Chapter 188: Chapter 187 : Manipulation
Arthur stood before the second gate, the stone frame looming over him like the jaws of some ancient beast.
From behind the door, inhuman screams and guttural roars echoed—long, drawn-out wails and furious snarls colliding into a single, hellish chorus. The sound crawled across his skin, raising the hairs on the back of his neck.
He didn’t need his system to tell him.
Whatever was sealed in there was horrible.
Deadly.
The kind of thing sane people never wanted to meet.
’Of course,’ Arthur thought dryly. ’Why wouldn’t it be something like this?’
Then, without warning, a voice that belonged to no one in the corridor rang out.
Calm.
Emotionless.
It was impossible to tell whether it was male or female.
{ The trial to find the saviour will begin in five minutes. }
The words echoed through the stone, vibrating in Arthur’s bones.
Both Arthur and Sakura heard it.
Somewhere beyond the first gate, Sakura lifted her head.
Arthur tried to step back on instinct.
His body refused to move.
When he looked down, his feet were planted exactly where they had been, as if invisible chains had nailed them to the floor. It felt as though the ground itself had turned adhesive around his boots.
He tensed.
’Tch. Figures.’
On the other side, Sakura watched the gate in front of her begin to open slowly, stone grinding against stone.
She let out a quiet breath and stepped forward willingly.
"From here onward," Sakura said softly, more to herself than anyone else, "even I haven’t seen what happens in the future."
A familiar chiming sound rang in her ears.
DING.
════════════════════════════
" ULTIMATE FORESIGHT SYSTEM "
════════════════════════════
■ Analyzing future timelines...
■ Calculating survival probabilities...
■ Scanning causality deviations...
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ Second Gate – Arthur ]
Survival Probability:
► Arthur — 1%
Warning:
The target’s survival rate has fallen below the minimum acceptable threshold.
Future Observation:
Death is confirmed in 99% of possible outcomes.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ First Gate – Sakura ]
Survival Probability:
► Sakura — 70%
Assessment:
You possess a moderate chance of survival. External intervention or a change in fate may significantly increase the probability.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
" Causality Deviation Detected "
You have successfully altered the predetermined course of events.
A fixed future has been broken... for this minor and uncertain change.
Reward Granted:
► [ Endless Stamina Elixir ]
Rank: A-Rank Potion
Effect:
For 24 hours, the user suffers no fatigue, exhaustion, or stamina depletion. Physical and magical stamina become effectively limitless for the duration.
════════════════════════════
Sakura’s lips curled into a small smile as she read the notifications.
"Endless stamina, huh..." Sakura murmured.
But then another thought slid into her mind like a knife.
’So the system is treating this as a minor change,’ Sakura thought. ’I guess the grand reward will only come after it confirms Arthur’s death.’
Her eyes shifted through the stone toward where she knew Arthur stood.
She raised her voice.
"Those two gates you’re looking at," Sakura said, "both of them hold only one outcome."
Her tone was light, but her words were not.
"And that outcome," Sakura continued, "is certain death for you and uncertain death for me."
Arthur’s gaze hardened.
"The one you’re standing in front of," Sakura said, "shows the highest probability of your death, Arthur."
She rested a hand on the first gate.
"And the one I’m standing before," she added, "shows the highest chance of my survival."
The gate in front of Arthur began to open.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Old stone dragged itself apart a few centimeters at a time. With every inch, the roars grew louder, like thunder drawing closer. Dark, foul-smelling air seeped through the widening crack and brushed against his skin.
Soon it would swallow him.
Arthur exhaled.
He looked toward the wall separating them, speaking clearly so she could hear.
"Just why do you want to kill me that badly?" Arthur asked.
Sakura didn’t look away from her gate.
She held his unseen gaze.
"You’re too dangerous," Sakura said simply. "That’s all you need to know."
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
"Too bad then," Arthur said quietly. "Let’s both die together."
Sakura’s eyes sharpened.
"What?" she whispered.
"Did you think I’m an idiot," Arthur said, his tone turning razor-sharp, "willing to walk into such an obvious trap?"
