I planned for more things to happen in this chapter, but by the time I realized it, two months had passed and I had almost 10,000 words in this chapter.
So, figuring that I already missed two self-imposed deadlines, I decided that I probably already have enough content for a single chapter already.
I hope everyone is doing okay with the whole Corona-thing going on. Stay inside and wash your hands, everyone!
Chapter 21: Gleaming Eyes of Duality
Yugo (Crystal Wing) darted through the sky, leaving a web of white lines through the sky as he clashed against Blade-Messiah—no, Dark Blade-Messiah, because of the change from its divine gold color to its dark and menacing appearance.
Yugo (Crystal Wing) retreated to catch his breath, his breathing haphazard and rough. "What the hell… I'm still faster than him… but he's way faster now, and his reaction speed is god-like…" he gasped, "And he has so many of those swords flying around… if I drop my guard for a second, I end up paying for it."
"Back off and rest, Yugo!" Yuto (Dark Requiem) yelled as he flew past Yugo and straight towards Dark Blade-Messiah.
"Requiescent Disaster Disobey!" Yuto (Dark Requiem) roared as he charged at the monster.
"Yuto! Wait!" Yugo called out.
Right before Yuto could make contact with Dark Blade-Messiah, the dragon twisted its body around, perfectly dodging the attack.
Before Yuto could properly react, he suddenly felt Blade-Messiah's large hand grab his head from the side.
"Shit…!" Yuto (Dark Requiem) cursed in his mind as he roared in frustration.
Yuto (Dark Requiem) swung one of his arms at Blade-Messiah, using the large blade on his arm to slice at the beast.
A sword immediately appeared to block the attack, and Yuto felt his blade clang uselessly against the dark blade.
Then, he suddenly felt wind rushing past his head.
Then, he felt the ground.
Blade-Messiah had slammed him into the ground by his head, roaring mercilessly as Yuto struggled.
"Die! Venomous Maser Rain!" Yuri (Greedy Venom) roared, letting loose a volley of beams that Blade-Messiah immediately jumped away to dodge, allowing Yuto to get back to his feet.
Since their three-dragon assault on Blade-Messiah, ten minutes had passed.
They hadn't landed a single decent hit since then.
"What the hell is up with this guy…?" Yuri clicked his tongue as he fired at Blade-Messiah from a distance, "Soul's clearly not in control… but he's learning!" He exclaimed.
It was true, the dragon was growing in more ways than one.
Every attack it threw out would hit harder than the last, it was slowly getting faster, it could react perfectly to any attack, no matter where it came from.
Yugo was (though Yuri would never admit it) the only reason they were still standing. Yugo (Crystal Wing) was constantly zipping around the arena, attacking the countless number of flying swords that threatened to skewer them.
If it weren't for Yugo, they'd have a much harder time dealing with Blade-Messiah. In fact, it was possible that without Yugo, they'd have already lost.
Unfortunately, Yugo had a limit, and with the way he was running himself ragged, he was coming up on that limit at breakneck speed.
Yuto heard Yugo blast into the air again, returning a moment later with his breathing even more labored than before.
"I… can't… breathe… holy shit…" Yugo (Crystal Wing) gasped as his chest heaved.
Yuto (Dark Requiem) gritted his teeth as the orbs on his shoulders glowed, "Requiem Salvation!" He roared as a number of black arms shot out of the orbs.
About ten blades spawned, immediately flying to Blade-Messiah's side and slicing the dark arms to shreds before reaching their target.
"Shit… I can't bind him anymore…!" Yuto cursed.
The blades that had sliced Yuto's attack to pieces started to hover in front of Blade-Messiah, spinning in a circle as a black orb of energy formed between the blades.
Yuto's eyes went wide as he recognized the attack, "Shit! That's the attack that hit Yuya earlier!" Yuto called out.
This time, no words came out of Blade-Messiah… only an ear-splitting roar as it sent a dark version of the breath attack it used on Yuya at the brothers.
Suddenly, Yuri was in front of Yuto.
"I've had enough!" Yuri (Greedy Venom) roared as his chest opened up, revealing the largest mouth on his dragon body, "SUPREME VENOM CANNON!" He roared.
An enormous beam of light burst from the chest-mouth, colliding with Blade-Messiah's beam and immediately blowing past it, finally landing a massive blow on the dragon.
Yuri's (Greedy Venom's) chest-mouth slowly closed, and Yuri's breath was now as ragged as Yugo's.
"Shit… that doesn't feel pleasant…" Yuri groaned, "I don't think I can let out another one of those…" he said as he attempted to slow down his breathing.
"Damn… it would've been great if you could do that again…" Yuto sighed.
"Hey, it feels weird when your chest opens up…" Yuri sighed, "and it drained way too much of my stamina…" he said as though it was supposed to be obvious.
Smoke rose off of Blade-Messiah, but even after taking the strongest laser in Yuri's arsenal, it was still standing.
"Jesus christ… what are you, fucking immortal!?" Yuri cursed in frustration.
"It has to have a limit…" Yuto sighed, "It must have a limit to how much damage it can take… if it doesn't, then we might be screwed."
Yuzu stared down at the limp body of Yuya, still transformed into Odd-Eyes. "Yuya… please wake up…" she sighed.
She then heard Rin cough loudly behind her, but the words "absolutely smitten" were clearly heard through the coughs.
"Rin!" Yuzu exclaimed as her face flushed.
"What? I didn't say anything…" Rin said nonchalantly, though her smug facial expression betrayed her.
"That's enough, Rin! We shouldn't tease her anymore…" Ruri giggled, "no matter how easy it is to read her!" She said cheerfully.
"RURI!" Yuzu cried out.
"Just ignore them," Serena sighed, "especially Rin, since she's almost as shy as you when it comes to Yugo…" she pointed out.
"Ah! Serena!" Rin exclaimed as she lightly whacked her.
"Hey! Maybe pay attention to the match?" Serena suggested with an annoyed tone in her voice.
"Oh, right!" Rin exclaimed, "Yugo was looking pretty tired, is he still—" she started to ask a question, only for it to be answered when she looked back at the arena.
Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief.
Yugo (Crystal Wing) was zipping around Blade-Messiah, his body a blur… but Blade-Messiah matched his movements and was consistently blocking attacks, its arms a blur as it swung its blades around him.
Until finally, it swung once and stopped.
And suddenly, Yugo was on the ground.
