The Grand Crossover RP - Pathway to Origin [IC/PG-13/Moved to NCM for Finale]

[Phantom Roxas]

Arthur / MirageGaogamon / Eria

MirageGaogamon stood still, much to Arthur's surprise.

"What's wrong?" Arthur asked.

"Arthur," MirageGaogamon said. "I know we agreed to an alliance, but we simply can't allow her to live after what she did."

"MirageGaogamon, please, not now!" Eria called out.

MirageGaogamon shook his head. "I'm sorry, Eria, but this is something I must do." Without another word, MirageGaogamon took off, dashing towards Jeriii in a few seconds. However, the speed at which he moved made him feel nauseous.

Arthur looked down, seeing Jeriii, before staring up at MirageGaogamon. "I told you, now's not the time!"

MirageGaogamon said nothing, simply looking at Jeriii and awaiting her command.
 

***

Eria tried to turn back to help Arthur, but they could barely see through the darkness. As Eria got closer, however, she felt a spear run through her arm. Looking up, Eria could see the vague outline of a Troy, and although Feraligatr was able to punch it apart, Eria was holding her arm in pain, barely able to form an ice platform beneath her feet. Flygon circled around her, keeping any Troys away from her, while the ice platform that Feraligatr was standing on was slowly thinning.

Eria held out her hand towards Feraligatr, trying to reinforce the platform, but her own platform crumbled beneath, and as it did, Eria fell down, and as she was unable to maintain Feraligatr's platform, the Pokémon began to fall down as well. Flygon swooped down after Eria, but Eria was not able to see Feraligatr, so her ice platforms were unable to reach him in time.

As Feraligatr fell down, however, he summoned a waterfall of pure water directly below him, keeping him elevated. "Heh, like I'm to be taken down so easily." However, at the base of the waterfall, the infected waters began to blend into the water that Feraligatr had created, the darkness creeping up, with Feraligatr none the wiser. Eventually, the dark waters began to wrap around Feraligatr's feet, dragging him downward. "What the-?!" Feraligatr muttered as he could feel himself by pulled by the water. "H-HEEEELP!"

Flygon lifted up Eria so that she can sit on his back, but the two of them heard Feraligatr's cry for help. Flygon found Feraligatr and began to fly towards him, while Eria was shaking off the pain in the arm. Eria held out her uninjured arm, and Feraligatr reached out to her, but the dark water enveloped Feraligatr completely, pulling him down until he was submerged into the abyss.

[The Warden]

The Reaper waited patiently, but like the obedient dog that he was, Mirage returned to face her, and of course, brought with him what she desired. "That cut was unforgiveable Arthur Ancyl. Yes, I can see your surprise as to how I know your full name, and rather the fact that I know a shockingly large amount about you to boot. Born of the god Apollo, he spent his miserable life with foster parents who held him like a slave. He thought he was a hero, but all he did was cause misery to his true family once he knew them. It's cute you know?" she commented in an off-handed way.

 

But her off-handedness merely masked her intent, as she made casual eye contact with Mirage. "Hold him down, crush him if need be but do minimal damage. Present his neck to me as an offering to your Mother" she said mentally to ADR-10.

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

Nero

 

Nero was wondering about what his next move should have been. Does he follow Sora into battle with the familiar or does he go after the source of the chaos, LERNA. He made up his mind and flew full force at one of LERNA's heads, he stopped just before it and swept to the right as to confuse the head. With a powerful upward swing and a grunt from his mouth, Nero hoped to land a hit on the with and also hoped that there would be no strange tricks. If the keyblade connected, it would feel as if a missile had exploded directly on the head he was aiming for....

Matthew Supplex (Within Nero)

 

"So he's going directly for the witch, eh, going full force like that is definitely not something I would have done, no sir." It had said, Matthew chose again not to respond, because he knew it would lead to much more harm than good. "He's likely to die going off like that, he's obviously far too reckless an uncaring to ever be an asset." Matthew turned to it and gave it a frown. "My god, do you ever shut up." It smiled, it had Matthew's attention now and that was all he needed. "Well well, look who's a regular chatter box now." Its clothes fell off to reveal a black skinned demon with golden eyes and a tail much more sinister looking than a serpent. Matthew drew his revolver and shot a devastating bolt of lightning at the demon but when the smoke cleared the demon was standing unharmed. "Don't you remember whose skin you trot around in from time to time. Don't tell me you forgot how strong the original is?" He laughed a laugh of evil and lunged at Matthew with great force...

[Merci]

Emiya

 

Although it did seem like a fair plan, Thermopylae ended up subverting it by turning the 'arrow that shall never miss' into ash, and though they still had as much destructive force as thrown rocks, they harmlessly brushed past her body. She quickly prepared her own counterattack, summoning up fifty javelins supported by an equal amount of Witch's familiars and bursts of flames, each of which having about the same force as missiles. The Counter Guardian was capable of copying them, but it would cost too much mana on his part, leaving him no choice but to go onto the defensive.

 

"RHO AIAS!" Emiya cried out, thrusting both of his arms forward.

 

Right then, a seven-layered force field in the shape of iridescent flowers materialized in front of him, being the conceptualized sublimation of the shield Aias used to defend against Hector's spear. Each and every layer had the defensive capability of a heavily-fortified wall, and all in all, it was his greatest defense against any projectile. But the question of whether or not it could withstand something equivalent to fifty missiles was something else entirely, something that had yet to be tested.

 

As the first waves hit, it came suddenly and violently, crashing against the outermost petal of his defense without restraint. It took about seven or eight javelins to pierce into the sixth layer, and as it shattered, Emiya could feel searing-hot pain rush through his body, though he withstood it. The same principle applied when they tore further into the fifth, then the fourth, then the third layers, and all the while he endured the damage to his body. By the time they had penetrated into the final petal, there were only eight javelins left. The powerful projectiles crashing into his final defense, it took the very last one to shatter it, effectively negating the onslaught.

 

It was Emiya's turn again, and he knew that in order to defeat his opponent, he would have to try something else.

 

"Deathly Hallow - Cloak of Invisibility."

 

And then, he vanished.

 

 

---

 

 

As the water Pokemon  drowned into the dark depths of the ocean, it took hardly any effort at all for the despair to overcome this extremely insignificant Class 1 Entity. Consuming his consciousness within seconds, replacing the concept of his body with a far more appropriate one for his state, the creature that was once known as 'Feraligatr' was no more. In its place, a strangely-shaped and larger-than-normal Troy emerged from the waters and lashed out. Unlike when Itsu became Thermopylae, there had been absolutely nothing to preserve what he once was, and this familiar was just as feral as many of the other Troys. Uncaring. Lacking a consciousness.

 

The only thing that could be done now was to put it out of its misery, and free whatever remained of its blackened soul.

 

 

---

 

 

 

More and more entities were advancing around her, hardly any of which she found notable. The MirageGaogamon seemed to be a pseudo-Class 3, but she could not see him capable of activating the orb. She could sense that a weak-willed entity had fallen into the waters and became another familiar, but she found this so insignificant that she paid it absolutely no heed. Perhaps slightly more important was the resistance that the Butler-Ragnarok entity kept putting up. Her two heads tore through the Graviraga and Reflaga within three seconds, but by then her third head had already chomped down upon him. However, he still resisted in persistence, refusing to let his form be consumed by the Chaos. And indeed, she recognized the danger of keeping him within, for his Mad Blood was highly corrosive to her body, whether or not she liked to admit it.

 

Quickly deciding upon a next plan of action, she reached out to Darcy again - and was met with surprisingly dense mental resistance, but by focusing her efforts, she was able to tear through by utilizing the many despairs deep in the witch's heart. Taking her powers once more, this time LERNA required something far more sophisticated, and in such a way that it was almost impractical. The Chaos reverted back to ordinary blood, but then, straightaway, she used the ability of Astral Projection to project a smaller version of one of her heads within another, and like a filter, used its powers to shove out the Butler-Ragnarok entity and all of his Mad Blood from her own throat before he could cause any more damage. However, she made sure to attempt vaporizing him with an intense beam of darkness, just to see if it would work.

 

Now that he was out of the way, LERNA was about to put her focus back to the battle with her Class 3 familiar only to be interrupted by a black-flamed icicle that had been fired from the nearby Class 2 vampire Lyon. Unamused, she stopped in place, opened up her mouth and destroyed it with another beam of darkness---

 

That was when the very worst moment in her entire existence occurred.

 

An entity incomprehensible even to her entered her range slightly, and executed a ridiculous amount of tactics. Sending an extraordinary amount of indestructible, unnatural dark matter at her, this in itself was insignificant, but she found that gravity was being manipulated close to her own core to have them accelerate to ridiculously tremendous speeds. Understanding the danger fully, it seemed that the only option was to copy the vector manipulation powers of this sudden near-Class 4 Entity, but she could feel the complex being launching an impressive mental assault upon the mass of despair called her 'mind', and while it was possible to overcome it, she simply did not possess the time to do so.

 

The Witch of Infinite Possibilities had no choice but to run. Using the amazing speed she possessed within her own realm, she dived into the dark abyss below, the huge masses of dark matter following her into it, and all combined it caused a huge shockwave of the corrupt water to ripple through the ocean, engulfing many nearby panels within a hundred-meter radius for a moment or two.

 

As soon as LERNA disappeared into the waters, the Divine Hell may have found itself - shockingly enough - incapable of reaching out into the waters and feeling her presence any further. How could it ever? Attempting to search for her presence like this would be like attempting to pick out a single grain of sand on a beach. The oceanic despair below was far beyond the reach of anyone but the most omniscient of entities, and within it, the existence of 'indestructible materials' were unraveled and corrupted before being absorbed into the barrier. No, nothing could penetrate the ocean. Not even a god. And apart from the torrent of dark matter raining down upon the ocean, there was nothing to indicate the presence of LERNA.

 

Yet.

 

After a moment of silence, a ghostlike version of LERNA emerged out from the waters, tearing away the panels and shrugging off all other damage in the process, before flying up towards the thing called the Divine Hell. Being only an astral projection, it could not copy powers like the real LERNA could, but its brute strength was more than enough. Charging forth at speeds equal to or superior to that of the dark matter without any enhancements, it literally smashed through the shield before fading away.

 

In that same instant, the true Witch of Infinite Possibilities reemerged from the waters and this time reached out for a new person to copy - and that was the being called Lyon von Mira. Forcing her presence through him and copying all of his abilities, she quickly readjusted the principle of water manipulation to fit the waters of her own realm. Once that was done, she took control over her own ocean and sent torrents of pure, liquid despair straight at the defenseless near-Class 4 Entity, SCREAMING OUT  AN INHUMAN SCREAM WITH ALL EIGHT HEADS ALL THE WHILE, HOPING TO HAVE IT BE CONSUMED BY HER DESPAIR AND BECOME ANOTHER FAMILIAR EVEN MORE POWERFUL THAN THERMOPYLAE.

[Phantom Roxas]

Arthur & MirageGaogamon

 

Arthur was irritated that Jeriii spoke about his family and his experiences as if she completely understood him. However, what was important right now was that MirageGaogamon had quickly turned Arthur in his hand so that he was holding him tight, lifting his index finger so Jeriii would be able to reach his neck. Calling forth his Keyblade, MirageGaogamon let go a little bit, annoyed as the Keyblade poked at him. Breaking himself free, Arthur leapt out of MirageGaogamon's hand, but his partner reached out to grab Arthur again. Arthur pointed his Keyblade out at MirageGaogamon, but just as the Fire spell was about to be unleashed, he turned around, knowing that MirageGaogamon would appear behind him. MirageGaogamon shrugged off the flames and once again reached out for Arthur, but just before he did, Arthur used his sunlight to blind MirageGaogamon, if only for a little bit.

