"This is a difficult test," began the voice once more. "You will be placed in a room with an opponent to defeat, just as you were here for Yami's test. It's very simple... win and you pass the test. Die and you obviously fail the exam. Don't expect this to be an easy task. These opponents are chosen to specifically test your abilities. The environments are rendered how they wish. If any of you manage to survive, it will be a miraculous accomplishment,"
The severity in his voice was greater than they would have ever expected from him. Until now, even when he was serious, he was usually joking in his tone. Despite the stress of having to deal with a disembodied voice while trying to stop the destruction of the universe, his small puns helped to calm them down a little.
"You have a moment," he started again, "to consider your options. As all are warned, you are free to surrender your notions of wielding the blades in favor of your own lives. Do not let your supposed immortality be the determining factor. I assure you, even the one you just defeated, all your opponents have more than enough of what it takes to bring you down. It will all depend on how you handle your opponents, your environment, and your skills. I will see you if you survive,"
Darkness engulfed them all once again. They were separated from one another for the purpose of concluding this strange test. Anzu found herself in a dimly lit room. It was very large. The floor was solid but soft, almost like dirt. There was an earthy smell about, not very strong, but not too weak either. Aside from confusion over what enemy she would have to defeat. Anzu was just fine. She stood up and took a look around. She could see that only several standing torches lit the area. The light they gave was not enough to illuminate even half the room. To her regret, she found herself alone. I wasn't so much the being alone, but the not knowing where everyone else was. She couldn't pickup any energy signals at all; not the Rosencraft, not Lynette, no one else at all. She heard a small sound, but couldn't be sure if it was anything or just her own imagination getting the better of her.
"Little Anzu, are we getting frightened?" A voice taunted from beyond the darkness.
"Who are you?" Anzu called into the space beyond the light.
"I can sense the fear in your voice. You're getting scared,"
"What are you talking about?"
"I can sense fear in my opponents. I know you're afraid,"
"Even if I was, as you say, afraid, what is your point?"
"I feed on my opponent's fear, and I know what scares you,"
"I doubt that,"
"Hah ha hah! The last person who did not believe me was destroyed before he realized what was happening. What makes you think your weakness can't be exploited? It's fairly simple for one with as many fears as you to be made into a helpless blob of flesh once gripped by their own fear. Fear is the greatest weakness of all. Every being in the universe has their own fear, almost all of them anyway. I am not subject to such a set back,"
"As you stated correctly the first time, every being has its own fear. What should lead me to believe that you know my greatest fears, or that you yourself don't have any fears at all?"
"As I said, I am a master of fear. I seek great power. Fear is a boundary between an individual and great power. To overcome that obstacle, I learned all that I could about fear. I have placed myself in the most rigorous of exercises and training routines so to eliminate fear from my body. My power has only increased, raised to unfathomable measures once I became a demon. None can match my power, not even you,"
"That's fine by me. I don't care about being the strongest. Can I go now?"
"Hah! How insolent. Is that meant to be a mockery of what I am?"
"Not in the least. I could care less whether or not you believe yourself to be stronger than me. If I weren't busy, I would concern myself with apprehending you for the things I can guess that you have done to obtain your power. However, I'm needed elsewhere, so if you are done with your boasts, I would like to leave,"
"Even now your fear is rising. It's as obvious as anything else about you. I know all about you. For instance, I know that although you cannot pinpoint my location right now, you can still read some of my thoughts. You know only what I have let you know, like the acts I have committed to get my power. Too bad I have not let you see who gave me my demon powers. I control this area completely. Did you even stop to think about why I chose to cloud it in darkness with only several lit torches to provide a small circle of light?"
"Never came to mind at all," she stated aloofly, pushing his taunt back at him.
"Your sarcastic wit is refreshing, but it doesn't mask the truth of your fear. You fear the dark the same way a child does,"
"What makes you say that? If you truly knew anything about me, even the slightest bit, then you would know that I have always enjoyed the darkness, especially when there is a moon for me to bask in,"
"The dark I refer to is one different than the ordinary darkness. Do not worry my dear, you share that fear with your friends. To you all, the lights you are standing in right now represents the limits in power you have placed on yourselves due to fear. The endless darkness beyond you in the dark power you are too afraid to journey into. You have so much untapped power, but you are too frightened to use it. I have little choice but to eliminate you. It is a waste for such a fantastic power. To be subdued in a vessel that refuses to conquer its fears so that it may master that power is unthinkable. You do nothing but avoid it. That is one of your biggest fears, and I know others that will cause you just as much distress,"
"The depth of your misjudgment is very profound. How could you be so incompetent?"
