(A New distortion, A new fate awaits those who decide to venture forth. Let us see where this will end shall we?)

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Distortion 49

Previously on Canon Distortion…

Sora Minakaze and Relius Clover were dueling against each other. Relius Clover himself fought without much care about his current situation, only focused on gathering data. Sora Minakaze however was more focused in trying to stop the mad scientist from going any further with his mad experiments. But when Amy, one of the guardians of the Azure dies trying to protect Sora, something deep inside the man snapped and Relius may gather more than he had asked for.

And now, the continuation of Canon Distortion…

Relius Clover at this very moment was trying his best to contain the wave of excitement he was feeling at that moment. It had been the longest time since he had an experiment/subject that was worth his full attention towards. He had seen most of what humanity had to offer and his further experimentation towards the human psyche had yielded minimal results. His eyes that are able to see mankind for what they are proved to be both a boon and a curse.

It is a boon because it allowed him to see a person for what they are worth. What that person's experiences have shaped them into being? The worth that said experiences provide towards the growth of the soul. The curse is mainly due to how many variables he has seen in a person's soul. Love, Loss, Anger, Grief, Joy, Sadness. All of these normal human emotions influence the soul in a wide variety of ways but they often are predictable. He felt like most individuals he saw are either that of individuals that suffer from a painful past or an individual free from the strife that would plague their hearts.

Sora Minakaze was a unique case. When he first laid eyes on the man, he felt absolutely nothing. He had no peaceful or painful past but instead was filled with absolutely nothing. He was the perfect blank slate that he desired for his greater goals but at the same time, being blank meant his soul lacked development. He decided at that moment to try and force his soul to develop at that moment by throwing him with the other test subjects he used at the time.

More and more he tried to stimulate the empty soul but the more he tried to do so, the less successful he would. He was about to give up until upon a whim, he decided to use one of the failed test subjects as a final experiment. It was when he sent that failure of a body, Alice, that he was able to stimulate the boy's soul. Alas, it seemed like it was too late and he was going to have to exterminate the individual as his soul showed progress of growth but not enough for his liking.

But fate seemed to have other plans for him, fate always had plans for him that don't go his way. His attempt to eliminate the man backfired into him losing his lab for experiments. He had figured that he had lost a wealth of valuable data but it was nothing worth crying about. But he did not expect to be greeted to the sight in front of him in this very day, built from the very foundations of that fateful meeting.

What he was fighting right now was no man but a beast as he used a series of mechanical arms and gears to try and block the attack that was coming his way. The moment he saw the man, Sora Minakaze's new ghost like arm easily phase through the defenses he had placed, Relius felt his cloak get grabbed as Ignis tossed him out of the way of the attack as he landed on his feet to bear witness to the constructs of metal and steel be torn apart and tossed to the side with ease.

Sora Minakaze himself looked like normal self however the new arm he had was a completely different thing than what he normally would see. Normally, An individual has 1 soul and that one soul would radiate throughout their whole body. However in the case of Sora Minakaze, the new arm he had just gained was surrounded by souls. Not just 1 soul but from his eyes could see, there were at least over 100 souls crammed into that singular ghost arm of his.

"Amazing...Simply Amazing…" Relius said to himself, immediately changing his tactics as he made manifest a pair of gear roller skates that gave him increased mobility as he dashed away from Sora Minakaze. Sora chased after the magenta man with what seemed to be an unrelenting fury. Sora gripped his Rev Blade tightly and without hesitating, tossed the entire hunk of metal right at Relius's way. Relius used a metal arm to punch the Prototype Rev Blade right at the sky but what he saw next amazed him even further.

His eyes caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a small stream of souls drifting themselves towards the soaring object in the air. Normally a normal person would be unable to see such a thing but thanks to his eyes, he was able to see this wonderful sight of the sea of souls moving towards the Rev Blade. It was then he traced the path of that stream right towards the ghost like appendage of Sora Minakaze's arm, and from that path he was able to see what happened next.

