The most sublime act is to set another before you.
"I…"
"I don't want to let go."
The Prince of the Demons sobbed into my tattered shirt, "Heh… Chara always called me a crybaby, huh?" My lips trembled but remained still, refusing to release a word. Finally, the chain around my heart… Was entirely gone, and the tightness as well. To love another truly, I first had to love myself… And the union of man and devil was far stronger than otherwise…
…
Mumbling into my shoulder, "Vergil… I haven't felt this way for a long, long time…" Me neither, all this time… Life has been a muted afterthought to becoming stronger by any means, and yet… The power would only come if I learned to love again… Isn't that ironic?
Finally parting from one another, both me and Asriel stood across from another, "Being soulless… I couldn't feel love, compassion, empathy… Anything besides spite and anger, only traits that didn't require a soul, that didn't require a heart… After traveling to the human village, both me and Chara had died. But I'd been resurrected as a flower of all things, and when I woke up, I called for my father, for Asgore… Haha, he was so happy to see me again… But what about me? I couldn't feel anything." He laughed and wiped a tear from his eye before plunging a claw deep into his new soul.
A magnificent oversoul composed of every soul in the underground, "But with their souls… I can feel again, I can love again… And not only this, I can feel their love for you, Vergil." My lips curled into a weary smile, the idea… Sublime.
"We never thought it would be possible to be loved, no?" I asked Asriel, noting how he smiled as if knowing what my words meant exactly.
A giggle, "You really were the only one who understood me,…" He still thought Chara didn't care about him, that she forgot him. I refused to allow him to believe such a thing, such a terrible horrible thing it is to be forgotten and left behind by those who love…
And so my eyes burned, "Chara never forgot you, Asriel."
…
It seems he realized this too…"I know I know, it would be pretty hard to tell that Flowey was me after all… But maybe that's just me making excuses." Looking to the floor, Asriel sighed at his admission.
Shaking his head, "But even still, she definitely hates me after all I've done to spit in her face…"
…
My face remained rigid, "Perhaps she does, I don't know how her mind truly works, and I won't offer you a false hope." Asriel full on belly-laughed at my on the nose statement.
Asriel laughed at my words, his voice like a heavenly echo… Of joyful and mirthful innocence, to think he and Flowey…
"That's so like you… Isn't it tiring, speaking like that?" He caught himself suddenly, "Oh, I didn't mean for that to sound rude…" Sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, Asriel… Was so unlike Flowey.
To think that… Flowey was where I was heading as well, I swore at that moment to never let myself become another Flowey. To never give in to the temptation of LOVE, or to deny my heart again.
Smirking, "Don't bother apologizing for what's not your fault."
The winds flushed through and against our skin, and golden petals swirled around us, reflecting a golden light upon our features and.
Asriel smiled somberly, his fur flourishing in the golden wind. "When I was Flowey and I first saw your LOVE, my first reaction was to think that you were just like me… That we were kin, two beings who'd kill each other without hesitation. But I was wrong, your LOVE was born out of necessity, whereas mine… Born from boredom… You even despite your LOVE, learned to accept love… And eventually, you learned to love, yourself."
But… my fists clenched, "I had help, help from the people around me… You were right before, Asriel."
He was right to say I was only following what I thought was right, instead of my heart… I know now that the heart is what will truly free me.
"I guessed that perhaps if I could possibly fill the void in my heart by following in the footsteps of my father, that maybe… I could once again love and let love… But that was shallow, born from a misunderstanding of the very concept. And yet… When I felt myself die… The friends who I made as a result of this misunderstanding, came and SAVED me instead, pushing me on… They made me realize what the heart truly meant."
And… Their love saved me from my weakness too…
Shaking his head, Asriel wiped a tear from his eye. "That's right… I wish I could tell you how much everyone loves you, even though they've only known you a short while… Heh, demons are weird. Some are mindless beasts, others are mindlessly devoted to the ones they love. They feel hope again, even if they can't understand why… You inspire them… It's just how they are." Almost irrational, far from the humans of the surface… Who were purely rational creatures, acting in their best interest…
Heh, "You got that right…"
Demon or man, today was a testament to the fact that either could change, that either could learn to love… Choose to love… For in the end, love was in the best interest of any.
