Pure white.

A pure white landscape was all that existed, a wasteland; a destroyed Universe. Standing on two of the only few pieces of land were two brothers, now rivals; a broken family that was once loving and now only filled with hate and resentment.

On the left, stood our protagonist, the 15-year-old Ryutensei "Ryu" James Henderson-Shock (also known as Ryuuto), the youngest child of Shinra Markus Shock and Emily Josephine Henderson. His hair was a snow-white color with a singular streak of red going through its spiky and messy form. His eyes, filled with unadulterated fury and hate, were heterochromatic; one was blood red and glowing with Determination. The other was yellow-green, but the thing that was the same with both eyes was that their whites were blacked out with the corruptive essence of Hate. He wore a dull gray jacket that was left open, revealing a black t-shirt, along with black pants and black shoes. In his left hand was an extremely sharp sword, colored red and made entirely of magic. His magic, the Magic of the Red Soul, Determination. On his back was a bow, colored yellow and also made of Magic, but this one was made of the Yellow Soul of Justice's Magic.

On the right, stood Ryutensei's current enemy, his older brother Blaze "Mirakn" Shock (he left behind their mother's name apparently). His hair color was a stark contrast to Ryu's own, colored orange-red with yellow dashed into it, looking like a blazing forest fire was infused into the messy mop of hair on his hair. His hair, while messy and spiky in its own right, liked to follow gravity's laws a little more than his younger brother's, as parts of it framed his face and partially shadowed his orange eyes that seemed to glow like hot coal. His clothing was much more monotonous than his brothers, all decked out in variants of a dull gray. In his blood and dust-stained hands were black flames, Blaze's advanced fire magic that gave him his nickname "Mirakn", which was the name of the former God of Fire. The same God of Fire that Blaze had killed years ago. The two glared at each other, but Blaze seemed much more casual in his posture, as if he didn't find his younger brother threatening at all. It was Ryu who spoke first. "What was the point of this, Blaze? You just committed genocide on a completely unseen scale!"

Blaze shrugged, his eyes glowing with barely repressed insanity. "Meh, I was originally thinking those Monster freaks were holding you captive. You know the stories about their species have always painted them in a negative light." That didn't help the pyromancer's case at all, as in Ryu's left hand formed a glowing spear of Ice Magic, catching Blaze's attention. He didn't know his brother had an Ice-elemental affinity, he originally thought he was just going to be a basic Soul Magic-User.

"Since when does a baseless suspicion like that mean you can commit genocide not only against Monsters, but the entire universe as a whole?! You just eradicated countless timelines!" Ryu snapped, causing Blaze to sigh as an almost bored expression took over the formerly insane one.

"Wow. Did you almost forget that your friends have committed genocide too? How many times has 'Flowey' or 'Asriel' or whatever that flower kid was called kill his family and his entire race? How many times have Frisk and Chara torn away happiness from everyone around them, just after giving them everything they wanted, like cruel Gods?" Blaze scoffed. "How about Asgore? He killed 6 innocent children." Then, immediately the genocidal teenager's eyes lit up. "Wait, I remember! Those kids were your friends back then, right? Back in Rustcottmo?"

Almost immediately, Blaze got a reaction from his brother, who disappeared from his floating platform in a burst of speed that shattered it through the sheer force of his instant acceleration. Ryu smacked his brother with the blunt edge of his sword and then shot his Ice Spear at him with as much force as he could. The impact of the spear caused a small explosion, or at least small in comparison to the blank, timeless void around them. Blaze floated out of the explosion, barely damaged by the icy explosion of magic. "Man, I seemed to have touched a nerve there!" He laughed in a slightly manic manner. His laughter stopped when he noticed his brother's unamused and icy (no pun intended) expression. Ryu raised his hand to the nonexistent sky, when a rumbling sound was heard, like thunder. But that should have been impossible, there was basically nothing in existence anymore, let alone anything that would have allowed for lightning. The older teen then noticed that in the younger one's raised hand, rainbow-colored electricity could be faintly seen.

Blaze grinned, assuming his brother had some weak attack held in its hands, just by seeing the faint and weak crackles of electric energy in Ryu's hands. At that, Ryu shook his head disappointedly. His brother was always like this, overconfident. Well, that was his own fault and not his problem, not anymore. "Shocker Breaker Absolute," Ryu called out, as a massive bolt of impossibly powerful rainbow transdimensional lightning arced from the non-existent heavens above. Blaze's eyes widened almost comically, causing Ryuuto to smirk as an explosion that enveloped the entire Void suddenly rippled throughout the formerly beautiful universe they used to live in. On instinct he formed a barrier of Green Soul Magic of Kindness, which protected him from about 80% of the damage before shattering. Knowing his brother was surely alive, Ryu temporarily let his Sword of Determination fade away, before summoning the power of his next available Soul Magic. The Cyan Soul Magic of Patience, which allowed him to summon aqua blue strings and threads that allowed him to temporarily nullify his opponent's powers depending on their strength. He tugged his free hand back, pulling back a considerably more damaged Blaze from the remnants of the explosion, where he immediately attacked with a blazing orange punch to the face thanks to the Orange Soul Magic of Bravery's flames. The flame-haired young man was sent flying into the infinity beyond, when Ryu summoned up yellow bullets of energy using his Justice Magic, pummeling the man with blow after blow and never giving him a moment to rest or regain his bearings. He had lost any sense of mercy, and the blackness of Hate was the only thing fueling him, even if he didn't know of it. Ryu thought he was relying on his Corruption, as he used to in the past. Sure, he had used Hate in the past, but to Ryu's point of view; Hate had returned to Chara quickly after the Asriel incident.

A few moments later, Ryu's eyes narrowed, as he waved his hand in front of him; warping the Void around him and creating his own reality with his now godlike Determination. Blaze finally regained his bearings as a side-effect of him focusing on something else for a moment, and realized they were on a carbon copy of the Earth while still within the blank emptiness. The only differences were that A) they were the only two living beings, or at least the only non-plant life, and B) the false Earth was currently 8.8x10^26 meters in size, or at least one universe's size. While trying to figure out how this happened, Ryuuto charged at Blaze, a massive ripple of sound ejecting from where he was, yet again because of the sudden acceleration. Well, sound usually stops being sound when someone's speed easily transcended numbers in general.

