„Wake up,“ a hoarse voice resounded in the chamber. A familiar old man stood beside Lure’s bed.

“Am I still dreaming?” she asked, though she already knew the answer.

“No. But perhaps yes in a certain way. Today everything shall end, and humanity will strife for a new future, one without any shackles.” He observed the stars through the windows, lost in his thoughts.

“My father, you…”

Huic shook his head. “I am deeply sorry. I've gambled and I lost. People were scheming against your father, and I have tried to lure them out of their corner. Sadly, I have failed, and Maestro could escape, though severely injured.

“How do you want to fix this mess?” Maybe she was too sleepy, but she somehow couldn’t get angry with him.

“Look out of the window or in your heart, and you’ll find the answer, maybe.”

Clearly, at this point, she had been lost in the conversation, however, he continued, speaking with open eyes and some kind of madness, “Today, I’ll play Jesus. No, wait. I shall be Prometheus, bringing the fire and civilization.”

The last words were clearly absurd, totally senseless.

“Are you –“

“No, I’m fine. I need to go, though since midnight is the best time.”

“For what?”

“To achieve my plan. You’ll understand. The watch I gifted you will work from tomorrow on.” He looked for a long time at the sleepy Lure and said, “Farewell.” Fading away, he silently left.

She stood up, for she couldn’t sleep anymore and had too many questions. Why am I back at school? What is his plan? And why do I have this ominous feeling?

As Huic stood on the roof of NIP's headquarters, dark clouds were forming on the night sky and rumbled, threatening to engulf the world.

One man stood against the shackles of the world that enslaved humans. Oh, The Heavens are everything but impartial, cruel to the average human, playing their game of righteousness and pettiness. The roof had a platform that was meant to showcase the panorama of 3N, and of course, it couldn’t be accessed via a lift since all important empowered beings can fly.

He held the sizzling energy orb in both hands, lifting it towards the sky. A fin pillar of light shot towards the stratosphere, not bigger than the width of a hair. The sky rumbled again, far stronger than any instance documented of Renouncing.

“Show me your cards.” Huic waited patiently for the retaliation of that being. Lightning struck the building. It thundered. Multiple times. Yet someone prevailed, someone was on a quest to change the impossible. On a quest to open the eyes of humanity, to bring the fire like Prometheus did; this person was none other than Huic.

An arm made out of clouds rushed towards Huic from above. It was bigger than the whole area of 3N, and Huic felt like an ant crushed by a shoe, yet he didn’t fret and simply diffused the mighty hand with the help of the orb whose primary reason for existence was actually to fight that being. He knew that no human apart from him could understand what had just happened, for they were all blind. Only he could see the hand, ordinary people and heroes alike only saw some strange phenomenon, but nothing more.

His hands trembled, his breath became irregular and his eyes blinked several times, showing his nervousness, yet never did he even think for a moment to retreat in front of the immense danger.

“Oh, I’m sure you believe you’ll win, but my victory today isn’t your defeat.”

The Heavens answered with an earth-shattering roar, causing several windows to break.

Huic stood still and deliberately tried to calm his breath while several twisting whirlpools formed on the sky.

As the heavens tried to counterattack, they left themselves vulnerable which was part of his plan. This time, he channelled the orb’s power through his body – as he did for his regeneration – and projected his power into the twisting whirlpools in the sky.

Finally, the first step is complete. So far so good, Huic had duped the heavens. After reaching S-rank, all abilities can fuse for a short amount of time into a true domain that can be used at will and even overwrite the physical laws of the universe. Huic, however, went further and did the unthinkable, for he wanted to change some metaphysical truths for a short time, effectively robbing The Heavens of their authority. The orb had the ability to amplify someone’s ability and enabled him to temporarily execute his wish.

An indescribably beautiful landscape appeared in the whirlpool. Mountains and seas even more majestic than in any paintings from Caspar David Friedrich emerged, showing the might of The Heavens. A thick, scarlet thread both connected Huic and the mysterious paradise and revealed that Huic’s Karma was terrible – not unsurprising, considering that he had indirectly killed many people this very day.

