[Lord of Lands Between]: Great Witch, you still haven't given us your answer.
[Lord of Lands Between]: Once upon a time, my people were enslaved and tormented by outsiders. Even if the individuals who wronged my race were not representative of that race as a whole —
[Lord of Lands Between]: A grudge between peoples can only be cleansed with the blood of peoples. All the more so since your entire clan was wiped out, Great Witch. In my view, slaughtering those so-called "humans" to the last would not be an overreaction.
[Definitely Not a God]: Hmph. Denizen of another realm, that rabble of yours can hardly be compared to humanity.
It was clear from the Great Witch's earlier image that the girl-Emperor whose only remaining presence was her consciousness could see at a glance that the humans of this world were indistinguishable from those of her own world before the forty-first millennium.
[Definitely Not a God]: Humanity is the most magnificent species in all the cosmos. Without them, all things in heaven and earth lose their meaning.
Shin had always felt the subtext here was that any other race destroyed by humanity had been honored by the privilege.
Although, naturally, the definitions of human and other race were entirely in this particular being's hands. If it served humanity's interests — or her vision of it — even the genuinely strange-looking might be classified as a subspecies worth preserving.
[Definitely Not a God]: Because of the failings of a fraction of humanity, you would destroy the whole of the human race? I will never permit it.
[Lord of Lands Between]: Unreasonable thinking. It's difficult to imagine what kind of realm a sovereign like you would rule.
[Lord of Lands Between]: Incidentally — thanks to [Aspiring] recently, now that I've reactivated my contingency, the tail end of the Shattering is wrapping up faster than I imagined. In particular, one of the Tarnished managed to slay a vile serpent god alone — the one raised by my unfilial child — and intervened in time to prevent his further descent.
[Lord of Lands Between]: @Spreading Witch Factors — Great Witch, whenever you're ready to take your revenge, I can dispatch her through the boundary to assist you.
The Tarnished had already brought down Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy?
Shin was a little surprised. He had assumed that with Radahn's mind unclouded by Scarlet Rot, Rykard — no longer isolated and abandoned — might not have gone so far down that path. But apparently things were still unfolding in that direction.
All things considered, though, the Tarnished was clearly delivering results. It hadn't been long at all, and she was already taking down a demigod-tier opponent.
Was this the caliber of a second-playthrough Tarnished? The gold standard of Elden Ring NG+?
[Moon Princess]: Oh dear, are we back on this topic again? Can't we change the subject?
[Moon Princess]: I thought we had moved past this — why is it back!
Kaguya attempted to redirect the conversation, but with clearly limited success.
This cut to the heart of the core values this group of chat members found most worth arguing about.
And at that moment, the Great Witch finally weighed in.
[Spreading Witch Factors]: Everyone, sorry for the wait — got a little caught up with Shaya at home~
[Spreading Witch Factors]: About that earlier topic… destroying humanity, and taking revenge on the human Church.
[Spreading Witch Factors]: I've thought it through. I've decided to put it aside for now. Things are fine as they are.
The chat fell into a brief, complete silence.
Then a wave of question marks flooded in.
[Moon Princess]: ?
[Queen of Britain]: ?
[Lord of Lands Between]: Great Witch, are you serious?
[Lord of Lands Between]: The resolve you showed before was not that of someone speaking lightly. Is it that your strength isn't sufficient to carry out the revenge?
Marika seemed a touch disappointed. The Eternal Queen had always admired those who pursued vengeance with decisive clarity.
[Definitely Not a God]: A rational choice.
[Definitely Not a God]: You who have been touched by grace — try to live alongside humanity. A pity I cannot descend to your world, or I could go in your stead and punish those who committed those crimes.
[Spreading Witch Factors]: Ha. Living alongside them — I'll pass, for now. I'm afraid I might not be able to help myself.
[Spreading Witch Factors]: The reason I changed my mind is simply a dream. In the dream, I saw the truth of the past. And I saw what the future could look like.
The Great Witch's messages came fast — and seeing them, Shin was quietly relieved that his effort had not been for nothing.
[Spreading Witch Factors]: I realized that what I've always been fixated on was never racial revenge. What I truly wanted was to overcome what feels like a curse — the deep kindness that runs through my people's very nature.
[Spreading Witch Factors]: I blamed myself for our clan's nature. I told myself that it was what got everyone killed. So I wanted to destroy humanity as a way to negate my past self — to negate the nature of our entire clan.
[Spreading Witch Factors]: But now I know. My Shaya… he doesn't believe that the kindness in me and in my clan was a mistake.
[Spreading Witch Factors]: So I've decided. For now, I'm not going to pursue the revenge. I already failed once in the act of protection — I cannot afford a second failure. Think of me as having no grand ambitions — as long as Shaya is still by my side, I don't want to deal with any of these messy things for the time being.
[Spreading Witch Factors]: That's more or less it. Thank you all for your concern. Let's put this topic to rest for now~
[Moon Princess]: Yes, yes, exactly right — I've always said this was the way. Compared to worrying about those who are already gone, the living are clearly the ones worth cherishing!
The chat fell quiet once more.
Some felt relieved — like a certain Moon Capital princess who had long been playing the role of peacemaker.
Some were left without words — like the conscious remnant of a certain human-centric Monarch.
And naturally, the one who felt the Great Witch's choice most deeply was the Eternal Queen inside the golden Erdtree — the one who, facing the same kind of circumstances, had chosen the opposite path.
Despite already possessing peace, despite already being cherished, she had still sacrificed her most beloved firstborn to the most dangerous of destinies for the sake of something called the greater good — and had paid a price she could scarcely imagine.
If a month ago she had been asked to return to that distant past and make the choice again, she would have thought she would not change her answer, however many unforeseen disasters followed.
But now, she found herself wavering —
And yet in this moment of warmth and quiet emotion, a deeply discordant voice cut through without warning.
It came from a newcomer who had been set to [Away] ever since joining the chat, and had said almost nothing until now.
[Acting Sovereign of Anti-Entropy]: Kindness? How laughable.
Shin raised an eyebrow. That was Cocolia.
[Acting Sovereign of Anti-Entropy]: You, the Herrscher chosen in a parallel world — you can say something so beautiful only because your child is still alive, right in front of your eyes.
[Acting Sovereign of Anti-Entropy]: You still have someone worth protecting. So you freely extend your mercy and your kindness to this world.
[Moon Princess]: New member, what do you mean by that?
[Acting Sovereign of Anti-Entropy]: I don't mean anything else by it.
[Acting Sovereign of Anti-Entropy]: Just a hypothetical. Just a hypothetical.
[Acting Sovereign of Anti-Entropy]: Your enemies are humanity, you said? Then — if because of humanity's vileness, because of the humans you chose to spare out of that kindness of yours — your child ended up dying right in front of your eyes.
[Acting Sovereign of Anti-Entropy]: After that — could you still keep this serene composure, and call yourself kind?
In that instant, the atmosphere of the chat felt as though it had dropped to absolute zero.
Each word Cocolia wrote was ice-cold.
[Spreading Witch Factors]: …
[Moon Princess]: Alright, enough, new member!
[Moon Princess]: @Many-Headed Monster — Admin, are you there? Step in!
[Acting Sovereign of Anti-Entropy]: Revenge cannot be abandoned. I once harbored the same wishful thinking.
[Acting Sovereign of Anti-Entropy]: And the result? My Natasha…
[Acting Sovereign of Anti-Entropy]: Great Witch, answer me. If your child died because of your kindness — would you still call yourself kind?
To be continued…
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