I'm at a loss for words. Not because of anything you guys said, but… it's more like…. We're at the end. The end of something I've been building up to for the last six months. No… seven months. It's been seven months since I began this journey. What was originally supposed to be a crack-style fanfic in its beta stages, transformed into a nearly 40-chapter-long story about… well, whatever this was about.
My original draft of this universe was only going to be a measly 20 chapters, as I'm sure I mentioned somewhere along the line. The fact that I was able to take that original plan and expand it to almost double that length… it's kinda scary. If this is how long the tutorial world is gonna be, then…. how long is RWBY going to end up being?
Whatever, that's not the focus here. I'm not even going to bother to assume what the length of RWBY is gonna be. I think I'll just let it play itself out, and we'll see from there.
I'm not gonna lie when I say that I'm a little heartbroken that we're ending the Danganronpa universe, though. I had so many ideas that I wanted to do, so many characters I wanted Jolyne to meet and interact with, but, unfortunatly, I knew I had to cut it short at some point. To me, these last few chapters have felt rushed, and that's because they are. I wanted this arc to last longer, but I put a limit on myself because otherwise, I knew this would go on for another ten chapters if I didn't.
I have a few regrets when it comes to this particular arc in the story (Danganronpa as a whole, I mean) and the current me would love to go back in time and rework some of the older shit, have it flow into this stuff a bit better, etcetera. Unfortunatly, I can't do that. Not now, anyway. Besides, I feel as if it would be better to just leave it as it is.
The next chapter is going to be the epilogue of the Danganronpa universe. That's all.
Alright, enough sad shit. Let's just get into my response to reviews/comments, shall we?
[Response to Reviews/Comments]
(Qoutev) Purple: You shall continue to be shooketh. By the end of this chapter, you shall be beyond shooketh. You will be… Shakeneth. (that was fucking dorky, oh my god please just kill me now-)
(Qoutev) Gh0sty.C0ffe: Izuku?! Where? Where is that stupid shrub boy?! Ah, wait… nope, it was a misspelling, lol. Anyway, that is a… strange question. I mean, I'm sure you can just google an image of Whitesnake JoJo and find what you need to know yourself. Personally, though…? Hmm… good question, actually. I'm not gonna get into that here, though. Now, "if" Jolyne gets to level 200, how strong will she be? If you mean in comparison to other Multiversal Gamers… she'd be considered the baby of the "family." As for compared to other characters (in this case, RWBY)… maybe around like… middle of the road? Not a heavy hitter compared to characters like Yang or Blake.
In fact, if Jolyne were to get into a scrap against Yang or Blake, with her Devil Fruit deactivated and being restricted to only using her Bear Claws, it wouldn't be pretty… for Jolyne, that is. Especially with how Yang's semblance works. Blake would be more of a fair fight, but that's about it, Blake would still win. Not that this is something that's going to happen, but by the time Jolyne gets to level 200, this would be like… a prime example. Now, if she were to go beyond level 200… I—you know what, how about we wait and see, yeah?
(Qoutev) TACO SENSEI: Glad you're excited! The final showdown between Jolyne and Izuru is happening in this chapter, and… well, you know what, you're just gonna have to see for yourself. And, very sadge that the Despair Sisters are dead, but, as I said in my author's note, fate cannot be avoided! Their deaths will NOT be in vain. Not in the slightest.
Bearticguy7: Oh~ buddy, the shits that gonna happen within the RWBYverse… well, all I gotta say is that… yeah, you're in for a treat. And… as for letting Ruby geek out over Jolyne's weapon… we'll get to that when we get there. Love how you completely refuse to believe she'd Join Oz and just default to Salem. Not gonna lie, though, considering everything, that makes sense. But, sadly for you, if I say anything, that's nothing but spoilers. So, you're just gonna have to find out.
Kolt999: O-Oh my god, guys I broke them. I actually broke the guy. Uh… shit, well, I didn't mean to do that. Fuck, how do fix this… eh, they'll be better tomorrow. Less joking aside, most of my other stories are single-universe stories, but most of them are MHA because that's my go-to fandom for fanfics. So if you're looking for something like that then, I mean, check them out if you're interested. As for Celtic Phoenix's series, I'll have to check that one out.
So… uh, with those responses out of the way. With a heavy heart, we close off The Danganronpa Universe with this chapter. Like I said, we have an epilogue after the fact. Regardless of that, though… let's jump into it guys.
xxXXxxXXxx
[Jolyne Brooks]
This was it. There was no turning back now, even if she wanted to. She was nervous, beyond a shadow of a doubt, and she was also scared. There were only two ways this could end, one with her death, and the other, with her coming out alive, but only barely.
Jolyne wasn't stupid enough to believe that this fight was going to be easy. The only thing she was going off was what the text of the Quest had mentioned when it came to Izuru. And with it telling her that she was fucked, didn't help matters in the slightest.
Luckily, she had a vague idea of what to expect. And, with that explosion moments ago, which she knew was Junko's doing, she was walking into the fight with him being damaged, which was the only upside she could see with this whole thing. To what extent, however, was the mystery. For all she knew, he had regenerative capabilities, so that explosion could have meant nothing.
If there was anything she remembered when she was Jack, and when she used to play RPGs a bunch, it was that the final boss was always either a god-level threat or god-like to some extent. Izuru may or may not be the exception, but just in case, she wasn't going to risk anything. For all she knew, this was God in a physical form.
She had everything that she thought she needed. All of her spells were ready to go off on a hair trigger. The only spell that she was reserved about using was Soul Tear. Aside from that, everything was going to be used in this fight. She needed to, otherwise, she was probably going to die. The main downside was that her barrier was not up yet. She still had 10 hours before it was back up. So that also meant she had to play defensively rather than full-on offence.
That being said, she had all of her regeneration abilities, like Bleeding, who me? And Cellular Regeneration. This, mixed with Blood Drinker for free buffs pretty much made her unkillable, so long as Izuru didn't have an instant kill attack. She also had Immunity to Hypnotism in case he tried to do any mind-control nonsense, which he doubted he could do… she was good on that front.
On second thought, doubting anything Izuru Kamakura could do was a bad idea. She didn't know who he was exactly, but she knew that he was created specifically to defeat her. So, chances were that Izuru was probably going to have something to completely nullify her.
Her best bet was to stay far away, and out of his grabbing range. Blood Control: Blood Spears and Blood Staff were going to be extremely useful here, as were Finger Laser and Whitesnake,along with her Magu Magu No Mi and its Dai Funka/Great Eruption and her summoning spell, Abomination Creation. Basically, it was the keep-away game.
He probably had some long-range attacks of his own, no doubt about it, but from experience, physical attacks were the worst kind to deal with. So long as she managed to stay out of his range, though, she should be fine.
Her last major Boss Fight that wasn't pretty much a guaranteed win was against Daisuke. But that was when she was level 33 or… something like that. A part of her believed that is she went back to fight him in some way, shape, or form, it'd be a stomp on her end of things. Or, maybe it'd be more equal.
Regardless of that. Izuru was her opponent now, and quite frankly, she was scared. What she learned about Mono, was that whenever he gave crazy rewards like, say, 5 Million Exp, the quest he was giving out was practically impossible. This was going to be a fight that either cost her her life or… it was just going to be extremely hard.
