Fictions Mentioned:

Episode 44

OP Song:

Corpse Party: Blood Drive OP OST - In the rain (Full version)(SUBBED)

Insert Song: Start

OST Fate Stay Night - Majutsushi

With a snap.

"...!"

That was the next moment that came about. It sounded like a spontaneous glass breakage that would fall down on the floor. For Touma Kamijou, it felt like passing through a recently dug hole that was artificially created. And he felt like he was falling for a brief moment, with his wife in tow. From one perspective, they were there, and in the next second, they vanished into thin air.

"What the heck?!" Marisa made an exclaiming tone, making a surprised and worried expression as she turned around, noticing that the two passengers were gone. With wild eyes, she turn to the flying angel woman who was just as startled as she was.

"Oi, Kazakiri-chan, where the heck are Touma and Rika-chan?!" Marisa exclaimed.

"I..." Kazakiri would look back and forth while maintaining altitude through the usage of her wings.

What just happened?!

"Hmm, it seems that the one true girl dyed in red is making her move at long last."

From the rooftop of a castle not too far from where he stood, Jack the Ripper was merely looking up from the sky with an intrigued expression. The Jack the Ripper that the being—Hyouka Kazakiri had blown off with her thunder was merely a copy, an illusive trick. His plan was working out just as intended. He merely needed to draw the full attention of something that had been watching him ever since he had stepped from the foot on his domain.

Even he can feel the "snap" that happened. He knew that his adversary and his spouse were now too far away from this location and had been sent to another place in this hellish maze. And he can feel the effects of this snap overtaking him...dragging him away from his present location...and ending up in a dilapidated school hallway.

He looks from left to right, from up to down, with an unreadable expression. He can see a corpse that had a bloodied machete sticking into its head on the left side of the wall. From the looks of things, the corpse look like it had been here for a very long time. It wore a male school uniform and a splashed bloodied ID laying on the ground. There was a classroom to his right, one that had broken edges and holes.

"Ki-Ki-Ki-Ma-Ma-Ma!"

Ripper noticed a noise that was coming from right behind him. He felt unimpressed, and yet he sensed a kind of recognition. He lightly turns around and he would see...something standing a few meters away.

It was a tall ominous figure, large enough that send an imposing message of dread. The noteworthy feature that Ripper noticed was a white clean hockey mask, but from the top center, there was an Elder Futhark inscription, one written in crimson letters of dried blood. And from his right hand, Ripper can see a sharp machete materializing. Clearly,

"Ah...I see that the girl dyed in red had sent one of her dogs to deal with me," Ripper muttered to himself. If he had a clear face, one would think he was smirking in anticipation. "I suppose that this is a way of showing common courtesy, from one killer to another." He said as he materialized his brilliant crimson sword again, the same blade that clashed with his adversary.

And the blade would instantly clash with a furious metal, with sparks flying. Ripper can feel the light breeze that came from the burst of speed that the figure had enacted.

Sachiko Shinozaki...the True Red...had taken action.

Now, she was showing her hand once more. And she sent none other than the infamous slasher known as...

Jason Voorhees.

And thus, a battle took place. Zigzagging, Ripper was now parrying every attack from Jason, who was furiously trying to stab him. But Jason may find that Ripper would not be one to fall so easily.

"...!"

White Sachiko widened her eyes. She sensed something. No, not just sense something. She had seen it. She had seen her onii-chan and his wife whisked away to a place that was even out of her reach and foresight.

"Oh no..." She muttered softly.

She felt a familiar tone of power, the source of whom White Sachiko recognized to the fullest.

To provide context, there is actually something that White Sachiko had been keeping hidden for a while. But it was not out of malice, but rather one out of concern, especially when it risks the safety of many people who are trapped here.

The identity of Sachiko Shinozaki. The red one. The opposite one. She noticed that the red one was making her move.

"...Huh?"

But even Red Sachiko was caught off guard. Yes, she was the one who is initiating yet another dimensional slip, but...

"...No, no, no," Sachiko muttered with apprehension.

Something was very wrong. Something was hijacking her own method. There was something wibbling around the corner.

"Ooof!"