"He… he moved faster than me…" Yugo gasped, "but that's impossible… there's no way…" he said as his chest heaved.
"Y-Yugo…!" Rin gasped.
"That wasn't just speed…" Serena muttered, "Soul reacted almost instantly… are we sure that they're fighting Soul right now?" She exclaimed.
Finally, Soul and Syrup reached the cottage in the distance.
He had never seen a house like it, not once in his entire life… but it felt familiar somehow.
"What is this, Syrup?" Soul asked.
Suddenly, Syrup started to collapse.
Soul's eyes widened as he moved fast, immediately grabbing and catching the girl as her eyes closed and her legs gave out.
"Ah… I thought I had a few more days… I guess not, huh?" Syrup chuckled weakly.
"What do you mean?" Soul asked.
"You made me lose sleep, dummy!" Syrup laughed weakly, "You're someone who became an important friend, and you were close to dying… I could hardly sleep, I spent all of my time when nobody was around trying to make a plan, and I broke my own leg…" she grinned.
"Syrup, how long have you been awake?" Soul raised an eyebrow.
"Well, just a few hours ago!" She said cheerfully, "Though I only slept for about thirty minutes before I woke up… if you wanna know how long its been since a proper rest, then the answer is three days!" She said almost too cheerfully.
"That isn't healthy." Soul deadpanned.
"Neither is killing yourself with a seal, or sleeping for thirty-six hours straight, but you've done both of those things!" Syrup shot back at him, "Though, I managed to stop the first one…" she mumbled.
"I'm the one who's supposed to be tired all the time. You better get some sleep later…" Soul sighed as he picked her up and continued to walk towards the cottage.
He noticed that the door was mysteriously left open.
"Go inside… there should be a bed in there, and could you please put me on it?" Syrup asked kindly.
"Oh, I'll put you on the bed alright…" Soul grumbled as he pushed the door open with his foot and entered the door with Syrup in his arms.
It was a fairly modest home with a table, chair, bed, kitchen, and fireplace. It was nothing special, though the fireplace was strange. On the fireplace was a small flame, the size of a candle's flame, despite the large logs of wood underneath it.
It flickered slightly, but the flame wouldn't get any bigger.
Oh, and there was a bed.
Soul promptly dropped Syrup on the bed rather roughly. "H-Hey! Couldn't you be a little more gentle!?" Syrup exclaimed.
"You just undid the seal on my power, and I have no idea what's happening on the outside," Soul said with a hint of anger, "I'm not exactly in the mood to be 'gentle' to you."
Syrup pouted, but let out a sigh in acceptance.
"Yeah, I guess it's to be expected…" she sighed, "of course you're angry… but I couldn't just do nothing, right?"
"Whatever, now where are we?" Soul blew her off.
Syrup sighed as she laid back in the bed, "You're going to meet the reason why any of this was possible… and yet another reason why I lost sleep," she chuckled at the last comment, "I had trouble comprehending it at first, but…" she trailed off.
"I was surprised too, but I decided to take advantage of the miracle, you know?"
Soul's eyes widened as he slowly turned around.
The small girl that Soul immediately recognized as his sister, Cahya, was standing at the door, her crimson eyes staring into his own.
"Cahya…?" Soul muttered, "No… a memory? But that can't…" he mumbled breathlessly.
The small girl smiled and shook her head, "No… thanks to a miracle, I was able to stay in this world…" she said with a smile.
"No…" Soul muttered, "No… no! Is this some kind of twisted joke!?" Soul suddenly turned and yelled at Syrup, his mood immediately shifting to rage.
Syrup stared back at him, a melancholy look on her face.
Soul's anger didn't go down, however.
"What? You're saying the dead come back!? I'm not that delusional!" He roared.
"Soul, please stop…" Cahya started to speak up.
Soul spun around and glared at the girl, "Damn it…! You look too similar, damn it!" He yelled, "Stop it…! Go away…!" He groaned as he clutched his head, as though it was in pain.
Cahya sighed as she walked closer to her older brother, "You're right… it should be impossible for the dead to remain, at least not for a long time…" she said as she took Soul's hand with her smaller hands, "but I was able to… it was a miracle that you caused—"
"Don't bullshit me…" Soul groaned, "Cahya died… I killed her…" he moaned as he held his head, which was being subjected to a pounding headache.
"Yes, I was killed…" Cahya said as she caressed his hand, "but not by you…" she said softly.
Soul looked up and glared.
Cahya was unfazed and continued to look at him with a smile.
"Look at me," Cahya smiled, "you should be able to tell if I'm real or not…" she said in a comforting tone.
Soul stared back at her, examining every inch of the small body.
"I don't…" Soul started to say.
Cahya suddenly shushed him and raised her hands to his face, calmly brushing the hair away from his right eye, revealing his gold-colored heterochromatic eye.
"You need to see clearly, you know?" Cahya giggled.
Soul's right eye seemed to glow faintly as Soul started to stare at her.
Suddenly, a soft gold-colored aura started to rise off of her body.
"Huh…?" Soul mumbled as he looked down at his own hands to see a black and gold aura rising off of his own body.
"No… I've looked through this eye before, this never happened…" Soul thought, "Gramps said that it was an ability lost to time…" he thought.
"You really are amazing, Soul…" Cahya smiled, "Soul-Reading, the ability that the Messorem family lost to time… you've awakened to it." She explained.
Soul remembered being told about this ability when he was a child. Soul-Reading was an ability granted by the Blade-Messiah Ritual, however, it suddenly stopped appearing in the family before Soul's great grandparents were even born.
"It allows the user to read a person's soul…" Soul muttered, "seeing the individual's aura and being able to know things about the person just by seeing what their aura is like…" he said breathlessly.
"But how…" Soul muttered.
"You were chosen by the Blade-Messiah Dragon itself," Cahya smiled, "you must be a little more special than you think!" She said cheerfully.
Soul blinked as he stared at Cahya's "aura". It was small and gentle with a beautiful golden glow… but it was incredibly small and weak.
He looked to the right, where a mirror hung on the wall. Soul saw his own aura, which was a mixture of gold, black, and red. Black and red colors seemed to almost completely overtake the gold color, which was reduced to being a small background color. His aura flared like fire occasionally before immediately dying down, and occasionally turning spiky before returning to normal just as quickly.
Soul turned to look at Syrup, who's aura was bigger than both his and Cahya's combined. It took on a bright-green color and surrounded Syrup gently, but also made it hard to see Syrup from within.
