Mushoku Tensei: A different path

(Rudeus POV)

Feeling a bit weary, I realized I was in the last place I would want to be during my final moments.

And yet, the culprit of my demise was standing before me, applauding me with a goofy smile plastered on his face.

"Congratulations, little parasite," he said, still smiling and applauding. "You have died enough for your soul to leave the body that you so heinously possessed."

"Fuck you," I replied, wishing I still had a hand to flip him off.

"Hah! Get mad all you want. There is absolutely no way for you to come back after I dragged your soul here. The body you once called yours is decaying as we speak. Oh, those fools. How loudly they are weeping over you. I wonder if they would weep as much had they found out who you really were?"

"Yes, yes, you won. Quit playing the happy sociopath and explain this dying soul a thing or two."

"Is it about how I got the colony to dispatch so suddenly?"

"… no," I said dumbfounded. "Did you–"

"It wasn't any ordinary colony, you know?" he interrupted me. "It used to be part of my plan long ago before I had to arrange for it to be sealed. Who would've thought I would use that fool's creation anyway."

Holy shit. This guy just sacrificed hundreds of lives just to end me. Truly the act of an evil and corrupted god. You know what, scratch that, evil is more than enough.

"So you really were involved in the creation of these abnormal monsters."

"It was a secret project from before the Laplace campaign that went out of control for me to use it as a weapon. But I guess a little chaos and bloodshed was necessary to kill the likes of you."

"And? Who was the fool you've tricked to do your bidding?"

"An ingenious dumbass who got utterly killed by his own children after falling hard from trying to reach a height he never could've gotten without my pieces of advice."

Ah. Someone filled with greed in their heart. I can't really say that I feel sympathy for them, but there are lots of people like him out there. Striving for power and glory so much that they would sell their souls to the devil. Or, in this case, an evil piece of shit wannabe god.

"Just so we're clear," I said, "those men in the abandoned mansion, they bought those Sea Dragon scales from the money they got from selling Luke's aphrodisiac bottles, right?"

"Oh? Have you already come to that conclusion on your own? You should have noticed who purchased them from the merchant, even back in Rosenburg."

Bastard. Did he seriously plan that far ahead? No, it would be more accurate to say that he took advantage of an opportunity that presented itself. In hindsight, I should have paid attention as to where those scales went on the market.

"And the dispatching of the colony? How did you do that?"

"The missing party of [Thunder Bolt] who hasn't arrived yet. After I told them about you being part of their clan, they feared the chance of the loot from the labyrinth they came for was zero. As soon as I mentioned a second one that remained undiscovered, they rushed in like flies. After getting stuck in the monster den, I advised them to reach the main coop, where the biggest loot was. Although, I omitted the fact that the strongest ones were down there, too."

So, in short, my reputation intimidated them to go for unthinkable measures. This is exactly the type of scenario Soldat warned me about in my high-class Healing Magic.

But in this case, it was out of my control. I wasn't even going to force anyone to give [Stepped Leader] the right to conquer the labyrinth. I would have waited for them at the entrance and seen if they were caring for someone outside it.

If they were to say, "We ain't giving away our loot," then I would use force as my biggest option. And by force, I mean using an abnormal green-feathered self-igniting Red Dragon as intimidation.

I mean, despite my lack of reaction to her feminine appeal, there is no denying that Zenith is a hotty. If she falls into the wrong kind of people, there is no telling what will happen to her. Well, there is, but let's hope for this world's sake not.

"But I gotta say. I didn't expect Paul, of all people, to arrive at the scene. It would have hampered things if he had arrived earlier," he commented casually.

"Who would have thought my backup plan would become part of the main one."

"So, the Millis Church declaring me Laplace was your idea," I said, angry about this malicious plan of his.

"Honestly," he said, scratching the back of his head, "I didn't have to say much. They were already in the process of coming into a vote. I only told one of the higher officials not to take the risk and set things into motion."

He put both his hands behind his lower back, tilting his head as he gave me an innocent smile this time.

"You can probably guess how that one vote caused a chain reaction amongst those fools, right?"

Unfortunately, I do. In politics, the weaker ones usually follow the stronger ones to secure a better spot in the ranks. If the strong one has comprehensible reasons behind their choice, then the other side wouldn't question it too much.

I hate how corrupt those officials are. Who knows, if I hadn't died, he could've easily turned them to form an alliance just to go against me. Either they killed me, or I would bring genocide over the two strongest kingdoms in the world.

"But thanks to the link between you and Paul, I didn't have to proceed with the second phase of my plan," he said.

"What link? Does it have something to do with Paul's form?"

"Heh," he scoffed. "So much power, and yet you don't have an ounce of awareness of what it can do. But I guess explaining it to you now is a waste of time now that you've lost that power."

I was momentarily confused before I looked at my sides and realized the manifestations and the chains that attached them to my chest were gone. Only a hole with cracked edges was all that was left.