Steeling herself, she adorned her cloak. It decreased her physical defences, sure, but she wasn't planning to get physical. It doubled her magic damage based on her magic attack stat and doubled her magic crit. She wore it to all of her big fights, this most certainly not being an exception.
Standing just out front of the smoking building of Hopes Peak Academy, she watched as Class 78 and 77 – A evacuated the building. As they vacated the area, Jolyne saw as Makoto fled, but not before looking at her. To think, she once thought that he was going to be her worst enemy. Obviously, that was not going to be the case. In fact, he turned out to be more of an ally in the end, what with him being the one to inform her of Kotoko's death.
Unfortunatly, she knew that he'd never agree to her plan, and looking at the rest of Sayaka's classmates, including Aoi Asahina, who should've been dead, she knew that none of them would last long in the world that was going to be created thanks to her deed. A part of her felt a little bad for what she was about to do—sinking the world into Despair and ruining it forever, but… then again, the people she cared for weren't going to exist in it. So, at least she knew that her actions here wouldn't have many consequences.
Narrowing her eyes, she watched as one final person walked out of the building. He was shirtless, riddled with small scratches, and cuts, and had two holes through his shoulders. One thing that she noticed was that on his stomach region was the burned effigy of the Christian Cross permanently scarred there for all to see.
He was jacked, appearing to look like a finely built warrior, though less bulging muscle and all of it lean. The best way to compare it was a swimmer's physique, if not a mountain climber's. It didn't matter, though, all that mattered was that he was strong. He was wearing a pair of black jeans, held up by a belt with a golden buckle. His long, black, unruly hair was down to the rim of his pants, and his eyes were a piercing red. His expression was that of annoyance, and as he walked, she could feel an almost godly presence wash off of him.
That… had to have been Izuru Kamakura. Only a man with power could walk off those wounds, and still, show up for a fight. But, just to make sure, she activated CHECK to see if what she was looking at was her opponent.
Name: Izuru Kamakura/Manmade God.
Level: ?
HP: 1,500,000/1,750,000
Stamina: Inf
Mana: Inf
Faction: None
Description: The perfect example of what happens when humans dare to play God.
Jolyne tried to not piss her pants right then and there. Upon seeing the fact that her opponent had infinite stamina and infinite mana, it showed her that the man before her was going to be less of a fight, and more of an endurance test. What was worse was that his level could not be calculated, or, at the very least, it was at such a high number that looking at it would only make her want to run away.
What was curious was that he only had 750,000 more HP than the Thunder Wyvern she fought in the PTD. But, even if that was the case, it hardly mattered, because this encounter wasn't in the PTD. Even if it was, that would've also meant that Izuru Kamakura wouldn't be dying either.
His eyes met hers, and he stopped in his tracks. His stance was confident, despite his injuries. His expression was even, and stern, but his eyes showed nothing but hatred toward her. She had no idea what she had done to earn his ire, but whatever it was, it couldn't have been worth the death of Kotoko, Mukuro, or Junko.
"You…" Izuru began, his voice dripping with venom. "You are the great Ultimate Mage. I was expecting more," Izuru spat as he continued his approach. Jolyne stood stock still, standing her ground as she balled her hand into a fist. "But… appearances can be deceiving. You were able to exterminate an entire Yakuza by yourself. Quite the feat, I'll give you that…." As he continued, a myriad of colours washed over him. He was casting silent spells, of what kind, she had no idea, but if she was to assume, they were protection spells.
"But that is where my praise for you ends…" the black-haired man growled, cracking his knuckles. As soon as she did that, he reached for the scar on his stomach, and as soon as he did, a black light poured out from it. "This was a spell that was hardwired into my programming. You see, the founder of Hope's Peak Academy was the descendant of one of Japan's greatest Shoguns… and due to being named after him… it only made sense that would be able to wield the blade of my namesake."
Jolyne swallowed the lump of growing fear in her stomach, as Izuru Kamakura pulled out a six-foot-long sword, with ancient etches carved into the blade. The metal was a moonlit black, and the hilt was made out of some sort of white covering, and real, honest to god gold.
"This… is not the original copy, of course," Izuru said, looking at the sword, as Jolyne looked upon the reflection of the sword with wide eyes. "It is merely a false image of it. But… regardless of that… know this, Jolyne brooks…" As Izuru spoke, the sword began to be engulfed in black fire, similar to Natsumi's Dark Flames. "YOU WILL FALL BY MY HANDS!"
And then… it began.
[Requested by Daimen. Please Enjoy the sounds of "Gods & Glory" from "Hollow Knight"]
Izuru Kamakura – Manmade God
[-85.7%-]
All Jolyne could do to block the upward swing of his black-fire-enhanced blade was to parry it with her Grim Reapers Scythe's handle, before jumping backward a good bit to maintain distance. She didn't bother waiting to summon an army of Tank Abominations, either, as over 100 of them came to her beck and call, costing her around 1,583 mana. They rushed Izuru like gorillas would a threat, as the screams of confusion came from the fleeing students.
The tank abominations were towering, bulking purple and dark purple goo monsters with red, glowing eyes and arms built like semi-trucks. They were easily 7 feet tall, and their sheer size was enough to intimidate anyone.
Anyone but Izuru. Because he didn't even look frightened by them.
All Izuru did was swipe his blade once, and twenty-five of them fell at once. A few got a couple of slugs in, but all they seemed to do was activate whatever shield he had been using to protect himself. Jolyne kept up the pressure by firing multiple blasts of Finger Laser at Izuru, the purple beams of death reaching their target, before impacting against the man.
And yet, he was able to tank it. What was worse was that they only did a collective total of 500 damage to him. It made Jolyne mutter a curse, as Izuru swiped his sword twice at the abominations hording him. Arcs of black fire swept over the abominations, as they melted into nothingness.
Izuru then closed the distance between himself and Jolyne, and thrust his hand forward, as a small black orb began to form in his palm. The orb was absorbing the air around them like a black hole would. Before it could fully manifest, Jolyne turned her arm into magma, and slugged Izuru across the face, knocking him to the side as she delivered a powerful kick to his stomach, knocking him back, but more importantly, allowing her to jump off of him and keep further distance.
However, it seemed for naught, as Izuru simply closed the distance again. He was keeping the pressure on her, and forcing her into a one-on-one close-quarters fight.
This was not going to go well for her, now that she knew that things were not going to go the way she wanted. And what was worse, was that the black hole had now fully formed in his hand. He shoved it, hard, against her stomach, as what felt like a thousand little blades began to dig into her stomach. It ended up taking away a quarter of her health bar in a matter of seconds. The only reason why she didn't die right then and there was because the black hole stopped, which made Izuru confused.
"What!? Why did it stop?! And how did it not instantly kill you!?" Izuru roared as Jolyne took the opportunity to get her scythe and slash the blade across her opponent's chest. Whatever physical barrier he was using to protect himself didn't work against the blade of her scythe, as it cut deep into his flesh. While it didn't deal the amount of damage she was hoping for, it did deal 1,500 damage to him.
And… something interesting happened when it did. The blade flashed a sickly green, as Izuru roared in pain and anguish. The green glow shot itself into Izuru's open wound, before Jolyne bashed him back the shaft of her scythe, sending him a few meters away. The moment the distance was gained, something appeared above Izuru's head.
