Strongest Hammer God

Chapter 1070: Agency or Power?

"Why?" Kyle asked, his tone combative. "Why do you want to keep doing what he tells you to do?"

"It's our best shot," Sebastian answered with a sigh. "We're not getting out of this world without dealing with the Overseer. We have to deal with her in some way, but we don't have many options available. She's simply too strong and too careful. We don't have any other choice."

"We always have a choice," Kyle transmitted. "We can try the original plan. Leave everything up to me. I'm sure I can find some way to deal with the Overseer."

"Kyle, Swamp Dragon's plan includes you," Sebastian answered. "You are precisely the backup plan, but if you keep progressing with your current speed, you won't reach the goal. We need more than just you."

"And to get that, you need to die?" Kyle asked with narrowed eyes.

"My death is not a foregone conclusion," Sebastian answered with some annoyance. "Swamp Dragon said that the Overseer will very likely die within the next 80,000 years. Everything we've been talking about only gets relevant if she somehow manages to survive."

"Why would the Overseer suddenly die?" Kyle asked. "I can't see how that's going to happen."

"Swamp Dragon wouldn't tell me, but he said he's pretty sure that the Overseer will die. He told me about the other things he had done, and I have to admit, Swamp Dragon got close to killing the Overseer two times already, and these were only probing strikes. His true killing strike is yet to come."

Sebastian told Kyle about the first two trials Swamp Dragon had prepared for the Overseer.

Kyle didn't like to admit it, but he also wasn't incapable of seeing the truth. He hated the thought, but in his heart, he had to admit that Swamp Dragon's earlier two attempts at killing the Overseer had had amazing potential.

If the Overseer had failed in the first trial, she would have needed to hand her position to someone else, and that might have ended her life. If she had been just a bit more careless during the second trial, she would have also died.

The first two trials had already been this close to succeeding, and they hadn't even been the true killing strikes.

If Swamp Dragon were to launch an actual killing strike...

There was a high chance that the Overseer would die.

'But will that actually happen?' Kyle thought. 'Logically, it's clear that this is our best shot at killing the Overseer, but it just doesn't feel right. The Overseer has survived for so long. Is she truly just going to die like that?'

"He's that certain?" Kyle asked.

Sebastian nodded. "Yes, he's that certain. Everything has already been set up. In fact, it can't even be stopped anymore. He said that the Overseer is walking towards her doom, and nobody can stop her. Even he wouldn't be able to stop her anymore."

Kyle sighed. "It feels wrong to say it, considering everything he has done, but I hope his plan succeeds. I really don't want any more sacrifices."

"Kyle, you want agency, right?" Sebastian asked. "That's like the one thing you want. You want the freedom to make your own choices, correct?"

Kyle took a deep breath. "I know exactly where you're going with this, and I fucking hate it. I want to say that it's not the same, but I can also see your answer to that statement."

Sebastian just remained silent as his perception remained locked onto Kyle.

Kyle groaned. "Yes, I want agency. Then, you're gonna say that I should also give you agency. If you want to sacrifice your life out of your own volition, it's not my place to take that choice from you. Then, I'm gonna say that sacrificing yourself is different. You're gonna go, 'how is it different?' and then we're going to enter a philosophical discussion."

"In the discussion, I will realize that you're logically correct, but I still won't like it. My emotions will still feel like they are in the right. Finally, I will begrudgingly leave, and that's that. Is that about right?"

"More or less, yeah," Sebastian answered. "The issue is that your goal is having agency. Stopping me from making my own choices is taking my agency away. Technically, you could do that. After all, you want agency for yourself. You don't need to give other people agency as well."

"You would just have to live with the label of hypocrite. Alternatively, you could also say that you've used the wrong word to define your goal. If you were to truly only care about your agency, you wouldn't be chasing agency but power. In that case, you would want the power to force the world to follow your commands."

Kyle sighed. "Live and let live," he transmitted. "With enough power, I could force everyone to do what I want, but that's not what I want. I know that you're going to do something I will absolutely hate, but that's your choice to make. Hypothetically, even if you were to betray me, and even if I were to know for a fact that it would happen, I wouldn't stop you."

"After all, you still have a choice. I know the choice you're going to make, but you haven't made it yet."

Kyle groaned with annoyance. "Fine! Fine! Do what you want. You're your own person."

Sebastian smiled a bit. "Thank you. Let's hope that everything will work out."

"Is there anything I need to know about this plan?" Kyle asked. "Anything I should look out for?"

"Only one thing," Sebastian answered. "Swamp Dragon said that your Imposing Law is one of the critical focal points. You need to get it as close to 100% as possible, as soon as possible. You should focus on it, if you care about our survival and chances of success."

Kyle snorted. "Now that I know that Swamp Dragon wants me to train my Imposing Law, I really don't want to, but if I actually do that, I would just be needlessly spiteful. It's not like I don't want to train my Law of Hammer."

"How far along are you?" Sebastian asked.

"98%," Kyle answered.

Sebastian's eyes shot open. "98 percent?!" he shouted in shock. "You make it sound like creating a 100% quality Imposing Law is easy!"

"It's because I'm going with the very thing I've been using for my entire life," Kyle answered. "Everyone is using some kind of weapon. People only switch to using their body as a blueprint for an Imposing Law after they have already lived their entire lives using an external weapon. You're essentially abandoning your entire path to start a new one."

"But what other choice do they have? Fighting without a weapon puts you at a severe disadvantage. Your strength will be weakened until your Imposing Law reaches 100% quality. An Imposing Law based on a weapon with 80% quality is probably stronger than an Imposing Law based on your body with 99% quality. Weapons are just very, very useful."

"Yeah," Sebastian answered, "when you put it like that, it makes sense. I was also planning on switching Imposing Laws when I became an Immortal. At that point, I would finally have enough time."

Kyle and Sebastian talked about some things for a while longer before they decided that it was time to split up again.

Kyle looked at Sebastian for a moment. "I really hope this is not the last time I'm going to see you."

"Same," Sebastian answered. "Let's hope Swamp Dragon succeeds."

"I hope so as well," Kyle nodded. "Then, I'll be a bit more optimistic and say, see you later."

"See you later," Sebastian answered.

Moments later, Kyle left again, and Sebastian sighed, an expression of guilt and regret on his face.

'Kyle, I'm sorry. I don't want to do this, but...'

'It's our best shot.'

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