Y/N POV
"That is that, and this is this."
The famous words that Subaru said to Julius which cleared up the knight's doubts about himself was finally heard by yours truly. Even if I wanted to say that, I couldn't. It wasn't my place to say it, nor did I have the power to say that in the first place. Natsuki Subaru and I have different roles, that's all. And we'll work hard on filling in for the other's shortcomings.
I waited in the library of Taygeta, where everyone started to gather because apparently they had found Reid Astrea's Book of the Dead. As the last ones, that being Subaru and Julius, arrived at the scene, I sat down in the circle we formed around the book. I gave Meili a pat on the head for approval, since she was the one who found the book, after all.
"So, Reid's book... nobody has seen it yet, right?" Subaru glanced at the book, which has not emitted any sort of aura resembling Reid Astrea in the slightest.
"There's what happened with Barusu. It'd be a disaster if one did something rash and lost memories like Barusu did. That is why, it's been shown to nobody." Ram announced, and Eridna seemed in favour of her point.
"So should we, discuss and conjecture the dangers?" Eridna proposed to the group, and we had no objections in general, so we allowed her to take the stage. "First, the riskiness of the Book of the Dead... just as what Natsuki-kun's present condition indicates, there exists the possibility of losing one's memories. From what Natsuki-kun said, the memories which spill and fall out are rather in fragments... though I suppose, in this case it would be better to call the remaining memories to be in fragments? The reason for the amnesia is also possible to speculate about. First, memories are erased as indemnification for reading the Book of the Dead. That is difficult to consider, keeping in mind the differences in cases of Natsuki-kun and Julius, who've both read the books."
"Hold up." I held up my hand. If I were to get the original back, I need to find out where he is. Thankfully, I already have. Echidna's Book of Wisdom 2.0 has revealed that piece of crucial information, and the perpetrator of the current event is inside that Book of the Dead.
"But the people who have read the book includes you, Y/N." Eridna clarified. "It would be unwise for you to enter immediately."
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. But I have to find out the meaning behind my life and destiny." I apologized to the group, which took them by surprise before they noticed that the Book of the Dead vanished from their sights.
"Did he just-" Ram said furiously before realizing that my battalion has shifted to my side, and all of them were loyal down to their souls. With one slip, my Extension dropped the book into my hand.
"Subaru." I turned to my friend. "I hope you understand, right?"
He shrugged in response, but decided to make a statement. "Fine. But I'm going next. Don't try so hard to play the hero, Y/N!"
"Hehehe... right. I'm not though!" I frowned at Subaru's statement while we shared a laugh. Regardless, I opened the book, and began 'reading'.
"See y'all soon, I guess?"
The white expanse that stretched endlessly down the path. No... there wasn't even a path. It's a corridor. You can vaguely see the outlines of ley lines etched into the tunnel's edges, symbolizing the very being that defines this world's existence.
Many people would be bewildered and surprised beyond measure, but it was my intention to come here all along.
A place that even the Witch of Envy cannot touch - Od Laguna's Cradle: The Corridor of Memories.
Within a flash, the scenery s changed and the floor beneath my feet shifted into a marble-white pathway, and the walls of tunnel shifted into a helix spiral around me, with gaps in between the lines and lights at the ends of the tunnel.
"So this is the Corridor of Memories... it gives off quite the eerie feeling, to be honest."
I took a few steps here and there, and observed the place with interest. But before I could move any further from my spawn area, a voice stopped me in my tracks.
"We've been expecting you, onii-san."
!
Turning around, I found myself facing a blonde girl in a white dress, with her hair so long it drooped across the floor. She wore a wicked smile as she spoke, and held out a hand towards me.
"Welcome to the Corridor of Memories, onii-san. We suppose you already know who we are... but for the sake of courtesy... We're the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony of the Witch's Cult, in charge of Satiation, Louis Arneb."
"Nice to... meet you, I guess, Louis Arneb. My name is Y/N L/N."
