Ga Rei: Exodus Nine (IC)

[Airen]

Jacques Dussault
Magatsu Aoyama
The Fall

The walking fortress would be fine.

Stepping through space to confront the newfound enemy, the sheer ease of the movement is almost enough to make you feel ill; it's unnatural, taking a single step forward and then crossing a space of over four kilometers in the course of that single step, and yet the bizarre feeling does little to stop you from reappearing with all the force your body could muster, foot ricocheting out to crash into the man's face in a move so natural it's almost like the body itself decided to go for it on it's own.

But it lands on nothing; or rather, the moment your foot crosses the space leading to the man's body, it's already melting away like some sort of afterimage.

It is not a reaction to your attack.

You're not sure how you can tell, but you're pretty sure that the movement he used to escape from you was a technique rather than ESP, Phantasm Step, Exorcist-style magic; took a bit of preparation time, so he must have already been in the process of moving before you countered.

Which meant that this was the annoying sort of sniper.

Someone who negates the weakness of "crossing the distance to zero," by vacating his current position the moment he takes a shot. Through use of magic it was possible to become quite a problem through these sorts of tactics, as moving from point A to point B was a much different thing for supernatural entities than normal human beings, something accomplish-able in a number of ways, but-

---You can still tell where he is; again you're not sure how, but-

The body spins as it touches down on concrete roofing; there's a ring on your finger you don't quite remember putting on, and the strike that comes out as you spin on what almost feels like auto-pilot, is one destined to crash into the solar plexus of the man that had changed his destination to your back the moment he comprehended your existence.

It's a movement quite unlike Jacques Dussault, which is why, when employed against someone who had come here believing it knew everything there was to know about his targets...

A certain miracle occurs, and the fist shatters bones beneath it's weight.

It's a satisfying, solid strike, and moving to press the advantage while you have it, that man, who refuses to either explain himself or ask for mercy-!

Ducks past the next strike, leg sweeping out to knock yours out from from underneath you as his hand lightly grips your right leg; grimacing to himself as that same arm slowly morphs into a solid black shadow.

It's another unexpected trade, an aspect of your eclipse that he did not understand, but-!

Just as touching you had sped up his corruption by shadows, the hand he had placed upon your leg had sent you crashing down through the floor beneath you as your leg's weight suddenly becomes too much for it, it's 'mass' amplified by use of that man's ESP.

It's surprising, suddenly being dragged down by an incomprehensible weight through floors and floors of concrete, trying to hold up a leg that no longer quite fit with the body's schematics; it's likely a temporary enchantment at best so you're not worried about permanent damage in that regard but-

Following you down...

Are a rain of hundreds of weaker arrows, and...

A growing spiritual power from above.

In your earpiece...

"Looks like that's Takamiya. If that's the case, we just might be in trouble."

In spite of those words.

In spite of all the crashing and echoes of roars you can hear from both the earpiece and the general area, she...

Seems rather calm about the whole thing.

[Katie]

Mikagura Mika
Time: Meaningless
Location: Dark Embrace -Great Seal-

Come, Genbu.

I snap my fingers. Once to call my demon, again to gently cut off Nami’s approach with frozen gale. If she won’t listen to me, that’s fine. I will make her listen to me, lest we all die because of her foolhardy empathy. Sure, her fellow knights have suffered—suffered immensely—but now is not the time to ease their burdens. Not when people we care about just as much are fighting for their lives on the outside, trying to contain a beast that can end all life itself…

I casually point Beacon at my-friend-but-not-quite. Am I hesitating? Is there a reason to hesitate? She’s still not quite the Nami I know, when it comes down to it. Tainted by the Kyuubi, burdened with memories of a past I could never fathom… She isn’t the same at all.

But deep down, a part of her must be. And that’s the only part I care about reaching out to. And I’ll fight until I can claw it out of her.

“Nami.”

My voice echoes in the twisted landscape. All I can feel the tinge of desperation, the voices waiting for an opportunity where I falter.

No, not yet.

“Do you know how many people you’re fucking over by doing this? Are you really going to put your fellow Knights’ effort in vain?”

[Mooncake]

Jacques Dussault
Magatsu Aoyama
The Fall

Something's happening.

Something's not-

It's not wrong, but it's different.

I know, without looking, that he's behind me, and I don't even have to think before my fist slams into his stomach.

Even smashing through the floor, leg dragging me down like a hammer, I feel so calm... the arrows raining down don't disturb me. Gisela's voice in my ear barely registers.

This is how you feel in a fight, huh?

Arya?

I see him.

And then, as the weight pulls me into the shadows, I'm above him.

[Airen]

Jacques & Gisela & Mina
"Dark Embrace"

It almost felt like it was laughing at her.

While she had proven capable of deflecting it time and time again, a human being who has become one of many beacons of hope within the confines of the city, the normally stoic knight can nevertheless feel those massive crimson eyes wearing down on the surface of her psyche.

No matter how hard she hit it, it never quite seemed to lose it's vitality. She could shift it's physical position, send it reeling further and further back with each of her strikes, diving past flailing black limbs to strike at it's center of mass, but in spite of all of that it shows no signs of weakening; it's spiritual pressure as an entity never decreases, as if pulling from some limitless source, it continues to get back up no matter how many times she manages to deal what would fatal wounds to any other form of youkai.

...In a sense it's unnerving.

It reminds her of the Kyuubi, but then again, it was another avatar of that same 'curse,' an offshoot of it if you will, or perhaps simply a weaker form of the main body but any way you sliced it...

...The only one weakening her was herself; while she could maintain her Eclipse for some time -under these conditions it was strangely easy- even the aid of those souls is not infinite; there is only so much they can give her at any one time, and essentially halving her reserves each and every time she is forced to blast back the entity, it was slowly getting to a point where the lack of spiritual power was causing her limbs to go numb.

"..."

It grins, and she grits her teeth as a sense of frustration slowly bubbles forth; it's not just the monster, there's a crimson voice messing around in the back of her thoughts, something that had started whispering things to her subconscious the moment she had stepped within the confines of this ward, and while it is simple enough to banish with her willpower, it's shameless insistence can only be called grating.

You're not strong enough

Die

Delaying the inevitable

Sinner knight, can't think for herself. Willing to kill humans to save humanity... But couldn't even manage to do that this time around... How pathetic...

Die

Hope is gone.

The darkness flares up in her opponent, and the knight readies her sword in response. While she had been assuming the enemy had been holding back up until now for the purpose of tormenting those humans that lay within it's sight, however, it seems to have grown tired of that approach, and as a result...

The beast that had been pushed back, strides forth with footsteps that all shake the city with their impacts. It's a prideful walk that quickly becomes a run, a run that becomes a galloping charge as miasma flows out into a crashing wall of pitch black spiritual pressure.

---Dark Embrace---

For once, the knight freezes up in something resembling fear. The change in the opponents demeanor can only be called extreme, going from something that was capable of being stopped to "an entity that will run down anything" she knows, she's fought enough times to know, that this sort of charge cannot be stopped by anyone and will simply plow through everything that gets in it's way.

---It's not even a complicated magic.

It's brute force in it's purest form. a mass of magical energy fashioned into an absolute battering ram that defies both heaven and hell, there is no need for technique, for power in it's purest form overcomes everything else; in other words it's coming, she's not strong enough to block it.

Is that her own inner voice? Or that of the unwelcome doubter?

Were they the same thing all along? Her own anxieties and fears simply given a megaphone to widen the cracks.

In the end she's not sure, but moments before impact...

---The pride of a knight forces her to oppose it even though she understands it to be pointless.

The clash itself almost blows everything away.

The wall of pitch black meets a cursed storm of crimson, and a single human finally begins to bend beneath the strength of a titan.

To be honest, it is amazing that she didn't die from it immediately; crashing together, feet digging into the dirt in a desperate attempt at somehow holding her own ground and pushing back the world itself, the self-fulfilling prophecy of her failure is something that is all but confirmed in that first moment. For her who had been pushing back her enemy up until now, and forced to get in the way for the sake of protecting the people, all the space she had gained, every precious inch of life for those civilians left behind, is quickly counting down back to an absolute zero.

---She's slowing it down, but that's all.

---No, it's barely that; the token resistance is worth a few seconds at most.

She's going to lose.

She's going to fail.

The tauntings of the crimson voice were always also her own, it cannot say things that someone is not already thinking; because there is no reason for it to do so, what cuts straight to the heart the most...

...Is the truth.

What you actually believe...

Even so...

The unbreakable sword breaks under the pressure, left with little less, the wall of crimson becomes that of blue as she thrusts out with both of her hands.

Even so...

...Why?

...She had to keep trying anyway.

The reason was obvious, from the start she had just wanted to protect others. It was the duty of an exorcist, to fight back against the darkness of the world to preserve the smiles of those who lived in the light.

...She didn't look like it, but she loved people.

Even beyond the scope of her job, life was just so amazing she couldn't help but hold it in reverence... And jealousy.

Yes, there were hints of jealousy.

She could never live like a normal person in this world, and a part of her resented that; she was also willing to compromise her ideals for the "greater good"... and she resented that part of herself too.

She had earnestly believed there was no other way... But that was just an excuse.

That darker path had been easier, sacrifice a few to save the many, because it was impossible to save everyone.

...Even so, there's no lie in this last stand.

Is it to make up for everything she had done till now? Or to follow through on who she should have been from the start?

She doesn't know.

Humans aren't so simple as to be broken down to singular motivations, there's a number of reasons why she's standing here right now breaking herself against the dark...

But none of them will change the outcome.

Failure knight, be buried beneath the darkness and disappear with those behind your back.

It's too much.

Overcoming her will, burying her beneath it, there's a certain sense of freedom in simply doing her best and falling here but-

"Gisela-senpai!"

A voice.

"Sorry I'm late, I'm not good with this sort of thing, but I can help push at least, so don't loo so hopeless-!"

The body attached to that voice, pressing up against the darkness alongside her...

"...!"

Reignites the body that had been momentarily swayed by doubt.

