The ground beneath my feet rumbled, the arena starting to warp and twist as the fiery creature collapsed into a swirling portal of chaos. The audience went wild – either thrilled by the spectacle or just deeply confused by the whole cosmic-pirate-scythe-fight thing. I mean, I wasn't even sure what dimension I was in anymore, but when you're stealing from Primordials, your sense of spafe, time, and reality gets a little... blurry.
"Alright, this is it," I muttered, eyes narrowing at the portal. "Time to wrap things up and head back to the campaign... I mean, universe."
You know, Portal Creation, Dimensional Travel, and Teleportation are different things in the canon, but given enough mastery, you could probably branch out to all three with just one of those powers. Probably.
But just as I stepped forward, ready to face whatever new hell this portal might bring, a cold wind cut through the air. The temperature dropped, and the once-warm arena now felt like an icy wasteland.
A voice echoed in the air, smooth and rich with power.
"Well, well... If it isn't our dear little Serpent."
I stopped dead in my tracks. I knew that voice. Too well.
"Fate," I grunted, turning around. "What's your deal? You've been lurking around the edges of this whole tournament, pulling strings like some kind of cosmic puppet master after tossing me in, haven't you?"
From the shadows, Fate emerged. An embodiment of inevitability, always a step ahead, always calculating. He was tall, dressed in robes that shimmered like octarine, his face hidden behind a mask, the golden skeleton hiding behind the cryptic visage of... is that an Ultraman Mask?
"I've been watching you, Serpentine," he said, his tone calm, yet laden with menace. "And I must admit... you're more than I expected."
I arched an eyebrow. "If you're gonna lie, at least try to make it believable. I am a goddamned Ascended Demon with the power of the Angels, the power of the Demons, and the power of the Gods. And you know, for a guy who deals with fate, you sure don't seem to understand the concept of freedom."
Fate's mask shimmered again, and for a moment, I thought I saw something like a smirk behind it. "Freedom, you say? It is an illusion. You cannot outrun your fate. And neither can the universe you're toying with. All things are meant to follow a path."
I stepped forward, crossing my arms. "Right. Destiny. Fate. I get it. You've got the whole 'order of the universe' thing locked down, don't you?" I said all of that just to piss him off, knowing full well that Fate, Destiny, and Order were completely different Primordials.
"But you know what? I'm not some pawn in your grand game. I don't play by anyone's rules." I grinned. "Except my own."
Fate's posture remained unchanged, but I could feel a weight in the air, a sense of tension building between us. "You misunderstand, Bushin," he said, his voice growing colder, darker. "You think your actions are your own, that you control them. But you don't. You never have. The Wheel of Faith moves with or without your consent. And you are a mere cog in it."
I scoffed. "Yeah, yeah. I've heard it before. You're just a cog in the machine. Guess what? I'm the guy who knocks the machine off its axis. And I do it in style."
Fate tilted his head, considering my words carefully. "Such arrogance. You truly believe you can defy what is written? That you can escape what awaits you?"
"I've been escaping things my entire life," I shot back. "So, yeah. I think I can."
For a moment, there was silence. I could feel the tension in the air, thick like a storm about to break. Fate stood still, his mask unreadable, but his presence felt like a storm cloud just waiting to unleash.
"Perhaps," Fate said slowly, his voice softer now, "But that does not change the fact that your actions have consequences. The balance of the universe is fragile. And your theft–" he paused, his words turning cold once more, "–will not go unpunished."
I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? You're gonna pull that 'you've upset the cosmic order' card? Come on, Fate, that's so old school. I've seen this in like three other movies, at least. And guess what? The hero always wins."
Fate's mask shimmered once more, his voice now turning darker, more dangerous. "This is not a movie, Serpent. You may think you've outsmarted me, outmaneuvered the system, but you are not the first to believe that. And you will not be the last to fall."
I frowned. "So, what? You're planning to betray me?"
For the first time, I saw a flicker behind the mask – an imperceptible moment where Fate's thoughts shifted. It wasn't much, but it was enough to make me pause. Fate, the one being who could see all outcomes, the one who controlled the threads of destiny... was hesitating.
"Betray you?" Fate's voice softened. "No, not betrayal. But I will ensure that the Wheel of Faith remains intact. If your actions disrupt its flow, I must correct it. I must restore balance."
I felt a strange chill run down my spine. There was something in his voice – something almost... regretful? But I shook it off.
"Restore balance? You mean control. You mean conform me to your narrative. I'm not just some pawn you can sacrifice for the greater good. I'm not playing your game anymore."
Fate's head tilted, his voice low. "And yet, you play. You always play. Every action, every choice... they all lead you here. You think you're defying fate, but it is fate that leads you to defy."
His eyes glimmered through the foils in his mask, "You meet fate on the road you take to avoid it."
The words were starting to sting, and I didn't like it. I knew better than to get caught up in Fate's web of philosophical nonsense.
"I'm gonna make this simple for you, Fate," I said, stepping closer. "You think you've got it all figured out, right? The grand plan, the perfect balance, the cosmic order. But all I see is a guy afraid of losing control. You're terrified that if things don't go exactly as you want them to, the universe might just collapse."
Fate was silent, his mask unreadable, but I could sense the shift in the air. The flicker in his thoughts that I had caught earlier was now growing more noticeable.
"I don't fear the collapse, Serpentine," Fate finally said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I fear the unknown. I fear Chaos. And I fear... you."
I blinked. "Wait, what?"
Fate's eyes seemed to narrow beneath his mask. "You are unpredictable. You are chaos, but sapient, and with an ambition. You are a variable I cannot control. And that... makes you dangerous."
"Dangerous, huh?" I grinned. "I like the sound of that. But you're still missing the point. I'm not here to play by your rules. I'm here to break the system. And if you've got a problem with that, well, that's your fate."
That struck a cord.
Fate's mask shimmered, his expression unreadable once more. But I could tell something had shifted. There was hesitation in his movements now, a pause in his otherwise calculated nature.
"I don't want to fight you, Serpent," Fate said quietly. "I never did. But the Wheel demands it. You've altered the course. Now I must set things right."
My grin widened. "You sure about that?"
For a moment, Fate seemed to waver, as if the weight of his decisions was too much to bear. But then, his voice hardened, and I knew what was coming.
"I've given you a chance, Bushin," he said. "But now you'll learn the consequences of defying your fate."
Suddenly, the temperature dropped even further. The ground trembled beneath me as Fate raised his hands, and an overwhelming force surrounded us. The arena's walls began to close in, the fabric of reality itself warping.
I took a deep breath, feeling the power surge around us. And my body reacted in kind.
My scythe pulsed darkly, its aura distorting light as if it were pushing away the fabric of reality. The black, voiden appendages penetrated my muscle fibres, coiled around my tendons, and wrapped around my joints, the black veins reaching all the way from my arm to my shoulder to my sternum, even if just barely.
Cursed energy swirled, and ancient inscriptions formed around me, my demonic heritage shining through as my horns seemed to grow just a little, curling slightly as their pointed tip became even sharper.
As time distorted, and chaos force corroded Fate's cosmic energy, I held on tight.
"Alright then, Fate." I assumed a combative stance, revealing my fangs in a grin, "Let's see who really controls what."
Destiny may have turned to a dizzy wizzy, but his will and dominion lived within us all.