CHAPTER 28: Rewriting Fate

Helion’s eyes narrowed, golden irises gleaming as his threads stretched across the battlefield, interwoven like an intricate web.

Yet something was wrong.

The Greeds weren’t falling.

They weren’t just resisting—they were adapting.

Helion flicked his wrist, the sharp pull of fate cutting through another approaching enemy. The creature vanished into dust, but another took its place instantly.

The threads were losing their grip.

"Damn it…" he muttered under his breath. His fingers curled slightly, feeling the resistance against his power. "Even my energy can’t withstand this… Someone’s interfering."

Someone was defying fate.

Before Kaziel stepped forward, Helion felt it.

Something shifted.

A ripple in reality. A subtle, unnatural stillness.

The battlefield no longer felt real.

His golden eyes flickered as his threads responded—straining, distorting—as if pulled into something they weren’t meant to weave into. Fate itself resisted his touch. No—someone was forcing it to bend.

Helion inhaled sharply. His fingers twitched, instinctively tightening around the invisible threads as he traced their patterns. The connections were wrong. They looped into nothingness.

This wasn’t just an illusion. It was a rewrite of fate.

His gaze snapped up to Kaziel's voice.

"Hey Helion!"

"Kaziel—!" His voice came sharper than intended. "Don’t move."

But Kaziel had already stepped forward.

The moment his foot touched the ground—

Everything collapsed.

A crushing weight, a distortion of perception. The ballroom shattered like glass, reforming into something grotesque—unnatural. Spotlights burned overhead, a surreal melody creeping into existence.

Kaziel’s stance tensed, his sword at the ready.

Helion barely exhaled. He had failed to stop it in time.

And across from them—lounging like a spectator—was their captor, clapping in amusement.

“Welcome, gentlemen,” Duke Valcrid’s voice oozed with satisfaction.

Helion gritted his teeth. Damn it… we were played.

Kaziel’s fingers twitched over his sword. "Where is Anna?"

Duke Valcrid’s grin widened, smug and taunting. "Oh, you’ll see~"

Kaziel lunged.

But Helion’s hand shot out, stopping him.

"Don’t." His voice was low, cutting through the air like a blade. His golden gaze sharpened, scanning the surroundings with eerie precision.

Something was wrong.

"We’re already caught," Helion murmured, his tone unreadable. "This isn’t real."

Kaziel’s jaw tightened. "What do you mean?"

Helion’s eyes flickered. Threads of fate twisted unnaturally around them. The air felt heavy—a forced reality, bending and shifting under someone else's will.

Then—

A slow, deliberate clap echoed through the air.

From the darkness, a figure stepped forward, her presence warping the space around her.

Kaziel’s breath hitched.

That girl…

His grip on his sword tightened.

She was dangerous.

Helion exhaled, his expression darkening. His golden eyes gleamed, unreadable.

"She’s the one doing this."

Rin arms crossed, her gaze lowering to the duke, unimpressed.

“You’re risking your life here,” she stated coolly. “You should be retreating to our basement.”

Valcrid merely smirked, amusement glinting in his eyes.

“Oh? But where’s the fun in that? I wanted to enjoy the show~”

Rin let out a sigh and glanced at him with her sided eyes.

“Well then~ have fun watching~”

She stepped into the spotlight, her presence commanding as the dim glow outlined her figure in eerie perfection.

With a slow, deliberate tilt of her head, her sharp silver eyes gleamed, the light catching the cold glint of her gaze.

Between her fingers, she twirled her scissors effortlessly, the metallic edge flashing in the low light.

"Well, hello there, gentlemen. If it isn’t the Sapphire Heart’s collector," she sang, her voice dripping with mockery and amusement.

"Nice to meet you! I’m Rin~ Do you finally feel trapped?"

Kaziel’s expression didn’t waver. Instead, he offered an easy, intentional smile. "Oh, nice to meet you, Rin. I’m Kaziel."

Rin rolled her eyes. "Nobody asked for your name."

