Chapter 12
The Plot Thickens
Waking up, I found myself in a strange dark room. "OK, where am I now?", I asked. "Welcome, young man, to the Corridor of Memories. You are not to leave this room until you remember who you are and what you were brought to Aionios to do.", Goetia's voice said. At this, a door at the far of the room opened. "That's odd. The memory data for you isn't so corrupted as I thought it'd be. Still, you must remember, even if it's the last thing you do.", Goetia's voice said. "Well, if you insist.", I said, walking through the door. As I walked through, I saw the hall warp and twist into that of a frozen wasteland with a prison just off the coast. "This is…Antarctica?", Goetia asked, shocked. "Yeah. Antarctica 1998, a day after I was born.", I said. "Why were you here?", Goetia asked. "To be honest, I was arrested by some strange men shortly after I was born. Then they placed me here in Antarctica for some reason.", I said. "Oh, that was a rhetorical question. When you were born, you were subsequently experimented on by angels. The head researcher, who had taken the form of Consul Y, was leading the experiment and discovered that you naturally possessed an equal disposition to all four types of Dahnan astral energy – fire, earth, air and water – and because of that could become the Sovereign, a glorified conduit for a being known as the Great Astral Spirit. You would be partnered up with the Maiden who would act as the stabiliser and allow the Helganquil to gather astral energy for the sake of their world, Rena. However, YHVH didn't like how your Sovereign powers specifically awakened. To that end, he had you arrested and imprisoned on false charges whilst making up a nonsense accusation to undermine you further. But he didn't stop there, no.", Goetia said.
Suddenly, I found myself in a dark cell. "Of course, YHVH did something horrible and completely unjustifiable to you. Not only did he arrest you for crimes you never committed and falsely accuse you of completely nonsensical crimes, he even had manifestations of his power attack and rape you.", Goetia said. "To be honest, I always felt I deserved the rape and sexual harassment that I received. I felt that I didn't really deserve justice or even a fair trial since as a criminal, I didn't have or even deserve basic human rights.", I said. "How could you even think that?", Goetia asked. "It's normal in my world for criminals to have their human rights revoked when they commit a crime. And since I had also committed a crime myself, the rules of dealing with criminals also applied to me.", I said. "But it wasn't your world. It wasn't even your reality.", Goetia said. After a brief silence, he then asked, "Why do you think of Ragna the Bloodedge and Velvet Crowe as your parents?". "Because I was told that they were my parents even though I was born on Earth.", I said. "Wrong. You see, Ragna the Bloodedge is your true biological father and Velvet Crowe is your true biological mother. You were also not born on Earth but on Desolation in the forest village of Aball. YHVH made you think you were born on Earth to make you easier to manipulate and abuse. Also, lying to you would make you think you were unworthy of any position of authority even you clearly deserved them.", Goetia said. "That bastard!", I said. After a brief yet awkward silence, Goetia then said, "Of course, you may not remember this, but YHVH had you falsely accused of terrorism and sexual harassment, something that the government of the country you were summoned to were happy to falsely accuse you of. Even worse, you were then tried under false pretences for war crimes you never committed at The Hague, the 'trial' taking place when you were only 5. The punishment as YHVH decreed it was for the British government to effectively enslave you. Not once were you shown any mercy.". "Mercy that I rightfully deserved.", I said, a strong feeling of anger welling up inside me. As the scene changed again, I saw the cell morph into a fiery battlefield with a dark knight in the centre holding a dark red sword. "When Mephiles talked to you in White Space, what did he tell you of the Aionios Waxing Moon Ritual's purpose?", Goetia asked. "He just told me that it would give the victor of a battle of 13 Servants the power to stop YHVH.", I said. "You see, there is a hidden purpose to what the Aionios Waxing Moon Ritual is meant to achieve and it is tied to the reason why you were summoned to our world. But rather than tell you, I'm going to show you through some hands on experience.", Goetia said as the fiery battlefield turned into a stone colosseum.
Looking around me, I felt a strange feeling creep its way down my spine. "What did he mean by hidden purpose?", I asked. "I'll tell you that purpose if you manage to beat us.", Shadow said as he walked out of a stone doorway. "Wait, are you a Servant as well?", I asked. Chuckling, Shadow said, "What do you mean by that? You should know you are the only one in a real position to stop YHVH; after all, you are the only one who was really summoned here.". "What do you mean?", I asked, summoning Gram. "Don't you realise it? After all, it is you who possesses a power that YHVH knows not. Though it seems I'll have to force you to awaken it!", Shadow said, unleashing a Chaos Spear. Dodging the attack, I then unleashed a blast of darkness in the shape of the Black Beast's head, following up the attack with a flurry of slashes and stabs culminating in a Doom Blast that launched Shadow into the air. As I prepared to move in for the kill, Shadow then warped behind me and attempted to unleash a brutal roundhouse kick that I effortlessly parried before turning around and unleashing a blast of dark energy that Shadow nearly dodged. Frustrated, I then unleashed a gigantic volley of Doom Spears that Shadow effortlessly rushed through followed by a razor sharp beam of darkness that stopped the black hedgehog in his tracks. Parrying the beam of darkness, Shadow then unleashed his own onslaught of punches and kicks that I matched blow for blow. "Persistent, aren't you?", Shadow asked. "That makes one of us.", I said, unleashing a gigantic blast of dark energy that strangely caused me to speed up. As Gram glowed with an ominous red glow, I then unleashed a powerful blast of energy in the shape of the Black Beast's head that caused Shadow to smirk. Suddenly, the blast of energy coalesced around me and turned into a giant sphere of black and dark red energy that caused Shadow's smirk to fade. "No, what are you doing?", Shadow asked. "DIE!", I roared, unleashing the gathered energy in a large explosion, levelling the colosseum and forcing Shadow to warp away. As the dust settled, I then saw Sonic walk up. "Man, to think you're rejecting your true nature this much. But still, I can remedy that no sweat.", he said as the battlefield turned into what seemed to be a racetrack near the Space Colony ARK. "Wait, why am I back on the ARK?", I asked. "There'll be time for questions after you awaken.", Sonic said before rushing off. Frustrated, I followed after him, immersed in the Negative Speed Force.
