While My World Shatters

by elektre888

Issei Hyoudou declined going on a date with that girl, after all, they had just met that day, but that decision would completely change the flow of the story, awakening a twisted system that mends reality to assure he was still a card in play. The identity of the world he knew of would completely shatter as this system rebuilds it with shards of other worlds.

17. Their Sacrifice

The Constellars were making easy progress against the Evilswarm, after all, they all came prepared to exterminate this disease. Meanwhile the Dragunity were able to take down many of the incoming Gishki and weaker Evilswarm monsters, albeit with a bit more effort.

"Kaus I need a report of the situation." Pleiades asked. Kaus immediately responded. "We are currently in a stable situation, while none of us are being pushed back, there isn't any noticeable decrease in the enemy's troops."

"Then we'll need to continue defending until the Gusto and Gem-Knights come back." As he finished saying this, more Evilswarm continued to attack them. "Although we could speed things up if Acubens and Aldebaran got serious." He thought. Even after a bit of debating about it, he decided against it, they didn't need to show their cards so quickly.

Calmly, they all continued to engage in battle. The Worms chimera was defeated thanks to the Dragunity's knowledge of them, the Genex and the Ally of Justice machines were hijacked thanks to Kaus, deactivating them instantly and the Dragunity zombie was swiftly put down by the Constellars.

But then a few noticeable figures showed up on the Evilswarm's side, an undead riding a horse and two men took the initiative and moved forward, the rider rushed towards the Constellars, only for two of them to block the enemy, albeit with difficulty, meanwhile one of the infected shot from his arm cannon.

Pleiades rushed to the rider that broke through the formation, he clashed his sword with his opponent's blade. When they all finally recovered from the surprise attack, Pleiades instructed the few that reacted in time. "Acubens, Aldebaran, keep blocking the rider, Kaus, shoot down the one with the arm cannon, I will take care of the one incoming!"

The Dragunity however could easily recognize the opponents. "That's Ragin! One of the most powerful warriors of the Fabled!" Yelled out Legionnaire. "And the other one seems to be Cannon from the Laval Tribe! If that's the case then Pleiades is going after the deceased Judgement Lord!"

"So that's who they are... In that case I mustn't let my guard down." Pleiades whispered to himself as he went towards the incoming Exlaval Lord, the clashes of their swords could be heard as sparks kept flying around due to their constant hits. Acubens and Aldebaran were thrown away as the Fabled, mounting his horse, broke through the line of defense and entered.

"Zubeneschamali, Alrescha, cover Sheratan and Siat!" Ordered Kaus. "Antares, I need you to grab his sword with your chained spear!" Antares nodded as he proceeded to follow Kaus' instructions, Kaus himself then drew his bow as he was ready to shoot alongside the other Constellars being covered. The Dragunity meanwhile went to hold the line as more Evilswarm tried to make a breakthrough.

Pleiades pushed the revived Judgement Exlord again, finally being able to get a hold of himself as he finally studied his enemy's pattern. "I hope all of you remember the code names we have given to them, as we will be putting them to use very soon."

Aldebaran who finally got up named them. "Thanatos for Ragin, Nightmare for the Laval Lord and O'Lanter for Cannon." They all nodded in confirmation of remembering them. "Very good, I need someone to help me against Nightmare." Instructed the Constellar leader.

Pleiades knew that he couldn't do this alone, given the fact that more Evilswarms would come, it would be better to take care of the big threats quickly before more came.

Acubens however had other ideas. "Sir! Permission to transform into Praesepe?!" Pleiades looked back, only to yell out. "Permission granted! Aldebaran! Turn into Hyades now and dismount Thanatos!" As much as he wished to hold onto their cards, they needed to take care of the new foes quickly, they still had a few other cards to use, and he expected Kaus to show it if things got grim.

Both started transforming as they went towards their designated targets, Acubens, now named Praesepe went to assist Pleiades, while Aldebaran, now known as Hyades, rushed towards Thanatos.

Praesepe used his claw like gauntlet to grab Nightmare, only to pummel him with the other hand, Pleiades followed up by slashing across the enemy's chest, despite the continuous attacks, Nightmare was able to hold his own, not due to the fact he was skilled, but due to the fact he was unable to feel pain, additionally, both were forced to go onto the defensive as the sword it had could easily infect either of them. Of which Pleiades found out as he had to cut off one of his fingers.

Hyades on the other hand was able to have more success, with his two knives he was able to block and connect a hit against Thanatos, however, he was unable to get him down his horse, he had the former Fabled monster in a defensive position as he tried to block each hit.

The incoming Evilswarm completely took the attention of everyone else, as they were currently unable to aid their leader. Pleiades held his own together with Praesepe, their unwavering determination to defeat this evil had yet to be challenged. "Kaus, is anyone able to help with some ranged attacks?!" Asked Pleiades.

"Sorry sir! We're unable to switch our attention!" Apologized Kaus as he ordered the other Constellars, he continued to shoot at O'Lantern, who had taken the high ground as he stood on top of one of the caves of the Gishki.

"I'll help you with that." An unknown voice came from nowhere, rushing towards Nightmare. Pleiades instinctively crouched as the owner of the new voice jumped over him and slashed against Nightmare, however, it blocked the attack, only to be blown back by the clash.

When the Constellars and Dragunity looked at the new faces they saw what seemed to be a Laval holding onto a small lizard alongside what they could assume was a Steelswarm. "Identify yourself now!" One of the Constellars said with hostility, given the fact it looked like a Steelswarm, they were incredibly cautious of him.

"No need to be hostile, I am here as an ally." The Steelswarm said. "I am Roach, I am a Steelswarm who survived the annihilation of my species, I am together with the only survivors of other tribes."

A laval came holding the small lizard. "You can call me Phlogis, I am the only remaining Laval left, and this little guy here is Hexa, he's a lizard from the Ice Barrier that also survived the Gishki."

Phlogis, a member of the Laval Tribe who went out deep within the woods to get a specific wood, had completely evaded being turned into what was now called by the tribes, Lavalval Chain, he didn't know whether to call himself lucky or not.

Hexa was a newborn, a small creature originally from the Ice Barrier, it thankfully was able to survive as he was yet to hatch from his nest, however, the lone lizard lived in fear, not knowing what fate had prepared for the young Ice Barrier creature.

Both of them were victims of the Gishki, yet they held no ill thought against them, as one was too young to do so, while the other had burrowed those thoughts with dangerous positivity. The three of them, the last members of their own species, had come together as they had no one else to rely on.

Pleiades, sensing no hostility from the new faces, ordered. "Leonis, we don't have time to question them, focus on the task, we will later interrogate them." Roach and Pleiades both attacked Nightmare at the same time, with Praesepe following behind them as to continue their unrelenting assault, in the meantime Thanatos was still being held down by the other Constellars thanks to the barrage of constant projectiles, Hyades had his attention on O'Lantern now.

Kaus then said. "Pleiades, I will have to turn into Omega." The centaur Constellar saw that this was the chance to fight back and win. Pleiades simply nodded as Kaus started to glow, growing into a bigger entity than the small one he was, when it finally stopped, what could be seen was a big armored centaur, a big difference to the small centaur with a bow that he used to be. He rushed and pinned down the mounted Fabled, the other Constellars, specifically Leonis and Algiedi went in and started stabbing and bashing it as many times as possible.

Phlogis, with Hexa on his shoulder, could only look at Nightmare. "Wait... is that? My lord! What has become of you?!" To the surprise of the combatants, Nightmare paused a bit upon hearing someone call him. It took him a bit to resume his attack, especially after Pleiades and Roach took a chance and went in to attack.

Thanatos was able to get Kaus off of him as it started to slash around, his attacks were blocked again by Alrescha and Antares, with their weapons, they held down the sword, Zubeneschamali burrowed his claws down the horse, killing it. Kaus then started to charge an attack, the same one that the Vylon Omega used, but this time it didn't need much time as the laser was being charged with the help of Siat and Algiedi.

The laser completely went through the undead Fabled, killing it instantly.

Roach was able to stab Nightmare, upon noticing the stab it then pushed Roach away with his hand. Praesepe then followed after, crashing his fist onto the Evilswarm's face, which sent him launching.

Pleiades rushed in and burrowed his sword into Nightmare's side of the head, which neutralized him. Hyades came back with the dead body of O'Lantern. Which Pleiades commended yet scolded as he had broken formation and gone his own way.

The Dragunity pushed onward as the Constellarknights finally got rid of the enemies that had broken through. The Evilswarm, overwhelmed by the amount of powerful fighters, fell in no time as they cleared the zone of any more infected beings.

