Chapter 40: Towers Fall
Dawn broke over the Seine with the pale quality of light that promised death—thin and gray, as if the sun itself hesitated to illuminate what was about to unfold beneath Paris's impossible walls. Paul stood among the assault force, watching Floki's wooden towers lumber toward stone fortifications like giants built from dreams and doomed to fall.
"Structural flaws in the weight distribution. First tower collapses in forty-seven seconds. Forty men die when it does."
Paul activated Odin's Whisper as the war horns sounded, burning precious mana to see the massacre with crystalline precision. The world split into reality and perfect foresight—arrows tracing parabolic paths through air, siege towers groaning under loads they were never designed to carry, death moving through the ranks with mathematical inevitability.
[ODIN'S WHISPER ACTIVATED]
[DURATION: 120 SECONDS]
[MP COST: 100]
[REMAINING: 18/35]
Through enhanced perception, Paul tracked the critical failure point—third support beam from the base of the eastern tower, stress fractures already propagating through wood that Floki had seasoned with northern pride but insufficient understanding of engineering physics.
"Tower three! The base beam!" Paul's shout was lost in the thunder of three thousand warriors charging across open ground toward walls that had never fallen to Viking fury.
The beam snapped with the sound of breaking bones.
Forty men plummeted into the siege ditch as their tower collapsed sideways, wooden death trap becoming wooden coffin in the space between one heartbeat and the next. Paul watched bodies twist in air before impact, saw the exact moment when consciousness left their eyes like candles extinguished by wind.
"One down. Three to go. And Ragnar's climbing the second."
Count Odo appeared on the ramparts with the calm efficiency of someone who'd never lost a battle he'd prepared for. Beside him, Princess Gisla watched the carnage with what might have been professional interest or simple curiosity—impossible to distinguish at this distance.
Below the walls, Rollo stared upward with an intensity that made reality shimmer around him like heat waves rising from sun-warmed stone. Paul felt threads of fate tightening between the Viking warrior and the Frankish princess—destiny wrapped in silk and desire and the mathematics of betrayal.
The second tower reached the walls as Frankish defenders poured boiling oil from prepared vats. Liquid fire cascaded down wood that had been seasoned in northern forests, and Paul watched Vikings burn alive inside structures that became crematoriums before they became bridges.
Paul used Fate Thread Manipulation instinctively, two hundred mana points flowing into probability adjustments that bought precious minutes for the men trapped inside burning wood.
[FATE THREAD MANIPULATION ACTIVATED]
[MP COST: 200]
[OVERDRAFT: -182]
[WARNING: DANGEROUS MP DEFICIT]
The oil flow shifted—not much, but enough that twenty men near the tower's base had time to leap clear before flames consumed their escape routes. Paul felt reality bend around his will like heated metal accepting new shape, probability flowing like water redirected by supernatural intervention.
But the third tower still approached with Ragnar climbing its wooden spine like a wolf ascending a tree made of death.
The crossbow bolt aimed at Ragnar's throat flew true through morning air—Paul's enhanced perception tracked its path with mathematical precision. Bronze point that would punch through mail and flesh and vocal cords, reducing the most famous voice in Scandinavia to wet silence.
Paul's remaining mana went into final probability adjustment, thirty-five points that represented his last reserves of supernatural power. The bolt caught a wind gust that shouldn't have existed, veering three inches wide of its target to ring against iron mail instead of opening royal throat.
But the tower's supports were failing.
[CRITICAL WARNING: STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE IN 7 SECONDS]
[RAGNAR'S POSITION: FATAL FALL ZONE]
[MP REMAINING: 0]
[TEMPORAL ECHO AVAILABLE: 150 MP COST]
Paul's warning shout was lost in the chaos of three thousand men dying for glory that would never come. The wooden framework cracked with sounds like thunder, tilting toward the Seine with Ragnar still climbing toward walls he would never reach.
"No mana. No options. Only one choice."
Paul activated Temporal Echo and felt his consciousness tear loose from linear time.
[TEMPORAL ECHO ACTIVATED]
[MP OVERDRAFT: -150]
[TOTAL DEFICIT: -332]
[CRITICAL WARNING: PSYCHE DAMAGE IMMINENT]
Ten seconds rewound in the space between heartbeats. Paul found himself standing where he'd been moments before, but now he knew exactly when and where the tower would fall. He sprinted toward Ragnar's position with legs pumping like pistons, every step calculated for maximum efficiency.
The tackle that took Ragnar off the tower was perfectly timed—Paul's shoulder catching the Viking king in the lower ribs just as the wooden structure began its final collapse. They fell together into the Seine's cold waters while thirty men died in the space they'd occupied heartbeats before.
Water closed over Paul's head like a fist made of ice, and consciousness fled from a mind that had pushed supernatural abilities beyond their safe operational limits.
"At least he's alive. That has to count for something."
Darkness claimed him like a tide made of exhaustion and impossibility, dragging him down into depths where time moved differently and dreams tasted of system warnings about permanent psychological damage.
+1 CHAPTER AFTER EVERY 3 REVIEWS
MORE POWER STONES == MORE CHAPTERS
To supporting Me in Pateron .
Love [ In The Vinking With Deja Vu System ]? Unlock More Chapters and Support the Story!
Dive deeper into the world of [ In The Vinking With Deja Vu System ] with exclusive access to up to + 50 chapters on my Patreon, you get more chapters if you ask for more (in few days), plus new fanfic every week! Your support starting at just $6/month helps me keep crafting the stories you love across epic universes like [ Game Of Throne ,MCU and Arrowverse, Breaking Bad , The Walking dead ].
By joining, you're not just getting more chapters—you're helping me bring new worlds, twists, and adventures to life. Every pledge makes a huge difference!
👉 Join now at patreon.com/TheFinex5 and start reading today!