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Epic 32: The Armory
"Inter arma enim silent leges (Amidst arms, laws fall silent)."
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Switching POV: Back to 1st Person(?)
... My mind just, simply... shut down.
That person on the screen, without a doubt, was me. Completely, and undoubtably, me.
The key differences were that the other "me" was less visible scars shown all over my body, his face was more muscular and clean-shaven, my hair was shorter, I was a bit bigger, spitballing it on around 5'11 to my current 5'8, and weirdest of all, there was a silver dog tag dangling around my neck, along with countless others dangling from the same chain.
"... Did I join the fucking Army or something?" I remarked trying to alleviate the shock that the revelation presented, but only worsened my sanity's degradation.
"Just shut up, kid." Grimm remarked. "I think the video's about to say something."
... And indeed, myself on the screen cleared his throat before speaking.
"... So it has come to this."
"Roughly spent about good 5-6 years or somewhere around that ballpark in this world, and believe it or not, I kinda can't tell this world my original apart."
"Both sides of this transdimensional shitshow each have their own issues of rich people running everything and people still finding ways to hate each other despite everything going on. You'd except them to learn, but evidently, the only thing learn in both worlds is to one-up their previous fuck-up into something even more fierce."
"... Maybe joining ANTIFA was a bad idea, but in hindsight, it was either that or get lynched by the whole 'Blood and Soil' movement just like the rest of my family, all because we weren't white. Frankly, I got swept up by the whole selective services right before all of the entire planet went straight to hell after a global EMP."
"... Global, EMP?" I remarked at my other self's testimony. "You mean like the internet and general electricity has been fried seven ways to Saturday?"
"... Anyway, I did a lot of crappy shit, such as kill people with an FN SCAR just a day after training, then desert along with a few others at Mount Rushmore exploded by sleeper Russian agents/rich white people going postal after their dollar value went to complete and utter shit, watched the whole White House burn down during the bloodbath between the BaS and ANTIFA, going at each other's throats with stolen military equipment, or at least the ones that didn't require electricity to run on."
"... It all happened so fast, I couldn't tell whose side I was on anymore, that I shot my own guys out of blind panic, eventually lost my nerve and used them as meatshields, dead or alive."
"... This is what it feels like to be a hypocrite. To suddenly start feeling sorry for their lives when I initially didn't care for them in the slightest, down to not even remembering their names. After that, I joined ANTIFA who were rounding up the BaS survivors, and forced me to shoot em."
"I once thought that they were just mindless brutes who clung onto their fabricated past simply because they didn't have anywhere else to go, but upon seeing their faces contorted in fear..."
"... It felt good being able to put them down like mongrels. After that, I stopped caring for others's lives and began killing even more people under their banner."
"Hindsight, if I've heard of them during my high school years, I would've joined them in a heartbeat just so that I can vent my rage against those who I perceived that they deserved it. I often believed that humanity must advance, and those who hold it back are to be exterminated like the dead weight they are."
"... In reality, the truth was more horrific. After the EMP, everything was finally shown clear to me."
"The world that I was born and raised in were merely simulations. Simulations, run by people in the top 1%, using their Wall Street cred and influence to manipulate society to this point."
"'Blood and Soil'? ANTIFA? KKK? Skinheads? The Bible Belt Televangelists? The Somali Guerrillas? The Narcos? Anyone with a gun and a fanatical worship of the 2nd Amendment?"
"... They started this, and they ended this. But unfortunately for them, the EMP was beyond their control. And now, no one has a price tag hanging on their heads."
"Purpose itself died along with Capitalism and the people whose souls were poisoned by it. All's that left is dust, myself included. As soon as electricity died, another pandemic, with talk around some survivors calling it COVID-25, and suddenly, a mad dash for any available gas masks that they can find lying around began, with more people dying in the process, whether by bullet or bubonic, no one was safe."
"As far as I was concerned, I was trapped in an arms bunker in god-knows-where, and I broke the lock to the safe, and I remember slowly starving myself to death in it. Didn't know how long it took me to die, but sure as hell being out there than in here."
"... Death by isolation. I guess that counts as hope in a world where despair was the only truth."
... What my other self said before me was nothing short of an Apocalypse.
EMP, pandemic, anarchy, despair, conspiracy, and then, isolation in a white man's wet dream.
My whole family? Dead? Just what and why?
What kind of hell did this version myself went through?
Everything and nothing made sense, but that was the end of it, in his earth.
There was still here. This world.
"Funny thing is, I really didn't believe in an afterlife, and I was readying myself for whatever came next."
"... And after being proven right of my deepest and most held-in dark beliefs for god knows how long, it then throws me a curveball and reincarnates me to another world."
