Date: Unspecified
Ti: Unspecified
Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Three Mischief Encampnt, Limitless Celestial Blood Fate Rule Domain
"Why pretend? You already know the Clown Mask answers to now. Of course I know about the Eye of Fortune," I said, watching him closely. The unease in his posture wasn’t subtle—whatever his Eye of Prosperity had shown him, it had shaken him enough to change how he dealt with .
He ignored the jab and spoke evenly, as if the slip never happened. "The Eye of Fortune and the Eye of Prosperity are two sides of the sa coin—Tao Eye. The Eye of Fortune reads the flow of luck, letting its user anticipate fortune and sidestep misfortune. The Eye of Prosperity, on the other hand, asures true value—what sothing is worth, and how far that worth can grow. This sothing could be anything—the wind in motion, a pebble by the roadside, a blade of grass, a towering mountain, a solitary tree or even my breath, the way I walk, the route I take, the posture of my body. If it exists, it has value... and this Eye can calculate it."
He paused, his gaze settling on , regret flickering across his face. "I should have used it on you earlier—before I agreed to the Matron’s request to kill you and pass your death as an accident, a clean mishap with no trail leading back." He exhaled, a quiet, bitter sound. "If I’d known then what I know now... things would have been different."
Shaking his head, he went on, voice steadier but heavier. "The Eye shows that any attempt to fight you leads to a net loss—no matter the path I take, the outco bleeds into the negative. I had only seen values like that when facing the Masters or the Four Rulers and their predecessors." His eyes lingered on , disbelief sharpening his tone. "Soone your age shouldn’t be able to reach that level."
A brief pause, then a faint, resigned smile. "But what unsettles more is this—no matter what I say or do, it won’t change your mind about doing sothing worse than killing . I don’t know what your plans are but the result stays the sa. I suppose that much was set in stone the mont you grasped the Causality Rule."
"Wow... that’s impressive. I didn’t expect it to show you that much," I said, letting a hint of surprise slip through. I was a little surprised he could use the Eye of Prosperity on when the Eye of Fortune had failed. The Eye of Fortune leaned toward ti-based foresight rather than divination, while the Eye of Prosperity worked through calculation, math—yet sohow felt closer to actual divination. That explained why the Supre Leader could use his Eye of Prosperity on while the Clown Mask couldn’t use her Eye of Fortune on .
Seeing the Supre Leader give up so easily, I couldn’t help but think—maybe knowing everything isn’t a blessing. So truths are better left unseen.
I an, just look at him. A man stacked with the rarest origin cards, absurd physiques, various traits, runes—power piled on power. And yet here he stood, stripped of the will to fight, all because an Eye told him there was no path to victory. Worse, that any attempt would end in sothing more dreadful than death.
Was that all it took? It was like he’d never heard the idea that you don’t know the outco until you step into it. No resistance, no defiance—just quiet acceptance. He reminded of Petra and Lucine Morgenstern. They’d been the sa—so dependent on their abilities that they’d forgotten basic common sense.
For a mont, I actually wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him awake, yelling, ’How will you know if you don’t even try? Co fight you moron. Who knows maybe I will let you win just to prove the Eye wrong?’
Still, his reaction didn’t sit right with . Just because the Eye showed him he’d lose no matter what he did... did that really make him give up? Or was this just another move on the board—the only path left to play his hand?
A quiet chuckle slipped out before I could stop it. Yeah... I was starting to enjoy this. An opponent who could dynamically calculate the outco of anything and everything—how was that not entertaining?
The real question was how I should respond now that I knew he’d either given up... or was only pretending to. Do I kill him? Spare him? Do nothing? Or play along and see where this leads?
Yeah—definitely not the last one. I had no interest in hearing, "I knew you’d do that." Few things were more irritating than soone proving they’d already read your next move.
Trying to decide on the next move I said nothing. Silence stretched between us, thin but deliberate. In that stillness, I caught it—a flicker in the Supre Leader’s micro-expression. small, almost imperceptible, but real.
Do nothing, then. That was the move I decided on for now. I know he might be faking it, and instead be waiting for the Emissary of Light to finish off the Field Marshal and co help him deal with . But my gut told this wasn’t what he expected. He hadn’t planned for to do nothing—to simply stand there and wait with him. I could afford to.
I had complete confidence in the Field Marshal. Even if she failed to kill the Emissary of Light, she wouldn’t lose to him—not with the cards I’d given her: Overclock, Celestial Empowernt, and the Frosling Corpse puppet spirit. That alone tilted the scales.
And if the Emissary of Light turned his attention to the city? He’d have to get past my Bloodkins, especially Redfall and Sansa first.
So yes, I had ti—plenty of it. Ti to play with the Eye of Prosperity. Ti to turn the board around. After all, who doesn’t enjoy outsmarting the self-proclaid smartest man in the room?
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