"That ability only works on entities with souls," Cahya grabbed his attention again, "If I was just an illusion or a memory, I wouldn't have what you're seeing…"
Soul slowly raised his hands to brush against Cahya's face.
Her skin was soft, though a little cold, and felt real.
He could feel her aura brushing against his skin, and his eyes widened as he felt the small warmth emanating off of it.
"You could never use this ability before because you never really opened your eyes…" Cahya smiled, "though they might have been open literally, they were spiritually closed… until you opened them to look at me."
Soul's hands trembled, and he suddenly felt something warm and wet running down his face.
He brought his hands up to wipe his face, looking confused as he looked at his sleeve, which was now wet.
"Ah…" Soul muttered, "am I crying…?" He asked as he turned to the mirror on the wall.
He hadn't even completely noticed it until he saw his reflection.
Tears ran down his cheeks, and he quickly tried to wipe them away.
But they kept coming, not stopping even once.
"I… I'm not… this isn't…!" Soul gasped as his voice cracked and rose, "I… you're… you're real… you're really her…" he gasped.
"I've always been here, ever since that day…" she smiled, "I'm happy that you finally noticed me…!" She smiled as tears started to fall down her own cheeks.
"Don't you… don't you hate me…?" Soul choked out.
"Geez, such a stupid big brother…" Cahya smiled as she wrapped her arms around him, embracing him, "of course not… I could never hate someone as kind as you…" she said in a comforting tone.
"I'm… not kind…" Soul choked out.
"Sorry, you can't hide anything from your little sister…" Cahya said as she squeezed him, "I can completely see through you… even those facades that you put up…"
"Ah… ahh…!" Soul's voice cracked and moaned as his arms shakily wrapped around the small girl, "Ahhh…! AHHH…!" His voice started to rise.
"It will always surprise me when I see you let your emotions out and break character…" Syrup thought as she stared at Soul, who now embraced and held the small girl with all of his strength, "but it's a nice surprise, that's for sure!" She thought as she smiled in relief.
"How…?" Soul spoke up after his emotions finally started to calm down.
"It was a miracle," said Cahya, "it's a long story, so we should find a place to sit, right?" She said with a smile.
"It's a… long story…?" Soul inquired.
"It's about how I did the impossible and stayed in this world, with you as the anchor," Cahya said as she helped Soul to his feet, "It was a mix of special conditions that were all coincidentally fulfilled at the time of my death, so let's sit down, shall we?" She said cheerfully.
"I can't believe I'm saying this… but thank god Yuri's off his rocker right now…" Yuto muttered.
Yuri was now the crutch that the brothers were leaning on to keep fighting, as Yugo was no longer faster than Blade-Messiah.
Why? Well, because Yuri had let his inner sociopath and psychopath take over again.
Well, well well! It seems that you're actually a slight challenge!" Yuri (Greedy Venom) taunted as his and Blade-Messiah's hands latched together, both of them grappling for control. "Be happy! Be joyous! Celebrate! For now you may die after receiving a compliment from somebody as powerful as me!" Yuri gloated.
Despite Blade-Messiah's now-overwhelming speed, Yuri (Greedy Venom) had copied its ability to spawn and use swords earlier. Though he couldn't control them as precisely as Blade-Messiah, it still gave him a significant edge while fighting one-on-one.
Blade-Messiah tried to attack from a distance, only for Yuri to cackle maniacally as he let loose a torrent of beams to chase him.
"Venomous Swamp!" Yuri (Greedy Venom) roared as he slammed his hand on the ground, causing the ground to change to a purple liquid that started to spread before shooting streams of this liquid at Blade-Messiah.
Blade-Messiah brought up more blades to block this liquid, only to immediately dodge as the liquid melted through the swords.
Blade-Messiah immediately roared and charged at Yuri (Greedy Venom), darting around the purple dragon and attacking ruthlessly.
Yuri (Greedy Venom), however, had swords hovering around his blind spots to block attacks and counterattack immediately, so every attack Blade-Messiah sent at Yuri would end up being blocked, leaving the monster to immediately retreat to avoid being hit by either a laser, a stab from Yuri's (Greedy Venom's) tail, a chomp from one of Yuri's wings, or one of the blades Yuri had spawned.
Yuri was normally not capable of this, but after allowing his inner sociopath/psychopath run free, his strength would increase quite a lot.
Yuri had described it in the past as "taking off some heavy weights that I've put on my arms and legs" when he willingly allows himself to go nuts.
But Blade-Messiah was still learning, and it would only be a matter of time before Yuri would somehow be overwhelmed.
Yuri (Greedy Venom) roared as he swung his tail, extending it and chasing after Blade-Messiah as the monster flew away from him.
His tail struck true, and Blade-Messiah's sword was knocked out of its hand.
"Now, die you fool who doesn't know his place!" Yuri (Greedy Venom) roared as he let loose another volley of lasers.
Suddenly, as though the world had suddenly gone into slow motion, the enraged Blade-Messiah… calmly moved and weaved around the volley of beams, whether it had bent over, flipped, or spun on the floor using its hands (similar to breakdancing), it had dodged everything.
"What the hell…? Ha! Interesting! Let's see just how far fancy footwork will get you!" Yuri (Greedy Venom) roared as he let loose another volley.
Blade-Messiah jumped and spun through the air, sliding and weaving through the beams before appearing in front of Yuri before he had even realized how fast Blade-Messiah was approaching.
Yuri (Greedy Venom) immediately reacted as Blade-Messiah spun midair and brought a foot down, quickly bringing his arms up and blocking the axe kick.
The ground cracked underneath Yuri as he roared and repelled Blade-Messiah, firing again as the monster dodged and flew away.
"Heh, I thought this guy was enraged! That looked pretty human to me!" Yuri laughed.
Yuto and Yugo now rested on the ground, all of Blade-Messiah's attention focused on Yuri, giving the other two time to recover.
"Soul's incredible… just how many skills has he not told us about…?" Yuto (Dark Requiem) muttered.
"What do you… mean…?" Yugo (Crystal Wing) wheezed.
"Those movements… I recognize them from somewhere," Yuto explained, "I can't remember exactly… but that was a type of martial arts…"
"Martial… hey, I thought he was berserk? Doesn't that mean he'd be too mindless to do something like that?" Yugo asked.
"It must be something Soul can do instinctively…" Yuto replied, "he may have lost his mind, but his skills as a warrior remain…"
"Damn it… how the hell is he not done yet…?" Yugo cursed, "Look at all the injuries that thing!" He exclaimed.
