When she was a child, she once tried to make scrambled eggs for a sick friend. She snuck into the kitchen and turned on the oven, and five minutes later she put her palm on the searing hot stove-top, searing her hand and waking up everyone with her tears.
That was incomparable to this.
That same pain was everywhere now, magnified a hundred-fold. The most instinctual pain a human could feel, that provoked ancestral feelings of absolute terror and panic. Her hair. The spaces between fingers. Her toes. Her back. And of course, her clothes. All of it set ablaze, all of it melting together into a single sensation that drowned out everything.
"A-!"
Her scream lasted maybe a moment before the air needed to create sound was consumed by the flames. She shut her mouth without thinking, halting the fire at her lips and preventing it from creeping into her lungs, where it would inevitably eat her from the inside out.
Thoughts of what to do. Ideas, plans. Encouragement. Such things stopped existing for Chisana Risu at that very moment. The future was fed to the flames, and then they went to gnawing the past.
Only now. Only this moment of pain was allowed to exist.
One second.
Perhaps because of her previous experience, Risu did not succumb. Had it been the Chisana Risu who'd fallen to Odin's words earlier, she would have lost control instantly. But the darkness had prepared her, however inexpertly, for a world of suffering. It gave her the ability to see as far as her own end.
Two.
Five seconds was the limit, and then her skin would melt together, the rapidly evaporating fluid from her eyes would cease to shield them from the hungry fire, and she would lose sight, sound, touch, hearing. All that would remain for a minute longer was taste, which would be given only burnt flesh to sample.
Three.
Chisana Risu did not linger on the inevitable. She merely moved. Concepts like 'pointless' couldn't exist; she had lost the ability to think in sentences three seconds into hell, but her muscles could still move.
Four.
Chisana Risu raised her hand and splayed out fingers whose skin was beginning to melt together. She reached out, not towards the thing that had once been Odin or a friend that might help, but instead towards the closest: the girl that only had eyes for the strongest, who she'd never been able to reach with her words.
Five.
Risu touched Kajiki Uta, the only person she could reach in the five remaining seconds of her usable lifespan, and summoned forth the last shred of magic in her soul.
Not Rati, her ultimate, useless, Last Resort.
Not Ratatoskr, the most indecisive magical weapon.
Not Authumbla, which would burn even though it was water.
Not Tusk, that could only throw more creatures into the flame.
Not Vedrfolnir; words had no place here, and no time.
Not even the Ashes of Yggdrassil, for these flames would burn even illusions.
"Hraesvelgr."
The last words remaining for Chisana Risu were uttered there and then.
Wind.
Air twisted. Even as it was consumed by the fire, it swirled in eddies and gathered. Even as her magic itself was being eaten alive, Risu poured more into the spell, summoning up the world's tiniest tornado around Kajiki Uta. And Uta felt that same wind pull at her skin, tearing her apart.
It was a strange rune. Until that moment, Risu had never understood how it worked. Wind, or light, or something else? But no, now she knew. It was a rune that worked to 'protect' by pushing away the world. A mother's embrace, to offer a brief respite in the most trying of times.
The fires - and the skin they had latched onto - were torn away from their victim and thrust outside. They burned at the air even as they retreated, and that too was forced out. The storm swirled outward, becoming one with the flame as it allowed itself to be eaten from every direction, but still swirling, still blowing, still deceiving reality for as long as it could hold out.
"Go away," it raged and roared. "There's nothing here."
And indeed there was. No air, no fuel to burn, except for Kajiki Uta, who for a brief time sat in the eye of the storm, isolated from the flames.
Chisana Risu saw this, and smiled, even as her eyes shut and the skin melted together, ensuring they wouldn't open again.
It was wrong to say her actions had been totally benevolent. Sure, she cared about her classmates, even those who were a bit confused. She didn't much worry about things like allegiances and sides, so it didn't matter to her that the girl had supported Odin. But also, it was the last chance she'd ever get to tease Kajiki Uta.
"Don't look so down, Uta-san," The wind whispered in those final moments. "You can be stronger than this. I'm rooting for you."
And then the last drop of her magic evaporated, her body collapsed onto the burning dirt, and all awareness of the outside vanished.
Risu was a small soul trapped in a small container, unaware of anything except herself and her rapidly decomposing body.
"Everyone..."
Images. Smiling faces she'd held in her memories.
"Mom..."
A smiling face she couldn't have seen.
"Dad..."
A smiling face that she'd seen every day.
"..."
...
"Hotaru..."
The smile she'd wanted to see, at least once.
Last edited by Bloble; February 8th, 2017 at 12:03 AM.
Cerberus brought her arm up, awash in the dark blaze. She couldn’t see it. Her face, her eyes, her vision itself had already been totally, utterly swallowed by the black flame. Even though she could not see it, she inspected the flame. The source of this fire stood at the pinnacle of existence. Freed from the prison that was the body of Yoshino Sousei, it could be said that Rogue Flame had reached the true definition of ‘ultimate’ now.
Strange, she thought, through the pain, the burning, the agony and the darkness. That man, if what she had seen moments before he had plunged the world in darkness could be called a man, had redefined what she called ultimate more than once in the short time she had spent watching his back. Through the darkness, she sensed the mass of absolute death. Despair incarnate. The strongest forbidden magic. Instinct warned her. She couldn’t see it, but even if she was a human being with no ability to sense magical energy, her instincts as a “living being” would warn her that certain death had just been unleashed to claim the lives of everyone that stood in this place, both those that stood against Rogue Flame, and she, who resolutely observed his path of world destruction.
She harbored no ill will for the god. From the beginning, even if he permitted her to follow him, he never truly considered her an “ally.” From the start, he had declared that he would destroy her as well. Kajiki Uta, Cerberus, expected this sooner rather than later.
Resistance would accomplish nothing, and she had already resolved to be destroyed by this man, this god.
Cerberus folded her arms across her chest. The magus uttered not a whimper of pain. It would be a travesty to complain now, about something she agreed with. That the ultimate being should destroy. That she should be destroyed, for being weaker. It was his right to destroy her. To cry out in pain is the same as calling it wrong to be destroyed here. She would not do that.
Kajiki Uta began to close her eyes, resolved to wait patiently for her end, when something touched her. A light, weak, delicate, dying touch. A poke from one who may very well be the weakest magus of all, and a word, the name of a Rune.
"Hraesvelgr."
And the darkness disappeared.
No. It didn’t disappear. It was simply blown away by the girl’s spell. A tornado whipped and pulled at Uta’s flesh, sending her hair about, knocking away the flames and sucking the air from around her. Her gold eyes, finally peering into the world darkened by flame, turned to Chisana Risu.
She wasn’t aware of it herself, but a puzzled, confused expression met the girl.
‘Why?’
She opened her mouth to ask, but in the vacuum she could not speak. Her lips moved, but no words escaped.
‘Why waste your final moment like this? Why…’
The confusion became something else. Something she didn’t understand. Something she wasn’t sure why she felt in this moment. A familiar feeling. Cerberus had felt it many times, and it wasn’t the first time this girl had make her feel such a way.
‘Why are you smiling like that?!’
Anger. She shouted words that couldn’t be spoken. Kajiki Uta couldn’t understand. She couldn’t figure out Chisana Risu, why the girl did what she did. But what she did understand, was that Chisana Risu angered her.
"Don't look so down, Uta-san, you can be stronger than this. I'm rooting for you."
In silence, Cerberus listened to the words carried in the wind, within the gale.
In silence, she watched the girl collapse.
In silence, the tornado disappeared as the last of Chisana Risu’s magic faded.
In silence, darkness fell upon Cerberus once more.
In silence, a new darkness emerged.
In silence, Hades cleaved the flame in two.
The axe sliced the black inferno in twain. Time and time again, leaving behind streaks darker than black. Again and again, Hades tore through the darkness, creating a cage of abyssal voids surrounding herself and Chisana Risu in a fraction of a second. So long as it exists, the flame would destroy it. Cerberus felt instinctively that even her ice and water Runes couldn’t provide a permanent solution to these flames, as they were both things that existed. At most she could temporarily extinguish the fire in a small area, only for the surrounding blaze to collapse in on her rivers, destroying them.
But the umbral rifts of Rhadamanthus were different. They were barriers of nonexistence. Crushed space rendered impassable, trapping the flames within, and keeping away the flames outside.
And as soon as the cage was complete. A perfect shell of darkness had been erected…
“Acheron.”
A tomb of water flooded the shell of darkness. Collapsing in on the black flame, it enveloped the girls’ bodies, and smothered the flames. As a Rune meant to counter and trap other spells, Acheron, River of Sorrow, may be the best protection available against the flames. Simplicity was Cerberus’ strength. Her Runes did not alter the rules of the world or play with concepts. She crushed all opposition with straightforward, powerful and to the point Runes.
One could call such a thing a weakness, but now, her Runes could show that it was no weakness at all.
The rapids of Acheron swirled, pulling the flames off the girls, extinguishing them, and freezing the blazes in place when it couldn’t utterly destroy them. Cerberus reached out, taking hold of Risu’s scorched bodied, and separated her from the fires as Acheron condensed and froze in place, trapping the fire within it.
“…”
As she stood within the cocoon of darkness, Cerberus stared in silence at the girl in her arms, the girl she had, at least temporarily, saved.
Why did I do that?
Last edited by Spinach; February 8th, 2017 at 03:30 AM.
A magus who could burn with the fires of the distant stars, who had withstood the attacks of the Sun God himself, was not someone who should flinch away from pain in any of it's forms.
Even so, in this instance, when the world becomes darkness.
It takes everything he has to not start screaming as he is consumed by an absolute flame.
Confidence, hope, rekindled belief...
All these things seem to disappear behind that eternity of flame and misery.
It is not that they have truly vanished, standing, somehow still standing, the magus that is automatically moving to protect his nearby family, does so because the body understands what the mind has become too distorted to process. The flames devoured life, thoughts of escape, thoughts of how to proceed, thoughts of who he needed to protect, devouring those things as they appear, the only thing the young man is left with is a mind filled with little more than ashes and smoke.
...In the face of the ultimate evil, what force could he have ever hoped to bring to bear?
He is already dead.
His mind that has experienced death once, is able to recognize it again flawlessly when it appears. It will take just a few minutes, he would perhaps, last longer than the others would, but the moment that flame had come to devour the world, his fate had been tossed into the abyss.
...The only reason his body continues to move towards his family, reaching out to grab them, pull them all towards him, is because of the ingrained feelings he possesses for them.
But it's a pointless attempt at sheltering them.
Driven only by the basest of instincts, the belief that he should do everything he can to protect his family and friends, manifesting not as a concept, but rather as as his muscles continuing to move even inside hell, the boy that has finally reached them cannot even comprehend the form of the Last Resort that is forming to end everyone's existence.
He cannot think to form spells, the idea of countering with magic was something that had long ago been lost to him, but...
Amidst the black flames, comes the sound of a different ignition.
Blue fire.
The flames of the magic that had once belonged to his father. It was a forbidden magic of a different sort, not a black flame that would burn the world to nothing, it was a blue flame of finality, an azure fire that proclaimed that, without a doubt, everything in this world would eventually come to an absolute end.
It didn't matter who you were, it didn't matter what you were...
Death awaited you.
Memento Mori.
It was a harsh lesson that everyone that lives must learn, and yet, when the man had passed it on to his son, he had never once called it a curse.
Even now, appearing amidst the black flames, triggered by the long-lost affection of a father for his family, it was not something that can be called a curse.
Nothing is eternal.
Everything ends.
Emotions are no different.
The black flames were that of despair, of agony, the clawing and lamentations of the jealous dead that sought to drag everything into the void.
Those feelings were overwhelmingly powerful.
So powerful that they would, without a doubt, burn the world to nothing.
But those feelings too would end, by the meaning behind their own existence, they were not something that could go on forever.
When they accomplished their goal, when absolutely everything was gone, than they too would disappear.
And there was nothing past that wall of blue.
Cloaked in it, drenched in it, the flames that roared, that sought to consume the boy and his family, could find nothing to devour.
When one reaches the "The End," that is it.
There is nothing after the last page of a story.
Because there is nothing to devour, there is no reason for that flame to exist.
Brushing up against it, the last barrier a twisted father had left behind for the family he had never once been able to stop loving, the family is given a brief respite from the absolute flames of hell as they reach their "end," fulfill their purpose, and in that moment, that burst of clarity...
That young man hardens his mind as his father's last lesson makes itself known all these years later.
There is no such thing as an eternal misery.
No matter how much you're hurting right now, eventually, even if only through Death, you will be set free.
Even so, even by forcing it's existence to remain through use of the tower, this barrier is doing nothing but delaying the inevitable. Quickly being drained to almost nothing because he had chosen to protect so many people, the youth that has reclaimed his mind understands that this will not save them from the ultimate evil in the end, that the clash between those two magics would eventually end the moment the God focuses on wiping them out.
As much as he would like to stand here, protecting them forever, there was no hope of victory in this last embrace.
Comfort perhaps, a departure to the afterlife taken together perhaps, but...
That was not the fate he sought for them or himself.
...There is no Eternal Misery.
...Even now, there was still something he could do.
"Stay. Wait and hope."
Pushing the tower into his partner's hand, the young man walks back into the cursed flames.
The moment he leaves the blue, the black punishes him for his momentary escape. Hungry, enraged, it grabs at him like snakes, the world that had gone brilliantly blue is once again painted black, and while he had intended to run, to run straight towards the enemy without slowing down, the flames of misery that coat his body have reduced his pace to that of a determined walk.
But this time...
His mind does not disappear.
Holding onto it with everything he has, a fierce determination clarifying the clouded thoughts, the footsteps that carry him towards the origin of everything are purposeful, a lone magus, running on the dregs of his magical energy, marching straight into the terrifying grip of death without a second thought.
He has to be closer.
His mind tells him that, again and again and again.
There was something he could do, but he had to be closer.
So he keeps walking, hands clenched into fists, even as his body slowly burns away, even as his weapon screams for him to stop from inside of his head.
The closer he gets, the more erratic the fire seems to become.
But he keeps walking.
There is no eternal misery.
He just has to endure.
The Death signified a change, the end of one thing was the beginning of another.
Things might end, but their meaning appears in those things that begin after it.
No matter how long it seems, as long as he never gives up, as long as he fights his pain forever, there is no way for it to beat him.
The most it could do was destroy his body.
His heart would be fine.
A forbidden magic gathers itself.
Flame on an entirely different level, the ultimate manifestation of the Flames of Roge appears to end existence.
Staring at it.
Glaring at it.
...The youth pulls up the last of his magical energy...
And keeps walking.
He just has to reach Rogue Flame.
If he does that...
His heart is sure victory would not be impossible.
Last edited by Airen; February 8th, 2017 at 05:08 PM.
Exodus (Complete)
Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stilled and the actors leave the stage, the story will never truly end.
Regardless of the form it takes, as long as there are memories of it's existence, the story will continue on.
In a small ward in the heart of a once devastated town, life carries on as it always has...
Because of you.
Please, remember it warmly.
We'll continue to walk down this path for eternity.
It doesn't come as a surprise to me that Kaede Sophie continues to overwhelm us with the power she has obtained. Even still, that doesn't lessen the gravity of the situation at all. On all sides, we're surrounded by an enemy with power that exceeds ours and, chances are, the gap will only continue to grow. On the other hand, we're on our last legs. Even at our best, we'd probably only be able to fend off one attack each if we put our all into it... And I think Tsukabe just took one of those shots. Our situation... isn't good... But even still he finds the time to joke.
"Destroy anything she looks at, huh?"
Painfully taking a deep breath, I laugh at Tsukabe's earlier remark. I can probably make two or three big moves as of right now, but even that'd be pushing it. As it stands, it's taking all I have and more just to stand on my own two feet. If I try to make any sudden movements, I wouldn't be surprised if I just ended up falling on my face.
"That sounds like a pretty bothersome power. Not really sure I'm in a good place to counter that right now."
Honestly, I probably can't even counter a straightforward punch. My magic is being hampered and I've barely managed to scrape something together by using Mugen. With this much energy, I can probably pull off an Isanagi or two... But that's it. It's good for getting myself out of a tight spot, but we can't play defense forever. What we need is an offensive move. Something that can be pulled off with this limit mana... And the only thing that I can think of... are these black flames that are wrapped around me.
My heart pounds from within my chest. Every cell of my body feels like it's eating me alive. With so much of my focus being spent on just staying conscious, I've got nothing left to defend myself from the black flames' influence. My mind is slowly slipping away and I can tell my breath is becoming even more ragged. I won't last long like this. Where Sophie's savage strikes couldn't finish me, the encroaching black flames will. That much is painfully true.
...But, just as I feel the diabolic haze nibbling at the last bit of my mind, I look over in the direction I last saw Haru and Nanako. I can't see them now, but I know they're there. It might sound a bit silly, but I can feel our bond calling out to me. Holding me up... Maybe it's a side effect of Mugen... Or maybe it's the simple fact that we all now bear the same curse... But... Just as my eyes become too heavy to keep open, I can hear them call out to me.
...
......
I've lost consciousness...
Tsukabe, Sophie, and the tower have all vanished from my sight. Now, all that's left before me is an endless white void. It's a completely featureless space, but I instantly recognize it as somewhere I've been before. It's a sight that I couldn't forget even if I tried and- as if to drive that point home- in the center of it all is a familiar figure.
Izanami... Rather, the part of me that I've come to call Izanami. The person standing before me is a part of myself that I've struggled with and tried to pull away from for a long time now. She is the part of me that grew fed up with my own inability and the current state of the world. She is the part of me that wishes for this world's destruction. Forcibly changing it to suit her...
For a long time, I wanted to deny her... To say that her way of doing things is wrong. 'Fighting is not the answer'. 'Just because you don't like something doesn't mean you should just write it from existence.' ...But I couldn't. Because not only had I become reliant on her power, but I could not deny her results. While I was getting nowhere seeking only peace and mutual understanding, she was confronting everything head-on and slowly constructing my ideal world.
An odd feeling fills me, seeing this part of me once more.
Alone in this empty void, the two of us just gaze at each other. No words are needed. Though I understand she's merely a symbol within my own mind, if she's here then I know that I am telling myself to fight. As this thought runs through my mind, the other me smiles softly and extends a hand to me. At the same time... a wall of familiar black flames erupts from the void behind her.
My breath stops in my throat.
I understand all too well what the other me is trying to say. These black flames are my best option right now. Likely the only option... However, there's no denying the otherworldly weight they possess. The sheer concentration of madness within and the ominous presence hiding deep within... I could feel it through the markings on my arm alone; however, when coupled with Mugen I know better than anyone. ...If I truly accept these flames, there is nothing I can do to stop them from consuming me.
The flames steadily eat away at the void and draw closer. As they do, I can feel the malicious soul trapped within clawing deeper and deeper into my heart. It... terrifies me. Knowing not only that this thing is inside me, but my friends as well... If possible, I would like to rely on their power as little as possible, but my hand is being forced. Looking up at my other self, I see her standing there calmly. Smiling...
Reluctantly, I reach out.
I know that she's telling me there's no other option. That I need to accept these flames so that I can save my friends... But there's too much fear in my heart. All the hate, rage, sadness, and doubt that I've held in for these years... They're all being laid bare before this dark inferno... And it's only making them stronger. Because of this... I can't quite bring myself to grasp her hand.
"I can't..."
I admit this much to myself. Powerlessness washes over me and I can feel despair settling in. My body frozen in place, I can see the flames drawing closer and closer. Soon they'll be at my feet... And soon after that, they will consume me...
"Haru... Nanako..." Having fallen to my lowest point- right when it matters- I can only think of the friends I'm about to let down, "I'm sorry..."
I close my eyes and resign myself to my fate. My body is broken and soon my mind will be devoured. At this point all I can hope for is a quick end. But...
"Don't forget, Mikoto."
Just as I had given up, the other me steps out of the flames and grabs a hold of my hand.
"You're not alone."
Three simple words.
Three simple words and I forget my own hesitation while remember what has led me here. My mind is refreshed and, for a moment, I forget about the flames ahead.
I feel a small push on my back. A single hand... followed by another and then some. As my body slowly drifts forward, I look back and see the faces of the many people I've met along my journey. Akio-kun, Hitomi-san, Rei-san, Tsukabe-kun, and Sawai-san... Yamada Hayate, Chisato, Kanko-san... Even Johnie and my master... Them and countless others are now at my back, urging me to take a step forward. At the same time, my other self pulls me forward- effortlessly- as if to accept their gesture.
"You're not alone, Mikoto. Even should you lose yourself, you have others who will be there to bring you back."
I'm pulled into the sea of flames. Immediately, I can feel the ill flames invading my being in an attempt to corrupt my soul. It's painful, but even still I feel a bit of ease. I feel ease because a part of me, the 'me' that is urging me forward, is still smiling.
"Besides... No matter how much you've suffered... No matter how many times you've been faced with this world's evil, you've always held on to who you are. So, I have no doubt that you can do it now. That you can find a way to accomplish what you've set out to do."
'Izanami' says this much to me and disappears into the flames. Once she's gone, I'm surrounded by total darkness and can't tell my left from my right anymore. Even still, her words- 'my' words- resonate within me. Though I can feel my soul burning away within this dark void, I keep on looking for a way out. A way to conquer this darkness within me and come out on top. Its only when I realize this desire that I'm presented my answer.
A small light in the distance. It's weak and faint, but it's still there. In a world consumed by black, cold flame, I can feel it's warmth even from here. I rush towards it. Confidently. Desperately. With my arm out stretched, I quickly approach the beacon of hope and reach out as if to hold it within my own hand. It isn't possible, given the distance, but that's okay. Because simply by approaching it, a light opens up in the sky and floods the world with radiant light. It's warm and blindingly comforting.
Enveloped by this light, I can feel my entire body being lifted up. It isn't until I snap to my senses that I realize I'm not simply levitating, but I'm being pulled up. With two hands wrapped around my own, I'm briefly about to make out two familiar smiles from within the light.
...
.....
I open my eyes.
The scene is just like I recall it. Tsukabe is waiting at the ready and Kaede Sophie has us surrounded by her clones. Nothing has really changed. We're still at a huge disadvantage and it'll probably take some kind of miracle for us to get out of this in one piece. But... We mages are individuals who live by creating miracles. Only when we have reached our lowest can we truly overcome our limits. All we have to do is have a little bit of faith and believe in our ability to pull it off. I'd forgotten this, but now I remember.
"Tsukabe-kun, Haru, Nanako..."
I calm both my breathing and my mind. I understand what I have to do now... And the risks involved with it. If I go through with this, it wouldn't surprise me if I ended up dying. Honestly, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid. But... Being afraid isn't necessarily a bad thing. It just means that I understand what I'm getting into. That I know I want to live through this and come out on top. So... Even if what I'm about to do poses that risk-!
