Drip… Drip… Drip.
"Stem,"
[…What?]
"Who really was coming?" he asked, a nagging feeling gnawing at him. He suspected Stem had purposely exaggerated the situation’s severity, steering him here rather than confronting whoever or whatever awaited outside.
[…You will find out soon enough.]
"Why do you keep doing this?" he muttered, frustration evident in his tone. He let out an exasperated sigh. "The more you keep secrets from me, the less I trust you. The more I hate you."
A low vibration hummed from the depths of the abyssal cave.
[It’s all for your own good.]
"I DECIDE THAT, OKAY?!" he roared, anger bursting forth. He despised the feeling of being a puppet—each decision already accounted for, invisible chains binding him, robbing him of his autonomy. It felt as though he was merely a pawn in some grand scheme.
[You don’t understand,] Stem continued. [Your survival up until now is a miracle. You’ve deviated from the fates’ scripts, and they’re working tirelessly to correct that. If you don’t follow through with this… YOU. WILL. DIE.]
"…Sigh." He ran a hand through his hair, his voice heavy with frustration. "What even is the purpose of my being here? Why am I in this world in the first place? What does that damned goddess even want from me?"
[You’re not ready. You need to get stronger if you want to uncover the truth.]
BOOM!
"What the hell was that?!" Amael shouted, manifesting two frost swords in an instant. But before he could act, everything went eerily quiet.
[It’s the mana beast,]
BOOM!
The ground erupted beneath him. His instincts kicked in, and he thrust his hands forward, manifesting an icy spike that lodged into the gaping maw of the beast attempting to swallow him whole.
The force behind the creature was overwhelming, slamming him into the opposite wall of the cave. The structure collapsed, sending Amael plunging into the darkness below.
He clung desperately to the spike, preventing the creature from devouring him, but the weight dragged him deeper and deeper into the abyss until he finally hit solid ground.
"UGH!" he groaned, pain radiating through his body. The icy spike trembled under the beast’s relentless struggle.
"Damn it!" he cursed, pouring ether into his work. Frost crept from the beast’s mouth, spreading rapidly across its body, freezing it in place.
"GREEEEE!" The creature roared, its body emanating an intense heat. Amael could feel it rising from within, an overwhelming wave threatening to spill forth.
"Lava," he whispered, eyes widening in horror.
"FUCK!" he screamed as the molten heat surged toward his face.
Pain coursed through him, but suddenly his ether flared uncontrollably, swelling with unprecedented force.
For a fleeting moment, an eerie calm washed over him, a sensation of invincibility.
The beast froze solid, its fiery rage extinguished in an instant. With a single punch, Amael shattered the monster into fragments of icy debris.
[Eyes of the Blessed activated.]
[Eyes of the Blessed deactivated.]
"What… what was that?" he asked, trembling in shock.
[You were in danger. In your fear, you instinctively triggered the Sin of Wrath,] Stem explained.
"I see," he murmured, staring at his trembling palm.
"But… where am I now? Where is this place?" He glanced around, noting the difference. Unlike the oppressive darkness of the cave where he’d lost Lily, this place was faintly illuminated. Light seeped through cracks and crevices, casting an ethereal glow.
"What’s… that?" he muttered, his gaze locking onto a floating pot.
It looked ancient, like the alchemy cauldrons he’d seen in old kung fu films.
"Alchemy?" he whispered in disbelief.
Wait.
So that means the person also predicted he would take the Alchemy path?
This realization left him even more confused. Did this mean his future had already been completely foreseen? That no matter what he did, it would always be ’part of the plan’?
Now, he finally understood what Stem meant when he warned him against Arten Raid that day.
He was bound to lose his freedom.
"Hah," he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he tried to make sense of it all.
"Stem," he said, turning to the floating pot.
[What?]
"How is this pot even in this conjured world?" he asked, frustration lacing his voice.
This was a conjured world, for goodness’ sake!
[The Fates would interfere if it was hidden anywhere else.]
"What?"
BOOOM!
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" he yelled in disgust as his eyes fell on something even more repulsive than the abomination he fought in the legacy world.
[A VARIABLE.]
"What?"
[It’s the only thing that could go unnoticed within the threads of time. The only thing that could elude the Fates. It’s the only way to bring it here.]
