Chapter 202: Fate Breaker

The pressure surrounding Reinhard grew heavier until even breathing became difficult. The ruined tower remained frozen around him, Emily unconscious in his arms, while the enormous radiance above them illuminated every crack in the stone. Xanxus had been powerful enough to threaten his family, but at least Reinhard had understood his abilities and recognized the limits of his strength.

The thing before him was different.

Then Reinhard saw himself die.

White lightning descended from the sky and struck him before he could move. There was no explosion or desperate struggle. The lightning passed through him, and his entire existence disappeared as though he had never been born.

The vision changed. Two streams of white light emerged from the radiance above, sweeping toward him from opposite directions. They passed through his body, splitting him apart before he could react, and the world vanished behind their blinding brilliance.

A third vision followed. A white portal opened beneath his feet, swallowing the frozen ground without disturbing anything around it. Reinhard fell into the endless whiteness, unable to grab anything or stop his descent, until even his thoughts disappeared.

The visions ended, but the pressure remained.

Reinhard’s body trembled under the force pressing against him. Every instinct warned him that resisting was pointless. If the Will decided to kill him, his strength, equipment, legendary items, and accumulated abilities would mean nothing.

He understood that much. Unfortunately for the Will, understanding the danger had never been the same as accepting defeat.

Reinhard slowly raised his head and stared at the enormous radiance. His fingers tightened around Emily as he bared his teeth in a grin that had no business appearing on his face under these circumstances.

"Is that supposed to scare me?"

For several moments, the entity remained silent. Then its radiance shifted, and Reinhard felt its attention settle entirely upon him.

A sigh echoed through the frozen tower.

[Then since you have that much confidence and will, I’m curious.]

The pressure eased enough for Reinhard to draw a full breath, although he did not mistake that small mercy for safety. The Will had not become weaker. It had simply decided that killing him immediately was no longer the most interesting course of action.

[Why do you oppose the preservation of Monad for the sake of one person?]

Reinhard glanced down at Emily. Her face remained peaceful despite the destruction surrounding them, and the sight reminded him of the white light that had struck her before she collapsed.

"Because she’s my wife."

[That does not answer the question.]

"I know."

Reinhard adjusted his hold on Emily before looking back at the Will. He understood why it considered her expendable. Her condition might eventually threaten everything within Monad, and Reinhard was asking the entity to tolerate that danger.

"This world is my home," he said. "It’s where I found a place to belong, where I built a family, and where Emily and I were supposed to spend our lives together. I’m not giving up either one."

[You are demanding that I preserve a contamination that may destroy the very world you claim to cherish.]

"I’m telling you that I want to save both."

[You possess no evidence that such an outcome is possible.]

"Not yet."

[Then your position is based upon an unproven possibility.]

"That’s right."

Reinhard had no method capable of severing Emily’s connection, no hidden ability that guaranteed her survival, and no proof that another solution existed. Yet he refused to abandon the possibility simply because he could not prove it.

The Will’s attention shifted toward Emily.

[You should have left her Gnosis broken.]

Reinhard’s grin disappeared.

[Had her Gnosis remained broken, she might have lived an ordinary lifespan without becoming the anchor. Her existence would not have developed along its current course.]

He looked down at his wife, remembering how fiercely she had fought to regain control over her life. He remembered her reaching S-Rank, proving that she could stand beside her family again rather than remain someone they always needed to protect.

Now the Will was telling him that her recovery might have brought her closer to erasure.

[Your restored her strength, but the changes within her existence have introduced a danger that may consume her completely. The safer path was to leave her as she was.]

Reinhard remained silent for a moment. He could not dismiss the argument. A broken Gnosis might have spared Emily this particular fate, and the possibility that her recovery carried a terrible cost was painful precisely because he had never intended to endanger her.

But a safer life was not necessarily the life Emily wanted.

"She fought to get her life back," Reinhard said quietly. "She wanted to become strong enough to make her own decisions again. I wasn’t going to tell her that she had to remain broken because something terrible might happen someday."

[And now something terrible has happened.]

"Yes."

Reinhard tightened his jaw. "I’m not going to regret helping her. I’ll face whatever comes from this, and I’ll find a way to protect the life she fought to reclaim."

The Will did not respond immediately. Instead, its radiance seemed to examine Reinhard, and he felt something brush against his existence. It was not an attack. It felt more like an intelligence inspecting an inconsistency, trying to determine whether it was meaningless or important.

Then the Will spoke.

[Fate Breaker.]

Reinhard frowned. "What?"

[Your soul has deviated from the conclusions established by this world.]

"What does that mean?"

[Your existence does not follow the same certainty as theirs. The conclusions established by Monad’s laws do not fully determine the outcomes you may produce.]

Reinhard stared at the radiance. He had accumulated unusual powers and received rewards that ordinary people could never obtain, but the Will was referring to something deeper than his abilities.

It was talking about the nature of his existence.

"Then you understand why I won’t let you erase her."

[I understand that you are refusing an established outcome.]

"That’s not an answer."

[No. It is an observation.]

Reinhard almost laughed. Even an entity capable of showing him three different ways to die could apparently be irritating when it wanted to be.

[An irregularity may produce an outcome that established laws cannot. However, the possibility of such an outcome does not prove that you can achieve it.]

