Hello. This is your pal, Jude Warble.
Important Note: I will not repeat the Deaths of characters on each Solo, Duo or Trio Ending because it will just consume the plotline and it would be a useless repeat. Just so you all know.
And with that out of the way, please enjoy this fanfic, and as always, stay breezy!
Unknown Location
"The Trials of the Sanctuary? What is that?"
"It's as it appears to be. Now, I ask my question again: Would you like to take the Trials of the Sanctuary?"
Shadow was confused, as he didn't understand what Echidna meant by her sudden proposal.
"You really are lost from the concept of context. Can you just explain it to me? You can't expect me to accept just like that" Shadow asked with a deadpan expression.
"Oh! I see it now! So that's what you meant!" Echidna exclaimed with a comical surprised expression, causing a vein to pop on Shadow's forehead.
"...You're clearly mocking me there" He growled, causing Echidna to giggle in a teasing manner, irritating Shadow even more.
"Alright. For real, The Trials allows you to face your past, present and future" Echidna answered simply, causing Shadow to blink.
"...You're making it sound like it's normal and simple" Shadow said, causing Echidna to tilt her head to the side.
"Well, obviously. I'm a Witch after all. Do you honestly think that common sense apply to us? Heck, I don't think that it applies to you too. You're a freak of nature more than me actually" Echidna said, causing Shadow to sweatdrop.
"I...Shall take that as a compliment" Shadow said, not knowing how to reply.
"Alright. With that being said, I shall ask you again: Would you like to take the Trials of the Sanctuary?" Echidna asked once again, and Shadow was as perplexed as ever.
"...Why are you offering me such a thing?" He asked.
"That's actually a method of mine to gain knowledge. I don't even know about your Life until now, so I'm curious. You're already 100,054 years old, ten hundred times older than this world's history, so knowing about what happened in your past, getting to know your sight on the present and seeing the future from your own eyes...As the Witch of Greed, I'm quite thrilled to know the unknown" Echidna answered, her smile causing the corners of her lips to extend to her ears so much that Shadow felt like her face would split in half.
It was official. This woman is crazy. However...
"...Very well" He muttered.
In all honesty, he was interested in the concept. Knowing the future will place him ahead from the four factions of the Four Primordial Forces. Planning for the war will be so much easier.
And on a side note, experiencing a possible present that might have happened to him in some point in his Life might not be a bad idea.
But the most important to Shadow was facing his own past. He wanted to get rid of all hindrances in his heart so that he could focus on the mission ahead of him, even if he had to face the most troublesome enemy...Himself.
"I'm ready" He said, causing Echidna to snap her fingers.
"Good luck" She whispered as darkness suddenly enveloped Shadow's vision, before he heard a voice whispering in his head.
"Face An Abhorred Past"
"?!"
The next thing Shadow knew was light illuminating his eyes and his vision that was blurry at first slowly readjusted itself. The moment he was able to see his surroundings clearly, however, his eyes widened in shock and disbelief.
"This is...The Ark?"
He couldn't believe it. Something that was supposed to have been completely destroyed was now in front of him. He was literally looking around him, seeing the technologically advanced room, and seeing the stars and the Earth of his original world from the glass wall in the room.
Out of nostalgia, Shadow walked towards the glass wall, and placed his hand on it. He then saw his reflection on the glass and gasped.
"What the-?!"
He was back in his original form, that of a hedgehog with two feet.
Shadow panicked as he looked around his entire body. The same shoes, the same black fur, the same white fluffy fur portion on his collarbone and chest, the same inhibitor rings, the same white gloves, the same red stripes on his quills and the same rocket booster shoes. He was also a little above one meter in height.
Everything suddenly jumbled inside of his head, and he felt nauseous. He didn't know what was going on. One second, he was with #$%&, and the next he was here.
"...Huh?"
Something felt even weirder now.
He had a vague memory that he was with someone, but the more he tried to remember, the more distant the memory became, and the more the headache in his head intensified.
"Shadow?"
His eyes widened at the voice. He was too paralyzed, too afraid to turn around, thinking that this was all a dream.
That sweat, calm, soothing voice of bells gently ringing in the ears, filling a person with tranquility. A voice that Shadow heard prior to his first fifty years of life...
"No...Way..."
...And a voice that he had never thought to hear, at least in his former Life as a hedgehog.
Slowly, he turned around, and the moment he was face-to-face with her, his mind went blank, only allowing him to mutter a single word.
"...Maria?"
Unknown Location
Blinking her eyes to adjust them to the sudden burst of light, Frederica's eyes glittered in amazement at the scene that found itself in front of her.
She was inside a space with colored cubes and red floating objects that held stars in them, alongside rainbow-colored birds flying everywhere around her.
