There was little time to waste. This is a do or die gamble that they had to face. With his permission, their weapons were all handed back to each and every single of them. Kenji Hisoka, the very remnant of Police superiority, armed up and gathered whatever little resources, experience, and effectiveness that remained of his ruined sanctuary.
There was still plenty of things to scavenge and use…
Takashi's Itacha M37 Shotgun.
Kohta's AR-10 Sniper Rifle.
Saeko's Murata blade.
Saya's Luger PO8 pistol.
Rei's Springfield M1A1 Supermatch.
And with some weapons that were not shattered into pieces, or parts conflicting with one another, Asami Nakaoka was entrusted with her own weapon, the Smith and Wesson M37 revolver, with the proper needs for ammunition and comfortable carriage to accompany her. Meanwhile, her superior officer chose to wield a more practical handgun, the M92F, but he wouldn't follow them...This was his camp, these were his people.
There was a certain degree of courage and rage that lingered in the air for this mission to commence, but they still felt somewhat intimidated with the absence of one to wield a lightsaber. There was a limit of ammunition, resources, and time and so the pressure continued to ensue on them.
The one's who aren't able to fend for themselves effectively, Shizuka, Arisu, and Zero, would stay behind at the camp, promising to take care of the rest of the surviving living people, with the support of the last commanding officer…
An external compression of the Force on Akio's mind, derived from another being, hurt…His own spirit seemed to have been shattered. He has been avoiding the past for so long, that when the time came for him to confront it face to face, the impact would be most detrimental.
Whoever she was now, it was not what she was before at one point. She may have been an innocent, good hearted Jedi who wanted nothing more than to use her powers to help others, but now, with that dream broken, she stands in front of the restrained Akio, holding her hand out, trying to scan the mind of her former companion that she too had loved just as he loved her.
"Oh…Heh, heh…"
It was the Sith's pleasure to indulge and suck up the pain of her prisoner. No subconscious of two egos in one body would conflict with one another as one had been completely obliterated. Darth Rin was in complete control, and Mizuki Muto was erased, as if she never existed. Whoever she was now, she had Akio on his heels, and she was able to break through that thick mental barrier that he possessed.
That barrier is what kept him at bay for two years, and throughout his whole journey, that is until it slowly began to decay along with the rest of the world as it fell under the shadow of the evil that resided within this pandemic. Akio was really beginning to feel the unbalanced shift between the light and the dark, as it would seem that the darkness was seeping into the light as she looked through his conscience to see what he had experienced in the time they have been apart.
To see Akio whimper as she scaled through the playbacks of his memories was her own pleasure. He looked so broken, with that trembling mouth and cheek, the spastic blinking, and the uncontrollable whimpering.
She completely rationalized it. The circling back to the darkness had not been complete yet and her eyes, the light had made him weak and prone to the pain that he was feeling as both shared his own remembrance.
The first memory was a memory that she even shared, an event that was kept at the back of her own subconscious, same with Akio…Their last encounter…that lightsaber duel that lead to the failure of Mizuki's extraction. That event that led to her confinement to the suit and mask.
"That summer…" Rin recalled.
"Mizuki! IT'S ME! Come on! Let's get out of here!"
She remembered the futility and the pointlessness of those words. That plea only ran through empty ears as the person he was trying to call to, was destroyed.
"Why would I leave?"
"Come on! I'm here to take you home! Please!"
If there was one thing that the Sith Lord could remember in her previous life, is that it was her that originally brought Akio to his rightful home.
Those same words traveled across two of the different, yet similar situations, where one trapped in the influence of the Dark Side could be redeemed and pulled into their righteous salvation, free of enslavement and exploitation, and opportunity, freedom of choice and some guidance, flourished.
Darth Rin grinned. She possessed the knowledge of the outcome of that situation, but yet snarled and growled, continuing to watch as her own self stood on her feet, finally facing Akio.
"I have a message from your-NO...Rather...My master..."
"HE'S NOT MY MASTER! HE NEVER WAS! I'm not a Sith!"
