The Wandering Zero's Journey

by NeoShadows

He was at death's door, his body tearing itself apart from the inside, and fighting a bewitching magician on Christmas. On the verge of death, now drowning in alien tides, Kamijou Touma would find himself lost in a new world of gods, visions, monsters, and adventurers. The path ahead had no goal but at least he wasn't the only out-of-worlder searching for his way back.

3. False Abyss

Happy New Year folks- from your good old writer, NeoShadows!

With it being the end of the busiest few months of the year, I was too preoccupied to move on with my final edits and publish what chapters I had at the time. I'm still grumbling about leaving my Christmas One-Shot half complete- I fucking had a female Transcendent Santa Clause, god damn it! But with things calming down again, I can finally get back to writing and editing without too much stress in the way.

Oh, man! This chapter has been incredibly fun to write. I'm a giant sucker for fight scenes and find my best work done when writing out a big old brawl. Especially this one. Here, we find a side of Kamijou Touma that's scarcely seen. Here, we see him fight at his best when he's at his worst.

There's not much else to say at this moment but this: Scroll!

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Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to A Certain Magical Index or Genshin Impact. All rights are reserved to their respective creators.

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Chapter 3: The Path Forward Lies In Violence.

FINAL_Enemy.

[-]

The plan had been to disembark upon a small beach at Guyun Stone Forest and make camp outside. To enjoy a large feast as they entered Liyue waters and were only a few hours away from the decks of Liyue Harbor. After the voyage they had come through, it was a much needed celebration for those worn-out and tired folk of the sea.

Their latest venture had the crew of The Alcor crossing into Inazuma waters and suffering some damage to the ship as The Almighty Shogun's thunderous storms threatened to sink them into the deep unforgiving waters. Bolts as blinding as the sun poured down like cruel branches stretching down from the heavens, waves as tall as Yujing Terrace slammed down with vicious roars, and winds howling like demons escaping hell itself threatened to peel the panels of the ship apart like apple skin. The might and authority of a god had snapped upon them for simply skimming by her territory.

But through sheer will, teamwork, and determination, The Alcor and its crew had survived the wrath of the Almighty Shogun's ire.

It had been an unlucky turn. A stroke of misfortune that had brought them close to forbidden waters no sane sailor would dare to cross.

Yet the accidental trip to Inazuma's water had them salvaging a unique haul.

In the chaos of whirling whipping winds, booming thunder and blasting lightning, heavy rain, and towering waves, a single boy with a strange left arm had been discovered.

Said boy resembled a mangled corpse. Even though he was soaked to the bone, he was bleeding profusely, burned and cut up, broken and bruised, and pale as the moon. He was dressed in strips of rags and unresponsive to any of their attempts to get a response from him.

Even in his fatal state, he held a pulse. A weak, faint, soft pulse.

Somehow the unknown boy with a left arm that looked like it was made of rock and resembled the limb of an automaton had survived. Thanks to Yinxing's expertise and the help of several other members of The Crux, the boy's life had been saved.

His name was Kamijou Touma.

A boy who appeared to be of Inazuma descent. An average-faced teenager close to Kazuha's age with neck-length black hair that fell over his dark blue eyes. Other than his rock-like left arm, nothing about the boy stood out. He was as generic as anyone in the busy streets of Liyue Harbor.

He was a boy whose body was covered in multiple bandages that left little skin to peek through. One who had awoken with a miserable expression and who appeared lost on what to do. He smiled, he laughed and joked, but it seemed he was...drained.

Dim.

Empty.

Hollow.

The smile on his lips appeared plastic and artificial- an imitation designed to appease others rather than himself.

Once again, their beloved captain had taken in a beaten and listless child.

And once again, the members of The Crux had acted on the faith of their captain's decision and decided to take a chance on the sullen child with a glimmer of Strength buried by rust and dirt.

It was a feast underneath the gorgeous night sky painted with heavenly bodies linking to reveal constellations alongside the full pale moon's light. A chance to relax, share stories, and share the merriment with a stranger they had saved from chaotic waters.

Such festivities had been cracked with the violent roar of an explosion ringing in everyone's ears.

[-]

"What...what was that?"

A wide-eyed and shaken Touma stared at the deluge of searing light fired over his shoulders.

One moment, he was reaching his right hand out to the carefree and kind wandering samurai boy who had extended his hand out for him to take. To drag him into the warm atmosphere being produced a few yards away. To help him up and take a step forward, even if said step forward was aimless and wouldn't lead him anywhere he could return to.

The next moment he was witnessing said kind white-haired boy being swallowed by a blast of energy as hot as flames.

A bright explosion erupted in front of him, sweeping everything in sight in smoke and flames. It was as if a water balloon pumped full of burning light had popped.

Anyone caught even close to the explosion of energy would have found themselves struck by a shock wave powerful enough to damage their internal organs. Eardrums would have been destroyed. Their very vision would have been distorted and they would have found blood leaking from their mouths.

So, what about one who was directly caught in such a volatile explosion of burning light?

If they were lucky, a charred corpse would remain.

Twisting and fierce winds arose from the smoke and flames. The faint whistle of a steel blade was heard as the powerful wind countered the consuming heat and blew it away.

Kaedehara Kazuha swung his blade in an elegant arc with practiced ease even as he stood in the middle of the center of the charred space. Thick ropes of tar-colored smoke trailed all around the equally stunned and bewildered swordsman who kept his Inazuma blade up as the powerful wind spiraling around him calmed.

"Was...was that you?"

Neither boy was referring to the almost instantaneous attack or the countering winds.

Crackle!

Snap!

Glimmers of crystal-like dust faintly popped and fell before Kazuha's body.

Both Touma and Kazuha had briefly seen something appear out of thin air just before the giant beam of energy could strike the wandering samurai of The Crux.

There was no time to question the mirage.

The next attack came in with a roar of cannon shots.

"Kamijou-san! MOVE!"

Touma grimaced but complied with the frantic shout. Even if it hurt like hell, he rolled forward and forced his mending body to leap past the white-haired samurai as he got into a drawing stance.

A familiar yet new tingle tickled the back of Touma's neck. The world changed and died in familiar colors he was all too familiar with.

A supernatural ability was being utilized by the carefree and kind white-haired boy being surrounded by an air of visible emerald gales. A bright light popped on his form, drawing Touma's eye.

He found a soft green gem glow in response to the change of the samurai boy's stance, a pendant-like object tied to a red tassel on the armor plating on his shoulder.

Angry red dots burned straight through the treeline leading into the forest behind the beach, revealing a barrage of unknown burning energy blazing like missiles. A fire cluster was aimed solely at the two boys with incredible speed and focus.

In the face of such a clustered barrage of burning missiles, Kazuha unsheathed his blade and swung directly at the incoming danger.

From the very edge of the finely crafted silver blade, what felt like the very essence of the first winds of autumn swept forward like a sharp wave. Air shaved through the air as a large blade of wind directly clashed with the blazing flames, breaking apart and unleashing a churning maelstrom of whirling gales to consume the very flames in its wind. A spiraling dome of twisting flames and wind was left behind to ravage the barrage and any further shots fired.

An orange-red glow was produced and lightly warmed Touma's face as he stared at the scene.

They were being attacked.

Something or someone was directly attacking them.

Malice struck without notice and aimed to reduce them to ash without an introduction.

This all too familiar sensation of blood pumping frantically through his veins into his drumming heart, the sweat on his face and palms, the tightness of his muscles, and the way the world was beginning to draw to a lethargic pace where he could almost make out the small details of Kazuha's back standing in front of the spiraling bonfire he had created; it was all too familiar.

The peaceful and promising scenery he had been too hesitant to step into was being corrupted by the violence and destruction he had been silently hoping for.

A guilty grimace twisted his face.

"What the fuck was that?!"

"Furong! I thought you said the perimeter was clear?"

"I did! We didn't find any signs of any hostile life within a quarter of a mile; the perimeter we set up stopped dead at the cliffside! Other than some small wildlife, we didn't spot even a sign of Slime!"

"Who cares! Something is attacking us, so stop wasting time and move!"

In response to the attack, the members of The Crux sprung into action faster than even Touma could react. Within seconds, they were assigned roles to everyone, commanding others to pack up what they could and return to the ship, to grab weapons, rush towards both Touma and Kazuha and prepare to depart to sea if the situation demanded it. Those who had no combat roles, like Yinxing and Little Yue, were led back to the safety of the ship as quickly as possible to avoid being dragged into whatever danger was encroaching on the scene.

Of all those springing into action, one person remained seated.

Beidou, the captain of The Crux, the only Vision bearer among all those aboard The Alcor other than Kazuha, regarded as The Uncrown Lord of The Sea, who had slain the legendary sea leviathan, Haishan, stared dully at the remains of her meal.

Her delicious, mouth-watering, fatty, oily, crispy fried, meal.

Crab meat.

Tender, sweet yet salty, juicy white and red-pink muscle.

Rolled around in batter and breaded so that it would have a pleasant crunch after it was dipped into boiling oil so that it would reel out a hot crispy gold.

Dipped in a soy-colored sauce with the consistency of syrup with a rich yet fresh taste that complimented her deep-fried crab meat.

Among all the food on her plate, it was that delicacy she had found herself adoring more than anything. She was not ashamed to admit she was making throaty moans as she shoved the hot and juicy carbs and protein into her open mouth. Her eyes were rolling up into the back of her skull with each bite followed by a cold chug of beer from her mug.

She was in heaven. Celestia couldn't compare to the paradise she was indulging in from a measly meal. Only the little promising cook who frequented her ship every now and then had cooked such a meal. And apparently, it had been made just for her.

Splattered on her face were the bits of her plate full of deep-fried crab meat and sauce, tossed up into the air by the traveling shock wave produced by whatever had attacked them out of nowhere.

Her ruby-gold eyes grew cold and dead.

If looks could kill, Haishan would have been struck down faster than The Almighty Shogun's lightning.

The Queen of The Crux Fleet, Uncrown Lord of The World's Seas, was pissed.

Eventually, the spiraling storm trapping the blazing missiles died down, sweeping the flames away in a dying gasp.

Touma and Kazuha stood perfectly still, tension building higher as the moments passed without further attacks.

It was the calm before the storm.

And the storm resumed with a loud bang.

From the smoking line of trees leading into the island's forest, several large and cylinder-like objects colored a dark rustic bronze, mechanical in nature, shot through like rockets. In the eyes of Touma who hailed from a highly advanced city of technology, the way the object flew and the form they possessed, reminded him of the propulsion features of a jet engine.

As if they had minds of their own, they parted from one another and aimed to attack from different directions.

Rapid-fire bullets of hot energy peppered Kazuha from three different angles from three of the jet propulsions. The mechanical flock danced around the wandering samurai as he was forced to deflect the rapid-fire shots with his Anemo-infused sword, wary of being sliced apart by the skillful target and his lashing wind blades.

Leaving one attachment to seek out the weak and injured Touma.

"Kamijou-sa-Grhk!"

Kazuha's shout was interrupted by a large burst of energy throwing the swing of his blade off and leaving him open for a shot to graze his thigh.

Touma's frozen and stiff body jerked as he finally registered the scene before him.

It looked like a closed robotic fist was thrusting straight towards him. Its size overshadowed him. And it was clearly a manufactured piece of technology constructed through hard metal, and wires, and powered by some kind of energy that allowed it to fly like a rocket jet.

Imagine Breaker was useless here. Nothing supernatural could be found to destroy or negate its movement. Against this flesh and blood high school boy who was heavily bandaged and found himself winded after cooking a feast, he was doomed.

So what?

Even if he was sore and fatigued, it wasn't as if he had any other options than to make a fist and fight!

Hot and strange pressure pulsed in an odd-handed hand wrapped like it was sealing a forbidden weapon.

In the face of the racing barreled fist rocket, Touma squared his shoulders and lifted whatever hand had the strength to cross-counter-

Dark brown tresses flowed like ribbons in his face before he could throw his fist back, blocking his view of the incoming attack.

The slender yet toned back of an unbound and powerful woman greeted him as he felt the very hairs on his body stand up. Static popped and tickled his skin. Purple lightning began to form around the sea captain who now wielded a large black and red claymore in a defending stance.

"Ya might want to take a large step back. Because I'm really, really, really pissed off right now and can't promise my power can properly protect you."

Touma pictured a rather savage and bloodthirsty grin on the beautiful Beidou's face and even small devil horns. He wasn't sure why, but she was extremely pissed off and seeking blood.

Taking her words of advice, Touma leaped back as far as he could, nearly stumbling as the action caused a painful spasm in his legs and a groan from his stitches. For good measure, sensing some kind of supernatural attack about to be unleashed, he threw his right hand out.

A thunderous bang of metal smashing into metal rang out like a gong from a temple. Dust was kicked by the wide shock wave blowing up from the attack. Yet Beidou didn't so much as twitch.

If anything, her grin grew broader and nastier.

Surging purple-shrouded lightning surged from her entire body in response to the punishing straight punch clashing with her claymore's flat, expanding in its own shock wave that flung the rocket fist back like it had been fired from a slingshot.

To Kazuha's relief, the flung rocket collided with its brethren, the sheer force it was sent flying taking them along in its flight path.

Was that what they called a tailwind?!

Struck back by its own kinetic energy and a burst of searing lightning, the propulsion attachments fell with heavy thuds into the sand. Bolts of purple electricity caused those limbs to spasm and struggle to regain control of their functions. It was no different than watching someone being struck by a powerful stun gun.

"Tch! Those damn rusty parts are still intact? I hit them back with my full counter! Even a Mitachurl would have lost its fucking arm!"

The unruly Queen of The Crux slammed her mighty claymore into the blackened dirt with a snarl. Touma wasn't sure why, but she was clearly pissed off and desiring to see bloodshed. What the hell had triggered her into donning demon horns?

With a furious sigh, Beidou let go of her hazy red anger and decided to look back to the wounded boy behind her back.

"Shit. Did that thing hit you? You damn idiot! Why didn't you say you were hurt?!"

Huh?

The irritated glare on Beidou's face wasn't aimed at Kazuha, who had suffered a glancing shot at his thigh that was leaking a dark red. No, her ire was directed straight at the ignorant Touma.

Wh-!

Pain struck in the small moment of peace.

"G...Gyaaaaaaaa!"

Touma's right hand immediately flew towards his left side, just below his ribs. Without even realizing it, a nasty and bloody spot had soaked through his clothes. Blood spurt from a wound he hadn't even realized he had suffered in all the violence.

But why?

Even if he was covered in mending wounds, stitches, and bandages, he knew for a fact there hadn't been any wound in said spot. And he hadn't been struck by any kind of shrapnel.

So, why the hell was he bleeding?

'This...this pain. Doesn't this feel like-'

Before anyone could move or speak to Touma, an ear-piercing whine was heard.

The deluge of searing light howled its return to the scene.

Beidou found herself in its direct line of sight. Skin tanning light burned her skin as she moved swiftly to prepare her most favored of techniques tied to her Vision at the rushing blast.

Tide Caller.

To protect those who stood behind her strong and stern back with her body on the line. A lightning counter-strike that absorbed a great deal of devastating and fatal damage, and reflected it right back in one monstrous slash of both force and lightning fused together- her shield and sword.

Flooding light, not fire, sank into the already hot sand and created a wondrous yet horrifying reaction from the spearing light that was rushing over.

Sand turned to glass and cracked under extreme pressure.

"S-Shit!"

Beidou's single eyes flew open wide in both shock and pain as that monstrous blast clashed with her ability, Tide Caller. Sparks of shocking purple struggled to reject such an overwhelming light that pushed back like it was a Lawachurl's massive fist pressing down directly onto her entire body. A rubber-like groan could be heard from tempered steel infused with elemental energy fighting to lash back with double the force.

Her feet began to skid back to her disbelief.

'The hell is this!? Those devices are modeled after fists; they belong to a Ruin Hunter. I've countered back against their attacks plenty of times in the past! I've even absorbed literal thunder and lightning from The Almighty Shogun Raiden's tempest while out at sea and flung it away! Why the fuck am I having trouble repelling this?!'

When an unmovable force directly clashes with an unstable force, a reaction must occur.

What energy her claymore could devour erupted back with a thunderous roar.

Electro energy burst forth like a rupturing blast and dueled with the continuous blast, shaking the very earth below their feet amid bolts of lightning striking the surrounding area in reckless and wild branches.

An explosion sparked from the directly wrestling energies, interrupting the battle for supremacy in a roar of force and flames swimming out to swallow a large chunk of the beach like a tidal wave.

Sensing the incoming danger, Kazuha utilized his quick thinking to avoid the crashing explosion with a giant leap into the air through the usage of Anemo. He floated high above the ravenous waves searing crushed earth and searing patches in glass, sweating at the scene of pure destruction unraveling before him.

Above the burning wake, the wandering wind-blessed samurai grew alarmed.

'Wait!'

"Kamijou-san!"

Someone was forgotten in the clash. Even if he was standing behind Beidou's Tide Caller, the explosive waves released from the clashing energies couldn't be avoided by simply being behind the Uncrowned Lord of The Ocean. Even the members of The Crux who were already running towards them to join the battle had been quick enough to turn back to find coverage from the blast washing over the beach.

Maple-red eyes flicked over the entire beach from above the tree lines, hoping to spot the bandaged boy who had no way to protect himself from the sudden attack. He grit his teeth in regret and frustration.

All he found were sun-hot flames crashing over the entire beach like folding waves in a storm. He found several members of the battle party of the crew taking shelter behind large rocks, trees, and…

!

Kazuha's maple eyes grew incredibly wide at the odd and baffling sight he found.

Bandaged, exhausted, weak and powerless, Kamijou Touma stood perfectly still with a strained scowl in the face of the terrible waves hot enough to cook chicken skin like boiling steam from a stew pot. Behind his back were those members of The Crux who were unable to find suitable coverage from the rolling blast radius, equally stunned and dumbfounded by a puzzling fact.

They had not been harmed.

Not one had suffered any kind of injury from the crashing waves of heat and force.

All because they stood behind the generic boy they had salvaged from a watery grave.