Sora first continued his charge towards Relius Clover, his eyes fierce and sharp, staring right at his soul deeply as he pulled out his revolver and aimed it right at his nemesis. Relius made a shield in front to block the bullet but he did not let his eyes stop staring at the Rev Blade that was still soaring in the air. The moment the bullet from Sora's revolver struck the metal shield he formed, Relius's eyes caught the sight of the Rev Blade disappearing completely from view, the stream of souls that were in front of him also vanishing in the process.

Relius was of course alarmed by this as his eyes quickly darted, trying to find where the weapon had gone but he had his suspicions on where it could have disappeared to. His suspicions were immediately confirmed as without even hesitating or waiting for the next move, he immediately leapt back, seeing the Rev Blade slam itself hard where he had just stood as Sora pulled the blade out of the ground, his eyes staring right at Relius at that moment.

"Stop running you bastard…." Sora said under his breath. Sora Minakaze, a man that normally holds back his emotions carefully to ensure that he did not make any mistakes but it seemed that even a normal emotionally controlled man is unable to restrain the anger that his heart had felt at that moment. The reason for his anger however was what was weird even for him. It was a person dying in front of his eyes, another woman yet again but this woman was different in some ways.

Amy, The guardian of the Azure. Sure she was a ghost technically and she was working against the man in the first place. He cannot help but keep the memories that he spent with the woman when she was just a mere ghost in his dreams. The past few months had been a special kind of hell and his relationship with the woman had been strained but he had hoped to find a way to mend the rift between him and the murakumo unit but that will never happen any more.

Death… Death is something that Sora did not want to experience yet again. He hated the sight of seeing those he loved lying left and right in a pool of their own blood. Even if he had to kill a couple of people that he cared for deeply, he preferred if he did not get used to murdering people in the first place. Death may be something that comes to him on a casual basis but he never wanted to become used to the sensation of murdering people.

But this time, for once, in his mind, he did not mind staining his hands with the blood of a truly despicable scum. Scum that deserved to be wiped out from the face of the planet before they became an even greater evil in the world. For this, Sora in his mind was willing to put all of his goals to the side to kill this man here and now. Hell he was not really thinking about anything else at that moment, just killing the man in front of him.

And this killing intent was present for Relius to feel. Normally, such a single minded focus would be boring for Relius as that would mean that the soul itself was also focused on a singular goal. But the soul of Sora Minakaze was unique. Despite the mind being focused on killing the person in front of him, the soul of Sora Minakaze was still focused on the bigger picture. This sensation that Relius was experiencing was similar to the feeling that another person had given him. But he needed to further research into this in order to figure if the sensation he was feeling was the same or just an illusion.

"Come on now, is your hatred for me this shallow?" Relius taunted, trying to rile up the soul of Sora Minakaze more to bring out the true nature of the man in front of him. Instead what happened was the ghostly arm flared up instead, as if his taunt served to anger the arm of the individual instead of the individual himself. This intrigued Relius more and thus instead of trying to bait the man once again, he sent out Ignis to do something else entirely.

"If that is all your hatred can muster, then I do not need to dirty my hands with such rabble." Relius said. His taunt was less of his actual feelings and more of a way to rile up the soul for a response. He had gotten used to using barbs and jabs to further pry into an individual's soul, to stir it up so that it makes a response out of instinct instead of logic. To further strengthen his bluff, He allowed Ignis to go all out, releasing almost all of her defense protocols to allow the prototype detonator to attack in ways she deemed suitable.

This first started with Ignis using her hair as a makeshift whirlwind, grinding her metal ponytails on the ground to give chase towards the man. Sora however was not fazed from such an attack boldly charged towards the direction of Relius Clover. "As if the words of scum mean anything to me right now." Sora said but not in a calm manner that kind of sentence would suggest but instead in a near growling like manner as he raised his ghost like arm to block the incoming attack much to Relius's curiosity.

