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Chapter Text

A river whose dark waters navigate in the middle of the night, not knowing where they'd come from, and where they would head.

What was the purpose of the river? Its constant flow and course needed to have some meaning. But, was there something more beyond its predtermined course? Nothing could be changed? The doom destiny of this river to reach the end that it already knows.

An inevitability, marching torwards it. Someday, that river would have to accept its sad end. All things expire and nothing's left. Even their purposes.

That's the universal truth of those whose nihility have long since swallowed in its botomless dark abyss. Roaming amongst the sea of stars to rediscover it.

Nonetheless, no one can escape it. Death and perishment arrives to all.

Even to those who seek to avoid it.

"Hmm..."

Waking up from her short nap, the 'galaxy ranger', Acheron, opens her slumbery eyes to stare at the far wide galaxy on the other side of the mirror. Countless shiny points spread across the astral space, each one representing either planets, stars or other pieces of celestial bodies. She wondered what events transpired in each one of them. Were they recent? Were they dying? How the passage of time has affected them and its people.

She lost count to how many planets she traveled tough by now. Maybe it wasn't that many, but Acheron's hazy mind could not define the certain number. Forgetting how to remember, how to feel, what a sweet or salty food tasted like. Every day fighting against the annihalating impulses inside her that slowly deteriorated her being. If she couldn't find a cure or the Doctors of Chaos soon, her body would be lost in the vast void that was IX. But who knows if that could help her? What guarantees Acheron had that her situation could be salvageable? At this rate, it wouldn't take long before she herself forgot the purpose on why she was on a journey.

Thankfully, there were more recent memories that remained strong in her head. Penacony. The meeting with the Trailblazer and the Astral Express Crew. The events that occured were still fresh to her, having fulfilled her task of the Watchmaker's Legacy. Her visit on that planet and the adventure it was made Acheron experience a joy that nowdays rare to her. Upon seeing the Trailblazer and their struggles, their overcome and resolve, the lone galaxy ranger reminded herself of why people would always fight and live instead of conforming with unjust endings and manipulated paths. That things will always have value no matter how lost they seem to be, always finding it back again. Altough it wasn't medicine, it felt like one that helped Acheron's devouring nihility to be put in a short term slumber, pushing out the gloomy thoughts she had. They would definetly be back as she wasn't cured yet, but it was a nice reliever that the Trailblazer and her passage through Penacony made quiet down.

A little smile escaped from her lips as the Galaxy Ranger stared to the void space, thinking about those moments. "Trailblazer...I sure hope we meet again soon."

However, from afar, Acheron's eyes catched glimpse of giant green light emanating from a relatively close planet to where she was. "Hm? What's tha-?!" A sudden sharp pain bolted on her heart in a beat, sending some shivers throughout her body. The planet itself...it looked so lifeless, devoided from any colour other than bleak grey and the giant green light that erupted from it before dissapearing in the next second. Acheron felt as if it was calling for her, the curiosity spiking up. She could sense something of horrible had happened on that planet.

Inhaling and exhaling a beat, Acheron felt her heartbeat stabilizing quickly. "What just happened?" She murmured to herself.

"WARNING! WARNING! HOSTILE SPACHESHIPS NEARBY! I REPEAT! HOSTILE SPACESHIPS NEARBY!"

"Hm?" Acheron looked up as she heard the alarms of the travelling passenger spaceship she was in going off.

"PLEASE STAY CALM AND REMAIN IN YOUR SEATS! PROGRAMMING UNPLANNED DEVIATION ON THE ROUTE! EMERGENCY INTER-DIMENSIONAL JUMP ABOUT TO BE PERFORMED! REMAIN IN YOUR SEATS!"

The passengers murmured and whispered in worry, sounding very distressed with the situation of being under attack by some sort of space pirates or even worse, The Antimatter Legion. The infamous reputation of that faction of Nanook was enough to strike fear of many defenseless innocents. For Acheron, it didn't matter if they decided to attack her or not. Such disposeble foes could hardly land a finger on her or even make a scratch. A single swing of her sword would be enough to deal with them. But at the same time, she wondered what happened on that planet. Where did all that green energy light came from? What was the reason behind it? The Galaxy Ranger felt the need to investigate it.

"Please ma'am! You've heard the alarms! Sit down and fasten your seatbelt! This spaceship is about to make a jump!" A worker of the spaceship pulled Acheron out of her train of thoughts, calling her out.

"Sorry. My mind was just afloat." Acheron replied calmly despite the situation, going back to stare at the planet she was watching previously. "What is that planet over there? Why does it look so lifeless?"

The worker stared to the same place. "Oh! That's Miseria. A total wasteland I'd tell you."

"Why?" She asked him, her curiosity growing.

"I've heard that it was a planet always on some sort of conflicts and wars, the inhabitants never having known peace. The destruction reached to a point where hardly any life could flourish in it, barely being deemed inhabitable to any lifeform. It's no wonder why it looks so dead and hollow. I would not blame anyone for thinking the planet's state is work of a Stellaron." The worker gave some background of Miseria to Acheron. "Not a place I would like to spend my vacations, not even if they paid me! Now please ma'am, go back to your sea-"

"I'm going there. Could you speak with your capitan to disponiblize one of the pods for me?" Acheron interrupted the worker, stating her intentions, much to the worker's very own shock.

"What?! Haven't you heard what I just said? That planet is a total wasteland! There's nothing of worth going there for! Plus we can't risk to delay the inter-dimensional jump any minute while at danger of being under attack! Miseria itself is dangerous! Who knows what kind of hostilities awaits in a persumably dead planet?"

"I appreciate the concern but spare it if you will." Acheron replied, turning around to face the worker. "I assure you that I do not let any harm come to me that easily."

Looking at the imposing sword and how Acheron speaked so calmly and collected overall, it made the worker of the spaceship realize he wasn't talking with some random passenger but with someone who definelty speaked from experience. The worker gave some thought into it. "...I'll try and speak of your request to the captain."

"INTER-DIMENSIONAL JUMP STARTING IN 3...2...1..."

With everything set, the giant passenger spaceship flashed out from its current position, having activated the velocity that permitted it to teleport to other point of the universe, moving away from nearby danger. But not before having released a small pod from its main body, launching it torwards the nearby planet known as Miseria. Acheron was its sole occupier, focused on landing and get to discover the motive behind that mysterious green light that appeared suddenly.

Meanwhile, some distance away, a fully fleet of heavily armed spaceships navigated through that part of the cosmos. It wasn't benign forces made to protect the planets and keep the galatical peace. Instead, the entire fleet had been created to serve the nefarious purposes of one villanous young man with far too great ambitions.

"Gwahahahahahahaha! Did you saw the speed of which that passenger ship flew away, Mariella?" A pompous and arrogant young man of short black hair and red eyes, dressed in a space general black outfit and hat, laughed in his chair, at the command room of the flag ship of the entire fleet. "If that ain't respect through fear, then I dunno what it is! Gwahahahahahaha!"

"It was really splendid, Master Zorvik." A young woman with short pink hair tied into a pony tail and an eye patch on her left eye, also wearing a black military uniform, replied serenely to the young man. "Master's grandfather and father would be very proud if they could see Master now."

"I sure know! All of their years of planning and building. It was all so that their wish of colonizing the space could be carried out by me! The soon to be The Great Star Conqueror, Zorvik!" He exclaimed on top of his lungs. "Soon enough, this whole galaxy will be under my empire's rule! And then, the whole existing universe as well! And with such armory, such powerful armada, the magnitude of its weapons that have been carefully projected and constructed upon years and years, who can even stand in our way? The IPC? The Xihanzou Alliance? Pff, they can all come that our fleet will blow them into smithereens!"

"Yay! Way to say it Master Zorvik!"

"You have such way with words, Master Zorvik!"

"I will follow your orders to the end of the universe, Master Zorvik!"

"Such charesmatic leader that you are, Master Zorvik-senpai!"

"MASTER ZORVIK! MASTER ZORVIK! MASTER ZORVIK!"

Zorvik cackled as he watched all of his minions chant his name in complete adoration. Sitting back down on his chair, the young general who aspired to be emperor of the cosmos gave an empty glass to his loyal secretary. "Mariella, go fetch me another cup of tropical wonders juice for me if you will."

"At your service Master." Bowing down respectefully, Mariella grabbed the empty cup from Zorvik's hand and went to do as he ordered.

A malicious smirk on Zorvik's smile as he watched to the other spaceships of his fleet on the giant windows of the command room, having full visibility of the path ahead. "Me and my empire won't be following any wills of prying Aeons. I shall pave a new whole path. The Path of Conquest!"

Landing down on Miseria, Acheron could see what the worker had told her was no exaggeration. The vegetation and soil was as dry and rusty as forgotten old fossils, barely having any kind of greenery in it. The planet was almost exclusively rocks and stones as well as giant plain fields full of nothing but dead sky of the planet was filled with grey clouds, raining almost nonstop. Despite that, Acheron didn't feel the need to open her umbrella to shield herself from the falling water drops. A post-apocalyptic scenario that would indeed fool anyone who didn't knew a thing about Miseria, to believe a Stellaron was the cause of all this.

As she looked around to find any signs that could give any indication where the green light she spotted from the spaceship came from, the Galaxy Ranger spotted what appeared to be an abandoned and destroyed town in the distance.

"Maybe there I will find something." Acheron walked torwards the ghost town, in hopes to find some clue.

Reaching there, all that she saw was a wreckage, debris and leftovers of destroyed buildings of what once used to be a populated area, now filled with nothing but eerie silent, as if Acheron herself was now in a horror movie setting. Everything degraded with age and emptiness with no one to rebuild nor take care of the place. Some broken small house items as clues that people used indeed to live here but not anymore, the mentioned war having probably ended with all that. The watchtowers had long crumbled, same for the town's defense walls. "Perhaps this place was ravaged during an attack." Acheron theorized by the evidences and clues she gathered around the dead town.

But so far, no monster in sight that she had to worry about killing. The Galaxy Ranger even pondered at one point if she was right now the sole living being on this planet currently, as not even the appearence of the smallest of insects had happened. Miseria was maybe truly deceased to the core, no longer a living organism. As more minutes passed, Acheron was getting more sure that she wouldn't find any answer for what she came here for. "Maybe my own mind was playing tricks on me..." She argued to herself, her decision to end the search and leave the planet becoming clearer.

But while her brain was about to go for that choice, a loud thump sound on the ground was heard nearby, as if something big had crashed on the ground. "Hm? Did it came from there?" Acheron looked upwards, spotting a huge cloud of dust rising in the air just behind a small mountain near the town. Going near its foothill, the Galaxy Ranger saw that she would have to take a big go around, so instead, she opted for a more efficient solution. "This planet is already probably deserted. It won't matter the damage I end up doing here."

Wielding her sword, all that Acheron did was to swing her sheathed blade just once to split the mountain apart, making way for her on the other side. As she walked through the artificial valley she herself had created, Acheron ended up reaching to the place where that cloud of dust and smoke came from. And what she ended up finding there, altough it didn't shake her to the very core, made the Galaxy Ranger feel a sharp disturbence on her soul.

"What is...?"

Taken by surprise as her eyes widened a bit, Acheron stood mildly baffled as she stared down at a vast field full of human corpses with one corpse of a giant beast in the middle, having been slayed. The scenery itself was disruptive and terryfying, looking like she had just stumbled into the place of a long occured genocide, all the piles of bodies filling the entire field, placed all above each other. Acheron had already seen her fair share of destruction and chaos, remembering of the final moments of her very own home planet. But this level of carnage was brutal, a bit excessive from everything she had witnessed before in her travels. It fazed her to a certain degree even if not by a lot.

Proceeding to stare at the middle where the dead rhino-looking beast was, a person humming in front of the deceased creature while rubbing their hands on the sharp blade of what seemed to be a scythe.

"Another person here?" Acheron wasn't expecting the presence of another living being rather then herself in Miseria at all. It all gave some suspicious feelings, the Galaxy Ranger getting on guard as she decided to enter the field of dead bodies and approach the mysterious person with caution, her hand near to the hilt of her sword, the heels stepping on the dead bodies without much hesitation or second thought.

The person however noticed Acheron approaching, not even having to look directly at her as their back was still turned to the Galaxy Ranger. "Hm? Came here to see the attraction, missy?" The person, a man, speaked, moving his body to stare at the newcomer, stopping from cleaning his scythe. "Sorry to inform ya, but you kinda arrived late to the party." He speaked. The man was quite tall, at least two meters high and good muscular as well. He wore long brown pants alongside a dark and sleeveless ragged mantle with two disconnected belts near the area of the exposed chest and torso and a pointy grim reaper hood that covered his face apart from the mouth and nose. Acheron couldn't be sure of what she was seeing, but looking at the man's shoulders, there seemed to be hand bones sticking out of the mantle.

His overall appearence looked menacing, not giving the impression of a friendly individual. And his weapon, the scythe, didn't helped. From what Acheron observed, it looked almost as tall as its owner, a bigger than average human skull grafted to the top end of the scythe's handle. The mouth of the skull was largely open, and from it it came the sharp and large dark grey blade of the weapon, with what appeared to be dark veins embedded in the metal. There was definetly something dangerous about him, and Acheron knew it, taking caution.

"What happened here?" She asked to the tall mysterious man, wanting to know what led to all these amounts of dead bodies. Her voice firm and still calm as she did not avert her gaze from the man in front of her.

"Well, nothing out of the ordinary you see. Just some nice cult people that asked me for help to kill this bad boy here." The man responded with a cackle, a cunning and sly voice, resulting in Acheron's deduction about him growing.

"These people...who killed them?" Acheron asked in a serious tone. "You or the monster?"

The mysterious man immediatly raised his hands in self-defense. "Heyheyheyhey now. What type of AWFUL accusation is that? This is literally the first time we meet and you already jump the gun like that? Jesus woman, simmer down!" He said in a panicked, overreacting way. "Is it because of my looks? My scythe? The hood? Judging others by appearence isn't a great look on you y'kn-"

"Cease with the gossiping." Acheron cut him off, not being here to support this man's gibberish. "I'll ask you just one more time. Who killed these people?" She grabbed her sword and pointed at the tall man in front of her. "You or the monster?" This time, the question felt like a threat.

Seeing that Acheron was insisting on interrogating him, the man just shrugged his shoulders. "Well, they did asked me for help...Altough I admit none of us wasn't accounting for some 'collateral damages'."

Acheron's gaze locked in with that response, narrowing it. "Then you're the one who killed them, weren't you?"

The man just gave an ambiguous movement with his hand, doing a 'more-or-less' with it. "Uh, when putting like that and taking all things considered..." He moved his head to the other way, sounding uninterested and obtuse. "There's no denying it, is there?" He grinned maliciously and creepishly all of a sudden, staring directly at Acheron with an eerie stare that was concealed behind his grim reaper hood.

The stare of the Galaxy Ranger became rougher. The man had admitted, having no qualms in that declaration, stating without a cre in the world. "Then you're the one who did this. Why so? Does it bring you any glee?"

"Short-term. But in the overall scenario, yes. It does." The mysterious man admited without remorse or regret. No second thinking or precaution on his words. Just like that.

Acheron shifted her glaze to the corpses on the ground for a brief second. Even if their skins were already rooting and decomposing, she could tell they were killed recently by the wounds on the corpses. The looks of terryfying doom on the faces that witnessed the very last seconds of their lives before being cut short. Acheron could even hear the distant screams of horror from their deceased souls. How they cried, how they wheeped, how they begged, how they anguished and suffered. Not a single one spared or showed mercy to. They weren't nor seemed to have been cultists. They were innocents, innocents that were slained down like animals in a moment of despair.

Hearing the constant lamentations and screams of the dead around her made Acheron get a clear answer: the man in front of her wasn't a man. He was scum.

"..." Not saying a word, Acheron went for her oil-paper umbrella and opened it, putting abover her own head while lowing her own sword as the rain had stopped from dropping all of a sudden.

"Hm? Only now you pick up your umbrella now that the rain is gone?" The mysterious man said like if Acheron was some weirdo before laughing at the image of it. "Hahahaha! You must be a fun one eh!"

"..." Acheron didn't uttered a word, just giving him a stoic and unsympathetic stare. One that had no friendly intentions.

The man grumbled dissatisfied at that. "What? Are you sad that I killed people you never met? Or...you actually did." The man pondered amusedly, his hand slowly reaching for his scythe. "Well, in that case..." Grabbing the weapon firmly, the man dashed at Acheron, a large grin on his face as he rushed torwards her. "I'll make you join them!"

...

The umbrella flew on the grey sky amongst its red petals, Acheron now standing behind the man who attacked her, her sheathed sword stretched out forwards. The Galaxy Ranger made sure that a single blow would suffice, the left arm of the man having been sliced out, dropping to the ground.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! MY ARM! MY ARM! MY ARM!" The man screeched in terror and burning agony, falling down to his knees with blood oozing non-stop from his open wound.

This was a warning Acheron gave him. "Fool." She said, cleaning the blood from her sword before turning around to confront the pathetic man. "For your own good, you better never-huh?" But once she turned, the man wasn't there anymore despite of his blood still being present in place. "Where did he-"

"That was a nice trick you pulled there."

"!?" Moving her head, Acheron could only have time to see the mysterious man appearing by her right, his chopped arm back to the body like nothing happened, before being punched harshly in the stomach, sending her crashing against some nearby rocks. The Galaxy Ranger was caught off-guard.

"But I have tricks of my own as well y'know?" The mysterious man moved the fingers of the hand that punched Acheron, teasing her of the fact he hadn't lost his arm at all as she would've thought.

"Gngh!" Getting up and away from the rocks, Acheron cleaned off the bit of blood coming out of her mouth, her body and clothes now sustaining some minor scratches. "I cut his arm clean off. How could he still have it?" She thought, midly confused but still maintaining her calm posture.

"Hehehe, dumbfounded?" The man chuckled, proceeding to open up his arms, letting his entire chest and body completly open. "Here. You can have some more tries."

"Hm!" The man was trying to taunt and provoke Acheron, being as bold enough to invite her to slash his boy again. The Galaxy Ranger decided to go with something more lethal this time. "You asked for it!" Stepping like thunder, Acheron performed a hundread slashes on the man's body in under a second, doing in such way he wouldn't be able to survive. "These should've done it." She looked behind to the man, seeing his entire body covered in cuts.

And yet, he didn't reacted to the injuries nor the 'pain'. Instead, much to the Galaxy Ranger's disbelief, the wounds begun to diminuish and glow light-green along with some static, slowly dissapearing. No, they didn't dissapeared. The man's skin had just regenerated to a point it healed from all the slashes Acheron delivered him.

"It can't be!" Acheron widened her eyes in pure shock as she saw that. The man should have died. Hardly any creature or opponent she had fought so far through her journey would have survived that. It made her question the identity of her enemie as he checked his own hands and wrists. "Who is-...no." Acheron frowned as the man sinisterly turned his head to look at her, a mallevolent grin on his face as a bright green light from his hiddened eye shinned beneath the grim reaper hood. "What is he?"

"The tries have runned out." The grinning man eerily said.

"Tsk!" Not giving him more time to breath, Acheron jumped torwards him, planning to go for another couple of multiple slashes.

But this time, the man didn't let her, bringing forth his scythe to clash with Acheron's sword. "Getting uneasy already?" The man asked her, chuckling. "Please, we are just getting started!" Exclaiming, he managed to overpower the Galaxy Ranger, pushing her away from the clash.

Able to keep her balance, Acheron quickly moved her head up to see her opponent now being the one to lash at her with his scythe, swinging it at a crazy speed and unpredicable movement. "Fast!" She noted to herself while nimbly parrying the attacks, every hit of the metal from the man's scythe feeling like a vehicle at full speed. It was clear the man had greath strenght behind those arms and swings of his weapon. Acheron would manage to deliver some hits but only to see them having no effect on the enemy whose skin regenerated as quickly as the blows landed. Was he some type of mara-struck? An aberration of Yaoshi? No. His power felt completly different from one who followed the path of Abundance.

The fight continued to drag on, the two always nullifying each other.

"C'mon missy! Is that really your all?" The man said, dodging from Acheron attacks and parrying the next ones. "It's soooooo dissapointing!" He exclaimed, their weapons clashing once again. "Where is your 'A' game eh?"

"Kgh!" Acheron lips twitched as she was now the one having to block her opponent's assault, the metal of her blade shocking with the opponent's scythe repeatedly. Each collision a feeling of overwhelming strenght and of being slowly overpowered.

"Can't you do better? I'm getting bored!" The man said louder, swinging his weapon with more brutality at every attempt, forcefully trying to break the Galaxy Ranger's defense. "I crave entertainment! Life should never have a dull moment!" He exclaimed again, not putting any breaks on his assault. "You're making it dull! Bland! Tedious!"

"..." Acheron cleenched her teeth in a frenetic struggle, still managing to accompain the velocity of the man's attacks altough she could tell to herself her body wouldn't be able to keep with this for much longer. And the words her foe speaked were only poking her mind more and more. "There's no other way! I have to-"

"Is that how you live your life? As a featurless void?" The man grinned wildly as he rised his scythe up high and brought it down, ready to deal a fatal slash on Acheron. "How painfully monotonous!"