...A knight does not give up.

From the start she was someone who fought best for others, for those behind her back certainly, but...

The fire that comes with someone calling out to her at her side...

It's something else entirely.

Not strong enough yeah...

She can't block this, everyone has their limit but...

But who gives a damn?

She won't lose.

She can't lose.

It's not like her to be awash in her own feelings like this, she is the cool stoic one, she had always tried hard to give off that impression, to appear calm no matter how bad the situation got, but-!

"...Alright. Let's go-!"

A rare smile lights up her face.

...It's prompted by a girl who was similar to herself, struggling with a dark power, someone she had taken under her wing on but a simple whim, but she was...

Without a doubt...

Someone who counted on her as more than just a shield.

Not a liege-lord, or a family member, not just a comrade either...

It was one of her friends.

And that was enough, as a person she might have flaws, but that flawed knight that shouldn't have bonds to anyone from the 'light side' of the world...

...Was so much stronger because of them.

They stop losing ground.

Was it because of a boost in morale? Or was the power to stand against this charge present from the start? Side-by-side, two humans oppose a charge that cannot be stopped, and...



"...Well, I suppose it is natural for the commander to jump in every once in awhile. Good work everyone, I'll handle this act."

A storm of elemental force descends on the beast, amplified by the Harmonizer to become an exorcism-type force so potent that the monster will have no choice but to stop in it's tracks, even if only for a moment.

It comes from every direction.

After all...

Kenji had never been the type to half-ass anything; and turning the surrounding radio towers into spell points capable of launching high-tier demonic magic at a rate comparable to machine gun fire, well...

Who was laughing about all those preparations now?

The light fades out.

The monster has stopped, it's channeling of spiritual power disrupted by all the competing force, but it is not dead; and with a grimace...

He wonders if perhaps the monster itself was still the one laughing at all of this.

---

Jacques Dussault
Magatsu Aoyama
The Fall

Calmly, as if letting something else guide your movements, you ignore the world around you and focus only on your opponent. The downward momentum is compensated with spacial distortion; it is the simple answer, a way to avoid the massive burst of crimson spiritual power that the man fires down as a finishing shot.

He's possessed, it seems to be similar in nature to what happened to Arya.

Even so, you don't relent; unlike Arya...

There's no real history here; the kick descends with meteor-like force from the obvious blind spot but-

"...Enough."

It hits an invisible wall; some form of ESP.

It is not his own, it is something he borrowed from the darkness.

...You can't break it, even in this form.

Still, it's unexpected; while you instinctively move to distort space to retreat from this unfavorable position-!

He's a bit too fast.

Reading your movements more and more, his deflection of your attack is accompanied by an arrow shot to the chest.

It's cursed, anti-magic in nature. The sort of thing that momentarily seals spiritual abilities.

The force behind it is nothing compared to the one Gisela reflected earlier, even so, it still carries you far from your opponent.

You crash back down near Gisela and the others; the fight has continued while you were gone, to the point where even Mina seems to have gotten involved, but-

Not once do you take your eyes off your enemy.

Crashing down, finally finding the strength to remove the object that was inhibiting your strength, you still know exactly where he is, but...

You... Do not have a method of breaking that barrier.

Your instincts declare this to be true, even so...

...You can't just let him run unopposed either.

[Mooncake]

Jacques Dussault
Magatsu Aoyama
The Fall

Ow.

I wrench it out after I crash into the ground, but strangely, it doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would.

Gisela, and Mina, and from the sound of it, even Kenji, are fighting behind me, but I don't have the time to focus. It's a clever scheme, putting that big beast in front of us with a sniper to continually harass us - and one that's no slouch either. And then there's that shield... I can't break it, but I can't give him the run of the place.

Hmm.

I can see him on the building still. There's no real reason to move, after all. It's a great vantage point, and even as Gisela skids across the ground and bursts back into action behind me, I-

Wait a minute.

Gisela.

Memories dance past.

The columns, the rubble, the debris, all of it melts away into pools of shadow. Surging like a sea of darkness, everything the shadows touch blackens and sinks like puddles of ink. Even the floor doesn't seem to escape, like a curtain of night has been pulled across it as the wave of shadows expands.

Woah, tilting a little there. It's alright, I am on fire. The shadows around my body push me up and wrap into a cane. Hah, look at that. That's a trick you show in bars - after all, I work in a bar... a bar...

I think the difference is experience, you know? I'm older than he is, even though I'm starting to be inclined to think he's just a little smarter with the books. I mean, you can't just act without expecting a reaction, and it's silly for anyone to think I always dick around, yeah? I let the extra gravity push me down as my kick finishes the last of its arc, down into the sand and down into my shadow.

I've got it.

I've got it.

It's nuts, it's ridiculous, it's crazier than anything I've ever done, but... I think it's crazy enough to work.

"Kenji, can you fire a couple of those things on my signal at the sniper? You'll know when you see it."

And...

Now.

I teleport all four kilometers, straight into the building's shadow like I'm breaking through the sea. Again, I'm back inside the darkness, but here, it's almost more comfortable than the light.

Hey, Hel, I say to the woman inside of me.

Wanna see something crazy?

Watch this.

I can only imagine how it looks how from the outside.

Shadows scale up the building as the sea expands, rubble, rebar, and everything in-between melting into a massive wave of darkness, and from it-

From it emerges the mammoth hand of Jacques Dussault.

I can only imagine what his face looks like as the construct bursts forth, standing equal with the buildings surrounding it. I'm still at the bottom, in the sea, but I assume it can't be a happy one, as both hands form a cage around his shield and hoist him into the air.

After all, he was standing on the building, so it's not like he can float.

"Kenji," And my voice sounds weirdly hollow in the dark.

"Now."

[Airen]

Jacques Dussault
Magatsu Aoyama
The Fall

He was just as much a "Knight" as Gisela herself.

An exorcist active eight years ago, a man hailed for his legendary aim, who had only become stronger in the aftermath of the Kyuubi incident, Shinobu Takamiya is a veteran of many supernatural wars, whose depth of experience far outstrips almost everyone around him on the battlefield...

But it is also those experiences that have dictated his stance here today.

The overwhelming guilt of being unable to defeat the Kyuubi, the constant exposure to bane stones wearing down his psyche in spite of his considerable willpower; the knight that would have ordinarily never attacked humanity finds himself standing here doing just that without a single hint of hesitation.

Because those are the orders he has received; overwhelmed by his own negativity, the curse that has nestled itself deep within his spirit, the newfound avatar of destruction has become more akin to a machine than anything human as he continues to fire upon his targets from a distance of over four kilometers. In reality he could likely retreat to a span of eight and still manage to reach his opponents with a 99% rate of accuracy, but there is no need...

He can defend against any and all strikes even from this close.

The youth called Jacques had caught him off guard a grand total of twice now, but those surprises would be the last ones he would allow; having experienced his seemingly inherited ESP and Eclipse powers from a personal perspective, the rough outlines of their functions have etched themselves within the depths of his mind. Countless plans shoot through his thoughts, the many approaches his enemy could take in combination with his allies, as well as the mentalities that each of the people below would likely follow in this sort of scenario.

The real dangers in a close range battle were only Gisela and Jacques; while he knew the former more than well enough to confirm she would never just leave the others to fight that monster alone, the latter had proven that he considered the sniper to be the more dangerous opponent.

That is why he expects to be attacked again; that is why his expression does not change when darkness closes in all around him only to be stopped in place by his barriers, or when a surge of magical energy is launched towards his position from afar; it is a pincer type attack, a way to force him to stand still and receive an overwhelming amount of force, perhaps enough to shatter his barrier?

However, he is not worried, while the magic resembles a single massive discharge, in reality it is a smaller number of spells all fired one after another in a way that only resembles a stream of power; to break through this would require the ability to shatter it in one shot, as long as there were even the tiniest of gaps in between strikes, he would be able to reinforce the cracks with his spiritual power.

Therefore, he is not worried about it.

That strike will never reach him.

Instead, he focuses on the ESPer down below.

That's right...

Just as Jacques Dussault continues to observe him in spite of everything, this man has also continued to observe his opponent in spite of losing physical sight of him more than once. He was an exorcist by nature, had been long before becoming an ESPer, and thus his ability to both sense and keep track of the spiritual signatures of his opponents was so great that few could ever truly escape from his knowledge.

He nocks another arrow, aiming down into the sea of black.

It doesn't matter if the youth has become shadow, or even if he remains as shadow, that is still a spiritual entity that he can destroy in one full powered blast. Exorcist arrows made of tungsten, amplified by his ESP to a weight of over ten tons; being struck head on by a full powered blast would be akin to suffering the effects of "Kinetic Bombardment" from space, and unlike Gisela's absurd strength, his knowledge of Jacques indicated he would be unable to simply reflect the blast as his old comrade had done...

Therefore, regardless of his efforts, he will crush that boy in ten seconds; an avatar of darkness now, his powers have increased to the point where he can easily reach full power within that time span.

In other words, now that he's serious...

He has become a threat that's arguably greater than that of the distant monster.

No panic, only a dark resolution.

Held in the air, shadow-like fingers attempt to compress and crack; but they will never break through, and in his concentration to keep him here he doubts the young man will be able to dodge his counter strike.

One second left.

"...!"

Like glass, the barrier shatters.

The cause is nether the stream of magical energy or the shadows of the Eclipse, no...

"Shin-!"

The arms that grip him from behind...

Belong to someone who had 'dashed' here from the bridge, a leap of over four kilometers. Unlike Jacques who was able to warp space through the use of ESP, there is only a single technique that would allow someone to do that, and even with that technique, only people of his family, or people taught by his own family, would be able to utilize it to such an extent...

In other words...

Knife automatically going into the stomach of the woman behind him, body acting on it's own through the experiences burned in through war...

It's Gisela.

It has to be her, after all...

No one else called him "Shin."

No one else could break something unbreakable so easily.

No one else was stupid enough to leap this far, knowing full well she could not evade his counter-attack.