Thankfully, due to their basically matched speed and the massive ripple of pressure that gave away Ryuuto's attack, he managed to counter the younger teen's next strike of ice and lightning-infused sword strike with his own black flames. Fist met sword, causing a massive explosion of energy and anti-energy that tore apart the landscape around them, vaporizing land, sky, and sea for tens of billions of meters. What was once a feud between siblings turned a titanic battle between mortals-turned-Gods. From this point on in this battle, no words were exchanged. Only vicious, angry blows.

At one point, while rocketing into the atmosphere that seemingly had no end, Ryuuto gained a reckless but brilliant idea. Manipulating the Void around him and his new artificial universe-sized Earth, he was able to summon a black hole behind Blaze, who turned around just in time to teleport away from it, but that was exactly what the younger sibling was planning for. He dispelled the black hole instantly by cutting its connection to his Magic, before grabbing his brother's flaming fist with a hand coated in Absolute Zero ice. Their clash continued in the skies, trading multiverse-eradicating blows, with the only thing keeping them from destroying the new Earth being their own willpower.

Blaze's eyes widened ever so slightly in shock as he saw his brother's red eye shine brightly, as the left eye representing his Determination glared into his very soul, with Ryu's left-hand twitching. Through sheer willpower and the cost of using up some of his currently massive amounts of Determination, he manipulated reality to his advantage, creating a "weapon that would let him control his own hellfire". A silver sword, beautifully crafted with an absurdly sharp blade and a black obsidian in its golden hilt promptly appeared in Ryuuto's hand. He then struck at his brother with his own variant of Blaze's black fire. The man screeched in pain and dashed back in a hurry, as Ryuuto smirked confidently, dispelling the sword as he didn't want to mess with the element of his brother at the moment.

Blaze hissed in rage, madness overtaking him as he raised his hand and summoned an absurdly large, almost galaxy-sized black fireball. Ryuuto closed his eyes in focus, as he began to charge up his own magic, which began to become visible from how much magic he was calling upon and how dense the power he was generating had become. He then grinned and opened them as he held two large galaxy-sized structures in his hands, which easily dwarfed him in size. "Galaxy Tossing!" Ryu called out as he tossed the attacks, while Blaze shot off his fireball.

...Time froze for one moment. Not a sound was heard, before a ripple of immeasurable power exploded outwards when the attacks collided. The environmental effects were beyond anything ever seen to a planet, due to the size of it and the size of the attacks. Tornadoes and hurricanes wracked the surface of the universe-sized planet for quadrillions of miles, along with volcano eruptions and tsunamis. Thunder and lightning arced from the clouds that remained, adding to the tension between the duo. Ryu knew he didn't have Ryushi to rely on here, so he had to use whatever magic he had left to finally finish off his insane brother… for good. It was for his brother's own good too, he wanted his brother's soul to be able to pass on and rejoin his family wherever they were.

Ryuuto put his hands out, as a dark blue glow surrounded both him and the disoriented Blaze, pulling them to Earth at what was essentially relativistic speeds. Once they hit the floor, they glared at each other, their clothes damaged with their entire bodies riddled with cuts and bruises. Ryu panted tiredly, as he was almost entirely out of Magic, and if his brother's panicked face said anything; he was willing to bet he was in the same boat as him. He slowly staggered up, taking shaky steps towards his brother before appearing next to Blaze's side, kicking them into a mountain that was light years away from their position. Ryuuto was about to take a breath to try and regain his strength a bit, but found himself on the receiving end of a blazing punch to the gut. He hacked up blood before glaring at Blaze, slamming his knee into their ribcage in retaliation. From there, the battle of titans went right back to being a spat between brothers.

Even the black tint behind Ryuuto's eyes disappeared, as Hate finally went dormant from the amount of magic it expended to assist its unwitting host. The resulting fistfight without their Magic to regulate their strength was brutal and bloody. No damage was dealt to the environment anymore, no, it was just a deadly 1v1 now; where neither could gain the upper hand on the other for very long. Ryuuto then felt a sudden surge of power, and grinned inwardly when he saw that his brother unknowingly just gave him a temporary Magic source and another chance at a spell from being determined in his presence. But he couldn't let Blaze know that, not a chance!

He staggered back, watching his brother try to catch his breath. Ryu focused and pushed some of his remaining magic into his legs, appearing in front of Blaze again and shocking him as he kicked them into the air with a sonic kick. The flame-haired man growled in anger and impatience as he ignited his left hand with whatever remnants of Magic he had, and letting gravity take its course as he rocketed at Ryuuto at relativistic speeds. Ryu frowned briefly as he tried to think of a spell that could help him in this situation that wouldn't kill him from Magic exhaustion. He then felt a comforting hand on his shoulder, where his alternate self Ryushi stood in a ghost-like form, smiling as he sent his own remaining Magic into Ryu's body. It was only enough to create a small ice crystal, due to Ryushi's reserves being as drained as his own from a previous fight just two months ago, but it was something. He charged into the sky and met the attack of his brother's head on, where he felt something resonate in his soul. A familiar and comforting feeling surged into him, red and yellow-green eyes temporarily turning into a polychromatic rainbow; his ice crystal increasing in power and size. Soon it pierced through the black flames of his brother's attacks, right into his heart and finally dealing the final blow as a final explosion ricocheted throughout the void and destroyed the universe-sized planet for good.

RE: DETERMINED

Act 1, Chapter 01 - Reincarnated (生まれ変わり)

The next moment when Ryuuto opened his eyes, there was nothing but blinding white. That sensation was immediately erased when he blinked a few times, though he found himself… somewhere he was definitely not familiar with. The battered and beaten teen looked around confusedly, as his wounds ever so slowly patched up on their own. "W… what? This isn't… Earth." Ryu muttered weakly, his voice rough and tired from the damage he took, but also slightly deeper which surprised the teen.

Ryuuto scanned his surroundings carefully, noticing the glances he was getting from humans and… demi-Monsters (he was unsure about the terminology) that were walking around. It only took a moment for him to realize something. He wasn't in his own world. "Ah, crap…" Ryu said under his breath, realizing he's been somehow pulled into another separate universe. His current theory was probably having to due to Blaze's final attack colliding with his own.

