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

[Love of Ghibli]

Rhadamanthys: Path of Death

Rhadamanthys awoken to find himself in what looked like a temple. Certainly this was odd seeing as the last thing he remembered was being blasted to oblivion by a super powered Dorian. Maybe that was all a dream. No, it certainly wasn't a dream. The experience he just had was definitely real, but if that was real then what was this. Rhadamanthys then decided to look around this temple and see if this was some after effect of dying in one of the Pathways. After a while he came to main sanctuary of this temple. There he saw a giant statue of Hades...well not the Hades he knows. This was a representation and homage to that old fat gray haired thing that dared share the name of his Lord. The massive creature didn't even choose to stand in his statue just sitting in some oversized thrown like the embodiment of sloth.

Pfft. Rhadamanthys scoffed. Now, now, don't get all jealous because you're in one of my homes. Rhadamanthys looked at the massive statue and bore witness as it cracked and the true deity revealed himself. How dare you have a statue and temple in the place of my Lord, you charlatan! In my universe there are people who worship me and have built this for me. I didn't ask for this. You egotist! You sit idle while other Gods would dare besmirch your name. How can you stand it?

 

I don't sit idly by anymore now do I? The massive giant inquired. For the longest time I was bound to a bald demigod who wanted nothing other than kill other Gods. Then for some reason that I don't understand my immortal soul was used as a bargaining chip for someone who was VASTLY INFERIOR TOO ME! Hades roared at Rhadamanthys. Rhadamanthys simply bore his fangs back. What does that have to do with this situation and why you brought me here? How do you think my followers would feel? Hades replied. Those words shattered Rhadamanthys more than any attack could. It was one of the few times he perfectly understood the point that someone else was trying to make. He was only silent and in a lost gaze. Yeah, its not fun when your God doesn't live up to your expectations isn't it? Rhadamanthys' silence fell deeper if that was even possible. Don't forget, we first met when my chains were wrapped around your soul. I learned a little about you. I know about Alone. It seems you have a problem with Hades loosing in a battle with a child.

It just doesn't make sense! He is my Lord! The bringer of darkness and the one true truth in this world. How dare he loose to some child who didn't even hit puberty! Rhadamanthys punched the ground in rage. Well once you get over that you're pretty much good aren't you? Rhadamanthys looked up to the new Hades. What, that is your problem with the future. Your future is cyclical. Your Hades wakes up... tries to destroy your Athena. Random choice by the way. You loose and then you try again. Its simple really, but it seems that your Hades has to possess and individual to before he can fully unleash his powers. I understand that. The mortal world is never ready for Gods to descend upon it. You actually fear that you'll have to work for someone who you cannot trust or are truly loyal to. Mortals do that all the time...its called having faith! Rhadamanthys growled but then he stopped as the mans words rang true. His faith had wavered, while it was slight it did waver and he was ashamed of his behavior. 

He got down on one knee and knelt before this other Hades. My Lord forgive your humble servant for his lack of belief. I promise from now on I shall carry your will, in whatever form you choose to bestow it upon me. You're welcome. Hades said as he chuckled. Not you plebeian! Though I thank you for your words.

Heh. Hades rolled his eyes as Rhadamanthys began to glow purple and then seemingly fade away. 

Well that one was easy I wonder how the other is fairing?

Butlerok: Path of Death

Butler actually woke up in a very familiar place. He was back in the barracks of Squad 1. He was a little annoyed that he somehow ended up here. Though seeing as the Mad Blood is actually his blood he knew what had happened. Hades and Yamamoto had taken over and used the blood and one of the indexes to make a subspace and dodge the attack of that Dorian. He simply walked into the barracks and took off his shoes. He noticed that the old man was already waiting for him...with tea. So another intervention. I must be slipping. Don't give yourself credit youngster. You are far from perfect. In fact, we are here to talk about only one of your faults. And what would that be?

Your total lack of self. Butler only raised an eyebrow as this wasn't a new argument. Many people and monsters have commented on his overzealous defense of his Master Dorian. It hasn't been a problem so far. You've never given a thought to what would happen if you weren't needed have you? What? Exactly, answer a question with another question...because you don't have an answer. There is no way my master would fire me...Not the question I asked Genryuusai quickly interrupted. Well. Let me answer for you. You have no plan! Your life is so attached to the will of that little boy that you are hinging on the fact that you will always be useful. Butler as he had to swallow this bitter sweet medicine. It seems that the boy will become a member of the 13 Court Guard Squads and he is the one who somehow be able to be the next Lord of the Dead at the same time. So you and the parasite are no longer needed. This is your fear. Your child growing up. It's so pedestrian its pathetic. I have thought about it. But it appears that my lack of an answer has led to something quite troubling. Exactly, You've gained all this power for someone else and you don't even consider if it was even needed. You figured that if you're more power then you're more useful.  

Butler snickered as the medicine finally sunk in. It seems I should go face my demons and make up my mind.  Why don't you go do that. Genryuusai nodded. 

[Reinforce]

Chandra

Pathway of Truth

 

As she was talking, the other mage seemed completely shocked at what she'd just said. As he sunk down against the tree, she stepped back, surprised at Jace's reaction. Her initial response came at barely more than a whisper, 

 

"You didn't even know what your absence did."

 

Shock and guilt crossed her face, not sure how to react to that revelation even as Jace just sat and cried, looking a lot more expressive and vulnerable than she'd seen before. With a deep inhale and exhale, she composed herself again, trying to figure out the best way to go about what to do next. Finally settling on a plan, her face settled into a sense of determination, along with a slight bit of glee at what she was about to do. With a quick motion, she walked forward until she was right in front of him, and brought her left hand across to slap him across his cheek. Without giving him the time to respond, she started to speak again, forceful and angry even without yelling.

 

"Enough with the pity party already. Do you really think you're the only person around who has to cope with that revelation? None of us in the Counter Corps were made aware of that fact our worlds had been destroyed until just before we arrived here, and by the sound of it, the Divine weren't informed of that fact at all. Just learning about that does not give you the right to sit back and mourn when the rest of us can't, and when every one of those lives is still at stake during this campaign. If our leader can through the Door of Origin, she can fix our world, but for that we need to make sure we can get the key to her to open it. If you want to see all your friends alive again, you have a duty to help us get through this."

 

Ending Location: C5

[Maeriberii Haan]

 

“So, you’re Killua, huh? I’m Reimu, Reimu Hakurei.” Reimu replied as she tried to keep up with the boy while he dashed forward, until the tower was clearly in view. Killua seemed to be quite eager to continue moving forward, and Reimu decided to rush forward to try matching his enthusiasm. As she tried to keep up with however, she was reminded that she hadn’t introduced Yukari to him, and that Yukari was quite silent lately.

 

“Anyway, let’s introduce you to my friend here, Yu-“ When she turned around to introduce Yukari to Killua, she instead found out that there was no one behind her, much to her surprise. She looked around frantically, but there was no single trace of that Yukari being around. To save herself from an embarrassment about what she thought to be yet another trickery of the pathway, Reimu turned back to Killua, smiling sheepishly.

 

“Uh..nevermind. Seems like she’s just too shy being around with people. She’ll be fine alone, I believe. Let’s just talk about other things instead, like for example, what actually happened with the two on your back?” She tried to start a conversation to salvage the botched introductory attempt for someone that might not even exist at all, while trying her best to keep up with Killua’s astonishing speed, even resorting to spamming her pseudo close range teleportation just so she was not left behind by the boy who was astonishingly fast especially for someone to carry two people on their back, one that Reimu could observe as a giant amongst men.

 

But hey, as long as she could get an actual physical companionship in the eerie pathway.

 

[Kōsuke Ueki]

The Pathway of Remembrance, Richard Mason

Richard was able to tolerate such cold temperatures at first, but now that it was getting colder the farther he walked, it seemed as if it was getting harder and harder to bare. Either way, he continued on through the dense forest, not sure if he was even walking in a straight line. He didn't really think about much. Besides what he experienced earlier, he pretty much remained silent, his mind emptied for the moment until something catches his attention.

 

However, something DID eventually come to mind out of nowhere, which resorted into something more...tangible, so to speak.

 

At that moment, a shadow walked out from a nearby tree, which then took the form of a figure VERY familiar to him. It was a woman in a black lab coat, with slightly blue skin and short, messy magenta hair, a woman who was considered as a living legend back in their homeworld called Lath. The vampire medic-turned-revolutionary, she was the one who made peace between humans and vampires during a time when it seemed impossible. Her name was Dr. Azami Yamada, and just so happened to be Richard's boss, as well as the one spearheading the effort against the werewolves back in Noirlune. But, she couldn't really be here, could she?

 

The vampiric doctor had a rifle attached to her back, but she didn't reach for it when she emerged. Instead, she simply regarded Richard with a cold, calculating look for a moment, before turning away as she started to speak.

 

"Richard Mason. Human. Son of Joseph Mason. A talented warrior, better than average - no particular affinity, but makes up for that with foresight and intelligence. Immune to lycanthropy for reasons unknown. Is occasionally distracted by his own emotions. Has questionable preferences. Stubborn. Annoyingly persistent." A pause. "And, he would happen to be my chosen second-in-command."

 

Then Azami looked back at him with a warmer expression and asked, "So then, I suppose I'll have to ask you. It's only proper. How have you been?"

 

Richard wasn't sure what to think. But, he responded either way. "I'm not in the best of moods, to say the least. Although, I am glad to see you once more, Lady Azami." A smile appeared upon his face, if only for a few seconds. "And what about you? I assume you haven't changed since..." He paused. "...since our last mission. Have you?"

 

In response, she shrugged, and then closed her eyes for a bit as if in thought.

 

"A complicated question. That would depend on how you define 'change'." She replied. "I may be the same as the Azami Yamada you've always known, or I may be completely different from the real thing. Who knows? But that wouldn't really matter, since you won't be able to tell the difference... I suppose, if you look at it from a normal point of view, I haven't changed."

 

Afterwards, she put her hands in her pockets, before turning to face Richard directly, her gaze meeting his.

 

"But of course, a better question would be...have you? Have you changed in these past few days?"

 

Richard remained silent for a while. He wasn't sure how to answer that.

 

A lot was going through his mind. He felt as though he wasn't doing his job as Azami's second-in-command.

 

On one end, he felt like he has changed to some degree. But he also felt like he hasn't changed at all. True, he took Tsunugai under his wing, but at the same time, he didn't feel like he was mature or responsible enough to be a mentor. Why did he become Azami's second-in-command? To give himself another purpose beside the one his own father said he would live up to?

 

"I...I do not know...I just feel like I'm always acting on an impulse and never giving a good reason behind those actions."

 

He wasn't sure what else to say, other than to agree with some of the things Azami called him. "You have every right to question my preferences, to call me stubborn, persistent, an emotional mess at times..."

 

He then reluctantly turned his back towards Azami, not wanting to look her in the eye. "...I don't even know why you chose me as your second-in-command. I don't feel like I was ever doing my job."

 

At that, a slight smile formed on the doctor's face. Was it a smile out of kindness, or was it out of amusement? More often than not, it wasn't easy to tell what was going through her mind, what that look of hers really meant, and this was one of those times.

 

"My my, how depressing." She began in a light tone, letting out a sigh, and then a nod. "You know, you've made quite a good point there. Now that I think about it, perhaps I was wrong. If you're this whiny and incompetent why did I ever choose you? After all, you're nothing but a failure who only knows how to bash other peoples' heads! Even the general was surprised when I picked you, and now I see why due to your words! Oh dear lords, I've made a mistake, help me, let me turn back time! Oh noooo!"

 

Richard didn't know what to think. Considering what Azami was saying, he had that feeling like she was trying to lighten the mood. He's having an existential crisis and she's joking around as if there's a point to this he's not getting.

 

As Azami talked, her speech became more and more dramatic and exaggerated, to the point that she was waving her arms around and faking a horrified expression of realization, her mouth gaping wide. It was a little uncharacteristic of her to act like a drama queen, but Richard's attitude just now had been so funny that she couldn't have resisted the opportunity.

 

Then, as soon as she was finished, the facade was dropped and she immediately reverted back to her normal self. Her body straightened and her look became cold again, her eyes narrowed. Now she was...annoyed?

 

"Idiot. Have you already forgotten the first time we met?"

 

Upon saying that, she turned around and started walking deeper in the forest, as if prompting the warrior to follow her in, which he did. While they walked, she resumed speaking.

 

"It was around three years ago, I believe. I wasn't mayor yet, you were still part of the human army, and werewolves were much more disorganized, far less of a threat to Noirlune. There was this lieutenant who happened to be a friend of an acquaintance of mine, and he somehow got in contact with me. Said something about wanting me to help train his squad, to make them stronger. Normally I'd refuse, but I needed to do some field research so it seemed like a good opportunity and I came along, armed with nothing but a pen as I figured there'd be no problem."

 

She stopped suddenly with a frown on her face, glanced downwards, then picked up something from the snow - some kind of training sword? - before throwing it away like it was junk.

 

"How should I put this... It was an interesting trip, around the border between Noirlune and Altouan, though most of the platoon itself held a lot of bias towards me. Rather than a hero, they thought of me as a bloodsucking monster. I'm used to it, obviously, but it IS unsettling to still be called a monster by you humans after many years of trying to mend the rift between races." 

 

There was a hint of bitterness as she spoke, but it didn't stop her from going on. "Now, not too long after, we were camping out in middle of a forest with the lieutenants out scouting, having met up with a platoon. Then this one human, he drinks a little too much around the campfire. Starts raving on about how vampirekind are the source of all their problems, pointing at me, yelling, and it seemed like the others were being encouraged by his behaviour to speak out too. Overall, it was quite unsightly. For a moment there, it felt as though all my hard work had gone to waste."

 

Stopping again, Azami turned around to face Richard once more with a smile.

 

"Ah, but who's the one who stands up, punches him in the face out of nowhere, tells over several dozen armed people to 'shut up' and then apologizes to me on their behalf? I'm sure you know this part. Frankly, I don't think you even knew who I was, the way you talked about peace, about hope. I'm a famous revolutionary, but there you were, trying to reassure me. It was funny, really. Funny...and yet, oddly touching."

 

With a small laugh, Azami laid back against a tree. "Believe it or not, not enough people are like that, be they human, or vampire, or whatever other races are out there. The bravery to stand up for what you believe is right, and the stubbornness to carry it out to the end... That's why I chose you."

 

Richard remembered VERY well what happened on that day. How could he be so stupid to forget in the first place?

 

"You're right. I am an idiot for forgetting about that. But I remember now."

 

He then chuckled. "I was probably the only one who didn't see you as a monster at the time, and I still don't." he started. "I knew that not all vampires were 'evil'. I knew all too well that, just like Humans, Vampires are individuals. They think and feel differently about different things towards other Vampires and Humans. As such, many Humans and Vampires wanted to blame the other side for their problems, to feel better about themselves. And it sickened me when that drunk thought to blame you for the things that have been going on for centuries. And even more so that he influenced the others around him to do the same.

 

"Many people believed there was a norm for everything. And that whatever is considered abnormal is an abomination. But the fact is, normal is overrated. I know that Humans and Vampires can coexist. But nobody wants that. They believe the rumors about how Vampires are all monsters and will backstab you for sustenance to live for another night! But I knew...I knew from the start, that you were nothing like that.

 

"I knew, deep down inside, you and I had similar dreams in mind. Yes, you may have been a revolutionary at the time, but I could see that you wanted to put an end to the hostility towards Humans and Vampires, just like me. You might not believe it, but that's what I saw in you. You wanted there to be some form of peace, just like I did. And I gave you hope that it could happen, because I knew that if you set your mind towards something, surely enough, with time, you may reach that goal in some degree."

 

Richard then cleared his throat. "Right. Sorry for talking your ears off. Got carried away again."

 

Richard chuckled. "Anyway, it seems I have an answer to your question now. Have I changed? For the most part, no. I am still the same man back then as you see before you now. But now, I have taken on more...prioritized responsibilities at the moment, so to speak."

 

He then went silent for a moment. "I think I'm done talking for now. I'll just listen to whatever you have left to say."

 

In response, she nodded silently to herself, as if she'd been expecting Richard's answer.

 

"Well, there's little else I can say, is there? It should be clear by now that I trust you to make your own decisions and do what's right." Then, she got up from the tree. "And besides, no matter how much you doubt yourself...wanting to help people can't possibly be wrong, can it?"

 

Azami glanced at a clearing further on in the distance, showing the end of the forest that wasn't too far away, before facing Richard directly and beginning to walk towards him in a composed manner, lightly treading on the snow below.

 

"This is as far as I will go. You will have to face the rest of Remembrance on your own, and beyond that lies the Truth within you and the Death that awaits you. Therefore..."

 

Then, just as she was about to pass him, she paused and lightly kissed his cheek...

 

"Sayonara for now, Richard."

 

...before vanishing entirely.

 

Richard turned around to see that Azami had disappeared. He had a feeling she wasn't actually there, but he appreciated seeing her one last time. He then looked at the clearing in front of him. He took a deep breath, and prepared to continue walking.

 

"If I am to finish these Pathways by myself, then I won't let you down, Azami."

 

And with that, the warrior eventually made it out of the forest, appearing before a dangerous snowstorm, one more treacherous than the one he traversed before entering the forest. He would need to ground himself with his magic to make sure he wasn't blown away by the powerful winds and even colder conditions than before.

 

Hours have passed since he traversed the storm. He eventually made it out, passing by what appeared to be the frozen corpses of his parents at some point. He had cried enough, though, so the pain lessened as he passed them.

 

What he saw before him afterward, was a lake that stretches for miles on end. But at the same time, the snow seemed to stop falling, and the night sky appeared before him. As a result, his vision in front of him cleared up. And if anyone near him were around, chances are he would have to avoid them somehow.

 

Richard then pondered on the next course of action in advancing the Pathway.

 

(Location: D9)

[Tesability Black]

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

As soon as she flew out of the forest, she felt what look like tiny crystals falling down upon her form, making her attempt to fly through the falling blades from the sky almost-unbearable. However, these were nothing compared to past battles she fought in, which resulted in destroyed data in wide, gaping holes in various places. And so, she continued flying through the strange phenomenon, unsure of what was trying to push her back toward the beginning as she did. Littered among the blanket of white the strange sharp orbs were falling upon were various knickknacks from various beings' pasts, including a large pair of blue G and red O laying upon the ground, two letters that were part of the logo for Google Towers.

The force and orbs soon disappeared as she arrived at the edge of a large, reflective area, which she took a moment to land near. A wierd feeling began to oversweep her, a feeling that prompted her to shake her head in hopes to knock it out. Her scales began to become covered with the sensation of prickling, caused by the air around her, though she knew not why. At least until she looked back toward the falling orbs, when a thought clicked in her head.

They looked like certain Ice moves. This was what Cold was outside of home...

Home...

Lowering her head, she stretched out her wings before flying over the lake surface, staying close to the surface as she did. Her curiosity rose a slight degree when she spotted what looked like staircases before flying toward them...
 

Ending Location: C12

 

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

 

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

The sharp hand that had met with his right cheek did indeed stun him out of his induced sorrow. However, out of all she said, there was only one sentence he really heard.

"Just learning about that does not give you the right to sit back and mourn when the rest of us can't, and when every one of those lives is still at stake during this campaign."

Jace slowly looked up toward the fiery mage, a cold blank look upon his face as his eyes met hers, the hood over his head falling back down from being over his head. "You just basically told me," he slowly started to say before beginning to get back up onto his feet, his dead gaze never leaving her eyes as he did, "that our Multiverse has disappeared..." Only at this point did he look down and closed his eyes, his now-clenched hands shaking more and more by his sides as if he was trying to hold himself back. "...because these 'Artifacts', which I'm apparently one of, have disappeared from it."

Jace looked back up toward Chandra, breathing heavy as he only barely kept his rage caged for the time being, before his voice suddenly raised to the loudest volume he could project. "YOU EXPECT ME TO NOT REACT TO THE NEWS THAT MY DISAPPEARANCE IS PART OF WHY UNTOLD NUMBERS OF LIVES HAVE ENDED?! DO YOU?!"

 

Shaking his head harshly, he began to run blindly, toward the end of this deceptively-innocent pathway, only stopping in front of a large mirror that could easily show his entire reflection. While he could see his enraged, tear-stained form in the mirror wearing a greyscaled version of his outfit that was almost pitch-black, he could also see the makings of a darkened, dead world that eerily mirrored his surroundings. "Bringing death is all I'm good at, no matter what I do," he spoke to himself as another tear escaped his eyes. He attempted a swing at the mirror with a balled-up fist in order to break it, aiming at his own reflected face, only to wind up going through it and uncerimoniously landing in the form of a balled-up pile on the other side.

 

"Why did I have to be both a telepath and a Planeswalker..."

 

Ending Location: C6

[Maeriberii Haan]

 

Not really being able to keep up with Reimu and the boy, Yukari decided to just take things casually, walking on her lonesome along the steep pathway over the abyss below her; while sometimes try casting barriers to see whether she could block the annoying voices on the pathway.

 

Simply put, it didn’t work, and Yukari continued her way grumbling at having to hear the annoying sound kept on harassing her poor ears. The voices started to be more and more coherently scathing as she walked, though the words themselves weren’t really that problematic for Yukari. She had heard uncountable amount of worse insults coming at her, and as the insults were aimed towards her failure mainly, she just simply shrugged it off. No use in crying over spilt milk, like people said. It’s a fact that she really hated herself for failing to do anything to save Gensokyo from the Lunarians, but worrying about it now would just hinder her chance to actually try doing something about the entire ordeal, and would betray the sacrifices needed so she could be here. The voices being more coherent did make it more and more annoying though to her.

 

Not long after she was separated from Reimu, Yukari could feel a sudden, alarming presence creeping up in front of her, and the source of the voice shifted slowly, and finally finding a home in a figure standing silently in a distance. From Yukari’s position, even with her light orbs, all she could see was simply a pair of golden eyes and a menacing smile, and the rest of the figure was simply covered by darkness. Entirely sure that it was definitely an enemy, Yukari started to ready her stance to prepare for an incoming attack. But instead of an attack, the figure just started talking with a grating, scathing tone of a voice.

 

“Quite a pathetic you are, my dear. I get that you’re still mad about the entire thing of drowning your precious sandbox with madness and all that, but to just do what savages do and greet a superior being with aggressive stance like that…It’s even more pathetic since you’ve fallen far, far away from your former glory, your former power, and heck, even you’re now using the barely stitched-up body of a pathetic excuse of a youkai mixed with remnants of your own broken body. You failed to do anything, you pretty much killed someone innocent in a failed attempt to solve that one incident, and heck, everything you’ve done for millennia was simply for nothing as you see everything crumbled before your eye. You’re so damn useless, don’t you know? Pathetic, garbage. After all your sacrifices, after you abandoned everything on your previous “life”, all you can do was just to watch silently as all of those got wasted due to your own damn incompetence. Have I mentioned that you’re pathetic?

 

Let me predict what you’ll do next. You will grovel on my feet to beg me not to finish you when I later eventually overwhelm you with ridiculous ease. How does that sound to you?”

 

“You talk too much for a mere construct.” Yukari replied bluntly. A grunt could be heard from the figure, before it spat on the ground in front of Yukari. Yukari only showed her disgust at the act for a split second, before she returned to stare coldly at the figure once more. After taking in a deep breath, Yukari continued her sentence.

 

“And…why does it even matter? At this point I can’t be arsed about all that pride crap you kept on seemingly trying to invoke on me. Yes, all of that mess is pretty much my fault. I screwed up majorly. That is a fact. I’m pretty pathetic right now, yeah yeah, you are right.

 

So what? As I’ve said, why does it even matter?” A sudden gust of wind that blew from the darkness to her direction stopped Yukari from finishing her speech. She immediately attempted to protect herself with her quadruple-layered barrier, but the wind somehow broke past the barrier with ease, and she couldn’t help but to rush to the side to avoid the attack. And even doing that, Yukari was barely able to escape the attack, the wind managed to simply disintegrate her left arm completely, along with a part of her shoulders. Looking at that, the figure started to crack up laughing maniacally.

 

“See? You can’t even protect yourself against me, even for just one attack. Just bow down and beg for your life now, like the pathetic dog you are, and stop with all the tough pretentious heroic bullshit.”

 

“Eh, I prefer if you’re the one that shut your mouth.” Despite her injury, Yukari’s expression didn’t change at all as she continued to stare at the figure. “You acted so tough for something that doesn’t even have enough courage to show itself to me.”