 

With what light he had been able to generate, Arthur found an ice platform, and Arthur needed a way to get to it before fast. Pointing his Keyblade downward, Arthur cast a Fire spell, propelling himself into the air, and landing right on the ice. "What's wrong with you?!" he cried out to MirageGaogamon. Taking out his Digivice, he tried to find a way to stop MirageGaogamon. "Come on, come on," he said to the Digivice. "Even after that freaky doctor fixed this, there's got to be something." The light was fading, and MirageGaogamon was already recovering from Arthur's stalling tactic, so he lunged forward with one hand one each side of Arthur, ready to capture him by any means necessary. With no other option, Arthur held up his Digivice directly at MirageGaogamon, creating another light, but this was a different kind. It wasn't sunlight; instead, the light was emanating from the screen on the Digivice, bathing MirageGaogamon in its warm glow. Smiling that the Digivice seemed to be effect, Arthur was nonetheless determined to be sure that whatever was making MirageGaogamon act this way would be stopped. Arthur pointed his Keyblade at MirageGaogamon, causing light to form at the tip of the Keyblade that fired a beam directly at MirageGaogamon. The combined powers of the Digivice and the Keyblade to affect all of MirageGaogamon's being, and they began to affect ADR-10 as well. "Stay down, MirageGaogamon!"

[The Warden]

The Reaper groaned in frustration again. The boy was by far too tenacious and obnoxious for his own good; and that weapon of light he possessed was a very dangerous thing. But it would seem, he was not even very aware of what new powers she had obtained. She flickered out of existence from where she was, according to both Mirage's and Arthur's perceptions.

 

In reality, this was naturally Aerial Ace, which she used to move to behind Arthur. Being directly by the ice platform she held her right hand out, and a purple aura formed around it as the gem on her forehead turned purple. The same aura surrounded Arthur. "Stand down!" she commanded, using the Psychic attack to hold Arthur.

 

Slowly, but surely she forced his hands apart until he was standing in the crucifix position. "Now be a good boy and drop your weapon" she said in a soothing tone, though it just sounded creepy.

 

She was using major force to influence the hand that held the Keyblade, and it was slowly letting go.

[Kingdom Xathers]

Melvin, in spite of himself, let loose a whimsical-yet-meaning-to-be-diabolical laugh at BlackWarGreymon's request. "Oh, sure, and what else from your Christmas List would you like to ask for? Face it, binkie-boy, you ain't getting any piece of me as long as I've got these bozos holding me hostage--!"

 

"He's all yours," blurted Russell Oxford with a shrug.

 

"HomoSayWHAT?!"

 

"Dude, like we need t' explain ourselves," Marzell replied. "You're just a lot more trouble for us than you're worth, so what's the point of even keepin' you around?"

 

"You're just saying that 'cuz--!"

 

Melvin was immediately cut off as Marzell pointed the barrel of an axehead-bayonetted sawn-off shotgun in his face. "Another word, and I'm blastin' that pretty-boy face of yours into the Dip. Got it?!"

 

"No, not my face!" Melvin protested hysterically. "Aside from my sexy, girlish figure and rediculous hairstyle, this face of mine is my claim to fame--you think I'm pretty?"

 

"Yeah, hold that thought," Russell spoke up as he approached Melvin with a roll of duct tape, which he proceeded to apply to the psychopathic blabbermouth's, err, mouth. "There, now we can all hopefully get some peace and quiet. Now," he continued as he handed the struggling Melvin over to BlackWarGreymon, "as long as you promise not to send him back to us, we can consider us even." With that, Russell and Marzell turned their attention away from (the possibly confused) BlackWarGreymon and returned to the Duelhog, with the now unconscious Foster currently restrained in the passenger seat. "Hopefully, Umbris can find a way to snap Foster out of this," Russell muttered as he climbed into the driver's seat, while Marzell manned the turret.

 

---

 

Even though his surroundings were almost pitch-black, Lucario's Aura allowed him to see everything around him. Even his friend Feraligatr as he was about to be consumed by the dark water. "FERALIGATR!!" Lucario's thoughts were transmitted by his Aura for all nearby to hear (especially Jeanne). Fearing the worst, Lucario impulsively executed an Extreme Speed attack, launching himself toward Feraligatr, despite being so far away from him. Lucario hoped that he could reach Feraligatr before the worst could happen. He extended a paw, intent on grasping Feraligatr by the arm, leg, tail, just wherever, and pull him out of the water surrounding him....

 

... all for naught.

 

The cocoon of dark liquid dispersed to reveal that Feraligatr was no more, instead having become a Troy, much larger than the others they'd been fighting. The horror that seized Lucario's heart was almost instantaneous. "No... not again...." He hadn't time to begin grieving, however; he noticed that Eria was closeby, also having tried reaching for Feraligatr and was now about to be on the receiving end of "Troyligatr's" attack. Thinking fast, Lucario channeled his Aura into readjusting his trajectory, having him swerve around and grabbing hold of Eria just as Troyligatr's spear reached them; the spear just barely grazed one of the sensors on the back of Lucario's head. Thankfully, this did not harm him, But Lucario still had another problem to deal with; there was no platform nearby for Lucario to safely land on. Thinking quickly once more, Lucario caught sight of Flygon and, using his Aura once more, contacted Flygon, hoping his Dragon-Type friend would catch them in time....

 

---

 

Alexander's heart just about dropped into the pit of his stomach--it would have even fallen into the watery abyss below if it could--upon hearing the words spoken earlier by Arthur: "... I... tsu...?"

 

"Alex, what's wrong?" Ratchet asked, worried when Alexander suddenly stopped moving about, thus having to fire another Devastator round into an oncoming Troy.

 

"He said... he said that... that doll-like figure is...."

 

"But... that can't be right...!"

 

Alexander wanted to agree with Ratchet, in fact hoping against all hope that what he was seeing wasn't the Goddess he had known for so long. His heart, however, only confirmed what he was trying to deny so fiercely: Itsu Fudo... was no longer who she once was.

 

 

"Alex! What are you doing here?!? How did you get here?!? This is incredible!!! I missed you!!!"

 

"I missed you, too, Itsu. I never thought I'd ever see you again."

"This... this can't be happening...," Alexander's voice croaked, tears beginning to run down his face as he clutched his head. "No... this isn't right...."

 

Unbeknownst to the lombaxes below, Sayer was viewing Alexander's emotional breakdown, almost relishing in the despair that his lombaxian nemesis was spiraling into. "Ahh, yes... this is most delicious indeed," he whispered to himself, a rather malicious smile growing wide on his face. "Let's see just how far he'll descend...."

 

"Alex!" Ratchet called out, but was stopped by Azimuth grabbing him by the arm. "Alister! We have to help--!"

 

"Something's happening with him," Alister replied tersely but with concern, keeping a protective arm around the younger lombax. And indeed, something was happening; the space around Alexander seemed to almost warp, somehow increasing the pressure in the air. This phenomenon was also producing a quiet, yet shrill ringing in the air, which seemed to be growing steadily louder with each second.

 

"First... my father...," Alexander sobbed, perhaps unaware of what was happening, "then Galen... ... now Itsu... ... ... everyone I've ever loved is disappearing, why...? This... isn't... hah... my head... ... burning... ... ... no... ... no... No, no, NO...." By this point, the ringing had grown to an almost shrill level, only being surpassed by LERNA's own screaming. And then... all was suddenly silenced. T'was as if the very molecules in the air had ceased movement, forcing any sound to become almost mute.

 

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

 

 

"... ...!!! Ratchet, get down!" Alister grabbed the young lombax and his little robot, dragging them both down onto their shared platform and covering their heads.

 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

 

Alexander unleashed a howl of intense emotion, of sadness, confusion and anger, and with it a burst of freezing cold energy which, while simply chilling to most everyone else inside the witch's barrier, had another effect that not even Sayer, LERNA, Emiya or Isamy would ever have anticipated: the sea of literal despair beneath them was beginning to freeze over, giving off a faint glow as it crystalized.

 

As soon as he was sure it was over, Alister held his head up to look towrd Alexander, now standing rigidly, his face emotionless and cold, while his emerald green irises shone a faint, icy-blue glow as they gazed toward Thermopylae....

[Phantom Roxas]

Arthur & MirageGaogamon

 

Arthur froze as Jeriii commanded, floating up into the air and dropping the Keyblade, which vanished once it hit the platform. Arthur tried to move his body to fight back against Jeriii, but it was no use. He tried to hold the Digivice tightly, refusing to let that guy, no matter what.

 

MirageGaogamon was holding his head, feeling the influence of ADR-10 weakening. "Arthur…" he said quietly, remembering how Arthur called out to him. He could see Jeriii holding her hand up to keep Arthur in place, and he realized that this was his chance to strike her down. "LET HIM GO!" In an instant, MirageGaogamon was next to the platform, his claws pointed directly at Jeriii. "GALE CLAW!" He thrust his arm forward, hoping to strike Jeriii at her right.

 

---

Eria

 

The giant Troy that was formed from the outline of a bipedal alligator leapt towards Flygon and Eria, its claws extending as it reached for them. Eria jumped off of Flygon, creating a platform for herself while Flygon used a Dragon Claw to fight back, striking the sticks that made up the Troy's face, while the Troy's claw tore cut Flygon's cheek.

 

Eria slid around in the darkness, able to differentiate the difference between Flygon and the Troy as they fought, so she fired icicles at the Troy, embedding them into his right arm. The Troy looked at its arm, and as Flygon charged forward, the Troy grabbed the Pokémon by the head and flexed his arms, snapping the sticks that formed his biceps, only for the sticks to reform again in the same place. However, Flygon screeched, making cracks in the sticks, after which he used a U-Turn to headbutt the Troy's hand, destroying it. It was then that he heard Lucario's cry for help. Finding his friend, Flygon dove down and caught him before flying to an ice platform, where he dropped Lucario before taking off again.

 

Eria splashed water at the "stump" where the Troy's hand once was, freezing it to prevent it from regenerating. Growing annoyed with the Water Charmer, the Feraligatr commanded the dark waters beneath Eria to rise up, but Eria could hear the water, so she slid along on the ice she was creating, avoiding the water as it tore through the ice.

 

As Feraligatr was focusing on Eria, Flygon took the opportunity to charge at Feraligatr's back. Curling his tail up, Flygon struck it against the back of the Troy with enough force to call a small earthquake. The Troy reeled from the attack, it's body shattering from the attack, but the broken sticks tried to cling together, the vague shape of the Troy's face staring at Flygon. While the sticks began to form the Troy's body once more, Eria was able to form a ball of water around them, freezing them together. Eria stood still, looking towards Flygon.

 

"I'm sorry, Flygon," she said sadly. "I know he was your friend. You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

 

Flygon hovered, looking on at the remnants of the being that was once Feraligatr. He thought back on how they had fought together alongside Silver and their fellow Pokémon. However, as he thought of Espeon and Salamence, he remembered their mutilated bodies back at the Desert Seth, and how that cloaked man and the monstrous women took away two of his closest friends. However, it was Silver's dying words that echoed in Flygon's mind. Our journey together...I fear is rapidly...coming to a close. Flygon nodded, realizing that his friend was dead the moment the possessed him. Using one more Dragon Claw, Flygon sliced the frozen ball containing the Troy, obliterating it. As he flew to where Eria was, Flygon couldn't bear to watch as the last pieces of Feraligatr were scattered away.

