Chapter 11 – [The Lady Who Reads The End] [3]
The Goddess and Cassius looked at each other, the tension between them swelling dangerously, reaching a point where everything might just explode.
Thoughts paraded through each of their minds, analysing the situation depending on whatever information they each held.
Evidently, neither knew the full picture. But they knew enough to fill the gaps with their own imagination.
What Cassius was asking was not a simple Blessing. Oh no, not at all. This was the Blessing of the very core of the Goddess's power — one of Fate and Secrecy.
Attributes closely linked to the System itself.
Considering that each god had only one opportunity to take a Blessed, and that whatever they gave could never be reclaimed… accepting Cassius's offer was, without question, the very definition of a bad decision.
But the Goddess couldn't lie to herself — she was tempted. Tempted to watch the story of this young mortal unfold. Tempted to witness the many Epilogues along the way.
'If there is one thing no one can doubt about the Desdemona,' she thought, smiling faintly, 'it is their uncanny ability to destroy everything but themselves.'
Those wicked bastards.
And yet she now had a rightful opportunity to be among them. That was when an old realisation surfaced in her mind, nearly making her chuckle.
'We are gods. We have transcended mortality and all its limitations. For us, something is only bad if it doesn't serve our goal.'
But if it functioned as a ladder toward their goal, their ambitions? Then even a family like the Desdemona would look holy and beautiful and worth embracing.
"I am not supposed to ask this," the Goddess finally said, "but are you certain, Desdemona's Spawn?"
"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't."
"The Blessing of Absolute Fate is permanent." She continued, her voice carrying a note of danger and finality that tightened Cassius's chest. "Once your Fate is revealed, you will need to act in accordance with it, if you wish to go far. And considering your bloodline, not going far means far more than just stagnation."
"I am well aware." Cassius said softly, his face damp with sweat. "I gain everything if I do, and remain weak if I don't. Potentially even die."
He shrugged. "It seems to me there's no real need to think about it. The choice is obvious enough."
"The information about the God's corpse, and everything else you promised?"
"You will naturally have all of it."
"Perfect. Then allow me to ask one final thing." She narrowed her eyes. "How do you know all of this, I wonder?"
Cassius smiled, and made no effort to answer.
The Goddess clicked her tongue, yet she could barely hide the satisfied gleam in her eyes.
She raised her index finger — slowly, deliberately — and pressed it directly against Cassius's forehead.
He shivered, his breathing picking up, feeling the cold touch of something far beyond his station.
"There will be no point of return once the process starts." She said. "For either of us."
"Partners?" Cassius grinned.
"Partners, Desdemona's spawn."
"Maybe you should start calling me by my name. Don't you think?"
The Goddess smiled, and made no effort to answer.
Cassius's lips twitched. But before he could even protest her pettiness, the process had already begun.
In a heartbeat, the Goddess's index finger burst into a ball of silver threads that enveloped Cassius's entire head like a helmet.
His eyes glazed, then drifted into a strange state, one caught somewhere between Dream and Reality.
The Goddess closed her eyes for a moment, drew a deep breath, then snapped them wide open.
'Don't let me regret this, Spawn.'
Her body glowed, and the threads around Cassius's head glowed in return. At first a silvery grey, but as time passed it shifted into a deep, profound crimson.
The light was so intense it bled across the entire realm, a sharp sound whispering from somewhere distant, faraway, and sounding like the rattling of chains.
The threads gathered themselves next, taking on the distinct shape of a head with two demonic horns jutting upward on either side.
[The Lady Who Reads The End] stared at it without surprise. She expected nothing less from this bloodline.
The demon-like head then unravelled itself like a ribbon, until it was nothing but a thin crimson thread as long as a human body. It entered Cassius through his forehead.
His body shook as if thunder had been let loose inside him. He stooped and fell to his knees, mouth wide open in a soundless scream of pain and anguish.
Crimson veins bulged from his head, slithering across his entire body within heartbeats.
Inside him, a profound transformation was unfolding. His Birthright Mark was glowing — climbing from its faint, pitifully dim light to something brighter, and the intensity kept rising.
The Goddess knelt in front of the writhing Cassius in turn, having surrendered the most important part of her core power to him.
She felt incredibly weak. Yet she felt something close to happiness, knowing what she stood to gain in the long run was far beyond what she had just lost.
It was a risky decision.
'But everything is risky.' She thought. 'Even choosing safety is a risk.'
So the choice had been made. And now that it was done, she would follow it to the end. Which meant that from now on…
The Goddess looked at Cassius with a cold grin. "…you and I are together."
"Arghh!!"
Cassius's answer was a scream of pain. And it continued like that for a long while, the process of accommodating the new Blessing being something extensively harrowing.
Eventually his shouts died down as it ended, and Cassius found himself slumped on the ground, mouth open wide as he tried to steady his breathing.
'Bloody hell!' He cursed inwardly, wiping the beads of sweat clustered around his eyes with the back of his hand.
The pain just now had been above everything he had anticipated. And suddenly, his preparation in the carriage seemed laughable.
'No one is ever truly ready to bear pain. Just like no one is ever truly ready to face death.' He whispered inwardly, his mind going to a distant past.
Yet despite everything, Cassius found himself feeling strangely better than before. He could now clearly feel something strong and vigorous rushing through unseen veins inside of him.
It didn't take him long to understand what it was.
"Did I—!"
"You are finally awake."
He swallowed his words, turned his head to the right, and found the Goddess sitting cross-legged on the ground.
Her Wheel was turning so fast it had become a blur.
"Oh… my La—!"
DING!
A notification panel, glowing red, appeared suddenly in front of him. He focused on it instinctively.
[You have received the Blessing of Absolute Fate.]
[You are now a Blessed.]
[Congratulations! Your Absolute Fate has been revealed.]
[Absolute Fate: Fated Villain.]
A pause. Then…
[The Hidden Feature of the System has been exceptionally, and impossibly, revealed to Cassius Desdemona.]
[Unique Feature: Quests of the Fated Villain.]
"Oh my…" Cassius whispered, eyes blank as he stared at the panels.
The Goddess smiled knowingly, already feeling the new, profound connection binding them.
"A path of no return has been taken."
—End of Chapter 11—