But…
Still, the darkness could never truly rescind… "I'll never be able to forget the nightmares of my past." That was true, to deny this would be to deny who I was, the tragedy that brought me here today. Without them… I'd have no reflection, no comparison… No perspective.
"But… I don't need to continue looking back at them, not anymore… The future is brighter than the past is dark, and so I'll stare ahead… From now on."
Asriel nodded enthusiastically, "You're right, feeling everyone's hearts beating as one… Really changes your perspective huh?" He laughed humorously before staring at the floor.
His lips quivered, contemplating the action he was about to take.
Suddenly, the Prince of the Underground begins to channel his power, to channel… The souls themselves. "Nothing I'll ever do will make up for what I've done… But I can at least start with this…" The golden petals begin to swirl around him suddenly, his body beginning to hover and levitate in the air… Ascending.
His gaze hardened, "I'm going to give everyone their souls back, and…"
"There's no one I'd rather give the souls to than you… Vergil." My eyes widened in surprise… He's not serious is he?
But he was, Asriel merely smiled as he levitated into the air. "After that, you decide… It's up to you now, the ending of this story… And if you can SAVE me, then… I know you'll be able to SAVE them too!"
My features become panicked, "What about you! Asriel, you will not survive!" My hands tried to reach for him only for me to be blown back by an explosion of wind and pearlescent light.
Asriel is standing at the center, curling in on himself "Then that will be my choice, friend." His roaring voice cut through the wind, echoing through this world of void and striking me harder than any blow.
A determined glare etched across his features suddenly as his eyes opened, his teeth shaking and the ground vibrating with energy as he prepared to release everything… Tearing apart his own soul in the process.
Spreading his arms to the side, Asriel's body began to EXPLODE with the souls leaving from every corner of his being, creating a cyclone of raw energy. The thousands of black demonic souls erupting from him covered every corner of this world, a testament to his final power… His final sacrifice.
Winds flourished over me in this golden world, the six human souls ejecting from Asriel's body and beginning to orbit around him before one by one coming next to me, lifting me into the air as this golden world of flowers shifted and warped into a new one. Gradually each soul absorbed into mine, a chorus of light and pearlescent rays swirling around the pinnacle of a single being.
JUSTICE
KINDNESS
BRAVERY
PATIENCE
PERSEVERANCE
INTEGRITY
These tenants flooded into my being, rainbow lightning crackling and arcing across my body as the souls conjoined as one inside my own cambion soul. The essence of my being bolstered by theirs, their words, their presence.
"Howdy there pardner, finally… It be over then?"
"You were so brave out there!"
"You really gave him a run for his money even with all of us, epic man."
"... Thank you for saving us mister..."
"Wow… Even with the equivalent of seven human souls, your power was still enough to win. Incredible."
"Another integrity soul hm? How curious, your trait and mine are the same, Vergil."
Their feelings, their aspirations, their traits… All flowing through me at once and giving me a fuller perspective, the golden flowers parted as my soles landed in their midst once again.
But…
The winds calmed and both me and Asriel were once again across from another.
We had to face this tragedy… once again.
"I won't be able to come with you." Asriel finally admitted as the light faded away, revealing my form with nothing changed from before.
But for all this power… My heart was breaking.
Sighing and shaking his head, "Without the souls, I won't be able to feel soon… Eventually I'll turn back into a flower, and I can't put mom and dad through losing me again." As much as I hated to admit it, he was correct. My eyes wearily lowered.
"So in the end, I was too weak to save you after all…" A devil cried, even if just a little; I didn't want to say goodbye to a brother again.
He smiled suddenly with a small sweat, "Hey! Chara's coming back, isn't she? Your soul, your love, your LOVE, it all went into her empty soul… Bringing her back from death, at least she'll be able to see them again… And after all I've done… She deserves it more than I do anyways."
Asriel… It wasn't your fault… But I knew he had to hear that from Chara, not me.
Rolling his eyes at his 'foolish' actions, "I was fully on board with her plan… But I still screwed it up at the last second…" Shaking his head and wiping the tears, Asriel didn't sense me come closer.
For the second time that day, my arms curled around a fuzzy-goat demon. Silencing his self-deprecation, Asriel released the breath he was holding.
The first embrace was for forgiveness… The second was for gratitude.
"Heh… You're gonna make me cry again Verg, when did you become so touchy?"