It was a status box.
[Plague – XX:XX]
[Description: Every 30 seconds, 5% of the opponent's health (87,500 in this case) is taken away. The Plague cannot be cured. The only way to rid yourself of The Plague is if you are given the status effect "blessed by the divine" or if you find a healer of adequate status and ability. The longer The Plague is within the body, the worse it becomes, and the more status effects begin to appear.]
Jolyne smiled, as Izuru coughed up blood, looking toward Jolyne with an ugly sneer on his face. "What did you do to me?!" Izuru roared, as he charged her. Jolyne summoned Whitesnake to parry the blow, as it slugged Izuru across the face, making him spit up saliva and lose another 1,000 HP. Whitesnake then proceeded to barrage him with punch after punch, all of which Izuru blocked with his flaming sword, which he then used to slash at Whitesnake, making The Stand disappear.
Jolyne jumped back, dodging yet another strike from Izuru. The black flames that came off the sword hit Jolyne, but aside from burning her clothes, they did no damage to her. "WHAT?! HOW THE HELL!" Izuru cursed, reaching his hand out as a beam of light rocketed out of his hand.
It. Did. Nothing.
"HOW IS THIS HAPPENING?!" Izuru demanded, before slashing more flame waves at Jolyne, who dodged out of the way. Just because she couldn't take damage from them, didn't mean she wanted her clothes to be burned up, right?
"Immunity to fire-based attacks, dipshit!" Jolyne barked back, slashing at Izuru with her scythe, which he parried back, only to earn a boot to the chest again. His physical attack barrier activated again, blocking the damage, but not the knockback. "And, The Plague, asshole! My weapon inflicts it sometimes! I forgot it could even do that!" Jolyne roared, as she reeled back her left arm, magma accumulating around it as she launched it like a missile, before shouting "SUCK MY NON-EXISTENT DICK, FUCKER!"
The glob of magma splashed across Izuru, as he roared in anger, closing the distance again before arching a slash to cleave through her like sand-paper. The strike hit true, digging into her shoulder blade… only for the weapon to meet lava instead, which made Izuru jump back again, his expression becoming contemplative.
"I see… you're made of magma…." Izuru frowned, before turning off the flames around his blade. "As for my Black Hole… I'm fairly certain that it's not a true black hole, but rather a ball of suction that acts like a Black Hole. Otherwise, it would've killed you instantly. I cannot believe I didn't notice this earlier," Izuru snarled.
Then, his arms became coated in a black substance instantly, along with his blade, as it adopted a purple aura. "In which case, I'll use this… it will allow me to damage you, regardless of your body's genetic structure!"
And thus, he charged Jolyne again. He was using Buso, which upon the blade striking Jolyne via stabbing through her stomach region, she actually felt the pain of the blade piercing her. Blood rocked out of her mouth, the pain unbearable as the strike did around 2,400 damage to her in one, singular strike. Izuru removed the blade, and went for a second stab, only for Jolyne to knock the blade away with her scythe, as she jumped back, holding her wound.
The blood began to travel back to her through her open wound thanks to Bleeding, who me? Cellular Regeneration activated, closing the wound, as her health returned to full. The pain, however, remained. Groaning, Jolyne only barely parried the next strike that Izuru attempted, which earned him yet another slash from The Grim Reapers Scythe, and another on his way backing away from her. It dealt only 3,000 damage to him, but then, The Plague kicked in, causing Izuru to cough up blood, and fall to one knee.
[-80.1%-]
While he was down, Jolyne noticed that his body glowed a bright red. She had no idea what that meant, but, she rushed forward anyway. The moment she came close to him, she grabbed him by the head and slammed it into the grassy terrain beneath them. The ground cracked as she did, before she kicked his face, took his blade, and rammed it through the open wound on his chest, stabbing it through his back.
This attack combo was able to deal 50,000 damage to him. He screamed in pain, as he ripped the blade out of his body. Blood gushed out of the wound, before stopping after an orange hue washed over his body.
Jolyne took this chance to go for his neck. The moment she did, her jaws clamped down on his open jugular, which made him scream in frustration and pain once more, doing yet another 30,000 damage to him. Blood washed through her mouth and over her tongue then down her throat, before she pulled away, as a black glow washed over her. The moment the black glow faded away, a status condition appeared in the right of her vision, only visible to her.
[Physical Strength Up IV – 2:30]
[Your physical attacks do 75% more damage]
Jumping back, Jolyne got into a defensive stance as she wiped the blood away from her mouth. Now with a buff gifted to her by Blood Drinker, and seeing that the only reason why she was doing less physical damage was because of the protection spells he had cast earlier.
[-75.5%-]
Slowly, Izuru began to stand up, and he used the sword for him to gain balance. "You… you piece of malignant garbage! I will end you!" Izuru roared as a black aura flared around him. Once it did, he rushed toward her and slashed at her, the strike caused wind to generate from the attack, knocking her back and slamming her through the fountain, dealing 1,344 damage to her.
Staggering to her feet, she narrowly blocked another strike from Izuru's sword, as he charged up another one of his pseudo-black holes. Before he could get the chance, she grabbed his wrist, and activated her Devil fruit, searing his wrist as he gnashed his teeth at her. Before he could plunge the nearly fully formed miniature pseudo-black hole into her stomach, she applied enough force to break his wrist, making him recoil in pain.
Apparently, breaking someone's bones does a lot of damage, as that attack had done roughly 100,000 damage to him. He howled in pain as she rushed him, clubbing him upside the head with a magma-coated fist, before then firing off a Great Eruption point blank at his face. She then summoned another horde of Abominations, this time they were the assassin variants, and instead of 100, she only summoned 50 of them, as it nearly drained all of her mana to summon that many.
Jumping back to re-coup her mana, she watched as the assassin's abominations tore at him like they were rabid monkeys. They were built like monkeys, too, chimpanzees to be exact. Built as shit arms, lean legs, and teeth as sharp as blades with glowing yellow eyes.
However, for as funny as the image of a bunch of goo monster chimps tearing apart Izuru was, they were quickly dispatched, and with a few swings of his blade, Izuru had cleared them all away. But, the assassin abominations had been able to do around 10,000 total damage to him, so that was a plus. And, she was able to get her mana back to half.
And then, Plague activated again, doing yet another 5% of his total health, making him hack up more blood than last time, as what appeared to be boils began to appear all over his arms and chest, and puss began to form in his open wounds.
He then gained another status aliment.
[Blood Poisoning – XX:XX]
[A sub-status effect of The Plague. This halves all damage that the person can do, along with halving the person's defence stat.]
"What… the hell…?" Izuru groaned as he coughed up more blood. "Whatever… I'll kill you before this becomes an issue," Izuru growled, as he closed the distance yet again. Jolyne, however, was able to dodge the attack this time without having to sweat about it.
"Getting slower, are we? Maybe the damage is actually starting to affect you now!" Jolyne spat as she summoned Whitesnake again. The Stand slashed its hand against the side of his head, but nothing happened. This made Jolyne go wide-eyed, which Izuru used to his advantage, slashing at Jolyne. The blade cut across her chest and tore open her already burnt clothes. Blood sprayed all over Izuru, before it the rest that leaked out travelled back into her body, and sealed up the wound, regenerating in the process.
