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“Congratulations on the family reunion…” Should he say something like that? The thought flashed through Seiji’s mind.
He decided against it. The relationship between the two of them was something only they could understand.
At any rate, Sayaka Tendo’s relation to the White Sakura Goddess was now clear. What about Sayaka’s relationship with the Catastrophe Goddess?
“She’s different from us,” the White Sakura Goddess answered Seiji’s question.
“Does this mean that Tendo-san isn’t especially connected to the Catastrophe Goddess?”
“That’s not it.” The White Sakura Goddess paused for a moment. “If you could describe me as an existence that obtained from Sayaka, then she is an existence that steals.”
‘Steals…’ Seiji instantly understood.
“Tendo-san voluntarily created you, while she stole part of Tendo-san’s soul to form herself! Is that it?”
“Yes,” White Sakura Goddess confirmed.
“I wasn’t the only one whose soul was stolen from,” Sayaka added. “Everyone else present at the experiment had their souls stolen from. This is why all of us are now tattered soul shards.”
Ah, so that was how it was. This indeed made sense.
Koutarou’s theory was that the souls of everyone who died had corrupted the dragon, changing it into the Catastrophe Goddess. However, his theory had been wrong. It wasn’t that the white dragon had been corrupted. It was that ths dragon had been an existence that was the amalgamation of sin energy. When this dragon appeared, it started stealing everyone’s souls, and combined with this power to become a god, turning into the Catastrophe Goddess!
“If it wasn’t for White Sakura Goddess whom Tendo-san created, then the Catastrophe Goddess probably would have stolen away everyone’s soul completely… absorbing all these souls.” Seiji looked at Sayaka.
“I agree with this extrapolation.” Sayaka nodded in agreement. “The sins of the Tendo Family had no divinity of their own. That was why she needed human souls to obtain divinity. However, my struggles gave birth to White Sakura, which prevented the Catastrophe Goddess from absorbing everyone’s souls completely. This made her divinity incomplete, or perhaps insufficient. Or, maybe she was injured due to the interference, causing her to go into hibernation right after appearing… Of course, it’s also possible that the Tendo Family members who went to clean up the experiment did something that calmed down the Catastrophe Goddess temporarily. However, now she has awoken again, and brought calamity to the city… Perhaps her goal is to absorb more souls and complete or level up her divinity.”
Divinity. The right to be a god. Simply speaking, this was a core concept of being a god. This was something absolutely necessary for a god to be a god, directly related to the god’s level and power.
Absorbing human souls for the sake of personal strength… no, not only souls.
Seiji thought back to the Destruction Timeline that he had previously witnessed. The sight of people “dissolving” under a rain of flower petals still remained clearly in his mind! As he felt a chill, he also gained a more concrete understanding of what the Catastrophe Goddess wanted.
“The Catastrophe Goddess doesn’t only want souls. She also wants flesh and blood… she wants bodies!” Seiji stated in a heavy tone. “This time, not only does she want more souls to improve her divinity, she also wants to form her own body so that she can materialize with a physical body and descend into the world!”
Descending in a physical body would be the equivalent of becoming a true god.
This was the Catastrophe Goddess’s objective.
“Her awakening is because of the Tendo Family doing something that woke her up… If we could have stopped the Tendo Family before they did this action, would that make the Catastrophe Goddess remain asleep?” Seiji asked this in preparation for potentially loading.
“No,” White Sakura Goddess answered. “She will definitely awaken, because she wants to awaken.”
“That is to say, even if we had stopped the Tendo Family, she would still awaken sooner or later?”
“That’s right.” Sayaka nodded. “It’s impossible to have her remain asleep forever, because she already exists. To think about it more, it’s already quite long that she’s been asleep for—ten years already. In that case, maybe things aren’t what we think they are. It might not be that the Tendo Family wanted to wake up the Catastrophe Goddess. It might be that the Tendo Family was unable to suppress her and keep her in hibernation any longer?”
…That made sense.
Seiji felt as if he had just discovered a blind spot!
Seiji… no, more accurately, Yui and Soul Society had believed that all of this had been the Tendo Family’s scheme. However, maybe this wasn’t even the case. Maybe it was that the Tendo Family was no longer able to suppress the Catastrophe Goddess, so she woke up…?
If this was really true, didn’t this mean that the Tendo Family had been wronged?
No… The Catastrophe Goddess’s birth was still because of the sins of the Tendo Family. Although the Tendo Family may have been wronged on the issue of the Catastrophe Goddess’s awakening, it couldn’t be said that the Tendo Family was wronged. They were still the primary culprit behind all of this.
To be more specific as to which individuals were most at fault, they would doubtlessly be that Shinzen Tendo, along with the mysterious individual who called himself the “Abbey Master”.
Abbey Master… was that referring to a “Daoist Abbey”? Daoism from Huaxia?
Seiji didn’t want to think that a Huaxia person had caused all of this calamity. However, this indeed seemed possible.
Even the Tendo Family had been unable to determine the true identity of this Abbey Master, and this person had given Shinzen spiritual techniques that were considered highly valuable… It seemed like it was quite plausible to say that the Abbey Master may be a powerful spiritual ability user from Huaxia.
Seiji could only mentally sigh. No matter if the culprit was a Huaxia individual or not, the evil sin of bringing along so much catastrophe was unmistakable.
Sin was sin, no matter the person’s nationality.
Back to the topic of the Catastrophe Goddess.
“Is the jinchuriki host seal method truly the only good method to use against the Catastrophe Goddess?” Seiji asked this question. “Now that we understand the connection between you and the Catastrophe Goddess, is there anything else that you can do, Tendo-san?”
Sayaka remained silent.
“I’m sorry… I know I’m asking too much of you.” Seiji sighed. “But no matter what, I want to find a better way.”
“This isn’t your responsibility.” Sayaka looked directly at him. “Although I don’t understand your personal situation and standpoint in all of this, you already know so much valuable information. All you need to do is tell this information to others. You’ve already done excellent, Seiji Haruta. An existence like the Catastrophe Goddess isn’t one that you and your companions alone will be able to deal with. To put it bluntly, your group doesn’t even have the strength to stand against her.
“There might indeed be better ways to deal with her. However, you should leave that up to more qualified people to think about. Don’t think that you’re capable of saving the world by yourself. A high schooler saving the world is a situation that will only appear in anime.”
“No,” Seiji answered in a serious tone. “High schoolers will also save the world in manga and novels.”
Sayaka was rendered speechless.
“Just joking.” Seiji chuckled. “Your words made me recall a certain someone who told me almost the exact same thing. However, I’m not trying to be arrogant and thinking about what I can’t possibly do. It’s just that I don’t want to say something like ‘let’s just leave it at that’. I know quite well that I’m not strong enough to resist against the Catastrophe Goddess. However, this doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t do everything that I can. If the worst possible ending still arrives after I try my very best, I will accept it even if I don’t want to accept. But if I don’t try my best to do everything that I can… I won’t be able to accept it. This isn’t because of personal benefits, nor is it because I feel like I must save the world. This is merely my willfulness.”
Something flashed in Sayaka’s eyes when she heard this.
“Such willfulness… is truly naïve,” she stated softly.
“Rather than naivety, I think it’s more appropriate to call it youth.” Seiji chuckled. “I’m only a high school student.”