Touma and Rika would crash to the asphalt floor. Their breaths grunt as they try to raise themselves over with both of their hands.

"Are...Are you alright, anata?" Rika, being the first to get up a little, would grab her husband by the left shoulder.

"A...Ah," Touma affirmed, but he was concerned about something else.

His eyes narrowed and looked around. All he would see was an abandoned hallway that was vast. A broken ceiling from above with holes as it showcases the tender but silent rain. There were staircases nearby and below was a door that led to the outside world. But even with the rain dropping, it was eerily silent. There was no voice. There was nothing but silence. The only pathways that were available for them to go would be either to their backside where abandoned classrooms were nearby or the pathway that would show a way out towards the balcony, but Touma figured that it would be a terrible idea for the former option. If there was anything Touma remembered about Heavenly Host, it was that he shouldn't trust any classroom, no matter how quiet and seemingly peaceful it may be.

"...Anata, it appears that there are only two ways to go from here. Where do you think should we set course?" Rika asks with a concerned tone, holding onto her husband's shoulder.

"...We move north," Touma muttered.

And thus, they did so, walking outside and getting splashed by the slow but tender rain. Better to be wet than to get killed by an unsuspecting spirit or monster. As they exited and walked along, they saw the darker clouds covering the heavens, pouring down softer rain.

They walked toward the darker pathways made out of stone, upwards upon the castles. Everything was quiet. Touma and Rika were quiet. They looked around and found nothing. But they could not shake the heavy forebodings that they felt within their soul.

There was someone watching them. But who? But from where?

Touma and Rika can immediately take a good guess, but that was merely a guess, a hypothetical conjecture. Heavenly Host has proved time and time again that it is capable of unpredictability. And the further they go, they still notice all of the skeletal and fleshly remains that are scattered everywhere. Even if one tried to look away, they would still feel the foul stench of disrespected neglect for those who should have been given proper burials. Sacrilege of human dignity is everywhere.

As they passed through the pathways, they turned right where they entered into a distorted hallway, with some skeletal remains from the side.

"...uuh...uhh..."

"...?!"

Both Touma and Rika stopped walking. They heard the soft, crying voice of a young girl. They both looked at each other. Someone is here. They would both begin to make haste, following the sound of the crying voice. Touma would try to find something from his thought-map, and it appeared that there was a signal. It was coming from a specific hallway a few meters nearby.

They would turn to the left. Rika would stop to say with a serious expression. "Dear, look."

Touma looks. And his eyes widened in surprise when he began to notice the appearance of a little girl, about six years of age. She had been sitting on the floor, with her elbows covering her face. The girl had long dark brown ponytail hair, styled in a plait held up by a pink ribbon, wearing a simple grey sleeveless turtleneck and a grey stripe patterned knee-length skirt. With gray high-top sneakers and pink socks.

"...Wait a minute," Touma muttered. He recognized the girl. And it was a girl that he was once close to long ago, considering her as his adopted niece, in a time of the same Hell, where he looped upon so many worlds, and ended up in this girl's reality.

Touma would slowly draw close and would speak softly but clearly. "Marlene..."

"...Ah!" Marlene Wallace, being surprised by someone calling her name, would look up with her brown tearful eyes towards the left, thinking that she would bear witness to yet another horror that seems to be common in this place, only... "...Eh?" She would be surprised to find a young man, looking at her with concerned, gentle black eyes, wearing a strange red and white combat uniform. And then there was a beautiful young woman with maternal, periwinkle eyes with a shrine maiden outfit.

Strangely, Marlene didn't feel cautious or afraid of them. But what drew her attention was the young man who was slowly coming towards her. His eyes felt familiar. His face felt familiar. And his voice...it felt so painfully familiar. It reminded her of an uncle figure that she had lost long ago. A lost comrade who had given his life to save another. The man who saved Aerith Gainsborough from her original fate. The man who died with a smile on his face.

It...couldn't be. Marlene thought as she was trembling. Her hands were raised, clenching together. She pictured a young man in his twenties, giving her a flower with a kind, paternal smile on his face. And the picture fades into reality as the young man is now crouching towards her, carrying a weary smile.

