Slowly, the mist dispersed as steps were taken amidst the debris of the resulting shock and Cinder could barely notice these changes, too busy vomiting blood as she merely tried to move. Not only that, she could feel her bones crunching within her flesh with excruciating pain throughout most of her body and she could only wonder how things had come to this.
No more than a minute ago, she was delighting in having found a Maiden; found another part of the power promised to her. Only... that couldn't be a woman or even human. No, all that negativity was something that not even that present in the decaying kingdom of Salem could remotely compare to, much less come from some unknown Grimm.
Cinder literally came face to face with some kind of extremely dark divine entity, something absurd like Death or... the God of Darkness.
Just thinking about that possibility made all the willpower built up to oppose this thing seem laughable, even more so after being hit by an invisible force equivalent to a freight train and making her go through more building walls than she could count. Then, as if the situation wasn't bad enough, in addition to her Aura being broken, the body of someone familiar hit her shortly afterward to send her into an open area and there she remained amidst the rubble unable to move.
The pain was so great that she wasn't sure what wasn't broken.
Then, being out of range of the mist, Cinder could see with her blurred vision that ominous red and purple glow amidst the darkness, and unfortunately hear the slow footsteps of something approaching slowly through the trail of the resulting destruction.
With each second, she could feel that inhuman thing coming closer, as well as the end of everything.
Such a realization made her forget about her previously gained courage, her desire to oppose the past recreated in the present or to obtain the power she desired above all else because simply none of that was more important than her life.
If she were dead, nothing she went through and did during her life would have any meaning.
Cinder would die in a matter of seconds if she didn't do something, and her shaken mind was screaming louder than the pain of her injuries for her to run away!
With such a fact defined and accepted to the point of near desperation, she managed to get her broken arms to get the one-off her, who turned out to be someone familiar, but who she couldn't care less about. Moving her feet next, Cinder felt a pinch of relief amidst this sea of death that her spine wasn't broken... yet.
Without stopping or realizing that she was unable to stand, Cinder began to crawl and even cough up blood once again, but ignored it, even though she knew there was possibly serious internal damage and maybe even some bleeding, all for the purpose of escaping the situation that her thirst for power had led her to.
Light emerged through the broken concrete and a glimmer of hope shone next to something normally repudiated, believing that perhaps she could get help and survive!
However, as usual, reality tended to be disappointing.
Her body froze in place, much like the other times, only this time there were no illusions of swords piercing her and the fear present wasn't the result of some outside ability or influence, no...she was genuinely scared and with reason.
Cinder was unable to do more than merely shed tears like a helpless child at the realization that this was the end, to be torn from the much-hated light that represented salvation to return to the hitherto beloved darkness of doom and fall into the literal hand of death.
Before her, there was only that red and purple in patterns never seen before, and her mind wandered away without even being able to see the face of this thing, wondering if it even had a face, before there was nothing left but pain and suffering.
Sasuke had this woman by the throat, the second in the same day, and similar to Yang, he didn't even have a positive feeling for her either. No, he might even hate her for interfering at such an inopportune moment and making him go against his will.
Her almost broken state was proof of that.
After using one of the Rinnegan abilities that he was almost unaware of unconsciously to repel and then attract, it was time to test the last incognito that had been a hindrance since he had arrived in this world.
His left eye glowed in its unique color and this time there was no failure, efficiently putting this woman under a Genjutsu to the point where her eyes changed and took on the same pattern as his Rinnegan.
If even this didn't work, Sasuke would begin to doubt himself and all the legend formed around such a divine eye, capable of containing even the strongest Genjutsu in existence, projected on the moon to affect an entire planet.
Still, something wasn't right... although she was under his control, this woman was clearly suffering from something beyond her wounds.
This reaction is similar to that man, Sasuke pondered and focused on the bandit not far from there, who by some miracle was still alive, to begin to understand what was happening. Hmm, I see. The reason was almost imperceptible, but it was enough to explain why his Genjutsu had previously failed. No one can consciously use all they Chakra, or Aura in this case, without extinguishing its own life.
Inside the body of that man, or even this woman, it was possible to see the residue of spiritual energy trying to fight against Chakra in a manner very similar to an immune system facing a foreign virus, and the resulting pain was a symptom of the losing battle.