Instead of the arm phasing through this time, the ghost like arm instead with ease caught the deadly ponytail whirlwind and stopped it with ease. Ignis, alarmed by this tried to free herself from said grip but even a hunk of automaton metal like her proved unable to free herself from Sora's near titan like grip. Sora then without hesitation tossed Ignis to the side as his gaze was solely fixed upon Relius Clover and Relius Clover alone.

"So stop hiding behind your little doll and die already!" Sora shouted as Ignis, unfettered by her previous commands charged towards Sora yet again. Her claws tried to slash at his chest yet again but Sora was not even looking at her way when he effortlessly dodged her attack, leaping over her extended arm and slamming the hilt of his Rev Blade right on the prototype Detonator's head, causing her to crater on the ground.

Sora's display of power would have caught most people off guard but to Relius, he cannot help but be further amazed by such a display. "Then try already. You should know better than to just speak." Relius said as Sora placed the Rev Blade on his chest as Ignis tried to drive her clawed hands right into his chest. The reaction Sora had to protect himself was something not given to him by some vision but by pure instinct. Relius continued to be amazed by what he was seeing.

"As if I need a bastard like you telling me what I should be doing." Sora said as he kicked the claw off his blade and with the Rev Blade, pierced through Ignis's shoulder and tried to sever it's arm off completely at that moment, twisting and turning the blade to try and rip and tear the metal it had pierced through. Ignis defended itself from further damage by pushing Sora off her with it's free claw striking Sora's arm, it's claws digging down his skin as he gritted his teeth feeling the pain soar through his body.

But Sora ignored the pain, actually pushing the metal claws deeper onto his shoulder as the ghost arm released it's grip on the Rev Blade and held the extended hand tightly to prevent Ignis from plunging her blade any further. Sora was then able to sever off the other arm of Ignis as Ignis was forced to push him off to prevent further damage, Ignis was currently missing her arm and for that, Relius could easily repair such damage, but Sora had allowed her to dig her arm deep into his shoulder, he shouldn't be able to use that arm any longer.

But Relius could see the arm that Ignis had stabbed her claws into was fine, in fact it was as if the wound itself did not exist. "Oh...a most interesting discovery." Relius said to himself as Sora used the retreating Ignis to charge past her, slipping by her now missing arm as she tried to attack him in return. With just one arm, she was forced to extend her whole body to land the attack as it slipped right past Sora's head as he ran faster towards Relius's direction.

Sora himself began to pant in an almost animal like manner as he and Relius began to clash once again. Relius used the gear roller skates he was equipped with to roll back with some of Sora's attacks, causing the power of Sora's attack to be reduced due to the law of physics in action. Whenever Sora would swing his blade left or right, instead of trying to stop the attack entirely Relius would instead chose the option of meeting the attack head on but ride his guard along with the attack, reducing the impact.

This was a technique that many famed boxers would use against their opponents when being hit with a barrage of punches. Normally such a technique would be insufficient as most weapons created by mankind were made to easily bypass the limitations arms and legs would bring. But because Sora had the use of his ghostly appendage that he can use to bypass any attempt at forming a stalwart defense, Relius came to the conclusion that was currently clashing against Sora at that moment.

Sora himself was not really trying to think about mixing his style of attack at that moment. He could see that Relius Clover was struggling to maintain his guard against his attacks and that should be enough pressure for Sora to exert over the man. All he needed to do was keep on overwhelming the man with enough attacks to eventually force Relius into an unfavorable position that would open Relius's head for his blade.

But the more his blade connected with the guard of Relius Clover, the more frustrated he felt that his attacks were not landing at that moment. It was at that moment he decided to swap tactics as he immediately changed the Rev Blade the moment his last attack landed, transforming the proto rev blade into it's arm form, attaching it to the stump of his arm as the ghost arm dispersed at that moment.

Relius was cautious about pressing any further. He knew very well that the ghostly arm was not truly gone at that moment as he could still see the sea of souls swimming inside the arm. Relius wondered what could happen at that moment as he was not fooled when Sora started doing combination punches, not bothering to form any kind of defensive shield but instead continue his dodging.

