For a moment, the entire black market cavern was silent, bathed in the residual, shimmering light of the shattered fragment.
Lin Feng stared at his empty hands, his expression a mask of pure disbelief. His prize, his key to freedom, had literally flown away.
Seraphina clutched the piece of the fragment that had flown to her, her eyes wide with a mixture of shock and avaricious triumph. She had failed to acquire the whole, but she had gained a piece of it through sheer, cosmic chance.
And Lyra… my sister stood frozen, her hand pressed against her chest where the third piece of the fragment had vanished. A look of profound, terrified, and ecstatic wonder was dawning on her face. Her breathing was ragged. She wasn't just a regressor anymore. The game had just handed her a cheat code of her own.
My mind was a maelstrom. The Glitch Protocol had succeeded beyond my wildest dreams, upgrading my Quest Board to a god-like 'Destiny Map'. But the cost, the unforeseen consequence, was catastrophic. I had intended to jailbreak my own System. Instead, I had just armed my two most unpredictable rivals with pieces of it.
I had turned a two-player game into a three-body problem, a state of absolute, unpredictable chaos.
The data-siphon on Seraphina gave me a glimpse into her thoughts.
[SYSTEM ALERT - SERAPHINA VANE]
[A foreign System fragment, 'Lottery Wheel - Shard 1/3', has been acquired.]
[Integrating fragment into Host System...]
[INTEGRATION COMPLETE. NEW FUNCTION UNLOCKED: 'GACHA OF FATE'.]
[Description: Once per month, you may spend a significant amount of 'Destiny Points' to spin the wheel for a chance to win an item, skill, or 'Fated Event' that is beneficial to your primary objectives.]
She had gained a powerful new tool, one that could literally bend fate to her will, albeit randomly.
But it was the change in Lyra that was the true wild card. My Phantom Observer, still linked to the now-useless Lin Feng, saw it happen. A new, faint energy signature bloomed within her. It wasn't a full system. It was a raw, untamed piece of cosmic power.
She looked around the cavern, her eyes locking for a moment on Seraphina, then on the stunned Lin Feng. The fear in her expression was being rapidly replaced by a dawning, ruthless ambition. She gave me, or rather, the empty space where she thought I might be observing, a look of pure, triumphant hatred. Then, before anyone could react, she turned and melted into the crowds, vanishing into the black market's labyrinth.
She had her prize. And she was smart enough to know she needed to escape before the other predators in the room realized what she now possessed.
The truce was over. Our fragile alliance, born of mutual need, had just been rendered obsolete. She was no longer a simple regressor. She was a player, and I had just handed her the dice.
In my chambers, I dismissed the Phantom Observer, the link severing. I was back in my own body, the silence of the room a stark contrast to the chaos I had just witnessed and caused.
My new Quest Board, my 'Destiny Map', shimmered in my mind. It was no longer a list; it was a constellation. Three primary stars burned brightly on it, each representing a major player.
SERAPHINA (The Agent): Her star was a cold, violet light. I could see her Main Quest: 'The Sundered Throne'. Her objective was still to 'harvest' the World-Breaker. But now, a new, secondary objective had appeared: [Objective: Acquire all remaining fragments of the 'Lottery Wheel'.]
LIN FENG (The Weapon): His star was a dull, angry red. His primary quest, issued by his own broken system, was now simple and brutal: [MAIN QUEST: SURVIVE AND GROW STRONGER]. My own custom quest, 'The Wheel of Fortune', was marked as [COMPLETE - REWARD DELIVERED (CONCEPTUAL)]. He was now a free agent, my leash on him severed by the paradoxical reward. He was a rabid dog, truly off his chain.
LYRA (The Wild Card): Her star was a new, unstable, shimmering silver. The system couldn't read her 'quests' because she didn't have a formal System. It could only read her 'Intent'. And her primary intent was a single, burning line of text: [PRIMARY INTENT: ACQUIRE POWER. SURPASS KAELEN RAVENCREST. KILL KAELEN RAVENCREST.]
I had just given my most hateful enemy a weapon and the motivation to use it exclusively on me.
This was a disaster. A beautiful, glorious, opportunity-filled disaster.
The old game was over. The new game, a chaotic free-for-all for the scattered pieces of my own power, had begun. My goal was no longer just to defeat my rivals. It was to hunt them down and repossess the parts of my own soul that they now carried.
My first priority was Lyra. Seraphina was a long-term, cosmic threat. Lin Feng was a predictable brute. But Lyra was an immediate, intimate danger. She had a regressor's knowledge, a personal vendetta, and now, a piece of raw, untamed reality-warping power. She was the most unstable variable, and she needed to be dealt with.
But how to find her? She had vanished into the city.
This was the first test of my new, upgraded Quest Board. It wasn't just a viewing tool. The 'Watcher' had said it would allow me to interfere.
I focused my will on Lyra's shimmering, silver star. The star chart zoomed in, showing her as a point of light moving through a map of the capital. She was heading for a secluded, abandoned temple on the outskirts of the city—a place I knew from my past life was rumored to have a hidden, sealed spiritual well. She was going to try and use that energy to understand and assimilate her new power.
I saw her intent. Now, to interfere.
A new option appeared on my Destiny Map.
[INTERFERENCE PROTOCOL: 'THE FALSE ORACLE']
Description: You can spend System Points to subtly alter the destiny of a target, creating a new, minor 'Fated Event' that aligns with your objectives.
Target: Lyra Ravencrest.
Proposed Event: Introduce a 'flaw' into her assimilation process. While she communes with her fragment, she will receive a 'vision'. This vision will seem to be a powerful insight from the fragment itself, but it will be a carefully crafted lie of your own design.
Cost: 3,000 SP.
It was expensive, almost my entire remaining fortune. But the potential was immense. I could plant a piece of disinformation at the very core of her newfound power.
"Do it," I commanded. "The vision will tell her that to truly master her new power, she must acquire a 'catalyst'. And that catalyst is the 'heart's blood' of a World-Breaker. It will tell her that the key to her ascension is to hunt down and personally kill Lin Feng."
...COMMAND CONFIRMED. CRAFTING FALSE ORACLE.
...3,000 SP DEDUCTED.
...THE NEW FATE-THREAD HAS BEEN WOVEN.
It was a masterstroke of manipulation. I was turning my two most immediate enemies against each other. Lyra, empowered by her new fragment, would become a relentless hunter. Lin Feng, the freed fugitive, would become the hunted. They would tear each other apart, and I would be free to operate in the shadows, gathering my own strength.
I had turned a catastrophic failure into the perfect opportunity. I leaned back, a cold smile on my face, ready to watch the fireworks.
But just as I was savoring my own cleverness, the data-siphon from Seraphina's system flashed with a new, urgent alert. She was also reacting to the new situation. And her move was something so audacious, so completely outside the bounds of our mortal conflict, that it made my own schemes seem like petty squabbles.
[SYSTEM ALERT - SERAPHINA VANE]
[New 'Group System' function has been activated due to 'Lottery Wheel' fragment integration.]
[USER 'SERAPHINA VANE' HAS SENT A CROSS-DIMENSIONAL INVITATION.]
[INVITATION SENT TO: The Judicator, Court of Inevitability.]
[MESSAGE TEXT: 'The Wager of Realms has been compromised by the emergence of a new, untethered power source. Requesting an immediate, in-person consultation to renegotiate the terms of my service and the rules of the game.']
She wasn't just playing the game anymore. She was calling the referee and trying to rewrite the fucking rulebook. And she was doing it right now.