The Grand Crossover RP - Pathway to Origin [IC/PG-13/Moved to NCM for Finale]

[Merci]

ザまだら
Underworld

What was the word to describe this? Annoying?...Yes. That would be correct. 'Annoying'. The expression in which a being expresses annoyance, exasperation, irritation, tiresomeness, aggravation, frustration, or obnoxiousness in what would be defined as a troublesome bothersome unruly obstreperous uncooperative situation. This was the same expression in which the ORIGINAL SUBJECT would have used were he within the exact same event.

While the Madara contemplated on the meaning of words and the proper expression to define what was happening, on how to show its annoyance with having to failed all four divine entities, it had been pulled into what seemed to be a separate land from the Rejected World it'd selected for itself. Here, both Obelisk and Kratos were pulled out by some forces it could not explicitly sense. Due to how each and every one of the entities being unfamiliar in both form and essence, it wasn't quite easy to identify anything, so it let out another psychic blast similar to the one before - the one which brought up the memory of the most defining moment of everyone in the vacancy, all one-hundred-and-eight members of Hades's army. Now, it had a vague but clearer understanding of this strange land of the Underworld.

However, by the time this was all done, only then did it notice that it had been hit by some kind of attack. An attack which, even though it had never experienced before, it had found oddly familiar. Oddly familiar in that it resembled something it knew. Something. Something. Something. There were no records of this 'something', but it was definitely familiar in some form.

When the Terrible Providence connected with it, it exploded devastatingly, seemingly taking the entirety of the Madara with it, its ferocity so powerful it could even break through dimensional planes. By nature, this attack should've been practically unstoppable.

However, the Madara reappeared only an instant later, a large amount of its essence having simply vanished upon contact with the Madara, leaving only a little bit that actually hit it - although, this was still enough to obliterate a large chunk, about one-third of its body. Though it was unbothered by such damage, as it simply reformed this body a little smaller to make up for it, it was indeed surprised that the blast had done any damage at all, considering that the type was familiar. No matter.

The centaur, now only two-thirds the size it was before, tilted its head at the god responsible for attacking him. Thanatos. A god. There was also Hypnos. God. The third god, Hades had gone off somewhere, but it couldn't be sure where.

Nevertheless, by then the Blade of Olympus had been entirely assimilated, and so the Madara fired from its chest a wide array of smaller Blades, all of them directed at the two visible gods, all of them imbued with the same god-slaying attribute.

Afterwards, it turned its gaze towards the hundred-and-eight soldiers facing it, nearly all of them more powerful than the various warriors scattered about back in the Rejected World, and all those who looked upon it may have had an ominous feeling.

It was strange, considering that it was only one, and they were many. In fact, chances were that a dozen of them could take it on by themselves. So why? Why was there such an ominous feeling?

Then,

"この暗い世界は面白いです."

a crack formed somewhere in the skies.

"しかし,"

And another crack.

"光のない闇が塵にすぎない."

Not a physical crack, but a crack in the form of time and space itself. The Madara's very presence was ruining the reality that made up the 'Underworld'. Even amongst the gods, the demons, and the undead, this entity was an anomaly, its very presence invading. This very world was finding it difficult to continue its existence, just like how a program may struggle to run a command written in an entirely different code. Because of this, it had to rely on assistance from a world which could understand this strange code...which unfortunately just so happened to be the Rejected World that the Madara had chosen in the first place.

From the cracks opened up greyish-red doorways into parts of the Rejected World. On the other side, it would appear as though tiny, tiny black openings had formed randomly amongst the crimson skies, and large amounts of dark stormclouds were suddenly separating from the swirling border and the skies to enter and invade through it at high speeds, able to enter due to their gaseous form.

And then, back in the Underworld, everything changed when the clouds attacked.

When the continuous stream of dark clouds abruptly flooded out from the cracks and entered the Underworld, they immediately attacked the ground, the mountains, the soldiers, and everything else in sight with rapid amounts of powerful lightning, never ceasing, at the same time letting off a faint, crimson gas that seemed to paint the air around them.

The worst part was that the Madara had absolutely no control over this. For this was the will of the Rejected World itself.

It did not mind the many visitors that had all of a sudden decided to be within it, in fact it did not even have a will, but it was still a world which the multiverse denied, and so it would obviously welcome the opportunity to assimilate other worlds into itself. It would not hesitate to force others to be apart of it. Even if it was the Underworld itself, it would destroy it and wreck it and paint it and kill everything in sight until it resembled the Rejected World in every way.

The Madara vanished only moments afterwards into a particularly large crack, preventing the cracks of the Underworld's reality from spreading even further outwards, but at the same leaving the tiny cracks and entryways that were already there, from which an infinite number of clouds continued to enter.


Rejected World

The Madara rematerialized back into its original position, where he then- He. He. There. That word popped up again. 'His'.

What is 'He'? 'He' is a pronoun, a word used to identify a certain existing entity as either a male or a female, though when one thinks about it, it is also used to identify other abstract concepts such as God in the form of a capitalized 'He', which means that practically anything with an identity could theoretically identify themselves with a 'he' should they consider themselves superior to reality, but not so much with a 'she'. Was not its original subject a he too? A human being identified as a male, with a male appearance shaped by male hormones with a male reproductory organ, through which he was called a 'he'.

Then, considering this, should not the Madara also call itself a 'he'? He. Him. He observed. Yes, that was what he did. The Madara observed the battlefield of the Rejected World once more for just a split second before he moved. The divine entities would have to be dealt with later - it was not as if they could come close without risking their own immortality. In any case, he'd chosen his next few subjects.

Sephiroth. Tsunugai. Chandra. Alister.

However, there were four of them, not one. He was not sure at first how to account for this until he had an idea. Similar to the way he'd restored his form to two-thirds its size after Thanatos's attack, his body suddenly separated into four different parts - each of which then proceeded to shape themselves into smaller versions of the Madara's body. While their sizes had dramatically decreased from the original, they were still about half as large as a cruise liner.

And then, three of the Madaras charged towards their respective targets, presumably to attempt to assimilate them or something - the one heading towards Alister was the one with the Key of Origin still inside - while the last simply took a slimey form and took to the skies in order to catch Sephiroth.

To summarize, things were looking very, very bleak right now.




 

~ ~ ~

Ophelia, Rejected World

There is a story to be told here...

When the Blade of Olympus abruptly came and impaled the side of Ophelia's SH Amulet Tower, her death had practically been spelled out. She was so surprised by the assault that she automatically assumed that the Madara had meant to attack her, and not the angel Hapshiel, but it didn't matter either way since her sound barrier had been penetrated and that if the Blade was removed, there would be a blatant opening.

As it just so happened, the Digimon MachGaogamon had noticed this fact too and went to work on pulling the hilt out. He was quickly, and surprisingly too, joined by Hapshiel, who was making the effort much easier. Though Ophelia knew she should focus on stopping them, there was a second problem, which was the Water Charmer Eria in the possession of the Millennium Rod, freezing through her barrier, and later forcing red water through the crevice, slowly but steadily flooding the Tower within.

Her options were few. While she could hypothetically detach from the Tower with her Amulet in hand, she would be left wide open to the many multitudes of warriors that had swarmed in like insects. Then, after a few moments had passed, it was already half-flooded and upon contact with the red water, her body ceased moving before she even realized it.

Of course, the curse. She'd forgotten about it. It had been so long since she'd been in contact with water that she carelessly didn't think about the flooding too much. How did things get this bad? It was nothing but baffling.

No. There was still a way out.

Now that she'd been reminded of the curse, there was one other thing that she'd been reminded of. And it was 'that'. The one thing she'd sworn never to use after she was rescued from the bottomless depths. Not only due to its monstrous nature, but also due to its connection to her past.

"I don't really have a choice, do I?" Ophelia murmured to herself in a melancholic manner.
 
If she used it now, she could take over the battlefield and turn the tables entirely. She could pave her way back towards a logical conclusion, and back towards welcoming the coming of her master. The chance was there. All she had to do was take it. Even after her conversion into a Reyvateil, the power had always been there. She'd just been refusing to acknowledge it up until that very moment.
 
"...Very well. It was admirable that things have gotten this far. However, this is the end."
 
Taking a deep breath, she let her two vibranium arms rise up into the air and closed her eyes, tapping into her past memories, and tapping into the power of the Devil Fruit, that which had made her feared by the government and pirates alike in her original. The power that allowed her to shadow the entire world, purposeless though she was at the time.

"For the moment has come. The moment for me to show you all the fruitlessness of your paths. To show you how there is nothing to be gained from all this strife. Prepare."

For anyone near the Tower, they would've been able to sense a noticeable shift in the air.

A tension.

Something was about to occur.

Something big.

Something possibly even bigger than the Madara.

It was coming, faster and faster, and then---

That was when a gigantic meteor abruptly, right out of nowhere, came crashing down from the skies and smashed into Ophelia's Tower at a direct, maximum velocity, which sent the two hurtling and ultimately disappearing into the clouded borders at the edge of the Rejected World. As if that wasn't enough, extremely high-voltage sounds of continuous, nonstop lightning could be heard in the distance as the storm border reacted to the presence of alien objects with it. These sounds only ceased after about thirty seconds, at which point the meteor, the Tower, and presumably anything within it had all been reduced to ashes. That was it. Just like that, it was over. There was never any chance of survival to begin with.
 

...but it is a story that neither the Counter Corps nor the Divine shall ever know.

~ ~ ~

................

From the opposite side of the Rejected World, an alien force enters. While some may notice the small-statured blonde figure that emerges from the storm-clouded border, they may find that they cannot sense its presence, as though it is something that exists in sight only. An illusion? No, surely not. It seems to unnecessary to be an illusion.

More notably, those from the Counter Corps may notice that it has the body of Arthuria Pendragon, their leader. The one who stayed behind to deal with some other being called Protheus Maximus, who was the mastermind behind all this. Did he fail? Did he succeed?

The force takes clumsy steps forward with a blank expression, like a puppet learning how to walk for the first time in a very long time. It seems to be more interested in practicing the secret art of walking than in the battles occurring not too far from it.

Its arms move. Its arms move again. Its arms are waving about and then cease to move.

Its arms are moving again. Now its arms are gouging out its eyes, removing them bloodily. It does not appear to have use for them.

It has been standing there for a few minutes now in the body of Arthuria, apparently content with doing nothing. So far, none have approached it. Possibly out of fear. Confusion. Denial. Or simply business. s far as it is concerned, none have noticed it.

No. As far as it is concerned, it has not noticed them. It has barely noticed 'itself' and is only now acknowledging 'itself' as an independent entity from 'reality'.

As of right now, it is concerned with enjoying movement. And its six senses. Most notably touch. It can feel the subatomic structure of the environment around it, from the air and the ground. It can feel the many different types of particles being in contact with its skin.

But then it does notice them. Its gaze turns from its feet upwards to survey the battlefield with empty eyesockets, and it recognizes several. Yes. Some of these are familiar to it. They are the ones who had prior to this participated in the battle against the living soul-storm. Or perhaps they will participate in it in the future, but have yet to reach that point. Or perhaps this is an alternate reality in which neither occur. Any is possible. But regardless. That does not change the fact that they are familiar. In particular it recognizes Darcy who has been in contact with it before albeit indirectly.

It also senses something else familiar nearby, something which it finds very very amusing. It is the proscenium catalyst. Why it is here is of no importance. A universe does many things to its own order in the span of several eons. While it is walking around, a strange crystal appears in its hand.

"I can offer you the power to vanquish your enemies, and if you survive, then a glorious future awaits y" But it has not yet mastered gripping yet, and it slips out. One thing it has been able to master though is "Among them, you may find your other 'self'. Someone whose existence is defined by a different path from that which you took. Find the"biting, and it quickly reacts by diving its head down to bite on the crystal, preventing it from hitting the ground.

It likes the crystal. A strange, more unique and flavorsome essence, more similar to its prison, unlike the oxygen and the silicon and the carbon and the calcium and the sulfates and the nitrogen compounds around it. It still has a Higgs boson, which it finds somewhat irritating, but that does not deter it from anything.

That is why it is putting the crystal into its mouth without even paying attention to the words. "more than the" It is now crunching the crystal, and the voice ceases.

The crystal breaks, its shards penetrating into the gum and tissue within the mouth prompting more blood, but this body is only a mana construct so that cannot possibly matter much. Its essence is absorbed and then with it, it finds itself in contact with something else. Another entity. Direct contact for the very first time. How delightful.

"h͏҉̣̠̣̗͇E͔͈̯͖̣̼̺͠͠L҉̱̘͈͎̰͔̯̰L͏̢͈̦͕͍̲O̖̮̤" It greets softly, strainedly, in an attempt at communication with the other voice, using a monotone version of the voice of Arthuria that is hampered by glass shards that have gone deeper in, damaging its vocal cords.

Not that it minds.

[The Warden]

|_)The Evangelist Hapshiel(_|
 
The attack had barely been seen coming. The Tower and the copied Blade had been struck by the assault, with some minor collateral all around. Smoke drifted around the impact site, and, without any shadow of a doubt, Mirage would have been destroyed by the impact... or, was he? As the smoke thinned, something large was seen in the smoke. And something was, heard.
 
Hapshiel, and all his clones had moved from the blade and leapt onto Mirage's body. Despite their rather unpleasant writhing the combined force of their Kinetic Barriers had shielded the enormous Digimon from harm, though the psychological harm of having a bulge forced into his ear would haunt him for years to cum... err, come. "Are you alright?" what assumed to be the original Hapshiel inquired.
 
------------------------------------------
 
|_)~Moe~ Scientist Frankram, & Okama Queen Ivankov(_|
 
Frankram grunted in surprise and Ivankov was completely stone faced as the meteor struck, and annihilated Ophelia and her tower. Is was almost apt with how summary it was. 
 
-----------------------------------------
 
|_)Red, the Arisen(_|
 
As much fun as it was interrogating his prior friend, Red's attention was divided by the Madara charging their way. His sickly yellows eyes staring it down, Red caught something in the chest of the beast: The Key of Origin. His calculating mind working quickly, he turned to Alister. "This'll wait for another time. Listen carefully Alister: I am going to unleash all I have against the creature in attempts to damage it. The moment my assault ends, you must use your time manipulation to get to the beast, and steal the Key it has in its chest. If luck would guide our way, my attack should be enough to drill towards the Key. Make no questions about this plan, just do it" he ordered.
 
Facing the charging Madara head, Red clenched his staff tightly three glowing spheres evacuating the Light Gem. The moved in front of Red in a triangle pattern; the orb of blue at the top, the orb of purple at the bottom right and the orb of light blue in the bottom left. Their elemental energies crackled as Red's mouth flamed. Taking his best inhale, he unleashed a pillar of pure dragon flame. The orb unleashed their elemental might as well, merging with the pillar to form the dead Quad Kill attack. The enormous blast sailed forth to impact with the Madara's chest.
 
------------------------------------------------------------
 
|_)Magical Girl Lydia(_|
 
Lydia's eyes widened as the meteor tore through Ophelia's Tower and high above them. In a fit of quick thinking she erected a flaming barrier around herself and Arthur, though Dorian, Radamanthys and Butlerok would not be so lucky. The searing heat of the meteor was nullified by the flaming barrier, providing the two safe haven as it passed.
 
The flames settled as the disaster was averted. "That was weird" Lydia remarked.
 
She shook her head suddenly as she remembered what was going on. "Right, we need to find someone to inherit Shade- Wait Lydia. Fire? Yes, listen carefully. Shine won't be the best fit for this boy. How would you know? Trust me, I know. He is a son of the flame, I can feel it. Materialize me, so I may talk to him."
 
Lydia nodded, most likely leaving Arthur confused as to why she just randomly did so, or to why she was moving her lips subtly despite not saying anything. "Umm, one of the other Dizasters wants to speak to you" she declared.
 
Holding her hand out in front of herself and Arthur, she focused intently. A vein popped on her forehead as small sparks of flame started clustering atop her head, pulling together to form a hand size fireball. A small fox head poked out of the flame, and it lazily stepped out, the flame shrinking until it became just a small spark that lit up the end of its tail. Fire Fox stared intently at Arthur with eyes full of flame. "Yes, I see it" he remarked, his voice pitch not scaled down like the rest of his body.
 
He lazily lay on the cusp of her hands. "It seems my presumptions were not wrong, you are indeed a Son of the Flame, of the sun no less. But you don't know how good the flame feels, do you? You wield light quite well, but I see your potential for Fire is so much greater, if only you could tap into it. I can help you boy, I can help you find the inner fire. I can bring out your true power" he declared.
 
While Fire was declaring, Lydia's attention was drawn away to the Madara attacking Alister and Red. She took special note of the Quad Kill attack. "Fire, ice, lightning and water, all in one attack. What would be the point? Those elements naturally neutralize each other. If anything he should be using light and dark- Wait, could that be it? Shine, Shade, how does Light and Darkness interact? They interact in a symbiotic way. Most fools thinks they cancel each other, when really they balance each other. Light stands for the power of creation, whilst darkness stands for destruction. Unlike the other elements they don't neutralize, but rather balance each other. Light without darkness would see life without death. The universe would grow too full and thus destroy itself from over-expansion. Likewise, darkness with light is an empty existence, as all would have been destroyed by the force of darkness. Together, they are in perfect harmony. Why do you ask? Because, I think I might have figured out a way to do some damage to that monster."

[Love of Ghibli]

The Underworld 

 

Off in the mountainous  Minos and Aiacos were sitting still and watching the demi-god power up with the use of his own version of Hades. It was interesting to say the least. It was somewhat entertaining. The man and his ghost were having some weird conversation. Not much later this visitor's power dramatically increased. The two judges looked on with one eyebrow raised as Aiacos was proven correct. But that was besides the point. They decided to look back and witness the results of Lord Thanatos' attack. 

Thanatos had just begun to let out his rage against the beast. Though he was a little taken a back by how little damage he had done. The beast simply regenerated the portion of his body that Thanatos had been blasted away. What was so unnerving is that the whole thing was wiped out of existence. Thanatos knew that it wouldn't be that simple, but come on...that was the same amount of force that created the universe. This just made him even more angry. Once again time and time again these lowly creatures would somehow defy his absolute authority of life and death. Quiet as its kept Thanatos is the God of Death and Hades is actually absolute lord of darkness. Unfortunately the histories have something else written down. It's the little things that get you down. Nevertheless it should have been obliterated and it wasn't. What came next was much more disturbing. The creature spoke. Hypnos and Thanatos could speak Japanese, but what was actually being said didn't seem to matter. The Underworld was actually cracking. It had been invaded by clouds that seemed to have ruptured from the skies which was a tragedy in and of itself. 

So this is happening...Hypos stated slightly annoyed at his twin brother. Though Hypnos couldn't realize that his brother had nothing to actually do with Thanatos but history would simply say otherwise. As the Rejected World slowly encroached on the Underworld apparently it began to actually attack the 108 violent stars of Hades army. Minos and Aiacos simply looked up and smacked away lightning that came at them and wondered how a lot of the others would fair. To be honest the surplice, the armor that all the specters wear, was more than enough to actually survive the attack its just that some of the people who wear it aren't that powerful. Besides being like zombies they never really worry about pain and death. In addition to that Hypnos and Thanatos seemed to have there own problems to deal with. The same Blade that came in and defeated Hades fake body was now thrown at them.

What the Hell is this!!!! Thanatos exclaimed as the God killing blade was hurtling itself at him. Hypnos on the other hand simply rolled his eyes and as he was sad that he had to actually call for help and even worse it would be from his children. On queue with the eye roll both Blades of Olympus had seemingly impaled themselves on two other specters other than their intended targets. These would four of Hypnos five children, Oneiros, Phobetor, Icelus, and Phantasos, were impaled on these two Blades. They all shared the title God of Dreams so naturally this Blade was good enough to kill them. At that moment both of the Blades discharged some electric like attack at the twins. Luckily Morpheus the fifth son jumped in front of the discharge and he took the brunt of the whole thing. Hypnos only looked down as his children saved his life by sacrificing their own. It's always hard to watch his children take a hit for the team. 

Nevertheless that immediate threat was dealt with so he had to thing of something to do with the Underworld unravelling. The fun part was that none of this was actually a threat to Hades. Hades himself sleeps in another dimension separate from the Underworld known as Elysium. It was a place that only Gods were allowed to go. Though the assimilation of the Underworld wasn't something that should have been allowed. Unfortunately that is when an disturbingly annoying Cosmos made itself known in the distance. 

Minos and Aiacos could definitely sense this new presence because it was coming from right behind them. The two judges turned around and twitched there eyes as another crack appeared and from it came one of the most arrogant specters who shouldn't even exist anymore. Now, now boys don't look like you're not happy to see me the man said with a very condescending tone. Minos had already assumed combat stance but Aspros didn't even give him the courtesy to look threatening. Come now Minos I'm not here to defeat you. I was only here for the bald one but it looks like you will be needing my help. Aiacos who had reacted more calmly to the situation knew that Aspros was correct. The creature left soon after its cloud attack began meaning he probably went back to wherever Radamanthys is. Which in turn gives me a nice idea. Aspros smirked as he was quite sure he and Aiacos were thinking the same thing. 
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Marvelous Room:

Defteros had made his appearance to the giant beast known as Obelisk who was quite dismayed at that fact that this sick and twisted technique was pretty much used to attempt to save someones life. Though Defteros didn't really know what he was looking at nor did he know if it could speak. He stood on Obelisk's nose and examined the creature. Well you're a big boy aren't you? I guess this is the best that they can do when actually trying to save a life. I want to apologize for their behavior, but that would imply that I'm close with those savages in any way. Soooo yeah. 

You should really learn to have better manners. A voice echoed in the distance. Defteros rolled his eyes and instinctively prepared for combat. Of Yoma revealed himself right next to Defteros and they both just stood on top of Obelisk. So it seems things are getting interesting in the Underworld. Your brother...may his soul burn in hell forever... and Aiacos have some kind of plan. Yeah I bet I know what he's thinking. They both looked down back at Obelisk and realized that they had to do something about him. Well the answer was pretty much obvious.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The Rejected World

With the Madara gone it looked like everything was going according to plan. The blades were being destroyed, it seems that Ophelia was actually being dealt with, and just for random lulz a meteor was actually descending to obliterate all of them. Of course the heat from the meteor was just being funneled away from the group via the Dorian. Butlerok just gave Dorian Hades' medallion. Everything was coming up roses. But that all changed when the clouds attacked! Radamanthys felt an unsettling feeling. Something was going horribly wrong with the whole send the Madara to the Underworld plan. It seemed like seconds later though the group would only look up to realize that The Madara managed to slither his/its way back. The team could only look in shock. Radamanthys most of all because even though the creature had clearly shrunken himself, it was alive. What happened to Lord Hades? What happened to the Underworld? But there wasn't even time to actually morn or inquire because the Madara suddenly split itself into 4 smaller entities. The team was shocked, but they knew they had to move quickly. 

