That's It, Then. We'll Make Fate

When he heard Alfonso's sigh, Thor had initially wanted to agree, but the image of a pentagram suddenly flashed through his mind, and the words about to leave his mouth changed.

"Challenging fate is what makes things interesting. I've just had an idea. I'll go back and think it through properly in a bit."

Alfonso glanced at Thor in surprise.

In the darkness, Thor's gray eyes seemed to glow.

As if dazzled by the light, Alfonso turned away, unwilling to look at Thor any longer.

Ever since the Judgment Court had helped him become a Tier 3 Wizard—or, more precisely, ever since he'd taken over the Modified Mermaid project—it had felt as though his life was already set in stone.

He would be forever surrounded by the contaminated waste produced by the Red Sea Tree. Forever thinking about how to increase the mermaid population, extend their lifespans, improve their tolerance for Corruption, and better control generation after generation of mermaids as they sacrificed themselves for the Nephrite Continent.

To him, these things were no longer challenges. They were endless torment and pressure.

More than once, he'd thought that perhaps the nightmare would end only when the enormous Black Tide turned into a tsunami that blotted out the sky and swallowed the entire Nephrite Continent.

But Alfonso's mental state wasn't yet bad enough for things to reach that point, so it was all just his imagination.

It was like people who went around saying, "Let the world burn!" every day. That didn't mean they truly wanted the world to end.

So Alfonso was now trying another way to relieve his stress.

After returning to the Eternal Night Royal Palace, Alfonso escorted Thor back to the palace where he was staying temporarily.

Thor then shut the doors tight and set up several