What's more, she was floating.
Breaking herself from her awe, Frederica thought of moving in the space as if she was flying, and that just happened, just like that. She was amazed that that worked.
She then proceeded to float towards the red floating objects, and tried touching one of them, only to suddenly get sent flying away from it. Frederica readjusted herself in midair and looked at the projectiles. It seems that those projectiles acted as some kind of jumping pads that repel whatever comes into contact with them.
Bracing herself, Frederica maneuvered around the objects, and no matter how much narrowed the space was between each projectile, she was able to pass through it with ease, having got used to her floating state.
She then passed through the last of those red jumping pads, before looking up, noticing a circular object that had the word 'GOAL' on it, where said object was flickering in colors between red and blue.
"Alright, darling. Just touch this 'GOAL' object" Otto's voice rang into Frederica's ears, causing her to remember what she was here for, and that was to discern the identity of the individual that was posing as Otto.
And without hesitation, she floated towards the 'GOAL' object, and her vision turned white.
Unknown Location
Frederica's form flickered into a room that was completely black, yet light seemed to be visible into it. She landed on the ground and saw the back of a familiar person in front of her.
"Subaru-sama?" She called out to him.
"You know Frederica, there's something interesting about you girls..." 'Subaru' said.
"What do you mean?" Frederica asked, before 'Subaru' turned around to face her, causing Frederica to gasp in shock as she saw blood coming out from the crazy face of 'Subaru', where his eyes where black and red.
"...You all are so naive" Subaru EXE finished with a grin, causing Frederica to stand up immediately and enter a fighting stance.
"What the...? Who are you?! Stay away from me!" She exclaimed.
Suddenly, the background turned pale purple, and Frederica's form was frozen. Time was completely brought down to a halt as Subaru EXE casually strolled towards Frederica's frozen form and then walked behind her, standing in front of her back.
He then swung his fist into a straight punch, piercing through Frederica's back and her chest, ripping out her heart and causing time to return to its normal flow.
"...!" Frederica stood in shock and disbelief as life gradually and rapidly left her, staring down at her punctured chest and at the fist-sized hole that found itself in between her D-cups breasts.
"Oh...It seems that I stole your heart. Don't worry. You want it back? Here!"
"?!"
Sarcastically saying that phrase, Subaru EXE threw another punch with Frederica's crushed heart inside his fist. This time, however, he pierced through her skull and brain, causing blood and brain matter to burst out from Frederica's head, and for her right eye to pop up like a small balloon, and upon retracting his fist, Frederica fell to her knees, before falling face first into the ground, completely lifeless.
"Oops. It seems that I inserted it in the wrong place" He said mockingly, before looking at the Fourth Wall.
"Well, it's alright. In any case, you will try again, won't you?" He threw that question to the air, yet no one seemed to answer it.
The screen instantly turned black, and the blood-laced laughter echoed.
A few hours later. Hanumas. Nighttime
Gasping for breath after running nonstop for a couple of hours, Petra's lungs were burning and her heart was beating rapidly.
"Lucas...He...Sacrificed himself for me..." She muttered, tears falling down her eyes.
"I...I have to survive...Just like he said. My friends. I need to find them, but I went to the opposite direction of The Sanctuary" She said, before an idea hit her in the middle of her panicked state.
"I can take a detour from The Lifaus Highway, but...It will be long" Petra muttered to herself, imagining how tiring the journey can be, and what would happen if that abomination caught up with her. She then slapped both of her cheeks with both hands to snap herself out of her pessimism, despite the fact that she was in an already overly pessimistic situation.
"I don't have any other choice. I must keep moving forward" She said to herself, before she took a turn towards the Lifaus Highway.
Petra, who was leaving Hanumas city, had absolutely no idea that the population of the entire city was completely annihilated, as in her panic to find a way to survive her impending doom, she was unaware of the fact that Hanumas was hushed as Death.
Well...Emphasis on the 'as'.
At the same time. Unknown Location
A flicker of light found itself in a weird, unfamiliar space, and adjusting her eyes to the new scenery, Ram blinked in confusion.
"Is this the place he was talking about? What exactly should I find in here?" Ram asked herself as she walked through the huge place that appeared to be a large library judging by the huge bookshelves and the numerous amounts of books that each shelf had. Ram then walked towards one of the shelves, picking up a book that had the title of 'Citizens of the Highest Kingdom'. Ram immediately opened the book and flipped through the pages.
"Let's see here. Assiah-Lite - Deceased. Phil - Deceased. Wayne - Deceased. Laura - Deceased. Goodness. How many people died here?" Ram asked, rolling her eyes at that. She then blinked upon noticing a familiar name.
"Exeller - Deceased. Huh, is that the Exeller guy that he was talking about?" Ram asked herself.
