Chapter 8: Fate.
With the roll of the Die.
The universe changed.
*****
At the white cottage.
"NOT FLIPPING AGAIN."
The woman screamed, her anger resonating throughout the room.
The woman then took a deep breath, calming herself down and began to activate a spell.
An illusory river appears before the woman, mercury-like waters flowing down the river, moving in seemingly chaotic patterns.
The currents flow in differing ways, some flow sideways while others flow in a zigzag pattern. It was unpredictable, nonsensical even.
Yet all of them end the same.
Mercury liquid suddenly gushes from the floor and slowly, it covers the woman until it encloses her entire body like a cocoon.
[Fateful Encounter]!
The mercury cocoon trembled.
From oval it turned cubic, then circular before finally returning to its original shape.
Moments pass and the cocoon slowly parted in half, revealing the woman, her face as stiff as stone as she declared.
"I'm ending you for good C-"
The woman pauses, confusion momentarily fills her eyes as she finds herself in the same spot she was.
Frowning, the woman once again called forth the mercury-like liquid.
[Fateful Encounter]
The same scene repeated and to her surprise, ended with the same result.
Two successive failures.
Sure, compared to that hateful man's method, [Fateful Encounter] is lacking, but that does not mean it's bad either given that it could teleport her with 99% success.
What are the odds?
Suddenly, a flash of epiphany hits the woman, an improbable conclusion yet the only conclusion possible.
Turning her head towards the table, the woman's eye fell on a man smirking at her.
Everything clicked.
The woman's eye glowed with crimson light, white vertical slits forming on them as intense fury contorts her beautiful, once emotionless face.
"YOU DARE?"
Asked the woman, her voice laced with venom, promising death to those who dared to answer her wrong.
Meeting her gaze, Arengi just laughed as he crossed his legs and said.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
"What are you gonna do about it?"
Boooom!
*****
Goosebumps suddenly crawled into my skin as I watched the Die of Probability roll.
It seems like I just owed someone a favor I would rather not pay.
Shaking my head from this idle thought, I placed all my focus on the Die.
It rolls.
My palms began to sweat, an unpleasant reaction yet an understandable one.
The Die rolls.
My toes curl, anticipation filling my nerves as I watch the Die roll
And roll.
Beads of sweat decorate my face as I watch every movement of the Die.
Rolling.
...
...
...
Ten minutes later and the Die kept on rolling.
"This is taking forever"
I say lifelessly, all the tension already left me during the three minutes mark.
"Access Security"
A floating blue "window" appears before me as I begin to review the defenses I deployed out of boredom.
[ALL WEAPONS ONLINE]
[Anti-matter Minigun {Active}.
Extinction-class Missiles {Active}.
Spatial Distortion Circles {Activate}
10 God-class Circles {Active}]
[ALL SHIELDS ONLINE]
[Anti-Planetary Bombardment System {Active}
Space-Time Barriers {Active}
Karmatic Wards {Active}]
"Close Windows"
With this much firepower, I could give most Ones a run for their money.
Reassuring myself, I brought my focus back to the Die.
When is this bloody thing going to stop?
Knowing that borrowing power from the past has a time limit (ironically) I seriously thought about whether to speed it up a bit.
Shrrroouum
As if answering to my thoughts, the Die of Probability began to roll more slowly.
And everything began to change.
The floor suddenly became water, the roof turning into tofu.
Oh and yeah, my left hand turned into candy.
I'm Ducked.
*****
Meanwhile
Arengi found himself in a rather amusing situation.
For him at least, because he is currently being chased by a hundred mile long silver snake.
The snake charges, attempting to devour Arengi whole.
Arengi just smiled and made no attempt to move.
The snake opened its mouth wide, only for a meteor to fall and close it.
"My, my, sister. What are the odds?"
Taunted Arengi, and it was super effective.
Because the snake opened its mouth again, but this time, it made no attempt at charging at him.
Arengi's smile then vanishes, playtime is over. He thought.
The snake's crimson eye glowed before suddenly looking towards the horizon.
Somewhere far far away.
The snake then spoke in a feminine voice.
"It cannot be."
Hearing that, Arengi's smile returned.
"What cannot be, dear sister?"
Ignoring him, the snake continued to stare at the skies, its eye glowing brighter with every moment.
"It is not fated."
Arengi sneered, his eyes full of disdain as he spoke.
"Fate this, Fate that, we Ones are not bound by Fate. We make it sister."
The silver snake turned its head towards Arengi, its words full of conviction.
"You may impede me brother, but you cannot stop fate."
The snake then vanishes, fading as if it had never been there.
Following that, the woman appears, her face as serine as a lake, not a single trace of her earlier fury.
A log suddenly flies towards the woman, coincidentally placing itself behind her as she sat on it.
"Even for Him."
*****
This may be a little too much.
I thought as I gazed at the library, well, what was once a library before me.
I only need one word to explain everything here:
Chaos.
It was pitch black, then it became bright. Solid turns into liquid, liquid turns into peanuts.
[Providence Travel]
Bringing my body to its past state, I managed to fend off the mutations the Die afflicted on me.
"This is crazy."
I complained as I gazed at the pitch black die in front of me.
While it is still rolling, its speed is significantly reduced by now.
It could stop at any moment.
4
...7
.......10
...................17
Unable to help myself, I activated [Riverman's Eye].
Looking at all possible realities, I was pleasantly surprised with the number most of them showed.
20.
"Heh, never gamble against someone with Foresight."
Smirking, I looked at the Die, all its movements the same as the one I saw.
The same action towards the same end.
The Die tilts, its result now showing 20 on all of the timelines.
But then it changed.
The Die tilts a little bit differently than what I saw.
And the future filled with 1
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Shoot.