THE GOD EATER

Loki replied carefully, as if trying to choose the right words, saying, ”Like my son trying to kill me. Or is it just me that feels like he wants to kill me?”

”Oh, that,” the guardian said in realization. ”It is nothing serious. Your son will want to kill you. It is a small side effect of the new birthing process. There is nothing you have to worry about.”

When he heard this, Loki relaxed somewhat. It didn’t show in his voice, though, as he said, ”So you’re to stop him from trying to kill me?”

But the guardian replied with another question, ”Why would I do that?”

Their voice was also full of confusion as they spoke, making it seem like Loki wasn’t making sense.

Loki was taken aback by the question. He couldn’t believe his ears, so he said to confirm, ”You said I didn’t have anything to worry about. Doesn’t that mean that something will be done so that he won’t kill me?”

In response, the guardian shook their head and said, ”That doesn’t make sense. I said you don’t have anything to worry about because you’re currently stronger than him.”

”He will definitely try to kill you so that he can become an adult. So of course, I am not going to stop his growth.”

”Right now, his main goal is to kill you, and he will do everything possible to facilitate that. But as long as you remain stronger than him, you have nothing to worry about.”

The more Loki heard the guardian say about how his son would always try to kill you, the angrier he became. What irritated him the most was the way the guardian was talking.

His anger became so great, he nearly exploded. However, despite the mounting difficulty of keeping control of his emotions, he was able to restrain his anger.

He remained calm as he said, ”Didn’t you say earlier that you needed me to create another child if he died? Won’t you lose that opportunity if I died?”

”Oh. I see the misunderstanding,” the guardian began. ”You think you’re indispensable. That’s not true.”

”It is true that we will need you to create another offspring for us if he were to be killed before maturing, but you won’t be needed when he matures. As members of the gemini race, when we mature, we will have two bodies. If one of the bodies dies, the other body can recreate it.”

”So right now, he is incomplete. In order to become complete, he needs to kill you and absorb you. Do you see it now?” they asked condescendingly, as if Loki was a foolish child who had difficulty understanding complicated concepts.

Loki finally couldn’t bear it anymore and said sarcastically, ”If killing me and absorbing me is so important, why don’t you just kill me now and let him absorb me?”

For the first time, the guardian began to laugh, ”Hahaha. What a bad idea?”

As they laughed, they said, ”That’s such a bad idea. How can we use such a shortcut to raise our offspring? That will only make them weak.”

”You see, he has to hunt and kill you himself. That’s the best way for him to master his abilities and grow mentally. His growth process needs to be organic and fraught with danger, or his potential will only be for show.”

”Without difficulties to sharpen him, his potential won’t translate to great strength in the future. I’m sure you understand my point. After all, you’re a product of great challenges yourself. Look how well you turned out.”

Then the guardian said to the boy, ”Don’t worry, little one. You’re currently too weak to kill him. I’ll take you somewhere to get smarter and learn a lot. When you return, you’ll be ready to hunt him.”

After speaking, he tapped the boy’s shoulder. Then he did something that made the figure of the boy fade until it disappeared.

As he watched his son leave, he said, ”Since you want him to experience struggling, can I at least fight back?”

The guardian glanced at him as they said, ”Of course, you can fight back. It won’t be much of a struggle if you don’t fight back now, will it?”

”In fact, you should try to kill him. And I’m not joking about this. You can kill him if you can. No one will punish you. The fact that you can kill him proves that he wasn’t ready yet.”

After the boy disappeared, the guardian looked at him again as they said, ”If you can kill him, you will be rewarded. But you shouldn’t forget that you need to create another offspring if he dies. That remains unchanged even if you’re the one who kills him. So prepare yourself for that.”

”Understood,” Loki said clearly, with his mind made up about what to do.

As for the guardian, they didn’t seem to care about what Loki planned to do. They clapped their hands and said, ”Now that that pleasant business has been taken care of, let’s return to your matter.”

”If I remember correctly, you were asking me about the reason the great being in the form of a large black hole appeared after you advanced. Do you still want to know?”

Regardless of what Loki was feeling, he was still curious about this. Plus, he felt that he had already paid a great price for it, so he couldn’t pass up the offer.

So he said, ”Yes, please.”

Hearing his words, the guardian nodded and said, ”This goes back to the meaning of Dao Paths, why they exist, and how we gain power from them.”

”A Dao Path is a path to great power. A Dao, in itself, is an aspect of the universe containing a particular type of rules. The rules in a Dao govern the operation of certain mechanisms and concepts in the universe.”

”That is a Dao. It is a lifeless thing. It is just a mass of rules. But a path is something greater.”