Chapter XX

Change Is Real, Change Can Be Frightening.

Shido lifted his head from the now coagulated blood. The air around him was noticeably darker and noticeably colder. In front of Shido, the first thing that caught the teen's eyes was the vortex of dark-purple energy that oozed outwards from a single point. When it all subsided, it revealed a woman. "Tokha?" She looked similar, yet many things were off, like the armor that bore a resemblance to Tokha, but diverged in certain aspects, the bright colors now inverted, her sword, almost black and flowing with red energy instead of gold and blue. Shido looked at her face, which bore an expression of distrust and vexation.

'Tohka' turned to Miku. "Tell me, woman, what is this place I awaken to?" Miku was alarmed by the sudden question. "You're in D.E.M Japan's First Office Building. The wizards abducted you here. Don't you remember?" She did not recall anything, especially such a place. Their nonsense confused her. "I know of no such place, nor any purpose here." Isaac began speaking. "This is it, a perfect inversion, the future we've been seeking."

"The one that will always be too far from your grasp." The woman felt a sudden sharp pain. What was this overwhelming feeling, this agonizing presence? "Who's there?!" She called out raising her sword, her eyes showed distress, as everyone else looked around. The ominous voice remained silent. "It seems the Dark Lord is pained by our guest's presence." Ellen looked at him and asked, "Who is this guest you speak of?" There was no one around, yet a voice spoke out to them. "Oh, you'll see, Ellen. For now, claim me the head of this Dark Lord." She turned towards the spirt with a frown, for Ellen hated being in the dark, but no matter. She raised Caledvwich towards the inversed spirit. 'Tohka' shook off her pain and raised her sword as well.

Gotou was insanely fast. Having a surface to stand on at all times gave him the freedom to move as he pleased. "Come back, coward!" Jessica viciously screamed as she chased him. No matter which attack was thrown at the monster, he cut down all the barrages of missiles with ease, and when Mana tried to fight him hand-to-hand, the swarm of blades quickly overwhelmed her. "Have I been underestimated? Have I opened my eyes once more to this?!" Gotou quickly turned and lept onto Scarlet Licorice. He began tearing at it as Jessica deployed her Territory. It forced him off, but then she felt it. A sudden wave of dizziness hit Jessica, and her vision turned blurry. Gotou sniffed the air, that scent, blood. The beast swiftly turned towards the faltering woman. "Blood! You will satiate my hunger!"

He launched himself once more at Jessica. She was at her limit, and no Territory she could make would stop it. Before Mana could save her, the monster plunged his hand into her stomach, bloody organs in his hand. It ripped its hand back out, and ravenously extended its jaw until the hole blood-covered arm could fit inside. Then he drank all of it, gaining more strength, and even more hunger. Mana caught the dying wizard in her arms. Even though they seemed to be destined adversaries, Mana was dejected to see her dying. In her arms, Jessica asked her and maybe the whole world, "Why? Why was it me, and not you?" Jessica lifted her head, depression in her bleeding eyes. "Mana,"

"Yeah, Jessica?" A small quiver laid in her voice. "Westcott, do you think he approves of me? Do you approve of me, Adeptus 2? Do you think I'm strong?" The gap between them was nowhere near close. Mana knew that she was much stronger than Jessica. That was why she was Adeptus 2, and Westcott...he most likely never cared for her. But she was on her dying breath, and Mana wanted Jessica's last moment to be those of accomplishment, because now she knew that was what she lacked. "Yeah, Jessica, Westcott thinks you're strong, and me too. You're the toughest opponent I ever faced." It was the hardest lie Mana would ever make. With a final smile on her face, Jessica looked up to the stars, as she stepped into a cold, dark, and silent realm.

Now it was Mana's turn, either to fight...or to die. With one arm holding the lifeless body, and the other with her sword, Mana would do her best for everyone she loved. Gotou turned towards Mana. It crouched low, charging a lightning-fast jump. He released the jump and would crush the girl like a pancake. Mana would thrust her sword into him mid-air like a shish kebab. Before their attacks connected, a black hand appeared right between the blade and the foot, stopping the attacks. "Come, you have done enough." A dark mist engulfed the creature, swirling around it before disappearing along with Gotou. The skies filled up with a hoard of giant monsters.

