Opening: Polaris by BLUE ENCOUNT
After marveling at the World Spear for a brief period of time, the Slayer took initiative as he began making his way down the steps towards a platform that hung over the water. Tanjiro quickly followed behind him, attempting to look through the thick fog that hindered their sight. Tanjiro had goosebumps covering his entire body as his hairs stood tall for reasons unknown. It was as if something terrifying was watching him from a distance yet it felt so close. The Slayer felt a similar way but he paid no attention to it as he looked around from the edge of the platform, discerning whether they're supposed to be swimming towards the World Spear or not.
They both heard whispers surrounding them as Tanjiro felt a cold chill travel through his body. He didn't know what it was but he was on high alert due to the sensations he was feeling. The whispers continued ringing in their ears, it was impossible to tell where it was coming from. They looked towards the ocean in front of them once they heard movement in the water and watched in awe as a long stone bridge emerged in front of them. The water spilled along the side of the bridge as the pavement was drenched from it's exposure to the water for so long.
Tanjiro and the Doom Slayer looked at each other, nodding in agreement as they stepped onto the bridge and began carefully traversing it. Even as they passed along the bridge, they still couldn't see the World Spear in front of them, it seemed like they would be walking for ages before they got to it. The scenery was surreal and somewhat horrifying for Tanjiro. The boy was able to see the silhouettes of large corpses in the distance. Whenever the boy looked up, he would see an Aurora hanging above stopped once they heard more movement in the water, causing them to look around frantically as they tried to identify the source of the movement. There, they could see something large moving underneath the bridge as a large tentacle rose from the water before submerging back inside. The Slayer cautioned, "Stay right behind me."
Tanjiro nodded, not taking the man's warning lightly as he asked, "What was that?"
"I don't know. Presumably the judge as only those who are deemed worthy can move to the World Spear."
"Wait a minute, have you ever been here before?"
"No, this is my first time."
"Ah." Tanjiro gulped, not wanting to make a sarcastic or snarky remark at that moment as he was even more uncertain than before if this was a first time for the Slayer. He just had to follow the warrior's lead and not fall behind.
They could soon hear a waterfall up ahead. They weren't sure what to expect as they continued down the stone bridge. It didn't take too long until they were at the edge of the waterfall where the stone bridge connected to another, more refined bridge. In-between the two structures were two jagged and opposing arches with a strange eye-shaped pattern covering them. As their eyes traced up the arches, they widened once they realized how much closer to the World Spear they were now as they were able to better define its features. They could hear the distant flaps and roars of other Sentinel Dragons hovering around the large chunk of ice. So this must've been where all the dragons retreated to once the war broke out.
Without delaying any further, the two allies made their way down the secondary bridge that connected to the World Spear. Tanjiro looked over the bridge briefly to see how steep the drop was and he was barely able to see the water down below. Tanjiro didn't normally fear heights but the drop made him feel uneasy so he did himself a favor and elected to keep his eyes straight ahead.
They were now approaching the entrance to the World Spear which consisted of a large, similarly patterned, eye-shaped gate. In front of the large gate stood two, large, armored spirits that stood at attention with their spears overlapping one another. Once the two allies reached the slope leading up to the gate, the Slayer ushered Tanjiro to stay behind, unsure whether the spirits were hostile or not. As the man ventured up the slope, the two spirits withdrew their spears, granting access to the entrance behind them. Tanjiro cocked his head as he pointed out, "I guess we're worthy…?" before quickly catching up with the Hellwalker.
After passing the two spirits and approaching the gate, the eye-shaped door began separating as it split apart to grant the two warriors passage into the World Spear. What was on the other side was something neither of them were expecting. After passing through the large doors, Tanjiro's jaw slightly dropped as he looked around the gigantic megastructure they were inside. This was not, at all, a natural formation. This was hand-crafted by something. Covering the thick ice walls of the World Spear were hundreds upon thousands of large capsules, each containing a dormant creature in hibernation. There were various bridges and support beams connected to a central structure that took up the space within the middle of the World Spear. It was a large tower made up of various sections, each of them spherical in shape. The ground they stood upon was a type of grass not native to any of the worlds they've ventured to before as the grass pathway led up to a habitat up ahead.