It was true. Blade-Messiah was heavily damaged, especially around its chest area, but it fought as though the damage wasn't there.
"That's probably the enraged part… the damage and pain is probably being completely ignored, as though it isn't there," Yuto explained, "It's like an adrenaline rush, probably… if Soul were to regain control over his mind, he'd probably fall over immediately."
"Damn it… how much longer do we have to deal with this monster…!" Yugo grumbled.
"If it gets too dangerous… it'll be bad for Soul since he'll still be enraged, but we'll have to prioritize the crystal," Yuto said reluctantly, "If we end the match, the pro's will join if Soul is still fighting… they'd be able to subdue him."
"But then… everyone would know that Soul is out of control…" Yugo muttered.
The crowd was assuming that Soul was still in control. Going berserk had never even crossed their minds as a possibility.
But if the match ended and Soul continued to attack? If he continued to be a beast even as the pro's subdue him?
This was why Syrup was leaving it up to them. It looked like just a regular—though incredibly explosive and intense—match to everyone else.
Yuto was snapped out of his thoughts as Blade-Messiah suddenly roared.
It charged at Yuri (Greedy Venom) and sliced one of Yuri's swords clean in half before proceeding to finally land a powerful hit on Yuri.
Yuri (Greedy Venom) gasped for breath, "Ack… hey, you're pretty interesting…!" Yuri growled as a wide grin stretched across his face, completely disregarding the danger he was in.
"Shit, Yugo…!" Yuto (Dark Requiem) cursed as he started to get to his feet.
But Yuto felt a pang of pain in his chest, adding to the burning sensation already in his chest ever since Soul first transformed.
"Agh… damn, have I still not rested enough…?" Yuto growled.
Suddenly, a stream of flames blew past him, continuing on the hit Blade-Messiah.
The monster roared in annoyance before deflecting the flames, immediately glaring in Yuto and Yugo's direction… but not paying attention to them.
Its attention was focused on the red dragon that stood behind them.
"Yuya…!" Yugo gasped.
Earlier…
It was dark, and Yuya was floating among this dark void.
Suddenly, he felt himself land gently on the familiar watery surface that he hadn't seen in so long.
The darkness vanished, and Yuya was in the endless expanse of sky and water.
"Eh… why am I here again…?" Yuya muttered.
His eyes snapped open, "Ah! I was fighting Soul…!"
Yuya immediately jumped to his feet, looking around in a panic, "I need to get back… everyone else is probably fighting on their own right now…!" He said out loud.
Except… where was the exit?
Suddenly, he heard a soft roar, as if it was far away, from below him.
Yuya looked down, his eyes widening as a dark shadow flew beneath him, swimming through the water below.
The large shadow was followed by a few more shadows of similar size, which were followed further by smaller shadows.
All of these figures that Yuya couldn't make out properly, all of them started to converge, swirling around in the water in front of Yuya like a school of fish.
The water started to bubble as a circle of red light started to form in the center of the vortex, slowly growing bigger, and the bubbles doing the same.
The water started to rise, before bursting with an explosion of red light.
It was blinding, Yuya immediately covered his eyes as red light filled the area.
The light finally started to die down, and Yuya slowly opened his eyes.
His eyes widened in surprise as countless figures, countless silhouettes, stood around him in a circle.
Some silhouettes were human-shaped, some were shaped like animals or objects (machines, perhaps?), and the largest silhouettes…
Yuya immediately knew what all of these figures were.
"You all… since when have you all been with me…?" Yuya asked.
He received no answer, and instead each silhouette glowed before turning into small orbs of light that flew forward and dispersing into Yuya's chest.
The landscape started to glow as Yuya fell backwards, his crimson eyes wide as his vision filled with white.
Then, he woke up.
"How much of that day do you remember, Soul?" Cahya asked.
"All of it… I can't forget any of it…" Soul muttered.
Soul sat on the bed next to Syrup, while Cahya sat on top of the table in the middle of the room.
"Really? Describe what happened after you transformed"
Soul looked up at her in confusion, but closed his eyes and recalled the event nonetheless.
"I… I transformed, and I started to lose control," Soul explained, "I heard Gramps say that I had summoned the actual Blade-Messiah Dragon, and then I lost control…"
Cahya cut him off.
"Describe what that felt like, what you saw"
"What I… what does that have to do with anything?" Soul grumbled, "I… my body felt hot, and I saw red…"
Cahya interrupted him again, "You saw red, huh?" She said in a matter-of-factly tone, "Tell me, what does that mean?" She asked.
"What do you think it means? I ended up in an uncontrollable fit of rage because I had gone berserk—" Soul suddenly stopped.
"Rage? Are you sure?" Cahya asked.
"I… what?" Soul put his hand on his forehead, "I wasn't… I don't remember feeling angry at that stage yet… I was panicking, I was scared…" he muttered.
"Let me guess what happens next in your memory," Cahya sighed, "everything goes red, and when it goes away, everything's destroyed and I'm dying… am I right?" She asked.
"That's right… but why is that important?" Soul asked.
The small girl smiled, but her eyes gave her a melancholy expression. "You've assumed that during that flash of 'red' you lose control and destroy everything, including me," Cahya said as Soul stared at her, "but you don't actually know what you did, do you?"
"I mean… it was fairly obvious…"
"From your point of view, maybe." Cahya said as she jumped off of the table and walked over to him, "But not from mine…"
Soul remained silent as Cahya reached up, standing on her tiptoes to place her palm on his forehead.
Suddenly, he was at that day again.
Soul saw himself, struggling to keep control.
He also saw Cahya, running at him in a panic.
"Soul!" Cahya yelled as she stumbled past broken pieces of rock and wood.
Beams of light flashed in every direction, but by some miracle, Cahya wasn't being hit.
The room was collapsing, and everybody had already been forced to flee, unless they wanted to be crushed.
Except Cahya.
"Soul! It's okay! I'm coming!" She shouted as she hoisted herself up onto the platform.
"Huh? When did she say that?" Soul thought as he stared at his past self.
A loud roar, and suddenly, his own younger voice.
"Stay… stay back…!" Young-Soul roared as the massive light around him started to grow smaller, "I… I'm fine! So get down…!"
"I never said that…" Soul thought.
The figure of the large bipedal dragon started to quiet down, it's chest heaving as the beams of light started to dissipate.
"That never happened…" Soul continued to think.
