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!
At the same time. Aihiya Swamp
The beast swung its giant arm down once again. Kaylin vanished in a burst of speed. She jumped on its large left arm, before jumping once again to avoid the beast slamming its giant other palm into it. Kaylin jumped in the air, spinning to avoid the beast's claw swiping at her while she was in midair. The beast tried to swing its claw at her while she was spinning in the air, only for Kaylin to intercept by kicking at the right time against the beast's giant fist, sending herself flying away from the beast's grasp.
Landing on her feet on the ground riddled with rainwater, Kaylin continued her assault, weaving through the beams of energy that were fired from the numerous holes in the beast's body. She jumped off to avoid a sweep from the beast's tail, taking the chance to jump directly at the tail, before jumping upwards and raising her sword above her head.
"Fourth Form: Black Spear!"
"?!"
The tip of Kaylin's sword got engulfed with black mana, before it shot forward in the form of a black spear, stabbing directly into Chaos Alex's back, causing the beast to roar in agony as this attack, concentrated in a single point, managed to knock it off its feet and fall onto its face, causing a massive shockwave to resonate within the Aihiya Swamp.
The monster slowly got up to its feet, before turning around to face Kaylin. It roared and opened its mouth, charging green-coloured energy within its mouth. Kaylin saw that, and took her swordsman stance, and right afterwards, a massive beam of energy shot towards Kaylin, but she was prepared. She took a deep breath and raised her sword above her head once again.
And just as the energy beam was about to reach her...
"Fifth Form: World Judgement!"
"?!"
It was nothing but a single downwards slash, but said slash had the power to cut through anything in the world, including space, and once it landed, the beam of energy was cut in two, effectively allowing Kaylin to be safe from it as the beam refracted into two directions, which were the right and the left sides of Kaylin's standing form.
Kaylin's eyes widened, however, upon seeing Chaos Alex raising its tail up, aiming it at Kaylin, before energy gathered around its tip and another green energy beam shot forth at Kaylin, who saw this and gritted her teeth as she was still busy repelling the first energy beam's shockwave by just simply holding her sword against it.
Nevertheless, she smiled.
It was time to use 'that'.
"You're not the only one that has an arsenal behind their backs!" She exclaimed as her abdomen suddenly started to glow pink in colour from behind her clothes, before a sword materialized out of thin air behind her, floating in the air. The sword had a long, orange rectangular blade that was blunt on the tip, with its hilt being thin and guard resembling an advanced fishing hook's reeling roll.
"A Wish Upon A Star Spellbound Sword: Nemesis"
The blade pointed itself towards the direction of the approaching tail energy beam, before it shot forward, soaring through space and engulfing both time and space on fire, clashing with the energy beam. A few seconds in the clash, the peculiar blade surprisingly won the clash, releasing a massive orange beam of energy that engulfed Chaos Alex completely, before it shot right off through the atmospheric layer of the planet, launching Chaos Alex into space within a minute along with its path. The beam faded after the minute passed, revealing Kaylin as the victor of the clash as she looked up at where the beam soared through.
"Flying to the moon without me? Can't have that" She said in a sarcastic tone that didn't fit the gloomy mood the two combatants were in, before she commanded the sword Nemesis to come to her side, before she jumped on it, using it as a hoverboard before it immediately soared with blinding speeds to the direction where Chaos Alex was launched to.
The moon.
At the same time. Capital City of Lugunica
"Spellbound Swords?"
"Yeah"
As Subaru was having his wounds healed by both Beatrice and Emilia, Shadow was speaking to him while being seated on a piece of rubble as Knights and medics swarmed the devastated battlefield following Shadow's fight against WYVERN. Bordeaux was shown, surprisingly alive, being held under arrest by two Knights who were restraining him after Shadow explained the whole situation as to why Bordeaux was inside the Dragon-shaped Titan.
"Spellbound Swords. The term that is given to blades that only Kaylin can use. Those blades are actually a byproduct of her own observation for swords. Any blade that Kaylin looks at she can instantly create an indestructible copy of it and wield it to beyond its full potential. Her first Spellbound Swords, though, were created by an extremely skilled Dwarf Blacksmith that lives in Kararagi. The other swords, aside from Yamato, however, are all swords created from Kaylin looking at countless swords, and once it is in her hand, it becomes a Spellbound Sword, a sword that can be drawn out of the cursed mark on her abdomen that was placed on her by her mother to curse her. That curse contains the power of the Dark One, an ancient being that was revered as a god of slavery and ruination, but it attracted Demons that chased Kaylin for that power" Shadow explained.
"That must have been rough for Kaylin..." Subaru muttered, feeling sad for his childhood friend.
"True, but that is not the point of my explanation. As I mentioned, Kaylin can call forth to any of those Spellbound Swords. Even a copy of the original Dragon Sword Reid is no exception to her" Shadow said, causing everyone that was hearing him to gasp in shock.
"This is Kaylin's Rune Stone Skill: Cemetery of Blades"
At the same time. The moon
Landing on the surface of the moon, Kaylin dismissed the sword that she was riding on, causing it to vanish. Despite the absurd fact that she found it normal to breathe in space, Kaylin paid it no mind at all, as she knew that this was the effect of reaching the 2nd Stage of her Rune Stone's evolution.
She looked in front of her and saw a slim humanoid figure that appeared to be clad in a white armour with a mask. The slim body had long black sharp nails and its body fused with an external apparatus that resemble a machine with two large claw-like extensions with five fingers in each giant claw where the two claws were connected by something resembling greenish blue lightning, and finally, dozens of slim, white scrolls were floating behind his back in a circular formation.
Kaylin drew Yamato and pointed it at the creature.
"Your struggle is pointless. The course of this battle is not but an immutable end, which will end with my finding my answer from you. So just stop this foolishness already" Balance Alex stated to Kaylin.
"Maybe that's what you think, but honestly, I prefer to carve my own path with my own two hands. Just as you struggle to find your answer, I will also struggle to find my own answer!" Kaylin exclaimed, before she saw Balance Alex extending his hand, causing a scroll to float and open up in the air.
"Cumulonimbus"
Out of the scroll a short burst of light was emitted, and out of the light emerged a hulking, three-eyed humanoid figure. It is clad in heavy armour and possessing powerful muscles. Its arms have two hands each, with an especially elaborate armour on its shoulders and arms, with a helmet that seemed to have a halo-like attachment on it.
Kaylin saw the large figure charge at her, to which she immediately activated her Rune Stone Skill, causing her cursed mark to glow in a pink light.
"Immolator of Phoenixes Spellbound Sword: Zephyr"
Instantly, a sword materialized from thin air next to Kaylin. It resembled a dull yellow English Sword that had four wavy extensions from the hilt that protruded from the four sides of the hilt: Up, down, left and right. On the beginning of the length of the blade itself were numerous gears of the same colour of the sword.
The sword soared towards the hulking figure, lifting it up and pushing it to space. Even when the armoured giant clutched at the sword trying to break it, it didn't even crack as it flew further into space. The gears on the sword then started to spin rapidly, before the sword itself released a massive fiery explosion, engulfing the armoured giant and obliterating it from existence.
Both Kaylin and Balance Alex didn't take their eyes off of each other as Kaylin took her fighting stance, tightly gripping on Yamato as Alex prepared his giant arms for battle.
Balance Alex shot its claws at Kaylin, who dodged the right one, and parried the left one with her sword. She slashed at the left claw, causing it to retract, before jumping forward as the right claw came descending on her to crush her to the ground.
She thrusted her sword forward, only for Balance Alex to create a bluish green spherical barrier around himself to protect himself from Kaylin's attack, before he floated to the air about Kaylin, clutching his claws together and raising it above its head, and then he descended and slammed its two gigantic claws into the ground of the moon, but Kaylin managed to evade it by jumping off the ground, avoiding the shock of the electricity generated upon the impact of the large fists, but was blown away by the shockwave of the impact, and even so, she was able to adjust herself in midair, spinning acrobatically and safely landing on the ground with no damage whatsoever.
