Guardians of the Future VS The Administrator
"Towards Tomorrow"
"...Very well, we will crush all of you once more."
If you wish to scratch it, then at least bring everyone with you. It is a taunt that the Administrator has used again and again in it's battles with the people of this world, the promise of something impossible, something to demonstrate exactly how impossible their ultimate victory was, and yet the situation that it finds itself in is one in which the world in it's entirety is moving in an insane charge towards it's defeat. Neither Demon-Kind or Humanity are at their best anymore, with both having emptied themselves of almost everything they had for the purpose of creating the miracle that had let them get even this far, and yet-
Without hesitation, the moment they are able to do so once more, a number of them start running right towards it.
It's so much slower than the battles that had existed before, but the determination in that charge has also never been higher than it is right now; demons flare to existence in the cosmos, drawn out by the wishes of once-upon-a-time summoners, and the sheer number of opponents has thrown it's mind even further into overdrive, fists rising as it glares into the storm of wills-!
Who will attack first?
While it had been stunned by these sudden developments, of humanity proving one of it's 'certain predictions' wrong with nothing more than the connections they had made with others, it's mind still steels itself to face the sudden onslaught, the weight of the real world not nearly as crippling to it as to the humans-!
"It does not matter how many of you appear-! You challenge me with a half-dead humanity and the hollow shells of demons?! Nothing here has changed, nothing is waiting for you, your chances are zero-!"
That's right.
While humanity has revived itself, their method of doing so has not left anyone in a particularly potent position; the entire enemy side is on something akin to their last legs, frantically gathering the last dregs of their spiritual power to mount an offense. At the speed they're moving it would be simple to simply wipe them all out at once with it's Almighty Magic, but-
-Fast and unseen.
"...?!"
It is a trick that it would have never fallen for when fighting seriously inside of it's own world, but one that comes crashing against it's body now that 'the world' belongs to a more neutral party, something that extends beyond both itself and the humans. But it is not the invisibility that gets the God, rather, it is the speed with which Hitoshira Nagi had moved in spite of the scenario; converting it's newfound emotions into her own power even with a body that is almost dead, it is it's own power that propels her across the depths of space, interrupting it's casting of Armageddon and throwing it entirely off balance-!
"Tch, damn girl, give up already-!"
But in terms of durability, even in the "Real World," it is on an entirely different level. It's life force is equivalent to that of an entire world and then some, if one wishes to destroy it, then bring a power that can tear a world itself asunder-! For them it is impossible, they cannot do so without abandoning their selves as humans or submitting their wishes entirely to that of the Gods-!
While she intends to disappear in the aftermath of the blow, the God will not allow her to do so; reaching out to grasp her throat with it's hands once more, a repeat of the death it had already given her inside the false world, the God is interrupted yet again, not just by the sudden influx of power as Lilith's Magic Circle appears beneath it's feet, but the slamming of Auron and Yagami's fists against it's face, and-
A different power, one that reeked of the stench of death-!
"Hearken, twisted children of Man. The knell hath tolled thy names."
When it's name is called, it comes.
It is the fulfillment of a contract, not with Jacques Dussault, or even the Goddess it acknowledges with the tilt of a hooded face cloaked in shadow, but to a human once lost, one that it had protected in a world rent asunder.
Over those 46 billions years, many such friendships had been formed on the world's edge, and that unspoken promise with a nameless human, yes...
The flash of a blade rends the God before it's eyes.
---
"...I see. So it calls itself the Ancient of Days, huh?"
An ironic name, for something that had proven only to be a destroyer. It is a name that should belong to a benevolent creator, something different from the hostile demon-kind that they had clashed with since the beginning of human history, but no...
That which claims to take the name of God, had instead set about completely destroying everything it came across; whether the target was a human or demon stronghold, the entity from the sky simply rended everything to absolutely nothing with it's light. It did not try to understand anyone, nor did it listen to pleas or cries of mercy, killing so completely that they were sure nothing would be left behind in the end, because...
It had certainly spoken once, just once, upon it's descent, and:
"Old mankind whom steeps itself in sin, thou art wickedness which violates the dispensation of the universe. The dispensation of the universe is collective. There must exist nothing that standeth in violation. I shall commence purifying the land."
Of course, it is certainly an avatar of that thing called "God."
They knew enough about reality to understand that, much like the demons, the "Creator" is an entity that can be affected by the thoughts of humans throughout the infinite worlds. It has many forms, some of which are benevolent, but most, as records of their predecessors showed...
Were not...
---
Death rends the body of the Devourer.