Uhhhh...okay I think I can help the fire chick over there. I'm pretty sure our powers can vibe off each other. Dorian said quite nervously. 
SEPHIROTH CALLING IT NOW! Raganrok exclaimed forcing his opinion to be heard. It was then that both Dorian and Butlerok looked at Radamanthys to see where he was going. The only thing they saw though was Radamanthys looking behind him. Oh he could sense it though. Like a nagging sensation he felt the group of people he didn't like coming. Like the exit of a Boom tube from behind Radamanthys a tunnel of light appeared. The overflowing sense of Cosmos came from this group and Team Dorian witnessed 10 of the Underworlds Finest warriors along with two odd looking twins walk through and chibi Ragnarok had to start playing some kind of music to mark this occasion.
 

~~~~Intro Music~~~~

 

AWWWW SHIIIZZZZNNNIIIIGGGHHHHTTTTT reinforcements have come to lay that ASSSS!!! 

[Maeriberii Haan]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blank

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Tenshi Hinanai=-

 

Tenshi couldn’t help but be at loss on what should she do in her current situation. She was faced with an uncountable amount of different versions of her, all having the same amount of ideas on what to do in the current situation as her. And before she could do anything, the silence broke into bickering, and soon afterwards, into a brawl.

 

“Well, well.

A troublesome bunch, aren’t they?”

 

A familiar golden-eyed Tenshi appeared behind her, looking somewhat exasperated. Not having time for her, Tenshi didn’t even bother to look at her

shadow, and decided to try creating some semblance of order amongst this chaotic situation.

 

“Everyone, could you all just stop acting like that!”

 

Her voice was drowned by the ruckus, predictably enough. Tenshi sighed, before realizing that she could fix that matter with ease.

 

“CUT THIS OUT, EVERYONE!”

 

As this was all happening inside of her, she was able to will her voice to be several times louder than she could usually ever do. And it worked, as most of the Tenshi in front of her shifted their attention towards her. Most grumbled, wondering what did that certain Tenshi did that allowed her to command them like that.

 

“Uh, yeah. We kinda need to stop this rioting and focus on a single topic. But first thing first, introduction.

 

Hello all, my name is Tenshi Hinanai, and I am sure I have the same name as about..hm, let’s see..Around ninety-nine percent of you, I guess?

 

Anyway, as for what in heaven’s sake we’re currently doing here, I have about just the same amount of knowledge with you all about it, so don’t bombard me with questions about that topic, please?

I don’t think it’ll be a good idea if this conflict involving you all continues, so let’s stop this nonsense.

Also, why don’t we try to know each other better, somehow?”

 

Tenshi took a deep breath. There’s a lot of different ways that this could end very badly for her, but she decided to take the risk.

 

“It’s quite weird really, me. Why do you care about them? Or are you just trying to find a way to get back the control of your own body?”

 

“Ugh, not now please.”

 

“But I’m definitely right this time, no?

I am you after all, there’s no way I could be wrong about this.”

 

“…Let’s just save this for later. But uh, really. Can you stop talking to me like this? They might see us as planning something fishy now.”

 

”They can’t see me.

For I am the no one, for all but you. Unknown, for your sake alone.

That is me. Right now, I have decided to show myself to you and you alone.

But anyway, this is a warning from me; whatever you’re attempting to do now is futile.

 

That other way will be safer in the long run, and you know it.”

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Tenshi(?)=-

 

While she was busy firing the lasers to the forcefield, something made her felt cautious, and instinctively, she dropped herself into the ground, just in time as a really freaking huge blade passed at her previous position, and keep going until it hits the tower directly, piercing the forcefield in the meantime.

At first, Tenshi thought that the blade killed Ophelia, but her theory was immediately debunked as one of her keystones hit the forcefield before quickly disintegrating.

 

“Tch, what a pain in the ass. “

 

Tenshi looked at her sword, which apparently still attempting to store the temperaments from all the individuals on the space. A quick overlook showed her that the sword needed more temperaments before the thing that she planned could be executed. Done looking at the sword, she shifted the sword into the size of a hairpin, and placed it on her hair.

 

She noticed that someone was chaining what remained of the blade in the tower or something, and the tower was attacked from multiple sides by elements. Tenshi shook her head, and decided that she’d just wait until there’s a surefire way of doing nasty things to the tower and what presumably resided inside it, that had no involvements with giant blades.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Amato =-

 

Her attempt to attack the centaur this time was not even able to make it feel anything it seemed, though it then retaliated with the same old liquid tactic that surrounded her. And once again, Amato’s sphere petrified it before any of it could touch her.

When she broke through the petrified liquid, she noticed that the centaur had summoned four absurdly huge swords that were aimed at different individuals, though who were they and why were they became the target of the centaur was not really clear, and Amato had no intention to learn more about it.

 

Say, how does the petrification actually work?

Hmm..how should I say it…

…Have you heard about Medusa?

Uuh, probably?

Well, then it basically works exactly like staring into Medusa. Turning whatever you are made of into solid granite. Or something like that, can’t remember much.

Aaah.

Hey, do you think we should try working with someone around here?

….Yukari won’t like that.

Ignore that hag for now. It’s not like she can see what we do now that we’re here in the middle of nowhere.

Yeah..you have a point.

 

Without waiting to see whether her attack did something to the centaur, Amato moved away as she tried to find a potential ally, but just as she turned around without her knowing why, the sky suddenly turned dark, and soon afterwards, the centaur disappeared from the realm.

 

“Wait, what the actual f***?

How? ”

 

….I don’t know you have such a colorful vocabulary hidden somewhere inside that dense mind of yours. But well, the centaur’s gone now, so what should we do?

“Let’s…wait, I guess? I dare to bet my soul that it’s not defeated yet, though if it does, then that’s pretty f***ing anticlimactic.”

…Stop with the cursing already.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Kazuya=-

 

His Megidolaon apparently was able to get blown up before it hits the blue giant, though the giant suddenly seemingly got impaled by a huge blade coming from the centaur, who after a sudden change on the sky, suddenly went missing.

 

Meanwhile, Kazuya fiddled with his COMP, checking whether he still had a spare demon stored in it aside from Michael.

Which was oddly missing from the list.

Kazuya checked the list over and over again to be sure, but Michael was indeed missing, Shiva being the only one of his demons listed on the device.

 

“….Heh. I guess I can’t really lock him away in my COMP that easily. Let’s just see what he’s up to now.”

 

Trying to ignore the issue right now, Kazuya looked around, noticed the tower, and decided to ignore it for now.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Michael=-

 

“Move.”

 

The archangel, now in his red-skinned winged humanoid form, confronted the giant fly creature in front of him.

 

“Well, well, well. Isn’t this the strongest of our dear lord’s four archangels?

What business do you have here, old friend?”

 

“Do not act so friendly in front of me, maggot.

Move, or I shall burn you with the flames of the Great Will.”

 

The giant fly was unfazed by the threat.

 

“Then, I am sorry to inform you that I have no intention to do that, slave of the lord.

Just as we talked now, the soul of this particular son of man was slowly being eaten by something that was quite unfamiliar. After he fused with me, I focused my mind to slow the process down, which was somewhat helped by the boy’s willpower to not surrender to it. Meanwhile, his view of morality and common sense now distorted by the damage in his soul, he did whatever he thought as the right thing now, though I can’t honestly care enough about that. What I cared is that the boy’s pretty much the last way I can deal with you now, since my existence in this realm was tied to him.

But, let’s return to the topic of his corruption. It has something to do with you, right?”

 

“That is true, to an extent.

Back above, a particular being dragged this sinner into somewhere unknown, and lulled him with lies about the entire point of his actions here. Not one to easily eat these words, he resisted at first.

And that is when I, using the guise of his conscience, influenced him to believe those lies and let the being corrupt him, as a punishment for his sins.”

 

“Ah, so you’re taking the role of the Accuser now, Michael? Well, without Satan here, I guess you can do that, but that’s quite low, even for your standard.

What’s next, are you going to use this boy’s body as a way to do your lord’s bidding?”

 

Not responding to Beelzebub’s words, Michael instead summoned a magical circle above the fly, and from it, hundreds of javelins rained upon the demon.

 

“Time for words is over. There is no point to converse with a demon like you.

Be erased, lord of the flies!”

 

Not even slightly injured by the raining javelin, Beelzebub summoned several swarms of flies in response, all immediately went after Michael.

 

“Big talk as always. All angels always do that.

But there’s a simple reason why I never pay it much thought, as it usually signals their eventual doom.

And I am pretty sure this is true in your case too, archangel.”

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Chen=-

 

“…crap.”

 

Chen was stunned in surprise as a gigantic blade came dangerously close to her direction, probably aimed at the guy and the girl that she was looking at for the last minutes or so. The blade managed to get blown away though, by two other individuals, or something, Chen wasn’t really paying attention to that.

Though, they seemed to converse happily with each other, and that made Chen curious. Using her best ability to move stealthily, she approached the group silently, carefully listening to their conversation.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Ran Yakumo=-

 

“Well, if it’s not overcompensating for something, then I don’t know.”

 

Ran said flatly as she watched four blades that seemingly even longer than the Madara itself launched from it into four different targets, one which was dangerously close to Chen, though thankfully she managed to be safe from it.

 

Ran, stop idling around.

 

“Milady, but I have not found any good plans to get the key and-“

 

You won’t be able to devise anything worthwhile just by standing there. Look, I can see that everyone else had already made their move now. Would you like it if any of them stole the Key?

 

“…no.”

 

Then start attacking, you dumb fox.

 

“Hey, I take offense on that.”

 

…..Don’t just stand there like an idiot then.

 

----

 

What now?

 

“The centaur…

..it’s gone.”

 

Silence immediately followed. Ran silently cursed the fact that she didn’t manage to do anything in the battle. But soon after that, Yukari replied.

 

…Well, it’s still around, that’s for sure. Someone just moved it into somewhere else. I can sense it. But the exact place is out of my reach for now. Though I assume sooner or later the centaur will return to your realm.

 

“I see. So, what should I do now?”

 

Do I really need to dictate everything that you do? Just take care of it when it appears again. Use your brain for how, like gosh. You are not a dumb fox, right? Then prove it to me.

 

Also, I need to cut our communication line now. I’m starting to get tired here managing our link between different universes.

I hope you can do better than now when I check you out later.

Good bye, for now.

 

“Alright then, as you wish, milady.

 

I’ll do my best, that’s for sure.”
 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next Dream

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Ran Yakumo=-

 

“Stop idling around, eh?

Yeah, she’s right. I have been way too passive, and too worried about strategy, to the point of ignoring the entirety of the battle.”

 

Ran watched a meteor crashed into a towerlike structure that she ignored before, and then, she noticed cracks in the world, the centaur returning (albeit somehow it got smaller), and how it split into four, each moving into its own target. One seemingly aimed at someplace near her, but something about this certain centaur intrigued her. The key, the main reason she was there, was implanted on its chest. Delighted with her luck, Ran moved closer and closer into the charging centaur, but she soon realized it was not exactly a good idea on her part, as she noticed a dragon wielding a staff was charging an attack aimed at the centaur.

 

“…Welp.”

 

Drawing a spell card from her sleeve, she backed away immediately from the monster, and prepared her own attack, but something stopped her. She recalled about how most of the attacks aimed at the creature were ineffective, and attacking it before she knew the result of the dragon’s attack would be a waste of effort.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Chen=-

 

The meteor’s impact was almost ignored by Chen, as her heatproof protective barrier from back on the planet’s core was still intact, and she was too occupied by the group in front of her. If it’s not for Lydia suddenly erecting a barrier, Chen would be blissfully unaware about the meteor’s existence.

Chen herself was quite entertained with the conversation that she heard, though she decided that none of it was relevant to her mistresses’ interest, and reported none of them. Silently, she continued her spying.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Gengetsu=-

 

Although her attack proved to be ineffective in dealing with Ophelia and her barrier, Gengetsu was quite happy when she found out that a gigantic blade and a huge meteor had finished the job.

 

Her joy didn’t last that long though, as she noticed the centaur had split into four smaller pieces, and one of them is moving towards the goggle girl now. Something about that made her angry. Even if she hadn’t really known the goggle girl well enough, being attacked by something like that would really suck, so she couldn’t help but wanting to help her.

 

Within a second, Gengetsu was already in front of the beast, readying herself to assault the monstrosity. With a hand gesture, she summoned two more stone crosses, and she proceeded to wield them on one of her hand each. On the tip of the crosses, darkness and light gathered. When she decided that the centaur was close enough, Gengetsu aimed her crosses at it

 

“Dream Sign: Nightmare Spark!”

 

From the crosses, beams of light and darkness were fired straight into the centaur’s chest and head area,  and not long after, the beams merged into one, singular blast of destruction that were fired continuously at the monstrosity.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Tenshi(?)=-

 

“…..”

 

The meteor suddenly defeating the person on the tower came out of nowhere, and Tenshi was very surprised with it. She was somewhat angry due to her feeling that she couldn’t be the one that finished the job, but since she couldn’t be angry to anyone due to the nature of the tower’s defeat, Tenshi just sighed, as she decided to just watch the centaur creatures move around.

 

“At least there’s some kind of moral to the story.

Meteors are a great finisher. I need to try that sometimes.”

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 [spoiler=Status Update and Notes]

 

-=Player Characters=-

-Hinanawi Tenshi(?): Goofing around, watching the Madara(s) went after people.

Kazuya: Probably still watching as everything happened.

 

-=Non Player Character=-

-Amato/Tenco: Somewhere on the skies of the Rejected World, probably have noticed that the Madara has returned.

-Gengetsu: Attacking the Madara that went after Chandra with a light and darkness wave motion gun.

-Ran: Watching Red blasts the Madara that went after Alister with his Quad Kill, probably planning to steal the key when she can.

-Chen: Eavesdropping on Arthur, Lydia, Dorian, Butlerok, and Rhadamantys. Haven’t found anything interesting to report to Ran.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Post notes:

 

-The first part (Blank) was intended to be posted before Merci’s latest post but things happened, so yeah.

 

-The second part is rushed. Mainly because I’m still unsure about how should I position the characters that’s not included in that post.

 

-Well, since my NPCs are indeed actively participating in the battle, I guess I need to write down on what they can do. Note that many of this aren’t canon (and canon-wise their ability are either described sparsely, or not described at all), but due to the nature of their existence, I used fanworks as a source somewhat liberally.

 

[spoiler=NPC’s abilities]

-Ran Yakumo: Very skilled at magic, but mainly black magic with heavy influence from eastern cultures and religions. She’s also able to conjure illusion that affects a huge area, and shikigami-based magic.

 

-Chen: Skilled in black magic and physical prowess-enhancing magic (mainly speed and strength). She also moves very fast.

 

-Gengetsu: Inducing/influencing dreams, entering the dream world, and other dream based abilities. Main method of attack is using light-based projectiles, though since she’s a demon, she could use dark-elemental attacks as well.

 

-Amato: Limited control over earth, ability of petrification, and ability to use the sword (her ‘sphere of destruction’ is unknown in nature, but it’s somewhat an extension of her own ability, but eh). Her petrification works by changing the very nature of the object she intended to petrify into granite. She could use the power offensively; or defensively by turning herself into solid granite to reduce damage taken by her.

By the end of the arc, all of them will die anyway, so a more detailed description is unneeded.

 

 

 

 -Looking back, I somewhat regretted that I didn’t include one certain ability of Tenshi’s sword (to be more specific, the ability to detect the weakness of its target, and transforming into something that could exploit the weakness). If it’s allowed though, I could integrate it in later posts. But eh, whatever. She’d be eliminated at the end of the arc anyway.

-I hope I can use Kazuya more actively from my next post onwards. Especially since he’s going to die soon.

 

-Ugh, I hate it when I changed my mind about how should I do things just as the thing in question is already halfway done, and changing plans at that time would create huge plotholes. But whatever, I should be able to bullshit it somehow.

 

-Amato's just using Medusa as the easiest way to explain how her power works, while she herself has little knowledge about the subject. Any inaccuracies are probably intentional. Or I'm just too rushed to do proper research but yeah.

 

-Why does Tenshi's shadow still around? Didn't she have faced it back then? Because reasons. Would be detailed more later on.

 

-This notes contains invisitext.

 

 

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

The Sphere Forest of Periphery - Inner Periphery

 

Jecht eventually recovered from his paralysis, only to see that no-one was around him. The last thing he remembered was battling Arthuria, the leader of the Counter Corps. It was safe to say that he'd lost the battle, although the fact that he managed to hold his own was something to be proud of. Perhaps he had a chance of defeating Isamy after all, or so he realized. As he took his first steps in a long while, he called out through the Inner Periphery.

 

"Alright, you little jabroni, listen up! I know you're trying to use us Divines! I just want you to know that... I'm DONE!! I'm through being just another of your meaningless pawns! When I find you, I'll...!" Jecht's ultimatum was stopped cold when he saw the ground crack beneath his feet, "...the hell?"

 

But it was too late. There was no dodging, no blocking, not even any seeing the explosion of the Inner Periphery coming. Jecht bellowed in pain as a surge of oblivion washed over him and commenced to destroy everything else in its path. But alas, Jecht remained standing... though it would be more correct to say that he remained floating alone in space, drifting away from what was once the center of the Inner Periphery. Once he opened his eyes, however, Jecht saw that in its place was a portal of an unknown origin or purpose. Perhaps it was there to lead Jecht to where the previous occupants of The Sphere Forest of Periphery were.

 

'Welp, there's nothing for it,' with that, Jecht kicked himself forward, towards the portal. His hand lurched forward, and his aura enveloped him as he cut through the open space. And then, only seconds later, his body had fully sunken into the abyss in the center of the destroyed world.

 

The Sphere Forest of Periphery - Outer Periphery

 

Meanwhile, Sarah was struggling to fend off the trees that Ophelia had left behind, as her body was left to scorch from the incineration of the entire Outer Periphery. She ducked and weaved through the trees that she couldn't fight, but more of them came. She used her powers on the trees in her way, but most of them wouldn't die, and even for each one that did, two more would take its place. Sarah's mana reserves were exhausting by the second, and that was all she had to show for it.

 

"This is utter bullshit," Sarah murmured, "Trees aren't meant to resist fire, they're meant to burn to the funking ground!"

 

But there was no amount of cussing that would get her out of her demise. The only way to save Sarah was to be there for her, and yet there was no-one there. She knew it. She knew she was an idiot to try and take these things down, and she knew that even if these trees couldn't kill her, something out there would. But she pressed on. She had to find Aesir; he must've been somewhere around the Outer Periphery, surely, as there was no way he'd leave Sarah behind.

 

Eventually, Sarah found Aesir buried in a heap. He was weak, possibly too much so to live much longer, but he was alive, and that was the important thing.

 

"Holy mother of sheet... AESIR!!" Sarah rushed over to where Aesir was, before kneeling down to see his fallen state, "What the hell happened to you?"

 

"Sephiroth did this to me..." Aesir coughed out blood as he said those words, "I... I thought I could take him... I was wrong..."

 

Then, Aesir took out something; the Grief Seed that he'd been holding onto. It slipped from his hand and rolled over to where Sarah was standing.

 

"Take it... It holds a powerful entity... Kriemhild... Gretchen..." Aesir murmured weakly.

 

"I can't... wait, what even is this thing?" asked Sarah

 

"It's called a Grief Seed... It reacted to my Esper... so I took it..."

 

"But then...!"

 

"You must go on... You have my Esper as your guide... My sacrifice... shall not be... in... vain..." And so those were the last words that Aesir befell onto Sarah's ears, before he finally lost his life. Sarah picked up the Grief Seed and held it to her chest in deep sorrow. The trees from before had surrounded Sarah before she had much time to grieve. But something was happening to Sarah. Blue flames enveloped her entire body, and before the trees could even attack, they too were consumed by the blue flames. But unlike with Sarah, the trees began to melt away into nothingness, bringing a smile to the now insane woman's face.

 

"This is more like it," Sarah chuckled evilly after she said this, "Yes... the powwweeeeerrrrrrr... RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGH!!"

 

Sarah vanished, and left a circle of blue fire and despair in her wake. Soon, all the trees that remained surrounding her had perished, and all the trees that were left were taken down by the explosion of the Inner Periphery. The trees were no more. Sarah was no more. What had reappeared in her place was what must have been a five-hundred-foot-tall angel of blue fiery death, with six wings that could cut like scissors, four arms with claws shaped like scythes, a pair of small-planet-sized meteors at the front of her chest that seemed to be attached to her body, and only a pair of eyes shaped like pure flame for a face.

 

"I... REBORN!!" the entity beckoned, before noticing the figure that was Jecht heading for the portal, "Life... must snuff out life!"

 

And so the entity soared after Jecht and into the portal too...

 

The Rejected World

 

Jecht watched closely as he descended from the sky. Somehow this felt familiar; well, the world itself wasn't, but as he observed his surroundings, Jecht noted that strange sensation that this wasn't part of the original world, but a whole new marble of reality altogether... just like LERNA's Barrier was. Sure enough, Jecht saw faces, some he recognized and some he didn't, all attacking one common gargantuan foe. It all felt like Memory Lane once more.

 

Jecht cut his aura short and landed on his feet, a fair distance away from combat. But before he could start analyzing the big bad boss...

 

"So much to kill... so much to burn..." Jecht looked up, seemingly recognizing the voice that came from the entity, before her eyes locked onto his, "You..."

 

"What do you mean, me?!" asked a dumb-founded Jecht, "Can't you see what the hell's going on, here?!"

 

"These lives are insignificant for the moment," the entity replied, "You will be the one to ignite my wave of destruction!"

 

Jecht braced himself for the worst. He got it now. There was no getting through to Sarah because Sarah was never truly there to begin with. Just as he had his fist clenched though, Jecht looked down at the ground, breathing a heavy sigh as he realized the hopelessness of the current situation.

 

"Sarah..." he repeated the name in a helpless tone.

[Dad]

Kratos

 

He waited patiently for the smoke to clear, all the while his heart was slowly being corrupted by Hades'.  Soon after the dust had settled, Kratos watched, shocked, as the Madara was nearly unfazed.  It lost a chunk of itself, but nonchalantly proceeded to tear through the mighty Underworld and escape back into the Rejected World.  In the process, a sea of dangerous clouds began to swallow the entire Underworld with powerful lightning.  Fortunately, the Spectre company were already prepared, as a powerful looking one, dawned in purple garment, noted how he had come for "the bald one".  Kratos paid this no mind and happily followed behind this new associate, hoping to return to the Rejected World without too much nonsense.  He still had to return to his fallen partner, and with all that awaited him, he had a sinking feeling that he was about to get more than he was prepared for.  And in his weakened state, this could potentially render Kratos near useless for an extended period of time.

 

Papa Legba

 

Stubborn this one was.  But Papa knew of more than one way to acquire the souls he had prioritized the most.  Some here, while blind, held the deepest desire to mesh with their allies, no matter the cost.  And there was one moving about, returning shortly, that he could manipulate to have his way.  Papa gave a dark smirk as Sora and his friends stormed away, and he waited patiently as he watched the Madara re-emerge from the depths of the Underworld.  The creature split itself into parts, and took on multiple foes at once.  "How curious," he said to himself, still smiling.

[Kingdom Xathers]

[Kokonoe's Lab, Inch of Will]

As soon as all of her current headaches had left, Kokonoe returned her attention to yet another headache PredaKing.  "Sorry about that, Predaking. What is it that you need my help with this time?" Kokonoe asked, ignoring how PredaKing was defying the laws of physics just to be able to fit inside the Inch of Will, let alone her Lab.

[isamy's Vault ((can we even call it that anymore?  I mean, it's not like she's coming back or anything....))]

"Find anything?" Dom Santiago asked the others.

"What kind of question is that?  There's, like, junk everywhere!" Heather Mason snapped in retort.  The prisoners of the Vault had since managed to break through their confines with the use of the Spellbook, Cheato.  While still trapped within the Vault, the prisoners were nonetheless determined to arm themselves with whatever the Vault had to offer.

"I believe Dominic means "something of use"," Bayonetta replied.  "In which case, we may as well be looking through a haystack!"
 
"Well, we'd better hurry," Gabriel spoke, his plushie form riding on Jubey's back like a horse ("Please get off," Jubey silently pleaded.).  "We've no clue of how long we have until someone comes in here, or this place collapses on us."

"Can we PLEASE not think about that right now?" begged Heather in an irritated tone.  "It's already bad enough that we're in this mess to begin with."

 

At Heather's statement, Bayonetta merely shrugged, before a slight noise in one corner of the Vault caught her attention.  It sounded faintly like a gasp of pain....  Curious, Bayonetta sauntered over in the direction of the sound, eventually coming across AZ and his Floette, the giant of a man hundled on the floor, his back toward Bayonetta with a hand clasped over the right side of this face.  "AZ, are you alright sweetie?" Bayonetta spoke in a caring, yet still haughty, tone.

 

"Flo-Floette!!" chimed the Floette, her body trembling with fright over something that happened. "Flo-Flo, Flo... Floette Floette!"

 

"I beg your pardon? Gouged what out?" Bayonetta inquired as she turned her attention back toward AZ, this time taking notice of the crimson fluid seeping through the man's fingers and onto the floor.  "AZ, really now, what did you just--?"

 

"My... my apologies, mademoiselle," AZ softly uttered between gasps of pain, straightening himself up to his full height as he spoke.  "I... simply wished not... to frighten any of you."

 

"Well, you've certainly frightened your own Pokemon, so obviously that failed," Bayonetta replied.  "... AZ, what did you just do to yourself?" she asked again, her voice sounding more concerned this time.

 

AZ sighed out deeply as he slowly moved his hand away from his face.  "... are you... familiar with the... Millennium Items?"

 

[Rejected World/Inner Periphery]

 

"Red!" Alister called out as he sped toward the tall dragon, a mixed feeling of joy and anxiety filling him as he drew closer.  However, he had to make an abrupt stop as the dragon deftly twirled his staff before jabbing the jeweled end toward him.  "Red, what--?" he stammered as Red sniffed the air around him.

 

"You reek," Red spoke, his eyes narrowing as he looked Alister over closely.  "Why do you reek, like the magic of that scum Sayer? Why does it coat you like vapour?" he inquired, his head lowering to be more level with Alister. "It would be wise to tell me quickly. I've been told I have a very short fuse."

 

"Now, just hang on a second, Red!" Alister plead with his hands held up defensively.  "I honestly have no idea what you're talking abou--"

 

"I think I do," a voice spoke up from behind Alister; Alexander, Ratchet and Clank approached the General and his dragon friend on a motorcycle driven by a horned, green-skinned motorcyclist wearing red leather.  The lombaxes disembarked as they came to a stop.  "Earlier, Alister experienced a hallucination," Alexander began to explain as he de-summoned his transport, "believing that he was engaging himself--his past self--in combat.  In reality, he was attacking me.  He would have killed me, too, had he not been snapped out of his delusion."

 

"And was there a reason for why this hallucination happened?" Red asked Alex, still keeping a sideways glance toward Alister.

 

"Well, you've actually more-or-less confirmed my own suspicion, Red."

 

Alister gasped, his eyes snapping wide open as the realization struck him

 

"... I see," Red uttered, apparently having come to the same conclusion.  He took yet another glance over toward Alister, a look of suspicion and sympathy visible on his face.  He was about to say something else when the Madara performed yet another trick, this time splitting apart into four identical beings.  One of these Madara clones immediately turned its attention toward Alister, and proceeded to rush forward.

 

"This'll wait for another time," Red spoke urgently, his yellow eyes flashing momentarily. "Listen carefully Alister: I am going to unleash all I have against the creature in attempts to damage it. The moment my assault ends, you must use your time manipulation to get to the beast, and steal the Key it has in its chest. If luck would guide our way, my attack should be enough to drill towards the Key. Make no questions about this plan, just do it," the dragon added with a tone of finality as he charged toward the Madara clone.

 

"If that's the case...." Alister uttered slowly as he tapped the ground with the Z-Wrench.  "... Zurkon, I'm going to need "it", now."

 

""It"?" Ratchet repeated in confusion.

 

"Very well, Fuzzy," the Zurkon-Wrench complied; opening one of its "jaws" wide, the Wrench spat out a staff-like object, which spun in the air for a moment before being caught in Alister's free hand.  It was a gold or brass-colored staff with an intricate pattern of partial circles on one end, and there was a faint sound of a clock ticking.

 

Clank gasped(?!) as he recognized the object: "The Chronoscepter!"

 

"Hope you don't mind," Alister replied in an almost casual manner, "I merely decided to "borrow" this from Isamy's Vault.  I mean, she has way too much crap in there as it is, anyway.  She wouldn't miss it."

 

"Well, what're ya gonna do with it?" Ratchet asked as he and Alexander prepared themselves to take on any of the Madaras.

 

Alister stayed quiet for a moment as he turned his attention back toward the Madara Red was facing.  "... I need to time this right."  Holding the Chronoscepter up to his face, Alister closed his eyes for a moment.  Almost immediately, time came to a halt around him.  "Chronoscepter!  Give me sight beyond time!"

 

Alister snapped his eyes open once more, his irises glowing a bright tealish-blue.  Through his eyes, he could see the result of Red's Quad Kill attack, although whether this was the first attempt or a later one, Alister could not tell.  He could, however, see the exact moment, the exact picosecond, when the attack would leave the Madara's chest cavity exposed, revealing the Key in its entirety....

 

"Got it!"  Time instantly resumed as he found the moment he needed.  "I know when exactly to stop time!"

 

"Do you now?"

 

That damned voice, like a parasite in his ear.  Alister wasted no time in sending a blast from his Z-Wrench sailing over toward an eavesdropping Sayer.  The Legacy of the Orichalcos merely brushed the blast aside without so much as a twitch in his calm, taunting smile.  "Now, here I thought I was the schemer," said Sayer.  "Are you really planning to go for the big prize so soon?"

 

The only response Alister gave were two, tersely-spoken words: "Fu*k. You."

 

Sayer could not hold back his hollow laugh in response.  "Oh, I wonder what's gotten you all riled up, Mr. Azimuth.  Is there an issue plaguing your mind?"

 

"Quit feigning ignorance, Sayer," Alexander calmly growled, placing a hand on Alister's shoulder to get him to stay calm.  "We already know it was you."

 

"... hm.  Was it really that obvious?"  Without awaiting a response from the lombaxes, Sayer called forth Garlandolf, King of Destruction from a portal made from one of his R.O.D.s.  "Garlandolf," Sayer commanded, "make sure our scaly friend doesn't end the fun so soon."

 

"Of course...," Garlandolf uttered as he held an arm out toward the First Madara and Red, a dark energy gathering and charging within his outstretched palm.

 

"No...!  RED, LOOK OUT!!!" Alister hollered in horror for his friend just as Garlandolf launched his attack in the direction of the dragon....

[Reinforce]

Ayame

 

She wasn't sure how long the fight had been going. Constant streams of lightning were emerging from her body, painting the rooftop of the Castle Necrophades in a combination of light and darkness as the shadows were continuously struck down and reformed. Something seemed to change though, in the stalemate of a fight going on. A couple of the outer shadows looked away suddenly, only to be cut down as Ayame took the chance to see what was going on. Across the dark landscape, an army of what appeared to be wierd fishermen were taking on the beasts roaming the mindscape, and quite successfully too. In the sky, several colourful dragons were flying around, harassing the void dragons that were even now amassing around them. Charging forward in the center was a silver-blue dragon, even as a pair of the void dragons that hadn't yet reached the Heiratics deviated from their course to charge directly at the Blue-Eyes. For the first time since she had been trapped in her own mind, Ayame could feel a rush of hope once more. Turning around to face the warriors once more, she charged forward, staff discharging lightning out at the shadows even as more lightning built up inside her body, preparing for something more powerful.

 

-----

 

Chandra

 

There was a sudden rush of flames even as the she was aiming at was being flooded, before a Meteor just rammed into the tower, breaking it as the huge, burning rock continued on it's way. As it went past, she was knocked off the phoenix she had been riding on even as she drew some of the fire from it to her. Before she could hit the ground, she spawned another phoenix to catch her, allowing her to reach the ground without getting hurt. Bringing around the fire she'd grabbed from the meteor, she condensed it into her gauntlet to cast one of the more unusual spells in her arsenal, a little spell called Seething Song, designed to draw in external flames and convert them back into mana for her to use, but was restricted in that it used fire that was unconnected to the caster's own mana in order to be used. Not really that useful in a fight unless you're fighting against another pyromancer, but a neat little trick to have for an extra boost of mana anyway. Using the mana gained from that, she summoned another Infernal Titan, the same size as the previous one, but this time larger than the Madara that was charging her due to the centaur's reduction in size from the split. Even with the blonde girl protecting her and attacking her enemy, the Titan should be enough to stop the centaur's charge from reaching her.

 