"I'd assumed it was going to somewhere organic, or at least, somewhere with grass, because god know I haven't seen those for a good while, but weirdly enough, I find myself awake here, the same place that I'm recording as of now."
"The very first person I met here? Him."
He pointed towards Byakko, with the [Perfected Homunculus] coming into the camera and waving at it with a blank expression.
"... This whole Inception shit is start to freak me out." I remarked while half-laughing.
"Master, please remain quiet." Byakko snapped, without a single hint of humor left in him.
"... At first, I tried to shoot him, but my FN SCAR came out empty. So I pulled my stolen Colt Python... the barrel exploded after not cleaning it up for about more then... I don't know how long. I kinda lost track of time ever since the EMP, and hell, I can't remember how old I am right now either."
"Regardless, the first time I saw someone trying not to kill me or on the verge of dying?"
"*Sniff* ... I thought I was in the same Heaven I didn't believe in. For the first in a long time, I met someone who I can trust my life to."
... I guess it's true. No man is an island, and myself on the other side was alone in an apocalyptic world where the only thing that mattered was survival.
I should be happy, glad even, that me from the other side found elation of human contact.
... But I just can't shake the feeling of an unknown dread off. Something's coming, I can taste it.
"So, the first thing I did at the [Archive]? I grabbed the very first book, 1984. Haven't read that shit since high school, and boy, even through that shit reminded me of the bad shit that happened in my old world?"
"... I got so into it, I literally rewrote the whole book, by hand, out of fascination. The fact that I got do something other than kill is quite... elating."
"I wanted to keep staying here, in this study forever, resurrect my mind from the mire of blood and death that I've previously consigned myself into. I wanted to stay here, away from any possibility of bloodshed and chaos that I washed my hands of, naive as it sounds."
"... Then I heard cries for help. Coming from the other side of the door. Echoing through the halls of the [Archive] as I was reading The Collector."
"At first, I ignored it, but then, I felt a knot of guilt forming in my stomach. I thought I've purged all of my consciousness back then, but evidently, I was still human enough to even hear and even register cries of help from afar."
"Eventually, I caved in, and opened the door, only to find an elevator shaft, of all things."
"It was cramped, cold, yet bright and warm all the same."
"... Modernity, a concept so foreign and alien to me, that I almost panicked upon. seeing it again."
"But like all things in life, all good things came to an abrupt and messy end."
"I've exited the elevator, I was thrust back into the scene of carnality yet again."
"I cared not for their appearances, nor who they were, nor the fact that they were assaulting a woman in rags."
"... I went blind from shock, and I kept swinging my arms and hands onto whatever they can grab, not stopping until I completely stopped feeling anything."
"My eyes saw color once more, now with my sole companion in front of me, healing my eyes after blood vessels for the both of them ruptured. From my ailing eyes, I saw what I've done."
"... I've killed them. My hands, once more, were covered in blood. Of both the rapists and the victim's."
"The feeling alone wants me to make me want to hurl to this day, but I haven't eaten or drank anything today."
... If the revelation of both of our hands covered in blood of both guilty and innocent were supposed to make me feel any better, no, it isn't.
In hindsight, we both came to this because for both of us, violence was the only solution to every problem we've faced.
... Violence was the only thing we knew. But unlike him, I chose this.
I did this.
"... Then I just realized something. An epiphany, a revelation, the reveal."
"... No matter what world I end up in, whether one where everyone's wearing camo or plate mail, people are all the same."
"There are the ones who will have power and abuse it, and there are the ones who will be oppressed by it. Power itself was the drug that kept all creation moving. Creation only moved towards destruction, and in the end, regardless of whether someone is the holiest of saints or the most vilest of demons, we all die in the end."
"... So what if, what if I was sent here, to finally end this cycle of power and violence? What if this was a chance for me to finally redeem my soul?"
Then suddenly, I saw myself laughing like a lunatic.
The fit of his madness was rooted in despair. A simple murderer who tried to walk the path of the hero, only to fail, considering the fact that I'm still here...
... And I simply made it worse.
"... What a fucking joke. I tried everything, but the only way to kill power itself is through power. The whole fabric of creation is build on self-destruction. Words fall to deaf ears, actions only breed more counteractions, violence spawns more violence, and saving people only rewards you with knives to the back."
He then turns around and shows me several knife wound scars plastered all over is back.
That kind of array of injuries can only come from getting shrapnel sprayed all over your back. Evidently, individual shrapnel here are apparently size of kitchen knives, all contained in the bomb called "people".
"It's as if justice isn't a dead concept in this world. It simply never existed to begin with."
"The word 'justice' is simply a facade that legitimatizes the flow of power itself. There is no such thing as 'true justice', nor the idea of 'justice being blind'."
