A-16
Prerequisite: Unlock A-15
Requirements: PM all Arcaea (free) songs (FTR and BYD difficulty) + Grievous Lady Tairitsu Level 30 + Fracture Hikari Level 30
A moment of silence came from both of the girls as they cried. Now how would they alter fate without his guidance? They couldn't do anything without him. They didn't know what to do. How do they even ascend to the sky? How do they even defeat this god when they were defeated before?
A shard fell from the sky and broke apart. As they heard it, they saw through it. It was a memory of a lavender haired girl who had fallen in her fight against the god.
She woke up long after having thought to be dead, killed by her very own enemy that wanted to kill everyone. Noticing her injuries, she knew that she was merely living on borrowed time, she could anytime fade away permanently. Weakened, she couldn't do anything. She remembered those words that she spoke against the god. But in truth, how would they defeat her?
The situation grew worse for those girls that she saw. They were brutally defeated by the god. Barely managing to live through the fight. They were the only ones who had the power of anomaly. She had placed all of her hopes on them. Were her hopes being dashed? No, she still had hope for them. She just needs to help them… She thought as she weakly grabbed a shard. Then she spoke towards the shard.
"This world as you may call it, Arcaea, had a will on its own long ago before she ruled it. This world invites us that deems us too unfortunate to pass on based on our previous lives. This senseless world's purpose was to replicate life from another world we lived in. However, when she ruled it, she made that a rule to this world that they should live isolated, in their own fantasy within countless shards. I do not understand her purpose for that… Everyone who had opposed the god had their purpose, to escape this fantasy world that the god desired the world to be. However, the god punished them with death… including my own soon… Within the forgotten constructs where I am, I beg you, please defeat the god."
She threw the shard far away from this place. The shard shot out of the forgotten constructs as it traveled to those she had placed her hopes on. Afterwards, she fell into the darkness once again.
Right after the memory ended, the girls began to float up to the sky. Presumably due to shard being imbued with the ability to bring the girls to the sky.
As they arrived, they stood on clouds, surrounded by nothing but light. But soon, the sky darkens as thunder could be heard. The sky continues to change between day and night every minute, alternating between raining, snowing and none. This phenomenon kept going on as they found the shard until they noticed an abnormal castle. As they approached, the sky started to turn red. What could all of this mean? As they opened the door, they were sucked into the castle and the door closed itself.
It was a trap. As soon they stood up, a red beam was directed at the girls. Hikari blocked the attack with her 'wings'. Then the god appeared. Unlike last time (A/N: In A-13, the god was a white silhouette which the girls could only see. See more in at end A/N.) the god's appearance could be seen clearly.
The god was a long and white haired woman with a differently coloured pair of eyes, white on her left and black on her right. She wore a crimson dress with a black veil and a blue flower as an ornament on her head. She has a mix of white, black and red crystals surrounding her waistline. She has a white beret with a blue ribbon attached to her waistline and a black parasol on her back.
As she walked toward the girls, she asked them, "Why do you continue to oppose me, what is your purpose of just living together with each other?"
"We are here to fulfil Alexandar's wish for us, to find out the truth of this world and to change our fate." Hikari declared her answer.
(Background Music: Chronostasis by Kurokotei/黒皇帝)
"You have so many answers, yet bold. Very well, before we fight, I'll give you this truth you seek to know. This world used to be an empty world filled with nothingness. As I first woke into this world, like you, I didn't know who I was, who I am in a blank world. Did I wake into a world that was completely destroyed? It was completely opposite as a voice told me that it was new. This world is new and I was the first to inhibit it. It told me to create a world however I saw fit using the shards. I did not design this world with my own imagination. As I used shards to build this world, the shards manifested itself into its own building. Why did it not listen to me? Do the shards have a free will? The voice claimed to have not known this too as it was just newly born. After tirelessly creating this world that you see today, I named this world as "Arcaea". And soon, the world shines, acknowledging its new name."