The gate’s grinding slowed for a heartbeat.
"Even a fool could see you were leading me," Arthur said. "You practically dragged me to this door."
Sakura’s fingers tightened around her bow.
A bead of sweat slid down her temple.
Arthur continued, his voice low but steady.
"Your system lets you see visions of the future," Arthur said. "That’s a powerful ability, even by my standards. It gives you huge advantages—information, timing, leverage."
He lifted his hand slightly, as if ticking off points in his mind.
"It means that no matter what I do," Arthur said, "your system can see through me. It can simulate my actions and maybe even nudge your responses to steer me into the outcomes it shows you."
His lips curled faintly.
"But the future isn’t fixed," Arthur said. "Variables can affect it. Things you can’t predict."
He chuckled quietly.
"I saw it the moment you hid yourself in the throne room," Arthur said, "after I started mindlessly slaughtering those noble elves."
Sakura inhaled sharply.
Realization slowly dawned in her eyes.
"So you weren’t just trying to show off..." Sakura said. "You did that to see my reaction."
Arthur smiled.
"Checkmate," Arthur said softly. "I wanted to see the limits of your system—how much of the future it could see, and how much I could shake it by doing something you’d never expect from me."
He shrugged lightly, as much as his immobilized body allowed.
"So I did something completely irrational," Arthur said. "I let loose in the throne room."
He remembered it clearly—the look of genuine surprise that had flashed across Sakura’s face and the way Olivia had yelled in panic.
"And I got my answer," Arthur said. "When I saw that look of shock on your face, and when Olivia screamed that your predictions had failed..."
His eyes glinted.
"That confirmed my suspicions."
Sakura’s expression darkened.
"So what now, huh, genius?" Sakura snapped. "It’s no use. You’re trapped. You can’t do anything now. It’s over for you. Just die already, damn it!"
Arthur didn’t respond to the insult.
He simply smiled and looked at his shoulder.
At Black.
The crow tilted his head.
Arthur raised his voice slightly, speaking clearly.
"Your system doesn’t simply predict the future," Arthur said. "It observes possibilities. It shows you the most likely outcomes."
Sakura’s eyes widened.
"And based on those outcomes," Arthur continued, "you decide your actions. Then it rewards you again based on those decisions and outcomes, and the cycle continues."
His gaze sharpened.
"Isn’t that right?" Arthur asked.
On the other side, Sakura froze.
Her fingers tightened around the bow until her knuckles turned white.
"How... how did you—" Sakura began.
A jolt ran through her body.
She had never told him that.
Arthur glanced down at the simple watch strapped to his wrist.
The ticking sounded louder in his ears.
He smirked.
"Fifteen seconds until the five minutes are over," Arthur said.
He watched the numbers count down in his mind.
"Fifteen... fourteen... thirteen... twelve..."
With each passing second, Sakura’s heartbeat pounded harder.
Each tick felt like the longest moment of her life.
’What the hell is he planning?’ Sakura thought. ’It’s futile. He can’t move. He can’t do anything now. The trial’s rules have locked him in place. He—’
"Let’s see," Arthur said quietly.
At that moment, he turned his head and looked directly at Black.
"You’d better survive, you bastard," Arthur said.
Black fluffed up his feathers, confusion written all over his beady eyes.
"Caw...?"
In front of Arthur, a familiar notification appeared.
[ Blood Domain has been activated for 5 seconds. ]
The air changed.
For a brief moment, the entire corridor fell under his dominion.
Within that radius, everything—stone, mana, even the air itself—responded to his will.
"Use it," Arthur muttered.
[ Blink has been activated. ]
Space trembled in front of Sakura.
Her eyes widened as the air warped, bending as though something invisible had seized and twisted it.
In the next instant, the world lurched.
Arthur and Sakura’s positions swapped.
One heartbeat, Sakura was staring at her own gate.
The next, she was standing exactly where Arthur had been—directly before the second gate, the one filled with monstrous roars.
