Will of chaos

When I opened my eyes again, I was in a different place, I was inside that place where the stars were the sea and the planets were the sky, but this time I was completely awake when I looked in a specific direction.

“Who are you?” (me)

“I am the Entity of Commerce, also known as the Merchant… at your service.” (Merchant)

A paper airplane flies between the planets above before descending in front of me; it was a paper airplane larger than me, and as soon as it touched the sea of ​​stars it began to fold like a new origami, thus taking on a simple humanoid form.

Its form might be simple, but the presence it emanated was absurd beyond any comprehension, but fortunately it didn’t seem to be an enemy since it didn’t attack.

“What do you want?” (me)

“Business, I’m only here for business…” (Merchant)

“Why do it here, in this way?” (me)

“You could simply talk to me through your Avatar as soon as I wake up.” (me)

“There are certain secrets that my Avatar shouldn’t know, and I don’t like manipulating memories or blocking the minds of my Avatars.” (Merchant)

“Secrets…?” (me)

I look at his ridiculous appearance of a paper man, not exactly worthy of an Entity, but soon his appearance meant little to me; he began to talk about really serious things.

“Tell me?” (me)

“I want two things, the first is to make you understand what is happening and the second would be a mutually beneficial business.” (Merchant)

“I’m listening.” (me)

The Merchant is an extremely rational Entity that works for benefits; his participation from the beginning was strange, his Concept has nothing to do with universal conquest or even combat, yet his Avatar voluntarily joined my side and even participated in two battles against other Entities.

As grateful as I am, it was this kind of strange situation that made me realize something odd about all of this, several inconsistencies I’ve encountered since arriving in this universe.

“As you already know, part of this situation was orchestrated; Pride and I contributed to bringing more entities here.” (Merchant)

“Pride easily managed to attract Greed because they are old rivals. Greed didn’t know she had been lured here, but now she’s realized it and isn’t happy about being used.” (Merchant)

“I attracted the Anomalous Beasts like that Phoenix you just faced; I needed it to be nearby.” (Merchant)

“Callidora also participated, didn’t she?” (me)

“That event was being attended by her, even so, the Anomalous Creatures were participating, and the Ascendants shouldn’t have been there either.” (me)

“She wasn’t part of our plan, but she cooperated on her own during that event. She realized what we were doing as soon as you arrived.” (Merchant)

“What about Hate and War?” (me)

“War has a long history of cooperation with the Ascendants and as such has always been here. She also didn’t know anything initially, but she’s already found out, and I’m not sure of her intentions.” (Merchant)

“Hate, on the other hand, has been here for centuries, and had her own plans that I knew nothing about.” (Merchant)

“All this for Paradox?” (me)

“You, more than anyone, should understand. Paradox is ancient, as old as Life and Death; she existed even before Reincarnation and the System.” (Merchant)

“…” (me)

That was a revelation I didn’t expect. I knew Paradox was ancient, but I didn’t know she was *that* old. They also never made her degree of importance clear until now.

“Paradox is special; the Primordial Entities have more restrictions than other Entities, because their Concepts are fundamental to all of Existence.” (Merchant)

“Reincarnation was an Entity created by Paradox, a duality that exists between life and death. Its Concept is not restricted because Chaos itself represents the absence of rules, failure, deviation, and many other things.” (Merchant)

“Now an enemy approaches. We’ve seen the warning signs over the last 10,000 years, and the Primordial Entities can’t tell us anything because of the rules, no matter how much they want to. Only Paradox can do that.” (Merchant)

“You want to free Paradox because of that?” (me)

“I can simply ask her, I didn’t need all this.” (me)

“Don’t be naive, Zenos.” (Merchant)

“The one you’re encountering isn’t Paradox. She sealed herself away, and her dormant state will last for eternity until someone frees her under conditions that would be impossible to achieve.” (Merchant)

“Her lack of control was such a great danger that it brought immense suffering to her, which is why she wouldn’t risk awakening her consciousness.” (Merchant)

“That doesn’t make sense. I saw her in my mind. You must have also seen her reaching out to collect various things, like the ritual created by Hatred, Vecna, the body of the former Avatar of Greed… among other things.” (me)