 

“You can’t even do anything to me, old hag. You’re too powerless to resist me. Just go to a corner and weep at your failures before I can be bothered to end your misery.”

 

“…Am I supposed to laugh at that? You’re not joking aren’t you?

Well then, let me hammer it down into your non-existent brain that I should be the one that said that. Once again, let me say it. Yes, I’ve screwed up badly. And so what? I’ll just go back up now and try starting everything over again.

 

I am Yukari Yakumo, the Great Sage of Gensokyo, and to say that I need to be weighed down by my past mistakes, to fear them, is a grave sin against me.”

 

The figure went silent. Even as a being made of its opponents’ fear and hesitations, it could actually feel its own fear right now. Yukari’s words was spoken in her usual flat, serious tone, and she didn’t even bother to speak formally this time, but despite of that, the figure realized that it simply didn’t have any chances at all against the completely battered Yukari.

 

In front of the figure was a woman that had removed the very concept of ‘hesitation’ and ‘doubt’, the woman that simply had faced all of her fears and having simply nothing to lose now. The figure’s power was a reflection of the strength of the fear inside someone, but Yukari at this point simply had none of it. Panicking, it frantically blasted Yukari again and again with its disintegrating winds, but the attack simply grew weaker and weaker as Yukari just stood there, still staring silently at her. The attack that used to be able to be able to purify matters to the very atoms now only managed to leave some cuts on Yukari body, and not long afterwards, the winds couldn’t even leave anything on her.

 

“Useless, useless, useless! Why aren’t you afraid? Fear me! Be scared of me! Grovel like a child! Cry on the ground!”

 

“I guess it’s time for this bad attempt of a joke to end.

 

Seeing a simple construct like you helplessly flailing around like a carp outside of water is pretty sad and annoying at the same time.”

 

 

“Hey, about Naoya…”

 

“What about him?"

 

“Eh, this might be a bit sudden, but what actually is your opinion on him?”

 

“Uh...why do you ask? But well, I did say before that he’s quite an ass and pretty much too mysterious and cryptic for his own good, but hey, I know that he’s a softie inside, and he does care about me, acting as my big brother at times when I needed him. Well, as much as a cousin can be a big brother.”

 

“Say, this might sound awkward, but let’s say you and Naoya were a reincarnation of two brothers, and past!Naoya killed your past self. What do you think of him if it’s true?”

 

“If that the case…”

 

A brief silence.

 

“Hey dude, anything wrong? It’s ok if you don’t want to answer this, really.

Sorry if I went a bit too far here.”

 

“Nah, it’s alright. But really, even if that certain scenario is true, it’s just something that happened in the past, no need to fret about it much in our current lives. And hey, knowing him, he’ll probably have a good reason in killing me. Not that I would like being killed or want to justify the action, but yeah. He’s my big brother after all.  He’s weird like that, but hey, he just wanted the best for you.”

 

“…I see.”

 

“But as you’ve said, of course it’s just a fictional scenario. He definitely won’t go that far on me.”

 

 

Kazuya’s long, friendly conversation with Atsuro while walking around searching for their other friends about a lot of things made him missed the passage of time, and in what just felt like a flash to him, the two of them were already at the edge of the forest, where Atsuro wouldn’t be able to pass further. Biding his friend farewell after lamenting the fact that he didn’t get focused upon much and that he couldn’t find other constructs of his friends in the forest, Kazuya proceeded to walk towards the lake, using the boat readily available there to get into the other side of the place, where there was a snowfield once again leading towards a long, winding staircase. Instead of an exit though, what he found at the end of it was simply a dark pond, and nothing else. Kazuya wondered whether he did something wrong or whether he skipped something or went into the wrong direction, but a question presented directly to his mind cleared the confusion out of him.

 

Are you satisfied with your past?

 

Kazuya thought about the question for a bit, but before he could actually think of an answer, a sudden push from inside of him. led him to immediately state an answer loudly.

 

“For all I know, I’m simply a normal high school student that accidentally got dragged into mess after mess. Even with all the ominous words from everyone, I still believe that I’m simply that, a normal high school student. No need to actually lament anything from that fact, and I lived a pretty normal life after all.

 

So, my answer will simply be yes. Yes, I am satisfied with my past.”

 

 

“How…?”

 

Tenco stared at the sky above her, which had returned back to its dreary state after Tenshi’s final attack earlier. She was fully expecting herself to die after Tenshi buried her deep with her sharp-edged keystones, and the blast would be pretty much overkill in finishing her off. But even after all of that, she was still there, injured, but still alive and in one piece. She wandered around, but couldn’t find Tenshi anywhere, which probably meant that she had been knocked unconscious for a while. Summoning a sword to be used as a walking stick, she continued her way on the barren wasteland, while occasionally stopping when the winds were too strong, or when she needed to catch her breath. She was completely tired, and the more she walked, the more she was tempted to just stop and rest, but she resisted doing so again and again.

 

“You should start learning about your limits.”

 

Tenco, barely focusing on the pathway now due to her fatigue, was blocked from continuing by a figure wearing a cloak that covered the entirety of its body, concealing its identity.

 

“…What do you want?” Tenco weakly asked. She stood up and pointed her sword at the cloaked figure, shaking terribly as she tried to keep herself from falling to the ground. “Kill me, right? Tenshi, I know it was you. If you want to kill me, then just do it! Why are you waiting?”

 

“…” The figure stood silently, not replying to Tenco’s challenge. It’s just standing there, not doing anything.

 

“Come on! Why are you just standing there? Attack me! Kill me! That’s what you want, right? Tenshi, can you hear me?”

 

“I am only here to ask you a single question.

 

Who are you?”

 

“Don’t you remember that I’ve told you about this before? And why do you want to know it so badly, actually?”

 

“Who are you?”

 

“Come on, don’t play this game with me, Tenshi.”

 

“Who.are.you?” The figure was slowly becoming more and more aggravated by Tenco's reluctance to answer its question.

 

“…Alright, you win.

 

My name is Tenco, the princess and the future emperor of the kingdom of Bhava-Agra. I-“

 

“…Stop lying to me.”

 

Within seconds after the figure said those words, it was already behind Tenco, and immediately proceeded to pin her forcefully into the ground. The completely drained Tenco couldn’t do much to resist the force from the figure, and it didn’t take long for her to feel cold steel was touching her neck.

 

“Who are you? Answer me!”

 

“I already said it, I am Tenc-“ She was interrupted by a small slice on her neck from the sword. Tenco wanted to scream, but she was too weak, and nothing came from her mouth as she writhed in pain.

 

“Let me try this once again, before I decide that you’re a lost cause and should just be killed.

 

Who are you?”

 

Tenco, not knowing what to answer when her life was at the stake this time, went silent, but it didn’t take long until the figure started to press its sword to her neck, slowly cutting through it. In a last desperate attempt, Tenco used most of her energy that’s left to force herself to answer the question, without even knowing what she’s going to answer.

 

“Well, this is a sha-“

 

“I-I am Tenshi, Tenshi Hinanawi.”

 

“Hmm, what do you mean by that?” The figure loosened its sword's press on Tenshi's neck, letting her to speak just moments before it cut her vocal chords.

 

“I..” Tenshi was rapidly losing her consciousness due to blood loss from her wounds, yet she tried her best, using the very last of her remaining strength to stay awake to finish her sentence, even without her actually knowing what her answer meant. It was as if the pathway itself was answering the question for her.

 

“..I am her, and she is me.

 

I am her tru-“

 

Before she managed to end her sentence, the last ounces of her energy dissipated, and Tenshi dropped unconscious, alone in the middle of the wasteland as she slowly bled away to death.

 

 

“Is that the mind-reading monster?”

 

“I’ll go avoid her.”

 

“What the hell is that monster doing above ground?”

 

“Ugh, this is going to be really awkward isn’t it?”

 

“Does she even have any sense of privacy?”

 

“This is seriously annoying. I wish I can just drive her away as far as possible from here.”

 

“Can we just kill her and be done with this?"

 

"What the hell is that monster doing here?"

 

Koishi ran and ran, ran as fast as she could, kept on moving forward as the voices in her head just becoming stronger and louder as time passed. Koishi was definitely still very shocked by everything that had happened. She really wished that she could just close her heart again, but she knew that if she closed it now, she wouldn’t be able to get out of the pathway forever. And for that reason, even with the voices tormenting her, she tried her best to keep on moving forward. Rushing towards the narrow bridge, she didn’t slow down at all, running as fast as she could towards the dark tower.

 

It was in the middle of the bridge when she slowly realized that the voices in her head started to move away as if it was coming from something else in the pathway. This definitely motivated her to go deeper and deeper into the darkness, as she could finally have these annoying voices stop if she just managed to get rid of the source. Slowly and surely, Koishi slowly figured out that someone in the distance was the probable source of the voices, and Koishi rushed in to see for herself about what actually tormented her all this time.

 

As Koishi moved closer towards the figure, she finally could see that the ‘source’ she was looking was a woman wearing a red sweater and her baby. The two didn’t even seem to notice her presence there. Koishi couldn’t really see anything special or out of the ordinary from the two, yet, she felt that she probably had seen the two somewhere. Still, she prepared her tentacles and aimed it at the two, just in case.

 

“Hey, it's the mind-reading monster from before!”

 

It was then that Koishi realized about the actual source of the voices. All this time, she was simply reading the thoughts of people. She couldn’t see them, but they could. They knew about her power, and they hated her for it.

 

“Move...please...” Koishi said, trying her best not to tremble as she walked closer and closer to the two. Halfway…she was already halfway. It’s not too far away from the exit…she just had to survive until she could reach it…

 

“Do you want to kill me again, monster? Go away!”

 

“Please…move…Get away...I beg you...”

 

Again? Why did she say that? Koishi thought. As she went closer and closer, the thoughts and memories of the two came flooding in to her, overwhelming her.

 

“Please, please don’t hurt my baby…”

 

The woman was silent, but her thought was clearly pronounced on Koishi’s mind. Desperate to avoid all of these thoughts, Koishi started to run as fast as she could, hoping that she could get past the woman without anything worse happening.

 

“No…no! Go away! Go away! Go away you monster!”

 

“I..am…

You…you are wrong…

 

No..”

 

Koishi stopped on her track when that woman actually spoke what was on her mind. She turned around to face the woman, an unreadable expression etched on her face.

 

“I am…I AM NOT A MONSTER!”

 

 

Koishi was not sure about what happened next. She was covered in blood, and unidentifiable body parts were littered all around her. She had killed the mother and her baby, she was sure about that. Did it even matter now? As long as she could continue to the end of the pathway, it shouldn’t matter. It’s simply two less voices to be bothered with now.

 

“What happened?”

 

“Why you…?”

 

“How did she…?”

 

“Is this some sort of a deranged scene from a movie shooting?”

 

“What kind of monster is she?”

 

“Ugh, I need to go now, I don’t have time for this bullshit…”

 

“Will it kill itself now?”

 

“If only I brought my shotgun with me…”

 

Yet the voices only got stronger and stronger.

 

“Wait, she could read my mind?”

 

“Don’t think about that embarrassing moment, don’t think-“

 

“Bad girls like her deserve to be punished.”

 

“She’s reading our mind, isn’t she?”

 

“I wish I can just go there and kill her…”

 

“Someone, please call the police…”

 

“She’s living with a wound like that, how strange.”

 

“What the hell is up with that eye on her chest anyway?”

 

“Will she attack me now?”

 

“Ugh, your kind deserved to just be violated all the way and left to rot somewhere.”

 

“Who the hell bring a savage here? Humanoid animals like this don’t have any room in our society!”

 

Koishi soon realized that she was surrounded by hundreds of humans, all standing silently while staring at her. All of their hearts, all of their minds came crashing into her, without her being able to stop it. All of their emotions, memories, feelings, thoughts, Koishi experienced all of them at once.

 

A loud scream could be heard echoing on the pathway.

 

[Dad]

Kratos

 

Kratos stepped forwards, passing through a magical barrier as a monument appeared before him.  Pausing, Kratos looked around him, left and right.  There was nothing in sight, save for his own sense of urgency.  Kratos stretched out a right hand, reaching for the monument.  Bright red energies surrounded him, swirling rapidly while enveloping Kratos entirely.  Then, seconds later, Kratos found himself in the white room of before, with one less choice of a door to open.  Two paths remained.  The first door was marked with a skull and crossbones, likely the most dangerous of the two which remained.  Kratos wasted no time looking to the second door, kicking down the first.  Stepping over the doorway, the white room behind him disappeared, and Kratos was suddenly surrounded by darkness.  This was not unfamiliar to him, but to seemingly be back in the bowels of Hades was unwelcome.  He began walking slowly down the pathway, when he felt a bit of it give way.  

 

Kratos slowed his pace further, taking care not to fall off of the already seemingly narrow path, for fear of a long, painful fall.  There was very poor lighting from above his head, as strange orbs floated around him.  Because he could not see very far ahead, Kratos left his trust to his senses, as he moved along the Pathway to Death.  It was some six hours before Kratos came across odd statues that marked the Pathway's barrier of protection.  At this end, Kratos could sense the troubles that lie beyond it.  First, he simply stretched out a hand to test his surroundings.  What he felt was discerning, as the barrier washed away from his hand.  Knowing that he could not turn back, Kratos stepped past the barrier completely, feeling the sudden lack of energy for a brief moment.   All around him was darkness--an insane, mind breaking blackness that called out to him.  While Kratos realized this was a part of the pathway's test, it was still quite alarming.  As he proceeded forwards, Kratos found himself stepping over remnants of his past.

 

The Nemean Cestus now lie in ruin at his feet, though he knew he had been rid of it.  The corpse of Athena nearly tripped him, though he realized she could not exist in this universe.  Kratos had seen enough mental horrors to know the difference between truth and reality.  However, that did not prevent him from being shocked occasionally.  This time, he was truly stricken as he completely stumbled to a knee, tripping over the Blade of Olympus.  He looked around, unsure of any peering eyes watching him.  He would soon be answered, as a spirit manifested itself in front of Kratos, while he remain on a knee.

 

"My dear son," she said sarcastically.

 

". . . Hera."

 

Ending Location:  E 0.5, Pathway to Death

 

 

 

Revy

 

She began to sprint.  Revy could now see the outside of the forest with utmost certainty.  The trees blazed past her, and she dodged branches, leaped over fallen logs, and ignored the sounds behind her.  Bracing for the incoming cold, Revy wrapped her arms around herself and rolled forwards into the snow.  She sat there for a few moments, breathing heavily, catching her breath.  But before she could be certain she was in the clear, Revy was chest deep in snow, as a furious storm had kicked up out of nowhere.  Her vision was now more obscured than before, and this really agitated her.  Out of a desperation to keep warm, Revy took her remaining flare out of it's gun, and ripped a piece of her shirt to wrap it in.  Carefully, she let the flames exhaust from one side, while the flare burned out of the other.  This would keep her warm, but could potentially put her in danger if anyone saw the flare.

 

"sheet.  This better be worth it," she said to herself.  Pushing forwards, she braced her face with one hand to see through the heavy snowstorm.

 

Revy was bombarded with heavy snow, and because of high winds, debris was mixed into the storm as well.  Tree branches, rocks, ice.  It was a really shitty way of telling someone to leave, but Revy pushed through it.  Not knowing how far she had gone, Revy grew frustrated quite quickly.  "Where does this storm end!?  Grah!"  

 

Her flare was beginning to die, and despite her creativity Revy was still freezing.  Revy made certain that she never changed direction, knowing she would instantly be lost if she ever turned her head.  Despite this, Revy couldn't help but be bewildered at the blanket of white around her.  It was a relentless storm, but Revy knew she had too much to lose if she just gave up and died on this pathway.  

 

The winds grew more harsh, and Revy nearly stumbled over.  Catching her balance, she mumbled to herself.  "I have not . . . come this far . . . to die now."  Struggling to her feet, Revy continued the endless trek forward.

 

Ending Location:  D8, Pathway to Remembrance

 

 

Wesker

 

Crystalline bridges.  They were quite beautiful in design, flawless even.  Wesker placed a hand on the crystalline bridges.  They were ice cold, but sharp to the touch.  Peering inside, these bridges were the same design as the wooden bridges he had entered this world from.  There was light this time, but the end of the bridges couldn't be made out at this distance.  Wesker began his stroll across the crystalline bridges, with a few things in mind.

 

One:  Deploy the next stage of the shaped virus in secret.  It would take some time to bring it to life and see its full potential.  The next ideal location to do that would have to be dark.  This furthers Wesker's advantage as he can see in lightlevels not understood by average humans.

 

Two:  Intercept incoming adversaries as potential testing subjects.  Considering what Wesker had already seen, there was a good chance whoever he came across further ahead would potentially be supercharged by some strange magic.  While the risk factor was more than 40 percent, the reward factor outweighs this.  

 

Three:  Kill and use samples from enemies to increase the strength of the virus.  Overwhelm the entirety of the Divine with a mutated strand that only Wesker could control.  Probability of success:  50 percent.

 

After running several hundred scenarios through his head, Wesker had lost track of time.  Several hours had passed and he was already nearing the end of the crystalline path.  At the end of the path, a pitch black mirror greeted Wesker, putting him on alert.  Inside, a stunningly handsome reflection mocked Wesker.  The reflection chuckled, and stepped aside to welcome Wesker into the alternate world.  While Wesker did not smile, the expression on his reflection's face was joyful.

 

"Why do you smile?" Albert questioned himself.

 

The reflection laughed heartily.  "Because I already know your intentions," it replied.

 

Wesker continued glaring at the reflection from behind his sunglasses.  "Then I suppose you know how this is going to end?"

 

"Of course," replied the alternate Albert.  "Just as I know why you've already come so far.  I mean, let's face it.  You've already planned absurdly far ahead.  But you didn't see this coming."

 

"Of course not," Wesker scoffed.  "But just because you have my face doesn't mean you know what you believe you know."

 

"And that, Albert," replied the copy immediately.  "Is exactly what you are afraid of.  Afraid that your enemy will still be ten steps ahead.  Afraid that your plans won't go accordingly because someone has already expected them.  You don't fear the unexpected.  You fear the expected.  You fear that probability and logic will be tossed out of your perfect equation, and you'll be left without an answer."

 

"Afraid?   What do I have to fear?  I've had my plans halted before but they are never stopped dead.  I don't fear anything."

 

"Denial.  A tool most often used in fear.  The sooner you understand your weaknesses, Albert, the stronger you'll become."

 

"I have no weaknesses."

 

"Self content.  Now you're just bullying yourself."

 

Wesker didn't reply this time.  There was a pattern here.  Each time Wesker spoke, the clone seemed to analytically break down Wesker's tone of voice and statement and draw an odd conclusion.  But was it true?

 

"Take your time Albert.  But the longer you wait here, the further ahead your enemy will be."

 

This had happened before.  It seemed Wesker was always chasing his enemy, instead of the other way around.  This . . . this was what the reflection had meant.

 

Wesker smirked finally, as his mirror image nodded in understanding.  "Now do you see, Albert?" it questioned as Wesker raised his head to stare back at the reflection.

 

"I suppose then, you'll let me pass."

 

"Not quite," it said gently.  "You've not completely acknowledged what you have understood.  Tell me, Albert.  Where will you go from here?"

 

His smirk faded.  "To the front lines.  On a full speed course to the end of the next pathway.  Because if I'm to succeed, I must intercept the Counter Corps.  Not scurry behind them," he said nonchalantly.  

 

"See?" replied the reflection.  It had begun to fade into a wisp of smoke.  "Wasn't that simple?"

 

Ending Location:  A 10, Pathway to Truth

 

 

 

Killua

 

The younger girl was behaving oddly.  After introducing herself, she attempted to introduce someone else who . . .wasn't there?  Maybe this girl could communicate with spirits that Killua couldn't see or sense?  Or maybe the other just vanished?  Who knows?  But the conversation took a turn when Reimu asked about Kenpachi and Yachiru.

 

"Well, Reimu," Killua said solemnly.  He could still feel the static in Yachiru's body, despite having drawn out more than 98 percent of it passively.  "They were in a big fight.  Looks like the big guy took the brunt of the damage.  But the little one . . ." he wondered why she would be targeted.  "She was picked on, and the big guy didn't like that."

 

They had reached the tower on the Pathway to Death.  Haaving not gone inside before, Killua wondered what lie beyond it.  "Looks like we have to go through," he said aloud.  The gaping hole left by Sephiroth's body from the previous battle had vanished, as though the tower repaired itself.  Strangely enough, this did not ward off Killua, who dared to enter the even more black tower.  Inside, there was an intense feeling in the air, lit by eerie blue candles.  While the end of the path could not be seen, Killua didn't want to enter it abrasively.   Instead, he sat Kenpachi and Yachiru down for a moment, and began to analyze their current situation.

 

Turning to Reimu, Killua spoke.  "Reimu.  Could you carry Yachiru?" he said pointing to the little girl with pink hair.  "I have a feeling about this path.  And if I'm right, I won't be able to reach max speed carrying the both of them," he said with a sense of urgency.  Killua placed the back of his hand over Yachiru's forehead.  Her fever had died down, and the electric stitching seemed to be holding well.  She would live.  Kenpachi would also be fine.  He was just overly exhausted.  With them both still unconscious, fighting would not be an option for the remainder of the pathway.  "Keep on your toes," Killua warned, picking up Kenpachi.

 

He began to lead Reimu down the pathway, pacing himself for an intense encounter.

 

Ending Location: B 8.5, Pathway to Death

[Love of Ghibli]

Rhadamanthys & Butlerok: Path of Death

Butlerok and Rhadamanthys appeared right in front of the shinigami version of Dorian. It was interesting as they just seemed to appear out of nowhere. What was funny though was that they were in the same space and empty field as before. Hmmm, I guess that would be the help of the two old guys inside Butler...huh interesting. Well I guess I got all choked up for nothing. While we thank you for your sentiment you are in the way of our progress. You stand in the way of our betterselves and we no longer want to skate around the issue. We are going to plow straight through you. 

Dorian cynically snickered as he couldn't believe what he had just heard. Well I do say someone decided to put on their big boy pants didn't they. Well I guess that means our humble reunion is about to come to an end isn't it. You phantom, how dare you? You are just a representation of our fears. When we meet-up with Dorian will make sure we tell him about you. Dorian cracked his knuckles and then he laughed. Oooh such harsh words. Then let's have a conversation then.  Dorian raised his massive broad sword and swung it unleashing what was like a Wind-Scar of energy directly at his opponents. The to immediately speed blitzed to the side of the attack and then flew directly at Dorian. GLIDE OF THE WYVERN!! Rhadamanthys was covered in an offensive aura and he moved to tear Dorian in half. Dorian easily did a back flip and dodge the attack, but he was unprepared for Butlerok who was already in position with his katana thrusting towards Dorian's heart. Zanka no Tachi Higashi: Kyokujitsujin! Crap! Dorian exclaimed as he used Hades' blade to block the attack. Unfortunately just being touched by that bankai triggers a massive explosion of flames. Dorian was lucky enough to only fly back without having been significantly damaged. He flipped up and regained composure. Unfortunately, someone was already behind him to continue the assault. Rhadamanthys delivered a mighty punch to the back of Dorian's skull so much so that Dorian didn't get sent flying he just fell down lifeless.

Seconds of awkward silence went by and the two just stood still waiting for something to happen. Then they saw the twitching of Dorian's muscles as he slowly came to his feet. Rhadamanthys and Butlerok naturally wanted to continue attacking, but something told them that they should just stand down. Dorian rose to his feet with his face covered in blood with a wide smile on his face. I'm impressed. Really I am. That was some teamwork and murderous intent. His tone and gaze went from humorous to dead serious. I shall return the favor. 
 

BAN...KAI!

 

The skies grew dark and storm clouds formed out of nowhere. Dorian was engulfed in a pillar of red light. Rhadamanthys and Butlerok only looked on as they had no idea what could be coming. At that moment a the pillar expanded and from beneath the ground a massive red dragon shot out and took to the skies. Butlerok was immediately scared as he couldn't believe that this was the final face of the enemy. Rhadamanthys looked towards Butlerok as it appeared that he knew what was going on. You know what that is? Yes, but...that's impossible! What is that monstrosity? It's...

 

SUPERIOR CROSSIDE SLIFEROK THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER "REVERSE"

 

The Hell! Rhadamanthys exclaimed. It's the creature that Dorian sacrificed himself to make in order to defeat a powerful enemy. Rhadamanthys looked at beast and was slightly impressed. Well that is saying something if he died for something of this magnitude. The massive red incarnation of Osiris was slowly being dyed black. Then atop its head the upper half of Dorian revealed himself fully armored in the Hades God Cloth! Finally to conclude everything a massive black ring surrounded the creature as it began to roar! Well. That is flashy Ragnarok said inside Butlerok. How do we take something like that out? I mean when that was us we only lost because of a back-hack. That's probably not going to happen this time. 

