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!


The Sanctuary

"Hey Shadow...Any idea what the fuck is that?"

"..."

As Subaru asked this question, Shadow clicked his tongue.

He had already faced one of the Titans a year ago in Kararagi. He didn't expect that another one would be here in Lugunica.

"This is...One of the Four Titans, constructs of the Primordial Force of Chaos, created by a prehistoric race called the Ancients...This one is WYVERN, the Serpent of the Wind..." Shadow explained to the shocked spectators around him.

"Wait...Why are you making it sound as if there is no way for us to defeat it?" Subaru asked with a nervous laugh.

"Because we don't...In my current sealed state, I can't do anything to it. And if I wanted to defeat it, I must release one of my seals, but...I can't do that anymore. Not without Beatrice's special magic barrier..." Shadow said.

"Shit! Is there truly no way?! Shadow, is there really no way?!" Subaru asked, clearly freaking out.

Subaru knew that Last Second Retreat won't do anything right now, since after briefly studying the ability while being held captive inside his own body by Exeller, Subaru came to the conclusion that in addition to being capable of rewinding time to a specific point when he is a second away from Death, Last Second Retreat is mostly designed to allow Subaru to rewind time to a point before he would meet his Death, a means to challenge Fate, so to speak.

And the fact that this Authority of his was self-centered on him and him only didn't do well for Subaru, as it meant that he would rewind right before the impossible event was about to happen, so nothing will change.

"...There is a way" A whisper that cut through the tension echoed, as everyone present stared with wide eyes at Shadow.

"What is it?! Is there something that we can do?!" Heinkel immediately broke the ice with his panicked tone. He was desperate, and so was everyone else, for their own reasons, of course.

"This thing...Is not a real Dragon. It's something akin to a gigantic Metia, like the Fifth Divine General of Vollachia, Moguro Hagane. However, the main difference is that it's empowered by a Chaos Emerald, and if my hypothesis is correct, the blue Emerald that Exeller sent to that thing is supposed to be on top of it in an altar above its head" Shadow explained.

"So if we take away that Emerald from that altar, it will stop?" Ram asked.

"No. It's not that easy. This thing was one of four creations called the Titans, machines created by the Ancients, lifeforms created by the Primal Force of Life to combat The End, a lifeform created by the Primal Force of Death. This is one of the four Titans, WYVERN. And even if we managed to reach it and take the Emerald from the altar above its head, it won't do a thing, because when it was created, it was empowered by the essence of a Chaos Emerald, so the infinite energy and power of a Chaos Emerald is still within it. All that the Chaos Emerald resting above its head done was to awaken it" Shadow said.

"So...Whatcha have in mind, Vice-Captain?" Garfiel asked.

"I fought one of them a year ago in Kararagi, so I know that there is a way to defeat it, but..." Shadow trailed, narrowing his eyes, and everyone could see that he was troubled by something.

"But...?" Subaru urged him to continue.

"I fear on the residents of this city...Nay, this entire country. They can be caught in the crossfire. And also...The solution that I'm pursuing will only last for 10 minutes. So I want you all to do something for me" Shadow said.

"What is it?" Frederica asked.

"I need you all to evacuate all the citizens inside the city. Judging by its movements, it's circling around the city of Lugunica. So evacuating everyone in the city will be your top priority. As for me, I will try to reach that thing and fetch the Chaos Emerald above its head" Shadow said.

"What is it that you're aiming to do, Shadow-kun?" Rem asked, and Shadow could see the worried expressions on her and Ram's faces.

"...Nothing dangerous...I guess..." Shadow muttered.

"You're not making us feel any better about you, you know" Otto noted.

"Sorry, but can I know exactly what kind of...'Solution' that you're going to use to stop that thing?" Heinkel butted in with his question.

"The altar above the head of WYVERN is called a Chaos Engine. The moment the Chaos Emerald was placed on it, it got charged with the same amount of power that all seven Chaos Emeralds have combined. A Titan was empowered in the past worth of hundreds of thousands of years ago by a single Emerald, and its mechanical structure managed to replicate the power of seven of it. So normally, in order to combat this thing, I have to have all seven Chaos Emeralds in hand. Unfortunately, this isn't the case now because we have only three of them on hand, or four if you counted the Emerald resting above WYVERN's head. Even so, it won't be enough" Shadow explained.

"I see. I think I understand. You will take the charged Chaos Emerald resting on the head of that huge dragon-like thing and use the power of the Emerald above its head. However, due to it being away from the altar that it's sitting on, this power will last only for 10 minutes" Otto concluded.

"Sharp as always, Otto. Maybe you're not so useless, after all" Shadow threw a joke at Otto.

"Well excuse me for using my mind!" Otto shouted comically.

"Anyways, that means that by the time you reach it, we are to evacuate the citizens outside the Capital City, right?" Heinkel asked.

"Correct. The moment I gain this power, I'll try to lure it away from above the city to prevent any losses, and you all will have the role to protect the people there" Shadow said, before snapping his fingers, causing a pale purple spherical portal to appear out of thin air.

"This spatial portal will teleport you all to the center of the Capital city. We need to act fast, so don't dawdle" Shadow said, making everyone, except for Roswaal who was still looking at the empty black book in his hands with dead eyes, nod in response as they all entered through the portal. Nobody even noticed in the midst of the tension that someone was missing amongst them.

Everyone entered the portal, except for Subaru and Emilia.

"Take care, friend. Don't die on me" Subaru said, to which Shadow flashed a grin.

"I won't die anytime soon, so don't dream on the possibility" He said, to which Subaru chuckled, before entering through the portal. Shadow then noticed Emilia looking at him with a troubled expression.

"Shadow...I'm...Sorry for what I said about...Both you and Subaru..." Emilia muttered her apology.

"Emilia...We shall speak about your apology only when you apologize to both Subaru and me, not just only one of us. Also, it's not the time for this. Say those words when we're done with this hurdle. But I'll just say one thing to you for now: You have done well passing the Trials all by yourself" Shadow said, causing Emilia's eyes to widen in surprise. Not only from the fact that Shadow had sensed that Puck wasn't with her, but also notice that the barrier around the Sanctuary had disappeared, which signaled the fact that Emilia had indeed passed the Trials.