The truth is, I was always the brother who wanted to be held when we were younger… Whereas Dante was content with doing his own thing, I wished for the embrace of our Mother… Asriel need not blame himself for Chara and his mistakes, they will learn to reprieve….
Taking my amulet out of my tattered shirt, I showed Asriel its golden glimmering shine… His eyes widening, "Is that…" Tears drench his fur once more, he realizes that…
"I once had a brother as well, and no matter how much he angered me needlessly, how much he annoyed me, how much he disappointed me…" I clutched the amulet twice as hard.
"I always looked forward to our quirreling."
"Ah…" His red eyes cleared, smiling.
But all good things… Must come to an end.
Parting from one another wordlessly, Asriel wiped his tears again. "I can't believe I let you make me cry again…" He giggled, retreating backwards into the golden light.
For a small moment, we allowed the silence to sooth the wind. But without the souls… Asriel would soon be lost once again, a fact that threatened to draw tears from me; I was tired of it…
His red eyes filled with moisture, "... I really don't want to go, but I'll only hurt everyone if I stay…"
My eyes wearily shut, I wasn't ready to say goodbye either… Not to him, not to a brother… Not again. How could this happen? Am… Am I not strong enough to save him? Could I not give him a part of my own soul???
…
It seemed Asriel was the stronger of us… He faced his death without fear…
The Prince was standing there with the golden petals flowing around him like a suit of armor, "So, this is goodbye now Vergil, take care of Chara for me, won't you? I know you can…" The entire world fell away into golden petals, swirling around the Demon Prince before finally…
"You're the strongest…"
Asriel was gone.
Missing his presence already, even if I SAVED him… I couldn't save him, for all my powers… I could not create a soul, I could not create life.
However, In his place, the golden petals revealed another… Twin red eyes, a permanent blush on both cheeks, an ear to ear grin. The single soul who'd after all this time, had always been right next to me.
From the golden petals descended an angel, both her hands clasped together as the world fell away into pitch darkness. Finally, Chara was grounded and her crimson red soul was fully filled, brimming with love. My sorrow melted into a happy sigh, Asriel was gone… But in his stead was my best friend.
"Howdy, Vergil." The way she spoke was odd, robotic in a way.
"Thank you." I was the one who should've been thanking her.
"Your power… Brought me back to life."
"Your cambion soul…"
"My determination…"
"With our combined efforts, we made it through to this point. And now you have the power of a God…"
That's right, I can feel the souls in my chest thrumming with an endless power combined with my cambion soul, not even Mundus could defeat me now…
"When I woke up back then… I was so confused, so scared, so empty. My true feelings were lost on me, but even then I tried to desperately cling onto the feelings I'd remembered so strongly… And eventually, as I grew alongside you. So did my heart." Chara stared out through the vast darkness, she was the only thing visible to me.
"Together, we gave them happiness… Hope, we spared our friends and they grew to love you…"
Her smile widened fervently, "Now, we've reached the end of this tale… What do you say, partner… Shall we save everyone and move on to the next ptecicipe?" Holding out her hand to me, the ground dragged as she got closer… As I got closer.
My soul was saved, "I couldn't have done it without you… My dear friend… You SAVED me." Her permanent blush deepened, closer and closer.
"Maybe… But you did this alone, you saved my brother alone. Don't pretend like that isn't incredible, Verg, I won't let you." Intertwining our fingers, innocent hands clasped together.
Our touch evolved into a tight-knit hold, my bare arms snaking around her back, pressing my face tightly into her collarbone. Words couldn't express what I felt at the moment, what I've been feeling for a long time…
There was a warmth now, her body fully materialized now… Finally reborn. Chara began to shake suddenly, as if wracked with emotion.
Her breaths were sporadic, "Hehe… You always were a sensitive one aren't you? I saw your memories, you always looked to your mother for attention… Something she withheld to make you stronger." She hugged me around the neck, resting her head atop of mine.
Two humans… "I love you, Vergil… As long as you hold me in your heart, we'll be together forever… Okay?" Nodding into her collarbone with no response, our embrace seemed to last an eternity. But the most exhilarating thing….Something I couldn't see, touch, or even feel…
"The greatest thing you'll ever know… Is invisible."
There was one last job to do, but for the moment… I just wanted to be held and protected, that's all… that's alI I ever wanted.
Joys upon our branches sit,
Chirping loud and singing sweet;
Like gentle streams beneath our feet
Innocence and virtue meet.
