Kapitel 10: Alea iacta est (The die is cast)

Narrator POV:

It was at that moment, the beginning of a love was sealed.

Under the shadow of a random alley in Orario. Mikhael kissed those thin lips that parted slightly, letting out hot gasps, which only lost to the passion that followed.

It was at that moment, the fate of a young man was sealed.

When fate was exposed, an inevitable path was formed. From his skill, future vision. The knowledge that could very well be poison flowed and flowed into his mind.

Under the glow that shone through space-time itself, those blue eyes saw it. The future. Through the river of time, there, many truths were shown to that young man.

***

He saw it.

A naive maiden who looked with envy at couples. Hoping to experience the same happiness one day. The torment of charm or feelings that no one seemed to be able to understand.

"I...want to love and be truly loved, forever."

A queen who watched the circus in a cage with boredom. Sometimes, she would flee to a sea of red flowers where liquid gold rained down. And the encounter with a goddess of youth that started it all.

"The partner (Odr) who can satisfy you must be somewhere. Go and enjoy a green spring day with that being. I believe that will be able to free you from that yoke of yours."

A determined woman on an odyssey that crossed the heavens and beyond. The protection of the mercurial king as well as his company to her. The encounter with the "god" who determined her future and past.

"Don't worry, with the cosmos itself as my witness, I, Mercurius assure you that your path will not be hopeless in the end, your "Odr" really exists there in the looms of fate itself, Freya."

The story of that goddess who is locked in a cage and cries out for true love. The loneliness that her journey contains as well as the hope of her steps that were increasingly weaker as she advances.

"...I wonder how and when I will finally meet you...My Odr..."

***

He saw it.

A transcendent being sitting on a lotus faced the icy gaze of a mortal whose appearance reminded him of a certain queen. Eyes green as the forest looked into those eyes blue as the sea.

"The past is not something to be played with casually. Changing the course of history would only bring more chaos to it. Living beings must flow with time, not swim against it."

What he saw were parts of that battle between the being that ruled over causality and that being that longed for true eternity. As well as the inevitable fight for a difference of ideologies.

"Stop this irrationality and I can let you go for just this once." The extremely rational voice of that compassionate being only received whispers from the young man who began to gather his energy.

"Kyukou (Nine ropes). Henkou (Polarized light). Karasu to shōmyō (Crow and shōmyō chant). Hyōri no hazama (The gap between within and without)."

From between the mortal's fingers, a purple light emerged, something that should not exist in reality manifested due to his uniqueness. Thus, materializing something that should not be possible to manifest.

"Imaginary technique: Hollow purple."

That attack of imaginary mass only started the battle between the avatar of the enlightened one and the knight of the world dragon. In that battle between that transcendent being and that immortal...

"Enlightened one, I have many promises to keep." The young man jumped in an extremely fast movement to where the being was with a display of terrifying speed.

"And..."

In his hands, there was something like a red ray that had a certain force of repulsion and attraction or also destruction. "I don't know many things, but, I know something with certainty."

In that inevitable collision between dreams and fervent longings...

"Someone wise once said something: 'What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil'. So get out of my way right now, enlightened one!!!"

What was the result of the fight between eternity and causality?

***

He saw it.

"Are you sure about this, Mikhael?" A black-haired woman with a natural pale complexion faced a young man. "If you do this... you will no longer be able to have that simple life you want!"

A young man with golden-tinted blonde hair looked with a certain softness in his eyes at the woman who tried to convince him. It seemed that this was not the first time that something like this happened.

"I can try to help you!... There are other ways to solve this without you doing all this. In the worst case, I will fight Chaos if she meddles in this for her selfishness."

"I truly appreciate it, The oldest Dream, but this is my choice." The young man looked over his shoulder and smiled sunnyly. Just in front of him was a rather dark portal with violet edges.

"You don't need to blame yourself as always, I'm not going to just die there."

The woman extended her hand to stop him but no voice came out of her throat as she saw him cross that portal towards "there".

"From the moment I was born, this was undoubtedly inevitable."

***

He saw it.

A wide path stretched out in front of him, going straight to a desert of red sand. Above it stood a colossal "tree" of infinite size from which countless white branches emerged.

