The Guardian gods-Chapter 445

She saw injustice, endless and boundless and she saw herself, frozen in indecision, unable to move forward.

Her sight had betrayed her. If she could not see, she would not waver.

If she could not see, she would not hesitate. She raised her hands to her eyes.

The mirror shattered, Pain tore through her, sharp and merciless.

Blood ran down her face like molten gold, divine and damning. Yet as the world burned red behind her eyelids, clarity came.

"You do not need to see."

"You only need to judge."

The whispers fell silent. The weight pressing on her heart lightened, not because the burden had vanished, but because she had chosen to carry it differently.

The voices would not sway her anymore.

She would no longer be paralyzed by the sight of a suffering world.

Justice would move forward, even if she could no longer see the path it walked.

And with that, she took her first step as something new.

Xerosis stepped out of the painting.

Her bare feet touched the cold wooden floor of the studio, yet she did not hesitate. Blood streamed down her cheeks, twin rivers of molten gold staining her pale skin. Where once her piercing gaze had carried the weight of her judgment, there was now only emptiness.

Yet her face was calm.

Serene.

The room was silent save for the rhythmic scratching of the Virtuoso’s brush against the canvas. The giant, still seated before his painting, looked at her with something akin to amusement... or respect. His many eyes, scattered across his form, blinked slowly, drinking in the sight of the newly blind goddess.

And then he smiled.

"Tell me, young goddess. What do you see now?"

Xerosis did not answer immediately.

She turned her head, though her eyes no longer served her. But in blindness, new sensations filled the void.

She could feel the weight of the studio’s paintings—not with sight, but with understanding. Each brushstroke carried something deeper than color: emotions woven into the very fabric of the world. Despair. Envy. Hope. These feelings whispered to her now, no longer drowned out by the distractions of vision.

She could hear the slow, deliberate heartbeat of the Virtuoso. The quiet hum of the cursed realm around her. The echoes of all those who had once stood where she now stood.

Xerosis breathed in, feeling the truth settle into her bones.

And then, she answered.

"I see the world as it is."

The Virtuoso chuckled, but there was no mockery in it.

"And what does that mean?" he asked, dipping his brush into the ink, poised to continue his endless painting.

Xerosis raised her hand, as if to gesture at the canvas she could no longer see.

"Before, I sought justice through sight—through observation. I thought fairness was something I could grasp, something I could shape with my own hands. But that was a lie.

"Justice is not about what I see. It is not about what I believe to be right."

She turned toward him fully, though she did not need to see to feel the weight of his attention.

"It is about what is needed."

The brush in the Virtuoso’s hand froze.

A ripple ran through the painting.

The figures within the pyramid—the godlings, the nobles, the knights, the commoners—shifted. The desperate hands reaching for power trembled, as if caught in the realization of something profound. Something beyond despair.

The Virtuoso watched with fascination, his many eyes gleaming with something almost unreadable.

"Hah," he exhaled, a quiet breath of laughter. He placed the brush down, steepling his massive fingers together. "You understand, then. That there was never such a thing as true fairness. That justice will always be flawed."

Xerosis nodded. freewebnøvel.com

"Yes. But even if it is flawed, it must still exist."

The studio creaked, the air around them shifting.

Something had changed.

The Virtuoso leaned back, regarding her with the weariness of an artist who had painted a thousand tragedies and a thousand dreams, only to see them crumble.

"Then, tell me, young goddess—" he gestured at the painting once more, where the pyramid still loomed, its figures forever struggling to climb, forever falling, forever reaching.

"What will you do with this broken world?"

Xerosis did not hesitate.

She lifted her bloodstained hands, fingers brushing against the ruined canvas.

And she tore it apart. With that her view once again changed, Only this time she was blind and could not see but Xerosis noticed her view of the world as changed, what her eyes barely surfaced before as beautiful now showed itself even more clearly.