Tanjiro stood in disbelief as he pointed out, "What are those things?" The boy pointed at the capsules covering the walls of the structure. The Slayer looked closely at the dormant creatures and recognized them immediately as he responded:
"Those are Wraiths waiting to be awakened, from what I can tell." Tanjiro raised his eyebrows in shock, taking in the fact that he was finally seeing a Wraith for the first time. They were nothing like he had imagined, they surpassed his expectations. While Tanjiro looked around, fascinated at the sight around him, the Slayer was focused on the central tower and identifying where the power source he needed was. He was able to see a large opening a few stories above them with several platforms extending from the large section. It was worth checking out. "We need to get up there." The Slayer informed as he pointed to the section he was referring to. Tanjiro spotted it right away and nodded in agreement as the two ventured into the habitat to get closer to the central tower.
The Slayer and Tanjiro fired their respective hooks towards the edge of the platform as the metallic hook dug into the ground. With minimal effort, Tanjiro and the Slayer were able to pull themselves up onto the platform, spending a few minutes climbing the large structure in order to get to the top. This was indefinitely not the ideal way to scale the tower but they were left with no choice or time. After Tanjiro was pulled onto the platform with Flynn's help, they looked toward the middle of the section they were in. There were numerous pillars supporting the upper half of the structure. The ground, the pillars, and even the floor shared the same eye-shaped pattern. The boy was starting to get more unsettled by the consistent eye-shaped pattern, it gave him the feeling that he was being watched at all times and considering where they're at, he wouldn't be surprised.
Within the center was a well with a large, blue crystal that was the size of Tanjiro's arm, hovering above it. A steady blue light radiated from the well as it beamed through the crystal and pointed towards the ceiling. Upon approaching the crystal, both Tanjiro and the Doom Slayer realized that the pillars surrounding them were more than structural support. Within them, they could see more Wraiths residing inside. These pillars were also acting as hibernation capsules for the creatures inside.
The Slayer made his way towards the crystal to retrieve it. As he walked towards it, a voice that the Slayer is familiar with called out to him, "At last, you have returned… Do you know what you have done?" The Slayer clenched his fist, hand hovering over the demonic crucible as he turned around to face the person slowly approaching him. Tanjiro took a step back in uncertainty as he was unnerved by the appearance of the creature entering the room.
It was a large and grotesque purple creature with long arms as well as no discernable legs. The creature was mostly devoid of any identifiable flesh as it's bones were mostly exposed. It had an angular brain and a glowing yellow eye in the center of its face. Within the ribcage of it's torso was a disgusting yellow eye. Lastly, it's wings were made of neon purple feathers. This was Samur, the former Chancellor of the Khan Maykr who had previously aided the Doom Slayer in his battle. However, once the Slayer's true intent was revealed to resurrect the Dark Lord, Samur retaliated, deforming into his original form due how sickly he had become. He has since been unable to recover.
The Slayer said nothing to the Maykr as he proceeded towards the crystal. Samur complained, "He has destroyed everything, spreading his influence across the universe while you hid from your own actions. You dare return after what you've done?" After saying that, the pillar capsules surrounding them unsealed as all of the air stored inside was released. The lids faded away, letting out the rest of the built-up air inside, obscuring the Wraiths inside. Tanjiro backed up towards the edge of the platform, unsure of what was going on right now. Soon, the hibernating Wraiths awakened as their arms reached outside the capsule to grab on for support and push themselves out.
The Wraiths revealed themselves to be somewhat tall and extremely slender creatures which possess six pincer arms and spiked tentacles for legs. Their bony-skin was pale blue with an exposed ribcage that held a bright red orb. Their faces varied wildly as some had discernable eyes while some did not. Each Wraith had their own, unique, pair of horns that jut out in various directions. They all shared the same set of sharp teeth, each tooth shaped like a fang. The Wraiths spoke with a distorted tone, not as mystical as Samur's, "You have enslaved our species and trespassed into the World Spear. You will be terminated immediately!"
