Divinity: Against the Godly System

"Your cheeks are very sweet, by the way. Next time, it will be the turn of your lips," Said Ryder as he waved his hand without looking back. 

Under the blank gaze of the girl, he reached his car. Entering the car, he started driving away.

"This guy... how shameless!" The girl stomped her feet as she started cursing Ryder.

She picked up her phone and called Ray.

She informed him about everything that just happened.

"Hmm? He managed to find you out, and he even knows that I sent you? Hahaha, interesting. Very interesting. He's sending a clear message that he knows, warning me to stay away. Unfortunately, I can't take his advice," Ray told the girl as he started laughing.

"He is trash! Human trash! Why don't you just arrest him instead of doing all this? Get the answers out through force since he already knows about you," the girl told Ray as she sighed.

"You say that because you don't know who he is. He's not someone that can be messed around with easily. The Dream Corporation is behind him. It'll become a national issue if that Shu Maxwell takes action. Also, I don't want any hostility with Ryder. You didn't see what I saw. This one man is equal to an entire army. It's good that he's on the outside. I don't want to push him away by taking action against him,"  Ray replied in a grim tone.

"What do you want me to do now? He knows about me, so it can get risky if I follow him," the girl inquired.

"That's a problem indeed. I can't use our satellites without explaining to higher-ups why I need them. Wait, why didn't you place a tracker on his car?" Ray asked the girl abruptly.

" I did," the girl answered.

"You Idiot! If you have a tracker in place, why were you trailing him!" Ray exclaimed.

"The tracker can only track the car, you idiot brother of mine. It can't see what he's doing! I need to be near him to see what he's doing," the girl replied as she rolled her eyes.

"You are the idiot! I told you to keep an eye on where he goes! Why did you need to trail his car if you already had a tracker on the car? You should've gone there after his car had stopped. It's easy to see who's trailing on certain occasions!" Said Ray in an annoyed tone. 

" I know that! I was going to follow that strategy the second time. It was the first time I was trailing his car, so it shouldn't be possible for him to know that I was trailing him! He knew about it already for some reason. I don't know why!" the girl replied.

****

While the girl and her Ray talked about what to do and playing the blame game, Ryder reached the south block of the city.

He didn't go straight to the building where he knew terrorists to be hiding, though.

Instead, he entered the building, which was near it.

Even though the two buildings were near, there were still two hundred meters of distance between the two.

This was a building that was owned by Ryder. Its renovation was completed. The furniture and equipment were also arranged. 

Ryder parked the car in the parking, but he didn't step out of it. 

He sat in the car as he glanced at his phone.

It's six in the morning. 4 more hours before I need to leave for the party to make sure that everything else goes according to the first time.

"I should be able to finish it in 4 hours. It's just simple infiltration and assassination. What could be so tough about it? As long as those masked men aren't there, I should be fine. Even if they are there, I still can't be scared," he muttered as he sighed.

" I have such determination, why then? Why is it that I feel scared? Why are my hands shivering? Why do I want to leave and never see the faces of these people? I can't die. I shouldn't need to worry about anything as long as I don't mess with time too much, according to Janus, then why?"

"Why is my heart beating so fast? Why is the thought of dying like last time scaring me so much? I've died so many times, I never once felt scared of death, then why now? The only difference I can see is that I died of my heart being destroyed. Is this it? Is this why I am scared? Is that my fear? Losing my heart?" 

Ryder seemed as if he was talking to himself as he placed his hand on his heart.

He didn't understand why he was so scared whenever the thought of dying like last time crossed his mind. He felt as if this was definitely not what he wanted. Why was he scared of losing his heart? Why was his heart such a concerning matter for him? He didn't understand.

"It might just be something from dying twice in a day. It should only be that, yeah. I'm thinking too much. But if it's that, does that mean, the more times I die, the more I'll feel like this? Does this mean I'll be changing with each death? What price does each death come with? What price would I need to pay for this power?" Ryder wondered as he placed his head on the steering wheel and closed his eyes for a brief moment.

"Janus, are you here? Can you listen to me?" said Ryder, breaking the silence inside the car.

<Yes>

Janus' voice was emotionless like always. There were only a few times when Ryder felt emotions in Janus' voice. Most of the time, his voice was just emotionless. This seemed like one of those times.

"Janus, be honest. Are you hiding things from me?" Ryder asked straight away.

<Yes>

Janus answered without taking any time.

" I won't ask you what you're hiding since I don't think you'll tell. Can you tell me if each death changes me? Is there a price to pay every time I revive without knowing?" Ryder asked straight away.

<Yes>

Janus once again replied.

"Can you tell me what cost I'm paying with each death?" Ryder asked in a calm tone.

<No> 

Janus once again replied but this time with a different answer, refusing to tell anyone.

"Is my fear related to that?" Ryder inquired as he frowned.

<No>

"Then why do I feel this strange unknown fear?" Ryder inquired.

<The past leaves a mark on the future while the future changes the past>

Janus answered in vague terms.

"The Past leaves a mark on the future, and the future changes the past?" Ryder muttered as he sat straight.

" The first line must mean the recent death being the reason for my strange unknown fear. As for the second line, what does that mean?" Ryder asked as he frowned. "The future changes the past?"

Janus didn't answer this time, though. He didn't say if Ryder was right or wrong.

"Did you go missing again? Tell me that much, at least," Ryder replied again, but he didn't get any answer.

" Sigh, he did go silent. This guy always disappears at important times," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

His hand was still on his chest as he felt the beating of his heart.

"It's going to be fine. So what if I feel like that. I won't let fear control me. I'm the person who went through so many deaths. So what if I have this fear? At the end of the day, fear is simply fear. It can't control my life! It can't kill me! I'll keep coming back. As for the cost of each revival, why should I be scared of it? I don't even know what it is. I can only be careful not to die. I thought that I was immortal, but this immortality comes at a cost. The less I use it, the better," Ryder said with determination filled face as he sighed.

He opened the door of his car and stepped on the concrete floor of the parking.

His heart was still beating fast, but it was a little better now since he had stopped thinking about what will happen if he met the masked man again.

He walked towards the lift that was in the parking.

Pressing the button of the top floor, he watched the door of the lift close. The lift had a special code that a person needed to enter to use it before it moved up. Ryder pressed the code, which happened to be 1223.

The lift started going up as sweet music started playing.

The lift stopped at the top floor, and the door opened. He was greeted with the sight of a beautiful space with proper furnishing. 

"They did great work," Ryder muttered as he noticed how everything was arranged.

He went to the stairs to get to the roof.