"When I 'created' this world, I had thought that it would recover my memories, however it did not. So as a means, I started to investigate the shards, every single one of them. Rather than helping me learn of myself, I learnt more about this world and its relation to shards. Shards contain past memories that happened from a person's previous life and they record today's moments. Knowing this, it has motivated me to find every shard that exists, only to find out that shards are endless. Still, it has not stopped me from finding out. As I grew to learn about myself, the world started to get strange. The world started to turn red. I did not know what these meant until I found a very strange shard. As I saw through it, I realised that this wasn't a past or present shard. That was a future shard that you seek to destroy. I grew more wary about the shards as I realized that they aren't so simple. As I kept looking through the shards, they started to form a pattern. This pattern concerns the future of this world that you are very concerned about. At the terminus, one of you will die to the other. This future always happens on repeat with your fates alternating with each other. And with that, I found The Beyond, which was said to grant godhood to this world, and my wishes. And with The Beyond with my possession, I gained control of this world!"
"Why did you want everyone here dead? And knowing that our fates are the same, why did you decide to leave it that way?" Tairitsu responded with a doubt.
"I want to remove all threats to my rule. When I became a god, my memories have finally returned to me. I knew who I was. Everyone who opposed me might have the power of the anomaly. And what would they do if they ruled this world? Either for selfishness like Shirahime, putting the world into chaos for Mir, and many, many more." After answering, the god immediately summoned red crystal shards and launched them towards the girls.
(Music ends)
The girls quickly dodged the attack. Then the god formed a sword using the shards.
"Did you know who was talking to me back then? It was him, the one you call him as Alexandar before he no longer a part of Arcaea. I may have not done much to the creation of this world, but he has done nothing to contribute. He only ordered. I deserve to rule this world more than him." The god angrily said as she charged towards Tairitsu.
Tairitsu parried the attack with her parasol. Hikari quickly took an offensive by launching shards at the god. For a moment, Hikari could see the entire place turn red before it went normal, with the god suddenly disappearing. Tairitsu was caught in Hikari's attack. Hikari immediately turned her back to block the god's incoming attack.
"You just used The Beyond to stop time didn't you?" Hikari asked the god. The god chuckled. "No, it was my power of anomaly. Unlike you, I have control over my own powers. As for The Beyond, It takes more effort to use its power. Let me demonstrate it to you!"
A Red Shard appeared on her hand. As she grabbed it, Tairitsu slashed the god from the back and Hikari then threw the god. The red shard then broke apart.
"Well done, you caught me off guard, however, I am not defeated yet. This shard was a mere replica anyway. It's time for me to use everything I got!" The god transformed. The shards that were surrounding her waistline grew larger as her skin and dress darkens. Her face now had black scars being visible to the girls.
Seeing this, the girls knew that they had no choice but to fully utilise their power, but the god quickly knocked them down.
"No, I won't let you do this. Your powers are never meant to be yours! It was meant to…" The god froze with the expression of being disturbed. Noticing this, the girls quickly opted for simple but quick attacks on the god, with the god barely noticing this by instinctively going on a defensive.
A few more attacks and the girls realized that the god was spacing out. Using this opportunity, Tairitsu called forth the tempest while Hikari called the heavens to empower themselves. (A/N: No, they did not transform to Angelic Priestess/Tempest form. They are in Fracture/GL form.)
In the meantime, the god was being reminded of something. Something unbelievable to herself which she kept denying. She continuously kept saying a single word of denial. It's impossible, This cannot be… She cannot be…
The time to be distracted is over. This was bad for her. She has to get more serious with this fight. They shall no longer threaten her and her rule of Arcaea! But before this… she felt the need to confess something.
"We never met each other during these alternate loops. Everything that happened here was because of that fight, the time traveling anomaly and Alexandar's appearance, started to diverge from this alternating fate. You were never meant to remember who you were in your previous lives. You were not supposed to have so much control of your power of anomaly. Alexandar was never supposed to exist, the two shards you saw are not supposed to exist at the same time and-" The god was interrupted by the crows attacking her as Tairitsu called black tornados on the god as Hikari summoned a beam of white light on the god, intending to burn the god. But then again, the entire place turned red as everything froze for a moment. At this moment, she chanted.
"The Beyond, grant me the power to distort and alternate this fate!" The entire place starts to glitch out then returns to normal. She expected the attack to backfire but...
The tornado and the beam of light collided at each other, negating their attacks instead. This was not what was supposed to happen. Hikari shot lazers with her wings while Tairitsu directed the crows to restrain the god from moving.
The god called forth of The Beyond once again to change this outcome. However, once again this did not go according to what she expected. She escaped from being restrained and the crows took Hikari's attack
She failed to notice a light that was glowing from the girls' chests each time she called The Beyond. Her dress slowly turned brighter as she got more exhausted.
