The group couldn't help but watch in pure…They couldn't even describe how they were feeling. There was consternation, despair, anger, and even disbelief.
Now, they were even wondering if all this had been true or if they had hallucinated. Just as they were still in shock, Josh casually walked toward with a satisfied grin on his face.
"Well, venting felt good. But, seriously, screw that guy, am I right!" He showed no sign of shame.
"No fucking way! What the hell did you do that for?! You almost wiped the entire human race, you bastard!" a soldier shouted at him.
They all stared daggers at him, even the usually so calm mysterious man. The only exception was the little healer who was beaming in joy.
"Mad? Naw, gods are annoying bastards in general. There's no need to be polite with them. They're always: oh, you killed X from my faction, now die! Just ignore them and don't worry about it. Their bark is way worse than their bite in my experience." Josh explained.
How could he be so casual about all this?! Actually, what did "in his experience" even mean?! The implications were even more frightening than what they had just witnessed.
"Great job! See guy's I told you that he'd be fine!" The little girl commented.
She was even strutting, rolling her eyes to the others as if they were the crazy ones. What the hell?! They weren't the ones who had picked a fight with a goddamn god?! But, there was something they couldn't understand.
"Still, why the hell did you suddenly start insulting it?!"
"Suddenly? Hey, that chaotic bastard started it! Weren't you all listening when it said that we're nothing but a backwater world it could easily crush and called us worthless? Well, fuck him!"
They exchanged glances but saw the same puzzled look in the others' eyes. Lana stepped forward:
"We didn't hear a thing. To us, it appeared as if you were speaking to yourself." She carefully said.
"Really? How weird!" Josh couldn't help but feel perplexed.
How was it that he could perfectly hear them? The only factor he saw was that he was Classless. For now, he would reassure them:
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"I see. Anyway, you guys are worried over nothing. That god was blind and deaf, don't ask me how I know, I just do. Actually, it's more that it didn't even bother looking our way, as if on auto-pilot."
"What?! Then all those shenanigans were for show?!" One cried out.
"No, it helped me to keep my mind steady. It's important to blow off some steam, you know! Plus, it's not like that guy will ever know. You guys aren't planning to summon it back to tattle on me, right?" Josh inquired.
Did he even need to ask?! Even if they wanted to summon it, they didn't freaking know how to! Still, they sighed in relief as it seemed this Josh wasn't as foolish as he had first appeared.
That's when the mysterious man asked a question that felt very pertinent: "You, are you sure that you're human?"
"Of course, isn't this obvious?" Josh asked, perplexed.
"What about the purple ray that you freaking ate?! How can humans do that?! It had to be extremely dangerous, right?!"
"Oh, that? I think it was something to change someone's Class into something pretty dangerous. However, it doesn't seem to work on someone who's Classless. So, no need to worry about that." Josh gave a reassuring smile. (Totally a white lie)
They remained pensive for a second before a soldier, probably a captain, uttered:
"I guess we're safe now. The fog is gone, the darkness is gone, the god is gone, we just need to rescue the Fallens, bring this guy to the MTA for testing, and we'll finally be done with this shit."
"Yeah, I don't think so." Josh suddenly protested.
He swiftly brought magical contracts out, handing one to everyone present with a friendly smile. "Here, you go." but as they checked the content, they couldn't help but become wary.
This was an NDA! He wanted to keep the information about him a secret, something that could quickly become a menace to humanity!
"Let's keep this little episode a secret, shall we!" Josh reiterated.
Little episode? Keep it a secret? The fate of the fucking world could depend on this! The MTA soldiers got ready to capture him. Yet, Josh didn't even bother taking a combat stance. Staring at them, he slowly uttered:
"I just drove a god away. Now, hypothetically speaking, what do you think will happen if the MTA starts hunting me? Who do you think will come out on top?"
He also began releasing pure killing intent in their direction, one so pure that they soiled themselves. This was only possible because their psyche was unsteady from the earlier events, but he seemed impossible to defeat at that moment.
After a minute of internal struggle, they all signed the contracts. They felt that what they were doing was extremely wrong, but so was making an enemy out of him. After all, he had just assisted the MTA in getting rid of that monster.
This incident would forever haunt them, changing their perception of the world no matter what.
Yet, Josh had barely done anything during that god fight. It had just happened that steady willpower was the perfect counter to the enemy. This sliver of chaos energy hadn't been enough to harm him.
The wounded and the deceased were promptly evacuated. Luckily, most could be saved thanks to advanced medical science or magic. But this day would remain a grim one in Fallen history.
As for Josh, he left with the mysterious man. Chain power for the win!
Lana watched him go with conflicted emotions. She was smart enough to realize that he had been the one to kill her guild members. She couldn't help but feel that their deaths could have been avoided.
But, Josh had saved them all, and especially Sophie. Because of that, she chose not to press the issue, even disregarding the magical contract.
Thus ended this incident— or at least the actual event. Who knew what ramifications it would have?
Knowing that he was involved, this probably wouldn't be the end of it...
━━━━━━ POV ━━━━━━━
Somewhere across the multiverse, a formless chaos deity was nonchalantly playing around.
With a casual move of its formless arms, it would move primordial chaotic energy as it willfully created pseudo-worlds.
Would it even bother to transform them into true worlds? Perhaps, perhaps not, it would all depend on its mood. After all, the requirements to elevate a world were pretty stringent.
Suddenly it felt a slight quiver in the space, along with a familiar feeling. This was feedback from an infinitesimal strand of its will returning. Earlier, it had sent it on a whim to some random remote corner of the multiverse.
Why had it even done so again? Oh right, some weakling had found a pseudo-fragment of its divinity and requested help. It wasn't anything significant.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmIt kept focusing on its task as it absent-mindedly received the strand, integrating it inside its being once more.
That's when the deity suddenly froze. Instantly, the many pseudo-worlds all shattered, killing the primitive lifeforms inhabiting them. But, it didn't care one bit for there was something wrong with the strand! How?!
Oh fuck. It had committed an enormous mistake! It should have freaking checked the integrity of this strand! It had been corrupted and now had fused with its divine soul!
It was too late, far too late! It was stuck with such a defect!
This was insane?! How had this happened?! This had been a remote and worthless world hence why it hadn't even considered such a possibility.
After transforming the information into understandable characters, the deity couldn't help but stare blankly.
— Cursed by Josh Motherfucking Malum: Active
"You better wash your fucking neck, you bastard! I'm coming for you!"
The deity couldn't wrap its mind around this...what the fuck was that?! What was up with that curse's rank, unranked?! A casual word from a divine being was S rank, even if from a strand of will!
A god couldn't be affected by an unranked curse!— In theory. But how?! Also, what the hell was a Josh Motherfucking Malum?!
It used its divine power to investigate, only to be left shellshocked. It had been cursed by a lower lifeform....how?! What kind of madness was this?!
Not only that, but this creature called a human had even devoured a droplet of its chaotic energy?! This wasn't possible either!
What was happening to the multiverse?! Were the true primordial gods playing pranks again?! At this moment, the deity felt like crying. It was now stuck with this dumb curse!
That's when it resolved not to leave its domain anymore...
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[A/N] You all ready? It's fucking mass release time! ☠ 4/8 !! ?
Creator's Thought
It's possible to apply curses even without possessing a curse skill. How? Timing is key! When your opponent establishes a magical link with you, strike back! All it takes is a lot of willpower. Then you both end up cursed lol. Still, it's a neat trick that I'd learn after a long time in the Tower.