"For , those mortal won are actually godesses"
A gleam of amusent passed through Xythia’s eyes. For her, the upcoming conversation was going to be interesting.
She then chuckled softly; her voice carried a faint, lodic echo that did not quite belong to this world. "I did not expect such courage from a native of the scarred land."
The phrase ’scarred land’ stood out in William’s mind. He could not help but wonder why she had addressed him in such a manner.
Was that how the gods referred to the Aris continent? As the scarred land, William rembered hearing a professor at the academy explaining how Mother Aris was scarred by the abyss nodes; maybe that is why Xythia also called Aris the scarred land, due to the presence of abyss nodes.
Despite the swirl of thoughts within him, William did not allow even the slightest of those expressions to reflect on his face.
He remained vigilant, fully aware that any lapse in caution could prove fatal.
Even though a part of him acknowledged the futility of resisting a goddess if she truly harbored hostile intentions, he refused to abandon his guard completely.
At the sa ti, he placed hope on the Domain of Infinite. He knew that, if pushed to the brink, he could attempt to retreat into it.
However, he deliberately refrained from doing so. Sowhere deep within, he understood that a confrontation with Lux, the God of Light, was inevitable in the future.
Escaping now would only delay the unavoidable. Instead, he chose to remain, to observe, and to asure, if even in the slightest sense, what it ant to stand before a god.
Moreover, there was sothing about Xythia’s presence that did not let him sense any hostility from her.
As he stood before her, he sensed no imdiate intent to harm, no malice directed at him or those behind him.
"You can relax," Xythia said with a voice creating a series of echoes in the air. "As the goddess of protection and healing, inflicting harm would go against my very nature and title. I despise causing pain to others."
Her reassurance reached William, but instead of easing his mind, it caused his brows to knit together slightly. If that were true, then how did it explain the curse Xythia placed on his mother... and on his aunt Samantha?
The contradiction gnawed at him.
He found himself uncertain about how to proceed. Xythia’s intentions remained unclear, and the situation was far from straightforward.
Initially, he had assud that she was descending to punish him for breaking her curse. Yet, as the monts passed, that assumption began to lose its foundation, dissolving into sothing far more ambiguous.
His gaze drifted briefly toward the faint green glittering dust suspended in the air. It had a strangely calming effect on him, soothing his nerves.
However, that sa dust had exerted an oppressive force on his mother and Tamasya, weighing them down in a way that felt anything but gentle.
Questions piled up within him, each one more pressing than the last, until his thoughts felt almost overcrowded.
As if sensing the exact mont his patience reached its limit, Xythia raised her hand. "I can answer your questions," she said, "but there is a price."
As her words settled, a golden sphere materialized before her, encircled by seven slowly rotating rings that shimred faintly with a strange power.
William’s eyes narrowed as he studied the object. The notion of a "price" imdiately put him on guard.
He had no intention of agreeing to anything without understanding the full implications. For all he knew, this could very well be a carefully constructed trap.
Sensing his hesitation, Xythia smiled, as though she could read the layers of suspicion hidden beneath his calm exterior. "The price is not burdenso," she continued, her tone patient. "You will simply answer my questions, just as I will answer yours. We will take turns."
She gestured lightly toward the floating sphere. "And to ensure fairness, we will be bound by an oath secured through this artifact."
William shook his head without hesitation. "I do not trust random orbs," he replied evenly. "I would prefer to take an oath under the na of the heavens."
Xythia let out a soft chuckle at his response. "That would not work on ," she said. "I am a goddess. The heavens do not bind in the sa way they bind mortals.
Moreover, if such an oath taken under the na of heaven were broken, the punishnt would fall upon Samantha, instead of for the sa reason. I believe that telling you about this alone should be enough to demonstrate my sincerity."
Her explanation was logical, and William could not deny that it aligned with his understanding. The oaths of the heavens were indeed limited to the natives of Aris.
Since Samantha was acting as the dium for this interaction, she would bear the consequences.
