Chapter 750: Passing the Baton

"...Oriane thinks I’m not a good Pandora?" I ask Oriane while staring at the sphere in front of me. She made a statement that honestly led me to ask that question.

"Why the question?" She asks, even though she knows.

"One of my avatars went rogue, Grimm-style. It’s almost comical that she thinks that changes anything, but she’s pretty greedy. She wants to be the ’new Pandora’ to replace me because of my actions. In other words, she got hurt that I never answered her or tried to communicate with her." I say to her, wondering if I should just kill her.

"Sounds complicated." Oriane says with a little smile, as if this were something routine.

"Not really. I understand her... and she’s a very good Pandora, honestly. The only avatar who decided to follow the life she thought she deserved. She’s got a pretty grand goal too — dominate the entire multiverse without omnipotence. It’s almost arrogant." I give a scornful smile.

"Who knows, maybe she’ll make it, right? Currently, there’s no future where her goal succeeds, but nothing stops her from creating one. I’ve always been good at that... I’m thinking about whether I should kill her." I don’t care about her, but I can’t just let someone try to replace me.

"She just feels like you’re not Pandora anymore, and to some extent she’s right, Pandora. You are [physically, metaphorically, spiritually, and mentally] a Pandora, yes — but ontologically, you’re now everything that exists."

"Couldn’t you just pass the torch to her?" When Oriane says that, I smile.

"Seriously? Out of so many futures, you chose to ask me to let someone replace me? You know, I might not even care, but I’m still me. Why should I let some mere avatar try to steal my place just because she’s dissatisfied?" When I question that, she grabs the sphere I’m observing and crushes it.

"Pandora, come on. You don’t even care about this. Isn’t it more interesting to let it happen?"

"You understand perfectly well why it’s not in my nature to let that happen... besides, she took two girls from distinct universes and is carrying them along with this goal. She will undoubtedly cause problems."

’Ayla and Shizune... that avatar is seriously underestimating those two girls and their powers...’ Shizune isn’t the biggest threat to that avatar. Actually, Ayla is a far greater threat, even though she’s weaker. That avatar only thinks about her own immortality, ignoring other factors.

"..."

"Are you really going to be that cruel?" She asks with a drawling murmur.

"Isn’t passing the torch to another Pandora to take your place the most responsible thing to do? Since that avatar has potential."

"I’m not you. Unlike you, who let Grimm roam free and only limited certain aspects, for that Pandora I made it clear what she was supposed to do — and she chose another path." I say to her in a reproachful tone.

"Yes, Pandora, that’s how it works, and you knew this possibility. You yourself once changed a timeline with me. It costs you nothing to give her the torch... come on!!"

"..." I think about the past and about this avatar. I’ve thought a lot about what this avatar said about me. I’m still Pandora, no matter if this avatar doesn’t like what I’ve become.

"..." I limit my own consciousness, erasing future answers, and then look at Oriane, who did the same.

"Let’s bet. Now neither of us knows the outcome. If that Pandora has at least 50% positive and neutral futures as the ’True Pandora,’ I’ll give up and pass the torch."

"I’ll let that avatar replace me in the universe as Pandora. I don’t feel anything for all that anymore anyway, so I hardly care. But if she fails, you’ll become my slave. You’ll never be able to use Omniscience, Omnipresence, or Omnipotence again."

"You’ll be as limited as any mortal, and I’ll make you my slave. Sound good to you?" She seems thoughtful. Now neither of us knows anything, so the chances of defeat exist because we’re limiting ourselves.

"Alright. I trust in Pandora. I know you well — all your avatars are pieces of you. I know that Pandora has potential." She offers her hand to me.

"...Foolish idealist."

"I’ve always been like that, Pandora! But it’s fine if you think I’m a foolish idealist." She smiles at me as I shake her hand, stopping my self-limitation.

"!!!" I look at this infinity of futures and then look at her.

"...Cheater." She cheated in the fraction of moments she had her unlimited powers.

’Who would’ve thought you’d cheat after acting all pompous like some supposedly good and just goddess.’

"You limited yourself first, Pandora. I only played the game you taught me." She just created new futures before having limited her own consciousness.

"...You’ve gotten pretty clever since you started living with me... fine then. Let that Pandora fight for what she wants or die like a worm in some random universe." I end up accepting it.

"I think she can make it."

"A foolish bet, but whatever..." I get up to go to my room, but then she holds my hand.

"I know you don’t care, but I think it’s a good thing. Aren’t you already at the absolute top? It’s time to pass what it means to be you on to another."

"..." I say nothing. I just pull my hand away and go to my room. In any case, she already knows everything that goes through my mind and all possible futures of this choice of hers.

"Pass the torch... what a joke. No Pandora would ever be better than me, the original." I slam the bedroom door and throw myself onto the bed, watching all the futures of that avatar.

"49% bad futures, 51% good to neutral futures... there’s no future where she gets what she wants. She’d have to beat the odds and create a new future..." It’s not as easy as it sounds.

It means doing something that doesn’t exist in all the futures that already exist — a ridiculously small chance.

"I wonder if I really lost what made me... me." That’s something interpretive. Only I myself can say if I’m still myself, and in my view, I’ve always been me and always will be me. But in the eyes of others, I’m different, which is a shame.

"Well, let’s see what you have to offer, ’second Pandora’... may Oriane’s effort in trying to cheat against me be worth the investment." If she fails, I’ll do far worse than just erase her existence like I would have before. She has a chance. She’d better make the most of it while she can.