No one else knew how his 'spiritual sense' worked enough to evade it by hiding in the shadow of a larger spiritual mass.

Hugging his back to her chest in spite of her own wounds, the girl that has gripped him in a full-body lock...

Does so to keep an old promise.

---

"Hey... If this thing ever overcomes me... I want you to deal with me."

He had asked her that a long time ago.

Before all of this had started, when they were still simply partnered exorcists, before being swayed by the words of a boy who "knew the future."

"..."

Her hair had been longer back then, generally cuter, with glasses instead of contacts -although she never reacted well to being called cute- but...

That same stoic look never really seemed to leave her around anyone but him, even so...

"...As if you're weak enough for that to become a problem."

...Her belief in him remained absolute, even if she was a bit too rough showing it.

They were partners, people that lived 'under the moon' together, in a world separate that of light. Surviving together, fighting together, failing together, and succeeding together; it was by no means a normal life, he could not give her that, in the end, they were both people that were destined to live in the darkness, but...

"It makes me happy that you think so... But I'm serious."

"..."

She had sighed then, it was an unnecessary promise, but...

"Fine..."

Showing one of her rare smiles, she had assured him with that smile that it would never come to that; but if it did...

"I won't let you become a monster."

It was ironic, in a way.

---

The mass of energy threatens to strike him head on.

Powers sealed from the enchanted blade he had shoved deep into her stomach, the only thing that keeps the sniper from moving is her considerable willpower; while he had never expected her to attack him herself in these conditions, in retrospect, he should have considered it as a low possibility.

...It seems she had found other people to fight alongside.

People she could trust enough to not need her protection, otherwise, she never would have left their sides.

It was surprising, but by no means is it a guaranteed victory. While his barrier had been broken once, it would be child's play to put up a more powerful one to stop the second strike as long as he breaks free from this lock; with his infinite spiritual force it should not be impossible for him to overpower even her, and as long as he does, he can kill the both of them and remove most of the resistance against Erebus.

Yes.

It would be simple.

Yet.

"..."

The arms that bind him are shaking; not with pain but with something closer to hesitation; while she certainly meant to hold him still long enough for the both of them to be struck head on by that spiritual force, the closer it gets to them the more she seems to hesitate.

Why?

...Ah.

He understands soon afterwards, it's just another aspect of that girl's personality.

She acted tough and emotionless, but that was all it was, an act.

...She wasn't sure she could kill him.

He was her friend. Not one from the light, but one from the dark. She could fight him certainly, but now that the time has come to obliterate him in one move, the power in her arms is failing her and she doesn't even realize why, even though she meant to keep their promise...

...It's not that easy.

That's why it will fail; simply put...

She can't bring herself to actually do it.

Even if she doesn't mean too consciously, she'll let him go the moment before the blast lands, and he'll be able to escape within that time, those fractions of a second.

"..."

So that's what he'll do.

That's what the curse demands he should do, but-

"...Moron."

-For just a moment, the curse is thrown off.

It was an unfair question from the start, something he shouldn't have asked her to do.

"If something's too much for you... You could have said no."

A hand rests on her hair.

It was a bit silly, her hardcore bad-ass persona failing right at the end, even after powering through so much pain to pin him down, but...

He liked that part of her.

It was endearing.

Her heart had never quite been steel; and that was how it should be...

"...Sorry."

He can't hold it for long.

The curse is not so simple to overcome, especially not for someone who was already so corrupted by repeated use of a similar power but-

This light of affection, something shining from deep within...

For a moment it's enough.

He had something more important to protect than the world, a light so brilliant it momentarily banished all shadows.

A leg shoots out, knocking her away from him, towards the shadows below. Her powers are sealed, the knife's curse is much more potent than that of his arrows, so she can't be here to endure it in that state.

Hitting her full force, the extent of how much power she has already used reveals itself in her loss of consciousness as she reaches out for him; it's a bit cruel, to have their last meeting end with a bit of violence but...

A gentle push wouldn't have worked.

Even a fall from space wouldn't be enough to harm someone like her unconscious or not, so...

He would leave it to the boy down below.

He was grateful to him, in a sense.

Without this setup, he could not destroy himself even if had found the will to do so, but with it...

To remove a roadblock from the future...

He-

"You were cuter with glasses... And that sad face doesn't suit you... Try to smile more in the future, okay?"

-Steps completely into the mass of energy of his own accord.

It's the only step he could take before he was overrun by that darkness again, but...

It was enough.

"Cya... Let's meet again in that Sea sometime."

A goodbye between friends.

He disappears without regret, leaving the monster to fight alone.

[Airen]

One-Eyed Man
Magatsu Aoyama
Night, The Fall

"Yeah yeah, that's what I'm here for, no worries."

While she pouts a bit at the term 'brat' the cheerfulness of the younger girl seems to be outright invincible, something that can't be truly challenged by anything inside of this pitch-black hell...

Because that is what it is; a manifest curse, a smaller 'replica' of that produced by humanity as a whole; there are less souls within it than the true curse, which is why it is possible for non-eclipse users to resist direct exposure to it at all... But at the same time, the lethargy that it produces within your body is something that you can't ignore even with your considerable vitality.

Even so, when the girl grasps your hand and pulls you out of the water onto 'something,' a bit of your strength slowly begins to return to you as the mud-like water is forced to let you go with a sickening pop.

...While it doesn't show on her face, the girl had been slightly worried about your dunk into the mud; after all, you were someone whose old disposition would have easily morphed you into an avatar of similar hatred, but it seemed, at least to her...

That you're doing just fine.

That too, was something she was here to ensure.

Because it takes you a bit to recover your strength, the girl goes out of her way to build a campfire; you're not quite sure where the wood came from, but before you know it there's a dull orange flame lighting up the featureless dark.

"So... Now you've seen it."

Kneeling next to the flames with arms around her knees, still unbothered by the dark atmosphere, the girl that could very well just be a simple hallucination...

"How does it make you feel? This mud? It's a heck of a curse."

[Verg Avesta]

One-Eyed Man
Magatsu Aoyama
Night, The Fall

"So... Now you've seen it. How does it make you feel? This mud? It's a heck of a curse."

"... Yeah. It's something alright."

The One-Eyed Man was not exaggerating. Over the course of eight years he had fought and killed many opponents with many a powerful and insidious abilities. But none of them came close to this. Even the dragging miasma of the world where he had found Red, even the immortality of the vampire, even the fires breathed by the dragon herself... nothing was quite as overpowering as this pure black that threatened to sap away his very being. If there was one thing he had always considered his strength, it was his overwhelming resistance to things such as this.

But even with that, he had been slowly chipped away by the black waters, the crawling mud-like ink.

"No doubt, even... even I could be conquered by it, given enough time," he spoke frankly as he walked over to the campfire being built, not even questioning the pure absurdity of it. "Hell. Take me from few days ago and I would have sunk into it up to my eyeballs."

His words left a specific, unspoken words hanging in the air. Indeed, before he... before he was given a rude awakening by all that had transpired, he would have been no match for this curse. He would have become a part of it, or rather, he would have taken it in gladly for the sake of his revenge. Yet since it had yet to assimilate him, something really had changed. And it were those words that he left unspoken, for there was no need to. He from few days ago would have lost to the curse.

But the man he was now would not succumb.

No, he would refuse to succumb, no matter how long he would have to fight. No matter how long he would have to reach out for a helping hand.

"I'm not that smart. I don't exactly understand what this whole thing is... or what caused the destruction that's happening outside. I'm only a bit player in much larger stories. Going with the ebb and flow, wherever that takes me," he admitted to the girl, sitting next to her. His single eye reflected the warm flames he stared into. "But I know one thing: it's hurting a lot of people right now. A tragedy I once experienced is happening again. And I can't just sit by and watch. I have the power to help those people... and that's what I will do."

It might have been uncharacteristic for him... but he flashed the girl a confident grin, and let his aura of protection softly wash over her like a light breeze. He did not know who she was, or if she even was real... but to him, he was someone stuck in a place like this. If he could give her courage, what was wrong in doing just that?

"I don't care if it's a curse as strong as this. I don't care if it's hundred curses like this. I don't care if it melts my body away... because my spirit won't give up. I'll shoulder it all. All the evils in the world... I'll carry them as my repentance, and I'll do so happily. Because I know I can."

It was not bragging on his part. It wasn't arrogance or foolhardy cockiness. He truly believed what he said and to him, that was enough. He had never been someone who carried with him a great power, a fantastical ability, a world-warping ESP or magic that could challenge gods. He was a man with a sword, nothing more and nothing less.

But there was one thing he carried within him that was just as precious as all the powers and abilities in the world.

His willpower.

Destroy him mind, body and soul; he will not give up. Erase him from this timeline, from this space, from this universe and strikes his records from fate of the reality itself... and he refuses to back down. That was just who he was. It was not much, but that was his strength.

And now that his anger, fury and hatred had faded away, the ember hidden deep within his eye had changed color. No longer was it red with rage.

Now it was blue.

Like a newborn star.

"I'm hardly what you can call a good guy, kid," he spoke roughly and patted her head awkwardly. "But I made a promise to not let anyone suffer. So that's what I'll do. Whether it's the survivors of this tragedy, whether it's those fighting to defend them, or whether it is..."

He gestured to the blackness around them.

"... A curse, a grudge of humans, even from those who hate me. They might sow seeds of destruction around the city, but they too are suffering because of their rage. I know that better than anyone."

He nodded, more to himself than to the girl.

"And that means I'll help them too, even if only by putting them to rest."

[Airen]

One-Eyed Man
Magatsu Aoyama, ???
The Fall

"...Huh... That's... Kinda cool actually..."

Of all the things she had expected from you, a speech was certainly not one of them; but nodding her head over and over throughout your answer to her simple inquiry, the girl has to suppress an urge to laugh at seeing you freely talk so much, so freely, to someone you had just met.

For that reason the head pat surprises her even more, and the struggle to not laugh in a cheerful way is replaced by the sudden determination to not flush from praise.

