Well Played

*Ok, I finally felt it and wrote a longer chapter. Hopefully things are going well. Welp, not much to say this time, so just enjoy. Peace out and Deus vult*

He couldn't help but look up at the machine, watching it stand taller than most gates he'd seen around the Luofu. Indeed, it looked like one, but no gate could randomly stand up and fight like that. 

"Damn you, big ass robot." 

He dodged another strike that came raging down for him, nearly managing to stomp him. The ground where he stood cracked easily from the strike, and it was a few times more solid than Mark. 

"Well shit, take it slow, buddy!" 

He moved around, choosing to instead move back and forth below it, trying to make it difficult for it to keep tracking his movements. 

"If you're a big motherfucking gate, I'll use you like one!" 

He kept moving between its tall legs, giving it no time to turn around, just leaping around from one leg to another, the energy within him increasing a bit in output. His muscles were a bit sore already, and the battle had barely begun. 

"I better try to find a way and end this before worse happens." 

From below, he tried delivering a few blows with his pipe, but they had no effect. The thing was too tough for his meager firepower. The pipe kept striking whatever spot it could, but from below it didn't even stand a chance of reaching any weak point. 

"Damn it, could I at least try and use it at will?" 

Seeing no other way out, he took out the sword on his back. Fu Xuan watched intently, curious as to how a simple sword like that could cut down the aurumaton. 

With one quick motion, the pipe flew away from him, rolling on the ground as he took a few quick steps away to create some distance between his foe and himself. Sword held out, he tried to infuse it with energy, but to his surprise, he had no clue how. Trying to push it into the weapon didn't seem to work, finding something akin to a blockade within its path. 

"Well, damn it! It's the worst possible moment for this shit!" 

He tried over and over, forcing as much as he could take out, but nothing worked. The machine came his way, striking wildly, forcing him on the defense once more. Instead of moving too far away, Mark chose to gamble everything on a single trick. 

"Fine, do what you want then," he muttered through gritted teeth, bracing himself. His muscles felt the strain increase as the veins along his arms pumped up, the blood rushing through. Fu Xuan's eyes widened slightly at the subtle detail, finding it special. 

"Come to papa!" 

He leapt at the aurumaton, grabbing it by the leg. Before it could try to swing its weapon at him, Mark heaved once, loudly, lifting it off the ground. His face was red from the strain, but he didn't let go. Weird sounds were coming from the machine as he began spinning in place, building up speed more and more, using all his body could muster. 

"Heave...HO!" 

At once, his arms let go, watching as the thing flew off the platform and into the unseen below. He fell down to the ground, sitting against his arms, breathing heavily as his entire body calmed down, feeling the strain as deep as his bones went. 

"Damn it..." he breathed out between pants, managing to speak despite the internal turmoil. 

"Hm... it seems that you're not fully useless then." 

Fu Xuan chuckled softly as she walked up to him, her steps soft, barely touching the ground. She looked down at him, her expression worried ever so slightly despite her best attempts at hiding it. 

"Are you alright?" 

He nodded, his face slowly losing the red tint that it had. 

"No worries, I'm fine. Just fix the terminal, then we'll go ahead and work on the last one." 

He slowly stood up, grabbing his pipe from the side, staring blankly at it before taking his sword out again. He tried to push some energy into it, but his body couldn't hold well. Rather than forcing it to the brink of destruction so early into his journey, he chose to simply put the matter aside. He sheathed the weapon, feeling the weight on his back. 

Confusion settled upon him as he struggled to recall the feeling from his time on Belobog—the moments when he had used the sword—a physical blur, remnants of what his body had felt numbed by time and adrenaline. 

"Let's go. The last terminal seems to be free of hostile entities." 

She walked ahead, while Mark followed, walking slowly as his legs threatened to kill him if he were to as much as put one extra kilogram of weight on them. Lifting that thing did him more harm than expected, and his back was also sure to mumble about its displeasure. 

"I sure am going to have a fun time sleeping..." 

Waiting for her, he could notice the rest of the Astral Express crew coming in to the Matrix of Prescience, led by none other than the top slacker within the universe: Qingque. 