"... Like Oedipus, the word 'justice' ripped its own eyes out after consigning itself into the role as a mere tool. After, if tools don't think for themselves, then how can feel anything? How can it feel despair of being born and by into a world where no one knows how to compromise on anything?"
"Yes, there are no decent people left. We're consigned to a world where its fate is only decided by those in power."
"A world without compromise. A world where people tolerate bondage if it means getting food on the table, but even then, they don't regard the fact that they'll be captured and sold like cattle someday."
"I should know, because I was the one who caused the war between Melromarc and Siltvelt."
"... How?" I shuddered out. "... How did it come to this!?"
"It's best if you listened to it yourself, master." Byakko remarked in a mildly venomous tone.
"... Where do I even start?"
"Well, first of all, I wasn't even at the mainland when it all started. In fact, I was at Q'Ten Lo, the most isolated and remote region available. For a supposedly xenophobic country, they welcomed me into their land, thinking that I was some adventurer who got lost and found his way back, all because I happened to have the same face as them."
"... Is it bad in hindsight for me to say that this was the first time I saw Asian racism before me? Me fitting in a kingdom where both human and demihuman, as long as they aren't born or native to this kingdom, were enslaved like cattle?"
"... What a fucking joke. No matter where I go, I won't be able to escape the yoke of power running everyone's information, culture, and capital."
"There, I applied for a job as a tutor, for one of the royal princes of the current Emperor."
"A young [Filolial King], barely five years old, but his eyes were not that of a child's."
"... Rather, they were like mine, mired in swamps of blood. Not that uncommon in my old world, for whatever that's worth. But for someone who's one of the younger princes, I thought he'd be a little less... sullen."
"... Why do feel like I should be referencing something, about dragons and people doing it, yet I cannot recall what it is?"
It's Game of Thrones.
Even myself on the other side had reached the point where he'd forgot about the things that shaped who we were.
... We were slaves to the rich, melded and shaped the way they pump out, fed on their malarky like cattle to corn.
Complacency, that's the sin that defined our generation, and he's on the side that paid for it, and more.
... Perhaps I'm this world's tax collector? Has it truly come full circle?
"For the next few years, I spent them teaching the kid, from basic arithmetic to court conduct. As a student, he was rather fascinated by our similar eyes, the ones that were completely wringed dry of hope."
"... So I thought to myself, what if I taught him the meaning of the word hope? Can we both be able to bring hope back to this marred world together?"
"... What if I can usher in a new generation? One where logic and rationale can trump irrational power-mania and greed? The one where the laws keep the people in line for the greater good?"
"... What if I can make the world save itself?"
"... I think there might be really big 'but' coming up." I remarked with barely suppressed dread.
"You don't know the half of it." Byakko stated, now no longer calling me master, with a tinge of regret in his voice.
"I don't wanna watch..." Grimm winced as he closed himself.
"Upon returning to mainland after my services in Q'Ten Lo, returned back to the [Archive] to resume my studies, content with a supposed job well done."
"... Then it happened again, cries for help echoed in the halls once again, but this time, I did not hesitate."
"I ran as fast as I could, and kept running and opened the door and killed the rapists myself, but even then, it was already too late."
"She was dead, her wounds too many opened, and too little blood left in them. In confusion, I peeked outside, and what I saw..."
"... Was Hell worse than before, all ushered by my former student and his guards, with the most innocent yet cruel smile on his face."
"He was a literal lovechild between the most beautiful angel and the cruelest of demons. Standing before me was now the new Crown Prince of Q'Ten Lo, the one who states that he's one who sparked the war between two hostile nations, all part of his plan to 'save the world'."
"I asked why, he simply answered 'I'm going to usher this world a new age of benevolence with your teachings'."
I saw myself pull down his collar of his shirt, revealing a bullet wound shaped like the sun.
"... Then he shot me with his [Bookmarker], a modified Derringer that I've gifted him for self-defense my body falling back into the same hole I emerged out of. In hindsight, I think he just spared me so that I may live long enough to see his world of 'benevolence'."
I saw myself pull out a revolver.
"... I'm not going humor his so-called 'benevolence' anymore."
He then pointed the barrel to his own head.
"I failed as a person, I failed as a hero, and now I failed as a teacher."
"Whoever's watching this, consider this whole video journal entry a warning for what's to come."
"Whether it's only a few days after recording or several centuries where the world has become one giant clockwork, if you're watching this, then take heed the following:"
"Beware of the four Kingdoms, for they will continue to find new ways to instigate conflict for profit."
"Beware of hope itself, for it is the great lie that poisons the minds away from the truth known as despair."
"Beware of people, both human and demihuman, for neither side will accept a compromise in this populist-propaganda paradise that they call home, and will not stop until one side is rendered subservient to the other."
"And above all else..."
He then pulls the gun's hammer back.