Kaziel merely shrugged, confidence lacing his tone. "Just thought I’d let you know—it’s bad to mess with the wrong people."

"Oh?" Rin’s smirk deepened. "Couldn’t it be the other way around? You think you’re strong enough?"

Before Kaziel could reply, Helion spoke first.

"I see now." His voice was low, edged with realization.

His golden eyes narrowed, something clicking into place the moment he caught sight of her scissors.

"So she’s the one who used Dominion Veil."

Kaziel stilled.

Helion’s fists clenched. "An ability that defies fate itself… That’s why my threads—"

A chilling grin spread across Rin’s face.

"That’s right~" she cooed, tilting her head, her voice dripping with amusement. "And guess what? You’re already in my world now."

The circus lights burned brighter.

The illusion tightened.

And the game had only just begun.

“So welcome to the Grand Circus of Fate, my dear guests!” Rin’s voice rang with a singsong melody, her coat flaring as she gestured to the surreal landscape she had conjured. “In here, fate bows to my will, and you… well, you simply have to play along.”

Kaziel clicked his tongue, crossing his arms. “Is she always talk this much?”

Helion’s golden eyes narrowed, his mind already racing ahead. "That girl… she isn’t just controlling this domain—she’s defying fate itself. My fate was set in stone, yet she twisted it."

Kaziel arched a brow, his gaze flickering between Rin and the ever-shifting environment.

"So she decides what happens?"

Helion nodded, his expression grim yet calculating.

"Inside this domain, yes. She controls the outcomes, the probabilities… the very rules of reality itself."

Kaziel was silent for a moment, his sharp blue eyes locked onto their opponent.

Then, a smirk curled at his lips.

"…Then all we have to do is play outside her rules, right?"

Helion’s gaze snapped to him, "You mean—?"

But before he could finish, Rin snapped her fingers.

The world twisted.

The ground beneath them shifted instantly. Their footing vanished, replaced by thin, precarious tightropes suspended over an abyss of endless darkness.

The void below stretched infinitely, pulsing with a sickening, endless pull, as if daring them to fall.

“First game!” Rin announced, twirling her scissors between her fingers.

“The Trapeze of No Return! One wrong step, and you’ll be falling forever.”

Kaziel’s stance shifted immediately, his muscles tensing as he adjusted to the narrow rope beneath him.

Helion’s gaze sharpened, his golden eyes flickering with understanding.

“So, you’re binding us to a fated fall.”

“Of course.” Rin tilted her head, her silver eyes glowing.

“Everything here follows my rules.”

Helion carefully adjusted themselves to the narrow rope, not out of fear of falling, but with measured precision. Meanwhile, Kaziel exhaled sharply,

"Follow your rules... huh?"

Then—without hesitation—he jumped.

Rin’s eyes widened.

"Wha—?"

But he never truly fell.

The moment of his descent simply never happened—one second he was there, and the next, he was gone.

Suddenly, the domain faltered, glitching for a split second as if struggling to process his disappearance.

Helion scanned the space around them, eyes darting. "Huh..?"

Rin’s expression twisted in confusion. Her domain wavered, slipping slightly out of balance.

And then, at the last second, Kaziel reappeared—snatching the edge of another rope. Not because he had to. Not because it was part of the plan.

But because there was never a rule saying he couldn’t.

"Wow, that was something else," he said simply.

The world around him didn’t glitch—it hesitated. Like a storybook with a missing page, like a sentence unfinished, Rin’s domain struggled to process what had just happened.

It was subtle at first—the circus lights flickering, the air losing its weight, colors distorting into incomplete hues.

Then, for the first time, Rin hesitated.

“What… did you just do?”

Helion, watching from his own precarious position, raised an eyebrow.

For a fleeting moment, he was genuinely surprised. Then, he sighed. Realization settled in.

"I see now… Rin’s domain controls fate, but only within the space she creates." His golden eyes flickered, faintly glowing as the truth pieced itself together.

"But Kaziel—he didn’t break fate. He ignored it."