-----

 

Darcy

 

With everyone distracted by the now four monstrosities in red, it didn't appear like anyone else had noticed the leader of the Counter Corps emerge into the Ruined World. Though, it seemed something was weird about the blond, since not only did he not have a discernible presence, but his eyes had been destroyed and he seemed to be staggering around. It only got weirder from there as the leader decided to eat the crystal everyone was given by another entity. Floating back from the fight she didn't seem to have much to do with, Darcy gently hovered in the air, content to watch the being as she slowly drifted across towards him.

[Love of Ghibli]

The Rejected World

Slowly but surely the group of reinforcements walked out and looked at the scenery. A lot of the specters took time to actually enjoy the scenery that was in the Rejected World it was a little homey with its still life and weird centaur monsters roaming around like decorations. It was then they would all see Radamanthys relentless eye twitching as they managed to actually all come to make it to this place. Behemoth Violate walked up next to her BF Aiacos and started to smirk. Come on now Radamanthys you look like you aren't happy to see us. Silence you contemptible trophy wench! How you actually here? He replied with righteous indignation. You really would think that he would be more grateful seeing the ASS TON OF HELP we brought him. Deutros said to his not-so-twin looking twin brother which was really meant to make their presence known. Once again you Radamanthys almost fell too his knees thanks to the shame of have the Underworld need help like this. 

Though to be honest can you really blame him? Minos interjected randomly as he looked at all of the other combatants. I mean come on...we got some weaklings here no wonder Hades took that monster to the Underworld. I wouldn't say that. Aiacos interrupted as he was looking directly at Butlerok. Butlerok had clearly been suppressing the urge to unleash everything he had on these specters. These were the same people who were torturing Dorian and made him force amnesia on himself. Aiacos could the threat level of this creature in front of him. But Aiacos wasn't alone. The one known as Kratos possesses incredible abilities. In fact it was his blade the creature summoned to take out Hynos' descendants. Lune  added noting that at his peak Kratos is a pretty powerful creature. Meh yeah there are some sprinklings of potential Minos stated very matter of fact. I definitely agree! Nasu Veronica added as he looked at Sephiroth in a weird seductive manner. LOOK AT HIM AGAIN AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS! TWO HOLLOW POINTS IN THE DOME! Chibi Ragnarok immediately came out and got all up Veronica's face. 

 

LORD RADAMANTHYS IT IS AN HONOR TO BE BY YOUR SIDE! Said Radamanthys' two most loyal right had men Harpy Valentine and Basilisk Sylphid stated as they knelt directly in front of him. At the very least those two made it to aid. Dorian, on the other hand, just stood there and tried extremely hard not to have the immense panic that he was surely prone to have as he witnessed all of his tortures come and be located in one location. So he simply stayed quite until Butler laid his hand on the shoulder. At the very least that was some kind comfort. Radamanthys easily sensed Dorian's waning cosmos, but before he could comment on it he was interrupted by another specters words. Interesting, Thanatos' joke has actually gotten pretty strong. Lycaon Phlegyas added. Dorian felt somewhat relieved that his tormentors didn't feel like tormenting him right now. 

Anywho...Aspros interrupted all of this senseless chatter. The enemy has spilt into four other versions of itself. Meaning its easier to kill. Minos said laughing at the amount of cannon fodder at his disposal. I guess the easiest way to make this work is to split up into teams and deal with each of these individually. Aiacos said as Violate hugged his arm anxious for combat. Yes, but more importantly that we need to see what are effective attacks against the creature. Anything that can shrug of Terrible Providence is something that must be treated with some level of seriousness spoke the noble Sphinx Pharoah . Hmmm we'll vary the power scale and see what we can do to actually damage the creature. Aspros commanded. Pharoah you take Genbu and Madrake over to that water sprite over there hopefully they'll be good cannon fodder in case something actually goes wrong. The rest of us...Pick a person get to work. Through a combination of rolled eyes, energetic grunts, nihilistic nods everyone was in agreement. And in a flash they all split up.

Near Tsunagi while the massive creature came at the young boy Violante gracefully put a ton of her cosmos in to her shoulder and dove tackled "the Madara" that was coming for him. While it probably didn't do any kind of significant damage to the Madara it just served to act as a wall. From behind Tsunagi Minos and Aiacos seemed to speed blitz onto the scene. Oh come on how did you end up here? Minos said as he showed disdain to the fact that someone else actually chose the same target as him. Well, the same reason you probably did. This target seemed weakest meaning it would be a much more challenging fight. To bad you don't do anything while she's around. Minos said pointing to Violate. She's just a beautiful sight to look at. 

 

Near Chandra would be the Radamanthys squad with Dorian, Valentine, Syphid, and of course Radamanthys. As they arrived on the seen they noticed that the fire user and someone else were trying to fend off "the Madara" with some kind of summon and attack on their own. Granted Dorian was the only one with a true motive for actually helping out Chandra to to the fact that her power was fire based meaning they would have some synergy. Radamanthys chose Chandra subconsciously because he has some code of chivalry and she was the only female target. Naturally his two subordinates chose the path he chose. So they all decided that they would wait and defend this segment from what would obviously be a counterattack against them. 

Near Sephiroth nothing really different happened except that Deutros and Nasu kind of just stood back to watch and see Sephiroth in action. Deutros was being lazy because he didn't want to do any kind of actual work and have to fight someone. Nasu was pretty much there for the unhealthy fandom. Though he was pretty intrigued by the fact that his most vocal rival did not make this choice. Little did Natsu know that his rival had one emotion stronger than the blind fandom for Sephiroth.

Near Alister it seemed was where all of the festivities were truly at. When Gandolf prepared to fire it's dark blast at Red the pitch black and purple armor of Aspros seemed to warp right in front of it. Aspros just stood there floating as he looked at the beast. Now why did you choose this Lune? He asked to the spectre who appeared right behind Sayer. Well this location holds the most interesting information to record. A dragon with magic, a rodent like creature with time manipulating powers, this orange creature has that glowing chest item, and this seemingly second antagonist here. Lune noted pointing to Sayer. Though I think it was that other individual that made me really intrigued. At that moment Butlerok came down from the skies with Ragnarok in Dragon form and scream DIIIIIIEEEEEE!!! SCREEECCHHH ALPHA!!! The Butlerok swung down his blade and unleashed a devastating attack at the man.  

[Dad]

 The Rejected World

 

Kratos nearly stumbled as he made it through the Underworld and back into the Rejected World.  His breathing became heavy, and he felt weaker now than when the Madara had sapped him of his energy before.  Before Kratos could understand what was going on, a sinister laugh came bellowing from his stomach, and Hades slithered his way outside of the Spartan.  Kratos fell to a knee, clutching his chest where his heart would be, as a searing pain ran throughout his body.  "Gah!" he cried out as Hades finally stood before him.  "I did say you only had one hour," the former lord of the Underworld taunted.  "Or rather, an hour was all I needed," Hades finished, as he moved Kratos hand away from his heart.  The corruption that started at the sole of Kratos' feet had began to seep through his chest, turning his ash white skin into a dark black.  He had only been through this twice before, but this time was different.  Rapidly, his entire body was consumed in the new black ash, and his red scar became a bright gold.  "Ah, Kratos," Hades said still smiling.  "The path to revenge is a dark one.  Did you honestly believe I was just going to give you magics?  What kind of foo--ack!" Hades found himself being grabbed at by the throat.  Kratos was already on his feet, Claws of Hades in hand.  "I've given you one too many chances, Hades.  I don't need your soul anymo--"  a cold hand on Kratos' shoulder stopped him in his tracks.

 

"I wouldn't do dat if I were you," said a daunting, droll voice.

 

Kratos turned his head to his right only to be facing the man who deceived him into killing Black Dynamite.  "You!"  Kratos dropped Hades immediately and swung for Papa Legba.  "You tricked me!  You killed Black Dyna--" But his fist went clean through the god.  

 

"Oh no, boy.  You killed Black Dynamite.  In your blind rage, your undisputed anger, you killed one of your comrades," Papa Legba said stepping slightly to his left to stand behind Kratos now.  They turned and faced each other again, while Hades looked on, coughing from Kratos' powerful grip that couldn't land on the other god.

 

"No.  No!  I. . . I was. . ."

 

"Consumed by the same ting dat consumes you now.  You see boy, while you were busy killing off da wrong people, I was watching idly by.  But Kratos, you can redeem yourself."

 

"I have no need for redemption."

 

"Den let me rephrase dat.  You can redeem those you have slaughtered."

 

"What?  What are you--"

 

"You have something I want, Kratos.  And it's right behind you."

 

Kratos turned his head slightly, eyeing Hades, then back to Papa Legba.  "And what do you want with him?"

 

"A trade, boy.  You've taken de lives of de innocent, but you can get. . . some of dem back."

 

"Some?"

 

"Your pet lay dying, not far from here," he said pointing back towards the Inch of Will.  "It's death is inevitable.  And if you give me dese two, Kratos," Papa said smiling, his yellowed and broken fangs showing.  "I will give you two others."  Papa remained as vague as possible.  Who Kratos would receive would be random, but his mind immediately went to Black Dynamite and the sakura petal warrior.   Could he save their souls?  Bring them back to life?

 

"Hades and . . ." Kratos hesitated.  Chernobyl was dying, but that didn't mean he should give up the pup to this devil.  

 

"He is suffering Kratos," Papa Legba said as he plagued Kratos' mind, reading his thoughts.  "Relieve him of his misery, and save your allies."

 

Perhaps Papa was right.  Kratos raised his head as he thought deeply about his comrades.  If it meant keeping Chernobyl from his pain, and being rid of Hades, while simultaneously reviving two of his comrades, it was a reasonable trade.  Stretching out his hand, Kratos spoke.  "You have a deal."

 

Papa's smile grew enormous now, as Hades interjected.  "What!?  Kratos-- Kratos you can't DO this!  I thought we were friends!  I thought-- I thought we had something special!"

 

"SHUT UP!  Ever since I took your soul you've been nothing but a reminder of my PAST!  Begone!  Suffer like I have suffered!"

 

"Kratos wait--!" but it was too late.  Papa had already chained Hades' soul to the ground with a flick of his wrist.  A portal of pure darkness opened up and swallowed Hades into the fires of Hell below.  "Curse you KRATOS!!"

 

Kratos said nothing for a moment, before speaking with Papa Legba once more.  "Take me to him.  Before you take Chernobyl. . .take me to him."

 

Near the Inch of Will

 

Kratos picked up Chernobyl from the ground, the hellhound crying in his arms.  "Shh.  You'll be alright soon, Chernobyl.  Everything will be alright," he said lying to himself.  The pup weakly raised it's head to lick at his master's face, and Kratos leaned in to kiss Chernobyl.

 

"Time's up boy.  Give me de hound."

 

Kratos begrudgingly gave up Chernobyl, the pup reaching out and crying for it's master.  "Your wish," Papa said as his eyes turned a solid red and then quickly back to normal.  "Has been granted.  You will find dem aboard de ship.  And you will never hear from me again.  Though, be warned, Kratos.  Dese may not be who you are looking for." Papa said laughing as he disappeared in a burst of black flames.

 

"What!?  Get back here!  Chernobyl!  CHERNOBYL!!" he yelled.  But Papa was gone, and so was Chernobyl.

[Phantom Roxas]

Megiddo

 

The fal'Cie sighed as he continued to summoned forth more monitors. Most of the people who received crystals had rejected Megiddo's generous offer, and those who didn't merely kept the crystals. There was no cause for celebration. Instead, he merely looked at his monitors, each one showing various symbols depicting different universes sprouting red lines that sprawled in different directions, white spirals appearing on them for the lines to connect to. "It matters not," he assured himself. He pulled his left hand towards himself, drawing forth six monitors, then he threw out his arms, pushing three of those six monitors to his left, while the other three were moved to his right, his attention drawn to the latter three.

 

Two of them were next to each other, while the third was above the two. All of them showed people playing card games, summoning holographic imitations of monsters to give a sense of intensity to the otherwise mundane game, though the bottom two monitors showed a city that was more technologically advanced than the one in the top monitor. "First Solasiro, now this Water Charmer. The realm of Duel Monsters is quite a curious place indeed." Commanding the six monitors to follow him, Megiddo turned away from the remainder. "As you were, Mercurius." Red cables sprung from the shadows, connecting with the monitors, while Megiddo combined his six monitors into a cube, which he floated in his hand. However, he stopped, as a voice he could not recognize introduced itself to him. The voice was monotone, yet cracked. After a moment, Megiddo answered it. "Who are you? You are not the knight I had recognized from the Nasu Supercluster. You are… different. How?

 

Obelisk

 

Obelisk could feel nothing. No pain, no blood, no… anything. Except, however, two pairs of feet walking upon his face. It was enough to stir Obelisk, who bit at Yoma. He moved his body around in the empty void just enough to wrap his hand around Yoma, grabbing the specter. "You are the one who brought Me here," Obelisk sneered. "And yet, My wound. It has stopped bleeding. If this is because of this place, then I will grant you my gratitude. But you will not keep Me here. Bring Me back to the world that that creature came from. Immediately."

 

Arthur

 

Lydia began to list some of her other spirits, but when she started to think of Sarah, Lydia began to call out for Sarah. Arthur didn't want to say anything, though he feared exactly what Lydia was thinking. She suggested someone - Ayame - for one of the spirits, but Lydia was at a loss for fire and darkness. The first person that came to mind for darkness was Otto, and while he had managed to singlehandedly stop Solasiro, Arthur was hesitant to suggest him. While he was thinking someone he could trust more, Dorian was talking with Butlerok. Butlerok answered Dorian as if he tell him who they were. "Do you… do you seriously not remember us?!" he shouted at Dorian, but Dorian simply said that the least he could do was apologize. He tried to explain something about what had happened to the monster attacking them, but Arthur wasn't listening, and instead only shook his head in disbelief. "Are you funking kidding me?" he stammered. "Why don't you get your memory back, then you can try to apologize for almost killing us."

 

Then, the unexpected happened. Without warning, the sky began to shake, revealing a meteor falling down. MirageGaogamon. Eria. Gagagigo. They were all at the Tower, trying to stop Ophelia. The meteor was going to crush all of them. Arthur wanted to run as fast as possible, but by the time he realized how fast he had to run, he was too late. The meteor hit the Tower, destroying it utterly, an explosion consuming everything near it. The smoke had yet to settle, and he didn't even get to see if anyone had survived it before the monster that had brought them all to the Rejected World had returned. It was smaller, but now, there were four centaurs. Each of them were heading in different directions, but one of them was targeting someone Alister. The catlike person Arthur recognized from Isamy's first mission. A red dragon had appeared to protect the catlike man, but Arthur was more concerned with making sure that the meteor hadn't killed his friends.

 

Lydia called out to Arthur, and brought out one of her spirits, Fire. "Fire, huh?" he asked him. He looked at his hand, then watched the four Madaras. "I don't…" He bit his lip, and reached out to Fire. "I guess… fine. Let's go. If I work with you, then you can let one of those spirits go to Eria, right?" Tapping Fire with his Keyblade, Fire was absorbed into it as Arthur activated a Drive. Flame patterns decorated his red cloak, and his hair turned orange. A bead tied the back of his hair into a fox-styled ponytail. His body twisted backwards as his arms and legs grew longer, with clawed nails growing on his hands and feet. Finally, a fox cap descended upon his head, but Arthur immediately grabbed the hat and threw it away, his eyes shining while he groaned in embarrassment at what the Drive had done to him. In spite that, that he could hope for was that his friends were safe. Right now, the four centaurs were just standing in his way of making sure of that. Dorian had somehow been joined by more people that Arthur couldn't even begin to make sense of, but they were helping out, and so was Dorian. Arthur had to calm down. Letting his grudges get the better of him had caused him to become a pawn of Jeriii. He wasn't going to make that kind of mistake again. Not here, not now.

 

MirageGaogamon

 

MirageGaogamon's ears pounded at the sound of a high pitched frequency and the crackles of lightning. He roared, pushing off all the clones of Hapshiel, unaware that they had just protected him from a meteor. The sound had stopped, but MirageGaogamon's eardrums were still wrung with pain. He couldn't hold onto his flail anymore, causing it to fall from his grip. Before it could fall too far, however, it stopped. "Final…" Mirage looked up. The fire user from the Counter Corps was being attacked by the Madara, but it was significantly smaller than it was before, almost a sixth of its previous size. The ringing still continued, but the flail had floated back into MirageGaogamon's hand. "Mirage…" he continued. Energy flowed out of his body, while the spiked ball began to grow in size, and the circle retracting into itself. MirageGaogamon's hair was receding, while the chain of his weapon had completely disappeared. He was holding his hands up, the spike ball floating above him. "Burst!" At his command, the spiked ball was thrown, all of his Burst Mode's power contained in it. "Everyone, watch out!" With luck, everyone could hear him and avoid being hit, and the attack would hit the Madara with the force of a planet. Though, as soon as he recognized Dorian, MirageGaogamon's feelings became a mix of wonder that Dorian was alive, and hope that it wouldn't be the case for much longer.

 

Totodile

 

Lea and Lucario were being dragged around by Totodile, who was desperate to hold onto the Millennium Items. However, he could only carry so much, and one of the Millennium Keys fell down to the ground. Totodile looked back, watching as it fell against the ground, but he wouldn't stop. It was just one shiny thing, wasn't it? Maybe Eria wouldn't need all three? No, Totodile corrected himself. He remembered what the man told him. He remembered the silver man telling him that he had to help Eria, no matter what. Silver. A word. A metal. A name. Would he be okay with this? Would Silver want him to just be running desperately and dropping things so carelessly?

 

Totodile could feel the leash tug back. Lucario was holding him in the air with his aura. Totodile dropped the other Millennium Key. Now, all Totodile could do was watch helplessly as people attacking the Tower were about to be destroyed along with it. He spoke his name as it usually would, but Lucario knew what he was saying. He was holding onto the Millennium Rod, weakly crying out for Eria.

 

Eria & Gagagigo

 

The last thing Eria remembered was smiling proudly as she had managed to breach the barrier protecting Ophelia's Tower. It was cruel, she had thought. She was telling herself that she was justified. That Ophelia's attempts to massacre everyone had pushed Eria to do something that was, to put it simply, sadistic. It had taxed her body, but she didn't know if she had succeeded in killing Ophelia.

 

What she did know was that she could feel scales protecting her. And she could smell the smoke coming from their burns.

 

Gagagigo was holding her close, but his armor had been completely scorched. One of his wings was lying on the ground beside them, while the other had holes in hit, and there was a tear where the wing was just barely staying onto his back. His arms slumped to ground, crashing against it. "…Er…" he slowly started to say. "…Eria. Forgive me." Unable to hold himself up, Gagagigo slammed down on his remaining wing. The armor covering his face formed cracks along it, but Gagagigo reached his hand out for Eria. "But… this is how… I wanted… to die."

 

Eria knelt down beside Gagagigo, panting heavily as her eyes ran with tears. She create a thin layer of water around Gagagigo, soothing his skin in the hopes of treating the burns. "I didn't want this, though!" Eria said. "I didn't want you to do something like this, even for me!"

 

Eria took Gagagigo's hand, and Gagagigo rested it on her cheek. "It's what… we were supposed… to do. Inari… Maros… Ryuda. Protect… the four of you."

 

"I don't want anyone to die for me! No should do that. Not for me. I'm not… I'm not someone people need to die for. Why do we have to sacrifice ourselves? Why do people to have to die so everyone can live? Even one person… even if just one person dies… that's not a victory. It's a failure."

 

Gagagigo coughed, laughing. "Do you know how long it took me to realize that? Raul and Freed would say stuff like that, too. Only people they'd be willing to sacrifice were themselves."

 

"Then stay with me, Gagagigo!" Eria pleaded. "Please. I… I came her to find you. I came her to save you. Just so we can go back home… go back to how things used to me." She turned her hand, cursing at the brand on it. "But then there's this. Megiddo will make me do what he wants."

 

"I wish I could help you."

 

"Stop. Saying. That." Which every word, she found herself stepping back from Gagagigo. "I know you, Gagagigo. Remember what you were like? You always dreamed about being the great person ever."

 

"I know," he replied. "I didn't realize… that meeting you was all I really needed."

 

"Then fight!" Eria said. She wiped away tears from her eyes. She put her hands on both sides of his head, even though his body had only shown the faintest signs of healing. "Stay with me." Gagagigo formed a bit of a smile, but his eyes were struggling to stay open. "Stay with me," Eria repeated frantically. "I don't want anything more than that."

 

She called out more and more of the water, and the wounds slowly began to heal, but it wasn't enough. "I know I can't stay with Arthur. We're from different universes. But Wynn… Hiita… Aussa… Ryuda, Inari, Maros… they're gone. How can I face Doriado? Please don't go, Gagagigo. Please don't go. I came here for you. Please don't go." The water stopped flowing over Gagagigo. His eyes were closed. Eria didn't move. She could only help but look at Gagagigo's smile. "Please."

 

 

 

There was nothing she could say. She knew she wouldn't hear him. But she couldn't accept that. She reached her hand out. He had to be alive. He had to be. Her heart thumped as she reached for his chest, but she knew what she would hear. Nothing. There was nothing right now. She had to fight, but she couldn't. Gagagigo had saved her, but how was she repaying him? With tears. "Please. Come back."

 

Her hand shined, and the brand began to change. Another pair of lines, identical to the first pair, formed along the outside of it. A blue eight-pointed star appeared below Eria, light firing from each point into the sky. Eria raised her head only to see the light, but her hand began to writhe in pain.

 

"Eria!" she heard a voice screech.

 

Eria didn't look at who the voice came from, but she somehow, she knew who it was. "Feraligatr…?"

 

Totodile had arrived, with Lea and Lucario following. Totodile dropped the Millennium Items on the ground, but Eria only gave them a half-hearted glance. She turned around, seeing her own Millennium Rod, then back to the duplicate. Eria moved her hand, calling water to drag the four Millennium Items towards her, but it was a brief motion, and the Items moved only about an inch. "I can't be like this," she muttered.

 

"Eria." Totodile skittered his way toward Eria. Lea simply rolled his eyes, letting go of the leash. "Who is friend?"

 

Eria grabbed the Millennium Keys, and pressed one foot against the ground, getting herself to stand. "He's why I came this far. He's why I'm fighting."

 

"Always fight," Totodile told her. "That why I here. To help Eria."

 

Totodile turned around to Eria, showing the brand on his back. It was the same as the one Eria had, only it was still in its first stage. "No," she said. Megiddo had said he'd bring back someone she know, and that they weren't branded. Apparently, he had lied about one of those things. "You didn't."

 

"I was told I could help!" Totodile cheered. "I help Eria. You save friends."

 

Eria threw away the Millennium Rod that Totodile had brought to her. The lights above her began to form into a whirlpool. "You got help from a psychopath," Eria said.

 

Something began to appear out of the whirlpool. The dark blue head of a serpent slithered out of it, fins sprouting from the back of its head. Eria's fingers shook, and she felt another thump in her heart. He picked back up the other Millennium Rod, and sighed. Looking at it, she could feel nothing wrong with it. As she held the two Millennium Rods closer together, though, she could see that something was flowing from the one Totodile brought to her. Chaos. The same Chaos that Megiddo was using to protect himself. She tried to let go, but she couldn't. The Chaos ran wild, enveloping the two Millennium Rods, until Eria found that she was only holding one. And yet, it didn't feel like anything was missing. It wasn't gone. Somehow, she knew that both of the Millennium Rods were now being held by the same hand. The Millennium Rods had fused together.

 

Eria sighed again. "A demonstration, I presume," she muttered. In spite of her annoyance, she felt compelled to look at the Millennium Keys. "These are just like the Rod," she observed. As soon as she touched one, a red spark struck the Key, and jumped to the other. She cursed under her breath, realizing that she was doing what Megiddo wanted her to do. As with the Rods, the two Keys were consumed by Chaos, and ultimately became one. She picked up the fused Key, and she could feel her body relax. Her red aura began to appear, and her feet began to touch away from the ground.

 

Two Steps from Hell - Immortal

"Megiddo," she declared, her voice louder than it was before. "If you can hear me, I don't owe you anything." She pointed the ends of the Key and Rod towards each other. "And if I know anything, it's that you don't give someone power that will be used against you." She pressed the ends together, and red energy exploded from it. It swirled around Eria, and the Rod and the Key began to merge. She took them by the connecting point, and in one hand, held up a staff. The Rod end pointed up, while the length of the staff extended util the Key was by her ankles. A beam grew from the Rod again, but rather than red, it was blue.

 

"Whatever this thing is," she said to the serpent, "Whatever monster Ophelia summoned, whoever Protheus is, all of them are going down! And then I'm coming for you, Megiddo!"

 

"I can't even do one thing right," someone said below her. Gagagigo began to stand, the red aura surrounding him as well. His body was healed, and his armor began to change. "If I'm still here, then we're fighting together."

 

Eria could barely contain her smile. "Don't do that to me. Ever again."

 

Gagagigo nodded. "I'll be with you till the end of the line."

 

The red aura began roar around as a began to take a shape behind them. The image red dragon towered above them, while Eria flew higher and higher until she was above the dragon. Her legs sank into the upper part of its head, with Eria's upper body stemming from a blue crystal as red skin began to form from the crystal. The shape of the dragon turned from that of an aura construct to a creature of flesh. Crimson lines appeared along Gagagigo's body, and though he no longer had his wings, he still had some of his armor, which grew golden adornments.

 

The serpent had made its way out of the whirlpool, bringing down a waterfall alongside it. As the water drew up Gagagigo and Eria, though, the water stopped. The serpent was perhaps as big as one of the four Madaras that were no roaming around the Rejected World. Its body coiled around, the water receding back towards the serpent, so it could prepare to launch the water at its opponents again, hopefully with more success.

 

The one thing it did not realize was that Slifer the Sky Dragon was bigger than it could ever hope to be.

 

The serpent could see nothing in front of it expect the crimson head of an Egyptian God opening its mouth. Then Slifer opened the other. Eria was directing the head of the Egyptian God with her staff, though the beam of blue light made it more like a spear. "So this is what Butler did." Eria looked around at the battlefield, taking everything in. She had feared the worst for Gagagigo, and though it was only for a brief moment, it was not a pleasant one. The centaur beast had divided itself, and though Ophelia's Tower had been destroyed, presumably taking her with it, the meteor that had destroyed it was something that could not be allowed to be used again. And yet, Eria felt uncertain.

 

"There's no way she would have been killed that easily," Eria said to herself. "Right?" Pressing her hand against her heart, Eria put her mind on the enemy she could see in front of her, and the power she now had to deal with whatever it could do. "Great Slifer. It was not by Megiddo's power that I am here, but by Yours. Thank You, milord, for entrusting me with this task." Her eyes narrowed at the serpent, while the twin mouths of Slifer the Sky Dragon had gathered an enormous amount of energy.

 

Commanding the dragon's head with the spear, Eria allowed the energy to be fired, while the serpent launched an ocean's worth of water at the new Egyptian God. However, twins spheres, each containing water, snow, and ice, all surrounded by lightning, burst through the endless wave of water before hitting the serpent, freezing and electrocuting it at the same time until it was nothing more than an ice sculpture broken by an endless stream of lightning.

[The Warden]

|_)Magical Girl Lydia(_|

 

Lydia's hand clasped shut as Fox was Drived with, though as she moved her fingers snowflakes drifted from her hand. The area around her was starting to chill and her skin paled as she watched Red continue his attack, though her thoughts were broken by a papping noise.

 

Looking down, her eyes widened to see a familiar sight. Kneeling down, more snowflakes drifted off her as she lightly clasped the fox hat and stared into its eyes. Tears fell from her cheeks, though as they descended they blew off her face as snowflakes. She sniffled loudly as she held the little fox hat close to her chest. A memory flashed by, the two of them, standing together fighting. She never told him, or had she? Either way, she always felt he looked cute in this particular outfit. Sure, Dizaster Two had some more physically attractive qualities, including abs you could grind cheese on, but, it was the first, and definitely the cutest of the three he had at the time. "Arthur" she declared.

 

She stared up at him, and her heart beat at a million miles. It was the same look, almost; there were some differences, but despite it only being two days, it felt like eight months as she stared into the face of one of her most important memories. Arthur was hunched over, like He used to. Her shaking hand held the hat out to him, her (now) icy blue eyes staring into his soul as snowflakes streamed out of them. "Please wear it, it... it would mean a lot to me if you do."

 

Her gripped loosened, letting the beady eyes of the hat to stare into Arthur as well.

 

--------------------------------------------------

 

|_)The Evangelist Hapshiel(_|

 

All the Hapshiel clones cooed in pleasure as they fell to the ground, some of them exploding into particles as they did so. Hapshiel and his clones were saddened that Mirage bucked them off so easily. Despite this rub off, Hapshiel could see the effort Mirage was putting in. To aid him, they all piled up to catch him should he fall.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

|_)Red, the Arisen(_|

 

Red wasn't able to say much as that wretch Sayer decided to be, well, Sayer. However, he hadn't predicted the man to try and deliberately ruin their chances of winning so soon. His eyes bugged out as the attack sailed closer, only to be stopped by a strange armoured being. Crisis averted, Red returned to his efforts on the Madara. Moving his legs apart, he hunkered down and unleashed more power, almost doubling the effort of the blast from his own reserves and the power of his elemental enchantments.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

The entity that staring Jecht down right now, this supposed "Sarah", was now starting to create fireballs on each of its fingertips, and preparing to launch them at Jecht. But Jecht still had one more thing to say to "Sarah", in hopes that this would be the thing that got through to her.

 

"And what of this Book of Demons I've been hearing about?" asked Jecht, "You're not gonna get that back by fighting me, or anyone else here. The only way you can get that book back is by killing Isamy. That's what you have allies for. That's what you have friends for!"

 

"Allies... friends... meaningless," replied "Sarah", "All I need as of this moment is to destroy you, and anyone else who dares stand in my way..."

 

That's when it hit him.

 

Flashback: Isamy's Vault

 

Just after losing sight of Aesir, Jecht immediately scoured the vault. Nothing seemed out of place, but Jecht definitely managed to catch a glimpse of something in Aesir's hand, which may have been important. Nonetheless, Jecht was about to leave when all of a sudden...

 

"Were you looking for something?" asked Juubey, right out of the blue.

 

"Well I was, but..." Jecht was about to reply when he realized what he was talking to, "Wait, why the hell am I talking to a cat?"

 

"I'll say to you what I say to any Magical Girl that mistakes me as such; I... am not... a cat," Juubey paused, giving what he said time to sink into Jecht's head, before trying introduce himself properly while Jecht was busy observing him, "My name's Juubey, and I'm actually..."

 

"Ya sure look like a cat," Jecht intervened, "So anyway, did you happen to see anyone try to break into the vault?"

 

"Yes; that man that you confronted earlier. He may have failed in obtaining what he wanted, but your leader has unwittingly given him something that I kinda need."

 

"And what would that be?"

 

"It's called a Grief Seed, and that specific one just so manages to house the most powerful Witch in the entire multiverse: Kriemhild Gretchen."

 

"Kriemheld Gretchen, huh? So she's even stronger than LERNA?"

 

"Very much so. Give her ten days and she could very well end the entire multiverse."

 

"Doesn't sound that grand to me."

 

"I wouldn't underestimate her if I were you. Please, you must get Kriemhild's Grief Seed back off that man, before he realizes that he can use her against you."

 

With a nod in acknowledgment, Jecht left the vault, and proceeded to the library before doing his usual training exercise. He ran his fingers through the book covers until he found one with familiar runes on it, and then flicked through the pages of said book while he was trying to read up on Kriemhild Gretchen.

 

Present Day: The Rejected World

 

Now that he thought about it, "Sarah" did look remarkably similar to that illustration of Kriemhild Gretchen that Jecht had found in that book that day. Jecht then realized that Aesir must've given the Grief Seed to Sarah, who may have outright fused with Kriemhild rather than just tap into her powers. If that was the case, then that would definitely explain why "Sarah" was being so unreasonable. With that figured out, Jecht took his battle stance.

 

"Fine, if you wanna attack me so badly then Sarah... Kriemhild Gretchen... whoever you are... then BRING IT ON!!" he exclaimed at the top of his lungs.

[Dad]

Predaking

 

Kokonoe was finally able to tend to the wily machine, and so he continued.  "The Blade of Olympus, Kokonoe.  I believe we can restore it.  But you'll have to use me to do it.   I haven't been of much help, but the least I can do is be a weapon.  You'll have access to all the information you need, but you have to take me apa--" Predaking's glance was caught by a black ashed warrior who approached the fallen Chernobyl.  He didn't recognize it was Kratos, and began to swoop in to help the already dying pup.  But after seeing the man's care, he knew it could only be "Kratos?  What are you. .  ."  Predaking continued to watch as Kratos handed over Chernobyl to a man who's appearance was as evil as he was.  "Oh no.  Kratos.  Kratos, NO!" he called out to the bald man.  But it was too late.  "You imbecile!" Predaking dove straight at Kratos, a fist balled and aimed for the warrior's head.  But Kratos, who heard Predaking coming, didn't even react.  Surprisingly, Predaking withdrew his fist at the last moment, and landed flatly next to Kratos.  "Why Kratos?  Why would you--"

 