"Cahya's there…!" Young-Soul grunted as the light started to slowly grow smaller, "I can't… let her get hurt…!"
Soul stared in disbelief as the mostly-transparent, glowing silhouette of Blade-Messiah stopped rampaging, kneeling down on the ground behind Young-Soul.
"No… I never had control…" Soul continued to deny this vision.
Young-Soul gasped for breath as his muscles relaxed, slowly falling to the side.
Suddenly, he was tackled by Cahya.
"You dummy! You scared me!" Cahya cried, "Don't do that again! Don't you EVER do that again!" She screamed into his chest.
"Ah…" Young-Soul muttered as Cahya squeezed him, "sorry sis…" he said weakly, though the corner of his mouth twisted up into a small smile.
A smile of relief.
"What's going on… no, this isn't what happened… it can't have happened…"
"It is, though."
Soul turned around to see another Cahya standing next to him.
Considering that there was one Cahya with Young-Soul, it was clear that this was the one he was just talking to.
"But… if this happened, then how did you die?!" Soul shouted, "I know how you died! I saw it myself!"
"That's true, I did in fact die when one of your swords ran me through…" Cahya mumbled.
"Then…!" Soul exclaimed.
Emotions were rushing through Soul's brain like a storm.
He was confused, he was angry.
"Keep watching… this is what really happened."
Soul stared at her before turning his head back toward his past self.
"Well… most impressive, but I think I need to see a little more, no?"
Soul, Young-Soul, and Past-Cahya each whipped around to where an unknown voice had come from.
They looked up, where the roof had been destroyed, to see a shadowy figure of a man standing and watching them.
"The sun's in my eye…" Soul thought as he ran towards the podium that his younger self stood on, immediately getting a better look at the man.
The sun was behind the man, he could hardly make out his features.
He could only see a purple suit, a smug smile, and the shape of his hair.
But Soul almost recognized it.
"Who the hell…?" Soul muttered.
"Well, It's a good thing I stole some of those bugs that he was making before I left…" the man stated calmly, "though I only have one left, I suppose this is a good enough reason to use them."
The man flicked something at Young-Soul.
"A-Agh…!"
Soul looked down to see his younger self, suddenly clutching his head in pain.
"Soul? Soul!" Cahya exclaimed.
"Ack… what the—my head…!" Young-Soul grunted in pain.
Soul's eyes widened as the light from earlier started to appear again.
"Now then, I should get some distance… I wouldn't want to be too close to that…"
The man vanished before Soul could get another look.
"Who… who was that…!? What did he do!?" Soul shouted.
He saw Cahya (the real one) nearby, shaking her head.
Soul's eyes continued to widen as he saw Young-Soul stand up, his eyes blank.
Then, an explosion.
"After that… you rampaged for thirty minutes." Cahya's voice echoed in Soul's head. "We don't have that time, so…"
Soul's vision cleared up, and Past-Cahya was pushing past some rubble while ducking behind any kind of cover in an attempt to avoid the blades that now flew through the area, destroying everything.
"Soul! Please! You can control this!" Cahya shouted as she dashed out from behind the meager cover provided by a fallen beam of wood, and dashed at Soul.
"No… stop! Stop the vision! Stop!" Soul shouted.
Just as Cahya reached the podium and reached for Soul, the world froze.
"I paused it." Cahya sighed.
Past-Cahya's arms were outstretched as she jumped at Young-Soul.
Behind her, however, was the blade that was going to pierce her.
Soul fell to his knees, gasping for breath.
"Sorry, I guess I should've figured that you wouldn't want to see that…" Cahya said apologetically, a sad look in her eyes.
Soul said nothing.
"But you understand now, right?"
Soul turned to look at her.
She stared back at him, a firm look replacing the sadness in her eyes.
"That 'red' you saw… I don't know what happened to you, but that moment is when your memory seems to be cut off." Cahya explained, "You don't remember what happened properly… because your memory may as well be a video that had a portion of it clipped out."
"But how…?"
"I don't know," Cahya replied, "but I needed you to know that my death… it wasn't you…"
The world around them vanished, and Soul was back inside the cabin.
His face was blank.
He looked at Syrup, who looked back at him with a sad look on her face. Had she seen it as well?
He looked at his little sister, and stared for a moment.
His mind flashed to the unknown man in the memory.
It was all coming back to him now… his own memory of the incident.
He no longer remembered seeing red, he remembered everything from his own perspective.
In a way, his mind "short-circuited" for a moment.
He laughed, a quick chuckle and then a 1-second burst of laughter.
Then, as though his mind just realized that the response to despair wasn't laughter, he felt warm tears running down his face again.
And just as quickly as before, that emotion shifted to anger, and he suddenly turned and swung his fist at the wall.
A loud crunching noise filled the room.
Soul's breathing was heavy and haphazard, and half of his arm was now stuck through the wooden wall of the cottage.
His breath was shaky, his eyes were wide, and his mind still couldn't decide what emotion to feel.
A wide smile, tears at the corner of his eyes, and his eyebrows furrowed together as rage filled the look in his eyes.
Everything he had thought, everything he thought he knew.
A lifetime of self-blame and self-loathing.
"God… I'm going fucking insane…!" Soul gasped as he yanked his arm from the wall, his entire body trembling.
He suddenly felt two hands grasp his right hand, and small arms wrapping around him from behind.
Syrup had gotten up and grabbed his hand, while Cahya had run forward and embraced him.
"It hurts to see you like that…" Syrup said, softly caressing his hand.
"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you sooner, brother…!" Cahya sighed, squeezing him while holding back any tears.
Soul paused, his mind finally calming down and allowing him to take deep breaths of air.
Soul's legs gave out, and he slid to the ground as the two girls sat next to him.
"What do you mean… by telling me sooner?" He asked, still holding his head and breathing hard.
"Soul… I've been with you ever since I died."
Blade-Messiah glared at Yuya (Odd-Eyes), blades appearing behind the dragon and pointing straight at Yuya.
Yuri had calmed down a bit, but was still eagerly ready to go apeshit again.
"Since I have the opportunity now, if I die, I want Yugo to put me in my grave…" Yuri growled.
"Why? So I can 'let you down one last time'?" Yugo groaned.
"No. I want you to put me in my grave so that when I come back to life and burst out of my coffin, you're the closest and easiest to punch."
"I want you to know that you can go fuck yourself."
"You guys are choosing NOW of all times to argue!? God I hate you guys…" Yuto hissed.
