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

[Gαr]

Gon, Path of Remembrance

 

Gon was happy to have Killua healed and Kite there. Kite was knocking Killua around, but he seemed to be enjoying the playful beating. He even let off a little lightning. Killua's giggling raised Gon's spirits. Not thinking of the potential pain it would cause Killua, Gon ran and hug tackled Killua through the snow and into a tree. Gon popped his head out from the top of the snow pile and shook the snow from his hair. Feeling around with his legs in the pile, he found Killua's face with the heel of his boot. Gon dug himself out first and then pulled Killua out.

 

"Ready to keep going, Killua? Kite, you want to come with us, too? Hopefully we won't meet any more Chimera Ants here, but we should be able to take care of them, especially with you here Kite."

 

Ed and Elsa, Path of Truth, A5

 

Luckily, neither of them had an overwhelming fear of heights, just a human, whelming fear of falling. The glass bridge clinked under each step which was both worrying and not worrying. The floating cherry blossom field kept them from thinking about the bridge.

 

Finally, Elsa took a chance and asked the prevalent question. “Since everything seems to be floating, and these Pathways always have the chance to kill us, what happens if one of us falls?”

 

“I can fly, to an extent.”

 

Elsa’s face became sullen. “If you can fly, then why didn’t you fly us over the lake?”

 

They made it over the bridge and Ed stopped on solid land. “I honestly did not think of that.” He made a weak attempt at a smile and chuckle, but Elsa just gave him a dirty look. Ed wanted to get off the subject. “You know, I’ve always loved cherry blossoms.”

 

Elsa went along with it. “So do I. They didn’t grow naturally in Arendelle, though, and I only ever got to see them in person when Anna and I would go with our parents on trips.”

 

That piqued Ed's interests. Ed wanted to hear more about Elsa, but a fairy appeared from a tree and floated down from its branches. The fairy was dressed in an interesting combination of a toga and a robe. It was colorful, too, as it was stitched together with colorful pieces of cloth. The cloths were rainbow, pink purple and blue, pink yellow and light blue, pink green and blue, and black gray white and purple. There were other colors, but those were the most prominent swatches. Ed instinctively went for his sword and Elsa flexed her hands. She is still new to this war, but she knew enough to not take any chances. Nothing prepared them for what the fairy was about to ask. “What is your sexuality?”

 

That caught them off guard. Ed’s hand let go of his sword and slouched. Elsa recoiled her head. “Excuse me? What does that have to do with anything?”

 

“Just answer the question ma’am.”

 

Ed placed a hand on her shoulder. Elsa was visibly shaken. “Do I…have to answer?”

 

“Yes, you have to answer my question.” Seeing that it was being rather brusque and wasn’t helping Elsa, the fairy loosened up. “Hey, there are more fairies who are gonna ask just as personal questions, so might as well get your personal life out in the open.”

 

Elsa groaned. Ed gave her shoulder a little shake. “I’ll go first if that makes you comfortable.” Elsa didn’t reply. Ed went anyways.

 

“I’m hella ace. I lust after a good fight, not necessarily a person.”

 

“You know, the funny thing is, I met a guy who said almost the same thing, word for word, but then he said he loved meat more. I think he wore a straw hat or something.” The multi-colored fairy shrugged. “Your turn, pretty lady.”

 

Elsa blushed at the comment. She composed herself, the off-handed comment giving back some of her confidence.  “Well…you said I was pretty lady and I like pretty ladies.”

 

The fairy crossed its arms. “So you’re a lesbian?”

 

“No, I’m not a lesbian. I like pretty boys, too. I’m…bisexual.” Elsa flexed her hands, cracking some of her fingers. She was clearly distressed by this line of questioning. “Happy now, fairy?”

 

The felt a little threatened and didn't say anything, but Ed did. “Wait, wait, wait…wait. What bothers you about being bi, Elsa?”

 

Elsa looked away from anyone’s eyes and rubbed her arm. “Back in Arendelle, there have always been a queen and a king. And as queen, I have to have a king. But I can’t necessarily. If I marry a male, they will say that I'm heterosexual, but I don't want my other attractions to be erased. If I marry a female, I’m a lesbian and I risk being ostracized by my kingdom for breaking tradition.There are plenty of same sex couples, too, but I like both sexes, so in order to validate myself to my people I must be in two relationship to show that I'm bi, right?”

 

Ed was rather surprised by this revelation, but he was glad to help another person become comfortable with themselves. “Elsa, I think what you’re describing, and worrying about, is polyamory. Just because you’re bisexual doesn’t mean you need to be in two relationships at the same time. Bi does mean two, but that’s only talking about your choices for sexual attraction. Bisexual is its own identity. Red and blue are separate colors, and when combined, make purple. Purple is its own color, right? No matter what shade it is, whether it’s more toward the blue end of the spectrum than the red or vice versa, it’s still purple. That’s bisexuality. Now polyamory, on the other hand, is the practice of being in multiple relationships with the consent of all the parties involved. Simple as all that.”

 

Elsa teared up and slowly wiped away the tears. Elsa was astonished by Ed's extensive knowledge of sexuality and metaphors. "How do you know so much about that kind of stuff?"

 

“I was raised by a priest and he always spread the message of finding oneself and knowing oneself. That was an integral part in being faithful to any sort of religious practice.”

 

"Thank you, Ed.” She wrapped her arms around Ed, wiping away her tears in his shoulder. Ed reciprocated the hug, lowering his head and whispering in her ear. “Have you noticed that you can’t say anything that wasn’t truthful?”

 

“About halfway through my confession.”

 

“Good to know.”

 

“So does that mean we can interrogate each other and get the absolute truth with every question?”

 

“I don’t think we’re forced to answer anything, but when we do speak, it’s not a lie.”

 

“Oh thank god.”

 

They let go of each other. The fairy had crossed its little arms and was tapping its foot in midair. “I’d like to get on with the questions please.”

 

“Oh, alright. Carry on.”

 

“What are your fetishes?”

 

“Nope.” Elsa jogged over and punted the fairy far out of sight.

 

“I actually wanted to answer that one.”

 

“And now you’re not going to.”

 

They weren’t far from the mirror that ended the cherry blossoms when a second fairy appeared. This one landed on Ed’s shoulder and only had eyes for him. “Lose the broad and then you can talk to me.”

 

“Hey, you came to me first, and who are you to talk about Elsa like that?” Ed looked at Elsa who was staring back and had a raised eyebrow. “Mind stopping while the Path does its thing with me?”

 

Elsa waved him off and Ed walked behind a tree. The fairy hopped off his shoulder. “Why are you here?”

 

“I could ask you the same thing.”

 

“It’s literally my job to do this stuff.”

 

“Alright, alright, I'll take, but uh, I don’t really know what you mean by ‘here’.”

 

The fairy did its best Tina Belcher sign. “God, you are dense. These questions are supposed introspective as well as extrospective. By ‘here’, I mean the Origin War.”

 

“I want to save my home.”

 

The fairy wasn't very satisfied with that. “That’s not your original reason for joining this war now, was it? You joined with the original Counter Guardian, right? What was his name...Emiya?"

 

Ed thought about that fateful day back on Lath. It seemed so long ago, and even though it was only a few days chronologically, he went through enough here to last a lifetime. He left everything behind, he left Dave, his apprentice, behind. He was even starting to forget Dave’s real name. He went through so much and is starting to forget important things for such selfish reasons. He knew he couldn't lie, but he still wasn't comfortable with why he joined, though.

 

“I wanted to get powers like his. He radiated this sense of power that was so foreign to me that I wanted to achieve them by any means. But I started to regret that selfish decision and now I just want it all to end.”

 

“So you regret ever coming here?”

 

Ed fell back against the tree. “Mildly…” Ed looked to either side of him, then looked straight at the fairy. "You know I’ve probably said more here than I have in the past 2 years."

 

“OK, now we’re getting a little meta.”

 

“What the hell is meta?”

 

While Ed was beginning his existential crisis, Elsa was patiently waiting under a tree. A fairy with a face a little too full of mischief sidled up next to her and asked, “Sooooo, do you have a crush on Ed?”

 

“What? Yes." As soon as she said that, her entire world imploded. "Wait wHAT,,,,nO…I mean yes. Goddamn.” Elsa covered her mouth with both of her hands to stop herself from saying anything else.

 

“Oh my god, I forgot this was the Path of Truth!” The fairy was losing its sh*t while Elsa stamped her foot and let out a muffled scream while her face was turning redder than Ed’s eyes ohmygod why am I thinking about his eyes!?!?

 

She peeled her hands from her mouth and pointed a very stern and queenly finger at the fairy. “I will subjugate you so hard if you continue existing when he gets back.”

 

Ed came out from around the tree. The fairy promptly left the two alone. Ed pointed after it with an equally mischievous look as the fairy's. “What did he ask?”

 

“Irrelevant to you,” Elsa said a little too quickly. Ed dropped the subject and they made their way to the mirror.

 

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

The Path of Truth:

 

‘Are you content with your present self’?

 

Standing there was a woman clad entirely in white robes, sections of the robes banded in gold to hold them together. They mostly covered her body, but in places, showed the gunmetal and silver cybernetics clashing with her pale skin and honey-blonde hair. Angular, regal features were mostly obscured, but held an understanding of what she was. The woman considered the defining moment of her journey through this Pathway, despite everything thrown at her.

 

 

She stood, as she did here, but inside of a white spherical chamber, one that she had reached from a strange mirror. What was reflected in the mirror was inconsequential to her, as was the vision before her. In front of her was a wooden rocking chair, well-used, but well-maintained. It sat across a rug from a fireplace, the fireplace brick and laid by gentle hands, the rug woven with love inside. However, while Chardonnay could examine every single facet of this scene, from the minute frays in the rug's relatively chaotic thread count to the very slight imperfections in the bricklaying that regular human eyes could not see, she did not understand how this was "ideal". The objects before here were nothing but imperfections, shoddy creations made with flawed human hands. It was only then, upon approaching the rocker, did she see why they were imperfect.

 

Sitting there in the ancient chair, fast asleep and bundled up in wool and cotton blankets, was a very old woman, her blonde hair now a deep white, and her face, so similar to Chardonnay's, filled with wrinkles and liver spots of old age. She possessed none of the cybernetics that were a blessing from her god, Z-ONE. She was old and frail and weak, and most likely millennia younger than Chardonnay. A pillow rested in her lap, where her wrinkled, calloused hands lay there. While she may have appeared to be dead, she was still alive. Chardonnay could detect her faint heartbeat, the slight movement of her lungs and chest, and the breath going in and out of her slightly open mouth. What Chardonnay still did not understand was why this was her "ideal". This woman was physically old, choosing to sacrifice the benefits of becoming her god's instrument to live out her natural life, despite the curse of flawed genetic encoding. Chardonnay, like many of her "peers" in the multiverse, had easily had the slight imperfections removed, the inability of her DNA to properly copy itself that caused the disease of old age to manifest. She clearly had not, and thus, on the larger scale Chardonnay operated on, her "ideal" self's life had been cut drastically short. So much she could have accomplished.

 

It was then that Chardonnay noticed what her doppelganger's hands were holding: a chain of silver beads with a white magatama at the center, one of the symbols of Z-ONE. Chardonnay herself felt her hand unconsciously trace itself up to her neck, where a seemingly identical magatama rested along a nearly-invisible chain. But Chardonnay's sensor suite in her eyes saw the difference. The real Chardonnay had had her magatama molecularly crafted using machines, each molecule of depleted uranium, modified to chemically be an incredibly pure white, placed to make a mathematically perfect magatama with no flaws. The ideal Chardonnay's by contrast, was carved wood with a white finish, but while the magatama both appeared identical, the enhanced vision Chardonnay possessed showed the human mistakes in her counterpart's object of worship. Everything about this woman was mistake after mistake after mistake. Why was she so ideal? Chardonnay pondered this for quite a while, until, she finally came to a trio of conclusions.

 

The first conclusion was that, while she, the real Chardonnay, had devoted herself to Z-ONE through her faith, sacrificing her humanity to become the perfect instrument of his will, she had never understood the love faith brought with it, simply the obedience. In contrast, while a flawed human, her ideal self had lived a full life filled with the love of her deity. That is why she is ideal. She had a grasp of concepts Chardonnay would never truly understand, and that was why she could die in peace as a woman.

 

The second conclusion was that the first conclusion was wholly irrelevant to Chardonnay's mission.

 

The third conclusion was the optimal method of defeating her ideal self, as the parameters of the mission required.

 

And so, Chardonnay positioned herself in front of her ideal self, gently removed the pillow from the sleeping woman's hands, made sure it was sufficient a tool to accomplish this task, and then forcefully pressed it against her ideal self's face, making sure enough circulation was cut off to prevent her from getting enough oxygen. Within a handful of seconds, Chardonnay detected erratic behaviors from her other self's organs, and, moments later, the ideal self passed away.

 

As the mirror world dissolved around Chardonnay, she withdrew the pillow to see that her ideal self still possessed the same gentle, serene expression of content she had before she perished.

Chardonnay unclasped the buckle at her chest, and the robes unfurled somewhat to reveal more clothing, and more cybernetics. Glowing purple gemstones, subprocessors, came from her wrists and chest, as well as between her bangs. Golden banding encircled her body, replicating the infinity sign her deity adored. Similar infinity symbols were on the "headphones" to either side of her face.

[spoiler=Chardonnay]

 

 

She looked up and asked back plainly, with virtually no emotion "Why are you asking me such a redundant question?"

A white aperture formed in front of her, and she stepped in.

[Love of Ghibli]

Team Dorian: Path of Truth

Butlerok rose from the floor in what was an oddly regular state. He didn't look different than the original Butler that had been escorting Dorian this whole time. But Yh Wach, with his almighty eyes could see the true monster that dwelled within that man. Yh Wach kept his guard up as he watched Butlerok examine his new body. Well this is a bit anticlimatic isn't it? He said very casually. Hmmm well allow me to finish you off then. Yh Wach drew his sword and unleashed a massive holy arrow at Butlerok. As the beam flew Butlerok did not move for he didn't see the need to. The arrow flew so far over his head that it completely missed. Both parties looked at each other quite inquisitive as they were both surprised that it happened.

Nani! Yh Wach exclaimed. He then proceeded to fire a volley of arrows at the new chimera of creatures. All of the shots completely missed Butlerok. Yh Wach was genuinely confused. This is the effect of my Mad Blood. Butlerok explained. This is known madness, the complete need to break free of your convention and your normality. To break free of your goals. Basically it is the truth of the world...in my blood. Impossible! I cannot fall under some measily genjutsu! This is not genjutsu, this is a way of life. Fine then let's use an attack that I know won't miss! Yh Wach exclaimed.

That won't be necessary Butlerok interrupted. Clearly you intend to use the bankai you stole from me, but it has already returned to its owner. The floor was immediately covered in fire and the ground erupted. Lava spewed everywhere and Butlerok simply looked at his opponent who pulled forth some crest badge like construct. Yh Wach stuck the badge out and tried to engulf Butlerok in flames. The flames literally danced around Butlerok until they became a figure above his head. It was literally the old Captain Commander with a complete flame body. In addition the mark of the Kishin appeared on his head. I told you. Though Denial is also a part of Madness. I think we will call this Zanka no Tachi: Broken Compass. You can't defeat me with these foolish tricks. Yh Wach roared as he tried to push his power to its limit. Oh that's...not going to help you at all. Yh Wach felt two sharp pains in his Achillies and he fell down face first. He looked back to see two massive hell hounds with the mark of the kishin branded on their heads. The beast dragged him as they were soon accompanied by a slew of fiery skeletons and demons. It was excessive to say the least.

Butlerok then walked over to the fallen quincy and tilted his head a full 180 degrees. I guess this is was a bit much for some rendition of a foe and not the real thing. Butlerok touched the Quincy's head with one finger and Yh Wach popped like balloon. Maybe a bit much. As his opponent was defeated he Butlerok looked left and right and he noticed that Dorian and Rhadamanthys were simply looking on at the battle. Butlerok snickered and pulled back all of the Mad Blood and Black Rukh he had spread so the team could see the area once again.

Well that just happened Dorian noted as he was looking at Butlerok who was still admiring his new form...and twisting his head back into the right position. How long can you maintain that form for? Rhadamanthys inquired in case of opportunities for future combat. Not entirely sure. Its not too long though. Soul resonance is forcing souls that wouldn't normally be in rhythm to do just that. By combining the souls of 3 different entities, it is hard for us all to be in perfect sync. So are you going to go back to normal now? Dorian inquired. No, I have an idea first. With the Rukh and the Alpha Stigma I should be able to immitate a certain magic I saw used before. Butlerok pulled out his gun and fired a bullet directly straight towards what he assumed was the right direction to proceed down the path.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Reimu Hakurei

Pathway of Truth

 

---

 

“The time for idle banter is over. Get out of my way, whatever you are. I’m really in a rush here.” The ‘other her’, or whatever she was supposed to be, had gotten on Reimu’s nerve for seemingly just being there to stall her and do not much else. Her crude attempt in mimicking her every move had made Reimu even more irked by the doppelganger.

 

“Well, so you’re getting mad just by me acting like this. Just like usual, you get irritated even by the smallest things. For someone that requires to be always impartial, isn’t this a bit bad?”

 

“I’ll exorcise you immediately if you did not comply.”

 

“Ah, violence is the only option huh? You know, when it comes to this, you’re really just a puppet in the end, no?

 

As the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, you are simply the puppet of your public image, your occupation, and the human village. You have barely any wills on your own, and you do things you don’t want to do simply because you’re told to do so by your puppet masters.

 

And now, even with Gensokyo going kaput, you’re still a puppet, this time to Yukari’s will. Pretty sad if I may say.”

 

Reimu was not sure whether the doppelganger was just trying to goad her to get more pissed off or whether she’s genuinely telling her off. Either way, she had succeeded in triggering the former, and without giving the doppelganger room to say anything else, an unimaginably thick wall of amulets had materialized around her, leaving her with no logical room of escaping. All of it, and the barrier that formed all around the doppelganger to keep her from escaping, had been set up just in a one-second period.

 

“Border World: Hakurei Danmaku Bounded Field!”

 

With the spell’s declaration, the innumerable exorcism amulets rushed immediately towards the doppelganger as the barrier around her shrunk violently. The attack would’ve been quite brutal even in Gensokyo, but without the Spell Card Rule limiting its lethality, Reimu could say that the doppelganger was definitely dead after the direct hit. Not that she really could feel bad for her, since she’s on her way, and she’s annoying.

 

“It’s not only you that can cheat, by the way.”

 

A slight movement on the air near her made Reimu quickly moved to her left and turned around, just as her doppelganger started firing at her.Reimu used her barriers to block the fire, before returning fire with her own amulets. The doppelganger dodged those amulets with ease though, and after Reimu’s attack ceased a bit, she took the time to stand still and look at Reimu mockingly.

 

“What’s wrong with you?”

 

“Shouldn’t that be my question to you, Reimu? You’re a real mess of a shrine maiden. You’re lazy, intolerant, hard to reason, hard to approach, and most of all, you’re a jerk.

 

I’m seriously wondering what kind of spell did you use on others so you can somehow be likable, me.”

 

“Tch, you talk too much.”

 

Before the doppelganger could start moving around again, Reimu had already appeared in front of her, and unleashed a barrage of somersault kicks at her in rapid succession, not giving her any time to recover or guard. Keeping on her attempt to press for more damage, Reimu coated her right hand in a barrier, and while the doppelganger was still dizzy, Reimu punched her as hard as possible towards the ground, and before the smoke had even cleared, several multicolored giant Yin Yang orbs floated all around her.

 

“Spirit Sign: Fantasy Seal!”

 

And, as the spell was declared, the orbs rained down towards the doppelganger, and when the last orb hits, a great explosion happened on the impact site, pushing Reimu away from the area for a bit. Once it was said and done, Reimu stood still for a bit to see if the doppelganger was still around or not-

 

“I won’t die to something like that.”

 

“You should stop talking, it’s annoying.”

 

“How about n-“

 

The doppelganger was surprised when she felt a sudden strong hit right at her stomach, followed by another hit on her back. Thinking that Reimu was currently behind her, the doppelganger shielded her back using several layers of barriers and fired off her own Fantasy Seal at the direction. But, just as she turned around, pain crept all over her body as Reimu landed a solid kick to her back, followed by a chop to her neck. Pissed off, the doppelganger grabbed Reimu’s leg and trapped the shrine maiden into a closed barrier field, which immediately shrunk rapidly in an attempt to implode and crush her target.

 

“W-wha?”

 

But, much to the doppelganger’s frustration, the “Reimu” she was holding was apparently merely a copy made out of amulets, and just as she was distracted by it, Reimu approached her rapidly before unleashing two consecutive jabs to her chest, before ending it with a powerful punch backed up by several layers of barriers. The attack knocked back the doppelganger away. When she recovered from it, she tried to find Reimu in the sky, and not long after, she managed to locate her. She was floating still right above her, her face not showing any expressions. And seven shining yin-yang orbs were floating around her.

 

“Fantasy Heaven!”
 

And then, a bright white light engulfed everything on sight when Reimu’s final spell card was declared.

 

 

“Yeah, all that you said about me is sadly correct. I’m a jerk, I’m hard to approach, I’m hard to reason with, I am a slave to my own reputation, and all of that. Yeah, I want to have actual friends even if my personality and attitude didn’t really help me in that regard. And me trying to do all that Yukari ordered to me even to the letter right now do make me a bit pathetic.

 

I’ve realized all of this for a while already, and yes, this does bug me a lot. I want to do what my heart told me to do, not doing what my job tells me to do. I want to act like what I want to act, be friends with who I wanted to be. I want to understand others, so I can actually be close to them instead of having this gap separating them from me. If that’s what you wanted to say, then yeah. I am all that you’ve said, and there’s no point in me denying that.

 

But you know what? You’re on my way, and that’s simply annoying. I’ll go fix myself when I’m able, but right now, I have worlds to save.

 

Goodbye, me.”

 

Not even bothering to look back at the complete carnage she created back there, Reimu nonchalantly walked towards the portal at the end of the world, and returned back to the pathway, with Revy being there leaning on a wall, presumably arriving quite earlier than her. It looked like the next part of the pathway would either involve some freefalling or some sky platforms, both which seemed to be an option. Flexing up her muscles a bit, she then approached the girl with the gun while wearing a smile on her face.

 

“Hey, sorry for keeping you waiting here, Revy. You still want to reach the end of this along with me?”

[Kingdom Xathers]

Team Lombax - Pathway of Death: C3

 

“... wait, everyone, stop!  Hey!  I said, “STOP”!!”

 

*KLANK!!*

 

Alister found himself slamming face-first against the inside of a massive, dome-like cage, the outside of which had golden spikes placed at each bar’s intersection.  “Argh…!  Dammit, Alex!” Alister cursed out as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, partly fearing that it may now have gotten flatter from the impact.  “Why the hell would you do that?!  We don’t have time to waste, we have to move!”

 

“Haven’t you been noticing, Alister?” Alexander asked as he shifted back into his original form, unfazed by Alister’s outburst.  “That our light source is growing dimmer the further along we go?  We barely have enough to see past a couple yards ahead, now!  What if we come across a pit, and we can’t see it because we’re going so damned fast?”

 

Alister seethed impatiently. “Then we’ll fly. We don’t have time to waste here, as every second we do, Red gets closer to leaving Death; and we’ll probably never catch him once he makes it into Truth.”

 

“Fly?  In this darkness?” Umbris cut in just as Bayonetta joined them along with Clank and Gabriel.  “General, I hope you haven’t lost your marbles already.  The only things that can fly in this darkness are bats, which only myself and Cereza are capable of turning into.  And Clank doesn’t have any alternative Vision Settings, either, so no luck there.”

 

“I don’t care!  I just want this damned cage out of the way so we can go!  Alex, remove this thing, NOW!” Alister demanded as he turned to grab a hold of one of the cage’s bars, shaking back and forth as he tried to budge the cage.

“Alister, please,” Alexander begged as he grabbed hold of Alister’s left shoulder, “just calm down for a sec--”

“DON’T FUCKING TELL ME TO CALM DOWN--!!”  Alister sharply turned around, the first thought he attempted to put into action was to elbow Alexander in the face.  However, he stopped and caught himself just as his elbow was an inch away from Alex’s cheekbone, the other lombax having flinched when it seemed he would be hit. A cold chill ran through his spine upon realizing what he was about to do, and especially reminded of what Sniffles had done in his continuity.  “... … I’m sorry, Alex,” he apologized as his anger lessened a bit, turning away from Alexander out of shame.  “I don’t mean to hurt you, I just… … look… after all that bullshit I just went through in deciding to finally keep living, he went and took it all away from me, just like Tachyon had. Without Ratchet... I have nothing left to live for now. I don’t care what happens to me, I just want Red to pay for what he did. And the more we delay, the greater chance he has of getting away.”

 

“... I know, Al,” Alexander replied, slightly teary-eyed.  “I just don’t want you to let your anger blind you like this… Ratchet… made that same mistake, and now… … look, he wouldn’t want you to die like this.  Kaden wouldn’t want you to die like this….”

 

“I’m not planning on letting Red kill me Alex… and, this time, he won’t be fighting someone who’s alone either,” he added as he turned to address the group as a whole.  “I’m not asking you all to fight him for my vengeance, but to avenge Ratchet... he deserves that much at least.”

 

“And avenge him, we will,” Bayonetta replied with a nod. “And not just him, either, but all those we have lost in this war…,” she added calmly, her expression solemn yet determined.

 

“It’s not like we need to rush this anyways,” Gabriel declared loudly, to make sure he had everyone’s attention, “because, if all the Pathways are the same in how they work, then there’ll be only one way out of here” he explained, holding up his entire stuffed paw and secretly wishing he had fingers. “So, we only just need to keep a decent pace, since, if that battle was any indication, Red’s most likely been injured again. He won’t be able to rush this Pathway. So, all we need to do is keep a brisk enough pace to beat him to the end, then we just wait for him. He can’t escape us if we corner him.”

 

“Gabriel is right about Red’s pace, at least,” Clank replied slowly, still somber as he was in the midst of his silent mourning for Ratchet.  “All we have to do is let him come to us, if he, of course, survives with the injuries he’s sustained.”

 

Alister bit his lower lip at this.  No, he wanted Red to live, if only so that he could pass his judgment on the dragon.  Him dying before then would be like letting him off scot-free. He could just see the dragon smirking at him in his mind, moments before dying somewhere in the darkness.  No… not until he answered for what he had done.  Then, and only then… would he have Alister’s permission to die.

 

Alister’s train of thought was cut by a clicking noise nearby.  Just a few feet away, Umbris, now with his ears shaped like those of a bat, seemed to be scanning the area, making an odd, sharp clicking sound with his mouth as he turned his head.  After a while, he hummed to himself as his ears returned to normal.  “Well… this may be a problem,” said the Neo-Spacian.  “My sonar picked up on multiple, branching paths up ahead.  Bridges, with no guardrails or anything else to keep us from stepping off.  I couldn’t see too far ahead, but I know there’s at least three bridges ahead of us.  Just stay calm, walk carefully, and we should get across them just fine.”

“Think we may need to split up, just in case?” Alexander asked.  “I mean, we could easily cover more ground that way.”

 

“In that case,” Bayonetta replied, “how do you suggest we split up?”

 

“Well,” Alexander thought for a second, “you’re pretty strong on your own, Cereza, so I’ve no doubts that you can handle yourself, although I know you’ll be taking Gabby with you regardless.  Alister and I, though, should probably stick together, what with his bum-arm and all.”

 

“”Bum-arm”?!” Alister snorted incredulously.  He took a moment to inspect his right arm, first by moving his fingers and rotating his wrist, then unbending and bending his elbow.  There was still some soreness, partly from the inactivity, but otherwise, his arm was back to normal.  “Heh… well, how ‘bout that?” Alister uttered in slight awe, a little smile forming on his lips as he continued to stretch out his right arm, making sure that everything else was working properly.

 

“Well, I stand corrected,” Alexander said happily, glad that Alister was as close to 100-percent as possible again.  “I still stand by our pairing-up, though; we can try and cover for each other’s weaknesses better.”

 

“Either way, good luck to you all, and see you on the other side” Gabriel declared.

 

“Thank you, Gabriel,” Alister replied with a nod to the plushie, before turning to leave--

 

*KLANK!!*

 

“Oh, shit, I forgot the cage!” Alexander yelped as Alister had once again smacked face-first against the Nightmare Steelcage.

 

“Indeed, we all did, Alex,” Alister grumbled with a nasally accent, a hand held over his hurting nose once more.  “Now, if you would kindly….”

 

“Right…,” Alex uttered sheepishly as he disengaged the Spell, causing the Cage to vanish.  “Be careful, everyone,” Alex said to the others as they proceeded to walk along the bridge before them.

 

 

Meanwhile, a Peek at Sayer… (inside E9)

 

“Pfft, I didn’t realize the Pathway of Death was a make-it-yourself deal,” Sayer remarked sarcastically as he surveyed the results of his little rampage; the corridor found it fitting to present Sayer with some of his most hated adversaries, those who have, at one point or another, stood in his way or opposed the Orichalcos as a whole.  Over in one corner lay the bodies of Joey Wheeler, Seto Kaiba and Yugi Muto; as well as three familiar knights draped in armour of blue, red, and teal. “Ha, where’s destiny now b****?!” he spat, kicking the knights for good measure.  Close by were three others: Yuri, Idris, and Gabriel.  These three, too, were also chosen by the Knights of Legend… but a fat lot of good that did them.

 

“Ha ha ha ha ha, oooohhhh I haven’t gotten to enjoy myself like this in such a long time. Maybe I should’ve savoured it a bit more” he mused, but snorted in derision as he surveyed the damage. “Nah!” he declared to the deceased, before laughing again.  “Hoo~ wow, I haven’t acted like this in such a long time.  I had almost forgotten what it’s like to let loose like this.  Ooh, of course, being the calm, snarky, black comedy type has its merits, too… but sometimes, a guy just needs to go on a killer rampage, if only just to relieve some stress.”  He chuckled to himself a bit more calmly as he scanned the area some more, glancing over all of the other persistent thorns-in-his-sides… ….

 

… … until his eyes settled on one who was just not quite dead yet, and his mouth spread from ear to ear in a viciously toothy grin upon seeing who it was: sprawled out on his back, his white fur stained in blood (most of it his own), and covered in multiple deep lacerations, was Alexander.  The lombax gurgled a bit of blood in his mouth as he tried his best to move, which was a difficult task, what with both legs snapped at the kneecaps and one arm torn cleanly off.  “Oh, my~ how delightfully delicious,” Sayer hissed happily, practically licking his lips with anticipation.  “I get to play just a little longer after all…!  Lucky me~!”

 

Sayer chuckled cruelly as he squat down next to the maimed lombax. “Going somewhere?” he inquired curiously as the lombax gurgled something. He placed a curt hand to his ear. “What’s that~? Sorry, could you speak up? Apparently I’m blind AND deaf,” he remarked playfully as he grabbed Alex by the scruff of his neck, and with one clean movement he jumped back up and flung the lombax at a wall, leaving a blood soaked splatter, and one very unhappy lombax.

 

Sayer regarded the blood splatter critically. “Hrmmm… it’s okay work, young man, but if you want to get into the big leagues of art you’ll need to try harder than that. The paint hasn’t even dried yet,” he said chastisingly to the crumpled and broken body. He sighed in feigned annoyance as he threw his hands up in the air and shook his head. “Nothing to say that? Dear me boy, whatever shall I do with you? You know I try and I try, but it seems my lessons never make it into that thick skull of yours,” he declared pertinantly, grabbing Alex by his throat and raising him up to eye level.

 

He smiled callously as Alex struggled pitifully in his grasp, the One-Handed Samba being his best act. “Dearie me, this was kinda fun you know that... but you’re boring me now,” Sayer said with no hint of mirth as he brutally snapped the lombax’s neck. The body fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes, and that was that. “Hmm, if I knew the Pathway of Death was going to be this much fun I should’ve saved it until last,” he commented, his smirk brought right back to his face again…

 

... at least for a few seconds before another sound caught his attention; he quickly turned around and dodged just as a bolt of lightning struck where he stood.  “Huh.  This place has just about the freakiest weather patterns,” he uttered to himself, even though he knew better.  Scanning around for the source, Sayer caught sight of a familiar crimson-scaled dragon, also about as badly tattered as the other victims, in the midst of scrawling out a lightning bolt shape before him.  “Oh, hello there, Red,” Sayer spoke calmly.  “I see you’re practicing your art skills as well.  I do hope you’ll be a much better student than Alexander here; I would just hate to have to flunk you, too--”

 

“SHOCK!” Red growled mindlessly, flinging yet another bolt from on high to smite Sayer.  With an unamused sigh, Sayer gave a snap of his fingers, calling upon Garlandolf’s arm to block the spell.  The massive fiend gave off a grunt of discomfort as the electricity ran along his arm into the rest of his unseen body.

 

“Oh, don’t be such a baby,” Sayer chastised the demon, clicking his tongue.  “Now, make yourself useful and dispose of this eyesore,” he commanded.

 

“... very well,” Garlandolf sighed out in forced obligation as the rest of his imposing figure materialized into view.  Just as he did before, Garlandolf gathered a sphere of dark energy into his open palm before firing it straight at the dragon.

 

However, Red had already prepared his next act; with a large “X” scrawled out before him, the dragon called upon his next attack: “BANISH!!”  A burst of violet light flashed from the insignia, striking Garlandolf’s attack just as it was a mere few yards from hitting Red.  But it didn’t stop there, as the energy sphere had now made a sudden reverse, shooting back at its sender.  Garlandolf could not react in time as his own attack struck him in the chest, howling in excruciating agony as his body began to dissolve into purple particles at the point of impact.  Sayer could only watch in furious shock as his most trusted monster dissipated before his eyes.

 

“... you’ve lost me my SERVANT!” Sayer hissed at the dragon.

 

“You shall not harm Harry Potter!” Red replied defiantly, despite the original not even knowing what that even was.  “... oh, wait, I mean, tough shit, Sayer. Are you really going to keep hiding behind him forever?”

 

“... oh, wait, why am I even mad?” Sayer blurted in realization, bouncing back to his previous behaviour.  “I’ve got about three of his card, so I can just summon him again.”

 

Red wasn’t about to wait for Sayer to call Garlandolf back into the fight.  As quickly as he could, the dragon scrawled another “X” before him.  “BANI--HERK?!”  Before he could call on another Banish Spell, a spherical, eye-like object zoomed its way into Red’s open maw and down his throat, lodging itself in his esophagus.

 

Sayer clicked his tongue again, shaking his head as he watched Red choke on his R.O.D.  [[Hey!  Shut up!]]  “Goodness gracious, Red,” he said, putting on his best “disapproving parent” act.  “Don’t you have any proper table manners?  This is what happens when you try to eat so fast: you don’t chew your food properly, you talk with your mouth full, and lo and behold it ends up getting stuck in there.  Just what am I going to do with you…?”  By this point, Red’s face was turning violet from the lack of oxygen.  “... oh, but I suppose I should try and help you clear your airways,” Sayer added, another twisted grin slowly spreading across his lips as his eyes flashed with a murderous red glow.

 

Red gasped (or at least tried to, all things considered) as he felt the intrusive eyeball in his throat start to expand, forming a large lump in the middle of his long neck.  He tried to crush the R.O.D. by pushing his hands down against it, hoping to squeeze it out of his mouth, but only succeeded in adding to his own discomfort (UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE MONTH).  His own eyeballs were starting to bulge out of his head as the R.O.D. had now expanded to be larger than his head, with no signs of stopping any time soon.  Eventually, the sound of vertebrae snapping, crackling and popping heralded the utter rupturing of Red’s neck. With a spray of viscera, Red’s head and part of his neck popped off, sailing sideways as his body seized up and collapsed backwards.

 

“... well, that was nothing short of amusing,” Sayer chimed, though he couldn’t help but frown. “Kinda wish it hadn’t gotten stuck in the neck though.”  Okay, that was a lie, but what did it matter?  Still, he couldn’t help but feel that he was forgetting something.  Now, what could it possibly be?  He pondered this as the sound of a battle cry began to grow louder and closer.  “... ah, right.  Now I remember.”  Quickly, he turned and reached his hand out, clamping tightly around the neck of Alister Azimuth, who was prepared to strike Sayer down.  The sudden stop caused Alister to lose his grip on his Z-Wrench, sending it hurtling behind Sayer as it clattered against the floor.

 

“Alister, dahling~!” Sayer chimed in the cheesiest, most flamingly flamboyant manner yet as he kept the struggling lombax held a foot or so above the ground.  Almost in the same breath, he snapped his fingers again, sending a multitude of R.O.D.s converging on the Z-Wrench, destroying the weapon with a violent explosion.  “I was just thinking about you, what a coincidence~!  Ohh, sweetheart, you and I have SO much to catch up on--!”  Sayer’s act was cut short when Alister, in a fit of defiance, spat a bloody loogie into his right eye.  “... okay… ew.  That was not a nice thing to do, you know,” he grumbled as he used his free hand to pull out a handkerchief to wipe the saliva out of his eye.

 

“Fucking… kill you…!” Alister growled out as best he could, what with Sayer’s grip restricting his airways.  “I’ll… fucking… KILL YOU!!”

 

“And just how,” Sayer demanded with a bored look on his face as he tossed the handkerchief into Alister’s face, “do you propose to do that?  Y’know what,” he added as a thought crossed his mind, “better idea: why don’t you and I sit and have ourselves a little chat?”  With that, Sayer proceeded to chokeslam Alister into the floor.  As the General was disoriented from the impact of the slam, Sayer took the opportunity to nail a few Orichalcos shards into Alister’s limbs, pinning him to the ground.

 

[♫♫] “... y’know, Alister,” Sayer continued as the lombax groaned in pain while struggling to free his limbs, “I’ll be honest here; the moment I laid my eyes on you--okay, sure, they were just my R.O.D.s, but same difference--I just felt this… strong emotion well up inside of me.  I didn’t really know it then, but… I had come to realize one thing,” he said in a low, rumbling, breathy tone as he proceeded to straddle Alister’s hips. “I just… HAD to have you.”  Running a hand along the General’s chestplate, Sayer’s other hand ran along the inseam of Alister’s thigh. Sayer’s lips were a mere inches from Alister’s, a moist wet tongue running along his smirking lips.  “I just had to make you mine.  You… oh, Alister, you had just what I needed.”  With a sudden, swift movement, Sayer broke off Alister’s chestplate, and then tore off the top half of his bodysuit with another, revealing his manly lombax chest beneath it.

 

“Wh-what the fu-what is even--?!” Alister stammered, the sheer awkwardness he was experiencing being enough to override the pain he was feeling right before Sayer began to do… whatever this was.

 

Sayer ran a gentle hand down Alister’s chest, the lombax’s breath getting caught in his throat at the almost too gentle touch. “I guess, what I’m trying to say, Alister…,” Sayer whispered genlty into the lombax’s ear as his fingertips trailed further down, tracing along the ripples of the General’s toned abs, “... … … is that I’ve always hated your guts.” [RECORD SCRATCH]

 

Alister wasn’t entirely sure whether to be horrified or relieved to be feeling pain again (hey, anything to forget the “foreplay” that just occurred, right?) , but there he was, howling in agony as Sayer dug his fingertips through the General’s abdominal wall.  The Sinister Schemer chuckled darkly as he crammed his hand inside before pulling it back out, Alister’s entrails firmly in its grasp.  He took a moment to let Alister see his own guts before proceeding to tear out more, until the entirety of the lombax’s intestinal tract was now outside of his body.  By that point, Alister was in far too much pain to even scream anymore (of course, steadily bleeding internally also does that to you).  “Yes, I have always hated your guts, Alister,” Sayer repeated as he once more reached into the gaping hole in Alister’s torso, this time reaching upwards until his hand was within the ribcage, “... but I have always wanted… your heart.”

 

Squeezing tightly, Sayer ripped Alister’s heart out clean from his chest, taking some of the major arterial lining with him. “Yes, you have such a beautiful heart Alister,” Sayer purred as he kissed the still beating organ. “Such a pity it had to be bound to a pitifully weak mind.”  Once the last of Alister’s life faded from his eyes, Sayer dismounted the lifeless body.

 

“... oh, for the love of--I swear I need a new act,” Sayer blurted out as he played his little performance over in his head, absentmindedly taking a bite out of Alister’s heart like a piece of fruit.  “That being said,” he continued in-between taking another bite out of the heart, “I just wonder what else this corridor has to offer.  Well?” he called out, hands raised as if expecting an immediate answer.  “Got anything else you’d like to send my way?  I’d like to know that the next toy you throw at me will keep me entertained.”

 

“Perhaps I could entertain you, then….”  

 

Sayer did a spit take upon hearing the voice that had addressed him.  “You?!  But--how did you-when did you--?!” Sayer stammered, genuinely shocked for the first time in forever by what he was now seeing before him, that being the lizard-like Kyros.  “What kind of disgusting joke is this?!” Sayer growled in furious disbelief.

 

“You asked, and now you’re complaining when you got what you wanted? How very like you, “Sayer”,” Kyros remarked offhandedly as he slithered a bit closer.  “To think that the Orichalcos would craft something as petulant as you and base it off my likeness. It’s so embarrassing.”

 

“Hey, at least I still look like you,” Sayer retorted.

 

“Ooooooh~  What’s next, a “Your Mama” joke?” Alister’s corpse laughed.

 

Sayer slowly turned around to look at Alister’s corpse, actually blinking a few times to see if his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him.  “... … did… … did you just…?”

“Oh, how absolutely precious~! Sayer’s all confuzzled,” Red’s decapitated head was next to speak, the rest of his body jiggling as if it were in the fits of laughter.

 

“¿Qué paso, Sayer?” Gabriel’s corpse chimed in.  “I thought reanimated corpses was your thing?”

 

“What’s this about “gay” something…?” spoke Joey Wheeler.

 

“Oh, Jesus Christ, Wheeler, learn your Spanish,” retorted Seto Kaiba.  “Besides, the only thing gay around here was that whole foreplay scene Mr. Eyeballs over there just did… and Yugi’s leather pants.”

 

“Bitch, you just mad ‘cuz I look good in them,” Atem snapped back with some sass.

 

“You’d think an Agent of the Orichalcos would do a more efficient job,” Critias remarked in a smarmy way, “at least Dartz managed to turn us into Dragons.”

 

“And he had better-looking hair, too,” Hermos added.

 

“And better ways to hurt people other than giant fucking eye balls,” Timaeus finished for good measure.

 

“Okay, what the fuck is going on here?” Sayer demanded angrily, “cause, last time I remember--which I should, it was literally minutes ago--I murdered you all in cold blood. And as I also recall, I didn’t bring any of you back, especially not just to make snarky comments and gay jokes. Now, I’ll only say this calmly one more time, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!  Oh, I’m sorry,” Sayer added with a slight, embarrassed-sounding chuckle, “I’m usually far more composed.  I’m just a little bit--absolutely livid.”

 

“Oh, don’t be such a woman, Sayer,” Alexander’s corpse chided as he slid into the frame.

 

“SHUT UP, YOU!!” Sayer shrieked as he punted Alexander’s head clean off his body.

 

“Isn’t this all obvious “Sayer”?” Kyros inquired in a tone suggesting it was the most obvious thing in the world, “this is where you finally pay for your crimes. Here, you can’t hurt anyone anymore. Those ‘people’ you claimed to have killed in cold blood, they’re still here. And so am I. Now, I’m going to take my life back from you.”

 

“Oh, and just how do you expect to do that?” Sayer replied, fuming. “OkayyouknowwhatnevermindIdon’tevenfuckingcareatthispoint.”  Quickly calling up ten R.O.D.s, he proceeded to have them all fire a barrage of lasers at Kyros, intent on blasting the reptilian creature apart.  The R.O.D.s unleashed their brutal salvo on Kyros, who wasn’t even reacting as an enormous cloud of smoke covered him. Those R.O.D.s just kept going, unleashing their salvo all over Kyros. I didn’t even know such magnificent balls had so much in them. Sayer chuckled to himself merrily. “Oh, yes, you’ll totally take your life back right Kyr-Oh, what the fuck, man!?” he demanded as the smoke cleared, and Kyros was completely unharmed.