 

Eria nodded at Flygon, understanding his choice. Flygon nodded down to where he left Lucario, leading Eria to the Pokémon. Eria approached the Pokémon, taking a deep breath. "Forgive me," she said. I tried to save Feraligatr, but…" Her voice trailed off, feeling weak for being unable to save even one of her allies.

[The Warden]

She was so close now, so close. She almost giggled maniacally, if not for a disturbing circumstance: Mirage had somehow broken free form ADR-10, which was impossible. Removing it would destroy him, unless... oh, the power of light. It must have weakened ADR-10, forcing it into the short recovery mode it needs to well, recover.

 

What was worse, he appeared behind her and prepared to unleash his assault. But if she broke control with Arthur now, she might continue to do so for the remainder of the fight. In this situation, sacrifices must be made for the plan, and she knew that entirely. Seeing no other alternative, she raised her right arm, for that was the side being attacked and braced. And as she waited for the attack, a lump moved along her cable and waited at the tip.

 

The claws cut cleanly through her side, with the first claw striking just below her armpit, the second was in her midsection and the last one in her waist. Each claw cut out a good six inches from sides, and the Reaper cried out in pain. Fighting the desperate, primal need to flee, her cable reared up, with the tip formed into the ovipositor. With a pained, animalistic cry she struck forth, stabbing Arthur in the back of neck with it. The lump moved through the tip of the cable and she released him, both physically and psychically.

 

Implanted in the back of the young man's neck was another ADR-10, which sunk through the skin, leaving it as if it had never been touched. The Reaper collapsed to her knees on the ice platform, both arms hugged at her wounds as Chaos surged from them. Likewise, the Chaos that had been left on Mirage's claws burned and sizzled, corroding away the mighty steel.

 

Despite her pain, despite having lost control, the Reaper smiled. "I finally did it. The both of you, are mine" she declared, Chaos dripping from her mouth. She seethed with pain, those were deep wounds, and for the sake of her plan it had cost her much of her mobility.

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

LERNA's Barrier:

Thermopylae watched as her onslaught headed straight for her target, only for him to create some sort of flower barrier that effectively canceled out her attacks. Preparing another barrage, she instead found herself losing her original target, Emiya having vanished, and instead gaining two more. One of them, the Keyblader named Sora, launched an octet of light lances directly at her, prompting her to extend a hand as she descended towards the ground, the light beams wavering slightly as control over them changed. Sora was battling the incarnation of a sun, and an incarnation that no longer had any reservations to hold back her awesome powers over fire, heat, and LIGHT. As long as an energy attack directed at her had a light-based component, it was hers to claim and do with as she wished. In a fluid twist in midair, the eight light projectiles weaved around their new mistress, just barely avoiding her, and changing their trajectories to strike at their former master.
However, Thermopylae did not count on the second of her two new targets altering the landscape of the Barrier so drastically, freezing over the entire ocean of despair with jagged ice crystals here and there. Now having a much more powerful and permanent weapon, she generated a pair of fiery claymores from a couple of Troys, and charged at Alexander across the ice, the Lombax now able to see the lack of a face that his former companion possessed.
She had sold herself to this Witch, this beautiful, cheerful star of a person giving in to despair for no apparent reason.
She must be stopped.

On the other side of the Barrier, in an area of the Barrier that was in relative solitude, Judaihime had been busy. While Winged Kuriboh and Yubel fought off hordes of Troys, Judaihime had torn off most of her dress for mobility's sake, a piece of chalk in her tattered gloves as she traced symbols into a massive circle with a four-pointed star inside of it. Four smaller circles inside of its points, and a fifth circle within the middle of the star. Inside of the middle circles were a rotating green pinwheel, a clear flask of a clear liquid, a small pile of dirt, and a lit match, burning its way through its matchstick. The innermost circle had a feather, pure white on one side, pitch black on the other. Finally finished, the princess entered the inner circle, closing her eyes, kneeling down, and reciting some sort of prayer in a language that was a hodgepodge of Ancient Egyptian, Latin, and Weeaboo.
The circle started to glow brightly, and five pillars of light erupted from the circles, one blue, one red, one brown, one green, and one white. The pillars dissipated to reveal a quintet of dragons, one huge and lumbering, with rock-like spikes and two cut-off horns, one red and black with glowing lines like magma, and an intense heat about him, one grey and composed of segments that appeared to be tornadoes and emitting a rumbling from it amorphous body, one crystalline and jagged, yet at the same time translucent and fluid in its graceful movements, and one that seemed angelic on one side, and demonic upon the other. All five dragons roared out triumphantly as Judaihime's nose started to bleed, the princess clearly woozy, but she managed to regain her footing to look to her summons. "Dragon Lords, and Emissary of Ma'at, I hath called upon you in my time of need! This great hydra threatens to disrupt my sacred quest! I require your combined might to defeat her!"
The light and dark dragon descended to the princess while the other four dragons conferred amongst themselves, and Judaihime climbed upon its back when the dual-colored dragon lowered its neck to invite her aboard. She similarly raised her Duel Shield to the air, and Yubel and Winged Kuriboh transformed, the former becoming a massive beast with two draconic heads and many nightmarish faces, the latter gaining heavenly armor and massive new wings. However, Judaihime suddenly coughed up a good amount of blood, the repeated summoning taking a heavy toll on her. The huge she-demon nearby offered assistance, but the princess shook her head. Fortunately, it was at the time that the Dragon Rulers turned back to their summoner, and gave unanimous nods. The small strike force of dragons headed for LERNA from a different angle of assault, stomping, slashing, burning, crushing, ripping, and blasting anything that got in their way.

LERNA could copy one foe's power at a time, but could she deal with seven at once?

[Merci]

???, LERNA's Barrier

 

'He' could feel extraordinarily amounts of power being thrown about on the outside, and nearby, 'it' was swatting much more ordinary entities all away with even greater strength than 'he' had been expecting, all the while keeping 'his' orb-like shell balanced on one of its heads. Though they attempted a great many things, and 'he' recognized the use of Black Blood and vector manipulation somewhere in there, the wraithlike hydra monster was resisting without even taking things seriously. Somewhere along the lines, 'he' felt 'his' outer physical body being dunked into an unusual liquid substance that appeared to be composed of despair, though it did not affect 'him' in the slightest.

 

Although 'he' did try 'his' best, 'he' could not figure out at all what was happening on the outside. What were they fighting for? Were they fighting for glory in slaying the beast?...No.  That was impossible. There was no reason for anyone to risk their existence just for that. Perhaps they desired the black seed core, embedded deep within the monster's body? However, although it did seem to possess an extraordinary amount of negentropic energy, expending this much energy just to acquire an anti-entropic item did not seem practical.

 

Once this entity died, there would be no afterlife for it, for its entire existence had been conceptualized into that hydra-like form. That was why it was so powerful and why its world was so vast - they were not just combating a powerful monster, but they were battling the very existence of a soul given form. In normal cases, it should be no different from a non-sentient natural disaster, yet this existence had somehow managed to maintain its mind as a person, and intelligence was a dangerous thing to give to any disaster. Not only that, but this existence possessed the unique ability to analyze and use the existence of other things for itself - though only one at a time - potentially allowing it infinite possibilities between forms of power and manipulation. No sane being, be they human or otherwise, should ever wish to face something like that.

 

What could it possibly be, then?

 

Perhaps it was 'him'? Perhaps they desired 'his' knowledge about the Door?

 

A ridiculous notion, and yet, it was possible. What other reason than the prospect of rewriting all existence could they possible wager against this thing that 'he' had now identified as a materialization of pure soul energy.

 

After a bit of thought, perhaps this thing too desired the Key. Indeed, it seemed as though one entity capable of opening 'his' form had already fallen under its control, and as 'he' expanded 'his' presence to observe this entity further, 'he' realized to his shock that 'he' could actually recognize this entity. It was Itsu Fudo.

 

Such irony.

 

 

---

 

 

Isamy's Vault

 

An animate suit of armor stood within the vault, having earlier cut off the connection between Juubey and Azumi. He had no doubt that the hermaphrodite had planned on informing Isamy about the message the Witch must've left for them, and because of that, he could not allow her to interfere. At the moment, the immortal sorceress was worrying in her throne, yet she had to remain stationary lest her avatars in the other worlds disappear. She remained blissfully unaware of the orb, and was continuing to gather information about the Key's location independently of the map.

 

More importantly, there was something else he needed to do.

 

"Protagonist Bayonetta." Viligance intoned, taking out a dark sword with a loose red ribbon wrapped around it. Walking towards the containment field where she and a sentient teddy bear were in, being utterly devoid of emotions on the outside, it was hard to figure out what his intentions were.

 

"Not too long ago, you established a connection with this 'Rodin', and held a conversation with him. I allowed it just so I could see if this connection of yours was stable enough to be of use and if it was - and it was. You've successfully created a path into Emiya's Unlimited Blade Works."

 

But if she were to try very very hard at sensing them, she may found a slasher smile behind that helmet of his, his sword held against the field.

 

"Now then, I'm afraid I'll have to give you a choice. You can either give up the necessary glyphs you used and allow me to trace a portal into the home of the Counter Corps, or you can refuse, in which case I have something prepared specifically for that occasion."

 

Now emitting a very ominous presence, the gauntlets of the animate armor moved about like a complex machine, telekinetically picking out something from the many things scattered throughout the vault. It was an eyeball, a seemingly ordinary one, but with a light-purple ripple pattern that spread over them. This was in fact the Rinnegan, a dōjutsu that, among many other abilities, possessed the power to extract all information out of her at the cost of death.

 

"So what will you do, protagonist?"

[Reinforce]

Ayame and Naomi

Everything seemed to happen so quickly, LERNA dodged away from the attacks, submerging into the water before causing the dark water to rise up beneath them. Acting quickly, Naomi changed forms and flew into the air but, before Ayame could get stable on her back, the remains of one of the platforms hit Naomi, knocking her around and shaking Ayame off to fall into the tainted water beneath them. Ayame was briefly submerged, with the rings on her fingers burning in the effort to prevent her from falling into the despair, Ayame managed to fight her way to the surface, allowing Naomi to grab her out before the waters could break through the protection of the rings.

 

Back in the air once more, with Ayame riding on Naomi’s back, a slight crack could be heard, followed by a few more before the rings just shattered, completely black with their magic having run out. Almost immediately, Ayame fell to her knees, clutching her head as the Remnants that had been biding their time while the rings remained now commenced a full on assault on her mind.

 

Inside her mind, she found herself facing a ring of shadowy, faceless beings, beings that abruptly swarmed forward, trying to engulf her.  She fought back, sliding easily into that berserker rage that had her acting fully on instinct, trying to fight off so many foes. As she did, a couple of them were still standing back, unnoticed by her in the rush of the majority, that were watching her movements and waiting for the perfect time to strike. With a sudden dash, those last three beings joined the assault, as the rest managed to grab her body and restrain her, giving them a moment to completely pile on top of her. As they did, the floor seemed to turn to a black liquid, forcing her down even as the shadows pushed from above. With a final effort, she was submerged, ending her struggles before the room reformed differently. Now, Ayame was sealed in a block of shadows, her face the only thing visible in the black block, while around her the ring of shadowy figures reappeared around her.