A single blow from something that had been born from perception, a concept that had taken life, and gone on to grow on it's own. It is one of many Azraels, if you wanted to be specific, it was the Azrael that had been born from the people in this world, a fragment of the "Akashic Azrael" that would exist within the true heart of creation as an embodiment of every world's thoughts rather than just one, a fragment of it's true self, much like all of the other demons that had come to heed humanity's call in this moment.
It is because they exist as these fragments that they can act this way, it is because they are fragments that every world's version of them can differ in both power and temperament, but-
Even so, it is one of many incarnations of Death, born as a representation of the inevitable, but-
"...Thy knell means nothing; disappear, angel of the hollows."
-In the end, even if it has been forced to recover some of it's human weaknesses, it is still an existence far superior to that of a Demon. It is a unified Sea of Souls attacking as a single entity, while concepts such as "Death," are certainly powerful against individual targets, the sheer amount of "Will" that exists within their hearts is enough to overwrite it through Observation-!
'We will endure every attack.'
While the possibility for cracks to appear in that belief now exists, the few in the collective that doubt are overrun by those who hold strong, they do not have the right to lose here, thus they won't-! While their movements had stopped for a moment in order to fight their way through that concept, the fist that launches in the direction of the Angel of Death is easily enough to reduce it's physical matter to nothing, along with that of an entire legion of lower angels, however-
That does not matter, and it chides itself as it impulsively launches the blow in retaliation; there is no point to destroying the demons here, as they do not bear a proper concept of death themselves; so long as their humans continue to exist, they will return to life again and again, brought back into existence not just by the 'idea' that had first birthed them, but the memories of their old summoners-! Even so, scattering the Angel with a single enraged blow, the God tries to calm it's rapidly spinning mind and regain some semblance of it's old impossible composure, but-
The few seconds bought by the first wave are more than enough for a second wave to appear-!
"I'll leave watching our back to you Suzume-! Let's go, Joan-!
Naturally, the one who treats that request as something casual and non-absurd, is a certain ESPer who is better known by her alias of "Golden Witch." While there are many other things she could say here at the end, the instincts born from fighting and surviving two different supernatural wars are screaming at her to attack, to attack now with everything she has at her disposal, and thus she was amongst the first to stride forth without fear-!
But those words themselves carry enough weight; regardless of how Suzume feels about her own self, that woman has entrusted not just her own back, but the back of her younger sister to her without a single ounce of hesitation. Even here, on a battlefield where everyone continues to exist only because others are around to protect them, such a trusting sentiment could also be called amongst the highest of praises-!
Even so, while she would certainly be a formidable opponent under most circumstances due to forcibly increasing her own potential by reintegrating all her previous selves, the God knows that she more than anyone else must be out of spiritual power. It had drained her of everything she had inside of the dream, and even then, she had gone on to do the impossible and summon up more power to defend against Ain Soph Aur... While one miracle is something it can expect, the idea that she can do it a second time is impossible-!
And it's true, she cannot do so a second time. While willpower can certainly augment human supernatural abilities, there is a limit to the spirit power one can generate within a certain span of time, and abused as her body and soul are, there is no way for her to create any more in these few instants; the sheer fact that she is attempting to use her fists rather than spells in this moment is more than enough proof of that-!
But that doesn't matter.
"Wh-"
The running speed of an exhausted but determined Liane is replaced by the blinding speed of her full potential, and her right fist comes crashing against it's instinctively raised arms, the sheer power behind the blow so much that it's body skids back on it's own spiritual platform, a hail of bullets from Hakkero following along in it's wake.
The power used to do so does not belong to Liane Cross, rather it belongs to Joanna Cross; when she had called for her sister's assistance, it was not in the form of a simple dual-charge towards a fist fight. No, taking a page from what she had seen Suzume do with Aogami, the younger of the Cross siblings had converted her entire form into spiritual power temporarily, before infusing herself into her older sister's body, effectively turning herself into a temporary generator of spiritual power for her sister's use-!
While such things would normally lead to a rejection by the body without the use of eclipse, these two were not just sisters, but also a "Demon and Summoner," respectively, the bond that ties them together at the souls has existed for as long as Joan has been alive, and that bond easily shatters the expectations of the highest God-!
That first haymaker is followed by a swift kick to the face, chains of light grasping at it's limbs and dragging it's body back towards her, and then a storm of punches at all points in the body.
Of course, none of them connect cleanly with the form of the God. While the surprising rush of power and speed had surpassed it's expectations, it is not the sort that will fall to any opponent's surprise attack more than a single time; Liane Cross has already proven herself capable of utilizing the akashic arts, thus it's instincts take her seriously, and each and every strike is parried with a grace that no longer seems quite so fitting for the enraged deity, and-
"Idiotic humans-! Vanish along with all of your worthless hopes, you have no future worth believing in-!"
