Some chains that Claud never knew existed seemed to fall away as the world reformed around him, and intuitively, the master thief felt like his body had grown lighter. Pressure plates would find it harder to detect his presence, and under these conditions, Claud felt that even the pre-Folder him would be able to run on walls like a master or something.

He scanned his environment. The white moon, now huge and overbearing, hung above him and the circular platform he stood on. Below him, he could feel a vast sea of darkness, lapping at his very soul. Wincing mildly, he tore his gaze away and looked at the new notification on his Status.

[The Fourth Bearer of Destiny has arrived.]

Claud paused for a moment, and then looked around at the weird grey space they were currently in. There were two other people, but before he could gather more thoughts, there were other flashes of light, and more notifications appeared at the same time.

[The Twelfth Bearer of Destiny has arrived.]

[The Seventh Bearer of Destiny has arrived.]

[The Tenth Bearer of Destiny has arrived.]

Claud took a deep breath, and then frowned. If the notifications came with the order of arrival, it went without saying that he was the Fourth Bearer of Destiny. For obvious reasons, this didn’t go down well with him — his skill on his Status was FiBoD; was there an error or something?

The idea that his status had an error was laughable, though, and if he thought about it a bit more, it was probably a different word. Whatever the case, however, Claud finally knew his outside identity — the Fourth Bearer of Destiny. It had been bugging him ever since he realised that he was neither the First nor the Fifth, but…

Letting out a sigh, Claud scrutinised the other Bearers of Destiny. He was wearing three masks, and the last one was one that was designed to prevent people from looking past it, but a sweeping gaze told him that his preparations were a bit pointless. Everyone’s face had been distorted; for some reason, they looked like freaking squares or something.

It would be easier to simply refer to the other Bearers of Destiny via their clothes or something. For instance, the Twelfth Bearer of Destiny was wearing a dress that Claud felt looked better on Lily; there was this lily motif on her blue dress, making it seem like a peaceful pond. The Tenth Bearer of Destiny had…like five swords hanging all over his body, and Claud intuitively thought about Dia, who was probably thinking of doing the same thing too.

It was a shame he couldn’t peg more descriptions to more titles, but this was good enough.

“Odd,” someone said quietly, in a low and melodic voice. “There are six people here.”

“Don’t think too hard,” the Tenth Bearer of Destiny replied. “To begin with, there were fourteenth Bearers of Destiny. It seems that either the White God or the Black God sent out their own representatives, even though it’s against the rules.”

Before Claud could figure out what the bonds these two people shared, another burst of boxes appeared in his vision again.

[The end of the cycle has begun.]

[Bridge the Aeons and head to a new world with your own hands.]

[Overcome entropy, or fall to the limbo between realities.]

[ has been issued.]

[ has been granted.]

[ detected.]

[ has been issued.]

Claud looked at the words slowly, and a tremble ran down his spine. The first line was so ominous that he didn’t even dare to think about what it meant, and as he read on and on, a sense of dread flooded his body.

The world was ending?

“What is this?” Claud whispered, unable to control himself. “Why do we need to build a new stairway? What is this?”

He took a deep breath, and then took a step back. Claud wasn’t alone in reacting this way either; some of the other Bearers of Destiny in attendance were also reacting similarly, and their gazes swept through the venue. In that instant, Claud felt very small.

His actions to save Lily seemed incredibly inadequate, compared to this…end of the cycle, whatever it was. Forcefully controlling himself, Claud clenched his fists and felt his fingers bite deep into the palms of his hands.

The pain stimulated his mind and Claud sucked in a long breath. His body, as light as it felt right now, felt burdened by this knowledge of the impending end. However, this impending end…there was probably some finesse to it; after all, the Second Tutorial had taken place centuries after the present time.

It could also very well be metaphorical, but whatever the case, Claud knew that he had to control himself well first. There was no point engaging in wild guessing at this point; all he could do was to open up the mission that had appeared on his Status — it would point him in the right direction.

[Mission: Bridging the Aeon Span (Phase 1)

Mission Introduction: The end of the cycle approaches, and with it the cessation of all life. With the blessing of the five grand skies, a new world will be formed with the foundation of the old. Forge a path to the new eternity with the powers of either the Dark or the Moons.

Mission requirements: Choose to either join the Dark or the Moons, and then help your chosen faction build the Aeon Bridge in the following week.

Mission reward: Final faction confirmation, 100 years of lifespan

Additional remarks: Your faction’s performance in this mission will affect your comprehensive combat strength in Phase 3]

[Omen Mission: Shattering the Cycle (Phase 1)

Mission Introduction: The end of the cycle approaches, and with it the cessation of all life. With the blessing of the five grand skies, a new world will be formed with the foundation of the old. However, this new world will be a stagnant one, replete with an eternally recurring cycle. The Godsfalls will play out once more on the stage made by the Dark and the Moons, recreating tragedy and stagnation. Shatter the cycle and bring infinite possibility to the world once more.

Mission requirements:

Create an Aeon Bridge made up from both the Dark and Moons’ Aeon Bricks

OR

Ensure that the constructed Aeon Bridges by both sides are damaged by at least 50%.

Mission reward: is raised by a certain number of ranks, based on your performance at the end of Phase 1. Your lifespan is increased based on your performance at the end of Phase 1.

Additional remarks: Failure to complete this mission will result in unfathomable consequences for all life. Be aware that you are the enemy of every other Bearer of Destiny present. If your identity is discovered, they will attack you.]

Claud read through both missions in silence, before touching his throbbing head once. A set of mental images had risen to the forefront of his mind’s eyes at that moment, and the mana in his body was moving. This phenomenon wasn’t confined to him either; the others were also behaving oddly.

Fatigue gushed through his veins a moment later, and mana surged out to form a small, grey coloured brick. That wasn’t any metaphor; the thing that his mana had produced was a literal brick, and Claud frowned as he looked at the heavy rectangle in his hand.

At the same time, the others were also holding on to grey colour bricks too, and in that instant, Claud understood what had happened.

They had learned how to use Aeon Fold.

Claud fell silent a few seconds later, his eyes alternating between the brick and the missions in his eyes.

The missions sounded rather simple, if unfitting for this so-called final showdown between both sides or whatever. The main goal was to build an Aeon Bridge. While he didn’t quite understand how these bridges worked or what they did, Claud could tell that they were a ticket to some new world, whatever it was. The main mission was to create those bridges, but now that another mission had appeared, Claud was beginning to feel a little suspicious.

Was it only the Omen who received a mission? Or did the other Bearers of Destiny receive their own missions too? Something that would change things around in this new world, for instance? It was hard to tell, since no one could see each other’s faces, but…

His role was a bit odd, though. That Omen Mission had told him to either damage both Aeon Bridges badly or ensure that there was only one bridge by the end of this trial. The idea seemed to approach the concept of unity, but…

The difficulty was a bit too hard, wasn’t it? Claud absolutely did not believe that these two sides would conceivably do something like this, unless he worked out a plan, and right now, he didn’t have a single one.

Another screen popped up a few seconds later.

[Choose your faction.]

Without warning, two Bearers of Destiny lit up, serenaded by the colours of their respective factions. The first one, wreathed in tri-coloured light, was the Twelfth Bearer of Destiny, while the other, clad in shadow, was one of the earlier arrivals. Both of them didn’t seem flustered by the sudden occurrences, and Claud complained in his mind about how unfair the whole thing was.

An hourglass appeared behind the duo a moment later, a timer urging them to choose, and Claud began to examine the two people in attendance.

Which side was the easier one to betray?