Above Your Head

Chapter 87: A Bouquet of Roses (6)

Hawa had the power to turn the image she showed me into reality... Most of all, this remark was not a joke. She truly meant it.

"…This crazy bitch."

I could only force a laugh. Would the earthlings on Earth-34 know that their lives were going back and forth at death's door right now?

However, Hawa said something unexpected right after, "It may be weird for me to say this, but… If you do what I say, I'll ensure your safety."

"Safety?"

"I'm going to be with you for a while to observe you… At the very least, I'll protect your life from any danger whatsoever."

"And you'll keep my identity a secret?"

"I'll keep your identity a secret."

"…"

Feeling puzzled, I was lost in thought upon hearing her words. But after careful consideration, I came to a conclusion.

'Hmm? Isn't this good news for me?'

Someone who possessed an Intermediate-rank Status of God, simply put, an existence that was only(?) at the level of an Emperor-class would easily possess enough power to be considered among the ranks of the strongest in this universe. Even in the endlessly vast Great Universe, there were only about ten beings in the Emperor-class who were actually active.

What about existences who were greater than an Emperor-class?

'It's safe to say that there's almost none.'

Adam and Eve, the Untouchables who led the Legion; King and Queen, who led the Grotesque; to put it simply, they were the only High-rank and above transcendents who were active and currently dwelled in the Physical Realm. In the past, there used to be much more, but currently all of them had departed from the Physical Realm and resided in other realms (A majority of them were in the God Realm, or unique dimensions), and they only showed up once in a while.

In other words… If Hawa, who possessed a High-rank Status of God truly decided to protect me, there was basically no one who could hurt me. It was a guarantee on my absolute safety.

However…

"Why?" I asked her because I couldn't understand her reason to do so. Why on earth would she go that far? Even if she couldn't choose to kill me because of my biological father, I wouldn't be able to put up any resistance if she decided to snatch the key away.

As if she had guessed what I was thinking, Hawa explained., "I don't like your existence, but… It was Father's will for you to inherit the key."

"So you can't go against his will… Ooops." I spoke without giving it much thought, and as soon as I realized that, I took a look around. The current conversation we were having would give room for others to surmise who my biological father was. However, it turned out to be a useless concern after all.

"I froze the time. Your senses aren't very keen huh."

"It's more strange that you can read time with your senses. But… even so, I can't believe you stopped time."

I grumbled and looked at Morne who was suspended in time just like everyone else. Come to think of it, Hawa was here even before us.

"…Did you put constraints on him, too?"

"Even if he looks like that, he's still a transcendent so I have to constrain him separately."

Perhaps Hawa really didn't want to reveal her own existence. If this was the case, I wondered why she appeared so confidently and made such a huge mess, but that wasn't what was important now.

"Hmm. I don't really want to ask you such a question now." I hesitated for a moment while staring at Hawa. Of course, I already saw it coming, but it felt strange to directly confirm with the person involved.

"That's right." Hawa nodded as if she had read my mind.

"I assume we probably have the same father." I stated.

"What do you mean you assume? When you already know all these?" Hawa retorted.

I already knew. I wasn't a fool and it would probably be even stranger if I didn't have a clue after so long. The artificial intelligence obeyed my orders unconditionally, the Ability I was bestowed with could only be described as a cheat, and most of all, the memories I had.

In fact, I could only begin to guess about my biological father's identity, but I wasn't convinced of it. However, Hawa was no different from a wedge that fortified my suspicions.

I asked, "He's the Machine God, right?"

"Nope."

"Yeah, I knew it... Wait, what?!" I asked again because I was flustered for an instant.

Then, Hawa glared at me with sharp eyes, "Father is not a Machine God. That's just his deteriorated form!"

"Is, is that so? Then… Ahh."

I nodded at the thought that came to mind on a spur of the moment.

'Yeah, now that I think about it again, I don't remember seeing anything like a Machine God's appearance in my memories.'

He was the Administrator of the world. He managed countless life forms and he knew everything in the world. He was the true meaning of an All-knowing Being.

'Ahhh.'

At that moment, I realized…

'He is the God of Civilization and Information.'

That's right. That was... That was the true Status my biological father possessed.

*

Hawa quietly frowned as she watched Dae-ha with his human colleagues. It was inevitable, but the conversation she had with Dae-ha had a huge impact on her.

"This is not funny at all. I didn't know there would be a situation where I had to bluff."

Yes. It was an obvious bluff. Of course, Hawa had the power to turn the image she showed to Dae-ha into a reality. She lost a lot of power, but she still possessed a High-rank Status of God. However, there was an important premise attached to that.

'It would be possible if there was no interference.'

There wouldn't be a problem if they were talking about some other place. If she really decided to exert her power, she could blow up an entire galaxy.

However… If that place was a planet with a developed civilization, then it would be a slightly different story. The Primordial God that protected the said civilization wouldn't stand still and do nothing.