"HOW DO YOU KEEP DOING THAT?!" Izuru roared as he proceeded to stab her several times through the chest and stomach regions, making more blood spill all over the place. Each and every time the sword exited the wound, the wound was replenished in a matter of seconds, which also healed her back to full health each and every time.
Until it didn't…
The last stab was not compensated for, which made Jolyne genuinely scared.
[Bleeding, who, me? And Cellular Regeneration Limit reached. Cooldown: 5 minutes]
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME! IT NEVER SAID IT HAD A LIMIT!" Jolyne screamed internally. She had to focus now because now she had to stall out the timer for her trait to re-activate.
So, using the time it took for Izuru to pull out his blade, she slashed at Izuru's sword-handling arm, cutting its wrist before sweeping Izuru's legs out from under him, making him fall flat on his face. She followed it up by kicking him in the side of the head and jumping back, which dealt another 10,000 damage to him.
She summoned 5 ninja abominations, which lunged at the downed Izuru. Their appearance was accurate to what ninja's looked like, the only change being that their arms were pointed at the ends like arm blades. They stabbed into Izuru's body before Izuru roared loud enough to create a shockwave, blasting them all apart into nothing.
Izuru got up, rushed at Jolyne, and turned his arm into a mimic of Jolyne's Bear Claw, swiping at her as Jolyne parried with her scythe, blocking all the now sluggish swings of both his false version of Bear Claw and his Buso-covered sword. "JUST DIE ALREADY!" Izuru shouted as the man coughed up blood for another time, as yet against 5% of his health depleted.
Jolyne used his pained gurgles of diseased coughing to whip her scythe around and slash at his face, carving a good slash through his right eye, plucking it out like it was nothing as he roared in pain for the umpteenth time. Much like the bone being broken, 100,000 damage was dealt, as he flashed red for a second time.
In his stunned groans of pain, holding his eye socket, Jolyne rushed at him and elbow-checked him in the gut with her Devil Fruit active. This made him spit up blood, showing that he was actually taking the damage properly now. Jolyne then grabbed his throat, and with enough power in her swing, she chucked him over to where the reserve course building had been.
Those who were fleeing the main building got to see as a heavily wounded man was sent soaring through the second floor of the reserve course building. Jolyne ran over to where the building was, fast enough so that the wind whistled in her ears. Jumping up, she easily cleared the distance between the grassy terrain and the second floor of the building, before tumbling through the large hole.
A helpless student who had been hit by the impact of Izuru flinging through the wall was begging for help on the floor. She felt her buff given to her by Blood Drinker fading away, and with Izuru getting up from being thrown, there was no way she'd get a bite off on him, especially with his blood poisoned. So, grabbing the other boy and biting into his neck, she drank his blood and gained another buff, before tossing his lifeless corpse to the floor, which gave her 500 exp, by the way.
[Physical Damage Resistance V – 2:30]
[You now take 90% less damage from physical attacks]
Cracking her neck from side to side, Jolyne smirked as Izuru wiped the blood from his mouth. His hands were shaking, as blood trailed from his empty eye socket, as the skin around it began to turn black. And, it seemed he had gained another status aliment.
[Early Skin Rotting – XX:XX]
[Yet another sub-status effect of The Plague, the skin will begin to rot faster, causing a decrease in speed and the ceasing of passive spells to be applied and or work.]
Jolyne finally looked up to see his health and smiled devilishly at what she had seen.
[-58.6%-]
He was nearing half-health, and with the way things were going, Izuru was about to start taking way more damage from her attacks. Not to mention all the status affecting slowly starting to stack onto him, he was only going to get weaker as the fight continued.
"Not looking so hot now, are you, Izuru?" Jolyne said, smirking as the man began to breathe heavily. He didn't even respond to her, as he dashed at her, though this time considerably slower. So much slower that she was able to grab his wrist, and prevent the sword slash from even making its way down. He tried to stab her with his Bear Claw, but that resulted in her bashing the attack away, and slamming him down onto the ground.
Raising her left leg, she stomped down on his already broken wrist covered by the false Bear Claw. He roared in pain, as she pulled upward at the arm she had already grabbed. The wound on his shoulder was turning black, and the skin was starting to look weak. So, she decided "why not" and began to pull at the weakened limb. Izuru tried to get up, but she had Whitesnake grab the sword from his hand, and stab it into his right hand, keeping him stuck in the floor.
He hollered in pain, as the damage dealt to him by the constant stomping on his broken wrist, and the stabbing of his palm did 50,000 damage. With a couple more pulls of the arm, and with a little help from Whitesnake, she was able to rip off Izuru's right arm from the shoulder up.
Izuru hollered in pain, as sickeningly black blood spewed all over the place, dealing 500,000 damage to Izuru. Jolyne sneered down at the man, as she slowly crouched onto her haunches and stared down at the pathetic whelp of a diseased man that he had become in the span of two minutes.
She knew the only reason why she was able to get him to this point was that she got lucky. Plague only got applied 25% of the time that she hit something with her Grim Reapers Scythe. So, now that she got him to this point, she decided to abuse it. As He stared up at her, she stared down at him.
"That… is for Junko," Jolyne spat, before grabbing her scythe, and plunging the tip of her blade into the man's lower spine, making him howl as she sputtered up blood, which meant, again, The Plague acted up again, taking another 5% chunk of his dwindling HP.
[-22.8%-]
"That… was for Mukuro…" Jolyne growled out, cutting through his lower waist and out through where the seem of his scrotum ended. He roared in pain again, but it was slowly becoming quieter. Then, she raised her scythe up over his head, and with nothing but fury and rage in her voice, she shouted loud enough so that the courtyard and beyond could hear her.
"AND THIS IS FOR KOTOKO!" Jolyne roared, as she plunged the blade through the top of Izuru's head, and ended with it stabbing through his lower jaw, before she yanked so hard that it ripped his head clean off, which ended up in her dealing the remaining amount of HP of his left in damage, that being 389,250.
Flinging his head off of her scythe as it rolled on the ground, Jolyne spat on Izuru's plague-riddled corpse. When she did, something appeared in front of her.
[Great Enemy Slain – Soundtrack ceasing]
"Cool… I guess," Jolyne groaned, as she collapsed sitting down on the floor, holding the wound in her stomach. Looking out of the hole in the wall, she smiled. Amongst the crowd of people who had gathered down, there was Rantaro, who made eye contact with her. He ran into the building, as she leaned her head against the desk behind her.
She had only noticed now, but she had been gradually bleeding out the entire fight. She had gone from the initial point of being damaged, which had left her with 7,424 health, all the way down to a flat-out 1,000.
"Damn… Adrenaline is one hell of a drug…." Jolyne thought as Rantaro walked into the other hole in the wall created when Izuru had flung through the building. She smiled at him, as he walked over to her, kneeling down to her and sticking his hand out. A green rune appeared in the palm of his hand, as a rejuvenating feeling came over her, as Rantaro healed her to full health after a few minutes, the room remaining silent.