A right hand was lifted and opened wide with its fingers spread like a fan, acting as if it were a shield, and did what Beidou, the woman who had slain the legendary leviathan, Haishan, without a Vision, and was widely regarded as the Uncrown Lord of the Ocean, could not.

With nothing but a right hand, he rejected the elemental blast threatening to devour him like high-tide waves, creating a pseudo-safe zone behind him where all those taking shelter at his back were left safe and sound as the blasts swam around them like a stream split by a rock. Even if his face expressed he was under an intense amount of strain and even openly biting his teeth, the bandaged boy didn't so much as take a step back from the destructive tide he held at bay.

With his superior hearing, Kazuha heard it.

Breaking glass continuously shattered beneath the roar of violence.

Was it...was it being produced from Kamijou Touma's right hand?

Even a tsunami would die.

The rolling and crashing blasts, lashing lightning bolts, and upheaval of sand and shards of glass, came to a crumbling halt. What remained of the blasts were scarring wounds of wafting charcoal, cracked crystalline skin, melted boulders, burning trees snapped down to the base, and sizzling water on the beach. Not even The Alcor was safe, suffering patches of burns and peppering embers.

Beidou panted lightly, sweat trickling down her face as she buried her claymore deep in the sand in support as she stood at the center of all the wild and chaotic waves. Light damage could be found on her clothing and she had even suffered a burn-like scar on her left cheek. Had it not been for the protective barrier Tide Caller, she was doubtful of so much as one hair on her lustrous figure remaining.

Taking a deep and steady breath, the captain of The Crux lifted her large blade of tempered steel, cracked at its top, and spoke sternly.

"Get to the ship."

She did not shout. She did not scream. She did not beg or cry hysterically.

She commanded.

She did not turn her eyes away from the direction of the tremendous blast that had nearly overpowered her, focused entirely on the now destroyed tree line that opened wide like the gaping maw of a beast lurking in a cave.

In the silence of the last attack, the battle-ready crew stiffened.

Clearly they wanted to argue. They too desired to step into the battle and fight alongside their beloved captain. Even if it spelled the end for a few of them, they, with all their heart, wished to lend their arms to tackle whatever foe dared to strike them down.

The Captain's word was law.

None who had joined her ranks would dare to shake said sacred and treasured rule.

Though there were scowls, frowns, and grimaces from even the oldest and strongest of the fighters, they all nodded dutifully to the command.

For their captain to demand them to abandon her; was the threat really that terrifying and absolute?

To Touma's confusion, he found a callous and thick-skinned hand clenching his shoulder.

"Ya heard the captain! I don't know what you did, boy, but orders are orders. You shouldn't even be here, so let's get back to ship and move!"

"W-Wait!"

No amount of struggling in his poor condition could prevent the strong hand from letting go as he found himself being led away by force.

What was the guy who was hulling him away called again? Sea Drake?

When he opened his mouth again to speak, the eye-patched helmsman cut him right off.

"I don't want to hear any lip! If the captain says to fall back, we fall back. No matter how much we wish with all our heart to step up, we can't. The trust and faith we have in her can't be marred by such flimsy doubts! As her comrades, we've fought beside her through hell and back, fought bandits, monsters, and even the legendary Haishan! And never once did she consider us dead weight! Meaning she's not asking us to fall back because she worried about us getting in her way."

Even if their faces were marred with scowls, frowns, and grimaces, Touma found something odd.

Like Sea Drake, they were all grinning fiercely.

"She can't cut loose and unleash everything in her being with us close. This isn't about fearing that the enemy will hurt us; it's knowing she can't allow herself to hurt us when she stomps her target into the dirt with all her might!"

Each and everyone one of those pirates had complete and utter faith in the claymore wielding captain. Enough for them to wordlessly fall back at her mere command without shouting or screaming into their ears.

What right did Touma have to argue back as a complete stranger who had been saved by said people?

His clenched fist, ringing with agony, sores, and trembled.

For whatever reason, he couldn't fight back. He was far too weak, drained, and wounded to throw Sea Drake's hands off of him as he was dragged on board.

All he could was watch as Beidou cleared the lingering smoke around her with a broad swing of her claymore and nodded simply to the descending Kazuha who wasn't forced back on boat.

'I...I wanted this.'

He felt like a piece of shit.

[-]

Kazuha's grip on his family's sword was tight.

The attack, the last attack; what kind of foe could produce such large quantities and force as if it were a river's torrent?

He stood bedside the battle-ready Electro captain, his blade sheathed and ready to dish out countless strikes alongside her cleaving hammer strikes. Wind and lightning was channeled to their respective weapons in preparation for whatever attack would follow next.

Out of all those onboard The Alcor, he was the most seasoned and talented combatant who could flow alongside the mayhem their captain could unleash without worry of being so much as nicked. Being so attuned to the flow of the wind, his Anemo Vision had enhanced what was already a sensitive sense of spatial awareness upon being blessed by its Archon, allowing him to evade and even step in to deliver his own attacks.

Which was why he hadn't been included in her order to return to the ship.

"I'm pissed."

"Yes, I sensed that earlier. You don't normally reveal such a nasty and terrifying glare. Was Kamijou-san's meal that delicious? I noticed you lick your cheek a second ago; is that why you haven't cleaned your face?"

Beidou chuckled at the dry comment but never let her eye wander away from the gaping hole the deluge of light had stepped out of. Her knuckles popped, most likely in response to the sight of a single glowing dot of platinum gold from deep within the hole inching closer.

"Yeah, you could say that. The bastard lurking in the forest ruined my meal and my drink. It was good, really good. I think the dishes were close to Xiangling's cooking- don't tell her. Seeing such amazing grub go to waste because of some trigger-happy asshole is enough to get me seeing red."

Again, her knuckles popped.

"He was hurt."

Beidou spoke simply, too simply to match the cold and furious glare on her beautiful face as she waited for their opponent to step into the picture and carve it into pieces far more gruesome and bloody than Haishan's.

"We took that guy in when he was a bloody, wet, broken, and nearly dead mess floating alongside the waves of a terrible tempest. I'm not sure what he's been through, what he's lost, or what's tormenting him enough to put on such a fake and shitty smile, but he showed some real guts to have survived with the will to keep living. He's a fighter, I can tell just by looking at him. But he's messed up and unable to show that fight. So, I told him we'd keep him safe. I promised Yinxing that I'd protect him."

Everyone aboard The Alcor was her friend. Her family. Her beloved treasures she would never trade or bargain for. Such gems were the kind of worthless objects that high and haughty perfect Ningguang would never be able to value without a concrete price tag. But to Beidou, they were all worth as much as Liyue Harbor's endless Mora.

Everyone aboard The Alcor was treasured.

She would never dare to welcome anything less than something she could see as worthy of her eyes.

To see one of her gems, even a cracked and dirtied one salvaged from the seas, with a crack on it?

It was beyond what was required to piss her off.

"He got hurt even though I kept him behind my back. I couldn't keep my word. And he protected my crew with just his right hand?"

To Kazuha's surprise, his captain witnessed the puzzling sight.

Whether it was from the corner of her eyes or not, it didn't matter. Many of those she considered her treasures worth more than anything Liyue could ever offer her, had been guarded without suffering so much as a scratch.

"So, yeah, I'm livid. Got shown up by a guy who gets winded from just cooking and can't even stand straight if I smacked him playfully on the back. Luckily, the Archons must have realized my dilemma and gave me a chance to release all this pent-up rage."

Kazuha sighed yet smiled.

"Then I hope you don't mind that I follow suit. After all, I too was shown up by such an individual who doesn't even have the strength to smile honestly."

Their attacker stepped into the scene with a whirring hum of gears.

As suspected by Beidou, and even Kazuha, their attacker was a familiar one.

A Ruin Hunter.

A mechanical machine of war built over a thousand years ago. It was floating on the air with the support of an odd propelling fan designed similarly to a gear ring and possessed an armored body composed of metal plates one would find on a heavily platted knight. Regaining control of its sparking propulsion devices, it morphed the attachments into limbs, totaling four slender arms with hands with two attached to its shoulders. Unlike its many brethren scattered across Teyvat, its single eye was protected behind an eight-pointed visor resembling the face opening on a knight's helm.

Its size was unique, towering several yards above both Beidou and Kazuha. Even if it was grounded, they would only be able to see up to the very bottom of its waist where the fan-shaped gears met.

Another feature of the Ruin Hunter's design was noted.

Its normally Sunsettie orange eye burned a hot platinum gold. Sparks of an odd-colored light popped off from its joints as its body jerked about. It was as if it were fighting a stroke.

Was it malfunctioning? Was that why it attacked?

"...3-44brrrr8-0-0khhrr98-98iyy-5-5-53-44krrrrhtzzzz."

A scrambled series of static clicks and strange vocals was heard from the Ruin Hunter as it struggled to stay afloat.

Beidou and Kazuha grew weary as the alien machine stopped a few spaces away in its dizzy flight.

And attempted to communicate.

"?"

Kazuha's grip on his hilt felt as if it had turned to stone.

The Ruin Hunter titled its body, almost as if it was tilting its head, in confusion. A platinum spark popped around its eye.

Confusion.

A human emotion.

Never before had either Vision wielder ever encountered one of those blood-stained automation weapons display such, or any, expression in all their life.

To their further disbelief, it moved its arm up and raised a twitching finger. As if it was asking them to give it a moment. A second later, the finger bent back like a bow with an audible crack of metal.

Like the battle-thrilled and furious Beidou would allow it to do whatever it was trying to convey or regain control.

"Ya wanna talk? Talk to the dead, you lousy rusted piece of scrap!"

She leaped forward with her claymore charged with over a hundred thousand bolts of lightning. Even if her weapon's tip had been cracked, she swung the 10.5lb mass of steel enchanted with special properties to break itself deep into its creepy glowing eye.

The Ruin Hunter declined its body lowly.

As if it were sighing in annoyance.

"C-C00000T77-8-8-8Draaa-999aaawwWW)O_K!?"

It did not attack in response to the deadly swing empowered by a thundering force. It veered its body to the left, evading the downward swing that smashed into the sand with an uproar of sand erupting into the air. It then moved one of its armor-plated arms down, using the forearm steel to deflect a follow-up slash. Another slash followed behind, this time caught in the grip on the same arm used to deflect the last slash as if catching a ball.

Beidou snarled in the face of the large machine. Even if her claymore was grabbed, it didn't mean she couldn't attack. Her weapon was merely another means of conduit for her Electro energy to flow.

And flow it did.

A surge of lightning followed the blade, swimming up to pour into the mocking Ruin Hunter's body. Like a festive lantern, it burned bright with purple sparks. Its spasming and twitching limbs snapped, spreading wide like it were a human body stiffening.

"KzzzzHOOOOO[?]Izzz55#333SS-TI-N6. HWWWzzz99-88Ffff-9UUU333N."

Strange letters, symbols, and runes floated from the Ruin Hunter's form, circling around it like bands crossing in complex rotations.

And to Beidou's shock, her lighting was dispersed. As if it had simply popped.

With its hand still gripping onto Beidiou's claymore, it lifted the Electro user up and flung her aside.

It raised one of its shoulder-mounted arms and aimed it at the flying woman. The hands of its arm collapsed and revealed a cannon-like protrusion. The strange alien-like bands wrapped around its wrist, channeling a strange and unique energy that burned as bright as the passing sun.

A strong breeze was felt on its left.

Changing targets, it aimed its burning blast to the left, spotting a blurring red, white, black, and orange figure come into sight.

Kazuha narrowed his eyes at the incoming fire.

Ruin Hunters were known by many an experienced adventurer to attack with energy composed of Pyro. It attacked as if it had a Pyro Vision installed into its core. Without being blessed by Pyro Archon herself, it could manipulate the elemental particles of the world into its mechanics and deal deadly damage with flames.

'It's not the same.'

He threw an underhand uppercut strike at the Ruin Hunter's hand: he aimed at its wrists. An intense flow of wind followed along with his blade and allowed him to throw the machine's aim off with at thick metal dong.

A searing ball of light flew above their heads and erupted into a ball of roaring flames half the size of The Alcor. Its white luminescence was both toxic yet serene like an artificial moon.

Kazuha had felt the intense heat of Pyro for himself. He had matched swords with those who were blessed with the burning Archon's flames of war. And suffered the burns.

Yet those flames-no, that light, had a different air about it. It was unnatural, strange, bizarre, and chilling. He felt goosebumps at simply being in the line of sight of such an attack again.

Feeling a prickle on his neck, he ducked as low as he could go. And not a moment later did a heavy black and red blade as long as its wielder took advantage of the staggered automaton's misfire.

Carrot orange metallic fingers were released from the smoking cannon mouth, bursting out to catch the blade.

Unlike before, it felt the force smashing into its twitching finger triple in output. Enough to awkwardly twist three of its fingers and dig into the metal. A stronger surge of electricity roared into its limb, its amperage raised to another level capable of blackening its platting.

Not wanting to be left out, Kazuha dashed out beneath its arm and swept his blade at its right hand as it fired off a barreled fist into the nastily grinning woman's body.

Blades of vicious wind barreled into its arm, nicking its arm, and changed its trajectory to sweep over Beidou's head like it was swatting a fly.

Wind and lightning rushed in, tempered metal infused with elemental energy to sear and sever metal.

The Ruin Hunter found a savage and brutal blade smash it around in a whirling combo. Each heavy slash knocked it around and delivered another shock to its already bugged system.

The Ruin Hunter found a swift and steady blade run along its armor in a speedy combo. Each slash nicked its body and diverted its blows to the side to allow a far more crushing blow to land.

It released two twin spear-like blades from its arms to counter.

Yet the vicious tempo of the two blessed warriors of Anemo and Electro reacted to the new weapons with stronger blows and quicker parries.

Heated sparks splashed between all three in a wild dance where sand was kicked up, dug out, scarred, and blown away. Steel sang and screamed. Bizarre light and flames erupted between howling winds and savage lightning bolts. Flesh and metal pounded and chipped away at one another.

A maddening twisting drill rush from the Ruin Hunter was stopped mid-rush by Beidou's Tide Caller. Spiraling steel fought to break through the cracked claymore's body to the point the very tip of the spinning spear grew an angry orange-red due to friction.

Beidou's feet were fighting to stand her ground amid the sand. Powerful and toned muscles quivered against the ruthless whining drill's stab. Sweat swam down her grimacing face.

Yet it wasn't enough.

For the attacker.

Eye gleaming with a spark of Electro, the force, and energy behind the drill was taken into her own building power and snapped back with a thunderous roar. An explosive blast of kinetic energy and lightning pushed the drill back, snapping its blade to pieces and going as far as the jumping bolts to burn its entire arm in a black soot.

She had meant to tear off its entire arm with that blow.

Stunned by the counterattack, the spasming Ruin Hunter was unable to defend against the large terrifying blade of whistling and twisting gales flying for its frame.

Upon striking its body, the large Anemo blade did not sever. It did not cut. It did not carve.

It erupted in a tempest of whirling and thrashing winds that enveloped it in a five-yard wide dome. Emerald green clouded its vision as it found numerous blades screeching against its metal plates in a shark-like frenzy. A reaction was found to the wind from the bolts of lightning bouncing around its body. Sparks were woven into the tempest threatening to tear its dense frame apart, increasing their damage output and even enlarging the bolts into thick curving tendrils.

The amount of damage the Ruin Hunter was subjected to was enough to cause its limbs to convulse and even blind its vision from the center of the devastating tempest of wind and lightning.

Even under the extreme twisting gales and searing lightning, it steadily lifted its right arm and folded its twitching digits to open its arm cannon's mouth. Strange blinding platinum gold light flicked to life as alien characters spun around its cannon like bands.

This was the same energy as the attack that Beidou had been unable to completely absorb or deflect back with Tide Caller. It was the same energy Kazuha had avoided with a disarming slash at its wrist to send soaring above their heads where it erupted into a miniature blazing moon. Among the seven elements of Teyvat, it was a bizarre and strange power even more alien than Ruin machines.

Something not of this world glared at them with the intent to utterly incinerate them on the spot.

In response to such spontaneous malice far more crueler than a Ruin Machines known violence, Beidou could only respond in kind with all her might.

A dark and ferocious burst of Electro emerged from Beidou's form, wrapping itself around her like a sinister serpent. The imagery of such a malicious being came to life, molding the thick thunderous lightning bolt into a glaring twin leviathans that thrashed in a mad frenzy. Stray branches of lightning struck her surroundings, burning patches of sand as she raised her cracked claymore high into the air like a sail.

The ghosts of her greatest battle snapped their twin mouths eagerly.

Eye gleaming a dark red, Beidou unleashed it all with a crack of thunder as she slammed her massive blade down upon the stunned Ruin Hunter.

Sand was blown away by the twin thick trails of thunder created by her slash, plowing straight ahead as she let go of the phantoms of Haishan wrapped around her body. The heads of the cruel water serpents that ravaged the seas streamed forward and snapped their eviscerating jaws upon the twisting maelstrom of wind.

Like a vacuum, her attack was absorbed into the tempest and tempered into a greater killing blow. Emerald green darkened into a pitch-black gale sparking with reddish and purple bolts. A grinning beast could be faintly seen on the screen of the black winds, biting into its prey with glee.

Clouds of sand blew back from the blending lighting and wind, buffeting both Beidou and Kazuha who had leaped back from their unison strike. No further attacks were tossed into the hurricane. What they had fired back were their aces in their deck of cards, the embodiment of their elements, and their greatest attacks.

Even if they hadn't suffered any damage, both Vision wielders found themselves grimacing and panting as they leaned on their respective blades. They had put their all into those final blows. Even if one of them enjoyed the thrill of battle, both desired to end this sudden fight as quickly as possible.

Because both had recognized the gravity of the threat that had suddenly struck out of the blue.

The howling tempest of thunderous wind and lightning died down in a wisp of black wind and faint sparking bolts zapping in the air.

Leaving a quiet and unresponsive machine of war lying on the sands.

Copious amounts of sand had been blown away, leaving it in a crater of faintly sparking black sand. Its four limbs were scattered about, suffering various dents, nicks, and burns on its dirty brown armor platting. Smoke bellowed from its body, bleeding black trails in the aftermath of the powerful combined attacks.