Arthur, in turn, found himself where Sakura had stood.
Sakura’s pupils shrank.
"No!" Sakura shouted, realization crashing into her like a hammer blow. "No!"
A new notification flashed before her.
[ Future outcomes have changed. ]
[ Second Gate – Sakura ]
Survival Probability:
► Sakura — 0.1%
Her breath hitched.
The space around her trembled again.
Before she could fully comprehend what had happened, the second gate roared to life.
The door opened up wider, and then—
It swallowed her.
Darkness and chaos wrapped around Sakura, pulling her inside with irresistible force. Her scream was lost in the thunder of roars as the gate sealed behind her.
At the same time, Black vanished.
In her final calculation, Sakura had occupied the first gate—the safer one. But in the instant after Arthur swapped positions with her, he burned the last of his Blood Domain’s five seconds.
He triggered Blink again.
Once to switch with Sakura.
A second time to switch with Black.
He pushed the crow into the first gate, using their bond and the brief spatial authority of his domain.
The first gate devoured Black.
The second gate devoured both Arthur and Sakura.
The gate slammed shut behind them.
───────────────
When Arthur’s vision cleared, he was no longer in the corridor.
He stood in the middle of a battlefield.
The sky above was an endless, sickly gray, clouds churning like smoke. The ground was littered with corpses—armor-clad skeletons half-buried in cracked earth, rusted weapons still clenched in their bony fingers. Broken banners fluttered weakly in a wind that reeked of dust and decay.
In the distance, countless skeletons were moving.
They surged in a loose ring, slowly closing in around a colossal tree.
The tree was vast—its trunk so thick that a city wall could have been carved into it. Its branches pierced the sky like spears, disappearing into the clouds. Some leaves still glowed faintly with ancient, ethereal light, but much of the tree’s bark was wrong.
Black veins crawled along its surface.
Its roots sprawled across the battlefield, and many of them had turned dark and withered, as if some plague had been eating away at them for a very long time.
It felt old.
Older than the tomb.
Older than the kingdom.
As if it had been there since the beginning of time.
Sakura stood a short distance away from Arthur.
Her gaze was fixed on the tree—filled not just with shock, but with something darker.
Hatred.
"...You’ve got to be kidding me," Sakura whispered.
She turned her eyes toward Arthur.
He stood directly opposite her, the two of them facing each other amid the dead.
A stand-off.
"You really are insane," Sakura shouted, anger erupting now that the shock had settled. "Aren’t you?"
Arthur’s breathing was rough.
Using Blood Domain had cost him more than he wanted to show. His muscles felt heavy, his mana reserves scraped raw, and his head throbbed faintly. The five-second domain had been a shadow of its peak power, weakened by his earlier battles but it was needed to use blink more effectively as he wasn’t sure if it would work without the domain.
Killing an S-ranker like Sakura in that tiny window had been impossible.
So he had chosen the best possible option.
Drag them both into death.
Sakura looked him up and down.
"I can already tell you’re spent," Sakura said coldly.
She raised her bow again, the string creaking as she drew it back, an arrow forming in her hand.
"Now die," Sakura said.
The mana around the arrow crackled, building toward a killing shot.
Arthur lifted his head.
"Olivia isn’t here," Arthur said calmly. "The effects are gone."
Sakura’s eyes widened.
"What—"
Before she could release the string, pain unlike anything she had ever felt tore through her body.
"Aaaahhhhhh—!"
Her scream ripped from her throat as every fiber of her being felt as though it were being unraveled from the inside. Her knees buckled, and the arrow vanished as her mana control shattered.
In front of Arthur, a cold, merciless notification appeared.
[ The extraction process has begun. ]
Her system’s protections were gone.
Without Olivia’s hacking to shield her, the Ultimate Scavenger could finally sink its fangs into her.
But even as Arthur focused on the extraction, something else watched them.
Something ancient.
Something bound to the withering tree and the battlefield.
To the endless skeletons that turned their empty eye sockets toward the two intruders.
The vampire and the human had stepped into its domain.
Without permission.
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