Master of the System

As the god of history, Istoriya was capable of reviewing all the scenes that had passed. Usually, this was enough for him to make the right decisions to get what he wanted. If he wanted to rule society, he’d compare and contrast different methods and choices made by civilizations passed. Those who failed to learn from history were doomed to repeat it. As for Istoriya, he could achieve any result he wanted by seeing how they were achieved historically and replicating them. Unfortunately, this power wasn’t very helpful in his current situation. In all of history, Gravitat had been the only god trapped and killed by Vremya. There weren’t any examples of gods escaping from Vremya after being trapped, so Istoriya couldn’t copy their choices to escape. The power he had relied on for all his life was failing him, and his heart was gripped with terror from the realization.

“Vremya, let’s talk this through,” Istoriya said and swallowed. “What exactly are you after? I’m sure we can come to a reasonable conclusion that doesn’t end in my death.”

Vremya snorted. “Did you offer to talk things through before sending Gravitat to imprison me? If I didn’t have my avatar of gravity, you and I both know what the result would’ve been. Your plan to capture Kosmos and steal her divinity would’ve worked, and my death would shortly follow.”

Istoriya’s expression darkened. First of all, the plan to capture Kosmos was only a rough draft at the moment! Second of all, since when did Vremya obtain an avatar of gravity!? Istoriya might’ve been able to see all of history, but gods were capable of shielding some of it from his prying eyes. If he were truly capable of knowing everyone’s dirty little secret, he would’ve been killed by all the gods a long time ago. In fact, the only reason other gods could shield themselves from him was because he voluntarily gave up some of his divinity. He had done it for two reasons: the first one was to decrease the threat he presented to other gods, and the second one was to help establish the laws of the godly society. Multiple gods offered some of their powers to create the covenant, and it was the main reason why gods were incapable of harming one another. Istoriya’s eyes flashed as he gritted his teeth. “You really have no intention of letting me go?”

“That’s right,” Vremya said. He stroked his beard. “Although I’m a patient person, not everyone here will be too pleased about waiting a few hundred million years for you to die. If you give up your divinity, I’ll let you go free. This offer will only last for the next week, which should be enough time for the despair and hopelessness to settle in.”

“I have to try to kill him for a week?” Azalea asked from inside of Pravos. “I suppose that’s a pretty small price to pay to become a god.”

“If he refuses to cooperate, you’ll have to fight him for a much longer period of time,” Grandpa Vremya said. “Don’t worry though. Even if it does take a while, we’ll be here to support you emotionally and mentally.”

Azalea sighed, causing Pravos to shiver. “Please don’t sigh inside of me,” Pravos said. “In fact, please refrain from talking by opening your mouth; you can use your spiritual energy instead, can’t you?”

Istoriya’s eye twitched. Was he really going to die to this joke of a loophole? However, it wasn’t like he was guaranteed to be defeated. Gravitat struggled because there was an avatar of gravity helping Vremya. It was a direct counter to the god of gravity’s ability. Unless Vremya had an avatar of history, Istoriya didn’t think his death was guaranteed. Istoryia took in a deep breath and calmed his nerves. “If you want me to struggle, then I’ll struggle!”

Istoriya waved his hand, and a scene from the past materialized in front of him. Hundreds of thousands of titans squirmed and writhed, reaching their tentacles out towards the Pravos-equipped Azalea. However, before they could get very far, dozens of black holes appeared in their midst, causing them to scream and screech as they were torn apart and compressed.

Grandpa Vremya snorted. “Although you have more tricks up your sleeve than Gravitat, they’re ultimately useless in the end.”

“Is that so?” Istoriya asked. He frowned. Although his previous action was just to probe his enemies, he had hoped it wouldn’t have been completely useless. Gravitat had been the defender of the godly society, his figure a pillar holding everything up. No matter how many titans had attacked, he was capable of fending them all off. Now that Vremya’s avatar had absorbed Gravitat’s divinity, Istoriya would need an attack capable of doing what an uncountable number of titans couldn’t. Once again, Istoriya felt a little helpless when trying to deal with a first moment in history. Gravitat’s defenses had never failed until now, so how was Istoriya supposed to draw upon examples from history to defeat Vremya’s gravity avatar?