When Rantaro was done, he looked around the room and saw the body of Izuru. "That him? That the guy who killed Kotoko?" Rantaro asked as Jolyne nodded. When she did, Rantaro stood up and kicked his corpse a few times. "Bastard…. Not even Junko would've done that. Speaking of Junko, where was she? She didn't leave the building like everyone else did. Same with Mukuro," Rantaro asked as Jolyne looked at the floor.
"He killed them…" Jolyne replied, staring at the decapitated head of Izuru. Rantaro closed his eyes, his mouth twitching from a frown to a neutral expression a couple of times as he inhaled. The more she looked at Izuru's decapitated head, the more she was reminded of the boy she saw on the first day she woke up. Hajime, or whatever.
Siblings, perhaps? Cousins? Whatever the case might've been, it didn't matter now. What mattered now was checking on Sayaka and her idol friends, along with D.I.C.E. and the like. Slowly standing up, Jolyne grunted as she put her scythe on her back, it slowly disappearing as she took off her cloak, and put it in her inventory. Rantaro raised an eyebrow at her, before shrugging.
"Hammerspace spell?" Rantaro asked as Jolyne nodded.
"Really helpful when you don't have to carry things, like weapons," Jolyne quipped. She looked out the hole and sighed. "Go on without me. I'll catch up," Jolyne said as Rantaro gave her a concerned glance, but, nodded and left anyway. Once he was gone, and once she was sure that he was out of earshot, a notification popped up in front of her, one that she was glad she was able to see after that, quite frankly, insanely difficult fight.
QUEST "The day the World Knew Despair – part 1" COMPLETE!
REWARDS DISTRIBUTED.
.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU LEVELLED UP! [130 – 290]
[Name: Jolyne Brooks: Ultimate Mage, Slayer of The Ultimate Fighter – Guild Master of The Grey Council – Age: 16 – Class: Renegade – Level: 290 – Faction: World Ender/Remnants of Despair – Race: Magma-Human]
Stats:
HP: 26,225
Stamina: 26,225
Mana: 13,776
Atk: 1,868
Mg Atk: 2,190
Def: 1,868
Mg Def: 2,215
Endurance: 1,868
Int: 25
Crit: 136
Crit Def: 136
Mg Crit: 241
Charisma: 131
Faith: 125
Luck: 3
Karma: 200 (Evil), 1 (Neutral), 2 (Good)
HP Regen: 126.9 per second
Stamina Regen: 126.9 per second
Mana Regen: 241 per second
Currency: 27,237,780 Yen
Exp to level up: 17,949
.
Blood Control has levelled up to Lv. 30!
.
Abomination Creation has levelled up to Lv. 50 (MAX)
.
Finger Laser has levelled up to Lv. 26
.
Your Magu-Magu No Mi has levelled up to Lv. 25!
[New Ability Unlocked]: Ryusei Kazen/Meteor Volcano: An attack resembling Dai Funka, but with multiple giant magma fists rather than just one. The user points both fists into the air and fires a great number of magmic fists upwards in order to let them rain down upon the battlefield, wreaking enormous area damage in what resembles a cross between a volcanic eruption and a meteor shower.
.
You have unlocked a new spell for levelling up to Lv. 150!
[Legendary] – Physical Damage Resistance (Passive – Lv. 1/1): A passive, invisible barrier is constantly erected around the user that blocks simple things like weak punches, kicks, and weapon slashes, from things like kitchen knives and small daggers. You can still take damage, like, for example: if you are struck by someone who is below level 100, then you will take no damage from them. But, if they are at level 101, you will start to take damage from them. Magic will still affect you, regardless of this being active.
.
You have unlocked a new spell for levelling up to Lv. 200!
[Epic] Bellowing Thunder (1/75) – At the cost of 500 Mana, you can call down a singular, powerful thunderbolt from the sky, regardless of weather conditions. This attack will cause anyone struck by it to be stunned for around 30 seconds, and depending on circumstances, could instantly kill someone (1% of the time, not boosted by LUK stat).
[Next Ability will Unlock at Lv. 25]
.
You have unlocked a new trait for levelling up to Lv. 250!
CEO of Sex: Any time you have sexual intercourse with anyone of any gender, forceful or consensual, you will gain a series of random buffs. However, the other party MUST be 16 or older. Any younger and the effect will NOT work, and instead, you will be debuffed, rather than buffed. Others around you that you have begun the affection stage of your relationship with will be more willing to have sex with you than before.
.
[The Day The World Knew Despair – Part 2]
[Commence The End]
Description: It's time for the moment you've all been waiting for! The end of the fucking world! Booyah! Let's. Fucking. GOOOOOOOO! You already know what you've got to do! The performance is going to begin in three hours from now, and once it begins, the world will be hypnotized into Despair! World leaders, government officials, newscasters, civilians, everyone! The world will go down the shitter! Just like you planned!
All for Junko….
Quest: Attended Sayaka's performance….
Rewards: Nothing
Jolyne blinked a few times after seeing the height of the level jump she had gone. She went from level 130 to level 290 thanks to one quest. Granted, that Quest was probably supposed to have been impossible for her to complete, and she only beat Izuru because of getting lucky, which was compounded even more so by the fact that her luck stat was only at 3.
So, she quickly changed that, opening her inventory and getting around 5 souls out of the 76 that she had collected, and transferred it into her luck stat.
[LUK stat increased from 3 to 125!]
Now with 71 souls left, because she had Izuru's soul now added to that pile, she sighed. She got two new spells, that being Physical Damage Resistance and Bellowing Thunder, both of which were going to be useful. Bellowing Thunder because of it having the chance, albeit extremely small, to instantly kill someone. If she were to guess, the person had to be wet for that instant kill chance to activate. She assumed that as she levelled the spell up, that chance would rise. By how much, she didn't know.
As for Physical Damage Resistance, that was good on principle. Now she didn't have to worry about low-level grunts doing no damage to her. Sure, other max-level Gamers like Chinatsu could do damage to her, but the chances of them actually being able to hit her let alone be alive long enough to do so were going to be small.
Gamers Body also reacted to her levelling up to such a ludicrous degree, as her muscles seemed to be harder, but not grow. Which was good. She didn't want to look like a brick shit house anytime soon. She found that ugly and unappealing. No offence to people like Sakura or whatever, it just wasn't her thing. They were also firmer than people, which probably had to do with her Endurance stat.
The less she talked about her newest trait, CEO of Sex, the better. It was incredibly stupid, and it went to show just how much Daimen was trying to force the idea of a harem on her. Yes, the benefits were good, and yes it made sense that since she was supposed to have a harem she'd get something more than just the satisfaction of having sex out of the encounter, you know because she was a Gamer, the little snag of "forceful or consensual" really went to show just how depraved Daimen was.
At least he made a note that raping minors under the age of consent (oddly enough in Canada or European countries) was frowned upon Multiversally, which was a good thing.
Oh well, not that she ever thought about doing that in the first place.
Looking down at the sword that Izuru had dropped, she picked it up and got yet another notification.
[Weapon obtained: [Legendary] – Astral Sword of Kamakura]
Description: A Sword passed down the Kamakura bloodline. Special Requirement: Requires an Atk stat of 50,000 to wield.
Option – Destroying item: You can destroy items for certain rewards:
What you will get for destroying the item: 1.5 Million Yen, and 1 Legendary Weapon Gacha Token
Destroy Item?