Sora swung one of his fists past Relius's face before following it with a swift combination from the Rev Arm, performing what looked to be a flicker jab to Relius's eyes. At that moment he dodged but his eyes widened in shock as he saw a stream of souls about to collide with the place his face was going to be at. Within a split second, Relius increased the speed of his gear roller blades, dashing quicker to where he should be as the ghost like arm emerged from the openings present on the Rev Arm but as it did, Relius finally noticed something that caught his eyes.

What he had thought to be a ghost like arm was in actual reality Seithr, condensed liquid Seithr. This immediately brought into his mind the creature known as Roy Carmine or as some people have come to call him, the creature that resides in the sewer system of Kagutsuchi. Hazama had brought him said creature for him to examine and while that creature known as Arakune had been interesting to observe for a wide variety of reasons, Arakune at the end of the day was just a lump of Seithr that could move on it's own.

But Sora...Sora seemed to be a completely different thing from Arakune. As Relius continued to try and observe as closely as he could without having his head served on a platter, He could start to see similarities to another individual he has the displeasure of having any association with. Hazama and his version of the Azure Grimoire. Instead of a normal grimoire that took the shape of an object, Hazama's Azure Grimoire, the Blue Grimoire, was instead just a whole artificial being.

The benefits of such a grimoire are obvious to those who pay attention. Being able to pool Seithr from all corners of the world even if there is no Seithr to exist in the first place, there is indeed great benefit to such an Grimoire existing in the first place. It does however come with it's own set of caveats. The main one being that it takes almost forever for a Blue Grimoire to be created in the first place and the Blue Grimoire has only been based on a singular individuals appearance so far so there is not much known to how the Blue Grimoire would function with a body different from it's original host.

But the closer Relius attempted to observe Sora's body and Soul for such similarities, the more he could see just how different Mr Minakaze was in general. His body seemed to already be a cauldron but there was no evidence of any kind of grimoire in play the first place. But the fact that Sora's composition was closer to the Blue Grimoire brought Relius closer to understanding Sora's true nature. Not that Mr Minakaze would care about such things with the way his soul was behaving.

"What's the matter huh?! Cat got your tongue!?" Sora loudly questioned as Relius continued to be intrigued by how angry Sora's soul was able to be but also remained focused on the task that was in front of him. Relius couldn't help but be thankful for the data that Sora Minakaze had been providing him but at the same time, he knew that to prolong this fight any further would be too risky not just for his life but also for Ignis's mechanical stability.

"Oh no Mr Minakaze. I am just thankful for all of the data you have been granting me." Relius explained as before Sora could throw another punch, he felt his hand stop moving suddenly as he looked to see a mechanical puppet like arm grab his fist before it could be fully thrown. "The fact that I am able to bear witness to such a miracle in front of me… Even I must admit, I am genuinely impressed." Relius continued as Sora felt sick in his stomach to receive such a compliment from the man. Relius himself could see Sora's soul stir from such stimulation but at the same time, determination was also present in the man's soul.

"As if I want your compliments you bastard." Sora said, his voice spitting venom directly his way as Relius simply had a sly grin on his face, satisfied with the responses he was getting from Sora now that he had developed into a proper soul. "But a compliment I must give. For I am genuinely impressed that you are able to maintain your soul for this long among the sea of souls that are currently inside you." The moment Relius dropped his bombshell towards Sora Minakaze, Sora couldn't help but blink a few times as Relius realized something at that very moment.

"You don't feel it do you… the sensation of other souls currently residing inside your body don't you." Relius said as Sora felt a sweat bead drop down his forehead as Relius was hitting more and more on the mark with each guess, making Sora pant a little bit each and every time as he struggled to maintain his composure at that moment, trying to not scream bloody murder at that moment. Trying to not let his anger fully control him. But each and every time he stared at Relius's face he cannot help but feel a sense of disgust just pour all over him at that moment.

