CH.62 Paradise of the Hero

Floating outside of the paradise before them, the team gazes in awe as a gate appears before them. Mana explains to them "To enter Paradiso, I must open the gate from the outside. However, my brother is an exception to this rule. He can enter and exit at will, so can the others. But they choose to stay here."

Mana then opens a portal and asks "Shido, Origami, and Kurumi, would you like to see the inside of this paradise?"

Shido looks at Karen and Lucius and then asks "But what about them? Can't they come in too?"

Mana shakes her head and explains "Unfortunately no. Only my brother and his wives and children are the ones allowed to go into the paradise. I can't allow outsiders to see inside."

Shido second guesses going in until Kurumi holds onto his arm and says "Come on, let's go inside and see our little love nest, my darling Shido."

Origami punches a nearby wall and states "While an all spirit paradise makes my skin crawl, I can't allow Shido to go without me, and certainly not alone with you." She then clings to his other arm, much to his chagrin, and adds "So, I'll be extra close."

Shido sighs and simply goes with it as the three enter the portal while Lucius and Karen simply go back to analysis. Mana stays on the ship with them.

Paradiso

Shido, Kurumi, and Origami arrive in the center of a beautiful world full of plants of different colors, cherry blossoms float around and the buildings look like a combination of ancient Greek, modern buildings. Shido then notices two children, two boys specifically, one with red hair and the other with white dressed in simple children's clothing as they fight with wooden swords.

The one with white hair turns and sees Origami as his eyes light up and runs up to her. He hugs her leg and shouts "Mommy!" Origami can tell this child has powers similar to a Spirit because he has a light glow.

Normally, Origami would be repulsed by this, but she can't bring herself to dislike a child so innocent looking. Besides, he called her mommy, so this must mean he's a son of hers.

A voice then says "Rei, behave around our guests." The three look above and see this world's Origami as she descends. She is wearing a very simple outfit consisting of a white skirt, and top with a yellow hue making her resemble an angel. Her arrival causes the child to worry as he runs to his real mother after looking concerned.

Just like before, adult characters with be written in bold

Origami picks up her son and nuzzles him to comfort him while saying "We have to be nice to our guests, Rei. Go ahead and play with your brother while mommy shows these folks around." She puts him down and he runs back to play with his brother.

It's evident from her aura, that his woman is also a Spirit; something brings unease to her alternate self. Origami is very friendly when she introduces "Welcome to our home."

Origami let's go of Shido's arm and simply comments "Disgusting. How could I become a monster?"

Shido look's at Origami and replies "Hey, isn't that a bit too much?"

Looking back at Shido, Origami asks "Why shouldn't I feel that way? I mean, just look at who's holding your other arm like a parasite."

Kurumi grins at this and hugs Shido's arm a little tighter and purposely puts his arm between her breasts causing his face to turn slightly red. Clearly, Origami is referring to Kurumi's body count and her regard for people's lives.

Before anything can escalate, another voice appears when a new female voice interferes "Cease thy conflict. This paradise need not fires of war." A new woman appears that Shido has never met before, she has long braided blonde hair with amber eyes and she wears an outfit similar to Origami's but with a dark blue hue with lines like a constellation.

Origami sees her and replies "Oh, don't worry, Mukuro, it's just how I once was."

The Spirit named Mukuro scoffs it off and reminds her "Thou need not remind Muku of thy past. Just stay true to Shido's laws." She then flies off while Origami stays still.

Instead, Origami simply says "Don't mind Mukuro too much. She gets uptight when she's pregnant."

Shido almost has a heart attack when he nearly screams "She's pregnant!?"

Answering in her place, this world's Kotori, who is grown with longer hair and her ribbons, both white and black now tied to make one long tail as he hair reaches her legs "Yeah, we just found out about a week ago. So we've been taking it cool around her." True to form, she a lollipop in her mouth and her cool demeanor.

But, she approaches her brother and cutely says "I can't wait to show you around here, hubby." Normally, Shido would hear brother or big bro, so he's a bit blown back by being called hubby. But Kotori practically drags him off with Kurumi and Origami letting go of him without really thinking because of how quick it goes. The two girls now move to find him again.

Ship

Back on the ship, Mana sits while she monitors Lucius and Karen. They haven't spoken since Shido left with the girls. Not liking the silence, Mana asks "So why are you both here?"

Karen continues typing when she seriously answers "I was asked to help and when I heard DEM was involved, I had to join in. I won't let my sister, regardless of any universe, do whatever she wants with that Isaac."

But then Lucius nervously answers "Well… I have a reason, but I don't know if you want to hear it."