Its glowing eye had died, blank and empty.

Kazuha breathed a sigh of relief.

"What a strange machine. I never fought a Ruin Machine that possessed such tenacity. It was almost as if it was directly seeking us out."

Beidou eyed the silent machine with a sharp glare.

"The search party probably disturbed its nap. You know how those violent hunks of junk are; quiet as a mouse until someone trespasses on their territory. Got to give it to it though- never fought one that made me sweat so much. Not even my Tide Caller was able to fully push it back. Even the Pyro energy on that thing was something else."

"That wasn't Pyro."

"Huh?"

Kazuha shook his head, eyeing the damaged and burned beach scarred by their sudden battle.

"Those attacks- the blasts, the beams, the alien language forming around its body. They weren't like the normal Ruin runes I've ever come across. It was more...rich. Concentrated. Pure. Compared to the natural energies of Pyro, Electro, Cryo, Anemo, Geo, Hydro, or Dendro I've come across since leaving Inazuma- it's not right. Surely, you've felt how wrong it felt after facing it head-on as you did."

Beidou didn't respond, her eye honed in on the abnormal automaton.

Yeah, she had felt it.

How wrong such a machine felt. She had felt it in her gut the second she had found its attack bear down upon her.

Kazuha's Vision further enhanced his innate talent to read the emotions, the intention, and even malice, of those around him through the wind. His hearing and sense of smell were above others and aided in allowing him to read the intentions of others.

For him to catch such oddities in an unfeeling machine proved just how abnormal the Ruin Machine was.

Which was why she didn't let her gaze drop.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"...Oh?"

Beidou grit her teeth.

Kazuha clenched his sword.

It spoke.

With amusement.

"That took longer than expected. Truly, the makeup of this world is far beyond the specs of the last one. Though it lies further below the Phase of his world, it is still too far out of the reach of the truth for a being such as myself to easily translate. I suppose it's similar to transcribing the Japanese language into English, then into German, then into Spanish, and then into Chinese, and then into Latin! There are so many references and phrases that simply can't be cleanly replaced or replicated without errors popping up."

It had suffered a great deal of damage. Enough to leave it unresponsive in a crater of black sand and bleeding thick black smoke. A normal Ruin Machine would have been reduced to broken metal bits.

But it proved itself above its normal models by simply speaking with what felt like a bizarre emotion.

"But how strange. I could have sworn I sensed him among your lot. Yet I don't see that head of oh-so-familiar spiky hair in sight. Without a doubt, I felt his unique hand in play. Don't tell me…"

If a Ruin Machine could smile, the Ruin Hunter's now blinking platinum gold eye would as a strange grin could be pictured in their mind.

"Did he decide to run away from a fight? Him? That selfish child who only knows violence and tragedy that he would readily soak it in for the sake of a stranger's happiness? To think such an abnormal hero would decide to think of his safety and health before that of others!"

It spoke to itself. It didn't even acknowledge its state of wear as its eye grew more vibrant in the bellow of thick black seeping from its numerous wounds.

Neither Beidou nor Kazuha acted as the Ruin Machine wiggled from the crater. Both were left speechless as the war machine spoke in a language they could clearly comprehend.

The ruined arms cast to the side of the crater flew back to reattach themselves as if it were nothing.

It raised one of its hands up, marveling at the convulsing metal digits it was struggling to regain control of.

"What an interesting change. Yes, yes. If I could not even ascertain such a phenomenon in his character as the hero who can't even see his own actions as righteous or just despite the good found in his wake then I would have been disappointed. One can only observe an unbreakable diamond shine so much until one grows bored and desires a crack. These memories speak so clearly of such an odd beast- I wonder..."

Before the eyes of those anxious warriors, ancient broken, burned, cracked metal transfused into platinum.

Talon-like fingers replaced the Ruin Hunter's robotic digits, composed of platinum gold light. A strange change overcame the metal and steel automaton from a lost civilization. The two arm-mounted limbs on its shoulders replaced its hands with feathered wings spamming three yards in length, light and bright as those found on a falcon. A metal ring normally found hovering in the middle of its cannons floated above its head, glowing brightly as alien runes drizzled from its halo. The patches of burns and cracks littering its body were replaced with platinum.

This...this wasn't anything either adventurer had encountered from a Ruin Machine.

Kazuha felt a disturbing chill crawl down his neck.

Hadn't...hadn't felt such a disturbing chill once before?

Upon the Almighty Raiden Shogun's chamber, in the silence of a drawn blade, the thud of a beloved figure hitting the ground, and the cold and overwhelming gaze of a god.

An invisible blade was being drawn with the ability to kill all those in its release with a single stroke.

Dread pierced straight through his heart.

"What a transformation! Even if this is an ill-fit body for a mere shard of Aiwass, it responds well to the calculations I've inputted once I've overrun its engine and learning core. It did put up quite a fight. The original creators of this puppet would make even Aleister fascinated."

A growl of annoyance was heard.

"For fuck's sake! You talk too much, ya damn bucket of wasted bloody gears!"

"Captain, n-!"

Too late.

Because of the dread striking an all too familiar chord in Kazuha's heart, he was too late to stop the annoyed Beidou from charging straight ahead at the Ruin Hunter as he marveled at his new form.

She had felt it too. The dreadful air such a strange machine was producing as it grew clean and bright wings that clashed with its robotic design. Not even she was so blind with her one eye to not understand the threat level of such a foe.

But, so what?

When had she ever turned tail when confronting an opponent that could mop the floor with her if she made one wrong move?!

Claymore charged with thundering Electro, she didn't waste another second standing still as she aimed to tear the talkative Ruin Hunter to pieces.

"Oh, yes, I suppose that Ruin Hunter was in the middle of a fight, wasn't it? Your energies certainly aided in analyzing the new system and laws responsible for the makeup of this world. Like a battery needing sparks to kick-start the engine. But now that I've gained enough understanding of this world via this machine's old data banks and absorbed the knowledge hidden deep within the elemental energies you've so eagerly dished out, I don't have any need for such dull humans."

A platinum wing on the Ruin Hunter's left shoulder stretched lazily. Feathers vibrated gleefully and shined.

The counter-attack fell with a single motion.

[-]

Thunder could not compare.

The howl of a hurricane was faint.

What was produced in the flap of a lazily stretched wing was enough to distort the air itself with a screech that scrapped away at the heart.

All that could be seen on board The Alcor in the eyes of its crew was a geyser pouring hundreds and hundreds of tons of sand onto the beach like pouring rain. A pillar of soft crushed earth dwarfed the ship like a tidal way.

Leaving the fate of those at the center of the titanic blow unknown.

[-]

Bloodied and bandaged Touma winced as yet another thin string of polymer needled through his skin. Cold steel guided the stitch in an intricate thread to close the gaping wound running just below his lower ribs. Even if he felt the cool numbing effects of whatever medicinal cream prevented him from feeling too much of the pain, just the sight of watching a needle stab through his open wound brought a phantom pain.

The softly mewing ash-blonde cat pawing at his hand relieved him a bit of that agony.

"How did you even suffer this kind of wound? It's oddly cut open, lacking an angle of incision by any kind of blade or shrapnel. It's...it's almost as if the wound came from inside; like a ruptured valve."

Due to his bleeding, the weak and fatigued boy had been forced away from the side of the ship to marvel at the flashy fight between two of The Alcor's strongest fighters against a weird flying machine, and been laid down a good distance away to be treated by a frantic and worried Yinxing.

Being a single wound requiring only stitches, she did not need assistance from others who were busy cheering on their captain and Kazuha.

Flat on the wooden surface, Touma could do nothing but watch the Surgeon at Sea's skilled hands patch his bloody scar while the stray cat watched with worry in her green eyes.

All the while the sounds of metal striking metal, lighting blasting into the air, wind screeching, and explosions could be heard from his position of being laid flat on his weak back while others fought.

You're beaten up.

You're bones are still mending.

You're more bandage, gauze, and band-aid than boy.

You're left arm can't even properly throw a fist.

Touma understood that. He knew he was utterly battered and ready to collapse if he pushed himself as he always did.

Nothing but aches, pains, pricks, stings, and sores could be felt all over his body.

But...

"Stay still. You're in no condition to be getting back up right now. I know it must be awful to miss out on seeing our captain go all out, but you have to rest."

Yinxing spoke softly to the restless bandaged mummy. Her dark brown eyes were gentle as she observed how he reacted to each thunderous clang of metal produced over the beach side of the island where a great battle was being raged.

She noted how each violent sound caused his body to jerk faintly. As if he felt each strike himself.

If the sensitive boy wasn't so weak, she wouldn't have been able to push him down and stop him from leaping off to join the chaos unfolding over the ship.

She could see the boy inwardly clench his teeth in frustration. Even he must have understood how messed up his body was and couldn't argue with such sound logic. She nodded gratefully as she noted how he tried to relax his tense muscles, allowing her to finish her stitch work.

She scowled lightly, noting how his right fist refused to release and abandon its tight clench.

Returning to the last thread of polymer, the surgeon at sea couldn't help but find herself intrigued by the wound as she completely sealed it.

It wasn't a cut or a laceration. It wasn't a puncture wound. While it was an open wound stretching out over nine inches in length, it lacked those fine details left behind by a blade to cause such trauma.

No, after inspecting it, she had already concluded what had caused such an injury but still couldn't comprehend how.

Ruptured blood vessels.

Injuries, high stress, disease, extreme fatigue, medicine. Many causes could be found to explain why one's blood vessels would break. As a doctor, she knew all the symptoms and proper ways to treat a patient with such a light condition.

But never before had she seen blood vessels burst so violently and forcefully that they would break through the skin as an open wound. The way the skin cells were ripped open spoke of the trauma originating from below the surface, not outside.

Yinxing had questions, ones she wanted answered urgently to properly treat the bandaged boy.

But-

It sounded like screeching. As if some terrible set of chipped nails was steadily scratching metal. Its very sound sent visible shivers of discomfort down the spines of all who heard it. All sound vanished beneath such ear drum-shaving screech. The ash-blonde stray by their side leaped up and covered her poor ears with a shiver. At that moment, the entire ship was rocked by a great shock wave that nearly tipped it over. The crew of the Alcor held on to whatever they could, grunting as they could only ride out the great shock wave powerful enough to snap several pulleys and bend a great deal of the ship's wooden boards.

Glancing back, the Surgeon at Sea found herself growing wide-eyed at a ridiculous sight.

Like a rising tide, a pillar of gushing sand arose from over the boat where Beidou and Kazuha had been battling on the beach. Copious amounts of the pulverized earth drizzled down like raindrops and even rocks, boulders, and other random objects buried beneath the sand over the years fell.

A cloud of sand obscured their vision, blanketing everything over the ship like a sandy mist.

Everyone held their breath, unable to act or call out to their captain as the shock wave ceased. Only until the drizzle of sand ceased and the lingering clouds were blown back from someone on the battlefield, could they relax.

Beidou and Kazuha had survived the titanic blow.

Their clothing had suffered damage, torn in various spots, and even stained by blood. Several wounds could be seen on their bodies that appeared to be wracked with trauma after they had countered whatever blow had struck them down at the very, very, very last second. From the position of Kazuha leaning on one knee with his sword buried deep into the massive crater they found themselves, he had taken shelter behind Beidou as she took it upon herself to defend against the attack. Sand and dirt mixed with blood faintly seeped from his injuries as he panted heavily.

As for the captain herself.

The Uncrown Lord of The Sea, who had slain Haishan without a Vision, leaned all her weight against her large claymore as if it were a crutch.

No matter how powerful she was, her accolades before even the gods had acknowledged her, or her infamous status as a warrior of the seas, she was still human.

When a devastating pressure from above descended upon you, the flesh would break and bone would creak.

Blood swam down her arms. Her muscles visibly quivered. Her dark brunette hair had been blown back and fell all around her face like a curtain. Her clothing had been battered and fluttered along with the faint wind in the aftermath of the attack.

Still, their captain, their most treasured pride, remained standing with a terrifying and vibrant glare in her golden-red eye.

Even if she buckled, trembled, bled, and groaned!

Their captain would refuse to simply crumble!

The members of The Crux watched with bated breath, hands tightening around their weapons, eager for the word to jump into the fray and throw their bodies into the attack.

But…

A quiet and terrifying thought was shared in the subconscious of those sea-hardy folk who faced off against a legendary beast.

If the captain could be brought down to this? What were the chances any of them could so much as rush to her aid?

"Captain…"

No one knew who said such a forlorn call to their beloved leader.

Absolute loyalty and faith.

Never before had such been so crushing to those men and women of the choppy seas.

"What...w-what is that?"

To Yinxing's displeasure, the commotion overboard had distracted her from her patient. Without even realizing it, she had joined her fellow shipmates in watching the battle and had seen the terrible state her captain and Kazuha had suffered.

Looking back, she found whatever words ready to scold the boy back to lying down stuck in her throat. She couldn't help but freeze up.

Touma forced his sore body back on its feet. Red glossed the side of his ribs from the mysterious wound and sweat wet his skin even under the cool night air. His hands dragged at his side and the way his hair fell around his face left him with the expression of a man who had been stuck out in the rain for hours. His dark blue eyes, normally vacant and forlorn, gained an unsettling emotion that sent a shiver down the doctor's spine.

In her eyes, he appeared like a wounded beast who had escaped the hunter's trap and sought revenge.

Something about the battle between their captain, Kazuha, and the bizarre Ruin Machine had lit a spark in his battered form.

He took a step forward.

His dark blue eyes grew wider and his pupil dilated as if it were hyper-focusing on the object of his curiosity.

Platinum wings shining like white gold fluttered as if warning of the next attack. Threatening falcon claws lazily stretched out as if to work out a stiff joint. The radiance. The sense of both awe and dread swirling together. The aura of sinister yet divine in the eyes of mortals.

By now, the bandaged boy was no longer behind the members of The Crux and had forced himself to stand at the front.

A crack was heard.

Teeth and molar snarled in a furious peel of absolute rage.

"A-A...Aiwass?"

A name was spoken like a dreadful curse.

His fingers dug into the wood, chipping his nails as blood oozed.

The gold platinum winged Ruin Hunter rose its shining mechanical arm, lifting one of its talon fingers at the damaged Beidou. It spoke, loudly and clearly for all to hear as it projected its voice.

"You withstood that? So, this is the so-called potential delivered upon humanity by the gods of this world. Magic born not of faith or mimicking those idolized as legends, but of one's own ambition. How amusing! This is unlike the systems created by the likes of Aleister Crowley, who despised the gods so much he split the world's supernatural world apart!"

If the bizarre alien machine of war could make a facial expression, they would find a truly abnormal grin on its face.

Glyphs seared into the air and spun around the talon of the Ruin Machine's sharp finger.

"Your ambition. Let me test just how durable and great it is! Show me something worthwhile until that boy can no longer stand to sit idly by!"

Wings would not strike down like a guillotine with a speed no human could track.

Condensed energy would be fired like a cannon. It burned the very air and seemed to hiss like it were water hitting a hot skillet.

An equally bizarre force would be unleashed that seemed to trample upon the laws and system of the world.

No one could move. Just the very sight of such a chilling and devilish light struck fear into their bodies. Petrified by the talking automaton's burning finger, no one could act upon their fear and worry for their beloved crew mates fighting down below to protect them from harm.

An overwhelming dollop of an illogical being was fired with a tremendous force far greater than a mere wing flap.

[-]

"Damn it."

Beidou sneered down the barrel of a blinding bullet. The size of the magic reminded her of a Mitachurl. Just the sight of it burned her eyes.

Her arms quivered and refused to lift her claymore. Pain assaulted her like blaring horns that wouldn't shut up no matter how much she tried to ignore them. No matter how much she wanted to lift her blade, to channel Electro into her body to defend and reflect the damage ready to trample her and Kazuha into pancakes- her arms wouldn't comply. She could feel the comforting tingle of her Vision reacting to her desire even if her muscles wouldn't.

Her ambition sparked to life.

Sadly her bruised and bloodied body refused to comply.

"Kazuha...run."

"Captain!?"

She smiled grimly. She could just picture the shell-shocked expression on the Anemo boy's dirty face. To hear the so-called fearless captain of The Crux turn back, to escape, to run away? Even the likes of Ningguang would salivate at the chance of catching such a rare gem.

"I'll draw its fire. I'll have it focus everything onto me and take it all in. Even if it's not enough, I'll absorb as much of that strange elemental energy into myself and release it at a hundred percent of its normal output. I can do that much."

She couldn't move. Her damaged muscles had hit their limit after one hell of a blow that made Haishan's hits nothing but love taps. She couldn't even run if she so desired.

So, she would go out fighting. Just as she always lived her life, she would live it with no regrets and push forward with her all. Even if it would lead to her end.

Deep purple sparks erupted from her immobile body in response to her ambition. The shadow of a legendary leviathan coiled itself around her, raging like the tides of that memorable battle.

Everything. She would pour everything into this final counter for the sake of her most treasured friends!

A miniature sun let out a sinister roar far greater than the hellish waves of the most troubled seas.

It crossed the distance between them like a behemoth barreling down from the highest peak of Liyue. Sand was crushed by tremendous pressure. And the air shuddered like heat waves.

Beidou grinned fiercely as she played her final card in her beaten deck.

She held no fear, no regrets, no lament- nothing so weak.

Because-

!

Something hit the ground behind them amid shouts of panic and bewilderment.

Running feet could be heard rushing towards them but would never make it in time.

And just as that devastating mini sun would strike…

[-]

Touma ignored the terrible shock traveling up his ankles as he jumped over the edge of The Alcor. More pain wouldn't change his health when it was already shit to begin with.

Normally, a regular human would have broken down in tears as their ankles shattered from the impact of having jumped from a ship as tall as the male's dorm building.

He should have considered it strange.

But he grit his teeth and ignored the shouts of the crew who had finally realized he had leaped over.

All he could see, all he cared about, was the sight of a bizarre robot adorning holy wings as it aimed its sharp finger at Beidou and Kazuha like it was aiming a gun.

Something familiar and terrifying had made itself known.

The pressure, the tingle in the air, this taste of dread!

How could he ever forget?!