"You hear that? He loves us!" Yuri taunted.
"I swear to god, I'm going to strangle you later…"
"I dare you to try."
The argument was interrupted by a roar from Blade-Messiah, right before it took off and charged at Yuya.
"Yuya!" Yuto yelled.
An explosion of red light and a new roar shot out of Yuya, and Blade-Messiah had suddenly retreated back to its original position.
The dust cleared, and instead of Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon standing where Yuya was, there was a different dragon.
It was identical to Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, but it was clad in shining white armor from head to toe, and instead of the usual horns on its back, it had four large swords.
"Odd-Eyes… Saber Dragon!" Yuya (Odd-Eyes Saber) roared.
"Another Odd-Eyes…?" Yuto said breathlessly.
Blade-Messiah roared and swung its arm, sending a storm of blades at Yuya.
"Spiral Saber Strike!" Yuya (Odd-Eyes Saber) roared as the blades on its back detached from Yuya, hovering at his sides as greenish-yellow energy formed in front of Yuya's mouth.
The blades glowed and flew forward as Yuya (Odd-Eyes Saber) let loose a spiraling stream of energy at Blade-Messiah. The blades blew past Blade-Messiah's swords, ramming into the dragon and exploding upon contact while the stream of energy followed closely behind, striking true as well.
Blade-Messiah growled angrily as it sent another volley at Yuya, however it was double the size of the first one.
Another burst of red light, and a yellow barrier suddenly appeared around Yuya and the crystal.
The blades clashed against the barrier, only to bounce off or shatter upon impact.
"Odd-Eyes Lancer Dragon…!"
"Huh? Another one!?" Yugo exclaimed.
The new Odd-Eyes was, like before, identical to the Pendulum version. However this one was armed with grey and gold armor inscribed with runes, and it's horns had transformed, and now shot orange energy out from under them, creating large wings. It was also armed with multiple sharp edges, and the barrier it had formed was completely unscratched.
Blade-Messiah roared in frustration as it let loose a stream of dark energy at Yuya (Odd-Eyes Lancer), but the barrier remained up and clashed with the beam of energy.
The ground shook, but Yuya stood strong, completely withstanding the attack with his barrier.
"Is it defense-focused…? It must be…" Yuto muttered.
"Now it's my turn!" Yuya (Odd-Eyes Lancer) roared as another burst of red light enveloped him.
Another new dragon appeared, looking like Odd-Eyes as usual, but different in the way that this time, it was bipedal and stood on two legs.
It's scales were a darker shade of red, almost purple, as well as a deep dark-gray color. Its arms were considerably longer, and it's horns had turned dark-gray as well, forming into what looked like magic staffs. On top of that, the horns on his head had transformed to resemble that of a wizard hat.
"Odd-Eyes Wizard Dragon!" Yuya roared as two magic circles, one red and one green, appeared in his hands.
"Another one, and it's a wizard…?" Yuto muttered.
Yuya (Odd-Eyes Wizard) raised the hand with the red magic circle, and all of the orbs on his body started to glow.
"Take this! Spiral Flame Strike!" Yuya (Odd-Eyes Wizard) roared as his signature attack burst out of the red magic circle, streaming towards Blade-Messiah.
The monster immediately made a shield and blocked the attack, unaware of Yuya's plan.
As the monster blocked the first stream of flames, another red magic circle appeared behind it.
"Spiral Flame Strike!"
The flames burst from the magic circle, hitting Blade-Messiah from behind and disrupting its block against the first attack, causing both streams of flames to hit the dragon, causing an explosion of flames to erupt around it.
"It worked… with Odd-Eyes Wizard Dragon, I can use Spiral Flame Strike from anywhere, not just from myself." Yuya said out loud, "Though it seems that I can't use Reaction Force if I use it with Wizard…"
A flash of light appeared as Blade-Messiah shot out of the clouds of smoke, charging at Yuya.
"Lancer Dragon!"
Yuya transformed back into Lancer Dragon, immediately putting up a barrier that blocked Blade-Messiah's attack.
"Saber Dragon!"
Another transformation, and a beam of light shot out as the barrier went down, blasting Blade-Messiah away.
"Wizard Dragon!"
Multiple red magic circles appeared around the monster as Yuya changed forms again.
An explosion as multiple Spiral Flame Strikes went off and struck the beast, a mushroom cloud of smoke rising into the sky as the armor-clad dragon flew into the sky.
The dragon reached a high altitude before throwing two swords at Yuya, the blades spinning as they flew through the air.
"Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon! Odd-Eyes Mirage Dragon!"
Blue pillars of light erupted from the ground, and two smaller Odd-Eyes monsters appeared.
One was purplish-red, and the other was green-colored. Both dragons roared as they flew at the swords that Blade-Messiah had thrown, intercepting and knocking the blades out of the sky.
"New pendulum spirits? Yuya, where did this come from…?" Yuto (Dark Requiem) mumbled.
Meanwhile, Kachidoki was grinning proudly.
"Did you know about this?" Serena asked.
Kachidoki chuckled, crossing his arms with a look of approval. "Of course. Yuya grows at an exponentially high rate… I'd be more surprised if he didn't unlock any new abilities by now."
Yuzu, meanwhile, was now leaning limply against the railing.
"Hah… thank god he's alright…" she sighed, "I swear, he's getting a paper-fan up the back of his head later! I'll teach him to worry me like that…" she growled under her breath.
"What are you, his mom?" Ruri jabbed playfully.
"Wha—N-NO!" Yuzu yelled in surprise.
"You sure? You sure worry about him like a mother…"
"Stop it!"
"It would be really weird if she was his biological mother from the past or something…" Serena chimed unhelpfully.
"Serena!" Yuzu whined.
Changing points of view: Yuya
I tried my best not to show it, but my body was screaming at me.
It must be because of my current actions. I'm switching between forms rapidly depending on the situation, and with forms that I've just discovered as well.
It places a strain. It feels like I'm trying to support something much too heavy for me to handle. My arms are aching and my lungs are burning.
Looking back, there was a similar sensation back when I first transformed into Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon. But back then, I was pumped so full of adrenaline that I hardly noticed it.
I never mentioned it to anybody, not even my brothers, or even Yuzu for that matter. Why should I? I shouldn't bother them with things like this, and it wasn't anything I was unable to handle.
Besides, how can I make people smile if I'm hunched over in pain? People frown with concern if they see someone like that, and my goal isn't to make them frown, it's to make them smile.