The Chakra provided by the Mangekyou was absurdly powerful, especially after Sasuke had his powers reinforced by the Sage of the Six Paths, so it was practically lethal in this scenario, and one could see that man's natural resistance fading away by the second. Consequently, the Rinnegan Chakra was on another level, just like his eye prowess, and there was no way to resist it, regardless of this foreign characteristic present in the people of this world.
Therefore, this woman in his hands was suffering the equivalent of being tortured, where not even this incomplete Chakra of hers could save her and death would be considered mercy.
Unconsciously, this realization brought a twisted smile to his face, as Sasuke didn't intend to present them with the comfort of a quick death.
"Enjoy your last moments in this hell before you go to the afterlife." He changed his mind about ripping her heart out and threw this woman back where she was, next to that decadent man so they could share the end in each other's company. "This is merely the result of crossing my path, so blame the choices you have made so far for your fate."
One was a robber and killed when he was not meant to kill, and the other attacked him for the kill with a hungry, sadism-filled gaze and made him save when he was not meant to save.
Both were hardly worthy of pity and made the mistake of thwarting Sasuke in the worst way and at the worst time.
They deserved what was happening and maybe even worse.
"Now, I think I will..." He turned to leave the area before the authorities or anyone arrived, but stopped when an alert of sorts sounded in the distance. "What is it now?"
The first thing that came to his mind was precisely the authorities, and Sasuke made sure to disappear from the scene so quickly that it would be impossible to register more than a blur on any kind of electronic object, much less with the naked eye. Seconds later, he was miles away, but within his area of vision, where not even an expected movement of any kind could be seen. Even worse, the city itself seemed to have gone crazy all at once without his noticing with people and faunus panicking to the level of chaos.
"Something is not right..." Sasuke didn't need much to come to that conclusion, deciding to make a quick investigation to determine the cause when the police force decided to appear in the streets, head in the opposite direction to where he had let his anger prevail, and notice something. Don't tell me that... he thought of something unpleasant and finally noticed Chakra coursing through his veins at full force. "Damn it!"
Immediately, he began to contain his massive Chakra, which could most likely be felt even in another dimension, and calm down to see the result soon after with the minimizing of all this commotion, but without disappearing as expected.
There was still fear and disorder, where the population, although no longer in complete despair, was frantically heading in the opposite direction of the police force, very close to where he let his frustration get the better of him.
As Sasuke tried to better understand the cause of all this, which didn't seem to have been influenced exclusively by him, the alert left that shrill noise aside for the voice of someone familiar to sound for all to hear.
"Citizens of Vale, here who speaks to you is Professor Ozpin, Beacon Headmaster," the tone of voice used, as expected of this man, was firm and direct, almost authoritative, yet strangely comforting to his shaken listeners. "After a wave of... unexpected malevolence surged within the city, panic and fear took hold in unprecedented ways."
So... Sasuke clenched his fists, again feeling frustration and anger at the confirmation that this situation was indeed his fault. He must be trying to calm the people I scared.
However, that wasn't all.
"At the moment, as the alarm must have hinted, such malevolence has triggered a Grimm attack on our walls," Ozpin continued the bad news, to which Sasuke's eyes widened as he felt his own indifferent heart quiver with an uncomfortable sense of guilt. "Still, regardless of how hopeless the situation may seem, it can always get worse before it starts to get better and for that not to happen, I urge everyone to follow emergency protocols and to believe in the Vale forces as well as the Atlas armadas on their way to assist us in the fight against that which threatens our home, friends, and family." Sasuke didn't even need to see the people filling the streets to know that such words were comforting to levels he could never understand and feel even worse about it all. "As long as hope persists, regardless of the darkness that befalls us, there will always be a tomorrow to dazzle!"
Ozpin's announcement came to an end soon after, accomplishing the feat of calming the masses enough that there was order instead of chaos and Sasuke could only think about the last words of the Hokage of this world.
It seems I am the darkness... he found himself sighing as he stroked his own face with his hand, somehow affected by being considered what he most sought to become and turning his attention to the moon above to see himself reflected in it. So beautiful, yet it couldn't be more broken... He wondered if that was how the people back in his world saw him, and rightly so. What do I do now?
