I am sorry for the confusion this chapter may bring to those unfamiliar to the Tales Of series. I will explain in an author note at the bottom of the chapter the parts that may seem too weird.

WE'VE HIT 10,000 PAGEVIEWS AND 100K WORDS! WOOOHOOO! LET'S GO, BABY!

Send me questions for the characters? Pretty please? I really want to do this Q&A thing =D

PLEASE READ: IMPORTANT

I have thought about this for a while. In the end, despite the votes for Lissa being higher, I decided not to ship Nick with anyone. At first, I had decided "Ok whatever I'll let the people decide who gets shipped because I don't care." But… I honestly have no idea how to write romance. I would rather stay in my comfort zone at least with my main fic, since I really want to avoid messing things up (which I'll inevitably do anyways). I'm already taking a big gamble by shipping ?xOlivia, I'm definitely not ready to write two ships from a main character's point of view.

There's also the other issue I hadn't considered: myself. At his very core, changed as he is from everything that he's gone through, Nick is, at his core, me. Although one thing that could surprise people is that I relate way more to Nicholas (Future Nick) than Present Nick, but we're getting sidetracked. Simply put, writing about myself as someone who gets shipped with people just doesn't feel right.

Sorry for ignoring your votes, but it's probably best this way. My attempts at writing romance would've sucked anyways.

The review answers, instead of like usual, are in the bottom of the chapter.

!elpoep emosewa uoy ,weiveR dna daeR

Chapter 22: Cold Determination

The wind howled, not a trace of life for miles to come around us. A frozen wasteland was the only thing that could be seen aside from me, Celsius and those four meddlers that decided to spectate.

(Nicholas, Sephie, Fairess and Yutis.)

Law was back with me as opposed as being a toddler, which provided a small amount of comfort in having him back where he should be. I stared down at my opponent: this was an epic battle that would be remembered for the years to come, if only by the few that witnessed it in the first place. Chuckling nervously at the serious situation, I realized how much this battle was too cliché to be true. But it was happening nevertheless.

Celsius stared back at me. Gone was the playfulness she held before when battling Sylph, or the respect towards my other self. Now it was just us. A battle of wills, of spirit we could say. (heh)

Not even my horrible sense of humor could cheer me up in this moment.

I was not ready. I knew this. Nothing had prepared me for this, no leadup, no training montage, no warning.

(No alibi, no justice, no dream, no hope!)

I was actually getting bored of this staring contest. She was seemingly analysing me, her feet still not touching the ground as time stretched on for seemingly centuries but it was probably no less than a minute. Suddenly, she began talking. By no means I should be able to hear what she had to say, what with the distance, the wind and her lack of shouting. But her voice seemed to carry, being even bolstered by the wind.

"I am bound to a summoner already." She said, despite it being a fact that we both were clearly aware of. I still had no idea how this… weird, crossover between worlds worked, but I guess spirits were beings that worked outside of fickle things like time and space.

(Very fickle things like, you know, the fabric of reality, existence…)

"I know. As a summoner, I wish of you to grant me your power." I wasn't going to talk smack to a spirit. I would talk smack to princes and princesses, kings, to minions working for some "Higher ups" who were probably deities, but not to a force of nature. Anna taught me well what talking smack to such a powerful being results in. I massaged my arm as the phantom pain returned.

"Very well." She said haughtily. "As you know well from our previous encounter, a new pact can be established only through a trial of strength. Do you believe yourself powerful enough to face me?"

(Last chance to back down. You don't have to do this, you know.)

I know. But if it means that I'll be strong not to be a burden to others, it'll be damn well worth it.

...

(That was way cheesier than I expected from you.)

I know. But the feeling still stands. Never again will I be too weak to defend myself and others.

(Very well.)

"No. No, I don't think myself powerful enough. But I damn well intend to go down with a fight." We grinned ferally at each other.

"Since you currently lack partners I will make an exception and fight you one on one, without Fenrir. So you don't die too fast, you know." I resisted the urge to mention Lilina, since she definitely wasn't ready for this. The Supreme Emblem was only one, after all. With that, she finally stopped floating. The moment when her feet touched the ground I took a defensive stance. The combat begins. It's do or die.

