Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 184

Chapter 184: Lysette's Identity

The eleven students atop the Domark Cultivation Academy’s dorm rooftop stood in silence as Lysette revealed her divinity to the group.  More than half of them already knew, but the reactions of the four who didn’t were as varied as the eclectic group themselves.

Gerald looked to Mirae with jaw agape, unable to speak what was already being said by his expression.  That he was absolutely flabbergasted that Mirae had been right all along about Lysette’s divinity.  Mirae, for their part, merely smiled and held Lysette’s hand, giving it a slightly tighter squeeze.

Rayleigh turned to Serrena and asked,” You too?”  Serrena smiled and answered with a quiet nod.  Rayleigh muttered out something which sounded like, “Oh great, there are two of them now.”

Lilia was stammering, nonplussed at what to say.  She looked at Lysette and lowered her head.  “Forgive me for my rudeness, Lady Lyse.  I was unaware to whom I was speaking.”

“Please, rise, Lilia.  I don’t like when others stand on ceremony with me.  I would rather you treat me as just another student, or maybe as a squad leader or something along those lines.”  Lysette blushed slightly.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that with me,” Kiarra said.  “I don’t really care if you’re a goddess, a demoness, or something else entirely.  You’re going to get treated with exactly as much respect as you deserve.”

“Thank you, Kiarra.”

Lysette felt a weight lifted from her shoulders upon hearing the part about ‘a demoness’.

“But I’d like you to explain one thing to all of us,” Kiarra continued.  “Why are you telling all of us this now?”

“The people of Ciricu already know me as a goddess, and so I wouldn’t be able to keep my secrets for much longer.  Besides that, you all deserve to know before we journey hundreds of miles away for an indefinite period of time.  If you don’t trust me after this and don’t feel comfortable working alongside me now that you know, I want to give you the chance to back out and return to training with the other students here.”

“Do you expect me to believe you, Lyse?” Kiarra asked.  “After something like that?  You really expect me to believe that I can go right down those stairs, head back to my family’s home, and tell my great-great grandfather all about you?  And you won’t try to stop me?”

“I’ll do nothing more than try to convince you not to with words.  I would tell you that it is my abilities as a goddess which have allowed me to assist with not only your Cultivation, but those of hundreds of students here.  Students who are going to be vital to shoring up Domaria’s defenses in the coming months.

“I’d warn you that this is a mission authorized by the castle, while Domaria is on war’s doorstep.  If you choose to act in a way that damages this country’s internal Stability, especially right now, I cannot say the castle will be pleased with your and your family’s actions.  

“And I think your knowledge of politics, customs, and international diplomacy will be of great aid to me and to the kingdom at large.  I also think your contributions in this mission will go a long way toward proving to both your great-great grandfather and the castle that you are worthy of one day assuming the title of Marchioness Dozel.  But no, if all of those reasons together were not enough to convince you, I will not try and stop you further.”

Kiarra chuckled.  “You say all that and then you tell me that you need my help with diplomacy.  It seems like you already know the key tenets.  Know what the other side wants, know what you are willing to give, and extract as many concessions as you can get.”

“I assure you,” Serrena said, “Lyse needs all the help she can get on that.  I think her goddess side makes her want to be so generous that she completely flops on that last part.”

Kiarra’s early chuckle erupted into full-throated laughter.  “Ha!  I can see that.  No, wait, I’ve definitely already seen that.  She beats me in a duel, and all she wants is an apology!  She could have asked for wealth, for status, for me to…  I don’t even want to think about what she might have demanded of me had she been as cruel as I was at the time.”

Kiarra and Serrena started laughing.  Rayleigh joined in a moment later, and Amalia’s pleas to be nicer to Lysette fell on deaf ears.  Before long, the entire group was sharing a laugh.  Even Mirae was barely restraining themself.  Lysette covered her face in shadows out of embarrassment, but accepted being the butt of a harmless joke for a change.  When the crowd finally relented, she spoke.

“I’d like to leave just after breakfast tomorrow morning.  The journey will be long, it will be cold once we get up into the mountains, and I can’t guarantee there won’t be any unforeseen perils.  If you want to bring any comforts, any warmer clothes, any weapons, or anything else you might want or need over the next several weeks or months, now is the time.  And, with that, I hope to see you all then.  We’ll meet by the northern edge of campus.”

With the meeting officially adjourned, the assembled students broke apart into smaller groups and took a few minutes to chat amongst themselves.  Within half an hour, most of the students had departed, off to prepare and sleep, leaving only Mirae, Lysette, and Kiarra on the rooftop.

“Are you not going to head home and say goodbye to your family?” Mirae asked.

“I’ve got a lot on my mind right now, Mirae.  I was hoping that I could talk with Lyse alone for a bit.”

Mirae clutched Lysette’s hand tighter, but after Lysette offered a small nod, they slowly let go and stepped back.  As they turned around and meandered toward the access point, they mumbled under their breath.  “Don’t be gone too long, love.  I’ll be in your room when you’re done.”

Lysette smiled.

“I don’t understand you, Lyse,” Kiarra said.  “You say you’re a goddess, and yet, despite how ridiculous it sounds, how much I don’t want to believe you, something deep within me tells me that you’re absolutely telling the truth.”