Kaylin then saw as Balance Alex shot a barrage of bluish green energy spheres towards her, promoting her to react.
"The Certainly Uncertain Truth Spellbound Sword: Five Forms of Formlessness"
Instantly, another Spellbound Sword appeared beside Kaylin. It was more like a large, cylindrical cage that contained an ordinary looking Katana inside of it, but it was without a guard, only being stuck inside a circular piece that was fused inside the cage, fused inside said piece where the guard is supposed to be.
The cage's small door opened, and in the moment that it was fully opened, it fired invisible and unpredictable slashes from it that collided with the energy spheres, cancelling them upon contact, where the spheres exploded without ever reaching Kaylin.
In the smokescreen resulted from the collision, Kaylin looked through it, trying to discern her opponent's next move, only to gasp upon seeing a beam of energy firing through the shockwave, to which she blocked with Yamato, refracting the beams of light heading towards her, but that left her opened for Balance Alex's gigantic fist to punch her away, sending her flying hundreds of meters away, toppling on the ground of the moon.
Slowly rising to her feet, Kaylin spat out a mouthful of blood from her mouth, slowly gasping for breath due to the power of the punch that Alex delivered. By the time she stood to her feet, the smokescreen faded, and Balance Alex was floating there. Kaylin didn't see his face due to it being covered by what resembled to be a mask fused with that armour of his, but something told her that he was mocking with her.
"Giving up now and telling me your answer will make things easier. Give it up now" He said to her.
"Never! I'll take my answer from you first!" She exclaimed before invoking her powers once again.
"Nue Segments Spellbound Sword: Snake Tail"
Another Spellbound Sword appeared. It had a red hilt and a rectangular bronze guard, just like a normal Katana. However what was peculiar was the blade itself. 6-part segmented blade; each segment is wider than the one preceding it from the hilt, with two pick-like protrusions on the front and back of each segment, with the ones on the front much longer than the ones on the back. The segments are connected by a stretchable thread, making the sword resemble a whip more than an actual sword.
The sword pointed forward, and instantly, it elongated and shot forward like a whip, hitting Balance Alex in the torso before he could react to it. He was sent flying several meters away, but managed to halt his flight and catch the sword, before delivering a backhand to it, shredding its segments apart.
Despite that, Kaylin just smiled.
"An opening!"
"?!"
Right after letting his guard down, Balance Alex noticed that the segments of the blade were still floating around him, not even falling, just standing suspended in the air. He then saw Kaylin clenching her fist, causing the segments to glow. Balance Alex, sensing the danger, attempted to create a shield around him, but it was too late as he was slashed by the segments getting launched at him to strike him with a one-shot omnidirectional attack, slamming Balance Alex to the ground.
The sword segments disappeared after doing its job, giving Balance Alex the chance to get up, only to be caught off guard when Kaylin appeared in front of him, her sword above her head.
"Eighth Form: Eight-Span Crow!"
"?!"
She swung her sword down, releasing eight slashes all at once from all directions around Alex. The slashes connected, sending Balance Alex flying off the moon, to which he teleported back to the surface of the moon, floating off the surface once again.
"Cirrostratus. Cirrocumulus"
"?!"
Two scrolls floated from behind Balance Alex, before opening at the same time, and out of the burst of light emerged two entities that resembled partially humanoid draconic centaurs, where both stood at the two sides of their summoners.
The one on Alex's right was sporting white chitinous growths, scales, and armour. It was a female centaur with blank facial features save for an avian-shaped helmet, blue talismans covering its breasts, along with a defined midriff, with its left arm being humanoid and the right arm ending in a draconic head. Its draconic head itself features white fangs, a green tongue, and a white armoured sharp snout with blue ribbons flowing right behind the head and its lower draconic body is entirely covered in white chitinous scales, save for the joints at the limbs, along with a sharp, segmented tail. The other one at Alex's left was the exact same as the previous one, with the exception of its colour theme being black instead of white.
The white draconic centaur roared before releasing a massive hurricane from its mouth to blow Kaylin away, but Kaylin was ready to counter it.
"Second Form: Hazy Moon!"
Before the attack could connect with her, Kaylin slashed at the air. The sword was offered no resistance, easily slashing at the air, as Kaylin hit nothing, which was peculiar.
After swinging her sword in that fashion, Kaylin jumped away from the hurricane's path before it could shred her to pieces, successfully evading it. However, she was in the aim of the black draconic centaur, who unleashed a massive bolt of lightning that surpassed the concept of space, aiming at her.
However...
"Third Form: Mirage Wolf!"
"?!"
The moment the lightning bolt hit her, Kaylin's body turned to vapour, disappearing into the air like mist, startling Balance Alex at this, before he had to create a barrier around him to protect himself from a downwards sword strike from Kaylin, which would have cut him in half if he was a nanosecond late from deploying the barrier. This forced Kaylin to kick at the barrier, jumping away and gaining distance from her opponent.
"An afterimage...How cunning. You have gotten way stronger and experienced ever since the last time we met a year ago, Kaylin" Balance Alex complimented Kaylin calmly.
"I could say the same thing about you too, Alex. You have pushed my hand more than I ever thought right now" Kaylin said.
"But no resting now. The fight is not over yet. Not until I take my answer from you" Balance Alex stated, before the two draconic centaurs dove their heads to where Kaylin was, opening their jaws up wide, intending on shredding her apart, but Kaylin managed to dodge by jumping backwards and landing a farther distance away from Balance Alex.
"You are indeed forcing my hand here. Time to bring even more blades to the mix" Kaylin said before activating her Rune Stone Skill once again.
"One Million Poisons of Death Spellbound Sword: Caska Talon"
"?!"
Instantly, another Spellbound Sword appeared. It was green in colour, and its guard was peculiar in its shape, resembling a white gas mask that had green goggles and a green gas muzzle.
But Kaylin was not done yet.
"Ten Thousand Years in Nifelhiem Spellbound Sword: Frostbite Furnace"
"?!"
Another Spellbound Sword appeared. This time, it was a thin sword that was blue in colour with a grey hilt, with its guard also being peculiar in its shape, resembling a large gear that had glass dome on top of it, where inside said dome was countless clocks and smaller gears as well, where on top of the tome was three extensions that each held three deep blue gems on it.
"Go!" Kaylin commanded, causing the swords to telekinetically point at the two drakes. The Caska Talon pointing at the white draconic centaur, and the Frostbite Furnace pointing at the black draconic centaur.
The Caska Talon shot out green smoke from its length to counter the next hurricane beam shot by the white draconic centaur. Once it made contact, the green smoke mixed with the wind, and repelled it back to its shooter, forcing the wind that was mixed with the green smoke to directly enter back the mouth of the white draconic centaur, causing its skin and armour to rapidly become green, before its body bloated up at an alarmingly fast rate, and a moment later, the white draconic centaur exploded, scattering bluish green blood everywhere due to the poisonous smoke resulting from the poison Spellbound Sword.
On the other hand, the black draconic centaur, fired a bolt of lightning, where the Frostbite Furnace just stood still, before suddenly, the bolt was literally frozen inside a cube of ice, completely defying the laws of physics. And a moment later, the black draconic centaur became entrapped inside a larger ice cube as well, where in the next moment, the ice cube exploded, shattering into glittering snow dust, and alongside it was the black draconic centaur, and that was the result of the ice manipulating Spellbound Sword.
The two Spellbound Swords vanished from Kaylin's side, and the result of having his two summonses easily destroyed seemed to have irritated Balance Alex.
However, before he could make another move, he was suddenly stuck by an invisible impact, knocking him off the air. It took him a moment to understand exactly what actually happened.