 

“Looks like you’ll need robot ears to go along with those robot eyes of yours Sayer, cause clearly you didn’t hear me say you can’t hurt us anymore.”

 

“THEY’RE FUCKING ORGANIC, YOU DUMB TWAT!!” Sayer shrieked.

 

“So, you’re saying you’re a Vegan?” Alexander’s head asked Sayer as it floated up to him.  “‘Cuz, y’know… there’s a very special sort of Hell for Vegans--OOF!”  The disembodied head barely finished his thought as Sayer once again punted him away.

 

“Pfft, and I thought WE had anger issues eh Alister?” Red’s disembodied head laughed.

 

“Yes, well, we handle our issues very differently, don’t we Red?” Alister replied.

 

“Oh yeah, we just kill the ones we love instead of random strangers, because we do it out of love instead of feelings of inadequacy. Makes you wonder if the size of those balls is compensating for something,” Red smirked.

 

“Guess that would mean his “Divine Serpent” isn’t much of an “Anaconda”, huh?” Alister laughed out loud.

 

“More like an earthworm, if you ask me,” Gabriel chimed in.

 

“Oh my god, this is seriously happening,” Sayer uttered flatly.  “This is my life right now.  And it’s going straight down the sh*tter.”

 

“You mean it wasn’t there already?” Atem remarked sassily.

 

“It’s probably there with Wheeler’s dignity and Tristan’s importance,” Kaiba added.

 

“‘Ey, at least I don’t have an infatuation with my dragons,” Joey retorted.

 

“No, that’s what the fursuit is for, isn’t it?”

 

“I’m gonna “NYEH” you into next week.”

 

“Is that another way of saying “yiff”? ‘Cuz if so, no thank you.”

 

“WILL ALL OF YOU JUST SHUT UP!!!” Sayer screamed, all composure lost.  “For the LOVE of all that is even REMOTELY decent, just SHUT your blasted mouths!”

 

“I thought you liked to have nice friendly chats “Sayer”,” Kyros remarked with pouty lips that blew into a smile, “or would you rather make out with Alister’s corpse again?”

 

“Excuse me, but I thought it was already established that I was the one shagging with Alister,” Red’s head chimed in.

 

“Wait, so we ARE a thing?” Alister blurted.

 

“Well, if the writers and their antics are any indication, the gay jokes will continue to be a thing for a while. Might as well go with it since they’re going to happen anyways.”

 

“... … so, am I going to get some head?”

 

“Alister, I’ll give you ALL THE HEAD!”

 

“Oh for fuck’s sakes, I did NOT sign up for this,” Sayer groaned as he watched Red and Alister attempt some odd kama sutra.  “Can we please just skip to the part that actually matters?” he asked Kyros, practically begging with his eyes.

 

“Oh fine, I think we’ve tortured you enough now. Sayer, you can’t win. No matter how hard you try, no matter how many innocents you maim, in the end, you can’t win. It’s as simple as that. I WILL get my life back, and I WILL end you. That’s not just a badass boast, it’s practically destiny,” Kyros declared.

 

“Indeed, you simply can’t win because you’re just a pathetic, lonely child lashing out because no one will give you the time of day” Red chimed in.

 

“You don’t have what it takes to be a real person Sayer; no matter how much you pretend to act like one, you’re just a puppet made by the Orichalcos,” Alister added.

 

“Ooooo~oooooh my Gooooo~ooooood” Sayer droned, channeling DBZA’s Freeza.

 

“You don’t believe in anything but your own selfish agenda, and if our world is any indication, you will always fall no matter how many people you have defeated before, except me, of course” Atem remarked.

 

“You don’t use dragons, you are automatically inferior to me” Kaiba dead panned.

 

“That’s why Kyros here will knock your block off, because I’m giving him a little of my Brooklyn Rage” Wheeler declared.

 

“He won’t be your prisoner anymore, not while he has our courage to guide him through your darkness” the three Legendary Knights declared.

 

“He won’t be held back by you anymore Sayer, the dog’s now biting back and he’s going to take more than just the hand that feeds him” Alex’s bouncing head laughed as he slammed the top of Sayer’s head as it bounced by.

 

“We’re not giving up, and neither is he!” Gabriel, Yuri and Idris added in for good measure.

 

At this point in time, for a reason that simply could not be explained one bit, a heavenly glow pierced the darkness of the corridor. A transcendent pure light that would cause all evangelists everywhere to weep tears of joy. Shrouded in the divine white light was the disembodied head of Tea Gardner. In a loud voice she cried out:

 

“FRIENDSHIP!!!”

 

The pure energy of everyone’s words empowered Kyros, who smiled as his reptilian features receded, revealing his human form beneath it. “You don’t control me anymore Sayer” he said as he spat out the fragments of an Orichalcos stone. “And now, it’s time for you to leave, forever!”

 

“No… NOOO!!  This cannot be possible!” Sayer howled out, blinded by the blinding light that was so blindingly blinding.  “Nononononono, it’s bullshit, global bullshit--I call bullshit--BULLSHIT!!”

 

“Because you aren’t? “Oh look, you didn’t really kill me, just a conveniently made flesh dummy with all of my powers and abilities, aren’t I special? Oh lookie loo my magic eyes can go anywhere I like and honestly bring to light my bizarre and rather questionable fascination with the human body!”” Kyros remarked in a falsetto voice that sounded nothing like Sayer as he popped his leg back.

 

“He got you there, dude,” Alexander chimed, only to be once again smacked away by Sayer.  “I’ll be back, you know…!”

 

“Okay, so you’ve managed to regain your original form,” Sayer sneered venomously.  “Am I seriously supposed to be impressed?  I mean, what exactly do you hope to accomplish with such a feeble form?”

 

“You continue to be mistaken, “Sayer”,” Kyros retorted.  “There is nothing feeble about the power I now possess. It’s a power that far exceeds you, and the Orichalos. It’s the power that defeated it once before, and will do so again. It’s a power you could never understand in a thousand years. It is, the power of friendship Sayer. And now, I am going to blow my friendship all over you.”

 

“... … okay, I’m questioning a number of things right now,” Sayer replied flatly, “one of them being whether or not you swing that way (and whether Reatrey even had a mother growing up).  The next I shall proceed to ask you: There is about, what,” Sayer began, pausing a moment as he did a quick count of all the corpses (smacking aside Alexander’s head for the umpteenth time in the process), “at least twelve named people here, plus Tea Gardner who is apparently the Goddess of Friendship now, granting you power that you say will destroy me once and for all.”

“Not just saying,” Kyros cut in, “but knowing--”

 

“Yes, yes, sweetheart, I heard you loud and clear,” Sayer interrupted in a semi-bored tone.  “Thing is, Kyros--and I’m going to use the Pharaoh as a point-of-reference (“Sure thing, Eyeball Guy, go right ahead!” Atem chimed in, as if his permission was really needed) --the last time the power of “Friendship” was used to destroy the Great Leviathan, it was a gathering of the light from the millions upon millions of souls within the Leviathan itself, which was then used to unseal and reawaken the Egyptian Gods.  You, on the other hand, and I repeat, are being empowered by a little under 15-20 individuals, and--Oh, for Christ’s sake, Tea, could you NOT tongue-rape the Pharaoh while I’m in the middle of my rant?!”

 

“IT AIN’T RAPE IF HE’S ENJOYING IT!” Tea’s head snapped back, her surprisingly long and prehensile tongue groping Atem’s crotch.

 

“News Flash: I’m actually not!” yelped the Pharaoh.  “Someone get a restraining order!”

 

“The point I’m trying to make here,” Sayer continued, his right eyelid spasming uncontrollably, “is that you’ve barely enough power to topple Melvin, let alone leave a scratch in the hide of something like the Leviathan.”

 

“Oooh la di dah~ Sayer’s getting all high and mighty,” Red’s head remarked in a girly voice. “You’d almost think he believes himself to be worth millions of points of hope rather than us twenty.”

 

“Yeah, go figure on that one huh? Little prissy Sayer actually thinks he’s Final Boss material,” Alister quipped as he sneaked in a wink.

 

“Now now, let’s not all try to underplay dear Sayer here. I’m sure with all his hard work and ingenuity he’s clearly worth twenty-one people” Kyros remarked, trying hard not to laugh.

 

“I am about one more bad joke away from just annihilating everything in sight. Please, do tell one more, give me a reason,” Sayer said through his teeth.

 

“Alright,” Kyros replied with a smile as he held a small sphere of light in his hand. With an idle flick he launched it at the closest R.O.D., causing it to explode violently as it bounced around, striking each of the floating balls with impeccable ease before flying right ahead and knocking Sayer clean off his feet. “Ta-da,” he declared showily.

 

“... okay, so you can throw balls in my face, am I supposed to be that impressed...?” Sayer fumed as he gingerly picked himself up off the floor.  “... … actually, all things considered, I really must congratulate you, Kyros.  For once, you’ve finally found a way to stand up for yourself.  I mean, it only took you like, what, ten-thousand years or so to finally work up the needed levels of testosterone to even consider opposing us.  You must feel so proud of yourself, and you’ve every right to be so….”

 

“I’m not,” Kyros remarked flatly. “I mean, it’s you. Why should I feel proud about ending you? It’s like, stomping on a bug. It’s just, too easy.”

 

“... … yes, you’re right… it would be too easy, even for the likes of you….”  By now, Sayer’s face lacked any visible emotion.  “Here, Kyros… allow me to ramp up the difficulty for you.”  A slight rumbling could be felt as Sayer became enveloped in a sickly dark aura.  The aura began to spread throughout the corridor, extinguishing any trace of light that was once barely illuminating the interior, until all was pitch-black, except for Kyros’ light, and even that was barely holding on.

 

“Wh… what is this…?!” Kyros stammered, his bravery starting to wane as the darkness of the Death Pathway seemed to grow stronger, and the light he possessed was slowly begin suppressed.

 

“There is just one thing that we wish to bring to your attention,” a voice spoke from within the darkness--it was like Sayer’s, and yet… it wasn’t.  “You’ve already stated that we have been defeated a number of times before, yes?  Indeed, this is true, we shall not deny this… however, the forces of light can only keep us at bay for so long. We can fall again and again and again, but in the end, we only have to win once. That’s the difference between you and us. The supposed ‘good’ of the world must keep winning to preserve their world, whilst ‘evil’ need only achieve victory once, as when it does, it’ll all be over. You might destroy us, but you could never destroy everything the Orichalcos stands for, or what it hopes to achieve. Try as you might, we will win in the end, and when we do, there won’t be anyone left to shed bitter tears for their ruined world. So, try to win, and even if you do, we have limitless patience; it’s inevitable.  One day, be it today, or millennia from now, we shall succeed, and the multiverse shall be no more….”

 

“Then we’ll just have to keep you waiting for millennia then,” Kyros said assertively, regaining the brilliance. He chuckled to himself loudly. “You scared me a bit with your little darkness trick, but then, that’s all it is Sayer: a trick. As if you would try to be honest with anyone, since, let’s face it: To you everyone is beneath you. No one’s worth the effort. That’s going to blow up in your face Sayer, in fact, it’s going to do so right now, since I’m going to defeat you and your master--”

 

“Blow up in my face?” interrupted “Sayer”.  “Now, if we truly had any sense of emotions, we would find that to be quite amusing in the ironic sense.  However, since you feel the need to continue addressing the puppet, I suppose I shall do you a favor, Kyros… and for once be honest with you….”

 

Another low rumbling was heard through the darkness, but this time more beastial in nature… and closer.  In fact, it was directly in front of Kyros--

 

[spoiler=Kyros shuddered with sheer, unleaded horror as the light he was emitting now illuminated what was before him... although it was a lot smaller than he had remembered, it was no less terrifying….]

 

 

“B… bu… … how… …?!” Kyros gasped out, his body now in a cold sweat as he stared dead-straight at the maw of the monstrosity before him.  “No, how… how can you be summoned…?!”

 

“We are using… enough power,” the monster answered in a low hiss, “just enough to allow me to make my presence known.  This isn’t even a tenth of the energy we have gathered, but for you… this should be more than enough….”  The serpentine monster drew itself just a bit closer to Kyros, the tip of its maw just an inch or so away from Kyros’ nose.  “Now… I pray this is sufficient enough of a challenge for you… is it, Kyros…?”

 

The cold stare of fear Kyros had was immediately thrown away again for his usual smirk he had been adopting. “Yes, yes it is” he replied sternly as he smashed the enormous serpent in its face. The ripple from the punch ran along the entire length of the beast, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience for it, or its pride.

 

“... okay, and here I thought I had finally put the humor to rest, but NOOOOOO, apparently the forces that be feel the need to make a chew toy out of me…!” the monster seethingly hissed.

 

“Indeed, go figure to think that the embodiment of human darkness is such a lovable and sympathetic figure huh?”

 

The Divine Serpent was oddly still, as if, it’s aeon’s old mind was trying to understand the most complicated process in the world. One of such complication, it could not truly be perceived by mortal mind. “Yeah, screw this” it remarked as with a lightning swift snap, it took Kyros’ head clean off.  “I swear,” it uttered to no one else in particular as it swallowed Kyros’ head before taking the rest of his body into its maw to do the same, “it takes so much of our willpower just to be as hospitable as possible to these mortals.  We are beginning to lose our patience overall….”  One more rumble firmly shook the corridor as the Divine Serpent withdrew once more into the puppet known as Sayer.

 

“You do realize this wasn’t real, right?” Red’s severed head inquired.

 

“I was fully aware of that,” Sayer snapped back as he readjusted himself.  “If it was, I'd be infinitely more happier than I am right now. The fact that I’ve wasted so much of my time, patience and sanity fooling around with the lot of you makes me... well, it just makes me that much more disagreeable.  Of course, this just gives me extra incentive to torment and torture the real deals once we inevitably cross paths again… and that’s just the nicest thing I’ll be doing to them.”

 

“Guess we all know what that means,” Alexander’s head remarked as it bounced off of Sayer’s head before disappearing into nothingness.

 

“Yeah, if unsubtle foreplay is what you were doing before, heaven forbid how you’ll violate the real Alister,” Red’s head laughed as it also vanished.

 

“Just don’t get the real me pregnant Sayer, or you WILL be drowned in child support payments,” Alister’s corpse warned as he, and everyone else, vanished. And Sayer was alone.

 

“... … tch, please,” Sayer scoffed incredulously as he proceeded to leave the corridor.  “If I wasn’t acting the whole time, I would never bother giving any of you the time of day… … … besides, if I ever impregnate anyone, it’ll be the kind of “baby” that pops out of the chest….”

[Dad]

Revy

 

A familiar voice called to her from nearby.  Revy looked over her shoulder to see the ever elusive Reimu coming forth.  A smile crossed her face, as she was very happy to see her good friend again.  

 

“Hey, sorry for keeping you waiting here, Revy. You still want to reach the end of this along with me?”

 

Revy nodded, still staring at the orange sky in the distance.  "Hell yeah man," she said with a bit of excitement in her voice.  If you hadn't seen this side of her, you would say that Revy was acting very strangely, being so elated and happy while she wasn't in some kind of gun toting, bullet blazing battle.  She managed to limp over to Reimu, and greet her with a one-armed hug, using her spare arm to pull Reimu into a half-hearted, playful headlock.  She messed Reimu's hair as she held the girl close to her bosom.  "You were only gone for a little while, but I missed the hell out of ya," Revy said laughing.  Revy finally let Reimu go, and began inching towards the floating wooden platforms just ahead of them.  She sighed, wondering if this was really about to be all over.  "Can't believe we've come this far," Revy said as the glow from the sky hit her face.  She had been thinking for some time about getting through her last pathway, and it still felt strange to be where she was now.

 

Mostly because there was still a lot to do.  Revy stopped, turning her head back to Reimu.  "Hey.  Even if we finish this pathway, what do we do when it's all said and done?" she asked suddenly.  "I mean, if this is my last path, what's keeping the bad guys from reaching that uh, Door or whatever?  How do we know we're doin' this right?"  Revy asked as she turned her head back towards the sky.  She kept smiling however, and threw up one of her hands in disgust.  "Actually.  Let's forget I asked that.  We been through too much bullshit to worry about the future," she said laughing again.  "funk it.  I wanna live in the moment.  I ain't gonna trip over spilt milk."  Revy sat down with her legs swinging over the edge of the cliffside.  "Just let me know when you're ready.  I'm gonna take some weight off this leg."

[Tesability Black]

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

He really did not want to dignify Gemini's last little string of words, especially considering what was suggested by them. Every time he tried to use Recover to heal himself, the cruel double planted yet another foot into his ribs to break his concentration. And yet, he did not dare to harm him further, which would be strange to an outsider watching. However, Neos knew what was really going on.

Gemini was being careful. As long as the 'host' was still alive, he would continue existing, too. Neos had always hated the monster that Team Rocket had created in him, but it had been something he was forced to both deal with and keep contained for the longest time.

As long as...

...what would happen if either Self-Destruct or Explosion was used here?

At this thought did he heard footsteps that...sounded like they were moving away?

"You wouldn't dare," Gemini exclaimed. "If you die, I'll be stuck here!"

Whatever Neos was about to say hung in his throat for that moment before managing to turn his head towards the dark-souled double, catching the look of horror before he tried to hide it away. Narrowing his own eyes, Neos tried to sit up as a glow began to surround him. No, it wasn't the typical light-blue glow from any aura-based abilities he had learned and discovered over the years or from his Recover 'attack', but a vivid-white glow that Gemini couldn't help but release a gasp on.

"If it means keeping you from the rest of the Omniverse, I will."

The intended effect was dead on.

"Fine, fine, you win! Just go, already damn!" And with that, the double in dark-purple disappeared. To this, Neos couldn't help but give a smirk as the glow disappeared, revealing himself to be way less damaged than he had been moments ago.

 

Recover.

"Gotcha," he said to himself as he gingerly stood up, some of his pain nerves still firing off on him. Didn't seem to matter how hardened to battle he had become over the years, he still had pain nerves that were willing to work properly. At least they let him know he was still alive. And he could feel his heart bea---wait.

He could feel his heart beating. Due to something that happened in one of the realms he had been in, that was supposed to be an impossibility. "Diamonds can't pulse," he muttered to himself, which caused him to gulp in fear, though there was no other visible sign of said fear.

The blue light still surrounded him from the many lampposts around, he started moving forward after managing to get back onto his feet, looking about for anyone else who may dare to swing away at him if he left his guard down...

[Love of Ghibli]

Team Dorian: Path of Truth

On floating piece of land in the distance there didn't seem to be anyone nearby or a soul to be heard. At one moment there was a small ping on the floating piece of land. A bullet landed and embedded itself into the side of the floating island. Within seconds all of Team Dorian then found themselves on this floating island. Dorian looked side to side as he wondered what just happened. Sooo what just happened? Dorian inquired. I just did a successful experiment testing out a method of dimensional travel. Butlerok stated as it was clear he broke down to his weaker unlinked form. The specters both raised their eyebrows and remained silent as they wanted this explanation to continue. Butlerok readied himself as he revealed this secret.  During the battle with the massive witch LERNA, I observed her ability to use her barrier as a method of transdimensional transportation. By using the Alpha stigma I was able to understand most of the magic she used, probably because she was using someone else's magic. Unfortunately the Alpha Stigma does not grant me the ability to actually use magic...simply understand it. And the index? Dorian added. Wait what are these words you speak of? Rhadamanthys quickly interrupted. Oh right Dorian said remembering that this was all before his death. In fact this sounds like the story of his death.

Well lets see. First, the Alpha Stigma is some magical magic translator that allows Butler here to actually instantaneously learn magic that he sees. I think the rules are that he cannot learn magic unique to a specific person or it isn't actually magic. The Index is this library of over 100 thousand grimoires of religious magic. Finally LERNA is a giant hydra monster thing that I sacrificed myself for in order to kill. Apparently that didn't work because I didn't realize that her she was sad...or something on that matter. Dorian's eye twitched as he relived this experience. Rhadamanthys chuckled a tad at Dorian's misery, but nodded at this new information. Nevertheless the hole in all of these tools is that I myself didn't have a method of actually using magic until I met Gyouken and partook of her little familiar. With the Rukh I was able to use my Mad Blood as a conduit imitate her ability to create a portal for our own travel.  Well that is pretty useful. Not really it is really draining and it can only work in places where my Mad Blood has touched. Unlike LERNA who was able to simply traverse dimensions, I am still confined to this pathway. 

Wait this pathway is a prison? Somewhat. Based upon my theory of the Rukh I should be able to see them all of over the Path but I can only see them where there are signs of life. If the boy succeeds with the plan will that change? Rhadamanthys inquired. I do not know for sure, but I cannot imagine it would be a detriment. Oh no pressure then. Dorian concluded as he rolled his eyes. 

Ending Location: C12

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

“Now tell me, why are you even here?”

 

“Ugh…”

 

The cloaked figure had been blocking Kazuya’s way for quite a while. He tried to just ignore him, but for some reasons he couldn’t. Even with him blasting the figure off with his and his demon’s attacks, it didn’t really seem to do anything. The figure just stood there unharmed, still persisting in asking the question without doing anything else.

 

To tell the truth, Kazuya didn’t really have an answer to that question. He was honestly quite clueless on the entire thing, about this so-called “Origin War”. It’s just…for a war like this, it felt all too…quiet. Nothing ever happened as far as he could see. It was more similar to a pilgrimage than anything. Heck, he couldn’t even see the people from his side around, and there were not even any signs that the enemies actually existed aside from the ones placed by these so-called “pathways”.

 

It just…he felt like he was being completely useless there. He probably was just wasting his and everyone’s time by being there. He might be better off fighting his own battle in his home world. It’s completely frustrating, and Kazuya even started to think that Arturia might have scammed him in a way, but he immediately dismissed the thought, since even with all of this, Kazuya couldn’t really see her as someone that would do that. After all, he might just be really unlucky and missed everything important. Alienated from the big picture. If that was the case, he needed to get in touch of everything as soon as possible.

 

But, even with all of that, that single question bugged him still. What exactly he was meant to do there? What was his objective? All he knew was that he was there as a reinforcement to help fighting off individuals that tried to bring ruin to the multiverse. He didn’t really get more information since he missed the briefing due to being late, and right now, he was regretting the fact that he couldn’t be bothered back then to ask about what he missed, since it was clear now for him that he missed a lot of important things.

 

For now…maybe his reason why he was there was simply due to him seeing doing that as the right thing, even without him having any ideas regarding what the hell the context was. Kazuya thought more about it for a while, before deciding that it would be his answer to the hooded figure.

 

“I’m here since I wanted to help. Even if I don’t know how or what I’m supposed to do…I still want to help. To save my own world and everyone else’s. I still don’t get what’s the deal with all of this questions and trials, but if I have to get past them, then I will.”

 

“Well, that’s not exactly a bad answer. Then go ahead, young man. Go ahead and see for yourself whether you being here is meaningless or not.”

 

 

A crystal bridge, leading into a crystalline corridor. Not much notable things happened when Kazuya treaded the area aside from him thinking more regarding his meeting with the cloaked figure, but not long afterwards, the corridor led him into a mirror. It was completely pitch-black, but…a faint glimpse of his reflection was still there on the surface. Kazuya, remembering about the giant mirror from earlier, decided that he would need to get inside this mirror too. Taking a deep breath, he wasted no further time before he walked straight to the pitch-black surface, and the mirror absorbed him in his entirety, transporting him into a wildly different place than before.

 

The sun was shining really intensely above his head. It seemed that he was currently in the middle of a desert, or at least, a really desolate land. Two canals that looked like they were used to be rivers were visible from his current location, and as he looked around, he could notice traces of human civilization around him. A city, even. The ruins of what seemed to be a great city, half-buried beneath the mounds of sand. There was no buildings left standing, and any signs of life from the deserted land had long since disappeared.

 

Except one.

 

On the distance, Kazuya could see what looked like a grand tower standing proudly in the middle of the ruined world, and he couldn’t even see the summit of the tower from his location, as it was hidden far above the clouds above. Seeing nowhere else to go, Kazuya turned his COMP on again, and summoned Culebre. The dragon roared as it was summoned, and Kazuya immediately jumped on its back, before ordering it to fly him towards the tower’s summit.

 

“The tower of Babel, huh?”

 

A tower made by man’s hubris in their attempt to try reaching God’s heaven. Or maybe it was also demonkind’s hubris? Either way, God was not amused by that, and smote the tower down, and divided mankind, forcing them to use different languages. The king of demons, the King of Bel, was also defeated after a struggle, leaving behind several demons with his shards vying to take the reign over the demonkind. At least, that was what Kazuya know about the entire deal, but he didn’t really want to bother with the deeper meaning and its implications.

 

All that he really knew was how he had managed to defeat all of the remaining running candidates, summoned the Throne to Tokyo, and with the help of Haru’s song, instead of taking the power for himself, he abdicated it almost immediately, and the demons roaming the human world were immediately banished back to Makai, leaving them to restore their broken world in peace, at least for a while before it got disturbed again later. Speaking of it, Kazuya was still wondering how his friends fare back in their world without him being there. Hopefully they’re doing well enough.

 

Even with Culebre’s great speed, it still took him around 15 minutes to reach the summit of the tower, which was really saying something about its height. The top was flat, and there was enough room for Culebre to land there, which Kazuya immediately ordered it to do. Unsummoning the demon as soon as he set his foot on the tower, the blue-hair looked around to see if there’s anyone or anything of note for him to check out, and he then noticed nothing but an opening for a staircase downwards, and someone that stood near it, seemingly waiting for him.

 

“Took you a while to reach here.”

 

“Who are you?”

 

“You, of course. Well, a not-lame version of you.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

The young man started to approach him, and at that moment, Kazuya realized that he looked really close to him, bar some differences. Mainly, the other person’s a blond, his eyes were golden, and he was wearing quite the fanciful clothing with him, adorned with ornate golden accessories everywhere. His face was looking quite smug, as if he’s the king of the world or something.

 

“Let me introduce myself. I’m Abel, the king of this land.”
 

“For a king, your kingdom’s looking pretty empty.”

 

“Quit the half-hearted attempt for witty remarks, Kazuya. I’m really just here to point out how much of a waste of potential you are.”

 

“Uh, pardon?”

 

“I mean, you’re the King of Bel! Or should be, if you didn’t let go of your authority for the sake of your friends. Friends that were probably now dead anyway after you abandoned them to come into this desolate place.

 

You know, you can be like me if you want, ruling over the world, shaping it in your image. I know you want to do that inside, Kazuya. You can make your broken world better if you force it to change.

 

Now-”

 

The blond guy was stopped mid-sentence as Kazuya landed a punch straight at his face. The so called king reeled over backwards in pain, before turning around to look at Kazuya in anger.

 

“What the hell was that for?”

 

“You’re starting to sound like Naoya, and it’s seriously irritating.

I’m tired of people telling me do this, be like this, all while being vague and misleading. I’m tired of people telling me the direction where I should go. I’m tired of being people’s plaything.

 

I’ll choose what I’ll become. I have my own idea on how things could resolve. Even if so far I’m blindsided regarding this whole thing, I’ll find the truth on my own sooner or later.

 

So, get the hell out of my way, ‘me’.”

 

“Heh, quite stubborn one, aren’t you?

 

Eh, I don’t think I’ll fight you here. Won’t do much aside from delaying your way, if you’re this determined to move on despite barely having any idea on things.”

 

“Now then, tell me, where’s the exit to this place?”

 

 

Did he actually learn something from what he had faced during his time there? Kazuya was not too sure about it. At least, right now that encounter in the mirror world had made him decide his stance on all of this. Once again, he would do what he thought would be the right thing here, and he would definitely try to find out the truth and context of things on his own.

 

After all, it’s his fault mostly why he didn’t get the memo regarding the entire thing. Sighing, Kazuya descended on Culebre’s back towards the sea of clouds below him. He heard some sounds shouting at him from the clouds, but it shouldn’t really be too concerning to him. But not long after, he saw something that immediately took his attention.

 

Beneath the clouds, Kazuya could see the angels and the demons had reemerged and overrun Tokyo completely, while no one was able to stop the catastrophe that followed. It didn’t take Kazuya long to realize that it was what actually happened on his world after he left with Arturia.

 

“This is really the truth, huh?”

 

By going to this place, Kazuya had apparently given up his world for a chance to completely undo the calamity that started there. Or maybe not even that, and he was simply being used as a pawn in this war. If the vision below him was real, then he wouldn’t have any place or people to go home to anyway unless he reached the end. Kazuya was still not entirely sure about the proper context of the war itself, but with now knowing what kind of things be the proper stake of this, it definitely did give him enough motivation to go all the way to the end.

 

Silently, Kazuya and Culebre passed through the vision of the obliterated Tokyo as they flew to the very final part of the pathway.

 

 

“Am I satisfied with myself? So…that was what I supposed to find the answer in the pathway, huh?

 

Well then. The answer is yes and no. I like how I am now, and even with some of my inner desires for more, I’d still like to live as myself, Kazuya, with my friends. But…I know I’m imperfect, and I could and would try to change if it’s good for me.

 

Really, I just want this to be over. There’s still a lot of things that I still need to know about regarding this so I could actually think on what should I do, but right now I guess I’ll just go with the flow.

 

…I really need to find my allies, or heck, even an actual enemy wouldn’t actually be horrible. Seriously, I just want to have an actual interaction so I could understand things more. I mean, this didn’t even feel like a war right now.

 

…Ugh, I’ve drifted off with that. So…is my answer satisfying enough for you?”

 

---

 

"Just let me know when you're ready.  I'm gonna take some weight off this leg."

 

“I’m always ready, of course. You still hopping on my back or you want to try those floating platforms over there?”

 

With this, Revy would finally reach the end of her final pathway, and Reimu herself would reach the end of her second. It did really feel like it’s only has been just moments ago that she started off on the pathway, and it felt like it’s been only yesterday that she was on Gensokyo for the last time. But yeah, Revy’s right. No use in living in the past. She’s close enough to the end point anyway. She just had to brave one last pathway, and all that was left would be the very final stretch.

 

“So Revy, once you’re really ready go hop on my back or something. Let’s not waste time here, else we couldn’t kick those smug Divine’s ass.”

 

---

[Dad]

Revy

 

She didn't hesitate.  Revy struggled to her feet, but eventually walked over to Reimu one more time.  Bracing her self against Reimu, Revy was admittedly still embarrassed.  She hadn't been so utterly helpless in a very long time.  Twice, over the course of several hours, she had been saved.  Once by a now estranged lover, and now by Reimu as well.  She was beginning to feel like Rock.  She scoffed to herself as she let those thoughts leave her mind.  The sky was laden with orange light, and a somber, longing feeling of wanting to be held again crossed over Revy.  Right now, thinking of what could be ahead, she felt happy.  Revy sneaked a smile across her face, hoping Reimu didn't see it.  "Hey, Reimu," she said as her smile changed into a devilish grin.  "Maybe when this is all over, I can introduce you to some men," she said jokingly.  "Now come on my little floating pet.  Carry me to victory," she said still joking.  How ironic would it have been for Reimu to throw Revy off of a cliff side right now.

 

 

---

 

 

Kenpachi, Kratos, & Yachiru

 

They had made quite a mess.  The forest had been devastated by the likes of Atlas, and the moon had been cleaved in two thanks to these men.  Not to mention, they nearly killed each other over a lot of hearsay, rumors, and speculation.  Finally, someone made a decision.  Kratos stood up again, weary of waiting.  "Kenpachi," he said looking the man in the face.  Kenpachi did not reply.  He could already read Kratos' face.  "I won't wait any longer," Kratos said as hours had gone by.  Now, he too began to wonder where his new found companion had gone.  What had become of Revy?  He was suddenly caught up in emotions that hadn't grabbed his attention for many years.  "I believe the one I care for to be in danger," he said suddenly, starting off towards the edge of the forest.  "And I won't make her wait for me.  Not again."  Then, Kratos stopped, turning back to Kenpachi, and offering a hand.  Kenpachi looked Kratos up and down at first, before gladly accepting the hand shake.  "Thank you," Kratos said at last.  Kenpachi nodded, shaking his friend's hand.  "Anytime, Kratos."  Once more, Yachiru darted in and intercepted the handshake between Kenpachi and Kratos.

 

She hugged Kratos' legs tightly, before looking up at his face.  "Travel safely, baldy!"

 

Kratos was slightly taken aback, but managed to laugh it off.  "I will, young one.  Take care of the old man," he said walking away finally.  Kenpachi waved Kratos off, as he began to slowly disappear at the edge of the forest.  That is until, he realized that he was the old man Kratos was talking about.  

 

"Hey!  Wait a minute!  Who are you callin' old!?  KRATOS!  GET BACK HERE!" he roared as Yachiru held Kenpachi back with a single hand, giggling to herself.  Kratos continued walking however, spying the lake not too far from his location.  

 

 

"Revy.  Where are you?"

[The Warden]

|_)The Sorceress of Hope, Lydia(_|

|_)Pathway of Truth: A11(_|

 

Lydia left the mirror world far behind her, her boots gently landing on the wooden boards floating high in the sky. Those orange skies looked so welcoming and bright, a sparse comparison to the dead world that had been on the other side of that wall. Lydia looked all around the area, and off onto the horizon, but, she couldn’t see Ayame yet. She most likely was still back in the mirror world, and, well, there wasn’t any time to wait.

 

Lydia breathed the air deeply, but it was not the rich clean air she was expecting, but one of apprehension, discomfort… fear. It was certainly raised unpleasant thoughts. Wait, thoughts? She had in a ways forgotten it, but she could feel that same pressure in the back of her mind, one she had been carrying for a little over a day now. “Are you guys alright?” she inquired to the Dizasters.

 

It wasn’t quite silence, but, it felt as if the silence was talking amongst itself. “Yes, we are fine” Fire Fox finally answered.

 

Lydia sighed in relief, glad to know that they were back. “Good, I was worried when I couldn’t hear you all in that strange mirror world” she explained.

 

“Yes,” Fire Fox said with obvious discomfort, “we knew you would be. We ourselves were drawn into our own little mirror world for a ‘talk’. Although, we’ve noticed there is a lot less angst in here. We trust your world was enlightening?”

 

“You could say that. I haven’t been thinking about stuff recently, but after seeing what kind of person I was becoming, well, I didn’t want any of that. It was pretty chilling to see who I once was as just a spoiled and selfish brat, and who I was becoming as some cold and empty business woman.  It took some soul searching for me to find the answer to what I wanted, and I did away with the both of them. I’m not going to abandon my free spirit, but I can’t take everything lightly either. LERNA made me realize that death, destruction, pain, and despair are very real things. I was kinda afraid of that knowledge, and have been wrapped up in a lot of… you know, it doesn’t matter. I just know that I have a much better idea of who I want to be now. So, what did you guys get up to?” she inquired.

 

More of that awkward silent discussion. “We’d, rather not say” Shade Bat whispered.

 

“Come on, I told you about what I did” Lydia implored.

 

“Trust us, it’s not a matter you want to be a part of yet. We’ll talk about it when the time is right, but, unfortunately, that time isn’t now” Shine Owl said in discomfort.

 

Lydia mentally sighed. “Alright then, well, we better get moving. The end should be up ahead” she thought as her boots thumped down the wooden platform to the edge, where numerous glass platforms were waiting for her.

 

Staring over the edge, Lydia held her hand to her mouth in shock at what she saw: Her world slowly destroying itself below. As much as she would have wanted to jump down to them, she knew better now. Like what Death had done, this was nothing more than a callous illusion, just another means to deter anyone from moving onwards. It was a nice try, but it wasn’t going to work on her.

 

Gazing off into the horizon, she couldn’t even see the other side. It must’ve been a good distance away. The glass platforms looked like they served as transport across the air space, but they seemed slow and unreliable. One good shot and they’re gone too.

 

Suddenly, Lydia’s eyes lit up and she smiled to herself. She had just reminded herself of one of her own little dreams that could now come true here. Taking ten steps away from the edge, Lydia shuddered as her outfit changed, much of the kibble fading away until she was wearing nothing but a dark purple body suit, with two long ribbons tied to her back that dropped to her feet. Breathing deeply again, she turned to face the edge. “What are you doing!?” Storm Hawk cried in distress.

 

“I’m going home” Lydia said aloud as she took a running start off the platform, falling through the sky at a horrific pace with a smile on her face.

 

 

Lydia launched herself high into the sky above the platforms, her back-ribbons flailing in the breeze as her arms were stretched out wide, sailing through the open sky. She smiled like a child as she spun through the air, pile-driving through the clouds that tried and failed to take her shape, being torn apart into small puffs of air by her movement.

 

She hadn’t felt this free in such a long time. She was so happy she did a double loop-da-loop in the sky, just flying freely like a bird. Like the free bird that she was. She had no cares as she spun through the air again, destroying any cloud she came across. It didn’t matter to her. This, this was what she lived for, and she couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of going flying before. Truly she was back together now. “Isn’t this a little… childish?” Terras Rhyno questioned.

 

“Yep” Lydia said brightly.

 

“Then, why do it?” Aquous Dophin also questioned.

 

“It’s simple. You can’t be serious all the time, as all your stress and worries just build up and slowly consume you. I was letting myself do that, which explains all the ‘angst’” Lydia explained.

 

The Dizasters mumbled their understanding as Lydia continued to sail through the sky, having the time of her life.

 

Current Position: B 12 ½

[Love of Ghibli]

Team Dorian: Path of Truth
 

The team actually approached the edge of the floating island upon arrival they actually realized that they were pretty close to the end of the path. Or at least they had some inkling about it anyway. Nevertheless they realized that they didn't have much further to actually go. After a little bit of flying the team had finally made it to the base of the final island. They all looked up to the final staircase and wondered if they should actually fly upward and bypass the whole ordeal. The team looked at each other for a second...they flew. Upon arrival at the top they all witnessed the final oasis and while they didn't really understand what to do they surrendered to the cumpulsion to actually go into the small body of water.

As they found themselves in the massive pool a voice spoke to them inside their minds.

Are you content with your present self? 

 

Instinctively Rhadamanthys thought "Of course." For him this question was non-sensical. Of course he was content, why wouldn't he be. He was overtly powerful, he was close to achieving his goal. He didn't have the time to actually think about foolish questions like this one. Butlerok, and the multiple souls inside of him, simply tilted their mental heads. They had deduced that this path was about their current emotional status. Except this group didn't really have problems in terms of the present. As group they are very good when it came to the whole living in the now. So in response to this seemingly omnipotent voice inside their heads they simply said Yes, Yes, Yes...Do I even count for this made up monkey BULL... Answer the question already. Yes Bleh. Dorian on the other hand was stuck in thought more about what he was going to do in the next path than what was happening in this one. After a second thought he actually realized that he wondered what was happening. Oh right...path business. Yeah, I'm good.

The group looked down as there answers were accepted and they were warped into a whirlpool of swirling energy. While they may have been reluctant at first they all eventually blacked out and came back to reality. But instead of each other they found themselves back in their own individual white rooms.

[Merci]

~ Arturia Pendragon ~

The Pathway to Death (A11)

 

She is fighting in a strange, foreign land yet again. An impossibly-powerful enemy awaits her, and yet, she is not afraid. Of course she is not afraid, why would she? After her accomplishments and deeds, she has ascended to a higher plane of existence, and in order to defend the multiverse, she has fought such enemies time and time again in the past.

 

Her specialty lies within ‘leadership’, within directing others under a single banner and leading them towards victory, and she has done this countless times in the past, even before her death.

 

Whether this is her first time or her last, it does not matter, for her existence is still but a speck in the face of reality. She lives solely to prevent events that threaten it from growing any larger, and there is no room for failure as a result of her actions.

 

Again and again , she is summoned, to fight as a defender of peace.

 

To end the threat.

 

To clean the mistakes of others.

 

Sacrifices must be made to prevent threats of such massive scale, but that is the cost for victory. That is something she understands far more than anything else.

 

Upon a hill of bodies, composed of all the brave soldiers who died in the name of justice, there a lone knight stands in a suit of armor, looking up at the sky with a distant expression on her face, as though gazing at a far-of paradise. The enemy who threatened other universes has been slain before things could get any worse.

 

Life will go on as normal for everyone else in the multiverse, and the former king herself is fated to return to the Throne of Heroes, leaving behind no records of herself, even the very memory of her presence disappearing from the minds of others. And all the while, she has no regrets, for as long as it ends in success, the method does not matter.

 

This is the past, this is the present, and this is the future of the former king who wished only to fix her own past mistakes.

 

“…”

 

Arturia walked through the darkness with a cold look on her face, her strange, mysterious crimson sword sheathed.

 

For a while now, she’d been utilizing her Instinct to avoid any enemies so as to save her energy. Overall, it appeared that she’d wasted a lot more time than originally planned, and there was no telling how deep Protheus Maximus was at this very moment. Merely thinking about it frustrated her, and she understood that she had to hurry up and reach the end as fast as she could.

 

However, at the same time, she was well aware that the Pathways were only going to be more of a nuisance as she proceeded through the next two. The words of that man, Emiya Kiritsugu, still ringed deep in her mind, and it didn’t help that occasionally, whenever the lampposts flickered, visions of her role would flood through her head.

 

Naturally, they all depicted the same thing. Different scenery, different enemies, but always the same, lonesome end as should be expected from a Counter Guardian. They stung somewhat each time, but apart from that, these visions had little to no effect on her. It seemed that the darkness of this final segment of Death gave others a glimpse into their futures, so there was a high possibility that there would be those who’d take it harshly—but that didn’t apply to her, whose future would never change.

 

After the Origin War, assuming that there was a way to exit, she would return to the Throne and continue on as normal, selecting the optimum choice, with the least risk and the least amount of casualties.

 

As she continued onwards, she sensed a familiar figure not too far away. Is that…? Though wishing to hurry up a little more, she knew that it would be disrespectful of her as a leader to ignore the matter entirely.

 

Neos, greetings, Arturia called out telepathically. I don’t seem to sense the presence of Gemini right now, so I’ll assume you took care of him somehow…  As for what happened earlier, within the corridor, you have my sincerest apology for attempting to kill you. However, you understand what’s at stake here. None of us can risk staying behind just to save one more person, because this is a war. One with the fate of the whole multiverse hanging in the balance. I don’t know everything behind your condition or split personality, so I must make decisions only on what I do know.

 

The knight started to resume walking, concluding with, if I perceive one of my own warriors as a liability, a threat to those around them, then yes, I will have no choice but to eliminate that person. Therefore, please understand why we’re here and what exactly we’re fighting for.

 

Then, her footsteps became quicker and quicker, before finally she burst forth at high speed, boosting herself with periodic blasts of mana. What Kiritsugu had told her didn’t matter – she wouldn’t hesitate to do what she had to do, to accomplish her mission.

 

She zoomed through the lampposts and the unnaturally alien dark sky, all the scenery around her blurring whilst nearing the destination at the very end. The distance between her and the end was about one to two kilometers, but such details were irrelevant to her, who was capable of overcoming them by simply pouring in more energy. Once she reached the staircase, she didn’t stop and continued rushing upwards like an inbound homing missile that refused to slow down even the slightest bit.

 

Within a span of mere minutes, Arturia had reached the dark stone tablet at the end, at which point she came to an immediate halt.

 

‘Are you willing to embrace your fate’?

 

This was, without a doubt, the final question of the Pathway to Death. A force that couldn’t be lied to and had to be answered with absolute honesty, an answer that they ought to have determined by their various experiences throughout this road from beginning to end, applying even to one such as her.

 

Certainly, she had to admit, the things that she had encountered along the way…were not quite the things that had been expecting, but everything that transpired must’ve held a meaning. The voices that mocked her past and rule, the nameless knights that screamed at her true intentions, and the man she despised most who criticized her very mission, along with all of the actions that she had taken thus far.