The concept clicked into place. If Rin tried to make him fated to lose—

Then Helion could manipulate the narrative—not breaking the rules, but rewriting them.

He smirked, "Damn it, Kaziel, at least warn me first."

With a casual flick of his wrist, his fingers ghosted over the unseen threads of fate tied to the game.

With a simple twist of his hand, the rule ‘falling equals losing’ unraveled. Gravity itself became his servant.

Helion stepped off the rope.

And instead of plummeting—he landed back on it effortlessly, completely unaffected.

Rin growled, "Agh~ This isn’t part of my script!! You’re so mean! You’re supposed to play my game!" With a sharp snap of her fingers—the tightropes vanished.

"Hey! You can’t just sulk because of that," Kaziel pouted.

But before either of them could react, the world around them shifted.

The air shimmered, melting into a grand masquerade ballroom dripping with gold. Chandeliers swayed above them—not from wind, but as if they were alive, their lights flickering with eerie amusement.

Rin twirled on her heels, arms outstretched as she grinned.

"New game!" she declared, amusement and frustration tangled in her voice.

"The Puppeteer’s Masquerade~! You both need to fight each other—when your limbs aren’t your own!"

Invisible strings wrapped around Kaziel and Helion, yanking them toward each other—but this time, they didn’t hesitate.

The battle had begun.

Helion lunged first, his fingers twitching as nearly invisible threads—not quite strings, not quite spiderwebs—lashed toward Kaziel. These weren’t just restraints. When severed, they could carve through flesh and fate alike.

"Yeah! Eat that, Kaziel!" Rin laughed teasingly. "Think you can play around again?!"

Kaziel’s instincts kicked in. He dodged, twisted, and parried, moving so fast his form blurred. Helion’s web-like threads lashed across the air, one nearly slicing his shoulder—but just barely missing.

But Helion’s attack hadn’t truly missed. It had been intentional.

Kaziel narrowed his eyes. He was testing something. The erratic movements, the unpredictable dodges—it was all leading to one realization.

Then he saw it.

For the first time, the strings became visible in Helion’s eyes. A web woven not only around their limbs, but their very fates.

Helion smirked. That was all he needed.

Instead of cutting Kaziel, he cut the strings.

A silent rupture tore through the battlefield. The forced control shattered, leaving Kaziel free.

Yet Rin hadn’t noticed.

She gritted her teeth, "These guys... Are they just bad at fighting?" her fingers twitching as she tried to reassert control over Kaziel, forcing him against Helion. A flicker of unease crossed her face—had they somehow slipped through her grasp?

But Helion wasn’t finished.

He evaded Kaziel’s attacks with near-perfect precision, but his strikes weren’t meant to land. They were a distraction. With each movement, he severed his own strings, one by one.

Then—Rin staggered forward. "Ah!"
Her body lurched against her will. A sharp gasp escaped her lips as her limbs twitched unnaturally. She crashed through the glass, stumbling forward—

Right in front of them.

For the first time, Rin was vulnerable. "Gah..!"

Her sharp eyes flickered, and before she could react—

"Didn’t think you were the only one who could pull the strings, did you?" Helion teased, watching her falter.

Kaziel didn’t hesitate. He lunged.

His strike was fast, precise—but she vanished in a flicker.

Rin reappeared in an instant, but Helion was already moving. His fingers twitched, his string-like threads slicing toward her new position.

She barely dodged—twisting her body at the last moment—but it cost her. She staggered, nearly losing her footing before her scissors flashed.

A silver arc cut the air—aimed straight for Helion.

The blade was razor-sharp, eerily precise.

Helion’s instincts flared. He barely moved in time, but a single strand of his hair fluttered to the ground, severed cleanly.

Before Kaziel or Helion could launch another attack—

She vanished.

Her maniacal laughter echoed through the air, lingering like a haunting melody.

"Hahahah~!"

Then—the ballroom cracked.

Reality fractured.

In the blink of an eye, the golden world shattered like fragile glass—splintering into countless shards that dissolved into nothingness.

When the pieces fell away, they were no longer in the ballroom.