Hearing this, Mana raises her hand and tells Lucius "I don't like that you're hiding things from me. As a guardian, I can't let things like this go unchecked, so I demand you tell me your reason."

Lucius takes a deep breath, turns around in his seat and begins to explain "It begins with my mother. She was a wonderful woman, and she always knew how to make me smile. She was a powerful wizard, my mother. Until one day, a woman appeared with a cold stare. She challenged her to a duel, and lost. My mother took me for ice cream that day.

Mana laughs "Of course a child would remember that part."

Lucius also laughs a little and continues "A year later, the woman challenged her again, but my mother refused. Then, without a word, the woman stabbed her through the heart and she died there. I love my mother, so I challenged the woman myself…and failed."

Karen, now curious, turns and asks "Just how old were you?"

Lucius turns to her and answers "I was eleven years old. I joined her organization, DEM, to get stronger so that I could kill her murderer. I was planning on telling her that I'd kill her myself. Then I learned what DEM was up to, and what they did to my mother. I joined the SSS as a spy against DEM. Then I was approached by Origami, so I thought I could use this opportunity to become stronger.

Mana nods and tells him in a caring tone "But revenge won't make your mother come back. So why bother?"

Lucius turns back to his monitor and answers "I don't know…but I know I want this. I want that woman to pay for what she did."

Looking at her hands, Mana can only reply "Believe me, I know the feeling."

Curious, Karen looks at Mana and has to ask "What's it like living in another body for so long?"

Finding it an odd question, Mana replies "You know, it's hard to say. I've been inside this body for over a thousand years. To me, it's one hundred percent normal at this point…I don't even remember what having my old body is like anymore." Her face turns a little sad, but it seems she accepted this and did a long time ago.

Mana then senses something and calmly says "Someone else is coming here."

Karen turns on the monitor and sees another portal opening up with two figures emerging, one she recognizes as Jessica Bailey, her Mana Eater now covering her entire arm, shoulder, and part of her back with and a green wing of energy formed around the back of her arm and the other is someone Karen has definitely me, her sister Ellen and she also has her Mana Eater equipped in its cannon form.

Where they are, Ellen reminds Jessica "We're here to capture Shido Itsuka. Anything else is trivial, remember, Jessica."

Jessica looks irritated and rebukes "I know, and I'll do whatever it takes to complete my mission." Her body begins glowing a green aura as her Mana eater begins glowing as well as it absorbs the power she's emitting and the machine begins growing again as it wraps further around her back and coats her other arm as her energy wing disappears and two spines emerge and float behind her back with energy feathers resembling harpy wings. The whole process looks painful as Jessica is breathing heavily and states " I'm taking this very seriously, Ellen."

Ellen then glows red herself and seemingly doesn't feel pain as her Mana Eater absorbs her energy and the same result happens, but she doesn't sprout wings but instead her saber is replaced with a second red energy sword on her opposite arm and a dragon-like tail wraps around her torso like a serpent. For Ellen, it appears that she felt no pain from the process.

Ship

Lucius stands up and looks nervous "Oh, crap, Ellen's here. I can't take her yet…" He says nervously because he fears Ellen's power.

Mana powers up and her hair glows its pastel pink and she says "It's fine, I've got this in the bag." She then announces "Time to show off my angel…Let's do it, Seraphiel!" she announces as a light emerges from her body and a portal forms in the room. From the portal, a female form walks from the light, she's dressed in an identical dress to Mana, but her appearance resembles her original body. Only, her hair is white that fades into blue.

Lucius is shocked at this second body and wonders "Whoa, I haven't seen an angel like this."

Feeling a little cocky, Mana replies "My angel is so powerful, I can't contain it on my own. Seraphiel needed a body to contain it, and so Kurumi helped with this vessel."She approaches the vessel and puts her palm on its head and seemingly absorbs power from it while the two disappear.

Karen monitors the outside with the ship while Lucius feels inadequate at letting Ellen scare him. He runs towards the door while saying "Karen, I'll leave the ship to you."

He takes off his pants and reveals the remainder of his wiresuit that covers his legs he equips cybernetic boots and gloves as he prepares his Realizer, the powerful Nineve, and he prepares for combat.

Paradiso

The three, Shido, Kurumi, and Origami enter a giant building resembling a huge temple. Inside, they find multiple corridors filled with young people between infant and young teenage ages. The exterior appears archaic, but the interior couldn't look more futuristic with TVs, a massive kitchen, dining hall, a pool, and many bedrooms. While walking, they spot this world's Yoshino, very adult looking like in the other timeline, and she's working on a show for a group of children with Yoshinon to aid her. They also spot a green haired woman, another Shido hasn't seen, and she's sitting on a very comfortable couch and her stomach is swollen. She must be another one of his Wives in this time.