Unconsciously his eyes turned to the walls that served as protection for the city, where only the natural terrain of a valley was not enough for defense against such unknown creatures, retrieving a different cloak from the one used before to avoid recognition by anyone, which unfortunately there was only one of Akatsuki but would have to do, and moving to see for himself the result of his impulsive actions.
In the same second, he was standing on a watchtower away from the attention of the others gathering around to face this threat.
So that's it? Sasuke narrowed his eyes and in the distance, a mass of darkness took various shapes as it moved toward the city. The Grimm I read about.
Really, most of those things were similar to animals present in nature itself, and if his eyes were seeing correctly, they were made of just that; natural energy, but corrupted.
In a way, these things are like little Bijuus, but absurdly inferior. At least Sasuke would admit that despite being laughably weak, were nothing in his eyes was on the level that would take more than a Jounin to get rid of individually... well, maybe a little more than one for that giant bat, but his point remained that these things made up the difference with their numbers. In the end, I would say that they are lucky these creatures are like that, vast in quantity and not in power, or there would be no more sentient life in this world.
Aura was far inferior to Chakra and even those Semblances could hardly help balance this fight should a Bijuu-level Grimm walk over these lands.
As he reflected, more and more Sasuke saw the numbers of those things increase, advancing on the same level of hungry insanity present in those red eyes and again feeling something that could only be described as guilt.
Nothing good comes from a blade blinded by emotion.
The forge master's words proved to be true in the face of such a situation created by his imprudence.
Maybe that's why everything I try to do goes wrong. Sasuke hated to admit it, but perhaps the second Hokage was right.
The Uchiha really was a cursed clan.
However, not by hate specifically, much less love, but by emotions as a whole.
Emotions were a weapon, especially for Sasuke, where negativity was a delight capable of strengthening him in unprecedented ways and helping him get to the level he was at... only to bring destruction as a result.
After all, he came with the decision to become Hokage and what he would do to his entire world for eternity in less than a day, so it was only natural that his plan would be as flawed as himself.
Realization and again painful acceptance became more present, and Sasuke had a smile that could only be described as sad on his face, where he suddenly found himself lost, no longer sure of anything.
"A-a horde of this size... and isn't that thing in the skies a kaiju-class Grimm?!" a frightened voice sounded to get his attention and reveal a familiar person not far away in a crowd over the walls. "I-I don't think something like this has ever been seen before!" there was undeniable fear not only in him, as well as in those around him. "The last time a large horde or a Grimm like that attacked, thousands died! Against something absurd like that, how many will be this time?!"
This was the same man Sasuke talked to at the police station and did his paperwork, the one with small children at home waiting for him...
Children who would most likely lose their father tonight if he didn't do something.
So you are not Death?
He shuddered as he recalled a question considered absurd, asked by that faunus girl in the bookstore... now leading him to consider the veracity behind such claim with the possible outcome before him.
While he wasn't the living manifestation of said concept, death definitely followed him closely, no matter where he went.
Normally, after hearing words like that from anyone's mouth, it would be enough to earn my anger.
The attempted intimidation by Weiss reflected a line of thought that would have occurred to him some time ago upon hearing Ozpin's announcement had he not undergone significant changes. However, that was not all the little princess had told him earlier.
In this case, however, I helped you out of mere empathy.
The feeling or even ability to put oneself in someone else's shoes.
Once again, he found himself watching these people and the state they were in, trembling with fear, wanting to flee for their very lives, but standing where they were despite everything to face the darkness hovering over them... and almost seeing himself in a desperate moment of his life where Sasuke as a child stood before his brother on a full moon night like this one.
Helping people and fighting monsters, just like a hero! That's my dream!
This time it was Ruby's words that came to him, which managed to remind him of Naruto, although... it didn't really piss him off as expected; no, at this conflicting moment with the realization that everything Sasuke had always believed and desired during his life was the result of his extreme emotions and impulsive judgment, he couldn't hate his only friend for such futility, where the present situation was merely one of the results of the culmination of it all.
With all this in mind, besides trying to ignore what was said by Yang about him and with reason, Sasuke came to the unpleasant conclusion that he seriously needed to review his concepts and beliefs, or he would continue to be someone consumed by the direction his vengeful life had taken.