My will flares up and the black flames erupt from my body. They waste no time wrapping themselves around me- feeding off of my fear and hesitation- but that's fine. I want them to consume me. I want them to tear away at my flesh and claw away at the walls of my soul. I want these flames to show me all the world's evil...
...So that I can show everyone the light I found amidst it all.
The floor explodes and a wave of heat runs along the ground.
A mass of magical energy spirals around me. The black flames that were nipping at my skin mere moments ago are now slowly pulling back as if being swept away by the wind. In their place, flickers of golden flame shroud my body.
"-HYUUGA-!"
I call out the answer I found. The answer I could only find by embracing those black flames and digging deep to find the light within. Hyuuga... Though this flame may be small compared to that black inferno, they still have the power to push back that darkness. Even now I can feel their power radiating within me. A power would never have been able to reach if not for the people supporting me.
Fixing my gaze on the enemy before me, I make my move. Pulling one hand back, I gather the flames that shine at the edge of the abyss and concentrate them into the palm of my hand. It's a small, pathetic, and humble mass of flame, but it's one that's capable of surviving even amidst all that malice. It's warm and bright... Simply holding it in my hand is enough to spread its heat throughout my entire body. But even more importantly, the longer I hold it, the stronger it becomes. Burning brighter... hotter... If those black flames can be attributed to humanity's hate and sorrow, then the flame I hold now is its love.
"Are you ready, Kaede Sophie?"
Throwing my hand forward, I release all of the flames in a single, sweeping burst.
"We're going to destroy your world of lies-!"
Wise Up
Hyuuga- Towards the Sun
A radiant golden flame discovered by Mikoto at the edge of darkness. By taking advantage of her ability to 'harmonize' through Mugen, Mikoto was able to dive into the heart of Rogue's Flame to discover this power. Though small and feeble in comparison to the black flames, this golden radiance is still one which shines within the boundless abyss and faces its evil. It is an undying light which preserves human emotion and turns it into power, much like Mikoto herself. Though its very nature means the dark flames can never be too far behind, its presence alone only serves to make these flames burn brighter.
"I promise nothing." - Sei "Kanra" Slayers
Resident Sadist. Enjoys stepping and sitting on people.
Avid lover of butts and anime.
Among those present, Tsukabe Motoshige is the one who can understand best what the black flames represent, and how they are a force that cannot be tamed by a human heart; all through the knowledge Black Bible constantly feeds him. That's why he's initially caught by surprise when Fukami Mikoto brings about a miracle and does the impossible, transforming the darkness into light. Feeling the warmth of those golden flames, though, he can only draw a smirk as a small laugh escapes his lips.
"Heh... Show-off."
It's unbelievable how strong she has become in so little time. When he looks at her back, he no longer feels like it belongs to that little, naive girl he fought during the first night of the war, when the whole thing began. Or perhaps it is he who changed after that fateful encounter. Certainly, Fukami Mikoto has not stopped being the one she has always been, always holding on to her own identity, no matter the amount of suffering she had to go through. Maybe now, his eyes see the girl with a new light. To call it admiration would not be a complete lie, but it would be better to say that he sees her as someone he can truly rely on. Yeah, the word 'friend' doesn't sound too bad...
"...!"
This fire is her only weakness. No matter the color of its flames, it is not something she can overwhelm with a single snap of her fingers. Therefore, the self-proclaimed God does not even think of challenging the embers of love. She has never been a Magus to run straight ahead, challenging everything on her path. Kaede Sophie has always been a snake proud of running away and waiting for the precise moment to strike. She's one who thrives on other people's efforts, a survivalist who focuses on the end goal instead of the road required to get there. That is why she does not feel any shame in avoiding this attack, even after claiming to be all-mighty. So long as you are erased from existence, the method employed will not make a difference!
---Her presence disappears.
It might be because of Mugen, but you can tell she is no longer there before your eyes convey that information to your brain. Not even a clone, she must have teleported them all away. As you struggle to even remain conscious, you recall Cain's words. If this woman can lay her eyes on you, it's over. In that sense, though you cannot attack what is not there, your flames make a formidable shield. If she's wary enough to leave instead of challenging them, then you might be on to something here. That said, she will be back any moment now, you are confident she wouldn't just escape the area without settling the score here.
"Playing with fire, are we? Careful... You might get burned."
Your senses dull as they are, you still manage to catch the feeling of danger that accompanies those words. Creation and Destruction, yeah, someone who can wield those two attributes is surely to be a powerful foe. In all likelihood, Sophie has just been toying with you, even if you are doing your best to press her against a corner. Accepting all risks that come with using your newfound powers, you never stopped to think you might not even stand a chance against someone who has won before even the battle started.
"This is bad!"
When you can fill the room with gas in the blink of an eye, a mere spark is all you need to set the world ablaze. By creating a 'universe' inside the secluded space that is this floor, it is even possible to isolate and contain the explosion to maximize damage. From there, one can simply add infinite amounts of fuel and turn the place into a literal burning room. By engraving rules on the created plane, everything can be taken care of on its own, without the aid of its owner. In other words, presence and vision become pointless.
But that won't be enough, will it? Against someone who has overcome so many trials, how can something so trivial be the end of it all?
"Ah, ah, look how tiny it is. Pathetic, right?"
Inside the throne room, Sophie Kaede contemplates the small sphere in her hand. It might look like a jewel, but it is actually a portable world; a capsule room where everyone else within the Kaede Tower has been trapped. An inferno meant to perpetually burn anything inside, without any of its warmth leaking outside. To the touch, the sphere feels cold like metal. Clutching it between her fingers, Nyarlathotep applies pressure. She might not be a Magus who specializes in raw strength, but even she can crack something like this with a single hand.
"Ara, ara, what a tragedy... It appears I broke it."
Sand-like particles slip from her hand as she looses the grip she had on the world she created.
[18:30] RacingeR: Max S.Link with hero is when you promise your daughter to him
[18:31] RacingeR: Which means Airen and me are the only ones that maxed it (I promised Spin to him, and Spin is my daughter)
[18:32] hero: oh shit
[18:32] hero: spincess get
[18:32] hero: suck it fuckers
"While on your way there, try not to stab Mihou in the back and turn on us, would you?"
Mitsuo had spoken some rather unexpected words as Hotaru was about to wordlessly follow Mihou. The fact that he considered her potential betrayal somewhat bemused Hotaru, who figured that having a little bit of a talk with this man wouldn't hurt. She could make distance pointless between her and other things after all, meaning that covering the distance between her and Mihou wouldn't be an issue.
"Oh, and what leads you to the impression that I would do such a thing?" she asked mockingly.
"A little bit of observation you could say. I do not doubt that you've come to the conclusion that the Ultimate Magic is something that is now out of your reach seeing what all of this mess has devolved into, but you were still considering the possibilities of finding favour with 'God', were you not?"
"..."
Somehow, he seemed to have read through her thoughts. The light ridiculing smile that had been drawn on Hotaru's lip was washed away and replaced with a blank scowl.
"These eyes of yours, that demeanour of yours: you are not cold and indifferent because of lack of passion, no, rather this passion of yours burns so strongly that it would incinerate your very being if you let it out. Your heart was once as warm as the sun, but all of that warmth was taken away from you, and now... all that is left to fill that void is anger. I can tell that you too wish to burn the world away, but rather than simply destroy everything like Flame, there is a reform of sorts that you strive to achieve. Am I not right?"
"... a splendid attempt at deciphering my motives, but tell me, what is it that you think that all of this will achieve?"
Hotaru, brimming with a silent fury at being read open like a book by this random stranger, approached with ominous steps. Mitsuo however, did not flinch, not even taking a single step backwards. Hands casually in his pockets, he faced Hotaru's enmity without hesitation, looking at her straight in the eyes.
And even so, this man had an air of nonchalance. Even if the Void Empress before him exuded killing intent.
"Oh no, nothing. It is most 'pointless', I know, but well... a man cannot let a woman in need such as yourself all alone. There are times where we lose sight of ourselves after all, so it is always good to see things under someone's else point of view."
"Ara, how gentlemanly of you, but as you said, it is pointless for you to say all of this. In fact, I might even make it more pointless by killing you on the spot."
She pointed her gun at Misuo, finger on the trigger. Yet the man did not budge. He smiled and told her calmly:
"Now, now, wouldn't be it against your ways to get rid of a useless man here? Why don't you use your time to catch up with Mihou instead?"
"..."
"..."
Silence. A silence that was louder than anything. The sound of the breeze, the beat of the hearts, the breathing of the lungs, all of it was amplified and echoed as the Void Empress pointed her gun at Mitsuo. This situation lasted for ten harsh seconds.
In the end, the woman pressed the trigger.
But the shot grazed Mitsuo's ear.
"True. You might even prove useful later."
With a snicker, the woman turned away from Mitsuo, who displayed a smile of confidence. Or was that a smile of good humour? He seemed to be having fun at any rate. The man silently looked on as the Void Empress too left for what probably was the final battle.
---
Kurokami Hotaru Shopping District Ruin
As she writhed in pain, set ablaze by Forbes Blutgang, that last conversation with Mitsuo flashed briefly in her head.
She had done everything for the sake of this twisted world. Indeed, she had helped against Odin not because of any moral compass, but it would be objectively pointless to side with him. Rogue Flame was a being solely of Destruction, and while Destruction was indeed a part of the Void Empress's designs -- it was not the sole step of her plan.
An eternal being that revelled in destruction... was not something that Kurokami Hotaru could allow to exist.
Truthfully, she found such existence disgusting.
Yet in the end, it seemed like what she planned to achieve it did not matter, for where would the future be if the present as a whole was incinerated?
Atrocious physical pain on the level of being incinerated alive was not something that the young woman had experienced before, yet this indescribable agony felt strangely familiar. It rivalled, but did not surpass this 'passion' that Shiomi Mitsuo had described as 'all-consuming'. A pain, a limitless pain of loss and suffering that plagued Kurokami Hotaru everyday, burning silently within her soul.
But for a wound of the soul to be rivalled by a wound of the body, the situation had to be most dire indeed.
Just like when she had lost the two remaining anchors that she had to this world, Hotaru screamed in agony, tears welling in her eyes. Of course, the tears could not even drip down her cheeks, for before even having the time to fully develop, the heat evaporated the water immediately. Her body was being destroyed and rebuilt endlessly, a constant struggle between her regeneration as a magus, her Rune Tiamat, and these all-consuming flames.
There was only one solution to escape the inevitable end.
It was to remove herself from this world.
And so she did.
With the power of her rune Azi Dahaka, the Void Empress became meaningless to the point that she was not something of the world anymore, she did not exist, and thus, she would not burn.
Last edited by Ayakashi; February 12th, 2017 at 11:11 AM.
United Front
Shopping District Ruins - Time Unknown
Though he has only showed a small portion of his true strength, by this point they must have realized that the gap in power cannot be overcome, that their defeat is certain, no matter how hard they struggle to deny it. Even then, knowing how absolute of a force it is that they are facing, they choose to stand and fight? Ah, it takes only a moment to realize that is only natural. Humanity has always been stubborn. To fight against the odds is nothing more than instinct, a behavior programmed into their souls the day they were born. Time and time again, they've opposed fate, and emerged victorious. So much, perhaps, that they've grown arrogant. But this time, it is different. The will of one? The will of many? Don't be ridiculous, something like that will never overcome death. It never has and it never will...!
There is no logic behind Nakamura Akio's decision to face the ultimate end head on. The people he cares about will perish regardless of how he acts. Ah, though he moves slowly, he must be desperate. Desperate to find a cure to what humans call 'despair', even should it mean his own death. So long as he saves those behind him, he can rest in peace, is that not right? But, it is unfortunate. As the world that surrounds him is consumed by the flames, so will his hope be swallowed and disappear without a trace. Because it does not matter how strong his determination is, it doesn't mean anything to the giant sphere of flames that quickly approaches him. Most likely, his body will be reduced to ashes as soon as the Last Resort invades his personal space. If his lucky, he may even endure it for a brief instant before nothing of him remains.
Kurokami Hotaru fights the flames in a way she has grown used to. Immersing herself in her own power, she makes her existence so feeble that the fire cannot hope to reach her. Kajiki Uta follows a similar principle and swings her weapon with such raw power that the space around her becomes a black abyss nothing can permeate. At the same time, blue flames signal the end of the story and keep those standing past them from interacting with anything on the other side. Even for Magi, those are remarkable responses. To figure the weakness of the curse as they experience it for the first time... It's unnatural.
---However... That doesn't mean it will be enough.
Pitch-black flames burn intensely, devouring even the nothingness ahead of them. They devour the waters meant to capture them, and advance even when there appears to be nothing to feed them. Yes, even if no substance is left, the Flame of Roge will eat skills, magic, knowledge, and life. And if there is none of that left, they will eat the future. What was Kajiki Uta thinking when, for a second, she believed that she could oppose the strength she declared ultimate to save someone like Chisana Risu?
Pitch-black flames burn intensely, rejecting the end of the story. Common sense doesn't apply to them, nor does the rules of mortals. They overwhelm the blue embers like they are not even there, and add their grace to their own. Once a story ends, another begins, and the Flame of Roge will not halt when a new one appears. What was Nakamura Akio thinking when, for a second, he believed that the ideals he borrowed from his father would be enough to prevent an existence that far surpasses human comprehension from hurting his family and friends?
Pitch-black flames burn intensely, eating at what even the world perceives as non-existent. Foolish it is to think that a measly spell will be capable of fooling the absolute emissary of destruction. Should the Void Empress abuse What was Kurokami Hotaru thinking when, for a second, she convinced herself that she could avoid the inevitable without consequence, by standing next to the borderline between life and death, not daring to take a step further?
That is right. Death is the only outcome that awaits, the goal where all roads converge.
-------
"Yo... Risu-chan. I didn't think I'd see you around here. To tell you the truth, while I really wanted to talk to you one last time, I was hoping you simply wouldn't come."
Sitting next to a bonfire in the middle of nowhere, Johnie Gamble draws an apologetic smile. For a moment, you are just a surprised to find him in a place like this, but the look of his eyes is enough to convey what has been of him. It must have been fate, for you to meet at the purgatory, if it can be called such. After he invites you to share a mediocre meal there in the underworld, the two of you use the time to catch up.
"Oh... I see. So that's what happened. But you remained true to yourself until the very end... I think that's what truly matters."
Again, the American smiles in a way unlike him, looking slightly downcast. At first, you suspect it has something to do with sadness, or regret... After all, you both ended up here, and while you know exactly how you spent your final moments, you have no idea what happened to your friend. However, eventually you notice it is more akin to doubt. Again it was unusual for him to show such expression, as it would be easy for him to hide it under a poker face. Is he unsure about something he wants to say, but won't?
"Say, Risu... Do you think it is wrong to believe in happy endings? That when life is at its worst, one can hope and dream that miracle will occur? Tell me, Risu... Which is the happy ending you envision?"
-------
A hand timidly reaches for yours, and once it finds it, it doesn't let go.
For Natsume Raku, it's only natural to want to protect Nakamura Akio. For years, he has been her source of sustenance and strength. His bravery, his stubbornness, his kindness, to her they feel like the most delicious meal. These traits have saved her, and she is likely to lose a reason to exist the day they disappear. It is not unthinkable for an animal to act possessive towards its food, isn't it? But naturally, there is more to it than that. Nakamura Akio is a person who she has shared precious memories, even if some belong only to her now. He is someone she doesn't want to see suffer and someone she wants to be there to support. Ah yes, if they asked her to save only one person, she would answer without pause and without hesitation: 'Akio-niichan'.
"Ungh...!"
As something that is closer to a Kitsune than an actual Magus, Raku has the unique ability of drawing strength from different elements of nature, experience and even emotions. While others draw power from training, the only way she has to become more powerful is by properly feeding herself. It doesn't need to be repeated which elements bring her the most nourishment. However, now what she is 'eating' is the complete opposite to that. Yes, it is, in essence, poison. And yet, even as she endures the fire that surrounds her body, she takes it a step further, and adds the burden of her loved one. It is, ultimately, a pointlessly endeavor. No more than an instant after the flames transfer from one body to the other, that new flames rise to take their place. Yes, in the immmediate future, those flames will overwhelm her and spell her end.
But... She too has made her decision. She has chosen to stand by him until the bitter end.
A giant shadow washes over them. It's the shadow of a teacher and his soul companion. The reason for them to stand in front of them, acting as both a shield that protects them and a sword that cleaves through the flames is inconclusive. Be it what it might be, the strength of Shinzou Kamui and Echidna cannot be denied. Having built their power upon countless corpses, they are likely the only duo capable of enduring such a world-ending threat for longer than the blink of an eye.
"..."
No words are spoken. The Magical Weapon does not question the decision of its master. Had it possessed any will of its own, would it have chosen to walk a different path? That question lingers for a brief moment, as the pair ventures deeper into the black inferno.
"Go!"
For a moment, the everlasting sensation of being burned alive disappears, as you hear a familiar voice shout from the distance. It was an energetic shout that felt almost nostalgic, like one you had not heard in a very long time. That voice, it was unmistakably Rei's.
"I guess no matter how much time passes, we'll just keep butting into each other's fights..."
Having said that, the boy puts his weapon down, and then lets his body collapse as he is swallowed by the black fire. The truth is, he didn't really have the Magical Energy required to unleash his Last Resort. But, even so, he found the strength to do it, and even take it to a ridiculous scale. Though this is probably as far as Reynard Everheart goes, he has also made his decision.
For the sake of everyone, you keep advancing. Like the flames that surround you, you never retreat. Even as the ones shielding you collapse and the one holding your hand becomes a warm, welcome weight upon your shoulders, you move forward step by step. To the eye of any onlooker this is nothing but insanity. What can you hope bathing yourself in flames but your own demise? Even if reaching the impossible goal you seek becomes a reality, what will you do then? Will the end you pursue justify the things you have lost along the way?
Ah... You've run out of energy.
You can no longer feel the presence of the archangel, and you are too far for someone to come to your aid. Your skin and muscle have become akin to tattered robes barely covering bone. It is a miracle in an out of itself that you have not been reduced to ashes instantly. It takes some time to process it as you can think of nothing but pain, but you have also lost your sight too. Even so, you know that your foe does not hide, and is waiting for you right ahead.
"You are a dummy, you know? Leaving me behind just like that."
Huh?
Through it's already obvious that you've been stripped of your sense of hearing as well, a voice calls out to you. Who did that voice belong to?
"But that's part of what I like about you. Fearless, charging forward... Your heart is one that beats not just for you but for those that surround you. Just like a knight from a fairy tale... Don't you think? I know I still have to grasp plenty of things about Magic in general, but if you ask me... I think finding someone like you has been the most magical thing of it all."
Ah...
The words are becoming more clear.
Certainly, you can feel your strength coming back. Without even thinking about it, you take a step forward, and then one after that. Not just to reach your enemy... Just about now, you want to reach the owner of that voice.
"That's why I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. The days I've spent alongside you have been the happiest memory I have. The most valuable treasure! It hurts to say goodbye, but I can't say I have any regrets. I'm just so glad I got to meet you."
Aomori Mana.
That's the name of the girl who's holding back her tears right now.
A stream of memories flashes through your eyes.
But when you actually return to the world of fire and darkness, nothing in front of you remains.
"See ya. Let's meet again sometime. In another lifetime, same place, same time."
Only the lingering voice of a person who is no longer there.
-------
"... N."
Trapped in the borderline between life and death, Kurokami Hotaru wakes in a cold sea of darkness. It's not a metaphor, her body is floating in black waters, and at any second it could sink never to return to the surface. Whether what she sees and feels is real or just an illusion created by her dying body is up to interpretation, but one thing is for certain:
---She's not alone.
Across the the dark expanse, silhouettes of other human beings can be seen. It is impossible to see who they belong to, and even turning around and submerging one's head is not sure to reveal their identity... But there are many of them. Far too many to count. Kurokami Hotaru does not feel any hostility from them, in fact, if it weren't for their overbearing presence, it wouldn't be hard to confuse them for mere inanimate objects.
"P...a...e... M...e.... S...p..."
At first, you hear mere whispers. It's hard to tell what feelings they are trying to convey, and pretty easy to ignore. But as your existence wavers and you feel the urge to close your eyes and fall into an eternal slumber, they voices become more and more intense, plaguing your thoughts in an act that almost resembles torture.
---'Please, Make it Stop.'
'Win.' 'Help me.' 'Do not give up.'
Yes, in the beginning they are nothing but an empty plea for a someone to save them. For a hero to arrive and take away their pains. But as words repeat themselves over and over, it quickly escalates into insanity.
The urge to let yourself sink intensifies...
-------
The giant sphere of darkness approaches Kajiki Uta, and everyone behind her.
Her runes, simple and powerful as they might be, failed to put up a lasting defense against the flames in their base form, so it is out of the question that she will survive the incoming mass of death. After watching it swallow a boy and several of his companions, she appears to be next on the list, having only the comfort of not dying alone but with another person. They both tried to save each other in the heat of the moment, but in the end, even that proved to be ultimately pointless against Rogue's might.
"Sorry to intrude upon your mind." A firm, yet gentle voice wakes you up from your thoughts. It feels familiar, yet at the same time different. "You were the only possible host, with space available at least, that I could find to transfer the last bit of my conscience to."
This is...
Although the deity that threatens to destroy the world has no longer any use of you, you can still feel the warm embrace of its presence. And this voice, although it has a pinch of kindness and politeness it formerly lacked, it definitively belongs to the one you referred to as 'sempai'.
"I apologize in advance to ask you this, but in order to create the happy ending everyone desires, we only have one chance. And to create that opportunity, nothing short of the Ultimate Magic will do. Though we lack what's required to alter the reality before our eyes, it can become a weapon capable of slaying even the strongest god. A weapon you can wield."
The voice doesn't beat around the bush. It's asking you for a favor, and that is to do the impossible. While his words are warm, they still contain urgency suited for the situation. They are gentle, yet cruel words.
"Fortissimo is not something you can use alone. Doing so would require a great sacrifice, maybe your own life. Truth is, a single body will never be able to endure repeated use and will break apart. I am afraid I cannot lend you a second body... But at the very least I can give you the push you need to briefly reach its full potential... Under your hands, that is."
Be warned.
If you take a step forward, there will be no coming back.
You may lose all your strength and return to being the weak girl you once were.
Assuming you even live to see that day.
If you take a step backwards, there will be no going back.
The flames will consume you and everything will end.
Ultimately, the fate of the world appears to rest on your hands...
