Against The True Gods-Chapter 141: The Past, Present and Future(VI)

Caine stood frozen in the chaotic expanse his mind had become, filled with broken and shattered ideas.

He parsed through countless solutions, discarding them before they solidified, knowing none were worth wasting time on.

His heart was free of fear and despair, yet full of frustration and annoyance—not at the world or his circumstances, but at himself.

He’d gotten too used to these so-called life-and-death situations working in his favor, always providing a path for him to improve his power.

Now faced with a real challenge, where there was nothing to grasp, he was at a loss.

The simple truth was that Caine had never truly faced the unfairness of circumstances or the blade of death during any of these trials.

Taking a step back, he saw it as clear as day.

When he recontextualized everything that had happened, it was almost… pathetic.

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From the beginning, he’d been receiving help.

It had all been a result of luck and circumstances.

For the Fields of Carnage, Caine had to face opponents of equal talent to him but far older.

If not for the mutations his Will underwent when he met Laplace, would he have had any right to face them?

If not for completing his Blessed and Cursed aspect natures, could he have survived against entities of similar talent but far beyond his realm?

If not for the lenience of the World Will Eyes, would he have managed to form those aspect natures while keeping both his life and sanity?

If not for his eyes, could he have bridged the gap created by countless years of experience between him and Autumn?

If not for his myriad heretic abilities, would he have withstood the cursed runes that sought to break his mind?

This pattern—of random events bearing fruit years later to help him—was repeated across every trial.

For the Trial of the Heart, if he hadn’t begun forging his Dao Heart by blurring the lines between his mind and heart, would he have overcome it?

If not for his affinity to Fate, could he have formed such a terrifying Dao Heart?

For the Trial of Fractured Minds, if not for his Primal Will—a result of the link between his mind and heart, strengthened by his True Will during the prior trial—would he have succeeded?

In the Dream Trial, if not for the expansion of his cognitive abilities born out of the Trial of Fractured Minds, would he have made the countless deductions needed to escape?

For the Maze Puzzle, if not for his tempered mind, widened and refined by previous trials, would he have solved it so easily?

In his battle against the Leviathan, if not for his Demonic Will pulling upon his emotions to madly empower him, could he have won?

And when he faced Oldest—if not for the fact that he had no choice but to let himself lose—would Caine still be standing here?

It was all luck. A small part was effort and dedication, but most of it was the result of circumstances too specific to be called random.

From the very start, Fate, while trapping him on this path, had also handed him the cards he needed to flawlessly overcome every trial.

His luck was as much a part of his power as anything else.

As Caine realized this, the pressure building in his mind vanished, and he sighed.

For men like him, understanding that most of their achievements were the result of fabricated luck would have been devastating.

But Caine remained calm.

Things were as they were.

There was no point in crying or rejecting the hand of Fate. By now, he understood it was inevitable.

And as he accepted this lesson, imparted by Fate itself—that Luck was as important as any of his abilities—he found a solution.

The simplest solution.

Caine was a Chosen of Fate, yes, but not just that.

He was a Chosen of Fate, Destiny, Karma, and Totality.

If his enemy overwhelmed him, why not rely on these innate affinities, the ones he’d been born with? If Mirror’s mastery of Fate was overpowering, then he’d simply counter it with Destiny, Karma, and Totality.

He’d let these affinities take the reins and guide him.

They were a part of him, after all.

He stopped resisting and chose to accept them fully.

His stars blazed with brilliant light as his Dao Hearts eased and suddenly entered an even deeper state of resonance.

***

The result was unsurprising.

From the moment Caine allowed his affinities to take control, it was over.

The tempo of the battle slowed to a crawl, the tides entirely under Caine’s control. With an unhurried hand, he dismantled everything Mirror had been building on the board.

Its offense was undone, its defense shattered, and its passive tactics turned against it.

Slowly, Mirror was pushed into an inescapable corner. Then, just as slowly, it was farmed.

Mirror lost life after life. The closer it edged toward defeat, the more deliberate and elusive Caine’s actions became.

The relationship between Caine and his affinities shifted. After giving them control, he reclaimed his agency, harmonizing with them.

Instead of weakening him, this synergy solidified his power even further.

Yet, despite his decisive victory, Caine couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

It saddened him to see how easily he had defeated himself.

There was something particularly dark about the concept of luck. Something profoundly unsettling about how little mattered when the odds were fixed.

If your luck dictated that you would die, what could you do?

If Fate wove a future of inevitable ruin, how could you escape?

If Destiny promised only suffering, how could you resist?

If Karma bound you in eternal servitude, how could you break free?

As Caine tapped into the truest potential of his affinities and realized how much they had shielded and protected him, the weight of their implications pressed down on him.

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It was only now, understanding how much of his survival had relied on their influence, that the unfairness of it all became clear.

It was only now that the reality of his mortality truly sank in.

He was just a mortal, standing in a world ruled by gods and immortals.

[Conquer the Fracture of Time and Fate (2/6)]