"Then maybe I should go further into your other fears. Maybe someone from your past will suffice, someone with a name that begins with an S?"
"Sorry, but that doesn't quite help,"
"S... E... P... H...!" Anzu was stunned. She didn't even need to hear the completion of that name before it struck her. So long ago was her encounter with that name that she had been glad to hear none of that person or that name since her childhood.
"I thought that one would get to you. If you only knew the irony in how you have tried to forget him. To think, you dread hearing your uncle's name so. It is by luck he has never had the chance to kill you,"
"Stop this right now!" she demanded.
"You, your sister, and your cousin were not supposed to be there. You were told not to follow them and you didn't listen,"
"I said to stop!" she shouted.
"You three had to watch your parents die,"
"Be quiet!"
Anzu shot a blast of energy into the dark. The mysterious figure made his appearance. He walked casually into the circle of firelight. He was large and very muscular. He wore a smug grin across his face. Anzu shot another quick blast that was quickly deflected away with one hand. He grabbed Anzu by the wrist. She turned a blast on him with her other hand. He took the blast at point blank range. He stood seemingly untouched, grasping firmly to Anzu's wrist.
"You asked my name. Though I don't believe it does any good for a pig in the slaughter to know the name of the butcher, maybe you'll be kind enough to say hello to your uncle and parents. My name is Kaine,"
Anzu let loose a startling amount of energy to push Kaine back. In the process, she destroyed each and every torch leaving them in complete darkness. Anzu's energy had spiked at that moment, but was now slowly tapering off.
"Yes! Yes! That was excellent! That is what I want. I want to see your true power. You claim to have control over your powers, but had you really had control, fear would not need to be a catalyst for your ultimate power to emerge. Nevertheless, if that is what it takes, then I have no grievances with that. It would be meaningless for me to defeat you as you are now. I will not be satisfied until I see absolutely one hundred percent of your power!"
"I don't care what you want or what you say. You couldn't possibly understand the danger of that notion. Call it what you want, but I refuse to go that far,"
"I won't be giving you that option. You can either die here or you can kill me and be set free. But the only way you can kill me is to use your full power,"
"I doubt that very much," Anzu stated, trying to keep her self under control.
"Then by all means, go ahead and try. You are at a disadvantage. I have lived in darkness far longer than you have and thus know it better. At this moment, I can guarantee that you have tried to find my energy signal again and failed, and I know that you do not have the ability to see in the dark. You have no means of finding me. I will crush you,"
Anzu slowly stepped back. What Kaine said was at least partly true. She could not exactly see him or pick up his energy signal, but she could see his energy trail. He was moving very quickly, to the point it was difficult to follow his trail. A wave of powerful energy struck her from the left, throwing her back several feet as she failed to spin away from it. Before she could get up once more, another blast came from the right. She fired back only to have it sent back at her. Both blasts struck with a great impact, knocking Anzu hard against a wall. She got up once more, but very slowly.
"I told you that you could not stand a chance against me as you are. I have barely begun yet you are terrified, so much so you can't gather a worthwhile attack. This fear in you only makes me more powerful. And yet you still refuse to use your full power. I will just have to hope that once you are dead, your sister or one of your friends will be more willing to display their power,"
"Fear is not a weakness," Anzu defied.
"Fear is the greatest of all weaknesses. Because I got rid of my ability to feel fear, I have become the strongest being in the universe. But enough stalling, I will destroy you and move on,"
Anzu made a ball of low energy. She suspended it in the air giving her a viewing area of about ten feet. Kaine's laugh came through the air yet again.
"What a waste of energy. It doesn't matter whether you can see or not anymore. You will only feed your fear, and me!"
He sent out another powerful blast. Anzu managed to dodge this one but was met with a strong punch. She was pounded into the ground and pressed there by a rapid barrage of energy blasts for no less than a minute. Kaine stood over her for a moment. He grabbed Anzu by the arm and pulled her out of the ground. She did not even move.
Kaine tossed her motionless body into the shadows. He grinned his demonic smile in the darkness. He spoke into the deep emptiness of the enchanted room in which he thought he had succeeded in taking the one of the most powerful members of the Rosencraft to their death, the Queen of Magic, Anzu.
"What a shame. The power she produced was so pathetic. Then again, none can match my strength. Now I can move on to destroy Yami and make sure the universe knows that I am the strongest,"
A sudden chill swept the dark room. Had Kaine still been able to feel fear, he would indeed have felt strong fear right at this point in time. The spot where he had strewn Aznu's body was now barren. A power he had never sensed before rose throughout the room. It was unfathomable to him; a force easily ten times his own. But Kaine's forfeiting his sense of fear did not allow him to realize how grave the situation had grown for him. In the distant shadows, a voice – hushed and elegant, soft and seductive – glided about.
