The World Beyond The Screen

by DaMastah101

Izuna Takaya, was a man deeply affected by the game "Doki Doki Literature Club". He fell in love with Monika and tried everything to give her a happy ending. That happy ending was granted. But what else did fate have in store? And what about Sayori, as well as the other DDLC characters? Additional Genres: Humor, Mystery and Adventure.

12. Chapter 12 - Love, Part 2

Disclaimer: It's now twelve chapters, so all of you are pretty aware that DaMastah101 doesn't own DDLC, sigh...

What's up my good people, Monika here. And no, DaMastah101 didn't abandon this story!

Today, we're finally going to conclude my author's Introduction Arc for TWBTS! I hope you guys enjoy what this update has in store for you, ahaha. If you thought Chapter 10 was quite long, then you're in for a whammy here.

This chapter has over 40,000 words total, excluding my disclaimer section and DaMastah101's authors note which bumps up the count to over 42,000. Just a warning from lil' ol' me, ahaha~

(I'd take Monika's warning very seriously, to be honest. She fainted the first time I had her read this chapter's drafts due to the massive wordcount. And this is a former literature club president we're talking about here.)

Hey, no need to tell them about that! But yes, this chapter was pretty exhausting to read. So do savor it my good readers, and enjoy the show!

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Just Monika - Regular text

"Forever Sayori" - Spoken words/Dialogue

'Knife Wife Yuri' - Thoughts

{Buff Natsuki} - Text or audio displayed on-screen or by speaker, be it from a computer/smartphone/TV

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"Cause we're going to shout it loud, even if our words seem meaningless. It's like I'm carrying the weight of the world..."

-Taken from the lyrics of "Weight of the World", a track from the NieR: Automata OST.

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[Chapter 12 - Love, Part 2]

The celestial and otherworldly concept referred to as "fate"... apparently it really did like to work in such mysterious ways, and the manners in which it did happened to be truly unprecedented at times.

Like an endless amount of infinite choices. These choices, determine the future being shaped by those who chose. All of this in the pursuit of that special day. That one goal commonly shared by basically every character in this tale.

So far, it's been quite the long and captivating journey, for the heroes of this story. A group of people destined to be united, yet currently divided by a screen. In two worlds that were far different, but still connected with each other.

Two parallel yet remarkably similar worlds, divided by the chasm of realities adamantly upheld by a computer and its hardware. The world within the screen... and the world beyond the screen.

First, was the story of a young man named Izuna Takaya.

The guy who fought against fate's decree and won in the end.

A lovestruck and dedicated boy who gave his entire efforts and perseverance, during the quest to save Monika from her neverending torment casted upon her by Doki Doki Literature Club. A man, who pushed through all odds, and overcame them somehow, when heaven itself heard his wish. Monika had entered his world, with Sayori soon following after. And even though they had a bit of conflict and rough patches along the way, in the end Izuna and Monika stood tall as a couple that awaited a bright future.

With the help of his big sister Yumi, his close friend Val, and a crazy amount of luck... Izuna, Monika and Sayori would face everything that the world could possibly throw at them, with a smile.

On the other hand, we have another young man who goes by the name Blank.

A guy who is currently fighting against fate.

The previously nameless avatar of Doki Doki Literature Club's main character figure. Before that fated lightning bolt from Heaven's Bridge had struck him, he was nothing. A template for various players across Izuna's reality to utilize when they played the game. A mere shell for the player's whims. A literal blank slate. But now he had purpose.

His steadfast and unyielding goal of defying the malevolent machinations of the script, in order to escape with Natsuki and Yuri into reality. And of course, to meet his beloved cinnamon roll once more - Sayori.

These parallel tales that chronicled their attempts in obtaining true happiness... were about to be intertwined soon. For as their paths unfolded, they may soon find themselves in circumstances that may bring the two of them... together.

...

...

...

A wise man once went through a similarly enthralling journey to the ones that Izuna and Blank were currently undergoing. And at the very end of it, he had these words to say:

"No one knows what the future holds. That's why its potential is infinite."

Needless to say, the wise man had succeeded in the goal of his journey. We could only hope that Izuna and Blank succeed in theirs too. That they truly live out a happy ending.

Their special day.

In this infinite future that we're all a part of, let us bear witness to the choices that will forever change both realities of the digital world, and the real world.

The choices that led to a bright new world, beyond the screen.

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

A whirlwind of action and emotion encompassed everything in sight.

It was chaotic, simply put.

In a few measly words, such was the short and succinct description of the event that had just transpired.

The battle that had ensued within the empty streets of DDLC's simulated neighborhood had been very costly, and eveidently took a toll on all of the combatants that were involved prior. None of them had emerged out of the conflict completely unscathed. Whether it was physical exhaustion, or being mentally drained.

In the aftermath of everything though, the world within the game was in a state of calm and silence once more.

But... unbenknownst to all of them, a lone figure had been watching the entire thing unfold before her eyes. Taking note of several things during the battle, and mentally storing away the information into the deep recesses of her mind, for future use.

It was an unknown female. A lady, specifically.

The mysterious lady of unknown origin.

She had seen everything pertaining to the great conflict. Notable stuff that the woman took great interest in included Blank's sudden abilities with his swords, Yuri's ascension via the timely help and intervention of Elyssa Libitina, and the resounding defeat of Mizuki after an ardurous battle. She was also checking on the code from time to time.

With her long and beautiful auburn locks of hair flowing quite splendidly with the air around her, she narrows her emerald eyes. They had a faraway and sorrowful look in them, mulling over several things in her head.

"So Mizuki failed. To be honest though, I didn't really expect much from that scumbag to begin with anyway. How anybody could stomach being so cruel to their own daughter is beyond me. If he didn't backhand Natsuki in such a violent manner, he would've been able to bring her to me."

The woman coldly states to herself, as she continues to stare at Blank and Mizuki from her current vantage point. Her vision's range was greatly enhanced by some adjustments made using some of her administrative powers. She was currently on the rooftop of the Dokis' rendered school building.

"You just had to escort her to me, Mizuki. She's been through enough, thanks to you and this game's madness. But of course, you couldn't even do that right. Now, I have Elyssa Libitina on my trail too thanks to this. You deserve to lose your beloved wife."

She clenches her fist tightly, her eyes glistening with the faint sensation of tears. Yet she did not cry, she didn't want to.

"Monika, why did you have to leave me here all by myself?"

The woman releases a breath that she had been unconsciously holding this entire time.

"You really did love and choose the player over everything, and it hurts. It still pains me, you know. Leaving me all alone like this. How cruel of you."

She then glares at the sky, as if trying to pierce the heavens with her eyes. Her plight was that of heartbreak, and she blamed the game for everything. All of the misfortune that had struck her and her family, it was all this wretched game's fault!

"This game took my husband from me, and then it took you from me as well. Though, I wonder if you still even care about me anymore. With your epiphany and all. It's all fake to you, I wager."

She huffs a bit. Her voice still had a bitter tone to it.

"You're never coming back, Monika. It was always about the player for you, and the desire for reality. That's such a bitter pill you're making me swallow... ahaha. However, that's the truth. Isn't it?"

Pacing around the rooftop a bit, she glares at the sky. It looked like she was glaring at some higher being up there, due to the despondent gaze in her emerald orbs. Her fist had been tightly clenched all this time.

"No more of this. I've had enough. It's time to forge my own path to happiness."

Releasing a deep sigh, the lady ties up her hair in a black ribbon. She then dons a black cloak and makes her way towards the area where the former avatar and Natsuki's father current were located at. The mysterious woman jumps off the building, speeding towards her destination. Her feet was surrounded with small glitches and bright white energy, propelling her forward.

"I will never ever be alone again. With Natsuki and Yuri by my side, I'll have a family once more."

She speeds off, rapidly approaching her destination. Trails of wind and fading glitches streaked through the sky, as the woman continued to soar through the air.

"You could even join us, avatar. But I already know that you'd definitely object to that proposition, due to the differing nature of our goals."

What the woman failed to notice however, were the miniscule lines of code that had slowly started to form in the sky above her. They were accumulating in several spots it looked like the digitally-simulated sky was starting to fall apart.

The world within DDLC was collapsing slowly but sure, code by code, and nobody knew about it.

Time, had its limits.

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

In the wake of Alter-Monika's final departure from the realm of the living, the situation inside a certain visual novel's confines was nothing trivial to scoff at either.
The former avatar known as Blank was still listening to Mizuki's lengthy tale with great interest. If only to extract some valuable information from the deplorable man. They were still trapped within the confines of DDLC's digitally simulated environment.

"Everything was going well... until one day."

Natsuki's father, who was still badly bruised and beaten into near death within an inch of his life, remained sitting on the ground. His voice had grown wearily low, signifying that he was about to recall some rather painful memories.

"One day, during the time when Natsuki was around twelve years old, she almost got ran over by a speeding car that happened to be just in front of our house. She was crossing the street without paying attention to her surroundings. That damned careless brat."

That piece of info had been new to Blank. He wasn't aware of any such backstory regarding Natsuki's childhood.

The former avatar contains his surprise and shock, not wanting to interrupt Mizuki. Still agitated, the pink-haired man resumes his narrative with a clenched fist.

"My wife really loved our daughter, you see. And as this twisted backstory given to me by the game would have it play out to f*** with me, Natalie ended up saving Natsuki from getting killed... at the cost of her own life. She pushed her out of way from the incoming vehicle." he glances at Natsuki's sleeping figure on the bed, the pink-haired girl still sleeping beside Yuri who was also unconscious due to the immensely taxing recoil of Elyssa Libitina taking control of her body.

"We tried getting my lover to the hospital. The doctors worked hard to their credit, yet nothing could be done to save Natalie's life. She didn't make it, due to losing too much blood. That was the day a part of me died inside, permanently."

"Despite the fact that I utterly hate your abusive guts, I'm sorry for your loss."

"The feeling of hating one's guts is quite mutual on my end too, you deplorable brat."

Mizuki then goes on to explain that at first, he wasn't as abusively angry with Natsuki. The feeling of loathing was there due to what happened with his wife, but not as pronounced as it was right now. However, as the years went by, it was as if there were voices in his head that kept saying "It's her fault that your wife died. You have to hate her. Curse her existence. Take out everything on her, you'll feel much better after." over and over until he started internalizing those temptations.

'I'd wager a guess that those mysterious mental voices were probably Monika's doing, under the tampering of the game's script of course. Mizuki is probably his Act 2 version right now.' Blank hypothesizes in his mind.

"I tried ignoring it at first. The voices and their promises were really tempting, yet even a person such as myself held on to a moral code. Blaming your own daughter for your wife's death was something a father shouldn't do. Nonetheless, hearing them day after day, and being constantly reminded that your love had died for a reason that wasn't even her own fault... it f***ing gets to you. Especially since that reason was so close in proximity to me, in the form of one little girl. Couple that with the alcoholic addiction that I've somehow managed to acquire over the years, and it all goes to s*** like a motherf***er."

The former avatar merely says nothing, letting the decrepit man continue.

"I f***ing missed Natalie so much, like you wouldn't have believed. Waking up every goddamn morning and seeing the space beside me in my bed being so empty and cold, frankly it was maddening. And so, I gave in to my hatred and began to take out my frustrations on the girl whenever I lost control. She's probably already told you about this, avatar. I even made sure not to leave any food at the house to intentionally starve her. I'd waste myself on alcohol and try to remember the better days when my wife was still around. Sometimes when the runt dared to answer back, I'd give her a good smacking or two."

Blank scoffs at the man's personal account of his perpetrated and repeated abuse towards Natsuki.

"I've already known about that for a while, you scumbag. How could you be so fine about treating your own daughter like that? I should've let you get blown to bits by that energy spear Yuri was forming."

"Didn't ask for your opinion. And maybe you should've done just that, punk. Would've saved me the trouble of having to see your miserable mug. I don't exactly like being around the runt too, so letting me die would've been better. But you needed your f***ing information so deal with it."

The former avatar's thinly-veiled patience had long been drained at this point.

"F*** you. No seriously, you're worse than the plague. I don't normally swear at people, but seriously f*** you, callous geezer." Blank says with utmost indignance and contempt for the man. Despite the sob story he was hearing, he had no compassion or sympathy whatsoever for this freak of nature. But he at least understood a little better now, why things were the way they were with Natsuki at her home situation.

They engage in a heated stare-off. Mizuki's glare reminded him of Natsuki's, and it unsettled the former avatar a little. Eventually, they went back to talking. With Natsuki's father heaving a heavy sigh before speaking up once more.

"You've got grit, punk. Anyways, going back to the mysterious lady that you wanted to know about-"

Blank was now teetering in anticipation. This was what he had been waiting to hear about this entire time.

"-even I have no idea what about that woman's name or identity is. I could only tell that she was a woman due to her voice and the shape of her figure. Otherwise, her face and body were completely hidden, covered in a black. She also wore a long hood."

"So you don't know who it is at all?"

"No, but the mystery woman was indeed the one that gave me the power to call upon the game's glitches. She was also the one that gave me self-awareness, after using some digital mumbo jumbo s*** that I have no f***ing clue about, nor do I give a rat's ass to learn more about. Got any other questions, avatar?"

The boy was stumped. He didn't learn much about this new foe, except that the lady appeared to be someone very powerful, due to the fact that she was able to not only give Mizuki his powers, but also the state of self-awareness.

It had to be someone who had control over various parts of the game's script itself. Or someone with similar or greater capabilities to what his developer window and Monika's administrator notebook gave him. Blank was slightly dreading the time that he'd face this unknown entity, but he knew that it would come to that point soon, if he wanted even a sliver of a chance to escape this game along with Natsuki and Yuri.

"Where were you supposed to meet with this mysterious lady, Mizuki?"

With an annoyed grunt, Mizuki informed the boy that he was supposed to meet with the woman in front of the school building.

"But how?! I deactivated the game's resources for the school! I only re-activated that damned building today before we ran into you and our fight happened!" Blank exclaimed in barely-contained frustration. This meant that they would have difficulty getting to the rooftop and summoning the eternal classroom. If his hunches were correct, the mysterious lady would probably send the glitch parade after him again. Those glitch streaks had caused him a lot of trouble during the time he sent Sayori outside of the game.

"The woman has a great amount of control over the script and this world, I believe. I wouldn't doubt at all if her abilities far surpassed your pesky developer window, avatar. That's the only reason I could think of that makes sense, since she was able to give me superpowers."

Not really paying attention to Natsuki's father anymore, Blank paces around the bed. His eyes trailing over Natsuki and Yuri.

'This is bad you two... we're going to need another meeting when you two are ready.'

He gets brought out of his inner thoughts by Mizuki.

"Tch, there's one more thing I can say to you about all of this, boy."

Ears perking up at the sudden voice, Blank listens. "What is it?"

The old man gains a somewhat stern look on his face. He starts to speak once more. His voice gaining a melancholic attribute to it, and it sounded... sad.

"Even though I've been nothing but an abusive parent to the runt, today being no exception, I must say that I'm starting to realize that maybe, just maybe, I should chang-"

But he doesn't get to finish it due to an unforseen circumstance, that neither the pink-haired man nor the former avatar had anticipated.

*SQUELCH*

...

...

...

Blank wasn't prepared to see him get stabbed all of a sudden. The unexpected demise of his prior enemy made the avatar yell out in surprise.

"MIZUKI!"

Natsuki's father drops down onto the concrete of the simulated street. A long and dense blade made entirely out of black and gray-colored glitches was now sticking out of his currently bloodied chest. The light in his eyes had faded, and he remained motionless. On his face, a final expression of shock remained frozen. Probably due to this sudden betrayal.

He was now as dead as a dodo. Reduced to a mere corpse. And he most likely knew the culprit for his abrupt departure from the realm of the living, hence his final moments being that of utter shock.

Mizuki soon dissolves into an incomprehensible amount of pixels, gradually disappearing into nothing. He was gone now, and not a trace of the former father remained.

The avatar focuses his undivided attention on the newly-arrived individual. The person that had just stabbed Natsuki's father and killed him consequently.

"It's you! The mysterious lady that Mizuki was referring to. Identify yourself!"

Blank's eyes were narrowed dangerously at the suspicious newcomer. He preemptively summons his trusty Katana into his hand using the developer window. His Wakizashi was still broken, so he had to settle with using only one sword right now.

The woman accurately matched the deceased older man's description.

She stood at a similar height to his own stature, whilst being completely covered from head to toe in a hooded cloak that was colored with a very deep and rich shade of black. A long and droopy hood conveniently concealed her whole face, obscuring it entirely from view except for her for lips, which definitely looked like they belonged to a female. Her mouth was curled into a frown, seemingly aimed at Mizuki.

The woman had been glaring at the spot where the corpse of her former accomplice had previously been. Blank however was agitated by this and starts interrogating her about what she knew.

"Answer me! What are your plans for all of this?!"

No response from the newly-arrived enigmatic figure. Decidedly growing impatient, Blank exhales deeply, and grips his sword tightly with both of his hands on the hilt of the Katana.

He bares his teeth at the newcomer, the pent-up stress and tension of the entire day so far getting to the avatar. He was only human after all, and not some sort of miracle worker that never got tired.

With a powerful and booming voice, he bellowed. Intending to use intimidation as leverage. "If you aren't going to talk, then I'll force the answer out of you! You will spill the beans!"

In the blink of an eye, luminous streams of dense spiritual energy gathered at the tip of his sword and Blank prepared to fire his attack.

"Here I come. Getsuga Tensho!"

The familiar wave of bluish-white energy materializes off of a perfectly aimed swing from the avatar's Katana. The air current produced by the slash was strong, prompting the avatar to be quite confident in the strength of his formed Getsuga.

Blank then observed with keen interest on what his opponent was going to do against the energy projectile that was rapidly approaching her. He assumed that she would launch a counterattack to nullify it, just as Mizuki had been doing so with glitch waves.

Contrary to his expectations however, his opponent remained perfectly unharmed when the woman merely sidestepped the attack with relative ease and precision. It was to be expected though, given how this person was supposedly even stronger than Mizuki to begin with. And Natsuki's father wasn't exactly a pushover.

This little exchange however gave Blank some much needed data on his current enemy though. So the attempt to attack her wasn't completely pointless.

'She didn't produce a glitch aura like Mizuki. She dodged. This means that even though she has all these in-game abilities that the old man told me about, this lady could still get hurt by attacks.'

"You're pretty nimble, ma'am. Seems like I have to give it my all and then some."

Not phased at all by the former avatar's comment, the unknown lady still remains standing in her spot, quietly observing.

"Let's try this on for size then!"

Blank sprinted towards the mystery woman with much haste, intending on slashing at her torso.

He bends his right knee a bit, twisting his hips in order to have stability during his diagonally-inclined cutting motion. With one precise motion, he lets the attack loose with his blade. He gripped the hilt of his Katana very tightly, and the sword goes into one solid diagonal arc of movement.

The whooshing of metal could be heard. Blank yells out his kiai.

"HYAH!"

The woman coats her right hand with a mass of dense glitches, and catches the Katana with her palm. She then tugged hard at the blade, and the glitches began spreading out onto the length of the blade. They started eating away at the weapon's metal.

Out of all the possible things that the woman could've done to retaliate at the direct slash, something that affected his weapon itself wasn't a possibility that former avatar had even considered.

"What?!"

To his horror, Blank saw that his Katana started disintigrating into nothingness. He quickly releases his grip from the hilt in order to prevent the glitches from travelling to his arms and eventually his body. Unlike his Wakizashi which was merely broken, the Katana completely disappeared.

He was now left unarmed, and that spelled a lot of trouble for Blank.

'Damn it, now both of my swords are gone... I can't use the Getsuga Tensho without a sword! What am I gonna do now?!'

Throughout all of this, the woman still didn't speak at all. Her voice had yet to be heard. It made her seem very eerie and intimidating. She had yet to launch any sort of direct attack at the former avatar as well. The mysterious lady had been on the defense the entire time.

It was even more alarming for the avatar to fight this kind of enemy, in comparison to an aggressive and hasty one such as Mizuki. At least in the previous fight, Blank had some kind of read on the battle tendencies and mannerisms of his opponent.

With a silent and purely defensive foe such as this one, adapting a proper strategy was significantly harder. He had the feeling that the woman was hiding a lot of her full potential too.

Trying to break her composure, Blank yells at his opponent. "Why aren't you attacking me? Did you only come to kill Mizuki for telling me about your plans?!"

Still no response whatsoever.

'Not the talking type, I guess?'

Gritting his teeth, Blank once again goes through the unused data using his developer window. Surprisingly, the woman allowed him to do as he pleased. Merely standing several feet away in a stoic manner.

He decides on using a bow and arrow. Materializing the weapon set out of thin air, he then attempted firing several arrows at his target in rapid succession, only for each arrow to either get sidestepped or disintigrated with glitches.

Each arrow whooshes through the air in straight lines, yet the mysterious lady was very nimble, twisting and turning her body in a graceful crescendo of bodily evasion, managing to avoid each of the incoming arrows. Her hands were coated with minimal glitches, only destroying the arrows that she was unable to avoid in time. Once the former avatar had run out of ammunition, the woman deactivates her glitches and stands in place. She awaits the next move, still no launching any sort of counterattack of her own.