 

Dorian didn't really give the group time to think as he pointed upward and tens of thousands of dark energy arrows rained down on the two. The two immediately took the skies to engage in combat. Dodging as much of the aerial assault as they could they didn't even think twice about an enemy they couldn't get pass. It is simple. Sliferok is an amalgamation of sorts. We'll simply take it apart piece by piece. As they were getting closer Butlerok unleashed a massive amount of Black Blood that formed into tentacles aimed straight for Sliferok Dorian simply snickered till he noticed that the tip of the Tentacles morphed all into the hooks of Hades' chained weapon. As the chains imbedded themselves into the Dorian could feel Slifer's soul being separated from the Mad Blood. Nice trick but you're basically linked to me now. THUNDERFORCE CANNON!! Smother them in darkness! Slifer opened up its mouth and unleashed a massive blast of energy aimed directly at Butlerok and Rhadamanthys able to wipe them both out. Hmph By quickly activating the Alpha Stigma and seeking all the kinds of Rukh that were scattered about a massive dome of contorted light and darkness eclipsed the two. They were completely shielded from the blast. 

However that was just the prep for Dorian's eyes widened as he just finished calling up the moon for another eclipse. NOT THIS TIME IMPOSTER! Rhadamanthys shot past the entire creature that was Sliferok and went straight for the moon. He paused as he looked at the signature attack from his Master. He clasped his hands as if he was praying. So that my faith may never waiver again! I give you this symbol of my resolution. GREATEST CAUTION!!!! He banged his clasped hands down and pointed straight at the moon. Unlike his usual flashy moves this didn't seem to have any effect. Dorian had turned around to see what was happening and it looked like the attack was a dud. Well that was...Dorian couldn't continue that statement as he witnessed the moon itself began to dissolve into nothingness. Are you serious? Rhadamanthys turned to face Dorian. You who are still a novice to Cosmos have no right to wear that cloth. Dorian grimaced as he was about to launch another attack but at that moment he felt what was probably the symbol of the end of this fight. Slifer's soul was separated from the rest of the body. Dorian turned back around as Butlerok was standing right in front of him.

Thank you young master...I have not been myself for a long time. I am sad that it was you who had to teach me this. You don't say...Well I still have some tricks. No you don't Butler interrupted. He began to slowly unsheath a pitch black and rusted katana. With the Chains of Hades I can drag souls from their bodies and with this zanpaktou I can now destroy those souls. WHICH SUCKS BECAUSE I CAN'T EAT ANY OF THEM! Chibi Ragnarok spoke as he popped out of the back. I have permission to use a technique I haven't been allowed to use since saw it. Farewell young master...Don't say farewell, we're going to see each other in couple of minutes right? Dorian said with a little tear coming down his face. That's right little one. So you better clear your path! Rhadamanthys said as he floated next to Butlerok. 

 

See you guys soon.

Zanka no Tachi, Kita: Tenchi Kaijin....

 

Within a flash the massive beast that was known as Sliferok was incinerated in a flash of flames. The meadow, the open skies and the rest of that pseudo world were wiped out. Rhadamanthys and Butlerok could only look around as they returned to the dank darkness that was the Pathway of Death. What is this? It seems we've returned back to our Path. They looked around and they noticed that they were in front of a massive damaged staircase. They both shrugged and started climbing. Each step was infinitely more daunting and tiring than the last. They didn't want the other to know how fatigued and spent that they were during those fights. Though it was painfully obvious that they were both incredibly tired. However once they reached the top they both just stared at this weird stone tablet. 

 

Are you willing to embrace your fate’?

 

This question just beamed into their minds. They both looked at each other and Butler motioned for Rhadamanthys to go first. 

 

I am the servant of his one true Lord Hades-sama! It is a fate that I shall gladly embrace and wouldn't have it any other way.

I am the one true Hades-sama there is no other and yes I may be bound to some bald psychopath for all of existence, but it is my existence and shall make sure that will return to my rightful Godhood.

I a..no I was the Captain of the 13 court guard squads. I have lived out my fate and now the fate of the Soul Society is up to the youth.

I am an individual in the employ of a very special individual. I shall make sure that my and his fate are written or set in any kind of stone. For that is what he and more importantly I desire.

 

I AM AWESOME AND I AM FATED TO BE AWESOME!! End of Story!

Slight chuckles all around as they were consumed by crimson energies. It was as if life itself was giving them a reason to move forward. Nevertheless that lasted for about a minute and they found themselves in separate white rooms. The same white rooms as before, but with one less door. Needless to say they both let out a sigh of relief and passed out. 

 

End Location: The White Room

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

Dorian: Path of Remembrance
 

....BAAHHHH  He shouted in his boat as he woke up screaming! He instinctively started shooting fireballs all over the place. They simply exploded in the Nostalgia lake. What kind of dream was that? He shouted. He had some awesome dream where he was uber mega powerful, but he had to fight Rhadamanthys and Butlerok in this dark and dreary place. It was weird to say the least. Though after a couple of seconds he started to sniffle. He touched his face as he felt cold liquid down its side. It was a tear. Then he proceeded to wipe the rest of his face with his sleeve. He didn't know why, but he was crying. Umm okay...this is weird. What's happening here? 

Dorian wiped his tears as he continued to float along the river in his boat. Despite the intense coldness it was a pretty pleasant experience. He actually chose to dip his finger in the water just to feel exactly how cold it was. However once he touched the waves intense memories were surging through his head. He didn't understand what was happening, but it was a good thing though. He got see images of his old family, his adopted family, he saw when he met Butler for the first time at the young age of ten. This was amazing! Of course he saw some of the darker moments of his life...like the WDC or his first time in Hell. Those didn't hold a candle to the incidental happy times that he forgot about simply due to the passage of time. Once again he couldn't help but emote. This was a beautiful experience as a whole. At the end the boat seemed to simply hit the shore and he disembarked wiping tears from his face. He came to this oddly positioned staircase and let out a deep breath. As he walked each step reflecting on his journey so far he realized that at the end of this he should probably go visit all of the people who've helped him get this far. It was the least he could do.

He came to the top of the stair case and looked into the simple pond. He tried to step forward but it was clearly blocked by a powerful barrier. 

‘Are you satisfied with your past’?

 

This question beamed into his head like a passing thought. But Dorian was already ready to answer. First, let me thank you pathway, origin master or whatever you are. You gave me my past back. Thank you, for forcing me to remember things I repressed and letting me remember things I've incidentally forgot. If I could go back and do anything over...I wouldn't change a thing. I'm proud of who I am and who I was. So I'm more than satisfied with my past, I love it and I wouldn't have it any other way.

The barrier let itself down as he walked into the pond. Of course he was a little skeptical about getting his clothes wet, but eventually he went in. Teal energy started to swirl around him and he dragged into the depths. Within a good minute he opened his eyes and woke up back in the white room he started in...just with one less door. He took a couple of deep breaths. That was...heavy.

Ending Location: The White Room
 

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

 

Gyouken Ren: Path of Truth

Well her fight with her son and Judar was definitely explosive. The landscaped was completely changed by the clash of the super powers. Nevertheless the winner was obvious from the start. She did however find herself a tad stiff from the conquest of the pathway. Was this all that it had to offer or maybe something else. The Rukh were all a flutter here. This was the pathway of Origin maybe that means this was the pathway of "Father." That was it! That had to be it! All things come from Father! This was the truth of the world! No wonder it was easy for her. This was just "Father" giving her preferential treatment as a reward for her service. She got on her knees and bowed to the Pathway. Thank you "Father" I hear your words and see your gifts for what they are. I shall rectify the world that Solomon has created. 

As she stood back up she noticed that there was no more ground. But there was something in the distance. She laughed as she simply took flight on her staff like a witch and landed some floating staircase. Without hesitation she climbed to the top and she just looked at the random giant crystal was just there. Well this is pretty anti-climati....She didn't even get the last syllable out before the question appeared in her head.

‘Are you content with your present self’?

 

She grimaced as she took that question quite literally. She paused then she laughed. "Content" that is such an interesting word. This world...their eyes are broken, their ears are broken, they cannot see or hear the messages of "Our Father." This body was constructed in that broken world of his. So for now I am content...I am content with the fact that I will fix that which is broken. I shall use this broken body and this broken world and undo the strings of destiny that we are bound to. On my life as his servant...the black Rukh explode from inside her body...I am content. With her black Rukh swirling around her she walked through the barrier and then proceeded to touch the crystal. She was transported through the tunnel of continuous golden energy and on the other side she appeared in the white room. Well I think I'm unravelling a little bit. Though I've seemed to have lost contact with the Rukh inside that Butler fellow. These pathways must not allow for communication between dimensions. Interesting, very interesting indeed. 

 

Ending Location: The White Room

[Dad]

Kratos

 

"And to what do I owe the pleasure, mother?" he said coldly.  Hera circled around Kratos at first, as he got to his feet.  She stopped, floating at his left side.  Kratos did not turn to face her.  "I see you're still carrying on your path of endless destruction.  How do things go for a mindless brute?"  Kratos waited for her to continue.  "If your father were intelligent he would have heeded my warning and--"

 

"Killed me at birth?"

 

"Precisely.  There was no need for the prophecies to come true!" she screamed.  "You've left nothing but death in your wake!  Countless lives have suffered because--"

 

"Because of you!" he replied finally.  Kratos faced the witch at last.  "You who put your few lives over the lives of many.  You, whose actions drove me to this nightmare.  You, who drank of the fruits of Mount Olympus while the masses suffered!  Your actions--all of you!  Your actions are the reason I brought down Mount Olympus.  You think I wanted those people to suffer!?"

 

"Of course you did!  You can't think past your blade!"

 

"Yet, here I stand.  Out of the chaos, out of the blood, out of the wars that you gods have caused.  If not for your 'control' over all, the deaths caused by Poseidon, Helios, and your own would not affect your people.  But you manipulated everything.  So I took it from you."

 

"You're a pig," Hera snarked.  "Greedy.  Selfish.  'I did this.  I did that.'  You drove everyone to madness!"

 

"No!" Kratos stomped at Hera.  "It was the fear mongering of Zeus that brought everything to pass.  It was that same fear that locked away an innocent child in a prison!  For ages!"

 

"She was a monster!"

 

"YOU ARE THE MONSTER!"

 

Hera floated backwards in disgust.

 

"Don't you dare look down your nose at the innocent.  You have no place among them, and you have no place to judge them.  You made Pandora into what she was.  Just as you made me.  If you are to learn who is responsible, you should look at the fruits of your labor," Kratos said before Hera could reply.

 

"I--"

 

"Murder.  Stealing.   Lying.  You gods are bigots, and your own sins were finally made right when I took responsibility.  I regret nothing."

 

Hera said nothing.  Her spiritual form shaking violently, before exploding in an eerie green light.  Hera shrieked as she died all over again, her screams echoing into the dark.

 

Kratos was breathing heavily, still enraged.  This too was another part of the Pathway, but it affected him greatly.  Fortunately, Kratos understood what he was saying.  It wasn't incoherent babbling.  It was truth.  And that truth began to mold Kratos from within.  Before continuing forward, Kratos looked to the former Blade of Olympus one last time.  It was covered in rust, cold, and broken.  The sight of the Blade in this state comforted Kratos.  Instead of blazing ahead, Kratos sat in front of the old Blade of Olympus, his fists clenched, and his knuckles braced against each other.  This was the time to clear his head.  In the darkness, where even the spirits could not bother him.

 

Ending Location:  C2, Pathway to Death

 

 

Revy

 

There.  The storm had broken at last.  Revy was free from the intense and freezing winds.  She was somewhat sore at the journey, but she was closing in on the end of the Pathway.  There was another not far from her now.  She didn't get a sinking feeling upon seeing this person, so Revy took a cautious approach.  Nearly crawling, Revy stumbled next to Richard.  Raising her head, she stared out at the unfrozen lake.  It reflected her face even from afar, but Revy didn't dare go near the waters.  She felt odd being several meters away from it, so she decided against touching it.  Standing to her feet now, Revy recognized Richard from the moments before the White Room.  She had managed to get a good look at most of the Counter Corps, but didn't get names. She remained silent as to not cause a scene.  At last, she neared the edges of the water, spying several wooden--and seemingly unstable--paddle boats off the shore line.  "Tch," Revy remarked upon seeing the boats.  "Another God damn chore."  Revy headed towards one of the boats, pulling it closer to the shore so that she could safely get inside.  Before continuing on, she turned back to Richard.

 

"Hey.  What's your face," she called.  "Wanna gimme a hand?" she requested.

 

Ending Location:  D9, Pathway to Remembrance

 

Killua

 

He began to feel uneasy, even though there was more light in this tower than there was on the entire pathway.  Unfortunately, Killua's instincts were correct.  A ghostly whisper blasted down the pathway from it's end point to Killua's location.  He recognized the voice, and it made him feel sick.  Killua secured Kenpachi on his back, shifting his weight slightly.  He did not turn to Reimu, but instead kept his eyes directly ahead.  "Where are you going, little brother?" it continued to whisper.  Gasping, Killua dodged to his right as the needle flew past his head.  "Illumi," he said softly.  This wasn't the real Illumi, Killua knew that.  It was much stronger.  This was not something he wanted to face head on, not with two wounded.  Killua's hair spiked up, and his aura increased more than ten fold.  He focused his nen around himself and Kenpachi to brace for impacts that he was sure were coming.  Still staring straight ahead, Killua said sternly, "Keep up, or you could die here.  God speed."  But he was not wishing Reimu luck.  Killua vanished, blazing down this path inside the tower at unimaginable speeds.  But the Illumi fake kept up with him.  Swinging powerful punches, Killua barely managed to avoid some of them.  Jumping over, ducking around, and dodging past the many needles it tossed at him.  

 

Much like when Killua was carrying the blind maiden away from Meruem, this task was just as perilous.  Finally, Killua found a moment to strike, as the ghost of Illumi past him directly overhead.  A sharp flip forwards, Killua channeled lightning into his heel, causing the Illumi spirit to dissipate and reappear in front of him.  Killua managed to hold his speed, and burst further down the pathway.  When the spirit of Illumi attempted to strike him directly, Killua dramatically changed his path.  Running along the left walls now, Killua continued athletically dodging the creature's attempts at bringing him down.  He ran along the ceiling now, cautiously drifting towards the opposing wall.  He flipped off of the right wall at last, literally passing through the demonic shape of his brother.  Fortunately, this tunnel was only as long as the path from the Hunter Exams.  A daunting task, but easy enough to accomplish.  As they approached the end of it, the spirit dispersed at last, and dozens of powerful lights shown through the darkness.

[Reinforce]

Ayame

Pathway of Remembrance: B10

 

As she continued to row forward over the glistening lake, a dragon seemed to briefly alight on the shore, before taking flight and soaring across the lake. As it did, flying close to the surface of the water, waves formed across the otherwise smooth lake in it's wake, rippling out and disturbing the half-demon as she continued to row. With a splash, some of the water hit, it's properties taking effect the instant it made contact, and briefly taking her away into another time.

 

It was a peaceful day at home, an 11 year old girl sat reading on a sofa, while a middle aged man, the girl's father, sat working at a desk. It was in the middle of that scene that the girl's world was about to be broken apart, when with no warning, the front door was blown apart, and through it stormed a group of angry men. At the sight of the group of men, her father stiffened, getting up and retrieving a pair of blades from the bottom drawer of the desk and telling the girl to stay where she was. The girl could only watch in fright as the group of men transformed, becoming scary demons all of whom charged her father. With an almost contemptuous flick, the blades cut through the first of the group, the man weaving and dodging through the group of demons, as they surrounded him. As most of the demons were getting cut down, one left the group surrounding her father, instead making it's way over to her. The father would hear a scream as the demon leant down towards the girl, and got a glimpse of lightning sparking off his daughter and electrocuting the demon attacking her. As a slight grin made it's way over his face, the man finished off the last of the demons near him, before moving back to his daughter and the fried demon near it, neatly finishing it off as he did. After placing the blades on the floor, he scooped up his daughter from the couch, holding her in his arms as he comforted her from the traumatic event.

 

With a gasp, Ayame returned to coherency, thinking of the memory she'd just witnessed as she calmed herself down. That had been the first time she'd been exposed to demons, and the event that caused her father to reveal the full extent of her heritage and enrol her somewhere she could learn to protect herself when he was unable to. Looking down at the lake beneath her, she watched the surface, smooth and calm once more, before reaching down to touch the lake.

 

Ending Location: B11

 

-----

 

Darcy

Pathway of Death: E9.5

 

Walking into the wide open area after her battle, Darcy was curious to note that there wasn't anyone else around in sight. The darkness outside the range of the lampposts seemed to be more oppressive here than the other side of the corridor, but she couldn't quite tell why yet, only that she really should stay within the range of the light. As she continued forward, the lights flickered around her, darkness crushing into her in that instant as it slipped right past her defences to place glimpses of the future into her mind. The images were fleeting, but from what she could see it was glimpses of battles, of she and her sisters fighting against the Winx, in places and with powers she hadn't seen before. When the images left, she relaxed her tensed muscles, figuring out what the visions had been before moving on.

 

As she moved forward once more, she expanded her powers to slightly touch the powers outside the range of the light, flinching a bit as it seemed to roil eagerly, before pulling just on the slightest edge of it again. With a rush, the power she'd invited in entered her, treating her to a rush of images so fast she could barely keep up and couldn't memorise any of them. It was only the mental shields she'd had up that saved her from the backlash from the memory overload, and even then it wasn't something she was eager to experience again. As it was, the most recurring image was unusual and something she didn't recognise at all. A mirror resting in a desert, that she seemed to be looking into, and a man entirely made out of mirrors looking back at her. At least, despite her lack of recognition of the desert in question, at least it didn't appear she was dead in any of the images she'd seen.

 

After firmly ending the connection and repairing the damage she'd done to her mental shields in the attempt, the witch walked on once more, making her way to the staircase and following it up to the tablet. Standing there before it, the dark witch was surprised to find she couldn't advance any further, before a question appeared before her mind, ghosting through her shields as if they weren't even there.

 

‘Are you willing to embrace your fate’?

 

A thoughtful look appeared on her face, pondering the question to figure out what her answer should be, instinctively knowing that this had to be taken seriously. Finally, she'd come to a conclusion, and with no fear or doubt left in her response, she answered.

 

"Yes"

 

The barrier preventing her from moving forward dropped, allowing to to touch the tablet, and dropping her back into the White Room she'd started from.

 

Ending Location: The White Room

-----

 

Chandra

Pathway of Truth: C5

 

"YOU EXPECT ME TO NOT REACT TO THE NEWS THAT MY DISAPPEARANCE IS PART OF WHY UNTOLD NUMBERS OF LIVES HAVE ENDED?! DO YOU?!"

 

Letting out a scream of rage as the other mage ran off, Chandra threw a torrent of fire into the tree he'd been sitting under, before walking towards the mirror, deciding to let her anger cool off a bit before she'd try and find the other mage again. As she approached the mirror, she was surprised to see a deadened landscape staring back at her, along with an angrier version of herself. Her mirror image looked like her, but the flames surrounding her hair were much stronger and more powerful than they were. What's more, the fire didn't stop there, wreathing her whole body like some sort of hellish backlight, and combined with a facial expression that she was sure was more savage than she was making. As she touched the mirror, it seemed to suck her in, landing her in the hellish world she'd seen reflected in it, and the blue mage who'd just ran away from her curled up nearby, crying. It was rather shocking to see the mage she'd has so much respect for just lying there in self pity, and unsure of what to do now, the fire mage just stood nearby awkwardly, keeping an eye out in case someone tried to approach them. Unknown to her, the tree she'd thrown fire at was burning, flames starting to engulf the tree in her wake, and possibly setting more of the field on fire.

 

Ending Location: C6

[Tesability Black]

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

 

For some reason, the start of the steps made the feeling of flying up way more tiring than normal, that if she tried, she would lose all reserves of strength instantly. So, begrudgingly, she landed onto the steps and folded in her wings, slowly walking up the long staircase.

 

After an unknown amount of time to her, she finally reached the top before seeing a strange pool barely larger than her, even with the wings outstretched. She tried walking toward it...

 

...but instead, her muzzle wound up flattened against an invisible barrier.

 

"Wa da?"¹ She straightened out her snout as she tried to look around, hoping to find some way around it, but finding nothing immediately obvious. The thought of being trapped on the path with no way out did not appeal at all to her, who hoped to find some way to restore her old home back into existance. A small, high-pitched whine escaped her through before her black eyes began to catch sight of words floating in the air, where she had wound up pancaking her nose.

 

‘Are you satisfied with your past’?

 

At this question did she bring a single claw to her maw, wondering why such a question would be asked.

 

"Da pasht es awl I hash,"²she started to say with a frown on her face. "Eet wuldn' matew eef I'sh shatishfid ow nawt."³

 

The question in the air disappeared for a few seconds before Tesability reached out toward where the words once were, feeling something solid though there was nothing there. An annoyed look fell upon her face as the words reappeared, her leaf-like ears pinned closer to her head. "YESH,"⁴ she cried out before the words faded completely, the barrier lifted from in front of her. She pawed her way up to the dark pool, peering into it for a few seconds before feeling a sudden force from behind her pushing her into the water...

 

...when she opened her eyes again, she was surrounded by white.

 

Ending Spot: The White Room

 

¹ "What the?"

²"The past is all I have,"

³"It wouldn't matter if I's satisfied or not."

⁴"YES!"

 

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

 

~??? - Path of Truth - ???'s POV~

 

"One of them has arrived, I guess it's time I played one of my parts."

 

A man in a purple business suit laid against the trunk of one of the deadened trees, a leg hanging in the air from the branch as he did. Dark-blue, almost purple hair partially covered his eyes, which he pushed to the side with a pale hand to reveal red-colored eyes with dark-red pupils before they fell back into his face for the time.

 

A creepy grin fell upon his face as he looked around, seeing the Planeswalker pair near the mirror, though one laid upon the ground in an rather-uncerimonious pile. The grin split partially into a toothy smile that seemed a bit like a vampire's with the four enlonged fangs upon seeing the pathetic view before becoming surrounded with a dark-blue light, then becoming smaller...after a few seconds did the glow become larger again before disappating, revealing a dark-purple creature with long claws and a feather where one of its ears should be. A slight grin fell upon its face as the creature jumped from branch to branch without giving them even the chance to think about breaking under the sudden weight. It soon landed among one of the branches in view, seeing the fiery one of the pair keeping a hesitant watch over the area.

 

Red eyes still focused on the pair, the strange creature began its shift back to its human appearance, legs kicking the air underneath him as he sat on the branch as he witnessed Jace trying to get up and winding up rolling onto his stomach. He gave a sideways toothy grin to reveal two of his fanged teeth at this amusing sight before speaking.

 

"So, how does it feel to be literally weighted down by all those dark emotions of yours, little psychic?"

 

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

 

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

 

Monster - Imagine Dragons

 

A strange melody began to flow around the pair in a haunting way, with there no real way to discern where it was coming from. Curiosity trying to break through his darkened mood, Jace tried to get back up, but discovered something really-quick.

 

He couldn't get up. In fact, his whole body felt like it weight probably a metric ton, which made it a small miracle that he still had strength to breathe unhindered. Though, that presents another question, why couldn't he get up? He tried moving his limbs, tried pushing himself up...even rolling onto his stomach turned out to be a mistake, because he accidentally rolled onto both of his arms, preventing him from moving them.

 

"So, how does it feel to be literally weighted down by all those dark emotions of yours, little psychic?" Jace managed to turn his head toward the source of the strangely-familiar voice, seeing instead a human wearing a dark outfit similar to one he's seen before, the haunting red eyes meeting his own blue ones. For the moment, the term he heard had him wondering where this guy heard it. Jace himself has only heard the term from one other, and he wasn't even from the whole of the Multiverse.

 

"Who are you," he asked of the stranger, trying to sound imposing, though his current position was wrecking that ability just a wee bit. He couldn't place it, but Jace kept getting the strange feeling he's seen this guy before. Almost as soon as he thought that did the stranger suddenly frown.

 

"This won't be so fun to watch if you're projecting what you think to everyone around you, Guildpact Beleren, intentional or not. Did you crack your skull again or something?" Jace found himself looking toward Chandra, unsure of what to do. If he really was projecting all of his thoughts accidentally, she'd be able to...

