Arthur stared at the beautiful creature in front of him, who was pleading for him to leave everything else behind. But, in the infinite time he spent with Gaia, he learned that his past self was a close friend of one of the guardians, God of Life, Lyari.
This gave him an idea to manipulate the guardian into becoming on his side, but Arthur was not that kind of person, although he needed to be. However, this was not the most challenging question.
"I have an impossible choice to make."
Lyari was quiet as his eyes drew crescents, the long eyelashes trembling. Arthur stared above at the myriad of colors as he mulled over his choice.
"However, I don't think it's even a choice."
Arthur realized as he thought deeply about it. It was a yes or no question, and refusing to give them his powers would result in him never having the ability to choose anything. His choice was given because he said yes before, and he needs to do it again.
"Are you aware, Lyari?" asked Arthur, and he saw the guardian flinch as he heard his name spoken so casually. "Are you aware of what is going to happen if I say no to your offer?"
"You are not going to refuse, Arthur."
"And why are you so sure, Lyari?"
"Because we wouldn't be here if you did," Lyari sighed as he spread his hands in front of him. "Nameless had already told you when he possessed the Knight of Nobility. Everything is connected. Time does not exist for him."
"And how does anyone defeat something that knows the future?"
"This is the reason we are here, Arthur. You cannot defeat it, and attempting to do so is futile," said Lyari as he tried to hold Arthur's hand. "Let us start over somewhere else."
Arthur could tell that the guardian in front of him was sincere, but it did not make him less creeped out. The choice has already been made, leading Arthur to this timeline.
The alternative was to refuse, and Arthur could not imagine the amount of destruction a paradox would bring to the timeline. There was always the possibility that the timeline would fix itself and find another route to make sense, leading to their present moment, or one where no paradox can exist.
"You are telling me that I cannot refuse," Arthur retracted his hand away from the man, and he could see the disappointment in his eyes.
"And there is no need for you to refuse, Arthur," said Lyari with a shake of his head. "The person you love is here, hurt and dying. There is no way for you to save her without me. If you refuse to leave everything else behind, then you have no choice but to give it to me."
"I can refuse."
"The timeline will be destroyed, and the world will resolve. There will be no hybrid to send you here, and there will be no princess for you to love. And you will not have this choice to make."
"You are talking about a paradox," frowned Arthur. "You have set me up for this very moment. A way for me to hand over a part of my power for you to use."
"It has been a complicated plan, I admit. I will be honest. We are running in a loop that has only one outcome. There is only one choice that will allow the timeline to keep existing."
"I always hand over the fragment of my power because I have no other choice. The timeline will be destroyed otherwise. And using that fragment, you will send me for this moment. I am trapped in a loop, but I want to know one thing."
"Anything."
"My father has sent me here to receive the Isotox and the powers of creation. However, it does not make sense for me since I am here to fuel your plans."
"…your father?" the guardian was confused, and Arthur smiled before shaking his head. "You… know something."
"I know more now," said Arthur. "Nameless can exist at every moment simultaneously, but he is not everywhere. There are things and people he does not know about, and Jizo made sure of that."
"That does not make sense. We know the future… it is…"
"There is someone that you cannot see his future," Arthur leaned forward before pointing at himself. "That is the reason that you cannot defeat me or kill me. You had no idea who I am or who I would reincarnate into."
Lyari stared at him silently, but his eyes said a thousand words. Arthur sighed as he remembered what Gaia had told him before. However, it did not change that he could not refuse to hand out his powers because it would be paradoxical.
"This story has been going on for some time now, and anyone reading it knows how this would go. However, let me be the anomaly again."
"Are you aware of what you are saying? A refusal means there will be no us here, and it will be the end of this timeline. You will be thrown back into the moment you were transferred back in time until you approve. This. Must. Happen."
"I want to know what happens if I break free," smiled Arthur. "I am forced to make this choice because there will be no origin for my existence here. However, let us suppose that there is a way for none of those things to exist. A new path can be created out of this moment."
"…this is ridiculous," blinked the Healer Guardian. "There is no choice to make here."
"Are you afraid?"
"Afraid?"
"You have no idea what will happen if I refuse to give this. You have brought me here to the past just to give me an impossible choice, where rejection is not accepted. However, none of you considered the possibility of me rejecting."
"…temporal paradoxes are not to be tempered with, Arthur."
"You have seen a future that I do not know, and it led you to create this time loop of me going back into the past and giving you the key. All of you gave me an impossible choice to make, so let me give you an impossible answer."
"No one knows what is going to happen if this goes on. Are you aware that it can end with this world being destroyed by the Chains of Order?"
Arthur was quiet because he knew that would be the possible outcome. A timeline that makes no sense cannot exist, and everything needs to have a cause and a result. The Chain of Order will destroy their world as it is, the same way it did many times before.
A paradox did not exist because the laws governing this world will destroy it once it happens. That is the reason that none of them can oppose the natural flow of time, and it was the reason that Arthur had to make this choice.
"Your plan was marvelous. I could have never thought that I was walking the path you wanted me to walk all this time. It must be the reason you allowed Diana and Ai to bring me back too. However, there is one small difference in this timeline."
"There cannot be any!" shouted Lyari as he rose to his feet. "Arthur, do not make this choice. I was your friend, and trust me, follow this path I'm giving you."
"This is the path that my father wants me to take too," laughed Arthur as he rose from his seat too, and the world began to shake. "I will reject it. I have long resolved to forge a new path."
"This must happen because it has already happened before!"
"I am independent, Lyari. I was never a part of this world or this timeline. I am the anomaly and the outsider," a realization struck him as he was talking.
The world began to break down around them, and the two returned to the battlefield at the exact moment the two of them left. Lyari fell back as he stared at Arthur with horror.
"This is not the right choice, Arthur!" shouted the Healer Guardian as he reached out forward. However, Arthur was not looking at him but Diana.
Her beautiful face was still cracking under the effects of her powers. Arthur lowered himself and picked her up, but her arm fell lifeless to the side.
"Diana was the only person I ever loved and the only person who loved me after seeing me at my worst. However, she was used as a tool by all of you to manipulate me into obtaining this power and giving it to you."
As his words flowed through the battlefield, reaching everyone he knew and cherished in this world, his two friends from their original world, Arthur, rose to the sky as the world began to tremble.
The fabric of existence was being torn apart as the Chains of Order appeared again, each one of them powerful enough to destroy this world.
"I was manipulated too into reaching this point. A choice that is not a choice. I was given an offer that would be taken away from me if I refused it. However, I will refuse it and end this timeline."
"Arthur, please, listen to me!" shouted Lyari. "As soon as this timeline gets out of order, the chains will destroy it! This is the end of the world as we know it! All of your friends here will be killed too!"
"That is where you are wrong, Lyari. None of you know what I am going to choose, and that is the reason you are so terrified. I refuse to give you my powers and let the world be damned."
The chains appeared in the sky above, and Arthur turned to face them with a grin. His golden eyes saw the destruction that was about to happen, but he did not waver.
"I will break free from my father's schemes. I will break free from the impossible choice that you have given me. I will end this timeline."
The world began to collapse as the timeline was destroyed. Everything within their world began to disappear as the chains descended to maintain order. Arthur watched how his choice destroyed everything in existence while remembering the knowledge given to him by Gaia.
"I am not a puppet to any god, and I will make sure that I forge this new path. I am the inheritor of Gaia, and this is my command. Let this world enters a different path!"
His powers exploded to control the chains of order as they descended. Arthur can tell that this timeline cannot exist because of his refusal, but he wanted to make one difference this time.
"I am the breaker, and this is my choice."