"...Uncle...Touma..." Marlene muttered, with a trembling mouth and with tears leaking from her eyes.

Touma, looking a little guilty, but never losing his kind smile, would say with a humored tone. "...It's been a while, Ms. Wallace, I hoped that you took care of that flower that I gave you."

Yes, the flower that her dearly missed uncle had given Marlene before he left. And never came back. There was no way that this was merely a trick. No one could have known this except her and a few others.

"...Uncle!"

Marlene would immediately jump into Touma's arms and embrace him. Touma would embrace her gently while Rika would be by Touma's side, watching silently but making a soft smile at this tearful reunion. Touma can hear the soft cries that would erupt from the child who witnessed such adventure and fright. And now, Touma would immediately realize something, much to his horror and apprehension.

Another set of people that came from his past are now about to be dragged into the nightmarish madness that is being enacted in this accursed realm. A third one. The first was the students and teacher of Kisaragi Academy. The second was his wife and the rest of the Gaming Club of Hinamizawa. And the third...

"("Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret, Red, Yuffie, Cait Sith, Vincent, Cid, Zack...I'm so sorry for dragging you all into this.")"

Now, one wonders why Touma hadn't gone to visit the universe where Marlene lives, one where all of his friends, or rather family, thought him to be dead, when the dreaded Sephiroth stabbed him. Sephiroth intended to kill Aerith. It just so happened that Touma was in the way, sparing Aerith from her original fate. Touma made a deal with the very world itself. His life in exchange for one particular individual that could be brought back. Zack Fairs. That was his goal at the time.

The family that he left behind knew him to be dead. And Touma intended for it to stay that way, if only because they've been through enough. They've earned their happy ending. They don't need him anymore. Their world was more than safe and sound. Well, with Marlene being here, not anymore, it seems. It seems that Touma Kamijou is needed once again. He would reunite with his old party. And he would have to explain just where in Jenova's name had he been.

"("...Odds are, I'll probably get punched to the face by either Tifa or Barret for making them think I'm dead. Though I do deserve that one, not gonna lie...")" Touma thought sadly.

A few moments later, after Marlene would raise her face a little, having finished crying for the most part, would begin to ask. "...Uncle...I...But...But how? They...They said that you weren't coming back...That you were..."

"Yeah, and I was," Touma reassured with a contrite face. "How I'm still alive? A very very long story. And I'll probably tell you the story of what you're uncle had been up too while we walked. Staying here isn't a good thing."

"...Ri...Right," Marlene couldn't help but agree with a nod. She'd seen too many bloody horrors at this point. Before meeting her Uncle Touma again, she had borne witness to the gruesome murder of a high school student with a chainsaw. Next, as she ran, she would see decapitated specters that were roaming around the hallways. And then, other horrors throughout the halls. How she managed to survive was nothing short of a miracle.

"Hmm?" Marlene would look at the beautiful young woman who was right beside her uncle. "Uncle, who is this beautiful lady?"

Rika would smile a little as she looked at the child with fondness and sadness. When she looks at Marlene, she is reminded of her own daughter, Yukina.

"My name is Rika Kamijou, young one," Rika spoke with a smile, lowering her face and body a little towards the child. She looked meaningfully at Touma who was smiling a little. "And I am his wife."

"...Eh?!" Marlene would widen her eyes a little, looking at Touma who confirmed with a nod.

"Yeah, she's my wife, Marlene."

It was a quiet trip down the dilapidated hallways.

Marlene was being held by the hand by none other than her newfound considered aunt, Rika.

Marlene would now do her absolute best to soak in what her dear uncle had to tell her, if only in a condensed nutshell of what he had been through. And it was a lot, Marlene would admit. Her uncle was a recognized hero in several worlds, he had a lot of friends and family, and he had a lot of adventures. That was the gist that she could get. But most importantly, she finally got to meet the woman whom her uncle had referred to.

His wife. Rika Kamijou.

Her uncle never really talked about his wife and daughter much. Only in passing. And even then, he never mentioned a name. Now she knows.