Just like the journey full of setbacks that he undertook to the top of that "tree". There were all kinds of battles, as well as he was barely able to maintain his existence thanks to that power, IBM (Invisible black matter).

The representation of human will rejecting universal rules and laws, the dream that defeated death. The materialization of evolution as well as a possibility.

Using that power, he was able to survive in that very deadly place that rejected the existence of all living beings. No, it was not only that, something in him fed on the energy on that site.

That which allowed him to materialize things impossible in reality. Bring fantasy or theories to the real world. And what allowed him to have an incredible affinity with certain existences.

Thus, the young man reached the top of that "tree." He did not stop at something as simple as a wish for someone to live nor did he took the power of a false God like "that man."

The wish of the young man who ended that same odyssey was much more greedy. At that top. In front of a "god" or an "idea." He asked for his wish and the "god" smiled in response.

"Indeed, someone of your kind is fit to "embrace" that. Just as I promised you last time, I will fulfill your wish as part of the bet on whether you managed to get here."

That was a god with a behavior full of pride. Something that was normally guided by absolutes without showing favoritism even among her "children" or "prophets." Such a god actually smiled as she touched the cheek of the young face with her hand.

"You, who are not an insect like the others but a 'celestial body' as well as an 'Definitive God-Slayer', are suitable." The god who purposely took the form of one of the young man's 'friends' in that universe, spoke with some appreciation in her voice.

"Although your wish is too greedy, I will approve it. Since you can guarantee the survival and growth of the 'tree' in the future. Now, embrace it, 'that' and myself."

Through the immensity of the 'tree', a torrent of energy was going towards the young man. Just as it began to fuse into his body, the god's lips landed on the young man's. That was not a sexual gesture, it was something even deeper than that.

It was at that moment. When the young man's pupils changed or when a certain type of energy sufficient for even so many civilizations filled him until a certain barrier broke inside of him.

A new one of them had been born there, somewhere in the void. A truly 'strong' being. One of the several dozens that existed throughout the far corners of creation.

A double-digit being.

Any attempt at corruption within the young man was easily suppressed. At this point, his will was already inhuman. Not for nothing had he died millions of times on the way there.

"So this is the scenery that Kurma and the others see, huh?" The young man smiled softly as he looked at various certain points of the "tree" or the "sea" with those pupils marked with a cross. "Sorry, I'll take all of your burdens on me like this, selfishly."

"Imaginary technique: imaginary space."

Amidst the overwhelming torrent of energy that was still coming in. The young man extended his arms, not towards someone, but towards something. It was at that moment that it happened, when it was decided.

"Now, let's start with what needs to be done next."

Time was transformed into the form of a Möbius strip. Without sense or direction, time flowed both ways. The past affected the future and the future affected the past. That paradox became a shield and a sharp weapon.

"Hmmm, let's see, there are at least 30 two-digit beings."

He, who sat on the throne of "god" alongside "that" and "god." He became the axis that kept time eternally.

He was able to do so thanks to his immunity to temporal paradoxes. Now, he was the very, true promised eternity.

"The war for "everything" has really only just begun then." Yes. Even when it got to that point. The being had barely earned the qualifications to not die instantly from an attack that crossed time and space to kill him.

That was why the first thing he did was to cover himself and his worlds with his authority to prevent his past self in the past from dying like that.

After all, that young man had no past or future version. Existing through time, it would be fatal for him to change his own story.

There was only one weakness in him, his "present self", killing him would be killing that being directly without any effort, so he had to maintain the stability of the story and his hiding place.

The existence of "Mikhael" depended on two axes to exist.

"This is going to be boring... Do you know? Now that I think about it, you have beautiful eyes, 'god'. No, I didn't mean that you need to take the form of one of my lovers...maybe later, my dear, maybe later.."

Now he just had to wait for his "present self" to get there to merge into one. That was not dangerous. In any case, they were already the same, as well as equals. Thus, the weakness he had for getting stronger so quickly would go away.

"Hmmmm? Is the "me of the present" just at the part when I met Freya? Shit, that's literally the beginning of everything... Well, ironically, I have plenty of time. Let's go get some popcorn! Huh? Do you want to try some too, god? okay have a bit."

