Sitting alone,

Roksana stared out the window of a room.

Letting her thoughts flow, the implications of Tale's current existence were heavy in her mind. She could only let out a silent sigh, though.

As she had told Tale, the world was in a rather problematic phase as fragments of a corrupted fate eye were interfering with humans worldwide. For him to have a complete one, especially for someone of his power... the severity of this went way over what she had thought it to be.

Even more, his almost null Fate Flow caused an even greater problem and with that, it is well to know Fate Flow is not something such as destiny.

Destiny and predestined paths are only present for a fixed percentage every second decade.

Now, why was Tale's Fate Flow problematic? Well, it certainly wasn't due to direct or indirect effects caused.

As Tale and a better part of the world certainly did not know, the history of this world was filled with large blanks. Erased Periods.

One of these erased periods, the era before the manifestation of quirks, resulted in something known as "Fate Pillars."

Those with power related to Fate were in a way connected even if unaware, though she was very much aware.

Tale's current state...

It was alarming, let's say... perhaps a "Pillar" would move, or it may not. Roksana couldn't know either way. She was just an eye.

"Well. That's that. The world is always problematic, another drop isn't much." Roksana simply shook her head and stopped thinking of these things. There was no point. She couldn't do anything about it.

She would warn Tale with words she was allowed and that would be it and the rest would play itself.

"Roksana, are there perhaps any weapons here?"

With the new voice of Tale coming to her ears, Roksana turned. Looking at him, she put on a business smile.

"Secret Star is connected to some of the greatest active makers of the world. What would our customer prefer?"

...

...

Chatter. Chatter.

The noise was great. The city was active. The sun rays were rather warm this day.

The great tower of Babel which was owned by the Auroral Day (The Guild) to watch over and take care of the dungeon below stood as grand as always within the center of Orario with its 50 floors speaking volume of the grand height that pierced through the clouds.

Tap-

The plethora of races of individuals that could be seen around at any moment truly showed the allure the people of the world had towards the dungeon below Babel and the opportunities they sought to find here in this city.

Step- Step- Step-

The adventurers, the citizens, the gods, and the goddesses walking amongst them. Everything had a surreal grandness. It was an intriguing first perception.

And, within these very city walls, within a building on the edge of the southern wall, two children no more than 15 sat with a meter distance.

"Are you sure, Arrel? Will we really get stronger this way?"

"Of course. Just listen to me. Start guiding your mana like how I tell you. We'll be building something called a Circuit."

"But my God will be mad if I try to hide this later, right...?"

One was a child who had become a topic of discussion for a few gods and quite a bit by a portion of adventurers, Advent Afred, a rather timid yet strong boy. The other was an unregistered child called Arrel, only known by 2 others in the city.

"As long as you don't bring it up, you will be fine. I'll think of something for it later, just in case."

"O-Okay." Advent's voice stumbled.

Advent, who was part of the Aega Familia, a familia being a gathering of adventurers and supporters headed by a God or Goddess, was indebted, so he could only put his trust in his best friend. He wanted to be as strong as him as well! He wanted to be able to join him on his adventures!

Unfortunately, perhaps that was something unfated. Something only to be dreamt.

Soundlessly falling unconscious as he was about to speak, Arrel caught Advent's body before it slumped to the floor. He didn't even have a moment to straighten his back.

Swoooo!

"WHO!"

Sensing a great danger, Arrel tightly held Advent as he instantaneously jumped back. His back bruised and bled slightly as he broke through the wall behind him, going to open ground.

Gazing up with fury, thunderous energy flared around Arrel as a mix of flames and wind gathered.

"O' Thunderous Plight of Flames, Sever All Motion! Chain of Dire Will!"

Sizzling bolts of compact energy and piercing wind needles backed by illusionary howling numbered to hundreds in every direction but down to the earth. They charged with great force, with 10 on each side remaining close to Arrel.

Wooo.

But to the disbelief and awe of Arrel, even before these energy bolts and wind needles that were meant to reveal the enemy could even make it 5 inches, they lost source and faded.

This only meant one thing in his mind. A mage above his class. Way above.

Moving away from his spot, Arrel running with great speed with Advent on his back quickly began to cast a far powerfuller magic attack and as he didn't know where the enemy was and as they seemed quite powerful, he wouldn't care too much for the surroundings.

Launching weak attacks that destroyed the surroundings and disturbed the mana and balance, he concurrently mouthed verses. He needed to distract the enemy.

"Chantless magic, congenital magic, concurrent chanting." A voice with a slight wonder floated around, but Arrel didn't let it distract him, he still couldn't tell from where it came, it sounded from everywhere.

With that, time quickly whizzed by and a few minutes passed. The area was unstable to say the least.

Completing the final verses of his magic as the countless magic circles around him grew in size, Arrel quickly spoke in a low but strong manner.

"Greetings of the Fallen!" He spoke the final verse.

Gravity changed. A heavy pressure pushed down on the earth, sending shockwaves and shattering the ground, and pulverizing the buildings to ash. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.

