41 Chapter 41: Game of Gods

"I don't believe this!"

"This is impossible!"

"He must have cheated!"

The three crones hovered near the edge of the clouds as they peered downward at the human realm. Shrieking, they raved and ranted to each other about the sheer impossibility of what had just transpired, their wizened and wrinkled fingers curved into claw-like grips as they flailed about in rage and frustration.

"We were so close! So close to killing him!"

"What bullshit plot armor is that!? Isn't that deus ex machina? That's against the rules! Gods are not allowed to intervene in the worldly affairs of the living!"

"That's right! We should file a complaint! Isn't that fucking loser the chosen of Lyia? She cheated somehow! She must have intervened to save her chosen!"

"That's an interesting accusation."

Lyia, the goddess of knowledge stepped onto the cloud as she glared at the three crones, folding her arms.

"I wonder…do you really want to file a complaint, the three Crones of Fate?"

"W…what are you talking about?" the first hag spluttered.

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about, you old hypocritical hag. How insolent you have to be to accuse others of intervening when you have been doing that from the very beginning. Stacking the deck and resorting to all sort of cheats to build up the odds against my chosen. What do you have against him?"

"How dare you accuse us!" the second hag snarled. "What proof do you have?"

Lyia smiled. "Are you sure you want to know?"

The three Crones shrank back at her confidence, anxiously exchanging glances with each other. The third one spat.

"…you lie!"

"Oh? We can find out at the trial. Speaking of which, do you three crones have any evidence that I cheated or intervene?"

"…"

None of the trio could muster a reply. Lyia merely shook her head and sighed, as if she was disappointed.

"Do you think nobody would notice? You have been pulling strings from the very start. The unnatural behavior of Evelyn's Chosen…even Evelyn herself has voiced her concerns to me about the irrational way her chosen heroes are behaving. Having them commit murder right off the bat? Don't you think that's too obvious?"

"…you have no idea what you're saying," the first hag snapped frostily. Lyia merely raised an eyebrow and scoffed.

"What evidence do you have that we did that?" the second hag demanded furiously, but like her sisters, her eyes were darting away anxiously, unable to meet Lyia's. The goddess of knowledge merely raised her hands.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"You're playing with fire," the third hag warned, her tone dropping to a dangerous level. "Do you not realize the boy you have chosen will tip the balance of this world? We Sisters of Fate have seen the future. We have unraveled the threads of fate and seen what lies ahead…if he lives, the world will be swallowed by destruction and chaos. If he lives, only death and doom awaits the world of mortals! He must die! Why can't you see that?"

"The future is not set in stone," Lyia countered. "And if you weren't so blinded by your predictions, you'll see that it is your actions that are driving him toward that path."

"Is it worth risking the balance of a whole world just for the life of one little boy who should never deserve to exist in the first place?!"

"And who are you to make that judgement?" Lyia thundered, bearing down on the first hag, who shrank back. "Is it not the duty of you three to merely weave the threads of time? Who gave you the right to interfere with mortals? You know it is against the ironclad rules for gods to involve themselves in mortal affairs! The moment you took action, you broke the equilibrium and sent the mortal world on the path of chaos!"

"We have no choice!"

"We have seen the future!"

"So blinded by you by the future that you refuse to see the present," Lyia said frostily, silencing the other two crones. "You still do not realize that the very future you fear is caused by your actions in the present!"

The three hags fell silent for some time, looking at each other uneasily, and then the first sister finally spoke up.

"Be that as it may, the only solution now is to kill that boy."

"You still don't understand, do you?" Lyia shook her head in disgust. "Your interference will only disrupt the equilibrium further. You may succeed in killing the boy, but that will not restore balance. No, if he dies, you will unleash a much greater destructive power – a newer, more uncontrollable agent of chaos who will take his place and deteriorate the already precarious balance of the world. That is why I stepped in to save his life. By consulting my knowledge and calculating, I have seen that your present actions will bring a greater doom upon the world."

"Who is this more uncontrollable agent of chaos?" the second hag sneered. "A character you conjured during one of your fantasies?"

"If you do not believe me, weave a thread of the future where my chosen dies. See what happens then."

The three sisters exchanged anxious glances, but none of them made the move to weave a new thread of the speculative future.

"You lie," the third hag accused. "You create all these baseless myths and fantasies while justifying your hindrance of our attempts to save the mortal world!"

"Save the mortal world?" Lyia burst out laughing. "Why do you still not understand? Your actions are destroying the mortal world instead! By influencing Evelyn's Chosen and planting the notion of murder into their heads, you have turned them from heroes into villains. The very balance that you so espoused about is breaking because of your ruthless and shortsighted interventions. As if it wasn't enough to plant the idea of murder into their heads, you somehow influenced my poor boy to return to the capital of Legnica, Havia City even though he would be safer in Millennial Town, right into the jaws of the so-called murderous heroes. There, you robbed him of his greatest protection, a gift that my other Chosen had bestowed upon him the Redwood Robe, by confiscating it away from him before his confrontation with Evelyn's Chosen. And you even led two of them after him despite his precautions and diligent attempt to shake them off. You even had one of the heroes possess the direct counter to my chosen's special abilities. Did you not think we didn't notice? That one of those heroes suddenly gained a special ability that would directly counter his magic right after the death of the previous Demon Lord? It was too obvious!"

It was then the trio realized that they had left an undeniable trail of evidence. No matter how one looked at it, for Sakaguchi Seiji to suddenly possess Holy Blessings after the Demon Lord was slain was just too suspicious. This, timed with what seemed like the fortuitous confiscation of the boy's Redwood Robe, seemed to be too far planned out to be coincidental. However, the three crones remained defiant.