Inevitably, it shatters her guard with it's fist. 46 billions years worth of combat experience or not, there are none who can keep up with this God for more than a few seconds, and the reality of that is proved to her as it draws back it's fist, intent on outright erasing her from existence with overwhelming force, but-
"Got you-!"
-In that instant, another girl attacks from behind; Ayanama Nami, throwing out a kick at the legs of her opponent, her spiritual power roaring into the same shape as a Lion's Head-!
While she has a background in martial arts, this is not a technique that was taught to her by such things; no, having inherited many of the memories of her previous self, the technique used by Yamuna's Knights all those years ago is one that just seems to spring to mind of it's own accord, the teachings of a Goddess throwing an overwhelming God off balance in the same moment as two more attacks close in on it's body, after all-!
One had been entrusted with her teacher's back.
Another seeks to unify the attacks of the others with her own blow.
One to protect, another to keep the chain of strikes going strong, to keep the God off balance so that it can never mount a more proper defense-!
"Ugh-! This energy, where are you-?!"
It never gets a true answer.
The Golden Witch capitalizes on the efforts of the others, grasping it's shoulder with one hand and pulling it towards her, as she throws out a blow of her own with all the power she and her sister have left, trusting the others to carry it on towards victory-!
Last Spark
==STARLIGHT BREAKER==
This time...
The detonation covers everything in a light of many colors.
---
Of course, the theory of why malevolent manifestations of the Creator existed were plentiful, but the reality was likely the same origin as that of the demons.
Ideas given form, or perceptions altering the natures of that which had already existed.
Those that suffer will often blame their creator for it. How often is it that one feels betrayed by the heavens? That intangible force called fate? The many worlds were filled with suffering of all sorts, evils borne from humanity, evils borne from outside of humanity, things that had been created by the original humans, and things that had only appeared to 'a humanity' now.
Sadness. Pain. Despair. Anger.
Such things surround everything, come from everything, and twist everything.
That 'evil' creator must have been borne from such things. Blaming those that reign above for every misfortune, will create something that reigns above and causes every misfortune; that too is a form of 'faith,' even if it ironically exists in rebellion, even so...
While it is the most powerful opponent that exists, it is not the only one.
Many things are born from humanity's hypocrisy and twistedness, and it is not uncommon for humanity itself to be the 'monster' in scenarios all around the many worlds. At it's root everything about 'reality' is twisted, so long as humans that can't bear their own weaknesses exist anywhere, there can never really be true peace, the worlds are so broken that it can't be fixed by anything less, yet...
At that time, they hadn't really accepted that sort of logic as absolute.
To them, their world was simply being razed to the ground by a being they could not defeat, and not only that, burdened with the knowledge that their world is simply one of many, they had to carry the burden of understanding that if they lost...
It would go on and keep destroying other things.
---But that was only if they tried to fight it as they had been; the doctor that had showed them the truth had made them aware of another possibility, human fusion on a world-wide scale, and strategic use of their inborn traits as humans to remove their doubts and limitations, and change themselves into an entity 'similar' in nature to the Creator.
Something that could beat the twisted form, and stop it's endless rampage and tyranny.
Protect the universe.
Not just once, but perpetually.
With the choice of between or complete oblivion, it is only natural they had chosen to do something that would allow them to persist; a choice filled with nobility and revenge in equal measure...
Thus, it had begun.
----But it had taken them awhile to understand how truly broken everything was; the goal had been to make a perfect world without pain, but all it saw was pain, everywhere it looked, humans were determined to bring harm to themselves and others.
Even so, it had wanted to believe, perhaps because of a lingering sentiment for their own origin.
---But humanity is fundamentally broken, just like everything else.
For the sake of a perfect universe, many of them had to be removed permanently, like tumors from the body; even so, it did not have the desire to destroy them completely, thus it kept their souls as records.
---
As the depths of space become covered in smoke and light from the full power strike of the Golden Witch, the one who emerges first from that cloud of smoke is that same Golden Witch, arms raised up in front of her body as a last-ditch defense from it's relentless counter-attack. It is a strike so heavy that it had managed to knock her off her feet even without touching her body, as the God too goes flying backwards from the force a mere instant later, their clash of point blank magics causing an explosion that burns critical wounds into both their bodies.
---But for it, 'critical wounds' are still not nearly enough to take it out, while she will lose her ability to fight for more than a minute.
The Administrator will not lose until it gives up. It might sound insane, but their ability to fight was directly tied to that willpower; so long as they do not relent, this body will keep piecing itself together again in order to continue the battle-!
That strength is that which had carried them this far-!
Even so, from the moment Chronos had forced their re-fusion, the damage that had wracked it's body had proven to be far more serious than it had first assumed it would be; was it's movements slowing because of the flames devouring it's spiritual power? Was Chronos's presence still something tangible, or were the humans simply proving more effective within the confines of their own old world even without the use of Eclipse?