As they finally finished with the Evilswarms, they finally had some time to rest before the next wave came. The Dragunity got closer to the bodies of the Evilswarm and their own, they took notes of who was infected and who wasn't.

The Constellars then went towards Roach, Pleiades then started to interrogate him. "So tell me, what is a Steelswarm doing helping us here?"

Roach calmly responded. "I was purified by the Vylons, after I surrendered and was spared by two Gusto Tribe members, I fled from the other Steelswarms, upon finding the remains of dead Vylons, I decided to try and strengthen myself with them."

Sheratan who was trying to process what was said asked. "Wait... So let me get this straight… you somehow were able to actually have common sense, which no offense, but low ranking Steelswarm monsters do not have such capacity, then right after, you had the genius idea of trying to use the Vylons as armament, which could have easily killed you, and against the odds, you miraculously survived?" As Sheratan finished, Roach nodded.

Algiedi then said. "I gotta say, you get my respects for doing something so ballsy." Kaus, who was in the form of Omega, then explained his hypothesis. "It could be possible for a Steelswarm to use the Vylons, given the fact that the Vylons got corrupted with the Steelswarm, it could be possible for a Steelswarm to survive since it would accept Roach without harming him."

Rumbling started again, making everyone get into combat position, only to see three dragons come out of the Gishki castle. They knew who they were, especially Trishula. The Dragunity looked in horror. "So they are back... But we don't have the Divine Lance ready." Dux said with worry in his voice.

"It wouldn't matter, they are infected by the Evilswarm." Said Pleiades. "Should we prepare a plan before we enter into battle?" The other Constellars nodded, however one Dragunity said. "Are you out of your mind? Four of your members alongside the Gusto and Gem-Knights are currently in that castle! We need to go save them!"

Dux then intervened to try and calm one of his members. "Legatus, we cannot enter without a plan, I know it is something that seems harsh, but we cannot let this opportunity of preparing ourselves go away." He hated the fact that this had to happen, but there was no other way to save them without it becoming a suicide mission.

"Then let us plan how we must attack, please make sure to keep in mind any possible variable during the fight, we will need to adapt as fast as possible." Pleiades asked. Siat raised his hand to ask a question. " We should also tell them about the code names each of the dragons have, right?." Pleiades sighed, right, at some point, he regretted making a separate name for each of the habitants in this world.

"Yes, but we will tell this to the others, if they survive, about these code names later, for now, all you need to know is that Brionac is called Bahamut, Gungnir as Ophion and Trishula, the Ouroboros."

---

Inside the castle, the tribes were currently fighting against the Evilswarm that had completely taken over the place. Pollux and Castor were able to make the whole group push forward thanks to their unmatched coordination.

Winda and Issei followed suit, almost matching their prowess of coordination, while they were attacking together, they took turns as one attacked while the other covered and defended. Crystal had given both of them great feedback on how they could work together before the attack of the Gishki happened. Pollux and Castor, noticing this great teamwork complimented them. "Nice going, both of you!"

Virgo and Lazuli were giving support in the back, shooting light beams that dealt increased damage to the Evilswarm. "You have great control of your magic little one." Complimented Virgo as she was surprised to see a Gem-Knight use powers that weren't oriented towards their gem. "Thanks! Since I have no gem, I had to adapt by trying something else, and then I found I had an affinity for light magic!" Thanked Lazuli.

"Light magic? No, this is holy magic." Virgo wondered how a Gem-Knight could hold such powers, but decided to discuss it later. The morale of the whole group was high, even in a crisis, the constant support each one gave was enough to make them not think of giving up. However, Kamui was the only one who was struggling a bit, this was due to his lack of a companion, after so much time working and training with Falco, he noticed that without him, he lacked a lot in various fields.

He looked at his sister and Reeze who were completely eradicating any Evilswarm that came their way, he felt like he would never become the chief of the tribe, not when he was so weak.

As they continued further, they heard rumbling from under, most of them cautiously tried to find a place that would make sure none of them fell, then as the ground broke the three dragons alongside Noellia, Hercules and Avance came out of there, all hell broke loose from that moment on.

They all were completely divided into small groups, Winda, Lazuli, Virgo and Issei were in front of Avance, who simply ignored them as it went to attack the Gishki, this included the infected body of Shadow.

Even so, the three who knew him immediately recognized the white hair and clothing the dragon had, they were shocked at the change of form he had, even assuming this was the plot of Noellia. In Winda's case, she felt anger at the woman who used to be so nice, Lazuli felt a bit of fear, not knowing what to do to revert the Gishki prince back, and Issei…

All he could do is look at the glow that emanated from the books he had. He had no time to put them back inside Mystery Storage, as he had been traveling with so many people.

He had tried using Epistemophobic's Nightmare on them, albeit he didn't know what they were called, nor what they were related to, if anything, he did get information about Ddraig and Albion.

He then looked at his side, Pollux and Castor stopped Noellia on her tracks, the three engaging in battle, the three dragons completely fled away into the sky while Hercules was being taken care of by Zirconia, Pearl and the rest of the Gem-Knights, on the other hand, the Gusto Tribe which included Kamui, Reeze and Caam could only hesitate after seeing who they were up against.

Two individuals within the mass swarm of infected undeads, Kamui and Caam knew who they were at first glance, the dead reawakened bodies of Emerald and Falco were in front of them, neither of the siblings could move, they did not want to hurt the ones who they used to hold closely.

The reanimated body of Emerald went to attack Kamui, only to be blocked by Reeze, she looked at the both of them who were lost in thought and yelled. "Hey! Both of you! Snap out of it!" Kamui could only cast spells to protect the Gusto members who had gone with them, they didn't have any experience in battling, yet they had to accompany them as not only were they instructed by the Constellars, but because they had no other place to stay, as they would easily be annihilated by the Evilswarms.

Not even the Naturia could have taken in and defended the harmless Gusto Tribe members, if anything, they would get in the way as the creatures of the Naturia Forest tried to defend the Sacred Naturia Tree.

Caam fortunately was able to recover as she convinced herself that it wasn't Emerald. She knew that Emerald was with her, the gem embedded in her chest was proof enough of it. And so, she clashed with both Falco's and Emerald's undead bodies.

Issei looked at this situation and looked back at the others. "I'll go help the Gusto, are any of you able to fly or go towards the other groups? They nodded, Winda wanted to say something but ended up closing her mouth, she made her bird companion turn into a giant and flew towards the Gem-Knights while Lazuli was brought along with Virgo towards Pollux and Castor to help them.

Issei flew quickly and hacked Emerald on his back as Caam held him, this dealt considerable damage. "Thanks for the assist." Thanked Caam. Reeze on the other hand struggled a bit against the flying enemy that was Falco, Issei went to assist her, blocking the attack that was about to land on Reeze.

"Any idea about Falco's weakness?" Asked Issei, Reeze then said. "Not sure, we don't usually learn about the weakness of our allies." Issei gripped his weapon harder, he then spun the guandao, creating winds that, upon slashing towards the giant bird, created wind blades.

Caam hurried to their side, ready to brawl against the Evilswarm Falco. "In that case I will have to fly and fight with it, do you think you'll be able to take care of Emerald?" Caam said as she started to hover over in the air, Reeze chuckled a bit as she commented. "With the huge swing Issei made, probably."

Issei looked at Kamui who was currently looking away, unable to move as the thoughts of terrible memories from not so long ago came back to haunt him, all he could do was distract himself by taking care of the other Evilswarms.

---

Noellia was currently going up against the Constellar brothers, their constant switch of attacks, their coordinated movements and their wordless instructions were annoying her a lot, and the cherry on top was the constant rays of light that she needed to dodge from both Lazuli and Virgo.

She wasn't struggling, in fact, she was laughing, watching the other tribes work together for a futile attempt to kill her was hysterical. The Steelswarms had enhanced her abilities, with these abilities she could bring back all the Steelswarms back.

"Do you seriously think that your measly circus tricks are going to make me bleed?!" She taunted. She swung her scythe against the both of them, both backed away, Castor looked at his brother who looked back at him, as they nodded they divided her attention, they went to attack her at the same time at different angles.

Lazuli and Virgo were then attacked by other Evilswarms, a dinosaur and an undead Naturia came after them, but Lazuli summoned a light sword that cut through the enemies easily, Virgo sent small orbs that shot everywhere, hitting only the Evilswarms and killing them all with a single hit.