"Kaine, your biggest mistake was giving up the ability to sense fear. You see fear as a being's hindrance, when it is actually one of their most necessary tools. Fear allows creatures to know when they are in a situation in which death may be assured if they attempt to stay and fight, to know when they need to run in order to prolong their lives for a little while longer. My gift to you before you die is to restore your sense of fear. As Queen of the Shadow Realm and the Sancrien Kingdom, it will be my last favor to you,"
The energy surrounding Kaine continued to increase. He could see, far off in the dark, a set of eyes. The pupils narrowed to black slits as the eyes themselves turned altogether red. The energy in the room escalated to a feverish pitch. Fear was slowly creeping back into Kaine's body. The eyes he saw vanished. Small spheres of energy shot up around the room like small candles. Kaine's head darted around the room as he tried to locate the source of the immense energy that was continuing to grow. It became palpable as bolts of energy began surging in every direction. A quiet snicker attacked him from seemingly every direction. What it meant to know fear was quickly returning to Kaine now. It was soaking into him like an ancient desert accepting a flood, draining into him until it overflowed.
"Where are you? Show yourself!" The great Kaine Novembre shouted as he tried to locate Anzu. She slowly emerged from the shadows of a corner and entered the dim light. She fashioned a deceptively pleasant smile that made her appear innocent and gentle. Her eyes were solid red. They gleamed beautifully in the light. Kaine looked straight into her eyes and was paralyzed in every sense of the word.
"Yessss!" she hissed. "I can feel it. The fear is returning to you. Soon you will be covered in complete fear. Then your blood will be perfect. So delectable it will be once it is full of your terror," There was a pearly white gleam, sharp and pointed, against her lips. She noticed his eyes shift uneasily towards them. Anzu eased her jaw open to reveal her fangs. She stepped closer to Kaine and ran one finger over his neck as she circled around him.
"You're supposed to be dead you crazy..." Before he could finish his sentence, Anzu clasped his throat and threw him to a wall on the other side of the room. He struck the wall with a sickening thud.
"I really hope I didn't make you bleed. I want to enjoy every last drop of your blood," She vanished for a moment only to reappear right in front of the now terrified Kaine. He sat on the floor stiff. When he attempted to move, Anzu set one foot against his shoulder, pinning him to the wall.
"Isn't this what you wanted? I will be truthful and say that this is only about thirty percent of my full power, but I believe you are very well satisfied with this degree.
"I can see it in your eyes. You are stricken with terror. Fear is funny that way. You claim it to be your greatest weakness, yet it is also the number one defense of every creature.
"I already heard your explanation of the benefits of fear. As a weapon, it is more destructive than you can imagine. A creature in fear will act without rational thought, rush to action so as they can survive and in turn, cause greater harm. It turns some into cowering, pitiful bags of bones. The benefits as I explained them to you are more important. If you can control a situation within the scope of your normal tendencies, you will have no fear. It is the knowledge that a situation is beyond one's control or understanding that fear takes root. A child is afraid of the dark because they cannot see what is around them. Once they learn that there is nothing more in the dark than there is in the light, they cease to fear the dark. You were correct. I do fear Sephiroth, and I do fear fully exploiting my powers. Sephiroth was able to kill my mother, Jun, and uncle, Yamiyugi. As far as I am concerned, my mother and uncle Yamiyugi were the most powerful beings in the universe. For Sephiroth to kill them, even though he died in the process, means he was just as powerful as they were. As for my powers, it took all that I had to keep them at the level they are at now. My full power could conceivably tear a world apart. Believe me when I say that you probably don't want to experience that.
"You should see yourself, as lucky Tea was not the one that you faced. You would not have lasted nearly this long at all. Since after her experience with Lynette, Tea has become fairly easy to provoke. She may have gone as far as to torture you until the blood trickled out of your eye sockets. That may not actually be a bad idea," Anzu removed her foot from Kaine's shoulder. He remained where he was; motionless, eyes wide and glossed over, and face pale.
"I told you that once I showed you what fear was, that I would have your blood," she whispered it as she got closer to him. She wrapped her fingers around Kaine's neck. "It's time for you to die,"
She reared her head back and lunged forward. Kaine's warm blood flowed forward as Anzu's fangs softly slipped into Kaine's neck. Kaine felt very little at that moment – some bitter pain, a great deal of relief, and then nothing, nothing at all.