"Probably accurate too." A tired yet more mature and deeper voice said in his head, causing Ryu to smile visibly.

'Ryushi, I missed ya other me. How was your nap?' He asked the dark half of his soul, who hummed as he thought about it before responding.

"It was alright, before I realized you were fighting someone that is. I wake up and see you duking it out with our brother in the fucking Void. How'd that happen?" Ryushi asked incredulously, causing the red-and-yellow-green-eyed teen to sigh.

'Don't ask. I'm too hungry and too tired to explain right now.' At that Ryushi wished him well before going quiet, probably to go scan their soul's memories and get a hold of the entire situation. Shi always was the more mature one between the two of them, and he was also a master survivalist. He trusted his alternate self. Regardless, he began walking around, looking for somewhere to rest and regain his bearings. Ryu was also noticing a dramatic drop in his power, which was fine since he didn't really like having too many abilities and high strength, but it was concerning once he realized his Determination was shot to hell. He basically had the same amount of DT as he did when he first began his journey back in his old world, which wasn't a lot, but was also enough for certain things.

"Speaking of which…" He brought up his stat screen in front of him, a remnant of his old world that would stick with him forever due to it being linked to his soul. He frowned at his low stats though.

Name: Ryutensei

Soul: Determination/Justice Hybrid (Peace) + HATE

LOVE: 1

HP: 10

Max HP (Current): 35

ATK: 17

DEF: 17

EXP Value: 1

GOLD: 490

? Currency: 0

Kills: 1

Well, obviously from what he was seeing, his stats were basically still functional. His LV had dropped for some reason… not that he was complaining. Though his HP was still super low, which he should fix… then again he had nothing to use to heal himself so he was basically gonna have to wait for his limited Determination to fix the job. But the thing that really grabbed his attention was the thing adding onto his soul. "HATE?" He asked no one in particular before a cheery stereotypical Australian voice popped into his head.

"Hey, hey! Hello there, mate! I was wondering when you'd notice me! Apparently, it takes you an entire half-hour!" The cheery voice was now just jarring, even if he had heard it before. Why was the embodiment of human Hatred across all of time and space a cheerful Australian? "Ah, don't question the details mate! It'll make your head spin! Just learn to accept there are things better left unexplained! This world would have taught you that the hard way!"

"I… okay…?" Ryu blinked, deciding to try and roll with this super weird situation. It wasn't like having a voice in his head was anything he wasn't used to at this point, plus it was hardly the weirdest thing that happened to him in his life. He tried to ignore Hate's rambling about what they should do to try and have 'fun' in this new world (most of them revolved around causing chaos or killing people), and instead focused on all his 'data' for lack of a better term. Ryuuto stared incredulously at his Age statistic, which now said he was '16, bordering 17' instead of '15, bordering 16'. This got weirder and weirder by the second, how'd he age up an entire year already? The suddenly older teen pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling somewhat stressed out.

He then looked to the side, noticing a young child who had tripped and was dangerously close to being run over by a carriage. Ryu sighed, raising his arm and using some of his limited Determination Magic to manifest a bubble-like shield around the kid, protecting them, and then used what remaining Magic power he had to keep the carriage and the one inside of it from being harmed by the crimson barrier as well. He then retracted his dull red soul back into himself, with the barrier's magic soon being reabsorbed into his soul, though it only gave him back half of the magic he just used to conjure the barrier.

The people around him cheered and clapped for his 'heroic' deed, with an armored knight walking over and patting him on the back for 'being able to handle the situation so easily'. Apparently, people never saw magic like his before, which was information Ryu was definitely passing onto Shi. Soul magic essentially didn't exist in the form they knew around here, this wasn't an alternate universe. It was a completely new one, where the laws of Magic worked differently than they did back home. He was even given a few coins by some people including the knight, which only reaffirmed the fact that his GOLD wouldn't help him too much unless he found a place to exchange them soon.

He walked past a fruit vendor's stand and stared at the prices, realizing he couldn't read anything here very quickly. He then looked up at the vendor, who had a small smirk on his face. "Judging by your clothes, I'd say you're not from around here." At the nod, the vendor took a closer look at Ryu, frowning slightly. "Man, what did you do to get yourself like this? It looks like you fought an entire army and barely survived."

Ryu laughed nervously, inwardly happy that his blood had disappeared. His wounds were there, but at least he wasn't a bloody mess. "Eh, don't worry yourself about it." He shrugged it off, causing the vendor to sigh and back off. Ryuuto then pulled out a singular gold coin that the knight gave him. "How many apples could this get me?"

"You mean appas, kid. And let's see…" The fruit vendor took the coin and looked over it, probably to see if it was real before smiling. "I'll do you a favor from how banged up you look and say a basket full." Now leaving the fruit stand with a basket full of 'appas', Ryu continued his journey and took a bite of an appa, feeling some of his Magic and energy be restored before he blinked. This was literally just an apple but with a different name.

"Oookay then." He shook off the strangeness of this world again and continued his journey in this new world yet again. He eventually let Hate split into two, allowing for his soul-tenant to help them out by gathering information. Ryu soon learned he was in the Kingdom of Lugunica, the Dragon Kingdom. He almost laughed, due to his name meaning Dragon's Rebirth, and he found himself reborn and resurrected in said Dragon Kingdom.

He eventually found himself hiding in an alleyway from the heat of the sun, consuming as many appas as he possibly could to restore himself to full strength. He then sighed in relief once he felt like he was back to full strength… or at least the full strength he had about 3 years ago. His Magic wasn't at full capacity though, since eating the same type of item over and over again only helped for so long before you hit a cap. "Getting back to my peak strength again is gonna be a bitch." Ryu groaned as he placed his half-empty basket of apples to the side. He then looked up to see a scrawny dude, a burly dude, and a dwarf. "Can I help you?" He dully asked, unimpressed by their 'threatening' looks.

"Yeah, you can help us by giving us everything you've got!" The blue-haired scrawny juvenile said, causing Ryu to get up with a bored look on his face.