"Argh, why are the Evilswarm so weak?!" Yelled Noellia in frustration, there was no way for her to push away her enemies. She instinctively turned around as she felt a blade going towards her, she blocked Pollux's attack, only for Castor to rush in to try and damage her.

Getting sick of the constant back and forth, she pushed back Pollux and clashed with the other brother, she then summoned ice shards that went towards the other tribes. As they stabbed and killed a few that were unable to react in time, Castor had to block the ice shards as he also covered for Lazuli and Virgo.

"Enough of this!" She recklessly turned around as she was about to try and attack Pollux before he could completely recover, she rushed as she was about to swing towards him, only for Castor to rush to his brother's side and block it with his hand, as he grasped the scythe, his hand started to bleed, it had completely pierced through the palm, Pollux in worry, exclaimed. "Brother!"

Noellia's scythe was stuck on the hand of Castor, as she tried to pull out the weapon, Castor looked back at his brother. "Listen here Pollux, tell Rasalhague to come get me after you all take care of the Evilswarm, I'll purify her from the Steelswarm." He knew that this was not going anywhere, he had the luxury to sacrifice himself as he traded one last fatal blow with Noellia, but instead of killing her, he casted holy magic that purified her, the darkness of the Steelswarm could be seen disappearing as she was left on the ground.

Castor on the other hand kneeled as the stab cut through his hand, it then cleaved his stomach. He supported himself with his sword as he slowly passed away. Pollux on the other hand got up as he went to attack the other Evilswarms in the area, gripping his sword even harder, even if he knew his brother would be revived, it didn't mean it hurt any less.

He passed by Virgo, and then asked her for something. "Virgo, could you send one of your orbs to tell Rasenhague to come and revive Castor?" Upon hearing his request, Virgo nodded as a sphere flew away. "Keep in mind that we need to be careful as to not deplete his resurrection magic completely, we still need it in case of a bigger enemy." Warned Virgo.

Noellia grunted as she tried to get up, she looked around in confusion, then she looked at the puddle of water that was left from the ice shards, looking at herself she saw that there were no longer any signs of Steelswarm on her and started to remember everything that had happened up until now.

What had she done?

What began as a journey to bring Natalia back slowly turned into a malevolent attempt to destroy the world. She felt disgusted with herself, for being so susceptible to the control of the Steelswarm, and for the fact she had done such atrocities to the Lavals.

She stood up and grabbed the mirrors, looking around she saw her son finishing off the dead body of Shadow. Her son... Her adoptive son who she promised to keep safe and happy.

She needed to fix this disaster she had created. She raised her staff, the one that was a scythe previously and froze her adoptive son's wings, as it fell, she casted more ice pillars to bring her son towards her, she put the aqua mirror in front of him. "I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry for everything I've done up to this point." Apologized Noellia, and yet, she knew that this wouldn't be enough to forgive what she had done.

An Evilswarm was about to tackle her, Issei rushed towards her as he had finally finished off the dead Falco. As he slashed at the Evilswarm with Blade Forged From Souls, he looked at Noellia, she looked away, ashamed to even look at a member of the Gusto, the tribe that she had tried for so long to have good relationships with, who she cut ties with once she had started to become radical.

Avance had quickly broken off the ice and took flight yet again, only to come back, this time to try to attack his own mother. Noellia summoned a wall of ice to defend both of them, she then looked at Issei and pleaded. "Warrior of the Gusto! I know I've done so much pain up to this point, but please lend me your help to revert my son's transformation back! Please!" Issei saw as Noellia had completely changed demeanor to when they last saw each other.

Issei, even though he couldn't really trust her, still wanted to save Avance, he followed her pleads as he rushed towards Avance, he grabbed him by his neck as he wrestled with the dragon, while Avance was flailing around Issei casted ice onto various parts of the dragon's body, Pollux then went and tried to grab its legs to immobilize Avance.

But the dragon was far stronger than the two, it then used its sword to push Pollux back, Issei was then sent flying after Avance rocked his head back and forth. Even after being flung, Issei used his wings to stop himself and then rush towards Avance once again.

Issei swung his guandao against Avance's sword, the clash creating sparks as they both tried to win the interaction. Issei gritted his teeth as he used all his strength to push Avance back, while Avance continued to leer at him.

The Gishki dragon then roared, winning the clash as he pushed Issei back. Blown away from the confrontation, he was unable to block the incoming attack of Avance. The dragon started to charge a breath of ice, ready to hit Issei on the chest. Issei closed his eyes, bracing for impact

Time then stopped.

Issei opened his eyes again, confused at the fact he hadn't been hit by the beam yet, only to see a very familiar situation.

The same notification appeared, where he needed to choose an option, and from there, pray that it would work. Unlike last time however, this one was longer.

(Now Playing: Lobotomy Corporation OST - Story 05)

The beam of the sinner was sure to take down even the mightiest hunters

Alas you find yourself in front of the attack

Light continued to form as the sinner was about to cast the final blow on you

And yet, you do not succumb to panic

You look at your surroundings, seeing no way out of this

Unless you decide to use one of your items to block the hit

Books should be enough (Choose an Item at your disposal)

Let yourself be engulfed by the wave (Run a Pyro Check)

What?

"What the hell is a Pyro…" Whispered Issei. Confused by the new terms, he decided to wait a bit and take a breather from what was happening.

He looked at his options, trying to figure out what to do. If anything, now was the best time to take things slowly and plan his next attack.

As he floated in the air, he sat down momentarily, thinking about his next moves. "Taking the hit doesn't seem very wise, but I have no idea what item I have that would help me in this situation."

He then had an idea.

"Wait… what if I…" He wondered.

You have activated the Skill (Epistemophobic's Nightmare)

"Now then… let's try… what Pyro means." He thought as he closed his eyes, feeling that annoying sound slowly making its way into his mind, he quickly got the meaning of the word. The meaning of such a word seemed irrelevant, but what it stood for, and what it was, revealed the true importance of it.

Hidden Stats

Games always had them, values that weren't visible by ordinary means. Thankfully, with the help of his skill, he could use it to take a look at such concepts without problems.

The skill was quite nitpicky with what it wanted, if he had said The Writer's System, it would simply give him information about it, but not the origin or the stuff that he couldn't see.

It was unlike with other concepts he had tried finding information with the skill. It was as if… it was trying to hide something from him.

But no matter, he now knew what it was, and at the same time, he was sure that this system was sentient, as it had given him the definition of each of these values that he expected to find more often later on.

These values were based on his actions up to this point, each stat was attached to a certain aspect, for example, how he acted, what skills he used, and what sort of fighting style he took, and so on.

It was confusing to say the least. He didn't know the exact value of each of the stats.

In the end, he decided to choose an item at his disposal instead.

You refuse to succumb to the wave of guilt of the sinner

You rummaged around your inventory to find an item good enough to block the attack

Issei scrolled through the screen to see any item that could be of use to him, there was Blade Forged From Souls with a 55%, most of the books had a 0%, and so on, as he thought, his weapon seemed to have the highest chance to block it.

That was until he saw the last option.

You are attempting to use the Books of Ayin and Yesh for the encounter, would you like to proceed forward?

Chance of Success 100%

Yes/No

The books that he didn't know the name of for so long, they had been revealed in such an anticlimactic way. And yet, they were paired up, perfect for the situation.

He pressed Yes without thinking much about it.

Check Passed

The guilt of the sinner was absorbed by the item

Cleansing the user from any of the negativity

(User gains 100 Sanity)

Issei saw as the white and black books Yaldabaoth had tried for so long to discover had shielded him from the attack, the beam that had been charged was being absorbed by the books.

He looked around to see if Yaldabaoth saw it too, but he saw that he had been surrounded by a veil of light, making it impossible for him to see outside the field.

He then switched his focus back to the fight, as he knew he needed to end it right now. He spun his guandao, creating a slash of wind which went towards Avance. It hit the Gishki, who was unable to block it due to still shooting the beam of ice.

It recoiled and screeched in pain, to which Issei followed up with a kick to its face, Issei then proceeded to grab Avance by putting him in a lock while using Blade Forged From Souls to immobilize him.

Issei then screamed out "Avance! Calm down!" He was met with roars as he was starting to lose strength on holding down the Gishki strategist.

"Listen to me, Avance! Dammit!" He yelled out as he started to strangle Avance with his guandao, the pressure he put as the weapon continued to close onto Avance's neck made it struggle even harder.