Nodding firmly, Emilia marched towards the portal that Shadow created, before said portal shrunk and disappeared.

After that, Shadow looked above his head, seeing the gigantic Titan spinning above the city, slithering like a snake. He took a deep breath, before jumping upwards to the direction of the Titan, leaving Roswaal as the Clown remained in his state of shock.


A few minutes later. With Shadow

"I suppose that this is the best I can go without attracting its attention"

Shadow muttered to himself as he jumped to the bell tower, the highest building in the entire Capital city of Lugunica.

He looked at WYVERN who was spinning like a flying snake around the city, occasionally releasing a deafening roar. He then looked downwards, seeing his comrades assisting the Knights in evacuating the panicking citizens.

He then looked again at the flying Titan, and with his eyes that were sharper than a hawk and an owl, Shadow managed to look up close from a distance worth of tens of kilometers at WYVERN, and even managed to see through the frame of the creature, having sensed a Life signature inside. Upon seeing who it was, Shadow released a grumble of annoyance.

"It's the Rotten Egg...What am I not surprised...?" Shadow asked while rubbing his temples with his fingers. He then took a deep breath, before leaping off the bell tower, aiming towards the Titan. As it sensed a lifeform approaching it, WYVERN started to fly in an opposite direction away from the approaching signal, but it didn't manage to escape as Shadow managed to reach out and grab on its large tail.

WYVERN, seeing that it couldn't shake off the intruder, proceeded to fly upwards to the sky, before opening its two jaws, where crimson energy started to form out from its mouth, before it got slowly released in the form of red light platforms that started spinning as it ascended upwards. Just as it reached a point that was right below the clouds, it stopped producing the platforms and started to descend down towards the city. Shadow, noticing this, clicked his tongue, having realized that at this rate, he won't be able to reach the Emerald.

"Ugh...To hell with it..." He muttered, before releasing his grip on the tail of WYVERN, leaving himself to be thrown to the air. Spinning while falling, Shadow positioned himself to fall on the platform created by the Titan, before he went full speed when his legs touched the solidified energy as it was still extending towards the flying Titan, which was Shadow's goal.

Running forward, countless energy projectiles rained down towards Shadow, to which he increased his speed, dodging them skillfully and performing acrobatic skills that were so astounding that it would have the best of athletes jealous. Dodging even more projectiles, he picked up his pace as WYVERN was halfway to reach the Capital city.

Shadow noticed that the platform extended to spiral around WYVERN, where its end was a few hundred meters away from the top of the Titan's head. Shadow smirked at this, realizing that there were no obstacles ahead of him. The moment he reached the end of the platform, he jumped off of it and safely landed on the top of the head of the flying Titan. Looking in front of him, he saw the Chaos Engine ahead and on its top was the blue Chaos Emerald. Shadow walked towards the altar that held the Emerald, and then he extended his hand, and upon doing so, the Emerald flew towards his hand.

The moment he caught it, Chaos Energy flew at a tremendous rate in Shadow's body, and before he could register it, his body got illuminated in a bright crimson light, and afterwards, his new form appeared to light.

It appeared as if he was surrounded by crimson flames and his clothes were also appearing as if they were emitting said flames, but it wasn't at all. This was actually the aura of Chaos emitting from him. His outfit consisted of a red capsule jacket with short sleeves, a white muffler that held three crimson magatama drawings on its front, a white undershirt with two lines on the front, a white lower cape that went from his waist and down to just above his ankles with the drawings of dark crimson flames on its end, white pants with a red line extending from the top to the bottom of each sleeve, white fingerless gloves that held a red line on the back of each hand drawn vertically and sandals that exposed his toes, just like those of a ninja. His hair also became short and white in color, and he also had a vertical red line traveling across the right side of his face, traveling from his forehead, covering his right eye and ending all the way down to the right side of his chin.

(AN: Think of the Reincarnation version of the Ninjutsu Class in the online game of Unlimited Ninja, but without the kitsune mask worn at the side of said character's head)

"Heh...Been a year ever since I used this form" Shadow muttered, before he noticed that WYVERN had already placed his sights on him, which caused him to smirk.

"Alright. I have already defeated GIGANTO, so be prepared to meet him!" Shadow exclaimed before seeing WYVERN flying away in the distance and away from the Capital city, causing Super Shadow to give chase.


Unknown Location. With Reinhard

"Sword Saint Reinhard Van Astrea...Welcome...To my beloved city"

As Lye Batenkaitos bowed elegantly, Reinhard's mind was somewhere else.

"What...Where are...?" Reinhard was still in a shock at this place. This, coupled with the fact that he was extremely worried about Natsumi, as well as the mission to kill both her and her brother that he received from Bordeaux, alongside the fact that both his parents were missing, left Reinhard in a spiral of confusion and Fear.

However, Lye didn't seem to care, as he continued to speak.

"I–or we Witch Cultists, I suppose–have a keen interest in Humanity. Love. Family. Religion. The more human records I unearth, the more I am charmed by their complexity" He said.

"What...Do you mean? You all are nothing but genocide murderers, and don't you dare say that I got you all wrong" Reinhard said with his fists clenching.

"Ah. Yes. Surely that is the truth and I can't deny it. But a few days ago, I...Awoken to something else. The discovery of the presence of infinite worlds parallel to our own, and from it, I awoken to my Parallel World Self" Lye explained.

"What does that supposed to mean?" Reinhard asked, beads of cold sweat travelled down from his forehead.

"I managed to fuse with my Parallel World Self: Adam, an existence that is otherworldly, similar to a Metia and his race goes by the name of the Machine Lifeforms. His powers and knowledge were amazing. And so, living up to both our similar ideals, I managed to replicate his dream here. In this field" Lye said as he spread his arms to his sides.

"This is our playground. I, or we, Adam and I, replicated the creativity of Humanity. We want to solve the riddle of Humanity. Surely you won't understand this, right, Sword Saint? After all, you're nothing but a slave to your own powers and the people of the world" Lye said.