"Enough!" Acheron yelled, immediatly gaining a boost of strenght for herself, putting a lot of her will into her sword and proceeding to deflect the man's scythe, much to his bewilderment. And in the same second, Acheron liberated a powerful slash at her open enemy, cutting his body diagonally alongside the mountains and hills far behind him, creating a huge fissure on the planet's surface.

"Hm? What was that noise?" Zorvik heard some roarish sound while sat on his chair in the command room of the flagship.

"It must have been the Master's stomach giving hours." Mariella told him.

"Hmm, perhaps. Today's breakfast wasn't all that great either..." Zorvik murmured while thinking about it. "Mariella! Go order some good lunch for me!"

"Going to do it right now sir." Mariella replied, bowing down before leaving the command room.

Zorvik looked at Miseria through the window, noticing something odd about the planet. "Hm? Has that fissure always been there?"

Acheron panted, sweat falling off from her face. She didn't unsheathed her sword, but this fight really came to close to make her to. She hoped that with this, the man was put down for good.

"K-Keh...Hehehehehe...N-Not bad, not bad..." As the dust slowly vanished, the man was still standing altough the huge cut he suffered from Acheron almost split his body apart, going from near his neck all the way to the tight, the two pieces of his body barely holding together. "I knew-blurgh!...I knew you had it in you..." The man smirked weakly as he coughed blood from his mouth. "T-This was more like i-"

Cutting him off, Acheron advanced and cut off his head from the body, making sure she guaranteed his death with that before he could go back to regenerate his body. The head just flew speechlessly and hit the ground, with the body falling the part and collpasing shortly after. it was arduous, but it was done. Acheron even took a look to check if he was really dead, seeing the moveless corpse still on the floor. Looking at it for a few more seconds, the Galaxy Ranger considered her enemy dead for good. Taking a deep sigh as she closed her eyes and calmed her own mind and heartbeat, she begun to walk away.

.

*crack*

.

"!" But when she heard the unnerving sound of a snapping bone, Acheron immediatly turned around in a hurry. Unfortunately she wasn't able to react in time enough to block the quick slash of the scythe in the left side of her abdomen. "Kkghr?!" Letting some blood out of her mouth, the Galaxy Ranger protected herself from the second blow however. Yet, her expression was of terror and pure startlement. "What?!" Looking ahead, she saw the body of the man all patched up despite not having the head back, going balistic torwards her, moving and swinging his scythe around like some wild animal, the ferocity and unpredictability of the attacks catching Acheron by surprise, almost losing her balance. "I cut off his head! How could he still be alive even after that?!"

Slashing her on the shoulder, the headless body stepped back, stopping its wave of attacks on Acheron for a moment. "You couldn't even let me finish, could you?"

Acheron's iris shrinked in shocked as she heard the echoes of the man's voice around her.

"Ruining someone's mood like that. How cold of you." The man's voice 'lamented' as some green statistic begun to come out from the place where the head had been decapitated. "But I suppose not everyone flows the same." From the half missing neck, particles begun to gather, forming into bones. Then strings of meat begun to grow as well, developing into muscles, expanding more. "Anyways, I think you've provened worthy of my amusement." The skull was already formed, the green glowing circles of the eye cavities staring deeply at Acheron who was watching it with some dreadful but also curious gaze. "Truly, we only live once, right?" The man's voice came back to normal as the skull got enveloped by the muscles and the skin reappered, the head coming back to its place, the man grinning at Acheron. "So we have to make the most of our lives be one hell of a time, don't you agree?"

"You're crazy." Acheron simply replied, eyeing him with some disgust.

"Crazily happy. And that's all that matters." The man replied, his face fully restored, the appearence finally revealed to Acheron. "Life is more impressive through lenses many refuse to use." His eyes were sharp and cold deep blue, a gaze of a natural born monster and killer. A brown faux hawk haircut with sideburns, having the appearence of an adult man in his mid-30's.

"That way might be unique but is also dangerous. There are paths in the whole cosmos that people should never follow." Acheron replied, not agreeing with the things her enemy said. "Such perceiving of life can be self-destructive."

The man by the contrary, looked very amused by the sound of it. "Ooooooooh! Where do I sign up?" He asked, gesticulating with his arm.

Acheron just sighed. There was no point in rationalizing with someone like him. "Your doom then." She said before dashing at the man, about to slice him with her sword.

However...

"K-Kill meeee..."

"?!" Stopping, Acheron halted her own blade, being centimeters away from the skin. Not of her enemy but instead of one of the poor corpses that got up from the ground all of a sudden, seeming to have ressurected. "What the-"

"Kill me..."

"Please end me..."

"This pain...it hurts a lot..!"

"Put an end to us..."

"?!" From the ground, Acheron noticed arms rising up and trying to grab her legs. The Galaxy Ranger avoided it, stepping back as much as she could, observing the corpses who were once deceased come back to life. Well, almost, as they did not rather look fully alive but in a state beetween. Like zombies. All groaning and begging for Acheron to kill them.

"Like it? I decided to add a few extras to participate on our fight." The man replied with a grin on his face. "Even dead people are allowed to have some fun, no?"

"Kgh!" Reluctantly but aware there was no other choice, Acheron begun to slice down the half-dead people. They were definetly different from the mara-struck. They looked more miserable, more fragile, more weak and in suffering, their constant whinings filling the air as they marched torwards the Galaxy Ranger. And to make matters worse, Acheron was almost caught off-guard by a large bone stake that broted from the ground, almost impaling her.

"And deal with these as well while we're at it. Nothing you cannot surpass." The man said with a playful smile, watching Acheron dodging and cutting down the countless bone stakes that would appear from the ground to attack her as well as having to also watch out for the nearby half-dead people.

Acheron wasn't a person to get upset. She hardly remembered the last time she ever felt true anger and irritation. But this entire thing was pushing her to that limit. She knew that these people have been killed and now resurrected against their will only to be forced to die again, resulting as nothing more but a tactic to piss her off. And it was working.

"Well, while you are occupied with that, lemme talk with one of our special guests here." The man said, reviving a corpse near him back to life and picking it up by the head before he and the revived man sat on two chairs near a table that appeared all of a sudden. "So buddy, what's your name?"

"This person..!" Acheron gave him an appalled and infuriating look, perplexed at the man not taking the fight seriously, treating the torment of the people he killed as an absolute joke and doing a stunt while she was fighting off against other people who clearly had no intention to fight her but couldn't do anything else. For her enemy, this was all just some sick-twisted comedy.

"A-Ah...aahhh..."

" 'Ah'? Unusual name to have here pal, but definetly not the first one I heard." The man replied humorously to the poor half-dead man's pain. "Planet you came from?"

"P...Plea..."

"Hmm, Plea, Plea, Plea. I think I've been to a place call that somewhere." The man rubbed his chin, reflective. "Your occupation?"

"Aaahh...ah..."

"I see that you're not one to talk very much." The man replied, completly ignoring the person's suffering. "But I know what might cheer you up!" He smiled before changing his gaze to Acheron. "Hey missy! I think our friend here wants to-"

"YOU FIEND!" Acheron lost her patience, slicing all of the half-dead people near her at once with one single swing, getting open way torwards her enemy, sprinting torwards him. Such sadistic and vile monster couldn't be let to live. She couldn't allow one more monstrosity to terrorize the cosmos.

But as she came closer, the man only grinned in reaction before a colossal skeleton with horns and chains erupted from the ground below them, putting the man up high as he looked down on Acheron from above, standing on the giant skeleton's skull.

In response, Acheron quickly jumped from bone to bone until she reached the creature's skull and clashed with the man.

Seeing her slight anger was a delight for him. "What's the matter? You mad?" He said provokingly before winning the clash, pushing Acheron down to the spinal cord of the skeleton before joining her.

Standing on top of it, both the two stare at one another for a second, with Acheron taking a stance with her sword and the man doing a quick spin with his scythe before signaling for Acheron to come at him with his hand. And so, their fight continued, their weapons creating sparks and vibrations at each hit. Acheron was more on the offensive while the man only resorted to dodge and block the attacks, predicting each of Acheron's attacks while movings, as if he was two steps ahead of her.

"He has some good insight!" The Galaxy Ranger couldn't help but note that before having her attacked parried by the man who then attacked her back, hitting Acheron on the chest and sending all the way down from the colossal skeleton.

"Hmmm, can we get much better than this?" The man smirked as he looked down on Acheron, ignoring the aching of her own injuries while getting up.

Seeing the giant creature in front of her, the Galaxy Ranger decided that this was it. She would unleash her power. "Time to end this." Taking a deep breath, Acheron grabbed the sheath of her sword.

"Hm?" The man lifted an eyebrow at that.

And so, time itself slowed down, almost paralyzed.

"Dusk's rain..."

Upon revealing the true metal of her blade, unsheating her sword for good, Acheron's purple color swapped to white, her eyes and arms becoming a deep bloodish red with equally red flowers brooming from her arms. This power made things insignificant. The closest she had ever stood to nihility. With it, her sword now carried the destruction to slice everything and nothing at the same time. Even the endless void would not escape from it. A slash that spelled doom to all things.

Concepts such as time and space itself.

"...it too shall fall."

"!"

Meanwhile, Zorvik was peacefully drinking his tea when a giant slice flashed through his eyes, dissapearing in a second and leaving a huge explosion behind that scared him and all of his minions present in the command room.

"W-What the hell was that!?" He screamed, almost falling from his chair.

"I-It seems to have been some sort of thunder with high-density quantum and concentration, sir! I-It teared even the space in front of us!" One of the operators in the command room informed, shocked at what he was seeing through the monitor. "It can't be!"

"What?! What it can't be?!" Zorvik questioned, alarmed.

"The Behemoth War-Ship: M.A.R.S has been completly destroyed and slice in half as well as Combat Ship 05 LEGION and Combat Ship 06 JINZHA!"

"What?! But h-how?!"

Back to Miseria, the planet became even more of a wasteland than before, the slash Acheron performed obliterating grand part of it. Entire mountains and areas worht of terrain gone. And alongside it, her enemy and the colossal skeleton, reduced to ashes. Or perhaps not even that.

She was forced to do it. There was no other way but to unleash the power of IX in order to defeat him. When her sword was unsheathed, no matter the opponent, victory was guaranteed to her side. And now, as the dust settled, the emotionless Emanator of Nihility stared to the open sky and the fissure she opened in the space, having little thought of it. The battle was over and probably she would even forget there was even a battle in the next minute. That all of this even happened as the recent memories would be wiped out.

Or so she thought.

Abruptly, giant green thunders shocked and trembled the ground behind Acheron, the Emanator of Nihility stopping in her tracks, not one least surprise by now. Even if she had reduced him to an atomic level, this man simply seemed to get back from the dead, his body restoring itself by the gathering of the left-over particles.

"Hehehehehe, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YES! YES! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!"

Reappearing like a demon that had climbed his way out of hell, the man's entire body regenrated from bones, meat and skin. A nightmare that no matter how hard Acheron could try, it would never go away, coming back yet again.

"Good lord if this was amazing! I knew it! I knew you had the face of someone who could pull it off!" The man exclaimed almost in a state of euphoric happiness.

"..." Acheron did not replied, just blandly stare at the scenario.

"This cold and daunting sensation of being close to death...It's phenomenal!" The man exclaimed with a crazed grin. This time, he was looking slightly different. His brown hair was brushed back and had grown, becoming long and wide to the lenght of his back while two single strings of hair stood forward. Some of his skin was now covered by purple lines around the body except his left arm that didn't had a trace of skin left, instead being only livid flesh and muscles with a black leather belt strapped around it. His only clothes now was a mere long and ragged cloth skirt of white and some pale blue design. It looked more...divine? Or maybe unholy would be a better description.

Altough silent, Acheron's mind couldn't help but wonder: "Is he...an Emanator too?" It became clear to her that this man wasn't a mere lunatic or random evil guy. He was, much, but much more than that. Something else. Something grotesque. She could tell it by the posture, the eyes, the grin, the scythe, the appearence and atmosphere around...The overall sensation that the enemy she was fighting was of a different nature, almost akin to an Aeon. Such vileness she could feel from the man. A sort of hornless devil.

"So..." The man said in a deep and husky voice, tilting his neck left and right, snapping the bones in it before staring at Acheron with a wide stare and grin, a bit of transparent skin showing his own skull. "Will you be the one?"

Acheron didn't answered. Perhaps she didn't even heard the question or the motive why the man asked her that. She just pointed her sword at him, ready for the final showdown.

"Good." The man smirked, satisfied with her 'answer'. That's what he wanted. For Acheron to give her all.

"How could this happen..?"

"Is the Master alright?" Mariella asked to Zorvik, handing him a cup of water to her distressed master.

Zorvik just couldn't understand the sudden attack that decimated a percentage of his military fleet. "I...My father and grandfather spent ages...Ages! Countless years planning and building these ships!" The young man shouted in fury, trohwing the cup to the floor. "And I not only lose some of them but countless men even before my conquest on the stars starts?!"

"Please, calm down Master." Mariella tried to pacify him. "I'm sure whatever it was, it was an accident! All of those fallen men wouldn't want to see Master upset or sad! The cosmos will still be for Master ton conquer!"

"But...such loss..." Zorvik said with frustration before looking to his secretary. "Do you think I can still do it, Mariella?"

"I do, Master Zorvik." Mariella smiled to him. "Everyone here believes as well."

"She's right, Master Zorvik!"

"We will follow Master Zorvik until the end!"

"Cheer up Master Zorvik! The Master can still do this!"

"For the glory of Master's Zorvik Empire!"

"Master Zorvik! Master Zorvik! Master Zorvik!"

Upon hearing the chants of support, Zorvik felt his morale going up, revitalized by them. "Yes...You're right. You're all right!" Zorvik said, getting up from his chair. "The cosmos are still mine for the taking! I can give up after some small setback, can I? No! I have to honour my father and grandfather's memory! Our entire lineage and dream! I shall be the one to carry the ambitions of my family!" He exclaimed, inspired. "The Path of Conquest will still be made! I'll make sure that this empire enters to the annals of his-"

And then another explosion happened, shaking the entire ship they were in, Zorvik almost losing his balance as the alarms started to sound.

"What the hell is it now?!" Zorvik screamed.

"C-Crap! Our ship has been damaged on the front! Plus, Behemoth War-Ship: A.R.E.S is also down!"

"WHAT?!" Zorvik yelled. "WHAT WAS IT THIS TIME?!"

The operator checked his monitor. "We are detecting two signals at the ship's front! They seemed to have been the cause of it! It's-"

"Ah. Now this is an ideal scenario for a fight." The man smirked as he and Acheron both stared at each other as a destroyed ship of the fleet burned and exploded in front of them. "Ready?" He asked her, scythe in hand.

Acheron just shrugged her shoulders, bringing her sword up. And so the final round begun.

Both going at it, delivering and trading blows between them. And every attack, every clash of their weapons would end up in dozens of ships of the fleet being sliced and destroyed, reducing the sheer power of the fleet, erasing it by little altough it wasn't neither intention of the two who were only focused on fighting one another.

Their agility, strenght, power and even skill were equally on the same level, being evenly matched. Jumping from ship to another since it would end up being destroyed in just a matter of seconds. It didn't took too long for the other ships of the fleet begun to try and point their artillery at the two, awfully missing the targets and begin a chaotic scenario of crossfire in desperate attempt to eliminate the duo.

Meanwhile, Zorvik was watching everything his entire family had built for generations vanishing in a tragic and shocking way right in front of his eyes. "It...It can't be..."

"Master, our flagship has been hugely damaged!" Mariella told him, the interior of the command room falling apart. "We must evacuate now!"

Snapping out of his dread, Zorvik stared to his secretary. "O-Oh..! Y-Yes! We must leave immediatly!" And so the two runned to the area of the evacuation pods of the ship, dodging loads of rubble and wreckage along the way, finally reaching it.

"Look Master! There's the pods!" Mariella exclaimed, seeing a soldier guarding an evacuation pod and waving at them.

"Master Zorvik! Miss Mariella! Over here! Escape through this-aaagh!"

But then an explosion occured within the room, two figures having busted in.

"Hehehe. This has been great so far." The man smirked, the dust settling down as he stared to Acheron in front of him. "Even you cannot deny it."

And he was right. As the dust also went away from Acheron's face, a smile was present, transmiting how even she was feeling something with this. How such adrenaline and rush of fighting against a foe like him made her felt...alive. As if in that moment, her life had found a destraction from the nihility that plagued her.

"Q-Quick, Master Zorvik! Miss Mariella! I'll hold them back while you escape!" The random soldier told to the other two as he pointed his gun at the grinning man. "Die you-ergh?!"

Having grabbed the soldier's head with his left, flesh arm, the man lifted him up without much effort while still staring at Acheron. "But even then, all that is good comes to an end." He said, starting to drain vital energy from the soldier he caught, the soldier's skin becoming dry and old before being dropped on the ground, lifeless. "All things do."

Acheron continued with her smile, not caring if this fight would be over soon or not. She just wanted to make sure to pleasure it as much of it while still possible. In the confines of her almost empty mind, a single thought appeared on her head. "I'm enjoying this..." If it was indeed her or her sunconscious speaking, Acheron couldn't make sure of it. But that didn't matter. What mattered, was the fight she was having right now.

As the two continue to battle and turn the room to shreds, Zorvik and Mariella managed to reach one of the escape pods and open the door.

"Alright Master! You first!" Mariella told him, prioritizing Zorvik's safety first. But before she herself could enter, she hesitated a bit, her heart pounding inside. "Master Zorvik...I know it's not the most appropriate time for it now but...I want to confess that-huh?" Looking forward again, she saw the door of the escape pod close.

Zorvik gave her a clueless look at her on the other side. "Oh...I thought you were inside already." He said with a dead pan face.

"MASTER ZORVI-" But before Mariella could tell him to open the door, the flames of Acheron and the man's fight engulfed her, with Zorvik not taking time to hesitate and immediatly press the button which launched the escape pod away from the decaying unstable ship into the space.

"Oh god! Oh my god...That was close..." Zorvik panted and sweated, greateful for having escaped the total annihialation of the fleet and survived.

But it still wasn't the end.

Breaking the ceilling, Acheron and her enemy both came out of it, back to the exterior once again. Their bodies injured but still with fuel to fight, emboldened by the spectacle this fight was being for both of them.

The man cackled. He had lots of fight before. But only few could be compared to the one Acheron was providing him. However, like he said, sooner or later this would have an end, with only one of them coming out alive.

"I flatter ya, miss." The man gave a reverence to Acheron, bowing. "It's been some time since I felt this much alive!" He said, cackling in the middle of his words.

"Likewise." Acheron simply said, her overall emotions having to thank the man as well for making her feel plenty of things in such short time. It would be a bit of a pity if she survived due to possibly forgetting that all of this happened. She wanted to make sure all this battle and the animated feelings it created inside her would stay in her memory forever. But first, she had to kill him for that to happen.

"Come." The man incitivated her. "Come and show me how meaningless death is to you!"

Hugely captivated to do so, the emotions inside her going high, Acheron smiled even more, bringing forth her unsheathed sword once more. Perhaps this was the meaning of her life.

"Dusk's rain..."

But the man wouldn't let it be easy. Quite the contrary, if he was going to die, it would be in the hard way. Grabbing his scythe with both hands, the man grinned as a yellow eye revealed itself in the middle of the scythe's blade. The entire space around them then was transformed into an infinite dark place, being only illuminated by an invisible pale blue light. A floor only composed of shallow water and thousands if not millions of skeletons scattered across the endless area, forming piles and piles of it.

"Death..."

Sprinting torwards Acheron the same way she was sprinting at him, the man put his scythe upwards, the yellow eye giving a domming stare as the blade of the weapon burned in green and dark flames, the imagery of a monstrous skull appearing behind him. A figure that spelled doom and final to every life form that ever existed on the universe. Everything and everyone were the same before him. The closure to all, even nihility itself. The thing were all of existence reunited once it ended as none could avoid it.

True finality.

"...it too shall fall!"

"...minutes in decimal!"

A clash so calamitous that shaked the entire galaxy and other's nearby, the trembling feeling through the entire cosmos, decimating whatever planet or stars were nearby. It then evolved to an explosion to the potency of a supernova erupted, swallowing and erasing the entire fleet in a bright sphere.

From his escape pod, Zorvik witnessed the explosion quickly catching up to him.

"N-No! This can't be my end! IT CAN'T!" In panic, the young man set up the velocity of the escape pod to maximum, already configuring and Interdimensional-Jump. "I'm Zorvik! Zorvik Jugh dammit! 32º ruler of the Juno Empire!" He punched the commands, not accepting this to be his demise. "Son of Edward Jugh and grandson of Forrick Jugh! By my own will, I shall survive and make our empire the strongest nation across the-..."

"Cold and ending..."

Acheron's body floated in the middle of a dark void.

"Can't feel...a thing..."

No energy to continue fighting.

"No thoughts...no emotions...no... sensation..."

Approaching to the ever rotating black hole.

"Nothing to care...Nothing to value...Just...meaningless..."

Her life had ended. She lost. And so as consequence, her body was now entirely for the Aeon of Nihility to consume.