That time where Kaylin slashed aimlessly in the air. He himself thought that it was confusing, but he didn't think about it at all. Now Alex had realized that Kaylin placed a pre-installed slash left inside the space, where she placed it after predicting the path of the white draconic centaur's attack, and he happened to come into contact with it, hitting him and disrupting his balance once again.
"Sixth Form: Dark Roar!"
"?!"
Alex's guard was once again opened as Kaylin released a slash that emitted a shockwave that was way stronger than her First Form attack, blowing Alex once again off the surface of the moon, but he managed to float back to it, albeit his armour was heavily damaged, and he was struggling to float off the ground.
Growing angry and impatient, Balance Alex aimed at Kaylin and shot an energy beam, only for Kaylin to duck and slide on the ground using her knees, before dodging to the side as another second beam followed. She zoomed towards Balance Alex, who then proceeded to charge a large energy ball, before launching it towards Kaylin, who stopped her advance towards her opponent and took a Laido stance, gripping on Yamato's hilt.
"Seventh Sword: Instant Flash!"
"?!"
She drew her sword and delivered a swift slash that transcended the concept of speed, slicing the approaching energy ball cleanly in two halves, before the two halves exploded, creating a smokescreen that engulfed both fighters.
"Thousand Mountains Green Field Cutter Spellbound Sword: Ig-Alima"
"?!"
Balance Alex heard Kaylin's voice, and in the next instant, a mountain sized longsword sliced through the smokescreen. The sword appeared to be made out of rock and the hilt and guard appeared to be fusing with the blade.
Alex witnessed the blade approaching him like a meteor soaring into his direction, causing him to deploy a barrier to protect himself. However, the barrier easily shattered as if it was made out of thin glass, as the Spellbound Sword that he was hit with possessed the concept of the severance of Heaven and Earth, allowing to sever through even dimensions and slice through all defences.
Balance Alex was once again launched out of the moon's surface, slowly descending into orbit and catching on flames as he crossed through the atmospheric layer of the Earth. He then noticed Kaylin's approaching figure, having jumped on Ig-Alima's flat surface, before jumping off said surface, descending on Balance Alex's vulnerable form, positioning her foot downwards. She didn't take too long, before her foot was planted into Alex's face, shattering his helmet apart, where the Spellbound Sword vanished the moment Kaylin's foot connected with Alex's face.
The result of the impact was both Kaylin and Alex being launched into orbit, catching on fire as they crossed the atmospheric layer, descending to the journey back to Earth.
At the same time. Capital city of Lugunica
"Whoa...That's amazing dude" Subaru said to Shadow after hearing about Kaylin's powers, with Emilia and Beatrice still healing him.
"Subaru. Shut up and don't move, in fact. Betty and Emilia are still busy with healing your injuries and damaged organs, I suppose" Beatrice said with a pout, glaring at Subaru to make him sit down, but that only made Subaru think how cute she was instead of being intimidated by her.
"Her Rune Stone Skill, combined with her swordsmanship, makes Kaylin nearly invincible. However, what makes Kaylin even more powerful...Is the power of the Dark One. A power beyond imagination, which draws power directly to call forth an apparatus of vice and destruction, unrivalled and can be summoned as many times as Kaylin would prefer, and in multiple forms with multiple powers for each form" Shadow said.
"Whoa...Dude. This is wicked!" Subaru exclaimed.
"I don't understand why you're so excited. This power is a curse, as it draws power from the Primal Force of Chaos, locking Kaylin in a constant cycle of agony and pain every time she uses it. The only way for Kaylin to sustain the power of the curse is to find a spouse for herself that she devotes her heart to" Shadow said.
"Eh...?" Everyone of Shadow's allies just released this voice upon hearing the last line that Shadow said, to which Shadow sighed, before continuing.
"You see, the Dark One is the strongest avatar of Amatsu Mikaboshi, the Primal Force of Chaos. He was known as the Slave Lord, having amassed hundreds of concubines in the past, long before the being that you guys know as the Divine Dragon was ever born. However, despite being immortal, the Dark One realized that one day, Mikaboshi would want to claim him back, so he used a forbidden ritual where he set it on a young child, where in the moment that the Primal Force of Chaos decides to reclaim him, he would be immediately sealed away within this child, preventing Amatsu Mikaboshi from taking him back" Shadow explained.
"And that child...Is Kaylin?" Natsumi asked. She was still carried by Reinhard while being healed by Felix at the same time.
"Correct. You see, Kaylin's mother was a prostitute. In her 10th birthday, her mother tried to kill her, only for Kaylin to unleash the power of the Dark One for the first time ever by accident, killing her mother instantly" Shadow answered.
"But why?! Why did Kaylin's mother try to kill her?!" Subaru asked in shock and anger. Shadow just went silent for a few seconds, trying to organize his words, before he eventually continued speaking.
"As I mentioned, Kaylin was born for a prostitute mother, who was impregnated by a man. However, she couldn't abort her because an abortion in the case of Kaylin's mother would have killed her as she developed a verbal disease for selling off her body to countless people. Kaylin and her mother both had the disease, but Kaylin was weaker than her. Despite that, Kaylin managed to survive through sheer willpower, and because of her mother who appeared to be extremely kind to her" Shadow said.
"Then what happened exactly for this to go down the hills?" Felt asked, being next to Shadow alongside Rem and Ram.
"Well...Kaylin spent ten years and she was going to be condemned to the Life of a brothel whore just like her mother when she would reach 15. However, one day, on her 10th birthday, Kaylin returned to the room where she and her mother were living in inside the brothel, only to see her collapsed and bawling her eyes out. This was the first time Kaylin had seen her mother completely broken and bloodlusted, as she lashed at her. She yelled that she was the reason for all of her misery, and that she never loved her, where she only endured her for those last ten years because she was waiting for the man that was Kaylin's father to come and take her, but even after ten years, he never showed up, and this devastated her. In Fear for her Life, the Dark One sensed the danger Kaylin was in, before he used his power to protect his vessel, killing Kaylin's mother. This made Kaylin escape from the brothel that was located in the Slums of Lugunica and sneak her way inside a carriage heading to Kararagi, and after 7 years, I met both her and Saki in Kararagi" Shadow explained.
"Wow...That's really too brutal..." Subaru muttered.
"She seemed to have suffered a lot for a child, even to the point of being cursed by a scoundrel and putrid force of evil..." Priscilla muttered from behind her fan.
"This is the most that I can say about Kaylin's past. As for her before her reincarnation to this world...Well, I don't have the right to pry into her past and cross my own boundaries. I think that I've crossed them by a lot already" Shadow said.
"Shadow-kun" Rem called out to Shadow, who looked at her.
"Yes, Rem?" He asked.
"Judging by the detailed description of Kaylin-san's past, you surely know about him as well...The identity of Kaylin-san's father" Rem stated, and this actually caught everyone's attention. They clearly wanted to know the identity of that bastard that was the reason of ruining Kaylin's Life before it even began.
Shadow looked at all of them and saw the full attention in their eyes. He was not running away from that one.
"...Yes. I know him. Actually, he's right with us now" He said, earning surprised looks from everyone.
"Really? Who is-ACK!" Natsumi, surprised at Shadow's answer, lifted herself up from Reinhard's arms, but winced in pain shortly after as her wounds re-opened from the sudden movement, causing the bandages surrounding her torso to start getting dyed in red.
"Natsumi! Please don't move! Your wounds are opening again!" Reinhard exclaimed in worry.
"It's you, Heinkel Astrea"
"?!"
Silence echoed in the surroundings, only the whistling sound of the wind was what was breaking the silence. Everyone looked with wide eyes at Heinkel, who was wide-eyed as well at the sudden revelation.
"Father...?" Even Reinhard couldn't hide his shock, before he saw Heinkel falling to his knees.
"Father!" Reinhard called out, getting up to approach his father, but he immediately sat down once again upon hearing Natsumi wince in pain once again as he accidentally harmed her and reopened another wound.