--Regardless of the answer, it doesn't really matter to it.
From the start, it was a force that had to invade the worlds of others in order to put them to rest. Even if the world is subtly supporting it's occupants, and even if these flames continue to whisper doubt into it's ears, it will crush those efforts all the same-! That thought gives birth to a power that stops it's momentum in place, body rising to face the still oncoming onslaught with but a single-raised hand, and yet-
"I see, your power isn't bad boy."
An intense cold shoots up from it's legs.
Or rather, the sound of a voice forces it to realize that it has already been frozen from the body up for a single heartbeat already.
The cause are two from the Ryuumonbuchi House that have snuck up from below; because the battle is taking place in the depths of space, a variety of movement is possible now that would ordinarily be impractical on the planet. Tunneling beneath the earth and attacking your opponent from there is one of those many impractical moves, but the act of simply 'descending' while the others remain on this plane and charge it is a remarkably simple one.
One that a certain maid had guessed would be possible due to those black flames distorting it's senses, even so, her command had been for Sho to freeze over as much of it's body as he could 'instantly.' Normally he would not have the spiritual power left to do such things, but a certain eye-patch had built up a personal store that was akin to a few weeks worth-!
While it will hold it for but a single second, it is not a result it can truly complain about; where a butler grasps the ankles, a cackling maid reaches up to grasp the face of the God, and puts all of it's strength into it's arms.
"...?!"
The result is a scene that could be described as "dragging the opponent to hell," not in the sense of a fire and brimstone afterlife, but rather by dragging it into a "sea of demons."
Because down below, just as above, a 'sea' of those called by humanity await their opponent. They are not all of the fire and brimstone kind, Demon as a term is a simple moniker for any supernatural being born from a crystallization of ideas; many of them have no loyalty to each other, and are simply here to help a former contractor; but Phenex is also a Marquis of Hell, one who commands twenty legions of demons, a Demon who bears the capability of leading others, and thus-
A frozen body leads it to fall away from it's hundred armed protector, and into a storm of swirling crimson fire and bodies.
"..."
Even so, it is ultimately meaningless. Even ants that gather are still ants. While a number of demon-kind are certainly powerful enough to damage it, the reality of it all is that the majority of them cannot; demon-kind has been lingering in the vortex all this time, watching over 'their' humanity for a span of 46 billion years without being provided more than the barest minimum of sustenance. Even if they have been reunited with the souls of their former summoners, those summoners themselves were on their last legs-!
That is why this strange show of loyalty is meaningless; not only would one side inevitably betray the other in the end, a single blow from even it's weakest magic would be enough to banish hundreds of them by itself.
Yes.
Whatever 'fake' feelings were tying them to their former summoners, all it had done was send the demons to their graves early, their fates sealed forever the moment it finished off humanity once more-!
And yet, even as it throws Phenex violently from it's form, fist drawing back to erase nuisances where they have appeared, a hand grasps it's shoulder as it plummets, a fist slamming into it's spine as it's owner makes a quiet observation, not just to herself, but to the other humans that have hid themselves amidst this storm of demonic fire.
Against weaker opponents, the Devourer does not even bother to give it's best effort. It is arrogant, so used to being completely and utterly invincible that it does not give it's all, and with the reintroduction of it's feelings and the constant agony of the black flames, it's starting to get flustered as well, even if it doesn't realize it quite yet itself. That is why those that had been lying in wait are able to get this close without it noticing them, spiritual signatures hiding amongst other signatures, and-
Striking with all they had-!
While they are somewhat basic attacks, both weapon and wielder remain exceptional in all cases. For Sora, it is the blade her friends left behind to cleave a path towards the future; for Gisela, a Sword of Dreams that had fallen into her hands from above, and for Elizabeth, fists that had been blessed by a Goddess in her prime-!
Even so, the God moves to intercede; it has allowed it's opponents to dictate the pace of the fight for too long... While it had sought to conserve energy now that it is outside of it's own realm, it's anger and frustration at being pushed into this humiliating chain is one that drags out more and more of it's suppressed powers...! Reinforcing it's body to the max allows it to intercept and shatter each opponent in a single blow, scattering them and all the surrounding demons to dust in a single shot and yet-
"...This is for throwing me across space."
-those illusions fall away with the swipe of a single sword.
While she had not spoken or revealed herself when she had been spoken to, Ryuumonbuchi Kazuno was very present in this moment; it is the same tactic as last time, a blade that reaps the luck of a target and sabotages their efforts, and indeed, the blade shows it something that is not real, letting the flames and illusions of the demons pierce through it's superior observation abilities, and forcing it to absorb each and every attack before it can even realize it's eyes are lying to it-!