"Meaning...meaning...life..."

And in face of the indiffirent void, the Emanator just accepted her demise and fate, slowly closing her eyes. This river would reach the end of its course.

"A...meaningless life..."

"AH!"

But then, Acheron's eyes opened up all of a sudden as she gasped for air. Involuntarily, she begun to cough, her senses coming back to her. The Galaxy Ranger couldn't perceive well what just happened but... "I'm...alive?"

"Your time ain't up yet." The man said in front of her, back in his dark mantle and grim reaper hood, walking away from Acheron who now was just standing on some random remains of the destroyed fleet floating in space. "Still too soon." He said, almost enigmatically.

Lifting up her torso from the ground, Acheron stared at the man walking away, puzzled. "He...Did he revived me?" The Galaxy Ranger couldn't quite comprehend it. As she just been pulled out from the claws of nihility by the man himself? But why? A question that now occupied her brain.

"Looking forward to meet again." The man stopped walking, turning around to give Acheron one good last sinister sin. "You can search for me that I'll be waiting." He said in a guttural tone, as if he knew that was what Acheron would do.

"..." She didn't said nothing, just watching the mysterious man and previous enemy getting further from her.

Before dissapearing however, the man looked up to the countless stars and celestial bodies across the cosmos and feeling exuberant by it, the man stretched up his arms in the air and exclaimed. "For as long as there is life, so will death and its endless pursuit!" He yelled with a psychotic grin to then vanish right in front of Acheron's eyes.

Alone, the Galaxy Ranger stood up on her feet. Tired but with her injuried healed. However, that wasn't what troubled Acheron. What did, was the identity of the man she met and fought. For long she had traveled the cosmos on her long journey and met with many interesting and remarkable people, but nobody as peculiar or bizarre as that grinning man. His face, the fight. All of it stayed etched in her mind. One of the few memories that would be hard, if not impossible to forget. And the emotions she felt. They were some of the realest she had ever felt in a long time. A moment where her own life seemed to have found meaning again.

Which was why as Acheron stored her sword and walked away, her first thought wasn't about how to get off from the immense junk of scraps of the destroyed fleet but instead another one: She had to find that man again.

Chapter Text

Two months had passed since that fight. Since Acheron had met 'death' for a brief time only to apparently get taken back to the world of the living.

Two months since the battle with that strange, eerily man. So mysterious and bizarre that the Galaxy Ranger couldn't help but search for him during all this time. Normally, Acheron's mind would make her forget of many events she experienced, even ones that could happen weeks or days ago. But just like Penacony, the image of the man, his malevolous grin, their fight and destruction of the fleet, the emotions she felt and the thing she saw on their final clash...It all become permanent in her head like non-flammable photos.

She had to see that person again. The Galaxy Ranger's curiosity could not help but urge Acheron to find him, wanting to know 'what' was he.

Her search had led Acheron to many planets, always looking for clues and asking people if they saw a tall shady man with a grim reaper hood passing by. And following the testimony of the people who did, it made the Galaxy Ranger travel to this planet where she was now. A simple yet gigantic market, full of people walking and making bussiness left and right.

Even in the middle of the crowd, Acheron's oil-paper umbrella stood out, not being a native of the planet possibly calling out some attention amongst the inhabitants. But this was a place full of tourists, famous and known for its traditional and cultural festivities, attracting many foreigners yearly. So if even as a tourist, it wouldn't be like Acheron would feel out of place in the eyes of the local residents. Specially when there was other 'groups' standing out even more.

"Hey-Hey beautiful. Wanna have my number?"

"Stop being a moron!"

"Ow!"

"Our superiors don't pay our saleries to be flirting around! Get back to work!"

A couple of meters away, to Acheron's left, two IPC soldiers were spotted, both doing their assigned task of surveillence around the streets of the marketplace. It appeared that this planet was also in the financial shackles of the galatic organization, doing anything to be on the IPC good side in order to get material goods back. Their branches really stretched long across the universe, making the cosmos seem like a small place due to their almost omnipresent influence.

"..." Acheron just continued walking. With the IPC around, it would be for the best to keep a low profile and discreet, the stunt she made back at Penacony against one of their bosses, Adventurine, probably putting her in a sort of watch or wanted list. Being labeled as a dangerous criminal and being hunt down would be quite bothersome to the Galaxy Ranger. But she was aware of the possible risks she was taking when visiting this planet. The need to find that grinning man were higher than that.

"Will I find him here?" Acheron asked to herself, giving an analyzing stare to her surroundings, giving a good look at the several people around her, taking quick sights of their facial features and appearence. Before going, the mysterious man told her if she ever looked out for him, he'd be waiting. Yet, no sight of him so far amongst the crowd. Perhaps the Galaxy Ranger would have to look on another place than the market.

"Looking for someone, missy?"

Hearing a deep bone chilling voice behind her, Acheron's guard got up as she saw a bigger shadow covering her own on the ground, someone tall behind her speaking. It was him.

"!" Turning around, Acheron ended up getting surprised as she saw that in reality, no one was standing behind her. But how? It couldn't have been her own imagination playing pranks on her now. Quickly moving her head, Acheron's eyes searched for everywhere inside the crowd, believing that the grinning man was still somewhere nearby, not having been product of her mind.

And in a split second, she found him again. The head slightly covered by the notorious grim reaper hood he was wearing, a simplistic smirk on his face as his single cold blue eye stared back at Acheron in the distance, shortly before dissapearing again when two people from the crowd passed by each other, the Galaxy Ranger losing sight from him. But there was no doubt...

"He's here." Moving to the place where she saw him, Acheron begun to squeeze her way through the crowd, gently pushing people away as she walked to the place. As she approached, the Galaxy Ranger's peripheral vision catched sight of him to her right, walking out of the marketplace and into an alley. Acheron continued to follow at a relative distance, entering the narrow alley. Once there, she was able to see him nearing to the other end of the alley. Walking through the darkened corridor, she was keeping eye on the man, slowly approaching him. Until a drunk person bumped into her.

"Look where ya going!"

"Sorry." Acheron responded briefly, taking her concentration and vision off the target she was persuing for a moment. And once she turned her head back to the front, her eyes only got a glimpse of a piece of the man's dark mantle turning around the corner, dissapearing from the alley and her vision. It made Acheron accelerate her step a bit, not wanting to lose track of him.

Exiting the alley and back into the sunny streets of the town, the Galaxy Ranger turned her head to the right, seeing the man who towered above everyone else walking into a pub on the distance. So that's where he was going. Acheron headed torwards the small building, not having much trouble to cross the street and went there as this area wasn't as crowded as the marketplace.

Opening the doors of the pub, the Galaxy Ranger didn't even had to look around for the mysterious man. He was with his back turned at her, sitting at the bartender's table, positioned right in front of her while gulping down on a cold alcoholic drink. As if he was already anticipating for Acheron to show up and see him drink.

"..." Not announcing her arrival or directing any words to the man immediatly, Acheron instead decided to silently walk torwards him on the bartender's table. The pub was mainly calm, with a soft delicate piano music playing on the background, making company to the noises of the Galaxy Ranger's steps as she then stood right next to the mysterious man and took the seat to his right.

"Greetings lady. What do you wish for?"

"Just a cup of water, thank you." Acheron replied to the bartender who kindly nodded at her as he went to fulfill the customer's order, giving a cup of water to the Galaxy Ranger in a matter of seconds.

She took a sip of it, putting the cup back on the table, not even once staring nor speaking with the man next to her. Nor did he. The two staying quiet for a few seconds without paying each other's mind as the piano song continued to fill the air and ambiance of the pub.

"Weak liver?" The man spoke, finally breaking the silence after taking another gulp on his alcohol.

"No. I just like the taste of the water." Acheron replied blandly, taking a second sip of her drink.

The mysterious man smirked a bit. "Eh. Vapid and neutral with no spice. How profound."

"Even the bland things can be considered a flavour. Plus, it does good to your health." Acheron replied calmly and undisturbed, staring at the water lose its movement inside the cup as she put it back down.

"Oh? But you do not strike me as a person who would die for not drinking much water." The man replied, his grin growing a bit more with enthusiasm as he finally turned his head to stare at the Galaxy Ranger sitting next to him.

"Well, neither do you." Acheron replied, also taking her sight out of her cup to stare back at the man, giving him an awareness look, having previous knowledge of what his body was capable of, remembering their fight.

The man chuckled in return. "Touché." He said before ending his drink, letting out a satisfied breath as the liquid was all swallowed down from his throat. "So, how was the search, missy? Enjoyed it?"

"I do not know. I wouldn't consider a search for someone to be 'enjoyable'." Acheron responded dryly.

"But it sure made you spent a good amount of time, didn't it?" The man replied, the smile still on his face, ordering a second drink that was promptly put in front of him. "Kept your mind occupied, boltzing and kinetic." He swinged his cup a bit, the ice cubs jiggling inside. "Definetly better than being empty-headed with nothing to do, right?"

"I am aware of other activities that can make my mind active, thank you." Acheron replied, still maintaining her natural manner of answering him. It was obvious he was trying to tease the Galaxy Ranger.

"Eh eh, sure thing. Roaming around the cosmos. It does sound like a beautiful and endearing thing to occupy time with. Yet, doing the same ol routine again and again will eventually led it to become stale. There's only as much a person can do in a single lifetime. What's the purpose of a travel if it doesn't have a settled destination or goal?" The man told to Acheron, starting to drink from his second glass of alcohol. "That's why you decided to come find me instead. You want something that I can provide. A long lost feeling perhaps?"

"..." Acheron did not answer, drinking from her cup of water, ignoring the grinning man's question.

"Not that I can exactly blame you. Oh boy, that fight did made me feel wonderful." The man said with joy, stretching his arms and laying himself on the back of the chair. "You really made me force my hand even. I almost thought I was actually gonna die for a moment there! And you missy, have my applause for the effort."

"..." The Galaxy Ranger continued to stay silent, once again grabbing her cup of water and about to drink it. "...Hm?" However, Acheron's lips did not met the water, as she had already drank all of it. Oblivious, she begun to stare around the pub, seeming like she was thinking or trying to spot something.

"Hm?" Even the man beside her stopped smilling, giving her a puzzled look to what exactly was all of Acheron's stares for.

"...Where am I?" She asked to the man, legitemately having forgotten where she was.

"Pffffff!" The man in reaction spit his drink out, appaled before starting to laugh almost madly. "Hahahahahaha! You really are a peculiar missy aren't you? Hahahahaha!"

Acheron just blinked her eyes, her stoic face muddled at why the man was laughing. "Uh? What's so funny?"

Wheezing, the man calmed himself down and quieted his own laughter, going back to compose himself. "Nothing, nothing." He told to Acheron, ordering something to the bartender before taking out a cigar. Lightening up, the small fire of the cigar created a weak light that was still potent enough to shine on the man's face, a part of his skin becoming transparent, giving Acheron some visibility of his skull, the deep circular green light on the void of his eye. "You're an interesting fella. That's all." He said to Acheron before taking the cigar off his mouth, the skin going back to its original state and concealing his skull again and the bizarre look.

Before Acheron could tell him something, they heard several noises outside, the light of the pub windows dissapearing, as if a crowd had gathered near the pub.

Turning her head around, Acheron got mildly surprised as she saw countless women on the other side of the windows, all scratching and scrabbling the glass while having heart-shaped eyes, speaking some incomprehensible non-sense as they looked to be madly in love for somebody inside the pub.

"Where did all those women appeared?" Acheron asked, wondering what were they all doing there all of a sudden.

"Tsk. My public in delirium. Can't stop following me." The man said with some slight annoyance, looking at the countless crazy women before going back to his drink.

"Following you?" Acheron raised an eyebrow.

"Yep! The dark side of being attractive. A dooming curse on the unfortunate hot guys and gals." The man wailed dramatically, sobbing. "But oh well...Here's my chest then ya sluts!" He exclaimed with a smile, exposing and showcasing his naked, muscular and well-defined chest to the women outside, resulting in a collective nosebleed and faint.

Not having much reaction at all, Acheron just gave a simple side glance to the man's chest. "Hm, he has a big chest indeed." She noticed without much analysis.

"And like that, the problem is temporarily resolved." The man said, satisfied and smoking again from his cigar.

"Here you have it, sir."

The bartender approached the man, delivering him a small paper cup full of cherry tomatoes.

"Ah, right on time." He said with a pleasent smile. Yet, the problems were far from over.

"Nobody moves!"

Hearing the sound of the commanding voice and the doors of the pub opening, Acheron stared to the entrance to see a squad of IPC soldiers entering the place. "The IPC in here?" The Galaxy Ranger immediatly turned around and lowered her head, focusing only on her cup of water, hoping they wouldn't notice her.

"You really thought you could escape from us, did you?" The leader of the IPC squad speaked as he walked torwards the place where Acheron was sitting.

Sighing, the Galaxy Ranger was about to get up from her seat. She knew it was a question of time until the IPC would find her.

"Looks like we have a winner." The man replied to the IPC soldier, getting off his seat and turning around to stare to the IPC squad in general, much to Acheron's surprise. "I really ain't that good in hide n seek, am I?" He joked.

"You have already caused enough commotion and trouble to me and my men in this town. If you comply now and accept arrest, we will consider shortening your sentence to a few years." The IPC leader-soldier told to the man, apparently he and the IPC here having a thing going on.

"Hmm, but what if in the prison there isn't food I like? What if, I'm not really feeling like going to one?" The man asked, gesticulating and expressing with his arms to the IPC leader-soldier.

"Then you shouldn't have break the law in the first place. This is called suffering the consequences." The IPC leader-soldier replied with a firm tone, not buying anything of the man's talking.

"Consequences? Doing fun hobbies is a crime now? Aww, spare me of it please." The man gave a dissapointed look.

Meanwhile, Acheron kept quiet, listening the conversation. Deducing from her first and previous encounter with this man, it wasn't that hard to guess which 'fun hobbies' he was probably talking about.

"Do not come at me with that crap talking!" The IPC leader-soldier raised his voice, not willing to support the man's antics as he pulled out his gun and approached the man. "Just cooperate and things might end less worse for you."

"Uh, is that suppose to be a challenge?" The man replied, not feeling threatened nor fazed at all.

"Stop with the bullshit and put your hands up already!" The IPC leader-soldier exclaimed, pointing his gun to the man's face.

Acheron could see how there was no hint of fear in the man's face. For she knew what would happen if the IPC soldier fired at his face. How pointless it would be. In contrast, the IPC leader-soldier was starting to look nervous.

The man was aware of this too. In a blink, his eyes became empty and dark with only a small green light staring directly to the IPC leader-soldier, before returning back to normal once he blinked them again. "Look pal, why don't we all just relax and have some drinks?" He said, picking up the cup of cherry tomatoes behind him. "I'll even give you one of these if you want." He grabbed a single tomato cherry, offering it to the IPC leader-soldier.

"Don't screw with me!" The IPC leader-soldier shouted, slapping the man's hand, resulting on the cherry tomato falling off.

As that was happening, another IPC soldier noticed Acheron near the man. "Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?"

"..." Acheron stood silent, not responding nor even moving her head.

"You do look familiar." The IPC soldier begun to take some steps torwards the Galaxy Ranger who hiddenly moved her hand and grabbed her sword's hilt, already knowing what was about to come.

"Now you either shut up or get ready to receive a bullet beetween your eyes!" The IPC leader-soldier threatened the man, losing his patience and posture. The tension inside the pub was rising even more, with the bartender and other customers beggining to hide and cover themselves behind and beneath the tables.

"Uff, you're really going with this, aren't ya?" The man just sighed, rolling his eyes before grabbing another cherry tomato from the cup. "Before you put me in handcuffs, could I at least eat this one delicious tomato cherry? My favourite y'kn-"

"Last warning!" The IPC leader-soldier put his weapon right beneath the man's chin, making clear that he would pull the trigger if the man did not complied.

"..." Staring silently at the IPC leader-soldier for a few seconds, the man changed his gaze to Acheron on his side, seeing that she herself was also about to get into trouble as another IPC soldier was approaching her, noticing the hand in her sword already.

"..." The Galaxy Ranger just stared back at the man. And in that moment, it was as if both their gazes were communicating with each other. A simple message: things were about to go down.

"Well..." Grinning to Acheron, the man's sight returned to the IPC leader-soldier in front of him.

*CRUNCH*

"Then let hell get loose!" The man exclaimed as he quickly bite and squeezed the tomato cherry between his teeth, resulting in one of the arms of the IPC leader-soldier to get shredded and ripped into pieces.

"AARGH! MY ARM!" The IPC leader-soldier yelled in terror and pain, dropping the weapon in the ground as he stared in horror to the place of his missing limb, stumbling back. "MY AR-" His screams were interrupted as he then got sliced in the chest by the man's scythe, knocking him out on the ground.

"The chief is down!" One of the other IPC soldiers exclaimed, weapons already at hand. "We're going to-agh!"

But almost the entire IPC squad was sliced down by a single and swift slash of Acheron's blade, up from her seat.

"Didn't knew they were your haters too." The man replied with a smirk, looking at the Galaxy Ranger.

"They're just a mild inconvenience. That's all." Acheron replied as both saw more IPC soldiers invading the pub, surrounding them and ready to fight.

"Looks like the invitations were many." The man said, looking at the huge number of IPC soldiers around them. "How do you deal with large inconveniences?"

"I suppose the same way as you." Acheron briefly replied, positioning her sword for combat.

"Keh! That's good." The man grinned a bit before also preparing his scythe. "Let's get to cleaning then."

And the fight barely lasted a minute, with both Acheron and the man easily slicing and cutting down the IPC soldiers and units as if they were made of paper. Even if the Galaxy Ranger and the man have only met each other for the second time, with the first one being a fight between them, the two were sinesterly and greatly in sync with each other in combat.

Quickly, the duo managed to clear out all of their enemies, the pub's floor becoming full of defeated and fainted IPC soldiers alongside the broken tables and chairs and other types of collateral damages.

"I-Is it over..?" The bartender asked, trembling in fright behind the desk before seeing Acheron put a small bag full of money in front of him.

"Here. I hope it's enough to pay for the repairs." Acheron told to the bartender. "Apologies for the trouble we gave to your establishment."

Meanwhile, the man was on the background, picking up a damaged phone from one of the unconscious IPC soldiers in the ground. Seeing that it was in photo mode, the man made a pose and took a selfie with it before putting it nicely back on the IPC soldier's hand. "Consider this an autograph. Guard it with love." The man then stretched his arms and let a yawn out, walking torwards the exit and noticing a small group of innocent bystanders all covering behind a table on the corner. "Thank you for coming to see this free spectacle in first row." He said, picking up his scythe stuck on the wall next to the exit. "Until a next time!"

Seeing the man leaving the building, Acheron followed him shortly after, exiting the pub too. Outside, she watched the man smoking another cig, releasing the smoke into the air.

Without even moving his head, the man knew Acheron was behind him. "Still here? And I thought you weren't one for much conversation." He said, staring at the Galaxy Ranger.

"..." Acheron just continued to gave him a stare. She didn't needed to say a word as the man understood what she meant with that gaze.

"Fine then." The man sighed, slightly bothered before dropping the cig on the ground and squeezing it with his shoe. "But let's get a move out of here. We don't want to meet up with our friends again, do we?"

Having walked away from the pub and into another location, Acheron was now sitting on a bench with her umbrella open, with the man standing in front of her, his hood up again, both on a ground floor balcony of another building while covering their faces and being discreet, taking the opportunity a festival was occuring in the streets to blend in with the crowd and avoide the gaze of other IPC troops.

"So, what made you look for me during aaaaall this time?" The man asked to Acheron, putting both hands on his pockets. "Humm, a possible rematch?" He said, entertaining the thought with a sly grin and a chuckle, giving a look to all the happy people, celebrating and partying in front of them. "I do have to say. This place does seem quite fitting for a 'zestful' battle."

The Galaxy Ranger narrowed her stare at him. She knew whatever 'thing' was occurring on his mind, was much likely of heinous nature. But instead of calling the man out on that, Acheron went to make her question to him. "What are you?" Yes. She did not asked 'who' but 'what'. Because when looking at his back, his tall frame, the pitch-dark grim reaper hood of his, the enormous macabre scythe, it made Acheron be sure of one thing. A man he could not be.

"My oh my! Those 'stranger danger' senses of yours don't stop tingling, do they?" The man asked, as if he was already forseeing that question. "But meh, no hard feeling missy. I know my appearence can look...intimidating." He said that last word in a more deep and serious tone before going back to his more relaxed and usual self. "However, you see missy, I am nothing more but a humble traveler, an artist if the missy allows me, who enjoys to spread his interests and talents to every place he visits." The man spread his arms open while speaking in an uplifting and friendly voice, watching the crowd in front of them. "The radiant smiles of the people! The greenful trees! The vast colorful skies with their own heavenly lights! How I love it all! Ah, creation blooming is so 'inspiring'." He smiled with glee, gesticulating with his arms again. "Wherever there is life, I'll be there!"

Acheron didn't go with the man's flow. As if she would believe in a word of what he just said. "Spare me of the enjoyer and humble artist speech. Are you going to tell me you're a good samaritan next?"

