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

[Reinforce]

Chandra

Pathway of Truth: C6

 

Bursts of fire clashing against one another, the fire mage and her opponent had moved slightly away from the other two. As her masked opponent continued to throw fire at her, Chandra backed off slightly, jumping off the phoenix she'd still been flying on and sending it to attack. With the masked being having to contend with a firebird for a moment, Chandra took the opportunity to ready her next spell. With a swipe of her hand, she sent an Arc Blade flying towards her opponent, only for it to be blocked and seemingly fizzle out of existence afterwards. However, Chandra smiled slightly as she moved forward and to the side for her next spell, catching a glimpse of the Arc Blade as it appeared from her previous position once more to fly at her opponent again. With a flick of her hand, a Searing Spear flew out towards the other mage, reaching them just as they was blocking the reappeared Arc Blade. Unfortunately, they were both blocked as well, and Chandra had to dash back to avoid the return volley as Jace's thoughts suddenly started to find their way into her mind once more.

 

"Who's this Omni supposed to be anyway?"

 

Ending Location: Still C6

[Tesability Black]

~Counter Corps - Path of Death - Neos' & Arturia's POV~
 
"And as for you, a******, I have a problem with people executing others in general," Neos belted out toward Emiya, the voice sounding as if it came from multiple directions at once.
 
Despite the insult directed towards him, there was no response amidst the smoke, leaving the duo no choice but to advance further through the massive corridor if they hoped to encounter the assassin. There was no way that he would come out on his own as he was a long-ranged fighter, more suited to picking off his opponents from a distance.
 
"Neos, have you been able to pinpoint his location yet?" Arturia asked as the Ditto's doubles searched the area, all the while charging up a high amount of mana throughout her whole body. As soon as their target was found, she'd be able to burst through the flames and strike him down in an instant. After all, no matter how strong he was, he couldn't match her own physical strength - although, chances were that it wouldn't be nearly that simple. "Kiritsugu is a man full of tricks. No doubt he has already prepared more traps for us."
 
"I'm half-tempted to turn into a Ninetales and see how this path handles a f***ing sun showing up in it," he growled in response from multiple directions. "If this path wasn't completely blocking out my Aura Sight, I'd see him already."
 
"Ya know what, f*** it." Five points of light-blue light, faint against the darkness of Death's black, suddenly emerged before all of them became smaller and reforming into five foxlike shapes, the tails splitting into nine on each of them. Once the blue glow was gone, the five began to glow again with the intensity of the sun, a light each of them released into the air to create five points of intense light above them all...
 
The five bright humans were replaced with five cream-colored kitsunes with neon-green eyes and dark-green pupils...
 
"Excellent, Neos!" The Counter Guardian praised.
 
With new sources of massive, intense light, the darkness of the corridor was pushed back and brightened considerably. Arturia enhanced her eyesight to take advantage of this and scanned the area, ultimately locking onto a platform suspended high in the air, far deeper into the corridor than their position, with a dark figure kneeling upon it, apparently next to a large, long and heavy weapon that looked to be a... Was that a rocket launcher?
 
He seemed to have been preparing something else as well, but as soon as his location had been discovered, he promptly pulled and fired the artillery standing beside him. It wasn't just any ordinary rocket launcher either, it seemed, but a modern, state-of-the-art military weapon equipped with homing and multiple simultaneous shots. Hence, four rocket-propelled projectiles sped forth towards them at a destructive speed, quickly closing the distance between them.
 
Without hesitation, Arturia redirected most of her energy into firing out a single blast that destroyed two of the missiles at once, and she leapt forth so that the third would follow her. Then, she slashed her sword outwards, a mana slice shooting forth that cut it in half, causing it to explode in mid-air before it could get within their range. Though, there wasn't much she could do about the fourth as it shot past her, aimed at Neos.
 
A smirk fell upon the muzzle that the rocket was sent flying toward before it seemed to flicker in and out of view before finally disappearing just before the rocket went through where that particular fox was. A swift swoosh ran past Arturia along with a bit of fluff hitting what exposed skin there may be before the double reappeared behind Emyia, claws and fangs exposed to slice this jerkass up.
 
While one was incoming upon the person with the rocket launcher, pockets of intense heat began to surround the other four clones as they all seemed to swish their tails around, allowing one to be able to see how their appearances severely distorted to view before the four released their Heat Waves toward Emiya, hoping to harm the target and destroy the device as well...
 
As soon as the double had materialized behind him, Kiritsugu threw a smokescreen up into the air that promptly erupted, enshrouding the whole raised platform. Using this as a distraction, he pressed a button on the rocket launcher to release the rest, before leaping off, narrowly getting out of the range of the multi-Heat Waves at the same time. Rolling as he hit the floor, five missiles flew up into the air before flying back down, aimed at the five clones.
 
"Are you truly going to serve this so-called leader, knowing that she's keeping secrets away from you?" The assassin asked Neos with his back turned, letting his voice echo out into the air from a distance.
 
Now that he was in sight and back on the ground, Arturia sent out a burst of wind behind her to propel herself forward with incredible speed, her blade held in front of her to stab through him. However, just as she'd nearly reached the man, he revealed the Thompson Contender in his hand, which he promptly fired, forcing her to divert her course somewhat to the left to avoid it. As the Origin Bullet shot past her, the warrior smashed her feet into the ground, kicking up rubble to correct her trajectory and charge back towards him.
 
The slight delay though, was all that he needed as he clicked his fingers and the candles of the corridor went out, leaving the slightly far-back Neos clones as the only source of light and the rest of the place in absolute darkness. Using this as a cover, the man disappeared deeper in.
 
"Coward... Will you not face me directly?!"
 
Taking a step back, Arturia was clearly displeased. As a short-ranged knight, it wasn't easy against a long-ranged gunslinger, especially when he had control over the territory and was able to hide from sight. She would've been able to home in on him much faster if it wasn't for the threat of that gun of his.
 
"We all have our secrets. I even have a few of my own," Neos projected toward those around him, taking advantage of the fact that Ninetales were sometimes capable of telepathic communication to do so. One of the missiles hit its double before it could move away, causing one of the five to dissipate quickly.
 
And yet, there was still five suns in the sky and the Path was mutely screaming at their presence.
 
Knowing he would need something with both speed and the ability to see in the dark, the four remaining doubles rapidly-shifted once more, from the kitsune-like Ninetales to the avian shape of the Pidgeot. A shrill cry left all their beaks as they flew around in the darkness, their eyes faintly glowing in Pursuit of the foe.
 
One double shrieked loudly before taking a dive in the darkness, most-likely the original, after spotting the gunman with speed that could make one wonder if Emiya would even be able to fire a round fast enough at it...
 
Though as the Pidgeot-shaped double began charging towards Kiritsugu, even if it knew where his position was, it couldn't have known what he was doing. Shortly before reaching his location, a small sound like a 'ping' emitted into the double's ear.
 
...No. It wasn't merely a ping, but the sound of death. Lying down on one knee while enshrouded in darkness, he'd fired a muted sniper rifle at the incoming target right between its eyes, the bullet planting itself into its brain before it even knew. While the absolute darkness made night-vision practically useless, the dim-glowing eyes of these birds were themselves a signal that made it much easier to know where to aim. He promptly pointed the rifle at another, further-off bird before firing at it as well.
 
His opponents were a short-ranged Counter Guardian with high amounts of mana and control over the wind, along with a creature capable of transformation and multiplication. The former wasn't a threat so long as he kept a distance and maintained his assault, but the latter could be somewhat troublesome if not dealt with quickly. Thus far, he couldn't tell which one was the original, so he'd have to pick them off one by one.

Although, he wasn't able to get a third shot in as a torrent of wind rushed towards his whole position, apparently sweeping through the entire area. Realizing what was going on, he placed something onto the ground before getting up and running further in.
 
"Found you!"
 
Even without being able to see in this darkness, something as minor as lack of sight couldn't possibly be enough to cripple a Counter Guardian. In a manner not unlike echolocation, she'd unleashed a gust of wind that covered the whole area before returning back useful data, such as telling her the positions of all anomalies.
 
Charging up mana at the tip of her blade, she unleashed it in the direction of where Kiritsugu had just been, though judging by how it missed, he must've already figured out how it worked beforehand. The next time, she'd have to do it more subtly.
 
"Now, it would be no fun if I had let that bullet catch his soul, now would it," a voiceless question rang into the air followed by an soundless amused chuckle, even though it would gain no response or acknowledgement.
 
The remaining three had demorphed after the second one had been shot at, the original Neos, though none of them disappeared, oddly enough. One, however, began to move before the other two did within the pitch-black beyond the light of the five suns, allowing itself to rub a small part of its top with a faint semblance of a limb.
 
Last thing it remembered was a bullet going through its transformed head...so, why did it not at least have a headache? Rubbing the spot that the bullet hole would be with the same semblance of limb, it felt...nothing. Nothing that could be anything like a hole of any sort.
 
How was it hit in the head and not have a wound from it?
 
Taking a gulp, it dared to look immediately around itself, catching sight of...
 
...oh, holy Arceus, there was a puddle of transparent yellow ooze upon the ground nearby. But if the ooze was it, why was it still alive?
 
Suspecting intervention, it gulped before transforming all three doubles at once when the others awoke as well, the trio taking on their own copy of a man dressed in blue attire with an ornate blue cloak to complete the ensemble. However, the eyes that glowed faintly in the dark were still the same neon-green instead of the blue the man he transformed into would have. "Sorry, Jace, but I need to borrow this," he muttered to himself in another's voice before closing his eyes and scanning the area psychically for the foe...
 
While Neos searched psychically, Arturia continued to search through her own method, letting out a gradual, periodic breeze from her body to sweep the immediate area, all the while further advancing into the darkness.
 
Meanwhile, much further in was a steep trench where Kiritsugu was kneeling under, with various weaponry and devices about. Having now equipped thermal goggles, they proved to be effective as he was able to clearly discern the opponents standing from a distance, still looking about. It appeared that the knight's ally had assumed a human form along with its clones, and by the looks of it, it must've been a kind of magus, the implications of which weren't too good for him.
 
Understanding that at this rate, his position would be discovered sooner or later, it was time to get on the offensive from where he was. Carrying two more rocket launchers - with a homing grid and thermal-vision installed, each with a set of eight explosives missiles - towards the edge, he promptly fired them all simultaneously, and a series of sixteen large projectiles were fired up into the air before shooting back downwards to annihilate their designated targets in the dark.
 
“Hm…?!”
 
Just as Arturia had sensed an anomaly in the ground, six projectiles came rushing towards her, with ten more towards Neos and his duplicates judging by the other similar sources of sound. Did he really think that would work after having failed with it before? Determining the source of the sound of where it came from, it appeared that Kiritsugu was fifty meters up ahead. She’d have to close in on that distance without getting hit, but not that that was too much of a difficult task for her.
 
Charging up mana at the tip of her blade, her feet immediately launched themselves forward from the ground, kicking up dust as she started her charge forward. As the various missiles swerved in to her, she let out a burst of energy to her left to throw her body to the side, avoiding them. Yet, just as she did so, she rolled over by instinct, and a tiny, extremely faint ‘ping’ went flying past her. A much smaller bullet from a muffled sniper rifle. Of course, there was no way he was going to let her approach that easily - but she wouldn’t be deterred.
 
“Emiya Kiritsugu, you can’t hide forever!”
 
And with that, she resumed her charge, the projectiles taking an U-turn in the air so as to attempt intercepting her once more, confident that Neos would be able to provide sufficient backup.
 
As for the false human himself, he began to hear strange mechanical sounds in the darkness, the three clones all turning their heads toward the source to see a literal barrage of missiles flying at them. However, the one Neos suspected firing them at him and the doubles knew not the tricks his various forms that that he recalled ever so clearly. Bringing their hands in front of them and crossing their arms into an X-shape, a barrier of pale-blue light appeared around them, causing the missiles to explode against them.
 
He had managed to Protect himself from the onslaught of metal. “Thank Arceus I wove that move into this form,” one clone muttered to himself before dropping the barrier of light around them and allowed the other two doubles to fade...only they didn’t. “What the…?” Soon only one of the doubles faded and the eyes of the other shifted from the normal neon-green to a vivid red.
 
“I figured would like some aid,” the altered double said with a twisted grin on its face, netting a growl from the green-eyed human.
 
“You couldn’t wait after all, could you, Gemini,” Neos growled. A simple shrug came from the red-eyed double. “...fine, but if you screw us up, I will end it for the both of us.” And with a snap did the duplicate pair rush forward into the darkness toward where the missiles had flown from, one determined to end this fighting, the other...just hoping to get a good show before it was his turn to stir up a scene.
 
…
 
“Ugh…!”
 
Up ahead, the former Counter Guardian had crossed fifteen meters in an instant, boosting her movements with each burst, but already the six rocket-propelled projectiles had swerved back to smash into her. She would be able to dodge them about three more times, but each time they missed, they seemed to turn around with greater speed and close in on her more efficiently than before.
 
Hence, after the third time, it’d be impossible to avoid them, and she’d have to either stop or tank them. Arturia understood that she had to intercept them before something like that could occur, and that itself wasn’t a difficult task, but the bullet that had just passed by her earlier said otherwise - the moment she stopped to do so, that sniper rifle would take advantage of that moment and shoot her in the brain. Her instinct may be precognitive, but it only went so far. She’d practically charged into a bad situation, and yet, even after knowing this, she had no choice but to keep on advancing as she always did, gripping her blade firmly.
 
The pair didn’t need any form of visible communication with each other, being two sides of the same mind eliminated any need for it. Instead, they saw the missiles tailing the Counter Guardian, with the red-eyed double that had been called Gemini snickering slightly at her predicament as they approached. Gemini soon stopped and raised his hands in front of himself before allowing dark-blue light to appear behind his irises, momentarily turning them purple as he used Telekinesis to slow the missiles down.
 
“I don’t have that move on this form,” Neos quipped before summoning a sphere of water between his own hands and firing forward with them, Hydro Pumping them into the ground one at a time to cause them to explode upon hitting the ground. Gemini’s use of his move made it much easier for Neos to target and hit the flying metal with his own. “Ya alright, Arturia?!”

Having now passed halfway through the fifty meters towards their enemy, she nodded with a serious expression as she sustained her charge. “Yes, thank you, Neos!”
 
“He only did half of the wor---!”

“Oh, shut up, Gemini!”
 
Who? She thought to herself, but figured it wasn’t her place to ask. All members of the Counter Corps came from different parts of the universe, so whether it was a split personality or a familiar of his, or something else, it wasn’t too outlandish. More importantly, she had to focus on the target. Now without any obstacles in her way, she poured even more mana into her leaps across the ground, rapidly advancing towards the trench.
 
Within, Kiritsugu understood that she was going to reach his position within mere seconds at this rate, so he stood up, tossing away the sniper rifle in favor of a Calico M950 submachine gun in hand and opened fire on her. The stream of bullets caused Arturia to divert her course over to the left, but it wasn’t about to stop her this time, not when she was so close to him. Once they were at a forty-five degree angle from each other, the knight burst out more mana from her feet and launched herself forth like a bullet, narrowly avoiding the weapon’s trajectory and successfully reaching his position.
 
But then, just as she closed in him, aiming to decapitate him with her blade, he uttered ‘Time Alter - Square Accel’---
 
Before Arturia could swing her blade downwards, he jumped out of the trench with incredible speed, taking her off-guard. Then, before she could react in response to it, he used the submachine gun as a blunt weapon to smash against her chest, blowing her back into the air several meters at the cost of breaking it.
 
It wasn’t the actual strength or speed of the force that had surprised her, which gave him the opening he needed, but the fact that he’d actually done that. Kiritsugu wasn’t normally the type of man who’d rush straight into direct confrontation, so what had just happened confused her momentarily as she crashed into the ground again with a small wound. The damage itself wasn’t too much, since she’d be able to accelerate the healing process by pouring mana in, but still.
 
“Heh, nice performance, Emiya,” the red-eyed Gemini responded after seeing Arturia launched into the air.

“Whose side are you on,” the green-eyed Neos quipped before Mirror Moving the burst of speed that allowed Emiya to hasten his pace, moving towards the gunman as Gemini simply shrugged before Mirror Moving as well.

“Neither’s, technically,” Gemini responded nonchalantly, the first part of neither sounding more like a long I in sound.
 
The speed boost they would have gotten from Agility had nothing on this speed boost.
 
And they both zipped forward towards the gunman, both ready to get physical with a string of powerful hand-to-hand blows...
 
Unperturbed as he watched them approach, Kiritsugu took out the familiar Thompson Contender with his right hand. At the same time, he pulled out another Calico M950 using his other hand and calmly aimed at the two others as they rushed towards him using his own technique, having apparently used . It seemed that they were capable of mimicking the exclusive magecraft he was capable of using, but if that were the case, then that meant it applied to the strain received afterwards as well. He’d take advantage of that to finish off both the transformer and his ally.
 
“Please, do try to make this more entertaining by not reusing the same tactics in the same ways,” Gemini remarked as he saw the Contender aimed at Neos, the self-satisfied smirk never once leaving his face. “While we may both be of the Path’s shadows, I’m sad to say I can’t let you end him yet.” Stopping for a second, seemingly unphased by the debilitation that should have struck as he did, Gemini’s eyes darkened as he raised his hands into the air. “And now, I bid the Path itself to stop you.”
 
Kiritsugu narrowed his eyes at this. “Then you are…?”
 
The darkness of the Pathway started to almost roar as it was forced to move against its will…
 
Neos couldn’t help but watch as he ran. He knew his double was the more-powerful one between them, an example of how he would be if he hadn’t restrict so heavily how he used his internal light, but…
 
...there was no telling what the dark double would do...

[Dad]

Kratos & Revy

 

Separating at last, they both sat upright, their backs on either side of the lamppost.  Revy's head hanged low, and a somber smile crossed her face.  Kratos turned to her, concerned.  Revy realized he had seen her face, and finally looked up.  Kratos stood up, and helped Revy to her feet.  "Talk to me," he said at last.  It was natural for Revy to be angry, but she wasn't.  She was disappointed.  "What are we going to do after this, Kratos?"

 

His face remained expressionless.  Revy continued.

 

"I mean, even if we get past the pathways, what will you do?  What will I do?  I've never fallen in love, so this is . . .all so new to me."  Kratos turned away, looking ahead to the end of the pathway.  Without speaking, he picked Revy up, and began to carry her again.  "Kratos?"  He still did not reply, until they reached the beginning of the staircase.  Looking towards the top, Kratos finally spoke.  "I have nothing to return to, Revy.  My world--my universe--it is a scorched and barren land.  I've completed my journey there."  He began to carry Revy up the staircase.   They took their time, talking as they climbed.  "But, then, where will--"  "If I may," Kratos said without looking to Revy.  "I will go with you."  Revy turned her head away, not sure of what to say or think.  From here, she could see the top of the staircase, but not what lie beyond it.  She turned back to Kratos, wondering what it would be like to be with someone for a long time.  Not on a mission, not out to carry out a goal.  But just to be.  "How would you make it in my world?  Our technology, our worlds, are totally different.  You'd have to start a new journey, and--"

 

"If it means I will start the journey with you, then I am willing to begin again."  Still, Kratos looked upwards to the staircase, but not at Revy.  She began to wonder why.

 

"Are you sure?  Is this what you really want?"

 

They had finally reached the top of the staircase, and Kratos looked down at Revy.  "Yes.  I will not change my mind."  As they stepped up the final stair, a barrier hindered the couple, before they were asked a single question.  They both heard it, it was not something they could keep from one another.

 

‘Are you willing to embrace your fate’?

 

Revy answered first.  She had faced her past.  It was time to find a future.  "Yes," she said simply, finally giving a more promising smile.  She waited for Kratos, who looked down at Revy, and then back up to the barrier which protected a powerful stone tablet artifact.  But Kratos did not answer directly.  "I make my own path, my own fate.  If it is to be, I accept it."  The barrier dissipated, and the couple approached the stone tablet.

 

Kratos took Revy's hand, and they touched the stone tablet together.  As they were surrounded in a powerful, magical aura, they kissed again, before being snatched from each other and thrown into separate dimensions.  Kratos could hear her call out.  "Kratos!  KRATOS!!" but she had vanished with the rest of the realm.

 

 

 

---

 

 

Kratos

 

He did not wait to be stricken with worry or anxiety.  Instead, Kratos went forth to his remaining door, and final pathway.  Before opening it, Kratos could feel a burning in his stomach.  It pleased him, because he recognized it as it proceeded to warm his chest, and finally reach his hands.  It was a righteous fury.  And it was this fury that gave him a desire to complete this final pathway, and see Revy again.  He drew his blades, and kicked the final door off of it's hinges, into the snow before him.  It had been some time since Kratos had been in an almost arctic environment.  He greeted it with the burning fire of his passion.  A passion that continued to grow.

 

Ending Location:  Pathway to Remembrance, C1

 

 

---

 

 

Revy

 

She lay on the ground, frustrated.  Her head was swimming with a mixture of emotions.  She pounded the floor of the White Room with her fist, yelling out loud.  "Damn it!  God DAMN IT!" Revy's mind was so all over the place, that she totally forgot she had a broken leg and ribs.  Struggling to a knee, Revy prepared herself mentally.  For the first time, she wasn't concerned with Rock, Dutch, or Benny.  But someone else, and it wasn't herself.  She chuckled to herself, as she began limping towards her final door.  She braced herself against it, and stopped for just a moment.  Thinking to herself, Revy became distraught even more so, filled with anxiety and rage.  She wanted to see Kratos again.

 

"So this is what it's like to love someone, huh?"  She punched the door, sighing aloud.  "Man, love sucks."

 

Creaking the door open, Revy was almost certain she was back in the pathway to Death.  It was incredibly dark, save for some light further down a massive tunnel.  She began, slowly limping, towards the light, as the White Room disappeared behind her.

 

Ending Location:  Pathway to Truth, A1

 

 

---

 

 

Kenpachi & Yachiru

 

This side of the world was entirely different.  It was if a war had occurred and drained the life from the land.  It was barren, no grass or leafed trees were in sight.  The ground was littered with the bodies of what appeared to be fairies, and it was extremely windy.  Harsh gusts created miniature sandstorms, and clouded Kenpachi's vision temporarily.  Suddenly, the same mass from before flew over Kenpachi, and darted ahead.  "Heh, they're fast," he said aloud.  Yachiru tugged at Kenpachi's ear, telling him to get going.  She could tell what was on his mind.  Kenpachi got a little more excited now, since it could be a fair fight at last.  Still, he would not risk Yachiru's life again.  He jumped, bounding over and over again until he was level with Butlerok, and their eyes met, as Kenpachi fell back to the ground.  He took Yachiru from his shoulder, and looked further ahead.  "Yachiru," he said pointing to the familiar bridges.  "Go.  Cross the bridges."

 

"But, Kenny--"

 

He placed a hand on her head.  "I'll be right behind you," he said with a smile.

 

Yachiru returned the smile, and dashed towards the crystalline bridges.  Meanwhile, Kenpachi turned his head upwards, and called out to his opponent.  "Oi!  Ya floatin' fairy!" he taunted.  "I owe you an apology!  I had to get my friend to safety," he continued.  "But now, you don't have to worry about me takin' off!  What's say we have some fun!?"  Little did Kenpachi know, after his death some brief time ago, this creature he mocked was the one who ate his remains.  Even if he was different now, Kenpachi knew better than to underestimate an opponent.

 

Ending Location:  C9

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

---

 

Who..? What did I just say...?

 

No, I am not... I am…I am…I’m not her! No, no, no! My name is not Tenshi Hinanawi! I am not her, and she’s not me!

 

No, I am Tenco! No matter what anyone said, no matter what this pathway said, I am not her!

 

---

 

-Earlier-

 

“…Ugh.”

 

With a grunt, Tenco slowly opened her eyes again, regained her consciousness, and found that she was unfortunately still lying face down on the same position where the cloaked figure almost decapitated her like a cattle. To her relief, the figure was nowhere to be seen now, and her neck was still attached to her body. Although, she immediately felt something was odd about that. As soon as her attention managed to find its ground in reality again, she inspected her own body’s condition, and much to her surprise, the fatigue, the wounds, and all the damages she had suffered apparently had been erased from her. She jolted back up to examine herself more closely, and then she immediately noticed that what remained from the dried blood that came flowing from her previous wounds was still present all around her position, with most of the dried blood marks were focused on the area where her neck used to be moments ago.

 

“…Am I…dead?”

 

Even as she spoke, it was as if no voices came from her lips at all, only silence even as her lips moved just like she was talking normally. Even the world around her was completely silent at that moment, and realizing what it could really mean about her, Tenco sighed. She kept on staring on the place she used to lie on moments ago, at that point not even bothered to place her concern on anything that happened around her, not that she could hear them at all.

 

“Even in the end, I’m perfectly useless, huh? I could not achieve anything before I die, I could not convince Tenshi, I couldn’t help Lady Arturia in any ways, and I even disappointed Lady Yukari and Reimu…

I’m truly pathetic, aren’t I? And to think that Father hoped that I could be his successor, to be the next emperor…all of that sounds like a gigantic joke now.”