More precisely, the personal story of how he got there. However, that didn't matter, he didn't regret his story. There were some regrets, but they were part of the journey, and he had already asked his beloved Vanadis for forgiveness.

"This is a message from "I" to "I", I wish you a wonderful story from the bottom of my heart. "I" in the present who still doesn't know so much, don't worry, because now..."

The order of chaos. The singularity of the cosmos. The never-ending story of the oldest Dream. One of the candidates for that throne. He finally reached the level necessary to fight for his dream.

"Eternity/Finality tells you: Alea iacta est (The die is cast). Before the inevitable battle against the absolute end of all stories, End Emptiness, enjoy the whole journey."

***

When that "unique" vision finally ended, the glow caused by the blue light in his eyes faded with it. Mikhael put aside all that extremely disorganized information. He also ignored the extreme headache he had now.

Because the sight in front of him made him feel almost as if someone was twisting his heart with great cruelty and force. He, who fell in love at first sight and who knew her story.

'Freya... Is she crying?...'

Honestly, he never wanted to see the sight of her tears again. They were of happiness, but knowing the origin didn't bring that to him. So, leaving anything else in the back of his mind.

'I am without a doubt a hopeless bastard for not having arrived sooner. I'm truly sorry, from the bottom of my heart. Regardless of what happens after, I have no excuse. Whether it's bringing you freedom or loving you, I will definitely do it.'

He just tried to comfort her while promising to give her happiness. At the same time, a certain desire ignited in his heart. One that already existed, but now burned even more strongly.

'So please don't cry anymore. Every single one of your tears is fucking painful. I don't want to see you like this. From now on, I don't want to see you suffer again.'

***

Fated love.

A love written in the very looms of elusive fate.

The cheesy phrases like "my other half" or "my soulmate" were literal in this case. When seeing the right person, one intuitively feels that that person is the one for them.

However, that wasn't all that was special about it. That kind of love didn't just bring that feeling or a special skill. No, there was still something else, a unique, even dangerous feeling.

In the middle of the protective shadow of one of those untraveled alleys among the thousands in the labyrinth city. A heated atmosphere was created between a mortal and a goddess.

'Fuck...' Mikhael thought as he felt something like an electric current run through his body with every moment Freya clung to his body, kissing him over and over again. 'I could really get addicted to this feeling.'

It wasn't a painful feeling, quite the opposite, every kiss felt too good, too pleasurable, almost... right. Especially when there was a literal goddess of love eager to express the great scope of the love she had for the beautiful mortal.

The goddess was intuitively looking for his weak points. Using different ways, she looked for how to give him more satisfaction. Whether with chaste kisses that carried a maiden tenderness. Or with deep kisses that had no kind of shyness.

"Mmmmm ❤️" Freya let out a moan as she separated from the boy. A thread of saliva still connected their lips as proof of the debauchery that that innocent alley had to witness. "My Odr, I'm afraid we won't be able to continue."

"This isn't the time and place. Besides, you have a date, don't you?" Freya smirked. Though it seemed like she was being the voice of reason. In reality, she was rubbing her body against him, clearly pleased when she felt something hard and big.

"Too bad, there's someone here who looks so eager to ravage me." Mikhael could understand that this was the goddess' punishment for the jealousy she carried in her voice for not being able to be his first date in Orario. "Here, in this beggarly alley, going in and out of me."

However, it seemed that punishment was counterproductive. As the goddess's gasps became hotter and hotter the more she spoke and as she felt two hands fixed on her fertile hips, which began to grope those curves ofe hers.

"Until you finally release everything inside my sacred place." Freya smiled shyly in front of the young man's burning gaze. Blushing even more when he squeezed her round ass. "As if you wanted so badly to leave your offspring in my womb."

Damn. This goddess of love, fertility, and beauty looked like a succubus trying to erode his self-control right there with sweet words that sparked the imagination.

Mikhael looked at the shameless goddess before whispering in her ear. "Freya, what you say, it's actually entirely possible." The goddess's silver eyes trembled fiercely when she heard that, now she had to restrain herself from jumping at him there.