The collaborating spiritual powers lead to a detonation, as flames swirl in to fill a new vacuum.
---
Of course, it didn't rampage as meaninglessly as the Creator.
Well aware that they had failed to find a concrete answer themselves, they had simply set upon patrolling the worlds to find a different answer from another humanity. Darkness must be removed from everything for the purification to truly take root, but they had wanted to find a humanity that could reach that sort of purity on it's own... Because it did not wish to be exactly the same as the Tyrant.
It could force them to be what it wants them to be, but that would complete it's transformation into a tyrant.
It is only when a world becomes a danger to the collective worlds that it removes it. When a good future no longer exists, they erase it from reality.
The hypocrisy certainly exists, but that is their distortion.
They are the guardian, if a humanity is capable of defeating them, then they would be fine with giving this role to them; if they were defeated by a humanity, then those humans will have proven their way to be the better way.
But none ever have.
Whether it be a curse born from their dark hearts, greed that comes with discovering and dominating demons, or other sins... Worlds that would go out of their way to threaten others, or whose existence would feed the "malevolent creator," must all be removed if it is to be defeated once and for all, but...
It had been lenient.
It had watched and waited, hoping that some other sort of answer would appear; however, humanity is broken, everything is broken, it all happens in a cycle, and everything comes to an end even without it's interference.
Humans can't help it.
And because they can't, nothing else can either.
Destruction is in their nature, just like the demons, just like the angels, everyone always has a reason to wreak destruction on everyone else. Fear, ideals, greed, revenge, sometimes it's 'justified,' other times they do it simply because they decide they want to; and yet...
When it had come to this world -one of the last within this Sea of Amala- a girl had proposed an idea to it's other self...
That self that it had kept as a 'conscience' of sorts, a reassuring voice that this was certainly the path towards the greatest possible peace.
That self had spoken to that girl, and she had said...
Simply remove the negativity from humans entirely. If that happens, then they will be incapable of harming anything or anyone else; everything will be fine, a happy ending, of a sort.
---But such beings are not humans at all.
That is what the humans of this place had said, something that she had eventually come to agree with as well, that happiness only has value because it's opposite exists; that forcing that peace through magic would be a far greater crime than that borne of free will... And those wielding that logic had managed to defeat a God born of their own shadows.
---But that's a logic only humans would be okay with, and yet...
Demons had, of their own free will, come to help them without expecting anything in return for it.
All because they had each happened to 'befriend' a human inside of the dream, and were intent on keeping long-forgotten promises...
---How insane.
Who could believe that sort of logic?
A betrayal from one side or the other would be inevitable, even if such a farce was the truth.
This world can only end in death, it had proven that over and over again, for a time of 46 billion years.
There are certain things that cannot be allowed to remain for it's perfect universe to exist.
It knew what those things were, why was it hesitating?
Disappear.
It is a cancer on existence.
---
"Enough! I WON'T LET DO AS YOU PLEASE!"
A scream that bears all the power of a spell by itself, a voice that bellows almost as loudly as that possessed by "God." It is a voice that blasts away all opposition -literally- tossing aside the humans that have buried their blades in it's body, even as it takes aim at the gathered humans above-!
"Aur Ain Soph-!"
Tinted crimson by the flames of a hell that has dispersed at it's mere roar, the spell that has become that God's signature erupts onto the battlefield to crush all opposition.
Without the Four Factors, there should be no chance of overcoming it; this is a spell they mimicked from the creator, something that holds the power of 'infinity' regardless of the world it is used in, yet-!
"Ah. It seems it's time to get involved myself. Are you prepared Belial?"
The only response the King of Demons gets from it's 'brother' is a bestial roar of defiance towards that heavenly light, but that sound is a confirmation all the same-!
==Morning Star==
If the opponent decides to use God's Infinite Light, then it is only fitting that the Light of the Morning Star shine to oppose it-! Cast not alone, but rather alongside the 'brother' it has loaned some of it's power too, the resulting light burns with the living flames that had devoured Gomorrah, changed slightly from their use under Saki Ryuumonbuchi, they become flames that devour spiritual power, eating infinite light in an attempt to overwhelm it, however-
"Haaaaaaaaaaah-!"
-for the first time, the Devourer elicits a purely human sound as it roars in victory; no longer holding back on it's spiritual stores, intent on defeating it's opponents once and for all, and indeed, the light of the morning star -of rebellion- begins to be overwhelmed instead, pushed back towards Saki and the others as an absolute blow, Death itself, but-
"...I will help too."
"You huh? This world really is a practical joke..."