After all, she is just a special sort of stranger to you.

A nostalgic entity that you have never met.

In spite of that lack of meeting, she assumes that there may be vague feelings of lingering familiarity from you to her... Ultimately, she is not sure exactly how this sort of thing works, or even what sort of existence she truly was beyond a bit of mumbled nonsense about 'fragmented data,' but...

Those sorts of things aren't important.

"That's right... This curse is that sort of thing, it's always been there, building up over time, fed by everyone... It's not likely to ever fade away completely either. This is just one of many, a lake from the black sea... Grudges and despair are terrible things... But the world won't be able to move past them until they face them head on... Running away... Won't fix anything."

Saying so, she shifts in place, gesturing to the world all around you.

"...I don't even think they know what they're doing, all they can see now is shadows."

For once, a hint of sadness enters her voice.

"But if you wish to try to snap them out of it... If you're really serious about that promise, then..."

There's movement in the darkness.

"Can you tell me what your name is?"

[Verg Avesta]

One-Eyed Man
Magatsu Aoyama, ???
The Fall

"Who are you?"

How many times had that question been asked of him?

Some of the people who asked him that were just random people he had met on the streets. Some had been those who had used their last, dying breath to voice their confusion and sense of loss. Some had ridiculed him with that question when he appeared before them to challenge their existence. Some had cursed him again and again with those words, unable to comprehend why they were slain. Some had even been those who he had let inside the barriers that he had built over the years. Again and again, over the course of eight years, he had heard that question repeated.

Not once had he answered it.

The One-Eyed Man had seen no reason. He needed no name, instrument of revenge and destruction that he was. He simply killed and killed and killed and killed, that sort of existence needed no monikers. Death had no names. Well, of course, 'Death' had been a title he had fancied himself with in some sense. That was what he had been to many, so many. Snowfall had been another title, one others spoke of when discussing his senseless path of rampage. He had never cared for it, for it made his venomous scales sound far too beautiful, much more than they actually were.

That had been... before.

But what of now? Now that he had cast aside that path he had walked for eight long years and replaced it with a fragile wish that he had nurtured in his deepest heart of hearts ever since that tragic day of red light, of cursed spears? Did he need a name now? Something others would know him by? In a sense, even now, he had no need for a name, title or a moniker. He would be just one of the many defending this city, one of the many who shared that same wish one way or another. Using a name now made him feel almost like he was doing it for glory, to clear the past that he had created. Honestly... that just seemed arrogant. He would never wash away to the blood on the path he tread upon. It would always be with and it would be what would guide him, what would better him. Just forgetting it all and taking a name seemed wrong.

And that's why he begun to answer the girl...

"My name? It's not really important. I'm just another nobody, someone who..."

His words died on his lips and suddenly... the One-Eyed Man stood up.

Within him he no longer saw the darkness that surrounded him, the inky grudge that made up the world for now. Instead he saw the ruined city in the mind of his eye, beaten by rain and covered in endless night. There, standing upon a mountain of corpses, breathing ragged and eye bloodshot, skin covered in scales and looking much more like a monster than a man... was someone. Someone who was familiar to him, grasping a broken sword and clad in white, tattered clothes. That monster in a shape of a human gazed down upon him, standing in the darkness, with envy and fury, almost as if accusing him, blaming him, for betraying the path they had believed in.

It was that monster who, his voice nigh-inhuman and gasping, asked him:

"Who are you?"

He had no answer to the monster, and in shame, he looked away.

And there... he saw another vision. Down below, he saw the ruined city yet again, but this time covered in crimson and flames. Destruction, fresh and devastating, as far as the eye could see. In that sea of ruin and rubble he spied upon a young boy, no more than ten years old, dragging his feet forward in a desperate attempt to get away from the horrors he had witnessed. His vibrant hair had been bleached white by the trauma experienced and he was clutching his missing, bleeding right eye. It was a distant sight, one he barely recognized... but one he knew by the heart. The distance he felt was only in his memories and in his heart. Yes... the heart that he had felt missing. Long he had pretended there was just a piece of coal where his heart used to lay, but now, as he watched that crying child fervently walk forward, hoping to find a way out... he realized something. That boy didn't really hope for a way out. No. He had just witnessed something terrible.

That boy wished to save the others who had suffered the same fate as him.

Thus, the One-Eyed Man opened his mouth. Scarcely able to believe what he was seeing, the memories he was remembering, the buried feelings that came surging forth, he asked the only logical question that came to his mind. He wanted to know... he wanted to know... he wanted to know the identity of this child who could wish such things even after experiencing something so terrible.

And so he asked the boy.

"Who are you?"

The boy, weak and feeble, didn't seem to hear his question at first... until he looked back, only for a moment. Clear and strong the child spoke a word that none of them, not the monster, not the man, not the boy, had heard in a long time.

"______"

The man chuckled.

How could he have forgotten something so simple?

"... Sorry. That's not right."

Those words broke the spell of remembrance that the One-Eyed Man had felt wash upon him. In the darkness, he stood up and stretched his tired muscles. There was much work to be done. The city was far from saved and the battle was far from over. He couldn't dally here. After all... he had to make good of his promise, didn't he? Gently, he placed his hand upon his heart. There it was, pumping like with any other human. Of course he had a heart. A demon, a monster, a human... all of them had that piece of dignity within them, that fountain of willpower. And he was no exception.

Not only that, but right beside that heart... he heard a familiar rattle of chains. No longer did they feel binding to him. They felt reassuring. Almost as if he could anything as the dragon watched over him, even if only in spirit.

"That's not right at all. But... let's see..." He spoke firmly but bluntly, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry, kid. I no longer have any name. I knew this demon, but didn't have a name either. And I inherited nothing from it, as I was born from it. Nothing can come out of nothing, after all. I'm just a nameless man, swinging my sword for what I believe in... armed with my will and wish to save others. In that sense, I'm rather... inexperienced with all this. No name..."

He gave a somewhat embarrassed look at the girl. That in itself was strange. It was like the more time passed after his decision, after his promise, the more life returned in him. The more human he acted. Slowly but surely, he was gaining his personality, his life, his identity back. But even with an identity, he had no name. Nothing to call himself with.

"Demon, Monster, Snowfall... Hah. I guess some poor sods even called me The One-Eyed Man? Can you believe that?" he asked from the girl, as if finding something truly humorous in that. "But they aren't really names, are they?"

Laxly, almost leisurely, he walked towards the movement in the darkness. Like a castle wall, he put himself between the girl and whatever was emerging. Friend or foe, he'd take no chances. From now on, he'd be ready. Even if this girl was but fantasy, a fragment of his own imagination, or something else entirely... that didn't mean he would not protect her. From now on, as long as he'd be that wall between danger and the innocent... he'd never budge from his spot.

"Still... yeah, I guess there's that," he said, and let his hand rest on the handle of his sword. "Long ago... over eight years ago... I knew this child. You might have liked him. He was naive, knew nothing of the world, thought nothing could hurt him... and then the world took everything away from him. His family, his homeland, his identity... even his right eye. From that moment the boy forsake his name and refused to speak. But, even so, even if only for that one tragic night... the boy wished to save others who were suffering like him."

His right hand rose to the hem of his hood, one that always covered his face and his hair, the marred remnants of that red night.

"It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but... I want to be like that boy. So, I don't think he'll mind if I borrow his name."

Then.

With a swift move.

He cast back the hood that had been covering him. Like the final barrier around his heart, he tore it down. No longer would be ashamed of what he was. He'd be only him. He'd be only what he was. He'd be his wish and nothing else. A man who wished to protect others and save them from whatever terrible fate world might throw upon them.

And that's why, in his memories, the dark skies cleared. Rain petered out. Flames were extinguished. The world might have been ruined, the scars might never heal... but the long night was finally over for him.

The dawn had arrived to his mind, and with it, a blinding light.

--------- And for that reason.

"So... call me Medrod, okay?"

He borrowed the name from the child who had been named after Knight of Freedom.

[Airen]

Medrod
Magatsu Aoyama, ???
The Fall

"Medrod?"

With your eyes lingering on the moving shadows, the expression the girl makes at that name is not something you can see; but to those who could, the expression that girl wears is a familiar smile. Different from the cheer up till now, which had existed simply as a sort of shield for you in this dark place, it is the smile of someone proud, who hasn't so much had her expectations met as she's had them blown away, and...

"Yeah. That sort of name is fine. Old-fashioned, but you always were a bit old~"

Her voice is small but warm.

"What do you guys think?"

-But it is also a voice that can reach more people than what one would think; it is a voice that echoes not just in the darkness, but seems to reverberate deep inside of your body.

In the end, this place is special; it's a sort of cheat, and in many ways dangerous , but it was also her stone's toss into that river called time.

In this place, this black sea of souls, you could meet people that you normally could not see; more his soul right now than his actual physical form, the shadows that exist as faceless wraiths just on the edges of his vision, are those that he has brought into this sea along with his own self.

Those that had been both sleeping within him, and watching over him, for a time of eight years.

...In the end, ESPers were that sort of existence.

Those that are guarded by the dead; the unknowing subject of the dreams of the dead who sought "hope." A reawakening of humanity's ancient power of 'bonds', facilitated by that 'cursed spear' from eight years ago, the moment in which you were struck with that power, is the same moment that these dreamers came to rest inside of you.

A literal rest in many senses.

Sleeping inside of you, much of the power you had found had been directly instigated by their presence; humans grew stronger when linked with other humans, and while all they had done as sleeping spirits is watch, watch over your life without intervening directly, whispering to you in voices you could not hear as covered in darkness as you were...

For them, just like for you, the long night has finally ended.

The time for dreams has come and gone; jarred awake by the overflowing emotions, the sudden surge of unexpected humanity, their awakening from 'slumber' is accompanied by the feeling of 'having to match that boy's resolve' and as a result, they can no longer find it in themselves to simply stand by and watch you in their dreams. Here, in a sort of Sea of Souls you can see them all around you; they are the wraiths that remain above the black water's surface, those who can see past the darkness that only seemed infinite, and...