"An intruder in the Highest Library. The intruder is neither a Seither Demon, nor a Reaper, nor a Guardian, nor even a Highest. How interesting"
"?!"
Just then, Ram turned around to the source of the voice, only to see a dark orange-colored anthropomorphic hedgehog with brown eyes that resembled Demi-Humans from her perspective. The creature was around one meter in height, wearing a green overcoat above a red T-shirt, green pants and green shoes, as well as a pair of black-framed glasses.
"Oh! A person. Please, I need your help. I was teleported here by one of yours that wanted me to find help" Ram said, trying to be as polite as possible.
"I've heard of you, Second Coming of the Oni God. Give me one good reason to help you" The hedgehog said with a scowl on his face.
"A person of yours named Exeller has taken over the body of a friend of mine, and he's trying to kill me and my friends" Ram said, trying to suppress her eye from twitching in annoyance, as fatigue and frustration were quickly kicking in after all of the action that she had in the span of nothing but a few hours.
"Let me guess. A blue wolf told you this, didn't he? Wait. I don't need to guess. I know he did. I thought that he was dead and had already revived. Is he now dead for good? I can't sense his Rune Stone signal, so he's probably dead" The hedgehog said.
"Yes. This guy called Exeller killed that wolf in front of my very eyes. Somehow, his spirit managed to help me out, but he's now long dead. He even said that he won't be able to reincarnate again now that his Rune Stone is destroyed" Ram said. It was then when the hedgehog narrowed his eyes mockingly at Ram.
"Oni God. Let me tell you something. We will never help you. First of all, we don't care. Secondly, we don't care, and third..." He trailed before adjusting his glasses on his face, then he continued talking.
"...I don't care. So I suggest that you leave this place now, or suffer the consequences" The hedgehog finished, causing Ram to close her eyes, trying to hold off the frustration building inside of her.
"Alright. I'll just talk with you queen, Alice" Ram said, before she suddenly felt her body being bound by an invisible force and then lifted up to the air. It was then that she noticed that the orange hedgehog was extending his arm and opened palm towards her, indicating that he was the one the lifted her using some sort of a telekinesis. She also noticed that he was wearing an even bigger scowl on his face.
"You think that just because you have considerable power that is high in comparison to the mundane affairs of your world, that I can let you do whatever you want? Think again, you hypocrite" He said, causing Ram to grit her teeth, lifting her head up slowly as she struggled with the invisible force bounding her.
"I just want...To...Save my...F-Friends..." She gasped her response, causing the hedgehog to blink at this, before he released the force binding Ram in midair, causing her to land on her feet and gasp for air. He then pushed his glasses towards his eyes to adjust them on the bridge of his nose.
"Violence breeds violence, Oni God. Some people, such as Exeller, only became evil because of an outside influence" The hedgehog said, which in turn caused Ram to stand straight and glare at him.
"So you want Ram to sympathize with that psychopath? He's killing my friends as well as innocent people. I will defeat him and save Barasu, and my friends as well" She said, causing the orange hedgehog to roll his eyes in disappointment.
"Pathetic. Anyways, if your friends are alive, they are probably in the Virga Mountains. I shall teleport you there" He said, causing Ram to blink.
"But that's the farthest north of the continent, and in Gusteko. What would-Ugh. You know what? Never mind. Ram won't ask the reasons of this bizarre development because everything up until now was bizarre as it is" She said, before raising her eyebrow at the orange hedgehog.
"Thank you. I understand that you're only trying to protect your people. You're not as bad as I thought you were" Ram said, and right after saying that immediately, the orange hedgehog flicked his wrist, causing Ram to vanish from the library in a flash of light.
After Ram was gone, the hedgehog just stared at the ground, his brown irises flickering in a red color.
"Not as bad as you thought, huh...? Heh. Not as bad as you thought..." He muttered the question before taking off his glasses, and they instantly turned to dust upon being taken off his face, and his brown eyes became crimson red in color, as a twisted smile found itself stretching on his face.
Virga Mountains
Appearing in a white flash of light and landing on the ground, Ram looked around her at the snow-laced rocky platform of the mountain she was on.
"It seems that he teleported me to the snowy part of the Virga Mountains. I know the path from here. But it will be long, considering the fact that I have to pass through the Holy Mountain Pardochia, pass through Eternya city and then down to Elior Forest before heading straight towards the Sanctuary" She said to herself, before sighing, her breath being visible due to the frigid weather.
"For now, I have to find anyone that I know here before continuing my journey. If what that hedgehog told me was true" Ram said before dashing into the distance.