 

Without a doubt, it, all of it… had been attempts to deter her from this path of hardship. To, perhaps, make her reconsider. After all, this may very well be her only chance to do so, being under such unique circumstances at the moment.

 

Still, her fate was one thing she could not possibly think twice about.  No matter what her past was like, no matter what failures she had to suffer through or what she had had to resort to for the sake of maintaining her ideals, if she could be a hero and save countless people far beyond her scope of vision, keeping the order in an insurmountable amount of locations, then what could possibly be a greater honor to one such as her—?

 

“Do I even need to say it?” Arturia said, staring straight at the tablet as though challenging it. “If there is one thing I do not regret, it is becoming a Counter Guardian. Regardless of my current condition, I will fight to the very end. Truly, this fate…no matter how perilous it will be, it is still the greatest honour that anyone could have given one such as myself.”

 

And with that, as it appeared to have accepted her response, she placed her hand on the monument with her eyes closed, to finish this. Immediately afterwards, swirling crimson energies erupted out from it, enveloping her body, consuming it without any mercy like a starved demon.

 

However, she stood calm and still the whole time, and once she’d opened up her eyes again, she found herself having returned to her original position.

 

 

 

 

~ ~ ~

 

The former Counter Guardian let out a deep breath, as though a massive pressure she hadn’t known was there had been taken off of her.

 

She took a moment to analyze her surroundings, the White Room, and the fact that there were now only two doors remaining. One on the left, Remembrance, and one in the middle, Truth.

 

Considering the amount of the time that she may have wasted by now, this was no time to stand and take her time choosing the most convenient one, even if time didn't move within the White Room.

 

Would it matter either way? The most important thing was reaching the end first, before anyone else, so even if the Key was still in the possession of the homicidal sorcerer or any other member of the Divine, they could be intercepted before being allowed to rewrite all of reality.

 

If it happened to be in the hands of a Counter Corps member, then that would be much more convenient for her since she’d be able to take it and fulfill her mission straightaway, but such risks couldn’t be taken. She had to be on the move, now.

 

Thus, without hesitation, she walked towards the door in the middle, signifying Truth, and pulled it open—

 

 

~ ~ ~

 

The Pathway to Truth (A1)

 

 

A momentary feeling of discomfort, of disbelief crossed her mind when she first entered, but apart from that, there was nothing unusual about this path.

 

Visibility was low just like how it was in Death, the wooden corridor only allowing very little light, but somehow, it didn’t feel as oppressive or forceful as the former in any way. In fact, it was a rather pleasant change, providing little to no distractions whatsoever, and easily lit up at that. Also, something that came as a bit of a relief was the exit, which was exceedingly bright, such that even she couldn’t make out anything on the outside.

 

However, Arturia wasn’t about to let her guard down anytime soon, considering how the contents of Truth were still entirely unknown. Strengthening her resolve, she charged through the wooden corridor with great force, so much to the point that, every now and then, her feet would smash up sturdy fragments of wooden planks up into the air behind her. Each time her boots hit the floor, sparks of blue mana formed to further propel her forward. In terms of speed, it would be difficult for anyone belonging to either the Counter Corps or the Divine to keep up with her, let alone overtake her.

 

Then, naturally, she had to skid to a halt as the glass bridge came into view, lest she end up shattering it and plummeting down into the bottomless space below.

 

From there onwards, what she observed rather...surprised her. A lot. There was bright sunlight shining down from high up in this calm sky, fairly strong winds but nothing harmful, and beyond the short glass bridge was a landmass floating in the sky, like an island paradise, its surface covered entirely in what were beautiful cherry blossoms, their petals being picked up by the wind and scattered throughout the sky to give it a certain beauty.

 

If she had to describe what she was seeing here, it was ‘peaceful’. It was such a massive change from what she’d had to face in the previous Pathway that a part of her was finding it extremely hard to believe, that this must’ve been some kind of illusion.

 

Well, it was what it was. There was no point wondering about it. Whatever sort of twists or obstacles lay ahead, she would definitely be prepared for it, especially with her newly-hardened resolve. She crossed past the glass bridge nonchalantly, all the while preparing herself for an ambush or for the bridge to suddenly collapse, or something like that. But there was nothing of the sort, and instead she reached the end without anything happened.

 

Once she stepped onto the grassy field, a large aura was released from her. Ah, she’d almost forgotten about the checkpoint. Now, from here on out, there should definitely be something lying in wait.

 

As the knight proceeded onwards through the cherry blossoms, she unsheathed her crimson blade just in case. She can determine the presence of other Counter Corps, but most of them were too far. More importantly, there was a gigantic amount of smaller presences, scattered throughout the entirety of the forest. Her first thought was that it was the Divine – but even then, it wouldn’t make sense for there to be this many, unless Protheus himself had already come by here and was making sure to leave behind plenty of familiars to deal with the others. Well, if that were so, then she should be able to detect traces of his energy, but there was pretty much none here.

 

But then, in that case, what were all these little…?

 

“Hello, how do you—”

 

“Halt right there! Are you a member of the Divine?!”

 

A strange little creature had just popped out of one of the trees she’d passed, shaped like a tiny, humanoid fairy with dark brown hair and a boyish face, equipped with miniature armor that had two slots for his tiny butterfly-like wings. However, just as he was about to speak, she had her sword pointed at him as a threat.

 

“W- w- wha?” It seemed surprised at first, but then let out a sigh. “Well, lady, do you think I’m a member of the…er, ‘Divine’?”

 

“No, I can sense no ill will from you. Not only that, but you’re too cute to be one of them.” Arturia stated bluntly.

 

“Er... Really? Thanks!”

 

Hmm…? Somehow, she let out a thought that she hadn’t been intending to say, which was extremely careless of her. Perhaps the fatigue that the previous Pathway had placed upon her was greater than she thought. It was somewhat embarrassing, but next time, it would not happen again.

 

Lowering her blade at the being, whom she had determined to be a harmless byproduct, she started to resume her journey. He was soon joined up by other fairies, all of them in tiny suits of armor, and all of them following close behind her, growing slowly in numbers.

 

Though she was curious as to what they wanted, so far they hadn’t showed any signs of being a threat. Even if there to be a thousand of them and they tried rushing her all at once, she was confident enough in her skill even with a flesh-and-blood body to drive them all away.

 

“So, what’re you doing?” One of the fairies asked, going up to her shoulder.

 

“I’m heading to the end of this Pathway to complete it.” She answered.

 

“Why?” Another one asked.

 

“Because the multiverse is at risk of being altered for the worse, or even destroyed, by a selfish madman. My job is to reduce the risks and stop that from happening.” It was a little odd, but she felt like it was fine to let them know such things. As she said earlier, she could sense no evil from any of them. They all truly were nothing but curious creatures.

 

“What kind of job is that?” A different fairy chimed in, this time a girl, who landed right on top of her head.

 

“The job of a Counter Guardian, which is, simply put, allowing oneself to function as a defense mechanism for reality. It’s honorable to the highest degree, but also rather horrible and lonesome too.” 

 

There was something about that one particular answer that struck a chord with Arturia, because she was certain that wasn’t something she would normally say. Not only was it too personal, but the words themselves sounded unnatural. Horrible? Lonesome? Where did they come from?

 

“Why are you a Counter Guardian?”

 

“The multiverse needs me and my skills to prevent mass universal threats. My existence and my ability to make decisions are necessary to maintain the balance.”

 

“Well, um, miss… Why did you want to become one?”

 

“I had hoped to find the Holy Grail and use it to change the fate of Britain, thereby saving it from its fall. Alas, even though I did find a Holy Grail, it turned out to be corrupted and only served to make things worse.”

 

“So you… got tricked?”

 

“I suppose you could say that. But ultimately, it was my own fault for not thinking things through in the first place. Had I done so, perhaps…” Her voice trailed off.

 

Perhaps what? Perhaps Britain might not have fallen? Perhaps the people would have prospered longer? Perhaps those who died didn’t necessarily have to die? What did she want to say?

 

As though noticing her darkening attitude, the girl fairy decided to lighten up the atmosphere by floating up to right in front of her face with big eyes and a wide smile. Now that she was in view, she appeared to have chestnut brown hair and emerald eyes, along with a red dress, the combination of which made her vaguely familiar.

 

“S- s- so! Is there anyone you like?” The fairy asked innocently.

 

“In a way, I suppose you could say yes.” Arturia responded.

 

“Oooooh~? Who, who?”

 

“Tell us, tell us!”

 

“We wanna know, we wanna know!”

 

The other fairies seemed to have taken interest in this question too, forgetting all about what they were originally talking about, and with a sigh, she figured that she would have to indulge in their childish requests, even though it was wasting time a little more than she ought to.

 

“Hmm… Well, there are a few amongst the Counter Corps that I like, but first and foremost would perhaps have to be Captain Kenpachi. His level of skill is quite spectacular, even for me, and his determination is very impressive, but of course, most of all, what I admire about him is his loyalty to Yachiru.” The knight spoke out nonchalantly to her audience. “Then there is Sora, whose clarity of heart and strength of will amaze me quite a lot – it comes as no surprise to me that another one of his selves is a Counter Guardian. Truly, I am honored to have the chance to battle alongside such fine warriors.”

 

As though it were natural, she expressed her thoughts without stopping as she continued on through the forest. “I also rather like Ed, seeing as how, although his standards may differ from mine, he displays a clear respect for the art of dueling that is all but lost amongst the rest of these people. Commander Foster is also a breath of fresh air, since even though he does not possess any sort of mystical powers, he possesses high discipline and a high respect for authority, as well as a logical sensibility orientated for war – if we had the time, I definitely would’ve trained the Corps to be more like those two.”

 

A part of her at the back of her mind was telling her that she was talking just a little too much, but she appeared unable to stop, it wasn’t as though she was giving out any sensitive or harmful information. Even if the Divine themselves were listening, they would gain info about their abilities, but rather just traits that ought to make them cower in fear and run away. Perhaps she was acting this way in order to cope with the frustrating words that Kiritsugu Emiya had left her before his death.

 

“Another person I happen to like is the Witch Bayonetta, since her techniques are mostly in areas that I am unfamiliar with, yet she has clear mastery over them, and despite her questionable origins and rather careless attitude, her sense of self is astounding. Neos too is a bit of a peculiarity, but even if he may have that odd split personality, he may very well have greater self-control than any of us, which is truly an admirable feat like no other."

 

At this point, the fairies started to get really bored of listening to her, realizing that she wasn't actually talking about her crushes at all but simply her favorite Counter Corps members, but there was no stopping her at this point.

 

"Itsu, or as she calls herself now, Tess is proving to be quite the ally, and though her existence is the least stable of us all, her awareness of the universe is of such a height that I don’t believe there’s anyone else who can match it... Then, of course, there’s Lydia——it seems somewhat disturbing that she’s changed so much over a mere few days, but at the same time, she has managed to  transform all of her suffering into strength, her hope for the future shining stronger.”

 

Her voice trailed off a bit as she looked up to the sky. “And, as for Arthur and Alister… There is admittedly a part of me that can’t trust either of those two for their past actions and association with the Divine, but they have both been working hard, overcoming seemingly-impossible hurdles and making great progress. That part of them, I cannot help but admire.”

 

Sighing for a moment, her footsteps slowed a bit to enable her to focus on talking further.

 

“I suppose I should also mention Kayoda, the Kamen Rider. I’m not overtly fond of his presence because he feels like a bad omen… However, it is impossible to not like what he’s done, and how well he’s been handling everything thus far. He defied the odds and came all the way to this reality to aid us, following us to the Pathway to Origin. Without a doubt, even if there are no records of him here, he is a true member of the Counter Corps.”

 

Afterwards, she looked up at the sky, as if wondering about a certain something.

 

“While it might be a little silly for me to say, since people who are at their peak would be most preferable and there’s not exactly a lot of room to grow, it was enjoyable to monitor the Counter Corps’ growth while I had the chance. Even if he was a member of the Divine too, Richard Mason shows great promise, and he would be an excellent warrior if he would only control his own emotions so that they don’t get in the way of rational thought. Eria is also proving herself to be extremely talented, not merely in the art of charming water, and by expanding her horizons more, she might just realize her full potential. Atsuko and Gon…both have immense troubles of their own, but I’m sure they’ll find some reprieve in the coming Pathways and become stronger as a result. As for Tenshi, or as she calls herself, Tenco—” She nodded, as though affirming a lone thought to herself. “That girl…reminds me quite a lot of how I used to be. Before I pulled out the sword from the stone, anyway… Which reminds me, Alexand—”

 

…

 

………

 

…………………………

 

“You just noticed?” One of the fairies asked, letting out a yawn.

 

“Yes, it seems so.” She blinked in surprise. “My deepest apologies, I appear to have gotten carried away there. I certainly did not expect to ramble in such an undignified manner regarding my job. I suspect that it is due to the influence of the Pathway to Death.”

 

“No, no, it’s fine, it’s fine~” Another one reassured her. “Though… when we meant ‘who you like’, we weren’t really referring to that.”

 

“Were you not? Then it seems that all I have done is bore you with my unrelated tales. Once again, apologies.” She bowed her head as a sign of her apology. “In which case, what were you referring to?”

 

“Well,” the girl fairy began. “Is there anyone in particular that you like-like? As in, love?”

 

All of a sudden, as though a switch had been pressed, her cheerful, reminiscent attitude regarding the past few days dropped. Disappeared into nothingness. All because of that word, that one simple word, the very thought of which sent a chill down her spine.

 

Love.

 

Strange how one word could evoke so many different, conflicting emotions within the normally-stoic former king.

 

This topic was the one thing that she would wish to avoid for the rest of eternity, the mere concept of it terrifying her to the very core. Because, to her, there was only one individual in all of reality who could possibly associated with that word, and with that individual came a memory that she could not possibly keep back.

 

Yes, one could say that she loved the people, and indeed she did, but even she could understand the true intent behind the fairy’s words. Love, as in romantic love, the courtship between two individuals who held intense feelings for each other. It wasn’t like she was ignorant. She knew about it. She knew what it was.

 

The being who lived as ‘King Arthur’ never experienced it throughout his entire lifetime, but after death—that was a different story.

 

“Oh, I believe I did have someone like that… Once.” Arturia stated in a daze.

 

Why was she saying it? Under no ordinary circumstances would she ever come to talk about this. It would be better to proceed and ignore these fairies from now on. She’d been suspecting what was really happening in this cherry blossom for quite some time now, and quite frankly, it was bizarre how her common sense hadn’t already kicked in.

 

Go now, Arturia Pendragon.

 

“Oooh, once?”

 

Start moving. Do not waste time here.

 

“What happened, what happened~?”

 

Ignore them and go.

 

“Did you two break up?”

 

You have no obligation to them, so go already!

 

“Did you two have a fight or somethin’?”

 

This is the one thing you do not need to face. Leave, while you still can.

 

“You sound scarily serious, miss… so how bad was it?”

 

If you answer, there will be no turning back…!

 

“Hmm, how should I describe it?” Arturia began, her words sounding surprisingly dull and mechanical, even to herself.

 

By then, she must’ve already realized, that there was a truth field placed all throughout the area, and that everything she’d been saying up to this moment had been nothing but the absolute truth, as she herself believed it to be. Fatigue from the previous pathway? What a ridiculous excuse. She could face ten more Kiritsugus at once and she would still have enough energy left over to take on an Omni in a direct fight.

 

Perhaps she’d been unconsciously taking advantage of the fact that she couldn’t lie to discern her own opinions on matters. Still, that didn’t mean she had to answer this one time. There was nothing to gain from it but unnecessary suffering that would hold her back.

 

 She knew that——and yet decided, on her own, that she wouldn’t stop. If this was the Pathway to Truth, then acknowledging something she’d been suppressing all this time now would only be a fair thing to do. More than anything else, she couldn’t let her own problems, from an ancient time long since gone, hold her back.

 

“Sooo what was it~?”

 

“Oh… It’s quite simple, really. Not much of a tale to tell.” The knight smiled deliriously as she recalled the memory of it. “It’s simply that I needed the Holy Grail... so I killed him.”

 

And with that, Arturia went on her merry way, passing by the fairies frozen in shock.

 

 

Current Position: Pathway to Truth (A3)

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

 

“What is this feeling?”

 

As soon as she entered the pathway of Death, an immediate feeling of uncertainty arose from Tenco’s mind. She was not completely sure on what actually did it mean, but whatever it is, it didn’t really feel like it’d be good for her. After all, it’s the pathway of Death, so who knew what would actually wait for her in this pathway?
 

Moreover…she couldn’t shake a certain familiar feeling of dread that surfaced not long after she entered the pathway, which would be odd. She was perfectly certain that she never really felt this feeling before, but…

 

“No use in thinking like that. For now, just focus on finishing this.

 

..Yeah, I shouldn’t get sidetracked again.”

 

 

---

 

 

“Nah, I’ll pass. I think I can find one on my own when the time’s r-

Hey! I’m not your pet!”

 

Reimu objected her new designation by Revy slightly playfully while still attempting to have a stern tone with her. Though, she still sported a small grin in response to Revy’s jokes when she boarded her back just like before.

 

“Don’t worry, Revy. I’ll take it easy this time.”

 

Reimu was still half-tempted to try out her previous attempt at going towards the end with a blazing speed just to play around with Revy, but without any actual concrete method of stopping herself reliably, it’d be just too much of a hassle for her. As soon as she believed Revy was already properly positioned on her back, Reimu took off from the ground and started to float, before going straight at the sea of clouds beyond the cliff.

 

No matter how many times she had done it, floating in the sky always had that certain little charm for Reimu. In the skies, she’s completely free and not bound by anything, after all. No such thing like a wall would be able to stop her once she was up there. Gravity, nothing of such mattered anymore for the girl that could float away from anything.

 

She felt like she heard about someone’s yelling at her, but since it was pretty unclear, Reimu decided to not bother at all with it, and decided to just strike a conversation with Revy on her back.

 

“Hey Revy, when this is all over, and when we finally beat the crap out of the ones that caused this incident, what are you going to do next? I’m simply being curious, nothing more.”

 

Passing through the sea of clouds further and further, Reimu then could see the probable end of the pathway, and the sight quite fired her spirit up. Beyond that point in the distance, she would clear her second pathway, and Revy would clear her last. After that, who knew what actually could happen? What kind of people would they meet? What kind of obstacles would they face? Giddy with anticipation, Reimu once again built up her speed gradually as she was determined to blitz straight to the end.

 

As a proper member of the Counter Corps, she’s obliged to see this to the very end and defeat her opponents after all, no matter how strong they were. Wouldn’t that be what Arthuria and Yukari wished for? Moreover, wouldn’t it be what she herself wished for?

 

Not two or three minutes later, Reimu arrived at the staircase near the end of the pathway, this time managing to stop herself more smoothly comparing to earlier. She settled down on one of the stairs, and once she was sure she had a steady hold on the group, she stopped to give Revy some room to disembark from her.

 

“Alright, Revy. We’re here.

 

This is it, this is the end. Beyond this, we’ll walk separately once again, and for you, you’ll see what kind of thing waited for you after your third pathway.

 

It is time.”

 

 

---

 

 

“Gee, Merry. You slept like a rock.” Renko sat beside the completely exhausted Yukari while she watched the three people that Yukari had helped moments ago, not really too far from them. They’re not out of the forest properly yet, though Renko had decided on what she would do next. Taking a deep breath, she then picked up the unconscious Yukari and carried her on her back, before continuing her path forward with her.

 

 

---

 

 

[spoiler=Renko and Yukari]

 

 

---

 

Maribel Hearn and Renko Usami

Pathway of Remembrance (C6)

 

---

 

 

“Merry, don’t you feel it? Do you feel like you’re getting tired of this dull world of ours? Well, though it might be just me, yeah. But honestly, I don’t see much reason to like our world as it is now. It has lost all things magical regarding it, and now it’s simply a world where sentiments and beauty gets discarded into the trash in favor of other, more logical things. Even as a soon-to-be physicist, thinking that a world once known for its beauty being turned into this mess made me really sad.

 

I think…wouldn’t it be nice if we can see a world where things that this world have forgotten survives? Where people don’t have to worry too much about work and academic obligations to survive. I don’t know, it sounds like a fun world to me. A paradise, you can say. A paradise that does not have to worry about artificial boundaries made by this mechanical society we live in.

 

Ever seen a world like this in one of your journey, Merry? If you can, can you bring me along next time? A dream world like that would be one hell of a place to explore at least once before I die.

 

So, how’s that? You want a world like that too, right?”

 

 

---

 

 

“Ren…ko? Are you there?”

 

Maribel opened her eyes only to see what best could be described as a strange place, and worse, she was completely alone, without her best friend tagging along with her that time despite she was just beside her not long ago. To be fair, it was nothing too unusual for her to be in this kind of situation, as getting spirited away to places she had no idea about at this point could be said to be her forte. Still didn’t make the experience of getting spirited away suddenly any less uncomfortable. Right now, she was seemingly stranded on a forest of sort, without any signs of civilization nearby.

 

It was getting dark in the forest, and being alone in an unknown forest like that would be really dangerous obviously, especially for a girl like her. Her experience when she was attacked by the chimaera at the TORIFUNE space station and when she was sent into a bamboo forest had made her realize the importance of being really, really careful during these sessions. Maribel had absolutely no desire to spend another month in a sanatorium due to wounds “unexplainable” by doctors, and she definitely had no desire to be stuck there and be away from Renko during that month. One time was enough, no need to repeat it again.

 

Without thinking about anything else at all, Maribel started to run as fast as she could just so she could avoid the forest before night fully dawned to the place. She ran and ran straight forward without turning, jumping over any obstacles she met on her way. She ignored the bad terrain of the forest as much as she could, and while some of the bushes had scratched her here and there in her run, she had little to no time to care about them at all. She must find safety somewhere. She still wanted to be together with Renko again after this.

 

After a long, arduous trek that consumed around an hour or maybe two, Maribel arrived on a river. The sky was getting dark in there, and thus, Maribel decided to rest there for the time being. Even if something would go and try attacking her, she could just swim as fast as she could on the river to avoid whatever it would be. She’s by no means athletic or having a relatively healthy and well-exercised body, but if it’s only swimming down the stream, then Merry was definitely confident enough to do that. Well, rivers could mean that the river youkai, , were around, and if they were around, Merry would be thoroughly screwed,

 

“Merry, just stop thinking about bad things like that, alright? You want to return to Renko, so just focus on that, me! Dammit, me, just try thinking positively for now! She must be really worried about you right now, so don’t give her more reason to worry!

 

Yeah, I should definitely try my best so I can return to her unscratched.”

 

Of course, it would be easier said than done. She was alone in an unknown forest, it was already dark, she didn’t bring anything with her, and there might be strange creatures lurking around in the darkness. Who knows? Last time she was spirited away, she, for all intents and purposes, ended up in hell. Well, the Buddhist hell, as far as she could see, but hell nevertheless. If she was stuck here like this for this long, she definitely would need to be prepared for anything the forest might throw at her.

 

Maribel was now sitting on top of a rock, still looking around with the guidance of the light from the full moon and the stars above to see whether she could find a place to be used as a shelter for that night until her ability kicked in again and she got transported back to her home world. That time, once again she envied Renko’s ability to read the stars and the moon to know her current time and location. If only she was here, she wouldn’t be as lost as this.

 

Thinking about her, Maribel started to worry about what kind of things Renko would have to deal with due to her constant disappearance. She never really got spirited away long enough for people to start actually searching for her, and Renko would definitely trust her enough to return if she did anyway, but still, the thought of Renko panicking with her sudden disappearance, the thought of her parents getting too worried about her, those kind of thoughts started to get into Maribel’s head. What if the authorities or her parents blamed Renko for my disappearance?

 

“Maribel! Stop thinking about things like that!”

 

Yelling to herself. Yeah, it’s kind of a habit that she often did when she’s getting too unfocused or worried. Calling herself out when Renko’s not there to do it for her. As her mind mentioned Renko again, Maribel couldn’t help but smile a bit. The two of them were definitely really close, and some of her friends even jokingly called the two of them as a married couple. Well, that’s a bit awkward, and Maribel’s getting too old for that kind of things, but that thought always made her smile whenever others mentioned it, while Renko would be more embarrassed than anything, and would push her away from the others.

 

“Huh, is that…a torch?”

 

When she was half-drowned by her thoughts, she noticed the presence of a lightsource in a distance across the river. What exactly was it, she had no ideas, but Maribel thought that it wouldn’t hurt to try and look at it. Problem would be, she needed to cross the river to reach that place, what’s with there not being any bridges around. But, if it was a light from the nearest settlement, then she could hopefully…!

 

Not using much forethought, Maribel went down from her rock and took a position near the side of the river. She planned to take a leap of faith to the other side, since the river was not that wide. Maribel was not exactly a physically active girl, but she travelled around enough so she’s not too much of a wimp too. She took several steps backward, and on the next second, she sprinted to the edge of the river and jumped-

 

-only for her skirt to screw up her leg’s movement and ruining the jump. Maribel’s eye widened in shock as she realized what was waiting for her due to the failure, moments before she fell into the river ungracefully, carried away by its rapid flow, and with her being tired already from her running earlier, Maribel couldn’t do much to go against the stream. Surrounded by the flowing water, Maribel closed her eyes as she drowned.

 

 

---

 

 

“Merry, you’re looking really pale just now. Did you get another flashback from the pathway?”

 

Renko’s question made Yukari realize that she was still on the Pathway of Remembrance. After parting ways with the two boys, Yukari was getting too tired to move, and she decided to lay her head on the nearest tree, with Renko on her side as she fell asleep. She’s not sure about how long she had been dozing off like that, but she admit that finally having the chance to properly get a rest like that after everything that had happened was very relaxing.

 

“I think I just did, yeah.”

 

That girl. Maribel. This ‘Merry’ that Renko was talking about. By this point, Yukari had connected the dots to conclude that she’s supposed to be her younger self, but there were still a lot of things to answer. For example, despite Maribel being clearly from the outside world of the current time, Yukari was an ancient youkai from ages past. How she could end up far back in the past was a question that might need to still be answered.

 

“Anyway, if you’re still tired, just take some rest again now. Don’t push yourself too hard, Merry.”

 

Though…was it really important for her to know about her past? She often repeatedly saying that she had left her heart locked away in the past, but after hundreds of years passed, those words had lost most of their original meaning and context. But, why would her past mattered that much? She’s simply here to try getting another chance for Gensokyo to exist, the world that she created with her own blood and effort. The pathway clearly wanted her to understand her past, just like how the last pathway tried to play around with her fear and the concept of her future.

 

But for someone like her, who had lived for far too long, experienced too many things, and had lost everything that she cared for, there was nothing left to fear, and for all intent and purposes, she had no future to speak of. Yet, despite of that, she had decided that she would believe in the possibility of the future still having something left for an ancient relic like her aside from the sweet embrace of oblivion.

 

“Aaah, I see. I think I understand now…”
 

“Merry? You’re spacing out again right now.”

 

It was getting clearer and clearer now. Yukari remembered the question she faced at the end of the pathway. It was not exactly clear at first about what purpose it exactly served, but, she now understood that it was embodying the entirety of her experience on the pathway, Koishi aside. In a way, it could be said to be a final exam after what one had learned there.

 

Thus, one way Yukari could interpret things was that the pathway desired for the person passing through them to develop, to try to, or at the very least, to accept things and achieve a peace of mind. It might just still be a rough guess, but it made perfect sense to her, for now. The pathway seemingly wanted to make sure that whoever completed them, that person would be the best fit to gain access to the unimaginable power lying at the end of the place. Yeah, the pathway definitely tried to change ones that passed through them.

 

“But change…could not be forced. It’s also not an instant process too.”

 

“Merry, are you even listening to me?”

 

It was of course something that Yukari had known for ages. Despite of everything the pathway wanted, you could not forcefully change yourself in a blink of an eye. It needed process, time, effort, and actual desire to change from your current self, especially if you didn’t see any reasons to change in the first place. For ages, Yukari believed that she had no reason to change from who she was. She was already being comfortable with herself. It’s not exactly something wrong to think about it like that, but with the pathway intensely desiring for her to remember her past, it must’ve believed that there’s things from herself that should still change, whether for the worse or for the better, or at least, it might be believe that there was still something that needed to be uncovered first from her past so she could achieve a peace of mind with herself. Whether it was right or not would still be up in the air, but right now, Yukari decided that it would be best for her to simply follow it around, and see if this “change” the pathway wanted was really something she could do or not.

 

“Merry!”

 

Renko’s voice became more and more faint. Yukari was now in the state of both being asleep and awake at the same time. Her calling her name again and again started to sound like an odd lullaby for her now, and with her fatigue catching up with her again, Yukari closed her eyes fully again now, returning to the sweet rest she wanted.

 

 

---

 

 

It felt warm. Maribel opened up her eyes to see that she was covered in a fuzzy blanket, a rarity if she’s talking about what the Japanese people usually used, and she was lying around on top of something that looked like a futon. Odd. Last thing she remembered was herself falling into the river and drowned. Maybe someone saved her? Whoever that was, she would need to ask him or her a lot of questions regarding the place, and everything.

 

She rose up from the futon, and as soon as she liberated herself from the blanket, she started to feel the chilling wind crawling around, touching her skin. Of course. Her clothing would completely be drenched by now, so it would be understandable for her to not having them on right now. Still, she’d preferred for whoever saved her to at least put her into any sort of clothing right now.

 

It was still midnight, and the heater at the center of the room was definitely not being active, what’s with there being not even any lit charcoals. Maribel was tempted to just return to her futon and continue her rest with the embrace of the wonderfully warm blanket instead of braving the cold and move around without a single thread on her body, but her curiosity got the better of her again this time. It didn’t take long for her to start looking around to check whether there was anything she could wear.

 

“Ah, this could work.”

 

Stumbling upon a drawer, she looked at what stored inside, and noticed a loose plain grey kimono there. She immediately wore it, of course, and despite it still being too loose and exposing to protect her from the cold, it’s still better than nothing. From its size, it could be assumed that it was meant for someone quite taller and more developed than she was.

 

And then, a knock at the door could be heard. Hastily tying the kimono to not fall down awkwardly, Maribel rushed to open the door, to find a girl wearing a Chinese dress standing there, holding a tray of food and drink, presumably for her. Well, a closer inspection revealed that the girl in front of her was actually a catgirl, maybe a nekotama or what’s the correct spelling was, what’s with her cat ears and her two tails that waggled around behind her. In a way, Merry admitted that she was looking quite adorable.

 

“Lady Ran ordered me to bring this to you. It’s not often for her to care this much to a stranger, but hey, she does, so you’re quite lucky that she took a liking to you.”

 

“Ah…thank you. What should I call you, miss-?”

 

“I’m Chen! The proud shikigami of Ran Yakumo of the Yakumo Household, and the big boss of Mayohiga!” The catgirl proudly introduced herself, puffing her (nonexistent) chest in the meantime.

 

“Big…boss?” Maribel asked, puzzled. The boasting way she introduced herself did make Maribel get quite intrigued about the cat girl though. Maybe, a small talk would be able to-

 

“Anyway, Lady Ran said that she wanted to talk with you tomorrow morning if you’re feeling well enough to do so. For now, just enjoy the food and get more rest~”

 

After saying that, Chen left immediately without even giving Maribel any chances to continue her conversation with her. Sighing at how her attempt to talk with the catgirl was denied just like that, Maribel then turned around to see the warm food that the catgirl just delivered to her, and with her stomach being empty after everything that happened earlier, she decided that eating would be the best thing to do right now.

 

 

 

 

“You said your name is Maribel Hearn, am I right?”

 

“Yes. And really, I am nothing more than a girl from the outside world that was spirited away to this place, I think.”

 

Maribel, who had worn her proper clothing once again, complied when Chen mentioned that she was summoned to the main building of the mansion complex on the next day. Sitting near the other side of the tea table was the woman Chen mentioned yesterday as her mistress, Ran Yakumo. The fox woman emanated a certain aura of grandiose that Maribel couldn’t exactly grasp, and despite her not wearing anything really fancy (her cap for all intents and purpose was a night cap for heaven’s sake!), that certain air of majesty was definitely around, coming from this certain person. Maybe it’s because she was a nine-tails, a sign that she was one step short in becoming a heavenly being. To see someone like this with her own two eyes quite excited Maribel, but she tried her best to still look as polite and composed as she could.

 

“It’s not exactly a rare occurrence for someone to be spirited away from the outside world to this hidden sanctuary. Most do end up dead and eaten, but in some cases, they safely arrived at the Human Village. As for you, you’re definitely lucky that I noticed you floating on the river unconscious when I was taking Chen for a walk, otherwise you definitely would end up dead or worse.”

 

“For that, I should give you all of my gratitude, Lady Ran.”

 

“Ah, don’t need to credit me that much. Well, to elaborate a bit on the circumstances behind this…at first I thought that you were my mistress, who had disappeared for quite a while lately. I ended up being wrong, of course, but to leave you there after we picked you up would be really rude of us, wouldn’t it be?”

 

“Aaah, I see. But still, even with that, once again I should thank you for saving my life.”

 

Her mistress? The thought of someone with an air of authority and power to still be in the servitude of someone else was quite odd, and unimaginable. Her mistress would need to be unimaginably powerful to be able to have a nine-tails as her shikigami. She wondered whether her being mistaken for her master could be considered as a praise due to that, but Maribel dismissed the thought immediately. It would probably more about the appearance rather than anything. After all, she didn’t really look –that- unique, and there’s probably many people that shared some resemblance to her.

 

“Though…the more I looked at you, I was getting more and more curious regarding on how you exactly entered this world. Would it be rude if I ask you more regarding this certain topic?”

 

And of course, that question just had to be asked sooner or later. For a while, Maribel pondered whether she needed to lie about this or not. The question was met with a momentarily silence from Maribel as she thought about how she should answer it. Ran herself was only smiling as she looked at her curiously.

 

“I think I can answer that, hopefully.”

 

“Perfect. So, can you elaborate more on what had happened to you?”

 

“Well, this might sound a bit weird, Lady Ran, but…uh…how should I word it…first of all, I have to say it to you that I have this certain ability to see the boundaries between things. It’s something really weird-sounding, yeah.”

 

Hearing the word “boundaries” suddenly made Ran’s eyes visibly widened in surprise. It was clearly something that she didn’t expect, and Maribel was surprised to see her reacted like that too. There was an actual chance that she had an idea on what it was, and if that’s the case, then Maribel had to push her to tell her what it actually meant. For now though, she decided to continue her story instead to not be rude.

 

“Due to that power, I often unconsciously spirited myself away from my world, either when I’m sleeping, or when I stumbled upon some hole in space-time. I think this might be one of those occasions. I don’t know, since I rarely stayed this long before returning back to my world. Does this answer your question, milady?”

 

“…” Nothing but silence. Hearing no replies from Ran, Maribel of course was getting concerned, thinking that there’s something wrong regarding her answer.

 

“Milady? Lady Ran?”

 

Ran froze in her place, unresponsive. It was clear that what she had just said managed to shock the fox lady far more than Maribel would ever assume. This went on for several awkward minutes of silence, before Ran recovered from the shock and started to speak up again, albeit in a clearly different tone from before. Right now, she pretty obviously tried her best to shift the conversation as far away from the topic, for a reason Maribel could not understand that time.

 

“If my mistress was here, she could easily send you back to your world if you wished to, but alas, she had disappeared for weeks. It’s quite usual for her to do this, so while you wait for her, why don’t you try travelling around this place?

 

I’ll go ask Chen to help you prepare if that is what you want.”

 

It was definitely a kind offer from her at the surface, but Maribel couldn’t help but think that she’s merely politely trying to send her away from this place. It had something to do with her power, more likely than not. A momentary feeling of dread was indeed shown by Ran during the time she talked about her circumstances, after all. Despite it would be a bit rude to do so right now, Maribel felt the urge to try pushing for the issue more. Maybe some more questions and with that, hopefully things could get clearer. But even then, Maribel really wanted to make sure that she still had chance to return home, since she doubted that this would be in any way similar to her previous spiriting away. With that in her mind, she opened her mouth and started to talk.

 

“Before that, pardon me Lady Ran, but can you tell me something about my power? From your reaction earlier, you seemed to be familiar with it, so I guess it won’t hurt if I ask about this to you. Is there anything I should know about it?”

 

“…Please return to your room right now. I’ll get Chen later to bring you a map of this place and some supplies, and then, she’ll guide you out of this mansion.”

 

Yeah, she was definitely getting kicked out of the mansion, Maribel thought. If she was Renko, she would just push the fox lady further and further about the question despite (or even due to) her refusal to touch the subject, but unfortunately(?) for her, Maribel didn’t have the guts and much of Renko determination to do so right now. With her being ordered to leave like that, Maribel rose up from her position and bowed to Ran, before quietly withdrawing herself back to her room, now with more things to think on her mind than before.

 

 

 

 

At least, Chen was kind enough to guide her even further than where she’s supposed to guide her, and she showed her the way to this certain place called “The Human Village”. Maribel commented on how it was a really unimaginative name for a place, but Chen mentioned that since there’s only 1 area where humans took residence, there’s no need for the place to have any other, fancier name. Chen jokingly said about calling the place “Meat Storage Village”, and that was when Maribel reminded herself that the girl was a youkai, hence she distanced herself a bit from the catgirl due to it. It was apparently a good-spirited joke though, and Chen then explained how most of the human in the Human Village couldn’t be attacked by the youkai, lest they would get exorcised painfully by a grouchy shrine maiden and her trigger-happy witch friend. Maribel was somewhat curious regarding the two, but at the last second decided not to ask, as her attention was shifted into the fact that the Human Village was in sight. By that point, Chen mentioned how she couldn’t accompany her further, and left after saying a short goodbye. Maribel thanked the girl beforehand, of course, though, she couldn’t help but feel a bit disturbed when Chen was visibly running as fast as she could as soon as she left her.

 

Probably she just has an important appointment. Yeah, that honestly sounds likely. Or maybe it’s just too sudden and she was just shocked. Or maybe I did really offend her by pushing her too much and be rude. That’d be a valid reason for her to kick me out of her place.

 

Yeah, no. Maribel knew that it was due to her meeting earlier with Ran. It was all but obvious. That somewhat irked her, but still, the two of them had saved her and provided a resting place, food, guidance, and other things to her. Despite what happened, to be frustrated at them just simply because of them not wanting to talk regarding something that might be a private matter to them would just make her look like an ungrateful person.

 

“Well, let’s not think about it again. After all, I should start checking out the village now.”

 

 

---

 

 

“Heh, I admit, that’s quite amusing.”

 

The fact that she met Ran and Chen while she was still known as Maribel amused Yukari a lot while she replayed the memory again on her mind. She found Ran’s mortified look when she realized that she was actually really talking to her mistress was priceless, definitely. Remembering about the two made her quite sad once again though. It was still perfectly clear on her mind how she lost the two of them not that long ago, and it was not exactly something that she wanted to remember, especially now. Losing them would be maddening enough, but losing them in that way really almost drove her deep into despair. If it’s not for Koishi snapping her out of it, she wouldn’t even be here right now.

 

Shifting her memories away from it, Yukari then realized that for some odd reasons, she only saw Renko so far, when it came to constructs of her own memory. She doubted that it’s supposed to only be one, which was why she wondered that even Ran, Chen, and not even Yuyuko or Reimu appeared here. That’s also a question that should be answered sooner or later, probably.

 

After she was satisfied with what she remembered, Yukari opened her eye to see Renko pouting beside her, definitely was not amused regarding the fact that she ignored her a lot earlier. In response to that, Yukari simply smiled at her, before rising up, stretching her body a bit, and then turning around to face the snowfield the two needed to get through next.

 

“Right, right. That’s definitely enough rest for me. You’re ready to get going?”

 

“As if you need to ask me about it, Merry. When it comes to things like this, of course I am ready! I’m Renko, a member of our Sealing Club! If I’m not ready for an adventure, then it wouldn’t be me!”

 

As she expected, Renko answered Yukari’s question quite enthusiastically. Having her around, having someone that she could actually talk with going together with her, unlike Koishi, really felt like a welcome change for Yukari. She had remembered most of her memories regarding Renko as time passed on the pathway, and so far, she quite liked what she remembered. While Yukari doubt she would feel as much sentiment towards Renko as Maribel did to her, she definitely could understand why Maribel felt that close to Renko.

 

Though, however amusing these memories regarding Renko and her past that resurfaced from her were, their actual purpose was still quite unclear so far. Were they merely just meaningless fragments, or was there a greater meaning that she needed to grasp from them? Yukari was unsure, and she realized that she would need to know more before taking anymore conclusions. But then, if she slept for too long there, she’d be left behind in this race to reach the end, so Yukari decided that she would just move on right now, with the hope of her recovering more of her repressed memories later on down the road.

 

The sleep did her pretty nicely though, regaining memories or not, and now Yukari could clearly feel her energy returning to her body. At least, it didn’t feel like moving around in a corpse, and the body felt a bit more alive, to an extent. Using this body was still something that Yukari was not comfortable about, but as long as she could still continue onwards, this would do. She erected a violet barrier around her and Renko to protect them from the snowstorm, and then she grabbed the brown-hair’s hand before running straight into the middle of the snowstorm without wasting any time, with the slightly surprised Renko gleefully getting dragged around by her, trying her best not to fall down in the meantime.

 

 

---

 

 

It’s been several days since Maribel arrived in this strange new world. While she had found a place to stay in the meantime, it still felt very wrong to her. Her desire to return to her own world was still as strong as ever. She was still wondering on why she could not return to her own world even after this much time passed, unlike all of the other times she was being spirited away. She had tried to look for those same holes in reality where just like where she came from, but she couldn’t find any. She was getting worried about whether she would get trapped in this world for too long and made everyone waiting for her in her home world, especially Renko, worry too much about her, but she hoped that when she returned, time in her world hadn’t passed as long as the time that had passed in this world so far.

 

Thankfully at least, the residents of the world were really nice towards her, and she grew to like the place more and more. Right now, she had been hired by a kind woman to work as a waitress in a small diner, well, a traditional Japanese variant of it to be more exact, but it did provide her with lodging and food, so she was really thankful to be able to get that opportunity. A tavern also wanted to hire her, but with her feeling awkward if she worked in such a place, she decided to politely refuse to offer.

 

Being a foreigner from another world in this world, which resembled a typical rural medieval Japan felt quite weird for her, of course. Though, most of the people there didn’t pay that fact about her much mind, oddly enough. But well, it then became apparent to her that what Ran said before regarding the so-called “outside world people” was quite right. They didn’t pay her origin that much mind since most of those who survived from being eaten by a beast or a youkai went into this village anyway, and they either lived there for the rest of their lives, or at times, they could suddenly disappear without a trace. Some rumors said that it was the work of a youkai, but Maribel decided to not think about it too much, since the thought of her suddenly disappearing due to a youkai’s doing even in the sanctuary of the Human Village would only unnecessarily worry her.

 

Speaking of youkai and fantastic things, she had been quite lucky to see the occurrences of what the people there called as “Spell Card Battle”, which basically two or more people showering each other with uncountable amount of non-lethal multicolored magical bullets (and beams of light and other kinds of projectiles) that formed a lot of beautiful patterns, usually to settle a dispute. It was apparently a favorite pastime of the people there who could pull the feat off using magic or something close to it (and for some reason, these people were usually females, mostly youkai or fairies). Maribel, who watched those battles in complete awe of their beauty, wished deep inside of her heart that she could join in on those battles too, some day. If she was stuck in this world for longer, doing that would be a wonderful way to pass time. And due to that desire of hers, she decided to try learning more on how she could do the same thing as these girls.