...There's nothing dangerous about them.

Seeing them all around you, around both you and the girl, there's nothing dangerous about them. They don't have expressions but their figures are innately familiar, their voices and only pseudo-comprehensible, but the feeling of encouragement is so strong that understanding their words is not truly necessary.

"...Hmmm, looks like they like it too."

More than words, the feelings themselves bubble in your veins; a brilliant darkness that was also a dim but noble light, a growing power from deep inside that was not your own, but that was beginning to shake this closed-off curse to it's core.

That made you feel invincible.

As if the weight of the curse itself had become something trivial.

But that is only natural, after all...

These people were here with you; they had been here all along.

---You stare at them, and they stare back.

They're right there in front of you, but in reality.

Class Change:
ESPer -> ESPer (Eclipse Diver)

Your hand hovers over your heart.

This place was actually closer.

---The world shakes.

For a curse this small, it is hard to digest something like this; it's no longer a matter of many wills against a single one, it has become...

Many wills against many wills.

---The words exchanged here had served to weaken the curse further, as doubts are placed within the river of writhing souls who have become lost, purely adrift in their own hate.

In another part of the sea, a girl feels the spiking of her newfound ally's power, and thrusts her hand out into the darkness to retrieve him before he can be lost completely.

Somehow, it finds you.

"So... Looks like it's time for you to go."

Smiling at you, the child waves at you from amidst darkness.

[Verg Avesta]

Medrod
Magatsu Aoyama, ???
The Fall

"So... Looks like it's time for you to go."

Medrod nodded as the blackness around him quaked, understanding that the curse had been brought to a momentary stand-still by the power of the souls, the wills, the memories emerging around him. Their resolve, soaring to match his own, veiled him in confidence that now, finally, his actions could match his wish. His body could keep up with his will. Strengthened by the bonds of others sleeping within him, he could, for the first time, do as he truly desired to. He could take this power, smash this grudge, show this hellish ink -lost in their hate- that there was no need to suffer.

People were people, whether they be humans, demons, deities, monsters or grudges.

And they all deserved to be served from this hell that was trying to encroach the world.

"Yeah. There are still many out there who I need to help if I'm to keep my promise," Medrod answered as he glanced back at the young girl. "So... I'll be heading out. I just hope that I make it in time."

He was about to turn around, but for a moment, he hesitated. Then, once again showing that uncharacteristic gentle smile, he knelt down on one foot and looked the girl that had helped him so much after he had been swallowed up by this darkness. He knew not who she was... but she deserved his gratitude.

"Sorry. I still don't know your name, or even if you're real or not. But know this, girl..." He stared right into her green eyes. "You have my thanks. Right now, I feel like I could take on everything this catastrophe has to throw at me and hold it back with one hand. So... it might not be much, but if you're ever in need of help, if you ever need someone to save you... just call out for me. I'll be there, no matter what."

His hand reached out and patted the girl on the head one more time.

"That's a promise."

Then, hesitating no more, he turned around and walked towards the emerging presence. He sensed that brief all he had had, that young woman defending those people from the onslaught of wraiths. Despite him being swallowed up by this sea of black, she had still dove in after him. He didn't quite know how to feel about it... only that it made him feel warm. That even such a brief encounter made her try to save him at the cost of her own life. In other words, it reminded him of his own resolve.

And he couldn't let her resolve be in vain.

Before she too would be devoured by this darkness, he had to answer her reaching hand. To not betray that wish of hers... and to not betray his own wish.

There was still much to do. Outside, dawn's light was still not bright enough.

"Catastrophe? Don't make me laugh."

A grin, filled with hope, rose to his lips.

"I'll turn this despair into a happily ever after for everyone."

--- And he reached out to grab the hand extended to him.

[Airen]

Hitoshira Nagi
Inside of Ananta (?)

"..."

There's no need to talk to someone so childish.

Watching silently as an explosion of crimson force rockets through your body, the perfectly crafted illusion he had created to strike you in the back of the head is blown away by black flames that you cannot get completely under your control, nameless shadows emerging from the dark to go after his own summoned warriors; however, the presence of Lilith makes this a much different experience than it had been back in that distant hotel room, while hate certainly pulses through your veins...

It is not enough to overrun your soul.

It pollutes it certainly, your hands flex and unflex of their own accord as if itching to wrap themselves around the neck of your opponent and throttle him to death, ripping his body to pieces in the aftermath before burning everything away to nothing, but...

You can resist it.

It hurts to do so, a crimson wind grinding against the surface of your thoughts.

But you can do it.

It's the start of a time bomb, but...

You can do it...

Even so...

He is not impressed by this; having bore that curse for far longer, as a result of escaping from the Kyuubi through the use of a miracle, the pain of it is something he understands but has little sympathy for, indeed, the thing that bothers him far more than the activation of the curse...

"...Fraud?"

Are the words that he should not even bother acknowledging, but -strangely- can't bring himself to actually ignore.

"...Of course I am, there are no heroes in this world. To save something, something else must be lost."

He should know.

He's been around long enough to understand this as reality.

Not just in one lifetime.

But many lifetimes.

An amount that almost seemed infinite in nature.

"It's a nice thing to say, that the world can save itself, but the reality is far less pretty."

How can someone like you understand?

A glitch in the soul that let him remember things he should not, an ability that added him to a list of a mere handful of humans within the scope of the entire world; Ryota Yagami is someone who has watched this world fall into the darkness time and time again. Did you think he didn't want to believe? He had been an exorcist once, someone who had devoted his life to protecting humanity, so of course he would like to believe in a happy ending where the world is saved and everyone goes smiling into the future.

But that is a fantasy.

Even dreams are more realistic.

There is no happy ending for this world; merely one where humanity survives, and one where they are annihilated for eternity by a monster beyond your comprehension; one whose existence had driven him this far into despair and the curse simply by the action of recalling that it exists at all.

It's obvious which one he would choose, if he were given the choice.

Even now, as an avatar of "Despair" he was still doing his duty as an exorcist.

The survival of humanity at all costs.

A goal that made him ironically similar to the woman who stood as his opposite, the summoner of the God of Time.

There is no magical hidden 'C' answer that fixes everything without sacrifice.

Some or all.

It's that simple.

He had seen this world repeat enough times to know that as fact.

"Yesterday's despair will devour tomorrow without fail. No matter what light you think you can manifest, I can assure you that it is not enough."

The world around you changes at these words, dragging everyone involved into another "world."

It seems to be an illusion of some sort.

The vastness around you reminds you of the shadow vortex, and in a sense that is not an incorrect assumption.

This is the world of the future, recreated through the memory of a man who had been there to witness one of many "ends."

With limitless darkness all around you, it becomes clear right from the start that the planet has been erased; a victim of the overflowing darkness, there is not even a barren earth beneath your feet, rather, the Earth itself has simply ceased to be in it's entirety.

All around you are things that resemble stars.

They are not stars.

They are the lingering feelings of those humans who have ceased to be upon reaching this "bad ending."

Other than the remaining fighters and those remnant thoughts of life, it is an empty universe. Everyone has fallen into darkness, and this snap-shot, a picture just before the absolute end, immortalizes the world before it's absolute deletion, where the universe and these remnant thoughts run out of energy and cease to struggle, held aloft only by the demons that will follow humankind soon after and mark this world as a truly fallen world.

It is the moment before the end.

A place he has seen many times before.

"This world is what those ideals will get you. Attempting to save everyone results in this, a world without life or hope."

Compared to that, even the blood-stained world Amatsu would grant them must seem superior, but to push it further...

"...But your demon was correct. Amatsu cannot be trusted, so once my use for him is through... I will seal him away myself."

He hadn't intended on explaining himself due to the dangers of being overhear, but ultimately, he won't allow even his own self a happy ending.

Accepting that he must doom millions to save thousands, he has never been under the delusion that this will bring him happiness; he will save as many as he can before throwing his soul into the shadows for eternity as a seal, blindsiding the God that he knew had simply been trying to sweet-talk him into being an obedient little puppet.

He would play that role flawlessly, but...

Just to be safe.

A final plan of betrayal for the worst case scenario.

The curse -and even amatsu's nature- could allow that much.

[Frantic Author]

Hitoshira Nagi
Inside of Ananta (?)

This...

All of this...

Is this really what he believes? Because if so, it's foolish. It's incorrect. It's ridiculous.

"Are... you serious right now?"

I can't accept it. I won't accept it. There's no way that I can ever agree to such a ridiculous notion.

"I'm sorry, Yagami." I smile at him. It's not a pretty smile, or a friendly one. It's a sad one, one that I've shown to so many people before. It's crude. Garish. An ugly scar across my face. But it's the only thing I can do. "I'm so, so sorry."

The things Yagami says... They're things that I agreed with my entire life. We're alike. We're scarily alike. It frightens me how much part of me agrees with every word he says.

'Humankind can't change.'

'They can't be saved.'

'There's nothing we can do for them.'

But I've put my past behind me, and Yagami can't do that. There's no way he can do that yet. He hasn't forgiven himself, or forgotten what he's done. So I'm giving him this pathetic, useless smile as I stare at him and feel empty inside.

"But..."

I'm wrong.

Humanity might not be the greatest... They might not even be worth it... They might ruin so many things... They might mess up, cry, feel weak, and stare at impossible things. They might stumble and trip, curse others, make mistakes.

They might be the worst thing to ever happen to this planet.

"You're wrong." I say it because it's true. Because even if humanity is all those things...

There's no way that means this world is cursed.

There's no way that means that existence is something that should reset.

"You're totally, completely, and unequivocally wrong."

Because humanity is beautiful.

"Mistakes are... human, right? They're part of what makes living worth living. I wouldn't have gotten that... if it wasn't for you, Yagami. You've made so, so, so many mistakes. But that's alright. I forgive you."

I grin, a lopsided thing as fire burns in my veins and my knees wobbles from the weight of holding me up.