A few hours later. Lifaus Highway
She kept on running and running, even though her legs felt like they were moments from falling apart. She already knew what she was running from, even though she couldn't sense anything that was following her at the moment. She just couldn't bet her time when Death could be anywhere to take her soul. Another thing was the fact that snow started to fall, riddling the road with snow and making it difficult for her to run, slightly slowing her down. Not to mention the fact that it was a completely abnormal phenomenon to happen in the Red-sun season.
Suddenly, something burst from the ground, knocking Petra off her feet when she was on the process of running. The familiar figure floated in the air, glaring at Petra with an expression filled of anger, spite, hatred, loathing and bloodlust, something that Petra never thought that she would see on the boy's face.
"I guess you forgot about me?" Lucas asked with his glare still fixated on Petra, who knew that he was extremely angry despite his calm tone. She could see that the grey rashes and the pulsating veins increased to the point that it travelled to cover the entirety of the left half of his body.
"Lucas!" She called for the boy, but his bloodlust that was growing by the second made her lose the ability to take any other word out from her mouth.
"It's time for you to die!" Lucas exclaimed, before pointing his palm towards her. Petra, who realized that she couldn't run any longer due to her legs being completely fatigued, alongside the fact that the Fear plaguing her heart increased, closed her eyes, awaiting her end.
However, just as Lucas was about to fire his attack, a cyclone collided with the mutated kid, sending him reeling back a few feet in the air. The sound caused Petra to open her eyes, only to see Ram approaching her from behind.
"Leave her alone!" Ram exclaimed to Lucas in a threatening manner.
"You...Ah...That's why I didn't have enough power...Tch. I swear I'll get you next time" Lucas said, before flying away. It was then that Petra stood up with tears filling her eyes.
"Ram-neesama? Thank you for saving me" Petra said to Ram.
"Don't mention it, but...If I may ask, what are you doing here, Petra?" Ram asked her little junior.
"I...Maybe I'm wrong, but...Someone wants to kill me. A creature tried to...Tried to..." Petra couldn't continue her speech as the horrid mysterious visions of her being violated and burnt alive assaulted her mercilessly caused her to shiver in complete Fear.
Ram saw this and sighed. She felt bad for the kid, and she wanted to comfort her, but that was something of Frederica's expertise. Ram was never good with children, even right now, when Petra needed her comfort, she felt helpless. Not to mention that the situation they were in didn't allow for their emotions to slip at all.
"Alright then. We can't stay here. Let's go to the Sanctuary. I know a secret passage leading to it" Ram said.
"Very well...Let's go" Petra said, following Ram to their next destination.
A few minutes later. Hills behind the Sanctuary
"Alright. I guess we should just go ahead and then we will probably find the exit"
"I'll go ahead. I don't want to slow you down"
As Ram and Petra entered a secret cave inside the hills behind the Sanctuary, Petra marched ahead of Ram, which in turn caused Ram to sigh.
"Okay...Just wait for me because there are traps..." Ram muttered, despite knowing that all of her words went of deaf ears as Petra walked ahead, which caused Ram to follow her.
A few minutes later. The Sanctuary
"We're finally in! Now let's call for Roswaal-sama's help!"
"Do you need my help?"
"No. Thanks, Petra. But you better stay close to me"
"Okay..."
Ram went ahead and instructed the crestfallen Petra, whose gloomy expression was still apparent on her face.
Both girls then reached the room Roswaal was seated in, with Ram being the one to guide both herself and Petra there, but the moment they entered the room, it was completely empty. The sheets were neatly folded, the table and chairs were placed elegantly, but Roswaal was nowhere to be found.
"Strange...Ram can't feel neither Roswaal-sama, nor Emilia-sama's mana signature..." Ram muttered before biting on her nail as cold sweat ran down her face. She feared the worst in this situation. Was entering the Sanctuary a bad idea? She was really scared and confused.
"Petra. Stick next to me. Don't you ever, under any circumstances, leave my side" Ram ordered her junior maid.
"Yes, Ram-neesama" Petra said, before following Ram outside Roswaal's cottage. They then marched to the staples, before Ram pulled a Dragon Carriage with its Earth Dragon out from said place.
"Where are we going, Ram-neesama?" Petra asked the pink-haired Oni.
"Ram knows that leaving people here is a bad idea, but nobody seems to be here, so we shall use this carriage to depart to the Capital city. There, we can ask for help and even take shelter there" Ram said, fastening saddle and reins on the Earth Dragon, before linking them to the links of the Dragon Carriage. She pulled on the links firmly to make sure that they won't loosen and take themselves apart during the trip.
However, before she could join Petra on the carriage, she cursed under her breath.
"Shoot. A wheel of the carriage is busted. If only that merchant was with us...Hmm...I think I can fix it, but it will take some time" Ram said, before directing her stare towards Petra.