"Ooh I could be, you know?" The man replied with a amused tone. "Unfortunately, no one is pure in these sinful cosmos." He faked with a sad and sorrowful sound. "But hey! An answer is still an answer!"

"Not the one that satisfies my question." Acheron replied, not being much in the mood for the man to pull a fast one on her.

"Potato-potato. Answers will always be delivered. Just not in the way or shape you had hoped for. Take this as a life lesson to learn, missy." The man responded, cheeky. "Anyways, passing down the role...and what are you?" He turned around, staring at Acheron. "Wait, I think I've heard of someone like you before. What was it called? Hmm..." The man begun to think, poking his own forehead with the tip of his finger. "A...a Galaxy...Galaxy...Galaxy something...humm..."

"Galaxy Ranger." Acheron responded.

"Ah! That!" The man pointed at her upon being reminded. "To be honest, you do not look like one."

"Hm? What makes you think that?" Acheron questioned the man. And in fact, it was true. She really wasn't a Galaxy Ranger, just borrowing the title and using it when introduced to other people across her journey. A desguise to her true identity.

"Please." The man chuckled, giving a soft look to the ceilling of the balcony. "Everybody has their own secrets." His eyes went dark and skeletish, the two lonely green lights shinning inside as he gave a serious glare at Acheron.

Acheron gave a slightly more hesitant look to the man this time. It was clear he was able to see right through her Galaxy Ranger facade. Perhaps he had deduced that from their fight when they first met and she unleashed her Emanator powers. "Yes, you got me on that. But using your own method, I'm just going to say I'm a 'simple' traveler that roams around the galaxy."

"Hehehe, astute aren't you, missy." The man cackled, looking pleasently surprised how Acheron used his own logic against him. "Fair game, fair game. I see you really are more than meets the eye. By a lot. So..." The man excerised his arms a bit before going back to stare at Acheron. "If you didn't came all the way here to have a fight with me, then why did you searched for me?"

"Because, I want to see your perspective." Acheron replied with sincerity, staring down to the floor for a second.

"Hm?" The man lifted up his eyebrow.

"The way you live. How someone like you sees and perceives life. What exactly makes you feel alive and find joy in it." Acheron explained and clarified her answer to him, remembering of their interactions during their fight. "I want to know, how someone rediscovers the meaning and value of things." She said straight, looking deep into the man's eyes.

Not having much of a reaction at the beggining, it didn't took long however for the man to give a malicious grin from ear to ear, as if he was craving and intrigued to hear that. It only made his thoughts about Acheron being a 'funny' character, become louder. "I see..." Speaking in an almost somber way, the man quickly coughed and went back to a more 'normal' smile. "In that case missy, I think I'm more than pleased to become each other travel companions." He then shrugged his shoulders. "After all, the universe is too big for a lone wolf, right?"

"Hum! You could say that." Acheron replied with some contempt, before getting up from the bench and staring at the man. "I accept to travel together but under one condition: If you, by chance, decide to pull one of those antics of yours the same way you did with the deceased of that planet, I won't hesitate in slashing you down as many times as necessary." She threatened him, recalling how the man resurrected, manipulated and terrorized the poor dead people back at Miseria. If he'd pull something as chaotic or even similar, Acheron wouldn't hold herself back on unleashing her Self-Annihilator powers on him.

"Well, I do suppose I can put a stop into those. For some time." The man replied, giving a side glance. "But otherwise, yes. I promise I won't pull something 'devious'. I swear with my own heart." He told her.

"..." Acheron gave him a skeptic glare, not taking much of his word for granted. But she hoped he knew she wasn't joking with this warning. "If you say so." The Galaxy Ranger said before receiving a sudden tap on the back by the man.

"Great! Another important lesson of today: when on a long long trip, always make sure to bring someone with you! That companion not being either boring or annoying of preference." The man added, proceeding to extend his hand to Acheron. "And another IMPORTANT fact: our names. Can't travel alongside each other and not know the most basic thing about one another, wouldn't you say?" He told her with a nice and friendly smile.

"Eeeeeh..." Firstly looking at his hand kind of oblivious, Acheron's void mind lightened up inside. "Oh! Right. That's absolutely right." She said, accepting the handshake with the man, officializing their partnership. "Name's Acheron. The Galaxy Ranger. And yours?"

"Eish! I have quite some names ya know?" The man replied, beggining to count them out to Acheron. "Grinning Man, The Immoral Bastard, Hornless Devil, The Harbinger of the End-"

"Just...any of them is fine." Acheron said, a bit irked by the man's behaviour. "And he told me to not have annoying companions literally seconds ago."

"Oh, I see." The man replied, looking down at Acheron and giving her a smile. "You can call me Morte."

"Nice to meet you then, Morte." Acheron replied, not smiling back at him and undoing their handshake now that the formalities were over. Or so she thought.

"But that is for friends only." Morte told her. "Hence why, if you aren't friend of mine, then I'm just good ol regular, Morty Johnson."

"There's no way that's your real name..." Acheron said, a drop of sweat falling from her head.

"No, but I'd like if it was." Morte told to Acheron, grabbing a cig and lightening it up before smoking. "Anyways, Acheron, the space and planets now awaits us both. If it is a unique experience of self-discovery you want me to give you, I shall give you so!" He proclaimed highly like a man on a mission before taking another go at the cig. "Eitherway, wanna get out?" He quickly turned around, asking to Acheron. "The faster we get off this planet, the better we don't have to bump into our friends again."

"Same thought here. It's time to leave." Acheron agreed, both her and Morte being on the same page.

"Then let's hit the road!" Morte told to the Galaxy Ranger as the two got out from the balcony and blended in with the crowd. "Got our next planet in mind, Acheron?" He asked her while the two walked.

"Not really." Acheron responded, not having any plannings on what their next destination would be.

"Ah, sailing free at wherever the sweet breeze of the wind takes us!" Morte replied with a chuckle, a smile of excitment. "Surprises are indeed wlecome."

"I suppose so." Acheron said, following Morte in the crowd. "As long as they aren't of the unfavorable type." She muttered, giving a cautious glare at her recent companion in front of her.

There was also another reason for why Acheron decided to now travel along with the mysterious man now known as Morte. And while a huge part of her body and mind was because she wanted to know and explore what kind of perspective Morte had on life and if it somehow help her fight against her own forced nihilistic sense of meaningless, a deep part within her was doing it because she was wary of him. That as a clearly shady and sadistic man, Morte couldn't be left alone, Acheron having decided to brin upon herself the task of keeping a close eye on him and the threatening danger he could represent to many.

And perhaps, even the whole cosmos.

Chapter Text

With the dusk of the night having settled, the recent partnership of Acheron and Morte was still on its very first day, with the duo having yet to exit the planet. Far away from the populated area of the town and where they would definetly be searched and hunted by the IPC, the two had established a small fireplace in the middle of some woods, deciding to spent the night there before planning to leave the current planet tomorrow morning.

"..." Acheron was doing nothing but to silently observe the flames burning in front of her, losing herself in whatever thoughts she could conjure on her hazzy mind. The soft and inexistent sound of the silence, briefly accompanied by the flickering sounds of the fire in short sections.

"Hmhmm Hmm hmmhmm..."

That and the noise of Morte's merry humming and the flipping of pages from a book he was seemingly enjoying to read while carelessly laid back on a fallen tree trunk, breaking a bit of Acheron's immersion inside her own head.

"Having a good read?" She asked him, giving only a brief and small glance at the man in front of her.

"Had." Morte corrected her, closing the book and getting up from the ground, looking back at Acheron, showing her the book for a small moment. "A nice book indeed." He said before nonchalantly throwing the book into the fire, letting it burn to ashes. "Keeps a person warm and cozy for the night."

"Hm. I thought you were liking it." Acheron told him, not having expected Morte to have put the book on the bonfire judging by his reaction while reading it.

"It's always nice to see what gibberish people believe these days before throwing it in the trash. Good to have some laughs." Morte explained to her before taking out a cig, clearly having a smoking addiction.

"So you perceive other people's believes as mockery?" Acheron questioned, trying to see if that's what the man meant by that answer.

"When people deem their views as 'right', yes, it does sound funny to me." Morte told her before smoking a bit of his cig and exhaling the smoke out. "Anyways, I'm hungry. Got something to eat?"

"Not really. I'm not one to eat too much." Acheron replied, thinking deeply about what Morte had just said. "Someone who mocks other people's believes. I wonder what are his own then." The 'Galaxy Ranger' then proceeded to stare to the small spacecraft stationed nearby the camp. "Guess we will have to use the kitchen from your spaceship." She then turned her head around to give a dubious look at Morte. "Which I doubt its even yours."

"Jeez! How many times will I have to tell ya?" Morte took the cig out of his mouth. "I ended up stumbling upon a nice couple of travelers that upon knowing the precarious situation I was in, decided to offer me one of their many spaceships." He explained the story of how he got the spacecraft to Acheron once again, getting tired that she still did not chose to believe him.

"Do you even know how to pilot it then?" Acheron asked, really not believing in him yet.

"Auto-pilot, missy. Not a problem." Morte replied, snapping his fingers and finger-gunning at Acheron.

"Figures..." She let out a sigh.

"Aaaand, I'm not really up to cooking right now." Morte said with some boredom before smirking. "However..." Reaching to his pocket, he took out his phone. "Food delivery services aren't what's missing today!"

"What a..." Acheron gave a genuine stare of bafflement and astonishment as she stared at Morte's phone. A rusty old flip-phone with a scratched screen. "Is that...even a phone?" She couldn't believe that there was still people in the cosmos that were still using those type of basically archaic phones. And Acheron had been to a lot of planets and met lots of people.

"I know, I know. Just a silly ol' piece of junk ready to go to the landfill." Morte shakened his head in shame. "You all really let the obsolete smartphones ruin your brains. But hey, if it still works, why fix it?" He said, seemingly not caring if people looked at him the wrong way for having a very, almost ancient, type of phone that not even the oldest of species across the space were still using.

"I suppose so. However, does that type of phone can even download food delivery apps?" Acheron pointed that out.

"Hum..." Morte stared briefly to the ground, realizing the problem at hand. "It does have the snake game."

"Okay, I'll be cooking the dinner then." Acheron replied, not wanting to comment on the man's reply. "It's for the best, as I doubt food delivery services would be willing to go to the middle of some random woods to complete the delivery." She said, walking torwards the entry of the spacecraft.

"If they're paid enough." Morte said, quickly catching up to Acheron. "By the way, how's your cooking?"

Acheron smiled a bit. "Used to be a hobby of mine, making dishes. However, I have stopped cooking as frequently for quite some time. But I still must have the hang of it."

"Oh oh. You are already setting my expectations high." Morte said with a grin, both he and Acheron entering the spacecraft.

Having finished cooking the dinner, Acheron put it in order for Morte to grab it up and put it on his dish as she went to the bathroom of the spaceship to clean her hands. Even the cold stream of water falling down from the valve couldn't be felt by her hands. Being alone, Acheron took the opportunity to think about Morte and who exactly was he?

From all the people she had met across her journey, he was definetly one of the most, if not the most odd of them all. There was no way he was a simple artist guy travelling around like he tried to pose as. And Acheron didn't doubt of it because of their fight in Miseria but simply because of the fact of his overall presence. The way he'd grin, smile, laugh and pass it off as that of a simple goober with no better idea while also sometimes spouting something in a more serious and perhaps, even subtly menacing tone, made Acheron really suscipicious and wary of him. She had a feeling that deep down, that 'man' had something deeply evilish and demonic concealed inside, having briefly got a glimmer of it during their fight.

That was why Acheron was now travelling with Morte. That she suspected a person like him could actually be a monster looking for pain and suffering. Killing him wasn't possible for now as she had witnessed it before, so getting always close tab on him was the better option she had for now. That and the fact Morte was odd enough to get Acheron's attention, admitting what even a man like him believed in and what his way of life even was.

Wetting her own face, Acheron lifted her head slightly to look at her own reflection on the mirror in front of her, particles of water scattered around her head. "I need to know what he is. For the sake of everyone else."

Finishing cleaning and drying her face with a towel, Acheron slightly arranged her hair before walking out of the bathroom, heading torwards the kitchen. She wondered if Morte was liking her cooking. But once she arrived there...

"What...What happened here?" Acheron asked a bit puzzled as she stared at Morte's body on the ground alongside the dish, dirtying the floor around.

A painful groan came out from the man's mouth as he painfully moved his head on the floor to stare at Acheron. "It sucks..."

"Hm? Is that so? I wasn't aware my abilities to cook had become that rusted overtime." Acheron approached to the food she had made and with a spoon, took a bite out of it. "...It doesn't taste to anything for me."

"Can't feel any flavor?" Morte got up from the ground, finding it a bit odd.

"Nothing. I have long since lost the ability to taste and feel the flavour of foods and drinks. Spicy, sweet, salty..." Acheron explained to Morte. "Hence why I do not cook as regularly as I used to. Now, everything comes off as bland. The only food that can remotely make me grasp the sense of flavour these times are peaches."

"Hmm, I see where the problem is then." Morte scratched his chin, concluding why Acheron's food was terrible after the very own's telling of her lose of taste senses. "Well, while the food tasting like wet concrete or not doesn't make a difference to you, it does for me. So you know what that means." Smirking, Morte went to grab something under the kitchen's desk, seemingly looking for something.

Acheron would be lying if she said she wasn't curious on what Morte was trying to grab. "What are you-"

"Aha! Found it!" Exclaiming, Morte brought up a sack of macaroni, cheese, minced meat, tomato sauce, pepper, salami and oregano.

Acheron gave the items a musing look. But before she could reply or comment properly, a chef's uniform was thrown at her. "Hm?"

"Get ready for today's lesson." Morte called Acheron's attention, already wearing his own chef uniform in front of her, standing on the other side of the desk with the ingredients, grabbing a sharp knife. "Let's do this dish of macaroni, Acheroni."

Acheron's face slightly physically contorted itself as she heard Morte's nickname for her. "Please, don't call me that again. Ever."

"You didn't said to promise, so I can't promise it to you." Morte told her, lightening up the stove with his cig and putting a pressure cooker with some water above it. "Now, let us focus on doing something that will satiate our stomachs, shall we?"

Acheron let out a sigh. "Hope this doesn't end up going south." Still, she accepted the challenge and wore her own uniform.

She knew that it would be the same for her if the food ended up tasting nicely or not. However, that was no excuse to let her cooking skills rotten after so many years practicing. Acheron had to make sure Morte would like it, not wanting to damage her reputation of cook any more than it already was. A matter of 'pride' so to speak. A bit wierd to her since for someone that had been plagued by Nihility, that sense of pride shouldn't bare any meaning to her anymore. Still, Acheron wanted to prove she still knew how to cook.

Yet, nowdays her mind was a bit of a fuss, with many proper food recipes having already been erased while others felt like a shore to try and remember it right. In short, Acheron tried to not mess up and create a sort of mishmash while Morte would give her instructions, almost resulting in what could be seen as a chaotic scenario in the kitchen.

"Jesus! That is way too much oil you're pouring in, Acheroni! You think I can simply afford all of the oil in the cosmos?!"

It were many tries and errors.

"That's way few salt. Add it more. More. More. Okay Acheroni, now just a tiiiiiiny b- holy shit! Don't put all that!"

Many tries and errors.

"The tomato sauce is the tastiest and most essential part of this dish. So let it all out as your heart's content!...Okayokayokay! Thinking better, let's just go a bit easier on it, Acheroni."

Many trials...and errors.

"Wow! You sliced that salami perfectly, Acheron! The problem is...we aren't needing all that salami slices in our dish."

Trials...and errors...

"Easy there on the cheese, Acheroni! Don't grate it all! I've only bought it recently!"

"Didn't I told you to stop calling me that?" Acheron was slowly losing her cool at the constant number of times Morte had already called her 'Acheroni'. How something so innocuous seemed to be getting on her nerves. Perhaps because its purpose was really to annoy her than anything.

"I'll call you that every time you make a mistake. See it as an interfering stone ball attached to your leg that is weighing you down on your harduous climbing way to the top of the mountain. No pain no gain!" Morte did a thumbs up with a cheerful voice. Or maybe it was just his way of making fun of the situation.

"What a very specific description..." Acheron replied, a single water drop appearing on her head.

"Just trying to sound inspiring and uplifting here Acheron-hum?..." Sensing an odor in the air, Morte sniff it. "Why does it smell to..."

"...burned." Acheron replied, looking at the abundant smoke coming from the burning pressure cook, having spent way too much time closed. All the macaroni inside probably ruined.

"..."

"..."

Despite that, the two of them reacted with rather conformity and no panic at all to the situation.

"Well..." Morte poured his bare naked hand into the boiling hot water, as if it was a normal thing for him to do, feeling no pain at all as he removed the burned macaroni out of the pressure cook, looking at the food ruined state. "Second try it is."

Acheron accepted without much contest. "If it has to be so."

"Hmm hmmmmmm. Now this is some food worth eating!"

Morte said with amusement as he took a bite from the prepared dinner, both he and Acheron now being back to the small bonfire they had on the outside. Even with the initial difficulties and trouble, Acheron managed to cook the macaroni using all the ingrendients as per Morte's instructions. And the end result looked satisfying judging by Morte's face.

"..." Acheron had lost the hopes of ever feeling any taste of food again besides peaches. However, this being the first time she went to gave some real effort into cooking again after a long years, she wondered if this time it would be different. If doing it with enough vocation and dedication was the missing pieces to it. So, she grabbed herself an empty plate, grabbed a fork and knife, took a chunk of food out of the pressure cook, put it on her own plate, sat down, opened her mouth and-

"...Ah." Acheron chew on the food nonchalantly, her eyes not feeling very expressive as she tasted her own food. "It continues the same." She swallowed, not feeling that dissapointed with the outcome. It was only but predictable in the end. No matter how hard and how great she cooked, the flavours wouldn't be coming back to her mouth.

"Phew! Not bad at all! Now I can rest the night easy!" Morte had surprisingly finished his dish already and decided to sleep right there, lying back on a tree trunk, putting his grim reaper hood to cover the upper half of his face and joining his hands together. "If some beast appears to attack and eat us, don't forget to wake me up or at least kill it without making much noise. Night night!" And with that said, Morte instantly fell asleep, much to some bewilderment of Acheron.

"That was fast." Ending up from giving a glance at him, Acheron went back to stare at the flames, now patiently waiting for the dawn of a new day to arrive. During these long waits, there wasn't much for her to do besides stare to the bonfire doing its job, eat some peaches if there was still any remaining in her pocket or just wander aimlessly on her own void that was the mind. Or perhaps...she could check how the Trailblazer was doing and message them with her phone. Even if it were a simple exchange of words with a duration of a minute or two, it would already be helping Acheron spend the time a bit faster. But when looking at her phone screen, a part of her wondered what if they were occupied at the moment and perhaps would take some time to see her message? "Trailblazer. What are you up to now?"

"Oi."

"Hm?" Taking her sight away from the phone, Acheron saw that Morte seemed to still be awake even if it looked he was already asleep at first, surprising the Self-Annihilator.

"Did you enjoyed cooking, Acheron?" Morte simply questioned her, still in the same sleeping position with the eyes beneath the hood's tissue.

"..." Collecting all the moments of the cooking session and passing them one by one like slides, Acheron wasn't very sure of what to respond. "I suppose so."

"An absolute answer, Acheron. Yes or No?" Morte insisted, not wanting indecisiveness as an answer, his eyes peeking behind the hood.

Giving a look at the memories again, knowing that in a matter of minutes it would become hard for her to remember it, Acheron this time bothered to analyse them. The initial macaroni had burned, the oil had been exageratted and she made a lot of other mistakes that resulted in Morte's reprimands to her. Quite a bit of a mess. Yet, it made the cooking for her more...enjoyable? She could not know how to describe it well. But the fact that she had made food for someone again, even if that someone wasn't quite a beloved nor liked person to her, and ended up loving it, made her heart feel a bit alive. An happiness that her cooking skills had been unrusted. And even if her taste was never coming back, the possibility of making good food to people that she indeed cared about returning, made Acheron express a little smile on her face. "Yes. I enjoyed it."

"Heh. That's all that matters then." Morte grinned, going back to put his eyes covered by the hood, about to doze off into sleep.

"What path do you follow?"

"Hm?" Morte slightly lifted his hood enough for his eyes to spy beyond its fabric, staring at Acheron who had made him a question.

"Everyone here in the cosmos is bounded to follow the path of an Aeon. They're the supreme beings of the universe and representation of the fundamental concepts that constitutes existence. Therefore, wanting or not, all the people fall and walk on the trails paved by Aeons during their entire lives, dedicating themselves to the rules and ways of each specific Aeon." Acheron explained it to him despite assuming that Morte himself already knew of that. "Hence why I'm asking, what path do you follow?"

"Hmmm..." Morte just gave a smirk and took out his hood, now fully staring at Acheron. "Take a guess." He said, thinking it would be more amusing to see Acheron trying to figure it out instead of answering it to her.