"Your mother is back to normal! She should be able to bring back Emilia!" He tried to reason, the thrashing slowly becoming weaker, be it because he was starting to regain control or because he was starting to lose air, Issei didn't know. "Avance... Do you think Emilia would be happy to see you like this?" Asked Issei

He was met with silence, and yet, he continued. "This isn't the way to find redemption... Please... just snap out of it..." His hands started to tremble, as he felt like he was putting too much pressure into the Gishki's neck. He didn't want to accidentally kill someone again, nor did he want to have someone die in front of him.

"Your mother wants to fix everything... Emilia will surely come back... so please... just stop this, there is no need for you to be like this..." At this point, Issei started whispering into Avance's ear, he was getting tired too.

Ah, when did he start caring this much about those around him again? He must be disappointing Yaldabaoth right now... perhaps that was the reason why he didn't see any use on him anymore.

But he wanted to prove himself useful, to prove that he could still become the ideal human for the God of Humanity.

Avance stopped struggling at that point, he looked at the books that had previously absorbed the ice beam. Looking into the light that was being emitted from the books, he started to revert, a faint mist of light came out of Avance, to then be absorbed by the books.

He went back to the teenager that he previously was, seeing as he had turned back, Issei let go of the weapon which was suffocating Avance, he sighed in relief, seeing as his friend had been turned back to normal.

He then looked at the books, they were glowing yet again, more intensively than before, he wondered why, but he hypothesized that it had to do with the transformation that Avance had, perhaps he'd ask Yaldabaoth after this was all done.

The veil of light disappeared, revealing that Issei and Avance were now on the floor, everyone that was near them started running towards them to see if they were okay.

Issei stood up, supporting Avance as he smiled, he was happy to see that he was back to normal. He looked at Avance's adoptive mother, this time Noellia sprinted towards him as she hugged her adoptive son tightly.

"Avance! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I am so sorry for everything I've done! I wish I could have been a better mother to all three of you! I wish I never attacked the Gusto! I'm sorry for using Emilia! I'm sorry for all the pain I have created!" Noellia cried out as she yelled in pain, her hug had taken Avance by surprise as he felt how much strength her mother was hugging him with. Avance was confused, he was confused at the reversion of personality her mother had developed.

But he held tightly, he hugged her back with all of his strength as this was the first time after so long that Noellia was acting so caring, he held her as the memories of when they were kids were brought back. He felt like crying, to see his mother act like she used to.

Back when Noellia would take care of the three of them, it didn't matter if they were blood related or not, she treated them equally, he didn't know when it started, but her attitude towards her children changed drastically, being more strict and having favoritism for him. He wondered what made her change, but right now, all it mattered was that she had gone back to how she used to be.

As they finally split from the warm hug, Noellia took the mirror again and casted a ritual. Pollux and Virgo looked confused, but in the case of Issei, Lazuli and Avance, they knew what she was doing.

She was going to bring back Emilia's soul.

But then Avance noticed something, usually to bring back the dead, there needed to be a sacrifice, but there was nothing here that could be considered a sacrifice, it then dawned on him what was going on. "Wait! You're not thinking of using yourself as tribute right?!" Avance yelled distressed.

Noellia looked at Avance and smiled, this was the least she could do to fix her relationship with her children. She felt as her strength was weakening, but she held on, she wouldn't kneel until she saw that her daughter was back to this world.

Emilia's body was starting to materialize, albeit unconscious, Avance saw as her body started to lower as she finished coming back to the physical world, he grabbed her as he held her hand, he was happy to see her back, he truly cared for her, they were always together, no matter their relation, even before his biological mother's death, they both had each other's company.

Noellia, exhausted, crashed onto the ground, she was tired, she knew that her time was near, after all, she gave up her life for the well being of her daughter, yet she held onto life just to see them together.

Hercules then noticed the group that had casted a ritual, it turned around, surprising Yaldabaoth who had been clashing blows with the revived Steelswarm, it lunged towards them in a ferocious assault, expecting to kill them all easily. Noellia with her last strength casted one last spell, one to cancel the summoning of such a beast. As Hercules came towards them, with a fist ready to crash against those present, Noellia put her hands in front of her, creating a sigil, as they both made contact, Hercules started to crumble alongside Noellia.

"Mom?" Said Avance, his look of shock was met by Noellia's smile, how long had it been since her son called her that way? Instead of the formal mother that he always used when talking to her. "Don't worry Avance, I was bound to die, I was the one who started this whole war, and I should at the very least die to save those that I hold dear."

"Please live a long life my dear son, live fulfilling your duty as the next Gishki leader, and complete the duty that I had first wanted when I created the tribe, to help those with no home, live with no regrets. So please, smile for the future, smile that you were able to see me back as my normal self, even if it was such a short reunion. Smile that Emilia is back, I know you truly love her, and smile that your mother loves you a lot... That Natalia and I love you..." As she finally disappeared, Avance yelled out to try and reach her hand before she ceased to exist, he cried as he saw her vanish, despite how cruel she was before, how uncaring she acted, she was still his mother, and the acts she had done weren't out of her own volition, the manipulation of the Steelswarm had made her this way, that is what Avance wanted to believe, and he wouldn't believe anything else as the truth.

Noellia closed her eyes, ready to embrace her punishment for what she had caused, awaiting hell, and yet, it did not come. She opened her eyes, only to see white, she looked around in confusion, only to see someone she thought she wouldn't ever see again.

Natalia, who was standing there, was smiling at Noellia, as the former Gishki leader finally realized where she was, she sprinted towards her best friend and hugged her as she cried, yelling her name. Natalia hugged her back and comforted the now crying Noellia. "There, there, I'm also happy to see you again Noe, I'm happy that you're as eager as I am to finally meet you."

"I'm sorry that the ritual ended up causing your death! I never wanted to have it turn out that way!" Apologized Noellia while continuing to cry. Natalia laughed at how much she was expressing herself. "Don't worry much about it, dummy! I know that you've felt guilty over the whole incident, but you need to know that I never blamed you for anything that has happened."

"I would also like to thank you for taking care of my son, even though you didn't act as the best mother, but it wasn't your fault that it turned out how it did." Expressed Natalia as she kept trying to calm her down, as Noellia finally stopped crying Natalia then said. "Sheesh, you've cried more compared to when we both were still alive, you didn't cry this much when you got rejected b-"

"Don't mention his name!" She quickly yelled, completely over her previous outburst of tears. "But I'm happy that at the very least my daughters and your son will be able to live on happily now."

"Did she forget that they are in the middle of a war?" Wondered she as a sweatdrop could be seen running down her head. How Noellia was able to bring all the Gishki together despite being a very clumsy person was beyond her. "You mean OUR son right? You're also his mother since you've adopted him, so you should also include him when mentioning your children."

"You're right... it's just I feel like I don't deserve to call myself his mother, even when I said everything I wished to say to him, I still felt doubt in the back of my head." Noellia looked down, but Natalia shrugged it off. "Don't worry! If it weren't for you he wouldn't have had anywhere to go, so please, be assured that you are more of a mother to him than me."

Noellia smiled, she missed talking to her best friend, this was truly the best outcome for everyone. "Oh also, you still kept that medallion of the Ice Barrier right?" Asked Natalia. "Of course I did, it was one of the few objects I had left that still brought happy memories of when we were kids..."

The two of them spent time talking to one another in the white space.

---

"Mom..." Whispered Emilia as she saw her mother disappear, she looked down to see the Gishki mirrors that were used for rituals, alongside her staff. Avance on the other hand was conflicted, he saw how his mother truly felt and acted, she felt sorrow as to see her gone, but he felt anger towards the Steelswarm for what they have done to her. Once he calmed down, he took the mirror that her mother had left.

He then picked the staff and threw it to Emilia. "Here, we should at least have something to remember her...'' Said Avance. Emilia looked at him with sadness, but this wasn't the time to sulk and cry, they needed to continue onward. Rasalhague, who had finally arrived, then said. "I've received Virgo's message, could anyone lead me to Castor's body?"

When they looked at where Castor's body was, all they saw was his body starting to move, Issei and Avance took a guard stance, only for Pollux to put himself in the middle. "He's my older brother, I'll take care of him." Said Pollux. "Rasalhague, you're able to revive the both of us right?" Rasalhague then nonchalantly said. "Indeed, shouldn't be that hard to do, I just need to make sure I don't use to much of my power." Pollux didn't stop his march towards his brother as he said. "In that case, I'll just do the same as my dumb older brother did, in the meantime, Virgo, could you lend your powers to Rasalhague?"

Before she could say anything Pollux had sprinted towards his brother in an attempt to take him down. "But you could get infected..." As she said that, she facepalmed at how reckless the two brothers were. Lazuli looked at her and tried to cheer her up. "Hey! Don't worry, Pollux and Castor are at the same level of power right? If that's the case we should prepare to revive both of them first!"