 

...aw, f***. Apparently, nothing was sacred on this path.

 

Ending Spot: C6

[Gαr]

Ed, Path of Remembrance B5

 

When their swords first clashed, it made a sickening metal clang that always got Ed in the mood for a swordfight. They fought with two swords each leading into some interesting sword combos that neither of them could have gotten out of a fight with anyone else other than each other. What struck Ed as odd was that he never landed a single blow on Adrian. Adrian could have certainly cut him, but Ed always moved out of the way. Why did he never even get close to cutting Adrian? Was he somehow weaker than when he first faced his rival or is Adrian somehow stronger than before? They swords were locked together when Ed had these thoughts.

 

He pushed off Adrian and jumped back. “What’s wrong, oldboy? Getting tried?” He lunged with one of swords to close the gap that Ed made.

 

“I’m only 30 or so!” And in that moment, Ed had an epiphany. Ed was much younger when he first fought Adrian. Ed casually parried Adrian’s sword out of the way and kicked him in the gut, pushing him back several fight. “I used to have such fire, but now...”

 

“What the hell are you mumbling about?”

 

“When we first fought, I was a young piece of s*** who thought he was hot stuff because he had a sword and the secret magic of the northern ice tribes of Lath. I was stupid and somewhat aggressive and apathetic, like you, but not so much now anymore.”

 

“Your point?”

 

“I need to reconnect with my roots or at least reestablish myself, set a new path for me. I used to think I was well off and now I’m gonna make myself think like that again.”

 

“Blah blah blah. Cut the philosophical crap and fight like you used to.” Adrian lunged yet again and Ed sheath his swords. Adrian’s face grew a s***-eating grin that said, This guy is a f*cking idiot.

What he didn’t expect was that Ed would lean into the sword and shoulder it away. Ed punched Adrian in the center of his chest producing a blast of black flames. He went flying back into a tree knocking off most of the snow on its branches, and dropping his swords and singeing the front of his clothes.“What the f*ck was that?! I thought this was a sword fight?”

 

“The two things that used to make me up are no longer mutually exclusive.”

 

With that, Adrian got up and sheathed his swords, beginning to walk off. “Wait.” Ed reached out and tried to grab his shoulder, but Adrian shoot him a look so sharp that Ed withdrew his hand from him like his rival was a hot stove.“I need to ask you something. Who were the two people earlier?”

 

“You don’t know?” Ed raised his eyebrows that said, I’m a goddamn idiot, just tell me. “Those were your parents. You just witnessed the beginning of what would be your conception. Now piss off.”

 

Ed watched Adrian walk off, thinking about his parents having sex in the middle of the forest while he fought. Ed felt sorry for the person that would happen to walk by and see two people doing the do.

 

Elsa, Path of Remembrance E3

 

Elsa wondered why she ever wore heels. Seriously, walking in those things was like walking on railroad spikes, and yet she wore them through her Ice Queen phase. But flats, regular footwear, was wear it’s at. Being able to actually walk through snow was probably the best thing in the world right now for Elsa. She passed the pillars and felt a weight life of her, but the kind of weight she wanted nor was it weight that she was consciously aware of. The forest and the snow felt familiar to Elsa, but in the déjà vu kind of familiar.

 

Then it hit her, she figured out what was going to happen. It was the like the snowy forest that the trolls changed the ballroom into in Anna’s head.

 

That sent her heart into overdrive. She ran through the forest looking for herself and her sister. When she heard children’s laughter, her heart shifted into turbo. She heard her sister shouting gleefully for Elsa to go faster, and for her own pleas to slow down. She jumped into the clearing ready to prevent her the event that traumatized her as a child. With one hand, she fired a bolt of ice to intercept her younger self's misfired one, and with the other, she guided Anna down to the ground by creating a snow slide.

 

Anna was giggling like a mad man as she slid down the slide until she looked at her sister and saw double. "...Elsa?"

 

Young Elsa was just as confused as her sister, but Elsa wasn't all that worried in that moment, she was still in intense Ice Queen mode. She lowered her hands and softened, and that was when all the worry rushed in. "I know this is confusing. I am Elsa. She is also Elsa. I'm just an older Elsa."

 

Elsa hoped that the short little explanation got the point across. The point that she did not understand the situation enough to offer an sort of explanation. Luckily, the two sisters bought it. She got on her knees, and motioned towards the two. "Come here."

 

The two obliged. She looked at Anna first, thinking she can give her some advice before confronting her younger. "Anna, don't get into a relationship until you've actually finished each other's sandwiches." Young Elsa was utterly confused by that statement, but Anna knew exactly what it meant.

 

Now for the more difficult part. "Elsa, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of who you are. Your powers are a part of you, connected through your emotions. They grow with you, just like any other part of your body. Over time, they will grow stronger and more powerful, but that does not mean they are dangerous. It's already to keep them private, but do not deny them and refuse to acknowledge them. They are you, but you are not them. Remember that, and you will grow into a magnificent person and queen."

 

Talking to a younger Elsa right in front of her was surreal, but it helped. It felt good to literally confront her past. giving herself advice that she needed now. Young Elsa straightened her back and stiffly nodding her head, accepting the advice. "I will." She lingered for a bit. "...And Elsa?"

 

"Yes?"

 

“Will I grow into you or someone else?”

 

“You will grow up into whoever you want to be. Now," She took the children's hands in her own and put them together. "You walk each other home, and be safe." She ushered them along until they were out of the clearing. Elsa sighed deeply, like an incredibly large weight that she never knew was even there had been lifted off her chest. She felt more...free. Less constrained, more in control. She walked through the forest with newfound confidence and a powerwalk. She thought why she stopped where the high heels, they made her feel powerful, then she remembered snow was a thing.

[Kingdom Xathers]

Before Bayonetta could explain what she and the memory of Jeanne had been doing up to that point, Alister let out a horrid retching sound as he suddenly vomited, bile and blood spilling from his mouth onto the ground below. "Ugh... hah... ... huh... I... I don't feel so..." was all he could utter as his body began to shiver uncontrollably.

"Al...?!" Alexander chimed in worry as Alister's eyes rolls back slightly as his body began to go limp. "Al, hang on!... Al...?" The General could just vaguely hear the fearful, worried chatter of those around him as he began to slip into unconsciousness....





... ... Va Rei Zue Toue Neu Toue Ryuo Toue Kuroa...♫

... Ryuo Rei Kuroa Ryuo Zue Rei Va Zue Rei... ....♫


With a start, Alister awoke moments later, the sky framed by the opening of the forest canopy being the first thing he could see. Alexander's face was eventually added to this view as he leaned over Alister. "Hey... feeling better?" he asked in a relieved tone. "... WHOA, hey, don't get up too fast--!"

"AHH!" Alister let out a sharp gasp of pain as he quickly sat up, the culprit being his still broken right arm. As he grabbed hold of it and cradled it in his left arm, Alister noticed a few other details, the first of which being a small ring of yellow flowers encircling him, somehow miraculously growing out of the frozen ground of the forest. They seemed to radiate a soothing aura.

The second thing Alister noticed was a minty taste in his mouth, bordering on earthy; moving his tongue around slightly, he could tell that it came from a candy-like object that was in his mouth, which also had a long, thin white stick poking out of it--a lollipop, obviously. More specifically, as he discovered upon briefly removing it from his mouth, a green, leaf-styled lollipop. "That one's from Bayonetta," Alex explained as the Umbra Witch waved cheerily from a distance. "She figured that Mega Green Lollipop would help in recovering your vitality."

"I see...," Alister replied slowly as he replaced the candy back into his mouth before returning his attention to the yellow flowers surrounding him. "... and these...?"

"A little side-effect," Alexander again explained, "from the incantation that I was, erm... singing."

"... "singing"? Really?" Alister asked, somewhat bewildered that a song had power to heal. Alexander simply nodded in reply, his face feeling slightly flushed. "... well," Alister continued as he reached out his left hand and plucked one of the flowers before him, examining it closely, "I guess I shouldn't really question the power of music... ... ... huh?!" Alister gasped sharply as he sensed something in front of him, looked up from the flower in his hand to find the ghostly image of a human woman kneeling before him, her head held down and her hands clasped together, as if praying. Alister could vaguely make out her attire: a short, red jacket worn over a pink sleeveless dress, her long, brown hair tied back with a pink bow... somehow, this woman felt familiar to Alister, but where... ... ...?

"... Al?" Alister was snapped out of his concentration as he heard Alexander call out his name. "You zoned out for a moment there. You okay?"

Alister glanced over at Alexander briefly before turning back to look in front of him. The image had vanished. "Erm... yes," he replied slowly. He then checked on the rest of his body, noting that, aside from his still-broken right arm, the rest of his body felt perfectly fine now. "For the most part."

"Well, that's great," Umbris spoke up in a rather chipper tone coupled with a cute cat-smile (=3). "Now, since you're feeling well enough and are not in any immediate danger of dying," the Neo-Spacian continued, his cheery tone gradually slipping into a more stern and severe one, "we can now get to the part of the script where we all b**** at you for almost getting yourself killed because, seriously, Alister, WHAT THE F@$# IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?!?!" he concluded with a massive shout that threw Alister off-balance and onto his back.

"Wh--what in--?!" Alister began to protest as he hurriedly got to his feet, though before he could continue, Ratchet and Alexander stepped in front of him, both with a look of concern and disapproval. "Ho, boy...," the General uttered under his breath, knowing full well what was going to come next.

Bayonetta, meanwhile, felt no real desire to get involved, opting to sit on a nearby tree stump and observe the matter from afar.

"What were you even thinking, Al?" Ratchet began. "Seeking out Red and challenging him like that... how can you act so--?!"

"Uhm, if I may?" interjected the memory of Kaden, hand raised and everything. Alex and Ratchet glanced at each other for only a second before shrugging, giving Kaden the 'OK'. "Alister wasn't the one who sought out Red; that fault lies with me. I had sensed Red earlier, due to a memory of Alister appearing before him, and I felt that it would do the both of them a lot better to speak to each other rather than conversing with memories of the other. Honestly, I didn't consider that they would end up fighting," he added, staring remorsefully at Alexander and his son.

Alex sighed, shaking his head. "I know you meant no harm to come of it, Kaden," he replied, "but the fact remains: Red is still a Divine, and therefore our enemy."

""My enemy", you mean?" Alister snapped. "This is between me and him, Alex. There's no need for any of you to get involved--"

"Except we already did, just now!" Ratchet spoke up. "If we didn't, who knows what else Red could have done to you besides break your arm--?"

"--and as much as I truly appreciate your help," Alister interrupted again in a tone that was both deeply sincere while still being adamant, "I can't afford for any of you to get hurt should Red--"

"--do you honestly think," Ratchet snapped back again, holding a hand up to keep Alexander from joining in, "that asking us to stay away--"

"--I'm not asking, I'm--"

"--is going to make any sort of difference? Red's not going to ignore the rest of us and just go after you. You know this, Alister! He's not going to show you any mercy, so what makes you think he'll treat us any differently?"

"That's exactly why you need to stay away from him!" Alister shouted at the young lombax, half-pleading, half-demanding. "This is my responsibility! If any of you were to get hurt because of--!!"

"Alister, do you realize what you're saying?!" Alexander jumped in. "Didn't you explain to me before that no one should ever have to go through anything alone?!"

"Alex, this is not like your existential crisis! This is about making sure that those I care about don't get killed because of my problems!"

"This isn't just your problem, Alister! It's everyone's problem--!"

"I REFUSE to lose anyone again, and so HELP ME--!!"

"--and so you're just gonna go and throw away your life again, is that it?!" Ratchet cut in once again, the fur on his body practically on end with pent-up emotion. "Not even thinking for a SECOND how that's going to affect us?! All because you HAVE to resolve something that you feel responsible for?!"

"Ratchet--!!"

"NO!! I'M NOT GONNA F#$KING STAND FOR THIS ANYMORE, ALISTER!! I'M NOT LOSING YOU AGAIN!!!"

Ratchet's outburst echoed faintly within the clearing, leaving behind a tense ringing in everyone's ears. All had become silent, save for Ratchet's heavy, barely controlled breathing. Having put a lot of that energy into his outburst, the lombax's body began to loosen as he stood limply, his head held down toward the snow-covered ground. He let out a sound that sounded like a cross between a soft cough and a sad chuckle.

"... heh... ... who am I kidding...?" Ratchet uttered quietly, a small, sad smirk on his face despite himself.  "I... ... ... ... dammit, I can't do this...!"  Turning on his heel, Ratchet made a mad dash out of the clearing.

"Ratchet, wait--!"

"Alister, watch your step--!"

 

In his haste to catch Ratchet, Alister tripped over something that he couldn't see hidden in the snow, falling flat on his front (though having just enough time to turn his body so as not to land on his right arm.  He didn't, yet the shock from the landing still ran through his arm.).  "Sonuva...!" Alister cursed under his breath, struggling with his one good arm to push himself upright.

 

"I'll get Ratchet," Umbris called out as he ran in the direction Ratchet had left.  "Make sure Chucklehead there is okay, Alex."

 

Alexander nodded in reply, doing just that as he went to help Alister to his feet.  "You okay?" he asked the General as he was lifting him up.

 

"... oh, bugger, I forgot Gabriel," Bayonetta suddenly blurted out as she quickly hopped off the stump she was sitting on and proceeded to leave the clearing, though not before saying to the two lombaxes, "Boys, I'm going to go look for Gabriel.  Don't try to do anything reckless while I'm gone."  Alex and Alister only had time to nod before Cereza disappeared behind another tree.

 

"... the f@#$ did I just trip over...?" Alister cursed out loud under his breath, turning his attention to the "object" buried in the snow before him.  Taking a closer look, he could actually see what looked like an arm sticking out from the pile.  A limp, lifeless arm, whose only visible article of clothing was a brown, elbow-length glove with gold-colored details.  A familiar article of clothing to Alister... too familiar.

 

"... Al...," Alexander began slowly with a tinge of horror, perhaps also recognizing the glove, "... isn't that...?"

 

Alister remained silent for a moment, stunned by his own realization.  All he could do was nod his head slowly before replying, in a hoarse tone:

 

 

"... ... it's me."

 

 

CURRENT LOCATIONS:
 

Alexander and Alister: C3

 

Ratchet: Heading toward C4

 

Bayonetta: Searching around B3-B4

[The Warden]

|_)Red, the Fallen(_|

|_)Pathway of Remembrance(_|

 

Red stared lamely into the snow, the pure white snow. His left eye had started oozing blood again, and it trickled down his face and into the snow, spoiling its purity. No memories had come to see him after Titan, and that was for the best. There really was nothing left to say after Titan had laid into him so fiercely. All he had left as of now was the pain that had caught up with him swiftly. His right leg undoubtedly would never be the same again. There wasn’t a fracture, but the damage was still severe, and the ability to heal it was too far away to aid it. His stomach ached like the time he had decided it was a good idea to swallow a cow whole on a dare. His insides felt brutalized and ravaged by that one lone hit. By some blessed miracle none of his ribs had broken, but with the way he felt, you could have sworn they had. His body shuddered from the pain and the cold, yet he didn’t try to shield himself.

 

Despite all he felt, they paled in comparison to what he felt in his heart. His very soul was being torn apart from the guilt of what he just did, and what part he had played. Those last few minutes or so kept replaying in his mind, and through them he could feel something calling out to him from further on in the Pathway. Possessed, his body acted without command, forcing itself up through whatever power it could muster, trying hard to ignore the stabbing pain from his leg and stomach. He bore against it all as he got to his feet, though his right leg shook and shuddered from the strain.

 

Red felt unbelievably tired, but he had no choice but to move on. He had left more than just his past behind him in this Pathway. He stabbed the base of his staff into the snow, putting as much force as he could into it to take the effort off his leg. But despite such efforts, he still had a lame limp as he moved onwards. Or he will, had one thing not caught his attention. It was stupid to do, but, he still had to look. Turning his head to the right, his good eye caught sight of another memory of Alister. Its right arm hung from its body like a rag dolls, and its vacant white eyes haunted Red to his core. Red was overwhelmed by guilt, and all he could do was nod to the spectre as he turned off into the howling storm of the Pathway.

 

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

 

Red’s body was battered and assaulted by the fierce winds; ice and snow struck him constantly, and yet, he still soldiered on. The storm’s cruel cacophonous crescendo assaulted his ears, and yet, his own memories sung even louder, and clearer than what a simple storm could muster. He could remember it unnaturally clearly. Every single action was as clear as day, and it terrified him.

 

"WAKE UP!" Red roared furiously, an explosion of mania lighting his eyes like the sun. “Please stop trying to think this can work. It can’t. I have too much at stake to throw it all away now.” "WAKE UP AND UNDERSTAND! This isn't about our personal relations, or what we mean to each other. This is a war, do you understand? And in a war people die. Mercy simply gives them a chance to strike you down. You think the other Divine or Counter Corps will offer the same mercy you will? You'd have to be daft or soft in the head to believe otherwise. Yes... what we had meant something. But that meaning faded away when you chose the Counter Corps. I have wrestled internally with this for so long, but I feel now what I know in my heart to be right. If I must stain my hands time and again so those I care about remain pure, so be it. I won't let my own selfish desires get in the way of the safety for others. And if I have to sacrifice someone I care about, then so be it again" he roared furiously, slamming his staff into the snow and unleashing a small nebula of electric sparks. “Please Alister, don’t do this. You and I both know if we follow this path, there will be no going back for either of us.”

 

Why couldn’t he say that? Why couldn’t he truly speak how his heart felt? Red trudged through the snow, ignoring blindly the other memories laid bare to him. But, of course he would question his heart, as at the same time, it had been screaming to murder the traitor. To make him pay for abandoning their friendship, and the ideals of the Divine.

 

“Come on, Red,” Alister called out as he glanced toward the snowscreen that was cloaking the dragon.  “Hiding yourself from sight? I know you have at least a bit more honor than that.” “It’s not honor Alister, it’s terror. Pure fear in knowing what I will be forced to do. It’s not a question of strength, it’s a question who is willing to go all the way with that strength. You might not be, but… I am desperate enough to do what must be done for those I truly care about.” Knowing his flames failed, Red cut it off as the snow cloud slowly dissipated, an ice structure having clearly blocked his assault. He snorted loudly as he noticed Alister peering from beyond it. “How cute, the rat calling the cat out on hiding with their tail between their legs. Only a coward would hope to goad like that when comparing to someone far superior to them” Red boasted proudly. “Superior, me? Idiot. I don’t even have the strength of heart to tell him how I really feel, or why I am doing all of this. I’m… too much of a coward to even lay my heart bare to my only friend.”

 

Strength, power, fury, rage, guilt… regret. Is that all that he ever would be now? It seems as if this war had done nothing but wear away at him, forcefully stripped away the good image he had made as he proved more and desperate to ‘do the right thing’. What was the right thing anymore? How could even know what was right? It seemed every right was also wrong, could there even be a right thing? Every time he tried to question that, he ended up slipping further down the slope. And, as he continued to slide… he couldn’t help but notice how he truly was that same despicable person Titan said he was.

 

Red sneered as his little ice bomb seemed to have succeeded. The rat was out in the open now, and pressure was required. While it would have been simple to block the blasts with a barrier, Red found it more prudent to crouch down quickly, before leaping through the opening in the treeline afforded by the clearing into the airspace just above the treeline. His proud wings beating fiercely as the blasts sailed underneath him, and with the sawblade out of reach, he felt free to unleash another blast of flame, this time making sure to put more energy into it to scorch everything around Alister, as well as the general himself. “Please don’t die on me Alister. I don’t think I could take it if you did.”

 

“The dragon is down,” Mr. Zurkon chimed as Alister slowly descended back through the opening in the canopy.  “Now is the time to strike, General.”

 

The synthenoid was right, Alister knew this.  And yet… he just couldn’t bring himself to strike Red while the dragon was apparently defenseless.  “... hey, Red!” Alister called out as he landed on a nearby branch.  “I know you’ve still got some fight left in you.  I’m not continuing until I know you’re ready.” “I’m not. I convinced myself so many times that I was, but I just can’t do this anymore. You are tearing me apart Alister.”

 

“Seriously, General?” Mr. Zurkon blurted out, a hint of incredulousness actually evident in his otherwise monotonous voice.  “Why must you let honor come before reason?”

 

“Why not?” Alister responded, still keeping an eye on Red.  “Just because we’re enemies now, doesn’t mean I can’t show him some respect.” “I don’t deserve it.”

 

“That respect,” Mr. Zurkon replied, “will only reward you with a sneak attack.”

 

“And you think I hadn’t considered that?” “Yes, you would have. We’re very alike, you and I. We’ve both played villains, so why shouldn’t we know a villain’s trick?”

 

Red’s neck strained, as if he was trying to lift it. It was doing a very poor job of it, as his head couldn’t break free from its little pool. Eventually, it just gave up and went limp, Red’s head tilting to the right as the slow and steady stream of bubbles petered out. Red’s hand let go of his staff, his limp hand resting above the water as the polished staff rolled slightly away. “Please, just go, leave. Don’t make this any harder than it has to be Alister.”

 

“Hey, Red, c’mon!” Alister called out again, almost starting to become impatient with the dragon’s sluggishness. "Stop wasting your time Alister" “Red, this isn’t the time for….”  As he watched Red go limp, however, a cold grasp closed around his own heart.  “... Red…?” the lombax uttered hoarsely, the fear evident in his voice as he continued to stare down at the dragon’s limp body. “Please stop caring about me. It’ll only hurt the both of us more the more we try and reconcile. What good is our friendship when we’ll just be torn apart later? Just go and don’t look back.”

 

“--this isn’t right,” Alister quietly gasped out, shaking his head in disbelief.  “... no, this can’t end… not like this….”  He wanted to check on Red, to see for himself if the dragon was truly…. “It has too, for the both of us.”

 

“You’re making a big mistake, General Fuzzy,” the Z-Wrench spoke warningly.  “You said yourself that you’ve considered any possibility of--”

 

“WILL YOU SHUT UP, ZURKON?!” Alister shrieked at his weapon, his emotions starting to get the best of him.  “SHUT UP FOR JUST ONE F**KING MINUTE!!  I… I refuse to believe that Red is dead!  I just can’t!” “Stop torturing yourself already. What is it about those short hours we spent together that mattered so much? Why is it so hard to just turn away and forget what you saw? To just go with your friends and be happy with them. Why are you devoting so much time to me?”

 

“Then what are you going to do about it, General?” Mr. Zurkon snapped back.  “How are you going to make sure that this dragon is still with life without forfeiting your own?”

 

“... … … …”  Wordlessly, Alister called up another CryoMine in his hand, glancing briefly at Red’s Staff, still within the dragon’s reach.  Still without a word uttered, Alister tossed the grenade at the Staff, hoping that the explosion would freeze the weapon within the pool in which it lay.

 

The blast from the CryoMine flung Red’s hand away from his Staff, but he wasn’t exactly moving from his sad little puddle. “Really now? Is there no respect for the dead? That’s polished Dragonwood you know? It’s not easy to find and the cold will make it split.”

 

Seeing no reaction from Red, even with his Staff now frozen into the puddle, Alister gave a dreading, shaky sigh.  “... fine.”  Tightening his grip on the Z-Wrench’s shaft, Alister made a leap from the branch down to the forest floor.  “Get ready, Mr. Zurkon…,” Alister quietly hissed to his weapon as he slowly crept closer toward Red’s limp form, making sure to approach from the back.  The end of the wrench closest to the ground began to crackle with electricity as Alister aimed it at the tip of Red’s tail.  “... … … SURPRISE!!!” the General shouted out as he then jabbed the Wrench head into Red’s tail, delivering a shock into the dragon’s body. “KYAAAAAAAAAAA!”

 

The spasmic shock was enough to break the charade, but was performed from a poor position, as Alister hadn’t considered the reach of that tail. With a swift and painful movement, Red’s tail swung up and struck Alister with incredible force in his good sons. As the Lombax fell to the ground in pain, Red rose slowly like a phantom from his pool. Water dripped from his scales as he stood up unsteadily, his right leg trembling under his own weight. A weight that slowly lurched towards the downed Lombax. With a good stomp, Red crushed Alister beneath his left foot; forcing the weight of his body down onto the Lombax. Red’s eyes were flushed red with strained veins as his neck craned down so he could stare Alister in his pained eyes. “That was NOT... a polite thing to do” he said hoarsely, his foot applying a good deal more weight as he spoke. “Why did you have to force my hand you idiot! Why did you insist on forcing me to go this far to turn you away? I’m trying to forget you, not erase you entirely! Why are you so boneheaded that you can’t understand I’m trying to do this for YOUR sake?!”