"Sorry, Natsumi" He apologized.
"It's okay..." She muttered with a small smile, before witnessing Reinhard avert his gaze from her to look at his father, opting a look of anxiety. He then noticed as Shadow stood up from the rubble piece that he was seated on and proceeded to approach him.
"Heinkel...Ever since that day, Kaylin had sworn to kill you, and it's not for her mother as she no longer cares about someone who tried to kill her, but because you were the one responsible for her misery. And believe me when I tell you, that even if she disregarded the thought of killing you, I'll be the one to personally kill you for what you have done for her. However, I want to know. I want to know what exactly happened that day. What led to you entering the brothel? Was it because of you thinking that you lost your wife that you fell into depression?" Shadow asked, and Heinkel didn't raise his head up to look at him. Frederica was giving him a dark glare from the sidelines, as she herself had a dark past with him.
"...It was at the time when Reinhard was two years old. I remember it now. Louanna was bedridden from this mysterious disease, and she never woke up. Even my best friend was unable to do anything to her, despite being the most proficient healer in the country back then, and this made a rift between our friendship which is something that I regret doing to even now. But I never gave up on both Reinhard or Louanna. I tried to find a cure myself, but I couldn't. No matter how much I searched, nothing came to fruition. My last lead in Lugunica was the Slums, where I tried searching there. This was the first time that I drank alcohol in it, and before I knew it, the world was spinning with me. The next thing that I saw was sleeping next to a whore in a brothel. I ran out of it and decided to lay low and forget about it" Heinkel said.
"Father..." Reinhard muttered, tears starting to build in his eyes from what he had just heard.
"Heh...But deep down, I knew that it will be soon that I will have to face my sins. That I will have to face judgement one day. And to be honest, I wasn't afraid. But...If it was only me, I would never think twice before offering my head to this young child that is my daughter...But...Even so..."
Shadow blinked upon seeing Heinkel sobbing with tears falling from his eyes as he looked at the ground, ashamed of himself to even look at everyone around him.
"If there was something that I regret...It's not seeing my wife waking up...And my son forgiving this pathetic excuse of a father who scorned him for something he had no fault...I know that nothing would justify what I have done...It won't mend Kaylin's heart...It won't make Reinhard forgive me...And I'm sure that if Louanna woke up, she would hate me...But I...I...I just wanted to do something good for once in my Life...I just...Wanted...To be happy for once..."
His voice already laced with sobs, Heinkel was unable to speak. His body felt cold, his blood dried entirely, his world was spinning around him. But that was nothing compared to his broken heart, where the sorrow was so deep that it made a scar that can never heal. And right now, nothing mattered to him at all. But if there was some miracle, some divine providence that would allow him to see his wife awake and tell her that he loved her, and to apologize to both his son and his daughter, he would want it right now before he would offer his Life to those that he wronged.
"Heinkel..." Shadow muttered, and was about to speak, only two sudden impacts to collide next to them, sending dust and debris flying into the air and causing everyone to shield their eyes from the shockwave of the sudden impact, where the first impact collided with the ground, while the other collided with a nearby house, causing the house to explode and crumble apart, and not long afterwards, a figure rolled out from the debris of the building. One look at the figure, and everyone gasped.
"Kaylin!" Heinkel was the one to call out to her in worry, as Kaylin slowly got up to her feet, Yamato still firmly gripped in her right hand as she looked at the smokescreen.
Once the smokescreen faded, she saw it.
The floating figure of Alex in his white armour, but more change was made in it. He became a tall figure in segmented white armour with noticeable claws and pauldrons. His head is now featureless save for a singular eye and four curved horns adorn the top of his head like a helmet.
"So...What about giving me my answer now, Kaylin?" Definition Alex asked.
"Never! I want MY answer first!" Kaylin yelled out at him.
"Stubborn...Just like how I knew you...Miyuki" Alex said.
"Not much different than you...Kotaro" Kaylin said.
"Kotaro?!" Both Subaru and Natsumi exclaimed in shock.
"Ah...Nobody tries to interfere. After all..."
As Shadow muttered out these words, both Alex and Kaylin prepared for their final bout.
"...This is something that should have been done ten years ago"
[Bayonetta 3 OST - Whispers of Destiny]
"Gomorrah!"
"Cumulonimbus!"
The heart-shaped mark on Kaylin's abdomen, which was concealed behind her clothes, glowed brighter than ever, and moments later, a ginormous purple magic circle appeared on the ground, and out of it a gigantic, skyscraper-sized black Dragon emerged from it, where Definition Alex summoned a white scroll to summon his gigantic minion, who this time sported 4 arms.
Both Gomorrah and Cumulonimbus charged at each other, clawing and biting into each other. At the same time, Definition Alex's palm glowed as he waved it, and suddenly, everything in the world started to shrink and multiply. The ground started to branch, the buildings started to multiply, and space-time became distorted, blending together to become a bluish green space of nothingness.
"What the hell is happening?!" Subaru asked.
"He's twisting reality and phenomenon" Shadow said before snapping his fingers, engulfing everyone in his Shadow Guard's spherical barrier to protect them from the phenomenon alteration that Definition Alex was using to mess the entire multiverse with it.
Kaylin charged towards Definition Alex, before suddenly losing her footing as the platform that she stood on disappeared, having branched to isolated Gomorrah and Cumulonimbus from the fight where they fought in another faraway platform, leaving Kaylin to fall into the void.
"Wartrain Gouon!"
Kaylin called out, and a massive, war locomotive train appeared out of thin air, causing her to ride on top of it. The war train flew and sported multiple cannons from its chassis and opened fire, which caused Alex to create a barrier around him to block the magic cannonballs from colliding with him. The war train then fired fiery coal from its chimney, coupled with releasing freezing mist from the jets on its sides. The mist made contact with Alex's barrier, instantly freezing and shattering the magical shield, before the coal fired towards him, prompting Definition Alex to create a hologram doppelganger that took the hit in his stead, before creating another doppelganger that flew towards Kaylin, rearing its fist back, aiming to strike her down and knock her off the train.
However, Kaylin was prepared.
"Ninth Form: High Cross!"
"?!"
In an instant, she swung her sword horizontally, and then vertically, slicing the hologram into four identical pieces, where the attack resembled drawing a cross in the air, causing the hologram doppelganger to vanish in the air, disintegrating into mana.
Definition Alex then created building-like constructs that had bluish green colour, before launching them at the war train, intending to knock Kaylin off from it, but the war train successfully weaved through the projectiles with no issues. Seeing this, Definition Alex then flicked his wrist, causing dozens of black spears to manifest out of thin air. The spears glowed red with energy, before shooting forward, striking the war train head on, causing Kaylin to jump off of it as it disintegrated, returning to her summoning lists. She was now freefalling, which caused her to call forth to another summon.
"Madama Butterfly!"
A magic circle appeared out of thin air, and out of it emerged a giant beautiful woman with a swallowtail butterfly theme. She was wearing a long black dress that splits up the back with a seemingly tattered hem, and a mostly exposed chest with multiple edged straps that go across her torso. She also wears long, flowing sleeves to match her dress, along with red spikes at the top near her shoulders and a few more spikes that protrude from each of her forearms. Her headdress is a large, butterfly-shaped headpiece that sits evenly on her head, along with gold ornaments that rest on her forehead. Her eyes are red in colour and almost jewel-like.
Alex reacted to this by teleporting in front of the giant woman, and delivering a kick, only for said woman to simply swat him away like a fly, sending him flying away several 100s of meters. Definition Alex regained his balance in the air, before releasing a shockwave that briefly knocked the floating giant woman off her balance, and almost knocked Kaylin off her right shoulder, but she was able to maintain her footing and not fall off.