Putting her hand behind the hand of this world's Lucifer, and adding her own spiritual power to the spell's composition, a woman who herself is a fragment of the Creator chooses to lend her strength to this world's plight. She does not like to fight, her constitution is poor, and having self-identified herself as a "human being," her powers as a splinter of the shattered Creator are nothing like what they could have been, even so-!
While she can tell the Demon King's identity as such at a glance, she does not see it as automatically evil; certainly the "True Lucifer" that existed at the heart of all worlds was not something that could be reasoned with, but such beings are beyond her, she can only observe that which exists right in front of her eyes, thus-
While the Demon King certainly has a number of reasons for helping humanity -not all of which are noble- she does not see it as an "absolute evil," rather-
"..."
-It is just another ally.
One that she is sure she will be able to understand -in time- at least a little bit.
And it is that irony, of those that should be absolute enemies simply pushing that aside when they recognize the other is "not what they had expected," and had been "changed by exposure to humans," that the morning star pushes aside the light that had been overrunning it, slamming into the God with it's own power as well as their own, burning it with the light of dawn-!
"Gah... You... You...! Salvation-!"
The built up damage to the vessel finally becoming too much to just ignore without losing combat efficiency, the God begins the process of healing it all with a single spell, but-
-In that instant, someone -or rather many someones- come roaring out of the darkness from behind at godspeed.
It is not that they have hidden away stores of power for this very moment, no, just like the others this group is exhausted from the battle up until now, but in spite of lacking the Eclipse, the little they do have left swirls together into a cohesive sort of whole, one in which a girl taps into her natural speed, and a certain pink-haired teacher speeds up their flow of time as much as she is able, the group as a whole swinging forward with but a single fist-!
While attacking the body is important to stop it's spell-casting, that is not the real target in this instance; brazenly speaking, the enemy does not have what one would call traditional vitality... In video game terms, they are not something with a 'life bar' that can be depleted completely, at least not by the people of this world, there is always a point for them where that imaginary number will stop, because their determination will not allow it to ever hit zero, however-
-While they have not completely returned to being a human, they do have an 'obvious weak point,' something simple that just might strip away that last layer of immortality...
After all, don't they react 'oddly' to emotional stimuli?
Pouring everything you had remembered into that fist, it-
---
"You know, you're a lot more emotional nowadays."
On the second loop, she had told him that with a laugh.
"It's a byproduct of Observation."
And he had answered her in a matter of fact way, because it had both noticed and analyzed such things by itself. This was before it had accepted it's name as Chronos, when it had simply been a nameless aspect of the Devourer, a physical manifestation of their emotions, something they had kept close to it in order to be "reassured" when necessary.
Even so, it had not been overly emotional at the start either; it had saved the world out of a strange empathy, but many of it's actions were still 'robot-like' in nature...
After all it had to be detached, it had seen -and given the okay- for too many people die to really want to connect with anything anymore.
"The Soul Sea can see me, after witnessing the rewind, they seem to have decided that I must fit the designation of Chronos. Things born from humans will always show some aspects of them, so it seems my form has been both altered and stabilized due to their perceptions of me. It is likely a conscious act on their part. If I have an identity, it is easier for me to suppress 'myself.'"
While the Devourer itself has a higher "Observation Value" than Humanity does and cannot be truly affected by them as of now, the secondary personality, the manifest emotions, could be changed slightly by human perception, and that secondary personality held affinity against the first.
It was the Soul Sea's -the Counter Force's- subtle way of keeping the false world going perpetually most likely, but-
"Oh I see, well, I just thought you looked like you were having a bit more fun than normal..."
Still more innocent, not yet broken by the truth of this world's corrupt core; that girl had simply wanted it to enjoy itself inside of the world, rather than simply stand by her as a stoic protector, and...
"Fun? I suppose I am. Humans are interesting enough, I don't hate them."
...It had admitted to such things early on.
---
---Why?
The fist that crashes into it's body, is countered by an instinctively driven swinging arm, spirit power doing their master's will as it 'drags' them away from it, the sheer force and density of the substance too much for them to overcome quickly. Ordinarily it would be a bind that is quickly followed by a killing spell of some sort, but mind swimming in a sudden memory that does not belong to 'it,' the entity has to take a heartbeat to reorient itself before it can strike true...
It is not a moment that would ordinarily matter, killing those opponents 1 second later rather than half of a second later, but in this moment-
"I won't let you-!"
---Another miracle manifests itself, catching the God in a full body lock.
Another guardian of the future, one who had been thought lost in the transition from one world to the next, even if she was acting in a body that wasn't exactly her own-!
"Sorry I'm late everyone!"
Voice fearless, the one that has caught it in a grip is this humanity's Artificial Goddess.
"What-?!"
She shouldn't be here, or at least, she shouldn't be here in any body that was not her own.
