Strongest Hammer God

Everyone sat around a table. There were drinks in front of them, which Kyle recognized. He remembered drinking this beverage the last time he had talked to the man. If he remembered correctly, it was called Burning Heart.

Yet, no one touched the drinks. The man had placed the drinks on the table and had asked everyone to be seated.

The table had the form of a hexagon, which seemed to be an unfitting form for everyone's stance. After all, there were five camps, not six. Kyle was one camp. Sebastian and Melanie were one camp. The Overseer was a camp. Swamp Dragon was a camp. The man was a camp.

Initially, Melanie had believed that she should sit separately from Sebastian. After all, they were six people.

"That spot is already occupied," the man said with a smile. "You can sit with your partner."

Naturally, Melanie did just that, and in the end, five of the six sides of the table were occupied.

For a while, everyone remained silent, lost in their thoughts.

The Overseer had already recovered all of her Energy, but that was hardly relevant anymore.

Kyle looked at the table with furrowed brows. He still didn't know how everything would end, and that annoyed him.

After a moment, he grabbed the Burning Heart and took a deep gulp. Moments later, he felt like a fire of justified fury had been lit inside of him.

"Alright," Kyle said before pointing at the empty spot on the table. "First of all, who is sitting there?"

The man just kept smiling. "The world."

"The world?" Kyle asked flatly. "And how will the world contribute to our conversation? It can't exactly think."

"The world thinks what we think it thinks," the man answered. "If we ignore our own desires and think about what the world would think if it could think, we can imagine what it would say."

"And what is this world?" Kyle asked with a bit of annoyance.

"Its inhabitants," the man answered. "All the Mortals, Seekers, and beasts."

"Fine," Kyle said as he drank more Burning Heart. Naturally, Kyle was quite annoyed. Swamp Dragon and the Overseer were right in front of him, and worst of all, they were still alive. He wanted revenge, and he couldn't get it. "So, what's this all about? What do you want to happen?"

"I want the right thing to happen," the man answered calmly as he drank some Burning Heart himself. Surprisingly, it seemed like the Burning Heart didn't have any effect on him. He seemed just as calm and collected as always.

"And what is the right thing?" Melanie suddenly asked from the side, her tone neutral.

Sebastian looked with a bit of worry at his wife. He didn't want her to step out of line and needlessly endanger herself.

Melanie noticed and just rolled her eyes. "What's up with you?" she transmitted. "We're having a conversation. I'm allowed to talk, right? When did you become so scared and uncertain? The Sebastian I fell in love with was bolder. I love the current you just as much as I've loved your past self, but I still want to know why you've become more reserved with time."

Sebastian sighed. "Because I finally have something I value," he transmitted. "In the past, I was louder and more casual since I only had to worry about myself. So what if I took some risks? But now, making the wrong decision feels so much more impactful. I can accept my death, but I can't accept your death."

Melanie just rolled her eyes again. "Oh, come on," she transmitted. "My death? You know exactly what possibilities the future holds. Our time together is limited. We've already spent our allotted lifetime together."

When Sebastian heard Melanie's words, he felt like a dark void had opened in his chest.

There was an undeniable and unchangeable truth.

Melanie did not have the talent to become Immortal.

They had tried. Sebastian had even given her an Elemental, but it still wasn't enough. There were only two ways everything could go.

First, Sebastian remained with Melanie until his longevity ran out, and she would die some time after him. After all, Melanie was younger than Sebastian.

Second, Sebastian would become an Immortal and continue living. Yet, after becoming an Immortal, he would have to watch her die.

Sadly, they couldn't be together forever.

"You should get used to single life," Melanie transmitted. "Because I don't want you to die, you hear me? I want you to keep going when I'm gone. You've had a family once, right, back on Earth? You got over them, and you found love again. With enough time, you will also get over me."

"While it sounds romantic, I don't want my man to keep crying and swearing that he would never love anyone again when my time comes, and I would want you to end your life even less. There are two things that I want my husband to be."

"Alive and happy. Asking someone to be happy is a big ask, but I'm still asking. As long as you try, I'm fine with it."

Sebastian sighed again. As he listened to his wife, he once again fell in love with her, for the billionth time. The way she talked made her almost seem like a selfish bitch, but Sebastian knew that she was only doing this to make it easier for him.

He had seen her crying about her own fate in secret before. He knew that it was also not easy for her, accepting that she couldn't stay with him forever. Yet, instead of trying to pull Sebastian down with her, she tried to lift him up. She wanted him to keep going.

Kyle sighed. He tried not to listen in on the voice transmissions, but it was difficult. Neither Sebastian nor Melanie had undergone their Fusion, and the way they controlled Energy was so crude and simple. Everyone on the table could sense their voice transmissions.

'I guess that's the reason why Manny told us to never use voice transmissions when talking about something important,' Kyle thought.

The man smiled a bit before looking at Melanie. "You wanted to know what the right thing is, right?"

"Yes, that was my question," Melanie answered. In reality, barely any time had passed since she had asked the question.

"No one knows what the right thing is," the man said. "The only thing we can do is to narrow all of our choices down until we make a decision that is as right as we can make it."

"Everyone on this table has played a major role in creating our current situation," the man said. "If only one person sitting at this table hadn't been here, this conversation wouldn't have happened."

"Swamp Dragon is the Overseer. He deserves a spot."

"The old Overseer naturally deserves a spot."

"Kyle deserves a spot."

"Sebastian and Melanie deserve a spot."

"I am the strongest. Therefore, I deserve a spot."

"And the world itself also deserves a spot."

"Six sides. However, the most important side is the world. The decisions we make today will affect the future of this world the most, and therefore, the world deserves two votes."

"Votes?" the Overseer asked with some hidden frustration.

"Naturally," the man said. "While I could force all of you to do whatever I want, I don't want to. I want to make the right decision, not one that I believe is right."

"The world's destiny has been shaped by all of us, in one way or another, and now, I want to resolve all of this."

"But before we get started, I would like for all of you to tell me everything you know about this world. I want to know what life was like, what you've experienced, and what has led up to our current situation."

"Yet, you must be honest. If there are things you do not know, don't make stuff up. If there's something you do not want to talk about, say that you do not want to talk about it instead of lying. I will not force anyone to speak of things they do not want to share. If I sense that someone is dishonest or deceptive, then that person doesn't need a spot at this table, and their fate will be decided by everyone else."

The author's patreon. If he gets more than 1000 per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.

/user?u=27791050