The seventh stabbed his trident into Zach's body, and it came out from the other side. But Zach didn't bleed.
"…!"
Zach looked at the trident and jumped back to make some distance between him and the seventh. He immediately summoned a sword in his hand and stood in a defensive position.
The seventh raised his hands as his trident vanished into thin air, and he said, "Relax. I just helped you."
Zach looked at his chest and noticed there was no wound, but he could feel the pain of his body getting stabbed, his flesh ripping apart, his ribs shattering, and his lungs getting punctured.
"What…" Zach dropped to his knees and used the sword as support to sit straight. He looked into the seventh's eyes and asked, "What did you do to me?"
"When I looked into your soul, I noticed the blessings the higher beings gave you weren't activated. So I just activated them," the seventh answered nonchalantly.
"You did… what?!" Zach tried to yell, but his voice was low. "Why would you do that?!"
The seventh raised his brows in confusion and asked with a puzzled look on his face: "Was I not supposed to do that?"
"No shit, uncle Tis! You should know that my body is not strong enough to hold the powers. And you just activated… all of them?"
"Oh! Relax, son." the seventh sighed in relief and said, "I just removed the layer….umm, you might call it a seal. Nothing will happen to your body, and you haven't gained their powers yet. Their blessings will be triggered when your body meets the requirements. You will only be able to harness their powers when your body is ready."
"And currently, you only have one blessing activated," he added. "The queen of death's."
"But…" Zach took a deep breath and stood up on his legs by using the sword. Then, he exhaled sharply and said, "Why did you do that?"
"What do you mean?" the seventh questioned with a confused look on his face. "I just helped you to increase your limitations. Why do you seem so angry about this?"
"You—"
"Oh!" the seventh exclaimed in realization. "Is this because I suddenly stabbed you without telling you about all this? I won't lie, but I kind of wanted to do that to see your reaction."
Zach furrowed his brows and said, "You do know that I would have killed you to defend myself, right?"
"Haha!" the seventh laughed out loud. "Don't worry. I can't and won't die until the Sea chooses the next Sea God. And I am only 150 years old, so… yeah, I am immortal for the next 850 years or so…"
"Unless the Sea suddenly decides to kill me, of course," he added with a soft scoff.
Zach let out a weary sigh and muttered, "I know you were trying to help me, but you shouldn't have."
"You… don't want to get stronger…?" the seventh asked with a baffled look on his face, seemingly trying to comprehend why Zach said that.
"I want to grow strong, but not like this," Zach sighed. "You know, I was happy and relieved when I was told that I didn't inherit my father's or my mother's powers; I simply inherited their blood. Do you know why?" he asked.
"Umm…" the seventh pondered for a while and answered, "Because you didn't like their hair color?"
"I am not in the mood for jokes, uncle Tis…"
"Oh, your father always liked to pass jokes at serious times. So… I thought maybe…" the seventh stopped after looking at the expression on Zach's face.
"Okay. I don't know. Tell me," he shrugged with a sigh.
"If I keep using others' powers, it won't help me grow. It won't be my own power, my own strength. It would be like… Like I am nothing without their powers. And that… makes me feel… more like a… human…" Zach asserted.
"I thought you had daddy issues, but it was something more serious." The seventh furrowed his brows and said, "Let me give you an example in a… human way."
The seventh cleared his throat and said, "Suppose, there is a family of a couple and one child. Everything that belongs to the couple would one day be inherited by the child, yeah?"
"…"
"Let me give you one more example for others' blessing. I have heard of human customs and festivals. I like a few of them while some are just… well, stupid, to be honest," he sighed and continued, "The relatives, friends, and family gives presents and money on happy occasions and festivals, yeah? That's a custom, yeah? That's the norm, yeah?"
"…"
"Just like that, for us… supreme beings, giving blessings and such is similar to that." The seventh patted Zach's head and said, "Don't think too much about it. And besides, even with or without their power, it is you who deserves to have them. Remember, even if you have their blessings, it doesn't necessarily mean they will benefit you. If you aren't worthy of them, then it might just end up becoming a curse for you."
'And your existence is your strength. If 'he' hadn't told me to keep it a secret from you, I would have told you everything about yourself,' the seventh uttered inwardly.
"Wow… now I hate it more…" Zach scoffed softly.
"If you are still not convinced, then let me tell you that your father was no different." After a brief pause, he continued, "He was also borrowing the power of a god. He was a pathetic, weak little, pitiable cry baby until he gained the god's power. So on that matter, you are far better than him."
"…"
The seventh squinted his eyes and asked, "Why… why are you so salty about the topic related to your father? It doesn't look like you hate him, and I am sure you don't love him that much. So what is it?"
"He…" Zach turned to the seventh and looked into his eyes before saying, "He died 10 years ago."
***
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12 players died.
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Author's Note- A friend getting news of his old friend's death. How will he take it?