Better start by cleaning up my own mess... Sasuke almost laughed at himself and his inconsistency in what he wanted; in his constant contradiction, but this was not the first and hardly the last. The question is how to do it without making what is already bad enough worse.
He needed to put down all these Grimm without attracting more of them, and that would not be possible without making use of some Chakra, which would certainly be the catalyst for making the situation worse.
The negativity of my Chakra is the problem here, he recognized the root of evil, that being the very essence of his existence. Now, how do I... minimize the negativity coursing through my veins like venous miasma?
He came to be like this after breathing, nourishing, and drinking to the point of drowning in pure, unadulterated hatred for most of his life.
In that case, maybe... Sasuke was having a hard time accepting what might need to be done. I should have happy thoughts?
The mere thought was ridiculous, but seeing the forces of this world trembling in fear for the delight of those things proved a necessary sacrifice.
All right, I guess I should at least try. For the sake of strangers who meant nothing to him. Now, what was a happy thought again? The doubt arose, more than worthy of consideration after so long thinking only about revenge and destruction. Maybe about...my only friend?
Sasuke closed his eyes and remembered the stupid blond very present in his life... only to almost smile at the sight of blood dripping between his trembling lips with an expression of shock as his chest was pierced by a fist covered in electric sparks.
Inside, he could feel his Chakra churning with darkness.
I don't think this is going to work. As much as Naruto was the closest to a friend he still had, Sasuke resented the blond to the bone, and thinking about him would only bring the opposite effect. Then, should I focus on my family?
His father came to mind this time. The man stood there, always cold and distant, watching him as if he were less and nothing more than a failure when compared to his genius older brother.
Other than a single time that Sasuke needed to basically burn his tongue to the point of destroying his taste buds for a brief moment of acknowledgment, this man represented nothing good in his life and again his Chakra responded accordingly and took another step towards darkness.
That was definitely foolish of me. Sasuke should have known better and not thought of that man. Yes, when it comes to family, I should focus on my brother.
This time, Itachi was present. His pacifist brother was there, smiling as always and saying "maybe later" to him...and lying, omitting the truth, and making hateful choices for the sake of a village that hardly deserved the sacrifice made.
Konoha was not worth the blood of his loved ones!
Hell, not even the entire planet was worth that much!
Anger returned to him to have the ground beneath his feet shattered into pieces, the air around him turning cold to further incite those things and gain some attention from those around him previously ignorant of his presence.
What am I doing? Sasuke took a deeper breath, knowing that he would only make everything worse if he continued like this, deciding that maybe it was better to leave this situation to chance. Like that man said, even though it's an absurdly large horde, they've survived so far, so they'll make it this time too...probably.
Sasuke forced himself to turn his back on the problem he caused, believing it was the best course of action to actually help.
However, he didn't take a step before hearing something that sent shivers through his body.
Are you going to give up that easily?
Sasuke looked around to see no one expected, even recognizing that that voice came not from anywhere but from within; from what was left of his heart.
Mother... the woman who cared for him with genuine love and never hurt him in his life other than with her death.
Uchiha Mikoto was a woman who, in Sasuke's eyes, lived up to her divine name. Obviously, she, despite being a Jounin with a fully developed Sharingan, was not powerful, but she didn't lag behind compared to those who held the same position. She was a goddess to him, who was always there helping him train when Itachi and his father ignored him for the sake of something else.
Mikoto was a ray of light that always illuminated Sasuke's life without him knowing it until it was too late.
So much so that during his fight against Itachi, Sasuke made a point of using two techniques that represented his family. The Great Fire Ball Jutsu, taught by his father and the unique style of wire- manipulated Shuriken taught by his mother; a way to remind the monster he used to believe was his brother of what he did and try to hurt him with memories.
Knowing all that Sasuke knew now, he was sure that he made Itachi bleed for more than one reason that day.
But this was no longer about his brother.
In the end, the person Sasuke needed to think about to help him ease the dark emotions tied to his soul wasn't his only friend, father, or brother; he just needed to remember his mother.
Closing his eyes, Sasuke forgot about the whole world; about the people around trying to reach him while shouting to question his identity and what he was doing there, or those metal things planing around in the night sky to provide light where none existed even under this moonlight, where they even focused some on him, but that didn't matter, for the only light he needed was inside him with the memories long ignored by the feeling of loneliness brought along with them.