"I ask of you, Kajiki Uta-san. Right here, right now, let's us combine our strength and create the future anew."
[18:30] RacingeR: Max S.Link with hero is when you promise your daughter to him
[18:31] RacingeR: Which means Airen and me are the only ones that maxed it (I promised Spin to him, and Spin is my daughter)
[18:32] hero: oh shit
[18:32] hero: spincess get
[18:32] hero: suck it fuckers
Thinking he could save even a single person, let alone a group of them, was the first of the many mistakes that had ultimately led to the beginning of a nightmare.
The second... Was thinking...
That even for an instant...
"Raku?"
His family would let him leave them behind to be protected.
A hand reaching out for his amidst black flames, the reality of death closing in from all sides, the question that emerges from his lips in spite of the choking black flames, is one that carries with it the sudden fatal understanding, and with it, the terror of realizing that the borrowed flames, the borrowed ideals, had failed, and that without a doubt, a single, solitary doubt...
She intended to stay by his side right until the end, even if that meant she would become little more than ash.
The understanding, the instinctive revelation, puts a desperation in his footsteps as he rushes further into the darkness, forcing legs to move as fast as the fire will allow, muscle incapable of obeying the orders he held for it. She is trying to protect him, burning away her own life twice as fast for the sake of preserving his own by even a few extra seconds, the young man realizes that he must end all of this now.
This nightmare.
This horrible, escalating nightmare.
Two more people appear in the shadows, a teacher and his soul partner, clear the way forward as best they can, whirling shadows, an ever increasing pain, flashes of a distant memory, of a time before all of this, when the most he had been worried about was a false city of blue, and a magical tournament, flash across the surface of his thoughts, but...
He has nothing to say, can think of nothing to say, to the two whose actions he cannot understand, so he continues to walk, to jog, to close the distance as much as he can, even as his labored breathing invites the black fire inside of his form, as the two inevitably collapse, bodies succumbing to the flame even as...
The pain stops...
And...
"Go!"
"Rei?"
The nightmare gets worse.
"I guess no matter how much time passes, we'll just keep butting into each other's fights..."
"Rei! Fight it! Don't you... Don't you dare die on me-! FIGHT IT DAMN YOU!"
Even as his composure begins to crack, his best friend is still smiling at him through the flame. Body half consumed, but eyes still locked on him, that spark of old rivalry telling him to move on ahead without looking back, the young man that is too far away for him to help, that he is reaching towards but will never be able to reach, just collapses back with that same smile, his figure consumed by the merciless flames.
"Rei...?"
Disbelief follows his descent into the darkness.
---
Years later, they had both agreed that it was simply Rei's fault for being stubborn.
Being the new kid on the block, and a foreigner who was still struggling to learn the native language wasn't easy, especially when the bullies wouldn't let you live in peace. They had always found him after school, pushing him around, slamming him into walls, being cruel for the sake of being cruel, a bunch of kids picking on someone weaker than them.
Unable to stand it, he had stepped in that day.
He was tough, even as a kid, determined and reckless, it hadn't been very hard to save his fellow classmate from the others...
Even if it had turned out to be half Rei's fault in the first place...
It hadn't been hard.
Not that first day.
Or even the second.
The third, the fourth, the fifth...
Becoming something akin to routine, the boy continued to save his blonde haired classmate, but it didn't make the young man any happier.
"Stop it," he had said, "It's annoying," he had said, "why are you like this?" he had said.
And one day, rather than rescuing him, he found himself on the end of that other boy's fist.
Ah... It had been frustrating then...
A sort of irony, the youth that had been protecting him for so long being the one in the fight with him now.
Countless punches.
Countless kicks.
Two kids laughing on the ground after it was all over... Because it was such a stupid thing to fight about.
Yeah...
That's right...
It was like that... Wasn't it...?
The story of how he had met his best friend, one of the toughest people he had ever known... Even if he had never been able to say it to him out-loud.
---
His brother was gone.
Desperately reaching out for him in the darkness, the youth that was shaking in disbelief, that would have been crying if the endless flames had allowed an undevoured sorrow, grips Raku's hand ever the harder as he acknowledges that determination, that impossible resolve, and keeps running forward, forward even as the girl collapses and he has to carry her, determined to not let it all go to waste, to stop it, to stop it before...
Before...
His legs give out at around the same time that his eyes disappear.
Dropping to a knee, keeping his treasured one higher up, on his shoulders, as far from the black flame as he can manage, the impossibility of the task tries to break it's way into his mind again as it succumbs to pain.
Everything hurts.
The sensation of being devoured alive is different from any other possible pain. Feeling it leave you, your body, your blood, your thoughts, devoured by flame, by your own inability to handle the pain...
It's... Far more than he had expected, far more than his body can handle.
It's slipping.
Slowly, the attempt to stand back up just leads to him slipping further down, they're falling, falling together into the flame, into a merciless, horrific end, but-
"You are a dummy, you know? Leaving me behind just like that."
-Choking, choking on fire-
"But that's part of what I like about you. Fearless, charging forward... Your heart is one that beats not just for you but for those that surround you. Just like a knight from a fairy tale... Don't you think? I know I still have to grasp plenty of things about Magic in general, but if you ask me... I think finding someone like you has been the most magical thing of it all."
-He nevertheless finds his footing again.
The limbs that are little more than bone find the strength to stand.
Step by step... Bit by bit...
Because...
Because he has to... Because if he does not...
"That's why I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. The days I've spent alongside you have been the happiest memory I have. The most valuable treasure! It hurts to say goodbye, but I can't say I have any regrets. I'm just so glad I got to meet you."
This voice... This person...
"Wait-!"
Aomori Mana.
Someone he cares about... Another person he cares about...
Will...
"Mana... Don't..."
A hand reaches out into the darkness.
"See ya. Let's meet again sometime. In another lifetime, same place, same time."
But it seems like it couldn't reach anyone.
Disappear...
---
"So... Let's do this. My name is Aomori Mana, and you must be the guy who sent me this letter, yes?"
"You got a letter too? I found a letter just like this in my locker today, asking me to meet someone here..."
"My name is Nakamura Akio."
"Do you have any preferences when it comes to girls, Akio-san?"
"I mean, I've never been in a relationship before, so I am not sure what is expected of me..."
"What does a girlfriend do for her boyfriend? What does a boyfriend do for his girlfriend?"
"When you love someone, you want to be with them and support them, no matter what, right?"
"Sorry... That must have sounded kinda lame, right?"
...
...
...
"Akio-!"
"I can fight now."
"But I want to get stronger! So fight with me, Akio. Spar with me like you do with the others!"
"Alright!"
"Let's test that new strength then-!"
---
"Da... DAMN IT!"
The hand that closes on nothing, becomes a fist that smashes uselessly against the ground, against immaterial flames.
"I'm... I'm not..."
Choking on fire, it's become an almost impossible task to speak.
But it's not hard to understand what he's trying to say.
'I'm not that great a person.'
Brave, sure, reckless, sure, protective, sure...
But fearless...?
No...
Right here... Right now...
The thing that Nakamura Akio was most afraid of in this world... That fear that he would wind up all alone, that in the end, he would have to go on by himself, was...
"It can't end... Not like this...!"
Very...
Very...
"ROGE-!"
Clear.
There is no strength left in this body.
Even so, rage, the desperation that the enemy had spotted from the start...
Fuels one last, desperate sprint into the darkness.
But he doesn't make it.
Two steps in...
Everything goes dark.
There is no endless black fire.
There is no desperate dash into the darkness, a Fool struggling to save what he had sworn to protect.
There is only this, something that can only be called a Sea of Magic.
Different from the mental space he shared with his Magical Weapon, the sight that lies before his eyes is a manifestation of his soul, a clear place full of light, connected to countless other lights, a sea that has yet to be tainted by the corrosive black flames that exist outside the container that was the human form. It is a place that is both familiar and unfamiliar, while he recognizes it as someplace he has been before, he cannot recall when or where it was, only that this place is his, and that he has been here a "single time before this."
Ah, but...
His being here is not a solace.
While this sea is certainly warm, his sinking body, this fading consciousness, the black flames flickering at the edges of the light, all speak of the same, undeniable reality.
He had lost.
Without even being able to reach his opponent... He had collapsed within the sea of black flames.
Betting everything he had left, the others betting everything they had left...
This was the result... Reality overcoming everything...
Falling down into that endless sea known as despair, the warmth of his own soul is surprisingly comforting; it is a warmth he doesn't remember from his first death, something remarkably different from that cold, dark, distant place...
The flames that have appeared at the surface, that will soon begin to make their way down here, to consume him and his remaining light, are troublesome, but...
It's... Tiring...
Body hitting the ground, the bottom of this deep, deep sea, the only thing he can think about is how heavy his eyes are, how exhausting keeping this light going was...
It would be... Easier... To sleep in the dark.
To just go where everyone else was going... Into that soft, dark place.
Rendered powerless by that despair, by the realization that desperation had led him nowhere, the fight to stay true to his convictions, to keep his eyes open and try to stand, try to swim back up, up to the flickering light, is a losing one.
If he closes his eyes now, it will probably be painless.
It only ever hurt because he had struggled against it so hard.
But...
Even as his vision starts to fade...
"Master."
Someone grips his collar, yanking him to his feet.
"You requested this from me last time this happened, so I will follow that order now."
So saying, she sets him on his feet.
"Please excuse me."
And slaps him across the face.
It's a solid hit.
A single strike from the partner of his soul, so powerful as to knock him back onto the ground.
"What are you doing?"
Her voice is incredulous.
Resonating in the space all around, the sheer power in it is something that causes even the black flames to quake.
"Get up. You are not someone that is allowed to fall here."
Throwing a sword his way, a crimson blade of promise, the stunned youth can only stare in confusion, before grabbing ahold of it's hilt.
It is his Aunt's sword.
No...
More specifically, it is his memory of his Aunt's sword. Why it is here now is beyond him, but, trusting his weapon implicitly, he holds it before his eyes, and-
"You'll understand when you hear it... Just listen..."
Invisible strings flow out from the sea of his soul, following paths and connections that had been here from the moment he had first taken his dive, the formerly silent sea, lit only by the sound of distant flames, becomes filled with dozens of voices, not just that of his family, but everyone he had ever met, Fukami, Sawai, Johnie, Sensei, Echidna, Katsurimi, Yamada... his classmates...
People he still wanted to know better...
"If you're a magus than you already know... Use that magic of yours to make everyone smile again!"
Others who he still wasn't so sure about...
"Wow, since when did you become this much of a loser? Aren't you supposed to be that girl's knight? Everyone around you had an annoying belief in you... So stand the hell up and quit taking it like a bitch from this guy, a hero has to stay standing no matter what."
People he had just been reunited with, after an impossible time apart.
"...Just a bit more Akio. Isn't it a bit too soon to give up?"
Even someone he would have rather never seen again...
"It is not yet your time to sleep... I know it is exhausting, but... Is now really the time to close your eyes?"
"Ha..."
Everyone...
They had... Been here all along...?
No...
Of course they had been...
A 'contract' of the heart...
That was what friendship was, that was what rivalry was, that was...
What a 'bond' was, being connected with each other even if you were far apart. Meeting someone, and changing because of them, carrying that change around, that was the same as carrying that person around with you...
Memories... Bonds...
To be together even if you were alone, this...
"That's not all... Look... Look harder."
It extends further.
"..."
There's the face of someone he has never seen, but someone who had...?
"Everyone... I leave the rest to you..."
Left this world entrusting her wish, the shards of her hope to him... To others...
This world...
To protect this flawed, but beautiful world...
The strings stretch out, no, his heart reaches out further, out of the sea and into the root of the universe through Mugen, where a light other than his own shone brilliantly in spite of the terrible darkness.
There were so many people here, each connected to him, each refusing to give into the restless dark.
"Haha...Hahahaha..."
Why was this... So surprising...?
When he had fought Mihou... Hadn't he realized this exact thing...?
While the dark was vast, it wasn't the only thing that was there, in spite of it's eternal hunger it had never managed to become the only thing in existence.
That's right...
Looking out of the world and into the universe...
What Nakamura Akio sees is not an endless dark, but...
A canopy of stars.
And it's only when he sees it...
When he sees it, and understands just how many pinpricks of light there are in the dark...
That he understands that he himself has been one of those lights this whole time. It was a light people had gathered around, people continued to gather around, had been willing to sacrifice themselves for, because...
They had seen something that he hadn't...
Had believed in something that he couldn't...
And he had... Almost let it go out...?
Slowly...
Ever so slowly...
The laughing young man climbs to his feet, even as the darkness comes down from above.
How dumb... Why couldn't he see it...?
Those other lights... Shining out there in the dark...
So many wishes, the lights that shone not to oppose the dark, but simply to prove that they were still here, that they would continue to shine in spite of everything.
...He cannot reach into the dark and find the light that lies inside of it.
He's sure it exists... But that path was not for him...
He was a light himself, a beacon, something that shone so that others would know it was there.
That it was okay... To leave the dark... Because...
There was certainly...
Many lights already waiting for them out here.
Those who had emerged from the dark, believing in a future beyond the infinite darkness.
They couldn't see each other.
They had no reason to believe that anyone other than themselves existed in the night sky, yet they continued to shine, shine because they wanted someone to know that they still existed, that even in the "endless darkness" there was "someone here."
Reaching out to them, he verifies that belief, that wish, and they reach back in return, seeing someone else, being able and willing to reach out to someone else...
The moment he had made himself known, they had been willing to help.
"Hey, come on now."
"Just a bit further son, we're not going down without a fight."
Reaching out to his flickering light, offering their own to stabilize it.
"I'm not sure what's going on... But... Please hang in there mister! If you need magic, then I can let you have my birthday wish-! Oh... But God would have to know about it, right? Hmm... You can tell him Amaya gave you her wish for free! So please, don't give up!"
"...Alright, alright... One Birthday Wish should be enough... Thanks, kid."
Reaching him and seeing still others out there...
Reaching out further and finding those beyond his sight... Everyone was linked to someone...
Even reaching out to one person made it possible for them to reach out to someone else, and for them to reach out to someone else, a chain of tiny sparks that could go on forever.
Even if each light was only a single spark, a single person, the light of a single person was strong, the light of a single person could serve as a spark...
The light of a single person, the dreams of a single person, the belief of a single person...
Could even relight the stars.
Bursting into existence around him, here, at the heart of his soul, the cards that had been ever stagnant undergo a sudden change. It is nothing so abrupt as the change from a card to a human, no, it is far more subtle than that, ultimately, it is a change that few would notice, that perhaps no one ever would, but...
The images of those cards, the tarot of the Arcana...
Had been replaced with the images of his family and friends.
Around them, the sea burns brighter.
There is no way for the light of a single soul to repel the darkness.
By himself, he would have succumbed to it many times over. He was not someone that synchronized well with the dark, falling into it, being consumed by it, those were very real dangers for a person like him...
But he wasn't alone.
He had never been alone, and he would continue to not be alone in the future.
Everyone was here, linked at the heart, by their Sea of Souls, by the "belief" that they would never be apart, that they were there even if they couldn't be seen, even if the darkness tried to convince them there was no one else around, even if Death itself tried to tear them away from each other.
It wasn't possible, not for Death, not even for God.
If they wanted to cover everything in darkness, swallow it all up in shadows.
Then humanity would go to that end together, kicking and screaming, making complete fools of themselves, tearing at the Gods as much as they could, dragging them along with them as far as they could manage.
Regretting nothing along the way.
Resisting because they believed they must, because they could definitely win, because there was no such thing as an "impossible" opponent.
That was just...
"Now then... Snapped out of it?"
"Yeah, sorry partner. Bad habit."
How humans...
Lived their lives.
---
The youth and his lover had fallen into shadows long ago, and his weapon had followed after him moments later, as if she meant to rescue him, a puppet following it's master to the grave. They had not emerged after falling down, the descent had been followed by silence, the crackling of flames, and thus, the only result could be that they were consumed, but...
Yes.
Those black flames that would eat everything, even the future...
To withstand them even that far, to get even that close to his enemy...
That was enough.
That was more than many would have managed.
Getting any closer, existing for any longer...
Those would have been the impossibilities, and yet... And yet...
A brilliant blue light erupting from the darkness declares their defiance of the curse of Death.
And standing amidst nothing, the black flames shaking, withdrawing, from the youth that had reemerged from hell, still carrying Raku, a healed Raku on his back.
While his body should lack energy of any sort, the one that emerges from the dark is practically shaking with a silver light...
The light of the distant stars...
The light of endlessly scattered hopes, drawn together from around existence, beyond life and death, a power that came from one person reaching their hands out... Taking the hands of others into their own...
And running forward into the future together.
An endlessly building power, one that was growing stronger even now.
The "bonds" that connected the universe together.
The sword that had first showed him the path... Is not in his hand...
But that crimson sword, the sword of humanity...
Was certainly... Still intact in his heart.
Far from where the flames could ever hope to reach it.
...The black fire is not amused at the resistance. Sweeping back in from all sides, attempting to pierce through the starlight, the youth, his weapon, and his neighbor are once more swarmed by flames.
...But his expression does not change.
Standing right there... Is the enemy.
The cause of all of this... The one thing left that threatened the happiness of the world.
And pulling back his fist, the youth that stands over the weapon sitting at his back, beneath the girl on his shoulders...
...Draws back his fist.
There was no need to get any closer.
Carrying this many wishes, distance was irrelevant, and basing it on Raku's technique... He could 'fight' the enemy from here.
There was no need to feel afraid...
In fact, here, with everyone's voices singing in his heart, the youth feels far safer than he has in a long time.
It might not be enough.
It still might not be enough, but...
If there was a person that could make the impossible possible...!
"Alright Roge, you've gone far enough-!"
Screaming his feelings at his opponent, there is no desperation in his voice...
Just a clear, firm resolve.
One that knew that... No matter how this ended...
Everyone had...
Stayed true to themselves-!
"We'll fight you until the very end! You can keep your damn ultimate despair for yourself! The world is going to run strongly into the future, not the void you're trying so hard to lead it into!"
"Arcana Zero - Second Access: STARLIT DREAMS!"
---
Wise Up
-Starlit Dreams-
The brilliant "light," that Nakamura Akio found over the course of his life, and a manifestation of his "Answer." While it is called out as an arcana ability due to the first step in it's realization only being possible through manifesting Rosettia Everheart's "Chain of Hearts" through "Arcana Zero: Phantom Memories," the attack itself is a united ability, only possible through the magic of many different people, not just Nakamura Akio himself. Realizing that his friends and family are his "light," as well as the fact that he serves as a "light," for others, he utilized this nature as a beacon to reach out through Mugen to connect himself with not just his family and friends, but everyone willing to defy the fated end; and through connecting himself to them, reaching out through them to countless others as well, the cycle of joined hands continuing on without fail.
An idea that perpetuates endlessly, the desire to live to see tomorrow, the belief that is is possible to do so, becomes a single spark that turns a lone star into a canopy of stars. Even if it is overpowered once, by it's very nature, each repeated use would become stronger than the last, simply because the "spark," that connects everyone's "belief" has had more time to spread.
The Fool's journey is the realization of a miracle, and with everyone's help...
Nothing in this world is impossible.
Exodus (Complete)
Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stilled and the actors leave the stage, the story will never truly end.
Regardless of the form it takes, as long as there are memories of it's existence, the story will continue on.
In a small ward in the heart of a once devastated town, life carries on as it always has...
Because of you.
Please, remember it warmly.
We'll continue to walk down this path for eternity.
"Say, Risu... Do you think it is wrong to believe in happy endings? That when life is at its worst, one can hope and dream that miracle will occur? Tell me, Risu... Which is the happy ending you envision?"
"Sorry, Johnie-kun. I don't have an answer to that question. But since you're being so nice, I'll let you in on a secret."
It was nice. Sitting here, catching up. She didn't get a chance to hang out with Johnie-kun nearly as much as she wanted to. One thing led to another and they ended up as casual friends instead of anything else. But this was a great chance to get to know him a bit better, so it's a shame she can't help him when he needs it most. So in exchange, she'll tell him something nobody else knows.
"From the beginning, I've never believed in happy endings. But if it was wrong to believe in them, I wouldn't be here right now."
That's the sort of person Chisana Risu is.
She reaches out and takes hold of Johnie Gamble's hand. There are regrets. If she'd known him better, maybe he would have had a happier time of it. Johnie's story might have gone in a different direction, and she'd missed her chance to nudge it along.
But she does not linger there. To stay in despair would defeat her. To think only of what was instead of what could be is to stagnate and die.
"There are no endings, Johnie-kun. Happily ever after is just another beginning. My happy ending is for things to go on, as they always have. For people to struggle and fall, and get up and live life the way life ought to be lived. To be wrong and right and to move past that. Nothing ever ends, until it does."
Chisana Risu doesn't believe in happy endings. She believes in a happy now. Even here in the darkness after the world has been burned away, nothing has changed.
"Happiness can be found anywhere, anytime, by anyone. It's a miraculous thing that can show up without warning where it's least expected. Most often, you can find it in others. Like right here. Talking to you has been fun. And when I look back on everything, then this is a happy ending, in a way. Like you said, I stuck to my beliefs until the end. That's as much as any of us can do!"
She gives her best smile. An ending is an ending. What matters was that she had a happy life.
...
But...
...
It cracks.
"...no."
The perfect lie that Chisana Risu had been telling all of her life... breaks apart before the boy's eyes.
"Sorry, Johnie-kun. That was a lie."
It's fine, right? If she drops the act for just one moment, then he'll forgive her, won't he?
"It's not okay. This isn't okay at all."
It's not as if there's an afterlife for them to go to. They're both dead and gone, so what's the point in pretending?
"I want a happy ending! Where Odin gets his... his butt kicked! And everyone survives! Me, you, we all wake up just fine!"
She's not satisfied. Not in the least. There's no way Risu can rest easy with this sort of conclusion.
"And- And I'll graduate! I'll ask the guy I like out on a date! And maybe I'll get rejected but I won't matter because I'll try again! And I'll cross out each and every thing on my list and I'll live to a hundred!"
Whiny. Petulant. It's been a while, so Risu vents like the young girl she is. They say never to trust a gambling man, but Johnie Gamble reminded her of her father from the beginning. That flippant attitude that could handle any result the dice displayed was something worth being jealous about.
She rounds back to her companion.
"You're the same, right, Johnie-kun!?" By all logic he shouldn't be, but...
"Don't you wanna live? Don't you want to see what the future has in store? Don't you want to talk to Sophie Kaede again, to hang out with everyone and move past everything? To be able to look at life and feel grateful for what you've gotten out of it?"
She sees something in his eyes. Chisana Risu isn't a gambler... but she bets that it's fire.