Ellen and 'Tohka' clashed, their blades so fast that sparks were seen flying. The spirit then took to the air, and this was the opportunity she needed. "Got you! Blast her out of the sky, Rhongomyniad!" A cannon connected to her back was aimed upwards, and a blinding ray of yellow pierced through the top of the tower.

The roof practically disintegrated, and the moon shined directly above the hole which illuminated the silhouette of 'Tokha'. A large golden three-headed dragon flew even higher above, in fact, many enormous monsters swarmed the air. "That one is flying a bit too close isn't it?"

'Tokha felt the sharp pain once more, forcing her to the ground. She spun around to find the source of that voice, but it seemed as if there was no source. "Whoever you are, show yourself!" She yelled out, clutching her head in frustration and pain. "And so it is." It started from a single point, between the two pairs, where the ground blackened, and an army of arms came out, clawing at the nearest things. Then, the entrance. First appeared the head. Black and bark-like with an outline of a mouthless human skull with red dots for pupils. Below that was a mane, similar to a lion. The arms were long, emaciated, and the right one bearing three spikes, the bony legs of a jackel, and the body lined with ribs and a gaping hole exposing a beating heart. On its right shoulder was a large spike, that curved towards the moon. "Mitsuru?" Shido stepped forward, but the demon turned to him, and Shido knew that was not his friend. It raised a hand, then lowered it. "No, you only remind me of someone."

"We have brought about the Dark Lord and Death itself! Tell me your name." Isaac said to it. The being gave a slight wait before answering. "Name? I haven't been gifted a name. I could create one for you, like so many others." The tapping of a foot and his mind at work, the thought of a good one. "Krieg Schatten. You can decipher that." Oh, how clever he felt.

"Nahemah!" 'Tohka' rushed with her blade, each swing she took also created a wave of purple energy. Extending out his hand, the heart in 'Krieg Schatten's' stomach beat rapidly, the spikes glowing with magenta. The effigy of a large face appeared in front of him like a shield. The face was that of agony. It let out a shriek, the mere sound of that ghastly wail detonating the waves mid-air. "Abhorrent creature!" She yelled as she plunged the sword into his head, or so she thought. Drawing back the blade, it was reduced to a mere stub, as a portal closed right in front of his face. "Amazing! Ellen, what are your opinions?" Isaac clapped at the abrupt performance. Ellen stepped forward and commanded her territory to surround him. Turning at her, he stared for a moment before raising his hand up, the palm to the ceiling. A purple cloud filled the space within and then the territory simply decayed away. "Impossible! No spirit can simply destroy my territory!" Ellen gritted her teeth, but an urge kept her from rushing in. "So? It all fades one day."

"The Shadow of War, you live up to my expectations." The being laughed while kicking 'Tohka' away as if he was amused by the man's remark. Isaac looked towards Shido and Miku. "I think the best course of action is to retreat for now. The data we gathered here and Princess's inversion is more than enough, right Ellen?" She gave a silent nod. With a wave of his hand, Westcott said, "Ciao," and they disappeared. Shido now had his entire attention on the two. He raised his sword, ready to join in on their fight. Shido couldn't let Tohka die, no matter what had gone through her. "Are you insane! That thing would kill you the instant you lay a finger on it!" Miku was terrified beyond belief. "Your friend was a monster this whole time and you didn't even know?!"

"Shido!" Kotori's voice slowly formed from static in Shido's ear. "Shido! What the hell's going on down there?! Tohka's just being beaten to a pulp by something invisible!" Shido could hear everyone frantically spouting things back and forth. "You can't see him?!"

