Lucius, feeling the unfamiliar cold sweat cling to his back, cupped his hands, then bowed to the child in front of him and asked without raising his head, “I did not mean any trouble. I apologize for what I’ve done, but can you please explain to me what I’ve actually done?”

The skeletal child continued to pinch the golden and orange threads, which were now on the verge of tearing, and responded, “Don’t act stupid with me. I notice his scent on you. Ever since you entered this world, this whole experiment was ruined. But I let you go do your own thing, since this experiment was already crap to begin with. Yet, you brought him here! Tell me! How did he gain access to this world?”

Suddenly, a voice that cracked came from above them, sounding like it was getting closer and closer, “Fate! I’ve finally found you!”

Hearing the voice, Lucius muttered out, “Master Unli?”

Compare to Lucius, the kid rolled his eyes and said, “Fuck. He’s here now. Child of Energy, you’ve got some explaining to do. Come with me.”

The kid let go of the threads of energy, which had finished etching a third vertical eye onto Delton’s forehead.

He, then went up through the pitch black hospital floors, with Lucius in tow.

Having arrived to the rooftop, they saw an object illuminating the night sky and crashing down like a meteor, leaving behind a red streak across the sky that did not dissipate.

Only when the object was approaching them, did it slow down, revealing a grotesquely muscular man with stiff, spiky black hair. He had a pudgy face, which was silky smooth, like that of a baby’s. However, his thin dark red pupils gave off an aura of ancientness.

The muscular man wore a simple red, unzipped tracksuit with white stripes, revealing the unsightly and bulging muscles on his torso. He placed his hands on his hips and gesticulated outward, taking on a prideful pose.

He spoke with a voice that cracked half of the time, “So this is where you’ve been hiding Fate? It’s honestly been too long, since we’ve made the bet. I’ve actually grown to miss you.”

The child pinched the bottom of his forehead, while cupping his elbow with the other hand. He looked up to stare at the muscular, baby-faced man and sighed with exasperation.

“What? You’ve never looked at a handsome man before? Well, I'll let you keep looking because you won’t find anyone more handsome than me.” The baby-faced man cackled, then he turned slightly, having noticed Lucius behind the kid.

He slapped himself on the face, then exclaimed, “Holy shit! Lucius?! You’re here, too?! Such a small place!”

Lucius recuperated, then cupped his hands to take a deep bow towards the baby-faced man, chuckling and saying, “Hehe. Master Unli. I didn’t think that showing someone else the Limit Breaker Path would get you to come out of your own world.”

Unli waved his hand in front of his face, but smiling gleefully, “Hohoho, you don’t need to show such formalities. We’ve known each other for too long already. Hmmm...So that’s why some of the streams of energy went this way. I was wondering why there’s energy exiting the Grand Harmony. And you’re right! Uncountably many people go down this path, but even just counting those who gained the path’s recognition, that still accounts to hundreds of people a day. Can you imagine me meeting each of those people? Ugh! I would not have the time to maintain my majestic physique!”

“Can you shut up already? You never change. You’re always so long-winded.” The kid yelled out with a frown on his face.

“No, Fate. It’s because you always talk too little. I speak the average amount. It’s because no one talks to you, so you don’t know how much people usually talk.”

A vein appeared on the child’s temple, and he responded, “Answer this question for me, then I’ll let you stay for a while. This experiment’s already ruined, since one of your students broke through the barrier.”

Unli crossed his arms and said, “Fine. I’ll give you an answer only if I know it.”

The kid pointed towards Lucius and asked, “Did you knowingly send him here?”

This question caused Unli to scrunch his eyebrows and bellow, “Haha! You think I’m that scheming and conniving just to win our bet. No! I did not send him here. I guess it was just fate, Hahaha!” He held his stomach as he laughed maniacally, causing another vein to pop up from the kid’s other temple.

Quickly turning away, he asked Lucius, “You! Child of Energy! Tell me how you actually got here.”

Lucius again felt the pressure and quickly answered, “I died I don’t know how long ago, but I escaped the Lifestream causing me to lose consciousness. By the time I woke up, I was already in this world.”

“I gave you a chance to tell the truth. It better be correct.” The kid’s eyes opened widely and images flashed within his pupils. Lucius stared into the eyes and saw several familiar images, such as his death and his fateful meeting with Delton.

Unli elbowed the kid’s shoulders, saying, “I saw it, too. Can you believe it? What are the chances of that even happening?”

“To break through the barrier, first of all, your soul must be powerful enough. Then you would’ve needed to escape the Lifestream to propel your soul with enough force to penetrate the world barrier. Lastly, you would’ve needed to have died right next to the boundaries. Fucking damn it! The chances are so slim, I don’t even have a number to describe it!” The kid started stamping on the floor, like a regular kid throwing a tantrum.

“Hahaha. I guess you could say it was Fate. Hahaha!”

“Shut the fuck up!” The kid put on a cute and horrific pout, causing Unli to pinch his cheeks, which then made another nerve to pop up on the kid’s temple.

Unli patted the kid’s head and said, “So Fate. It truly has been too long. Come. Let’s chat for a bit.”

“I don’t want to talk to you though.”