Huic madly laughed, drunk on the orb’s power, defying all odds, defying everything a mere human stood for in the grand scheme of things. The Heavens couldn’t touch the landscape; they couldn’t affect themselves since they were unchangeable. However, lightning formed around the whirlpool and connected to the karmic thread. While the sky rumbled again, electric discharges shot towards Huic.

A pity. If he had managed to achieve S-rank without Renouncing, he wouldn’t have become Heaven’s citizen and could have actually threatened to shake them up. Alas, he couldn’t. Sadly. But he didn’t need to. For he could trick the mighty with the power of an ant.

He deflected the lightning with a wave of his hand, though it cost a huge amount of the orb’s energy reserves.

Step two was about to begin. He folded his hand and expanded them rapidly. In response, the mountains and seas expanded as well, destroying the whirlpool.

An eye opened in the middle of the landscape. “Heavens’ Eye, good, good.” He halted for a breath’s time and proclaimed, “Shatter.” And the mountains and seas shattered. To be exact, the projection of the landscape shattered, revealing another realm. Un train peut en cacher un autre. In fact, beyond The Heavens lay the true ruler of fate, and the Heavens’ Eye was his incantation or projection. The heavens shattered and the sky was fully replaced by the golden light of this new mysterious realm. Step two had concluded, but all things are free.

The Judge stood on this throne and carefully observed Huic. His body was stretched in the sky and half concealed by the horizon. Similar to a puppeteer, countless Karma threads were linked from his hands to the humans on Earth, however not all humans. This was the real problem. This was the reason Huic had to fight in the first place. Because The Judge was responsible for the Awakening and had done the unthinkable: he had stolen the fate of most humans or in other words the free will of most men. As compensation, the usurped Heavens granted certain individuals the right to ascend; they are empowered, empowered by The heavens who grants them power. However, if one Renounces, one becomes a puppet of the fate stealer, one of his chess pieces.

Huic, albeit, had decided to become a revolting bishop, revealing the truth to everyone. At the moment, only he himself could see The Heavens, for he had mastered the arts of the watch without clock-hands.

“Reveal,” he shouted as he was about to change the metaphysical laws. Using his domain on the sky and indirectly on the judge, he managed to open the eyes of every human.

“Connect!”. His illusions became reality and so did the laws in his universe. For a few minutes, no second, his domain encompassed The Heavens and the domain of The Judge, imposing his will to the world.

Huic could feel and hear the thoughts of countless perplexed humans who were overwhelmed by the sight of the giant Judge in the sky. And they were right to be afraid of their enemy. This one was cruel to the bone.

“My brothers and sisters,” he calmly said in an otherworldly voice, “the being you see in the sky has enslaved most of humanity. Most of us are just shells of their former selves since the Awakening. Nearly everybody has lost his free will, for the Judge has overwritten certain physical and metaphysical laws, thus establishing determinism.”

Sweat ran down his forehead and wrinkles started forming on his face; he felt it. His lifeforce was rapidly sucked away from the karmic thread and was transferred The Heavens. However, he couldn’t cap the connection, or he himself would lose his free will.

As he lost his power, he realized that step three had succeeded and he had brought the fire to humanity. Now it’s a new generation’s turn to lead humanity to a bright future. In his last moments, he thought of Lure and her mother, but about his family too.

He laughed madly like dying god. “I shall at least give you one big grievance.” With his final strength, he attempted to steal the fate for the humans back. Tranquil, he formed with the last charge of the orb a big hand in the sky and tried to grab The Judge, this being with open eyes but closed ears.

The immortal being didn’t even need to lift a single hand. It smiled, though, the reason unknown. Just bevor the hand reached The Judge, it was stopped by an invisible wall, became transparent and finally ceased to exist. Similarly, Huic’s body started fading and his very existence was about to cease. Countless humans were weeping; their reason was twofold. Firstly, Huic was their moral pillar in their misery. Without him, humanity’s unity would crumble, for they lacked a hero to follow. The second point was even more dramatic because the average human would forget what had happened this very day, only an Empowered could keep his memory.

“I guess it’s goodbye then. See you all in another life.”