"Don't you want to throw those dice one more time?"
Are you sure I’m the kind of person you should ask for help?
In her mind, Uta spoke back to the God. Still holding the body of Chisana Risu in her arms, a body she wasn’t sure held any life at all, Cerberus stared into the black flames ahead. In truth, standing should have been impossible for her by this point. The hound wasn’t sure how she found the strength to do even that, let alone keep her grip on the body in her arms.
Segments of her body no longer existed. Rouge’s flames had thoroughly bored through her, destroying her existence entirely. She could no longer feel her arms or legs, only pain. Pain and warmth.
Uta knew that warmth, it was Odin’s. The embrace of the strong.
From the start, I’ve been on the edge of the stage, closer to a member of the audience than an actor. I’m more like an intrusive VIP sitting on the front row, shouting at the actors, criticizing the play and encouraging the characters I like. I wonder if someone like that has any place shaping this world’s destiny.
If she could, the woman would have giggled at her evaluation of her place in this world. As she spoke, she thought, this man is the first to ever hear her honest opinion of herself. Cerberus couldn’t say he was something like a friend to her, or even an ally. Not a confidant either. It was more like, in this moment, she was seated in a confessional booth, speaking to God himself.
Truthfully, reality might not be far from that image. Kajiki Uta fully regarded this man as a genuine God.
Her grip on Chisana Risu began to fail.
Without realizing herself what she was doing, Kajiki Uta desperately pulled the body closer, not letting it fall to the ground. Doing so would be giving up on this girl who had gotten her hopes up.
Cerberus’ lips moved, but no voice escaped.
"Well for my next trick, I'm gonna gather up everyone who's lost, and then I'm gonna make all this bad stuff disappear! Don't you think that'd be more interesting to watch, Uta-san?"
‘I haven’t forgotten that you said that, Chisana Risu.’
Her words went unspoken. She wasn’t even sure if the girl in her arms had any life left in her.
‘And I’m not giving you the last laugh, either. If those were supposed to be your last words, it just motivates me even more not to let you die, and spoil that last message of yours. There’s no way a shrimp like you is getting one up on me.’
Again, no words left her mouth. But it didn’t matter. What she held in her hands was in no state to hear anything.
You said Fortissimo isn’t something I can use alone? Odin-senpai, you know I despise that “combining powers” and the “bonds between others” stuff. That isn’t the strength I know or want.
Cerberus smiled. Most of her body had been destroyed. Her world, everyone’s world, now drowned in darkness and death. She only knew pain and her own weakness, the coming of death, but she smiled. Even if what remained of her physical form could no longer perform such gestures, she smiled.
I refuse your push, Odin-senpai. I don’t need it.
In the first place, she could no longer take any more steps. Forward or backward, both had been rendered impossible. Cerberus was not a magus with the destiny defying endurance and force of will possessed by a certain boy who marched to his death before her. She didn’t have a life full of friendships to press against her back and give her the strength to move forward.
Instead,
Her arm stretched forward.
With her remaining arm she pressed Chisana Risu against herself, to hold the girl up, and reached out with the other. Hand outstretched, fingers wide open, reaching for something.
I’m plundering your strength for myself.
Her fingers closed together, grabbing hold of something in the dark.
I’m sure you don’t mind, Odin-senpai. You were defeated, so you don’t have any need for it anymore. Ahh, and don’t worry. At the very least, I’ll take care of this Flame. After all, gaining a strength like this, there’s no way I could resist using it, and there isn’t anyone else worth using it on. Well, if Rouge Flame disappoints me, I won’t promise not to play with the rest of the magi here. I’m sure you were already aware of that possibility when you came to me anyway, weren’t you?
Laughter began to fill the space in her mind shared with the God. Not manic, or full of malice. Free of bloodlust. A simple joyous laugh.
Of course, I don’t need a second body. That concern of yours is wasted, Odin-senpai. The strong shouldn’t worry about those weaker than them anyway. Well, now I might be stronger than you.
Teasingly, she ended her sentence with a giggle. At the same time, her foot lifted itself from the ground. A leg that had been burnt to nothingness before, as empty and desolate as the destruction her strength left in its wake, yet now reformed in its entirety, and her outstretched hand swung in an arc, the edge of Hades in her clutches cutting through the flames.
My head spins and I can feel myself stagger a bit. As my body is caught between the constant flux of empowerment and deterioration, I know all too well that this is not a power I can evoke for too long. That much was clear the moment I unleashed it. And I'm sure Kaede Sophie understands this much as well. That's why she retreated. Knowing that I have neither the stores of mana or the physical condition to truly control these flames, she ran in order to buy time. Because, as it stands, my flames can't reach her.
I can feel her overwhelming pressure slowly collapsing this space. I'm not exactly sure what kind of magic it is, but that doesn't really matter now. It's powerful. It's threatening... Understandably a power befitting of a god, it's a magic that far exceeds anything that Fukami Mikoto can do. Even still, that doesn't matter now.
I can't see her, but I can feel her.
I can't match her, but I can challenge her.
Reminding myself of my own abilities, my fears, and my doubts, I take in all that I am and confidently step forward. I clear my mind and remind myself of what it is that I came here to do. I remind myself of what it is that I have to do. Bearing all these feelings inside of me, the flames around me respond in kind. The hope I hold onto in my heart intensifies the golden blaze while the fear of failure fuels the dark inferno. The two flames rage around me, feeding off of each other and making its opposite stronger. And just like these things we humans like call emotions, they lift me up and push me forward.
I slowly raise my hand and form a fist.
Every bit of magical energy I can muster is unleashed is unleashed in a violent tempest.
From the very beginning, I understood that Sophie's power far exceeded my own. However, at the same time, I never had any intention of letting that hold me back. Whether I succeed here or not, I'll throw every last bit of power this body can throw at her. Even if that effort burns my body away... That's simply the lengths I'm willing to go to in order to protect the things I hold dear.
"Did you just feel fear, Kaede Sophie?"
I look up and beyond the ceiling towards a face I can no longer see. As if talking to a gods sitting on high in the heavens above, I challenge her as my fist rises higher.
"Did this measly power I hold in my hands just make you retreat? ...While you hold the 'ultimate' power that is capable of shaping the world in an instant, the sight of a few flames that can reach no further than these walls is enough to make you step back? Do you know why that is, Kaede Sophie?"
The flames around me grow even stronger. Despite whatever steps she may have taken... Despite whatever traps she set to dissuade me... The heat of my flames do not falter and only continue to rise in intensity. And, in that lingering moment, I look back at my friends. Smiling softly at Haru and Nanako in remembrance of the time we've spent together... And then at Tsukabe with a gaze that entrusts everything to him. The faces of all my friends flashing by in my head, I look back beyond the sky and clearly envision Sophie's face in my mind.
"Because... Despite having the whole world in your hands, it's an empty world where no one supports you."
"--KAMUI: ZERO-REI!!---"
I drop into a stance and call out the name of my greatest spell. With my magical abilities quickly rising to their very limit, I ready a Kamui unlike anything that has even been seen before. The ground shakes, the air rumbles, and space itself steadily comes undone at the seams. Time itself has come to a halt. Or perhaps it would be better to say that it has simple ceased to exist. The 'reality' I knew has been wiped clean and, now, what lies ahead is an empty canvas upon which a new world can be created.
Kamui: Zero-Rei... It is the ultimate extent of the ability I've been given as a magus. While the standard Kamui simply allows for me to insert my 'influence' into anything I touch in order to alter it's history, Zero-Rei is a last resort magic which unlocks that self-imposed limiter. A grand magic which fully utilizes the power to alter history... The power to change reality itself. By breaking down the barriers between infinite worlds and possibilities, it opens up the path to achieve a one in a million miracle- even if only for an instant. But that's all I need...
"ISANAGI... SEN-!"
Within this space between worlds, I reach out far and wide and draw in as much power as I can. Through the use of Mugen, it's easy to feel out the power of 'Fukami Mikoto' across the countless different worlds. I draw in power from the past, present, and future alike- drawing it into myself until I'm filled to burst... and then some. Having called upon this power, it's not just my body that I'm putting on the line but my very existence. Regardless, despite the danger, I push myself even further and further until I can reach the 'god' who looks down upon us.
"I've come this far because I have people to support me! I may not be as powerful as you, but that doesn't matter-! Because no matter how powerful one person may be, they will always fall before a united effort! No matter how small we are... No matter how weak our voices may be-! When our feelings all unite as one, there's no force alive that can stand before us!"
I take a single step forward and rush headfirst into the deep-blue expanse. The world moves around me and an unfathomable power fills my being. Not just the 'me' that has struggled through every single possibility, but the countless friends I've made along the way. It all converges into me- manifesting as a brilliant golden flame. With Kaede Sophie's lone image standing on the opposite side of that void, the path ahead becomes clear.
"--KOTOAMATSUKAMI!--"
A violent power spreads throughout every fiber of my body. It's warm, gentle, yet fierce and overwhelming. The world sings for me as the realm created by Zero-Rei slowly starts to give way. Reality starts to reform and the hands of time start to march again. But my hand has already been played. I reached out and grabbed a hold of the impossible miracle I so desired and turned it into my very being.
"Grit your teeth, Kaede Sophie..."
Before that path has a chance to close, my body is propelled through it with unimaginable force. As if being pushed by everyone at once, my golden flame dances through the corridor of time and space and shines with a radiance that illuminates all of creation. And... at the end of it all is Kaede Sophie. Sitting on her throne... Completely unaware of the power I hold in my hand.
"This is the power of the world you turned your back on..."
Time moves once more. Reality stabilizes. Zero-Rei has ended. But before all is said and done, my fist announces the end of it all like a burning star crashing to the earth. This is my ultimate attack. A power which utilizes everything Fukami Mikoto has achieved and more. With tremendous force, I call out it's name.
"HINO-KAGATSUCHI-!"
Wise Up
Kamui: Zero-Rei (Authority of the Gods: Double Zero)
The ultimate extension of Mikoto's basic Kamui spell. By expanding the core power to its absolute limit, Mikoto is able to expand her ability to manipulate reality and actively affect the world around her. By briefly removing the boundaries between all worlds, Mikoto is able to access every possibility and use them to shape her own reality. [...]
Hino-Kagutsuchi
The end result of Zero-Rei as well as Mikoto's true Last Resort. Put simply it is a super-charged straight punch which utilizes the miracle created by Zero-Rei to deliver a decisive blow. Originally called simply Kagutsuchi, upon awakening Hyuuga, this attack has since been elevated to a higher level.
"I promise nothing." - Sei "Kanra" Slayers
Resident Sadist. Enjoys stepping and sitting on people.
Avid lover of butts and anime.
More than a simple punch, more than a leap through time and space, more than magic itself. This is not a just a Last Resort, it's Fukami Mikoto's 'everything'. Memories, feelings, dreams... They all brilliantly converge in the figure of a woman clad in golden flames, determined to protect who she is and what she holds dear. In that minuscule fraction of time in which the world seems to be caught in slow-motion, Fukami Mikoto looks more like a hero than anything else. Putting everything on the line for a chance to surpass someone who has acquired the power of 'God', her passion can be seen in her body and heard in her voice. There is nothing more pure. That resolve alone is enough to literally overwhelm everything in her path.
---However.
"Drown in despair and disappear. Awaken..."
If that were all it takes to defeat a supreme deity, then humanity would have surpassed them a long time ago!
"---Lucid Dreamer---"
A massive cloud of darkness fills your vision in an instant. As a whole, it resembles a black hole and it might not be wrong to call it in such way. After all, it pulls matter towards it with a power and speed you cannot match even in your current form. There is no time to react, much less to avoid it. At that moment, your brain can only process a single, undeniable fact: The moment you enter that thing, you are never coming back. You have already exceeded your limits, so in order to avoid it, you'll have to go beyond that. But it is to no avail... The strain and the curse begin to take their toll on your body at precisely the worst time, and even if you did manage to alter your course slightly, Sophie easily makes up for it by adjusting the lightless star's position.
'She can destroy everything that comes into her field of vision'.
Cain's words fail to convey the sheer magnitude of this Mythic Class Last Resort. If reality is but a fleeting dream, it will end the moment we wake up. Instants later, we're bound to forget most, if not all, of what happened during that time. Give it some more time, and the dreamer will completely ignore the fact that such reality once existed. Nyarlatothep's trump card forces a part of the world to 'wake up', essentially erasing everything in the designated area. Neither Magic nor Science can oppose this field of non-existence, as the miracles they can create apply only to a world found in dreams. In other words, it cannot be matched.
That is, except for one thing.
"Tch."
Small embers of contrasting colors fly dangerously close to her dress. After the brief exchange, those flames are the only thing that remain of Fukami Mikoto. Her existence has been wiped out from this world, as well as every possible dimension. It's a matter of time before her actions crumble to dust and her deeds are forgotten by everyone. She shouldn't even need to worry about Kagutsuchi's after-effect, as even that has lost its meaning and existence.
"..."
Still, that was far too close for comfort. The only reason she was able to counter it in time was because she had seen her use her Last Resort once before. The girl and her were similar in that they both had the gift to be able to look at each other's past. Mikoto could do it by inserting her presence into someone else's 'history', while the Heir of the Kaede can learn of such things through the resonation of the primordial matter that composes all things.
She breathes out.
---The moment she does...
-------The unrelenting force of nine different worlds crashes against her face all at once.
"Wh-"
Her jaw breaks before she can utter a single word. For a moment, her body appears to stand its ground against the unexpected enemy, but it is only an illusion, just a prelude of what will happen next. The compressed universes seek to expand and break free. The result is a spark that gives place to an unfathomable explosion, a phenomenon similar to what's commonly referred as 'The Big Bang'. The surroundings begin to lose their shape, divide in the form of light particles and disappear, as the flames of convergence dance across the battlefield. Hino-Kagutsuchi, like its predecessor, is an ultimate attack which cannot tell friend from foe once the effects of Kamui: Zero-Rei end, scattering everything within its area of influence across all dimensions. Needless to say, it is a one-hit kill Last Resort which will almost instantly end the life of any Magus caught close to its epicenter, other than its caster.
In a sense, Sophie Kaede made Fukami Mikoto a favor by creating a point in space far enough for her friends not to be obliterated by the explosion. In the worst case scenario, Mikoto has left them with perhaps the only person who can shield them against it.
The tower, alongside half the district is swallowed by a giant surge of light that would have stood out more if the world had not been already razed by an even greater destruction, brought by an even higher existence. Everything fades, and there is literally no resistance, simply because there isn't anything capable of such thing.
When it all ends, and the world is once more submerged in the darkness summoned by the one called Rogue, Fukami Mikoto is the only one left standing in that wrecked street. Using Jikuufuki within a window of time where it should have not been possible, in a way that not even Kotoamatsukami could find in the records of history... She has survived.
But...
"...!"
Though in absorbing the other versions of herself from across time and space, her external wounds were healed, the backlash for pushing herself past what she is normally capable of hit her all at once. Her hair returns to its original color, and a moment later, she collapses on the burnt pavement, being barely able to remain conscious, or hell, even exist.
Above, high in the sky, reigns a red star, the worlds only current source of light, now that her flames have died out. But, given her condition, she's barely able to take notice of it. Her life is fading, as she has broken more than one magic taboo to get to where she is now. In all likelihood, her existence will be eaten away completely by the flames she so daringly wielded moments ago.
---Heartbeat.
It's a familiar feeling, one you've experienced several times ever since you became a Magus. However, it has little to do with your supernatural nature. No, this is something even the lowest lifeform should be able to perceive.
------Heartbeat.
You feel a small burst of energy flow through your body. You should not be able to move, yet you do so instinctively. The pain becomes secondary. Because, at that time, every fiber of your being can tell... That you are in danger.
That the battle isn't over yet.
You throw your body to the side in a miserable motion. The next second, the place you formerly occupied is blown to rubble.
"... You reject it? The perfect future everyone else yearns for? This rotten world's final salvation? Insect... Are you saying you'd crush such blessing with your own two hands...?"
-------
"Say, mother. Why is it that you don't have any friends?"
Back then, she asked that question out of genuine curiosity. Her mother had plenty of allies, but even the most loyal soldier did not spend time with her the way a real friend would. For a brief moment, the question seemed to catch her mother off-guard, but she managed to recover quickly enough for her daughter not to notice. Her mother kneeled down next to her and said:
"Honestly... I guess that's because no one wants to be my friend... And because I cannot afford to have any. The Kaede is a strong lineage that stands where it is because of its patient, yet ruthless nature. We take what is useful for us and discard the rest; we make sacrifices and we often stain our hands in blood to get what we want. To be any different would spell doom for this family. And, precisely because of that, those who know our name fear and respect us. Listen, Sophie... There will be a time when I will not be here to guide you. As you move through your journey, I am sure you will gain many followers, some old, some new. I don't want to consider any of them your friend, no matter how close. Only then will you be able to act as the heir to this clan."
"..."
"However, if you truly desire it, there might be a way for you to find a friend."
"... A way?"
"Attain everything. Make my dream come true, and then you'll be able to gather as many friends as you want."
"Attain... everything..."
"Thank you... Mother."
-------
"..."
Her eyes are the same as yours. They belong to a person who has gone far beyond her limits. From the very beginning, it was unlikely that someone like her could singlehandedly attain the power of 'God'. Even if such thing were possible, it wouldn't be without an enormous cost. The fact that she has somehow managed to survive your strongest attack is nothing to sneeze at, but it wasn't like she got out of it unscratched. On her own, she has created hundreds of Magi to invade the island, and she has actively used her power without pause for longer than you have. At the core, her strength reaches far higher than yours.
However, right now, her Mugen has been sealed due to your own Mugen special properties, her Magic Reserves have been drained in order to keep herself alive, and she barely has the stamina needed to stand on both feet.
Yes... Right Now...
Right now human and god stand as equal.
[18:30] RacingeR: Max S.Link with hero is when you promise your daughter to him
[18:31] RacingeR: Which means Airen and me are the only ones that maxed it (I promised Spin to him, and Spin is my daughter)
[18:32] hero: oh shit
[18:32] hero: spincess get
[18:32] hero: suck it fuckers
What else would happen if one repeatedly acknowledged themselves as a meaningless existence, as something which had no place in this world? Of course, there would eventually be a price to pay, for there was a consequence to every action. To escape these all consuming-flames, shifting from reality was not enough; hiding in another dimension wasn't enough... Destruction was something inevitable, loss, death, atrophy, it all eventually came and caught up with those that kept trying to escape in the hopes of outrunning their end – a foolish idea really.
But did all of this really matter? Did her misery and the end of her life really matter in the end? Did the destruction of this world truly have a cost, a meaning even?
Of course not.
“It doesn't matter,” she whispered as she closed her eyes.
Yet...
...she did not let herself sink. Kurokami Hotaru did not close her eyes to sleep, rather, it was to take a deep breath and do the unthinkable.
She stood up. Casually, without questioning the logic of this world, she stood up. It wasn't the normal world, perhaps that it was her own world, her own mind – or maybe that it was something else entirely, an afterlife of sorts; at any rate, she did not feel like the laws of buoyancy and physics would matter much here... and she was right.
Hotaru's feet were firmly planted on the water, the surface rippling as she took her steps, holding together as if this blackness had coalesced into a solid plane. A contradictory construct that was both liquid and solid at the same time.
Yet it didn't matter.
Kurokami Hotaru looked at all the shadows. Despair manifested? No, rather, it could be said that these were people draped in despair, coated by agony, drowning in misery. Yes, they were most likely shades, experiencing all the luxurious details which came alongside realizing one's own demise.
But what so then? If she was now in whatever name one could give the afterlife, fittingly a hellish version of that, what of it? Was there something which could stir Kurokami Hotaru from what she thought of at this point?
It didn't matter. Not at all.
Then why did Kurokami Hotaru walk on? Why did she begin moving at a steady pace, wading through this black hell?
“Ah, yes."
It was because of that song.
Mixed in with the agony of the 'shades', was a charming lullaby. Such a song, such a voice had no place in hell – its very presence was an anomaly in this nightmarish landscape, a discordant serenade which's very existence was unfathomable.
Like a foolish sailor lured in by the Sirens, Kurokami Hotaru followed the voice, searching for its source.
This lullaby was wordless, it was merely a hummed tune... but that tune, it was one that Kurokami Hotaru held close to her heart. Even though she had become a shell which moved based on rationality and cynicism, the emptiness could not strip away the memory of this tune.
'Residual effects', was it?
Eventually, a white figure could be observed on the horizon. After walking for an amount of time that Hotaru could not quantify, she had found the source of this lullaby -- a girl with platinum hair, her beautiful figure shining in this darkness like the full moon amidst the midnight sky. That girl was under a cherry tree which seemed to have sprouted out of nowhere and perdured in this hell. The water-like surface wasn't even visible here, for the cherry blossoms that had fallen down were covering everywhere, forming a canopy that painted the surroundings in a peaceful light pink hue.
Swiftly, the Void Empress raised her gun and aimed it at the platinum-haired figure.
"Who-- what are you?!"
A playful chuckle preluded this person's answer as she turned around, revealing her face.
"Eh? I thought that you'd figure it out just by hearing the song..." "...nee-san."
What, say that again?
These words were never spoken, but Kurokami Nayuta could clearly see them leaving Kurokami Hotaru's agape mouth. It was natural for her to lose her grip on reality, when one of the people she treasured the most in the world had somehow appeared in front of her, seemingly resurrected.
Or was it really resurrection?
Before Hotaru stood an exact 'what if'-type of construct, a 'what if Kurokami Nayuta had lived and grown into a fine young woman'. While she had changed, it would be impossible for Hotaru to not recognise her little sister even if she had grown up.
The last time Hotaru had seen her little sister, Nayuta was but a child, while here, she had become nearly a full-fledged adult. Her body had matured, her serenity was without compare -- there was no doubt that this young woman here was Kurokami Nayuta.
And yet, she knew that this was impossible. Nayuta passed away right in front of Hotaru's eyes, and seeing the obscure nature of this place... the Void Empress could only deduce that it was all an illusion. A trick.
"A deception."
The Void Empress would have immediately pressed the trigger and shot, yet for Kurokami Hotaru could not. Her finger trembled, and all she could do was grit her teeth as she looked on at her 'sister', a sister who seemed rather puzzled at what was going on.
"That's a rude way to greet me, onee-san."
Nayuta's voice was as soothing as ever, even when there was a rebuking tone subtlety attache to her words. However, anything that would theoretically soothe Hotaru would in this situation, only serve to infuriate her further: Peace, feeling at ease, a sense of finality, she had no desire for such things.
Or that is what Hotaru thought.
"Do. Not. Call. Me. That."