There's nothing wrong with making other people smile. So long as they're smiling, I can smile as well…
"Performapal Uni! Performapal Corn!"
I release the two pendulum spirits I had out earlier in order to summon two more new additions to my roster. Twin girls with a unicorn aesthetic and fairly large…
I blush for a moment, embarrassed by the appearance of these girls. Knowing Yuzu, she'll probably get angry at me later for bringing them out.
But I had a reason for it. Soul… no, Blade-Messiah was charging at me.
It's fast, faster than before. I could see why everyone else was having trouble with it.
But in response to Blade-Messiah's charge, Uni and Corn both fly forward and place their hands together, forming a large pink barrier that repels the terrifying monster.
The dragon glared at me. It's red eyes staring into mine as if to threaten me.
I'm terrified. I'll admit it.
But that doesn't mean I'll stop.
I immediately run forward and clench the glowing card in my hand again.
"Odd-Eyes Saber Dragon!"
I grow larger as I fly at Blade-Messiah. I ignore the pounding of my heart and grab the other dragon's face and slam it into the ground, dragging him through the ground as I fly forward.
I fly forward, ignoring my fatigue.
My brothers are hurt and need to rest. I will buy them that time, no matter what.
Back to the regular point of view…
Yuya tore into Blade-Messiah dragon, slamming the beast against the opposite wall and providing his brothers the opportunity to rest.
But something felt off to Yuzu.
Why did she feel so concerned? Yuya just revealed that he was fine, so why…
Why are her hands trembling?
An explosion shook the stadium again as Yuya was blasted high into the air, with Blade-Messiah closing in on him at an alarming rate.
"Guh…! Lancer Dragon…!"
A flash of red light, and Odd-Eyes Lancer Dragon appeared to strike back and clash against the dragon of swords.
Suddenly, Blade-Messiah moved in an incredible way, suddenly releasing its hold on the blades in its hand and spinning around Yuya before locking it's legs around his neck.
"Ah…!" Yuzu started to say.
"Agh…!" Yuya grunted.
Blade-Messiah roared as he spun around and threw Yuya (Lancer Dragon) to the ground, causing a massive cloud of dust to erupt from the impact.
Immediately, flames burst out of the cloud of dust.
"Wizard Dragon…!"
Countless pillars of flame erupted from around Yuya. Blade-Messiah immediately retreated and weaved around the flames before closing back in on Yuya.
"Saber Dragon…!"
A flash of light as black light clashed against white light.
Both dragons flew into the air, clashing again and again as Yuya clenched his teeth in order to keep moving.
"Raaaagh!"
Yuya roared as he slammed into Blade-Messiah, sending the beast down towards the ground.
"Agh…!" Yuya suddenly winced in pain, glancing at a gash in his side.
"When did I…?" Yuya muttered.
Blade-Messiah was suddenly next to him again, and Yuya barely managed to guard himself before being struck square in his back by a powerful kick.
"Gah… he's so fast…!" Yuya gasped as he tried to recover the breath that had been knocked out of him.
Blade-Messiah was behind him again before he knew it.
"Lancer…!"
Yuya transformed into Lancer Dragon instinctively, protecting himself from what felt like ten strikes in rapid succession.
"Why you…!" He yelled.
Blade-Messiah was faster by far, but despite being slower by a vast margin, Yuya kept swinging around and striking back whenever the rampaging dragon got close.
"Performapal Handsamuraiger!" Yuya yelled as he saw the mass of black light fly at him from the front.
A new Pendulum Spirit appeared, this one with the form of a tall man with long black hair, wearing red japanese-style armor, a white and yellow cape with a star on the back, and wielding a long katana.
The spirit let out a battle cry as it flew forward and clashed blades with Blade-Messiah. The sound of metal rapidly striking metal filled the air for five full seconds before Handsamuraiger's blade shattered, and the warrior was swatted out of the air.
"Tch…!" Yuya clicked his tongue as the spirit vanished, but he had bought Yuya five seconds, and that was more than he needed.
"Wizard Dragon!" Yuya yelled.
The transformation completed in a flash of red light, and countless red magic circles appeared immediately, surrounding Blade-Messiah.
"Multi-Spiral Flame Strike!" Yuya declared as flames burst out of the magic circle, filling the area with light as flames roared in the sky.
"Did he do it?" Yugo asked.
"No… YUYA!" Yuto started to yell.
"Ack…!" Yuya gasped as Blade-Messiah suddenly burst out of the flames, sword raised and ready to strike.
"Quit hogging the spotlight!"
Yuya suddenly felt something collide with him from the side, knocking him away.
The cause of this was Yuri (Greedy Venom), who had flown up and knocked Yuya away from the rampaging monster's range.
Yuri's (Greedy Venom's) hands flew forward and caught the blade, not caring about the flesh that the blade was starting to slice through.
"Yuri…!" Yuya gasped.
"You're my prey…!" Yuri said with a wide grin, "I may have calmed down a bit… but you're just a mindless beast! You're right where I want you…!"
Yuri's (Greedy Venom's) wings extended out and snapped to Blade-Messiah's arms while two more mouths extended out from behind Yuri to latch onto the dragon's legs.
Blade-Messiah let out a frustrated roar as black light formed in its mouth, immediately firing it at Yuri.
Despite the close-ranged blast, Yuri kept his grip on the roaring monster as tight as ever.
As he did this, Yuri's (Greedy Venom's) chest opened up to reveal the area where his strongest laser fired out of.
"I'll kill you…!" Yuri roared as overflowing green light formed at his chest before firing and blasting the rampaging dragon at point-blank range.
The beam blasted through Blade-Messiah, continuing towards the ground where it hit the ground and caused a massive explosion at the point of impact.
Suddenly, however, Blade-Messiah's hand burst out of the green light and latched onto Yuri's face as he continued to fire the beam of light.
"Ack…!" Yuri gasped.
The beam suddenly stopped, and Blade-Messiah had moved forward and latched onto Yuri, placing him in a headlock using both its arms and legs to squeeze Yuri's neck.
"Gah… what the—I thought you were rampaging…!" Yuri gasped as it became harder to breathe.
"YURI!" Yugo yelled.
Yugo (Crystal Wing) blasted forward in an attempt to ram Blade-Messiah.
"No, you idiot…!" Yuri started to gasp.
In an instant, Blade-Messiah shifted its position into a position where he could throw Yuri, and proceeded to do just that at Yugo.