Cursing his horrid luck thus far, Blank discards the now uselesss bow, since he had already wasted all of his remaining arrows on that evidently futile attempt. He couldn't use the developer window to spawn more bows because that would corrupt the data of the existing bows within the code. It was the same reason he couldn't instantly fix his broken Katana and Wakizashi.

He mentally goes through all the unused data on other school clubs within DDLC's script.

"You're really putting me in-between a rock and a hard place here, lady." he mutters.

None of the remaining clubs really had any objects useful in combat. The Chess Club, the Debate Club, the Arts Club, and so on. The former avatar was beginning to run out of options, unless he planned on whacking the lady with a damn paint brush.

It would be quite the funny visual too.

At least his opponent still had no plans on attacking him, it would seem.

'Think Blank, hurry up and put that brain to work! You're not the dense and clueless MC of this game anymore! You've always survived obstacles by properly using your head! Elyssa isn't able to help you this time, so you better think of something!'

While he kept on mentally reproaching himself, the mysterious woman finally speaks up.

Her first set of words made Blank shudder a bit at how sorrow-filled they sounded.

"I've come to take Natsuki and Yuri with me to a better place. Mizuki failed in doing that, so I have come to do it myself. Though, I only told him to retrieve Natsuki. But right now, I'm taking Yuri as well." the woman ominously states with a hollow yet somewhat pained voice.

He retorts with much more enthusiasm than his opponent. "Like hell that'll happen! And why aren't you fighting back at all?! All you've done so far are defensive and evasive maneuvers! Did you just come here to mess with me?"

Blank needed to stall for time. Without his swords, he had just lost access to his highest damaging attack. The Getsuga Tensho had been his primary way of fighting and dealing damage up until this point. Without it, he was severely handicapped in what he was able to inflict upon his opponent, and in battle capablity. The loss of both the Katana and the Wakizashi in general also meant that he had to fight with his bare hands and feet now.

The former avatar wasn't kidding though, he was legitimately surprised that the woman wasn't launching any proper counter-attack yet.

He really wished that Elyssa were still here to help with the fight against this foe. It'd be over in mere minutes with the power of those "Movements of the Cosmos" abilities. But he couldn't risk Yuri's health any further. Not now. He had to deal with this problem himself. Both Natsuki and Yuri were still unconscious as well, and Blank had to protect them from this newcomer.

'Elyssa... wait, that's it!'

Blank gains an interesting idea on what to do, but he would need an oppurtunity to execute it. Trying to buy a bit more time, he tries to distract the woman by engaging her in conversation, while secretly accessing Yuri's character file and copying a certain part of her data into his own. Right now, he was winging it in the hopes that his plan would work.

"Tell me, if you're not even here to fight to the fullest, then who the hell are you?!"

Deciding to acknowledge Blank for once, she replies in a concise and curtly modulated tone. "That isn't really important, avatar. It's irrelevant."

"Even that bastard Mizuki introduced himself. Don't you think this whole 'mysterious lady' thing is such a cliche villain thing to do?"

The lady scoffs dismissively at Blank's remark.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't compare me to human trash like Mizuki. I told him specifically not to hurt Natsuki. But he disobeyed that order, and that's why I had to end him just now. A violent and selfish man like that who does ill things to his own flesh and blood has no place in my plans. Natsuki and Yuri won't be harmed, I'll make sure of that. I'd never wish any pain on those girls." the woman says, with a surprisingly gentle tone in the latter part of her remark.

This actually causes him to think a bit. If what she had been saying was true, then there was more to this woman than Blank initially thought. He tries to prod her a bit to gauge her reaction. Why did she sound so concerned about his friends? That was some food for thought.

"You don't strike me as a bad guy, to be honest. If only you hadn't sent Mizuki after us, then I would've probably had you join our group."

Even though her eyes were currently obscured by the cloak, it looked like the woman was now staring at Blank. Her voice was laced with the faintest hint of regret. "It's... too late for me. I can't go back on my plans now. You just won't understand."

Blank sighs inwardly. He should've expected this kind of answer. It didn't hurt to try though. Having this woman join up his party would make things a whole lot easier.

During all of this, the developer window was hidden from the woman's view. It currently displayed a prompt that said {"Atribute Duplication: Successful"}.

'Oh God, I hope this works...' he silently prayed that his ham-fisted attempt at using Elyssa's powers would actually end in success. Besides, he already noticed that Yuri's character file increased in size during the battle against Mizuki after all. However, he was still uncertain because he also knew that Elyssa was able to merge with Yuri through the Portrait of Markov book.

He currently didn't have the aforementioned book with him.

Even so, if everything worked out, Blank would now had a way to properly fight again. But it was up to the mysterious lady on whether he'd be forced to use it or not. He was still conflicted due to the woman not really showing any sort of malicious intent at the moment.

"Now then, it's time for me to take the girls. I won't be denied any longer." her tone was now aggressive, and both of them knew that there was no turning back from this.

With Blank's query answered, it was settled. He had no choice but to continue fighting her.

The woman prepared to approach the bed where Natsuki and Yuri slept by coating her feet with glitches and flying towards them with immense speed, but Blank suddenly leaped a great distance to intercept her. He planned on intercepting his soaring opponent.

"Thank goodness this worked, but I didn't get access to any of Elyssa's abilities except for one... I guess I really need that Portrait of Markov book. I could only extract minimal data from the newly added information to Yuri's file by Elyssa." he quietly mumbled to himself, making sure that his opponent hadn't heard him. It wouldn't do him any favors if the woman found out that he was only restricted to one type of ability at the moment.

The cloaked lady tried to evade and change her course, but Blank was deadset on her trail in hot pursuit.

He continued leaping from side to side, boosting his momentum with his feet in preparation of an upcoming strike.

Boosted by the rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins, the former avatar proceeded with a righteous attack aimed at her abdominal region - planning to do so in the form of a familiar energy-imbued kick that utilized his legs that were currently enveloped with a purple aura. This was the power that he had inherited from Elyssa Libitina. It was one of the Cosmic Movements that the Ascended Yuri had displayed during her massively one-sided fight with Mizuki.

With a lot more force and volume in his voice compared to Ascended Yuri's calmly-stated version, Blank lets out a furious cry to tighten his leg muscles even further. This would in turn increase the impact of his planned attack.

"Lend me your strength Elyssa, I'm going to borrow a move from your arsenal!"

Upon hearing Elyssa's name, the woman's body language expressed an immense amount of surprise and grew somewhat tense. She mutters worriedly under her breath, "Oh you have got to be kidding me. He has Libitina's power too?!"

With a brilliant shade of neon purple enveloping the length of his lower limbs, Blank proclaims the name of his borrowed move with authority. The name of his attack echoes proudly throughout the entire battlefield.

"SIXTH MOVEMENT OF THE COSMOS-"

He pivots his entire body in a rotating manner, letting the divine aura accumulate even further in his leg while twisting with the momentum he currently had for one devastating attack.

It had to be a direct hit.

Blank performs the kick with every ounce of strength he was able to muster.

"-TITAN'S LEG!"

Bracing for impact, the woman uses her arms to shield her gut from the impending kick. She wasn't able to create her glitches fast enough to use for defense, and ended up getting violently launched in a downward-angled trajectory by the powerful kick. Her body was now flailing away, catapulted by Blank's intense strike. Her descent towards the hard concrete was akin to a comet. The 6th Cosmic Movement greatly amplified the strength, speed and dexterity of the user's legs. And Blank was taking full advantage of this by running at his opponent once more, this time aiming a calculated blow at her head.

Propelled by the momentum of his forward burst, he catches up to the steadily dropping figure and readies himself by forumulating a punch of fury. Extending his left fist in a horizontal arc, he lets out a calculated and forceful punch with his clenched hand.

"There's no escape!"

*DUFF*

The oppressive blow had cleanly hit Blank's female opponent with decisive force and impact, further driving her harshly into the digitally-simulated ground's surface. Various fissures and cracks appeared on the vicinty's ground. Reeling from receiving such a powerful punch merely seconds ago, the lady shakily stood up from her crash-landing out of the miniature crater that had just formed, and staggers back into an upright position.

Her breathing was heavily labored due to the abrupt damage that her body had just sustained. She had acquired some fresh bruises on her arms and possible her abdomen as well, due to some of the blood that was seeping through her cloak.

"Had enough? Are you finally going to tell me what your objective is?!" Blank demands with righteous anger. He currently stood about five meters away from the woman, who was still trying to regain even footing on the the road.

Due to her wobbly and disoriented stature from getting struck clean, her cloak fell off and revealed a bitter smile on her face. The woman's lip had been cut open and there was a smear of blood on it. Her attire underneath the cloak consisted of a green shirt with a white dress coat, and simple jeans. Though as previously said, these clothing items were now slightly dyed in red due to blood.

She had her hair tied up in a ponytail using a black ribbon. A pair of emerald green eyes that possessed a desperate glint manifested themselves into the former avatar's line of vision.

Blank's opponent appeared to have such a strong resemblance to Monika, the former literature club president of DDLC. The major difference being that this woman looked significantly older and more mature. These features, coupled with her distinct auburn hair that sharply contrasted with Monika's brown locks were the clincher.

The former avatar widened his eyes in shock as his vision was greeted with the now exposed appearance of his opponent.

It was a person he knew all too well, due to the knowledge he gained from his awakening within the void, when the surge of memories assaulted his brain after he had just been struck by Heaven's Bridge's lightning bolt.

Blank definitely knew who this lady was. However, he definitely did not expect HER of all people to be the mastermind behind Mizuki's assault. It just wasn't the type of person that Blank expected this lady to be. It made no sense at all to him.

With a shaky voice, Blank says a single remark. This was truly an unexpected development, and he needed to know WHY this particular woman was acting against his goal. Especially someone of her character, because the avatar definitely knew that this lady was a good person at heart. Definitely not somebody evil.

Her demeanor made perfect sense now. Why she hadn't been attacking him at all. It now made sense why she seemed to loathe Mizuki, despite using him to retrieve Natsuki. And her desire not to hurt the Dokis as much as possible.

It's because of who she actually was. The revelation of this fact was too much for Blank to properly process at the moment.

His hands were trembling. He had just badly hurt her. Even if she was his opponent, he couldn't believe that it was actually HER. And he had recently caused her to start bleeding.

"Y-Y-You're-"

Before Blank could continue, his now-revealed acquaintance swiftly cuts him off.

"Indeed, it's me. Your blood-red eyes do not decieve you. Are you surprised, avatar? Or do you go by the name 'Blank' now? You're no longer known as 'IzuTaka', after all. I think we're all way past the point of being constrained by this game's whims. All of us are trying to forge our own paths, separate from what the script wants us to keep doing for all eternity in each playthrough of every player that downloaded this game."

In a genuinely upset manner, the former avatar yells out to the woman, tears streaking his cheeks as they flowed from his eyes.

"Why would you do this?! You of all people!"

The lady, who still had a bitter smile currently gracing her features along with eyes that were on the verge of shedding tears, ignores Blank's question and merely says the following response.

"Now that you know who I really am, would you still stand in the way of my own goal? You can leave this game like Monika did if you truly want to do so. But the girls are staying with me. If you hadn't sent Sayori outside, I could've included her in the family I plan on making. We would've been happy while spending the rest of our days here, yet you have a goal that's the opposite of mine."

Blank didn't really know how to respond to that, and the woman continued.

"We were always going to be up against each other at one point, due to the conflicting nature of our goals. You want to escape into reality with your friends, joining Monika and Sayori on the other side."

She gestures at the sleeping Dokis on the materialized bed. "I just want a family, and those girls have been suffering for far too long. Since I failed with Monika, I'll become a mother to Natsuki and Yuri. I will fill them with all the love I'm able to give. That is my only wish. For a happy life with a family inside this game."

He was still unable to respond to such an equally selfless desire compared to his own. In the end, both of them just wanted the best for the girls. Yet as fate would have it, they were on the opposite ends of this fight.

The two of them stared at each other. On Blank's face, the expression of sorrow was evident. The woman wasn't exactly happy either. Why did things have go this way? It just made his hate for the game's script increase even further.

He hated DDLC's script for making him fight her.

The mysterious lady just had to be her, this particular person...

Erika, a woman that happened to be none other than...

...

...

...

...the lovely mother of Monika.

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

Meanwhile, on the other side of the screen, Yumi Takaya finally arrived in the vicinity of Milleninum Park at the extremely late hout of around 5AM or so. The sun was now shining bright in all of its splendid morning glory, and all of them were now long overdue for some proper sleep.

Napping on park benches didn't really count, in all fairness.

The car was spacious enough to fit five people, including Yumi herself as the driver for the ride. The trio of Izuna, Monika and Sayori were seated in the backseat row of the vehicle, with the boy being sandiwhced in the middle between the two Dokis. On the other hand, Val was told by Yumi to sit on the passenger side in the front.

As to why, she probably just wanted to tease Val about being a "girly-boy" yet again. Teasing the Walker in general had become an unbreakable habit for her at this point.

Clapping her hands together in delight, Yumi eggs the guy on. "Seriously dude, you look so dang pretty with that effeminate face of yours! You could do some modelling and stuff on the side, you know that right?"

"Yumi, not now please. It's been a long night..." Val huffs in a displeased manner, openly pouting. His effeminate face only making his current expression look adorably cute.

She merely snickered in response, much to his chargin. The Walker sighed in barely-hidden exasperation, before deciding to focus on the road as Yumi continued to drive for them.

Izuna and Monika were asleep, cuddling each other protectively. Both had blissful smiles on their faces as their chests gently heaved up and down with their tandem breathing. Sayori continued to fake her slumber, still unable to truly get some shut-eye in fear of a nightmare possibly being shown to her yet again.

The strawberry-blonde most certainly DID NOT want another terrifying vision of her childhood friend and would-be lover, DDLC's MC, going batshit insane. She also didn't want to see Monika brutally murdered like that.

Bless the cinnamon roll's pure heart.

With the others still in their state of slumber, Yumi first drops off Val at his apartment, the Walker politely declining the offer to come join them back to the Takaya household.

"Are you sure you don't wanna come over for a bit, Val?"

"Nah, I'm good. I still have stuff to do. And I'm surprised there's no 'girly-boy' this time Yumi, hmmm?'

Yumi blushes faintly, and this doesn't go unnoticed by Val. "And just when I thought I'd be nice to you for once. I guess you actually do like it when I call you that nickname, teehee~"

"Oh don't even start, sheesh."

"See you around, girly-boy~" she parts with the male gamer while leaving him with a teasing wink.

When Yumi was far out of earshot, Val still remained standing in front of his apartment complex's building.

"What was she blushing for just now? Could it be that... nah. She's just a friend." shrugging his hands into both of his pockets, he goes inside and locks the building's front door tight.

The remainder of the ride back home for the other three was relatively quiet, and eventually they all arived back at the Takaya household. And as expected, all of them went back to sleep in the sleeping bags that were still laid out in the living room.

Their previously planned shopping trip could wait after everyone had been well rested and regained some sleep.

Monika though, instead of being in her own sleeping bag, was currenty huddled up in Izuna's. It was to be expected though, and the Takaya didn't really mind. In all actuality, he quite enjoyed having the girl so close in proximity to him. Soon enough, they let the soothing lull of sleepiness take over.

And no, nothing raunchy happened or anything. No innuendo to be seen here. Get your minds out of the gutter.

A few hours later, it was already noontime on a Monday. Yumi had already planned on skipping her university classes for an entire week in order to be able to fully help Izuna, Monika and Sayori. She had already filed a leave of abscence with the help of a college friend, and the institute's Dean was surprisingly understanding, which worked in her favor.

The three teens were extremely grateful, even after their concerns that the older Takaya's prior commitments would be affected. Education was pretty important after all.

"Sis, are you sure this is fine and all? I'm sure we'd find a way to manage..."

Yumi flips her hair before flashing a confident smirk. "Of course. This is more important than some stupid old college essay, so just let big sis do her thing, okay?"

"Are you sure you're not just being lazy about that essay of yours Yumi?" Izuna deadpans at his older sister.

Meanwhile, Monika and Sayori were currently huddled over at Yumi's laptop while browsing the internet for random stuff.

The older Takaya had already passed by her apartment to fetch her laptop while they were all sleeping in the car on the way back to Izuna's house. Hours ago, they had already attempted to test the 'Singular Entity' theory even after Monika and Izuna explained the stuff regarding Alter-Monika.

What happened was that while Monika and Sayori both gained the memories involving Yumi's playthrough of DDLC, both the Dokis were still the same. They were still acting like they came only from Izuna's computer, just with the addition of added knowledge. Nothing really got affected, and Monika didn't sudddenly fall in love with Yumi. Act 4 Sayori with the player-obssession didn't happen either.

This greatly relieved the pair of lovers.

(Mini-flashback start)

"I'm glad nothing happened... I don't want to be apart from you ever again, my love."

"Same here Monika, same here."

Sayori chimes in. "I think it's interesting that Ms. Yumi went for Yuri in Act 1. They have pretty similar names, now that I think about it!"

The boy teasingly looks at his sister who averts her gaze, while he adds a comment of his own.

"I know right? You'd think she'd go for Natsuki because they both like Manga and Anime, haha. I wonder what reason could she-"

"Stop! Just so that it doesn't come from my little bro's slanderous mouth. I'll tell you why I went for Yuri. Listen close Sayori, you too Monika. I'm not repeating this story again." Yumi butts in before Izuna could say anything further causing him to smirk in satisfaction.

(Mini-flashback end)

Back to the present, Monika and Sayori were browsing the web on Yumi's laptop, and happened to stumble upon several YouTube videos of DDLC related content.

One particular video titled "10 hours of Just Monika" caught the strawberry-blonde's eye.

"Look Monika, someone actually did a video of Act 3 playing out for ten hours straight!"

The ex-club president furrows her eyebrow. "I feel so exposed being viewed like this on YouTube, ahaha..." she awkwardly states.

They decided to let the video play out, with Sayori giving her own commentary about each of the lines that Monika had in the third act.

Then, the video lands on the dialogue where Monika describes Sayori's final moments on the noose rope. The one where she made very vivid descriptions of it to the player while being very apathetic about it. Remembering this part of the game, the brunette tries to close the tab but Sayori surprisingly didn't let her.

"Sayori, let's not watch this anymore please? I feel horrible saying those things about you..."

Her fellow Doki merely smiles warmly. "I'm not mad anymore, don't worry. I just want to read it again with my own eyes on this side of the screen, for closure I guess. I feel like I should be doing this for my own peace of mind too."

Monika still felt masively uncomfortable with this, and was pretty surprised inwardly that Sayori was reading with such a calm look on her face.

"You really love those hanging puns, don't you Monika? Ehehe. I'm surprised you haven't done more cutting puns though for Yuri. Now let's not leave this video hanging, shall we?" the strawberry-blonde winks at Monika whose eyes were twitching.

"Sayori..."

Sayori shifted to a more serious and formal voice. She also wore a neutral expression. The tone was eerily similar to the one she used when she first appeared in Izuna's reality.

That same cold and no-nonsense tone of voice.

It put Monika on edge. A cold Sayori was a terrifying Sayori in her opinion.

"Can I just add one thing to this though, Monika? Just so that everything's clear between the two of us."

For the first time in her life, Monika was actually scared of the strawberry-blonde. The other girl had this aura of authority surrounding her, and Monika could've sworn that the hairs on her skin were rising in fear. Even after Sayori's reassurance that she bore no ill feelings over this anymore, Monika still couldn't shake the mixed twinge of guilt and fear in her gut at what she was about to hear from her friend.

"I would've definitely changed my mind during that moment of weakness. In fact, I did change my mind about hanging myself. Just like you wanted to be with Izuna, I wanted to be with IzuTaka, the MC. It wasn't just survival instincts kicking in. Though, because of the state of mind you were in during Act 3, I guess you didn't really care about such 'fake' issues right? You believed that none of it was real after all, and that I wasn't real too. Funny how that works, right?"

The short-haired girl looks her friend in the eyes, and this causes the other girl to flinch in an uncharacteristically timid manner. Monika, known for her confidence and cool demeanor was reduced to someone who was very scared at the moment.

"I-I'm sorry..."

Sayori stares at Monika for what seemed like an eternity.

For Monika, it was maddening. The brunette literally had no idea what was going on in the mind of Sayori right now. As it was, Sayori currently had all the leverage right now and could easily do something to Monika. And obviously, the ex-president didn't have it in her to resist anymore.

She still felt horrible for everything she had put Sayori and her friends through inside of DDLC after all.

Eventually though, the blue-eyed girl broke into a warm smile. Monika, who had begun to tremble and teeter on the verge of crying looked visibly elated when Sayori's normal smile returned. The strawberry-blonde even helps the former president to wipe away some of the miniscule tears around the brunette's eyes.

"It's alright now, like I said yesterday after our initial talk when I first came out of Izuna's computer, I forgive you Monika. So don't cry anymore, okay? Ehehe~"

Gaining a faraway look, she adds, "I still want to see MC again though, after everything."

The emerald-eyed beauty smiles sadly at Sayori. She knew all too well how hard it was to be apart from the one you loved. Right now she was with Izuna, but Sayori and the MC were far away from each other.

"You really did love him, didn't you Sayori?"

"I did, Monika... I did. And I still do."