"To save the others.  He was already dying.  Allowing him to remain here to suffer--"

 

"You have no idea what that man is capable of, or what he is going to do to Chernobyl.  Chernobyl could be in more pain now, than ever.  Not from his wounds, but from your betrayal."

 

"It wouldn't be the first time."

 

"That's not an excuse!" Predaking roared.  "And who could you be saving that are as dear to you as that dog!?  Do you even know!?"

 

Kratos was curious now too.  Who did he save?  They would find out soon enough  But for the time being, Kratos knew he could not wallow in self pity.  He had to use this temporary strength to aid what few allies he still had.  "We will know soon enough, Predaking.  Right now, I've got a lot to do," Kratos said as he manifested the Spear of Destiny.  He whipped it skillfully, and used it's explosive powers to launch himself back into the battlefield.  He approached quickly, just in time to see the Madara split itself up and target four others at what Kratos believed was random.  Selecting Tsunugai, Kratos dove in to help, right behind Minos, Aiacos, and a younger female, Kratos landed, still whipping his spear back and forth.  Surprisingly, even the corruption in Kratos' heart started to affect his weapons, as the Spear's normally violet crystals were a deep seeded black.  Everything he wielded was cloaked in darkness, from outside and within.  They hadn't made themselves familiar before, but simply by recognizing the look of determination in Tsunugai's face, Kratos knew he was reliable.  "Come," he said simply, as he lunged at the Madara once more.

 

----------

 

Meanwhile, Predaking continued to be bewildered by Kratos' decision, and yet understanding.  He returned to his conversation with Kokonoe.  "That man has many regrets, and some of them you would hardly believe.  But I believe, with your technology and mine combined, as well a bit of infused magic, we could create a new type of Blade of Olympus, and use it to take down the Madara.  I also have one other idea as well, to help the Corps as a whole.  But we can get to that after.  But the Blade.  Can you do it Kokonoe?"

 

----------

 

Inch of Will, Cargo Hold

 

He stirred, still unconscious  His mind raced with images of the last battle.  Images of her death.  Her death caused him to lose control, to lose focus.  It ultimately ended in his own as well.  He broke his promise, and became a liar.  Turning over, still knocked out, he faced her, both their eyes closed.

[Love of Ghibli]

The Rejected World:

 

Pharaoh and the others did arrive on the scene looking at the moment when Eria had decided to be come one with her Egyptian God. Admittedly it was if anything was an awesome sight to behold. What interesting music these people make Pharaoh noted. While he noticed that the new girl was attacking the tower hoping to fill it with some kind of lightning he simply rolled his eyes while the others stood stand-by. Wonder what they are actually attacking Phleygas said as he arrived. Pharoah looked back simply shrugged. Why would I know how these mortals behave? Honestly I thought that the opponent was to be the orange monster. That girl however is really attacking that tower reckage. Should we help Phylgeas spoke to his superior commanding officer. Nope. Like the others we shall take the stance of just waiting to see what happens then intervene. Our presence is a present so that should be enough for now. Besides there wasn't really anything entertaining to do in the Underworld so this is a pleasant distraction. The specters actually had no idea who Ophelia was or what the water woman was attacking so fervently about, but it looked to be a very entertaining sight to behold.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Meanwhile on the Radamanthys faction Dorian was pretty amazed that the same weird boy with the bright light had shown up to the same orange centaur as he did. Upon further reflection he did seem somewhat familiar. Apparently Dorian tried to kill this lad some time in the past. What exactly did he repress Dorian wondered, but that didn't matter now. It seemed as if some blue dog creature had hurled some super deadly object at the Madara that they were currently engaging. Radamanthys chuckled internally as he watched the attack come hurdling at him. How dare you, spawn of cerberus, insult Radamanthys-sama with such a pitiful attack offspring of Cerberus Sylphid said as he yelled at blue dog creature. It was then that Valentine's more reasonable hand had placed itself on Slyphid's shoulder. Do not fret Basilsk this if Radamanthys is not threatened by this attack then it is only logical that we shouldn't be either. Radamanthys looked at MirageGaogamon with a very sadistic smile. It seems that Radamanthys found the ideal candidate for a new pet. This creature had some power behind it and it was able to speak in human tongue. So naturally the creature should be his new pet. While Dorian instinctively wanted to run from planet busting moves he knew that doing so would only gain the scorn of Radamanthys...which is decidedly worse. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It took time to find something interesting for Yoma to go to but it seems that off in the distance on the other side of the Rejected World something very interesting was going on. Yoma made himself appear by this conversation that came from the glass chewing possessed Arthur. He basically looked at this Megiddo character who was the "normal" one here. So what's going on here? He said rather non-chalant. 

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

SEPHIROTH

------------------

 

Sephiroth merely smirked and looked on as it seemed that Ophelia had been defeated; searching out her darkness seemed to yield no result. "Hmph, she was a fool until the end..." It had been a hollow victory, as The One-Winged Angel lamented on the opponent that was stolen from him, the one his attack had been originally meant for. It was at that exact moment that his opponent had returned, split himself into four parts, turned one fourth into a gelatinous substance, and was now slinging said fourth toward Sephiroth.

 

A pity you've returned, you might have saved yourself... With a wave of his left hand, Sephiroth cast his highest form of ice magic to freeze gelatinous form, but this was merely a formality. Sephiroth generated six black orbs about him while casting his ice magic, and after pointing his Masamune, they flew off toward The Madara; an example of his Shadow Flare technique. He then rose his hand to cast a spell known as Holy, but he did so with such timing that it would hit The Madara at the exact same moment as his Shadow Flare technique.

 

And of course, Sephiroth had already known of his audience, perhaps even before they knew they would be one. "Whomever you two might be, your intelligence must be of at least meager levels to know that your best chance of survival is to stay out of my way." The Man in the Black Cape hadn't turned to face them and hadn't given them much of a greeting at all, but he was still curious about the two nonetheless. Enlighten me on your presence here. Sephiroth spoke, simply commanding that they give him information rather than asking.

 

IVERO

---------

 

Before the spells had been cast, Ivero had already known he was outnumbered and surrounded, and soon he was being being pulled in four directions; with tornadoes swarming the area and getting ever closer to him. All this trouble for me, you're too kind, suppose there's nowhere else to go... The pull from the gravity based spells was indeed great, and Ivero couldn't move his body easily. However, this didn't mean that Ivero could not use his power. An orb of black ooze had formed around Ivero but luckily the gravity spells were quick to pull the ooze away. As the tornadoes past over the area, it was clear that Ivero was now gone.

 

Suddenly, the ground beneath Kairi broke and a black hand went around her neck with sharp nails digging into her skin. Ivero had her and was flying with ink black wings into the air above. "Going down! With great power, Ivero through her straight toward the ground. Ivero looked as his arm, damaged by traveling underneath the crust; deep underneath the cracks of his skin he saw the faintest fleck of pale tan skin that he covered immediately with thick darkness. You infernal annoyance.

 

ODIN

--------

 

He was making his way toward the battle when the battle had come into his view in one of the worst ways he coud think possible. Ivero had a female keyblade wielder in his grip, he couldn't recall her name, but they were alies all the same. Then matters were made worse when Ivero flew up high and forcefully through her to the ground, she would surely be doomed if she crashed through. Hurriedly, he sheathed his blade and ran towards the falling woman; he caught her in mid-air and they tumbled across the thin ground. Some cracks had formed where they landed but the ground held. "Greetings, my name is Odin, I trust you're well enough to continue battle."

 

!!!!!!!!!

--------

 

An ominous sound had come from behind Odin and Kairi, the strange sound of a suit of armor walking and then stopping a mere twenty three feet away. "A Dark Suit Unversed, not difficult to defeat." Odin unsheathed his sword and ran in to deal with the unversed swiftly. However, unlike earlier occasions where the unversed had been slow and bulky, it now showed qualities of an adept combatant. Not only had the unversed blocked the swift and powerful attack delivered by Odin, but it also countered with it's own strike; fortunately Odin's own armor had absorb the blow while pushing him back towards Kairi.

 

Similar sounds echoed from around the group of keyblade wielders, that is when the group that had once been surrounding found themselves surrounded. Ivero summoned up his Darkness Within and floated down toward he group, closer to Roxas than any other. "Did you honestly think the brunt of my army would be so easily defeatable? These five are the final display of unversed power, and they intend to end you." Inside the helms of the Dark Suit Unversed, circles of red now generated, identifying their new strength...

[Maeriberii Haan]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

And then…

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The Rejected World

-=Ran Yakumo=-

 

Ran was pretty unsure about what she should do now.

The arriving reinforcement worried her somewhat, since that might mean she had to fight if she wanted to claim the key.

 

Hmm, interesting.

“Stop commenting and help me, please.”

Hey, don’t talk to me as if you have done anything at all.

“Still, I need help here.”

 

Oh, alright then. But I can’t go there, technical reason. But I think I can try to aid you with something else. Just wait warmly there as I try to send something there.

“Ah, good to hear.”

 

But still Ran. Attack the damn thing please .I didn’t send you there just to slack off and watch.

“….Alright then, as you wish.”

 

Grumbling a bit, Ran summoned seven orbs of different colors, each embodying different elements.

 

“Let’s get started, shall we?

Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, Earth.

Sun and Moon.

With my command, blast the centaur to oblivion!”

 

As if they could listen to Ran’s command, the orbs started to position themselves, and soon afterwards, each of them started to fire hundreds of bullets of their respective elements to the centaur.

 

“Yukari, I hope whatever you’re planning to send here is not a joke.”

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Kazuya=-

 

“So, this battle had just started to get interesting.”

 

Kazuya decided to approach one of the mini centaurs, one that was trying to attack someone that was positioned somewhat near where the tower used to be, as he didn’t see anyone approached that one centaur, or if there’s any, he might just have missed them. Well, there was that crimson dragon-god near there, but Kazuya had no actual idea about its alignment and all that, and had no patience to find out when there’s something more important to do.

 

“Demon summoning program, on!

Shiva, descent into the battlefield once again!”

 

The blue-skinned god of destruction appeared from the magic circle in front of Kazuya. He glanced at Kazuya for a bit, looking somewhat concerned about something, before shifting his attention to the Centaur. Kazuya just ignored that little fact, and grabbed his machine gun.

 

Just before he started to open fire though, Kazuya felt an intense pain from somewhere inside his body, and his mind went blank for a second.

 

“Ugh…how?”

 

Kazuya knew about the source of the pain.

 

Back then, when that certain being dragged him into his realm, he actually did something to his soul, a fact that Kazuya realized shortly after he returned into the artificial planet. He tried to hold the corruption off for a while, but he was not strong enough. That was why he fused himself with Beelzebub, as he knew that the demon was strong enough to hold the corruption off, or at least long enough until he could figure about how to stop it completely.

 

Seems like he was wrong.

 

It seems that Beelzebub had failed on what he supposed to do. Or maybe this had something to do with Michael missing?

 

“Ah, of course.

Why didn’t I think about that? But eh, Beelzebub’s there. He could handle that damn angel just fine, hopefully.

Though, if he failed, I need to start planning on a backup plan.

Well, that’s for later. There’s a centaur that I needed to kill now.

Shiva, use Mahamaon on the centaur!”

 

As Shiva attacked the centaur, Kazuya started to fire his Death Flies-empowered machine gun.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

???

-=Michael=-

 

“I have no time for this nonsense.

Fallen Grace!”

 

Divine flames rained down on the incoming flies, wiping all of them out in one swoop. Without wasting any time, Michael blitzed right into the door to Kazuya’s soul, though a Megidolaon stopped him in his track.

 

“Aren’t you forgetting something, Micchy?”

“Aren’t you just a gigantic waste of time?”

 

Michael dodged another Megidolaon as he charged his lance with divine light. Several swarms of flies attacked him from behind, but Michael managed to cloak himself in divine flames fast enough for the flies to be burned to nothingness.

 

“Return to hell, spawn of evil.”

 

After aiming his lance for a bit, Michael threw his lance straight into Beelzebub’s eye. It pierced the eye, and proceeded to plant itself inside Beelzebub’s head.

 

“Do you really think that this mere strike will be enough to defeat me?”

 

Beelzebub responded to it by firing several other Megidolaon at Michael, all seemingly hitting him directly.

 

“No, of course not.”

 

From the smoke created by the impact, Michael rose, his body mostly unharmed save a few dents on his armor. He glanced at Beelzebub for a while, before turning away and going straight to the door, ignoring the fly completely. Feeling insulted, Beelzebub attempted to fire off another Megidolaon at the archangel, his staff was glowing as he prepared the attack.

 

“Enough of this! Megido-“

 

His attack was interrupted as his head exploded, sending pieces of it everywhere. It seemed like Michael had turned his lance into some kind of timed bomb before he launched it at Beelzebub. The gigantic fly’s headless body stood for a while, before it limped and fell on the ground with a thud.

 

“But that will.

Now, if you excuse me, I have an appointment with a boy’s soul.”

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[spoiler=Tenshi]

-=Tenshi(?)=-

 

“Ah, a Dragon God is here.”

 

Noticing the great red dragon in front of her, Tenshi bowed to it in respect and awe. The Dragon God in Gensokyo’s Heaven was one of the few things that Tenshi ever respected due to its sheer power and authority over a lot of things. So it was pretty natural of her to treat this Dragon God with respect too, at least for now.

 

“And, where was I? Ah, right.

I should start my own assault.”

 

Tenshi looked up into the sky, and noticed the black clouds floating above her. She realized that she should try to do something about those, but a look at her sword changed her mind.

 

“Nah. Not now.

Not enough.

More...

More is needed.”

 

Ignoring the clouds, she instead moved closer into one of the centaurs, the one that attacked a man. She noticed several figures there were already attacking it though, so she immediately changed her mind and turned around, until something hit her from above, sending her crashing down into the ground.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Amato=-

 

Circling around the spot where the Centaur was used to be, Amato could not find anything that might shed some more light about the creature. She did notice the ominous tower right there, though she concluded that it had little to do with the battle against the centaur, and it should not be her priority to go there.

 

“Well, we’re getting nowhere fast.

As much as I hate to say it, I kind of missed the centaur since waiting for him is boring.

Though, getting out from this wretched place is a far better alternative.”

 

Let’s just rest as we wait. And maybe, why not try spectating whatever’s happening on the tower?

 

“Sure, why not?”

 

Having nothing more productive to do, Amato flew away, looking for a good spot to watch the battle against the tower.

 

“Seems like the people there was impeded by some sort of forcefield or something, though I can’t be sure from this height.”

 

And then, a meteor suddenly struck the tower, demolishing it and the force field entirely. That was soon followed by the centaur returning, and splitting into four before moving towards different targets.

 

“Huh? Oh well.

Time to continue attacking then, right?”

 

Wait, what happen with the finding allies part?

 

“We’ll gather them on the way, no worries.”

 

When she looked around to decide which part of the centaur that she’s going to attack, she noticed a girl with blue hair was floating around somewhere near the place where the forcefield was used to be.

 

…Wait. Is she..?

 

“..What?

Oh.

For one last time, she’s not her, so stop asking about it!”

 

…No. She’s definitely her. Everything matched up perfectly.

 

“If that’s really her, then what will you do?

Ask for her autograph? It’s not like I’ll give control of this body to you when you’re-“

 

….Hah..

 

“Wait, what the hell you are planning to-“

 

I’m sorry, Amato.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[spoiler=Flashback]

­-=Tenco=-

Tenshi’s Mindscape

 

“Well, hello there.”

“Who are you?”

 

Tenco watched closely as a girl that looked almost exactly the same as her appeared from the shadows. Aside from its golden eyes, she was perfectly a spitting image of her, and that made her uncomfortable.

 

“Who am I?

I am a shadow, but as of what does it mean, I don’t think it’d matter much now, for you I mean.”

 

“So, uh. Should I call you Miss Shadow or something?”

 

“Go ahead; semantics aren’t that important to me.”

 

“Alright then. What do you want to do with me?”

 

“Nothing big.

I’m just going to show several things to you.”

 

“What are those-“

 

“Just wait and see.”

 

Before Tenco could finish her sentence, the shadow already grabbed her, and together, they fell through a hole that suddenly appeared below them.

 

Tenco wanted to scream, but before the thought was even processed in her head, the two of them had already hit the ground. The shadow stood up and looked around, before she helped Tenco to stand.

 

“So yeah. We’re here.”

 

“Ugh, please tell me before attempting to do that again in the future. Also, where in the world is ‘here’, actually?”

 

“As I’ve said, just wait and see~”

 

They apparently landed just in front of a western-styled mansion, well, a ruined one to be more exact. It seemed that someone or something had wrecked the place before they arrived there. And for some reasons, the place felt familiar for Tenco.

 

“The door’s open, by the way. Let’s take a look inside, shall we?”

 

Following the shadow’s guidance, the two of them went inside, and explored the ruined mansion. The light from the crimson sky able was able to shine through the devastated ceiling of the mansion. Rubbles and traces of blood could be seen here and there, but there was no sign of life otherwise there. Tenco couldn’t help but be worried as every single details of the environment was familiar.

 

“…Hey, Miss Shadow.

What is actually going on here, and why do you bring me here?”

 

“Shh.

We’re already close.”

 

“What do you-“

 

Noises could be heard from behind the door in front of the shadow. The shadow slowly opened the door, trying to make as little noise as possible. As the door revealed what it had been concealed before, Tenco’s heart stopped for a while.

The scene in front of her was indeed familiar.

 

It was a scene from her nightmares, something that she always tried to avoid.

But it was there.

 

“Please stop! Why do you do this? Please snap out of whatever possesses you!”

 

“,,,,,”

 

A blue haired girl was confronting someone, and while Tenco couldn’t see who was talking to the blue-haired girl, the fact that this exact scene had played times after times during her dreams made her identity clear enough for her.

 

“Just, please stop this nonsense! Enough people have suffered today.

Please, just end this nonsense and return home with me.”

 

“….No.

I can’t.

I have gone this far. It’s too late for me to stop.”

 

A black and red aura started to envelop the blue haired girl, starting from her left hand, which starting to look like it was suffering from a third-degree burn.

 

“..So that's how it is.

I’m sorry, but I have no choice.”

 

One second of silence passed, and suddenly, the blue haired girl was impaled by what looked like a piece of a broken pillar, but it was too distorted to see for sure.

 

[spoiler=....]

 

 

“….Iku Nagae.

Why do you even try?

You know you can’t stop me, yet you tried this hard.

Truly…foolish if I may say.”

 

The blue haired girl forcibly pulled the sword from the other girl, who now could be seen from the door. Seeing her attack being shrugged off that easily by the girl in front of her, Iku fell on her feet, she looked completely hopeless as the blue haired girl slowly approached her, steel sword in one of her hand.

 

“So, I decided to be kind, and instead of using that, I’ll use this steel sword I picked up on the ground instead to end your suffering. This way, your spirit will still exist.

Any last words?”

 

“….Do you really think…

All you have done so far…

The destruction….all the people whose lives were lost this day…

Do you really think that it worth whatever you’re trying to attain?”

 

“If I have doubts about this, I won’t attempt it.

So yes, all these sacrifices will be worth it.

But now, it’s time for you to die.”

 

And just like that, one single strike ended everything. A stab right through the heart finished Iku off. No screaming, nothing else happened. It ended quickly.

 

[spoiler=......]

 

 

Suddenly, Tenco fell on her feet, and she started to close her eyes and ears, before she screamed in agony.

 

“….No, no, no, no, no!”

 

Everything, the scene hurt her.

Every details of it.

Of how the blue haired girl killed other people before as she rampaged throughout the land.

How Iku, the purple haired girl pleaded for her to stop, and tried to kill her with her own sword, to no avail.

Reliving her nightmares was a painful experience.

 

“Huh, this is familiar to you?”

 

The shadow acted as if she didn’t already know about that fact.

 

It’s not the fact that she saw visions of her mentor figure getting killed in cold blood.

 

It’s not the other deaths that sent her to the edge all those times in the past and now.

 

It was because of how, in all of her past experience with the nightmare, the blue haired girl in the scene related to her.

 

Every single time, every single moment in her nightmares, she dreamed of the blue haired girl as her. All the deaths, everything was as if she was the one that committed those acts.

 

And now, seeing the scene played from a third person perspective hurt her even further, as now she could actually see the blue haired girl in her dreams.

 

Or herself, to put it in a simpler way.

 

“…Why?”

 

“Why what? Why am I showing you this scene?

If so, then I’ll ask you another question first.

That blue haired girl, who was she?”

 

“…I don’t know.”

 

She knew that the girl was really herself, but couldn’t bring herself to say it.

 

“Alright then. If so, then I will hold my answer for later.

Now, let me show you another scene.”

 

Without waiting for Tenco’s permission, the shadow dragged Tenco down into another hole.

 

Moments after they left the ruined mansion, someone cried there, alone. It was abruptly interrupted by sounds of several metal objects piercing flesh.

 

[spoiler=.....]

 

 

---

 

“This time, I’ll be kind enough to say about our location.

We’re in a place called Bhava-agra, also known as the Sphere of Neither Perception or Non-perception, or the summit of the world.

Do those names ring a bell?”

 

“.....

No, never heard of them. Though maybe I’ve read them in books once, can’t remember well.”

 

“Well, I don’t really expect you to know about this place. You don’t even know about Gensokyo, right?”

 

“Ugh..been hearing that name thrown around lately.

What is that?”

 

:”It’s a place, simple as that.

Buuut, that aside, there’s something I want you to watch.”

 

The shadow pointed towards two figures in the distance, signaling Tenco to move closer to that point.

When she got close, she could see the figures better. One was a girl dressed in a somewhat unconventional shrine maiden garb, and the other....she was the girl that she met in that one office room-looking place.

 

“I don’t really want to unleash an earthquake on Gensokyo. A celestial’s life is so boring; I just want to play like everyone else down there! That’s why I made it look like a big quake was coming, to see who might come and stop me.

You, who came all the way up here, can you satisfy me? You don’t look very dependable…”

 

“Somewhat nonsensical for you, huh?

But no, no shocking scenes this time, I just want you to look more closely at that girl, the one with blue hair.”

 

“Huh? What about her?”

 

“Something.

 

Buuut, I think that’s enough.

I’m just making sure that you’re familiar with her, which from your expression; I could conclude that you indeed had met her before.

 

Let’s return to the place where we started.”

 

----

 

“Alright, it’s time to answer questions.

 

What? Those are fragments of memories, so yes, the scene in the mansion actually happened.

 

Where? You’ve said that you have no knowledge of Gensokyo, so I believe this information wouldn’t serve you anything

 

When? I’m not a goddamn calendar. Find it out by yourself.

 

How? Depends, though I believe it’s more about how do I show you those scenes. Let’s just say that I have a way.

 

Why? To screw with your head, of course. Nah, just kidding. But let’s just say, I have my own reasons.”

 

“Well, that definitely does not make anything clearer, at all.”

 

“And we finally reached the most important part.

 

Who?

So, yes. The first blue-haired girl? Tenshi Hinanai.

The second? Tenshi Hinanai.

It’s pretty simple, like that.”

 

“….Uh what.”

 

“Now, please clear your mind from any of your thoughts about those two.

Then, compare the two of them.”

 

“Yes, they do look similar, but-“

 

“Indeed.

Tenshi Hinanai was that killer, and she had done more than that. She had caused much pain to everyone around her due to her selfishness.

 

If you really want to, I can show you her other crimes."

 

"...Why would you bother showing me this?"

 

"Just as I've said, I have my own reasons.

And yes, those things above means, as long as Tenshi Hinanai is alive, those nightmares would still haunt you, forever.”

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

-=Tenco=-

 

She was standing on a platform that was raised by Amato, moments before she wrestled control from her. Silently, she watched Tenshi floating around, waiting for the perfect time for her to strike. When Tenshi was close enough to her position, she jumped from the platform, and sent Tenshi crashing down.

Still, she couldn’t really shake off the feeling that she had attacked the wrong target for some reasons.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Tenshi(?)=-

 

When she regained her consciousness after the impact, she immediately noticed a short-haired girl was standing in front of her, with something that looked like a sword in her hand, ready to struck Tenshi.

 

“Uh…who are ‘cha?

I think I’ve seen ya somewhere, but ugh.

And what the hell, gal. Striking someone from behind is not really nice.”

 

The girl just laughed, though it was a weary laugh.

 

“Ha ha hah.

‘Not very nice?’ Say that to yourself first.

But anyway, you can call me Tenco. And also, my business here is to end you, Tenshi Hinanai.”

 

Crap, an assassin?

At this time too..

Ugh, this might prove to be problematic.

 

Before Tenshi had time to think more about her fate, Tenco had disappeared from in front of her. At first, Tenshi thought that she was just hallucinating due to a brain trauma from the crash, but she then noticed how the air near her moved unnaturally, and ducked just in time as Tenco tried to aim for her neck.

 

“Gah, stop it!”

 

Tenshi parried another attempted strike with her own sword, but Tenco just smiled before uttering several words in a language that Tenshi couldn’t decipher. A fireball formed, and immediately hit Tenshi directly to the face, knocking her backwards.

 

“Why the hell do you want to kill me?”

 

“Just shut up and die!”

 

Her answer gave away her current position, and Tenshi managed to avoid another strike, and another one. Tenco seemed to never directly confront Tenshi, and every time her attack was blocked, she always immediately moved away from Tenshi, or used some low magic to knock Tenshi back. Each of her blows was aimed straight at points where a normal human could be easily killed from. But not a Celestial.

 

“So, a human, huh?”

 

Tenshi focused her mind on the battle. She could notice that indeed, her adversary was perfectly human. She moved only as fast as a human could, and her blows were actually quite weak. Just a normal human, or so it seemed. While the thought of her not being a threat was nice, Tenshi could not afford to lower her guard. When Tenco closed in again for another blow, Tenshi decided to test her theory. She blocked Tenco’s sword with one of her arms, while the other arm picked her own sword up, and slashed Tenco with it. Tenco managed to move back before she was cut in two, but Tenshi only actually need a single cut, however small it was. The celestial relic drew temperaments from the small gash it caused on Tenco, revealing the truth about her to Tenshi. And indeed, she was just a normal human being, period. While something a bit off could also be sensed from the temperaments, it was not something unusual, as it was definitely just temperaments from other sources tainting the one she read.

 

But why would a normal human be so determined to kill a celestial, while realizing that it would be an almost impossible thing to do?

 

Realizing that she pretty much had the upper hand in the battle, Tenshi decided to go into the offensive. She ran straight into Tenco, and started to slash wildly at her. While Tenco was able to parry her blows at first, it was clear that her physical strength was no match to the Celestial. She ended up having to block a strike poorly, and while it stopped Tenshi’s sword from dismembering her, her sword broke into pieces from the force of Tenco’s sword. She tried to attack Tenshi with several spells, but Tenshi shrugged them off, as low level spells felt like an itch to her.

 

“It’s over, Tenco. It’s all over for you.

Heck, it had been over the time when you started attacking me. And I think, you know about that.

So why, why after knowing that fact, why do you still intent on trying to kill me?”

 

“Why?

Why? I have a reason why.

I’ve seen what you’ve done. You have caused too much suffering to everyone.

You are a terrible person, Tenshi Hinanai.

The world would be better off without you.”

 

“….”

 

The word hit Tenshi hard. Those reminded her of all the wrong things that she had done in the past, and it hurts.

But she decided to not jump into conclusion first, and asked a vital question to the girl in front of her,

 

“Say, have you met this ‘Tenshi’ person before?”

 

“Huh?

Yes, of course I have. Why do you ask?”

 

“Are you sure back then it was her?”

 

“Of course, one hundred percent sure.”

 

Hearing that reply, Tenshi immediately grabbed Tenco’s head, and forced her to stare at her face.

 

“Look at me closely. Look at my eyes.

Now tell me, am I the Tenshi that you were looking for?”

 

As Tenco observed her, Tenshi decided to also take a closer look at the girl in front of her, as she felt that she had seen her somewhere before. And then realization hit her. Indeed, she had met her back then during her time inside of Tenshi. And it seemed like realization hit Tenco too.

 

“..Who…

Who are you? You looked just like her physically, but you’re definitely not her.

...What kind of an abomination are you?”

 

And, Tenshi’s suspicion was confirmed. She was indeed looking for the Tenshi that owned the body that she used now.

But no way was that Tenshi like what she described. She would’ve known otherwise since now she had access to her memories.

 

“….Hey. I want to tell you something.

This is not my body. I’m just using it when the owner resided somewhere else in the meantime. Do you remember, that time in the office room? I was the short haired girl that sat on the main seat of the place all those time.

 

Now, listen to me closely.

 

My name is Tenshi Hinanai.

 

Yes, I am a terrible person. I have caused too much suffering, and the gate of redemption probably had been closed for me.

Yes, I did many terrible things.

But, the Tenshi that owned this body is different from me.

 

I’ve seen all of her memories. While she might act like a pain in the ass at times, she always meant well, and aside from that one time when she started an incident because she was totally bored, she never done anything actually harmful.

She is completely different from what you accused her to be.”

 

“…..But, I have seen-“

 

“How did you see those? Did you see the actual events happen with your own eyes, or not?”

 

“….”

 

“Really, just tell me who said those things to you, Tenshi.”

 

“…!”

 

“Yes, Tenshi. You are also Tenshi.

I can see it. In your blind hatred towards her, you had refused to acknowledge that Tenshi is also your own name.

Don’t hurt yourself like that, even if you’re a masochist.

But now, let me ask once again. Who told you about those?”

 

“….”

 

After gathering enough will to speak, Tenco told Tenshi about the shadow, the scenes of her nightmare, and all the other things that the shadow showed to her. Tenshi looked somewhat surprised when the shadow was mentioned. With a concerned look, she grabbed Tenco’s shoulders.

 

“I’ll give you a word of wisdom now, since you seem to really need it, me.

Don’t eat words from a shadow just like that. They are manipulative bastards that will distort the truth to mess your head up.

 

They will try their best to make you fall into despair, and they’ll do that with a smile on their face.”

 

Tenshi intentionally skipped her suspicion and guess that the Tenshi in Tenco’s nightmares was really herself, just as Tenco thought early on. While it did make sense, it wouldn’t really be helping any of their case now, and also, there’s an error in that theory.

 

The way Tenco described the person in her nightmares heavily implied that the person was left-handed, while Tenco was perfectly right-handed. But thinking about that now would just be a waste of time.

 

There’s a battle raging behind them.

 

“But, why should I trust you?

If your words about yourself are true, why should I believe someone like you?”

 

“Because…

Nah, don’t trust me then.”

 

“…?”

 

“Wait here. I’ll try finding the original owner of the body inside.

Then, you can judge by yourself about the truth of my words.”

 

A risky choice. Tenshi was not sure whether the Tenshi inside her had managed to make peace with her other selves. It would be risky to just pull her out before she was finished, since it’d just be a matter of time before they realized that they could try to wrestle control of her body from whoever’s controlling it at the time. But maybe she could try finishing everything in her place. That might actually work.

 

Already set on what she would do, Tenshi didn’t wait for any cue, or anything. Just like a lamp without its light, light immediately disappeared from her eyes, and then her unconscious body fell on the ground with a thump.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

There were None

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Mindscape

-=Tenshi Hinanawi=-

 

If I can choose to be a villain, then why can't I also choose to be the hero?

 

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!

Why couldn’t they just sit down and listen to ME?”

 

All of Tenshi’s attempts to make her other selves calm enough to sit down and start a discussion failed horribly, just as her shadow has predicted. The shadow looked a bit exasperated, shaking her head as she saw Tenshi failed again and again.

 

“Uh….that’s simple.

They’re all Tenshi, they’re all you. Not going to mock you or anything, but seriously, ask yourself the same question. You’d probably act like them when you’re not the one that’s having problem right now. ‘sides, what puts you above all of them so they must obey your words?”

 

“This is my body goddamnit, those freeloaders better listen to me.”

 

“Nyeh, whatever.

Though, I’m curious. Why are you really intent on attempting it?

Why don’t you just ignore them, and try to wrestle control from the short-hair?”

 

“Well…Imagine this.

Thousands of voices are dictating all of your actions, without you being able to do anything about it. Imagine hearing them all the time in your head. And worse, the voices have no interest in working with each other, so you also need to deal with conflicting orders, bickering, and riots inside of your mind.

 

Your body becoming a mere puppet to the voices’ goals, which they might or might not actually have due to antagonizing even each other. That’d suck, right?”

 

“They did that to you?”

 