Every single syllable was sharp enough to cut through a person's soul, her gaze, the aura of pointlessness that gushed forth from around her, beholding Hotaru as she violently uttered those words was like observing an utter black hole.
Yet, it didn't matter.
-------
Kurokami Nayuta
???
She had observed carefully, every single one of her sister's fights, every single battle that the Void Empress had waged. Not only the physical battles, no, these were important, but what interested Nayuta the most was understanding what could possibly have warped the kind and loving Kurokami Nayuta into such a cold and emotionless machine.
But the more Nayuta observed, the more she understood that her elder sister had not 'changed', in fact, one could say that this woman who was ready to obliterate all known existence had a heart most kind and loving.
What she wished for was so that no one else would suffer the despair and agony she had been put through. Hotaru's loss of everything, which culminated in her loss of her little sister and brother, was a void that had sucked her in from the very moment 'Nayuta' had passed away. In a sense, Hotaru was still there, frozen in that time, frozen in that room, experiencing the pain of losing the final thread which tied the meaning of her life together.
Because she still felt it, even now, Kurokami Hotaru could not function, and instead, she had to put someone else in the pilot's seat... alas, the only thing that could pilot this shell was Hotaru's own anger and sorrow.
This is how it resulted in all of this. It just began as a wish to somehow bring back what she had lost, but it grew into a good-willing curse: so that no one else would ever suffer as much as Hotaru had, the world would have to come to an end.
No matter what Hotaru said, Nayuta knew that she had to bring her sister back to her senses before it was too late. Perhaps that this would have eventually happened if Hotaru had been left to her own devices, after all, as it had been seen, some of the gears for such a change had already begun moving... but by the time it would happen, obviously it would be too late.
There was a reason Nayuta was here after all... and nothing would stand in her way to bring back her beloved onee-san.
"....!"
In an instant, Hotaru's gun was sent flying away as the sound of metal clashing resounded in the air, echoing through this distorted garden of petals. Reactively, the Void Empress launched a counter-attack, swinging her void-infused fan at lightning speeds, yet once again...
The blow was deflected, and the fan went spiralling off, falling onto the bed of petals below.
In front of the Void Empress, stood a strange, unfamiliar sight.
"... now I can't get to talk to you properly if you're pointing a gun at me. I hate guns you know?"
While the latter statement was true, Nayuta spoke without any ill-will or negativity. Even though she may have been shot in the face, this was still her elder, beloved sister that she was talking to. There was no way she could bring herself to talk to her in a harmful way... and Nayuta knew that Hotaru felt the same.
After all, what had just happened wasn't even in the realm of possibilities. Even though her speciality was to forge a purpose and render the impossible possible... what had just occurred could only have happened because Kurokami Hotaru let it so.
The elder sister laughed, swallowed in her void energies.
"Yes, I know. It's what took our otouto away."
------
Kurokami Hotaru
???
Nothing mattered, absolutely nothing. That was something that I had set as a reality from the day I had lost everything after trying all I could so that this wouldn't happen. The conclusion of a foolish maiden that at the end of everything, there was just that, 'the end'.
But if that had been my true 'answer', then why was it that Kurokami Hotaru had lived on all these years? I always told myself that it was for the sake of my little sister's last request, but then, it would contradict with the 'answer' that I had found.
Ah, yes, this leads to the entire problem that I've had. A contradiction, that is exactly what Kurokami Hotaru happens to be. If the nihilist within me was someone I truly agreed with, then all these years ago I should have ended up having thrown my body off a cliff, and that'd be all Kurokami Hotaru would've achieved. If I truly wished to follow my sister's wish, an I could have done that, then it would've been possible for me to rebuild a mask of happiness so convincing that I might've fooled myself that I had once again found happiness... and lived for the rest of my miserable life this way.
Both of these options were preferable to this contradiction that I chose, so why... why did I choose the third option?
I--
"You felt that both options were too easy. You wanted to atone for your 'sin' of failing to protect us, and at the same time, you wanted to 'fix this world'. You wanted a new beginning."
Yes, that was correct. With this power over pointlessness that I had somehow managed to gain, I hoped that somehow, I would eventually reach the point where I could get rid of this twisted world. I could destroy it, I could make it so that no one would have to experience pain, experience loss.
It sounds stupid yes. It is stupid, in fact.
"I see... It's good that you're aware of that then."
But I am a fool. A fool that did not know when to stop.
"And who's really bad at acting."
Yeah, you can say so. I've always been bad at lying at any rate, especially to you, Nayuta. In the end I who wanted to become the mask, could only wear it till the very end instead of becoming worn...
"Though I don't like it, that's my onee-san's determination for sure!"
Of course, this all feels too true. I know that you're just some figment of my imagination trying to comfort me as my body's slowly dying, or maybe that you're really Nayuta's prayer that has somehow lived on inside my heart... I guess that all this crazy stuff is what happens when one is about to expire. Although that'll let us be together once more. I'm feeling strangely happy, even though all these past years have effectively been for absolutely nothing.
"... you do realize that I'm not a figment of your imagination right?"
Stop talking nonsense. I realized it as I walked, but ignored such a notion because of my fixation on our song. This mental landscape is the very hell I've locked myself in since you've passed. A self-built prison that I routinely come to -- those shadows that writhe in agony are nothing more than representations of my self-inflicted torture.
"Nee-san, could you please open your eyes for a moment? I know that I hit your hard on the head to knock you out, but that's no reason to sleep. Wait, how do you even knock someone out when you're inside their head?!"
Really, I lost consciousness from a concussion? I thought that I got run through by that sword or something...
"I would never, ever do such a thing to my nee-san! ...so now, please stop changing subjects and open your eyes."
Fine.
Beautiful scarlet eyes, sun-like orbs shining down a gaze of kindness on my whole being. Once upon a time, I was the one that looked down into them, but to think that somehow I would end up staring heavenswards to see them...
Ah, what is this soft feeling as delicate fingers brush through my hairs and gently caress my head.
"Hey, I didn't tell you to open your eyes for you to go to sleep again!"
That's true. It is a pleasant idea at any rate... even though that could be the final time I close my eyes.
Oh, why are you upset?
"Stop talking like you're going to die! Look at me closely. Do you think that you would've been able to properly envision down to the finest details what your imotou would've resembled when she turned seventeen?"
Hmm, imagination can run wild. Maybe that my brain has simply cobbled up the best-looking features of different pictures and I've slapped them all on--
"Gaaah, stop thinking so much Nee-san! This is your typical plot of the random Light Novel where future alternate self comes back to the past to set things right! Well, I'm not you, I'm not a figment of your imagination, Kurokami Nayuta, your little sister!"
...what?
---
The Purpose of Purposelessness
Much to Kurokami Hotaru's surprise, she wasn't dead. No, it took a bit of explaining to her, but while it was true that the place where they stood now was the manifestation of her soul and thoughts, a landscape mirroring her psychological profile, the 'Kurokami Nayuta' that stood here was somehow not a figment of her imagination, nor was she the lingering will of a prayer that had lasted longer than the one who uttered it.
She was a real individual who had somehow managed to manifest here. She had come to convince Hotaru to do the 'right thing', to clear her mind of doubts, to clear her soul of guilt, to free her from the chains of this self-inflicted torment.
If Nayuta hadn't shown up, Kurokami Hotaru would eventually have pulled from the infinite cesspool that was her pain sorrow to keep going on. Yes, her initial line of thought when she awoke in this sea of dark was that nothing mattered at all... not even death. She would walk on towards the single purpose which in the most contradictory of fashions mattered: the 'resetting of the world'.
She would be able to make one thing finally matter.
But now the game had changed.
The answer to her solutions had always been simple. It was crude and rather heartless, but it was still, the one true answer.
Just move on.
She did not have the strength to do so when it all began, but one could say that the poison she drank eventually turned into an antidote. Kurokami Hotaru stared so long at the abyss that it did not just stare back -- it looked away.
The nature of everything having no meaning is contrary to human nature by itself, as a result, for a human to practice such a thing is self-defeating. A true nihilist is an individual who is able to cease existing and doing anything from the moment they come to the realisation that life is meaningless; this cessation of existence is not 'killing' oneself, rather, it is reaching some sort of obscure variant of Nirvana where one is neither alive or dead. The concept of 'existence' shouldn't be traceable even: anything that has purpose should be stripped, severed... and it is in trying to realize this Nihilistic Nirvana that Kurokami Hotaru eventually understood that it wasn't just that the world was meaningless...
...it was that a meaningless world could only become a world filled with purpose.
Purposelessness was the base nature of the world, but like how a paper starts out white and blank, to be purposeless is to merely become a canvas awaiting for its painter.
An awakening of the conscience, or something of sorts close to it: eventually became clear to Hotaru that she was given a new purpose, and that there was no reason or point in ending the world.
With the fog over her cleared, this only left the plethora of questions concerning Nayuta, how she had ended up here, or even why she looked like that.
"I can tell that you want to ask me all kinds of questions, nee-san, but I think that it's better that you don't know too much about us. After all, I don't think that my nee-san had her little sister from the future come back and give her a little lecture!"
Nayuta smiled. It was a heartfelt smile that could outshine the stars, outshine the sun. Her emotions of joy and relief were so strong that they felt palpable, encircling Hotaru and wrapping her in a warm blanket of happiness.
She supposed that this was enough. Hotaru figured that if Nayuta didn't want to say too much, then she probably had her reasons.
"I suppose that this is goodbye then. I don't know what will happen if I stay here too long -- but what will become of you once I awaken?"
"Oh, don't worry, I'll just go back to where I came from."
Nayuta waved her sword around as if implying that it would allow her to do so. Hotaru wondered what kind of strange magical weapon that was, or even, why her own little sister seemed to be a sort of magician... but as she had just said, there was no time to waste on these questions.
Hotaru nodded at Nayuta, who seeing the signal to begin the 'parting', raised her sword in the air. Gone was the determination of the girl that Hotaru had met moments ago, and now, she could only see her little sister, even, observe her trembling hands as Nayuta's subconscious struggled with the idea of hitting her own sister.
"Eheh... we didn't have that much time to talk and do sisterly things did we...", Nayuta uttered, obviously trying to distract her own fears with a conversation.
"I believe that can wait for another time. The Hotaru in your world can handle that, I'm sure."
A sudden wave of sorrow washed across Nayuta's face as her eyes became downcast, but as quickly as that came, it was replaced with a cheerful, radiant smile.
"... she's not there. But maybe that I'll find her once I go back now that I've helped you!"
There wasn't much more that Nayuta had to say for Hotaru to understand the implications of that sentence. She did not know exactly how to feel about it other than joy at the idea that at least her siblings were alive where Nayuta was... but they probably shared part of the same despair that Hotaru herself had burdened herself with.
That is why she would not satisfy herself with a result where the family remained separated.
She would see them all once again, in the world of the living.
"Ah... so that's how it is... Don't worry, we'll meet again for sure. I promise."
"You better keep it!"
In one fell swoop, the Blade which opened the gate of possibilities 'cleaved' Kurokami Hotaru in two... and the door back to the world was opened.
United Front
Shopping District Ruins - Time Unknown
"Future, you say? Wake up, boy. Your foolish dream ends here."
The avatar extends his hand towards the will of humanity, as if ordering it to halt. However, he soon understands how pointless such action is. After all, there is no need to interfere. Those 'Starlight Dreams', as Nakamura Akio called them, will never reach him. It's a shame, really. Had he reached his 'answer' sooner, the combination of different wills and different magics condensed in that Last Resort might have been able to turn the tides of this already impossible fight. However, the world is already collapsing, suffering to the point where it is literally begging to be erased from existence. The God that created it as part of a dream has already given up on it and wishes to wake up, leaving no other path available. It responds violently to the dream's resistance and constantly creates more vessels, to be more precise, humans. Those humans burn as soon as they are given birth, creating an endless circle of suffering. Wouldn't you want everything to end in the fastest, simplest and less painful way, too?
It does not matter just how many followers Nakamura Akio manages to find across the sea of souls. The will of few will never surpass that of many. It will take a second or two, but his trump card will soon lose its conceptual worth and become harmless to him.
That's why, he should not even pay attention to it. Instead, the one he should focus on is...
"Like we'd let you...!"
It's an attack from above.
Though the heat might be unbearable, the skies have not yet been fully conquered by the flames. Taking advantage on this, Nakamura Hitomi and Sawai Mihou have managed to get this far in one piece. Though their efforts will be ultimately futile either way, Rogue Flame feels the urge to put them down at once. 'A fallen angel'... For a moment, the Mage of Misfortune draws a smirk under his mask. For some reason, the poetic image of the slaughter about to unfold causes him amusement.
He points his hand at the descending duo and, in the span of an instant...
Releases a projectile that would turn the world black and white.
-------
"Hehe..." Johnie reveals an apologetic smile. "Something like that."
It isn't the kind of answer you expected. In contrast to your energetic rebuttal and your desire to live, your friend sounds weak, unsure and not excited at all. Maybe what you said made the scene a little bit awkward for him, but you can't help but to feel a little discouraged to see that he doesn't feel exactly the same way you do.
"I also want a happy ending. All those things you mentioned, you can be sure that I wish to carry them out from the bottom of my heart. However, there is a reason why I cannot do that. My physical body is gone, you see? All that is left of me is a lingering thought. Don't be sad, though. There is a chance for you. It seems you just gave up earlier than you should of have. Really, you are probably the only thing that is keeping you here."
It certainly does feel like you can leave this place on your own and, even if you could, leaving Johnie alone just doesn't seem like the right thing to do. But... Is there anything you can do? You have crafted miracles with magic and even without it, you have proved to be a magician of worth. And yet, being faced with an undeniable reality, you've ran out of options. Magic won't help you here... You've always been an average Magus to begin with. If you had Magical Energy and Last Resorts to spare, you probably wouldn't be in such a pinch. Likewise, words won't help you here. You managed to defeat darkness by reminding it one is never alone. It was a grand victory, but one you cannot repeat here. Nothing you say will change the fact that you have no way to save Johnie as you are.
"It's alright." He stares instantly at the bonfire. At first, you thought he was insecure. Now, you begin to believe it might be the exact opposite. "I'll be watching over a shining future from here... I couldn't ask for more. Besides..."
The boy turns towards you and shoots a flashy smile, before adjusting his hat and concealing his eyes within its shadow.
"What kind of gambler would I be, if I dared to throw the dice before they stop spinning? The result of the bet I've made... It's too early to tell if it was a win or loss. Oh well, I guess I'll have to leave it up to you this time, Risu-chan."
As if caught in a roller coaster put on reverse, you are suddenly taken away from Johnie and the bonfire, quickly leaving them behind before being swallowed by a mass of nothingness. It won't last long... You'll be awake in the blink of an eye. He said you were the one keeping yourself in this place, but now it totally feels like he's the one pushing you out.
"Let me see through your eyes... That beautiful happy ending..."
-------
"Surely, you jest."
For the very first time, Sophie Kaede and Johnie Gamble stand on opposite sides, facing each other with a look on their faces that will not bow down to anything. Not far behind the boy are two of his friends, Hishikawa Nanako and Nakayama Haru, who lay unconscious after the experiments Sophie carried out on their bodies. Though it was mostly a success, a part of what she was looking for proved to be missing, and as a result, she has decided to realize a second 'inspection'. Johnie more than anyone knows that repeating the procedure actually carries a great risk for the 'patient', and has stepped in between to express his disapproval.
"That's enough. You said that nobody would be harmed more than absolutely necessary."
In response, his mother-in-law lets out a brief chuckle.
"And I've kept my word. You know that's the reason why the rest of your friends are still alive, you know? Now, let me just..."
She takes a step forward but immediately halts as Johnie responds to her advance by unwrapping the bandages that cover his eye and calling forth his Magical Weapon.
"..."
"You can't be serious... You wouldn't even last an instant against me. What has gotten into you?"
Nyarlathotep begins to wear thin. Though she has practically raised Johnie since he was a kid, as a Kaede, she is willing to let go of that attachment if it means reaching her goals. As if to demonstrate this, she summons her Magical Weapon as well. The moment she does so, a torrent of Magical Pressure engulfs the entire area.
"Ugh..."
She has not done anything yet, but her presence is enough to force the Gambler's body to kneel down.
"Hoh...? Done already? You're all bark and no bite, dog. Now get out of my-."
---House Rules---
In a flash of light, Johnie Gamble invokes his Last Resort. In the beginning, House Rules was an unpredictable trump card that relied entirely one luck. It was a manifestation of Johnie's lifestyle as a gambler that allowed him to make a bet and get a number of different effects based on the result. However, after discovering his element was actually the manipulation of possibility, it has become even more of a threat. Although he is still no more than an amateur whose skills can barely be considered on par with that of the average Magus, this ability alone could someday allow him to stand on the same realm as gods.
Right now, it is far from the peak of its potential.
"A bluff won't save you at this time. I am the one who taught you everything you know. You'd do well to remember that."
The boy smiles, as if recalling a memory in particular.
"That's not true. Moreover, it is not a bluff. Certainly, I've used a fair share of my reserves just to escape from the mythical beasts you summoned. Not to mentions the other minions I had to beat up to get here. That said... What I have should still be enough to light a spark."
"That's why I said it's a bluff." Sophie explains. "Do you really think a spark will match the power I've attained?"
"No." His response comes as soon as the woman's question ends. There is an unmatched resolution contained within his voice that manages to put even the queen of the tower on high alert. "But who said you'd be my opponent? You should know this already, but when it comes to my power, my own limits are the only thing I should be concerned about."
A dangerous amount of Magical Energy escapes Johnie's body at once.
He doesn't have enough reserves to bring forth a significant change. The fact that he managed to kickstart his own Last Resort with such an insignificant amount of Magical Energy is miraculous in and out of itself. And yet, his spirit does not waver a single bit. He keeps digging, searching within his soul for strength that might not be there, placing all the chips on the table if it means reaching that 'place'. There is a big chance his body will suffer permanent damage even if he succeeds, and nothing needs to be said about what will happen to him if he fails to reach his goal.
"Have you gone insane? If you continue with this, you'll just get yourself killed."
Nothing but the truth comes out of Sophie Kaede's mouth. In the span of an instant, Gamble has become an unstable existence, a volatile bomb that could go off at any time. What he is trying to do will prove to be ultimately pointless. It's precisely why she can feel her composure slowly falling apart. How can it be that the child she raised under her wings is trying something that goes against every single one of her teachings and throwing his life away just like that.
For what reason...?
"A happy ending. I used to believe there was no room for such a thing in this world. That there was no point in dreaming in a future that will never come. That you should enjoy the present day before time and reality mercilessly snatch it away from you. But... I've awakened. I've opened my eyes and seen the truth. They've taught me that silly dreams still exist... That a happy ending for everyone is possible if you just believe. I'll show you, 'mother': There are people you can trust other than yourself."
An absurd ideal, even more impossible than some of his friends'. A happy ending for everyone... Not just his allies, but for his enemies as well. To ask for such Utopia is ridiculous... To claim to be able to create it on one's own is even more delusional. He's committing suicide for a possibility that his hands can never hope to reach. Seeing just how much of a fool he has become, Sophie cannot help but feel the urge to stop him, even if his death will be of no consequence to her at all.
"What are you? A ten year old? Grow up already! Look around! I am the only one who can bring salvation to this world. Just a few more sacrifices... And you will get the perfect world you so desire. So... You should simply stop doing this to yourself."
He closes his eyes and smiles, as the aura around him becomes bigger and bigger and the pain assaulting his body continues to grow in intensity. A part of his body has already begun to transform into spirit particles. Struggling any further will lead to undeniable disintegration. The agony he is experiencing already surpasses anything he has been through so far. Still, he pushes past that limit with a resolute cry and burns away another part of his body for a miracle that cannot be.
"I'm..." He can barely move his lips to speak at this point, but he forces his way through. "... I'm not the only one who needs to grow up!"
He goes past the point of no return.
For that possibility.
For that one percent increase in success.
Yes, he never was stupid enough to believe he could create a real utopia. His belief has been put entirely on the friends who he was forced to betray.
Their faces flash through his mind as he approaches his final moments. He knew some of them better than others, but in reality, he has managed to discern their character perfectly. He has always had the talent to tell what kind of person one is with a single glance. In other words, although he didn't spend as much time with everyone, he is convinced they are a group he can put his trust in. They'll be able to create the kind of world he desires.
---That's Johnie Gamble's happy ending.
A fist is swung to shatter that illusion into many shards. It starts as a single punch, but quickly becomes a flurry of attacks.
However, though each of them deals significant damage to someone who has used up all of themselves, they do not come even closer to stopping the man from carrying out his will.
"..."
For some reason, her raged breathing resembles that of a normal human. After countless strikes, she has left the boy with a disfigured face. But it was pointless. The outcome has already been decided. Yes, this was never a battle against each other. Johnie Gamble just fought against himself until there was nothing of him left. Whether he emerged as a victorious or defeated is questionable, an answer that belongs only to himself.
"... You've chosen to become a coward and escape from the reality in front of you. So be it."
The heir of the Kaede closes off all connections and steels her resolve. She has made many sacrifices to is where she is now. To let this loss affect her when she is so close to her dreams is unacceptable. She'll continue moving forward, and accept her destiny by becoming this world's new God. Even if the ritual remains incomplete, she still has enough strength to be called such.
"Heh..."
Drawing his final breath, Johnie Gamble just smiles. He didn't think he'd be able to hold on this much against his 'mother', but he did. The photo he held in his hand the whole time to the point it's now completely wrinkled, surprisingly helped him a lot. As he is held by the collar, and right before his consciousness completely disappears, he offers a final, weary, wink.
"Well... I guess... I've learned... From the best..."
-------
"Ugh!"
Nakamura Hitomi violently lands on the scorched earth after being shot down, and the black flames quickly surround her from all sides. However, if anything, she has been extremely lucky. It appears Rogue's attack has only grazed her, sparing her of death for at least a few more minutes. In contrast, it was Sawai Mihou who took the brunt of the attack, and her weapon and more than seventy percent of her body have been cleanly removed from the rest and reduced to nothingness.
"It's over, Sawai Mihou. Being a symbol of hope, I shall crush you as wel-?"
The swordswoman gets a firm grip on the avatar's leg with her remaining arm. It is only then that Rogue notices the anomaly he should have spotted beforehand. Though the woman is basically swimming in a pool of her own blood, her body is not that of a human. It shares many similarities, but now that its insides are exposed, one should be able to tell with a single glance:
---That is not Sawai Mihou.
The 'corpse' draws a smirk.
"Ready when you are, Hitomi-san."
"Yes!"
---In the first place, Sawai Mihou has stopped wearing that black uniform sixteen years ago.