"See what?! There literally nothing there!" So he can't be caught on any devices. "What about Mitsuru?!" Shido asked him. He hoped what was in front of him wasn't his friend. "He's currently out of the picture, but your friend is in no harm." 'Krieg Schatten' said, while effortlessly deflecting all of his opponent's attacks. "About being out of the picture, hold them off." The large shoulder spike lowered, summoning two beings, but only one appeared. "I'll be sure to make this quick. That thing hates it when its toys disappear for too long." A bloodied woman holding many razor-sharp axes and donning a bloodied bunny mask hummed a lullaby ominously. Then with three chimes of a bell, it revealed the second entity, a tall man with what seemed like a face, only much greyer with lifeless white pupils, a cloak that went to his waist, and a spine with the skull of the man it was ripped out of with a blade attached to it that glimmered in the moonlight.

It had to be. It had to be a dumb mock. 'There's a way to get out' my ass! Mitsuru pounded his hands more and more to vent his anger. No, get up. He told himself. There had to be a way out. He did it twice before. "That guy can't seriously fall for his mistakes more than twice." I'm just saying this so I can give up. He thought. No matter what Mitsuru said out loud, he convinced himself otherwise inside his head. That's what he always did. Get up, me. You have friends, and that son-of-a-bitch to hopefully beat the crap out of. The urge for him to stand up was too strong, and he took to his feet. "Now where?"

Anywhere, everywhere. I literally have all the time, and an infinite amount of energy, lazy no good-"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Anywhere and everywhere. He would walk in a straight line until he hit something. He tried to make himself enthusiastic, over-enthusiastic.

He had walked forever. At first, it was just emptiness, then he saw them again. It was the crowd of spirits walking aimlessly like him. It seemed like these areas were separated, with parts of one another mixed together.

Then it was another lengthy trek across the nothingness. Keep going! He kept on telling himself, probably because he forgot to say anything else. This was where it got weird. At one point, it felt noticeably harder to move forward; it was as if he walking uphill, yet there was no change in elevation, or maybe there was and it was just unnoticeable like the black everything. The opposite feeling hit him later on. He walked past more fields of nothing and fields of spirits. Then he stumbled across his biggest find. It looked like he was in a city, well the outline of one. The shapes of the buildings and roads were defined by white outlines, yet everything else was just black. All the buildings seemed to be empty and all the roads were without pedestrians nor vehicles. "What the..." The buildings seemed to never end, up or ahead. What did this mean? From the outside, the buildings looked empty. This was the case as he stepped into one building and everything disappeared. One thing appeared though.

A singular, hand-crafted, well-polished desk stood in the open, accompanied by a just-as-good chair. Upon it were some ordinary tools, and inside the cupboard individual canisters sloshed with intriguing substances. They were labeled 'Energy', 'Ice', 'Fire', 'Wind', 'Sound', 'Illusion', 'Holy, and 'Stars'. "What the hell?" He was confused but in his mind he was overjoyed. Maybe this means something! There have to be answers! He opened one more cupboard. Two canisters rolled out from drawer being pulled out, 'Incompacitate', and 'Plague'. "Incapacitate?" So he used this on me? Huh." He snatched it from the drawer. Mitsuru sensed a part of his power crawl up his left arm. The three spikes lined his arm and one had retracted. Putting two and two together, he dropped the canister into the hole, and purpose return to him. The easy part was over, now for the hard part. Mitsuru snatched the 'Plague' canister as well.

Shido tried to dodge the flying axes and swinging of sharp blades, all while trying to explain everything to Kotori. "Yeah I know Tohka inverted, we can see that clearly. What the hell is beating her up?!"

"It's Mitsuru!" Shido yelled. Kotori did not understand what he meant by that. "There aren't any signs of him. There aren't signs of anyone else there except you guys." They knew something was there. They felt the energy seeping out of the black demon, they heard the voice, they saw the emaciated monster, yet only human eyes could perceive him.

"Well something else like him, at lea-oh crap!" The man with the spine suddenly appeared behind Shido. He was caught off guard and whipped Sandelphon around. Their blades collided, and the bunny-masked woman prepared to strike from behind. Luckily Miku was able to knock her back using her voice. "Where does he hide these things?" 'Tokha' fell to the ground beside them. From above, wielding two sabers, the black demon came crashing down. Shido used his blade to block the attack. "Sandelphon. Why are you, a human, in control of such power?" Shido thought up a reply. "I guess I'm just special."