*CLICK*
"... Beware of Zhuge Yi, my former student, for he knows too much, and will do whatever it takes to shape this world with his so-called 'benevolence', and stomp out whatever gets in his way of his ambitions."
"I have an armory at the bottommost floor with a password confirmation lock built into it. It contains all the best weapons and equipments that the Vaults here pale in comparison."
"The password is 'Feel Good'. The password is 'Feel Good'."
"And with that..."
"... I'll see myself to Hell, yours truly, I kinda forgot."
"... Wait-NO-"
*BANG*
*THUD*
... I literally saw myself commit suicide.
Gray matter... everywhere-
*URP*
*BLEGH*
... This is easily the worst stress vomit I've ever had the displeasure of puking.
"... Ugh... This is... really too much... haa, haa, ... for me." I hyperventilated. "Me, causing all of this shit to happen!? HOW!? WHY!?"
I look back up at the video entry, only to see the label "FILE TERMINATED" on the screen.
"... Byakko." I growled out, all of my teeth clenched. "Explain."
The butler lets out a sigh before speaking.
"The truth is..." Byakko remarked. "... You were my master 17 times in a row."
"... What." I croaked out. "You mean, I did this shit, 17 TIMES IN A ROW!?"
I grab him by his collar and yank him closer towards me.
"How!?" I asked. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER!?"
"... Because my biological programming forbade me from doing otherwise up until the conditions were met." Byakko answered. "After all, your previous iterations did this."
"They're not me right now, isn't it!?" I pointed out. "I'm still here!"
"Correct, which is why they did it in the first place." Byakko remarked nonchalantly. "Like for instance, you of all people know that knowledge must be kept exclusive lest the outsiders abuse them to their own ends, is it not? Isn't that why you didn't tell the others straight up about Medea? About there being other worlds like theirs, because you of all people knew that if they learned of that, what's stopping them from spreading their poisonous influence throughout other worlds, worsening the situation of imperialism and slavery at hand!?"
... Is that why I never clear them up about Glass, L'Arc, and Theresa being from other worlds?
After all, what was stopping the other people from simply considering them no different from the monsters that emerged from the [Wave]? Will even telling the people of the bigger picture even change anything?
"... You of all people know the futility of man better than anyone else." Byakko remarked coldly. "I should know, because I've witnessed it, 17 times. All of them, you trying to become a more moral person, only to end in failure, either being capture and burnt at the stake, taking your own life, or dying prematurely!"
The [Perfected Homunculus] then begins crying, tears dripping out of his eyes.
"... Too many times, I've seen you die over and over in despair." Byakko tearfully remarked. "Each failure was a legacy left behind for this very moment. I beg of you, master-no, Nan..."
He then places his other hand on my other shoulder.
"... End this nightmare, once and for all." Byakko cried out. "I don't want to see you dying again as an empty shell of a man, defined only by his failures to save the world!"
Byakko then bawls into my chest, his tears soaking through my dirty clothes.
"... If you're not going to be the [Hero] that'll save this world, then be a [Hero] who'll save me, who've stood by your side, countless times over." Byakko begged. "Not just for me, but to free us from the yoke of this cruel world, and bring the long-awaited karma upon it! Please! It's not just me that can't bear with this shit anymore! The twins! The [Filolial King] and the [Tyrera Queen]! The otherworlders! The Hakuko Family! The freed slaves! The [Summons]! ... We're all tired of continuing to live in a world where the ones in power are the ones decide who lives and dies their way of choosing. The [Heroes] may save this world and its people..."
... But you're the only one who can change it.
... Change. That word resonated with me.
What did I come here for in the first place? I was just some stupid high school kid getting by after two false arrests, and then all of the sudden, I was whisked away to this world that's actively out of anger me in every way possible through its endless parade of human decency deficiency, and now I learn that I'm master #18 like some sort of weird-ass fanfic that's more akin in a work like Mega Man rather than a medieval fantasy-isekai bullshit.
... But at the same time, I just can't leave them be here, after we've come too far. If I did, they will never forgive me, and I will never forgive myself for leaving them.
They stayed with me, so the least I can do is see this through.
"... Look." I spoke to Byakko, his eyes now stained with tears. "I can't speak for you, my party, the ex-slaves, or the past 17 versions of me that you had to watch and die every time. So instead, I'll speak for myself and answer that through my own words, not as another piece of myself, but as who I am now."
"... Very well." Byakko stated as he wiped his eyes with his sleeves. "What is your answer?"
I close my eyes, and reflect upon what I went through in this world.
This world is indeed cruel, but looking back, it's just like my own.
People are simply trying to get by, ethical or otherwise, myself included.
I was never fighting for a greater ideal or for the people that I love. I simply fought because my well of anger is bottomless. But the real question is, where is well of anger stemmed from?