"Hmm... so, how does onii-san feel about your current situation?" Louis asked me, and I felt an overwhelming sense of discomfort for some reason.
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
"Being a new self, and all. We are very, very curious about you."
Is she trying to turn me against my old self? My past memories? No... those memories are also me. They are a part of Y/N L/N. And I must get them back.
"I feel as if I need to be completed. That's why I've come here, Louis Arneb, and I'm requesting my old self back."
"You are very different from 'Natsuki Subaru', onii-san. Despite supposedly coming from the same homeland, you have different ideals and views. Why is it that you have no doubts that by letting Y/N L/N, the original, return, nothing bad will come of it?"
"That's quite simple... Louis Arneb." I smiled in contempt as a previous memory that Omega shared with me beforehand resurfaced.
Flashback
"Omega... are you sure this would work?"
"Yes, yes it will, Y/N. Are you having second thoughts now?" Omega taunted as she flicked my forehead, giving me a light smile.
"No... no I'm not! After all, it'll be more trouble for you if I don't make it back, right?"
"I entrust myself wholly to him. It's also a test. If my clones can betray myself, then things would need to be altered. Doesn't this experiment benefit us both?"
"Yeah... but you're shaking, Y/N."
"Of course I am. The fear of losing my existence, is one that cannot be conquered. But just because I cannot conquer that fear, does not mean that I would succumb to it. After all... I've already strayed quite far from humanity. If I don't hold onto those threads that define my humanity, what would be left of [Y/N L/N]?"
"..."
"I would regain my 'humanity'. So far, I've only been a madman in pursuit of a goal I don't even know how to accomplish. That's why, starting it again from zero, and using those views, I will reconstruct my being from the root. Similar to the idea of Dottore's segments, I will view the world at a different point in time, seeing it in a new light, and benefiting from it."
"Be careful then, Y/N. And just so you know, this memory would always be remembered by me in case you fail."
"I won't fail." I stated clearly back then. "And to ensure that..."
"I'm entrusting my 'next self' to you... Y/N Prime."
"This is a mission given by me from the past self. That is why I cannot ever listen to the distrust you're trying to root in me, Louis."
"Dammit... we thought that onii-san would fall for it, but as we predicted, that's not possible, hm? So... onii-san wants to save the world, right? And you need power to beat them, the people in your way. We just want to be a happy, that's all. As we are Satiation, we require someone who can feast alongside us, instead of those who only rot on the bottom."
"..."
"You are the Warlock of Deceit. We know all about you, onii-san. The way you deceived the world about their existence, but now we know. We know, and what fun it is! The ability to choose your own destiny, onii-san. Have you ever felt that life is unfair? If only you could choose your own destiny, your own parents, your own birthplace, everything you could've wished for! That's precisely why, with your knowledge, we can deceive the world and turn it upside down. We can shape the reality as we wished, as you are our destiny, and we are yours."
"What makes you so confident that your wish for the future aligns oh-so-perfectly with my own?"
"Because we are the one who can deceive the world! With lost memories and names that we devour, all who oppose us can fall to ruin if we so wished! With onii-san's ability to know parts of this world's future, we can-! Help us and become the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony as well, onii-san. Become the Voracity that will raze the world of its past sins, and let's create it anew, shall we?"
"Ah... hahahaha..." I laughed. "You are doing all this, all this memory stealing and name eating just to be happy, right? If only you could experience normal life as well... such a pity, isn't it, Louis?"
"You-! Onii-san, you're pitying us, are you not? You, you knew we hated pity, so why-?"
"...he."
"You! So this is why you wanted to do this... why wouldn't you just accept our offer, onii-san?! Why must you make US choose?"
"Because everyone's future is fought for by themselves." I smiled before activating my authorities. "If you wish for that future to come true, Louis Arneb, then fight for the future you wish to have, as I would too, for the one I wish to have."
