A Game of Fate

Chapter 1

The Beginning

Note: Here's a new Love Live story and I have to say this one will probably the most different story I've ever written. The update schedule for this story may be inconsistent as I'm trying to create an elaborate universe for this story and it's been kind of slow for me. However, I hope you take the time to check this out and let me know how I did. Before you start, this story was loosely based on No Game No Life so don't be too hard on me that I stole some ideas. All credit goes to the author of that story. Anyway, please enjoy the story.

In ancient times, there was the goddess Muse who was given powers to lead the people of this world. They were unintelligent and uncivilized so she used her powers to create a society where people could learn and advance their causes. The people saw this as a blessing and took it without question. With everything Muse offered, the people started to become smarter and more independent. Unfortunately, time was not on Muse's side.

After about a generation or two, the people started to forget about Muse entirely. They stopped worshipping her and seeing that she was something special. This change in ways affected her in numerous ways. She maintained her powers through the people and their worship, but by them stopping their old ways, she became more and more worthless. She was running out of time. She could only think of one thing to do and she decided to go with it.

She entered the Earth Realm and searched for people that could take up her mysterious powers. It was a long and harsh journey as she wanted to make sure that the people she picked were good and could be trusted. Eventually, she found 8 people as worthy beings to inherit her powers. She told them her story and they all believed it. That's when she evenly distributed her power evenly amongst the 8 of them. However, it wasn't what they were expecting. Each person received power in very unique ways, ways that made them seem like gods to ordinary powers. Muse only asked that they use these powers to keep balance in the world. When they agreed to her terms, she disappeared from existence.

Now, her powers have been distributed amongst 8 girls who are seen as the goddesses of their world: Yazawa Nico, Hoshizora Rin, Koizumi Hanayo, Minami Kotori, Toujou Nozomi, Nishikino Maki, Ayase Eli, and Sonoda Umi. The story of Muse has also disappeared from existence, but these girls continue to astonish the world with their abilities, abilities that some people believe to be fake.

…

Society is fully functioning with barely any conflict. Thanks to the 8 goddesses, a creative way to decide disputes was decided. Any dispute would be decided by a game or challenge chosen by the accused party. When this happened, everyone in the area would serve as the judges. The winner of the game or challenge would be right and would have the support of the people watching which made cheating of any kind against the rules. There was no restriction to how many times one could challenge someone.

Sometimes, people would make it interesting and bet things of values and these games or challenges would be used to decide the winner. This was more of a low-class thing though. All of the high-class people used it more civilized ways, but there was one person in society who was determined to turn this world upside-down.

…

"Come on Honoka!"

"You can win!"

"Don't let this garbage win against you!"

Crowds of people were swarming this spectacle as Kousaka Honoka was being challenged by some random guy to game of strategy. Neither one of them put down anything of value so it was just friendly competition. However, Kousaka Honoka is the only person in the world who has never lost a challenge by anyone. This alone caused her to gain a lot of attention. People sometimes lined up to test their abilities against her. Unfortunately, it always turned out to be worthless.

"Do it!"

"You got this!"

"Woooo!"

With that finishing move, her perfect record remained while her challenger could only sit there in awe. At first, he thought he had her on the ropes, but she suddenly came from behind and took the game with such ease. She got up from her chair and left the area as silently as she could.

"Honoka-senpai!"

She turned around at the sound of the small voice.

"What's up?"

"I… I just wanted to say thank you for doing what you do."

"No problem," she said as she rubbed the top of the boy's head. "We got to stick together, right?"

"Yeah, you're right."

"Alright, well, I gotta go. Stay out of trouble, but if you ever get in any, just call my name and I promise to be there for you."

"Okay."

She walked off once again and managed to get away without any more interruptions. She headed to her favorite café where she was practically the celebrity there. She got nearly everything for free and everyone loved her being there. However, she tried not to make too much of a scene to avoid any unwanted attention. She grabbed her normal seat at the counter and ordered her normal drink.

"Hey Honoka, did you hear the news?"

"What news?"

"You didn't know? Someone challenged the 8 goddesses of Muse today and got completely destroyed."

"Ha! What an idiot. Everyone knows that you shouldn't mess with them. They keep us in check."

"What are you talking about? They don't do anything except sit on their thrones like queens."

