The Cycle of Fate

Chapter 165: "The Bottle of Fiction"

"Lumière Lee!"

With this low shout, Lumière froze in place, his gaze seemingly unfocused.

In the corner of the abandoned mine, a figure quickly took shape.

He was draped in a full brown dog skin, but a tear had opened in the chest and abdomen, revealing a human body inside, dressed in a white robe lined with silver and black threads.

Silently, the dog skin fell limp to the ground, and a man, less than 1.7 meters tall, straightened his posture.

His hair was thin, and his blue eyes were sharp and imposing. His slightly hooked nose gave him an air of authority. It was none other than Guillaume Bénet, the village priest of Cordu!

At this moment, Guillaume Bénet wore a faint smile. In his hand was a white, human bone, and his gaze was filled with a fanatical intensity as he looked at Lumière, as if he were on the verge of receiving a new fated gift, one that would lead to his transformation.

When he saw his "double" being knocked unconscious by strange mystical means, and the enemy teleport away using "spiritual world traversal," Guillaume Bénet, in his brown dog form in the small living room, initially thought to flee from 50 Vincent Street.

That way, the "double" would fully serve its purpose as a decoy, allowing him to escape his doomed fate and start over somewhere else, free from this disaster.

But almost instantly, as a "Fate Weaver," he sensed the abnormality in his attacker's destiny, detecting traces of a higher-level existence from the "Path of Fate."

From this, he deduced that the attacker was Lumière Lee, the one who had a sealed angel of fate within him—something he had painstakingly prayed for!

This realization sparked an intense desire within Guillaume Bénet, now a devoted follower of fate's power. He wanted to capture or eliminate Lumière Lee!

He wanted to break the seal and bring the angel of fate into the world!

He wanted to gain divine favor through this, transcend the limitations of his human form, and better rule over ignorant humanity in the name of fate!

After quickly analyzing the situation, Guillaume Bénet devised a plan: on one hand, he let Pauline and the others flee in a panic to draw away any hidden allies of Lumière Lee. On the other, he left his "double" behind to leave clues for Lumière, who would undoubtedly return to 50 Vincent Street after defeating the impostor, guiding him to the basement and the hidden door.

After setting these traps, Guillaume retreated to the ritual hall, deliberately leaving the sheepskin, cowhide, and dog skin untouched, knowing that Lumière, familiar with the "Art of Beast Creation," would quickly guess the truth.

At the same time, he scattered some dog hairs to reveal his escape route. Then, he recited the incantation he had pre-set, undoing the "Art of Beast Creation," and used a contract ability Lumière had never seen before—the "Bottle of Fiction"—at the hidden door leading to underground Trier.

This ability, which had tempted even Guillaume with greed, allowed him to enclose a designated small area into a "fictional bottle" through symbolic objects like doors and windows. He could then set simple entry conditions, allowing those who met the criteria to enter seamlessly, while those who didn't would be returned to their original location.

The condition he set was "possessing the power of fate."

This was something he and Lumière Lee shared. Whether Lumière accepted the blessing of fate or not, as a vessel containing a sealed angel of fate, he would inevitably have the power of fate. In this way, if Lumière's allies lacked this blessing, they wouldn't be able to enter the "Bottle of Fiction," leaving only Lumière and Guillaume in a one-on-one encounter. And if they had accepted fate's blessing, they would obviously be influenced by the great existence, effectively becoming allies at crucial moments.