Chapter 162 "I'll help you become a god..."

“So, Chiya,” Aurora’s voice sounded surprisingly warm at this moment, “you must have misunderstood.”

“That’s not a threat,” the silver-haired doll patiently corrected, “it’s my sincerity.”

“Showing you Ouma Kokichi’s past is my sincerity. Keeping the weapon that can seal me on your person is also my sincerity. And…” The doll paused slightly, as if considering its words, or perhaps simply wanting to leave a little suspense, before continuing after a second or two, “Even now, talking to you like this… is also my sincerity.”

"Is that so?" Tsukino and Chiya remained noncommittal. "Showing me Ohma's past was to tell me that Ohma is dead, and that the living person I used to see was thanks to you. Having me still carry the mist that can seal you is also to show that you're not afraid of it. Even talking to me like this instead of killing me outright..."

Tsukino and Chiya paused, mimicking the doll's earlier gesture: "All I saw was your confidence in your own power. You're so calm because you think I'm no longer a threat to you. So I don't see sincerity in this; it's a threat."

A threat that could be described as "Wang Ma Xiao Ji is in my hands" and "I'm so powerful I can easily crush you, so you'd better not try anything funny."

"Really?" Aurora asked doubtfully. "If that was a threat, why did Chiya dare to use such a tone... Oh, your tone hasn't changed, sorry. I should say that Chiya dared to say something like that to me. If that was a threat, then Chiya is quite a courageous child. But... whatever, I don't care whether Chiya thinks this is my sincerity or a threat, because..."

"Your opinion is completely irrelevant."

After Aurora uttered those words, the atmosphere seemed to freeze for a moment.

Tsukino and Chiya thought to themselves, "Even after all this, you still say it's not a threat? But what it actually is really not important anyway."

The black-haired boy calmly watched the strange change that occurred on the doll as he uttered those words.

The silver-haired doll's skin at the corner of its mouth had cracked, and in its place was gruesome flesh and blood. But the flesh and blood on its face, together with the corner of its mouth, looked somewhat like a smile... a strange and terrifying smile.

"Chiya, to be honest, I'm really surprised and delighted to have met you all. You've made the game so much more interesting." The doll finally smiled. "Although meeting you was an accident... it was a wonderful accident. Besides, you probably don't dislike accidents like this, do you?"

Tsukino and Chiya asked, "What do you mean?"

“Because you two met because of this accident, right?” Aurora explained patiently. “If it weren’t for this accident, what would have happened to Ouma Kokichi… you just saw it. It was this accident that allowed him to continue living, right? Isn’t that a good thing? And similarly, Chiya, you should have realized from what you saw before that you two were originally from different worlds, and it was this accident that brought you together.”

“Otherwise, you wouldn’t even know each other,” Aurora said. “Let alone ‘like’ each other, right? And… the supernatural is very perceptive of people’s negative emotions. Although I can’t say that you, Chiya, have absolutely no negative emotions about everything you’ve experienced, you certainly have far fewer than others. Let me think… you don’t seem afraid at all. Sometimes when facing those supernatural beings, your emotion is more of a subtle sadness than fear.”

Are you showing them pity or compassion?

Does it matter?

"Is it unimportant? Then what is important to Qianye?"

Where is Wang Ma?

Tsukino asked Chiya very decisively, as if this question had been lingering in his mind for a long time, but he just hadn't found the opportunity to say it: "How is he now...?"

“It’s a really obvious weakness,” Aurora remarked. “But it’s true, since I’ve already discovered it, there’s no need to hide it and we won’t get any more information anyway… It’s a wise choice. As for Ouma Koki, he’s doing well. At least for now.”

"He did indeed die. As for how he died... you've already seen it."

The environment around them is still frozen in the moment the machine came crashing down.

"But he wasn't exactly weird. If I had to say, his obsessions and resentments in life weren't strong enough to make him weird after death... So it's really amazing and interesting that he was able to 'live' in this world before."

"In short, to put it simply..." Aurora concluded, "The reason why Wangma is able to continue 'living' in this world by some twist of fate is because I unconsciously did it when my power went berserk during the fusion of powers. Therefore, this is a miracle that cannot be repeated."

"Now, Wangma Xiaoji's survival depends on my power. As soon as I withdraw my power, he will die again."

Tsukino and Chiya asked, "What about sealing you?"

Aurora replied, "Then he won't die for now. But I think your seal will last at least five years, right? If that's the case, before I break free in five years, Ohma Kokichi will gradually weaken until he dies. And even if he doesn't die... do you really think I won't take back the power I have on him after I break free?"

I see.

Thinking about it this way, he realized that he really was being manipulated by this strange creature, no wonder it was so fearless.

“I understand.” Tsukino and Chiya nodded. “Then there’s no other way. So what was the choice you mentioned before?”

Tsukino and Chiya's defection seems to have happened a little too quickly.

Moreover, his tone and expression remained unchanged throughout, as if what they had just been discussing was not a big deal at all. If this were anyone else, it would be quite suspicious, but since it was Tsukino and Chiya... it seemed quite normal, because he had always acted this way.

Aurora also thought it was normal.

Tsukino and Chiya were among its favorite players. The doll knew this human was different, so it was perfectly normal that it made the right choice immediately after assessing the situation instead of hesitating.

“I want you to join my side. I want to become stronger, and I need your help,” Aurora said with a “smile.” “Like your friend… Mimi, right? As a Calamity User, she’s interested in the supernatural, and similarly, I’m interested in calamities. We both want to possess great power. By the way, first of all… since you’ve decided to help me, Chiya, why don’t you show some sincerity?”

There was still no hesitation.

After hearing the last sentence, Tsukino and Chiya responded softly, then took off their backpacks and held them in front of them, taking something out of them.

It was an arrow box that, judging by its size, shouldn't have been able to fit in a backpack, but Tsukino and Chiya still managed to retrieve it and then handed it to Aurora.

There was no sudden attack; Tsukino and Chiya simply handed over the items as usual.

The silver-haired doll took the box.

Its fingers slowly traced the surface of the box before offering a fair assessment: "I see... Qianye, you really put your heart into sealing me. If it's this, it can indeed seal me for five years. It's quite an achievement that you managed to find it in such a short time."

"Well, so I think this should be enough to show my sincerity."

Tsukino and Chiya put their bags back on their backs, showing no sign of resentment at having given up the rare spiritual artifacts they had found.

"Or do you feel that this is still not enough? If so, how about I show you a path to becoming stronger this time?"

"What?" Aurora asked in surprise. She suddenly had a premonition that the suggestion from the human in front of her might be more interesting than she had imagined.

Sure enough, the next second, it heard the human say that.

"I will help you become a god."