"I guess you're right, aren't you?" I said in defeat, letting my head hang.

Without the manifestations of my curse, I would need a miracle to come back to life. I could also hope for another reincarnation, but that would be a lot to ask. But if possible, I would like to stay in this world and try to clean up the messes I have made.

"So. What will you do after I'm gone?"

At my question, his smile vanished, and his fist clenched.

"Even after you are gone, those other two brats you called your sisters will continue to be a thorn in my eyes. As a matter of fact, I will have to start doing countermeasures right after you vanish from the face of MY world."

Hearing these words and just knowing what the possibilities were, I had the longing to kill the bastard to make him eat his words. But I don't have any hands. You know what? Screw it! I'm gonna do the next best thing. A headbutt!

"That's pointless. You don't have a physical- fwuah!"

With every bit of force I could muster, I rammed my head under his chin, causing him to falter back a few steps.

I gotta admit, this felt just as great as finding out I broke his Future Sight.

But, like all great things, it had ended abruptly.

In this instance, it all came to an end when his fist struck my face, knocking me off balance because of the absence of my arms.

Once I lay there on the ground, squirming from the momentary pain, the wannabe god proceeded to kick me ruthlessly. Over and over again.

Every last second, he did nothing but lash out at me, like a sociopathic jerk with a god complex.

As he continued to beat me, he talked about things I couldn't fully comprehend due to the repeated kicks. Some names, such as Laplace and Orsted, were mentioned, but I couldn't hear what exactly he was saying.

Other than that, he kept repeating that he was the winner and I was the loser, like a child who mocks others for losing a game against them.

His kicks only hurt for a second, most likely because I'm only a soul. The last time I got a beating like this, one that wasn't coming from a bratty princess, was in my previous world.

That day was when I believed my life derailed. The day that defined my life decisions following that.

But should this truly be my last moment, then let it be one I regret less.

As I executed my last act, the kicks ended, and he looked at the uninjured me with an annoyed expression—and for a good reason.

I was chuckling to myself, but slowly, it turned into actual laughter as I had a funny epiphany about this ending.

"What? What are you laughing about?"

"It's just that," I began as I turned to lie on my back, a smile still plastering my face and saying, "the fact that someone who refers to himself as THE god is actually scared of a bunch of kids who POTENTIALLY could become a problem to him is just so hilarious."

"Oh great. You've lost your mind. That is if you haven't lost it already from getting yourself killed that blast."

"And you know what you've lost?" I countered back with a smiling face. "The last bit of divinity you've had left. Now, you're just a big scared Man Child."

"Shut up!" he yelled out.

"Maybe that's even my purpose for coming to this world. To rob you of the one thing that made you a god. Even your dream communication thing doesn't come close to seeing into the future."

With all that was left of my arms, I bend my upper body to face Hitogami, a smile still plastering my face.

"You see? Before my timely demise, I took away the one unique thing from you that defined your godhood. Now, it's nothing but an unreliable and imprecise waste of a power. And who knows? Maybe it will never go back to normal ever again, doomed only to give maybes that probably won't even happen. It-It's just so... ha... hahaha... Pfffhahahaha~" I burst out laughing at the end and threw my head back, laying back on the ground.

"I SAID SHUT UP!!!"

He just screamed and came at me, grabbing me by the neck and strangling me with all his might. I think I can even see a vein or two pop on his forehead from his strained face.

"You're absolutely right," he spoke through his gritted teeth. "It was the one thing that made me choose HIM over the others. The other five were no-brain brutes with much more raw power to use. And yet that fool, even though he was the weakest of them, chose not to use the one thing that made him special to his benefit. It was ME who used it for what it's meant for! AND YOU RUINED IT!!!"

Regardless of how much his grip strengthened from his complaining, it did not matter as I was only but a soul with no need for breathing air.

He continued with his meaningless words of anger with no reaction or even resistance from me. He physically overpowered me, and it's not like I can defend myself if, even in soul form, I don't have any hands.

It took a while of continuous strangling and even more insults before he gave up on it and let go.

"*Huff* *Huff*… look at what you've done to your soul. I can't even harm you like this anymore," he said, still with discontent in his voice, before dismounting me.

We spent the next couple of minutes with me just laying on my back, looking up at the ceiling, and him sitting next to me, holding his head with his knees supporting his arms.

Seeing him in such a defeated state after his tantrum was kind of hilarious.

But all things aside, wasn't there something missing?

"Shouldn't I be, I don't know, like... " I trailed off, saying, "Go to the afterlife or whatever?"

"No, you dimwit. Souls usually decompose and become one with the world's mana. But that wretched curse of yours damaged and reassembled your soul so much that it became too unstable to go through the natural process. And you're not even from this world, so hell if I know what happens to you now."

Ah. That means I possibly doomed myself to spend the rest of eternity with this guy. It's ironic how I brought myself to this mess to begin with.