 

Back in the real world, Ayame’s body started to change, her skin colour changing to a chalky grey, fingernails extending to sharp points before solidifying once more, front canines extending slightly, and green eyes flickering to the same sickly yellow that they were in the shadow realm, with vertical slitted pupils. Finally, the back of her shirt ripped open to reveal a pair of fully functional, black, leathery wings. With a swift movement, one of the new nails spiked straight through Naomi’s neck into the spine, breaking it instantly, before moving further down and piercing straight through the Naomi’s soft scales to rip out her heart, leaving the corpse that was once her best friend to fall to the crystalline black ice, before throwing the heart away as she started to fly with her new wings. Turning to the being that was attacking everyone, Ayame gave a high-pitched screech, before bringing her hands up to unleash a vast torrent of black lightning bolts towards LERNA, not caring who got in the way as she did so.

 

Darcy

She could feel the mental barriers she had placed breaking once more, the dark pressure forcing its way into her mind again and, moments later, beams of darkness were again shooting out of LERNA’s mouth. With an angry scowl back on her face, Darcy reformed the mental barriers, reinforcing them further before building a second layer of defence against the being, adding additional barriers around the information of each magical ability she had, trying to at least delay the being the next time it attempted to break in and give her the time to try and force it back out of her mind. At the very least, the more times it tried to break in, the harder it would be for the being to break in again.

 

Then noticing the ripple coming as LERNA submerged, Darcy quickly levitated herself out of the way of the water, rising up far enough to avoid it all, before finally activating her Dark Sirenix. Her previous clothes changed, becoming a purple, form fitting bodysuit, with three tentacles emerging from her back towards each side of her body. At that moment, a high-pitched screech came, followed by bolts of black lightning directed at LERNA, and Darcy decided to join in the attack, dark spheres forming at the ends of each tentacle, before they pointed towards LERNA and started to shoot thinner versions of the same dark magic that the other witch had been shooting out from her mouths a few times in the fights.

 

Lyon

The ice shard Lyon had shot, black flames and all, had been completely destroyed by a single beam of darkness, not leaving any of the ice around for him to manipulate. What’s worse was that the being then completely submerged into the black water, before a ghostlike version of LERNA then emerged and slammed directly into something far up into the sky. Then, the original LERNA emerged out of that same water and started to manipulate the black water, dragging a huge amount of the stuff into the sky at whatever it was the ghostlike version had attacked just before. Seeing a couple of other people attacking LERNA, Lyon brought his blade forward, the black flames that had been around it detaching from the blade and forming a dragon made out of black flames. At his command, that dragon charged forward at LERNA, Lyon controlling it forward to ram directly into LERNA, hopefully freezing up part of her body if it succeeded.

[Love of Ghibli]

LERNA's Barrier

 

Well it seemed as if Buterok's genius plan to destroy LERNA from the inside had failed. It was pretty inventive of her to have a makeshift filter of her own soul. Butlerok was quickly shot out of the massive beast mouth and the next thing he knew massive beam cannons of darkness came shooting at him. With his alpha stigma active he saw the magic and made five magical arrays in front of him these acted as a powerful barrier that simply disintegrates magic on contact. Unfortunately while he was capable of negating the magic of the attack itself. There was no way to get pass the pressure of that blast. He was sent flying into the distance but at the very least he was alive. It was in his flight of retreat that he noticed the rise and downfall of the Class 4 entity in to the pool of despair. While subtly impressed by the mysterious beings tactics he couldn't help but snicker when the creature was defeated. But that was besides the point it looked like LERNA was now getting somewhat serious. The Kishin decided that it would be best to follow up with his master. Oddly enough its wasn't hard to spot his master in the reverse world of dark physics. All of these super powered entities radiate a lot of light. So he made a be line directly to his master. It seemed as if he met a friend in during his flight over to him though.....

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

BlackWarGreymon was more than confused by what was happening. This group of characters was...eccentric. Not only that this happened with tons more expediency than he initially thought would go down. Sadly the group for some odd reason demanded that BWG return their prisoner at that end of this exchange. BWG knew Dorian would not approve of this. Actually as a member of the Divine BWG was sort of obligated to kill this traitor. Though after looking at him it the dragon digimon could only wonder how someone this...foolish...be that much of a threat to the Divine. It was surely puzzling. Nevertheless he agreed with a nod and picked up his prisoner and decided to fly off. Unfortunately he too bore witness to the likely birth of a new familiar.  He let out a sigh as he hoped that this plan of Dorian's was going to be worth it. While during his flight it seemed as if he was accompanied by what seemed to be Butlerok evolved. The wave of insanity was strong and he could barely handle it but somehow the Digimon made it through. The two of them looked at each other....and then nothing...a failed attempt at conversation. 

They both flew over to Dorian and looked as they saw he was right next to a clash of MGG, Arthur, and Jerii. BlackWarGreymon sighed and shook his head in disappointment. Both of them slowly landed next to there master and were ready for a debriefing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dorian was busy taking in information as he recognized that another familiar was about to be made. Well that was excessive he thought in the back of his mind. Then it seemed that right next to him was what seemed to be some resolved unfinished business. He was a little annoyed that Jerii was initiating this completely unnecessary conflict. He was going to raise a hand to say something and interfere. Then he just decided to not to act. Dorian noticed that Butlerok was rejected from LERNA which meant that the power of chaos was no longer overflowing. Which also meant that there was nothing for Jerii to manipulate anymore. And there went that plan. So in conclusion his whole basis for making that truce is no longer true so he didn't really feel like upholding at this moment. The show was quite entertaining. Somehow Jerii got the blue beast to attack his owner. Then the Grecian recovered the blue beast which lead to his psychic control. The Blue beast then somehow attacked the creature and finally she said she somehow was able to take command of both of them. Once again. A very entertaining spectacle. 

He stood there as he waited for his two alllies came and landed besides him. He looked up at BlackWarGreymon there is something on his shoulder. Dorian's eyes widened at the possibility of something actually going right for once. BWG dropped the gagged Melvin on the floating panels. Dorian proceeded to pilfer the man's pockets and clothes and he realized that there was nothing on this mans person. OH HELL NO!! Butlerok looked carefully at the man as he tilted his head. Dorian noticed Butlerok's confusion and decided to inquire. What's the deal? Also good job on making it into the belly of the beast. I thought that I had figured out your plan there. I tried to help out by getting Jerii involved, but as you can see there were complications. Butlerok nodded as a way to acknowledge and thank his master for his statement. Ragnarok has an idea. At that moment a black tentacle came out of his back and crawled up Melvin's leg. After a couple seconds of searching....there it was. Butlerok's face went flat and his eye twitched as he made a jerking motion and out from its buttcheeked prison. Revolting, disgusting, THE F**CK. After washing it out in the pool of despair Dorian's face was a mixture of happiness and elation. It was soon time for a reversal. 

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

Nero

 

"Dammit!" Nero said, frustrated that he couldn't get a hit in on LERNA, this was when he decided his next attack would be the strongest he could make. After his most recent swing, Nero's keyblade had turned yellow, but soon it wouldn't matter for him and one of LERNA'S heads. Nero tossed his keyblade into the air and when he grabbed it the form of it was back to his very own The Darkness Within. There were four other keyblades surrounding hovering about him now: Yellow (Lightning), Blue (Water), White (Ice), and Brown(Earth), with his own keyblade representing darkness. "Have this!" Nero shouted at LERNA, his four extra keyblades dispersing into different directions and Nero charging forward. Nero swung at one of LERNA's heads and the other four keyblades were going to collide into her head at the exact same moment. "Tower of Elements!" At the collision of the five keyblades, a tower of great force and energy would erect around the LERNA Head and hopefully deal great damage.

Matthew Supplex (Within Nero)

 

A metal clank sounded as Matthew's revolver hit the ground, he was on one knee and breathing quite heavily. He stood up but the demon was already behind him and quickly wrapped his tail around Matthew's neck. "Is this all? This is the human I made a contract with?" Matthew said nothing, he merely raised the revolver to the demon's face and fired, a massive wave of fire engulfing the demon and scorching Matthew. Matthew rolled away from the scene and could only hear the sound of demonic laughter. "You actually managed to burn me a little with that one." Matthew reached his left hand into his suit jacket and aimed his Ceremonial Revolver at the demon; he pulled the trigger but only white smoke came out, much to Matthew's surprise. "You can't summon here, and do you know why?" The demon said to Matthew as it slowly walked towards him. "It's because I'm winning right now, I get to make the rules, and it won't be long before I no longer have any competition." Matthew stood again, holstering the Ceremonial Revolver...

[Love of Ghibli]

LERNA's Barrier

 

After eventually (not really) getting over the disgust of finally getting this Millennium Rod, Dorian held the all powerful stick in his hand. Note to self immerse in bleach and holy water later. But Dorian concentrated and he felt a massive surge of energy come through him. He and his spirits were revitalized and he let out a mighty shout of victory. It was amazing to say he least. He laughed as he was now finally able to summon a true Egyptian God. But after looking at how LERNA just got herself a new familiar maybe an Egyptian God wouldn't be enough to take the beast down. It was at that moment he noticed that someone else was going all in with the summoning. Oh would you look at that. Its the metagame from my world. Will wonders never cease. It was then he had the a thought of over inflated proportions. Bring it in I have a game plan.

 

Team Dorian came together so Dorian could whisper the plan to everyone. After the moment the plan was finished being discussed BlackWarGreymon stood up and felt he had to interject. I do not know if I can return him and make it back in time. Dorian gave BWG a weird look as he was wondering who was the "he" that BWG could possibly be mentioning. You can't possibly mean this sick human right here. I'm just going to put money that you're wrong. Yeah we'll be killing this one if anything. In fact kick him into the pool of infinite despair anyway. BWG tilted his head as he didn't understand, but without further questioning he and Butlerok did a tag team kick sending Melvin flying into the air similar to the Team Rocket blasting off again slogan. While they didn't want to admit it, they took a lot of pleasure in that action. Okay now with that out of the way, let's get down to business. Plan HERP DERP TASTIC is about to be underway. I must warn you Dorian this is quite painful. That's the problem. I'm sick of not being on the front lines. I mean yes this is the second location but I was barely able to make an impact. This way I know I can contribute. Its perfect, too because it seems like I have a pretty decent type advantage against her. Butlerok saw the resolve in his master's eye's and it was pretty moving.

 

It was time to begin. Mad Blood. A small tornado of Mad Blood swirled and consumed both BWG and Dorian. There they both were inside Butlerok once again. The Madness was unbearable, BWG was constantly seeing visions of his own death, visions of his new life, the future, the past, the present. All of his fates were converging. But he held out so he could fulfill this part of the plan. Dorian was floating slowly forming tears in his eyes as this was not a decision to be made lightly. He raised the Millennium Rod and pulled a card out from his pocket and tossed it upwards. I RIDE SLIFER THE SKY DRAGON!! While still inside Butlerok Dorian proceeded to actually summon the Egyptian God. In the outside world Butlerok had taken flight as was making a direct beeline towards LERNA. But upon closer inspection one could see that the Kishin was actually tearing up. Manly tears of manliness, but they were tears nonetheless. What could make a Kishin cry? While flying at LERNA Butlerok began to glow gold and his body started to morph it was happening like planned. His waste down literally exploded into a river of Mad Blood and quickly that Mad Blood took shape into a black Slifer the Sky Dragon that was attached to Butlerok's top half. Then when this mighty beast opens its eyes to reveal all Alpha stigmas.