 

Taking a deep breath, she then shifted her gaze towards the rest of the pathway, and she realized that she was already close to the end of the desolate half of the Pathway of Truth. Being dead and all, should she even bother to continue? Even with her existence somehow still lingering around there, would there be any points for her to continue? Would she even achieve anything by deciding to continue? She felt like it would be better if she just wait there until the last link between her and the living world become severed. She's been a complete failure so far after all. Even she couldn't reach out to Tenshi earlier.

 

Before she could actually decide to give up though, the ground all around her seemed to shake for some reasons, this time with far more force than what she's familiar with. It was as if an earthquake was happening at that moment. At first, Tenco decided to ignore it as she had nothing to worry about due to her being dead. But then, just several centimeters on her right, a gigantic earthen spike erupted from the ground, and as it released itself from the bindings of the earth around it, its shards flew towards her at high speed, grazing her on several parts of her body.

 

Much to her surprise, it was really painful.

 

The rock shards had created open cut wounds during the contact with her body, and as fresh blood flowed from those wounds, Tenco’s jaw figuratively dropped to the ground for a moment, before she managed to gather her mind once more and realize the graveness of the current situation around her. At that moment immediately as her life depended on it, she sprinted as fast as she could right towards the crystal bridge not too far from her, while the ground around her collapsed, torn apart and more and more earthen spikes erupted from the chasm formed after the collapse.

 

Tenco ended up admitting that while it was nice returning to the world of the living, but that was the worst timing for it.

 

---

 

“…How the hell could I survive that?

 

W-why did my wounds heal themselves? Did someone save me?”

 

In front of another mirror-like structure, Tenco stood, catching up to her breath as she was a somewhat exhausted from the mad dash she did not long ago. Resting for a while, she decided to reexamine what actually happened to her in the meantime. The fact that she was still perfectly alive and relatively healthy was both relieving and completely confusing to her. Normally, she knew that she would have died twice over by now in a span of not even an hour. Actually, even three times over, as she somehow also survived the ground collapse earlier. Yet, she was still there, still with her flesh on her bones somehow despite having been decapitated and being blasted by a high-powered laser.

 

Even weirder was her miraculous recovery after being decapitated. Surviving all that somehow might be attributtable to sheer dumb luck, but the recovery was something else entirely.

 

“...I don’t think I need to think too much about this. That’d just confuse me to no end, and it’ll distract me from

more important things. I should just be grateful that I get this blessing to continue living.”

 

With her stance on this issue had been decided for now, Tenco turned around to face the pitch-black mirror structure that was now in front of her. It was simply an ornamented full-size mirror, and aside from it, Tenco couldn’t see any way to go past it somehow, and she couldn’t really figure out what to do with it. Without nothing much to do for now, Tenco decided to just use the mirror to inspect her current condition properly, and to see whether the run here when she avoided falling into the sinkhole back then did anything to her.

 

Surprisingly, the pitch-black mirror was still perfectly able to reflect her image on it. First of all, she inspected the bruises and cuts created by the shards that impacted her when the ground collapsed earlier, but they seemed to not be something major, a fact that she was perfectly grateful of. She proceeded to just place her hand on the cut and bruised parts, casting a simple spell to heal them back to normal, before continuing to inspect the rest of her. But apparently, aside from those small wounds, she was completely fine physically, it seemed.

 

Though, her articles of clothing fared much worse than her body, apparently. Her hat was now barely unrecognizable with its fake peach accessories been completely charred and half-melted and the hat itself losing its proper form, looking more like a black mess floating on top of her head than anything else at that point. Tenco ended up tossing her beloved hat aside, before continuing to look at the rest of her clothing. Her white buttoned shirt and long black skirt were torn badly here and there, pretty much making her look like a ragged homeless girl at the moment, and even her waist tabard had beenr reduced to just a white scrap of torn clothing over her skirt. She regretted not getting spare clothing while she's on the Strange Aeons, but there's really little room for regrets now.

 

She continued to stare at the mirror as more quakes could be felt by her. It took her quite a while to realize that the eyes that her reflection had were golden instead of her normal red, however. Shocked, Tenco proceeded to ready herself into a fighting stance, thinking that the mirror would attack her soon. But, just a split second later, the reflection’s eyes turned back into red, which monentarily made Tenco felt relief.

 

“...Perhaps that was just my imagination. Now, how should I continu-”

 

Before she could finish though, the reflection materialized its arms from the mirror, and dragged her right into the black surface before her.

 

---

 

“…not again..”

 

Tenco opened her eyes to find herself being alone on what seemed to be a boundless white world without anything else in sight as far as she could see. The place somewhat reminded her of Tenshi’s mindscape from back then, but the biggest difference would be the fact that at the very least, Tenshi’s personal world was still clearly a room, and it did have many things going on inside of it, but this “world”, whatever it actually was, it’s completely empty. It was like she was a figure drawn on an infinitely stretching piece of clear white paper.

She tried to walk towards the direction she was facing, hoping that somehow, something else would happen on the empty world if she did so. But, after roughly half an hour of walking aimlessly like that, nothing actually happened. She soon realized that it was for naught and she was seemingly stuck for the rest of her life inside the completely empty world, without any hopes of escaping. Though, in the end, that didn't last for long.

 

“The impostor had arrived, huh?”

 

A disembodied voice echoed throughout the blank state world, seemingly mocking Tenco’s hopelessness even with its honest, questioning voice. Annoyed, Tenco fired off a fireball to the direction of where she thought the voice was coming from, but there was no one there, and the fireball travelled on and on until it dissipated on its own without anything to keep it going.

 

“Show me yourself!”

 

“Still the same as always...it's pretty disappointing, don't you think? Alright, alright, I’ll show myself to you.”

 

And then, a sudden gut punch knocked Tenco backwards, as the voice materialized herself before her. As Tenco struggled to rise back to her two legs after the sucker punch, she was treated to a full display of the source of the voice that taunted her. It was a blue-cyan haired girl, around 155 centimeters in height, that was wearing a decorated white shirt and black skirt with a tabard attached from her waist, decorated with patterns and rainbow accessories sticking out on it, with a sword sheathed on her belt, and a hat decorated with imitation peaches adorning her short hair. Her bright, ruby eyes stared at her closely, as if she was examining her.

 

Examining herself.

 

“W-who are you actually?” Coughing a small amount of blood, Tenco stared back at the girl that looked exactly just like herself The girl’s expression was devoid of any traces of malice, but Tenco felt a shudder as she continued to examine her. It was hard to actually understand what her current expression actually meant, even as she continued to talk.

 

“Hm? You should’ve known already. I am the princess of the realm of Bhava-agra, sent by my father, the emperor, to travel around the world in search of the fabled Sword of Hisou, hoping that I could turn into a worthy successor and a proper adult along the way. I am the seventeen years old girl that loved to cook, whose favorite food is dried pineapple sticks. I like spending my times with animals and they accompany me throughout my travels as my partner.

 

I am the often idiotically rash and bratty princess, the one that always yearned to be seen as an adult, yet always acting childish in front of everyone. I am the girl that often annoys my close friend and caretaker, Iku, yet I am also the one that always missed her companionship whenever we parted ways.

 

I am the girl that always been haunted by odd flashbacks in my dreams, depicting what looked like another version of me brutally murdering my friends like a madwoman, without being able to understand the context of it at all.

 

Yes, I am the girl that was usually known by my peers as Tenco, an alternate reading of my actual birth name. Though it might not really be the case, but it’s not really important. Not that I mind about that, really. It’s not a big deal, and the name rolled nicely on the tongue. At times, I just wondered why it needed to be a ‘c’ instead of ‘k’ though.

 

But yeah, I am Tenshi Hinanai. Yet…

 

I am not you, and you are not me.

 

As I’ve said, you’re merely copying me to run away from being your true self.”

 

“…You’re not making any damn sense with all that!”

 

With the ‘her’ in front of Tenco seemingly trying to mess with her head, Tenco immediately charged up straight ahead, materializing a sword on her left hand along the way, ready to swing it at the ‘her’ that stood there. The ‘her’ didn’t even bothered to dodge when faced with the attack, and for that, she received a clean, diagonal cut on her body, extending from her left shoulder to her right hip. But, she didn’t even seem to be bothered by it at all, despite her own blood gushing like a torrent from the wound Tenco had just inflicted.

 

“If you are truly Tenco…then I am you, and you are definitely me! We’re one and the same, me!”

 

“No, I refuse to accept you as a part of me. You’re not me, and I am not you. No matter how much you pushed me to accept you, I won’t. Because, you were never even a part of me even since the very beginning.

 

Stealing my appearance, pretending to be me, stealing my dreams...”

 

The ‘her’ before Tenco healed her wounds with a spell, but she herself didn’t seem to be going for a counterattack. She just stood there, looking at Tenco, and from her expression, a trace of pity could be seen. Tenco herself was still trying her best to piece whatever was going on at the moment together, still completely confused from what it seemed, but some of her gestures might point out that she realized more about the situation than what she’s willing to admit.

 

In her frustration, Tenco ended up lunging again at herself with her sword , but she just grabbed the sword’s edge with her left hand before it managed to reach her body. Ignoring the bleeding caused by the sword ripping through her palm, she crushed the blade, before returning back to her previous position as if nothing happened, even with her left hand still bleeding without any signs of stopping.

 

“I guess you’re right, not!me. There’s no use in being cryptic when it comes to you. I know that I’m an idiot most of the times, but even then I think that your level of inability to comprehend anything that I said is quite ridiculous.”

 

It was then, as the other 'her' went on to mock her, one slash happened.

 

One, single slash, a moment of silence, and the world around them shattered.

 

---

 

“Well, just as I’ve thought. You’re truly hopeless, aren’t you? Keeping on deluding yourself like that, as if it would change the truth about you.”

 

Holding her other self’s decapitated head on her hand, Tenco stared at it, horrified at both what had she done in an impulse, and to the fact that the head still managed to talk to her like it was nothing, ignoring the fact that it was simply a decapitated head at that point. Behind the crumbled, empty world, the insides of a medieval palace was unveiled. It was both familiar and completely alien to Tenco, despite her being completely sure that it was her home, according to her memory.

 

“Since you keep on insisting to view me as you, then here, let me drop the truth that you have been avoiding all this time. These are things that you should’ve known all this time, but you had chosen to avoid them for your own reasons.”

 

The decapitated head’s expression turned into a grin as she said those words to her shaken other self. Clearly, she didn’t mean any harm in doing so, but Tenco herself, being completely horrified and repulsed by the turn of events, immediately threw the disembodied head as far as she could, with her body still trembling from everything that happenedjust in a short span of time.

 

“Why…why can’t you just accept me as you? As myself? If you had done it…I wouldn’t have-”

 

“Because…here, let me rephrase it for you, since you seems to have missed the note.

 

I AM NOT YOU, AND YOU ARE NOT ME! We are not one and the same, never was and never will be! A faker and an empty shell like you is really hard to convince, isn't it? As espected of something born out of a shadow.”

 

The head stopped itself from falling through the edges of the stairs of the palace somehow, and after it repositioned itself to a more comfortable position, she returned her gaze towards Tenco.

 

“Sha-what do you mean?” Despite Tenco’s weak, puzzled question, she was clearly just acting dumb about the topic, something that her other self realized pretty well, but she decided to play along with it, even for a bit.

 

“Yeah, shadow. The part of a human’s psyche that they hide from others, whether they’re good or bad. Something that they won’t admit in possessing to others. Their ‘hidden truths’, so to be said. All these talk about true self, me accepting you, your golden eyes, and everything pretty much spelled that out for me. Well, not really. I already know that fact since forever.”

 

“You-you’re talking nonsense… I’m not a shadow! I’m nothing like what you described!”

 

Her other self’s detached head sighed, before letting out an expression of…amusement? It was clear that she’s enjoying Tenco’s constant denial of her statements, for some reason that she kept to herself.

 

“Man, and usually shadows tried their best to be acknowledged or trap their individual, yet here you are rejecting anything regarding your original source.

 

As I’ve said, you’re pathetic, even as a shadow.”

 

As she said that, the head crawled towards the now leaning to the walls Tenco, using its hair as a way to move itself, somehow. It was a scene that could look quite comical, if only Tenco was not too disturbed and shaken to see it that way.

 

“You’re a fragment of someone else’s shadow that tried to reject that truth and copy me instead because of the fact that you are actually embodying that person’s complete and utter self-loathing. Can't you remember it? The time that you took the form of an incomplete phantom and made a friend? Unable to cope with the loss of said friend, you took her form and pretended to have her memories.

 

Due to your nature and what you symbolizes, you loathed the existence of your true self so much that you had to take someone else’s identity, well, my identity, just so you could exist as something that’s not literally being the sole target of the exaggerated, misplaced, misguided self-loathing that you embodied.”

 

“I…stop saying that! You don’t know anything about me!”

 

“Yet, even with your existence literally being defined by the hatred and disgust you have to that person, you still seem to have a certain personal attachment to that person for some reasons, and it balanced out your urge to hate the person enough. It’s probably love, I think?

 

This is sounding all kind of ridiculous if this isn’t the sad truth, really.”

 

“…You…!”

 

“I wonder, was it born from a degree of self-aggrandization that the person secretly had deep inside of their self-loathing, was it something that you truly feel as a ‘living being’, or was it something else entirely? Well, I guess I can say that I know the real reason. That’s how this place works, after all. But, eh, no matter what’s the reasoning, that feeling is pretty shallow, ‘me’.

 

To hammer the point again, you’re so hopeless it’s unfunny.”

 

“…How did…

 

No, no, no, NO! I am not hopeless!”

 

Even with her almost screaming her denial to her other self, Tenco’s rebuttal became weaker and weaker, as her other self kept on bombarding her with the so-called truths about her, casually enough that it could simply pass as something out of a friendly conversation between associates had Tenco's reactions to it weren't borderline hysterical.

 

“It’s amusing how the pathways managed to do something like this. Instead of summoning a proper ‘shadow’ here, or something close to it to be your ‘adversary’, it instead summons me, a representation of the fake image of your ‘true self’.

 

It’s laughable really. Even that person realize your true nature, and had been trying to remind you of it several times already too. Well, it’s not even only that person. You’re doing a subpar job in even being independent enough to not be obvious.

 

But yeah, ‘Tenco’. It's my job to spill out the truth in full, truth that you should’ve known already, but decided to ignore.”

 

The head definitely enjoyed repeating her statement about how she would drop the truth regarding Tenco’s true nature over and over again.

 

“Shut up!” Tenco said that in frustration, but it came off as more of a desperate plea rather than anything else at that point. As a last act of denial towards the truth, a huge inferno erupted all around her, rampaging across the palace at the top of the mountain. The flames didn’t hurt her a bit, but it immediately engulfed the decapitated head, burning it completely into ashes within minutes, all while the head kept its calm look as it gazed serenely at Tenco, her smile not even breaking.

 

“A pathetic shadow of a broken person. Yeah, you’re definitely that Tenshi’s shadow.

 

You’re a part of her that grew up in a manner distant from her, to the point of splitting away completely using a part of other's soul to gain a fake sense of ‘individuality’, all thanks to the meddlement of a certain person. You managed to separate yourself from the rest of her psyche, and exist as some sort of anomalous soul of some sort inside of her for a while. That Yukari…it really was her fault, and I wonder what she thought about when she gave you your physical body.

 

I wonder though, did you lack that much individuality that you ended up being given my form by the Madara? Or perhaps, it was just the deep longing inside of your heart?”

 

“…”

 

Hearing every single thing that she had been avoiding to accept thrown back at her, ‘Tenco’ stood still, motionless, her gaze was empty as she ran out of words to rebut her other self’s statements.

 

“So now, what you’re going to do? That’s the truth about you, and with that said, what’s left would be whether you want to accept it, or keep staying inside your bubble of delusion.”

 

“I..”

 

Tenshi stopped mid-sentence, not having any ideas as of how she would reply to Tenco’s words. The flames around her then slowly dissipated, and when the smoke disappeared, it was revealed that the palace had disappeared, and now the two had returned back to the boundless white world, and Tenco had been fully restored from being a head.

 

“I don’t know. I…accepting that, I just…

No. I don’t think I can accept that truth for now. Please understand, me. I…I just…I just wish-“

 

Hearing Tenshi’s weak reply, Tenco shook her head in disappointment, before walking towards the opposite direction, not even bothering to look back.

 

“I’ve heard enough of your sorry excuses, shadow. If you refuse to accept it, then there’s nothing left I could do now.

 

Goodbye.”

 

And then, just like that, as the words were finished being spoken, everything in the world disappeared into nothing.

 

---

 

Emerging from the other side of the mirror, Tenco’s expression was completely pale and lifeless. Even as she forced up a smile to her face to hide her current emotional maelstrom, that act only magnified the fact that there’s something really wrong going within her. Hopping into one of the floating platforms, it then brought Tenco down, going past through several thick clouds. Something in her head told her that she was supposed to hear something there, but as she passed them, there was only complete, utter silence there.

 

The rest of the flight was completely uneventful, something that also felt off for her for some reasons, but she ultimately shrugged them off. Seeing the sets of stairs in front of her, she left the platform immediately, and rushed straight towards the monument at the end of the flight of stairs, believing it to be the end of the pathway.

 

‘Are you content with your present self’?

 

“Y-“

 

Before she could finish saying ‘yes’, an unseen force had seemingly strangled her mid-speech, and if it’s not for her stopping from trying to finish the word, she could’ve been killed by it. She quickly then realized of why did it happen, and, looking completely dejected, she went on to answer with the truth to the monument, hoping that it would be the final time that she had to face this fact again.

 

“…No, I am not. There’s no way I would be satisfied with myself, if that was the truth that was forced into me!

I hate it, I hate tit being like this, and most of all, I hate ever being a part of that Tenshi! I’d rather just abandon it, even if it’s really my true self. Wearing this corpse and pretending as someone that I'm not is also something I can't accept, but at least... at least it's better than acknowledging myself as a part of someone as..

 

As disgusting, hopeless, and pathetic as her!”

 

---

 

Her eyes had lost its light. Completely drained physically and mentally after answering the pathway, Tenco found herself standing inside the White Room again, with only two doors left for her to go through. One was labeled by a baby, Remembrance, and the other was labeled by a skull, Death. Suspecting that things would be far more dangerous inside of Death, Tenco decided to move on towards the Door to Remembrance, while wondering about what kind of memories would surface from something that didn’t have much of her own.

 

---

---

 

“Cherry blossoms? Been a while since I last saw them. To think about it, I really miss the cherry blossom viewing festival with my friends and family.

 

You only appreciate that kind of thing when you can no longer attend to them, I guess.”

 

Emerging from the corridors, Kazuya found himself with a pleasant view of rows and rows of cherry blossom trees in full bloom, with the clear blue sky as their beautiful background..

 

“Yeah, if I want to see them again, if I want to enjoy it again, I need to go through all of this and return in one piece.

 

Cerberus!”

 

From his game console-like COMP, a beast that looked quite similar to a three headed white lion emerged, spewing fire as it breathe. For some reasons, instead of summoning the Cerberus he had been encountering during his time (a single-headed, white lion-like creature, something that didn’t look like the Cerberus that he knew from every single other thing that he read about it), he instead summoned another ‘version’ of it, that looked more in-line with what he used to believe as Cerberus’s form. Hopping into the beast’s back, Kazuya proceeded to blaze through the pathway…

 

…and a horde of fairies ended up blocking him on his way. Most of them looked quite curious looking at him, and while it seemed like they’re quite safe to interact with, Kazuya still prepared himself for the off chance that they all attacked him.

 

“Ooh, a young man!

 

 I think I haven’t seen many like you lately, so may I ask some questions?” One of the fairies bluntly said to Kazuya, who was a bit shocked by the suddenness of the request. Though, not seeing any harm in replying and satisfying her curiosity, Kazuya proceeded to respond with a slight nod, and the fairy’s eyes immediately sparkled just like a little kid inside a candy store.

 

“Yay, wonderful! Soo, what are you doing here?”

 

“I’m one of the people recruited by Lady Arturia to help her in the quest of keeping the Door of Origin from the clutches of an evil being, or something similar.”

 

“What’s that game console you have on your pocket? Is it a N******* 3DS?”

 

“Uh, this?” Kazuya raised his COMP to the fairy’s direction for her to see, and the fairy nodded. “Nah, it’s called Communication Player, or COMP to be short. It’s a multi-use device, but yes, one of its original functions was to play games. Though, mine was already hacked, so it’s now limited to some functions, most of which related to Demon Summoning.”

 

“Hey, hey, do you have a girlfriend back in your world?”

 

“Well…” Somewhat flustered as he put one of his hands behind his head as if he was scratching it, Kazuya considered staying silent regarding this question, but at the last second, he had decided for an answer that wouldn’t bite him later down the road without actually lying.

 

“Truthfully, nah. I kind of liked my close friend Yuzu, and there’s a rock singer named Haru, another one of my friends, that seems to take quite a liking in me, but well, the two of them are just that, my friends, nothing more than that.”

 

“What about your brother?” One of the fairies immediately blurted almost as the same time as Kazuya finishing his answer, which he responded with a puzzled look on his face.

 

“Brother?”

 

“Uh…I mean cousin! Yeah, cousin. There’s like some sort of voice talking to me about this earlier, but it said that you have a handsome cousin back there on your world “

 

A dramatic pause ensued after the fairy finished that sentence, and Kazuya felt a bad omen for some reasons. And then, the fairy continued to her question.

 

“Is he your lover?”

 

“What kind of question is that!”

 

His face completely red, Kazuya immediately ordered Cerberus to gallop straight through the hordes of fairies pretty much the second the fairy starting to say the word ‘lover’, not bothering to answer any of their other unimportant questions anymore as he returned his focus towards reaching the mirror at the end of the cherry blossom line.

 

“What the hell is wrong with that fairy anyway?”

 

-=A4, Truth=-

 

---

---

 

“Yes, I do eat dirt at times. Yes, the constant partying in my shrine is annoying. Yes, that orb can turn you into a cat just because. No, even with the orb’s ability to make me eat anything and don’t get fat, that does not imply that I eat a lot of things, well, since I don’t have that much food.

 

Yes, Marisa should take a bath more often, she stinks so bad. No, I don’t have any romantic interests right now, not even with her. We’re just friends.

 

Cyborg-what? What even is that? Is it some kind of demon? Also, yes, one of my arms is artificial, blame Yorihime.

 

No, I don’t think Yukari would do that kind of things with strangers. Yes, that white-haired boy is cute, but no…why do you expect me to fall for him that fast, like seriously? We haven’t even met for an hour, I think. Also no, I’m not that into cute little boys. I’m not a creep like Alice. Also, yes, yes I do exterminate demons in my home universe. Yes, that’s my job.

 

You know what I'd also exterminate there?

 

Annoying fairies like you all.

 

Sleep tight~!”

 

And with that, a huge explosion happened on the A2 part of the pathway of Truth. And from the smokes created by the explosion, a slightly annoyed shrine maiden emerged, not even looking at the mess she created and the cherry blossom she accidentally damaged when she did a hand gesture to create a barrier that contained the entirety of the explosion before crushing anything caught inside of the barrier as it shrunk down rapidly, and in the end, leaving a piece of charred land and burnt trees in her wake.

 

“Well, they’ll respawn soon, after all. No need to worry much about them.”

 

Still, she finally decided to turn around to see the extent of the mess she created, and it wasn’t really pretty, to be honest. While collateral damages were the name of her game back in Gensokyo, to see the fairies she blew up actually leave their body parts here and there all over the place sickened her. It’s not how things usually went in her homeworld, and she wondered whether the fairies she killed were even immortal like her fairies to begin with.

 

Musing about the dead fairies as she backtracked a bit, her attention immediately shifted as she reached the glass bridge again, to see someone emerging from the corridor, limping. At first, her usual policy made her decide to just wait there and watch, but as soon as the sunlight gave off the identity of the person, Reimu’s expression immediately changed.

 

“R-Revy? What happened to you?” Ignoring anything else at that point, Reimu rushed towards Revy, a completely worried look on her face.

 

“Hang in there, I’ll help carry you!”

 

-=A1, Truth=-

 

---

---

 

“Now that Death is done, only Truth and Remembrance remains, well if I’m going with what Reimu said about these so-called pathways.

 

So, where should I go next, hm…?”

 

Still deciding about which door she must go through next, Yukari took the time to examine her own condition before continuing, just to make sure on how much more she could take before she needed to try another way just to be able to continue.

 

Using her barrier as a mirror, Yukari sighed when she noticed her horrible physical condition. Her left arm was completely annihilated by Toyohime’s attack, leaving an ugly stump behind. Aside from that, bruises and other injuries were prevalent all around her body, mainly from the rough trip of the last pathway by her and Koishi when she still controlled the body. Her ability to create gaps was still locked away since she took over the body, and her full boundary manipulation were pretty much completely out of reach now, much to her chagrin. And that was still not mentioning the fact that her head and the rest of her remaining limbs were still barely attached to Koishi’s body. She’s currently not even in a small fraction of her prime condition.

