Chapter 254: Little Puppet [IV]

"What the hell?!" I muttered, my eyes widening as I stared at the Prince of Desires in disbelief. "This... this is the

Loom of Fate

! How can you even perceive it?"

Asmodeus tilted his head, his smirk caught somewhere between entertained and intrigued.

"You are such a fascinating little creature, you know that?" he drawled, studying me like I was just a peculiar insect he had caught. "You have no knowledge of your own Mark, you have no understanding of the gods, you are blind to the truth of this world... yet somehow, you know about the

Loom of Fate

?"

My throat went dry.

Of course I knew about it.

The

Loom of Fate

was a web of ethereal threads stretching across existence, binding every life, every death, every choice into a grand tapestry from which no one could escape.

...Or so Lily

claimed

in the game.

She had been the first main character to be able to perceive fate by borrowing the gaze of a goddess.

It was no small feat. Because mortals weren’t meant to even comprehend fate’s existence, let alone its workings.

But she had.

She had

actually

seen fate.

And that same feat was later followed by Michael at the very end of the game, when he found a way to trap the Spirit King with himself in the Void.

Aside from Lily and Michael, only two other characters ever glimpsed fate in the story’s entirety.

The first was one of the Nameless Lord of the Syndicate — a powerful oracle who had the ability to twist probability itself.

The second was the Eighth Demon Prince, Vaeghar the Moon Eater.

But Asmodeus? He was

not

supposed to be one of them!

"Impossible..." I whispered, though the word sounded hollow even to my own ears. "Your domain is desire, not fate!"

And yet, here he was — perceiving the

Loom

.

And it was

definitely

the

Loom

. I was certain.

Although there were only two threads here — one mine and one his, both twisted together in a knot.

But if he could see this much... then he could damn well see the rest of fate too.

Asmodeus chuckled like I had said something both dumb and funny. "You’re right. I possess no authority over fate. Not as my brother Vaeghar does. But I’ve learned a few tricks from him. In fact, we all learn from one another. Desire, wrath, rot, fate... we’re not bound solely by our domains. We study. We steal. We take what we want."

My heartbeat thundered in my chest like a war drum. "That’s... that’s not possible. The Moon Eater’s dominion is absolute. His was a power stolen from the gods themselves. You can’t just—"

"Oh, please." Asmodeus cut me off with a lazy wave of his hand, as though brushing away a tedious lecture. "Do you think Vaeghar kept his secrets locked away or something? Do you think the Princes play fair with one another? If someone has something worth taking, we take it. If they hoard knowledge, we pry it from their dead fingers — or their living minds."

He leaned closer. "I’ll let you in on a secret. Desire and fate aren’t so different. Desire

creates

fate. Every thread is spun from a want. A yearning. A man’s path winds because he chases. A woman’s end comes because she covets."

His voice dropped lower. "And I’ll tell you another secret. That’s how the Spirit King creates us — his children, his generals, his demons. Each one of us is forged stronger than the last. Every new Prince is a refinement. Every one of us is a more perfected version of the one who came before."

I knew what he meant, though I had never given it much thought until now.

Asmodeus continued, sounding almost conspiratorial, "The Spirit King does not repeat, you see. He corrects. His first Prince was little more than a beast, driven by instinct and nothing more. The second had cunning, but no will. The third had will, but no subtlety. And so it went, mistake after mistake, each flaw corrected in the next creation. That is why our powers are not only correlated... they are

improvements

."

"...Improvements toward what?" I asked hesitantly.

Because this was a chain. If every Demon Prince’s power was an improvement over that of their predecessor... then where was this leading?

What was the Spirit King’s end goal?

I had a guess.

And I didn’t like it.

"Toward what our King truly desires," he whispered with a grin that chilled me.

I swallowed hard. "The Queen of Black Rot."

Asmodeus’ smirk widened instantly at my response. "Exactly, Little Puppet. Exactly."

"Wait. Then does that mean the Sixth Demon Prince could—" I didn’t get to finish.

Because Asmodeus blurred forward and pressed a lanky finger lightly against my lips to silence me.

"Your two questions are long since over," he said softly, but the sharpness in his tone was more threatening than he probably intended.

I clenched my fists and instinctively stepped back.

But he was already behind me. His hand fell onto my shoulder and his grin spread as if he was savoring the sight of my unease.

"You are entering my dreams because our fates are linked. That’s the phenomenon pulling you to me. There’s your answer," he murmured. "Now, it is my turn to ask."

He then raised a finger and pointed toward where his fate thread and mine were tangled in a knot.

"My question is simple." His voice slithered into my ear. "

Why

are our fates linked?"

His breath ghosted across my skin — cold and chilling, yet it crawled like fire down my spine.

"And don’t lie," he warned, this time sounding every bit as threatening as the monster he was. "I hate liars. Even though I cannot harm you here... if I believe you’ve spoken falsehood, I

will

find a way to hurt you. And I

will

make you regret it."

My mind raced in a desperate attempt to come up with an answer.

Because I sure as hell couldn’t just tell him the truth.

I forced a deep breath to calm myself... which did nothing to calm me.

My heart still thundered nonstop. My breath still came in ragged bursts. And I was one step away from a full-blown panic when an idea hit me.

I couldn’t tell him the truth. The

full

truth, at least. But maybe I could give him enough.

"Answer me!" Asmodeus snarled, his tone not smooth as silk anymore but sharp like a blade pressed to my throat.

My instincts screamed at me to speak before he lost his patience.

So I did. "I was the one originally meant to find your Summoning Card."

And for a few moments that followed, there was nothing but silence.

Then, after a while, Asmodeus stepped away and circled to stand in front of me. "Excuse me, what?"

Gone was the menacing tone.

Gone was the dreadful aura.

Right now, he sounded more like a five-year-old dumbfounded child who had just been asked to explain quantum mechanics.

I shrugged helplessly. "It wasn’t Jake. I was the one fated to find your Summoning Card. I was the one fated to start the massacre at the

Night Sanctuary

. And I was the one fated to... die at the end of it."

The Prince of Desires simply kept staring. His crimson eyes, usually brimming with mischief, now looked... uncertain.

And then he exclaimed, "Huh?! Wait, if that’s true, then how do you even know this? Are you actually saying you...

changed

fate somehow?"

I sighed, then locked gazes with him. "Your one question is over."

And for the first time since I had seen him, Asmodeus didn’t have a retort ready.

His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again, like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to scream or laugh or just tear me apart.

But eventually, his grin returned. This time it wasn’t smug. It was... hungry.

"Ohhh, you are delightful. You’re

so

very delightful!" he purred, though the edges of his voice quivered with something darker. "Do you realize what you’ve just confessed, Little Puppet? Because if you speak the truth, then you’re not simply a mortal. You’re a

mistake

."

My stomach dropped.

Asmodeus started stepping back into the darkness, slowly disappearing out of view. "And the gods

hate

mistakes."

The crimson glimmer of his eyes was the last fragments of him visible before he completely faded away.

By now, only his voice carried, "But me? Oh... I think I like you

even

more now. Which means you and I will be spending a great deal of time together."

My breath quickened. Cold sweat beaded across my forehead. And for the first time in a long time, I felt something dangerously close to fear for some unknown reason.

Then, out of nowhere, something monstrous lunged at me from the dark.

I flinched—

And woke up screaming in the earthen bed I had made.