She immediately began chanting under her breath and I instinctively raised my shield. I couldn't remember what her moves were from the original game, but it promised nothing good. She did not disappoint. "Freeze Lancer!" She shouted, bringing her hand forward.

Not a moment too soon I raised my shield, who was met with several icicles impacting against it. Thankfully I was left spared of the onslaught, but a lot less thankfully, it was only a distraction for her next chant.

"Ice Prison!" I reacted too late to the attack and my legs got encased in ice. I stared in shock as the ice creeped up to my knees. I tried to move, but I was completely stuck as Celsius began charging at me. I took out my Fire Card and as she neared me, I tossed it towards the ground while shouting "Fire!" a fiery explosion burst between the two of us, making her jump back and managing to unfreeze my legs. I staggered back, the same lack of feeling I had felt before in my legs. That's not good.

Celsius was fast, faster than me. She began trying to hit me, every blow impacting against my shield or being dodged. I could not afford to try and juggernaut this one.

(You should probably try and avoid tanking altogether. Your defense is pitiful.)

Each blow against my shield felt as if a hammer hit it, my right arm starting to tremble.

*Clang!* Another blow. The combination of the cold and being repeatedly hit finally got to me. My right arm fell to the side with no previous prompting. The white-skinned spirit in front of me grinned. "Swallow Dance!" she shouted. This was gonna hurt.

A kick from her propelled me in the air, but she was not done. Chaining the first kick with a second one to the gut after jumping, she ended the combo with a kick to the jaw that made me fly off while she gracefully fell to the ground on her feet.

"What's the matter? Are you already done?" She taunted. I spat out some blood that was now filling my mouth, wiping it with my hand. "Like hell." I grinned at her, despite not feeling any of the bravado I was showing. I guess it's a matter of pride now.

"That's the spirit!" Oooooh Celsius. You poor, poor thing. You called this upon yourself.

"What? No." I got up, using my fire card to bring back some feeling in my right arm. I was mostly stalling for time right now, but trolling was always a good thing to do. I put on a confused face. "That's the spirit." I said, pointing over to Sephie who was sitting down with the others on a bench made of ice, teeth chattering. He flipped me the bird while Nicholas burst out laughing.

(Where did the bench even come from?)

After I was done warming up my arm and could move it again (I swear, this thing's putting up with so much abuse it's not even funny) I made a come at me gesture at her. She shook her head, ridding herself of my horrible pun before starting to chant again. Hell no I aint letting that go through. I charged at her, while she finished her chant. "Freeze Lancer!" She shouted for the second time, restarting the chant as soon as the barrage of icicles started to fly towards me.

(Spamming moves? Really?)

I mean, it works. But instead of hiding behind my shield I kept charging, tossing my shield ALA captain America towards her. Sadly, the cutting edge of the shield only managed to make her block, but it did stop her from chanting. Now wielding my naginata with both hands, I was now the one on the offensive. I started thrusting at her like there was no tomorrow, most of my hits missing. What surprised me, however, is that the hits that DID hit felt weird. The spirit in front of me wasn't heavily armored, and yet, despite me having a sharp pointy object, it was more like I was chipping away at a slab of ice rather than attacking a real person. I started putting more effort into striking the same point, seeing as no blood came out. She was also a lot less fast than before.

(A clone?)

Making a feint for her arm, I watched with satisfaction as she dodged right exposing the chest, the point where I had been striking all this time. It was time to end this.

"No more playing around!" I shouted, plunging my spear deep into the fake spirit's chest. As if that wasn't enough, I decided, for good measure, to bring out once again my Fire card. "DIE!" An explosion completely blew off the thing's head. The Icy sculpture fell to the ground, motionless.

"Huh. A clone. Who would've ever guessed Celsius was a coward." I was vaguely aware of the mana beacon behind me. The shield I had tossed before was at my feet. I had a stupid idea that was either gonna work spectacularly or leave me severely mauled. I'm a daring fool.

"Beast!" I whirled around in time to see the real Celsius come in to shove me with her shoulder. I let her hit me in the chest, turning the stumble into a stomp on my shield and as she summoned the head of a wolf to roar at me I grasped the shield in my hands. The roar was deafening but thankfully, Algiz absorbed the worst of it. Even despite that, I was sent skidding back.

