A/N: I KNOW, another fanfic while my others remain incomplete! I started this with a friend of mine, and we decided to work on this together. It's a new perspective for Tales of Innocence and, much like my Isekai-like fanfics, somewhat follows the storyline but with new characters. I'm excited to show the fruit of our efforts! This is only the prologue, so please be patient as the rest is being worked on.

Tales of Innocence belongs to Bandai Namco
Cynthia and Chronos belong to me.

The duty held so loftily above

The God's lands, Devaloka.

The sinner's cage, far below

The Human Land, Naraka

To be rejoined…

One wish needs to be made.

Prologue: Escape Regnum

"Time…"

The silver-haired man stared up at the sky, the endless stars greeting him. To him, it seemed like there was nothing else going on at this time. A ways away, he could see combat raging as Sensus and Ratio yet again fought each other. It was like this all the time. A sigh passed his pale lips, and he hefted his spear up to rest against his shoulder.

"You!"

The silver-haired man looked behind him, at the Ratio Soldier who bore his sword at him. "I will fight for Ratio! We must not let Devaloka and Naraka be reunited! You, Sensus Soldier! Fight me!"

"And you think you will walk free after?" He turned to the Ratio Soldier and stared. Eyes, dark as the night sky, glanced over the Ratio Soldier before the spear was lowered. It looked as if it was a clock hand, ripped from a large clock. Closing his eyes for a moment, he reopened them. His irises were now pure white, with black clocks on them.

A scream tore through the battlefield, and the man rested his spear on his shoulder yet again, before turning to witness Hypnos' downfall by Asura's hand. Shaking his head after the display, his eyes returned to normal and he walked up to the Sensus General.

"Asura."

The demonic man, with long white hair, turned to look at the silver-haired man. On the man's neck was a tattoo, in the form of a clock, and he had horns and elongated ears like the majority of the people who fought for Devaloka and Naraka to be reunited. But what was odd about him was that he seemed like a mix of humanoid and of the same race as Asura. A tail, mostly hidden by the long hooded robes that the man wore, smacked against the ground once.

"Chronos? I did not know you were here." Asura gave a soft smile to the man as if greeting an old friend.

"You seem to pop up wherever I wander," Chronos responded. "Is the war still ongoing? I would have thought it was ended as of now."

"Unfortunately, the Manifest is heavily guarded." Asura shook his head. "There is a goddess there who continually refuses to let me pass."

"Hmm…." The silver-haired man turned away from Asura. "I will talk with her. See if she cannot be persuaded. This is my only involvement in your petty war, Asura. I suggest you give up on it soon."

"...And then…." A young girl was napping under a tree and mumbled to herself. But she soon woke, navy-blue eyes glancing at the world around her. Slowly, she stood up and stretched and let herself look around. Regnum was peaceful, most of the time. Sometimes people enjoyed causing trouble, which meant that there would be no peace, and the soldiers in Regnum had to get involved.

"Done sleepin'?" A familiar rough voice jolted her out of the reverie of her home, and she turned to look at the delinquent who had addressed her.

"Oh… It's only you, Spada." The girl gave a nod. "Did everything go well? The children in the sewer- they have enough to eat, right?"

Spada scoffed. "Of course. Thanks fer the gald you gave. Gave 'em enough supplies to last the next few weeks." He adjusted his weight, shifting it to the other foot. "Anyway, Cynthia."

"Hm?"

He smirked. "Got a bit of business with the Regnum Soldiers. Wanna come along and see?"

She shook her head a little, giving a soft smile in return. "You know I don't want to cause that much trouble, Spada. But…" She walked up to him and playfully punched his arm. "You'll take care of yourself, right?"

Spada laughed. "Of course, of course. I'll see ya later, then."

And, like that, he walked off. Cynthia watched him go before giving a sigh and stretching again. She walked away from the area, heading towards the soccer field. There was supposed to be some kids playing together today, so she figured she'd watch and see what was going on. It was a good way to pass the time, in all honesty, and Cynthia would catch up with Spada later. There was a young boy, wearing all blue, that was daydreaming on the field while his teammates were playing the game. An unfortunate soul who probably couldn't properly play.

And then, he was berated by a couple of boys that were (apparently) his teammates that lost. He walked away from the scene, dejected, and Cynthia sighed as she decided to follow. Maybe cheer him up and give him reason to stand up for himself. After a few moments of following, she caught up and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, you're the space case, right?" She asked. As the boy was about to answer, she continued. "Look, you probably couldn't do much with the soccer game today, but that's fine. Just don't let people like that push you around and berate you for things you can't do."

"..." The boy sighed, dejected. "I-I'm sorry."

"Huh? Why're you apologizing? I'm just trying to get you to stand up for yourself." Cynthia didn't get it. The two of them walked to the item shop as they talked. "Anyway, what'd they send you to do?"

"...Get some… hot dogs." The boy responded. "I… have a little gald…"

"Leave it to me." Cynthia patted his shoulder. "I'll pay, you order."

And then he'd deliver the hot dogs and the world would keep spinning. But only if it could always be like that. Instead, what happened was that they introduced themselves to each other and got the hot dogs- and then Luca bumped into a redheaded girl. She fell over, and then a small bipedal being started talking to them. Honestly, if Cynthia could believe it, she'd think this bipedal being was from Devaloka.