“Not yet, thankfully. They haven’t done that to me now. But with the short hair being able to hijack my body just like that and forced the others to wake up, it won’t be long until I experience that.”

 

“So, better safe than sorry, it seems.”

 

“Indeed.

 

..."

 

Tenshi went into a contemplative state for a moment.

 

"Hmm?"

 

"In retrospect, I’m really an idiot for attempting this way.

 

Yes, this means you are right. This way is hopeless. I should’ve listened to your words earlier.”

 

Turning her attention from her shadow into the crowd of rioting Tenshi, Tenshi pulled her sword and pointed them to the crowd.

 

“No one will really miss them, right?”

 

“…Wait, what are you trying to do?”

 

“What else? I’ll kill them all, every single one of them. Can’t say I’m not feeling sorry for them, really. But they’re just another obstacle in my path to create my new world, and obstacles are meant to be removed, right?

 

Also, as spirits without a body, they’ll serve as a good source for temperaments. My sword is starting to get hungry for those.”

 

“…Are you f***ing insane?

That's pretty unnecessarily cruel!”

 

“Insane?

 

No. I’m not insane. It’s not like I have no other choices now. If I don’t do this, they’ll slowly drive me to kill myself. Also, weren’t this your idea all along?”

 

“..No.

 

But if that is what you really want, go ahead then. I don’t care anymore.

 

Kill them all, I won’t mind.

 

But I don’t think I would want to see what will happen, so ciao.”

 

The shadow bowed to Tenshi, before she disappeared into the light.

 

“Fine then, it’s not like I need your assistance this time.”

 

After she was sure that her shadow was not around anymore, she started to observe the Tenshi group in front of her, and a small grin formed on her face.

 

“It’s time to say goodbye to all of you.

No hard feelings, okay?

…

…

Hah, as if you bunch will be bothered enough to listen to me.”

 

Without any of the other Tenshi realizing it, Tenshi had already jumped into the crowd; her sword was hungry for blood. And many of them were not even ready as Tenshi quickly decapitated them in succession, each with a single stroke of her sword. Some tried to fight back, but mostly, they were unready, and Tenshi could easily finish them off without suffering a scratch.

 

After she was sure that no one around her survived, Tenshi piled the dead bodies into one another, and she used the pile as a platform for her to stand and be as noticeable as possible to the other Tenshi. She took a deep breath, and started yelling.

 

 “ATTENTION HERE, MONGRELS!

 

YES, HERE! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL PERFECTION THAT IS ME!

 

Who am I, to talk that highly about herself, you may ask?

 

I am THE Tenshi Hinanai, the supreme idol of all heavens!

 

I am the Celestial standing on the summit of this wretched material world!

 

You scums who dared to copy my name and appearance, listen to me as today, I will be your judge, jury and executioner!

 

Flash news first, apparently all of you shared the same crimes, all committed against me! Let me give you all the details.

 

First, many of you dared to pretend to be me. Heresy, I say! There will only ever be one true Tenshi Hinanai, and that is ME AND ME ALONE!

 

Second, you all ignored my command to calm down and talk. MANNERS GODDAMNIT, HAS ANY OF YOU EVER LEARNED IT?

 

And last one, all of you are being an obstacle for me, making it harder for me to attain my own goal.

 

So, I hereby decreed that all of you shall be sentenced with death! And that was me being considerate enough.

 

Don’t want to die? Then start begging on my feet!

 

Don’t want to do that? Then fight me here. But I assure you, that will just make your death more painful.”

 

Tenshi stopped for a bit, gasping for air. She had never really got accustomed with yelling like that before.

 

Saying those things, it felt weird.

Was it the truth, how I actually felt about them? I don’t know, and frankly, I don’t care. The speech was just another tool; it just has a single purpose.

But, was it enough? Do painting myself as a gigantic a****** enough to make them all attack me?

…..

I don’t think I could ever escape from the guilt this way.

 

But…that won’t matter. I won’t let that weighs me down.

I’ll do whatever it takes to create my new world!

 

No matter who stood in my way, no matter what,

I’ll be the hero, no matter what the sacrifices would be!

 

The speech was successful in taunting the other Tenshi. Many of the Tenshi had taken up their swords, and all was looking at her in complete disgust or anger.

 

Everyone..

I am sorry..

I really don’t want to do this, but you all have forced me into this position.

And, to get a good ending, sacrifices had to be made, right?

Let’s make this as quick as possible.

 

Satisfied with the result of the small speech, Tenshi laughed a little before she brandished her sword, which shone brightly thanks to the temperaments it had absorbed when it killed the Tenshi that were now piled below her.

 

“So, any challengers? Don’t make me wait here, scrubs.

Or, has my charming look petrified all of you?”

 

A war had been declared.

 

And just like many wars, the victor had already been decided before the war had even started.

 

----

 

The battle had raged on for a while, there were only a handful Tenshi that survived. Dead bodies of the others littered the place. Some was simply beheaded, some got cut in variable method, some had huge parts of their body blasted away by something, and others were crushed by large keystones. The only reason Tenshi managed to survive the attack of the hundreds of her other selves was simply because the mindscape belonged to her and her alone. She had total control of the battlefield, and she did abuse it to her advantage. And, she was helped by the fact that most of the attacks aimed at her were uncoordinated, so it was quite simple of her to just have them attack each other, especially since it’s actually not a simple task to distinguish her from other version of her during the chaos of battle.

 

“Hey you there.

 

Go to hell. Acting all high and mighty like that, killing the others for pretty much no reasons at all, saying that you’re the one true Tenshi, just..

 

Who the hell do you think you are?”

 

One of the surviving Tenshi said that in anger, and she then immediately followed it by firing several keystones at Tenshi. Casually, she slashed the keystones mid-air, and then she threw her sword at the Tenshi that attacked her. Her target tried to block the sword of Hisou with her own sword, but it didn’t last long, as the sword of Hisou managed to locate the weak points of its copy, and broke through it and continued its track unimpeded, cutting the Tenshi from below of her right eye all the way to the other side along the way. It was only shock that was left on the Tenshi’s expression as the top of her head fell on the ground, followed by her body. The sword then continued its path to return to Tenshi.

 

The sword of Hisou is made for the offensive.

Going on the defensive while using it is just stupid.

 

Tenshi tried to put her best ‘bored’ expression on her face, to try to further insult the others.

 

“That’s it?

I am disappointed.

But eh, giving you lot the initiative to attack was too generous of me.

Now, I enter my turn!”

 

Tenshi observed the remaining survivors. Most of the remaining ones looked somewhat different from her, and that would probably be the reason why they survived, since they managed to avoid getting hit by some ‘friendly fire’. But before she could attack, a lightning bolt struck her.

 

“…Wait, what?”

 

Before she could fully recover from the lightning strike, one of the remaining Tenshi, one with the black hair, blitzed to her at ridiculously high speed, and started to slash wildly at her with her two swords, while each slashes summoned another bolt of lightning to strike Tenshi.

 

Parrying the attack was impossible, since the lightning bolts made her body felt numb, and greatly reduced her reflexes. Slash wounds started to appear on Tenshi’s body. In an act of desperation, Tenshi summoned a keystone in front of her, and used it to knock the attacking Tenshi backwards so she could make some distance.

 

“Heh, that’s not bad.”

 

It was far from bad. The sword cuts on her body hurt like hell.

 

“End this nonsense already.

Your words…are empty. None of what you said are spoken from your heart. Whatever your reason to kill us, you have yet to say it.

 

But still, this is stupid. Just stop now.

 

Please, we don’t need more casualties.”

 

“Hah, ‘empty, you said?

You think I don’t mean the things I have said? Well then, too bad!

 

But ugh, screw that.

I need to kill you.”

 

The black-hair was not amused with Tenshi's answer, from what she could see.

 

Empty, huh?

….

..Empty.

I guess…that might fit me indeed.

 

The changes of the air around her indicated that the Tenshi in front of her would attempt another assault on her. But this time, Tenshi knew what she had to do. Just as she would be struck by the lightning bolt, she raised her sword up into the air, and used it as some sort of lightning rod, draining the lightning’s energy into the sword. Her sword shone for a second before it shot a beam of light into the sky above, which removed every single cloud above her.

 

The Tenshi in front of her had predictably disappeared, probably trying to find an opening. And indeed, she launched another assault from behind her. Tenshi didn’t even bother to look at her attacker this time.

 

“Can’t stun me anymore, eh?”

 

With a hand gesture, she summoned several stone pillars surrounding the black-haired Tenshi. Her other hand summoned a keystone to block the attacks aimed at her, before she fired it away to push her attacker into the pillar blockade.

 

“Note to self: Physical attacks alone do not work that well against me, it seems.

Good to hear.”

 

Before giving the black-hair time to talk, Tenshi killed her by crushing her body with the pillars around her.  Only several Tenshi were left now, everything would be over soon.

 

But, when she tried to move forward, Tenshi started coughing blood. To her horror, she then realized that fatigue and her injuries had started to get her. She desperately needed to end this quickly; otherwise it’d be possible that she could die there. And worse, it seemed like the other Tenshi had noticed the fact.

 

As something that she planned to be the final act, she raised her sword up into the sky, where it started to glow as it gathered the ki from the heavens above and the earth below.

 

This time, she would prove what did having control of the battlefield can actually mean.

 

“Well, playing with you all is definitely fun and all, but too bad, I think it’s time to end this once and for all.

 

Disaster Sign: Catastrophe Coagulation!”

 

The sky turned dark as Tenshi declared her last spell card. Black clouds gathered, the wind started to move around erratically, and the cracks appeared on the ground. What followed it was a display of multitude of disasters, starting from a hurricane, followed by a blizzard, earthquakes, sinkholes, a volcano eruption from the mountain below them, meteor impacts, and ended with a great flood.

 

The only one unaffected by the disasters was Tenshi, who were controlling the flow of the natural energy from around her in the meantime, staging the spell card. And when the flood slowly disappeared, she was the only living thing left on the pseudo Bhava-agra. As far as she could see, there was only the ruined landscape from the attack.

 

She lay down on the ground, staring the sky above her. She had no idea on how to react at that time, Should she be happy and celebrate her victory? Should she be sad about the lives that were lost to her?
Should she be terrified about what she capable of doing? Should she feel remorseful?

Should she even feel anything aside from fatigue?

 

Her thought was interrupted when someone entered the mindscape.

 

It was the short-hair.

 

“…….

…You…

You did all of this?

Did you..kill everyone?

…..”

 

“…Indeed, I have killed them all.

This is what you want, right?

Me, killing the others,

It is why, you sent me here, right?”

 

“….Hell no!

I am just trying to help you! I thought…I thought if I send you here, I thought you can resolve things with the others peacefully. But you killed them all instead.

 

Why the hell did I even bothered to believe in you?

I shouldn’t have given you the chance. I should have just lock you far deep inside, and put your body to a better use.

 

S’pose in the end, she was right after all,

You’re a monster.”

 

The short hair forced her to stand, and now, Tenshi could see her face. Gone was the bratty, smug expression from her. She stared angrily at Tenshi; but her eyes tried it best to hold back tears. Aside from hatred, Tenshi couldn’t sense her emotion, which was now looked like a chaotic maelstrom to her.

 

The short hair punched Tenshi in the face, sending her flying backwards.

 

“Before I end you, tell me.

Tell me why did you kill them.

Tell me, why-“

 

“It is simple, really.”

 

Using what’s left of her energy, Tenshi tried to stand up. The punch might have given her concussion or something, but it shouldn’t matter much. All she could see now was, the last adversary before she could regain her body was standing in front of her.

 

Defeating her would finally end this once and for all.

 

“There is a future that I desired, a vision.

Now, that future was my only reason to survive, my reason to fight.”

 

Tenshi, using her sword as a walking stick, tried to walk closer to the short-hair.

 

“I never wanted to kill them.

I hate killing.

But I must. I fear about them impeding my progress.

I fear the possibility of them being able to do the same thing as you.

I tried to talk to them, tried to end it peacefully. But they refused to listen.

I have no choice,”

 

Tenshi smirked.

 

“Sacrifices had to be made to create a better future.

But that is not enough, for there is another important factor to consider.

A hero.

To create this future, we need a hero.

A hero who will pursue that goal, no matter the sacrifices,

No matter what or who her adversary is.

She must pursue it to the bitter end, if needed.

And that hero now,

Is me.”

 

“…You’re nuts..”

 

“I will craft this new future to my vision.

If there’s something blocking me on my path, I’ll blow it up.

If there’s no path, no future, I will create them.

For I am the hero that Gensokyo, nay, the new world deserved and needed.

 

Mark my words.

This sword of mine will be the one that create the heavens.”

 

“Stop talking nonsense, will ya?!”

 

Having enough of Tenshi’s rambling, the short hair materialized an energy spear from the air around her.

 

“Spear the Guuuuuuuuuuuuuungnir!”

 

She threw the giant energy spear straight at Tenshi. Tenshi tried to dodge it, but she was too tired to do that. The spear managed to sever her right arm.

 

Tenshi slowly losing her consciousness. Even if this happened inside of her mind, she was too tired to move. Blood flowed from the stump where her right arm should’ve been.

 

Am I going to die?

After I got this close?

....

...

...

..

.

 

I don’t want to die

I don’t want to die

I DON’T WANT TO DIE!

....

...

..

.

 

 

Someone, please..

….Save me..

 

“That’s it?

Not even trying to fight back after all that big talk?

You’re more pathetic than I’ve thought.”

 

..Pathetic.

Maybe. Yeah.

I am pathetic.

 

“Time to end this, I guess.

…I wonder what I should tell her about this...”

 

“Can’t let you do that, I’m afraid.”

 

Tenshi’s shadow materialized just as the short-hair tried to kill Tenshi.

 

“Sorry if I’m late, me.

Now, you. Miss short-hair.

I don’t really know about your business or what not.

 

But I can’t let you kill her.

Because I am her, and she is me.”

 

After giving the short-hair the finger, the shadow seemed to transform into what looked like an armored figure, but before she could see about what happened next, Tenshi passed out due to her injuries.

 

---

 

“Where…

Am I dead?”

 

“Regrettably, no.

You’re not dead.”

 

Tenshi opened her eyes fully, and tried her best to stand up. When she’s already on her feet, she looked around to see her current location. Apparently she was still in the pseudo Bhava-agra, though it looked like it was already nighttime there, and the place had already been restored from the damage it suffered from the previous battle. She then looked at herself, and was relieved when she found that her wounds were gone, and her right arm was still there.

 

“Alright then.

With that said and done, it’s time for me to return to the physical world.”

 

“I’m afraid that I cannot let you do that.”

 

“Another obstacle?

Tch, give me a break…”

 

Tenshi looked around for the source of the voice, and she then came across an elderly woman, sitting on wooden chair.  At first she ignored her and continued her search, but after finding no one else on the realm, she realized that the elderly woman was her last obstacle.

 

“Hey.

I don’t want to kill you or anything, really.

So please, let me return to my body.”

 

“And as I’ve said before, I can’t let you do that as long as I’m alive.”

 

The statement irked Tenshi quite much. That pretty much meant she needed to kill her too, which she really hated.

 

“Hey, old woman.

Who the hell do you think I am?

This person here..

 

I am someone that can kill you in one strike!”

 

“And do you know about who am I?

 

I’m someone that you can kill in one strike.”

 

Before Tenshi did anything else, a little girl ran towards the elderly woman. She tried to hug the elderly woman while crying.

 

“Don’t do this…

Please, I beg you.”

 

“I am just doing what is necessary for me to do.”

 

“Yeah, grandma, she’s right.

You know that your action is meaningless right?

You know that you have no hope in stopping me?”

 

“Yes, I know.

But that is why I tried.”

 

Suddenly, the darkness of the night was slowly getting replaced with the light of the day.  And with that, Tenshi could see the two person in front of her clearer. The elderly woman’s hair was somewhat short and blue, she wore glasses, and she was wearing a white shirt, an orange scarf on her neck, and a brown jacket. Meanwhile, the little girl looked almost identical to her, aside from well, being smaller and the peaches on her hat was instead flowers.

 

Yeah, both were definitely an older and younger version of her.

 

“Tenshi.

Let me tell you about something.

You’re threading on the path of self-destruction. But it’s never too late to turn back, trust me.

Regret always comes when it’s too late however.”

 

“Yeah, yeah.

But I am already dead-set on this path. There’s no way I’ll turn back or stop now, unless I’m dead.

So now, move out of my way.”

 

“I can’t.”

 

“Then I’ll have to kill-“

 

“NO!

I won’t let you!”

 

The little girl stepped in between her and the elderly woman, trying to protect her. The act surprised the woman.

 

“What are you doing there?

Run, hide! Just leave me alone.

Don’t waste your life meaninglessly!”

 

“Life..? That sounds like a joke.

Back when I still have my body, I can hardly be said as living, unless you can say a toy is alive.

And here, pretty much you and the others are the reason why I can enjoy my current state.

 

I’d rather die together with you, rather than continue living alone here.”

 

“Are you sure about that?”

 

The little girl did not say any word; she just nodded at the woman.

 

“You two…

Alright then. If oblivion is what you wanted, then I shall send you there.”

 

“That’s good to hear.”

 

"Missy, don't forget what always happen in story books.

Bad guys always lose in the end."

 

“Bad guy..

Heh.

 

So that's it?

That’s your last word?

 

If that is so….”

 

Tenshi pointed her sword at the two person in front of her. Temperaments started to gather on its tip,

 

“…I’m sorry,”

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-=Tenco=-

 

So, do you believe her words?

 

“..I cannot sure about anything at this point.

I guess, let’s just wait and see.

 

Also, sorry for forcefully taking over the body back then.”

 

Nah, it's ok. Don't repeat it ever again, ok? Just say it first next time.

 

Tenco waited for Tenshi to return to the conscious world, but what seemed to be eternity had passed, she started to get worried about her.

 

..Don’t say you’re starting to care about her? Funny, since just a while ago you really wanted to kill her, somehow. You were blinded with rage…or was it something else?

“…Shut up.”

 

Hey, that’s my line!

 

While the two were bickering, Tenshi’s eyes started to twitch a little.

 

Look there, seems like she’s waking up now.

 

And indeed, Tenshi was slowly opening her eye. The first thing she noticed was Tenco who sat beside her.

 

“….Tenco? What are you doing here?”

 

“Well, first of all, welcome back to the physical world.

 

Glad to have you back, me.”

 

One who looks outside, dreams

Who looks inside, awakens

 

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

[spoiler=Status Update]

-=Player Character=-

Tenshi: Just woken up. Finally is in the Rejected World proper.

Kazuya: Attacked Tsun’s Madara.

 

-=Non Player Characters=-

Ran Yakumo: Attacked Alister’s Madara

Tenco: Greeted Tenshi.

 

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[spoiler=Notes]

-In this post: compressed posts ahoy, s*** happened, and like more than 70% of the post has no relation to the main plot. Also, heads getting cut or blown up.

 

-Ugh, I hate making posts this long, but I need to conclude Tenshi’s subplot ASAP. It could’ve spanned to 4 more posts, and the battle would probably be over at that time so yeah. Lessened the impact of some parts too, which made things might felt weird.

 

-Post’s really damn rushed, thanks to my job being a b****. In the specific notes below, I put down things that I decided to not post due to various reasons. Also, this being rushed (and compressed, to boot) really put a dent in the quality.

 

-I need to learn more about writing combat scenes uuu.

 

-Also, Tenshi is dead. Well, that’s true, really. The problem only lies in which Tenshi that died. At least now there are only 3 Tenshis left.

 

(Notes about Tenshi, Tenshi, Tenshi, Amato, and the thousand redshirt Tenshi.)

-The part where Tenshi killed her other selves was originally the place where I exercised on killing her in various ways, but since it got rushed, I didn’t really put in most of the death scenes.

-Tenshipping is best shipping

-Tenshi never actually accepted her shadow, but she did not actively deny it too. Her relation to it is complicated. Also, back then when she first confronted it, it basically ended with a stalemate, and a shaky alliance, if I may say.

 

-Thanks to the collective unconscious of Tenshi, her shadow is slowly gaining her own identity without her realizing it.    

 

-The two attacks whose name is declared (Spear the Guuuuuungnir, and Catastrophe Coagulation) are borrowed from others.

 

-All Tenshi mentioned or appeared in GCRP (except one) are taken from numerous fanworks, none are invented by myself. The exception is the ‘original’ Tenshi.

 

-Originally, I planned to showcase some more of the alternate universe Tenshi(s), but yeah. And the part with the short-hair Tenshi was originally was going to be longer, with an actual battle. But at this point, I think I’ll cut things short instead. And besides, who doesn’t love ambiguity?

 

-“Tenco” is her name outside of her universe. Uh...I mean, while the author, fans, and side materials referred to her as such (as Tenco), in-story she is always referred as “Tenshi” or “Tenshi-chan” or “Eldest daughter”. I’m really just using “Tenco” to avoid giving a huge headache to myself.

 

-Detailed Information about the Sword of Hisou.

So, yeah. Tenshi(or more accurately, her sword) has the ability to read, gather, and manipulate the natural life energy (ki/qi) flowing in everything. Probably should’ve put the detailed information of it from the very beginning, as it was a major part of her sword’s ability. Weeeell, blame me for trying to put things just from memory back then.

 

And I guess, the time for her to hold back is over.

 

 (Notes about Kazuya, Michael, and Beelzebub)

 

-Playing a heroic mime-type character is hard for me, since I had to invent stuffs out of thin air instead of following a premade mold of character. Things like his extremism on being neutral, his paranoia, etc.

 

-I cheated a bit about Shiva. There was no game where Shiva could be summoned outside of his special fusion, which required Barong and Rangda, none which Kazuya had on his team back then.

 

-Fun fact, since he first appeared, I already planned for him (or Merkabah, of which he is a material) to be one of my Arc-IV character, but changed my mind due to several reasons. He supposed to act as a hero when Kazuya lost control of himself, and be the one that dealt the final blow to him. But since my plan for him had changed, my plans for Kazuya changed too.

 

-Michael vs Beelzebub was originally longer too. Though, since whatever Michael’s doing now hasn’t been executed yet, I guess I can be fine in cutting this one short.

 

-I feel somewhat guilty to Kazuya since I haven’t really put him on spotlight that much. Next few posts, hopefully I can give him more time in the spotlight. Especially since he’s going to die.

 

(Notes about the non-Tenshi Touhou NPCs)

-Chen and Gengetsu have nothing to do right now, so yeah.

 

-Choo choo. (A train is coming to town).

 

 

[Kingdom Xathers]

[Kokonoe's Lab/Inch of Will]

 

"... you know," Kokonoe mused after of letting letting PredaKing's ideas sink in, "were it my idea, I wouldn't find much fault in it.  That said, PredaKing... what you're trying to do is basically suicide.  Sure, your mind can live on inside the Inch of Will's database, but physically, there'll be nothing left of you.  Are you really sure you wish to do that?  'Cuz believe me, there'll be no coming back from that... ... well, at least not as you once were."

 

"What's that mean?" Kinzie asked, turning her attention away from her monitor.

 

"One thing at a time, Kinzie," Kokonoe replied.  "First, we must all be certain that our Transformer here is really up for the task he's setting himself up for...."

 

[Rejected World]

 

"Hmph.  Pity...."  Those were the words uttered from Sayer's mouth as he watch, with narrowed eyes, as Garlandolf's assault on Red was blocked by a talking, animate suit of armor.  So it would seem that the heroes' plan will continue unabated for now.

 

"SCREEECCHHH ALPHA!!!" Sayer snapped his head upward in time to see Butlerok coming at him from overhead, Ragnarok unleashing a Screech Alpha attack in his direction. 

 

"... well, then," Sayer uttered in an almost bored tone, "I'll see your noise, and raise you a bit of Discord!"  Three purple cards appeared in Sayer's hand, which he promptly threw at the ground before him.  The second they hit the ground, the two cards erupted in a flash of light, and before the light even died out, a most aggravating racket accompanied Butlerok's Screech Alpha: more specifically, a pair of Latin singers and a group of anthropomorphic rock band instruments accompanied by a totem pole-shaped speaker system, all of which proceeded to make a... err, could you even call it a "performance"?  The sound of nails on a chalkboard would be considered a far more heavenly sound than the atrocious ruckus being played.  The massive vibrations in the air were enough to knock Butlerok off-course, not to mention giving everyone else in the immediate area a splitting ear ache.  Well, all except Sayer, of course, who seemed not even the least bit baffled by the butchering of Aerosmith's "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing".  ... at least, that's what it sounded like they were singing.  Hard to tell.

 

"EYAAAAAHHH!!" Ratchet cried out, the hands clasped over his large ears doing little to block out the noise.

 

"WHY DON'T YOU PLAY A LITTLE LOUDER?!" Alister shriek as loudly as he could over the cacophony, gripping his ears in pain.  "I CAN STILL HEAR MYSELF THINK!!!"

 

"He doesn't need to play any louder...," Alexander snarled under his breath, equally appalled by this travesty pretending to be "music" as he was suffering from the headache that came with it.  "He needs to SHUT THE f*** UP~!!!"

 

Almost at once, the vibrations in the air practically froze in place as the very molecules in the air surround Sayer and his "concert" came to a halt.  The band and the singers looked about, confused, as they realized that their "song" had become muffled.  Sayer, meanwhile, turned to face Alexander, blinked a few times, before producing a sign in his hands which read: "Really?  I thought you appreciated music?"

 

"Appreciate THIS," read Alexander's own suddenly-produced-from-nowhere sign as the lombax flipped Sayer the bird.  On cue, the vibrations and distortions in the air around Sayer suddenly collapsed on top of him, causing a massive explosion which kicked up a large cloud of debris.

 

"... wow," Alister blurted out in awe at the destruction Alexander caused.  "Heh.  And I thought I had enough of his bullshit."

 

"Yeah, well, they were ballsing up a perfectly good Aerosmith song, and I just couldn't stand by and let that happen," Alex replied simply.

 

"... what."

 

"Well... that hurt," a voice spoke from within the dust cloud; as soon as the dust settled, Sayer was seen standing in complete disarray--actually, no.  That's an understatement.  Sayer's body was completely covered in gashes and lacerations, his left arm barely hanging on by a few tendons, and his rib cage and right side of his face may as well have been caved in.  Yet still, the man stood, his remaining eye looking back at Team Fastoon with a mixture of amusement and severe frustration.  "I guess this is what I get for letting my guard down, hmm?"

 

"Wh-wha-WHAT?!" Alister gasped out in disbelief, while Alex and Ratchet stared on with the same dumb-struck expression.  "How-How are you still alive?!"

 

"Oh, come now," Sayer responded, sounding somewhat miffed.  He continued to speak clearly, even as his jaw bone became unhinged.  "Did you lot honestly think..."

 

"... that I would ever truly put myself in harm's way?"  replied a second Sayer who had just exited through a nearby R.O.D., this one appearing far more immaculate than the other.

 

"Two...?!" Alister gasped out.

 

"... not even that," Alexander uttered, a thought suddenly occurring to him.  "Neither of them are real.  They're both constructs!"

 

"And quite frankly, Alexander," spoke the undamaged Sayer, feigning a disappointed tone, "I'm rather disappointed that you've only now realized this after all this time of you knowing me."  He then turned his attention over to his "man-handled" copy and spoke, in an almost parental manner, "Oh, my poor baby, what have they done to you?  Tut-tut, I don't want to hear any crying.  Chin up, kiddo, everything will--oh," he stopped as his duplicate's jaw detached completely and fell with a clatter onto the ground.  "Erm... nevermind, let's just get you back inside before any other part of you falls--" and next went the left arm.  "... just get inside, already," Sayer snapped bluntly as he pointed toward the open R.O.D..  With an equally disdainful glare at his "twin", the damaged Sayer shambled over through the pupil of the R.O.D.....

 

"... help... me...."

 

"Huh?" Alexander gasped out, a voice faintly calling out to him, a weak cry for help.  "Did... any of you hear that just now?" he asked the others.

 

"... now that you mention it," Alister replied slowly.

 

"Huh?  What are you guys talking about?" Ratchet asked, confused.

 

"I swear, it sounded like it came from...." Alexander trailed off as he and Alister glanced over toward the open R.O.D.

 

"... sh*t."  In haste, Sayer shoved his damaged replicate through the portal and quickly dispelled it.  "Perhaps you three are still recovering from my discordant rhapsody earlier," Sayer said to the lombaxes.  "You most likely were just hearing things...."

 

"... ... ..."

 

"... ... ..."

 

"... ... ..."

 

"... ... you didn't believe a single word I said, did you...?"

 

"Nope."

 

"Sorry."

 

"Not even for a moment."

 

Sayer heaved a sigh.  "... well then, guess I'll just have to do something about that, won't I?"

[Dad]

Predaking

 

"What happens to me is of little concern.  If it means my body will go on to do something great. . .to ensure the success of the Counter Corps. .  .then I will gladly give up everything.  There is much more at stake, and I believe this is a way out," he said with confidence.

 

Papa Legba

 

Shortly before approaching Kratos, Papa Legba found himself face to face with another type of god.  With possession of more than one particularly powerful soul, Papa was more than enticed when he found out Butlerok held on to both Genryuusai and Kenpachi.  "Greedy, greedy, eh?" he said appearing as an image in Butlerok's mind at the time.  Butlerok quickly grasped the situation at hand, freezing his mind and Papa Legba in place, even if only temporarily.

 

"Who are you?"

"An investor," Papa said with a cold chuckle.

 

"And why would I need any help from you?"

 

"You have de situation backwards my friend.  I need your help."

 

"Is that so?"

 

"Indeed.  De soul you possess. . .Kenpachi--"

 

Butlerok stopped Papa again.  "Kenpachi?  Ah yes, I remember eating that one.  What marvelous flavor.  Such a wide variety of palette dancing.  But don't even think about trying to get to it.  I'll swallow you whole."

 

Papa laughed at this.  "You could try, but you may end up wit de indigestion, eh?  No, no.  I come offering you a trade."

 

Interested, Butlerok perked up.  "Go on."

 

"You already possess two Soul Reapers.  Why take up so much of your inventory space wit 'death gods' when I can give you de lord of Hell."

 

"I'd be careful talking about Hades that way.  He's liable to kill--"

 

"Not your Hades," Papa said pointing at Kratos, who, at the time, was still mangled in a cliff side in the Underworld.  Butlerok's expression quickly changed as he realized what he could accomplish with the power of a soul like Hades'.

 

"Heh.  That would do nicely.  I dare say even more so than Kenpachi's.  Hmm.  I can taste it already!"

 

"Den we have a deal, no?"

 

Butlerok took his time, but finally nodded in agreement.  "Deal."

 

----------

 

Some time after the exchange with Kratos, Papa reappeared in Butlerok's mind, carrying a heavy package.  "Dis one is a fighter, but he's all yours."  Dropping the soul into Butlerok's possession, Papa disappeared as quickly as he had shown up, leaving Butlerok with the soul of a god.

[Love of Ghibli]

Deuteros only sighed as the caped man displayed a wide variety of abilities that made it obvious to him that he could defend himself. On the plus side Deuteros was pretty happy that he made the right decision. He clearly didn't have to do so much work. Unfortunately it was that this dude was quite a silent douchebag. Deuteros' eye twitched as this caped person demanded that his existence be explained. He could at least pretend to care though. Nasu on the other hand was busy trying not to faint at the sheer awesomeness that came from the silent warrior. In Nasu's eyes this man was simply delicious. This over infatuation made it so that the once proud specter was turned into some overtly powerful fangirl at this point. 

Deuteros rolled his eyes at this and decided to speak for the two of them. I guess you can say we're reinforcements in the very unlikely even that you actually need it. As you can probably tell you everyone got reinforcements. So you aren't that special. The attitude in Deuteros' voice was becoming more and more apparent as his statement went on.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

As Sayer deflected Ragnarok's Screech Alpha with Rock Band it seemed that one of the power rodent creatures was strong enough to deal some actual damage to the mysterious man being. Unfortunately that wasn't the real Sayer it was some random construct of his. As another construct managed to aid the first mangled one. A very minute sound that seemed like a plea for help somehow slithered out of its mouth. While this series of inside jokes between the floating eye man and the rodents seemed to get more interesting by the second it appeared as if this Sayer character was about to take this fight to another level. Of course that would make things disturbingly inconvenient with the Madara still on the loose.

 

It was then that the reinforcements stepped right in front of the lombaxes and intercepted this Sayer fellow. Ragnarok now adding a hint of green to his already purplish hue. Lune and Aspros looked at the new Butlerok as the dragon form sunk back into the host body laughing all the way. Butlerok simply looked at Sayer as the three eyed symbol of the Kishin started appearing all over his wardrobe. It seems as if the soul I recently acquired has finally digested and my body is responding well to it. He then looked at Sayer with an oddly calm tone. I don't know how you managed to be one of the main participants in this game of power, but just how far have you and whoever else is running the show planned. Did you see this coming? Do you see yourself or these constructs actually surviving an altercation with the likes of us. He paused. I can hear them now. I can hear the screams of every soul I've ever eaten. My short time as a Kishin I have truly become quite a soul connoisseur. I think it is time I now add your collection and yourself to my own. 

[Merci]

Orbthuria?

"How name. How How ʇuɐʌǝןǝɹ sıɥʇ sı woH, Megiddo? Megiddo. That is your Goodbye, no, name interesting. Shall I? Must I?" Continuing in that cracked voice with crystal shards poking out of its fleshy neck, the words of this 'thing' appeared to make absolutely no sense. It seemed extremely confused about the order and position of words in its own sentences.

When Yomi arrived, it turned to face him and intoned "That is a good question ˙ƚud ɘʜƚ ɿɘwƨnɒ ƨi on"

Whereas reality distorted for the Madara in order to make up for him, for this entity it didn't seem to want to acknowledge it at all.

The entity's gaze moved towards the battlefield, where it witnessed a ton of combatants attacking an invisible foe. No, not invisible, they could see it. Perhaps it was the only one that could not see anything, and the others were able to see their foe. Nonetheless, that did not change the fact that the presence within it was familiar. Familiar, but contained. The others called it the 'Key of Origin'. An interesting choice of words for them.

As it got over its initial excitement of being in contact with the multiverse again, it relaxed its control over its host body and went to Megiddo again.

"Now then, what is your name? Are you Counter Guardian Arthuria?"