"What are you...Talking about?" Reinhard was beyond confused, and he sensed a danger beyond anything that he had ever sensed, which made him place his hand on the Dragon Sword, but the blade refused to be drawn out of its sheath, which meant that Lye Batenkaitos...Or Adam...Or whatever this being in front of him was, was deemed unworthy for the Dragon Sword Reid to be drawn out.

"We have been observing you ever since the day you were born, Reinhard Van Astrea. We know everything about you. Every conceivable trial and error were for the sole purpose of bringing forth a weakness out of you so that the Witch Cult could eliminate you...However, a few days ago, when Adam entered and we became one...I realized it...We don't need a weakness, because after basking into the mystery that is Humanity, we finally found a solution to the riddle: You, Reinhard Van Astrea" Lye said, leaving Reinhard completely stunned at his words, but Lye ignored his stupefaction and continued to speak.

"Don't you see? Look around you. This city is one of the many areas I created out of a desire to understand...To know...Humans. It's magnificent, don't you think? Almost...Spiritual. And yet, it's currently nothing more than a silent realm of whiteness! That's why!"

His tone suddenly became louder as his grin stretched across his face.

"I seek to learn and adopt all facets of Humanity! Some desired love! Others family! Only then did I realize the truth...The core of Humanity...Is conflict. They fight. Steal. Kill. THIS is Humanity in its purest form!" He exclaimed.

"You know nothing about Humanity!" Reinhard exclaimed with gritted teeth.

"Hehehe...Did I offend you, Sword Saint? Did I speak ill of your beloved Humans? Even though they're the ones compelling you to this impending dark Fate of yours? Ah...That truth can be so painful, but alas, just like Death, the truth is ugly, and we have to face it sooner or later" Lye said.

"Where...Is Natsumi?" Reinhard asked while pointing the sheathed Dragon Sword at Lye.

"I strive to attain nothing less that the essence of Humanity itself. Machine Lifeforms such as Adam, my Parallel World Self exist in the realm of the Network. They are immortal. Invincible. And yet, within all those infinite bits of data, there exist not even the slightest of emotions. Of Life. Lye Batenkaitos wanted to groom his meals like the Gourmet he was, and Adam wanted to bask himself in the mystery of Humanity. And in the midst of our own mental argument, we realized that we had the same interests. The same goals. And from here on, we fused our goals together to create another new goal: Grooming Humanity to a shape that would amaze even us!" Lye exclaimed, which caused Reinhard's patience to grow thin.

"I don't have time for this! I need...To find Natsumi!" He exclaimed, tightening his grip on Reid.

"Ah...Natsumi Schwartz, huh? Hehehe..." Lye chuckled, before he then suddenly started to float upwards. Then, Reinhard noticed as a portion of the walls of the church behind Lye started to crumble, and what he saw next shocked him.

"NATSUMI!"

She was without her Knight coat, bruised, battered and unmoving. Her body didn't even move a muscle, but the light rising of her chest indicated to Reinhard that she was still alive.

Natsumi was in a crucified position, hanging from the crumbled part of the walls of the church and held by several white stakes that pierced through portions of her body. The stakes pierced through her left ankle, right shin, left thigh, right side of ribcage, abdomen, and the two of her palms. Lye ascended to her form and grabbed her chin, raising her face that was filled with agony as her blood tainted the stakes piercing through her body.

Lye grinned as he looked at Reinhard's face that was filled with shock and worry.

"I made lots of experiments using your dear Natsumi. She was filled with lots of complexity of emotions and memories, and it was really amazing. I shall tear apart her body afterwards and dissect her to see what's inside. This agony should release more emotions out of her" He said caressing her face, before grinning from ear to ear as he looked at Natsumi's face. Lye didn't need to look at Reinhard to know what kind of emotion he was showing.

"Also...I prepared this just for you. I mean after all...We all need something to fight for, don't we?" He asked.

This was it.

The last straw.

Reinhard literally saw red, his favourite colour, right in front of his eyes, but it wasn't pleasant as he normally knew.

For the second time in his Life, Reinhard felt it. The emotion that he never thought that could exist inside of him.

Hatred and Anger.

"You son of a...! I'LL KILL YOU!" Reinhard yelled, a shockwave emitted from him due to the sheer intensity of his emotions, causing a small crater to appear underneath his feet.

This made Lye release Natsumi's face, and his eyes widened in a maniac manner as he grinned at Reinhard's face.

"YES! That's it! That's the feeling! Pure hate! That's exactly what I was looking for! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He yelled in excitement, before descending to the ground, landing on his feet.

"Come...REINHARD VAN ASTREA!" He yelled, spreading his arms to the side, which caused Reinhard to accept the invitation immediately and charge forward, anger and hatred consuming him completely, with the sole purpose of killing Lye...Or Adam...Or whatever that thing was, being the only thing in his mind.

It was time for Reinhard to face his own Fears.


At the same time. Aihiya Swamp

Sparks clashed and flew within the rainy night.

The two moved at unbelievable speeds, transcending even the very concept of speed itself. They were nothing but blurs...Nay. Their blurs ceased to exist as they moved and traded blows.

A final clash of Kaylin's sword and Alex's arm blade created a shockwave field that disrupted space around them, slicing off every single raindrop that made contact with both of them for a second, before the field disappeared.

Both glared at each other, unable to take their eyes off the other, but in the next second, they jumped away, making a considerable distance.

"I take that you won't calm down now, right?" Kaylin asked, her short red hair completely damp from the rain.

"..." Alex didn't say anything to her.

"Doesn't this place look familiar? Like that one back then in our original world, with the rain scenery, but brighter? And without it having to be called a Swamp?" Kaylin asked once again.

"..." And yet, Alex didn't reply. He just stared at her.

"Look...Alex, I want to tell you-"

"I remember...That day very well..."

Kaylin widened her eyes as she was interrupted by Alex talking for the first time ever since the beginning of their scuffle.

Of course, he would remember.

This was the story of Kotaro Hoshimiya, who died to allow the rebirth of Alex Mercer.


Flashback. 1 year ago. Dimension RE-022

He sat silently in front of her as she laid dead on the hospital bed.

He couldn't believe his ears when she said that she wanted him to forgive her, but the shock was too great that he couldn't reply.