Is it ignorance of my fellow man that enrages me, always thinking to myself that they can do better, when in reality, they don't know better?
Is it injustice, of countless lives being subjugated to crushing debt and squalor, all because the people running society has poisoned and drugged us to become addicts and slaves to capitalism?
Is it nihilism, my innermost despair that no matter what people do to change the world, in the end, we all die, leaving behind nothing but the world that we relentlessly raped and ravaged in our endless pursuit of prosperity?
... It was never simply one of those three, when it was in fact, all three of them all along. In fact, those things that filled up my well of hatred against my fellow man?
They simply distracted me from what I was fighting and living for this whole time. The answer was right in my face all along.
I never fought for good, nor I fought for evil.
... I just simply fought, because that's what I desire the most out of my life. To become the last man standing in a world where everyone is struggling towards the top, to figure out what I truly want out of what life had to offer at its purest.
Whoever's the last one standing is the righteous; that is the law of this world. And I wished to become change itself.
And right now, what I fight for is not for something so grand like the fate of the world. I'm simply fighting for these people because I simply can. People overcomplicate their own motives with love, connections, sentiments, and honor, when all a person needs to fight needs are power and will.
I fight for them because they asked. That's all there's to it.
Glass, L'Arc, and Theresa wanting to save their people? Garou and Fubuki dying together of old age? Seiryu and Suzaku becoming the strongest they can be? The ex-slaves wanting to take revenge against the homes that abandoned them? Byakko wanting to see me no longer in despair yet again?
... I chose to carry these burdens, because they're the reasons that give meaning.
"... If I can see you be truly happy, and break this cycle, what will you do?" I asked. "I won't judge what will you do next. All I wish is to simply know."
Byakko lets out a tearful look before answering.
"... I will cease functioning entirely after my objectives have been completed."
I simply nod.
"Then I will make sure that you die happy." I replied. "If we're gonna die..."
"... We'll do it together."
He then picks me up from my seat and piggybacks my body on his suited back.
"So, the Armory?" I pointed out. "... I remember something about a password."
"Don't worry, ladies, I gotcha." Grimm stated. "The password's 'Feel Good', remember?"
"... Oh, like the Gorillaz?" I pointed out.
Guess my other self didn't entirely forget who he was. Or who we were.
*click*
... My thoughts were then grounded to a halt upon hearing something drop.
We all turn our heads to find one of the Melromarc's [Royal Guards] still alive, albeit on the verge of death, with a functioning [Projection Orb] rolling down his lap.
"... Oh shit."
I don't even hesitate to pull out my [Grimoire Heart], load in a page, aimed down the barrel...
*BANG*
*KABOOM*
... For the last time, evidently.
Yeah, I really should've taken up gun maintenance.
"SON OF A BITCH!" I threw my now-useless [Grimoire Heart] with an exploded barrel at the now literally topless corpse with the shattered orb. "URAGH! HOW MUCH DO THEY KNOW NOW!?"
"I think it's safe to assume that they now know too much... which really doesn't change the fact that we were going to burn the entirety of the Kingdom of Melromarc down anyway." Byakko pointed out.
"Yeah, but the kid's missing an arm and a leg, along with several of his weapons!" Grimm remarked. "How are we supposed to deal with a literal army like this!?"
"... The Armory, now."
All three of us break for the now recently-open basement within our massive underground complex, Byakko carrying me on his back while he skipped over the overgrowth of roots that managed to break through the white metal plates that made up the whole damn hallway.
We come across the locked vault door, with a keypad behind the bramble of roots that obscured it, Byakko's fingers cramming through the bramble to reach it.
"'Feel Good', right?" Byakko asked.
"Yeah, if I recall correctly."
Remembering the password itself wasn't the problem, but the fact that we barely can see the damn keypad itself through the bramble was the real issue.
"Hey Grimm, can you see anything?" I asked.
My [Forbidden Tome] tries to take a peek through the bramble, only to simply give up looking and simply opt to eat the bramble off of Byakko's hand instead, five seconds later.
"..."
"..."
"... You're welcome!"
Byakko simply types in the password, and the doors open.
We step into the dark room, with the smell of plywood and plants permeating throughout the dark chambers.
"Byakko, where're the lights?" I asked in the dark.
"Hold on, I think it might be here around... there."
*click*
The light come on in the Armory...
... I can see now why's called the "Armory".
"Okay..." I remarked in a flabergasted tone. "... The fuck!?"
Okay, if I can sort-of-recall correctly, this world, particularly Faubley, has achieved technological advancement to manufacture AK-47s in Motoyasu's spinoff, and Itsuki eventually gained abilities to essentially copy modern-day firearms...
... But what in the actual when my other self was hoarding an entire US Marine Base Armory!?