"Petra, don't move from here. I'm going to get a spare wheel for the carriage instead of the defective one. You wait here and don't move. Get it?" Ram ordered Petra, to which said girl gave a silent, slow nod to her, prompting Ram to dash towards the staples once again to get a new wheel for the carriage they were using.
Three hours passed, however, and Ram was nowhere to be found. Petra's anxiety grew by the second. She wanted to go to see what was happening, but Ram ordered her to stay in her place, and to never move. She knew that Ram was strong, but she feared the worst.
"There are only half of the survivors in this place. The other half is in the Capital city"
"?!"
The familiar voice alerted Petra, as she recognized it to be that of Otto. However, sensing the immense amount of bloodlust emitting from the very tone of said person's voice, Petra's eyes widened in shock and Fear before she squeezed her body to a shallow corner of the carriage, clasping both hands in front of her mouth and nose to avoid leaking any sound.
"Garf and Heinkel will deal with the other half. We killed Ram, and Petra must be somewhere here" Frederica's bloodlusted voice could be heard by Petra, where her words shocked her completely.
She was the only survivor.
"Exeller will kill her anyways. We are done killing everyone here. Let's take the next orders from Exeller" Otto EXE said.
Petra's eyes were wide with shock and Fear the whole time as tears built up in the corners of her eyes. She tried not to make any sound, and she started to shiver from the sheer horror of Death or even a Fate worse than it.
She then looked to her side. The Earth Dragon was still alive. An idea popped in Petra's head, before she slowly and silently reached for the rope knots that linked the carriage to the Earth Dragon, and with one swift motion, she pulled the ropes as hard as she could, before using the rope to strike its rear, causing the Earth Dragon to screech in pain, alerting Otto EXE and Frederica EXE to it as the Earth Dragon ran towards them, forcing both reanimations to jump out of the way. This distraction proved to be useful as Petra immediately jumped off the carriage and right into the depths of the Kremaldy Forest.
It was only a few seconds, but those few seconds served their purpose. Even when the poor Earth Dragon got cut down in half by Frederica EXE, Petra managed to escape.
"How the hell this Earth Dragon reacted? It's supposed to be fearing us. Seems suspicious" Otto EXE said.
"Anyways, there are no survivors. By the way, I had the feeling that someone was there" Frederica EXE said.
"I had the same feeling. Someone was there. Could it be Petra?" Otto EXE asked.
"Let's call Ram. She probably got transformed already" Frederica EXE said before she raised her arm and opened her palm, and a red glow got emitted from it, and not long after that, Ram entered the scene, but just like the others, her form was mutilated, and her eyes and mouth were sewn shut.
"Why did you call her? She can't even talk" Otto EXE said.
"She can hear really good. Even better than you, so shut the hell up, Darling" Frederica EXE said, and anyone that observed them could swear that a light rosy blush was apparent on Otto EXE's cheeks.
Yes. He just got turned on by the insult.
"Alright. Ram, have you separated paths with Petra prior to your transformation?" Frederica EXE asked Ram EXE, to which the latter replied by shaking her head to the sides.
"So, she is here, right?" Frederica EXE asked once again, only to have Ram EXE nod her head.
"See? She is here. How didn't we notice her?" Frederica EXE asked with gritted teeth.
"Let me explain. We got distracted-" Otto EXE was about to explain their failure in detecting Petra, only to be cut off his speech.
"Shut up, Darling! Let's go get Petra! She's probably about to leave the Sanctuary!" Frederica EXE exclaimed in anger, and this caused yet another blush to appear on Otto EXE's face.
If Ram EXE's eyes and mouth weren't sewn shut, she would have rolled her eyes and threw insults at that piece of machoistic trash.
A few minutes later. The Kremaldy Forest
"Hah...Hah..."
She couldn't take her breath. Her lungs were on fire. Her legs were about to fall off. Her entire body was about to get dehydrated from all of the sweat that her sweat pores released, but she had to run, because it was for her Life. She wanted to live. She didn't want to die.
In her frenzy and panic, Petra didn't notice a grown root from a tree next to her that tripped her to the ground, causing her to fall face-first to the dirt.
Petra tried to get up, but hissed as she felt a stinging pain in her right ankle.
"It's broken..." She thought.
Suddenly, her eyes widened as a solid impact slammed into her torso, knocking out all the remaining air in her lungs and sending her skidding into the ground a few meters away. Once her flight halted, she immediately coughed out a generous amount of blood from her mouth, coughing violently afterwards, but Petra wasn't given mercy or rest as she was immediately lifted off the ground by a hand that squeezed her throat. She tried to struggle by placing her hands on the hand holding her, trying to free herself, but in vain, as her body was completely exhausted. She couldn't muster any kind of strength as Frederica EXE kept on choking the Life out of her.