~~~


Elsewhere

A wide, crystalline cave reflecting off the moonlight that came from the outside. Empty - if not for the two figures that stood within it. One was a cobalt-haired woman in a dark robe, while the other was a man dressed in grey, knightly clothing, with a cape, sword, as well as a black vizor to obscure his eyes. Between them was something like a mirror or a portal, a circular energy object that was projecting the fight against the Madara as it occurred in realtime.

"See? Told ya that this would be interesting." Delta proclaimed, waving her hands about. She seemed to be either delighted or just highly amused. "So as you can see, this is everything that has been happening over there. All because of your father. Or your stepsister. Depending on who you want to blame. Isn't it cool?"

"Is it...happening right now?" The man asked, not nearly as impressed as the expression on his face was a bit of a scowl. Judging by how both his hands were firmly gripped onto his blade's hilt, it was apparent that he was tempted to cut her down there and then. Of course, not that it would work.

"Oh, that's hard to say. It could be in the distant past or in the distant future. You can never really compare time in one universe to time in another universe. For instance, if you belong in the year 3000 and went to another universe, you might end up in the year 1941 or whatever. Or perhaps-"

"That's enough. I should know better than to ask about things related to time." He shook his head as if annoyed. "Anyway... While you've shown me about the Origin War, there are still some things you haven't shown me."

"Like what? I think I've shown everything relevant."

"No. For instance, the deaths of everyone. And how the Madara came to be."

"SO you'd like to know about those too?" Delta raised her eyebrow.

"Yes. I just need to fully understand the situation that Protheus and Isamy have wrought upon themselves, along with the many others they've dragged into this childish venture of theirs. I can at least honour their deaths, can't I?"

At that, Delta shrugged.

"Eh, fine. Whatever suits your fancy."

Then she snapped her fingers, and the image being projected before them changed.