"Hmm. Not bad. You managed to defeat my mirror image. I definitely wouldn't have bothered fighting with you if you weren't even able to do that in the first place. Now…" She took a fighting stance again. "Who did you call a coward?"

(Terrible life choices if they were a person, that's who.)

'Shut up, I'm not that bad.'

(…)

'Okay, maybe I am that bad. But don't distract me right now!'

My internal ramblings were cut short by a charging Celsius. I unsummoned the shield and began charging at her as well, despite the fact that it was categorically a bad idea, but running away wasn't an option and standing still was an even worse idea.

She began by jumping at me with a flying kick that I barely dodged. I thrusted my lance at her several times, but nearly every time it was either parried or flat out blocked, if the cuts on her arms and legs were anything to go by.

(Because the spirit of the ice is about as prideful and completely disregards self-safety about as much as Nick does. Is it any wonder they were matched together like this?)

However, I was receiving as much as I was dealing. Bruises littered my body till I was black and blue both from the frostbite and all the hits I took. I spat blood once again, and she seemed to take that as an opening. "Swallow dance!" She shouted, trying to launch me up in the air once again like she did before, but barely missing. Everything felt as if time itself was slowing down: I saw the opening she left clear as the day.

(This is gonna hurt.)

I jumped in the air, gathering magical power as I did so. Aiming for her heart, I let all of the built up magic into the lance. It glowed a bright orange. And then, I struck.

To the immense surprise of the both of us, it actually pierced through her, coming out on the other side. Sadly, there was no blood because apparently spirits don't bleed. While I took the time to realize this, Celsius kicked me in the temple, making me fall over.

(Glowing 1000-degree spear vs Celsius challenge.)

The spirit screamed, immediately ripping out the offending lance from her body and thrusting it in the snow. She put a hand over her chest where it had been pierced and I watched in amazement as she healed herself. Uruz, cooling itself in the snow hissed loudly.

"Not *huff* bad *pant*. That was… That was pretty cruel of you, you know?" she asked. "I'll have to teach you… I'll have to teach you some manners." She ripped the now cooled lance from the ground and tossed it at me. I dodged and turned to pick it up, because that was my weapon. That, however, proved to be a severe mistake.

"Never turn your back to an opponent." a voice behind me sounded as I took the spear back in my hands. Faster than I could do anything about, I was lifted into the air by a series of kicks as her voice sounded again. "Swallow Dance! Beast!" After the onslaught of kicks stopped, I felt her shoulder smash into my back as a deafening roar then launched me away.

Sadly, it was not over. As soon as I managed to get back up, she was in front of me. Slamming a fist on the ground, she shouted "Absolute Zero!" as an icicle formed all around me. I felt the cold all around me, as it crept deeper and deeper in my bones. But it still wasn't enough. The head of a wolf suddenly appeared in front of the block of ice that encased me and smashed straight through it before disappearing once again. Of course, by virtue of smashing through my icy prison it also smashed through me. Celsius was panting, hands on her knees as she caught her breath. Not that it was of any importance to me in my current situation.

I was on the ground, completely and utterly drained. I couldn't move, could barely breathe as the cold edged closer. I was gonna die. I didn't want to die. Not in this specific moment at least. Not before having paid my dues. Not before I made sure that the world would be safe. I couldn't die.

My vision was hazy. I closed my eyes, they were hurting. Something wet was on my face. Were they tears or the snow? Can't tell. Maybe if I just take a quick nap, things will make sense again…

(So you're just gonna give up?)

'Let's face it, Law. I'm weak. Too weak.'

(Weak? Yes. Too weak? No. If you try hard enough, nothing is-)

'Yeah, yeah. Don't go all cheesy on me. Still, what can I do? Look, she's still fine and kicking. And I mean it literally.' I turned my head so I was facing Celsius. She was smirking at me, kicking the air while waiting for me to make my move.

(She's too strong for you? Is that what you're saying?)

Well, in short… yes. She's too strong for me.

(Well, then. You're a Basara. What does that say?)

What does being a Basara have to do with- OH. OOOOOOOOOOOOOH. I get it now.

(Took you only five minutes.)