"Looks like we're more than on time. Heh, didn't expect them to move so fast. Maybe they chose to speed up things to catch up." 

Mark smiled their way, waving, but the reaction he got was somewhat half-hearted. They did wave, but the expressions on their faces were not all that joyous. March even seemed to look at him with a tinge of anger in her eyes, which he couldn't quite place. 

"Are they that mad that I went ahead?" 

Fu Xuan appeared from behind him, looking over to the group. 

"Perfect. Let us commence with the interrogation." 

Mark followed, smiling as much as he could despite the fatigue and not rocking a smile most of the time. It was his usual fashion to just keep his expression serious when walking around. 

"Heh, quess you guys finally managed to get here, right? I came to lay down some groundwork so we can go with the questioning a little faster." 

Welt nodded, while Stelle spoke with a bit of a difference in tone. 

"I'm glad that you did, Mark." 

Meanwhile, Welt talked with Fu Xuan, their chatter muffled by the sound of the Matrix of Prescience. She gave a light nod, proceeding to explain that they might feel a few impacts since they're close to the core. 

Two minutes later, Kafka had been brought before them, lacking her usual accessories and contacts. For a few moments, she seemed almost innocent, making Mark's mind give itself a huge slap. 

She didn't seem bothered at all, even daring to make some tiny jokes. 

"Is this really necessary? I said I'd cooperate with you." 

Fu Xuan's words were quick and rational. 

"I have no interest in the words of wanted criminals—especially those skilled in the art of manipulation... so say what you will—I'm here to witness the divination of the Matrix of Prescience. The Divination Commission has ways of extracting the truth, and they're far more effective than a conversation." 

Kafka didn't seem at all bothered, instead walking willingly to the device. 

"Then please, Master Diviner, witness my destiny." 

Mark stood there, watching the scene unfold, noticing that Kafka shot him a glance, making it long enough to be noticeable by all. He simply scratched the top of his head, confused as to why she'd do that. 

"Guess she's just aware of my presence as the oddity..." 

The entire show started quickly, Fu Xuan's palms holding a bright purple light between them, which soon bore intricate shapes that went beyond any light show he had ever heard of. More light as they synced with the Matrix of Prescience, twirling and turning as Kafka began floating, a huge smirk on her face while her eyes, glowing a bright blue light, stared right into that of the diviner. 

Welt seemed to be watching intently, while March found beauty in the lights, enjoying the way everything unfolded before their very eyes. To his other side, Stelle looked quietly at the scene. In the end, Fu Xuan stopped, breathing heavily, trying to regain her breath. She was clearly confused, turning to Stelle in a heartbeat. 

"You... it's you..." 

She simply allowed her to go question Kafka, coming in to chat with Welt, her expression recovered quicker than her composure. March joined in on the chat, but when Mark wanted to get closer, she looked at him in a manner that wasn't the friendliness he had gotten used to. 

A few words were exchanged, then she quickly dashed away, walking to the General to inform him of her findings. Instantly, Welt and March looked at him in the same way as usual, the faint traces of animosity gone. 

"Is... everything alright?" 

March nodded, being all smiley and a bit nervous. 

"Yeah, it's fine. Let's see what Kafka has to tell Stelle, come on." 

She tried to grab on to his wrist and drag him along, but he didn't budge. 

"Are you sure it's all fine?" 

She seemed more nervous, and Welt took to talking. 

"March, I'll handle it." 

She didn't even try to deny it. Slowly, her steps went back, distancing her from them. 

"I'm sorry, Mark. We..." He took a deep breath, as if saying it would pain him, "We reached the conclusion that you might be involved with the Stellaron Hunters. We asked the Master Diviner to look for that information as well when questioning Kafka, but she didn't find anything more than traces of your conversation, stating that you seem to be a being apart from the fate of the world." 

Mark remained silent, the words cutting a bit, stinging in the weakest part of his heart, but he didn't show a thing. Sure, what they had done was supposed to come for him sooner or later: being all weird with extra knowledge, using it as he saw fit, trying to stay close to the in-game events without interfering too much for the sake of keeping his information as close as possible to the truth. 

"I understand. Apart from the fate of the world, huh? So, Kafka knew all along. I had a clue, but I wasn't sure." 