"..." Not saying a word, Acheron still ended up accepting the challenge, her gaze now concentrated on the burning flames as her mind tried to guess which path Morte followed. "Judging by our previous meetings and his behaviour...The option most would assume first would be the Path of Destruction. However, all of those ruins in Miseria have certainly long happened way before he was there. He might be a fan of it but wouldn't necessary make it his whole purpose. Perhaps Elation? The way he grins and looks happy...Even if it's psycopathy, in the end it's still a form of Elation..." Giving a side glance to the man however, Acheron immediatly went back on her assumption. "Or maybe,what he has inside is a form of happiness so twisted that Aha themselves don't claim him. He definetly has something more sinister lying within. A sort of eeriness that cannot be qualified as neither Destruction nor Elation. Could it be... that he is some type of nihilism alltogether?"

Acheron couldn't be sure. She barely knew anything about Morte, and what she knew could as well be a lie. Her instict would be more inclined to perceive him as one on the path of IX, The Nihility. But even then, she was also one altough against her will, and so far, Morte didn't seemed to show any type of illness or effects such has memory lose and the fading of taste by being on that path, unlike Acheron herself, which made her still doubt of his true nature and not discard other possibilities. "We've only met recently. I can't quite figure it. But if I had to-"

"None." Morte replied, gaining a stare of curiosity from Acheron. "I just lack the interest and desire to care about that. Your actions and views being deemed as that of a deity's will and command? An absolute absurd." Saying with distaste, Morte lifted up his head, looking to the night sky above them. "Per exemple, if I decide to destroy something today, it makes me a follower of the Path of Destruction. But what if I'm sad tomorrow? Will that make me the Aeon of Depression? What if on one day I crave for Harmony and on the next one Chaos? Everything nowdays always needs to have some sort of explanation to justify what they cannot comprehend. Hell, even the simplest of things have to sound complex. Don't you feel the same way?"

"I do suppose it holds some truth." Acheron replied. "There are things that are already set in stone way before one is born. Such as the conclusion of life itself. In the overall picture, perhaps there is really no difference which Aeon one follows and devotes to. The ending will always be the same still."

"And yet, people will always continue on a endless persuit for the thaumaturgic answers to their equally theoretical questions. I mean, why do you think many are those that travel across the stars?" Morte continued speaking, extending the conversation with Acheron. "Because they think it will be out there they will find their purpose. Their rightful place on the cosmos. That they will get to know and understand everything. That they will gasp and exclaim: 'Oh my gosh! So this is why everything is the way it is and the reason why I was born!'" He said, going to grab a bottle of alchol near him while Acheron remained with her stare in him. "The paths and Aeons are just a stepping stone for that."

"..." Acheron listened to it, not for a single second wavering her attention away from Morte's point of view. It sounded so simple and vagrantly superficial coming out of someone's mouth like him. Yet, complex and meaningful at the same time. That or perhaps it has been way too long since she had any company to have conversations with at night.

" 'Geniuses' are the biggest fools of all. Doing nothing in life but to pursue the goal of finding meaning from every supernatural to the most minimalistic thing in existence. Thinking that somehow, they will find the solution to end all mother of cosmic problems. And in result, it will grant them immortality, some type of universal praise and recognition as well as an hubris sense of pride. Or even an ascension into divinity. Nothing but prisoners with a smarts-complex, forever chained to the goals they chase, burning their own lives away just for the slightest of chances of accomplishing them." Morte grabbed the stopper of the bottle and removed it, proceeding to drink. "Yet, even if their goals become a reality, they all end up forgetting of an important detail. Death comes to all."

Acheron's eyes just slightly narrowed with that being said. A statement that she felt to be very true to the core, continuing to listen in silence, Morte's 'rambling' sounding endearing and interesting to some degree.

Drinking more of the bottle, Morte let out a refreshing breath as he once again looked to the nightsky, lifting up his arm and positioning his fingers in a way as if he was olding the small cosmic bodies from afar in the tiny gap of his fingers. "The stars eventually lose their bright, dwindling and fading out. The mighty and godly Aeons begin to crumble and end up perishing. The bodies of mortals, no matter what species they are or how long they live, are fated to rot away as any other organism. And the vegitation dries up and fades. In the end, existence collapses on itself and erases, with no one to remember either me or you, or any person who deems themselves to be important as of right now. Such is the dooming inevtability of death!" Morte stated, closing his hand into a fist, metaphorically crushing the celestial bodies with his fist. "And so, that is why 'factions', 'Aeons' and 'Paths' don't mean a thing for me. It is nothing but meaningless."

"Ah...I see." Acheron commented, her mind coming to a deduction after hearing carefully to Morte's speech. "So your Path is indeed Nihility."

"W-What the hell did I just said?!" Morte shouted, baffled that Acheron would come to say such thing right after he told her what he thought of those concepts. "Ufff, fine." He sighed, just accepting it. "If you think I am one then I am one. Won't lose any sleep over that."

"You just said everything was meaningless. How could you not want me to reach to that conclusion after what you just said?" Acheron questioned Morte.

"Well, finding something meaningless doesn't necessarily means you won't find joy in it." Morte told her. "Per example, eating a delicious ice cream. Eating it won't change much of a thing. Why does it even exist if it serves no purpose whatsoever?" He picked up a cigar. "And to that, it's a simple answer."

"You find joy in it." Acheron responded, guessing on what Morte was trying to say.

Lightning it up, Morte hold the cig on his teeth, smilling at Acheron. "Precisely. Everything has no meaning and it has at the same time. It's up to you to determine which things have value and which don't." Taking out a long smoke from the cigar, Morte exhaled it out of his mouth. "When nothing is of value, life is at its happiest."

Acheron couldn't help but feel the shreds of eeriness that came from that last sentence. In a way, she did fully agreed on Morte about how despite things might be meaningless, it did not meant that they were joyless or of no value, being up to every individual to decide what was of value and meaning to them personally. But that last part...she found it odd. "It's on the most mundane things that can come the biggest moments of joy, isn't it? No matter how irrelevant they seem." She told to Morte, agreeing partially on his thinking as she went to stare at him to the bonfire. "If a person drives emotion from it, that 'irrelevance' mutates into something else."

"Eh. Right on the money, Acheroni." Morte told her with a grin, getting up from the ground as he let out a yawn. "But ooooooooh, if I think I've drunk enough of alcohol for tonight. It really makes you say some stuff eh?"

"Conversations like these make me think that might have been the one of the reasons why I decided to look for you." Acheron confessed, having liked to have a chat with Morte despite if the man was saying all that stuff drunk or not.

"...And?" Morte leaned over, wanting to know of the other reasons Acheron mentioned.

"And because that fight we had. It made me feel...alive. Emotions that I didn't felt in ages." Acheron informed him. "I presume that's why I decided to search for you for start."

"Awwww, how sweet!" Morte said with a fake cute tone, squeezing Acheron's face with his hands. "You're like a drug addict that can't get too much time away from her favourite drug dealer!"

"Knock it off!" Acheron exclaimed, swinging her arm abruptly as Morte backed away.

"Hey, if it hurts it's because it is true." Morte joked, chuckling and smirking.

It made Acheron remind of the fact that Morte was still a dangerous and mysterious person to be careful with, their first encounter still lively in her mind. She couldn't let these peaceful talkings distract her of the unhinged monstrosity Morte harbored. For now, as things remained like this, she would just keep an eye on him.

"Anyways, sleeping under the stars might sound enthusiastic, but I prefer my body laid on the soft texture of a bed." Morte said as he begun to walk torwards the aircraft's entrance. "What about you? Coming in?"

"I don't usually sleep nowdays." Acheron responded to him.

"Why? Scared of the gloomy darkness?" Morte teased Acheron, making up a spooky voice. "Well, I mean, if you were to close your eyes to never open them again, that would indeed sound a tad justifiable to not sleep. One never knows when it will be their last sleep and True Ending comes around."

"There's always a chance that ends up being the case." Acheron replied to Morte, closing her eyes. "After all, sleep is but the rehearsal of death."

Morte's facial expressions slightly changed, seeming a bit astonished at that remark by Acheron. He then gave only a mere smile of amusement at such view. "Right. And birth is just death in medias res." Telling that, he turned around and walked into the aircraft, leaving Acheron to silently observe the flames flicker and to continue going strong, lonesome.

But that didn't lasted too long as Acheron was about to dwelve into her own thoughts, she felt something being placed above her head, the sound of papers moving invading her ears. "Hum?"

Looking up, she saw Morte handing her a newspapper. "You aren't just gonna stare at the bonfire and blink like a vegetative person until the sun arrives, will you? Have something to read and entertain your mind instead." He told to Acheron, grinning. "I bet you will even like this one's cover."

"What is it?" Acheron grabbed the newspapper and saw it for herself.

BREAKING NEWS:

Supernova Explosion Detected In The Dìyù Galaxy Sector of The Cosmos! - Entire Armada Destroyed and Planets Affected.

"..." Looking at the image of the newspapper's cover, the Self-Annihilator saw large debris of a wreckage floating in space with a huge fragmented planet torn into pieces in the background. The imagery seeming familiar to her. "...What is this exactly about?" She asked to Morte, the news article not ringing her any bell.

"That armada that was in the middle of our fight two months ago." Morte told her.

"...Ah. That." Acheron replied with complete normalcy upon remembering. "It must have been quite chaotic."

"Hehehe, if sure was! Had our own moments of fame for a moment there!" Morte said effusively before calming down. "Altough they probably attributed that even to some Aeon or 'terryfying' cosmic causes like the Swarm." He said with some letdown before shoving it aside. "Still, pretty wonderful eh? How something that happened at a specific location is quickly spread throughout the entire universe."

"Yeah, it kinda makes you think the universe isn't as vast as you might think it is." Acheron replied, agreeing with that statement.

"Hmm, if all things have an ending, so must the universe." Morte said, deeply thoughtful. "...Have you ever been to the end of the universe, Acheroni?"

"Eeeh, as in a physical place that one can reach? No. Or at least I think so. Nor I think there has ever been registers of anyone reaching there before. Maybe it doesn't even exist." Acheron replied, thinking about the possibilities around that concept. "But if it does exist, then someone or something must have been there already. Or they are currently inhabiting it."

"Well, the end of the universe may or may not exist. But as everyone makes that question, they aaaall forget about the true big one: where is the center of the universe?" Morte made another question.

"The center of the universe?" Acheron replied, sounding curious.

"Yeah. You know, the origin of everything and everyone, all at once? It must have borned from somewhere, right? A specific point in space. The root from which everything springed." Morte wandered deep in that thought. "If there is an ending, it means there is also a beggining. Perhaps we are currently closer from it than we think. Or maybe we are so far away that the ending of the universe is right on next door! Hell! Maybe this soil that I am standing on right now is the center of everything!" Exclaiming, Morte stood with his arms freezed for a moment and in silence before lowering them and looking at Acheron. "What do you make of it?"

"Hmm, the center of the universe huh?" The Self-Annihilator closed her eyes, reflecting on such question. "You would not be wrong on that one. Altough it is debatable if the universe has a tanginble ending or not, it exists by itself, meaning that there must indeed be a core to it. One from everything was born and originated. Nontheless, I doubt that such place would be of easy access as well. Maybe only the Aeons can go to such mythical zone." She gave her opinion to it before staring at Morte. "But why do you want to know all that? Is it some type of secret true goal you have? Is that why you actual travel the cosmos? To reach the center of the universe?"

"Who, me? Nah." Morte smirked as he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't have that type of ambition. They are simply shower thoughts y'know? Just one of those things that pops on your head at the randomest of times when you have nothing to do." He put both his hands on his own chest. "I have already told you, Acheron. I am but a simple happy artist that only wants to travel around just for the sake of it. No deep, ultra secret ulterior motive!" Morte speaked in a made up silly voice, rejoiced.

"If you say so." Acheron simply responded.

Morte scratched the back of his head in reaction. "Sheesh! Trust issues much? That might be paronia my friend. Which it ain't healthy at all!" He pointed at Acheron who didn't even looked back at him. "Buuuut, I'm not a doctor to tell what you have or what you don't. I think you'll have to figure out yourself." He grinned a bit at her before walking back to the entrance of the spacecraft. "Welp! I said I would be going to sleep like, fifteen minutes ago. Better not keep my eyes and body waiting any longer. See ya tomorrow!"

"Where are we going?" Acheron asked him, her arms crossed, staring at the fire.

"Planet?" Morte replied back, also not looking at her, stopping in the entrance of the spacecraft.

"Yeah." Acheron confirmed it. "Unless you don't have a set destination which I don't really mind. I too don't plan my travels too much."

"Then I hope you like snow." Morte told her. "Because our next stop will be chilly as hell, one of the closest planets from here: Jarilo-VI."

Chapter Text

A snowish, blizzard landscape. Nothing but the cold white of snow lying ahead alongside the long deceased frozened trees and ice sculptures of the creatures that had succumbed to the infernal snowstrom that was Jarilo-VI, always in an immemorial period of eternal whiteout caused by the Stellaron that inhabited the planet, only recently its people seeming to have gotten rid of such curse, finally able to open their planet and establish connections to the outside Outer Space.

Stepping on it, it was presumably soft. That was what Acheron imagined the feeling would be once she exited the spacecraft, landing her feet on the wintry soil. Alas, the sensation of the chilling cold didn't affected her as the Self-Annihilator body's temperature remained the same. Honestly, she couldn't tell if she should be grateful for not being able tp sense the cold temperature or not.

Morte also seemed pretty unaffected by the blizzard, exercising his arms a bit. "Ah. Nothing better but a refreshing wind by morning to truly wake someone up. Wanna build a snowman?"

"No." Acheron said in a complete unbothered and stoic tone, not even moving her face.

"Spoilsport." Morte replied briefly to her before changing to another topic. "Civillization must be a mile away from here. It won't take us too long reaching there." He said, beggining to walk forward to the path ahead of them, Acheron following him shortly from behind.

"..." That was, until the Self-Annihilator stopped in her tracks and went for her sword, no longer accompanying Morte.

"...Eh. I see." For his own turn, Morte also interrupted his steps, smirking as he closed his eyes and went for his scythe on his back. "So this is how it's gonna be." Opening his eyes, Morte and Acheron were suddenly surrounded by hostile creatures of the Stellaron, emerging from the snow and ready to attack the tresspassers that had invaded the monsters territory. "A cold welcome in a cold planet. Fitting."

"Nowdays it seems to be that in every place." Acheron commented drawing out her sword while still remaining sheathed. "Better get rid of them!"

"Nothing that we both are unfamiliarized with." Morte told her, about to engage in battle against the enemies. "Let's go at it!"

And so the duo went to combat, barely even making a minute since their arrival to this planet. And even less so was the duration of the fight, being done with the enemies in mere five seconds, such was the invulnerability and meagerness of their adversaries, being easily dispatched by Acheron and Morte.

"Tsk! Could barely even call it a warm-up." Morte expressed his dissapointment, grabbing the icy wings of one of the defeated Stellaron creatures before dismissingvily dropping it.

"It seems there are still hostile beings roaming around even after the dissapearence of the Stellaron." Acheron commented, guarding her sword. "We better don't take long in finding our way to an urban center. I'm awful with directions." She then stared at the freezing statues near them, clearly being of monsters of the Antimatter Legion, frozened by blizzards of Amber Ages ago.

"Truly daunting, eh?" Morte speaked, staring to the same statues Acheron was glaring at. "These fellas are forever petrified in a state of limbo. Death still not claiming their bodies nor their bodies and minds operational to function as living specimen."

"A sort of perpetual sleep, enforced by the ice cages they found themselves in." Acheron analyzed. This would be a fate worse then beig forever locked within the Dreamscape of Penacony. At least many of the people there had willingfuly gone to sleep and would be confined to the 'harmonious, beautiful and perfect world' Sunday craved and tried to make it a reality before having his plans twarthed. But this...they would remain freezed while conscious, unable to move, hear or see nothing rather than the vast darkness ahead shortly before their minds vanished from the isolation. "Even if they were freed now, I question if their minds to think and act would be long gone."

"Hmm, I do know what their minds are thinking of right now at this precise moment." Morte closed his eyes for a moment, giving off a smugish smile.

"Release." Acheron made a guess of what Morte was thinking that the statues could be thinking, crossing her arms.

"Yeah. A supplicant wish. A desire to ear that song." Morte told, kinda confirming Acheron's answer.

The Emmanator of Nihility looked to the grinning man, a trace of puzzlement on her face. "A song?"

"Yes. One that every being hears. Usually played at the end. A Song For the Departed. A Requiem." Morte opened his eyes, elaborating it to Acheron. "They've been enclosed as statues for so long that the scenario of 'ultimate' freedom sounds better than to endure and resist to the harsh cold that mobilizes their bodies. They repeat that desperate desire over and over again, no longer baring any other thoughts inside, now eternally waiting for the melody that will free them from such torment."

"A Requiem, hum?" Acheron put a thumb under her chin, reflective about it. "I perceive that would mean these creatures would be getting the actual definitive sleep they yearn for instead of one that merely replicates it."

"Indeed." Morte lowered his head a bit, his voice deeper and sounding more serious...before he begun to walk away. "Welp! But we won't be the ones playing it for them! It's the problem of this people's planet. Someone else will do that job." He said happily, as if he was having enough of the conversation they were discussing.

"That's a way of ending the topic pretty fast..." Acheron said to herself, a bit weirded out on how quickly the man seemed to have changed expressions on a fly before following him.

But it didn't even took her five more steps as Morte stopped walking in front of her, taking in a deep breath with his nose as his face looked graced to be against a more softer and passive cold wind now, the snowstorm seemingly having died out. "Yes. I'm sensing it."

"What exactly?" Acheron asked him, questioning why for the smile on Morte's face.

"Life. The sound of people's countless footsteps. Their crowded voices. The jumbled and erratic pounds of their heartbeats. All of the warmth and condensed in one place when in contrast to this freezing hellhole." Morte said, with a pleasent smile, taking a deep breath from his nostrils, as if he was seeing all of that now. "Belobog. It isn't that far from here." He said in an amused and calm voice, antecipating for his own arrival to the place.

Acheron felt slightly muddled at how apparently Morte was sensing the civilization some distance away from them and the way he used to describe it. "You surely speaked like if you were eager for us to reach there."

"Beetween a city and a place of nothing but snow, freezing temperatures and monsters, pick and choose." Morte replied, pointing at the ice statues near them.

"Hum. You...got me there." Acheron admitted, acknowledging that Morte's answer to her question was a good one despite not being what she exactly wanted to hear. "Still, you better not be planning something on Belobog or else..." She gave a slightly sharper look to Morte the moment his back was turned to her, being cautious of him. She had already told Morte that if he stepped out of the line, Acheron wouldn't waste a second to kill him. For now, it was all about keeping a close eye on him.

Before restarting his walk, Morte lifted up his head. "Altough..." He then moved it to stare at something behind Acheron. "We don't have to search more to also find human life here."

"Hm. So you noticed it too." Acheron brought her hand to the sword before unceremoniously turning around and slashing a tree a few feet away from them. Someone would think she was just imagining things before someone ended up falling from the tree due to the attack.

"W-Woah!"

A person yelped as they fell and hit the snowish ground that cushioned the fall, their body being all covered up in snow now before the person, a man with short purple hair and green eyes, lifted up his torso from it. "Ouch! That was...at least gimme a warn-" The man was saying while rubbing his head before meeting with Acheron's sword tip pointing torwards his face, being very close to him.

"And let you continue to spy on us? I don't think so." Acheron said, having been aware of the man's presence ever since they had arrived to this place.

"Should have made less noise. You weren't as stealthy as you thought you were." Morte talked, trimming the tip of his scythe with his fingernails. "Now I suppose we'll have to kill you. Too bad."

Acheron gave him a baffled look. "W-What? We aren't actually going to-"

"No! Please spare me! I wasn't spying on you at all!" The man begged for his life, puttin his arms in fron of his own face, scared.

"Ah, I get it. So you are just a weirdo whose hobby is climbing trees in the middle of a blizzard, in an area full of monsters." Morte said sarcastically before grinning sinisterly at the other man. "You like to live dangerously, don't you?"

"I was a-actually...s-setting up traps! Yes, that's right! I was setting up traps!" The man exclaimed as if he had came up with something brilliant.

Acheron however didn't seemed much convinced. "For who? Us?"

The relief on the man's face went away, the nervousism returning right back. "N-Not at all! It was for the mons-"

"Yeah, we'll have to kill this guy, Acheron." Morte said, already decided.

"Can you please stop trying to insist that?" Acheron replied back, thinking Morte was exagerrating it.

In despair, the man pleaded once more for his life to be spared. "Wait! Don't kill me! I-I can get something for you! Y-You two are looking to reach Belobog, right?"

"Well, it ain't that hard to figure, is it?" Morte confirmed.

Seeing that he was of no threat, Acheron put her sword away. "I presume you will offer to guide us there. Is that correct?"

"Y-Yes indeed miss!" The man nodded his head, smilling and getting up from the ground. "Sampo Koski! Humble business man at your service!" He introduced himself to the duo.

"This guy is definetly a sham." Morte whispered to Acheron.

"Yeah. I can pretty much tell that." Acheron whispered back.

"Why are you mistrusting me already?!" Sampo shouted in disbilief, having heard what the two said.

