One week later. Nighttime, City of the Gate.
The mechanical door hissed shut behind Atlas as he entered the hidden wall implanted inside his quarters. His slowly opening black eyes reflected his companions' familiar faces—two Fate users and two Displacements. Save for the Progenitor, who was in a league of his own.
"So?" Apollo let mist vent from his throat after removing a smoky joint from his perfectly-chapped lips. "How'd it go?"
"As expected. On the surface, they all fell for it hook, line and sinker, but I still doubt they trust me a complete hundred percent." Amit chuckled. "It's ironic. I've personally advanced this society years into the future and even still, the humans treat me like their pet."
Monstrum stuck his fork's prongs into a human piece of meat and threw it down his throat. "Y'know, that's why I don't try to be friends with the humans. I just kill them. I think you should do so too," his muffled voice spoke.
Atlas sighed, sinking deep into the couch. "If only that were possible, old friend. Fate and its potential in life forms have mankind at the forefront. Displacements, Violators, Enforcers, Agents—they're all forms of what Fate can do to man. But I wish for something more than that. Something beyond humanity."
Muhammad emerged from the surrounding shadows with bandages over his facial wounds. "Hey. Did I miss anything?"
"Atlas wishes for something more with Fate. Something beyond humanity," Luna said, from the chair across from him.
Atlas smirked at Muhammad from his peripheral. "How nice of you to join us. I'm surprised yet impressed you managed to survive Monstrum's strength," he said.
"Does it look like I survived?" Muhammad pointed at his head.
"Not really," Luna snickered.
The Progenitor's hands slid into his pockets. "I appreciate the banter, but cease it promptly. Raise yourselves and follow me. I have something to show you all…"
After everyone entered the darkness surrounding the hidden room's furniture, they found themselves in a dark area, enlightened by green light over their faces. Once their eyes finally adjusted, they began strolling around the emerald area, checking the many pods etched into the walls and the grassy gleam they were bathed in.
Luna stepped back. "These are…?"
"Like I said," Atlas turned around. "Fate within humans is finite. I grow tired of such limits. So, I decided to surpass mankind, and focus on another," intoned the Progenitor.
Muhammad tilted his head, crossing both arms. "What do you mean?"
"Hmm…" Atlas scratched his chin, raised his arms, and sighed with a grin. "This explanation will take a while so hopefully I receive your undivided attention. That being said, let me begin by telling you to look at the Disastrous Monstrum."
Malum Monstrum, the Disastrous Monster God, is capable of switching between two forms. One human with short white hair and another monstrous; one with eight eyes with just as many arms, not to mention the long snowy hair. It was never explained how the Disastrous attained such a form. Until…
"I met Monstrum over a thousand years ago. In his youth, Malum was but a sinister Violator—mutilating children and women to eat their remains. But inexplicably, I was intrigued by the beast. For one gifted with a name like Monstrum, I had to observe the destiny encompassing him. Malum was the perfect subject for my Monsterfication experiments."
"Monsterfication?" Muhammad repeated.
"Indeed. The result is an anatomically-altered Demon beyond man's scope that can naturally regenerate and invoke unconquerable strengths. The Fate reserves of a Monster are incomparable to that of a normal Fate user or Displacement. In short, Malum is two things: a full-blown Monster physically gifted beyond understanding and a spiritually enhanced Displacement embedded with Fate's encompassment. An utter calamity incapable of wavering."
Apollo's eyes rolled. "What's your point?"
"My point?" Atlas chuckled. "My point is—" His palm slammed onto the glass pod reflecting bubbling liquid. "—these are all the same! Humans awakened through exposure to another's signature or markings are nothing more than fodder! The only ones were capable of acknowledgment in my eyes… I'm sure you've heard of them, haven't you?" Amit asked his new allies.
Muahmmad and Luna gulped.
"Talen Amit—the Unconquerable. Uriel Barron—the New Kismet King. Alora Illustrious–a Spiritual Blessed." Atlas raised three fingers, peering through black hair at his quartet of comrades. "I already have schemes for dealing with those three, but should they fail, encountering any of them means certain death. Fate users, Displacements, Monsters, the like… none of us on either side of this conflict are wholly good or evil. That's why if you ever bypass the Unconquerable or his allies, you should prepare to die a brutal death. Because unless you're Apollo, myself, or Monstrum, there's no mistaking it: you WILL die."
"That's reassuring," Luna uttered. She shook her head and stood upright, marching forward to stand before Amit's tall build.
Smiling, the ounces of darkness idle around Atlas activated, swirling around his aura to infect the area with malice. "Yesss?" He quizzically hissed.
"I've been meaning to ask for a while—why're me and Muhammad still alive?"
"Oh, that's easy." Amit dispelled his aura. "I'm interested in your techniques. When the Monsters are released from their slumber, I'll have you apply your technique and make them stronger by gifting the beasts with Predators. Plus, you and your brother's moves out there were something. Someone capable of enduring the Disastrous is a person I want on my team. Take this as meaning our debt's been paid in full—well, as long as you keep working with us, that is."