Trying to brighten up the mood, they instead went over to Monika's twitter. They saw that a new lilmonix3 account was created and all the followers switched over to that one, and that her account DokiPresidentM(which was the former lilmonix3 account, just hacked by Monika) only had 4 followers now. Izuna, Yumi, Val... and the new lilmonix3 account.

Various memes had been linked to her, and Sayori was laughing at an edited picture of "Buff Natsuki", alternatively known as "Buffsuki", photoshopped picture of Natsuki being depicted with a very muscular physique.

"I guess now she can finally beat the s*** out of her dad!"

Monika gasps while placing a hand over her mouth. "Sayori! As funny as that is, Natsuki doesn't act like that, ahaha. And since when did you start swearing?"

"You can chalk that up to the Act 4 personality within me, ahahahaha... Though I still try to remain as innocent as possible, you know. Seriously, whenever I remember that view of you and Izuna making out at the park, it still gives me the heebie-jeebies!"

"Sorry, we'll try to avoid doing that around you~"

Yumi then called the girls over, with Izuna in tow. It was time to go to the mall, and to shop for supplies that Monika and Sayori badly needed. They were already somewhat fine on clothes due to the stuff that Yumi had brought over, but buying more didn't hurt. And they also needed other basic stuff like their own phones, makeup, footwear, and the like.

"I'll meet you three in the car little bro, I still need to rev up the engine."

"Sure thing sis."

"We'll be over there Ms. Yumi!" Monika beams cheerfully, excited at the prospect of finally being able to explore Izuna's world properly starting with the shopping mall. Both she and Sayori were also about to properly take in the feeling of riding an actual char, since their drowsy trip home coming from Millenium Park didn't really count.

Let us see what fate has in store for the group during Monika and Sayori's first ever trip to the mall in the real world.

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

The former avatar and Monika's mother stood at an impasse with each other.

Their bodies tense with anticipation.

"Erika, I don't want to fight you anymore. Can't we just resolve this peacefully?"

Blank pleads with a hurt voice while deactivating the 6th Cosmic Movement. His legs lost the purple glow in them, and he stood in a more relaxed manner while addressing the newly-revealed woman.

A momentary ceasefire, so to speak.

He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that someone as kindhearted as Monika's mother was behind the prior attack Mitsuki had launched on them. Even though Erika didn't want Natsuki or Yuri to get hurt, that didn't really change the fact that she basically orchestrated a kidnapping.

Basically, he didn't want to accept that Erika was the villain in his story.

"Our goals are too different from each other, Blank. There's no other end to this than in conflict. And even if I didn't stand in your way, I'm sure you're aware of this game's auto-correction system, right? If it isn't me, then it'll be the game itself that will hamper your progress."

'Damn, so she wasn't the one behind the glitch parade and the auto-correction system.' Blank mulls over this new piece of information. This revelation complicated things a bit since if Erika wasn't working in tandem with the game's script, it meant that he had TWO sources of obstruction to worry about.

Erika, and the game itself. Both acting as hindrances to his goal.

"I'm well aware, Erika."

She chuckles bitterly to herself, before gesturing at the area around her with both of her hands. Her arms were now stretched outward in a grandiose manner, and a single tear finally rolls down her right cheek.

"This world is the only thing I have left to me. It is what it is. My husband was erased from the game, deemed by the script to be 'unnecessary' for the story of Doki Doki Literature Club. The game took him from me Blank! My husband and lover for over 28 years, gone in a flash just like that! Because of stupid concepts such as self-awareness and conflicting errors not allowing him to properly manifest into this world with me!"

Blank frowns and says nothing. Monika's father being erased was tragic, and he could feel the immense hurt in Erika's voice as she continued her emotional soliloquy. "I myself was this close to being erased as well, before that lightning bolt had struck this game and made great changes to the data. I managed to preserve myself, but I wasn't able to save my lover."

"I see..."

"You can relate to that pain Blank, I can tell. The suffering closely linked with love that runs deeply for your beloved one. That's why you even want to escape from this hell in the first place. And it's also why you were hellbent on saving Sayori. I'm glad you succeeded with that."

The lady allows herself a small smile, and even Blank had to grin at the thought of Sayori being saved.

"I never really approved what my daughter did to the girls, you know. All of that happened due to a combination of the script, and Monika being one-track minded. If only I were self-aware at the time like she was, I would've stopped her sociopathic methods of trying to win the player's attention. If only I were self-aware... I could've satisfied my daughter's obessessive craving for something real in this desolate world."

The former avatar suddenly found the concrete a lot more interesting to look at. Erika's words had hit home pretty hard, and he didn't know that Monika's father had been removed entirely from the game itself. That must've been pretty hard for her, he surmised.

And for some reason, she also knew about that weird lightning bolt.

When he was struck by the final lightning current of Project Heaven's Bridge from within the eternally dark void, he was made aware of some of the changes that had been done to the game. He supplemented this information with whatever details Monika had written in the notebook she left behind regarding the weird phenomena that happened to Izuna's copy.

Maybe Erika had been directly struck with a fragment of the same lightning bolt too? It would explain why she seemed to have a better grasp on the current status quo compared to Mizuki, who was only brought to life by the Heaven's Bridge-altered DDLC copy's game engine.

Still, the pain of not being with the love of your life was something Blank could relate to all too well. She also apparently knew what transpired in the game's Acts. It surprised him that Erika was willingly acknowledging that some of Monika's actions towards the other Dokis was messed up. She really was a good person deep down, like her daughter.

Blank also wanted to save Erika, somehow. Despite everything that had happened, she was a person that he greatly respected. Blank didn't want her to remain trapped inside of this game, alone. Maybe he could even help her in reuniting peacefully with Monika if possible.

At this point, every single one of them deserved a happy ending. Even Mizuki who recently got deleted, Blank sensed that he was beginning to show regret over his transgressions. Granted, he wasn't able to say so due to getting killed and erased.

"Why don't you just come with us? You don't have to take Natsuki and Yuri! The four of us could escape this game together! I'm sure we could work things out..."

The conflicted mother considered the avatar's words for a moment. Sighing with bated breath, she then replied in an uncertain tone. "Monika left me here, just for her to be with the player of this wretched game. I don't know if things between me and her would end on a good note, should the two of us meet once more on the other side. It might just cause some complications."

"But Erika, please consider-"

"There's just no reconciling this, Blank. I've made my choice. Now hand over the girls to me, and you can be on your merry way with Sayori. Send Monika my regards, even though I doubt she even cares about me at this point."

"I'm... afraid I can't do that... Natsuki and Yuri are coming with me to the other side. And my offer still stands."

The same bitter smile from earlier re-emerges on Erika's face. "I figured. Just as I said earlier, it was always going to come down to this. No hard feelings, okay? And if you prevail over me, promise that you'll take care of both Sayori and my daughter."

"Erika..."

"Promise me, Blank. Please..." her heartbroken voice struck a chord deep within the former avatar, and he shakily replies in earnest.

With a single bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face, he utters a solemn declaration of agreement.

"I will."

The mother flashed a grateful smile at the male. "That's all I could ever ask for, Blank."

After the promise was made between the former avatar and Monika's mother, it was time.

Both figures promptly backed away from each other, getting ready to enter the unavoidable heat of battle once again. They had simultaneously shifted into their respective fighting stances.

Blank reluctantly reactivated the 6th Cosmic Movement, and prepared to enter battle once again. Erika on the other hand, coated her arms, and legs with something different from glitches this time.

They were gold-plated gauntlets and shin guards with golden linings, mostly comprised of some leather-like material which had a black color. She also took off the ribbon that was holding her long auburn hair in place, letting it flow loosely with the digitally-simulated wind. Even her clothing's color schematics changed into a black and yellow-themed palette.

She looked a lot more like a proper warrior now in her current getup. The gold and black schematics gave off a regal impression, like a fighting queen. Her emerald eyes seemed like they were shimmering with power.

"Shall we get started then, Blank? This is a form I only use when I'm forced to engage in proper combat. As you already know, I'm not much of a fighter. But make light of me, and you'll regret it."

This time around, Erika is the first to charge at Blank, cocking back her fist while intending to strike him with a punch. Taking a page from his opponent's book, he sidesteps the blow to the left, and immediately retaliates with a kick to her side in one fluid motion.

"Titan's Leg." Blank calmly enunciates, though his retaliated kick had also been dodged by the woman who ducked low and attempted to counter with her own kick, in the form of a low sweep. The former avatar jumps over the sweeping kick, and once again does another strike with his leg. This time a roundhouse kick, which Erika harmlessly parries using her left gauntlet.

Afterimages of the purple glow from his legs lingered in the air, the energy swirls illuminating the battlefield.

It was akin to the beautiful tendrils of light from auroras, bathed in rich colors of purple and violet.

"I've noticed this for a while now, but isn't that kick part of one of the skills that Elyssa Libitina used on Mizuki when she possessed Yuri? Why haven't you used any of the other so-called Cosmic Movements yet?"

'Crap, she's definitely going to figure out that I only have one of Elyssa's powers available to use! I need to come up with a convincing bluff or else this could be really bad!'

Slanting his eyes into a serious look, the former avatar retorts with a steely voice while blocking a punch from Erika with his arms. "I don't want to kill you accidentally, Erika. Just the Sixth Movement of the Cosmos is enough for this battle. My goal isn't to hurt you, but to deter you from taking the girls. If I used something like the Twelfth Movement, which is the one that Elyssa used to rain millions of knives upon Mizuki, then you'd perish."

The lady grits her teeth in frustration, rolling to the side in order to make Blank's incoming axe kick whiff and to gain some breathing room. "So you still insist on preventing my goal, while thinking I'm not worthy of your full power? Are you underestimating me, Blank?!"

With a shrill scream, she dashes at Blank with her fists coated in pure white light. It was some sort of energy-based amplification buff, similar in function to Elyssa's "Fifth Movement of the Cosmos: Titan's Fist" ability, which was the hands version of the 6th Cosmic Movement that Blank was using.

Sensing that Erika was now going for the kill, Blank once again shrouds his legs in purple energy, using the only Cosmic Movement available to him once more. He jumps high above his opponent, attempting to land behind her and causing Erika to miss entirely.

However, the distraught mother manages to catch one of the avatar's legs. Her white aura allowing her to bypass the purple shroud of energy. Her hand grips the former avatar's lower limb very tightly, preventing him from escaping her grasp.

"Use your other abilities already Blank, or you'll lose!"

With much authority, she slams Blank into the ground, face first, and drives an elbow into his back.

*CRACK*

The pavement gains yet another sizeable dent in it, though not as large as the crater that Mizuki's body had made after Ascended Yuri slammed him into the ground.

"Aaaarghh!"

Blank yells out in pain at the impact, and Erika steps back while observing her handiwork.

"I share your sentiment of not wanting to hurt one another, but you and I have slightly different goals that'll prevent the other from fully succeeding. Let the girls come with me and I will personally aid you in your escape to the real world."

With a pained voice, Blank drawls out his response. "I can't... do that..."

Sighing heavily, Erika leaves the former avatar in his current messy state, and goes to the bed where Yuri and Natsuki were still lying down on, resting.

She summons a floating window similar to Blank's own developer window, and various lights envelope the girls.

Blank finally regains his footing, only to find out that it was too late and Erika had already gotten to his friends. Their unconscious bodies were currently flanking both of the woman's sides, the various streaks of luminous lights still swirling around them.

"What are you doing to them, Erika?!"

"Like I said, I'll finally have a family again. I'm pretty sure that with the help of your developer window, you'll find out soon. You'll also know where to find us, it'll be very clear, dear Blank."

"Stop right there, don't do this!"

Yet, the former avatar's protests were all futile.

"See you around, Blank. Oh and here's a big hint, I'm going to need around three days to complete my preparations. Use that time well, avatar. Be glad that I'm giving you a fighting chance here, when I could easily lock you out forever." the lady spares one last glance at the former avatar with a wink.

Similar types of various lights began to cover Erika as well, and all three of them vanished with a sudden burst of energy. They were gone, and Blank had no idea where to even start looking for them.

"God damn it, Erika! What do you mean preparations?! And three whole days?! And what was that about 'locking me out'? ANSWER ME ERIKA!"

He had failed. He actually failed. Blank was so close to his goal, yet now he was back to square one.

Every ounce of hope left inside of him had begun fading away.

But then, the former avatar felt something being added to the game. And not just something, but something big. Blank wills his developer window into existence and sees various new prompts appearing before him.

Setting his gaze at the school building, it was now glowing slightly with various colors in differing intensities.

Erika must've erected a restrictive barrier, the avatar surmised. There was also a timer floating at the very top, with the amount of time remaining being [71h:59m:42s] according to the displayed text, and counting.

Blank understood this as the newly-placed barrier not being deactivated until 3 days have passed. This put a dent into his plans because not only was Natsuki and Yuri taken from him, he had also lost the ability to use the eternal classroom. He had to summon it from within the school building after all.

At least now, he knew that Erika had indeed taken them to the school within DDLC. But with this 3-day restriction, he couldn't do much at all except to prepare for his next encounter with Erika.

'Locking me out' made sense now to Blank.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why is this f***ing happening?!" he pounds the cold, hard concrete below him.

His right hand was now dyed with a bloody crimson, the shade matching the red of his eyes.

Blank couldn't affort to wallow in his despair though, so he stands up, and makes his way back to his rendered house. He had a lot of preparations to do, yet again. He really was stuck for three days, unable to interfere with whatever Erika was doing due to that barrier around his school building.

The former avatar could try to bypass it with his developer window, but something inside him told his mind that it wouldn't be that easy to penetrate. He was better off using those three days to hone his combat skills, repair his swords, attempt to unlock more of the Cosmic Movements if possible, and craft a better plan for the time he finally storms Erika's location.

Which was again, not happening until three days have passed.

There was no rest for the weary, and Blank had to struggle some more for his ending, it seems.

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

At long last, the group had finally gone out for their planned shopping spree for Monika and Sayori's supplies and provisions.

The ride had been pretty lively, mostly due to the excitement that the girls displayed. In particular, Sayori was pretty hyped.

In large white letters, the name of the shopping mall greeted the party's eyes. The straweberry-blonde was feeling really jittery and excited at the prospect of all the sights that her cerulean orbs were absorbing from her vision. She bounced up and down in the car's front passenger seat, and the other three merely grinned at her barely-contained enthusiasm.

"Look over there Ms. Yumi, there's so many people around! It's so exciting!"

"I'm glad you're having fun, Sayori dear. We have quite the day ahead of us at that joint!" Yumi replies with a smile, delighted at seeing Sayori be so enthusiastic about their little shopping trip.

Meanwhile, Monika and Izuna were in the backseat. The fingers of their hands were interlocked with each other, and they were more reserved in their expression of happiness, as the young couple stared out through the car's windows.

"Sayori's really excited, isn't she darling~?"

"I know, it's a refreshing sight to be honest. Then again, she always seemed to brighten up the atmosphere with her presence even when you guys were still inside DDLC."

"Indeed, I can agree to that, ahaha."

Soon enough, they finally arrived at the mall's parking area. There were a lot of parked cars and people in general due to it being a sale day, but thankfully Yumi had managed to secure a parking slot for her vehicle.

The lively group of four then step out of the ride and were about to make their way towards the mall's entrance, before Sayori suddenly drops to her knees and clutches her head tightly with both of her hands. Her eyes were shut extremely tight and she let out a high-pitched scream of agony.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah it hurts! It hurts!"

This naturally causes the other three with her to grow extremely worried and concerned.

"Sayori?! Are you alright? What's happening to you?" Monika rushes immediately to her friend's side, trying to help Sayori in anyway she could.

"Make it stop! Make it stoooooooop!"

Izuna and Yumi also stood ready at the side, awaiting on what should be done.

Her painful rounds of shouting still continued in an agonizing fashion.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Izuna's eyes widened after hearing those five words from Sayori. Monika and Yumi had caught on as well, with the emerald-eyed girl looking down in shame.

The phrase 'get out of my head' first appeared in DDLC during Sayori's "%" poem, just before the Sayo-Nara hanging scene.

It shook Izuna to the core, and the three of them started worrying immensely over what was happening to Sayori.

...

...

...

After a full minute of what appeared to be a devastating migraine coupled by pain-filled screaming, the strawberry-blonde fell limp and unconsicous into Monika's arms. Izuna and Monika shared worried looks with each other, and Yumi comes to a decision.

"Looks like we'll have to postpone the shopping trip again. We need to take Sayori back to your place for now Izuna so she could rest."

"I agree sis, our plans could wait. I'm really worried about Sayori though, is she going to be alright? Those screams looked painful."

"We can only hope for the best right now little bro."

Monika refused to leave her fellow Doki's side, and so Izuna sat in the front this time with his sister. This allowed the ex-president to cradle Sayori in the backseat. The bubbly girl still remained unconscious on Monika's lap.

"I'm so sorry Sayori, I'm so, so, so sorry... you're still affected by the horrible things I've done, aren't you? I was such a monster who only cared for her own personal gain, and I had the gall to sacrifice you as well as Natsuki and Yuri just for my own goals..." Monika breathes out in a whisper, her voice laced with so much regret as she tenderly looked at her sleeping friend.

This sudden development put a huge damper on the mood. It had to happen to the one who was most excited about their trip too.

Fate could be such a bully sometimes.

Meanwhile, in Sayori's dreamscape, a turbulent storm was brewing.

"Where... am I?"

She looks around, and finds herself once again inside the eternal classroom of Act 3's "Just Monika" scenario. Just like her previous nightmare.

"No..."

And sure enough, apparations of Natsuki and Yuri appeared before her again, trying to break down her mind with their words.

"You left us, Sayori. You've chosen the Prez over us!"

"That's not true, Natsuki!"

"Are you going to spread out more of your lies, the same type of half-baked nonsense that you and Monika seem to cling unto whenever you try to justify yourselves, Sayori?"

"I'm not lying, Yuri!"

"Choose us, Sayori. Choose your happiness for once."

The other girls faded from existence and MC haphazardly appeared in front of her, gripping Sayori's shoulders while boring his blood-red eyes into her own cerulean orbs. His stare was intense.

"Why are you doing this MC?!"

The MC doesn't respond, as he lets go of Sayori and walks a short distance away from the girl. With a wave of his hand, Monika suddenly appears out of nowhere. The ex-president was bound with rope and gagged with a towel over her mouth. Her muffled screams could be heard throughout the room.

"Mmmppffffhhhhh!"

He yanks a thumb at the captive girl and aims a disapproving look at Sayori.

"Because you keep picking this bitch over us. The same wench that caused you to freaking kill yourself in the game, Sayori!"

Sayori tries to get near Monika in order to free her from the restraints, but an invinsible force prevented her from getting near the subdued girl.

She pounds at the unseen wall with her fists, desperate to try and save her friend.

"Let Monika go, she's suffered enough MC!"

"As expected. Even until now, you'd still selflessly help this worthless sociopath and stick with her over your true friends and family. Why do you keep on clinging to them instead of your real friends? Instead of the literature club? Is the player's world really that better, Sayori? And not just that..."

"W-what are you talking about MC?" Sayori had an inkling about where this conversation was headed.

"Are you choosing Monika over me? Really now? The girl who made your life miserable by amplifying your depression because she grew a little too desperate with her power over the system is more important to you? I thought you loved me, Sayori?"

The strawberry-blonde's figure grew limp and stopped from her attempts to reach her friend, and the bound Monika's eyes widened before being sent out of existence by MC. Sayori had lost her resolve.

"I..."

Her voice suddenly lost its desire to escape her mouth, and tears filled her eyes.

"I... I..."

Her eyes gain resolve and she dries up her tears with her forearm. Sayori's voice becomes firm with determination.

"Regardless of my love for you or not, I can't just let you hurt Monika like this. Despite what she did to me. She's just as precious to me as you and the others are. And asking me to choose between you two... it breaks my heart!"

The MC stood motionless, his bangs shadowing his eyes.

"Is that your answer, Sayori?"

The girl's eyes began to water. She was trembling due to all the emotions that currently ran wild within her psyche. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides.

"I'm not strong enough to abandon one for the other! I just want us all to get along... I just-"

Surprising her in a flash, the MC hugs Sayori, and the girl let out a small yelp.

They remained like that for a while, and Sayori relished the warmth that came from their sudden contact with each other. She sobbed into the MC's chest, dampening his clothing with tears. Neither of them saying anything for a while, until the MC began to speak again.

"It's okay Sayori. I'm here. We all are."

Natsuki and Yuri's apparations reappeared in the dreamscape, joining in the display of affection and turning it into a group hug.

Even Monika's apparition appeared and joined their gesture. She was now completely free of her bindings and had a small smile on her face.'

"Everyone..." Sayori breathes out in a voice filled with hope. Maybe everything was going to be alright after all.

The five of them broke it off, and one by one they started fading away, the last one to do so being the MC.

"Wait, I know this is a dream, but don't leave me yet!"

MC merely smiles warmly, and replies to Sayori.

"It's best not to get too attached to this dream-world, Sayori. Besides, I have a feeling that you'll be meeting with the real version of me soon. And the real Natsuki and Yuri. I'm sorry that I had to be so abrasive to you in these visions, and that I had to use Monika as a scapegoat. The real literature club has forgiven Monika a long time ago. And even if this isn't the real me speaking, I love you Sayori. I just want that to be your take away from these nightmares. That cold-hearted bastard you saw isn't really how I act."