Thou the golden fruit dost bear,
I am clad in flowers fair;
Thy sweet boughs perfume the air,
And the turtle buildeth there.
There she sits and feeds her young,
Sweet I hear her mournful song;
And thy lovely leaves among,
There is love, I hear his tongue.
There his charming nest doth lay,
There he sleeps the night away;
There he sports along the day,
And doth among our branches play...
"Vergil. Wake up. Psst… Wake up Verg, little Vergillll… I can see a smile… Don't make me kick your ribcage again." My smile quickly morphed into terror, the tiredness leaving my body instantly.
"Do not… Touch…" My body was sore beyond belief and quickly repairing itself, the adrenaline finally crashing. However the souls fueled my regeneration to even greater heights.
"Then get up, everyone's here…"
Rubbing my eyes, I pushed myself up and Chara used her strength to help me until I could stand on my own two feet.
We were back inside the barrier, its infinitely cascading and piercing monolithic hum just as strong as ever. But this time, everyone was here… Their bodies littered across the infinite expanse, the entire population of demons was here with us… Sleeping, their souls returned.
And they were beginning to wake, one after another the many denizens of this underground prison began to stand, looking to one another for support in this abrupt change of scenery… Their senses were shocked at the sudden change, at the sudden resurrection.
But still… a Frogit helped an elderly Whimsun, the Snowdrake family supported one another as well, these people leaned on one another to get by in life… They were stronger this way.
Me and Chara made our way through the crowds of recently awoken demons, murmurs beginning to echo around us as some of the older demons recognized her pale rosy cheeks and red eyes. Her hand tightened around my own, desperately.
"Is that… The princess?"
"Princess? When did we have a princess, much less a human princess!?!"
"The first human that fell down…"
"Chara Dreemurr."
She stepped closer to me trying to make herself appear smaller, "I need to apologize to them for what I've done… For getting me and Asriel killed…" Finally admitting to herself, Chara was terrified of facing her parents… Terrified of them hating her.
Her voice was small, "I always knew that they loved Asriel more than me…"
That couldn't be true… But then again, neither of the Dreemurr's mentioned their children… A sorrow too great, maybe that instilled a doubt in Chara all this time?
She sighed, "It never bothered me that much, he was their biological son after all… But it was my plan to go to the surface to begin with, so it's my fault… He died.." After all this time, Chara still hasn't forgiven herself… I suppose that makes her and Asriel more alike…
My hand merely held hers tighter.
"Didn't she and the Prince head to the surface long ago… The night of tears… You know the thing they talk about in the history books."
"Mhm."
Their whispers were thundering to the now human girl who was now in full view to everuone, even as the demons parted in our wake towards the front of the crowd… Chara was still scared, after so long of being invisible to everyone…
They all saw her now.
"Yo!"
A familiar demon jumped in the way of our gait, tripping over his tail and falling flat onto his face.
But this time… I was there to help him, bringing the child up when he fell down and brushing him off. Monster Kid was stunned into silence…
His eyes averted, "I just wanted to say that… Wow, I suck at this huh!" Babbling at me just like he did once upon a time, MK sighed suddenly.
"Sorry, I'm just er, sorry for running from you… I know what you did was an accident but I was so scared, and you were part human… You were supposed to be a bad guy but… You SAVED all of us didn't you?" His tail wagged when my nod confirmed his suspicion.
"Wow… So cool! I guess humans aren't so bad after all…" Chara snorted at that, not realizing that MK could see her now.
The demon child waddled over to her, "Oh, Yo dude… You look like a weird demon, where'd you come from?" Chara was frightened out of her laugh, staring down at the shorter kid.
"Oh… Well I came from the surface, I'm a human too." A puzzled query followed, but Chara seemed to enjoy his incessance.
"Really?"
"Really really."
"Wow… Two really's, okay I believe you."
Chara smiled.
The wind from the barrier cascaded over our bodies as we trudged onwards through the ocean of demons, each one wondering what had happened and looking towards their king for an answer. Papyrus and Sans were off in the distance with some of the Snowdin residents, while Alphys was with the amalgamates and their families. It seemed like everyone was here…
But my first stop was Asgore.
"I can't quite describe what happened my friends, there was a bright light and suddenly… Darkness… Tori, do you know?"
