"What a beautiful place." Natasha remarked with genuine admiration.
As an agent who had spent her life amid conspiracy and betrayal, she had never imagined such a pure, vitality-filled place could exist.
"Just a bit lacking in yang energy," Cloud muttered under his breath.
Diana, walking ahead, heard him.
Her ears reddened slightly, but she pretended not to notice and continued her introduction:
"We Amazons are a race created by the Olympian gods to spread love and peace to humanity."
"Our mission is to protect this world, resist the corruption of the evil god Ares, and guide humanity toward light and justice."
Her voice was filled with pride and purpose.
The innate conviction of a hero, a guardian.
"Oh? Guide humanity?" Cloud listened, then smiled noncommittally. "Sounds like a nice job. But I'm curious—what makes you think what you guide toward is necessarily correct?"
Diana stopped walking.
She turned, her bright eyes looking at Cloud with a hint of confusion.
"Humans are weak, easily blinded by desire and hatred. They need divine guidance to walk the right path. What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing wrong with it." Cloud shrugged. "It just sounds a bit arrogant, is all."
"Arrogant?!" Diana's brow furrowed.
"Yes, arrogant." Cloud's gaze deepened. He was no longer the irreverent rogue, but seemed like a philosopher who had witnessed the rise and fall of countless universes.
They had walked to some ruins.
The remnants of an ancient temple, with massive stone pillars carved with murals of the Olympian gods—now faded and unclear after ages of erosion.
Cloud pointed at those murals and spoke slowly:
"Diana, let me ask you—when your king of gods, Zeus, created you, did he ever consider that one day he himself would be betrayed by his own son, Ares?"
"When your queen Hera was cursing others out of jealousy, did she ever consider how her actions differed from those desire-blinded mortals she looked down upon?"
"You...!" Diana's face paled at these blasphemous words.
"Don't rush to argue." Cloud waved his hand and continued. "I'm not denying your gods. I'm just saying that whether god or human, essentially both are life."
"As long as something is alive, it has desires, emotions, strengths, and weaknesses. Gods are no exception."
"Your so-called 'guidance' is really just using your own standards to forcibly define what's right and wrong for others."
"How is that fundamentally different from Loki demanding everyone kneel? One uses violence, the other uses a nobler excuse."
Cloud's words struck Diana's heart like a bell at dawn!
She had never considered the relationship between "gods and humans" from this angle!
In the education she'd received since childhood, gods were supreme, the embodiment of justice.
And humans were lost sheep who needed guidance.
But Cloud's words tore away that warm, fuzzy veil to reveal the cold essence beneath—one of "power" and "arrogance."
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Diana's voice carried a note of confusion. "Just let humanity destroy themselves in war and hatred?"
"Of course not." Cloud smiled. He walked forward to stand beside her, gazing at where sea met sky in the distance.
"My philosophy is simple."
"I don't guide, and I don't judge."
"I only protect."
"Protect?"
"Yes, protect." Cloud's eyes shimmered with light as vast as the cosmos.
"I don't protect any particular race, any particular justice, or any supposedly 'correct' future."
"What I protect is existence itself. The freedom of every life to make their own choices."
"Someone can choose to be a hero, like you, saving the world. I'll applaud them."
"Someone can also choose to be a villain, like the Joker, spreading chaos. Though I disagree, I respect their choice."
"Of course," Cloud's tone shifted, a gentle smile appearing, "if their choice involves demolishing my house or destroying my favorite restaurant—then I'll exercise my own freedom of choice: to scatter them, bones and ashes and all."
"..."
Diana was rendered speechless by this logic that seemed twisted yet somehow made sense.
She realized this man's thoughts, like his strength, were unfathomably deep.
He was unlike any god she knew, unlike any hero she knew.
He stood at a higher, grander, freer dimension, looking down upon the world.
He had his own complete philosophy about the universe and life.
"All beings are equal, all things coexist." Cloud summarized. "Whether god, human, demon, hero, or villain—everything in this universe has its value and meaning."
"And my job is to ensure this story full of possibilities continues indefinitely."
"Rather than letting some self-important director force an ending he thinks is 'correct.'"
He turned to look at Diana's face, particularly lovely as she pondered.
"So, my princess—"
"Isn't my Sovereign philosophy way cooler than your Olympians' patriarchal theory?"
Under his burning gaze, Diana felt her cheeks heating up again.
She wanted to argue but couldn't find any grounds for rebuttal.
Deep down, she even felt a faint... agreement with Cloud's "twisted philosophy."
...
Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"