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Chapter 697: Masters Of Fate

“Firma?” A young catwoman called out, sitting alone atop a small hill. She looked around in confusion, having been unable to sense the presence of her twin ever since ascending to her divine status.

I’m here. The familiar voice echoed in her mind, causing her to let out a sigh of relief. And how many times do I have to say it? I’m Terra, you’re Firma.

“Nope!” The felyn shook her head decisively, a small smile forming on her face. “Where are you, anyways?”

I don’t know… it feels like I’m sitting in a small room, watching you through a projection. I can… give me just a second, I want to try this. Terra blinked, waiting as she listened to her twin’s words. A moment laters, her eyes turned pitch black, and she looked down at herself. “Okay, this is just weird.”

H-Hey! What was that? How did you take over my body?! The twin’s voice spoke up in alarm within Terra’s mind. Or maybe it was Firma’s? Nobody really knew for sure anymore, least of all them.

“I felt like I could take over if I focused hard enough. You should be able to--” do the same. Her words were cut off halfway through as the black eyes flashed with gold, before settling on green. Okay, a little warning next time, maybe?

“I should be the one saying that to you.” Terra said with a playful smirk. “So, what does this mean for the ‘big’ Terra?” She asked curiously, her eyes flashing black as her twin took over.

“Well, she hasn’t assumed direct control, yet. I’d guess nothing’s really changed on that front. Though… we did get her domains. And I got a prompt saying that I had become a Fallen God… so maybe we should go play in the void sometime?” After saying that, her eyes flashed gold again, her cheeks puffing out.

“Okay, we need to set some ground rules. We can’t both be fighting for control over the same body. Why don’t we… oh! I know. Give me a second, I’m going to fix this for us.” Terra closed her eyes, focusing on partitioning her divine energy to create an avatar. The creation of avatars was a skill that Terra had taught them long ago, and one that they had taken to rather easily.

Soon, the image of the avatar was done, and Terra released her divine power. Her energy escaped her body in a golden mist, which soon shifted and coalesced into an identical copy of herself. The two versions of Terra were sitting on the hilltop, until they both opened their eyes again. Sure enough, one of them had golden eyes, the other black. However, a moment later, both of their eyes shifted to a green color.

“So, we ended up fusing when we ascended? I bet that’s never happened to anyone.” One of the pair said with a faint chuckle. “Terra said that if either of us ever became a Fallen God, we would be able to create a territory within the void. Do you want to give it a try?”

The other one shook her head. “Maybe later. First… let’s see how our prediction ability evolved?” She asked in excitement, her twin’s eyes gleaming at the idea. Soon, the two of them were sitting back to back, preparing to activate their power of prophecy.

“But… who are we going to get to ask the question?” It was a fact that when they were using their powers, they were unable to provide the answers to their own questions, and would often entirely forget the contents of the answer in the first place.

“Maybe we can find the Keeper to ask us a question? Or one of his servants?” As they had ascended to godhood, they were technically a part of the Greater Pantheon now, even if Terra’s consciousness did not directly inhabit their body. It would not be out of the question for them to be in contact with the Sky Citadel.

“Alright, leave this one to me.” One of the twins said, her book flying open. “Book of the past, open the door to the ancient citadel in the sky.” Her eyes flashed black as space seemed to tear apart in front of the book, forming a twisted gateway. “Let’s go!” She smiled, jumping to her feet.

Soon, the twins both emerged in the courtyard of the flying citadel. In truth, there were many flying facilities scattered throughout the world in this day and age. Especially those produced through the use of magnartum, the islands that decorated the sky of Deckan. Still, the Sky Citadel had always been a special location to the citizens of the various worlds. It was the home of the Keeper, and while others may imitate it, they would never infringe upon it.

Which was why the door burst open to reveal a surprised Tsubaki emerging with Dana, both of them having their weapons drawn. The energy that they felt had a vague familiarity to it, but also had the tainted touch of the void. It would have made sense for a void monster was capable of creating such a feeling.

“Woah!” One of the twins called out, holding up her hands as her book floated behind her. “We come in peace. Singular, one piece. Please don’t send us back in pieces, plural.”

“Terra…?” Tsubaki asked, able to more accurately gauge the energy now that she stood before it. Still, the touch of the void was something that had never been present with the felyn goddess before, so Tsubaki did not lower her guard.

“That’s right!” Both of them called out, before puffing their cheeks out and looking at one another. They didn’t get into their normal argument, simply turning to look at Dana again.

“We just finished ascending, so we wanted to come by and ask someone here to help us try our power!” One of them said with a bright smile, the other nodding her head.

“We can’t use it on our own, you see? So we need someone to ask us a question that won’t try to take advantage of the situation. This one time, we tried to ask a stranger, and they thought it was a good idea to take the time when we couldn’t react to cop a feel. The big girl upstairs thought it was an equally good idea to smite the man who wanted to take advantage of an aspiring goddess.”

