Cavaron awoke in a black space.

"Where am I?"

He looked around and saw that he was not alone. With him were three other men and one woman. Two men were familiar sights, while the other man and woman were unknown to him. The two men were, respectively, Blake's human form and Alexander Dalaram.

"Hello there, nice to see you here so soon." greeted Alexander, "This is where we get sent of to once we... Sacrifice... ourselves."

Alexander noticed Cavaron's confused expression, and thought to answer his question. The woman stood next to Alexander, and Blake stood next to Cavaron.

"Well, chief. You're in front of 'Him' now." said Blake, "Oh, by the way, that's my elder sister, Kali, Alexander's fragment."

The woman, Kali, curtsied towards Cavaron.

"I am the black panther that you saw earlier." she said, "Do not worry, as of now, we are no longer enemies."

Cavaron stood next to Alexander and faced the man, "Him", before them. "He" seemed ordinary. Ordinary build, ordinary clothes, ordinary... face? His face could not be seen. Whether by a shadow, by illusion, or by a veil, it couldn't be recognized.

"That was a nice sacrifice, Cavaron." said He, "You had no obligations in that world, yet you offered to give your life to save those who do. Admirable."

Cavaron stood there silently.

"And you, Alexander, the way you pushed for your dreams, although it was foiled by the person next to you. Admirable as well."

Alexander was also silent.

"I suppose the two of you are wondering why you're here in front of me, yes?"

The two men shrugged and nodded.

"Haha. Well, you know what the fragments represent, yes? Are you familiar with the Nordic Ragnarok?"

Cavaron shook his head, but Alexander nodded.

"The war of the gods." answered Alexander.

"Correct, this is similar to that, but it won't be against another group of gods... It will be against Fate itself. I know, I know. It is rather ambitious of me to say and do so, yet, here we are talking. The fragments are creations of mine to slowly deteriorate the chains of fate, and your sacrifices, for good and for bad, thoroughly shattered these chains."

The two men listened quietly.

"Now, you and the other carriers will aid me in my ambitious dream. Seems like a fair proposal for giving you a fruitful life?"

Cavaron frowned. Naturally, "He" noticed this.

"Is it about Aisha?"

Cavaron closed his eyes.

"I apologize, then. But such is ambition, sacrifices must be made."

Cavaron opened his eyes once more, this time more resolute.

"Those are good eyes, Cavaron. So, what do the both of you say? Will you aid me?"

Alexander crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and lowered his head. Deep in thought. Cavaron however, stretched both of his arms with energy fluctuating.

"Oh? So that's your choice?"

"One way or another, I'd rather be free." said Cavaron, "Aiding you feels like I was in debt, and I have to be of service to you."

"Disappointing. What about you, Alexander?"

"Hmm, I didn't really have any regret when I sacrificed myself." answered Alexander, "Although it hurts to see it failed, ah... I don't know. I don't like it when I'm pressed for an answer, let me think it over for a while."

"All right."

Alexander and Kali suddenly disappeared, leaving only Cavaron, Blake, and "Him" behind.

"I must ask, though." said Cavaron, "Are you the Devil in the biblical Terran scriptures?"

"Yes, and no. It all depends on your beliefs."

"What a helpful answer."

"Well, [Rewrite]."

"What just happened?"

"I 'rewrote' the rules of this space to make you at least become able to harm me. It wouldn't do good if I could negate all damage."

"Huh?"

"Well, you are fighting against a god."

"Ha?"

"I... Am... A... God... but not the God of Fate, mind you. I am after all trying to disrupt the damn thing."

"Well... shit..."

"I hope you'll make your struggle worthwhile."

---

"He" suddenly disappeared right before me. Before I could even react, "He" went behind me and grabbed my shoulders. Suddenly, he just pushed me forward for seemingly no reason but, that small push actually sent me flying. So this is a true god?

"Wah!" I screamed.