"You thought you could escape from us? How can you be so naive?" Frederica EXE asked with a mocking smirk directed at Petra.
"Darling, place the spikes over there" Frederica EXE called for Otto EXE to do something, causing said male undead to march ahead from them, before placing an object that resembled a monitor on the ground halfway, and then he continued walking even further, and after a couple of minutes, he slammed his hands to the ground, invoking Earth Magic to create a wall of Earth spikes, positioned so that it would impale anyone that runs into it, and he was increasing the amounts of spikes in the wall.
Frederica EXE then proceeded to walk with Petra still in her clutch until she stopped in front of the monitor that had the image of a red shoe on it. Petra struggled to open her eyes, where she came face-to-face with the monitor.
"Oh no...I remember now...Am I...Am I going to die...?" She whispered, horror showing in her face that was starting to turn blue from the lack of oxygen as Frederica EXE was slowly inching her towards the monitor.
However, in a burst of speed, probably an instinct to protect herself from Death, Petra tightly gripped on Frederica EXE's arm, before mustering strength to place the soles of her feet on Frederica EXE's torso, and with one swift motion, she judo-dropped her on the monitor. And the moment the undead Beast-Human came in contact with the monitor, her legs seemed to have gained a mind of their own, causing her to run at full speed, right towards the wall of spikes that Otto EXE was still building. The spikes were still increasing, but it seems that Otto EXE wasn't noticing that Frederica EXE was dashing uncontrollably towards him.
The slight vibrations in the ground alerted him, however, but it was too late. He didn't even have time to scream in surprise as Frederica EXE collided with him, followed by both of them collided with the wall of sharp Earth spikes, causing both of them to get impaled by the spikes, splattering black blood everywhere as both were immediately rendered inert and emotionless as the spikes were tainted in their black blood, dripping on the hard ground as their bodies hanged from the bloodstained spikes.
Truly, this was an example of the infamous quote: Whoever digs a hole for his brethren falls in it.
Coughing out and taking her breath, as well as rubbing her throat and neck from the pain inflicted on them, Petra dashed towards the exit of the Sanctuary. In front of her line of sight came the Master Emerald. She didn't know why, but she somehow remembered the name of that huge green gem to be that.
"Almost...There..." Petra gasped those words, trying to encourage herself as she was still a hundred meters away from her final destination.
Suddenly, a figure appeared instantly and without any sound, causing Petra to nearly trip on her still broken ankle that she barely pieced together with her Water Magic. Her eyes widened with horror; Petra looked at the mangled form of Ram EXE pointed her wand at her.
"Ram-neesama...Please...You...You don't have to do this...I'm begging you...Remember how you saved me...Remember..." Petra trailed in her speech, trying to find the right words to change Ram EXE's opinion of killing her.
And the words suddenly surfaced into her mind, having been reminded of her own dead parents and lost sister, the same people that Petra knew that she would never see again.
"...Remember your family? Your parents? Your mother and father? Your sister Rem-neesama? If you do, then please...I want to see my parents again..." She forced herself to say those words, knowing very well that the last part was completely nonsensical.
"Here you are. We found you. Hey, Ram! You fool! What are you waiting for?! Finish her off!"
"?!"
Turning around, Petra came face-to-face with Frederica EXE, who arrived at the scene, seemingly unharmed, as if the incident of her running into the wall of Earth spikes didn't even happen to begin with.
Standing silently for a few moments, Ram EXE then jumped in front of both Petra and Frederica EXE, pointing her wand and her newly brandished Triple Rod at the latter.
"What the...?!" Frederica EXE was completely stunned by this weird development. But this brought a small smile to Petra's face.
"Ram-neesama...Thank you..." She whispered before dashing towards the Master Emerald. However, she had to halt her sprint as a spear of Earth found itself stabbing the ground in front of her.
"Do you really think that I would let you go?! Think again, Petra-chan! You should just give up! You're the weakest out of us all! Even if you somehow managed to reach the Master Emerald, which is already so close, Exeller will kill you anyway!" Otto EXE exclaimed, before preparing a set of Earth spears that floated around him.
Petra gritted her teeth, before sprinting towards the direction of the Master Emerald, with Otto EXE firing the spears at her. Fifty meters to reach the Master Emerald.
She then yelped as an Earth spear found its mark in her left thigh, causing her to once again fall face-first to the ground. Petra gritted her teeth, trying to pull herself up as Otto EXE walked casually to her, a twisted smirk on his pale, blood tear-stained face found its way to his face as he grabbed an Earth spear with his hand, standing in front of the downed form of Petra, clutching the spear with both hands before positioning it in a stabbing motion.