"Right, you are." He jumped back before spraying out a toxic gas from his hand. It blinded Shido's eyes, as he was vulnerable. A sudden mass collided with him. 'Tohka' had been launched, and they both came down. They painfully tried to stand as being emerged from the gas. "You're lucky I didn't make that attack corrosive." The heart pumped rapidly again as the spikes turned a bright blue. "What are you? Are you under the wing of her?!" 'Tohka' struggled to her feet, barely having enough strength to raise her blade. "Her? I am undoing her mistakes." He chuckled, before letting out freezing winds from his hand.

"Reine, you have any ideas?" Reine shook her head. Her eyes showed a sense of worry which none of the crew members ever saw before. It made them worry just as much. "I do not know for sure if this newly surface power is sealable, and with the sudden emergence of this new spirit that we can't see on camera, we can't try until he is eliminated. Even then, I don't believe that Shido, Tohka, and Miku together will best him." Reine could sense the power this being gave off. It was reminiscent of inverted Tohka, but there were other aspects to it that were unexplainably otherwordly.

He crossed his swords into an X shape, guarding himself against the overhead attacks. 'Krieg Schatten' gave a laugh before he quickly fell through the ground. Nahemah and Sandelphon crashed to the ground as they were struck from behind by a strong gust of wind.

Miku quickly jumped back. Her tactic was to keep one at bay while widdling down the other. It worked until the man turned invisible. "Gabriel: Rondo!" She aimed her attack on the woman. Cautiously Miku looked around, before bumping her back against someone. Turning around, she was greeted by hard whack, which threw the Diva to the ground.

The two monsters slowly moved for her. Miku tried to push them back with her voice, but nothing came out of that dry and rough throat. Now, she had lost her voice. She would die, speechless. Shido turned. He quickly pushed back the black demon and turned for Miku, yelling her name in desperation.

Time slowed to a halt, as Miku remembered her darkest moments in life. Is this it? She asked herself. She lived through moments of her life again, those of cheer and fame, and those of silent crowds. My voice, my only thing in life. Will it leave me as well when I die? She turned towards Shido, trying to run as fast as he could to save her. Maybe, maybe you are him. So I was wrong. There is a human out there that can love. With that fact, she smiled at her final revelation.

Yoshino suddenly felt a tight force lurch her forward, but only for a split second. "Are you alright Yoshino?" Yoshinon asked her as they flew pass explosions and giant insects. "Wait! What the heck are those?!" Yoshinon realized that they were flying past giant insects. "Why were we up here again, Yoshinon?" They saw the Yamai twins up ahead. "I don't know, you know what though?" She gave a yawn. "I am starting to feel a little tired, Don't you?" Yoshino nodded as they approached the twins. Everyone around them seemed to be bothered by the swarm of giant creatures as they ominously circled the tower like a barrier. Yuzuru held an unconscious Origami in her hands. She had spoken of a strong monster she passed out.

"I wonder what Mitsuru is up to," Yoshinon spoke, but Kaguya denied. "No, these guys give off a different feeling. Can you tell as well? It's like Mitsuru, but much colder and still, not as energetic you know?" They agreed, it did seem that these were more docile, too. A sudden tremor quaked the Earth, as another giant beast joined the fray. The best way to describe the giant monster was a gorilla-like alien with massive hands, a rectangular face, and a giant back with an organic shoulder cannon. He aimed and blasted many of giant monsters out of the sky. "That's, so, cool!" Kaguya and Yoshinon said in unison, thinking that the thing looked awesome. "Confirm: I can feel his presence from that monster, our awesome friend."

Over the course of a couple of minutes, Mitsuru regained his powers, as the 'Incompacitate' wore off. He sent out the largest creature he could encounter, as he had a gut feeling that his friends were in a fight without him. Luckily, he was able to notice two more ghosts being dispatched earlier, and a tiny rift opening as they left. That was his exit. He looked at his spiked left arm, and sighed, the final and hardest stretch to come.

