Life Of A Nobody - as a Villain

Chapter 72 Gods Who Could See Future

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Rio stood outside Artemis's room, his heart pounding with nervousness and fear. He knew he had to face Artemis and confront the truth, but the anticipation of her questions and possible anger made him feel uncertain. He had spent hours preparing answers and excuses, but deep down, he feared that he wouldn't be able to deceive her.

Rio took a moment to compose himself, his mind filled with prepared answers and half-truths. He understood that completely fooling Artemis was a fool's dream, so he had strategized to give her carefully crafted explanations that would divert her attention from certain aspects.

He had crafted elaborate stories about his awakening, intending to explain his unusual method and divert any suspicion. He had anticipated questions about his interactions with Erza and Esme too, ready with responses that would deflect any doubts.

The list of items he had given to Asher was also a point of concern. Although he had said before that it was given by Esme, he knew Artemis never believed it fully. The potion of Pura Corpus, though the topic was forgotten for now, Rio had this weird thought that Artemis must have checked the singular book records, and knew about it being a lie too. 

Even the questions about those earrings he gave to her and Amelia, were something he needed to lie about. There was no way she would believe that something he got from roadside stalls would be that amazing. It was too big of a coincidence. 

Rio had thought through every possible question Artemis might ask about them and had prepared convincing responses, aiming to protect himself and maintain the illusion. He had meticulously fabricated a backstory, weaving a tale that would align with his intentions while keeping the truth hidden. 

His mind was a whirlwind of potential scenarios, rehearsing the lies and half-truths he had prepared. Rio understood the gravity of the situation and the risk involved in deceiving Artemis, someone who knew him so well.

The nagging thought that she might even discover he wasn't the original Rio weighed heavily on him. It had been troubling him for quite some time now, even though it wasn't his choice, he had indeed taken over her son's body and was living in it. According to system his arrival was already fixed in Arcadia, so Rio's soul was disposed of the moment he merged with it. There was no way to bring him back to life or something. 

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Rio mustered his courage and knocked on Artemis's door. His mind raced, going over different scenarios and trying to anticipate her reactions. As the door opened, Rio saw Artemis standing there, her expression unreadable. She invited him into her room, a silent signal for him to enter and begin their conversation.

As Rio stepped inside, he felt a wave of tension and apprehension. He prepared himself to face Artemis's questions and accusations, ready to defend himself and provide the answers he had thought of.

Unbeknownst to Rio, Artemis had already learned about Esme's involvement in Noah's death and had overheard his conversation a little the previous night. She had decided to confront him about it, but Rio remained unaware of her knowledge.

It was only due to her motherly instincts telling her to approach this matter delicately, that she didn't just confront him then and there. Artemis could already guess some understanding of the situation after she heard him last night, but she wanted to give Rio the opportunity to open up and share the truth willingly. 

If what she guessed was right, then it would fully explain Rio's odd behavior in the past days, but if that were the case, she didn't know why he didn't tell her or anyone else about it. There was no way she would ever do anything to harm him or her little doll, she just needed to make him believe it too. 

The room fell into a heavy silence as Rio and Artemis stood facing each other, the weight of the unspoken truth and doubts hanging in the air. Rio's nervousness grew, and he could no longer contain the swirling mix of emotions within him.

The room seemed to close in around him as he prepared to weave his web of half-truths and carefully constructed lies, hoping that they would be sufficient to steer the conversation in the direction he desired. He shifted his focus to controlling his emotions and expressions, ensuring that he appeared confident and convincing on the surface. 

"Good morning, mother." He said, trying his very best to be as natural as he could in his new body. 

Rio's heart raced as he anticipated Artemis's first question, his mind already prepared to deflect and misdirect it to his benefit, but his soul left his body when he finally heard what she said. 

"Did you see the future, Rio?" Artemis asked, ignoring all the useless chit chat to first confirm her suspicion, she came up with after thinking about everything carefully. 

Ever since her son woke up from that curse she had noticed his odd behavior, the way he acted around everyone was different than the way he usually would be, she could see he was trying to act the same but couldn't, at first Artemis just let it go thinking he had a horrible experience with the curse and needed some time to readjust himself.