"This is the end, Petra-chan. Any last words?" Otto EXE asked in a mocking manner, causing Petra to grit her teeth and to lift her arm up and point her opened palm at Otto EXE, whose smirk widened.
"Oh? What are you trying to do now? Magic? Go ahead. Something like that won't affect me. You saw it a few minutes ago when you forced me and Frederica-san to slam into the wall of spikes created by my Magic. But I'm a generous man, so I'll give you that last shot" Otto EXE said, his arrogant smirk expanding and threatening to split his face in half.
"You talk too much, you know that?"
"?!"
His smirk was instantly wiped from his face, replaced by a look of shock and disbelief as Otto EXE's entire body was stabbed by a flurry of spikes that somehow manifested from the ground instantly. The weird part in that was that the ground wasn't ruptured and the spikes didn't burst from it. It appeared as if the spikes somehow appeared in this position.
"This weird ability of mine...Allows me to manifest a corporeal illusion and place it into reality, so long as I saw it with my own eyes. I saw your Earth spikes and copied them. However, unlike Magic, this power isn't Magic. I myself don't know it, and I don't know how I obtained it. But if there's one thing that I know...Is that I somehow remember the fact that this is the only thing that can kill the likes of you..." Petra muttered her explanation, before forcing herself to stand up, before using what remained of her strength to pull out the Earth spear from her thigh, gasping from pain as she applied Water Magic into the wound to stop it from bleeding and to partially close it, since her mana supply was already hitting its limit.
She then turned around and whispered only one thing to Otto EXE, who was already dead as the spikes suddenly turned to glass fragments that crumbled to the ground and disappeared instantly, causing Otto EXE's body to immediately fall face-first to the ground, a pool of black blood soon formed underneath his dead body.
"I'm sorry..."
And with that, Petra sprinted the remaining fifty meters towards her destination, finally reaching it.
"The Master Emerald...I did it...I finally reached it..." Petra whispered, staring at the huge green gem, sighing in relief.
"It would have been easier for you to just run away, but you came here. For what? To die?"
"?!"
Petra gasped as she saw Subaru EXE appearing in front of her in a flicker of light, grinning manically at her. However, a few moments later, Petra's shocked expression vanished, replaced by a glare towards the abomination possessing her crush.
"You...You don't scare me! I don't care about what you think, but I'm not a coward! Even if there's no hope, I shall never give up!" Petra exclaimed.
"Heh. Empty words coming from a mere child. Like an ant, no one will simply hear your screams or pleas. So all of your words are insignificant and meaningless" Subaru EXE said to mock the little girl and demorale her.
But it seems that his attempts actually did the opposite effect.
"You're not going to cripple me with your words! Everyone around me lied! I know that! They told me that they will stay by my side, and yet they left me! But this isn't about them! It's about me! As long as I'm standing there doing nothing, then there's no way forward! I'll see my path through to the end! Even If I'm to die, at least I'll know that I've fulfilled my purpose! To show everyone who lied to me that I'm not weak, including you!" Petra yelled, glaring at Subaru EXE, whose maniacal grin widened, threatening to split his face in half.
"Ha! Did you really think you could stop me? What a pity. You're nothing to me" Subaru EXE said.
"I have only one question to you: Why...? Why did you kill my family and friends? Why are you doing this?" Petra asked, causing Subaru EXE to tilt his head to the side, his crazy grin still plastered on his face.
"Do you want to join them too? So be it" He muttered, and was about to attack Petra, before...
"No"
"?!"
Just then, another voice echoed, causing both Petra and Subaru EXE to look up, only to see a dark-skinned woman with emerald-green hair and eyes, as well as wearing a black business suit, descending towards them from the air, before gently landing behind Subaru EXE.
"Oh, Nyarlathotep? You're late to the party. Just stay still and let me win this time" Subaru EXE said to the woman.
"Sorry, Exeller, but you lost. One of them survived and reached the Master Emerald. This is your loss now" Nyarlathotep said, causing Subaru EXE to growl at her.
"No matter. I'll just end this already. I don't give a shit about this stupid bet" Subaru EXE said and was about to reach his hand for the Master Emerald, when all of a sudden, his chest started emitting bright white light.
"It seems that I bought enough time for the next reset" Nyarlathotep said with a small smile, causing Subaru EXE to grit his teeth as he glared at Nyarlathotep, who walked towards Petra. And before Petra could comprehend what was going on, Nyarlathotep knelt down to reach the little girl's height, before gently patting her head, smiling at her.
