Chapter 21

History in the Making

I walked through the dilapidated highway, quickly forming a plan of attack. Since YHVH was planning to use the Ouroboros as its flunkies in regards to the Ascension Project, I figured that my best bet was to invade past moments and disrupt YHVH's plan that way. Not to mention that the Flood of Light was already beginning to destabilise the Multiverse anyway; given the destruction it wrought upon the First, the plan was to start spreading darkness and hopefully destroy the Flood of Light from the inside out. As if on cue, I also noticed various angelic monstrosities too, all covered in sinister off-white auras. Firing up my Tao mandalas, I rushed forward, unleashing a storm of elemental fury upon the angels whilst also being careful to dodge any beams of light the angels fired. "Destroy that piece of human scum!", one of the angelic monstrosities roared; I replied, "Now you're just being nasty!", laughing maniacally afterwards. Forming a giant sphere of fire, I then threw it at the monsters, watching their bodies burn. "NO! As Sin Eaters, we absolutely cannot-", one of the angels cried before burning away into ash. I watched with a smile on my face.

Rushing to the Kunad Gate, I witnessed another vision of that warrior of darkness I saw fighting with Ouroboros. My jaw dropped as I saw the warrior generate a giant sword as long as he was tall out of nothing but pure darkness before rushing at the six; Noah and Mio promptly glowed with a green light before fusing into a giant mechanical lifeform with a dark purple colour wielding a nodachi; Eunie and Taion followed suit, fusing into a more feminine form with a similar black and dark purple colour wielding a staff followed by Lanz and Sena fusing into a much burlier form again with a black and dark purple colour and brandishing giant boxing gloves. I saw the warrior of darkness easily defeat the three mechanical beings, with the nodachi wielder groaning, "Spark it! He's too strong for us to defeat!". Then the figure's left eye lit up, saying, "OK, Noah, swap to me then. I'll use my speed to outrun him.". The figure changed into a mechanical white catgirl with long violet hair and wearing mechanical rollerblades on her feet. The other feminine figure followed suit, changing into a masculine mechanical figure wearing a white and green haori; this was followed in turn by the mechanical boxer changing into a smaller and scrawnier but considerably much more agile white feminine lifeform with wings and a tail that ended in a hoop. "Changing your interlinked forms won't be enough to stop me.", the warrior of darkness said. "Try me.", the mechanical catgirl said, rushing at the warrior at a truly sonic speed. The vision faded, only to lead to another vision of oddly myself facing Alphen in the Sovereign Empire's throne room. Alphen grabbed his flaming sword, rushing at the other me as the other me fired up his Tao mandalas as Alphen brought down the sword. That vision in turn was replaced by another where I approached a dark altar where the warrior of darkness's armour lay.

Thoroughly confused by what the visions were showing me, I then approached the part of the highway where the Kunad Gate was directly above me more or less. The sphere unleashed a truly copious amount of sinister crimson electricity; undeterred, I placed my hand in front of the sphere, getting transported inside. I found myself in a landscape of crimson and scarlet as far as I could see whilst reddish orange "flowers" were blooming on the "ground". I fired up my Tao mandalas, noticing that their colour had shifted from dark orange to a scarlet colour; at this, I also felt my body rise up off the ground. All of a sudden, multiple crimson vines appeared and embedded themselves in my hands and legs. I winced at the pain but powered through, determined to see the end of the Ascension Project no matter the course. More crimson vines promptly covered my body as the hood of my cloak dropped down to cover my head, eventually covering me in what you could reasonably call a human-sized cocoon. I felt a strange drowsiness cover me, prompting me to close my eyes.