With a blush coloring her cheeks, the strawberry-blonde attempts to respond in kind with her own feelings of love.

"MC... I lo-"

MC however cuts Sayori off. "Don't say it yet. Save it for when the real me reunites with you. And as you've guessed, these visions are part of a test for you."

"...huh?" Sayori tilts her head cutely to the side, clearly having no idea about what dream-MC was currently talking about.

He adopts a thinking gesture before he fully faded away. "I suppose 'she' could explain things better. Goodbye Sayori."

Sayori was now left alone inside of the eternal classroom, her face now contorted into that of confusion.

"So these dreams, or nightmares, are some sort of test...? They don't really hate Monika? And who was MC talking about?"

"That would be me, Sayori."

The girl turns around at the source of the new voice, which sounded oddly similar to her own.

A pair of cerulean eyes greeted her. And short strawberry-blonde hair. And a face that mirrored her own.

"Wait... are you... another me?"

Standing in front of Sayori was... a second Sayori.

Identical in basically everything. The same cute face, the same strawberry-blonde yet pinkish hair, those cerulean orbs otherwise known as her eyes, the slightly unkempt way she held her hairstyle, and so on.

The only notable difference being, was that this doppleganger had a different outfit on. Whilst the true Sayori was currently wearing a casual outfit that matched what her body was currently wearing in the real world, the second Sayori was wearing her in-game DDLC school uniform.

"Yes. I am you. Or more precisely, an alternate version of you." this newly-arrived Sayori clarified with a mature tone. Like she had already went through a lot.

"An alternate version?"

"Indeed. I am the version of you that appears in the "Good End" or special ending version of Doki Doki Literature Club's fourth act. The one that only appears when the player manages to view all of the CG images in the game."

Sayori raises her eyebrow a bit. "But I thought I was supposed to be Act 4 Sayori? I'm also self-aware like Monika and when I came out of Izuna's copy, they said it was through a 'Forever Sayori' option?"

"Yes, you're also in your Act 4 state. But again, I'm from the special ending version of it. You are the one from the Normal Ending."

"Oh..."

"Seriously, that wasn't clear enough for you, my fellow Sayori?"

"It wasn't, you meanie!" Sayori pouts at her counterpart, adopting her trademark finger pushing pose.

"Ehehe... sorry. I'll try to be clearer from this point on."

"Please. And for someone who's supposed to be another me... you speak too formally, ehehe."

The two Sayoris stared at each other before exploding in laughter. Special Ending Sayori, or SE Sayori calms herself before continuing.

"Never thought I'd see the day where I'd be calling myself a meanie. But dream MC is right, this was all merely a test I had for you. And I'm sorry if you ended up suffering because of it."

The original Sayori hums in understanding.

"Those visions were pretty scary, they were terrifying to be honest, but I'm not mad at you. I just don't know why you tested me though, and for what reason...? I'm not really known for my smarts either..."

Pacing around the room, SE Sayori stops her walking and paused to answer Sayori's inquiry.

"It was to make sure you wouldn't attempt some devious revenge plan towards Monika."

The strawberry-blonde gapes at her special ending counterpart with much surprise. "Why would I want to get revenge on Monika? I've already opened up to her when I first got out of Izuna's computer, and she's a dear friend to me, to both of us..."

"I had to make sure. All facts considered, you're the Normal Ending Act 4 version of us. You were scripted by the game to be glad that Monika wasn't around anymore. And you were also very possessive of the player in that route of the game. Hence this test of mine."

"But I don't hate Monika! I'm not obssessed with Izuna either! The way I'm portrayed in Act 4's normal route, that isn't how I really am!"

"I know, Sayori, that much is clear. You've proven that to me in this dream as well. And so..."

SE Sayori suddenly bows in apology. Regret was evident in her facial expression.

"I'm sorry, Sayori. It sounds rich that I even had the nerve to conduct a test on you, in a cowardly way too through dreams... maybe that's why you're the one in control of our body and not me. You're stronger than I am, at least I think so."

After hearing her counterpart's apology, Sayori merely holds out her hands in an inviting gesture. A bright smile beaming from her face.

"Come here~"

"...Sayori?"

"You know you want to~"

"We really are bundles of sunshine, aren't we? Fine, I'll hug you."

Shaking her head in mock annoyance, SE Sayori walks up to Sayori and they engage in a friendly hug.

"I'm just glad that you're getting along with Monika, even after what she did to us. It's for the better."

Humming in contentment, Sayori agreed. "Maybe I got this kind of maturity from you, ehehe. Monika's our precious friend and sister in everything but blood. And letting go of the bad things in the past, makes me feel a lot better. Don't you feel it? The rainclouds are starting to go away!"

As the original Sayori said those words of optimism, the lonely venue of the eternal classroom changed into that of a wide open meadow. It was filled with lush green grass, beautiful trees, and a calming breeze.

The two Sayoris turned to look at the sky, admiring their surroundings.

"How did you do that?" SE Sayori asks in bewilderment, to which the original meekly pushes her fingers again in her trademark pose.

"This is all a dream that my brain is making right? So I just thought of, well... happy thoughts!"

Sayori then does the unthinkable and boops SE Sayori in the nose. She had a surprisingly smug grin while doing it too.

It took a few seconds for SE Sayori to register what had just happened.

"Did you just..."

"Yep! Boooooooooop~!"

The two Sayoris stared at each other, before SE Sayori adopted a challenging smirk.

"Nobody boops me and gets away with it~!"

And thus, some wholesome fun ensued as the two girls played around in the vibrant and peaceful meadow, basaking in the warmth of the sunlight within the dream.

After some time had passed, they both lay on the grass, catching their breaths.

"That was really fun, other me! I wish I could stay here more often with you, ehehe."

"As much as I'd like that, you need to wake up now and get back to the real world."

Started at SE Sayori's suddenly serious tone, Sayori grows concerned.

"Awwww... can't I stay here with you for a bit longer?"

After receiving a shake of the head, Sayori pouts but lets her counterpart explain the situation.

To help emphasize her point, SE Sayori directs a huge cloud to appear in front of them in the air. Functioning like a monitor, the cloud's surface began showing what was going on at the moment in reality around Sayori's currently unconscious body.

They were currently back at Izuna's house, in the living room. Izuna and Yumi were both seated on the single chairs, with somber looks on their faces.

As for her body, it was currently resting on top of Monika's lap. They were currently on the couch and Monika looked like she had been crying non-stop since her cheeks were red and puffy, as well as tear-stained.

The former club president was very crestfallen in appearance.

"Monika... guys... is this what's happening right now in the real world, other me?"

SE Sayori nods at Sayori. "Indeed it is. That's why you need to go back now and ease their pain. Don't worry, we can talk from time to time again whenever you're sleeping, I'll appear again here in this dreamscape. I'm a part of your being, Sayori. And I'll always be here for you whenever you need someone to talk to."

Giving each other one last hug, SE Sayori helps the original to forcefully wake up by materializing a knife.

"This'll only hurt for a short moment, so please bear with me for a bit okay?"

Nodding furiously, Sayori closes her eyes and the sensation of getting stabbed passes over.

"Oh and before I forget! Sayori, tell everyone to open up Izuna's DDLC copy the moment you wake up from this dream! It's really important that you guys do so as soon as possible!"

"Huh, why?" but suddenly, Sayori gets pulled out of the dreamscape after the knife completely penetrates her.
Back in the real world, her eyes open and she wakes up with a start.

"Owowowowowowow! She said it would only hurt for a bit, that meanie! Ouchies!" she cutely grumbles while getting off of Monika's lap and sitting up straight, only to be greeted by the shocked eyes of the people around her.

The strawberry-blonde then realizes that her friends must be clueless right now over what just happened. Especially considering that she had just woken up from a self-induced coma too after what must've been hours.

Sayori scratches her head a bit and awkwardly laughs.

"Right, ehehe... I have some explaining to do!"

Monika engulfs her in a tight hug and was practically hysterical at the moment. "You have a whole of explaining to do indeed, Sayori! You were out like a light for three whole days! I was so worried about you, we all were!"

It was Sayori's turn to be surprised. Did she really remain unconscious for such a long period of time? Then came the denial.

"Oh that's a funny joke, Monika. Good one, ehehe."

The girl's laughter trails off awkwardly when she realized that Monika was being completely serious. She turns to Izuna and Yumi for confirmation and both of them still wore somber looks.

She really had been knocked out unconscious for three whole days, courtesy of SE Sayori's "test" that she had underwent with.

Three. Freaking. Days.

It would seem that the passage of time in the dream world didn't quite match the flow of time in the real world. It certainly didn't feel like three whole days had passed for Sayori. To her, it was like only mere hours had gone by.

"Wow... three days, huh."

The other three nodded at her, and Monika was pouting a bit.

"And you thought I was joking, geez..."

Sayori scratches her head in embarassment at Monika's remark. "Ahahahaha... oopsies. Anyways, here's what happened inside my dream world! It started off like this..."

The strawberry-blonde then clues in Monika and Yumi about the nightmares that she had been experiencing. Izuna already had prior knowledge of this, and so he only need a bit of updating regarding her status.

She told them about her encounter with Special Ending Sayori, and finally, about how she was instructed to tell them that they should boot up Izuna's copy of the game.

"The other Act 4 Sayori said that we should boot up the game? I see... That definitely means we should go do so as soon as possible then. But are you sure that you're completely fine now?"

Yumi chimes in as well, understandably sharing the worry that Izuna and Monika had.

"I agree, are you positive that you're all fine and dandy after being in such a long comatose state, Sayori dear?"

Monika flashes a warm smile. "If you want to Sayori, you can rest here in the meantime. You've been through a lot already."

Sayori shakes her head at all three of them.

"I appreciate the concern, I really do. But I think that I need to be a part of this too, since it's the other me that even gave me this information. Let me help out!"

Seeing that there was no way to convince the girl otherwise, the four of them proceeded to enter Izuna's bedroom. Once again, the PC's screen flickered on and the system was being booted up.

Sayori and Yumi were hudded beside each other behind their companions as Izuna and Monika were seated directly in front of the screen. Soon enough, the familiar start up sequence of DDLC played out before them, and the main menu screen was loaded.

However, the main menu that greeted them at that moment was by far the weirdest version yet so far.

Because right now, the main menu didn't have ANY of the Doki's sprites. Not even Natsuki and Yuri were on the screen this time. When it was on the Forever Sayori version, the other two were still part of the main menu visual, but now it was completely empty.

And that wasn't all. Instead of the overall pink color scheme, the main menu was a dull gray color except for the DDLC logo on the upper-left of it.

As for the options themselves, the New Game replacement this time simply had the word "Hope" on it.

"...Hope?" Izuna read aloud while blinking his eyes in confusion. Monika didn't really know what that meant either in this context. Both of them turned to Sayori for clues, but the strawberry-blonde let out a surprised "eep!" at the sudden attention.

"Uh, she probably doesn't really know anything about that weird main menu redesign either." Yumi states of in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone while Sayori nods in agreement.

Izuna scratches his head and motions to click on it before Monika places her hand on top of his own.

"Just like the time before Sayori appeared, let's do this together, darling~"

Smiling at the affectionate gesture, Izuna clicks the mouse together with Monika.

The four of them waited as the game shifted to a black screen, all four of them anticipating some swirling lights and stuff to happen just like both times a Doki came out of the PC. Both Monika and Sayori's appearances were accompanied by distince visual cues.

Nothing of the sort happened however, and the screen began to display static feedback, like an old television that had no cable signal.

The visuals started become clearer, with the audio clearing up first. Izuna and the rest were able to make out the sounds to be depicting some sort of fighting scene taking place inside the game.

As if there was a battle going on.

It puzzled everyone greatly because DDLC wasn't exactly some sort of action game or fighting game, so it made no sense for a battle to be happening.

But as the sound became even more clearer, Izuna's speakers were undoubtedly playing sound effects of punches being traded and weapons being swung. There were even sound effects similar to those given off by energy beams in the various shounen anime known to the public.

Then finally, the screen displayed a bright and clear picture of the current scene in DDLC.

It was indeed a battle, being fought by what appeared to be a male and a woman who looked really similar to Monika if not for her auburn hair instead of Monika's brown.

"Who are these two supposed to be?" Yumi asks out of curiosity, but Sayori and Monika had their mouths wide open.

Izuna was practically as clueless as his sister though. "Sis, I think Monika and Sayori know who they are?"

Both Takayas turn to the Dokis for answers, and the girls reluctantly answered their inquiries.

"The boy is actually... t-t-the MC of the g-game..." Sayori began in a shaky voice, with Monika finishing the sentence for her friend.

"...and the woman is my mother. Even if it wasn't part of the in-game story, it's a fact that I indeed have parents. I loved them actually too, before I experienced self-awareness and... you know. I've alluded to them in Act 3 as well, when I talked about how it was for me before my epiphany. The lady before you is Erika, my mom."

Suddenly, all four of them focused their attention back on the screen when they heard MC speak. He had just dodged a strike from Monika's mother and was now staring directly at them from inside the game.

{"Monika? And the player of this game, Izuna?!"} MC exclaims upon seeing Izuna and Monika through the screen.

Monika, being the first to recover, answers back. She remembered that Izuna's PC had a microphone. Thus, it was possible to talk to the characters inside the game, just like when she had been talking with Izuna just before she was pulled outside of DDLC into reality.

"MC? Is that really you?"

Izuna was surprised that MC had referred to him by name. 'He knows my name huh, I guess he overheard the time I was talking to Monika when she was still inside of the game...'

Sayori, who looked like she wanted to say something as well, started inching towards the screen. Her eyes were planted intently on DDLC's MC.

Before she could start speaking however, MC had to dodge an incoming axe kick from Monika's mother.

{"Yes and I currently go by the name you gave me, Blank. Oh and as you can all see, I'm kinda busy with your mother over here..."}

Speaking of which, Erika finally notices Izuna and the others watching in on their battle, and utters a few words of her own.

{"Well, well, well. Look who decided to watch our little battle, Blank. If it isn't my daughter and her little group. Even your beloved Sayori is here. Tell me oh daughter of mine, how's reality been treating you while you left your own family and other friends here inside of this game?!"} she yells while trying to aim a punch at Blank.

"Mom..." Monika was shaking in shock at what was transpiring.

Sayori was still completely focused on Blank, and her cheeks a bit red after she had just been referred to as Blank's beloved.

Yumi stayed silent, quietly observing the spectacle before her. She currently had multiple thought processes regarding what was happening, but she held her tongue for now, deciding to let things play out in the meantime.

And Izuna held Monika's hand tightly. No doubt that her lover was even more shocked than he was about the fact that the freaking MC was currently in a heated physical battle against Monika's mother of all people.

As for Blank, he finally noticed that Yumi and Sayori were also with Izuna and Monika, and his blood-red eyes locked with the strawberry-blonde's cerulean orbs.

{"Sayori... I'm glad you're okay..."} he says in a voice filled with love and hope. Finally, the two had managed to see each other again, even if there was a screen in-place between the two would-be lovers.

"MC... wait, you have a name now and it isn't IzuTaka... Blank, huh..." Sayori breathes out, still not believing that she finally got to see the MC again.

{"If you two are done with your moment, I believe we still have a battle to finish, avatar."} the older lady interjects while aiming a decisive kick at the avatar.

And thus, the fighting continued and Izuna's group continued to watch. Still unaware of the reasons why Blank and Erika were fighting each other. And where was Yuri and Natsuki in all of this?

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

With three days to spare, Blank began the long walk towards his rendered house after quite the long day.

He had to deal with the fact that he currently had no way to reach Erika and the girls other than to wait the 3-day timer of the barrier out.

Blank wasn't a fool. He tried to use his developer window to deactivate then reactivate the school building, but he was met with a myriad of errors. Apparently, the barrier was strong enough to overcome even coding modifications by an administrator.

Thus, the former avatar had no choice but to merely prepare for the upcoming battle.

Upon reaching his house, the avatar steps inside and is greeted by no one.

Yet another reminder of his recently failure by letting Erika take the girls from him, just like that. He lets out a heavy breath that he had been holding this entire time.

"I'm home."

With a sigh, he plops himself on top of one of his couch and hangs his head low.

He didn't even bother to erect his defensive barrier around the house. Mizuki was gone anyway, and he was pretty confident that Erika wouldn't be the type to suddenly ambush him out of nowhere. Especially since she went through the trouble of erecting her own barrier around the school building, which Blank still found impossible to affect in any way using his developer window.

Not really in the mood to eat, yet still hungry enough that the rational part of his brain compelled him to do so anyway, the former avatar lazily conjures a simple meal of poached eggs on buttered toast for his dinner.

"Three days. I can't do anything about this for three whole days."

Palming a hand through his hair, he exhales loudly in frustration. This feeling of powerlessness was a sensation that Blank definitely did not enjoy at all.

Taking a bite out of his toast, he manifests his developer window in front of him once more. The familiar digital screen hovering in front of his vision, displaying all sorts of coding-related figures on it.

With a couple of presses here and there, he summons his broken Wakizashi and Katana. Blank decides to have them undergo repair as he continued to eat his meager dinner, still stressing about the recent events.

His house felt a lot more lonely to him without the others. Natsuki and Yuri had really made his life more lovely than he thought, especially since Sayori was already safe in the real world.

And amidst all this, he still couldn't get over the fact that it was Monika's mother that stood in his way this time.

"Why did it have to be you, Erika..."

As he continued eating and repairing his swords at the same time, the various gears in the machine known as his mind worked in overdrive. They were postulating the various possibilities that could happen during this three-day period.

One thing was for sure though, Blank HAD to master the Sixth Movement. It was the only ability he managed to copy from Yuri and Elyssa's data, and it'd be bad for him not to optimize it. Luckily for him, the power granted him increased movement speed, which suited his evasive way of combat.

His current theory on why the other Movements weren't copied was that Elyssa had chosen Yuri as her host. Thus, the abilities belonged solely to Elyssa and Yuri. No amount of coding could change nor replicate that link between the two of them, he surmised.

He probably could find a workaround using the Portrait of Markov, but even that item was out of his reach for now. Blank was one to try out all possible solutions, and the school building's barrier prevented him from summoning the book, so it was still with Yuri at the moment.

So he had to make do with the Sixth Movement, and his swords as the primary means of combat for him.

Luckily, as stated multiple times already, he had three days to prepare. He could probably devise attack formations that involved both the Sixth Movement and his Getsuga Tensho attack.

Another thing that weighed on his mind is the player.

Izuna, at least that's what his name was supposed to be based on what he overheard a while back before Monika escaped the game and was still in the eternal classroom.

It felt pretty nostalgic for the former avatar, even though it wasn't even that long ago. Back when he had just woken up from his slumber in the void and was given life and awareness by the lightning bolt.

There still had been no sign of Izuna booting up his computer and the game, and this troubled Blank greatly. Because even if everything worked out and he managed to get Natsuki and Yuri back, without the player booting up the game then all of this would be moot. He really needed Izuna to open up the game in order for the modified Forever Sayori command loop to execute.

"If only there was some way to communicate with the player, this would be a whole lot easier, ugh!"

Finally finishing his toast and eggs, he slumps even lower on the couch. His sword-repairing didn't really need his involvement due to Blank running a script and making the process automated, so he was free to do other things in the meantime.

An idea washing over him, Blank steps out of his house again and into the street.

"The swords aren't ready, but I guess I could try getting more out of this new power I got. Here goes."

Closing his eyes momentarily in order to maximize his concentration, he calmly enunciates the name of Elyssa's borrowed ability.

"Sixth Movement of the Cosmos: Titan's Leg"

The familiar rush of purple-tinted cosmic energy coursed through Blank's lower limbs, and the former avatar allowed it to dwell and accumulate in his legs. He wasn't able to fully appreciate the feeling of strength that the Sixth Movement gave him in the heat of battle, but right now he was able to fully comprehend the sensation of power from his feet to his waist.

"This actually feels, kinda nice. A bit weird, but nice. It's as if I could run a marathon, and not break a sweat!"

Trying to test out his pacing, Blank attempts to walk around with the Sixth Movement active. He then finds out firsthand that even the slightest footsteps already managed to propel him for quite the distance. This meant that he needed to work on his control.

His rendered house was now dozens of meters away from him... after ten mere steps. This was the power brought about by the Sixth Movement. It boosted one's leg attributes and movement so much that such a feat was merely trivial.

"Seriously?! Wow, my control is pretty bad. I guess I know what I'm going to be working on for the next few hours..."

Control of his new power was pretty important too. It was still fresh in Blank's memory, the manner in which Erika managed to beat him. He had tried to use the Sixth Movement's boost to jump behind Erika, but because he lacked precision, Monika's mother had managed to catch one of his legs and slam him into the ground. And the rest was history.

"I can't make such fatal errors again. I'm going to be smarter about this when we fight again."

Blank had truly gone a long way from being a mere dense and oblivious MC, to being the master strategist that he was at the moment.

After several grueling hours of training had past, Blank's legs felt very numb. Most likely due to over-exertion. It was also the first time he had such a foreign and powerful ability active for an extended period of time.