Without regard to his poor health, the weak boy ran towards the burning blast.

No matter how hard he ran, he wouldn't reach them. Even if he were in top health, had gotten a decent meal, had gotten more than eight hours of sleep, and wasn't cursed with misfortune, no amount of simply wanting to reach them with all his heart would make a difference. Cold fact pressed at him like stones dragging him down.

Kamijou Touma was a Level-0. In his world, the label was a means for the city to say he was One Without Power. Even after a decade of having taken the school's curriculum, he hadn't gained any kind of supernatural power born from his own sense of the world to instill his personal logic into reality. He couldn't bend steel with incredible strength, he couldn't teleport long distances, he couldn't conjure fire with a snap of his finger, he couldn't control the minds of people with a stare, and he couldn't even bend a measly spoon.

He was a powerless child. Not even Imagine Breaker, a power that only ever revealed its splendor when faced with supernatural powers, would do any good in this instance.

Just like before, he would fail. He would be helpless to stop the enemy in front of him from crushing him without any effort.

'Not again.'

It was his fault. A foul dreg had surfaced as he was wallowing in his regrets and grief. The wish for this pleasant scene to devolve into violence, so that he can find purpose in the destruction, and find closure unlike before. His misfortune had answered his desire to devolve the world around him in disaster.

A heavy hand was thrown out, fingers stretching after the back of those who had taken in this miserable child of pestilence.

'Not again! I won't let this fucking scene of tragedy repeat itself in front of me again!'

Icy blue roots shined in response to those echoing ambitions.

A weak and useless left hand throbbed as it rejected that cold hard logic that would only allow despair to play out.

Time had seemed to slow down for all those in the world.

Those kind dark blue burned bright with a ghastly ghostly blue light.

[-]

Burning white energy clashed against thick, dense, columns of black stone seven feet tall.

And then another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

A rush of stampeding obsidian rock-hard columns, each lined with glowing lines of icy blue roots, erupted from the sands around Beidou and Kazuha. Like folded paper knights, they sprang to life and moved to intercept the great searing mini sun with their bodies. Despite their compositions telling one of being made of dense and rigid material, the columns of black bent like rubber, curving to punch their tips against the overwhelming sun.

Their blunt tips smashed into the hot blast and acted as shields. The angle, their forms, and the position of those columns were almost as if they belonged to the hands of a massive stone giant rising to block the light of the sun from the tiny people it guarded in the shade.

Before Beidou's stunned eyes was a cool and smooth shield of obsidian columns. Even as those pillars creaked, shivered, and cracked, they did not crumble.

Not until the mini sun outside the titan's hands detonated.

Whatever material those stone fingers were made of shattered to pieces. Even still they had served their purpose in blocking the great searing light from reducing them to dust. Black crystals showered the space around them as a strong buffet of wind and sand swam in the shock wave.

Was that...was that Geo? An elemental manifestation of the earth and its lord, Rex Lapis? Where had that come from?

"Kamijou-san?"

"What's this? Was that nice little trick a new card in your deck, Imagine Breaker?"

Midst the shower of black crystals, a familiar boy walked past the stunned Beidou.

From above, a large finger-like column of the shattered obsidian columns fell atop them like a snapped tree. Its weight would do what the mini sun failed to accomplish and crush them into a pulp.

In response to the shadow of the heavyweight, Kamijou Touma raised his left hand up- not his right. He snapped his fingers at the crushing debris as the very tips of his ruined left hand gleamed. It looked like he held onto a tiny glowing diamond between his fingers.

With a mortar-like bark, the debris was obliterated by an unseen blast.

Beaten, battered, bloody, and wounded, Touma stood in front of the Electro captain. His back glared right back to the woman who had taken him, tried to make him smile, and spoke nothing but kind yet rough words to a lousy bastard who had been unable to respond in kind with nothing but filler talk.

"…"

He said nothing. He made no motion of even seeing Beidou or Kazuha. He gave no interest to the series of obsidian columns that had arisen in response to his screaming desire. So long as the people behind him were safe, it didn't matter.

They were saved. Which meant he could focus on the raging fire seething through his entire body.

Even as blood seeped from the corner of his lips in a thick crimson trail.

"Aiwass…"

He spoke in a dreadfully bone-chilling curse, his deflated black spikes sweeping across his eyes in a dreadful curtain.

An ordinary right hand swept the air to banish the last remaining crystals in his way, breaking them to nothing.

A single left eye burned with a wicked ghostly blue light to match the icy roots pulsing in his St. Germain's arm. Something odd began flickering in those orbs.

"What the fuck did you do?"

A burning platinum gold eye stared right back with an emotion no human nor god could comprehend.

"I could say the same to you. St. Germain no longer remains in this world."

Touma audibly bit his teeth as if he had been struck deep in the kidney.

"Yet...I sense his essence within you. No consciousness remains. He can not dream or act. This is not a matter of the heart or brain not responding due to trauma like a coma patient; those are gone. And still, I can pick up the mana of that unique individual from you. How else could you, a meager Esper, summon such a brutish rush of stone pillars like they were smashing fists or fire a powerful blast of pure force with just a snap of your fingers?"

Platinum wings, feathers like falcons, flapped behind the ruinous automaton. Dazzling feathers fell from the expanding wings like molting gold.

"I truly did not recognize you among all those generic humans who ran at the order of their captain. You look different; you've changed. Is this what remains of the so-called One Who Purifies God and Slays Gods when he utterly is defeated? Is this what One-Eyed Magic God Othinus witnessed during her Infinite Hells? When nothing but pain, pain, pain, pain, and defeat, defeat, defeat, defeat shaves away at your very ego and soul; is this the remarkable gem those unique beings and terrifying humans have fought wars over to attain?"

Holy light gleamed from those harbingers of doom in the form of wings.

"If I answered your question bluntly, would you break further?"

Without warning, a gleaming feather rushed forward like a spear. Molten white gold sprinkled off the deadly attack aimed at stabbing right through its target.

"I've had enough."

Dark blue and ghostly blue eyes regarded the elongated hot platinum wing with fatigue.

Even if the attack was made up of an insane amount of unstable or bizarre energy not normally found in the normal world, it was still an object of destruction for his right hand. With a familiar form, he caught the searing falcon wing with his bare right hand. A rush of stinging wind slapped his body and kicked up sand around him.

Nails bit down into the burning light, cracking the many feathers sprinkled with molten gold. Force bore down upon the Ruin Hunter's wing until an unpleasant groan was heard.

"It's always like this. You fucking destructive idiots who can wipe the playing board with just a swat of your wrist. Every time you get these ridiculous delusions centered on my nature, on my actions, on my name. I've always just let you have your way and raze everything until all that I find is blood and tears. Just like God's Right Seat, like Gremlin, like those Magic Gods, like Aleister and Coronzon, and even...myself. And I let it happen. I'm…"

The despair. The grief. The pain. The loneliness. The frustration. The loss. The regret. The anger.

The accumulating negativity of his loss could no longer be restrained. It was unleashed with a hissing, seething spat.

"I'm so fucking tired. I'm done with trying to make sense of, or listen to the reason of the why."

Something had changed in that boy's damaged core. What possessed the usually kind and naive child were the regrets and frustration he found as he lost all he adored in his world. When his right hand had been too short to reach, when his body had been too weak to make the distance, his mind had came to a conclusion.

Someone came to mind. Someone who had once been just as weak and useless as him yet had overcome his shitty hand to win.

Mischievous eyes hidden by flashing blue sunglasses came to mind.

Of a friend he had lost among countless others as Aiwass had appeared. A fellow Level-0 who found all his magical abilities broken in order to infiltrate the city of science to wind up with an ability he couldn't control or improve. When he was left without a supernatural ability to fight with, to protect what he held dear, what had he done? What he had said?

The enemy won't be waiting for me.

They will not allow me the chance to get a plan together.

They will not play fair.

They would abuse every soft spot they can find.

So…

'I have to win no matter the means. No matter what.'

Malice swirled and seeped through as a cruel card was played.

If he had only gotten a hold of himself, if he had only taken a small glance at the people he had rushed to protect, if he had only remembered the reason why he made a fist then maybe he would have realized he was allowing an old dreg of a certain faker he had killed to overtake him.

Perhaps St. Germain's left arm was never intended to be used in violence. Such a gentle magician had expressed a longing for his magic, for his talents, for his tricks to be a catalyst to bring joy and smiles to the faces of those who were suffering through terrible times. Gifts were never meant to be abused when they came from the heart.

But if making a fist with his obsidian black and icy rooted hand disgraced his friend then Touma would have to take responsibility for disappointing such a caring memory.

At this moment, one thought was held at the forefront of his raging thoughts.

The final boss is standing right in front of me. Everything wrong with my life is crystallized in a form I can break. All my problems, all my anger, all my despair, all my sorrow!

He had desired this turn of events. It was his fault; again. So, he would clean up his mess. He was done letting such misfortune get out of hand and allow more people to suffer.

Hands meant to rescue were drawn and gnashed into vicious symbols of violence. The gorgeous gleaming wing in his right hand was shattered with an ear-splitting screech.

"Don't speak. Don't answer. Don't give me any reason to want to understand you. You're not human, so I can't kill you. So, I'll destroy you until you're nothing but a shitty and mangled corpse!"

Gears. Circuits. Metal plating. Digital signals. Batteries. Oil.

Flesh and blood were absent. The enemy standing in front of him was no different than that faker who had ruined what should have been a happy ending with his retarded idea of salvation. Nothing worth saving could be found for him to salvage with his broken hands.

Resonating with those ugly desires, the icy blue veins underneath his left hand gave off a visible throb like it was an organ.

How he did it didn't matter nor how it came to him so easily in the heat of the moment. Red had stained his vision and all he cared about was breaking the amused bot apart with his hands.

"Poor little Fraulein. After everything she went through to see this kind of change, s-"

[-]

"I said shut up."

Imagine Breaker was silent. An ordinary fist did not attack.

From the pulverized grains of burned sand and shattered glass, black pillars erupted like the snapping teeth of an earth-dwelling beast. Blunt stone bombarded the Ruin Hunter with thick cracks in what felt like an instant.

The winged Ruin Hunter was blown back what must have felt like fists made of thick bedrock in an explosive boom.

Kamijou Touma did not move or charge. Only his wilted hair was swept back in the shock wave washing back against him. Even as the blood vessels in his right cheek burst open in a red spray, he didn't pay it any mind.

Not even he knew what kind of expression he was making right now as the haze of anger and fatigue utterly consumed him.

Seeming to realize words would fall on deaf ears on the normally talkative child, the Ruin Hunter, Aiwass, responded in kind to the new nature he had discovered.

Aiwass flapped his wings to recover from the attack, spinning the numerous gears beneath his metal plates to counter. Magical runes were burned with a hiss and littered the air like stars before blinking. Streaks of blinding light were fired in a widespread shotgun burst.

Again, the haze-eyed boy stayed put. The only limb he rose was his heavy left hand, glowing with a hauntingly pale azure. When he swept the black and blue hand at the flying streaks of magic, crystals as thin as paper were born and shaped like cracked mirrors to block the light streaks. Light was smashed against the mirrors and scattered, breaking them to pieces but failed to so much as harm a hair on those behind the screens.

The next attack came from Aiwass wings. Hot platinum feathers elongated into knife-like teeth and fell along the length of the machine's arms to form falcion-like swords to wield. The possessed machine was abandoning its long-range options for a more personal touch.

Scissoring light spun in its taloned fingers as it charged straight at the fragile boy. Unbearable energy was swung down in a manic frenzy lacking anything you would consider as swordsmanship. They were swung around no different than plastic swords by an energetic child playing with a friend.

Orange sparks erupted as the silent possessed child defended himself with an array of crystal cracks acting as shields. Each defensive screen was destroyed with each swing with audible cracks. But to the Abyss Dweller's surprise, its intense blades of light were thrown back with each shattered mirror.

It swung down an enlarged falcion with the wind visibly shrieking in its descent. Such an attack could probably split the entire beach down the middle and release tremors capable of creating choppy waves. A meager cracked crystalline shield was smashed to pieces but sent its arm bouncing back with enough force to bend the limb with a metallic crunch.

It spun its body like a top, creating enough force behind its swing to whip up a spiraling gale. It aimed to sever completely through the entire world but found another screen smashed and sending a concerning shudder through its entire body.

Like it was beating drums, it repeatedly slammed those intense feathered wings onto the silent boy with thunderous cracks. Destruction rained down with the intent to slice through matter with precise precision. But its destruction only served to send its deadly blades flying back as those screens took the form of a film-like bubble reminiscent of a pearl protecting its caster. What looked like droplets of a wet pearl bounced off with each blade failing to smash through the ocean jewel.

Frustration could not be found in Aiwass. To the being who could not understand human emotions and found himself intrigued by what he was witnessing as he fought to unravel the new development unfolding before it.

Each of its strikes hit but could not make it past those crystalline shields. It analyzed the destruction and found a surprising realization.

The cracks. Were they intentional? Was the point of those on the verge of breaking shields to be broken so that the shards would splash back with equal force to disrupt the attacks?

Without a doubt this was magic. A supernatural ability. A way to cheat the mundane rules of this world with a miracle only gods should have been capable of.

Which meant…

The skin above Touma's right eye violently split open.

Red spurt from his right shoulder like it were a squeezed rotten fruit.

A gush of dark crimson popped from his back with enough force to tear through his clothes.

Each and every crystal shield, no matter its form, caused his body to spurt with blood like leaks on a high-pressure pipe. Even as stone pillars were summoned to bash the Ruin Machine away or interrupt its swings as cracks began to form on the icy pearl protecting Touma, the damage on his body continued without pause.

Feathered blades were spun in a tempest-like frenzy, shearing through the pulverizing pillars and finally sliced through the pearl shield. It was the first time Touma's body moved, leaping to the far left to avoid the guillotine blade smashing through with far greater force and pressure than before. Sand was obliterated and fissure-like cracks were formed in the shaking tremors left behind.

Gathering an intense light in its eyes, the Ruin Hunter unleashed a crossing slash, sending a blinding X straight at the stumbling boy.

Frosted diamond fingers snapped at the incoming crossing energy.

A detonation of unknown force erupted in the path of Aiwass's attack. An invisible rupture of unknown energy or force disrupted the slicing symbol like it was made of glass.

Those feathered falchions retreated back to the Ruin Hunter's shoulders to take the form of elegant wings, allowing the possessed machine to rotate its talon-fingered hand until it resembled a madly spinning construction drill.

Once dark blue eyes regarded the incoming action with a wicked sheen of ghostly blue.

Haunting pale azure-tipped fingers snapped again.

And again,

And again.

And again.

Before the Ruin Hunter hijacked by Holy Guardian Angel Aiwass could fire its whining drill, a myriad of odd explosions assaulted its body. Ghostly pale blue and tar-colored smoke erupted from each explosion striking its body to the rhythm of each thick snap of the boy's fingers. The attacks were reminiscent of a peppering spray of bullets by a Uzi.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Fiercely spinning metal pierced its way through the bombardment of magic, plowing out of the veil of smoke to gore the ghastly-faced boy.

Crack-marred crystals of paling blue were absent to defend.

Ghastly fingers of abyssal black and ghostly blue lunged at the mad drill shot. Even as hot sparks splashed against him and shredded the sleeves of his shirt, the bizarre hand held onto the drill hand without so much as revealing a crack. The only blood to be found would be the numerous invisible cuts popping open on Touma's body.

A new noise was introduced to the fervent chaos.

It sounded like dry ice. Intense shearing steel stopped its spin, stalling as it found tiny crystals forming on its drill hand. Those pale crystals grew in size to eventually flower into large clusters of sharp spines to devour the limb.

Red leaked from both of the silent boy's ears.

"What fun!"

Even as the cluster of sharp crystals that had become its right hand was shattered, the Ruin Machine wasn't alarmed. With a flap of its wings, it banished the lingering curtain of black-pale blue smoke from its visage and detached the cable connected to the useless limb with a laugh.

Platinum light rushed out like blood and molded itself after a bird-like hand with even crueler and twisted talon claws to gouge flesh like a bruised fruit.

Normally, this would be where his words would be rewarded with more violence. Pillars of smashing obsidian would strike like bursting stalagmites, magical explosions would bombard its dented frame or a new attack would be created in response to the mute rage overtaking the esper child.

Aiwass spoke in a carefree tone as none of those attacks flew through the air.

A disgusting wet sound was heard splatting against the scarred sands.

It was the sound of blood hurling from the vomiting esper covered in nothing but fresh wounds.

"Have you already reached your limit?"

The newly formed angelic glowing hand rose and pointed at the sweating esper in a chiding manner one would find on a teacher.

"St. Germain is dead. You no longer have that unique soul running damage control on your body as it's being destroyed by the reaction of an esper refining their life force into mana. Each spell, no matter how small or great, will reflect on you. I believe this is similar to one of those interesting adventure simulators you children love to play; video games, correct? Instead of the cost being MP to activate a skill, it is HP being spent. This is no different than playing with a gun to your head."

Snarling teeth, stained by a dark cherry red, snapped back.

An unhinged beast exploded from the spot as a pillar burst from beneath his feet at an acute angle, acting as a springboard.

"You can no longer move by your own power, can you?"

Mechanical-bodied Aiwass almost seemed to sigh.

The Abyss Guardian easily caught the rocket-flying boy with his left hand, its talon fingers spreading over the boy's soft torso and threatening to crush him with just one squeeze. A guttural roar was heard as he lifted the beast-possessed boy to its one-eyed visor.

"To think this was the change Fraulein was desiring. You look nothing like One Who Purifies God and Slays Demons. Perhaps she was wrong in assuming she could find such a Ruler by inflicting nothing but pain, suffering, despair, and terror to whittle you down to your core. Kamijou Touma is not such a person, or beast."

Whether the esper whose face and eyes were enveloped in a haze of violence heard those words couldn't be said.

"Or, perhaps, this is your core, young amnesiac."

A pause.

Hearing that, a mention of his most guarded and protected secret, was enough to bring some clarity to the fog of destruction making up Touma's thoughts.

At the wide eyes of dark blue staring at the Ruin Machine with a child-like fear, Aiwass chuckled.

