Philip appeared in front of the Monarch Lich. He slowly floated towards him like an angel descending onto him. The Monarch Lich looked at him with serene and longing yet sorrowful and regretful glinting eye sockets
"Monarch Lich, do you wish to live on?"
Philip asked in a serious tone while emanating power
"Yes"
"Are you on the side of good or evil?"
"Evil"
"Why?"
"Being evil doesn't bind me on rules, laws, and restrictions. Unlike being good, there are certain aspects that you must follow. If being evil makes me do what I want, I will side with evil"
"..."
Philip was speechless. The Monarch Lich's philosophy is profound and he needed to pause for a moment to take that in
His eyes flickered from that belief and he subconsciously took a mental note about that
"I see... Last question. If two opposing forces is at war and the repercussion of the war is the destruction of the world, who's side you'll be on?"
"I won't side on anyone nor I'll interfere and be a third party. I'll either watch or stay away until I witness the destruction of the world"
"What if you were saved and given a chance because of that choice?"
"Then..."
The Monarch Lich paused. The glint in his eye sockets shook
"I'll be selfish and take that opportunity. I'll live the rest of my life with my loved one and enjoy it, until the destruction of the world devours our happy ending"
"You are the only one who'll be saved, no one else, not even your loved one"
"..."
The Monarch Lich widened his eye sockets from being shaken. What's a world where his loved one is not around? He wanted to kill Philip just by making him think like this
"Then, I'd rather not be saved if my loved one is there... There's no point in living longer"
"..."
The planet of Saykrandae then screamed. Arcs of lava and magma sprouted from the cracks and reach to the atmosphere. The beams of light moved like spotlights. The surroundings became more brighter and all different kinds of pressure around the planet became violent
Explosions ensued as the alien spaceships were destroyed by the beams of light and floating debris. All of this doesn't affect Philip and the Monarch Lich in the slightest. For them, everything around them is extremely quiet
"Is your loved one living?"
"No! She's undead!"
"Is she capable of feeling human emotions just like you?"
"..."
"Does she know that you love her so much?"
"..."
"Does she even know she's undead?"
"..."
"Does she know that you have been playing with her dead body ever since?"
"Stop..."
"..."
"Please stop... I'm aware of these... I just don't want to be separated from her... That's all I want"
"Well... You need to move on from her because she's dead and her undead body is not aware of your feelings for her"
"..."
"That's also why you've been tangled in this war because that Demon Lord had the means to control you"
"..."
"Knowing Demon Lords, he may have already disposed of her undead body and kept your heart somewhere secret"
"..."
"If you move on, you won't be bound by your own shackles anymore. I thought you were evil? Why are you bound by one thing? I want to save you. I will give you a chance to live your second life, Gabriel"
The Monarch Lich, or rather, Gabriel lifted his head up in shock and surprise. The glint in his eye sockets trembled. If he would be able to tear up, his face would be flowing right now
"A name?"
"I learned that the beings in Saykrandae, except for humans, have no names to them and only titles are given. Demon Lords are the exception"
"But why?"
"You look promising and, as I said before, I want to save you and give you a second chance in life. By carrying a name, you'll have an identity and power beyond compare. I grant you that name and you should cherish it"
"..."
Gabriel paused and looked around him. He feels swelling around his rib cage and he feels like he wanted to move on in life
He is already aware of the circumstance of his loved one and he doesn't want to admit it. Now that a complete stranger, that doesn't know about his life, has mentioned all of his flaws, he felt like he needed to accept reality
He then faced Philip and showed his utmost gratitude
"Thank you for lending me a name! I accept your blessing of giving me another chance in life. I'll be forever indebted to you. You will always have my favor"
"Very well then. Before you will be saved and given a second chance... You need to be punished for your sins first"
"..."
Gabriel looked at Philip with confused eyes
"Don't worry, the pain will only be temporary. This is just a process so that no one will be able to track you down on your next life except me. You'll still have your knowledge and power. Do whatever you want with it!"
"..."
