to help conquer the Andromeus Stellar Field without being discovered by the rest of the galaxy, and you didn't even tell me the reason why Genova came back to Earth in the first place, even though His Bible says he left on His own! Hell, you didn't even tell me the name of the bastard who made me go through this fucking torture for ten years! TEN FUCKING YEARS!"

He clenched his teeth even harder, to the point where a small trail of blood started flowing from his gensive, and strenghtened his grip on her collar:

"I want to know, I need to!" he shouted. "I HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW!"

All of a sudden, without even realizing how it had happened, Yoria's hand connected with Tyler's face, sending him flying back. Immediately, he let his reflexes take over, and rolled back up, mustering the power of his Blessing so he could try making a move. As he wasn't yet accustomed to the process, it took him a dozen of seconds to do so. By the time his eyes had turned gray and the world around him had slowed down, Yoria was already right besides him:

"Right, you say? You think that obtaining the truth is your right?" she asked as her hand closed on Tyler's neck.

The latter tried to use his speed advantage to escape, but it was already too late now that Yoria had a grip on his neck. The Great Sin of Sloth easily pinned the poor man to the wall by the neck, as Tyler now struggled to breath because of the pression.

"It seems like, despite everything, you still didn't realize it" Yoria said. "You have no right, Tyler. In this world we live in, only the strong have every right. You were strong enough to mak your way out of the lower sectors of your birth planet, but that stops here. You could've ran away and abandonned your friends, started a new life away from Cifer, from the Council, became an adventurer and actually live the dreamy life of everyone that was born at the bottom of society.

But no, you chose to stay, because you wanted to be a hero. You wanted recognition, you wanted to be the main character. And then, when you finally realized that you aren't the protagonist of this world, it was already too late and now, since you can't accept that the truth about yourself is just as rotten as the rest, you try to seek comfort in the truth behind myths"

She threw Tyler to the floor, looking at him with contempt:

"You can't help but switch from delusion to denial, you're truly pathetic" she said. "You deserve everything that happened to you on Londris"

Tyler now realized that he had been fooled. All this time, Yoria had answered to his question with only a single purpose in mind: baiting him with information. By pulling him in with those, and then refusing to give him more, she could ensure he stayed in line. From the start, the entire litteral planet was probably under her control, and even without that she was still infinitely more powreful and skilled than he was. Everything she lacked was a way to control him, and it was the one she chose.

Tyler was truly angered and humiliated by this method, but at the same time pretty impressed. It was true that technically, she did bring him to life, and she was the one to have every information he wanted to learn. Maybe doing what she wanted wasn't such a bad idea, after all...

... except for one thing:

"I'm pathetic? Eh, maybe you're right, but at least I don't need to play frankenstein and offer the truth of the world to fool a poor little drunkard, only to end up still having to lie to him" Tyler retorted ironically.

"Lie?" Yoria repeated, raising an eyebrow. "I think I have been relatively honest until now, when did I ever lie?"

"Don't you know already? You lied when you said Cain killed me. Truth is..."

He threw an agressive glance at her, his eyes still a deep grey:

"You're the one who orchestrated my murder, aren't I right, you crazy bitch?"