 

~~~ THE PAST ~~~

His massive supply of chakra had been depleted, his eyes were nonfunctional, and the gaping, vermillion wound in his chest left behind a long trail of blood that the rain struggled to wash away. Even after having melded in the bloodstains of his mortal nemesis, so far it hadn't taken effect. Despite his will pushing him onward, further and further, to the point that he had somehow managed to climb out from that ruinous valley and traverse a whole mile away, he halted in place, utterly frozen in the presence of a vast wasteland.

...This body cannot advance any further, realized the man called Uchiha Madara.

All of his senses had long since broken down, and so the sole connection he had to this world was his determination to save it, to push onwards and surpass the long cycle of hatred that humanity had set for themselves. However, even after having forced himself this far, there was nowhere for him to go. From the beginning, he had known this. He was going to die, and nothing in this world would save him. As long as that cycle exists, no matter how much he tries to change it, no one would ever save him.

The lone shinobi did not dare move, for he more than anyone understood that if he took only a single step forward, he would, without a doubt, die. No matter how powerful his will was, the mortal form that he possessed had an absolute limit, a final extent to which it could be defined as 'alive'.

Everything that made up Madara would disappear into nothingness.

But if he stayed like this, the same result would occur. It would only take a few seconds longer than it would otherwise. It was not a matter of action, nor even of time, but of fate.

How pitiful.

Even his thoughts were burning up energy that could otherwise be used for surviving a little longer.

So this is how it... His feet gave way, and Uchiha Madara began to plummet. Not towards the ground, but towards death. No... It can't end like this... It can't... It can't. It can't! It can't end this way! IT CAN'T JUST END THIS WAY!

But it did, and the last tie Uchiha Madara had to life faded away.

The Shadow Realm

[spoiler=The Fates of Gin Furuwuka and Otto Penelope Joltingson]
 

Gin Furukawa & Otto Penelope Joltingson, Shadow Realm

Gin Furukawa had lost consciousness for a while.
"Why... how is that... Tamae, let us catch up..."

Gin noted his twin blades on the ground, picked them up and ran forward, bumping into another person.

"You... one of the Counter Corps. What might your name be?" Gin questioned.

"Otto. Otto Penelope Joltingson," she introduced before hinting towards her dragons. "Osiris, Dioscuri. Anyways..."

Behind her, there were a horde of black-hued pygmy dragons. Gin knew what to do. By raising 'her' blades, summoning a fusion of pink and blue to shield the girl and 'her'. As the dragons fired their attacks, Gin made a temporary opening, summoned a chrome-hued sphere and used it to defend against the attacks. As the chrome-hued sphere altered in hue to black, he redirected a blame flame at the opponent.

"Tha- that was amazing! Let's be friends," Otto smiled.

"Very well then. Let us cooperate. We require stealth. Tamae, carry me," Gin smiled.

"Very well, Gin," Tamae spoke while carrying Gin in her arms before hovering up. Otto, too, boarded Osiris and flew up high.

"I am unskilled in Aerial combat," Gin spoke, "how about you?"

"I'm self-trained. Does that mean I'm in charge?" Otto questioned.

"I s- suppose I have no choice," Gin blushed before turning away.

"We are close to the battlefield," Otto spoke, "pay attention."

.
.
.

Here, the only story to be told cannot be put into words.

A suddenly overwhelming amount of dragons descended from the skies as their smaller brethren were slain.

Otto's failed attempt to attempt to communicate with the void dragons ended in her and her dragons losing their lives. All of the Joltingson family research betrayed in an instant, just like that.

As for Gin, he never got a chance to draw either Senbonzakura or Kago no Tori before the creatures rushed him, tearing him apart with blood splattering everywhere in front of Tamae, his familiar.

The five-thousand-year-old familiar fled as far away as possible. To reach the battlefield and find another Counter Corps member. To find help, Emiya or otherwise. To find a solace to all this. However, as to be expected, she found nothing. Nothing but her own screams as the dragons caught up with her.

That is all.

[spoiler=The Melancholy of a Girl Named Autumn Colwind]
 

Autumn Colwind & Adriel, Castle Entrance

 
Autumn was dropped off at the front of Castle of Necrophades along with Adriel, who, despite having carried Autumn a fair distance, didn't seem any worse for wear.
 
"Looks like there's some guys already in there," she observed. "Well, better late then never." Letting Adriel go ahead of her and lead the way, she quietly brought back to her mind a few of the incantations for healing spells. That was her role in the party, after all; She was the white mage. Even though she was pretty good with a sword, the healer was her primary role. "I sure hope I can put my skills to good use here..."

With a sigh, Autumn got up, her Angel Wing sword in hand, resolved to do her best to support the Counter Corps and save everyone. Following Adriel, she took a few steps towards the door before suddenly stopping after him.

"Uh, hey, what's wrong?" When no reply came, she nervously approached the angel and tapped his shoulder. Even then, he remained still. "H- hello?"

Worried, she tried to think of something.

"Are you sick? Alright, h- here, I'll heal you again-"

But just as she charged up energy and was about to cast another heal spell on him, he abruptly turned around. In the instant that she was able to notice his blackened eyes, darkening skin, absence of a ring on his finger, and wide grin uncharacteristic to his normally-composed nature, he lashed out at her. Had he lost the ring during their battle with the Leviathan?

But he'd seemed perfectly normal! Maybe angels were just affected by darkness differently from normal people? Had he, just maybe, became a sinful demon from exposure to the darkness? And taking her to the castle was just a trick?

Whatever it was, he was much faster due to the aid of his wings, overpowering her in an instant before grabbing her hand - "STOP, ADRIEL! STOP!!!" - and without remorse, shattered the ring that Emiya had given her in an instant.

"H- h- how could you-" She clattered, suddenly feeling extremely cold. The effects were immediate. The darkness of the Shadow Realm assailed her skin and core, clawing at her soul.

As his grip lightened, she stumbled back onto the hard ground below in a state of confusion and shock and absolute horror. Her sword clattered next to her. She knew she had to act - she knew she had to pick it back up and fight or else she'd... But by the time she'd thought it, it was too late. The Adriel-turned-Void Demon gripped her by the foot and dragged her away before she could reach out for it, leaving her powerless. Within moments she was picked up off the ground, her former ally having now assumed a batlike form. And then she shut her eyes and started screaming. Screaming for someone to help her. For anyone to help her.

Maybe if she'd calmed down just a little, she could've focused on using a spell to free herself before she was too high up, but at her age and with her level of experience, one should be able to understand the extreme emotional turmoil and distress that she must've been going through in that exact moment. Not only that, but the effects of the Shadow Realm were mercilessly taking their toll on her sanity, which was quickly drained away. As she felt herself being brought higher and higher while upside-down, only then did she understand just how powerless she was in the grand scheme of things. Just how childish she'd been to think that she could've been able to help anyone.

Eventually, her screams came to a stop as her consciousness slipped.

...

But there was no such convenience. Autumn Colwind awoke only minutes later to realize that she was floating in water. Dark water. A dark pool, far, far away from the castle and everyone else at this point. She knew she had to scream but found herself unable to. Most of her senses had died out by then.

This was where she'd thought Adriel had defeated the Shadow Leviathan, but as a roar erupted into the air and a colossal, scaly serpent arose from it, it was apparently not so as it caused massive ripples to spread throughout the pool and nearly drown her. Somehow, she was able to notice the dead body of the demonic Adriel floating nearby - he must've been caught in midflight. But then again, she was already struggling helplessly, already drowning, already screaming out to the air and saying random, panicked things in a frenzy such as "PLEASE HELP ME" so she couldn't really afford to think about such things.

The crimson eyes of the beast fixated on her, and her words switched to a crazed "I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY" over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. She didn't care that it couldn't understand what it was saying. She didn't care that its instincts were far too primal for it to even feel an emotion such as hatred for her. She was just - scared. And for a very good reason, as various smaller heads suddenly emerged from the pool to open their massive jaws and rip off her limbs.

Starting with the hands and feet. Moving upwards. Slowly. Blood, HER blood flooded outwards, dissolving into the dark water and only enticing the creatures further, but she couldn't feel the pain. She was screaming out loud but she couldn't feel the pain.

Instead, all she felt was salt. In place of pain was a salty feeling. The more blood that flowed out from her, the more salt she could feel make up her body.

And suddenly, she wasn't screaming anymore. She was just laughing.

And suddenly, there was no blood or limbs anymore. Not even darkness. There was just salt. By the time the smaller sea serpents had gotten to her neck, she was able to relax as a salty feeling overwhelmed her existence.

Now she understood. It was appropriate. After all, she'd been unstable from the day she was born. Her magic would always backfire in some way, and so too would her actions. It was just like salt, which was composed of unstable ions. Yes. That was exactly what she was. Her end would not be to succumb to darkness and turn into a void creature, or to be chewed to death by the children of the Leviathan, but to fulfill her fate and become what Solin-Alia was always meant to be.

I
am
a
pillar
of
salt.

[spoiler=The Untimely Demise of Xeta]
Skies of the Shadow Realm

Riley's POV

You'd think that an incredibly intelligent man, er, Watapon of science would have some kind of plan to escape in case he were to be captured by a random Tau Manta spaceship that came out of nowhere...and in normal circumstances, you would be correct, but the whole teleportation failsafe thing didn't work out, instead only serving to make things worse for poor Xeta. Currently, due to various complex happenings, a void dragon was currently assaulting the Inch of Will, and Riley and Xeta were struggling to bind it to their will as they launched tons of cannons at it, slowly weakening it.

"COME ON! Can't you do this faster?!" Xeta asked in an annoyed tone while Riley experimented with the control panel, but it didn't seem like the zombie had heard. At this rate, they'd all be killed before the dragon even noticed that it'd been hurt. "Is there another control panel around here, I wonder..."

Leaving the room, Xeta planned on searching for a second control panel. If this spaceship was any good, after all, then it'd have a secondary set of armanents which could be further used to aid in their escape or something along those lines. Looking around at the different rooms in haste, he knew he couldn't waste any time else he be detained again after the attack died down. Riley was just a means to an end.

Tiny as he was, being thrown about with the flying ship as the dragon tackled it again and again, he was eventually thrown towards a window - one which just so happened to have the dark, twisted void dragon in full view, and his eyes widened as its jaws opened and took a chunk out of the ship. With him in it.

As smart as he was, his mind couldn't possibly comprehend the large jaws that closed onto him, sharp blades impaling his puny form as a monstrous black ooze was secreted around him, draining his energy eating away at his body. He understood the process of it. The first stage of digestion, chewing. This was him being chewed. Him being softened. Him being destroyed. It didn't seem like the dragon minded at all that he'd been exposed to Dark Matter as it just continued on like it was nothing. There was no escape. After what Itsu had done, he couldn't even try to teleport out.

What was going on in his mind was a mix of mild annoyance, utter chaos, and the deep desire to blame Meta for everything that had ever happened to him.

It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. As the fangs came down to grind him, he could only lament this fact.

[spoiler=The One Called Quaranir]
 

Arthur / MachGaogamon / Sora - Castle Entrance

Arthur sighed when the monk allowed him to lead the group inside. Sora was relieved, but was curious why his earlier opponent didn't follow him. However, as Arthur began to take a step inside, MachGaogamon was pushed back, flying behind Sora and Arthur. Looking inside, they saw two warriors, each clad in black and blue armor and holding two crimson swords. On the left side of their chest, each had a red emblem that resembled three tomoe in the form of a spiral. Their faces were pale and featureless, save for their glowing red eyes.

They charged again, one going after Arthur, and the other after Sora. Sora blocked the warrior that attacked him, while Arthur simply dodged out of the way. "The rest of you, go on ahead!"

Quaranir

Quaranir only nodded before rushing further in. He couldn't waste any time, needing to find Isamy's soul as soon as possible and destroy it. While he did encounter a few enemy knights of his own, he was able to sneak past them and even make it up to the second floor without encountering anyone. It was very possible that he was the first person up here.

Expanding his senses, the monk proceeded to search for anything that might be Isamy's soul. So far, nothing, but there seemed to be a little something deeper in. As he entered, walking past the strangely-constructed walls and exploring the corridor, he eventually came across a hallway lined with various empty prisons.

"How odd." Could there be something here? He continued to walk past them. Some of them contained peculiar things, such as broken glass, while others were empty. When he reached the last one, it contained nothing but organic-appearing orange objects that somewhat reminded him of eggs, but otherwise seemed dead.

Turning his back away, he ultimately decided that there was nothing of use here...

Something soft and slimey touched his back.

Suddenly realizing the threat he'd dismissed, he turned around charging mana, but by then the golden tentacles had already wrapped around his arms and legs, dragging him back towards the prison bars, slamming him against it. Scolding himself for not paying more attention, he tried to unleash his Destruction Magic and free himself, only for him to realize that the tentacles - whatever they were - were draining him of his energy.

He understood the seriousness of the situation, especially as the tentacles continually slammed him against the bars again and again, possibly trying to use him in order to break free.

In one final attempt to survive, he reached out for the Ebony Dagger of Banishment attached to his waist, but it seemed that the enemy had sensed this, tore it off of him, and threw it towards the other side of the hallway where he wouldn't be able to reach it.

"No, I won't... It cannot end here-"

Then the tendrils twisted, and his neck snapped, ending the life of the Psijic monk instantaneously. It was an accidental move, but the creatures couldn't have understood. They were just trying to get free.

Once all signs of struggle disappeared away from him, they then realized that they could keep on breaking his body into smaller pieces in order to fit him through, and that was exactly what they did. Snap, snap, snap. Flesh and bones were broken until they could fit through the gaps within the bars, at which point they were dragged in and consumed whole by the orange eggs. This energy wasn't quite enough, as they would need a few more sources of energy in order to properly break the prison bars and escape, but it would do for now.

[spoiler=The Revelation of Prince Mammon]
 

Castle of Necrophades, F4

Mammon paced back and forth, circled by a few Hellhounds he'd summoned for protection. He could hear fighting on the roof. I'm no warrior, I'm a strategist, a planner! Well, when push comes to shove...

He reached into his pocket and withdrew a necklace and a few coins. Mammon promptly devoured them, swallowing hastily. He could feel them boiling and churning in his stomach. He belched and began walking down the corridor to a corner of Floor 4, the Hellhounds following.  Now to wait, see if any heroes are in the mood for a face full of molten metal.

After a while of wondering around, the first hero he encountered was a man with white hair, dressed in crimson armour, being accompanied by some other guy. The perfect target. "Hello!" Opening his mouth, he immediately unleashed a flurry of molten lava from his mouth onto the two Counter Corps members, assuming that they would be burned alive. Indeed, there was no way anyone could have survived that, especially when it was so abrupt. As the personification of greed, he had very little to fear.

"...Rho Aias."

But instead of frying them alive, something quite different occurred. A crimson, energy-like shield in the shape of petals with multiple layers was projected between them, protecting the two heroes from any harm. Once his supply had depleted, he started to understand that he had chosen the wrong opponent. This person was stronger than he was. He could sense it. No, he wasn't just stronger - he was a Counter Guardian. The Counter Guardian.

"You. You work for Isamy, don't you?" Emiya asked once the flames died down, a cold look in his eyes.

"What? N- n- n- no! Of course not!" Mammon replied, trying his best to defend himself. "I'm with you guys! I've just been undercover working with the Divine so I can stop that evil sorceress's plot! I thought you were one of those void creature thingies!"

"Is that so?" The Counter Guardian closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them again with an even colder look, this time piercing into Mammon's very soul. "You reek of evil yourself, did you know that? The darkness you emit has a horrible stench to it. Frankly, it's disgusting."

"Well, come on. If you're a hero, then you know that even a demon can be good, right?" He smiled nervously, while taking a few steps back. There was a window not too far away. If he could just reach that, then he'd be able to escape from this guy, regroup with some other Divine members, an then return ready to take him on. Or something.

"I know that." Emiya nodded in agreement, and for a moment Mammon thought he was going to succeed. But then, "Unfortunately, I also know that you are not one of them, for I can sense that there is no good in your soul whatsoever... Prince of Hell!"

Dammit! There's no way I can fool him! Turning around, he raced towards the window as fast as he can, and somehow he was able to make it in one piece, smashing out the glass and entering the sky outside. The fall wasn't that big of a deal, for it was something he could easily survive.

But, what Mammon didn't know was that the only reason he made it that far was because the crimson knight wanted him to be in such a vulnerable position in midair. Standing by the windowsill, a black bow materialized in his hands which he pointed at the god. "There is only one weapon suitable to slay you, and that is the holy weapon, the Spear of Longinus!" Then, on the bow a long, golden spear materialized against its string like an arrow, which was fired a second later.

There were few things that could kill the personification of Greed, but this happened to be one of those things, for it was so holy that nothing could possibly expect to survive it. The spear sped past the air and penetrated into the chest of Mammon, flooding his insides with light upon contact.

Wha- what is this...? It was an unfamiliar sensation to him. Struck unexpectedly in midair, he could only look curiously at the golden point sticking out fro his chest, giving him a tingly feeling as he plummeted to the ground.

Was it possible, was it possible that this was what he wanted all along?...No. It wasn't just possible, it was a fact.

So, as the flames consumed his form, eliminating the millennia which he'd spent alive tempting the desires of mortals and lesser beings, he was not sad. He did not regret losing any of his treasures, neither did he regret disappearing right here and now. How could he? As the personification of greed, he understood only too well what this was, and had no other thoughts towards it. There was no need to resist. No need to struggle.

After all, what he was experiencing right now was the final form, the ultimatum of desire. As its personification, he understood only too well what it was. The final bliss, or final desire one would ever experience.

Otherwise known as the desire...of death.

And just like that, Mammon the Prince of Hell went up in flames with a smile on his face. Before he even hit the ground, a gust of wind scattered his ashes across the realm of shadows.

[spoiler=The Story of How Cody Renner and Jin Akatsuki Nearly Ended The Plot]
Cody Renner & Jin Akatsuki
 

F1-A1

The entire time that Cody had been moving through the castle, he'd been subjected to living suits of armor, violent quakes, and of course more Void Creatures. To make matters worse, he was now out of shotgun ammo, and was forced to use the katana that Emiya had given him in his right hand and his Desert Eagle in his left hand. The lich thing's soul has to be on the 4th floor. I doubt I'm gonna get lucky and find another secret tunnel that leads directly to it though, so I'll have to search every corner of the floor.

Yes, Cody's luck had just run out as far as staying out of the open would go. Hell, it was lucky that he found another secret tunnel leading to the 3rd floor. However, Cody didn't trust in luck anymore than he should, and so he knew he'd have to fight his way through to the final battle. Alicia, Jensen, Alyssa, Jaden, Alexandria... I promise I'll fix things. After a skirmish with another knight, Cody proceeded up the stairs and onto the fourth floor. As he did, he felt another massive quake and rushed through the castle turned a few corners, seeing the boy from earlier. At least he thought that was who it was, but he didn't recall him having hyena ears, a demon tail, or wings for that matter. Still, aside from a spot on his eye, this was the same boy. He almost couldn't believe that he'd survived this long. The boy wasn't wearing the ring either. Somehow, Cody had to marvel at the power that he must have had to make it this far without Emiya's protection, and though he tried to help in the battle, he wasn't of much use.

Not this time... Jin thought as he saw Frankram ready another attack with the Mimithingy. Using Chaos Sight to read his movements, Jin was able to defend a split second before Frankram fired, choosing that moment because Jin knew that once he fired it'd be impossible to defend. Just before he fired, Jin projected a field of his flames around him, hopefully to cancel out whatever the device's effects would have on him. It worked too... well, sort of...
 
Jin now had green skin and longer, lankier arms. The dorsal hair was gone now, but the spots and ears remained. He now looked like some strange mutant out of a bad American made anime. Well, this was what he got. He let out a small sigh, that to him sounded something more like a croak, then spoke. "Maybe defending wasn't the best idea~ribbit." Great. Now he sounded like a frog too. "Guess ribbit is better than haha though~ribbit."
 
The scientist Frankram had disappeared too, somehow teleporting away from the fight with Cody looking on, and then...

"You~ribbit! Are you part of the Divine too~ribbit?!" Jin demanded, suddenly moving his attention to a nearby corner, and a surprised Cody quickly looked in the same direction. Then, an animate, black suit of armor walked out, seemingly identical to all the other ones roaming about the Castle of Necrophades.

"Oh, it's just another one of those armors." Cody remarked. "It's alright, they're weak. I'm sure you can take them on-"

"What... What are you~ribbit?!"

While he knew what Cody was talking about, having encountered and dispatched some of them himself without any effort whatsoever, this one was different. His Chaos Sight still being active after the fight with Frankram, he was able to fully see through the armor of the figure- and through it, see into the soul of the man who resided within. Just looking at it gave him a headache, and the sheer amount of demonic prowess within it was...frankly, impossible. Even the soul of an actual demon wasn't so corrupt, so lost. So empty.

"Greetings. I am Viligance, a servant of Isamy." The armor introduced himself in a monotone, yet noble voice that didn't match the color of his soul at all, his voice echoing down the now-empty corridor. "While I am not officially a member of the Divine, I am assisting them for this venture into the Shadow Realm." He paused for a moment, his helmet gazing at the two, examining them. "You must be one of Emiya's soldiers, I assume. What does he call them again? Counter Clerks?"

"Counter Corps." Cody was now on-guard. He could easily see the worry in the other guy's eyes and had a very bad feeling about this.

"And we're not soldiers~ribbit! We're heroes, here to stop you AND your master~ribbit!" Jin declared, a dark, fiery aura blazing up from his feet.

Luckily, his Enhanced state and Reitsufune were still active, as proven by the black wings and samurai-like black coat. Had he turned it off straight after the fight with Frankram, things would've been much worse. Of course, he didn't look as amazing as he would've otherwise due to the whole frog thing.

"I feel tempted to laugh, especially since Frankram's Mimigar Mini ZZ turned you into this state, but indeed, it does seem that you're somewhat powerful. Perhaps one of the strongest Emiya has... I suppose I'll have to end you here."

Viligance drew his sword, but before he even move,

"Like I'd let you~riiibbbbiiitttttttttt!"

The Demon Slayer launched the first move, switching his Shukuro to Form 2 and immediately assailing his enemy with an array of bullets infused with that same burning aura, forcing the knight to react by deflecting each bullet with the dark metal blade in order to defend himself. Maintaing this stance for a few seconds, he began to advance forth by walking, while still concentrating on the bullets. This in itself was a remarkable feat, but more and more dents were forming on the crude weapon, making it apparent that it wouldn't hold, and when Viligance had gotten close enough, Jin's weapon switched to Form 4 and it whipped past Viligance's sword, latching onto his armor. Pulling himself with it, he rushed towards the enemy at great speed.

Jin understood, more than anyone in this roleplay possibly could, just how much of a threat this man was and knew that he had to be taken out as quickly as possible, without any playing around. As he hurtled towards Viligance, he went to Form 1 and used his X-Inferno, coating his blade in an extremely dense Inferno aura that would theoretically slice through anything.

"I must commend you." Viligance moved his weakened sword to intercept the attack. "However..."

While there were metals that might be able to resist, judging by the various dents his bullets had put onto the blade and armor, Jin had determined that they weren't anything special. So, he'd be able to slash through Viligance in an instant, no matter what sort of trick he had up his sleeve.

But... that wasn't what happened. Even with his active Chaos Sight and ability to switch to Form 3 at any given moment to block any attack had Viligance chosen to stab instead of defend, he hadn't been able to see it coming. How could he?

The first thing he knew, the outer shell of Viligance's European-style sword broke away, revealing a pure, perfect black katana within. The next thing he knew, it had abruptly sliced upwards from his chest to his upper left shoulder, sending a huge amount of pain coursing through his body - without even moving. Didn't it? No, it did. Less than a split second later, the sword moved in exactly the same way through the wound inflicted onto him only as if to confirm the existence of the damage.

In any case, his assault was interrupted and the dark knight followed by moving his free gauntlet to catch the neck of a shocked Jin in midair, holding and strangling him in midair, his power being drained away.

"You were ill-equipped. As powerful as your weapon is, mine happens to have the ability to refract time so that it hits before it does." Viligance concluded. "If you wish, your power can still be put to use. Of course, that's if you agree to join the Divine and serve that Isamy." The enemy loosened his grip just a tiny bit so as to let the Corps member speak.

"NEVER~r- r- ribbit...!" Forcing himself to say this with blood swelling up in his throat, he spat some out onto Viligance's helmet.

"Very well then. You have left me with no choice. Farewe- wha?!"

Cody wasn't sure what he was thinking as he ran towards them, with nothing but a katana in hand, but it seemed that the black knight's attention was occupied and this might be their only chance.

Compared to all the highly-skilled fighters, superhumans and otherworldly entities, Cody Renner was nothing special. However, his experience wasn't for nothing. If there was anything, anything at all he'd learnt in his experience with zombies back in his homeworld, it was that a minute decision can mean the difference between life or death. He knew that if he involved himself in this battle between titans, he would die. He would definitely die. But if there was even the slightest chance of victory, of saving everyone he loved, then wouldn't he take it?

Yeah, I would. Of course I would!

Without even thinking about it, he moved in, and in a single stroke sliced off the gauntlet of Viligance that held the hurt Jin in place, releasing him.

"Y- you dare?!" For a moment, the emotionless facade of Viligance dropped, not so much in shock of losing his hand but of being opposed by a normal human. A completely normal human. Reacting on instinct, an apparently annoyed Viligance moved the time-refracting katana and decapitated Cody in a single blow, but it was too late by then.

Jin didn't have time to mourn his lost comrade as he acted straightaway, focusing an intense amount of aura into a single, point-black Ash Advent, which he unleashed onto Viligance. Materializing in the form of blazing ash that instantly filled the hallway, the attack itself bypassed the man's armor, making direct contact with his aura. As it was more powerful the stronger the target was, the soul that resided within the armor was very almost vaporized.

Somehow, Jin knew this alone wouldn't be enough to vanquish the intensity that he could discern clearly with his Chaos Sight. He would have to try harder and unleash everything he had, and that was exactly what he did, forcing into the attack his entire self. There were very few attacks in the multiverse that could hope to seriously endanger the existence of an Omni, but this just so happened to be one of them, with the spiritual flames igniting and following the thread through time that led to the location of his actual soul. It truly seemed like it would reach that forbidden area and annihilate it, extinguishing time itself in the process. It was almost there. ALMOST - but unfortunately, it stopped inches short of its destination.

When all the energy and ash cleared away, the man who called himself Viligance was left in a state of nothing but complete shock at what had transpired, feeling severely weakened and much less in control of his body all of a sudden.

"H- h- how..."

He panickedly turned his attention to Jin in case the latter unleashed a second attack on the same scale, but...the wounded body of the incredible teenager before him had reverted back to his original, human form, with even Frankram's imposed transformation vanishing.

I see. He sacrificed his own soul in order to damage me... Thinking about this occurrence, he picked up the gauntlet and reattached it with magic before turning his attention elsewhere. To think that out of all the people in the multiverse, I had to encounter these two...

Soon enough, the sound of extremely loud metal clangings and laser beams from up on the fourth level caught his attention, and Viligance immediately knew what was happening.

The current situation was unfavorable. The Divine needed to retreat. Now.

The Desert Seth (WIP)

[spoiler=John Jay Who?]

The Gentleman

The Gentleman dressed in a suit wandered the Desert Seth boredly, the red cloak wrapped around him shielding him from its penetrating light. It was hard to wear over his Victorian Tophat, but he managed. "Looks like I've been separated from the others..." He wasn't too bothered about this, but was slightly annoyed, and thought to himself that he should've joined a team like most of the others were. Oh well, it was too late for that now. With a shrug, he just continued on.

After about twenty minutes of contianed patience, it seemed like he wasn't making any progress, the desert stretching on forever and ever, and there was no sign of the pyramid which he'd been told about.. Could it be that he was heading in the wrong direction?

He'd encountered several sand-like creatures which he'd all dispatched using electricity, but apart from that, nothing. With no method or communication, or really, anything at all to help him find his way, he was practically lost.

Maybe I should turn around and go in the other direction.

By the time the thought occurred to him, however, it was already too late. Far off in the distance, he saw a large purple laser erupt into the skies, which was quickly followed by the sand before his feet giving way, disappearing into nothingness.
W- wait, what's happening?!

His attempts to outrun the collapse of the Desert Seth were futile, and as soon as his feet lost the ground, he plummeted deep into a dark abyss below. An empty, infinite void filled with nothing but nothingness. Here, nothing existed. Everything was fated to sucumb to entropy. Everything was fated to disappear. Life could not exist here. Nothing could exist here, and thus as a natural result of this, the life and the existence of the Gentleman was unraveled.

And so he ceased to exist.

The Sphere Forest of the Periphery (WIP)
 

 

As impossible as it sounded, he woke up. Not to clouds and heavy rain, but to a brilliant sun and a bright sky. The intensity of the light pained his reawoken eyes, but it meant nothing to him. It seemed that the rest of his senses and body functions had recovered, and that the wound had disappeared, though his right eye remained blind. This in itself was not surprising. Though his clothes remained as tattered as they were before, his body had since regained itself.

He was alive. Not dead, but alive. Conscious. He should've been surprised, but he felt nothing. A hollowness, as if he'd been expecting it to happen. With a blank look, he stared up at the sky.

"I see you've awoken." An unfamiliar voice remarked to him. Female.

The gaze of Madara moved subtly over to the side, and saw not a woman but a crimson horse. No - she was standing next to it, and had the strangest apppearance he had ever seen. He couldn't see her clearly for some reason, but he was able to make out her foreign clothing, metal arms, silver hair, nearby floating sphere, and most importantly, a unique look in her eyes that was not unlike his own. He did not need any convincing, for he immediately understood that she came from another world. Accepting this at face value, he did not question her existence, nor her presence. The very fact that he was alive meant that she intended no harm. At least for now.

"Did you save me?" He asked nevertheless.

"No. It took you more than a week, but it seemed that your right eye activated as you'd previously planned, and Izanagi revived you." She replied in a blunt manner.

"I see. Good." The shinobi nodded to himself, closing his eyes momentarily in satisfaction with this answer. "If it were not so, to have been helped by a stranger would have nothing but an insult, especially one as alien as you."

The woman showed no reaction to his words, and simply went on. "I am Ophelia, Administrator of the Maximus Labs."

"And I am Uchiha Madara." He smiled, not to her for it would be pointless, but to himself. "Unfortunately, in this current circumstance, I have no title that I can hold to my name, though there was once a point where I was called the God of Shinobi."

"Your title is irrelevant. All I need is Madara, the one who wishes to change the world." At that, he was a little taken off-guard, but then relaxed as he reasoned that after everything he'd been through, something like this wasn't surprising.

"So you know what I desire?"

"Yes. In fact, I have selected you precisely because of that." It was only to be expected. Someone like him - why else would he be chosen? "As we speak, there is a war going on between two sides, the Counter Corps and the Divine. What's being waged is a place called the Door of Origin, which has the power to rewrite all of reality. One side wishes to keep things as they are, while the other side wishes to change it into their own image."

"How childish... And selfish." Madara remarked.

"Indeed. You are among the few that truly understand how reality works and how it should be. That is what I have concluded from my data."

As he got up, exercising his body just to affirm that nothing had gone wrong during his revival, Ophelia proceeded to explain about various other things, including the Origin War that was going on and the promise that the Door held. Apparently, she herself was incapable of using the Key due to her nature, and she'd also selected another man aside from him. Some kind of Shinigami named Sykes. He knew instinctively that they wouldn't get along, but it did not matter for now.

Once the Reyvateil was finished, silence passed between the two, only for the horse to break it by letting out a loud, disgusting snort at which point Madara was tempted to question its presence, since surely anyone who came from another world wouldn't need such a creature. "What a crude method of transportation you have."

Confusion crossed Ophelia's face. "I'm sorry? By what are you referring to?"

"The horse."

"Horse? That would be ridiculous. I have no reason to ride one."

It seemed as though she could not see it. The crimson- no, blood-vermillion horse with a thick mane and empty eyes that was standing right beside her. Perhaps it was some kind of spirit that was only visible through the power of his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, or perhaps it was nothing more than a manifestation of his mind. Whichever the case, only Uchiha Madara was capable of seeing this horse, and as of yet, its significance was unclear.

"Hm." Madara paused, thinking to himself for a bit. "Never mind, it is irrelevant."

 

 