The buildings twisted once again within the infinite space, and soon, a large platform manifested and enlarged in the centre, with Gomorrah and Cumulonimbus appearing on it. Gomorrah jumped towards Cumulonimbus, aiming its jaws at it, but the four-armed giant caught the black demon dragon of Chaos and stopped its advances, before throwing it away, causing it to topple on the platform, before regaining its footing.
Gomorrah then opened its mouth, before firing a beam of hellish purple flames that could tear through souls and concepts, with Cumulonimbus responding by firing a bluish green beam of energy from its only large eye towards it. The clash was brief, but Gomorrah prevailed as its flames overpowered Cumulonimbus' beam of energy, engulfing the latter in hell flames, shortly erasing the giant and burning it to nothingness. And upon noticing its victory, Gomorrah gave one final roar, before vanishing into a large purple magic circle that appeared underneath it.
Upon the conclusion of this battle, Kaylin dismissed Madama Butterfly, before she herself landed on the platform that the battle took place in, brandishing her sword as she glared up at the floating form of Definition Alex, who proceeded to wave his hand above his head, before causing beams of energy to rain down at Kaylin, who proceeded to call forth a counter for it.
"Tyrant Lock Void Bramble Spellbound Sword: Ink Moon Halo"
Another Spellbound Sword appeared to her side, though it could hardly be called a sword. It took the appearance of a double-headed voulge with red markings on it, fused together to be like a cross, with a golden circle in the centre.
The weapon spun rapidly to the left, absorbing the approaching beams of light as the central circle in the weapon glowed pink. It then stopped spinning left...Before beginning to spin right, firing off the beams of energy as a tear in space opened to shoot the beams of energy back at Definition Alex, who simply backhanded the beams in a casual manner.
Alex then started to create countless balls of energy and countless beams of light in the air, before immediately firing them down at Kaylin. In response, the weapon stabbed itself in front of its master, before it started glowing pink once again. Once the attacks were about to hit Kaylin, they were all absorbed within the sword's central circle, vanishing as they were completely absorbed by the Spellbound Sword. In the next second, however, a green ball of energy slowly manifested in the centre of the golden circle of the Spellbound Sword, and not long after, a wave of green energy shot towards Definition Alex, who was taken aback by the sudden attack, but managed to counter it by releasing a wave of energy from his palm to counter it. However, the struggle proved to be pointless for him as he was slowly overpowered and sent flying away, spinning violently in the air for a couple of seconds, before maintaining his balance once again.
Deciding that enough was enough, Definition Alex's hand glowed once again, before suddenly, the ground around Kaylin started moving like tsunami waves. One wave of concrete was approaching her, only for her to dodge it by jumping off, her Spellbound Sword having vanished before it could get even hit by the wave of concrete. Another wave approached, promoting Kaylin to jump once again, this time in the direction of Definition Alex. She raised Yamato above her head, intending on slicing him in half, pouring her power in this swing.
"Tenth Form: Dark Heaven Slash!"
"?!"
A downward sword slash that coloured the blade of Kaylin's sword pitch black, before she swung down, releasing a giant slash infused with infinite darkness that was descending upon Definition Alex, aiming to slice apart his very world alongside him as the concepts of space and time twisted around this infinite space of nothingness.
However...
"That will not work"
"?!"
The blade was immediately stopped by Definition Alex, who grabbed it alongside the slash of darkness that was a hair's breadth from hitting him. And with his free hand, he aimed his opened palm at Kaylin, before a shockwave erupted from it, knocking away Kaylin and sending her toppling off the platform that immediately cracked and split into pieces in the same fashion as someone who was cutting triangular slices of a cake.
Having the ground disappearing beneath her toppling form, Kaylin started to fall into the depths of the space, but that only lasted for a second, as Definition Alex instantly appeared in front of her falling form, clutching her by the throat, causing her to spit out blood from the sheer force of the sudden grip on her windpipe. And at the same time as this occurred, the world was mended within seconds, with the scenery of the Capital city of Lugunica appearing once again and the space that Definition Alex created vanished.
[Music Stops]
"You are strong, Kaylin. If that attack had connected, I would have been beyond dead now. But with this being futile against me, surely you must have had enough by now" Definition Alex said to Kaylin.
"You're not...Getting nervous, are you?" Kaylin gasped her words, before swinging Yamato, which was still in her firm grip despite the sudden impact, in an upwards swipe, but Definition Alex was faster, as he released his grip on Kaylin, teleporting a few meters away to dodge her attack, before delivering a diving kick to her stomach, sending her rocketing towards the ground, causing her to topple on the ground. Kaylin tried to get up, but the rough treatment made her recovery to her feet slower. She gritted her teeth to stand up, using her sword as a makeshift cane by stabbing it into the ground to provide her support to stand up. She gasped for breath, already completely spent even though as a Rune Stone bearer, she had infinite stamina and can never tire, but she was completely worn out right now, both physically and emotionally from the fight.
She saw Definition Alex floating downwards to the ground level, not standing on the ground, still levitating, with his feet being a few feet off the floor. He saw that Kaylin was slowly approaching him, completely spent, barely capable from pulling her sword beside her.
"What's wrong...Having...Trouble...Running the numbers...?" Kaylin gasped her words as she slowly walked towards Definition Alex's floating form. She delivered a rather weak and flimsy swing of her sword at Definition Alex, but he didn't need his barrier to repel this attack as the attack bounced off his armour, nearly knocking Kaylin off her feet from the impact.
"A disappointment, yet amusing" Definition Alex said, mocking Kaylin as he waved his hand as if he was dusting the place that Kaylin struck.
"Well...Don't count me out...Just yet...I'll...Be the one...Who will bring my answer...To the light..." Kaylin gasped out her words, throwing slow and weak strikes at Alex, which were constantly being repelled, with Alex doing nothing but taking the hits to his armour as they were repelled.
Having decided to end this, Alex waved his hand, releasing a shockwave that knocked Kaylin off her feet and sent her flying several meters away, and yet despite getting ruffled over and over, her tenacity, her willpower, her determination to find her answer, forced her to stand up, but she could barely stand at her feet now, barely even being capable of lifting a finger, but she still willed herself to at least stand on her knees, her grip on Yamato still as firm as ever. Definition Alex then created a hologram doppelganger and launched it at Kaylin, who sliced it in half with what remained of her strength, leaving her wide open as Alex fired an energy beam straight at her, sending her flying as the beam collided with her and caused her to slam into a nearby house. And using telekinesis, Definition Alex caused the house around Kaylin to crumble, before the debris immediately latched onto her, covering her completely in a crucified form, being suspended in air and completely sustained, unable to move, causing Yamato to fall from her hand as she finally lost strength to hold it.
"I condemn you into pushing me this far. You have indeed gotten stronger, Kaylin. But no matter what you desired, our reunion here was predetermined...As was your ignoble defeat and the reaching of my answer" Definition Alex said.
"I...Won't yield...I have...To get my...An...Swer..." Kaylin gasped, already completely spent. She had released the majority of her arsenal at him, and yet he was still persisting. She didn't know what to do anymore.
"Miyuki!" Kaylin could hear Subaru's voice shouting her old name. The name that she had before reincarnating here.
The name that she had when she told him that she was sorry...Begging him for forgiveness.
Alex created a spear in his hand and aimed at the air bound Kaylin, aiming to take the shot at her. It didn't seem that he was keen on finding his 'answer' the right way.
Kaylin closed her eyes. A tear rolled down her eye. She just wanted everything to end quickly. She couldn't bear living in a world that denied her existence for basically no reason. She didn't do anything to deserve this. She did her best to try and live in this world, only to be crushed by someone who just wanted it all for himself, including her.
The spear was thrown, whistling as it sliced through the air. It soared towards Kaylin, but she her eyes were closed. She wasn't looking. She just wanted everything to end as quick and as painless as possible.
...
...
...
CLANG!
"What?"
"?!"
