Fall from Grace

Fall of Longinus XIV

Solteer stood up. Bloodied from his intense battle with his father, every single part of his body was aching. Scratches all over his face were leaking blood. He couldn't help but smile. Despite the odds being against him, he managed to defeat his father and take down the other stronger covenants at the same time. Additionally, nobody capable of stopping him remained. From what he was able to tell, he was about to get away with everything he had ever wanted.

"...So, it is done..."

The victorious smile disappeared; he turned around to the voice that spoke and faced the me of way back then. He wasn't surprised to see me, he thought I would've been there sooner, but he was concerned.

"If you're here to stop me... you're too late. It's already done. Father is dead. Alpha and Zheoyon are at war against each other. The remaining covenants are incapable of stopping me."

"Both you and I know that's not true, Solteer."

"Oh?"

The me of way back then nodded.

"You know, I would've come sooner to see you and Nosferatu throw all your chess pieces at Longinus in a desperate attempt to win, but I wanted to wait until after the fight was over."

"And the reason for that was?"

"I wanted to see your ugly face be even uglier."

Solteer probably would've laughed if he wasn't afraid about me reverting everything back to the way it was.

"For some odd reason, you look about the same as you did before. It's like you've always looked like a bloody monster your entire life."

He then softly chuckled. It was his bad attempt at clearing the air.

"Laplace, why are you here? Have you come to stop me? Are you going to reverse the world back to the way it was?"

The me of way back then didn't respond at first. I realized that Solteer wanted a serious answer, and wasn't looking to joke around.

"Tsk... tsk... tsk..." I shook my head. "You know, I've experienced many different realities, many different possibilities. A Longinus victory. A Solteer victory. I even experienced a reality where the conflict never took place - and one where Longinus went even further than he did in this world. Out of all those many realities, many worlds, this is---"

"Are you reverting the world, Laplace?"

Solteer wanted a straight answer and not the one I was giving him. He was impatient. I can't blame him for that.

"No... Despite the cruelty of this timeline, we are living in the best possible outcome of Longinus' kingdom."

Which is surprising, I know.

But it's the honest truth. The cruel reality we currently live in is the best one, and the other possibilities were even worse. That might make you wonder what the other worlds were like, but we'll have to save that for another day. We don't have all the time in the world to go exploring other possibilities, but we do have enough time to finish this story so we learn everything we need.

Understand?

"I wonder what the other worlds were like if this is the best one. I find it hard to believe that a world full of agony and suffering can be considered a good one - for everyone else."

"You got what you wanted."

He sighed deeply.

"But truthfully, I didn't know whether or not we would win. Hearing you say that you won't revert the world makes me think we have won, and it satisfies me knowing that this will be our new reality."
The me of way back then stopped listening and walked towards Salvation. Seeing him standing over the body of the fallen Longinus, I stopped and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.