 

“Y… You’re… one to talk…!” Alister croaked out as best he could in spite of the pressure on his chest cutting off the air circulation in his lungs.

 

“What are you complaining about?” Mr. Zurkon chimed in from his discarded position a few feet away from Alister.  “It’s not like you are going to have any children anytime soon--”

 

“ARGH, F**K OFF ZURK--AAAAAAAAHHH!!!” Alister’s retort was cut off by his own pained cries as he began to feel his bones crack under Red’s weight. There is nothing to be said here, only the eternal and cruel feeling of guilt that began to claw at his chest.

 

That was enough, Red felt. The Lombax had suffered enough, and he clearly wasn’t going to continue being a threat at this point, not with the extent of the damage inflicted on him, although….. Regarding Alister carefully, Red lifted his foot so he could grab Alister with his right hand, his taloned fingers gently curling around Alister’s body to grab him, and apply a bit of pressure to his chest whilst also pinning his arms to his body. “For posterity, Alister, and… I’m sorry” Red said darkly as his fingers released Alister’s right arm so he could grab it with his left hand, specifically at the elbow. With a wee bit of pressure using his index finger and thumb, there was a very audible cracking sound as Alister’s right arm was broken. “Please forgive me for this Alister…”

 

He wouldn’t, Red figured. How could you forgive someone who mercilessly, and without apparent regret, broke your arm and crushed the life out of you? It’s unforgiveable… and yet, that was the aim. Maybe, if Alister couldn’t forgive him, he would then stop trying to pursue the issue further. He didn’t want to kill Alister, or his friends. Nobody could truly want that outcome, and yet, it’s going to be the decider itself. This battle, no, this war will not be bloodless. Everyone will fight, and the losers will die. It’s the cruel law of reality, one Red knew all too well.

 

The wind had died down now, and it was unsurprising why. Red had left the howling storm and come adrift by a beautiful lake. The eternal night hovering above illuminated what was once darkness, and Red could feel the full moon’s energy as he limped down to the lake. He didn’t have the energy to fly across it, so a rather oversized boat was a welcoming sight.

 

Pushing it gently into the water, Red hovered over it before clumsily landing in the boat. Taking to the oar, he gently pushed his boat across the lake, as he his mind was enraptured by the nostalgic waters. He could remember, from a long time ago when he was an adolescent, learning all he could from a much younger, and more powerful looking Titan. It was a funny thing to remember why he had that name to begin with. He could remember hanging off the Elder’s every word, and trying to devote every syllable to heart. He wasn’t just an inspiration, he was a great friend. And in the end, Red ruined that memory.

 

In fact, as he drifted across the water, he could remember many memories of events sullied by his hand. How terrified Astor looked when he was imprisoned by Red in the Winter Palace. How many Gnorcs had he slaughtered just because he was in a bad mood? The number, even amongst a literal lake of memory, still seemed impossible to remember.

 

And of course, such gifts are not without price. As Red drifted across the lake, he was forced to remember the time he spent with Alister. Getting to know one-another, fighting together, hating Sayer and Xansvita together. Why did it have to be so short? Why did he have to be ripped away from Red when they were only just getting to know one-another. Why couldn’t they have had… more… time.

 

That’s not what he wanted, and he knew it. All he wanted, was to know Alister felt the same way he did. To know that there was sympathy for the devil, and to know what it felt like to be him. To have been on that side. But now, it’s just a fantasy.

 

Red’s boat ran aground on the opposing side of the lake. Clumsily fighting against the bobbing wood, Red collapsed onto the solid ground, sending more shocks up into his abdomen. Groaning loudly and cursing silently, Red stared up at the ever-growing staircase that lay before him. “Are you serious?” he groaned loudly.

 

Knuckling under, he took to the cruel joke before him. One step at a time he rose higher and higher, his level of exhaustion growing at a terrifying rate. Were these stairs just endless? No, but for someone with a gimpy leg they seemed like they were.

 

But, either way, by a divine miracle, Red reached the top, with only emptiness to great him. His throat burned from the effort, and nearby a frozen pond greeted him. Staggering over to it, his quest to quench his thirst was met with a cruel reflection: Himself. The Dark Gems clinging to the staff seemed so very natural, and the maniacal look he was known for seemed so befitting with his dark aura.

 

‘Are you satisfied with your past’?

 

It almost felt as if his reflection had inquired that, but its lips hadn’t move; as they served only to sneer at him. “How can I be? I’ve done terrible things for most of it. I have brought ruin and pain for every waking second I was even given power. Which is why I am here Pathway. I am here to make up for it all right now. I am not happy with what I have done, which I why I will work until my life expires to create a much better future” Red declared to the pool.

 

His reflection nodded, not with sarcasm, or with sympathy. No, it nodded with understanding. Suddenly raptured with exhaustion, Red collapsed into the pool, and was left in the White Room. He lay before to the two remaining doors, and he silently nodded off to ponder what to do next.

 

Position: White Room

[Merci]

Protheus Maximus w/ Pandora & Chardonnay - Pathway to Truth (E1)

 

"Hmmm."

 

As soon as the dark sorcerer stepped out from the dark, wooden corridor and emerged into the light, he wasn't exactly pleased at the shining sun above. It was hard to read his expression, but there was definitely a hint of annoyance there. Annoyance, at the overly peaceful atmosphere of this Pathway's entranceway.

 

"Somehow, I was expecting this path to be somewhat...darker. But no matter."

 

Leaving it at that, he advanced onward, crossing the glass bridge and heading towards the floating cherry blossom forest beyond. There were two female figures following close behind him, but he paid them little heed. One of them was meant only to serve as his guard, as well as a failsafe in case something dangerously unexpected occurred, and as for the other one...well, the most accurate term to call that woman by would be a witness.

 

More importantly, standing out amongst everything else was the strange, spacial cube, twenty centimeters in length, that was grasped tightly within his left hand. Even from a distance, it looked unnatural compared to all its surroundings, and was only made more apparent in the bright sunlight of this pathway. Instead of a cube, it was more like a moving galaxy compressed into the shape of one, even though it weighed nothing.

 

To Protheus, these things alone were sufficient preparation.

 

Less than a year ago, he wouldn't have dreamed of ever coming close to this place, of ever involving himself with the Origin, even after he discovered its location and found out how to access it. From the beginning, it had always been a side project, and he never intended to actually come this far, to actually risk going on this journey. After all, those who challenge the Pathway to Origin risk their very existence, their very place in the multiverse, and it wasn't to be taken lightly.

 

Once entered, the only way to exit would be to somehow supplement their existence with a beyond godlike amount of energy. Only the Door can provide that, so coming here without the Key to access it would be utterly meaningless.

 

But now that he did have the Key...

 

"What are you thinking about?" A light, yet dull voice asked him.

 

"Hah! About how convenient this side project has ultimately turned out to become, even though it was rather childish at first. Truly, it's laughable that things have progressed this far so easily- halt, why am I telling you this?"

 

Once again, Protheus frowned, confused by having just blurted out his thoughts like this. Normally he would simply scoff with a retort or insult, and besides, he was old enough not to ever make such a childish mistake. After a few seconds of silence, it clicked together - this was the Pathway to Truth, so naturally there would be some kind of truth field here. What an inconvenience, but a minor one so long as he chose not to answer any of these voices.

 

Then, his attention focused on a tiny being that was flying a short distance away from his head. It appeared to be some kind of fairy with dark hair, and the look on his face was blank. While there weren't any others immediately visible, he could sense them, lurking in the treetops of the cherry blossoms. He could sense the rushing yet puny sources of mana within them, and through that, see their panic. Their fear. They could sense that this one was different, that this one would not hesitate to tear their world down should he feel like it.

 

Out of the many dozens, if not hundreds of fairies inhabiting this forest, there had only been one whom dared to approach the Herald of Darkness as he continued on his journey.

 

There were also a bunch of other fairies not too far away behind him, chattering and asking other sorts of questions, but these were more directed at his two followers, so he didn't pay much attention to that. Neither of those two were his business, and if they had to face any obstacles here in Truth, then that would be their own problem to overcome.

 

While he walked, there was a faint aura of darkness surrounding him, with the smell of blood in the air wherever he went along and the occasional electrical static. It was a spell he'd cast upon himself, helping to mask his own presence from being immediately sensed by others, suppressing his power from leaking outwards by concentrating it all, but at the same time made him that much more intimidating in person, like a storm demon that had crawled out of hell. It wasn't easy to look at him without feeling the overwhelming urge to run away at once from such an entity. Not only did it hide his presence, it would also attempt to drive away anyone and everyone who did find him.

 

"Where are you going?" The dark fairy before him pressed on, apparently the only one unphased by the aura he was emitting.

 

"To the Door of Origin." He answered without hesitation.

 

"Why?"

 

"I need to change that worrisome prophecy just in case it's true and ascertain my own li-" He answered once more, but stopped himself mid-sentence. Then, after standing there in silence for a few seconds, he turned to face the fairy directly with narrowed eyes. "Now, a question from me. Do you happen to have a death wish, by any chance?"

 

"I do not possess wishes, and death is irrelevant to me. More importantly, why would you wish to save yourself?" The fairy continued, brushing away his threat.

 

Instead of answering, Protheus paused for a moment in surprise, before merely storming on. It wasn't worth bothering with a short-lived fairy whose only purpose was to take advantage of the truth field and pester others with stupid questions. Was this all the Pathway would have to offer him, all the way to the end? If that were the case, then this whole idea of 'taking a trial to face the truth' was not only pathetic but flawed. As if there was anyone who'd gain from merely forcing them to say what they already knew!

 

"What are you holding?"

 

Only a few minutes after he assumed it was gone, the fairy reappeared by his side, following him blankly.

 

"A Key of Origin... Possibly." He answered yet again, though his words slowed down at the end there.

 

"So you're not sure?"

 

"No."

 

"In that case, what will you do if it turns out that it doesn't wor-"

 

Having reached the end of his patience, Protheus's hand shot out, and he crushed the dark fairy in an instant before it could respond. Though, 'crush' wasn't really the correct word, as it had been more along the lines of squishing jelly. Once he released his hand again, the remains drifted down to the ground like cotton, with a bit of sticky blood in his palm. "...Surely, you must have known that that was going to happen."

 

Without another word, he went onwards through the cherry blossoms, not even once bothering to look behind him at his two followers.

 

With each silent step he came closer to the end, and after having killed that one fairy without a thought, there weren't any others that dared to approach him. They were all far too afraid, just as any insignificant automaton should be. It was understandable, as it was only a natural reaction to his particular method of cloaking.

 

The cloak that prevented him from being sensed was being fueled by the remnant energy from all the different kinds of blood that had splattered onto him in his long past. How many different people had been slain by his sword, and how many times had their blood splattered onto him? Even after drying up, they left behind tiny amounts of energy that stuck onto his being, accumulating over time with each murder. Admittedly, even this barely provided any energy at all so it wasn't entirely practical, but it had a use in that by activating it, he could repel the presence of others - especially these childlike fairies whom could barely comprehend what he'd been through.

 

Although, something that didn't occur to him was that, perhaps it wasn't the fear of who he was that drove them away, but rather, overwhelming pity at what lay within him.

 

Once Protheus had reached the end, he peered into the darkened mirror in front of him. Beyond lay a desolate version of the land they were currently on, and the reflection of the two followers behind him looked more ragged and tired than usual, but his own reflection remained exactly the same. It likely wasn't important, but noticeable nonetheless. Touching it, it seemed like he would be able to enter through, just as he'd suspected, but at the same time, there was some sort of foreboding feeling within him as he eyed the other side.

 

How meaningless.

 

Disregarding it, he went through, and immediately exited back out through an identical mirror, though as expected, everything was exactly the same as in the other world, only flipped and destroyed. Now this was more of a Pathway to Truth. This was a place that truly held a purpose. After all, the truth was never a beautiful thing.

 

Chances were that since this was a world designed to reveal the truth of things, he'd have to face himself here, or something along those lines. But of course, he wasn't concerned about that minor thing. From his own point of view, he acted entirely honestly and true to himself, if one were to ignore the not-so-occasional deceit towards all those around him. As if there was any truth that could be revealed to Protheus Maximus.

 

It was also very likely that the truth field persisted even more, though he didn't bother trying it out lest he reveal something else recklessly. The air was thicker than before and visibility harder here, with rotting fairy corpses scattered about everywhere, but none of those things bothered him as he advanced onwards as casually as he did before. Just in case enemies appeared, perhaps more twisted versions of the fairies or what-not, he kept his free hand on Impure Future's hilt.

 

However, as he continued, it was like nothing planned on showing up, and he was beginning to grow somewhat bored because of it. Was this truly all the trials of Origin had to offer? Scenery and annoyances? Did it believe that it could change the hearts of people just with this?

 

WHY WHY WHY DO YOU LIVE?

 

Right on cue, a deep, surely inhuman voice boomed out of nowhere, lacking any intonations, and all of a sudden, Protheus could sense a massive source of energy that had just materialized above them, concealed by the fog. At last, the enemy had shown itself.

 

"Because I want to." He responded with smug confidence, looking upwards. "Or, do tell, is there some kind of rule against wanting to live that I'm not aware of?"

 

 

The Upcoming Battle / Armaros

 

As soon as the words left his mouth, a blast of purple energy were simultaneously fired downwards, aimed at him. He reacted quickly and stepped out of the way, at which point four more appeared aimed at him with greater speed. As they darted in for his position, he threw himself forward to avoid them - but this appeared to be a trap, as while he was in the air, a total of thirteen more blasts revealed themselves from below him and shot upwards. With a slight frown, he decided to confront them directly this time and projected a shield of dark energy around him that absorbed all the attacks.

 

Landing onto the ground safely, having defended against the first wave of attacks, Protheus came to the decision that he wasn't about to wait for the second and would immediately go on the offensive. Unsheathing his black Impure Future blade, he glanced at the growing, unbreathable fog above him before letting his own body levitate upwards.

 

Right before entering, as if remembering a minor chore, he looked over his shoulder and said, "Oh, Chardonnay. This may take some time, say ten seconds, so you have my permission to go on ahead."

 

Then, with the Key of Origin still in hand, he shot up into the growing fog, closing his eyes and pouring mana into his other senses in order to enhance them. He couldn't quite make out the source of the energy, but it seemed like this fog was being generated by whatever it was - and judging by the residue of mana in the air, it was most definitely a spell. Hence, if he could just focus while in contact with it, then he should be able to...ah, but that was assuming that things would go that conveniently within enemy territory. And it didn't.

 

Only a second after entering through, black lightning from all directions were fired. They appeared identical to his own in nature, but he didn't doubt that the fog would hamper his mana influence in some crucial way. No matter. Pure strength was more than enough for an insignificant, cowardly opponent like this. Blade in hand, he intercepted the attacks from all directions with a single spin in the air. They were sliced apart before he even sliced through them, as per messing with cause and effect.

 

WHY LIVE? WHY FIGHT? WHY TRY?

 

The emotionless voice echoed all around Protheus's floating body, so it was impossible for him to figure out the source from just that. It sounded like a robot in ways, dull, somewhat distorted, and unnecessarily loud. And, he didn't bother answering such stupid questions.

 

More lasers came at him straight after the last, and he intercepted them in the some manner, but this time they were followed by a tiny dark orb that drifted close to his face. If it hadn't been a technique that he was already familiar with, then he wouldn't have been even noticed it - so, he wasn't very surprised when it detonated right there and then, sending him flying out from the cloud of fog and further up into the air, having blown his left shoulder off and detached an arm. Luckily, it was his sword arm.

 

"So... I see you managed to hit me once."

 

But to him, that was trivial. The lost limb dissolved into dust, and a new one began to grow out from his body, accompanied by his elegant white sleeve repairing itself at the same time. As soon as there was a hand, he muttered a small Egyptian word under his breath and the falling sword flew right back up into it.

 

"I would congratulate you for being able to land a hit, but in my own personal opinion, that was a PATHETIC attack! You had your chance and you wasted it on an arm you know I'll regenerate anyway? Not only that, but you targeted the blade instead of the Key! Do you even know how to fight properly?!" Protheus yelled out in annoyance, and after he did so, he tilted his head a little in slight confusion. Indeed, the truth field persisted.

 

WHY GO ON?

 

"You have a point. I decided that I could play with you for a few seconds, but now I'm bored, so you will die now."

 

Just as those words came out of his mouth, he dived back into the fog, and this time didn't waste any time. Connecting himself to the mana in the air, he pinpointed where it was most concentrated at - a hundred and twenty degrees to the left, twenty degrees down - and darted directly for there in an attempt to end it all in one strike. On the way, several more bolts of lightning burst forth, but they were trivial to him by then as he cut through them with Impure Future, all the while keeping a firm grip of the Key. Then, homing in on the source, he grinned, readied his blade and thrusted it into the target just like th-

 

"..."

 

...at?

 

There was nothing there. As soon as he sliced through, the fog simply dispersed of its own accord.

 

"Why don't you die?"

 

Alone in the sky, Protheus's eagerness for battle had dropped, and he was merely, quietly staring into space. Was it in shock? Or in confusion? As he found out, there'd been nothing there from the beginning. The source of power didn't just vanish, there was never one to begin with. The fog had been generated by a 'nothing', and due to that, the enemy had been harmless from the very beginning.

 

"Why don't you die?"

 

In front of him, a small child obscured by a cloak had been impaled by his blade. The child had nothing, except for a small, cheaply-made kitchen's knife that was promptly stabbed into his chest, over and over and over and over again, in the vain, but done again and again as if in hopes that the next time would be different.

 

"Why don't you die?"

 

A pointless act, since something like that could never kill him.Or really, no matter what the child was capable of, that thing would never be able to harm him in any real way. He'd have a response to everything, and would overpower anything attempted. The difference in their power was plain and clear.

 

"Why don't you die?"

 

In other words, this child was a non-factor, a nothing that wasn't even worth recognizing as an object, let alone an opponent.

 

"Why don't you die?"

 

"Why don't you die?"

 

"WHY DON'T YOU D-"

 

"Because I don't f***ing want to. It is that simple." Protheus replied calmly, before grabbing the child's head and tearing it off, not unlike a normal person tearing apart a frustrating piece of homework. It dissolved into dust immediately afterwards.

 

His enthusiasm for the battle having lowed greatly, without he himself being sure of the full reason why, he floated back down to the ground and sheathed his sword again, before letting out a sigh. The other two were no longer in sight, and it seemed like he'd gotten a little off-track while in that cloud. Of course, catching up with them was a trivial matter, so he wouldn't worry too much about the Key of Origin just yet.

 

Crossing his arms in displeasure, Protheus walked on in silence, not particularly concerned about anything as of right now. Passing by dead trees with the dark, repulsive cloaking spell still on him, eventually he reached a purple glass bridge at the end, and a crystalline corridor beyond that.

 

But then, just as he was about to walk onto it, he paused as though sensing something.

 

"Hmmm."

 

For a moment, he considered whether or not to take this seriously, playing with the thought in his mind. Then, having come to a decision,

 

"For you to come this close without me noticing...I would praise you, but the truth is that my mind is simply on other things. That's the sole reason."

 

A small, sadistic smile began to grow on his face as he spoke over his shoulder to the new challenger, as if he'd just found something that could potentially provide him some better entertainment in this Pathway right now. In anticipation, he quietly unsheathed his Impure Future sword.

 

"You wish to have the Key, I assume. So then, only one question remains - do you honestly believe that you can take it away from ME?"

 

Ending Location: C9

[Reinforce]

Ayame

Pathway of Remembrance: B11

 

As she touched the water, another memory began to play in her mind.

 

A young girl, only 13 years old, stood in an alleyway as she faced off against a mountain of a man. Her opponent was about 2 metres tall, and his limbs and body were hugely thick and muscled. In his arms was a giant battleaxe, the blade about half a metre long and heavy enough to break her like a twig if it hit. She was facing against him with a single staff, too tall for her to properly wield yet as she watched him carefully, trying to back away as she did. With a shiver, the man's body changed. Fur grew prevalent over his chest and arms, his feet and legs turned into a facsimile of a cow's, and his head completely changed to resemble that of a bull, horns and all. The Minotaur facing her roared, before swinging it's axe down directly at her. Not yet ready to even hope to face such a beast, her eyes shut, staff dropping at her feet as she sank down to the ground. Instead of the blinding pain she was expecting, the clang of metal on metal sounded, and when she slowly opened her eyes back up, her father stood before her, twin blades crossed and blocking the axe. As the Minotaur then started to raise it's weapon back up, her father moved, sliding forward quickly and landing a few cuts around it's body before it could react. Blood started to flow out of the beasts ankles and wrists, the vital tendons that control movement cut through, before one more slash sent blood pouring out of it's throat as the beast died.

 

Back on her boat, Ayame gasped as she jerked her hand back up to her body, calming herself down from the traumatic memories she'd just remembered. It seemed that whatever was in the water, it brought up memories you'd prefer to forget. Shivering slightly, she rowed on, reaching the other side of the lake. Crossing the final snowfield, Ayame made her way up the stairs, stopping just short of the dark pond as a barrier appeared in her way. 

 

‘Are you satisfied with your past’?

 

The words seemed to appear directly into her mind, and somehow she realised that this question had to be answered to advance, that this was a test she couldn't just rush past. Thinking through the question, she made her decision and spoke.

 

"No"

 

With her convictions solid, and her answer given, the barrier vanished from her path, and allowed her to touch the water, taking her back into the White Room she'd started in.

 

Ending Location: The White Room

 

-----

 

Chandra

Pathway of Truth: C6

 

Watching on as the transformed newcomer tormented Jace, she became aware of the presence that seemed to be projecting it's thoughts into her mind. Realising where it was coming from even as his thoughts confirmed it, the blue mage looked up at her as he realised just what was happening. 

 

"So you really can read minds then. At least I know now, though I have to wonder just how many times you've disregarded my privacy and violated my mind."

 

The last three words were almost spat out as she spoke, disgust evident in her voice. With a grimace, she turned to the newcomer, flames sparking in her hand as she spoke to the man who seemed both familiar and completely unknown at the same time.

 

"Well, as much as I'd like to burn Jace until he agrees to never read my mind again, you seem to be the more immediate problem right now. So unless you feel like burning, you'll tell me just what it is you want with us."

 

The flames seemed to crackle higher as she finished speaking, anger and annoyance evident on her face as she waited for an answer.

 

Ending Location: C6

[Tesability Black]

~???- Path of Truth - ???'s POV~

"Well, as much as I'd like to burn Jace until he agrees to never read my mind again, you seem to be the more immediate problem right now. So unless you feel like burning, you'll tell me just what it is you want with us."

"My dear," the stranger started to say as he brought his hands together with the tips of his index fingers meeting his lips. "I'm not here to inhibit either of your progressions, in fact," he started to say before pointing those same fingers at Jace. "If anything, I'm here to make his travel possible...assuming he's willing to cooperate."

A sudden frown appeared on his face, however, as he caught the mindmage having his face partway into the dirt. "You, Living Guildpact, think way too much for your own good," he suddenly stated before his eyes narrowed at Jace. "Hmph, you actually forgot I was here? I'm insulted."

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

Crap, he didn't even need to see into her mind to feel her rage, she was projecting it all around her and not just in her flames. Because of his nature as a natural-born telepath, however, Jace felt such rage more intensely than the normal person, causing him to flinch and try to look away from her...though that resulted in his face being partially in the dirt.

Unfortunately for her, Chandra wouldn't be the first fiery planeswalker whose flames he'd have been on the recieving end of...well, technically, he was actually overwhelmed by the heat created from them because of the cell he was in at the time, but still...

He severely doubted anything could top being on the recieving end of a manablade multiple times, though...

"You, Living Guildpact, think way too much for your own good," he heard, reminding the mindmage that the Planeswalkers were not alone. "Hmph, you actually forgot I was here? I'm insulted."

A minor growl emerged from Jace's thoat, something most would be surprised to hear him pull. "And that is an attitude that needs adjusting. And I dare say Tezzeret didn't do a good job of keeping you in line back then, either." With that did the stranger jump down from the branch he was on, which finally fell down with him. He landed on his feet as the branch fell behind him, toward which he only gave a passing glance at before snapping one of his hands and allowing it to glow. "To achieve a being's full potential under one's order, they must first be broken, and he forgot that rather-vital little step with you. But first," he stated as he stood up with the open glowing hand in front of him, a sly grin emerging upon his face. "You rise."