 

Phase one was complete. Dorian smiled inside the massive Kishin Egyptian God fusion as now came phase two. and this was going to be hard. Well le...he then felt the Iron claw of BlackWarGreymon pierce through his body. He looked down as he clearly saw what was the instrument of his death sticking through his chest. It did hurt, but not as much as he thought it would. Maybe it was because BWG was merciful and made so that Dorian wouldn't have to anticipate the attack and be afraid of pain. But the cocky duelist smiled in his seemingly last moments and his gold light had finally dimmed and he was out like a light. The Mad Blood was finally able to get inside Dorian's body. There Ragnarok met the spirits that lay dormant in Dorian's soul. They all nodded to each other and Ragnarok ate them all. It was then that this massive Sliferok fusion began to be covered in Gold Circuit lines that was proof that now Sliferok has Dorian's Perfect Balance. A loud voice resonated over LERNA's barrier world.

 

SUPERIOR CROSSRIDE!!! SLIFEROK, THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER!!

 

The massive beast let out a mighty roar looking at LERNA. Butler wiped the tears from his face as BWG was simply breathing heavily inside the creature they had created. He couldn't feel the madness anymore. The golden lines inside of the beast must be protecting him. It was bittersweet moment because he was surprised that he could actually feel genuine emotions. He realized that he was just as real as any other digimon. Maybe those Digidestined kids from where he came from weren't far off when it came to team work thing. He floated over to Dorian's lifeless body and he notice that they young lad died smiling. He was genuinely happy to be useful. In a creepy way the young rich kids eyes were still open. He closed them as it looked like it was time to see how Phase 2 was about to plan out.

[Phantom Roxas]

Arthur & MirageGaogamon

 

Arthur winced as the cable was injected into his neck. The Reaper claimed to have finally gained completely control over both Arthur and MirageGaogamon, but he wasn't willing to let her have that satisfaction. He called his Keyblade into his hand and turned towards Jeriii. "No, we're not 'yours.' As long as we can still fight, we'll never be your slaves." He held out his Digivice to MirageGaogamon, who had discarded his dissolving claw. "Come on, MirageGaogamon, this our chance to destroy her! You and I, we know that Digimon can transcend the Mega level! Whatever power you have, we have to use it!"

 

"Arthur," MirageGaogamon said weakly, feeling ADR-10 attempting to exert its control on him once more. "You can't force power…"

 

"I know that, but we have to at least try!"

 

MirageGaogamon paused for a moment before nodding. "Alright, let's try it."

 

Arthur smiled, commanding the Digivice to give MirageGaogamon greater strength. The Digivice shined a bright light against MirageGaogamon, and data began to surround the Digimon. MirageGaogamon embraced the light, prepared for his next form. Arthur turned to Jeriii, confident in MirageGaogamon. "You're going down, you hear me? No matter what you've done to us, we'll fix it, and because you couldn't give a damn about keeping a truce long enough to kill LERNA, there's nothing that could stop me from destroying you." Suddenly, he could hear the cry of Sliferok echo throughout the realm. Looking through the darkness, he recognized the serpent that Eria had called a god, back when they were fighting Dorian. Arthur scoffed, thinking little of it, not realizing that cracks had begun to form across his Digivice. "When I joined the Divine, I thought I'd create a world that would have no need for gods. However, your friend Dorian is controlling a god from Eria's world. After I kill you, I'm going to see if I can kill a god myself."

 

Arthur's boasting was interrupted as MirageGaogamon started screaming for help. "Arthur! I don't think I can hold her back much longer!"

 

"Fight her, MirageGaogamon!" Arthur ordered. "Don't you dare let her take control of you again!"

 

"I'm trying!"

 

"Then hurry up, or she'll just kill us both!" Seeing MirageGaogamon continue to struggle, Arthur shook his head and charged directly at Jeriii. As he was close, he was about to cast a Fire spell, but the ADR-10 implanted in him began to take control, and Arthur's arm was frozen midswing. "No… not now…"

 

MirageGaogamon let out a great howl as the data converting him began to turn into dark violet flames. Arthur looked in horror as MirageGaogamon as writhing in pain, ripples forming across the Digimon's body as his claws vanished completely, his blue armor taking on the same coloration as the flames. His cape burn away as violet energy erupted from his back, and black hair began to sprout from the back of his head, while a black horn grew at the front. Howling once again, his eyes glowed bright red, but they turned completely blank. Unable to bear the sight, Arthur dropped his Digivice in horror, the Digivice itself shattering into particles of data. Just as MirageGaogamon feared, forcing a Digivolution resulted in the worst thing possible, as MirageGaogamon was now a mindless beast, completely at the mercy of Jeriii. MirageGaogamon, now having achieved a form known as Ruin Mode, raised his hand up into the air, dark energy forming within until it took the form of a scythe with a crescent-shaped blade. A cable sprouted by the base of MirageGaogamon's neck, connecting to Jeriii.

 

Arthur fell down to his knees, unable to look at what his old friend had become. "MirageGaogamon… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Unable to fight back, Arthur awaited whatever fate Jeriii had in store for him.

[Astolfo]

The Divine Hell breathed a sigh of relief when L E R N A had dived underwater. It prepared itself for another assault, as it would not chance a blow through the water. Although it didn't expect to hit her, it was slightly disappointed. As the water splashed up, it simply moved around it. Not detecting any presence coming up, it was wary for a surprise attack from any direction, and had reinforced his shield as much as possible - which was weaker than optimal due to the energy expended in the attack. As L E R N A suddenly leapt towards him, the DH let the wings explode around him in a bomb-like fashion. It completely missed though, and it realized it was faster, but noticed they traveled through her, doing minimal damage. The thought of astral projection occurred, and it screamed in shock and anger when L E R N A collided into his shield with a spectacular amount of force. Vaporizing his weakened shield through pure strength, the attack continued through, with hardly a falter. Smashing almost every bone in the body, the figure was thrown like a rag doll, hurtling towards the sky. Nearly unconscious, it plummeted down, and smashed into a panel, vaporizing it and all the other panels for a good distance around. Straining, he managed to just barely keep himself in the air. A black liquid poured from his wounds.

 

L E R N A had then appeared, seemingly to rub salt in the wound. Taking on a new power, she blasted a massive cannon of liquid Despair at him. Weakly, the entity waved his arm at it, and realized it lost its near telekinetic reach. As the Despair pounded into him, his default shield kicked in, keeping it away for a few precious moments. "We're… losing control… on our host… This is bad… No… We can't… We can't lose…" As the wings fluttered, before fading out altogether. His head snapping back from shock and loss, the being that was ground out, moments flashing before his eyes. 

 

 

A girl flashes in front of his eyes, grinning happily, before running off with a sandwich in her hands, which seemed to have belonged to a white-haired boy, who couldn't have been older than seventeen.

 

 

Sighing, the guy takes after her. Eventually, he caught up, but he was slightly out of breath, and annoyed…

 

 

Darkness flashes, blood spatters, a screaming sounds float up in his memory, before another flashback comes...

 

 

The girl appears unexpectedly in his apartment, and they bang heads when he sits up in shock…

 

 

Another flashback cuts in, to a scene of him going to the park, and letting her play while he studied, but noticed her being happy, and smiled.

 

 

The Despair started to crack through into his weak shield, and the flashbacks turned grim.

 

 

Three kids stand around menacingly, and the ringleader is pointing a revolver at the girl's head.

Growling, he stands down as they ask, but suddenly lunges out in a surprise attack.

Startled, the leader's finger twitches, setting off a deadly reaction.

 

 

The leader turns white in shock and throws the girl, and he runs forward to catch her. His breathing ragged, he's crying and shouting in rage. The three bullies are frozen in shock, but when the white-haired teenager turns to face them with the look of murder in his eyes, the leader picks up the gun he had dropped in shock, before firing again. The gun had been aimed at his head, but it had trembled, sending it punching through the veins next to his heart. Taking a few steps back, his mouth open in shock, a trickle of blood runs down the side of his mouth, before he collapses on his back. Screaming in pain, he turns over, and reaches for the girl, but her hand is growing cold. Crying in anger and rage, he curses the world, gasping as his blood pours out, mixing with the girl's blood. Coughing and choking, everything turns fuzzy and black, before cutting out…

 

 

The Despair finally smashed through the shield, before enveloping the prone figure completely. As the blast ended, a bloody, torn, completely nude figure silently fell towards the waters, black feathers falling grimly around him. The blood appeared to have slight tinges of red, but it might've been just a hallucination to the observers. Crystals of light pushed out from the bare skin of the male, who couldn't have been older than 17 in appearance. It didn't cut his skin, but just evaporated into sparkles before fading away. The last twinkles of light cut out as the figure slid into the waters without the slightest whisper of sound. Only the slightest ripples moved across the glassy seas. The seas froze as the battle continued, but this would not alter what would happen next...

 

 

After what seemed like an eternity, the next step of the line of fate was revealed. Phasing through the ice briefly, a figure arose. The wings no longer granted him what the previous ones used to, but they were different, yet still powerful. The wings were now related to the concept of Death, and contact with it would start to rot and destroy what it touched. Extended contact would result in a horrible and painful demise. They would only be able to be destroyed by destroying the figure, or with a conceptual attack. They could not blast out like the previous wings though, although he could flap them to send missile-like bombarding feathers. They were strong enough to pierce through most things, and the effects of the concept within them would take a heavy toll as it would dissolve in the wound after a few minutes. Two ends of a scarf hanged off the figure. These would be extensions of his limbs, and would be able to do extra tasks, and this was imbued with the concept of Night. If the figure wished so, it could whirl the scarf tails, and they'd expand and make it disorienting for anyone who gazed upon him, as well as make it difficult to make out the figure. Not quite invisibility - but something close. Complete still would blend him in however. This figure now encompassed a deity and a completion, and although he would not be as fast or as strong as before, he would be better than Thermopylae in pure statistics, and more skilled in his abilities. His vector manipulation still remained, but now they were intertwined with the concept of Ruin…

 

Raising his right hand as he spoke, the Troys started to tremble. They started to alter in appearance, and they took on whatever form, depending on who viewed them. The person who viewed them would see someone who was close to them who died. He couldn't access memories, so this was the next best option, seeding torment and despair in the opposition's minds. They would look eerily close to the original, but would have utter allegiance to the triumvirate. They would not be able to be overturned without good force, and even if that happened, they would only fill with despair as they realized it was just an illusion, a shadow of the truth. Smiling cruelly as he spoke, he waved his hand across the waves of Troys.

 

"I am the third and last. Together, we complete. And the battle of Titanomachia will ensue in its full glory. Against the three great fathers, a legion has arisen, but we will attain victory. The Witch of Infinite Possibilities, the lord of the seas. The ruler of the dark heavens, Thermopylae. And I… overlord of Hael."

[The Warden]

(_|The Reaper Jeriii|_)

 

The Reaper collapsed from the force of her wounds, but she kept her sadistic little grin, even as her life was at stake from the Keyblade. The Chaos leak was slowing down a fair bit as a good deal of the internal Chaos crystallised.