Meanwhile, X entered a mysterious chamber where 6 egg shaped pods were charging up. The pods opened, revealing Noah, Mio, Eunie, Taion, Lanz and Sena, all of them wearing sinister crimson gowns. "Oh, Brother and Sister Consuls, the world celebrates your rebirths. O frabjous day!", X said excitedly. "Meh. Just as long as the Endless Now continues for eternity, I don't sparking care how long we have to endure this cycle.", Lanz said, a red infinity symbol glowing in his right eye. "Don't be like that, love. You know Z brought us back to Nintentopia as Moebius so we could rejoice in the deaths committed in YHVH's holy name.", Eunie said, a red infinity symbol glowing in her right eye as well. "Still, we need to make sure we can usurp YHVH when the time is right. Only then will we able to truly become as Gods.", Taion said, a red infinity symbol glowing in his left eye. "Even so, YHVH needs to be killed. Jack can't fulfil his role as the Godslayer if his powers aren't awakened yet. We can't kill him as we are too bound to Nintentopia while he isn't.", Noah said, a red infinity symbol glowing in his right eye too. "I agree, my love. Even then, there's no guarantee we'll be able to determine when Jack will exactly kill YHVH, though Jack binding him to Cyber Space did save us the trouble of breaking into the Sacred Realm and finding him.", Mio said, a red infinity symbol glowing in her left eye. "Indeed, Mimi! And even if we can't exactly predict when YHVH will be killed, it's a guarantee that Jack will absolutely not let YHVH's continued survival stand.", Sena said, a red infinity symbol glowing in her left eye too. X chuckled.

As this was occurring, Eggman met with Maruki in a dimly lit room. "Maruki, I just wanted to confirm something about Cyber Space's functionality. Now, according to the Ancients (or at least the representative I spoke to), the section of Cyber Space exclusively cordoned off for Jack was meant to act as a sort of healing cradle for him, keeping him safe whilst his body and mind healed from the damage Moebius inflicted on him. But when he was actually logged in, the two of us discovered that he was actually suffering there. Now, I know that this was due to Mastema interfering and trapping Jack in a digital cyber prison but even then, Cyber Space should have course corrected and placed him back into the healing area for him to recover again. I was just wondering if it was actually working for the correct person.", Eggman said. "Just as you said, it is odd that Jack was directly trapped in Cyber Space just like you were when you discovered a Cyber Space Portal when you first arrived on the Starfall Islands. I think you're right; maybe Cyber Space isn't working for him, but maybe for everyone else here.", Maruki said. "What do you mean by everyone else?", Eggman asked. "I can answer that question.", came a voice behind them. Eggman and Maruki turned to see a man with grey eyes and grey hair that was slicked back wearing a blue yukata and grey spats holding a katana in a blue sheath. "So what do you propose happened, Vergil?", Eggman asked the man. "Indeed, Cyber Space is working, but not for Jack. After he was gravely injured in the last known battle of the War of the Worlds, I followed him through the dimensional sea to a place known as Twilight Town, a city under the perpetual glow of the twilight sky. There, I saw Jack being placed in Cyber Space in a mansion far away from the town; after a man wearing a red cloak and covering his face with red bandages logged him into Cyber Space, I saw an angel with black wings and a black halo poisoning the pod Jack was placed in as it were; afterward, you and Maruki both arrived and with the rest of the heroic Chosen, you entered Cyber Space yourselves in an attempt to save Jack and bring him out of Cyber Space.", Vergil explained. "I-I see. Thank you for this helpful infodump.", Eggman said. "Wait, I realise it now!", Maruki suddenly exclaimed. "So you remember now?", Vergil asked. "I do know. Thanks! Cyber Space is working…but for us, not Jack! That's why he's being warped around the area and experiencing these strange visions- they're our memories!", Maruki replied. "Well that ends one mystery anyway.", Eggman said.

Waking up groggily, I found myself in a strange castle. I walked around the area, making sure to notice that for a royal's residence, it looked surprisingly humble and restrained. Regardless, I knew that in order to stop YHVH from establishing a world without freewill, I would need to create a timeline by altering various points in history to hopefully force an Incursion and destroy the world YHVH was planning on creating. Just how exactly I was to do that I didn't know. Entering a room with a balcony, I saw what was unmistakably Noah and Mio there looking upon their "kingdom"; like in the alternate Fodlan I ventured through, the sky was dark with a crimson moon replacing the Sun; the ground withered and burned through the fires of Hell. The water itself had boiled over too, replaced by lava and magma. Noah and Mio themselves were wearing black and dark orange outfits; Noah was wearing black robes with orange designs whilst Mio was wearing a cropped version of the same black and orange robes exposing her midriff and a black miniskirt. Most strikingly, their eyes both had scleras black as the night. Backing out of the room, I then walked into a strange living room with red velvet couches; high on one wall was a picture depicting a painting of Noah and Mio. I looked at the photo, only for the picture to keep changing- first it showed Alphen and Shionne, then Lindow and Sakuya, then Yuito and Naomi, then Haseo and this woman with short blonde hair, then Taion and Eunie before finally showing Ethel and Cammuravi. "What are you trying to show me?", I asked.

