My Fate System

[The system has found a nearby fate fragment.]

[A temporal transmigration of fate has been detected.]

[Analyzing the phenomenon... 1%... 2%...]

The system began analyzing without Nikolai's approval, and it seemed that it would take a while before the system could explain.

The temple was sacred indeed, and even the wildlife deterred away from defiling it. Nikolai looked around and watched the center of the temple where a pond was placed, surrounded by lush and green trees.

"You seem to have realized something, or you are just lost," Master Edward plucked a flower, which made the beastman frown. Despite his apparent fear, the beastman took a step forward to stop him.

"Master Edward," the beastman began. "This garden is a holy place, and the act of destroying anything in it is a great sin. We have..."

Before the beastman could continue, Master Edward snapped his fingers, and the rageful man stopped talking. Nikolai frowned as the beastman entered a trance without any signs of waking up.

"Don't worry, I just placed him in a dream," the strategist smelled the flower, and he seemed pleased as his lips curved upward.

"Is that how you controlled the horses?"

"Wouldn't you want to lose yourself in a dream?"

"Dreams have an ending, and the ending is always reality," Nikolai looked around for the fate fragment. "Can you construct your dreams?"

"What if I can?" the master turned to him with a knowing smile. Nikolai has heard rumors before about the man's skill, but he didn't know if they were true.

All one needs to be omnipotent is a legendary skill, and the rest can be any type of skill. For the man in front of him, there were countless rumors in his past life.

"That would explain how you won the war," Nikolai looked at the man with fear. "If you can live every scenario in your sleep, wouldn't you have already won by the first move?"

"Your intellect makes me want to eat your brain," Master Edward was in front of him in an instant, a crazed look overtaking his face. When Nikolai tried to back away from the overreached hand, the glow in the man's eyes prevented him from moving.

The hand was about to grab his head, which would reveal his identity. Nikolai had no idea what got into the master to cause such a sudden craze, but he couldn't have his race known.

[Analysis complete.]

[A Fate Vision: a cluster of fate energy transcended the temporal boundaries to appear. Activating the vision requires 10 Fate Points to see the events that would transpire here.]

'Activate,' Nikolai ordered, and his fate points were consumed. A black spark of lightning came from the pond in the middle before a rift opened, sucking everything into it. Master Edward paused and turned toward the crack with a frown.

"What is this?"

Nikolai felt freed from the grasp of the monster, and he retreated backward, trying to get as far as he could. But, unfortunately, his unlucky stars made him meet such a creepy man, and he would have to find a way to escape.

However, while the man was busy looking at the Fate Vision with a wary expression, Nikolai realized that it would be hard to escape. On the other hand, finding Nikolai would be an easy feat if the man were indeed the master of dreams.

"I don't believe this is the work of Vyxas," Master Edward stood at the edge of the pond with a wary expression. "Not even the gods could cause an abnormality such as this one."

"Maybe it's a dungeon?" Nikolai acted ignorant for his good, not daring to reveal his knowledge about this rift.

"No, that's a different matter," Master Edward looked confused for the first time as if what happened wasn't within his calculations.

Nikolai studied the rift himself, and he could see something within it. He knew that as long as he approached it, the rift would take him into the future to see what would happen.

However, what if someone else went into the future? What if Master Edward was the one to go into the rift? Would he also be the one to manipulate fate into knowing?

More than dreadful, Nikolai was curious about what was going to happen. As he was wondering what would happen next, the rift suddenly expanded.

[A person with a high fate meter has come in contact with the vision. If this person comes in contact with tempered fate, the original timeline will be lost beyond recovery, and the system will terminate the current temporal branch.]

'What the hell?' Nikolai frowned when he read the words that didn't sound like something from the real world—terminating the current branch? Of course, Nikolai had no idea what that was, but he didn't think of it favorably.

"Master Edward, I think it's best to leave this place," Nikolai took a step forward, but the master shook his head. There was burning interest within his eyes, and it was crazier than the look he gave to Nikolai earlier.

"There is something within the rift. I can see it," the strategist got into the pond and began walking toward the rift. Nikolai ran forward and tried to jump before him, but the rift pulled them both into the vision.

As the two entered the other world, Nikolai received a dozen warnings that made it seem like the world was ending.

[Warning! A divergence has occurred!]

[Warning! A divergence has occurred!]

[Warning! A divergence has occurred!]

[A temporal divergence has occurred. If the divergence is more than 50%, a temporal breach will lead to termination.]

[A temporal divergence has occurred. If the divergence is more than 50%, a temporal breach will lead to termination.]

...

The warnings filled his view as if the system was malfunctioning. Nikolai felt as if he was riding the clouds before he landed. The place he landed was a carriage that had the princess in it.

"Are you alright?" Saint Maria asked Nikolai, who was looking about frantically. Then, as if his vision was a screen, there was a massive number in the upper part.

[DIVERGENCE: 11%]

The words were in bold capitalized letters as if trying to highlight their importance. Nikolai tried to calm down and think about this matter. He was wearing different clothes, and the princess was wearing a simple dress.

The divergence should be because he activated the vision to distract Master Edward from finding out his real identity: a dark being. However, the implications of his actions seemed to be graver than he initially thought.

A temporal divergence, tempered fate, and branch termination weren't things that sounded that should happen. Nikolai had no idea that his system was this sensitive about anyone but him tempering with fate.

Maybe it wasn't that life needed to be this way to proceed, but the system required some reference point to function. Master Edward was a monster in human skin, that if given a chance, would use his knowledge of a future event for his advantage.

This concludes that Nikolai needed to prevent the master from finding out anything of importance. In other words, the divergence would occur if the strategist learns too much about the future.

"Where are we going, princess?"

"To the ritual. Are you still asleep?" Princess Maria frowned, and Nikolai ignored her question. He didn't care about what happened now because it wasn't real life.

[DIVERGENCE: 12%]

"I'm sorry, princess. I seem to be confused," Nikolai hurried to play his part when the divergence percentage increased. Then, he sighed in relief when the rate returned to 11%.

The carriage left the city and went toward the ritual grounds. Countless flying ships arrived at the ritual ground, carrying guests from every nation.

"Where is Master Edward?"

"You were there when he said it would be boring to attend and that he is meeting an old friend," Princess Maria sighed. "He shouldn't be coming to the ritual, even though I insisted."

Nikolai wondered if this was the ordinary course of events. If Master Edward wasn't going to attend, it means that this was the perfect chance to assassinate the princess. So, this must be what gathered fate, the princess's assassination attempt.

The only issue is that the princess should survive, but Nikolai couldn't see how. If Master Edward was with her, no one could touch the princess. However, if he genuinely met an old friend, things might not be the same in this timeline.

'Who is this old friend?' Nikolai wondered what changed things in this lifetime. 'If their existence meant that the princess would die, then they are the anomaly in this timeline.'

As they drew closer to the ritual grounds, Nikolai realized the reason that a fate fragment had transcended the temporal line. The princess will die this time, and there will be no Saint Maria in the future.

The world of the past was chaotic, but some things needed to stay. One of them was the princess in front of him.. If she died, this means that a disaster is coming.