New hope filling my heart, I got up. I certainly wasn't feeling up to it, if the collective screaming of my muscles was anything to go by. As I was straining myself to get up, my knee gave out from under me. I tried again. The knee thankfully decided not to be a piece of shit. I finally managed to get up, ready to face my opponent.

"Hmm. It seems you still have something to give." She said, sounding almost bored. "You're quite hard to make stay down. Almost like a cockroach." I've heard this comparison before. "Nevertheless, if it's for a fight you hope…" She slid back into a fighting stance, a cocky smirk on her lips. I started readying the fire card, idly noting that I had only four or five uses left on this thing.

She stayed on guard, wary of what I was trying to do. Smart, but it would be her undoing if this went right.

(There is very little chance of this working.)

I like the fact that I still have a chance in the first place. Did we invert parts?

(I'm a realist. You switch moods between pessimism and optimism at the drop of a hat.)

I summoned my shield and began advancing towards her. As soon as I was within ten feet of her, I shot the card towards her, making it burst into a fireball that she dodged. Using the distraction that it got because it was bright and hot, I launched my shield towards her. However, she saw that coming as well, crossing her arms and blocking the razor sharp shield that clattered loudly to the ground. She turned back towards where I was, saying "Is this the best you've-" but then she realized that I was no longer there.

I was behind her, my lance ready with magical power. "Your own strength shall be your undoing!" I shouted as she whirled around, futilely trying to block. My lance pierced through her.

(Rend Heaven. A skill that allows you to turn the opponents' power into your own, evening the odds.)

"How did you-" She asked, clearly thinking that she should've heard me. She looked down at my feet, realizing that during the two distractions I had unsummoned the armor around my feet, leaving me walking barefooted. "heh. Good job kid. But it's not quite enough" She said, and to my great horror she began pushing the lance back from her chest. I kept pushing to keep it in, but I wasn't gaining any ground. The lance began to frost over. However, remembering what happened before, I smirked.

Taking out for the first time since the beginning of the fight the Thunder card, I wrapped it around the hilt.

And in a moment like this, when life and death was on the line, trying desperately to win for the sake of the world, what could someone like me do, if not meme?

A look of horror crossed Celsius' face as she realized what I was about to do. But she couldn't do anything.

"This divine lightning shall pierce the skies!" I shouted. I idly noted in the back of my head that Nicholas was laughing, if in joy or at my joke I didn't know. Thinking on it, I quickly added "ZEUS!"

Electricity coursed through Uruz, a direct connection with her insides frying her. But she wasn't done fighting, so I had to push another charge through her. She screamed, making me feel slightly nauseous at the damage I was inflicting upon her, but I couldn't stop.

I began feeling lightheaded after the fourth. After the eight, she weakly tried to punch me. I gave one last discharge as the card faded to dust and she finally stopped fighting.

"Fine, kid." She coughed out smoke, a weird sight to see from the spirit of ice. "I can see that I'm not gonna be the winner. You pack a really nasty punch, you know that?" She grinned weakly at me. "You're definitely worthy of my power. Now, human, speak your vow." I nodded at her, a grin slowly stretching its way on my lips. I considered making the vow a complete joke, but it didn't feel quite right. In the end, I sighed, deciding for an old boring regular vow.

"In the name of a world where Grima is no longer a threat. In the name of a world where the people won't live in fear. I, Nick, ask for thy power!" Celsius' expression softened. "Indeed. Use my power well, summoner." She smiled at me before fading into a blue light. Said blue light, then, entered my chest and vanished. The cold was not so bad now. Just a little chilly here.

"Well, lookie here, he's actually done it!" Nicholas whooped as the Supreme Emblem's power finally faded away, returning me to my old appearance. "I… I've done it." I said in disbelief. "I actually did it! I…!" I tried to make a fistpump, but my body didn't quite want to listen. "I've… done…" And with that, I was out like a light, falling into the other me's arms who smiled at me sadly for some reason.