"Goodbye, Gabriel"
Philip lifted his left hand in front of Gabriel's face and forcefully snapped his fingers. He's already exhausted from continuous usage of Fate Control and his hands and fingers are about to malfunction and break
The invisible force from the snap made Gabriel plummet down onto the cracks in fast speeds. He penetrated the crust and mantle. He reached the core where the core is at critical point
His bones shoul have been disintegrated or pulverized. But knowing his immortality state, he'll be there until the destruction of Saykrandae finished and his heart is destroyed somewhere around the world
At that point, Gabriel will reincarnate in another world, with his knowledge and power as the Monarch Lich intact, and live however he wants
With this, Gabriel will start writing his own story in a revised book of Fate, since Philip drastically change his very origin and source
This will cause him greater backlash, worse than when he tried to control Fate of world in a global scale like the Earth and Saykrandae
No one knows how Philip will receive this backlash and what repercussions he will receive
~~~
Philip quickly flew up to space towards Sai. He maneuvered around the beams of light and fountains of lava, including stray alien spaceships and floating debris. The sphere that housed Corleona, Clara, and Braudain is on his left hand and Polem's Heroic Spirit is on his right hand
He went towards Sai, who has already holding the True Solaris Spear on her hand because she fought of five alien giga motherships, alien spaceships that are capable of moving faster than the speed of sound despite having large mass and size
Sai is casual but wary if she is manipulating her spear in a distance without holding it, she is serious and angry if she's holding her spear, and she is furious and threatened if she unleased and used the True Solaris Spear while holding it
Sai has destroyed all of the alien giga motherships with too much force. Sai didn't have to become this serious and angry because the invaders are nothing to her. She was just agitated because Saykrandae is actually nearing it's destruction and it's about to explode
She's worried that Philip is still on the surface and she wouldn't be able to save him because she can't intervene in the world's matters as Philip is inside Saykrandae
As Philip is flying to space, he saw Diaphthorá's floating body pass his vision. Diaphthorá's eyes were still open and he's still conscious, his body is too durable that the beams of light aren't doing anything to him, even the lava and alien blasters
He is only looking at Philip's fleeing body. Philip let him be because Diaphthorá's body is now but an empty shell. His soul have disintegrated by being pierced and burned by the Sacred Mana
Several seconds later, Philip arrived in space where is supposed to be. As he was leaving Saykrandae, a loud rumbling and cracking noise can be heard from the planet. The light surrounding the planet intesified and glowed brighter
Philip was about to lose oxygen but Corleona's group is fine because of the sphere of Sacred Mana. As soon as he saw Sai's relieved face as she held the True Solaris Spear on her right hand, he turned his back at Sai and temporarily released his grip from the sphere of Sacred Mana and Polem's Heroic Spirit as the velocity of his body is going toward Sai
Sai was alarmed, she caught the spehre that held three human and a Heroic Spirit with just her Divine Energy. She was also confused as to why Philip did that. She opened her arms as she prepared to catch Philip with her body. It was then that she understood what he was doing and instead of feeling hope, dread instead filled her face
Philip extended both of his hands at Saykrandae to control its Fate to at least leave the planet for Sai to have something
As he was using Fate Control, the light from Saykrandae shrunk, the energy and pressure was contained. Instead of Philip lessening the destruction of Saykrandae, he was accidentally amplifying it and the planet is passing its supercritical point
The Fate Timeline also updated in his eyes. The path that he took is the liberation path that included the favor from the Monarch Lich. The branching line of Saykrandae then curved back into the original main golden line
His Hero title started to fade because Saykrandae is about to be destroyed. He coughed out blood and his arms trembled. The white lines compensated for his numb arms and palpitating head
His back then bumped into Sai's small body and Sai wrapepd her arms around his chest along with the True Solaris Spear
Philip then lost control of his arms and he snapped his left fingers anyways. An invisible wave of energy surged around the planetary system, then Sai wrapped themselves with her True Divine Energy foe protection
She felt that Saykrandae was about to explode and she needed to protect Philip and the humans that he brought. She was also worried about the backlash that he talked about, especially when using it on a global scale
It was then that the planet of Saykrandae showed extreme changed. The gravity returned and became strong that the beams of light receded and the fountains of lava disappeared. The planet looked like a hot glowing ball of magma
Cracks became bigger and bigger and the planet was about to explode when suddenly, a meteor half of the size of Saykrandae came crashing down on the surface and hitting both of the moons, dislodging both of them from their orbits
The event was too sudden that the meteor utterly destroyed the surface of Saykrandae, making the planet deform and release the condensed energy caused from Calamity Immolation and making the planet explode
A bright flash of light filled the planetary system and a storm of energy and rocks blasted around the space where Saykrandae is orbitting
Sai gritted her teeth as thousands of foreign materials, matter, energy, plasma, and particles blast towards her direction. The shield that Sai generated was protecting Philip very well
Philip watched the entire explosion of supernova and his golden eyes were glowing brightly as the wave of energy blasts towards them. He became unconscious in the middle of the surge and he placed his trust on Sai to protect him
The first part of the backlash, the part where he used Fate Control on Saykrandae for the first time, has commenced