Ultimately artificial, the weakness of that Goddess was that she required her body to exist. Her soul was unstable, and liable to fall to pieces without a proper special container; that was why Matsuda had warned her against pushing it too hard with the factors, as she might die a 'true death' as a result, however she had survived the use of Universal Law by limiting herself to a single multi-layered use, but...
Even then, her body should still be comatose; while the factors are gone, the personal seal she had cast had carried over from the dream to reality, she should not be able to move, and yet-
"Everyone here believes in the future... You might see nothing but inevitable death, but I won't let you force that on us-! It might be a miracle, but we're willing to see how far that miracle goes-!"
-This body suited her just fine.
But that's only natural, it is a body that belonged to one of her knights, one of her closest friends. Linked to her for centuries, it had slowly been changed by her influence into becoming something similar to her own body, and with the original soul having both moved on and given her her blessing to keep it, the Goddess returns to the battle to protect the future-!
However, while the body is similar in capacity to her own, it should be much weaker overall; while her full powered self might have been able to bind it for a time, it should be able to break the grip of a make-shift body easily.
And it's true, alone, she could not do it.
However, her name as a Goddess was Yamuna. She was "She-Who-Reigns-Sovereign-Over-The-Pitrs," a Goddess of Life-! While it is bending the rules somewhat, her presence gives shape to those wraiths that wish to see this through to the end, those that had taken this final journey alongside those that still lived, but hadn't been present inside of the 'image' humanity had returned to-!
Their deaths had paved the way towards that image after all, so undoing it would be a hindrance to the future. Even so, that logic is surely something they as the dead cannot be okay with, it just means humanity abandoned them and continued on, so why-?!
"Isn't it obvious?"
"It's something you might have forgotten."
"The ending might not be perfect for us, but-"
"-We had things we needed to protect, that's all."
They don't see it that way.
Even being able to appear here at the end -even if only for a few seconds- is already more than they could have ever asked for, and they use that time to help a Goddess bind a God completely-!
And the reason why, reveals itself soon enough-!
A punch filled with all the hopes, memories, and dreams a youth had found, not just inside of a long-gone dream, but even now it continues to gather them as it comes, fragments of every attack that they have let loose since in defense of the future, all of it...
An emotional beacon, something so massive, that there's no way the Goddess and the wraiths also won't be blown away by it, but-
"Don't be foolish. Did you not hear what he said?"
A Goddess quietly reprimands it.
She is good at speaking to humans.
"That is not death. It is a strike meant to save you."
---Ah.
It finally understands.
---How foolish.
They were trying to connect to it, just like they had done with demon-kind.
The final strike connects, and all wraiths run out of energy and disappear as their final act finally brings itself to a close.
---
The world is not painted white, rather, it becomes a canvas of many colors.
While the attack pales in scope to those that had been assisted by the Four Factors, it makes up for that in 'purity,' shining far more potently than any other strike that has come before, even if it happens to be smaller than they are... It is an attack filled to the brim with emotions and experiences, everything that the world had felt while inside of that replica and then some...
It is an attack that will likely never appear again, a miracle of sorts borne from the surge of feelings that had come with "reawakening," but it is also an attack that will likely never be needed again, because it's one and only use would be against this particular opponent.
Ultimately, it's nature is discovered to be a twisted form of that of a human's. Against a truly merciless and relentless God, the 'feelings' of a world shouldn't mean anything, it would kill them regardless, but this God had shown strange amounts of mercy, expectation, and hesitation, even more so after absorbing Chronos, and there is an easy reason for that, namely:
---Just like all of you, it had lived inside of that world for a time.
While it may disassociate itself with Chronos, ultimately, they are the same being, and what the strike had lacked in actual killing potency, it more than made up for by serving as a 'reminder' of everything it had felt and experienced inside of that world as a 'resident.'
In many ways, it's a 'shock' to the system.
An influx of memories and emotions that completely shut down all primary functions:
Meaningless things: Lying in the grass together, watching television shows they had both seen literally millions of times, observing the growth of the humans, seeing how they changed if 'pushed in certain ways.'
Intense things: Battles against Gods, Mental Struggles against the Self, reawakening of one's emotions and the changes that come as a result of them, it-
---As a collective, they've been this way for too long to really go back to being 'individual souls,' if they were to leave the main collective, they would likely do so as a number of other collectives, and-
"..."
-it is just for a moment, a fraction of a second, but a number of them finally lose the will to go through with all of this, and in that same moment, the collective loses cohesion with itself.
A scythe strikes it a single time, as a girl tries to re-free a certain entity that had bound itself willingly to the enemy, but the results, if any, will only become apparent to the girl that was it's contractor, one who hears his voice in her ears even as the battle continues on without her...
