Side Chapter: Project: Dance with Fate

Project: Dance with Fate. A large-scale project with a very ambitious goal. Developed by Larisa and headed by Uto, the project was their main focus for many thousands of years. And a couple of days ago, they just got their hands on the main component to complete the project. A component named Ammon. 

“Ugh…” groaned a tired Reimei. 

“What’s wrong?” her colleague, Shion asked her. 

“A bit tired that’s all.”

“Oh? I’m surprised that the second-in-command of this place is tired out due to a simple task like this.” mocked Shion.

“Shut up, will you? I have been working for the past 49 hours straight while you guys played around with the experimental weapons.”

“Hey. We aren’t playing you know. We were actually doing work, just like you were.” 

“Ho? Then would you please give me a reason why the gas pressure regulator is broken? Hmmm?”

A new voice joined Reimei and Shion’s conversation. Slowly turning his head around and looking up, he saw a smiling Uto looking down on him. 

“Oh… oh hey, there Uto sir. Uhh… about the regulator… uh… yeah, sorry we broke it.” he confessed after struggling to make up a lie. 

Uto sighed. “I knew it,” he said. “But I’m more concerned about how you guys broke the regulator. It’s protected by several layers of barriers and such.” 

“Oh, about that, we were playing- ahem, testing the functionality and power of the ‘Eye of the Star’. We only had it on low power but it managed to break all of the layers protecting the regulator.” 

“Eye of the Star? Why were you guys playing around with that?” Uto asked. 

“We decided to give Ammon’s material form in the test world the Eye of the Star rather than the Emotionless one we agreed on.” Shion casually replied. 

“Hold on, but why?” Reimei suddenly asked him.

“Well, you see Reimei, apparently Evandrus got some results of the Emotionless weapon in his own test world and so we didn’t have a major reason to research the power further,” Shion shrugged. “So we decided on giving Ammon the now least studied power, the Eye of the Star.” 

“Fair point. But I would have to disagree with your guys’ decision.” 

Confused looks from both Shion and Reimei shot at Uto.
"Now, now, I get why you are confused. Despite the tomfoolery that Shion and Evandrus did with the Eye of the Star, the weapon- no, the power itself is still way too unstable. It could collapse at the slightest error in our calculations when trying to use its power. Furthermore, that thing is just way too powerful for a character I want Ammon to have. If Emotionless is out of the question then I would recommend a power that I stole quite recently from an old friend of mine. It's called Blood Spears."  

"That's a cool name for the power. And by the way, who was this old friend that you stole it from?" 

"Hm? Oh. No need to worry," Uto started. He paused as if he was trying to hear something. "And speaking of him, he's coming right now." 

"Hm?" 

As soon as they both reply with confusion, heavy thuds from the hallway could be heard very clearly in the room they were in. Reimei prepared for battle, as she equipped her weapon and armour and Shion did the same. 
"Uto! I know you are there!" a loud voice cried. The voice was quite deep and it had an accent present when pronouncing certain sounds. The voice suddenly disappeared for a moment before the doors to the room came busting down. The heavy 50 cm thick steel doors were knocked out of their fame with ease and they made a thunderous loud sound when they hit the floor. 
"Ah, welcome, welcome. What brings you here today... Zaipa?" he asks sarcastically. 

When the figure heard this, he came running up to Uto and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up into the air. 
"Don't play around, Uto. You know what I'm angry about." 

Reimei and Shion took defensive actions and pointed their weapons at the figure. 
"Everyone, this is my good old friend, Zaipa," Uto introduced the figure calmly. "And why are you mad? It's not like I had stolen anything from you just hours before." 

Zaipa squeezed Uto's neck even harder but Uto just looked at his subordinates to not act. It seems that Uto didn't require oxygen to survive. "Alright, I get it, I'll stop playing around. Just release me now. It's quite the hassle you know."  

"..." he stared at Uto. "Alright fine." Uto was dropped to the floor, and he landed on his feet. 

"Alrighty then. Blood Spears. Here you go. Now you'll leave now, correct?" 

"Actually, no. Not yet at least. You do have a reason to steal one of my powers don't you?" 

"Tsk. Why are you so brainy despite that muscular body of yours..." Uto mumbled under his breath. "Yes, I do have a reason why I stole it," he answered Zaipa. "And is this really the greeting you give me after three decades?" 

Zaipa. A man of unknown origins. Former god? Ruler of a powerful empire? Who knows. His darker skin tone means that he is not from this area of the planet. I can't confirm unless I want to risk exposing my location to the gods that want me dead for good. But his powers—namely the free control over liquids is quite useful. I have examined most of the powers that he had shown me over the course of the 9,000 years since we met but he could be hiding some from me. He's a good friend... but he's also a threat. His large and well-built body is able to withstand most of the small firearms and weapons I have... and with his wits and other powers, he could easily overpower Shion and Evandrus... maybe even Reimei too. 

"I mean, you did steal one of my powers from me so what can you expect? Happiness? Hell no." 

"Fair point I guess. I'll let it slide this time." 

Zaipa rolled his eyes. "I guess you haven't changed much. So? How's your experiment going? The test world one." he asks. 

"It's going well. I have three main subjects that I closely monitor with a fourth coming soon." 

"You coded in powers; like magic or supernatural abilities into the world or nah?" 

"I gave some experimental weapons that needed testing away... but that's less than five people though. So not really but yes.” 

“I see… and I guess that you were planning to Blood Spears to do some research on it, correct?” 

“Tsk.” 

“Judging from your response, I hit home didn’t’t I?” 

“Yeah…”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! This is quite interesting. Why not let me help around? It seems you are quite understaffed.” Zaipa said to Uto, looking around the room. 

“Perhaps you’re right…” Uto answered to the shock of Shion, Reimei and even Zaipa himself. “Why not observe this world that I have created for a bit? If you like, you can go inside of the world to do whatever you want in there.” 

“Nah, I’m good. Just observing would be enough.” he smiled. 

Project: Dance with Fate. A large-scale project with a very ambitious goal. And that goal is none other than… topple the rule of the celestial beings by extracting the full power of Fate itself. A very ambitious goal indeed.