12: Causality.

Causality is like a river, one that flows through different channels, and different currents, but sooner or later comes together again to flow into a certain point. Causality could be seen as fate or lack of free will, but it is not.

Causality is only a path to an end, no one can control it, only observe it, no one can direct it, only participate in it to achieve a goal. However, those involved in causality have different weights. A shrimp in the river is not the same as a giant anaconda. 

Sure, some things would look doomed to anyone who did not know causality, but it was just a rhythm, a way in which things could happen, whether you followed it or not was up to you, whether you consciously followed it or not.

In the original story, Guts would not see his revenge satisfied, he would only sink deeper and deeper into his pain and rage until he realized too late how much his emotions were blinding him. And whether he wanted to or not, his desire to find Griffith ironically led him further away.

But now the 'path' followed by many beings in this world was disturbed, as if someone had thrown a huge stone into one of the channels of this winding river, blocking it and preventing it from joining the main channel, changing it completely. 

Guts was a very suspicious guy in the future, but he managed to slowly open up to his team after fighting alongside them many times. Now, the swordsman was starting to trust other people much sooner than he was used to. He might not know it, but many of the obstacles he would face in the future would be different, maybe things would be harder, but ironically, everything would be easier. 

Why do we talk about causality? The people involved noticed the changes in him, but causality wasn't fate, it wasn't something you could guess at, so being blind was worse for them, things were out of place, everything was different, something was changing, something they didn't understand.

Skull Knight had always been close to Guts, and because of Causality, a force he respected very much, he hadn't been able to get as close to him as he would have liked, but now, with his inability to follow Causality, he felt that he might be able to get a lot more involved, which would certainly be a good thing. 

"You don't show up in the stats because you're too strong, Puck," Samus said with a smile on her beautiful face, hiding the truth behind a cute facade.

Puck was exaggeratedly weak, weak enough not to be categorized by her talisman as a relevant object to scan. If there was a life that seemed insignificant in principle but could endanger him, then he would be scanned, even if not as deeply. But beings like Puck didn't need to have their data digitized.

"Oh, right, it's so obvious," Puck lifted his tiny chest and smiled broadly, oblivious to the pitying looks Ciri and Guts gave him.

Ciri knew Samus well enough to know that she was mocking the little creature, while Guts, though generally a social person, knew how to read hidden intentions. He forced himself to learn this after thinking that the person he thought was his friend did not see him as an equal, and ended up betraying him. 

Although her sense was always on the negative side, she realized that while Samus was trustworthy, she was a girl who hid her wildness and darkness under a layer of well-earned glamour, only showing that side when she was fighting, or when she trusted you, as she was doing now: truly beautiful things were dangerous. 

The girl was beautiful, he wouldn't deny it, he was a straight man after all, but he felt he couldn't mess with Samus. Fuck, he'd fucked an Apostle himself days ago, but the thought of sharing an intimate moment with Samus made his blood run cold. 

As if sensing his internal dialogue, Samus looked at Guts with narrowed eyes and a thin smile on her lips, but soon turned her attention back to the status screens, wanting to explain them much more adequately.

"In case you're curious, these numbers represent your abilities in an easy-to-understand manner, of course, some aspects cannot be quantified, such as the techniques or skills a person possesses, nor can you evaluate the amount of extraordinary energy a person possesses, I don't know why, it seems I'm just not able to come up with a way to evaluate this data.

However, I do have a somewhat crude method of determining the influence of a certain type of energy on your characteristics. For example, if you cast a spell to increase your strength, the talisman will be able to sense the change and quantify it.' This information made Skull Knight's glowing eyes sparkle.

To prove it, he manipulated his OD, causing the presenters to tense up as they felt how huge and powerful the creature was. A cold, ominous sensation filled with murderous intent emanated from Skull Knight, and Samus and Ciri could see the white, flame-like energy rising from it. 

Guts was not someone who was trained or gifted to see this energy, but he clearly sensed the change in the knight and instinctively gripped the hilt of his sword. He had felt this kind of esoteric power in the Apostles he had fought, though in them it felt wrong, rotten, false, but in Skull Knight he noticed something... it felt like a hollow shell. 

As if the knight were the carcass of an ancient existence that was no longer there, just the remnants of a being, possibly human, that had been consumed by something or... someone. This thought made Guts uncomfortable, he had seen something in Skull Knight before but had ignored it, now it was much clearer.