At this point of him Life, Kotaro Hoshimiya was so mentally exhausted from all of the deranged inconsistences in his Life. He just wished for a normal Life, nothing more, nothing less.

Go to school, make friends, fall in Love with his childhood friend, go out on dates, share a kiss, make love, get engaged, grow up, go to college, find a job, get married, have kids, raise his kids with his partner, happily see them grow up, see them getting married, hold his grandparents in his arms, and then happily pass away while being surrounded with his loved ones.

To an outsider who had seen how cruel Life can be, this was nothing but a child's fantasy. To Kotaro, this was a dream that he wanted to fulfill.

He had already fallen in Love with his childhood friend, Miyuki Akagami. And she, in turn, did fall in Love with him as well. It was all good and well, until tragedy struck.

In one of his school's field trips, they went to the beach. They were already in the third year of high school. Kotaro stumbled upon the scene of Senna, his elder sister, going at it with his school council president and her lover, Seiji Satsu. He truly thought it was normal, and was about to leave, only for the corner of his eye to spot the naked form of Miyuki, begging to be screwed.

This was a shocker for Kotaro. He honestly was at a loss for words. His brain couldn't comprehend what he had just saw.

He slowly walked away and a few days later, Yoshino, an underclassman of his, expressed her feelings to him. Kotaro was at a loss. He tried to pinch himself several times to make sure that he wasn't dreaming. He tried one last time to approach Miyuki and express his feelings for her, trying to believe that there was still somewhere in her heart where she loved him as he did, but to his shock, all that went down the drain when Miyuki reluctantly rejected him, causing Kotaro to descend completely, accepting Yoshino as his lover.

Months went by and both Kotaro and Miyuki were in a depressed state. What came next to Kotaro was another shocker.

His sister, his only family, proceeded to pin him down and rode him like a Lust-driven animal, and what Kotaro didn't know was that it was orders from Seiji to place Kotaro on a leash, and ruin his Life even further so that he won't come close to Miyuki.

But that wasn't the end of it. He soon discovered that Yoshino had made a deal with Seiji to ruin Miyuki's Life in order for her to stay away from Kotaro so that Yoshino could take Kotaro for herself.

What came next made Kotaro's blood boil.

With Yoshino drawing the last line, she invited Kotaro to see the orgy party that they orchestrated, where the main reason was to make completely forget about Miyuki, tainting her image even further and completely shattering their already fragile bond, making him screw Miyuki who was blindfolded at that time, listening to her as she begged to be violated like a whore.

He couldn't believe his ears and eyes. He believed in her after knowing the truth about her being blackmailed and she already descended to being...This?

Since then, they never saw each other. They cut all ties with each other. All those childhood memories, all of those moments of Love...Were gone.

But one day, Kotaro heard from Miyuki's parents that she was hit by a truck. Her condition was critical and there was no way to save her.

As she lied down on her Death bed, Miyuki saw the person that visited her. The one person that she never thought that would visit her: Kotaro.

Even though she knew that he still hated her judging from the cold look he gave her, she still used her last breath to utter her last words to him.

"I'm sorry...Please forgive me..."

Kotaro was shocked. He already hated her, but part of him still yearned for her. He was about to speak, but he couldn't as she had already left the world.

He was so mentally exhausted to the point that he couldn't even cry. He just hugged her, muttering 'I'm sorry' over and over.

The world spun around his vision. He couldn't think straight.

"Ah...Someone survived"

"?!"

The voice was that of a calm man, but the aura was malicious. Looking slowly, Kotaro's eyes widened in horror.

A man, dressed in black from head to toe, but with extremely wicked features. Kotaro couldn't see his eyes because they were covered with a helmet that contained spikes which covered both his head and eyes. He honestly didn't know how that man could see, but the Fear didn't make Kotaro question anything out loud.

As he stared at the man's malicious grin that flashed his extremely yellow teeth that stretched from ear to ear across his lower face that was sickly white in colour, which was the same colour as his hands, which also had black nail polish at the nails.

The man directed his grin at Kotaro, leading Kotaro to realize that he was literally looking at him.

"Entering this dimension and raiding this hospital was indeed worth it. This Despair. This Sadness. Ah...So thrilling. Just what I was looking for" The man said, getting closer to Kotaro. Upon standing right in front of him, he suddenly grabbed Kotaro by the arm and casually threw him to a wall, separating him from the body of Miyuki.

Upon hitting the wall, Kotaro felt his left arm that got in the impact with the wall snap in half, causing him to double over on the ground in pain while holding his broken arm. He then looked in horror as the stranger pointed a gun at Miyuki's body, which was on the ground in front of his feet. Kotaro knew exactly what was about to happen.

"STOOOOOOOP!" He yelled but it was too late as the man opened fire at Miyuki's corpse, riddling it with what appeared to be invisible bullets that pierced holes in all of her body. In a few minutes of gunning down her corpse, there was nothing left of Miyuki to indicate that she was even there to begin with, not even a single drop of blood or atom were spared.

Kotaro stared with wide eyes at this, his eyes then leaked tears, and afterwards he screamed.

"I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU!"

Each time he repeated those words, he banged his head into the solid ground. Soon enough, blood dripped out from his head, the world felt that it was spinning around him, and severe concussions were plaguing his mind, but he couldn't feel the pain. The Despair that he felt right now was more than anything he was experiencing right now.

"You want revenge, huh? You want it, huh? Then if you want to do that, then kill the First Apex, then I'll give you the right to kill me" The man said, his grin not wavering. He then placed one of his pale white hands into one of his pockets, taking out a small vial that had something inside of it resembling a black and red parasite, which appeared to be moving and wriggling inside the glass vial. He then held the vial in front of the incapacitated Kotaro, causing him to look at the vial, his eyes still blurry from the tears and blood clouding them.

"However, the you right now is still weak to face against the First Apex. Not to mention that you don't even have a Parallel World Self that is strong. Heck, you don't have another you from any other world. You're simply an anomaly, a vagabond with no past, no present and no future. Neither Heaven, nor Hell would want your existence. Poor you. You're even denied an afterlife. But I can fix that for you" The man said, before casually dropping the vial in front of Kotaro, causing it. to shatter on the ground.