"FN SCARs, USP Tactical .45s, Striker Shotguns, M249 SAWs, M4s, P90s, Remington 870 Tactical Shotguns, and is that fucking Javelin Anti-Tank Missile Launcher over there!?" I exclaimed reciting the names of the firearms, most of which that I got from watching let's plays of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. "HOW!? WHY!? EXPLAIN!"
Byakko sighed before he spoke.
"... Turns out the armory that my previous master locked himself into came along with him." Byakko remarked. "Not even he knows how, but evidently, he really doesn't care to find out as long as the others in this world don't get their greasy mitts on them, to put it into his wordings."
"... Okay, that kinda makes sense." I remarked. "But who's gonna use em? Cuz last I checked..."
I tried to touch the [USP Tactical .45], only for it to reject me.
"... I think none of these are part-[Tome]." I stated. "So who's gonna use em?"
"Well, normally, we would arm the ex-slaves with these, but considering the fact that firearms, while present, are still relatively rare in this world. Not to mention, we do not have the luxury of training them when a whole kingdom's after our heads." Byakko remarked. "... There is the [Homunculus Production Plant] that I can access, and we can implement the knowledge of firearms into their brains."
"Okay, how?"
Byakko then suddenly stabs himself in his head with his fingers, digging through his own gray matter and pulling out a chip from his brain, with me as the sole audience close up.
"... There's a reason why you're my master." Byakko remarked as his hole in the brain closed itself. "You built me to trust my life onto yours. Ergo, the protection forbidden knowledge is my duty as gatekeeper."
"... Yeah, next time, warn me if you're gonna do that, especially when I'm in front row seat." I gagged.
Well, one problem solved.
"... About the equipment that I and the other ex-slaves can use?"
"This way." Byakko stated as he carried me deeper into the Armory, and into another Armory labeled "Vault Ω".
"A special Vault within an Armory?" I pointed out. "How much was this planned, and how much of this is a coincidence?"
"If there's one consistent factor between you and your other iterations, are that you're all obsessively paranoid in varying degrees." Byakko pointed out. "... Turns out, it paid off for this very moment."
"I ain't complaining!" Grimm remarked as we entered [Vault Ω].
Upon entering the place, I saw an array of [Tomes] lying about, additional armor and cloaks, and a few guns that I suspect to be [Tome] & [Musket] hybrid weapons.
"*whistle* Nice." I grinned. "Byakko, start up the lab. Imma play dress-up."
"Are you sure that you'll be fine?" Byakko asked.
I then set myself on top of one of the crates after pivoting off of Byakko's back.
"I got Grimm on my side." I replied with a genuine smile. "That, and I can trust you."
"... Then I'll be with you shortly."
After a bow, we then separated for a good while.
"... Hey Grimm." I asked while reaching for a [Tome] with an image of a skeletal hand on its cover. "Do you think it's never too late for me to start trusting in people again?"
"... Well too answer your question, I think it's a start." Grimm answered. "But why we're talking about trust when were literally arming ourselves to kill people?"
I simply smile.
"... Because I don't want forget that I can trust people."
Switching POV: Unknown Spectator
"So the arrival of our esteemed guest and his party is in short order?" The enshrouded figure asked before the kneeling soldier.
"Y-Yes, your emissary." The cat-eared soldier stated. "We've received a report from a forward scout. The Volunteer Division and your personal detachment will arrive by tomorrow morning."
"And our current... guest?" The elusive figure. "Is she well?"
"Well, she's fine, your emissary-"
A knife blade grazes past the cat demihuman's cheek, the projectile nailed to the wall behind her.
"I said, is she well?" The elusive figure asked in a firmer tone.
The cat demihuman shakes her head, stating "no".
"What did you do?" The figure asked the trembling cat demihuman. "If you're honest, I'll let you off."
"... She pissed me off, so I whipped her!" The cat-demihuman confessed. "I don't understand why you would spare a human after what they've done to us! You wouldn't understand what her kind did to my sister and brother!"
"Tch tch tch." The figure clicked its tongue. "It is you that don't understand the bigger picture. In order to achieve absolute benevolence, the first step is forgiveness. If you are unable to forgive her or her kind, then your heart will be forever be mired in malevolence."
"But still!" The cat demihuman remarked. "How am I supposed to forgive those rapists!? Those... animals!?"
"The path to benevolence is hard, little one." The figure remarked. "Contrary to popular belief, heroes aren't gods. True heroes walk a thorny and arduous path in order to become the beacon of hope in world where despair is the only truth. To think that forgiving her is easy is simply naive, because of course it's going to be hard, but true strength comes from the willingness to forgive."
The figure then reaches out its hand and places it onto her head.