"Are you telling the truth?" Freya gulped, her heart beating like a drum from a mix of nervousness and excitement. There was a peculiarity of the gods in this world. They couldn't reproduce, which was why Freya was so surprised to sense the truth.

"Right now it's not possible, but it will be sooner or later." With means like the system or things from other worlds, it was entirely possible. Not to mention Kurma, solving a problem like that only takes a snap of her fingers.

The goddess stared at him as if her brain was still trying to process what went against her common sense as well as her knowledge. Honestly, she looked adorable. That was only until her gaze became very "dangerous."

"You know, I know that secret of yours." Freya hugged him even tighter, bringing that warm breath from her mouth to his ear.

Mikhael could understand what she meant after thinking about it for a moment, there was no other secret she could discern.

Freya knew that the mortal named Mikhael had come from outside. "So, is it too much to ask for at least six, no, eleven or twelve children?"

It was too much. Not for the amount, but to ask that right now when the goddess stuck her voluptuous body to him.

"Then I'm afraid I have no choice but to comply with your request with much, much joy. My beloved Vanadis." Freya narrowed her eyes happily as she was kissed by her Odr.

They wouldn't go all the way there, but a taste of it wasn't bad...

Right?

***

Another steamy kissing session and scenes not suitable for children unfolded in the poor alley that saw it all.

At the same time, a certain gray-haired young woman rubbed her thighs hard as she felt everything with her magic and saw everything in person.

Biting her lip, the goddess's assistant almost wondered when it would finally be her turn. Something like a twisted kind of pleasure surged inside her as she watched the man she loved profane the supreme being she admired.

Helun couldn't tell exactly who was preventing the other from escaping for whatever reason between the mortal and the goddess. But she resisted the urge to involuntarily move her hands down as she continued to watch the surroundings.

It was all the fault of the magic that connected her memories or feelings with those of her majestic goddess, yes, that was all. She didn't want to be the one surrounded by his strong arms or to be the one he was kissing with such greed, not at all. No...

Right?

"Helun, you can come now."

Following the call of her goddess, Helun headed to the alley. Going further inside, she saw the sight of the goddess Freya arranging her clothes clearly very messy because of "nothing weird."

"Odr. Allow me to introduce you to my assistant, although she has a certain special situation because of her magic but, she is a good girl."

Helun was more inwardly embarrassed the more Freya spoke. Especially because the young man finally laid his gaze on her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Helun, I suppose you already know that, but I'll introduce myself anyway out of courtesy, my name is Mikhael." He would be quite charming if this bastard didn't still have his neck full of divine lip-smacking.

"It's a pleasure." Helun bowed slightly. After all, in her mind, she still had to give some respect to the goddess's partner. As to whether he was worthy of the goddess Freya as Ottar wondered. Was there anything to doubt after seeing him?

The overwhelming spectacle that was the soul of the "mortal" who could very well be a god. It was a very strange thought. But this young man didn't seem to have anything to do with common sense.

From her point of view, Freya had been as if everything beautiful in the world was in one place, like someone who was born in the center of attention with everything she wanted. At least, that was her thoughts right when she met her before.

Mikhael, on the other hand, was different. It had a taste similar to divinity but... it was different. It was more like looking at a starry sky at night. That wonderful feeling that amazed her as well as the tempting mystery of the unknown that attracted her.

"Thank you very much, miss Helun."

Huh? Stopping daydreaming about the memory of his soul, Helun looked up only to see his amused smile. At some point, her hands had begun to fix the young man's messy clothing unconsciously.

"N-no, no, not at all."

Freya looked with the same amount of amusement as the mortal blushed at the mistake. It was a bit strange seeing the expressionless girl like a doll who rarely let her emotions show that may. But that couldn't be helped, they shared feelings, after all.

"My odr~" Freya suddenly smiled mysteriously, as if a good idea had occurred to her. Helun felt a chill run down her spine for some reason upon seeing that.

"Yes, Vanadis?" Mikhael focused his attention on the goddess whose eyes sparkled with satisfaction at hearing him say her other name. Helun felt her lips tremble at the interaction.