Tsubaki blinked at that, furrowing her brow. “Did you tell him who you were first?”

“Well… no! But that shouldn’t matter! Taking advantage of an innocent little catgirl like us is forbidden!” One of the Terra’s declared, before both of them began nodding their head in unison. “Anyways, we came here so that you could ask us a question and we could test out our divine powers.”

Tsubaki and Dana looked at one another, as if not sure how to proceed. Dana’s lips pursed in a thin smile. “We probably shouldn’t let Lifre at them. She’d end up asking where the toughest monster she could stab was.”

Tsubaki knew that was at least a slight exaggeration, but agreed that letting Lifre ask the question wouldn’t be the wisest use of this power. “Alright, I’ll ask the question, then.” She said with a nod, the two felyn girls beaming with excitement.

Once again, they moved to stand back to back, one hand from each clasping together at their sides. Tsubaki could feel their power flowing through each other as their books appeared in front of their bodies. “I am the story that has come to pass.” One spoke, her voice growing indistinct as a haze covered her figure.

“I am the inspiration that is to come.” Said the other, her body similarly being wrapped in a haze. The two figures seemed to step back into each other, merging together as their bodies shifted into unidentifiable mist. The two books similarly began moving, floating around the pair to rest in the air nearest Tsubaki, light sparking off as they merged into one another.

When the books had finished merging, so two had the twins. What appeared before them now was an image far more recognizable as the goddess Terra. Her red hair flowed down her back, her body draped in a simple white dress. However, that was where the similarities ended. Her eyes, once opened, were endless pools of black, her pupils a shining island of gold within the dark sea.

“I am the fate of this world.” The figure spoke, her voice carrying a faint echo to it. “State your question, please.”

Tsubaki hesitated as she looked at the figure, sensing the warped energies of divinity and chaos fighting within her. They were struggling for control, and yet simultaneously acting in perfect harmony. This Terra’s entire existence appeared to contradict itself. “What… is currently the biggest threat to the people of this world?”

The merged figure of Terra smirked, her hand stretching out over the book. “A man hidden in layers of obscurity, a master of his own game. His power is not his own, reaching from the deepest region of the endless sea of chaos. The beast of deals and contracts consumes his thoughts, making puppets of gods and men. Should his plan succeed, the land of mortals will welcome a god above all, and the downfall of life is assured.”

After she had finished her prophecy, she closed her eyes. Her figure grew hazy once more, splitting apart into the twins that had originally arrived. In the same manner, their books split apart, resting in front of their original owners. The twins each brought their hands up to their heads, letting out identical groans.

“That was… different.” One said, the other nodding her head.

“We’ve never done that kind of prediction… and we even remembered it!” The second twin lifted her head excitedly, looking towards her sister. “What was that… like images and flashes that came with the prediction? Different fuzzy scenes all playing out at once?”

Her sister nodded her head, causing Tsubaki to speak up. “If you remembered, and had images to go with the prediction… perhaps you could offer a bit of clarity to your words?”

“Huh? Oh! Right, sure, sorry.” One of them nodded, and they both turned to look at Tsubaki, glancing at each other. “Let’s see… the big thing is that last bit. The downfall of life… when we said that, we weren’t meaning like… all life in the world. Instead… the picture of Udona came to us. Like her figure was in a black pond, and someone threw a rock into it to destroy the reflection.”

Tsubaki certainly did not like the sound of that, as it seemed to imply that someone would be able to overthrow a member of the Greater Pantheon. Or at least, her incarnation within the world. “And do you know who this man is that we should be watching out for?”

The twin sisters looked at each other for a moment, seeming to think. “Did you see it clearly?” One asked, the other shaking her head. “To me, it just looked like a human… the hair kept shifting between brown, black, and gold, the style growing longer or shorter every scene. Definitely a human, though!” Both of the twins nodded at that assessment.

“Oh, and there was that beast of contracts. That thing we saw more clearly.” One of them said, before they both shuddered. “It was this six-armed monster with spindly limbs. Its body was covered in a red and purple robe, and its face had no eyes or nose, only a gaping mouth of jagged teeth. All along every part of its skin was… some kind of writing. Some of it looked like the common language of the alliance, and I think I saw a few names?”

“Didn’t it feel like it was looking at us when we saw it, though?” One twin asked the other. “I know it didn’t have eyes or anything, but I swear it turned its head just a bit. It didn’t touch us with a void link, right?”

The other twin’s eyes flashed black, before she grimaced. “Oh yeah, we’ve definitely got a thread. Just going to destroy that real fast…” She said as she swiped for an invisible thread, removing its connection to the twins. “Might be able to trace it back to him, but… better not to take the risk when we don’t know what it can do.”

“But wait…” The first twin’s eyes flashed golden. “We remembered the prophecy, and with really good detail. This means we might be able to ask our own questions now!” The other twin’s eyes lit up as well at that, realizing the significance of not needing others in order to activate their power.