But it also means I can warn every future apostle whom he tries to contact. I'm still in terrible shape, making me the prime example of what happens to those involved with the censorship of a man.

The silence between us just went on. Minutes soon turned into hours of him still glaring at my being. It looks like he could kill; he would have done a single-person genocide.

I had a lot of time to think, especially about what Hitogami said when he tried to unalive me.

Turning my head his way, I started asking, "Hey. What did you mean when you said him over the others? Are... are you an impostor?"

"Urgh. Shut up already," he said, making a motion as if rolling his eyes.

"What? At least I'm trying to kill some time while the two of us are stuck here together," I shot back.

"And who's fault is it that you're stuck here to begin with?" he replied.

"YOURS! If it weren't for you trying to ruin my life, none of this would have happened."

"Hah! I don't remember telling you to reject Eris's advances. You screwed it up yourself. Then again, you got off easier than my plan would have given to you. It was only until Millishion that you suddenly went off-script. If not for that, you would have continued dancing on my palm like a good little idiot."

"And now look where all that playing got you."

My comment brought him on edge to start another attempt to kill my soul, his fist raised and ominously glowing. He held it up for a while before canceling that action altogether, a long sigh escaping his mouth.

No answer nor snarky comments were coming from him. I guess he is just not capable of self-reflection.

Nothing else happened for a while, and Hitogami still stared at me with a barely readable face. It's hard to read his mood from his face alone, but he must be frustrated.

"Aren't you going to implement your next plan?" I asked, not expecting an answer anyway.

"Not until you're truly gone."

Well, geez, someone sure is anxious without his future-seeing power. But this time, I am as far into death as the first time against the truck.

I continued gazing at the sky as I had no better options. With him simply waiting for me to connect with the world, staying silent felt preferable to engaging in another heated conversation.

Suddenly, a rumbling noise began to echo throughout the area, resembling the sound of a cave collapsing.

I sat up to look around the place, my eyes wide open as they scanned the area.

There was nothing in this empty void that could be making this ruckus.

But then I saw that Hitogami was standing again, facing the sky.

When I changed my line of sight to the same direction, I saw what could have possibly caused it.

The sky was breaking. I know this sounds crazy, but literal cracks were growing up there.

They continued to spread everywhere in the sky, going as far as the horizon allowed me to see until-

*Boom*

A tremendous explosion erupted from the ceiling, its shockwave jolting the ground beneath me violently, propelling me upwards before I flipped and fell down hard on my back.

As before, the pain was brief, lasting only a second.

However, when I opened my eyes to assess the commotion, that quickly faded and became my least pressing issue.

The sky was fracturing. I struggled to find a better description. Fragments of what I believed was the sky were cracking and breaking apart, falling down toward us.

"This can't be," Hitogami said, standing and looking up with utter disbelief.

He then looked at me, puzzled for a moment, before reacting as if he had come to a conclusion.

"No… no no no… no no no no no no no no. NO NO NO NOOOOOO!" He exclaimed, shaking his head as he clutched it.

"What? What is it? What is going on?!"

Using the shaking ground to my advantage, I sat up and watched as the wannabe god continued to mutter stuff I couldn't get behind.

"It all makes sense now! That's why I couldn't see the branch. It never was you who did it. It was those creatures latched on to you. They stayed behind to take control of the body. The increased mana density in Sharia is what brought it back! Shit! I shouldn't have created that bitch and her kin!"

Okay, now I'm freaking out, too. What the heck did he conclude that made him so terrified? If he gets scared of seeing this, then there must be something serious brawling.

My questions stayed as they were. Unanswered.

Meanwhile, the terrain above us dropped huge pieces of raft and tons of water down toward the ground of this void.

"No. This can't be happening! My world! All my work! All crumbling down!" He screamed out.

Hitogami seems devastated. Shouldn't he worry about other things right now, like getting somewhere safe?

I mean, look at me. I don't have arms below the elbow, but I will still try to run for the rest of my life. The fear of clumsily stumbling is my fuel, driving me forward to safety.

Until it actually happens. Yeah, it's not my proudest moment, for sure.

I quickly tried to get up, but when looking up again, it dawned on me how pointless running away was.

"Is that a mountain?"

From above, a massive lump of stone descended towards the ground, dooming me to get crushed were it not for the fact that I was already dead.

It's more surprising that it came down while still in one piece rather than crumbled.

There was no point in trying to run from it, so I had to brace myself and endure.

The impact was quick, and I soon found myself encased in stones and earth with no light going through.

Also, because of my supposed soul solidification, I can escape. Guess ghost rules don't apply to me anymore.

Unable to do anything, I had nothing else to do than just stay stuck and listen to three things.

My hearing was muffled, but I could still hear crashing, but there was something else.

It sounded like explosions. There was also Hitogami's voice screaming one thing or another, but it was hard to understand.

Along with that was something else. Something that made me realize what this all was about.

Creepy laughter. The signal that the world was ending just as Hitogami had forecasted.

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