The perspective of the [Eye of Judgment] ascended high into the air, zooming out and gaining speed. For a mere moment, the roof of the First Church of Etron could be distinguished between the myriad large structures of that kingdom’s capital, then it was lost in the brown malaise of civilization. Soon, the entire city of Etron was a small dot on the planet’s surface. Moments later, the curvature of the planet before the perspective of Lothar’s almighty divination skill pulled back far enough for the entire planet of Ferrum to resolve into view. It floated in the air like a water droplet that had not yet splattered to the unforgiving ground.

  Sitting a few meters away from that floating planet were Lothar in his toga and Nyx in her plain robes. Lothar stared at the globe with unbroken disdain, though Nyx regarded the orb with excitement.

  “Did you see that, Lothar!? Alexander Lee has already unlocked the [Blink] exploit, and it’s only a matter of time before Thale Feldrast unlocks the [Hellfire] exploit!” Nyx said.

  “Yes, yes. Very impressive,” Lothar muttered. “If this were the first iteration, I’m sure those two would be among the highest ranked players of [Ferrum Online].”

  “You don’t sound very impressed,” Nyx said.

  Lothar sighed before saying, “That’s because we’re not measuring them against other theoretical players. We need more from them.”

  The God of Judgment gestured at the globe with a look of disgust on his face. “It looks to me like they’ve already ruined this iteration. They have no chance of ever overcoming my tribulation without a functional global economy. Why don’t we just turn everything back twenty years or so and start over with another group? There are still hundreds of unused souls left over from the Cagliostro.”

  “Lothar,” Nyx said, annoyed. “You always want to turn back the clock. The rest of us just don’t have the same perspective as you when it comes to time. We haven’t been around as long as you. Twenty years isn’t just a drop in the bucket to us.”

  “And ten years is?” Lothar asked rhetorically. “Why bother wasting ten more years on this iteration when we know it will just end in failure?”

  “You don’t know it will end in failure,” Nyx said defensively. “There’s still a chance that Thale Feldrast will be able to hold it together.”

  “Ha!” Lothar let out a cruel laugh. “You don’t believe that. We both know that the King of Etronia’s death always causes the civilization to lose at least two hundred years of progress.”

  “This time might be different!” Nyx said.

  “Why!?” Lothar shouted. “Kronos has turned back time more than four hundred times. Why would this iteration be any different!?”

  “There’s something special about the Reincarnate inside of Thale Feldrast,” Nyx said. “If any human can make this world worthy, it’s him.”

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  “Really? You’re really going to bet the fate of this world on one man with eighty hitpoints. A strong breeze would kill Thale Feldrast.”

  Nyx smiled, saying, “Speaking of bets, why don’t we make one? If we have a few years to kill one way or another, why not make them interesting?”

  Taking the initiative, Nyx jumped to her feet. “There are twelve gods and twelve Reincarnates, right? Here’s the wager: every god may choose one Reincarnate as their champion. The god in question may then use a sixth-order replica to help that champion reach [Ascension]. When only one champion is still alive, that champion’s god will gain the total energy expended throughout the wager. If every god gets involved, the winner will get one-third of a divine spark. How does that sound?”

  A momentary smile appeared on Lothar’s face before he said, “Gambling, eh? I thought you were the Goddess of Peace now.”

  “Within ourselves, we always carry a small piece of the people we used to be,” Nyx said in an attempt to conceal her intentions from the most knowledgeable entity in the universe.

  “That’s certainly not boring,” Lothar said with a shrug. “As long as it’s just a sixth-order replica, I’ll accept it. Maybe this will make the next decade of wasted time somewhat tolerable. By the way, I want Alexander Lee as my champion.”

  Nyx was so happy to hear Lothar accept her wager that she barely heard the end of his statement. “Wait, uh, you want to choose a champion?”

  “Sure,” Lothar said as his body began to shift and move. His body split in two, and then one of the replicas split again. With each split, one of the replicas morphed back into Lothar’s original body. This continued six times with the replica losing some fidelity with each split. Eventually, the only remaining replica was a featureless shadow in the shape of Lothar.

  “Go, aid Alexander Lee,” Lothar said to the shadow.

  “As you command,” the shadow answered with an unexpected clarity. It began walking out of the Sefirot, and it disappeared behind a large marble pillar in seconds.

  “Why?” Nyx asked. “Didn’t you just say that Alexander Lee’s actions will cripple Ferrum beyond repair?”

  With a cruel smile, Lothar said, “Yes. I just think this is the perfect opportunity to show that everything we’re doing is a fool’s errand.”

  “What?”

  “That world will never be worthy,” Lothar said with rising anger. “Humans are fundamentally monstrous creatures that only know how to destroy. If they ever build a society, it’s entirely by accident. Any supposed ‘altruism’ is always motivated by self-interest.”

  “Maybe this time will be different,” Nyx said once more.

  Lothar sighed, his anger suddenly transforming into a deep sadness. “Nyx, I’ve been watching humanity nonstop for two hundred thousand years. They have never proven me wrong.” He rotated his shoulders in discomfort. “Anyway, I’ll probably see you in ten years. Bye, Nyx.”

  In an instant, Lothar’s corporeal body became one with the universe. It was as if his toga was suddenly made of the fabric of space, and the north star was a decoration fastened above his breast. Those who looked too closely could tell that nothing had changed, and he had just revealed his true nature. Any mortal man witnessing this was at risk of going irrevocably insane.

  Nyx watched Lothar fade back into the cosmic background radiation with disinterest. Functionally, it was no different from teleportation. Under her breath, she said, “Show off.”

  The Goddess of Peace returned to her seat and spun off a sixth-order replica. Nyx looked at the shadow in the approximation of a woman and said, “You know what to do.”