A huge scythe skittled past Claud as its emotionless owner chased after a man clad in opulent armour. “Die. Just die.”

“That was just my mouth running automatically! I’m innocent!” The owner of the armour dodged as the scythe slashed out over and over again, and Claud inwardly regretted the fact that he didn’t have a lifestyle skill that would produce snacks for him.

A grey brick popped out of his hand and joined the pile below, before Claud turned to look at the red sphere that had seemed very familiar to him. It was hanging high in the sky, close to the white moon and the Trial of Aeons, and he couldn’t help but feel some pressure from the damned thing.

Two days ago, two such orbs — one red and one blue — had popped out from the heavens with much fanfare. The night sky had lit up too, creating beautiful patterns that had blinded everyone taking the Trial of Aeons at that time. After that, one orb turned to mist, while the other had turned silent completely.

Claud obviously had no idea what was going on, but the knowing air that Thirteen and Seven gave off did function as rather good hints. Based on Claud’s understanding of the events that had transpired in his Second Tutorial, the red orb was almost definitely related to the Red God, and the blue orb to the Blue God. There was no other explanation, after all — the Red God had somehow engaged in battle with the Claud of that time around the Trial of Aeons.

The only question was the difference in strength. Did the Claud of his Second Tutorial obtain his ninth fold by the time the trial came to an end? Or did something else happen? His memories were quite hazy, to be honest, and Claud had the feeling that he couldn’t have been a nine-folder before the Trial of Aeons ended.

Probably, anyway. After all, he still had the Third Tutorial to complete. Until he completed it, there was no way he could enter the ranks of a nine-folder.

“…Fragments of Fate, huh.” Claud turned to the two Bearers of Destiny, who were chasing each other happily, and then cast his gaze at the other team. Since everyone had their own objectives to fulfil, it had long become custom to place a few bricks on the opposing side’s Aeon Bridge — no one wanted to fight each other, after all.

His goal, however, was a bit different. He had two choices here — either he destroyed both Aeon Bridges or have the two of them combine into one single bridge. Doing so would net him the rewards, and so far, no one seemed to be aware of his objectives.

He didn’t quite understand why he needed to do these things yet, but the rewards were definitely important. More to the point, however, was that every single Bearer of Destiny represented a Fragment of Fate for him. If he wanted to increase the skill level of his Absolute One, these guys had to die.

Clicking his teeth, Claud produced another Aeon Brick, before checking his mana reserves. Making Aeon Bricks required some mana, and he didn’t to deplete his mana too much. Fortunately, it seemed that everyone was currently playing nice with each other, but he didn’t want to take any risk at all.

Thirteen chased Seven for a few more minutes, her emotionless face at complete odds with the whirling scythe that was hoping to take out a leg or two, before coming to a stop.

“Shame,” Claud muttered. “You can chase him for another hour, and I won’t complain about how I’m the only one doing the work.”

“Unnecessary,” Thirteen replied. “Entertainment.”

“It’s entertainment to you too, huh?” Claud asked. “Still, do feel free to chase him a few more times.”

He kept an appropriate distance from Thirteen as the two of them continued to converse. After all, she was someone that he would have to kill in the end. Every kill he made would grant his lifespan and a Fragment of Fate — all Claud had to do was to get rid of them at a good timing.

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For now, however, he would play along and wave nicely. However, once he got what he needed, Claud was fully intent on using the good old combo of Presence Nullification and Absolute One to wipe out everyone here. It was a shame and a pity, so Claud had no intention to deepen his bond with everyone else any further.

They would remain, at most, polite acquaintances.

Indeed, this was the best way to describe the current social situation. With only one Bearer of Destiny from the Dark and the Moons, there were no tight bonds that could be formed between one Bearer and another. In fact, judging from how the Coloured Gods’ Bearers of Destiny interacted with each other, it was clear that even they seemed to have their distinct, personal agendas.

After all, some of them had come running over to contribute a few Aeon Bricks here and there. He and the others had done the same too…well, other than Thirteen, who was keeping her Aeon Bricks to herself. The same went for the Moons’ Bearer of Destiny — it was clear that there was some taboo regarding mixing Aeon Bricks produced by the Dark and by the Moons.

Claud produced another three Aeon Bricks, before contributing them to the pile. The bridge was all but done now, and just in time too, since the time they had left was but only a few hours. It was remarkable how they had completed it, despite the fact that his teammates had chased each other around multiple times and he himself was limiting the number of Aeon Bricks made everyday.

“Is this enough?” Claud wondered out loud, staring at the huge pile of bricks at his side. For some reason, the others had seen it fit to deposit their Aeon Bricks at his feet. There was another fellow on the other side who had been given this duty too, but it seemed like the reason was quite different…

“Hmm? Yeah, I think so. Thanks for looking after those things.” Seven bobbed his head at him. Since his tongue had been “pacified” temporarily, his words were a bit more polite right now.

“Proceed,” Thirteen added. “Honours, you.”

“No, I don’t really need such a dubious honour,” Claud replied. “And my arms will tire out if I have to toss out so many bricks, really. You guys do it instead. I need a rest anyway.”

Thirteen and Seven exchanged glances, before making little snorts at each other. Thankfully, the mission was more than enough to make them work together at the weird task of plopping bricks and letting the trial do the rest of the work.

Rolling away from the formidable pile of bricks, Claud patted his bum and got into a comfortable sitting position. The others, who were very aware that they had been fooling around while Claud was working hard, didn’t put up any resistance to him slacking off.

Bricks flew in neat arcs, lining up one after another to add onto the half-complete bridge. At the same time, their Moonlit counterpart also copied their actions, and Claud watched happily as the two bridges continued to grow.

He could feel the Aeon Bricks he had created in both bridges, ready to move and detonate at a moment’s notice. However, his instincts told him that the best way forward was not to destroy both bridges, but to merge them together — the second requirement of his Omen Mission.

Claud didn’t know the actual purpose behind constructing this bridge, but if it was something symbolic, it wouldn’t have mattered that much. However, the fact that there were actually distinctions between destroying the bridge outright and forcing both of them to merge into the same thing was telling enough. Missions didn’t give free lifespan for no reason — there was definitely something immense going on here.

He watched on as the two bridges neared completion, and time seemed to slow as the last few bricks flew forward. With a surge of his will, some of his bricks in both Aeon Bridges trembled and broke free from their original positions, while others simply detonated. Bright grey light spilled out, engulfing the two parallel bridges as everyone drew their weapons and looked around warily.

“What’s going on?”

“Who’s playing tricks here!”

The scythe behind Thirteen whirled as Claud leapt to his feet, drawing his sword to not seem left out. Like the others, he surveyed the environment warily, looking out for an imaginary enemy.

The grey light soon died down, revealing a singular, complete bridge that led to the rift. Lightning ripped through the skies a moment later, and a faint groan left Thirteen’s lips as white and black light mingled with each other. The white moon and the darkness below writhed at the same time, and the circular platform everyone was standing on shook as lightning raged.

As the world continued to tremble, a message appeared in Claud’s eyes.

[ has been completed.]

[ has been completed. Calculating result grade.]

Claud closed his eyes and prepared to receive the reward.