"Young child. Don't be distressed or sad. No one has betrayed you. It's just that life is cruel and merciless on everyone. So please, do not bear any grudges towards your allies if you want to survive next time" The Cthulhu Mythos demon said, smiling gently at Petra, who stood silently and stared at her with wide eyes for a few seconds...Before her eyes started to tear up, followed by her throwing herself onto Nyarlathotep, burying her face in between her ample chest with her sobs and wails being muffled by the fabric of Nyarlathotep's clothes, which in turn caused said Demon to hug Petra and gently stroke her hair.
"You see now, Exeller? You broke a child and made it believe that the world is all about lies. How cruel can you get?" Nyarlathotep asked, not looking back at Subaru EXE, whose chest was still emitting white light.
"You know...Why I did this...You and Alice know very well the reason all of this happened" Subaru EXE said while gritting his teeth. Nyarlathotep could feel the tinest shred of doubt within the Highest's heart, which caused her smile to widen.
There was still hope in him, but she knew that no matter how many resets were made, there was no turning back at all. Both her and Exeller knew that.
"The next reset shall be initiated now, but believe me when I tell you...When they survive, it will be your end" Nyarlathotep said to Exeller, her tone lacking the slightest bit of threatening.
"..." Exeller just hung his head down, not saying anything.
And after moments of silence, the bright light engulfed the whole world, with the last words echoing throughout All Creation.
"I want them to live..."
Memory Fragment File #12
"Hey kid...Is that a Lagmite you're holding?"
"Huh...Ah, yes, Ram-neesama..."
Ram, having visited the Irlam Village for supplies alongside Rem, met with a ten-year-old Petra, who was holding a pink-colored Lagmite.
"Can I ask you something?" Ram suddenly asked the little girl out of the blue.
"Eh...Yes?" Petra allowed her to ask, only for her to witness Ram extended her opened palm towards her.
"Give me that Lagmite" She said.
"Huh, but why do you want it...? I mean, my father and mother taught me to neither accept nor give anything to strangers" Petra said. Because despite knowing that she was one of Margrave Mathers' maids, Ram was a complete stranger to Petra.
"But I'm not a stranger. You're supposed to know me, right?" Ram asked the little girl.
"I know you as a maid of Margrave Mathers-sama, as I have seen you doing errands here for supplies. But I don't know you as a person" Petra answered, causing Ram to sigh in annoyance.
"Ugh...Ram isn't good with the kids as she thought..." Ram sighed frustratedly, before directing her gaze at Petra.
"Listen, kid. I need that Lagmite to reinforce the barrier around the village, okay? It holds massive amounts of mana in it enough to sustain the barrier for six months" Ram said, causing Petra to blink for a few seconds, before smiling sweetly at Ram, then she extended her arm with the Lagmite in her hand.
"Of course! Here you go!" Petra exclaimed, making Ram's face crack the smallest of smiles on it, before she extended her hand to take the Lagmite.
"Thanks, kid. I believe I didn't catch your name" Ram said, wanting the kid to introduce herself.
"My name is Petra Leyte!" Petra introduced herself with a cheerful smile.
"Nice name you got there. Anyways, I have to finish my job here. So I'm in a hurry right now. If your family needs help, feel free to contact me via the Communication Mirror" Ram said.
"Okay! Bye!" Petra exclaimed, waving cheerfully at the departing Ram.
Memory Fragment File #12: End
And Done!
Alright! I'm on a roll this week! Two chapters in a single week! Who knows? Maybe I can go for the third? Wish me luck!
Now for the comments, as always, Reaper 10398 graces me with his comments.
For the first comment, Yes, I'm going to show what are the events that led Exeller to capture Shadow, and that will be right after the Best Ending.
For the second comment, I liked your ideas of the videos, and I shall use them, really.
For the third comment, Indeed, Rem and Ram will have a talk, and it will be emotional. Shadow will also have an emotional talk with both of them once he reveals his feelings to both girls. He revealed his feelings to Rem in Arc 2 of this story, but he will soon have to come to terms with both his feelings to them, his feelings to Maria's and Sarah's reincarnations and his own stand in the world and his real goal in life. And believe me, it will be emotional that it will bring you to tears.
By the way, Sarah is actually from a fan-made comic called "Shadow Are You Crying?". Just write that title on YouTube to know who Sarah is and why she is important in Shadow's own story. Also, Reaper 10398, just like how you saw Saki Yoshida in the short manga "Metamorphosis", try to see the other short manga "Ibitsu no Kankei" to know who Miyuki (Reincarnated as Kaylin in this story) and Kotaro (His reincarnation will appear later on in a later Arc) are, and how are they related to this story.
And that's it. To anybody else seeing this story, please share your comments with me and leave any other ideas for this story in the reviews. Your comments are my motivation.
Next Chapter: Round 2. Ending 10: A merchant and a cougar. The most luckless duo in the world
Until Next Time And Next Chapter!
Jude Warble, Out.