But to hear the fact that there was other souls inside him… something about his words caused him to feel unsettled. Relius could have easily struck Sora at that moment and he did, making sure that Sora's stomach could feel the full impact of his punch land right at his belly at that moment, causing the young man to cough severely as he tried to hold back the urge to vomit at that moment only to fail and heave out any bile that was lingering on his throat, letting him taste a great bitterness at that moment as his eyes were wide open at that moment.

"I could tell you what I see… but you should be able to feel their cries no? The anger that these souls are sharing with you. Their desperate pleas to direct all of their hatred towards me alone? Truly you cannot be blind to such things no." Relius explained in a manner that was both calm and eerie for Sora to actually understand at that moment. He did not want to accept what he was hearing but at the same time, Relius's words couldn't help but make him reflect deep inside.

"Kill that man." "That man is a monster" "He doesn't deserve to live!" "How can he see human life as so fickle!?" These voices cried out as Sora felt the words churn his stomach, threatening to make him vomit even more at that moment as Relius could now sense a bit of hesitation coming from the sea of souls that were inside Sora. This allowed Relius to identify further the true nature of Sora's soul for the first time as all of the distorted yet focused paths were now being properly highlighted, the branches now leading to the true trunk holding all of these various emotions in.

And that true soul was just as interesting as the various surroundings that surround it. To think that a soul was able to survive being in such a torrent, retain their sense of self and reason. Truly something like this happening is only a once in a lifetime event and that required proper observation. "So tell me… now that I have pointed that out, can you hear their voices? What are they trying to tell you at this moment? What is the strongest emotion emitting out of them?" Relius questioned, using another puppet arm to bind and restrain Sora's movement at that moment.

"Will you stop trying to pry your way into my heart you bastard!" Sora yelled, using the Rev Arm to easily tear off the puppet arms trying to bind him. When Relius grabbed the Rev Arm, Sora instinctively engaged the Rev Arm's emergency detach system to quickly remove the Rev Arm from his body, exposing the soul covered arm once again. But this was a mistake as soon when he did this, he could hear the sounds of the souls screaming into his ear again.

"It hurts! The pain!" "How can he see us like this!?" "I am not just a thing! I am human!" "Why do you keep staring at me like…" Sora dropped to his knees at that moment, the weight of the voices all around him weighing heavily as just trying to not have this unharmonious group wailing over his ears was proving to be a very draining task, something which he was losing focus on. But the more important question to Sora at that moment is why he was feeling this way in the first place?

"You truly are not aware of your true nature hmmm." Relius questioned as Sora looked at him, sweat dripping down his forehead as he couldn't help but wonder by what Relius meant by that but he lacked the voice to speak about that at that moment. "So you are not aware… It must be all those years you have spent living the way you are now… Balmung." Relius said as hearing the last word Relius speak made Sora sweat even more.

"Bal...mung?" Sora questioned before he felt a painful headache strike his mind at that moment. The sensation he felt as that name drummed harder in his psyche was almost excruciating. Relius could sense a strong feeling of confusion erupt from Sora's soul, as if he had been living without knowing what he truly was this whole time, and now that he was made aware of it partially, his soul was unbalanced at that moment.

"Yes… Balmung. That is what your soul truly is… Sora Minakaze." Relius said as more sweat came dripping down his forehead upon hearing that. "Balmung… I don't know what…" But before Sora could even finish that sentence, another sentence came up from the top of his mind at that very moment, almost as if it was being screamed to him at that very second. "Form The Contract...Make us whole, Anima Voluntatis, Balmung."

"Anima...Voluntatis...Balmung?" Sora loudly questioned as he felt a heaviness crawl up his chest at that moment. He was trying desperately to not get swallowed up by the wave of different emotions he was experiencing at that moment but that by itself was proving to be a difficult task. The fact that Relius was not trying to restrain him in any way also told Sora that Relius Clover was most likely feeling safe at that moment, no sense of danger was actually coming his way at that moment that warranted him taking any defensive stance.