The Will had not changed its mind about Emily’s danger. It had found a reason to consider whether Reinhard’s refusal might lead to a different conclusion.

Monad’s laws governed the world, but the foreign existence threatening it introduced contradictions that could remain concealed until their influence became obvious. The Will could recognize these inconsistencies as they developed, but it could not immediately identify every hidden intrusion.

Reinhard was different. His soul itself deviated from the conclusions established by the world. He might encounter things beyond the Will’s current perception or accomplish something that Monad’s existing laws could not easily produce.

The Will did not know whether he could do either. It only recognized that destroying him now might mean discarding a possibility it could not afford to ignore.

[I will permit you to challenge this conclusion.]

Reinhard did not relax. "And if I fail?"

[Then the contamination will be removed.]

His arms tightened around Emily.

"I won’t fail."

[That certainty is not evidence, Fate Breaker.]

"It doesn’t have to be."

The Will offered no reassurance. Instead, its radiance spread across the frozen tower, and three objectives formed within Reinhard’s awareness. They were not rewards for defying an overwhelming existence. They were the conditions of the opportunity it had granted him.

[First. Sever Emily’s connection to the other world before she becomes the anchor completely.]

Reinhard’s attention sharpened.

[You have three years to accomplish all three objectives. If Emily’s connection remains intact until the process is complete, her existence will be consumed. Ordinary treatment and restoration will not reverse the result.]

"Three years?"

[Correct.]

Three years. Reinhard had spent months helping Emily recover, and now he had a finite period to prevent her existence from being consumed. He barely understood the connection, let alone how to sever it.

Before he could ask another question, the Will continued.

[Second. Prevent new openings from appearing between the worlds.]

Images of the Black Moon incidents flashed through Reinhard’s mind. Aurlieus City had narrowly avoided being connected to the other world, while Marvello had suffered a far more direct confrontation with the phenomenon. Emily had helped stop both disasters, but those victories had not removed the underlying danger.

[Every opening allows the other world’s influence to spread. Further openings will worsen Emily’s condition and accelerate the process that threatens her existence.]

Reinhard understood the implication. Defeating individual enemies would not be enough. Even if he found a way to help Emily, another opening could worsen her condition again. He would need to discover why these breaches appeared and prevent them from recurring.

"And the third?"

[Eliminate the Sinners who have absorbed enormous amounts of Mana from the other world.]

Reinhard’s eyes narrowed. "Xanxus was one of them?"

[Correct. He was one of the Seven Sinners. With his destruction, six remain.]

For a moment, Reinhard forgot about the pressure surrounding him.

Xanxus had forced him to take the threat seriously. His spatial abilities had made him difficult to predict, and the foreign power inside him had allowed him to reach a level of danger that could threaten the Ashcrofts. Reinhard had needed to account for every mistake because a single opening could have cost someone their life.

And Xanxus had been only one of seven.

Reinhard’s grin was gone now. He looked at the Will, reconsidering the battle he had just survived. If the remaining six possessed even comparable power, defeating Xanxus had not brought the crisis close to its end. It had merely revealed how much larger the enemy was.

"Can’t you find them?"

[No. Their influence remains concealed until the contradictions they introduce become sufficiently apparent. I cannot identify every intrusion before it begins to distort the established order.]

The answer made sense of the Will’s limitation. It was not blind to contamination, but neither could it perceive every inconsistency in Monad at once. The more foreign influence spread, the harder it became to ignore. Unfortunately, that also meant the threat could grow before the Will recognized its full extent.

[Your existence is different. Your relationship with established outcomes may allow you to encounter those who remain beyond my current perception.]

Reinhard paused.

"I guess that explains why I met Xanxus."

[Perhaps.]

The Will offered nothing more. Reinhard understood enough to recognize the scale of the task. He had to save Emily, prevent new openings, and eliminate six remaining Sinners whose powers and locations were unknown.

"Will completing these objectives guarantee Emily survives?"

[No.]

The answer came without hesitation.

[They provide you with an opportunity to challenge the established conclusion. They do not guarantee success.]

Reinhard exhaled slowly. The Will had not given him a solution or promised that everything would be fine if he followed its instructions. It had given him three years and a chance to attempt the impossible.

He looked down at Emily again. She had fought too hard to reclaim her life for him to abandon her now, and he had no intention of letting an uncertain future decide what happened to her.

"I understand," he said. "I’ll find a way."

[Demonstrate that your existence can accomplish what your world cannot.]

The enormous radiance began to withdraw. The pressure eased, and the frozen tower seemed to regain the possibility of movement. The Will did not praise Reinhard or promise that they would meet again under better circumstances. It had granted him an opportunity, and the rest was his responsibility.

Then time resumed.

The air shifted around them, and the distant sounds of the city returned. Reinhard immediately checked Emily’s breathing before carefully lifting her into his arms. She remained unconscious, and he adjusted his hold to keep her comfortable.

For a moment, he looked at her face and let the weight of what had happened settle over him. Three years. A connection he did not understand. Six Sinners still out there, each potentially carrying the same foreign power that had made Xanxus such a threat.

He could worry about all of that later.

Right now, Emily was still alive, and he needed to get her home. He also needs to go check on the others, things have gotten quieter downstairs.

"Reinhard! Emily!? I need your help down here!"

Maki’s voice echoed out, making him pause before rushing down with Emily in his arms.