I Hate Systems

Yedu was silent for a good few hours, contemplating on its choice before it spoke, "Your conflict with the God King, is it impossible to mediate?"

"Nope, it's unavoidable for the two of us." Pnolli said without skipping a beat, "But, my goal is different from his."

"He wishes to extract my power from this world and devour it." He continued, "On the other hand, I wish for this world to operate independently on its own and never be influenced by any external powers."

"After all, this world is the manifestation of my ideals."

"How…can I believe you in this?" Yedu frowned, "There's no proof of your claim, right?"

"You don't need to believe me." Pnolli laughed, "Just observe from the sidelines and see what happens."

"If I win, I'll devour the God King and leave this world. If he wins, he'll devour me and leave this world. Let's just leave it at that without going into specifics." He then said, "My only aim is to ensure the Deities of this world can resist all external influences."

"Whether it's me or the God King, both are from outside this world. So, you should have enough power to not be persuaded by either of us and protect the vested interests of this world." He said, convincing Yedu, "At present, the side of humanity is strong enough. But your side is ridiculously weak."

"Enslaving the Beast God would balance both sides and raise the power at your disposal."

"I know you're the creator of this world. So, I'll give you that amount of trust." Yedu said and stared at the glass jar, "So, I need four others to make it a success, right?"

"Yes," Pnolli nodded, "The Deity can only be one of the beasts, and the target can only be the Beast God. No one else will receive anything from this, neither benefit nor a curse."

"I understand," Yedu said and took out a shadowy octopus, observing that it was ethereal in nature. It seeped a tinge of its faith into it and watched the shadowy octopus dissolve and fuse with the faith.

There was a surge of information and experience following it, allowing Yedu to understand the ways to use this new ability. It learnt upon some experimentation that everything Pnolli told was the truth.

"I'll find four others for the cause…" Yedu said when it paused, blinking in confusion before gradually realising something, "I see, so that's how it is."

It stared at Pnolli, "So, the five races controlling the Beast God will be the strongest among us, right? We'll also develop the greatest in the future."

"So, you're not entirely dumb." Pnolli grinned as he got up and began to leave, "The jar is in your hands."

"The initiative lies with you now."

What this implied was that the future of the beasts would depend on its choice. If it selected weak Deities, it would ensure that the four other Deities would be similar to its subordinates.

This meant that the one having major control over the Beast God would be the peacock race. But this would imply that among the five races with the greatest potential for development in the future, four would be weak, wasting the potential for excellence.

But conversely, if it selected the remaining races simply based on their strength, they would have a lot of inner conflicts. After all, not every divine beast was on the same page. So in the future, Yedu would have to wrack its head to always keep the other four races in check to maintain its interests.

They would all be competing for greater control over the Beast God.

Yedu wasn't even worried about succeeding in enslaving the Beast God. It was pretty much a guarantee once it comprehended the intricacies of the Curse of Faith.

If it was any other Deity or Devil, they would know the moment the Curse of Faith was used on them and would take the appropriate measures to deal with it. But, the Beast God wouldn't.

Even though they only had a short interaction, Yedu realised how indecisive the Beast God was. Moreover, since he was currently in an identity crisis, his mental defences were the weakest. Therefore, the Curse of Faith would succeed on him.

Truly, it was made for him. Moreover, it would also only work on him. A truly laughable fate of such a pinnacle existence.

'I can't only focus on my allies, but at the same time, I can't select only the strong ones.' It thought long and hard, sighing in the end, 'Two allies, and two strong ones. That's the most stable bet.'

The peacock race was also one of the strong races and even among the allies, Yedu selected the strongest ones. This was to ensure the overall development of the five future strongest beast races would be enough to keep humanity in check.

Yedu began to move in response next, meeting up with the four other Deities in order to convince them.

Originally, a Deity cannot leave its domain. But as all the divine beasts were created by the God King, under his authority, they could move from one beast domain to another. Thanks to that, Yedu was able to meet with the other Deities.

As it originally was the one that moved the most, Yedu's actions weren't suspicious. It was one of the many reasons Pnolli met it first.

While Yedu began to move for its self-interests, Pnolli had reached the border of the forest where the peacock race dwelled. He turned around and waved his farewell, "Yuhka, take care."

"Not all humans are your enemies, but at the same time, not all humans are your allies too. Irrespective of the case, decide with your head and always keep the interests of your race as your top priority."

"I understand." Despite sporting a face full of confusion, Yuhka still listened to what Pnolli said with rapt attention. The other peacocks at the border too were the same.

They watched his figure jog away and eventually vanish beyond their line of sight.

'What exactly was that?' Yuhka thought, recalling its time from childhood when it mistakenly roamed beyond its home and intruded into a human village. It became friends with a human child back then, 'How does he know about that?'

It hadn't met that human after that short encounter and was unsure if they would still have positive emotions towards one another in the future, but all it could hope was to not encounter him on the battlefield.

War wasn't pleasant, but as both races continue to develop and expand their domain, they would eventually clash. It just was…

Inevitable.