"As long as you can guide us to Belobog and not screw us over, there won't be a reason to be skeptic of you." Acheron explained to him.

"Unless of course, you want to screw us over." Morte said, implying a possible threat at Sampo despite speaking with a normal voice.

"Wha? None of that! I'm not dumb to do such a thing." Sampo defended himself. "I know where my limitations are at. So rest assured, I won't try and pull a trick on you. You have my word!"

"Great." Morte said with a smile, patting Sampo in the back, much to hissurprise.

"Huh?"

"It's pleasent to have a businessman who knows how to value and respect his clients." Morte told him, offering an handshake to Sampo.

Initially perplexed, Sampo ended up chuckling, accepting the other man's handshake, thinking he was able to get on his and Acheron's good graces. "S-Sure thing mister! For people like me, a satisfied customer is the most important above all else!"

"Good good." Morte continued with his happy smile. "But we won't be paying you though. I think as first-timers, we are entitled to get a free discount from yours, no?" He said, still with the smile.

"Hum-...Yeah. I-I can do that for you." Sampo obliged, his guts telling that Morte and Acheron were people to not mess with.

"Nice! Understandable bussinessman are even greater ones!" Morte commended Sampo, undoing the handshake.

"I doubt he would really charge us for the travel." Acheron speaked, thinking that was a bit unnecessary from Morte's part.

"It's called bussiness, Acheron. We ain't exactly swimming in rivers of money here." Morte explained it to her

Feeling some urge to start moving, Sampo walked to the front of the duo. "Okay! Then do follow me and don't-"

"Sampooooooooooooo!"

A girl's voice echoed from behind, getting the trio's attention.

"Crap!" The thief cursed to himself as Acheron and Morte saw the newcomer appearing.

"Guess we have a plus one here." Morte speaked.

Meanwhile, Acheron seemed to recognize the small woman appearing in front of them. "Eh? You are-"

"Hm. Oh, it's you. Long time no see, dementia woman." The petite woman of brown twintails and red eyes smiled to Acheron, the two having seemingly 'met' each other before.

"Who's this?" Morte asked to Acheron about the other woman's identity.

The Self-Annihilator tried to remember. "We've...already heard about each other in Pencaony. She's named...what was it again?"

"Sparkle." The small woman said, looking bothered. "Gosh! You really do have a memory of a goldfish."

"Right. You're Sparkle." Acheron finally remembered with that push. "She's a bit of a...trickster." She told to Morte. "I'd say she's not the most trustworthy so keep an eye on her."

"Uuh, a shady clown! Her? Scary!" Morte replied with a smirk, looking down at Sparkle. "What are you gonna do clown girl? Hope it isn't stabbing me in the back."

"Eheh, I appreciate the proposal of the idea, but the mind of this clown can be way more creative than that, thank you." Sparkle giggled, not seeming very affected by Morte's provocation. "Also, I wouldn't be talking of other people's looks when dressed as a guy who looks to have come from the slums and spends all day drinking and smoking while trying to get some hookers." She replied back, looking up to Morte. The difference of the two's heights being quite comical.

"And would you look at it? It seems I am talking with one right now." Morte replied back with a more cocky smug to Sparkle before turning around and walking away from the short woman, lightning up a cig.

"Hmphm!" Pouting a bit at the insult, Sparkle ended up smirking mischiveously at the tall man. "Eh. Talk about a funny guy."

"What are you exactly doing here?" Acheron asked, approaching Sparkle. "No good at all I deduce." She said, not staring very friendly at the short woman. Like Morte, Acheron was aware of the trouble Sparkle could cause through her 'pranks'. A mischiveous fool that loved causing panic around and certainly unhinged at a specific degree. Between her and Morte, Acheron wasn't sure which one she should be more careful with.

"Hehehe, relax, won't you?" Sparkle amused at Acheron's concern. "I don't have anything in mind for this planet in here. As of now, I'm just here to mmet an acquaintance of ours."

"Another Masked Fool?" Acheron tried to figure.

"Yeah. Pretty much that." Sparkle replied before slightly turning her head to look at someone a few meters from her rigth, trying to sneak away from her. "And that goofball of an idiot named Sampo is also here to do other stuff. Isn't that right?"

Having been caught, Sampo just let out a sigh and gave up in trying to avoid Sparkle's presence. "Yes. Being my homeland, I do have a lot of matters to do here most of the time." He said, walking back to the group.

"Of which none of them included leaving me on the middle of a snow storm." Sparkle giggled as she grabbed Sampo by the collar in order for him to get on her height. "You weren't really thinking about leaving me behind were you, Sampo?" She asked, keeping up her sadistic and threatening smile while asking to her companion.

"O-of course I wasn't! You know I never abandon someone like that!" Sampo laughed a bit nervously, some drops of sweat falling from his face.

"Teehee, that's what I thought." Sparkle pretended to be okay with the answer, letting her grip on Sampo's collar go.

"Humm, but by the way, what are you two looking for in Belobog?" Sampo asked the reason behind of Acheron and Morte's visit to Jarilo-VI. "Are you tourists or something?"

Acheron went to answer that. "Well, you could say tha-"

"We're here to wreak havoc on everything these people hold dear." Morte said in a serious and cold voice, exhaling the smoke of the cig out of his mouth, resulting in baffled and shocked expressions from both Acheron and Sampo.

"..."

"..."

"Hum, ironic. I was considering that a few hours ago." Sparkle thought, having liked the sound of that.

"Hm?" Looking to the speechless and indignated expressions from Sampo and Acheron, Morte ended up letting out a wheeze, grinning. "Sheesh! I'm joking! I'm joking! Of course that we aren't here to do that!" He said, laughing. "I mean, what kind of egregious crime these poor people from this snowy land did to deserve that, right?"

"You have quite the nerve, don't you?" Acheron said, displeased by Morte's joke, not finding it funny.

Neither did Sampo. "That was...a bit off."

"I liked it! I'll give it an eight." Sparle side, giggling and finding such chaotic scenario fun to her.

"Thanks, I came up with this one on a fly." Morte replied. "But wow! Meeting someone else at this other part of the cosmos? Maybe the universe ain't that much of a bigger place." He said, ending up smoking his cig, putting it out on his own hand, feeling no burn. "Anyways, better start moving! I don't really have the patience to fight another wave of monsters again."

"Same here. My feet are starting to get cold!" Sparkle's eyes went to gaze at Sampo. "Thankfully, with the 'great' Sampo here, reaching Belobog will be just a few minutes. Right?"

Feeling the menacing remark hidden behind Sparkle's cheerful voice, Sampo gulped as he knew he couldn't wrong her nor Acheron and Morte, as they all would surely make him pay. "Y-Yeah! Every party always needs a Sampo Koski to make it feel more complete!" He pointed to himself, showing a smile full of self-esteem, altough from inside he was shaking, afraid of his life if he ended up leading these three to the wrong way even if without intention.

"Show us the way then." Acheron said, she and Morte, now accompanied by the duo of Sparkle and Sampo, wandering the rest of the path torwards the city of Belobog.

"And we're here! Belobog!" Sampo announced with his arms open to the ohter three as they stood in the middle of the city square.

"For a place on snow these people sure learned how to turn the situation around." Morte looked at the buildings and grand structures that was the city of Belobog, a place with life when in contrast to the rough and harsh snow plains on the outside.

"It shows how much they must have an undying and stalwart will to survive against the odds." Acheron replied, staring at the giant building in front of them that she assumed to be the palace and residence of Belobog's ruler. "I've heard somewhere before that this entire planet follows the Path of Qlipoth, The Preservation. Maybe that is why the people have managed to endure such hostile conditions. Their iron clad desire to preserve life as a civilization that can carry it on a better future is of an enduring conviction, ever since the very beggining with the architects and first Supreme Guardian of Belobog." She gave a good look at the livelihood and sounds of the people all around her in the surroundings. "It is a collective will of a burning flame, refusing to extinguish even amidst the impetuous blizzard."

"Sure thing. Preservation..." Morte snickered lowly, almost as if he was mocking Acheron's remark of Belobog's people, going to light another cig. "The Path of fools trying to delay the doom of inevitability."

"Oh, but you do remember about that! Talk about selective memory." Sparkle replied, thinking how Acheron's mind could remember some random information but not a name.

"I do kinda appreciate that a foreigner like you would know a bit of our planet's history." Sampo said slightly amused. "And I sure hope that this beautiful land known as Belobog can give much more for you to discover miss! But if I can give you an advice, is to be careful with your wallets and possible pickpocketers that can stole them."

"Which means, you." Sparkle said, outing Sampo as a pickpocketer, much to his own annoyance.

"H-Hey! Why are you trying to give these new clients a bad impression of me? Don't I have enough people that don't trust me already?" He complained to the short woman who just giggled.

"Not until it reaches to the six digits numbers!" Sparkle happily said, not caring if her companion was badly seen by others. "Anyways, we will go on our own way now. Same for you I guess. See ya around dementia woman!" She said, her and Sampo about to separate ways with Acheron and Morte.

"I better not hear any possible ruckus from you." Acheron replied back, seeing the short woman walk away with Sampo, hoping that she was saying the truth when stating she wasn't planning on doing her usual trickstery on the people of Belobog. But with someone like Sparkle, who knew? Better that Acheron could do was sigh and believe Sparkle would behave. Deciding to also start moving, Acheron turned around to speak with Morte. "Okay. We're going to-?"

However, when she turned around to look at Morte, she found that everyone was dead. The square that was once brimming with life was now eerily silent and deceased. The blue sky turned into a dark and green colour. Corpses and corpses scattered all around the square alongside the invading snow and ice that would seize the city. Even the flowers had perished. Not a single thing remained and Morte was nowhere to be found. It was as if she was staring at a grim future of the planet.

Acheron just couldn't comprehend it right away, startled.  "What am I-"

"Oi."

"Huh?" Blinking her eyes, the Self-Annihilator found herself staring back at the normal Belobog again, the people talking and walking around as if nothing happened. Like if that Belobog she had witnessed for a brief second was just an illusion of a nightmare.

"Are you coming along?" Morte speaked, getting Acheron's attention, already a few meters ahead of her. "If you stay there still, people will start mistaking you for a post."

"...Sorry. Got a bit distracted." Acheron replied, getting out of whatever state she was in and walking torwards Morte, joining him.

"You sure it wasn't the cold wind that freezed your brain for a moment?" Morte joked with a smirk. "Should have bought some beanies, Acheron."

"I already said I'm okay. Let's keep moving and see what this city has to offer us." Acheron said, not even staring at Morte as she walked past him, heading to wherever part of the place she could find some interest in. Yet, that fleeting, daunting vision was still poking on Acheron's mind, making her bring her fingers to the forhead. "What...was I even staring at?"

"So? What do you make of those two?"

Sparkle asked to Sampo as the duo was waiting for the terminal that would transport them to the underworld of Belobog.

"Hm? Well, surely the kind of mysterious duo I wouldn't wanna mess with. That lady seems fine and reserved altough such quietude her face gives, it leads me to believe she hides something dangerous. Still, I think she must be an overall good person. Hell! I wonder how I did not even runned into her at the Golden Hour." Sampo gave his opinion about Acheron. "Now, about the guy...He kinda gives me the creeps somehow. Like, do you think he's a-"

"Follower of Elation? Hm, he certainly has a sense of humor." Sparkle replied, thinking about Morte. "But no. He's a person I wouldn't like to play with, not even for a game of cards." Giving a small smirk, Sparkle put the thumb on her chin. "He's surely interesting, but he goes against the ambiguity that we Masked Fools and Aha stand for." She looked up to the ceilling with some curious amusement. "For someone like that woman to travel alongside him should already be telling of something. Simply a danger not worth the fun. And I think the guy himself knows that. I'm already fine with the material I can work with. Everyone in their own lane as some people say."

"So what you're saying is that he's a psycho to not mess with." Sampo concluded, putting a hand to his face in slight distress. "As if having one crazy psycho roaming around Belobog wasn't bad enough."

"Aww, but I already promised to be a good girl on my passage through here, Mr Sampo." Sparkle giggled with sneer, winking at him. "After all, I don't want to steal the thunder from the future saviour of Belobog, do I?"

"So, Shampoo and Twinkle-Sparkle. Certainly some duo those two." Morte speaked while strolling through the square alongside Acheron.

"They're Masked Fools. Members of that faction and followers of the Elation in general tend to be some peculiar people." Acheron told him how the Path of Aha was full of weird and zany individuals. "Sparkle in particular can always be scheming a trick or play under her sleeves, always looking for mischiveous ways to toy with others.

"Ah, I got that at first glance. She plays the role of a fool really well." Morte smiled. "Jesters are always the ones to speak the most true because everyone else perceives their words as a mere fool's nonsense. That girl makes sure to take chance of that and enjoys it. I can respect that. Altough..." Walking, Morte ended up stepping on an ant, probably not even noticing that it was on his way. "Risk too much and you end up as an actual fool."

"With Sparkle, one never knows." Acheron replied. "Up until today, I only encountered with her one time. And it wasn't exactly with 'her' but with clones of other people she creates with her powers in order to fight the enemy. After that, I still heard about her deeds on the planet we both were at the time despite never having runned into her personally. Guess the same couldn't be said for Sparkle." She recounted the brief 'meeting' she ended up having with the Masked Fool in Penacony as well as her other tricky antics she practiced on the planet of festivities. "I prefer if she leaves the people of Belobog alone, but with a mind of a Masked Fool like hers, I can't be too sure."

"Nah. I'd say you should relax." Morte replied, not seeming very concerned about Sparkle the same way Acheron was. "While a trickster, she definetly doesn't seem stupid. She's aware of the type of people to not mess with."

Looking forward, Acheron noticed a group of people holding cardboards and signs in the air in front of what seemed to be the entrance of a restaurant establishment. "Hm? What's happening over there?"

"Something to kill our boredom." Morte slightly grinned. "Let's go see what's the fuss about."

"WHAT DO WE WANT?"

"CHANGE!"

"WHEN DO WE WANT?"

"NOW!"

Approaching the protest, the duo saw the manifestation up close.

"Excuse me, but what exactly is this about?" Wanting to get context, Acheron asked to a soldier that was also close by.

"Same as ever. People doing protests for one reason or another." The soldier, a young looking blonde man, turned around to answer. "If you want to know the motive in specific, I think you shou-oh!" The soldier reacted a bit in surprise once he saw Acheron-

"Is there something wrong?" Acheron asked him, not knowing why the soldier stopped briefly from talking once he saw them.

"No. It's that...I never saw you around here. You must be tourists, correct?" The soldier asked in return, explaining why for his quick surprise.

"Well, I think it couldn't be more obvious." Acheron responded with a small smile. "But yes, we're travelers who just happened to be passing by Jarilo-VI and the nation of Belobog. I have to say: for a planet in a seemingly eternal blizzard, Belobog is a very pretty city. The story of perserverance of your people is a miracle worth telling across the cosmos."

"Eh, glad you're enjoying the view." The soldier smiled back. "You know, our planet just recently was able to open itself to the outside space that lies beyond its skies, so receiving visitors from other galaxies and planets is still a thing that I'm trying to get used to. To know that there were other worlds out there, with different people, species and culture...It all now feels so surreal to believe we spent many Amber Ages without that knowledge."

Acheron could tell the minor happiness on the soldier's voice. "The universe is quite full of wonders, is it not?"

"If you ever feel like it, go ask for vacations if you wanna visit some." Morte added, resulting in the soldier stare directly to his face for the first time.

"!..." A sudden and short bafflement flashed in the soldier's eyes that widdened at the moment before going silent as he stared deeply to Morte's face with a glare bitter hostility. Noticing that, Morte just raised up an eyebrow and proceeded to smirk as if he himself knew why the soldier was giving him that kind of stare.

Acheron felt something wrong in the middle of this. "Hum, are you feeling alright?" She asked, making the soldier break eye contact with Morte, gaining his attention.

"N-Nothing. It's just...your companion's face seems-"

"Pretty? Wouldn't be the first." Morte joked.

"It striked me as familiar." The soldier revealed."I'm not quite sure, but I think I've seen a face like that before..."

"That's called doubles and lookalikes, buddy. Pretty sure you must have seen someone else with a similar face as mine before." Morte told him.

Doubtful if that was exactly the case, Acheron ended up going with Morte's point. "With the numbers of visitors Belobog must get nowdays, it surely wouldn't be out of possibility that you mistaken him for someone else."

"Yeah. Perhaps was that indeed. Sorry if I was being rude with the sir." The soldier apologized to Morte for the mistake he was making. "As the captain of the Silvermane Guards, Gepard Landau, it certainly stains my reputation. My humblest apologies." He said, introducing himself.

"No need for that. It was just a minor misunderstanding. It happens to the best of us." Acheron replied, not feeling any ill for Gepard.

"Great. I'll be leaving then. Other important matters call for me at the moment. Enhoy your stay!" Gepard gave a brief farewell to the dup before walking away from the scene.

With him gone, Acheron stared to Morte with a judgemental look as the man was smirking while seeing Gepard leaving before looking back at the stare Acheron was giving him, immediatly losing his smirk.

"What's that face for?...Oh come on now! You think I really did something?" Morte said with some displeasure.

"By the way he was staring at you, it did seem he actually knew you from somewhere." Acheron replied, crossing her arms. "Is this truly your first time in Jarilo-VI?"

"C'mon now, Acheroni!" Morte rolled his eyes, letting out a sigh. "Dude's captain of the law of this place. Someone's mind like him must confuse the faces of criminals with those of regular 'innocent law abiding' folks from time to time!" He explained, defending himself. "Ooooor, he just never saw someone as tall as me, eh?" Morte opened up his arms, gesticulating to his own height.

"..." Giving a silent glare, Acheron thought about it. There were few people Acheron had met that could be as tall if not taller than Morte himself, her mind hardly remembering any. Perhaps this was really a non-issue. "Hm. A way to stand out from the rest. Not useful if you're a wanted man by the IPC."

"Eh. I always have other solutions for those problems." Morte smiled at her.

Leaving that topic behind, Acheron decided to just forget about it for now. "Sure." She then glared at the people of the small manifestation. Heading to the person with the megaphone and who seemed to be leading the protests, she made an answer. "Excuse me to interrupt you but, could I know what are you protesting about?"

"Hm? Can't you see the obvious?" The guy, a young man with short silver hair and glasses, replied. "We are on our process of boycotting the so much 'renowned' restaurant, Tastes of Snow!"

"Boycotting? Why?" Acheron made another question, wanting to know why.

"You see, recently, this establishment has introduced a new dish on its menu! The famous apalenian dish, Starlight's Dusk, from Apalenia! Described too many as the best quality food from there! The sweetness and softness of the Crystal Lake Raspberries as well as the crunchy chunks of Golden Moon's Honey make it for one of the greatest foods known across the universe!" The guy was explaining. "You must have tasted it as well at least once, didn't you?"

"Actually, no. Never had one in my life." Acheron replied, never having got her hands on a Starlight's Dusk.

"Really?" The young man looked at her in shock. "Well, it does not matter! What does is that the chefs and owners of Tastes of Snow had the brilliant idea of adding the dish to the menu! An apalenian dish being made by belobogian people who never once stepped foot in Apalenia! What could possibly go wrong? Everything! That's what's gone wrong! The imbeciles had the brilliant idea to add the acrid taste of Sour Flakes in it, completly ruining the original taste of the dish!"

"That sounds...pretty drastic." Acheron replied, finding hard to believe all of this protest was happening because of a dish.

"Now, you might think and perceive it as a sort of innocent mistake done by the chefs and cooks. But we know better!" The young protester exclaimed rabidly. "This was certainly nothing more but a clear provocation to the gastronomy culture and people of Apalenia! An hateful act of pure vitriol and discrimination made by the staff of this restaurant! And we, altough small but loud group of belobogians, will not tolerate this mockery on behalf of our apalenian friends!"

"..." Hearing all that rant, Acheron just stared at him and the group with a deadpan face before glaring at Morte.

"Don't laugh. He might be retarded y'know?" Morte told her with serenity, also finding the situation a bit absurd.

"Sooo, that's why you're boycotting this restaurant now?" Acheron went back to speak with the leader of the manifestation group.

"Indeed! Our goal is that people stop frequenting this restaurant and giving money to them, forcing Tastes of Snow to either remove the dish from the menu and apologize for such heinous crime or suffer the consequences of bankruptcy!"

"Hm, I get it. Then this restaurant won't be seeing a single penny from you again until change happens I assume." Acheron summarized it in short. However, as she had said that, the entire group of protesters stopped protesting, falling into a shy and nervous silence, embaressedly looking at each others. "Hm? What's the problem?"

"Don't tell me the boycott ain't going well." Morte stepped up, facing down all of them.

"W-Well...I actually had breakfast today here."

"Me too. I even tasted their version of Starlight's Dusk. It ain't as bad as we make it out to be."

"Sssh! Silence you idiots! It ain't supposed for the others to know!" The leader replaid back in frustration, not wanting those secrets about the group being revealed in public.

"Look who's talking! You are leading all this boycott thing yet I've seen you going here for dinner three times this week!"

"!" To that, the leader of the group just fell into absolute silence, sweating on all sides.

