Olivia’s Fate of Life thread was fine. The Fate of Fortune thread was protecting it from the Fate of Devouring thread, as Percival had expected.
“Olivia doesn’t have the Darkness element. She shouldn’t have a Fate of Devouring thread.
“This makes it clear. The Fate of Devouring thread ‘eating’ the Fate of Life thread is being done by Tartarus, not by people’s own Darkness element.”
The situation was not the worst, but it was far from good.
The Fate of Devouring thread was encroaching on Olivia’s Fate of Life thread, even if slowly.
Percival had to hurry.
If Olivia was not saved before her Fate of Fortune thread sacrificed itself to protect her Fate of Life thread, then she would lose all of her Fate manipulation abilities.
She was not Percival.
She could not rebuild her Fate of Fortune thread after losing it.
After looking around, Percival found Senator Nicolas in the same situation.
His physical body was connected to the giant tree on Layer 3.
Percival searched the area for years. He located Neo and Elizabeth next to the tree’s base. They did not seem to be caught by the tree.
However, like everyone, their Fate of Consciousness thread was inside the tree.
No.
Neo and Elizabeth’s Fate of Consciousness thread was not ‘exactly’ inside the tree.
Neo’s Fate of Death thread, Fate of Life thread, and Fate of Consciousness thread were joined together to form an infinity loop.
The three threads were supporting each other, though Percival failed to understand how.
A small part of Neo’s Fate of Consciousness thread had broken away and entered the tree on Layer 3.
Elizabeth’s situation was more peculiar than Neo’s.
Her Fate of Life thread (green in color) and Fate of Consciousness thread (white in color) had almost merged into each other.
A part of her merged Fate of Life and Fate of Consciousness thread was inside the tree.
Although Neo’s three Fate threads were connected to each other, the distinction between them was as clear as day.
Unlike him, Elizabeth’s two Fate threads had nearly become one.
There were more things wrong with Elizabeth’s Fate threads, but something was stopping Percival from observing her closely.
He felt that if he did not stop looking at her Fate threads, his connection with his Fate of Fortune thread would snap by an unknown force.
Knowing this was a warning by his Fate of Fortune thread, he stopped.
‘Olivia, Nicolas, Neo, and Elizabeth are the only ones whose Fate of Life threads are okay.’
‘They are not dead yet, like others.’
Percival had to save them.
But how?
Manipulate Fate to help them?
That wouldn’t work.
Tartarus was too strong compared to him. He could manipulate Fate related to Tartarus only a few times before he exhausted his Fate of Fortune thread.
Although he could rebuild his Fate of Fortune thread, it took time.
There was no guarantee his friends would be alive by then.
‘I need to find the crux of the issue and try to make changes to it with my Fate of Fortune thread.’
Percival searched around the tree on Layer 3 for entrances.
He had to warn Neo, as according to Sunshine, Neo could do something about the situation.
‘But what can he do?’
Percival’s Fate of Fortune thread weakened over the months he spent in the world of Fate threads.
His mind felt like it was split apart, and his soul burned with agony due to overusing his Fate affinity.
However, he held on.
Time was distorted in the world of Fate threads, which was why he could spend months searching for a solution here.
If he left, he might not even have a day or an hour to overturn the situation.
Percival suddenly noticed that a foreign Fate of Devouring thread attacked Neo’s Fate threads.
Neo’s Fate of Life thread began to shrivel, and his Fate of Death thread started to grow.
‘He is dying!’
Panic seeped into him.
Before he could react, another miraculous scene unfolded.
The Fate of Consciousness thread started to vibrate. It generated a titanic amount of energy. The energy fused into the Fate of Life thread and became its nourishment.
‘Huh…?’
‘He is reviving?’
Percival had heard the rumors about Neo’s Immortality, but seeing it with his own eyes was shocking.
The Fate of Devouring thread feasted on the Fate of Life thread.
However, the energy produced by the Fate of Consciousness thread kept regrowing Neo’s Fate of Life thread and prevented it from being eaten.
Percival understood Neo was fighting someone, and he was losing.
He swiftly looked around, trying to figure out who Neo was fighting.
An extensive search using his Fate of Fortune thread told him Neo was with Elizabeth, the Void Dragon God, and another ‘illusion.’
Percival should not have been able to see the Fate threads of illusions created by Tartarus in the world of Fate threads.
But this illusion was different.
It was as if countless Fate of Devouring threads were converging on it.
‘A nexus point?’
The multiple subdimensions inside the Tartarus tree were nightmares. It made sense that the worlds had a ‘central point’ or an object that served as a ‘foundation.’
This object should be its World Core.
Percival had not tried to search for the central point, since Tartarus must’ve kept it hidden.
But this…
The illusion looked like the central point, judging by how many Fate of Devouring threads were converging on it.
Still, something felt missing.
The number of Fate of Devouring threads was high, but it was not enough to account for all the Fate of Devouring threads he had seen.
‘Could it be that Tartarus has divided its World Core into several pieces?’
‘This way, even if it loses one of the smaller pieces, the world of nightmares wouldn’t break.’
‘And using other pieces, it could slowly rebuild even its broken piece.’
Was something like this even possible?
Percival didn’t know.
This situation was a first for him.
All he could do was improvise according to the problem.
An idea started to form in Percival’s mind.
‘This illusion is a small part of Tartarus’ World Core and thus acts as one of the many hubs of the world of Nightmare.’
‘If this illusion dies, the world of nightmares should be affected, even if only for a moment.’
‘I might be able to use that moment to communicate with Neo.’