"I'll forgive you over and over, until reality itself ends. Because everyone deserves a second chance. A third chance. A millionth chance. Because on that millionth chance, that might be the one that makes everything different. So I'll forgive you, over and over until time itself is over."

There's no way for Ryota Yagami to accept that. There's no way for our views to be compatible any longer. It's sad, because just a little while ago... I would have joined him. I would have stood next to Yagami proudly, and said that his and my values directly aligned. Because they did. Humankind, for Hitoshira Nagi, was useless. She was a 'human' who wished to die while alive. Who had no want or need for things like 'compassion' or 'kindness', or even 'friendship'. There was no part of her that could possibly acknowledge those things.

But...

"I had to accept myself."

Because of who I met here... because of what I did here...

"And that means I forgive you too. For being the same as me."

I changed entirely. And if a worthless, terrible human like me can change...

"No, I can't just forgive you. I accept you, Yagami. For everything you've done. I understand it better than anyone you'll ever meet."

I would have done the same thing if Mark or Elizabeth had died. If the two people who taught me what being 'human' meant were dead... what would I do? Where would I turn? How could I possibly go on?

But this fight... This place... This time... It's more than that.

It's so much more than that. I can forgive Yagami, but I can't let it go. There's no way I could ever let it go.

"But... Even so..."

There's a light in existence --

"There's no way that I'd ever let you do something so stupid and get away with it!"

And that light can't be blotted out with darkness!

"Humanity... existence... this world... They're all worth something! They all have meaning, even if you can't see it right now! So just because you want everything to start over, doesn't mean anyone else does!"

That's what it means to be a human. To never let that light go out, no matter how bleak it seems.

"Right now, there's a girl on an island flipping through pages in a story!! That's the story of reality, and when it ends, she'll cry until there are no more tears or pages left!"

Yagami's been blinded, either by himself, his goals, or something that he can't even see! And if he thinks...

"There's no way that I'll ever let someone as stupid as you shut that book this early! That girl -- she's already seen your villainy!"

If he thinks there's any way that I'll let him throw that all away...

"And she's waiting for someone else, Yagami! She's waiting for someone to take those values... those ideas... that passion you have... and burn it all to cinders! Because if there's one thing she knows, it's that more than anything else, no matter what --"

Yagami is --

"You're the villain of this story! And the only way for you to stop... is if a hero breaks it all down for you!!!"

I can't stop. I'm burning up. I feel it tingling down my spine, running up my bones, and grabbing at every single part of me.

"This... This is more than just about me, or you, or anyone that we know! This is about heroes, and villains... and villains never win! That's what it means to tell a good story, Yagami! So I'm going to tell the greatest story of all..."

I rip it out.

Everything.

I tear this stupid, idiotic illusion into the tattered shards of a broken dream that is.

It's ridiculous. Absurd. It's definitely an impossible fight that I have before me. But...

Impossible odds are definitely ones I can overcome.

Unstoppable forces are definitely things I can defeat.

I'm burning up! I can feel it! Every part of me is on fire, every inch of my soul screams, and it knows what I need to do!

"This is OUR story! The story of two stupid, ridiculous people who wanted a brighter tomorrow, a better future, and fought to the very end to achieve it! Even if it seemed impossible, even if it was hard, even if everything stood against them, they still tried! They strived for that everdistant utopia, that beautiful, brilliant idea -- of a place where humanity could be free! Of a place where children could laugh, where people could be happy, and where everyone was equal!"

I feel it in my veins, in my soul. The heat of the Kyuubi, rising through me, crushing me down with an eternal weight.

"And somewhere, deep inside of you -- it still exists right?! Otherwise... Otherwise..."

I glance at Nakamura Auron, and then look at Yagami with a smile that could split the sky asunder.

There's nothing more I need to say. My face says it all.

Otherwise, why would you let him live?

It's stupid. It's so insignificant it barely matters to him at this point. But to me... To Elizabeth... To Mark... That's all that matters!

"You want to be a tragic figure, a martyr for your own cause!? Absolutely not! I refuse it! I reject it! Every part of it, every idea behind it... That's ridiculous! You're a ridiculous person, Yagami! I don't have an Eclipse to dive into, but do I really need one to beat someone so stupid?!"

It's with a hiss that I feel the Kyuubi's rage licking at my veins, and a maniacal laugh erupts from my lips. It's true. I can't do this for long. I'll have to seal it away soon enough. Because... I'm too close to the Kyuubi. I'm too alike to Yagami. All I have are half finished hopes, and half empty dreams.

"To save something, something must be lost? How is this equivalent?! To sacrifice everyone to save a few, to offer and barter with people for their own existence... how is this fair, to any of us?! How dare you try to pull something like this, and imagine I'll accept it!"

It's rage, isn't it? I'm angry. I'm definitely angry.

But...

Is it really okay...

Is it really okay for me to be so angry at Yagami? I'm too alike to him to be this annoyed by it.

It's with gritted teeth that I declare --

"You want to make rules!?! So can I!"

And I point, with all the authority of God himself, at Ryota Yagami.

"In the end, Ryota Yagami will admit that he was wrong!"

It's true.

I know it's true.

No, I don't know it, but...

It has to be true! It has to be a fact, that Yagami can't possibly deny!

"In a thousand lifetimes, how many of them ended with us, Yagami!? In a thousand different worlds, how many of those ended with you and I, having such a similar discussion to the one we're having right now!? Because... there's NO WAY THAT I COULD BEAR THE WEIGHT OF SEVEN BILLION SOULS ON MY BACK!"

Seven billion souls.

That's how many Yagami wants to sacrifice.

One.

That's how many people are currently standing against him.

It's an unfair trade, right? But... As much as I want to take it... I can't.

I can't trade my own life to save everyone else's. Because I promised, and if I die again, in a useless, stupid fight, I know for a fact that there's a girl out there waiting for me to return to her! There's someone in this world who wants to hear my story!

"I'm sorry, Yagami. But this time... I won't die so you can watch everything end another time! There's no way I'll allow an ending where nobody is happy, but everyone is perfectly unhappy!"

I reach into my sea of souls, and see Lilith standing there, smiling at me. I look at her, and with a wide, bright grin, ask a simple question --

"Please, won't you tell me your name?"

I know she was lying. I've known she was lying for what is a short time, but it feels so much longer.

"I know it hurts but... I want to fight with the real you! The one who came with me, the one who cherished humanity so much that she gave up a chance at a peaceful existence to help them!"

Humankind is weak. It's foolish. It's idealistic. But...

Demons are weak. They're foolish. They're idealistic. So in the end, we're a perfect pair, aren't we?

I spin my ax in my hands with a laugh, feeling the red that tinges it, hearing the sound it makes as it echoes in this empty cavern.

"I'll fight you. I'll crush you, you inconsiderate bastard. Let me grind it into you, the truth of the world -- that even if it seems hopeless, even if it seems insignificant..."

I grasp at my ax, and burst forward, swinging it with the fire and fury of a demon behind it - of humanity behind it - of all the world's evils wrapped into it-!!!

"NOBODY WANTS TO DIE!​"

[Airen]

Jonathan R. Black
Shadow Vortex

"Certainly."

For once, an expression of surprise crosses that reporter's face as a shadow descends upon her.

It is a similar reaction to your earlier forced transportation to the Sea of Souls, but the moment you call out for the fallen angel as if to urge it to fulfill it's side of the bargain, the endless world of blue...

Is replaced by an endless world of black.

A shadow appeared and swallowed up everything... No, thinking about it, that is an incorrect description.

The Void is what swallowed everything up.

Once again, the "area" in which the struggle will take place has changed due to the actions of one of the combatants. The world you are in now is a literal colorless void; while you get the impression that many eyes have landed upon you, you do not see anyone other than your opponent and those she has bound within a crystal prison of some sort.

This place is the Shadow Vortex.

The "emptiness" that existed outside of the world, a void that only had any definition at all because "something" existed to counteract it's "nothing." This is the place from where Demons now hail, a place that the latest of humanity's line of messiah's sealed them away in after discovering that they could not be destroyed without also destroying humanity itself. This information comes to you naturally, as whispers from many of the spirits echoing in the back of your thoughts, and while you do not understand why you have been brought here at first-

'This place has no 'time.' Here, she should be most vulnerable.'

-The voice of the demon inside of your thoughts soon makes the reasoning more clear.

If the opponent can control 'time' then you never had a hope of directly confronting her from the start. This world is a place that doesn't exist, time itself has broken apart here in the world of dead timelines and thus...

There is nothing for your opponent to control; in a void that represents 'nothingness' that sort of magic holds no meaning, or at least, Lucifer seemed to believe that some sort of 'critical' aspect of the spells would not function correctly here, therefore...

Now, perhaps...

She could be defeated, or at least held off in some manner.

"Lucifer?"

Having failed to resist the sudden ambush, the drag into into nonexistence, the woman nevertheless stands with her hands in the pockets of her silver jeans.

"...I see, so that was what you were doing."

The surprised fades to a stoic nothing. This is the first thing she comments on even after your speech, after all, she had already tried to explain her reasoning to you once and it hadn't managed to stick, however...

"Well, it's no matter. I needed to defeat the Morning Star at some point anyway, so I'll crush two birds with one stone. You may not believe it, you might truly think that humanity can defeat the Great Devourer... However... That's not true."

It's not like she didn't want to believe in it, it's just that reality had forced itself upon her too many times for her to disregard it now.

"We all fought together once, a long time ago. We got to the end of the war and lost. That was that, that was as far as this world can manage as it is; there's too much infighting, so much senseless pain, a curse that won't let the world continue on even if someone succeeds in winning the Conception, and an opponent designed to wipe out everything, human and demon alike, the moment we reach the end of the story, no matter what shape that ending may take."

She shakes her head.

"It is beyond humanity's power. There is no other way."

She earnestly believes it.

There's nothing but sincerity in those expressions and aura, but...

"None of you remember that power, but I do... So I have to do things this way. I will save all of you, whether you wish me to or not, whether it leaves humanity as a husk of positivity or not... At least there will be something of humanity left."