 

Traversing the pathways from a stranger’s body that’s still trying its best to reject her control pretty much making everything exponentially harder. When she’s faced with the choice between Truth and Remembrance, Yukari, who had little to no actual ideas on what to expect on each pathways, decided to randomly pick one.

 

“I guess I’ll take Remembrance next.”

 

---

 

Walking in the middle of the snowstorm, Yukari looked at the thick pine forest in front of her, but her mind was completely somewhere else at that time. The snowstorm itself did not really bother Yukari, who had pretty much lost most of her ability to be bothered by the wind and the temperature. Well, the deep pile of snow did slow her down somewhat, and she was too weak to attempt flying at the moment.

 

As soon as she emerged from the snowfield and into the forest, she paused in her tracks as a flash of memory passed through her mind.

 

---

 

"Merry, I know that you have some kind of mysterious power, but I also know that that power is somehow related to shrines and temples."

 

"Really?"

 

"Yeah, that's one of the reasons we came here, but are you sure you're feeling alright?"

 

"I already told you, I'm fine. It's just... maybe I feel too fine. Like I'm able to see more than I should."

 

"More than you should? Like what?"

 

"Like Hell."

 

---

 

“Who were those girls…?”

 

Yukari, who had just managed to recollect herself after the brief flash of events inside of her mind, was quite puzzled by the scene she saw inside of her head. If it’s supposed to be her memories, she completely believed that she had no memory of that sort on her, and she didn’t even know about the identity of this certain “Merry” and her brown-haired friend. Though, she did admit that “Merry” bore an uncanny resemblance to her. That girl looked pretty much like how would a younger her look like, which is both strange and intriguing for Yukari. Still, it could very well mean nothing of importance, and she couldn’t really afford to-

 

“Merry, is that you? You really have changed a lot since I last met you, eh? You know, I really missed you…Disappearing so suddenly like that…

 

So please, don’t leave me alone like that again, alright?”

 

-=C3, Remembrance=-

 

---

---

 

A figure blitzed through the Pathway of Remembrance at a high speed, seemingly not even noticing or being noticed by anything that it passed during its run, despite common sense dictating that it shouldn’t even go like that.

 

As soon as the figure left the forest, it then noticed the light from above, and saw the moon of the pathway in all of its glory. Standing in a seeming awe for a second, it then flapped its two pairs of gigantic, grotesque wings made of dismembered human flesh that was stitched together by the figure’s blue tentacle-like limbs, and flew towards the giant rock at high speed, and landed on it fifteen minutes later.

 

It then proceeded to use its wings to dig through the rock, and anchored itself to the giant floating rock, just like a parasite, while it gleefully watched the pathway from the heights.

 

“Sis, look at this! We’re finally at the moon again, after all this time! The world looks small and fragile from up here, don’t you think?”

 

-=C10, Remembrance=-

 

---

[Kingdom Xathers]

Alexander and Alister/Path of Remembrance - C3

"... why do I keep doing this to him...?" Alister whimpered lamentably as he stared down at his own dead doppelganger, undoubtedly formed from Ratchet's own memory.  "... I... I try to do what I feel is best for him, and yet...."

 

"It's like Ratchet said, Al," Alexander said calmly, placing a hand gently on Alister's left shoulder: "he doesn't want to lose you again.  Aside from Clank, you were the closest thing he ever had to a family, and losing you the first time... ... well, you saw how he took to that," he added, referring to the garage they had passed by before entering the forest.

 

"But, I don't want to lose him, either," Alister replied, turning to stare Alex in the eyes.  "Not him, nor you... especially not to something that I'm responsible for...  You two are the only family I have, too."

 

"I understand that, Al," Alexander said reassuringly, touched that Alister also compared him to family.  "But still--"

 

"I know what you're gonna say, Alex," Alister cut in: ""Trying to keep others away to protect them will only hurt them more"... ... I know that's what your experience is telling you, and... you're right... but what else can I do?!" he asked, his eyes almost pleading to Alex to tell him.

 

"You let us help you, Al, that's what you'll do," Alex answered, his hands firmly placed on the General's shoulders.  "We may not know Red like you do, but Ratchet and I will help you any way we can if it means stopping Red from continuing on this road he's on...."  Alexander trailed off slightly as he glanced at Alister's right arm, still hanging lamely at his side.  "... I know there's still good in his heart," Alex continued.  "That, and the friendship you two have... that's all it took to keep him from outright killing you... but to go as far as he did with you... why...?"

 

"A cruel mercy, if I had to guess...," Alister uttered silently.

 

Ratchet / Remembrance - C4

 

"Hey, you knucklehead!" Umbris called out as he finally spotted Ratchet leaning with his forehead pressed against a large stone tower. The Neo-Spacian rushed over to the young lombax, Clank cradled in one arm.  "What the heck was that about?  You just up and ran off without another word.  You even left Clank behind!" he added as he pointed with his free hand at the tiny robot.

 

"Feh... f***ing as****e," Ratchet huffed angrily under his breath, his back still turned to the Neo-Spacian.

 

"Ratchet, that is not a nice thing to call Umbris," Clank responded, "even if he does have his moments--"

 

"Hey--!"

 

"Not him," Ratchet corrected in a harsh tone, slamming a fist against the stone surface.  “I meant Alister. Dammit, this is just like the Great Clock all over again! Alister’s just thinking about himself. If we don’t stop him… Red’s gonna kill him. I can’t let that happen.”

 

"... you mean "we", right?" Umbris corrected.  "'Cuz I know you're not about to go and stop this yourself...  Right?"

 

"Yeah, whatever," Ratchet scoffed back.

 

"Ratchet," Clank spoke up in a concerned tone, "I must implore you to not make any rash decisions about this.  You could very well get yourself killed--"

 

"Then, what am I supposed to do, Clank?!" Ratchet snapped furiously.  "Just stand by and let every person I've ever cared about get taken away from me?!"

 

"He's not saying that, Ratchet!" Umbris retorted.  "Don't take it out on him just because--"

 

"I'm not taking anything out on him--!"

 

"Then why are you acting out like this?"

 

"Because I'm SCARED, okay?!" Ratchet replied, the fear being more evident now amongst the anger in his voice.  "I'm scared of losing Alister!  Of losing Clank, or Alex, you... everyone!  I just... ...."  The young lombax was beginning to feel drained as he could feel his anger slowly dissipate.  He stumbled a bit as he plopped against the stone tower, slowly sliding down to the ground.

 

"... it's just... ... our world is gone now," Ratchet uttered quietly with his head hung low, trying his best to keep himself together.  "Everyone who has ever been a friend to me... helped me to grow, to become a better person... the person I am now... they're all gone now... well... not everyone," he added in correction as he lifted his head to see Clank scampering toward him.  With a sad smile Ratchet picked up his robotic friend and held him close to his chest.  "If not for you, Clank... if not for Sasha, or Talwyn, or... hell, even Qwark... ... I dunno where my life would have taken me...."

 

Umbris calmly sat down next to Ratchet.  "... we'll get them back, Ratchet," the Neo-Spacian reassured the lombax.  "We'll get them all back."

 

"... ... but... what if we don't...?"

"What if we were to fail...?"

 

"Al, you can't say that," said Alexander, almost shocked that something like this would come out of the General's mouth.

 

Alister, however, shook his head.  "It's just... all my life, I've pondered so many "what-ifs"... "What if I had done this differently?", "What if that never happened?", "What if I had just listened?", "What if--"...."  Alister let out a sad, frustrated sigh as he gingerly pulled out his pocket watch.  "... I regret... so many things, Alex.  Failures, missed opportunities... am I just destined to fail...?" he added, staring sadly at the watch in his left hand.

 

"... we all fail sometimes, Alister," Alexander replied as he cupped his hands around the General's hand and watch, "some more than others... but it's through our failures that we learn and grow stronger.  We only truly fail if we don't try, or just give up."

 

"... ... ..."

 

"What I'm saying here, Al, is that..."

"... you haven't failed yet, Ratchet."

 

Ratchet's heart felt as though it had stopped beating for a brief moment.  The voice that spoke was a welcome change of pace, yet it also filled him with sadness, grief, a longing.  He didn't have to look directly at the figure that had went to sit right beside him to know that it was Talwyn.

 

"... but, I failed you," he uttered sadly, not having the will the look Talwyn in the eye.

 

[spoiler=... you were right there, Tal," Ratchet said tearfully, remembering what had occurred prior to being swept up in this war. "You were... right there....]
… It was some time after we had stopped Mr. Eye--that monstrous Nether--from entering our world… I had decided to visit the museum again that day, to visit Alister… his statue, I mean….

 

“Ratchet?” Talwyn spoke up, having just entered the Lombax History Wing.

 

“Oh! Uh, hey, Talwyn,” Ratchet stammered, having been spooked out of his concentration.  “Uh, how’d you know I was here?”

 

“Clank,” Talwyn answered simply with a shrug and a smirk.  Ratchet shot the little robot a dirty look in response, realizing Clank must have sent her a Com-Message without him knowing.  “Though, I guess we both had the same idea when we came here...,” Talwyn added admittedly, her right hand rubbing her left arm.

 

“Oh…,” Ratchet uttered, knowing full-well what she meant.  He returned to gazing at Alister’s statue, doing his best to hold in his sadness.  “... … things really haven’t been easy for either of us these past few years.”

 

“That’s true,” Talwyn replied, she too trying to hold back her sadness.  Silently, she slipped her hand around Ratchet’s, intertwining her fingers in his.  “... it’ll be tough, but… all we can do now is to keep moving forward, right?”

 

“... yeah,” Ratchet answered quietly.  [[HERE’S WHERE WE ADD THE FLUFF, AND THEN…]]

 

“... what is that?!” Clank suddenly exclaimed.

 

Ratchet and Talwyn jerked away from each other in surprise, nervously trying to keep their composure.  “Yea--uh, we weren’t, uh, I mean, I wasn’t--” Ratchet tried to “explain” (and failed).  “Talwyn just had something on her face, and--”

 

“Oh, please, Ratchet, I was not constructed yesterday,” Clank admonished the lombax.  “That being said, I was not referring to what you two were doing.  I was referring to that!”

 

Clank then brought Ratchet and Talwyn’s attention to what he saw: walking just a few feet away from the other side of the window (walking on nothing but air, might we add) was what appeared to be a young girl draped in a black cloak of some kind, a small top hat placed atop her pale green hair.  As Ratchet’s group continued to stare on in confusion, the girl eventually took notice of them, staring back with curiosity.  After a few more seconds of tense silence… the girl smiled and gave a small wave to the group before walking off, something shiny clutched in her other arm.

 

“... so… just for the record,” Ratchet spoke up as soon as the girl had left their sight, “we all saw the same thing, right?”

 

Talwyn hesitantly opened her mouth to respond, but was cut short by a sudden rumbling that shook the entire museum.  “Wh-what’s going on?!” she frantically said instead.

 

“An earthquake?!” Clank gasped out.  “But how is that even possible?!”

 

“I don’t think that was an earthquake, pal,” Ratchet replied urgently.  “Either way, we gotta get outta here, and fast!”  Fastening Clank to the harness on his back, Ratchet then grabbed hold of Talwyn’s hand as he lead the way out of the Museum.

 

What awaited them outside was nothing short of horrific; all around them, they could see numerous dimensional cracks appearing all over Meridian City.  “Nethers?!  Again?!!” Talwyn exclaimed in shock.

 

“I do not think those are Nethers, Talwyn,” Clank replied as he pointed out the creatures that were coming out of the rifts.  Upon closer inspection, Ratchet noticed that many different kinds of monstrosities making their way through the rifts, some avian, others demonic, and even some that were eldritch.  But certainly nothing like the Nethers.

 

“... wait, those are… Duel Monsters?” Ratchet uttered in confused realization.

 

“Wait, what?” Talwyn blurted out.  “You know about these things, Ratchet?”

“Well, yeah--I mean, no, I--what’s going on?!” Ratchet stammered as he grabbed his head in confusion.  “How the heck do I even know about that?  I’ve never seen those things before… have I?”  Ratchet’s train of thought came to a sudden halt as yet another tremor shook the planet.  “For the love of--we gotta do something about this!  C’mon, Tal!”  He and Talwyn began to make a mad dash across the walkway leading to where Ratchet had parked Aphelion, all while fending off any monsters with a few blaster rounds.

 

“Even if we fight these monsters with Aphelion,” Clank began just as they were halfway there, “how are we going to close all of these dimensional rifts?”

 

“Seriously, Clank? You’re gonna bring that up now?” Ratchet blurted out.  “That’s a bridge we’ll cross when we get there--!!!!!”

 

At that exact moment, something happened that made Ratchet wish he had kept his mouth shut: a flame-draped winged demon sped by seemingly out of nowhere, slamming right through the very walkway Ratchet and Talwyn were on, shattering it into pieces.  Ratchet only had just enough time to make out a humanoid figure riding the demon - a male human(?) wearing a longcoat and a raspberry beret - before he and Talwyn began to plummet down toward the planet’s center.

 

“TAL!!” Ratchet cried out as he tried to reach a hand toward Talwyn.  She, too, tried desperately to reach out for him.  They were just a couple of feet away… if they could grab on to each other, Ratchet could at least slow down their descent… just inches away now….

 

And then everything stopped.  Literally.  Everything around them had come to a screeching, sudden halt, Ratchet and Talwyn included.  Although he was still conscious and aware of his surroundings, he could not move any part of his body (though, thankfully, he was till somehow able to breathe).  It was an admittedly fascinating sensation, though even more so were Ratchet not in such a dire predicament.  Here he was, stuck in suspended animation along with everything else around him, stuck looking into the frightened expression on Talwyn’s face.  All Ratchet could think now was, "I have to get to her... just a bit closer... dammit, please, don't let her...."

 

Talwyn, too, found this sudden development quite bizarre.  She wanted to cry out to Ratchet, ask him what was happening, but she, too, found herself incapable of moving.  All she could do was stare back into Ratchet’s face, fearful yet determined to save her.  During this time, however, she noticed that Ratchet’s outfit was suddenly changing before her eyes, switching from his pilot’s outfit, to a set of crimson armor, then again to a simple pair of green slacks while being barefoot and barechested.  As this continued, she realized that Ratchet and Clank were beginning to fade out of sight, all while more dimensional cracks began to form further away.  A few more, unmoving seconds… and he was gone….

 

“... before I knew what had happened,” Ratchet continued, feeling so emotionally exhausted that he couldn’t even cry if he wanted to, “I had found myself back at the Great Clock… right when Alister tried to stop the Clock from destroying itself.  Clank and I were still frozen in time, not able to do anything… and then, that girl appeared again, and… … ….”  Ratchet fell silent once again as he trailed off, trying to keep himself from collapsing then and there.
 

Umbris sighed sadly, glancing between Ratchet and the Memory Talwyn.  “We get it, Ratch,” said the Neo-Spacian.  “That’s why you were so determined to get into the fight; among other things, it was to save Talwyn, to make sure she was okay.”

 

“... but it ended up being for nothing….”
 

“... RATCHET!!”  Ratchet was caught completely off-guard by Clank’s outburst.  He was even more surprised when the little robot suddenly went and punched the lombax square in the nose, much to Memory!Talwyn’s shock and Umbris’ morbid amusement.  “I… I cannot believe you!” Clank exclaimed, his metallic features failing to match the utter fury in his voice.  “Is this how you’re going to act whenever you lose someone you care about?!  First Alister when he originally died, then Kronk and Zephyr… are you just going to keep doing this?!”
 

“But--” Ratchet tried to interject as blood was now dripping from his nostrils.
 

“The real Talwyn would not want to see you like this!” Clank continued.  “For goodness sake, Ratchet, not even this memory of Talwyn wants to see you like this!  How do you expect to save any one person, much less an entire universe, if you keep losing faith in yourself the moment you’ve failed someone?!”

 

“... … … …”  Ratchet fell completely silent as he let Clank’s words sink in.  Was he a coward for giving up hope?  Was it fear of losing those he loved that made him want to hide from the rest of the galaxy, to give up being a hero?  … … but what was he really afraid of?  Was it really fear of loss…
 

… or was it fear of being alone?   Alone like he once was, as a child growing up on Veldin.  He had no one back then, he only had himself to rely on.  It had always been like that, just him, alone, in a vacant garage he had made his home… that was, until the day that Clank came along, and life as he knew it was forever changed.  Since then, he had become a hero, saved the galaxy numerous times, made enemies, made friends… and most of all, he matured.  The fact was, Ratchet was afraid of losing all of that, of being alone like he once was….
 

“... but… I’ll never truly be alone, anymore… will I?” Ratchet spoke suddenly, his eyes lighting up with a newfound hope.  “... Clank… you’re right.  I mean, heh, no surprise there, right?
 

“But still… I was so scared of being alone again,” Ratchet continued, “that I wouldn’t have someone who can help me, I dunno, get back on my feet.  That I might even go back to how I was before I met you, Clank.  But I’ve realized, even if I have no one with me physically, they’ll always be with me… here,” he said, placing a hand on his chest, over his heart.  “I’ll never truly be alone, as long as my friends are still in my heart.”

 

Talwyn smiled, her eyes glistening with tears.  “Of course we’ll always be there,” she told Ratchet, wrapping her arms around him.  “You’ve always been there for us, Ratchet.  We’ll do the same for you….”

 

"I know, it's just...," Alister began, feeling on the border of relief and frustration, "... I'm just... so tired of blaming myself for everything… ... how can I ever get past that?"

 

"... ... I know that feeling," Alexander replied slowly, unaware of--or, perhaps, purposely paying no mind to--the memory of Gorlag who was looking on from behind a nearby tree. “I’ve found myself asking that question a lot, lately….”

 

“Alex…!” Alister whispered urgently as he took notice of Gorlag, hoping to get other lombax to do the same.  Alexander, however, shook his head.
 

“I know, Al,” Alexander whispered back calmly.  “He’s here… of course he’d be here….”  Alister moves as if to get between Alex and Gorlag, but Alexander stops him.  “No, it’s okay.  You don’t have to do anything.  Neither of us do.”

 

“WHAT ARE YOU ON ABOUT?!” Gorlag roared out as he made himself known, lumbering his way toward the two lombaxes, towering over them.

 

“It’s simple, Gorlag,” Alexander explained: “You’re already long gone.  If I fought you now, in hatred or fear, you’d just keep coming back because you’re a memory….

“... and that’s all you are now.”

“?!?!!!”

 

“I’m saying it’s pointless for me to fight you now,” Alexander continued, taking a few steps toward the Agorian.  “It ended when I killed you back at the Institute, and then again at the Periphery.  Both times… someone I cared for was hurt, either because I failed to do anything, or because I went too far.  But not anymore.  You’re just a memory now, Gorlag.”  By now, Alex was right in Gorlag’s face, calmly glaring into the Agorian’s eyes.  “... you can’t hurt anyone anymore.”
 

At this, Gorlag gave a defiant snort. “WANNA BET?!?!”  The Agorian wound back an arm, intent on slamming it into Alex.  Alister, frightened, once more tried to get between Alex and Gorlag, but found himself unable to move; his feet had become encased in ice, rooting him to the spot.  Alex, meanwhile, stood his ground, a odd, small smile crossing his face as Gorlag thrust his massive fist into Alexander’s face.

 

THWACK!!

 

Gorlag’s eyes widened in shock as he realized that his assault had no effect.  At all.  Alexander had stopped his punch with just one hand.  “You see, Gorlag?  You’ve no power over me, anymore,” Alexander spoke calmly.  He gave a slight push, causing Gorlag to stumble onto his back with a loud thud.

 

“B… But how…?!” Gorlag stammered, his voice having gotten quiet for once.

 

“You’re the past, Gorlag,” said Alexander, his eyes closed as if meditating on what he was saying.  “And I’m not going to let it control me any longer.  I’m done with the pain it’s caused me… so I’m letting it go.”  He began to make his way around Gorlag, intent on heading in the direction Ratchet had left earlier.  “Coming, Al?”

 

Alister hesitated a bit, still trying to register what he had just seen before silently grabbing the Zurkon Wrench and following after Alexander, just as Gorlag struggled to get back onto his feet.

 

“Where…,” the Agorian growled as he managed to get up on one knee, “... WHERE THE HELL D’YA THINK YOU’RE GOING?!!”

 

Alexander calmly stopped in his tracks, unfazed by Gorlag’s furious outburst.  “... I’m moving forward,” he replied, still facing away from the Agorian.  “It’s all I can do now, for the past must be left behind.”

 

Alister, however, had his attention turned to Gorlag, in case the brute decided to charge at them.  Instead, he looked on in surprise as Gorlag’s body began to crystallize, his legs being the first to turn to solid, smooth ice before the effect continued upwards along his body.  

 

Frantically, the Agorian struggled to move, actually clawing at the ground to drag himself torward the departing lombaxes.  “W--WAIT!!” Gorlag screamed out, the crystallization having now moved up past the abdominal area.  “WAIT A SEC--ALEX!  D--DON’T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!  HEY, BUDDY--!!”

 

“This stupid alien is getting quite desperate,” Mr. Zurkon noted.  “Are you sure we are not going to kill this one?  Mr. Zurkon would be more than happy to--”

 

“There’s no point.  You can’t kill a memory,” Alister uttered.

 

Alexander nodded in agreement.  “... although,” he added, “... if anything, I should apologize, Gorlag.”

“HUH?!” “What…?!” “Mr. Zurkon… did not see that coming.”

 

“... you may be a terrible person, Gorlag,” Alexander continued, his eyes once more closed as he meditated on his own words, “but not even you deserved to have been killed a second time.  That’s why I’m not fighting you… you’ve been through enough as it is.”

 

“What…?” Gorlag uttered in disbelief, his body now frozen up to his neck.  “Y… you think… … you think apologizing IS GONNA MAKE IT BETTER?!  THAT ASKING MY FORGIVENESS WILL ABSOLVE YOU?!”

 

“... … … no.  It’s not your forgiveness that I seek…,” Alex uttered quietly as a small tear formed in his eye.  “If I should be asking anyone for forgiveness... it should be myself."  Slowly, Alexander turned to face Gorlag the Heartless one last time, to see that the brute had now been turned into a snow sculpture.  Standing between it and the lombaxes was a younger Alexander, his lightless, weary eyes staring back into those of his older self.  The two stood silently as they held a brief, wordless conversation with each other, the contents of which only they knew.  

 

Eventually, the present Alexander nodded to his younger counterpart, understanding what was to come.  Having received his answer, the younger Alex also nodded, a small smile forming on his otherwise emotionless face.  The memory faded away, just as the Gorlag snowman dissolved in a flurry of snowflakes, being carried off by a mysterious wind.

 

“... you okay?” Alister finally spoke up after a while of being silent, placing a hand on Alexander’s shoulder.

 

Alex turned his head to face Alister, the same small smile now on his face.  “... yeah.”

 

With that, Alexander held one arm around Alister’s torso, supporting the General as the two left the clearing, making their way over to Ratchet….

 

 

 

Bayonetta / Remembrance - B3

 

"Gaaaaaabrieeeeel~!" Bayonetta called out as she rounded one of the giant trees.  "Where art thou~?  Pfft, heh, never thought I talk like that in this day and age.  Honestly, though," Bayonetta sighed out as her patience was running thinner by the moment, "Gabriel, you had better hope I find you before I change my--"

 

"--hair?" Gabriel's voice answered from behind the Umbra Witch.  Bayonetta turned around to see Gabriel, her Cheshire doll still in his possession, and he himself being carried by a raven-haired, crimson-eyed young woman wearing a dark slim-fitting outfit.  They were also accompanied by another woman with shoulder-length navy-and-silver-colored hair, wearing a far more conservative outfit than the other woman but also showing visible tattoos on her hands and right half of her face.

 

"... well, in any event, I've found you," Bayonetta replied, deciding not to even bother correcting the lion plushie.  "So, aren't you going to introduce me to your two lady-friends here?  Assuming they are your friends, of course," she added.

 

"Of course we're his friends!" snapped the girl holding Gabriel, glaring fiercely at the Umbra Witch for whatever implication she thought was being made.

 

"Yuri, calm down," spoke the other young woman.  "This really isn't the time to get antagonistic.  Anyways, ma'am," she continued, addressing Bayonetta (and ignoring the Witch's eye-twitch at being called "ma'am"), "my name is Idris, and our partner here is Yuri.  The two of us were partners of Gabriel's back in our world."

 

"Ah, yes," Bayonetta replied.  "Gabriel has mentioned the two of you before.  You were all chosen to oppose Sayer's daughter, correct?"

 

"That's the abridged answer, yes," said Idris.  "We were all chosen to bear the Three Legendary Knights of Atlantis in order to stop the Orichalcos Cult and prevent the return of the Great Leviathan."

 

Yuri nodded in agreement, but soon hung her head in shame.  "Except... something when whore-iffically wrong.  That man, Sayer... he... he murdered Gabe to pervert our success," she said tearfully as she held Gabriel tightly.