----Grand Cross---
The pillar of light that suddenly envelops the Mage of Misfortune cannot hope to end his existence. It cannot even serve as a prison for more than a few moments, as the God's presence is enough to overwrite its almighty pull.
But... Who said either of those was its real purpose here?
"See ya in hell."
"...?!"
The android's body shines brightly, before unleashing a violent explosion on the level of a flawlessly crafted hydrogen bomb. The damage is contained within the current of pure white magical energy, ensuring that no one else but the target is hurt while increasing the harm done to him exponentially.
However, as it was to be expected, when the dust clears, the dark fire god stands there unharmed.
But... Who said that was the end of it all?
"Haaa...."
Above.
High in the sky, above the clouds.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah-!"
A shooting star descends with the hope of humanity in its hands.
The sheer physical strength behind that blow goes beyond measure. Rogue's feet sink into the crumbling earth as he somehow manages to intercept the attack just in time to avoid being cut in half.
"Wha-?"
He's being pushed back. Against all logic and reason, the strongest being is being forced by pure power alone. No, that's not all there is to it. That's the reason why he fails to comprehend it. Within Mihou's blade are the feelings and dreams of those who have fallen. The heroic legacy... After undoing the ninth seal it has become stronger, and now that a few more lives have been lost, the increase in the ability's output has grown to the point where Sawai's aura has acquired a physical form.
---As if to mock that faint trace of progress...
"Ugh...!"
The God simply repels the warrior with ease. It's only natural. As something that embodies the 'reverse side' of all, it's fairly easy for him to summon more power if needed be. Certainly, there is nothing in this world that can hope to match him. Such is the nature of the one created just to carry out its destruction.
So why...
Why is it that, despite her best efforts...
Despite losing those she holds dear...
Despite being on the edge of despair...
---WHY IS IT THAT SHE CAN SMILE AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!---
It's a familiar sensation.
A sting that might have gone unnoticed due to the bigger threats at hand. However, at that moment, everyone who has taken part in the Ragnarok war recognized that brief surge on pain in the palm of their hands:
"Kill the escapism.
000 minutes remain."
---GAE BOLG---
[18:30] RacingeR: Max S.Link with hero is when you promise your daughter to him
[18:31] RacingeR: Which means Airen and me are the only ones that maxed it (I promised Spin to him, and Spin is my daughter)
[18:32] hero: oh shit
[18:32] hero: spincess get
[18:32] hero: suck it fuckers
It's hard... collecting the scattered pieces of my own awareness.
After having leapt through that boundless space, I can't even recall if my attack managed to connect. I just remember my body being filled to burst with power... and then there was nothing. A part of me understands that something happened. Deep down within my core, I understand that my very existence was snuffed out- if only for a second. Even still... I somehow managed to make it out alive and I'm not sure how.
Kamui: Zero-Rei... That's the name of the power I discovered upon confronting the man known as Izanagi. As the ultimate extension of Kamui, it is a grand magic which allows me to break down the barriers between all worlds and parallel possibilities. Though it only last for a brief moment, through it I'm able to warp reality and create an absolute reality by bending all 'destinies' to my will. But it's not without its drawbacks... Because 'Fukami Mikoto' serves as the anchor for this magic, all worlds converge with my being at the center of it all. Every possibility, every outcome, each minute and passing second... They're all drawn into one. An infinite number of Mikotos being focused into a singular point. It's a dangerous magic which puts my very existence on the line... Not just in one world, but in every instance across the infinitely expanding worlds. It's power is limitless in theory... But a single body can't contain that much power. That's why I found it fitting that the resulting purge be named Kagutsuchi- the flame that kills Izanami.
This is only my second time using that power, but I can feel the aftereffects now more than I did the first time. Maybe it's because of Sophie's powers. Maybe it's because the magic was more complete than it was before. Or maybe it's just because my body has already been ruined by my abuse of 'history'. It's hard to tell and, honestly, I'm still not entirely sure how Zero-Rei works. But none of that really matters now.
I'm... going to die here...
There doesn't seem to be any way around it. Whatever happened in that moment between Sophie's attack and my own was ultimately the deciding factor. It was... beyond rushed... Altering the history of one body is easy enough to do at a moment's notice, but the history of one's entire existence is not something that can be done on reflex. Something's missing... Something was forgotten... Ignoring the burnout from Zero-Rei, 'Fukami Mikoto' has been damaged beyond repair... And I'm slowly unraveling as a result.
Still...
Even still...
...That little girl who took upon herself that impossible dream... I can still feel her looking defiantly out at the world. Even as I slowly fade away into nothingness, it doesn't seem like I will let myself stray from this path.
Originally Posted by Kaede Sophie
"... You reject it? The perfect future everyone else yearns for? This rotten world's final salvation? Insect... Are you saying you'd crush such a blessing with your own two hands...?"
"Just... shut up... You really don't... understand anything..."
It's a battle just to speak. It's taking every bit of focus I have just to maintain a sliver of consciousness. It's like my body has already fallen to pieces and I'm desperately holding it together just to perform basic functions.
"You keep raving about this perfect world of yours, but really you're just forcing your own ideal on others... So yeah... Of course I'd crush such a warped and twisted 'blessing' with my own hands..."
As I say this, I lean my head to the side in an attempt to locate my actual hand. Partly because I'm wondering if it's still attached to my body, but mostly because I just realized I can't even feel it. And while it does seem like something is still there, it's all a hazy blur in my eyes. Honestly, it could be severed and I wouldn't even be able to tell. I don't even have the strength to try and move my fingers.
"That's why I hate you so much... Not just because of what you put my friends through... But because you have all that power... and all you could think to do with it... is force a change on the entire world... Not once did you stop to question what you were doing... Because no matter how many people have to be hurt... No matter how many people have to be sacrificed... You have it stuck in your head that you are in the right... So long as you can achieve your ideal world... Nothing else matters..."
Images of past events start to cloud my vision. Sweet memories of times gone by lull me into a sense of comfort and my focus begins to wane.
"I'm... tired of preaching to idiots like you... who can't see they're part of the problem..."
Unable to keep my eyes open anymore, I take a deep breath and let the memories take over. The smiles and faces of friends clouding every corner... All the little things we got to experience together... And even some things we never got to... They're all here in front of me...
"...So tired..."
But it's because of those memories that I can't just fade away quietly.
"I'd honestly planned to take you out with that last attack... But now I'm not so sure... Zero-Rei is supposed to create the world I want. So... it amazes me that you're still alive and kicking..."
I smile through the pain.
"But... I guess this is fine too... Even if it's only for a little while... At least you can't hurt anyone in your current state... If you want to keep fighting... that's fine too... Either way... I doubt I'll last much longer."
"I promise nothing." - Sei "Kanra" Slayers
Resident Sadist. Enjoys stepping and sitting on people.
Avid lover of butts and anime.
Fukami Mikoto
Shopping District Ruins - Time Unknown
"Ugh..."
Her legs finally giving in, Sophie Kaede falls backwards, her body crashing against the ground with a big thud. In the first place, she was only able to remain standing due to adrenaline, but given that her enemy is just as exhausted and broken as she is, the moment her brain catches up with this fact, all her remaining strength is quickly drained away and she collapses with a single motion. But that is acceptable, because there exists one difference between her and Fukami Mikoto, and that is, that at the end of the day, she'll be able to stand and live. No matter how much of an obstacle the result of this battle proves to be, she'll be able to crawl back to the top, like she always has. It doesn't matter if she has to dirty her hands or crawl from under a pile of corpses, she'll be able to rise, because that's what the Kaede family does.
---Won. She's won.
------Then... Why is it that her victory feels so empty...? So devoid of meaning...?
"Mikoto!"
"Fukami-san!"
"..."
Ah, there is one more difference. After the end of the fierce battle, three people approach to nurse the half-dead girl. On the other hand, she lies all alone at the other side of the street. For some reason, that realization forces a chuckle out of her mouth. After all, it's only natural... It couldn't be any other way. Loneliness has been a part of her ever since she can remember. There is no need to feel even a pinch of jealousy. When the girl dies in front of their eyes, she'll be able to simply laugh these odd feelings off.
"Mikoto!"
---Heartbeat.
Hishikawa Nanako's strongest healing spell has no effect on her friend. Though she is capable of ruling over the unbreakable cycle of life and death, Líf cannot prevent the inevitable destruction that comes with missing with history time and time again. That's why her heart pumps faster, why her breathing has become ragged, why she can feel tears forming in the corner of her eyes. Because, at this point, she can do nothing but pray a miracle happens. She's ultimately powerless to stop the end that awaits the person she holds close to her heart.
"Fukami-san!"
---Heartbeat.
Nakayama Haru has been, from the very beginning, a being taught to bring about destruction. Within this past few months, she has learned she can use that power to protect as well. However, that does not change their nature. If anything, they are in part responsible for her friend's terrible fate. That guilt makes her sadness to manifest in overflowing tears. No matter how much effort she puts into changing, if she loses Fukami Mikoto here... That's not what she wants! That's not what she wants! As if to escape from that absolute reality, she weeps in spite of any words that might be used to calm her down.
"Don't joke around!"
---Heartbeat.
Out of the three of them, Tsukabe Motoshige is perhaps the most proactive and desperate of them all. When it awakened, her power was to erect a wall between her and the outside world. Though his armor has evolved to the point where it can be bestowed to others, its function remains the same. He doesn't have the healing powers Nanako has, but he's trying his best to save that person who showed him the way. He doesn't know what he is doing, and it is obvious his actions will lead him nowhere, but he stubbornly refuses to admit the truth.
"You are going to die just like that?! Bullshit. I won't let it happen. I won't! Hey, young lady! Don't just stay there. You can heal her right? Do you damn job...! Shit..."
Her body is already being reduced to spirit particles. She wasn't bluffing when she said she wouldn't last much longer. If it wasn't for Nanako's Duraþrór, her presence would have faded from this world already. With this, her victory is assured. Even if she's been left crippled, she should be able to easily escape from the three Magi in front of her. She's so close to making that dream come true. So why is it that she doesn't feel but sorrow, as if a hole had just been dug through her chest?
"Don't worry..." Before she can tell, those words have already fled from her mouth. "She'll be revived in my perfect world."
Six bullets inside the chamber.
Unable to ignore that comment under these circumstances, Cain throws away his kindness and loads his seemingly ordinary weapon with a new kind of ammunition. Standing up, his face once more hidden under a mask of darkness, he points that weapon to the one responsible for all this.
"I don't want to hear any more of your stupid, perfect world. You can bring that world with you when you go to hell."
His finger wraps around the trigger. At that moment...
"Please stop it!"
Hishikawa Nanako does the unthinkable and throws herself in between, acting as a shield for who could be the most cruel enemy she has faced so far. It is true that what Sophie has done is unforgivable, but every cell in her body tells her this is not the way to solve things. Even if... Even if she feels like ending Sophie's life herself, it wouldn't be the right thing to do. That path would never bring any smiles back.
"I want a future I can build alongside everyone else. Not a perfect world, nor one without hardships. I want my efforts to matter, I want to make a difference and I want others to make a difference as well. Nobody wants the future to be handed down to them, they seek to reach it with their own hands. The 'perfect' world you want to create will not make people happy! Have you not thought about that...?"
The guts on this girl. Who is she trying to reach to? How many times has she failed to convey her vision to everyone else? Against Nakamura Shinji and against her. And yet, even if that path of naivety and selflessness continues to push her step by step towards ruin, she does not halt nor falter. Her best friend is on the verge of death, and she still extends her warmth to her, well aware of how unwise it'd be to do so.
"A perfect future... That's not what I want! I just... I just want to know more! I didn't think much about it until I met Mikoto... But now I want to learn more... About the friends I didn't know... About the world I didn't know... About the parts of myself I didn't know! I don't need a perfect future for that...!"
The first time Sophie met her was when they fought. Back then, she proved to be a formidable opponent, a cold and ruthless avenger. Now Nakayama Haru has burst into tears, unable to keep her emotions in check. Being about to lose her pillar, her expression should bring joy to a sadistic person like her. However, it is the exact opposite. In fact, it's almost heart crushing for reasons she cannot find.
"..."
---Is it because she pried into their past and saw the memories they shared together? Or is there another explanation?
"It was all fine before you came and tried to mess it all up. This world filled with pain and sorrow... Has people you can trust in it. A world where you can forge precious memories with others... Is not worthless at all."
She knew it from the start.
That the world her mother dreamed to create would never bring salvation. But she had no choice to cling to that impossible ideal, because if she didn't, she would have never found the strength to move forward alone, to become the person she is today, to make the sacrifices she made to get here.
The 'last hope' her plan spent decades building... Humanity never wanted it. Humanity never needed it. Because, so long as they keep on living, hope will always exist in their hearts.
---A happy ending for everyone, huh?
Ah.
With a crawling sensation your hand slowly begins to wake up and respond. Though you were pretty sure some parts of your body have already disintegrated, everything proves to be right where it should be. Everything hurts all over, but Nanako's warmth, which could not reach you beforehand, now washes over you.
"Well? Ain't I full of mercy...?"
She turns around and takes a few steps in the direction opposite to yours, perhaps her way of granting you a little moment of privacy. Though you landed a hit with your Last Resort and forced her to kneel down, the self-proclaimed goddess looks as young as she did prior to your battle. Just how much power did she have left when it looked like she didn't have any?
"Unfortunately, I cannot afford to have you as enemies for the time being. You should have probably realized by now, but it appears there is a bigger threat to this world than myself. Looks like we'll have to settle the score some other time."
[18:30] RacingeR: Max S.Link with hero is when you promise your daughter to him
[18:31] RacingeR: Which means Airen and me are the only ones that maxed it (I promised Spin to him, and Spin is my daughter)
[18:32] hero: oh shit
[18:32] hero: spincess get
[18:32] hero: suck it fuckers
United Front Shopping District Ruins - Time Unknown
Gae Bolg.
Sawai Mihou's true trump card, a combination of one of the Four Absolutes of Magic and an unique application of Mugen. Manifesting as a red surge of lightning, it's capable of erasing any existence within a large area with pinpoint accuracy. It's an attack that cannot be dodged nor stopped, leaving no room for outcomes different from death. There is a reason why it was used during the first two rounds of the Ragnarok War. Out of the fifteen participants, hence excluding irregulars, no one possesses the authority to challenge the future it brings with its descent. However, it always had one major drawback: It takes a considerable amount of time, ranging from fifteen minutes to an hour, to 'awaken' the spear of mortal pain. As a result, Fragarach always proved to be a more suitable tool for Sawai Mihou, whose brute force allows her to finish battles in the blink of an eye.
---But what happens when you remove that weakness?
Through the past few months, most of the Magi from the United Front underwent rigorous training. It is because of this that they can oppose an enemy such as Rogue without succumbing to him instantly. In Sawai's case, though her experiences against the new generation of Magi have taught her a lesson or two, she was already at a point where her powers could not rise any further. By removing the ninth seal placed on her body after the end of the Fimbulwinter war, she was able to recover part of the strength she had lost. But to grow... There is only one method for her to truly show the full potential of her Magical Weapon.
... And that is, when an ally falls in battle.
The Heroic Legacy within Fragarach will empower her, as the last remnants of their dreams and goals are poured into the blade. How many people have already ceased to breathe? She cannot stop to count. But she won't allow that number to increase any further. She'll make sure things end here once and for all.
---All limiters have been cast off. Gae Bolg charge time: 0 seconds.
"Watch closely: This is the end that awaits those who dare to hurt my friends."
One bolt becomes many and suddenly the entire area is caught within a lightning storm. To think that each can easily overpower a Mythic Class Last Resort... She's on a completely different level from everyone else, isn't she? But that is only natural. After all, she isn't fighting alone, and she's more used to it than anyone. When she started out, she was a lone swordsman, unable to keep up with the pace of the world as it moved forward. She found friendship in the place where she least expected it, and learned to treasure the fun moments life granted her from time to time. It is true that, when the happiness she had found was stripped from her all at once, she was lost and filled with guilt, and decided it would be best to isolate herself from the world once more. But... Now that she has found that peace on more time, she will not let it go.
This is the stage where her spirit finally burns brilliantly.
To prevent history from repeating itself she will fight and win, no matter the cost. An eye, a hand, a leg, even her life, she's ready to put everything on the line if it means protecting the next generation. She'll take the first step towards a future filled with hope, paving the road for the rest to follow...!
Using the air as a platform to propel herself towards her opponent, she matches the timing of her other attacks perfectly and...
Delivers a slash with all her being behind it.
"---未歩 (Mihou)!!!---"
It cuts through space, dimensions, concepts and ideals. It cuts through reality itself. It is by no means a creative move, but it represents a straightforward person like her perfectly. Against an opponent who has been 'pinned down' by hundreds and hundreds of red spears, this is the finishing blow-!
"You should know it is impossible to defeat me. I am darkness, I am the will to awaken. As long as despair reigns within at least a single heart, I will keep coming back."
After the exchange, they both stand still in front of each other, Sawai having delivered her attack, Rogue having accepted it with open arms. The God is not just as tough as the mightiest of enemies, he's also as persistent as the flames he commands. He's the 'reverse side' of humanity, the embodiment of the end. To believe that a single person can oppose the entirety of its being is just foolish.
However...
"Ahgh?! Gugh?!"
He feels the taste of blood as it suddenly fills his mouth.
A wide cut going from shoulder to waist surfaces, defiling the avatar's divinity. One that will never heal.
The world shakes violently, as if to protest against this unbearable sin.
"Everyone has gotten over it. From now on, we'll just move forward. So kindly do yourself a favor... And get the hell out of our lives-!"
---Someone has taught her that, between the fool who acts and fails and the fool who never acts in fear of failure, she wants to be the latter.
Not yet.
It's not over yet.
"What?"
Moving behind him, the swordswoman quickly catching him in a lock. It's ridiculous... A magi cannot be bound by something so simple, let alone a being that far surpasses that existence. But truth is quick to reveal itself and the Mage of Misfortune finally sees it. Sawai Mihou is not the only one who's making an effort to keep him in place. Countless faces... When he annihilated them, he didn't take a moment to look at them, his mind solely focused on destruction. Even so, he can tell. Without a doubt... Those belongs to the lives he has ended. Even so...
"... I see."
Rogue Flame looks at the quickly approaching surge of light. The insignificant attack he decided to put on the bottom of his priority list simply because it lacked the power to reach him. Nakamura Akio's 'Starlit Dreams', no, rather everyone's 'Starlit Dreams', has overcome fate and gotten this far. Its destructive power is immense, simply because it is not born of one Magic but many, and when you add the emotions and experiences poured into it, it easily takes the spotlight from anything that came before. With that said, he is not the only one standing within its path.
"So you've decided to sacrifice yourself in the end."
Underneath her skin, Sawai Mihou is still a coward who does not believe in her own prowess. Faced with powerlessness, it was only natural that she'd resort to something like this to put down her foe as soon as possible, even when the chances of success are abysmal.
"Gimme a break... Stop talking like you know me so well...!"
What... Did she just say? Of course he knows her true colors. As the darkness that inhabits everyone's heart, it is logical for him to possess such knowledge. In that case, why... Why can't he feel nothing but truth coming out of her mouth.
"I can take it... I just know... The real question is, though... Can you?"
This is... Humanity's... Strongest blow...!
"Begone... Rogueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
-------
The final attack connects and the world is momentarily painted white. Though its brightness is such that you cannot even see what's ahead of you, it does not disconnect your other senses. You feel the earth tremble and you are almost thrown back by sonic boom created by the explosion. You also feel a surge of newfound strength and the excitement that pumps through your veins. As you test your grip on your battle axe and notice a drastic increase in the speed of its swing, the heat from the flames around you disappears. Though there should be anything capable of putting off those flames, a casual weave of your weapon sends them away like nothing.
---But its not enough. Such power cannot go untested.
With how crowded the place is, you've been doing your best to waiting for your turn to strike. Sadly, others snatched the initiative away from you and you were forced to wait in the sidelines for a little while. And now... Now the battle might as well be over. It's kind of a let down, but regardless of the result, you won't go home without a fight. As those thoughts cross your mind.
The dust clears and you lay your eyes on the victor.
"Guh...! Aghh!"
Strangling a worn out Sawai Mihou with a single arm, the God declares himself the winner. There is no traces of injury or exhaustion that can be spotted anywhere in his body. The outcome is absolute. Though everyone put their best into it, it was all for nothing in the end.
"So these are the hopes of humanity. Weak."
---But that doesn't matter to you.
If a fighter is down, then that finally means it is time for you to grab the spotlight. Before you even notice, you have reduced the distance between you and the enemy to almost zero and swung your weapon down with all your might.
"Akashic Record: Invisible Star"
Ah.
Magical Energy materializes as a small shield in his free arm, which he uses to effortlessly repel your weapon, which had its power magnified several times by ultimate magic. Before you can adjust your momentum to attack a second time, the man discards his hostage, casually throwing her away. However, instead of simply falling to the ground right there, Sawai Mihou is once more flung at least one kilometer away, flying through every obstacle on her way at speeds beyond belief.
You swing your weapon a second time. This time not only does Rogue parry the attack, he slaps you away with a deceivingly high amount of strength, to the point where your entire body cries in pain before it is shot back the way it came from.
---Not even a challenge.
"Akashic Record: Discordia."
A pitch black spear materializes in his hands. He spins it around as if it were a child's toy, displaying and absurd level of mastery with it. Then, he throws it after his prey, quickly impaling it in one shoulder while in mid air. Being extremely tough, Kajiki Uta's skin does not allow the tip of the spear to penetrate too deeply at first. However...
"Zeus Lightning."
The polearm becomes electricity itself, mercilessly burying itself in your arm and going through it completely in the blink of an eye, not forgetting to leave hole ten times bigger as its exit point. And, right before your back crashes against the solid concrete walls of a building...
"Akashic Record: Huginn and Muninn."
He calls forth a musket and singlehandedly aim it at you.
"Playtime is over."
"Valravn"
Last edited by hero; March 23rd, 2017 at 08:24 PM.
[18:30] RacingeR: Max S.Link with hero is when you promise your daughter to him
[18:31] RacingeR: Which means Airen and me are the only ones that maxed it (I promised Spin to him, and Spin is my daughter)
[18:32] hero: oh shit
[18:32] hero: spincess get
[18:32] hero: suck it fuckers
As she is cast out from the deepest part of herself, Chisana Risu calls out to Johnie Gamble. It is a promise, one she can't put into words or remember. But she carves it into her soul all the same.
That boy didn't give her anything. Not a speck of power. What she instead inherited... was his will.
In Kajiki Uta's arms, Chisana Risu cracks open her burnt mouth and takes a rasping breath. Her scorched lungs have regenerated. The scraps of Magical Energy that a Magus creates are more than enough to sustain life even at the brink of death, and to pull back even the most injured from that edge. She'll live, for the next few seconds at least. Until the Rogue Flame destroys them all.