Jace suddenly felt an insanely-tight squeeze around his midsection, focused almost solely upon where his heart would be before feeling himself being lifted up painfully into the air, all of it radiating from this one point. This wasn't telekinesis, that would have had his whole body being held up, not just one small part like now. Even so, he still couldn't move his body, making it feel like he was being impaled through the chest on some invisible spike. The pain coming from it made it almost impossible to speak, his throat feeling like it was locked up to keep him from screaming. It admittedly didn't help that, because of how weighted everything seemed to feel, his own head seemed stuck leaning forward as well.

"It's amusing how a Spark acts like a second Aura for a Planeswalker, which means an Aura Manipulator like myself can easily lift up such a person by that alone."

Aura Manipulator...Aura Guardian...

Jace forced himself to open his eyes and focus his gaze upon the stranger, mentally overlapping a familiar being's form over him...

...minus the lack of wide-brimmed hat and colorations, it was a perfect match. But, Jace recalled mention of the familiar saying he was the only one from his universe within the Multiverse, so did that mean...?

"Why are you doing this, persona," Jace managed to say with a strained voice, regretting not just projecting those words with his mind, instead. "I don't believe your claim."

The eerie double took a moment to study Jace with his red-colored eyes before the sly grin reappeared on his face. "Oh, dear, my counterpart will not be happy to discover that you know of me, Guildpact Beleren. Not at all." Calmly walking up to Jace, the stranger grabbed his chin and pulled his face up to make the blue orbs meet his red ones, revealing how the stranger was a full head taller than the mindmage. "The fact that I can even show up on this path, even though your 'precious little guardian' isn't here, is because you just can't keep your psychic hands out of where they shouldn't."

This close up, Jace couldn't help but notice that this guy also had fangs similar to a vampire's...which made him shudder as he wound up recalling a pair of moments where those kinds of fangs were in his own neck.

 

However, his thoughts came to a screeching halt when he felt a sudden void upon the path, prompting the mindmage to try and admittedly fail at looking around for the last person who felt like that, the image of the strange man that was practically talking down to all of the 'Divine' as he heard some minds refer to the group as. There felt like two other minds near that one, one resiliant and much like a wall and the other a little too much like the storm-like madness of the Izzet guild, but the seeming-lack of a mind unnerved the psychic more than anything else, even his current scenario of being held up in the air by his Spark alone...

 

Ending Location: C6

[Maeriberii Haan]

 
“Alright, alright. I’ll carry her.”
 
On the dark corridor, Killua suddenly asked Reimu to help him carry one of the people he was carrying, the little girl named Yachiru to be exact. He said something about being worried by what the pathway might hold ahead, and how he would need to get to the other side fast enough to avoid combat. Reimu understood his argument, realizing that by carrying the guy on his back, he wouldn’t be in a good enough condition to engage anything remotely threatening enough for him.
 
And not really long afterwards, what he was worried about was proven to be true, as a figure materialized on the pathway, as someone he recognized. Killua didn’t waste any time to dash as fast as possible towards the exit, avoiding the figure as best as he could. Even though Reimu wanted to help him, she realized that doing so would only threaten Yachiru’s safety, and thus, it would be better if she just watch silently while preparing countermeasures in cases she would need to-
 
“Damn it! Speak of the devil!
 
Of course this’ll happen immediately after I considered to prepare myself.”
 
In front of her was a woman with lavender hair, wearing some sort of purple-magenta colored clothing. Her long hair was tied into a ponytail with a yellow ribbon. From her gesture and body language, it was clear that she was a royalty or something close to it, which she definitely was, as far as Reimu’s knowledge went. She was proudly carrying a sheathed katana on her belt, a weapon made with such advanced futuristic craftsmanship that it could easily slice gigantic energy blasts like the Master Spark in half. It…didn’t take long for the woman to realize that she was being watched, and her attention immediately shifted to Reimu.
 
“Hm? So it seems the red-white has survived after all. Silly rabbits, I should’ve ordered them to bring some proof that you were really dead. Well, at least now I can finish you off myself.”
 
“You’re not even the real Yorihime, so please shut up. The real one was not as petty or obviously villainous-sounding like you, and she was definitely more refined than you.”
 
Reimu, reading the aura that the figure exerted around her, immediately noticed that it was different from the borderline divine aura that Yorihime possessed. She immediately assumed that the Yorihime in front of her was simply a specter created by the pathway, and started to think of ways to bypass her without much fighting so that she wouldn't risk accidentally getting Yachiru harmed.
 
“Does it matter that much? Even as a fake, I’m still far more powerful than you’ll ever be, Reimu. I will always be the wall you cannot get past, the back you cannot reach.
 
You’re always worrying about that, facing something you wouldn’t be able to eventually overcome. You will never beat me, Reimu.”
 
“…Why would I need to?”
 
Reimu followed her response to the figure by throwing several batches of amulets forward with one of her hand, while trying her best to keep Yachiru from falling from her back with her other hand. The figure laughed in response to that as she dodged the amulets with ease, before firing a huge blast of fire towards Reimu.
 
“It’s futile, as I’ve said. You won’t ever be able to overcome me, especially if you’re barely trying like this time.”
 
“And, as I’ve said, why the heck should I have any need to beat you, especially now of all time?”
 
Without the figure realizing it, Reimu had already thrown one of her Yin-yang orbs towards the direction where she had thrown the amulets, and as the brightly lit orb travelled through the darkness, it became apparent that the amulets Reimu had thrown was floating on that straight line, and when the orb passed through them, the amulets started forming a barrier. This happens all the way throughout the dark corridor, and the end result was a lit tunnel made of barriers, with the Yorihime spectre locked outside of it.
 
“Well, just listen for now.
 
I probably can’t defeat you, not now, not back then, and maybe not in the future. When I return to the Gensokyo I’ll restore, this maybe will still haunt me for the rest of my life, and this is not exactly something I can face now. But I couldn’t care less about this now. I need to protect this girl, and I still need to carry Yukari’s order here, so Gensokyo can be restored.
So yeah, goodbye!”
 
Immediately when the Yin-Yang orb stopped, Reimu and Yachiru seemingly faded from existence, just to appear on the other side of the corridor near the thrown orb. With a hand gesture, the other orb that was left behind appeared near her, and the barrier tunnel collapsed, returning everything behind her back into the darkness.
 
From her current position, Reimu could clearly notice that the next area was lit by a line of street lamps, and when she emerged fully on the area, she could notice Killua was there, not really far away from her. Even with a slight hint of fatigue on her face, Reimu put up a smile on it as she rushed towards Killua’s direction, catching up with him.
 
“Hey, wait up for me!”
 

 

 

A grey-haired girl continued her way throughout the desolate land, seemingly uncaring to anything that happened all around her as her mind was seemingly preoccupied by something. Her overall appearance was akin to cinder, to the ashes that was left after her old radiance burned out. Tiny specs of what and who she was before still stubbornly held their existence on her, but sooner or later, they would be burned out too. Just like the once-blue sky above her, all that was left on her was desolation.

 

Tenshi had ripped a part of her skirt to use it as a bandage to cover the hole where her left eye used to be, and thankfully for her, the bleeding itself had stopped. Aside from that, she was completely fit physically, the overflowing qi that her sword gathered all these times had recovered what she was lost from her earlier battle. None of Tenco's assaults managed to scratch her aside from small bruises, and even her Scarlet Weather Rapture ended up not consuming a lot of her energy. It was not a battle, not even close to it. It was simply, a one-sided massacre.

 

Yet, it didn’t feel as if she had won.

 

The seeds of doubt that was always there inside of her grew and grew. No matter how hard she tried to deny what Tenco said towards her, the truth inside those words still echoed inside of her.

 

“Even so…”

 

But even if everything that Tenco said was the truth, she still wouldn’t stop. She had sacrificed too much to go this far, and the only acceptable result for her was to reach all the way to the end and then return to her home as a hero, or die trying. Not even herself would stop her now from doing just that.

 

With the last ounces of her willpower, Tenshi strengthened her waning resolve, exorcising the doubts left behind inside of her heart. No matter who stood between her and the Door, no matter what happened, even if there’s no hope for her anymore, even if this would destroy her, it didn't matter at all for her as Tenshi willed herself to continue her march towards the Door of Origin, towards her future.

 

Towards the only thing left for her.

 

 

“And then what?”

 

“Then I guess…

 

…I don’t know.

 

I don’t know what will happen next.”

 

“If so, will it be worth it then?”

 

“…I don’t k-

 

It will. It will definitely be worth it.”

 

“Why are you so sure?”

 

“Because…

 

Because…

 

I don’t know. It's not important, anyway.”

 

 

The crystalline bridge towards the next section of the pathway was already close. But for now, it was not what Tenshi was being concerned with the most. Her attention was fixed towards the man she had been following for a while. Even if he didn’t act on her presence right now, Tenshi doubted that he could actually miss her or her sword’s presence, and not long afterwards, her suspicion was proven to be correct.

 

"Hmm.

 

For you to come this close without me noticing...I would praise you, but the truth is that my mind is simply on other things. That's the sole reason."

 

While she was nothing but very eager to reply to him, seeing that he didn’t make his move yet, Tenshi instead planted her sword silently into the ground as the man continued his sentence while he unsheathed his black katana.

 

"You wish to have the Key, I assume. So then, only one question remains - do you honestly believe that you can take it away from ME?"

 

Just as he finished speaking, the ground under him and around him collapsed, creating a sizable pitfall. Tenshi of course didn’t plan on this to work, as she just believed that it would be the safest way to see how he would react. Thus, not wasting any time, she summoned twelve keystones around her, and started firing barrages and barrages of lasers from them towards the man’s position.

 

“We wouldn’t know until someone’s foolish enough to try. Right, Protheus?”

 

[Dad]

Killua

 

Though drained from blazing past the Illumi specter, Killua was honestly relieved that Reimu made it through safely.  He immediately began to apologize.  "Sorry about that," he sighed heavily.  "I was concerned about our safety.  And at the same time, I felt like if I stopped, the four of us would be killed," Killua said re-positioning Kenpachi on his back.  The giant Soul Reaper stirred, conscious once more.  Killua sat Kenpachi down with his back against a lamp post, kneeling down so that his first sight upon waking was an ally.  Kenpachi groaned, his head throbbing with pain.  As his vision cleared, Killua's reassuring smile greeted him.  Kenpachi sighed, scratching his head.  Suddenly, he jumped up.  "Yachiru?  Yachiru!?"  Killua quickly interjected.  "Whoa big guy, calm down.  She's fine," Killua said pointing to Reimu, who had just arrived with Yachiru.  "Her injuries--"  "Also, mostly fine.  She had taken a lot of static into her system.  I absorbed ninety percent of it.  The rest will drain naturally.  I also managed to patch up her burns and open wounds.  No vital organs were struck.  She'll be a little weary, but she'll live," Killua said as Kenpachi took Yachiru into his arms.  Placing Yachiru's back to the lamp post where he was no longer sitting, Kenpachi sighed a sigh of relief.  Then, turning to Reimu and Killua, he embraced them in a frightening but loving hug.  "Thank you," he said nearly crushing them to death.  He matted Killua's hair as he let the two go.  "You're literally life savers," Kenpachi said with a big smile.  Looking around, the darkness was now staved off by various lamp posts, but Kenpachi knew they were still on the pathway.  While he had the chance, Kenpachi properly introduced himself to Reimu.

 

"Zaraki Kenpachi," he said proudly.  "Thank you again for looking after Yachiru."  Kenpachi picked up the sleeping Yachiru now, and placed her on his back.  "We must be close to the end then," he said not recognizing his location.  Killua nodded.  "Can't be much farther," Killua replied.  "Though, you should stay on your toes.  There could still be some nasties out there."  Killua could sense Kenpachi's thoughts.  He was prepared to leap away with Yachiru alone, and Killua couldn't blame him.  "Well.  I--"

 

"No need to explain," Killua said sticking out his hand.  "I do hope to see you in the end, however."  Kenpachi chuckled, shaking Killua's hand.  "It's a promise."  Kenpachi nodded at Reimu.  "Be careful, the both of you."  Suddenly, he turned his back to them, crouched as if he were about to sit, and leaped powerfully away, leaving a crater where he once stood.  Killua laughed, as he heard Kenpachi in the distance, yelling, "into the abyss!"

 

"Well, that was odd.  But at least he's awake now," Killua said scratching his own head now.  Not possessing Kenpachi's jumping power, leaping down the path wasn't an option.  However, because they were so close to the end, Killua decided to hang with Reimu and hoof it the rest of the way.  Killua stared at Reimu, then quickly darted his eyes away, blushing.  Breaking the awkward silence, Killua spoke up.  "So, Reimu.  What's your universe like?"  Killua said as they prepared to move to the next furthers lamp post.

 

 

 

Kenpachi

 

He landed at the foot of a staircase, some short distance away.  Turns out that jump was higher than it was farther.  Kenpachi took the first step up the ragged stairs, as Yachiru finally began to come around.  She mumbled something, causing Kenpachi to stop and stand her on her feet.  Yachiru rubbed her eyes, as if she were awaking from a peaceful rest.  She looked around, then up to Kenpachi.  "Kenny?"  "Hmm?"  She scratched her head.  "Did we die again?"  Kenpachi smiled.  "No little lady," he said matter-of-factly.  "A couple friends gave us a hand, and now we're back on our four feet."  ". . . Kenny you only have two feet."  "I was talking about our feet combined."  "But if we both had four feet, that would be ei--"  "No, no, I meant our two feet, would total four feet, and-- never mind," he said turning Yachiru around.  "Look," he said pointing up the stairs.

 

"We're almost there," Yachiru said perking up, before suddenly feeling a shock in her feet.  She leaped high into the air, as her feet were zapped.  Landing onto Kenpachi's back, she slapped her feet, and began to massage them.  "So, Kenny, who saved me?"  Kenpachi chuckled.  "Killua did," Kenpachi said as he cautiously climbed forwards.  Yachiru blushed, her face flush with red.  "Does this mean I have to marry him?"  Kenpachi stopped, suddenly bewildered and angry.  "What!?  Absolutely not!  You are far too young to marry!"  Yachiru punched Kenpachi in the head.  "Baka!  I'm a grown woman!"  "Then he's too young for you!"  She punched him again.  "Are you calling me old!?"  "If the sandal fits!"  Yachiru looked around.  "Kenny, I lost my sandals."  Kenpachi stopped, as he noticed his sandals were still on somehow.  They both laughed, as Kenpachi neared the top of the staircase.  An ancient stone tablet came into view, and Yachiru dashed ahead to get a better look at it.  She stared intensely at the stone tablet.  

 

As Kenpachi approached, the tablet rattled, and asked him a question.  "Are you willing to--" the tablet was interrupted.  It cleared it's throat, as it felt a tickle in it's stone back.  "Are you willing--WILL YOU STOP THAT!?" the tablet cried out.  Yachiru had been testing the stone tablet for taste purposes, licking it furiously.  Kenpachi plucked her in the forehead, and picked her up.  "Are you willing to embrace your fate?" it asked at last.

 

Kenpachi was about to answer, when Yachiru stuck her head out next to him.  They recited simultaneously, "You're damn right, we are!"  A powerful barrier behind the stone tablet vanished, and the duo placed their hands on a mysterious monument that was protected by that barrier.  They were engulfed in magic, before suddenly being whisked away out of the Pathway of Death, and returning to the old white room.

[Phantom Roxas]

[Death A1] - Arthur

 

As soon as Arthur stepped onto the Pathway, he felt as though his eyes were still closed. Around him, there was only darkness. Taking a deep breath, he activated his demigod powers. His body was surrounded in a layer of light, and he looked down at his feet, able to see the steps in front of him. The moment he took his first step, though, he heard voices flooding into his mind.

 

Coward.

 

Your arrogance was for nothing.

 

Perhaps you should have chosen Truth.

 

You saved your friends from their lies.

 

But not from your own.

 

Not from yourself.

 

”I’m fighting for our future.”

 

Participation is not triumph.

 

”Shut up.” Arthur quickened up his pace. Even if he was on a narrow path, he couldn’t afford to waste time. He needed to find the others. He needed to stop Protheus. He needed to take back that key.

 

Keep running.

 

It’s all you’re good for.

 

Even now you’re running from your past.

 

Will you run from your future as well?

 

Or will you run to it?

 

”I’ll run to wherever you are so I can shut all of you up.”

 

The voices all laughed together as Arthur approached a pair of cloaked statues. Arthur looked up at the statue, expecting the source of the voices to appear from it.

 

Then proceed.

 

Arthur took another breath. He could feel the light draining from him. The darkness brushed against him like a cold wind. He kept his eyes on the statue as he stepped forward. For a moment, he thought that cold wind had subsided. Then he remembered that he was walking to his death.

 

 

Current location: A2

 

[Death A1] - Sora, Roxas, & Xion

 

”I’m sorry,” Sora said to Roxas and Xion. ”Neither of you deserve to just be parts of me. But for now, I think it’s best if…”

 

”If Ra’s power was together,” Roxas finished for him.

 

Sora forced a laugh. ”Right. I mean, that could at least help our chances.”

 

”Sora, thank you,” Xion said with a smile. ”We’ll be able to live our own lives once we make it past this. But until we finish this, we’re in this together. We’re still one. We can’t change that.”

 

Roxas and Xion vanished into wisps of gold, surrounding Sora. His armor turned into pure gold, complete with a helmet that resembled Ra’s head. Roxas and Xion’s Keyblades floated behind him, an aura surrounding that resembled wings.

 

”There is something we can change, though.” He kicked off the ground, as voices begin to hiss nonsense into his mind. Not that he even cared. He raced towards the statues, and the only thing on his mind was the Key. ”The Counter Corps can still win this.”

 

As he flew past the statues, he could feel a power over him leaving. But with the help of Roxas, Xion, and Ra, Sora had more than enough to make up for it.

 

 

Current location: A2

 

[Death A1] - Zilyana & Kree'arra

 

”Zilyana!” Kree’arra called once he stopped along the Pathway. However, he heard no echo. His voice seemed to fade away the moment he spoke.

 

And yet, ”I can hear you. Come. We should find the others.”

 

Though the Pathway was stable, Kree’arra and Zilyana kept afloat. High enough to not risk falling down into whatever awaited them below, but low enough that they could still see the Pathway. Suddenly, however, the sounds of fire and laughter started around them.

 

”I smell nothing,” Kree’arra noticed.

 

Zilyana nodded. ”Someone is baiting us.”

 

”Hello?”

 

Zilyana and Kree’arra each drew their weapons. Behind them, they saw Kairi, who was holding her Keyblade up with a sphere of light at the end of it to show her face in the darkness.

 

Zilyana shrugged and held down her sword. ”Oh, it’s you.”

 

Kairi raised an eyebrow at Zilyana’s casual tone. ”Yes, it’s me. Kairi.”

 

”I’m aware of your name, yes.”

 

”Just as I’m aware that you’re scared of how powerful my fiancée is.”

 

Zilyana and Kree’arra moved aside to allow Kairi to step forward. Without any words, Kairi led them forward until they all passed by a pair of statues. A cold sensation fell around them, but they forced themselves to keep looking ahead. The only way to go was forward.

 

 

Current location: A2

 

[Death A1] - MachGaogamon & Gagagigo

 

The platform began to shudder once MachGaogamon and Gagagigo arrived on the Pathway.

 

”So between the both of us, which one of us made the better landing?” Gagagigo asked.

 

MachGaogamon raised an eyebrow. ”Are you asking which one of us weighs more?

 

”Maybe.”

 

”You are surprisingly calm about this.”

 

Gagagigo sighed. ”We’re facing the end of everything as we know it because of one man’s lunacy. Meanwhile, I’ve finally stopped being a puppet to madmen, Eria and I are finally on the same side again, and she’s found herself a boyfriend even in all of this. I almost died protecting her against Ophelia. There may not be an ‘almost’ next time. If I really do meet my end here, then it would have been pointless for Eria to fight for me. If I don’t stay at my best, then I would just be holding everyone back.”

 

MachGaogamon stammered. ”I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend.”

 

”Well, this is the Pathway of Death, right? Might as well get used to being morbid if we’re going to make it through this place.”

 

They walked in silence for the remainder of the platform. Once they found the two cloaked statues, they passed by them without a second thought.

 

 

Current location: A2

 

[Death A1] - Eria

 

”I’m an idiot,” Eria told herself. Yes, it was her idea to go to the Pathway of Death. But it was Death. Going down this Pathway, whether it would be first, second, or even last, was always going to be a bad idea. But she had to do it. She had to endure this Pathway, no matter what, if it meant stopping the Divine.

 

There was singing. Voices humming, whistling, and chanting various tunes. They were mocking her, she knew that. Daring her to see just how long she would even last. She took the Millennium Staff and tried to command the voices to be silent, but they only laughed at her more. She paced herself, taking breaths as she walked. ”Don’t be afraid,” she told herself. She tried to sense Gagagigo’s presence. Even if this was only the beginning of the Pathway, she didn’t want him out of her sight. Fortunately, she could sense him. Troubled, perhaps, but she could feel that Gagagigo was doing his best to stay calm, just as she was. She could feel the brand continue to burn against her skin. She tried to generate some water to soothe it, but it didn’t make a difference. ”Megiddo can’t do anything now,” she said. Merely thinking it wasn’t enough. If she could just tell herself that everything would be fine, then she could believe it more easily. ”Focus on the Key, Eria. You still have a chance. You’re strong, and you’re not alone. You can still-”

 

The laughter once again bombarded her mind. They wanted to break her, but Eria wouldn’t let them. She commanded a wave of water to help her run along the platform. She wasn’t alone. She was going to find the others. Cloaked statues waited for her at the end of the platform, and the water kept pushing at her feet to get her to those statues. Unfortunately, once she was past them, she started to fear that maybe even the Counter Corps wouldn’t be enough to stop Protheus.

 

 

Current location: A2

 

[Death A2] - Arthur & Sora

 

”Arthur!” Sora called out, seeing the demigod glowing in the darkness. You holding up okay?”

 

Arthur rolled his eyes. ”Well, I’ve been barely here ten minutes, and already I’m regretting this.” He took a moment to look at Sora, sizing up his armor. ”I could use a suit of armor like that.”

 

Sora turned his hand, gathering a golden orb in his palm. ”Oh, this? It’s my Drive with Roxas and Xion. But don’t sell yourself short, Arthur. I may be strong, but come on. I couldn’t do anything against the Madara. You’re the one who beat him. You’re strong in your own way. This power that I have… it’s thanks to Eria. She’s pretty strong, too. You’re in goods hands. Trust me.”

 

Arthur chuckled. ”Well, trusting me has turned out better than I expected.”

 

You saved your friends from their lies.

 

But not from your own.

 

Not from yourself.

 

The voices repeated those words in Arthur’s head. He readied his Keyblade, and Sora responded in kind.

 

”What is it?” Sora asked.

”The voices.”

 

”Voices?”

 

”You know, the-” He stopped himself, realizing what this meant. ”You can’t hear them, can you?”

 

”No,” Sora answered. ”I mean, I think I heard something earlier, but… it didn’t seem like much to me.”

 

”Great. So it is my problem.”

 

”It’s not just you.”

 

Eria appeared, water subsiding on the ground behind her. ”I’m hearing them myself. Sora, do you-” She stopped herself. She bit her lip, pausing before carefully saying her next words. ”Let’s not listen to them, Arthur. The voices are a trick. Let’s keep an eye out for each other, okay?”

 

She will be your end.

 

Don’t take her path.

 

Her sorrow will be your misery.

 

Save yourself from her despair.

 

Save them from your lies.

 

Keep running.

 

Leave them.

 

The Key was yours to take from the Madara.

 

Do not let them deny you your prize.

 

”They want me to betray you,” Arthur admitted without a second thought. Sora and Eria stared at him in silence. ”This Pathway is going to try and make me leave you all behind so I can take the Key from myself.”

 

”You won’t.” Eria wasn’t daring Arthur, or warning him what would happen if he did. Arthur could tell by her voice that she genuinely could not believe that he would do that. ”I promise you, Arthur. Even if you do end up being the one to take the Key, we’re going to be there with you.”

 

”That’s what I’m here for, after all.” MachGaogamon arrived, with Gagagigo behind him. ”Now then, let’s find the Divine, shall we?”

 

Eria tried to call Gagagigo towards her, but her familiar was glaring at Sora. ”Gagagigo.”

 

Gagagigo blinked, as if breaking free from a trance. ”Sorry. I was… trying to focus.”