[Y/N]
Jolyne frowned, looking over the sword. Her attack stat wouldn't be 50,000 for years now, even with the rate of growth she was at, and even if she pumped all those souls into her Atk stat, that wasn't going to happen either. No one else would be able to wield it, so, she selected Y, and destroyed the item, getting the money and the Gacha Token. She also decided to destroy the rusty dagger and got 50 yen for it.
Now, she had a Legendary Weapon Gacha Token, which she planned to give to one of the other members of her Guild. She didn't need any more weapons, her scythe was JUST fine, as was shown by how BROKEN it was with the Plague status effect.
Speaking of Gacha's…. She now had 11 Stand Discs to use, one of them being a guaranteed Legendary. She also had a Legendary Gacha Token. A part of her wanted to use those now, however, she decided against it.
Besides… she needed to go check on Sayaka and D.I.C.E. She knew damn well that Sayaka was going to want to know if she was okay. She was fairly certain that Rantaro filled the others in on what happened, so, she was free to go off and see what everyone else was doing. And so, off she went.
It was time.
Time to watch The World Burn.
[Sayaka]
When the explosion in the building went off, Sayaka had been doing one last warm-up with her Idol companions. They were using the non-corrupted version of the song to practice with, which she'd swap out with the corrupted version once the performance was ready to begin. She knew of Junko's plan to blow up part of the building to get tensions high, and while originally her talent agents suggested they hold back the show for another day, Sayaka simply told him to, respectfully, fuck off.
Of course, that wasn't verbatim what she had told him. It was more along the lines of "The Show Must Go On, regardless of what happens" and less "fuck off." But, the point was made. The Talent Agent didn't cancel the show last minute, and with rehearsal finished, Sayaka sat across from her idol friends backstage, which was being set up in the back of Hope's Peak Academy.
To her right and left were Ayaka and Satomi. Ayaka had long black hair, the sides of her hair flowing down her to her midriff. She was wearing the group outfit, which was a bright pink short shirt that just barely count as a crop top—this was her exclusive as she was the only one who liked to wear it over everything else, otherwise, the uniform looked more like Sayaka's—with a short skirt held-up by a white belt that stopped just above the thighs, and white knee-high socks, with a small little bow just under the knee. For her specifically, she had a pink puffball in the corner of her hair.
Satomi, on the other hand, wore a dress that covered her entire body except for her arms and, of course, the legs. Otherwise, she wore the same stockings and a tiara in her jet-black hair.
In front of her were Saichi and Fumiko, both of which wore the same body-covering dress and stockings, though Saichi's was more frilly than Fumiko's and Satomi's. And whereas Saichi wore a simple tiara just like Satomi, Fumiko wore a giant pink bow and decorative bell, with her hair tied up in a ponytail.
"Ayaka… Satomi… Fumiko… Saichi… I'm sorry," Sayaka thought, as she solemnly looked down at the ground.
Since she got here, she had been thinking about what she was about to do. What chaos she was about to cause, the ramifications of it all… and what was going to happen because of it. Their parents were going to most likely die, much like her own had. The negative ramifications were going to be immense. None of them knew her intentions, and she kept it that way on purpose.
They had been The Pink Cherry Pops for years now. The group formed in 2012, and in two years, they had grown and become so popular, that the moment they retired from this career, they'd be sitting in penthouses till the day they died.
And now, all those happy memories, all of those theme park adventures. All those times hanging out and spreading drama.
That one time she had kissed Aoba-chan prior to getting into a relationship with Jolyne when she was still trying to find out her affections toward other girls, and how it caused a slight division in the group for about a month.
She was about to sully it all by tricking them into helping her jump-start the end of the world. Millions would die, their careers would be ruined, and their relationships would be fractured.
Everyone was smiling, but she was the only one frowning.
Because today, The Pink Cherry Pops were disbanding unofficially.
Because the world was ending.
And it was going to be all her fault.
"Sayaka? Why do you look so gloomy? You nervous or something?" Ayaka asked as Sayaka snapped out of her trance.
"Yeah, you've been down ever since the rehearsal finished. Come on, be a little happier! This is going to be one of our biggest shows yet!" Saichi chimed in, a wide smile on her face. Sayaka felt a small amount of sadness drain from her, but not entirely.
"I know… It's just…." She paused, clenching her hand into a fist. "I'm still reeling from my parent's death. So… I'm a bit under the weather…" Sayaka lied effortlessly, though, of course, that was bothering her too. However, that wasn't what was particularly bothering her at the moment.
"Oh…" Satomi frowned, before placing a hand on her chin. "Hmm… how about we go to the nearest Ice Cream parlour after the show! It'll cheer you way up!" That earned a collective cheer from the group, with the exception of Sayaka, who smiled.
"Thank you, everyone…." The unspoken for everything bounced around in her head, as she looked toward the time. It was almost time for the performance. It was almost time to plunge the world into Despair.
For Jolyne…
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, with the sounds of the guards who had been, well, guarding the backstage slumping over. Sayaka stood up, as did everyone else, as the door opened despite it having been locked. Sayaka's heart, which had been racing, stopped going a mile an hour as Jolyne walked into the room, wearing casual clothing. Behind her were two people in white uniforms with black and white neck scarfs, which were taking the place of the usual guards.
That… was not what she was expecting. But thank god for it being her girlfriend. And… as annoying as it was to see D.I.C.E. here, she knew that Jolyne hadn't been given a choice to work with them by her supposed Boss, whom she had yet to meet. Apparently, Natsumi met them, and the look in Natsumi's eyes told her everything that she needed to know about this supposed Boss. And that was that they were not to be trifled with.
No wonder Jolyne was strong-armed into joining with D.I.C.E….
"W-Who the hell are you?! And how did you—"
"Ayaka, relax!" Sayaka interrupted as Ayaka looked over to Sayaka, with a confused expression. "This… is my Girlfriend, Jolyne Brooks… Um, I was hoping to introduce her to you guys after the show, but… apparently, plans have changed…?" Sayaka said, approaching Jolyne and giving her a hug, before whispering into her ear "what the hell are you doing here?!"
"I'm here to offer your friends a place in The Grey Council before shit hits the fan," Jolyne whispered back, as Sayaka let go before she looked at other members of her Idol group. Jolyne glanced back at the door, before kicking it shut, and walking a few more steps into the room, which had been enough for Satomi, evidently, as she glared at the dual-haired teen.
"You can't just come in here, you know that! We'll call security and get you removed right now!" Satomi spat as she glared at Jolyne. The other two looked at one another, a hint of recognition in their eyes. Sayaka was glad that those two remembered her, even if they had only met for a split second on the train and briefly talked. Still, though, they also seemed annoyed with her barging in, which made sense.
Satomi went to grab the phone to call security as she spoke. "It's one thing to want to speak to Sayaka, which is all cool, by the way, but barging in here is not allowed, didn't you read the sign on the door?" Satomi continued, moments away from dialling the phone….
…only for the phone to be destroyed by that creature that Jolyne could summon, which had inexplicably appeared before Satomi, destroying the phone in its entirety with a single punch.