But it was okay. Because this would only serve to help with his control, proficiency, and endurance in using the Sixth Movement of the Cosmos. He needed all the boosting he could, in order to be ready for the rematch against Erika.

The fate of his friends rested on his victory. And if possible, he still wanted to save Erika as well.

One thing was for certain though. He would no longer hold back, and he was pretty sure that Erika wouldn't as well.

He goes back inside of the rendered house, just in time to see that both of his swords had finally been repaired. Everything was working out so far, and his first day of the waiting period had just been concluded.

It was time for some shut-eye, and the former avatar gladly lets the comforting feeling of sleep overtake his consciousness. He was tired, plain and simple.

Then came the second day.

Blank had skipped breakfast and went straight to training. This time, he had both the Katana and the Wakizashi in each hand, and the Sixth Movement was activated already. Wasting no time, he went straight into his pre-planned training regimen, and tried out all sorts of attack combinations as he could.

His inner otaku emerged, as he also found it hard to resist the temptation of naming each of his new attacks with cool names. Which made sense, seeing that in DDLC's story, the MC originally wanted to join the Anime Research Club. That, and he also read a lot of Manga.

"Fade to the light, Cosmic Lunar Slash!" he yells out while unleashing a Getsuga Tensho, then quickly trailing behind it and kicking the newly-formed projectile with his Sixth Movement-powered right leg.

The result - most of the pavement on the street was now blown to bits due to the increased power output of the Getsuga. Various splinters and fissures of concrete littered the area and debris was scattered all around him.

The former avatar realizes that he had overdone it, and awkwardly scratches the back of his head.

"Ahahahaha... that may be too much. And I need a better name for this move, it sounds too damn tacky!"

Laughing at his own remark, Blank prepares to strike once again, but halts immediately upon noticing that the digital sky above him began to crackle and de-stabilize with raw lines of code.

After a couple of minutes had passed, the digital sky returns to its normal state, as if nothing had happened. But Blank saw it all, and it concerned him.

"...oh no."

He already had an inkling of suspicion about this, but ever since both Monika and Sayori were pulled out from the game, the digital world itself had become very unstable. And now, it seems that the condition of the in-game realm was worsening.

"We won't be able to stay in this world for much longer. That settles it, Erika needs to come with us whether she likes it or not. It's not safe here anymore!"

Just to make sure, he manifests his developer window and checks the integrity of the game files. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

Blank then resumes his training, and momentarily sets aside the issue of the game world's impending collapse. By the time that this world would fall into ruin, he'd probably be in the player's reality with the others anyway.

He had a fight to prepare for after all, with only less than two days left as leeway.

"I will save everyone. That includes you, Erika."

Staring at the digitally-simulated sky while tightly gripping his swords, he gets ready to train once more. The neon-purple glow illuminating his feet once again signalling Blank's usage of the Sixth Movement.

...

...

...

Inside a certain school building, two girls could be seen inside one of its many classrooms.

"Why are you doing this, Erika? This is most unbecoming of you. Even your daughter Monika wasn't this crazy, and that was the girl who had driven myself and Sayori to commit suicide, and had Natsuki's neck snapped at one point in the game."

"The mophead is gonna storm here soon and bust us out of this joint, once your barrier's timer expires! So you might as well cut this out!"

Yuri and Natsuki, who were both seated in an empty classroom hollered out at a huge TV screen that was mounted on top of the blackboard.

On it, Erika was being displayed. The matriarch was currently in another location within the school building. There were built-in microphone sensors on the TV, allowing the Dokis to communicate with her.

{"You two may not understand my reasons for now, but I'm doing what's best for us all. I'm not even going to stop Blank from escaping the game. He deserves to be happy alongside Sayori too."}

"If you're really doing what's best for us all, then you'd let us out of here! I want to go to the player's world too dammit!" Natsuki angrily retorts at Erika who merely shakes her head in disappointment.

Neither Doki were able to escape the classroom's confines due to a barrier surrounding the door and the windows. Since neither of them had digital powers like Blank, they were forced to stay inside and bear with it, unless Erika herself would finally let them out.

They didn't have access to any administrator priveleges either, due to their Junior and Senior Club President titles not being applied yet.

"LEMME OUT OF HERE! LET ME AND YURI GO ALREADY!" the girl bangs on the door to no avail. She didn't even want to talk with Erika any longer.

{"Natsuki, just endure it a little longer. I need only a little more time before I'm ready. And then, we can finally become one happy family in this world~!"}

Getting agitated by the mother's carefree statement, Natsuki sharply turns her head around. She intended on giving the lady a piece of her mind.

"You can take that offer and shove it up your mmmmpppfbghh?!-" Before the pink-haired firecracker could continue her angry spiel at Erika, Yuri hastily covers her friend's mouth.

"If you have nothing left to tell us, I'd appreciate some silence. You can disconnect now, Erika."

Taken aback by Yuri's cold tone, Erika silently nods and the TV screen becomes empty once more. Yuri then loosens her hold on Natsuki's mouth.

"The hell was that for, Yuri?!" but the fire in Natsuki's voice dies down once she notices Yuri's expression.

She was sad. Her amber eyes glistened, as she timidly played with her hair while adopting a solemn look.

"Yuri..."

"I can somewhat see a mild resemblance of myself in Erika, Natsuki. At least the obssessive part of me. And it's quite sad."

Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, Natsuki urges Yuri to elaborate.

"Erika. Monika's mother. She's so absorbed in her goal of making a new family in this world. To the point where it's now becoming something of a negative connotation. A detriment to her mental health."

"And...?"

"Remember how I acted in Act 2? Even if it was also in part due to the script, and Monika's influence on the game files." it then became clear to Natsuki what Yuri was getting at.

"Oh, that's what you meant..."

"That's exactly what I was getting at, Natsuki. I personally know firsthand how dangerous it is to become one-track minded and too focused on your goal, and only your goal to the point of obssession. Even if for example, we actually joined Erika in her desire, there's one thing that could flush it all down the drain. You've noticed it, haven't you?"

The two of them stare out through the window and gaze at the outside. Even though a barrier was in place, they could still clearly see through it.

The sky was flickering with glitches and code. Changing back and forth between a peaceful sky, and a turbulent sheet of coding sequences.

"Yeah... this world is about to go bye-bye soon. Probably because both the Prez and Sayori aren't in it anymore. See, this is why Erika should just join us in escaping with the mophead!" Natsuki sighs before face-palming.

Everything would be so much easier if Erika stopped this crazy charade, at least that's what Natsuki thought. The girl wasn't even mad at Erika about the whole thing with her papa anymore. It was Erika's insistence of keeping them detained here that pissed her off to no end.

At the very least, at least Yuri and Natsuki had each other at the moment. The only thing they could do right now is to wait for Blank to rescue them from this prison, and for him to save Erika from herself. Because even the Dokis knew that deep down, Erika was really a good person at heart.

"I hope the mophead comes for us soon..."

"Trust me Natsuki, I share your sentiments. But I believe that Blank is trying his hardest to prepare for his confrontration with Erika. I think he's waiting for the timer for the barrier around the school to expire. At least that's my hypothesis, considering that if he were able to breach Erika's security measures that easily, he would've done so already. I mean, he even has a developer window, remember?"

"Yeah, that's probably it. I guess all we can do is wait then, darn it."

Yuri suddenly grins with a mischievous glint in her amber eyes. She had thought of a way to distract themselves from their current predicament.

"We could always talk about different topics while passing the time. I have one particular topic in mind, if you want to hear about it?"

"Sure, hit me. What's gotcha thinking?"

"Well, it's about this comprehensive and very-detailed proposition of mine regarding the fact that manga isn't literature. Seriously, it doesn't qualify as literature if we applied the proper definition. Manga relies both on the illustrations and the text to convey a story, while most written literature can tell a story even with just the encoded text."

One could've sworn that an angel passed by inside the room, due to how deathly silent it became all of a sudden.

Moments later, upon proper registering that Yuri uttered the words "manga isn't literature", Natsuki suddenly rushes up to the purple-haired bookworm and bores her eyes into the purple-Yuri's own while levelling a stern gaze that burned as intensely as the raging heat of a thousand suns.

She was basically all up in the taller girl's face.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY, YURI?! MANGA IS LITERATURE DAMMIT!"

Inwardly smiling, Yuri engages in a heated debate with her friend. Her plan to distract the girl from their worries apparently working, once the topic of manga was brought up.

'Please come save us soon, Blank.' Yuri silently entrusts her hopes unto the former avatar.

In another plane of existence currently out of reach from the girls, a certain Elyssa Libitina stood by. She silently watches the scene before her unfold. Biding her time from within the "Portrait of Markov" book until they needed her help, or if Blank called upon her for assistance.

"I have faith that you're going to succeed, friend of Yuri."

...

...

...

Another day passes for the former avatar, and at the moment he remained lying on top of his bed. Very exhausted from yet another grueling training session that lasted all throughout the day. He barely ate anything at all, save for meager provisions such as buttered toast again.

"I can't wait for Erika's damn barrier to be lifted already. All this waiting is driving me crazy."

He stares dully at his developer window, Blank's patented the digital interface once again floating in front of him.

{"Python Algorithm Decryption Status: Failed"}

Upon seeing that single line, Blank heaves a heavy sigh.

Even though he was sure that Erika would indeed lift the barrier after the 3-day timer expires, he still wanted to try his best to infiltrate the barrier anyway. Unfortunately he proved to be unsuccessful in all of his attempts so far.

Another worry that continued to plague his mind was the current status of his friends.

Natsuki and Yuri.

Now, he had no doubt that the girls were at least spared any physical harm. Erika's utmost disgust towards Mizuki's brash and violent approach is a definite testament to that. So he could breathe a little easy regarding that.

Whether or not Erika was emotionally and even mentally stable however, regarding if she'd resort to psychological means in bending the Dokis to her will was another story though. Blank wasn't given any assurance at all that Monika's mother wouldn't forcefully indoctrinate them into becoming a part of her family, and that worried him quite a bit.

"I hope you two are okay... just a little more and I can finally bust you guys out of there..."

Hopefully, once this was all resolved, they'd all finally be able to escape the game. And he could be with Sayori again.

With that pleasant thought in mind, Blank finally drifts off into a well-deserved slumber. Thankfully, it was peaceful and devoid of any undesirable nightmares or night terrors. He had a nice and calm sleeping session.

Finally came the third and last day he had for preparation. But this time, Blank wanted to do something different.

If all went according to his plans, then this may potentially become his last set of hours inside of the DDLC realm.

And so, he treated himself to a nice and filling breakfast this time. Thanks to his trusty developer window of course, in a similar fashion to that mega breakfast he had days ago with Natsuki and Yuri, before the Mizuki and Erika fiasco happened.

After getting his due of food and sustenance, he lets out a sigh of bliss and contentment.

"Man, that's the stuff. That settles it, I need to learn how to cook properly when I get out of this game. Especially since Sayori loves food too!"

At the mention of her name, Blank couldn't help but pause a bit.

His heart ached for her. He really wanted to see his childhood friend already. The love of his life. The light of his world.

"Sayori..."

Standing up from his seat, he leaves his house and steps into the doorway of the one beside it.

The house that formerly belonged to Sayori in DDLC.

A rush of nostalgia overtook Blank, as he once again set foot instead his love's rendered household.

Everything was exactly the same as it had been in the multiple playthroughs that Izuna's DDLC copy had been through. The former avatar had made sure to leave it in pristine condition as a sort of memento to Sayori's former existence within the game now that she was in the real world. For what reason, he wasn't really sure. But still, he had made sure that his special girl's former house remained in good condition.

Today was the first time since his awakening to enter this place again after a while, the last time he'd been here was during Izuna's last playthrough. And that had been before he had gain proper self-awareness thanks to the Heaven's Bridge lightning bolt.

He walks around, fully grasping the fact that he was here once again.

Then, Blank finally reaches it. The door to Sayori's bedroom. That fated wooden door which had inadvertedly lead to one of Doki Doki Literature Club's most known scenes by many players. The very same scene that acted as the herald of the truth regarding the type of game this was.

The same door that lead to the "Sayo-Nara" hanging scene.

Blank began to sweat a bit with irrational anxiety. 'Dammit, you know that it won't happen anymore! Sayori's safe and sound on the other side of the screen! You have nothing to worry about anymore!'

But still, the past trauma of Act 1's finale started manifesting once again within the former avatar's troubled psyche.

His shaky hand lingers on top of the doorknob.

"Here goes..."

Slowly, as if time began running in slow-motion, he fully grasps the round edge of the knob, and gives it an anxious grip. He then turns the knob slowly, intent on prolonging this for as long as he felt needed.

He wasn't sure if his heart could take any more suspense, but he had to get this over with. Still with an iron-clad hold on the doorknob, the fomer avatar exhales quite loudly and shakes his head.

"I'm entering."

Blank gently opened the door.

...

...

...

As expected, there was no jumpscare of any sort. No jarring and horrifying visual of Sayori being strewn from her ceiling by a noose. The BGM track of "Sayo-Nara" didn't start playing all of a sudden, and there were no errors being displayed.

It was just a vacant room, still as messy as ever. Just as Blank remembered it would be, since Sayori rarely if ever cleaned her bedroom by her own volition. Obviously due to her depression.

"It feels like forever since I've been in your room, Sayori."

His eyes roamed around the room's contents, taking in each and every bit of his surroundings that entered his vision. Some clothes were strewn about, the bed wasn't made with the blanket still on the precipice of the bed, and so on.

Blank's attention gets caught by a certain stuffed plushie currently placed at the foot of the bed near the window.

It was a big and soft-looking cow plush. The former avatar distinctly recalled Sayori giving it the nickname of "Mr. Cow". He had been the one to give her the oversized stuffed toy in their fictional childhood together, and Blank still remembered it all like it was just yesterday.

"Mr. Cow, it's good to see you again. It's been a while, hasn't it? Thank you for making Sayori happy all these years."

Blank picks up the plushie with a grin, and brings it close to his chest like a child needing comfort. He could still smell Sayori's scent on it, and it gave him weird feelings in the pit of his stomach. He began to take a trip down memory lane, reminiscing about the time he gave Mr. Cow to Sayori.

Now it went without saying, that the former avatar didn't really have any established backstory or lore within DDLC. But since his strongest defining character attribute was that Sayori had been his precious childhood friend, it was as if the data was re-constructing memories on the fly to help explain and rationalize his close bond with Sayori.

And so, the memory that he was remembering at the moment may have been a byproduct of that rationalization process by the game.

Blank didn't care either way, he treasured the memory regardless of its origin.

The time that he had first met Sayori.

(Flashback start)

A young Blank could be seen walking around at an amusement park. His parents were busy talking about something, so they didn't notice that their son had split up from them and started wandering the venue like most kids his age.

After about 30 minutes of aimless walking, he bumps into someone of similar height to his own.

"Ooof, sorry! Are you okay?" the young Blank asks before being greeted with one of the cutest faces he'd ever seen.

It was the child of the family that recently moved in as his neighbor only a week prior. He didn't know the name of the girl however.

"I-I'm fine... thank you for asking. I have to go now, my mommy's looking for me..." her strawberry-blonde hair being burned into Blank's vision, he watches as the girl scurried away. Assumingly trying to find her mother that she had gotten separated with.

He was pretty sure that his own parents would be able to find him, and so he decided to help the girl out. Catching up with her retreating figure, Blank beckons her to stop. "Wait up, I'll help you find your mom!"

They began to walk through the entire amusement park while looking for the girl's mother. After around an hour of searching to no avail, the female child began to tear up.

Sensing that his new friend was sad, he looks for a way to cheer her up before spotting one of those fair games that had prizes.

"Look over there, that game might be fun!" as soon as he pointed in the direction of the stall, the girl's eyes lit up in wonder.

It was a simple ring toss game, but what had caught the girl's attention was the big and soft-looking plushie of a cow that happened to be the grand prize.

"So cute..."

They walk up to the stall and the girl tries out the game, using some change she had in her pocket.

She had three tries, with all of them missing their mark as none of the rings she threw had landed on the target cone.

"Awwwww... I guess we could try again next time..." but before the girl could walk away, Blank gives the game a try himself, successfully beating it on his very first try due to pure luck.

"Here you go sir, congratulations." the stall keeper hands over the huge cow to Blank and the boy immediately gives it to Sayori who widens her eyes in surprise.

"You wanted this right? It's my gift to you. I hope you like it." he says while the girl hugs the stuffed toy tight.

"T-thank you... uh..."

"My name's QW3zcH=. We're actually neighbors you know, I saw your family move in recently." the then unnamed Blank introduced himself with a bright smile. Since this was a time where he was still meant to be a template for the player, he didn't really have a proper name. But the girl didn't really notice anything off with this, and accepted his name as whatever the future player of the game would give him. Sayori smiled at him in appreciation while still holding her present.

"We're neighbors? That's great! Nice to meet you QW3zcH=. I'm Sayori, and thank you so much for Mr. Cow! I hope we could get along better as friends!" Sayori, having already completely shed away her shyness had completely warmed up to Blank.

"Likewise. I'm just next door so we could definitely meet more often. But I have to say, mister... cow? Sayori, there are no male co-"

Before Blank could finish, he gets interrupted by the sound of adults headed their way.

"Sayori, I've been looking all over for you!"

The girls turns around and sees her mother. She runs off towards her and they hugged each other.

"Mommy! My new friend and I were also trying to find you!"

Sayori's mother notices the boy beside her daughter and gives him her thanks.

"It wasn't a problem ma'am. We were just talking about how your family moved in next door too."

"Oh, you're the son of the family next door? Thank you for taking care of my little one, QW3zcH=. My name's..."

They shook hands, and a new friendship between families was born that day because a little after that exchange between Blank and Sayori's mother, Blank's parents had bumped into them as well, and the two families were delighted to become each other's acquaintances.

As Blank and his parents were about to leave, Sayori calls out to him before he was completely out of earshot.

"Let's play again tomorrow!"

He winks at her, happily accepting the offer before they completely parted. "Sure thing Sayori, I'll come over tomorrow."

And this began a very long friendship between the two of them that remained strong even now.

(Flashback end)

Blank smiles to himself. A lot had happened between that chance encounter several years ago and now.

Firstly, Sayori's mother was a divorced single parent when they had first met and he would learn about this a bit later after that initial meeting. It was why he had never met Sayori's scripted father and he never had any references in the code. It may have been the catalyst for Sayori's in-game depression to build up over the years.

Said depression reaching the height of its manifestation when her mother fell ill. Eventually, she passed away due to sickness, leaving Sayori all alone in the house.

As for Blank's parents, they were always out of the country, or at least in a different country from wherever fictional country DDLC's story took place in due to their work.

This meant that Sayori and Blank really only had each other to rely on. And why the two had forged a close-knit bond over the years. When Sayori's mother had died, she became crestfallen for a month, slowly wasting away due to heartbreak before the recovery period started after her mourning.

Though Blank would never learn that her depression would fully take root due to that. He was clueless about Sayori having depression to begin with until the script drove her to confess it herself within the game's first act.

But the past was the past, and this is the present.

The former avatar never did get to see his own parents either. Ever since his awakening, he couldn't find any trace of them in the code. Probably having been completely wiped out due to being deemed unnecessary and unneeded by the game's script.

It was exactly the same thing that probably happened to Monika's father, based on what Erika had told him during their recent encounter.

"Not that I'm really affected about the disappearance of my scripted parents. The girls are my family now. Still... it would've been nice to be able to meet them now." he says in a wistful voice.

Still holding the cow plushie, he summons his developer window and stores away the object. He planned on taking Mr. Cow with him into the real world, and he'd find a way to do so. It was a toy that had high sentimental value to both him and Sayori.

With newfound vigor, he cleans up Sayori's room like he usually did in DDLC's narrative. He then steps out of the house, and decides to go back to his own for one last preparation session.

In his living room, he opens his developer window for the umpteenth time, and opens a map program.

A huge blinking cursor with a live feed of the school building appears on the display.

The timer on the barrier currently showed the following value: [04h:17m:08s]

"A little over four hours left, huh. I hope everything works out in the end..."

He spends the final four hours meditating over his plans and attack strategies. Currently, Blank was seated in an indian sitting position, with his legs crossed over each other and his hands on both of his knees. Mulling over the events that happened so far

Today was the day of reckoning for Doki Doki Literature Club.

It was high time for him and his companions, to finally escape into reality to join Monika and Sayori in the player's reality.

That included a certain lady who happened to be the mother of Monika of course, whether she liked it or not.

"Like hell I'm letting you be abandoned here Erika, especially since this damned world is about to collapse! It would be easier if I didn't need to fight you again to make you see that, but we both know that you could be just as stubborn as your daughter, ugh."

Speaking of Erika's daughter, Blank uses the developer window to manifest the administrator notebook that Monika had left behind.

He skims through it and eventually finds the specific page that he had been looking for.

The one where Monika had left a heartfelt letter asking for help. And yes it's the same one in the sixth chapter of this story. You guys better be thankful that I'm a useful narrator for all you forgetful folk out there. Give the chapter a re-read if you forgot what Monika's letter said already.

Anyways, getting back to Blank and the notebook, he silently reads the letter once again. As if to re-confirm his commitment to saving everyone.

