Chapter 1900: Butterfly Effect : 1

“So what you are saying is that… you guys are preparing a team to enter the Eternal Prison?” Lackey mumbled with a slightly thoughtful expression as he looked down at Genome Beta, who was kneeling before him.

Genome Beta nodded respectfully. “Yes, God. The President ordered us to prepare a strong team capable of entering the Eternal Prison.”

Lackey frowned slightly as his eyes narrowed. ‘So that caught your attention…’ he thought before asking,

“Was he planning to come there himself?”

Beta slowly shook her head. “No.”

“Of course he would not!” Lackey groaned with a knowing expression. There was no way that man would enter such a place without first understanding every detail surrounding it.

“Only fools would enter the Eternal Prison without knowing what awaits them inside,” Lackey muttered, his voice carrying a faint trace of contempt.

Beta swallowed nervously before asking, “Is it… really that dangerous?”

Lackey glanced at her, his expression becoming more serious. “Tell me… if there is a place where even Gods could be imprisoned, do you really need to ask whether it is dangerous?”

Beta’s body shivered as the meaning of his words settled heavily in her mind. “T-Then we will—”

“You will all die pathetically, again and again, until your minds finally break.”

The cold certainty in Lackey’s voice made Beta’s face pale. Just hearing those words was enough to make her legs weaken, and she nearly fainted.

“T-Then what should we do?” Beta asked, her voice trembling with genuine worry.

Lackey stared at her for several seconds before speaking.

“What should we do? We? Woman… I think you have mistaken our relationship.”

Lackey slowly stood up, his expression becoming colder as he looked down at her.

“I did not come here to save you or any of your Governors. I came here to protect the innocent, and… you are not one of them,” he said from the bottom of his heart.

He was not lying. He knew she had taken the lives of his people. Even if she had been forced to do it, her hands were still stained with their blood.

That blood could not simply be scrubbed away.

Hypocrite?

Well, he was one, and he would continue to be one. That was the path he had chosen to walk, no matter how contradictory it might make him.

Genome Beta’s hand trembled as she lowered her head. She knew she was guilty, and she had no intention of rejecting those words or pretending otherwise.

Lackey stared at Genome Beta for a few seconds before finally speaking in a cold voice.

“You help me… and I help you. That is all there is between us, Nova Kestrel.”

Genome Beta nodded slowly. “F-Forgive me, God.”

Lackey smiled faintly. “It’s alright… but now, regarding the team being prepared for the Eternal Prison, add me to it.”

“Huh?” Beta was taken aback.

Hadn’t he just said that he would not save her?

Then why was he asking to join the team?

Lackey shrugged his shoulders casually. “Don’t mistake my words. I have my own objective in entering that place, so there is no reason for you to concern yourself with my intentions.”

Beta remained silent for a moment, still processing his words, before nodding. However, another problem immediately came to mind.

“But… I cannot take you with me, God.”

“Why is that?”

“Only the Top Ten Tournament Winners are allowed to form the team. Since this mission is extremely important to our humankind, the President wants everything to be as perfect and powerful as possible. He does not want anyone outside those selected individuals interfering with the mission.”

Beta spoke with a serious tone, carefully choosing her words.

Lackey fell silent as his eyes narrowed slightly. ‘So the Eternal Prison is more important than the other Empires?’ he thought before asking,

“Why would he do that? Isn’t he supposed to be focused on capturing the other Empires?”

Beta blinked as she stared at Lackey, clearly confused by the question.

“What?”

“You mentioned that you know everything.”

“…”

“…”

“HOW DARE YOU QUESTION THE GOD AGAIN!!”

Lackey suddenly shouted, his voice reverberating through the surroundings as a furious ethereal glow erupted around his body.

Beta flinched violently and immediately bowed her head in complete silence.

“Please forgive me, God!”

Lackey snorted before saying, “I shall forgive you for your incompetence.”

The ethereal glow surrounding his body gradually faded as he looked down at her with an expression of absolute confidence.

