He hated the damp cold, hated the way it bit into him as if to gnaw on his very bones. Just as the seething hunger of the Ocean gnawed on his soul. It wasn't an unfamiliar sensation, in fact it was one to which he was almost accustomed. But this time was different from before. This time there was no out, no refuge to retreat to and no avenue of escape. This time, he realized with a horrible stab of terror, there was no going back. His eyes opened and he took in the vast expanse of despair. Parasitic roots burrowed into countless hosts, numbing their minds and parading around in their skin. What, he wondered briefly, would they remember? Water surged around his knees and in his ears, his breath hung in clouds before him as salt made his damp skin feel grimy. And before him, larger than it had ever been, loomed the leafless, dark tree. His tree, the taint from his heart fed by the Ocean and nurtured into a consciousness.

To his left, near the base of the tree, his brother rested. Encased in bark and limp, his face looked… resigned. Koichi remembered that feeling, could feel it tugging at him now. It's easy to describe the undesirable parts of one's self as demons, and even easier to surrender and let those parts define you. The Ocean brought them out and gave them free reign, convincing the true self that it doesn't exist. And once you don't exist, once the emptiness and total lack of purpose swells into a void inside, it's easy to become a pawn in someone else's game. Koji was a pawn now and that knowledge constricted around Koichi's throat. A sob tore at him, pain which the Ocean was quick to latch onto, slicing into his chest.

Yet the Chosen of Darkness paid it no mind; actually, the invasion made him angry. His grief and his brother's suffering were real, valid emotions that everyone has. Not the only emotions they would ever feel and not tools to be used for manipulation. This attempt to hollow him out, this distraction from his purpose… Koichi was done being distracted. He was done playing the game. When it had been just him, when the Ocean had focused exclusively on eroding him it had been isolating. It had been unbearable to be such a burden. Had It continued on that tack he would've arrived at this moment with a different mindset. Maybe things would've turned out differently. Then it had made a miscalculation. Instead of persuading him to embrace his supposed fate the act sparked against his last shred of defiance. Koichi would not allow Koji to endure the Ocean, he wouldn't standby and watch it swallow him. To prevent his brother from becoming his demons, he would merge with his own. Koichi was going to tear this world apart.

He was the only one who could.

Breathing slowly and deeply, Koichi approached the massive trunk. As he did so the bark seemed to shiver in anticipation. Then it pulled itself apart, peeling back like a curtain to expose the taint that had served as a seed. It was surprisingly small, maybe the size of a melon, carmine and swirling and pulsating. The heart of it all. His dark heart, steeped in loneliness and envy. Not for the first time fear made a fist around his ribcage. One of two things was about to happen: he was going to become his true self or Duskmon was going to be reborn. The Ocean would loose its connection to the Human and Digital Worlds and be forced back to its own dimension, or it would spill over and spread. It all depended on whether or not he could accept what he didn't want to acknowledge about himself.

There was no turning back. Swallowing hard, Koichi reached towards the seething mass. His fingers brushed the cold mist and passed through it, until his hand was entirely engulfed. Somehow, despite the pain, it felt right. Gravitation kicked in and the mist became solid tendrils that burrowed into his skin. Yelping, he pulled back, but it was already inside him, in his blood, working its way up his arm. The Ocean roared in his mind, his eyes stretching wide open as he choked. All around him the air shimmered and tore, windows into another world cracking open. Koichi could see a crowd of people with black eyes through one, a wooden wall and a stack of crates through another. It was starting; the barrier was eroding and soon the Ocean would spread. He was going to-

A girl with long golden hair and jade eyes kneeling next to a boy. He looked disoriented and horrified. His brown-gloved hands were clenched into fists. Beside them another girl, dark skin and curly hair, hard and soft at the same time. Then ice blue eyes that, despite the fear, burned with hope that had been absent for such a terribly long time. And someone who shared his own face, devoid of compassion and love. Yet that wasn't true; it was an artificial state forced upon him. He didn't want to be like that, not really, and existing as such was tearing him apart. If the windows remained open and the Ocean spilled over he would never escape. No one would escape consumption.

"No… This isn't right."

The resentment he felt, the solitude and crushing neglect, it was unbearable. It made him want to accept the numbness the Ocean offered. To just let bitterness turn him inside out and twist whatever remained into something unrecognizable and vengeful. Anything to stop the pain. He wanted to blame Tache, to pretend this wasn't how he really felt, that this was just a demon that didn't belong to him. He wanted to, but he didn't.

"You're me," he grunted, doubling over. "You are. I won't deny it anymore. I won't ignore you. But you don't define me. I am more than just one way. I accept you, but I will not become you."

Slowly the pain subsided, like the tide going out. He straightened, wiping something wet from his cheeks with the back of his hand. It wasn't at all like he had imagined. Koichi felt sick and tired and strangely warm. In his core, though, he knew he was whole.

"Bravo," said a very unimpressed voice from behind him.

He spun around, feeling his stomach drop right out of his body. A figure made of black mist was clapping Its hands slowly, giving him a piercing stare.

"Tache… But I… You can't be, not any more."

"Do you feel like you've made some great accomplishment? Did you honestly think it would be so simple to get rid of me? Don't entertain such delusions. I have you, Kimura Koichi. So long as you're here you're feeding me. So long as I have Ysault's body I cannot be banished. It doesn't matter what you do or think. Savor your little victory if you want, you're still a broken mess of a human. In the end you'll remember that. Then you'll submit."

"I will not," he spat venomously. "You have no hold over me, not anymore."

"Give it time," It sneered. "After all, we have so much time."

The ground gave out beneath his feet, giving him just enough time to gasp before being swallowed. Water and salt burnt his nose, his eyes, flooded his mouth. Koichi lurched, coming to life in a world without gravity. Or air. A scream of surprise passed over his lips and made no sound. Just a silvery bubble that glistened in the grey. Something was twisted around his torso, pulling him downward. Beneath the waves and into the deep. Down to a place from which he could never return, to a death that was too certain. Except he wouldn't die. The Ocean would keep him, hold him under an eternity of pain and regret and self-loathing. Trap him in an arena with monsters he could only fight for so long. His and theirs, the people already entangled in the Ocean's roots. Eventually he would yield. They all yielded. Then there would be work to do… So much work before It could spread. Engulf the world until only the darkness existed.

He flailed, hands cutting through the water as he fought to swim. This could not be allowed to happen- he wouldn't just let it happen! Everything about the Ocean's plans repulsed him, every sick idea it put in his head made him want to vomit. That this depression, this damp and cold lack of feeling that made everyone it touched want to just stop existing, could be inflicted on even one more person enraged him. Koichi fought back, rejecting it, refusing to become host to something so purely evil.

Yet still he sank.