Instead, they stood in the middle of a massive House of Mirrors.

The air felt heavier. Unreal. Distorted.

Their reflections warped, twisting into dozens of versions of themselves—some victorious, some dead, some locked in fates unknown.

They turned their shoulders, scanning the space with cautious, tense gazes.

They had stepped into Rin’s final game.

Suddenly, Rin’s voice echoed from every direction.

" You think you can outsmart me? Hahaha~! "

A sharp laugh rippled through the space.

"You won’t find your exit. I’ll make sure you remain lost in your illusions… forever."

Kaziel huffed, drawing his blade. "Girls really love to complicate things." With a sharp swing, he smashed through the nearest mirror.

Glass shattered— but instead of revealing an exit, it only reflected an endless hall of mirrors, stretching into infinity.

Rin’s eyes widened. "Huh..? How did this happen?"

Something was wrong. Her ability—her carefully woven domain—wasn’t responding the way it should. Something had shifted.

Her prediction had fallen into a trap.

Instead of trapping them, the very fate she wove had turned against her.

A soft exhale broke the silence. Helion remained calm, unreadable—his golden eyes sharp, calculating.

"It’s not about breaking through," he murmured, voice as smooth as silk. "It’s about rewriting the reality she’s trying to trap us in."

His gaze flickered, a subtle smirk tugging at his lips.

The mirrors warped, their reflections bending and distorting. But instead of an exit—Helion wove an illusion of them already outside.

The domain faltered.

Cracks formed in the mirrors, splintering outward like fate itself unraveling.

Rin gasped. "N-No..!"

Her reality was collapsing. Fate was no longer a game of control—it was a battle of who could twist fate first.

But Helion had already cut the strings.

He wasn’t just a player in the game. He had rewritten the rules.

His golden eyes gleamed, predatory and knowing, as he took a slow step forward.

Rin staggered back. "It can’t be right… My domain should have stopped you!"

Helion’s smirk widened.

"Fate isn’t about control—it’s about perception." His voice was mocking, effortless, lethal.

He finally flicked his golden coin into the air, letting it spin between his fingers.

"You thought weaving your domain meant power. But what happens when someone cuts the strings?"

The mirrors shattered.

The illusion fell apart.

Rin was no longer in control.

Helion already had been.

Rin’s breath hitched.

She thought she could trap a Fateweaver. That was the only way to trick them—by controlling the space around them.

Yet, Helion had slipped through her fingers. He was far more dangerous than she had ever imagined.

Her hands shook. She had been the puppeteer—but now, she wasn’t even sure who was pulling the strings anymore.

Her sharp confidence crumbled into disbelief.

Who were they?

Helion’s smile was razor-sharp. "A shame, really. You set the stage so beautifully… only to trip over your own strings."

Rin clenched her fists, her teeth grinding in frustration. "Leave!"

Spinning on her heel, she teleported instantly, a flicker of motion sending her away—only to shove Duke Valcrid into the portal before vanishing herself.

But the lightning crashed behind her, barely missing as she twisted mid-air. Then—a sudden string snapped tight around her wrist, yanking her back.

Her instincts flared. With a sharp flick, her scissors slashed through the thread, severing the pull just as another rapid strike tore across the battlefield.

Kaziel had already vanished, teleporting with ease.

Meanwhile, Helion moved effortlessly, his web-like strings of fate crossing through the air, weaving a deadly pattern that struck a massive blow toward Rin’s counterattack.

Rin barely dodged, her pulse pounding. She was losing control.

Then—Kaziel reappeared.

Blade in hand, he charged straight for her.

Rin's instincts screamed—another portal.

She vanished just in time—but something was wrong.

Kaziel hadn’t been aiming at her.

He was aiming at the circus itself.

His blade plunged forward—straight into the heart of the twisted game.

A single strike.

And the world shattered. The grand tent collapsed. The neon lights flickered—once, twice—before fading into darkness.

Rin crashed onto the ground, gasping in pain.

The illusion was gone. The stage was gone.

And for the first time—she had fallen.