"Indeed… Anima Voluntatis Balmung… I did not think I would find the other erased half of the secret pair of Nox Nyctoreses that Nine crafted." Relius mused to himself. "I had always wondered where the witch placed after sealing away that troublesome beast. But to think that instead of being sealed away, it has willingly separated away from it's original body and developed a soul of it's own." Relius continued as Sora continued to pant heavily, His mind struggling to contain all of the information that was being presented in front of him.

"Oh but it truly sounds like I am speaking gibberish to a person like you. Not that I mind anyways, I could care less what you think about what I have said." Relius added as Ignis was soon floating by his side, allowing him to see the damage that had been done to her chassis. "So this is the power that Balmung can exert… I now must question how much of the strength displayed is your own and the rest being from that core you possess." Relius pondered as he placed his hand on the damaged stump.

It was there that Sora could see Relius make manifest something that looked nothing like any ars magus he had seen before. His eyes then widened as Relius easily repaired the damage that Sora had caused, turning what was a severed arm back to a fully functional claw arm once again for Ignis to use. "Just what in the hell are you." Sora questioned as Relius wondered how Sora would respond if he answered truthfully for once.

"Why I am just a man who has mastered a wide variety of skills in his long life. Tell me, does that make you feel a sense of fear in your heart?" Relius questioned as he could see Sora's soul shake at that moment, a trembling sensation growing underneath. But as quickly as that sensation came it immediately went as Sora took a deep breath before forcing all of the arms trying to hold him in place right off as Ignis moved in to restrain the man once again.

"Maybe a little… I won't lie. But at the same time I refuse to let you keep getting your way with things." Sora said as the honesty that was present with the man's voice was enough for Relius to sense the growing determination that Sora had, as both his anger and determination began to mix with each other in a wonderful blend for all to see. "I don't fucking care who you are at the end of the day. You are responsible for all of the shit in the world and I refuse to let you keep getting away with what you have done to every single person you met in life."

Sora reached out with the ghost like arm and something began to change with it. It's claw like edge began to lighten and actually became more human like. The spiky and pointy fingers now becoming more human like as Sora managed to free himself from the tight grip established from Relius's puppet arms. Sora then changed the Rev Arm back to it's blade form as Relius could now clearly see how normal the arm resembled at that moment.

But what was more important was how the soul of Sora Minakaze was acting. There is a saying that says that one's nature is only revealed when they are placed under stress but in Relius's years of observing and fighting people there are primarily 2 main responses. The first is the person crumbles, their spirit breaks and they shrink to the point of disappearing. The second is what Sora is slowly achieving, instead of shrinking, they grow in strength to the challenge in front of them, their willpower becoming their main source of strength but there was another emotion that remained with Sora in particular.

Love, Love was another emotion that was working together with Hate and Determination at that very moment. Love normally is a weak emotion in his eyes, a temporary sensation that most experience briefly in their life and forget about later on in their life. An emotion that burns brightly but doesn't truly last. An emotion he himself feels has no merit to actually making a soul strong because of how fickle the very concept of love truly is.

But yet, This love was quite different. The love he was feeling, compared to every other time he experienced love along with his own experiences with love was not the fickle expression of love he was used to experiencing. It was something built from the foundations of other emotions, fear and hope both intertwined with each other. The fear of losing something is a common emotion most people experience and the hope of keeping something alive is also another common emotion for one to have.

Alone by themselves, they don't really serve much purpose. But when they are combined together, they formed a solid foundation that enhances any emotion they are propped by. If Relius had to put it to a term that can be easily understood, Fear and Hope are both Yin and Yang, One needs both to live but in balance, both emotions can serve to enhance the current emotion being experienced. What did this have to do with the current situation he was in?

For one thing, the souls that were once swimming around the stump of Sora Minakaze's arm and body now calmed, slowly releasing themselves away from the host they clung onto and only a few remained. Among those few souls were a couple recognizable ones and some familiar souls. But more importantly, he saw a soul that he did not expect to see in a timeline like this, not especially after everything that had occurred.