A surprise, really. I expected him to do more than just pushing me. Twisting my body in midair, I regained my balance. What I thought to be the distance between "Him" and I became so short as "He" closed in on me. I summoned my magic swords, my Mana Sword and my Blood Sword. My Mana Sword hummed with energy and shone brilliantly and, using my own blood, I provided power to my Blood Sword.

"He" thrust a fist towards me. Either his fist is indestructible or he is confident that I won't be able to parry it away. I used the edge of my swords to slap his fist away, but it was actually the former. His fist wasn't injured despite my blades striking his bare skin. He even brought his other hand out and grabbed hold of my blades.

"Come on, Cavaron. Just because you learned that I am a god, you hesitate in your attacks? Where did those resolute pair of eyes go?"

Was that a taunt? Or a fact? Did I just dig my grave without knowing the truth?

"Come on, Cavaron. What is it that you believe in?"

Eh? What are you saying right now? What do my beliefs have to do with me beating you?

"Confusion, anxiety, doubt... It clouds your mind, I see. Pathetic."

Suddenly, a burst of energy exploded from his hands and shattered my Mana Sword. "He" also grabbed hold of my Blood Sword and destroyed it with equal ease. Losing my prized weapons, I didn't know what to do. I looked at his face, and I could swear I saw a frown.

"Do you really wish for me to torture you? I can go on all day... no, for all eternity."

I just realized something, where is Blake?

(You called, chief?) said Blake, his voice resounded deep within my consciousness.

(Where, how?) I said to him.

A figure of a small cat appeared within my mind.

(Ever since 'He' gave me to you, I had always become a part of you. Need anything else, chief?)

Blake's unnatural smirk appeared before me. His cat form disappeared and was replaced by his human form. Suddenly, he removed his mask and his face had changed. Blake became my spitting image. He had become me.

(I know you're smarter than this, chief.) said Blake, (What is it that you truly believe in? No, wait, wrong question... What is it that you truly *want*?)

What I want? I, then, had a flashback of all the worlds I had been to, my first summonings, my first encounters... Everything.

"What I want is freedom." I suddenly spoke out loud.

"He" seemed to look at me, amazed.

"Then, Cavaron, what will you do to achieve it?"

"Actions speak louder than words."

Flames erupted around my body. What were once destroyed were recreated. My broken swords snuggly fit in my hands. The flames, without my exertion, produced portals to other worlds, and summoned my closest allies.

Without a word, somehow feeling my intent, stepped forward in their Avatar forms. From Culverin to the Three Gems, including the supposedly recuperating Burkhard. A full on ensemble of contracts.

Without waiting for my orders, the first to let loose their attacks were Rata and Rati. Bolts of lightning and golden balls of fire flew in a volley towards "Him". Followed by the dragons, the Elemental Lords let loose their respective attacks. Fire, Ice, Thunder, Earth, Water, Wind, Light, and Darkness.

My Spirits charged forward, weapons drawn, to engage "Him" in a melee. I, too, went alongside them to provide my own efforts in attaining what I want. The others attacks had landed, and I could see that his clothes had charred from the flames. Looking at the other parts of his body, Ice Shards and Earth Spears had pierced through. Yet, even with that damage, "He" just shrugged them all off.

"The interpretations of the Elemental Laws are interesting with each person. Their understanding varies from one another. However, what if the one using the laws is capable of manipulating their very essence?"

Fire and lightning arched over to "Him" but, before they could reach their target, broke up into many red lights. Lights that I had once seen before. Ice and water shattered into blue lights, and earth and air dissipated into green lights. The holy bolts and dark tendrils disintegrated into white and black lights, respectively.

"These things that you see right now are the five basic systems of the Eight Elemental Laws. These essences are: Red that governs over Fire and Electricity, Blue that governs over Ice and Water, Green that governs over Earth and Wind, and White and Black are specialties on their own."

"He" manipulated a storm of blue essences and sent them towards Culverin and Bronte. Culverin and Bronte could not resist the storm and reverted back to their ordinary forms.

"Blue essences overpower those of the Red system."