"What are you talking, Tsubasa? They shaped this world into what it is now. Don't just trash on what they've done because you're jealous."

"Alright, fine."

At that moment, someone crashed the front door of the café which caught everyone's attention.

"Hey, that's the guy I was talking about just now," Tsubasa exclaimed as she pointed at the man on the floor.

"What guy?"

"The one who challenged who the goddesses. God, I swear. You can be quite the airhead sometimes, Honoka." She jumped over the counter and ran over the guy. She picked him off the ground and put him on a chair nearby. She then grabbed a wet towel and wiped his face. Eventually, he came to and saw multiple people standing around him. "Hey, you alright?"

"W-Where am I?"

"You're in a café in the middle of the Town of Commons. What happened?"

"I… I don't really remember. All I remember was challenging the 8 goddesses of Muse."

"Why would you do something as stupid as that," Honoka interjected with a stern voice.

"Well… I heard a rumor that if you managed to beat them, you would take over as the leader of the world. I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that."

At that moment, most of the people in café left and headed towards Mt. Muse. Meanwhile, Tsubasa and Honoka watched everyone leave. They couldn't believe how stupid these people were. There was a reason why the 8 goddesses were goddesses. They couldn't be beat at anything since they were endowed with special abilities that couldn't be explained.

"C-Can I get a drink?"

"Sure." Tsubasa headed back to the counter while Honoka walked towards him and knelt down in front of him.

"You know killing is illegal when it comes to these challenges, right?" She was staring right at him as he nervously nodded his head. "So why do you look like crap? There's no way that their challenge would be this hard."

He suddenly grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and pulled her close.

"You have no idea what they're capable of." He looked her dead in the eye while Honoka looked right back at him and could tell that he went through some crazy stuff.

"Get off of me." She smacked his hands away from her neck and headed towards the exit.

"Hey, where are you going?!"

"I'm going to go check out what's the big deal about these goddesses." She headed out the door and headed towards Mt. Muse. However, before she could talk her first step, she saw everyone from the café run back towards her.

"Run!"

"What the hell was that?!"

"I don't know! Just keep running!"

Honoka watched as all of these people passed by her in such frantic fashion. She was so confused. They literally just left a few minutes ago and yet, they came back as fast as if they saw some kind of monster. However, this didn't change her mind. She wanted to know what was going on here so she toughened up and walked towards the mountain.

When she made it to the bottom of the mountain, she saw a huge stairwell that went right up the mountain. On the top and the sides were shrines that served as the homes for the 8 goddesses. At that point, Honoka knew that it was too late to head back so she walked up the stairwell with the intentions of going straight for the top. On the way up, she came across some random person with a cloak covering their body. They were sitting near the middle of the walk up when Honoka spotted them.

"Hey, you okay?"

"I'm fine. What are you doing here?"

"I've come to talk to the goddesses of Muse."

"And where do you think you're going?"

"To the top… Where they're located."

"Haha, you crack me up. If you want to talk to them, you'll have to start at the bottom and make your way up. That's just how it goes."

"How do you know this? How can I trust what you say? I barely trust the people who came running back into town with pale faces."

"Just trust me. I'm the caretaker of the mountain so my word is the only one that you can trust now. Head back down the mountain and go into the first shrine on the left. You'll find your answers there." The strange person stood up and headed towards the top. Meanwhile, Honoka was so confused. None of this was making any sense, but then again, that was why she was here. She wanted to know what was going on. That's when she headed back down and into the first shrine she was told to go into.

When she arrived, she pushed the door wide open and saw a long hallway in front of her. At the end of the long hallway was someone sitting on a chair. That's when Honoka took a deep breath and headed towards them. As she got closer, she saw that it was a small girl with black hair and red eyes. Already, this seemed kind of scary. She stopped a few feet in front of the chair and looked right at her.

"Have you come to challenge me as well?"

"I came to ask you some questions."

"That's not how it works. If you want answers. You'll have to challenge me."

"No. Just one question is all I want to ask."

At that moment, the girl got up from her chair and headed into the back of the shrine.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have time for this nonsense." She continued to walk off until that same voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Alright, fine! I challenge you!"

The girl turned around with a huge smile on her face.

"I suddenly like you so much more now. Let's do this, shall we?"

End of Chapter 1