God of creation system : The apocalypse

Chapter 19: The judgement

Just as I expected, she was going to pin all the blame on me because she holds such a deep grudge against me.

"That little pest is the one to blame!" she declared, pointing right at me.

"He's been deceiving us, claiming that his companion, a soul eater, doesn't consume souls. That's the exact reason why the leader couldn't make a proper decision," she ranted bitterly.

“Ehh...?” I muttered under my breath.

I could sense how furious she was with me, but honestly, what I was doing was right. She had no real right to execute beings who hadn't done anything wrong or broken any laws.

Her smear campaign against me didn't stop there. She even accused me of being an operative of the soul eater with malicious intentions toward this town.

"Obviously, they plotted something evil against Galica, which is why they came here."

The accusations she was throwing at me were no longer a joke, and she wanted to punish me despite having zero solid evidence.

Realizing I wasn't going to hear anything reasonable from her, I immediately defended myself and denied that I was a fraud with ill intentions against their town.

"You have no right to judge me. It's true that Suwi hasn't consumed a soul in fifty years, and he has no intention of ever doing so," I retorted.

"Shut up!" she yelled.

Suddenly, Nyabu cut me off and ordered me to stop talking, because from her perspective, I knew nothing about soul eaters or how utterly abhorrent creatures they are here in Endoryo.

I knew deep down that she was acting this way because of her intense hatred for soul eaters—after all, that was exactly how I wrote it in my comic book story. But I couldn't just stand by and let Suwi die because of something I created.

That's why I couldn't help but blurt out what I knew and question their understanding of things.

"Am I really the one who knows nothing, or are you the ones blinded by the lies of this world?" I asked boldly.

Given the precarious situation I was in to defend Suwi, I ended up revealing what I knew about the genions, or soul eaters. "They are merely victims of an ancient belief spread by the enemies of their race long ago."

"During the racial wars, the Endoryans targeted the races that posed the greatest threat to them. When the others discovered that a genion could absorb the power and energy of other beings, they immediately moved to wipe them out."

I explained that the war destroyed their home and the sacred tree of the spirits, robbing them of the spiritual energy they needed to survive.

Because of that, they were forced to consume the souls of other beings just to stay alive. Over the past two hundred years, it had simply become normalized to treat them as a plague, and everyone was convinced they deserved to die.

"They should be considered victims of the war that took place back then," I added.

"Even the Eskapa became mute and blind to the truth, choosing to simply let the unjust punishment against the genions play out, including the complete extermination of their race."

Before I could even finish my full explanation, Nyabu cut in to shut me up.

"Nonsense! Stop saying those things," she shouted.

She refused to believe me and accused me of fabricating a fake story just to protect Suwi from certain death.

"Your claims have no basis," she added.

"Beloved Queen, please allow me to punish him for deceiving us," she requested.

Sei remained silent, just staring at me. A moment later, she decided to walk toward me while still carrying the bag of bread on her arm.

"Queen Sei?"

She stopped right in front of me and suddenly squatted down, her gaze fixed on me as if she were deeply curious. She stayed silent, tilting her head for almost ten seconds as though trying to remember something.

I didn't understand what she was doing, but even though it looked a bit weird, I still thought she looked incredibly gorgeous up close. “Even if she's acting weird, she really is so gorgeous.”

A moment later, she spoke up, looking as if a memory had finally clicked.

"Ohh..."

"You're that beggar outside the tower this morning," she said.

I instantly let out a gasp and vehemently denied being a beggar.

"What? A beggar? Wait, I'm not a beggar!"

I knew it! That must have been why she thought I was one when she gave me food this morning.

It was so embarrassing—being perceived that way by one of my favorite characters from my comic book made me wish the ground would just swallow me up from sheer mortification.

"It's so degrading, especially hearing it from someone as breathtaking as Sei."

A moment later, she let out a deep sigh, looking slightly saddened by my plight.

"Do you know what punishment awaits you for protecting a soul eater?" she asked.

"But they're just victims of the war too," I replied.

I had thought Sei would take my side if I told her the truth, but instead, she told me there was nothing I could do.

"What you're saying won't help you escape the punishment you're about to receive," she said calmly.