This is her way of protecting everyone.

Seeming arrogant and tyrannical, ultimately...

That is her goal.

Saving something of everyone; she's gone too far to turn back now, and...

Just watching everyone be destroyed forever... Was also something she couldn't afford to do.

All these repeats had been for the sake of a "certain few" and...

---Spirit Power begins to compress and gather in her form.

---She was preparing some sort of spell, something different from the time manipulation.

"So please surrender. I am also someone you cannot defeat."

[Mooncake]

Jacques Dussault
Magatsu Aoyama
The Fall

Darkness.



The shadows consume Gisela as she tumbles down, falling into formlessness.

Blood trails from her side.

Her eyes are shut.

I catch her, moving in the void underneath everything. She slows down when she hits it, drifting through the dark. Her fall stretches on for days, and years, but only a few seconds pass until she's in my arms, miles beneath the earth.

"Hey."

She can't hear me.

My voice rings out hollow, trapped between the width of a shadow.

"What did you think would happen, fool?"

Things are muted here.

Light.

Noise.

Emotions.

Everything slips away from me the longer I stay here.

Like this.

A shadow.

Gisela is still unconscious, and the darkness slides out the knife in her side, weaving into her flesh to bind muscle and skin together.

It will hold, says the darkness to her, because it must.

The world outside continues to spread into shadow, a lake of ink spilling across the city towards the monster outside of the warehouse. It moves deceptively, covering ground with speed.

Underneath, no change appears. Gisela and the darkness drift along, a soft light underneath them. Shadow envelops everything else.

They emerge from the sea outside of the warehouse.

Gisela is settled down upon the ground as the shadows spill through the city, flooding around the warehouse.

The darkness looks towards the monster.

It is no longer recognizable.

You, the darkness says, have made a proper mess, haven't you?

The shadows rise up, briar whips and spikes like mountains, massive fists and snarling dogs. Dragons and griffins and strange, inhuman shapes that latch on to the monster, pulled from the heart of the darkness.

They attack it without restraint, each new shape oozing into the next, piling into a barrow-mound atop the monster.

The shadows are beginning to spill through the true city, now.

They line the streets.

The darkness does not care.

It doesn't understand what a city is anymore.

[Airen]

Mikagura Mika
Time: Meaningless
Location: Dark Embrace -Great Seal-

"...They've suffered enough.."

Footsteps stop as a wall of ice separates the one inhabiting Nami's body from her progress on freeing those she has impulsively determined must be freed from their prisons; and a blank faced girl turns her head slightly to regard the one who did it without changing her expression, although a flare of tangible anger, along with a burst of black flames, leave her looking like a very different sort of knight than the white knight you were sure she would have preferred in all scenarios.

Neither those eyes or those expressions are Nami's.

It's those of the girl that would go on to become Nami after being freed from this curse, and yet...

...You still can't bring yourself to shoot her, even non-fatally.

There are a number of reasons.

Because it's your friend.

Because she's someone you swore to protect above all others.

...And because the truth of that promise makes it feel like a trap. Doing something like that was opening an easy method for the curse to get at your heart; one burst of negative emotion too much, the pain of striking at a loved one for some abstract goal like 'saving humanity' and that might just be that, sure you might be able to resist it, but was it worth taking the chance?

And even if you did resist it... Once someone with this curse started fighting, as she inevitably would if threatened... Getting them to stop in any way other than death would take some sort of miracle.

In other words, attacking her directly starts a death match between the two of you that neither would normally want.

Perhaps knowing this...

...Genbu absolutely won't let you do it.

One hand shooting up to grasp your wrist the instant she had appeared within this particular brand of hell, the turtle-deity in human form had slowly pushed down on your wrist, drawing the girl's unseeing eyes to herself rather than her summoner.

"Nami-chan, I have some complaints for you."

She, much like you...

Decides the best recourse is to talk it out.

Not addressing the fallen knight at all, but rather...

Going for 'topics' that only Nami herself -the Nami she knew- would have any real reaction to, something detached from the current situation, something that would snap her back to her 'own mindset' rather than that 'other girls'...

After all...

Nami herself was supposed to be resistant to this...

"You told me that Monster Reborn was a legal card while teaching me, however, further research told me it's currently banned. This is no good for if I want to beat Mika, she seems to dislike out of date rule-sets; if I attempted to do so she would likely throw the book at me. You should understand I mean this in a literal sense."

...It's almost surreal.

Acting completely nonchalant, as if this was simply a casual conversation in a back room rather than hell, the ever-sage like Demon purposefully takes this sort of stance, and...

"...?"

A flicker of something beyond dullness in those eyes, and the flames rescind for a moment.

But at the same time...

A burst of crimson slams into the Demon from the crawling forms of the drowning shadows. While it's incorrect to say that they truly understand what's going on, the 'idea' that if 'all the seals are broken we can finally leave' is something that someone has implanted within them.

Therefore...

Anything that gets in the way of that must disappear.

It's a pure discharge of energy, something accompanied only by black flames and heightened screams, but the demon that expected something like this merely crosses her arms against her chest and stands in front of you as a barrier.

...More attacks start to manifest themselves.

Many dazzling dots of swirling red and black, a cage from which there will be no viable escape as 'many wills' attempt to remove what has now been identified as a potential 'obstacle' in the only way available to them, but...

"Don't fight back... I'll handle this part... For as long as I can anyway."

...What was she telling you to do?

Or rather, what did she expect you to say? Appealing to her sense of duty towards the world didn't work, yet...

[Airen]

Mina & Kenji
"Instinct"

It was surreal, to watch her body move around in that sort of way.

Yes, it was much like a dream.

Blonde-hair a mess that was unlike it's usual pristine self, a crimson-eyed demon that certainly couldn't be her own self throws itself against a titanic creature of shadows with all the tenacity of a demon.

Because that was what she was now.

A Demon.

She forgot sometimes.

A massive clawed hand crashes into the earth, leaving a massive crater in it's wake that the golden-haired demon simply leaps from with a grace that could only be called bestial, tearing apart the concrete with her bare hands as her senses go wild and her body acts on it's own to avoid the cold sting of what would only be a messy death.

She's not quite sure how she knows, but being eaten by that thing would be the worst possible fate.

Burning forever in a stomach of darkness, there would be no reincarnation, to fall into it's self was to lament in hell eternally without a single chance for escape, to lament until one's own self also becomes that of the curse, a being of darkness that screams and cries for mercy as it's own self also drags down others screaming to their doom.

So she avoids it.

The movements are bizarre, she does not know how to fight.

But the senses perceive a different sort of world than that of a human, hands go out to grasp a corrupted light post as she is knocked back by shock-waves, and spinning, spinning faster and faster, momentum reverses itself and she becomes a missile that crashes into it's side. Ripping and tearing, enduring a storm of electricity and flame, hurricane force winds that rip her from it's skin and send her crashing into a distant building.

Fight or flight.

Fight or flight.

Fight or flight.

She can't abandon her Senpai or Jacques, so the body, the blood-lust she should be controlling but has let loose with anxiety, fights for her.

Maybe she inherited a bit of skill from Elizabeth.

It's hard to tell really, this twitching screaming form just seems to do whatever it wants to do. A wave of shadows comes up behind her as she rips her self from her imprint in the wall; some of her bones are broken, there are a number of lacerations, but this body will certainly heal eventually.

Even if that wasn't true, it wasn't like it cared very much.

Ripping and tearing, even without biting someone, there was a certain amount of 'energy' she could get just from this, so she ignores all of the shadows even as they crash into her target; indeed, sensing the danger the body simply rips off any that get too close, that keep her from attacking the thing that she just seems to find so purely offensive.

Yes the body is to blame.

If she acknowledges it's her own instinct, that would mean she is failing to control this lust.

And that's simply not true at all.

She's only attacking the monsters.

A boy calls out to her, some sort of order.

She can't quite remember his name, and just chooses to ignore him.

The fight is more important, tearing this thing to pieces was more important.

Do it or die.

It had been left to her.

Yes.

She wasn't scared, this was fine, all a bad dream.

A spear of ice manifests around her arm, a lance to pierce a monster blocks-wide straight through it's self; the impalement leads to a number of other spears erupting inside of the creature.

It's tinged with her blood.

She didn't feel any of it, but there it is.

Ah? Was this magic?

It descends.

What a crazy world.

Even when a power begins building underneath her, she simply ignores it.

The body acts on it's own.

It's not her fault.

---

Jacques Dussault
Land of Shadows

"Hey, boy."

Amidst the swirling shadows, the voice of a Queen calls out.

"I think this is a bit too much, wouldn't you agree?"

There's no light, but the entity seems to bring a light of her own alongside her self. A Demon that is linked to her Summoner, even if only for a few hours now, it's easy for this one to sense distortions in the mind that had become it's home.

Slipping.

Slipping.

Everything slipping away.

It's not like her to manifest under these conditions, but at this point it will go badly if she doesn't. The distant monster is gathering some sort of force, and the remnant curse in the air seems to be driving some of the defenders closer and closer to insanity.

What a pain.

But she couldn't pretend it wasn't her problem.

"If you don't turn back, you'll stay that way. Eventually, you'll become just like that monster over there."

Gripping the face of the writhing shadow with one gentle, powerful hand...

The Goddess simply states the truth in a calm way.

"That sort of insanity is unacceptable for my Summoner. I don't need a brute."

[Mooncake]

Jacques Dussault
Land of Shadows

The darkness does not understand.

There is no longer a base for it to stand upon in this world.

The darkness is a cutout in the world, a hole that represents the last remnants of form amidst its depths.

It cannot respond to Hel.

It does not understand what it means "to respond".

It is nothingness itself.

Even as Hel holds where its face would have been, even as the darkness sinks into her arm, it takes a long time to look at her.

The turning of its head - where it should have been - takes eons.

"If you don't turn back, you'll stay that way. Eventually, you'll become just like that monster over there."

Yes, the darkness says to her.

Yes.