 

"Yes," spoke Bayonetta, "except from what I understand, Gabriel's murder at Sayer's hands was not what ultimately destroyed your homeworld.  It was Isamy's interference when she stole Gabriel's soul that prevented him from resurrecting."

 

"Oh!  Ah, yes, you're right," Yuri stammered.  "Still, had that man not tried to sa-boat-age us--"

 

"Indeed," Idris cut in.  "Sayer's own role in that event was what caused the mess we're in right now."

 

"Exactly," Gabriel spoke up with rather uncharacteristic rage as he hopped out of Yuri's arms.  "For what he had done then, what he did before, and what he's done now, I intend on paying him back with interest.  I'll see to it that he gets what's been coming to him."

 

"And how do you propose on doing that, Gabriel?" Bayonetta asked, not the least bit fazed by Gabriel's uncharacteristic-yet-understandable behavior.

 

"Well, getting my body back, for one thing," Gabriel answered.

 

"... you haven't really thought this through completely, have you?"

 

Gabriel heaved a frustrated sigh before meekly answering, "... no."

 

Bayonetta, too, sighed as she scooped up Gabriel and Cheshire.  "Well, not to worry, Gabby.  I'll make sure you at least get to give Sayer a good boot to the arse and then some.  Now, let's get going.  The boys are most likely wanting to get off this Pathway already.  I know I do."

 

"Right...."  Gabriel turned his head to look back at Idris and Yuri.  "We'll make this right, guys.  I promise you that," he told them in a tearful, yet determined, tone.

 

"We know, Gabriel," Yuri nodded in reply as she and Idris waved goodbye.  "See you another time."

 

"Bye...," Gabriel uttered sadly as the two memories vanished....

 

C6

 

“I don’t know about you boys,” Bayonetta spoke up as she and the lombaxes neared the end of the forest, “but I’ll be more than happy to get out of this forest.  Seven-point-eight, too much wood.”

 

“And I’ll be more than happy to get off this Path,” Umbris grumbled as he walked alongside Alexander and Alister, part of his cape being used to hold Alister’s right arm in a sling.
 

“Well, we are not out of the woods yet, figuratively or otherwise,” Clank replied as he hung from Ratchet’s back.

 

Alexander, meanwhile, seemed to be preoccupied with something on his mind.  “Are you alright, Alex?” Alister asked, taking notice.

 

Alexander gave an unsure nod.  “I just feel like we’re forgetting something.”
 

“How’s about saying “goodbye”?” a voice called out to the group.  Turning around, the lombaxes and Bayonetta were met with the sight of the memories of their friends and loved ones, all standing together, apparently having appeared to see them off:

For Ratchet, the forest had conjured Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper, Qwark, Big Al, Sasha, and Talwyn.  For Bayonetta, it was Jeanne, Luka, her mother Rosa and her father Balder.  For Alexander, it was his father Artorius, Galen, Luisa DeLane, Wolfram Collingwood and Wulf.  For Alister, it was Kaden.

 

"Yep, just as I thought," Alexander blurted out.  "Sorry, guys."
 

Kaden nodded with a slight chuckle. "It's okay, Alex.  I'm only saying that because this'll be the last time you'll see us before leaving the forest."

 

"No, Dad, it's really not okay," Ratchet spoke up.  "We really shouldn't be leaving without saying goodbye."

 

"To each their own," Artorius shrugged.  "We're just memories, after all."

 

"Still, it couldn't hurt," said Galen.  "This is our chance to give these guys a bit of last-minute encouragement.  They'll need it, for the rest of what the Pathways of Origin have to offer."  The rest of the memories nodded in agreement.

 

Alexander nodded in return.  "Thank you all," he replied, getting a bit teary-eyed.

 

After the group said their goodbyes to the memories, they began to make their way toward the lake, walking alongside the river.

 

 

 

... unbeknownst to them, a certain schemer hung back as he watched the heroes leave the forest, his red irises glaring as he tried to understand how it could have taken him this long to find them....

 

Ratchet, Alexander, Alister and Bayonetta: Currently traveling along C6 - C10, walking alongside the river

[Merci]

~ Protheus Maximus w/ Tenshi Hinanawi ~

The Pathway to Truth [C9]

 

As the girl that was known as Tenshi spoke, what came from her mouth was instead the voices of thousands of different people speaking in unison, before it slowly returned back to a single voice, her original voice. Moving her body a little bit, seemingly to see whether whatever the powerup she gained was successful or not, Tenshi’s serene expression then suddenly changed into a smug-looking grin as she lowered her sword in preparation for an attack.

 

“Hmph.”

 

Predicting that she would make the first move, Protheus took a stance to prepare for it, making sure to pay extra attention towards his own right arm. There was little doubt that she’d undergone a transformation for the sake of defeating him, but the question here was what kind of transformation it was exactly. Merely a state of mind over matter, or a state with physical amplifications and new abilities as well? Whatever the case, he would be sure to end her within the next few strikes. His patience was running out, and this insignificant, inferior insect was far overstaying its welcome.

 

“What’s wrong, Protheus? Are you afraid to go straight and mangle this poor, helpless maiden?

 

But eh, if you decided to go stay being a pussy like that, s’pose I’ll take your bait like a good girl I am, and die in the process.”

 

At this point, it wasn’t clear whether Tenshi was trying to aggravate Protheus to attack her, or whether she was honestly being condescending. Her tone was completely scathing, though it was clear that she was merely forcing the tone. But then, as Protheus didn’t seem to respond to her taunt, Tenshi’s expression changed to a mild annoyance, and she let go of her stance to raise her left arm towards the sky.

 

“Well then, as I’ve said, here I go.

 

Temperament: Grand Sky of Scarlet!”

 

Once again, Tenshi declared another spellcard, and as the words of her declaration echoed throughout the pathway, crimson light shot out from her left palm and straight out spreading throughout the sky around her and Protheus, creating some sort of scenery not dissimilar to a grand fire, a scene of an inferno that was scorching the sky to cinders. The grand bows and veils of red, dancing around with the once dull sky as its background, the sight was both mesmerizing and at the same time, foreboding for an incoming catastrophe. After looking at what she did to the sky, Tenshi returned her gaze towards Protheus, seemingly satisfied with the show of light.

 

And with that, without even fixing her stance first, Tenshi blitzed forward right at Protheus, with a speed that was complete unheard of for her especially seeing her earlier performance. She was really fast, to the point of it could be said that she was almost teleporting instead of moving.

 

However, as she charged, Protheus took a fiercer look and various explosions tore the air throughout their surroundings, the remnants of the fog being detonated on the spot.

 

The explosions were too small to endanger the charging Tenshi, who dodged them easily without even slowing down. However, this was only a distraction as he immediately moved to the right a little, passing her by despite her incredible speed, and then turning around with his sword in midsw---no.

 

The very moment he had dodged, he’d spun with that blade, thereby beginning the cause and ending the effect as soon as they were parallel to each other. In an instant, her right arm had been severed from her body along with that dangerously unknown sword of hers, and with it followed a massive outpour of blood from the stump, some of it splattering onto his sleeve - frankly, it was something he should have done from the very beginning. Before she could even begin to process what had happened, he followed up by twisting Impure Future at an odd angle, and a huge force smashed onto her, pinning her to the ground with the weapon having been run through her chest very shortly afterwards. Just to make sure she stayed down, he thrust his left foot down onto her face, snapping and flattening her nose.

 

“You did well. Truly, you did.” He complimented her, closing his eyes to focus as he did so. “You were simply too persistent for your own good…”

 

“Urgh, go to hell, you annoying bastard!” Tenshi defiantly spat at Protheus, but doing that only made her look even more and more pathetic than before.

 

At first, it seemed that both of Protheus’s hands were occupied with one holding the sword and the other holding the Key, but this false presumption was immediately cleared away when four arm-like appendages tore out of his back, apparently composed of manifested darkness, each of which were so large that they would’ve been enough to crush an ordinary human under their weight, yet somehow, they complimented Protheus’s own elegant figure and expressionless face. It was hard to define it as an ‘arm’ due to the odd angles at which they twisted and the nonlinear amount of elbows, not to mention the various spikes unnaturally poking out here and there. Even at the very tip, the seven ‘fingers’ of their ‘hands’ were more akin to the poisonous fangs of a dragon.

 

As soon as they’d come out, they were all thrust downwards and began tearing away at the thing before them...was it a girl? Details pertaining to the opponent were irrelevant, as all that had to be focused upon right now was destruction. Destruction, the kind that would bring victory. Kill it. If it was mortal, then it could be killed. It simply had to be damaged, and if it could regenerate, then damage it again and again until it died. Start with the remaining arm, left ankle, right eyeball and heart. Plunge in and rip them out, regardless of the resistance the enemy put up. As the four shadow limbs did so, red liquid came gushing out, perhaps blood, or something similar considering how the biological structure of Celestials might not be similar to a normal human at all, but it did not matter. Above him, an arm with torn cloth stuck to it, half a softskinned leg, a pounding vermillion organ that was slowly stopping, and a tiny white squishy eye with a vein attached were being held.

 

“I gave you many chances to die, and yet you refused them all. I even gave you the honour of dying at one of my greatest attacks. You have but yourself to blame for this.”

 

Considering the damage that he had inflicted just like that, observing her current disheveled state with gaping wounds and blood splattering all over the place, was she dead already? It didn’t even take a millisecond for him to find an answer. No. Even if it were true, he would not take that chance. In his past, he’d experienced enough comebacks from troublesome opponents that he would make sure not to allow for such a thing again…!

 

In response to his thoughts, two more appendages exploded out from his back, and quickly afterwards all the limbs were thrust down again, this time with more ferocity, more carelessly. Rather than specifically target the spots that were most likely to disable her, they ripped out with their warped claws and tore out whatever was visible. The pretty little head with its girlish features and long hair were a priority, being smashed three times in order to properly crack and flatten the skull along with its fleshy insides, then being ripped apart and tossed messily into the air. The same principle went for every other body part. The leg snapped, snapped, and snapped again, being crunched, being torn like paper, throw it away. The chest was annoying, so it was smashed by all six limbs at once, causing an immediate explosion of liquid like a grape being squished, though none of it actually splattered onto Protheus’s own body somehow. Was that another enemy? No, that was the source, focus on the target. Kill it. Kill it. Kill it. Conserve actual mana, and render everything into nothingness with brute force. Defile it until it was nothing. The limbs morphed somewhat, their ‘hands’ taking a flatter, more hammerlike appearance before being swung downwards. Every organ, take it and crush it. Every tissue, take it and rip it apart until it was too small to be identified. Everything that was in sight, everything that had the colour of vermillion blood, light grey bone, fair pink brain, or skin was to be grinded. Scatter every molecule and make them so that they are indistinguishable from the earth if possible. There is no need for complete annihilation, because the enemy does not deserve such bliss. The enemy does not deserve the miracle of being rendered into nothingness by magic. The simulated consciousness of feral monsters, installed into each of the shadow limbs, were enough to deal with this. Kill it until it was dead, kill it even if it was dead, kill it until death was the guarantee. Thus, her body had been severely messed up, with blood and pieces of flesh and bone dust having been unevenly thrown apart throughout the land.

 

Resorting to such explicit tactics wouldn’t have been something he’d normally do, even if it were an unknown entity he was dealing with here, but…

 

...that ultimate attack from earlier. The ‘Truth of Souls Upon Death’. In order to invoke it and draw upon the energy of the very many accumulated curses of all those who died cursing his name, he had to do one thing - and that was to channel it through his body. Even this current physical form, strong though it may be, would not be able to handle it. Only by temporarily shifting into his true form and fully imposing the Omni Principle could he use it without worry of self-destruction, but even that couldn’t completely block out the stream that would flow through his mind. 

 

It wasn’t too different from what he normally went through in life as a result of his Time Sense, but still, hearing the voices of so much hatred, all towards him - it wasn’t like hearing such things made him hate them, for who could blame them? An unknown man, descending from the sky to steal away the peaceful lives of near-infinite innocents, with the only reason being strategic positioning, obtaining valuable resources, or experimentation. This feeling was hard to explain, but, simply put... It made him want to kill them all over again.

 

“Kill it. Kill it. Kill it.” He started muttering, despite his self-perceived calm state. “Everything is irrelevant. I am irrelevant. I am nothing. I am the destruction and I am destroyed. Therefore, it will be killed.”

 

Once all the visible flesh in range had been absorbed into his body, though the earth had been stained in blood all over, he took a deep breath before standing upright; the extra appendages supporting him as he pulled Impure Future back out from the ground.

 

“That should end it.” Protheus said.

 

“But what if I am still alive?” As if it was answering his statement, a disembodied girl’s voice echoed throughout the sky, somewhat mockingly replied with a rhetorical question.

 

“Then…” Even though he couldn’t possibly have known, he showed no surprise as he looked up towards the sky with a vacant look. “This time, you will have to properly die.”

 

“Won’t we all?”

 

“Everyone else, perhaps. Not me.”

 

“Eternity is completely boring, though. If I kill you here, I’ll do you a favor in sparing you of that fate.”

 

Then, not long after the disembodied voice finished speaking, crimson light shone from the extra appendages that supported Protheus, and moments afterwards, every single one of those dark limbs were engulfed in a bright red explosion coming from inside them. Caught by the shockwave at point-blank range, having been connected to the very source of the blast, Protheus’s body was sent flying horizontally until it slammed into one of the dead trees around, seemingly had sustained critical damage, if one threw a quick glance at him at this point. Yet, despite this, the damage actually inflicted appeared to be minimal, even healing quickly as he stood back up.

 

“Hmm. Before, you were a Level Six, but now I would say that you are a Level Nine.” He told her. A compliment, or a warning? It was hard to tell. “And as a lowly Celestial who hasn’t had the opportunity to experience eternity, do not try to matters things you cannot possibly comprehend.”

 

“Can you just shut up?” The disembodied voice replied once more, sounding really annoyed.

 

Protheus stretched out his arms in opposite directions as if to give his regards, dark weapon in his left hand and spacial cube in his right. Even though his opponent was not in sight, he wasn’t concerned. He wasn’t feeling anything, actually, and the words coming out of his mouth was a mere going through the motions of being ‘himself’.

 

“Your efforts are valiant, but it is all for naught. Now that I have discerned what that scarlet energy of yours is, I can make the appropriate preparations to defend against it. Even the bait you set for me did nothing. You did so much, little hero, but can you not see that your opponent is the very Herald of Darkness itself?”

 

“Why should I give any single care about whatever your title is anyway? Death, Fate, Destiny, Erasure, Boundaries, Darkness, nothing matters. If I'd gotten scared and backed down from my pursuit due to these silly things called titles, I wouldn’t be anywhere near here right now.

 

You know what? Yeah, just keep thinking like that.”

 

With the disembodied voice managing to finish her sentence, Tenshi’s body then materialized behind Protheus without any cues or warnings, and she immediately swung her sword straight towards his right arm, aiming to dismember it so she could take claim of the key immediately. However, right before it could make contact and slice through, the man abruptly thrust his forehead forth with unprecedented speed and confidence and smashed it against her own - with such force matching if not exceeding that of a crashing meteor, Tenshi’s whole head got blown off from her neck just like that, and was sent flying hundreds of meters into the distance before hurtling over the edge of the pathway.

 

Yet, after recovering from the brief shock courtesy of the force that managed to knock her arm backward a bit, the decapitated body of Tenshi immediately resumed the slash as if nothing had happened to her. Understanding and having anticipated this possibility as well, a large shard of earth still containing his mana shot up from the earth and pierced through that arm, changing its angle. The dark sorcerer promptly moved in to slice it off just as he’d done a minute ago-

 

...only for the beheaded body to explode in another flash of scarlet as he did so. He quickly erected a barrier that absorbed the explosion at even this close distance, though it shattered straight afterwards.

 

“I see.” He nodded blankly. “So now, if I am not mistaken, you’re using exploding bait to rush me, hoping that it will be sufficient to make me tire it out and fall, while the true you is in hiding somewhere, waiting it out. How crude.”

 

“What do you mean by ‘true me’? You’re saying that as if I’m too cowardly to attack you head-on.

 

As long as the sky’s with me, I doubt that even you would have the ability to kill me.” Tenshi said in a half-annoyed and half-amused tone as she reappeared once again behind the sorcerer while she launched a quick stab at him.

 

This time not even bothering to look, before her blade could come close, a torrent of incredibly hot flames shot out towards her from below, having come from a pre-prepared card lain on the ground. Charmer of Fire, deal with this annoyance. The inferno blazed through her flesh and bone, making sure to carry her high into the air in the form of a rising pillar of fire. The pillar of flame visibly melted her eyes before continuing onwards and completely scorching her entire body, and it was ended with an explosion that sent the charred body parts of Tenshi throughout all directions.

 

Just as another Tenshi materialized in front of Protheus, going for his heart once again, more flames erupted out between them as if it had a life of its own, intercepting her and making sure to incinerate it intensely enough until there was little left to detonate but ash. There was no point for Protheus in focusing on her or whatever clones she’s trying to use if the only intention was to wear him down.

 

“Sword of Rupture!”

 

But then, Tenshi’s sword, as it broke through the inferno without any hands holding it, kept on moving forward as if it was alive, trying to avenge its master that was ‘killed’ moments before. It shot through the flames in an incredible speed like a projectile, aiming at Protheus as if the sword was completely sentient.

 

Although he had been expecting something along these lines to happen, the velocity at which it came towards him was somewhat unprecedented. Unable to dodge sufficiently fast enough at this close distance, he instead opted to channel energy through his left arm and force it to move faster, thereby ensuring the possibility in which it intercepts in time. Hence Impure Future was swung down and its result immediately clanged against the Sword of Rupture from the side, not only as an attempt to parry it but also as a guarantee that the man would be alive to do so.

 

But in response to it being parried, the sword then suddenly changed its own structure into that of a sickle, and immediately slashed around in circle around itself while also using the momentum to reposition itself, before turning itself into a lance immediately afterwards as Tenshi rematerialized, and without wasting any time, she then thrusted the newly-formed lance forward into Protheus.

 

An unknown factor such as that weapon could not be allowed to make contact with him, for the consequences in the long run of the Pathways’ quests could be potentially disastrous. Depending on what it was, it could even end him right there and then… But of course, this was assuming that he would let such an inconvenient event occur.

 

Right as it was about to make contact, a massive amount of darkness burst out from him, sending a shockwave in all directions and blowing Tenshi away into the sky above before the point of that weapon could hit his skin, overcoming her assault with sheer strength. No matter how fast she’d become or how many special abilities she had, her overall strength couldn’t possibly match against his, either physical-wise or mystical-wise.

 

“That ‘truth’ of yours is flawed. Do you not understand?”

 

“Said by someone who is nothing but lies!”

 

Then, before she could regain her bearings, a series of arrows composed of dark energy were fired out, homing onto her trajectory at the speed of bullets and then proceeding to pierce through her face, lungs, heart, left elbow, right elbow, and feet with incredible accuracy, making sure to disable her whilst in the air, though he was certain that this was just another one of her bait and hence meant little.

 

“Why fight against a being you cannot possibly win against?” While the words were coming out of his mouth, he pointed his sword at her again, dark energy gradually gathering at its tip. “You need at least a thousand more years of training if you hope to even begin to reach my level of might. Is that not already clear to you?”

 

“Might, skill…you kept on saying that. Saying that I need more strength, more skill, more experience to be able to match you.

 

But they’re…they’re useless, useless, useless!”

 

Tenshi was still being pierced by arrows on all over her body, turned herself back to Protheus, without even using a keystone as a stopper this time, before she sped towards him like a shooting star, still ignoring the entire volley of arrows that were still sticking throughout her body as her mind was completely locked for another attempt to hit Protheus.

 

“That is correct. Your level of strength...is useless against me.”

 

He didn’t need to dodge this time as she homed in onto him, Impure Future pointed at her menacingly. Using it as a conduit for mana, enough dark energy had been charged at its tip that he merely had to release it to end this little assault of hers - and in an instant, a beam of destructive black energy ripped through the air, heading towards her so as to obliterate her.

 

“Who cares about strength? No matter how much you spit out, it’s useless if it does not hit!

 

No matter how strong you are, I’ll be able to exploit your weakness!”

 

Somehow still having time to say the reply, Tenshi then dissipated into the air just moments before she was evaporated completely by the dark beam, and predictably reappeared behind Protheus for another attempt, swinging her sword straight towards his head. However, as if to taunt her for her very words, when the sword cut through, it appeared to be cutting through a slimy substance, and shortly afterwards the body itself broke down into a dark liquid, revealing itself to be a fake.

 

“Slime, huh?

 

That’s pretty fitting for someone as disgusting as you.”

 

Without Protheus in sight, Tenshi planted her sword to the ground, closing her eyes while standing still, as if she was waiting for him to appear, though that would be quite insulting to Protheus’s intelligence if she actually thought that he would fall to that simple trick. For a moment, it appears that the battlefield went silent without any single movement aside from the grand aurora in the sky that kept on flaring, though for some reasons its light was less brilliant compared from how it was before.

 

Perhaps so, he spoke into her mind. Not out loud, but telepathically, so that she wouldn’t be able to discern his position. But more importantly, will you not go on the attack? Do you truly believe that you have the time to wait?

 

“Just shut up, will you? Who said I’m not going to attack?

 

Array of Heaven!”

 

Annoyed by Protheus’s taunt, Tenshi was completely provoked and went on to declare her attack, which at first, looked like it was the attack she had used before when Protheus spewed the fog earlier, which consists of lasers being shot at absolutely every direction around her.

 

But this time, instead of lasers, some sort of sphere of destruction expanded from the point where she planted her sword, and it kept on expanding as it annihilates anything that it passed through. Ground, dead trees, the sphere kept on expanding and annihilating everything around Tenshi.

 

There was a clear scowl on his face as he watched the hemisphere of destruction approached him from a distance. He couldn’t fully discern it, but it appeared to be similar to the volley of attacks she’d used at the beginning, in which case it was merely a highly offensive, wide-ranged projection of mana. Nothing threatening, and really, it was more of a waste of energy on her part if anything. The intent was perfectly clear; she was doing this in order to figure out his position. However, she failed to understand that all this effort, all of it was for naught.

 

Stepping out from the back of one of the dead trees, he held his Impure Future blade up by his side with the utmost confidence...before proceeding to thrust from a far-off distance, in a manner not unlike a dart, with a clear smile on his face.

 

Cause and effect reversed, an invisible missile-like force broke through the sphere and pierced into her skull, causing a gaping, wide vertical wound on it before she could realize what had actually happened. Only moments afterwards, the actual sword in question followed, shooting through the air and then actually planting itself into her face, splitting it wide open. If the brain was the source of her clones’ intelligence, then eliminating it should cause them to cease and—[/size]

 

“It’s useless, dear Protheus. I already said it.”

 

Grabbing the sword from her still bleeding, split-open head, Tenshi immediately stopped the flow of energy coming from her attack, and turned around to face the direction from where the sword was coming from, looking somewhat amused by the fact that Protheus threw his sword of all things right at her. From the sword that she was holding on her left hand, Tenshi could feel that there was some sort of powerful force trying to pull it into the direction she was facing.

 

“Wonderful.” Tenshi said those words as the force magnified exponentially, ripping her left arm that still stubbornly held unto the blade as it returns towards Protheus’s direction. 

 

She immediately dissolved her body into the air, and rematerialized herself around the sword, then she held to it tightly as it went straight towards Protheus at high speed, definitely planning to utilize the sword itself against its master. And - it was a success! An unforeseeable force clearly slashing through his coat and the flesh within, it left a wide wound across his chest from the neck to stomach in such a way that it could’ve crippled any ordinary lifeform.

 

“So, you believe you can wield the Impure Future?”

 

Yet, as soon as the effect had appeared, the cause had to take place so as to ascertain it. Hence, in those few moments that Tenshi was locked swinging the sword, his hand shot out and grasped ahold of her head, before snapping it off as soon as the weapon had finished its course, causing blood to spurt outwards from her neck. Just as quickly, the wound on his chest began to stitch itself back together and more flames erupted from the ground to set her ablaze as well as push her back.

 

“You failed to understand, however, that I provided you with such a weapon so as to clear away the uncertainty surrounding that other sword of yours.” Protheus explained, holding up the severed head as blood and spinal fluids dripped downwards. “Even if you believe that you can wield a part of the future, it dictates you. And not the other way around.”

 

The blade in her hand then started violently shaking, in an attempt to rip itself out while she was on fire. As if a magnetic force was pulling heavily on it, reaching out for the dark sorcerer that was merely several meters away.

 

“Now then, I believe it is due time to discern the source of whatever spell you’re doing here.”

 

Then, with that, he took a step back from the blazing body and began to channel his mana into the head, searching deep so as to find out the source, or at the very least, discern what sort of clones these were.

 

“Oh, for god’s sake, you are TEARING me apart, Protheus!”

 

With a tone that was oddly both dramatic and flat at the same time, the head spoke defiantly at the dark sorcerer, seemingly not even caring that it didn’t even have a body at that moment. And then, from the mouth of the decapitated head, two hands appeared, clawing to the edges of the mouth before tearing the head off in two as Tenshi rematerialized again.