He saw himself in the future. The path he was on would consume him and he knew it, but to see a seemingly hollow being like the knight was a wake-up call. Yes, he still felt hatred and a thirst for revenge, but maybe... there was more to it than just his quest. 

This realization made Guts sigh, and with that sigh, it seemed as if there were invisible chains on his being that were being broken, it would be slow, it would be hard, but it was a step out of the vortex he was stuck in and into freedom, free from his past. 

"Strength, endurance, and agility are understandable. They are the attributes of your body, they make up everything your body is. From the ability of your muscles to perform actions in certain ways, to how well your body heals or withstands poisons, inhospitable environments, and disease. 

Intelligence, spirit, and perception are more about your mind, your soul, and your essence. Not just how you understand the world, but how you react to it, and how you perceive it. These attributes are generally associated with the exoteric theme, so as far as we can see, Skull Knight is quite prominent in this section.

Be careful, the stats don't represent things like hysterical strength or wisdom. So don't confuse the Intelligence stat with an IQ equivalent, they are similar but very different," her explanation made the others expand on how simple yet complex these attributes were.

"How much does a normal human have?" Puck asked curiously, there was no such person around to make a comparison, so he wanted to understand the difference between one number and another. 

"Oh, it's my turn now," Ciri said, stepping in front of Samus, who was drinking from a thermos.

"Imagine that 1 point is the standard for humanity. A normal person would be between 1 and 1.9, the latter being those who are quite strong or wise. 

So to have a 2 is to be superhuman. The interesting thing is that the stats are not stable, they change depending on factors such as skills, energy consumption, or condition changes such as poison, disease, or aging.

Samus told me about a creature with level 8 stamina who takes near-fatal wounds from a weapon that shouldn't normally hurt her, all because her stamina comes from her extraordinary energy, called Ki," Ciri finished, hinting at how powerful the people present were.

"There was a very large transformation between one number and another, 1.9 and 2 sound close, but there is a gulf between them. That's why many people in my world consider me an inhuman 'monster'," Samus said, remembering a certain blonde in a red uniform with an ego as big as the ship he commanded.

Oh, how she enjoyed beating up General Zapp Brannigan, who, not knowing her real age, flirted with her and even tried the same trick of crying in front of her, which earned him a beating from Samus and a well-deserved reputation in the human army.

Why did Samus get involved with the military, and why wasn't she punished for hitting a high-ranking military officer? Well, let's just say that some of the more basic potions and her older, outdated inventions are a marvel for humanity's constant warfare in the universe. 

There were even plans to have Samus take part in humanity's next invasion, something she would do when she returned to her original universe after her adventure. For now, she wanted to enjoy the new worlds she would be able to visit. 

"That sounds ridiculous," Guts commented at the stupidity he heard, from the sound of it, a stat of 8 was like being a member of the Hand of God or something much higher and being wounded by a weapon. It's like being wounded by a blade of grass, that simple thought made him smile.

"Oh, that was very funny to me, even though many found it disappointing, it just goes to show that data isn't everything, and I like that," Samus replied, putting away the screen he was projecting.

Samus looked at the battlefield and the blood on her body, but instead of feeling uncomfortable, a smile appeared on her face, showing her white teeth. Even though she would have to bathe later, she felt good about what she, Ciri, and Guts had done.

"I see you're happy, full of wild emotions, and eager to fight," Skull Knight noticed the bubbling emotions in Samus that caught her attention.

The girl was a mystery, she had artifacts that seemed magical, but they worked in a different way than he knew. He didn't feel the OD in her, something almost unheard of, but perhaps it was the conditions of her world, something he could understand.

But what he didn't understand was how the girl seemed to manipulate the energy of the environment, his eyesight was good enough to see Samus fight from a distance, to see the interesting and incredible things the young girl had done. And that last point was something that interested the Knight as well.

He could see Samus' actual age, but he didn't know what a 15-year-old had to go through to gain such great strength at such a young age. It was also obvious that her training had been hard, her fighting skills didn't look random or stiff from lack of mastery. 

Noticing Skull Knight's grim gaze, she shook out her hair and began to comb it, soon revealing a cute ponytail on her head. 

"My father didn't want me to fight until I was this strong, so I had to train long enough to reach this level and finally prove to him that I was capable enough," Samus replied, remembering that she had sent a message to her father since her arrival, but there had been no reply, perhaps due to the time difference between the two universes.

"Would you like to fight?" suggested Skull Knight, causing Samus to start dancing with excitement.

"Of course, I would!" she exclaimed, it was something she had wanted to ask the Knight, and it was something she was sure he would appreciate.