 

She was having a wee bit of difficulty listening as Arthur made another worthless heroic pontification and seemed to be doing something to his partner. Not that his efforts would matter, as it had been that other weapon of his that repeled the ADR-10, the same one he was now pointing at her. Her grin grew wide as Arthur approached ready to strike her down. "Is this how it ends?" she wondered.

 

No, no this wasn't how it would end as the ADR-10 in Arthur had finally integrated along his spine and attached itself to the base of his brain. Humans were so needlessly complicated sometimes, especially their emotions. Which seemed to have been a great error as something was happening to Mirage; but this, this was not her doing. According to the original data files, something like this happened before. "Megidramon" she thought.

 

If it was like before, the Digimon would no doubt be unstable, which could be explained why he joined with her. The searing flames from the Ruin Mode burned along the cable, and her wings ignited as well. The Reaper screamed in agony as she forced an immediate termination of the link. "Do you know what you've done?" she inquired of Arthur. "This Digivolution you've forced on your partner is unstable, the power will quite literally destroy him. Thankfully, I have a cure for the condition you call stupidity. ADR-10s, Fusion Protocol. Merge with hosts!" she commanded.

 

Deep within Mirage, the ADR-10 clung for dear life against Mirage's raging Digicore, but upon hearing Mother's command, it dove right into the center of the core, turning it a sickly red. Red cables spread from the core, spreading the Mutagenic Chaos throughout his being.

 

Likewise, the ADR-10 inside Arthur came to life, spreading the red cables as well as it merged into his brain tissue. "Welcome, to the family ADR-11 (Arthur Type) and ADR-12 (Mirage Type)" the Reaper whispered from her prone position.

 

---

 

(_|Magical Girl Lydia & Hellspawn Sarah|_)

 

Sarah was still screaming, forcing Lydia to blow her away to prevent the attack from LERNA hitting her. It was near slow dragging Sarah, though thankfully her levitation was still intact. "Was I like this with the Kishin?" Lydia wondered.

 

The question was short lived as the Troys began a new assault, despite so many being blown away. Lydia could barely hold them off with her own fire, and Sarah was still screaming. "DAMN IT! SNAP OUT OF IT!" she screamed and swung the cuestick.

 

It smacked Sarah right across her head, but, at least it work, with some minor facial damage. "WHAT THE F**K?!" Sarah screamed.

 

"What the f**k yourself. You were screaming like a god damn banshee. And fyi, now I know how you felt. You're welcome" Lydia snapped back.

 

Sarah's flames burned more brightly. "Oh you are starting to piss me off real good. You know that? And then what? I wouldn't like you when you're angry? I did you a favour. You think trying to break my neck is a FAVOUR?! More of a favour then letting you scream for no reason. I HAD A GOOD REASON! And that is? I... can't really say. Oh marvelous" they bickered.

 

And as they did bicker, they weren't paying attention to the s**t storm occuring between LERNA & the Renegade Joker, or anyone else for that matter.

 

"I am the third and last. Together, we complete. And the battle of Titanomachia will ensue in its full glory. Against the three great fathers, a legion has arisen, but we will attain victory. The Witch of Infinite Possibilities, the lord of the seas. The ruler of the dark heavens, Thermopylae. And I… overlord of Hael."

 

This stopped them dead in their heat. "Who the hell is that? Why are you asking me? Well, you seem to know a lot damn more than you let on. Fair enough, but I don't know this guy. Ideas? Go after LERNA I guess, let the others handle the small fry. But, I think we should split up. Uh, WHY? LERNA can't hit us as easily if we're together. Just go for it, okay. I still don't see the point. If one of us is hit, it's pretty much curtains. better one of us die than the both of us. Who says I'm going to die? Reality. Reality can go f**k itself. Here here, but still, I think we should split. I don't want to, but fine. Don't go dying on me. Cause if you die, I'll kill you myself. No promises."

 

Sarah flew off on her accord, whilst Lydia looked across to LERNA, the real one. She held the cuestick ready, and closed her eyes. "Okay, you haven't tried light much, but, it can't be that hard, right? No. Okay, uhh, what should I do though? Okay, think back to cartoons. There's gotta be something there. Uh, oh, Sailor Moon. The fight against queen Berry, or, whoever the hell she was called. Okay, how did that go?" she thought.

 

The top point of cuestick glew darkly with light as she concentrated on her happy thoughts. "Okay, I remember. Mercury Power! Mars Power! Jupiter Power! Venus Power!" she called out mentally, the light on the cuestick glowing ever more darker.

 

She opened her eyes wide as the power reached its peak. "COSMIC MOON POWER!" she cried, unleashing her transcendent blast right at LERNA.

[Phantom Roxas]

Sora's Heart - Roxas & Ventus vs. Vanitas

 

Vanitas shot waves of darkness through his Keyblades, but Roxas and Ventus blocked the attacks with their Keyblades, with Roxas wielding his Two Become One, sacrificing his ability to use two Keyblades so that Ventus could use one for himself.

 

"Ventus," Roxas called out. "If he's taken Xion's power, we need to fuse together to stop him!"

 

"You sure?" Ventus asked. "If you give up your individuality, you won't be able to come back."

 

"I thought I did that a long time when I fused with Sora. I didn't know about… all of this. Ventus, I'm just a clone of you and Sora. You need to wake up, and you can't do that unless I return to you."

 

Ventus nodded in sadness. "Alright."

 

Vanitas groaned. "For crying out loud, are you two finished?"

 

Roxas and Ventus nodded. Roxas tossed his Keyblade into the air and held his arms out, his body glowing in a bright light, before vanishing completely. With the Two Become One in his left hand and the Ultima Weapon in his right, Ventus took both his Keyblades in a reverse grip and charged towards Vanitas, each one using their pairs of Keyblades against one another.

 

"Thanks to Roxas, you and I are on equal ground. Now, come on, Vanitas!"

 

Vanitas smiled, amused by Ventus' taunt. "Heh, glad you still got the guts the fight, Ventus. However, just think. I've assimilated Xion, and Roxas is even less than the 'nothing' that a Nobody is, now that he's merged completely with you and Sora. But you, you have no body to go back to. You know where it is, don't you? It's stuck all the way in Castle Oblivion. I wonder if it's even possible to find it, once that Door is opened."

 

"Shut up!" Holding his Keyblades together, Ventus fired a Megaflare at Vanitas. Vanitas crossed his Keyblades, but the attacked launched him far back, pushing him towards the edge of the Station.

 

Vanitas regained his footing, clearing away the smoke with his Keyblade. "I see I've touched a nerve. So, tell me, Ventus, assuming you do strike me down, what then? Will you just go back to sleep, waiting for Sora to find you in Castle Oblivion? Your heart may be pure, but Sora's isn't, and as long as there is darkness in his heart, I'll find a way to keep coming back."

 

---

Sora

 

Thermopylae had redirected Sora's attack right back at him. He cast two Reflega spells around him, absorbing three of the lights and directly them upwards, but the the fourth one knocked him back, while he commanded his Keyblades to block against the next two, but this allowed two more of the light pillars to hit him in succession. Using a spell to heal himself, he kept himself afloat, looking for Thermopylae, and he could her chasing after one of the furred members of the Counter Corps, who seemed to have managed to froze the majority of the sea of despair.

 

In the distance, Sora could see that LERNA had created another familiar for herself. An ally was being pursued by Thermopylae, and who knew what this new familiar - who addressed himself as Titanomachia - was capable of. Not to mention he could see a crimson serpent he vaguely recognized from back at the Desert Seth, but as it was attacking LERNA, he reluctantly decided that it wasn't a threat, at least not for now. Many other people were attacking LERNA, and while he was afraid that they may not be successful, Thermopylae needed to be stopped as well before she could create casualties of her own.

 

As Sora went in the direction of Thermopylae, something else caught her eye. A young, green-haired woman was lying on an ice platform. Sora wasn't certain if this girl was alive or not, but as the girl wasn't wearing anything, Sora took his red cloak through his armor, covering the girl in it, and turning her over, he didn't recognize her from the Counter Corps. Was she perhaps from the Divine? If she was, it didn't seem like they had a need for her. However, more importantly, the girl was bleeding from the neck and the her mouth, so Sora cast a few Curaja spells in an attempt to heal her. The blood slowly dissolved and her wounds closed up, but Sora didn't want to speak to her, as it might scare her, so he simply waited for her to wake up.

 

---

ADR-11: Arthur Type & ADR-12: Mirage Type

 

Arthur howled in pain as ADR-10 took complete control of him. The Keyblade shined bright for a brief moment before completely shattering, as Arthur fell under Jeriii's control. Arthur's memories, his motivation for fighting, his ties to the Counter Corps, all became mere data to the new ADR. The image of a young Gaomon walking beside Arthur shattered, moving onto the image of Eria smiling. The ADR thought that such romantic inclinations were useless, and could hinder its performance. In order to ensure that Eria would not prevent its host from acting accordingly, it designated her as a target for extermination.

 

The light in Arthur's eyes faded, and his eyes had a cold, empty stare. With out a word, ADR-11 knelt before Jeriii, awaiting her instruction, while ADR-12 stood beside the platform, just as eager for whatever task Jeriii would assign to them. ADR-12 had designated his own target, BlackWarGreymon. The Digimon was arrogant, so certain of his own power, but now that its host was sufficiently upgraded, ADR-12 was confident in its ability to delete BlackWarGreymon.

 

With any luck, their Mother would grant her Agents permission to destroy their targets.

[Gαr]

LERNA's Barrier

 

After Thermopylae's last attack, Ed decided to hang back. He realized that this whole battle, not just his fight, was going to be more difficult than he ever imagined. Thermopylae continued fighting Emiya and began fighting Sora, while more chaotic and confusing fights where taking place. Things where becoming corrupted, beasts were being summoned and then combined, LERNA began using a different strategy, a new "god" was born, and multitude of other stuff that Ed didn't even try to comprehend. Ed shook his head and began focusing on his current fight.

 

Thermopylae was a rather versatile fighter, able to control the Troys and turn the into weapons. She could also control flames far hotter than Ed's ever encountered, even hotter than the white flames of the deceased leader of the old rebellion back home. Though, the heat should not be a problem as his black flames would naturally counteract them. Fighting Thermopylae head on should not be a problem either except that it has the environment and the Troy's on it's side. Ed then realized something. He drew his short sword and channeled his black flames through it to create a longer blade of black flames. His right arm began seeping flames again like it did in his fight with Kiotso. Before Ed could begin, the black sea froze over, thanks to an odd furry humanoid person-thing. Thermopylae created two swords an went after the newcomer. Ed just stared blankly and said, "You know what? Screw subtlety."

 

Ed jumped in the air over Thermopylae and crossed his swords. He swept his swords in a wide horizontal arc in front of him, creating six black flame dragons. They all went after the sword-wielding doll and smashed into it in a large black explosion, cutting it off from the Alexander. Normally, summoning that many dragons would've tired him, but since coming back from the dead, he could do it effortlessly. Ed hovered a few feet from the the frozen ocean, facing the black flames. Without turning towards him, Ed said, "Since you were able to freeze this ocean, I assume you are incredibly strong." Before Ed continued, he saw Alexander's eyes and the way they glowed. "Oh, bother."

