Quoted By:
>"Did the Emperor truly fear you?"
[SURASIRA] "Fufufufufu..."
The Lady of Milk and Torpor had a... certain dark expression about her face, below her covered eyes. She smiled deviously at me asking such a thing.
[SURASIRA] "Did Huangdi fear me? I would not say it to be so. But did he fear what I could do? Perhaps..."
'Ah, what do you mean?'
[SURASIRA] "If it is so that I am the one who controls all that is edible and that which cannot be eaten, then it is so that I am one who could inflict great wrath upon his Kingdom."
'So if I had a loaf of bread in my hand right now, a perfectly edible one freshly made, you could make it inedible to mortals?'
[SURASIRA] "More than simply bad to the tastebuds. I could make it toxic. Fatally toxic~..."
...!
I get it. Like she said, she is the authority on what can and cannot be eaten by mortals. She can completely overwrite the concept of food. She could make all foods known to man lethal for consumption at a moment's notice if she wanted! Things right eaten by men and digested right now all across Hainei could turn into poison and give them torpor if she wished it. Millions could drop dead.
The ability to control food sounds comical on paper... but Surasira is truly deadly in actuality!
[SURASIRA] "If I so decided, the bread would not just become lethal for a mortal to consume. The gods too would be as company to this lethal effect. Gods do not need to eat or drink, but if they were to if I were to decide such a thing, they too would suffer."
'So, could you make the fears of humans that HEUS feeds off of lethal to him?'
She shakes her head.
[SURASIRA] "Mortals do not consume fears. I cannot do such a thing. You must also understand this is one context from the other. HEUS does not consume in the broadest definition."
'Yeah, yeah, he doesn't literally eat it, it's more like absorption of human fears into his aggregate... But still. How come the Emperor would be afraid of this ability of yours?'
[SURASIRA] "The Emperor eats."
I blinked at her. My eyes wandered up to the light of the sun that illuminated the Land of Milk.
Could it be that Surasira was able to keep her independence from the Emperor by threatening him with her abilities of torpor? Is that why his sun reached her domain? Did she negotiate for him to impart its light?
... It is a curious question. But as well, it grants me insight into Huangdi...
So he did truly fear the Cow Goddess then.
