Chapter 22
Ram it Down
As I travelled through the arid desert, I then encountered a strange vision of a purple moon fighting a collection of four robots- the Titans. The vision led to one of the strange warrior of darkness I'd previously seen now fighting against Haseo, Atoli, Kuhn, Yata, Sakubo, Endrance, Pi, Ovan, Lindow, Sakuya, Soma, Yuri, Luke, Lloyd, Alphen, Shionne, Rinwell, Law, Kisara, Dohalim, Yuito, Hanabi, Luka, Gemma, Tsugumi, Kyoka, Kagero, Kasane, Shiden, Arashi and various others. This vision led in turn to a vision of well me in a strange forest about to draw out a legendary sword from a pedestal. Thoroughly confused by these visions, I made my way up to the giant volcano. I heard a giant mechanical scream in the distance; I sped up upon hearing it, not caring as the arid desert gave way to a volcanic wasteland that by all appearances looked like it was taken from a set of volcanic islands in the sky. I witnessed several pyroclastic lava flows converging toward a central volcano; I followed the flows, single-mindedly ignoring the various alien robots that had lined up to stop me. I ploughed through them easily, summoning a volley of spectral missiles that Wyvern had given the power to use.
Approaching the central volcano, I looked down into the caldera, seeing a giant mechanical silver robot with a long metal "mane" and four legs with wheels on the bottom. The being, Knight, was also brandishing a giant dark red sword and a buzzsaw shield. I slid down the volcanic rock to face the Titan, ready to fight. Upon noticing me, the Titan let out another giant mechanical scream as I smirked. "Alright, let's dance!", I said. Firing up my Tao mandalas, I braced myself for the Titan's attacks, daring it to attack. Knight was the first to strike, launching a brutal slash with its sword that I parried. Feeling time slow down, I rushed toward the Titan, grinding upwards on its sword (don't ask) and then unleashing a tremendous elemental onslaught, consisting of a giant ball of flame followed by a giant tidal wave followed by raising various stalagmites followed finally by a giant tornado. Feeling time return to normal, I kicked Knight in the face as it launched its buzzsaw shield and threw it at me. I landed on the shield expertly, using gravitational control to ram the shield into the Knight and saw into it. Recovering like a pro, Knight then unleashed a crimson beam of energy from the sword which I crushed in my palm. I then summoned an icy greatsword in my own hand which I used to parry and deflect Knight's own greatsword albeit with the icy greatsword itself shattering from the impact.
Knight then rushed at me, unleashing a flurry of furious stabs which I countered by unleashing a fiery wall. The Titan promptly responded by throwing its shield at me again which I deflected with gravitational control; the shield sawed into Knight a second time, now embedding itself deeper than before. Knight threw its sword in response to the "pain"; I retaliated by picking up the sword with gravitational control, using it to bisect the giant vertically, causing it to explode. As it did, crimson energy from the Titan entered and covered me just like Giganto and Wyvern, the energy forming a replica of the Titan's buzzsaw shield which I then threw like a discus. But that wasn't all; after the energy dissipated, a pair of crimson fiery wings burst from my back as my body transformed into that of a phoenix. I don't know how long I spent in that state; when I woke up as a human again, I found myself in a coastal beach. "Wait, what just happened to me?", I asked. "Now you remember.", a voice said behind me. I turned around to see a strange figure behind me covered in golden and crimson fire; the figure said, "You are the Dominant of Phoenix. You have finally awakened now.". "Wait, what do you mean by Dominant?", I asked. Before I could get an answer, the figure disappeared. "Typical.", I said to myself before I turned around again and went on my merry way.