[Merci]

 

 

The Witch of Infinite Possibilities was slowly but surely being taught the definition of 'persistence' as the waves of far weaker entities were beginning to try even harder and harder to outmatch her in strength. A ridiculous notion, especially when she succeeded in bringing over the Renegade Joker over to her side. Truth be told, even after her newly-made familiar's spontaneous declaration about being the last, she still had the desire to add two more entities into her circle, and those were Darcy and the dark being that slept within Sora. But already, with Thermopylae and Titanomachia by her side, how could these insolent insects possibly expect to win?

 

The Class 2 Judaihime sent out slightly more notable seven dragons against her, each of which possessing a different ability and using them in tandem. Their powers weren't quite on a conceptual level, but were close in effect, and hence did prove somewhat of a problem. However, it was specifically to combat this kind of situation that she was a hydra, and even as the "Light and Darkness Dragon" exuded enough force to suppress the powers of one of her heads, it lacked the power to do the same for the other seven. Even then, it was torn apart by her equally-powerful jaws, its corpse thrown into the sea below. Still utilizing Lyon's powers, she continued to manipulate the liquid despair in such a way that it enveloped and dragged down into the abyss five of the other charging enemies, though she ended up with one of her heads splashed by it due to the grotesque she-demon. Also, "Winged Kuriboh" put up a fairly decent fight while covered in despair, but this 'decent fight' lasted a total of six seconds. They had underestimated their vastly superior opponent, and as they fell into the waters, their selves were stripped away, and they reemerged as dragonoid Troys that flew further outwards through the battlefield.

 

With only Yubel left in the wake of this extermination - a pseudo-Class 3 Entity whom LERNA was actually intending to drown into the dark sea so thatthe demon became yet another useful familiar - she was interrupted. First by a torrent of black lightning from an as-of-yet-unidentified-entity-that-seemed-to-have-possessed-Ayame, then by dark spheres and beams by Darcy, then a charging dragon of black flames by Lyon, then by five different elemental Keyblades with Nero at the peak, then by Lydia sending out a wave of- COSMIC MOON POWER?!

 

...oh, whew, it wasn't. After speedily analyzing the sorceress, it seemed that she simply had some kind of fascination with magical girl shows for some odd reason, a reason that disgusted her. Of course, if it had really been the almighty heart-based beam powered by the Imperium Silver Crystal wielded by the legendary Sailor Moon, then there would've been absolutely no way for a despair-based entity like her to survive.

 

Nevertheless, there was a simple way to counter these unexpected attacks, which was by copying Yubel's ability of Nightmare Pain to absorb and unleash damage. And she did just that. All five attacks, though of course incredibly powerful and well-coordinated, were reflected and sent far far away into the pitch-black sky above. However, Yubel most likely knew how to bypass her own power, and inflicted heavy damage upon one of her heads before being reflected back. Even more angered than ever, LERNA didn't hesitate to re-copy Lyon's power afterwards and act instantaneously, trapping the demon within an orb of raw, liquid despair. Even if she could reflect powers, even if she was a demon, her emotions must have a limit.

 

While LERNA focused upon trapping "Yubel - The Ultimate Nightmare", five dragon-shaped Troys emerged from the abyss and took flight. Not only that, but due to the powers of Titanomachia, their appearances became distorted, horribly-appendaged versions of the people closest to them who ended up lost.

 

"DU ÄRGERST MICH."

 

The horrendous monster remarked this in a very loud voice.

[The Warden]

|_)The Reaper Jeriii(_|

 

The Reaper grinned in her private little triumph. For the first time in a good deal of time, she had ADRs under her command again; sure, there were the ADR-10s, but they are hardly that complex. No, these were complete Agents for her to use. That original feeling off control, ah, so nostalgia.

 

Finding the strength to stand, the deep wounds inflicted now bore large crystallized patches, forged from Chaos to clot the wound. Sadly, her mobility had been compromised, and more damage would result in her termination. From this point, she would have to be very careful and precise with her actions. Hmm? She could feel what ADR-11 felt, and she had to ponder this. The termination of memories and emotional capacity was an unexpected little drawback, one that would compromise security. Emotions might be a weakness, but, if the Reaper had learned anything, is that emotions tend to create unexpectancies. And unexpected things are just that.

 

But it's raw desire to destroy thta girl was interesting, albeit misguided. "No ADR-11, as much as that would please me, I have a much more sufficient idea. The girl, Eria is it? Yes, that's what your memories say. The girl is interesting, yes. A creature just full of emotion, and very easily subject to despair and depression. She would make an excellent source of power, or, an ADR herself. Get close to her, but try to be casual. Oh, look who I'm talking too. This won't work. Stand still ADR-11" she stated.

 

Her cable reared round and interfaced with ADR-11. Her mind was now very apparant in the Agents body, and she was very carefully overlooking his mental faculties. "Memories and meotional state is effectively destroyed. The ADR-10 was far too efficient in that process, a shortcoming I will address with newer models. Just as well the data collected by the ADR-10 prior to that was complete. RE-LOADING DATA FILES. 5% 20% 50% 75% 100% DATA TRANSFER COMPLETE, MEMORIES RESTORED. HOST PERSONALITY INSTALLED."

 

The interface completed, she withdrew from the Agent's mind to inspect him. "Okay ADR-11, with your memories restored, this might be a bit more complex. You may feel conflicted based on my prior actions, but I know you will look past that. I find it much more imperative that you have a semblance of free-will. Ground breaking initiative based on my original Agents, but it's new ground and, well, might as well. I want you to act as if nothing has happened, that we simply created our own personal treaty to deal with our past. There is to be no mention of your new state. Just simply act as a Counter Corp as usual. However, if you are discovered, the first imperative is to deny suspicion and find a logical means to prove innocence. If all else fails, discard your disguise and appear as your true Agent form to erase them. As an Agent, you are much stronger than before, and more durable. Your human shell was always so fragile, so very fragile. More importantly, you, like myself possess power of Chaos, as it is now your lifeblood. I know you will be a very useful Agent" she remarked.

 

After adressing ADR-11, she forced herself to stare up at ADR-12. Those flames were a rather terrifying addition, painful; it nearly destroyed her. He was stable now, but it was much prefered if he remains in a mindless state. He was too much of a voice of reason, and that reason was always directed towards good. "The same applies to you as well ADR-12, as bulky as you originally were, your powers are more than a match for even the greatest impact. And yes, as much as I would rather see BlackWarGreymon destroyed as well, we must maintain the facade. Do not attempt to engage him unless he engages you first, then deniability is ensured. Feel free to goade him as you see fit. Ah yes, one last thing I have neglected to mention: The ADR-10s that were once within you are now one with you. In times of need, it can secret a specialized Chaos that will improve power and combat efficient two-fold, be sure to use it wisely, until more of the substance can be synthesised. Good luck Agents, I will be monitering you. And... ADR-11, that Keyblade of yours, I believe you still possess access to it. It's light should not harm you when in disguise, though relinquish using it in your Agent form, though, I will not advise against tampering with it. Such a power weapon merged with the glorious power of Chaos will earn you a fitting place amongst the ranks of the Agents. Now, engage LERNA and her familiars. I require some time to recover" she commanded.

 

It wasn't a lie, the wounds cost her greatly. And, she was somewhat curious at the pile of data that had been the Digivice. It seems it did not fade away like data did in the Digital World, but remained condensed and together. That must have been a property of the Barrier; and, given the time the Tamers spent in the Chaos Bubble, she had had some time to use the ADR-02s to analyze the Digivice. It could be recovered, oh yes, it very well could be.

 

---

 

|_)Magical Girl Lydia & Hellspawn Sarah(_|

 

Lydia seethed in frustration as all those attacks failed, and were simply launched into the air like a cheap firework. How was LERNA doing this? She had so many powers simultaneously, it just wasn't fair. How the hell can you beat something that could just easily repel attacks, plus also manipulate the weird water. Those elemental dragons failed so easily, and when they dipped in the water, well, their corpses did. And more Troys arose, could the water be the reason that Troys exist? Like, some weird mutagen, or just, pure, despair?

 

Whatever the case, Lydia found it strange how many of the Troys were appearing as cats, and not just any cat, but the pet one she had that died from an unfortunate heart condition. "Okay, making Kilt appear here is a lame trick for that new Familiar. But why Kilt? Unless? Okay, these guys have a theme going, despair or horror maybe. So, if something close to me that happens to be dead is here, then he must be trying some kind of psychological warefare on us. It might be easy for me, he was a pet. But, if that's the case, then those with tragic backstories might be in for a bit of a shock. Like... oh god. SARAH!" she cried out.

 

Sarah in question had orbited to the far right of LERNA, and too was frustrated that the attacks did nothing. If would be a bad idea to attack LERNA now; Sarah didn't speak German (I think), but no doubt what LERNA said wasn't pleasant. That was when she saw something fly up from the waters below. They were her mother, with strange wings.

 

This situation would have been very absurd if not for the gravity of the situation. "What the hell?"

[Phantom Roxas]

ADR-11 & ADR-12

The Agents nodded, satisfied with their Mother's plans for their targets. As ordered, the pair set off to engage LERNA and her familiars, scanning the surrounding area to see who best to target first. Going directly after LERNA was possible, but one of her LERNA's was more interesting, particularly to the Agents' hosts. The figure bore a faint resemblance to the Renegade Joker, a member of the Divine that Arthur and MirageGaogamon fought not long ago in the Desert Seth. Their mother was present at the battle, and although she and the Joker were allies, the Agents realized that this was no longer the case, as he had fully become a servant to LERNA. As such, he could no longer be considered a member of the Divine, so destroying him would not arouse suspicion. Additionally, Arthur and MirageGaogamon bore resentment towards the figure, as he had slain a number of their allies, so they harbored the base of desire of vengeance. At the very least, the ADRs would be able to fulfill this "need" their hosts craved for. As per Jeriii's instruction, ADR-11 summoned his Keyblade, standing on top of ADR-12's hand, as taking flight on his own would be suspicious. The flames that burned from the Ruin Mode made ADR-11 have a sense of discomfort, but it ignored it, instead moving towards Titanomachia.

As they drew closer, a pair of Troys appeared in front of them. The Troys did not instantly transform, as they had difficulty in finding what form they needed to take. In truth, as the ADRs were so newly created, there was no one close to them who had died, nor would their be anyone who would elicit such a feeling, save perhaps Jeriii. As such, the Troys began to take the form of people that would be familiar to the hosts. The Troy facing ADR-12 took the form of a woman in white and blue armor, her body covered in the image of crescent moons. This was Dianamon, a member of the Olympos XII, as well as a member of the restructured Royal Knights.

However, for ADR-11, the result was very different. He saw a young, blonde boy, holding up a spear. The young boy charged forward, but ADR-11 stabbed him in the chest with his Keyblade, grabbing spear with his free hand. Looking at the boy up close, ADR-11 could see that he was approximately sixteen years old. It was a young Arthur, a fact that ADR-11 found amusing. Drawing his Keyblade from the Troy's chest, he kicked the creature pretending to be Arthur downward, finding no enjoyment from the brief battle before leaping off onto a nearby ice panel.

ADR-12 swung his scythe toward "Dianamon", but she blocked the attacked with her own weapon, a polearm with two crescent moons on the side. However, as ADR-12 found her to be nothing more than a nuisance, he grabbed her by the throat, lifting her up into the air as he began to strangle her. The illusion created the Troy broke just as its neck did, its body following the other Troy down into the ground.