"He said he needs you. He needs YOU!"
"Never..."
"So be it..."
This is what Rin had been waiting for all this time. Akio's past refusals have finally led to this moment. She has been waiting for a long time, to perhaps have another chance to clash lightsabers. She remembered that moment where she originally felt the ever so exhilarating power coursing through her body for the first time.
She remembered her old green Jedi blade and Akio's blue blade collided as she tried her best to subdue, if not, defeat and kill him. It seemed that back then, she had the upper-hand. She was very close to defeating Akio, as she had him completely underwhelmed both mentally and physically. His mental commands were manipulated to her own aid so that his defenses and strengths would lower.
However…
"If you won't stay with me, that I WILL KILL YOU."
"This was the very thing you wanted to save me from! YOU saved me."
"I lied to myself...I didn't save you...I just held you down...The Dark Side gives me strength, something your father couldn't give me!"
"This isn't you Mizuki. Snap out of it!"
"You come to your senses and come with ME instead. Master has promised me so much! He said we're going to create a new world, and we'll be gods at the coming dawn!"
"Shido is crazy Mizuki! You know how much he wants to control this world!"
"...Maybe...But I'm following him...I'm going to see this pathetic world be transformed into something marvelous..."
"It's going to be chaos!"
"I've had enough talking...If you wish to stay as a Jedi, then DIE a Jedi!"
For Rin, it seemed like when looking at that memory, seeing her self-fulfilling cries of the narcissistic view that made her convinced she was going to defeat Akio, she only cringed at what had occurred afterwards, when her own self-praising words suddenly fell short.
Before the memory would disperse, this final sequence of the memory, something that still infuriated her to this day, was Akio restraining her against a wall with the Force. The lightsaber that she wielded was on the ground and Akio was ready to end the fight. That's not what made her angry…
"I'm sorry Mizuki."
"AKIO! DON'T PLEASE!"
That plea of mercy was Mizuki's personality and ego that leaked into the new born Darth Rin for the very last time when the blue blade was impaled into her, allowing for Akio to have confirmed her death.
It was a sign of weakness, and the incomplete conditioning of her embracement to the Sith way. At the same time however, according to the next memory, Akio's Jedi inherence was not complete and whole either.
Rin's new beginning of the ascendance to the Sith, was Akio's temporary refinement of his allegiance to the oath he swore when he declared himself a Jedi. It was something that his own father made him do, so that they can continue to live safely after having to bear witness the death of another one of their own.
That memory…Master to Apprentice, Father to Son, in the son's bedroom, both looking on the top of a cabinet which held both his and her lightsaber, that was next near a window, that shun the dark night sky's illuminating moonlight.
Both tried to support each other and trying to relieve themselves of their own grief, even if one was frailer than the other. Rin was able to deduct that this memory to occur after the failed rescue mission. All that was left of her original self was just a weapon, right next to his own weapon, which seemed like the remnants of his own former aspiration and spirit at the time.
His own father only looked straight into Akio's eyes and spoke, trying his best to restrain his own grief, as well as support his son to keep his composure as well.
"My son…It's too late. There's nothing we can do for her now."
That night required no disciplinary action or punishment to be set forward. It was Akio's own accord, his own approval, his own arrogance that drove him to pursue the rescue alone. So his ambitions for being worthy of following in his father's footsteps were smashed.
"Disassemble your lightsaber. I'm sorry…It's over."
"And yet…here you are now…Mmm…What about your second year?" Rin wondered as she seemed to observe another picture coming into view. "This is…? No…this is…?"
Faster than she could gasp, she seemed to have found herself away from the room in which she was trying to tear deep into Akio's mind. It seems that the restraints that was holding him, and the dark surroundings were replaced. It was cold in that restraint room, but this…was colder.
Where she stood, there was light. There were rocky crevices that seemed to reflect and illuminate from the colors of green and white. Looking down below, the water seemed to be shallow, and there were occasional drips of water from the crevice walls, splashing upon the water's surface.