“You’re not going to try anything else?” Grandpa Vremya asked. He stroked his beard. “If not, just concede. Don’t you have a few godly avatars? It’s not like you’ll be a complete nobody if you lose your divinity related to history.”

Istoriya grimaced. He did have a few godly avatars, but he couldn’t use them, not when Vremya had frozen time, trapping him in this single instance. He could only rely on himself. There were only a few things left he could try. “I think you’ll recognize this next attack.”

Vremya raised an eyebrow. Familiar fluctuations appeared behind Istoriya. A gigantic arm tore apart the void and grasped towards Pravos. When the arm moved, space shattered, turning into cracks that looked like black lightning. Although there weren’t any visible signs, Vremya could tell time was fluctuating wildly around the arm as well. He snorted and appeared in front of the arm. He wasn’t planning on losing to himself—even if the version of himself that he was facing had been fused with Kosmos. The fist was as large as Vremya, but that didn’t stop him from standing in its way. He pointed at the arm, and with a few flickers, it vanished.

“Woah, amazing, you could even stop something like that!” Karta said. “Did you launch it into the future? How far did you send it? Let me write it down, so I don’t get hit by it while wandering around.” Clearly, her earlier praise was only to butter Vremya up to obtain the life-saving information. And it seemed to work.

“There’s a strange aura of time around it,” Vremya said. “All I can say is I sent it somewhere between a hundred years to a hundred eons into the future.”

Karta froze. She glanced at the blank page of notes she had opened on her cellphone. “I think I’ll just mark this whole place down as a forbidden area then.”

Istoriya gulped and took a step back. Facing down two primordial gods…, as expected, for him, it was impossible. “Alright!” he said and bowed his head. He’d much rather keep his life and lose his powers than die a miserable death over the course of a billion years. “I’ll accept your deal. I’ll give you my divinity, and in return, you’ll let me go.”

Vremya raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected Istoriya to crack so fast. However, he wasn’t surprised about it either. The laws of time and gravity really were too unreasonable to go against. “Expel your divinity.”

Istoriya sighed as he extended his arms and held his palms out facing up. A rainbow-colored mist rose out of them, coalescing into a ball. He glanced at Vremya before gently tossing the ball over. It floated towards the old man. Vremya sent his divine sense into the ball and made sure everything was there. While he did so, he retrieved the portion of divinity related to traveling into the past and absorbed it for himself, finally patching up the missing part of his domain. As for the rest of the mist, Vremya waved his hand, and it floated towards Pravos. “Absorb it.”

Hope filled Pravos’ eyes, but they dimmed a second later. The divinity was clearly meant for Azalea and not for justice—even though the power would’ve been much more appreciated in justice’s hands. The mist flowed into Pravos and went through her body before being absorbed by Azalea. After a bit, a slit opened up in Pravos’ back, and Azalea slid through, squirming out like a butterfly escaping a cocoon.

“I filled my end of the deal,” Istoriya said, watching Azalea with a pained expression. His divinity had really been taken away by a mortal. It would’ve hurt his pride less if Vremya had absorbed it for himself. “Can you kill the titans in the surrounding area before unfreezing time?”

“Even without your divinity, I’m sure you have ways to defend yourself,” Vremya said and waved his hand. Time unfroze, and sound filled the previously silent area. “Go. Don’t bother me again.”

Azalea glanced at Grandpa Vremya. “Since I took that guy’s divinity, that means he isn’t a god anymore, right?”

Grandpa Vremya nodded. “Yep. Don’t say I’ve never done anything for you.”

Azalea snorted. “Since that’s the case, why are you letting him go?” Azalea’s eyes glinted, and she waved her hand. The ancient arm from earlier reappeared and grabbed Istoriya. Before the ex-god of history could even protest, the arm clenched, shattering space, time, and Istoriya’s body. “How long have you been in the Moon Lotus Sect for? Don’t tell me you already forgot weeds should be plucked, roots and all?”

Pravos swallowed upon seeing the sight. Somehow, she couldn’t help but think it would’ve been better for Istoriya to keep his own powers. At least he was responsible when it came to using them.