"Don't Tori me Dreemurr, and no… Of course not, how would I know?"
"Hey watch it lady, I don't care if you're the ex-queen or not you don't treat Asgore like that!"
"No… She's right Undyne, leave her be."
"But…"
Coughing into my fist, all heads turned to me suddenly causing Chara to cover herself… She was afraid of their reactions, afraid of what they'd say. She averted her eyes and face, scrying away.
Undyne was the first to approach me, snaking an arm around my neck and pulling me into a headlock… "Hey punk, you won didn't you?"
Against whom, she didn't know… Only that the flower has disappeared, and it would remain unknown until…
"Of course I did!" Prying her hold away, my eyes narrowed at her before falling into a smirk. Undyne seemed to think she was so untouchable, and it was admirable… She was admirable.
To show my appreciation…
I hugged her quickly before teleporting past her, "W-what the hell was that punk!" Her face contorted into a mix of shock and rage, ignoring her indignation I made my way to the King and Queen.
Dodging a spear, "Toriel, Asgore." Addressing the demon royalty, my presence caused them to snap out of whatever argument they were partaking in.
Toriel smiled suddenly, a departure. "Oh my child, I'm sorry for ignoring you… You must have gone through a great ordeal just now, yes?" I merely nodded, Asgore had chosen to remain silent once again…
She put an arm on my shoulder, "I'm so proud of you… When you first stepped in the ruins, I recalled seeing such a dour expression on your beautiful innocent face… It broke my heart, you see." She gasped as I lurched forward suddenly, wrapping my arms around her and burying my face in her dress.
My voice was muffled, "Thank you Toriel… For being the first person in so long to be truly kind…" Shocked by my sudden show of affection, Toriel smiled warmly and held me tightly in return.
"Oh my child, I always knew that there was good in you… And I'm sorry I doubted you, I should've accompanied you to the capital all this time…" Shaking my head, my voice was tinier than before.
"No. I'm thankful, I would not have met so many incredible individuals in my journey if you'd merely held my hand the whole way."
Toriel giggled, "I forget how wise you are dear boy."
Departing from her embrace, I look to the King and then back to Toriel. "I have something to show you two, make haste." Not a dire request, but one I was eager to fulfil anyways.
The crowd parted as I pulled both of them towards my destination, Chara coming into sight gradually as more and more demons fell away to reveal her, she had her back turned to us. Auburn hair draped down her body, her fists were balled.
Chara was shaking.
The world slowed to a stop, Toriel and Asgore suddenly stopped following me in their shock. Red eyes shaking and quivering at the sight of their lost child; Asgore reached out to her, almost as if she was a mere apparition… Something that would leave with the slightest disturbance.
And as tears began to flow uncontrollably from Toriel's eyes, drenching her fur as she stared silently… The two Dreemurr's took one step forward, afraid that even the slightest movement would dispel her appearance.
"Chara?" Flinching as if struck, the human in question lowered her head. My feet stayed put as Toriel and Asgore were in a near stasis, as if any movement could dispel this illusion.
Her voice was dejected, cold. "I know… I know you might have mixed feelings about seeing me…"
She turned around, still looking to the ground, tears quickly falling. "But I just want you to know that, I'm so, so sorry… I'm so sorry and appalled that I let… I let my best friend die, your son…" Fruitlessly wiping her tears away, Chara nearly keeled over and released the entirety of the pressure in her throat.
She stuttered, "I d-don't know if you'll ever be able to forgive me… But… But I-" In a quick burst of movement, they both wrapped the small girl in a hug… Instantly forgetting their feud, instantly forgetting their sorrows.
"Oh Chara… My beautiful little girl… You've come back to us…!" Toriel cried out, the Dreemurr family combined their tears as one… As Chara felt her blush burn ten times as bright, the tears soaking her face so entirely.
"I t-thought-thought you'd be enraged with me…" Her voice cracked more than I'd ever heard before, shaking violently.
"I killed your son…"
Asgore spoke next with tears in his heavy eyes, "I know that could never be true my dear princess, I know…" His baritone cracked ever so slightly, the pent up sorrow from all these years… Chara's was squished between him and Toriel… Their overwhelming embrace enlists a whole varied level of emotion.
"The fact that you're here right now… Is all that matters." Toriel finished, her voice shivering just as much.