 

“Also, I think I’ll keep my sword, thank you. Manipulating the future like that is neat, but I’d rather have something that can surely kill something as annoying like you.”

 

And, just as expected after she finished the sentence, she rushed forward and went on another attempt to hit Protheus. At the same time, another ‘clone’ emerged behind Protheus, in an attempt to hit him too with her own sword. Obviously displeased with the lack of information, a wall of flames erupted from the ground, swirling around his figure that intercepted and incinerate both Tenshi as they came near. Utilizing the Charmer of Fire in an indirect way seemed to be enough to hold them back, and sooner or later, this little opponent of his would have no more ways of opposing him.

 

“Hmm.” While he hadn’t gleamed much from the analysis of the head, there was a bit of a hint. Glancing up at the sky, he frowned slightly. The dancing lights above were less radiant than before, which was not exactly odd if it was not something that was summoned by his opponent.

 

“The sky’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

 

“No, but neither is it despicable.” Protheus responded, letting the flames subside slightly. “...At least, it wouldn’t have been if you were not around to ruin its static nature with that detestable aurora.”

 

“You’re no fun. Static things are completely boring, just like the eternity you’re talking about all this time. Well, whatever. Just die already.”

 

“What a coincidence… I WAS THINKING THE SAME THING.” A smirk forming on his face, the flames swirling around him disappeared entirely into the air as he called back his Charmer of Fire.

 

In its place was a strong, menacing aura, building up, slowly but surely. It wasn’t like before, like the concentration of grief and curses. Rather, this was an aura of pure power. Of high amounts of mana charging up within his body to the point that even the sclera of his eyes were beginning to take a darker hue, and his skin growing ever paler, that odd scar on his face becoming especially apparent.

 

“Wow, maybe we’re soulmates or something. Should we get married or something sometimes soon?” Tenshi replied flatly and snarkily, seemingly not even caring about the overpowering aura that was building up on her opponent.

 

“AN AMUSING STATEMENT. ALAS, THIS IS THE END FOR YOU, INSECT.”

 

“I’m searching for a more dependable lover than you anyway, so well, screw you too, rotting corpse.”

 

“THEN HOLD ONTO THOSE WORDS, FOR THEY MAY VERY WELL BE YOUR LAST.”

 

Sparks of lightning periodically materialized around Protheus’s aura as it only continued to build in strength, and noticeably, in his left hand was now another children’s trading card, not unlike the Charmers of Earth and Fire he’d been using before...though, this one was on a completely different level. It was clear what his intention was - this battle was to end right here, right now. The next move that he was able to do was something she could not possibly withstand, no matter what she was capable of in her current state.

 

Then, he held it up, and all the dark energy that he’d been charging up rushed towards it as if to herald its triumphant summoning. The path to an unstoppable force was being established between the darkness he was projecting and the light contained within the innermost core, the greatest weapon within the arsenal of the dark sorcerer by the name of Protheus Maximus, and in mere moments, it was going to emerge and annihilate everything, absolutely EVERYTHING in its way---

 

“Objection!”

 

Materializing around Protheus, a barrier of some sort was created around him by copies of Tenshi’s sword that appeared out of thin air, sealing him off completely from the rest of the pathway, Tenshi herself at that time was looking semi-amusedly at the sorcerer, who was still in the middle of casting his spell.

 

“I should probably say some sort of dramatic, grand chant here.

 

But eh, it’s not important.

 

So well, enjoy being a pincushion, you rotten bastard!”

 

The fake swords that formed the barrier then multiplied uncontrollably, clouding the entirety of the crystal-like prison, and even when it already covered every single spot that could be seen from the outside, turning the barrier to seemingly be golden with the color of the sword’s blades, it didn’t stop. The barrier kept on materializing more and more copies of the sword around Protheus, without giving him any moments to move or avoid the attack at all.

 

And then, in a flash, every single one of the swords were fired straight towards Protheus as the barrier shrunk rapidly, collapsing into its own core, trapping Protheus to be impaled by the uncountable swords that Tenshi had summoned around him, while the swords themselves still continuing on multiplying themselves.

 

“WHA—[/size]at?!”

 

Locked in is position and having not expected an outright assault as massive as this, he wasn’t able to complete the summoning in time, and infinite amount of sharp golden blades shattered past the protective aura around him before piercing throughout his body in all directions, more and more and more burying themselves into his body, infinitely multiplying, infinitely stabbing into him, and all the charged mana in the trading card held in his left hand erupted chaotically in response to this, this, this, this utter FOOLISHNESS! Light and darkness separating once more, the connection had been totally cut off and the card itself went silent. More, and more, and more. A rain of high-quality swords pinning him down to the ground, and with so many, so many, so many, it was unthinkable that he had originally deemed just one an unknown factor to avoid, this was bad. This was too bad. This was horrible. No, no, he could not feel pain but he could not move, yes, he was disintegrating, every spec of him stabbed by another mid-length sword, leaving nothing to waste. He had not even ascertained yet if he could regenerate against this unknown factor, and here it was, impaling him over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER so, so so so infinity dictates that within infinity, nothing is infinite EXCEPT FOR HIM therefore it should eventually cease and he would remain alive, yet that principle meant nothing if this was the kind of blade that negated such concepts. Therefore, THEREFORE, if that were the case, then this was to be, was to be, was to be, he couldn’t even be sure if his consciousness was still intact or if it was desperately grasping at life, was to be

 

his

 

...his end?

 

‘End’. The very idea of it was laughable. Eternity should not have an end. He had been promised eternity, therefore, he should not end. He should continue to exist as a spiral in the multiverse, ever-growing, encompassing all other beings with time. That was what he had been promised. Infinite time to do everything, or rather, to be more exact, he had been promised the infinite freedom to do whatever he wished.

 

…….and yet, to utterly contradict that, this was to be the end of Protheus Maximus, whom has successfully existed for three hundred forty-five billion five hundred sixty-nine million two hundred sixty thousand four hundred and forty-four seconds without ultimate cessation…?!

 

He could not foresee it. He could not even begin to foresee it, his end, especially when it was this early, and against a nobody at that.

 

ha

 

Unacceptable.

 

ha ha

 

That was unacceptable.

 

ha ha ha ha ha

 

That was unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable UNACCEPTABLE UNACCEPTABLE UNACCEPTABLE UNACCEPTABLE UNACCEPTABLE UNACCEPTABLE UNACCEPTABLE UNACCEPTABLE UNACCEPTABLE UNACCEPTABLE UNACCEPTABLE UNACCEPTABLE UNACCEPTABLE!!!

 

then,

 

a light within his destroyed consciousness

 

yes yes yes there was a chance a hope the excess energy he had charged was still there, and a part of his body was intact as well, so divert it to that place convert it use it all sustain himself sustain his life sustain his soul ha ha, haha, ha  ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hahaha hahahahah h ah a ha ha ha h ahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

...

 

Once the incredible assault had ceased, a dark force materialized in the air around the now impossibly-dense forest of blades created over and all around Protheus, before pulling all of those copy swords upwards with a single heave. Then, the huge, highly condensed mass of replicated swords that had gathered together to form what may very well be a tower in and of itself crashed into the ground, before disintegrating completely. The ground around them was surrounded by a huge amount of other swords which had gone off-course and stabbed into the ground elsewhere. As the Pathway repaired itself, these swords too were slowly disintegrated.

 

From where the concentrated pillar of swords had once been aimed at was now almost nothing. Scraps of skin, this and that, seemingly no trace of the dark sorcerer at first. 

 

But there, under the spatial box called the ‘Key of Origin’ was a fully intact hand, having been unharmed despite the assault. His consciousness gathering here, the body started to build itself outwards from it, using all the excess energy charged earlier on in order to accelerate the process of regeneration, lest it turn out there was still an enemy around to take advantage of the situation and end him for good.

 

It took half a minute all in all, but when it was all over, Protheus stood back up silently, without a trace of damage on either his pale flesh or his white regalia, as if the battle that had just occurred did not happen at all. He had triumphed over that deadly assault. Yet he felt neither the joy of living, nor the frustration of nearly dying.

 

“[The analysis of Protheus Maximus has been concluded.]

 

I think that was how I remember the centaur creature announcing it?”

 

Ignoring the voice, he turned around and looked ahead at the glass bridge and crystalline building up ahead. Enough time had been wasted here. He’d stayed around to play a little, but got carried away. The rain of blades earlier had merely made him realize this. It had made him remember his ultimate priority, over everything else.

 

“That... I should’ve guessed that using the copied swords would not be enough to obliterate every single scrap of your spirit.”

 

The condescending tone that was prominent on Tenshi since earlier had vanished, and now replaced with one that was reek on frustration and regret, but she herself knew that she had finally gained an edge on this battle, however late it was, and she tried to convince herself that she could still have a chance on this battle. The sky above her was now barely even decorated with the aurora, and what’s left were small threads spreading through the sky, lighting the dreary expanse like small embers decorating a completely burnt out landscape.

 

The sky was her secret to survive getting killed by Protheus over and over again. Magnified by all the temperament remnants from her counterattack against Protheus’s blast, she scattered her life essences throughout the sky, creating a field of temperaments marked by the scarlet sky where she could disintegrate her own body at will, since at that point, her true self was the entirety of the sky itself.

 

A minute had passed since Protheus regenerated from Tenshi’s last attack, and Tenshi was still quite unsure about what would the sorcerer do next.

 

“...” Looking up at the sky for a moment, the dark sorcerer then opened his mouth and said, “It is over. You have lost.”

 

On the Pathway to Truth, where a certain, unbreakable spell had been cast upon the area to make sure that everything anyone spoke was nothing but the truth, it wasn’t merely a desire that he spoke, but a fact that was apparent to him now, if not her.

 

“To assume an outcome from the future will truly, honestly happen, isn’t it lying? The future’s not a fact just yet, after all.

 

I already read and discerned the entirety of your spirit, Protheus. You’re like putting the carriage before the horse in saying that I already lost like that.” Tenshi replied, trying her best to show her confidence in each of her words. The result sounded obviously forced, unnatural.

 

Even if what she said was a truthful statement in itself, she perfectly, bitterly realized that Protheus’s statement was completely grounded on solid facts about their current conditions, something that she couldn’t deny no matter how hard she tried.

 

At least, there was still hope for her to win the fight, as she said.

 

With the rain of blades scoring a successful hit after all this time, Tenshi’s sword had established a ‘link’ between itself and Protheus’s spirit after the attack, and she managed to utilize its ability to read and discern spirits at him, analyzing his ‘self’ as much as possible. His nature, his spirit’s weak points, all of that information was safely stored inside of the sword now. Even without her being able to actually read what those information could actually be by herself, her sword had the ability to simply exploit and utilize the knowledge on its own for the rest of the combat.

 

But still, even with that arguably big advantage for her right now, her options were limited due to how much she'd already sacrificed to be able to gain that advantage. She wasn't able slowly transfer his qi towards her until it hit the breaking point, since not only was it too slow and dangerous, but there was no way that she could maintain the dying aurora in the sky long enough to save her from any further deaths. She had wasted way too many temperaments in all of her useless attempts to hit him earlier, remaking her physical body over and over again as they got destroyed again and again by the sorcerer, and not to mention the rain of swords, which pretty much left her with little to no temperaments to work with.

 

Inside of her heart, she cursed out the fact that she had to channel the temperaments from Protheus’s attack instead of from somewhere else earlier, which pretty much screwed her over by completely clouding her better judgment and ability to actually figure out something, not trying the same tactics over and over again in a hopeless assault. Heck, she just realized that even spamming long-ranged attacks earlier coupled with close range attacks to pin him down from all directions would've actually had a chance to do more on the battle.

 

Still, no time to regret what had been done now. And besides, she was already this close in finishing her opponent off.

 

She just need one more hit, and all of this could be over.

 

One, decisive hit, and she could be one step closer to fulfill her goal, to be a true hero. One hit that could completely, utterly annihilate Protheus without giving him any chance to return.

 

As it had been acknowledged by her, Protheus’s assumption was really based on a solid, grounded fact. She definitely could not go on forever with this approach, and in a battle of attrition, Protheus would utterly decimate her, and that was indeed yet another fact that even Tenshi could not deny. Even if she tried once again to drain the entirety of the temperaments from the pathway, it wouldn’t change much, and would only delay her inevitable defeat.

 

And not to mention that Tenshi could clearly notice that Protheus had decided that dealing with her was not worth the effort, and him simply leaving at this point, just as she could gain some sort of edge on the battle…

 

Tenshi couldn’t let it go that way. No, not after all she had risked, not after all she had sacrificed to get to this point..

 

No matter what, Tenshi must be able to end this battle as soon as possible with her victory.

 

“So… What will you do, little girl?” Protheus asked coldly, as if he could read her thoughts, having already started walking towards the glass bridge up ahead. “You are close to nothingness now, such that whether I end you or not makes no difference.”

 

Each footstep he took was controlled, making little to no sound, but it was a sign that he wasn’t forcing anything. There was nothing remotely tired about him that could signify this battle had hurt him. All the energy she’d made him to use was insignificant, and all the damage she’d inflicted had regenerated. Apart from having depleted a portion of his supply of self-curses; he truly was exactly the same as he was at the beginning of their duel, having not suffering from any form of exhaustion.

 

On the other hand, her state had deteriorated tremendously, and the sole advantage she possessed was a complete analysis on him. Valuable though it may be, it meant nothing if she no longer had the strength to carry it out.

 

“Will you sacrifice your last chance to satisfy that fleeting existence of yours, in an effort we both know to be futile?”

 

“Yes.”

 

She still had it. Her one last chance to defeat Protheus. She knew it was lying dormant inside of her sword, waiting for that one timing to be unleashed. Something that was fueled by the sacrifice of thousands. She had been barring herself from accessing it even during this battle so far, but at this point, there’s no negotiating the fact that she would need to, if she wanted to be able to claim victory.

 

The final ace in the hole for her, so to be said.

 

“I won’t let you get away from here!

 

No, nevermind anything else. I will end you here!”

 

The aurora on the sky, the one that had been supporting her to keep on surviving Protheus’s assault, slowly withdrew into her sword as she rose up one last time, and then, her sword disintegrated into a golden aura around her.

 

She knew it. She knew for sure that she was going towards the right direction when she used her entire assaults before this point. It was clear to her that she just need another, one grand attack to annihilate Protheus once and for all. She couldn’t risk trying to hit him with her sword, which should do the job just fine, as she was completely and utterly outclassed in close combat, and even if she cranked her previous assaults towards something unstoppable, she’d leave herself too vulnerable, since if she create another clone, the remaining temperaments would not be enough to rebuild her body when she’s inevitably obliterated by him.

 

“You shall not escape!”

 

Another barrier was established around Protheus, this time was created by Tenshi using several keystones that assembled a pyramid-like formation around Protheus, while Tenshi herself floated back into the sky, surrounded in a golden sphere that swirled around her like a storm.

 

Everyone, hear me out! Please, lend me your strength one last time!

 

And then, from the golden sphere, light shot up to all directions around Tenshi, where they proceeded to agglomerate and form more golden spheres, which in turn, created more golden spheres again and again, until there was literally thousands of them floating around in the sky, every single one of them was perfectly similar to the one Tenshi was in at the moment.

 

“Protheus! Take thi—[/size]“

 

...

 

..........

 

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

 

However, nothing happened. No grand finale. No ultimate attack to end this once and for all.

 

To Tenshi’s horror, before she could even finish her sentence, before she could even declare her attack, every single one of the spheres that she had just summoned, all thousands of them, suddenly collapsed, crumbled, disappeared into thin air just as she was going to launch her final attack at Protheus. Even her golden sphere had collapsed, and with an expression of complete, utter shock, she slowly descended back to the ground, her eyes staring emptily to the golden sword that slowly formed back on her hand.

 

Why? Everyone, why did you abandon me now? Why didn’t you help me?

 

No... I-is there anything wrong with me? Answer me! Please!

 

Everyone,

 

why won't you answer me?

 

As her heart screamed in desperation, whatever scrap of confidence that Tenshi used to have had evaporated to nothingness as her last hope to be able to defeat Protheus had completely and utterly failed before it even started. She banked every single last one of her hope to this attack’s success, and not once she doubted that she would be successful with it. 

 

Yet, here she was, standing still on the ground as she watched her entire effort during the entirety of the fight, no, during the entirety of her time in the Origin War pretty much resulted in nothing, with her last chance laying there in front of her, motionless.

 

It was pretty much game over for her.

 

“If you were to make a sacrifice in order to save a great many people, but not a single one of them thank you for it, how would you feel?” Protheus asked her coldly, completely unharmed, looking over his shoulder as he sheathed his blade to signify the end of their duel.

 

No answer came from the girl, and once this was clear, he let out a sigh. It was merely an empty gesture, without any real meaning, but deep within, it seemed as though there was the faintest hint of...disappointment? No.No, it couldn’t possibly be.

 

“Surely, you see now. Your perceived selflessness gave you a sense of pride, and it is this which drove you into battle against me, even though you never had a chance to begin with. You fought well, but in the end, the truth prevailed. Now you see the result of what happens when you try to act like a hero.”

 

As if on a whim, he held up his left hand with his index finger outwards, mimicking the shape of a gun, before turning around and pointing it at her.

 

“Henceforth, this is my parting gift to you, little girl.

 

AKHET KA.”

 

Then he pulled his hand upwards, and a massive burst of black energy was fired, rushing towards Tenshi’s disillusioned figure and then immediately blowing off her head upon contact, along with the entirety of her upper body.

 

Rather than an attack aimed to end a battle, it had been an action done out of a last-minute willingness to perform a mercy kill, such as how the sorcerer saw it. Closing his eyes momentarily, Protheus then turned around and resumed walking off as if nothing had ever happened. If nothing else, it had been entertaining for what it was worth, though it was hard to deny that he’d wasted far more time than he should have on a mere little girl. The possibility that she’d survived the attack was there, but if so, then he highly doubted that she would be capable of reaching the end of the Pathway to Truth. Death would be much more pleasant to such a fleeting entity than this.

 

Within moments, he’d reached the glass bridge at the end of the land and walked across it, not a single one of his steps making a sound with the grey, desolate sky above him. 

 

By then, the memory of the battle had become but a distant memory. When one had lived long enough, accumulating countless knowledge and experience along the way, even being near near-death and engaging a fairly troublesome individual were but trivial, irrelevant occurrences. Dwelling on one's own failures were pointless - surely, he'd be more careful next time about whoever he encountered, but that didn't hold nearly as much of a priority as securing his own immortality for good. Looking at the past was something he did not do due to the aforementioned irrelevance, and instead, he would look forth towards the future.

 

Entering the crystalline corridor after some more time passed, his surroundings changed from the desolate sky to walls of glowing crystals, illuminating the darkness before him with a dim blue tint that was very much like moonlight. Within this area, he could sense the residue of beings who'd been here not too long ago and advanced. It did annoy him slightly that there were those who were ahead of him, and perhaps there were those who were already in their second Pathway, if not their third. However, as long as he was the one who remained in possession over the Key of Origin, none of that mattered.

 

“Now then...”

 

His footsteps came to a halt as he found himself standing in front of a dark mirror, its reflection displaying absolutely nothing. There was a wide grin on his face as he looked at it, its meaning plain and clear.

 

“I believe it is due time to see what my 'true self' looks like.”

 

And with that, without even a trace of hesitance, he walked straight into the mirror whilst fully expecting that he wouldn't encounter any trouble while inside.

 

...oh, oh how wrong he was.

 

Ending Location: Pathway to Truth, X (Inner World)

[Love of Ghibli]

Butlerok: Path of Truth

The battle between Protheus and the other woman was certainly entertaining, but it seemed that when it came to the bag of tricks Protheus just had...more. However after the battle though it seemed that Protheus was going to some private area of the path. It was interesting to say the least. Butlerok wanted to follow or at the very least dine on the potential Rukh that the she left behind, but then something interesting happened. In the distance he heard words. Then he turned around to notice that the food he was chasing actually came to him. Oh F**K YEAH! Ragnarok shouted and revealed his chibi self. This is unexpected, but definitely appreciated. Ragnarok made a quick note that Kenpachi had commanded Yachiru to go cross the bridges. Butlerok nodded as that was probably a smart thing to do. Butlerok made a subtle head motion to Dorian and Dorian rolled his eyes. He too immediately fled to the safety of the bridges. 

"But now, you don't have to worry about me takin' off!  What's say we have some fun!?"

Interesting...Zaraki-san. You exist now because of me. I am curious to see what my generosity has yeiled. Butlerok was trying to sound nebulous on purpose. Cliche villainy was not really his thing, but it did seem that Kenpachi genuinely had no idea who he talking too. That Papa Legba character surely is one interesting fellow. Butlerok stuck out his right hand and Ragnarok materialized himself as a broadsword. Ragnarok's mouth started screaming from the sword making a deathly shriek. Screech....Alpha. Immediately there was a massive wave of the purple mouth blast coming straight at Kenpachi. Let the fun begin. 

 

Ending Location C9.

[Reinforce]

Ayame

Pathway of Truth: A4

 

As she moved through the pathway, some dark presence made it's way through the fairies who were flying around her, killing them with ease before settling in front of her. Looking at him even as he gave her a once over, the man in front of her seemed to be almost seething with some dark power that called to her darker side. 

 

Tell me woman, what side do you align yourself with?

 

"Currently the Counter Corps, though my only goal is to use the door to save my friend and my world. So long as you will not oppose that goal, I have no quarrel with you."

 

Ayame was somewhat shocked, not having intended to impart that much detail into her answer. All truthful too, even though she'd intended to say just the first bit to try and avoid a confrontation from slowing her progress through the paths.

 

---

 

Darcy

Pathway of Remembrance: E2

 

Walking through the stone pillars, and somewhat noticing the protective aura gone again, the dark witch quickly made her way into the forest. Inside the forest, two women as familiar to her as possible walked across, one of them way more comfortable in the cold environment than the other.

 

"Icy, Stormy. I wasn't expecting to see you guys again until the end of this war."

 

"We got bored waiting for you and decided to visit."

 

"Hopefully your visit will be as entertaining as you seem to be expecting then."

 

"We can't leave the forest while we're here, but at least we do get to see our dear sister for while anyway."

 

Shrugging, the three sisters started to walk through the forest together, chatting about inane things before getting back to the main reason for their visit. 

 

"You know, if you wanted power to take over there were easier ways of going about it without having to leave the Magic Dimension."

 

"It wouldn't be hard to take over with the Dragon's Flame gone anyway."

 

"Well, sorry for being less confident in our chances of beating the Winx than you two are. All our schemes and plans to take over and every single time they've thwarted us. You should be able to understand my reluctance to jump straight back into something that seems doomed to fail."

 

Darcy's voice seemed to be positively dripping with sarcasm for the last few sentences. Turning to the other two, she asked the question that had been on her mind for a while.

 

"Why are the two of you here anyway? The pathways aren't exactly the sort of place you can just turn up and leave as you like."

 

"We're not here, at least not in the way you're thinking. Like I said before, we can't leave the forest, and that's because we're constructs made by this pathway.

 

"So I can only talk to you two until I leave the forest."

 

"It kinda sucks but we don't really have any say in the matter."

 

The chat cut off for a while as they continued to walk, Darcy just enjoying her sisters being around again, for as long as it would last. Before long though, the three sisters reached the edge of the forest, and both Icy and Stormy stopped, unable to leave the bounds of the forest.

 

"I guess this is goodbye then. At least until I can return to our home dimension anyway."

 

The other two nodded sadly, before turning to walk back into the forest.

 

"One more thing, could you two get that storm out of the way so I can walk through without trouble."

 

"Maybe. The pathway doesn't actively prohibit us from helping you, but it is resistant to changes in the landscape and weather."

 

"We'll give it a try anyway."

 

Smiling slightly, Darcy turned to walk out into the storm as it partially subsided. While still strong enough to cause problems, the snowstorm was definitely easier to traverse than it would have otherwise been.

 

Ending Location: E8

[Tesability Black]

~The Divine - Path of Truth - Jace's POV~

"Who's this Omni supposed to be anyway?"

These words made themselves heard to his ears after the suited man disappeared from view, leaving the space between Jace and the double created from him empty for the time being.

For a few weighted moments, neither one of them moved from their spots, yellow eyes interlocked with blue...then the black double dashed forward with speed the original would never be able to match, though such would not be needed, for it stopped right in front of the original Beleren.

Then a dark grin that Jace wholy-believed didn't belong on his face emerged upon that of the black-colored twin before it lunged forward, surprising the original and landing him flat upon the ground.

"Your place has always been among the darkness," the evil twin managed to say before a pair of boots met with the double's stomach, launching him off of the mindmage before flipping onto his side.

"I am sick...and tired," he started to say as he stood up, trying to keep his anger bottled for the moment until a safer moment to let it go presented itself, "of almost everyone that knows about what I can do thinking that they can use me as a goddamned puppet!" His anger took that brief moment to vent, a roar leaving his throat for the smallest of moments to reveal a bottled anger that could deeply rival a red mage's rage. As the double tried to get back up, the blue original grabbed the black double by the front of the cloak before pinning him against one of the barren tree trunks.

