Chapter 129: Turtle Shell - IV

Grevira did not understand what she’d done to attract the attention of such an annoying bastard.

’If you just want to steal something from me, just steal it!’

She knew that the Space Mage who’d severed her hand was much stronger than she was... but she had no choice but to fight him.

Why?

Because that bastard was camping in their own backyard!

The thief hadn’t fled far away using his Space Magic. Instead, he set up a massive field of enchantments and holed up in one of her organization’s most revered villas.

’Why, damn it?!’

Why did she have to be targeted just moments away from completing her preparations for Evolution?! What did she do to deserve this?

Was this some cruel prank from the heavens?

’After more than a hundred years of peace after the Beast Human wars...’

Their race had been moments away from embracing its first S-Rank in centuries—and it was from her faction.

The other Beast Human organizations out there were still a ways away from raising an S-Rank of their own.

With an S-Rank, the 16 Claws could once again touch upon the secrets of the Walvaskaz Empire and join its great game.

Their ancestors were said to have been a part of such a glorious game between the highest of ranks... But they’d fallen to a series of insidious machinations from the enlightened pure beasts—the Winged Lions and the Dread Wolves.

It was a feud going back millennia—between the Beast Humans and those beasts who’d received enlightenment and gained intelligence. Two large groups of similar races vying for relative racial supremacy.

Which group was better? Which one was stronger?

The humanoid beasts or the intelligent beasts?

Such questions were the reason why they waged wars endlessly, long ago.

Hunting each other down whenever a weakness appeared.

In this racial feud, there was no such thing as honor among warriors—unlike other races who value such glories. There were only the primal laws of the jungle where the strong preyed on the weak.

Thus, Grevira and the organization known as the 16 Claws behind her...

Were actually on the verge of extinction. They were cornered rats, reacting rabidly to anything that got too close.

Terrified of their approaching doom.

Now that they missed a good chance to raise an S-Rank...

Grevira shuddered.

No, they had to at least kill the thief while he arrogantly holed up in their territory. That way, there was still a chance for them to retrieve the special eyeball that Grevira needed to evolve.

’Why does he want it so bad, anyway? He’s no Beast Human—’

Grevira was quite sure that the thief was a pureblood human, with a different requirement for Evolution.

For what other purpose was she targeted?

A dull pain erupted from Grevira’s severed wrist. Her fur stood on end just recalling that vorpal blade.

The sharpness that went beyond A-Rank...

A blinding flash of light and the perfect slash, predicting her first instinct to defend her vitals...

That bastard had read her like a book.

’...Sigh,’ Grevira could only try to recover her dignity. ’What an embarrassment indeed.’

Her eyes flickered to the other leaders who were now marching with her through an underground tunnel.

’With our preparations, we should be able to ambush the Space Mage by emerging from right underneath him. The enchantments of the heir’s room should be hidden well enough.’

After all, the villa had been constructed during the time when the 16 Claws still had an SSS-Rank.

’Now, we just need to worry about attacking fast enough and preventing that damned mage from fleeing.’

Mages with knowledge of Spatial Magic were all great nuisances in the world, and every Enchanter made it their creed to keep them at bay. Thus, as long as Grevira and the other leaders successfully controlled the underground enchantments...

’We should be able to trap him here.’

Unfortunately, it would take some time. The Beast Humans throwing away their lives aboveground were integral to distracting the Space Mage and keeping him occupied.

Otherwise, if there was only silence from their side... the mage would surely grow suspicious.

He would also have more time to inspect his surroundings, increasing the chance that he’d discover the hidden passageway beneath his feet.

’We must act with haste!’

Grevira’s heart pounded in her chest, adrenaline coursing through her veins in great expectation. Once the Space Mage’s movements were confined to only the heir’s room...

Grevira could tear him apart limb from limb!

—Grrrrrr....

Grinding her teeth, a bloodthirsty growl escaped her lips. Blood dripped from her gums, but she didn’t care.

Vengeance!

Sweet retaliation!

Soon, it would be hers.

** *

I continued to watch as Beast Human after Beast Human walked straight to their unfortunate deaths. One of my consciousnesses empathized with them, understanding their fears and their thoughts before their untimely end. The other... only cared about the phenomenon caused by their slaughter.