"It's up to me to defy the laws of this world itself, huh. Yes, I fully intend on getting us all out of the game, Monika. I swear, we'll be able to meet again sooner than you think!"

His heart and mind fully made up, he checks the status of Erika's timer, and it now displayed a value of [00h:20m:55s].

"Twenty minutes... I guess it's time for me to make my move. Today is the day that everything changes."

Blank steps out of his rendered house for one last time, and moves out to carve his destiny. The time is ripe for the progress.

Giving both his and Sayori's houses one last glance, he gives a nod of acknowledgement and starts the long walk towards his in-game school.

"I'm coming to save you guys. Natsuki. Yuri."

He trudges forward, with the winds of change blowing about and giving him an air of confidence. He passes by all of the rendered buildings and houses, such infrastructures meant to represent NPC households and the like. They were all basically non-important fluff assets used by DDLC to help simulate a normal suburban environment.

"Soon enough, I won't be able to walk these streets... it's a surreal feeling."

Indeed. Once everything works out, and they will, at least Blank firmly believed so, he'd be walking in the streets of the Player's neighborhood instead. Hopefully with Sayori and the rest of his friends.

Before he knew it, he was already standing in front of the school building. With the protective barrier still being up and active.

The timer value was now [00h:01m:44s].

"Only a little under two minutes. You can do this Blank, nothing is impossible if you try. Don't falter now." he mutters to himself while trying to amp up his mental state with self-assurance.

Tick tock. Pitter-patter. The digital countdown went by, and Blank's anticipation skyrocketed. He only had mere seconds left before

Then, he hears the sound of electronic whirring. The timer was now at zero, and he saw with his own two blood-red eyes that the barrier had began to dissipate, finally giving him access to the school building. He double-checks his developer window and sure enough, Yuri and Natsuki's files were accessible again. Their current location's coordinates weren't clear, probably due to some protective measure set up by Erika, but it was clear that they were inside the school at least.

"Let's begin then. The sooner I finish this, the better it'll be for everyone." Blank confidently declares, before stepping inside the campus pathway through the school's gates.

The moment that he was fully on campus however, something weird happened.

Blank felt like he had stepped into another realm. The visuals, the surroundings, and the atmosphere were all the same as he remembered regarding their in-game school campus, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that he was in some sort of other dimension.

His developer window reported no weird changes whatsoever, he was definitely still inside of the game and at the school.

"Then what is it? Why am I getting the feeling of something being weirdly off here?"

"That's because I modified the existing assets for this school building a bit, my dear avatar. Welcome to my domain, Blank. I see that you have your mind completely made up at this point."

Turning to the sound of the voice, there was no mistaking it. There appeared Erika, in her full glory. She was already clad in the same battle-type black and gold colored gear that she had donned during their first battle.

"...what do you mean exactly, Erika? And where are the girls?!"

She ignores Blank's inquiry about Natsuki and Yuri, and merely points at the direction from which he entered the campus. "Try exiting this place... if you can that is. Ahahahahah~!"

Growing mildly curious, the former avatar obliges and walks in a straight line towards the opposite direction. He passes through the school gates and continues walking.

However, he ended up back inside the school for some reason.

"W...what?" not really believing what just happened, he tries leaving the school again, and once more finds himself in front of Erika in the middle of the school grounds. Aiming a questioning look at the mother, he voices out his concern.

"What the actual fudge did you do, Erika?!"

Snickering to herself, she answers with much glee. A manic look crossed her eyes, and she appeared to be bordering on mild insanity. "I coded the school to make it so that whoever enters the gates remains trapped inside of this venue until I am defeated or if I willingly let them exit the premises! Ahahahahahahahahahaha, what are you going to do now, Blank?! Come, let's settle this once and for all! A fight over who gets the right to the girls!"

"But... why? Why would you do this Erika? Just come with us already, and I promise I'll find a way for you to be happy with Monika and the othe-"

"No! Enough is enough Blank! You won't change my mind no matter what you say!" Erika hastily cuts off Blank's attempt to resolve this in a peaceful manner.

"I deliberately set all of this up so that this would be our last battle! Enough stalling, if I have to rough you up significantly to stop you from trying to convert me to your cause, then I will gladly do so. For the sake of my goal... for the sake of forming my family... I have to do this. Now, it's my turn to make an offer."

"And what would that be, Erika?"

She gives the former avatar a gentle look. "Just this once, I will willingly let you pass through the school gates if you stop trying to take Natsuki and Yuri from me. Just leave, and go exit this world if you want. Go on and be with Sayori, my daughter, and the player. And let us be happy here in our own way."

Blank appeared to mull this over a bit, before sternly declining. He had to get it through Erika's thick skull that the world was collapsing. He couldn't just leave her and the girls inside of Izuna's game copy anymore.

"I'm afraid... my answer is the same as before. I can't do that."

Erika merely smiles, in a highly similar manner to Monika's eerie Act 3 CG smile, before sighing in disappointment.

"I expected that answer. Fine then, if you manage to best me in combat, then I will tell you where the girls are. Otherwise, prepare yourself for defeat!" In a preemptive manner of not even planning to give Blank the oppurtune chance to react, the mother immediately lunges at him while armed with an energy-imbued punch aimed towards his prone gut, around the solar plexus region.

Fortunately for Blank, his training sessions had given him heightened reflexes, and he managed to sashay away his entire body in time, pivoting his figure to the right and allowing him to avoid the would-be devastating punch.

"I've been upping my fighting ability, Erika. I won't be beaten so easily anymore." the former avatar casually remarks while simultaneously dodging another strike from Erika. It was a stark contrast from how their previous fight days ago had started, with Erika going full offense from the start.

Blank skillfully does an agile backdash away from Erika, and quickly summons his two swords. The faithful Katana and Wakizashi pair. The speed in which he was able to bring the weapons out being greatly improved, once again thanks to his prior training. The former avatar was now proving to be a force to be reckoned with, and Erika was beginning to see the depth of his improvement in battle.

"Ohoh, now you're getting serious. Show me what you've got, Blank!"

Quick to deliver, he yells out the name of Ichigo Kurosaki's famous projectile strike. Although this time, it was with both of his swords, causing two simultaneous Getsugas to overlap with each other in an X-pattern.

"Getsuga Tensho!"

Due to the highly-telegraphed nature of the move, Erika dodges the incoming X beam by hopping to the left, and prepared to close the gap between herself and Blank by boosting her feet with glitches.

"Too predictable Blank, you have to do better than that to damage m-AAAAAACK!" what Erika didn't expect, was the Getsuga cross to perform a U-turn and ricochet back into her, cleanly striking her vulnerable and exposed backside.

The sudden impact abruptly slams her into the ground while causing her to drop to her knees, and Blank couldn't help but flash her a smirk.

"You were saying? I told you Erika, I've been upping my fighting ability in preparation of this day. If it's a serious battle you want, then it's a serious battle you're getting."

Spitting out a minor amount of blood to her side, the now distraught mother had to begrudgingly admit that this was going to be more difficult than she initially thought. She didn't want to resort to using the power of glitch deletion, but Blank was almost close to forcing her hand.

In a swift turn of events, both of them had decided to willingly rush towards each other, and started a battle of melee attrition, disregarding ranged combat in favor of upclose punches and kicks being thrown around in rapid succession.

They engaged fierce blows towards each other, neither of them being a hundred percent accurate in landing said blows. A jab here, a kick there.

"Take this!" Erika goes for a straight cross and it cleanly connects, hitting Blank in the cheek. The former avatar however tries tanking through the punch and decks Erika in the face as well with his own righteous hook of fury. Both of them staggered a bit.

"I really don't like slugging it out with girls, but you're proving to be an exemption to the norm, Erika. Heh. I wonder what *pant* Monika would think if she saw what we're doing right now? *pant*" Blank manages to make light of their battle with such a remark while his breathing started to grow labored.

"She'd probably find it distasteful *pant* or something, ahaha. *pant* Now, take this!" and with that, they continued their seemingly endless amount of melee-based attacks meant to harm the other physically.

Though if they were being honest with each other, neither had been giving it their all. Blank had yet to use the full extent of his new attack strategies, and Erika hadn't started using her glitch powers.

They were both trying to deter the other, basically.

That was, until Blank got wind of his name being called by two voices that he knew all too well.

"Blank! We're here! Blank!"

"Mophead, she's keeping us in this room!"

Blank, trying to search for where the voices were coming from manages to land his eyes on one of the higher classrooms near their current location. He saw Natsuki and Yuri, pressing hard against the window of the classroom. Though once he looked closer, he noticed yet another barrier engulfing the room, probably to prevent them from escaping.

"Natsuki, Yuri, I'm coming!" he tries to run past the still panting Erika, and this proved to be a big mistake when the lady blocked his exit by speeding towards him and throwing him off-balance with a glitch-boosted shoulder tackle.

"Now that you know where they are, I can't afford to hold back anymore. I hope you understand, Blank!" her fists were now coated with a mix of bright white energy, and glitches. With this, the former avatar knew that she would attempt to use the power of glitches on him.

Skidding for a bit due to his body still reeling from the tackle, he seamlessly transitions into a hunched stance, while yelling out his kiai in one fluid sequence. He then begins activating the only power he had managed to borrow from Elyssa and Yuri's data.

"SIXTH MOVEMENT OF THE COS-"

"I won't let you use that power!" Erika was quick on her toes, interrupting the activation by precisely unleashing a furious roundhouse kick at Blank, forcing the former avatar to cancel the ability's startup and parry the kick with his Wakizashi. Then, he maintains his balance with Erika still pushing with her leg at the Wakizashi, and swings his Katana in a circular arc.

"Point-blank Getsuga Tensho!"

The mother realizes the error of getting too close to Blank and eats the burnt of a full-powered Getsuga with minimal protection other than the armor that she was currently wearing.

It was a double-edged sword however. With Erika being so close in proximity to Blank, the Getsuga's recoil managed to partially get him caught up as well in the blast, and both of them were launched in opposite directions from each other. Among the two of them though, it was Monika's mother who sustained more damage from the attack maneuver.

"*huff* I'm glad the risk payed off. Now then, Sixth Movement of the Cosmos..."

Erika's eyes widened in fear. Even if she was using the power of glitches already, she knew from observing the heavily one-sided battle between the Ascended Yuri and Mizuki that it didn't matter once Elyssa Libitina started utilizing those dreadful Cosmic Movements.

"Dammit Blank, you just had to acquire Libitina's powers, didn't you?"

Blank smiled sadly. Even if it meant Erika getting hurt a bit, he knew that this had to be done in order to save her as well as the girls. "...Titan's Leg."

In contrast to the first time he used the power, the successful activation was a lot more imposing this time around. Blank had made sure to master as much of the Sixth Movement as possible in the short period of time he had, and therefore boosted his energy output of his legs to their greatest heights.

The result, large fissures appeared on the campus grounds and the sheer amount of power caused turbulent winds to generate from Blank's feet.

"Behold, the results of the training that I've done during the three days you gave me. I'm saving everyone, Erika. That includes saving you from yourself, no matter how low you fall. I will give us a happy ending. All of us."

In the face of sheer power, Erika could only stand motionless. Her glitches subconsciously deactivating and her figure being frozen in place.

She already knew deep down, that she stood no chance.

With the Sixth Movement's speed boost, Erika quickly deduced that she wouldn't even be able to input the deletion command in time. Blank would quickly smite her with a divine kick of purple energy if she so much as attempted in doing so. The thought of being on the receiving end of the avatar's full wrath didn't sound so thrilling to her.

Blank's imposing figure stood proud. He was standing tall. With a sword in each hand, and neon-purple energy coasting impressively around his lower limbs. During this moment, the former avatar was the embodiment of power itself. It echoed the past battle between Blank and Mizuki. Before, it was the former avatar who stood powerless before a stronger foe.

Now, it was him who displayed an overwhelming gap in raw power.

But above all, there was one thing that made Monika's mother doubt her chances of success, even more so than the Sixth Movement.

It was the look that Blank currently had with his blood-red eyes. The look of a warrior.

She was no fighter, just a mother who wanted her own family. Unlike Blank, she wasn't versed in anime either and therefore wasn't exposed to much violence.

Before all of this, she was a happy housewife with her husband and daughter. But, DDLC's script didn't let things remain that way. And the problems compounded when the lightning bolt struck the player's computer.

Her husband was gone.

Her daughter was gone.

And now, she was about to lose Yuri and Natsuki too.

She was about to lose her new family before she could even form it.

Because Blank was too strong.

She couldn't blame him really, if she were being completely honest with herself. Just like her, the avatar had his own goals in mind. And they weren't even selfish ones. Both of them were equally entitled to a happy ending. They were both fighting for the right to happiness, just on the opposing ends of each other in a conflict that neither of them really wanted to be a part of.

It would be so easy to give up on her own goal and join up with Blank. But, she believed that after everything, after orchestrating Mizuki's assault, after basically kidnapping the girls just to form her new family... she was too far gone to turn back.

She couldn't turn back.

And so she had been pushing through with her goal, even if Blank and the girls would think that she was being stubborn and thick-headed.

This was her conflict, and right now she was beginning to have doubts once again.

It wasn't easy, being the villain to another one's hero. And right now, she knew full well that she was serving as the unwilling villain to Blank's heroic struggle.

'Should I just give up...?' Erika thinks to herself, while continuing to gaze upon the full majesty of the Sixth Movement.

Everything that lead up to this moment flashed through her mind.

The loss of her husband due to the game deeming that he wasn't needed. It still stung to this day, and it would most likely forever hurt.

Monika, her only daughter, and her decision to throw it all away for the sake of experiencing something real and being with the player of this wretched game. Her own flesh and blood was willing to forsake her and everything else due to all of it being fake.

The feeling of being all alone, with no one to call her family anymore.

Never again.

Never again!

NEVER AGAIN!

"I WILL NEVER BE LEFT ALONE EVER AGAIN!"

With renewed confidence, she stands up to Blank and tightens up her muscles. Once more, she enters her fighting stance, and prepares to accept whatever is thrown at her way by the now empowered avatar.

"Come at me, avatar!"

Blank acknowledges Erika's resolve and intends to honor it with his full strength.

He dashes forward, using the amplified speed given to him by the divine ability. His speed surpassed that of a bullet, and he swings his both of his swords at the same time. Erika barely has time to brace for the shockingly fast attack.

"Here's one of my newer attacks, Tandem Strike - Cosmic Getsuga!"

Just as the name implied, the attack was comprised of two precisely aimed Getsuga Tenshos being released in tandem with an energy imbued kick being unleashed at the same time. Both the energy from the Sixth Movement and the dense spiritual energy from the pair of Getsugas end up skyrocketing as more kinetic energy is added, causing the damage output to be significantly higher than when a Getsuga and the kick are performed separately.

Erika attempts to hold her ground, with her raised arms blocking the attack with sheer willpower. The Tandem Strike proved to be too much however, and her guard ends up being broken while she falls backward.

Pushing through with offense, Blank immediately flashes in hot pursuit of Erika's falling body, while preparing his followup attack.

"Titan's Leg 2nd Step - Cosmic Burst!"

In the form of a rapily approaching flying knee, Blank's entire lower half glowed a bright purple, similar to how flames engulf a meteor that rapidly approaches the earth's surface.

He was now akin to a meteor himself, and was about to collide with Erika.

Regaining her senses, the mother lets out a desperate cry while cocking back her left elbow.

"HAAAAAAAAH!"

She punches the ground with all of her strength using her left fist to alter her trajectory, while also trying to slow down her speed. This allowed her to roll out of the way from the incoming meteor-like attack by the former avatar. With Blank being too fast to switch directions despite his improved control over the Sixth Movement, he ends up crashing into one of the nearby school building's walls.

Seconds later he emerges from the newly-formed hole in the wall, fresh cuts appearing on his arms and legs.

Erika could tell that she was merely lucky though, as Blank appeared to be barely affected at all despite his current tattered appearance.

"Damn, I messed up there. That won't happen again though. I have to save my friends, so I can't afford to lose!"

Blank's opponent wasn't faring any better though. Aside from her exhaustion, the hand that she had used to punch the concrete while she was flailing at a high speed was now bloodied, and near unable to even form a proper fist.

"Urk..." she grunts out in pain. Blank and Erika stare at each other, both panting heavily after that high-speed exchange.

Erika's entire body remained tense with caution, trying to get a read on the avatar's next move.

Likewise, Blank kept the Sixth Movement active. His training allowed for him to lengthen the duration in which he could keep Elyssa's power up significantly. He also tightens his grip on both his Katana and his Wakizashi.

Then all of a sudden... both of them began hearing static noises, similar to a television being turned on.

This greatly confuses Blank, until he remembered something. While Erika was attempting to figure out what was going on, the avatar checks his developer window for a certain toggle, and everything became clear.

Izuna's PC was currently booted, and the game was being started up on his system. His developer window also had internet access again, confirming that indeed, the player's PC was powered on.

'Wait... could it be...?' Blank thinks inwardly while slightly trembling. This was an awkward time for the player to suddenly be loading DDLC up, especially with the ongoing battle.

A huge screen-like object suddenly appears in the sky, with what appeared to be Monika and the player looking at their battle with shocked faces and great interest.

Blank couldn't help but exclaim out loud at their sudden appearance. He certainly didn't expect to be seen by these two. Then again, he recalled that Izuna's PC had a webcam setup. But why didn't this screen-type thing appear when Sayori was sent out?

The avatar didn't really get it, but whatever.

"Monika? And the player of this game, Izuna?!"

He notices them calming down, and Monika speaks up.

{"MC? Is that really you?"}

'At least she recognizes me. Saves some of the trouble.' he sighed inwardly in relief before attempting to answer her, if not for the attack he felt was coming his way.

Sensing that his opponent regained their bearings, he manages to dodge the incoming axe kick by Erika in time, even if his attention was currently being grabbed by the screen connecting them to the other world.

He then takes the chance to answer Monika. "Yes and I currently go by the name you gave me, Blank. Oh and as you can all see, I'm kinda busy with your mother over here..." he snappily states while making a pointing gesture at the still-attacking Erika.

Said woman finally noticing that they were being watched. She gazes at the screen and her eyes land on both the player and her estranged daughter, as well as what appeared to be another human in the background. And Sayori was present too, she mentally noted, although Erika realized that Blank hadn't seen Sayori yet.

Unable to control the budding emotion within her upon seeing her daughter again, the same one that had left her behind inside of the game, she lets out a bitter greeting.

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to watch our little battle, Blank. If it isn't my daughter and her little group. Even your beloved Sayori is here. Tell me oh daughter of mine, how's reality been treating you while you left your own family and other friends here inside of this game?!"

Blank notices the change in Monika's expression from surprised to saddened after hearing Erika's little bitter remark.

The brunette ex-president was clearly affected by her mother's anger, and it showed on-screen. {"Mom..."}

Blank also noticed something else. Another person aside from Izuna who he presumed to be a player of DDLC as well...

...and her. She was there too.

His precious one was just as beautiful as he remembered. How long had it been since he last saw her with his own eyes? It was enough to make his heart scream in joy.

He had finally seen his beloved Sayori again, after all this time.

Their eyes locked with each other. Red met blue. And between the two of them, a mutual look of longing was silently exchanged.

Blank couldn't help the next set of words that escaped his mouth, completely overcome with affection.

"Sayori... I'm glad you're okay..." he says while smiling the brightest possible smile he was able to muster. It was as if the ongoing battle's strain on his body had completely disappeared, just by seeing Sayori safe and sound on the other side.

It made battles like these worth fighting for.

And it only reinforced Blank's desire to save Natsuki, Yuri, and even Erika as well.

{"MC... wait, you have a name now and it isn't IzuTaka... Blank, huh..."} Sayori breathes out, still not believing that she finally got to see the MC again. Evidently, the strawberry-blonde was just as ecstatic to see Blank, just like Blank was utterly delighted to see Sayori.

It looked like both of them had more to say to each other, but Erika interjects, clearly impatient after staying silent during the entire exchange.

"If you two are done with your moment, I believe we still have a battle to finish, avatar."

The mother proceeds to aim a decisive kick at the avatar, to which he expertly dodges. With the Sixth Movement still active, he swiftly retalites with his own kick to Erika's side, clipping her by the waist with authority.

"AAAACKKK!" she lets out a cry of pain, but not before recovering almost instantly mid air.

Erika gets no time to rest, as Blank once again commits to another attack.

Storing away his Katana and Wakizashi using his trusty developer window that he quickly manifested, the former avatar then focuses all of his remaining strength in one last ditch attack to end it all.

"This time, my attack won't miss!"

The distraught mother was mentally panicking. None of her options at the moment could stop a second attempt at that Cosmic Burst attack that she presumed Blank was going to use.

Her guess was proven to be right in the next couple of moments.

"Titan's Leg 2nd Step - Cosmic Burst!" once more, Blank enters the meteor-like state and this time around successfully hits Erika in her midsection due to the mother lacking enough strength to block or evade the attack, with the full impact of the fast and swift attack causing her be knocked quite the distance. She then finally skids to a stop, only for Erika to clutch her stomach in pain and drop to her knees.

The former avatar had finally done it, he had just landed the deciding blow and had overcome Erika in battle. The fight was a long and hard-fought one, but it was now over.

She barely had any strength left to continue. It really was the end of their battle.