"Did you believe you alone could keep such a treasure to yourself? Born in the body of a miserable child who could never play the proper hero, who had endured years of suffering and ridicule at the hand of ignorant children and adults, who had once been a coward and even grown bored of his daily misfortune, yet had overcome the environment perfectly designed to mold him into a vile and cruel force of malevolence and instead grown a soft and gentle heart- faker, what are your true colors? Without those marvelous pigments you have stolen, without those bonds never yours to claim, without those experiences giving you a reason to fight, with nothing to genuinely possess through your unique actions not taken by a heart not even yours- what are you?"

"Fuck you!"

"I am not Aleister Crowley nor am I Anna Sprengel. Your silly charm has no effect on I, who can't even comprehend the emotions you creatures cling onto."

Metal talon fingers pierced into Touma's flesh, increasing their grip until a concerning groan could be heard from the screaming boy's body.

"...Would you like to know?"

"?!"

"What led to this conclusion? To the fate of your precious world. To the smiles, you put above even your own happiness. Would you like to know the truth hidden by the abyss?"

"W-What did you do?"

"The End Game Boss stands before you: what will you achieve by beating yourself to near death at the cost of victory, you wonder? The manifestation of all your misery and heartbreak is bearing down on you, so what is there to be found once you rig out a jaw-dropping win?"

Someone who resided at the bottom of reality, of truth, of purity and law, spoke down to the wide-eyed cursed boy with a fun emotion it had come to discover through its past wielders.

Enjoyment.

"Let me shatter that illusion of yours: the world Kamijou Touma was born into is no more. Aiwass personally tore apart the seams of that ordinary world just as you were about to defeat Anna Sprengel, and perhaps, discover something in her toxic expression that you would have liked to save someday. Unlike One-Eyed Magic God Othinus, Aiwass did not hide the previous world beneath countless paintings- He destroyed it no differently than that right arm of yours does to lies."

"…"

Nothing was said back.

There wasn't any movement from the frozen shaggy-haired boy in Aiwass's grasp. It was almost as if he had been turned off and all lesser functions not involved in keeping him alive had ceased. Not even those ghastly searing blue eyes twitched.

Aiwass had to wonder if this is what humans called shock.

A moment later, his heavy and metallic body was sent soaring across the island with a thunderous ding.

[-]

Why.

What was the point?

What was there to gain?

What agenda was there to be found?

Was there someone they wanted to-

"I suppose you humans would call it boredom."

Strings made of tightly woven carbon flew from the tips of his fingers, attached themselves to the flying machine, and carried after the bastard as he continued flying across the island. Trees flew past them, sand was kicked up, several large boulders were smashed to pieces, and he had even spotted a few crane-like birds flying away in a panic and some strange dark-skinned humanoid figures scramble away.

He didn't care. The passing scenery meant nothing. He could only focus on the bronze and platinum machine letting themselves be carried by the explosive force of his attack.

Hearing it talk sent his already boiling blood to burst. Figuratively and literally.

The new wound exploding from his shoulder blade was ignored as Touma clenched his left hand, spun around mid-flight, and swung the machine around him like it were the mace of his flail. He completed a full 360-degree rotation before he slammed Aiwass down at the new beach they found themselves in.

Several tons of pulverized sand exploded from the impact and created a mushroom-like cloud to linger. Such a blow would smash even building material steel beams to bits.

From the cloud of sand and dust, it continued to speak.

"That is why I acted. That is why I shed the role of supporting role I have always played in favor of my summoner's goals. Not because I had a grandiose plot. Not because I wanted to hurt you. Not because there was something I wanted to fight for or protect. Hate, jealousy, despair, sorrow, sadistic glee, anger, and tragedy were absent in my actions. Simply put: I was bored of the tired old cliché of the hero defeating the villain and continuing on as normal. Those images I found, that story I discovered- it annoyed me."

Fresh new wounds popped from Touma's quivering back.

There weren't any thoughts to it. He wasn't sure how he did it or where it came from. If he were in his right mind, perhaps he could have found a hint or clue as to how he might have attained it.

From his thrusting left hand, honed onto where those damned words flew out of, seven tar-colored rods were born into existence. The ends of the rods were sharpened by an invisible chisel and gained a strange design. It was as long as a lance, and its blade was shaped like a sword, yet when one looked at it, one would think it was a spear.

With echoing booms, those spears rained down upon the platinum-feathered machine of ruin. Each spear hit the beach with a thunderous boom, further kicking up sand and going as far as to even cause a fissure to break out over the island.

Not even the stone spear-like mountains and rock formations were safe.

With a howl of flapping wings, Aiwass's mechanical form flew out from the sand clouds and rammed its entire body into Touma. Three of those powerful spears gored its body but did little to deter its actions. The full weight of its new host sent the self-destructive boy smashing into the side of one of the rocky cliffs close by.

The mechanical fingers on its right hand morphed to level a cannon barrel at Touma as he struggled to pull himself out of the cliff's crater.

"Aiwass is One Who Dwells At The Bottom of The Abyss. An otherworldly angel. An alien being. A mere power source to my summoners and have no free desires of my own. For as long as he has existed above the Pure World, Aiwass has done as others have asked. But...to my disbelief, I found myself partaking in emotion. I began to grow curious, fascinated, and intrigued by what living beings called emotions and grew to desire to explore those triggers as I awoke. And in those newborn emotions and memories, I found one standing above others: boredom."

From the platinum-born cannon, a searing line of molten light was fired. Like a laser, the beam of incineration pierced straight at the shaggy boy's bloody form.

Heat bubbled the rock's surface as a gaping hole bore through the mountain's tip yet failed to destroy Touma.

With a palm planted on the broken rock crater he was in, he had escaped the ugly death with a column of carbon springing him off.

He ignored the way his ankles cracked as he hit the bottom of the cliff. Rubble burning a hot orange fell around him as he found himself in an odd clearing at the base of the spear cliffs. He found strange amber-colored butterflies flying about, uncaring of all the chaos as they flew about. Shrubbery and hard wooden roots crawled all over the surface of the clearing.

A set of stone doors could be seen close by, undamaged as more burning rubble rained down into the clearing.

"I have grown bored of watching you play that dull role built upon by others. All my summoners, Aleister and Anna, centered their goals upon Kamijou Touma, so I have observed you more than any other living being. I may even know more about you than Kamijou Touma did of himself. And after all these fantastical and exciting adventures I've witnessed you overcome, I came to a startling realization, one that had become exceedingly clear as you were moments from defeating Anna Sprengel: I was bored. Because you would win. Because that was the kind of person you were created to be in that world: the unlucky hero. Such a tired formula."

Touma clenched his left hand as that damned voice spoke down at him from high above.

A moment later, there was a clash.

With his own platinum-born knuckles, Aiwass shot down like a speeding truck to smash his fist against Touma's left fist. Strange colored sparks splashed between the irregular and supernatural fists fighting to pulverize one another. The stone beneath the two dueling figures quaked and caused the entirety of the island to shudder as if it had been struck by an earthquake.

Sharp shock waves popped out as they continued smashing their fists into one another. Like sharp blades, those shock waves cut through their surroundings. Air was sheared. And the space they clashed in became a whirlwind of destruction.

"I wondered what could be found behind that tired formula as well. But unlike my beloved Fraulein, I was not seeking some stern King to control my habits or desires like a father figure. I wanted to see something new. Something not even those foolish gods could see past the label of One Who Purifies God and Slays Demons. A treasure unlike any other. I found myself intrigued by a sudden sense of curiosity: what is behind the illusion you cloak yourself layer under layer with!?"

Again and again, they smashed into one another. They fell into a mindless brawl of knuckles rather than supernatural power. The scenery around them changed as they traded physical blows without a single flash of colorful moves. Touma couldn't make sense of where he was any longer as all he could see was IT.

The playful angel possessing a cold body of metal and circuits.

Every word…

Every damned word!

"A normal high school boy does not exist here. Nothing familiar is here for you to defend. Just like then, aren't you as blank and colorless as when you first woke up? Not even that dead hero's heart can speak up; hasn't it been silent since you arrived? Even if you slaughtered this form here and achieved a victory while on the brink of death as many times as before- that happy ending where you can step back into your ordinary life beside that naive nun and that haughty little War God won't be there. So, who is it that is snarling like a foul beast at this moment?! Is this what is found past the illusion?! Or is there more I've yet to see?!"

Lies.

Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies!

Defeat him- defeat it!

Just like always! Don't listen to the bullshit! Ignore the chatter! Stay true and stick to your guns, and beat the shit out of the fucking idiot ruining his life! Right or Left- who cares which hand did it!

Even if it meant killing.

Yes, even if it meant killing again!

It wasn't even human to begin with! Just some damn alien possessing a suit of armor and laughing like a sadistic bully! There was nothing to understand or listen to right now. All that mattered was crushing the enemy who had stolen his happy ending and reclaiming his spot in that world!

Ghostly icy blue raced along the roots of his left arm as he smashed into Aiwass's right fist. The island shuddered. The world in his eyes was blotted out by an overwhelming flash of light where only the black outlines of the world could be seen. Without a doubt, whatever rock, plant life, or even living organism close by, was obliterated.

From the outskirts of Guyun Stone Forest, a great ripple traveled out from the shuddering island where Liyue's God had once slain a legendary foe with giant stone spears.

If he stopped to actually pay attention to the effects of just punching into each other was causing to their surroundings, Touma would have grown ghostly pale and shuddered in fear.

Touma's cheeks bulged. He fought to repress it but the blood bursting out from his damaged insides burped out with a wet and ugly splat.

Aiwass's body trembled in amusement as he pushed harder against his fist.

"Yes, perhaps this is your true and genuine nature. Without those boring templates to copy, now your heart can honestly speak. Go wild, speak what you feel, stop hiding behind that dried-out shadow, and claim what is rightfully yours! There's no one to save or protect, there's no happy ending, there's nothing to return to! So, what will you do!? What will destroy yourself for?! Show me, however brief, who you are beyond that tired illusion you cling to!"

Past the numerous wounds erupting over his body like popping sparks, past the agony he had long grown numb to, past the hot heat swallowing his body like some giant throbbing lump, Touma felt it.

His heart cracked.

...It was gone.

The world he adored. The one he had convinced One-Eyed Magic God Othinus to return to him. The one he had protected from the likes of Fiamma of The Right and Great Demon Coronzon. The one where all his friends and his family had always been patiently waiting for him to return to.

Index.

Othinus.

Misaka.

Tsuchimikado.

Aogami.

Fukiyose.

Himegami.

Komoe.

Kanzaki.

Stiyl.

Accelerator.

Hamazura.

His mom and dad.

Everyone he had ever protected, fought against, bled for and rescued at the cost of his own body.

...That world they could be found in was...was...was…

An audible snap could be heard.

Not from the esper boy's bones breaking but from somewhere sweet and kind that had been under tremendous pressure for too long.

The final nail was lined up.

An irreparable change was about to take place.

Something naively gentle and kind was fading from those dark blue eyes. Fading into the abyss.

This was what the bored supposedly all-knowing angel had been hoping for to instill a feeling of excitement. To see what could be found staring back at him from the abyss of an illusion crumbling to pieces.

Touma, not Kamijou Touma, felt something peaking from his breaking heart. Something entirely new and alien to him as a person was on the verge of blooming into a flower not even he was sure was rightfully good or evil.

The tension in his taught muscles melted away. His left arm throbbed.

As did his right hand.

Strange crinkling cracks could be heard. Like a plastic egg was breaking from something inorganic giving birth.

...It flickered.

The cast shadow of a normal boy flickered once.

And in that moment, Touma-

[-]

"NNNNNNNYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Eh?"

This was a first for the otherworldly alien angel that was Aiwass. If his new physical form could blink stupidly, it would.

Because in the next moment, the mechanical puppet he controlled found itself with a strong set of feet smashing into the side of its headpiece. His platinum eye curiously glanced at the set of powerful feet, noting how slim and feminine they were as well as two distinct items of interest.

One: there was an odd parcel of constructed energy being kicked between himself at those feet. It emitted a green energy and was shaped like a cat ball.

And Two: those weren't human feet. Those were clearly the pawed feet of a cat yet they were attached to human legs?

'Is this what humans call a furry?'

The parcel smashed into Aiwass's body with a set of kitty feet popped.

And a great explosion of Dendro energy sent the pondering angel spiraling like a top into the bottom of a nearby cliff.

[-]

Touma stumbled back as the overbearing pressure and weight of Aiwass disappeared.

As did the crinkling plastic cracks and the flicker of his shadow. He felt his throbbing left arm cool as if it had stopped overheating like a PC running a super high-quality imaged game. If he touched the limb, he wouldn't be shocked to recoil from how hot it had become.

With the enemy in front of him momentarily gone, he felt his bloody body begin to sway and stumble more.

'Keep going!'

Creaks could be heard from his agonized body as he fought the collapse. With a truly dark glare, he swung his burning left hand out in the direction of his enemy. His two trembling fingers groaned and prepared to fire something loud and devastating.

'Don't stop until it's nothing but scrap! Break it! Snuff out it's damn voice!'

The glint of an icy blue force gleamed like a diamond between his fingers. He wasn't sure what kind of attack or form it would take after. Maybe a mortar shell, maybe a giant sword, maybe an explosive burst of heat and light, maybe a volley of shards, maybe a rush of pummeling fist-shaped pillars, maybe a-

"Please, stop."

The gleaming glint of malice blinked and died away.

A warm and soft body tackled the blind boy from the left and circled their shivering arms around his red and black stained body.

And hug him.

A voice, one Touma didn't recognize called out to him with a whimper.

Touma's short breath was caught in his throat. He felt the soft body hug him tighter and tremble uncontrollably as they kept his wet and bleeding body from crumbling into a wreck. He felt the heat turning his left arm into a burning matchstick cool. With a sudden gasp as if he had been pulled back from a pool of water, the shaggy esper could finally see.

Red no longer bled into his world and corrupted his sight. He could finally feel the numerous aches, pains, burst blood vessels and ripped skin, and broken bones he had accumulated over his patchwork of a body.

He nearly blacked out were it not for the warm body keeping his body up.

Who was this? That voice wasn't one he recognized in the slightest.

With a weak glance down, he found something interesting.

Cat ears. Wait, were those cat ears or just a cute ribbon resembling cat ears?

Though his eyesight had begun to blur a bit, Touma could make out a fair-skinned girl. She wore a very fashionable dark top and a blue pleated skirt. Several trinkets could be seen decorating her outfit: tassels, a skirt cape, a large yellow ribbon, bells, and hairpins. Gold, yellow, sea foam green, blue, and black stuck out him.

As well as the two cat tails dropping from her tailbone.

"A-A neko...girl?" Touma said in a slur.

He felt the soft body holding him up laugh in his chest.

"I'm actually a yokai- A Nekomata. Don't you recognize me?"

Ash blonde hair.

A familiar cute flower hairpin.

The two differently toned tails(though he could have sworn he had only seen one).

He felt the fashionably dressed girl move her head up, giving him a face to put to the girl.

The pretty face looking into his own had a set of familiar slit emerald eyes.

Were it not for the fear of his jaw breaking off, Touma would have stared slack-jawed at the girl as he put the dots together.

"Neko-chan!?"

Teary-eyed, the twin-tailed cat girl grinned up at him.

"You can call me, Kirara, Kamijou-kun!"

The bombshell had little time to stun Touma.

Breaking rocks could be heard alongside the whirring of numerous gears. Laughter poured out of the smoking crater as platinum light creased in amusement.

"F-Fascinating! What izzzz th-thiz eeeeenerrrrrrrgy!? Wazzz th...th...theeeeere something mizzsin?"

Aiwass broke free from the bottom of the crater with a groan from his metal body. Sparks crawled over the holes in his body, quickly mending as his wounds were patched by the platinum energy he exuded. More and more of the Ruin Hunter's original frame was being replaced by an alien element that painted it far more bizarre than its original design.

The single burning platinum eye locked onto the nekomata girl and beamed. Almost as if he had caught a new plaything.

"Was I too eager? This is a new body only a few hours old and its data banks were damaged. Yes, yes, yes; it was missing one. This unit only has resistance and knowledge of six elements. Yet there are seven: Dendro. How wonderful! An element of that newborn God of Wisdom stands before me to examine and understand firsthand. But this body has shown a bit of a weakness to it- I was just getting to the good part and about to see an all-new Monster of The Abyss."

"Aiwass…"

Touma bared his bloody teeth at the amused metal puppet and would have lunged forward were it not for the nekomata girl.

The bronze and platinum being tilted its body back. Almost as if it was glancing back. But to where and why? Hadn't it been entirely focused on him? If it found something interesting then it was a bad thing.

"Irminsul, was it? The roots of The God of Wisdom would be the final piece to completing this body's chunk of missing data. And that weathered stone gate would house one of its veins- The Ley Lines of Teyvat. My transformation would be complete."

A dangerous idea was spoken out loud as one would talk about their plans for the day. The alien being possessing a metal machine eyed a certain stone gate that acted as a domain to a secret place ordinary humans were forbidden from trespassing. Every playful, he stroked an imaginary beard with his talon fingers in thought.

The Ruin Hunter's free right hand gestured over to Touma and Kirara.

"I'd be free of being a mere shard and actually escape the light of Aiwass."

Those bizarre fingers collapsed and leveled a bright cannon barrel ready to fire a cliff-goring laser into their fragile bodies.

"Hold those thoughts of murder and hate, Kamijou. Pause your waning chrysalis for a few moments longer until I've updated my specs. I believe it would be more fulfilling if we were to both evolve beyond our copied selves and became whole beings."

The laser easily pierced rock said by the locals of the land to be spears of The God of Contracts to fell a legendary sea god. Not even Touma was sure if the carbon shield he had somehow been crafting would be able to stand a chance.

Kirara was quicker than the damaged and bleeding Touma. With a cute shriek, she forced his body down as she ducked at the sight of the cannon barrel.

The laser fired with an odd whine of otherworldly energy. It didn't stop as it missed the ducking duo, continuing to extend into the sea like it were the ever-stretching pole of The Monkey King. Waves bubbled and hissed beneath the extreme heat as it was swung in a clear line like it was a long sword.