Even through her disciplining and conditioning in the ways of the Dark Side of the Force, she had no proper insight to determine if that was a product of imagination, manifested through the sorcery her master implanted in her, or if this was of her own, or why this would still manage to occur.
Regardless, she would not give into her own uproars and alarms. She was absolutely most confident that she would wear through whatever seemed to await her.
"Are you proud of yourself?"
She felt it…The itching and twitching in her arms…It was her instincts screaming from within to reach for her lightsaber at her side and cast away whatever interfered with her interrogation session, with the red blade. The surroundings began to change, and water seemed begin gushing out from above in thin amounts and ran down the side of the rock.
"This is what you really wanted?"
From the water, a sort of entity began to form and approach the Sith that stood at the center of the crevice. Dressed in a white cloak and robes, minus the footwear, the enlightening figure that stood before her approached slowly. The capsulated cave seemed to slowly increase the intensity of the flow of water.
"HOW DARE YOU." Rin spat.
"How dare I?"
"I was going to crack him completely! And you got in the way! You're supposed to be dead!"
"Are you sure?"
As the figure revealed its true identity to Darth Rin, her temptation to reach for her weapon finally took over, and pointed her red blade at the image of her former self. Her long, brown hair, those sparkling blue eyes, and that light, soft skin…
This was the Jedi, the Mizuki Muto that she once was.
"You never forget about me. No matter what you do, no matter what you tear apart, no MATTER how strong you think you are…"
It vanished, the body collapsing as it popped and degraded back into water.
Rin stood fixated, stunned by the manifestation and picture that she was currently encountering, even so far into her transformation and conversion, this pull towards the light should have been impossible, as she convinced herself to think.
"I will always come back."
When Rin seemed to jump from the whisper, and she discovered the being was so close in proximity, she seemed to pivot her weapon at her enemy's neck, while it seemed that it was acting out surrender.
"So…I know you don't want me anymore…"
For a moment, Rin pulled her lightsaber away when she saw her suddenly on her knees, fists clutched on her legs, and head bent down. It seemed that whatever light was left within Darth Rin, it was willingly prepared to be snuffed out for the rest of her own life.
Rin watched as she spoke in a pleading whisper, ready to slice through her with her lightsaber.
"But please…listen to me. You are very powerful and you have the power to manipulate the world as you please, but he has cut your time short encasing you in that suit. By the Force, make peace with yourself…with me…"
"You're right…" Rin let out a sigh. "But peace is impossible to obtain. It's too late for me. I can however, grant you yours."
One swift of her lightsaber, and the manifestation began to disintegrate, but not cut in half. The Mizuki in front of Rin had her brown hair suddenly wither away as it darkened, and her skin began to turn gray and also began to wither away as it cracked.
"This world belongs to me!" Rin shouted as the being completely popped.
The environment began to undergo a drastic metamorphosis, with the flow of water suddenly spewing out polluted liquid, the rocky green and white walls oozing and flowing red.
"What is this?!"
The process seemed to continue, and the crevice was continued to be consumed with these changed. Soon, Rin realized that she was immobilized. She looked down the dark, oily liquid at her feet, to only discover that it had hardened and became most sturdy.
A lightsaber proved itself useless, and the overflowing of darkness continued. It continued to flood the room, and continued to rise…and rise…and rise, until finally, the red rocky walls were barely visible anymore, and Rin's entire upper body was encased in the hardened oil.
There was no escape, and the light at the top of the cave vanished as her head was finally covered.
He never felt so broken…being in those restraints, being tormented and cruelly treated by those he had cared for, this was a heart-aching experience that wanted to make Akio, lay down his head, and let his soul slowly depart his body. This mission to pursue, even with all the support and encouragement, felt like a lost cause in the end.
He was now truly convinced that this was the end of his journey. There would be no redemption for the world, and Akio was feeling the pull back to the darkness in which he had left and disciplined.
