Ruby was confused. She was sure that she had just been in the Ark, trying to calm the people who were inside. She remembered that much. It was debatable whether that actually counted as calming them, but we can just call it that for now.
However, she was now looking at the outside. She was now outside the Ark, watching Weiss as she fought desperately. She was facing the Wood Ouroboros Gaia, an unprecedented monster that could destroy planets and one strong enough that Weiss would not be able to remain untouched against it. Ruby was simply watching, unable to do anything. After all, Weiss was strong while she was weak. She was liable to die just from being outside the Ark, let alone while helping in a fight.
The planet had already lost its original shape, was swallowed by magma, and was suffering countless meteor impacts from the sky. Mountains were pulverized, the land split, the oceans boiled away, and the earthquakes never stopped as many other natural disasters frequently popped up all over. The world was truly ending. This was a time only talked of in myths.
Ruby would be lying if she tried to claim she didn't feel miserable. Rather, she always felt miserable due to her inevitable sense of inferiority. It was embarrassing for her to be so weak even though she held the title of Hero. To Ruby, the feeling of powerlessness was a nosy neighbor she couldn't escape from. Ever since she had witnessed Lunaru after coming to this world, that neighbor was constantly posing as her best friend, arm wrapped around her shoulders. On top of all that, this annoying neighbor had been getting bigger and bigger this entire time. Ruby had felt especially powerless, during her fight with the Ouroboros of Heaven, Cinder.
In a sense, though, she'd managed to give up and accept the difference between herself and Lunaru. She's walking disasters in human form, so it's only natural to be weaker than her, she thought. You have to run from falling meteors. There's no way to win against fighter craft loaded with nuclear missiles. Anybody would surrender when faced with an entire army. None of that is an embarrassment. If a huge monster jumped out of the screen in a movie and started to attack, would anyone actually pick up a sword and fight if they were told to?
However, there had been one time when that wasn't the case. Ruby had fought an enemy she could have defeated but still lost. More than that, she had been taken as a hostage and ended up being a burden to Weiss. In the end, Lunaru had intervened, and it had all ended well, but Ruby had never cursed her own powerlessness more than at that moment. Before she'd noticed, Ruby found herself alone, balled up, surrounded by darkness. A sense of powerlessness shaped like Ruby herself started to talk to her.
"I'm so weak. I can't do anything, let alone protect something. What kind of hero even am I? Seriously, it's laughable."
Yeah, you're right. I'm a pathetic, useless hero. A laughingstock.
As if to pile onto this, another sense of powerlessness, this time shaped like Cinder, lay her arm across Ruby's shoulders.
"Aren't you jealous of those strong people? Aren't you envious? I also can't help but think, 'If only I had power.'"
"Shut up!" Ruby muttered aloud as she weakly waved her hand, trying to swat it away.
However, that didn't make the sense of powerlessness go away. Ruby's feelings of inferiority wouldn't disappear. In fact, those miserable feelings now became Roman and he promptly started to bounce around in front of Ruby mockingly.
"Hey, hey, how do you feel now, little red? How does being a hero who can't do anything feel?"
Go away! Ruby stood up to punch him in the face before promptly curling back up again.
Light suddenly fell in front of Ruby. When she looked up, she found a holy-looking maiden smiling down upon her, who kindly held out her hand as she spoke.
"It will be fine, Roselia Ruby the Hero. You are not weak. Your power is simply sleeping inside you. Now, take my hand. There is no longer any need for those feelings of powerlessness, inferiority, and pitifulness. You will fly to the battlefield and save everyone."
In that instant, scenes of her after becoming powerful played in Ruby's head like a movie. Using the power that suddenly welled up from within, Ruby became unstoppable as she leapt into action, and even if she was experiencing trouble, she would simply awaken a hitherto-sleeping power to make a comeback. Then, she would pile great achievement upon great achievement, gain the affection of many cute girls and handsome boys for no reason, and fall into a tug-of-war between them before being able to react.
It was a story with many common developments. Very common developments.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't want that. If I were at least useful, that would be infinitely better than my current state. I've always wondered why I was called to a world like this… I won't say that I haven't imagined a world where I was strong and could make great contributions… Even so…
After a moment, Ruby said, "I see. So you're the Goddess Yggdra."
This weakness is also a part of me, Roselia Ruby. No matter how many bitter experiences that fact gives me, I'll just have to swallow them all. Even if we try to avert our eyes, reality does not just go away. And humans cannot run from reality.
"I'm sure I would become strong if I were to take your hand. But, I would lose something precious in exchange. Am I right?"
The Goddess remained silent for a moment. "You do not wish for power?"
"I do. Agh, dammit… I really, really do. I'd pay an arm and a leg for it."