“I’ve been told that deities have that effect on humans.  I guess it’s because we feed off mortal belief and worship in a sense.  We’re modeled to attract awe and reverence from our human followers.  I guess it’s no different than flowering plants offering nectar to attract bees and other pollinators.”

“So, we’re just bees to you?  Mere insects?”

“No, it was just a metaphor.  And besides, both the plants and the bees benefit from the exchange.  The bees get nectar to eat, while the plants can spread their pollen to ensure that their lineage can survive to future generations.  Gods and mortals are, at least in theory, complementary in much the same way.”

“What do you really and truly want, deep down?”

“I want to change this world.”

“Well, let no one say that you don’t think big.  Would you elaborate further?”

“I wasn’t born a demigoddess.  A few months ago, I lost my family to an attack much like the ones on the Academy.  By divine intervention, I alone managed to survive.  I want to avenge them.  I want to destroy Asterion— the god responsible for all three attacks.  I want a world where humanity is no longer threatened by the crossfire of warring gods jockeying for power and influence over Aimarion and the Celestial realm.  And, when all that’s done, I guess I want to meander off to I don’t even know where with Mirae and live out the rest of eternity at their side.”

“You know, Lyse.  You’re kind of a hypocrite.  You say you want a world where warring gods don’t rope humans into their struggles, but that’s exactly what you’re doing.  Recruiting a bunch of humans— barely adults— to fight and die in a war for your benefit.”

“I guess so.  But I also don’t think there’s another way forward.”

“Sounds like an excuse to use us for your gain.”

“Please, allow me a chance to explain.”

“Fine.”  Kiarra gave a scowl that could put Serrena and Rayleigh to shame.

“Let’s say that I tried to do it all myself.  As I am, I’m not as strong as your great-great grandfather.  Strong enough maybe to injure him in a surprise attack, to escape an encounter with him, or maybe dispatch him through underhanded tactics while he’s distracted, sleeping or otherwise indisposed.  But not enough to win a direct confrontation.”

“So what’s your point?”

“The point is that I would need to get a lot stronger.  And while I can grow stronger by Cultivating, it’s not like the other gods aren’t also making moves.  Case in point: the attacks on the Academy.  In order to combat them, I have to get stronger, and do so more quickly than an unaided human could possibly hope to progress.  And that means forging bonds with human worshippers and augmenting my strength that way.  Which necessitates involving humans in this fight.

“Of course, being the Demigoddess of Reciprocity, I will also share that strength with you and with all others who choose to walk alongside me.  That much hasn’t changed since the beginning, and even if you decide to back out, my previous agreement with you will remain in effect.  As long as you keep working on being a better person, I’ll keep working toward making you a stronger Cultivator as well.”

“So, how does that make you any different from any other god out there?  To put it another way, why should we trust you to act in humanity’s best interest when it seems like plenty of others aren’t?”

“Honestly, you shouldn’t have to trust me.  Ultimately, I want to spread out my strength among my followers precisely to prevent a situation where you and everyone else should feel obligated to follow me for any reason other than that you sincerely agree with my tenets and want to follow me of your own free will.”

Kiarra smiled.  “You’re really something, Lyse.  I’ve never heard anyone speak of giving up their own power with a straight face until tonight.”

“In any case, I hope I can earn your trust and continued support with my actions, rather than demanding your subservience through physical strength.”

Kiarra pulled out a necklace from underneath her blouse, revealing a small charm about half the size of the Periapt of Stability.  Although Lysette had dismissed it at first, it did faintly glow of Essence.  Kiarra rubbed the charm and twisted a couple of dials on the back side.  As she did, reality itself twisted apart, and Lysette looked into a small void reminiscent of her Cultivation realm.

“Here you go, Lyse,” Kiarra said, holding a lemon custard delight.  “I know you’ve been busy all day today trying to recruit students for this mission, and I didn’t see you in the dining hall either for lunch or dinner.  I’m sure you’re starving, and while I don’t understand your obsession, I figured it was the least I could do.”

Lysette’s eyes widened as she created a small spoon out of shadow and took a bite of the heavenly delight.  It was every bit as delicious as she remembered, and after thanking Kiarra for the generous gift, she savored another heaping spoonful.

“As it turns out, the part about worship and belief being food for the gods isn’t entirely metaphorical.  We don’t actually need to eat or drink or sleep.  In fact, short of being knocked unconscious, I’ve not been able to sleep at all since my rebirth.”

“Sounds convenient.”

“Not needing to sleep is.  Not being able to is less so.  If I might ask, what kind of artifact is that?”

“It’s a pretty basic dimensional storage unit; I’m surprised you don’t have one yourself.  I don’t know all the details, but they work by creating a localized subspace of some sort.  There’s something about imaginary numbers involved, but uh, you’d have to ask someone else for more.  I was a solid C-student in my Introduction to Creation class.”

“At least you showed up for your classes!”

Kiarra demurred.

“Had circumstances been different and I not been so rushed to pursue power as quickly as possible, I would have liked to have attended more classes and learned more about all this stuff.  I’m sure it would have been useful and interesting.”

“Well, maybe we can set up a satellite campus of the Academy up in Ciricu?  Maybe not immediately, but if this is going to be a longer-term project, then, you know, after the war?”

“Maybe so.  I’d like that, Kiarra.  Thanks for the idea.”

Chapter 183: https://www.patreon.com/posts/110306778

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/table-of-101896170

Chapter 185: https://www.patreon.com/posts/110762790