She is now blind but she can see much clearer than everyone. Xerosis continued on her path as once again a similar sensation took over her and she was now in the realm of another cursed being "The Tyrannical Juggernaut"

What her eyes once painted as grand and majestic—a world of beauty, order, and purpose—had always been an illusion. Now, stripped of sight, she could perceive the raw, unfiltered truth beneath it all. No distractions. No deceptions.

And here, in the presence of the Tyrannical Juggernaut, she saw a world governed not by fairness, not by justice, but by an endless cycle of violence, domination, and unyielding ambition.

The air was thick with the scent of iron and blood. Clash.

Roar.

Swords cleaved through flesh. Axes split bone. Yet none of them truly died.

Xerosis listened—no, felt—the battle around her. The warriors fell, only to rise again. Wounds knitted together. Severed limbs reattached. They roared in triumph, in exhilaration, in the unyielding pursuit of strength.

A world where only the powerful ruled.

At the heart of the battlefield sat the Tyrannical Juggernaut, a giant with chains wrapped around his arms and torso, melding into his flesh. They became part of his armor, dark and twisted, reinforcing his already formidable physique. Crown of thorns on his head creating a circlet of sharp, metallic spikes around his head.

Its massive throne, carved from weapons and bones, overlooked the eternal struggle. It did not fight—it did not need to.

Its mere presence commanded battle. It watched with interest as warriors fought, lost, and rose again, their hunger for strength never ceasing.

But when Xerosis approached, blind yet unwavering, the giant turned its gaze toward her.

A presence like a thunderclap.

A voice like a war drum.

"You have no eyes, and yet you walk into my domain with certainty. Tell me, little goddess—" The Juggernaut leaned forward, its thorn crown reflecting the carnage of its world.

"Do you understand now?"

Xerosis remained still. The sounds of war echoed in her bones, but she did not flinch.

"I understand." The Juggernaut chuckled, a sound like shifting mountains "Then tell me—what is justice to the strong?"

The battle raged on. The warriors fought, tore each other apart, laughed as they rose again.

Xerosis could hear the truth in their cries. There was no justice in this place, only power.

Xerosis did not answer immediately.

She stood amidst the never-ending battle, blind, listening to the clash of steel and the cries of warriors. The air reeked of blood and sweat, thick with the heat of bodies colliding, of power endlessly sought and fought for.

There was no justice here. The Tyrannical Juggernaut leaned forward, armored fingers tapping against the armrest of its throne.

"You hesitate," it mused, its voice a low rumble that sent tremors through the earth. "Do you fear the answer?"

Xerosis did not fear. She understood now.

Justice belonged only to those strong enough to enforce it.

What use was fairness to the weak? What meaning did morality have in a world where power ruled all?

The blind goddess clenched her fists, she had walked this path to find an answer. To understand what justice truly meant.

And here, before the Juggernaut, she saw a truth she had not wished to face.

Justice could never be separated from strength.

Without power, there was no fairness. No righteousness. Only the whims of those strong enough to dictate it.

"I see now," she finally said. Her voice was calm, but something burned beneath it. Resolve.

The Juggernaut tilted its head. "Then tell me—what will you do with this truth?"

Xerosis breathed in, then she stepped forward. The battlefield shifted and the warriors turned their eyes to her.

Something in her presence—something unseen, something felt—commanded them.

For the first time, they hesitated. The Juggernaut let out a slow, thundering chuckle. "Ah... you would challenge me?"

It rose from its throne, and the battlefield trembled.

The warriors, once lost in their endless struggle, now watched something greater.

A new battle was about to begin, the blind demigoddess against the Tyrannical Juggernaut.

And in this fight, she would carve the next answer herself. The Juggernaut stepped forward, and the earth quaked beneath him.

His form, immense and heavy, cast a shadow over Xerosis, his armor etched with the scars of countless wars. Each step he took resonated with power, as if the world itself obeyed his presence.

Xerosis, blind but unshaken, stood her ground.