And the black double simple gave a twisted grin. "Wipe that look off your face," Jace remarked before pulling a fist all the way back, "or I'm gonna take advantage of the fact that you look like me to beat the absolute s*** out of you."

"Do you really hate yourself that much, mindmage," was the only question asked with his own voice by another before Jace began his barrage of fists toward the double, sneaking in a kick or two into the mix of blows.

"I actually do," he finally stated after the final blow was dealt and the tears began to fall from his face, when he thought the thing would cease to move on its own. However, Jace turned out to be mistaken in this belief when it started to move again on its own accord, despite the broken bones he had dealt with his own hands.

"Others can't respect you if you can't respect yourself," it sputtered before standing fully on its own, prompting the psychic to get back onto his own feet, shifting into that of an unarmed fighter's stance. "It takes more than a pounding to stop me."

 

Ending Point: Between C6 & C7

 

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

~The Divine - Path of Death - Tesability's POV~

Five points of light shone bright upon the path ahead, causing Tesability to lose the drone-sized plane she had been following for a fair bit. Tilting her head slightly to the side, she tried to zoom her vision in from a distance, catching sight of a fight far up ahead, though she saw nothing that could have created the lights. Curiosity getting the better of her, the NetMonster flew low to the ground, until she was about level with it, before allowing herself to become surrounded with electricity so that she could light her way---

---until she went nose-first into metal and flipped back a few. Shaking the stun away, she looked around at the metal she flattened her nose against, pulling it back out to proper length. "Wat'sh dish?"

Momentarily forgetting about the five points of light in the distance, the Thunder Dragon Champion took a better look at her surroundings, which now seemed like the inside of a brightly-lit spaceship that looked like it could hold many beings upon it at once. "Wa' ish dish?" If she were to hop out of the ship and look on the outside, Tesability would see the name of the ship in plain text.

And With Strange Aeons

 

Ending Point: A4

[Phantom Roxas]

[Death B5] - Arthur, Eria, MachGaogamon, Sora, Kairi, Gagagigo, Kree’arra, & Zilyana

The group continued along the bridges, Arthur in front, and Sora in back, giving everyone a decent source of light to help guide themselves, while Eria was creating a series of railings out of ice to keep everyone from falling over. MachGaogamon and Gagagigo were the closest to the front following behind Eria and Arthur, while Kree’arra and Zilyana had insisted on standing to next to Sora and Kairi. Of course, given their sheer size, the two generals had two settle for flying next to the bridges. Each of them heard the voices speaking to them, trying new ways to convince them to simply give up, but they all tried to ignore the voices. However, for MachGaogamon and Gagagigo, the voices had now begun to speak to the two of them together.

Eria and Arthur do not need you anymore. As long as they have each other, they don’t need beasts such as you.

MachGaogamon. Were it not for you, Arthur would not have needed to have abandoned his family. Yet he choose you as his family, and how do you repay him? The Madara gave him a happy life. Illusion and reality made no difference. He and Eria were happy, yet you took that away from them. You are selfish. Why must Arthur sacrifice his happiness for yours?

Gagagigo. Eria fought for you. Out of all the Charmers that Emiya could have chosen it was Eria who came to the Counter Corps. All for the sake of freeing you from Kozaky. If you had not allowed yourself to become Kozaky’s tool, Eria would have had no need to come to save you. And yet, look at how you repaid her. Eria nearly died by your hand.

”That wasn’t my fault!” Gagagigo screamed back at the voices. Everyone stopped to look at him. MachGaogamon rest a hand on his shoulder, but Gagagigo started hunch forward, holding his head in a whimper, not even realizing that he was putting more weight on the bridge, causing it to rock back and forth, his tail lashing through and breaking one of the railings Eria had crafted. ”That wasn’t my fault…” he repeated. ”It was Kozaky. Kozaky was the one that made me hurt Eria.” As if on impulse, Eria took a step back from Gagagigo, but corrected herself and tried to reach out to Gagagigo, but Gagagigo’s attention was consumed entirely by the voices.

MachGaogamon, you resigned yourself to being Arthur’s pet, but look at where that has brought Gagagigo.

”Leave him alone!” MachGaogamon demanded. ”Gagagigo and I are will help Arthur and Eria because want to. Don’t you dare mistake us for slaves!”

Eria’s eyes widened. ”Is that what they’re… Gagagigo, snap out of it!” She reached her hand out to Gagagigo’s head, trying to get him to hear her. ”I know that wasn’t you. You saved me back in the Rejected World. You’ve said me many times, even before all of this! And I’ll still try to save you. Don’t listen to them!”

A gust of wind cut through the bridge, severing it, leaving Sora, Kairi, Kree’arra, and Zilyana on one side, and Arthur, Eria, Gagagigo, and MachGaogamon on the other. MachGaogamon hovered close to one half of the broken, carrying Arthur and Eria in his hands as Gagagigo was held in an arm of water formed by Eria.

You will die alone, Arthur Ancyl. You’re weak without any of the Counter Corps at your side.

Eria. You came so far to save your pet, and yet his weakness led him to the one who turned him against you. Now you’re just a pet to Megiddo. Maybe even less than that.

MachGaogamon. Without you, perhaps Arthur would not have left the Divine. Without you, perhaps he would not have defeated the Madara. But can either of you truly succeed without each other?

Gagagigo. You wish to atone for your sins. And yet, you’ve chosen to run to your future, rather than confront your past. How do you know history won’t repeat itself if you won’t accept what that history was?

The light surrounding Arthur’s body begun to dim. Many of the voices were all drowned out by a single, familiar voice, whose words became less of an echo, coming not from the bridge in front of them, but the darkness below them. Yet even in that darkness, they all saw her.

”You all should have died along with the Shadow Realm. I’m sure it would have been far less disappointing than to have come this far just to see that this has all been for nothing.”

The last flicker of light faded from Arthur, the darkness surrounding them so much that Sora’s group became less than silhouettes. The only person that Arthur, Eria, MachGaogamon, and Gagagigo could see was none other than Isamy Maximus.

---

[Death B5] - Sora, Kairi, Kree’arra, & Zilyana

Sora spent no time after the bridge snapped to try and reach out to Arthur and the others, but he was stopped by an invisible wall. Commanding his three Keyblades to fly in front of him, they began to carve into the darkness itself, but to no avail. That didn’t stop Sora, though. He wasn’t going to leave anyone behind, especially not now. The darkness seemed to wrap around like a sphere, and behind it, he could faintly see that the rest of bridge stretched in after a fork in the road. Left or right, those were their options.

Ven sacrificed himself to free you from Xansvita. What do you think will happen next? Will your friends be the next ones to perish for your sake…?

Sora felt something closing in around him. With his Keyblades, he sliced off what he saw as a hand. That voice he heard was not countless voices speaking in unison. Now he could distinguish them. One voice spoke alone, yet another joined it.

Or will you fail to save Ven’s own dear friends?

Sora launched two Firagun spells, one two the left fork in the bridge, and the other to the right. Each of them was batted away, and it was in that moment that Sora recognized the two speakers. The first was Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness. The other was Xemnas, leader of Organization XIII. But why? Ansem he understood, but Xemnas? Organization XIII fought to stop Zero. Even Xemnas’ own darkness made manifest by the will of 4Kids was gone. Xemnas was his ally. A friend. So why was Xemnas standing here as Sora’s enemy?

“Why do you hesitate?” Xemnas asked. “You know the rules. Kill the Heartless, then the Nobody. Only then shall you see Terra again.”

”What about Aqua?” Kairi demanded.

“If you wish to know,” Ansem laughed, “Then follow me.” He turned his back, and Kairi was ready to follow, forgetting for a moment about the sphere of darkness in front of them, trapping her friends against who knows what.

“Sora,” Xemnas called. “You should be honored. Though it is unfortunate for Ventus to no longer be with us, I am sure that he would be proud of you for continuing his legacy. Not only have you been deemed worth of the power Xansvita stole, but you have chosen your own successor.”

“And you, too, Kairi,” Ansem added. “Though I suppose Eria will take some time to prove herself. Such a pity that Rika could not join the two of you. Such a pity for Terra’s own legacy to end with the two of you abandoning your universe to the fate that Arturia’s Throne of so-called ‘Heroes’ had in store for them.”

To Ansem’s surprise, his own Guardian was knocked back by a Keyblade impaled in the Heartless’ head. Traces of a Firagun spell were left on the ground where Kairi once stood, while she was now using her Keyblade to hold the Guardian in place.

”You don’t get to talk about our home. Not after what you tried to pull.” Kairi cast Thundagun, blowing the Guardian’s head clean off. Kairi jumped down onto the fridge, standing face to face against Ansem. Sora tried to run to her side, but a coil of electricity wrapped around him, dragging him along the dark sphere and pulling him in front of Xemnas. With his free hand, Xemnas commanded translucent cubes to form, dividing everyone up. The dark sphere was encased in one such group, while Ansem and Kairi were in another, and Sora with Xemnas.

---

[Death B5] - Kree’arra & Zilyana

“Now then,” Xemnas directed his attention to Kree’arra and Zilyana, while Sora still struggled against the electric coil. “The two of you could try to save these fools, but what would you have to gain?”

Saradomin and Armadyl shall suffer!

The voices were now taunting the two generals. If either of them failed in their mission, then their masters would lose. If neither of them could return to the Temple of Lost Ancients to continue fighting against the opposing armies, then they had proven themselves to be the weakest of generals. In that moment, they both understood exactly what fear they shared. Zilyana was grabbed by her hair, and thrown off the bridge. With her wings, she managed to hold herself up in the air, but the ground was no longer beneath her. Instead, though, she found herself staring into the red eyes of one of Zamorak’s most favored generals: K’ril Tsutsaroth.

”Zilyana!” Kree’arra looked around on the bridge, trying to find his fellow commander, but he stopped once he felt the bridge shake. A cracking of knuckles echoed across the Pathway, as the fourth general, Graardor, licked his teeth.

“Do not count on her to help, silly bird.” Graardor raised his hands, practically inviting Kree’arra to charge at him. “It’s just you and me now.”



Ending Locations
Arthur, Eria, MachGaogamon, and Gagagigo vs. Isamy: B5½
Sora vs. Xemnas: Between B6 and C6
Kairi vs. Ansem: Between A6 and B6
Zilyana vs. K’ril: A5
Kree’arra vs. Graardor: B5

[Dad]

Revy, Pathway to Remembrance

 

As she neared the tunnel's end, the light got brighter.  Soon enough, the sunlight forced Revy to raise an arm to block it out.  Then, she heard a familiar voice calling out to her.  

 

 

“R-Revy? What happened to you?”  

 

 

"Is that Reimu?" she wondered quietly to herself, continuing forward.  Only a handful of people knew her name, so Revy was hoping it wasn't a trick.

 

“Hang in there, I’ll help carry you!”

 

"Carry me?  What is it with everyone wanting to carry me today?  I mean, not that I mind, but seriously," she said joking as she limped over to Reimu.  She greeted her 'drinking buddy' and colleague with a mix of a hug and collapsing legs.  "Sorry about that," she said getting onto her good leg.  "I'm still pretty beat up from a scuffle with an alien jackass," she said with a forced smile.  Truth be told, Revy was still in pain.  Physically, mentally, and emotionally.  But she wouldn't let her wounds show.  "I barely made it outta there.  And to top it all off, the son of a jabroni tried to stick his freaky tongue in my mouth!" Revy said suddenly disgusted.  "You should've seen that thing, Reimu!  It was so gross!  It was split in two and had like, knives on the end of it and--man, that was sick."  Revy calmed down at last.  "But I guess, without the big lummox to save me, I'd be in pieces," she said, not realizing she was blushing, and without alcohol in her system.  At last she noticed her face, shaking her head quickly.  "Buuuuuut, anyway, how are you Reimu!?" she said quickly changing the subject, hoping Reimu missed what had just happened.

 

 

 

 

Kenpachi

 

He glared at his opponent for a moment, after they motioned towards the crystalline bridges where Yachiru had only just fled to.  After seeing that Dorian had not malicious intentions, Kenpachi felt honored that his opponent would face him head on, instead of resorting to more dirty tactics.  Saying that, Kenpachi was used to fighting dirty, so he was also pleasantly surprised.  However, he had to keep his guard up, as a powerful purple blast ripped the air apart, and hurled towards him.  Narrowly avoiding it, Kenpachi rolled out of the way, and stood up straight.  He smiled, pleased that this battle would be one he could remember and enjoy.  He had not yet drawn his Zanpaktou, so Kenpachi's two hands were free.  He began to gather swirls of red energy in either hand.  Likely not as powerful as the blast that barely missed him, but a couple of Shakaho to the face would show the enemy that Kenpachi took them seriously.  Without muttering an incantation, Kenpachi fired the two red spheres at Butlerok, before vanishing in that same instance.  This was his attempt at a two pronged attack.  Reappearing behind and above Butlerok, Kenpachi attempted to pinch the enemy between a physical slash and a blast of reiatsu.

 

Raising his Zanpaktou at last, he drew it with one hand behind his back, high above his head.  Bringing down the blade, Kenpachi could see something odd out of the corner of his eyes.  There, Yachiru was now attempting to befriend a Divine member.  But he could not act on Yachiru's actions, as his blade had already begun to come down with immense force.  The Zanpaktou screamed in the air, and the Shakaho barreled towards Butlerok, preparing to connect.

 

 

---

 

 

Yachiru

 

Kenpachi watched her from afar.  Yachiru smiled at him, wishing Kenpachi good luck silently.  Then, a Divine member separated from Kenpachi's target.  She grew nervous, but her anxiety disappeared as Dorian drew closer to the crystalline bridges.  She was sitting on the edge of one of the bridges, watching Kenpachi engage in combat.  She cheered, throwing her hands into the air, to encourage her best friend.  However, and naturally of course, Yachiru could not focus on the battle when something else was happening right next to her.  As a reserved lady of interest and intelligence, Yachiru's curiosity peaked.  Here was her chance to interview someone on the opposing team.  A great opportunity that she did not want to pass up.  Yachiru took her eyes off of the battle for just a moment, to greet Dorian.

 

"Hi," she said politely.  From Dorian's perspective, this was surely uncanny.  "Is that your friend?" she asked.  "He must be strong.  Kenny's already taking a liking to him."  Yachiru pointed at the duo, noting Kenpachi's smile.  It was genuine, and excited.  

 

Yachiru swung her legs back and forth, watching the battle unfold.  Still, she questioned Dorian.  "Why are you guys on the pathways?  What happened to your universe?"  She was genuinely concerned.  For the first time in a while, Yachiru wasn't only curious, but worried about what was happening across the multiverse.  Granted, she couldn't know much, but surely the Divine weren't fighting just because.  Everyone has a reason.  No matter how dark or twisted, inviting or friendly, everyone had a reason.  This just happened to be her chance to find out what someone else's reason was for trying to get to the Door of Origin.

 

 

---

 

 

Wesker

 

A brilliant flash of light--no, there was more than one.  Several extremely bright lights had gotten his attention, but in this condition, he dare not draw near them.  Instead, Wesker was stumbling out of a strangely lit tunnel, greeted by an even more odd sight of lampposts scattered over a wide area.  It seemed they were placed strategically, in order to shove back some of the blackness of the Pathway.  His regeneration was still slow, but much faster than before.  He continued to stumble--limp, rather--past the lampposts, in an attempt to reach the end of this embarrassing Pathway.  Some of his blood was likely splattered on the walls behind him, still.  No telling what the enemy could make of it.  

 

Looking down, Wesker noticed he had forgotten something.  One of his legs was actually still twisted improperly, his foot and kneecap backwards.  Straightening it and snapping the bones back in place, he could now walk forward without limping.  Wesker was admittedly still agitated from his humiliating loss to a bald man and a purple haired whore, but there was nothing he could do other than to suck it up and hope that he could regain enough strength to fight them again.  The staircase before him was tall, an ancient looking.  He began his trip up the flight of stairs, feeling a powerful aura resonating at its end.  He began to sprint, wondering if he had actually reached the end of the current pathway.  He jumped over several steps, some three at a time.  Alas, his question was answered.  A magical barrier hindered Wesker from accessing a powerful stone tablet.  This was likely the way out.  Wesker waited patiently for something to happen.  It was upon taking several steps towards the barrier that a question rang in his head.

 

Are you willing to embrace your fate’?

 

He thought about this.  Wesker, at this moment in time could clearly see his future.  It was riddled with impossible outcomes, and those that did favor him, still resulted in death.  No matter how hard he analyzed the situation, no matter how many times he replayed the scenarios, they did not end with his life in tact.  He grinned, even though he knew what waited for him.  If he was going to die, he would take many, many lives with him.

 

"So be it."

 

The barrier eased away, and the stone tablet was now reachable.  Placing a scorched hand onto it, Wesker could feel a powerful, almost magnetic force pulling his body to atomic sized bits, and then reassembling it almost seconds later.

 

 

---

 

 

Two doors had disappeared from his list of options, and the White Room was as drab as ever.  One remained, and Wesker was all too happy to be done with the multiverse at this point.  He ripped the door from its hinges, and looked inside.

 

Snow.  A frigid, boring, and irritating way to end his life.  How many times would this make it?  Three?  Four?  After the many times he had 'died', Wesker was beginning to hope he wouldn't recover after this.

 

Ending Location:  White Room

[Tesability Black]

~Counter Corps - Path of Death - Arturia's/Neos'/Gemini's POV~

 

“I am like you, but much more than just a foe, dear Emiya,” Gemini spoke with almost a demonic giggle to his voice before motioning the shadows to surround the gunsman, hoping to ensnare the other Enemy.

At that, Kiritsugu merely nodded with a dull “I see”, before putting the hand holding his Calico down by his waist, seemingly as if having given up trying to fight against him just like that. With the thermal vision goggles he was wearing, it was hard to discern the look on his face, although chances were that even if they could see it, it would be expressionless.

“Indeed, you’re not just a foe, but my foe.”

But then, only a moment before the shadows could close in on him, explosions abruptly broke out from beneath the ground, heavy landmines having been planted all over the place beforehand. While the actual shrapnel wouldn’t push them back and the light caused by their flames were little, it gave the man an opportunity to take out something that would really be effective against them - in other words, multiple flashbangs, which was tossed into the air before bursting out in a moment of incredible light.

While it would only buy him a few seconds, it would be enough as he muttered “Time Alter - Double Accel”, causing time to slow down by half all around him, though in reality he was the one moving at double speed. His feet immediately broke off into a run, leaping across the trench and moving even further into the darkness of the corridor. While it would mean little considering what kind of being his enemy was, it would at the very least decrease the chances of further backup from the Counter Corps.

As soon as he was hidden once more under the darkness, he ran off towards a vehicle specially prepared by the side, wincing slightly in pain as he deactivated the spell. The hatch opened as soon as he came close, and he leaped up into the cockpit before putting down both guns so as to take the controls.

Namely, it had to be said that the vehicle in question was a Japanese military F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet, a tactical aircraft designed for both speed and accuracy, as well as penetrative power. It was a derivative of a model so renowned that it had remained in use for decades and decades due to its near-unparalleled aerial combat victory record, and this one had been specially optimized for both ground-attack along with air-to-air combat. Once he’d gained control over the plane, it started moving, racing across the ground for only a moment before taking flight, shooting up into the darkness of the air with the soft metallic noise of its engine only barely giving giving off its position.

Gemini was displeased with the sudden brightness that Emiya produced with his flashbangs, apparently unfazed by the light that consumed the soldier that was once in front of him. However, unlike him, Neos had still been going at full speed, suddenly turning directions once the man moved. With the continued speed that Neos ran, it was possible that the false human did not know how to turn off the spell when needed, instead treating it as a maxed-out Agility for the time being.

When it finally wears off for Neos, his face was gonna be rather deep into the dirt, but that was another thing for another time. Instead, the original Ditto gritted his teeth and allowed his eyes to shift to a purple color before surrounding his mind around the plane, trying to use his Psychic power to force it into the ground with a fair bit of strain…

Though, as he was concentrating, a hatch at the bottom of the plane containing two air-to-surface AGM-84 Harpoon missiles, both equipped with active radar homing that allowed them to rush straight for where Neos was standing. And, incidentally enough, these missiles had originally been designed to take down surface ships and submarines rather than little people, so it wasn’t hard to imagine the destructive power contained in them.

Neos was about to break control when he saw the missiles start to glow with a dark-purple light before turning around in the air, becoming re-aimed at the plane instead of the little person. The transformed fighter couldn’t help but blink a few times upon seeing this before having to suppress a groan. The false human forgot that he decided to join this fist fight, too…

As they closed back towards the F-15 jet, it started to fly towards the wall and tilted, assuming a vertical position, before suddenly turning around and charging past them, causing more large explosions as the two missiles crashed into the aforementioned wall. After the failure of its first wave, it swerved back towards the Ditto and his ultimate enemy at ridiculous speeds, sending wide gusts of winds everywhere as it did so. The pilot had apparently formulated another strategy to get past the telekinesis, though just as he was about to deploy yet another part of their arsenal, something suddenly crashed into the jet from the side - a missile?

No, a person. Having ran up and launched herself off the wall, Arturia had successfully crashed against the aircraft right on top of the left wing, stabbing her sword into it so she didn’t immediately slide off. Looking at the cockpit directly next to her with a serious expression, Kiritsugu returned her look with but a cold glance before harshly shifting the airplane upside-down in an attempt to get rid of her.

Yet even with that, she hung tightly onto the hilt of her sword, supporting her whole body weight, and proceeded to thrust her feet forth with a mana-enhanced kick that shattered the cockpit in one blow.

“Do you insist on continuing this farce of a battle?” Kiritsugu asked her, picking up his Calico M950 with his left hand and immediately firing it at her. Even if she had the strength to hold onto a moving vehicle in mid-air, there was no possible way that she could dodge the stream of bullets at the same time.

However, if something as minor as a few sequential assaults was enough to take her down, then she wouldn’t be worthy of the title ‘Counter Guardian’, let alone ‘King of Britain’...!

Right as he pulled the trigger, the magic knight Arturia focused on the heavy winds around them and forced them to form a condensed wall between the two in an instant, though it would only buy her some time. Using this opportunity, she pulled out her sword from the wing and shot out her free arm, gripping onto the newly-formed gap to prevent herself from falling.

Now with an available weapon, she dropped the barrier, locked eyes with the submachine gun and moved the blade in accordance with its trajectory. It had already been used twice before, and she’d memorized its fire rate, thus allowing her to deflect each and every single bullet that darted at her. It was true that it’d be a danger if Kiritsugu brought out his Thompson Contender to finish her off right there, but he couldn’t do that because he had to pilot the jet with his other hand.

Hence, as he used his left hand to occupy the Counter Guardian, knowing that the Calico would only be able to sustain fire for so long before it ran out or overheated, his main focus was on his right hand, which expertly went from control to control, keeping the jet stable even when it was upside-down and the cockpit was no more.

The man went on to deploy six AGM-65 Maverick missiles at Gemini, each designed to penetrate through their target with immense kinetic energy before exploding. He quickly followed up by launching a laser-guided GBU-28 bomb designed for bunker-busting, dropping it in a forty-five degree position so that it would fall directly above Neos - the bomb in question had a large blast radius and was capable of being detonated in mid-air, so even stopping it wouldn’t do it any good, and any attempt to get it far away enough in time would be hindered by the fired Maverick missiles.

Once he’d done that, he put the jet on autopilot and released the controls as it flew high through the long, long corridor, before taking out the Thompson Contender again with his now-free hand, intending to shoot her down as soon as the Calico couldn’t sustain fire anymore.

Just like that, Kiritsugu had effectively locked down all his opponents.

Gemini was quick to try and at least slow the various missiles as Neos Protected himself from the barrage that came from both the dark double slamming the missiles on the ground near him and the large bomb that was coming for him. Unfortunately, the move wasn’t designed to fend off a barrage like this, so after the first two hit, the shield of light dropped out on its own and the bomb, which had been thankfully slowed down by the ‘allied’ Enemy, had sent the false human flying fairly far, forcing a demorph and pass out when the back of his neck hit the ground in a painful way. Thankfully, the passout prevented Neos from experiencing the full effect of his earlier use of the Mirrored Time Accel...

A growl came from the being created from the Path’s shadows, unhappy to see that his counterpart had been knocked out by someone other than himself. Shifting back to his own appearance, which consisted of a dark-purple outfit not that dissimilar to Neos’ original outfit and dark-blue, almost-purple hair, he focused upon Emiya’s body and tried to pull him closer before summoning a small orb of...pink? energy and rushing forward to push it into the gunsman in order to Fairy Lock him into place for longer than usual.

“No one takes him out but I,” Gemini began to growl with an inhumane sound before waving a hand behind himself in front of the golden blob. “I can’t have you die here,” he muttered under his breath before a golden glow emerged from the palm to envelope the demorphed Ditto. “I’ll be stuck within the Path if you did.”

And soon bright-green eyes slowly reopened themselves to the black world around them.