This time, he wouldn't allow himself to think that way, letting the Images of this person who was always there in his childhood arise when the attention of those other two was elsewhere.
Memories of him helping her make food; tending the small garden in the backyard; training under her tutelage to prove his worth, listening to bedtime stories...
Each and every memory with her in life was... happy.
"Then," Sasuke allowed himself a real smile, not even paying attention to how much lighter his Chakra had gotten, and opened his eyes with full power in a way he couldn't even describe. "Nothing more fitting than to honor you at this moment by using what you taught me. Right, Mom?"
There was no answer, but he could almost feel the gentle touch of a hand on his shoulder filled with affection and comforting warmth; almost like a smiling answer to his rhetorical question.
Discarding the past. While he had believed it to be something necessary eventually on his never-ending path toward darkness, this... might no longer be the case, especially in the current scenario where everything he believed and held as absolute truth was frequently proven wrong.
Besides, Sasuke didn't want to forget those precious memories of the best time of his life.
A giant Shuriken emerged from the storage seal on his wrist and Sasuke had just the perfect technique for this situation, completely ignoring the bastard of that third Hokage who used it during the war to test Obito's powers as a Jinchuriki. However, this would be different since Sasuke intended to add aspects taught by his mother and a little touch of his own to the technique.
I don't know if these things also have some sort of external protection, regenerative ability, or whatever, so I can't risk it. Being too far away to make any efficient assessment, Sasuke would have to make assumptions and remedy any possibly existing disadvantage. This is going to end in just one attack!
The Shuriken left his hands when those things were within his reach, just before they crashed into the first wave of defense below and gifted this world with the impossible!
"Shadow Release!" Black electric sparks danced as they traveled along the metal line in Sasuke's hands to make use of his half of the power of creation and explode the metal star with lightning into thousands more actual copies, saying to himself, "Uchiha Mikoto Shuriken Style!"
Making full use of his visual prowess, his two hands, and mouth, Sasuke controlled each thread with deadly precision to destroy the corrupted darkness of this world with his own!
Each Shuriken covered in the black lightning danced through the air to cut through the Grimm as if they were made of paper and disintegrate them almost instantly. Whether they were in the sky or on earth, whether they were big or small, strong or weak, fast or slow; it didn't matter, not one of them could dodge, evade, resist or even come close to those ready to die defending the city walls before perishing.
Within seconds, there were no more Grimm on the horizon, and only metal stars covered the local landscape to confirm that it was all real and remain as an eternal reminder of this one-sided massacre.
That night, under a moonlight as broken as himself, Sasuke made his darkness shine to save rather than kill, create to destroy, and deep down... he didn't dislike it, as he believed his mother was smiling at him and that was all that mattered.
All right, let's talk about my little "tantrum", from the last time. I remember when I started writing chapter 12, the one that was practically ignored and only one person gave an opinion about it. I thought Sasuke was being too...soft up to that point and wanted to show more of the bad side of him that everyone knows and even likes. So I decided to write the scene as if he were some kind of monster; like the villain in a horror movie and used Roman as the victim. I even read the novel Roman holiday to get deeper into the character.
In other words, despite my lack of free time, I put real effort into it, just like I did in this chapter. So while it had some review, nothing significant or relevant was said and you can see for yourself if you don't believe it. As a consequence, I felt like... an idiot? I don't know, it's complicated to the point that you have to experience it for yourself to understand what it is like to have your effort disregarded by thousands of people.
Some said I was the ungrateful one, for complaining about the lack of reviews when I had already received some in the previous chapters. Following that logic, I shouldn't post any more chapters either. After all, I had already posted before, right? No, it doesn't work like that. If I didn't want opinions, I wouldn't even post anything and would write only for myself. Sure, one can say I'm writing for the P t r & on, but as I said before, that platform is a means to keep me writing for the sense of obligation it gives, so I've updated there normally even when I haven't posted anything here and will continue to do so for those who support me.
Anyway, I won't address the claims made about my mental health, because I don't want to start a war here, even more, when a real one is going on in the world to prove that conflict will lead to nothing good.
Just one last thing, while I agree that no one is obliged to review, remember that I am not obliged to meet deadlines on this site either.
That's all I have to say.
Until the next one.