And from the explanation that her uncle had given her, it seems that there was a vengeful spirit, due to no genuine fault of her own, that is caught in a cycle and now the past itself is coming back to haunt her uncle in ways that she could not dare to imagine. And with her and the rest of her family and friends being a part of her uncle's past, it's only natural that she would get involved, whether she would like it or not.

Marlene on her part would explain to Touma about what she'd been through, though with great difficulty. Sometimes, her uncle's face would darken a little. Other times, her uncle would make a pondering look on his face.

And now...

"...Wait," Touma would stop in his tracks, sporting concerned knitted eyebrows, sensing something.

And then suddenly...

"...!"

A random portal would erupt from the hallway. The three would bear witness to a white with black spots bulky armored individual with blue lines from up to down, a man wearing a technologically advanced combat exoskeleton system, with a T-shaped visor, carrying a modified MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System staser rifle that fires several barrages of bluish automatic colors, causing numerous explosions. They were hitting what appeared to be spectral figures, vengeful ghosts with a reddish aura, and they were affected by the anti-staser effects. With one hit, a scream erupts from a vengeful spirit, disintegrating it into nothing.

This bulky armored figure was an elite soldier called a Clone Spaarti, associated with STARS' 501st Legion.

Marlene was rather surprised, immediately embracing Rika who was narrowing her eyes at the scene before her. Touma would recognize the man underneath the armor, analyzing the signature with his thought-map.

"Crosswise," Touma would call out for the trooper who noticed his voice. The trooper turned to his right and was genuinely surprised.

"General Kamijou," the now-named Crosswise would begin to dash forward towards the portal while still turning his rifle at the incoming specters. Touma would raise his right hand and fire a repulsor ray against the specters, providing the trooper with covering fire.

And with numerous shots fired from both Touma and Crosswise, tagging numerous vengeful specters, eventually, the portal would seal itself, leaving an empty hallway. Both Touma and Crosswise would lower their weapons and turn to each other.

"Crosswise, I need a detailed report from you, and it relates to how you managed to get here and what is the current situation that you managed to assess so far," Touma would begin to sport a professional expression.

"Yes sir," Crosswise nodded with the tip of his helmet.

And for Marlene, she looks straight at Touma's face to find something else. He looked and felt...aged if that made any sense, and it was because of the way he looked now and how he is currently acting in the situation. Less of a young man, more of a professional military soldier, reminding her of her father, Barret, but even more so... And then her eyes fell on the bulky intimidating soldier.

She turned to Rika who was smiling a little. "...Aunt Rika, who is that man that is talking to Uncle Touma."

"That, my dear, would be an old familiar friend," Rika could only say, gently patting Marlene's hair.

Something else was moving the pieces. Whatever Red Sachiko's plans are to drag Touma and Rika around are foiled by a mysterious force.

"Don't get too cocky...me..."

The Original Red Sachiko Shinozaki would subtly make her move at long last. A young woman who looks to be of sixteen years of age, wearing a tattered red dress, and with grey skin. She had been waiting for this opportunity. While her other corrupted selves were distracted with their playtime, the Sachiko who had first appeared to her onii-chan and to his friends, would now finally make her appearance.

Somehow, Sachiko had managed to regain enough control to fight back her own darkness and the ones pulling her strings. She had a little help admittedly.

"...It's about time this cycle of madness finally ends...And I'll finally be able to help onii-chan...No more...My birthday party needs to end...at long last..."

Insert Song: End

ED Song:

【ARTERY VEIN】Confutatis no Inori (Full Version)【CP Blood Covered】【Eng Lyrics】

Main Companion Protagonists:

Touma Kamijou - VA: Atsushi Abe

Main Love Interests:

Rika Kamijou (née Furude) (Past) - VA: Yukari Tamura

Main Ally Characters:

Sachiko Shinozaki (White) - VA: Ikue Ōtani

FF7 Family:

Marlene Wallace - VA: Sumire Morohoshi

Questionable Ally Characters:

Original Sachiko Shinozaki (Red) - VA: Ikue Ōtani

Main Enemy Characters:

Sachiko Shinozaki (Red) - VA: Ikue Ōtani

New Characters:

Jason Voorhees

Crosswise - A(s): Temuera Morrison; Dee Bradley Baker