As I made my way through the beach, noticing its beautiful ivory sand and cyan waves, I saw a group of figures in the distance- a girl with platinum blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a red cat mask and a red leather catsuit; a man with dyed blonde hair and brown eyes wearing a metallic dark grey skull mask and black and dark grey pirate armour; a boy with blue hair and grey eyes wearing a white fox mask and a black jumpsuit with white boots and a white fox tail; a woman with brown hair and reddish-brown eyes wearing an iron mask with a dark blue and black leather jumpsuit with spikes on her knees and shoulders; a girl with long orange hair and mauve eyes wearing a black skintight jumpsuit with green highlights and a pair of black goggles with orange lenses; and a girl with auburn hair and brown eyes wearing a black domino mask and a pale pink blouse, a black buttoned up vest and black pantyhose stockings. I approached them, obviously expecting them to notice me, which they did. Eager to introduce myself, I said, "Hi, my name's Jack. Who are you?". Of course, I had a feeling like I knew them from somewhere, but I couldn't really put my finger on it. "Typical. Absolutely typical.", the man in the skull mask said. "I suppose it can't be helped though, what with how injured he was when he was first placed into Cyber Space.", the girl in the domino mask said. "Come again?", I asked, curious. "Oh, where are our manners? I'm Ryuji Sakamoto, though you can call me Skull.", the man with dyed blonde hair in the skull mask said. "I'm Ann Takamaki, though you can call me Panther.", the platinum blonde-haired girl in the red cat mask said. "I'm Yusuke Kitagawa, though you can call me Fox.", the blue-haired man in the fox mask said. "I'm Mackenzie Niijima, though you can call me Queen.", the brown-haired girl in the iron mask said. "Wait, Mackenzie? Not Makoto?", I asked. "I'm Futaba Sakura, though you can call me Oracle.", the orange-haired girl in the black goggles said. "And I'm Haru Okumura, though you can call me Noir.", the auburn-haired girl in the domino mask said. Realising where I'd heard their names before, I said, "Wait, you're the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, aren't you?". "You're goddamn right.", Ryuji said. "Anyway, now that introductions are out of the order, do you know where our leader is?", Yusuke asked. "Wait, you mean Akira Kurusu?", I asked. "That's right.", Futaba replied. "Well, last I heard, he was in Garreg Mach Monastery.", I said. "And how do you know this?", Mackenzie asked. "Well, when I was fished out of the ocean, I was in a malfunctioning healing pod. Though I was mostly unconscious, I heard a young dragon princess talk about how a one Akira Kurusu was located in a place named Garreg Mach Monastery. Well, at least that's where he was located at the time.", I said. "Thank you. You helped us find a friend.", Haru said before the Phantom Thieves suddenly warped away. "Why does that keep happening?", I asked myself before continuing on to where Supreme was waiting.
Walking across the beach, I saw another vision, this time of Rex and Nia in that dark castle I saw Noah and Mio in. Quite strangely, I saw the people there were changing- first Rex and Nia changed into Shulk and Fiora, then Lindow and Sakuya, then Haseo and Atoli, then Alphen and Shionne, then Yuito and Naomi, then Diamant and Ivy, then Alfred and Timerra, then Ragna and Velvet, then Gilgamesh and Artoria, then finally and more concerningly, myself and Yumi. All of the people I saw had scleras black as the night. As I wondered over the connection between them, I then saw the vision of a blood red moon covering the Sun. In that vision, I saw myself restrained by dark chains. As the me in the vision tried to resist, he heard Noah saying, "Do not look away, Son. You witness a King's revival and the birth of his new world!". Confused by this, I then came up to a coastal forest quite a distance away from the beach but still relatively near regardless. I heard another mechanical scream- this time from what I believed to be Supreme, the final Titan. At this moment, I then felt something very strange within me. Looking at my left arm, I saw that it was glowing with an ominous green light. "Wait, what is this?", I thought. "It's the Anchor, the power to manipulate the Fade.", Hanabi said behind me. I turned around to see her, with Hanabi calmly walking up to me and hugging me. "Wait, why are you in Ganath Haros too?", I asked. "You already know why, my love.", Hanabi said, tenderly looking into my eyes. "I don't understand. Why are you being so intimate with me?", I asked. "Don't worry about that, dear. You just focus on stopping the Titans.", Hanabi said, smiling.
Gently breaking free from Hanabi's loving embrace, I then turned around and headed into the forest. "Don't worry, dear. You'll remember soon enough.", Hanabi said to herself. Running through the forest, I then encountered various eldritch and otherworldly demons which I easily destroyed with a burst of green energy from my left arm. Wondering if I could combine the Anchor's power with my regular magic, I then fired up my Tao mandalas, only to notice that the left one was coloured green as opposed to the right one being coloured orange. I also saw that the green mandala was emitting green electricity compared to the orange one; as a demon then prepared to attack, I unleashed power from the green mandala, finding myself oddly between the forest I was currently in and a dark green and black eldritch spirit dimension. Quickly returning to the forest, I then watched as the green energy from my left hand created a giant explosion, felling many of the trees around me.
Unnerved by the amount of power I apparently had access to, I kept running to the centre of the forest. As I did so, I felt crimson wings burst from my back again, covering my body in crimson and golden flames. Bursting through the forest, I rammed into various demons, incinerating them. Among them were demonic insects, mannequins holding pairs of scissors, demonic looking knights holding swords and shields, giant demonic pillbugs and skeletons wielding scythes. I then stopped upon finding myself at the entrance of the clearing where Supreme was waiting. I took a moment to relax briefly, breathing in to clear my mind. My mind clear, I entered the forest clearing, seeing an absolutely colossal mechanical being with a white, silver and black body and a black and dark red head. Attached to its shoulders were a series of cylindrical turbines branching downwards across its back. I also saw red holes freckled across the side of its body as well as a giant black and red sniper rifle attached to its back. Accompanying the being, Supreme, was a pair of dark grey turrets shaped like diamonds and lowered triangular pyramids. It looked vaguely similar to Giganto as well. Upon Supreme noticing me, two dots on its face lit up, glowing a sinister crimson colour. The Titan then grabbed its sniper rifle and activated the two turrets. Wondering how I was going to confront it, I then heard a voice inside my head saying, "Unleash the power of the Phoenix Force.". I silently focused, summoning the crimson wings and drawing out of my back again. Ready to face the Titan, I then flew up to the skies to confront it.
