Chapter 346 -: 345 Destiny’s offer.

Chapter 346: Chapter: 345 Destiny’s offer.

"Mh-mm! Yeah, I came to kill you."

Destiny spoke softly as she walked toward him, then bent her knees slightly until they were at eye level. Her mismatched eyes stared directly into his, the golden one gleaming with a strange curiosity while the crimson one seemed almost impossible to look away from.

"He asked me before his consciousness scattered, before he bound the world in threads that you severed. Of course, it will take some time before he wakes up again, so he told me to kill you."

She slowly straightened herself and stretched both arms above her head, her mouth opening as though she were attempting to yawn. Yet there was something strangely unnatural about the gesture.

She didn’t look tired, nor did she seem to understand what a yawn was supposed to be. It was more like someone who had seen another person yawn once and was now attempting to imitate it without understanding the reason behind it.

The man remained silent.

His gaze lowered toward his own body. After so many years of fighting, he could no longer remember when this battle had truly begun.

Perhaps it had been decades. Perhaps centuries. Time had long since lost its meaning within this battlefield.

When the battle finally ended, he had found himself standing in the center of devastation, surrounded by the corpses of gods and the remnants of a world that had once been whole. Yet the victory had come at a price he could feel with every passing moment.

The curse of time.

The God of Time had used her dying breath to curse him.

He could feel his lifespan disappearing.

His body had once possessed a lifespan so long that ordinary mortals could never have comprehended it, yet the curse had distorted his river of time, accelerating it while simultaneously sealing it.

His own time was flowing far faster than it should, and no matter how he tried to interfere with it, he could not break the seal. His body was aging at a rate that should have been impossible for someone like him.

Seventy years.

Perhaps a little more, that was all he had left.

But now, it hardly mattered.

The Goddess of Destiny had come before him, and she had come to kill him.

If she truly intended to do so, there was nothing he could do in his current state.

The man let out a long, heavy sigh.

His heart was strangely calm, there were no regrets left within him.

Perhaps this was the end of his quest.

"What quest?"

Destiny asked curiously.

She tilted her head, her mismatched eyes studying his face before a small giggle escaped her lips.

"Oh, are you giving up?"

Her tone was almost playful.

"Well, I suppose you can’t do anything in this state. I can feel the curse of time on you. Even I can’t interfere with it."

She paused, then smiled.

"But don’t worry. I don’t intend to kill you."

The man’s gaze slowly rose toward her.

Destiny simply smiled wider, as though his silence itself had amused her.

"Well, I suppose I should be honest. I’ve existed for quite a long time, but I was only in my infancy for most of it. You see, I wasn’t able to properly take birth because he didn’t possess enough of the emotions necessary for my birth. Gods are born when he feels something strongly enough. Well, except for the three gods you killed. They were born because of necessity, but all the others were born from his emotions."

She placed a finger against her chin as she thought.

"And I was the same."

Her expression became strangely nostalgic.

"For how long, I don’t even know. I existed in this awkward state of infancy. You know what it’s like? It’s as though someone shoved you into a tiny little space and told you to stay there for thousands of years. Ah, the horror."

She shuddered dramatically before laughing to herself.

"I tell you, I’m never going back there."

The man continued staring at her without the slightest change in his expression.

Destiny, however, seemed perfectly content to continue talking.

"But thanks to you, after thousands of years, he finally experienced a particular emotion. Even I don’t know exactly what caused it, but that emotion was enough for me to finally take birth."

Her smile softened.

"Ah... the beauty of the world."

For the first time, the cheerfulness in her voice became quieter.

"After taking birth, I discovered something rather interesting. I was already being worshipped by mortals. They had given me a name long before I even properly existed."

She spread her arms slightly.

"They called me Destiny."

The man frowned.

Julius, who had been standing nearby, remained silent as he watched her. He was still stunned by her existence, but more than that, he was becoming increasingly confused by the way she spoke.

She was far more talkative than he had expected from a goddess who had descended onto a battlefield filled with dead gods.

And then there was the way she kept referring to him.

Could she be talking about Fate?

Julius remembered the legends he had heard.

Destiny was often described as the daughter of Fate.

But if what this woman was saying was true, perhaps those legends had gotten things horribly wrong.

"What do you want?"

The man’s voice finally broke through her rambling.

Julius’s attention immediately returned to Destiny.

She stared at the man for several seconds.

Then, without warning, she took the candy she had been holding and casually tossed it aside.

"I won’t kill you."

She shrugged.

"Not that it would be necessary to begin with. You’ll die naturally in around seventy years anyway, and once you die, he will destroy your soul until nothing remains."

Her tone was so casual that the words sounded almost like an afterthought.

"So, before that happens, how about you live?"

The man stared at her.

Destiny smiled.

"I would have found another mortal, to be honest, but mortals are really weak. They keep dying whenever I approach them. Even the strongest ones can’t withstand my presence for very long.... Unless I seal my powers of course."

She glanced at the battlefield around them.

"But you’re different."

Her eyes returned to him.

"So I want you to roam the world with me."

The man’s expression remained completely deadpan.

Destiny waited.

"You’re supposed to say something."

A faint pout appeared on her face.

"Fine, I’ll explain."

She crouched down again, resting her chin against her palm as she looked at him.

"I am curious."

There was no deception in her voice this time.

"I’ve heard that some of the other gods tried to experience mortal life after they came into existence. They ate food, travelled across the world, watched mortals, spoke with them, experienced things that gods normally don’t get to experience."

Her eyes brightened.

"I want that too."

She paused for a moment.

"I want to experience life."

The cheerfulness in her voice gradually faded into something more thoughtful.

"There hasn’t been a God of Life in this world."

She looked down at her hands.

"So I want to understand it myself."

For the first time since she had arrived, Destiny looked almost genuinely curious rather than playful.

"What does it mean to live? Why do mortals treasure things that disappear so quickly? Why do they cry when someone dies, even though they know everyone eventually dies? Why do they fall in love when they know love can hurt them? Why do they keep walking forward when they know everything they build will eventually disappear?"

She looked back at him.

"I don’t know the answers."

Her expression softened.

"And I want to know."

Destiny slowly stood.

"So I’m giving you a choice."

Her voice became quieter, though the strange innocence within it remained.

"If you promise to accompany me, travel with me, and help me experience life as a mortal would, then I will make you a promise in return."

The man narrowed his eyes.

"When you eventually die, I will preserve your soul."

She raised one finger.

"I won’t allow him to destroy it."

A second finger followed.

"And when your natural lifespan finally ends, I will reincarnate you."

The battlefield became silent. Even Julius stopped thinking about the strange goddess standing before him and focused entirely on the man’s reaction.

Destiny smiled.

"You’ll get another life."

Her golden eye shimmered faintly.

"You’ll be able to forget this body, forget this battlefield, forget the curse of time and everything that happened here. You can be born again somewhere in this world and live however you want."

She leaned slightly closer.

"All you have to do is come with me."

The man stared at her for a long time.

His expression did not change, but something deep within his eyes seemed to shift.

For someone who had spent his entire existence fighting toward a single goal, the offer was almost absurd.

He had already accepted death.

He had already accepted that his quest might end here.

Yet now, the Goddess of Destiny was standing before him and offering him something he had never expected to receive.

Another life.

"What if I refuse?"

Destiny blinked.

"Then I’ll leave."

She shrugged.

"You’ll live for another seventy years, eventually die, and he’ll destroy your soul."

She smiled innocently.

"That’s all."

The man stared at her.

Destiny smiled back.

"So?"