Whatever was inside the vial suddenly latched itself onto Kotaro, encasing him in a matter of seconds. Kotaro started screaming in agony as he was completely engulfed with black and red slime that acted as if it had a conscious of its own.

Kotaro felt his entire being starting to be overwritten, as if something was trying to take his place and permanently erase him. It was really confusing...

"..."

...And infuriating.

"DON'T SCREW WITH MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The madman who assaulted Kotaro gasped from behind his mad grin, his expression not wavering, as he saw Kotaro's form starting to get taller, and new clothes started to form around his body.

"YOU BASTARD!"

"?!"

Without any time to react, blood burst from the madman's left shoulder as his arm spun in the air before it landed on the ground, with Kotaro, in his new form, blinded with rage, charged straight at the madman with his right arm in the form of a blade.

"I'LL KILL YOOOOOOOUUUUU!" He roared from the top of his lungs, but the madman's grin didn't waver.

"That won't do~"

"?!"

With a snap of his remaining hand, the madman created a portal in between him and Kotaro, with the latter having no time to stop in his assault as he entered through the black portal, with the portal closing instantly the moment Kotaro entered through it.

"Ah...He took my arm with him and took off...Oh well..." The madman said, before his amputated left arm instantly reformed along with the cloth of his jacket that was torn off.

"What's more important is that the experiment was a success, and now, The Dark Knights can arise once again after their demise. After all..."

The man's grin widened even more to the point that his face was about to split in half.

"...Those who Laugh...Are the ones who win. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The mad cackle of the Batman Who Laughs echoed throughout the dead hospital, signalling the end of Kotaro Hoshimiya in the body, but not the mind...

...And the physical rebirth of Alex Mercer, the Blacklight Prototype.

Flashback End


"I wanted to know your answer...I wanted you to know my answer. But that day never came"

Kotaro...Alex...He honestly didn't care anymore.

The moment he witnessed his sister, his very family, cooperating with that bastard to ruin his Life for the sake of his significance was the day that Kotaro's kind self was killed mercilessly, twisting him into a fiend that saw women as nothing but sex dumpsters.

On the other hand, or rather on the same hand, Alex saw all the blackness of the world around him. When he knew that he wasn't the real Alex Mercer, but the virus itself absorbing said scientist after his Death, he slowly descended to madness. At first, he sought out to save the world, to make it a better place, but his confusion of Humanity and its mechanisms made him travel all around the world, only to get betrayed by those same Humans that he wanted to protect, resulting in him becoming a tyrant that wanted to make the world just like him: Walking, sentient viruses.

So in a sense, despite both of them being two different people and not even Parallel World Selves, one could say that both Kotaro Hoshimiya and Alex Mercer were the same person.

"It was at that time when I gained this power while retaining my identity as Kotaro that I realized...That I had to grasp that answer by myself..."

As he said that, Alex's entire figure got engulfed in a black and red mass, before the mass slowly turned from black and red to gray and turquoise in color.

Kaylin watched in anxiety as the mass grew to the size of a mountain, moulding into a massive monstrosity with a large mouth, sharp claws, human-like teeth, a singular large turquoise eye, a back covered in writhing tendrils and a long tail.

The behemoth roared, sending oscillatory waves that shook the entire world to its brink. Kaylin held Yamato with both hands, tightly gripping on it.

"I will rip you apart if that's what it will take to have my answer!" Alex roared out.

This was it.

The moment that both sides were waiting for.

It didn't matter how many words they exchanged. They knew that their answers were necessary for them to move on in Life. Even if it meant killing one another, it's fine. Up to this point, it didn't matter whether any of them both lived or not.

They just had to get that answer.

Kaylin, in response, with a gaze of steel, declared.

"Then I will cut you down if that's what it takes to get my answer!"

Another roar echoed from Kaylin as she charged towards the behemoth, and even though her battle cry was nowhere as loud as Chaos Alex, it still held unshakable willpower that allowed Kaylin to push forth and onward.


At the same time. Lugunica

[Sonic Frontiers OST - WYVERN Theme Song - Breaking Through It All]

A massive earthquake resonated and shook the entire planet to its foundations, and even though Super Shadow was flying, he could still feel the tremors up from where he was.

He looked down, and saw that everyone was alright, as Subaru managed to set a barrier around the entire country, isolating it from the outside world. This actually amused Shadow, having witnessed that Subaru has gotten stronger after being freed from Exeller's possession.

He had a hypothesis of the reason around this rise in power, but he placed it aside for later.

"...10 minutes. Let's not waste time" He said before flying at neck breaking speeds towards the retreating WYVERN, who upon witnessing that Shadow came closer, increased its speed per its rider's emotion of Fear upon seeing Super Shadow nearing them.

Gaining distance, the Titan opened holes in its slender mechanical body, before said holes released black missiles that fired at Super Shadow. Some fired at the Capital city below, but Subaru's gigantic barrier blocked the missiles that made a fiery explosion upon impacting with the barrier.

A missile neared Super Shadow, who managed to use precise timing to roundhouse kick the missile back to the thing that launched it, causing WYVERN to shriek as it started to lose its balance in the air.

Replicating Super Sonic's Parry, which reflects all attacks sans the ones that are classified to be superior than the skill's user, Super Shadow devised an improved version of it for himself: Chaos Counter, a skill that work the same as Parry, but with the additional effect of doubling the power and speed of whatever was reflected.

Taking the chance that its enemy was vulnerable, Super Shadow took the chance and zoomed towards the confused WYVERN, and upon reaching it, he snapped his fingers.

"Super Arts: Heavenly Chain"

"?!"

And out of nowhere, ethereal red chain came out of distortions of space that formed around WYVERN, before they wrapped around its neck, two claws and tail, effectively restraining it as it roared in annoyance.

"Don't be impatient. You're now in the middle of the crossfire" Super Shadow said, before opening his palm and pointing it above his head.

"Super Arts: Thousand Weapons"

"?!"