~~~ THE PRESENT ~~~

Elsewhere, in a Crystal Cave

"...I've gleamed nothing from this." The dark man muttered once Delta had finished showing him what he'd requested. If he felt any regret or emotion over what had happened to all those whom had perished, he did not show it. To show any weakness in front of her would be highly dangerous, after all. "Show me the battle with the Madara again. I still don't understand anything about it. Nothing about it makes any sense."

"Well, I think that it should be pretty obvious once you put all the pieces together."

"Stop playing games with me and tell me straight what I need to know, dammit!" Beginning to get fed up with her nonetheless, he drew his sword, its essence appearing to emanate a tremendous power, as if containing something extraordinarily powerful.

However, even with this impressive aura, Delta was not in the slightest bit perturbed, as she continued on in her usual manner.

"Now, now, don't get too cocky, Tao King. DATEA's tolerance of doing business with your kind has a limit, you know." She paused. "If you wanna know more, I'm afraid you'll have to pay...a little extra. And by extra, I mean triple."

"Don't underestimate me." The Tao King warned. By then, it was highly apparent that he had nothing but hatred for the woman. "I am more than willing to pay that price, if it means more insight into this war the multiverse is being waged over."

"Sure, sure."

Snapping her fingers again, the projection shifted back to the boss battle happening in the Rejected World, where the Madara had by then split into four different selves and engaged different people.

"It calls itself 'the Madara'. Why do you think that is?"

"Because it's Madara, of course." He replied in an annoyed tone, as if this should be obvious. "He somehow returned from the sun, and now he's become this thing."

"Nope, nope, wrong." Delta waved him off. "The crimson centaur you see before you views the word Madara not as a name but as a title. A plaque for itself, if you like. Sure, it has the qualities of Madara, but only of the things he symbolized. The things that pushed him onwards and made up his will. All those lesser emotions Madara used to feel have been shaved away."

"You're not making any sense."

"Hmm, what's another way to put it... It's like the process of fossilization. Let's say we have a tyrannosaurus rex, it dies someplace, and then over time its organic parts erode away, and its bone remnants are then fossilized over millions and millions of years until everything that used to compose the T-Rex is gone, leaving nothing but earth in the same overall shape. So I guess you could say that the Madara is a fossil of Uchiha Madara."

"...A fossil. Hm. But that still doesn't explain many things. For example, Ophelia retrieved the crimson blob before Isamy even-"

"Just curious, but did your father ever teach you about the theory of closed universes?" Delta asked.

At the question, the Tao King hesitated. "He's not my father. And no. He never really taught me anything apart from how to hate others."

"Okay, well, to put it simply, there's a theory that when a universe ends, instead of staying like that, it repeats itself in the exact same manner. The Big Bang occurs in the exact same way, and everything that happens afterwards could be called the 'exact same thing', since there is no error even on an atomic level."

To exemplify her point, she projected a tiny, blue-glowing point which then exploded and expanded outwards into a vast network of stars, further growing until the whole thing collapsed and disappeared, wherein another point appeared and exploded and expanded in the exact same manner. A repeating cycle.

"So...?"

"But let's say there was an error. Let's say, someone was stupid enough to kick one of the strongest beings in the multiverse into the sun without even ensuring his death." The points changed into the familiar figure of a girl kicking a man with long black hair off into a far off circle which represented the sun. "Then let's say that he himself was stupid enough to use Izanagi on himself so he could enter a dormant state until he finds a way to escape. Then he spends the next, oh I don't know, ten billion years sleeping while living on the sun, but here's the thing - no help comes. He spends the rest of his life there until the sun goes supernova, leaving him to drift in space until the universe's end eons later. Pitiful fate."

"That still doesn't explain-"

Delta let out a sigh at his attitude. "I. Am. Getting. There. Though it's a little iffy. Normally, nothing should be able to carry over when the universe repeats itself. But, he did. Truth be told, he shouldn't even have lasted that long. Even if he can manipulate reality to an extent, there's no way at all he could've survived on his own. No, something must've forcefully dragged him all the way into the next universe. Something which consists of a greater power. And since there's only one thing like that, it can only be..."

"The...Key of Origin, perhaps?"

"Yes! You're starting to get it!" Delta clapped her hands, feigning delight at her client finally being able to catch up with her overly complex explanation. "I don't know why, but it chose Madara for a reason, going to the lengths of bringing him all the way here. Perhaps something extremely significant occurred that we of DATEA are not aware of, that made it pick him out for a reason. Perhaps it was related to the reason Isamy kicked him in the first place, which was, in and of itself, rather abrupt as far as we know. Her thought process has never been stable, but even that was uncalled for."

The tiny images faded away so that the duo could focus back on the main one before them.

"Anyway, the conversion into the new universe must've damaged him to the point that all that's left is his uh, 'fossilized will'. Thus, his newfound blob form eventually came into contact with the sun again. It probably multiplied in order to ensure its own survival and to ensure that one would be found, which is where Ophelia comes along."

"And here we are." Though both exasperated and confused by Delta's explanation, the Tao King shook his head as he tried to comprehend it all. "I think I get the gist of it. But then what does that make the Madara? And if he's a fossil, then why's he attacking everyone? How is he even able to take a form and do that?"

"I should think it's simple. Just as the Key is using Madara, his will is using the Key. It's like a symbiotic relationship. The will defends the Key, and in return, the Key aids his will trying to find what it wants."

"What does it want, then? And for that matter... What is the Key exactly? Are you saying that it has a mind of its own?"

"Now that, you'll just have to see for yourself."

"You can't be serious."

"Well, if you want, I'll give you a hint. The Madara has only one power. But it's this power which now embodies the will of Madara." Refusing to explain things further to the baffled Tao King, she simply stepped aside in order to let him continue to monitor events in the Rejected World...


~ ~ ~


ザまだら

As each of the four Madara copies were struck, all of them but the one containing the Key of Origin burst into crimson glitter after a few moments, almost like a confetti explosion. It seemed that their existences were too unstable, and that it was only something that the Madara had tried out without really knowing if it would work or not.
 
However, the one that remained was quick to defend itself along with the Key contained within the chest. The dragon subject called Red had assaulted it with some kind of elemental blast infused with different elements, but it was protected itself by momentarily hardening the same way Mad Blood did. Plowing through the attack, a gap was formed but unfortunately it closed up again before whatever Alister was planning with his Chronoscepter could be done.

The final Madara's halt stopped, and it- no, and he took a second to observe the entire situation. He had just lost another three-fourth of his power inexplicably, making him weaker than before, but at the same time...he was beginning to feel it. To feel the same thing everyone else was feeling. Sentience. Emotions. A proper existence.

However,

"I DO NOT YET KNOW."

He spoke not in Japanese, but in a language everyone could comprehend telepathically, his voice deep but hollow, his blank face looking at the sky above. The ground was shaking violently at his mere words, which held with them a tremendous intensity.

"...EVEN AFTER ALL THIS REFLECTION, I DO NOT YET KNOW HOW BEST TO EXECUTE 'INFINITE TSUKUYOMI', THE PERFECT WORLD."
 
The final Madara continued to harden his body until his energy form now appeared solid like granite. Lances formed in both his left and his right hand, both with the same solid quantities.

In a way, he was in his final stage of development, the fossil having been given the same basic functions that its base had possessed. However, in order to reach that point, he had taken far too much damage by outside energies, to the point that only a tenth remained of the power the Madara had at the start of the battle.

"LAW AND DESIRE, TRUTH AND DREAMS, GOOD AND EVIL, ORDER AND CHAOS. EXISTENCE ITSELF IS A CONTRADICTION, BUT WITHIN THE PERFECT WORLD, ALL THESE CONTRADICTIONS MUST BE IGNORED. WHO AMONGST THOU IS WILLING TO OFFER ME INSIGHT INTO THIS MATTER?"

Even though he was far weaker now, now only the size of a normal ship, this newfound awareness of his own self would allow him to analyze the others far easier. He needed to understand everything about each of his subjects. Their pasts. Their beliefs. Their achievement and goals. The more they've struggled, the more proof he has of the 'world that should be'. Not a detail must be missed if he was to meld all these qualities and project a dream consisting of perfection. Gods and children were of no use to him due to their lack of understanding of reality. If two worlds were to be combined, then each world would fix the contradiction that the other world had. This was the logic that the Madara would run by.

"...I SHALL RECOMMENCE THE INVESTIGATION WITH YOUR LIVES."

As if responding to the feelings of the Madara, the Rejected World's stormclouds suddenly began letting out volleys of lightning that struck the ground, while the vermillion centaur himself stampeded away from Alister. Lances in hand, he launched one towards the most immediate threat Slifer the Sky Dragon, while he gripped the other one tightly and began blindly but rapidly stabbing at every living thing within a range of fifty meters - its range of attack.

It appeared to have no destination in particular though it was heading in the direction of Arthur, but anyone near it would noticeably feel a throbbing headache, which was only stronger the more they'd lived and suffered genuinely in their own lives. It wasn't their powers that he was copying or learning, it was their ideals and memories. In other words, he was studying them all while putting everything he learned from them to practical use, while trying to come up with the perfect solution to his dilemma. Before, he'd been selectively picking them out, but now he was focusing on them all.
 
Simply put, the Madara had begun to actually fight seriously.

[Love of Ghibli]

The specters all looked with quite disappointment as three of the Madara's seemed to just pop out of existence. It was pretty interesting though it appeared that the creature cannot detach from the shiny object. However as the specters began to regroup and attack the last standing centaur. As they began to gather for some kind of massive counterattack they all had to pause as they all heard the massive beast speak the commoners tongue. The creature started to rant about contradictions and and some kind of life issues. The massive ship creature seemed to be something that started developing emotions. A tad deflating sure but it would be something that there is something quite entertaining. As the specters ran towards the creature the ground apparently started to shatter and floating upward in the wake of it power. If anything it would just add more fun for the specters that couldn't fly. The specters decided to fight through the impending headache of having their lives scanned. Well in this case it would be their after lives but that was besides the point. If the Madara was just now getting serious then he would have some serious competition. 

As he thrashed about and made his way towards the floating Water Dragon he would feel a mighty tug on one of his lances COSMIC MARIONETTE!!! Minos literally attached his thin threads one of the lances and used his strength to keep the Madara from moving any further. HAHAHA who would of thought something bold enough to take on Thanos would have such a fragile mind! The specter boasted. But he wasn't alone jumping from panel to floating earth panel was three other Specters who made it on the scene. BRUTAL REALITY!!! Screamed Behemoth Violate ask she put her Cosmos into her foot and stomped on one of the Madara's hands. Contradictions are inevitable. If you aren't manly enough to deal with them, then perish.  Aimed at the orange centaurs legs were two other attacks made by specters. GREED THE LIVE!! Shouted Harpy Valentine as he shot a combination of hot wind and lasers whose sole purpose was to drain the lifeforce out of one of the ship sized centaurs legs. Another leg was hit with a massive whirlwind coming from Basilisk Sylphid. ANNIHILATION FLAP! There is no such thing about a world without contradictions! A world without contradictions is its own contradiction for contradictions help shape the world.

 

You desire a perfect world? Radamanthys slowly said as he floated from above. Then your mind is equivalent to that of a child. Concluded Aiacos also hovering above. Those who are this lost have no business talking to the found! Radamanthys finalized with his Cosmos flaring. Out of nowhere though it seemed that in between the definite void that was the Rejected World's new base and the Madara's footing appeared to be a strange grid like pattern that seemed to come out of nowhere. By itself the attack didn't mean or do much in fact to call it an attack was pretty liberal. It was more akin to a movement. Another Dimension...Aspros said quite softly as he stood simply settled on a piece of floating debris ground. I admit you gave me quite a scare there with that tantrum. I have literally been killed and brought back to life three times now. Am I living contradiction in your mind? Aspros asked quite coy. But why use a move like Another Dimension you ask?

First Another Dimension wasn't used on "the Madara" it was used on everyone else! Aspros needed to move everyone out of the way so they wouldn't get hit with what's coming next. In the distance Deutros seemingly walked out of nowhere with both of his hands glowing. We are the Saints of Gemini. Our cloths are said to be forged by the God Hephestaus himself. Our right hand holds the power of creation and our left holds the power of destruction. Witness the ultimate technique of the Gemini Saint embrace your perfect world along with many others. GALAXIAN EXPLOSION!! Everyone would get to see as the backdrop turned from the Rejected World to the grandness of outspace as countless planets rushed towards the Madara and proceeded to explode upon impact. 

[Dad]

Kratos

 

There were noticeable differences in the battle just before Kratos struck his cloned Madara target.  The air thinned, ever so slightly, for a fraction of a second.  The standing place of the clone seemed to warp as the Madara clone turned it's head.  And sure enough, as Kratos brought down his spear, the clone exploded into thin air before the blow was dealt.  Looking around cautiously, he was able to observe the other Madara clones exploding as well, until only one Madara, "the Madara", remained.  It almost seemed as though the beast was agitated by it's failed clones, as it began to babble on about "law and desire", "truth and ideals", swinging wildly about.  Kratos simply ducked to avoid the strikes, as he listened to the subjective terms lost to the world of man.  These were "concepts", not facts.  And Kratos had no use for the lazy man's "ideals".  He prepared a reply, but suddenly Madara was whisked away, or so he thought.  It turns out that every other participant in the fight, save for some of the Specters from the Underworld.  What happened next was beyond Kratos' comprehension.  A series of planets were hurled at the creature, exploding in a marvel of stars.

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

The Rejected World:

Foster and Otto, having not been shifted to Another Dimension due to their remoteness, puzzled over the readings their instruments were picking up. This...thing...that kept attacking everyone down there, seemed to be an utter impossibility, as much as the landscape around them. The dome of dark matter surrounding this place was the main problem, as it was being held in place by...something...

"This battlefield is too small. And we don't even know if we can escape once that monster is defeated."

"Agreed. But how do we move dark matter?"

"We don't. We destroy it."

Foster paused and looked to Bradley's display, an eyebrow raised in perplexed but intrigued curiosity. "Destroy it?"

"I am pulling up the schematic now. This should be able to breach the dome, combined with a secondary weapon of some magnitude."

Both men's confused faces turned to intense studiousness, then lit up nearly simultaneously as they realized what they had available.

"But we will need this ship's missiles to fire this weapon..."

"Leaving either the secondary guns..."

"Or the primary..."

Otto looked to one side, while Foster looked to the other, gazing out of the cockpit at the largest of the ship's armaments.

"Brad, how are we looking on getting these puppies ready to fire again?"

"These were designed for a degree of continuous fire, but not long. All subsystems seem nominal, though we will need to begin the first phase so we can have the power for the second."

"Agreed. Let's get cracking, boys. Otto, make sure anyone still onboard is ready to batten down the hatches. Bradley, let's go to work."

As Otto left and Foster started to type in orders, machinery within the wings of the Inch of Will went to work, receiving the commands from the AI in charge to start construction on the blueprints. Special fabrication modules within the wings were designed to replicate the pattern of a warhead and attach it to a variety of projectiles, giving the ship some added firepower. Here, these alcoves synthesized the exotic elements fro mthe very air itself, assembling the missiles one moecule at a time, in rapid succession, almost as if they were being made through magic. Finally, the completed warhead descended along a belt feed to await in its place, an on-demand missile ready to fire. Once the group had enough, Foster unleashed a dozen purple streaks from their bays within the former Manta's wings. These strange missiles, tipped with obsidian pellets, spread out before closing in on a single spot that the trio had designated, before Foster prepared himself. The railguns crackled and pulsed to life, also taking aim for the target. His aim and timing would have to be impeccable. Too soon, and the blast would be caught in the overlapping Thanatonium Corrosion Fields the Corrosion Warheads would create upon detonation. Too late, and whatever effect the Fields might have would be rendered moot. As if on cue, a dozen missiles met their mark, impacting with the side of the dome, the hexagonal spheres forming and deteriorating away at the dark matter with their graviton-induced singularities. Anyone looking up and in a certain distance would see the bright detonations, before, faster than a blink, a pair of twin lances struck out from above to hit the detonations as they faded. These special railgun rounds carried mass effect accelerators that quickly sent them to near-superluminal speeds, hopefully being enough to pierce through the dome and see what was on the other side.

 

Ayame's Mind:

Yuki and her dragon swooped down towards the ruins, seeing the lightning striking from their target as more of the void dragons directed their efforts on the true invader, like white blood cells protecting their body from an invading pathogen. However, they didn't count on "XYZ SUMMON!!! HIERATIC SUN DRAGON OVERLORD OF HELIOPOLIS!!!" On cue, two of the dragons combined together, creating a swirling red portal from which a massive gold and red dragon emerged, grabbing the attackers with its crushing talons to take them down. On the other side came "XYZ SUMMON!!! NUMBER 17: LEVIATHAN DRAGON!!!" making another portal, this one more galaxy-shaped, and out came a spiked sphere that unraveled into a more serpentine dragon, smaller than the silver one. It acted as an escort, its mistress riding on it to defend Yuki from enemy attacks. Finally, Yuki reached out for Ayame's staff, and pulled her up in a pass, bringing her onto the dragon, and touched her forehead, completing the connection deep into Ayame's mind. With full control over the girl, the nightmare stopped, and Yuki told her. "You are needed back where we are right now." The psychic hug the young woman softly to calm her and reassure her. "You don't need to be afraid. I will be here with you. I promise." And with that, Yuki dissolved everything to white, pulling Ayame's subconsciousness back to the forefront so she could wake up.

 

The Rejected World:

 

Izumi roared, her rage warping her appearance to become more bestial and monstrous, ripped through the last shreds of Ophelia's Tower, melting her way through the metal. What was once Ophelia's Tower was now molten slag, pools of it scattered about the craters of the Rejected World. The former redhead was now a draconic humanoid made of molten metal, brilliant flames billowing from slots in her back like wings while her front chest, maw, and lower limbs glowed brightly from their intense heat. She turned her attention to the sounds above, to the brilliant flashes, and then to the massive attacker above, whom...she recognized. The massive face of the creature could only be Madara Uchiha, once she, as Itsu, had learned about from another traveler from the series of universes where he enacted a great war against mankind. Itsu had visited some of the worlds were he failed, and a few where he had succeeded. Within Itsu's fractured, sporadic memory, these faint glimpses into her own past were just barely enough for her to regather her cohesion, and enact a plan against Madara's next move. She jetted up towards the Inch of Will, floating as it recharged itself, and spread out her form, turning it into a much more fluid substance while trying to direct her heat and flames downwards as she kept the ship aloft. Hopefully, her divine essence would be enough to shield the occupants from the horror of joining Madara, not entirely sure about herself being protected...

[Phantom Roxas]

Arthur

Arthur had no idea what Lydia was thinking, but her plea was enough to make him understand how important the hat was to her. He reached out one of his clawed hands and took the hat, putting it on his head. "Are you sure this will work? Fire isn't my thing, you know. Other kids like me could do that, but that's because they have a different dad. Hephaestus. Still… thank you. I mean, if my dad's the sun god, that's got to account for something, right?" Looking back to the area where the Tower once was, Arthur could see the smoke finally clearing. Somehow, Slifer had once again appeared, but there was something… different about him. Then, Arthur saw it. He saw her. Eria had become one with the god. The same god that Dorian had tried to use to almost kill her and Arthur. The same god that Butlerok had fused with.

He wanted to run to her after she destroyed a serpent just as quickly as it had appeared, but something was happening with the centaurs. Three of them suddenly exploded at the same time. It didn't look like any of the people attacking them had done the trick, it's just that they simply died on their own, each of them in the same way. While it was good, Arthur was more confused than excited. Not that any excitement would last for long, though. There was still one more centaur, and it began to change. It's liquid form had changed to a solid. It formed lances in its hand, a noticeable change from the swords it was using before. Then it launched one of the lances at Eria.

Arthur kicked against Sleipnir, commanding him to run after Eria, but the monster had already started its next wave of attacks. It stabbed around with its other lance, talking about a perfect world. Through all of it, through each swing, it spoke of contradictions, hoping that killing everyone would somehow make him understand. But with each attack it made, the beast paid no mind to who would be struck, though it was getting closer to Arthur. "Run!" he shouted at Lydia as he made Sleipnir run away from the centaur. Sleipnir kept running, but Arthur was looking back, the monster continuing to attack indiscriminately, yet still getting closer. When it had closed in on Arthur, it raised a lance over him. Arthur's head shook, the lance striking the ground just next to Sleipnir, forcing Sleipnir to shake, throwing Arthur around on the horse's back. The Madara reached the lance out of ground, and was prepared to strike again. Arthur held a clawed hand to his face while he used the other to point his Keyblade at the Madara. Four streams of fire shot out of the Keyblade, though for all Arthur could tell, they could have just missed his target.

Memories kept flashing through his mind. A young girl whose face Arthur could barely recognize beyond a smile. MirageGaogamon, back when he was Strabimon, destroying an Ogremon. A Digimon, garbed in red and blue armor, wielding a sword just as big as himself, slicing it through Lucemon and gigantic three-headed dragon. Arthur jumping down on the other side of a fence, hearing a scream, only for that to be silenced while a club came crashing through the fence. A cabin filled with kids, some older than Arthur, most of them younger, while Arthur lied in his bed, burying his head under his pillow. Chiron talking to him, Baxter, and Samuel, giving them their quest. Locomon carrying Arthur back to the Digital World. Ogudomon towering over Arthur and MachGaogamon. Isamy extending her hand to Arthur to bring him to the Divine.

Arthur could feel himself reliving all of it. Everything. He felt himself reaching out to take Isamy's hand. To join to the Divine all over again. To make his promise to create a world without gods. To wish for the death of his own father. But as he was to take Isamy's hand, he saw that he wasn't reaching out to her. He was reaching out to that smiling girl. "Alexandra…?" Then it wasn't just her anymore. He saw Strabimon, then the knight Digimon, Susanoomon. His fake parents. His real father. Chiron. Baxter and Samuel. Strabimon changing into MachGaogamon. All of them lined up on both sides of him. The next thing he knew, he was running through a void, taking steps on the nothing below him. He wanted to run past all of them, but he couldn't. Every time he ran past them, they appeared next to him all over again. There was something at the end of it, though. He knew that much. He kept running and running and running, until he could feel two hands against his wrists. Sora was holding onto his right hand, while Eria held his left. Both of them were holding him by his wrists. Whatever was at the end, it was getting closer. Arthur tried to shake free of Sora and Eria's grip, but they wouldn't let go. They weren't even looking at him. They could only stare past him with blank expressions on their face. Looking back up, he found Isamy floating in the air, staring down at him.

"What's going on?" he could only ask, but no one answered. Isamy merely stared at him, judging him as she usually would. Arthur waited, hoping that she'd at least say something, but it was useless. "First he tries to kill me and a bunch… now he's chasing me. Why…" He thought about it. What the Madara had said. "Because I'm a demigod?" Behind him, Susanoomon began to fade, while MachGaogamon changed, growing into MirageGaogamon. His parents, whether they were really his or not, began to take steps towards him. Chiron rolled on his wheelchair, and Baxter and Samuel followed after Chiron. Alexandra turned around, and began walking way, only to stop when Arthur spoke again. "No," Arthur said. "I'm more than that." Samuel, Baxter, and his parents faded, disappearing like dust to the wind. Apollo stepped forward while Chiron faded as well. "I helped save the Digital World. Neo, Flamemon, all of us. I'm already a hero." MirageGaogamon activated his Burst Mode. Above him, Isamy seemed to "blink" from mind his mind. Her right arm began to be surrounded by a golden light, and Isamy's stare changed to a look of surprise.

"I left the Divine to be with MirageGaogamon, but there's more to the Counter Corps than just him," MirageGaogamon roared, his image transforming into a small, dark blue ball that began to spin above Arthur. Arthur smiled, wrapping his hand around Eria's. "I met some fantastic people there." This time, Eria looked back. She formed a smile, before she also began to change. Her body glowed and became a light blue ball. It took its place above Arthur, spinning around him next to the one formed from MirageGaogamon. Isamy's left right was covered the same golden light as her right arm, and Isamy descended down, standing, but scowling at Arthur. "I know you're not the real thing," Arthur told her. "I thought I was done with hating myself after destroying Apocrypha, but there's just so much to remember. That's what this monster likes, after all, but if I did learn one thing in the forest, it's that I'm not going to let that stop me. Sora took a chance on me, someone he barely knew! If any of the Divine still want to fight in your name, they're even bigger idiots than me." Arthur broke his hand free from Sora, who joined MirageGaogamon and Eria, taking the form of a green ball. Isamy's right leg now glowed, bringing down Arthur's image of the Herald of Chaos and Entropy to her knee.

Arthur turned around, looking at the only people standing behind him right now. Apollo and Alexandra were both smiling, waiting to see what Arthur would do next. "I know I won't be able to see everyone again. Up there, I was thinking that, maybe, I could just destroy the gate to the Digital World. Stop other people from having to go through what I did. I thought that the Counter Corps are supposed to keep the worlds separate. I've been running from one part of my life, then I started bragging about getting rid of the other part that I was hiding in." He walked up to Apollo and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You can hear me, can't you, you monster?" He asked, looking up at nothing in particular. "You're listening to my thoughts. My history." Arthur held out his hands, and Apollo disappeared while a golden ball of light appeared above Arthur. "I don't know what will happen when this is all over, but if you want advice, I'll give it to you." He stretched out a hand to Alexadra, and the young girl disappeared as well, the last ball of light, a white one, joining the other four. Facing Isamy once more, his image of the Herald was completely engulfed in light, save for her head.

"I've lived most of my life thinking that one world was the only one I'd have. I ran away from what I thought was real to me, and pretended that I belonged somewhere else, but I was about to throw even that away." Arthur reached within the circle of balls of light, while Isamy managed to stand up. "I keep doing this. Trying to make a big show and lying to myself. But if I can make it this far because of everything I've learned because of those worlds, and the people who've helped me, I know one thing." The five balls of light collided together, while Arthur began to draw from it. In his hand he held a red and gold Keyblade. The end of the Keyblade was shaped like a sun, with a large ruby in the center of it, while flame-shaped edges formed the teeth of the Keyblade. "I don't have to throw away anything." Arthur swung his Keyblade, beheading the image of Isamy. Her body fell to the ground, scattering into shards of light. It shouldn't be satisfying to cut down a memory of Isamy, but it was.

Then, Arthur woke up to the sounds of planets destroying each other. His eyes flashed open, and he was out of whatever the Madara was putting him through. He stood up, his feet scratching against the ground of the Rejected World. At least, he thought it was the Rejected World. There were grid lines all around him, but it looked like he was still in the Rejected World. Instead of the Madara, though, he saw a powerful explosion consuming the monster. Arthur's first instinct, as usual, was to draw out his Keyblade. He braced himself for the explosion to spread far enough to reach him, casting an Aero spell to protect himself. However, he felt nothing. The explosion went past him like he was a ghost. His eyes shined with sunlight as he waited for the explosion to die down. "Just die already…"