In that instant, the Wraiths all lunged towards Samur who flapped his wings intensely to fly outside of the room. The Wraiths chased after the Maykr, unleashing their power as they charged towards him and began unleashing beams of energy from their chest. As the Wraiths battled Samur, Tanjiro ran up to the Doom Slayer, who nonchalantly snagged the crystal, and asked, "Shouldn't we stop the Wraiths from getting hurt?"
Flynn shrugged his shoulders, discarding the power source he desperately needed to power the Gate of Divum as he explained, "And help Samur? You've gotta be kidding me."
"No! That's not what I mean! but isn't fighting, right now, counter-productive?! Wouldn't it be more beneficial if we all worked together instead of against each other?!"
"Samur isn't going to help."
"Then we can at least stop the Wraiths from getting hurt!"
"Tanjiro, now isn't the time to-!" He was cut off by the boy running towards the ledge so he can get a better view of the battle taking place above.
Samur ascended the World Spear as he released several, purple projectiles from his hands and fired it towards the Wraiths who quickly evaded the attack and continued pursuing the Maykr. They spread out, quickly surrounding the Maykr and charging in once more as they unleashed bright beams of blue energy from their chests. Samur zoomed out of the way as the beams of energy came in contact with one another, creating a large explosion which created a powerful shockwave that blasted into Tanjiro down below.
Tanjiro peaked out from the ledge, finding the creatures fighting up above and shouting as loud as he could, "HEY!" Unfortunately, they were too far away to hear him despite his efforts. Tanjiro bit his lip as he looked up at the tall structure and began formulating a plan. He was going to have to get higher up the structure if he wanted them to hear him. Knowing this, the boy pointed the meathook of the Super Shotgun upwards and began scaling the tower. The Slayer peaked out and watched as the boy began clawing his way up the structure and using the Meat Hook to pull himself up. The Slayer groaned as he fired his grappling hook to follow after the boy, refusing to leave him to his own antics. As Tanjiro scaled the tower, he kept shouting at the creatures in a futile attempt to grab their attention. As a result, he kept climbing even higher. He wasn't going to stop until he was able to grab their attention.
Samur back-handed one of the Wraiths that got close to him. However, he wasn't fast enough to stop the second Wraith that closed in and pierced the Maykr with it's spiked limbs. Samur placed his hands on the Wraith that tackled him and began releasing energy onto the skin of the Wraith, incinerating the flesh and blasting the creature away to free himself. The Wraiths charged in at once while Samur prepared to evade again. However, they were all stopped by the rapidly approaching Argent Axe that spun in-between them and boomeranged back to Tanjiro who was desperately hanging onto the Super Shotgun with one hand which had it's meathook digging into another part of the structure. The boy yelled, "That's enough! I get that you Wraiths have been wronged by the Maykrs but aren't you all missing the point?! We share a mutual enemy in the Dark Lord! It doesn't matter which of you dies right now because the Dark Lord is the one who ends up winning! Yes, the Maykrs enslaved you but don't you think the Dark Lord will do the same once he has the chance?! And as far as I understand, the Maykrs have just as much reasoning to resent the Dark Lord! We should be working together instead of fighting one another, that's how we'll survive!"
The Wraiths prepared to interject but were silenced by a third party who made themselves known as a deep and distorted voice chimed in, "The boy is correct, you would be wise to heed his words." Everyone looked around the World Spear to identify the source of the voice, they had never heard it before. The Slayer, who was only a couple meters behind Tanjiro and had almost caught up, vaguely recognized the voice from many years ago. Could it be…?
A black and distorted sphere formed near all of them, floating between the creatures fighting outside and the two warriors clinging to the tower. The voice returned, this time, from the sphere, "If given a chance, Davoth will exploit the Wraiths and exterminate the Maykrs. Neither would be in their best interests."
The Slayer climbed to where Tanjiro was, glaring at the sphere as he knew exactly what was in front of him and asked, "What are you doing here, Wretch?"