But that can't be right… Cynthia thought to herself, mulling over the dreams she'd had since she was a child. Didn't Devaloka fall because Asura couldn't hack it…? Or was it something else that I can't remember? I should see if I can't dream about what happened that day at some point… Maybe-

But her line of thought was cut off as the girl, who introduced herself to Luca as Iria Animi, said she had to do some shopping and ran off. Luca ran after her, and Cynthia looked behind her to see two robed people. Shrugging, she ran off after Luca and Iria. The three of them ran towards the soccer field, which was a dead end.

"I… I tried to tell you… this was…. a dead end…." Luca panted. Cynthia turned around, noting that the soldiers were following still.

"Why didn't you say that a few minutes ago?!" Iria shouted.

"They're right behind you, you know." The Muse, Coda, said. He was introduced earlier, but the writer completely forgot. Blame the writer for forgetting.

"Ah-!" Iria put her hands on the pistols in their holsters.

"The Fallen from Sania. We've finally caught up with you." One of the robed men said.

"Lord Mathias would like to talk to you. Follow us." The other said, stepping forward.

Iria looked angry. "You attacked my village! Why would I ever follow you?!"

The men looked at each other for a moment, before one of them walked towards Iria. Cynthia got in the way almost immediately. "Hey, hey. Let's calm down here. How about giving some information first, then she can think of going with you."

"We do not need to talk to you. We just want the Fallen." The robed man shoved Cynthia out of the way and captured Iria. Cynthia landed on her side, wincing. Nothing was broken, thankfully, but it still hurt to fall that way. Getting up to her knees, she saw them preparing to take Iria away.

"...of her…."

Of all the people to stand up to someone, it was Luca. He seemed to be struggling to say it as if he couldn't bear the thought of standing up to someone for Iria's sake.

"What was that? Did you say something?" The robed man who didn't have hold of Iria turned to him. Luca mustered up all his courage at that moment.

I have to be brave…. Like my other self. I have to be brave!

"Let go of her!" There was a powerful, shining glow from Luca as he shouted that with everything he had, which faded after a few moments. A power that he never knew existed filled him. Nearby was a broken tree branch, which he ran to get as the two robed men looked on in disbelief.

"That boy is-"

"-a Fallen."

Cynthia got up, before running and tackling one of them. The forcefulness of the tackle caused him to let go of Iria before falling to the ground. But he shoved Cynthia off and kicked her in the chest once he got up. It winded her, causing her to cough violently. But she wouldn't give up. She couldn't give up. Not here or now.

"I'm with Luca…" She breathed, getting back up. "You keep your filthy hands offa her."

"And what will you do about it? You cannot hope to stand against me." The robed man's fellow was preoccupied fighting off an attacking Luca, who seemed more physically inclined and less winded than he had earlier. Iria was standing there in disbelief as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Cynthia grabbed the sword sheathed on her belt, pulling it out of the said sheath. She then flipped it and caught the hilt, with the blade pointed upwards. Pointing it towards him, her lips pursed into a thin line. The training she'd done with the Belforma family would pay off today. She'd protect Iria.

"I will stand against you," Cynthia said. "I don't care if I'm not a Fallen. I will not let you take a girl against her will! For this, I challenge thee!"

"Then perish by your own futility." The man stepped forward. "We will take the girl once you two are taken care of."

"I will not allow it." Her voice was firm, authoritarian. "I will strike you down where you stand!"

She felt power growing within her. A shining, powerful glow surrounded her for mere moments before fading. The battles would begin now, as Cynthia and Luca tag-teamed the two robed men. Cynthia dodged and weaved around strikes meant to incapacitate her, while Luca took them head-on by blocking with the tree branch. Cynthia struck out with a Devic Arte, Time Shockwave, which slowed down the man attacking her. Even he was surprised that he was going so slow.

The battle took all of three minutes to complete once Cynthia had awakened, and then someone else arrived.

A young woman, whose face was hidden behind a demonic mask. She wore predominantly white clothes, with red linings. The only thing that wasn't white was her gold-lined black top, which was cut in a way that showed her cleavage. There were demon horns, shaped in the same style as Asura's, on the hood of her cloak.

"The power of the Fallen. So there are two more here." Her voice was muffled by the mask she wore, which made her all the more intimidating. Luca didn't shrink back but stood firm.

"Who's that…?" Cynthia asked, glancing at Iria.

"Mathias," Iria said. "So you followed me here?! I already told you, I don't know!"

"But you do know. You were at the center of it all, with Sensus!" Mathias pointed her staff at Iria.

"Sensus…." Cynthia thought for a moment. "Those were the guys with Asura as their leader, right?"

"Wait, you know about Sensus? Asura was their General…" Luca said, trailing off. Mathias drew closer, and Luca realized this. "S-stay back! You've seen my power, haven't you?! The power of the General, Asura!"

That was when Mathias, Iria and Cynthia looked at him in disbelief. It only lasted for a minute before Mathias started repeating Asura's name and then laughing. "How interesting! This weak little boy is the General, Asura! What a development!"

There were witnesses, the two boys who had earlier berated Luca for daydreaming. Instead of berating him, however, they asked if he was okay once Mathias and her cronies had left. Iria had other plans, grabbing Luca's hand and dragging him off. Cynthia shook her head and walked after them, knowing they wouldn't get too far.

The plan was to leave Regnum, and head to Naos. There was a holy person there with healing powers, so they would have to see if said holy person was another Fallen or someone acting as a Fallen. Iria explained that they had to leave now or else face getting arrested. So, after stocking up on supplies, the three of them headed out of Regnum.