"Look, I don't have the time to deal with this shit. So if you just leave right now, I won't have Hate steal your souls." They ignored him and walked forward, with the juvenile drawing out two knives. Ryu shook his head sadly. "I warned you." He put his hand out, as a black substance reached out and stabbed the thugs through their chests, pulling out their souls and then absorbing them as they promptly turned to ash. "...Maybe I could have done that better."

"Probably. RESET?" Ryushi suggested, coming back from his memory search. Ryu nodded and pulled up his screens again before choosing to RESET.

After a few LOADs (he refused to perform full RESETs unless completely necessary) and looking through all his courses of option, he found that killing them over and over again was… boring and unfulfilling at some point. So Ryuuto chose to instead just beat the shit out of them and knock them out, introducing them to the ground before sighing. "Welp, that was a waste of time. See you all never." He said to the unconscious bodies, before he turned around once he heard the clacking of heels near the alley he was in. He froze momentarily once his eyes locked onto her form, entirely shocked by the literal otherworldly beauty in front of him.

There stood a beautiful girl with long silver hair that flowed down her back and purple eyes that held a hint of blue. She also wore a silver flower on the right side of her head, and wore clothes of silver and purple theme. If he had to guess, she was about 5'5 in height, just half a foot shorter than him. But another thing he noticed immediately was the angry frown on her face. He wondered what the hell happened to piss her off.

Finally, she spoke. "Are you the thief!?" She questioned angrily. Ryu blinked momentarily, before the pieces connected in his mind.

"No, but I can help you find the real one." He replied almost instantaneously. The strange girl's eyes narrowed, probably suspicious of him. It was understandable, sometimes even he found himself suspicious. Suddenly, a bright blue light shone over the mystery girl's shoulder, which revealed itself to be… an absurdly adorable small cat.

Almost on instinct, Ryu rushed over and grabbed the cat in his hands, eyes wide and filled with amazement. "How is this possible? I've never heard of something like this before! Cats being created out of nothingness!? Amazing!" He instantly began petting the gray-furred creature, which accepted the pets wholeheartedly.

The girl before him stared, as if unable to register the scene before her, though she finally found her voice a few seconds later. "It's… a spirit summons." She didn't expect for this nobody to be able to interact with her companion Puck, let alone Puck letting them do this.

"Man, I wish we had something like this back home!" Ryu laughed cheerfully, continuing to pet the cat spirit and pulling out every single petting technique he knew just for this occasion.

"Heh, for someone with a powerful aura, you're pretty excitable." He heard a voice say, one deep and masculine. Ryu blinked once. Twice. He looked at the cat in his hands, before asking Hate and Shi if they heard what he just heard.

"...Yep."

"Not surprised that he can talk really, I'd expect talking creatures to be a thing in this world. I mean, Monsters existed in ours, just think of him as a mini-Monster." Hate responded boredly.

"...You just spoke. To me." Ryu hesitantly asked the cat, who nodded in affirmation.

"Yep. Name's Puck. What's yours." Puck asked. Ryu stared for a bit longer, before continuing to stroke Puck's fur.

"Ryutensei. But please, just call me Ryu." He answered slowly. This was certainly an… interesting world. The girl finally decided to intervene.

"Puck, we don't have time for this!" The silverette said to her summons before turning to Ryu and pointing at him. "You said you can help us find the thief right?"

"Yep, that's what I said." Ryu distractedly replied, trying to figure out how she did this, there was no 'summoning' magic where he came from. "What're you looking for anyways?"

"An insignia. About this big with a jewel in the center." She made a circle with her fingers to show a rough estimate of its size, causing Ryu to hum in thought before nodding.

"Well, I am bored and have nothing better to do…" He then grinned, eyes glowing brightly with Magic. "Alright, my power, for the time being, is now for you to wield and command; miss… uh…"

"Satella. Call me Satella." 'Satella' replied, causing Ryu to grow distrustful of the girl inwardly. He could sense she was lying. Even if he didn't have his other Soul Magics, there were embers of the ones he didn't exhaust during his fight with Blaze, like Integrity. And with that Magic, he could sense when people told the truth, and that was definitely not the truth.

'Not my problem though. As long as it doesn't get anyone killed.' He shrugged it off, before motioning for 'Satella' to follow him, still petting the absurdly adorable cat named Puck.

Ryuuto didn't know what to think of this world.

It was all foreign to him, and even with Hate acting as recon, this place was still new to him. New laws, new creatures, new magic system. It was a headache. Oh well, at least there was this cute cat in his arms. That was a positive, at the very least. And his Determination still functioned here in a manner that allowed him to access his temporal powers. In a foreign world like this, he'd need to use his RESET ability frequently… but not too frequently, since he didn't want anomalies popping up in a new world he barely understood. It would be a tough balancing act, but he was sure with the help of Hate and Ryushi, he'd pull through. Speaking of said Negative Substance… 'Hey, Hate...'

"Mmmyeah?" Hate asked tiredly, as if it just woke up from a nap. Knowing Hate, it probably did take a nap as Ryu helped Puck and Satella search for their missing insignia. Anything that didn't involve or lead to a fight would be a snoozefest for them.

'What should I call you? There's gotta be a better name for you than just calling you Hate all the time.' Hate sighed at that.

"That's what you woke me up for mate? Wow. I don't give a single damn what you call me, really. Call me Austin for all I care." Well, that was settled. Austin the edgy Australian it was. "I DIDN'T CONSENT TO THAT PART!" The newly dubbed Austin roared, clearly ticked off with its host's namecalling. Ryu snickered audibly in response, causing Satella to look at him in confusion.

"Is there something amusing I missed?" She asked, causing Ryu to wave her off with a smile, continuing to pet the adorable cat in his hands.

"I just remembered something funny. Nothing you need to worry about, Miss Satella." It was at this moment that Ryu felt a malicious essence nearing them, likely one of Hate's fragments. He let the black essence crawl up his leg, suppressing the urge to shiver at the slimy and cold feeling of the magical goo-like creature. Once it leaked back into his bloodstream and soul, he relaxed slightly as more information flooded his mind. 'So, the animal people are called demihumans. Better than calling them fuckin' Monsters, I say.'