In an instant, countless weapons appeared above WYVERN. Katanas, knives, shortswords, greatswords, bastard swords, sickles, kunais, shurikens, arrows, dirks, kukris, karambits, axes, rapiers, morning stars, vajras, hooks, needles, tridents, chains, halberds, hammers, clubs, and countless other sharp white weapons. It felt like a rain of steel to both the people of the Capital city and Bordeaux who was inside the flying Titan.

And upon Super Shadow's signal, lowering his arm and pointing at WYVERN, the rain of steel descended upon the Titan stabbing through its sturdy frame like a hot knife through a block of butter, causing the Titan to shriek in pain, with Bordeaux barely managing not to get stabbed to Death inside WYVERN.

WYVERN then managed to break from the grasp of the chains, shattering them before it spun its thin frame in the air, raising its large claw above its large head, aiming at Super Shadow, only for said person to dodge by a hair's breadth.

However, it wasn't over, as WYVERN followed by another swipe of his other claw, to which Super Shadow clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Super Arts: Light Wall"

"?!"

Instantly, a large wall of cyan light manifested in between Super Shadow and WYVERN's claw, successfully blocking the attack, halting the energy flow inside the strike that the Titan was about to deliver to Super Shadow.

The confusion gave Super Shadow the chance to retaliate.

"Super Arts: Burst Blow"

"?!"

Chaos Energy manifested around both of Super Shadow's palms, glowing bright white, before a massive white explosion followed, making impact with WYVERN's claw that got stuck in the Light Wall that Super Shadow created, blasting the Titan away and causing it to spin violently, where Bordeaux was screaming like a bitch inside the Titan as it spun violently.

A minute later, WYVERN stopped spinning, and immediately swung its slender frame once again. This time, however, it aimed to slam its tail into Super Shadow, however, said person was fully prepared.

"Super Arts: Fire Shuriken"

"?!"

Just as its tail was about to hit Super Shadow, a building-sized shuriken made out of pure orange fire descended from the Heavens, slicing down the approaching mechanical tail, causing WYVERN to shriek in pain as its tail immediately fell off and descended down towards the barrier covering the Capital city of Lugunica. The citizens screamed in horror as they thought that they would be crushed. Fortunately, Subaru's barrier was sturdy enough to withstand something of this level.

"Alright. How about we finish this already?" Super Shadow asked, with his answer being a roar of anger from WYVERN, who opened its mouth and started gathering energy in the cannon inside its mouth, before shooting out a crimson thin beam of energy towards Super Shadow, who narrowed his eyes at the incoming attack. He then casually dodged it by tilting his head to the side, not taking his eyes off the Titan as he slowly raised his arm and pointed his opened palm forward.

"Chaos Beam"

"?!"

A blast of crimson Chaos Energy shot from Super Shadow's palm, laying the shot in WYVERN's mouth, and causing an explosion to erupt inside the Titan's mouth.

This was a mini version of the beam version of Chaos Blast. Chaos Beam focuses on firing a weaker, but a rapid fire version of the Chaos Blast. If Chaos Blast was likened to a cannon, Chaos Beam was like a railgun.

Still, even though it was weaker in firepower, it was still powerful enough to blast a hole inside WYVERN's mouth, causing the Titan to recoil in pain. Super Shadow took this as a chance and flew towards the Titan. He then grabbed it from the place that used to be its tail, before he began to spin it around with both his hands, causing the Titan to spin helplessly in the air, and for Bordeaux to yell once again, throwing up his stomach's contents along the way.

After a few more spins, Super Shadow released his grip, sending WYVERN crashing into a mountain outside the walls of the Capital city, where the result of the impact was the mountain getting completely pulverized.

"Haha! Awrite! Tha's th' Vice Cap'n t'ya!" Garfiel exclaimed with a childish grin on his face, and stars shining in his eyes.

"Got to admit. This is some extraordinary power. I'm just glad Terios-san is on our side" Otto nervously said.

"Indeed! Isn't my Shadow-kun amazing?!" Rem exclaimed with a smug expression on her face while placing her hands on her hips.

"Indeed! Isn't my Shads dazzling?!" Ram exclaimed with the same smug expression on her face while crossing her arms underneath her chest.

"Why on Earth are you two so smug as if you were the ones up there fighting that thing?" Heinkel asked with a sweatdrop.

Back up in the sky, Super Shadow looked as WYVERN recovered, before witnessing its body eject crimson energy pillars from it. The pillars started glowing, before it started releasing energy laser in the form of rings. The laser rings then descended down onto the barrier, causing it to crack the more it collided with it, with each impact with the barrier causing Subaru to cough out blood and bleed even more from his nose and ears, before falling to his knees from the excruciating pain.

"Subaru!" Emilia called out in worry and was the first one to be at Subaru's side.

"Damnit...It feels so hot and suffocating...And blood feels like it's boiling...That thing is too powerful..." Subaru gasped his words, his body trembling from the sudden immense wave of heat that struck him.

Emilia, having seen this, silently waved her hand, and in the next instant, a massive wave of absolute zero covered the entire city. In an instant, the temperature lowered to the point that all molecular and atomic motion in the air ceased, with condensed moisture in the air forming frost and creating icy covering that rapidly started to encase all living beings around Emilia, but she was excluded from the mix. Everyone would have been completely turned into ice sculptures if it wasn't for Rem using Thermo-Operator to regulate the temperature of her surroundings.

"That was...Too cold..." Otto said while hugging himself.

"Th'heck...Was that...?" Garfiel asked, still shaking from the lingering cold, as well as the sudden influx of mana that came out from Emilia, which also scared him.

"I'm going to be by your side, Subaru. Puck may have left me, but now...Now I know that I have to stand to myself. There are lots of things that I don't understand, but if there's one thing that I know right now, it's that I have to understand how to understand. This is where I shall begin" Emilia said, a look of determination on her beautiful face.

Despite the fact that he was still mad of her, Subaru's heart couldn't help but skip a beat. He now noticed that Emilia is starting to truly become stronger. Not only in body, but also in mind and soul.

It won't be farfetched to say that she started to become mature, and that made Subaru Love her even more.