“Don’t be like that Fate. Come on...We’re close friends. Oh. Is it because you’re ashamed of your progress in our bet? Hohoho. How about I go first? I’ll have you know that with my path, someone forked it and was successful in reaching that level. It’s only a matter of time before—Oof”

“Bullshit!” The kid interrupted, by making a pushing gesture towards Unli, forcing Unli to be thrown back towards the direction from where he had come from in an almost instantaneous speed.

A cracking voice, echoed out, “You’re a dick, Fate! Hope to see you in the next meeting, Lucius!”

As if spurred on, Lucius responded with a smile on his face, while waving his hands goodbye, “Hopefully, I can see you there soon, Master Unli!”

The kid looked towards Lucius with a sneer and flicked his robes, causing them to be transported down to where Delton was held at. He asked Lucius, “What did Unli mean when someone reached that level?”

Lucius waved his hands and said, “What do you mean, umm...Fate?”

“Yes, you can call me Fate, but trust me I’m not the Fate that you curse at all the time. I have no power over the version of Fate that caused all this. I’m talking about Perfection. What do you think this world’s been made for? You should’ve noticed that the path these people follow is the path to reach a perfect human. They’re all at the high human level because of the ‘god-given’ talents that I gave them. I wanted them to evolve and reach the level of perfect human so I can have the recipe for it. Alas, this is already my 100th iteration of this portion of my experiment, and there were no results. Do you know who Unli was talking about? The one who reached that level?”

Lucius quickly responded, “Ah, yes. They’re actually in my memories.”

Fate stretched out its hands, “Give them to me. I’ll give you a generous reward.”

Lucius shook his head, “Um. I’m sorry, Fate. I’ve already started the inheritance process on this guy on the hospital bed.”

Fate dropped its hand, saying, “Tsk. The gall on you. First you break into my world to ruin my experiment, and now you plan on taking one of my creatures, too!”

Feeling the increasing pressure around him, Lucius could only say, “No no no. We made a deal. He’s gonna find someone else, so that I can inhabit that body.”

Fate gave Lucius a knowing smile, “Is that so? You know I’m only not directly influencing things because I have a very hands-off approach to things, much like everyone else at the Grand Harmony. But, since I need to cut off the inheritance, I guess I’ll just end the experiment, then.”

“Wait! Fate! There’s no need to do something so drastic. I actually have the memories of the man who’s reached that level. This kid’s also inheriting it.”

Fate’s smile grew wider and scarier, “Ah, so you won’t mind if I stay, then?”

Lucius rubbed the back of his head, shivering at the sight of the bony child, “Hehe, do I have a choice?”

“Of course not. If you thought Unli was strong, he’s nothing compared to me.”

Suddenly, a cracking voice came from beside them, “Oh yeah! Do you really want to fight me right now to prove it?”

However, he found that Lucius and Fate did not even bother to turn around.

“Fate! Lucius!” Unli tried to get their attention by calling out to them several times, but they both simply ignored him.

Lucius spoke, “So do we have a deal?”

“Sure, you can have the kid and I won’t end the experiment, if you let me experience those memories. In the future, I expect one of your creatures if you reach that level, too.”

“Hehe. It’s a deal then,” Lucius closed his eyes, as if waiting for something to happen, but what arrived was nothing.

Fate merely laughed and spoke, “Do you think those things can bind me?”

“That was stupid of me. He's in the process of inheriting my memories right now. But he’s going through Master Unli’s first trial. Do you want to go in now or later?”

Fate said without even thinking, “I’m a patient man, so now. Come on, then.”

They both turned ephemeral and went into Delton’s mind, while Unli gritted his teeth and went in after them, cursing, “Ungrateful bastards.”

Inside the mountainous landscape, they saw Delton having finished absorbing all of the orange and golden light that had bathed him. Unli cackled, causing Fate to turn around with a scowl, “You owe me one creature.”

“What do you mean? You owe me one spot! There’s a limited number of spots available for my path and one of your creatures just took it!”

Snapping out of the daze, the third eye on his forehead closed and Delton took a looks at his surroundings. He turned back to see the mountain crumbling right behind him, hearing the sounds of various silhouettes screaming.

However, instead of taking the first step onto the bridge, he just sat down and chanted the words, that seemed to be etched on his very mind.

“Humans have unlimited potential


Stay within the limits fate has set for you


Only then, can humanity survive


Strengthen a stable body


Develop a calm mind


Create a harmonious soul


Cultivate for a stable life”

Hearing those words, Unli’s mouth was wide agape and he grew more and more frustrated. Meanwhile, Fate was covering his mouth with his loose robes, but he let his laughter be heard, causing Unli to get angrier.

Unli screamed out, causing every single one of the mountains to crumble and the gray mist to disperse. This forced all of them to reappeared back at Fortissimus’ house, in which the child Lucius was still staring and chanting in front of the tablet.

Delton looked around and saw Lucius, along with a skeletal kid and the baby-faced muscle head. Before he could say anything, Unli disappeared from his sight. Being raised in the air quickly, Delton was not able to breathe. Suddenly, Delton felt his body smash down to the ground, forcing him to immediately take the ephemeral form.

“Master Unli, please calm down!” Lucius spoke up, trying to prevent Unli from taking any more actions. Fate continued to laugh louder, while Delton looked on in confusion as a fist strike landed on his ephemeral body, forcing him back to the ground.

"How could I calm down, if my Limit Breaker path is being used by some lazy ass like this guy? He even used the same adjective twice! I need to beat some sense into him!"