[The Warden]

|_)Witch of Courage, Lydia(_|

|_)Pathway of Truth: A3(_|

 

The fairies had left her alone in her quiet journey, though she wasn’t using the time much for contemplation. Truthfully that time had come and gone back in Death, and now she was busy trying to find the truth of her resolve. Her own thoughts had become strangely unfiltered, but the Dizasters had figured that to the properties of the domain.

 

The cherry blossom trees were quite an appreciated, the throbbing headache wasn’t. It seemed to be growing more painful as she pressed onwards. “Care. I sense a powerful dark presence ahead” Shade warned, his tone tense with fear.

 

Lydia nodded out of habit as she started to look around wildly, but, thanks to the wind, she could feel it right ahead. Or rather, she stumbled on it by accident, cause that’s what actually happened. Lydia had come across Ayame and Rhadamanthys. She couldn’t recognize either of them, but she kept her staff at the ready.

 

Current Position: A4

 

 

|_)The Evangelist Hapshiel(_|

|_)Pathway of Remembrance: A1(_|

 

Putting the pedal to the metal, Hapshiel bounded unimpeded through the snowy terrain. His beastly boots pounding the powder as he slipped past the aura barrier and into the Forest of Remembrance. His swift dash was no a gentle jig as he was enraptured by a sense of nostalgia from these woods. “Why hello Hapshiel” a gentle voice greeted.

 

Hapshiel ground his boots into the snow, sending mounds of snow flying as he locked eyes with his old friend. “Greetings, ever wonderful God” Hapshiel replied, his voice high with joy.

 

God smiled contentedly with Hapshiel’s own feature as he gave the angel a reassuring pat on his back. “How goes your mission my friend?”

 

“I am doing my part, though the world still resists my attempts, but I just know I’ll win them over eventually” Hapshiel smiled, his perfect teeth glimmering in God’s radiance.

 

“I’m glad to see you taking your role so seriously, but, please keep in my humans don’t like being forced to do things. The more you push the more they will push back” God explained wisely.

 

Hapshiel smiled with a curt nod on his part. “I know God, I’m glad to have this memory of you be at my side” he replied, easily seeing through the tricks of the Pathway.

 

God’s smile didn’t fade, he just laughed roaringly. “My word Hapshiel, for someone who is as straight as a Mobius strip you certainly are good at striking your targets. Yes, I’m simply a memory of the man you cared for the most. And while he can’t be with you, I can in honour of him Hapshiel. Though, maybe it’s just my ‘godly insight’, but you appear troubled my friend.”

 

Hapshiel’s façade wavered as his lips quivered into a sorrowful pout of misery. He gripped God tightly as he wept manly tears of sorrow. “Oh God! It’s this dreadful war. All these good people fighting over a silly door. They’re filling their hearts with hatred and killing each other when we’re all supposed to be on the same side. I can feel their negativity clouding the air, and I just… I just… don’t know how to reach them. My love and my peace cannot be expressed to them the only way I know how!” Hapshiel moaned, his heart heavy with the sorrows of others.

 

God embraced Hapshiel, his glow a comfort to the angel as he gently rubbed Hapshiel’s hair. “My friend, sometimes the upfront approach is not the correct one. In times of strife, sometimes we need some subtlety in our actions. There is nothing wrong with your brand of self-expression, but, maybe you should have a second one to adopt, in times when the first is not working” God suggested, his sageness showing now bounds.

 

“I think I see what you mean. Rather than show them my peace and love, I should find a way to bring out theirs. But, how?”

 

“Perhaps you should help them deal with their own problems, using experience you yourself gained before finding yourself Hapshiel” God explained, pushing Hapshiel from his embrace so they could stare eye to eye. “Use the memories of your own misery to help people out of theirs and into the light. Can you do this Hapshiel?” God inquired sternly.

 

“Of course God. Your word, and your orders, are always absolute to me. I will do what I can to help the Counter Corps and the Divine whenever I can. Thank you for your guidance, My Lord!” Hapshiel bowed and ran off to do his good work.

 

God shook his head as he laughed wryly at Hapshiel’s demented actions. “Oh that angel, always missing the point and yet somehow hitting it anyways” he laughed to himself as he faded into the forest of Remembrance.

 

 

The forest, however impenetrable it appeared, was no match for the hellbent angel. He smashed through trees with little effort, bursting out of the Forest of Remembrance. Surely there were others he could have spoken too, but in truth, the only person he truly needed a word from was God.

 

The forest was behind him as he stood before a raging blizzard. His nipples were so cold; they stood like rigid jubes, and Hapshiel so dearly wished to rub them. But more matters were at hand as he leapt into the storm.

 

Current Position: A6 ½

[Reinforce]

Chandra

Pathway of Truth: C6

 

Without any answer to her question forthcoming, Jace apparently not knowing either, Chandra tried to refocus her efforts on the opponent fighting her. The arc blade she'd cast earlier was continuing to flash out of where she'd aimed it, a constant annoyance for her fire-wielding opponent. Flicking their hand, the masked mage threw a simple fireball at her, a similar attack to every other move the warrior had made. Nearby, Chandra could feel the anger and rage almost pouring off Jace's thoughts, distracting her from her own efforts as the blue mage and his clone sparred.

 

"Do you really hate yourself that much, mindmage,"

 

"I actually do,"

 

That threw the red mage for a loop, a shock to her own knowledge of the blue mage that nearly allowed her foe to take her out. She didn't have time to ponder it though, as her own opponent kept up an onslaught of flame that forced her to guard herself. Then, it spoke in a raspy voice that seemed like it should belong on a burn victim, though considering just how likely that was to happen to a fire mage that lost control of their magic.

 

"Are you ever ... going to ... quit running from ... your problems ... and face what ... you've caused?"

 

As chopped and broken as the question was, it was clear enough for her to follow, and stopped her dead in her tracks as she considered it.

 

"That's ... I'm ..."

 

Stopping for a moment, and throwing up a quick wall of flames so she could get a moment of peace to think, she composed her answer to what was likely the point of these battles.

 

"Once I've found my way out of this messed up war, I will."

 

With a slight chuckle, broken and coughing, the masked mage stepped back and vanished in a gout of flames. With a renewed determination, Chandra turned and ran towards the fight going on between the mental mage and his copy. 

 

Ending Location: Between C6 and C7

 

---

 

Darcy

Pathway of Remembrance: E8

 

As she found her way out the other end of the storm, the dark witch found herself approaching a crystal clear lake, with a single boat starting to make it's way across the water. Not recognising the two people in the boat, Darcy levitated herself into the air, and started to glide over the lake without talking to them in the slightest. She did make one pause though, just long enough to send a jet of purple flames streaming down from her hand, aiming to set the wooden boat they were in on fire, before moving on across the lake away from the pair. On the other side, she flew across the the small snowfield and up the large staircase to the final obstacle of the pathway. Vague thoughts wandered her thoughts as she did, somewhat surprised that this pathway seemed so much easier than the one she'd been on beforehand, but she put that out of mind as she approached the dark pond at the end.

 

‘Are you satisfied with your past’?

 

Even expecting something like that, Darcy didn't have an answer straight away. Instead, she sat down, to think over the question, and decide just what her answer would be.

 

Ending Location: C14

[Love of Ghibli]

Butlerok: Path of Truth

Kenpachi skillfully dodged the Screech Alpha as predicted. Normally, Butlerok would've expected the man to attempt to tank the blast head on, but this new Kenpachi seemed...smarter. Unfortunately something completely unexpected happen. This Kenpachi proceeded to use Kido techniques. That wasn't something that the Kenpachi from the Captain Commander's universe would do. How interesting, however Butlerok was more than prepared for this level of attack. As the two fire balls came directly at him Butlerok stayed motionless. What would've been invisible to Kenpachi's eyes was that the Black Rukh instinctively came to guard Butlerok and formed a spherical barrier which the kido spells exploded on contact. Butlerok simply looked up and watched as that man's blade came down and made contact. Butlerok simply looked up Kenpachi with an arrogant smirk until the force of the blade actually cracked through the shield.

Butlerok instantly looked in shock as the blade came down and made directly contact on the shoulder blade. Kenpachi could've looked confident in his slash making contact until he realized the slash didn't go through but instead swatted Butlerok down like a hammer on a nail. As the large thud was heard and dust cloud was seen the shinigami had to realize that something was off. Nevertheless one can only theorize what was happening inside that mans head. However on the ground, Butlerok was having a conversation within himself. 

Definitely stronger and definitely a different Kenpachi. I must use the Rukh in an offensive manner instead if I am to overcome his brute strength. 
WILL YOU JUST AWAKEN ALREADY I'M STARVING!

Tactless parasite be quite, that Kenpachi still has an eye patch on meaning he has just started. 
Exactly, we shall see how this plays out. But first I must set the stage.

Butlerok stood straight up and looked at Kenpachi floating in the distance. Bloody Needle...he unleashed a torrent of the Black Blood and then he concentrated it to look become a stream of constant black needles that were aimed at Kenpachi like missile fire. Then Butlerok commanded the Rukh to to make the Blood Needles explode on contact. 

 

Ending Location C9

 

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

 

Dorian: Path of Truth
 

With the command to actually flee from the fight Dorian new serious shenanigans were about to go underway. All for the best anyway. It was interesting that the pink haired shinigami realized he had no evil intentions mainly because he didn't know he gave off that vibe. Truthfully, he didn't. It didn't matter that she was the enemy as she was not part of the objective. In fact as he flew over he was pretty much happy to watch someone so gleefully cheer on a person. Nevertheless he simply landed and watched the fight from the distance. 

 

Then something interesting happened. This cheerleader started to talk to him. "Hi," Dorian slowly turned to the side to look at this person. Is that your friend? Oh this is happening he thought to himself as she continued on. He must be strong.  Kenny's already taking a liking to him." Dorian took note of that statement and he examined Butlerok's tactics. Interesting, I think Butlerok is in the same boat. Look at Butler enjoying combat. Didn't know he was even capable of that. 

"Why are you guys on the pathways?  What happened to your universe?"

 

At that moment Dorian chuckled as this girl wanted to know his reasons. Well he didn't have much else to do and it would be nice to pass the time with conversation with the enemy. Well to be honest...nothing. Nothing happened where I come from that made me have to take on this "quest." Out of all the Divine you'll meet I'm probably the worst in terms of motivation. I was literally approached with an offer and I took it. Which is weird that all things considered I started off as the weakest member of the Divine...probably. But I'll spare you the entire story and give you the cliff notes. That man your "Kenny" is fighting is my butler, bodyguard and quite as its kept friend. Now he started off quite weak, but along the way he got a super powerful weapon, I died and became this thing you're talking too, and finally you my boss from hell joined us. So I'm now fighting to get my original body back or...achieve another plan/dream of mine. 

I would ask about you, but fun fact my Butler over there ate your friend before. Because of that event we know some things about you. Still not sure how and why the both you are walking around, but I guess its fate.

Ending Location C10
 

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

 

Rhadamanthys: Path of Truth

 

Rhadamanthys was intrigued about how candid this person was in answering him. Very abrasive and stern, yet forthright and honest. This was...new. Rhadamanthys was honestly looking for a fight and she didn't seem like she was going to back down. Hmph while you possess a more than decent fighting spirit I doubt you would amount to the level of fight I desire. After an awkward pause Rhadamanthys looked from side to side and wondered what words did he just utter. Never did prey known how the predator feels. That is not how this should work. Nevertheless it did happen. He would have figure that out later. 

Hmm your goals seem noble and more importantly you seem like you are willing to do whatever to achieve your goal. I offer you my companionship for my only goal as of this moment is to reunite with my comrades who should according to our plan also be on this pathway. He extended his hand/armored claw to this Ayame person until he sensed another presence. He looked to his side and there he spotted another warrior. Another female waiting at that. He snickered as he wondered how powerful she was. Maybe their combined might would be the battle he had hoped for. He quickly shook his head as remembered "the plan." Strange woman...who are you and who do you align with? He said as he glared at Lydia. 

Ending Location: A4

 

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

 

Gyouken Ren: Path of Remembrance

 

Well this path was certainly colder than the last. She had made it through the empty wall of wood as she landed on the snow filled blizzard landed. Nevertheless this meant nothing as she easily managed to manipulate the Rukh around her to create a make shift incubator to keep herself warm. Hmm I wonder if I'll get to see all of my old friends down this path of "Remembrance" she laughed as she knew she was comfortable with he past. Her past contained her mission and it defined her. This was just a tourist trap for her basically...or so she thought as she hoped on her staff and flew into the forest. 

Ending Location A2

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

"Then it's settled," said The Jaws of Hell, "I myself will go with Azumi through the Path of Truth; just in case she stumbles across Protheus Maximus... as unlikely the event that he'll still be on that pathway comes to pass..."

 

"I'm guessing the rest of us take Rememberance?" asked Jecht.

 

"Specifically Jecht, I'll need you to stay near the entrance, and be at the ready for once Protheus enters the path," The Jaws of Hell stated, "You're the most powerful of the three, while the other two can cover more ground."

 

"Him, cover more ground? Huh."

 

"You care to repeat that?"

 

"We'll be using the Mini Jaws, by the way. Deploying them now," With that, The Jaws of Hell had ejected three smaller copies of himself out of his back, which would've been about 12 feet tall each... just big enough for Azumi, Riley and Bender to fit inside. The crew then split up in there separate pathways.

[Gαr]

Ed and Elsa, Path of Remembrance B11

 

They hopped in the boat started off across the lake. Elsa showed surprising skill and grace moving the oars up and down through the water. Ed never rowed a boat across the lake in order to get across, he just did it for muscle definition as a part of his training to become a swordsman during his younger days. His palm rested on the handle of his sword, moving it in a slow circle while looking out on the lake. Ed was having quite the nostalgia trip while Elsa was just radiating bitterness, and Ed’s coat was just accentuating that. Ed was thinking about Lath and his life, so Elsa must have been thinking about her life, too, and it wasn’t a very good one.

 

“You’re thinking home, too?”

 

Elsa continued rowing, but looked at Ed. “Yeah. Must be part of the Path.”

 

“I think it has to do with the water.”

 

“You said we shouldn’t trust the water.”

 

“I did say that, yes, but I think this lake is just as much a part of this Path as the forest and the snowstorm were.”

 

“So, what? Are we supposed to drink it, or swim in it because I’m not all that into skinny dipping.”

 

“I think just touching water isn’t that complicated.” He lifted his hand off his sword and placed it into the water. Elsa stopped rowing and swore at him and had the sudden urge to hit Ed with an oar. “Just tell me when you’re going to do things like that,” she said with exasperation at Ed, but she knew that it would go in one ear and out the other.

 

---

 

Ed’s first eight years of his life were his formative years. Ed didn’t know anything about anything, but the priest Pietro raised him. He taught Ed how to read and write and just took care of him in general. Pietro didn't look like Ed, but raised him as his own. Ed didn't question it because he didn't know how. They wandered around a lot, and sometimes hid whenever there were soldiers around. The soldiers looked like Ed, but Ed never questioned it. Ed didn’t really question anything. Pietro went from village to village, blessing people and healing them if need be, a trick he eventually taught Ed. They repaid Pietro and Ed by offering to feed them or mend their clothes. Pietro often turned them down as there was no need for it, but sometimes took up the offer. When Ed asked why he turned so many people down, but sometimes did take them up on their offers, Pietro told him that while they could easily and often provide for themselves, doing things alone sometimes is not enough, so the world provides us with opportunities and it is good to take those opportunities when there is need.

 

As he got older, Ed would help Pietro with his blessings and healings. People would give him strange looks when he helped Pietro with his magic or did it by himself. He didn’t understand why they looked at him funny, so asked Pietro. Pietro’s face would fill with shock and worry temporarily, as Ed learned later on, before he composed himself and told Ed that he was an albino and looked suspiciously like a vampire, who are incapable of magic. So Ed just went with that and never questioned it. When people would give him the look, he explained his predicament. Some people were satisfied with that, others not so much. As time went on, Pietro’s strength started diminishing and Ed’s responsibilities started growing. Ed would do all the physical healing while Pietro would do his verbal blessing. Pietro also started taking up more and more offers of food and shelter.

 

Eventually, Pietro got so frail and weak that he could no longer continue traveling. Pietro’s final journey was to the local church and orphanage. He collapsed on the steps as clergy people rushed out and brought them. Ed cried next to Pietro as he laid dying in the bed. Ed cried until he fell asleep, and when he woke up Pietro was still there, but he was still dying. With his last few minutes of life, Pietro told Ed about his parentage and how his parents gave Ed to him and told him to flee. Pietro also told Ed that he returned to the village in order to find that it only ashes and ruined stones. Pietro passed away as he held Ed’s hand. Ed didn’t know how to process this new information. Ed didn’t know anything about his birth because he never learned how to question his past. Ed did not cry much after this.

 

The church held a funeral for their fellow person of faith and took Ed in as their ward.

 

---

 

Gon, Path of Remembrance

 

The forest reminded Gon of Whale Island, except it was covered in snow, which was a rarity for the almost tropical island. Being with Killua reminded him of the adventures they had at Whale Island. When Killua asked about what Arthruria said, Gon had to think. He wasn't very good at thinking, but this was important. "I don't know, but I think things should right themselves once we get to the end of all this."

 

As Killua shared Gon's sentiments about shorts, he sees Killua jump back and reveal the head of the Chimera Ant Queen. Gon never saw the Queen, but he remembers the King, Meruem, fighting Netero. Thinking of Meruem made him of Neferpitou, causing Gon's rage to boil, but Gon did his best to suppress it. He didn't want to go back to the dark place full of anger, hate, revenge, and pain. They walked through the forest while Killua lamented about what he was going to do when he got back. "I liked Alluka. I only got to hang out with her for a few minutes, though. When you go to Heaven's Arena, I'd like to tag along, too, and maybe see Zushi and Wing again."

 

Then Killua posed the question of what Gon was going to do when he got back, Gon knew what he wanted to do immediately. "I'm going to back to Whale Island and give Aunto Mito a big hug. Then after that, give Ging his Hunter License back."

[The Warden]

|_)Witch of Courage, Lydia(_|

|_)Pathway of Truth: A4(_|

 

Lydia swallowed hard when Rhadamanthys noticed her. His power was pretty overwhelming, and she would not be able to take him if he turned on her, or that other one. Now that she thought about it, Lydia recalled seeing Ayame during Arturia's meeting, but, she didn't know her name. It was best to humour Rhadamanthys though. "I'm a member of the Counter Corps" she declared as bravely as she could, "Though if you were one of us you'd know that wouldn't you?" she added.

 

Maybe it wasn't the best of ideas to provoke the pointy dragon man, but there was worse things you could do, like provoke giant hydras. And she had done that, hopefully this guy wasn't as unbalanced as LERNA.

[Tesability Black]

~The Divine - Path of Truth - Jace's POV~

Someone had been training Jace on how to fight unarmed since the last time Chandra had seen him, that much was obvious with how he was trying to fend off his double. However, someone that has fought for almost all of their life could easily see the million-and-one mistakes the mind mage was making as well, suggesting that he hasn't been training for that long. This combined with the fact that almost anything that crossed Jace's mind became projected around has caused the blue mage to be landed upon his back more than once.

"Are you ever ... going to ... quit running from ... your problems ... and face what ... you've caused?"

A dark snicker came from the double, who managed to throw Jace quite a few feet into one of the nearby trees, causing a sickening crack to resound from within the wood before the upper half of the tree he hit fell over. "Funny, I can ask you the same question," the black double remarked as the original shakily stood back up onto his feet before almost falling back over from the pain in his left knee that flared up and threatened to consume him. "Always running from your problems, even though it only makes things worse."

"You know n--," Jace started to say, but once again, both his words and his thoughts were cut off mid-way in.

"I don't know anything about you," the dark double immediately followed up with a mock-questioning tone. "Even though I was forged from all the different dark emotions you have been trying to keep locked in a bottle, so you wouldn't have to deal with them?" The nameless double grabbed Jace by the front of his cloak before pulling the man close to his face. "If anything, I should know something about the soul I was created from, am I right..."

Jace made a wild swing with one of his feet to try and break free, pain shooting through his left knee when he tried to support all of his weight on it once again as a muted yelp left his throat. "Seems like you twisted your knee during that 'fight', if you could call it that." He looked up toward the double, whom seemed to have turned to face the fiery mage heading towards the pair. "Heh, in comes the calvary." The yellow of the double's eyes flashed as he focused on the charging Chandra, his thoughts and intent compressed into one word that was pushed into the red mage's mind.

"Halt."

[Reinforce]

Ayame

Pathway of Truth: A4

 

Ayame looked between the two, the armoured man offering companionship through at least part of the path, and the smaller girl who was part of the CC, and seemed almost like she was trying to pick a fight. Then, she stepped to the side, and offered her thoughts on the situation.

 

"If you two are going to fight, I'll just continue on through the path. I have no quarrel with either of you and I do want to get through these paths quickly if I can. If you're not going to fight, I'll accept your offer for companionship for now, at least until you find your comrades or we're separated by the path."

 

Offering a light smile, Ayame directed the final sentence towards the Rhadamthrys, somewhat curious as to how much further the rather awkward situation would progress.

 

Ending Location: A4

 

---

 

Chandra

Pathway of Truth: Between C6 and C7

 

Halt."

 

The word bit into her mind like an order, forcefully stopping her charge as it twisted her body against her, even as her face twisted in anger and rage. 

 

"I hate it when people try to take away my free will. I am going to kill you now, so try not to die too quickly."

 

Slowly but surely, her legs started to move again, pure willpower and stubbornness breaking through the command until it shattered and vanished from her mind. Bringing her right hand up, mana poured through her into the hand, before throwing out a bolt of lightning directly towards her target, and following it up with a second, larger bolt, this one joined by a crack of thunder as it shot out.

 

Ending Location: C6-C7

[The Warden]

|_)Witch of Courage, Lydia(_|

|_)Pathway of Truth: A4(_|

 

"I'm not looking for a fight, if possible. I just don't like the idea of travelling with a Divine" Lydia replied indignant and sharply.

 

It was natural really to not feel like you could trust the opposite side, especially considering one who was responsible for blowing up the Madara with his buddies. granted, she didn't know it was him specifically, but if she did, she wouldn't feel any more at ease here. "Do you really want to antagonize this guy? He feels like he could blow us away by sneezing. No... no. Of course not" she conceded.

 

"But I suppose he's better than no one."

[Tesability Black]

~Counter Corps - Path of Death - Arturia's/Neos'/Gemini's POV~

 

Seeing little to no other option, as the orb of pink energy came towards Kiritsugu and his Calico’s stream of bullets to keep the nearby Arturia occupied were almost finished, he directed the F-15 fighter jet such that it would charge, spin out of control and crash straight into Gemini’s position. Then he ejected himself outwards into the air with a button so that he wouldn’t be hit by the assault and locked into place. Having been shot up into the air without a parachute, he suddenly revealed his Thompson Contender in his right hand and shot downwards, the Origin Bullet aimed at Neos’ figure down below.

 

Then, just as the man was about to plummet towards the ground, he took out a grappling hook gun from his other hand and fired it up at the ceiling. A projectile with a wire attached to device promptly hit the top, and then pulled him up on its own, enshrouding him in the darkness of the ceiling.

The golden blob had almost missed sight of the Contender being aimed at him, thankfully turning into the general shape of a donut ring when the gun fired to allow the bullet to safely pass right through it without making physical contact. A high-pitched yip escaped from the tiny creature before it reverted back to its typical human form, Neos looked up toward Emiya with a gulp. “At least he’s not aiming at Arturia,” he muttered to himself before catching sound of Gemini complaining about him always putting others ahead of himself.

Neos caught one of the suns starting to flicker in and out of the darkness of the path, causing him to start swearing not in a human language but in his native with a higher pitch than should be possible for him to reach. Knowing that the Path would soon absorb the points of light, he was quick to retake the form of the cream-colored Ninetales once more, the flicks of flame emerging from underneath its fur to become a sixth new star in the sky.

If the Path had a voice, it would probably be screaming.

Gemini, though he had allowed the plane to phase right through him by taking on a ghostly state, was suddenly down upon one knee in pain, almost in time to the extra sun’s arrival. The vehicle crashed violently into the ground behind him and promptly exploded in flames with Arturia only barely leaping out in the time, though none of this was nearly enough when compared to the bright lights above.

“He’s gonna kill the path itself at this rate with these stars,” the other Ditto groaned in pain before straining to stand up onto his feet. “Time I stopped his intervention.” His hands becoming pitch-black to blend in with the blackness of the path, Gemini rushed forward towards Neos, whom had been shifting back into human form once more. The gold-colored human brought up his arms in front of himself to block whatever Gemini had tried to hit him with, but had fallen instead right into his dark twin’s trap. “Dark Void,” he whispered into the original’s ear, who momentarily panicked before the blackness infected him.

