Chapter 46 Why Commit So Many Evil Deeds While Among the Living

Huh?

Ever since binding with the Book of Destiny, this wasn't the first time Elia had heard someone proudly declare in front of him that they were going to break free from destiny. The last person who tried to pull this off and staged several major spectacles for it was Gale Esposito, whose philosophy was: "Only by becoming a primary character can you control your own destiny." Furthermore, because his rhetoric sounded uncannily like a once-popular fanfiction web novel trope... every time Elia heard him talk earnestly about "how to rely on forums and bullet comments to become a sizzling hot manga guy," and thought of those preachy predecessors in web novels who acted cool like the wind, he felt that the whole matter was entirely unworthy of being taken seriously.

The other person who was constantly pondering the "feasibility of fighting against destiny" was, in fact, Elia himself.

The sense of threat brought by the Book of Destiny always loomed over his head like a dark cloud. Beyond the unsettling nature of destiny itself, it had once even displayed explicit aggressiveness toward Elia—specifically, the time when Sinestro first came to Earth to deliver the lantern to Elia.

Later, Elia asked Bob what that attack was all about and why the Book of Destiny, which should have been right by his side, had inexplicably vanished, only to go completely berserk and attack everyone present the moment he summoned it. Bob's answer was that all three of its heads were dormant at the time, and by the time it woke up, the battle was already over.

However, when it was fully awake, it did possess a certain degree of control over the Book of Destiny. Once, when Gale was tied up in the bathroom by Elia using the Book of Destiny, it was Bob who accidentally let him go.

"I didn't know at the time, Boss," the dog had said, looking quite aggrieved when confronted about the matter. "Gale's a pup you raised; when he called out to me, how could I not go take a look? The moment I walked over, the rope just unspooled itself."

Overall, Elia still did not have a clear understanding of the relationships among the four entities: the Book of Destiny, Bob who was connected to the book, his house equipped with a mysterious protective shield, and himself. Even though he didn't think Bob's brain and personality allowed for the Bernese Mountain Dog to be any sort of dangerous entity, from a macroscopic perspective, Bob was not entirely trustworthy.

Therefore, despite his intense desire to ditch the massive trouble that was the Book of Destiny and physically break free from the shackles of "destiny," so far he could only describe himself as having zero clues.

To summarize, of the two people who had personally witnessed the Book of Destiny and wanted to break free from destiny, one was busy pulling stunts and going to school while the other was spinning his wheels in place. Then, suddenly, a red skull stepped forward and told Elia, "I have broken free from my destiny!" This felt rather like a group of the world's top scientific researchers scratching their heads in despair over a century-old mystery, only for two amateur pseudo-scientists to suddenly jump out and declare, "Our laboratory has already proven blah, blah, blah..."

What if, though? What if they actually had the technology for it?

Elia humbly sought guidance: "What did you do?"

He was currently in his Necro-Lantern state, meaning he didn't need to do anything at all. With a casual beckoning gesture, the Book of Destiny appeared in his hand. This was a new skill Elia had recently developed: the Anytime, Anywhere Grand Summoning of the Book of Destiny. He finally no longer had to walk around carrying a silver-white screwdriver or other small gadgets every day. However, this summoning technique had a limitation: he could only command the Book of Destiny while in his Necro-Lantern form. If he were Elia Esposito, he would only be able to summon a pocket of air or a brand-new yellow power ring.

Because utilizing the Grand Summoning of the Book of Destiny required him to expend his full effort, naturally he had no spare energy to maintain a human appearance.

Yet, to onlookers, this precisely demonstrated that the "Necro-Lantern" was the true wielder of the Book of Destiny, or rather, that he himself was the embodiment of the Book of Destiny: the so-called destiny transcended time, space, and all laws. Such an entity was usually incapable of moving about freely in the mortal realm; thus, to achieve a certain purpose, it was forced to attach itself to a mortal vessel.

In that case, the red skull's words were tantamount to a provocation. With the superheroes holding such a preconceived notion, looking at Elia's sincere attitude in seeking guidance, they somehow perceived disdain and fury concealed beneath that dark, profound visage.

Even the Red Skull reacted reflexively with vigilance and did not answer immediately. Seeing this, Elia simply switched to the Language of the Book of Destiny and asked again: "How did you do it?"

However, something that surprised him occurred—although he had not intentionally heightened the deterrent undertone in his voice this time, while everyone nearby was instinctively tensing up, the Red Skull within Captain America showed no reaction whatsoever, looking merely slightly perplexed upon hearing words he couldn't understand!

Yet previously, no matter how strong-willed a person was, upon hearing Elia speak the Language of the Book of Destiny, they would invariably experience physiological fear; this bodily reflex was inescapable.

Elia felt this pointed to one conclusion: even if the Red Skull hadn't broken free from destiny as he claimed, he had undoubtedly weakened the influence of destiny through some method.

Having confirmed this, Elia was genuinely curious, mixed with a faint excitement of witnessing a miracle. Hesitating no longer, he immediately took the risk and opened the silver-white book chained to his wrist. Those pages, seemingly tangible yet resembling shifting light and shadow, flipped rapidly in his hands, the text upon them transitioning from blurry to clear.

When the words finally presented themselves completely before Elia's eyes, he knew by some mystic intuition that what he was about to see was the future destiny of the Red Skull. Furthermore, because this passage was being read by him—the Lord of Destiny—it was destined to happen to the individual concerned in this universe, and there was even a certain probability that it would unfold right before Elia's eyes or involve his participation.