The reunited family wept for their lost daughter returning, a child found… It was a beautiful sight, one I was happy to see with my own two eyes. Their mirth rolling in waves, their joy infectious…
It seemed that everyone was happy… Except one.
I swore in the corner of my eye, Asriel was standing there smiling at us… But he was gone too soon, I could only smile wearily at his escaping image.
My heart was blaring so loudly with emotion, emotions that have been locked away for so long… But now, I feel them all again… I've escaped this path of torment and now?
The people I care for are happy again… I'll never be able to forget what happened that day, the pain, what was lost… But…
I've gained back something… Just as special.
Chara's sobs continued for some time after that, all of demon kind rejoicing as the princess of the underground…
Had returned.
Everyone was mingling again, celebrating the victory of a battle they knew not the details of… Merely celebrating that I'd saved them all, no more merely a warrior… But a hero to these people. They looked at me with awe and admiration, something I never thought deserved.
Chara and her parents didn't leave another, almost as if they were afraid she'd disappear if they let her out of sight. But it was for the best, it seemed that… They loved her very much, just as much as they loved Asriel… After all.
Although Chara thought that she, a human, could never be forgiven… Just like her brother, she was proven false. Her adopted parents took her into their arms without hesitation, cherishing her every breath, alive…
"My dear girl, how is this possible? How can you be back? Here with us?" Wiping her tears with his paw, Asgore gave the human girl his patented soft smile.
Chara sniffled, smiling. "Well, that's a long story… But the gist is, Vergil… Vergil saved me, he brought me back."
She continued, "And he made me realize what truly mattered in this world." Familiar words, she caught my gaze and directed her parent's as well.
Asgore and Toriel locked eyes with me, gratefulness etched across their features. "Oh what a blessing you've been to this world Vergil, how could we ever repay you?" Toriel rubbed her eyes, and to which her question had only one answer…
"I require nothing… You all have already given me so much." My voice was just as it had always been, only slightly lighter…
But blue eyes beheld the true feelings, "You have no place asking me such things, so stand tall… Especially you Asgore." My gaze settled squarely on the King's shocked face.
He was not a bad person.
"You must learn to forgive yourself, if it's not too much a burden… That is my only request…" Asgore shut his eyes tightly, absorbing what I'd said with a mournful gaze.
"Then… Grant me one request in turn."
"Anything."
"Tell us all your name, you've told me… But everyone here deserves to know their saviour as well."
All around me murmurs began to erupt, the name of their saviour… Who I really was, the name I'd only allowed a few to know… And so gazing around me, dozens of demons, some familiar, some new… They all stared at me, waiting for the answer.
My lips trembled, "My name…"
"My name is Vergil… The eldest son of Sparda."
For a small while, nothing was said. The only sound being the wind rolling off the barrier in waves….The dark of night shining through the barrier, the name meant everything and nothing… The possibility of a future, but the reality of lost hope… Sparda was a name that demon kind neither cherished nor hated, he was a proposition… An idea, one that had never come to fruition…
But, now? I was here in his stead.
"Have our prayers finally been answered?" A quiet hope.
"After all these years, I never thought I'd see the day…"
"Woof, so… What now?"
They were trepid, weary of the moniker… It seemed too good to be true, that Sparda's son would one day save them all… How could they believe that after all this time? How could they believe that I, a mere child, could free them all?
Well…
There was only one answer to this.
Locking eyes with Chara, we nodded in agreement simultaneously. My head turned to the barrier itself, so cold and so daunting a task it was to even look upon it… But face it I would.
Stepping forward with a heavy gait, the people around me dispersed gradually, all staring at me as they saw the determination in my eyes… They felt their souls light up with a hope so far gone. A beacon in the darkness, my very aura lit up the cave and embraced the ascending sun.
Finally, sunlight begins to shed through the barrier… Chasing away all darkness as the dim brightness kisses against my pale skin, shadowing my silhouette as I reach the very front of this congregation where the rest await an answer that will never come, the only answer I could give was an action…
"hey kid, you did it huh?" Sans started first, hands in his pockets and smiling as per usual.
"Yes… I have done it, but there is one more trial at hand." Papyrus looked around urgently.
"WHERE? SURELY THERE CAN'T BE MORE BAD GUYS."
There would be none… Merely the end of an area, one last summit.