Miku slowly opened her eyes, the air around her chiller. She stared at Shido, who stood in front of her with an axe deep into his shoulder. When he fell to his knee's gripping that shoulder in overwhelming pain, Miku saw the shimmering pillars of ice. They encapsulated the two beings, both mid-way through their strikes. If it weren't for Shido...she would have died.

"Why? Shido...Why did you-" She was utterly speechless, at such heroic act. He was almost been killed once, yet he risked his life again.

"Well," He struggled to speak. "I-I did say...that I'd be there," Shido clenched his teeth as the burning blue fire healed his wounds. "for you whenever you needed me, right?" He turned to give her a warm-hearted smile. "Besides, taking this much pains means much less to me than you."

"Enough of this nonsense!" 'Tohka' jumped back, away from the black demon's slash and jumped high into the air and raised her sword. "You lowly human, you weak spirit, and you alien abomination, I will obliterate you all!" She raised Nahemah high up, a dust cloud circling the blade. From the storm, lowered a grey haunting throne. 'Tohka' destroyed it to bits, those bits which would form her new blade. "I will crush you with the might of my Paverschelev!" The blade swirled madly with dark energy. Shido took a step forwards but felt a cold glove grasp his forearm.

"Before you go, I need to do something." She turned around and looked at him straight in the eye, her face leaning in close, her mouth, even closer. Shido knew what Miku would do next. "Hey not here! Don-" Miku put her lips, to his, a moment of silence. Even the black demon let them have their moment, even the spirits tried their best to halt the swing for their moment. Miku's astral dress glowed, then faded into nothing, leaving her clothless, and for a moment, there was astonishment in her face, then Miku smiled. "No, now isn't the time to gripe about such things. You have a promise to keep right? For Tohka and for me?" Shido breathed slowly, then nodded. "Yeah, I do." He moved away from her, then turned to 'Tohka'.

"Tohka! Come down, we don't have to fight!" She hesitated for a moment. Tohka? She felt like she knew that name personally, though the spirit had never once even spoken it. "Deceiver! I won't believe you, especially with that monster!" She pointed towards the thing. Shido turned to him. "Then I'll fight him, I'll show you that's I'm here for you." He turned to face the black demon. "Look at what you did." He lowered himself and held his blades out to his side. "Must I kill you alongside her?" The voice showed signs of hesitance, but he would do what he must. "No, I will kill you all!" 'Tohka' readied to swing. "It's about the go off!" They heard the exuberant Kaguya scream. 'Tohka' brought the sword down with her rage, and a loud purple explosion lit the sky.

"That's insanely cool!" There was no loud crash of the Paverschelev crashing down, as they looked at beautiful yellow lasers, their power easily snapping and disintegrating the blade. "I knew you'd find some way to leak out of your confines." He prepared his own monster to occupy the intruder. "Scrub." A young voice echoed from the being's right ear and out into the large room. It was the same voice, Shido and the spirits knew, the voice of a loud smug asshole. The shoulder spike retracted, yet three spikes and an arm flew out, stabbing the thing in the face. Crawling out, was the purple-robed person and the blank void for a face. "So you found your way out as well?" The black demon stumbled back before collapsing through the earth. The young man never felt so good, so accomplished.

"Mitsuru? I-Is that you?" Shido wasn't sure anymore, even a little afraid to approach. The person lifted up a finger and pointed right at him."No, it isn't, but is your hair blue, jackass?" Nope. It was Mitsuru, and Shido couldn't be happier to hear an insult. "I need your help, Mitsuru." They looked up at 'Tohka', still being distracted by the lasers. "What happened to her?" He looked closer, the colors the expression her face, the feeling she gave off; it screamed 'evil'. "The most I can do is keep that piece-of-shit out of the way until you finish the job."

"How much time do we have?" Shido asked. "From personal experience...what's the date and time?"