Ruby was not like Azura. The Queen of Heroes was strong, strong enough to not need the Goddess's help, strong enough to take pride in it. Though they both craved power, their cravings were of opposite natures. Azura had never felt any inferiority until she met Lunaru. She'd never felt powerless once in her life. I am strong, and Lunaru is stronger, since she can defeat me. So I will use my strength and multiply it, was how Azura thought. It was simple, and because of that, it was strong. There was no brittleness to it of the sort that weak beings like Ruby would have. She'd thrown all that away while she had been in her mother's womb.
However, Ruby was different. She was not strong, and she was also terribly delicate. If Azura's heart was like a several-meters-thick superalloy plate, then Ruby's heart was like aluminum foil. It could fold and bend any number of times, and the creases would remain no matter what. It was different from Azura's heart, which would never bend in the first place. However, Ruby was still able to softly refuse the Goddess's hand with her heavily creased heart.
"I… don't need it. I'm weak, and honestly just pitiful, but there is something I can do because of that. I… I will not point my weapon at the wrong person. I refuse to."
I want power. I really want it. I wanted it so much I could cry. Part of me wants to take back what I said and ask for it, but that can't happen. If I did that, then I would no longer be myself. If I were to betray my own heart for power, I would be the same as an uncontrollable weapon. It doesn't matter how powerful a weapon is. If it hits people it shouldn't, then it's worthless.
The Goddess was quiet for a moment. "Hee hee hee hee hee."
Seeing Ruby's attitude, the Goddess tossed aside her affectionate smile for one that had her mouth curving like a crescent moon. Then, she started clapping as if praising Ruby before she grabbed her jaw.
"I see, I see! As expected of a true hero. What a wonderful mindset. I praise you for the strength of your conviction! Yes, I don't hate that kind of attitude, not at all. In fact, I find it wonderful that you're trying to walk on your own two feet, but that's exactly why it's so pitiful… Ah, what a poor child you are. Even though your convictions are so strong, your abilities do not match. That is so extremely unfortunate."
The Goddess didn't listen to one word of what Ruby had to say. Instead, she just continued the conversation on her own. She didn't do this out of hate for Ruby; she wasn't even mad that she had been refused. In fact, it was the opposite. From the bottom of her heart, she thought, Ah, what a wonderful girl just brimming with bravery! Yes, this is how people have to be! They should walk on their own feet instead of chasing after some wish or clinging to divinity. That is the strength of humanity, as well as its beauty.
However, that was exactly why she couldn't help but pity Ruby. Even though people like her were the most worthy of power, they would always end up refusing it.
She deserves to be saved. She should be saved! She needs to be saved, needs to be!
"Be at ease, child. I will not abandon you. You deserve happiness. Feel free to be a little more selfish. I will forgive you. Allow me to save you from your powerlessness."
The Goddess was attempting to be a forceful savior. She would not listen to those she was saving; she saved them because she herself wanted to.
This girl's wonderful. Truly wonderful, without exaggeration. She deserves happiness. I will make her happy.
That was the moment Ruby realized something. Up until now, she'd thought of the Goddess Yggdra as a villain who was playing around with the world as she pleased.
I was wrong… This Goddess… This way-too-awful Goddess is just way, way off base.
"Even if you do not desire it, I will bestow power upon you. Do not worry. When you next awake, it will all be over."
She was no longer even pretending to listen to what Ruby wanted. A puppet with no will would not be much in battle, but that was only if there wasn't an overwhelming stat difference. Now, however, things would be different.
After absorbing not just the ouroboroses but a part of the universe as exp, Ruby would become basically invincible. She would be strong enough to defeat Lunaru.
In order to force her aid on her, the Goddess lifted Ruby's jaw.
"Heed my order. Refuse her with your own will."
That was when another power that was already inside Ruby intervened, and she shook off the Goddess's hand.
Ruby turned around only to find Lunaru there. This was Ruby's inner psyche, though, so there was no way Lunaru should have been there. However, she had already worked her control inside Ruby. Of course, it wasn't to actually control her. She had done so in order to protect the girl from those who would control her regardless of her will.
"Wha-?! L-Lunaru Fenris?! Why are you here…?" the Goddess asked.
"Hmph. I figured you'd do something like this, Yggdra. It seems you really did try to force power on her… But it's too bad, isn't it?"
"Wai-wait a second! It can't be… Did you do that without her permission?"
"This girl, Ruby, is already spoken for. As long as you don't defeat me, you can't touch her."
"You fiend!"
The Goddess conveniently ignored her own actions as her shout echoed through the world of Ruby's inner psyche. At the same time, all the experience, or mana, that was flooding towards Ruby lost its destination. The Hero herself had rejected the script, so this was no longer a story. At this point, the Goddess's Script had completely collapsed.
"Why…?" Yggdra clenched her fists as she looked at Ruby.