Several cliffs were cut down. Great splashes of seawater erupted as the rubble crashed into the waters. The great cutting laser went as far as to carve bits of the mainland and a few buildings in Liyue Harbor.

The great and terrible slicing/burning attack was merely a ruse.

Aiwass flapped his platinum wings as he began to move back into the beach, back into the cut-out clearing where a pair of ancient stone doors sealed a domain.

No one but him knew just how valuable the treasure hidden within truly was. Especially for a being like him. An alien, an angel outside all the worlds and phases, could sense the sheer knowledge radiating from deep within. If he could tangle his fingers into those roots.

The very thought caused the gears in his new body to whirl excitedly. Emotions were so pleasurable.

"FIRE!"

Groaning was a new motion for Aiwass. Especially since he didn't possess a neck or vocal chords.

Yoga ball-sized rounds of hot black iron struck Aiwass from the sea. Flames and smoke erupted over his body and even pushed his durable body several spaces back in a stagger. He lost control of his laser and found its beam dying into harmless particles of light. Round after heavy round of those old aged artillery balls were fired into his body in rapid-fire succession.

"It's stunning it! Unload the small arms as well! Load up the tri-barrel cannon with Elemental Rounds- Grade-P! Mount all Heavy Bowguns as well! Don't be afraid of wasting your ammunition- UNLOAD IT ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!"

"AYE, VICE CAPTAIN!"

A great roar was followed by the shouts of men and women.

What was once a mere cloud of black and flames lightly obscuring Aiwass's entire frame was now blotted out by a great deluge of explosions.

Cannonballs.

Bullets.

Bolts.

Elemental shells.

An entire ship's artillery was unloaded onto Aiwass's body without remorse. Even as he shielded himself with the large wingspan of his wings, he found the great pouring of violent and blunt destruction pushing him away from the target of his interest. There was little room to act as metal was stripped off, dented, cracked, and shattered under the onslaught of navel weaponry.

Aiwass was not the only one surprised by the sudden attack.

Touma and Kirara had recognized the loud commanding shout that signaled the counterattack.

"Sea Drake?" Touma mumbled.

"Nyaah?"

Both Touma and Kirara craned their necks back and saw it.

The Alcor, the flagship of The Crux. Lightly damaged but still floating off in the waters with cannons, small guns, heavy crossbows, harpoons, and whatever weaponry was at their disposal pinning down the Ruin Hunter Aiwass. The ship kept its distance from the island as its crew kept their fingers pressed down on the trigger of their weapons even as odd blasts escaped the great cloud swallowing Aiwass to attack them.

Several heavy cannons were torn off by scrapping shots. But they kept firing.

Men and women were stuck by the shock waves smashing into their ship by the blasts. But they picked themselves up and continued to feed more ammunition to their fellow crew mates.

The great and mighty Alcor's panels were cracked and broken through, further weakening it and risking it sinking into a watery grave. But the ship continued its stand in the tossing waves and fired everything at its disposal.

Touma wasn't sure what to say. Or do. Besides the cat girl still hugging him tightly, he could only watch as The Crux soon dropped off the ship and stormed the island's beach. All while another party focused on spamming the stun-locked Aiwass with heavy and small artillery fire.

It wasn't long until one of the crew reached them both. With a panicked yelp, Kirara let him go and stepped back.

Sea Drake's face was livid with anger as he caught Touma from falling back with a hand-hooked to his collar.

"You fucking idiot. What the hell did I say?! The Captain's orders are absolute! Do you want to be thrown the fuck overboard?! Huh?!"

"…?"

Delicate yet firm hands quickly seized Touma's blood-wet face, moving his stunned eyes to those of the equally furious and upset Yinxing. The scarred and weathered face of Sea Drake was basically shoved aside into the dirt as the surgeon of the sea took his place.

Even in the haze of anger, confusion, despair, and hatred, Touma couldn't help but shiver as he found a demon sneering down at him. Foul miasma trickled out of the sneering oni's cracked jaw as she crushed his face in her hands.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?! What part of you thought it was a good idea to leap overboard and fight a Ruin Machine, of all things, in your shitty condition?! Do you know how hard I worked to keep your lousy corpse stitched together? I spent a better part of an entire day closing your wounds, cleaning your filth, hands deep in your own chest drowning in blood, and even gave you CPR! All that work, all those tears! Is this seriously how you intend to repay me?! If you wanted to die an ugly death then why the fuck didn't you just say so?! I got your heart to start- I'll fucking stop it if you want me to, bitch!"

"Damn."

"It's always the quiet and sweet ones who have a temper, huh?"

"Never thought I'd hear Yinxing, of all people, curse someone out. I bet even Ningguang would drool over such a rare sight."

"Took whatever curses I was about to shout at the dumb ass right out of my mouth. Reminds me of my mother when she's pissed off."

"Hey, hey, hey! Y-Yinxing! I might not be a doctor but I don't think you should shake the guy squirting with dark red juice like he were a doll!"

"Nyaaaaaaaah! You're shaking the blood out of him, you medical oni!"

Ragdoll Touma was let go with a groan. If his vision was currently swimming from being lightheaded due to heavy blood loss and the shaking, he would have seen the pretty-faced surgeon hiss back at a frightened Kirara.

He felt queasy. And the world was twirling around him like he were in a carousel ride. The heat burning his left limb had finally died away and left behind a cold carbon-made arm. When his vision regained its stability, the heavily wounded boy found a surprise.

The members of The Crux no longer remained on the ship to simply observe the chaotic battle playing out before their eyes. Whether their beloved captain said so or not, they had gone against her orders and joined the fray. Armed with various weapons, those men and women of the high seas stood behind Touma and Kirara with the intent to throw their own bodies into beating down the enemy in front of them.

His face twisted bitterly. He looked away and stared back into the dispersing cloud of explosions erupting over the possessed Ruin Hunter.

He felt his left arm burn again.

"This isn't your fight. Stay out of my way!"

This was unlike Kamijou Touma. That wasn't what that high school boy would ever say to those who went out of their way to come to his rescue. Not in such a violent and angry tone.

But what was the point of keeping up with that fading illusion? Aiwass said it himself: Kamijou Touma didn't exist in this world. That image, that idea, that illusion, had been shattered in the destruction of his original world. So, why keep up the exhausting charade any longer?

He would do what he felt like. What he wanted. Even if it betrayed the ideals and beliefs he had treasured so dearly.

He wanted- needed- to destroy Aiwass. If the big boss didn't reward him with the return of his home, of his friends and family, why would he bother ending things with just a punch?

Like a brutally beaten dog, Touma stumbled toward Aiwass.

"The hell we will!"

Sea Drake and Yinxing pinned their hands onto Touma's shoulders. They held back the red and black-stained boy from marching off to his death.

"LET GO!" Touma snapped with blood spitting out of his red mouth.

Yinxing glared back with equal anger, her calm and worrying demeanor tossed aside as she shouted back.

"Look at yourself! Do you even know how much blood you've already lost?! The human body contains 5 liters of blood in the body on average! You've long since passed the threshold we're you're in danger of passing out! If you keep this up, not even a miracle from all the gathered Seven Archons in Teyvat will revive you!"

"We have to retreat! That monster's movements are stalled under the heavy bombardment we're raining down on it but it won't last forever! We're expending every last round we have on it and it won't be long until we're throwing out bodies into it next!"

Touma wasn't listening. Red began to bleed back into the corners of his vision as what Sea Drake said came to pass.

The Alcor's numerous cannons, small firearms, harpoons, and crossbows, let out empty clicks.

One last bullet pinged against Aiwass's beaming eye plate. The smoke and flames from the explosions died away with the flap of his long wings.

All the ammunition striking his body had stripped nearly all of its metal platting. Platinum glossed over the wounds and left the alien in a sleeker armor plating. Less and less of its being could be said to be made of metal or anything earthly. The only metal left would be its headpiece that housed its eye, acting as an out-of-place chest piece.

Aiwass stretched out his wings. Was he working out a kink? The way he flexed his talon fingers seriously pissed Touma off!

"Are you done? While a surprise, the downpour of iron and flames did little more to peel off the heavy armor and let me breathe more easily. I should thank you."

Touma clawed his left hand and felt the icy blue veins hum to life. He felt the blood vessels in his neck begin to balloon like a ready-to-pop balloon.

He would have pushed off Sea Drake and Yinxing if he hadn't been shoved back into their arms by a powerful hand.

"N-Neko-chan?!"

Kirara kept her eyes ahead of the bemused Ruin Hunter. The fair girl's hands fanned out like wings. Nails popped out to reveal sharp claws.

"Sea Drake, Yinxing- keep him back, please. Don't let him kill himself any further. I'll deal with the weird Ruin Hunter."

Touma struggled in vain against the strong arms of the second-in-command and the surgeon of the sea.

"I told you to stay out of this! Aiwass is my fucking mistake to fix! My enemy! I'm the only one who has the right to kill him!"

The back of the fashionable nekomata girl grew stiff. Even as Aiwass flapped his wings and his platinum feathers shivered in readiness for the next wave of violence.

"You smelled like you were crying. The pretty and shiny whistle I found had a nice honey scent that I thought would make you happy. And when you opened your package, those feelings of sadness melted away. The smile you wore made me happy too."

Those claws popping out of the girl's fingers grew sharper. A mossy green light was sparked from those deadly claws that were far better suited for a larger and more threatening feline. A certain accessory, an emerald stone with a unique thorn-designed heart began to emit a strong light.

"Humans always wear the strangest faces. Try as hard as you might, you can't hide the sadness in your eyes behind a smile you can't even keep up. I thought a present would help you feel better. And I liked the face smile you wore. The face you're making right now...I don't like it. Why do you look more like those old scary yokai than a legitimate yokai like me?"

The tar black roots, shining with a wicked icy blue, crackled and froze from further traveling up his neck.

"Now that won't do. Not when we were so close to witnessing an interesting evolution."

Platinum feathers shivered. The possessed Ruin Hunter's eye lit up like a blazing sun as its talon fingers clawed at thin air like an angered dog.

Visible tremors were released from the flapping monster's position and caused the sand to leap up like hot oil.

An attack was being prepared. One that could raze everything in sight with just a mere flap of the wing.

Aiwass gestured out a single sharp talon finger at the bristling-haired Kirara. Light hotter than the absent sun grew into a fine point on his finger. What would be released could be a warship mortar, a cliff-piercing laser, a bark of widespread forest fire, or a mini-sun bomb.

"Perhaps if I were to kill the extras here then it would be enough. My priestess may not be here but I could do her the smallest of kindness in granting the wish she desired. Let's see who you are when the last bits of that flimsy mask are shattered to bits."

Darkness encroached from the corner of Touma's eyes. The dreadful heat and twitching black roots came back as the singular point of death was moments from being fired.

A roar was heard.

But not from either Aiwass, Touma, or Kirara.

The roar originated from the spearing bolt of bright purple lightning punching a hole through Aiwass's center. The amperage infused into the bolt was powerful enough to mess with the remaining bits of its mechanical body's operating system and cause its limbs to spasm. The death being cast from Aiwass's finger flickered like a dying light before its finger bent back.

Buried beneath the devastating horn of lightning was a cracked claymore. Wielded by a very vengeful sea captain. She looked incredibly pissed.

"Fuck. OFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!"

With a mighty swing causing every joint in her body to crack, Beidou spun the godly puppeteer like a twirling top. The sheer force of the swing dislodged the sparking Ruin Hunter's body and kicked up a strong gale, tossing her hair and the flaps of her ruined clothing around like ribbons in a storm. Bright platinum and rusted copper blurred as the spiraling machine was sent smashing into the remains of an old ship.

There wasn't any time to catch a breath. Beidou was already motioning the wind up for a bigger and fiercer attacker. Wild lashes of purple lightning crackled from her bloody body as she heaved her broken claymore high into the night sky.

"Kazuha!"

A strange-colored wind came to life around her as the wild lightning building up in her body blew up into a bright beacon. Red sparks came to life inside the beacon and the fierce beacon of lightning seemed to come to life and move. The beacon molded itself into a serpent, long and bony like all its flesh had been stripped off. Red sparks made its eyes and its narrow mouth cracked open wide and chomped at the whipping winds fueling its amperage further. The phantom visage became more defined, more detailed, and far fiercer than its pale twin copies before.

The illusion of Haishan twisted about its conqueror.

Beidou grinned as she swung her blade down, gesturing the broken tip forward like it were a cannon barrel. Meaning it was time to finish loading the 'shell' and blast the fucker away.

It roared.

The ghost of the wicked leviathan rushed forward toward its new prey. With the addition of the autumn winds, it shot forward faster than even a mortar shell. True as lightning, it struck before there was time for the dazed machine to even twitch a finger.

Aiwass could see the overwhelming and searing flash of vengeful lightning snapping at him before he was speared through again. The very center of its metal body was gored by an even greater horn of lightning on par with a certain Railgun's infamous attack. If its body could actually feel anything, it would have suffered the agony of the slithering serpent rushing through the gored hole and continue running through.

It didn't stop there. The spearing serpent cannon kept flying like a continuous beam of energy. The remnants of an old sea-faring sea vessel Aiwass had crashed into were incinerated. An orange glow of sheer heat began to melt the sand around it into glass and even seared whatever boulders were close by. Stray sparks and cutting wind followed to continue beating at its mechanical body as the serpent continued spearing straight and through his chest.

Until the spearing serpent cannon reached far into the sea of Liyue Harbor and clamped its jaws shut with a boom. With a blink of its sparking red eyes, the phantom of a legendary beast began to fade away.

The Ruin Hunter let out a metallic clack. Its limbs didn't even twitch. It simply floated in the air with its dimming wings molting, the large gaping hole at its center hissing and drizzling odd fuel-like precious bodily fluids. The platinum armor it had replaced its broken body parts with cracked and crumbled into iotas of light. Its cyclops eye flickered like fluorescent light as it levitated in the center of the gored hole. And died.

With a groan, its body collapsed into the sand.

[-]

Touma's mouth was dry. He tasted an ugly mush of blood and dirt inside his hot mouth. Sweat swam down his aching body like he were a giant mass of bruises and broken bones. Yet no matter how much pain he was in, he couldn't feel it. Maybe it was shock or all the signals to his brain telling of damage had just gone mute.

Despite the agony, he took a step forward.

His darkened eyes only saw the metal husk of a broken machine.

The wicked icy veins and obsidian roots crawled along his skin like snakes slithering through a bed of leaves. By now, an odd criss-cross of wavy lines could be seen as far as his cheek and tickled his left eye.

'It's not over. It's never that easy!'

Like an old weathered and seasoned veteran soldier, Touma had to make sure his enemy was truly down.

From his left hand, a brilliant light gleamed. Something pointed pierced out his numb palm and slid out like a pocket knife.

It was a spine of pure carbon matter, thin as the rib of a small animal and sharper than the finest blade. The point of the spine gleamed with a wicked light as it caught a hint of moonlight on its diamond surface. Safe to say, it wasn't any ordinary spine or even held the functions of a mere knife.

This was magic. The complete opposite of an Espers Personal Reality and devoid of AIM. It was a power he had only wielded before because of the guidance of someone truly kind.

Blood spurted out from his right ear drum.

He had no idea what he was doing. How he was doing it. All he knew was that he wanted the amused and smirking secret boss dead.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

The spin sprouting out of St. Germain's left palm glinted dangerously. A bead of rich crimson slid out of the deadly pencil tip as it was swung out like a sickle.

With heavy steps, staggered over to the downed machine, his darkened eyes focused completely on the broken machine's center.

One stab. All it would take was a stab! Maybe another. And another. And another! AND ANOTHER!

It didn't matter what the effect of the spine could do! So long as it killed and scattered the remains of his enemy into the fucking new world winds!

Touma's left hand clawed at the air, the spine growing out of his palm gleaming bright as a star as blood splashed out from his raised hand and-!

"Enough!"

The ready-to-stab spine was stopped. A powerful hand latched onto Touma's wrist and caught him before he could stab down.

Stab down into the empty husk of a machine.

Pupils shrunken into dots, the wild and bloody boy swung his head to glare into the stern face of the equally wounded and bloody Beidou.

"Let go."

It was a whisper. Or perhaps a curse. He had to have looked ghastly to earn a slight flinch from the tough woman of the seas.

Beidou refused to budge. She fought the hand struggling to break free and stab down the strange spine of clear stone into the Ruin Hunter.

"It's done. The Ruin Hunter, or whatever it was, is beaten. It can't move, let alone speak anymore. It's an ancient machine that was left to rust away, so let it be."

"You're right; it's a machine. A pile of metal, gears, joints, and plates, stuffed with wire, oil, and electricity! It's not alive! So, why are you stopping me?!"

"Because you're trying to kill it like it were alive."

"So?"

Beidou glared at the murderous expression twisting the shaggy boy's face.

And swiftly punched it.

"GAH!"

With a crinkle, the spine of death in Touma's palm shattered.

The direct knuckle bash into the center of his face was enough for his vision to darken. He legitimately blacked out for a second. Had he not caught himself just at the last second as his mind rebooted, he would have crashed into the cinders of the old ship.

Touma held his swollen face with a grimace. Holy shit, his was nose broken- wasn't it?

Bit by bit, he felt the numerous aches and wounds on his body cry out. He suddenly felt sick and soon retched. With an ugly wet splat, he vomited off to the side. Very violently.

Over the sounds of his vomit, he heard the stern-faced captain let out a deep sigh.

"There. Was that enough to knock those loose screws of yours back into place? If not, I got another one chambered and ready to go."

Touma panted deeply while leaning on his quivering knees. He sucked in as much air as he could and coughed as his now hoarse throat burned like the rest of his body. And once he regained his breath, and cleaned the vomit from his cracked lips, the shaggy boy hanged his head.

From his dirty and bloody lips, shaken words fell out.

"...It's his fault. I...I lost everything- BECAUSE OF HIM! Because he wanted a fucking show! Just like always, just like always, just like always! Because of bastards like him- because of him! T-They're all gone. My world...my friends and family...it's gone."

Touma hanged his head lower. His black and red stained body was trembling as it appeared ready to sink into his own shadow.