The shock in Alex's voice, which came right after the sudden clanging sound of steel hitting steel, made Kaylin slowly open her eyes.
And what she saw made her gasp in surprise and her eyes widen, as right in front of her, the Spellbound Sword Nemesis was floating between her and the spear, protecting her from the sharp weapon.
"What the...?" Kaylin was baffled at the site, and so was everyone watching, including Shadow, whose grin was stretching to the sides of his face.
"Her Rune Stone...It's responding to her emotions and desires" Shadow muttered.
Another Spellbound Sword, the Frostbite Furnace, shot ice cubes at Definition Alex, who created a barrier in an attempt to block it. However, another Spellbound Sword, the Ink Moon Halo, spun by itself to the left side, causing the energy that maintained the barrier to get absorbed by the Spellbound Sword, dispelling the barrier and leaving Alex opened to the volley of ice cubes that proceeded to pummel him to the ground.
It didn't end here, as another Spellbound Sword, Zephyr, shot forward until it was near the standing form of Definition Alex, before it shot a fiery explosion right into his face, sending him toppling to the ground, and causing him to lose focus on the rock prison that he was capturing Kaylin in, causing the debris to fall and for Kaylin to follow soon after, falling on her back to the ground.
"W-What...?" Kaylin was confused and surprised as she saw her Spellbound Swords surround her protectively. She saw that Zephyr was floating with a piece of Alex's flesh. This made Kaylin blink in surprise, before a small smile appeared on her face. She realized now.
Her swords were literally thinking...They were responding to her thoughts, to her innate desire to keep on living. She didn't want to die. She wanted to live.
And for that, she needed the power to have her answer from him, no matter what the cost is.
Rising to her feet, Kaylin stood up, grabbed the piece of Alex's biomass on Zephyr's blade in her hands...And sunk her teeth in it, before swallowing it in one gulp.
"Eh?" Subaru was shocked at this, and so was everyone, except for Shadow, who just looked impassively.
"Kaylin's affinity for magic is Yang, and Saki's affinity is Yin. However, both of them have trouble releasing normal spells in the normal sense. For example, Saki can manipulate spells like Minya and El Minya and use the spells in the form of either shooting it or using them as assassin dirks, but she can't conjure a normal Shamak. As such, she was taught by Halibel on how to use her magic in a physical form. On the other hand, Kaylin does not have that privilege, since Yang spells are all by manifesting light in the form of either shooting spells or projectiles, but there was something that was a match for Kaylin to use, and it was extremely convenient" Shadow explained.
"Which is...?" Subaru asked.
"In the form of what the residents of this world call a Lost Magic. This kind of Lost Magic allows its user to conjure swords of light, but that's not what special about this Lost Magic. The magic light swords hold the ability to directly cleanse anything with no exception, and this goes through creating an anti-symbol on the blade's guard to nullify the ability, even if it was a physical or magical ability, even if it meant a person specifically" Shadow answered.
"Whoa...That's actually amazing, so she can create something like an Anti-Otto blade?" Subaru asked.
"Why did you suddenly include my Death in this?! Please don't joke about this! I had too many Deaths in two days!" Otto yelled at Subaru's joke.
"Well, yes, she can do that" Shadow answered.
"I said to NOT joke about my Death!" Otto yelled at Shadow as well.
"However, in order to install an anti-symbol, Kaylin must have a deep understanding for the composition of the opposing obstacle in front of her. That's why Kaylin holds an extensive encyclopaedic Knowledge on a wide range of fields. Simply put, she cannot materialize an anti-symbol for something that she doesn't understand" Shadow said.
"Okay...Ma amazin' self's lost completely..." Garfiel muttered while scratching the back of his head.
"But that would mean that this Lost Magic, as amazing as it is, is considered useless without the extensive Knowledge regarding the opponent. I mean, there might be an opponent where Kaylin-san would not know anything about" Otto said.
"You would think so, but that's where Kaylin's Divine Protection comes into the mix" Shadow said.
"Huh? How so?" Otto asked.
"Kaylin has the Divine Protection of Judgement Chef. This allows her to cook the best meals ever, and she would be unrivalled in cooking. Sounds really useless, right? But actually, it's a really overpowered Divine Protection. As in order to cook the best meal, a chef has to taste it in order to test its ingredients so that they could understand what to place for seasonings to make the perfect meal, and the same would go for Kaylin's Lost Magic, The Unholy Excalibur. So, what do you think Kaylin's Divine Protection would do?" Shadow explained, then asked.
"She eats it" Reinhard immediately answered.
"Correct, or more like, she has to have her lips touch it in order to understand even more. Kaylin has gone beyond the zenith of swordsmanship and martial arts. It won't be farfetched to say that she can defeat Reid Astrea in his prime and rather easily, and without the Unholy Excalibur. Her extensive Knowledge on the past makes her have the ultimate weapon, so naturally, Kaylin can easily defeat any kind of swordsman and martial artist. But with the combination of her skills in close combat, unparalleled swordsmanship, her Rune Stone Skill, Divine Protection and Unholy Excalibur, Kaylin becomes nigh unstoppable...And we are about to see it right now" Shadow said.
"Come forth...Unholy Excalibur"
"?!"
[Bayonetta 3 OST - Ghost]
The ground suddenly glowed light blue, before dozens of blue light swords appeared. The blade resembled a needle, having a pointy, isosceles triangle-shaped blade, with the guard being a circle and having a small picture of a hooded man, while having a stripe across the picture of said hooded man, where said strip ran from the upper right side of the circle to its lower left side. It was the same as a sign that says, 'No Parking', but with the picture of a hooded man instead of the letter 'P' in it.
Definition Alex saw this, and proceeded to create spears of energy and launched them at her.
However...
"Anti-Spear Excalibur"
"?!"
Instantly, the same number of spears that Alex was about to unleash were instantly opposed by the light swords that simply made contact with it, turning the spears into dust. Definition Alex was baffled by this, and this made him unaware of Kaylin opening the cage of the Five Forms of Formlessness Spellbound Sword, and with one swift yank, she tore the sword out of the cage, shattering the cage into chunks, and causing the blade to be released to reveal its form in the form of a typical Japanese Katana, but with two main differences: The blade was glowing crimson red and the Katana didn't have a guard. It was as if it was a chokuto sword.
One of Kaylin's most dangerous blades was the Five Forms of Formlessness. It was indeed a dangerous sword, being capable of releasing invisible and unpredictable slashes while inside the cage. However, the blade shone at its strongest when it was released outside of the cage. In a literal comparison, while Yamato, Kaylin's default sword, can cut through space and time, the released form of the Five Forms of Formlessness was able to slice through the very core of all concepts in All Creation, unbound by any restriction.
And that sword was literally used right now.
"Pannus. Duplicatus"
"?!"
Two scrolls floated from Definition Alex's back, before opening up in the air, showing two giant figures. The first was a cyan jellyfish with short, spinning appendages at the bottom and a fused white belt of mist visible in the centre of its body. It also seemed to have metallic horns on its bell which appeared to greatly resemble a tiara. The second figure resembled the first one in appearance but is distinguishable by its darker colour and more elaborate armour plating.
Pannus immediately started to split into hundreds of thousands of little versions of it, surrounding Kaylin, with Duplicatus doing the same, but with the only difference that each two copies of the later that split would fuse together into an exact large copy of Duplicatus, before splitting once again and fusing to other bigger versions, to the point that it was basically the same as mitotic division.
An army of monsters surrounded Kaylin, with the smaller Pannus starting to glow orange, indicating that they were about to explode, and the Duplicatus copies were closing it, charging bluish green energy balls to launch at Kaylin.
But even so...
"Anti-Alex Excalibur"
"?!"
With a flick of Kaylin's wrist, hundreds of thousands of the Unholy Excalibur instantly manifested around her, all bearing the anti-symbol of Alex Mercer, before being telekinetically launched at the approaching monsters, massacring them instantly by turning them to dust that was scattered in the wind before vanishing.