I don't get it. I just don't. Why won't she accept the power? There're no demerits to it at all! It's free. There are no catches. I was just going to give her cheat powers that would allow her to defeat anything in this world! I told her I was going to save her. I said I was going to make things easy. So why was I rejected? Didn't she admit that she actually wanted it deep down? Didn't she say that she hated her weakness? So why not just take it? That would solve all her problems. Why would she meaninglessly take the hard, painful choice?
"Why?! I was trying to save you! It's hard and painful, isn't it? Didn't you want to change your current self?! Then why won't you take the power?! What's wrong with jumping on this new power without any thought and using it as your own with pride?!"
Ruby considered her response for a moment, then said, "I'm happy that you'd go so far for someone like me, but I don't need it. If I took it, I would no longer be myself, after all."
Ruby got up weakly before she looked the Goddess straight in the eyes. Her eyes were not filled with conviction. Ruby wavered a lot, and she was weak as well. She was just a frail girl who, even now, seemed like she was about to collapse. Even so, she was trying to walk on her own, and that was what made her human. Humans didn't need anything silly like cheats or hacks. Humans were perfectly capable of moving forward without them.
"If I were to take your power, I would then be moving as you desire. If I did that, I would just be a puppet. Even if I did gain power here and now… If you just gave that power to a puppet with no will or ego… Between me and that puppet, what would be the difference?"
"Well, that's…"
The Goddess couldn't answer the question. Rather, she knew the answer. However, she couldn't say it.
There was none. There was no difference.
If Ruby had accepted the Goddess's boon and moved as her script required, then she would just be a puppet. Put bluntly, anyone could fulfill that role. It didn't need to be Roselia Ruby. It could even have been a simple mannequin with no mind at all. However, admitting that would mean shining a light on the Goddess's own contradictions. It would reveal the fact that she wasn't saving humans; she just wanted to feel like she was.
Having been confronted with this truth, it was as if everything the Goddess had done up until now was being rejected. In other words, it was a complete and utter defeat, even without a fight.
"Just give it up, Yggdra. It's your loss." Lunaru seemed as proud as if it were her own accomplishment as she patted Ruby's head. Yggdra had yet to be taken down. She had yet to even be challenged to a real fight. However, she'd just lost to Roselia Ruby , even without such things. "This kid Ruby and you are just different."
"I… Are you saying that I am somehow… less than this powerless girl?"
"Lesser or greater is of no matter at your level. As I said, you're just different. You aren't even standing on the same stage as this girl."
Lunaru's thoughts were thus: Imagine a stage. If two men fought on this stage, you would think that the winner was strong. However, if one of them ignored the rules and took to the stage wearing full armor and armed to the teeth with guns and blades, would you still think they were strong? No, you wouldn't. That person would just be a cheater and a coward. You would consider them weaker than weak, a person who ran away from a fair fight.
"In my opinion, if there were a power in this world that would make anyone the strongest and undefeatable, and if there were someone who could use that power without shame, then that person would be the weakest in the world, one who was unable to actually fight anyone, someone who was just hopelessly weak. Wouldn't you think so?"
After a moment of silence, Yggdra responded. "What are you trying to say?"
"It's simple. You have not been saving people. You took people who would have been able to walk on their own, gave them power, and robbed them of that ability. You made them weak."
"You… of all people… are going to say that…?"
"I can say it because I am me. After all, I did that myself in the past," Lunaru admitted.
One thousand years ago, Lunaru had clung to power. She had drowned in it. Using power strong enough to let no one close, she had taken control of the world and filled it with fear. That was exactly why she'd lost and had been sealed. Lunaru had not been the strongest being in the world. She may have been the most powerful, but she had also been the weakest. As she was now, she could honestly admit that.
"Do you think so too…? Do you also think that what I was doing was not saving them…?"
There was a moment of silence. Then, Ruby said, "I think that you truly are kind. You truly wanted to save them; at least, that's what I think. But you're too powerful. You can't even understand what it means to be saved. I mean, you've never once been saved yourself, after all. And no one's ever been around to correct you either."
The Goddess was not some sort of villain. She was just deeply mistaken. So why was she mistaken? When had she become mistaken? Why had no one corrected her? All that was proof that she had never once been saved by someone else.
"You are the one that needs saving first, Goddess Yggdra!"
"Grk… Urggh…!"
Yggdra's expression warped and twisted as she looked at Ruby. She couldn't understand her. She was the most worthy of being saved; she was a pure human who should have been saved first and foremost. Even so, the girl had just rejected her and told her that she was the one who needed saving.
Just what have I been doing, then? Is she seriously saying that I've spent all this time, this eternity, simply going around in circles fruitlessly? I won't accept it. It's not true!
With that, Yggdra disappeared completely from the world of Ruby's inner psyche. For her, this had been an undisguisable, inexcusable rout.