Work Text:
In the third conference room, a number of gods sat upon their high chairs.
Below them, two apostles currently off duty leisurely attended despite the ongoing war.
A Lizardmen with golden armour tilted his head as he waited for the commencement of the monthly debriefing on the upcoming plans.
Though it was a formal gathering, it wasn't that important, it just kept everyone on the same page although it was impossible for anyone to be slacking off anyways.
Lakrak shifted his gaze to the situation board then back to his God on the main platform.
His God was tapping on floating blue panels, flicking some aside and pulling some out, like the other gods. But he was very adept with both hands, more so than some of the other gods.
He didn't understand the nature of such power but his God assured him it wasn't a problem whether he knew or not.
A small body shifted on their chair nearby, it was a silly-looking platy with goggles, much too short to peek above the apostle’s circular table.
Lakrak noticed and looked around for a cushion and passed one to Toolbo.
The platy happily accepted the cushion and propped himself up higher so his head was visible over the table.
Lakrak languidly nodded and accepted the thanks then tore his attention to the back of the conference room.
There emerged a figure in a suit with a star-shaped head, or at least it looked like so. Lakrak didn't quite know what it was.
It wasn't important anyways.
The god of entanglement soon came into the room. In his hand, he carried a small, doll-like object, Lakrak knew what it was but was also quite puzzled.
It was a vassalized god, an emblem one received after killing a god or reducing their authority.
He was curious of the plan that required the death of one of their own, it wasn't a permanent death but still considered nonetheless.
The vassal was passed to Night sky, he examined it for a while then was about to drop it into his unlimited invisible spatial storage.
Lakrak didn't know how the storage worked considering his god only just dropped it and it disappeared midair but dismissed trivial thoughts. Why would he need to understand God's power?
The situation board did suggest that Furious one would interrupt the day with a call, but the pantheon was going to deal with them later after the meeting.
There wasn't a high chance that the furious one would call so—
Just as the meeting was about to start and the vassal be put away, a message popped up abruptly.
[Player, Hegemonia, has requested a Whisper Conversation.]
Lakrak saw his god’s hand move automatically to refuse but another god stopped him, it was Bountiful harvest.
“Hey! Just pick it up!”
Only a blank “Why?” answered her loud demand.
“I wanna see their face.”
“Not good enough of a reason.”
“I know you want to too.”
“…”
“See? You Are Absolutely Guilty.”
“I'll do it later.”
“The fresher the reaction, the better though.”
He ignored her. And flicked his wrist, the panel moved aside and he started his debriefing.
To anyone but Nebula—and Lakrak of course because his eyes are only on his god— it was very distracting, the panel duplicated many times and shook again and again as if the person on the other line was repeatedly spamming the call button.
Bountiful harvest kept glancing at the translucent screen.
By the halfway mark of the meeting, even Lakrak was bothered by the bobbing screen.
Vibrating furiously and stubbornly refusing to stop. It was as stubborn as the person who sent it.
Night sky scanned gathered gods and two apostles, none other then his own apostle was listening to him so he reluctantly turned to the panel and finally clicked
[Yes]
Just as his finger grazed the button, a loud boom rang through the room and a fist appeared, having been smashed into the screen. Luckily they were separated through a screen so no harm done.
Shadowless puts a hand on his chest, bountiful harvest coughed awkwardly and glanced at the burning fist on the screen then at Night sky.
Night sky wasn't the least affected,
Everyone expected loud yelling, but that wasn’t the case.
"Nebula."
Furious one's head came up on the screen and they withdrew their fist.
They didn’t even look at Night sky; their head was lowered.
"...Explain to me what happened."
But the flames inside their helmet—which Lakrak assumed conveys their emotion—were burning wildly.
Night sky calmly asked, "About what?"
The God on the screen raised their head, glaring as they specified further.
"How did you lose the Contradicting
Prophecy and still acquire the Large Area?"
Lakrak could practically feel the intense suppressed emotions of the furious one.
Toolbo fidgeted, eyes darting between the two Gods. The hall was filled with suspense.
When they were met with nothing, they continued, "If you lost the Contradicting Prophecy, you would have lost your Faith resources and XP points. If my calculations were right, your level might even drop. How did you manage to fill up to a million Faith points in such circumstances?
They pressed on further. “It's impossible, isn't it?"
Their voice shook and fire from the gaps of their armor blazed even brighter.
Night sky tilted his head, his mask hiding his expression, though even if it wasn't, it would probably be blank, "You know the system isn't perfect, right?"
Furious one asked, "...It isn’t perfect?" They seem to have a hard time comprehending the situation overall.
"I mean...we're using the system well, but it wasn't made by a perfect being, so there are flaws. I'm not just talking about an imbalance between the elements, but there are gaps in the system itself."
"For example?"
"Your cross-continent play might be one."
The furious one stayed quiet, for a while or two, no one uttered a sound.