Rasalhague calmly said. "That's the thing, while I may be able to revive them, I might end up infecting myself." In this situation, Virgo thought a bit about what to do, however, an idea came to mind. "What if I combine my powers with Lazuli?" She suggested.

Rasalhague looked at her baffled. "What? Why would you want to lend your powers to a Gem-Knight?" He didn't see the logic behind this decision, Virgo however, explained. "Lazuli has the odd ability of being able to use holy magic, if I lend her some of my powers, it should be enough to be able to revive both of them."

Rasalhague wanted to make sure she was sure about this decision. "Mmm, that would be enough... but are you sure? If this doesn't work you know that Pleiades is going to have a chat with you." Virgo didn't care however. "It'll be fine, Kaus already created the Vylon, and look how they turned out, a simple fusion shouldn't be enough to make him mad."

"If you say so, then go ahead." Accepted Rasalhague. Virgo went towards Lazuli, light started to shine as it engulfed Lazuli, Issei and the others had to block their view because of how bright it was, as the light died down, all they could see is a taller Gem-Knight with wings, decorated with the clothes of Virgo, yet Virgo was still present."Hey, Lazuli?" Asked Issei.

"Yes Issei?" Lazuli responded in her new body, but Rasalhague then intervened before Lazuli could get so excited about her new form, although she didn't seem quite sure about it. "Alright mind helping me with Pollux's and Castor's body before you go around trying your new powers?"

"Oh right, so what do I need to do?" Lazuli asked. "I'll tell you in a bit, could the others go towards the other tribes to check on them? I will be healing those wounded after." Rasalhague instructed the others, but Issei still had a question. "What about the Constellars and Dragunity outside? They must have noticed Trishula and the other two escaping from here."

"They will most likely be planning how to deal with them, once we finish healing everyone up, we should get out of here." From there, Rasalhague and Lazuli commenced their joint effort to revive Pollux and Castor. As they did, the mentioned groups finally went inside the castle to take care of the wounded and defeat any remnants of the Evilswarm within.

---

They all reunited outside of the castle, Avance, Pleiades and Zirconia were currently planning what to do, currently, their foe was the combination of the three Ice Barrier dragons alongside the hoards of Evilswarm.

As everyone waited, Issei decided to take a stroll around, it was his first time in Gishki territory, and so, he took the chance to look around the place. As he passed through the humid terrain, he found himself in front of Ariel."Oh, it seems like we meet again." Said Ariel. "Indeed, so... how have you been?" Responded Issei. They looked at one another, Issei could still remember when she kissed him on his cheek, it made him blush a bit as he was unsure how to continue with the conversation.

Ariel on the other hand decided to proceed with a question. "How... How is Winda by the way?" She was understandably concerned about her, despite how the past days had gone, both Winda and Ariel had similar feelings, they both felt guilt, worry, and so on.

"She's doing fine, she works as the chieftess of the tribe, so I don't think you need to worry." Replied Issei. "Uh... Ariel, I think you should go see her, to... you know, make amends?" The look on Ariel's face expressed hesitation and uncertainty.

"I'm not sure Issei, Winda saw what I did to her father, I can't look at her after what I-" Before she could finish that sentence, Issei cut her as he said. "Ariel, I know that you feel guilt, guilt for what happened, but Winda will forgive you. I've been there with her, and I can tell you, she feels just as guilty as you do." Gently said Issei as he smiled, he wanted to make sure Ariel didn't live on with regrets, he knew that Winda would forgive her.

He didn't wish for childhood friends to grow apart. His relationship with Irina was a strong one back then, but meeting her after so many years didn't feel right, it felt like he had missed so much of her life, and how she missed so much of his own. Could they go back like they were before? Possibly, but he wouldn't know until he tried.

"Then, could you accompany me? I don't really want to go alone..." Asked Ariel, Issei nodded in response, only for the blue haired girl to hold his hand as she took the lead. This made Issei blush even more as they walked towards where Winda was supposed to be.

They saw Winda talking to Reeze and a few other Gusto members. Once Winda noticed them, she tensed up as she saw Ariel, she then proceeded to widen her eyes as she saw Issei and Ariel holding hands. "It's good to see you both." Said she with a fake smile. "Is there any reason why you guys are holding hands?"

Issei looked away. "No particular reason.." He softly said with embarrassment, Ariel however, looked at Winda in the eyes intensively, to then bow her head. "Winda, I just want to say, I am sorry for what happened during the Great Marshlands, what I did to your father wasn't what it looked like, all I wanted to do was give him a painless death as he was dying from the mist." As she heard herself speak those words, she could do nothing but cringe at how it came out.

Winda looked at her in silence as Ariel started to feel her heart start beating rapidly, not knowing what she would say, she closed her eyes, expecting the worst. Winda however, knelt to the same height as Ariel. "After the tribe found my father's body, they discovered that he had died from the poison. So you can stop bowing Ariel, I don't blame you for what happened, instead, I blame myself for losing control and almost killing you."

"We've made a promise before, that we wouldn't hold any ill intentions to one another, no matter what would've happened, and I still wish to hold onto that promise." Pointed Winda out.

Issei sighed in relief. "Good to see that there is no bad blood between you." He commented. At the same time, it was somewhat weird, maybe it was because this was a different world, but forgiving someone from who used to be a foe, he was unsure if he would be able to do it.

"Uhm, anyways, I came back from talking with the other leader and they went to a few people who would be very important in this fight." This took the attention of both Ariel and Issei, as they both listened closely, Winda started explaining what was going to happen. "The Gusto alongside the Gem-Knights and Dragunity will be taking care of the Evilswarms around the battlefield, Dux, Roach's group and Issei will be in charge of the defense, in the meantime, most of the Gem-Knights, the Constellars, Avance, Ariel and me will be taking care of the dragons." Issei nodded in understanding, meanwhile, Ariel wished to know more details. "So which group will be taking which dragon?"

"You, Avance and I will be taking care of Bahamut, the Gem-Knights will be taking care of Ophion while the Constellars will be taking care of Ouroboros." Explained Winda. To Issei it seemed way too little to really be able to take them out, but they must have an impressive strategy if they could take them out with so few troops.

But then he thought a bit about the groups. "Wait, who's Roach?" Issei asked, not knowing who this new person was, Ariel responded, albeit with a bit of doubt to the question. "A Steelswarm who was purified with Vylon parts. None of us were able to talk to him, he was already out going up against the Evilswarm."

Zirconia and Pleiades finally called upon the masses as they tallied up every tribe. Zirconia then proceeded to explain the plan to everyone present, of which many already knew of, however, a certain bit of information took everyone as surprise as Pleiades declared the following. "Sir Zirconia alongside various of the Gem-Knights have volunteered to fuse together, we, the Constellars have also decided to fuse too."

Lazuli, full well of the implications, decided to object. "But Sir Zirconia! You've already fused yourself once, doing it more than once can not only burden your gem, but it may lead to you dying! Or-or even worse!"

"Lazuli, I understand how you feel, but right now, this is the only action I can do to make sure more people come out alive from this war." Calmly said Zirconia. "I will fuse myself with the other Gem-Knights to become a being that is able to even challenge the opponent."

"Pleiades, everything seems to be up and going, each of the Constellarknights is ready for the next step." Every single Constellar was currently in formation, awaiting their leader's orders.

"Just like the Gem-Knights mentioned, we will be fusing together to become a being also able to challenge the ice dragons, we will first fuse so that we can later grant enough power for the Gem-Knights when they do end up fusing, fortifying them in the process." Resumed Pleiades. "We must, however, move to the top of the Shrine of Mist Valley." As he mentioned the shrine, Kamui then said. "But that would make the Great Marshlands the battlefield! Won't that destroy our home?!"

Reeze tried to stop him from saying anything else, she knew that if this was the only way to stop the three dragons, so be it, but she also acknowledged that this meant that everything that Kamui was holding onto would disappear, first it was Falco, then his father, and now it was his home.

"I understand how you feel Kamui, but we need to accept that this is the only way." Reluctantly, Caam said, already accepting the demise of the village, the remaining Gusto members didn't say anything either, they were by far the weakest tribe present, and they didn't want to be selfish by making other tribes suffer.

Kamui was left with nothing else to say, as her sister was right, there was no other way around it. "In which case, let us begin with this operation." The Constellars and the Gem-Knights went together towards the Shrine of Mist Valley to commence their preparations, Kamui looked frustrated at how the war was developing, he felt weak, he felt like he couldn't do anything.