"Do you know the pub called the Host of Fertility, my Odr? You can go there later on the date, a surprise awaits you. A small but nice surprise that you will love~"

Oh, god. Perhaps, Helun did know what the goddess wanted to do.

"I'll take you at your word then, I'll go there for dinner later."

Should she discreetly warn the young man that this was a bad idea since she is in that pub, the other side of the goddess Freya? No, based on the look the goddess sent her, she couldn't.

"Very well, then it is time for me to sadly leave. Odr, remember the warning I gave you, those children may try to harass you in the future, so get stronger quickly."

"But remember to be careful in the dungeon, I don't want to be widowed as soon as I finally get to meet you, husband, fufufu." The goddess left, pleased after leaving the mortal stunned by that name and the farewell kiss on his cheek.

Helun said goodbye with a nod before following the goddess quickly through the streets of Orario back to the tower of Babel. On the way the goddess suddenly spoke to her.

"In the evening it will be Syr's turn to meet him, Helun~"

For some reason, Helun felt that sooner or later she would be a sacrifice to the big bad wolf. But she unexpectedly looked forward to it...

***

'What the hell was... that exactly? I can't remember much now because my head seems to split. But those images and feelings that my future self conveyed to me...'

Mikhael massaged his temples with a frown. Sitting on a bench on a street in Orario. He ignored everything else as he thought about that vision that he couldn't remember even through his special technique from his first life.

They were fragmented memories that he could almost barely understand a little bit, as if "he couldn't yet comprehend the information in them." That was an extremely strange feeling.

The clear images just slipped away from him. Just like water slipping through his fingers. Also causes those headaches with every attempt to remember it. Leaving all that aside for the moment, Mikhael remembered something.

Maybe he could find out something from the system status. So opening the system interface, he opened his status for the first time that day. Sure enough, the information had changed.

[Personal status window made by greatest system ever:

-Name: Mikhael Eden Ascart.

-Gender/Age: Male/18 years old (physically).

-Height/Weight: 183.1 cm/77.5 kg.

-Alignment: Chaotic/Good.

-Races/Bloodlines: High human, ???, ???.

-Element/Origin: Imaginary (Nothingness)/Idealism.

-Digits (Current total power): 7 digits.

-Alias: The remorseless. Avenger. Mercurius. Mercurial snake. The thirteenth. One of the three crazy of Rebellion. Leader of Kage. The strongest. Mercurial king. The bogeyman. Orion. Odr. The bearer of the Hestia Familia crest.

Innate skills: ??? (???), ??? (???), ??? (???), Beloved by the stars (EX), Orion (C-SSS), Vanadis Odr (EX), Völsunga King (C-SSS), Mimicry ( - ).

General skills: Universal translator (S), Mark of the outsider (C-S), Future Sight (SSS), Artemis Agnós (S), Perfect mode (D-S), Martial mastery ( - ), Cooking mastery ( - ).

Inventory: Invisible dark matter (SSS), Gift cards x10 (A) Valis ( - ) Magic stone (D), Kurma's badge (S)]

Mikhael pursed his lips as he saw the new alias window. Which bastard called him one of the three crazy of Rebellion? It was clear that there were only two crazy there, Aurelia and Hermes' girlfriend, Nyx.

'Leaving aside that bastard who must be getting squeezed by his gothic girlfriend. Element and Origin? I don't like the feeling of familiarity that these things give me. It's like...'

[As the host thinks, it's a new tab in all the information that this great system added, be grateful, fuhahaha! Cough In short they are something very similar but not exactly equal to "the origin" and "Element" of the world of the grail wars.]

Origin...

An inherent compulsion or a deep instinct of the very soul of the being in question. Something like a unique predisposition of each being engraved in the very nature of existence.

As for the element, it was just a magical affinity, a talent. According to what he understood from the system, this instead was not only for magic. But overall it was more or less like that.

Idealism and Imaginary...

On the way home, shortly before the time agreed with Hestia. Mikhael thought deeply about that information.

After all, Imaginary was "That which shouldn't be possible but still materializes into reality" And Idealism was something that certainly had a perfect synergy with that imaginary.

The future really seemed to be full of interesting things.