"Wait. Let me guess if I understood this right." Acheron speaked. "So you want to spread the boycott to the other people and tell them to not go to this restaurant to eat anymore because of a dish that upsets you when you yourselves are still frequenting and spending money on this same restaurant?"

"...Y-Yeah." The leader admitted with a trembling smile. "Like, the food is just too good but-"

"But I know what you are!" Morte said, grabbing the megaphone from the young man's hands out of nowhere and throwing it carelessly to the ground. His voice and face showing some hints of annoyance and distaste. "A bunch of hypocrites wanting to ride on a high horse!" He stared down at the group with an unfriendly face, even scaring them a bit to their cores.

"N-No sir! You got it wrong! The frightned leader tried to defend himself. "We-"

"Oh, I get it! Is for the mass approval and love of strangers on the internet and social media!" Morte cut him short, not even giving a chance. "Picking up low hanging fruits that will make you look like the good saint while everyone else claps and cheers for the great waste of a lame moronic being that you are! You probably didn't even asked to a single goddamn apalenian their thoughts about this! Because you don't give an actual fuck to what they think." Morte said, approaching his face more menacingly to the young man who now was shaking in fear, ending up grabbing him by the neck.

Acheron tried to intervene. "That's enough, Mor-"

"People like you are the most obnoxious kind that I've ever met." Morte said, his terryfying cold glare close to the young man, as if he was looking to the poor guy's soul. "Never had real problems so go around to create ones for yourselves so that you can whine and moan all day and receive something in return. You don't care about others. You only want to feel good about yourself and be well perceived by everybody else!" Saying in a deep and threatening voice, Morte ended up pushing the young man into the rest of the group for them to catch him.

"W-Woah!"

"Go back to your homes so that you can continue to live in your own 'idealistic' worlds where you are the so good moralistic and wholesome people!" Morte told them, grabbing a cardboard in the ground and destroying it with ease. "Your dirty presence here already makes me wanna puke."

Terrified by the tall and hostile figure that Morte was, the entire group of protesters ended up running away in fear, abandoning the local.

"Was that really necessary?" Acheron questioned him. "I almost thought you'd start killing them."

"No one likes fake preachers, Acheron." Morte responded, still with some disgust. "There is nothing in existence more scummy and rattiest than people that preach virtues they lack." He elaborated. "Have you ever met with one?"

"Kinda." Acheron replied, her mind going back to the events of Penacony. "There was this guy, follower of the Order, who wanted to trap everyone within a dreamscape by using the powers of the Stellaron and a substance of an entire star system. He aimed for the goal where everyone could live on an illusory eternal dream where they'd be living the best of lives they always dreamt of having, trapping millions on those never ending dreams, believing such thing would be an harmonious order. But in the end, a dream would just be a dream, having to live in fantasy instead of reality and wasting their entire lives. Myself and others had to put a stop to him."

"Keh! To live forever within an ideal dream life...The person who thought of that must have been stupidly gullible and disconnected." Morte smirked, thinking such concept to be a pathetic joke. "But still, those who act are still better than those who just talk." Lightening up another cig, Morte was calmer. "But enough of it. Let's go to another place. We've already wasted enough time with idiots."

"Thought the same. At least... try to not break out an uproar like you were about to do now." Acheron adviced him, looking around to see where they could go next, spotting a huge building just at one end of the square. "Hmm, a museum about Belobog? That might be interesting. Let's go see what exhibitions they have."

Inside the museum's entry hall, Acheron was standing quiet with her eyes closed until she heard the footsteps of Morte approaching, rejoining her. "It took you quite enough."

"You said to either put out the cig or smoke all of it outside before entering. It was obvious which one I'd chose." Morte replied to her. "We could have gone with my suggestion of just entering but-"

"As if they would actually let someone enter the museum while smoking." Acheron stated once again how they'd be denied entry to the museum if Morte entered while smoking. "I wonder if you can go a day without those."

"Greetings visitors! Welcome to Belobog History and Culture Museum!" Someone speaked torwards them. A short young woman of purple hair, blue eyes and glasses that went to speak with the duo. "In what I could be useful? Here for the first time?"

"..." Looking oblivious, Acheron begun to look around, as if she didn't knew where she was exactly. "This is a museum?" She asked, while Morte tried to surpress a laugh behind her.

"Humm, yes? It literally says it on the billboard outside. Did you just entered this place without reading it?" The short woman asked, being a bit weirded out by Acheron's forgetfulness.

"...Ah." Being reminded of it, Acheron embaressedly put a hand to her face while Morte wheezed behind her. "F-Forget about it. Yes, this is our first time in the museum. We're here to see what this city has to offer us and I thought a museum about this planet's people might be a very interesting thing to start with."

"Hm hm, then you came to the right place for such cultural knowledge." The short woman smiled, adjusting her glasses, glimming for a moment. "Name's Pelageya Sergeyevna. But to keep it simple, just call me Pela. I'm one of the official tourist guides of the museum." She introduced herself to the duo.

"Two shorties in one day. That must be an occurence..." Morte muttered.

"Nice to meet you Pela." Acheron replied back. "For start, is there any special exhibition that is currently at display on the museum?"

"Glad you asked. Currently, our main exhibition of the month that is currently beating all the sorts of visitor records is one about the legendary savior of Belobog: The Trailblazer Exhibition!" Pela happily told to the two, gaining a slight reaction of amazement by Acheron.

"The Trailblazer? He/She has been here on Jarilo-VI?" Acheron asked, not having expected for that information.

"Yes! The Trailblazer is one of the heroes that ended up saving Belobog alongside our current Supreme Guardian. Would you like to begin the visit by going to his/her exhibit first?" Pela asked to Acheron.

Giving a thought first, the Emanator of Nihility decided. "Perhaps we should leave that one for the ending. First, do show us everything else."

Pela smiled and nodded. "Sure thing! Do follow me!"

Doing the guided tour through the museum, Acheron and Morte saw all type of exhibits that the place had, telling the ancient and long history of the civilization of Belobog. The heat crystals known as geomarrow that were the main source of energy to kept the population warm and able to survive the cold conditions of the planet. The robot machines built as inpiration from the old ones designed by the architects on Belobog's war against the factions of Destruction. The relaxing and artistic paintings that portrayed the beauty of the planet's nature and biome, putting it in a more welcoming light.

Acheron took an observing eye and listening ear to the exhibitions and Pela explanation. Even if all of that information would come out of her head and be erased entirely on the next day, she made sure to enjoy this small moment. But what the Self-Annihilator couldn't truly wait for, was the Trailblazer exhibit. She would be lying if she said she wasn't a bit eager to see the tribute Belobog did to her good friend. What kind of adventure he/she and the Nameless of the Astral Express had on this planet.

"Hmm..." Groaning lowly behind, Morte did not seemed to share the same feeling with his traveling companion. "What a paltry place."

"Not liking it?" Acheron replied, speaking privately torwards Morte in a way that Pela could not hear them while guiding the two. "I think 'paltry' would not fit to describe a place with history."

"History or not, museums are a burden. Places that people go when they can't move on from the past and stare forward to the future." Morte explained to her, revealing his sentiment about the place. "Look around. Just old pieces of junk that people can't discard for whatever reason. They can't let certain things go and instead, decide to preserve them as remembrance of periods of bygone eras. Those things have long lost their utility and meaning, now here just to gain dust. The true epithome of meaninglessness. Who could ever be interested on such waste of time?"

"Maybe because they still have meaning." Acheron replied, not agreeing at all with Morte's point of view. "It's just that they found another one. People's and beings lives can go way beyond their original purposes. A person shouldn't be confined to one label, one job, one lifestyle. If a soldier, that has been borned and raised only for war, only experienced war and surives to see the end of that war, does it mean their life essentialy ends there, having no more reason to keep going? I object that thinking. The soldier now can expand their horizons and dedicate their life to other things. Enjoy the moments of new found peace. Become a traveller who explores new places that they could only dream of before. Or simply pass the days quietly, tending their house and garden by morning, read a book at afternoon and count the stars in the night, making a new mean to their life of those happy moments."

"..." Morte didn't interrupted, continue to let Acheron speak.

"Even machines are no different. Altough the ones here have no longer a lifespan, the people found a new meaning for them, showing how they can be more than mere creations for combat. That their lives continues to have a significance, even after death." Acheron completed, eyeing Morte in the eyes. "Maybe that's a lesson you should know."

To that, the man grinned lightly. He could tell Acheron would be the travelling companion worth the time. "Eh. For one on the Path of Nihilility, you surely don't sound like one."

"The Path of IX isn't one I willingfuly walk on." Acheron replied. "If anything, I aim to break away from it one day."

"Hey, it looks you two are having an interesting chat." Pela speaked, noticing how the two had stood a bit behind from her. "What is it about?"

"About what is the most valuable artifact here to rob." Morte replied.

Pela looked at him puzzled. "Hum, why exactly would you discuss that?"

Acheron sighed. "Ignore him. We were just speaking of trivial things. What's the next exhibition?"

"Quite the timing that question come to!" Pela smiled. "It's the Trailblazer one! Right ahead!"

Acheron gave a little smile back. "Then we better see it already."

Being guided by the short nerdy woman, they arrived to the biggest chamber of the museum. One with an ice sculpture of a person holding a lance in the middle. The walls around having many portraits of that same person, depicted in different artstyles interpretations. A projector displaying that hero's journey to save Belobog from the Stellaron's curse alongside their companions. And various written statements of appreciation and admiration for them, specially a bigger one written by thge current Supreme Guardian, Bronya Grand. That was all of the Trailblazer's exhibition.

Looking right at the face of the Trailblazer's sculpture, Acheron let out a little giggle. "He/She is quite loved here, isn't he/she?"

Pela nodded. "Yep indeed! He/She was our beacon of hope that helped us citizens of belobog to expand our horizons and move forward to a new age of this planet's history after a long period under the Stellaron's curse. Without him/her, who knew where the fate of our lives could be heading?" She said, remembering foundly of the Trailblazer's deeds. "If you wanna know a curiosity, the Trailblazer is also one of the owners of this museum, being one of its main contributors to get it back to activity!"

"Really?" Acheron replied, a bit surprised. "That's...a bit unexpected. Managing things like museums don't strike me as his/her thing."

"To speak like that...Have you met with the Trailblazer before?" Pela asked to Acheron, noticing it by the way she talked of them.

"Yes. You can consider me as a friend of him/hers." Acheron confirmed it. "And I can atest that indeed he/she is a very nice and kind person alongside the rest of his/her crew. That type of person, you want to cherish and remember forever in your life." She put close her hand into a fist, almost putting it next to her chest before looking at the statue of the Trailblazer again. "So it's great to see that his/her deeds and of the Astral Express have spread even to this side of the cosmos."

"Well, by now I'd say it must be an effect he/she has on the people, I presume." Pela replied, also finding the Trailblazer a very endearing person.

"So you're telling me this twink/dollface here saved the planet?" Morte speaked, standing right next in front of the sculpture. "Man, nowdays is always the least impressionable."

"H-Hey! You aren't allowed to stand that close to the statue!" Pela called the man out. "It's against the rules!"

"So what? What do you want me to say?" Morte replied, not giving the slightest care as he lifted his foot and stepped it right on the sculpture's pedestal. "That rules were made to be broken?"

"..." Without saying anything, Acheron was about to go slowly for her sword, not giving any chance if Morte decided to act up all of a sudden.

"Tell me, Acheron." Morte speaked to her, still looking at the Trailblazer's statue. "What type of person is he/she?"

"A good friend. One that will always be there to help. Always leaving his/her mark wherever he/she goes." Acheron replied, still with her hand close to the sword. "A dear person I look forward to meet with again one day."

Hearing that, Morte's lips curled up, seeming satisfied while giving an retrospective glare to the face of the Trailblazer's statue. "Yes..." Turning around, the man begun to leave the room, a smile plastered on his face. What could that smile be? Was it of admiration as well? Mockery? Sadism? Evillness? Anticipation? It could only be labeled as one of very mixed signals, leaving to interpretation of what exactly Morte was thinking as he walked out of the exibhition. "I can't wait to meet him/her too..."

"What a weird guy." Pela said, feeling a bit of sinister within Morte.

"He's a bit...strange." Acheron replied to her as she also saw the man leave, presumably torwards the exit of the museum. Her mind could tell that grin on his face was anything but the symbolization of a good thing.

On the outside of the museum and back to the square, Morte was smoking another cig, contemplating the clear blue sky of the planet without any thoughts in his mind. That was until Acheron approached him from behind, having left the museum shortly after him.

"Was talking with four-eyes as fun as the study visit?" Morte asked her, already aware of Acheron's presence.

"At least you didn't caused a commotion." Acheron replied. "For now."

"Can't ruin the trip that early, can I?" Morte smugged, looking at her before throwing the cig away. "Gotta explore more first."

"Where to now? Any ideas?" Acheron awaited for his suggestion then.

"I sure have some!" Morte told her, about to say it. "This place as an entire city below this one. The 'Underworld' as they call it. Let's go there."

Chapter Text

Right beneath the luxurious and grandious snow city that was Belobog, there was another community that laid underneath it, comprised of the most simple and average inhabitants of Jarilo-VI's society, whose majority worked on the mines, the way of life from the people of the Underworld being different from those from the world above.

And altough the group of villages of the Underworld would never get to see the natural sunlight, the town would could still feel warm and generally lively despite having less population from the upper class city of Belobog. With the connection of both layers of Belobog having finally been restored after so many years, the help and resources from above could help the inhabitants of the Underworld live more easy lives.

And right now, the duo of Acheron and Morte were travessing the street of one of its many towns, namely, Boulder Town.

"This place. It has a lot of minerals around here." Acheron commented as she would catch sight of the heat crystals scattered at every angle down on the Underworld. "Now I see where the people of Belobog get all of the geomarrow as well as the origin of its source."

Morte was eyeing the place they were in with some amusement. "Now this is much more my style!"

"What do you mean? We've only just arrived here and you're already saying that." Acheron asked him. "Was the upperworld of Belobog maybe a little too 'sophisticated' for you?"

Scratching the facial hair of his sideburns, Morte was inclined to agree. "Hmm, yeah, you could say that. But mainly, because I know that down here I will definetly find it."

"Find what?" Acheron asked again.

"A good pub for a good booze." Morte smirked, sounding hopeful.

"You want to go drink?" Acheron found his answer a bit weird. "I believe they also have pubs up there. Why didn't you went to one at that moment?"

"Expensiveness. You do know that all of those fancy places from there, they would only serve the priciest of beers. And sometimes, the price is just not worth it." Morte explained to Acheron, giving a good look at the town's center. "Now, compared that with this 'impoverished' village. People who can't afford themselves to have all the lavish people from the people of upper Belobog. Having to work hard all days and breaking sweat to earn honest money. And what people with hard and taxing lives, do with that money to monumentarily forget all those hardships?"

Following Morte's reasoning, Acheron reached to the possible answer. "In things that makes them happy and drowns their sorrows."

Grinning, Morte tilted his body torwards Acheron, playfuly pointing at her. "Namely..."

Sighing, Acheron looked sideways. "Booze."

"Correct!" Morte snapped his fingers. "Since they have it rough down here, the alcohol needs to be of the best quality so that they can end up smilling and laughing at the end of the day! The difficulter the situation, the better the ale is, in order to make one happy and forget the problems."

"Then what you're saying is...you only wanted to come here to waste yourself in beer and such?" Acheron questioned, thinking that was a bit of a piffling reason for wanting to visit the Underworld.

"Whatever simple thing makes this simple man joyful, Acheroni." Morte replied with peace and a fake benigness after labeling himself as 'simple'.

"Ugh..." Acheron just groaned lowly, not bothering anymore to tell Morte to stop calling her that.

"A shame that it is being difficult to find a pub here however." He said, going to grab up a cig. "They must guard their secrets well don't you think?"

Acheron would sware that if it wasn't for the fact Morte was anything but 'normal', he would by long be suffering from some lung disease. "Maybe you are just blind." She said with little emotion, moving her head to see if she could at least spot a pub that her travelling companion so much desired. Instead, the Self-Annihilator spotted trouble for them, in the form of an IPC squad strolling some meters away. "The IPC? They're also here?" She knew that it automatically meant that their trip to Jarilo-VI had stopped being peaceful, having the minions of the organization that hunted her on this planet as well. And presumably Morte too. "This is bad news. We need to-huh?"

But as she had turned her head to stare back at Morte, she found him not in front of her, but laying on a bench nearby, hands resting on his own chest, and a book covering his face, befuddling Acheron. "Already hidden."

"How is tha-...Nevermind." Opting it would be more alleviating for her brain, Acheron just roll with it and went torwards the bench as the IPC soldiers approached the area.

"And then I told him: Dude, don't you have legal person status?"

"...Seriously, how weren't you fired yet?"

As the IPC squad reacted with indifference and slight annoyance over the bad joke of thir colleague, the group was too focused on walking and maintaining their sight forward, not glimpsing at the bench on their left, failing to see the duo badly in disguise, Morte continuing with his same pose as Acheron had sat on the small unnoccupied part of the bench, covering her face with her own paper umbrella. Thankfully, even if improbable, it had worked.

"They left." Acheron spied over her umbrella, seeing the IPC soldiers getting further away. "I should have known...Even if this planet as opened itself to the cosmos for less than a year, the IPC would already have its grasps on it."

"They surely work fast." Morte replied, taking out the random book from his face while Acheron got up from the bench. "Has the IPC ever wondered about expanding to food delivery services?"

"I'm sure that must have occured on their minds by now. Wherever and whatever gives them profit, they will seize that opportunity." Acheron closed her paper umbrella as Morte sat on the bench to stretch his arms. "We must find a place to hide for them in the meantime. The underworld is not a safe place."

"For us or them?" Morte asked, grabbing up his scythe. "You know, if you don't want potential witnesses and enemies to notice you, there is always the most efficient method."

"We're not going to do that." Acheron rebuked Morte for considering that option. If anything,it would only attract more problem to them.

"Unless necessary?" Morte asked her, lifting up a finger as if he was doing a question to a teacher.

"...Unless necessary." Acheron replied, admitting that if they were indeed discovered by the IPC, there would be no other way but to fight.

"Great." Morte got up from the bench and excercised his neck a bit, the sound of bones snapping as he did that. "But first things comes first: Finding a pub." He said as he looked around, spotting a building right in front of them on the other side of the town's small square. "Hmm, that as the look of being one."

"It also has quite a good number of people entering it." Acheron replied, looking to the same place her travelling companion was looking at. "Let's go see what it is about." And so the duo went torwards the building under the assumption to be a pub. Yet, the couldn't be any wronger.

"This is..." Acheron's eyes went to observe the room they had entered in. A small spacious chamber with a couple of hospital beds. A chandelier on the ceilling alongside other lamps on the walls to illuminate the room. It was occupied with apparently sick and injured people. Some lying on the soft mattresses of the beds and recovering from whatever illness or wounds they were suffering, while other patients who were rather doing slightly better to stand and walk, were being examined and accompanied by some doctors and nurses, either sitting on a chair or on their feet with the help of a crutch.

"A clinic." Morte groaned lowly in dissapointment, seeing that this wasn't a pub he was so much looking for. "Well, we clearly were amiss here." He said, turning around to already head to the exit. "Let's go Acheron. I ain't going through a whole day without-"

"Hi there. Did not see you enter. How can I help you?"

But as a voice came from behind, Acheron and Morte halted from leaving the building as both of them turned around to see a woman doctor standing behind them, having called the two.

"My oh my..." Morte's lips went up in a sassy smirk as he stared at the woman. "Looks like this mistakeful visit still had some up sides."

"Ahem." Acheron coughed in a reprimanding tone next to Morte, most likely calling him out for that comment.

"What? Can't eulogize beauty these days?" Morte replied, outright stating the female doctor being very pretty.

And the doctor for her part seemed to have taken that comment rather well, giggling. "Oh, I appreciate it. But I'm very occupied as of now, so you better state what are you here for other than medical assistance and treatment." The woman smiled gently to the two, putting a hand on her chest. "I'm Natasha. The head doctor of this underworld's clinic. Are you feeling sick by any chance?"

"Not really. We're fine, thank you for asking." Acheron said to Natasha, now knowing her name. "We just happened to stumble on here by accident. Name's Acheron. And the one here with me is-"

"Morty Jonhson, madam. But the lady can call me Morte is she prefers." Morte presented himself courteously, even doing a polite bow.

Acheron just stared at him with some mild annoyance, finding that act of him to be forced. "I won't have patience for this."

Natasha on the other hand found it endearing. "Hehehe, it is a pleasure to meet you, Mr Morte. And Ms Acheron as well. So I do suppose you two are tourists, aren't you?"

"Yes." Acheron confirmed. "We've recently arrived to Belobog for the first time and explored the city above already. So now we came down here to see the underworld of the planet as well. But as Ms Natasha must have figured out by now...We're kinda lost."

"Yep. We are in need of a map and directions." Morte added before poking Acheron in the back of her head. "Altough for this one here, it will be both plus a GPS."

"Cut it off." Acheron remained calm and apparently unbothered despite Morte's teasing. There were things she was just good at controlling. Or perhaps her emotions weren't as responsive as years ago.

