Chapter 51: The Wheel Cracks

The big star-wheel appeared in his vision. Three turning wheels made of starlight and space clouds, spinning faster and faster. But something was different this time. The wheels were not just spinning in his head.

They were glowing for real.

Serah saw it. Her tool screen was in her hand. Her eyes went wide.

"Alvian," she whispered. "What is that?"

Alvian did not answer.

The wheel was spinning. And the Fate’s Loaded Dice was pushing it somewhere it was never meant to go.

The wheel was breaking.

Tobias, barely awake against the door, saw the wheel with half-closed eyes. His fake arm was gone, his shoulder was a mess of blood and cloth, and he was watching a three-reel slot machine made of actual stars float in front of him.

"What the hell," Tobias said slowly, "is that."

"Stay still," Alvian said. His voice sounded far away to his own ears.

The change from the Fate’s Loaded Dice was visible. The hidden chance numbers on the reels had become real, visible shapes. The Bronze and Silver parts, which meant Common and Uncommon rolls, were getting smaller. Squeezed. Pushed by golden light pressing in from both sides.

The Gold parts — Epic tier — were getting bigger. Growing past their set lines.

But the growth was not stopping at Epic.

[DING!]

[Chance overflow detected.]

[Normal Epic tier cap (5,000x) is being passed.]

[Chance numbers are going past set rules.]

[Wheel strength: 87%.]

Serah’s tool screen beeped wildly. She pointed it at the floating wheel near the dumpster. The numbers went crazy. The device showed unknown energy types that matched no database she had ever read.

"That’s not a normal skill event," she whispered. Her calm mind was breaking. "The energy is changing real life around us. The air around the wheel is losing its hold. It is melting. The wheel is melting real life just by being here."

Alvian felt it too.

[Wheel strength: 74%.]

[Warning: Chance system under heavy stress.]

The gold on the reels was no longer just growing. It leaked past the edges and turned into a new, unknown color. The bright, shimmering white light shifted with every color at once. It was not Bronze, Silver, or Gold. It was something the System had never shown before.

"What is that color?" Serah’s voice was shaking. "My screen can’t read it. It’s outside normal light. It shouldn’t be real."

The wheel was doing something the System had never planned for. The Fate’s Loaded Dice meant to guarantee an Epic roll between 1,000x and 5,000x was pushing the chance system past its absolute limit.

The pool was too big. The 43,880 base EXP was so large that the chance engine pulled too much power. The Loaded Dice forced the odds so high that the wheel snapped past its Epic cap, reaching for something higher.

It was something written in the System code, but never built to be reached through normal play.

[Wheel strength: 61%.]

[ERROR. CHANCE SYSTEM BROKEN.]

[Safety override started.]

The System’s playful mood was gone. Its funny messages vanished with every spin. Cold, serious, and fast text replaced them. The System almost seemed scared.

[FATE’S LOADED DICE HAS PASSED ITS NORMAL WORKING LIMITS.]

[THE ROULETTE WHEEL IS TRYING TO CALCULATE A RESULT BEYOND THE EPIC TIER.]

CRACK.

The sound was audible. A sharp split ran through the middle reel. Rainbow light leaked from the split, casting shifting colorful shadows across the alley walls.

Serah flinched back. "Did you hear that? It cracked. The wheel actually cracked."

Tobias tried to sit up, his one good hand holding the door frame. "Boy. Whatever you’re doing. Stop it."

"I can’t," Alvian said. His voice was barely a whisper. "It’s already spinning."

The crack grew from the middle reel to the left, then to the right. The three spinning star-light cylinders broke apart, failing under the heavy math of the huge odds.

The reels stopped spinning.

They locked in place, frozen mid-turn.

[DING!]

[FINAL MATH IN PROGRESS.]

[RESULT TIER: BEYOND EPIC.]

[TRYING TO ACCESS: GOD ROLL TIER (10,000X).]

Alvian’s heart stopped for a full second.

God Roll! The 0.1% chance. The ultimate spin. The multiplier so rare that the System itself treated it like a mythical legend. One in a thousand spins, by normal math. Never reached on purpose. Never reached by cheating.

The Fate’s Loaded Dice was forcing the wheel toward it anyway.

10,000x on 43,880 base EXP would equal 438,800,000 EXP.

The number was too big for his INT 22 to understand in real terms. It was just a giant idea.

His Flesh Limit at VIT 68 could safely take about 4,500 EXP. The incoming wave of energy would be 97,511 times that amount. His body would be destroyed completely. The Emergency Protocol would have to store 438,795,500 EXP into the Bank. The Bank was listed as having no limit.

"No limit" had never been tested.

[Wheel strength: 33%.]

[WARNING: Chance system failure very close.]

[WARNING: Local area reality broken.]

[WARNING: The World Will has spotted a TIER-1 CHANCE ANOMALY.]

The red warning from earlier flashed across his eyes. Not just one line this time. A wall of red text, moving too fast to read. Words like DANGER and OVERRIDE and HUGE THREAT flickered past in a flash of system panic.

Then the warnings stopped.

The wheel stopped.

The alley stopped.

Everything stopped.

For one frozen second, the whole world held its breath. Rainbow light from the cracked wheel filled the alley like water, covering every surface in glowing color. Serah’s screen showed an error and shut off. Tobias stared with wide eyes, seeing something he could not understand after twenty years in the Warrens.

Alvian stood in the middle of it.

[CALCULATING...]

[OVERRIDE COMPLETE.]

[RESULT: BEYOND EPIC.]

[GOD ROLL TIER REACHED.]

[GIVING REWARD IN...]

[3...]

Serah dove behind the dumpster. She did not know what was coming, but every feeling she had was screaming at her not to be standing in the open when it hit.

[2...]

Tobias closed his eyes. His lips moved in a quiet whisper. "The deep zones don’t forgive mistakes, boy."

[1...]