Chapter 88: Destiny [2]

“Destiny is a cruel bitch, Rael. Even those who think they are above it are nothing more than pawns on a grander chessboard…” His violet eyes dimmed. “And unfortunately, I learned that far too late.”

For the first time since I met him, Trickster felt… human. Too human.

It was as if the mask had slipped, just for a moment and I was staring at the regret underneath.

And then, just as quickly, the smile was back, sharp, mocking and too wide to be real.

I always thought of destiny as a bitch with a personal vendetta against my handsomeness. But hearing a god call her the same? Yeah… that hit different.

And right then, it clicked.

Destiny wasn’t just screwing with me. She screwed the gods too.

“As for your last question—why I care about your safety—I can’t say.” His smile thinned. “With time, you’ll understand.”

Before I could speak, he waved me off.

“We don’t have much time. Ask your other questions quickly.”

I wanted to circle back, to press him again on the forbidden questions he had shut down. But I knew the chances of getting answers were close to zero and honestly, it made sense.

This wasn’t a deal or a negotiation.

I had nothing to offer him, nothing to trade for truth.

And yet… he still answered.

Not everything, as he left me with even more questions than before but at least I knew one thing: the S-Rank dragon guarding the Card of Arcana wasn’t a coincidence.

I finally knew I wasn’t just being paranoid, some cosmic asshole really was screwing with me. And for now, that was enough.

After all… every story needs a villain, right?

And if my final boss wasn’t some divine-level entity, then what was even the point? Anything less would just be boring.

I looked at the Trickster… There were a thousand things I wanted to ask, but you know how it is when someone tells you to ask anything, your brain goes blank and all the questions tangle together until you can’t remember most of them.

“What did you mean when you said this domain was mine?” I finally asked.

He had mentioned it the moment I arrived here and the question had been itching at the back of my mind ever since.

“A Trickster needs his domain… and this is yours,” he said, voice flickering slightly. “Though it’s not complete yet, it will be, maybe, once you reach a higher rank.”

His form started glitching as he spoke, the edges of his body flickering in and out of reality.

“What did you do when I was negotiating with Hel? How was I so calm, and how could she not see through me?” I fired off my second question immediately.

There was no time to ponder, it could wait until I was back in reality.

“I… awakened… something dormant in you…” His voice started fading and I barely caught the words before they disappeared.

His form began turning ethereal. “Hey, wait—”

Bastard. I still had questions.

Why waste so much time with tea if this conversation had a time limit?

Before I could shout more, his form shifted for a single fleeting moment.

The mask of Morvana cracked apart until I saw someone else beneath: a man in a black suit and long black hair.

He bowed low with a cane in hand as if this were the last grand trick of his life.

His face was shrouded in fog but one thing pierced through it…

His smile.

A smile that, for the first time, looked more sorrowful than smug.

“I only have a single piece of advice for you…”

“When the silence lingers too long, even shadows forget their shapes.

The masks fall, one by one until the actors saw they were always alone.

The jester’s blood becomes the ink of memory and the broken blade a quill for fate.

No curtain will fall, no drum will thunder. Only the silent breath held by the cosmos, waiting.

For in that stillness, a single word can unmake a world and a whisper may crown the last myth.”

Another prophecy.

Seriously, can this guy not go one damn conversation without dropping one?

I barely kept myself from rolling my eyes. Like, would it kill him to use normal words for once?

“And Rael,” he added, his voice softening. “Try not to get into too much trouble. I won’t be around to drag you out again… this was my last act and it’s real this time.”

He paused then smirked.

“So… goodbye, Rael. And oh don’t trust that shitty damn novel. Ahahahahahahah—”

The domain started vanishing as his body faded.

And me? Gravity had already reclaimed its custody rights, dragging me down into the void and pulling me closer to the real world.

My body was falling, but my mind… It was still stuck on his last words.

He knew about the novel.

How the hell is that possible?

Was he another transmigrator like me?

Was he Noah, the one who actually wrote it? This would explain why his face was so punchable.

Or… was this world never a novel to begin with?

What if instead of the world being shaped by the book… the book was shaped by the world?

And then two of the craziest thoughts clawed at my brain.

What if the Trickster was just me? Some far-future version of myself regressed through time, laughing his way back to drag me forward?

No. Impossible. I definitely wouldn’t be that insane.

But the seed had been planted.

I had doubted before that maybe this world wasn’t just some failed novel but now? Now the doubt wasn’t a whisper anymore. It was solidifying.

And for the first time since waking here…

…I wasn’t sure which world was real.

But speculation was useless. I still lacked too much information to make any kind of declaration, and chasing shadows wasn’t going to give me answers.

So I shoved the thought to the back of my mind, locking it away with all the other questions I wasn’t ready to face.

No point overthinking when the truth would come crashing down eventually.

And until then, there was only one thing I could do.

Get stronger.

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