The ten resurrected Beyonders attacked.
[Many Constellations are doubting the Probability of 'Termiboros'!]
There was no sound, no battle cry. Only the blank-eyed, perfect synchronicity of puppets. The 'Red Priest' raised his hand, a [Fiery Bombardment] gathering. The 'Marauder' stole the ground beneath Hajin, attempting to make him fall.
Kim Hajin reacted on pure instinct with his [Bullet Time] on. He aimed his Desert Eagle at the 'Red Priest' and fired. Bang. Bang. Bang.
Three Infused with anti-magic bullets screamed through the air... and stopped.
It hung suspended, a foot from the 'Red Priest's' face, its kinetic energy completely nullified.
Hajin's [Observation and Reading] flashed a new, terrifying line of text:
[Target: Bullet. Status: Outcome Predestined (Miss)]
It wasn't a 'block'. Its 'Future' had been rewritten.
But there was no such thing as a 'Miss' for Kim Hajin, neither in the future nor present. Not in the 'Settings' he had written. Not with his Gift Master Sharpshooter. There was no target that he could miss.
[Attention! Star Stream is experiencing…>>>E(UR*W(ADH! ERROR]
[World Will is manifesting it's rules through the Star Stream.]
The bullets that were frozen changed their trajectories and hit the Witch and two Beyonders of Abyss Pathway right in the head.
At the same time Termiboros's spirituality stretched out and resurrected them one more time.
Klein raised his hand, Spirit Body Threads lashing out to re-take control of his 'puppets'. The invisible threads shot forward... and dissolved.
Termiboros simply looked at him. A rotting thought, cold and amused, brushed against his mind. [Your attack has no 'Future'.]
The ten puppets attacked, their abilities—[Fiery Bombardment], Devils' Monster Transformation, Psychiatrist's mental assault—all converging on the trio.
In this moment of absolute, 'Fated' destruction, Kim Dokja remained perfectly, terrifyingly calm.
He smiled.
'Ah,' he thought, his mind clear as glass. 'So that's why.'
He finally understood. He'd been wary of the 'Star Stream' being so lenient. He'd wondered why the Probability was so tilted that it even allowed him to use his two Modifiers Statuses simultaneously.
'It wasn't being lenient. The scales were tilted already, Klein ran wild because it sensed... this. A bigger violation. A 'Story' from outside the Scenario.'
Termiboros was not a 'Character'. He was an 'Outer God' to some point, at least for now, anyone that came from outside counted as an 'Outer', an author trying to write his own ending on the [Star Stream's] page.
'But… If to think about… Are Klein and Hajin the Outer Gods too? If not how did they… Who allowed such Probability?'
"If we play by his rules, we lose," Dokja said, his voice echoing with a strange, new power. He wasn't just speaking to his companions; he was speaking to the world.
He activated his 'Status'.
[The 'Demon King of Salvation' is declaring his indignation!]
[The 'Watcher of Light and Darkness' is imposing his narrative!]
All of his stories roared
He didn't just ask for a check. He demanded it. His voice, amplified by his 'Status', became an 'Indirect Message' that shot straight to the constellations in the 'Channel'.
['Star Stream'! An 'Outer Being' is illegally interfering with the Scenario!]
[Are you just going to watch?! This is a violation of the 'Scenario'! We demand a Plausibility Check!]
The reaction was instantaneous.
[The World Will is looking at you!]
'World Will? What the Hell is that?'
[The 'Star Stream' acknowledges the violation!]
[Many Constellations and Demon Kings are disgruntled!]
BOOM.
The dark, cosmic sky above them tore open.
[A 'Probability Storm' is gathering in response to excessive interference from an external 'Story'!]
A massive, swirling vortex of blue-gold sparks and chaotic 'Stories' formed directly above Termiboros . It was a storm of pure 'Fate', the [Star Stream's] ultimate immune response, aimed at the 'virus' that had invaded its narrative.
The ten puppet-Beyonders froze, their attacks dissolving as the sheer 'Status' of the storm pressed down.
Termiboros, the being of rot, simply... looked up. The rotting thought-voice echoed, laced with a cold, ancient amusement.
[A 'Storm'? A 'Fated' punishment? How... primitive.]
'He' was an Angel of Redemption. He was 'Fate'.