Neos had fallen back, asleep while still in his chosen human appearance, but not yet dead. A grin on his own face, Gemini looked up toward Arturia and Emiya before tossing the sleeping being over his shoulder. “And what’s this about your supposed heroism being a farce, m’dear?” Gemini asked tauntingly of the Counter Guardian, the grin on his face taking an acidic appearance. “Isamy had wanted to bring happiness to eternity. Are you seriously saying you are actually fighting for sorrow to remain in existence?” He gave off a snarky laugh toward the Guardians. “Hell, one of the the first to join her saw eye-to-eye with her better than either of you ever did, and in order to truly defeat one’s foe, you must understand them. A quality you both seem to lack.” Raising a hand above his head, a pair of dark orbs soon manifested above that was both identical to the blackness that put Neos to sleep. “And now, it’s time for you both to sleep. Dark Void!” With a flick of his wrist did Gemini release the orbs toward their intended targets, hoping to put them both to sleep before starting to continuing past the pair.

The Counter Guardian in question stood firm as the dark orb of energy came towards her, having fully regained her footing after escaping the wreckage of the F-15 fighter jet. Under normal circumstances, she would’ve been capable of intercepting it on the spot with the use of her holy sword, but the weapon that she currently held possessed no such luxury, and really, she had no idea if it had any special abilities at all besides acting as a mana conduct. Thus, she was instead forced to dodge it outright, before firing out a laser to annihilate it before it could attempt circling back.

“It appears that I was wrong to put my faith in an enemy.” Arturia said to the man who’d just taken Neos into his possession, with a rather annoyed look. “And do you, a mere being of darkness, have any right to question what is truly just in this world? What is best for the welfare of our reality?!”

“I at least think to question if something’s right or not instead of blindly accepting what is told to me,” Gemini quickly responded. “Most heroes, doesn’t seem to matter what realm they’re from, blindly believe in what they think is right without thinking of why it is such.” Suddenly, a solemn look fell upon the dark double’s face that seemed to clash with his earlier behavior. “And before you say anything, my counterpart and I have seen this for our own eyes from differing multiverses. There’s more alike than you would think and it’s somewhat scary.”

At that, Arturia’s expression darkened and was about to open her mouth to voice her own opinion when a metallic sound from above caught her attention. It was followed by a now-visible Kiritsugu gradually lowering himself down from the ceiling as his grappling hook gun uncoiled itself, the Thompson Contender remained clenched in his right hand. It seemed that he had dealt with the Dark Void as well, and due to the various suns about, it was rather pointless to try and remain concealed when he was an open target.

“That is correct.” He voiced out coldly, following up with Gemini’s words. “Many heroes, in every world and from every era, follow some kind of so-called ‘code of honour’. They claim that it is the most just thing to do, and in accordance with their words, they act out what they believe in. They fight the closest evil force and save whatever it’s threatening. It’s as simple as that.”

Then, his feet touched the ground, and he immediately detached the grappling gun from the coil before throwing it away. It clattered onto the ground, making a sound that echoed into the wide corridor.

“However, those are nothing more than meaningless rules they make up to mask the truth of reality, to make it seem brighter than it really is. For example,” his gaze moved over towards Arturia, “How many wars did you start in the name of righteousness? How many people were fooled by the brilliant light you let out, and as a consequence, how many of them fought to their deaths, all for a cause that weighs less than those very lives?”

“That’s… Emiya Kiritsugu, you have no right to insult the sacrifices that they made to-”

“And it wasn’t only as the King of Britain,was it? Even now, that’s what you do. That’s your function, after all, as a Counter Guardian. This very thing you call the ‘Origin War’ is a farce, and the Counter Corps who are laying their lives down for you as we speak…” The old-fashioned pistol in his hand rose up, pointing itself at her. “...don’t even know what they’re actually fighting for! And you claim that this is all ‘just’?!”

“It is just.”

Standing her ground, Arturia assumed a battle pose in the midst of the two enemies in preparation, and assessed the situation should she be attacked on either or both fronts. To her right was Gemini, a transforming Ditto without restraint that could take any convenient shape and mimic most abilities, and to her left was Kiritsugu, a long-ranged gun user with the capacity to disable her own magical energy if she were to act too careless. Then, after closing her eyes a bit, she decided to speak.

“You must be the dark side that lies within Neos’ heart. Perhaps some kind of personality that manifested as a result of his inability to do things, and something he would’ve been bound to confront sooner or later.” She began, turning her gaze slightly towards the figure in question. She knew very little about the circumstances behind him and tried not to assume anything, but from what little she’d gleamed between his and Neos’ conversations, this was what she’d concluded. “However, even if you’re his suppressed self, I trust in Neos enough to know that he likes to and even wants to help other people out. And if you were truly born from him, then can you not understand the same feeling that he has? Do you really not feel the same way… to some extent?”

“I have a question for you,” Gemini stated with a serious look on his face, his blood-red eyes focused on the Guardian. “Have you ever been a victim of brainwashing?”

“...brainwashing?”

“Yes, brainwashing.” Gemini took a brief moment to look toward the false human over his shoulder before returning his gaze toward Arturia, an almost-resentful look in his eyes. “I’m guessing you haven’t, with a response like that. First of all, for anyone to have gone through what was needed to create me and still wish to help others at the cost of themselves takes a greater heart than your average human would be allowed to have. Any human that managed to live through what he did would have every justifiable reason to be a complete dick and use the power forced into him for his own purposes, and yet...instead, he chose to suppress those same powers to more-normal levels and try to help make the lives of others better with what he still keeps.”

His eyes fell back toward the man on his shoulder, whom Gemini could have sworn he felt a twitch from. “Can you say the same?”

Some time passed to let that sink in, unsure about how to respond at first, before Arturia looked at Gemini with an even more resolute expression.

“I don’t claim to know how his life went, or what suffering he went through. He must have held plenty of hate towards the people responsible, and perhaps back then, he was much closer to becoming someone more like you. However, the very fact that he chose to do good regardless of his own past, that he chose to believe in what was right despite everything… ” She stated. “That must mean something. Not only to Neos, but also to you, the being who lurks within!”

“My name, Arturia, is Gemini Rivetter.” His expression had not once changed, even as he looked back toward the once-labeled King of Britain. “And while I know that he chose to prevent others from going through what he went through instead of putting the humans that created me through such torment, that doesn’t mean I have to agree with him on such a choice." At this moment did the hatless twin glance up toward the ceiling, a thoughtful look on his face. "Then again, if he had never tried to be like a human, I wouldn’t be here, and neither would he, probably.”

A faint muttering sound came from the sleeping Neos, whom was starting to twitch, probably from whatever he was dreaming about, which Gemini shook his head at. “Once again, he dreams of going home…”

“Did you hear that, Arturia?” Kiritsugu, who had remained silent up until that point, stepped forward and rose his voice, glancing at Neos for a moment with a trace of...well, pity. “Yes. It’s not just him, but all the members of the Counter Corps dream of going back home. Every single one of them. The only reason they came here in the first place is so that they could prevent their homes from being destroyed…”

As he said that line, a small, ironic smile crawled up onto his face, one that didn’t suit his face at all.

“Or should I say, bring back their homes from destruction? You kept it from them for so long, even though you should know that these people are the ones who deserve to know the truth more than anything. They’re sacrificing themselves on the one chance, the one hope that they can go back to their own, ordinary lives. Had they wanted anything else, they would’ve joined the Divine’s cause instead!”

“Such as the mage my counterpart said he was searching for, he joined the Divine to bring back all the lives of those he killed in his youth,” Gemini suddenly remarked before a small grin finally reappeared upon his face. “You’d be amazed what I do know, despite him only recently joining this fight. There’s another among the Divine that’s fighting to bring back a world that was destroyed over a decade ago as well and is the very last of her kind. Are you really wanting to force her to continue living such a lonely life? There are many others that are fighting for various other reasons as well, and while not all of them are for good ones, there are many that are fighting for what you would consider a viable reason.”

“Or at least… If nothing else, they’re all more viable reasons than yours, King Arthur.” Kiritsugu curled his finger over the trigger of the Thompson Contender, which was once again pointed at Arturia’s head just like last that. “Each and every single person currently on this Pathway to Origin, both the Counter Corps and the Divine, has come this far, fighting to achieve a cause that they believe in. And despite all their hopes and wishes for this Origin War, you would dare to-”

“Enough, Emiya Kiritsugu.”

Adopting a colder voice, the former king had taken a step back whilst charging up high amounts of mana all throughout her body, the battle aura around her growing.

“Perhaps you have a point. Admittedly, it’s not right to keep the truth hidden from the others, especially when I’m no longer connected to the Throne of Heroes. And I suppose, by following through with my orders, it isn’t right for me to deny everyone else their wishes.” Turning her gaze from Gemini to Kiritsugu, the look on her face had gotten darker. “However, that is not wrong either.”

“What exactly is your wish,” Gemini pointedly asked of the Guardian. “Even with my ability to see the whole of the current timeline up to this point, that’s not...quite clear.”

At that, she momentarily switched her gaze from the assassin to him with a cold glare, as if in an attempt to stab him through sight alone.

“Ask all you want.” Kiritsugu said sarcastically, somewhat unbefitting of him, though the sight of her refusal was so repulsive that he couldn’t help it. “But I doubt someone like that would give you an answer.”

Then, the knight opened her mouth and, “It doesn’t matter.”

Once the words had come out of her mouth, the winds around her suddenly began to pick up in speed as though in resonance with her determination to defeat them both right here and now. The very air around them was getting stronger to the point that Kiritsugu was forced to kneel against the ground to prevent himself from being sucked up, slowly accelerating as it got so intense that it may very well be called a hurricane.

“Even if I tell you, it wouldn’t make a difference since here is where you’ll both end.”

“If you were going to try to eliminate me, it’d be a waste of your time and energy.” Lightly tossing up the false human on his shoulder for a brief moment before bracing himself against the winds, a strained look snuck onto his face in response. “As long as he lives, so will I.”

“I see, so that’s how it is.”

“But then again, from what I’m starting to see from you, you’re willing to sacrifice anyone that isn’t yourself to reach your goals...whatever they may be.” Gemini shifted Neos’ weight on his shoulder to grant himself better access to the yellow suit jacket he always seems to wear, pulling out a pure-white orb from within it. “Thank Arceus for Pokeballs,” he muttered to himself before tapping Neos with it. A brief second passed as the false human was turned into a bluish energy before being pulled into the orb, which Gemini placed within his own jacket pocket. “Much bet---”

Just as he’d done so, a thin yet powerful beam of energy had burst past Gemini’s shoulder, its target having retreated into the Pokeball barely a second before. And the one who fired it - Arturia herself, her sword held up high, pointing precisely at his figure that was several meters away. “---ter?! What the f***?!” Gemini couldn’t help but stare at where his light double used to be before his startled gaze fell upon the knight, his arms held up high to either side of himself. “What in the actual f***?! B****, have you done lost all your marbles?!”

“She did lose her reality marble in the Rejected World,” Kiritsugu remarked dryly.

“...Arceus help me,” Gemini remarked under his breath, giving the knight a weird look as he as his arms fell to either side of him limply.

As for the blonde knight, she didn’t respond and wordlessly took a step forward, before abruptly bursting forth with ridiculous speed she hadn’t been using before, being pushed forth by the very hurricane that was now raging all around them. In mid-charge, Kiritsugu aimed his pistol at her and fired out an Origin Bullet, but she noticed it out of the corner of her eye and utilized the heavy winds around her to throw it off-course while she continued on towards the other enemy.

Even if Gemini couldn’t be killed, it didn’t matter, for it was the same case as with Protheus - all she had to do was damage and trap him enough until she could appropriately dispose of him. Deep inside, she didn’t really want to get rid of Neos, but her chances of victory against both of these enemies on her own weren’t very high, even with her level of skill. If her experiences had taught her anything, it was that sacrifices like these were necessary to achieve victory.

…there was something that Kiritsugu had gotten wrong. After all that she’d had to go through, after going back in time, witnessing Britain’s destruction at the hands of Angra Mainyu, becoming a Counter Guardian and later being officially stripped of that status due to a certain battle not too long ago, she wasn’t the same knight bound by chivalry that he remembered.

Her blade held high, the raging winds carried her up before bringing her back down to increase her strength as she struck down at the other enemy.

And, noticeably, even amidst the heat of battle, the silver sword in her hands had begun to take on an ominous crimson glow...

 

Ending Point: A9 (and Neos is in his Pokeball...)

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

~The Divine - Path of Truth - Jace's POV~

 

While Chandra may forever believe afterwards that it was her own stubborn bullheadedness that allowed her to break control, an idea Jace was more than willing to let her believe...in all honesty, she had a fair bit of help in regaining control of herself. While he leaned against one of the still-standing trees to support his weight, Jace threw his own mind into that of the black-colored double's, using his own power to weaken the strength of the other. Thankfullly, as seen by Chandra's being more and more able to move on her own accord, the move was a success, a success marked quite clearly with a Lightning Bolt spell before a second flash of electricity.

 

The double didn't get to make the response he wanted thanks to Jace. The double had tried to counterspell both bolts before twincasting them both, but instead, the double found all of his spells being dispelled by the original. Sure, with his knee acting up on him, he's currently useless in another fist fight, but he had his own ways of helping out. Instead, the double found himself bullseyed by the first zap and barely dodged the second.

 

A growl emerged from the black double before closing its eyes and appearing to mutter under its breath, the tone Jace instantly recognized as one he would use for summoning creatures. However, he didn't recognize this particular incantation...

 

The double's yellow eyes reopened as it stretched out its arms to either side of itself, a dark-blue portal appearing behind it. Jace didn't know what to expect, but even he was surprised by the creature that emerged that strangely made him feel as if he was somehow back on Ravnica, as if he could feel the many mana bonds he's forged over the long time spent on the plane through this new creature.

 

"Can a creature hold the soul of a plane," Jace couldn't help but ask himself in curiosity as he felt his own magic suddenly strengthen before twincasting a spell of his own.

 

However, the spell he twinned was not one that had been cast around him here, but instead back on Zendikar...

 

Ending Point: Still between C6 and C7

 

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

~The Divine - Path of Death - Tesability's POV~

 

A sixth sun appeared in the distance as one of the other five started to try and fade from view, recapturing the attentions of the black Dragon NetMonster from the spaceship she had been exploring. "Wat goin' on," she asked to no one in particular before flapping her wings and taking off into the air as she surrounded herself with white electricity, staying low to the ground so she could see the paths and continue moving forward.

 

With the speed she flew on, she zipped past a few more mechanical creatures that looked vaguely like her before spotting a trio of beings, one of them looking at the lone female in the group with an odd look. She allowed the electricity to drop from around her and sneak into hiding, folding in her wings to hide the yellow and blend in with the blackness of the Path.

 

“...Arceus help me,” she heard uttered as the knight rose her sword as if she was about to strike the man in dark-purple attire. Even though she knew she was weak against Human NetMonsters, which this look liked a Common Human, Tesability knew she couldn't just let her strike without reason.

 

"Wait, Tes," she suddenly and quietly heard. A hand gently fell upon her upper-left shoulder from behind and over her wing, prompting the NetMonster to look toward the source with a shocked look on her face.

 

"TAW--" The human in black attire placed her other hand over the Champion's muzzle, silencing her and hopefully preventing her from being heard. Fortunately, there seemed to be no immediate reaction from the nearby trio.

 

"Hold your place for now, girl," The brown-haired girl gently ordered, a look of knowing evident in her brown eyes behind wire-framed glasses. "This will be able to resolve on its own, don't worry about it." Tilting her head, Tesability raised a leafy ear in confusion at her former partner's words.

 

"How yu know," she asked, to which the human raised a hand to her chin in thought of how to put her next words.

 

"I control one of them."

 

Ending Point: A8

[Love of Ghibli]

Rhadamanthys: Path of Truth

The second one had engaged in some kind of battle of wits with Rhadamanthys which he did not know he was going to have engage in. Then Rhadamanthys tilted his head and looked at Lydia slightly strange. Standing right next to Lydia, was some mental projection of Pandora, he snickered. Lydia's defiant attitude was pretty much the same as Pandora's. Which was hilarious. Pandora slapped Gods far stronger than Rhadamanthys before. Before he could retort the other women decided to speak threatening to actually leave before a battle went underway, yet at the same time offering his hand in companionship. She too reminded him of Pandora...just interesting.

I see no reason to battle if it is not going to be enjoyable. But now that the hostility is out of the way... not that he really felt any besides his own bloodlust... let us proceed to get through the path. He looked around and while he could "walk" through path with these two killing spritekins just by looking at them.  That would be boring though. Hmmm. I propose that we fly through the remainder of this forest portion. If either of you is incapable of flight I will simply carry you. What do you say to that offer?

 

Ending Location A4

[Maeriberii Haan]

"Sorry about that,"
 
Still as upbeat as ever despite being injured, eh?
 
"I'm still pretty beat up from a scuffle with an alien jackass," 
 
Ali-what?
 
"I barely made it outta there.  And to top it all off, the son of a jabroni tried to stick his freaky tongue in my mouth!"
 
That...sounds really gross.
 
"You should've seen that thing, Reimu!  It was so gross!  It was split in two and had like, knives on the end of it and--man, that was sick." 
 
Eh, I'll pass.
 
"But I guess, without the big lummox to save me, I'd be in pieces,"
 
Lummo-what?
 
"Buuuuuut, anyway, how are you Reimu!?"
 
"Well, compared to you, I'm pretty fine. Met with some of the Counter Corps member on my previous pathway.
 
Pretty nice people, they are."
 
Revy understandably changed the subject immediately, which Reimu appreciated. Touching a subject that half incomprehensible for her and half utterly gross like that for too long wouldn't really be the best. At times like this, Reimu cursed herself inside for forgetting about those healing spells that shrine maidens like her should've been able to use, but well, it's not like she could suddenly remember about them right now.
 
Without saying much afterwards, Reimu went on and moved Revy, positioning her for a piggyback.
 
"I'll go carry you for now, can't let you go through the entire pathway in this condition alone.
 
Please don't move around too much. My body's too easy to get tickled by sudden movement and I don't want to accidentally drop you."
 

 
Revy....was heavier than Reimu thought. Well, it's probably due to the fact that she's taller than her, but well, at least Reimu can still carry her without falling on her feet.
 
It wasn't long until the two reached a location where they could clearly see around three people, two girls and what looked like an menacingly-armored man with a seriously alarming aura emanating from him. Reimu kind of somewhat recalled seeing the two girls before, so she concluded that the two were from the Counter Corps. Still, that man's presence worried her somewhat.
 
" *sigh* Here goes, I guess."
 
As silently as she could muster, she walked past the three, trying her best so she and Revy were not noticed by them.
 
Thankfully at least, no fairies were swarming at them, so the two could pass through while being relatively unnoticed, hopefully.

[Dad]

Yachiru

 

Her curiosity peaked, when Dorian mentioned Kenpachi being eaten before.  It must have been--

 

"When we died, huh?" she said sadly.  Though depressing, Yachiru knew that Kenpachi would never willingly put her in danger.  After all, she was ambushed to say the least.  Yachiru was unable to keep her smile up, however, as Dorian mentioned hers and Kenpachi's revival.  And still, they had not thanked their 'rescuer', if he could be called that.  That balding man who had his own selfish reasons for saving their lives, was likely out running amok and causing havoc.  Or so Yachiru believed.  The thought of of her best friend being devoured. .  .it was nightmarish.  Yachiru couldn't watch anymore.  Her head was being filled with dark, evil thoughts, and it hurt her.  A single tear escaped her eyes, and Yachiru turned her back on the fight.  She had never been so sick before.  She was beginning to understand why Kenpachi had become so obsessed, and so angry when it came to her.  Her stomach turned, as she heard a crash behind her.  He must have been looking at her.

 

 

---

 

 

Kenpachi

 

He had barely avoided the first strike, but when his attention had been drawn back to Yachiru once more, Kenpachi's heart sank.  She had turned her back on him, and it was both strange and frightening.  She would never do something like that.  What was she--

 

No time.  It was as though he froze in place again.  Kenpachi took the full impact of Butlerok's Bloody Needle.  A cloud of fire and smoke erupted from his location, and his body spiraled to the ground.  He was heavily burned, and dozens of puncture wounds left him bleeding profusely.  But he did not pay it any attention.  Pained, he called to her, his voice not changed, despite being hurt.  "Yachiru!" he said getting to his feet, wiping the blood from his chest and face.  He could see her looking over her shoulder at him.  He tightened his eye patch over his face, drawing his Zanpaktou from it's sheath.  Finally, his eyes fell on Butlerok, who seemed to know what to expect from the Soul Reaper.  At last, he smiled.  He could almost tell what Yachiru was thinking.  He could not show weakness, less she fall victim to disbelief.  Kenpachi pointed his blade directly at Butlerok, as he grew more excited.

 

It was the painful realization that Yachriu was only now learning the truth that made Kenpachi wake up.  He knew he had to protect her.  Even if she wasn't in danger.  Even if it killed him.  "I've been waitin' to do this again," he said as power burst from his Zanpaktou.  "Drink, Nozarashi."

 

 

---

 

 

Killua

 

Gon's reply was what he had hoped.  Naturally, they both had their own goals and objectives.  Killua smiled at the thought of seeing Wing and Zushi again.  Mimicking him, Killua raised his arms and posed.  "Osu!" he said with emphasis and excitement.  He laughed, putting his arms back behind his head.  "I wonder how they're doing?" he said softly, aloud.  They continued trudging through snow, which felt as though it was miles thick.  Killua was constantly kicking up some object or another beneath the snow, ignoring it most of the time.  He was afraid he would stumble over another corpse that he would recognize, so he kept the thought to himself.  Instead, he attempted to reminisce on happier memories.  Unfortunately, his mind wavered, and Killua thought to when he found Gon in his most powerful, frightening state.  When Neferpitou's body lie in pieces, and Gon stood there, not stirred by this power.

 

"Gon, when you fought Pitou," he said hesitantly.  "What happened?  What did she say or do that made you--well, become so strong?"

BGM:  Yogensha

 

That was when the snow beneath Killua became deathly cold.  He froze, as a menacing feeling surrounded him.  Was it Gon?  No.  This was something else entirely.  Yet, it was so familiar.  So frighteningly familiar.  Killua looked down, and a pale green hand had stuck itself up from the snow, and grabbed at his ankles.  Piercing red eyes stared into his soul, and a crooked smile melted the snow.  The figure pulled itself out completely, and stared menacingly into Killua's eyes, before uttering a few words.

 

"Pitou," it hissed.  "That is a name I have not heard . . .in a very long time."  Naturally, he did not appear to even have aged.  He was in perfect form.  His powerful tail whipped about, destroying a large section of trees behind him, as he stretched, as though waking from a long nap.  It looked to Gon now, to ask a question.  "Was it you who killed her?" the creature asked simply.  His knuckles cracked, as he stared into the boy's face.  His aura engulfed the forest, and everyone else inside of it.  No one within the forest could go without feeling this gross, quaking power that simply enveloped everything it touched.  His very glare made Killua stop breathing.  Somehow, Killua manged to speak.  "You--you're--" the creature stopped Killua's voice with a finger to the boy's lips.  The creature's touch was so cold, that blood flow ceased in Killua's lips when the finger made contact.

 

"Meruem," he said finishing Killua's sentence.

 

 

---

 

 

Yachiru

 

She began crying, incredibly hard.  As she did, she shouted to Kenpachi.  "I'm sorry!  I'm sorry Kenny!" she said.  "I'm sorry that you died for me!  I'm sorry that I put myself in danger!  And I'm sorry that--"

 

"You don't need to apologize, Yachiru," he called back.  "Because I wouldn't be here today, if it weren't for you."

 

"Keep fighting Kenny!" she said turning back to the fight, as Nozarashi reared it's head.  "Keep fighting for me!  For Kuchiki!  For Strawberry!"

 

Kenpachi laughed.  "For all of ya!" he said as he dove at Butlerok.  "Let's get this over with," he said as he got closer.  "I still owe someone else a fight!"

 

 

---

 

 

Revy

 

They were quiet as they moved past three unknown members.  Revy felt terrible having someone smaller than her carry her in her time of need.  But, she was grateful at least.  Revy kept her mouth shut, as they moved past these other unknown players.  They seemed to be as strong if not stronger than the thing she fought earlier.  Fortunately, they passed quickly, and were able to sneak away unnoticed.  Revy drew her guns, prepared to to a walk-by if someone approached Reimu.  Suddenly, a flurry of what Revy assumed to be bees began to gather behind them, chasing the duo.  Revy let out a horrific screech.  "Bees!" as she began to unload her clips.  The fairies didn't have time to ask questions as they were splattered about and turned into mist in the air as Revy fired her guns.

 

"Die, die, my darlings!  Die, die, die!" she screamed  She soon began to keep track of how many 'points' she had gathered killing the 'bees'.  "Two hundred and ten!  Two twenty!  Two thirty!  Die bastards!"  Revy continued to fire, calling to Reimu.  "Hey Reimu!  If I get to a thousand points, we have to celebrate!  On me!"  Revy pressed two fresh clips into her guns, before pulling a latch on either weapon.  A large barrel extended below the main, and an explosion blew fairy parts and blood into the air.  A grenade launcher attachment.  "I almost forgot about those!  Four hundred points!"