"YOU’RE NOT MAKING ANY FUCKING SENSE!"
[KILL IT BEFORE IT KILLS YOU!]
Those were the last words he heard before the world went silent.
His blessing had activated in the nick of time. His brain hadn’t even been fast enough to process what was happening.
"Haah!" He exhaled sharply, tilting his head just in time to see the creature—a grotesque amalgamation of billions of twisting human hands—swinging toward him. Its grotesque form tore through space itself.
Even though time was frozen, the creature kept moving.
"ARGH!" he screamed, the overwhelming pressure engulfing him once again.
[Eyes of the Blessed activated.]
He swung his frost blade, now glowing fiercely with an icy blue hue, at the monstrosity.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The very fabric of space distorted, and the conjured world trembled violently. Amael was flung backward like a bullet, crashing through the air as if launched a million miles in a split second—though in reality, he hadn’t moved more than a few meters.
It felt as if even the fabric of reality itself was struggling to hold together.
In midair, his glowing blue eyes burned even brighter. With a single blink, he rejected the reality before him. In the next instant, he was facing the creature again.
A massive lance of ice materialized, shooting straight for its midsection, but—
BOOM!
Its grotesque hand tore through space again, the lance vanishing into the distortion.
"…," Amael frowned deeply. Something was wrong. This creature—this abomination—it seemed as though anything that posed a threat to it was reversed.
"All right," he muttered, his icy gaze narrowing.
With another blink, he was upon it, his glowing blue blade poised to sever its disgusting, mutated arms. But—
BOOM!
He blinked again, and in the next moment, he found himself falling. His eyes locked on a figure—a young man with white hair—impaled by countless hands emerging from the creature’s twisted form.
"Hm," Amael thought grimly, watching the lifeless body fall.
"That was a close call," he muttered, but his voice faltered as pain exploded in his chest.
"Argh!" he gasped, clutching at his chest and coughing violently.
Blood stained his hands.
[YOU HAVE TO KILL IT NOW! YOUR BODY ISN’T READY TO WIELD THIS MUCH POWER! THE MORE YOU USE THE EYES OF THE BLESSED, THE MORE YOU HARNESS ITS POWER. THE MORE YOU HARNESS IT’S POWER, THE GREATER THE STRAIN ON YOUR BODY! YOUR ETHER CAN’T HOLD OUT FOR MUCH LONGER!]
"Ether? That’s barely the problem here," he said, and with a blink, his ether flow reversed. In an instant, it was full.
"Ugh," he groaned as his body began trembling. He looked at his hand, and there it was—he could see it... a crack.
"GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"
He looked up, and there, descending with the speed of a meteorite, was the creature.
He raised his sword, and with a blink, he was there, aiming to decapitate what resembled a head. Just as the sword reached for it—
BOOOOM!
The space around him distorted, the head itself shooting out, tearing through reality as it aimed straight for his heart.
BOOOOOOOOOM!
The sword struck, bloodied, and the space between them fractured.
He stared at the broken shards of reality, and with a blink of an eye, they began to morph into something else. A vortex.
"GREEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS!"
The creature thrashed wildly but was dragged into the vortex’s immense pull.
He turned his gaze upward, to where the pot hung suspended in midair. With the blink of an eye, he was there. He reached out and grabbed it, but just as his fingers closed around it—
"FUCK!"
The sensation vanished.
[Eyes of the Blessed has deactivated]
"NOOOOO!" he screamed, tumbling into the vortex, unable to resist its pull. Even the Chronos Lock was powerless now.
[REJOICE, AMAEL. THE FIRST PHASE OF THE PLAN IS COMPLETE. THE JOURNEY TO FREEDOM HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN.]
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Suddenly, a warm sensation enveloped him. He gasped.
"Thank God, I made it in time," a voice said.
His blurry vision cleared just enough to glimpse a figure. He couldn’t mistake what he saw.
"L-Lily?" he whispered, tears streaking down his face.
"Yes, Mael," she replied with a soft smile. For some reason, she seemed different—more mature, more beautiful, more... powerful. "Sleep... I will take care of the rest," she said.
And the next moment, darkness claimed him.