"So come, Louis Arneb." I held out a hand to her, like she did to me upon my arrival here.
"And let us both fight for our futures. Since the victors write history, after all."
I took a fighting stance with my fists at the ready, but Louis just stood there and shuddered before letting out a shrill laugh. "Onii-san... you're forcing us to fight?" She licked her lips as if to indicate the futility of my situation. "You do know that you will lose, right? You've lost your memories, all the possibilities and limits to your combat style and techniques... what makes you think you could win against us, who devoured you in the first place?"
"You didn't devour the original. He allowed, himself to be eaten."
"Huh?"
Using her moment of confusion, I enhanced my body with Al Akra, and bursted towards her to unleash a punch, but she vanished in an instant as if teleporting. When I turned back, her palm was already in my face, and I braced myself for impact.
"Palm of the Fist King ~tsu."
Within a second, I was blasted back fifty meters, landing on the hard, white floor. I scrambled to get myself up, but Louis wasn't taking any chances as her arm was suddenly coated with an aura and I immediately crossed my fingers. "Prudence's Barrier-"
"Carnivorous Beast." The devastating blow slammed at the Authority of Greed's time stopping barrier, but the resultant wind from the attack was enough to leave me shocked. When the barrier went down, I immediately casted Il Goa as the beam of fire incinerated a part of her hair, but she disappeared again right before my eyes.
"Leaper." A flying Louis came at me from behind, and I barely managed to fire an El Jiwald before her kick connected with my stomach, and I was sent tumbling back, coughing in pain.
"You're out of your league, Onii-san. You're nothing but a shadow of your old self. Even 'him' would have a hard time fighting me, and you think you can? To pity us for provocation... we'll feast on you alongside you, then." A wave of wind was shot towards me, but I blocked it immediately with Prudence's Barrier again. This time, I set an auto-healing spell on my brain as I unleashed a Rage Pulse directed straight at Louis, but she avoided it by stepping on thin air, which I recognized as the samurai's wind blades, mentioned to me by Echidna.
I stopped the beam and reached towards her with my extensions, but they were cut midair as some of the wind blades were set into space and destroyed them immediately. When she got just outside of the helix shaped wall, she jumped down towards me and stomped into the floor as I jumped back. After my evasion, she lifted a piece of the floor up and threw it towards me like a tsunami wave, but not before I shot it back using the Shadow Laser from my Phase V of Sloth.
Since when was she this strong?
Could I really beat her?
"You're out of moves, onii-san." Louis smiled before rushing towards me and sent a fist strike at my solar plexus, but I managed to freeze her in place just barely with Absolute Zero before I sat down on my butt and sighed.
She's going to break free sooner or later... I can't hold the spell forever, and most of her body is already outside of the frozen domain. Then, I should-
"Still thinking, onii-san?"
Another kick from her petite body sent me flying, and I barely managed to stabilize myself before crafting a steel pan and slammed it at her face, knocking her back for the first time since the fight started. I tried to punch her using the extensions, but she was quick and dodged them before I gasped in surprise.
"You can see them?!"
"Of course I can, onii-san. After all, I devoured your memories and know all of your attack patterns. Glad to know that your confidence is wavering."
Another kick to my face sent me reeling back, but I managed to catch her fist. Taking her arm, I swung her around in a circle before I threw her down the hall, flying. Despite her techniques, her weight is still way more inferior than mine, allowing me to efficiently manhandle her if needed.
That is, if I can still tank more hits.
Louis jumped of what seems to be more wind blades again, and landed softly on the floor. I activated El Minya and shot the purple daggers at her, but she lifted the floor up using her earth-throwing technique and blocked the weapons. Frustrated, I unleashed an Al Jiwald that shot straight through the floor but it didn't hit Louis. Instead, the thrown floor reverted back to its original shape, and Louis popped up from behind me as if she dug a tunnel beneath, before slamming me away with the Palm of the Fist King.