"So tell me, little one." The figure asked from the darkness. "Are you willing to forgive her, for starters, at least?"
The catgirl grits her teeth as tears seep out of her eyes.
"... I can't." She cried out. "My heart will never forgive them for what they did to me. It hurts to even think about it... It hurts so much that I feel sick just by thinking about it..."
The hand is then removed from between her pair of ears.
"... Then I will release you from your suffering."
"... R-Really?"
A giant hand grabs the top of her head before twisting her neck like an owl's with an audible *SNAP*.
The catgirl simply sees a veiled face in front of long locks of beautiful black hair from a tall and muscular woman, the veil with a "仁" (Benevolence) on the white tapestry.
That was the last thing she ever sees in her life, burned into her consciousness, right before her lifeless body was dragged out of the figure's chambers by her assailant.
"... How are people in this country still live with themselves with this kind of hatred in their hearts?" The figure asked himself. "Such suffering will be mended, and I will make sure of it."
The figure then takes out a book with the cover reading "1984".
"... I will do you proud, lǎoshī." The figure spoke to himself as the book opened in its hands. "Zhuge Yi will and must."
Switching POV: Glass
Ever since she was taken in by L'Arc and Theresa's world after the destruction of her own, Glass's life would be best described as "semi-normal".
For adventurers like her, life usually revolved around taking quests, killing monsters, taking the reward gold, and occasionally pass out after one pint of draft beer. But for Glass, while she did indeed live her life as an adventurer, circumstances were... bizarre, to say the least.
Upon being chosen as the Vassal [Hero] of the [Legendary Fan], she was suddenly put on a pedestal and became a sort of an overnight celebrity, with all the glamour and caveats that came with the package deal.
After seeing her old world and her family get destroyed right in front, she'd hoped for more of a quiet life, but after her very first [Wave], she knew that her hopes for a quiet life is pure bullshit in the face of another complete and utter destruction.
It was upon becoming a [Hero] is how and why she met up with L'Arc and Theresa, the former being an heir to his own kingdom, and the latter a magical prodigy. Together, the three of them were unstoppable, and that they would use their strengths to save their own world from certain destruction, even if it means destroying another.
... And now, everything's been turned onto its head again, with Nan's revelation of a greater power manipulating everything behind the scenes, all to sate the goddess's bottomless ego, and seeing an actual Daemon being spawned from Hell itself is making her question her place in the world more and more. Their plan to destroy worlds were but a simple ploy of the whims of the same goddess that destroyed her own home. The things she and her friends initially believed in were all utter lies.
Nan was the loop that was thrown into this machination in this game between the heavens, and now, he was their only chance, insane as it sounds.
... Which was the only way for her to describe their current situation of being waited by [Dryads] and [Spriggans] like if all of them were at a high-end eatery. The nectar was good, if anything.
"I might be getting a dependency if I continue to eat..." Glass remarked after eating her third bulb of [Dryad]'s nectar. "So rich, yet so light... So sweet yet so mild... I might be an addict now."
"Speak for yourself..." L'Arc moaned out in pleasure. "... All of my worries and stress are melting away... I feel like I'm adrift in middle of calm and endless sea."
The so-called "calm" was then disturbed by the sounds of Garou and Fubuki vomiting.
"DIDN'T I TELL YOU!? I'M A FUCKING CARNIVORE!" Garou barked out. "IF I EAT ANYTHING OTHER THAN MEAT, I SHIT OUT FROM MY MOUTH!"
Fubuki was too busy vomiting to put her own two cents in.
"... You gotta wonder, why is Wyndia eating em without any issue?" L'Arc pointed out while pointing his thumb towards the [Garmr] demihuman girl who was on her 45th course of nectar.
"If I recall correctly, [Garmrs] aren't just carnivores." Theresa pointed out. "Their jaw structure are more akin to ursine than lupine, not to mention, their intestinal length are shorter than that of regular humans but longer than that of predatorily beasts."
"... So the wolf-like monsters are not actually related to wolves, but... bears?" L'Arc questioned. ".. I'm sorry, I never paid attention to beastiology."
"She's saying that [Garmrs] are omnivores." Glass pointed out. "The only downside for her is that she has to take in roughly 10,000 calories a day in order to keep her body functioning."
The three of them look at the [Garmr] girl, still devouring onto her now-54th course of nectar.
"... Shouldn't she be getting tired of eating sweet things?" L'Arc pointed out.
"I heard that [Garmrs] are able to survive hellish conditions by the virtue of them being unable to taste." Theresa replied. "As long as they eat their fill, they'll eat anything with caloric value."
"Is that why's she trying to eat that tree over there?" Glass pointed to the [Garmr] attempting to munch on the trees that were akin to towers.
"Should we stop her?" L'Arc pointed out as Wyndia was now being restricted and held up into the air by the [Dryad]'s vines.