Relius has made it a policy to never show too much emotion on his face lest he wished for the facade of an unbreakable man to be broken but in this one rare case, he briefly had his eyes widely open for a bit, grateful that Sora Minakaze's soul currently was screaming with determination to the point he was not truly paying attention to his surroundings at that current moment. But to think, the soul of his ideal detonator could survive such a trip and back… and also survive being wiped out completely.

'I will have many questions for you the next time we meet… though I highly doubt you could answer such things in the first place. It appears that there is truly much that needs to be learned not only on just Makoto Nanaya or Sora Minakaze… But Balmung as well.' Relius thought as his face recomposed itself, regaining his composure fast enough to see Sora swinging another attack his way that tried to lop his head off but Ignis was quick to intercept before any damage could be done.

"As much as you wish for my death, I simply refuse to perish, not when there is a lot of things riding on my work as of this moment." Relius calmly explained as he looked at the opened cauldron and knew what he had to do at that moment. "So why don't I just send you on your merry way Mr Minakaze." Relius added as Sora sensed danger approach as he raised the Rev Blade to block the attack only to feel a pair of puppet arms hold his feet to the ground, tripping and causing him to be dragged slowly towards the cauldron.

"I am afraid you have spent too much time in this timeline, soon the master unitwill commit to her duty and erase this entire timeline from the database she possesses. I do not even think that the memories of the people here will remain as a result." Relius said out loud as Sora's eyes widened upon hearing that before gritting his teeth. "As if I will let such a thing even happen in the first place, I swear to never forget the people who lived here… No matter what." Sora said as Relius scoffed.

"I would suggest not wasting your time remembering such trivial things and focus on the one thing that truly matters to me. Going back to the timeline your beloved awaits. After all, you are the one who is preventing her from waking up." Relius said, throwing Sora off his balance as Relius used Ignis to further remove his center of balance, nearly making him fall into the Azure as he clung onto the edge with as much grip strength he could muster at that moment, wanting to process everything he had just heard.

"W-Wait! I am not done with you yet!" Sora yelled. Sure he wanted to go back as much as the other person but at the same time going back while this asshole was still alive and kicking? That seemed like a terrible idea. He knew that the moment he lost sight of Relius Clover, Relius Clover would have his way to do whatever he want. He had a rough idea of what the man was going to do but he wasn't sure how the man was going to act in the first place, it was that fear of the unknown that made Sora continue to fight against the masked freak even though his heart was with Makoto Nanaya.

"You truly have given me a lot to think about. I cannot wait to see what happens the moment you and your beloved are reunited. Do please send Makoto Nanaya my regards." Relius said as Ignis loomed over to where Sora was at and could have easily struck him down at that moment as he had no way of getting up safely without ending up with a blade through his head. Ignis however slashed her claws deep into the edge, slicing off a chunk as Sora found himself falling right into the cauldron. He felt his whole body at that moment ache in an excruciating manner as he wanted to scream so badly but couldn't.

He felt what must have felt like 100 pricking needles pierce his flesh at that moment, a suffocating feeling overwhelming him as he fought to keep his vision and in return his mind awake through this painful moment. He was then greeted with the sight of an almost piercing light engulfing his very being. He first tried to transform the Rev Blade back to it's arm form, using it as a way to extend his reach but it was not enough

Then, in a desperate attempt to save himself, he tried to swim in the air but of course, the laws of physics dictate that he must fall. He was not magically weightless and the strength he felt he had suddenly had was suddenly vanishing as quickly as it appeared. There was nothing left for him to do but just fall down what seemed to be an endless pit of light. As he did, his mind first thought about how he failed to stop the man that caused him so much scorn.

As he felt his mind lose consciousness, he cannot help but think about Amy and how she died to save him only for him to fail and kill the man who killed her. He thought about how Relius was going to go on for his next target and what he was going to do next. His mind then drifted away from such thoughts and back to Makoto as he realized that this was what everything was leading up to, him jumping off a cauldron to finally try and head back to the timeline his beloved was in. His mind only had the chance for one last thought before his consciousness faded.