Hawa had a High-rank Status of God, but the same applied to the Primordial God. They possessed the Status of a Creation God, and although their fighting powers weren't great, it was also the reason why it was more difficult to attack them. Their powers were specialized for defense and protection.

The life forms which had developed their civilizations could roughly grasp the structure of the universe. However, there were times when these life forms were anxious because an unforeseen accident such as a falling meteorite would cause the destruction of their very existence. Be that as it might, they were all needless worries. Such a matter would never happen as long as the Primordial God, which acted as the guardian of the civilization, was protecting them. The protection capabilities of a Primordial God was so mighty that the civilization would be unscathed even after a supernova exploded at point-blank range.

'But I had no choice.'

Hawa ran away the moment Dae-ha awoke his own blood with the key. She had no choice but to do so as she couldn't predict what would happen the moment she was perceived by Dae-ha who had awakened his High-rank Divine Spirit albeit momentarily.

'Of course, it wasn't a normal situation.'

Dae-ha undoubtedly awakened a High-rank Divine Spirit, but strictly speaking, his fighting power would not even be a match for Intermediate-rank transcendents. If it wasn't for the God of War, Ares, he wouldn't have been able to trample on the enemy so one-sidedly.

Divine Spirit, Status of God, and Divinity. Those were the foundation that supported the transcendents, and the true power of a God could only be exhibited when those three factors were united in a trinity.

However, Dae-ha was an abnormality. Even though he had a High-rank Divine Spirit, he didn't have the Status of God and Divinity that commensurate with it. He had a High-rank Divine Spirit with a Low-rank Status of God, as well as a Divinity of a mortal.

From time to time, there would be beings who could gain a Low-rank Status of God, or Divinity and even Divine Spirit despite not being a transcendent. However, such an extreme case like Dae-ha was unheard of even for Hawa.

"I thought it would at least be alright now, but I can't believe that bitch had a Divine Spirit Fragment with her… Was it because the future that was associated with him was out of my All-knowing domain?"

An Intermediate-rank Divine Spirit, as well as the Divinity of a mortal. As much as he was in that abnormal form, unsurprisingly, his ability was extreme.

'What if he gave me an order now?'

Hawa had once rejected Dae-ha's order, but she wasn't able to guarantee that she would be able to refuse his orders if he were to command her again.

-Don't even harm a single hair on me and everyone around me, Hawa.

She remembered the feeling of her heart palpating.

Just to test it out, she had let Dae-ha say his orders, but she had to resist in a fit against the unimaginable sense that overwhelmed her. She knew for a fact that even if she tried to hurt Dae-ha with all her might, the only thing she could do was make a fuss that was similar to an aegyo. [1] Furthermore, she wouldn't even be able to harm a single hair on Dae-ha even if she was making a fuss.

"As expected, I had no choice."

There was no danger of her being subordinated to Dae-ha's orders because she could get away from here before he could give an order. If his voice wasn't able to reach her ears directly, the commanding authority would not work. So if she got away right before his orders were materialized as words through his throat, she wouldn't be influenced at all.

However, what if he used the key to awaken his Godly bloodline again?

At that moment, there was a possibility that Hawa wouldn't be able to escape and would be subordinated to Dae-ha's orders the moment she entered his range of perception. What she did to Dae-ha was a low-level threat that only felt a little hot to the face, but she had no choice because she had to prevent Dae-ha from awakening his Godly bloodline again.

"But... will it really be okay?"

Hawa looked at Dae-ha again. Her heart felt warm just by looking at him, and the feeling of wanting to leave everything to him raged like a wildfire inside her heart.

It might seem ridiculous from her standing as she was a mechanical life form. It was something that didn't fall in the realm of rationality. She was suppressing her own emotions with a cool-headed rationality.

'I should have guessed it from the time he got on Ares.'

Ares was based on the status of the God of War, and only a true warrior could pilot Ares. Unless it was someone who reached the realm of transcendence by living all their lives in a fierce battlefield, Ares would not accept anyone under any circumstances. Even a transcendent who possessed an Intermediate-rank Status of God would not be able to ride on Ares if the conditions weren't met. A warrior who had experienced combat but not war would also be rejected by Ares.

However, how about the current situation?

Ares carried Dae-ha on his own accord and was always anxious that something might go wrong for Dae-ha. Ares didn't see Dae-ha as an ordinary pilot. Ares perceived Dae-ha as a special individual and showed love and affection towards the latter.

That too... was the same for Hawa.

Pick-puck~.

While no one was looking, Dae-ha sneaked into the corner of a corridor and picked his nose. It was a very short moment and he quickly came back and feigned ignorance. However, Hawa clearly saw it. It was a really nasty sight. However...

"I've gone crazy."

'Even that looked so lovely. '

"This is insane…"

At a remote part of the battleship that no one could see… Hawa tried to hold back her bubbly smile with the willpower of a High-rank transcendent, but she was quietly losing hope.

1. Aegyo is the Korean way of acting cute. Search Fight My Way Aera's Aegyo on Youtube.