Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment.
Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.
The familiar characters you see here belong to their respected authors and owners.
"Speech"
Time*
Chapter 68: Changes In Perception
Hours later*
I let out a tired yawn.
I start thinking hard about whether I should wait until tonight to run some adventuring—both to speed up my Acting Progress for Sequence 8: Clown and to gather the rest of the ingredients I need to advance to Sequence 7: Magician, or if I should simply focus on bringing the remaining Pathways up to Sequence 8 first.
For a while now, I've been completely alone. No companions. No distractions. Just me wandering through unfamiliar streets.
I glance around again… and realize I'm lost.
"Well, crap." I mutter, rubbing my forehead as the truth sinks in.
I must've forgotten to take off the Right Glove of Traveling—again.
"Self-critical thinking time, I guess…"
Spotting a decently smooth, oversized rock beside a lone, very questionable-looking tree perched on the edge of a cliff, I walk over and sit down, letting the breeze wash over me while I try to gather my thoughts.
I pull a notebook from my backpack, along with a worn-down pencil, and flip to the last page—the one filled with the questions I'd scribbled down before. The final entry is a reminder to summarize the acting principles for each Pathway from Sequence 9 to Sequence 1, to see whether organizing them might actually help lower the risk of losing control.
Of course, I have to keep one thing firmly in mind: I am only acting.
If I immerse myself too deeply—if I become the role instead of simply performing it—the chances of losing control rise sharply.
But then again, the whole Acting Method relies on exactly that fine balance. Acting according to the Sequence's name, imitating its nature just enough to deceive the mental imprint of the Original Creator within the Beyonder characteristic, digesting it slowly, bit by bit.
Yet… is there even an Original Creator in my case?
My madness feels different—separate—nothing like the remnants left behind by an actual deity. My Beyonder Characteristics come from the Cards of Blasphemy, after all.
In fact, now that I think about it, what is madness? Is it the loss of my personality? My perception? The unraveling of whatever core kept me as me?
So many questions. Too many questions.
I lower my head and continue writing my thoughts into the notebook, letting the pencil carve out the confusion leaking through my mind.
The Cards of Blasphemy manifest around me once more, drifting into a slow orbit as they circle in midair. Among them, the Card of Wheel of Fortune drifts forward, stopping just a breath away from my face.
The Wheel of Fortune Pathway—also known as the Monster Pathway or the Fate Pathway. Beyonders of this Pathway possess dangerously high Spirituality. They can sense danger before it comes, glimpse the future in fractured strands, and wield Divination with innate fluency. Their luck rises, but so does the weight of calamities drawn to them. To an extent, they can twist the luck and misfortune of others… and their own.
At higher Sequences, they can bestow disasters, navigate chaos to find the best possible outcome, manipulate the destinies of living beings, trap others in loops woven from inescapable fated events, and survive calamities through reincarnation or encounter resets. Probability bends around them. They become the walking embodiment of infinite possibilities—the chaotic fulcrum of Fate itself.
Klein Moretti once guessed two things: Fate Beyonders walk a lonely road, and they rarely wear Mystical Items. If they do, they keep it to one or two of the lowest-tier, not out of modesty—out of necessity. They hoard luck by refusing to waste it on unnecessary activations.
Will Auceptin stated something else: a Fate Beyonder must pay the price first before receiving any bestowal from Fate—never the other way around. And the author of Lord of the Mysteries himself once wrote that no one should walk the Wheel of Fortune Pathway unless they possess good luck to begin with.
So why… Why did I choose the Card of Wheel of Fortune first?
I pause in my writing. My hand stops mid-sentence.
"It's because I am a monster…" I whisper, staring at the words I've just written. Because the truth is undeniable—I am anything but an ordinary being in this twisted world. "A monster wandering aimlessly."
I blink as my Spirituality surges outward in a sudden expansion. Something inside me cracks—clean, silent, liberating. My mind clears, refreshed… but with a quiet sadness. And relief.
In a strange way, choosing the Wheel of Fortune Pathway as my first choice fit perfectly. I was lucky enough to regain my past-life memories. Lucky enough to obtain all 22 Cards of Blasphemy, which do far more than merely reveal potion formulas and their original features.
I am a monster in the eyes of the Fates and in the minds of those who seek to kill me. A monster who can stare down Fate itself… and survive. A monster who brings misfortune to friend and foe alike. And the madness lurking in me—the threat of losing control—is yet another aspect of that monstrosity. Staying sane this long, fighting madness itself, marks me as monstrous in the eyes of many.
I shut the notebook and tucked it back into my backpack along with the pencil. Then I stand.
A cool breeze brushes my face, tugging my hair to the side as I take in the wide, open world before me.
Maybe there's a reason I haven't advanced to Sequence 8: Robot of the Wheel of Fortune Pathway. Not because I couldn't obtain the Beyonder characteristic—the Cards of Blasphemy's adventuring could easily provide that. No… Maybe it's because I first needed to truly understand what being a "monster" means.