He saw that his sister was following the Gem-Knights instead of the Gusto Tribe. Confused, he tried to say. "Sis? Why are yo-"As Kamui tried to reach out to his sister, it dawned on him what was going on, wishing for it to not be true he looked at Caam.

In response Caam looked back with a bit of guilt, she knew what she was doing, leaving her brother alone in this world was the last thing she wanted to do, but if it meant that he could live to see another day, then it was worth it.

This was the last straw for him as he screamed out in anger. "SO YOU'RE GOING TO LEAVE ME LIKE DAD AND FALCO?! IS THAT IT?!" The yells took the attention of everyone as Kamui was now in the center stage, he started to cry as he continued to yell, plead, and question.

Issei looked at Kamui with sympathy, as he tried to go towards him to try and calm him down, he didn't have time as Kamui, with how furious he was, ran away from there. "Wait! Kamui hold on!" Tried to reach out Reeze, only to then follow suit as she went after Kamui. The atmosphere of the whole place had become awkward as they were left in silence, but they needed to move on.

Issei looked at Winda with a bit of concern. "Should we follow them?" Winda thought a bit about it, unsure of even her own decisions, but decided that the mission was more important. "N- No, I trust that Reeze will be able to help Kamui by herself, we need to move forward with this strategy."

They continued moving forwards towards the Great Marshlands once again. But deep inside Winda, there was this sort of doubt. "Am I… truly a good leader?" That thought had stayed with her for so long, during the first invasion of the Steelswarms, when he took up the position after her father's death, and right now. She didn't know if her decisions were the correct ones or not, during her time being a leader, she saw that the casualties had skyrocketed compared to when her father was the chieftain of the Tribe.

In the end, he wondered if Kamui or even Issei would have been better leaders.

Such a thought continued to burrow itself into her mind.

---

The Warrior House's leader was currently pursuing her childhood friend, as they went deeper into the forest of the Great Marshlands, they were getting closer to where the Ice Barrier dragons were supposed to be. "Kamui! Hey!" Attempted to call Reeze, as she kept trying to call for Kamui to get his attention, she wished to knock some sense into him, while still following Kamui, he finally snapped.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" He mustered the loudest scream he could create in an attempt to be left alone, he turned around to see Reeze with a look of shock and worry. "Can't you see what the hell is happening? My whole family decided to go and sacrifice their lives!" Ranted the green haired boy "They didn't care how the tribe would feel! Nor did they care about how it would affect their close ones!" Kamui started to cry even more as the tears dripped from his face. "Just why! Why am I so weak that others need to give their lives so that I could live!? Why did they do that for me?!" Questioned Kamui.

"It would have been better if they had continued to live on! I was ready to die on the battlefield! All I wanted was to make sure that everyone around me was safe! Yet the Goddess wanted to see me suffer! She made me see how each one of my close allies died one by one!" Kamui had broken down as he started to let out a gut wrenching scream as he had finally expressed all the emotions that were brewing inside him.

His surroundings started to darken, Kamui didn't care, he didn't know what the reason was, he didn't know what was going on, and he could have sworn he saw his father. But before he could hear what his father was about to say, he decided to muster one last yell of his own pains.

"I'm a total failure as a member of the Gusto Tribe! I couldn't do anything, I should have die-'' Before he could finish that sentence, Reeze's punch was all that he could feel as he was blown away from the impact, he fell to the ground as he rubbed the cheek that had been hit by Reeze. When he looked at Reeze, he saw that she was on top of him, all he saw was the tough girl that he knew since childhood crying. That darkness that was slowly closing onto him had disappeared completely.

"DON'T EVER SAY THAT AGAIN!" She went up to him as she grabbed his shoulders. "DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN!" She hugged him as tight as she could, never had she seen Kamui act this way, not even during the Trishula Incident had she seen someone she held dear act so pessimistic or downright self-destructive.

"What happened to the boy that would smile even during war?! I know that this is hard for you but you need to understand that you're not alone! You need to continue living, you idiot!" As she continued to cry onto Kamui's chest, the boy could be seen still surprised by the punch that was given to him.

"If I am not alone... Then who's there alongside me?" Kamui wanted to hear more, he wanted to believe that there were people to his side, he wanted, no, he NEEDED to listen to those sweet words, his sanity was low at this point as each death worsened the scar that he took mentally.

"You have your friends with you! Issei, Winda! The Gusto Tribe would be devastated if you were to die! You are the shining sun of the Gusto Tribe! You liven up the place like no one else can ever do! You're the hope of the Gusto, the one who was so keen on becoming the chieftain of the tribe!" Kamui was starting to tear up again, he needed this, he started to hug Reeze back as they both held each other for a long time now. "And most importantly..." Reeze got closer to Kamui's face, and as she did, the boy started to get confused.

Only to feel their lips connect.

It stunned Kamui to feel the lips of his childhood friend together with his, but it was a feeling that he liked, as they intensified the kiss both, Reeze started to put her hands on Kamui's face.

All that could be seen inside the forest was a boy and a girl kissing under a tree.

They finally stopped as they were catching their breath, as Reeze caressed Kamui. "You're the one that I love... If you were to die then... I-I wouldn't know what to do from that point forward... So please, let me be selfish and ask you to live on!" She desperately needed Kamui to continue forward, not just for the Tribe, but for her, she wanted to truly have an actual relationship with him, and maybe one day start a family.

Kamui felt conflicted inside him, he was happy yet confused at Reeze's sudden confession. "I... I promise... I promise that I will be by your side at any moment..." He accepted. Her smile filled him with joy as they both hugged yet again, this time as a couple.

"We... need to go back to the others right?" Kamui said, he started to smile again, Reeze nodded but they stayed in that position. "Just... promise me that... if you're even in danger... flee from the battle... Just please..." Yet even after talking and saying to go back, they stayed there.

---

"So this is where the final battle will start, right?" Issei asked Winda, they both took one last look at the Great Marshlands. They were about to depart from each other, while Issei was going to stay at the bottom of the Great Marshlands' terrain against the Evilswarm, Winda and the others who were going to battle against the infected Ice Barrier dragons in the air. "Yeah... Just make sure you exterminate all the Evilswarms..." Responded Winda. Still, Issei felt worry for everyone who would be going up against the ice dragons, in a way, he wished he would also participate in the battle, but according to Zirconia and Avance, it wouldn't be needed.

Winda noticed the frown on Issei's face. "You don't need to worry for me, we have the Constellars here! The heroes were told through many generations! Not only that, the past tribes were able to stop not only the Fabled but also all three dragons..." She smiled to make sure he didn't worry for her. "In fact, how about we promise each other something..." As she trailed off, Issei looked at her, not knowing what to expect.

"I know that you don't see me in any way or form in a romantic way, not when you don't seem to have gotten over the past... but I want you to see me that way, so once the war finished, how about we go out on a date? Just to give it a shot..." Requested Winda as she looked directly at Issei's eyes. This took Issei by surprise once again.

He, however, did not respond.

How could he? Was he truly ready to move on? Natsuki told him that it was fine if he found someone else, but he was unsure if he truly could love someone else again. Additionally, he was Yaldabaoth's harbinger, he followed Yaldabaoth's image of a perfect human, one without emotions, and so, he was unsure what to say, and who to follow.

Would he break Yaldabaoth's promise? Just to go back and do what Natsuki wanted him to do? To find someone else? Even after he had decided to ignore her wish?

When he tried to cope with Sayori's death, he had come to appreciate Natsuki, and so, he tried to make her happy, as a way to get through the death of his first crush. That however, backfired, as he ended up falling in love with her, and yet again, he was left with a broken heart.

Could he truly find love? He didn't know, yet he couldn't tell Winda that he loved her, just like when he first met that girl on the bridge, he was unsure if he would truly immediately accept such feelings from someone.

It wasn't because he didn't love her, no, he appreciated her, just like how he did with Natsuki, he had talked and conversed with her through the months ever since he had met her, they worked as a team through the coalition against Steelswarm and Vylons, they shared laughs and deep thoughts to one another, he was there in her worst moment, and she was there for when he finally opened up once again, he knew that they could trust each other's back no matter the circumstances.

He wished to think more about it, as his past love life simply didn't allow him to truly love her back, not without thinking of those he previously loved. He would be betraying Winda, he would be betraying that trust they had built over the course of the months they've been together, as friends, as companions, as teammates… They had built a beautiful relationship, and he didn't want to destroy the delicate relationship just to add something else to the mix.