Back up there, everything was just about to wrap up. Super Shadow was about to charge another Chaos Beam, but WYVERN, surrounded by its laser rings that were constantly released from the pillars on its body, flew towards Super Shadow, before encircling him with its huge, slender body. In the next instant, numerous holes opened in WYVERN'S mechanical body, before missiles shot from them, surrounding Super Shadow and leaving no opening to escape.

As a mech created by the Ancients, one of countless races of the Primordial Force of Life, it was empowered by the artifacts of both Life and Chaos: The Time Stones and the Chaos Emeralds respectively. As such, they are capable of bypassing the invulnerability granted by the power of said artifacts through attacks that hold killing intent, just like the one encasing Super Shadow right now.

"Heh..."

"?!"

A flash of speed. A blur of crimson. A femtosecond.

Those things are what all it took to repel that danger.

As Super Shadow unleashed his speed on this attack, he gathered all of the missiles into a cluster of missiles where he was previously floating still, before he kicked it towards WYVERN, slamming it into its body and causing an explosion that sent it a few miles away recoiling from the impact, and it also knocked Bordeaux, who was inside the Titan, on his butt.

Right after recovering, WYVERN took off to the sky, and after a few seconds, it descended down like a meteor, its metallic body being engulfed in flames due to having broken through the atmospheric layer.

Super Shadow then flew upwards, aiming to stop this kamikaze attack. Everyone in the Capital city watched in awe and with ragged breaths. They were afraid of what would happen if that thing collided with them, but also mesmerized with how beautiful the scene in front of them was.

The two sides instantly clashed, and in the next second, the clash was over.

With his formidable strength, Super Shadow stopped the descending Titan in its tracks mid-flight, and soon the flames around it got extinguished, and it wasn't able to move forward a single inch as Super Shadow held it in place with both hands. All that it could do was roar, trying to intimidate Super Shadow.

And all it earned was Super Shadow easily tossing it away, causing the Titan to spin violently in the air, and for Bordeaux feel as if was placed inside a blender.

Upon gaining it balance, WYVERN fired another volley of missiles at Super Shadow, who immediately flew away as the homing missiles kept on following him. His speed was way greater than the missiles as he flew around the Titan in a huge circle, but the missiles kept on following him.

An idea then clicked into Super Shadow's mind, before he broke the circle flight and headed towards WYVERN and then he reached its mouth and did something weird.

He tried to forcibly open the jaws of the Titan.

"What's th'Vice Cap'n's tryna do?" Garfiel asked in confusion, and everyone was confused as well. Subaru, however, was grinning despite being in pain from earlier.

"Don't worry...He knows what he's doing" He said.

Back up in the sky, Super Shadow was in the process of forcibly opening WYVERN's jaws, with the Titan doing its best to keep them shut as the missiles were close to approaching them both, but as the seconds went on, Super Shadow proved to be superior in his strength as he slowly opened up the jaws of the Titan, and with a mighty upwards swing of both hands, he forcibly opened WYVERN's jaws, before delivering an upwards kick. The kick itself opened the jaws of the Titan completely, just as the missiles approached both of them, but instead of hitting Super Shadow, they entered directly into WYVERN's mouth, and upon doing so, they started to explode inside the Titan's body, causing its body to bloat up like a balloon and shake as its body couldn't sustain the power of the continuous explosions, and suddenly...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A massive explosion illuminated the sky as WYVERN blew up from the result of Super Shadow's strategy, with the explosion releasing a shockwave that resonated throughout the entire country of Lugunica.

As the explosion faded, Subaru's grin never left him as he looked at Super Shadow, who was still floating in midair.

[Music Ends]

"Heh...Showoff Bastard" He muttered.


[NieR Automata OST - Adam And Eve Boss Theme]

At the same time. Unknown Location

"RRRAAAAAAAAAH!"

"C'MON, SWORD SAINT! SHOW US EVEN MORE HATRED! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Sparks flew from the clash of their weapons. Lye's shoulders creaked like how gears clash against each other, but his grin never faded as he kept on barely parrying all of Reinhard's blows that were delivered by the sheathed Dragon Sword.

"I DO ENJOY THIS, REINHARD! GYAHAHA!" Lye yelled out, swinging his daggers at Reinhard, who simply jumped to the air, landing behind Lye before he kicked Lye in the stomach, burying his heel into the Sin Archbishop's torso, which was followed by the sound of bones and ribs cracking, before Lye was sent flying back towards the white church behind him, crashing into the door and right inside the church, where he still continued to crash through multiple white stone monoliths, before a monolith halted his forced flight, but it got dented.

Lye slowly rose to his feet, and despite his broken and fractured bones, as well as the blood that smeared his face, he was still grinning calmly.

"Ah...That's right. It's just as I said...The core of Humanity is conflict. They fight. Steal. Kill...This is truly Humanity in its purest form!" Lye exclaimed, his bones slowly popping into their places and the fractures healing at a rapid pace. It was then when Reinhard walked slowly through the smoke generated from Lye's impact with the church's door, his entire face shadowed except for his glowing blue eyes that directed hatred and absolute malice towards the Sin Archbishop.

He was truly trying to kill Lye.

"And I already told you that you know nothing about Humanity" Reinhard calmly said and was about to sprint towards Lye to aim his fist to pulverize the Sin Archbishop's face, but he then stopped when something emerged from the ground as if phasing through it.

It was a white, carbon version of Natsumi.

"Natsumi..." Reinhard whispered, his anger aura fading in an instant the moment he saw that living stone statue. He then gasped in surprise upon feeling a hand clutching onto his ankle, before multiple stone copies of Natsumi phased from the ground, restraining Reinhard to the point that he dropped the Dragon Sword on the ground. A copy grabbed Zerofuku and shattered the sword in half right in front of Reinhard's eyes.

The first copy that appeared in front of Reinhard walked towards Reinhard, stopping in front of him, smiling as it reached with its hand and gently caressed Reinhard's face.

"Rein...Hard..." The copy muttered, before it slowly lowered its hand to Reinhard's throat, slowly squeezing into his neck.

"Nat...Sumi..." Reinhard gasped, trying to catch his own breath.

"Flynn..."

"?!"