Next, "He" sent a torrent of red essences towards Avani and Stormfel. Avani and Stormfell received the same fate as they reverted back to their ordinary forms.

"Red essences overpower those of the Green system."

After that, "He" sent a surge of green essences towards Glacia and Tirta. The same happened and they were weakened back to their ordinary forms.

"Of course, Green essences will overpower those of the Blue system."

The six Elemental Lords had fallen easily before "Him" without resistance. We could not even believe that ease at which "He" had with just manipulating the essences.

The Three Gems, the three witches behind me, looked at one another and nodded, understanding each one's intentions. The three girls behind me charged forward, their poisoned magic revolving around their bodies, ready to launch.

"Of course, these three essences could be melded. Red-Green, Blue-Green, Blue-Red melded systems. Even melding it all to create both White and Black."

"He" made the three essences fuse into one then split into two. The red, blue, and green fused as one into white and black essences. Afterwards, he created a wave of white essences followed by spears of black essences.

"The White and Black systems equally go against one another. However, what would happen if higher systems were to go against those of lower systems?"

The wave of white essences slammed hard on the three witches. Followed by the black spears, the three of them were pierced effortlessly, dropping them on the ground. "He" just stood there, relatively unharmed. Cheating? I don't know anymore. We were up against a god, dammit! Was that earlier a show of mercy, or just a pity party!?

"Worry not, Cavaron. I know what you're thinking. As for that Cross Ark over there, have some of these."

The essences swirled and melded together in front of Shamira. Shamira was wary of what "He" was planning to do. However, her expression of wariness turned into hesitation and confusion when "He" finished.

"Would you like to have some candy?"

Candy!? Argh! What's this? Her addiction is now her greatest bribe!? I should not have given her that no matter how curious she was. Shamira stared at the pile of candy in front of her. She brought a hand to grab one piece, but her other hand pulled it back.

"Hesitation. Disappointing."

"He" suddenly made the candy disappear. On Shamira's face was both relief and sadness. Make up your mind!

"Well, seeing as that didn't work out too well, have some higher systems. Here is the Gold system of space and the Silver system of time."

Gold and silver essences appeared behind him. The gold and silver essences suddenly exploded and everyone, except for "He" and I, stopped. Time stopped for them.

"Silver governs over time. Combined with Gold, I can specify which ones are to be affected. And, like before, each system can be melded with another. The ultimate would be those that meld with the Gold and Silver systems."

All of the essences around him melded together, forming into a ball of pure translucence. This ball of translucence equally split into two balls.

"Here, we have everything for creation."

One ball of translucence, before my very eyes, created a human being. After the human, next were the elves, the fae, the demons, the spirits, and many more. A legion of each possible race stood on his right.

"And here, we have everything for destruction."

The other ball of translucence created many wraths of nature. Storms, meteors, even death itself. So few, yet so very powerful. Just these few examples are enough to destroy whatever was created.

"He" suddenly pointed at me with both hands, and the two balls of translucence explosively shot at me. With no time to react, the two balls passed through my body.

"And right there is everything for the maintenance of balance in the multiverse."

The moment he said that, my sight faded away. I could still see Shamira and Nox staring disbelievingly at my falling body.

Darkness.

...

..

.

---

I awoke in a black space. "He" was right before me, and my contracts, my companions were still with me. I remember that I got hit by the two balls of translucence, then my sight went dark.

"And now, I show you Fate. You died, but also did not die. How about it, Cavaron, what do you believe in?"

"Even if I were to fight against you, it won't mean that I will win and achieve my freedom, yeah?"

"If that's what you believe in, then maybe."

"Okay, I choose absolute. Absolute freedom."

A dagger-shaped flame appeared in my right hand. "He" just stood there, watching me. My contracts also watched me, waiting for what I had in mind. In the end, they all had resolute faces as they watched me bring the dagger to my chest.

"SEE YOU IN THE NEXT LIFE!"

I thrust the dagger through my chest, into my heart. I twisted the blade, and thrust it in deeper, ending my life and achieving my freedom.

--------------------

Die!