Chapter 380 -: 379 He is a skeleton now.

Chapter 380: Chapter: 379 He is a skeleton now.

Julius’s face paled, and his hands trembled slightly as Destiny’s final words settled in his mind.

"My mortal enemy?"

Fear was obvious in his voice, but there was confusion mixed into it as well. As far as Julius knew, he had done nothing that should have placed him in the crosshairs of an existence as grand as Fate.

He had certainly made plenty of enemies during his life, but Fate? That was on an entirely different level.

Why would an existence that had once been powerful enough to govern the threads of an entire universe care about someone like him?

He was just Julius.

A guy who had been through more ridiculous situations than he cared to count, who wanted to kill a few specific people, get Rosalina’s happy ending, and eventually settle down somewhere peaceful. That was about as complicated as his plans had been.

"Indeed," Destiny said.

"He is your mortal enemy. I won’t bullshit you about the truth, Julius, and I won’t tell you everything either. You already possess the information necessary to figure it out yourself. Just recall your life. If you look at everything that has happened to you from the beginning, you’ll eventually understand why Fate considers you his mortal enemy."

Julius fell silent.

He thought about her words carefully.

If he was being honest with himself, there were indeed several things about his existence that didn’t make sense. He was an anomaly. He wasn’t originally from this world, and as far as he knew, this entire world existed within a novel he had once read.

At least, that was what he wanted to believe.

Destiny had already told him that there was a planet called Earth somewhere within this universe, however, and that had complicated everything.

If Earth actually existed in this universe, then what exactly was the relationship between the world he remembered and the one he was currently living in?

Had the author been from this world? Had Earth somehow existed here all along? Or was there something else going on that he simply didn’t understand yet?

The entire matter was absurd enough even without considering the fact that Julius had apparently entered a world that had once existed as a story written by another human being.

He had read plenty of stories involving reincarnation, transmigration, novels becoming reality, and similar nonsense, but reading about such things was one thing. Actually experiencing them was another.

Julius rubbed his forehead. The more he thought about it, the more questions appeared.

"What’s in it for you?" he finally asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Why are you helping me?"

Destiny didn’t answer immediately.

For the first time since they had begun speaking, there was a noticeable pause in her response. Her expression remained calm, and Julius couldn’t tell whether anything had actually changed in her eyes or whether he was simply becoming paranoid after everything she had shown him.

After a while, Destiny sighed.

"Indeed, I have something to gain from this."

Julius remained silent, waiting.

"And I won’t hide what it is. My children."

"Children?" Julius raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Right now, Fate and the other gods are sealed. The seal is only temporary, however, and it will eventually collapse. Once Fate’s seal breaks, the other gods will be freed as well."

Her expression became slightly more solemn.

"And the first thing they will do is kill my children."

"Why?"

Destiny exhaled slowly. Instead of answering immediately, she snapped her fingers.

A small tea table suddenly appeared in the empty space between them, accompanied by two chairs that floated effortlessly in the darkness.

The table was surprisingly ordinary considering the place they were sitting in, though the sight of it appearing from nothing was enough to remind Julius that the woman sitting before him was anything but ordinary.

Destiny sat down gracefully. Her dress, which resembled a black night sky filled with countless stars, fluttered gently despite the complete absence of wind. She then pointed toward the chair opposite her.

"Sit."

Julius gave her a suspicious look before reluctantly taking the offered seat.

Destiny placed a cup of tea in front of him before taking her own. She calmly lifted it to her lips and took a sip.

Julius stared at the cup for a moment before doing the same.

His eyebrows rose slightly.

’The tea is real?’

He had expected it to be some illusion created within this strange space, but he could taste the warmth and bitterness of the drink as clearly as if he were sitting in an ordinary room somewhere in the mortal world.

"You see," Destiny began, placing her cup down, "when I gave birth to Nether and Vitra, I had already severed Fate’s threads from myself. I had become someone outside of Fate’s control. Ian was already beyond Fate’s control as well, which meant that our children were born fateless."

Julius nodded slowly.

’So that brute’s name was Vitra.’

He had wondered about it before, but he didn’t comment. There were far more important things being discussed.

"You already know that, at that time, Fate was occupied with restoring the damage Ian had caused. He didn’t have the time to come after me or my children, and after that, other things happened. I won’t explain those matters now. It would only be a bother, especially when you’ll learn everything yourself soon enough."

Julius’s brows furrowed.

That sentence alone raised several questions, but before he could ask any of them, Destiny continued.

"Regardless, because Vitra and Nether were fateless, their descendants were also born outside Fate’s control. Well, I suppose only Vitra has descendants. Nether never bothered having any. She’s too busy being childish, you see."

Julius’s mouth twitched.

He wanted to point out that Vitra, despite apparently being an absolute brute, had somehow managed to create an entire race while his sister was apparently too busy being childish to do anything comparable.

But he decided against it.

There were certain comments that were probably better left unsaid when speaking to the mother of an ancient god of fatherhood.

"So," Destiny continued, " He is already trying to kill my children even though he is sealed. But once he regains his full freedom, the first thing Fate will do is kill my children and their descendants. That’s what I have to gain from helping you. I know that you and Rosalina possess the All-Seeing Eyes and the Rose-Petal Eyes, so your existence is important to me."

Julius slowly lowered his cup.

"Wait."

Destiny looked at him.

"You said Fate is sealed, but he’s still been trying to kill your children?"

"Yes."

"How?"

Destiny took another sip of tea before answering.

"Simple. Fate chooses pawns to act on his behalf."

Julius’s expression changed slightly.

"Don’t you find Crypian’s system somewhat too powerful?"

"And Nickel was another one of his pawns, though you already killed him."

"Killed him?"

Julius immediately frowned.

"No, I kept him alive so I could study his system—"

He stopped as he stared at her, she was smiling, it wasn’t a mocking. It was the sort of smile someone gave when they already knew exactly what the other person was about to realize.

"When you kept him beneath the basement of your mansion in Agarta," Destiny said calmly, "and left after the incident at the academy, did you ever feed him anything?"

Julius froze. His mind went completely blank for several seconds.

"Ah."

He had been so focused on everything that happened afterward that the man had gradually disappeared from his thoughts. At first, Julius had intended to return to him once he had more time. Then another problem had appeared, followed by another, and eventually years had passed.

Five years. He hadn’t fed him anything for five years. Julius’s expression slowly became horrified.

Destiny calmly lifted her teacup again.

"He is a skeleton now."