'He' raised a shadowy hand. 'He' didn't try to block the storm. 'He' didn't try to flee. 'He' simply pointed... at a massive, ancient black tree at the edge of the clearing.
'He' anchored its 'Future'.
The [Probability Storm], a concept of 'Fated' punishment, lurches. It missed Termiboros entirely. It slammed into the tree.
The tree did not explode. It aged. And dissolved probability sparks dancing around Termiboros.
In a single, horrific second, it sprouted, grew, withered, and crumbled to dust. Its entire 'Future', from that moment to the heat-death of the universe, was consumed by the storm. Termiboros had simply changed the 'Destined' address of the attack.
Kim Dokja was horrified. 'He... he didn't just block it! He rewrote its 'destination'!'
The storm, its 'Fated' target nullified, was still a paradox of tilted 'Probability' . It churned, seeking a new target.
It rebounded. It shot sideways, directly towards the three of them.
"My turn," Klein said.
His face was pale. That was an authority over 'Fate' that rivaled a God's. This was not a fight they could win. This was a puzzle they had to survive.
He didn't try to summon a projection. Since Termiboros would just hasten the time or anchor the Future, only draining Klein's spirituality. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, intricately carved charm.
A Fate Siphon Charm. One of the few he had left.
He activated it.
The [Probability Storm], a bolt of pure, chaotic 'Fate', slammed into the charm.
Silence.
The charm didn't explode. It just burned, turning to a fine, gray ash that scattered in the wind. The storm was gone. It had been siphoned.
'It...didn't work..?' Klein decided to recheck if he used the correct charm.
A single, heart-stopping second passed.
BOOM.
The entire [Probability Storm] reappeared. Not as a vortex, but as a concentrated, absolute bolt of pure, chaotic 'Plausibility' lightning.
It appeared directly over Termiboros's head.
Klein, his spirit reeling, had replaced their 'fated' outcome—death by the Probability storm—with Termiboros's.
Termiboros looked up. His rotted thought-voice echoed, for the very first time, with a sharp spike of genuine surprise.
"Tsk...I hate the Monocle!"
He tried to anchor a new 'Future' . He tried to 'Redeem' himself from this outcome. But it was too late. The bolt was not a 'process'. It was the 'effect'.
The full, unadulterated force of the [Star Stream's] punishment, an attack meant to erase an Angel, hit him.
His shadowy form flickered violently, and a soundless, spiritual roar of pure, unadulterated pain washed over them, making both Dokja and Hajin collapse to their knees.
Klein prepared to use Traveling of Creeping Hunger.
Until someone grabbed him.
Termiboros unleashed his Mythical creature form.
Klein looked back.
"NOW!"
Hajin was already moving. He didn't need to be told. He was on his feet, ignoring the splitting headache, and grabbed Dokja's collar and Klein's arm. Spartan was already on his shoulder, his small body flaring with the Authority of Teleportation.
They vanished in a flash of white light, just as Termiboros's roar gained sound, shattering every tree in the clearing into splinters.
They reappeared miles away, crashing in a heap onto the dark, mossy floor of another part of the forest.
They were panting, adrenaline and spiritual backlash coursing through them.
Klein collapsed against a tree, a trickle of blood running from his nose. Using a charm of Marauder Pathway he'd made from Pallez Zoroast's Worms of Time to siphon a 'God-level' 'Fate' had nearly made him 'Lose Control'.
Capsules bubbled through his skin and face. Klein focused and used Cogitation.
He felt his spirituality fully exhausted.
"You alright?"
Hajin and Dokja were in better situation.
Hajin had more than the half of Stigma and Dokja didn't even had time to enter the battle fully.
"No, I'm starting to show the signs of..."
Bloody roar escaped his mouth.
"...Loosing Control"
Then, the messages appeared.
[You have acquired a new Fable!]
[You have acquired the Fable: 'Those Who Defy the Immutable'.]
Hajin stared at the window, his [Observation] trying to parse the words.
"Fuck this shit!"
Dokja nodded, a breathless, shaky laugh escaping him. "We just... we just told 'Predestined Fate' to go screw itself."
They looked at Klein, who was wiping the blood from his face.
"Let's... not do that again," Klein said, his voice strained. That encounter had cost him one of his most valuable trump cards. But at least they were alive.