Definition Alex was baffled, and his anger was boiling. But he didn't give up.
"Stratocumulus"
"?!"
Another two scrolls floated and opened, revealing Cirrocumulus and Cirrostratus. The two then fused in a brief blinding light, emerging in an entirely different form.
It was a gargantuan humanoid with feminine features. Its cyan body was made out of the fused forms of both draconic centaurs, with ornate, armour-like chitinous parts. It had a perpetually upturned canid headdress, revealing its eye and protecting a weak point on top of the headdress. It had four snake-like appendages serving as arms and its body is decorated with pink, cloth-like strips of energy, with multiple serving as a mock 'veil' over a weak point on its torso. Finally, a flower-like growth was shown on its back.
"I figured out this power of yours. It creates an anti-power through those swords to counter what it opposes. However, Stratocumulus is an entirely different Homunculus that I created. It holds a completely different genetic code that is completely different of mine. Your light swords will never be able turn this into dust" Definition Alex said.
Just after these words were announced, Stratocumulus started to attack, shooting fire balls from its snake-like appendages at Kaylin.
"Anti-Fire Excalibur"
"?!"
Four swords of light shot forth while having the anti-symbol of fire on them, instantly dispelling the fire balls.
Stratocumulus followed by launching its four snake-like appendages at Kaylin, to which said woman reacted.
"Anti-Limb Excalibur"
"?!"
Another four swords of light manifested and soared through the air, each holding the anti-symbol of arms and legs on them. The moment they connected with Stratocumulus' appendages, said parts instantly turned to dust and faded away.
However, the Homunculus didn't stop there, as it opened its mouth and shot a massive bluish green energy beam from its mouth.
However...
"Anti-Stratocumulus Excalibur"
"?!"
Instantly, a gigantic blade of light the size of a building shot forth, tearing its way through the beam that Stratocumulus fired, before it stabbed its way through the Homunculus' mouth, sticking out of its neck, before it completely disintegrated to dust, marking the instant erasure of Stratocumulus and leaving Alex in a state of shock as it just witnessed his strongest creation being completely overwhelmed.
"Even if it holds a different genetic code than yours, as long as I know what kind of being that is, then it won't stand a chance against the Unholy Excalibur, and I should truly thank you, Alex. You had just blurted out the name of the species to me. Now your summons won't work against me" Kaylin said, and this made anger boil inside of Definition Alex, before he flew to the air and conjured a barrier around him for protection in order to prepare for an attack without disturbing.
"Dual Anti-Excalibur: Anti-Barrier + Anti-Flight"
"?!"
Suddenly, Alex was hit from the back by an Unholy Excalibur that had an anti-symbol of a spherical barrier, along with another anti-symbol that had wings in it, where the latter branched from the side of the blade that sent Alex crashing down the ground.
Definition Alex got up to his feet slowly, his armour starting to have cracks in it. He stood up, the armour around the mouth area of his helmet crumbing apart to reveal his teeth, which were gritted in anger and desperation.
"I will not lose, Kaylin! I will find my answer no matter what!" Alex yelled, before dozens of white scrolls floated in front of him and opened, preparing to release Homunculi at Kaylin...
"Anti-Homunculus Excalibur"
"?!"
...Only to instantly fail as dozens of light swords with the anti-symbol that featured the shape of the Homunculus scrolls shot forth, striking the opened scrolls head on, before they turned to dust that scattered in front of the shocked Alex.
Seeing this, Alex quickly recovered from his shock, before creating a hologram doppelganger and launched it at Kaylin, where said doppelganger aimed its foot at Kaylin, attempting to deliver a flying drop kick to her...
"Eleventh Form: Moon Sunderer!"
"?!"
...But Kaylin instantly zoomed past it in incalculable speeds, slicing the hologram doppelganger to millions of pieces with Five Forms of Formlessness.
Alex was in complete shock at this as nothing was working, which left him wide open for Kaylin to appear in front of him in a burst of speed, before she swung her Spellbound Sword at Definition Alex. At first, nothing happened, but after a second, the entire armour of Alex shattered completely, revealing his normal self...Before a slash mark appeared, travelling from his left hip and all the way up to his right shoulder, nearly ripping him as blood sprayed from the wound.
The impact and the pain snapped Alex back to reality, before he jumped several meters away from Kaylin, holding the wound that regenerated in a few seconds, glaring at Kaylin.
[Music Fades]
"I think it's time to end this, don't you think?" Kaylin asked, to which Alex just glared at her for a few seconds, before grinning.
"Yes. It's time to end this" Alex muttered, before his eyes glowed red gradually. An earthquake started to slowly build, before it became devastating. A magnitude 6 earthquake started shaking the whole world to its foundations, with Shadow's shield being the only thing that protected the residents of the entire country of Lugunica from the devastation that came across it.
Kaylin, on the other hand, unfazed and calm as if nothing was happening around her, slowly raised Five Forms of Formlessness, before taking a Iaijutsu stance, preparing to pour her entire being into this one last strike.
"This is it. It will all end with this one strike" Shadow said. Alex's eyes glowed bright red, and Kaylin's blade sported twelve crimson wings on the back of the blade of the Five Forms of Formlessness.
"Medusa Wrath!"
"Final Form: Twelve Crimson Wings!"
"?!"
Alex fired a beam of red energy from his eyes, and Kaylin sent a horizontal slash towards him, with this slash releasing twelve slashes with this single swing of the blade.
The blade slashes made contact with the beam. However, the moment it did, it was over.
The energy beam instantly disappeared, leaving Alex, completely frozen in place in the same stance where he shot the beam at Kaylin.
The battlefield was hushed as Death, with Kaylin's Spellbound Sword having the wings dissolve inside of it, before its huge cage manifested, to which Kaylin placed the sword in it, before the cage closed and the Five Forms of Formlessness disappeared, and alongside it disappeared the other Spellbound Swords, leaving only Yamato, which was lying on the ground.
Kaylin picked up the sword from the ground, before slowly walking towards the frozen Alex.
"Uh...What exactly happened?" Subaru asked.
"This is one of Kaylin's strongest moves, the Twelve Crimson Wings. This is a sword slash that releases twelve slashes with one swing, but that's not what makes it dangerous. Once this attack connects, it makes the user enter in a state between Life and Death, stuck in a forever limbo of infinite suspension, where Kaylin is the only one that can take him out of it" Shadow explained, before dispelling the Shadow Guard that he made around the citizens of the country.
"The battle is over" He said.
Everyone saw as Kaylin was right in front of the frozen Alex. She raised Yamato's pummel and struck Alex's forehead with it, causing Alex to gasp suddenly, having been brought back to reality. Kaylin then delivered a punch to the confused Alex, knocking him off his feet and to his back. She then sat on his stomach, holding Yamato in a reverse grip with both hands, with the tip of the blade aiming to where Alex's heart was, or where his heart is supposed to be.
Alex, seeing this, didn't move, and just smiled, as if resigning to the fact that Kaylin has won.
"Heh...Okay, Kaylin. You win...But before you kill me, here's your answer. I f-"
"I FORGIVE YOU!"
"?!"
Alex was taken aback by Kaylin raising her voice, countering what Alex was about to say, and it was even more shocking for him to hear what she had just said with tears streaming down her eyes, which fell on his face.
"I forgive you...So please...Forgive me..." She whispered, but everyone heard it, and Alex was the most shocked about it.
"I'm...I'm so sorry! If I wasn't a coward! If I wasn't weak! If I wasn't submissive! If I wasn't a backstabber! If all of those things weren't in me, you wouldn't have been hurt! I betrayed you! I hurt you! I stabbed you in the back! I crushed your heart! You have every right to hate me! But please! Please! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I did everything wrong to you, so please forgive me!"
