God of Humans, Barbaros' POV

Finally, shit has gotten interesting here.

Sir Balrog... and Lady Aran, sure looked like they have no idea what to do now, thanks to me haha. And even better, Old man Lobris actually woke up during a meeting! What a rare sight to behold.

"Hey, why the atmosphere here so gloomy? Did something happened? Where's Fir and Ralzalka?"

Bruh, seriously old man? How deep in your sleep, were you?

"Fir got bonked to the Horny Realm and Ralzalka straight up left just a minute ago." I told the old man, who seemed to have ignored me and looked at where Mercedes Lodengrimm is seated.

"Why hey there, Alyssa! The name's Lobris, and I'm the God of—"

"That's not Alyssa." the ol' God of Demons interjected.

"...What?"

"I said that's not Alyssa. She doesn't have her memories back."

Old man Lobris then stares at me motherfuckingly with his teeny tiny eyes, wide open.

"Barbaros, where the girl's memories?"

Shifting my eyes away from him, I simply just shrugged with a smug, pulling out a mug of water, I take a glug.

Ahh... refreshing. Water is the shit!

Knowing what my response meant, the old man sighed and turned to Sir Balrog on his left.

"You know, this is partially your guys' faults for leaving it to the lad."

"Yes... yes... we realised that too late."

Oh wow... To see those three having a hard time is pretty entertaining, not gonna lie.

"Barbaros, wipe that grin off your face right now." said Lady Aran with a cold glare aimed at me.

"Yes ma'am!~" I replied with a bigger smile.

Ignoring me for the time being, old man Lobris then heave a sigh.

"Well, it's not like the Saint can't do her mission without Alyssa's memories, right?"

"Yes, that's true, but..."

Dear lord, stop trying to worsen the mood here, you sophisticated demon god. At first it was pretty entertaining to see things not going our way, but now it's just depressing. Even Lil Mercedes over there has been silent for a while now because of it.

*Sigh...*

I stood from my seat, making myself heard throughout the remaining of us here.

"Look, I'm sorry for messing up, okay? As apologies, you three may leave the Saint to me, alright? I'll make sure to do a proper job of explaining everything to her."

Sir Balrog, Lady Aran, and Old Man Lobris looked at each other for a moment. Then, the first to speak was the Old Man.

"Yeah sure, whatever. I wanna just go back to sleep.

Next up, was Sir Balrog.

"If you can do a proper job this time, then go ahead. I'm exhausted as well."

Finally, Lady Aran spoke up.

"How can I be sure you'll do as you said you will, Barbaros?"

"Hmm? What do you mean, my dear lady?"

"Those two may allow you, but I for one, don't. You messed up big time already. How do I know that you won't again?"

"Hey now dragon lady, the Saint and I are just gonna talk. No way I can mess that up, right?"

Lady Aran doesn't buy my words however, and just glares even harder.

Ferocious~ Scary~ Oooouuu~ I'm sO ScAreD~

"Fine, fine... Then how 'bout we make a pact, huh? That way you can leave it to me, right?"

"...Very well. We'll do just that."

A vow has been established, a stupid one in fact. Nonetheless, a line of mana was formed between our hands. Forcing a mark on the back of it, as proved of the pact.

Man... how many years has it been since this stuff was done?

I don't know. But hey, now get I to have my time alone with the Saint as planned.

"*Clap* *Clap* Come, come Lil Mercedes! Follow this young man into his realm, shall we?"

I opened a gateway that leads to my realm, gesturing Mercedes Lodengrimm to enter it first.

However...

"Ehhh yeah... I don't think I wanna..."

Wait, seriously? What's with those eyes of doubt? Does she not trust me? It's not like I'm gonna do something weird to her or anything, I'm just inviting her for a chat.

"You sure you don't wanna? I have a drink bar in there. And we can play Smash while chatting. And—"

Hold on. Where did she go?

"What are you doing?"

Huh?

I turn around... and found her already partially in my realm.

"We gonna play Smash in here, right? Let go!"

"Umm... yeah. Right behind you."

I... I don't get her. One second, she was doubting me, the next, she changed her mind.

...

She must really like the game, huh...

Mercedes' POV

I'd never thought it was possible... But right now, I'm fighting a god! The god, playing an anime swordsman, while I, play a different anime swordsman.

Each of us has one life left, at near critical death. Which means, the one who manages to land their final blow first, is the winner.

I charge at him with high agility and jumped up, dodging the incoming slash he tried to land with his very long blade. Then, I slash down at him, but got hit instead when he perfect timed his counter move, sending flying off the stage.

I wasn't out of game yet fortunately, and immediately tried to jump back on the platform. However, as if anticipating it, my opponent launched a fully charged explosion to where I would land and got me directly in the face.

That was it, the final blow for him which sent me flying out of the map. Resulting in his victory.

"Nooooooo!!!"

"Haha, I win! Suck it, noob!"

"Curse you, Barbaros! I want a rematch!"

"Sorry, no can do. Told you this was the last round for now, right?"

"Argh, fine..."

We put down over controllers and face each other, taking a sip out of our soft drinks first before starting our conversation.

"So uh... where did we last stop?"

"I believe it was something along the lines of me being Alyssa?"

"Ah right, that bullshit Sir Balrog sprouted. Yeah... yeah...... Yeah, you're not Alyssa, girl."