Origami and Kurumi hold onto Shido while gazing around this amazing place and Kotori guides them and that's when the group are brought to a large door at the end of this building. They are about to knock on the door when Kotori puts her ear to the door and she peers her face into the room and her face turns red and she runs into the room.

Confused, Shido wonders "Okay, what was that about?"

Kurumi and Origami listen carefully and Kurumi blushes with a smile "Oh my, I think I hear the moaning of an aroused woman." She lightly says.

Origami adds "And I hear Shido's voice through heavy breathing. He must be doing it someone."

Too much info, Shido thinks and can't process everything at once. He tries to find a place to sit down but everywhere he goes, he sees the constant responsibility that his older self has to feel here. Forget about Kurumi's six children with a seventh on the way, the tons of kids here make him feel like a sun is about to implode in his chest from the stress.

Kotori steps out and apologies "Look, sorry about that. Um…I forgot it was Nia's day." She says this while a woman exits the room with disheveled ash-grey hair wearing the same outfit as the other girls, but her hue is black and her top is partly off her shoulder, which she moves up. Now, they can go in but Shido wants to know who that woman was that just walked away.

Being used to crazy changes, the three walk, but Shido's heart is racing because this version of himself is easily the most different from the others, just based on the power emitting from the room alone. Upon entering the room, a sweet aroma emits from the room and the first thing they see is this world's Shido and appears normal, sure he's dressed like a Greek god, but he looks plain as ever.

He stands forward at a table and the first thing he says "Welcome to Paradiso, my friends." He appears friendly and even offering them at a seat. But apparently there is no table, something he notices with a little embarrassment "Oh, sorry, I forgot the table." He snaps his finger." A brilliant rainbow hovers in the sky illuminating this massive room, and they see a portrait of Shido with all of his wives during what appears to be a wedding. But what catches their eyes and a woman appears like a goddess and she floats behind Shido, she has long hair that flickers all colors, and she has beautiful ten wings that flicker with different colors and a distinct pale blue gem on her forehead with Hebrew writing that they cannot read. Shido then says "Yetzer Hatov, please make this room more homely to our friends." The woman's beautiful face gives an evenly beautiful smile as she waves her arms and a simple table with chairs appears from nowhere.

Shido gazes in awe because this woman looks just like the woman in the White Robe from before, the woman called Kokoro. Then, his older self seems to neglect something as he casually explains "Oh, sorry. This is my angel, Yetzer Hatov."

Origami and Kurumi are also perplexed because this angel is unlike anything they have ever seen.

Prime Timeline

Shinra stands before a window in the dark of night with his hands crossed and he smiles below while imagining his next date with Yuzuru and Kokoro appears before him in a panic.

"Master Shinra, I have terrible news…Origami Tobiichi has abandoned me. She let her powers go to another." She states in her panic.

Shinra turns over with a wrathful look on his face "Shut up, Kokoro! I couldn't care less about that. I have plans for tomorrow, and I don't need your problems bugging me." He yells at her

Kokoro's eyes tear up and she rushes over and holds "No, master Shinra, please don't hate me. I'm sorry I disturbed you. I'll do better. I promise…just please don't hate me."

Shinra takes a breath and holds her back "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm anxious about my plans. I don't hate you." He comforts the spirit who smiles at him.

She lets go and says "Master Shinra, if you'd like…you can…you know…just this once." She blushes as she just gave him consent.

Shinra's face turns a bit sadder as he reminds her "Kokoro, you know how much I value you. But I've told you before; I just can't be that way. You know what I want more than anything."

Kokoro looks upset and says "Is this because I'm not Tohka? Is it because I'm not Yoshino? Because I'm not Kurumi?" She lists off the other Spirits.

But Shinra puts his hand to her Shoulder and says "No, because I just can't feel that way about you. It's…too painful to look at you sometimes, I'm so sorry."

Kokoro looks at the floor and leaves without a word. She warps away and looks around the city in moonlight until she feels a presence. She warps to an apartment and sees two girls sleeping, the Yamai sisters and she enters their room silently.

Her hair changes from white to orange as she approaches the beds with an idea "Maybe…I just need a new body." She grins and leaves with her idea.

She floats above the city with all of her wings out and her hair flickers with all of the rainbow colors, but she has nine wings now, and she thinks "My beloved, Shido. I get what you mean. If looking at me as I am now is too painful. Then I'll simply change that for you." A portal opens behind her with a hopeful smile on her face as she an idea of where to look for an answer.