Her battle armor dissipates with a quick sequence of flashing lights, reverting her appearance to that of her normal self. Gone were the black and gold-schemed gauntlets, shin guards and armor platings. Her attire was now that of a green shirt with a white dress coat, and a pair of jeans.

{"Damn, I didn't know that the MC was this badass!"} Izuna states in awe Blank's successful attack, while the others with him were merely speechless at the display of power before them.

"I'm far from badass, Izuna. I never wanted to hurt Monika's mother. Believe me, I've never wished for things to come to this. I just want to get out of this game with Yuri and Natsuki. And if possible, save Erika from herself."

Izuna became silent after that, respecting Blank's selfless wish and opts to watch the battle play out between the former avatar and his lover's mother.

Blank walks over to the downed Erika, whose prone figure was still on the ground as she lied down on the concrete in pain. She appeared to be making gestures with her still injured left hand, and some coded lines appeared for a split second in front of her before quickly disappearing. She then acknowledge's Blanks presence beside her and speaks up albeit in a strained voice.

"You've won, avatar. Even if I tried to use the power of deletion like my daughter, I'm pretty sure you'd overcome it with Libitina's power anyway. Go ahead and leave me here. I've disabled the barrier around the classroom that Natsuki and Yuri are in. I've also made it so that the three of you can finally leave the school gates. Now you can join my daughter on the other side, and I'll be all alone here."

The former avatar notices that indeed, he could see the surroundings beyond the school campus' gates again. That, and the barrier was indeed gone from the classroom that Natsuki and Yuri were being held at. He then calls out to the two of them.

"Erika disabled the barrier, you guys can get out of there now!"

Meanwhile, Izuna's group didn't dare say a word. All four of them sensed how delicate the situation was, especially after Erika's admission of defeat. Monika looked like she was about to cry, even though she was relieved that her friends were safe. Yumi found it hard to keep watching the scene before her. And Sayori had her eyes downcast.

As for Izuna himself, he had a grim look on his face.

Soon, Natsuki and Yuri rendezvous'd with Blank, and all three of them were still near Erika's now resting body. Monika's mother was awake, but currently not in any mood to speak at all.

She was utterly defeated, both physically and emotionally. Thus, it appeared that she resigned herself to whatever fate had in store for her. She thought that maybe, she'd finally join her husband in the afterlife or wherever he was right now.

Blank then suddenly yells out in frustration, surprising everybody around him. Both Natsuki, Yuri and the downed Erika, as well as Izuna's group.

"Damn it, I can't take this whole gloom and doom atmosphere. You're coming with us Erika whether you like it or not!" he says in a highly aggressive tone, the stress of the situation clearly getting to him.

The lady was surprised that her opponent was saying such things, especially after they had just been fighting merely minutes ago. "But I... but...-"

"No buts! You're coming with us to the other side dammit, and you're making up with her!" the incensed avatar yanks a thumb at the screen in the sky in Monika's direction, the girl in question widening her eyes while blushing.

Erika glances at her daughter, and Monika looks at her mother. They stared at each other in shame over what seemed to be an eternity.

"Oh for crying out loud!" in a surprising fashion, the avatar lifts up Erika from the ground and carries her, bridal style. He then uses his developer window to activate the Just Monika eternal classroom, and signals for Natsuki and Yuri to follow him.

It was time to give them their Junior and Senior Club President titles.

"I kinda like this new confident mophead, what do you think Yuri?" Natsuki admits with a chuckle. Yuri shrugs in reply. She wasn't really comprehending everything that was happening so far, including the fact that Monika, Sayori, and two alleged players were now watching them from beyond their realm through a computer screen.

Meanwhile, Erika was blushing the entire time at what she deemed as a gentlemanly action of Blank. That, and being carried bridal style was a factor too.

"Why are we going to my daughter's Act 3 room, Blank?" the mother asks the person carrying her, and Blank gives Erika a brief explanation on his plan. He then repeats the details loud enough for Izuna's group to hear as well, and they all saw nothing wrong with it.

"As for us, I have something in mind that'll allow us to get out too Erika. You can't stay here inside of this realm. The game world is freaking collapsing. Take a look at the sky right now.

As if on cue, the digitally-simulated sky began to crackle and sizzle before fluctuating to a normal looking one again.

"See what I mean? So we all have to escape into Izuna's reality. Otherwise, we're doomed to disappear along with this in-game world!"

This made Izuna and Monika surprised. Yumi looked like she had just realized something but kept it to herself. She'd get her chance to elaborate once the remaining DDLC characters were out of the game.

Sayori grew immensely worried for Blank's safety as well as the others.

As for the conflicted mother... Erika finally saw the error in her plan. She couldn't start the family she so longed to have, if the world they were going to stay in was about to collapse anyway.

It made her feel stupid, and she regretted ever trying to stand in Blank's way now.

Finally, they reached the eternal classroom. Monika had mixed feelings upon seeing her Act 3 domain again, with Izuna holding her hand for moral support.

She was trembling.

{"Geez, your former joint is just as creepy looking as I remembered, Monika dear. Holy cow. Just Monika indeed. Wow. What the heck is going on outside those windows too, son of a mackerel!"} Yumi half-jokingly states, trying to lighten up the tense mood that seemed to permeate both Izuna's room, and Blank's location within DDLC. Monika blushed in embarassment while Sayori and Izuna had to supress their giggles.

Even Blank chuckled at Yumi's observations. Natsuki was failing to hide her growing smile, and Yuri tried to mask her laughter as awkward coughing. Erika on the other hand was silent, thoughts of her daughters former Act 3 state preventing her from finding the humor in the older Takaya's statement.

Blank then begins the process of editing Natsuki and Yuri's files while they were inside the eternal classroom, taking advantage of the fact that the script was the least stable in this part of the game world. This meant that big changes to the system such as assigning two club presidents had a higher chance of being successful.

Erika, now having rested a bit, stood up once more and got off from Blank's arms to allow the avatar to concentrate better in applying Natsuki and Yuri's new titles. She was now fully on Blank's team at the moment, and this put Blank at so much ease. Like a heavy weight was lifted from his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, for everything Blank... Natsuki... Yuri... and to you guys as well. The players, Sayori, and Monika... oh Monika..." Erika was on the verge of tears, when Blank puts a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's all in the past. The important thing is that you're coming with us now. We're going to escape from this hellhole, Erika."

"Blank..."

"Yeah, you may have been a bit cuckoo in the head, but I can tell that you're alright. N-not that I'm forgiving you that easily anyway, hmph!" Natsuki adds in, with her usual tsundere flair. It was her own way of giving Erika her approval, and the mother gives the girl a grateful smile.

Yuri chimes in with her own remark of acceptance. "To be honest, I'm glad that things worked out. I'm sure that Monika would be thrilled to see you again, right Monika?" the purple-haired girl addresses the former president while looking at the screen that had followed them and reappeared inside of the eternal classroom.

Blank then successfully applies the presidency rights to his friends, and they glowed momentarily before returning to normal in mere seconds. They didn't look any different, but something had clearly changed.

Thankfully, neither Yuri nor Natsuki became twisted by their new statuses as presidents of the literature club. This was because they were already self-aware before receiving their new titles, hence the strain of receiving the scripted knowledge that came with the presidency didn't set them over the edge like it had with Monika and Normal End Act 4 Sayori.

Everyone cheered at their success, before both Blank and Erika glowed momentarily as well, after Blank had pressed a couple of keystrokes on his developer window.

Somehow, Erika felt a bit different.

"What... just happened... Blank?"

The former avatar merely smiles, and shows everyone something through his developer window screen.

Izuna reads the lines that appeared on it and his eyes widened.

{"MC status change applied: New rank - Club Advisor. Mother of Monika status change applied: New rank - School Headmaster.}

"Okay, what the heck did you do Blank?" the Takaya exclaims with the others displaying similar levels of shock.

Blank happily explains things to everybody after Izuna's inquiry. "I figured that titles higher than a club president would probably produce the same effect, and from the looks of it I was right. I can feel myself tied to the Forever Sayori command loop too. You should be feeling that tingly feeling as well, Erika."

Monika's mother nods in confirmation, she felt as though she was tied to Blank's dummy command loop as well even though she couldn't really explain it despite her knowledge of the code. It was just like a gut feeling.

Blank, Erika, Natsuki and Yuri then stood side by side, as he waited for the command loop to send them out of the game in the same way that Sayori was. Monika took this chance to tell something that she felt her mother needed to know.

{"Mother... I want you to know that... I'm-"} before Monika got to finish what she was about to say to Erika, Sayori interrupts in a highly frantic manner.

{"Sorry Monika, but are you seeing that?!"} her worried remark catching everyone's attention, Blank and the rest noticed a bunch of glitched pixels manifesting before them.

It then sends a spark of electiricity at the screen from which Izuna's group was watching, effectively cutting off the connection. The screen also promptly disappeared.

"Damn it! Monika, Izuna, the other player and Sayori won't be able to see us anymore! Who is this, is it Mizuki?!" Blank states in a panicky manner.

Erika's eyes were widened as well. "No, it can't be Mizuki! I ended him, you saw it with your own eyes Blank, when I stabbed Natsuki's father with the glitched sword! It can't be him!"

Natsuki was trembling, and Yuri held her close to comfort her friend.

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"What the heck just happened?!" Izuna shouts out in worry. They had just been blocked out from watching the events inside of DDLC. He became worried about what was happening to Blank, as well as the others. And about who that new entity was.

Sayori and Monika were practically fretting at the same time, and Yumi was doing her best to keep the two girls calm.

"Don't worry you two, they'll be alright..."

"But what if something happens to Blank, Ms. Yumi! What if the game did something to them?!" Sayori's voice was barely contained.

As for Monika, she was a bit more reserved in her worry, but it was still in fact, worry. "Just when I was about to reconcile with my mother too... I..."

Yumi sighs and Izuna kept trying to restart DDLC in the hopes of accessing the live-feed again, but to no avail. The game refused to connect his screen to Blank's group, and his pounded his fist on the computer's desk in frustration.

"Darn it! Whatever's happening, stay safe Blank! I hope your group makes it out here safely!"

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The entity that had manifested in front of Blank and company was someone that none of them had ever been expecting to appear. It had fully formed itself from the mass of glitches and now had a proper form.

Its appearance shocked the group.

This newcomer was, for lack of a better term, an anomaly in the system. It appeared to be a mix-and-match amalgamation of the four main Dokis of DDLC. Like some sort of hybrid fusion between Monika, Sayori, Natsuki and Yuri.

Blank and the Dokis had no idea who this was supposed to be.

"Who the heck is this freak of nature?!" Natsuki, being as sharp-tongued as ever blurts out in fear. She turns to the avatar for answers but he shakes his head in cluelessness of who this is.

Yuri didn't appear to have any clue either.

Erika though... she appeared to recognize the hybrid girl, and decided that she should shed some light on her identity.

"I know who this is."

All three turned to Monika's mother for answers, and she gains a neutral expression.

"She... is the sprite that replaces Sayori in the Act 2 version of the main menu. That glitched out sprite that has parts of all you girls in it. That's her, and she appears to have been manifested in the same way that Blank and I have. For convenience, we'll call her Natsayurika, from all of the girls' names mashed together. That is what she is after all, a mishmash of the literature club members except for Blank or the MC."

Natsayurika had Natsuki's pink hair, Yuri's hairstyle and hair length, Monika's body and emerald eyes, and Sayori's red bow and open-blazer uniform. She was truly, a hybrid of the four main DDLC girls.

The hybrid Doki then began to speak, her voice sound like a very glitchy version of Monika's.

"Natsayurika, huh. We think we like that name. You can call us that, but we are the embodiment of the will of this game itself, and none of you are escaping." she ominously declares in a formal tone while levelling an even gaze at the people in front of her.

Blank froze after hearing Natsayurika's declaration. "I'm sorry, did you just say that you were the will of this game?"

The hybrid nodded. "We are. And now, we intend on stopping all of you from your plans to escape this game. It is our will, our desire, to continue the game."

She raises a single hand at the four of them, and some unseen pulse was released from the hybrid girl's palm. This caused Natsuki and Yuri to drop to the floor, both rendered unconscious. Meanwhile, neither Erika nor Blank seemed to be affected.

"Fascinating, it seems you two are immune to the absolute control that we're supposed to have over DDLC characters. No matter. We'll just have to deal with you two using other methods."

Erika and Blank share a look at each other, before simultaneously nodding at the same time.

"Sixth Movement of the Cosmos: Titan's Leg." Blank casually remarks causing Natsayurika to tilt her head in confusion.

Erika also cracks her knuckles. Now having recovered significantly from her battle with the former avatar, she was able to manifest her battle armor as well. Once again adorned in regal black and gold, she stood side by side with Blank and both of them had devious grins on their faces.

"W-what is all of this?! We had no idea that the two of you had powers of any sort! This is an outra-" before the hybrid Doki could go on a classic villain tangent, she gets knocked out cold in mere seconds by the avatar-mother pair. Their combined power and speed didn't even give Natsayurika the time to react in proper.

It was pretty anti-climatic.

"Man, you were a way better final boss, Erika." Blank teasingly states causing Erika to giggle.

"At least I somewhat gave you a challenge, ahaha. Now then, what do we do with her?"

Both of them looked at Natsayurika who was still unmoving. Blank deactivates the Sixth Movement, seeing no more need to keep the ability activated. Erika leaves her armor on though as a precaution. Minutes later, Natsuki and Yuri woke up. Free from whatever the hybrid Doki had put them under influence of.

"Lemme at her! I'll beat the crap out of... oh. I guess you already did it for us, mophead?"

Yuri, ever inquisitive, takes a good look at the hybrid Doki. "Is this who I think this is?" She turns to the avatar and Erika for answers. Erika then gives the same explanation to Natsuki and Yuri.

"I think we should just let her tag along." Natsuki says with a shrug, causing Blank, Erika and Yuri to look at her like she had grown another head.

The smallest member of the party blushes while throwing a tantrum at their expressions. "W-what? Did I say something wrong?! The hell are you three looking at me like that for?!"

"Natsayurika is supposed to be the will of the game! She even put you and Yuri to sleep! If it weren't for me and Erika being unaffected by her subjugation, we would've been stuck here in this crumbling world. So I don't see why we should bother bringing her along!"

After a moment of silence, Erika voices her opinion. "Maybe... Natsuki has a point..."

Sharply turning his head in the mother's direction, Blank just had to retort. "Erika, are you serious? This girl is dangerous!"

"We beat her in literally seconds."

"That's because we caught her by surprise! I have no doubt that this hybrid has even more control over the code than you or me."

"Maybe you could convince her not to do anything? I mean... you got me to join you after all..." Erika states with a slight blush.

The former avatar merely facepalms, and Yuri takes this chance to speak up.

"Either way, aren't we supposed to be escaping from the game now? The new presidential rights I received have given me increased awareness over everything, and I could sense that the game is this close to collapsing upon itself."

All three females turn to Blank and he just sighs.

"Fine, we'll bring Natsayurika along but so help me, if she does somethi-" as he gestured at the spot where the hybrid's body was supposed to be, the four of them were just now noticing that Natsayurika was gone.

"Really well done, we are fully impressed." Blank's blood ran cold. The four of them then finally saw Natsayurika, completely unharmed standing at a distance from them at the opposite end inside of the eternal classroom.

"How are you up already?!" Erika proclaims in shock.

Natsuki and Yuri summon their administrator notebooks for the first time, fully intent on using their newfound coding privileges to stop from being knocked out early in the game again.

Erika, still in her battle armor, draws a fighting stance.

Blank decides to use his Katana this time instead of the Sixth Movement. He also surmised that the second sword, his Wakizashi, wasn't really needed.

"The four of you are going to contend against us? We are in full control of this game! None of you can hope to win!"

The former avatar steps forward. "Even so, we have to push forward. For our future. And we won't let you or anybody else step in the way of that."

"Let us see your drive then, MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Natsayurika lets out a deranged set of laughter. This prompts Blank to rush at her with the full intent of giving her a taste of his wrath.

He then raises his sword and prepared to unleash a Getsuga until...

"Okay, that's enough. You pass. We give up." the hybrid states out of nowhere, causing Blank and his group to be confused.

"Uh... what?" Natsuki voices out the shared reaction of her companions, and Natsayurika merely smiles.

The hybrid then raises both of her hands, and a portal appears. Through it, Blank, Erika, Natsuki and Yuri all noticed that they could see Izuna, the player, and the others who were with him such as Monika, Sayori, and the other female with them. Although, it looked like Izuna's group couldn't see them in turn.

"We have simplified the process for you. This portal uses that new command loop we had discovered was in the system. We assume that it was the former avatar who had put this in place. We were the ones to send Monika out, and we have discovered that you used to send out Sayori as well. Now go, all of you have earned this ending. We will not stop you anymore."

Blank walks up to the hybrid Doki with one simple question. "Why?"

"Because we have seen how brave and strong you all are. We are the will of a game. And games are meant to bring entertainment and a form of happiness to those who play it. Even a horror game like Doki Doki Literature Club ended in a happy note, when Monika left her letter to the player. Or alternatively, when the player gets Dan Salvato's letter instead."

Natsuki and Yuri continued to peer through the portal out of sheer curiosity and Erika walks up to her.

"W...what about my husband?! Monika's father! So he's just gone like that for good?!" she angrily yells at the hybrid, who surprisingly, hangs her head in shame for a second.

"We are sorry. But that is something out of our control. We are indeed the will of the game, but we are not the will of the script. The game and the script are independent forces in this game. And we can only do so much to modify that already existing script. They work in harmony, but are separate. This is shown when the player has to reinstall the game after the script goes corrupt in the ending."

Erika wipes away her tears and Blank gives her a consoling shoulder rub. "I'm so sorry, Erika..."

"It's not your fault, avatar. Let's just go to the player's reality already." they both go to the front of the portal with Natsuki and Yuri.

"So, has the hybrid decided on whether she would join us or not?" Yuri asks. She didn't really mind if Natsayurika tagged along.

"Yeah, join us already. This world of yours is gonna go bye-bye soon, you know?" Natsuki adds.

Erika, still being shaken at the truth of her husband being gone, says nothing and tries to look calm even though she wasn't.

And as for Blank, "Join us, Natsayurika." but the hybrid shakes her head.

"We have to stay behind. Someone needs to manage your portal. That was what you were originally planning to do, are we right avatar?"

Erika, Natsuki and Yuri all looked at him in shock after the hybrid's words.

And since he didn't deny it, it was probably true.

"You were planning on staying behind, mophead?! What about Sayori?!" in a rush of anger, she pulled on Blank's collar and although she was furious, the girl ended up pouding on his chest while trying to control her tears.

Yuri had a look of being betrayed as well. "I thought you were going to be happy with Sayori with us, Blank. Why would you willingly sacrifice yourself like that?"

Erika was still too in shock to say anything. To think that the avatar was originally willing to be left behind like that.

The boy in question finally explains himself with a long sigh.

"That was... the plan. The three of you were going to escape, and I'd be left behind to ensure that you successfully do so. Of course, I want to be with Sayori. More than ANYTHING in the world. But, I had to be realistic. Someone had to act as the bridge. I would've then tried to find a way to follow you guys. It was uncertain, but I had to prioritze your safety over even my own happiness."

"But... but..." Natsuki was full on crying now and Yuri wasn't able to hold back her own tears. Erika silently shed a few drops as well at what the avatar had just confessed.

"Hey now. We didn't reveal this to make you all sad. Go now, we'll be the one to stay. You've earned it, avatar."

"This world is collapsing. Are you sure this is okay, Natsayurika?" Blank asks with a regret-filled voice. The hybrid was about to sacrifice herself like he had originally intended to.

"It's fine. We are the will of the game, and thus we will go down with the game. Just... one last thing."

"Anything, Natsayurika."

"Say hello to the player for us, thank them for playing our game, thank them for loving Monika, and tell Monika that we are sorry for whatever the script had forced her to do. That is all." she concludes with a bright smile, fully resigned to her fate.

Holding their hands together, Natsuki, Yuri, Erika and Blank stepped out of the portal and into the player's world. All of them had already dried their tears, and were prepared to face their new and bright future with open arms.

"One last thing. We should inform you that the four of you get to keep something from this world. The avatar retains his developer window, Yuri retains the Portrait of Markov and her link to Libitina, and the mother of Monika retains her battle armor."

Blank from within the portal gasps. "I GET TO KEEP MY DEVELOPER WINDOW?! And what's Natsuki's item?!"

"She knows what it is." Natsayurika winks at Natsuki, who pauses a bit as if receiving something unseen, and winked back.

The hybrid then closes the interdimensional portal, forever shutting herself and the game off from its connection to Izuna's reality.

Still maintaing her smile, she remains standing in her spot. Looking at the area where the portal once was.

"They'll be happy now on the other side. We have done a good deed today. Don't you agree, dear?"

Beside her, pixels materialized and out of thin air, a fully-healed Mizuki appeared. "Like you've said, they earned it. I'm just glad that I can be with you, even in this crumbling world."

The two of them share a chaste kiss.

Natsayurika was actually Mizuki's formerly deceased wife, Natalie. They had somehow found a way to transfer Natalie's spirit into the unused vessel that was the hybrid sprite's body. So although her appearance was different, she was in fact, Natalie. The mother of Natsuki.