 

Well, but it was not that simple. To do so, she had to learn more about magic or anything similar to it, and her options at that time were quite limited in order to learn about that. The nearest option would be to visit the fittingly-named Forest of Magic, where people said that a young, but really talented witch resided. But she heard that she was a complete pain to interact with, and could be really rash and weird at times, so for now, she decided that going there wouldn’t be too wise. There’s also this mansion near the misty lake not too far from the village where she could access one of the world’s largest libraries, especially when it came to magical knowledge, but the entire notion of going there felt completely suicidal with the mansion being said to be where devils resided. The people were specifically mentioning devil instead of the normal youkai, and that worried her enough to not consider going there any further. There’s that Buddhist shrine near the village, but it’s filled with youkai that became the temple’s so-called disciples, and many of them were still not pleasant to deal with if what she heard was true, and also, she was not exactly keen on becoming a monk in the first place. Then, she immediately dismissed the rumor about a hidden Taoist residence somewhere, since even if she could be bothered to look for its entrance, it would take too long. Her last, most sane answer, to visit the grouchy shrine maiden of the nearest Shinto shrine was immediately shot down when said grouchy shrine maiden said that she couldn’t be bothered to provide the training for her, and she also said that a lot of previous outsiders had tried to train under her, only to fail miserably, and due to this, she decided that trying to do so would be a boring way to waste time. And due to it, Maribel was left with a miniscule amount of options.

There was really only one viable option for her at the moment. She decided to try her luck and visit the other Shinto shrine located on top of the Youkai Mountain. Despite the name, which should’ve made Maribel not consider going there from the very first time the news about the place came to her, the people in the village said that the place was relatively safe due to most of the youkai there being quite well-cultured and civil, and it was said that the mountain was protected by the gods who resided there. She heard things regarding the completely unpleasant Kappas that resided there though, and despite her immediate worry regarding the fact that those youkai were usually quite aggressive to humans from the folklore she read, others convinced her that the worst they could do now was to sell things in a highly jacked up price, so that calmed her down a bit, thankfully. She also heard about how they’re quite advanced technologically, so maybe she should pay a visit to their place later after her visit to the Moriya Shrine, just to look around. She’s not really a tech geek, but seeing outside world-level of technology could be a nice way to cure her homesickness for now, what’s with no guarantee that she could return to her home world.

 

Currently, she was starting her trek up the stone path leading to the mountain. A solid road like that was not something she expected to see in this world of all places, but apparently the gods from said mountain shrine, the Moriya Shrine, ordered the resident youkai to build the road so worshippers could access the shrine more easily. Well, whatever the actual reason was, Maribel found it quite convenient.

 

After several hours of walking, Maribel was completely tired, and decided that she should get some rest. Finding a nice rock to sit on, she then opened her bag to get to her lunch and drink, and without wasting any time, she feasted on them merrily. And for that moment, as Maribel enjoyed her food and let go of her fatigue, an odd movement near the bushes not far from her became apparent.

 

“Now, now, look at what we have here. A cute little human girl, alone in youkai’s territory. You look healthy enough to taste well, my dear.”

 

Maribel heard someone was talking behind her suspiciously. Not exactly catching what the voice said, Maribel still instinctively turned around in response, but she could not see anyone or anything that could be a probable source of that voice behind her. Thinking that it might just be her fear acting out on her, making her hear voices that weren’t there in the first place, Maribel let out a sigh of relief before returning to her food, not aware that a shadow was rapidly approaching her.

 

“And now, just like that, I have you. You humans are so gullible as always. It’s really not fun if you’re as easy to get like this, my dear.”

 

The voice was followed by a specter appearing before her, and without giving Maribel a chance to react, the specter’s hand grabbed Maribel’s neck, and on the next second, she was slammed straight towards the ground, the hand was exerting quite an inhuman level of force when it did so. The force that drove her back was this close in outright breaking her neck, and Maribel was simply lucky that it didn’t kill her instantly. But, even then, the trauma caused by impact still hurt her head a lot. After recovering a little from the initial shock, she struggled to open her eyes, only to see what looked like a humanoid male was currently pinning her to the ground. It wasn’t clear what kind of youkai he was, but classification was the least important thing in her mind right now due to the situation.

 

“Get off me, you damn creep!”

 

“Ooh, trying to resist? Don’t sweat it. You’ll die less painfully if you don’t move around like that.”

 

“Ugh….”

 

Right now, she was being held on her neck and pinned into the ground. Her arms couldn’t be moved, and her legs couldn’t reach the youkai currently sitting on top of her. Maribel took a glance towards the youkai’s face. It was completely disgusting. Filled with a visible trace of hunger and lusting towards her, looking at him almost made Maribel puke. But, despite everything that she tried to escape his grip, she knew that she had no chance to get away this time. She was definitely going to die. She was going to die alone in this strange world, being eaten by a youkai, and she would leave Renko alone without any idea about her whereabouts. Her parents would even be angry at Renko due to her disappearance. She might even get put into a trial, and she could be jailed. All because of her being too weak, being too weak to survive. Maribel started to cry with those thoughts in her mind, which made the youkai look more and more amused.

 

“Cry! Cry some more! Your crying voice is cute, so cry more while you still can!”

 

It happened for quite a while, her crying while the despicable creature pinning her down watching to his delight. Maribel ended up stopped crying later on, not because she didn’t want to, but because she couldn’t cry anymore. And with her stopping, the youkai decided to tighten his grip on her neck, slowly but surely choking her. Maribel gasped for air, her body tried its best to move away so it could get some air back, but the youkai’s hold on her was too strong. That was pretty much it, Maribel thought. It was the end. There would not be any Maribel Hearn once this was over. Without anything else that she could do, she chose to try embracing death as it came to her.

 

Or she would, if she didn’t suddenly noticed the existence of uncountable abstract lines all around her. It was a strange sensation, but that time, she somehow could move her right hand again. Acting almost subconsciously at that point, she did some sort of a sign with that right hand, and what happened next surprised the youkai, and most especially, it surprised even herself. Several of those lines widened as the hand sign was executed, and from them, blasts of lights were fired straight at her attacker, knocking him away from her almost as soon as she finished doing the sign. Without the youkai on top of her, Maribel then struggled to wake up, still dizzy from the lack of oxygen flowing to her head after his attempt to strangle her. Not exactly being fully conscious yet, she turned around just to see the youkai had done so himself, and was ready to attack her for what she did.

 

This time, she didn’t even do the hand sign when the youkai was showered with countless amount of purple bullets coming from the abstract lines around her. That assault ended up knocking it unconscious for now, and the completely drained, shocked, and confused Maribel returned to try sitting on the rock she used to sit on, still having no actual idea on what actually happened.

 

“I have to admit, you’re making me really worried there. It’s good to see you safe and sound.”

 

She could hear someone else talking to her. A woman or a young girl, more likely than not. Maribel wanted to try seeing on who was the source of the voice, but this time, Maribel was too tired. Without any energy left to continue, she fell on the side of the road with a thump. She went to sleep due to exhaustion almost immediately afterwards, with the last thing she felt was her being lifted up by someone.

 

 

“Gee, going around on a long trek like that without being able to fly. What were you actually thinking?”

 

“Uh…where am I?”

 

It felt like she had been asleep for years when Maribel woke up from her slumber, to find herself covered in a blanket on top of a simple futon in a traditional Japanese-styled room. Not far from her was a girl around her age, wearing an odd red-white shrine maiden outfit with detachable sleeves, and a big red ribbon on her hair. Maribel immediately recognized the ribbon, and realized where she was currently as she jolted back up.

 

“You’re currently inside of the Hakurei Shrine, foreigner. My name’s Reimu Hakurei. Remember it well, since I think we’ll meet a lot in the future and I’m not keen on introducing myself again later.” The shrine maiden’s answer pretty much confirmed her observation. Maribel’s body and head still hurt a hell lot, though she had only a faint memory regarding what happened before she slept that made her feel this much pain all over her body. Last thing she remembered was enjoying her food on the way to the Moriya shrine…

 

“Urk..w-why am I here, Miss Reimu?”

 

“You fell unconscious after your encounter with a youkai during your walk towards presumably the shrine in that mountain. I exorcised the youkai and brought you here afterwards.”

 

Ah, right. Maribel now remembered that creep that almost killed her earlier. The projectiles that saved her at the last moments probably belonged to Reimu after all. Well, it was a disappointment definitely that she failed to develop the ability in that crucial moment,but at least she was safe now inside the shrine, far away from danger, even if her walk didn’t seem to result into anything.

 

“In that case, I should thank you about it, Miss Reimu.”

 

“Eh, don’t sweat it. I’m more interested in talking about something to you.”

 

“Huh?”

 

Would this be a repeat regarding what happened one week ago with Ran? Maribel thought. She had a bad feeling regarding this, but Maribel tried her best to steel herself and stay still so she could answer the questions Reimu would say.

 

“You…looked like someone I knew. Someone I should have already known about, but for some reasons I couldn’t really put my hands on the identity of said person. You’re that girl from the outside world that asked me to teach you the basics of Spell Card battles several days ago, right?”

 

“Yes, I believe so.” And she’s the one that got painfully rejected by her without any arguments, Maribel slightly grumbled. Of course, it was this question that Reimu ended up asking her about. Either it was all a huge coincidence, or there’s something really big was going on there without her knowledge.

 

“Earlier…when you started to attack the youkai back, you somehow managed to fire off magical attacks at him, even without any experience before. How did you do that?”

 

Hearing the question, that revelation of the fact that it wasn’t actually Reimu that attacked the youkai but really her, somehow, made Maribel really surprised, despite it being her initial guess. It might have something to do with those lines, but for now, Maribel didn’t really have any ideas about what exactly happened. But…for some reason she felt relieved and happy hearing that confirmation from Reimu.

 

“I actually have no idea. It just happened, and I don’t think I willed it to happen consciously. I wasn’t even exactly fully conscious back then. Even right now, I couldn’t exactly believe that I pulled that off. Hell, I’m not even fully convinced that I’m actually fully alive right now.” Maribel’s answer was a bit disoriented as she was still quite overwhelmed by the current development for her situation.

 

“Is that so? Well, just going to say, due to that, I believe you have the necessary talent to start learning further in this matter. I can help you if you want. I rejected you back then since I can’t deal with those outside world kids that wanted to be able to participate in bullet hell duels without actually having the ability to. Since you’re different, I guess there’s no harm in giving you the basics.”

 

“Really? Thank you for this, Reimu!”

 

“Sheesh, don’t be too overexcited like that. Don’t make me reconsider my decision.”

 

“S-sure then.”

 

Reimu juggling between being rude and polite to her was quite puzzling to Maribel, but she didn’t really have a room or right to question that right now. And then again, her mind was immediately preoccupied with the thought that she would soon start learning about the art of danmaku from one of the best in that art. Taking her mind away from the uncertainty of her fate would be something that she needed until she could return back home, but…

 

“Anyway, you should’ve already known about how to reach the human village from here, so when you’re sure you’re ready to walk again, just leave from the front door.”
 

“Reimu, can I ask one last question?”

 

“Be quick.”

 

“Do you think…there’s a chance for me to return to the outside world?”

 

“Heh, that’s actually a funny joke. Of course you can’t. Unless you’re really really lucky, there’s no chance for you to return.

 

So, just enjoy this place as much as you can, and try forgetting your life outside there, since you won’t be able to return there ever again.”

 

“I-I see.”

 

 

---

 

 

This time, Yukari decided to not make an internal comment about anything regarding her latest flashback, and instead, she focused on thinking on what it implied regarding herself. It confirmed most of her suspicion of what exactly happened back then. Everything made perfect sense now to her, at the very least. This was more likely than not the time when she started to shift from being Maribel into Yukari. The time when she slowly forgotten about life in the outside world and embraced her new life in Gensokyo. It all fit perfectly, and Yukari could feel that the puzzle of her past was almost done by now.

 

Though, there were still three things that had not been answered yet. First, no one aside from Ran, Chen, and Reimu thought that she looked familiar and from them, only Ran and Chen alluded to her existence as Yukari. Reimu even outright forgot about her (Yukari’s) existence when she mentioned that there’s no chance for her (Maribel) to return outside, which was pretty odd too. Second, the timeline was still too jumbled. Yukari remembered perfectly that she was the one that created Gensokyo, and also the fact that she was already around for unmemorable amount of time, and thus, the implication that she was only a recent addition to Gensokyo felt completely jarring. And lastly, there was still no actual reason for her to remember all of this. No significance for her so far aside from the fact that she remembered about it, really.

 

Yukari believed that if her theory regarding the pathway’s purpose was correct, she would get at least one more flashback sooner or later to cover the questionable parts. Whatever would be shown in it probably would be able to answer the lingering questions that persisted to stay inside of her mind. Also, another thing to mind, there’s still Renko. It would be odd if she only appears from the pathway as merely a figment of her memory and nothing more. So far, aside from the first two proper flashbacks, Renko didn’t even get an actual screentime, which was odd if she was not intended to only be a way for the pathway to strengthen her memory. There must be a secret in regard to her existence right now, or why she was the only person summoned by the pathway for her. Speaking of her…

 

“Merry! When I said I was eager to go, I don’t say anything regarding getting dragged literally through the snow!”

 

Ah right. With her mind being focused her attempt to fathom the true intention of the pathway for her, she had forgotten that she pretty much did what Renko just said. She turned around and saw Renko covered in snow and some bruises, pouting comically at her. Seeing Renko acting as silly like that actually made the worn-out Yukari laughed, even for a little. It had been a long while since she had the occasion to let out an actual laugh like that, and to be able to do that again was quite a pleasant experience. Renko was of course less than amused at how Yukari was laughing at her misery.

 

BGM: Secrets Club

 

“Geez, Merry, can show some sympathy at least?”

 

“Nope…can’t……too busy…laughing…”
 

It was either Renko’s overall appearance or her cute annoyed expression that sold the entire thing for Yukari. As she continued to giggle at her friend, Renko felt that she had enough of it, and when Yukari was not paying much attention to her, she crouched down to pick a pile of snow, and immediately threw it directly at Yukari’s face.

 

“Ha, gotcha!”

 

“Hey, that’s a cheap shot!”

 

“Ooh, what’chugonna do now, Merry? You wanna get back on me for that?”

 

“Renko, that manner of speech does not suit you at all.”

 

“Try hitting me then if you object~”

 

Hearing Renko’s taunt at her, Yukari cleared the snow from her face, and with a smirk, she grabbed a pile of snow with her hand and threw it at Renko’s direction. Though, her target moved out of the way before the snowball could it her. The brown-hair started to laugh merrily as more and more snowballs were thrown at her, which were all effortlessly dodged by her. She moved around in such a manner as if she’s playfully taunting Yukari, who took Renko’s dodging as a challenge for her. Yet another and other snowballs were thrown, and once again, Renko dodged them again and again, this time using her best attempt to look like she was not even trying.

 

“C’mon, you can do better than that, Merry~”

 

“Well, of course I can, Renko.

 

And…gotcha!”

 

While Renko was busy dodging Yukari’s snowball, the blonde-hair had silently set up a barrier somewhere near her without her noticing its presence. And with it, when Yukari threw another snowball, when Renko once again obviously attempted to dodge it, she crashed face-first into the barrier, and the snowball then proceeded to hit her straight in her face, knocking her hat out of her head.

 

“Heey, that’s cheating!” Renko said in a slightly annoyed tone as she cleared the snow from her face, before rushing to get her hat before the snowstorm buried it or blew it away.

 

“You did a cheap shot, and to get even, I believe that it’s fine for me to do so too~” Yukari replied playfully, finally fully getting into Renko’s playful mood now.

 

As a retaliation for what Yukari did, Renko threw another snowball at her, and Yukari replied with another while trying her best to dodge Renko’s attacks. After that point, it pretty much escalated into a proper full snowball fight, and as it went on and on, Yukari’s mood lightened more and more. She was visibly acting more easygoing and cheerfully right now, and instead of responding flatly to Renko, she now played along whenever the brown-hair playfully teased her. She admitted inside that the snowball fight was a good activity for her to do now, if only to ease the stress that plagued her mind lately. For that time only as she danced around in the snow with Renko, Yukari could finally lift off her mind from everything that worried her that time, and fully immersed herself in that small fun fight with her old best friend.

 

 

“That was fun! Let’s do it again someday!”

 

“Yeah, we really should do this again. I didn’t throw the snowballs too hard on you though, right?”

 

“Are you kidding? My grandmother delivered a stronger one than that!”

 

“Heh, good then.”

 

Yukari and Renko were lying next to each other in the snowfield, being quite tired after snowball fight session. Despite their exhaustion, it was pretty visible that both of them were enjoying every moment of it, and the expression of satisfaction was there on their smiling faces as both of them looked up at the night sky of the pathway.

 

“You know, Merry? I wonder…what kinds of adventures do you think we will do next? I mean, for example, we still haven’t looked that far regarding those so-called “Izanagi objects”. You still remember those, right? So, do you still want to try looking about it more when this is all over with me?”

 

“…Sure, why not? I’ll try my best so we can do that later, Renko.” Of course, despite of what she said in her answer to Renko’s question, Yukari knew that it’s impossible for her to fulfill that request. Definitely no chance for her, since she was no longer Maribel Hearn, after all. There’s a world that she should still save and manage, and even then, there’s no way the Renko she’d met later would recognize her. She might still even have a “Maribel” with her. Still, saying that she would do that might be for the best for Renko’s sake right now.

 

“Hey Merry, you know what? From here…you look like you’ve grown so much compared to me.”

 

“What do you mean by that?”

 

“Like, you’ve changed so much since we last met. Physically, as a person, and even ability-wise. I’m not exactly sure whether all of the changes are for the better for you, me, or us or not…but compared to me, which remains unchanging…I somewhat envied you, Merry.”

 

“Uh, you don’t have t-“

 

“You know, even since you can travel around all the wonderful places on your own with your power, it felt like I was slowly left more and more behind you, without any hope for me to catch up to you. It’s just like as if the gap between us became wider and wider as time passes.”

 

“Renko, I-“

 

“Every time you left on your own…it was as if you’re going to disappear forever from my life. I…I don’t want that to happen!

 

Merry, please don’t leave me alone again!”

 

“Renko…”

 

Yukari still felt guilty regarding what the girl felt about her sudden disappearance back then, thanks to her memories returning. The fact that the circumstances were out of her control didn’t matter. She had left Renko alone, and gave her the burden to face the things she might have to deal with due to her disappearance alone. But even without going to that part, having the best friend of your life just disappear into nowhere all of the sudden would be a terrible, terrible blow to anyone.

 

Yet, Yukari knew that this Renko that was lying on the snow beside her was simply a construct of the pathway, so she was not really sure whether an apology to this Renko would work to remove the lingering guilt that she just felt. Maybe apologizing to her would give Yukari some sense of catharsis, but it would still be hollow since she was not apologizing to the real one. But…even then, maybe empty words would still help ease the pain that both she and Renko felt. Yukari’s used to lying all these times anyway. To do it one more time just for her sake would probably be fine.

 

“Renko, I promise I won’t leave you again. Not this time. I promise I’ll be on your side as long as I could.

 

…I’m sorry for leaving you abruptly like that back then.”

 

It was of course, a false promise that Yukari would have no choice but to break once she cleared the pathway. After all, this Renko she was talking to was simply a construct of this pathway, and Yukari doubted that the girl would even be able to leave the pathway even if she wanted to. Saying an empty promise like that ended up hurting her own heart even more despite her attempts to justify it. But for now, at least she just wanted to make sure that Renko could feel better before she left the pathway. What this would result to later on shouldn’t be thought about too much for now.

 

“Ahh…thank you, Merry.

 

….Sorry if I’m sounding really selfish by saying all these stuffs to you.I-“

 

“It’s okay, really. You shouldn’t think about it much. We’re friends after all, right?”

 

Yukari couldn’t exactly see it, but Renko’s smile disappeared momentarily the moment Yukari said ‘friend’. Actually, thankfully she couldn’t see it. She probably wouldn’t really able to take more things to worry about right now. Some moments of silence followed after Yukari said those words, as the two continued to look at the sky, not really being bothered by the snowstorm that continued to rage around them.

 

“The moon, it’s quite beautiful, isn’t it?” Renko attempted to break the silence and moved the topic to something else. But, her mention of the moon made Yukari’s expression immediately change into one that looked a bit sourer.

 

“Renko, if you may, let’s not talk about the moon.” Yukari said, with a tone a bit colder than her previous one. Renko immediately realized that she might’ve made a mistake in changing the topic, but decided to push on just like she usually do.

 

“But it looks so pretty! I’m too tired in seeing all the artificial skies back in our world, so seeing a naturally beautiful night scenery like this…I wish I brought my telescope here…

 

Merry, can you look at the sky for me? I don’t want to enjoy this alone without you.”

 

The moon was the last thing Yukari wanted to be reminded of during her time together with Renko. She was never really liked the sight of the moon in the first place, but the entire incident of the Moonlight Descent Plan pretty much made her completely despise that floating rock that orbited Earth every day. But, probably only because Renko wanted her to do so, Yukari decided that just looking and enjoying the sight wouldn’t really hurt her. Thus, after she tried to convince herself that something weird wouldn’t happen when she stared at the moon, she shifted the gaze towards the white-looking circle in the sky. Just as Renko said, Yukari had to admit that it looked really beautiful, but the more carefully she looked at it, the more she realized that it was completely wrong, much to her chagrin.

 

As far as she knew it, the moon was supposed to be an almost perfect sphere instead of something that looked like it was carved by something to make it look like a giant, floating stone rose orbiting the planet. The moon also shouldn’t have blue outlines all around it instead of craters. And most of all, the moon shouldn’t have a gigantic eye staring right at her down from that height. It was a single, gigantic blue eye, staring at her deeply, as if it was observing what she had been doing so far here.

 

Yukari realized what this actually meant, and it was something that she definitely didn’t hope to see in the pathway.

 

“So Merry, it’s beautiful, right?” Renko, who didn’t seem to notice the direness of the situation, was still enjoying the sight of the full moon, while Yukari herself started to be more and more worried.

 

“…Renko, I’m going to check the moon for a bit. Might be just me, but there’s something wrong going on with it. Don’t worry; I’ll definitely be back before too long. Just wait here for me, ok?”

 

“…W-why? What’s actually happening here?” Renko was quite surprised when she heard about what Yukari was going to do, and her face showed a clear sign of disapproval regarding of what she was going to do next.

 

“Renko, listen to me for a bit. Hm…how should I put it…” Yukari then proceeded to explain about Koishi to her friend for a bit, just enough to make sure than Renko understood the reason why she had to check the moon out.After the explanation, Renko finally, with a heavy heart, let go of Yukari and allowed her to take off and fly toward the moon rose.

 

It was quite odd that even after all that, Renko couldn’t see anything wrong regarding the moon. For all she knew, the moon was still perfectly unchanging; it was still the brilliant white sphere on the night sky that was there since the beginning. Whether this was actually just her eyesight playing with her, Renko having a hard time noticing the changes to the pathway due to her nature, or whether it was something that Koishi did to make tracking her harder, the fact that it seemed that only Yukari noticed the change was definitely concerning her. But whatever’s the case, this shouldn’t happen, and the cause and reasoning behind this must be thoroughly investigated.

 

Well, first of all, there was no doubt that it was Koishi who did this. Leaving her around while she attempted to do her thing like this would be very dangerous. The eye of the moon that was currently staring at her was a clear sign that whatever she was going to attempt was somethingclose to the Moonlight Descent Plan Toyohime attempted. If it was a success, it would become a no-win situation for almost anyone else entering the pathway. Whatever her reasoning to do this, if she had any in the first place, this had to be stopped.

 

Yukari closed her eyes, and with her mind focused on her current objective, she let go of all other concerns that plagued her mind. Renko, the remaining parts of her sealed-away memories, what would happen next to Gensokyo, all must be put aside now. Only important thing that she must focus on now was stopping Koishi from doing what she was doing. And now, without those things chaining her to the ground, she started to float, with Renko watching from behind her, amazed. Yukari turned around to give one last smile to her, before returning her gaze towards the moon rose, and she then started to propel herself upwards, straight towards it.

 

BGM: Hartmann’s Youkai Girl

 

“Koishi! Can you hear me? Whatever you’re doing now, stop it! Stop it, or I’ll hurt you once again!”

 

“You can’t order me around like that~”

 

Her tone was completely different from when she last met her. The completely carefree-sounding tone that she sported right now, Yukari realized that it was clearly a sign that her third eye had closed again, which would mean that her heart would almost completely be unreachable for her. That would make it even harder for Yukari to try convincing her to stop. And really, Yukari was not even confident that she could even fight her right now. If healing someone drained that much energy from her to the point of her passing out, fighting Koishi now could completely be suicidal.

 

Not that she had any choice in this matter, though. If she didn’t do anything, Koishi would probably start to use the moon to distribute madness throughout the pathway as long as she was still perched up there, and even Yukari might get affected this time if she wasn’t careful. No matter what, she must stop this from getting worse. If it’s necessary, she might even need to finish what she had failed to do in the previous pathway.

 

“It’s cute to think you can stop me right now, Yukaricchi~” Noticing that Yukari didn’t move or reply for a while, Koishi seemed to try inciting a response from her for whatever reason.

 

“We won’t know until we try.” Yukari tried her best to sound confident with the line, though Koishi would probably caught up with her uncertainty by now, if she could be aware of it.

 

“Then I’ll send you and your naïve dream plummeting into the ground~”

 

From the blue segments of the moon rose, energy was visibly being charged before being fired straight at Yukari as a barrage of bullets and lasers. It was not really as much of a standard Spell Card and more a haphazard, but merciless barrage of projectiles. Without much thought put behind this barrage, it couldn’t even be said that it was more than a show of pretty light, and the haphazardness just made Yukari thought that it wasn’t even close to being pretty-looking. Yukari dodged a beam coming at her by sidestepping a little, and proceeded immediately afterwards to dodge several bullets by rushing past them and avoiding them within a hairbreadth of distance between her and the bullets. And when doing that only made her vulnerable to several incoming lasers, Yukari used a barrier to block some of the laser momentarily to give her room to dodge the rest, and when the barrier expired, she was left with enough breathing space to safely dodge the lasers held back by the barrier.

 

But the barrage did not slow down at all. With Koishi hooked into the pathway itself like this, there wouldn’t be any reason to think that she would be stopping any time soon out of exhaustion. At least, the fact that she was entrenched by the moon right now made Yukari let out a sigh of relief. It would be impossible for her to dodge her attacks due to that, and Yukari couldn’t afford to waste energy on missed projectiles now. Some one-two well placed hit could hopefully take her out or close to it.

 

Not long after Yukari blocked the lasers, a ‘wall’ of hundreds of tightly packed bullets was approaching her fast, and Yukari stopped her dash towards Koishi seeing that obstacle in front of her. Using a secod to gather up her focus, she proceeded to observe the velocity, movement, and positioning of the bullet wall, and mapped an escape route from it as fast as she could. She calculated the most probable way for her to dodge the attack in a fraction of a second before she slowly approached the wall.

 

And then, the next thing she felt was the immediate brush with imminent death as she danced around the tight wall. The feeling when the bullets went past her without harming her, the feeling of when the bullets and lasers grazed her slightly without doing much damage, it was something that could still amuse Yukari even today, and as her smile returned to her face, she proceeded to dance around the bullet wall, dodging them gracefully with the precision of someone who had done something like this for a long, long time.

 

Seeing that her assault failed to land a hit to Yukari so far, Koishi now seemingly trying to fire of faster and more tightly packed barrages at her, and facing the projectiles and beams that were now coming for her from all directions, Yukari didn’t even seem to be bothered as she continued her way towards Koishi, through what she could say as the atmosphere of the pathway. Her barrier once again proved to be useful as she continuously using it to create openings for her to escape from otherwise-impossible bullet patterns easily, and with the bullets now coming from above, behind, and under her, she needed as much room to breathe as possible between the bullets.

 

As she went closer and closer, the bullets’ pattern density became much more than how it was not two minutes ago, and the way the bullet moves right now became more and more erratic. Yukari thought that it was simply a sign of Koishi getting more and more desperate in stopping her from being able to reach her, but it shouldn’t really be that bad. Right now, hundreds, if not thousands of multicolored projectiles made of light were coming at her from every direction at high speed. Getting hit by one of them could be a bad thing for her since it would make an opening for her to get bombarded by the rest of the attack, potentially killing her in that case.

 

It was a welcome challenge.

 

Yukari’s smile turned into a grin that once, as if she taunted Koishi to come with as much firepower as possible if she wanted to take her down. It didn’t even take her half of a second to break out four rapidly-spinning purple barriers around her, and with it, she started to increase her speed more and more as she moved forward. The barriers were controlled by her to remotely block attacks that she wouldn’t be able to dodge otherwise, making sure that she would get an escape route from the projectile blockade. The spin of the barrier actually managed to deflect some of the bullets in the meantime, something that also really helped Yukari. The bullets erratic movements meant that the bullets often came from unexpected angles to strike at Yukari, and they were even often enough changing direction mid-air without any warning, betraying any sort of convention regarding projectile just to spite her, but that was usually able to get taken care of by her shields.

 

As she was getting closer and closer, after barely dodging yet another stream of bullet by using the barriers in a formation not dissimilar to a snow plow to enable her to rush through the incoming barrage, she could feel that Koishi gathered a large amount of energy once again. As the pressure in the air became more and more noticeable, Yukari realized that she was charging an attack, and using her feeling to predict the location where Koishi was probably aiming at right now and the potential area of effect of the attack, Yukari then moved the hell out of the harm’s way, moments before what seemingly to be a completely massive beam of light, with a blast radius of roughly 200 meters was fired from the moon, with such force that it could be heard that it broke through the pathway easily, drilling through it like it was nothing. Yukari couldn’t help but be relieved that she managed to dodge that sort of ridiculous attack, and seeing where it hit the ground, it seemed that it had missed Renko’s position. Though, she didn’t even get a chance to think more about this as she realized Koishi was trying to fire off another blast like that at her direction, and right now, the moon was clearly close enough from her current position. No more bullets to obscure her vision towards it. The ‘moon’ was apparently not exactly something a big as an actual moon, but it was still a 2 kilometers-wide piece of space rock that was staring at her right on her eyes.

 

If she let the moon to fire off more and more attacks like that, she would only make things more dangerous to Renko below, or herself. Both of them couldn’t afford her to get hit by that stray beam of annihilation, or even get close to it since the heat would unquestionably kill her. With that in her mind, rather than preparing to move out of the incoming laser’s way, Yukari increased her speed dramatically instead as she blitzed straight at the moon’s eye. She was getting closer and closer to it, and now, the 500 meters-odd eye was in full view of her. The beam was visibly being charged at the retina of the eye, and after calculating slightly about the best place to strike, Yukari coated her right hand, which was currently folded into a fist with layers and layers of barriers, before going straight forward just moments before the eye fired its devastating attack, and proceeded to punch it as hard as she could as the energy gathered there reached critical mass.

 

Due to the force of both her punch and the fallout of the gathered energy, a loud crack could be heard echoing through the empty space, somehow, as the punch broke through the moon, and Yukari, realizing what would happen next, immediately expend most of her energy to create as many layers of protection around her as possible, just in time to avoid herself getting annihilated by the gigantic explosion that happened as the moon shattered and blew itself up.

 

The force from the explosion still knocked Yukari far away back, but the shields she erected managed to protect her life during those vital seconds, and that was the only thing she needed. The aftermath of the explosion had rapidly subsided it seemed, and what was left in the aftermath…was of course, Koishi herself. Back in her old body it seemed, she was visibly curling herself in a fetal position mid-air, with what looking to be huge butterfly wings sprouting from her back.

 

It took Yukari another second to actually realize what the butterfly wings were, and it took her much of her willpower to not vomit immediately as the realization hit her head. Those “wings” were actually body pieces, arms, legs, and heads of humans, all lumped together to create the illusion that they were wings. Koishi’s tentacles were clearly the things that kept the grotesque mess together like that, as specs of blue could be spotted on the madwoman’s wings. As she went closer, more and more details became visible to her, and it just made the entirety of thing even more disgusting. The mess of limbs and heads were still actively moving as if they were alive, and some of the heads even turned around to stare at Yukari unnervingly. She could notice that the head of Koishi’s sister were there somewhere, but by this point, that was merely another horribly wrong thing regarding Koishi’s wings. If she wanted to have a chance against her, Yukari must keep herself from getting bothered by things like this.

 

“Koishi…what the…what is that? What did you do to them?”Even with her best effort in trying to not be bothered by the display, Yukari in the end couldn’t really hide her reaction regarding those wings. Both disgust and surprise, those were clearly telegraphed from her words. Hearing Yukari’s reaction to her appearance, Koishi’s smile became wider, which just adding to the unsettling atmosphere.

 

“The voices won’t stop, Yukari~! They won’t stop even after I asked them to stop~

That was why I silenced the voices~

 

After all, human dreams are fragile~
If they’re like this, they won’t ever have to worry about anything else at all~”

 

Of course, Yukari couldn’t expect any actual answer if Koishi’s heart was still closed off like this. A nonsensical answer would be what she’d get at most from this. The unnerving words she gave to her was more than enough for Yukari to not try thinking about this more, and just focus on her attempt to pacify Koishi. As she went closer to the lunatic, the silver-haired girl had seemingly started to actually feel her presence, and rose up from her rolled up position, looking at Yukari with a completely unfitting huge, silly grin on her face as her wings ‘flapped’ behind her.

 

Having enough about the nonsense, Yukari didn’t waste any time to lunge straight towards the madwoman with her magic missiles blazing at her, but Koishi was able to dodge it before retaliating back with her tentacles, razor-sharp constructs that would be less intended to wrap around Yukari and more about cutting her to pieces. Yukari gritted her teeth in response to Koishi’s retaliation before she blocked the advances of the tentacles using her barriers, shielding her as she rushed at Koishi’s direction to get a better chance for a clear shot at the girl.

 

And…even after that effort, after she closed in on Koishi, the girl simply dodged her projectile somehow, but the second wave of Yukari’s onslaught at least managed to knock Koishi’s hat away from her head. This incited quite the reaction from the madwoman.

 

Her eyes started to look more bloodshot the moment the hat was blasted away from her head, and her closed third eye were drawn into the inside of her body, something that Yukari had observed to happen before. This would mean Koishi was getting really serious regarding the battle, which could prove to be quite a pain to handle even for her.

 

“Say, Yukari, have you ever heard about the Moonlight Butterfly?”It was question that came completely out of the left field. Without contexts attached to it, Yukari could only act baffled regarding it, not knowing what kind of thing did the question would imply about. Yukari expected Koishi more to lash violently at her due to her hat’s destruction, but seeing her, despite her previous stance and her currently murderously bloodshot eyes implied, being as cheery as this was definitely unnerving.

 

“What are you even talking about?”

 

“It’s a story my sister told me about~ Here, let me sing a song about it~!” Once again, a less than adequate answer from Koishi. Not that Yukari expected anything else, but even then, Yukari was still worried about what would happen next in the battle. Those words always raise a lot of questionably dangerous flags when it’s said in situations like this, so Yukari cautiously prepared herself for whatever was going to happen next.

 

This can’t be good, right?

 

“What do you think this is all about, Koishi? This is not a game!” Yukari replied sternly, trying to recompose herself after the stream of surprise, trying her best to maintain her dignity while she continued on preparing herself physically and mentally against the incoming onslaught.

 

BGM: Moon’s Cocoon

“Of course it’s not a game~! This is simply a story, after all~

 

The mountain's edge, the moon is full
Taking breath, your forest

 

Bask and sleep in the summer grass
Your precious face in profile”

 

As soon as Koishi started to hum the song, in a movement that was completely unpredicted by Yukari, Koishi went ahead and rushed straight at her as her wings started to be covered by rainbow-colored light that expanded more and more, multiplying its size in the span of several seconds. Yukari barely dodged the ramming attempt, and had to resort to a barrier again to protect herself from the butterfly wings that came afterwards. But, this time it was different. Instead of protecting her cleanly like before, this time the barrier didn’t even stand for a second as the rainbow light from the wings touched it, disintegrating it without much effort.

“Dye it blue, lalalu lalalu  

The longed-for round cocoon
It will become a swallowtail butterfly
 

Before long it will envelop the sky  

Wing patterns of infinity
Making life sparkle brilliantly~”

 

Yukari tried to erect another barrier in its place, but it met the same fate almost immediately as it formed. Without any more choice, she pushed herself back as far as she could to avoid the attack, which still managed to be mere millimeters away from touching her even after her dodging attempt. It followed immediately by hundreds of tentacles emerging from Koishi’s back and rained down at her in an attempt to utterly skewer her. This time, Yukari formed the barrier into the rough shape of a sword, and used it to cut her way through the tentacles immediately, as she rushed forward straight to Koishi with the tentacles still chasing her back. Seemingly realizing what Yukari was intending to do, Koishi turned around and started to bring her wings down, trying to cover Yukari in her entirety with their light.

 

“That moon, if it were you
Without duplicating sadness
Would watch the wavering of the world
And try flying without lament
 

Sing into the wind, lalalu lalalu  

Wings reflect the moon
It will become a swallowtail butterfly
 

Born one trembling night  

A butterfly that spans the galaxy
Making life sparkle brilliantly~”

 

As the butterfly wings tried to embrace her, Yukari only increased her flying speed before she could be touched by the wings. Immediately when she was close enough, she slashed at Koishi, and while she dodged it just in time to avoid getting her arm severed, she moved just enough for Yukari to summon another barrier to enlarge the sword to cut through one of her wings. Koishi’s smile disappeared from her, but she still was not showing anything resembling an expression of shock, surprise, or pain even as blood gushed rapidly from the stump of one of her wings. She fired off another several dozens of tentacles from all over her body, but Yukari was completely unfazed by them as she cut through the batch with ease before cutting another wing from her back. With the butterfly wings neutralized, Yukari summoned several barriers behind herself to block the incoming tentacles, and without any further intervention, she cut the rest of Koishi’s wings decisively.

 

“Now, are you willing to stop, Koishi?”

 

“Why should I stop? This is fun~”

 

“...Koishi, can you think about the others that would be harmed by this for a second at least? You’re hurting everyone by doing this, so please-!”

 

“Why should I even care for what they think~? They’re jerks anyway.

 

And…you do know that the show had really just started, Yukari~

So, one does not simply end it before it entered its climax~!”

 

BGM: The Black History

 

With those words said, Koishi then used her tentacles to catch the falling pieces of her wings and attached it back to her, while she also fired off countless projectiles to keep Yukari as far away as she could from her. Despite of that though, Yukari still managed to push forward using her barriers to allow her to weave through the wall of bullets with ease, and then she proceeded to come straight in an attempt to stab Koishi right in her third eye.

 

But, as Yukari was close enough to dive into her opponent, Koishi had finished attaching her wings back to her body, and the moonlight wings returned again, forcing Yukari to retreat to not be disintegrated by it.

 

From what she knew about the light emitted by Koishi’s wings at the moment, it had some sort of anti-magic properties that would allow it to eat through her barriers like it was nothing, She definitely wouldn’t give it a chance to hit her actual body to see whether it’ll harm her or not. Then again, Yukari had no idea that Koishi had this kind of ability going on with her. This was tantamount to cheating, and even she never cheated like this before.

 

Then, much to her dismay, Yukari noticed that Koishi had covered herself with the rainbow light completely, just as she considered repeating her previous tactic to disable the wings once again. She definitely couldn’t use magic of any kind to harm Koishi now, since the light will just eat it. So, Yukari’s option would be limited to actual physical weapons, one that she didn’t really have right now.

 

Well, then I’ll just have to go down there and pick up something.

 

“Geez, you’re awfully quiet, Yukari~ What’s wrong, a cat got your tongue?”

 

“You’re not a cat, Koishi.” Yukari answered Koishi’s question sarcastically, probably just to show that she was getting irritated by Koishi’s constant taunting. Koishi was visibly showing an odd reaction to Yukari’s remark, but whether it’s actual sarcasm or simply her pouting was left unclear.

 

“But but but…anyway, prepare yourself~!”

 

Kind enough to give the warning so Yukari could at least prepare herself before the impact, Koishi immediately rammed at her once again, but Yukari had already dived back towards the pathway, with the intent on finding some sort of weapon or someone to help her dealing with Koishi’s problematic attacks. When she closed in at the snowfield, she noticed Renko was still looking at her worriedly there, near their previous position before Yukari ascended to stop Koishi. Not wishing to get her friend getting harmed or being involved in this, Yukari yelled as hard as she could to make sure Renko could listen at her.

 

“Renko! Get away as fast as you can from here!”

 

“Mari-

 

But why?”

 

“Just do it!”

 

Renko was definitely still looking defiant and confused with Yukari’s sudden order, but she ended up doing it anyway, just in time to avoid being in the area of effect of Koishi’s wings. Renko’s expression immediately turned into sheer terror as she witnessed the silver-haired girl and her wings, and despite her having the desire to explain the context to Renko, Yukari felt like she didn’t have the time to do that as she was continuously being chased down by Koishi in high speed around the field as she scrounged around there to find anything she could use to tear the butterfly’s wings apart without getting destroyed.

 

From behind Yukari, Koishi launched several projectiles and her tentacles at Yukari’s direction, but with them coming from only one direction right now, Yukari simply sped herself up and outrun the projectiles and misdirect them, while using her barrier sword to cut the tentacles when those gets too close. It continued for a good ten minutes or so, Yukari dodging Koishi’s attacks which became more and more desperate, and Yukari herself was getting more and more drained as time passed, which would definitely be a bad news for her.

 

It was then she noticed a glitter on the snowfield, and when she approached it, it became clear to her that it was coming from a katana. It had a strikingly familiar design, but Yukari’s state of mind right now would have a hard time figuring the owner of this sword. But, it didn’t really matter anyway. She grabbed the handle, and then turned around towards the lake not far away from her. When she arrived on top of the lake, Koishi was already there, still sporting her stupidly wide grin on her face, with her tentacles ready to gore Yukari. Just as the blonde-hairedwoman guessed and planned.

 

“Gotcha~! You can’t run any longer, Yuka-tan~

 

It’s time to let your dreams and hopes sink into the endless abyss of this endless lake~!”

 

“Right now, there’s no reason for me to run. You’re close enough now for me to do this!”

 

Exploiting Koishi’s apparent surprise due to her statement, Yukari immediately rushed forward with the katana she just found not long ago readied, and proceeded to unleash four consecutive strikes at the wings when she was close enough, tearing them away from Koishi in a matter of seconds. The wings immediately fell into the water and swallowed by the deep lake, which would make it hard for Koishi to retrieve them this time.

 

“I guess this could be a decent form of burial for them. It’s all I can do for now.”

 

But, just as Yukari prepared herself to launch her final strike at the satori, Koishi’s grin had returned to her face much to her attacker’s surprise, and by then, Yukari realized that Koishi had aimed hundreds of her tentacles right at her, surrounding her from all directions. That slight moment of her lowering her guard came to horribly screw her over, or maybe the attempt itself was doomed to fail from the start. Either way, there’s no way Yukari would be able to dodge the attack this time.

 

“Hey hey, now you’re close enough to me too~! Isn’t it neat? I wonder, if I tear your body apart, will I be able to see your sealed-away heart of the past?”

 

“You-“

 

Regrettably, the still defiant Yukari didn’t get the chance to finish what she wanted to say before Koishi’s countless tentacles tore through her body like it was only a ragdoll, ravaging it without her being able to do anything but scream in pain as she slowly losing her consciousness.

 

 

---

 

 

Gensokyo, 20XX

 

It has been five years since I arrived and stranded in this world, and I think, I’ll go make a yearly diary entry to keep track of my life here. So…for starters…I guess I’ll touch the subject regarding how well am I doing in this place. Right now, with Reimu’s help, my power has grown stronger each passing day, along with my understanding of this brave new world. Spell Card Battles, once I learned the intricacies behind it, it was indeed as thrilling and fun as what I imagined back then. The art of coming up with a Spell Card and its patterns was something that took me quite a while to master. Spell Cards are the embodiment ofwho and what you are, they tell everyone your life story. Well, it may be an exaggeration, but it’s one way to approach the making of a Spell Card and the bullet pattern associated with it. It’s not simply a special attack or something similar, definitely. One of the joys of Spell Card battle is to come up with the most beautifully hard to dodge patterns that holds a meaning. Beauty is a vital part of them. It would be easier and less energy-consuming to just blast your opponent with as much firepower as you can, but that will simply be unappealing to look at. It also has a set of rules that must be heeded by everyone. First of all, the pattern must not be impossible. Impossible patterns ruin the excitement of the battles. Second, it must not be lethal, except if you’re facing immortals. Huge lasers, miniature suns, everything like that at most would only knock your opponent unconscious. This rule must be in effect since after all, a reason why the Spell Card Rule exists is that to give a sporting chance for almost everyone in settling disputes, no matter whether you’re weak or strong.