“Though I am Omnipotence… due to the restrictions placed upon these lower worlds, I had no choice but to seal away my powers and knowledge.

I hope that gives you the answer you seek.”

Beta’s eyes widened slightly as the explanation finally seemed to make sense to her. “Oh, right… I understand now, God. Please forgive me for doubting you.”

Lackey nodded slowly. “Now… tell me why you haven’t used your entire army to capture the other Empires?”

Beta took a slow, steadying breath, gathering her thoughts before answering.

“It’s because we were told to focus on the real threat.”

Lackey frowned slightly.

Beta continued, “Our trial was not just to capture the Empires, but… Worlds.”

“…Worlds? Plural?”

Beta nodded. “We had no idea what it meant or how we were supposed to accomplish it, but the Goddess told us… We had to capture the Worlds to survive. Otherwise…”

“Otherwise?”

Beta swallowed hard, and for the first time, her voice seemed to carry genuine fear beneath its usual composure.

“We will perish…”

Lackey’s expression changed slightly. “Humankind will perish?”

Beta immediately shook her head.

“No… It’s not just about humans. Everyone living in the other Empires will perish as well. Every one of them.”

“…” Lackey fell silent.

‘What’s this bullshit plot twist?’

Everyone will perish?

The words lingered in his mind as he stared at Beta, trying to determine whether there was something she had misunderstood or whether the Goddess had deliberately withheld part of the truth from them.

Lackey finally asked, “Did the Goddess herself tell you that?”

Beta nodded solemnly. “Yes. She told us directly”

Lackey remained silent for a moment before asking, “Then… why are you attacking the other Empires? If everyone is going to perish, shouldn’t you cooperate with them instead of destroying each other?”

Beta fell silent.

She slowly raised her hand and pointed toward the window. Lackey followed her gesture and turned around, his gaze settling upon the distant sky where the golden letters of Empires scoreboard continued to shine above the Empire.

“The ones who stand above everyone else shall receive… a Privilege.”

Lackey’s eyes narrowed. “Privilege? You mean… there is something waiting for the Empire that reaches the top?”

Beta shook her head slightly. “We had no idea what this Privilege was… but we were informed that the ones who receive it shall be the only ones who live.”

Lackey’s expression slowly hardened.

‘The only ones who live…’

He fell silent as a memory suddenly surfaced in his mind.

No. 25.

At the end of the trial, he had seen No. 25 receive something strange. A small, mysterious coin had appeared in his possession.

His eyes narrowed.

‘The Privilege was that Coin?’

Lackey looked back at Beta. “So, in order to obtain this Privilege, you guys are waging war against the other Empires?”

Beta lowered her head, her voice becoming quieter. “They would have done the same if they knew what was at stake.”

Lackey did not answer.

“…” He remained silent as he rested his chin against his knuckles, sinking deeper into thought.

‘A Trial for Worlds… not merely to determine which Empire survives, but to prepare for something dangerous?’

His brows tightened.

‘Hmm… Why would Arcane do something like this? What is the end goal of all this? It’s not about me… after all, I am just an extra here…’

Other Worlds…

The thought itself made the situation feel considerably larger than he had first imagined.

This was going much deeper than he had expected.

‘So the one who held No. 25 at the end… must have been someone from one of the other Worlds.’

Lackey’s expression tightened with seriousness.

‘Maybe… they are preparing for something?’

His eyes became colder as another possibility slowly took shape in his mind.

Perhaps the trial was never truly about the Empires fighting one another.

Perhaps all of them were being forced to prepare for something that had yet to arrive.

“What are your thoughts about it, Nova Kestrel?” Lackey finally asked.

“Yes, God?”

“I mean…” Lackey paused, his gaze remaining fixed upon her. “Do you think this is the right thing to do?”

Beta remained silent for several seconds.

Her metallic fingers slowly curled against her palm as she considered his question. When she finally spoke, her voice was quiet, but there was no hesitation in it.

“I know what I have done, God, and I owe every life I took. I am not going to pretend that I am innocent simply because I had orders to follow.”