"Observing.. Interfering.. Watching as the creations of the Gods slowly crumble." The Wretch stated before continuing, "The Maykrs would not find themselves at the brink of extinction had they not foolishly betrayed their master. He was the perfect specimen, a perfect creation…"
Tanjiro whipped his head towards the Slayer who kept his gaze on the Wretch. The boy was confused. So the Maykrs were created by Davoth? Why did they betray him? And Davoth was created by the Gods? Wasn't Davoth already a God? So many questions were flooding Tanjiro's mind.
"Davoth has been planning his resurrection for several millennia, meticulously planning every aspect of his revival. He created Muzan as a part of his plan to slow down the Slayer and he planted seeds of paranoia into the minds of the Maykrs to the point they ended up destroying themselves. No one has been in control."
The Wraiths gathered up before explaining, "If what you say is correct, then we, indeed, have a much bigger threat to face." Samur remained quiet, unsure of what to say as he processed the revelation presented to him, coming to terms with the fact that his choices were nothing more than lies. As everyone settled down, the Wretch used its powers to teleport everyone back to the central room where the power crystal was stored. The Wraiths hovered towards the Doom Slayer, telling him, "We thank you for freeing us from our captivity, Doom Slayer. We will aid you and your allies against the Dark Lord." The Wraiths hovered around Tanjiro as they pointed out, "It seems that this child has been broken by battle. Perhaps it would be best if we rejuvenated him? He is worthy, like the Doom Slayer."
Tanjiro blinked several times in disbelief, processing the words he just heard as he questioned, "W-wait! You're saying I can get my limbs back?!"
"It is but a trivial task."
Tanjiro responded, "I see…" he pondered for a moment, reflecting on his injuries and what his prosthetics meant to him. After thinking for a brief period, the boy looked up to the Wraiths surrounding him and answered, "Thank you for the offer, but I'm going to keep my prosthetics. As humans, we make mistakes. I'm not saying my sacrifice was a mistake but I want this to be a constant reminder of what I'm fighting for. Unlike demons who can readily regenerate themselves and forget that they ever took damage, humans leave behind scars and are constantly reminded of their past. For my sake, I don't want to forget what I've done."
The Wraiths were perplexed by the boy's denial for regeneration as they looked towards one another. They silently communicated amongst one another before coming to a conclusion, "This boy has earned our respect. He has admirable traits for someone who is worthy. Yes, he is worthy. As a token of appreciation and respect, we will bestow upon you a gift: a gift of divinity." In unison, the Wraiths began circling around the boy repeatedly as the orbs in their chest progressively built up energy. Tanjiro followed their movements to the best of his ability but he didn't understand what was going on or what their gift was. After the Wraiths accumulated enough energy, they concentrated their essence into Tanjiro, pouring themselves into him as he was engulfed in a bright light. This drew the attention of the Slayer, the Wretch, and Samur who were watching the events unfold.
After pouring energy into Tanjiro for over a minute, the creatures eventually slowed down and separated, revealing Tanjiro who was now coated in a bright, blue light. However, after several seconds, the light died down. Tanjiro had his eyes closed but when he opened them, he felt different. He looked down to see the ground was much further away from him now. Tanjiro gasped upon seeing the shift in perspective and noticed his voice had gotten slightly deeper. The boy panicked slightly as he began inspecting his own body, feeling as though he just woke up in another body that wasn't his own. He looked towards the Doom Slayer only to discover the height difference between them had closed by a significant margin. The boy's eyes widened in shock upon realizing that he had grown.
The Slayer uncrossed his arms, muttering, "whoa." under his breath as he took in Tanjiro's appearance. He watched as the boy processed his improved body and for a split second, the Slayer could see the Wraith Energy course through the boy's pupils and forehead mark, causing them to brighten up to a bright blue color for a brief period before returning back to normal.
Tanjiro clenched and unclenched his fists several times as he got a feel for his body, thanking the Wraiths, "Thank you! Thank you so much! This is amazing! But why did you do this for me?"