 

Eria didn’t exactly buy it, but said nothing. ”Alright, let’s get going.”

 

”You’re forgetting a few people.” Now Kairi, Zilyana, and Kree’arra had arrived. Kairi stood beside Sora, with Zilyana and Kree’arra following behind her.

 

”Where are the other two?” Kree’arra asked Sora, who responded with pointing his thumbs at the Keyblades behind as back. It didn’t seem to explain much to Kree’arra, but it was enough.

 

Zilyana gestured her sword towards the rest of the Pathway that awaited them. ”If everyone is accounted for, then let’s be off.”

 

 

Current Location: Heading to B3

[Kōsuke Ueki]

Pathway to Remembrance, Richard Mason

 

As the warrior began to contemplate on some things he never even thought of before, a woman he recognized as a new member of the Counter Corps passed him by, attempting to cross the lake with the boats close by. He sighed. "So much for doing this on my own..." But he should have expected as much. He couldn't avoid anyone forever. But then something came to mind, something Lazy Azami told him while he was in the forest:

 

"You will have to face the rest of Remembrance on your own, and beyond that lies the Truth within you and the Death that awaits you."

 

Who's to say she meant that he would have to face the Pathway alone all the way through? At this point, he has a chance of traversing the lake. And when they both get to the other side, then they can part ways if he feels the need to.

 

Richard walked over to Revy, keeping the boat stable as she got in. "My name's Richard, by the way." As Richard was about to get in, he realized that his armor would most likely make the boat even more unstable than it probably was. But, he decided to take his chances.

 

He got in the boat as slowly and as carefully as he could. The last thing he wanted was for the two to fall in the lake and drown. Because who knew if they would be able to get out of it if that happened? When he finally got his whole body in the boat, he took a deep sigh of relief. "Would you like some company? I know you don't know me, but it doesn't hurt, right? Also, I know it's not my business, but do you mind if I ask what your name is?"

 

Richard was okay with avoiding social activity, but he thought someone to talk to for a little while wasn't a bad thing.

 

(Location: D9)

---

Pathway to Remembrance, Tsunugai

 

The Paladin eventually made it to a dense forest, in which the air got even colder. But he pressed on, his motivation so strong, it could give off an aura if it was able to.

 

As each hour passed, the silence that embraced Tsunugai over time was eventually cut off by the sounds of nearby battles. He wasn't sure who was fighting or why. But his best guess is that one of his Counter Corps teammates had finally come across a member of the Divine. But, as he got closer to the fight, it got quiet immediately, as if it ended before he could see what had happened. But something else was amiss as well.

 

When the silence became bearable, he suddenly began to hear what appeared to be figures running in the distance behind the multiple of trees. He heard this multiple times. He couldn't see where the figures were, but he had the feeling he was being watched. But he didn't think much on it, though. Until it became a problem, he would just ignore it, but also stay aware of his surroundings.

 

When he reached the supposed area where the fight he heard was going on, he noticed Alexander and Alister right away. Not wanting to get their attention, Tsunugai walked around the area that the two were at, letting them do what they needed to do. He made sure to keep going without distracting anyone he came across.

 

Another hour passed, and he soon began to see what appeared to be a large tower in the distance. But he also saw someone. Ratchet? He appeared to have been running away from something, or possibly just wanted to be alone. He wasn't sure, but maybe he was heading to that Tower the moment it came into his view. Either way, the cold was becoming too much for him, and he needed a break.

 

So, the Paladin continued on, heading for the Tower, and to help out Ratchet along the way if needed.

 

(Location: Close to C4)

[Merci]

“We wouldn’t know until someone’s foolish enough to try. Right, Protheus?”

At that response, Protheus raised an eyebrow, as if surprised that there was someone who actually dared to face him in single combat, and all alone at that. Her figure wasn’t particularly notable...no, come to think of it, was she not one of the members of the Divine? Merely by her looks and that aura of hers, he could sense that she must be a resident from some version of Gensokyo. Perhaps this fact was what contributed to her nonsensical confidence. Whatever the case, it was irrelevant.

“Haha. You amuse me, girl.” He remarked towards the challenger. “Well then,”

Just as the ground before his feet gave way, he avoided it completely by levitating into the air, with one hand holding onto the spacial box called the ‘Key of Origin’, and the other onto the dark blade Impure Future. The volley of lasers that were rushing him were somewhat more troublesome to deal with, but they were nothing compared to what he’d had to face just earlier on. Reacting with inhuman speed, he projected a spherical barrier around him that absorbed all the energy from the attacks and, once he’d determined the attribute, redirected all the excess into a single orb of concentrated energy in front of him.

“Let us begin!”

Then, with a small chuckle, he unleashed it, returning all of his opponent’s energy that she’d put into the entire assault in a lone, massive beam of light.

 

~ The Upcoming Battle - Zophiel ~

Seeing her attacks being redirected back at her, she instinctively erected several stone walls from the ground in front of her. And while it didn’t stop the beam itself, it slowed it enough for her to pull her sword from the ground and pointed it straight towards the incoming beam of light that had broken through the walls. The sword’s golden blade shone for a moment as it absorbs the temperaments from the attack into it completely.

“If you say so.”

She proceeded to summon several rows of keystones around her, and fired them all towards Protheus at once, while she herself lifted off towards the sky using a keystone as her standing ground. She seemed to notice that it was too early for her to assume anything about her opponent, so she decided to try a different approach for now.

Although, it appeared as though the man had already disappeared from his position when she’d been busy defending against the beam of light. He could’ve been anywhere- “A bit slow, aren’t we?”

When he next appeared, he was standing on top of one of the nearby dead trees with a very clear smirk, seeming to chide her for her pointless efforts to harm him. As he did so, he eyed the keystones that had struck the place where he’d just been floating earlier - her powers appeared to be earth-related, though he highly doubted that this was all she was capable of. However, if what she was showing him was her actual level of combat, then the battle wasn’t even worth fighting. He'd let her take the first move so as to gauge her strength, and as it was right now, it was quite disappointing.

Still though, insects always had a habit of rising to the occasion, so it wouldn't be fair for him to judge from a single attack. Before he really took her seriously, he would need to test this little insect just a little longer. If she couldn’t even beat a mere tool of his, then she wasn’t worthy of his own attention.

Unsheathing his blade for a moment, he opened up his now-free hand and let a mysterious card-shaped object appear into it. While the front was obscured by darkness, the back had a brown-ish decorative design. Without a second thought, he threw it up into the air, muttering a few Egyptian words under his breath as he did so.

Come forth, I summon thee… CHARMER OF EARTH!

At that moment, the card vanished into nothingness, and in its place had materialized a vortex of whirling energy. Through this, a girl with short brown hair emerged outwards, dressed in a faded cloak equipped with a staff, though the mechanical way of moving and the featureless black sclera of her eyes gave away the fact that she was no longer human. Her expression was vacant, devoid of even the slightest trace of emotion, but she understood her mission immediately as she gazed up at the challenger with a silent bestiality.

Once upon a time, the being that had just materialized was an aspiring elemental earth magician by the name of Aussa, but now, she was nothing more than an empty shell lacking even a soul, a lifeless puppet whose sole purpose was to amplify Protheus’s own manipulation over elemental magic.

When more keystones came shooting down towards them, they were suddenly overtaken by a kinetic force, circling around Aussa before being fired back at her. As they were, the earth below them began to shake a little, and small, sharp shards broke off, joining the keystones in an attempt to skewer the girl mid-air.

He’s really just playing around with me, huh? Tenshi thought. The thought made her quite annoyed, but not enough to break her composure for now. Losing herself to her emotions in the middle of a battle like this would be fatal, after all.

With a flick of her hand, the keystones once again changed direction. Noticing the shards coming at her, another hand signal arranged the keystones into a wall that blocked off the shards. She proceeded to bombard the area where the new girl and Protheus were standing with barrages and barrages of laser coming from the wall of keystones. A rough and unrefined approach, definitely, but she knew that for now, it was for the best that she played this safely. While a close-range assault would definitely be far more effective right now in her assessment, doing that had too many unnecessary risks for this moment early on.

The girl Protheus had just summoned seems to be strictly earth-based, which pretty much mean she wouldn’t really matter much for now, at least. Though, much to Tenshi’s chagrin, the girl felt too empty to create emotional temperaments, and thus, it’d be harder for her to use her as an emergency power source.

...she redirected those stones of hers, but not the parts of earth, which would’ve been a more effective way to retaliate? How strange, Protheus thought to himself, observing her style. She did, however, made the earth collapse earlier… I see. So they must be separate abilities then.

As the third wave of lasers had been fired at them, the soulless Earth Charmer thrust her staff forth, and the ground shot up in response, forming a wall that shielded both her and Protheus, taking their brunt force, though it was needless to say that earth alone wouldn’t be quite enough to defend against it. Just as the wall of earth was formed, Tenshi saw an opening as the Charmer’s vision was blocked by the earth construct. She dropped down from her current position towards the ground on her keystone, and just as the keystone hit the ground, she immediately summoned another one to take her back up towards the sky. An act, that at first didn’t seem to actually do anything.

Once the wall gave way, the Aussa remnant took a small chunk of earth and stood upon it, before shooting straight for Tenshi’s position in a frontal assault as she returned to the air, gathering up more sharp shards around her as she did so, perceiving a chance to end it right there.

“Gotcha.”

When Tenshi noticed that the charmer attempted to rush in straight towards her, the earth shook violently as giant stakes of stone emerged from it, and proceeded to skewer Aussa mid-air before she could reach her target, piercing her body as if it was merely a ragged doll. The charmer made a small sound as the stakes pierced through her body, stained with a disgusting black liquid as they came out the other end, but there was no change to her blank expression as she stared forth at her target, having appeared to have stopped right there.

Tenshi watched silently as she continued to rise up into the air while scarlet spheres emerged from the charmer’s dying body into her sword. She seemed to provide not as much temperament as Tenshi expected, but noticing the black blood, Tenshi chalked that towards the fact that she was merely a construct, not a true living being. A puppet like that definitely wouldn’t have as much vigor than what she would’ve liked after all. Though, Protheus being oddly quiet and observing immediately took most of Tenshi’s focus, and being alarmed by it, she decided to try be more careful in her further approach, until at least, she could land a solid hit on Protheus...

What… What are those? As he continued to watch, this time he couldn’t help but be intrigued as his opponent began to utilize this strange, scarlet energy. He couldn’t determine its properties merely by observation, but it did seem to be absorbing a certain something from his puppet, drawing it into that blade of hers. He’d originally dismissed it as a normal one, but perhaps there was a little more to this blue-haired girl than just generating energy and moving rocks. How interesting.

Nonetheless, after a moment of staying still, the Aussa remnant suddenly shot forth again on her earthly platform as if nothing had happened, as if there weren’t any stakes poking out through her back, and as if there weren’t drops of dark liquid flowing down from her eyes. The damage dealt to it had been meaningless. For it to truly stop functioning, either it would have to be severed from Protheus’s constant supply of mana, or it would have to be damaged beyond repair.

As it charged forth, it let out a beastly, inhuman cry with absolutely no trace of the body’s former self. It might’ve been a smart, enthusiastic if shy girl once, but now, it had been reduced to nothing more than a beast capable only of feeling hunger.

Oh, it’s still moving?

 

Well, I guess a perpetually-replenishing energy source won't really be too bad.Though at this point, keeping her around would only distract me from the real threat.

Guess it’s time for her to go. Though, I need to check something first...

When the construct was close enough to her, several keystones came from different directions towards her, and proceeded to crush her mid-air and kept her floating still as Tenshi moved closer. Not saying anything, she went on and severed Aussa’s left arm, and watched as temperaments flowed from the wound, along with a foul black liquid.

“Hmm, what’s this?”

Her flow of temperament was completely unnatural even when Tenshi considered the fact that she was a construct, as the flow would’ve stopped cold normally after she had taken this much. To further inquire about this, Tenshi decided to stab Aussa’s forehead, it being the easiest to reach part of her body that could support Tenshi's sword well enough.

 

“Heh. How is it, my mana?” Protheus asked all of a sudden, looking up at the floating figure with an amused smile as he began to redraw his blade. “That repulsive feeling you must get, I’m afraid it’s not just the fuel that keeps this Charmer’s body alive, but also a manifestation of my own mana. Who knows why it’s in such a state? Was it corrupted from the beginning, or did it rot over many millennia? Frankly, I have no idea myself.”

A link, huh? Fantastic. 

 

“I don't think I have any obligations to care for that.”

Her suspicion was confirmed by how the charmer's body reacted, and by Protheus's statement too. All this time, there was a mana link connecting the two, allowing him to control the construct just like a puppeteer would do. With this knowledge, at first Tenshi was tempted to try tapping into Protheus’s extensive mana pool, but she hesitated at the last minute, realizing that from this distance, the risk of him tapping into her instead would be a huge threat for her. Even if most of her mana was stored on her blade and it would be the only one that'd drain the mana, unless she could be very sure that she was not in any way connected with the blade, the huge risk would still be there. After reaching that conclusion about what she'd do with the link, Tenshi decided that the charmer had no more reasons to be around. She casually sucked in the entirety of what’s left from Aussa’s temperament in a flash using her sword, annihilating the empty shell due to it before it was able to be refilled by Protheus.

“...Your name is Tenshi Hinanawi, I see.” Protheus rose his voice as he said so, having already taken the opportunity to tap into her mana pool before she’d severed the connection.

Of course, it would’ve been far too boring to immobilize her right there, so he’d chosen to take a small glance at her memories instead while he was able. What’d he seen were mere flashes of information, nothing relevant, but it was more than enough to discern her character. Somehow, he didn’t feel very surprised to know what kind of person she was.

“What a cute name. Fitting, as just like a celestial angel ought to, you’ll be dragged down into darkness. Surely you’ve realized, the path you walk leads to such. The contradiction of hurting everyone to save everyone, how does that make sense to you? I cannot fathom.” Jumping down to the ground, he glanced at the area where his puppet had just been and sighed pitifully. “What a waste. I’m down to only two Charmers now, but oh well. I suppose you’ve performed well enough that I should consider taking you somewhat more seriously.”

“At times, sacrifices must be made to reach your goal. You of all people should be well aware of that, Protheus.”

Once again, Protheus’ statement managed to annoy Tenshi as she felt like she’s being belittled by him, well, rightfully so, but it still annoyed her. She managed to hide her expression well enough though, as showing a sign of weakness at a time like this wouldn't be tolerable. She kept her eye locked in on Protheus as he talked to her. So far, what she had seen of him was not nearly enough to form a remotely useful analysis on him, and thus, Tenshi was pretty much still in the same darkness as she was when she started the battle, in regards to her knowledge about him.

“Perhaps. I don’t care. It should be apparent by now that the Divine - along with whatever dreams they hope to achieve - mean absolutely nothing to me. I care only for myself. I hurt others to please myself.”

“As if that’s not obviously apparent enough already.”

“...but, is that not a better way of living than what you are doing right now?” Protheus pressed on, beginning to take a few steps towards her with a casual stride, unconcerned. “Surely it’s dawned to you by now, it’s quite silly for you to propose that you’re a ‘hero’ when all you do… No. When all you’ve ever done is hurt those around you. And you’re saying that you do it for their sake? Hilarious.”

“The only thing that matters for anyone would be the end result of all that. It’s simple.” Tenshi answered Protheus’ remark seemingly with the utmost confidence and conviction coming from her voice. Yet inside, the seeds of doubts that she had been carrying all this time, the ones kept on being planted by everything on the pathway started to grow, without her being able to resist it. Tenshi decided to ignore those as she tried to keep her composure while she watched Protheus casual strode towards her.

“Interesting.” At her response, he nodded, as if something in his mind had been confirmed. “How about a small question, then, my dear Tenshi? Let us imagine that there is a train, it’s speeding out of control and about to crash. If it does, then the hundreds of passengers onboard will die. However, you have a lever that you can pull that will change its tracks and stop it from crashing. But if you do, then one person on the other track will be hit by it and die. What do you do?”

“One person is meaningless when compared to many.”

Again, he nodded while continuing to approach.

“Indeed. It’s a dilemma people don’t even need to think about for more than a moment. But how about this. Let us say that, instead of a lever, there is a fat man standing in front of you. You have the capacity to push him forward, and his large mass will be able to stop the train before it crashes, but obviously, that man will die. What do you do? The odds remain the same, do they not?”

He’s trying to get into my head, isn't he? If that's the case, I'll play with him for now.

“Once again, my answer will still be the same.”

“Oh? Most people would find that one harder to answer… But I suppose, as you said, the end result is what matters. The amount of lives saved, and the amount of lives lost.”

By then, he was directly below her, at which point he came to a stop. He was well aware that the truth field was still up in this realm, and was taking advantage of this as he questioned her very ideal. Technically, even though she'd already answered truthfully, that 'truth' that laid deep within her mind could very well be challenged. And afterwards, change.

“Then, put it this way. Let us presume that this person is...say, the love of your life. All the preparations have been made and your wedding is tomorrow. You’ve made many plans together for both your honeymoon and everything that comes after. However, in order to stop that crashing train, that person needs to die. Tenshi Hinanawi, in such a situation, what would you do? Which is the end result that matters more to you?”

“My answer will still not change.”

 

Once again, Tenshi answered. No signs of doubts or hesitation could be found from her tone. Hearing her saying that only made Protheus smile even more, with a hint of maliciousness in it. “I see. Indeed, the odds remains the same, one life versus hundreds. But in this particular case, you will also be sacrificing your own hopes and dreams for the sake of many irrelevant, unknown others. Even though this is the Pathway to Truth and neither of us are able to lie here, I must ask of you. Are you certain?”

“In the end, a hero’s just a vessel of the will and hopes of many. And thus, sentimental values like that are completely irrelevant in the face of the people’s will.”

At this point, Tenshi decided to start thinking of a way to try making an edge from the current situation, even if she knew full well that despite Protheus’ current approach, he would've definitely expected her to launch an assault when she thought that he was unaware. Him smiling like that only worsened the forecast for her, though, she definitely still believed that she'd find a hole to abuse if she could just keep the conversation for-

“In other words, you do not live for yourself. Rather than achieve your own goals and grant your own wish, you live solely for the fulfillment of everyone else’s.” He concluded lightly, tilting his head in a mixture of amusement and pity. “You are irrelevant to yourself, willingly choosing to be the medium by which others support themselves. But the thing is, WHAT FOR? Is there even a guarantee that they will appreciate you for it? What if your utterly selfless deed went ignored, and you couldn’t prove it? What if there’s not a single person amongst the hundreds you saved that say ‘thank you’?!”

 

A momentary silence immediately followed Protheus's question towards her. It was something that she was not prepared to answer, a question that she always avoided. It was a question that kept on being asked by everyone else, yet she never really found her own answer to it. By continuing the conversation, instead of finding a hole to strike at Protheus, he instead managed to abuse a gaping hole left in her.

“If that’s the case…”

 

The thing that mattered more to her...even Tenshi herself was completely unsure about it at this point. Once again, the only thing she could do was to let the pathway show the truth that was concealed even from her.

“...I will still do it.” The tone of conviction from her previous statements were gone, yet the statement itself was not filled with hesitation, as the words flowed from her mouth freely, without any restraints from her. The words were spoken softly, almost like a whisper, but it was still loud enough to be heard by Protheus.

 

But, was it really the truth she believed in, or was it the a different truth that was buried beneath those belief?

 

Tenshi couldn't care less.

 

Piecing her composure back again, she stood up, still staring at Protheus below her. She had answered the question, and that momentary flash of her showing a sign of weakness was enough. She wouldn't fall for this again.

“You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” Tenshi said coldly towards Protheus. No more answering. No more moments of vulnerability. If she would want to have any sliver of a chance to be able to attain her goal, she must exorcise any signs of doubts from her very being.

“Who knows?” He replied with a shrug, before looking at her directly, with a darker look on his face. “I believe that reality is how we ourselves perceive it to be. If the reality we perceive cannot be fulfilling, then either we make it fulfilling or we suffer in our attempts to do so. A living being that actively tears down their own reality… Well, why wouldn’t I enjoy watching something as pathetic as that?”

Being unable to lie, the words coming out of his mouth weren't what he intended to say, but the point remained the same, remained conveyed to this foolish little kid. Then finally, he began to raise his mysterious sword, and reassumed floating towards her, this time with a very clear and dangerous intent. The dark aura that smelled like blood surrounding him thickened as he did so, displaying a very real intent to cause her pain.

“I see that you’ve been blinded by the light of your ideals. Then, do me the honours of being the darkness that helps open your eyes to the cruel, hopeless thing we call ‘truth’. You need to see just how worthless this reality of yours is.”

Even though he was approaching at a slow pace and she could theoretically run at any moment, he had this certain unnatural confidence as he came closer and closer. His sword seemed at the ready, and as soon as he was in within range, it was apparent that he would strike her down if she didn’t do anything. Perhaps, it was possible he was goading her into retaliating rather than running away from this challenge...

As Protheus approached her slowly, the keystone she planted earlier when she skewered Aussa shattered, and the ground in a wide area around it started to shook violently as stone spikes protruded from the ground in random places there, before the ground itself collapsed, forming a great hole. Tenshi assessed that this would either force Protheus to move more predictably, or something else entirely. Tenshi had no idea, but the possibility of what could happen following that surprisingly thrilled her a bit.

At first, it seemed as though he was moving just as she’d expected, going out of the way to avoid being impaled by any of the spikes, cautiously maneuvering in the air as he did so to prevent being swallowed by the chasm. It was like he was wide open for another, final attack...

 

...but that notion quickly disappeared when he placed his hand on one of the spikes, channeling mana into it. All of a sudden, Tenshi’s own control over the destructive forces was being threatened by an invading influence, a corrosiveness that was slowly erasing her control and replacing it with another’s. The spikes grew even higher and even more numerous to the point that they were like a massive forest all to themselves, stretching almost a hundred meters in diameter, all attempting to reach out towards their original controller and impale her. By then, her opponent had already disappeared into them.

“Kuh-!”

Tenshi, not really appreciating Protheus taking over her assault attempt, summoned another mid-sized keystone which she immediately fired straight towards the forest of spikes. The sacred granite drilled through the stone spikes effortlessly, and as soon as it hit the bottom of the forest, the forest itself collapsed back into what the land was before Tenshi’s assault, as the keystone calmed the raging land. Yet he himself was out of her sight, having vanished, which really concerned Tenshi.

All of a sudden, the whole ground began to shake, as if a massive earthquake was occurring - one that was completely out of her control. In truth, since she’d made everything collapse, she technically aided in burying and distributing his mana all throughout the landmass, giving him a lot more to work with. Having taken control over the very earth, towering golems in the shape of the man himself began to form and rise up, yet despite their size, they were complete in only a few seconds and immediately went to trying to smash the girl out of the sky, like an annoying fly. As for Protheus himself...to her, it must’ve been very probable that he was still underground.

“The mother earth's not a toy fitting for you to play with, Protheus.”

The keystone that she had just buried underground not long ago shattered following a gesture from Tenshi, and then, everything around it simply fell apart. Collapsed. What was left in the end was a massive hole where the battlefield used to be, and below it was nothing but an infinitely vast display of the same grey sky that stood firmly above her. Falling down there would probably mean falling for eternity, not a pleasant fate for anyone stuck with it.

To avoid falling down, the gigantic earthlike golems - as strange and bizarre as it would’ve looked - grew rock-like wings that generated a certain aura, keeping them afloat. Not unlike angels of the world itself. Not amused at all by this, Tenshi finally decided to take a risk and jumped straight into one of the golem’s head, before planting her sword on it. The sword’s golden blade once again glowed as the golem started to fall apart. She then summoned her keystones and planted them on each of the remaining golems, using the keystone’s ability to “calm the land” to literally calm down and dismantle the violent earthen golems attacking her.

“I seriously have no time for this...”

 

The fact that she had lost Protheus from her sight and that her blindspot, by the virtue of having only one eye made her less capable to outright handle the earthly titans and Protheus himself up close with enough proficiency, started to annoy her. Summoning her standing stone back, she looked around to whether there was still any golems that was coming towards her.

However, rather than occupy herself with the golems, perhaps she should have focused more on actually covering that blindspot and defending herself. As soon as she’d assumed that all of them had been dealt with and he was too far away to do anything to her, he abruptly emerged from one of the disintegrating golems, having intentionally positioned it by her blindspot, and charged straight for her with his blade in hand, seizing the best opportunity to launch an assault.

“My, my, you sure are careless in combat, aren’t you!”