ADR-11 opened his eyes, which suddenly had the same "look" as Arthur's once again, but the Agent's voice uttered a subconscious command. Work with ADR-12, host. Assume that your partner's current state is under control. Know Mother has agreed to a truce.

Arthur turned to ADR-12, nodding for him to pick to Arthur back up, which ADR-12 did. "Alright, now that the thing agreed to let us go, it's time we get back at that guy for killing Silver and his friends." ADR-12 nodded, flying every closer in Titanomachia's direction. Arthur held his Keyblade tight, ready to settle the score. "Let's go." He activated his Drive, taking in MirageGaogamon once more, unaware of what could happen. His cloak turned indigo, while a collar of flames formed around his neck. In his left hand appeared a smaller version of ADR-12's scythe, while his eyes turned gold, and his hair pitch-black. The ADR-11 and ADR-12 programs were now in control of one host, and just as Arthur and MirageGaogamon had fused together, so too did the ADRs. Arthur took note of the scythe and noticed the his hair, but believed them to be a part of the Drive. Preparing himself to charge towards Titanomachia, he kicked off from the ice panel, shattering it completely.

"Time for you to be exterminated!" Arthur cried out, his voice slowly changing as ADR-11 and ADR-12 began to take over his Ruin Form. As he held forth both weapons, swinging an arc of black flames with his scythe and casting a Thunder spell with his Keyblade, the first attack firing at the familiar from the front, and second approaching him from up above.

[Kingdom Xathers]

"Lucario!" Jeanne called out as she rushed over, with Madama Styx brushing aside a few Troys along the way. "Lucario, are you alright...? What's happened?" she asked upon seeing Lucario's mortified, sad face.

 

"... Feraligatr...," the word formed from his aura reverberated with such sadness as Lucario stared down at the remains of the Troy that was once his dear friend, remembering the times he shared with Silver and the rest of his comrades. His paws clenched as tears streamed down his face. "Feraligatr... Espeon... Salamence... Silver... ...." With each name he recited, a faint blue glow shining from his body intensified until, at its highest point, the aura surrounding him was a vibrant, red glare. "I swear to you... they WILL PAY!!!" Unleashing his rage, Lucario went on a mad streak, firing Aura Spheres left and right, blasting away any Troy unfortunate enough to be caught in his sights....

 

---

 

"... I assure you," Alexander said calmly to Ed, all traces of any sort of emotion absent from both his voice and his expression, "... I would have handled her attack on my own. However... your assistance shall not go unappreciated...." As he spoke, Ed could barely see the outlines of numerous transparent weapons floating around Alexander, encircling him. "... that said... I do not wish to destroy her," Alexander continued. "... not unless... there is no way to save her...."

 

Reaching a hand out, Alexander grabbed hold of one of these invisible objects, revealed to be a harp, and calmly, emotionlessly, plucked one of its strings; the clear note played on the harp started off softly, but then began to intensify, the air around them beginning to tremble. "... you may wish to cover your ears...," Alexander recommended as he awaited Thermopylae's next course of action.

 

---

Isamy's Vault (some time before)

---

 

"... and, oh hey! we're back!" Gabriel chimed, relieved that the focus had now returned to the Vault after so long.

 

"Anyways," Bayonetta said as she resumed a conversation she was having with a slender giant of a man who was accompanied by a flower-carrying pixie-like creature, "so, you've lived for over 3,000 years? Well, you've certainly got me beat."

 

"Oui," replied the man who identified himself as "AZ", "and yet I fear that whatever charm I may have possessed so long ago may have withered away, unlike yours, mademoiselle."

 

"Seriously, could you two not flirt?" blurted a teenage girl with blonde hair. "I feel like I'm about ready to puke if I keep hearing this conversation...."

 

"Heather, AZ and I are certainly not flirting," Bayonetta replied. "Flirting would be more like me chatting it up with Dom over there."

 

"Not that I'd be interested, anyway," Dom spoke wearily. "No offense, Cereza."

 

"Oh, none taken. I was just messing with you," Bayonetta happily replied as she stuck another lollipop in her mouth. "In all seriousness, though, I realize what you've been going through, so I know a relationship now would be out of the question for you--"

 

As she said this, the animated armor known as Vigilance made his presence known to the prisoners. "Protagonist Bayonetta," spoke the armor.

 

"That's be me. What can I do you for?"

 

"Not too long ago, you established a connection with this 'Rodin', and held a conversation with him. I allowed it just so I could see if this connection of yours was stable enough to be of use and if it was - and it was. You've successfully created a path into Emiya's Unlimited Blade Works."

 

A look of horrified realization flashed across Bayonetta's face.

 

If Vigilance could express any form of emotion, a slasher smile would have surely been visible. "Now then, I'm afraid I'll have to give you a choice. You can either give up the necessary glyphs you used and allow me to trace a portal into the home of the Counter Corps, or you can refuse, in which case I have something prepared specifically for that occasion." At which point, Vigilance called forth a small, multi-irised eyeball from somewhere within the Vault. "This object you see before you is known as the Rinnegan, a dojutsu with the powers of the Seven Chakra. Amongst these Chakra is one with the ability to remove one's soul from their body, and while doing so, attain any and all information known by that individual. However, this process is also known to kill its victim once the deed is done--"

 

"So, let me guess," Bayonetta replied coolly, keeping up a calm facade, "you intend on using that eyeball to reveal any and all information I've acquired thus far if I choose not to cooperate and let you use my spell to breach the Unlimited Blade Works, correct?"

 

"Actually, I intend to merely give you a rather painful death for noncooperation," Vigilance admitted, "but then again, any information you possess may be of some use...."

 

For a few brief seconds, Bayonetta was oddly silent, as if meditating on something. "... well, you've certainly given me something to actually consider carefully," she replied, still calm. "On the one hand, I give you the means in which you may surprise and destroy the Counter Corps on their home turf... but, if I refuse, you'll try to kill me with that... thing. And I do mean "try"," she added, "because while you may be able to separate my soul from my body, I can simply return to it just as easily... but who's to say that you won't do the same to any of my friends here?"

 

"But Cereza--!"

 

"Not another word, Gabriel," Bayonetta snapped, still ever-so-calmly. "It's hard enough to make this decision without being told something that would influence me into making the wrong one."

 

"But, is there truly a right decision to this...?" uttered AZ, holding Floette close to him.

 

"So," Vigilance said, possibly deriving some pleasure from Bayonetta's plight, "what will you do, protagonist?"

 

"... actually, she won't have to do anything."

 

A voice speaking from seemingly nowhere rang throughout the Vault while numerous eyeballs suddenly made their presence known at last, their red irises glowing against their black sclera. Out of one of these eyeballs, one that was closest to Vigilance, the voice spoke again: "Now Vigilance, if you wanted to plan a sneak attack into the opposition's base of operations, you should have just come to me."

 

"That voice...," Gabriel uttered, realization dawning on him as his face suddenly became twisted in a scowl. "SAYER!!!"

 

"Hark! is that the voice of a dead man I hear?" Sayer's voice replied, the eyeball from which it emanated turning to face the lion plushie. "Oh my, so it is Gabriel. Or should I call you, "Rubedo"? Either way, how have you been--?"

 

"How the fvck do you think I feel?!!" Gabriel shouted, his voice almost sounding like a roar. "You killed me, possessed my friends, and caused our world to be destroyed, and you have the god-forsaken GALL to ask me how I'M DOING?!"

 

"Gabriel...!" uttered a shocked Bayonetta, surprised to see Gabriel take on such an outraged demeanor.

 

"Wow, such wanton and graphic language...!" Sayer replied. "Okay, maybe "wanton" was actually an incorrect term to use; you actually do have proper motivation to be this upset... but I digress. Vigilance," Sayer continued as he ignored Gabriel's fiery glare, "I should ask you to reconsider what you're about to do."

 

"And what for?"

 

"Glad you asked," Sayer's voice said, the iris of the eye curving upward, as if to show how pleased Sayer was with himself. "You see, the moment when the Shadow Realm began its collapse, I took the liberty of "installing" a few of my R.O.D.s into a few of the Counter Corps members. I won't say who, because I could really care less, but I will say that they had no clue that my R.O.D.s hitched a ride with them as they were transported back to their base; my R.O.D.s are capable of changing size, after all, and the size they took could barely be visible under a microscope.

 

"Once the Corps had returned to their base, my R.O.D.s quietly exited their bodies, undetected by even the most keen of senses. They still remain there even now, gathering information as we speak, such as the C.O.G.s progress on the repairs of the Inch of Will," Sayer added, knowing full well that Dominic Santiago would react to this news.

 

"They're alive?!" Dom yelped.

 

"But of course, Mr. Santiago," Sayer replied, "and they, like all the other Counter Corps and their allies, are blissfully unaware of all of this... are they, Cereza...?" he added in a deeper tone as the eyeball focused on the Umbra Witch, firing a small laser blast in her direction; the containment field briefly opened up to allow this laser to go through as it grazed the side of Bayonetta's ear.

 

"Ahh!" Bayonetta gasped in pain and surprise as she clasped a hand over her ear.

 

"Now, I hope you weren't planning on letting Rodin know of this, were you?" Sayer continued, the eyeball from which his voice spoke now glaring her down. "Otherwise, I may just have to cut you out of my own plans... personally."

 

"In any case, Vigilance," Sayer concluded as the eyeballs began to fade away, out of sight yet still there, "I would like for you to wait until I return. That shall be when you and I can continue our discussion...."

[Phantom Roxas]

Eria

 

Eria was surprised that Lucario had managed to speak, but when she noticed his mouth wasn't moving as he spoke, Eria realized that Lucario was using telepathy. She turned to Flygon and nodded. "Go ahead. You two need each other."

 

Flygon nodded and flew after Lucario, joining up with his fellow Pokémon, but the two of them saw a sight that terrified them. Somehow, Salamence was alive, and riding on his back was Silver. Silver threw two PokéBalls into the air, and from them came Salamence and Espeon. Espeon leapt forward at Lucario, while Flygon was attacked by Salamence.

 

Eria left Jeanne behind, taking off on an ice slide in an attempt to help them, but as she got closer the Troys she saw took upon a different shape. Attacking Espeon was a redhead girl with a staff of flame, while Flygon was being attacked by Gagagigo. How were Hiita and Gagagigo here? Why were they fighting her friends? Whatever the reason, she summoned two water clones of Gagagigo, who charged at Hiita and their namesake, but the Gagagigo Troy punched the water clone attacking him, while Hiita set it on fire, turning the monster into steam. Forming a current of water, Eria moved it around, striking at the Troys, telling them, "Leave them alone!" Flygon barked at Eria, insisting that he and Lucario could handle themselves, much to Eria's surprise. Eria used one more arc of water against the Troys, but ultimately did as Flygon was asking, turning her attention towards a presence as powerful as LERNA herself.

 

As one of the biggest beings in the barrier, it wasn't hard to see Sliferok, and Eria was among the first to notice him. While Dorian was not to be trusted, she had agreed to a temporary truce with him, if only for a little bit. It was rather overwhelming for her to be able to work alongside one of the legendary gods, known in her world as the Phantom Gods, but even if she had once imagined being an ally of Slifer, this was not what she had in mind.

 

She moved herself towards the head of Sliferok, and was surprised to see the upper body of a man attached to its head. The man was much older than Dorian, but Dorian did mention that he had a butler. Taking a deep breath, she spoke calmly to the man, but kept herself out of the reach of his human arm. "Are you… Dorian's butler?"