Chapter 567: I Was Wrong

[A Few Moments Earlier – Inside the Prison Cube]

The space stretched infinitely in every direction, creating an impossible realm that defied the small exterior.

Hundreds of seers floated suspended in the void, their hands extended, power flowing outward in continuous streams.

The Fate Binders wrapped around the Hooded One in layers upon layers, multicolored ropes blazing with authority that made reality itself bend.

"Hold the bindings steady!"

A voice cut through the strained silence, sharp and commanding.

"Don’t let even a finger move!"

"The backlash from holding the Immortal One is intense!"

Another voice emerged, cracking slightly under pressure.

"How much longer can we maintain this?!"

Sweat ran down faces despite the dreamscape nature of their surroundings.

"Just a little more!"

A third seer’s whisper carried desperate hope.

"The seal will finish soon and we can–"

"Seal?"

The word cut across the space like a blade through silk,.

The bound figure shifted fractionally within the ropes, that shrouded form somehow conveying amusement despite remaining motionless.

"You think..."

The doubled voice emerged quiet but carrying weight.

"The likes of you can seal me?"

Silence crashed down across the infinite space, suffocating and absolute.

Then the figure’s presence shifted, becoming colder than the void between stars.

"Fine then."

The shrouded head tilted back slightly, that void-like darkness somehow finding each seer simultaneously.

And the voice exploded across the prison cube, carrying rage that made existence itself tremble.

"TODAY IS THE DAY EVERY SAGE OF HUMANITY SHALL FALL!"

Thunder rolled through impossible distances, the sound building and building.

"TODAY IS THE DAY I END YOUR FOOLISH KIND ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

The Hooded One’s hands began rising slowly, fighting against the bindings that blazed brighter with each movement.

"AND WHEN EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU DIES SCREAMING IN THIS DREAMSCAPE..."

The hands continued their ascent, moving toward the hood with terrible inevitability.

"I WILL STEP OVER YOUR CORPSES AND CLAIM WHAT WAS ALWAYS MEANT TO BE MINE!"

The fingers reached the fabric, gripping the edge of the hood.

"I WILL DEVOUR THE REMNANTS OF FATE’S WEAKENED ESSENCE!"

The voice became something inhuman, layered with hunger that transcended mortal comprehension.

"I WILL CONSUME THE POWER IT STOLE FROM THE UNIVERSE ITSELF!"

The fingers tightened on the hood, beginning to pull.

"AND I WILL END THIS CURSED GAME BY BECOMING..."

The fabric started sliding backward, revealing what lay beneath.

"THE GOD OF FATE!"

The declaration rang across the infinite space like a bell tolling the end of worlds.

Whoosh

And the Hooded One’s hood fell completely.

****

[Present Time]

BOOOOOOM

The cube exploded.

Light blazed outward in every direction, the prison dimension collapsing as force crashed across the dreamscape rooftop.

Thud

Damian’s body slammed into the ground, invisible pressure crushing down on everyone standing outside.

His palms hit stone, his chest heaving as weight pressed against his shoulders and back.

Thud Thud Thud Thud

Around him, seers collapsed in waves, their formations breaking apart, bodies driven to their knees or flat against the dreamscape surface.

The old woman’s cane clattered away, her form crumpling as the pressure intensified.

’W-what...’

Damian’s thoughts came fragmented, his mind struggling under the oppressive force.

’T-this pressure...’

His breathing came shallow, each inhale taking effort.

’It’s crushing everything!’

When the light finally faded, when vision cleared enough to see again, Damian’s head lifted fractionally.

His crimson eyes tracked upward, finding the star still forming above them.

But floating below it, arranged in perfect circles...

His breath caught in his throat.

’They... aren’t the Fate Binders who entered...’

Hundreds of figures hovered in the air, their forms identical, each one wearing the same shrouded cloak.

But every hood had fallen back now, revealing that same absolute darkness where faces should be.

Hundreds of voids, all pointed downward.

All looking directly at him.

’They’re all... the Hooded One!’

The thought formed cold and certain.

His hands pressed harder against the stone, his body rigid under the pressure.

’How is this–’

Then they started laughing.

All of them simultaneously, hundreds of voices overlapping and building into something that made reality itself feel thin.

The sound crashed across the dreamscape like waves against shore, relentless and terrible.

"REJOICE, DAMIAN BLOODWORTH!"

The declaration rang with mockery wrapped in certainty.

"TODAY, YOUR SUFFERING ENDS! TODAY, YOUR NIGHTMARES CEASE! TODAY, THE BURDEN YOU CARRY IS LIFTED!"