"Wow, you are still pissed at humanity for that move back home, aren't you?" Ryushi commented as the darker half of Ryuuto's mind continued to filter through the information and taking note of the immediately useful things. Ryushi didn't even bother trying to answer him, before he spoke up again. "Okay, good news, we can communicate with people properly here."

'Oh thank The Angel-'

"Don't go thanking weird prophetical and possibly fake ideal saviors of our old world just yet. I still have some bad news. We can't read anything here."

'Shiiiiit.' Ryu groaned inwardly, but continued to act like everything was fine. 'How are my Soul magic reserves?'

"Determination is back to stage one, I'm afraid. And your progress with the other traits have been set back to Stage 0. You can use them, but… you know how risky it is to use a Magic that isn't at least at Stage 1." Ryushi went silent for a moment. "I… recommend you pay attention to the outside world a bit more, we can converse later. Maybe at night, we can chat when you fall asleep."

'That'd mean I have to find a place to sleep, but alright.' Ryu turned his attention back to Satella, noticing that Puck had disappeared from his hands and was now resting on his shoulder with a smile on his face. Guess the spirit was comfortable with his presence. That was cool. After some time, they ran into a lost child. Ryu instantly walked over to the green-haired child, noticing her tears before smiling. "Heya kiddo, want to see a magic trick?" He asked her in a gentle tone, kneeling in front of her as Satella and Puck watched from afar.

The child hesitantly nodded, as Ryu closed his eyes and put his hands out in front of him, cupping them as one would done to get water from a river. He then opened his eyes, which shone intensely, before a green and blue light shone from the girl's chest and manifested as a small glowing heart. "You see that? That's your soul!" He smiled, causing the girl to giggle as she held the mixed trait soul in her hands.

"It's the same color as my eyes and hair!" She cheerfully exclaimed, staring at it in wonder before looking up at Ryu. "What's your soul like, mister?" At that Ryu went silent for a moment, asking Austin to move all of the Hate from their soul to his bloodstream, before pulling out his crimson and yellow soul. "Wow, it's two colors just like mine!"

"Yep! We're special, y'know? Only really powerful people have two traits!" He softly laughed at the awed expression of the child, before extending his hand out to her. "C'mon, my friend and I will help you look for your mommy and daddy, okay?"

"Okay, mister!" The child, who quickly introduced herself as 'Plum', took the offered hand and followed the trio of Satella, Puck, and Ryuuto. It took no less than 2 minutes for them to find Plum's mother, as the child ran off to hug her mother, causing Ryu to smile sadly. He wished he had memories of his mother, but she apparently left the family shortly after his birth. Plum turned to Ryu with a smile. "Thanks for the help mister!"

"Don't mention it kiddo! Stay kind and patient, and your soul will only grow stronger!" Ryu waved to the mother-daughter duo as they left, causing Satella to look at him curiously. Ryu glanced over at her from the corner of his eye. "Something wrong?"

"What did you mean by that? And what was that glowing object in that girl's hand? You're a strange one, y'know!" Satella questioned in rapid succession, as Ryu blinked passively as he stared at the silver-haired girl.

"...Okay then, I'll answer your questions, but later. We can't waste time when it comes to this insignia of yours, since you seemed to have been quite adamant about finding the thief earlier." The white-and-red-haired teen replied before he felt a large hand tap him on his shoulder. He turned around to see the 'appa'-vendor from before. "Ah, hello there sir. Is there something we can help you with?"

"Actually, it's the exact opposite. Is there anything I can help you with? I heard from my kid here that you helped her find her mom and entertained her while he was lost. I can't let something like that go unpaid." The man replied, as Ryu briefly glanced at Plum, who was still smiling and holding her soul with a bright look in her eyes. The sight caused the teen's smile to return as he looked back at the vendor.

"It was nothing, sir. You don't have to do anything to repay us." Ryuuto tried to get the man to just take the act of kindness for granted, but he kept insisting on doing something to repay them. "Right, right… well… you could answer a question for us."

"Of course the thief would come from the slums." Ryushi drawled boredly, viewing the world through his other half's eyes. "Can't we just hurry up and try to use Hate to find our insignia thief?"

'Listen, I know this place is uncomfortable for you since we didn't have anything like this back home, but it's not like we can do anything to help with these guy's economic crises. We're basically as broke as them until we can exchange our G for actual Luginican cash.' Ryu replied, causing the darker half of him to sigh sadly, knowing its host/other self was right.

Then, it happened. A massive wave of pure malice and bloodlust overwhelmed his senses, alarming him as the Hate inside of him reacted and manifested against his soul again. He then dashed off towards the feeling, not even bothering to try to explain where he was going or why to Puck and Satella. He stopped in front of an old house, which seemed to be the source of the negative emotions. He narrowed his eyes, sending out a pulse into his soul to awaken Austin. It took less than a second for the semi-tamed (yet still mostly malicious) creature to awaken. "Mmm, fuck. Yeah, there's two dead bodies in there, and a gal with a high kill count." Austin seemed to get excited at the prospect of a fight. "I presume you'd want me to revive the deceased after you kill their killer? Their souls are still intact after all."

"But wouldn't they be infected with your essence and turned evil?" Ryushi asked curiously, causing Austin to hum in thought.

"Normally? Yes. But, unlike most counterfeit essences of Hate, I can revive things and then take away my essence; or even revive them without corrupting them… though it'd conk me out for at least a week." Austin replied after a few moments. Well, that was a good idea, not like anything too crazy could happen after he defeated the killer. Ryuuto raised his leg and kicked the door in, a miasma of death assaulting his senses almost instantly. But he didn't waver, no, he only grew more determined to bring on justice upon this killer.

Ryu's heterochromatic eyes shifted around slowly, analyzing the area and his surroundings, anything he could use to his advantage in a fight. It looked like this place was a bar. He wasn't entirely sure. But there was a lot of displaced and broken stuff scattered about, most of which he was almost sure was stolen. He stopped in front of the corpse of an old man, and looked to the side to see the corpse of Satella's thief. His eyes narrowed in focus for a moment, before Ryuuto manifested his crimson Sword of Determination in his left hand and immediately blocked an attack from a fairly attractive black-haired woman. He immediately discarded that thought, no murderer was attractive in his eyes. He shifted his sword in a manner that allowed him to knock the woman out of the building with a large crack of magic, as his red eye shone brightly. "Bring it on." He hissed, as blackness crept up his eyes, and Hate leaked onto the floor to mix with the blood of the deceased. It'd take a while, but they'd regenerate and resurrect while he was fighting. Ryu just hoped that those two were smart enough to run away once they were brought back. 'Note to self, make sure to thank and praise Austin daily for his kindness.'