It was precisely because the act of opening the book carried a high likelihood of implicating himself, coupled with the fact that established destinies could not be altered, that Elia rarely engaged in the work of reading.

Fortunately, this time the Red Skull's destiny didn't involve Elia.

In black and white, the book stated:

[The Red Skull will ascend to the hellish battlefields of World War III, holding high the banners of "Freedom," "Equality," and "Justice." Wielding a sturdy shield, he will assist the Sinestro Corps in defeating the Nazis, earn immense prestige among the demons, and gain the appreciation of Demon Lord Alastor. However, his actions will also lay the groundwork for the subsequent massive invasion of the mortal realm by Hell...]

Elia was initially utterly astonished while reading. When he read the phrase [banners of "Freedom," "Equality," and "Justice"], he couldn't help but wear a bizarre expression, and discovering that the "Red Skull" was actually wielding a sturdy shield made it even harder for him to keep a straight line. But before he could mentally roast the Captain America vibes leaking from between the lines of this Red Skull's destiny, the sentence 'lay the groundwork for the subsequent massive invasion of the mortal realm by Hell' slithered into his field of vision like a snake lunging out of the brush, taking him completely unawares.

A shock ran through Elia's heart. Reflexively, he snapped the book shut, his expression turning gloomy.

Observers could not see his expression, but they could sense that the Necro-Lantern, who moments ago had been flipping through the Book of Destiny with a trace of amusement and a calm mind, had suddenly seemingly looked upon contents that filled him with extraordinary fury, his aura transforming in the blink of an eye. If in the previous moment he resembled a tranquil sea under a summer calm, right now he was like a tempest whipping up tidal waves surging violently beneath dark clouds.

Without waiting for people to ask what on earth he had seen, the Necro-Lantern abruptly put away the Book of Destiny. The next second, human facial features and skin tones formed on his body, and in a flash, the Necro-Lantern transformed into "Elia Esposito."

The sudden change left everyone dumbfounded. Elia then answered their doubts: "I saw war—Hell is going to declare war on the mortal realm."

***

The threads of the matter were now roughly clear.

The Red Skull had utilized a certain method to "cheat" the timeline of destiny, having Steve Rogers—the current Captain America—take his place. As for himself, he currently existed in an entangled state of being both the Red Skull and Captain America, and most likely, as time flowed on, his standing within destiny's "cognition" would increasingly converge toward Captain America.

To verify this, Elia had Ophelia attempt once more to summon a counterpart of the Red Skull.

Among the counterparts she had summoned thus far, listed in chronological order, were the Green Skull, the Black Skull, Captain America's son who became the Red Skull, and Hydra Supreme. Although this string of figures sounded comical, they truly represented a gradual transition from the Red Skull to Captain America himself.

According to Elia's hypothesis, Ophelia's next summoning target would completely transform into a counterpart of "Captain America."

The result met his expectations.

Ophelia summoned a werewolf. He introduced himself as Captain America from Parallel Universe Number 666. Whether it was a werewolf, a woman, a robot, or even a monkey, as long as they claimed to be Captain America in such a setting, it spoke volumes.

After the Werewolf Captain America's voice trailed off, the hall of Avengers Tower fell into silence. People were pondering, evaluating, and judging, while Elia was contemplating another matter: perusing the Book of Destiny was, as he had suspected, a highly risky endeavor.

This was not merely because of the possibility of implicating oneself; another reason was that the predetermined future might well be something Elia was unwilling to see.

Take "Hell declaring war on the mortal realm," for instance.

If Elia, in his capacity as the Lord of Destiny, had not read those words, it was entirely possible that the event would never have happened at all.

In other words, the future was akin to a coin tossed into the air; once it landed, there was a 50% probability of heads and a 50% probability of tails. However, once Elia saw the outcome in advance, that outcome became fixed.

When the coin itself was insignificant, Elia could determine whether it landed heads or tails. Unfortunately, before opening the book, he could not judge whether the contents he was about to see were important or not, and the level of importance was not determined by him, but by destiny's own judgment.

Therefore, upon seeing "the massive invasion of the mortal realm by Hell," Elia decisively snapped the Book of Destiny shut precisely to prevent subsequent developments from appearing—contents that would elevate blood pressure and were destined to happen, such as "Earth occupied by demons," "humanity utterly defeated," or "World War III spreading from Hell to the mortal realm"...

As for the current situation, it could barely be described as fortuitous:

First, through the Necro-Lantern's prophecy, people learned that war was about to break out, allowing them to make preparations in advance.

Second, although the Red Skull had grafted onto Captain America's destiny line, he had not altered other people's perceptions, nor his own stance relative to the true Captain America. Bear in mind, according to the Book of Destiny, that veteran in Hell who fought from World War II to World War III was going to hold high the banners of "Freedom," "Equality," and "Justice" and wield a sturdy shield to defeat the Nazis... Steve Rogers remained entirely trustworthy, and moreover, he was right inside Hell. Once Hell and the mortal realm went to war, with him stationed in the enemy's main camp, if things were operated properly, he might just turn out to be a brilliant surprise force.

So, the tasks to be done next were twofold. First, they needed to contain the Red Skull to prevent him from escaping and wreaking havoc using Captain America's body; second, they had to figure out a way to contact that good comrade of the people fighting in Hell, the old Nazi opponent, the respectable Mr. Steve Rogers, who had lived for thirty years yet fought a war spanning well over a century.