With her fangs still in Kaine's gullet and her vampiric side satisfied, Anzu suddenly shifted back to her normal self. In a startled response, she quickly dropped Kaine's head from her fingers and slid away from the body. She looked at the corpse and saw the blood dripping from the neck. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. When she saw the blood on her hand, she was horrified. She stared at her hand with a twisted and painful mix of confusion, frustration and anger, but longing as well. She felt within herself a strong urge and lust to consume as much blood as she could; the blood on her hands, the blood left in Kaine's body, any blood she could find. A million thoughts ran through her head, loudest being a contest between the voice urging her to consume the crimson delicacy and a voice telling her not to. Anzu's attention was broken when a gentle hand came to her shoulder. Anzu turned her head to the visitor. She saw Tea's smiling face. Tea kneeled down beside her. She lifted Anzu's hand and wiped away the blood with a cloth.
"Tea…" Anzu spoke very softly.
"Don't worry Anzu, you'll be alright. Let's just try to find the others,"
"But… I just…"
"I know. It is very scary, the first time especially. But you're stronger than I am. You'll be able to control it much better than me,"
Anzu's eyes were swollen with tears. She wiped her eyes with the opposite hand to the one that the blood was on before. Tea helped her up and Anzu followed her to a doorway of light. Anzu felt uneasy still. Her fangs had receded but she maintained a relatively high energy level – less than a moment ago but higher than normal – just in case something else came up. Something wasn't right. This wasn't Tea, at least not the Tea she knew.
"Where is Phawkes? Is it still with Yugi?"
"Uh…yeah! I'm sure Yugi is taking good care of it," Anzu suddenly stopped.
"Who are you?"
"What do you mean Anzu? It's me, Tea,"
"You're not Tea. My sister and I know Tea. I have seen her with Phawkes long enough to know that it wouldn't just leave her side like that. Now tell me who you are,"
"Very perceptive of you Anzu. The Great One is likely very proud of you. No, I am not Tea. Tea is in her test. I am the last Soul Fragment of Tea. My name is Keiren. The master chose me after learning of what happened to Tea. My master was concerned enough to worry about her participation in this test and the effect it would have on her but there was no choice, she has one of the guardians, Phawkes. The Great one is pretty impressed with her,"
"Why should I believe what you say? Your master is putting us through torture. For all I know, you could have been sent here to kill me. I'm sorry to say that there is nothing compelling me to place my trust in you," Anzu said, recoiling slightly.
"I don't blame you. Let's see… you could just read my mind. The only thing is, you're not allowed to look for anything about the Great One. My master has asked that they remain anonymous to you and the Rosencraft, as well as Lynette, for the time being,"
"You have thoughts that you don't want to share, yet you are going to allow me to read your mind?"
"Well, I guess I trust you. You're very honest, so if you promise to not encroach upon those particular thoughts then I believe you. Besides, there isn't much I would be able to do if you really wanted to. I can't block my thoughts like Kaine could, although I am certain that you had overcome his block with relative ease. I'm not as strong as Tea either, although I bet I know a few things that she can't do,"
"I see. So where are we going?" Anzu asked, relaxing considerably.
"Huh! You're not going to read my mind?" Keiren asked with a little surprise.
"I don't need to anymore. To be totally honest, I don't think I feel quite up to it. So where does this door of light lead?" Anzu asked again, sounding tired.
"It will take you back to the ship. When everyone finishes, they will return there. The Great One has the utmost confidence that you all will be successful, Lynette included,"
"The more you speak of the Great One, the more anxious I am to see them. How long will it be until we meet?"
"Once you all complete the test you will be able to speak with the Great One directly,"
The two stepped through the light into the familiar setting of the Nirvana Phoenix's control room. Keiren's appearance changed making it simple to tell her apart from Tea. She had long, red-orange hair and fiery red-orange eyes. She wore a red dress with a silver collar. The similarities to Tea were there, but not too easy to see.
"This is my real appearance. I guess it is the same power that Noa uses to disguise himself. We will have to wait here until the next person concludes their test. Yami is around here somewhere. After he defeated the demon Chameleon, I brought him here. I think he went to get a bite to eat,"
"Then maybe there is time for one more question. Soul Fragments are supposed to represent a part of the person's personality. I can't tell what part of Tea's personality you are,"
"I believe myself to be Tea's conscience. I guess that you could say I know Tea better than she knows herself. I know why she does just about everything she does, even if she doesn't," she said with a reflective tilt. She then paused a second and added. "It seems we will have to continue our conversation another time; Yugi's completed his test…"