"Awwe, I knew you cared about me kiddo! You're not too bad for an ankle-biter." Austin replied before going silent, most definitely focusing on the job he gave them.

"My, you're an interesting one." A sultry, yet dark voice called out as the woman that tried attacking him rose from the rubble that Ryu knocked her into. Her purple eyes shone with bloodlust, though he had already gotten used to looks like that from his journeys in his old world, sadly. "Tell me, what business do you have here?"

"I've come to take back something that belongs to a… friend." Yeah, that'd work. Friend. Especially considering he'd be more than happy to befriend Satella… though he really doubted that was her name, considering how she sometimes seemed uncomfortable saying it. His assailant frowned.

"Oh. I see. You're with them, then." With those words and an increase of her malicious aura, the woman charged right at him, with Ryuuto manifesting a Shield of Determination to block the initial hit. The purple-eyed killer jumped off the crimson magical projection, giving Ryu a chance to immediately counter, with a slice of red magic arcing through the air and slamming into her. Not letting the woman regain her footing, he continued to slice the air with his sword, slamming her into another building and causing it to collapse in its entirety.

Ryu knew the battle wasn't over though, far from it. The woman's soul was still emitting life energy, and her violent and malicious aura had only grown stronger. He watched passively as the woman stumbled out of the wreckage, slowly healing wounds littering her body. "Alright, I'll admit. That stung a little." She hissed, causing Ryu to only smirk in response.

The battle continued on for quite a while and was slowly shifting towards Ryu's favor over time, due to his Determination's special ability to continually grow stronger in battle. He had already begun matching Elsa blow-for-blow the moment she attacked him, but now things were getting out of hand, especially with how Ryuuto was pulling out more of his Soul Magic abilities. "What the hell are you?" Elsa hissed as she swiped at Ryu, who jumped on top of a building, raising his hand to the sky and forming a ball of ice and fire before mixing them into what he called Cool Fire. He shot the blue ball of flame at the murderer, knocking her back as Ryu sighed.

"Y'know, if you didn't catch me after a mentally taxing battle against my elder brother; I'd have given you some cocky response or whatever. But honestly…" He stared at Elsa with a dull look in his eyes, as he let a bit more of the Hate into his system. "I just want this to end fast." Black energy crackled from his already raised hand, a blackened barrier of Hate surrounding him and the houses of the slums. Thankfully, the slum dwellers had retreated into their homes or invited others into their worn and tattered houses the moment the fight broke out. Now he didn't have to worry about civilian casualties. "Black Lightning," He brought his crackling fist down, as a massive stormcloud had manifested above them, with a swirling hole like a hurricane right above Elsa. A massive bolt of lightning slammed into the floor with incredible force, sending black energy into the air due to the feedback of Soul Magic and Hate reacting to the native Magic of this world. Ryu sighed as the Hate barriers faded, surely that'd have caught the attention of basically anyone in a half-mile radius.

Ryu glanced back at where Elsa once stood, smiling as she saw her burnt and bleeding form. He could recognize that she was most definitely going to regenerate though, and he didn't have enough faith in his limited Perseverance magic to deal with that annoyance of an ability. It was at this exact moment he shifted his gaze to the side, glancing at a red-haired young man. He had an interesting choice of apparel, wearing a large white coat, black gloves, and white pants. But what caught Ryu's eye was the highly decorated sword at his side. "Well, then. I didn't expect to stumble upon the infamous Bowel Hunter here." The man then glanced up at Ryu, who immediately jumped down to face the man eye-to-eye. "And you are?"

"The guy who fucked that psychopath as badly as I did right now." He turned to Elsa, who was slowly getting up. "Speaking of which!" He snapped his fingers, as a crimson barrier of Determination magic surrounded the woman. "That'll hold her off for a bit. By your sword and how you carry yourself, I assume you're a knight?"

"Indeed. Current Sword Saint and a Royal Knight of Lugnica, Reinhard van Astrea, at your service." The man bowed respectfully, as Ryuuto did the same instinctively.

"It's an honor to meet you, Sword Saint Reinhard." He then straightened up, smiling as he introduced himself. "My name is Ryutensei, but I prefer to be called Ryu. May I ask why you're here?"

"Miss Emilia requested of me to find you. She was very thorough in her description of your appearance… but if I'm to be entirely honest, I only stumbled upon this part of the slums because of a peculiar event…" It didn't take a genius to know what the blue-eyed Sword Saint was talking about. And since he only knew one person that could have a feminine name like Emilia, he assumed that the name was the real name of the girl who called herself 'Satella'.

"A storm, a lightning bolt, and a black jet of magical energy." Ryu dully said, before sighing. "Well, there went my chance of living a partially normal life. Yes, I was the cause of those events. It all has to do with the magic I inherited from my father's side of the family."

"Interesting." There was a gleam in Reinhard's eyes, one he couldn't quite describe in words. "Tell me, what's your family name?" Immediately, Ryu frowned as he instead chose to walk over to the building where the thief's corpse and the old man's body would be. As he walked over to them and knelt over the body of the old man, scanning it briefly, he noticed Emilia had returned, though Puck wasn't with them.

He walked over to the girl named Felt and sent a pulse of Magic into her body, as he found what he assumed to be the insignia. But he didn't immediately extract it, no. He instead chose to awaken the girl, who immediately jumped up in fright and pulled out a knife. "Who're you?! Where am I?! Are you in league with her?!"

"Hey, hey! Calm down, easy kiddo!" Ryu raised his hands in a non-threatening manner. "I just want to talk!" He looked over at Reinhard, who seemingly didn't mind the fact he ignored his question and instead watched the scene from Emilia's side. He motioned to the man to wake up the big old dude, and thankfully, he obliged and went over to do so. Ryu focused back on Felt. "Now, can we talk? You can keep your knife unsheathed if it makes you feel safer."