I simply stared ahead, locking eyes with Sans and nodding in acknowledgment. And for the first time since I've met him… Sans stopped smiling, his skeletal features morphing into one of shock as he realized just what I was about to.
But the smile was just as quickly back again. "you can do this, we all believe in ya kiddo." Nodding, I took a step beyond the precipice of this collective, the many eyes of demons on my back at once. I could feel them shining as one, hearts beating collectively.
My form silenced by the almighty barrier, a construction so tall and massive that I was an ant in comparison. The sun's rays cascaded down through the barrier warming my skin and causing me to release a sigh of comfort, turning towards the many peoples and persons I've met in my journey… They seemed to treat the barrier as an insurmountable entity, their muted whispers and murmurs heralding it as hopeless to ever overcome.
Shutting my eyes, I turned back to the sun. Raising a single hand to the sky, the Yamato suddenly flashes into existence by my will; the world silences, murmurs, and cheers…
Examining the blade with an appreciating gaze, my eyes shut while holding the Yamato to my head. The first prized heirloom I'd ever received from my father, I was so glad to have it back with me… But not because I was powerless, but because of how it represented who my father really was… A hero.
"Within me… Flows his blood, but more importantly… His soul…"
Nodding and pushing onwards again, the Yamato was unsheathed and its scabbard was tossed to the wind. A crescendo of murmurs and whispers chorusing with the wind flowing around my body, taking the Yamato in both of my hands, cradling it like a delicate friend. My lungs expanded as I raised the devilarm to the sky.
Breathe
Breathe
Breathe
The sun kissed my face, and my eyes closed. Diving deeply into the heart, conscience ebs into lucid reality. Witnessing the six human souls, each one unique, each one once a person… they all called out to me. Each one thanking me for this, for finally freeing them from this mortal realm… They agreed to my plan almost instantly.
The strength of humanity, not the strength of a devil, is what would save everyone on this day. My will to free them, to let them move on to the next life… For without them, I would not be standing here today.
Silence pervaded over the entire world as I stood against the barrier, a light suddenly coalescing from my body… Not one of dark blue, but of multiple. One by one, the souls dispelled from my being, beginning to orbit around me through their own will… Not forced.
With my blade still raised, and my eyes still shut tight… I called to them, requesting their assistance one last time. My hands trembled, lips releasing an amending tribute to settle nerves and embolden resolve.
"Every night… And every morn, some to misery are born."
"Every morn, and every night… Some are born to sweet delight."
"And some, to endless night."
"We are led to believe a lie."
"When we see not through the eye… Which was born in the night to perish in a night…"
"But when a soul sleeps in beams of light…"
"God appears, and God is light…"
"To these poor souls who dwell in light, but does a demon's form display…"
"To those who will live…-"
"-In the day."
It was time to give them back their light.
The ground begins to shake, an immediate telling of my next step… A promise to the future! The winds flushing through all around me and filling my bones, pearlescent splendour.
The Yamato BOOMS into a flashing tornado of flaming energy, growing taller and taller as the blade crackled before silently coming together in a calm pyre. The pearlescent shine cascading across all of demon kind, the winds crashing over their bodies and filling them with a hope they remembered.
The light rescinded, condensing around the edge of my blade until finally contained in the Yamato, every soul with my own power coalescing. The winds died, the shining light quieted. And with an entire race watching my back, watching my stance…
And for all of a moment, everything was still as I held my treasured blade against the chains of an entire race, its edge thrumming with all the power one could ever need. And for a moment… I recalled my father's last words to me, with his dying breath. The words that for all this time, remained locked away inside the deepest corner of my heart… Finally unchained to be heard again.
"Son."
My hands itched.
"With this sword."
My breath hitched.
"You… shall do…"
My eyes opened.
"Great wonders…"
My eyes turn on fire-
The Yamato blade impacted against the ground, my hands tearing it down in a single, instantaneous stroke so powerful and immeasurable that the very idea of this eternal chain split in half. The light of seven human souls acting as one cascading across the barrier and rending deeply into its manifestation, the entirety of which began to crumble, to crack, to mourn and to wane. The strength of man, the heart of a demon, this chain that does freeze their bones around… Warmed by the very humanity that bound them for so long, lightning crackled and winds cascaded! all their hopes, all their dreams, coalescing into a single moment… A single act.
And then… and only then…
Did the barrier break.