Against the Script

Nyx blinked, her usual unrestrained confidence wavering for the first time as her gaze faltered.

"A Defier? I have no idea what you're talking about."

Leo narrowed his eyes. Mors might be a sadistic psycho, but he wouldn't have reacted like that for no reason.

"You know, for a princess of a super secret organization, you suck at lying."

Nyx's shoulders shrank as she lowered her head and grumbled.

"But I really don't know what it means…"

"But you're not denying that you are one?"

"..."

Luna and Lily exchanged glances. Luna suddenly slammed her hands down onto the table, growling in frustration.

"Alright, let's back up a second. What's a Defier?"

Nyx grimaced before sighing and telling them everything she knew.

"I don't know jack shit about what it means. Some disembodied voice just told me I was a 'Defier of Fate' or some shit."

She crossed her arms and shot Leo a suspicious look.

"I've been in this game for all of twenty minutes—why the hell am I getting interrogated already?! And how did you even know? Was there something that gave it away?"

'Boss, it's her aura. She reeks of Shadows. The Church of Fate is a bunch of zealous lunatics—it's best we avoid her!'

Leo's expression faltered as he relayed Mors's words nearly verbatim.

Lily tilted her head, confused.

"I thought your weapon was called Astra… Why is it Mors now?"

Leo glanced between them, feeling the weight of the conversation shift. His mind raced as he processed Mors's warning—and the faint trace of fear in its voice.

"I'm not sure how he knew. He said something about 'aura,'" Leo admitted, rubbing his temple.

"But Mors… that's what my weapon's calling itself now. It's like it's trying to make its presence more known. It's different from Astra."

He held up his left arm, the onyx-colored bracelet catching the three girls' attention. Their gazes then shifted to his right hand, where a second bracelet, silver and gold, rested.

"This one houses Mors, the ego that was just talking. The other holds Astra. But… she hasn't spoken yet."

A pang of concern settled in Leo's chest as he realized Astra had been silent since he'd returned to the game world.

Lily frowned, eyeing the silver and gold bracelet.

"That's weird. You think Mors did something to her?"

'Tch. Don't blame me, girl. That light-brained fool's probably just in a deep sleep,'

 Mors cold sneer ripped through his mind.

 'Not my problem. Also, tell Flowerhead to stop asking brain-dead questions—It's like we know. Yes, you're a blonde.'

Leo's jaw tightened at the casual dismissal—and endless complaints.

"Mors isn't exactly helpful… or kind, for that matter."

Nyx, who had been watching quietly, leaned forward and tapped her fingers on the table.

 "Okay, so your weapons have egos, and one of them's being weird. But let's go back to the important part for a moment—what does any of this have to do with me?"

Leo sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Mors said you reek of Shadows. And the Church of Fate… well, let's just say they wouldn't be too happy about that."

"Huh?"

"Help me out here, Mors. We know next to nothing."

'Haha, sure thing, Boss~!'

At that moment, a low chuckle echoed in Leo's mind, sending a shiver down his spine. Suddenly, Leo felt a surging spark of pain shoot up his arms. 

Luna covered her mouth as she struggled to suppress the scream that was building up in her throat. 

"L-Leo…your eye!" 

"What about the rest of me! Why am I suddenly hurting all of a sudden?!"

His left arm felt wrong. Heavy. Foreign.

'Ahhh, much better…'

 Mors voice returned with a purr, 

its voice laced with something disturbingly close to satisfaction.

 'Don't mind me, Boss. Just borrowing this for a bit~'

"Borrowing what?!"

His own voice came out uneven, layered with something darker—something that wasn't entirely his own.

Then, another voice.

Sinister. Chaotic.

"Rather than playing Broken Telephone, why not take it from the source~?"

The girls stiffened, eyes widening. That wasn't Leo.

That was Mors.

"Pleasure to meet you Ladies~! I am Mors and rather than using the poor boy to translate, hear it from me instead~!"

Nyxx tapped a finger on the table, somewhat skeptical of the changes in Leo now that they had begun to discuss her. 

"In that case, tell us more about the Church of Fate and Defiers of Fate?"

Mors' laugh echoed through the room, dark and sinister, curling around the air like smoke.

"Ah, asking the right questions now, are we? You'd like to know about the Church of Fate and the Defiers, hmm? Very well," 

Mors purred, savoring every syllable as his voice took on a mocking tone. 

"The Church of Fate is a group of zealots, true believers who follow the doctrine that everything is predetermined, that every single life, every event, follows a divine script.

 One they think they can manipulate, of course. They're all about control, about ensuring that Fate plays out the way they see fit."

Luna stiffened at the mention of Fate, her brows furrowed in confusion.

 "So, they're like puppeteers, trying to make everyone dance to their strings?"

"Almost"

 Mors' voice sang with approval for once.

 "They don't control the strings, they merely pretend they do. They enforce Fate, convinced that nothing—nothing—can change the flow of time. That's where you come in, monkey princess." 

He turned to Nyx, his tone dripping with mockery. 

"You're a Defier. A contradiction to their precious script."

Nyx's gaze hardened as she leaned in, her fingers tapping on the table with a measured rhythm. 

"Defier… A contradiction? What exactly does that mean?"

"Ah, you don't know, do you?"

 Mors's tone deepened, and Leo's body stiffened as though the words themselves weighed heavily on him 

"You're a glitch in their precious system, someone who doesn't belong, someone who wasn't supposed to exist outside of their design. But now, you do, and that's why they 'll want you dead." 

Luna scowled, crossing her own arms as she asked

"So what are we supposed to do to stop them?"

"Hah!Stop them? Unless you're a god. You would best run until you can fight gods on even grounds."

Everyone could now feel it, there was a storm on the horizon.