…

...Something was wrong, Ryu noticed as he interrogated Felt and Old Man Rom. His eyes widened as he turned around once he felt a sharp pang in his chest, one that only happened… when his shields broke. The moment he turned around, a knife plunged deep into his chest, where his soul instantly shattered.

He failed. Damn it.

Scanning timeline…

…

…

…

Status: Host "Ryutensei" = Deceased.

Warning: Conditions for "Hate's Rampage" Met.

...Executing Oath "Hate - World End".

Timeline purged.

As Ryu immediately came to his senses, now alive yet again and standing in the alleyway where he first met Satel- er, Emilia. Should he continue to call her Satella? In the case he met up with her again, sure. But from what he knew about his powers over time and space? There were bound to be changes in this timeline from the original. He looked at his hand, with Ryu's eyes glowing with determination. "Try, try, try again, I suppose."

He didn't notice Austin's bad mood either, not for a few minutes at the very least. After using RESET sparingly and finding a path that felt… different from the rest, he ended up meeting up with Reinhard in said alleyway (who was apparently just passing through), where he and the swordsman became quick friends. "So, you're a swordsman too?" Reinhard asked curiously, as Ryuuto nodded quickly.

"Yep! Been trained to be one since I was four, actually! It was hard work, but it's been more than worth it, considering it kept me alive!" Ryu laughed slightly, quite happy that he didn't have to deal with the weak thieves this time around. Either they didn't exist, didn't come to this specific alley, or now there was a time difference in this timeline. Eh, he didn't care all too much. It was only a second later did he notice a blond blur dash past him. "...You saw that, didn't you, Reinhard."

"I'm afraid I did." The knight stood up straight, as did the holder of Determination. "It seemed to be a little girl running away. Somewhat suspicious, I'd say."

"Hold it!" The voice of Emilia called out, as he turned to face the silver-haired beauty. He kept a smile from creeping up his face, before he decided to let his body go on auto-pilot, retreating into his soul to speak with Austin and Ryushi. He needed to take care of the soul magic issue first, if he wanted to survive an encounter with Elsa again.

_(SOULPLANE)_

Ryuuto blankly started at the floor as he awoke in the Soul Plane, watching the polychromatic floor shift colors like a kaleidoscope. After some time of watching the mesmerizing pattern, the teen shook his head and walked off to meet up with Austin and Ryushi. The embodiment of Hatred was still in its natural form, a large and slimy black blob of magic. Next to him was Ryushi, who wore a white and red cloak over his form, with his amethyst purple eyes staring at the giant beating red and yellow cartoonish-like heart that was their soul. "So, what's the situation?" Ryu spoke up, getting the attention of Austin and Shi as they turned their gaze over to him. Austin's 'eyes' were blank and white, with the only indication of the fact it could see him being how it sighed.

"Okay, I'll be honest with ya, kid. Your magic reserves are fucked to all hell, aside from your still limitless Determination and your newly restored Justice." Austin said tiredly. "Like we said before, everything's been set to the way they were when you first went on your journey back in our homeworld."

"Which means you're going to have to regain your traits and the magic associated with them one at a time. Which is going to take ages on the account of Patience.' Ryushi said, raising a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "And that's without taking the foreign thing that appeared in our soul when we appeared here."

Ryuuto blinked in confusion, but followed Ryushi and Austin when they waved for him to come with them. As he grew closer to his soul, he noticed a faint black miasma around his soul, but it didn't feel like Hate's essence. "What… is that?"

"We have no idea, Shi and I were hoping you'd have some theory as to what it could be," Austin replied in an equally confused tone of voice, but Ryuuto then shook his head.

"Sorry guys, I'm as lost as you two on this one. Why would I know anything about this when you don't, Aus? You're the 'ancient origin of human negativity', right?" Ryu turned to Austin quizzically as he quoted the being's words directly from his first appearance and fight against them. Austin only laughed nervously, and Ryu had a feeling that if Austin had shoulders, the Being of Hate would have shrugged. "Whatever. We need a strategy to put down Elsa for good. We have the Sword Saint and Emilia with us, so we can use them if we need assistance. Aus, any ideas?"

"Well, since you died, technically my reserves are back at full. And before you say anything, Shi, you of all people should know while I have infinite power; it all relies on my host's willingness to give into my Hate… or if they just die." That caused Shi to promptly shut up as the black and purple-haired teen was about to speak up. Ryu softly snickered at that, causing Austin to crack a small 'smile' from its oily black substance. "Anyways, if you can get back to that… loot house before the inhabitants get killed by that vampiress, then we won't have to waste so much of my magic and your stamina on reviving them. Add that to your reignited Magic sources and your allies…."

"You play your cards right, and Elsa's dead meat. You can do this, brat!" With that encouragement, the two pushed Ryu out of the soulscape, but he did see Austin briefly frown before he was sent back to reality. "...You and I both know we lied to him, right?"

"If we just dump everything on him now, what do you think will happen? The idiot will just rush over to the Sealing Stone and try to free Satella prematurely." Austin replied tersely. "This is for the good of everyone."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Aus."

The battle against Elsa didn't last long in this timeline. Due to getting there earlier, and having backup in the forms of Emilia, Puck (who disappeared mid-battle because of some… contract thing that he really needed to research), and Reinhard, it was child's play to fight them.

Oh right. Details. Well, Ryuuto found himself playing support, for the time being, blocking attacks against Felt and any surprise attacks against him or the others fighting Elsa with his crimson shields. It only took a moment for him to notice how absurdly powerful Reinhard was, even when he stood there, his actual sword unsheathed as he used a sword he picked up from Rom's inventory. Ryuuto glanced back at Felt. "Consider yourself lucky that we decided to follow you. This woman definitely could have killed you and your old man there." He dully said to the blonde, who had no response for him at the moment. Oh well, that was for the better. He didn't want to deal with any sassy replies from a kid he just saved anyways. His eyes shifted to Reinhard, who had the female assassin on the ropes, and then towards Emilia who was healing the injured Rom. It seemed this world's energy source was quite different from Soul Magic, as all the ambient energy in the air was directed towards Emilia and her task of healing Rom using what they called in this world, 'Mana'. "How long will this take?" He asked Emilia, eyes shifting to the side to block a lightning-fast strike from Elsa with a shield.