Rushing after Sonic, I watched as my vision grew redder and redder. Dodging a blue wind that Sonic had summoned, I retaliated with a blast of dark red energy fired from Gram which I followed up with a volley of Doom Spears that Sonic easily outran. "Why you little-!", I angrily snarled as I unleashed a blast of dark energy that seemed to be keeping up with the blue hedgehog before it dissipated entirely. "Oh, so now you're starting to awaken? Well, this is certainly getting interesting!", Sonic said as he repeatedly passed by me, his form overtaken by an azure tornado. Roaring, I unleashed a violent burst of red electricity from the Negative Speed Force, the lightning speeding me up to match Sonic's own speed, causing us to be neck and neck as far as our speed was concerned. As I sped up, I then saw Black Doom's hologram appear again. "You!", I growled. "I guess the time has come. You are going are to do sin.", Black Doom's hologram said. "Indeed you are.", Sonic said. "Come on, it'll be fun. After all, virtue is the path of the weakling and you are no weakling. Everyone else you know has sinned so it is common courtesy on your part to sin as well. Besides, your nemesis YHVH hates you anyway so it's time for you to justify it.", Black Doom's hologram said before disappearing, causing the racetrack to turn into a Doom Zone. Suddenly, I felt a strange pain in my right arm, causing Sonic to overtake me; at this, I unleashed a sinister black burst of energy from my right arm that caused me to now overtake Sonic. Arriving at a strange arena that was situated on top of a skyscraper, I then Sonic touch down in front me before rushing at me, prompting me to unleash a violent onslaught that Sonic attempted to match blow for blow, my attacks now sped up through the power of the Negative Speed Force. As Sonic unleashed a powerful series of kicks, I countered the attacks with an even faster onslaught of slashes and stabs that prompted him to unleash a giant blast of energy that I countered with the explosion I used against Shadow. Taken off guard, Sonic then watched as I unleashed a violent onslaught that culminated in a Doom Blast. Unwilling to repeat what I did against Shadow, I then unleashed a powerful blast of darkness that brought Sonic back to the ground that I then followed up with a powerful explosion that dissipated the Doom Zone and brought me back to the Corridor of Memories, forcibly dismissing Gram as well.
Looking around, I noticed that the corridor itself looked very destroyed and ruined. "This can't go on.", Goetia's voice said. "You're right, Aionios itself can't go on. After all, I was brought here to destroy it.", I said as the corridor itself cracked apart. Finding myself back in the Grand Temple of Time, I then noticed that Goetia, Tiamat, Ritsuka and Gudako had vanished. "Weird.", I said as a portal of fire appeared in front of me. Stepping through it was a woman with golden eyes and silver hair tied into a ponytail on the left side of her head wearing yellow goggles and a black and yellow jumpsuit with long black stockings, black kneepads and yellow boots. She also had a yellow box with a long rectangular sword inside it strapped to her back. "Emeri?", I asked. "It seems you remember me at least.", the woman said with a deadpan voice. "Yes, it's me, Emeri, or as the people in the New Eridu Defence Force know me, Soldier 11.", the woman said. "By the way, Emeri, what are you doing here in the Grand Temple of Time?", I asked. "Well, funny story. You see, the White Star Institute picked up strange energy readings emanating from Cyber Space and suspected that the Azure Grimoire and Black Doom's powers were behind them. Seems they were right.", Emeri said. "But why did you specifically come here?", I asked. "Well, the readings themselves weren't abnormal but the place they were coming from was. So, Time Force gave me a special vortex manipulator and calibrated it to the place the readings were coming from. Lo and behold, I activated the vortex manipulator and found myself here. Not a particularly cheery place, though, I must admit.", Emeri said. "Well, what did you expect a place that exists outside of space and time to look like?", I asked. "Anyway, the main reason I came here was to get you back. And the time has come for you to return to your dear friends and family. Still, no pressure. I'll be waiting.", Emeri said before she walked through the fiery portal. Nervous as to where the portal would take me, I walked through it, steeling myself.
The story continues in the next chapter.