"I'm afraid you won't be doing that, not that there is any security that isn't of my own that you can call, anyway," Jolyne replied as Satomi stared up at the creature with wide eyes. "Do not be afraid of Whitesnake. He's completely under my control and only attacks people whom I command him to. Should you comply with what I'm about to tell you, you won't have to worry about him turning you into a human pretzel."
Before Sayaka could vocally object to the threat of harming one of her friends, Jolyne activated the mental link and spoke directly to her. "I'm not actually going to do that, I need them to cooperate, and threats work best in tense situations. I'm sorry for not telling you in advance, this is a spur-of-the-moment thing. I'm trying to save your friends' lives because I know how much they mean to you."
Sayaka's rage ceased, as she sat down on the couch closest to her, gesturing everyone to sit down as well. Once they all sat down, fear evident in their eyes, Jolyne then spoke again. "Alright. I'm glad everyone is on the right page. Now… Fumiko Tatsumi, Saichi Todokami, Ayaka Haneyama, and Satomi Aoba – INVITE."
Once those words rang throughout the room, pop-ups that appeared to be holograms appeared before all of them. Sayaka knew them to be the Guild's invite ability that Jolyne had explained to her, Junko, and Mukuro about back when she first joined The Grey Council. As confusing as such an ability seemed to be, now, considering all the things she knew Jolyne was capable of doing, and things she didn't know about, not much was able to confuse her.
The same could not be said about the others, though, as they all looked confused. Sayaka wasn't all that surprised by that, because as far as they were aware magic wasn't real. That was, until today. They all looked at Jolyne, all of them expecting an answer, which prompted Jolyne to explain.
"Before you all is an invitation to my Guild, known as The Grey Council. You will accept it if you all value your lives. Not because I will do anything to you, but because of what is going to happen in the next 12 hours if you don't," Jolyne stated as Fumiko looked over at her, her expression skeptical, as her eyes glared at Jolyne with an accusatory gleam.
"What do you mean? What's going to happen in the next 12 hours?" Fumiko questioned as Jolyne closed her one good eye, inhaled sharply, opened her eye as she exhaled and replied.
"The End of The World," Jolyne began, as everyone's eyes widened, even Sayaka's, though she did it to act shocked when in reality, she knew that it was going to happen already, considering she was the one who was going to incite it. "I do not know the specifics, simply because my precognition does not exactly go that far, but I do know that somehow, someway, you lot are responsible for it. Again, I don't know how, but I do know that it all starts with you guys. And, that… you all die immediately after your performance here tonight. I'm trying to prevent that, so if you press accept, I give you things that will protect you."
She knew Jolyne was lying about the precognition bit. She was building a cover-up for what was going to happen tonight, and all of it was to benefit Sayaka. To allow her to keep her friends as, well… friends. And… that meant the world to Sayaka.
"Thank you… Thank you, Jolyne…."
"You're welcome, Sayaka."
"Y-You're not serious, are you?!" Saichi stammered as Jolyne shook her head.
"I'm being dead serious. Accept the invitation, and you'll live past this point," Jolyne replied as the rest of the members of Pink Cherry Pop looked at one another. Then, they came to a decision. They all pressed ACCEPT, as the screens went away. Jolyne nodded, before tossing them all a coin similar to the one that she gave her back at the diner. "Snap them in half, and you'll gain something from it. Hurry, we don't have time."
And so… they snapped open the coins all at the same time. Saichi got what appeared to be vine-like appendages wrapped around her arms, before sinking into them, Fumiko got what appeared to be red flames coat her hands for a split second before vanishing, Ayaka got water torrents flowing around her fingers before they seeped into her nails, and Satomi got what appeared to be… bone like protrusions coming out of her fingers before they sunk into her.
Everyone, with the exception of herself and Jolyne, looked confused. It was then that Jolyne spoke up. "Hmm… Saichi got Nature Control, Fumiko received Flame, Ayaka was gifted Water Manipulation, and Satomi got Bone Blades. Those will do just nicely. Sayaka, who is armed with Death's Touch will help you all with your new spells. I would, but I don't want to miss the performance. Good luck, and be prepared for what's to come. I will see you all soon. Stay safe."
With that, Jolyne left the room in a hurry. Sayaka stood up, and looked over to her friends, before smiling. "I'm sorry about that… I'll explain more later. Right now, we have a show to perform. You all ready?" Sayaka asked as Ayaka stood up, looking over at the doorway.
"Was she telling the truth…. That if we didn't join her, that we'd die?" Ayaka asked as Sayaka frowned, looking at the floor. That was a good question because even Sayaka didn't know. All she knew was that Jolyne wasn't going to have been the one that did it. There was a chance of it happening, no doubt about it. Her question, however, was how Jolyne was going to guarantee her friend's safety. Just because they now had Spells did not mean they knew how to use them.
Hell, she hadn't even used Death's Touch yet even once. All she knew was that she could activate it by thinking about it and touching someone. That was all.
Sighing, Sayaka looked at Ayaka and shrugged. "I honestly don't know. But… if there is one that I learned in my short time with Jolyne, it's that no matter what, if she says something is going to happen… it will happen. I don't know how she does it, but, she does. Now, come on, we have a show to perform. And it very well might be our last one before the world ends. So…." Sayaka sucked in a breath before confidence exuded off of her like none other. "Let's give it everything we got!"
"IT'S SHOWTIME!" Everyone else shouted in unison, as they all exited backstage, and went to go perform the last song of their careers.
Because, after all….
The world was going to end. Might as well end it off on a good note. Right?
And as she passed by the music player, she swapped out the non-corrupted song for the corrupted one, exhaled, then followed everyone out. This was specially designed so that the singers would not be affected, and only those who listened would. So… with everything being prepared, and with the show about to start in 30 minutes… Sayaka had only one thing left to do.
There, sitting next to the player, was a pin that was designed by Junko for her to wear on this day. Everyone was supposed to wear it, to signify that a new world was coming.
And even though Junko was most likely not here anymore, and nor was Mukuro… she'd loved to have seen them wear it either way.
It was a black and white pin, with a red thunderbolt going through the black section diagonally. It was based on Jolyne's Ying and Yang coloured cloak, and it had a bear-like motif, which came from the idea of Jolyne's Bear Claw along with Junko's fascination with bears. And while Junko was originally going to have a droid built by Towa Corp to make something match with it, that idea fell through due to time constraints.
But, the name of the thing that the pin was based on had been finalized. And its name… was Monokuma.
So, to honour Junko and Mukuro's supposed passing… she was going to wear the pin. So that, in spirit at least, they got to experience the end of the world alongside the rest of The Grey Council.
"Sayaka, come on! The show's about to begin! Everyone's waiting for you!" Satomi called out as Sayaka steeled herself. It was time to get to work.
Time to sing her heart out one last time.
Time to give it everything she got.
Because…. It was showtime.
[Natsumi]
Right around now, Sayaka's performance was happening. Jolyne was watching it, and filling Natsumi in as it happened. Not long from now, after the performance, the entirety of Hope's Peak Academy was going to be up in flames by the time the performance was over, and with Rantaro confirming to her that Izuru Kamakura was defeated by Jolyne, who had barely survived the encounter by the skin of her teeth, the blonde-haired former Yakuza felt a sense of relief wash over her.