She lowered her head slightly.

“Even though I was forced into this position, that does not erase the lives that were lost because of my hands. I know what that makes me.”

Her voice faltered for only a moment before she continued.

“But…” She bit her lip, struggling against the emotion threatening to surface in her voice.

“If it meant protecting my daughter… I would do it again.”

Beta slowly raised her head.

“But if killing them was the only way to make sure my daughter could wake up tomorrow and still have a world to live in… then I would not hesitate, God.”

Her voice became firmer.

“…” Lackey remained silent.

He stared at her helmet for several seconds. He could not see her face, yet somehow, he already knew exactly what expression she was making beneath it.

There was no pride in her words.

No attempt to absolve herself.

Only the quiet resolve of a mother who had already accepted the weight of her sins, yet was still willing to carry even more if it meant keeping her child alive.

Lackey’s eyes slowly narrowed.

“I will participate in the Tournament,” Lackey said calmly.

“But…”

“I promised you that you would see your daughter and him… and I intend to keep my word,” Lackey said in a serious tone.

Beta fell silent, her expression softening as a faint smile slowly appeared beneath her helmet.

[+10 AP]

“Thank you,” she mumbled softly, but her gratitude quickly gave way to concern as she immediately warned him, “It is not an easy Tournament. You could lose, and we barely have a week to prepare.”

Lackey smirked confidently. “Just take me there, and I will do the rest.”

Beta remained slightly confused by his confidence, but she still nodded.

After all, he was a God in her eyes.

Why God?

Because he had basically claimed to be the Goddess’s husband, right?

And who would be the husband of a Goddess?

A God, obviously.

Her mind had already connected those dots, and from that moment onward, calling him God had simply become natural to her.

Lackey, for his part, had no intention of correcting her.

Actually, it was quite convenient for him as well. As long as she continued treating him separately from everyone else and maintained that reverence, things would eventually fall into place.

Lackey put his rabbit mask back on and looked at her.

“Let’s go now.”

“Yes, God.”

Genome Beta nodded reverently before immediately contacting her Commander and ordering him to prepare for their departure.

Soon, Lackey and Genome Beta were travelling through the air in a Quadcopter, with their Commander seated across from them.

The Commander occasionally glanced at Lackey with a faint frown.

‘Why is a slave sitting beside our Governor?’

Shouldn’t the Commander be the one sitting beside the Governor for security reasons?

However, as a Commander, he knew better than to question his Governor’s decisions.

Lackey remained quiet as he stared through the window at the world outside. His eyes remained fixed on the distant landscape, but his mind was somewhere else entirely.

‘Worlds? Trial? Privilege…?’

The words continued to circle through his mind, one after another, refusing to settle.

And alongside them came the faces of Mary, Morgana, and Lia.

‘What exactly is Arcane and Clara preparing?’

Lackey’s gaze slowly hardened as the Quadcopter continued toward its destination.

***

Meanwhile, somewhere far away, the Prophetess hovered silently above the ocean, her blank gaze fixed upon the endless surface below.

Since Aether had rewound time to the moment when everything had begun, the Prophetess had returned to the starting point as well.

But this time, she was not searching.

Because…

Trrrrrrrr!

Deep beneath the ocean, the Ebon Stone rotated quietly in the darkness, sending subtle ripples through the surrounding water.

After all, the only thing in this world that had not been affected by Aether’s rewind power was the Ebon Stone.

And if the Ebon Stone was still rotating…

That meant whatever had been nailed beneath it should have escaped, right?

Sshhhh~

A gentle breeze swept across the ocean, causing the Prophetess’s robe to flutter softly around her.

She remained completely still, her gaze fixed upon the water below.

Then suddenly, bubbles began rising from beneath the ocean surface.

Blu~Blu~Blu~

One after another, they emerged with increasing frequency, as though something deep below was slowly making its way upward.

The Prophetess’s eyes remained emotionless.

And then…

Plop!

“Meow~”