"Huh? What? But I thought—"

"Yes, your soul is the same as Alyssa's. She is one of your past lives which you don't remember. But as an individual, you are not her. You are Mercedes Lodengrimm, the daughter of Duke Lodengrimm of the Kingdom of Ferashide. You may be called Alyssa's reincarnation, but you will never be her in a true sense. Get it?"

"Uh, yeah... I think."

"And that is where this comes into play." he sets a blue glowing orb on the table where I can see images spiraling from within the object.

"What is that?" I asked.

"This here, is Alyssa's memories. It contains everything Alyssa had experienced throughout her entire life. Her knowledge, the spells she'd learnt, the connections she'd made. Everything about her is in this orb... including her personality, emotions, and sufferings. This is the very thing that would've turn you into Alyssa, if it was not for me. And trust me, you do not want that at all."

"What do you mean? Also, didn't you say that you lost it or something?"

"Ah you see... I used a divine technique back then called... lying."

Im-Impossible! That can't be!

"Y-you monster!"

"Buahahaha! I know... I am."

After a few seconds of laughing, Barbaros then stopped and return back to the conversation.

"Back to what I was saying. If I were to actually give you Alyssa's memories back then, her personality and character would have integrated into your very being. Meaning, you would have to cease being Mercedes Lodengrimm, and become Alyssa Lufer instead."

That... that's really bad! I don't want to change all of a sudden! I want to stay as me, the cute and mischievous chocolate girl of culture!

"But why?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Why do you guys want me to become Alyssa? Can't I do the job of saving the other Braves, like that old man Lobris said I could?"

"First of all, it's the other Gods who want you to be Alyssa, not me. Secondly, although it is true that you can do it, they want Alyssa to save the other Braves instead. Since it'd be far more easier in many ways for her to do the job instead of you."

That makes sense, I guess. Unlike me, Alyssa is someone who knew the world and what it is truly like. And considering that she was summoned in this world during a time of crisis, her mentality is most definitely stronger than mine in that sense.

In addition to that, the other Braves are people whom Alyssa knows personally, unlike me who knows nothing of them at all.

But I still don't accept that!

"So then, why do you not want me to become Alyssa?" I asked the God before me, slurping on his drink before answering me.

"Three reasons. One, Alyssa in reality is lazy as fuck, and would definitely not want to do the job.

Two, Alyssa hates Lavada. Not because of all the monsters and fantasy stuffs, but because the toilets in our world suck. Meaning she will punch me the moment we meet, and I do not want that to happen again.

And three, Alyssa is dead. That is a fact, and I intend to make it stay as a fact."

...Somehow, I feel like the third reason is his main reason for not wanting me to become Alyssa. Considering how serious he looks right now talking about it, unlike the first two reasons he stated earlier.

"Do you... hate Alyssa or something?"

As I asked him that, Barbaros looked away from my eyes and to the memory orb instead. Expressing a serious yet sad look in his eyes, he answers.

"No... No, I don't. Alyssa... is a friend. Just... a friend."

I couldn't say anything. To the god in front me, expressing feelings of regret to an object that carries the memories of his 'friend', I could only stare at him silently until he decides to look back at me, with a sad smile on his face.

"Did you know, Gods can give up their godhood and live among mortals if they want."

What? Where did that come from all of a sudden?

"...It's nearly morning down there. We'll chat again some other time if possible, alright?"

"Huh?"

Barbaros snaps his fingers, causing my body slowly fade away as he says some last things to me.

"First, train your magic skills before reaching the age of fifteen. Especially your Holy Magic. As you'll need to learn the master spell, [Divine Dispel], to remove the curse from the Braves."

[Divine Dispel]. Got it! I'll make sure to learn that.

"Second, the first Brave who will be waiting for you is the Necromancer Brave, Hidel. He is at the Nekros Magic Academy, secretly living as a student there."

The Nekros Magic Academy, huh? That's the place up north where I'll be attending after my coming of age ceremony. No wonder I have to learn the master spell before becoming 15 years old.

"Third, asides from the Necromancer Brave, we only know of two other Braves' current locations. You can ask about them from your grandfather."

Grandpa? Uh... alright then, I'll do that when I see him.

"Finally, when you ask your grandfather about the Braves' locations, this is something you should inform him as well. It is something that we, the Six Gods, have just recently found out."

What... what is it, God of Humans? What is it?

"The Abyssal Lord still lives. Weak but alive, he is hiding somewhere in this world, recovering his strength in a new body."

"Eh, huh, what? Hold on, are you seriou—"

I couldn't ask in time, as I wake up on my bed with my hand reaching out to the ceiling. Gently lowering it back down onto my head, I couldn't believe what I'd just heard.

"The Abyssal Lord still lives..."

You got to be fucking kidding me...

While trying to get a few more minutes of sleep after all that event, I suddenly hear a loud explosion.

BOOM!

What the hell was that!?

Quickly, without changing into proper clothing or caring for my bed hair, I jumped out of my bed and ran straight to the front entrance where the noise was heard. Upon reaching there, I stopped and looked down over the railings to see that the two front doors of the mansion, have been knocked down into the house. And within the cloud of dust, was the culprit who did it. However, before the dust even disperse to reveal the intruder, the intruder himself shouted.

"The Pope has arrived!"

"Grandpa!?" I yelled in utter shocked.

The dust then dispersed, as my grandfather looks up to where I am and shouts, "Hey there, granddaughter! How you doin'?"

"That doesn't matter now, Grandpa! Why did you kick down the doors!?"

"Because fuck those doors, that's why."

"......."

Doctor Julian... somehow, I feel your pain now.