“That’s not Paradox; that’s less than a shadow, a mere reflection of her memory acting in her name.” (Merchant)

“She must have left that part of herself to orchestrate her return if and when the conditions are right, as well as to prevent others from reaching her directly.” (Merchant)

“Even if she’s telling the truth, we can still consult her…” (me)

“She doesn’t know, she shouldn’t possess even 1% of Paradox’s memory; at most, she possesses her personality and most basic functions. Anything more than that could force her to awaken.” (Merchant)

“All of this seems very convenient for your arguments.” (me)

“Tell him the truth, I know you’ve been listening.” (Merchant)

“You’re a thorn in my side.” (Paradox)

“Paradox.” (me)

Suddenly, Paradox appears beside me, her body still hidden by the cloak and only her bandaged hand revealed.

“Your current Chaos Bearer is as unpredictable as you are; I can’t take the risks that Pride and the System are taking.” (Merchant)

“Showing sincerity when speaking will be better received by him than discovering the manipulation that has been going on.” (Merchant)

“I don’t manipulate anything, I just adapted to the situations and was happy that the necessary materials kept appearing.” (Paradox)

“I’m also not a false Paradox, I’m the real one, even if only a fragmented and small part of her. When I wake up, I will be one again.” (Paradox)

“But you’ll lose your power, won’t you?” (me)

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m looking for most. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do; those materials won’t refine themselves.” (Paradox)

Paradox, who appeared out of nowhere, disappears in the same way. I feel uncertain about all of this, but I decide to think about these things later. The most important thing is to find out more.

“What do you gain from all this?” (me)

“Information, to begin with…” (Merchant)

“I understand…” (me)

He wants to know about this enemy, but clearly doesn’t want to comment further on it, yet still implies that he wants other things.

“Now, how about we move on to my business proposal?” (Merchant)

“I know what you’re trying to do, my Avatar saw and heard about your plan for your descendant. Many rituals and techniques exist for this; I can negotiate one of them, but I believe it’s not necessary.” (Merchant)

“No, I have a sure idea of ​​how to do it, but one part worries me.” (me)

“The Existential Spark and the Soul…” (Merchant)

“Yes…” (me)

“The Soul needs to have some compatibility with you personally; you will generate it and still do it without the blessings of Reincarnation.” (Merchant)

“You need a Base Soul, then you need to remodel it while the Existential Spark adapts; this will be easy with the correct resonance.” (Merchant)

“Resonance?” (me)

“Your technique is very predictable when looking at your past methods, using the Eggs and Fetuses as catalysts for your Wives before fusing them into one, am I right?” (Merchant)

“Yes…” (me)

“Just using the ones you have won’t be enough, you need to refine them and some need to be replaced. You will need 3 Eggs and 3 Fetuses for your 6 wives; they need to be compatible with them, you need to mark them together with each of them without a Soul or Existential Spark emerging, only then can it be implemented by you and strengthened during the fusion process.” (Merchant)

“So you want to provide me with what’s missing?” (me)

“Yes, I possess 6 fertility rings, Artifacts of the Origin of Life, I also possess the technique to refine the compatibility of the Fetuses and Eggs as well as the substitutes for those that are not suitable.” (Merchant)

“What’s the price?” (me)

“A marriage alliance, you will have to accept another wife, one who will be a daughter of Pride.” (Merchant)

“I don’t like arranged marriages.” (me)

“Don’t worry, you can get to know her again, she already has feelings for you, there’s no need to rush anything now.” (Merchant)

“…” (me)

It was clear that it was someone I knew, maybe he was talking about Ohara, I admit she’s very beautiful, but marrying me without feelings is a big no.

“You can talk to your wives about this, but I believe they will accept.” (Merchant)

“Why?” (me)

He didn’t answer, but his aura seemed to show confidence before disappearing. Before I could understand anything, I started to open my eyes, Ibuki was in front of me smiling.

“Good morning…” (Ibuki)

Kiss

Being woken up with a kiss from my wife, that’s a good way to start the day.