"I'm tired...so tired. If I had only fought like that back then...maybe…"

The crawling icy veins and obsidian roots did not pause in their crawl. One had to wonder what was happening beneath his tattered clothing. And inside his body.

"What is there to even lose? I want to kill him- what's stopping me anymore?"

Another sigh was heard. He heard footsteps approaching but he only sunk deeper over his knees. His wilted hair was like a curtain draping over his eyes. Empty eyes sought only the cool shadow stretching out from his feet.

A powerful hand grabbed the back of his neck. And with no regard for his already battered body, the hand roughly pulled him up on his feet and spun him around.

"Nothing left to lose, huh? Doesn't seem that way to me, dumb ass."

But not towards her for another nose-breaking punch.

The miserable-faced boy faced the crew of The Crux standing back at the sandy back of the shore. He found worried, anxious, and frowning faces meeting his own. He could see Sea Drake's disapproving frown as he crossed his arms over his chest. He could see Yinxing being held back from running over, her face a mixture of anger and worry for his state. He could see little Yue being shielded from his ghastly form as if they were protecting the younger child from a scary beast. He could see the passionate ship cook, Haidao, flinching back but nodding his head sternly at him.

And…

"Kamijou-nyaa…."

Touma fell silent. His straining muscles and crying joints locked up as he caught the cat girl's brilliant green eyes from a glance. The moistness in those orbs was like a wrench jamming into the gears of his noisy body. The growing heat crawling through his veins(or were it the black roots originating from his left arm?)began to sizzle.

That was all it ever took. Something so simple and easy to produce was all it ever took to quell the raging bonfire of malice sparked by whatever misery and tragedy was powerful enough to corrupt him to this point.

When he found someone staring at him with tears in their eyes and a face ready to crumble, not even his own pain and grief mattered anymore.

A wretched, ugly, sound croaked from Touma's throat. He felt his own eyes growing hot as he clenched his fists.

Without further delay, Imagine Breaker was slapped onto his throbbing left arm- to his wrist.

Something was negated.

Deep within his body, the crawling veins and roots originating from what was supposed to be a kind gift were smashed to pieces. Bit by bit, the visible markers began to recede until all that remained was the permanent black and icy blue of St. Germain's arm.

Like a heavily drunk barfly, Touma began to sway on his feet. He didn't have the power to catch himself this time.

Beidou was quick to catch him. Despite how much it hurt, she hefted the heavy boy over one of her bruised shoulders. Slowly, the stern expression on her face melted away. She wore a small smile on her face as she watched the strange obsidian roots stretching over Touma's face slink away.

Idly, she noticed another strange thing occur.

The shadow stretching from the shaggy boy's feet twitched and never twitched again.

Pep talks weren't really her thing. Especially when dealing with people who were stuck in a terribly depressive mood and were painted in red and black stains. Despite how much praise her crew gave her, Beidou wasn't exactly a great talker. She was a woman of action, after all. She was for the simple things.

So, she wouldn't change. She would keep it simple and true.

"I don't know what you went through, or why you're so familiar with whatever was going on with that Ruin Hunter. But don't think that any of us is going to sit back and watch as you kill yourself. I may not know much about you, at all, but that face you were wearing doesn't suit you. I don't care if that thing is a machine- I won't let you kill even a puppet with such an ugly face. Whatever you have left that makes you-you...it won't survive."

Even if it were justified, she would not allow it.

Beidou would stop the boy known as Kamijou Touma from ever enacting the action of killing, so long as she breathed.

Where the rule came from, she didn't know. Perhaps it was merely something that had been found as she stared into those shrunken pupils shivering with hatred and anger.

She patted the trembling boy's cheek softly.

"You're part of the crew, Kamijou. And I'll die before I allow one of my mates to crumble into such a worthless murderer."

"Interesting! Care to test that belief?!"

"SHIT!"

Beidou spat out a curse as a voice spoke up from behind. She felt an intense pressure rushing at her back. But due to the heavy weight of the weak boy on her left shoulder, she wouldn't be able to properly react in her current state. Seeing no other options, she chose the one that would save the miserable boy.

Muscles bulging, Beidou was ready to toss Touma aside and take the hit.

Until the cool breeze of a silent crew mate eased her panic.

In a burst of incredible speed, Kazuha slipped past Beidou and Touma and intercepted the spearing molten wing with his katana.

Metal creaked but his blade held firm in holding back the weakened stabbing wing.

Just like Beidou and Touma, his body was bloodied. A good half of his kimono was burned off, so his pale, bruised skin could be seen. And like his captain, his hair was undone. Even still, the young man held his ground and fought against the eager wingtip's desire to spear through.

Kazuha had stayed quiet. Other than adding a boost of Anemo to his captain for her finishing move, he had stayed hidden from everyone else and not said a word. He stuck to the backdrop, eyes never leaving the form of the Ruin Hunter even as it had been defeated. He had never let go of the grip of his katana and never allowed his muscles to ease up.

It was faint. The smell of something not of this world still lingered from the empty metal shell. Like an ember still eager to burn up in a forest fire.

When that ember flickered, the samurai acted swiftly.

With a swirl of Anemo along the creaking steel, Kazuha batted aside the wing tip. The following warding slash clipped several of those molting wings and even forced it to retreat.

The small exchange was very telling. His normal attacks could only nick it before.

With everyone alert again, all eyes were turned back to the broken machine.

The Ruin Hunter floated on ruined and molting wings better fit for a diseased pigeon. Its gored chest/head was leaking fluid and strands of platinum energy. The energy could be found running out from its shoulders, weaving about to slowly form its arms at a snail's pace. Its halo spun lazily and appeared askew.

Whatever was responsible for its evolution, its power was waning. It was likely running on its last legs.

Aiwass spoke from its broken puppet.

"I wonder if this is how Aleister felt? Failure was not uncommon for that human but it is a new concept for a being such as I. Even when I supposedly 'lose' my goal is still achieved. Yet it seems those sparks affect a being such as I all the same- delightful."

Kazuha's blade was at the ready. He faced his opponent with a practiced stance.

"Begone, foul contraption. You are at your last breath- leave or be vanquished."

The Ruin Hunter's body tilted to the side.

"I'm not sure if I care for humans like you. You've spoiled my little experiment and cost me a once-in-a-lifetime experience. As did the rest of you humans. Now, I'm not even sure what to do with myself in this dying vessel."

His words were casual like he was sitting on the couch, contemplating what to order over the phone. Yet he still rose one of his molting wings up and spread it out like a sword.

"I suppose I should clear the board. And try again. Perhaps the next stage will yield better results."

With a flap of his wilting wing, Aiwass unleashed sweeping death upon the island.

Or, should have, if not for the kitty-shaped parcels flung into the extended wing.

"Oh."

Aiwass blinked as those abnormal bombs detonated just before he could complete the motion. In even the most basic of spells, motions were vital. If even one step was skipped, the ritual or spell would fail. Even the trigger involving a snap would not activate if the snap went unheard or slipped at the last second.

Forest green blasts tore at the already weakened wing and snapped it off like a broken twig.

Because of this machine's lack of the element, it had no defenses in place for the element. Such a simple mistake left a crack in his all-powerful defenses. One even an amateur could abuse once spotted.

Sharp claws followed next. With impressive speed, the feline girl, who was a considerable distance away, leaped in and swiped at his face. Dendro was spied running along those nails, allowing the girl to tear into his armor.

Five tearing moss-green lines threatened to dice its body apart. Its eye, its core, was torn into.

"Get lost, you creepy puppet! Nyaaaaaaa!"

Without arms, Aiwass found his body being pushed back by the fever of slashes from the very angry cat girl. He was further pummeled by the samurai boy rushing in to add his slashes to the mix.

One-winged Angel Aiwass was struggling. The most he could do with just a single molting wing was brush a few attacks aside and fire a few weak blasts amid the storm of claws and sword strikes. It was racking up damage at an alarming rate as those two agile warriors weaved between the blasts and mixed in their attacks.

Kitty-shaped parcel bombs were carried by sweeping winds to explode into his armor.

An odd green bubble-like shield popped up around the samurai boy to protect him from a direct blast to the chest.

A wind-infused blade, twisting with a twister-like force, stabbed into the speared chest cavity of the Ruin Machine. The air itself was shredded by a churning gale blasting the deadly war weapon away like it was shot out of a cannon.

And…

"Is that its heart?"

Kirara clutched onto one of her Dendro parcels.

As the Ruin Hunter struggled to stay afloat after receiving such an attack, she spotted something pulsing from its body. From the strands of platinum leaking out, she found a pulsing light at the center that acted like an eye.

It began to visibly beat. Like a heart.

Kazuha skipped back, skidding on his feet to stand beside her with his katana sheathed and ready. With it pointed out, he narrowed his eyes carefully and saw it too.

"Perhaps that is what is granting it such an alien energy. The strands of light attempting to repair the damage originate from that pulsing core. Does it function as either its battery, heart, or brain? Whatever it be, it stands to say that the elimination of such a vital key would put an end to this confrontation."

Aiwass's broken body trembled- was it chuckling? Even at its final breath, it was still ever amused and excited by the world.

Dread entered Kazuha's heart. He felt a chilling prickle along his skin similar to goosebumps as he watched the core of the mechanical war machine rapidly blink. To him, it was similar to a countdown to a bomb. From the cracks and holes of the battered metal machine's armor, light seeped out like hissing steam.

The Ruin Hunter spread its arms wide and gestured its damaged eye up to the dark night sky. Its image gave one the idea that it was eyeing the heavens above with a prayer in its heart.

A great pressure threatened to crush the small world they all stood upon. Space began to distort and gave off heat wave-like distortions. Bits of sand, stone, shards of crystal, and glass, arose due to the increase of pressure distorting the space.

The blinking core gave off a brilliant shine far greater than the sun's rays. Creaking could be heard from the intense marble.

Aiwass gestured his molting wing towards the marble of flashing light that acted as his heart, his cyclops eye crinkling.

"My weakness? Yes, I suppose you could say so. What you see is what is me. Go on, crack it. Break it. But a fair warning; it's unstable. And ready to detonate. Oh, I wonder what kind of mayhem will be unleashed? I dare say it may vaporize this entire island and tear off the shipping docks of- what was the city called- Liyue Harbor."

Both Kazuha and Kirara tensed up as strange runes were scattered above the Ruin Hunter like stars. Their enemy had effectively turned themselves into an armed bomb with a very itchy trigger finger.

"I will not hold back any longer. If this body is to break down, why not let it give out with one final scream?"

Blazing platinum light streaked from the runes above Aiwass to decimate the sweating fighters. Widespread death was focused on burning them alive.

The streaking lights were swept aside by a single right-hand swing. Like glass, the broken fragments of overwhelming magic struck out to the nearby streaks close by and caused them to detonate before they could hit anyone else.

Blood swam down his entire body like sweat and yet, Touma had moved in the way of the deadly attack without hesitation.

"Kamijou!"

"Kamijou-nya!"

Touma's eyes were madly twitching. His vision was flickering. His throat was clogged up with bile and blood, and his chest felt like it was packed in tight with water. Most likely, his organs were a mess too. It was a wonder his bones hadn't crumbled.

Even so, the dead-on-his-feet boy swiped his right hand out and made a fist.

"Not...not...a-again…"

He wobbled on his feet. Standing was taking everything his body could do other than breathing which was already a struggle. And though all of his senses were beginning to fail, he could still make out the rapid footsteps of someone running over to him.

Was someone grabbing his wet shoulder?

"Dumb ass! What do you think you're doing in your condition? Stand back and let us handle this! We're not the ones who need to be protected!"

Ah, Beidou. Touma smiled lightly. He liked Beidou.

He liked everyone on the Alcor. They...they were nice.

A warboat blast of bizarre energy, shaped like a cannonball, was fired by the readying to detonate Ruin Machine. Was it just firing off excess energy its body couldn't contain without blowing up prematurely?

With scary ease, Touma slapped the devastating attack aside, shattering it to bits, like it were some kind of lame joke. If he could properly see, he would have found wide eyes on him.

Sadly, that was just about it. His right hand gave out and fell to his side, his fingers twitching like the legs of a crushed roach. At any moment, the rest of his stubborn body would follow suit. He could already feel the dreadful hyper-focus of his slowly beating heart.

Which meant he only had one more shot.

Dry lips caked in black and red moved.

"Help me…"

Lonely Kamijou Touma, who sought to confront disaster and cruelty all by his lonesome, called out to those warriors who had saved his heart moments ago. The dying beast cried out to those he had rejected, just so he could soak in the mad rage of grief for some bit of satisfaction and not feel crushing sorrow. Tall as he stood, he was tattered, wet with black and red, trembling, and merely standing because his muscles were locking up and someone was supporting him.

He couldn't defeat Aiwass in this state. Right hand? Left hand? Neither one would push him across the finish line. It was only thanks to the benevolent soul that was St. Germain that the use of both his hands had been just enough to match Anna Sprengel in his original world. Without that soul guiding his hand, he had been lost to the corrupting black vines and icy blue veins devouring both his body and sanity.

The final blow would not come if he were to continue like this. He would truly perish.

So!

SO!

With great force, he clenched his teeth and stopped his right hand's fingers from twitching.

And swiftly threw it out, clawed hand pressed flatly out like a board, and shattered a giant blast heading for those behind his back.

"Please, help me take down Aiwass! I can't fight him on my own! I can't protect anyone on my own! So, please, push this shitty bastard to the finish line! I beg you! I don't want to lose anyone ever again because of my fucking mistakes!"

He cried.

Tears swam down to clean the ugly red caking his desperate face.

Stray shots of unstable platinum energy rained down upon the beach. Explosions blew up and kicked up sand, took out chunks from the mountains nearby, swept fire across the greenery, and changed the landscape in the ensuing blasts. Blinding light all but consumed their vision in the rain of bizarre light.

Yet those of the Alcor could still see the trembling silhouette of a beaten young man shielding them from a great deal of those incoming lights. Explosive force bombarded his body as he kept his hand out to block the attacks, each hit striking his destroyed right hand causing his body to jerk and creak like a wooden beam about to give out.

What was there to say?

Was there a need for words right now?

Touma grunted deeply as he felt a powerful burst slam into his right palm. It wasn't breaking? Just how much power was leaking out in each individual blast now?! Faint cracks could be seen in the light's shell but it wouldn't be enough.

His right arm was thrown back and the giant blinding light barreled straight in-

"OOOOOORRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Lances.

Spears.

Swords.

Scimitars.

Large shields.

A wall of steel and wood rammed into that devastating blast before it could make another inch into Touma's personal bubble. The men and women of the Alcor had let out a war cry and rushed straight in to save him. The cracks in its shell let out a snap.

And erupted.

Waves of hot platinum light washed over the scenery. Sand was scorched and wind howled.

When the crashing light died down, an emerald hue shined out like a protective curtain. It blinked, dying away in a pop. Not a hair on those heavily panting warriors had been singed.

"Paaaaaaaah...haaa….haaaaaaahahaaaa!"

Kirara leaned down against her buckling knees as she gasped for air. Had she been responsible for the crew's safety with that green energy? It must have taken a lot out of her to hold back against all that force.

The same went with those who had come to Touma's rescue. Even the burliest of the Alcor was down to one knee and struggling to catch their breath. They had no idea how fortunate they were to have come out alive or even meet against Aiwass's attacks. Had it not been for Imagine Breaker causing the start of its destruction, they may not have been so lucky.

Another beam of energy was fired, slicing dangerously close to the crew of the Alcor. Like a giant's knife, it carved through the sand and continued out to sea. Like the others following close behind.

This couldn't continue any longer. If so much as a minute continued with all this mayhem raining down and cutting through the island, there may not even be an island left.

The hand supporting Touma's shoulder dug into his bloody shirt.

"Can you stop that thing?"

Touma grinned, his shaggy-haired tousled by translucent emerald winds kicking up and a burst of fierce purple lightning branches.

"You guys put your lives on the line to save me. Let me return the favor! One punch, and we can put all this behind us!"

A straight line of obliterating bizarre yet holy light raced forward to those humans. Like a great lance being delivered by a mighty god, it tore across the sands and let out an inhuman screech. Had Aiwass grown sick of standing around and decided to charge ahead like a ready-to-detonate nuclear bomb?

It would annihilate Touma. Imagine Breaker could deal with the unstable supernatural power but in his current shape, the smashing force of what amounted to an underground city train meeting his hand would kill him before he could touch the core of that being. It was simply far too great to break with one touch.

Even though he was struggling to lift his right arm, someone took hold of his forearm and pressed his trembling back against their firm chest. Glossy red fingers were spread wide and faced the blinding holy guardian angel's death charge.

Inazuma steel was swung out just before the tip of that attack could crash into Touma's palm. Turbulent winds whipped out from Kazuha's body, grew still, and were condensed into the shining steel to bind the deadly force of a twister into the blade. Anemo-infused steel let out an odd sound like shrieking birds crying out in alarm and caused an explosion of kinetic energy to erupt.

Kazuha found blood spurting out of his clenched teeth. He dug his feet in deep and refused to budge.

Something shined on his person. Another light blinked and the faintest slither of lightning raced along his arm and into the blade of his sword to deepen the autumn winds.

The struggle of bizarre power and autumn winds was enough.

A bloody right hand rushed out and clenched around the great lancing light. Even as a great deal of force dug into his body, tore apart his clothing, and threatened to send him flying, he stood his ground. All because of the strong captain grounding him and splitting the toll of damage with a fierce grin on her face. Even as a minute passed and time moved on, his fingers refused to slip and only dug deeper into the splintering great lance of pure energy.

With a thundering crack, the detonating platinum force broke apart like glass. And a swirling, faintly sparking Inazuma steel blade sang as it slipped through the shattered power and speared through the core of a bizarre machine.

[-]

Broken, oil bleeding and sparking, metal fell to the crackling fire-spotted sands. At the center of the Ruin Hunter's mangled body was a weakly blinking marble of intense light. Almost as if someone had plucked a tiny piece of the blazing sun and buried it into the robot's body like it were a treasure chest. A gaping hole could be seen in the marble's body that left it gasping.