The Wraiths responded, "It is imperative that we stop the Dark Lord. Thus, providing power to you is but a small task. You are a worthy ally of the Doom Slayer who has earned our respect by choosing peace instead of violence. You have a latent potential, boy, we look forward to seeing you unleash it."
Tanjiro couldn't help but form a sheepish smile that he tried to restrain as he felt it was inappropriate at the moment. He looked towards the majestical creatures surrounding him and assured them, "Then I won't let you down!"
As this was occurring, the Wretch began scolding Samur, "The gods are upset at the betrayal of the Maykrs. The selfishness of the Maykrs has jeopardized all the creations of the Gods."
Samur looked back at the Wretch and responded, "You wanted us to share with him and every other mortal the secret to immortality? I think not."
"The servant of Davoth's creation is as short-sighted as he is. As expected of a lesser being that lacks the capacity to understand consequences. The Gods will waste no more time with the blinded delusions of a broken servant. " After insulting the Maykr, the Wretch shifted its attention towards Tanjiro who was being praised by the Wraiths. The entity hovered towards the boy, forcing the Wraiths to move aside as the black essence passed through. The Wretch explained, "The Gods are in agreement of the boy's capabilities. During their observation of the Doom Slayer, they have taken an interest in the words and actions of Tanjiro Kamado. To aid the Doom Slayer in his efforts against Davoth, the Gods have prepared their finest creation for the boy." Within the black essence of the Wretch, emerged a very familiar suit of armor that made both Tanjiro and the Doom Slayer drop their jaws in surprise.
The Slayer angrily stepped forward as he questioned, "How did you get that armor?" The Wretch didn't answer, simply displaying the suit of armor presented before Tanjiro as he covered his mouth in shock. Standing in front of them was Xernex's Night Sentinel Armor which now possessed several suit modifications and a sturdy, black undersuit that covered the previously exposed skin along with plates of armor that protected the undersuit.
"The Praetor X, a suit with astonishing potential... It's true power will reveal itself under the most dire of situations. For the sake of preserving the creations of the Gods, they deem this as a necessary action." Tanjiro took Xernex's mask and brought it close to him, his eyes widening as he nearly teared up from the gesture. He flipped the mask around, inspecting it's design and taking note of how polished the armor was. The Slayer didn't know what to say, a lot was happening to Tanjiro and he wasn't sure how to respond. Perhaps he really did give Tanjiro less credit than he deserved. "As for the Doom Slayer." The Wretch called to the warrior before continuing, "There is something he must understand regarding Davoth. Davoth is not a true god like his creators. He receives his power from an artifact created by the Gods. Without it, he is but a mere mortal." The Slayer was trying to figure out what the Wretch was talking about. Artifact… What artifact? After thinking for a minute, the Slayer managed to figure it out. The strange gem that was implanted into the chest of the Dark Lord had to be the artifact that the Wretch was talking about!
Upon understanding the Wretch's words, the warrior simply said, "Noted."
"The Gods expect great things from Tanjiro Kamado and the Doom Slayer. Do not disappoint." Tanjiro began equipping the Praetor X which had been fitted to accommodate for Tanjiro's prosthetics. It was a perfect size for the boy, grinning as he proudly inserted Xernex's gauntlets over his arms. With their business done at the World Spear, the Slayer no longer felt the need to stay as he relayed for the Intern back at the ARC Carrier to open a portal to Earth.
"The Doom Slayer must be wary. Destroying Davoth will destroy ALL of his creations, a fact that he is certainly aware of. " The Slayer stayed as still as a statue upon hearing that statement, saying nothing in response to the warning of the Wretch. Tanjiro flicked his head between the Wretch and the Doom Slayer both. He didn't understand the reason for their silence, the explanation made perfect sense to him. To break the silence, Tanjiro commented:
"That makes sense."
Flynn shook his head after hearing Tanjiro, stating, "That's not what he means." the boy raised one eyebrow up as the other lowered, he wasn't sure what else that explanation was supposed to mean. He watched as the Doom Slayer let out a deep sigh and slowly turned around towards Tanjiro, making eye contact with him before he informed, "There's something I have to tell you."
