Chapter 89
Asmoldking’s grinning ear to ear, eyes locked on the chat monitor that’s turned into a straight-up warzone. He lets the silence sit for a couple seconds just to make the tension thicker, then turns to Ray with that spark in his eyes, straight-up provoking.
"Chat’s losing their minds yelling for this, Ray. They saying you too quiet. Hime just asked Sasha and Luna straight up if they still wanna take lives even when there’s another way. What about you? You rocking with how Hime’s framing it? Or you leaning more toward what they said?"
Ray lets out a slow breath. Face stays blank, but inside his head he’s already heated.
’I just wanted to sit here quiet... why the fuck you keep dragging me into this?’
He answers short, voice flat.
"I get what Hime’s saying about another way. Synth meat’s a thing. But I also get Sasha and Luna’s side. Not everybody can just flip like that. Some people’s whole life depends on it. So... I can’t say they’re completely wrong."
Hime on the screen nods slow, but that soft smile? Gone. There’s an edge cutting through it now.
"Ray... you still trying to balance two sides that can’t be balanced. There is right. There is wrong. Taking the life of a creature that can’t even defend itself, just for pleasure... that is wrong. Full stop."
Sasha explodes, voice shooting up.
"Wrong according to who?! Just you! You with your plant powers acting like you’re the holiest one here! You never think about the farmers who gotta feed their whole family. You never think about regular people who just want a good meal after grinding all day. You only care about the cows! Just the damn cows!"
Luna jumps in, voice colder but cutting deep.
"And don’t forget, Hime. You kill plants every single day. You cut ’em, rip ’em out, destroy ’em. Then you preach ’don’t take lives.’ You just picking which creatures you feel bad for. That’s called hypocrisy. You ain’t no messenger from God. You just somebody looking for reasons to feel better than everybody else."
Chat goes nuclear.
"Sasha and Luna going off hard as hell"
"Hime getting cooked about the plants"
"Real talk, Hime too self-righteous"
"Farmers still gotta eat too bro"
Asmoldking chuckles low, then immediately stirs the pot again.
"Chat saying Hime getting backed into a corner on the plant hypocrisy. Hime, your turn. You really don’t see nothing wrong with you ’killing’ plants every day while you condemning people for eating meat?"
Hime stares straight into the camera, voice calm but heavier.
"Plants do not possess consciousness like the beasts. They feel no fear. They leave behind no families to mourn. They are the sacred gift of life bestowed by the Divine unto humanity. Not meant to be slaughtered like creatures that know pain and terror."
Sasha lets out a cold laugh.
"Oh so now you deciding which creatures ’can feel’ and which ones can’t? You God now? Handing out who gets to live and who gotta die? That’s funny as hell, Hime."
Luna doesn’t even let her breathe.
"And that whole ’God gave it to humans’ thing — you the same one saying humans shouldn’t eat meat. So which one is it? You contradicting yourself. You just cherry-picking whatever fits your agenda. This ain’t compassion. This you wanting everybody to live exactly how you say. Straight coercion."
Ray gets dragged back in.
Asmoldking turns to him with that big-ass grin.
"Ray. Chat wants you to answer this too. Hime says plants got no consciousness so it’s okay to ’take’ them. You agree? Or you think Hime’s way of thinking is too... selective?"
Ray scratches the back of his neck, feeling trapped.
"I... don’t know about plant consciousness. I’m just looking at it from the human side. If everybody got forced to stop eating meat right now, a lot of people would struggle. Not just taste — we talking jobs, economy, culture. So I don’t think it’s fair to just judge it like that."
Hime looks at him through the screen. Voice quieter, but the disappointment is loud.
"Ray... you’re still choosing to defend comfort over truth. That’s your choice. But one day, when your eyes are truly opened... you will regret allowing the suffering to continue."
Sasha half-stands up, voice fully raised now.
"You see that?! She’s accusing Ray that he’s ’gonna regret it’! She’s gaslighting him in front of everybody! She thinks she’s the only one who’s right and everybody else is wrong, then tries to force them into her way! This ain’t about animal compassion anymore. This her playing little God!"
Luna stands up too, voice sharp.
"And don’t even bring ’God’ into it. You only got plant powers. That’s it. Don’t act like that gives you the right to run everybody else’s life. I eat meat. I don’t feel guilty. And I don’t need you preaching morals at me."
Hime goes quiet for a second. The smile is completely gone.
"You two... have wandered too deep into the darkness. May the day come when your eyes are opened."
Asmoldking sees the chat going completely feral, then looks back at Ray with that obvious "I’m stirring shit" face.