Before she could retaliate, or rather, strangely enough, before Protheus himself even reached her, a blunt force had smashed into her back and sent her crashing downwards into the endless sky below. Just as she passed by him in midair, he appeared to take the opportunity to lightly tap her back with his blade for no particular reason, with a sadistic smirk on his face. Like the face of a man who was enjoying the constant failures of a little kid.

It must've been apparent by then. Even now, he was still playing around her, not taking any of her efforts to take him down seriously.

“Hmph. Never mind the philosophy, how can you hope to save anyone if you’re this weak, little angel——?”
 

 

 
 

 

~ tragedy and fate ~

Once upon a time, there was a righteous, benevolent king by the name of King Arthur.

She was a king who valued upholding the ideals and dreams of all people above even her own self, yet in the end failed her own country. A rebellion had occurred whilst she was away, and when she came back, she was forced to participate in a civil war that ended in the Battle of Camlann, tearing the kingdom's foundation asunder and leaving it in ruins. Because of this result, she came to the conclusion that she herself was to blame for it, and henceforth embarked on a quest throughout time and space to obtain the 'Holy Grail', an artifact that could presumably grant her wish and change the fate of her homeland, Britain.

One of the places in which this quest of hers took place was a small town in Japan called Fuyuki, the autumn of 1994, over a thousand years into the future. She was assigned the name Saber so as to hide her true identity and told to fight amongst six other heroes in the modern world. They were to each be summoned by a capable magus that would act as their Master, and fight each other to the death in the modern world until only one remained. Only the last team remaining would be able to have their wish granted.

This was known as the Holy Grail War, and she intended to win it with the same ideals, the same chivalry that had sustained her throughout her whole life.

However, the very magus that had summoned her did not think the same. He was coldblooded and, throughout their entire time together, only spoke directly to her three times. Each time, only to issue one of the three commands he'd been granted as a Master. Not once did he acknowledge her. Not once did he respect her. The very thing she stood for, the ideal of being a 'hero', was to him nothing but a mockery that fooled everyone whom had followed her and led them to fight to their deaths in a pointless, suffering hell known as war.

She despised him just as he despised her, but at first she believed, or at least she tried to believe that they were alike. That despite their different methods, they had a common goal. Just as she fought for the sake of Britain, he was fighting for the sake of the entire world. Just like her, he'd thrown away his own self to shoulder the burden of strangers whom he would never know personally.

But as time went on, the very acts he committed during their short time together were so inhuman that, eventually, she found herself unable to believe in it any longer.

What kind of hero mercilessly murders innocents?

What kind of hero guns down his opponents without even a shred of honour to justify their deaths?

What kind of hero dares to say that all they ever accomplished was blind their own people and disguise all the bloodshed that occurred as something honourable, insulting the very sacrifices of all the real heroes that had lived and died throughout history?!

She tried to place her trust in him. Truly, she tried to respect the hardships that he had placed upon himself, but found that she could not. No matter how much he justified it with his own beliefs, no matter how many lives he did indeed save through his actions, how could he possibly be any different from a heartless, prolific mass murderer? Beyond everything else that she had experienced during those short two weeks, this was the one thing that she could accept least of all.

Even then, she wanted to believe that he was achieving good and justice just like her. That deep down, he was a good man.

And yet, in the end, just when they'd finally reached the end and the treu form of the Holy Grail had materialized, just when their very wishes for peace were about to be granted...

...he commanded her to destroy it.

In her last moments during that era, that was when she realized one thing.

To the very end, Arturia Pendragon could not accept the man called Emiya Kiritsugu.

 

"How are you alive?! Are you a member of the Divine now?! How did you make it here?! How can you possibly be here, of all places?! Have you fallen so far as to seek the Door of Origin...?!"

Despite the questions that she was firing towards him, the dark man in a trench coat continued to just stand there, gazing off into the distant. Even though he had definitely noticed her, he didn't bother for a moment to acknowledge her presence there, instead opting to take out another cigarette, light up, and put it to his mouth before dully breathing out a small haze of smoke. For him, it seemed that there was no point in addressing the nearby noble warrior, former Counter Guardian, and the Once and Future King.

"ANSWER ME, KIRITSUGU!"

At that, he turned, just a little, to take a glance at her from the corner of his eye.

"I see no reason why I should talk to such a hopeless monster. I could tell her, but I doubt she would listen." Kiritsugu said, in such a way that it was as if he were talking to someone else, rather than her.

"Do you hate me so much that you would insult me to my face...?!"

That attitude of his was only serving to make her even angrier, but she understood enough that she had to keep a grip on her emotions. This was an unknown situation with uncertain factors, and one wrong move could spell her death, especially when it was against such a cunning man. There was no telling what sort of tricks or traps he had prepared from where he was standing. Yet, he wasn't making it easy. He never did. Even though they should be similar, even though they should be walking on identical paths, why, why did he disgust her so much?

"I don't let my personal feelings get in the way." He answered, looking up at the ceiling as he put away his lighter. "I simply choose to believe in what's truly right, rather than delude myself with pointless fantasies of honour and righteousness. If there's anyone out there who refuses to accept such things even after facing it over and over, I won't mind. However... the fact remains that they are delusional."

"Kiritsugu... Even now, you still...!"

Unable to take being insulted and ignored anymore, Arturia assumed a stance with her newly-granted blade. If he wasn't on their side, then it should be clear that he was an enemy, whoever he was. And thus, no matter what they both believed in, he would be struck down here and now. Compared to her, he was but a mortal human who couldn't possibly hope reach the heights that actual warriors who staked their honour and risked their lives on the battlefield achieved. He couldn't dream of matching even a single member of the Counter Corps, with his distorted view on what being a hero meant.

"Who's to say... Who's to say what is right and what is wrong?" She questioned the man. "While you may indeed save the lives of many with your methods, by committing evil to stop evil, you will only bear more hatred into the world. And so, instead of stopping it, you will only be continuing a meaningless cycle of slaughter!"

Then, letting out a sigh, the man threw away his cigarette before turning to face her. The cold look he shot towards her and the manner in which he moved was all done in a tired manner, as if there'd been a little kid constantly bugging him about a certain something that should be obvious and he'd finally gotten sick of it, deciding to confront the matter head-on.

"King Arthur, are you not talking about yourself?" Kiritsugu responded coldly, addressing her directly for the first proper time ever. The tone he assumed was so sharp and filled with malice that, somehow, it surprised her. “Already you’ve sent billions of lives to their deaths in the name of glory, and the few you salvaged – calling them the Counter Corps and making them feel important – are there only to throw their own lives away for the sake of your success. Of your life. To all the nameless individuals around you, you’re the light that will save them, when the truth is that you’re only there to blind them so they won’t know they’re walking to their deaths for a cause that won’t accomplish anything but even more meaningless death. It has happened countless times in the past, it is happening right now, and it will continue to happen, so long as people like you exist, fooling others into dying for what’s just an empty ideal. A lie.”

 

"..."

 

For a moment, there was only silence.

As his words sunk in, Arturia stared down at the ground. Was he speaking the truth? She understood that it wasn’t true, that it couldn’t possibly be true, but she couldn’t bring herself to fully deny it either.

 

Now that she thought about it, all those nameless wraiths she’d had to face on the way here—was it possible that they were all representations? Of all those brave soldiers who charged for the sake of the King of Britain, as well as all those honorable warriors who fought unimaginable evil for the sake of the Counter Guardian? All the nameless individuals whom died in her name and hers alone?

An uncountable amount of innocents lost, only so that one could live on. The odds were so different it was repulsive…yet, they all died believing that they were saving more lives by keeping her alive. To them, it had been the right thing to do, and she truly valued their sacrifice from the bottom of her heart. But according to this man, the cause everyone she’d made fought for was a lie. That, as long as people died for her sake, it would only bring even more and more people to die for her sake as well. Although they believed that she would save many, according to this man the truth was that their very deaths were themselves a tragedy she was causing… An empty ideal.

 

~ the battle is to the strong ~

…No. It wasn’t an empty ideal.

“It’s not a lie… Emiya KIRITSUGU!!!”

The former Counter Guardian exploded at last, fuming with rage at her beliefs being continually insulted, and she found herself charging forth at him at an incredible velocity, boosting it with bursts of mana out from her feet. There was a distance of fifty meters between them and she was confident that she would be able to reach him before he could properly respond, and yet, just as she was halfway through, a massive line of explosions detonated all around her, obscuring her opponent as the large corridor was covered in smoke and flames.

 

Crude tactics like that were just like him, seeing as how he’d seize the first opportunity at victory—but they wouldn’t be able to stop an experienced Counter Guardian like her. Diving through the fire with her skin being somewhat burnt, she unleashed a blast of blue energy towards the area her opponent had last been standing, but it seemed that he wasn’t there anymore.

Do you think you can hide from me with just this?! So as to clear up the battlefield, she concentrated mana all throughout her body, before unleashing it all in such a way that it blasted the whole area around her, pushing back all the flames and smoke towards the walls and ceiling, as well as revealing Kiritsugu’s presence. He too had been hit, being slammed against the wall, and she didn’t hesitate to take this opportunity as she ran for him, ready to strike him down as soon as he was within range.

Then, just as she was close enough, the man performed something she hadn't been expecting by muttering “Time Alter – Double Accel” and then suddenly moving past her with inhuman speed he hadn’t originally possessed, before firing at her using the Calico. She managed to react quickly enough to roll out of the way, barely avoiding the rapid, deadly stream of bullets that trailed her, and then throwing herself upwards with her blade, deflecting the last dozen bullets as she did so.

Once the first wave stopped, she was able to process the fact that the helical design gave it a fifty round capacity and the weapon itself had a firing rate of eleven rounds per second, nothing too dangerous to deal with, but still challenging enough that she would have to pay close attention against the modern long-ranged weapon, especially given how she now had a more mortal body.

 

“Guh-” In fact, there had been a single bullet that managed to hit her, having wounded her left arm’s upper elbow in such a way that blood was beginning to flow down it, but the pain was something she could deal with, especially considering how she’d been through far worse in the past. At the very least, it hadn’t dealt any serious damage to her nerves or bone, and given a few minutes, she could probably heal such an insignificant attack. It wouldn’t distract her from the matter at hand.

 

But while that was standard, there had been something else about what just happened which wasn't quite right. What she understood about Kiritsugu and his skillset didn’t quite match with what he’d just performed to dodge her assault and get into position precisely enough to deliver one of his own. No ordinary human could go that fast, or rather, even if he was a magus, he shouldn’t have been able to outrun her like that so instantaneously. It hadn’t just been double speed, but more like he already had enhanced physical capacities from the start and merely amplified them with that Time Alter spell he’d used just then. Then...

“Are you really Emiya Kiritsugu?”

“Who knows? Perhaps I’m the real thing, or perhaps I’m nothing but a fragment of the worries that must lay deep within you. It shouldn’t matter.” He responded coldly, reloading his Calico from a distance all the while. “More importantly, if this cause of yours is supposed to mean something, then tell me. Why have you lied to the very warriors that follow and trust you as we speak?”

She frowned a bit. Did he not know? “Don’t be silly. I’ve told them the truth already. They know of the sacrifices that had to be done in order for—”

“Not that.” At this point, he seemed disgusted, as if merely acknowledging her existence was already repulsive enough to him. “There’s something more important than the method. The one thing that matters most—is the end result. And, as your duty as a Counter Guardian, you made them believe in something false. You, King Arthur, have made them fight for something that won’t come true!”

…

“That’s…”

Finally, it began to dawn upon Arturia exactly what he was talking about, and she found herself at a loss for words. In her hands, her sword was beginning to shake, and her resolve to defeat him was lowering. She opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. Just like that, she’d frozen in her position, standing there with a growing, foreboding feeling in her heart that wasn’t hard to identity. It was fear. Fear that the others would find out everything, prematurely, before the proper time came. If that were to happen, then there was a high chance that they would stop fighting for the same cause, and they wouldn’t be so unified anymore. She’d revealed to them part of the truth out of responsibility, but withheld the other part in fear, fear that they would no longer be able to willing to aid her in their cause.

She wasn’t sure how he had found out, but the fact was that he knew the true purpose of this mission. The true goal of the Counter Corps’ side of the Origin War that had been assigned to her, and the one thing she’d always avoided talking about in detail to them.

“Even though you’ve been cut off from the Throne of Heroes, I understand that there is no chance for you to deviate from your given task. Thus, this charade has to end.”

As she was locked in place, stricken with terror, Kiritsugu flung away his Calico before replacing it with a much smaller, but much more formidable one-of-a-kind firearm that he pointed straight at his opponent’s head. His Mystic Code and greatest weapon, the Thompson Contender.

 

It was a specialized single-shot pistol from the 1960s, and while it would normally be impractical for its bulkiness and high recoil, its true use lay in the Origin Bullets that it came with, bullets containing his own powdered ribs with the capacity to actualize the concept of ‘severing and binding’ onto all those it made contact with. Upon being hit, the victim would suffer a slow and unrecoverable destruction, eliminating their use of magic in particular, like a drop of water attaching itself to a highly complex electrical circuit, hence causing the current to destroy it from within.

If something were to be severed and then bound back, while it would be able to perform its original function, much would be lost along the way—that was the basic principle behind this weapon. Those hit would recover from the inflicted damage, but in an incomplete way that would permanently affect them in the future. And he was about to finish her off with it.

“Your tyranny ends here, King Arthur.”

Then, at that moment, before her mind could properly recognize the dire situation and bring her to move, Kiritsugu pulled the trigger and fired.

[Tesability Black]

~Counter Corps - Path of Death - Neos' POV~

 

Even with the speed the large avian was moving through the darkened path, its ears worked perfectly, allowing it to catch the tennis match of words occurring between others at the moment.
 

"Who's to say... Who's to say what is right and what is wrong," the bird of brown and cream heard, most-likely Arturia. "While you may indeed save the lives of many with your methods, by committing evil to stop evil, you will only bear more hatred into the world. And so, instead of stopping it, you will only be continuing a meaningless cycle of slaughter!"

 

"King Arthur, are you not talking about yourself?" The airborne creature hit the airbrakes at the new name, curiosity beginning to build while silently scolding itself for having been around a particular mage for too long. “Already you’ve sent billions of lives to their deaths in the name of glory, and the few you salvaged – calling them the Counter Corps and making them feel important – are there only to throw their own lives away for the sake of your success. Of your life. To all the nameless individuals around you, you’re the light that will save them, when the truth is that you’re only there to blind them so they won’t know they’re walking to their deaths for a cause that won’t accomplish anything but even more meaningless death. It has happened countless times in the past, it is happening right now, and it will continue to happen, so long as people like you exist, fooling others into dying for what’s just an empty ideal. A lie.”

The bird did its best to silently land behind a rock miraculously larger than itself before beginning to retake his human guise, doing his best to keep his normal glow as dim as possible as he did to avoid notice, trying to listen in to the exchange occuring between Arturia, the person he thought he heard and some other stranger, apparently someone named Emiya Kiritsugu.

“Don’t be silly. I’ve told them the truth already. They know of the sacrifices that had to be done in order for—”

“Not that.” At this point did Neos dare to peek his head beyond the rock he hid behind to get a better look at the pair, seeing the dsigust on the one he did not recognize. “There’s something more important than the method. The one thing that matters most—is the end result. And, as your duty as a Counter Guardian, you made them believe in something false. You, King Arthur, have made them fight for something that won’t come true!”

The smell of fear suddenly punched the false human in the nose soon after Arturia started showing physical signs, an unfortunate confirmation of the stranger's words. While he knew not the full story behind everything that happened between the Divine and the Counter Corps, nor knew the whole picture behind what was really going on, but right now, what's true or not about her past words doesn't matter.

What matters is getting as many people as possible through the Paths.

His eyes widened as the stranger aimed a new gun at Arturia at almost point-blank range, knowing full well that Neos could not throw any of his own aura around Arturia to create a shield fast enough, even after a fair few uses of Agility, nor could he body-check the jerk in time to make him misfire.

Wait, he couldn't see through the darkness of this Path with his Aura Sight, so is it possible that this path was filled with...?

Raising an open palm that now glowed toward the space between them, Neos began to strain his focus as the man began to pull the trigger...

 

"Arceus, Mother Hydaelyn, please let this work," he prayed under his breath as the jewel he always wore around his neck began to glow bright...

 

...the bullet stopped in mid-air and dropped to the floor, blocked for the most-fleeting of moments by a sliver of darkness from the Path of Death itself, which was sure to stun anyone at the sight. Standing up with now a fair bit of shake to his step from the sheer amount of energy burnt by manipulating a small sliver of the Path itself and after enduring a soul-piercing pain that he managed not to scream out from, Neos emerged into view with a straight face, trying to hide his new-found weakness behind the rush of adrenaline, though someone with a sharp eye would be able to tell that he just paid a heavy pricetag for an event that just happened.
 

"And killing her...or anyone upon the Paths will not aid in finding a way for all to get out of here alive..."

 

Looking down toward the prone Arturia, he looked at her not with anger, oddly enough, but with understanding. He knew what was like to hide things from others out of fear. Hell, the fact that his current boss was a telepath made him worried that he would find out about him.

 

He already knew that by manipulating the Aura of the Path of Death itself, he made himself unable to use any futher aura-manipulation abilities without potentially shattering his soul and killing himself for a fair bit. For anyone who could see the light of the soul, they would see that his has suddenly become extremely-dim...

 

Ending Location: A8

[Reinforce]

Chandra

Pathway of Truth: C6

 

Chandra crossed her arms, flames extinguished again for now, as she tried to keep up with that was going on. That was not made any easier by Jace's thoughts still being projected around, giving her hints that he'd felt worse than her flames, even as she tried to concentrate on what was being said. At the very least, the transforming man didn't seem to want to stop them from advancing, so she could stand back and watch on, keeping an eye out for anything else to come. When the man made his next move, levitating Jace up seemingly by his Spark, she grew more worried, but continued to just watch, not wanting to be caught in the same technique that was hurting the other planeswalker so much.

 

As she continued to listen in on the mind mage's thoughts, something familiar to her popped up in his mind, a being he knew who was similar to the one in front of him and happened to have been one of the Counter Corps members she'd noticed thanks to his mention of the man held up in front of her. Before she could say anything about that, his thoughts took a rather more disturbing turn, what seemed like a void down the pathway as well as two people, one of which that seemed to unnerve him in particular. Still, she could at least mention her knowledge, if only to try and partially break Jace out of his depression. Mind made up, a wry smirk covered her face as she spoke to the aura manipulator.

 

"You know, there is a man on the Counter Corps who looks remarkably similar to you, and seems to know exactly who Jace is. At the very least, he knew Jace well enough to give his full name and describe him well in a request to keep him safe." 

 

Ending Location: C6

[Tesability Black]

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

 

"You know, there is a man on the Counter Corps who looks remarkably similar to you, and seems to know exactly who Jace is. At the very least, he knew Jace well enough to give his full name and describe him well in a request to keep him safe."

Still holding Jace's chin in his wiry fingers, the stranger turned his head toward Chandra, his red eyes focused upon her form as his grin became a frown. "It's hard to not be aware of someone that is you, m'dear, and I believe Arturia now owes one big favor as well," he stated rather-cryptically, before turning toward Jace once more, with a slight grin on his face. "And the Pokemon comes scrambling for its master, it would seem. Way too typical, honestly."

"I'm not Neos'---" The next word he was about to say unexpectly hung in his throat, nor could he even finish the sentence in his head, strangely enough. The stranger blinked for a second at this break in thought before momentarily letting go of Jace's head, allowing it to fall forward again as he began a momentary maniacal laugh.

 

"Oh, how deliciously cruel and clever, I love it." Confusion crossed the mindmage's thoughts as the purple-suited man returned his gaze upon Jace, with hands outstretched to either side of him. "All words spoken cannot be a lie, and the purpose of the Path of Truth is to face whatever Truths you are unwilling to face. The Path itself already knows that as long as you can hide within your mind, you will never face such truths on your own. So by forcibly projecting what you're thinking around you, it's the same as if you're speaking your thoughts aloud." This time the grin went really wide, allowing a faint sparkle to come from one of his fanged teeth as he placed a hand on his hip and allowed the other arm to fall to his side. "You're being forced to face what you're unwilling to, even in your own thoughts. And here I thought all three Paths had completely defaulted."

 

If Jace had been able to recoil and step back, he would have taken several steps back away from this maniac. Unfortunately, he was still unable to move on his own, his own body weighted down in such a strange fashion as it was painfully held up by a single point of his soul. He wasn't even sure why he was here, he had only woken up at most a few hours ago after being forced asleep for just over a month. He didn't even know how he---wait, he did know how he wound up within that strange white room that he woke up in? But why couldn't he remember?

"Wow, and I thought my counterpart had erratic thoughts."

The sudden words spoken broke him once more out of his chain of thoughts before feeling his chin picked up once more. "And I now grow tired of waiting." He opened his mouth to reveal a glowing blue orb of energy near the back of his throat before forcing Jace's jaw to open and kissing him, using the four fangs among his teeth to keep the telepath from biting his tongue as he held down the mindmage's own down. The blue energy transfered easily from the stranger's throat into Jace's before it finally settled in his lungs. From the moment the stranger completely-locked lips with his own, he had become unable to breath, his body trying to breath through his mouth instead of his nose, despite that pathway being blocked off.

 

He didn't know why, but it felt like his lungs were filling with something other than air, and Jace managed to curl up his ten fingers and nine toes into themselves from the resulting pain, becoming increasingly light-headed after each split-second. The lines visible on his face and neck constantly-shifted between glowing and not and his now-twitching hands also did the same, like what power he did still have was beginning to short-circuit on him.

 

After five seconds, which felt like a minute at least for the mindmage, the stranger pulled away from the kiss and Jace fell back, clutching his throat as quite a bit of black mist came out through his windpipe and mouth. The still-unnamed shifter lifted a hand over his head, as if beckoning the mist to come to him, and it so did before he stepped aside, moving his hands about as if scuplting the blackness that came from within the telepath.

 

What formed was a being of shadow that looked surprisingly like Jace, only its appearance was more monochrome now than anything. Realizing that the fascimile wasn't opening its eyes, the man clicked his tongue as he picked up on Jace finally moving, though rather-gingerly, on his own. "It seems that I'm missing something, and I have a highly-good guess at what that may be, a little snip of the Eternities."

Had that black mist not left his throat so raw, he would have screamed for the man to stay away from him, the fear in his heart building swiftly after seeing the figure he was forming, the figure he had seen in the mirror and tried to punch out the face of. He had no idea how he was going to possibly deal with a possibly fully-powered double of himself when most of his own magic was robbed from him in one way or another, his Illusions stolen from him by the nature of the Path, his Water and Wind manipulation gone for a still-unknown reason, and none of his summons daring to answer his call. Because of this, once he had managed to stand up, he started stepping further and further back away until he tripped and fell back through the mirror he came through and landed upon his back. At least, on this side, no one could hear anything he was thinking, or at least it didn't feel like his thoughts were going everywhere around him. Though to be safe, he momentarily closed his eyes and mentally checked on the enchantments he had placed on him, relieved to feel a particular one still in place. Though that meant the Path was surpressing this same enchantment that prevented his thoughts from being broadcasted unless he wished to project them.

 

He did not even bother getting up from having his back upon the grass below him. Instead, he covered his face with his hands for a split, shivering from the experiences he's already had to deal with, including finding out that Ravnica, as well as the entire Multiverse, could be gone because he was taken away from it. That he was aware of, he had to go through these strange paths to reach what may be the key to restoring the Multiverse and bringing back the many lives that he himself has caused to end, most of them by the power of his own mind...including Kallist, his adoptive brother from Ravnica.

A tear fell from his eye as he found himself wishing Kallist to still be alive, even though he knew he wasn't. He knew Kallist was dead. Jace was the one that felt the blade that killed the body before his mind snapped back to his proper body, a blade that had been stabbed in by someone he once had feelings for. This Door of Origin could bring him back, hopefully.

 

Unfortunately, the mindmage was too much of a coward to allow his old wounds to reopen wider than before in order to reach this goal...and he knew it.

 

Jace uncovered his face as he looked up toward the sun-kissed sky, a wounded frown upon his face as he crossed his hands over his chest, surpressing a flinch when his fingers brushed over where his heart would be. "I must be the worst brother in all of the Multiverse," he managed to whisper to himself, his throat still spiking from pain from the millions of tiny daggers the black mist from within him had raked against it...

 

Ending Spot: C5 (Yeah, he actually moved back a space in the Path...)