Even so, his caution did not waver.
He was being cautious, a trait he had never shown before, and William had sohow developed a small regret in his heart.
Realizing that Anne was his mother had forced him to confront his past negligence. There had been signs—subtle clues scattered throughout his journey—but he had ignored them, too consud by his own confusion and narrow perception of the world.
He wanted to change that, he decided to not take careless actions like before, because he had learnt the biggest lesson in his life, there were no coincidences in this world, everything out of place had a reason behind it. Factors that intentionally and unintentionally control your lives.
If he truly wished to take control of his fate, then he needed to change. He needed to stop hesitating, stop limiting himself, and start making decisions without fear of the unknown.
"This sphere is an artifact created by Axiomir, the God of Contracts. It can establish temporary or permanent contracts between individuals."
William listened carefully. He used his omniscient eyes and found out that Xythia was speaking the truth, but it was uncertain whether his talent was even effective against a god or not.
"System," he thought inwardly, "do you have any opinion... or should I proceed with my own approach?"
[I would prefer your way.]
He gave a faint nod, more to himself than anything else, before speaking aloud.
"I will agree," William said, "but only if we both take an oath under the na of the universe and not this artifact."
For the first ti since her descent, Xythia’s expression shifted slightly. Her brows furrowed for a brief mont. Then, just as quickly, she chuckled.
"Very well," she said.
Raising two fingers, she continued,
"From my side, there are two conditions. First, the questions asked by both parties must be equal in terms of value and importance and both should ask one question at a ti. Second, both parties must speak the truth, they may withhold certain parts of the truth in their answers provided they clearly state that they are doing so, and the overall value remains balanced."
She paused, her gaze settling on William. "Do you accept these terms?"
William shook his head slowly. "Add one more condition," he said. "Neither party will use force, spells, hidden artifacts, or any abilities beyond the scope of verbal interaction. Additionally, both sides must ensure that no harm cos to the other party or their kin."
Xythia laughed, her approval evident. "Agreed."
Without further delay, she began reciting the oath. William followed, repeating each word after her.
[Ding!! You are under the influence of Universal Oath.]
[Ding!! Beloved of the Universe is activating. The universe says: ’Don’t worry darling i will protect you!!’]
William’s face twitched; he was looking at this notification from this talent after such a long ti, and it was the sa perverted prank from the system.
At this point william firmly believed that the system was not a simple programd AI like in the webnovels he had read in his past life; the system was surely a shut-in guy from Earth who died after watching too much hentai and reincarnated as a system spirit.
He was literally on edge here, dealing with a godamn goddess, and the system was still joking.
[Didn’t you say just now that there are no coincidences in this world?]
"So you really died after watching a lot of hentai in your past life??" William asked seriously as if the situation was too embarrassing for the system.
[Ahh!! I was not talking about that !! just leave it now]
Suppressing the urge to react outwardly, William silently cursed the system. In response, the system made a faint scoffing sound and chose to ignore William entirely.
anwhile, with the oath now firmly established, Xythia lifted her hand and an astral projection of a balancing scale appeared in her hands.
"You may ask your first question. Reber the terms of this oath"
William nodded, he had a lot of questions in his mind but he started with a simple one.
"What is the reason of your descent here?"
Xythia smiled and answered " you looked at through Samantha, you knew that i was talking to her so i got intrested in you. That’s all i am not hiding anything"
As soon as her answer finished the projection of the scale tilted towards Xythia.
anwhile William heard the answer and got confused.
"system have i really broken the curse placed on mother and Samantha??"
[yes]
"does the curse belong to Xythia??"
[Not sure, your mother said that the curse belonged to xythia and she was not lying, maybe she doesn’t know the truth and is mistaken. Omniscient eyes does validate truth it just analyses what the target thinks about their own words, if the target thinks they are speaking truth then omniscient eyes will detect truth.]
"Now answer my question" Xythia’s voice sounded.
"Why are you not affected by my presence?"
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