Like Knight before it, Supreme was the first to attack, firing a burst of crimson energy from its sniper rifle. I fired a burst of fire in turn at the burst of energy, destroying it. I then rushed at Supreme whilst wreathed in an aura of crimson and golden fire, undeterred as Supreme unleashed a wave of crimson energy balls from its turrets. I destroyed the balls with a volley of spectral missiles that Wyvern had given me the power to use; I then followed this up with a burst of green energy from my left hand, the energy turning into a fist of stone. I used gravitational control to throw the fist at the Titan, also making sure to summon a burst of ice, transforming it into a volley of icy shards which I fired at Supreme with great impunity. Supreme countered this by firing a menagerie of crimson lasers from the red holes on its body; I countered this by unleashing a stream of high pressure water onto the Titan. Enraged, Supreme then unleashed energy in the shape of two crimson wings and followed this with a hard crimson spherical barrier. I broke it by generating crimson energy into a replica of Knight's buzzsaw shield which I then threw like a discus, shattering the barrier. I flew toward Supreme, a fiery aura covering me in the shape of a phoenix as I generated crimson energy covering my hands and making improvised boxing gloves. Supreme then brought down its rifle on me like a club, which I then blocked with the crimson energy covering my hands. I then formed a giant lance made of magma which I ran through the Titan, destroying it as the crimson energy covering my hands dissipated. Crimson energy came from where Supreme was, entering and covering my body like a cocoon as I returned to the ground. Suddenly, a strange sense of pain came over me as the crimson energy briefly formed into a pair of turrets not entirely dissimilar to what Supreme used before disappearing. As the pain reached a truly unbearable level, I screamed as the crimson energy pierced the digital sky.
As the energy pierced the sky, I found myself in a crimson area not entirely dissimilar to that of the Chronos Terminal. I noticed an obsidian pedestal in front of me; curious as to what it would show me, I touched it. I was then transported to a church hall where I noticed myself wearing a fancy tuxedo and an orange tie. In came Hanabi wearing a beautiful white wedding dress, her ears also pierced by light pink spherical earrings. The vision then faded as I returned to the crimson area where I saw Arashi in the distance wearing a dark pink gown. I walked over to her. Turning to face me, she smiled before saying, "Took you long enough. Anyway, now that the Titans are gone, we can finally begin with the Ascension Project.". "Arashi, what is this Ascension Project?", I asked. Arashi then looked at me with a sad look in her eyes. "You know, I didn't want to be the one to tell you this. But it seems I have no choice now.", she said. "What do you mean?", I asked. "Well, when you were born, you were essentially ripped from the World's reality. You became a Chronophantasma in the process- a phantom of time. Though you are powerful, you are also inherently foreign to Nintentopia's reality, making you an instrumental part in our plan to ascend and become Gods.", Arashi said. "Wait, what do you mean?", I asked. "The Ascension Project is a plan we Chosen have to ensure that Nintentopia and the Sovereign Empire still have a ruler. The purpose of the plan is to allow us to ascend and turn the Multiverse into our personal playground, allowing us to subject it to our every whim.", Arashi said, smiling.
As I processed what Arashi was telling me, I then saw her hold out her hand, saying, "Please, Jack, join us. Do so and a bright future as the Supreme Being awaits you.". I replied, "I'm sorry, but I can't join you. I swore an oath when I was confirmed as the Thirteenth Mage Hero to protect the Multiverse against all who would harm it. Not that I think that your proposal is bad, but I can't because of the oath I swore.". Still smiling, Arashi said, "Oh, I wasn't asking. You will join us, one way or the other. After all, you're one of us.". Walking towards me, Arashi then looked in my eyes tenderly, also making sure to embrace me with her gentle touch. "Wait, what are you doing?", I asked. "Oh, that should be obvious, my dear. You're going to join us and help us turn the Multiverse into our personal playground. Isn't that right, Jack?", Arashi said ever so sweetly.
Suddenly, I then found myself in a snowy wasteland. Arashi was nowhere to be seen. I then felt a very strange feeling in my body, as if something very terrible was about to happen.
The story continues in the next chapter.