Reinhard's vision suddenly shifted. Instead of the chalk white copy of Natsumi, he saw a woman with short cut brown hair, light skin, and reddish-brown eyes. Her outfit was similar to a female Knight's outfit that wasn't the same as Natsumi, but her coat was blue and shorter, and she wore white shorts instead of pants, along with a red kerchief around her neck and minimal makeup that consisted of red eyeliner and red nail polish.

He didn't know why, but the moment he saw that woman, Reinhard subconsciously realized something, and it surfaced to him immediately.

And in the next instant, the copies were instantly destroyed, before Reinhard himself disappeared in a burst of speed, and in the next instance, Lye was slammed into the ground of the white church, before the entire ground shattered like glass, and the next thing both Reinhard and Lye knew, they were falling into a dark yellow scenery, where it felt as if it was stretching into infinity.

[Music Stops]

Once Reinhard landed on his feet, he heard a small splash sound. Looking underneath his feet, he saw that the ground he landed on was slightly covered in water. Each step in this dimly lit space produced a splash of water, and in the centre was a large, beautiful white flower that was around 2 meters in height glowing dimly in the large silent space.

Reinhard then noticed the body of Lye Batenkaitos lying emotionlessly in a pool of his own blood that mixed with the shallow pond that stretched to infinity. His corpse was pierced by a dozen of yellow blades that were made of light.

A figure walked past the corpse of Lye, marching towards Reinhard. It looked female, courtesy of its slender figure. It had no facial features, entirely faceless. It had a long hair styled in braids and was black in colour.

The figure just stood there, and Reinhard didn't know why, but it felt as if it was staring at him. His Divine Protections were going haywire, warning him that this entity was extremely dangerous.

However, what Reinhard did not expect was a voice echoing throughout the space.

"Second Apex...Come back...With the other two Apexes..."

The moment this rang inside his ears, Reinhard's vision started to fade rapidly until it all became black.

The next instant, he snapped his eyes open, only to find himself lying in the ground of the bleach white city that Lye created, right in front of the white church which had its door opened, being completely fixed as if no damage has been inflicted on it.

Reinhard blinked as he got up from where he lied. Several question racing in his head at that time. What is this place? What were those infinite parallel worlds and Parallel World Selves that Lye talked about? And most importantly, what was that creature just now?

All of those questions led him to realize the main purpose he was there for.

"Natsumi!" He exclaimed while looking around frantically, only to find Natsumi, unconscious and riddled with wounds a few meters away from him. He quickly ran towards her and knelt down to check on her, gently placing a hand on her cheek.

"Natsumi..." He whispered calmly and with worry in his voice. He then breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Natsumi opening her eyes slowly.

"Rein...Hard..." She whispered, causing a tear to roll down from the Sword Saint's eye as he gave a small smile upon knowing that the girl that he loves is still alive. He then picked her up bridal style, but as gentle as he can, making sure that he didn't hurt her, before he stood up.

His attention was then brought up to a rip in space that occurred in front of him, opening forth a portal that showed a landscape to the Capital city of Lugunica, and Reinhard was shocked upon seeing lots of people screaming and his other friends fighting off what appeared to be a giant, thin Dragon.

However, his worry dissolved when he saw that his friends were winning, making him glad that they were there in his stead. Still, he was the protector of Lugunica, the protector of the world, and he had to be there to support his friends.

Looking at Natsumi, he whispered to her.

"Natsumi...Let's go home" He said gently as he looked at her with a gentle smile, prompting Natsumi to give a weak smile and nod at him.

And with that, both Reinhard and Natsumi entered through the portal, and the portal closed instantly the moment Reinhard stepped inside it, marking his and Natsumi's departure from the Copied City.

The resting place of Adam, the Death-obsessed Machine.


At the same time. Aihiya Swamp

The monstrosity facing Kaylin roared like a rampaging beast, aiming to take Kaylin's Life. It swung its bulky claws, which descended like a meteor down at Kaylin.

However...

"First Form: Flying Shadow"

"?!"

A shockwave erupted in the form of an invisible blade of wind towards the claw aimed at her, and in the next instant, the fangs were spinning in the air before they fell to the ground.

Chaos Alex staggered back, almost tripping. He glared from its lone eye at Kaylin, whose eyes held resolve, unwavering.

"This is only the beginning! Kaylin exclaimed before she charged at the monster, who roared at her.

This was indeed, the beginning.


And Done!

Goodness! I took a lot to make this chapter, and I even left it in a cliffhanger! Sorry, guys. I have my 12 hours shift of work so, it is still not giving me time, but I promise that I will finish this story.

Now then, for the comments.

As always, my man Reaper 10398, I cannot thank you enough for your encouragement.

For the 1st comment, Petra's character will be extremely warped after all of this. I mean, you can't expect a 12-year-old child to go through all of this and get out in one piece. Being alive is considered torture to someone like her after all of what happened.

For the 2nd comment, it will be way too lengthy:

Thank you for that. There is actually a reason as to why Exeller was killed that way, and it will be shown as the story goes on.

Alice will still be alive, and the reason will come in the next chapter.

And yes, the Titans are introduced in here, and one of them will be in the 1st EX Side Story, and the Titans will be shown in the story as well.

And yes, Reinhard is a slave to his own powers, but that is why Natsumi exists actually...I'm sure that you know what I'm implying.

Emilia won't quit the Royal Selection, because this is something necessary for her to grow up in her personality.

Puck will reappear in the story...And in the next Arc.

And as for Petra...Well, let's just say that everything will be extremely...Complicated in the future.

For the 3rd comment, This chapter answered your question about how Kotaro became Alex Mercer.

Now that the comments are done, let me address something.

I have plans for three other EX Side Stories: One that explains what happened in the Prologue of the story with Reinhard and Natsumi prior to Arc 1, One that shows what happened to both Julius and Saki, and another one showing what happened to Petra after this chapter after she wandered away from the party. Alongside the EX Side Story that details the one-year timeskip that shows what was Shadow doing within the one-year timeskip before Arc 1, please tell me which one you would prefer to see first.

Now that this is done, I apologize again for being late, and I promise you that I will continue this story. No worries. But please give me your comments as they are the things that make me go forward with the story.

Next Chapter: Conclusion

Until Next Time And Next Chapter!

Jude Warble, Out.