He scanned Mark, looking for even the smallest trace of a clue in his words. 

"May I ask how you've arrived at such a conclusion?" 

Instantly, the answer went out without a hitch. 

"She looked weirdly at me in the Express, and she didn't seem so casual with me. Her gaze was studying me a bit more than expected, so something seemed wrong from the start. As for the rest of my information... well, let's just say that I can't divulge my source." 

The answer seemed to satisfy him, as no more questions about it came out—but one last thing had to be cleared up. 

"Seriously... who are you?" 

Mark scoffed slightly, crossing his arms. 

"I kept repeating it, but I think no one understands it. I'm just some guy..." 

For a moment, he didn't trust his own words. Sure, he had nothing prior to coming there, but, ever since his arrival, he had done nothing but switch up little things here and there, focusing on keeping people alive and trying to maintain a specific order in the events. For a moment, it dawned upon him that maybe, just maybe, he was no simple guy. 

Suddenly, the memories of one specific detail in Kafka's conversation with Stelle came to his mind. A future battle on a scale like nothing before. Nanook the Destruction. Welt glanced at him, noticing the hint of distress. 

"Are you alright, Mark?" 

He nodded, then took a few breaths in. 

"Yeah, it's fine. I just overexerted myself earlier with some silly fight." 

They both looked over to Kafka, who was looking straight at Mark. She called out loud enough that he could hear. 

"Hey, rival, how about coming here so we could exchange a few words? Since you were so eager to speed up the process, I ended up with some time left in my schedule." 

Mark sighed, while everyone gave him some odd looks as she used the term 'rival'. 

"Long story short: I called myself her rival when we interacted earlier. First meeting in the real world." 

He walked over to her, keeping his eyes peeled, looking around and above as well. Any moment, it should happen. 

"So, what are you even planning now? I'm sure you told Stelle what she wanted to know, right? You dance along as Elio sings, but tell him that I'm about to partially freestyle my way into fate." 

March looked at him oddly as he said that, a bit dumbfounded by what he meant. Meanwhile, Kafka laughed along, her voice just as usual, carrying the same sensuality. 

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll be sure to let him know. After all, it would be a shame to keep my rival's words just to myself." 

She overused the title, knowing that it should sting a little. But Mark had other matters that piled up within. He scoffed, simply sighing. 

"Yeah, whatever it is. Rival this, rival that, I might just end this business before it even begins." 

Stelle chimed in, the expression on her face clearly tired of the bullshit. 

"Since when do you two get along so well? We even thought that he's a Stellaron Hunter in disguise." 

Kafka laughed so loudly that Mark felt a bit worried, while March took a few steps back just in case. 

"Him? In our ranks? Oh, trust me, he's got a single good thing about him, but nothing more. Should that ability of his interfere with our plans, I won't hesitate to end the rivalry then and there and make sure that he never interferes again..." 

He felt a bit confused, then simply hit in the wrong spot, like the blows against his abilities kept stacking. He held two Stellarons within, one of foreign origin, but he couldn't even summon his sword when needed, instead half-assing the job and nearly breaking something. 

"I see... not even worthy of being there, huh? No worries, I'll make sure to catch up." 

He had a tiny smile on his face, but it did hide a lot of things. The left side of his mouth twitched a little, trying to not break under pressure from within. 

"As you should. I can't have a random anybody call himself my rival. Well, I'm afraid that this is where we end our conversation." 

The ground shook and the air blew as the Ambrosial Arbor awakened. Kafka's restraints came undone, and while the others were looking away, his gaze didn't leave her. 

"Well played..." 

He held his pipe out, swinging it up as Blade fell in front of him, his sword easily sending the pipe aside. His sword pointed at them, but Mark's gaze didn't leave. Instead, he stood there, unshook, staring him down. 

"The undying, huh? May we meet again, Blade..." 

Kafka leapt off the platform, simply falling on her back with no hesitation. Blade dove after her, and no one could even try to stop them. 

"Well played..." sighed Mark, ready to try and solve the crisis, avoiding whatever death awaited. He felt it in his core: someone was bound to die one way or another.