From the cracks, flames rose high as they spread everywhere, and soon, a fierce wind blew and ice enclosed the area as a chilling coldness that shouldn't be possible was felt through the flames.

All this seemed rather excessive, but...

Arrel only went this far due to the voice that had spoken far earlier. Every time it spoke, it grew louder and a crack would form on his core, the part of a mana weilder that allowed energy to be stored in the body. Considering the enemy who grew even louder, he couldn't take the risk. He needed to quickly end this enemy or he would lose everything!

The original spell was meant to be a storm of precise and controlled energy artillery along with special properties and some other things but the severity changed it greatly.

The risk of the adventures and gods didn't even need to be said. Why would that matter if he lost his power? That was like ending him. At best, he could somehow make sure Advent had the victim card to play to make sure he wasn't badly seen, but that was different.

"Oh, good job. My turn." The voice sounded even louder than before. Arrel felt dizzy and fearful as another crack appeared on his core. A few more and it was over.

With a low breath, Arrel gazed around with a tired complexion as he could barely maintain himself due to his core as he watched as his magic crumbled as a single strand of blue light fell from the sky.

Horror was evident on his face. His grip on Advent tightened, causing Advent's hand to bruise lightly due to the strength. He could feel himself losing vision as his core completely shattered...!

"Well... that took long enough. You did nicely, though and to reward that, I'll be polite enough to give you a small gift for opening your soul on your own for me." The voice spoke once more, causing his dread to reach into the abyss.

With a blink, in trepidation, Arrel looked up. He felt weak, but...

He was now on familiar ground, his tirdness was slightly lightened as he held Advent from falling. He was back to where he was before he had even done anything. One could say he had fallen into the abyss now.

Unable to think for a moment, Arrel looked ahead with clear eyes and saw a man standing there with a polite smile as his hand laid on his shoulder.

The golden yellow eyes of the man gave off a monstrous pressure, as the soft black hair seemed to reflect the abyss he had fallen into.

"Greetings, Wizard Demosthenes. Has your short revival been well? I hope so since I have a bit of bad news. Unfortunately, I have to take you back to your time. Don't worry though, your friend will be perfectly fine."

The words were very nostalgic and the voice very familiar. It was who sounded in his mind.

With his core shattered as no mana or other energy gathered to him, Arrel blankly nodded as his situation became far to clear to him.

If this was just another mage, no matter how powerful, Arrel wouldn't be as obedient as he was acting right now but he understood... this was all he could do. This must've been a Soul Reaper, he thought strongly, no he knew he was right. It's not as if this hadn't happened in his era to those he knew. The more he resisted, the worse it would be for him.

From the Ancient Era he came, the origins of power were diffrent, so this happened too much before things were changed by a "God."

'Only those fated are given... was that what they stated...?'

Arrel was wary but couldn't act... he was a mere ant in their presence with or without power...

"This child, Advent Afred does not know my origins... I've only taught him basic control with my understanding of this era. Soul Reaper, don't break your code and affect a normal being... That is the only thing, and I won't try anything." His voice was quiet. He carefully rid himself of the thoughts and desires he had built. It was better to be in the cycle than to be nothing.

"As I said, the child will be fine. Now stand still. I've decided on the small gift to give since you seem to care about the child so much..."

Arrel perked up with a sigh as he leaned Advent against the wall. He didn't expect anything but he understood the boy would be fine either way.

Trying to draw in the surrounding energy during all this with no luck, he had reaffirmed. He had truly lost everything.

"Your mentality will be copied without the various things it shouldn't know or have. This self of you will have to keep the child safe. If this self abandons the child, it will be your own will."

'I shall not.' Arrel silently thought hearing this. He understood himself enough. He died for one, he could die for another and with another thought, Arrel sighed deeply.

He was truly an ant, he deemed. Abilities such as this... he could never...

Losing vision and fading, Arrel closed his eyes as his thoughts slowed but intensified.

Deep down, he was truly enraged. He wanted to accomplish so much more and see so much yet he could only complain for a few moments as his 'will' appeared as a white ball in front of Fatir who caught and placed it inside an odd book he held. With the shutting of the book, everything halted and he faded.

"Alright, this is taken care of. As the librarian always said, 'there's no point in delaying duties. Do it and move on. More time to read.' Very stale person, but good to chat with."

..

..

During this time,

Up in the high realm,

In a domain within the center of the upper plane, a place where a stem of the World Tree protruded, a ritual commenced.

Thousands of Knighted Angels, hundred thousands of Fairy Oceanids, millions of Orixie, 6 Guardian Deity Candidates, 1 Deity Class Being, and even a Domain Lord of the Highest Class was present with the single goal of protecting the Goddess Endredalioca, the key to this ritual.

However... even with the greatest defenses... anything can crumble in a single moment.

A single blink is all it takes.

Crackle. Crackle. Drip. Drip.

With the falling of rain and darkening of the sky, the luminance of the World Tree's stem lit up the world as steps echoed and thunder roared.

________________

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To be continued...