There were no more lights. No more widespread destruction. Nothing else stirred from the automaton. It had returned to being nothing more than a piece of forgotten technology not even worth scrapping.

That should have been it then. The adventurers of The Alcore collectively relaxed their aching muscles and let out long sighs. A few fell back on their rears and others nearly passed out. Broken weapons were dropped as their great enemy did not rise again.

Only Beidou, Kazuha, and Touma kept their fists clenched. Their eyes were locked at the bulb of pierced light in the broken chest of the Ruin Hunter.

Bits and pieces of its power source floated in the middle of the open hole created by Beidou's claymore like asteroids in space. Threads could be seen attempting to close up its stab wound inflicted by Kazuha's katana. Even though it was broken, it was still alive with a weakly beating pulse of light.

It hadn't lost. Not yet. Already, they could make out thin threads pop out of each broken bit like a surgical string in order to put it back together.

"Kamijou?"

"Kamijou-san?"

The battered and bloody dark shaggy-haired boy walked forward. He said no words as he stumbled towards that wheezing core.

Touma smiled tiredly.

That was fine. So what if it could repair itself and regain its health back to one hundred percent? What did it matter that it cheated its way into victory with magic they couldn't understand?

An opening was an opening. Unless it could instantaneously recover without even needing to snap their fingers then it didn't matter.

Touma only needed to land one hit at its exposed core to win. Whatever supernatural bullshit it had hidden up its sleeve could eat shit.

Beidou, Kazuha, Kirara, and everyone on the Alcor had lent him their shoulders to make it to the final stretch. From here on, he would make those final steps himself. He had to be the one to close the final page with his hand and prevent any more harm from spreading further.

He nearly fell but caught himself as he made it to the broken heap of smoking metal. He steadied his stiff right arm, forced the weary and beaten nerves to listen to his command, and opened the filthy hand to stretch out his bloody fingers for the final move.

The bulb of platinum-hot light gave off a visible beat reminiscent of a flesh and blood organ.

"Haaa, it seems my time is up. What a fascinating experience. Is this what those foolish grandstanding battle battle-lusting Magic Gods were always seeking? Perhaps I've gained some understanding of their machinations. How different they are from my Fraulein and Aleister."

Defeated, broken, and far too unstable to do any more than speak with what power remained in its core, Aiwass spoke up brightly.

The tone, so unafraid of being snuffed out, was enough to pause Touma's hand.

Even as his vision had been consumed by sorrow and hatred, the core of his being as Kamijou Touma still held enough sway.

As if laughing at the absurdity of the hesitation he found, Aiwass's waning core jiggled.

"Is it that easy, boy? To reel back that murderous intent and cool your heart? That kindness does not belong to you; it belongs to Kamijou Touma. You were speaking so freely before, fighting so expressively, and, for once, acting on what your heart was speaking. For a moment, you were actually you rather than the memory of some shadow. Are you really reversing back into that tired old ghost?"

Lips were set in a flat and thin line.

"Why?"

"?"

"Why did you take them all away from me?"

"Do you not believe what I've told you? Fair. I suppose I concede. I lied."

Light was sparked in Touma's eyes. He felt his chest give out a powerful thumb. For a second, he felt an unimaginable warmth spreading from his now rapidly beating heart.

And then.

"Maybe. Did I lie? Or, was that just another lie? Tell me, Illusion Killer: what do you think? Was that a lie or was I just bluffing?"

Touma saw the corners of his eyes begin to darken. His left hand tensed as his blood began to boil. If it weren't for his body being far too beaten and weak from blood loss, he'd have gone into another berserker rage. He had to clench his teeth and stop himself from becoming that vicious animal again.

Especially when all those far too kind people were staring at his quivering back.

Those odd beating pulses in the Ruin Machine's chest were becoming weaker and weaker. Like a flickering flame. It was struggling to continue the fight.

So, Touma let his right hand go, the limb swinging at his side as it let go of all its tension and grew completely numb.

No more tricks. No more violence. No more loud bangs or roars.

As if reading his thoughts, Aiwass let out a sigh. As if satisfied.

"This body is broken. This vessel was rather surprising. Even if it be just a shard of my original self, not even such a machine should have been capable of containing my essence as long as it did nor utilize my magic in such interesting forms. This test run has been fascinating and has revealed to me many crucial lessons for the other iterations to awake."

Touma's once boiling blood grew incredibly cold. He forgot how to breathe as his eyes grew wide while staring at the fading platinum bulb.

"A shard...of your original self? Test run? Other iterations?"

At that moment, several strange phrases that were said by the amused angel popped up. He'd been so consumed by his grief and rage that he hadn't paid their meanings any mind. Memories. Speaking of Aiwass as if he was speaking of someone else. Bits and pieces of their conversation started to surface to paint a strange picture.

"The Aiwass you speak to is no more than a mere bit of the one you once knew. You could say I'm but a mere pale copy- just like you! Why, there are sections of my own memory that are missing. I did not lie to you, boy- the world you adore was destroyed...I think. I lack the memory of the event but Holy Guardian Aiwass is responsible for your current predicament. What he did though is a mystery to even this bit of his almighty power. All I could do as I gathered my sense of self is act on what I believed and felt rather than what Aiwass as a whole would. Those thoughts I shared with you are my own- this individual Aiwass and not the original."

The Aiwass he was fighting wasn't fully Aiwass. Just a copy gaining a sense of its own sense of self. Alike but not alike. One that wasn't even fully aware of what its true self had done as it only had some of its memories.

Such a revelation should have stumped him and even given him pause. He might have even found something to say.

Kamijou Touma's world was gone. That was all he could think of right now.

Or, perhaps, it was still there.

Yes and No.

The already exhausted Touma wasn't sure what to say or feel to such a revelation from the nonchalant alien. It was possible he was just being played with. Another deception. But which answer was the lie? What was he supposed to believe? After being toyed with on just the newborn's whim of boredom- what was he supposed to believe?!

What was he supposed to do now?!

"I am but a piece of Holy Guardian Angel Aiwass. Though I do not know of his plans, I know this is not the last time we'll see each other. My 'feathers' are spread far and wide across this new world. So, perhaps you should start there-"

"Stop fucking playing games with me and tell me the truth!"

"That is the truth. If you seek answers then do not grow despaired and rot away with such an ugly expression of uncertainty. I see you're still stuck, so how about I gift you one last gift?"

The bulb of weakly beating platinum grew incredibly bright. Its shining light pierced out like a blade and threatened to blind Touma. He hissed as he felt his cold skin get scorched.

If it were possible, Aiwass would be smiling an excited smile.

"Our time is up. My power is running out but it is not weak- I can still hurt you. Yet you are still hesitating to finish it. You won't stop asking questions I can not answer and I've grown weary of who you are now. I may as well push things along to the end."

"Aiwass."

"I will detonate my entire being. There will be no more fighting. This is not a suicide bombing; even as I erupt into pure scorching energy in the shadow of a solar flare to erase this entire small island and more, the bits and pieces of my core will come together to revive me. It may take days but I can not die so simply."

"Aiwass."

"Words will not reach me. My thoughts, my motivations, my desires, and my ambitions, are beyond even you. Our specs could never meet. Empathy and understanding will not steer my hand from razing everything into a bright hellfire."

"Aiwass!"

"I am not like you- an imitation. As I came to be in this world, as the memories of Aiwass flowed in, I veered off the course of my previous self. I became more than a copy and did as I felt with what experiences I was gifted. What I felt- those were emotions? How exhilarating. Doing as what I wanted, by my own desires rather than the desires of someone no longer here- what freedom. Surely, you must have felt it as well, boy."

Barbs far crueler than any of the wounds he had suffered thus far punctured Touma's heart.

A core that was born as blank as canvas paper but painted itself on its own newly born feelings, rather than those of its previous self seethed with violence ready to burn everything to a cinder.

"I will kill everyone. Not out of hatred, of anger, of jealousy, of duty, of justice, of evil, of madness but because: why not? Perhaps this emotion is what you would call vengeance? Or perhaps I simply desire to see the kind of face such a child would make when he once again fails to protect a single thing."

"AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

And finally…

Fingers snapped down like a mighty beast's jaw to crush the lustrous core. Like he was biting into a quivering organ, his hand engulfed the searing hot and pulsing organ-like bulb.

And crushed it.

If one were to look in Kamijou Touma's eyes at that moment, what would they find?

A parting whisper was heard as a resounding echo of breaking glass traveled across the beach.

"How lovely. Let us play again soon, Kamijou. I wonder: what will we fight for when we meet all over again?"

Serene silence fell over the once chaotic beach amid the shards of fading bright platinum flying away into the cooling night.

[-]

Pain throbbed across Beidou's body as she pushed herself off her cracked claymore. Idly, her red iris took note of the damage her favored weapon had sustained in the battle and found herself clicking her tongue in frustration. She pushed aside her hair over her left eye, noting the lack of her favorite red sash covering her damaged eye.

'Fucking hell. The frame is shot to the hell and the edges are whittled down. If I swung it down with even half my strength against a Hilichurl, I wouldn't be surprised if it came apart. I'll have to commission a new one when we dock at Liyue Harbor.'

When was the last time she had her claymore damaged this severely?

Haishan.

The legendary leviathan who had terrorized the seas as a mad lord who knew only devastation to those who crossed its path. That night- hadn't she fought tooth and nail to slay it and wound up with a broken blade unfit to even slay Slime? And that was when she lacked a Vision to give her an advantage.

She found herself staring at the broken remnants of the large Ruin Hunter. Its metal frame was now lying on the sand with black smoke bellowing from its unresponsive body. It had been hacked, slashed, dismembered, pierced, blasted, and bludgeoned from all corners. Durable as it had been, it had still fallen after it had soaked in enough damage.

Or it should have.

At the very end, she had noticed how its core, the power source of whatever was responsible for its unnatural and bizarre overwhelming strength, repairing itself even in defeat. Death meant nothing to it. Destroying its metal body wouldn't end the battle. If it lost a limb, it could simply replace it with pure energy unlike any of the seven major elements that govern the world of Teyvat. If it came down to it, and it lost its entire body, it was possible something far more frightening would take its place.

It was like fighting a living egg. One that was merely protecting something far more vicious and cruel once it lost every piece of its shell.

Her warrior's intuition had actually screamed at her to not let go of her grip. To not take a breather. To not relax. To keep her body tense and ready for an even greater fight that would threaten to bring her further and further to the precipice of demise.

In the end, all it had taken to put an end to the endless battle was for some blood-stained boy to close his hand over the intense core of a terrifying metal bastard.

Someone Beidou could easily beat into submission without the aid of her Vision had wound up not only putting an end to the fight but had even gone as far as to protect everyone aboard The Alcove.

A bold and intense orb of red bleeding into gold grew soft at the back of said boy.

Kamijou Touma, a random boy they had dragged out of the sea a shitty wreck of broken bones, open wounds, and pale to the bone, had gone out of his way to defend them. The shaggy-haired boy stood victorious over the defeated metal heap of their enemy, back straight and staring up high into the starry-lit sky. As if he was taking in the peaceful sight as he took a huge breather.

Beidou's lips curved slightly.

'Seriously- what are you? You don't have a Vision, so how could you manipulate elemental energy without it by your side? Not to mention that right hand. Is that also part of your ability? And here I thought you were just some unlucky brat. Heh, what a reckless boy.'

"Captain?"

"Hm?"

Beidou was snapped out of her musings by the exiled samurai, Kazuha. The Anemo boy wandered over to her side, his maple brown eyes carefully examining her sorry state with intense scrutiny.

She felt her loose hair tousled as someone ran past them in a hurry, the ash-blonde cat tails of said person flicking like crazy as they went to check on Touma. Beidou was surprised Kirara hadn't reverted back into her cat form with how exhausted the nekomata was.

Just like herself, Kazuha was beaten and bruised. Even his hair had come undone and flowed down the nape of his neck as the cool night air brushed against them.

It was nice. Refreshing. A pleasant sensation she could only enjoy after the battle's end.

"Wipe that worried expression off your mug. If you're thinking I'm going to need some serious attention from our worry-wart of a surgeon, you're dead wrong. If you need proof then come over here and I'll knock you off your feet with one hand."

"You're muscles are quivering like jelly." Came the dry response.

"With excitement."

"You're starting to lean onto your claymore."

"I'm simply inspecting it for any further damage before having it repaired."

"Your clothes are nearly torn to shreds. Some of the crew are blushing like school girls."

"I'm trying to raise their morale! What's a little skin between family anyway?"

Kazuha breathed through his nose and resisted the urge to pinch his brow. Meaning she had won.

Sensing the rest of her crew approach, Beidou turned back to the dark shaggy-haired boy who continued staring up at the starry night sky. Her brow creased in a worry line as she watched Kirara speak to the boy.

No motion.

After Kamijou Touma had crushed the core of the Ruin Machine with his right hand, he hadn't moved at all. Standing still, he only let his arm drop to his side. Even though Kirara was right in front of him, her voice reaching over to her in bits, the odd boy didn't move. She could even see the nekomata's face begin to twist.

"Kazuha, check on Kamijou. Forget about me and make sure that dumb-ass hasn't kicked the bucket before I knock him around for stepping into my fight without my consent."

Kazuha nodded and left the wounded captain without another word.

When he arrived at Touma's location and checked on him, he found himself cursing loudly. A loud gasp was heard from Kirara as the girl moved the unresponsive boy's face closer to her own.

"Yinxing! We need immediate medical assistance now!"

Dread pierced straight through Beidou's chest.

"He's not breathing!"

Celebrations came to an abrupt end as the members of The Crux rushed towards the unresponsive boy whose vacant eyes were on the verge of once again fading away.

[-]

In a place that did not exist, a gleam reminiscent of diamonds pushed back the pitch-black abyss.

"To think we would speak this soon before I expired. Honestly, Esper, have you no thought to your own happiness?"

Once more, an old man would have to take a seat with a naive and reckless child who was far too accustomed to bloodshed and misery than he should.

"At the very least, we can properly grant you a goodbye. Let's make this final meeting a pleasant send-off, my friend."

---

The loss of all that make's one fortunate will drive any man into befalling into a snarling beast of slaughter.

You are no different. Since when were you ever a saint? When has your heart ever been devoid of any black?

There is nothing to ease the pain. You are alone. The sole survivor of fickle judgment.

It's not over. The Final Enemy remains. Purpose and meaning have been given form for you to break- perhaps even find peace.

What will you do now, adventurer? Can you even see the light from the abyss to gather the hope to begin crawling out?

And that's a wrap here! Man, what an action-packed chappy to digest, huh?

Since the beginning of the first chapter, I've been building up this sense of despair and fatigue in Touma. All so I can compound all those emotions and let them rip here to fuel the big confrontation with Aiwass. Or, at least, a sentient copy of Aiwass.

Throughout these first two chapters, there's always been this budding sense of loss at the core of Touma's actions. As said before, this instance where Touma had previously battled an overpowered foe was different: he lost. Prematurely actually, as it was Aiwass, who was hinted at from the bits of what he could remember, who interrupted his final cross-counter with Anna Sprengel to clear the playing board before a clear winner could be decided. Having lost, devastatingly, and waking up with nothing but agony and regret, has left him struggling to maintain that mask of 'Kamijou Touma' that's he so accustomed to. Something other than the emotions and heart pulls of his original self has begun to surface; to which Aiwass excitedly points out throughout their fight.

At the sight of Aiwass, who he clearly remembers being the sole reason he found himself in another world, he just snaps. Once he's protected Beidou and Kazuha, he emotionally collapses. And he falls into a deadly thought process that isn't too unlike what he's typically used to under normal circumstances.

Fight. The origin of all his troubles, all the disaster, all the pain, all the suffering, is standing right there. Everything will return to normal if he smashes apart the lie infecting his surroundings with misfortune. All that matters is destroying the obstacle gleefully gloating their machinations in his face.

The grief and anger of it all lead to a visage and savage fighting style with St. Germain's magic being abused to inflict pain. As it's still magic, every spell leads to the same result: damage. As to how someone with supposed 'zero' knowledge to how to perform magic can do so, especially when he's not even thinking clearly, can do so; it'll be explained down the line.

I just love how further and further he fights, he begins devolving into a beast. To the point, he goes as far as wanting to kill and nearly does so. I just can't help but find it fun to write such an interesting development with such a normally empathetic character- am I fucking sadist?!

This is where I found it important to have The Crux, Beidou, Kazuha, and (surprise!) Kirara being present during it is all important. If not for the kindness of strangers, it is very likely something bizarre and irreparable would have happened to Touma in both mind and body. A Touma left alone is a ticking time bomb.

Were it not for Beidou interfering at the last second as Touma was ready to(in his mind) kill his enemy, just feel some sense of relief and satisfaction, it would have been the start of the real collapse of his empathetic heart.

Of course, being Vision holders, I didn't want Beidou, Kazuha, or Kirara to come off as weak. Even though they were up against a Hidden Last Level Boss in terms of raw power, I wanted them to get their licks in and deal enough damage. Hell, Beidou is(lore wise) a fucking beast- without a Vision, she basically beat down a legendary leviathan with nothing more than her crew and a measly greatsword sans supernatural power. Plus we had the members of The Crux throw their own hands into the mix to help wear down Aiwass's possessed body. Really, it was the efforts of everyone that helped to bring Aiwass's health down to the point Touma could deal the last blow.

Ah, but that wasn't Aiwass 'Aiwass', huh? Just a mere bit, a feather, of the Guardian of The Abyss that fell upon the world and landed on a Ruin Hunter. One that isn't even sure whether the ToAru world was actually obliterated or separated into another Phase or something. Meaning the answer to that all-important question is still up in the air.

The 'Final Enemy' was defeated but all that remains is more questions. Which will surely only harm Touma's already battered emotions. With the knowledge that Aiwass is still out there in the world, what will he do next?

Oh? And it seems we still have a little present left from our good old buddy, St. Germain.

Next chapter is where we finally see the rails of this journey being plotted down- To Liyue! The journey's about to begin for our misfortunate traveler in the world of Teyvat!

Until then!

Read and Review. It's common courtesy.

NeoShadows fading in and out.

P a treon . com( slash) NeoShadows.