Beyond the 22 Standard Pathways, there exist 10 Non-Standard Pathways. I've studied them through the Cards of Blasphemy, their abilities, and limited insights via Computational Divination. These Non-Standard Pathways mirror the standard ones in certain ways… yet I should not be able to access them at all without combining multiple Standard Pathways to synthesize them if I wasn't given access to them already once I've activated all 22 Standard Pathways.
I reach out and grab the Card of Wheel of Fortune. It glows softly, projecting the image of the Sefirot: Key of Light before me.
I have so many paths forward—so many ways to climb the Sequence ladder. I could even bypass the Potion System entirely and rely solely on the Boon System. Yet I continue to use both. Ironically, the moment I reach Sequence 8, I am finally a Beyonder under the potion advancement system.
I stare up at the cloudless blue sky, lost in thought.
"What is the meaning of all this? What—or who—made it so I would obtain the 22 Cards of Blasphemy?"
My eyes slowly close, and I feel the weight of every action since awakening pressing against my mind… along with the inherited knowledge of my past life.
With a quiet sigh, I open a Door to the Spirit World, stepping inside while keeping a faint sense of the real world as I move. I leave behind the cliff, the rock, the tree, and whatever place this was.
I don't feel like returning to Momoyo, or even to Rion and Sakamoto. I don't want to face the family of spies connected to my current life.
And I don't want to explore more of this world. I already know too many canon events, too many characters, too many inevitable crossroads.
I have the desire—the motivation—to change things for the better. But who am I to decide how this mixed, rewritten world should unfold? The moment worlds collided, everything ceased to follow its original script.
And here I am… caught in the middle of it all.
The first Pathway is the Wheel of Fortune. It represents my existence as a monster. A slow, dawning realization that being a monster is a lonely road—one filled with grief, knowledge, and burdens others were never meant to carry.
The second Pathway I chose was the Twilight Giant. It reflects my desire to fight back against fixed canon events, to challenge inevitability itself. But that struggle turned out to be pointless. What I truly faced wasn't this world—it was my own self-awareness. The mindset of a warrior who has lived too many lives.
The third Pathway is Fool—born from my desire to uncover the hidden secrets of the future. A seer who understands too much, then becomes a clown who hides everything behind a mask of false calm.
The White Tower Pathway, beginning at Sequence 9: Reader. I pursued it, hoping to understand my own existence, yet no matter how much I comprehend, it is never enough.
The Paragon Pathway reflects my desire to become more than ordinary—to retain all my past-life memories and stay in control. Becoming an archaeologist taught me I needed both a stronger body and the adaptability to face everything waiting in this life.
The Door Pathway made traveling easier and opened my eyes to how new and unfamiliar everything truly is. I pursued freedom, only to meet walls everywhere I turned—reminding me that at its core, this Pathway is about escapism.
The Red Priest Pathway came next, representing my urge to push forward and seize control. To become the hunter instead of letting others mark me as prey.
The Demoness Pathway may not have been personally awakened by me, yet it symbolizes the danger carried by those I allow into my life.
The Abyss Pathway freed me from self-restraint. At that point, I stopped fearing consequences—stopped caring about breaking things or altering the world. Reaching Sequence 8 in so many Pathways changed me deeply. I became something inhuman.
The Darkness Pathway fed my desire to demand more time, even when I should rest. Sleep became another obstacle to clarity.
The Moon Pathway expresses my old desire to create magical objects. As I walk it, I can feel myself changing further and further.
The Justiciar Pathway marks my wish to become someone better in the eyes of certain people—to bring meaningful change to their lives through my actions.
The Hanged Man Pathway mirrors the Demoness in its necessity. I didn't want it, yet I am willing to sacrifice whatever goodness remains in me to accomplish more.
The Visionary Pathway turned me into a spectator. I stopped wanting personal involvement, choosing instead to observe the flow of others' lives from a distance.
The Error Pathway reflects my urge to exploit loopholes and break away from the bindings of established rules rather than face them head-on.
The Black Emperor Pathway pushed me toward silent domination—controlling events and people from behind the scenes, without their awareness.
The Chained Pathway shows me the truth: I am a prisoner of this life. A prisoner bound by knowledge, by power, by the very nature of being a Beyonder.
The Hermit Pathway is my unending hunger for knowledge. Reaching Sequence 8 only intensified it. I continue fighting the creeping madness while pursuing truths I was never meant to touch.
The Death Pathway wasn't an early one, but it is one I will always walk. Death surrounds me—always has. I am, in the end, a collector of corpses.
The Mother Pathway was inevitable after Death. A response to my desire to stop needless, meaningless deaths around me.
The Sun Pathway reflects my wish to bring change and salvation. Now that I can offer salvation to others… I realize it is because I want my own.
The Tyrant Pathway—I now stand in the heart of the storm. A sailor navigating the vast, terrifying ocean of the unknown.
The 22 Pathways… They are the stages of my journey. The milestones of everything I have endured since the moment I opened my eyes in this world. The proof that I have long since become a monster.
And then, beyond them all… The Non-Standard Pathways.
What would they represent for me?
What parts of myself do they reflect—the ones I have not yet dared to acknowledge?