Kyle stood before him, tall and broad-shouldered, with short ash-blond hair and calm gray eyes.

A faded scar stretched across the back of his left hand, and the plain dark coat resting over his frame did little to hide the solid build beneath it.

There was nothing flashy about him, yet the steady look in his eyes carried a quiet confidence. And there was something about his presence...it wasn’t intimidating but Kyle could feel something

As if he was restraining a lot and exposing very little. Maybe he was thaaat strong that he was putting this much extra effort.

"Who...are you?" he asked with a slight tilt of his head.

"Don’t you recognize me?" the man asked, his smile never fading. "It’s your livestream viewer, WarHorse!" he said before dropping a heavy hand onto Kyle’s shoulder.

Kyle let out a long breath. Somehow, he had expected this, after all, he was standing before this person right after absorbing the blessing.

However, being summoned to this void where nothing but the two of them existed didn’t feel good.

Maybe it was because he still hadn’t recovered from the fragments of memory he had witnessed only a few hours ago. He felt his mind was a little disoriented right now. The constant travel between places like these had him a little overwhelmed

"You don’t look too good, mate. Here, sit down first." The man spoke, and out of nowhere, two chairs appeared before them.

Kyle nodded and accepted the offer. He needed to sit down and process this situation calmly.

WarHorse took the seat across from him, that brilliant smile never leaving his lips.

Kyle looked up at the man and asked, "So...you are a God, huh?" That was something he was now one hundred percent sure of...despite how absurd it sounded.

After all, until recently he considered him and the others as normal people watching his live stream and asking random questions.

The man chuckled. "You can say that, but to you, I am just your friend."

Kyle hummed softly. "Well then, what’s your name? I mean calling you with your online name feels a little weird."

WarHorse was a plain name, something users used back in the day when online gaming was new. But in the live stream even that worked...however, calling him by that name would surely feel awkward.

The bearded man paused for a moment. Hesitation? Just when Kyle was considering taking back his question, he finally said. "You can call me Tyr."

Kyle nodded. "Alright, Tyr. Where am I? And what happened after I absorbed the blessing?"

Tyr leaned back in his chair, his broad arms nearly swallowing it whole as he replied, "This brief interaction we’re having is possible because of the blessing you absorbed. You see, whenever we bless someone, we form a contract with them, and through that contract, we can establish a connection."

Kyle hummed curiously. "So Melissa has been here before as well?"

Tyr slowly raised his head. "No. Apostles cannot see us directly. We only send them messages when things begin to fall out of order."

Kyle gave a wry smile at that...another exception he would probably never receive a proper explanation for.

Just then, Kyle noticed Tyr’s left arm.

Several black scars ran across the entire limb, starting from the shoulder itself.

"What happened to that arm?" he asked casually.

Tyr glanced briefly at it. "Didn’t I tell you about it before? Our first real conversation was about that."

Kyle blinked in surprise. "Betraying a friend and paying the price, if I remember correctly...so this was the price?" he asked while gesturing toward the arm.

The man nodded. "Yes...I lost an arm, and ever since then, whenever I regrow a new one, I cut it off myself."

Kyle sighed. The logic sounded absurd, yet...

"Considering how devastated you were back then, I understand."

Kyle still remembered the long conversations he had shared with WarHorse during that period. Back then, the man had been nothing like this cheerful and lively figure before him. He used to speak only about the ugliness of the world, drowning himself in negativity.

Kyle had actually scolded him a few times, forcing him to at least look toward the brighter side of things.

He never told Tyr to stop grieving, but he did remind the man that there was still a world beyond the companion he had lost.

"The cause was great, but the price wasn’t," Tyr muttered, his voice turning slightly heavy. "You helped me realize that I needed to see the bigger picture instead of endlessly dwelling on my loss."

Kyle sighed before smiling faintly. "Well, I’m glad you understood."

A brief, warm silence settled between the two before Kyle spoke again.

"So, can you tell me how I’m supposed to neutralize the blessing? Because I have a feeling I won’t be able to use it."

The system had pointed out something painfully obvious that he had failed to realize earlier.

He didn’t possess the intelligence or talent Melissa had. She was a genius, someone naturally gifted in blacksmithing.

That was why she had received the blessing in the first place.

But Kyle?

He had never forged anything in his life, and he was certain he was nowhere near as brilliant as her.

Tyr, on the other hand, didn’t look troubled at all. He calmly told Kyle, "Don’t worry. The blessing will adjust itself to suit you in the best possible way. Just wait until it fully assimilates."

Kyle looked slightly taken aback. "And you’re sure I won’t end up causing something similar to what Melissa did? I mean...even if she never intended to do anything bad."

Tyr simply stared at Kyle for a few moments.

Not because he was thinking or hesitating, but because he looked genuinely amused.

Then he finally spoke his mind.

"Brother...there isn’t a single possibility where I can imagine you misusing my blessing for the destruction of the world."

Kyle’s brows rose slightly. "Wow...that’s an insane amount of trust. I mean, it’s honestly staggering."

The deity shook his head and reassured him, "Don’t worry. When the time comes, you’ll understand why we trust you so much."

Kyle hummed in surprise, but before he could say anything else, his vision suddenly began to blur.

"Ah, our time is up," Tyr called out with a hint of disappointment. "Well, we can stay in contact now that you’ve become my apostle."

Kyle wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that, but he no longer had the strength to respond, so he remained silent.

Soon, his vision darkened completely, and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself back in his room.

"Haaah...that was something," Kyle muttered as he ran a hand through his hair.

[Congratulations, host. The blessing <Will of Steel> has been fully assimilated.]

Kyle’s brows elevated, "Will of Steel...what can I do with it?"

[Host, why don’t you try summoning your bow to check things?]

Confused, Kyle followed the instructions.

And the moment Aquilla appeared in his hand...he heard it.

{Hello, Papa!}

P-Papa?!

°°°°°°°°

A/N:- So like...Ethara tried to be slick...

Drop a comment. Thanks for reading.