 But over time her suspicions only grew as she watched his actions -taking a miraculous potion from some random singular book even after they warned him about it, the people he easily identified as traitors who were all hidden well, the items he could pick, the list of people he gave to Asher ordering to kill them -there was no way her Rio would do that generally. Even if Rio was smarter than other kids, she could still see the childishness of him in his behavior, but that was lost ever since he woke up from the curse. 

She couldn't say it was due to a life and death experience, as she saw him enjoying his time with Amelia, the genuine smile on his face was proof that he liked being around her, but she couldn't say the same when he was with her or Agnus. 

Rio would always either be too direct in his talks, so he could finish what he wanted to say and leave, or he would just nod and smile. It could fool everyone around her, but she was his mother -someone who kept him in her womb for 9 months, someone who gave him birth and raised him, how could she not notice anything wrong. 

And yesterday when she heard his words about 'letting his sister live the way she wants this time' her heart had been constricted in pieces, if what she thought was right -then she could guess why Rio would say that and it made her question everything -if it was true then why didn't he tell her anything? If he knew what would happen then why did he keep it to himself? What did he even see that made him doubt everyone else around him? Does he really believe what he saw, could that even be true? Which God was it that made the deal with him? .... Questions were eating her heart , and that's why she asked that first - she could ignore everything but not that. 

—----

**** WAR OF GODS -- In any battle if someone wants easy victory they always choose 2 options - either kill the leader who makes plans and leads the enemy, or kill their supply and healer who make sure they keep fighting. 

The same was the case in the War of Gods 1000 years ago, every group of Gods which came to Arcadia decided to do the same, kill the opposite leader and take over them. 

But that arrogance was soon forgotten as they learned that every culture, every myth had entities who were as strong as them or even stronger, so they chose the 2nd option. Kill the healers - and many factions were successful in rising in power with this method. 

But then they all learned another method to win wars -something which made their all past struggles seem childish, there came Gods who could see the future of things. Every God faction out there came to either capture them or kill them, as they were the greatest weapon in anyone's hand. 

Soon it started a purge where any God who could see the future or had omniscient powers was hunted and killed. Since those Gods only had the knowledge of the future, but no self power and skills to change it, or enough abilities to protect themselves from everyone else , they were hunted. 

There were some Gods who survived simply because their faction had put too much effort into protecting them, some survived by joining stronger Gods and being their allies, some just lived in hiding, hoping for this war to end. 

By the time the world's will interfered and stopped the war of Gods, mostly all Gods with those powers were killed. Those who lived, always lived in hiding as even though they wouldn't be killed on sight, they also couldn't increase their influence or other Gods would just capture their avatars and kill them. Thus making them lose their only advantage they have. 

—----

***This is why seers are people who are much respected in Arcadia, as basically every God out there can give someone power and abilities, but knowledge about the future was something which got lost due to less number of Gods who were able to do so in myths. It grew even lesser when some Gods lost their avatar and with that, their ability to see the future -making them useless. 

This is why Goddess Cassandra, a low class goddess in her stories, who was cursed that no prophecy of hers shall ever be followed by anyone in the world, had gotten enough influence that she had her own church and followers. SHE could see the future -even if her visions were wrong sometimes, the chance that one of them might be true, is enough to entice both Gods and mortals alike. 

 ** - In the novel Goddess Cassandra's influence and followers increased as Noah's fame as a seer increased, they both grew stronger together. As she got more faith energy, she grew more powerful, and with time she was even able to overcome her curse, and every vision of hers would come true. 

But just because she could see the future doesn't mean she could change it too. She learned that the hard way, when Rio killed both Noah and her in the story, despite whatever methods she pulled to change that. 

—----

"Can you see the future, Rio?"

"Tell me the truth." Artemis's voice sounded in his ears again, making Rio curse at everything, cause he had no idea how to respond, he never expected Artemis to ask this. His anger grew more as he saw that his useless system started laughing at him and his luck which is supposed to be high for now lol. 

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A/N - sorry for the info dump at the middle, but it was important to explain how rare Gods who could see the future were, this way even those Gods won't be too broken and OP.