40 Chapter 40: Humanity

~A Thousand Years Prior~

Yao stood silently, as she watched the scene beneath her unfold.

A Noble in the Land of Water kidnapped the daughter of the Daimyo of the Land of Frost, yet when the Daimyo demanded she be returned, the Damiyo of the Land of Water declared war on them and led a full scale invasion.

Yet right now, Yao wasn't witnessing a battle of vast proportions between two warring parties, nor was it a battle of high-powered Ninjutsu from the newly created Shinobi.

No.

What she was witnessing was the slaughter that the troops under the Daimyo of the Land of Water were committing to the people of a small Village near the border.

Men, Children, and the elderly were killed indiscriminately, while the women were taken and treated to untold horrors.

And why was Yao watching this and not intervening?

Because she realized that it didn't matter.

She had been residing on her new world for about a hundred years at this point, and though she had consolidated the existence and importance of Kamar Taj in that time, she had not personally witnessed the evils that humanity might commit.

So, around a year prior, she embarked on a journey in a similar way to how she did many years prior, yet the difference was that she no longer was exploring the joys and beauty of the world, but the horror that humanity was capable of.

On her first week traveling, she found an abusive family, with the father physically harming both his wife and children, with seemingly no care for their safety. 

She gave the woman enough gold to leave the man for good and to ensure that she and her children would be safe, yet what she didn't realize was that the woman could no longer function on her own, as if she grew dependent on the man from all the years of trauma she suffered.

The woman returned to him after not making it far, with her explaining what Yao did and giving her husband the gold in a hope that he would turn over a new leaf, and for a while, he did.

At least, until the money ran out from him gambling it away over the course of a year, with him going right back to his original ways.

Yao was tempted to simply end the man, yet that thought horrified her, as it showed her gaining a new perspective on life, as if it was something she could easily snuff out if she felt she was justified rather than something that should preserved.

So Yao utilized a the tool that allowed her to visualize the different results that her actions could have, with that being the Time Stone.

Yet the futures she saw either ended up with the Mother neglecting her children after her husband's death or the Father simply continuing to abuse them until the children became adults and left.

Seeing that their was no correct choice or option, Yao merely chose to leave.

Because, no matter what she chose, their lives wouldn't get better.

Yao realized that she couldn't always make a situation better, as the world was far more complex than actions simply being good or evil.

And that fact was compounded in her head throughout her travels over the next few months.

She saw crimes that in her past world, she would have only saw on the news.

She saw evils that would make many feel as if they had sinned just by observing them.

In some cases she just observed, while in others, she intervened.

But, at this point, she no longer felt that she was making a major difference in the world, and the destruction that was unfolding before her seemed to be perfectly showcasing that.

'No. I have no interest in controlling what people can and can't do. The fact that they posses the free will to perform acts, both good and bad, is showcasing that the effort that I'm doing is beneficial to the world.

Maybe... Maybe Humanity just is beyond saving.' Yao thought sadly as her eyes began to glow.

Runes began to appear above each of the soldiers, yet none of the men from the Land of Water seemed to realize it, as if they were unable to perceive them.

'But just because I don't casually interfere, doesn't mean that I won't.' Yao thought as a serious expression appeared.

"I banish you evil and wicked souls as a sacrifice, one that will be forced to guide the Souls of this world to the afterlife, and help to maintain it.

You shall become beings that lack control of their own body, yet fully aware of their job. You shall become the Shinigami, yet you will never find release from your purpose. That is the punishment I give to you, those who torture these people for amusement."

The men began to transform, with them screaming as their skin turned purple, their hair turned white, and their physical bodies began to lose their stability, with them becoming beings that only existed in their soul-like state.

The people they captured ran, with Yao using a spell to subtly send them directly in the direction of the nearest Village.

Yao simply turned and left, a portal opening as she exited, with her no longer wishing to remember the day she truly lost her humanity.

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