Robin was fretting. After reading that letter his friend left him, his brain started kicking into overdrive to make the perfect strategy to minimize casualties in this war, as well as bring the war's end the fastest possible as a new one loomed over the horizon, if the information he was given was anything to go by. He had carelessly dropped the rest of the letter into the fireplace, silly him. Too bad, that meant that Nick's resignation form would have to be remade. In person, when he could tell him he well and truly wanted to leave this family of nutcases. His friend was right, this was an incredible burden, but one he would take with a smile on his face if it meant the shepherds are alive and well. He knew the shepherds needed him. He had been careless until now, a mistake that costed him one of the best fighters he had. But no more. Although he had another problem…

(What are you trying so hard for, Robin? To prevent us from being stronger than all of these mortal insects? Is this what you truly wish for?)

Robin clutched his forehead in pain as the… reluctantly familiar voice spoke to him. Luckily for him, nobody was there to witness it, since he was in his tent. They had returned to the border pass, the place that had been attacked by the enemy wyvern riders and were asked for assistance holding the front. The Ylissean scouting forces had actually managed to advance into the plegian desert, and had been told to avoid the mountains that were the famous plegian wyvern riders' territory, going instead towards west. Unfortunately, a spy, Hierarch Judas, a friend of the Exalt who decided to turn coat and even managed to get away with it (although his own spies reported that the man was later executed, serves him right) had given away the plans of the scouting squad heading west who held a lot of Ylisse's top pegasus knights and made the enemy capable of ambushing them. It was a slaughter, and even though they fought valiantly the enemy was simply too strong for them. Chrom seemed particularly disheartened by the news, and even though neither of them would ever say it aloud he'd definitely heard Sumia's cries in the night.

A lance of pain in his hand forced him to the ground, making him clutch it in between his knees.

(Do not ignore me, Robin.)

Robin remembered clear as the day what was the beginning of all this. He had allowed himself to tap into the originally mysterious voice's power, and this was his punishment. The mark of Grima shone bright on his hand, hidden by the fingerless gloves that he wore. He had already gone through four pairs simply because the power would sear the mark onto the glove itself, rendering its usage meaningless. A stone, black as the night had also made its way into his pouch without any explaination. His magic and swordsmanship had both improved significantly, he could easily go on par with Lon'qu even though he mostly kept himself to the sidelines. But was this power worth it, when it corrupted his very being?

"Robin? Are you alright?" Chrom asked from outside the tent, entering.

"Y-yeah. Remember Chrom, we're heading south tomorrow." He said, quickly covering it up with the plans instead of his state of health. Thankfully enough, Chrom wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, or had an incredible amount of faith in him and accepted it. However…

(killhimKILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIM)

The pain returned, making him clutch his head as he fell to the floor. Chrom panicked and tried to help him up, but he couldn't move as he was. Chrom rushed to go call Lissa but Robin grabbed his hand before he could leave. A few minutes passed like this, with Chrom staring in shock as he held his head until the pain eventually faded.

Would he be able to deal with this? Should he just surrender to the dark dragon?

Eventually, he got up and got out of the tent, dragging his blue haired friend behind him. "I'm sorry, Chrom. I've been having a killer headache lately. But don't worry, it'll pass." The prince didn't seem convinced but realized it was something Robin didn't want to talk about and let it be. They went over to the campfire where, Robin hadn't realized it before, the shepherds were dining.

Lissa was conversing with Maribelle, and Sumia pointing at Stahl who swallowed a toad in his stew. She let out a laugh while Maribelle put a hand in front of her mouth to cover her snickering. Sumia's reaction however, was a surprise. The girl quickly rushed over to Stahl, cheeks slightly flushed to try and make him spit the toad with the Heimlich while glaring at the other two, which only made them laugh harder. Frederick had insisted with all of his might to come with them, and was currently hobbling around with his prosthetic leg, trying to become somewhat proficient at walking, something that clearly made him frustrated. Suddenly he started falling as the leg locked up and was about to fall when he was caught by his new companion, Cormag (a wyvern). Robin didn't even know where he had found a wyvern, but the two were quickly becoming inseparable. It warmed his heart.

