SOWER: My Cultivation Creates Gods

14 | Tempus Finitum

The giant didn't respond.

Kiona made it out.

That's what matters.

She'll find help. She'll tell someone. She'll...

She'll be okay.

His thoughts drifted. Scattered like leaves in the wind.

Calypso.

Her face swam up from the darkness. Sixteen years old. That smile she got when she thought she'd fooled him. The way she pretended not to care about things she cared about more than anything.

I'm sorry.

Your big brother wasn't strong enough.

I wanted to give you everything. College. A house. A car. A life where you didn't have to worry about bills or groceries or whether the heat would work this winter.

I wanted to be the kind of brother you deserved.

But I guess...

I guess this is as far as I go.

His eyes drifted to the wall. To that pillar with the Roman numerals.

The shadow crept across the stone.

IV.

Almost at V.

Huh. Guess time's almost up anyway.

The giant raised its sword. That massive black blade that could cleave him in half without effort.

"TEMPUS FINITUM." Its voice echoed through the arena. "MORS TUA ADVENIT."

Time's up. Your death arrives.

Rome didn't lower the staff.

Fine.

If I'm going to die, I'm going to die standing.

I'm going to die fighting.

That's...

That's all anyone can do in this accursed world.

Be strong enough.

And when you're not strong enough...

Die trying.

The shadow touched V.

The giant's sword descended.

And then.

Everything.

Stopped.

The blade hung frozen in the air. Inches from Rome's head. Close enough that he could see his own reflection in its surface. A broken, bloody, one-armed mess of a man who'd somehow made it this far on spite alone.

The giant didn't move.

The remaining knights didn't move.

Even the torches seemed to pause, their flames locked in place like a photograph.

What...

What's happening?

A voice.

Not the giant's rumbling bass. Something else. Something lighter. Feminine. It echoed from everywhere and nowhere at once, like it was being spoken directly into his soul.

『Such an unjust game, wouldn't you agree?』

Who...

『The deck was stacked against you from the very beginning. No power. No backing. No chance of victory. And yet...』

Rome's vision blurred. Darkened. The arena faded at the edges.

『...you fought anyway. You bled anyway. You sacrificed everything you had for someone else's survival.』

I don't... understand...

『If my voice is reaching you, there may yet be hope. A spark in the darkness. A seed waiting to bloom.』

Seed.

The word resonated. Vibrated through his fading consciousness.

『You have the makings of a farmer, Rome. One who can sow the seeds of others and make them grow. One who can nurture potential into power.』

That doesn't... make any sense...

『It will.』

A window appeared.

Green text on a translucent screen. Floating in the void that his vision had become.

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**SYSTEM PROMPT**

**「 Hidden Quest: The Sower's Gambit — COMPLETE 」**

In a rigged game, you refused to fold. You bet your life not on your own strength, but on the survival of another.

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**「 OBJECTIVES 」**

**◇ Survive the Trial of the Unjust King. (COMPLETE)**

**◇ Ensure the survival of a potential 'Seed'. (COMPLETE)**

**◇ Defy a foregone conclusion. (COMPLETE)**

**「 PERFORMANCE RATING: ADMIRABLE FOLLY 」**

You have been deemed worthy.

The ARCAN System has chosen you as a potential Scion.

**Designation:** Ancestral Resonance Cultivation Ascension Nexus 

Do you accept the rights and responsibilities of this covenant?

**\[YES\] \[NO\]**

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

A system?

Like a video game?

『Choose, Rome. The reaper's blade waits for no one. Not even potential Scions.』

His vision was almost gone now. Just a pinprick of light in an ocean of black.

The YES button pulsed.

Calypso.

Kiona.

I still owe them both so much.

I can't...

I can't die here.

Not like this.

Not without...

His will reached out. Touched the button.

Yes.

**\[ACCEPTED\]**

『Welcome to the game, little farmer. Let's see what you can grow.』

The light went out.