"Ray. One last question from chat before we move on. They saying you too soft on Hime. You won’t even say ’Hime, you wrong.’ Why? You scared? Or you lowkey agree with her?"
Ray stares straight at Asmoldking. Only one thought looping in his head.
’I fucking hate you right now.’
He answers quiet but firm.
"I don’t fully agree with Hime. But I also don’t fully agree with how Sasha and Luna are attacking her. Everybody got the right to believe what they believe. Just... don’t force it on people."
Hime gives a small, cold smile.
"That’s the answer of someone afraid to take a stand, Ray."
Sasha and Luna look at each other, then both stare at Ray like he just betrayed them.
Chat ain’t even on the meat debate anymore.
Now they roasting Ray as "the neutral coward" from every angle.
And Asmoldking? Just sitting there grinning wide, loving the fire he started.
Asmoldking still cheesing hard, eyes flicking over to Ray like he’s waiting for the next explosion. But Ray’s just sitting there quiet. Head full.
’This ain’t even a podcast about me. They just rounded up viral people so the numbers go up. Asmoldking... he only cares about the views. Same shit as last time. When I made that weird alter building, even his grandma got dragged into it. Probably happy as hell granny became proof of some strange phenomenon, this bastard...’
Ray side-eyes Asmoldking real quick. That host smile way too wide. Way too happy watching the chat go insane. Ray knows exactly the type. Long as the numbers climbing, they don’t give a fuck who gets burned.
And the part that really pisses him off... he don’t wanna look like he’s defending Sasha. On X, girls like her turn into memes in two seconds. One sentence and it’s getting clipped, edited, and dragged for days. Ray ain’t trying to wake up with his face on everybody’s timeline captioned "Ray the neutral pussy" or "Ray defending the anti-vegan chick."
So he speaks up.
Ray takes a slow breath, then talks. Voice calm, but this time longer and clearer than before.
"I wanna say something," he says, looking straight at Hime on the screen. "All humans got basic rights. If Hime wanna say ’this is God’s way’ and then force people into it in a way that makes their life harder... I don’t think that’s right. You can believe whatever you believe, but don’t use God’s name to pressure everybody else."
Hime opens her mouth, but Ray ain’t done.
"And about eating meat. That shit’s been around since forever. Ain’t new. And before Sasha even had powers like she got now, she was still eating from the fields, right? The land that’s fields now... used to be full of animals. A lot of ’em got labeled pests. Rats, locusts, birds eating the crops. Farmers had to kill ’em so the harvest wouldn’t get wiped out. That’s still taking lives. But why we only ever talk about cows and chickens? ’Cause that’s what we eat. But rats? We don’t eat rats. So does Hime actually care about rats too? Or she only care about the animals that taste good to humans?"
Hime goes dead silent.
Completely silent.
That usual calm smile? Vanished. She just stares at Ray through the screen like she’s actually processing what he said. First time this whole interview she don’t hit back with a long sermon.
Sasha and Luna look at each other. Even they shut up for a second, lowkey shocked Ray just went off like that.
Asmoldking? Grinning so hard his teeth showing. Eyes lit up like it’s Christmas. This exactly what he wanted. Ray finally talking. Chat losing their minds.
And chat does lose their minds.
"RAY CLAPPING BACK WITH THE RAT CARD LMFAOOOO"
"Dude in some countries they eating rats for lunch ahahaha"
"Ray suddenly going off about pests"
"Hime got mindfucked about the rats"
"Bro thinking way too deep about fields and pests"
"Ray ain’t defending Sasha but still defending the logic"
"Logical as hell but why we even debating this? When we talking about the weird phenomena?"
"Clip farm heaven LMAOOOO..."
Asmoldking laughs under his breath, shaking his head, voice full of hype.
"Yo chat... Ray just dropped the ’rat’ bomb and Hime went completely quiet! This shit just got good! Ray, you didn’t expect to go this hard, huh? Chat asking — you been holding onto that rat argument the whole time, or it just hit you when Sasha and Luna started cooking Hime?"
Ray just shrugs slow. Face still blank, but inside he’s already regretting opening his mouth so much.
’I just didn’t wanna become a meme... now I’m the one making chat even crazier.’
Hime still staring at him from the screen. Eyes unreadable. Not mad. Not sad. But something definitely shifted.
And Asmoldking... smile getting wider by the second.
’Cause he knows — once Ray starts talking like this, the fire that was just Hime vs Sasha and Luna... now it’s got everybody burning.
Including Ray himself.
Ray curses Asmoldking in his head.
"Fucking bald bastard!!!"