That strategy was risky, it was a gamble that they took at the start of the game. Now, the Union kingdom ruled land on all four of the continents. One could argue that it was a terrible choice but it worked for the Union kingdom in the end.
"So? Are you saying you did something similar?" Furious one questioned.
Night sky nodded lackadaisically "Yes. I exploited a loophole in the Contradicting Prophecy that I've been bothered by for a long time."
"Explain." It was clearly a demand, there was no hint of decency but that was just how the Furious one frequently spoke.
Lakrak wondered if his god would heed the command, but of course he did, his God was kind.
Night sky lifted up the item he had received from Entertwined God and said, “This is a hint.”
Furious one immediately recognized it.
"...It's a vassal statue, isn't it?"
"Yes."
It didn't take long at all for the Furious one to figure out what conspiracy laid under the surface.
"Whose is that... Wait... Shit. Why didn't I think of that? So it was a Layered Prophecy?" They clenched their fist.
Night sky glanced down at the vassal statue of The God of invisible current, Jang-wan, that he was holding. It wasn't surprising that the Furious one missed the conspiracy.
The first contradicting prophecy was between Night sky and the Angry one.
The second Contradicting Prophecy held amongst the gods of the pantheon was about whichever one of the two gods would win the Contradicting Prophecy duel. At this point, the sacrificing God bet on Night sky's victory, while each individual in the Pantheon bet on Furious one's victory.
In the end, Night sky purposefully lost, and with Angry one's victory, the pantheon lost a great amount of fate resources. Additionally, Invisible current also lost a major amount of faith points because of her loss against the other eight Pantheon Gods.
So even with the loss of a great portion of the pantheon’s assets, Night sky still had enough to fill the criteria required. It was also the amount of Faith points needed to acquire a Large domain.
So in summary, the God of invisible current forfeited her divine body temporarily as funds to achieve secure victory. Lakrak respected her for that.
‘And when intoxicated with victory, one's perspective tends to narrow.’ as his god once told him.
The roaring flames that had been swallowing the Angry one’s armour visibly dimmed.
A tone of desperation clung to their voice, "a…Layered Prophecy... How did they accept the role of being the sacrificial lamb?”
Their tone returned to its original sharpness, “Did you threaten them?"
His God waved his hand as if to debunk the question from mere existence, "No, it was a request."
"No…No one would accept such a request."
"That would be the case if we didn’t know each other."
"What do you mean by that?"
The Angry one wasn't catching on, Lakrak didn't really care, but Toolbo was very interested in their interaction.
Night sky placed the vassal statue in his infinite inventory.
Nebula saw Hegemonia’s devastation from the crushing defeat and oversight on their part.
Hegemonia quickly grasped the situation as expected. Managing the constant battles with the Empire and suppressing the raging civil war within the Union Kingdom was difficult, however it was possible, but now...
‘Hegemonia is a very skilled player, even with the gathering of players and resources of the pantheon, we struggled to achieve a proper win.’ Nebula acknowledged that, that's why he had to get a large domain.
A large area was very beneficial indeed. The faint points required to meddle with the laws of causality lessened considerably and so the empire could partake in more violent offences but consumed less points overall.
It was an overwhelming advantage.
Nebula watched quietly as Hegemonia sorted out their thoughts, they finally acknowledged their defeat and its cause.
He had forced them to step out of their comfort zone and play with an unfamiliar style, it gave the pantheon a larger probability of victory.
That was predicted.
But he didn't predict that there would be a situation like this;
Hegemonia threw off their horned helmet. As their long hair fluttered, Hegemonia brushed it aside with a fluid hand movement.
"You surely don't think it's over, do you?"
For the first time, the pantheon—and two present apostles caught a glimpse of the face inside Hegemonia's helmet. It was a… a woman.
Nebula's brain basically short-circuited, but it wasn't because of her gender.
Her eyes were cold compared to her flames, and her gaze was severe and deep. Her bared teeth were as though she was going to bite someone, her canines showed her aggression. Her face displayed her dissatisfaction.
She clenched her jaw then warned coldly
"The real war hasn't even started."
Seeing Hegemonia's face, Nebula was silent for a moment, he stared at her for a long while unmoving.
Anyone in the hall would say he was caught off guard or finding trouble processing the situation. It was just as baffling as the face reveal.
In the end, Nebula only let out a soft "Huh…”
She didn't know whether taking off her mask, especially showing her face to so many people, would make her regret it or not. But it was too late to regret anyways.
In the corner of her eye, she caught the flabbergasted expressions of the other gods. But her attention was solely on the one in front of her.
Hegemonia almost laughed out loud at his reaction. There was no way this guy was speechless simply because she was a woman, right?
No, that's not the Nebula she knew, he wasn't and isn't like that.
That paranoid asshole would never underestimate her regardless of her gender.
So why isn't he saying anything?