"However, I will give you a chance, mister," she added.

Right then and there, she spoke to me in front of everyone. She wanted me to deny my connection to Suwi so I could survive and walk away with all my limbs intact.

"That's the only way you'll live," she added.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing from her; it felt laced with a subtle threat. I don't know, maybe I had just expected too much that she would actually listen to me.

"What are you even saying? Are you really just going to let this happen to innocent people like her?"

She then explained to me that she hadn't sensed any dark energy coming from me, which was how she knew I wasn't being controlled by a soul eater.

"It's clear you have nothing to do with her, and I know you pity her, which is why you want to save her," she added.

Nevertheless, she made it clear once again that the verdict on Suwi as a soul eater would not change.

"Because then and now, this has never been about justice. It's about the Eskapa's duty to keep Endoryo safe and peaceful for the sake of the greater majority of beings."

I was left speechless by her words. It felt as though she was accepting that Suwi had to die simply because he was a soul eater.

Huh?

I knew Sei was inherently kind-hearted, so I expected her to be reasonable, but her perspective was entirely different. Why was she saying things that contradicted what I knew?

"Is this wrong? This isn't the Sei I know; she wouldn't be capable of killing innocent beings without proper justification," I whispered to myself.

"Are you even hearing yourself?" I asked Sei.

I couldn't stop myself from venting my frustration regarding her stance that all soul eaters deserved to die.

"Because of that twisted mindset, the racial war keeps dragging on, and none of you are doing anything to solve it properly!" I shouted as I stood up.

Overcome by emotion, I ended up yelling at her and questioning her righteousness as a servant of the divine.

"Aren't you a servant of God?"

"Many believe that the Eskapa are the light of hope in this dark world, yet even they hide and cling to a corrupt system to solve a problem."

"They claim to be the weapon of God that will bring salvation, but even they have succumbed to falsehoods and embraced evil."

Sei just sat there in silence, watching me, letting me speak my mind even as I yelled at her. I knew she was listening, and I still hoped she would understand me.

"Don't you realize that they are among those crying out for salvation and asking you for help to be saved?" I added.

I knew it was wrong of me to speak to her like this, but I hoped that somehow, this approach would change her mind and evoke some compassion for Suwi's plight.

Yet, she showed no reaction to my pleas, just staring blankly at me, which only made me feel even more discouraged.

"Please, Sei."

I tried to step forward, but the moment I took a single step, something struck me out of nowhere.

WOOSSH!

Noticing the incoming attack just in time, I managed to use the wooden shackles on my wrists to block it.

Even though I managed to parry it, I was still blown backward and crashed hard onto the floor.

Bam!

The wooden shackles that had bound me earlier practically shattered into pieces from the impact.

A second later, I saw smoke rising from the arm of one of the soldiers. It turned out that a female soldier, who had been accompanying Sei earlier, had unleashed a punch right through the air.

This woman with short light-blue hair was one of the army commanders. As far as I knew, she was General Agane, a dragon descendant.

My vision spun slightly from her attack, but I forced myself to get up. I quickly sat up and faced her.

"You insolent fool!" Agane yelled.

She marched toward me angrily, a surging aura of energy radiating and swirling all around her.

She was furious at the disrespect I showed right in front of their queen, and she intended to teach me a lesson.

"Our queen is trying to be merciful to you, but all I hear is you acting like a know-it-all who thinks she understands everything!"

"Do you even have any idea how many thousands of lives were lost because we harbored a soul eater like him?!"

She let me know about their past mistakes. They had once trusted a soul eater and hoped there was hope for their kind, but their kindness had been met with a terrible betrayal.

"We pitied them, but we only did it to prevent potential tragedies and save others—especially since soul eaters can never truly stop consuming spirits, as it's required for their survival."

“Huh?”

I realized then just how grim and complicated this world truly was; everyone was forced to kill just to survive. I don't know, I just couldn't see anything remotely just about this system.

"If you really want to help her so badly, why don't you just join her in the afterlife and beg for forgiveness from every single being they've victimized?" she added.

Her blue energy morphed into the shape of a dragon around her arm as she continued to advance toward me.