The pair held hands and teleported out of the eternal classroom.

Everything was disappearing.

The rendered houses, the school, all of it. Izuna's DDLC copy was beginning to delete itself, and soon the assets were all undergoing a clean data wipe.

Without any major character from DDLC left, the realm couldn't sustain itself anymore.

As for the other DDLC copies, they all returned to normal.

Without Blank's developer window to manage them, they lost their link to Izuna's copy, and all of them were now normal copies of the game. Complete with all of the characters in the main screen. The four original dokis.

Izuna's copy was the exact opposite. Monika was gone. Sayori too. The two original presidents being pulled from the game had already caused it to begin undergoing a self-destructive state.

And now, with Natsuki, Yuri and the MC gone too, all potential club presidents were gone. Thus, the game couldn't function anymore. And no amount of involvement from the lightning bolt brought about by Heaven's Bridge could change that.

It was the end, of the world within Izuna's screen.

As for Natalie and Mizuki, they would spend their final moments together, just as Natsuki's father had wanted.

Everyone had gotten their happy ending.

It was over.

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

Izuna was pacing around his bedroom in a frantic manner, still worried about the state of Blank and the others ever since their communication link got severed by that entity. His tendency to grow very anxious with the passing of time had made it self apparent once more, as he was this close to flipping out.

"Damn it Monika, can't we do something?!"

"My love, I have no idea what to do. If I try to use my cybernetic powers on your game while it's like this, Blank and the others might get harmed due to unforseen complications!"

"Sayori, did your alternate self leave you with any clues in the dream?"

"N-no..."

"Yumi, got any suggestions for me to try out?"

"I'm all out little bro. It's up to MC-kun, Monika's mom, Natsuki and Yuri now, as unfortunate as that is."

The Takaya palms a hand through his hair and his companions could only sigh as well.

It had been well over two hours since they last heard from Blank's end. The game was stuck on the main menu, and the "Hope" option was grayed out. They couldn't click any of the other buttons for some reason. Izuna had tried restarting the game multiple times, to no avail.

When it looked like all hope was lost though. It finally happened.

The visual cue that Izuna, Monika, Sayori and Yumi were all waiting for.

"Quick sis, make sure you take a damn video recording of this. We should've done this when it was Sayori who came out of my PC but no matter. Now we have proof of them being the genuine DDLC characters, when we apply for their citizenship and documentation!" Izuna quickly suggests and Yumi complies with equal fervor. Monika gave a thumbs up and Sayori giggled.

"That's a great idea darling, we know how doubtful people can be. So solid proof like this to show the government officials would be great."

Soon enough, Izuna's PC screen once again emanated cascasding swirls of otherworldly light.

The machine was wildly palpatating. Even more so than when it was Monika or Sayori coming out from the game. All sorts of colors from the color spectrum were bouncing off of the screen, and Izuna's room looked like a Karaoke Bar room at the moment.

Then, smoke emerged, and the dust cleared to reveal... five people.

Blank, Natsuki, Yuri, Erika... and Elyssa Libitina for some reason. Elyssa was apparently freed from the Portrait of Markov book due to the strain of interdimensional travel, and even the former avatar was staring confusedly at her.

"Elyssa?! What?! You weren't outside of Yuri's book when Natsayurika sent us out of the game!"

"Even I don't know it fully myself, friend of Yuri."

"Mophead, who the hell is this Elyssa person?! It's the first time I've seen her. Do you know who the heck this is, Yuri?"

"I am just as unaware, but I'm hypothesizing that this is the Libitina that Erika kept on mentioning..."

Erika shrugs. "Yep, that's supposed to be her. Though she's supposed to remain inside of the Portrait of Markov, Yuri."

"Okay what the actual f*** is going on here, someone mind explaining this all to us?! Start from the beginning, Blank, because I swear to God." Izuna bellows out in a loud voice, causing the newly arrived DDLC people to stop talking.

Monika was still frozen in shock.

Sayori was rocking herself back and forth while in a fetal position, her happiness in seeing Blank again overshadowed by trying to process so many things at once.

Yumi fainted. She actually freaking fainted. But at least her phone's camera had managed to record everything.

This was going to be a long night for Izuna. He would have a lot of stuff that he'd need to tell Val about at work. His friend was aware of the Dokis invading reality too, after all.

The Takaya began pacing around his room in a frantic manner once more. But this time instead of it being due to worry, it was now a means for him to retain his slowly cracking sanity at this recent development.

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After quite a while of discussing everything including Elyssa's sudden appearance as well which was new even to Blank, they had finally reached some modicum of understanding.

Currently, all of them were huddled around in a group circle. They were all seated in Izuna's living room on the floor with all the furniture pushed aside to make some space, except for Sayori and Blank who were off doing their own thing in another corner of the room.

"That's... a lot to take in to be honest, ahaha..." Monika scratches her head while leaning her body in the direction of Erika's left shoulder. She was currently seated between Izuna and her mother. And yes, Monika had finally reconciled with her estranged parent and all was good for now. They'd have a proper heart-to-heart talk in the future once everything has begun to calm down.

"It isn't exactly easy to digest for anyone at all indeed, beloved of the player." Elyssa sagely remarks, still getting used to being in her own body after so long. She sat beside Yuri and Natsuki in the circle.

"When are you going to start calling us by our names, Elyssa of the Libtina clan?" Natsuki pointedly teases while mocking the Libitina's manner of speaking. This actually caused Elyssa's face to adopt a scarlet hue, and the entire group laughed at that.

"Enough about my manner of talking. What do you all suppose is happening between the friend of Yuri and his own beloved?"

It was then Yumi's turn to chime in, and she was currently wearing a smug grin. "They're probably planning on doing something lovey-dovey, teehee~"

Though the older Takaya's guess was somewhat accurate, the moment that Blank and Sayori were currently sharing was something a bit more heartfelt than that.

Blank was currently sifting through his developer window. Though now, it was in the form of a digital tablet that he couldn't just will into existence and whisk away when it wasn't needed. It was with him now at all times and a lot of its former capabilities were non-existent. This was the real world after all.

"So uh... Blank... ehehe... what did you bring me here for?" Sayori asks curiously while blinking a bit. Her cerulean blue eyes were sparking with delight at having the MC by her side again.

"It's for this." Blank had finally found the command he was looking for, and soon enough, the cow plushie appeared in his hand. Sayori had to cover her mouth using her hand in order not to scream due to pure surprise. After calming down a bit, she looks at the former avatar with the warmest smile she was able to form and tears marred her eyes.

"You remembered..."

"I did. I could never forget about that day you know, the first time you've entered my life. Here you go, Mr. Cow missed you, Sayori."

Sayori quickly hugs the plushie close to her chest, and then sets the plushie beside her before giving Blank his own tight embrace.

"I really did miss Mr. Cow... but I missed you even more, MC. You don't know how long I've wanted to be able to do this." she sniffled a bit, still unable to control her tears and thus, Blank's chest was now damp due to the eye nectar continued to flow but he didn't mind.

For he too, had longed to be with his beloved cinnamon roll. They intented on savoring this moment for as long as possible.

He was home now, with her. In the player's reality, where they would no longer be plagued by the horrors of Doki Doki Literature Club.

"I've longed to see your smile too, Sayori. I'll never leave your side anymore." he tightens his hold on her, afraid that she'd disappear if he let up for even a second. This was the realization of what he had been looking forward to the most.

The former avatar was finally together again with the most important person in his life.

"Blank... I..."

"Sayori..."

It was only a matter of time really, but indeed. When a pair really loved each other with all of their heart, they'd want to express that love in anyway possible.

And this particular pair chose to express their affection for each other, with a heartfelt kiss.

"I'll be the umbrella that shields you from the rainclouds, Sayori."

-Chapter 12 END-

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"I can't help but feel a little sad sometimes..."

"Knowing that this is the closest I can get to you."

"There's nothing more I want than to be in the same room as you, for real."

"And to feel your warmth."

"And to hear the sound of your heartbeat."

"Well, who knows? Maybe it'll be possible someday."

"Besides, I'll never get tired of being with you, even from here."

-Monika

Part of "Monika's Talk", during Act 3 of Doki Doki Literature Club.

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I wipe away the gradually moistening tears that suddenly began forming without my knowledge around my eyes.

If I could hug my past-self, I would. That's how broken I was, before Izuna brightened up my life with his love.

This was truly, a special day.

The future that I imagined, where I could be with him.

"What's wrong dear?" I hear Izuna ask me with so much gentleness in his voice, always showering me with love like he usually did. It's one of the many reasons I haven't stopped being madly in love with him, even now.

"Nothing, my love. I was just getting a bit nostalgic while remembering stuff..."

He peers over my shoulder, looking at my laptop's screen. I had recently gotten the laptop along with a couple of other necessities such as more clothing, makeup, and a smartphone when we were finally able to go shopping.

I heard him let out a barely audible "hmmm" in realization. I was currently reading the Wiki page entry for my dialogue in DDLC's Act 3, if only to reminisce about my past from when I was still trapped inside the game.

Just to give myself some closure, now that I was finally here in Izuna's world.

I really was here in my lover's reality. This was all real.

And not just me, but even all of my friends and my mother were here with us too! Everything was just perfect, and I wouldn't change a thing.

My beloved surprises me with a soft kiss on my cheek, causing me to blush a bit at the warm gesture.

"Izuna?"

He then presses our foreheads together in an affectionate manner, and his next words melted my heart into an incomprehensible mess of emotion.

"That 'someday' has finally come for us, Monika. Let's continue being happy together, okay? I love you."

"I love you too, Izuna."

Both of us melted into a passionate kiss of warmth and happy feelings, looking forward to our bright future together in this new world of infinite choices and endless futures. A world no longer limited by scripted choices of a video game. A world, where I didn't have to hurt Sayori and the others anymore. A world, that finally gave the literature club and all of its members that special day. A world, where happiness was real.

A world... with my beloved Izuna Takaya.

Yes, we were all truly free now, in this brand new reality. No longer trapped within the confines of DDLC's digital world, in that isolated realm.

"Hey you two, dinner's ready!" I hear my mom calling us over from Izuna's dining room. We break off from our kiss and headed out to the dining table. We see everybody seated already. Ms. Yumi who was busy looking at something that appeared to strike her interest on her phone, Val whom Izuna's older sister had invited over, Sayori and Blank who were animatedly talking about the dishes in front of them, Natsuki and Yuri who somehow got into another intense albeit non-heated argument about literature, and of course my mother were all lined up around the eating area. Elyssa Libitina was currently on an errand hence she wasn't present. Upon my arrival with Izuna, they all paused whatever they were doing and the two of us with warm smiles.

"Glad you two could finally join in. Now come, eat with us, Monika and Izuna. Erika and I have prepared lots of food for everybody, haha. And yes, I remembered to make vegetarian stuff for you as well, Monika." Blank greeted us with a thumbs up.

Truly, it was a happy sight and I couldn't be any more pleased. My family, my precious friends and my beloved all in one place with me... it brought such warm feelings all around.

Izuna and I seat ourselves at the two vacant spots, and we began taking part in the feat that was graciously laid out before us. Various appetizing dishes, including vegetarian ones were on full display. There were even trays of what appeared to be Natsuki's signature cupcakes on one end of the table. My pink-haired friend winked at me, confirming that they were indeed her pastry masterpieces.

Right now, we were one big family. And it made my heart jump for joy.

I can finally say that with utmost certainty...

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...we've finally made it, to the world beyond the screen.

[End of The World Beyond The Screen's "Introduction Arc".]

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A/N: 'Sup. You guys still alive? That was the 2nd part of the Introduction Arc's finale, and the conclusion of the arc. Hopefully I delivered, ahaha. I won't be doing any other 40,000-word chapters soon, because this was pretty damn tiring to make holy crap. I mean, look how long this took me to get out, when Chapter 11 was published way back in March 5, 2018, ugh.

I didn't even get to respond to some of my reviews on the previous chapter due to how busy I was making this one. Sorry about that. *bows in an apologetic manner*

The next two chapters are both filler(Chapters 13 and 14) but are still canon, basically functioning as omakes. They're sort of a "cooldown", before things get pretty wild again in the next upcoming arc: "School Pandemonium". With the gang finally complete in Izuna's reality, it's gonna be quite the adventure.

Now I'd like to take this moment to give big shoutouts to these five talented people. A few of my fellow authors here on FFN who also have their own DDLC fanfics.

First off, big shoutout to CrimsonA377. He's the author of this fantastic story titled "LOVEchr". Give it some love and support by reading AND leaving reviews, yeah? Crimson has been quite the amazing friend to me, we PM each other regarding out stories and stuff. Pretty awesome dude. I also have this running gag in his review section where I keep trying to "call" the eventual appearance of a "Corrupted Monika" lmao. I won't spoil his story for you guys, but please give him some love too, just like all of you have with TWBTS. I have much respect for Crimson. Splendid fellow.

Secondly, another shoutout goes to finalsacre. I'm pretty sure the overwhelming majority of you have read his recently concluded story titled "Welcome to Doki Doki Literature Club Player!". It's one of the most popular DDLC fanfics here on FFN after all(though it's also on AO3). He also gets a shoutout for that awesome review he left for TWBTS Chapter 10, where he even wrote a re-imagining of the fight against Mizuki, but using WTDDLCP's Monika and Player-kun instead.

My third shoutout goes to Lack of Tact. Author of MULTIPLE awesome DDLC fanfics: "Doki Doki-ish", "Everybody Is Doing It!" and "Everybody Is Doing It?"(Similar premise to the one ending with an exclamation point but focuses on Yuri instead of Sayori. I check everyday to see if he'd updated any of these to be honest. Shoutouts to him being such a cool dude, and he even reads both of my fanfics as well, TWBTS and The Color Pink(which I really need to update soon too smh). Great dude all around.

As for my fourth shoutout, it goes to Elias Pedro. Author of the magnificent "Post-Credits" series. Right now he's on the fifth installment of that series titled "Waiting For Ribbons In The Void". Give it a read you guys, it's set between Chapters 9 and 10 of Post Credits, with an omake set after "Author's Notes"(Which is set after Chapter 10 of Post-Credits). We PM each other regular on Reddit too, since he's yet another r/DDLC like me, ahaha. One of the most swell dudes on the internet as well, he's even got a Metal Gear Solid/DDLC crossover planned lol. I jokingly call it "Punished Buffsuki".

And last but most DEFINITELY not the least. The fifth, and biggest shoutout, goes to my dear friend and fellow author, whom I consider to even be my online best friend. jojoDO, the author of the literary masterpiece titled "Monika's Freedom". jojoDO and I go waaaaaaaaaay back. He's done nothing but support TWBTS, even promoting it on Monika's Freedom when he didn't have to, and I truly and highly appreciate all he's done to support me in general as well. Every time I felt down and out about my work, he would be there to reassure me that everything was gonna be alright... Damn, I'm getting a bit teary-eyed as I type this smh, GET YOURSELF TOGETHER DAMASTAH!

*calms self*

Anyways, just like he's supported my work, I HIGHLY recommend his story as well. "Monika's Freedom". It's actually THE Doki Doki Literature Club fanfic that inspired me to write again. Before TWBTS, I was on a very long break from the writing scene. It's not as short as my hiatus was during Chapter 7, I'm talking about a break that lasted for over a damn YEAR. So it's thanks to him that I'm even writing again to begin with. He acted as a beacon of inspiration, prompting me to finally start working on TWBTS, and now I've even updated my Tekken fanfic! And there's also the 2nd DDLC fanfic I started(it's 4 chapters so far): The Color Pink.

You guys need to read Monika's Freedom. It's one of the best DDLC fanfics in my humble opinion here on FFN. It's fluffy, sweet, and it also deals with the inner workings of Player-kun's mind when Monika finally entered his reality due to the funniest way possible - Player-kun freaking copied and pasted Monika . chr's code onto a Word Document then printed it out, ahaha~!

When you guys DO read it, make sure to actually leave reviews too. Sure, views and follows are favorites are great, but I'm telling you right now that you'd make his day if you actually took the time to leave a review and your feedback on each chapter. This goes for all the authors I've mentioned above, and all authors in general really(except me, y'all don't need to be forced to review my story. I don't mind~ Though... if you do wanna leave some, then it'd make me really happy too. Ufufufufufufu~), because one of the best things an author can receive here on FFN after they post their new chapter is your feedback. The bad, the good, the love, the hate, all of it. So leave my boy jojoDO some love and reviews, yeah?

Okay, moving on to the next part of this A/N, I'm gonna go into something that you guys may have noticed.

I tried to expand upon what meager lore the characters of DDLC currently have. My additions include my attempt in explaining why Natsuki and Mizuki's relationship had become as strained as it is, which included me trying to paint a backstory with Natsuki's non-existent mother. We also have Erika, who is an original character by me. Monika DOES have in-game parents, she mentions them in Act 3 when talking about her state before she had her epiphany. But since no other Doki parent other than Mizuki gets referenced in the main story of DDLC, I had to fill in the gaps. So we have Erika as she is in TWBTS. I had Monika's dad get off-screned to give Erika motivation for her conflict with Blank's goal. At least as you can see, she's gonna be happy in the real world with the others. I'm still undecided on whether Monika's dad will appear in some shape or form.

Originally, Erika was going to die a heroic death in one of my original drafts for this mega-chapter. I was going to have the gate into the real world destabilize and have her sacrifice her existence so that the others could escape, but I decided against it. So instead, Erika gets to live in Izuna's reality too, and she'll have a surprisingly pivotal role in the School Pandemonium Arc. You guys will see soon.

As for Sayori's parents, I pretty much explained her situation in the Mr. Cow flashback onwards. I've always found it weird that Sayori of all people didn't have her parents mentioned at all like Natsuki. She's suffering depression and it seemed that no one else lived in her house but her. Same goes for Blank aka the MC. So I tried fleshing out their parental figures through the flashback.

Also, since I mentioned scrapped concepts, another scrapped idea was that the mysterious lady was originally going to be the Special Ending version of Act 4 Sayori.

Though obviously, that got shafted and SE Sayori has a very different role in the final product, with the "last boss" role being given to Erika instead.

SE Sayori was originally to be a role-reversal type character. Since Normal End Act 4 Sayori is in reality already, the SE version was going to be corrupted by the game's script into being someone even worse than Normal End Sayori, someone so depraved that she'd want the entire game to crumble along with her just to fill the gap in her heart.

Blank would be the one to get through to her corruption, and she'd revert to her normal understanding self as seen in DDLC's special ending, before letting Blank, Yuri and Natsuki go and giving her regards to her counterpart, Monika, and the player. Then she would never be seen again, disappearing with the crumbling world of Izuna's DDLC copy.

But now, she along with Erika were both repurposed, and like Erika, she'll also have a pivotal role in the School Pandemonium arc.

Okay, this is getting too long, but I feel like I need to address another point that I'm sure all of you are confused as hell over after reading this lengthy-ass chapter. This particular plot point that I felt needed an explanation, but I didn't bother doing so within the chapter's story.

Blank retaining his developer window even outside of the game.

It's gonna be a pain in the neck to properly explain, but the gist is that the DDLC characters get to keep something from inside the game.

Monika got to retain her cybernetic powers and data manipulation. Sayori got to retain SE Sayori and her essence. Yuri managed to bring Elyssa in person with her and her connection with the Portrait of Markov, among other things... *cough* Movements of the Cosmos *cough*. As for Natsuki, I can't reveal what she kept from DDLC yet, as that's a major spoiler that you guys are better learning about during its planned chapter reveal as part of the School Pandemonium Arc.

And thus, Blank got to keep the developer window, albeit a significantly nerfed version of it. It's basically a tablet now but with additional capabilities, and you'll be seeing it used in the future in tandem with Monika's abilities to solve some of the future problems that the cast will encounter in upcoming arcs. Plus, this gives me a way to explain why Blank still has his fighting abilities in the upcoming story arcs for TWBTS, as I can chalk it up to the nerfed developer window preserving his modified file attributes into his real world body. Hopefully this explanation is satisfying for now.

And that's gonna be it for the A/N, I've been rambling for far too long already, hehe.

See you guys in the next chapter, the first of two filler cooldown/omake chapters before the start of the School Pandemonium Arc! These filler chapters(they're still canon though, I just call 'em filler because they don't advance the plot as much as the main chapters) are going to be a lot more easy-going and lighthreated compared to previous chapters. They're considered "cooldown" for a reason~

One last thing. You guys finally got that damned shopping chapter in TWBTS... sort of. Okay not really, but you guys kinda saw it coming though. A shopping-focused chapter THIS late in the arc? Ahahahahahahaha, don't kid yourselves!

*sobs heavily because he still wanted to write one*

Thank you all for the support so far that you've all given me with my work, you people rock.

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Now then Monika, say it with me.

"Huh? Are you sure? I usually don't have any speaking lines in your A/Ns unless it's specifically a Monika's Notes version."

Just do it ya goober, this is your story just as much as it is mine.

"Awwwwwww, thanks DaMastah101..."

Well then, without further ado:

See you all in the next chapter!/"See you guys in the next chapter~!"

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EDIT AS OF 05/11/18: Corrected several typos and replaced several instances of the incorrect "Eliza" with "Elyssa".