Like rays of light erupting from a fractured container, souls explode out from the body of the Devourer and into the depths of space, dislodging the Goddess from it's back as they go. By losing their will to fight, they lose their ability to resist the call of a certain seal, and are drawn out of the weakened body as a collective of lights, lights that are drawn 'to a certain place' and disappear from this plane of existence entirely, as a 'civil war' or sorts erupts within their once perfectly unified whole.
---In many ways it feels like a final blow.
Like watching the opponent implode from their own contradicting feelings, but you are soon to realize that this is not the case, indeed... While it is certainly a major blow, caused by everyone's efforts opening up a crack for a more decisive strike to sink in, they are still a mass of humans, and there is a certain inevitability amongst all of this that once again sends the fear of death creeping down your spine, namely:
---Just because some of them have given up, and thus have lost, does not mean that this is the case for all of them.
Light gathers even amidst the storm of retreating souls. This is the second betrayal of their own selves that has appeared within the depths of this fight, but there is a certain 'heart' to the Devourer that will not relent in spite of whatever memories it is shown, regardless of how it had once 'felt.'
"I already said... Enough... All of you... Disappear-!"
Because it's all lies, all pointless, a pretty face put on something that will ultimately corrode into an ultimate ugliness. Who cares if the world was happy for a time? It is a place that is destined to become an embodiment of suffering, they had seen it again and again, and again, and they would not fall for whatever petty fluke this was-
If the others wish to leave then fine, but they are those that will not be swayed by such insignificant memories-!
"It's still attacking! Everyone, put up a barrier! Lieutenant, run our own shields at max! Divert all unnecessary power! DO IT NOW!"
This is the part of them that won't give up.
What they are attacking with is not a spell per say... Simply gathering all of their spiritual power, every drop they have left from those souls that had stayed strong in the face of their own memories, the scream that comes with the sudden rushing wall of white light is one that's filled with their own feelings as they finally absorb and convert what remains of the black flames, the sense of betrayal, pain, and resolve that have reached them here in this moment, where they are betrayed by 'themselves' once more-!
Because it is not a spell, it is fast, unbelievably fast; so fast that no spell can appear to counter it. A sudden release of spiritual power can only be countered by another release of spiritual power, and having realized this even before the Admiral had screamed it at you through the depths of space, both the humans, demons, and angels present are already putting everything they have into a wall that will keep that expanding light out, and-
Everyone endured the attack.
---
---For awhile, you lose consciousness.
Somehow, through everyone's efforts, a shield that could preserve everyone's lives in the face of the Devourer's last ditch strike had managed to do it's job... But not only had some of the light still come through the cracks to blast you back like an explosion, the sheer amount of energy you had had to scrape together to manage it even as a collective has left you drained to basically nothing, even the Demons and Angels gave so much that they can no longer hold their physical forms, and have retreated to their summoners or the 'new world' that was created along with this one...
It's not even a matter of having outside sources at this point, even if they still existed, your body would no longer be able to channel them in any meaningful way... The stresses of the battle up until now are finally taking their toll, you have gone beyond your limits again and again and again in pursuit of the Devourer who had always seemed to be just a little bit beyond you, and now, you're so tired that the distinction between you and a normal person isn't anything meaningful, however...
Unlike you -who are lying on the ground- the Devourer -or rather what is left of it- remains standing defiantly, it's heart still following the path it believed to be just...
At it's core it had certainly been more powerful, it had maximized the powers it could get out of it's traits as a human, and removed every weakness but one to ensure it was truly invincible. A number of sacrifices had had to exist for you to even get as far as you had gotten, it certainly had the power of an Almighty God, and even now continues to power forward in spite of everything, standing tall even after it had looked like it was finally going to fall in the face of the world's combined determination, but...
"We can't... Allow the curse to escape... Humans... Don't change. Neither do demons... You have to be removed... So we can bring peace..."
While it starts walking towards you with it's hands raised and balled into fists, it is a stumbling walk, that of someone who barely has the stamina to be moving around anymore...
In comparison to you it seems slightly better off, it is not quite at the point of slowly pushing itself off the ground, but it is far less than what it had once been, because...
Outside of it's world, it's power was not infinite.
It was great, it was certainly the amount of power a Soul Sea should possess, but just like your own... There was a limit, and it seems that, even if only for a time before it recovers... It has reached it's own...
That's why... As it stumbles towards you, intent on finishing you off...
---You realize it's not that much stronger than you. Maybe a little bit individually, but there were more of you here than there were of it...
Yes.
Rather than the level of an Almighty God versus a human...
It is the level of a human versus a human...
"Hah...Hah..."
With the sounds of everyone's strained breathing around you increasing in frequency and pitch as they attempt to stand...
It starts running right at you.
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Originally Posted by Jacques Dussault
