Chapter 351: Their true feelings

Kyle had bought himself a laptop equipped with a built-in camera, which he was now using to livestream from the same hotel room where he had spent the night with Amanda.

The last time he had tried to speak with them, not all of them had been present. Kyle understood their circumstances, but he had wanted to have this conversation when all five of them were together. He wanted to see them, to speak to them directly, without anyone being left out.

And now, he watched them in silence, their faces marked by grief and horror.

The first to break the silence was Mother Nature, Freya.

[K-Kyle? Are you... what are you even saying? You promised you would never stop streaming.]

Odin then spoke.

[Lord Supreme, I know you must be disappointed in all of us for hiding the truth and breaking the oath, but we did what we were told to do. To always follow our hearts and face the consequences without regret.]

Kyle narrowed his eyes. "And I assume it was I who said that?"

Odin did not respond, because Kyle was right.

Once, his ignorant self had spoken those words without understanding what they were truly dealing with or the kind of trouble that defined their circumstances. He had considered their problems trivial, something that could be overcome through nothing more than sheer willpower.

But that had only been because he did not know what he was dealing with.

[We have broken our oaths, but I hold no regret about it.]

Tyr spoke with complete sincerity. His face held no trace of guilt, only the determination to face whatever lay ahead.

Artemis then spoke up.

[I complicated things the most by allowing myself to unite with you. And seeing how everything turned out, I feel that I am to blame for all of it.]

That night...

If only Artemis had been a little more rational, she might have realized that her decision would not affect Kyle alone. The people he loved would be dragged into it as well, and they would suffer alongside him.

And the worst had happened.

Kyle had been targeted by Apostles. The other gods had helped the very being who was determined to ruin his life. And in the end, everything had culminated in Kyle unlocking his Origin, only to lose a massive part of himself in the process.

Silence settled over the chat before Kyle turned his attention toward the little one, who had been stealing glances at him without quite daring to meet his eyes.

"Don’t you have anything to say, Tear?"

At the sound of that name, Death... no, Tear, flinched before slowly looking up at him with her adorable black eyes.

Freya glanced in her direction, completely taken aback. It was difficult to reconcile the terrifying existence known as Death with such an undeniably adorable name.

The others remained silent, waiting for Tear to speak.

[Umm...]

She hesitated before finally saying,

[...I missed you.]

"..."

This time, it was Kyle who fell silent. He had expected something else, perhaps an apology for starters, but instead, she had offered him something far simpler and, in its own way, far more sincere. A small glimpse of what she had been feeling all this time.

[I was lonely... in the void... all alone. No one whispered stories to me anymore. I missed you.]

She continued, her words carrying a quiet loneliness that contrasted sharply with the fearsome nature of her existence.

As one of the Three Primordials, her existence lay beyond the veil of the heavens. Much like Fate and Life, she was condemned to spend most of her time in solitude, isolated from everything beyond her domain. The only exception was those brief moments when she could establish a connection with the deities and temporarily join the stream.

"So you’ve been neglecting your duties just to watch me, huh?" Kyle asked, crossing his arms as his brows slowly rose. "Tell me, whose idea was it to turn a simple livestream into a gathering of deities who should be focusing on managing their domains?"

The five of them exchanged glances before Freya slowly raised her hand.

[It was me. I was fascinated because you were the only person I had ever heard since the beginning of my existence. And when I learned about your vessel, I became eager to somehow watch how you lived now.]

Kyle hummed. "So that was the beginning of everything, huh? Just simple curiosity."

Freya lowered her head, unable to meet his gaze. But then Tyr spoke.

[I am to blame as well, because it was through my Apostle that I found a way to connect with you. And then, I also made sure that no one else but us could watch you as time went by.]

Kyle massaged his temples.

Of course. They had isolated him from everyone else. Otherwise, how could it be that not even a random passerby had ever stumbled into his stream?

Then Odin added,

[I warned them initially, but I became invested myself. I wanted to gain your wisdom and ask for your suggestions about matters that even the members of my highest council could not unravel.]

Artemis finally offered her side of the story.

[I was the last to join, and I was also the most reluctant to let this continue. Remember, I was the first one who tried to rile you up. I was mean to you, and the others hated me for it.]

Kyle sighed. "I remember that, but it didn’t stop me from continuing."

Artemis nodded.

[That inspired me... Despite having lived longer than your vessel had at the time, you displayed a patience and maturity that I lacked. And before I even realized it... I had become a part of their group as well.]

Kyle lowered his head and exhaled a long breath.

He... had genuinely been expecting something else.

He was the Origin. While most beings either feared or hated him, there were surely some who might have sought to form a closer bond with him. Kyle had suspected that these five might have been among them.

But he had been doubting them for nothing.

Even Odin, the one who had perhaps the greatest reason to remain in his good graces, seemed to have genuinely wanted nothing more than a good friend, someone with whom he could speak openly and from whom he could seek counsel.

And after everything they had done, Kyle had finally realized something.

They had never harbored any selfish intentions toward him from the very beginning.

Just then, Tear spoke.

[Father... please don’t hate me.]

Her small hand clutched the edge of the table, her moist eyes betraying the fear she was trying to conceal.

[I hid things from you and even allowed the others to break the oath. In fact, I encouraged them to help you... because it was disheartening to watch Father in that state.]

Freya let out a low growl.

[I held back so many urges whenever I heard about the people who were making your life hell.]

Tyr nodded.

[I had to stop her and Artemis several times from sending their Apostles after your parents. However, I was quite angered myself to see how you were being treated.]

Kyle nodded slowly. "I understand that. But you do realize that liberating me has made you the target of scorn from all the divine ones, don’t you?"

[Yes, we do.]

Artemis answered without a trace of hesitation in her voice.

Freya continued.

[We knew that from the moment we started watching your streams.]

Odin then spoke, his voice carrying nothing but his honest feelings.

[At first, we were uncertain and tried to stop this. But eventually, we couldn’t bring ourselves to do it.]

[Between Father and the eternity of existence, I would always choose you.]

Tear’s eyes trembled slightly as she said those words, and for a moment, none of them said anything more.

Kyle stared at the group who had made his situation far more complicated than it would have been if his vessel had simply died along the way and he had awakened his Origin naturally.

Now, not only did every being in existence know where he was, but his human side had also retained the memories of the life he had once lived.

And because of those memories, he had formed attachments to people he could no longer bring himself to ignore or simply leave behind.

He could not just kill himself to reunite with his forces and eliminate the possibility of further ambushes from the other deities. Because the mere thought of abandoning this world, of leaving Amanda, Veronica, and Blake behind, made his heart feel unbearably heavy.

He was trapped in a situation that seemed to offer no good choices, and yet he could not bring himself to blame anyone for it.

Shaking his head, Kyle finally said, "I need some time alone."

With that, the stream ended.

But Kyle clicked his tongue almost immediately. He shook his head, reconsidered, and restarted the stream.

The five deities were still online, so he hurriedly said, "Don’t expect me to stream often. Now, bye."

The last thing he saw before turning off the stream was Freya jumping for joy.

A smile touched Kyle’s lips as he rose from the bed.

Forget it. Without him, they would create a bigger mess.