 

After the owner of the small diner I was working on passed away, I decided to move to the Hakureishrine, settling in an extra room I and some others build as an extension to it. Reimu accepted my presence as yet another freeloader in the shrine with the term that only if I helped her around with managing things in the shrine, including handling crops that I and Reimu planted so that we can continue to eat. Regarding the shrine’s less than prosperous state, Reimu often lamented that fact of her not getting much donation to the shrine, which I only could reply with a slight smile, without giving her any more context about it. Reimu’s probably not the nicest people around. She could be ruthless, unapproachable, acting like a jerk, brutally honest, and all of that kind of stuff, but she’s really nice in heart, and it quite shows. It also explains why she got a lot of friends and rivals running in this world, probably.

 

Whenever she’s off handling incidents with or without the black-white witch Marisa, I usually become the only one that manages the shrine in her absence, though, the heavy-drinking oni, SuikaIbuki often helps me around, whenever she doesn’t mess things around. At times whenever Reimu is unable to handle an incident due to being busy with something else or being sick, I occasionally try to solve the incident on my own. At first, my attempts ended up miserably, and Reimu berated me for screwing up and taking that much initiative on my own, but my stubbornness made me kept on doing this, and I ended up being skilled enough to solve these small-scale incidents on my own, and that satisfied Reimu enough to stop her from yelling at me whenever I go ahead to investigate an incident. Then again, since it was purely Reimu that taught me regarding her brand of magic and spell cards, many of my own cards are similar to hers, which does indeed make her almost a literal back-up to her.

 

Ran and Chen often visit us in the shrine, sometimes bringing some nice food with them, which is a godsend for us impoverished girls, and thankfully, the feeling of dread that I could sense coming from them when they interacted with me has disappeared. It feels quite nice that our interaction ends up being this pleasant.

 

Though, I can’t help but to notice one thing. Not exactly something big, but the woman Reimu, Ran, Chen, and others said to resemble had just seemingly disappear from everyone’s head after five years. It’s like she never existed in the first place. No one that I asked remembered that they ever said I looked familiar to someone, which was odd, since everyone that was aware of that woman had seemingly non-stoply comparing me with her back then. The change in them was very noticeable. It was still something that I’m wondering about regarding this world.

 

Another thing that was quite odd was despite me spending most of my time on the shrine helping Reimu around, whenever I goes somewhere and interacts with youkai, they often remarked that I am far more youkai-like than they will ever be. It’s odd, of course. After all, I’m fully human, and I don’t even have that much similarities to the completely carefree youkai. Still, it may be just them referring on how easy I am in going along with the youkai, even compared to the grouchier but still friendly enough Reimu. In that case, it might be some sort of stealth praise towards her, which is definitely a nice thing to get especially from a stranger.

 

And then, the last thing. My own power…in a way, I think I have managed to fully control it. The boundaries in everything, I can see them all clearly now. The thin line that lies between night and day, the fragile line separating life and death, the distance between here and there, the gap between dream and reality, existence and non-existence, it all became clearer and clearer for me now. I used to be overwhelmed by the sight since it’s impossible for me to not notice all these things, but slowly, I grew more and more accustomed to this, and right now, I think I am getting used enough to this sight.

 

Reimu mentioned the possibility of me having the ability to actually control those boundaries themselves one day. It was quite an idea, though both of us decided to not think more about it, putting the idea aside due to the sheer implied horror it would imply. The notion of controlling something to that magnitude, to control the entire concept of “boundary”, it’s a line that neither of us wanted to see. Being able to see them is enough for me. The world needs its boundaries anyway. In a world without boundaries, everything will become one and the same, and I don’t want to see it. Boundaries are needed to distinguish between one thing and the other. Having control to such a thing would be…I don’t think I can handle the responsibility of such kind of ability. Probably it’s for the best if I not delve to this further.

 

From this land of lost dreams, I am writing this. I wish you were here, Renko. Even if these words cannot reach you, hopefully my feelings could.

 

See you in the next dream, Renko.

-Maribel Hearn

 

 

Gensokyo, 20XX

 

It has been ten years since I arrived here. I have grown to love this place, but I am still wondering whether the world that I left behind is okay with me leaving. I think I may still have people that waited for me there, but I cannot really remember who they are. My family?My closest friend? I don’t know for sure right now. Still, if only it’s possible, I’ll definitely try to return to them, even if it’s just to say a proper farewell before I return to this world.

 

I guess it’s time for me to stop feeling the regret of leaving them behind. After all, I don’t have any choices. It’s not my fault that I’m stuck here. If it’s really my fate to be unable to escape from this paradise, then the only thing for me to do would be to just embrace this dream world as my world.

Then again…I don’t think I’m sure whether I want to actually leave this place even if I can…

 

I’ve looked to the previous entries to this diary, and found a name that I kept on mentioning. Renko. Is that supposed to be my friend’s name? If that’s the case…I’m sorry for not being able to remember you. Hopefully you can forget me too and continue on with your life.

 

But…I’ll see you in the next dream, I guess.

-Maribel Hearn

 

 

Gensokyo

 

Fifteen years has passed since the time I left my old world behind in favor of this world. Things are relatively unchanging here even with the long passage of time since I arrived, and despite of that, or maybe because of that, I have fallen in completely in love with this world. This world gave me the feeling that I was finally home, far more than the feeling I get on that dull world I left behind.

 

There is no longer anything that I’m afraid of from this paradise. There’s nothing at all to fear from this place, after all. Whatever small doubts I have regarding this wonderful dream has been crushed, together with my feelings towards my old world, and what remained of it had drifted off into nowhere.

 

Not my name, not where I used to belong, and more than anything, not even my precious friend will bind me into my past. After all, I’ve found something more precious than all that together. From the moment I’ve set my eyes upon this beautiful world, I must’ve been born anew. I know that I cannot turn back now, but I have no intentions to. This single dream that remains unchanging, this eternal dream that will never end, I clutched it into my chest. I won’t let it go away. This is indeed my wish.

 

I will live together with this beautiful world. For as long as I drew my breath, I will live and die in this paradise.

 

You wouldn’t be able to hear me from here, Renko. But I’m sorry. Don’t bother thinking about me now. Just leave me alone here in this paradise, please.

 

This doesn’t mean I hate you, really, but…let’s not meet again. Not even in our next dream.

-Maribel

 

 

BGM: Here again, once more

 

Twenty years since I existed in this world. Not much big things have happened in the last five years, and I prefer it to be this way. A beautiful world like this should not change at all. There’s no point in changing something that’s already perfect anyway. That notion is completely absurd. No one should ever lay a hand to this world if they want to change it.

 

My world.

 

Before me, a brown haired girl is currently confronting me. She’s on the verge of crying. From how she talked, she’s really trying to believe that I am someone that she knew, but I doubt that I have seen her somewhere before. This girl from the outside world, she is trying to convince me that I used to be her best friend, and that she wanted me to return to the outside world with her.

 

What an absurd request.

 

To think that she have any right to order me like that, I wonder if she even has any sense of courtesy and respect to ones older than her? Whatever is on her mind right now, I don’t care. This is getting annoying.

 

“Leave to where you come from.”

 

“I can’t and I won’t! Merry, don’t play these kind of games with me, please!

 

Until you remember our times together, I’ll still stand here! Even if you loved this world so much…to forget me like this…how can you be this cruel, Merry?”

 

“As I’ve said again and again, who are you?”

 

“I am Renko Usami! I’m your best friend! We are in the Sealing Club together, remember? We’ve been through a lot together, seen a lot of places together…!

 

You promised…we promised to each other that we will be together as long as we can! We promised to each other that we will go on an adventure everywhere, even to the corners of the earth if it means we uncover the mysteries hidden by the world! Hey Merry, how can you even forget about all of that?”

 

“It’s because it’s not my memory in the first place, of course. Whoever you are, you’re seriously getting quite annoying. Seriously, just leave now before I get irritated enough.”

 

“’Annoying?’ So that’s how you call me now, Merry? What has this world done to you? You used to be a sweet, kind girl that I looked up for. What has happened to you, Merry?”

 

The time is midnight. I was simply on my usual stroll around the Forest of Magic when this girl made her presence clear to me. Her insistence that I used to be her friend, her mindless determination, the sheer notion that she thought I would ever consider trading this world to the outside world that she spoke of, it’s getting more and more annoying. Her acting like this made me wonder whether I should just handle her and bring her to the Human Village later.

 

“Stop this right now, or-“

 

“Or what? What? What will you do to me? Nothing you’ll say will stop me from bringing you home, Merry!”

 

“But this world is my home!”

 

“You know what? If I have to, if this stupid world you call “paradise” kept you away from me and turning you into the jerk you are now, if you cannot wake up from this dream world…I’ll shatter this illusion with my own hand if it means you’ll come home with me!”

 

“You wouldn’t dare…”

 

“All dreams must end. And now, it’s time for you to return to reality, Merry!”

 

“No…I will not!”

 

I don’t know what happened next. I doubt Renko has the ability to do what she said. I know she was bluffing, but at that point, I lost myself. In order to cling to this dream, I lost myself. It all happened in a flash. Renko didn’t even have any time to respond, not even any time to feel pain. It was all decided in a single stroke. Her body dropped into the ground with a thud, her look of determination still persisted on her face, but it was mixed with a slight expression of shock as she realized far too late what I was going to do to her.

 

In my hand, I held her still-beating heart tightly, still fresh with her blood. It was a surprisingly clean process, without too much blood being splattered all over the place. To tell the truth, it was my first time to actually kill someone, and it felt completely weird. I rationalized my action by thinking that she was simply being a threat that needed to be handled, but I know it was false. She was bluffing, after all. Still, it shouldn’t matter. She’s dead, and it’s one less headache I have to worry about. I gently put her heart back to the hole in her chest and making sure that she’s actually dead before turning around to leave, deciding that the Youkai would do a better job at cleaning over this than me.

 

And then, Maribel remembered everything.

 

               

---

 

 

Did I really do that?

 

…I killed…her?

 

…Why…?

 

It was finally clear why the pathway wanted her to remember about her past. To remember a past sin that she had committed. It explained Renko’s presence here. Yukari had no idea whether she knew that she was talking with her killer all this time, but some of her lines did make it seem that she’s aware about the event to an extent. To make amends with her past. Indeed, it was what the pathway wanted.

 

Sadly, it was too late for her to do anything about this now.

 

“What’s with the gloomy face~?”

 

Yukari was right there, floating up in the sky with her body being thoroughly stabbed by Koishi’s blue tentacles. She was hung on the sky by the tentacles, as if she was being crucified, looking barely alive, if she could even look any less alive than before. The thing that Koishi did to her was a sick joke by this point, but Yukari couldn’t do anything regarding it. She was, in the end, too weak to accomplish anything here.

 

Before her, Koishi was looking at her still with her unfittingly serene smile, while her expression and posture made it seem as if she was trying to inquire more about what Yukari was thinking right now, and not really helping her appearance, her grotesque butterfly wings had apparently returned to her back during the time Yukari passed out earlier. By this point, she couldn’t care a bit. She was going to die anyway. In the end, she couldn’t do anything regarding what had happened after all. And the last memory she regained crushed any last scrap of hope for herself inside of her.

 

She’s completely useless. She couldn’t save her own world from being the toy of an invader. She couldn’t protect her own family, and not even her friends. And…she couldn’t even say her one last apology to Renko before she died, as she remembered about her last mistake to her far too late now.

 

She was once a normal human girl, who grew into a great youkai, but in the end, she ended up getting killed meaninglessly as a pathetic mess in an unknown land in nowhere, despite having a chance to fix things up before she did so.

 

As she returned her gaze back at Koishi, she saw a slight sign of melancholy at the normally perpetually unsettingly cheerful Koishi’s expression. It’s probably just her misinterpreting the satori’s expression though. It’s impossible for Koishi to feel any actual emotion after all. It’s impossible for Koishi to care. By locking her heart, it was impossible for her to even actually think. The girl that smiled before her right now had lost everything regarding her own self, and she was now closer to a mindless beast acting on her own impulses than a sentient being. To be blunt, she would’ve been quite sympathizing if it’s not for the fact that she had done many horrible things while she locked her heart. Still, it was hard for Yukari to not pity the pathetic existence before her. It felt fitting that a mess like her was ended by another mess.

 

“Sorry for this, Yukari~

 

You look so pained right now, so I’ll help you relieve that pain~! Don’t feel that gloomy again, ok? I don’t want to see you sad like that, after all. But at least, after this, you will not be lonely again.

 

So, goodbye~!”

 

In a flash as Koishi said her final farewell to Yukari, the silver-haired girl withdrew her razor-sharp tentacles as rapidly as she could, cutting Yukari’s body to pieces in the process. This time, no screams, nor further noises could be heard aside the sound of blood gushing from the body pieces, and the sound of those pieces falling into the lake below. It was all silent up there as Koishi watched Yukari’s pieces being swallowed by the water, with her empty smile still etched on her face.

 

 

---

 

BGM: With Love out of an Integral

 

Surely I was, not anyone, nor anything.

But simply there as a phenomenon,

There without meaning.

 

Maribel stood beside a makeshift funerary pyre she made as she watched Renko’s body being eaten by its flame, as she tried to recall everything regarding the two of them while trying her best to hum a song to ease her own heart. She tried to run from the reality of what she had done by reliving the moments shared between the two of them. Their past adventures.Their time together.Their feelings for each other.

 

But some time ago, I met you.

And together, we had meaning

And a future of the fantasy I was, was born.

 

The realization that she had just murdered her best friend still visibly shocked Maribel. Despite her at first tried to weakly justify the act, none of it mattered anymore since she was dead, and nothing more could be done about this. Only thing left for Maribel now was her deep, but useless regret. Renko had risked herself all this way to this world to meet her, even if it took her twenty years to reach her, but all that Maribel did was getting annoyed by her best friend. In these twenty years, even if she had forgotten everything, she remembered about her. She remembered about their time together, their promise.

 

And at the end of it all, Maribel killed her for her dedication.

 

The roads we walked together,

The places we visited together.

The things we searched for together.

The things we confirmed together.

 

For all of the world’s beauty, for all the things the world offered to her, in the end, Maribel realized that it was not worth it without her true friend standing on her side. She had clung so tightly to this illusion of happiness, but it was just that, an illusion. A dream.She should’ve woken up, but she refused to do so until it was too late.

 

Embracing them all to my chest…

I send with them myself, my love.

 

She wanted to continue crying, but her tears had run out. It had been six hours since the time she committed the worst mistake in her life. She pondered whether she should just jump into the fire in front of her to join Renko, but she always chickened out at the last second before she could do so. It was too late for it anyway, as the fire had subsided, leaving only her ashes and Maribel’s regrets behind.

 

So then I,

not anyone,

noteven myself,

will become ‘something’.

A conviction,that has in itself meaning.

 

By that point, she stopped trying to relive her past moments with Renko. If she continued, she would only break down completely, unable to handle her own feelings. Her words became emptier and emptier the more she sang. She wanted to scream, to scream in frustration, to scream in despair, to scream in hopelessness, but of course no one would answer her, nor listen to her voice right now. They wouldn’t understand what happened here.

 

Struck by such shock in my heart,

I couldn’t move, instead.

Unable to clear my emotions,

I gathered all of them to myself.

 

Taking form, once again in this place.

Pouring out myself, my love.

 

As she fell deeper and deeper into her own grief, she could visibly notice that the cracks in the dream world that used to be less noticeable had become bigger and bigger. It was still something that she could only see, but she had no desire to care about it now. She turned her own eyes back to the funeral pyre, and weakly, she started to speak to it.

 

“Renko…you…you wanted a world, right?

 

You still wanted your own dream world, our own dream world right? I guess…I’ll try now to fulfill your wish now, as a way for me to say sorry.

 

If I must…I’ll discard this world for your sake, and start all over again.”

 

The cracks grew bigger and bigger in response to her words. Maribel had no actual idea on how she would accomplish what she just said, but she knew that she could, somehow. She believed that she could, and that’s what important. Even if reality itself would not permit her from doing so, she would still do it. There would be nothing in existence that could stop her from doing what she was going to do. At this point, It was not something that she believed. It was something that she knew.

 

Now together, we will become one.

Hidden within a form of eternity.

 

So thus, the dream we once dreamed of, I will grant.

 

As she walked towards Renko’s ashes, Maribel started to hum once again. That time, the world around her was starting to get swallowed by the cracks only she could see, and from those purple cracks, she could see countless eyes were staring at her and her alone. Staring to see what she would do next. Not bothered by the eyes even for a bit, Maribel then took a handful of the still-warm ashes from the pyre, and after a brief pause, she closed her own eyes and started to swallow it. Her expression was unreadable as she did so, but it was clear that something inside of her had changed due to that action.

 

“If it’s for you…then there will be no boundaries I will not trespass. Time, space, possibility, impossibility, nothing will stop me from doing this for you, just like how time did not stop you from trying to bring me back to your side.”

 

No matter how long it would take. No matter what she must do. No matter the sacrifices. She would create a world for the sake of her friend, and nothing could ever stop her now. What she held now, it used to be something that she wouldn’t even dream of having. Something that she used to fear. But for Renko’s sake, Maribel decided to wield this power over boundaries. So that, this dream world that she wanted could be fulfilled.

 

The cracks had completely swallowed everything around her, and she was now currently standing in the middle of a world without boundaries. A boundless world, with uncountable eyes watching her every move. Not bothered by the sight of what surrounded her, by moving her two arms forward, Maribel did a motion as if she was opening a door in front of her. And as she did so, a gap in space-time emerged in front of her, appearing out of thin air. Leaving the world behind her, the youkai formerly known as Maribel walked through the gap.

 

Now together, we will become a world.

Sealed within a form of eternity.

 

So thus, into this fantasy being born, I pour myself,

My love.

 

 

---

 

 

Gensokyo.

 

The world I left Renko behind for.

The world that I left behind because of Renko.

It was also the world that I created for her sake.

Within my entire figment of existence, her dream still beats strongly. Our dream.

Yes…if I want to tell her that I’m sorry regarding what I have done, the best thing to do is to keep on fighting. Fighting, so I can try fixing Gensokyo back. To fix the world that she wanted back.

 

Renko…for you…for everyone…I will not give up.

 

But, before I continue, I still need to…

 

 

Without Yukari’s interference, Koishi returned back to the moon, to continue doing what she was intending to do, which was bringing down the true “Moonlight Descent Ceremony” to the entire pathway. Even if it was not the true moon, the fact that she could still open its eye meant that it was suitable enough. As she landed on it, she started to plant herself on the moon’s surface just like before.  But, before she could do anything else, a familiar voice disturbed her.

 

“Koishi, may I ask you an important question?”

 

“What is it~?”

 

“What are you intending to accomplish by doing this?”

 

“It’s simple~! I just want to turn everyone into three-eyes like me, so then my sister can be happy! So we won’t be lonely again~!”

 

“Wouldn’t it make others be unhappy if you do that?”

 

“I don’t care~

As long as sister is happy, I’ll be happy! It’s all that matters~! Those people never cared about us at all, after all~!”

 

“I know that you loved your sister so much, but please, don’t continue this. It’s not how your sister wants it to be.”

 

“Yukari, you don’t know what my sister is thinking. I know, because we’re sisters after all~!”

 

“Open your eye, Koishi. I beg you, just open your heart and stop this.

 

Or I’ll open it forcefully for you if you don’t want to.”

 

“But I don’t want to open my eye…It hurts to see what’s in other’s heart. It hurts to try caring for others, Yukari. You also hid your own heart in the past, right?”

 

“…Yes. I did that. I sealed my own heart deep in my past, as it was a painful memento of a past sin I did. But…it was wrong. It was wrong to do that. I…have forgotten everything important due to it. Running away like that is never the answer.

 

Yes, it hurts to try caring for others. But…even you still cared enough for your sister to do this. We’re not alone in this world Koishi, so…can you try to live and think for others too?”

 

“They’re not my sister though!”

 

“Why does it even matter?”

 

“Because I love my sister, and my sister alone!”

 

“Where is she, anyway? Would she even be able to see and enjoy the things you do for her here?”

 

To Yukari’s surprise, Koishi responded to her almost rhetoric question by pulling something from her back using one of her tentacle, and showed it to Yukari. It was a withered red eyeball with tentacle, just like Koishi’s true form, but it didn’t show any signs of it being alive right now. Essentially, what she was holding was the corpse of her sister. Yukari was of course visibly disturbed by it, but she hid that expression enough to not be too noticeable by Koishi. After a while, Koishi returned the withered eyeball back to her back, and returned her own gaze towards Yukari. A brief silence immediately followed as Yukari thought about the best way to react to that.

 

“Ooh, look at that~! You’ve found your new left arm! How sweet~”The silver-haired girlwas now trying to shift the topic to something else entirely for some reasons. Whether it was intentionally avoiding delving into the previous topic further or simply due to her state of mind, it was not clear, and there’s not much way or reason to delve into the actual cause further. Yukari decided to not go towards the direction Koishi pointed to her, and pushed her again with her demands.

 

“Koishi, stop this madness, please.”

 

“If you want to go between me and my sister, Yukari, then I’m afraid that I have to kill you again~! The boundary of life and death will not save you anymore once I’m done with you~!”

 

How did she…?

 

Alright then. If this is what she wanted, then…

 

BGM: Necrofantasia

 

Koishi launched several hundred of her tentacles from all over her body and wings, uncountable amount of bullets and beams, and the “Moonlight Butterfly”light that she used earlier against her was once again active. But this time, Yukari knew from the moment she revealed herself at the moon that she would win this encounter, without any doubts.

 

She disappeared from view moments before any of Koishi’s attacks could hit her, and she reappeared on the next second behind Koishi, and quickly clip away Koishi’s wings with her gaps. Koishi realized this of course, and redirected her assault towards Yukari’s direction. Unfazed, Yukari opened a huge gap that swallowed the entirety of the assault, and closed it just in time to cut the tentacles. By that time, Koishi would probably realize that she had zero chance to win. Just like the two previous encounters she had against Yukari. All her pretense of cheerfulness had disappeared, replaced with panic and terror as Yukari closed in on her. Koishi, despite her state of mind, would probably realize that this time, Yukari would’ve figured out the way to properly finish her off, unlike their two previous encounters.

 

“Yukari…you’re going to try killing me again, right?”

 

“No.” 

 

“Then, what are you going to-“

 

In a move that actually surprised Koishi, instead of dismembering her again, Yukari walked towards her, and without anything before that to indicate what she was going to do, the blonde-haired woman started to hug the shocked Koishi as tightly as possible. It was odd. Yukari, who was still standing using her old body, hugged Koishi just like her sister would.

 

It was warm.

 

“Koishi…come on. It’s time for you to open your eyes. There is nothing left to fear anymore. It’s time for you to open your heart, for the sake of your sister. The heart of others is not something to fear.” 

 

“Y-yukari? Why-”

 

A gap swallowed the two of them before Koishi’s question was answered. And, a split second later, the next thing Koishi could feel was the sensation of freezing cold water all over her body. If she was a human, she would’ve gulped for air as she drowned. Yukari’s arms were still wrapped around her body as the two of them sank deeper and deeper into the lake, She could see that the blonde-hair was smiling at her during the time, but before she could express anything towards her, an overwhelming surge of memories start to pour into her being.

 

 

---

 

 

“Sis!”

 

Near a small house located a bit far from the human village, a silver haired girl ran towards her older sister, who was on the garden tending her cats. A slightly mortified look was on the younger girl’s face, and seeing that, her older sister immediately stopped what she was doing and moved her attention towards the girl, who was now sobbing besides her.

 

“T-those people…t-they…”

“Ssh…what did they do to you this time, Koishi?”

 

“They threw rocks at me, sis! They said that…that I’m a monster! Just because I can see their heart, they…why do they hate us so much?”

 

“There there, Koishi. Don’t worry too much about it.” Her sister serenely answered, trying to calm Koishi down. While her expression showed a bit of worry, she tried her best to look as calm as possible as to help Koishi with herself. She let her younger sister to lay her head on her lap as the two sat on the bench overlooking the rose garden outside of their small house, stroking her long, silver hair in the meantime.

 

“But sis…if this keeps on happening…”

 

“As I’ve said, Koishi. There’s no need for you to be afraid. I’m here, don’t forget. Just keep everything inside of you all the time, and I’ll protect you from these people. It’s what sisters are for, after all. Isn’t it right?”

 

“…You’re right, yeah.

 

Sis, you do sound like a wonderfully intelligent person by saying all that wise stuff~!” It seemed that Satori’s calming words had succeeded in lightening Koishi’s mood, as she had stopped sobbing, and slowly replaced her expression into a light smile. In response to that, her older sister also smiled a little while she kept on stroking her sister’s hair.

 

“Thanks for calling me that, Koishi. And yeah, even if these people refused to try understanding you, don’t forget that I’ll always be on your side. My heart will always belong to you, Koishi.”

 

“Gee, thanks sis! I don’t think I can handle this any longer if it’s without you!”

 

“I’ll do anything for your sake, Koishi. If you can truly be happy, I’ll definitely do anything for you.”

 

The rest of the morning passed quietly, with only the sound of birds chirping could be heard. After some minutes, Koishi had fallen asleep on Satori’s lap, her distressed expression had disappeared completely, replaced with a smile.

 

It was going to be a beautiful day, it seemed.

 

 

“Sis…I-I just had a nightmare…”

 

“There, there, I’m here for you. You don’t have to fear anything now, Koishi.”

 

It was in the middle of the night. Satori, who was still awake as she finished writing her novel, was surprised when her sister suddenly catapulted from her sleep and started to cry a bit. She stopped what she was doing, and went straight to comfort her distressed sister. That time, their condition was not really at their best. The humans that lived not far away from them started to be more and more aggressive towards them, and some incidents involving her sister had made them less and less liked by those humans, and that’s even before factoring in their mind-reading ability that was the biggest reason why the two of them were seen as monsters in the first place. Satori herself had tried to determine whether moving to a more remote place would be better for her and her sister, but…

 

“Koishi…can you tell me what your nightmare was about?”

 

“It..it was…” Koishi didn’t finish her sentence for some reasons. For that, Satori immediately went into the conclusion that it had something to do with those humans that kept on harassing her.

 

“It was those guys again, right?”

 

“…Yeah. Th-they…they beat me up…then they chained me…”

 

“They did that to you?”

 

Satori’s expression had become completely full of dread by then. There was no real need for her to ask the continuation of the story from Koishi, as she had read everything about it from her heart. Satori’s stomach churned painfully as she examined all of the details of what the nightmare was all about. It completely disgusted her to see her sister being subjected to things like that even in a dream. But to not make Koishi get worried about her instead, Satori kept up her calm expression as she started to embrace the shaking Koishi.

 

“Y-yes…and then…th-they dragged me to a podium in a marketplace…and they-“

 

“Shh, let us not speak of this any further, Koishi. Don’t worry, it’s only a dream, and…as long as I’m alive, I will not let that to ever actually happen to you.” Satori didn’t want Koishi to elaborate more regarding this. Reading it from her heart was already painful enough, but forcing her sister to try explaining it to her at best as her child-like mind could do would be far too much for Satori to handle. 

 

“Let’s just try thinking of pleasant things, shall we?”

 

“Like…?”

 

“Well, things like flowers, maybe? Hey…let’s get up. We’re going.”

 

“Wait…! Where are we going, sis?”

 

“We’ll just go for a short walk around here. I think I’ve heard it from someone that dancing fairies in the middle of a rose garden at midnight is a beautiful sight. So, let’s go check it.

 

The world’s a bad and ugly place, Koishi. But…even so, there’s still some beauty left under it. To live is to enjoy these hidden beauties instead of focusing on the ugly parts.

So, what do you think?”

 

 

 “What should we do…?”

 

“What should we do? Let’s drive her from the village!”

 

“Something like that’s a devil – there’s no difference between them!”

 

“In order to protect our peace…”

 

“Let’s put her to trial!”

 

“Youkai are enemies, the enemies of humankind. Find her! Seize her! After her!

I’ll be damned if she reads my heart. Come, gouge her eyes out!

 

“She went that way!”

 

“After her! Don’t let her get away!”

 

“We’ll take back our peace!”

 

“…Koishi…I’m sorry for this…”

 

Resting a bit due to fatigue, the two sisters watched from inside a hidden entrance of a cavern as a mob passed without noticing them, but their angry voices and their thoughts could still clearly be heard and seen by the two. The two didn’t really bring anything with them except the clothes they were wearing, as it happened suddenly without warning. The humans, finally completely fed up with their existence, decided to try getting rid of them directly. Satori knew that she and her sister could effortlessly handle these humans, but…by doing that, the hatred would only persist, and it would end up growing stronger and stronger, completely dissimilar to what she really wanted. It’s probably the best for the two of them to run away, and after all, they still need to stay low-profile for the success of-

 

“It’s alright, sis. You’re still here for me, right? Even if we’re chased down to the corners of this world, as long as you’re with me, it’ll be alright~!” Koishi’s cheerful reassurance halted her sister’s running train of thought. “Our rose garden…even with them burning it down to the ground, we can still plant a new one, right? With you here with me…I think we’ll be able to make the biggest rose garden that the world have ever seen!”

 

“…You’re right. No use for us to fret about our past. We can still just start over somewhere else.”

 

Though…where?

 

Where should they go now was the biggest question currently on their mind. It’s not like they’ve known much about the land even after a decade being there, as Koishi’s not that good at remembering places, and Satori herself rarely left the vicinity of her house. Still, even a hidden sanctuary like this would definitely-

 

“Hey, you two, any businesses or something else here?”

 

“W-whoa!”

 

Behind them, a spider youkai greeted them, and despite Koishi’s and Satori’s ability to read her presence, it did still come off as a surprise to the two of them. At least, she didn’t mean anything bad, it seemed. With that presumption on her mind, Satori turned around and approached the spider.

 

“We…apparently had just been hunted down here by those humans. Not really the best circumstance to be, yeah.”

 

“Heh, well in that case, why not try following this cavern to the very end? Most of us are kind of…in the same position as you, if I may say.” The spider answered, and by reading her heart, the rest of the important information she wanted to know had been received by Satori, but…she tried to keep the conversation up just so she could at least pretend she didn’t read her thoughts.

 

“What is the name of the place exactly where this path would lead us to?”

 

“Hm? Oh, it’s the Old Hell.”

 

“…Hell? Wh-“

 

“Calm down, geez. It’s not being used as Hell anymore. They’ve moved the eternal torturing place to somewhere else, and now the place’s filled with Oni and other youkais that’s not too acceptable in the surface world.”

 

“Ah…I see. Then I guess it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try relocating there. Koishi…any objections?”

 

“Uh…the place sounded scary…but it’s okay! I’ll be fine. Just promise that you won’t leave me alone, sis!”

 

“Heh…

 

Then let’s go, Koishi. And lastly…thank you for the directions, Kurodani Yamame.” With that said, Satori and Koishi went ahead and started to move towards the depth of the cavern’s darkness, leaving Yamame behind, her still being completely confused as just how Satori managed to know her full name without her even properly introducing herself first.

 

 

“Sis, you know, I think…”

 

While Satori was tending her new rose garden, Koishi approached her from behind all of the sudden. It was not surprising in the least since she was able to notice her arrival immediately, but Satori would definitely appreciate it if her sister could stop trying to sneak behind her like this.

 

“What is it, Koishi?”  Turning around, Satori prepared herself to hear what Koishi had in mind. Despite both of them being a satori that could read minds, the two of them had agreed to try their best to converse as if they couldn’t read the other’s mind, just so they could talk with each other more comfortably. It took a while for the two to be used to do that since they first started agreeing on it, but so far, the result was definitely nice. But…this time what Satori read from her sister’s mind baffled her, and it showed on her expression. Koishi realized her sister’s surprise, but decided to continue telling her sister of what she had in mind.

 

“If I should be reincarnated one day, I want to be a cat again.  Just like Orin~!”

 

“Wh-wha-?” 

 

“Sounds silly, I know. But…as a cat, even if you don’t recognize me anymore…I know you will still love me like right now, sis~!”

 

“I-I see. But Koishi, why don’t you want to be reincarnated as yourself again, like right now?” Satori had realized since long ago that her sister’s train of thoughts was not the most…conventional compared to others, but she did keep her attempt to reason with her. Even then, this still quite baffled her, and for a while, Satori didn’t really have much idea regarding what to do about this “revelation”.

 

“…I don’t want to be a satori again, sis. I don’t want to be like this. I…I don’t want to be hated like this by others.”

 

 

“Sis, I’m leaving.”

 

“Wa-wait a minute, Koishi!”

 

Satori, who was busy finishing up her latest novel, was getting quite concerned when Koishi barged in to her room while carrying a large backpack behind her and her words didn’t really help matters. It hadn’t been three years since they settled on the Palace of the Earth Spirits, and so far, things were working quite well for both of them. The other residents there, while still a bit distancing themselves away from the two, they were surprisingly accepting of them, and welcomed them warmly to the Old Hell.

 

Both Satori and Koishi had also adopted a lot of stray animals to their care as pets, which made things really lively down there. While Satori would appreciate more silence for her to be able to be more productive on her writing, she definitely liked the presence of the stray animals on the mansion. Animals, unlike humans and youkai, never hated her nor her sister for reading their heart, and they even seemed to like it when Satori acknowledged what were on their mind. And…more importantly, these pets really helped Koishi’s mental state, which had gotten more and more worrying as time passed before the two moved into the Palace. Seeing her being genuinely cheerful while interacting with them…it was one of the few things that made Satori really happy.

 

While the Descending Moonlight Ceremony requires her sister to close her third eye once again, Satori couldn’t bring herself to drive her sister to that point. She knew the Lunarians would force her to do it sooner or later, but…it’s physically impossible for her to actually be the one to do it. If she could, she would just enjoy this moment together with her sister as long as she could…which made Koishi’s current desire to leave made Satori felt a bit crushed inside. If she could, she wouldn’t let her go away from her this time.

 

“Koishi, why do you want to leave? Anything’s wrong with this place?”
 

“Nope, nothing! It’s not about that, sis.

 

I will go to the surface now. I’ll go meet those people again. I’ll convince them that we’re not monsters! I’ll convince them to stop hating on us!”

 

“Koishi…that’s impossible! You..you can’t do it! They’ll just hurt you again!”

 

“You said…you said that I just need to endure all those hatred. Keeping them all inside. But our heart is weak, sis. I don’t think we can keep on like this forever.

 

I know you’ve been crying at night, when you think that me, Orin, Okuu, and the others are asleep. You cries and cries alone.

 

This time…I want to protect you. That is what my heart has set itself on upon. I’m sorry, sis. But I can’t run away forever like this.”

 

“Koishi…I’m-”

 

“I’ll do anything to protect you this time, sis. For everything that you’ve done for my sake. I’ve been quite a burden to you, right? This time…I want to repay you. I’ll be useful to you this time! I’ve treasured you for how long…and because it’s you, and I love you. You’ve probably shed a lot of tears for my sake, right?

 

So…goodbye, sis. Next time we’ll meet, people will no longer fear us. Trust me on this!”

 

Satori couldn’t say anything to reply to her younger sister’s determined words before she stormed off her room, out of the palace, out of the old hell. Silence crept to the room as Satori could only stare at the open door where her sister used to be not long ago.

 

“I’m…weak, aren’t I?

I am so weak…

 

But still, all that I ever wanted was to see you smile. That’s all I wanted!I only ever thought that it was all for your sake.

 

That’s all… right?

 

…I’m sorry Koishi. I’m sorry for not being able to protect you.”

 

The silence then was finally broken as Satori dropped down on her knees and cried alone on her room.

 

 

---

 

 

It was cold down there.

 

Even with the moonlight shining down, piercing through the crystal clear water above her, everything felt completely dark and cold for Koishi as she sank deeper and deeper on the lake that had no clear bottom. Yukari’s warm embrace had long since disappeared from her, replaced with the almost freezing water all around her.

 

Koishi was alone there, alone as she delved through the memories of her time with her-

 

“Sis…sister?”

 

A familiar presence.

 

Sensing that someone was approaching her, Koishi then finally properly opened her eyes, and what she found out was a familiar someone came at her from above her. Satori Komeiji, her beloved sister, was that person, swimming towards her direction with a worried look on her face at first. When she realized that Koishi finally noticed her presence, the pink haired girl smiled at her and lent a hand towards the sinking Koishi, which the silver-haired girl grabbed immediately.

 

“It’s time for us to return to the surface, Koishi. Even if there’s no real danger of drowning for us, lying around in freezing water like this is not good for you.”

 

“…Yeah, you’re right sis.”

 

“Let’s go, then. Hang on tight.”

 

Satori swam upwards while dragging the completely tired Koishi with her. The silver-haired girl clung desperately to her sister’s hand using both of her own as she tried to not let her sister get away from her. It tookaround five minutes of swimming for the two to arrive on the surface of the lake safely. Once she reached the shore, Satori dragged Koishi’s body out of the water, and placed her into the snow so she could properly rest. Satori dried herself up a bit before returning to Koishi’s side.

 

“Koishi, you’re alright?”

 

“I…I think so. Where’s Yukari?”

 

“I don’t know…I don’t even really know why I’m here in the first place, actually.”

 

“A-ah, I see.”

 

Koishi was of course feeling ecstatic regarding the fact that her sister was right there in front of her, but everything that happened before still clouded her mind by a lot to actually enjoy this moment together with her. And…to make matters worse, the presence of her sister forced her mind to relive the moment when she met her sister back in the previous pathway, and how it ended for the both of them. While she saw that her sister right now didn’t show any signs of hostilities to her unlike back then, without being able to read her mind, Koishi stuttered as she said her question to her.

 

“Sis…y-you don’t hate me, right?”

 

“Of course Koishi, there’s no way I’ll ever hate you. Up until now, we’ve talked about a lot of things, and even as sisters, we’ve argued about things too. But…that’s normal for sisters like us.

 

Even when you closed your heart…even when you hide yourself from this unbearable reality…there’s no way I can hate you. You are my only sister! You’ve been with me all this time, even when I’m being harsh on you…

 

…”

 

“…Sis, what’s wrong?”

 

Seeing her sister suddenly come into an abrupt silence worried Koishi, and she started to wonder whether she did anything that troubled her sister. Or…Koishi started to fear that her sister realized what she had done when she closed up her heart, and-

 

“Koishi…I’m sorry. I’m sorry for creating this entire mess. I’m sorry for making you like this.

If it’s not for me…”

 

“Knock it off, sis! Wh-what do you mean?” Koishi, who expected her older sister to start lashing out and berate her for all the mess she had done, was taken by surprise when Satori apologized profusely to her instead, as the rose-haired girl started to sob in front of her. The entire occurrence didn’t really give Koishi much optimism on what would her sister say next.

 

“Fifty years ago…I met Toyohime. I was stuck with a dog’s body back then, and I looking for something to eat when she approached me. It was…scary to see her back then. I couldn’t see what was on her heart. It was completely dark, and sensing something really wrong, I went ahead and bit her.

 

But…instead of retaliating, she cared for me instead. It…it felt pleasant. It felt nice to have someone do that to me after a long, long time, and…I longed for more. I don’t want to be alone ever again, and Toyohime seemed to understand my wish. She gave me my current body, and started to talk about her plan to awaken humanity as three-eyes, so that we wouldn’t have to be lonely anymore. The Moonlight Descent Ceremony. Not knowing any better, I helped her…”

 

“Sis… you don’t mean…?”

 

“Yes. That was the entirety of the background of the incident back then. It was Toyohime that engineered the entire thing to create someone that could execute the plan even without her assistance. You.

 

Everything from what happened to the woman you grew up to be close with…and the massacre that happened afterwards, it was all according to her plan. Tearing you innocence apart, breaking your mind and corrupting it to the point of madness, all just to ensure her plan’s success. It was all her doing.

 

And I helped her. I helped her, and I didn’t even think to stand up for you, just…just because I selfishly think that not being alone would worth using you like that. And then, after it’s all over, after you’ve finally opened your heart once again, instead of protecting you properly, I ran away. Leaving you all alone to face all those hatred, and I let all of that pushed you to close your heart.

 

Koishi…I’m terribly sorry for everything. I’m such a bad sister for you…”

 

“…”

 

“I don’t think you would be able to forgive me for this, Koishi. I’d-“

 

“Sis…it’s alright. No point anymore in talking about this, right? Just like you…I-I couldn’t hate you even if I want to, sis. After all, you’re really the person that loved me the most. And I loved you too, with every strings of myself.”

 

“Koishi…”

 

“Let’s just bury our past here, and start all over again, sis. I don’t want to remember this anymore. It’s too painful, and I don’t want to get reasons for me to hate others, and especially, I don’t want to hate you, sis.

 

Toyohime, the plan, it doesn’t matter anymore. I know what I’m going to do now, sis. I’m here for Gensokyo. I’m here for our home. I’m here for Yukari, Orin, Utsuho, the nice people that welcomed us, I’m here for everyone. Even if there are a lot of people that hated us there, it’s a place that I loved the most…and since I was the one that ruined it, I want to fix it.

 

I will not run away this time, sis.”

 

“…Koishi…You really have grown up. I’m…so proud of you.”

 

“Thanks sis, for telling me all of this. And once again…thank you. Thank you for loving me as much as you did.”

 

“But-“

 

“Hearts never lie, sis~ No matter how it ended up like, you truly did everything for my sake, right? If that’s the case, then it’s time for me to repay you.

 

As you’ve said, the world is ugly, and the people are unkind. But even beneath all of those, beauty, kindness, all of those still exists, even if it’s buried under all those bad things. To live is to enjoy these instead of focusing on all the bad things around us.

 

Even if…even if those terrible people pushed me to close my heart back then…even with them not listening to me when I tried to make them understand us…I’m sure that among those people, there’s still kind people that’ll welcome us as we are.

 

And…even if those people still hated us, if we loved them instead of returning the hate, I think they’ll stop hating us sooner or later! My heart will be strong enough to not give up now!”

 

“Love…”

 

“Is not something you expect from others, it’s what you give to others firsthand~!

 

Sis, I’ve remembered everything now. I remember that I promised to protect you not long before I ran away towards the depth of my sealed heart. I’m sorry for breaking that promise back then, but I’ll try again now!

 

So, please wait warmly here as I reach the end of this with Yukari’s help, and I’ll fix everything up!”

 

“Koishi…I-

 

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for this, Koishi. Thank you for always being there alongside me…and thank you for being an irreplaceable part of my family.”

 

“Don’t sweat it, sis! This is what sisters do for each other, after all~!”

 

“…Yeah, you’re right.” Any signs of sadness in Satori’s face had disappeared by now, and right now, seeing Koishi genuinely smile happily after all these years, Satori was indeed, feeling a sense of pride that her sister had changed this much.

 

“In that case…I better get going. Even if it takes me billions of year to accomplish this, even if hundredsof thousands kilometers separated us and our goals, even if I’m not as strong as you now, this is my conviction to return things back to normal for us, so you better see it!

 

Now, I’ll prove it to you, sis! A world of love will be better for us three-eyes than the world Toyohime wanted!”

 

 

---

 

 

BGM: Tomorrow comes closer

 

“Geez, Merry, stop worrying me like that!”

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry for pulling that off. I was definitely too careless when I attempted that. Seriously, it won’t happen again, promise.”

 

“Pinky promise, alright?”

 

“Uh…aren’t we a bit too old for that?”

 

“Oh well…Now, what would you do about her?”