When Jolyne told her over the mental connection that she was going to take on Izuru Kamakura, she told her that it was a stupid idea. But, Jolyne was insistent that she could do it. It wasn't as if she couldn't do it, that much Natsumi knew, but she also knew that Jolyne was grieving. Grieving for the loss of Kotoko, and then Junko and Mukuro.
Grief could make a person do stupid things.
God… she knew that more than anyone. Hell, it was the reason why she pursued revenge against Jolyne in the first place. Grief for the death of her brother…. Then she realized how stupid she was being, but by that point it was unavoidable. By that point, Jolyne was already personally invested in getting rid of her clan after Daisuke took away her eye.
Of course, Jolyne felt bad for killing the rest of them when they were fleeing, but that was all that she felt bad for. Natsumi knew that she didn't care about her brother coming back to life, despite that being what she promised she'd do. When she had the means to do so, of course.
But, that wasn't important right now. No… what was important was what was happening right now.
The world was coming to an end.
It was all finally coming to an end. And while she didn't want the world to end, she knew that it wasn't exactly the most avoidable of situations. The world was going to end at some point. She just hoped that she wasn't going to be in it now that it was.
But, of course, that wasn't the case. Hell, she was part of the group that was making it happen. She was part of the reason why everything was going belly up, and strangely enough, she felt no remorse for it. She knew that the world they lived in was a sick, Talent worshipping shithole that only cared about those who had talent, and no one else.
It was why she was so desperate to have a talent of some kind. So desperate to be talented. It took her brother dying to realize that talent wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. She found herself whisked into the position of Yakuza Boss. She realized that talent was kind of pointless and that she found herself fitting into the role better than her brother ever could have been.
Maybe she perhaps had been talented already or was more suited for the role than Fuyuhiko. Regardless of whether or not that was the case, it was part of the reason why she didn't care about the world ending anymore.
Talent corrupted others and made those in power prioritize those with talent over those who didn't, and because of that, she saw the logical path that Jolyne and, by extension, Junko had been seeing. It was a dystopian hell hole that she wanted nothing to do with.
And the first victims of such a world were those kids that Jolyne had saved.
She heard about what happened to them... in detail. And it made her want to throw up. It was… horrible. And to know that two of her own people were responsible for such abuse… made her sick. It made her angry. It… made her understand why the children also didn't care about the end of the world.
They had been hurt by it. So in a child's mind, it made sense to want to hurt something back. Just… on a more catastrophic level. The saying "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" was what most children operated on. It made sense, too. Because they don't know the difference between right and wrong. And if they do, it's a very skewed version of it.
Right now, as she leaned over the upper floor's balcony of the Towa Manor, Natsumi watched with rapt attention as Monica, Nagisa, Masaru, and Jataro were playing Mario Kart Double Dash. They were playing the battle mode, and, surprisingly, Jataro was beating everyone by 7 points. She had placed bets on Monica winning, but, as it would seem, the forced shut-in was good at video games.
It didn't help that she was glued to Chiaki's hip whenever she'd visit. So that might have something to do with it.
"They're cute," a voice spoke to her left, which made Natsumi jump slightly. She was about to use Dark Flames to blast the person belonging to the voice, her hand already coated in them, before she realized that it was Daimen, which made her deactivate the spell. He glanced over to her, before rolling his neck from side to side.
The man was practically naked. The only thing on his person was a pair of short shorts, which even then barely protected her sight from the… well, the massive bulge he had, and it was unbearably distracting. Aside from that, his outrageously ripped physique was on display for the world to see. Or, at least, for those in the manor to see. Natsumi felt her cheeks heat up at seeing someone so… buff, which earned her a smirk. "Like what you see?"
Natsumi looked away immediately, clearing her throat as Daimen laughed. "Oh, you really are a treat," Daimen continued as Natsumi sighed, looking over her shoulder.
"What are you here for, Daimen?" Natsumi asked as the man leaned against the wall near the bathroom.
"Oh, you know, waiting for everyone to get here so I can dump them off into the next world. Are you ready for that, by the way? You'll be in a new world, with new laws, new cultures, and new threats. It won't be easy, and I can assure you that life is going to be hell once you do this. You're free to opt out now," Daimen said as Natsumi scoffed.
"And stay behind in what's about to become a shit hole? Yeah, no thanks," Natsumi quipped as Daimen shrugged.
"Suit yourself," Daimen stated, as Huginn landed on his forearm. "Odin decided to allow Jolyne to call upon Huginn for use. However, he put some limitations on him. Basically, she has to know the exact locations for where she wants to go, and it has to be within the universe and cannot be outside of it. And… if my calculations are correct…."
The moment he said that the doors burst open, and Jolyne, along with D.I.C.E. and Gundham's group, Rantaro, Chiaki, Sayaka, and… Sayaka's idol group came rushing into the door, closing it behind them as two members of D.I.C.E. barricading the door, while the rest stopped to catch their breaths.
"By the nine realms! What the hell happened?!" Gundham shouted as he froze over the door with a giant sheet of thick ice. "Everyone has seemingly gone mad!"
"It was like watching a horror movie come to life!" Chinatsu said as she snapped her fingers. Vines the size of miniature trees helped barricade the door alongside the ice, as they spread to other entrances of the building in the process.
"It was fucking wicked!" Chiaki chimed in, a giddy gleam in her eyes. "Ah! If only Junko and Mukuro were here now…."
"Shut it, Nanami-chan!" Jolyne said as the dual-haired mage looked up at them. Daimen smiled upon seeing her, spreading his arms out as a welcoming uncle would. Huginn readjusted himself on Daimen's shoulder as Daimen spoke.
"Ready to leave, my envoy?" Daimen said as windows on the first floor began to shatter. Jolyne snapped her fingers and had Abominations appear in front of the windows, keeping the encroaching mob from breaking into the building. The children were freaking out and had huddled into a corner in the living room, which made Natsumi frown.
"What the hell is going on with those guys?! One second they were normal, the next they were climbing up the stage to rip our faces off!" One of Sayaka's idol groupies cried out as Jolyne shouted.
"It's some sort of virus that affects the mind! Think of zombies but less flesh-eating and more brain-bashing, along with a conscience!" Jolyne replied as she looked over to Daimen. She smirked, before shaking her head. "Daimen, thank god! Can you please get us out of here!" Jolyne hollered as Daimen smirked.
"Alright! Huginn! You know what to do!" Daimen said to his raven companion as the bird flew up. As soon as Huginn left Daimen's shoulder, the bird began to fly in circles around Natsumi and Daimen. As it did, more replicas of Huginn appeared, and began to swoop around everyone individually… and just like that, in the blink of an eye….
Everyone was gone.
The world was in shambles…
And on that day, June 28th, 2014, the world was plunged into Despair by some unknown source… the culprits behind it were never found, as they simply….
Disappeared.
-To Be Continued in – Interlude 1 – Crossing Worlds-
So… this is it. I know this was rushed, but… to be fair, I needed to wrap this up. Before anyone asks why I decided to gather Sayaka's idol group and add them to The Grey Council because I know a few people are going to ask, it was foreshadowed a while back. And, also is more convenient for how I plan to tackle the RWBYverse
Well… that's all I have to say. See you all in the next chapter. Peace.