Returning to the Chronos Terminal, I then opened several rectangular red portals with various past events displayed in them; one of them showed a samurai wearing black and yellow armour with a black hood and a white mask, one of them showed Ragna being dragged into a fiery gate by a robotic albino with long white hair, another showed a woman with long red hair and red eyes being stabbed in the back by a purple dragon that looked like a cobra and a final fourth one showed a man with red hair, yellow eyes and green skin facing a large assembled army with an army of his own composed of various monsters. Several more red rectangular portals then opened showcasing even more historical events, upon which I generated various dark purple ghostly echoes of myself and sent them through into the portals. "Now history is in the making.", I said before I returned to a state of extreme drowsiness.

Whilst my echoes were making the trip into various histories, Haseo entered a room where he saw 7 figures- a woman with short blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a green dress and a white hat; a man with long blue hair and hazel eyes wearing a yellow and tan bodysuit; a dark-skinned man with short blonde hair and grey eyes wearing red-tinted glasses and reddish-orange robe; a young girl with short blonde hair and brown eyes wearing a black and green harlequin outfit; a man with pale skin, long blue hair and dark grey eyes wearing a suit of purple armour and a purple cap; a woman with long pink hair tied into twintails wearing rectangular glasses with a red frame and a revealing red ensemble exposing her midriff; and a man with short blue hair and red eyes wearing orange sunglasses and a suit of blue armour with his left arm encased in a giant metal gauntlet. "He's in the Chronos Terminal now.", Haseo said to the group. "Good. Now we can watch as history changes and YHVH's world is destroyed.", the woman in the green dress said with a smile. Turning to face her, Haseo said, "Indeed, Atoli. Now YHVH is helpless as the Ascension Project is completed.". Atoli then looked at the man with short blue hair and said, "You know, Ovan, this reminds me of when you used the Rebirth to reset the internet when AIDA had infected it.". "It is very similar, yes.", Ovan said. Turning to look at the man in the reddish-orange robe, Ovan then said, "The time is fast approaching, Yata. The time of the Ascension Project.". "Of course. Though our Epitaphs need time to awaken now. Given that Cyber Space is very similar to The World, it is a matter of time until AIDA infects it as well.", Yata said. "That reminds me, have you detected AIDA here in Cyber Space yet, Pi?", Haseo said to the scantily-clad pink-haired woman. "Not yet, but I feel that it will appear soon.", Pi said. Pi then turned to the man in the yellow and tan bodysuit, saying, "Kuhn, how confident are you in using Magus to escape Cyber Corruption?". "I feel that I can use it to escape corruption. But I don't if it makes me truly immune to Cyber Corruption and AIDA at the same time.", Kuhn said. "No matter. We won't need to worry about it when the Titans are gone.", Haseo said. Looking at the man wearing a purple cap, Haseo then said, "OK, Endrance, how comfortable are you luring Jack to the remaining two Titans in Calaglia and Ganath Haros?". "I…think I can do it.", Endrance said. Turning to the young girl in a harlequin outfit, Haseo then said, "Sakubo, we need to make sure the Titans are destroyed to make sure the Ascension Project goes smoothly. Make sure that you and Endrance lure Jack to the final two Titans and ensure that he is overcome by the corruption.". "Don't worry, Haseo. We will make sure he does.", Sakubo said, smiling.

Waking up again in the Chronos Terminal, I then saw that the place was covered with scarlet and crimson roots leading into pink flowers. I suddenly exited the red area, finding myself in Kunad Highway, after which the Kunad Gate then suddenly disappeared. Then, a dark red portal opened in front of me. I walked through, finding myself in an arid desert with a giant volcano in the distance. "Alright, time to destroy the third Titan then.", I said.

The story continues in the next chapter.