"Guards, take these people and place them into prison cells. I am sure they will like their new environment a lot more. Now hurry up and take them."

Keith watched as the guards took hold of the attacker's hands and lead them outside. It was a little suspicious how the rebels did not protest or even try to get out of the guard's grasp. They seemed to have given up entirely.

But something was missing when Keith looked around. The protagonist, Horas, was nowhere to be seen. And Keith was sure he had not seen any guard take Horas away as well.

"Grandmaster, are you alright? You see, a little distracted right now."

Master Hana asked this question but her tone was cautious. She seemed to be holding herself back from making things awkward for the Grandmaster.

"It is nothing. I was just looking around for a guy these people were following as their leader but I guess he was already captured by your people. You can continue to capture the rest and put them in cells."

Keith was sure that he had missed Horas's capture meant but his heart refused to believe this fact. It would be more logical to think that the protagonist had managed to escape the capture entirely.

But that was a point of concern for Keith. He was not sure how the protagonist would strike against him again but Keith was ready to fight him.

"Grandmaster, are you sure you are alright? You look distracted. You did not even reply to my question."

Keith blinked his eyes a few times to get himself to reality. His feeling od's something being wrong was also depleted as soon as he saw the guards and other people.

"Ah, nothing is wrong. I am sure I am overreacting right now."

Keith tried to assure himself but the bad feeling he was feeling did not go away. If anything, his paranoia only increased.

........

'Shit, I did not expect that man to have gotten this powerful. He used to be such a little powerless kid before. Just where did he get all this power from?'

Horas held his broken arm as he ran away from the guards. He was not sure how many were following him, but the protagonist was sure that he needed to get away.

If not for the vision from the goddess and the incredible powers she bestowed upon Horas, he would have never gone against someone like the guild alliance and the Grandmaster.

"Goddess, you promised me that I would not lose to anyone. Then why? Why did I lose to that horrible human being? What did I do wrong?"

Horas yelled in an empty ally, no longer caring if he was captured or not. It was a momentary lapse of judgment but Horas did not regret doing this. It made him feel so much better than before.

For a solid minute, nothing happened. But then, there was a familiar light touch on his shoulder.

[Calm down. You are still the protagonist of this world and you still have a lot of potential to improve. The reason you lost this time was because you did not have enough experience. But if you continue to improve, it will not take long before you are the best.]

The words from the goddess made Horas feel better about himself and his situation. He was sacrificing a lot just to go against the guild alliance.

[You need to spend a lot of time training if you want to get better. I would suggest not facing the alliance until you can stand on your own feet.]

The goddess was right but it sucked to realize that. Horas felt powerless and he no longer wanted to feel like this. He needed power in whatever way he could.

"Hey, I can see that you are desperate. If you want power, then why don't you try our method? I am sure you will soon be able to get what you desire."

Horas flinched at the tempting offer from this unknown man. He knew he should not trust such a shady figure when he could not even see the figure's face.

This man had appeared out of nowhere and offered Horas this deal. But Horas's senses were still not putting up any danger signal.

"Who are you? What are you doing here and what do you want from me?"

Horas was not naive enough to believe that man wanted anything good for him. This man was here to likely take advantage of Horas.

"Oh, you are a cautious one for sure. But that is a good attitude if you want to survive this harsh world. You are the perfect fit for our experiment. So, what do you say? Do you want power?"

The shady man asked as he held his hand out.

[Do not trust him. I will not be able to help you out if you took the devil's hand.]

The goddess warned Horas about the fate of his future. She had chosen this child because of his dedication and goodwill. So, she did not want him to be taken away from her.

She had worked hard to keep this child by her side. And now she was watching this child walk away from her on his own two feet.

'I know it is not safe to take this offer. The fact that I cannot see a downside to this tells me all I need to know about this deal. But still, I want to take this offered hand and do something drastic. I want to change the world

Horas's ideas were too much for him and one day, they would get him in trouble. And it seemed like the day has finally come for him.

"I heard you and I understand what you are offering me. Are you going to make me strong enough to stand against the grandmaster?"

The man in front of Horas smiled a sinister smile. It made snakes crawl inside Horas's stomach when he looked at that smile.

But he seemed to have no choice if he wanted to gain more power faster.

"Smart choice kid. The Grandmaster is but a human and even he cannot go against the powers of the gods. Now, come with me and I shall grant you the greatest power of all."

The shady man extended his hand out and Horas took it.

The goddess extended her hand to stop Horas, but her hand passed through the child's body. She could no longer interfere in his destiny.

[Horas, you are making a mistake. This is not what the fates have promised you. You will die if you keep on following your own will."

The goddess warned Horas but the kid was beyond listening to her at this point. He had been humiliated and kept in a cage for too long.

"Well, fate is taking a long time to give me powers. I cannot afford to be powerless anymore. Especially after I already lost two encounters against that terrible human being. I need to gain more power as fast as possible."

The goddess flinched as soon as she heard Horas's words. She knew she could not give Horas what he was demanding.

She was worried about damaging Horas's body but the kid seemed not to be worried about the same.

[Horas, I-]

"I am sorry Verra, but this is the end of our relationship. You were a good companion but I no longer need you."

The goddess was in shock as soon as she heard Horas's words. She could not bring herself to believe what happened. 

Horas had abandoned her. The kid she had chosen to take care of had just ended up abandoning her for an unknown power.

'It is all his fault. That stupid grandmaster and his stupid powers. I will never forgive him for what he took from me. I shall not forgive him.'

Anger and resentment boiled inside the goddess. 

Usually, the goddess was a reasonable being, capable of seeing through truth and lies. But her current form was a mass of regret and anger. She was unable to guess what was happening in her current form.

And as such, she was letting out her anger at the world.

Veera, the goddess of fate was falling. Her negative emotions were dragging her real self down while her other powers were rising.

A loud cry sounded inside the city gates and even Horas looked up in alarm at the familiar tone it had.

"Veera! She is in trouble. I need to go back and check on her…"

He turned around but the shady figure who had promised to help Horas out caught his arm and stopped him.

"You cannot go back right now. This is all for the sake of your goal. So, if you need to make sacrifices along the way, do not hesitate to do so. Don't you want revenge for everything that happened to you?"

Horas was not sure what happened but his nerves calmed down and his desire to take revenge overshadowed everything else.

"You are right. Let us keep going now."