She noticed that his finger twitched for a fraction of a second, the fact that his breath was caught in his throat. The subtle change of his eyes, from a familiar nonchalance to an unreadable yet still oddly familiar expression.
There was ‘something’ she didn't realize just yet…but what was that ‘something’?
There was always ‘something’ about him, ‘something’ she felt whenever she observed him or played against him.
A sense of familiarity that wasn't from his brutal gameplay or strategies but his identity as a whole.
She always had a ridiculous underlying feeling that she knew him from somewhere…
Somewhere before here.
There was nothing that invaded her mind like the name ‘Nebula’. It scratched at the back of her head like a faraway memory that she couldn't quite capture.
‘Nebula…nebula…. Hm, wait, NEBULA?’
She instantly recalled a memory from long long ago.
“Oh yeah, I do play ######.”
She wasn't surprised but her tone turned competitive “Really huh? can't be better than me though.”
The person she was talking to only smiled, but it resembled a smirk.
Seeing that reaction, she crossed her arms “You're challenging me, huh?”
He seemed amused by her expression “No, no of course not.”
“You are such a tease, is that the only enjoyment you have in life?”
“I don't know, maybe...”
“I almost pity you.” She spoke without a sliver of sympathy.
The guy only tilted his head to look down at her, the same infuriating smirk pulled on his lips.
Everything she does, amuses him, and everything he says, taunts her.
“I gave you the only seat left and my jacket, shouldn't I be pitied?”
It was a crowded event, people filled her sight, voices buzzed, music rang across the venue.
It was a school festival, one she suggested they go for the sake of going. Well, that was the excuse she gave. She just wanted to go with him and maybe get him to spend money on her.
It was quite selfish when she knew he had a sick sister, but he was with his sister every chance he got, so this time it was her turn.
He never got into detail about his sister's sickness but was way too overprotective when he phrased her illness as nothing too big of a deal.
But then he was always too overprotective.
She crossed her arms and tighten the grip on the plush he bought for her “That's the appropriate behavior, don't you know? You have a sister don't you, so shouldn't you know the way to be a gentleman?”
“Yes, I do and I know how to, wouldn't you say I am a gentleman?”
“Are you fishing for compliments now?”
“I don't know, I'd appreciate some.”
“…I hate you.” to be more specific, she hated his aloof tone and infuriating, teasing smirk, and hated his undecipherable eyes. The way she couldn't tell if he was joking or serious, but that was a charm of his.
“Hate me? What was unsatisfactory, M’lady?”
“Stop teasing.”
He laughed quietly but stopped teasing and noiselessly readjusted the straps of the three bags he was carrying, two of which weren't his own.
She realized it a long ago but he was quite the considerant person. Teased a lot but that was the extent, unbelievably gentle for a so-called cold-hearted dude addicted to games. But he never belittled her or downplayed her achievements. And though rare, he sometimes offered encouragement but prefers to help without needing to be asked. Maybe it was to preserve her pride, whatever, his sister sure groomed him well.
It felt quiet now that they were both silent, even though the songs, hot gossip, and festive atmosphere was booming with sonorous, the hushed moment between them was almost… unbearable
She bit the corner of her lip.
It was silent for way too long, he kept his gaze on her, and that unbothered smile, that FUCKING smile. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, she wanted to punch him in the guts and pull out his organs and straggle him and and hit him and hit him again, and… and…..
She saw something white in the corner of her eye. A bundle of tissue with a small amount of blood.
Her face was involuntarily lifted to face him as he dabbled the tissue on her lip without a word.
She didn't even notice herself that her lip had bled.
She felt her face burning so she abruptly turned away, she hoped he didn't notice. Ugh, who was she kidding, of course he did. If he dares comment.
She clutched the fabric of his jacket over her shoulders, and exhaled, mentally calming herself down and tried to hopefully change the subject.
What the hell could she talk about? … Wait!
Games.
She was extremely knowing about games, also pretty good at them. Although she never played against him, she saw his skills whenever they cooperated, she felt she could beat him.
“What's your game username in ######? I need to screw you over.”
“Well, if you could, I'll be waiting. It's Nebula.”
Nebula…that name echoed in her ear, from a memory since her early high school days, a name she buried and forgotten along with his identity and her former naive self.
How she was so soft back then, how easily she was swayed with emotions.
Disgusting.
She also never wanted to see him ever again.
That's what he gets for ghosting her.
Disappointed clawed at her. How didn't she see the resemblance? It took her two decades to recognize him? How deep was the buried memory that she couldn't even link the obvious.
How she wanted to crush something or someone's bones.
She now vividly remembered how she felt when he stood her up and never contacted her again.
That fucking bastard.
The one who always let her win.
The first person she actually loved liked.
Her former boyfriend,
Her gaming buddy,
Her ex-lover.
Choi Sung-woon, Nebula.
They met again.