A duel to the death. Winner takes all.
Silvana's move was one of brilliant, desperate genius. She had lost the battle of wits, the game of proxies and schemes. So she had appealed to a higher authority, the Tower's ancient laws of conflict resolution, and forced the game into the one venue where she believed she had the absolute advantage: a formal, sanctioned duel.
She believed my power was in my chaos, my tricks, my 'shameless' gambits. She thought that in a straightforward battle of raw power and skill, her pure, logical, and complete System would be superior.
She was about to learn how deeply, catastrophically wrong she was.
"A challenge," I mused, a slow, predatory smile spreading across my face. "How delightfully primitive."
Elara, my fanatical priestess, looked at me with concern. "My lord, this is a trap! She is a Main Core user, an ancient being. To face her in a formal duel…"
"Is the most efficient path to my primary objective," I finished for her. "She is bringing her own fragment to my doorstep and offering it on a silver platter. It would be rude not to accept."
I looked at Lia, my Warden, my Echo. Her power is based on logic and order, I sent, a silent, strategic conference. The Arena will be a place of rules. She believes this gives her an edge.
Logic can be a cage, Lia replied, her telepathic voice a perfect echo of my own cold pragmatism. Your chaos is not just a tool for trickery. It is a fundamental weapon against order itself. You will win.
Her faith in me was absolute, a perfect reflection of my own.
The Tower's invitation was a glowing, ethereal card that now hovered in my inventory. [ACCEPT THE SUMMONS?]
I didn't hesitate. "Accept," I commanded.
The world dissolved. Not in the lurching chaos of a shadow-step, but in a smooth, instantaneous transition of pure, authorized travel. The Sunken Forge, the Celestial Realm, the entire Third Floor vanished.
I materialized in a new, stark reality.
I stood on a platform of polished, blood-red obsidian that floated in a swirling, chaotic void. Other, similar platforms dotted the endless expanse, some holding single, meditating figures, others the stages for brutal, ongoing battles. This was the antechamber of the Eternal Arena, the waiting room for the multiverse's most powerful gladiators. The air itself hummed with a thirsty, violent energy.
Silvana was already here, standing on a platform opposite mine. Her four retainers were gone. In the Arena, you fought alone. Her face was a mask of cold, serene confidence. She had brought me to her world, her game.
A new, universal interface, the Arena's own system, appeared in my vision.
[Welcome, Challenger Kaelen.]
[Welcome, Challenger Silvana.]
[The Wager of Kings has been sanctioned. The duel is for 'Core Dominance'.]
[You have one hour to prepare. You may access the Arena's 'Sparring Golems' to acclimate to the local physics. You may access the 'Market' to purchase Arena-sanctioned consumables.]
[When you are ready, step into the central ring. The duel will begin.]
One hour.
Silvana immediately closed her eyes, entering a deep meditative trance. She was likely running a million combat simulations, analyzing my every known ability, preparing a perfect, logical strategy to dismantle me.
I, on the other hand, had a different approach to preparation.
I opened the private channel to the Watcher. "You have been silent. I assume you have an opinion on this development."
[Administrator,] the Watcher's voice was a dry, academic whisper in my mind. [This is an… unexpected but fascinating turn of events. You are facing another Main Core user in a sanctioned duel. The winner will absorb the loser. This is the most efficient reunification opportunity I have ever witnessed.]
"But?" I asked. I could sense the hesitation.
[But the Arena itself is a variable I cannot fully compute,] the Watcher admitted. [It exists outside the Tower's normal floor structure. It is an ancient, powerful entity with its own, unknowable rules. Be wary. Not everything here is as it seems.]
"I need an edge," I stated. "I need to know about the other Main Core user here. 'The Champion'. The one who wields the Chronaeternal Engine."
[The Champion,] the Watcher's thought was heavy with a strange, almost fearful reverence. [He is the Arena's absolute master. He has never been defeated. His control over time is not a mere skill; it is the fundamental law of this entire pocket dimension. To fight here is to fight in his kingdom, by his rules.]
"So he is the god of this place," I mused. "And every duel is an offering that strengthens his reign."
[A precise assessment,] the Watcher confirmed. [But his power may also be a weakness. He is a being of time, of causality. He is bound by its linear flow.]
The Watcher's words were a spark, igniting a new, insane gambit in my mind.
I turned my attention to my own, sovereign System. My power was not in predicting the future. It was in rewriting the present. The Creation Engine. The World-Forge.
I had an hour. It was time to build a weapon.
I opened the Creation Engine interface. I needed to forge an item that could counter a being who could see the future. How do you defeat an opponent who knows your every move?
You make a move that you don't even know you're going to make.
I needed to create a weapon of pure, unadulterated, unpredictable chaos.
[CREATION ENGINE ACTIVATED]
[Select Materials: 1x 'Heart of a Corrupted Guardian' (The Labyrinth's Essence, via Lia), 1x 'Will of a Mad Oracle' (Seraphina's psychic echo, stolen during our alliance), 10,000 SP.]
[Select Concept: 'Uncertainty'.]
[Select Form: 'A Pair of Dice'.]
It was the most audacious, most conceptually insane forgery I had ever attempted. I was not building a sword or a shield. I was building a weapon that would attack causality itself.
...WARNING: You are attempting to forge a 'Conceptual Paradox Artifact' of the highest order. The energy required is immense. The process may fail catastrophically.
...FORGE?
"Forge," I commanded, my will absolute.
The concepts swirled, a maelstrom of pure logic and pure madness. My System strained, the newly-restored functions groaning under the pressure. The forge pulsed, a chaotic star of creation.
And then, it was done.
Two simple, six-sided dice, carved from a strange, shimmering, gray-black material, materialized in my hand. They felt both heavy and light, real and unreal.
[Creation Complete.]
[Divine Artifact Forged: 'The Sovereign's Gambit'.]
[Description: A pair of conceptual dice that, when rolled, do not predict a future, but *enforce* a random one. They are a weapon against fate itself.]
[Effect: Once per duel, you may roll the dice. The outcome is a single, random, and conceptually absolute event that will be forced upon the battlefield, overriding all other laws, including the flow of time. The results can be anything from 'Beneficial' (e.g., 'Your opponent's next attack heals you') to 'Catastrophic' (e.g., 'A black hole opens in the center of the arena') to 'Absurd' (e.g., 'All weapons are turned into live geese').]
[Warning: The outcome is truly, absolutely random. You have no control. You are as much a victim of the roll as your opponent.]
It was a weapon of mutual, assured destruction. A suicide bomb for reality itself.
It was perfect.
I had my weapon. I was ready.
But as the one-hour preparation time drew to a close, a final, chilling message came from the Watcher. It had completed its deep-level scan of the Arena's core code, and it had discovered a hidden, terrifying truth. A secret that redefined the very nature of this place, and the true prize of my upcoming duel.
The twist was not just that the Champion was a god of time. It was the source of his power.
[Administrator! A critical discovery!] the Watcher's thought was a psychic scream. [The Chronaeternal Engine, the Champion's Main Core… it is not a separate fragment! My scans are definitive!]
[The entire Eternal Arena—this pocket dimension, its rules, its physics, its very existence—IS the Chronaeternal Engine!]
[You are not fighting in a place governed by a System. You are fighting *inside* the System itself!]
[Which means, Administrator… the prize for this duel, the reward for defeating Silvana… is not just her Aethernova Codex.]
[The rules of the Wager state 'Winner Takes All'.]
[If you win, you do not just win her Core. You win the Arena. You will devour and assimilate the entire Chronaeternal Engine. You will become the new Champion. The new god of this entire dimension.]