Sully was currently sparring with Lucina using lances and clearly winning. The two redheads went at it fiercely, Sully trying to finish her opponent off while Lucina was attempting to regain some ground. Robin smiled at them: Lucina had been really down lately and Sully was acting as a sort of mother figure for her. A few feet away from them, Donnel was listening to Vaike drone on and on with nearly maniacal interest, soaking up all that he could learn from the swordsman practicing katas. He had given up his pitchfork, seemingly unhappy with his fighting prowess and asked Robin what he should do. He was about to answer the lad pick up swordplay since the lad seemed too light to use axes, but Vaike beat him to the punch and took it upon himself to train him up. He was about to protest but he realized that Vaike wasn't a bad teacher, giving good and insightful tips on how Donnel was supposed to fight. He even recorded it on his roster for later use:

Vaike – Donnel Support C

Vaike: HAAH! HYAH! You see! That's how it's done!

Donnel: Well, Teach… I reckon I don't. I mean, all I's been doing is watch ya cut a dummy to pieces!

Vaike: And Teach hacked it like a champ! But no. You gotta feel the strength, deep in your very being, and then HA! You strike it with all your might.

Donnel: I see… so like this? HYA! Eep!

Vaike: No, no, no... you don't leave the axe in your target and you certainly do not fall back. Alright, let's try this another way. You're a farmer right? That dummy's a tree you have to cut down. Only, it fights back.

Donnel: Like those pesky Treants my ma's always used to tell me about?

Vaike: A tree-ant? Like an insect? …Weird analogy, but I like it! Now go, and give it a shot!

Donnel: Alright! Haah! Haa! YEEHAW!

Vaike: Good job Donny! Let's go find more dummies!

Donnel: YEAH!

Robin detracted the cost of 27 dummies from their paycheck. 27. They wouldn't be seeing any money for the next three months. However, they seemed fairly content with it, saying that "it was worth it". To each their own, he guessed.

A quick scan of the rest of the encampment on his map revealed that Lon'qu was a bit farther off from them doing Naga knows what while Virion had set up a pot with hot water to make tea in while he conversed with Miriel about this or that. Apparently Kellam was standing next to Stahl while Gaius inspected him, trying to find exactly where the big guy was, however incredible it was to believe since when he looked in that direction he couldn't see him, Panne was off digging in a dune and last but not least Ricken was…

"Oof!" Barrelling towards him. He looked down and saw that the young mage had tripped on the sand and was now dusting himself off.

"Sorry Robin! I wanted to speak with the Captain and… I tumbled." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly before returning serious.

"Right. Captain! Who was the dastardly scum who attacked you? I'll show them!" He was clutching his Elwind tome, eager to punish this mysterious person who attacked Chrom. His own interest was also piqued.

"Attacked's a big way of putting it. Pffff" Chrom suddenly chuckled as if remembering something funny. "The guy had a dagger in hand and told me to drop my purse and bolted when he realized who he was dealing poor fellow probably thought he was attacking a merchant! Ha!"

"You challenged him alone?!" He was horrified. He knew that Frederick wasn't running perimeter as well as he used to, but this was unacceptable! And Chrom's thick-headed skull! He challenged a bandit who attacked him alone!

"I wouldn't say "challenged". More like "shooed away". Can't very well just leave that sort around the camp now, can we?"

Ricken was starstruck, staring at Chrom like he was a hero (which he was). Robin, on the other hand was angered.

"By the Gods Chrom! I beg you, do not take more…" Robin ranted away at Chrom who half-heartedly listened to him, the stubborn oaf. However, Robin could say one thing for sure.

He would take a thousand Fell Dragons within himself for this bunch of fools that call themselves Shepherds.

I pitted a Tales of Symphonia style character against a Fire Emblem style character while trying to use both of their mechanics together. It was weird, but I'm pretty satisfied with how the fight came. I decided to avoid dividing the fight into segments separated by line breaks because despite a few jokes I wanted this to be a serious moment. I'm pretty satisfied with how it came.

TheEdgiestOfEdgelords: Sure.

Guest 2: In order: Things, There's always been one, the guard of the gate who is also the one you defeat in Apotheosis. Go look in my previous chapters, I think you missed something. There is one because I say so. Because I'm a douche who doesn't know proper line breaking. I know, but she's still Anna's boss. And, even though I never know of that before, thanks for telling me. I'll make sure he makes a quip like that. Also, she's not a god either, but I call her God!Anna because she's got semi-divine powers and her map is literally called Apotheosis which means "becoming a god" by defeating a god you become one (or at least strong like one)

Whitefri2z: When romance means literally nothing to you, you go like "Oh sure go ahead choose one" to your viewers because people go mad for shipping. I don't care either way and it wasn't gonna be a great part of my fic. Although I guess that being aromantic implies I probably shouldn't ship myself with someone but, yanno. People like the stuff.