The three of them see her trying to eat through the vines, only to be knocked out unconscious by a [Spriggan]'s spores.
"... I think they got it under control."
Then from the corner of her eye, she spots someone coming out from the roots.
"Oh, it's Nan-"
Upon seeing an black-bespecticled albino man wearing an dark-green vest-like armor over his black t-shirt, a pair of beige pants with multiple pouches strapped around its legs, a pair of dull-black combat boots with a single trench knife sheathed on the side of the right boot, and in his hands were a sand-beige colored [Musket] weapon, her [Sacred Fan] signaling it as a weapon called [FN SCAR-SC].
Whoever he was, he wasn't them, and everyone present pointed their weapons at the albino.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" The albino exclaimed as he raised his hands up into the air. "I'm with you guys! I swear!"
"Oh yeah, then what's with the flashy getup?" Garou snarled out as he pointed his [Katar] at him. "I don't recall anyone in the party wearing that."
"That's because he's our new friend." A familiar voice called out.
From the trees, a figure in a thick, brown-gray-colored hooded coat emerged, his right foot now a metallic-black, stamping a loose stone into gravel, leaving behind a "死刑" (Death Sentence) hot brand hissing on the dirt, his left hand now silver in color, its fingertips now gleaming with a razor's edge sharp enough to cut through air itself like hot knife through butter, underneath the foldings of his coat were several [Tomes] encased into several beltstraps constricted around his hips and legs like if they were walking libraries on their own, strapped around his back was an array of golden armor with several orbs of blue crystal on their grooves, hanging from his neck was a bronze necklace medallion in the visage of a bloated, headless man hanging from his ankles, its stubby outstretched hands having open mouths on their palms, and crowned around his head was a platinum-colored circlet with each individual gemstone resembling a human eye, with sharp nodes digging into his temples like a crown of thorns.
"... Nan?"
"Yo." The newly-clothed Nan greeted. "What's up?"
... His words sounded just wrong.
They were now completely void of any sanity, completely soulless to the point where that greeting of causal circumstance sounded more akin to a death threat.
"... What happened?" L'Arc asked.
"Oh! You mean my new threads?" Nan replied. "Check it peeps. Evidently, a few of them managed to get though the defenses and I... kinda got caught with my pants down, metaphorically speaking. Turns out one of them had a [Projection Orb] on em, and they were still alive to see uh... everything."
Suddenly, the whole atmosphere plummeted down to subzero.
"... What, do they, know?" Glass asked as she grabbed Nan by his disgusting-looking medallion.
"... Eh... I've might've kind of given them away of the knowledge that there are other worlds beyond the [Waves], including and possibly your very own. So, yeah... I kinda underestimated their resilience, for lack of a better word." Nan visibly sweated out. "... Silver lining?"
His expression of panic then contorts into that of sheer, unrivaled glee.
Glass takes a closer look at Nan's eyes, still intact from all the wear and tear of their journey, one synthetic right eye, one organic left eye...
... But both were glowing like the blood moon in the pitch-black night sky.
He was no longer insane. He's now become an omen of anarchy itself, the primordial chaos before creation.
... Nan has become the very same abyss that he once stared into.
"We're given a blank check... to kill them all." He smiled as he licked the ivory-colored barrel of his new handheld [Musket] weapon. "That way, I can finally fulfill everyone's promises. Glass and co. get free real estate, Malva finally gets to meet her younger brother, and everyone else gets to have their own pound of flesh on Melromarc's ass."
"You don't mean..." Glass trembled out. "... Don't tell me that!"
Several more albino people, including Byakko, now in a pure-black three-piece suit with a white tie, emerge from the roots, all of them carrying massive wooden crates and hooked metal rods along with the same or similar-looking equipment and weapons that the initial albino that they've cornered at weapon-point.
The ones with the hooked rods open the crates with them revealing new sets of chalk-white hooded robes, dull steel breastplate armor, weapons ranging from shortswords to crossbows, rectangular compact shields with orange linings, and blank ash-gray masks with only two circle vents for eyes.
"Buckle up kiddos..." Nan smiled. "... We're going to a legit war."
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: Mindfuckception. That's the Epic in a nutshell.
So, seeing one's self commit suicide can lead to some... damaging aftereffects. Even worse, the outside world now has confidential information regarding the partial nature behind the [Waves].
Also, the reveal of the mysterious spectator has been revealed, and he's going to spread his "benevolence" throughout the world, regardless of anyone's say in it. He will do it. He's already abducted an entire village and the Naofumi's entire party, himself included, so what's stopping him from doing more?
The Pandora's Box has been opened. The match has been struck. The contestants are armed and ready. Let the carnage commence.
...
Let's Burn It All to the Ground.