[Location: Arcadia Coliseum - The Grand Finals]
[Event: The Masked Merchant vs. The Champion of the Stars]
The arena floor was modified.
It wasn't sand anymore. It was a floating platform in a void of simulated space. Stars swirled around us.
"Fancy," I noted, tapping the floor with my shoe. "Zero gravity simulation?"
My opponent stood opposite me.
The Prophet.
He wasn't an elf or a human. He was a Star-Born. His skin was translucent, showing galaxies swirling inside his veins.
[Boss: The Prophet (Observer Class)]
[Level: 90]
[Affiliation: The Constellation of Knowledge.]
"Cain Cross," the Prophet spoke. His voice didn't use sound waves; it vibrated the atoms in the air.
"You wear a mask, but your soul is loud."
"I like to project," I said, adjusting my cuffs.
"Why are you here?" The Prophet floated a few inches off the ground. "You do not seek the Orb for answers. You already know the answers."
"True," I admitted. "I don't need the Orb to tell me the future."
"Then why?"
"I need the Orb," I said, drawing the Soul-Eater's Fang, "to Call someone."
"Call who?"
"Your Boss."
The Prophet froze. The galaxies under his skin swirled faster.
"You wish to contact the Librarian of the Cosmos? You are an ant wishing to speak to a sun. You will burn."
"Let's test that theory."
FIGHT.
The Prophet didn't move. He blinked.
[Skill: Gravity Crush.]
The air pressure increased by 1000%. The floor cracked.
My knees buckled. It felt like a mountain had been dropped on my shoulders.
[HP: -500/sec.]
"Kneel," the Prophet commanded. "Submit to the weight of the universe."
I gritted my teeth.
"Jokes on you," I wheezed. "I carry the weight of Consumer Debt."
[Skill: Market Crash.]
(Chaos Broker Class Skill).
I targeted the Gravity.
"Devalue!"
I spent 100,000 Gold.
The "Value" of the Gravity spell plummeted. The pressure lifted instantly.
I stood up.
"Money talks," I grinned. "And physics listens."
I charged.
[Skill: Shadow Step.]
I appeared behind him. I slashed at his neck.
CLANG.
My dagger hit a barrier of pure starlight.
"Futile," the Prophet boredly waved his hand. [Starfall].
Meteors began to rain from the simulated sky. Actual, burning rocks.
I dodged left. BOOM. A crater where I stood.
I dodged right. BOOM.
"Ahri! Now!" I shouted into my earpiece.
From the stands, a tails-wagging fox girl stood up. She wasn't fighting. She was holding a Mirror.
[Item: Mirror of Reflection (Rare).]
Ahri aimed the mirror at the Prophet.
[Skill: Illusion Cast.]
For a split second, the Prophet saw a reflection of himself. But Ahri's magic twisted it.
He saw his own Death.
The Prophet flinched. "A cheap trick!"
That split second was all I needed.
I wasn't aiming for him.
I aimed for the Prize Podium.
The Orb of Prophecy was sitting on a pedestal in the center of the arena, protected by a forcefield.
I shadow-stepped past the Prophet.
I slammed my Black Gold Card against the forcefield.
"System! Purchase!"
[Transaction Error: Item Not For Sale.]
"I'm not buying the Orb!" I shouted. "I'm buying the Pedestal!"
[Transaction Complete: 5,000 Gold.]
The pedestal vanished into my inventory. The Orb fell.
I caught it.
"Gotcha."
The Prophet spun around. "NO!"
He unleashed a supernova. A wave of white light that would vaporize the entire stadium.
I held the Orb high.
"Hello, Operator?" I shouted into the crystal ball.
"Connect me to the Interstellar Species!"
I poured my mana into the Orb.
[Activation: The Call.]
The Orb shrieked. A beam of light shot from the arena, piercing the roof, piercing the sky, and punching a hole in the atmosphere.
The sky turned black.
The stars went out.
A giant Eye opened in the void above the planet.
It was the size of a moon.
[Entity Detected: The Monarch of Greed.]
[Entity Detected: The Librarian.]
[Entity Detected: The War God.]
The Constellations were watching.
The Prophet fell to his knees. "You... you summoned Them directly? You have doomed us all!"
I looked up at the giant Eye.
"Hey!" I shouted. "Can you hear me?"
"WE HEAR YOU, THIEF." The voice shook the planet.
"I have a proposition!"
I held up the Orb.
"I'm holding your 'Prophecy' hostage."
"If you don't call off your dog," I pointed at the Prophet, "I'm going to spoil the ending of the story."
The Eye narrowed.
"YOU BLUFF."
"Do I?"
I took a deep breath.
"The Hero Arthur dies in Chapter 1. Wait, I already did that."
"The System is a harvesting tool created by the Architects to farm soul energy."
"And the 'Throne of the World' is actually a—"
"SILENCE!"
Thunder cracked.
"THE NARRATIVE MUST BE PRESERVED."
"Then give me a System Update."
I demanded.
"I want the Admin Privileges for the Northern Continent."
The Constellations conferred. They whispered in a language that sounded like breaking glass.
"AGREED."
"BUT KNOW THIS, CAIN CROSS."
"YOU HAVE ESCALATED THE GENRE."
"WE ARE NO LONGER WATCHING A COMEDY."
"WE ARE WATCHING A TRAGEDY."
A beam of light hit me.
[System Update: Admin Access Granted (Region: North).]
[You can now edit Terrain, Weather, and Spawn Rates in your territory.]
The Eye closed. The sky returned to blue.
The Prophet lay on the ground, smoking. His connection to the stars was severed.
"You won," he whispered, fading away. "But you have made enemies of the Gods."
"Get in line," I said.
I pocketed the Orb.
[Winner: Cain Cross.]
The crowd was silent. They didn't understand what happened. They just saw lights and me shouting at the sky.
Then, slowly, they cheered.
"He... he talked to the Gods?"
"He's the Chosen One!"
I walked out of the arena.
Sylvia ran up to me. She was pale.
"Master... did you just blackmail the universe?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"And I got a promotion."
I checked my status.
[Title Acquired: The Story Breaker.]
[Effect: Immune to 'Fate'.]
"Come on," I said. "We're leaving."
"What about the Hero Party?" Ahri asked.
"Check the quest log."
I opened the window.
[Status: Kenji is currently crying in a spider nest.]
[Status: Alice has lost her armor (durability 0).]
I laughed.
"Let them grind a bit more. Character development requires suffering."
"We have a new destination."
"Where?"
I pointed to the East.
"The Empire of Machines."
"I need to upgrade my ship into a spaceship."
"Because next time?"
I looked at the sky where the Eye had been.
"I'm not waiting for them to call."
"I'm going up there to knock on their door."