And your comment almost made me weep with joy. I worked very hard making sure not to fall into any sort of self-insert stereotypes and it warms my cold dead heart to see that my work is actually paying off.

And Anna's got every reason to think of Nick like that. Four times out of five they didn't bother saving her sisters, either dying too soon or simply not caring. She's very bitter about that, but she must realize that he, in a very weird way, cares about people. Also you've made me wrack my brain for like two days before I realized what phrase was it that I quoted unconsciously. Props to you for catching that reference I made.

Meep718: This is an answer to your review. Thanks for your vote.

Scorin: Alright, let's answer this stuff in order…

1: Thanks!

2: I have no idea what you're talking about. The Anna at the gate is from a particular branch of the Anna family who has struck a deal with Naga and is VERY proud of what they do; they protect the gate, monitoring everyone that comes through and sending back hostile threats, and Naga lets them get all the riches they can obtain from it (which, considering maps such as The Golden Gaffe are a thing, I can let you imagine just how rich she is). However, anything that reaches this world not from the gate falls under the jurisdiction of some, ah, more interesting individuals such as Aversa.

3: Well, to be honest, this was more of a test drive in terms of a fight between 2 overpowered characters. Putting Nick at his maximum potential while also giving the Ultimate Emblem (which was established to be in Nicholas' possession in an earlier chapter) was just the way to do it, at least in my opinion. I also got to test the waters for future combats, since I'm not-so-good at them. Also, aside from Rend Heaven, which is a thing Basaras DO have, I didn't give Nick any sort of special ability. He's simply Nick². All of the special abilities that you see here are either from Celsius, which is a character from a different game or something that Nick could already do. And the power that Celsius gives him is basically an equivalent to Naesala's Vortex ability. So, instead of losing several HP per cast, Nick only loses one or two now. As for all of the stat boosts… well, as you can see, they're gone. Also the fact that you think my character is a Gary Sue when literally two reviews above the guy tells me that Nick feels very human is extremely confusing. What am I doing right and what wrong?!

4: Here ya go.

Also, here are the votes. A sudden spike in popularity for the "No-ship" option for some reason. I did check and every voter was from a real account. So here we are:

Lissa – 6

Nobody – 5

Lucina – 2

Sully – 1

Anyways, have an omake.

What if…?

"Well, shit." Nicholas chuckled evilly at me. "Lucky for you, the odds have to be evened a bit if you even want a fighting chance. This-" He took out the Supreme Emblem from his pocket despite the impossibility of the action "Will make you the peak of your potential. You'll have the ideal male body. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like" We both laughed at the inside joke. "Jokes aside, you get this thing, makes you a 20/20 for a battle. Also" He suddenly grew serious. "Do not lose. This is your life at stake. If you fail, your soul will be forfeit." I nodded, before an idea occurred to me.

I called Lilina's card to me, taking notice of the fact that it previously was on a pile of stuff. Whatever. I raised it in the air, before calling "Lilina, I need your help!"

The blue haired mage (who was slightly taller than me, I grumbled) appeared, mock saluting. "Hiii!" She greeted. "What do you need?" She asked.

(Don't do it. It's a bad idea. Stop.)

"Well…" I said, trying to find the words for it before shrugging and slapping the Supreme Emblem on her chest, surprising her. "Go beat up that spirit."

A golden aura appeared around Lilina, and soon, in her place stood something I didn't expect.

I mean, the blue haired girl was still there but… uhm…

"Do you even lift, Nick?" She asked in a surprisingly deep voice.

I don't think anybody expected this. She was, to put it frankly, a bulging mass of muscles with a frown on her face. I'm pretty sure she could put Priam to shame. She wore the Oni chieftain mask covering her chest, baggy red pants covering her legs with literally METAL SHOES at the end.

(What have you done?)

In her hands, easily slung over her shoulder was a flaming Armads. She grinned at me before heading towards the now cowering spirit of ice.

And then, she fucking destroyed Celsius. The end.