"That sort of insanity is unacceptable for my Summoner. I don't need a brute."

"Yes."

It takes an age of the earth.

The darkness peels back, slowly, shadows pulling their way back through the streets of Aoyama, buildings collapsing as their progress into shadow is interrupted, pipes bursting, people unfreezing as the darkness draws itself in.

A hazy form takes shape.

Like the light, at the end of a distant tunnel.

Like the sunlight visible from the depths of the sea.

Jacques Dussault claws his way back into being.

[Airen]

Jacques Dussault
Magatsu Aoyama

It was slow, but it seemed like his sense of self was returning to the forefront.

Eyes locked on your own the entire time, the distant roars of a monster are something she dismisses for the moment, leaving it to the rampaging vampress for now. The growing power is something she finds disconcerting certainly, but at the same time, allowing the boy's transformation to go any further out of his control would risk the manifestation of another "avatar of the curse."

If that happens, then this fight is already over.

They were having enough trouble fighting off the single one.

She had only been within this world for a few hours, but her sense of how it worked was more or less on point.

As a Goddess of Death, she was quite used to humans after all, even so...

Even so, the growing power becomes something impossible to ignore in the same instant in which Jacques Dussault manages to reform his own body.

With it, comes a sound that is impossible to place.

To call it a scream could perhaps be accurate, but it is a screech that shakes the city from one end to another, a horrible, guttural sound of millions of souls screaming out for the absolute end, an eldritch roar that accompanies the fires of a black hell.

Yes.

It had certainly taken a beating from the rampaging vampire, but that only made it take this matter seriously.

It would crush them all at once.

==Primal Darkness=

It is exactly what it sounds like, a form of human despair made manifest, one of the offensive forms of humanity's curse, the primal darkness that lurks on the 'reverse side' of every heart.

It's form is that of flames, or rather a pitch black detonation.

It is by no means an ordinary magic, it is something unique to humanity because it is made up of human feelings, but it's strength as an attack is up there with true divine forces.

The vampire jumps back, but it's too late.

It's a spell that will kill everyone here, one that it has been attempting to charge since the very start of the fight, laughing and giggling at the resistance the entire time.

---Death.

Closest to the detonation now, the Goddess of Death turns her head towards it with a frown.

She does not panic.

That sort of thing is beneath her, even so, she can acknowledge how strong it is as a technique.

To be frank, she can't block it.

She would blame her lack of energy, but the reality is that this sort of attack would have been dangerous even to her "full power" self, it clings to and devours the things that it touches, be it physical or spiritual matter, and assimilates them into itself as a form of death that bypasses immortality or reincarnation.

By devouring it's targets alive with black flames, they become a part of the beast.

That is that.

"..."

Even so, it can be delayed so long as they are not hit with it's full power manifestation.

She had told the boy she did not like to fight herself; the reality of why that was was because of her lack of current strength... In this scenario, the best outcome for her own self was simply to retreat and let the blast take her summoner and the others.

Certainly, that is a cruelty fitting Hel, however...

...She can't do that.

Not just her Summoner and the others, she can't let those humans behind her die either; there are a number of reasons, ranging from the fact that the world itself might collapse if they do, to the fact that she simply didn't feel like allowing them to die, regardless...

"..."

Raising a hand, the Goddess pours whatever strength she has left, as well as whatever she can borrow from those spirits into a pure barrier of spiritual power; she has little time to do much else, and it certainly won't be enough to stop the detonation of cursed energy, but...

If she puts her all into it, a chance of survival should manifest itself, even if all she actually manages to do is reduce the damage and area of effect. At her side, a youth throws up a barrier of his own, something augmented by all of those machines he seems to have planted around the city over his time in the original Aoyama, and while it's clear he understands the blast will get through, he's also determined enough to reduce it as much as he can...

She blinks.

For a moment she is annoyed; she is being uncharacteristically generous towards humans right now, it is a rare moment that they should take full advantage of, and yet the youth is choosing to get hurt alongside her in spite of the fact that she intended to take the brunt of the blast.

His eyes however... Are deadly serious.

The barriers crack.

"...Very well then."

She accepts it with a smile and closed eyes.

"Idiot kid..."

The moment Jacques Dussault comes back to himself.

---The World seems to end all around him.

---

The only thing that remains truly undamaged by the blast is the warehouse.

Watching from inside, the battle that has come to a sudden, grueling halt is one that elicits despair from all those that had taken shelter inside of the building that had been so desperately protected by so many people and things.

...From inside, they can see that only the monster remains standing.

All of the 'heroes' they had been cheering on have fallen; be it on their back, sides, or face, the bodies are covered in shimmering black flames; flames that start slow and small, a bizarre contrast to the initial conflagration, but then catch fire truly as the black mud that came with it lights up like gasoline and a match.

The opposing mass of spiritual power had served as a sort of dampener, a temporary weakening of the manifest curse that had struck them all head on, and as a result, everyone, even Kenji and the unconscious Gisela had been able to survive the blast that had sent them flying blocks down the empty Tokyo streets, but...

---None of them can really move anymore.

The mud and flames are sapping their strength, even those powers that hailed from the Eclipse.

Alive or not, the fact that they are 'defeated' isn't something that can anyone can call into question.

---In other words, it's over, even if they are still alive.

"Hah... hah..."

Forcing himself up onto one shaking arm, Namasaki Kenji can't help but swear to himself, but...

"All of you... Go... Now..."

His last call before darkness...

Is for those they had fought for... To get out of here while they still have a chance.

"..."

The silence is stunned.

The boy falling onto his face shortly afterwards, the slow approach of the distant creature is one filled with a distinct sadism. It's taking it's time, and in that sense, they certainly might have time to escape if they all move now but...

But...

...They can't.

It's not fear... It's something else.

Standing behind those heroes and watching them die for you?

Those words were haunting in a number of ways.

...They can't do anything against this monster.

That is what common sense dictates. Nothing has changed from that time eight years ago, they are just as powerless now as they had been back then, but...

"I was just running away. Didn't matter where, didn't matter how, but I just wanted to get away from that monster. Turns out, I kind of ended up as one myself. Funny, isn't it?"

Why had they... Stayed here knowing this fight would happen again one day?

Yeah, they had known.

Deep down, everyone here had known, they had just pretended they didn't.

Gas leaks?

What a load of shit.

The truth had been right there from the start, and-

Yes...

That's right...

...They had stayed here knowing this would happen again, because this was something that they needed to overcome. Building directly over the original Aoyama? Why had they done that?

Not to disrespect the dead, no...

It was...

To state their resolve.

That they would not fear the darkness, would not run away just because of some sort of tantrum it had thrown all those years ago.

They would overcome it.

As those that had survived, as those that bore the wish to never let that tragedy happen again, staying here, staying to face an inevitable opponent, that was...

Aoyama's Will.

They had seen enough death, horrendous amounts of death, so much so that they would never truly forget it, just like they wouldn't forget that monster in the sky, but...

Can't do anything?

Maybe. But who the hell was that voice to talk about them like it knew them?

Ah, it was themselves, their own voices.

That fear bubbling up from deep inside, but...

What the hell did that voice know either?

They had seen enough death, that was a truth that they wouldn't avert their eyes from; enough was enough, this curse, these monsters, these events...

They might not be able to do a single thing, that might be true, but...

They wouldn't just stand aside.

Even if the world wanted to stand aside, like hell would they just stand there and watch.

Footsteps exit the warehouse.

At first it's just one, a certain cop who can't believe the day's insanity, but soon it becomes many, officer workers, bar workers, students, teachers, citizens of all ages and professions.

The life that flourished in this city, the life...

"Are they still alive?!"

"Yeah, but the flames aren't going out-"

"Oh my god... They're all just kids..."

That had sworn to overcome this 'darkness' eight years ago.



Soon enough, it stands above them.

A massive creature not unlike the one from eight years ago, but...

-They don't back down.

Gathered around those who had served as their sword and shield, for once, the people of Aoyama do not back down against this avatar of darkness.

It baffles the creature that had once reflected their hearts, but soon enough the sound of a dark laughter reemerges.

Brave or not, there was nothing they could do; the gap in power was too immense to be understood, something that they would never be able to cross even if they had held centuries to train and the longevity to do so; they were merely fragile humans, something that it could crush simply by stepping too close to them, and yet-

---Something is not right here.

Normal humans should not be able to stand this close to it and be fine.

But no matter how close it gets, they stand against it with a sudden, surprising...

Passion?

Spirit Power is rising, and it's not coming from the ESPers.

...It's unnerving.

The sheer 180 in their demeanor is unnerving, even to the beast.

Perhaps that's why it strikes them now, rather than wait to feast on their despair.

A crushing blow that humans could never repel, something that would crush ESPer and normal human alike; a blow that is overkill but just fitting for it's nature as humanity's longing for death, yes certainly...

Normal humans would have no chance.

But-

"---Persona."

The people of this town aren't normal.

==Miura-No-Suke!==

A blade cleaves through the extended limb.

It's a casual, world-rending blow; a sword the size of a skyscraper, a giant cloaked in light standing tall against a monster just as massive, a long-forgotten power of humanity that had nevertheless been born in the hearts of the civilians over those eight years since that tragedy, but whose embers had been stoked by the words and actions of a few heroes.

The Persona "Miura No Suke."

One of two warriors who had slain the Nine-Tailed Fox in Humanity's Myths.

A collective mask.

The ability to live past that tragedy, the resolve to "face that evil again someday."

That was why this city existed.

That was why they had lived so long in it's shadow, so that one day, one day...

---They would be able to help finish this once for all, not just this, but...

---That damn fox too.

A wave of azure spirit power forces the two headed monstrosity to retreat; they do not have much control of this collective "Mask," but nevertheless, the will of the people to fight pulls the trigger that reignites that emotion called hope.

And not just for them either...

-Light rains down.

A cleansing, healing light shines on those who had fallen to that pitch black curse. Wounds are healed, the black flames go out, and awakening first...

Jacques Dussault finds himself surrounded by "hope" in the form of other humans.