"AGH!" Yugo yelled as Yuri slammed into him, knocking both of them to the ground.
"Why you…!" Yuto (Dark Requiem) yelled as he charged forward as well.
Suddenly, Blade-Messiah took an unfamiliar stance as it turned to face Yuto.
"Wha…!"
With movements Yuto hadn't seen before, he was suddenly and effortlessly grabbed and thrown behind him in a magnificent display of what Yuto assumed to be martial arts.
It was like Yuto had just gone through the dragon, as if it wasn't even there.
"Damn…!" Yuto cursed as he turned around and tried to swing his tail at the beast.
Again, it was like the dragon wasn't even there.
Blade-Messiah effortlessly weaved around Yuto's tail and moved forward.
And then, Yuto felt something crunch inside of him as a fist dug deep into his stomach.
"Gah…!?"
Blade-Messiah had swords… but it hadn't even used them at that moment. It had simply closed the distance between it and Yuto in an instant, and proceeded to strike Yuto in every place where it hurt the most, before dealing a powerful blow to his stomach.
"This is… impossible… you can't move like this if you're not thinking…!" Yuto choked for air.
But when he looked into the dragon's eyes, for a moment, he saw calmness.
"Is… is he regaining some of his lost sanity…?" Yuto thought, "No… that still isn't Soul, but he's calming down…"
A kick to the side of Yuto's head, and he suddenly felt himself crash into the ground below him.
"Agh… whatever Syrup's doing, it's working…" Yuto gasped as he struggled to his feet, "but it's making him that much more of a fearsome opponent…!"
"Take this…!"
Yuto looked up to see Yuya transform into Odd-Eyes Saber Dragon before slamming his tail down on Blade-Messiah, slamming the dragon to the ground before landing himself.
Blade-Messiah immediately recovered and charged at Yuya with countless blades flying around itself.
Yuto thought Yuya would move to dodge… but instead, he charged forward without any hesitation.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" Yuya screamed as he ignored the blades clanging against the armor of Odd-Eyes Saber Dragon, immediately ramming his head into Blade-Messiah with full force.
Blade-Messiah retreated a few meters, growling at Yuya as steam seemed to come out of its open mouth.
"This is it… I'll use my trump card…" Yuya thought to himself, "This situation is good… if I charge at him at full speed with Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon, he'll have to take me head-on… and Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon won't lose in that kind of competition!"
"Come at me! Soul!" Yuya yelled as he shone with blue and green light, purple electricity already starting to crackle around him.
"GRO $%^!()*^%!"
The roar that Blade-Messiah let loose in response was distorted, as though it was a mixture of many different voices and roars all at once.
"Dragon of dual-colored eyes. Unleash your black scale of wrath!" Yuya yelled as he ran forward, glowing blue and green.
Blade-Messiah suddenly drew a different sword, different from all of the others.
It glowed with yellow, holy light… but that light slowly turned black to match the rest of the dragon's body, and it flared up with that black light intensely.
Yuya could feel the wind start to whirl around Blade-Messiah, as though the blade was causing a storm with itself at the center.
"Envelope my will! Dragon with eyes of rage, Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon!" Yuya yelled as purple electricity flared violently around his transforming body, the light dispersing to reveal the massive black dragon.
The two black dragons appeared and roared at each other, electricity forming at the fang on Yuya's (Rebellion's) right fist.
"If I hold back on the first two attacks, I'll be able to unleash the third one at full power…!" Yuya muttered as he charged forward with his fist raised.
Yuya flew forward and swung his fist at Blade-Messiah. As he did this, Blade-Messiah's sword flared with even more black light as it swung the blade at Yuya.
Yuya's fist clashed with Blade-Messiah's sword, and purple lightning clashed against black light, competing for supremacy.
They clashed for ten seconds before they were both blasted and repelled away from each other.
Yuya immediately transferred the energy from the last attack to his left fist, and the fang on that fist flared with electricity.
"The second…!" He yelled as he charged forward and swung again.
Blade-Messiah immediately recovered and swung it's blade again, repelling Yuya's second attack just like the first, but this time knocking him a fair distance back.
"Then the last one will…!" Yuya declared as the electricity transferred to the dual-fangs at his jaw, his wings opening up and flaring with purple electricity as well.
As he did this, Blade-Messiah raised its blade above its head…
Yuya charged forward, slamming his fangs into the ground as he blasted toward Blade-Messiah.
The black light surrounding Blade-Messiah's sword started to flare up…
"Rebellious Wrath!" Yuya roared.
The blade suddenly flared violently with black light, and the blade became a sharp pillar of black light that extended high into the heavens.
Yuto's eyes widened. "Yuya, WAIT!" He yelled.
"STRIKE DISOBEY!"
The gigantic mass of purple electricity tore violently through the ground as it charged towards Blade-Messiah. But Blade-Messiah's mouth suddenly started moving.
"Swallow the sun… Blackout Punisher…!"
Blade-Messiah swung the blade down, bringing the pillar of black light down with it.
The overwhelming mass of black light came down on the mass of purple lightning, and the electricity flared up to meet it.
Yuya roared as he clashed against this blade of light, the ground cracking and turning to dust underneath him. "Gaa— GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
It burns.
It burns, it burns, it burns.
It burns it burns it burns it burns.
Itburnsitburnsitburnsitburnsitburnsitburns…!
"Ah— AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Yuya roared as he felt an unbearable burning sensation spread through him as he clashed against this light.
This is dangerous
I have to
I to run
have to run
I have run
I have to run
"Ahh… AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Yuya's screams, or yells, or roars… whatever they were, the crowd probably thought they were just Yuya trying to psyche himself up.
Yuzu, meanwhile, could feel herself getting more and more nervous by the second.
She had a bad feeling, a terrible feeling that sunk deep into the bottom of her stomach and made her feel nauseous.
"AAAAAAHHH! Ahh… AHHHHHHHH!" Yuya roared as he started to push back against the oppressive, black-colored light that was crashing down on him.
He couldn't run, he didn't have that choice.
He gathered up all of the courage he needed in order to press forward, and the electricity surrounding him started to grow in size.
Yuya raised his head, and he started to move forward and push back the pillar of black light.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
End
No bonus scene again, sorry.
Originally this was gonna go on for MUCH longer, but turns out "Much longer" is a bit absurd considering the length of this chapter alone.
Anyways, time for some shameless self-advertising:
I'm on tumblr now. Check me out, I guess? .com