As I landed on the floor, I felt my wounds heal miraculously and realized it was Capella's Dragon Blood that allowed me to even stand until this point. I really have to thank her later.
"So... is that it?" Louis asked. "Are you just going to stand up again and again, and lose every time? We may be sick of this now, onii-san, but time is the one thing we have the most. But do you have time? Once onii-sans enter the tower, maybe we could feast on all of your friends beside you, hm? It would be the most fitting of Satiation, the best meal we would have in the entire world! So stop struggling, hero onii-san... we will win either way."
"You seem awfully confident in Lye and Roy... but what if they lose? What are you going to do?" I retorted, which left Louis shocked before she regained her composure.
"Pffft... you mean the onii-san who Returns by Death? He cannot do anything. Even if he relives the moments over and over, so what? They're all going to become our meals, sooner or later. With you here, and both of your memories gone... we are the strongest ones here."
"Hehe... hehahahaha!"
"...?"
"You're really delusional, Louis Arneb."
"Hrgk?!"
A sword flew through the air and sliced Louis' cheek, but no blood was drawn as the wound healed itself. "You think... you could defeat me?"
Upon her words, something seems to be triggered within me, and I knew right away I had to grab onto that lost ambition of mine and ignite it before it fades back into the oblivion it escaped from.
Y/N L/N is calling out to me. The original's voice... I can hear it.
He's telling me to emerge as the victor.
I may be just a clone.
A broken shell with no memories, and only clues about my lost self.
Someone with innate power but doesn't know how to use it, lacking of my previous skills.
But I know this world. I remember it. My original mission as well.
I'm an Outerworlder. I come from beyond this story. And is a mere character telling me I'm going to lose?!
As arrogant as that sounds, my pride and wrath was left unquelled.
My sloth and greed went unshackled.
My deceit... bloomed.
And my gluttony-
"Hey." I said to Louis, who stood opposite to me, and readied a sword stance.
The five swords of power fit ever so snugly into my hands and extensions, with three held by the invisible arms while I dual wielded.
I felt orbs of magic surround me: one red, one white, one black, and one green.
They were all supporting me. My comrades' voices, they were cheering me on.
Subaru and the others, they're wishing for my success.
"I'm not alone in this fight, Louis Arneb."
My obsidian pendant hummed on my neck as if to confirm my thoughts, and I started concentrating my power onto a single point.
Magic.
Authorities.
Sword Techniques.
Energy Flow.
And sheer, concentrated power of will.
Louis Arneb knew what was coming, and she prepared herself well for it. Multiple samurai's wind blades stood between me and her, fixated in space while the floor curved up to protect her. Inside her barrier, she had Palm of the Fist King and Carnivorous Beast ready to defend against my attack if needed. Other forms of magic manifested around her as well, presumably abilities of those devoured by her and her brothers.
But she could not stop this.
Momentarily...
silently...
belong to me.
[Howl of the Lost, Oblivion's Judgement]
My memories.
My attack shot straight through the corridor, obliterating her spells, then her defenses, and her counterattacks. Once the beam reached her solar plexus and she flinched backwards using Leaper, Louis Arneb realized something: that my attack was faster than Leaper could ever be. All my strength, into one single attack. Something that the original could not even accomplish at this stage. But using my advantage as Y/N Prime, I can develop new things and my own identity.
Just because I'm rescuing my past self doesn't mean I can't mark my existence in this world too.
"Bullseye."
The laser struck Louis right on her core, shooting straight through her and causing her to cough out in surprise, while the remaining power of the attack shredded the floor behind her before it fixed itself, thanks to Od Laguna's powers. As her body recovered from the attack, I stood in front of her and glowered down at her.
"You know, Louis..."
"Everyone has a reason behind their existence, one that cannot be damaged by anyone else except for themselves."
"To emerge victorious, and create the story I want to create..."
? POV
"... that's the Reason and Meaning behind the existence [Y/N L/N]."
Good job, Prime.
Now, let's finish this.