He didn't want to love her just for his own selfish reasons, as hypocritical as that statement was, he couldn't love her so that he could move on. What he wished was to love her as who she was, with none of his past baggage holding him down, as he knew that would create friction between them.

He abstained from responding for that reason. Even if deep down... he knew this was what he needed at that moment, someone else to fill that void that even Natsuki knew would need to be filled by someone else. The fear of it not working out fed through his mind, he was not ready, or at least he believed to not be, and he didn't know how long he needed to finally be prepared to finally respond.

Winda's smile started to fade as she turned around. "Well, it was worth a shot... I'll give you some time to think about it! I hope to hear an answer when you're ready!" She tried to still be positive, it was the last thing she could say.

Meanwhile Issei was grasping his guandao with force, he was now unsure if he could keep Yaldabaoth's promise of becoming his harbinger, not when it was so hard for him to not yell out what he wanted to say, yet even then, he still didn't know the exact words that he wanted to say. Despite the fact that he tried so hard to distance himself emotionally from everyone, only with Winda did he actively try and help her.

He was stubbornly and blindly believing that this was the way to find his happiness, after all, when he did open up to others, he was met with pain. Yet at the same time, it felt like Yaldabaoth didn't care about him anymore, not after seeing the one who talked about throwing away emotions start tearing up.

In the end he didn't know what he truly wanted to do.

All he had was his blind faith in his god.

Ariel on the other hand saw what happened. She felt guilty yet again, guilt that she felt relieved that Issei didn't accept Winda's declaration, and yet, it also ached her. She knew very well that Issei didn't feel the same for her either, it pained her that Winda was closer to Issei than she was to him. In the end, she would have to take another step to gain his love, or else she would lose this battle.

But right now, the battle was more important, she needed to stay focused, if she failed here, then there would be no meaning to what had occurred up until now.

Issei simply walked towards the others, he would simply stay in the dirty ground as the people, that as much as he wished to deny it, he held dearly would put their life on the line, just so he and everyone else could live.

Ariel, Avance and Winda had already taken off as they reunited with Lazuli who was waiting near the shrine. As they descended, Avance looked around. "Where are the Gem-Knights and Constellars?" Asked the white haired boy as he tried to find any kind of sign that they were here. "They are at the top of the shrine." Responded Rasalhague, he walked towards them as he had been waiting for the remaining combatants in this battle.

"And why didn't you join them up there?" Ariel asked as it seemed like only one Gem-Knight and one Constellar were left behind at the bottom of the shrine. "Sir Zirconia told me to stay, I still don't have a pyroxene so fusing with them was a no go, meanwhile Rasalhague told Pleiades that he had other plans." Explained Lazuli, then Rasalhague included more details. "Not just us, Sir Pearl is also another one that didn't fuse with the others, apparently he declined as it would be better if he helped us take Bahamut, since he was concerned that all of you weren't enough force to defeat it."

In truth, Pearl was there with the other three when talking about their planning, in the end, Pearl had decided to make sure the ones that were closest to Issei survived against Bahamut. It was the only thing he could do before he cut ties completely with him.

Suddenly, they saw that on top of the Shrine of Mist Valley was a dragon, it was cut in half, and yet it kept moving in a circle, creating the illusion of a ring of light which had an unknown language written on it. Rasalhague then commented. "It seems like Pleiades and the others were able to fuse together, now let's see how the Constellar Belt will lend its powers to the Gem-Knights." Upon the mention of the Gem-Knights a rainbow pillar shot to the sky as a knight could be seen floating, it was Crystal, not Zirconia, then around him were the other Gem-Knights alongside Caam.

One by one their gems were ripped out of their chest as they embedded themselves into a claymore. Aquamarine, Amethyst, Citrine, Ruby, Topaz and Caam were the ones that had their gem ripped out of them. Winda looked at Caam with sadness as she knew that she was no longer alive.

"Everyone, I think we should not waste time and prepare for the battle!" Avance snapped out of his amazement from seeing the Constellars and the Gem-Knights fuse together. They all mounted their own rides as they went up the shrine

Meanwhile Rasalhague stayed behind as he looked at Pearl, he had his own suspicions. "For what reason did you not fuse with the others? Don't lie to me, I know you have your own agenda."

Pearl stood there as he finally started moving towards the stairs. "I would have been a nuisance had I combined myself with them, I do not want to be bound to someone like that..." He took one step after another, yet inside his head he was reminded of Issei. "Yet I bound myself to him..."

Rasalhague knew he was lying, and yet, he let it go, there was no point questioning the decisions of allies when they were so close to engaging in battle, they simply needed to adapt to the situation.

Lazuli, who was the first one to get on top of the shrine, looked at Crystal's new form. "Zirconia! Or Crystal! How do you feel?" Asked the young Gem-Knight. The newly formed Gem-Knight looked at her a bit confused as he had just been formed. "I feel stronger... I sense the past of each one of the gems in this sword... You may call me Master Diamond." The now named Master Diamond was still trying to get used to his new transformation. "This weapon… it has the same feeling as the one Issei has."

"I would like for us to stop talking as we must take care of the ice dragons." The Constellar dragon said as it looked at the three enemies that were rushing towards them. "If you need to name me for anything, then call me Ptolemy M7!" The now called Ptolemy M7 rushed at the Ouroboros dragon as they had started their fight. Meanwhile Master Diamond grabbed the claymore as he lunged himself towards Ophion, Winda and Ariel reacted quickly as they both casted wind and ice to block the incoming attack of Bahamut that was directed towards Avance.

Pearl jumped high into the air once he got through all the stairs, as he descended he landed on Bahamut, he then started punching the dragon, while the attacks were making it flinch, they weren't enough to make it stop flying as it tried to get Pearl off its back.

Once it was able to dismount Pearl, the Gem-Knight then started to fall from a great height, Ariel on top of her summoned creature ordered it to shoot a beam of water, but as it did, the stream started to freeze as Avance had casted a spell to turn it into ice, said stream turned into a huge icicle that crashed against Bahamut.

Then Ariel casted a waterfall which soaked the dragon completely, it was then followed by Winda who casted lightning, electrocuting the dragon as it finally went down, however, the three continued as Avance created many icicles on the floor.

Pearl grabbed onto a tree to stop his fall, once he did, he got on top of it just to see the dragon fall onto the icicles, Pearl then proceeded to jump from that tree and slammed his fist onto the Evilswarm Brionac. It roared in pain as he then apprehended it by holding it by the neck.

As he made sure it was unable to move, both Ariel and Avance pulled out a Gishki Mirror as they started to cast a seal so that it couldn't move anymore. Bahamut started getting frozen again as chains wrapped around it.

Meanwhile Master Diamond was struggling a bit against Ophion as he had no way of attacking it in the air, yet despite that he swung his sword with strength that created sharp slashes of wind, the power of Caam still was inside of him as he continued to shoot more wind blades alongside thunder.

Lazuli on the other hand was fairing better as she flew over Ophion and pierced through its skin with her light sword, it cried in pain as its focus was changed onto her. She then lured the dragon into a lower level so that Master Diamond could attack with more ease.

And with ease he did as while Ophion was following Lazuli at great speeds, Master Diamond swung his sword with all his might, doing a direct hit which heavily damaged the Evilswarm, yet that wasn't enough to defeat it.

Thankfully as the others were able to defeat Bahamut quickly, Pearl quickly went towards Ophion as he punched it on its head, making it crash down onto the floor as debris went flying.

However, even in land it was able to attack others, it used its claws against Master Diamond who parried them with his blade, Avance and Lazuli went behind it as they both stabbed their swords into it, Winda then used the wind to stack boulders on top of it. Ariel then pulled the Gishki Mirror as she casted yet again with Avance, they successfully immobilized it.

Now all that was left was to take care of the last one, Trishula, or Ouroboros as it is called now. However, they saw Ptolemy M7 still struggling a lot against it. Without fear each one of them rushed to help the Constellar.

The dragon shot from its mouth blasts of darkness that disintegrated anything it touched, despite that they disappeared upon making contact with what they hit, Ariel summoned various icicles and shot them towards the projectiles of the dragon. Unfortunately she wasn't able to make sure all of them extinguished as the three heads continued to shoot even more.

Winda used her winds to lift many objects from the ground and threw them against the Ouroboros dragon, Avance was unable to get closer as he was having trouble maneuvering around on top of the Gishki mount, meanwhile Lazuli and Pearl could only watch as they couldn't do anything to damage it.

Master Diamond however jumped high in the air as the dragon was distracted, he was able to cut one of its heads as Ptolemy M7 ripped another. Yet despite their efforts two new heads regenerated.

