I was furiously massaging my eyebrows at this point. "And what's the second problem?"
Asmodeus' smile thinned, just a little.
"The second problem," he began slowly, "is that the Spirit King can't tell who carries which shard."
"You just said fate marked them."
"Yes. Marked. Not labeled." He folded his hands more tightly on the table, Jake's long fingers interlacing with deliberate calm. "The shards of the Tenth Card do not manifest as abilities. They do not crystallize into Origin Cards. They do not announce themselves to the world. They are silent."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning," he said evenly, "there is no way to look at someone and say, ah, that one carries a piece of the reset button. To him, every Chosen One looks like an ordinary mortal wrapped in inconvenient destiny. The only way to know who the real one is… is when they rise to fulfill their fate."
"Which is?"
"To oppose him," Asmodeus replied. "Or at least try to, before dying in their last stand while saving the world."