But, life isn't merely lived. It must be wagered.
Risu is aware, in some ways, of what's going on. The pet in her hat flits around Uta's legs, eyeing the battlefield from every angle and noting the flow. It's the only substantial construct of Magic remaining in her arsenal. Everything else was spent or given away.
And yet... Risu knows she's not finished.
The Rogue Flame is on a counter attack. The momentum is turning against them. It can't be allowed to shoot true.
She shifts, draping an arm around Kajiki Uta's neck. Her eyes open, just a sliver.
"Thanks, Uta-san..."
She whispers weakly into the girl's ear. And then, though it cannot be seen, Risu feels the urge to smile. She's reminded of that day in class, when they first introduced themselves. She'd put on a show then, showing off as was her nature. And Uta... she'd gotten flustered. Risu remembered it. Remembered thinking of that sight as a guilty pleasure. But after all she'd done, Risu felt she deserved that pleasure again.
"...but I won't lose to you. This is my... last trick..."
Risu closes her eyes and disappears.
"------Rati: Hnitbjorg!"
It didn't work the first time. Her magic failed when it was whole, and now, when it is but an idea without substance, it has no chance of succeeding. If she'd had Odin's strength or Fortissimo, perhaps a chance might exist, but she was only ever an average Magus. And yet Risu feels something from the Rogue Flame. Feels the familiar darkness lurking below the surface of whatever passes for skin. Feels the bond formed there, over a game of dice. She's been there before. She knows the way now.
This time, however, she is armed. With determination. With the resolve to fight against despair. With not only her dream, but someone else's.
The Traveller calls out to the darkness, and the darkness calls back:
"Chisana Risu------!"
Whose hand is it that takes hers, when she reaches out? She cannot see a face, nor can she connect that voice to anyone she knows. But within it, there is relief. The happiness of seeing a friend again. That hand is warm. It squeezes and she squeezes back. Then it pulls and she trusts in its guidance-!
...
Chisana Risu has two treasured possessions. One is her pen, Ratatoskr, which doubles as her Magical Weapon. The other is nothing special: A card with her name written on it in Ratatoskr's ink. She's gazed at the card for as long as she can remember and discovered nothing of note in it. Any importance it holds is purely sentimental. But it's still valuable. She's had it for all of her life, and only recently did she leave it in someone's safe keeping.
There are no such things as miracles for those who do not believe. Any value it might have is an illusion of Risu's making. But the world has a way of bending to belief, for those with the strength to see it through.
How long was it with her? How many trials and tribulations did it survive? How many sad and happy days did it bear witness to?
How much Magical Energy was it bathed in, for those years?
It's certainly no Sun. A card is merely a card, after all. It was not created to store anything. But the ink that rests on it... is a product of Magic. Risu has tested her Runes extensively, searching for the endless effects that could be called up by Vedrfolnir, the words of the ancients. Yet not once has she been brave enough to activate the spell on the card that carries her name.
Here and now it rings out, expending its stored up potential to let Risu reach beyond her limits one more time. She wagers her life, her existence, and history, just as Johnie Gamble did.
For a moment, she is back there again. The portal is closed this time, but it's flimsy and weak. Less of an imposing gate and more of a back door. With the fang in her hands she can tear it open easily.
Beside it stands that person.
How could she have known, it seems to ask. Rogue Flame is only tangentially connected. It's like calling a random person in another country and hoping the one that picks up is someone you know.
"I'm not very good with dice," admits Risu, blushing slightly. "But any Magician worth her salt knows a few card tricks. Tell me... was this your card?"
It's blank. The magic binding the letters together was used up to bring her here. She doesn't need those words to remind her who she is anymore.
That person shakes their head in exasperation. They raise one hand and point to the door, telling her she doesn't belong here.
"Nonsense! The Traveller is available 24/7! If you need cheering up, no matter who or where you are, I'll be there."
That person smiles, and is gone.
Risu takes a deep breath and raises the fang in her hands. Ratatoskr thrums in anticipation for the first time it will be properly used.
"Hyaaaaaaaa-!"
A clumsy strike descends upon the flimsy door.
In a completely different space, an all-powerful force of destruction feels something pierce it.
A gleaming white blade juts out from the Rogue Flame's side.
But that's impossible. Nothing got through its defenses. Its senses are perfect. Even an illusion couldn't fool it. Its control over Space is perfect, and the only person on the Island with teleportation abilities is out of the picture. There can also be no other in the world with the skills of Sawai Mihou, the only person that could match it in a battle. So this must be some work of trickery.
Before it can address the oddity, the blade twists and slices the other way, carving open a bloody cross on the Flame's body and a hundred more from within.
Something flies from the ultimate Magus, tearing its way out of its perfect body. The force is generated by hurricane-level winds, strong enough to momentarily destabilize its balance. an instant later Chisana Risu orients herself in the air as the wind bears her body away from the epicenter of the battle.
This was her final trick. A decidedly classic disappearing and reappearing act that's as cheesy as it is effective.
Battered and beaten and now truly out of options, she can only bow gracefully and leave her friends with a parting word:
"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Last edited by Bloble; March 22nd, 2017 at 12:04 PM.
Reason: (added cg)
Staring into the white void unleashed by everyone's dreams, Nakamura Akio immediately feels the backlash of forcing a grand power beyond his actual limits, of turning himself into the "gun," that fired "everyone's wishes."
His blood boils from the recoil, bones that could endure the force of a mythic class Last Resort shatter, for a moment his heart stops, his brain is stunned, nerves that had fired along with his magical energy catch flame and seem to momentarily wither away.
"Hah, ugh!"
Yes.
For a moment, that boy had been close to losing consciousness. Vision wavering, knees buckling beneath the dim lull that came with the sonic boom, of the release of the pent up explosion of magical energy, of the feeling of being filled back up again the moment he approached being empty, the only thing that keeps him conscious, standing on his own two feet.
Are the countless voices that shake him back to reality.
Invisible hands hold him up until his strength returns, eyes that don't exist watch the battlefield in his place until his vision returns, thoughts of how to proceed from here were started not by him, but by those that were fighting alongside him.
He is aware.
Although he is not moving, he is well aware of the fact that Rouge Flame is still alive.
Aware at the moment of impact, the youth still does not give in to despair, his spirit the same as those that flawlessly resisted the dark. That curse was powerful, of that he had been sure from the start, and while this attack had failed, while this first strike of everyone's dreams had come up short...
He still believed.
Not just in his own power, but in everyone else's as well.
Body regenerating enough that he can function again, the gasping youth stabilizes himself as the voices whisper in the corner of his mind. They were not the type to give up from a single failure, the voices of his parents, of distant siblings, of countless strangers and old friends on the other side of the world, bearing that same spirit, humanity's spirit, the simple fact that they hadn't done any visible damage to Rouge was not enough to deter them.
Not at all.
If anything, it made them more determined to defeat him than ever.
Smiling, still smiling in spite of the body that had suffered heavy backlash, the youth listens when the scattered stars find what they had been looking for, when the chain of sparks reaches a darkness that they cannot pierce.
He has never been that deep in the darkness.
If he was to be honest, he would have never found it on his own at all, but...
He had been listening.
Long before he had even arrived on this battlefield, he had been listening to the motivations of the world's enemy.
Of the Creator who sought to awaken, of the despair of those who were not satisfied with their lives, of those who had never been saved, who even now...
Were probably calling out for someone to save them.
Those sorts of things were complicated.
Was he really a dream?
Perhaps.
He didn't know about the truth of the world to deny it, but...
If he was a dream... Then...
Wasn't it someone's dream of a hero?
If that person had never dreamed of such a thing in the first place, he would not exist, no heroes would exist.
Yet here they were, fighting against the dark.
In many ways it is bizarre, in many ways it is metaphysical in a way that is almost disturbing, but...
It's not something he needs to think about too hard.
Like this, they had no chance of defeating Rouge Flame.
As he had said, the few could not defeat the many.
That was fine.
If that was the case...
"Master."
Standing at his side, ready to dash back into the fight, Aesop smiles at him.
She knows what he's thinking.
She knows what the others are thinking.
She knows it's crazy, and...
"Go get em."
She also knows...
That when Nakamura Akio becomes aware of someone being in trouble...
Stopping him from going to their side...
Was impossible...
------
Kurokami Hotaru ???
She ascended towards the ‘light’. Once her sisters’ blade had struck her, she had felt release from this prison which her soul had been dragged down to -- a liberation from these self-inflicted shackles and torments.
However, Hotaru expected that she would immediately return to the world, be ‘freed’ from his mental landscape. Yet, the light was ever so far, and while she rose above the shades burning within the agony of this hell, every single time that she bathed within the light of the final ‘release’, it seemed like she would arrive in a different hell, one that was intrinsically less oppressing, but still, she was still stuck in this ‘place’.
Perhaps were these the famous circles or layers of hell? How deep was she in so that it took so long for her to return? Even… would this even end?
As Hotaru wondered, the brightness in the ‘heavens’ doubled in intensity.
“Is this it?”
Had the time come for her to finally leave this place?
“...!”
To her surprise, chains of light graze her as she reflexively dodges them by hair’s breadth, although wherever they’d have harmed her or not, is another question. As she looks at them however, Hotaru can tell that they do not serve as weapons, instead, they are steadfast anchors for that one ‘thing’ which is descending into this Hell, as radiant as a thousand suns.
Within the core of this blinding light, lies a young man.
“Nakamura Akio.”
------
Nakamura Akio ???
Somewhere out there, there is a churning sea of black waters.
Letting himself be pulled along by the chain of lights, Nakamura Akio reaches a place that someone like him should not be able to reach; the darkness flees from the light, so him ever being this close should be an impossibility, but...
When you have gathered all the lights in the night sky, what's left behind can only be the darkness.
In that sense...
Finding his way here along with everyone who had agreed to support him, was a task that can only be called trivial.
"Ah..."
Trapped beneath the black waters, are countless beings he cannot recognize. They are as faceless as they are many, and the moment he sees them, the moment he makes himself known, a being of light standing atop the black waters...
"P...a...e... M...e.... S...p..."
They start to cry out.
Or rather...
He hears the voices that have been crying all this time.
Crying with no one to hear them.
Crying for a hero that never appears.
Crying for this to stop, somehow, someway.
Yes.
Looking down at them...
Nakamura Akio can understand why they would wish for death. For them, there is nothing but misery here, their life is pain, their death is pain, the only thing that will save them, the only thing that can possibly change their suffering...
Is oblivion.
He's sure that thought is their obsession. His existence is something they question, he does not belong here and they know it, so he must be fake, another cruel nightmare, a glimpse of hope that appears at the surface of the water, only to fade away when their fingertips brush against the surface of it, their thrashing, their desperate climb to the water's edge, rewarded with nothing more than shattered dreams.
But...
"I'm sorry I couldn't hear you before."
Above the water, that youth's voice is muffled by the shuffling waters.
Someone is there.
The thought causes some to pause, others to just cry out louder, but...
"But I've found you now, so just hold on a little bit longer-!"
The response to a hand, shining white, reaching down through the darkness...
Is disbelief.
It's not real.
No one would be foolish enough to reach down into a sea of flailing arms. Doing such a thing would be akin to letting them drag you down; it doesn't matter how good of a swimmer you are, there's a limit to how many people you can hold up on your own.
Yes.
That hand can't be real.
The voice from above encouraging them to reach out just a bit further, to take his hand, to escape the sea and join his own, can't be real.
Yet...
After the first hand descends, another follows.
This one is a different shape, so it must be a different person.
Another reason it's just a hallucination.
Even if there was one person foolish enough to do it, a black haired youth reaching down into the darkness with a smile, up to his shoulders in water, yet worried about other people more than himself...
That can't be real, they'd just be dragged down, so a second person doing the same thing...
That's even more absurd.
But then there is a third.
A fourth.
A fifth.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
This is harder to dismiss.
Having found the darkness that lay beyond their sight, every hand he has gathered thus far, everyone who is ready to run into the future, takes the time to reach out into the darkness that they can't perceive, because they know someone is in there, because...
A happy ending for everyone...
Can't come about if those who were forgotten aren't remembered, if a desperate wish for a hero isn't granted in the end.
Darkness should flee the light, but...
Strangely, the light continues to pursue, the light beckons the dark closer, the light...
Had come here to save the dark.
After all...
Countless hands reach into the darkness.
This time they're determined to reach everyone.
...Both the light and the dark came from the same place.
Since that's true... It's fine for the light to shelter the dark.
If you have nowhere else to go, then just reach up, grab our hands and come with us.
You don't have to stay here.
You definitely have a choice-!
There is something for you beyond oblivion, it's uncertain what it is, but...
It's something.
We won't let you go, we'll deal with it all together no matter what happens, so...
Don't give up on existing.
Just...
Grab our hand...
"Trust me."
From up above, that boy's voice calls down again, one more time, as he stretches his arm out as far as it will go.
"It's tough, and they put you in here because of that, because the world turned on you and left you with no way out... But I know... Even if you don't..."
Another pause.
As strong as his voice sounds, the youth is not infallible.
Inside of this place, his own failings are coming to the forefront of his mind, as if it was only natural for them to do so here.
The deaths of family in the past.
The now broken promise to never let it happen again.
Another Everheart dying right in front of his eyes.
Almost succumbing to the same shadows he had cursed his father over.
Endangering everyone around him in pursuit of this impossible dream.
He knows.
He knows that he has lost many things because of his own foolishness, because he was weak, because he was scared, because he was reaching for something beyond what a single person is capable of, but...
Even still...
This world...
Everyone had decided to fight for it, those who were lost, and those that still remained within his sight.
He didn't know what the future held, but these feelings, the sadness of reality, the belief that things could be better, weren't wrong.
'I want to save everyone.'
A child's wish, untempered by reality.
Succumbing to his own despair... Would spit on everything that had been lost and gained.
He would fight to protect the world everyone loved, not just because they had loved it enough to fight for it, but because he believed that it was beautiful.
That it was worth living in.
That there was beauty even amidst the cruelty.
And...
Besides...
Things weren't... Quite over yet...
A happy ending... Still didn't seem out of reach.
Yeah...
"That you're all a lot stronger than you think you are, strong enough to keep living even when it gets rough... So let's get out of here, and show them we're not so easy to keep down, alright?"
Those feelings, positive and negative, those all came from the same place.
Pain, joy, elation, sadness...
All of these were born from the heart, and all of it was irreplaceable, invaluable.
Worth protecting.
Worth accepting.
At the end of the journey, the fool had come back to share his knowledge with the world.
"It's a world worth living in. Trust me. Even misery has it’s place... But there's also no misery that lasts forever."
This was his declaration of it’s “Truth.”
Fingers brush against each other.
Sometimes... You forget that the light exists.
Sometimes... You were never given the chance to know it existed at all.
But in those times...
You just needed a reminder of what lies on the opposite edge of suffering, the reverse side of the dark, a thing made all the sweeter by it's counterpart.
Having just gone through this himself...
Seeing countless hands appear to drag him from the dark...
It made him all the more determined to save others, as he himself had been saved by so many.
------
Kurokami Hotaru ???
As countless hands reached upwards, waiting for the salvation that the radiant saviour brought, Nakamura Akio could only be joyfully overwhelmed by this messianic role he was able to accomplish. This was not for the sake of accomplishment, nor for the sake of pride, but it was the genuine joy of human kindness and compassion which triumphed above all else.
But one of these hands which came out of the water was unlike others.
It was solid, present, very present. It was human. It had an air totally different from the hands of all these faceless shadows that sought salvation by reaching upwards -- no, rather than reaching for Akio’s hand to be rescued, that person held on to it because if they hadn’t, they would’ve flown past him and returned to the world of the living.
Holding on to him, was a person that he hadn’t seen in quite a while.
“Good evening, Nakamura Akio. Fancy meeting you here -- I trust that you can at least recall who I am?”
She clung on to him with all her might. The blade that had struck her before was still trying to fulfill its purpose of ‘returning Hotaru to the world of the living’, so if she ever let go of this man, there would be no coming back to converse with Akio
This situation was rather awkward, but in times like these, factors such as coziness or pride were of little concern. For a man to come down to this ‘Hell’ that she had mistaken as a mere figment of her own mind... there had to be something that such a being could do to help Hotaru in achieving her objective : to defeat Rogue Flame.
In fact, wasn’t that their mutual objective?
“Let us posit that you are saving these people so that they can help in our fight against Rogue Flame, but surely you’ve realized that no matter what you throw at him, he will not be stopped, right? Or do you have something else in mind?”
------
Nakamura Akio ???
He hadn’t expected to find someone he had known.
An arm connected to a body with momentum, someone who would have flown right past him if they hadn’t grabbed onto each other instinctively.
“Kurokami?”
In spite of glowing with the light he had borrowed from everyone, brain buzzing with the activity of countless others, Nakamura Akio was still very much himself. While he is glad someone had reached out to him, he is also stunned by who it is, how heavy her presence was, and...
“Ah...”
A little self-conscious about what she had asked..
Did he have a plan?
Before he had awakened to this new power, he had definitely seemed willing to just march into Rogue Flame with the intention of defeating him, believing that he had some sort of “power” that would enable him to do so, but...
That power...
Was something that could only be used once.
“...They’re drowning in here, it’s only natural for me to want to help,” smiling in spite of it all, the youth doesn’t seem to bothered by the implications behind her words, “This might weaken him a bit... But you’re right, this probably won’t be enough to stop him.”
He knows.
Idealistic as he is, however many souls he may save, the fact of the matter was that darkness was omnipresent in the human heart.
Even when you were “over it,” there was still some of it lurking inside, that was natural, and he could accept that...
But if Rogue was truly a manifestation of that darkness...
Then he probably was invincible...
Even so...
“But I still want to get them out of here, they don’t deserve to suffer like this... He may not be able to be killed, but I’m sure he can be defeated.”
------
Kurokami Hotaru ???
As she listened to Akio, letting him speak his thoughts out, Hotaru’s expression was shaped in a light, pleasant smile. It was however, not a genuine show of her happiness, but rather, a smile that one would courteously display during a conversation as if to make the exchange between the participants easier -- atmosphere was rather important after all.
A veil for Hotaru to keep her frustrations hidden behind, till Akio was done speaking, after which, she swiftly answered:
“To have a wish, a prayer is fine, but I can see it in your eyes: while the outcome that you seek is as clear as crystal, the way to reach it still remains clouded.”
“There is a difference between solving a problem and ignoring it, Nakamura-san.”
The sudden, chilling glare was quite the change. She looked at him with chastising eyes, the very same ones Hotaru would give her siblings when they did something wrong.
Yet, as cold as it was, there was a certain warmth in that elderly sister’s gaze. Nakamura Akio must’ve been rather familiar with these, seeing his entourage. Hotaru looked at him with these eyes for a few silent instants.
And then, abruptly, it was a snicker that escaped her lips. Hotaru was somehow amused... a rather rare sight. Well,meeting two insufferably optimistic philanthropists one after the other did hold a humourous nature to it, from a certain perspective, especially from the perspective of a peculiar nihilist like Hotaru. She did not know Nakamura Akio personally, but she had observed some of his previous fights, and also, his personality and reputation preceded him even back at Starlight Academy school. Hotaru had a roughly precise psychological sketch of the young man. Even, what he was doing here, what he had declared: it did not take a genius to understand Nakamura Akio.
“While I do not agree in your blind optimism, I do in fact concur that Rogue Flame can be defeated. After all, those that came before us managed to achieve such a miracle. Isn’t that a specialty of yours? To keep going until the World bends it knees and grants you a miracle.”
The glare of a chastising elder sister momentarily returned, as Hotaru unexpectedly… pinched Akio’s cheek. Her statement about Akio and miracles dripped with sarcasm more than anything else. Though he came to this place as a saviour, Hotaru couldn’t treat him as anything else but a young kid that had to be disciplined. Even if her sister had ‘freed’ her, Kurokami Hotaru’s entire life was still built on pain and suffering, and cynicism was not something that would leave her personality so soon.
The world was beautiful, one could only naturally wish to preserve such beauty…
But was there a way to quantify beauty if ugliness did not exist? Black and White, Life and Death were required for a contrast after all, or else everything would meld into a sameish, dull… pointless mass. If purpose existed, it was only because something was pointless beforehand. If something is alive, it is only because others aren’t. The duality of the universe was both its most despicable and ever most lovely colour.
As she tried to educate Akio, Hotaru could only wonder: was this man only looking at half of the picture like how she once did? Their perspectives could’ve been different, but both were technically not seeing the picture at large.
No, she knew that the time for philosophy and rhetoric was not now.
“I could harp on about the things I dislike about you, but what I am dislike and what I need are not necessarily exclusive things.”
Now was the time for these two things that she had discarded a long time ago, but had to once again pick up, not only for her sake, but the sake of everything that she wished to protect: hope and faith.
“Dreams, Prayers, Wishes, let us realize all of yours, all of mine... everyone’s.”
An individual such as Nakamura Akio, whose very purpose in life was the concept of creating a ‘happy end’, whose entire existence and origin was to eternally chase the path where salvation was bestowed upon all, where loss was a phantasm, not an inevitability… if he was truly that kind of person, then he would see that the fire which burned within Hotaru’s eyes were like a window into her very soul, a soul that thirsted for this same miracle.
Even before coming to this place, Hotaru was not unlike Akio -- their means to reach their goal were very different, but ultimately, did they not both wish for a world where everyone would be saved?
“Let us learn our lesson from History for once, Nakamura-san. Humans tend to forget that looking back can easily provide us with the best of answers.”
To save this world, to defeat Rogue Flame, the woman who was willing to do anything for the sake of a happy ending had figured that it would be best to stick to the solution that had worked before:
“Rogue Flame had been sealed before, what stops us from repeating that process, or even, better it? I need you to weaken him, Nakamura-san. We will then cast him into this place, and seal him in here… in a place where there will be nothing to destroy. A pointless place. Fitting for the likes of him.”
------
Nakamura Akio ???
She reminded him of Kimiko.
Feeling suddenly self-conscious beneath that judging gaze, he nevertheless listened to everything the older woman said not just on the instinct that comes with being a younger brother to so many older sisters, but because he was genuinely curious...
About what kind of person she was.
It’s not something you can judge in a single conversation, but even so, when she admonishes him he accepts it, and when she points out his lack of a true solution, he accepts that as well...
She was...
Yes...
Someone very similar to his teacher.
...But that wasn’t so bad a thing.
“Sealing? Alright... That just might work.”
Nodding after all was said and done, the youth smiled at his enigmatic companion.