 

After their brief exchange, Renko and Yukari glanced at the sleeping Koishi beside them. Her expression was completely peaceful as she soundly slept, though Yukari was concerned by the fact that she hadn’t opened her third eye yet even after she drowned in the lake of memories for a bit.

 

Well, even if she couldn’t be able to be reached by her even after that, this time, Yukari was determined to bring her to the very end of the journey no matter what. And at least, even If she acted funny again, she could now put her into her gap, so that’s something to remember if Koishi started to act up again or be too much of a burden for her to handle. Though, hopefully it’s not necessary at all.

 

Regrettably, even with the lake’s water restoring her memories moments before she would’veactually died, it didn’t restore the full extent of her power, and it even only restored her ability to manipulate the border of life and death for a split second. While it was enough to save her from an almost-certain death like that, it was still a complete pain to do so, and she even had to pick one of the leftover arms from Koishi’s “wings” to actually get the function of her left arm back without spending too much energy to recreate one.

 

But, none of it really mattered now. What’s done was done, no need to dwell on it for much longer. The fact was she in the end managed to stop Koishi without killing her, and that alone was enough.

 

“She’s in quite a messed up state, and it’s a risk for me to bring her with me, but…”

 

“You’ll bring her along nevertheless, right?”

 

“Yes. I’m going to take this risk, since I wanted to thank her for what she did to me. She saved me twice from myself, and this would be the least I could do for her.”

 

Serenely unaware of the two people that was talking about her, Koishi still slept soundly while Renko and Yukari exchanged their words near her, without showing signs that she heard any of their words. Renko then turned her head around to see the silver-haired girl, and sighed a bit.

 

“From what you said earlier about her, I’m…not exactly sure about what to feel about her. I mean, she’s completely messed up in the head, yes, and she’s a bona-fide mass murderer, but I can’t really blame her about the horrible things she did.

 

But…is it really the right thing to just forget about all that and forgive her just like this?” Renko asked, sounding quite concerned.

 

“At the very least, I think I can say that she’s not actually rotten in heart, and I guess that’s what mattered now for me, at least. She might be borderline insane, and she most definitely is a murderer, but I can’t just leave her alone without help. I might not be a psychiatrist, but I do have an obligation to give my help to her.” Yukari gave out her answer to Renko’s question, but to tell the truth, she didn’t even sure whether what she was saying was right or not, or whether it would be satisfying enough for her friend or not.

 

“If that is really what you think, then it won’t hurt to try, I guess. And…it’s probably better than killing her or leaving her alone here.” Renko kept her gaze at Koishi, still looking a bit unsure regarding what Yukari said, but after a while she seemed to finally besomewhat content with Yukari’s answer. Though, a slight expression of jealousy could be noticed by Yukari coming from her, and that made Yukari quite concerned. Then, she was reminded that she hadn’t really talked to her regarding the last parts of what her memory uncovered, though Yukari couldn’t really bring herself to bring the topic to Renko, especially now.

 

“Renko, are you alright?”

 

“Yeah…I think I am.”

 

“You don’t really sound like it.”

 

“…Yeah, I’m pretty bad at lying or hiding this up.

 

I…I’m sorry for being too selfish when it comes to you, Merry. I just don’t want you to leave me again like back then.” So it was indeed jealousy, Yukari thought. But, even then, the fact that their bond was close enough for Renko to feel that way actually made Yukari smile a little. It’s unhealthy, yes. It could be quite concerning, yes. But the fact that someone loved her enough even after all this time to show signs of jealousy for her like this this felt…surprisingly nice for her. Though, it did make Yukari get burdened more and more by the guilt from what she did to her friend back then. To not make the situation more awkward, and to stop herself from thinking too much about her past mistake, she extended her arm towards her friend and lightly tapped her shoulder. Renko turned around to face her in response.

 

“It’s okay, Renko. All of it is my fault. I could’ve returned to your side anytime, but I was too cowardly to do that. And then, I completely forgot about you. I just-“

 

“And then, you killed me, right?”

 

Well, Yukari didn’t expected Renko to reply like that at all.

 

“How do you-“

 

“I know about it all this time, Merry. I’m a fragment of your memory, after all. I could’ve told you earlier about everything, but…I’m scared.”

 

“…Scared?”

 

“I…I don’t want to happen again! I don’t want to lose you again like that! If-if I said it myself too early, I’m afraid that you wouldn’t even remember about me just like back then, and…”

 

“I…see. That’s understandable.”

 

“Even then…even with you doing that to me, thank you for fulfilling my greatest wish in the end, Merry. It was, once again, merely one of my selfish wishes, and I didn’t really think that it would be fulfill-able, and even if it was, I don’t think you’d actually try fulfilling it for me. To see it being fulfilled by you like that, I feel very glad, Merry.

 

You know…even with me being that, in the end, that eventled you to be able to meet other people, get other friends, and go on your own adventures, right? Yuyuko, Suika, even Reimu when you met her again, all of them are your precious friends that you met along the way of your own life. I know you have them as your close friends when I’m not around, and…I do get a bit jealous about it right now. But, that aside, they’re wonderful people, and I’m really glad that you met them. And, I can’t forget Ran and Chen too, which grew on you like your own children. Your own family.Forgetting me and leaving me buried in the past might not really a bad thing for you after all.

 

You’ve changed a lot since I last met you, Merry. Physically, and mentally.In a glance, it could be hard for anyone to see the old Merry inside of the current you, and you being stuck in that body didn’t help matter much. Heh, you still sleep as much as I remembered it, at the very least, so I know you’re still the Merry I know.

 

But, even if people called you Yukari right now, if I’m not being rude for this, you’ll always be Maribel to me. A nice name it is, and I think I’ll be content in calling you that if you didn’t object to it.” Still at loss on how to properly respond to everything that Renko said, Yukari at least smiled a bit when Renko finally was able to pronounce her old name correctly, something that she struggled to do for years. And after a while of being at loss with words, Yukari finally mustered her will to reply at Renko.

 

“I guess you’re right. It might not be a bad thing in the end to forget you. It might not be a bad thing in the end to leave you behind. But…that doesn’t mean that it feels right.

 

Renko, can you forgive this old idiot? I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry for not being able to fulfill the rest of our promises to each other. I’m sorry for forgetting you.”

 

“Of course! I can’t bring myself to hold a grudge to you of all people, Merry. This might not mean much since I’m not the real Renko, but I’m sure she felt the same way about you like I do. The past is only reserved for the history books, Merry. It’s time to put it back to the shelves and face the future outside of our quarters.

 

You want to have a second chance with Gensokyo, right? Then go for it! It’s time to rise up and go fight for your dream! Our dream! That world is our dream world, Merry. Rather than being too sentimental here, you should just fight to reach the end!

 

And…don’t fight for me alone, Merry. You have a lot of other friends too, don’t forget. Fight for their sake, too! Fight for the sake of their broken dreams! We’ll always be on your side, Maribel.”

 

“…We?”

 

“Well, it took a bit for me to appear it seemed~

 

Hello Yukari, it’s nice to see you again here, despite the circumstances.” A familiar voice of a certain ghost could be heard from behind Yukari, and when she turned around, she saw her old friend, Yuyuko, was there, floating on top of the water while sporting a slight playful grin at her.

 

“Yuyuko? W-“

 

“Don’t mind me too much, Yukari. I’m just here to see you depart. My, you two would make for a sweet couple it seems~! If you want to have some help in you two’s wedding, I’ll be able to lend my ghostly touch on it~!”

 

Well, I mean, for you and this brown-haired cutie here, Yukari.” Hearing Yuyuko’s teasing, Yukari flustered a bit. She tried to say something to deny that she and Renko was more than friends, but decided not to at the last moment. It’ll insult their bond if she merely saw it as regular friendship, after all. A romantic couple might be a bit of a stretch, but…Yukari didn’t really seem to see anything wrong with it.

 

“Lady Yukari, I’m glad to see you still alive and relatively well.”

 

“Yeah! Sorry for not being able to help you much though…”

 

“It’s alright, Ran, Chen. You two have done your best all these times as my serv-, no, as my family.”

 

“Well, well, a last reunion, huh? Sorry for screwing up back then, by the way. Well, I guess this will all be up to you and the nutcase now, Yukari?”

 

“Hopefully. Also, please don’t refer to Koishi as a nutcase.”

 

“That’s…kinda the case though.”

 

“Well, well, a reunion’s a good thing and all, but let’s not getourselves too carried away by this. It’s time for you to get going, Yukari. We’re just here to cheer you up and all that, just so you can get yourself to finish this. Honestly, I’d like to accompany you more here, but Youmu’s not around and you have a pressing matter to attend to.”

 

“Even if we can’t continue forward with you, we’ll cheer for you from the sidelines, Lady Yukari.”

 

“Yep yep, we definitely will!”

 

“Heh, yeah.In the end, it’s you, the creator of Gensokyo itself, who would be the one to solve the biggest incident to befall the land. Gotta say, that’s pretty fitting. I’d go around and help you but I wouldn’t be able to do so, I think.”

 

“…Everyone…

 

Alright then. It’s time to finish this, fix things up, and undo the entire mess that the Lunarians had schemed about.Yeah, I’d also appreciate more time to chat with you all now, but I think I’ll be late if I do that. Even with the time flow here being completely erratic and surprisingly convenient for my sake, I couldn’t really afford to have myself waste more time here than I already did.”

 

“Yep, that’s the spirit!” Renko shouted finally after letting the others having their time with Yukari.

 

“You shouldn’t worry about leaving me behind like this, Merry. I’ll always be inside you, after all.Well, quite literally,to an extent.” Hearing Renko’s half-joking remark, Yukari grinned one last time to her and everyone else, before she boarded the still-sleeping Koishi and herself into a boat nearby, with everyone standing on the shore of the lake, giving her their last sendoff. After checking whether the boat and the ladle was in a prime condition, Yukari looked at everyone for the last time.

 

“I guess this is it, huh? Well then, it would be polite if I say goodbye right here, no?”

 

“It’s not a farewell, Yukari. The correct words are “see you later, Renko”. Geez…”

 

“Ah, sorry for my mistake. Let me rectify that in that case.

 

See you later, Renko. I don’t care if it takes an eternity to do so, I’ll definitely meet you again.”

 

“Maribel, what did I say about being too sentimental? And I guess, yeah. See you later too, Yukari. Now, I’ll go pray for your success in this mission, Demon Lord of the Boundaries.”

 

“…Demon Lord, huh? I guess that does describe me well enough. Still, isn’t that title a bit too flowery for me?”

 

“Well, Demon Lords can become heroes too, don’t forget. Or knights, but that requires an extra n.”

 

“Well, isn’t wordplays like that kind of quite unfitting right now for this kind of occasion? But eh, I guess that’s pretty good in itself, heh.” Yukari laughed a bit to Renko’s attempt of a joke, but just moments after that, she immediately stopped, as she realized about something quite odd going on there.

 

“…Everyone, why all of you suddenly became quiet?”

 

“Well, you know, it’s kinda rude to interrupt two lovers giving their farewells to each other.” Reimu answered bluntly.

 

“We don’t want to ruin the moment.” Ran replied too, affirming the situation.

 

“Yep yep!”

 

“And more lines from us wouldn’t be too necessary, I think. Yukari, you two would definitely be a wonderful couple, I’ll definitely go set up a wedding later back home just for this~” Yuyuko finally hammered the point home, while continued her standard teasing to her old friend. Both Yukari and Renko were visibly flustered with everyone’s words at them, but after a while, Yukari shook herself out of it, before turning around to face the other way of the pathway.

 

“…Alright then, I’m going. See you all later in Gensokyo.Including you, Renko. Looking forward to see you again.”

 

“See you in our next dream, Yukari.”

 

 

---

 

---

 

 

“Ah, so you’re finally awake, Koishi.”

 

“…Uuuh…Where am I?”

 

“We’re in a boat.”

 

“…Huh?”

 

Yukari’s dry and completely reply did make the still half-asleep Koishi to try opening her eyes and see her surrounding, only to realize that the two of them hadn’t really moved that far away from the shore of the lake where she last being awake with her-

 

“Yukari! Did you see my sister?”

 

“No, I didn’t.” Another dry reply, but it didn’t really seem to be made by malice in mind. It was simply the matter of fact that Yukari uttered. “Koishi, it’s nice to see you like this. I guess the lake really worked after all.”

 

“Wh-what do you mean?” Koishi asked, still confused regarding the entire thing from what Yukari could see about her. It was definitely a welcomed change to see her having control of herself fully like this, unlike the time when her heart was closed. At least now, Yukari could be sure that the two could actually talk with each other without any misunderstanding or obstacles between them, hopefully.

 

“Don’t worry about it too much, Koishi. Now, if you may, let’s talk about something more pressing. Namely, the entire business regarding these “pathways”.

 

Is it fine with you, by the way? Or would you like some time to rest first?” Saying that, Yukari stopped rowing the boat, and placed the ladle in front of her as she waited for Koishi’s answer. There was actually no real need for her to use the boat to get to the end, but well, it did sound better rather than flying over the lake or using her gaps to reach the end immediately.

 

“Uh…I guess it’s fine.”

 

“Splendid. Alright, first of all, may I ask of how you get us into the asteroid, and by extension, this place in the first place?”

 

“Someone named Protheus Maximus approached me just as…I couldn’t remember how even did I manage to open my third eye back then, but…I opened it, and glimpsed to his heart.

 

He was a completely rotten person, Yukari. But…even with me knowing how little do I even mean to him, and how he wouldn’t even care about whatever happened to us if he could reach his goal, by that point, I was desperate, and because of it, I immediately accepted his offer before he even spoke.

 

It…might not be the best idea in the world…but…I just want a one-last chance…and I was sure you can guide me all the way to the end even when my heart closed itself again not long afterwards.”

 

“At least, it all worked well in the end. Then, the other side sound slightly like a better choice.”

 

“The…Counter Corps? I’ve seen some of it from his heart, but I couldn’t determine what actually they were, as it’s hard already to-“

 

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ve met someone not long ago that explained to me things concerning this so-called Origin War.

 

There’s one thing that made me worry though regarding that side. While the members are, for the most part, truly well intentioned, what I’ve heard about their leader didn’t really sit well with me. ArturiaPendragon, if what I heard is correct. She’s a great leader, no doubts about it, and I doubt she actually had some evil intentions, but…it’s probably just me, but what I heard regarding her put her into a more ambiguous light, in my eyes. The person I was talking to…she didn’t even know whether Arturia was telling the truth when it came to her goal.

 

Well, due to that, it’s probably better if we don’t side with either for now, personally speaking.

 

…Did I talk too much?”

 

“Nah, I think you didn’t.

 

Nyeh, so we’ll just fight for ourselves now, Yukari?”

 

“More or less. Let’s just focus our best effort in returning home and fixing things up there if we could.” Koishi then responded to Yukari’s statement by nodding in agreement. At that point, Yukari thought whether she should go for further stratagem discussion with Koishi, but dismissed the thought not long afterwards. It’s not like she had anything in mind for what would come after this, anyway, and Yukari didn’t want to confuse Koishi even further.

 

The two seemed to be the only people who were on the lake at that time. Looking at the distance, Yukari couldn’t see the others anymore, and she concluded that they probably had left to attend their last businesses here instead. The moon’s light shone directly from above their heads, and for this time only, Yukari decided to look at it and marvel at its beauty, like Renko had pushed her to do around half an hour ago. Speaking of time…Yukari had noticed that it flew completely erratically in the place. She could even say that time flew relative to each person there, assuming what she could gather by looking at the boundaries between the different flows of time at the pathway. Not that it would matter much, and to tell the truth, it was actually convenient to have it be that way.

 

“Yukari…I’m sorry for what I did back in the previous pathway. I…I was completely scared! I…I thought you were there to harm me and my sister…I thought you were completely mad at me due to what happened to Gensokyo…” Koishi’s apology broke the brief silence, and hearing it, Yukari responded with a small smile at her.

 

“It’s alright. It’s not like you’re entirely at fault back then. I should’ve tried talking to you too instead of continuing to beat you up, and…I was stuck in my perception that you were a monster that couldn’t be reasoned with.

Just ignore it now. We’ve come this far, and what matters now is reaching the end and returning home.”

 

If there was one thing Yukari was still angry at Koishi for, it was her last attack which repeated the same terrible circumstances as of how Ran and Chen was killed by that moon rabbit. But even regarding that, she knew that Koishi was desperate in fighting her off, but it still came quite sour for Yukari even now. At least, Koishi had apologized now, and that’s what truly important for her. She might’ve realized that she had crossed the line by doing that.

 

“One last thing, Koishi. Pardon me if this could be a bit too privately intruding, but…how much do you know regarding the Moonlight Descent Ceremony?”

 

“…Ah…honestly, I don’t know much about it. Nothing more than that. Things sister said, mainly. But…it didn’t matter now.

 

I don’t think I want a world that the Moonlight Descent Ceremony would bring. Even if we want for people to understand us more, forcing them to be three-eyes is a bad idea! Just like love, it’s not something that ever has to be enforced to others!” Hearing her answer, Yukari’s smile widened, signifying her satisfaction.

 

“Heh, if you say so. By the way, you’re still tired, right? You should sleep now while you can. Don’t worry, I’ll carry you with me if you overslept.”

 

Koishi only answered it with a nod. Indeed, she was still sleepy, and she really appreciated Yukari giving her more time to rest. She was still feeling very thankful that Yukari was willing to put aside things that she had done, and having the two of them able to patch things up between them was quite wonderful. While she still felt that she was somewhat too easily forgiven, what important now was just to reach the end of this and finish their business, so she could meet with her sister again.

 

Moments before Koishi fell asleep, she turned around to see what she left behind on the pathway one last time. And there, as a pleasant surprise, a rose-haired girl was waving at her, along with two other girls, but by that point, Koishi had fallen asleep, with a smile on her face, feeling content that she had managed to see her sister there for one last time.

 

 

After crossing the lake, Yukari then carried Koishi all the way to the steep staircase that seemingly was the end of the pathway, and then she started to climb the stairway all the way to the end of it, where she came face to face with an invisible barrier, which, for some reasons, she had no ability to dispel. While Yukari was confused on how should she exactly get past it, a voice echoed throughout the place, asking her a simple question.

 

 

‘Are you satisfied with your past?'

 

 

Ah, so it was the same case with the previous pathway. Which means…my theory is probably correct.

 

Yukari paused for a bit to think of an appropriate response this time. So many things had happened on her past, and on the pathway itself. From her meeting with Renko when she didn’t recognize her, all the flashbacks she experienced, the not!Tenshi that came for her advice, the two boys and the man, which she hoped that all of them managed to get to the end without further problems, her conversations and the snowball fight with Renko, her battle against Koishi, the final flashbacks, the conclusion to everything, and how the two of them finally managed to get along, all up to this point. Finding the right idea on what to say, Yukari then started to speak to the obstacle.

 

“Am I satisfied with my past? Enough, I guess. Good and bad things happened to me or because of me. I made stupid mistakes, but I probably also made many good decisions, hopefully. Without my past, I wouldn’t be able to be who I am right now, no matter whether I liked it or not.

 

But past’s simply a past. It’s something that’s unchangeable. You can change yourself by understanding your past, but ultimately, it’s something you must leave behind to embrace the future. The glories, the pains, the sins of the past, I’ll let all of them be buried in the sea of time if it means I can continue moving forward to the future.

 

This girl right here would probably agree with me too if she’s awake right now. So, does that answer your question?”

 

The pathway didn’t answer her directly, but after a short shaking, Yukari could feel that the barrier was gone, and what was left was what lies behind it. Bracing herself, Yukari walked through where the barrier used to be, and went straight to the very edge of the pathway, until she was transported again to the white room.

 

She didn’t really waste any time there, though. With one door left, there’s no way she could waste further time. Full with resolve and determination, with that conviction on her heart, Yukari took a deep breath before entering her and Koishi’s final pathway, Truth.

 

 

After a short session of passing some sort of dark corridor after getting through the door, the two girls were then faced with breathtakingly beautiful scenery that had been waiting for them on the pathway.

 

The sun was shining brightly, the sky was clear, and as far as Yukari could see, cherry blossom trees in full bloom were adorning a stone walkway on the pathway itself, said stone leading up to a grand mirror at the end of her vision range.

 

Even with all of this beauty though, Yukari didn’t really buy it that the entire thing was not some sort of trap, and she was feeling a weird sensation on her heart as soon as she arrived to the location. It was all quite concerning, but in the end, she decided to dismiss it for now as she passed through the wooden bridge in front of her, and went on towards to the stone road of the pathway itself. Yukari was definitely not lowering her guard; she was simply deciding that she should enjoy the beauty there as much as she could for now.

 

“Uhh…have we reached the next pathway, Yukari?” Koishi weakly asked from behind her, seemingly just barely awake from her sleep.

 

“Welcome to the Pathway of Truth, Koishi. You might want to wake up now; the view’s quite breathtaking to look at.”

 

“Later I guess, I’m still sleepy…”

 

“Oooh, look look!”

 

Suddenly, a swarm of fairies started to gather around the two of them, looking at them with excitement and intrigue. For the most part, they looked like the usual fairies from Gensokyo. Underaged, small, bratty, overconfident, overexcited, having wings, and not too bright on the head.

 

“Are you two twins?”

 

“What kind of question is that? Of course we’re t-“ Yukari, who was attempting to play around with the fairies by pretending to be Koishi’s twin (well, the two were currently pretty identical aside from Koishi’s third eye, their face, and their hair color after all), suddenly felt some sort of unseen force preventing her to finish her sentence, and no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t finish the last words of it.

 

“Hm? What’s the matter?”

 

“-not twins. And…there’s nothing wrong with us, really.” It seemed the pathway, being called Truth, was forcing everyone there to speak as truthfully as they could. It’s quite annoying, but it wouldn’t be too much pain for her to the point of actively being an obstacle, and it’s not like she had anything to hide anyway.

 

“What’s wrong with your neck, miss?” Another fairy asked. Yukari started to feel that they’re going to keep being there until they were satisfied, and her completely drained from answering all of their questions. That could be a pain.

 

“Imperfect head transplant, if that makes some sense.”

 

“Who’s the girl on your back?”

 

“A friend of mine.”

 

“How old are you?”

 

“Seventee-

...Ouch! I mean, I don’t think I keep track on that, but please don’t call me granny.”

 

“When was your first time?”

 

“Stop, please.”

 

“How often do you play pranks on others with your power?”

 

“Often enough to make it somewhat boring. Can you all please-”

 

“How much food can you eat in one go?”

 

“Stop it-“

 

“What is your preference?”

 

“…”

 

“Do you think the moon’s surface is made of green cheese?”

 

“What kind of question is that?”

 

“W-“

 

“Alright, party’s over.”

 

A large gap appeared just below the fairies, and before they could actually react to it, it had swallowed them all whole. Yukari didn’t really care enough regarding where she ended up dumping them all to, but they were seriously getting annoying to her, so measures like this would be necessary. And after all, they’re just constructs made by the pathway, so she shouldn’t really feel too bad about them.

 

With those annoyances gone, Yukari continued her stride along the road, but not after long, someone took her attention. She was clearly one of noble descend due to how she dressed and her general mannerism, and from all of her equipment, she would definitely be a knight too. And, Yukari could sense a very powerful aura coming from the woman.

 

An aura befitting to a king, so to be said.

 

She was, no doubts, the ArturiaPendragon that Reimu told her about back in the Pathway of Death. The woman had that certain air of conviction on her that felt even more solid than what she and Koishi maintained so far. Her diamond-hard willpower could easily be sensed by Yukari. Definitely not someone to mess around with carelessly. Yukari at first wanted to ask Koishi to try reading her heart so Yukari would know regarding how she should really think of the British king, but she remembered that her third eye was still closed-

 

Wait, then why did she manage to not close off her heart and mind in the meantime?

 

Well, that would certainly be something she had to inquire later, but for now, Yukari was intent on just investigating the legendary king first instead. Not one that decided that it’d be better to have some sense of subtlety at that time, Yukari, still with Koishi on her back, entered a gap, and appeared directly in front of Arturia.

 

“Sorry for barging in suddenly like this, but...I’m interested in learning more about you.

Currently, I am standing not as one from either sides of this conflict, so to be said, and…well, it could be said that I’m acting for the sake of my own self-interest now.

 

So, King Arturia, let me ask you this, first of all.

 

What is your actual final intent and interest in this war? As the leader of the Counter Corps, I assume you’re here to stop Protheus and the Divines from reaching and using the Door, but…what then? I’m assuming you’ll restore everything back to normal using the Door, yet, I still doubt that it’ll be the entire case here.

 

I'm not intending to know too much about you. I just want to quell these doubts inside me for now.”

 

Did that question important enough to be asked in that kind of manner? Was risking herself and Koishi with the potential wrath of the dragon worth the attempt to get the answer of the question? Yukari had little idea regarding the answer to the two questions. But her feeling told her to do so, and to be frank, Yukari viewed the king for now to be the most problematic factor in the race. No matter how powerful Protheus was (according to what people said), his intents were clear enough for Yukari, enough for her to stay as far away as she could from him and his side.

 

Meanwhile, let’s just say from what Yukari had heard so far, Arturia was not really the most trustworthy person ever. So before everything else, she had to make sure whether she had to see the king as someone that she could be an ally of or not.

 

Though, there’s a big chance that she’s just jumping to conclusion and nothing else, but who knows? After all, the entirety of her doubt was cast from Reimu’s explanation back in the Pathway of Death. She probably didn’t even think that there’s something doubtful about Arturia. But well, Yukari already asked the question nevertheless, and now was looking at Arturia expectantly, while preparing herself to fight back if she actually incited a hostile response from the knight.

 

“So, Great King of Britain, let’s now hear your answer to this.”

 

 

[Reinforce]

Chandra

Pathway of Truth: Inner World

 

Through the mirror, Chandra entered a large, mountainous area, stretching out around her position. The terrain was hostile, rocky and with very little vegetation, but still somehow vibrant and alive, comforting to her. Taken in looking at the mountains, she didn't notice the figure walking towards her from the side until it spoke.

 

"Magnificent isn't it, this place."

 

Across from her stood a woman who looked to be an almost identical image of her, an expression of pure happiness adorning her face as she talked.

 

"This is our inner world, you know. Our very soul laid bare before us, along with everything and anything it encompasses."

 

At those words, Chandra could see various creatures, red-natured all of them, prowling and flying around the area. 

 

"If this is my soul, those would be the creatures I'm able to summon. At least that explains how I can still summon them, even with Dominia destroyed."

 

"Indeed, those creatures we've contracted with exist as spirits in our soul, and are brought out into a copy of their physical form, created through Æther. However, that is not what you were brought here to understand."

 

"This is the next trial of the pathway then, so what must I do to continue on?"

 

"You must confront the very inner self directly, anything denied or avoided, anything suppressed, must be confronted and somehow resolved before you may continue."

 

"This sounds similar to what I had to do before entering the Purifying Fire, I don't think I have much left to confront after that."

 

"Correct, you've already needed to resolve nearly every problem this part could bring up, the only issue you have currently to confront is the destruction of your world, and the part you played in it."

 

"Because I left, the Multiverse I know has been destroyed, consigned to oblivion because the balance of the world was disrupted. I'm not the only one who left Dominia, so can I really take all the blame for it. The multiverse was already falling apart before Arturia convinced me to go along with him, Jace had already been removed, which would have triggered the collapse regardless of whether I left or not."

 

"And there you have it."

 

"So, is that it then, the only guilt I had to confront has been resolved."

 

"Indeed, but take heed of this warning, while Remembrance shouldn't pose much of a problem for you, Death will be tricky for you to get through."

 

Narrowing her eyes, Chandra nodded, before looking around once more.

 

"So ..."

 

"Yes."

 

"I've completed this part, so how do I continue on?"

 

Smiling to her outer self, the inner Chandra walked forward and laid both hands on her shoulders, before bringing her head forward to touch the other's. In a blink, Chandra was exiting out the other side of the mirror, onto a wooden platform. 

 

Ending Location: C11

 

-----

 

Ayame

Pathway of Truth: A9

 

Walking down the crystal bridge and into the hallway, Ayame fast approached the mirror at the end. Reflected in it was a demonic version of her, grey skin and yellow eyes, along with the fangs, claws replacing her fingernails and the leathery wings spread out behind. The most frightening part was her face though, twisted and savage even as the reflection mirrored her movements. Realising what she'd have to do next, she raised her hand to touch the mirror, getting dragged in through it as she did so.

 

What awaited her was an arena of sorts, a large floor made of closely intertwined bars of metal, lightning running around them, that stretched as far as she could see. High above were storm clouds, frequently sprouting lightning that would plunge down into the metal of the floor and keep it lit with electricity. Beneath the metal, just able to be seen through the small gaps, was shifting darkness, shadows laid so thick it was impossible to see through them to anything further below, and frequently trying to make their way back up only to be stopped by the electricity lighting up the metal floor. She didn't have time to analyse the area any further though, as charging at her was the demon she'd seen in the mirror before entering the mirror.

 

Moving around it's first strikes, she started to shift back, dodging and deflecting the attacks that came too close as she tried to get some space to think. The demon was relentless though, constantly moving forward to strike at her from the front even as she tried to get herself a moment of space to think. The chance came when it overextended slightly on a strike, giving her a chance to hit back and knock it away with a lightning enhanced palm strike. With her mind having time to finally get into gear, her hand came up, lightning sparking over it, to tap at the back of her neck and apply her strongest technique to use. With the lightning shock firmly running through her nervous system, she was moving and reacting much quicker to the demon's renewed assault as it came again, giving her mind time to try and find a solution as her body fell firmly into well trained forms and movements. 

 

There has to be some way to beat this thing. At the very least, it seems to be relying entirely on instinct to fight, which is probably all that prevented me from dying to it's initial onslaught. I can barely get a hit in, and even my strongest hits seem to get brushed off as if they're nothing. The electricity running my arms isn't helping either, it doesn't seem to even notice the shocks when they hit it. Wait, if that thing is a demonic version of me, then maybe I can use the physical attributes it has to turn the tide. 

 

Focusing in on what she was about to try, she couldn't avoid a claw that was coming straight for her chest, even as she accessed the demonic power she'd barely ever used to alter her own physical form. The blow landed as her nails extended and hardened into claws, but surprisingly, there was no stabbing pain where it hit, only a mild knock from the force of the blow. Jumping back as the demon stopped attacking in shock, she could then tell that the claws it had been fighting with had vanished, with only human hands where it had been. 

 

Could it be, when I managed to turn my hands into claws, it lost the ability to do the same, leaving it's hands like mine were instead. 

 

Pondering on that, she decided to test the theory, allowing a bit more of her demonic abilities to rise to the surface out of the depths she'd long since locked them in. As she did, the appearances of both combatants changed, Ayame's eyes turned yellow and fangs grew in her mouth, while her skin turned that chalky shade of grey the other possessed. On the other hand, the demon's eyes turned to green, the fangs from it's mouth vanished and it's skin, previously grey returned to something that could be called almost human in appearance. Ayame's thoughts were slowing down as she brought more and more of her heritage to the forefront, reduced to simple concepts like 'Not-Human' and 'Eliminate'. As she charged forward, her foe's wings spread and lifted her off the ground. Snarling, and unable to comprehend why she wasn't fully using her abilities, Ayame leapt up, spreading wings of her own as her foe's vanished, and getting the startled girl with a savage, clawed uppercut as she reached past the girl.

 

Flying back down as the girl landed hard on the metal, she accelerated forward to deal the lethal blow to the 'Not-Human'. As she reached the girl, her mind stopped her just short of finishing off the girl who was by now fully human, and therefore somehow not the target she had been after. With that confusion flooding the mind, her human consciousness took the chance to reassert itself, cutting off some of the power she was accessing to remove the strain on her mind. Fully regaining her human appearance, she stood up from over the unconscious being that was once more a demon, stepping back to consider what she'd just done as the shadows below took her distraction as a chance to attack. Reacting quickly, lightning pulsed out from her body as the storm above rained down hundreds of lightning strikes inside the area she could see, blocking off the remnants of the shadow realm from escaping their current confinement. Having decided what to do about them at last, electricity started to build up around her as the clouds above rumbled, before an absolutely massive bolt of lightning flew down to strike her directly. Moving quickly, she placed both hands upon the metal floor, before sending an absolutely massive discharge of electricity through the metal, expanding out to cover every bit of the floor of the arena, and then stretching down from there to rip apart the shadows trapped within. 

 

By the time that was finished, the last of the shadows were fading away, all sentience that had once inhabited them ripped apart by the artificial storm of lightning that had destroyed the shadows. With the shadows gone, she could finally see what was beneath the floor of the arena, to view a clear sky below, stretching down as far as she could see. Far above her, the storm lightened up, though lightning still frequently darted it and struck down into the floor. With the last of her conflicts resolved, what she could see changed, the world she was in folding down and vanishing as she was transported to the wooden platforms that heralded the next section of the path.

 

Ending Location: A11

[Dad]

Wesker

 

He blinked.  This path was covered in snow.  Huge, white blankets of snow.  How irritating.  But the only thing that bothered him more was knowing that he was defeated by someone who could not possibly measure up to his strength.  This bald man.  He didn't have the aptitude for battle with Wesker.  Was he caught off guard?  Impossible!  Unthinkable!!  Irrational!!  And yet. . . 

 

Wesker's eyes quickly caught glimpse of the forest some kilometers ahead of him.  But what was more clear was that incredible combat had recently taken place here.  Entire chunks of this forest were missing, scorched, and somehow, trampled on.  That could mean one of a few things.  Wesker was hoping that this damage of the pathway's forest was due to his former opponent's rampage.  Perhaps he lost control and went on a massive killing spree?  Maybe someone among the other Divine members corrupted his mind and left the bald man to be a menace?  "Grr, none of that matters!" he roared aloud to himself.  "As long as there is a breath in this body I will not rest until I have his head on a pike!  That bald warrior," he said pressing on towards the forest.  He scanned every inch of it carefully from where he was.  Though, the trees were thick, even Wesker couldn't see very far into the forest, save for the man made clearing.  Wesker was growing more irate by the minute as he soon began blinking at high speeds, through the snow.  His eyes darted back and forth as we dashed, examining every inch of land that he could see for signs of his enemy.  Then, suddenly, they lay on a seemingly insignificant item, causing Wesker to double back.  

 

A piece of torn cloth.  Greyish green in color, and on the front of it, a badge reading the acronym "S.T.A.R.S".  Wesker picked it up from the snow, and ran his fingers over the tattered cloth carefully.  "Some kind of trick," he thought to himself.  Obviously he was on the pathways, and was no longer a member of S.T.A.R.S.  He hadn't been, for years.  So who did this belong to?  Wesker stuffed the cloth into his pockets, not wanting to waste time.  "I'll solve the puzzle later," he continued thinking.  His mad dash for the forest continued, in search of the bald warrior with dual blades.

 

Ending Location:  C2

 

 

---

 

 

Revy

 

Revy sighed.  She had carefully thought about what Reimu asked her, on the brief flight up to the end of the pathway.   This was her final moment among the paths, and she wasn't sure what lie in wait for her.  But, having wanted a normal life for so long, she could give Reimu an honest answer.  Revy stared up at the sky for a while, before turning her attention to the magical crystal that would take her away, and then to Reimu.  She tried her best to hide it, but there was a single tear that escaped from Revy's eyes.  Surprisingly, her leg wasn't in as much pain.  It wouldn't be healed for a little while longer, but she could at least put a bit more weight on it.  She hopped down from Reimu's back and faced the girl, having wiped away her tear so that she could keep her composure.  

 

"I wanna get out of the game, Reimu," Revy said at last.  "I've never had somebody I've loved.  Hell, I've barely had friends.  Now I have a chance to help everybody and I wanna take it."  She limped forward a bit, inching closer to the crystal and its magical barrier.  "I want this to be the last fight I ever have.  Except for maybe a throwdown with Kra--uhhhhhhh crazy friends of mine," she said catching herself quickly.  She didn't know it, but Revy was blushing.  She turned back to Reimu again, and hopped back towards her.  Revy embraced the girl tightly, sighing once more.  When she let go, Revy stepped back, looking Reimu up and down.  "Thanks for being a buddy, Reimu," she said limping back towards the magical barrier.  With her face looking at the crystal, Revy continued, not looking back at Reimu, fearing she would cry.  "And uh, if this is the last time we see each other," she said with her voice breaking.  "You'd better make damn sure you kick some ass for me.  And tell me all about it when we get to heaven."

 

The barrier shattered before Revy, as she approached the crystal at last.

 

‘Are you content with your present self’?

 

Revy didn't hesitate this time.  "You're God damn right," she said placing her hand on the crystal.  And before she could whisper goodbye, she was whisked away in a swirl of magic, being tossed about like a rag doll.

 

 

Ending Location:  ???

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

The Path of Remembrance:

‘Are you satisfied with your past’?

Sitting in the blank space was a woman with long, flowing red hair concealed by a simple wide-brimmed wooden hat that had several veils draping from it. Her face was done in makeup similar to a skull, but decorative and possessing red lines interlaced with the white and black, and contrasting with glowing golden eyes. A tattered kimono portraying the life cycle of a star was draped around her body, the traveler a passing spirit with one last errand to run, and a ticking clock to accomplish that task in. And thus, she reflected on her encounter with a dear friend within this strange realm of memory.




 

The woods, like the rest of the Pathway, were cold and lonely as the former goddess trudged through the snow. The silence all around her was a welcome reprieve from the ambush that had happened earlier. So many people she had slain in her travels, all back, and out for her blood. If it weren’t for Atsuko and her summons, she might still be fighting in a never-ending brawl. But, sadly, the two of them had gotten split up as the driving blizzard separated them, and now, Itsu was unsure she could reunite with her further along. But this lonesome forest seemed calm and peaceful, allowing her to reflect on what she had heard from Arthuria. That Protheus was behind all of this. She couldn’t grasp why he would want to do such a thing. Last time they had been in contact, he had seemed at least somewhat pleased to have Pandora with him. Then again, he was always so hard to read, possessing hidden depths. Maybe, if she just talked to him somewhere in this maze of Pathways, they could come to an understanding…

“And then what?”

Just then, as the thought had occurred to her, an oh so familiar voice, colder than the snow itself, had ringed throughout the whole area. It seemed to be coming from behind one of the trees, and at that moment, a man walked out from it, wearing a white regalia with silver hair that seemed to match their lonesome surroundings. He regarded her with an empty look, his arms crossed as he knelt back against the tree.

“And then what, Itsu Fudo? Am I to simply give up and walk back after coming this far? No, surely you must have realized. The amount of people that I’ve sacrificed by now is far too much to turn back.” He continued onwards, his faded eyes emptily gazing at a far-off location. “Look at you… Even the way you are now, in that pitiful, unstable state, is none other than my fault.”

Her golden eyes looked over him, not sure what to say. Somehow, he was here, in this forest, but...it felt too surreal. That he had just appeared out of thin air like some sort of phantom. Regardless, it was probably her only chance, so she tried to reason with him. “Protheus, the Door of Origin is not something to fight over. You have caused so much damage already from this. Please, at least give me a good reason for orchestrating this whole plot, for...for killing Isamy…”

At the mention of the name ‘Isamy’, a small frown crossed the dark sorcerer’s face. “Killing Isamy, hm…? Well, to begin with, I don’t even know who that brat impostor is, taking my surname like it was rightfully hers, and carrying it around with beliefs and ideals that were even more simpleminded than yours. Truly, I don’t see why I should care about someone like that. Simply put, I don’t know her.” But then, upon saying this, he let out a bit of a sigh. “Or at least I don’t think I do… Regardless, she’s but one of a great, great many sacrifices. At this point, I cannot even begin to count the amount of people that have had to die for me to get to where I am now…”

Then Protheus turned directly towards Itsu, meeting her gaze with his own, and it seemed that, in a way, he was just as uncertain of what to say to her as she was to him.

“So then. Do you truly wish to know the reason for why I went to the trouble of doing all this, dear ‘goddess’ Itsu?”

She listened to him lecture her on the same subject, on how great this sacrifice has been, and how worthless Isamy had been. She could only clench her fists at his degradation of her name, of how she DESERVED to be taken down for stealing his name, then further running her death in the muck by saying that he doesn’t even KNOW her. So of course she aske, despite having an inkling of what the answer is going to be. “Yes! I want to know!”

[Dad]

Kratos

 

He had just reached the edge of the lake.  Kenpachi and Yachiru were no longer visible in the distance.  He was alone with his thoughts again.  Though the weather was beyond frigid, Kratos bared this cold with almost no mind.  It didn't bother him in the slightest.  Instead, he was more captivated by the almost disturbingly alluring lake before him.  It reminded him of something, something inherently evil.  The River Styx.

 

How long had it been since Kratos was last in his own time?  How long ago had he since taken lives of his family?  He had conquered the god of war, and became a god himself.  Risen to grace by the hands of Athena, and stricken to failure by Zeus.  He had fought from the depths of Hades and the River Styx to the summit of Mount Olympus.  He had battled creatures of time and demons of hell fire.  He had even killed his only two brothers, Hercules and Deimos.  But he stood now, unswayed.  Kratos knew that journey would be long.  He had yet to find true peace, until now.  At last, he had let it all go.  And now, he walked a different path.  But for what?  What lie at the end, he still could not perceive.

 

But this lake, as frightening as it was, called to Kratos.  And he did oblige.  With just the tip of his index and middle fingers, Kratos put his fingers in the water.  It was much colder, even than the pathway around him.  And suddenly, he found himself hallucinating.  He was being taken back into his past again, even though he had already been freed of it.  Kratos struggled to fight it, ripping away at fake memories and false images.  Meanwhile, his body sat on its knees, frozen in place, as if he were praying to the gods one last time.

 

 

Ending location:  C9

 

 

---

 

 

Wesker

 

He had manged to trek through the near impassable terrain.  The snow was more than above his ankles and it was quite irritating.  Wesker raised foot after foot, tirelessly, until he grew irate.  He was tired of waiting to kill that bastard who had wronged him.  He had embarrassed Wesker.  And there was about to be hell to pay.  The forest was in sight, a mere  two meters away.  He leaped out of the snow, and kicked over one of the great trees that stood in his way.  Now that snow in the forest was much lower than that in the empty fields, Wesker could blaze through it without any care in the world.  And hopefully, on the other side, he would find his target.  Wesker picked up the pace, bobbing in and out of trees, and eventually taking to the canopy of the forest to now skip gracefully over it.

 

It took him less than two hour's time, and Wesker had reached the edge of the forest, passing by the devastation that was likely caused by some massive explosion or battle.  And there, in the snow, vulnerable.  The bald warrior who had disgraced him.  "You," he thought angrily.

 

Ending Location:  C8

[Merci]

~ Arturia Pendragon ~

The Pathway to Truth (A3)

 

Shortly after leaving the fairies behind, Arturia was in thought as she continued to walk her way towards the end of the cherry blossom forest. With her eyesight, she was capable of seeing a dark mirror at the far end, less than a kilometer away, which she figured would be the portal to the next section. It seemed that this part of the pathway had a truth field that prevented her from lying, accompanied by fairies to encourage them to be honest about themselves, and hence, there was quite a fair chance that the next part would have such a mechanism as well.

 

'It's simply that I needed the Holy Grail... so I killed him.'

 

There was no point dwelling on it. That boy was long gone. It had been an eternity since she last saw him, and they were never to meet again. He was but one of many, many sacrifices. What was one life when compared to ten million? As a king and as a Counter Guardian, so many times she had sent brave warriors into battle to fight to the death. To gain territory, advance onwards, and end threats. She never cried, or screamed, or looked back even once, since this was the path that she had chosen by her own will for the sake of everyone around her. When she had drawn the sword from the stone, there was not one worry or regret in her heart. Effectively, she had become a machine, achieving victory for the sake of others both in life and in death.

 

And yet, for just ten days, there came a time when that was not a case, when there was someone who saw her not as a king but as a human being, and wished to treasure her. He had placed his trust in her without any ill will whatsoever and she did the same to him. But no matter how nice or compassionate he was, it didn't change the fact he had been the son of Emiya Kiritsugu, who had betrayed her. And ultimately, he carried along that same belief, that same twisted ideology. He was still young, but without a doubt, he would've made the same decisions that man did once he had the opportunity...

