My Fate System

"Alright," Nikolai suddenly grinned and lowered his gun. "I was only trying to test your character, and you passed." He said as he walked toward the crystal.

"...test?" Lex looked at him with suspicion. Nikolai took the Knowledge Crystal and presented it to her before she could say anything.

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"A test," Nikolai nodded. "You can give the crystal to anyone you want." He said with a sweet smile. 

"Thank you for understanding." Lex sighed and took the crystal. "I thought you were..." Before she could finish, Nikolai grabbed her hand and squeezed it. The crystal broke in Lex\'s hand, and light exploded from it.

"You are still too trusting, Gunmaster Lex." Nikolai grinned as her eyes widened. The light dived into her head as she staggered backward.

His darkness exploded and blocked the incoming arrow. Nikolai turned toward the mute archer who was glaring at him hatefully.

\'You just want to see the world burn, don\'t you?\' She gestured.

"It\'s the opposite," Nikolai said to her with a grin. "This is one of the few times that I\'m the good person here. Lex is a good person. Only she can be the one to make use of the knowledge to help others."

\'You care about others now? You simply want to destroy her relationship with the dwarves.\'

"Collateral damage." Nikolai shrugged. "It\'s essential for her growth, believe me."

\'That\'s how you see it.\' Yuxi gestured as she turned toward Lex. \'You only seek to become stronger, not caring if it destroyed your relationship with others beyond fixing.\'

"For a mute, you talk too much." Nikolai sneered and turned toward the Gunmaster, who was still assimilating the knowledge. "She should be done."

Yuxi snorted and turned toward Lex, watching her every movement. The Gunmaster seemed in a daze as she kept muttering incomprehensible things. After she finally snapped out of it, her eye sparkled with interest.

"This is beyond belief..." Lex vaguely stated, making the two observers confused. "The techniques he used can not only give souls to machines but control them remotely..."

"That sounds convenient. For example, if you want to fly a ship or a fort without having to steer it yourself."

"Ah?" Lex looked confused before she looked down on her palm and back at Nikolai. "What have you done to me?!" Her eyes widened in panic. 

"What are you talking about? You crushed the crystal yourself after agreeing that you are the best person to make use of the knowledge."

"I... did...?" Lex held her head in confusion. "No! You\'re lying!"

"Tsk didn\'t think you would remember." Nikolai clicked his tongue as he turned back. "The past is in the past now. You either suck it up or make another enemy."

"You ruined my only chance to make up with the dwarves!"

"You don\'t need them anymore. So why does it matter?" Nikolai said with confusion as he turned to look at the Gunmaster.

Lex flinched when she saw how genuinely confused Nikolai looked.  She took a step back, looking at Nikolai with dread that she never felt before.

"Who, for heaven\'s sake, robbed you of your empathy?"

The fear in her voice wasn\'t directed at Nikolai\'s merciless behavior, his twisted ideals, or his methods. Instead, it was his lack of empathy.

Nikolai stared silently at her. Finally, a thin smile broke on his face, and he turned around without saying anything and left the tower. The Gunmaster composed herself and ran after him.

"If you are like this, I don\'t want to travel with you!" Lex said when she reached the statue. Yuxi was right behind her, and the two glared at him.

"I have the weapons, so are you sure?" Nikolai smiled as he touched the statue. "Believe me, Gunmaster. You will thank me later for what I did, even if the dwarves resent you now."

His body disappeared from the dungeon and reappeared outside. As he left the underground cave, Lex and Yuxi left the dungeon and followed after him.

They stopped behind Nikolai, who halted his steps. The dwarves were a distance away from the entrance, standing with their lights on.

"Lex?" Master Dwarf asked with surprise. "You survived the... inheritance? Did you obtain it?"

"I... did..."

"And she used it, even though you guys wanted it," Nikolai interjected.

"No! I wanted to give it to you!" Lex objected. "However, he made me..."

"You took the inheritance?!" Harlem roared from the crowd; his rage was overflowing. It seems he was the one who guided the dwarves toward the dungeon. "You selfish bastard! After all, we did for you. Is this how you repay us?"

"This is why humans should never be trusted. I knew she was an ungrateful wench! We should have left her to die!" Then, another one of the possessed dwarves chimed in.

  "These are your people. They jumped on you with accusations, showing their real feelings about you, the moment that you were against them. They didn\'t even care enough to question my words or give you the benefit of the doubt." Nikolai said with a grin as Lex\'s body shook.

The Gunmaster looked at the dwarves who were glaring at her, and her body shrank back. The words Nikolai said were the truth, no matter how badly she wished they were not.

"Lex, did you truly take the inheritance?" Master Dwarf asked with hesitation, his brows furrowed. Lex looked at him with shaken eyes before she gritted her teeth.

"Whatever I say or do here, I\'m the villain here." Lex gritted her teeth. "You are a devil," She spat at Nikolai. "But it seems these people aren\'t that much different."

"I am a devil who speaks the truth," Nikolai said before a sense of déjà vu overtook him. The words he just said sounded familiar, and her ghost appeared beside him again. It never went away; it was always there.

\'I am a devil who speaks the truth,\'

This phrase was one she used to say to him after proving how corrupted others were. He said that he refuses to be a carrier of suffering, but what was he doing now?

He was doing to Lex what Lilith did to him. 

\'I\'m a hypocrite.\'