“Okay. We’ll work together.”
Still gripping her hand...
“Phantom Memory: Chain of Hearts.”
He offers a simple magical “connection” between the two of them.
The one weapon that had proved eternally useful against the Mage of Misfortune.
------
Kurokami Hotaru
???
They had linked their magical force. It was something that seemed trivial, but which in fact could possibly make a game-changing impact. With an easy access to richer sources of mana, Hotaru could now combine these newfound riches with her runes and abilities to perform large-scale magic, all without having the usual worry of expanding her own, lower-than-average mana pool.
With this, Hotaru had more ways to affect the outcome and make it so that Akio and the others could have the greatest chances of realizing the miracle which everyone sought: to defeat Rogue.
Nodding as to acquiesce Akio's move, Hotaru saw that there was nothing left to be said after this, and thus, all that was left for them was to go accomplish their missions, to go fulfil their purpose.
"In hours of darkness, even the weakest of lights turns into a wondrous star," she whispered faintly before letting go of the young man.
Taken away by an invisible force, as if spirited away by angels, Kurokami Hotaru vanished in the light above.
------
Nakamura Akio
Final Battle vs Rogue Flame
"Ugh..."
To the world no time had passed, but for Nakamura Akio, the trip into the darkness, a trip made with countless new hands clutching his own on the return, is a trip that had lasted a silent eternity.
Mixing with the starlight, is a gentle darkness that sends shivers down his spine, sends his senses into overdrive, as a power that he should not possess, a "path," that should never have been opened to him is utilized to it's absolute extent. His body shakes with countless feelings, a once rejected darkness has taken shelter inside of his soul, and the container, his body, the vessel, makes yet another declaration that it will not hold, like a bottle showing cracks from the pressure of it's contents.
The world has not changed much in his absence.
With a battle between the Mage of Misfortune, and the one who had inherited the Ultimate Magic taking place in the distance, the youth tries to steady his breathing even as the many new emotions take root.
Anger, rage, hope, joy.
Mixing and swirling, silver and black lights dancing like the cosmos above, the youth that has returned to the battlefield carries all of the wishes he could find on his shoulders.
It's a symphony of voices.
A song of the world, of light and dark, of the pain of the world, but the joys that could be found there that made it all worthwhile in the end.
The enemy is as invincible as ever.
Looking ahead even as he feels his body crack further, the youth admits the difficulty of the task to himself.
...To defeat a God.
To oppose someone that could not be defeated.
He acknowledges that such a thing is beyond the limits of reality, but closes his eyes, intent on keeping a promise that can only be called impossible.
...The future.
Having offered them hope, sanctuary, the song of the world calls for the future to be secured. The colors of the voices no longer matter, the light that never stopped believing, and the dark that knew that as long as they keep on believing, keep on living, hope cannot be killed by even the strongest of deities.
--A happy ending.
Listening to that song, the last and most important song, that dark haired youth-
The Fool's Declaration
"--ARCANA ZERO:
At Journey's End
STARLIT DREAMS--"
Calls out the name of the first and last magics. Mixing that answer he had found at the end of his journey with the goal that had always served as it's endpoint, the magic that could only be cast here at the end, when he finally understood the form of the 'future' that he needed to protect, is unleashed not upon the world, but...
On his own form.
--Arcana Zero: At Journey's End.
A power Nakamura Akio had nurtured all of his life, and a sealed magic that consumes the feelings and experiences of the journey in order to realize the power of "Actualizing Dreams." A safety measure meant to protect the life of the user, it converted memories, feelings, wishes, into power, and then used that power to realize the impossible, a grand magic that could enable even a weaker magus to ascend close to the realm of the gods.
To get your wish, you must give up your desire for it in the end. A cycle meant to perpetuate the "endless" nature of the fool, despite it's strength, it was not a power that would enable one to turn the tides on someone as absurd as the Mage of Misfortune.
Nakamura Akio's "Dreams," were still only the dreams of a single person.
A Dream of being a hero, of someone who flawlessly protected others, who could overcome everything, even Death or God itself in order to make others happy.
A perfect individual who can't be defeated.
...A being that does not exist.
A fantasy perpetuated by the minds of men, a dream that came to everyone at some point, the desire for someone to appear and take away all of their pains, all of their troubles.
In reality, no such being exists.
Even all of Nakamura Akio's "feelings," cannot actualize such a being, as such, it is a magic that still possesses far too many limits in his hands.
...Ordinarily.
In this instant however.
The "Dream," that needed to be actualized was not just his own desire to be a hero, but the world's desire to have a hero.
Rogue Flame cannot be defeated no matter what.
Even weakening him was impossible.
But what if there was a person who could?
It is a wish that appears instantly when an impossible wall makes itself known, a Dream, a delusion, a belief that can never come true, and thus...
...It is a much more powerful dream.
It is every dream.
Removing the limits of his own common sense, taking on the burden of actualizing those Dreams, those wishes...
Reality shatters to make room for fantasy.
Erasing itself to account for a new variable, a being that should not exist, a "hero" capable of bringing about all the "dreams," Nakamura Akio had gathered from both the light and the darkness, of "keeping the dream going," of "securing the future"...
The youth that was a magus...
Becomes a concept. --- They hadn't met here, but in a way, he supposed that it was a fitting enough place for what needed to be done.
Bathed in the light of a setting sun, Rei Everheart finds himself laying down on his back, looking up at a cloudless sky. It is a pose very similar to his last moments, but a twinge of nostalgia, of the smells of sun-soaked grass and wind, remind him far more of a day that has long passed, the day and place where...
"Man... You and I are pretty stupid, huh?"
He and Nakamura Akio... Had had their first fight.
Strangely, that young man was there now.
Lying on his back nearby, their bodies facing away from each other, it is a scene reminiscent of that distant ending. Their first fist-fight had ended in a draw, a cross counter that had led to them lying like this, laughing through the pain at how absolutely stubborn the other person had been in the scenario.
"Let's be heroes... Traveling around the world, looking for super villains... Hunting down the Old Lady whenever she ran off without telling anyone..."
Strangely... Akio is not letting him get in a word edgewise.
While there's certainly things he wishes to say...
It seems...
That he was more here to listen... Than anything else...
"...It was fun."
Saying that with a smile, his best friend keeps his gaze on the sky.
"What was next on the world traveling list? Egypt? Transylvania...? Ah, yeah it was probably the place with vampires. You know how our luck is..."
A moment of silence, then...
"But hey, I have a bit of good luck right here... I was gonna use it myself, but you went and did something dumb... So I'll hand it over to you. Be grateful!"
Something heavy falls into his hand.
It is a gun.
Masamune.
His Magical Weapon...?
A copy...?
The moment he grabs it, the world, the ever-present tree, starts to fade out, like static.
"...Keep going, Rei. It's rough... But you know how it is... Live your life to the fullest... And hey... If something odd happens and I can’t... Go kick a vampire's ass for me."
And right at the end, when he awakens in a world he had departed, amongst the remnants of black fire...
That youth...
Realizes too late...
"And... Sorry if I got the body wrong, it's been awhile since we took baths together."
That that had sounded strangely like a goodbye.
---
There was a charm in her hand.
Visited by a similar scene, something she would never realize, Aomori Mana finds herself staring at the base of the Sakura Tree.
"It's not another life... But hey, how's it going?"
Leaning against it, Akio laughs to himself at her confusion.
...To be fair... It was absurd.
-Arcana Zero: Phantom Memory.
Recreating their bodies and weapons from "Memory," the youth that had been unable to avert their deaths, settles on bringing them back to the world of the living in this manner instead, his "Chain of Hearts" persisting with them even now.
...It should not work.
Creations made by his magic, even with his link to them there should be flaws, problems with the creations that keep them from persisting on their own within the confines of the world indefinitely but...
For the "Hero" the "World's Dreams" had created...
Such a thing wasn't impossible...
"I was... A bit late on the knight thing, but really... You calling me silly? You somehow got closer to him than even I did... You're the silly one."
...He couldn't talk long.
The battle was still continuing on the outside, and while his body feels strange, the teenager just keeps smiling...
"But that's alright... You'll find your way... I'm sure of it, so...”
Reality restructuring itself, silver and black lights flaring with their cosmic darkness, the tension that existed between the stars and the blackness around them shaking the planet itself, the youth that has taken the time to rescue two of his loved ones focuses his gaze on the enemy.
...As a Magic, this was something he had never used in it’s base state, let alone mixing it with the “powers and dreams” of others.
In that sense, it is impossible for him to tell just how much power he can put out in this state. As the focal point of the magic, the “actualization” of the Dreams was focused completely on Nakamura Akio.
The World’s Dreams of a Hero that could “Defeat Rogue Flame.”
His own Dream to be a hero, to protect the future.
...There are certainly issues with becoming that sort of embodiment, his existence is in flux, swirling around in a manner that cannot be called human.
He is the “embodiment” of the dream to defeat Rogue Flame.
Conceptual in nature, there’s a very real chance that defeat for his enemy meant the “meaning” behind his existence would disappear along with it...
Well...
He’d deal with that when it came down to it.
He’d sounded ominous towards Rei yeah, but...
That sort of thing...
Lit a flame under his best friend’s feet.
“Phantom Memory: Fragarach-!”
Hearing the sound of his partner’s voice calling out to him, the youth catches the blade that comes his way, the mere flip of the sword in his hand dispersing the nearby flames.
“Master-!”
“Yeah-!”
Taking a step forward, leaving Aesop behind to guard those who had yet to reawaken, the youth feels a sensation like stars exploding beneath his feet, propelling him forwards, as he lunges towards the struggling gods.
He wasn’t one that cared for honor in combat.
Moving far beyond godspeed, the youth that simply knew he absolutely must damage his opponent...
Swung the memory of his friend’s sword in a determined arc...
And the world exploded with a silver, cosmic darkness.
Wise Up
-Arcana Zero ~ Phantom Memories- The power to actualize experience, or rather, the power to give shape to memory. As the Fool is someone who grows over time, getting stronger and stronger with each and every experience he takes part in, this spell enables him to give "shape," to those memories. Whether it be bringing forth his "memory," of someone's weapon or even just an "attack," he has seen. However, because what he is replicating is a "memory," the strength of them is dependent on how well he knows (or thinks he knows) the desired object or phenomena. In other words, the memory is only as strong as how he remembers it to be, meaning it could be both weaker or stronger than the actual one--
-Arcana Zero ~ At Journey's End- The First and Last Magic of the Weapon of the Arcana, and one that's so personal to Nakamura Akio, that even the spirit of the weapon Aesop cannot utilize it at all, despite being able to use all of his other abilities. A single use magic, it bears the power to actualize "Dreams," letting go of reality in order to accomplish the goal that the user has been striding for their whole life. In the case of Nakamura Akio, whose dream was always to exist as a hero, this magic allows him to reach that ever distant state.
A hero is someone stronger than anyone else, who protects those who need him, who always rises when he falls, and can defeat anyone who gets in the way... A person who overcomes everything, even God, in order to make others happy.
In reality no such perfect person exists, it is but a fantasy created by the minds of men, but by actualizing those dreams, the impossible becomes possible, and even the absolutes can be overthrown. However [...]
The Fool's Declaration
"--Arcana Zero:
At Journey's End
Starlit Dreams--"
An improved variation of the original Last Resort, amplified heavily through use of Mugen and other supernatural “ties.” Rather than utilizing the dreams of a single person, the Dreams of the "World" are actualized through the user. Because more power is able to be utilized via this method, it seems the old drawback is bypassed, the transformation is more complete, and the existence of the user themselves becomes akin to that of a conceptual entity.
Bearing the "Dreams" of a "hero capable of defeating Rogue Flame," the warrior that emerges is someone powered purely by those thoughts, the ability and desire to defeat the impossible opponent, and thus continues to rise so long as his foe exists, and there are people who wish for his defeat.
However, being so tied to dreams that one becomes a concept...
Has consequences all it's own.
------
Kurokami Hotaru Final Battle vs Rogue Flame
When she opened her eyes, it was still 'hell' all around. A different hell, however, and the proper one she had been trying to get back to. This one had no obscure plane or metaphysical behind it, no, this was simply the real world, the living world... granted, the last appellation wouldn't stand for very long if Rogue Flame was left to his own devices.
Hotaru breathed in the air of this incinerated cityscape. Her entire body, inside and outside, had been damaged by Rogue's attack. Luckily, her various runes combined with her regenerative powers had managed to bring her back to an 'acceptable' level. Ultimately, she wasn't dead, which was the most important of all details.
Being on top of the same building she had been before being 'lost' to that other dimension of sorts, Hotaru still had a nice vintage point to witness Mihou's defeat, Risu's attack and Akio's return into the fray. While still a pessimist at heart, she could only hope that Risu's and Akio's combined attack could weaken Rogue sufficiently for her to enact her plan, throwing Rogue into that 'Realm'.
Still, Hotaru needed Chisana Risu to help, and probably pull her away from the immediate danger at hand. If Rogue somehow decided to deal with Risu while engaging Akio, it would be a most... unfortunate loss.
Her magical weapons, Inanis Ordinatio and Irritus Mundus, materialised in her hands with a flash of violet void energies.
"Apep."
Uttering the name of the rune, Hotaru instantly turned the distance between her and Risu to nothing, warping reality so that The Traveller found herself right in front of Hotaru instead of being blown away by the winds her attack on Rogue had generated.
"Long time no see, Chisana-san. I wish that this meeting would be under different circumstances but I'm afraid that we'll have to do with this less-than romantic scenery."
Of course, she expected all kinds of reactions from the one and only Chisana Risu, the girl that she had dotted on, the girl that had somewhat reminded her of the feeling of how it was to be an onee-san... all while Hotaru was neck deep into despair. Chisana was one of these many little threads which proved that even though only negativity was driving the empty shell that was Kurokami Hotaru, it didn't mean that there wasn't someone left sitting in the passenger's seat.
Thinking of this, a moment that they once shared cropped up. Hotaru felt like this was the best way to lighten the mood before she'd quickly summon her full Magus form to mask their presence from Rogue. Well, hopefully, he hadn't picked up or seen through the Void Empress' abilities yet.
"Chisana-san, I once said that you should enjoy the journey, eve if it is towards a fixed end.... but I was wrong. Very wrong."
"There is no such a thing as a fixed end."
Chisana Risu now could see in full sight the Void Empress whom she had caught a glimpse off, back when Starlight Academy had come under attack. It was perhaps, a sight most dreadful to behold, to see a person emanating an energy that stripped purpose, that stripped reason out of everything within its vicinity. A person that voided absolutely everything, surrounded by a sea of pointlessness.
And yet there was a difference here.
Chisana Risu could perhaps tell that the rage, the anger, the agony that haunted Kurokami Hotaru when she spoke back then at Starlight Academy, incensed by the Student Council President Nanako's magical field... all of this negativity was gone from Hotaru's voice. Her statements, her words, they were no more different from Kurokami Hotaru herself. Her glare was no more like staring within a black hole, but instead these eyes, as supernatural as they might seem, undoutedly belonged to a human with a soul.
"I need your help to seal Rogue, Chisana-san. I know that I've never really done anything for you other than keep you company, but... well, would you eating some nice ramen at that place you brought us last time?"
The Ultimate Magus smiled at those words, spoken by the inhuman thing aiming at her. Impaled against concrete by the spear of Dirty Play, and facing a Magical Weapon that would soon fire something even more dangerous at her, she couldn’t help but smile.
After all, that Most Powerful Existence, Rouge Flame, is getting serious against her. Because now, that “Most Powerful Existence” isn’t Rouge Flame anymore.
"Valravn"
The black beam of true death barrels down on her. Even as she is now, she can tell. That Last Resort, whoever it belonged to, is dangerous. Even she can’t allow it to hit her. Kajiki Uta is now the Strongest, but she is not invincible. If she does nothing, if the state of the present does not change, she will die.
“It isn’t my style, but I’ll give it a shot.”
Nothing moves. The world turns a shade of blue, as if encased in ice. The black bullet of death, Valravn, the United Front, Rouge Flame, everything freezes. The living and the dead, too, stay locked in place, unmoving. The world itself ceases to turn, and the only sound in that frozen, ice cold world is the voice of Cerberus.
With her free hand, Cerberus calmly takes hold of the spear in her shoulder. It, too, is frozen. Its absolute incapacitation is no longer in effect. The extent to which it has “frozen” transcends all concepts.
Effortlessly, she tightens her grip over the spear, shattering it into particles of electricity that linger in the air, unmoving. Were the spear the true Magical Weapon of Rouge Flame, he would perish then and there. But unfortunately, or more truthfully, fortunately, Rouge Flame is no ordinary Magus, and the copy of another Magi's Magical Weapon being destroyed will have no significance in a battle against him.
Taking a step forward, Kajiki Uta walks across a path of “frozen” space and approaches the black bullet.
Freezing time and space… a simple affair. All that’s required is to change the “target” of what her Runes freeze. A needlessly complex spell made trivial through the Ultimate Magic. At present, time is frozen for as long as she has the magical energy to fuel the Rune, and as her own magical energy reserves are infinite, the frozen time can continue without end.
Perhaps a Magus like herself shouldn't have the capacity to use Fortissimo to such an extent. That, too, is easily remedied. A simple affair, to alter the limits of her being with the Ultimate Magic.
“Nakamura Shinji… for such a weak Magus, he had something incredibly strong in his back pocket. A shame he died like an ant. I would have liked to fight him myself.”
Cerberus speaks of a Magus who she knew nothing of mere “seconds” ago. It’s a simple affair, by using Fortissimo she simply altered the present so that she knows everything about the Magus from whom this Last Resort originates. A minor application of the Ultimate Magic, one she doesn’t even stop to appreciate. Nor does she consider other ways to bend her understanding of the world with this ability. She could just as easily change reality so that she “knows how to defeat Rouge Flame,” but she doesn’t.
It wouldn’t be fun to fight with a predetermined outcome.
She had always fought with brute force. Her Runes never altered concepts or imposed new rules on the world. To many Magi, they appeared weak. Basic. But Kajiki Uta was always strong. Even without toying with the rules of the world, reversing causality, or twisting space, she simply crushed with her strength. It wasn’t that she was deficient. A Magus of her caliber could always have followed in the footsteps of the others and fought the same way. She simply chose not to.
Because it was more fun to destroy with raw power.
Because fighting was like a game to her.
“That’s right, playtime is over.”
But the time for games was no more. She had played with Rouge Flame for a tiny bout. With Fortissimo she had altered her abilities to the highest level, and this was the result. Now that he had declared he would no longer “play” with her, she would do the same.
Cerberus took a step back from the frozen Valravn, and looked down upon the battlefield, at the rest of the Magi.
“Hey, Odin-senpai.”
In her frozen world of unmoving space and time, Kajiki Uta spoke to the only person that wouldn’t be frozen other than herself.
“Even now, when I said it was right for the world to be destroyed, I don’t think I was wrong. At that moment, the Strongest Magus was you, and the strong decide everything. Those who are weak don’t have the right to challenge the decisions of the strong. If the Strongest says they'll destroy the world, then the world should be destroyed. The way I see the world hasn’t changed.”
Cerberus released the grip on her black axe, the Magical Weapon disintegrating into specks of black, carried in the air like grains of sand whisked along by the cold winds of the desert night, that enclosed around her right fist, flowing into her, becoming a part of her. Merging with her.
“Right now, there’s a new Strongest Magus, an Ultimate Magus, who gets to decide what happens. I don’t know if I’ll decide to destroy this world or not. Maybe I’ll get bored of ultimate power, and end everything, just like you did. Or maybe something will change my mind, and I’ll find a reason to make a new world, one where I’ll never be bored, or maybe I'll listen to that suggestion of yours, and create a new future. But those kinds of decisions come later.”
Magical energy begins to gather in Cerberus’ fist as she takes a stance, one she had seen taken by her predecessor.
“Right now, as the new Ultimate Magus, as the Strongest Existence, it’s my decision that I’m going to obliterate that Rouge Flame.”
Because it’ll be fun.
The last words go unspoken, but if the God is listening, they’re heard nonetheless.
Kajiki Uta continued staring down at the battle, taking note of the Magi. A few stood out. Ones she recognized without using Fortissimo to alter her knowledge. Chisana Risu. Kurokami Hotaru, and…
Shining bright like the sun, yet darker than the deepest abyss. Sword in hand, lunging for Rouge Flame.
Nakamura Akio.
… He would get caught in the crossfire.
Cerberus felt no compulsion to hold back or change the situation to keep him out of harm’s way. That boy, that Magus, is strong. That light enveloping him is proof enough of that, and if it means anything, then perhaps he won’t perish instantly.
“Three.”
Uta begins her countdown. She could attack from this frozen world, striking Rouge Flame from outside of time and space, and destroy him with ease. But that wasn’t how she fought. Even if the time to fight seriously had come, she’d fight the way that suited herself. Right until the very end, Kajiki Uta would savor this fight. Likely, nothing would ever appear again to rival Rouge Flame’s ability. She would never have another opportunity like this.
“Two.”
The amount of magic gathering into her fist transcends any kind of magical force ever seen before. It cannot be defeated and it brings only death.
Zeus Lightning.
Valravn.
These are the Last Resorts of other Magi. Ones who had been defeated, left only in memory. If Rouge Flame is going to fight with the Last Resorts of other Magi, then so will she. But Cerberus has no reason to imitate the abilities of lesser Magi. In truth, one could hardly call the attack she’ll soon unleash an “imitation.” In every way it is equal to the original.
It’s a courtesy to one she, in her blind eyes that see only strength, admired and acknowledged as the strongest. A tribute to the Strongest who came before her, the Ultimate who she gained her newest strength from.
One.
A shattering noise echoes across all of creation as the “ice” that had “frozen” both time and space is destroyed. The Rune to freeze time was not voluntarily ended by Cerberus. It simply couldn’t withstand the infinite magical energy she had gathered in her fist. The Rune fell apart under the coming strike. Without even being unleashed, her attack had destroyed her own Ultimate Rune.
Sound returns to her ears, perched atop her head. The sound of a battle. As time resumes, so too does the battle. Wind tears apart Rouge Flame's body. Kurokami Hotaru teleports to Chisana Risu. Nakamura Akio charges with sword in hand. The frozen fragments of the spear she destroyed burst into motion again, scattering to the wind, as the black bullet carrying Death drills through space at a blinding speed for her. Even now, if it hits her, it will kill her. It cannot be blocked. It cannot be dodged. It will penetrate any form of immortality or life extending magic.
But that’s fine.
She won’t block it. She won’t dodge it. She won’t try to withstand it in a battle of concepts between death and life. She’ll just destroy it, along with the one who fired it.
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Originally Posted by Johnie Gamble