"It going to be morning soon, the twenty-fourth of September." He disappeared around halfway through the twenty-second, came out mid-day on the twenty-third. Let's assume that was a full dosage. "If it was real-time. I'd give one dose around 24 hours. In there," He turned to look at the forming rift. Of course, he comes back in a flash. "...seconds. You know what that means?" Shido asked, before being picked up. To Miku, the scene was barbaric, yet comedic. He seemed nowhere as heroic as Shido was, but she could understand why he spoke highly of his friend. "Hey! Mitsuru! What are you doing?! I didn't ask for this!" With one hand, Mitsuru reeled back like he was about to throw a baseball. "Get your ass...moving!" He hurled the poor boy as hard as he could towards the spirit. Two claps and the lasers stopped firing. "I knew it. I should have just killed you first thing, and a fool I was to let you slither out, you snake." 'Krieg Schatten' stepped out of the shadows, renewed, his voice serious and cold. "You're the fool that knew I'd get out and did nothing about it."

"I'll pop your head every time I see you from now on."

Shido screamed as he flew through the sky. Tears came out of his eyes as the wind blew on his face like a leafblower. It was poetically reminiscent of a moment some time ago, and when 'Tohka' looked up, a strong feeling in her heart told her so as well, even though she, herself, had not experienced such moment. When he collided into her, the force was so great that they spun around, Shido's screams now joyous laughter. "Hey, Tohka." For a moment she was caught off guard, trying to back off. "Sorry I startled you." Shido let go of Sandelphon which dissipated into nothing. "Why, what are you trying to do?" She asked, confused at why her enemy came so close just to disarm himself.

"We don't need to fight, not anymore." He lowered his mouth to her's and kissed her. 'Tohka' did not try to stop this, for she was stricken with confusion and awe. It was indescribable, this feeling. Her brain ached, as memories flooded in a dam had been opened. What is he doing? What's going on? Voices echoed in her head. Images came in flickers, those of a happy couple. Was it her in those memories? I feel like I'm slowly slipping away. These memories aren't mine, yet I feel like I've experienced them. The same name was uttered in all of these memories. Shido? I'm kissing him. Tohka thought to herself. She felt like she had awoken from a deep slumber. Slowly, the dark purple astral dress faded and the soft maid dress returned.

"What's going on?" The sun began to rise from the east, and Tohka found herself on the roof of some unfamiliar building. "You don't remember anything, Tohka?" Scratching her head, the last thing she could remember was fighting in the stadium, the rest coming in incompressible flashes. She shook her head cutely, making Shido smile and patting her head. "Well if that's the case, you don't have to worry about anything. Now, where did Mitsuru go?" Tohka lit up. "He came back?!" She almost jumped for joy. "Yep, we can't wait to have both of you back."

But there were still sounds of weapons clashing in the building. Shido was on guard and drew out Sandelphon. Worry struck her eyes when he did. "Shido? What's going on?" He turned to her. "Tohka, Mitsuru needs our help." She nodded her head, but was worried as she could only watch. He dropped down. Immediately, a flying Mitsuru crashed on the floor. From above the black demon slammed onto him. He gripped the purple hood and yanked as hard as he could. The black demon fought with a cold ferocity that caught him by surprise, unlike the calm methodical movements as before movements before, and once Mitsuru was down, he had no time to recover. "Mitsuru!" He rushed to save him, but Shido was blasted back by a frozen wall that was more durable than the wall of glass. Mitsuru's harrowing and otherwordly screams filled the room. And then...the cloth ripped off, as black fog spewed out of the hoodless robe that was now reduced to empty rags. The giant monster Mitsuru had summoned suddenly collapsed in its place, falling over and disappearing, and his cries fell silent in an instant. Everyone looked, horrified at the brutal death. Standing up, the black demon walked into a rift, dragging the lifeless cloth with him, the dark blades in his hand turning into a dark shape-shifting orb.

He raised the orb high in the air, as everyone was hit by a wave of darkness. Shido was the only one this wave seemed to repulse before any trace of it disappeared. "There will be no sadness when there was nothing to mourn."

Author's Note,

The following characters

-King Ghidorah(any iteration that isn't the anime)

-Orga

-The Wraith

-The Huntress

Belong to Toho Co., Ltc. and Behavior Interactive's Godzilla Franchise and Dead by Daylight.

Happy Lockdown.