The dragon then started attacking aggressively, as it did, the blasts that it shot finally started hitting the zone around them. Winda alongside her companion stopped flying as the blasts were too much for them.

Unfortunately Ariel was not as lucky as her mount was disintegrated by one of the blasts, before she realized it, she was falling to the ground once again. "Ah... it seems time no one is here to save me this time..." As she continued to fall she wished that Issei was there to catch her yet again, but she knew that it was impossible. "Avance... please keep Emilia safe..."

"And Winda... please make Issei happy."

Winda and Avance shouted in despair as they saw Ariel fall to her death, Lazuli grabbed both of them as she made them duck another blast, which almost hit them, Rasalhague could be seen healing Winda's companion as it was exhausted.

Winda pleaded for Rasalhague to go and revive Ariel, but nothing could be done as he had no idea, nor time to go where she was. Ptolemy M7 and Master Diamond continued to battle against the dragon, but suddenly it went up into the sky.

Lazuli on the other hand, could only admire the destruction the dragon had created upon the Great Marshlands. She had this feeling ever since the war between the Gishki and Gusto resumed.

That she wasn't ready for war.

She was ready to fight for her tribe, she was ready to fight any enemy that was stronger than her, but she was not ready to lay witness to the atrocities war could force people into doing.

"I… don't think I can watch this anymore…" She whispered as she trembled. Perhaps her sister had the right idea of staying in the backlines.

No, she shouldn't waver now, she was a Gem-Knight, she needed to gain experience through what was in front of her. Even if she wasn't the best warrior amongst her peers, she still was a warrior nonetheless.

Even if she was weak, she wouldn't falter in the face of danger.

"Is it charging an attack now?!" Master Diamond looked as a giant purple ball of destruction grew in size, he was starting to get worried as it seemed like it was getting closer. The Constellar dragon however said. "Master Diamond, I am putting my faith in you, I will stop the blast from hitting the shrine."

"Hey wait a sec-" Before he could finish, Ptolemy M7 had already taken flight into the air as it was going directly to the orb of death, yet before he could make contact with it, he was pushed down as he saw Pearl holding onto his tail. "Pearl?! What are you doing here?!"

"To be the fool that I truly am." He pushed down the Constellar as he put himself between the sphere and his ally, the many orbs around him that he had created beforehand blocked the attack as he was able to pass through albeit with parts of his body missing as he got onto the face of the Ouroboros all he could do was say his last words. "You've done more than Lucifer and Satanael could ever do."

An explosion ensued as the Ouroboros dragon started falling. Meanwhile the remains of Pearl couldn't be found anywhere as he had used the last of his body to sacrifice himself. Rapidly, the others moved immediately to seal away the dragon.

---

Yaldabaoth opened his eyes once again, this time he was no longer in the body of Pearl, but instead, in the body that he used when accompanying Issei.

In a way, he had died.

Getting disintegrated would have usually left him floating as he would be back to being a spirit, but that would have happened if they were back on Issei's world. This was the world he had created back then, or atleast a version of him did it was then edited by Sophia, and so, the laws were different.

He knew that he had planned something if he ever came to this world.

He looked forward, just to see a not so unfamiliar being, Tierra, though she wasn't the one people of this world would remember. This was a shell, it lacked the main parts, of which were being held by the Gem-Knights.

He knew they would die one day, and so, he didn't need to act, not when they could still help Issei train.

He sat in front of the hollow creature. "So, it's just you and me now uh?" Said the false god to no one in particular. "You know, we may be the same person, but we've had different lives."

"..."

"There is also another thing I wish to say."

"I would like to be called Saklas from now on if you don't mind Tierra."

"After all, that is the name Sophia gave me."

"..."

"You see, it means, The Fool, quite fitting don't you think?"

"..."

"I blame everything that has happened to me on them..." Ranted Saklas. "If it weren't for the fact I was so weakened, I would have already gone and killed every single devil and fallen angel in Issei's world."

"They are the result of my sins... of how powerless I was to save my daughter and everyone else..."

"..."

"There's a lot I need to tell you, you may be me and I may be you, but you have no idea what I'm talking about." Pointed out The Fool. "See, one of my archons was originally called Astaphaios... or was it Sabaoth? Actually I think it was both names, but basically they were the ones that screwed me over with my mother."

"..."

Saklas then sighed. "I've used so many names that at this point I'm not sure who I am, I only know that this form I am taking is of Adam."

"..."

"It doesn't matter, my identity has already been lost the moment Issei decided to break away from his fate, in fact, even the name Saklas isn't my real name."

"..."

"Right, you don't know it, each time Issei dies, this System basically ends up having to restart itself from the beginning, basically erasing everything to then recreate the universe up to that moment while giving Issei his memories, and by extension me, by doing so it damages the universe."

"..."

"The system basically has to rip away parts of various universes just so that it can create a continuous stream that tries to be cohesive. This world may have actually replaced the one Rizevim had tried to contact actually..."

"..."

"I sometimes wonder if I was truly part of Draconic Deus or not, you know? What if my daughter isn't actually my daughter? What if she was turned into my daughter after I was added by the System?"

"..."

"The Writer's System is ripping apart reality, trying to stitch together various worlds so that Issei can continue to be part of a story... He was able to escape his destiny, and now, he is being punished for it."

"..."

"So yeah, that's everything I've got to say other me. Would you like me to tell you what happened to me to want revenge?"

"..."

"Alright then, where to start..."

---

Issei had completely swept every single enemy around the Great Marshlands, despite that, he knew that there were some casualties, from the Dragunity, to Naturia, which had joined them as they were close to where they were.

He saw as the last one of the Ice Barrier dragons was brought down. The others cheered on in victory. This was it, they had finally won against the Evilswarm... And yet he was still thinking about Winda's confession.

Before he could go back to thinking about it, the Writer's System had given him a quest, which he knew was going to be important... But maybe not this important.

Quest #4

Second Coming

Condition: Defeat Sophia

Failure: None

The winds started to blow heavily as he saw Winda and the others coming towards them. Yet he knew something was wrong, as he quickly closed the gap and went to them, the ground started to rumble as if an earthquake was happening.

The Shrine of Mist Valley was breaking as slowly tints of orange and white appeared. Issei saw as a large creature started moving, he knew who this was, he felt this presence before, even though he had never seen it before.

It was Sophia.

And before he could react, Sophia had used her powers to completely annihilate the zone. On her hands were two orbs, one made of light, and another made of darkness, as she closed her hands together, the zone was then engulfed by a sphere of gray.

All Issei could do was scream Winda's name as he tried to grab her hand.

Only to be blown back by the blast.

(A/N)

This twist with Yaldabaoth may seem that it came out of nowhere, it contradicts with what was said in the last arc, but I had this planned since the beginning, after all, the descriptions foreshadowed this very moment with its last line.

This is still Persona 5 Yaldabaoth, I've added quite the twist inside which is already hinted in this very chapter, given the fact DxD takes place before the period of P5 based on the technology and such.

In which case, there is def stuff you can guess will happen at the end of this arc related to Yaldabaoth.

And also, yes, Winda and Ariel fell in love with Issei. Too bad Ariel is dead now... It's just Winda now... Yeah you already know what's going to happen to her. But anyways 1 more chapter and we are done with the first part of this arc.

That being said,the next chapter will possibly be the "You either drop it or continue '' for most people, as it's going to go down.

Also also, I rushed a bit with the story I know, but I am not good with fighting scenes and it would be annoying to make the chapters larger when action isn't really the main point. Either way, I hope it is still good to read.

Limbus Company content was also added, and yes, the elements of Genshin replaced the sins, because, come on, they are literally based after Gnosticism.

Books of Ayin and Yesh are Kabbalah related btw, and Kamui was so close to distorting if you couldn't guess.

Archetypes that debut (I think) in this chapter are Ice Barrier and Star God, latter being a series which include Tierra and Sophia.

When it comes to scrapped content, there actually isn't much. Maybe just different ways of how things could have gone, in fact, Gishki Chain is supposedly Lavalval Chain, who fused together with all the Lavals, which is incredibly disturbing since all I can think of is Love Town, but either way, Phlogis is such a weird character because in the Duel Terminal lore it says he's the only one who survived yet we never hear about him ever again. If you play Nekroz and saw one of the cards, you know why I made him appear now alongside the other two.

And I think that is all, I'll see y'all next update.

PS: You'll start to see a shit ton of Project Moon related references and content in the next chapter. So be wary of spoilers