After yelling out those words, Kaylin's grip slipped off from Yamato, causing said sword to fall harmlessly next to Alex's lying form, leaving the sobbing form of Kaylin sitting on his abdomen.
"I'm sorry...Please forgive me..."
She whispered the same words before her departure from their former world as Miyuki Akagami, and now she says the same words in her new Life in this other world as Kaylin Astrea. Alex remembered them very well. After all, they were the words given to him as Kotaro Hoshimiya.
What happened for all of this? What caused all of this to happen?
Both of them saw that it was their fault. Miyuki saw that it was her fault because she submitted to that bastard who took her first time and threatened her, turning her into a whore. She saw that it was also her fault that she didn't speak to Kotaro about it, and she saw that saying that she didn't tell him because she didn't want any harm to him was nothing but hollow words to hide her cowardice.
On the other hand, Kotaro saw that it was his fault because he didn't ask her about what was wrong at that day. He didn't try to save her. He didn't believe in her, even when he saw the proof that she was forced to all of this. He let himself be tricked in the scheme of that asshole that forced her into becoming a sow for his desires, all because of his Greed, and with all of that, Kotaro knew all of that, and yet chose to leave Miyuki all alone and hate her for the rest of their lives.
Both of them were trapped in this cycle, but none of them was brave enough to admit that it was their fault. Instead, both of them decided to seek the answer from each other, where whoever won would deserve to have this answer.
Yes. Both of them wanted only one thing, their own answer that they were seeking ever since they arrived in this world.
Forgiveness.
And without thinking, he sat up and took her in her arms, causing her to stop sobbing and her tear-filled eyes widened in surprise at the warm embrace she was engulfed in.
"I'm so sorry, Kaylin. I forgive you, so please forgive me" He whispered.
"I was an idiot. I wanted to hear it from you because I was a coward. I searched for an answer, even though I knew that it would hurt you..." He muttered again, before tightly hugging her closer.
"I Love you" He whispered in her ear, and this caused her tears to increase, before she gripped on his back with her hands, tightly hugging him as if he will, before she buried her face into his chest, openly wailing, releasing all of the accumulated anguish and sadness that she stored in her heart.
They both didn't care that lots of people were watching. All they cared about was the fact that they finally crossed that bridge of Despair together.
They were finally together, but not only as Kotaro and Miyuki, but also as Alex and Kaylin.
"Huh...?"
"?!"
Subaru was alerted by Shadow's wide-eyed face, which no one took notice of as they were busy staring at Alex and Kaylin, with Natsumi having fallen unconscious due to her wounds.
"Guys. Stay here. I'll be right back" Shadow said to his companions, before instantly vanishing without saying any other world.
"What on Earth...?" Subaru muttered his question in confusion.
Dimension RE-1818
As she cradled her little baby boy, Naoko Natsuki cracked a small smile on her face.
Her face looked a little wrinkled from the lack of sleep, but nevertheless, she managed to retain colour on her face ever since the disappearance of her other older children.
But the arrival of that mysterious man, Shadow Terios, had left her and her husband Kenichi, in a mixture of both confusion and relief.
From one side, they were confused about the fact that this guy came from another world and stated that their two kids were in that other world, and from the other side, they were relieved to hear that they were alive and well. Normally, one would think that there was something wrong and that this guy named Shadow was fraudster, but at the point that Kenichi and Naoko had reached, they were ready to believe in anything if it meant that their two children were safe and sound.
In the 1 year and 3 months span that both Subaru and Natsumi were gone in, Naoko was pregnant before their disappearance, and they were blessed with Kaito Natsuki, a little kid who inherited his father's eyes and the colour of his mother's hair. He was now six months old.
Naoko placed her little baby into his bed, before departing from the room. She closed the lights in the room and descended the stairs, where her husband, Kenichi, was sitting on the sofa of the living room.
Outside the house, however, there was an impending danger awaiting.
The shadowy figure resembled a human, but it had several glowing parts that emitted a dim golden yellow light. The figure looked as if it took a beating.
"This brat...She blew me away and weakened me like that! All because of that Apex bastard! Heh...But whatever. I'll just hit two birds with one stone. I'll possess that baby child brother of Subaru Natsuki and rape both the parents with their son's body...Heh. Revenge and pleasure. I'm such a genius" Execun said with a twisted grin on its face.
"Genius...More like a fool"
"?!"
The voice immediately sent shivers down Execun's non-existent spine. It didn't dare to turn around, as it knew the voice very well.
And without thinking, Execun immediately jumped forward, crashing through the window where the little baby was, and this actually alerted the residents of the house, as shortly after, both Kenichi and Naoko were immediately.
Thinking of nothing but the impending danger that was about to approach it, Execun immediately lunged at the crying Kaito, intending to possess his body, which caused Naoko to try and reach out to her baby son, but Kenichi held her by the arm, fearing of what would happen should she approach that thing, but also leaving her to wail in horror as Execun was moments from engulfing her little baby boy.
However...
"Not on my watch, fucker"
"?!"
Inches before Execun could touch the crying little baby, a hand appeared and caught it by the face, causing Execun to sweat bullets as its eyes locked with the crimson eyes of Shadow Terios, which were filled with fury.
"This family is a red line, you fucking imbecile" Shadow calmly hissed, before yanking Execun by the face and slamming it to the ground. Shadow then took out his sword and pointed it towards Execun while holding it in a reverse grip.
"W-Wait! Please! Don't do that! I know! Let me join you! I can be very useful to you!" Execun exclaimed, begging for mercy.
"Pathetic. Warriors shouldn't be begging for mercy" Shadow said.
"NO! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! PLEASE HAVE MERCY!" Execun yelled out, pleading for its Life even more. Since Exeller was no more, Execun's lifeline was cut off, meaing that if he died now, then he will not come back ever again.
"...I believe that the people that you have shamed and killed didn't want to meet their maker" Shadow said, raising Dawn's Ballad up, aiming to strike Execun.
"NO! I WANT TO SPEND FOREVER RAPING AND KILLING! DON'T DO THIS!"
"Die"
SHIIK!
All that it needed was a straight stab, right through the head, and Execun's body twitched slightly, before falling completely limb. Not long after, the vile creature's body dissolved into a puddle of crimson blood that smeared the wooden floor.
Seeing that his opponent was finally down, Shadow sheathed his sword, sighing out in relief as he looked at the baby, who stopped crying and soon fell asleep.
He then looked at both Kenichi and Naoko, who were staring in shock at what just transpired.
"This place is no longer safe. Please come with me" Shadow said.
"Huh...? Where?" Kenichi asked with a bit of hesitation.
"...Somewhere I should have taken you both too a long time ago" Shadow simply answered, before snapping his fingers, causing him, Kenichi, Naoko and the sleeping Kaito to disappear via Chaos Control from the house.
This was his way of making amends with himself...And with his friends.
And Done!
Oh boy! It has been nearly six months! Apologies about the long wait, guys. My work made me really exhausted, and I couldn't finish up the chapter in time, but I promise that I'll continue writing until I finish it.
Now then, for the comments.
Once again, thank you Reaper 10398. I truly hope that you continue supporting me.
For your comment, you haven't seen the end of it yet. By the way, the fight of Giganto will be in the EX Side Story that is featuring Shadow in it prior to the beginning of the main story, so look forward to it. Also, yes. We will see both Knight and Supreme as well. In addition, the Batman Who Laughs will be in the next Arc as one of the antagonists, so look forward to it. Oh, and I assure you that Reinhard will say a word or two in the next chapter to Wilhelm and the Sage Council. It will surprise you, I guarantee that.
For the comment of Dasgun, I find the look of surprise amusing to me. I hope that I can keep it up and surprise you even more.
For the comment of monaso2595, I'm glad that you loved the story. I hope you look forward to more of it.
Next Chapter: The final chapter of Arc 3, and the epilogue of said Arc.
Until Next Time And Next Chapter!
Jude Warble, Out.