Chapter 65: The Fate Of Your Actions

"What are you talking about?

Cheating? When? They can't consider using The Spear of Longinus cheating, can they?

"You have been found using an illegal STAT BOOSTING MOD and an INFINITE MANA CONSUMPTION MOD."

Only this guy in the red robe and me in the room, and I had a spotlight shining down on him and me, making it hard to see. I tried to look around the room, but everything else was in darkness. I turned back to the robed figure. His face was cast in a shadow from his hood, making it impossible to see his face.

"I never used anything like that. I honestly don't know what you talking about."

"Then how do you explain this!" The robed figure cast his hand out, and my AVATAR appeared in the air, blown up to make it easier to see.

LEVEL: 22

HP: 785/785

MANA: 240/240

NAME: Dave Huntington

AGE: 29

CLASS: Mountain Blade Dancer

STATUS: Satisfied

WEALTH: Wealthy

HOME: Huntington Manor

STRENGTH: 120

CONSTITUTION: 135 (+775)

COMBAT: 117

SPEED: 155

INTELLIGENCE: 115

MANA: 33 (+165)

CHARISMA: 200

LUCK: 1000

SPECIAL ABILITIES

HEROIC GRACE: Remove any adverse magical effects or side effects from a party member. This ability has a 24-hour cooldown period between uses. (1/1 uses available)

ABILITIES

PASSIVE SKILLS

DUAL-WIELD: Wield two weapons proficiently

MOUNTAIN SWORD DANCER: Lost art of 100-ton sword dance. Gain +20 to combat and +40 to speed while wielding MOUNTAIN BLADE.

SKILL FUSION: Combine Skills with another party member with this Skill. Skills combinations may vary.

STONEBLADE STYLE: Proficient at wielding stone weapons, and you are not affected by the weight of the weapon.

MOLTEN SKIN: You have become invulnerable to metal. If you receive damage from a metal weapon, that damage is transferred back as heat to the weapon. A heated weapon loses durability fast and causes user FIRE damage.

PEIRCE EVIL: People with evil intentions have black auras and are vulnerable to the HERO's LIGHT BLADE Skill.

SELFLESS HERO: Magic item find increased by 250%

ACTIVATED SKILLS

MOUNTAIN BLADE: Activate to summon a blade of stone that weighs over 100 tons. This Spell consumes 0 MANA per/minute.

HOLY BLADE: Activate to summon a blade of light. This Spell consumes 0 MANA per/minute.

SOUL AVENGER: In the presence of demons, LIGHT BLADE will increase in size, but in this form, the blade only affects demons. A non-demonic creature struck by DEMON BRINGER receives no damage. Consumes 0 MANA per/min.

SOUL BRINGER++: In the presence of demons, SOUL BRINGER will erupt with golden cleansing flames, and all stats with temporarily be boost against demons. Consumes 0 MANA per/min.

"Do you see this? There is no way a level twenty-two could ever have stats like this with this system. I am the head designer over the LEVEL UP SYSTEM, so I know what each level is capable of. One-thousand luck and zero MANA consumption are impossible stats to obtain with this system, ever, no matter the level. This alone is more than enough to convict you of cheating! There is the matter of the CHARISMA as well; two-hundred at your level is also impossible!"

I stood and listened to the charges this guy was laying on me, but I still couldn't believe it. Even I would accuse me of cheating if I didn't know any better after looking at these stats and skills. Although I had more than enough experience through this game to justify my bolstered CHARISMA stat!

"How do you know I cheated?" I felt like this was a fair question, since so far he had shown me what I had already seen before and nothing proving that I was the cause of this.

"It is clear! Look at you, AVATAR!"

"No, that just says that it happened. It doesn't say that I was the cause or when it happened. How are you going to convict me on such circumstantial evidence?"

"I AM THE GAME MASTER HERE PLAYER! I DECIDED WHO WHILE BE PUNISHED!" His voice boomed around me, but I wasn't going to let this maniac stop me from helping the girls.

"I demand something! This isn't fair for you to force blame on me for something you have no proof I did!"

"You insolent child…"

"He's not wrong, Victor. Looks like you stuck your nose into the wrong place here, oh great and powerful Game Master!"

That was a familiar voice coming from behind me, and I turn to see Simon walking up with five other red-robed people and one person led behind them in chains. Simon smiled and winked at me as he walked up, but then turned his gaze back on Victor, crushing his smile.

The chained person had a black bag covering his head. He was pushed to the front past me and up beside Simon, who was also in front of me.

"Victor, you are looking for someone to convict of cheating, hmm? Well, what if I told you I found the person cheating, then what if I told you that the person that used the mods to cheat got them from a certain Game Master? Just to sweeten the pot, what if I also told you that they were related and this wasn't the first time it had happened?"

The game master was stepping back from the podium now, but there was no place to go. Simon pulled off the hood of the chained prisoner to reveal Tyron's face, also known as Fate. I wasn't surprised, but the comment about this not being the first time started to sink in.

Too many times had Fate almost got the scoop on me until he finally did get me, but something always had felt off. Like he had more information than possible, on top of that, I never really understood his fascination with me. There was only one time when we first met that really stood out to me, but It seemed so inconsequential at the time.

During my third game, Tyron joined our party during my first EXA/SKILL-EVO game (existential/skill evolution), and we had partied up for a short while. The defining moment was when we found a village that was being attacked by a tier five Grackhorn monster. Usually, we would stay away from a nightmare of that level, considering our party ranks were no higher than tier three, but I said we needed to try.

Tyron argued that it was the people's fate, and if we interfered, it would be ours as well. I convinced the party that we could do it and that we would not be able to sleep well if we didn't at least try. In the end, we were able to defeat the monster and save the village, but not without casualties.

Tyron's body was torn to shreds by the beast when he had tried to run away instead of fighting like a coward. I tried to stop the creature, but I was batted away by its tail, unable to reach him in time. I would learn later this Tyron was actually the god Fate, and he was looking for a new Vassal. Instead, now I had an enemy for life, all because of his own cowardice.

Now, all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place, and the long-standing war would be over, I hoped.

"Victor, you are accused of supplying illegal MOD and outside information to a player that was participating in an active game. You shall be removed as Game Master and removed from the board at Reborn Incorporated. As of now, your position in Reborn has been terminated."

Before Victor could protest, his avatar disappeared from view. Simon turned to the chained Tyron and pronounced judgment on him. Considering there was no way to remove him from the game, Tyron would go in stasis and provide his spark for ten MINI-GAMES. And after would be released back into the game as a lost soul again.

Tyron shot a dark look in my direction as his body was dematerialized, but that was all that I saw as his body pulled apart, cubic bit by cubic bit. Once he was gone, I let out a sigh of relief. Finally, the evil and conniving Fate was gone. I would finally be able to enjoy my play without worry, kind of.

"So, now that the bullshit has been dealt with, why don't head over to the Hall of Wishes?"

"Just waiting for you, bro! And thanks. I'm really not sure what any of us would do without you!"

"Don't mention it. We all have been trying to find actual evidence that Victor was working with his son, and after you were captured, I watched you and seen him using the boosts on you. We still had to wait until someone won to deal with this, but no one ever thought that he would beat us to the punch or even try to accuse you."

"Well, I'm just glad that he's gone."

"Don't relax, Dave. There will always be another fate, but for now, let's go see everyone. They are all impatiently waiting for you!"