A pause that felt like the universe holding its breath.

"FOR YOUR DOOM HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!"

The words landed with weight that made the dreamscape crack, fissures spreading across stone beneath the pressure.

Whispers exploded among the seers still conscious, voices overlapping in confusion and growing panic.

"What is going on?!"

"Where are the Fate Binders?! What happened to them?!"

"This pressure... each and every one of those figures feels like the Immortal One himself!"

"How is this possible?! How can he be so strong when Fate is weakened and–"

"Because when the Beggar weakened Fate..."

A voice cut through the rising chaos, quiet but carrying clearly across the rooftop.

"What weakened alongside it was only the Hooded One of this era."

Every head turned simultaneously, finding the source.

The Sage knelt on the stone, his white mask cracked along one edge, his clothes torn in places.

His hands pressed against the ground, fingers splayed, his entire body trembling from the effort of just staying upright.

But his voice remained steady despite everything, each word falling with absolute conviction.

"And the ones floating above us now..."

He lifted his head slowly, his masked face tracking across the hundreds of identical figures.

"Are the Hooded Ones of every era after the fall of the God’s Era."

Before anyone could react, the Sage’s gaze settled on the figure floating at the center of all the circles.

The one whose darkness seemed deeper than all the others combined.

"Isn’t that right, Immortal One?"

The Sage’s whisper carried across the rooftop with terrible clarity.

"Or should I call you by your old name..."

A pause that stretched into eternity.

"Lazarus, the God of Avatars?"

The moment the final word left his mouth–

Silence crashed down across the entire dreamscape like someone had cut all sound from existence.

The laughter died instantly, hundreds of throats going quiet as one.

The floating figures remained perfectly still, that darkness staring down at the Sage’s kneeling form.

And Damian’s mind went completely blank, all thought scattering like ash in the wind.

’God... of Avatars?’

The phrase echoed through his consciousness.

’That’s what the path of Hooded One was in the God’s Era before he abandoned his–’

Before the thought could finish forming, the central figure’s voice emerged, quiet but carrying clearly.

"You don’t look surprised at all."

The doubled voice gained something approaching curiosity.

"It’s almost as if you already expected this revelation."

The darkness tilted slightly, as if the absent head was studying the Sage’s masked form.

"Tell me something, human."

A pause, weighted with genuine interest.

"How were you able to see past something that no one could? When the universe itself made sure I could never walk that path again?"

The voice became harder, edges appearing in the careful control.

"When I never even had to remove my hood in all the millions of timelines that Fate saw or the Beggar knew?"

The question hung in the frozen air, demanding an answer.

The Sage remained kneeling, his masked face pointed upward at the floating figures.

Then his whisper emerged, soft but absolute.

"Just because you never had to..."

A pause, letting the words sink in.

"Doesn’t mean you never could."

Silence fell between them, heavy with implication.

"And in the game of chess, the greatest move any player can make..."

His hands pushed against the stone, his body rising fractionally despite the crushing pressure.

"Is the one everyone believes is impossible to execute."

Silence fell between them, broken only by the sound of wind.

The central figure remained perfectly still for several long moments, that darkness offering no response.

Then sound emerged from the void, low and rough.

"I was wrong, Murdock."

The doubled voice came out lighter than before, carrying something approaching genuine respect.

"You were never a bad player after all."

The figure’s shrouded form shifted slightly, the movement deliberate.

"If you had been born a long time ago, during the era when Gods still walked freely across every realm..."

A pause weighted with terrible implication.

"Maybe instead of the First Oracle, my real opponent would have always been you."

The words hung in the cold air for three heartbeats.

Then the voice became harder, edges appearing in the measured tone.

"But sadly, you and all the Sages of Humanity chose the wrong side of this eternal conflict."

All the hovering figures raised their hands simultaneously, darkness beginning to gather in their palms.

"So just like that evil spawn kneeling beside you, just like every piece who dared stand against inevitability..."

The darkness intensified, building toward something catastrophic.

"You will all die–"

"When I arrived here..."

The Sage’s interruption came soft but absolute.

His body straightened completely now despite the pressure trying to crush him down.

"I already told you."

His white mask found the central void without fear or hesitation.

"With me standing here, you cannot touch him."

The declaration landed with quiet finality.

Then his voice became harder, carrying authority that made the air itself feel heavier.

"And unlike Fate, whose words bend and shift with every timeline..."

His hands settled behind his back, the gesture deliberate and controlled.

"The words of I, the Grand Sage of Humanity, are absolute."

Silence crashed down across the dreamscape like thunder without sound.