He felt that there was no way he could force his way out of this situation with some Force abilities and a lightsaber, and he has already been beaten down into a pulp. The once Mizuki Muto, now Darth Rin, tearing through his conscience, his restless mother, and now…now there was the sensation that he was out of that restraint bench, and being dragged across rough terrain, which seemed to drag on a relentless pain as he could feel his skin being peeled and scratched.
Opening his eyes and lifting his head, he saw that he was at the basis of an active volcanic mountain, with many active volcanoes erupting in the distance.
Someone was dragging him on the rocky terrain…someone was bringing him there…he couldn't even ask if this was yet another vision, or a reality. When the dragging ceased, Akio wheezed out, trying to muster all the strength to even breathe and lift his head for long periods of time before planting his face back into the dirt to deal with the pain.
"That's it…stay down…"
The hand that soon touched him sent a cold chill throughout Akio despite the intensity of the warmth around him. It's as if though he was ice, struggling to maintain its shape and structure under opposite and pressuring conditions.
"There is no need to look at me, you already know who I am…You already know who you are…"
"I…I…I…I do…" Akio croaked. "But I am unable to see you…"
"There is no need to see me…Just look at this scenery. It's very dynamic, it's very explosive…and conflicting, just like us right Akio?"
"My…former…" Akio continued to weakly speak. "…Darth…Yuudai…I…"
"I do not know how much farther and how much more complicated you want to make things but as you yourself know, you have the power to change the world."
Akio still failed to stare at the sight of his alter Sith self, but he soon saw those charred hands, holding a lightsaber. Squinting, he was able to recognize a black-painted version of the lightsaber he possessed and built as a Jedi Knight.
"I am what you could have been…I am your unlimited strength, your very essence. Take the weapon…It is not too late to meet your obligations to the man who gave us this strength."
Akio could continue to feel the combustion of the distant volcanic mountains, as if the entire environment was pressuring him to take hold of the weapon and embrace his "true" destiny, and put himself in the correct, uncomplicated path for his own benefit.
He just couldn't…
It was not for the fact that he was so drained of strength to even do the basic and easiest of things, but he still felt that his journey and mental battle he has been fighting for so long was now finally going to end in the worst possible way that he loathed for so long. Akio felt as if dying was better.
Akio just kept his palm and head down.
"I see…"
In a single blink, a distant volcano that was active seemed to have teleported away from its original position. The active volcano erupted and the burning ash and lava was about to consume Akio.
Instead of instantaneous death, or an agonizing sensation of burning, he met with the pouring of rain. His eyes soon met with a horrid sight…It was Fujimi Academy's hallways…The reek of death, bodies lining up against the walls, blood splattered and scattered everywhere, and the flies buzzing so rapidly that the eardrums were almost becoming irritated.
Akio crawled…So many dead students, and yet the reeking smell of decomposing bodies was absent from his nostrils. Despite his pain, he felt no nausea, no queasiness, but only felt heart sickened as this sudden, intense smell only began to register with his nostrils as he saw a familiar object. A shotgun…It made him recall the enthusiasm of Kohta Hirano…What he said…
"THAT'S AN ITHACHA M37 RIOT SHOTGUN!"
And it only took a few moments to crawl up to the corpse of Takashi Komuro, asleep and mutilated, dead right beside Rei Miyomoto…and there was the broken M1A1…
The crawl up the hall followed a pattern. The weapons or objects that seemed to have been associated with his friends appeared right next to them…
Saya…her Luger P08…
Shizuka…her medpack…
Even the young Arisu and her companion Zero…There was no limit to the slaughter…It consumed and destroyed everyone…There was one more person.
"S-" Akio attempted to scream out as he struggled. "Saeko…SAE-KO."
There she was as well…Her katana through her stomach, and her corpse leaned back on her knees, the dripping blood still fresh.
"This is what happens you do not fulfill your obligations."
"Don't move…!"
"A-a-are you Self Defense Force…?"
"ARGH!"
"YOU'RE UNDER ARREST."
"NO! NO! NO! MY FATHER IS TO BLAME! MY FATHER IS TO BLAME!"
"You're still a criminal…Shido…Koichi…"
"I CAN HELP!"