 

Thus, having already been robbed of the Holy Grail once, she betrayed the boy at the last moment and killed him, so that a repeat of what happened in her past would not occur. Needless to say, it worked. She obtained the Holy Grail and her wish had been granted. However, it led to nothing but more destruction...and her efforts to fix her last mistake led to her being designated as a Counter Guardian, to serve the multiverse and face similar threats, over and over and over again. Cleaning up the hellish messes that people themselves created.

 

Time transformed into something irrelevant for her, as it did for all Counter Guardians. And so it was, that after those heavenly ten days, she reverted back to a lifestyle of serving and leading others, bloodying her hands as a machine. She had already offered her answer in the previous pathway, to Death, about how she would embrace her fate. No matter what, she would be a Counter Guardian, as it was for the greater good.

 

However, back then, her unwavering resolve...had wavered. For just the tiniest moment.

 

As she was thinking to herself, an unknown girl had suddenly appeared before her, utilizing some sort of variation of teleportation that was capable of functioning in this realm - well, she wasn't exactly unknown, since Arturia recognized her on the spot, despite having never met her. For it was the Gap Youkai, a being who was relevant enough for the Throne of Heroes itself to be aware about her existence. It seemed that she had also brought along someone else, an unknown girl who exuded a certain presence.

 

In any case, as soon as they appeared, the knight drew out her blade from her sheath in an instant, taking a stance with narrowed, cautious eyes, staying on-guard. Although, even though neither of the duo were part of the Counter Corps, considering how they hadn't attacked her instantly, it was safe to say that they weren't necessarily enemies. Yet.

 

"You there. Halt, and state your intentions." Arturia stated coldly, all the while examining the field out of the corner of her eye. There were eight meters separating them, but she could cross past that in a quarter of a second and cut down her opponent if she acted fast enough. The manipulation of boundaries may prove troublesome if it functioned even here, as would her overall ability as one of the strongest youkai, but even then, she was mentally simulating how the battle might go in her mind and formulating various counter-manoeuvres. Perhaps the one she had to really look out for was the girl on her back.

 

"Sorry for barging in suddenly like this, but...I’m interested in learning more about you. Currently, I am standing not as one from either sides of this conflict, so to be said, and…well, it could be said that I’m acting for the sake of my own self-interest now." The female youkai explained, trying her best to looklike she'd. "So, King Arturia, let me ask you this, first of all."

 

At that, the former king relaxed her grip, dropping her still-mysterious blade lightly to her side. In other words, she was seeking an answer as to which side to choose, or at least, which path to follow under these circumstances. And it was her job to provide a satisfactory answer, one that could aid in leading her onto the path of righteousness. Though the fact that they were on the Pathway to Truth might prove to be somewhat troublesome, it would help as a show of honesty, to show that she was trustworthy.

 

"What is your actual final intent and interest in this war? As the leader of the Counter Corps, I assume you’re here to stop Protheus and the Divines from reaching and using the Door, but...what then? I’m assuming you’ll restore everything back to normal using the Door, yet, I still doubt that it’ll be the entire case here." Even so, especially considering the nature of the question, she would have to select her response wisely. "I'm not intending to know too much about you. I just want to quell these doubts inside me for now."

 

"I see... So that's how it is. As the leader of the Counter Corps, I have an obligation to answer, but what you make of it is for you alone to decide. And if you decide against my words, then it will be a great shame, but it simply cannot be helped." Arturia responded strongly, understanding her intent.

 

She sheathed her sword again into its scabbard, attached to her waist, as a show of honour before looking straight at the girl facing opposite her, whose expression showed that she was expectantly waiting for an answer, but naturally on-guard as well. It wasn't baseless at all, considering how she was in the presence of one of the chosen guardians for the protection of the multiverse, so it was perfectly normal to feel nervous or intimidated. Rather, if she wasn't in some form, then that would've been more worrisome.

 

"So, Great King of Britain, now let's hear you answer to this."

 

For a moment, the knight remained silent, closing her eyes in deep thought. It wasn't as though she was attempting to avoid the question in any way, but merely that coming up with a truthful response took a little time to think about. Then, she opened them up again, her very presence beginning to emit a charismatic sort of aura, and she started taking gradual steps forward.

 

"Very well. Come, fair youkai. I'm sure you won't mind a short walk through these pleasant woods as we talk?"

 

She asked this in a soft manner that contrasted with her otherwise-fierce personality, extending out an invitation just as she walked past the girl. Around them, the cherry blossoms continued to bloom beautifully, the air filled with pink petals. No matter what sort of land this was, it was undeniable that this was quite a wonderful sight, and she planned on treasuring it while it lasted, however short that may be.

 

Then, "Since you came here to ask me such a thing, you must know what I am. I'm what is known as a 'Counter Guardian'. The multiverse contains infinite possibilities, and while it is a wonderful thing, this also means that threats involving the destruction of countless universes, or possibly even them all, will rise up from time to time. We exist to be summoned into the area and act as weapons to eliminate those threats, no matter what form they may take. Our sole duty is to erase threats to the fabric of reality, minimizing the casualties in the process."

 

As Arturia carried on though the forest, addressing who may or may not be a defector from the Divine, it appeared as though that the fairies from earlier were gathering around to listen to her words, accompanied by quite a lot of other ones she couldn't recognize, though they all exercised caution and didn't dare getting too close to her. Paying no heed to them whatsoever, she put her arms behind her back and continued on in a kingly fashion.

 

"Even now, under these fairly unusual circumstances, the same holds true. My ultimate goal is to prevent Protheus Maximus from being able to open the Door of Origin, and obtain the Key myself. It is my job, nay, my sword duty to value the lives of the majority over that of the minority, and thus, no matter what sort of decisions I make in the future, saving the multiverse serves as my utmost highest priority, and it ought to be the same for the rest of the Corps."

 

Then suddenly, the blonde knight stopped, took a deep breath as if to force herself to resume, and then promptly went on talking. "I lost touch with Britain long, long ago, and thus I am not fit to be truly called a king. Likewise, for the rest of you... I suspect that there is not a single person on this Pathway who still has a home. Did Protheus Maximus inform you before? Due to the intensity of the distortions that are muddled up throughout the fabric of space and time, a countless amount of universes have ended up being destabilized. And yet even so, I had to take the risk of interfering with them to obtain warriors for the Counter Corps. Alas, the consequence of their removal meant shattering the delicate balance of those unstable realms... in the process damning them and their entire population into oblivion moments afterwards. The same must also hold true for that insane dark sorcerer, since there is only so much that he is capable of."

 

Actually, she wasn't sure whether the person she was talking to was already aware of this or not, but due to the possibility that Protheus hadn't bothered to inform them - considering his deceitful character, there was quite a high chance for that - it would be best for her to make the Divine know about the losses they had unknowingly suffered by choosing to participate in the Origin War. And even if the youkai was indeed aware, a reminder of what had been suffered and what was at stake was definitely necessary.

 

"We have lost so much to get to this point, and whether or not we like it, whether or not we seek to rewrite reality, the fact is that we have no choice but to advance onwards. As we are currently on the Pathway to Truth, you must be able to see that the words I speak ring true. I will not force you to trust me, but indeed, I hope you will come to a decision."

 

Silence filled the air, and at first, it seemed as though that she had concluded her speech there, since it was quite like an appropriate enough conclusion for the former king. Were she to have stopped there on a collected, professional note, it would've been perfectly normal for her, as the Counter Guardian Arturia Pendragon.

 

Yet, after a while, her fists clenched with anger and frustration, though she couldn't quite tell why herself.

 

"...I also have a personal take on the situation of the Origin War, if you would like to hear it." She voiced out suddenly.

 

Afterwards, upon saying this, she turned around to face the Gap Youkai directly. Her stature was composed and cool on the outside, but her eyes were narrowed in such a way that it gave off an immensely imposing feel, the intensity of her quiet fury being such that it felt like anything in her line of sight would ignite into a burning inferno. With a simple change in expression, the aura that surrounded her had transitioned from that of a regal king to that of a wrathful lion.

 

"In my honest opinion, in the face of such an overly massive danger looming over us... I find it ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC that there's even a division between the Counter Corps and the Divine at all, and that we have to discuss the matter of 'whether or not to trust the enemy'."

 

Arturia began with a maintained ferocity, her voice paced with a painfully sharp, condescending tone to it, displaying her frustration towards the thoughtlessness of those around her. It wasn't as though she had snapped or as though her composure had broken in any way, but rather, she had simply chosen to channel a clear hint of emotion through her words to get her point across. For these were, without a doubt, her true feelings about this war between sides.

 

"Right now, as we know, an immortal madman - who has demonstrated time and time again that he doesn't care about anything but himself - is attempting to use the Door's powers for his own selfish gain... There's an ancient, merciless monster out there, responsible the destruction of billions upon billions of universes, who's trying to change the whole multiverse as he sees fit merely because he feels entitled to it, and yet as far as I know, instead of being rational about it and teaming up to defeat a common foe, we, each and every single one of us, are wasting our time fighting and distrusting each other, while also letting ourselves drown in our own irrelevant personal problems due to the Pathways, when there are far, far more important things that we could be doing right now...!"

 

...

 

"Those are my thoughts on the matter." And just like that, all the anger was dropped, Arturia returning back to her cold, judging state, showing no signs of having been pissed just a moment ago. "It might be a lot for you to take in, but... After having had heard all this, tell me, you the Border of Phantasm... Have you come to a decision?"

[Tesability Black]

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

The black, Great Dane-sized dragonoid opened her eyes again to the world of blackness around her, giving another sigh in dispair. Once again, there was nothing left around her nor anything to go back to. And so, she stretched out her wings and flew forward towards the exit in the distance...

Oddly enough, her low-to-the-ground flight through the area with the blue lights was actually peaceful, nothing noticably disturbing, though she did spot a brief moment of an apparent double of herself talking with a human that strangely had wings, the name of 'Lydia' popping randomly into her head. Giving a shrug, she continued flying forward, thinking to herself that the Path was stretching itself real thin of possible futures now.

She spotted a colorfully-suited pair near a stone tablet when she found herself near another set of stairs, most-likely leading to the exit, spotting them both place an open hand upon the stone before becoming surrounded in crimson energies that swirled around them. To this, she tilted her head slightly at this before beginning to paw her way up the stairs since, like in Remembrance, something prevented her from flying up them...

Ending Location: Between C13 and C14

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

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

Neos, greetings.

Neos found himself stopping upon hearing the voice in his head, slightly surprised to hear such, though he couldn't see the source of it, Arturia.

Though he listened to the apology in its entirely, the fact that she did try to erase him from existence back then still stung quite a bit. Doesn't help that, by doing so, she wouldn't actually be erasing the reason behind such an action, if Gemini wasn't lying about what he had said earlier. Given the reaction to his feigning Explosion at first, the twisted double probably wasn't.

In this form, however, he didn't have the capacity to tell her that himself, so she wound up moving on without an return response. Sighing sadly, he continued moving forward...

It wasn't long before he reached the stone tablet---

‘Are you willing to embrace your fate’?

---and hearing yet another voice in his head. At this was one he was supposed to hear.

"We're all pulled into the future in one way or another, whether we like it or not," the false human started to say, neon-green eyes giving still a slight natural glow. "Because of that, if one expects the worst and hopes for the best, it's hard to be blindsided by shitstorms and actually easier to spot the good that may come. So, let come what may." Acting on a guess, he placed a hand on the tablet with his own eyes closed, waiting to move on.

...nothing. There was no reaction to or from anything around him. "...did I do or say something wrong?"

He got his answer upon hearing someone suddenly landing and rolling down the steps behind him, turning around in time to see Gemini roll down the final steps and groaning in pain from the suddenness of what happened. Neos couldn't help but raise a high blue eyebrow at the sight, wondering what the hell he was doing there, but it doesn't seem like it was willing.

"Ow, that hurt," Gemini finally grumbled as he stood up, dusting himself off once on his feet. "What in the Disto---" Red eyes fell upon Neos and the dark stone tablet he was near, shaking his head. "You've got to be---"

Stomping hard on the ground as the double in dark purple climbed the stairs, he stopped too once next to Neos, planting a palm on his own forehead a few seconds later. "I have to answer, too?!"

Neos' jaw was slightly dropped just before seeing him slide his hand down his face, seeing a patch of visible yellow where Gemini's hand had slapped it. "What? Are you telling me I can't get through the ends of these damned paths without you?!"

Vivid-red and neon-green soon met with one another, a narrowed pair of eyes on Neos being part of the exchange. "I'm not the one who makes this s*** up...this time." Turning towards the tablet, Gemini stated towards the tablet this: "I really don't care what in the Distortion happens in the future. The Omniverse could be destroyed and erased and I wouldn't give two shits about it."

With that, Gemini placed his hand on the tablet and Neos immediately followed suit. Almost immediately did the pair disappear after being surrounded by crimson...

...and Neos landed once again in the White Room, creating yet another crack in the floor upon landing on his back again...

Ending Location: The White Room

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

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

Once again, he was flat on his front on the ground, quick to pick himself up then dust off what he was wearing, surprised to see such large clouds of white come off his as he did. Not sure of what to expect, he dared to take a look around, seeing what looked like...statues. Statues of various people he currently carried the guilt of affecting their lives greatly in one way or another going down one long hall, one he couldn't immediately see the end of. The floor, ceiling and walls were all simple, a shade of dusty yellow against the marble statues.

As he walked and saw each statue, he started moving slower and slower, the decrease is speed almost gradual enough for him to not even notice it at first. One statue, in particular, prompted him to stop before he could notice.

Alhammarret, the elder mage from his home plane that took him from his parents, who had no idea how to deal with him or his budding telepathic abilities, and allowed Jace to be his apprentice...or at least whom he thought such a person was. Considering the fact that he remembered...next to nothing from before he landed in Ravnica, there was no telling if the statue had any truth to its form.

He couldn't even remember why he first wound up on Ravnica...hell, he didn't even remember his own name at first...

Lowering his head in reflection, he caught slivers of silver around his wrists. It was then he finally noticed the extra weight before daring to lift the gloved hand up to better see.

It was a metal ring, similar to the ones he saw in the reflection showing his younger self. Looking immediately upon the other wrist, he spotted a second band of steel around it as well, and glancing down towards his boots revealed two more around his ankles.

"It wouldn't have mattered if that had happened at all, honestly."

Lifting his head and immediately turning, he saw the person in the mirror, someone who resembled his younger self bearing the same set of metal as he. "Even if you had never left home, the Consortium would have still found you at some point."

Jace found himself looking down and away, thinking over the statement in his head and realizing slowly that such was right. He still recalled when he broke the glass in his hand when Tezzeret first mentioned the poor being and what Jace had done to him, even if it wasn't intended. Then again, he was definitely no master of time magics, nor did he really have a real grasp of such magic, so he couldn't do that even if he wanted.

And since no one similar to his adult form showed up to try and stop him back then, he could safely conclude that he never managed it, either.

He felt a hand rest on his arm, drawing his attention back towards the young double, who motioned for him to follow before beginning to walk down the hall, a few more statues catching his eyes.

Tezzeret, the artificer that officially began the nightmare his life had become for the largest part of his life, the etherium arm poised in such a graceful yet dignified position as if to mock Jace, make him hate more the man he used to be before the mindmage turned his mind into a metaphorical soup.

Baltrice, Tezzeret's primary Planeswalker in the Infinite Consortium before he wound up joining it and a red mage with a shorter fuse than Chandra's. She still lived, but he had to puppeteer her for a good while after Tezzeret was gone to make sure she didn't wind up killing him. So far, he hasn't seen her since her since the Bolas-reforged Tezzeret gave her a necklace to undo his puppeteering, but couldn't help as a momentary image of the two female red mages duking it out and Chandra handily charcoaling---

"Are you sure you're not part red yourself?"

His attention snapping back to reality yet again, he found his younger self staring at him with a raised eyebrow. "It would explain our unusual short fuses and wide emotional ranges as blue mages."

That was a thought that hadn't even crossed his mind...though it would explain why he wasn't as burned out by Niv'Mizzet going through his mind as he should have been.

"Perhaps I am as mad as the dragon," Jace found himself repeating from a quote he once written in a journal in the past.

"No," the younger form spoke as he shook his head. "Not yet, anyway."

Another statue passed reminded him of Emmera, an Selesnya elf that he had feelings for back on Ravnica. Like with Baltrice, she was also alive, still very much alive and in high standings once again amongst the Conclave. However, he still wound up having to alter her mind as well. Unlike most other times, she actually requested it. Due to events that occurred within the Implicit Maze on Ravnica, she wound up discovering that he himself was not even from Ravnica as a whole...and the knowledge was literally hurting her. Selesnya members were not one to hold secrets from each other and that's exactly what she was having to do with this piece of information. Though it felt like a sword through the heart to have to do this, he removed the knowledge and the moments among the rain that this was revealed to her as cleanly as possible to not leave behind a traceable hole in her mind.

The next statue was actually in a form of three, one he immediately recognized as Neos Rivetter, though in his arm was a young energetic boy with short hair and a sleeveless leather vest and a short sleeved shirt underneath. Next to the pair, with her arms crossed over her front in formality, was a girl with long hair almost to the middle of her back and a long dress. Only her face and hands were visible from under it, as well as her slide-on shoes when she walked. Her face bore a solemn look, as if she had witnessed and endured horrible things in her young life, and from what he knew of her, she had.

Jace Cort and Faye Xandros

Every time he heard about the plane they were from and what often happened with untrained psychics, such as being pulled into a demonic-filled alternate realm known to them as the 'Warp', he found himself thanking whatever gods existed that he wasn't born in that reality every single time.

He would have already been gone by now and dealing with a far-worse reality than he lived in...

The pair passed a few more statues until one had him stop so hard, it should have made a screech as the memory flooded back into his head as if it happened only yesterday...

[spoiler=Flashback - Favarial District, Ravnica - Excerpt from the book 'Agents of Artifice' (WARNING: Long read!)]And Kallist froze. No matter the urgency, he could not tear his gaze away from the room around him. Jace hadn't abandoned his standard of living; he'd simply hidden it.

The chamber beyond occupied a majority of the top floor, someone having knocked out the interior walls that separated one apartment from the next. The remaining walls were pristine, polished to a gleaming oceanic blue; there was no trace inside of the cracks that ran through the old stone without. The carpets were thick, the furniture comfortable and well maintained. A small dining table lay on its side, the tablecloth and dishware scattered about the floor. Even amid the signs of struggle, the scent of incense hung in the air, overpowering the odors of the city.

At the sound of a dull thump, possibly that of a body hitting the floor, Kallist finally shook off his amazement. Striding toward the room from which he had heard that familiar sound, he covered perhaps half the distance when the door was thrown open from within.

For the first time in half a year, Kallist stood face to face with Jace Beleren, the man who had once been his best friend.

They could have been brothers, and in fact had passed as such on one or two occasions during their service with the Infinite Consortium. Less than two inches separated them in height, less than twenty pounds in weight. Perhaps Jace was more clean shaven, Kallist's hair half a shade lighter; not identical, but very much alike.

Jace, clad in a heavy blue cloak he'd thrown over his bedclothes when first attacked, froze in the doorway, his own eyes as wide as the saucers that had spilled from atop the table.

"You!" Never before had Kallist heard so mundane a word loaded so heavily with bile. "It wasn't enough to steal her from me? Now you want me dead, too?"

Kallist, a small part of whom had briefly been glad to see his old friend, found himself scowling with rekindled rage. "Damn it, Jace, you know better than that! We came to warn you! Not," he added, with a quick glance at the trio of fallen bodies visible through the bedroom doorway, "that you seem to have needed it."

"After all this time, I'm supposed to believe that?" Jace demanded.

"Yes." Kallist squeezed the hilt of his sword until he felt the leather wrappings start to fold. "Now, if you---"

He couldn't breathe; couldn't talk; couldn't think. Kallist froze as though struck by a basilisk's gaze. He felt a fist around his mind, keeping him from moving, from reacting, holding him firmly in place while Jace took the extra few moments he needed. Kallist felt the faintest touch, the legs of skittering spiders across the surface of his dreams.

Kallist gasped in shock and found himself slumped to the floor.

"Damn it, Jace!" Kallist couldn't decide if he wanted to kill or to cry, and settled for an enraged shout. "You swore never to read---"

"We both of us made promises back then, didn't we?" Jace snapped in turn. But the lines of his face have softened. As though forcing himself through rising water, he stepped slowly across the room and extended a hand to help Kallist off the floor.

"I'm sorry." The words were little more than a whisper, and Jace's mouth twisted as through they'd turned sour on his tongue. But still, he said it. "And I believe you." he added, as Kallist hauled himself to his feet on Jace's arm. "But I had to be sure."

"Fine. Whatever. So what happened here?" Jace shrugged and stepped away, as though even proximity to the man who'd betrayed his trust was painful. "Some men came through my door and window, and tried to kill me."

"And?"

"I didn't let them."

"Was one of them Semner?"

Jace's jaw clenched. "Semner's here?"

"These are his people." Kallist frowned. "If he's not here, there's another attack coming."

"The Consortium send him?"

"I'd imagine so, but I can't be sure. You know Semner's reputation. He'd hire himself out to a warthog if the money was right. We need to get out of here, find someplace a little more secure to figure out our next step."

"And Liliana?" Jace asked softly.

Kallist cried out, cursing himself for ten kinds of idiot. She's been only a few steps behind him when they left the alleyway. But so distracted had he been by his encounter with Jace, he'd not taken a moment to wonder why she hadn't followed him through the door.

Perfectly on cue, a sudden scream, terrified and clearly feminine, echoed through the stairway.

Months of anger and recrimination vanished. Kallist and Jace stood side by side, the one raising his sword in expert grip, the other focusing his will to deceive the sight or burn the mind of any who would bar his path. Neither could imagine what might draw such a reaction from Liliana, but whatever it was, Kallist intended to visit it thrice over on Semner's beaten corpse.

Kallist reached the open doorway first---and simple folded, falling back into the main room of the apartment, sword tumbling from his fingers. He hadn't seen what struck him, but whatever it was struck hard. His jaw ached, his head pounded, and he could barely see, let alone consider rising to his feet. He spotted a small streak of blood staining the carpet and realized it was his own.

Footsteps behind him, but he could not turn. He saw two pairs of worn and dirty boots, doubtless belonging to Semner's thugs, but he couldn't even raise his head. Across the room, he saw Jace retreat several step, ready to cast any of a score of devastating spells. From the hall beyond the doorway, he heard Liliana's voice cry out his name and then begin to intone another of her dark chants. He gave thanks that she still lived, but still he could not turn.

The pounding in his head grew heavier; the blood rushed in his ears, the lights of the room blinked and flickered. Everything was unfocused, spastic, moving in slow-motion fits and starts.

Semner's men stepped forward, naked blades extended, closing in on Jace.

The first man fell, screaming at the nightmares the mage's spell seared into his conscious mind.

The second was within reach before Jace lashed out. From his outstretched hand, a sky-blue eel wiggled and writhed its way through the air to wrap around the torso and neck of his attacker. Serrated fins sliced into flesh while the beast's jagged maw clamped hard upon the bandit's face, shredding skin and bone, blood and ocular fluids, into a slippery stew that flowed smoothly down its winding throat.

For just a moment, as his vision continued to fade in and out, Kallist dared to believe it might be over.

Jace's eyes grew wide at sight of some fresh danger in the hall beyond Kallist's fallen form. Kallist saw the mage's mouth moving; saw, as well, a new hesitation, even fear, in his face. Jace took a step back, retreating from whatever was approaching.

The shutters over the window behind him exploded inwards at the impact of Semner's boots. Dropping from the roof, the gorillalike mercenary wasn't slowed by the thin planks. He slammed hard into Jace's back, drawing a pained gasp even as the mage fell sprawling.

Kallist struggled to crawl forward, fingers digging into the carpet, but he couldn't make himself move. He heard feet on the floor beside him, recognized Liliana's ankles and her sharp intake of breath.

Jace rolled, coming back to his feet as Semner's dagger cleared its sheath. The first slash barely penetrated Jace's robe. Only the very tip of the blade connected, etching aline of blood across his chest; he gasped and went pale, but his stance never faltered.

Yet in the chaos, Jace allowed the pain of the wound to distract him. Catching Jace off-guard, Semner spun, hauling back his arm as preparing for another strike while a second dagger dropped into his left hand from his sleeve. It came up in a short, brutal thrust that his victim never saw coming. Flesh and bone parted, and beneath the merciless edge, a man's heart burst.

For what seemed an infinite instant, silence reigned. Then the room burst with a blinding flash, a blue so blazing it was nearly white. It hovered between the fallen Kallist and the dying Jace, and despite the intensity, it cast no shadow from either.

Kallist screamed; no mere cry of grief or rage, but a terrible, primal yell that drew stunned looks from Semner and Liliana both. Long after his voice should have given out or his lungs exhausted themselves of breath, he screamed.

He no longer saw the chamber at all. Images, feelings, notions, and dreams that were not his own flooded his mind until it came nigh to bursting, until he could see nothing of the world around him. Like an animal driven by pure instinct, he rose from the floor and fled through the gaping doorway, all prior weaknesses and wounds forgotten in a torrent of madness.

How he kept his balance on the unsteady stairs, how many corners he turned, how many passerby he shoved from his path to leave cursing in the streets behind him, he could never have recounted. He ran until the sounds of Favarial subsided, until the walls of another alleyway pinned him from taking one more step.

Still the memories swirled in his head, but finally, they began to order themselves, to settle into their proper places, and he could see, and feel, and think---and remember.

Jace Beleren, who had long ago stolen the mind of a man he once called friend, who had lived half a year as Kallist Rhoka, fell to his knees in the refuse of the alley and wept.

 

 

Jace was visibly shaking after the memory finished playing, gasping for breath as he returned to awareness with hands and knees on the floor. Kallist Rhoka...in an attempt to try to bring his spiritual brother through the Blind Eternities with him, tried to take his mind and instead swapped minds with him, one living as the other for half a year. Because of Jace, the man that could have passed as his older brother was dead...even though he was the one who felt the blade of the dagger pierce through the chest.

"Well, one could look at it like this," he heard the younger double say to him. "He did not have to feel the pain of death."

"He wouldn't have had to die if I never left the Consortium!"

"Tezzeret was trying to turn you into a monst---"

"I AM a monster!" Jace was already back to standing by the time he roared. "I wouldn't have done half of the horrible things I've done, wouldn't have the scars from that manablade on my back, wouldn't have---"

The next thing he knew, he was on his back once more, the vivid red print of a hand on his left cheek.

"You are not a monster." The younger him had his hand out as if he just slapped someone, slapped the older Jace, across the face. "Monsters," he continued before lowering his hand, "do not feel guilt about their actions to begin with. Paldor, however...he only reason he didn't get to watch Tezzeret fillet your back with the manablade because he wanted him out of the room when he did. Monsters enjoy fully the pain of their victims, and he did just that while torturing someone or watching another perform torture."

Pointing towards the statue of the man that had caused Jace to drop, the young one continued to speak. "Take another look at the statue."

Unsure of why, Jace did dare to look upon the statue of Kallist Rhoka, a man that looked so much like himself that the pair could, and did, often pass themselves as brothers. It was then that he noticed the expression on the stubbled face.

Pity. Not regret. Not sorrow. Pity.

"Kallist still travels with you, whether you know it or not. The least you can do is try to enjoy what life you do have left, even if it is for his sake." The pair looked back at each other at these words. "Your pain hurts him just as much as you, which is ironic, considering why you feel such hurt still."

Once again, while thinking, Jace looked down and away as he thought about the irony of such a statement, when one thought crossed his mind and looked back up towards all the statues, realizing why it was so horrifically long and included statues of beings he had never met, sapient or not, as well as included those whom he had never come to bring harm upon.

Was it possible that this was everyone within the Dominaria Multiverse?

"Before you start," he heard, prompting Jace to glance back towards the kid him. "The Multiverse was already starting to fall apart before you left. Remember when Neos kept claiming he felt strange distortions, ones that didn't seem to matter what plane you two were on?" Upon Jace's nodding, the child continued. "In an attempt to save what he has started calling the Omniverse, a soul by the name of Isamy inadvertently destroyed it instead, hoping to use the Door of Origin to bring all back with one alteration."

"What alteration?" A look of confusion painted Jace's face as his double shrugged.

"Dunno, we never got to find out. But it's time for you to get out of here. Ms. Firecracker out there's waiting on you."

Jace blinked at the nickname before remembering where he first heard it. "Did you just use Neos'---"

Before he could finish his question, Jace found himself teleported onto a wooden platform, overlooking the view of an orange sky filled with clouds.

And some of the blackish-blue of Jace's hair had started to recede, revealing an inch of his natural brown hair upon his unhooded head, the rings of silver still around his ankles and wrists.

Ending Location: C11

[Love of Ghibli]

Gyokuen Ren: Path of Remembrance

 

It was fun flying down memory lane and talking with two of her old friends. It was hilarious to see how this path was drastically different than the first one. Maybe this was a reward for her service. As the three managed to clear the forest Gyokuen rolled her eyes at the massive blizzard. Once again though it was different. The group of three simply used their magoi to make a barrier and was simply unaffected by the assault. At this time the group simply chatted more about non-sensical things. After some time they cleared the blizzard and made their way to the nostalgia lake. Gyokuen was very happy with this path. In fact, a small tear came from her eye and solomon wiped it away. The group chose to actually take one of the boats and ride the boat across the lake. 

While on the lake Gyokuen looked at the couple from her past and she could see their lovey-dovey feelings over flowing from them. She was oddly remembering more and more details about that past life than she wanted to. This is that path of Remembrance. Sheba spoke out of nowhere. It is pretty much a given that you have to come to terms with us correct? I have come to terms with you. Gyokuen said as she peered out into the distance. When Ill Ilah returns and brings the world back to a new I shall make a plea for your souls and I am sure He shall grant you peace. Sheba and Solomon both looked at each other as they heard her response. The boat ride was silent for a little while. There was a bit of tension on the boat ride, but the married magi thought they could at least do one thing for their friend.  Once you finish this path...you will have to go through the future one next, correct? Yes...I guess so. What if you don't have a future? Sheba said very solemnly making sure to avoid eye contact. I don't get it. Gyokuen said with a shrug. We're just worried about you Arba, you shouldn't even be here right now we hope that it doesn't get worse for you. I doubt it...I have a plan. Yes we know about your plans...Oh yeah, sorry about that.

After some discussion they reached the end and Gyokuen saw the staircase that led to the top. It was here that her friends stayed behind. So is this where we say goodbye. Yes. We really hope you find the peace you're looking for Arba, but we only have one final warming. You were and are probably the biggest monster from our world, but not the multiverse. Gyokuen tilted her head and smiled. Well thank you. But I have seen what I am up against and I am not impressed. I shall liberate everyone from the shackles of your thought Solomon. Father shall descend once again and make everything right with the world. The couple disappeared into Rukh and Gyokuen walked up the stairs. As she noticed this mysterious stone in the wall a voice started talking to her. 

 

Are you content with your past self?

 

Gyokuen simply shrugged. Of course. How could I not be after dealing with this refresher course. As her answer was accepted she found herself consumed by the swirling energy, but she didn't resist. After a quick blink she found herself annoyed and she started laughing as she was back in the white room and with only one door remaining. Well it looks like I have a future after all.

Ending Location: The White Room

[Merci]

~ Protheus Maximus ~

The Pathway to Truth (Inner Self)

 

The desert was exactly the same as it was before, other than that slight stirring, even after Protheus had checked his surroundings to see if any change had occurred. So then what? Must he keep on yelling until it returned him to the Pathway proper or at the very least, provide him something more concrete? Redundant though it may be, there were very little other options. He could attempt to combat the sand and raze it, but he highly doubted that that would accomplish anything. Nonetheless, he had all the time he could ever possibly need to consider how to go about doing this, being an immortal and all. Even being in a desert, he wouldn’t die of thirst, starvation, or exhaustion, nor could he die of old age.

 

“Since you seem inclined to stay silent, perhaps I should make it clear to you just how futile this strategy of yours is—” But before he could finish, various wooden spears shot out of nowhere and impaled him all over his body, aimed at his skull, neck, ribcage, upper-right abdomen, lower abdomen, and each of the twelve primary limb joints in such a way that they’d all been clearly intended to disable him right there. “—guh?”

 

An expression of bafflement passed by his face, and then he let out an annoyed sigh before going on to pull each weapon out one by one with his free hand, casually tossed each of them away, having neither taken any real damage nor felt any pain from the surprise assault.

 

Since they had simultaneously annihilated his brain, pituitary, heart, lungs, stomach, liver, and the focal points of his peripheral nervous system with great precision, it would be reasonable to assume that the intent had been to kill him right there and then. Alas, the holes left behind quickly regenerated over the next few seconds and his destroyed organs repaired themselves, following up by all the skin and flesh stitching back together, leaving not a single trace, which made the whole effort futile. In this regard, he was the same as the desert, unchanging.

 

“How impolite. You shoot fast, but surely you must know this mean little to me. Why, I met a curious little girl just a while ago who dealt more to me than this.”

 

As he talked mockingly, several more were fired out from the sky at high speed, but this time he was prepared as they all smashed against a projected dome-like barrier of darkness, shattering upon impact. Yet despite this, the spears didn’t stop there, as more spears materialized, hitting harder and harder and harder, but honestly, even if he did let them through, none of them possessed an attribute that could endanger his life in the slightest. An unlimited amount of those bladed points could stab him, penetrating through his very bones, shredding him into tiny little pieces, yet he would still regenerate back to normal afterwards without so much as a scratch. It wasn’t merely his body that regenerated, after all - whenever he used up his own energy or life force, even that would revert back to its original form, like entropy in reverse. So really, what was the point? Why go through all this work?

 

“MA'AT.” With a bored wave of his hand, the dome detonated on the spot, directing all its energy outwards in a swift three hundred-and-sixty degree strike that annihilated all the spears, leaving only dust. “I shouldn’t even bother going through the effort. You’re not the one I am supposed to face.” Moving his gaze up to the sky, Protheus voiced out his thoughts, “Is this merely some dull form of entertainment to prepare me beforehand, or am I mistaken in my assumption about the challenge that the Pathway to Truth is presenting me? Where is my true self? Tell me. I am getting sick of these games.”

 

However, the world did not answer, prompting him to kick the sand.

 

“Do not mess with me. I know you are listening.”

 

The world still did not answer.

 

“I am being patient here, mind you, but I daresay that even this realm is not capable of withstanding my wrath should you choose to invoke it. If you know anything about my truth, then you must also know the truth of my power.”

 

Even as his tone gained in maliciousness, the world had yet to answer. His fists clenched at this.

 

“The Herald of Darkness may have an infinite amount of time on his hands, but he has a FINITE AMOUNT of TOLERANCE and PATIENCE here. Are you to test those traits and accept a fate of destruction?!”

 

It had responded slightly when he’d bragged about his own immortality and having the Key of Origin in his possession, but why was it not answering this time? Was there something he had left to do? Or was it insistent on trapping him here for the rest of eternity, despite how futile an act like that would be? Even though it was so simple and basic, frustratingly so, this location was proving to be quite a tiresome obstacle for him.

 

“Damn it all, I DEMAND TO MEET MY TRUE SELF! SHOW ME ALREADY—”

 

 

 

 

your

 

trUE sElf?

Finally, as though succumbing to his constant demands, the bloodstained sky began to grow greyer and greyer in a manner not unlike drying up, so as to provide him the opportunity that which he had longed for. The boiling heat of the desert was instantly replaced with an icy coldness, and the sand hardened until each particle was as dense as iron, turning black. Everything was transitioning into darkness, the flaming colours and light of this environment draining away. He crossed his arms to await what happened next, glad that something was actually happening and with little doubt that this was only the beginning, but perhaps he shouldn’t have taken it so lightly.

 

you

 

want to MEeT

 

youR TRUE SELF?

“Yes, that would be very nice, thank you.” Protheus replied bluntly.

 

Then in the distance, just over the horizon, something was starting to make itself visible as if to answer his question. The black sand gathering together due to strong winds, building up more and more and more and more until they became vast clouds of black.

 

At first, Protheus was content with simply watching in confidence, but as the size only increased even further with each passing second, and with it the distance between them, it began to dawn upon him that in this ever-stretching desert, there was theoretically no limit as to how large it could become. Within minutes, once-complacent dunes had gathered together to form an unimaginably massive sandstorm raging through the faded sky to consume everything in its path, to the point that even the particles composing this force were breaking apart into energy to further fuel the force. Even the very intense, piercing sounds it was generating were nothing but an extension of this destruction. Truly, to put it a ‘sandstorm’ was putting it far too lightly, since nothing he had ever known throughout his life could compare to this, and it was still gaining in size.

 

It wasn’t a charging wind phenomenon, but more along the lines of an impenetrable wall of darkness that had erected itself until it hit the boundaries of spacetime, and was now collapsing down on the existence of the so-called eternal desert. Rather than unlimited sand building up, it was actually the bending of infinite space itself, solidifying. With his power and everything else he could conjure up, he could raze an island, or even a whole world if he put some effort into it, but it meant nothing compared to destruction on a scale that was cosmic in nature, or perhaps even greater. He himself had experience with solar flares, black holes, and reality-meshing, but even those things had limits amidst the multiverse that imposed limits on everything to prevent its own self-destruction, and at least he had a means of escaping or surviving those documented phenomena.

 

However, as for this, it was simply madness. Nothing could possibly come out of this unscathed. Or rather, to expect that there would be a ‘something’ after being caught in this was to pin one’s hope on an illusion, for this event was surely intended to signify that the long wait was over and that eternity itself was now coming to an end.

 

Is this…a dream? The disaster before him was so alien and bizarre, so beyond what he had come to expect from the multiverse, that a thought like that was the first thing to pop into his mind. As arrogant as Protheus was, even he knew what danger was when it was right in front of him, and he understood right then that he had to escape as quickly as possible. Even the three greatest attacks in his arsenal could not match up to something like this.

 

Although, the problem was that the storm of destruction was raging fiercely towards him from all directions at such speed that calculating it would only be a waste of time, and even the ground below him was acting up, forming groups. The only option remaining was upwards, so he shot himself high into the sky, propelling himself by firing out as much mana as he could from the tip of his boots.

 

Against an limitlessly-growing storm with no conceivable limit, there was no room for conservation; therefore, he would have to keep on accelerating himself until he reached the maximum physical speed of his own body. Normally, this would be the best time for conventional spacetime transportation or hyperdimensional travel, but it seemed that the Pathway’s limitations extended even here, to whatever the hell this place was. The dark sorcerer rose higher and higher, the ground having already been entirely enveloped in dashing black particles that thrashed against each other over and over as they met. The crashing walls merged together below him into an unstable sea, and without anywhere else to go, the manifestation of destruction could only build up further and further, forming a spiral-like cone that was followed his trajectory, whilst space itself was distorting above, curving inward to stop him.

 

It became clear to him then—he was the focal point. The infinite amount of black particles was gathering to crash into and eliminate him. Yes, that assumption was correct. Him. Not anyone or anything else, but him, of all the pointless, irrelevant people it could bother pursuing instead.

 

“…I see.”

 

As the thought occurred to him, the fearful façade he’d been putting up decidedly vanished, and in its place was a feeling of nothingness. Without other people around, it was pointless to show expression when it would provide him nothing. Raging to an incorporeal entity was one thing, but to rage against an uncontrollable force that he saw no way to oppose was pointless altogether. Shooting ever higher into the sky even as the condensed storm became closer, its conical shape opened up into a carnivorous flower-like shape whilst closing in on him, the intent of consuming him within made very, very much apparent. Even if his life lasted forever, the body that he had brought with him possessed limitations that an infinitely-growing force did not possess, so he was only delaying the inevitable this way. Sooner or later, it would catch up to him and destroy him.

 

I see. Due to the possibility that I may escape on my own, you thought it best to collapse this realm to kill me before that could happen. Is meeting my true self such a big deal that…you had to use an impossible obstacle to prevent such a thing?

 

No, that’s not it. Perhaps—

 

 

how much more stUPiD can you get

 

‘ProtheuS MaximuS’?

Before he knew it, the storm had fully caught up with him, having closed in on his position and blocked out the open sky beyond. He didn’t even have a chance to consider what else he could possibly do, for with nowhere left to run, the particles of unstable black sand ate at his being, starting with his feet and raging further up without pause, ripping him apart without care. The darkness tore at him and consumed him, enveloping every part of his being, and it took precisely zero point four seconds for him to be shredded, with a further zero point six seconds to render him completely nonexistent.

 

 

And that was tha

 

t

 

t

 

t

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

But of course, there was no way it could’ve ended that unfairly.

 

As if having woken up from a dream, the storm had completely disappeared, and in its place he found himself standing on one side of a fairly small, wooden canoe, drifting harmlessly down through the nostalgic bluish-green water which may very well be the River Nile itself. Grasslands covered by tons and tons of reeds were present by the shores on both sides, obscuring what lay behind, yet he understood all too well that there would only be sand awaiting on the other side. Above it all shined a fearless sun, showering the world with bright golden light, making the sky seem calm and pleasant. It would’ve been a rather normal sight had it not been for the odd crystalline boxes floating up the air around him, glowing with a sapphire hue and following the current of the rivers, seemingly lacking a real direction of their own.

 

“Hello, Protheus Maximus. It’s nice to finally meet you.” A dry, feminine voice addressed him.

 

Standing on the opposite side of him was an unfamiliar girl with dark skin, dressed in some sort of tunic with a hood over her head. Quietly, and dully, her grey eyes met with his. Though she had a certain aura around her, this person was not in the slightest bit familiar to him.

 

“Of course, I suspected something like this would happen. There’s no way the Pathway would have an obstacle that’s unwinnable by design.” Smiling in satisfaction at his proven theory, Protheus nodded his head. “So, I take it that my true self sent you to talk to me?”

 

The girl frowned at his question, but whatever the reason, she decided to dismiss it since chances were that it was an unimportant matter. “You uh, do know why you’re here, right?”

 

“I believe so, yes. Considering that this is the Pathway to Truth, and how this area was over halfway in, I take it that here is where the truth within myself is to be revealed. It would only be a natural conclusion, and even after the bizarre events that have just transpired, I assume that I am still correct in believing thus.” Taking a glance at the extremely vaguely nostalgic scenery around him, he wondered what awaited him, even though he was fully expecting that it was something he was already aware of. It couldn’t possibly be called a ‘truth’ if it wasn’t already a part from him. “Well then, let’s get this over with as quickly as possible.”

 

“You sure are taking this casually.” She remarked, tilting her head slightly due to the man’s strange attitude.

 

“Why of course. Since I’m being perfectly honest with myself, I figure that I can’t possibly surprise myself. Or, if there’s some deep truth ingrained within me, it might aid me further in my quest. Whatever I have to deal with, I understand that I’ll have to deal with it directly if I hope to ever reach the Door of Origin. So being honest should be the best way to go.” Protheus said in a bored tone.

 

“I see… Good. That makes my purpose here much easier. Whew.”

 

Upon hearing those words, the girl let out a relieved sigh and dropped onto the floor with closed eyes, sitting back with her arms behind her head in such a way that it made the canoe rock slightly. It was like she planned on falling sleep right there in that position. Truth be told, she looked absolutely ridiculous, but then again, all beings human or otherwise tended to do silly things like that. It was the way of mortals to ignore the views of those around them so that they could focus on their own pitifully short lives.

 

As the boat drifted down an endless river, faintly-glowing wisps of light were starting to become visible, like teardrops floating out from the water and into the ever-present sky high above. They all seemed beautiful in their own way somehow, with subtle differences between each and every one that made them stand out from the other, yet whilst the girl seemed to be relaxing in this moment, the man did not feel even the slightest need for such a thing. Alas, to live forever meant that even the most glorious spectacle would become no different from sand over time.