The girls cannot afford to waste time any longer. They must settle this fight now! Hikari and Tairitsu called upon their strongest attack with their beam attacks. The god screamed as she called The Beyond's power once again.
The entire place turned red for the last time. The god has had enough with this strange power defying The Beyond's power. She merged her power of the anomaly with the Beyond to ensure that everything would go according to what she wanted. She experienced this same attack back then in the church of happiness. So this shouldn't fail.
The white and black beams turned red. This event started to turn into the god launching her beam attack at the girls. However, the same light from the girls' chest shone bright, reverting the god's manipulation of the events.
When this place returned back to normal, the god did not expect herself to be the victim of the attack. It was impossible. This god fell to the ground. Defeated, her dress now turned white. She couldn't get up now. So, the girls have managed to stop her, haven't they?
She called The Beyond's power to heal her, It did not work
She called her power of anomaly to heal her, It did not work
She called the shards she had to heal her, It did not work
In the end, nothing can save her. It's the end of her. Before she fades away, she speaks.
"Your rebellion against me to survive has paid off… You have defeated me and now I have lost my godhood. I neither have control of this world nor have control of The Beyond… No one would be able to rule this world ever again. But… Tairitsu, I hope you do not regret what you have done. By now… the last future shard you seek is merging with Arcaea's future… Heh… It's no longer possible to stop this fate… Hikari… I thought I had regained my memories when I gained my Godhood...but this battle made me remember everything…. Everything about myself… Everything now lies on you…" The god said her last words as she disappeared.
With the god's interference finally removed, the girls continued to find the last future shard. But...
(Background music: ? by ?)
(Will be revealed in the next chapter, Hint: It is an Arcaea original Song)
There lies at the end of their journey, A mysterious and reflective object that they were looking for.
Reward: Duo Partner
- You can now use 2 partners instead of one.
- When a song is played, both partners' skills will be used. If there are two skills that use different RR gauge (Example: Fracture Hikari's Overflow Gauge and GL Tairitsu's Hard Gauge), you can pick which gauge to use before the start and will take effect. It's clear type will be affected by the gauge used.
- Partner's stats will stack. Their stats will be added up before the song starts. (Partner 1's Frag stat + Partner 2's Frag stat= Overall Frag stat. This is the same for other stats)
Next Chapter: A-17 What needs to be settled.
Preview: There lies the end of their journey, the Beyond is within sight. With very little time left, the last shard starts to merge with the future. Hikari has decided to use the Beyond to destroy the 'future shard'. However, Tairitsu stood in her way with her declaration. How will everything end?
A/N: The Duo partner System is pretty broken (because of the combining stats) but I like the idea of using two partners at once. It seems pretty cool, especially when you have two skills activated at once. The additional skill I gave to Fracture Hikari and GL Tairitsu represents that shining light that made the girls become more unaffected by The Beyond which was given by Alexandar.
About the appearances, I didn't think about her appearance and Alexandar's until it was too late (well, almost too late for the god's case. Alexandar has finished his role as a narrator/deuteragonist in this fic.). This description is actually important (not one for one) in the endings which can be explained why. So do a fix, the god was seen as a white silhouette but was clearly seen as a woman on A-13.
About the truth of Arcaea, it's still 'new'. It was unknown at which point that this world will revert time back to the events of Eternal Core. The god mentioned that everything that happened in this fic was not supposed to happen. This means that this event has never happened in every time loop. The events that happen in the time loop were far too similar, with the only difference of who kills who when the girls reach 'the end' of Arcaea. One thing I would like to mention is that in the previous timeline (which Tairitsu saw in A-15), the world resetted time too early and that it was supposed to reset to the beginning, not during the events of Adverse Prelude which made Alternated Fate happen.
This chapter covers most of the truth of Arcaea. There is one thing left that will be covered in the next chapter. While the god separated basically everyone from each other because them being together will affect her rule, there is another reason why they should live alone.
For the next chapter, A-17, since this will be the last main chapter, I will try to make that one special compared to the rest of the chapters. One special trait about the next chapter I am spoiling is this: Excluding the endings, this chapter is the only chapter that is not narrated by Alexandar while having a chapter title.
Summer Hikari and Summer Tairitsu just came back for a limited time. If you did not have a chance to have them but own Auxesia, go get them!
There lies at the end of their journey, A mysterious and reflective object that they were looking for.