"Is that why you interfered? To save him?" the first hag growled. "You should just let him die! I don't care if he's your chosen, but the fate of the mortal world is at stake here! How dare you interfere and save him!? We had him! We were so close to killing him and restoring the balance to the mortal world! But you just had to…!"

Lyia sighed. "Are you listening? I told you, your attempts to kill my chosen will destroy that balance even more than he ever will. The moment you succeed in killing him, you will unleash something far more evil, more chaotic…something far beyond the power of the gods. When that happens, never mind the mortal world…even our heavenly realms will no longer be safe. In fact, thanks to your thoughtless actions, you may have already caused a break in the equilibrium and drawn their attention toward our dimension."

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"LIES! Why do you insist on fabricating such lies?!" the second hag shrieked. From her gray robes she drew a dagger. "We will kill you, knowledge bitch. I never liked you, always acting high and mighty with your so-called superior intelligence. If you're dead, you'll never be able to interfere again. We'll be able to save the mortal realm and kill that accursed existence that you've been so trying desperately to protect!"

"I hate to break it to you, but you do realize that I have never once interfered in his affairs? I made him my chosen, blessed him with my powers, but other than that I had not meddled in the mortal affairs. I followed the same rules Evelyn did." Lyia smiled. "As unbelievable as it sounds, and even I'm surprised, he has survived this far on his own without any help from me."

"You lie!" the third hag snapped. "That Adaptive Mutation ability…his sudden transformation into a vampire! That's too much of a coincidence! You somehow guided him onto that path to devour that ability because you expected this confrontation!"

Lyia snorted. "Are you joking? I'm not part of the Fates like you. As knowledgeable as I am, I cannot see the future like you. I never anticipated that you would go that far and interfere to such an extent…I only found out after the fact."

"Don't listen to her, Sisters! Kill her!" the first hag screeched. "Even if she knows of our intervention, she will not be able to report her suspicions to the Celestial Council if she is dead!"

The trio lunged at Lyia. The goddess of knowledge narrowed her eyes, but she calmly raised a hand to conjure a barrier.

"It's pointless! This god-slaying dagger will slice through whatever defenses you have!" the second hag shouted. Lyia gritted her teeth, knowing that to be the truth, but she didn't possess the combat abilities of the god of war, Alain, or the speed of the god of communication, Het. She wouldn't be able to win in a melee, especially against three opponents…

They never reached her.

"…!"

A powerful blast slammed into the trio and sent them sprawling on the ground. As the third hag tried to scrabble for the dropped dagger, a foot landed on it, pinning it on the ground. Looking up, the three crones of Fate scrambled back in shock when they saw the newcomer. The third hag, in particular, cried out in disbelief.

"C…Chronos!"

Lyia blinked as she stared at the handsome, dark-haired man who stood in front of her. The heavily muscled titan glared down at the three crones, his bearded face twisted into an expression of rage.

"Husband?!"

"What do you think you're doing to my wife?"

"Delivering justice for obstructing our efforts to save the mortal world!" the first hag hissed. "You are the god of time, Chronos. Can you not see the dreadful future that awaits if we do not kill that boy? We must kill him! For the sake of the mortal realm!"

"You idiots!" Chronos thundered, causing the trio to shrink back in fear. "I can see the future as well as you, and my wife is right! You're destroying the fabric of reality with your reckless, shortsighted actions! I have seen the future – if you kill the boy, something worse will emerge out of that crack in that balance you so proudly claim to be protecting! Why don't you do something for a change and weave the thread that tells of the future after you kill our boy?"

"N…no…!"

"Impossible!"

"You lie! You are taking the side of your wife! You refuse to admit…"

"You're the one who refuse to accept reality," Chronos cut in crudely. "Blinded by the future, you refuse to acknowledge the present and are too arrogant to consider the possibility that it is you who is making a terrible mistake!"

"That's not…!"

"How can this be?"

"We can't be wrong…we can't…!"

Chronos stared at them in disgust before turning to his wife. As he did so, a bunch of winged warriors in holy, pristine armor descended to take the trio into custody. The three crones of Fate shrank back, terrified, when they saw the god-slaying spears pointing at them, and anxiously clutched each other's arms.

Both Chronos and Lyia watched the shamed trio escorted away by the celestial guards, their heads lowered in fury and humiliation. Wrapping his arm around Lyia's shoulders, Chronos sighed and shook his head.

"You shouldn't have confronted those three hags alone."

"What else was I supposed to do? I chose that boy. It is my responsibility to protect him from other gods."

Lyia's shoulders slumped as she glared in the direction where the celestial guards and the three Crones of Fate were being led away to.

"He's not just your chosen now. Any chosen of my wife is also my chosen."

Smiling, Chronos pulled Lyia closer for an embrace and allowed her to bury her head in his chest. But at his words, Lyia frowned and looked up.

"Husband…you mean…?"

"Ah…whoops." Chronos chuckled. Lyia's jaw dropped when she put the pieces together.

"The Adaptive Mutation…was that you?"

"Well…the three Sisters of Fate were trying to do something funny, and whatever we did wouldn't have made it in time. So I pulled some strings. As you know, I can peer into the future as well, so I sort of tweaked our child's path slightly so as to give him a special ability that would save him in such dire circumstances."

"But that's against the rules…"

"Indeed it is. But our opponents weren't playing by the rules either…and I foresaw a future that would have been worse if I hadn't stepped in." Chronos turned grim. "You were right, Wife. If our chosen died, that…thing beyond the fabric of reality would seize the break in equilibrium to invade our dimension. And when that happens…not just the mortal realm, but even the celestial realms and underworld…every realm in this dimension will be in terrible danger."