 

After a moment of silence, she glanced up at the dark sorcerer standing before her and proceeded to ask, “So, Protheus Maximus, what do you make of death?”

 

“Straight to the point, hm?” He chuckled slightly, eager to answer. “I believe that death is the end. Sooner or later, everyone and everything has to experience this phenomenon, whether it’s instantaneous like a decapitated human or takes place over a long time like a pagan god being forgotten. Even something like a black hole will soon run out of energy and cease, and even the universe itself has Heat Death to look forward to, assuming other phenomena don’t occur first. It’s never a matter of ‘if’, but rather, ‘when’, so it’s ridiculous to expect anyone to fight that.”

 

“But…” Her voice faltered, and the relief she’d been feeling mere moments ago faded away. “Uh, aren’t you exactly the same?”

 

Of course, it wasn’t as though such a question hadn’t occurred to him before bothering to challenge the Pathway to Truth, so he was prepared for how he would handle his own truth. Once he was done with this, he planned on moving to the Pathway to Death next, which might be slightly harder due to its greater vagueness but couldn’t possibly be anything he couldn’t handle. Now that the bizarre case of the collapsing desert had been conquered, there wasn’t really much of a point in worrying too much about Truth anymore. With great confidence, he let his thoughts flow outwards.

 

“Do not be so typical. I’m not anything like them. For anyone else, it’s ridiculous to fight death because there’s nothing on the physical plane that can guarantee their eternity, but I’m a different case because I’m actually close to something that really can guarantee my immortality. This form I have had been designed to be immortal, to last an eternity, but it’s physical and has plenty of flaws that the One Master was apparently too stupid to think about—so to an extent, I am still mortal. I can still be ended. As long as I’m tied to the physical plane, something else also tied to it can threaten this existence of mine. Thus, sooner or later, amidst the eternity I ought to experience, something’s going to happen sooner or later that’ll kill me. I may have had disillusions about that in my past, but now, it’s merely a bother to deny such an obvious thing.”

 

Protheus gestured towards his own body in distaste before, as if remembering something, clicked his fingers and words made out of dark energy materialized in front of the girl. A series of lines in an unknown, ancient dialect, foretelling about the end of Judgment. “This just so happens to be proof of that, courtesy of our lovely seer Chardonnay. Perhaps the prophecy is false, but I won’t bother, since I’ve seen enough to know that bad things happen to those who deny what’s written right in front of them.” Clicking his fingers once more, the words vanished.

 

“My moment is definitely coming. So, after having utilized much of the knowledge I’ve accumulated over the past several millennia, here I am. Once I access the Origin, I will ascertain my own existence and my mark on the entirety of the multiverse as an Omni. The form that I have carried with me up to this moment will become irrelevant, being replaced by something perfect, something immaterial that shall solidify my consciousness and allow me to exist as one alongside reality itself. Truly, I’ll have changed my fate…”

 

As if to go back on his words, he shook his head with a wide grin, looking excited.

 

“No. You could say that, from the very beginning, this was my intended destiny all along...!”

 

The world around them remained still and quiet, just as it ought to be, full of life, but as empty as the prior desert all the same. Even if there were trees and wildlife, within the eyes of eternity, they were exactly the same as the burning sand they attempted to defy with all their might.

 

Life itself was merely a complicated illusion brought about by a reaction of countless lifeless components, breaking apart if one of those components were to be removed like a machine, and yet even so, it possessed the capacity to strive for the real thing. Hence, after having been given the means to do so, that was exactly what Protheus intended on accomplishing. Not a false, mortal life placed under an illusion of immortality, but the true preservation of consciousness for all eternity. The ability to forever cherish that which he had been granted during her highly unlikely birth.

 

For a long, passing silence, she just blankly stared at the prophecy placed before her, taking in all of his words without so much as a sign of what was going on in her head, although the crystal cubes above seemed to be changing hue to a more topaz-like colour as if resonating with her emotions.

 

Then, carrying a certain heavy look in her eyes, she raised her head so that her gaze connected with his, took a deep breath, and said,

 

“This act you’re putting up… it isn’t just pathetic, but embarrassing to listen to. Could we stop it with the bullshit, please? And start talking honestly?

 

After all, I’m sure we both know that everything you’ve just said is a complete lie.”

 

 

---

 

 

Whilst Protheus Maximus had been correct in his assumption about how the Pathway to Truth functioned, in that honesty was the key to reaching the end, there were some things he could never have realized on his own, after having lived for so long on a divergent road that the way he perceived life was far too thick and warped for anyone or anything else to ever try challenging.

 

Namely, that his perception of himself was not what it was.

 

Namely, that he had been severely overestimating his own sense of self.

 

Namely, that the beliefs he currently held with stride had plenty of holes that his ‘self’ had conveniently denied the existence of for millennia, to the point that it became true for him.

 

And namely, that when a circumstance such as this would come to be, this pathway would place weight on the true truth buried within an individual rather than any false truth they held at the surface.

 

For example, even if one were to become a mask that they’d worn for a very long time, a face must have once existed behind it at some point. Even if it transformed into something else, it was once that thing, and so long as that was the case, it was connected to the Origin and thus could be drawn upon. The Pathway to Remembrance could reveal the face that no longer was, the Pathway to Death could show the face that may be, and the Pathway to Truth could make one aware that, indeed, there was once a face behind that mask.

 

According to an ancient psychologist who went by the name of Sigmund Freud, the structure of a being’s psyche is made up of three separate components. The id, the ego, and the superego. Of the three, the id represents impulsive actions that try to attain satisfaction without any regard for the outer world, the ego represents the reason that that balance out the unrealistic needs of the id with the reality, and the superego represents the values and morality of society taught by others. In particular, the super-ego is composed of two systems, the ‘conscience’ and the ‘ideal self’, the former functioning to punish the ego through guilt, and the latter representing the imaginary picture of how an individual ought to be. All actions that fall below the ideal self are punished, and all actions that meet it are rewarded through pride.

 

Thus, if a being were to live for so long that they ended up consumed by their own twisted superego, what would be left of the ego?

 

It may be different for others, wherein relevance would take precedence in what would really be classified as the truth, but for him whom had absorbed himself too much in his own self-imposed web of lies, a ray of light such as this was more needed than anything else.

 

 

Crack

---

 

...

 

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

 

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

 

“…………………………………….I'm sorry, what?”

 

Taken completely off-guard by that statement, unexpected as it was, several thoughts were crossing past the sorcerer, who found himself at an utter loss for words. First and foremost, he had expressed his utmost desire without any doubt in his heart, yet it had simply been waved off as a lie. Then there was that whole claim about an ‘act’. It was true that Protheus spent most of his time mimicking emotions for his own delight, but that too was part of who he was, and not a lie. Yet, quite clearly, she had told him exactly that. That everything he was and stood for, was nothing more than a pathetic lie.

 

However, those words weren’t some revelation, but sheer ridiculousness. Was that supposed to make him feel depressed? Or regretful? Or make him realize that he was in denial at the very least about this? Whatever the intent, all he was feeling right now was an incredible anger festering deep within his soul, directed at the sole other individual in his presence. This was…this was meant to be the Pathway to Truth, correct? Therefore, being honest with oneself was the best, most effective way to go, and yet this girl was… This girl was… What the hell was she talking about, denying his foremost, most concrete conviction just like that…!

 

“My sincere apologies, but I’m having a bit of trouble processing your words. If I must be frank, it’s so ridiculous that even I am at a loss for words… Where should I begin? Where should I even begin here? Very well then, listen. Listen to me. I understand that you are attempting to be meaningful and all, but TRULY, do you know what I’m thinking about right now?...Oh, don't bother answering, since you clearly have no idea what’s going on in my head, so I’ll tell you—just what the hell are you talking about, girl?”

 

Of course, perhaps this was just another trick. The girl in front of her had been sent by his true self, so there was a chance that this was simply a game being played before the actual thing. Now that the thought had occurred to him, it seemed extremely plausible. So, what, he would just have to go through this second obstacle, and then he would finally have someone to have a proper, honest conversation with? These circumstances were getting more and more annoying. And to think he wasted his breath and time on talking about what he believed in! Naturally, it would mean nothing to a mere construct created solely to say things that would anger him!

 

“Sorry. I guess this won’t be nearly as simple as I was hoping it’d be.” The girl sighed with what sounded like disappointment at his attitude, picking herself back up from the canoe tiredly. Her movements now seemed a little sloppy and tired, as if she no longer had any motivation left to do her job. “This is gonna be such a bother. Do I really have to do this…?”

 

“YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO IF YOU JUST SHOWED THE WAY TO MY TRUE SELF, LITTLE GIRL!” Protheus yelled, snapping at her.

 

At this distance, there were countless ways that he might be able to end her, from reaching out and snapping her neck, to cutting her down with Impure Future, to igniting the canoe, to drowning her in the water, to smashing her body into the nearby shore, to exploding the whole area, alongside many others, either instantaneous or slow and torturous. There were so many ways that he could kill her that it would be almost boring if he did it directly.

 

“Your true self? Still going on about that? Nyeeeh, where should I start…”

 

Regarding him with a look, she picked up a paddle from the side and rowed it the water, stirring the canoe over to the left once it reached a fork in the river. Noticeably, none of the floating cubes were flowing in this direction, the forest of reeds were thinning, and there seemed to be storm clouds beginning to brew over the horizon this way, blocking out the sun to make the sky appear grey. The water itself was rougher too, causing the canoe to rumble.

 

“Well then, Protheus Maximus, humour me. Where do you think your true self is?”

 

“Somewhere else, residing within a deeper layer of this world, which is presumably some sort of gateway to my subconscious. Once I get past you, the second obstacle, I shall be free to meet him. After that, what should ensue would be either a calm discussion or a battle at the center of the mind, and I’ll be free to go on my merry way afterwards.” The sorcerer answered as though it should be obvious.

 

“Eh? ’Him’?” At that, she looked a little surprised. What was that all about? Naturally, his true self would be male, there was no need for her to get so worked up about that. It would make no logical sense whatsoever for it to be anything other than that. “Then, how about this. If I told you that this is already the deepest layer of your subconscious, would you believe me?”

 

“Not in the slightest. This land is too dull for it to be a true representation of my soul.” He replied bluntly, just as the canoe abruptly hit a rock, causing it to spin around as it continued down the heavy currents.

 

“And if I told you that I was your true self?”

 

…How ridiculous.

 

“Haha…” When she suggested that, Protheus started chuckling as though he’d just heard something amusing, his voice escalating to the point that he burst out into laughter at the very concept of it. “Hahahaha… AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHH! Ahaaha, ahahahah ahahahah ahah! Oh my, truly, I’ve got to say, that may be one of the funniest things I’ve heard in the past millennia, excuse me for a moment—AHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAH! AHAHAHAHA, AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAH! WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, oh, ahahahahahahahah! Just how do you even… AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHH, AHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHHAHAHAHAHAhahaha hahahha…!”

 

He continued on laughing maniacally like that for a little while, before his attitude underwent a cold change as he shot her a murderous expression. “Ridiculous. I don’t even need to think about it. You and I are simply far too different, I’m sure even you can tell for yourself…”

 

“I see. So that’s what you really believe in, Protheus Maximus?” She asked with her eyes closed, unfazed by his overly-exaggerated laughter of mockery. Meanwhile, while they had been speaking, a crashing roar like the sound of water crashing against itself had begun to emanate in the air around them, increasing in intensity over time. The boat too was moving faster and faster whilst being carried off by the accelerating currents, streaming towards the edge. “Fine, fine. Be that way. Then let’s put that belief to the test…”

 

The girl gestured behind her, making it apparent that the river was directing the canoe into a much wider body of water—ah, it only seemed that way at first, but it all turned out to actually be leading towards a gigantic waterfall. She crouched down to the bottom of the canoe to prepare for the inevitable, and as for Protheus, all he did was maintain his smug smile, crossing his arms while standing as they approached the fall. After having faced the destruction of a desert, and every other cataclysmic event that he’d involved himself with in the past, something as simple as this was nothing to be afraid of. Not noteworthy at all. Why, with pleasure.

 

Within moments, the wooden canoe reached the edge and suddenly toppled over, shooting downwards at ridiculous speed like a rollercoaster. The intense streaming water and the powerful winds threatened to destroy the wood into little pieces, bombarding it with incredible amounts of pressure. Also notable was how the dark sorcerer remained standing in a vertical position with nothing but a smirk, his feet casually planted onto the boat’s surface as though it were normal to defy gravity like this, whereas his accomplice was desperately clutching onto the side to prevent herself from tumbling off. With this view, he could determine that it was around fifty to sixty meters high, which was fairly low compared to what he was used to.

 

Their surroundings passed by in a blur as the whiteness far below rapidly became closer and closer. Afterwards, they violently crashed onto the bottom, their vision being engulfed by steam. He’d been expecting the canoe to shatter on the spot, but by some miracle it held, though one thing that annoyed him was how it awkwardly toppled over at the base, being pushed underwater by the falls, momentarily immersing him and the girl with it.

 

Then when it resurfaced, what awaited him certainly wasn’t what he expected. Instead of the vast lake he’d seen below, he was instead within a dark, secret cave, with water flowing in from the roaring waterfall at the entrance. It wasn’t hard to figure out that there’d been a cave behind the base. Near him, the girl was coughing up water, soaked and badly covered in scrapes, bleeding mainly around her arms. It was a rather pitiful sight, but she paid no heed to it as she got back up and picked up a paddle.

 

“Is that it?” Protheus asked mockingly.

 

“Ya think?” The girl retorted, before beginning to row the canoe further down through the narrow cave.

 

Once more, time passed, the seconds changing into minutes, the wooden boat making its way further into the darkness. It appeared that nothing was happening or about to happen anytime soon, but even though he was getting bored, Protheus was willing to be patient for just a little while longer to see if this event was supposed to lead anywhere, or if it would just lead to another troublesome transition like the desert from earlier. Eventually, something did happen. The downwards flow softened, straightening itself to the point that it was somewhat like a river in a cavern now, though still strong enough to carry the canoe with it. Also, sources of light appeared to be emitted along the walls, brightening up the whole underground area.

 

While they were on their way, the girl in rags seemed displeased with something she’d just noticed, before letting out an odd remark. “You were finally free from the One Master, so how did you turn out this twisted? Just what happened…?”

 

“Immortality does strange things to people.” Protheus responded nonchalantly, looking ahead.

 

Then, as if to acknowledge his statement, the lights condensed to form what were screens depicting strange, blurry events—at least, that was how it seemed until they focused even more, revealing that they were scenes he himself were aware about. Or rather, scenes that revolved around him, depicting his very own memories on the rocky walls of both sides, lined up all the way towards the end of this underground river.

 

Glancing at one of them curiously, he couldn’t help but frown. “Girl, should this not for Remembrance?”

 

“In order for me to show you the truth, it’s necessary that I show you yourself first.” The girl explained, sitting back casually. “You wouldn’t have learned anything from the desert but chaos and destruction. If I left you there, you would’ve never advanced. In a way, all three of the Pathways share traits with one another and share information with each other, so… I’m gonna show you the memories that have defined you most throughout your lifetime.”

 

“Hmph. I don’t see the point of doing this here, but if you insist, then very well. A trip down memory lane can't possibly be that bad.” Protheus made sure to express his disgust towards her, at his time being wasted more and more and more, and the while he was wondering just when it would really progress, when he could meet his true self at long last. However, not to say that he was finding this wholly boring, because being able to actually see his memories displayed in a such a clear way would perhaps enable him to reflect some more and strengthen his resolve to live forever.

 

Since the displays were beginning with his manipulation of events immediately prior to the Origin War, his argument with her, and Chardonnay’s revelation regarding his fate, it seemed that they were being presented in reverse chronological order, and thus the further into the cavern they went, the further into his past they’ll be. From there, it moved onto how he went on a mission against the Orichalcos, ended up restoring and adopting Pandora, learned about the existence of someone called Isamy… Was this just the beginning? If things were going at this pace, then this was no doubt going to be extremely tiresome.

 

Narrowing his eyes at the thought, he sat down on the canoe as well in a cross-legged position and decided that, instead of wasting his time with there, it would be more effective to meditate on his own. Occasionally, he would peak at the walls to see how far they were, judging by which part they were currently at.

 

The part where he tried to kill Itsu once and for all, only to stop himself. Then the part where he revisited his laboratory only to find out that someone (AKA his clone) had remodeled it into Yliaster City with the help from Ophelia (the real thing, not the backup he'd made for the Origin War). Then the part where the Ringworld got involved, Itsu’s nanites got poisoned, and he ultimately made the choice to spare her life, before fusing together with her to create a god to beat up their homicidal daughter, who’d become a galactic threat. Then the part where he got possessed after trying to find the map to the Key of Origin. Then the part where he went to war with Itsu and somehow ended up being placed inside an illusion by their homicidal daughter, who turned out to have been the Paradox from the Paradox Wars. Then the part where some child orphan tried talking to him while he was reflecting about all of existence on the streets, trying ignorantly to cheer him up with half a loaf of broad…on a whim, he chose to adopt her. Then the part where he absorbed his past self and crystallized his soul, stabilizing himself after the events of the Paradox Wars, at which point Z-ONE appeared to him for the first time.

 

Then the part where his soul got split into a ton of pieces and spread throughout the multiverse to teach him a lesson (it didn’t). Then the part where the Paradox Wars happened, the One Master died somehow, and he nearly died somehow due to Itsu, starting his lifelong feud with her. Then the part where he destroyed Mars as a show of power and went to war with Yliaster and all that. Then the part where he had to pose as a Dark Signer for quite a while, and some idiot called Saizen somehow overpowered and destroyed his body out of nowhere, which gave him an excuse to finally request access to the “Dark Ones”. Then the part where he and that Rey Rasvateil guy were having their final battle, Red-Eyes versus Red-Eyes, and ended up killing one another. Then the part where he tried to take over Gadget Academy to gain access to the three Primary Gadget Gods but failed. Then the part where he tried to invade DATEA, severely underestimating their forces, and got his ass handed to him. Then the part where he spent centuries trying to capture all the Chaos Beasts, wishing to weaponize them. Then the part where his son died in a plane crash that oh so conveniently happened to be a timelocked event, and he desperately tried to revive him afterwards by making him into a homunculus. How he met this woman called Athena Clearstream who’d tamed a spacetime hydra and fought with him for a while before they got married, their marriage being blessed by the One Master for some unfathomable reason.

 

Then the… actually, after that, he couldn’t recall much of what happened before, if anything. The rest of the images from there onwards were barely familiar to him at all. How he set the foundation for castles, organizations and all that everywhere, along with beginning the groundwork for his laboratory. How he learned the ups and downs of his powers, sometimes at his own expense, and sometimes at the expense of everyone else.

 

The first two centuries in particular appeared to be littered with embarrassing failures, and for some reason, every now and then he would be screaming and crying and trying to kill himself in a whole load of different entertaining ways, some of which were actually pretty impressive. Overall, it was pretty hilarious, if exceedingly cringe-inducing. Noticeably enough, he seemed to be trying to save people a lot too, actively defying his own Master’s orders. Trying to end war and suffering throughout all of time and space, bringing peace to the various worlds that he encountered, wanting to be a hero. Truly, watching his past self act like that felt painfully humiliating now that he had already grown up and matured, accepting reality for what it was. Was he really that emo back then? Urgh.

 

…gradually, as the scenes became more and more ancient, more unfamiliar to him, and far more spread out, he figured that it ought to be over by now.

 

However, the canoe went on, even further down the underground river.

 

“Urgh… Uh, hello? Little girl, I’m not sure if you noticed, but it’s over.” Protheus pointed out, raising his eyebrow. “I admit, perhaps this was more of an enjoyable experience than I expected. Sentimentality, I suppose. However, I honestly don’t see how this pertains to me ‘discovering the truth’.”

 

“We’re not… done yet!” She replied tensely, with a surprising amount of determination in her voice. Her teeth were grinding together, and her hands were clenched tightly around the paddles, as though she were fighting against an invisible force up ahead. “We’re… moving… on!”

 

“Why? Do you wish how I was born? If that’s what you wish, but honestly, I don’t see how that’s relevant. I’m beginning to consider if you’ve merely been wasting my time, and whether I should simply kill you and go back on my own.”

 

Apparently ignoring him altogether, the girl rowed the boat on her own harder and harder further through the tunnel, even though there was no visible influence to make her seem that way. Was it psychic? Whatever the case, it was certainly an amusing sight, to see her trying her hardest merely to reach a few minor, irrelevant scenes pertaining to his orig—

mAxiMa

A flash of an image by the wall. It only lasted a few seconds, but Protheus clearly caught the word. Maxima? What was that supposed to be? He thought to himself, but nothing came to mind, only that he was certain that it was some sort of planet. Perhaps even one he’d been to before, who knew.

tHE FIVE tRiALs

Another periodic flash, this time pertaining to something very vague. The five trials… What? That was a term that was just too vague for him to assign any rudimentary meaning to it. If it held any special meaning for his past, he could no longer recall what it might’ve been about.

LIVE

“Live.” The girl repeated to herself gently.

 

 

 

LIVE LIVE LIVE...!

“Little girl. We’ve almost reached the end, and if we do, I may very well kill you for utterly wasting my time here with a random, meaningless trip down memory lane. I’m telling you this merely so you know, of course, because you’ve clearly demonstrated to me how much you’re an idiot in the past hour... Actually, you know what? It might be better if I take my leave now.” Protheus uttered boredly.

 

 

 

DEATH

Rolling his eyes at the whole ridiculousness of the situation, he got up from the canoe, only for yet another bright light to flash, right on the dead end where the water was prevented from flowing any further. However, whatever it was going to be about, he didn’t need to see it. One way or another, he would find his own way out. After all, he should be capable of doing something like that if he put enough energy into it. No matter how unique or special the Pathway to Origin was, its properties were still physical, so they could theoretically be affected by another force exerting itself with enough intensity. That was the theory behind it, anyway.

FREEDOM

“I can’t—move?”

 

 

 

VENGEANCE

“This is ridiculous.”

 

 

 

LIFE

“Oi, girl, why the hell can’t I move?!”

 

 

 

YOUR

“You have to see this.” She responded quietly. “It’s apparently the only memory you have of this time that’s still intact, but that’s good enough. It’ll serve its purpose.”

 

 

APR-----ATE

“This time? WHAT time exactly?! It should be quite obvious that there is NOTHING TO SEE!”

 

At this point, he found that he was being strangely irrational, fighting against the paralysis that had completely overtaken his body, forcing him to stay still and watched as the lights before him condensed to form an oh so clear image, even if it was black-and-white and with occasional static. He didn’t care what it was, what its irrelevant contents were about, he simply wished to get away. Or rather, it wasn’t that he wished to get away, but that he had to get away, bringing the Key of Origin along with him.

 

“You’re being unusually insistent about it for some reason. Is there something up ahead that you don’t wish to see, by any chance?” The girl asked, tilting her head whilst staring forward at the light.

 

It wasn’t a desire as concrete as that. He simply had the unconscious feeling that, no matter what, he couldn’t afford to stay here. If he did, then something irreparable to his lifespan would occur. Something would be set in stone. All of his instincts were fighting, telling him to get away as quickly as possible, but for once, his tendency to be an expert at escaping was not working. He was incapable of moving, both physically and magically, unable to even charge up two joules of mana. It was as if space itself in his body had been frozen in place. He wasn’t scared of what was to come. He couldn’t possibly be scared, he was just heavily annoyed at this inconvenience.

 

He couldn’t even close his eyelids, but out of sheer force of will, he somehow managed to force his mouth to move at the very last moment, and,

 

“SHUT UP AND RELEASE ME, GIRL! I WILL FIND MY OWN PATH, OPEN THE DOOR OF ORIGIN, AND ATTAIN TRUE ETERNITY! WHATEVER THIS IS ABOUT, I DO NOT—“

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Very well. Come, fair youkai. I'm sure you won't mind a short walk through these pleasant woods as we talk?"
 

"I'd be delighted to."

 

Well, Yukari admitted that so far this went better than what she had expected. Despite the initial (justified) hostility, the king of knights did end up willing to answer her question. With the Pathway of Truth removes any possibilities for anyone to lie, Yukari was sure enough that she would get the answer she seek from her. Responding the king’s request with a small smile, Yukari then followed her as the two then went on a leisure walk under the cherry blossom trees while Arturia started to talk. At the time, it felt just as if her earlier suspicion about the king was false.

 

"Since you came here to ask me such a thing, you must know what I am. I'm what is known as a 'Counter Guardian'. The multiverse contains infinite possibilities, and while it is a wonderful thing, this also means that threats involving the destruction of countless universes, or possibly even them all, will rise up from time to time. We exist to be summoned into the area and act as weapons to eliminate those threats, no matter what form they may take. Our sole duty is to erase threats to the fabric of reality, minimizing the casualties in the process."

 

 

"Ah, I see what you mean."

 

Hmm...why didn't she answer my question directly?

 

Yukari had heard about the concept of ‘Counter Guardian’ before, but it felt like it had been ages since she last heard about it. Though, while Arturia was seemingly intent on answering her, the fact that she didn’t really go straight to the point worried her. She could’ve been trying to avoid answering her question instead of lying, which would be impossible here. Nevertheless, for now, Yukari just followed the king while listening closely to what she said. No point of immediately pushing for answer before she finished, after all. Meanwhile, the annoying fairies seemed to return back to return back around her, and while Yukari almost gapped them away again, she stopped herself from doing so just because it seemed that they were content with just listening to the two's conversation for now.

 

"Even now, under these fairly unusual circumstances, the same holds true. My ultimate goal is to prevent Protheus Maximus from being able to open the Door of Origin, and obtain the Key myself. It is my job, nay, my sword duty to value the lives of the majority over that of the minority, and thus, no matter what sort of decisions I make in the future, saving the multiverse serves as my utmost highest priority, and it ought to be the same for the rest of the Corps."

 

"…I see."

 

When the king mentioned about obtaining the key for herself, Yukari stopped on her tracks for a bit. The later part of what she said only made the point clearer and clearer that Yukari’s suspicion on Arturia was right, or at least partly right. Before the king realized that she stopped for a bit though, she decided to act just like she was trying to keep the still sleeping Koishi in a comfortable position on her back, before continuing to walk alongside Arturia. But, the king herself stopped the time just as Yukari started to approach her again.

 

 "I lost touch with Britain long, long ago, and thus I am not fit to be truly called a king. Likewise, for the rest of you... I suspect that there is not a single person on this Pathway who still has a home. Did Protheus Maximus inform you before? Due to the intensity of the distortions that are muddled up throughout the fabric of space and time, a countless amount of universes have ended up being destabilized. And yet even so, I had to take the risk of interfering with them to obtain warriors for the Counter Corps. Alas, the consequence of their removal meant shattering the delicate balance of those unstable realms... in the process damning them and their entire population into oblivion moments afterwards. The same must also hold true for that insane dark sorcerer, since there is only so much that he is capable of."

 

“Yes, both of us had been quite aware about this fact for a while. It was one of the first things that we've learned about this conflict.”

 

So…what you did was obliterating several universes and worlds to recruit people who didn’t know better regarding this, and it seemed that you won’t even restore their homes when this is all over. I see.

 

Greater good. For the sake of the majority, minority could be sacrificed. It would honestly be completely hypocritical if Yukari called out Arturia regarding this, though even Yukari herself really only had that mindset for when any other options are unavailable. Then again she’s no way a wide-eyed idealist. She does understand that it was necessary for Arturia to do this. It was indeed necessary to doom these universes in the hope of stopping Protheus before he reached the end. Those universes, including her own, were the stake, and if Protheus won, the other universes untouched by this would be the sacrifice.

 

It was something she had been aware of to a degree, but once again, the main question had not been answered, and Yukari really felt that Arturia’s dodging the topic again and again. What she wanted to know right now is what will happen if the king won the war.

 

"We have lost so much to get to this point, and whether or not we like it, whether or not we seek to rewrite reality, the fact is that we have no choice but to advance onwards. As we are currently on the Pathway to Truth, you must be able to see that the words I speak ring true. I will not force you to trust me, but indeed, I hope you will come to a decision."

 

Well, Yukari had no doubts that her words were completely truthful, but what kind of purpose would that serve if her question was not even answered? A brief silence followed. Yukari had no intention to answer the king right away, as the king’s words only gave the youkai more and more doubts regarding her and her motivations. 

 

But then, without any precedents before it, Arturia clenched her fists in frustration, something that Yukari honestly didn’t quite expect.

"...I also have a personal take on the situation of the Origin War, if you would like to hear it."

 

“That would be appreciated, yes. It would be understandable for you to have your own opinion on this, after all.

 

So, let's hear what you, as Arturia, think about this conflict.” With that answer coming from Yukari, Arturia turned around to face her directly. She still looked as calm and composed as before, but it was merely a mask of what was really inside of her. Yukari didn’t have to be Koishi to know that the king was completely, and utterly furious about something. Koishi seemed to be able to detect this too, and she started to show signs of discomfort even if she’s not actually awake yet.

 

"In my honest opinion, in the face of such an overly massive danger looming over us... I find it ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC that there's even a division between the Counter Corps and the Divine at all, and that we have to discuss the matter of 'whether or not to trust the enemy'."

 

In regard to that statement, Yukari had to restrain herself to not make a snarky remark at it. The king seemed to not really that caring on the fact that a lot of people here fights for their own motivation, and from what Yukari could gather, even most of the Counter Corps felt like they would really fight for the sake of their blasted homes. Protheus is certainly a big threat, but the real point of everything was what lies after stopping him. 

 

The Door of Origin.

 

Not to mention, once again, Arturia’s far from the most trustworthy person in the world. Doubting others here would be something natural. After all, each of everyone’s own worlds was the thing at stake here. 

"Right now, as we know, an immortal madman - who has demonstrated time and time again that he doesn't care about anything but himself - is attempting to use the Door's powers for his own selfish gain... There's an ancient, merciless monster out there, responsible the destruction of billions upon billions of universes, who's trying to change the whole multiverse as he sees fit merely because he feels entitled to it, and yet as far as I know, instead of being rational about it and teaming up to defeat a common foe, we, each and every single one of us, are wasting our time fighting and distrusting each other, while also letting ourselves drown in our own irrelevant personal problems due to the Pathways, when there are far, far more important things that we could be doing right now...!"

 

So, this is how you truly see this race, Arturia? Well then.

 

"Hm...I see, I see."

 

As befitting of her role as Counter Guardian, so to be said. Arturia was seemingly completely focused on her duty to eliminate Protheus Maximus, disregarding everything else. Understandable, but not in any way making her more trustworthy. The king’s frustrations and fury really flowed out from her like a bursting dam, and all these emotions radiated by her forced Koishi to wake up. The silver-haired girl immediately prepared her tentacles in surprise, as she assumed that a threat was nearby due to the concentrated emotions around her.

 

“Yukari, who is this?” Still sleepy but fully trying to make herself aware of her surrounding, Koishi whispered Yukari her question. But, instead of answering right away, Yukari instead turned around and smiled at the king in front of her, right now without any hints of malice on her face. The fairies now had backed away from the three of them, sensing that something bad could've happened at any time at the location.

 

"Those are my thoughts on the matter." And just like that, all the anger was dropped, Arturia returning back to her cold, judging state, showing no signs of having been pissed just a moment ago. "It might be a lot for you to take in, but... After having had heard all this, tell me, you the Border of Phantasm... Have you come to a decision?"

 

And, prompted by that question, Yukari started to laugh. She didn’t really even know why she laughed like that, but that was simply what happened, and heartily, she continued to laugh, confusing Koishi on her back.

 

“A-anything wrong, Yukari?” Once again, Yukari didn’t answer her question, though she did then started to calm herself down before properly facing Arturia again, still with a smile on her face.

 

“Well, have I come into a decision? Yes. I have.

 

It’s simple really. This is not something to mull over for too long, as your words had given me the right idea on what to do here.

Yes, Protheus is a big threat here, and it’s our priority to eliminate him as soon as possible. But…” Yukari paused a bit, taking a deep breath. It might be something that she would regret later, but right now, this would be the ideal action to take.  Koishi was looking more and more concerned about her meanwhile. Yukari didn’t really want to involve her in this, but…she wouldn’t even have a chance of survival if Koishi was not there.

 

Turning her focus back at the king once more, Yukari continued her words to her.

 

“I’m afraid that I could not let you win this either, Arturia Pendragon. I wonder, why do you keep on avoiding answering my actual question, King Nothing?

 

As I’ve said in the beginning, I’m aware that you’re here to stop Protheus. But then, what’s next? You said you needed to be the one to obtain the key. But for what?

 

If you wished to restore everything back to normal, then why it must be you? Why it couldn’t be anyone else?

 

How you lacked an actual regard to the sacrificial lions you’ve gathered from the other universes…how you went on a tangent on everything else aside from my question, it’s painfully obvious, isn’t it?

 

I mean, I doubt at this point you’d even care to actually restore your champions’ universes using the door. You’re not here to just press a reset button and restore the status quo of the damaged multiverse, right?”

 

Yukari stopped again to draw her breath for a bit after she talked that much. Her patchwork body was still very uncomfortable to her to use, and it really shows. During the pause she then realized that she had actually uttered everything that was on her mind at that point, which was probably the pathway’s fault. Not that it mattered, really. She would probably get her point across with this, and this was a straight declaration that she was going to completely oppose Arturia. She still have some doubts regarding whether she jumped on conclusion too soon, but it’s too late to regret the decision anyway.

 

“Yukari, wh-what did you just said to her?” Koishi was sounding more and more frustrated as Yukari kept on ignoring her, but at least, Yukari knew that she was genuinely concerned about this. It was something really reckless to do, after all.

 

“Nothing much. Let's just say...I'm trying to wake the sleeping dragon up.” With that said, Yukari wiped off the smile from her face as she waited for Arturia’s next action. Now staring at her seriously, the possibilities of what would happen next started to pour into her head. Arturia could very well try to eliminate her immediately after this. She could also ignore her, or dismiss her accusations at her. Or...she could actually just drop the truth. The last one would be ideal, but Yukari knew that it would be ridiculously unlikely. Even then, no harms in hoping at this point.

 

 

…I’m still not fully recovered yet, and my power didn’t seem to have fully returned as of yet, even with the help of the lake. But…even if I’m not in my top condition…this would be enough.

 

“So yes. That would be my decision. I am sorry if I’m being rude, but I don’t really see using other tone would get my point across.

I am simply a witness to the entire thing before this. Standing in the sidelines as I watch things unfold before my eyes. But now, I think I’ll start becoming a cast member instead. I’ll fight for what I think is right, and for the sake of the worlds erased thanks to this war. 

 

Not that you’d care about that. After all, I'm just one actor of many in this show, no?” Once again, another accidental slip. That was unnecessarily rude of Yukari, as she herself admitted inside, but it was what she honestly thought about the king without any kingdom. She was still expectantly waiting for what would happen next. If Arturia did decide on attacking her, it could very well be problematic, but between her gaps and Koishi, who was still seemingly thinking that the entirety of this was a really bad idea, Yukari believed she could at the very least gauge the threat level of the king for now, while surviving relatively unscathed, of course.

 

"I am genuinely grateful that you are kind enough to talk here with me so I can be sure on what kind of path would I take here."

 

And then, the sky above the two started to crack.

 

---

[The Warden]

|_)The Sorceress of Hope, Lydia(_|

|_)Pathway of Truth: B12 ½(_|

 

The wind felt so wonderful against her face, like being caressed by a million hands. Okay, that was a bad example. It felt more like, swimming through the softest and most luxurious silk scarf you could ever find. Just, being in the sky, being so free, it was just such a wonderful, incomparable feeling. But, even the incomparable must come at a price. “This is so wonderful” Lydia thought happily to herself.

 

She had expected a reply, but there was just silence. No snarky response or idle and bored agreement. The Dizasters had gone silent, and this was starting to worry her. Normally they didn’t say much, or she ignores them, but, they were acting weird after the inner world. It had been another sobering experience for her, but, what was it that had been bothering them so much. “Uh, you guys okay?” she questioned, her expression as concerned as her tone.

 

There was some quiet whispers at the back of her mind, but she couldn’t make it out. (This is actually pretty impressive in context, since they’re somehow able to be quiet in her own mind.) Her brow creased in concern as her luxurious flight slowed in mid-air. Her form hung in the air as the wind gently battered her hair about. “Come on!” she snapped in annoyance. “What is wrong with you all?!” she demanded.

 

The murmuring was still quite silent, and she still couldn’t make out what they were saying. They were willingly blocking her from the conversation, in her own mind to boot. The little black space they had created was actually starting to irritate her a bit. What weren’t they telling her? Suddenly, the whispers silenced as the black space just, vanished. “Apologies, we were discussing something important” Shine explained.

 

“Then why couldn’t you have involved me?” Lydia questioned indignantly.

 

“It’s a matter we’re, umm… Fox, why don’t you tell her?” Terras said, passing the buck to Fire Fox.

 

“I’m not wordy enough, Shade, why don’t you explain?” Fire Fox passed to Shade.

 

“Put me on the spot why don’t you? Fine. Sorceress, I’m sure you understand the notion of our, err, naming nomenclature right?” Shade began slowly.

 

“Yeah, one to eight. I’ve always meant to ask about number nine, but I’m sure it’s a hush hush lost in history sort of deal” Lydia replied.

 

“Not quite, see, number nine is actually me” Shade explained.

 

“Huh?”

 

“You see Sorceress, our numbers are, err, incorrect. All of us are in truth one number ahead. Fire Fox is number two, Blizzard Beard is three, Aquous Dolphin is four, Volt Hedgehog is five, Terras Rhino is six, Storm Hawk is seven, Shine Owl is eight, and I’m number nine” Shade divulged awkwardly.

 

“Wait, then who is number one?” Lydia questioned.

 

“Umm, well, that’s what we’re trying to uhh, could someone else field this?” Shade stuttered.

 

There was a collective nope amongst the group. “Oh, thanks. Look, Lydia, Number One is who we all used to be” Shade declared.

 

“Oh” Lydia said.

 

“That’s it, just oh?!” Shade exclaimed.

 

“Well, I kinda figured it was something like that. I mean, DIzaster Nine, there’s eight of you. It doesn’t take much to figure that sort of thing out” Lydia surmised bluntly.

 

“I… see” Shade said flatly.

 

“So, you guys were all broken up from one being then? Are you numbers based on when you were made?” Lydia inquired curiously.

 

“Yes, exactly. You see, a long time ago we were all one being, a powerful and terrible creature we were. We terrorized the Negaverse long before the Supreme King ever got his grimy mitts on the domain” Shade explained.

 

“Wait, you guys are from the Negaverse?!” Lydia gasped.

 

“How does that get a concerned declaration, but us being one being doesn’t?” Shade demanded.

 

“Because this bit of info is less obvious” Lydia answered dryly.

 

“You’re baffling. Look, who we used to be terrorized the Negaverse, and practically ruled it. After a while, he felt he could not get enough carnage in, so, he broke apart into the eight of us. From there, we went on to terrorize the world with greater efficiency. That was, until our original wielder hunted us down, and defeated us in combat. He sealed us away into special tablets for safe-keeping. But, as ashamed as we are to say, we begged and pleaded with him to let us go. We lied about how we learned our lesson and would no longer cause terror wherever we went, but he saw right through that. Instead, he decided to make use of us by harmonizing our powers with his. He would allow us into his soul in a controlled method so he could use our power for good. We resisted him at first, but, his good intentions began to contaminate us, until, truly, we enjoyed helping him. We actually wanted to do good. In time, our tablet prisons began to wane, so we were transferred to special seals, the same ones that you saw our current user utilize. They were designed to contain us better, and to also adapt to the time, so they’d appear less conspicuous. The rest is history” Shade concluded.

 

“Wow. But, this is great to know, thanks for opening up; just, why are you telling me this?” Lydia asked, now very concerned.

 

The Dizasters heaved a collected sigh. “Because, in out collected inner world we had to face off with our original self, and, the truth is, given how powerful our enemies are, we might have to make the ultimate sacrifice” Shade admitted.

 

“Wait, what?!” Lydia cried, her eyes bulging. “What does that mean? Are you, going to become….”

 

“Yes. Our Original Self made a fair point that out separate power will not be enough against the likes of Protheus; and, when the time is right, you will need his help. We will all reunite back into our original self, utterly dissolving ourselves to give you the fighting chance needed to win against the Divine. We’ve been trying to find the best way to explain this, and you effectively forced our hand. But, this is the truth Sorceress. When the time comes, we will give up our individuality to grant you the power to defeat your enemies” Shade vowed.

 

The wind blew again, but it was hardly pleasant as Lydia stood slack-jawed in mid-air. “But… but…” she stammered.

 

Sure, they had been annoying at times, and her head always felt fool, but, the very idea of losing them in favour of someone who sounds like a complete douche? It was just. “But, you guys can’t! You’ve been with me ever since that miracle that brought you to me in the battle with LERNA. I don’t want to see you all disappear for no real reason” she implored in a faltering tone.

 

“We don’t want to either. But, to ensure our collective survival, and yours, we will have to do this. You will need the power of the Original Dizaster eventually. That time isn’t now, but it will be soon. Protheus won’t stop seeking the Door if we ask him politely. And he’ll have the Divine backing him up. Then the power will be needed” Shade surmised.

 

“But…” Lydia stammered.

 

“It won’t truly be goodbye, we hope. But, this is how it is. Please, don’t let this knowledge drag you down after you just got out of your little angst session” Shade said kindly.

 

“…. Yeah, you’re right. But, I kinda felt a sense of déjà vu really, since, losing you will makes me feel like I’m losing the last ties to my world. Even if…. Nevermind, it’s not important. What is is reaching the end of this Pathway. There’s still Remembrance to go, and I need to save my tears for when I have to say goodbye to everyone” Lydia smiled weakly.

 

She gently dipped through the sky, the aerial acrobatics ceasing as Lydia reached the end of the open sky, landing gently on the platform. The staircase looked so tall, but it scarcely mattered as the breeze gently lifted her up the rising staircase to the top, where a crystal was stalwartly waiting for her.

 

‘Are you content with your present self’?

 

That question again, just like in Death. But, this time, she wouldn’t be able to lie to herself. “I have to accept what I am, because I am what I make myself really. I am the cocoon that will become the butterfly, and I am almost ready to hatch. My present will lead me on to my future, and I will treasure every second. Yes, I am happy with who I am” she intoned.

 

The Pathway took the answer solely as a yes, as the barrier Lydia didn’t even realize was there faded, allowing her to walk forward to the crystal. Her sad eyes reflected in the crystal, and were gone as she was absorbed by it, being sucked back into the White Room, with only one door remaining.

 

Current Position: White Room

[Tesability Black]

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

Having to walk up to the black stone tablet, after being used to always flying, was proving to be very tiring on her legs. She forced herself to put one set of paws before the other, her nose almost meeting the stone in front of her.

Are you willing to embrace your fate’?

She twitched her wings at the question that entered her mind, a noticeable frown remaining on her muzzle as she lowered her head from it.

"Ai wud wike tu eeveen hash a fewtewsh,"¹ she replied to the depressing question that she was sure was supposed to sound hopeful. "Ai nu wanna be shomedin dat'sh jusht hewe, bu' nat awaives..."²

Raising a paw to the tablet after answering, crimson energies similar to what surrounded the pair from earlier consumed her as well before fading away to leave nothing behind...

¹ I would like to even have a future,

² I don't wanna be someone that's just here, but not alive...

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

~The Divine - The White Room - Tesability's POV~

She was released somewhat above the floor into the White Room, spreading her wings wide open to reveal the yellow underwings she had as she glided softly back down. In the strange barren room around her, only one door was now visible to her, the door with the lightning bolt emblem above it.

The Door of Truth.

A tired yawn escaped her maw as a wave of sleepiness overcame her. She laid upon the ground, her yellow belly against the white stone below her, before coiling around herself and closing her eyes.

After only a few moments, somehow knowing she was safe here, light snores began to sound from the sadly-outdated being...