Her eyebrows furrowed. "You say that like I have any other choice. Your pawns destroyed the part of the City I lived in, and with it, the rest of my siblings. Disobeying you also means certain death, right? I'll take my chances, then," she said.
"Well, you don't have to force yourself. If neither you nor Muhammad wishes to fight beside us in the coming conflict—" The Progenitor's pointer finger raised, smiling with his eyes. "I'll take your Predestined Powers. How's that sound?"
"Is that another fancy way of threatening us?" Luna scoffed. "Oh, please. It's not guaranteed you're able to kill me. And even if you are capable of closing the distance quick enough to steal my Power, there's no way for you to account for the plentiful conditions etched into my—"
A hand ensnared her face. Moloch, holding her head with one extended arm, invoked his aura and summoned the use of another technique.
'Predestined Power: Causality Nullification.'
The Displacement's extra technique, 'Causality Nullification,' forces counteractive Fate to flow through the arms until eventually reaching the palm and manually deactivating the target's technique. It's undefendable.
"And? What about now? Now that I've nullified your aura with a superior technique, you're all but powerless before everyone here. So? What's the choice you're making here? Do you want me to slide through your signature and take the soul's essence empowering that very technique? If not then watch who you're talking to. You are in the presence of the First Progenitor of the Kismet Empire—Atlas Amit!" Apollo turned around after pulling back his hand. "Remember that if you want to live… wench."
Walking into a corner and crossing both arms, Apollo let the shadows hide his person. Atlas clapped at his subordinate's theatrics, laughing loudly.
"Bravo, bravo!" His throat cleared. "I can't help but agree with him! So in short, don't leave or disobey me, because three-fourths of you are useful pawns to me. If you do, I'll kill every last one of you as brutally as possible." Atlas smiled. "I'm glad we cleared that up. Now, without any further ado, let me formally introduce… the next step in my scheme."
"Hey, speaking of, what's this stupid plan of yours anyway? I heard from Keres it was evolving humanity to the next stage using the Gate," Apollo said.
Atlas smiled, looking back at the Displacement. "As I said, I'm not interested in mankind anymore. What I seek… is far removed from man and their base 'society'." Clenching his fist, the Progenitor unleashed his Fate, letting it unravel into a chaotic beast lingering behind his soul. "I'll CRUSH the human race with an army of Monsters capable of evoking taboo Predestined Powers." His arm raised with the palm pointed up. Slowly, his arm turned and with it, his hand faced the ground directly below the Progenitor. "An end aside from humans where the Almighty Amit sits at the top; just thinking about it makes me giddy!"
"So your goal is genocide?" Muhammad scoffed, letting his crossed arms fall. "And here I thought it was something elaborate…"
"Oh, fret not, dear boy. A mere massacre would simply bore, especially after so much time spent planning. You see, if I'm to butcher every last human dwelling on this hideous excuse of a planet, I have to do it efficiently. Meaning I can't just go around like Monstrum, baselessly slaughtering innocents."
"So?" Apollo's hand raised. "What's our next move then?"
Atlas smiled. "It's a surprise~"
"Ho?" Monstrum's head perked at the sound of his ally's devilish tone. "Sounds fun!" exclaimed the Disastrous.
"I'm glad you think so. Then again, I did assume you'd like it the most out of everyone else. You see, my friends, when you've lived as long as I have, you learn to read peoples' signatures—which helps you use an aspect of clairvoyance to observe their future. It's much too advanced for anyone else here to use, save for Monstrum, of course. But I digress. I don't seek genocide nor do I wish for evolution. Soon, a reckoning will come. And I don't know about any of you, but for once, I'm scared. That reckoning will assuredly arrive at the proper time and place, two months from now. The First in over a thousand years since the Empire's founding."
"What are you talking about?" Muhammad asked.
Atlas smiled. "The First. A group of Fate users dwells beyond reality in their dimensions. Every thousand years, they arrive from the heavens and bestow a specific part of humanity 'something.' The first time they arrived, they gave Fate's Crown to the First Supreme King—my brother."
"Divine Barron–?" Monstrum and Apollo asked simultaneously.
"Yes. Though I'm sure the surprise doesn't lie with the former King being my brother. It's the fact that he managed to achieve longevity, right?"
"So that means… Kismet's had the same King for over a thousand years?" Muhammad queried.
Atlas nodded. "Correct. But with my brother's demise comes another—his son. When Divine was the King, I could manipulate him from the shadows and string my useless sibling along to my schemes. The same isn't true for Uriel. The former Angel Prince possesses Divine Invocation, Untimely End, and Fate's Crown. The only reason I'm prioritizing him and the Unconquerable's destruction is because of those factors. They could very well be the key to beating us." He rubbed his neck. "Anyway, that should be about it. I don't have much else to explain. Are we all clear on everything?" he asked.
"Yes," they said in unison save for the Disastrous.
"Good."
Mainland arc - Fin.