"Almost done…" She muttered, as the wounds on the man finally closed. "All done! Give Reinhard the all clear!" At that the former Prince of another world nodded, turning to Reinhard.

"Hey, Reinhard! Go for it buddy!" He called out, causing the man to nod as he immediately sent Elsa flying with a sword strike before getting into position. Ryu's eyes narrowed, watching, analyzing the Master Swordsman as he tried to figure out ways to emulate his style into his own. Then he noticed that the sword began to glow with a bright blue-white light that only increased with intensity. Ryu's eyes widened slightly, as an immense pressure enveloped the entire building. Was this the power of Mana-based Magic? How interesting.

"Behold, the Astrea family's sword technique!" Reinhard declared as the man raised the sword in his hands, which only shone brighter and brighter, before bringing the blade down. Ryuuto instantly reacted, summoning a massive wall of Hate to block the backlash damage from the blade, but it didn't stop the massive wave of sound and pressure that assaulted their ears, thankfully it didn't cause too much damage to them though. The loothouse, on the other hand? When Ryu put down the barriers, he noticed how the place was essentially pulverized by a single sword strike.

'Okay, considering this was a sword strike that seemed pretty casual, and the fact he used some unknown run-of-the-mill sword… I think this man could cause non-God me a lot of trouble in a fight.' Ryu thought in awe. And when he considered the fact he was most definitely not going to get to that level of power again, since he wouldn't be facing his brother ever again… yeah, he might have to be careful and make sure that Reinhard didn't end up disliking him or saw him as an enemy. That'd be an annoying encounter. He then smiled at Reinhard. "Well done, buddy! You pulverized her, and I didn't even have to do a thing!"

"Oh please, Ryu. You helped too, with your… strange Magic shielding. I'd say your defensive assistance was just as good as my offense." The red-haired man laughed somewhat humbly before looking at the crumbling sword in his hands and apologizing to it for pushing it too far in battle.

"Whatever you say, Reinhard!" Ryu grinned at the man before turning to Felt. "Oh, by the way, I think you're going to have to return what you stole to the nice lady over there. We did just-"

"Yeah, yeah… saved my life, I know." The young blonde grumbled to herself as she began to search for the Insignia. As this was happening, Ryu lost his smile, replacing it with a frown as something felt wrong again. His instincts kicked in before anyone could do or say anything, turning to see a heavily wounded Elsa rising from the rubble, charging at Emilia to attack. But this time, Ryuuto was prepared. He was not having another repeat of the last timeline in any way, shape, or form! He charged right at the woman, grabbing her blade with his bare hand tightly, ignoring the pain and the blood leaking from his hand. He brought back his other hand, yellow and orange sparks of Soul Magic appearing around his clenched fist.

'There is nothing in the world that can put me down.' Ryu thought with a burning passion reigniting within his soul, as a mix of Justice and Bravery magic caused his hand to burn alight with flames. The moment his flame-covered fist collided with Elsa's face, a massive jet of yellow fire essentially burnt her face and knocked her away with 3rd and probably 4th-degree burns scattered across her form, mostly her head and neck though. That'd take her a long time to heal from. The woman writhed in agony, as her body's physiology slowly healed the wounds caused by his "Retribution" magic's fire.

"This isn't over!" She hissed in a hoarse tone of voice, glaring at Ryuuto with pure hate in her eyes. His only response was to reignite the fires again, causing her glare to falter, as she then retreated, jumping away to places unknown. He then released his control over the unstable hybrid magic of Retribution, staring at his arm that was somewhat burnt too. That was the issue with hybrid magic, it was harder for him to utilize without 'maxing' out the component Traits, for lack of a better term. Emilia rushed over to him and began to fret over his wounds.

"Sir Ryuuto! Are you alright? Your arm is-" Ryu raised a hand to silence Emilia's worries with a calm smile, as he instead walked over to Felt, who was simply staring at him in shock, sitting right next to the old man Rom.

"That insignia, please." He said dully, as the young girl immediately reacted by pulling out the small item and handing it over. Reinhard, however, came over and grabbed the arms of him and Felt instantly. "What the- what are you doing Reinhard!"

"Let go of my arm!" Felt protested, as Reinhard stared at them with shock in his eyes.

"This… this is impossible! How is this even happening!" He then grew deadly serious as the grips on their arms increased. "Your names! Now!"

"It's Felt/Ryutensei!" The duo exclaimed at once, wanting the grip to cease, especially Ryuuto; whose's arm was somewhat torn from not only the Retribution magic, but all the shielding he did today.

"Family name! And just how old are you!" Reinhard insisted, causing Ryu to immediately cave, unlike the last time where he ignored the man. He had pain tolerance, yes, but not in times like these where his arms were really sensitive!

"It really doesn't matter in any country around here, but my full name is Ryutensei James Henderson-Shock! I'm the 16-year-old Prince to the now gone isolated Lost Isles!" Felt, meanwhile, insisted that she didn't have a family name and that she was about 15. Instantly, the man waved a hand over Felt's face, as she fell asleep. Ryu's eyes widened as the man shifted his gaze to him.

"A Prince, hm? It would give you credibility as to why the insignia would react to you, but in our current situation… how peculiar." Reinhard looked over to the confused Emilia. "Miss Emilia, I'm afraid I won't be able to keep my promise to you at this time. I'll be taking this girl with me for further questioning."

The girl was somewhat worried. "May I ask why? I mean, if this is about my insignia, then…"

Reinhard hummed as he held the sleeping Felt in his arms. "The theft alone is no small crime, but if I overlook what's unfolding before my eyes, it would be the greatest crime of them all." He looked at Ryu for a moment, as the heterochromatic eyed teen faintly glared at them, trying to soothe his pained and burnt arm. "I'd appreciate it if you taught Ryu here about the Kingdom of Lugnica in-depth. And make sure to take good care of him. If what I just saw was reality, then…" He looked up at the moon, as did Emilia and the tired Ryu. "This may be our last chance to gaze calmly at the moon."

RE: DETERMINED

Act 1, Chapter 01 - Reincarnated (生まれ変わり) - END