… Why did things had to end like this…

Relius watched on for some time, waiting to see what had happened to Sora Minakaze the moment he fell into the Cauldron. The sea of souls that were inside him dispersed as quickly as they entered him. By the time his eyes parted from the soul of Sora Minakaze, only a few souls remained with him. Relius then witnessed the cauldron just simply close, confirming to him that the cauldron had been forcibly opened without any kind of activation, simply responding to the wishes of the person that forced it's wing like gates open.

Relius took a few minutes to compose himself, breathing a few times to ensure his mind had processed everything he had experienced properly. He then looked around to see that there was nobody around at that very moment. He allowed his guard to drop for just a brief moment as he took a sigh of relief that the danger he had dealt with had passed as he smiled deeply. "Thank you Sora Minakaze, because of you, the true detonator I seek will soon awaken and I can make her into the goddess she deserves to be." Relius said as another thought crossed his mind at that moment.

"Though at the same time… I doubt that she will be the same person entirely, if that is what has happened to her." Relius continued as Ignis floated beside him at that moment, her gaze meeting his as he could understand clearly what she was thinking at that moment. "I would prefer if we did not have to go as far as killing her. Makoto Nanaya is more worth while alive than dead." Relius said as another thought came through his mind at that moment.

"But please, tell me truthfully, what did you think of this bout against the Continuum Error?" Relius questioned as ignis remained on her silent watch, observing the area while he paid attention. "As if he was the reincarnation of a black beast or even one of it's remnants… Most intriging. I do concur that the manner he this time does match." Relius said as Ignis then looked at him with a look in her eyes that told him everything.

"Indeed… the next time we meet we may need to fight to the death. That man will stop at nothing to ensure I am dead. But for now, I must bring you back to the workshop and conduct some emergency repairs on you. I did not expect the man to harm you as much as he did" Relius said as he turned around, ready to leave for his workshop when he noticed the deceased body of Amy, the guardian of the Azure slowly turn to seithr, as if to return back to the master unit. Without her soul, her memories will not be saved, in fact the woman known as Amy will never return.

Yet at the same time he knew what had truly happened with Amy's soul. He cannot help but wonder what kind of growth he will see from the man the next time they meet. Relius couldn't help but grin at the thought of having an individual this persistent keep showing in front of his face and giving him the research data he craves. "I do wonder if this is how Terumi feels every time he faces off against Ragna The Bloodedge and feeds off his natural hatred for him?.. No, there is no need to try and understand such a relationship in the first place." Relius said as he did not bother watching the rest of Amy's body fade away as Seithr.

He knew he was out of time, now that Sora was finally gone from this timeline, the Master Unit was most likely going to begin her attempts to correct everything with phenomena intervention. He needed to quickly preserve his memory of what had transpired before the Master Unit could wipe it all out. Yet at the same time, he cannot help but wonder what is going to happen next as his mind crossed with one last thing.

… What will happen to the world the moment the Lost Nox Nyctores created to seal away the fires of creation remanifests itself back into the world…

GREETINGS LOST SHEEP OF FANFICTION AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! Yes I know, this is too late for any New Years greetings but I have been busy lately and writing the chapter took some time so yeah, I am just glad to get it out in a timely manner to still call this a new year chapter. I do hope that 2023 will be a kind year for all of us as we can hopefully start moving away from all of this pandemic business and actually do something normal with our lives.

SO WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT TO SORA MINAKAZE!? WILL THIS BE WHAT FINALLY SENDS HIM BACK TO MAKOTO NANAYA!? HOW WILL HE FEEL ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT HAS TRANSPIRED!? WILL HE FEEL A SENSE OF GUILT IN HIS ACTIONS OR WILL HE BECOME STRONGER AND PUSH ON!? FINALLY, WHAT IS ANIMA VOLUNTATIS: BALMUNG REALLY?! All this and more will be revealed as 2023 brings in brand new mysteries to solve.