Cassius blankly stared at the laid-back middle-aged man.
"I know, I know," said God, awkwardly laughing. "You're wondering what this has to do with my want, and that's what I'll get to now."
Zooming below the upper surface area of the 7th Floor of HELL, the Heavenly Progenitor stopped in an underground chamber. Surrounding the chamber were countless formations and protective barriers, each one more advanced than anything Cassius had ever seen.
"I need you to find your way to this location," God said with an uncharacteristically serious tone. "That troublesome son of mine has made use of ancient Immortal Techniques borrowed from Yggdrasil to lock me out of HELL. Because of that, I can't get into the Magnoid Chambers myself. But there's something in there that I need, and to get it, I require your help."
"My help in invading the 7th Floor of HELL…?" Cassius repeated, just to make sure the insanity coming through his ears was correct. "You know even the weaker Godlike powerhouses give me a certain level of trouble, don't you? How do you expect me to—"
"You don't need to do it right away," God interrupted, waving as if it were no big deal. "As long as you do it at some point, I'll be happy. Also, you can keep the Original Abyss Fragments; call it a payment in advance."
"Is this deal not a little too good to be true?" Cassius asked skeptically. "I could just never do it, you know? You stated no deadline, after all."
"You could indeed," God laughed. "But you won't."
"Because, young Cassius," replied God, "you're a natural-born thrill seeker, just like your father. And as such, I'm sure you'll eventually make it to this location at some point; it's just a matter of when."
Leaning over, God added, "And in case you haven't noticed, all I have is time. I've been around since the inception of mankind, you know? Who do you think constructed the Ascension Tower of Humanity?"
"Yep," God nodded, his pride showing through. "Humans are the jewel in my crown, and though they're looked down upon by basically everyone, I can see their true potential. Like I saw your father's potential; like I see yours."
Cassius's thoughts swirled, his mind processing all these reality-shattering revelations.
But forcing his mind back to the main matter at hand, he asked, "This thing you want me to acquire in the Magnoid Chambers… What is it exactly?"
God smiled. "It's called the Orb of Avarice," he began. "And though I can't zoom in on its exact location in the Magnoid Chambers because of that secretive son of mine, you'll know it when you see it. All you have to do is snatch it up real good and skedaddle back to me; I'll take care of the rest."
While considering the pros and cons of this request, Cassius unconsciously opened God's System Interface.
{[GOD/Heavenly Progenitor/Human Progenitor]}
[Cultivation: ????] - (Above the Peak-Godlike Rank)
[Battle Prowess: ?????] - (Unquestionably high)
[Age: As old as the Common Timeline of the Ascension Tower, with very few older than him]
[Mood: ????] - (A very confusing entity)
—[Throughout space and time, God is unrivaled in terms of creation. As one who pioneered creation at the beginning of the Ascension Tower's Original Era, even the Ancient Scions of the Holy Sanctuary of Yggdrasil are inferior in this regard.]
—[His history is riddled with holes and unknowns, and he has often taken on various seemingly useless identities for ????? reasons. One of those identities was the Ice Sovereign, and he did so because ?????? for ?????????? all so as to ????????????????]
—[Yearns for ???????? beyond ????????? where even the Dissonants are too inconsequential to ?????????????????????]
The rest of the Heavenly Progenitor's description was just an endless number of question marks, similar to what Cassius saw when God was assuming the Ice Sovereign identity. At the time, it seemed that the System couldn't properly register the Ice Sovereign's true identity because of the absurdly vast difference in power.
"So then, young Cassius," God probed, taking him out of his thoughts. "Do we have ourselves a deal? My two of those diamond thingies for your cooperation in stealing back the Orb of Avarice that was stolen from me?"
Cassius's eyebrows knitted tightly together as he weighed the options. He didn't fully trust the Heavenly Progenitor—and neither had his dad from the expressions he made—but that didn't mean he could just willingly pass up on two Original Abyss Fragments.
The Shadow's Foresight Ability saved his life once, but it was a very close call. What if the next time was more dangerous?
In the end, Cassius felt there was really only one correct choice here. Thus, he extended a hand. "You have yourself a deal."
God's expression froze. Then he grinned from ear to ear. "Thata boy! I knew you'd come through for the greater good of us all!"
"Oh, nothing, nothing," said God in a lighthearted tone. "Just the nonsensical ramblings of a crazy old man, haha!"
Cassius felt that eerie feeling again but couldn't figure out if he was just overthinking things or not.
"Now, now," God snapped him out of his reverie. "You should really be going, shouldn't you? Those companions of yours are experiencing some trouble with my children outside, and seeing how it's always a whole big thing when I leave, you better get out there and save the day! Hahaha!"
Seeing the Ultimate Creator of all Humanity and Angel-kind act like a big jokester dashed away Cassius's previous thoughts of doubt. Agreeing with the Heavenly Progenitor's words, he began to make his departure.
Without even needing to ask God, a heavenly staircase of golden light appeared before Cassius. Stepping onto the first stair, the hellish scenery and the goofy old man behind him disappeared into the folds of reality, seemingly having never existed to begin with.
Dispersing his curious thoughts, Cassius descended the Staircase to Heaven. And once again, he experienced that unusual sensation of time around him going out of whack, almost as if something was internally wrong with the deepest, most hidden circuits of the Heavenly Kingdom.
But that was probably just baseless conjecture…