After killing another few dozen Beast Humans of various ranks, I observed as the Gaea System inhaled everything mystical about their existence.

Their souls, their memories, and the essence of their existence.

Their various fates, and all of <Fate’s> threads entangling them.

This led to an increasing number of threads entangling me, and I could feel myself bending to the weight of the world’s whims.

At the same time, my intuition gained another facet. My Divination abilities were growing with each entangling thread around me—and I did not know for sure if this was good or bad.

What I did realize was something else:

"<Fate>... No, it should be the <Law of Fate>...."

I breathed, reeling in the realization that perhaps I was the only being capable of observing the mechanisms of <Fate> in such proximity and in such detail.

"...The <Law of Fate> moves in such a weird yet familiar manner... Its threads resemble a tangled knot of kelp in the midst of a raging maelstrom. Constantly unraveling yet constantly entangling, constantly making connections and constantly breaking connections."

With this utterance alone, I felt something brewing inside me.

Like a dying man regaining the splendor of vitality and taking his first step off his sickbed... I suddenly realized a new path that might be viable for me.

<Fate>, huh...

Somehow, it felt as if it wasn’t me who made a mistake. No, it felt as if my variability as an otherworlder with the Gaea System was something even <Fate> had not considered in its machinations.

After all... it seemed to have trouble dealing with [Absolute Awareness] simply due to the freedom it could give me in terms of information.

With that said...

"They really are going to use the secret passageway."

Looking at the enchantments directly beneath my feet, I was most certainly amused. I’d already copied its entire structure into one of my books using <Power of the Sky> and <Power of the Sea>.

Now, I had been subtly influencing my surroundings using the <Power of Death>.

Perhaps that was why the Beast Humans of 16 Claws were so willingly throwing away their lives. Influenced by an A-Rank ability that magnified their greed, they burned their lives for the sake of a little bit more wealth.

Even that Beastwoman named Grevira was unaware of the abstract influence that the <Power of Death> exerted over her mind.

It was irrational to attack me like this.

Though it was valid that my presence here was an insult to everything they stood for... Could they not be so rash as to strike?

Reading into their surface thoughts, their suspicions with regard to my Spatial Magic were wholly insufficient. They weren’t wondering enough why I chose their villa to hide in despite having the entire surrounding City of Arenas to hide in.

Instead of asking why I was here, Grevira was obsessing over why I had targeted her at such a time.

Something was influencing her psyche, making her overvalue the Red Eye of Bhulmasine.

With a closer look, however, I realized that it wasn’t just the <Power of Death> whispering into her ear. There was, of course, <Fate>, but more directly, it was the pressure created by other Beast Human organizations.

A few of those so-called pure beasts that the Beast Humans hated so much had suddenly challenged these Beast Human organizations.

They’d done it just a few minutes ago, which clearly revealed someone behind the scenes pulling strings.

[Absolute Awareness: Divination].

I traced the threads connecting me to Grevira, the other leaders of the 16 Claws, the other Beast Human organizations, and the pure beast youths issuing challenges to the Beast Humans in the various battlegrounds in the City of Arenas.

Then, I understood.

I was the accident that those schemers were hoping would happen to the 16 Claws. Unfortunately, I could not directly uncover who exactly those schemers were, as I was still conserving mana for a battle.

However, I could guess one based on species and retrieve its identity through the leaking whispers of the world:

Since the Dread Wolves were acting with such fervor, it was a blatant provocation from their SSS-Rank Matriarch, Chaotic Nightmare Wolf Aaasu. She wanted the 16 Claws eradicated, but manpower was short, and there were many things tying her down.

Unbeknownst to her, it was <Fate> that was always creating scenarios where neither she nor her subordinate S-Ranks and SS-Ranks could act. Though they’d won the battle against the SSS-Rank Beast Humans in the distant millennium, they could do nothing against the ant-like A-Rank organizations of Beast Humans that remained.

Only their own subordinate Dread Wolves, still unevolved into their purest forms, could act openly against their foes.

Thus...

Perhaps it was because the Grevira’s organization was composed of claw-inclined Beast Humans, making them the most wolf-like aside from fang-inclined Beast Humans, that the Dread Wolves were specifically going crazy over targeting them.

After all...

’Most of the young Dread Wolves seem to be doing this for sport.’