"Oh, you're a bit disoriented. Don't worry, you wouldn't end up being the first ones." Natasha told them. "Ever since Belobog as opened the borders of Jarilo-VI with the space outside, many tourists that come here to the underworld for the first time happen to also not know the directions and accidentaly stumble into my clinic. Maybe I should built a sign on the outside to tell people already that this is a clinic before it happens more times."

"So this situation has already happened to you a dozen of times eh?" Acheron crossed her arms. "Can imagine it mustn't be easy to manage the clinic here if that's an usual occurence then."

Natasha sighed sadly. "Pretty much." The head doctor frowned as she gave a look to her clinic in general. "We've been getting many injured and sick these past few weeks due to the on-going operations of trying to get the stellaron creatures fully expelled from the underworld. The Supreme Guardian has told to the inhabitants and miners from here to leave that job to the IPC already. But you know how some people are. Stubborn as bulls, stating that they won't be abandoning the mines and entrust them to some 'opressive organization' that came from space, leading to groups of miners to deal with the monsters on their own way."

"They foolishly deny to be forced out of their jobs for some time." Acheron got to understand the motive. "Guess I couldn't exactly blame them. If working was the only thing majority of these people had as a way to gain in life, what else can they do to occupy the free time with now? It is a thought process many aren't able to simply move on." The Self-Annihilator told to Natasha, knowing well how some people would have an hard time to let some things go.

Natasha nodded her head, altough she had a despondent expression on her face. "I do know how they feel and that it probably isn't easy to just accept it as you said. However, it is a situation not worth the risk of their own lives, putting themselves in unnecessary danger." The doctor then turned around and signaled with her hand for Acheron to follow her. "Let me show you."

Doing as she requested, Acheron walked behind Natasha, following the doctor into a corner of the clinic's room, approaching to a more isolated bed where Natasha pulled the curtains away, revealing a patient in a very awful state, surprising Acheron to some degree. "His leg and arm are..." The Emmanator of Nihility noticed how the right arm and leg of the person were missing.

"An 'accident' in the mines yesterday." Natasha revealed. "When he arrived at the clinic, the arm and leg were such in an awful state that we...had to do it." She said, not wanting to remember much of that memory despite being her job as the head doctor. "Now he has to spend the rest of his life without those limbs. Poor soul."

Poor soul indeed as Acheron looked to the unconscious patient. It certainly wouldn't be easy once he'd woke up from his coma and realize what he lost. The grief and depression would surely hit like a truck. But being a woman who was losing her own senses and emotions didn't translated to not feel for others and their sufferings. "Is there anything I could do to help?"

"That's very generous of you, Ms Acheron." Natasha gave a warm smile to her. "But that won't be needed. I have a contact with an acquaintance of mine that owns an workshop in the upper world. She will get to build this man a prosthesis of an arm and leg to replace the ones he lost right before the patient can recover from his unconsciousness."

"Hm, I see." It appeared a solution for the problem had already been found and being worked upon. Acheron assumed that it would be it. Even if it was mechanical, the man would be lucky to have an arm and leg than just not having neither at all. That was, until she remembered something. "Wait! That's it!" With an idea in mind, Acheron smiled and looked to Natasha on her side. "You know what? Today is this patient's lucky day! There won't be any need for protesis."

Natasha looked at the Self-Annihilator with puzzlement. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"I can give you a more efficient and better solution to how we can replace this man's limbs. Or rather, how they won't even need to be replaced." Acheron then turned around, about to point it why. "Because the answer is...eh?" Having expected Morte to be behind her, Acheron was surprised when she found out that the man wasn't in fact standing behind her. "W-Where's he-" A question that didn't took long as Acheron spotted Morte right in the center of the clinic, sat on a chair and...smoking another cig.

Noticing Acheron staring at him from his peripheral view, Morte looked back at her as an absolute silence fell into the room, everyone looking appaled and in disbilief torwards him. "Hm? What is it? Got something in my face?"

Acheron just brought her hands to her own face in shame and embaresment. "You can't be serious..." She could only wonder how Morte was able to have the ability to act like a gentleman and deliquent at the same time.

Natasha, obviously upset, went torwards him. "Mr Morte, I know the sir might like to smoke a lot, but it would be for the best of your own health to abandon such harmful habit." She reprimanded him, taking the cig our of Morte's mouth while doing her best to remain with composure. "Specially when you are in. a. clinic."

Having been rebuked for this action, Morte just stared at Natasha for a couple of seconds, rather unimpressed. "Kay." The man got up from the chair, just accepting it. "I'll go smoke outside then."

"Wait a moment there!" Acheron however prevented him from leaving the clinic just yet. "You are not exiting this building until you restore that man's limbs back."

Morte glared at her with a tedious face. "Good lord...Do I have a face of a charity or of someone that contributes to one?" He said, making clear he had no intentions of healing the patient.

"You could at least try to once in a while. Nobody's forcing you." Acheron replied. She knew that simple begging wouldn't do on someone like him. So she added another approach. "Or don't tell me that performing such thing costs highly from you. And here I thought you were way stronger than that. But clearly that does not seem to be the case." She teased Morte, thinking that if by doing so the man would be a bit presuaded in doing it as a matter of pride.

Yet, it didn't seemed to be that effective on him. "Eh. Not even a 'please'." Morte smirked as he once again turned around and was about to walk away.

But once again, he was stopped. This time by Natasha.

"Please, don't go!" The doctor pleaded grabbing Morte by the arm, gaining his attention. "That man will have to forever live with the fact he won't ever feel his organic arm and leg ever again! If your friend here is ensinuating that there's a chance to avoid such tragedy and sadness through one of your methods, then please do it! Avoid that poor person from getting such terrible sadness!"

Despite that, Morte remained unwilling to do something about it. "Sorry miss. But that guy can only blame himself for those limb losses when he wakes up. It was his choice to end up like that. Not my problem." He said with a cold and uncaring voice, truly showing that he wasn't the kindest or altruistic person in the cosmos.

"If you heal the patient, I'll do anything!" Natasha said in a moment of heat, not wanting the possible cure and solution to the poor miner to just walk away in front of her own eyes.

Morte halted, his face pensative, not even looking behind. "Anything, you say?"

"Yes. As a medic, I will owe you one for saving a patient from a huge lose." Natasha reaffirmed it. "As long as we can prevent as small damage as we can to him, both physically and emotionally, I won't mind doing whatever favour you ask me!"

"..." Slightly turning his head, Morte gave only a brief and silent stared to the doctor before showing her a smirk. "Eh. Then you can tell that guy that today was his lucky day."

"Prick!" Acheron said in her own mind, displeased on how Morte wasn't willing to be kind to help unless receiving something in return. But she should have already counted for it with a type of guy like Morte was. And the Self-Annihilator already imagined what type of 'favour' Morte would request from Natasha, being too predictable.

"T-Thank you, Mr Morte!" Natasha said with relief, her hands both together. "I-"

"Don't go thanking me when nothing has been done yet." Morte told her, beggining to walk torwards the bed at the corner. "I can still change my mind." Standing next to the mattress, he looked to the unconscious, recovering patient. "So, is this the unlucky fella I have to be altruistic with?"

"He lost an arm and leg entirely." Natasha told him, standing right next to Morte while Acheron was a bit more behind. "Think you can heal him from that?"

"Pff. Is that even supposed to be a question?" Morte grinned slightly as he stared to Natasha, taking out one of his hands from his pants pockets. "Just watch this. Witness a miracle."

And so, Morte did his part, positioning his hand right above the man's chest. In an instant, a sick green light beggining to emanate from his palm, shinning the surroundings. First, from the zone of the limbs that had been amputated. the calcium fragments of the bones started to form in small particles, composing themselves into full fledged arm, hand, leg and foot bones. Following it shortly, threads of flesh begun to regrow and sprout from the bones, sewing onto one another nicely, covering the bones into muscles of meat. And finally, the skin that regenerated, small chuncks appearing on the limbs before connecting themselves all together perfeclty, covering the muscles.

The entire process left Natasha and all of the doctors and nurses that where in the clinic and came to see it as well, completly agape. "I...It..."

And it was done. Both arm and leg of the patient had been restored fully, almost as if he had never lost them in the first place.

"And I'm doing all of this without being payed." Morte said, backing his hand away from the man now that the job was over. "I hope you have that in consideration."

"He...He restored that patient's limbs!"

"But how? I never thought it could be possible!"

"Who cares if it is or it is not! The guy got his limbs back!"

"This is historical! Way beyond the scope of the medicine we know!"

The group of doctors and nurses behind Morte and Natasha all murmured in awe and surprise, never having seen something like that before.

"..." Acheron watched the entire procedure silently, already aware of Morte's abilities.

Natasha on the other hand was almost speechless. "This...This is...I can't..." Her state of bewilderment was such that she even brought both hands to her face. "How did you done this?"

"Welp, I did said you were going to witness a miracle, didn't I?" Morte replied to Natasha, smirking at her as he approached his face. "Now, can you please...hum..." Giving it better tought, Morte's face lacked a bit as he decided to ask something else from the doctor. "Can you tell me where I can find a pub in this place, please?"

"Huh?" Acheron reacted a bit with surprise. It seemed the favour Morte requested was different from the one she had thought about.

Being talked to, Natasha snapped from her bewilderment as she heard Morte's request. "O-Oh! Sure thing." She replied, ending up to give directions to Morte of where he could find a pub in Boulder Town.

"Well, thanks. I shall be on my way now." Morte smiled to Natasha as he begun to walk torwards the clinic's exit as everyone stared at him leaving. "See you...hum...Whenever I feel like coming back here!" He said, giving a brief glance to Acheron on the side as he passed by her, likely asking her if she would also leave the building with him without having to say a word.

Natasha however, had a question to make. "Wait! W-Who even are you to perform such things? Are you a doctor by any chance as well?"

"Me?" Morte stopped right at the clinic's doors. "I'm just a simple man who loves to live as free as ever." He turned around, smirking to Natasha and all of the clinic staff. "A man that wherever life is, he will also be there. Have a good day!" And so he left the building.

"Aah..." One of the nurses felt weak after being charmed by Morte's appearence and personality, having to be grabbed by other members of the staff.

Meanwhile, Acheron headed to Natasha. "Are you alright?" She asked, seeing that the doctor was still looking a bit off.

"Y-Yes. I am. Don't worry. It's just..." Putting a hand on a chair nearby, Natasha was still processing the wonder she had witnessed. "To think limbs could be entirely restored out of nowhere like that. It's...amazing."

"Never had seen anything like that before, have you?" Acheron replied. She could understand the amazement from Natasha and the clinic's staff part. While she herself had seen many things beyond believe during her aimless journey across the cosmos, these people from Jarilo-VI certainly hadn't, only recently becoming aware of what laid out there beyond their planet. So while seeing lost limbs being regenerated back completly wasn't a crazy thing for Acheron, it certainly was for them.

"It is. And I don't know exactly what to think of it. It feels so surreal that..." Natasha's mind begun to play some distant memories of her past. "My brother always dreamed of achieving something like this one day. If he could be here to see it..." Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, composing herself. "Sorry. I shouldn't be venting to someone who I just met a few minutes ago. Hope I didn't make you feel disturbed." She apologized to Acheron.

The Self-Annihilator however didn't mind. "No worries. There's no problem to let out what's troubling you out. It can be healthy sometimes." She told to Natasha. "If you're feeling stress from the work, then lay down and sit. For an hour, a day, a week, how much time you feel like necessary to put your mind together."

"Eh, thank you, Ms Acheron." Natasha smiled, having liked Acheron's advice. "However, this clinic as basically become my life. For so many years, I've spent majority of the days here. I work, sleep and eat in this clinic. Because deep down, I can't see myself abandoning my duty to care and heal others." She explained why she couldn't just take a rest. "I feel that if I take a day to relax, a person that I could be saving on that day is dying. So as long as this body can steel function well, I'll always be here to take care of the ill and wounded."

"I see. You sure have a huge dedication to your job. I respect that." Acheron told to Natasha. "But remember this: you're still human with limits. Don't try to break the ones of your body and take a rest when you feel tired. We only live once." She said, not wanting Natasha to overwork until exhaustion, knowing that she wanted to care of others health but also look for her own health as well.

"You are very kind for worrying about me." Natasha gave her a warm smile as she gently picked Acheron's hand. "But I guarantee you, Ms Acheron, that my body is fine. And as long as it continues like that, I'll keep working."

"Well, if you feel that it is to that level of importance, then I hope you continue doing a good job." Acheron said to Natasha, seeing how connected she was with her duty. "And I don't want to disturb you from doing it any longer. Continue with the good work and have a rest of a good day."

"Likewise, Ms Acheron." Natasha told to Acheron as the Emmanator of Nihility had decided that it was time to leave the clinic, not wanting to be wasting more of the doctor's precious time. "However, can I make you a question before leaving?"

"What do you want to ask me?" Acheron accepted, turning to Natasha one more time before leaving.

"Mr Morte. Who exactly is he?" Natasha made her question, having gotten a sense of mystery shroudded around the man. She knew that no ordinary or even great doctor could pull off something Morte had just done.

To that, Acheron responded in the most honest way possible. "I myself want to know the answer to that."

Having left the clinic, Acheron saw, as expected, Morte waiting just right outside the building, smoking another cig.

"Do you have a comically amount of cigs in your pockets or something?" Acheron asked him, wondering how much did he smoked per day.

"Wanna take a look to know?" Morte replied back, exhaling out the nicotine substance. "Anyways, got her number?"

"In your dreams." Acheron stood besides him, paying little importance to that question.

"You know, I do had some charm with a lady doctor once." Morte grabbed the cig and let it fall on the ground, squeezing it in order to put it out. "But that can be a story for another time. First, we shall go to the pub for one of my favourite activities."

"Eh. I wonder what the other ones are." Acheron crossed her arms before giving a general look to the small square of the town. "Better get there quick and smoothly as well. We do not want to be seen by the IPC on out way there."

"Great thinking!" Morte snapped his fingers and pointing to Acheron, not even looking at her as he already imagined the beer waiting for him. "So we better start movi-!"

"Ow!"

However, Morte didn't even gave two steps forward as someone ended up accidentaly bumping into him while on their way to enter the clinic, not noticing the tall man on their way.

That person being a young woman with long purple hair and purple eyes. "Oww. Tsk! Watch where the hell you're going you stupid walking pole!" The girl rubbed her head in pain before looking angrily and throw an insult at Morte.

The man for his own part, stared down at her with a mildly discontented expression. "And you better watch who you're speaking to."

"What?! Do you wanna pick up a fight? Is that what I hear?" The irritated young woman immediatly got up from the ground.

"Uh, quite the spunky one this girl here." Morte cackled, whispering it to Acheron. "Also, since when do you have a daughter?" He said, pointing out the simillar color features Acheron and the girl shared for both their hairs and eyes.

"I don't." Acheron replied almost with boredom, her eyes still on the newcomer.

"Hphm! If you're looking for trouble, I'll make sure you regret it pretty fast!" The young woman quickly summoned a purple-blue scythe, her fervent demeanor only escalating the situation.

Looking at that, Morte grinned almost mockingly as he brought forwards hiw own scythe. "Eh! As you wish." He said, the lower tip of his weapon hitting agressively the ground.

"Oh crap! That's big!" The young woman exclaimed in her own head, comically dumbstrucked by how taller and menacing Morte's scythe appeared to be when in comparison to hers. That led to her to calm her head down and reevaluate her actions. "T-Thinking better, let's not fight. That would be only stupid."

"Agree." Acheron replied, also wanting to avoid any meaningless conflict that would certainly get the IPC troops attention. "Keep your head cool next time, will you?"

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry about that. I precipitated, my bad." The young woman scratched the back of her head with a slight look of guilt, admitting to have been in the wrong. "Anyways, you two. You seem to be tourists, aren't you?"

"And what makes you think that we are?" Acheron asked her, receiving a prideful smirk from the girl.

"Heh. I've spent my entire life down here. I know ever face and every street of Boulder Town like the back of my hand! I'm Seele, by the way!" The young woman presented herself to them. "And you are..."

"Acheron. Nice to meet you, Seele." Acheron told Seele her name, proceeding to point to Morte. "And he's Morte. And we were on our way to a pub."

"Before a wild spunky girl appeared." Morte added, smugging.

Seele didn't seemed to take it lightly. "Ha? Who the hell are you calling 'spunky girl'?" But before she could go at him, Seele took some self-restraint, calming herself down. "Grr...Easy there, Seele. Easy. You don't have to pick up a fight with strangers every now and then."

"And could you not instigate her?" Acheron said to Morte to not provoke her, with him just shrugging his shoulders and arms. "Anyways, you looked to be in a rush to enter the clinic."

"Yeah. I kinda am." Seele confirmed it. "It's that we came here to pick some medicine."

"Hum? 'We'?" Acheron said, addled. That was before the three of them all heard a loud voice coming in the distance.

"Yoooooo Seele! You could've waited for me y'know?" Crossing the entire square, an energetic young man, with short red hair tied into a small pony tail, reached them on the clinic's entrance. "I mean, next time you decide to dash off, warn me first will ya?"

"The faster we do this, the better, Luka!" Seele replied to the guy, saying his name. "If you wanted to go slow and strolling in this situation, you could've stayed at home or in your gym instead!"

"Hey! Easy there, Seele!" The guy, Luka, lifted his arms in self-defense, one of them being a metallic protesis. "Look, I know you're worried about her. We all are! But we also need to keep our minds steady during this!" He then noticed on the duo next to her. "Woah! And who are these two here with you?"

"Some tourists I bumped in literally a minute ago." Seele replied.

Forseeing another introduction, Acheron presented herself to Luka. "Hi. My name is Acheron and-" But she couldn't even finish as Luka quickly got close to her, a big radiant smile on his face.

"Pleasure to meet you ma'am! You do have a face of looking like a strong person! I'm Luka! The strongest brawler that Belobog and Jarilo-VI have ever seen! Just not of the entire cosmos because I'm on my way to there yet, eheh!" He jabbered incessantly, gaining a small look of wierdness by Acheron, surprised with his extroverted personality.

"Don't mind him. As you can see, Luka's all brawl and no brains." Seele told to Acheron as a way to get used to it.

"That's not true! I do know some simple math y'know?" Luka replied back to his friend, defending himself from the accusation.

Seele just scoffed at him. "Yeah right. That's why I never saw you doing a simple math equation ever in my life, right?"

Ignoring that, Luka proceeded to then go greet Morte now, amazed by the man's body. "And holy molly! I didn't expected to ever see a guy as tall as you! I mean, Svarog exists, but still, look at those muscles man! What gym do you go to, dude?"

Morte, hardly even caring to pay attention to Luka, just bothered to look at him some seconds after. "Wouldn't you like to know, boxer boy."

"Oh! I would a whole lot!" Luka said, extending his mechanical arm to Morte. "Here! Let's shake hands! But be careful for me to not crush your fingers haha!"

Giving a brief stare at Luka like if he was just some sort of clown, Morte then grinned, accepting it. "Eh, why not?" And shook hands with Luka.

And it was at there, that Luka realized how strong Morte was exactly, able to tell how rough the man's bare hand was, feeling it through the metal. "E-ehehe, wow dude. Y-You're quite strong, aren't you?"

And the handshake continued. And continued to get rougher. And rougher. And roug-

"That's enough, Morte." Acheron called him out, making Morte immediatly undo the handshake.

"Hey, he asked for it, not me." Morte replied in self-defense. "Plus, I can always give him a new organic one."

"And what the hell did I told you about bothering others, Luka?" Seele reprimanded her friend, thinking how stupid he was for wanting to challenge random people to do strenght contests with him, since it could go wrong one of these days, not being the first time.

Luka, holding onto his mechanical arm a bit painfully, tried to calm Seele with a smile altough forced. "N-No biggie, Seele. I'm fine! This Morte guy is just quite strong!"

Seele ended up sighing. "Sorry if he's annoying you. He can't help buy be a nuisance."

"In that case you fit each other rather well." Morte commented, gaining dumbstruck and perplexed looks from both Seele and Luka.

"W-What do you mean by that you big-grr!" Seele holded up her anger, being the second time Morte got in her nerves.

"Me and Seele!? Nah man! She's more like...an overbearing sister to me-" Luka said just before Seele proceeded to punch him in the shoulder. "Ow!"

"I'm not overbearing, idiot! You're just stupid!" Seele shouted at him, smoke coming out from her head.

"Keh! Quite the comedy they're delivering us." Morte whispered to Acheron next to him.

"I assume it must be routine for them by now." Acheron replied, eyeing Seele calming down.

"Excuse my and his behavious today. We wanna go to the clinic to get something and be over with quickly." Seele explained to the other duo as she brought her hand to the forhead.

Acheron couldn't help but notice by the girl's expressions that something was off. "Is someone you know feeling sick?"

Seele got surprised by that question. "Huh? H-How do you know that?"

"Those facial expressions and voice tones aren't really helping to hide a thing, spunky girl." Morte told to Seele, having noticed it as well.

"Is there a problem happening? Do you two might need help?" Acheron asked to Seele and Luka who both looked at each for a few seconds before deciding in wether they should tell to Acheron and Morte or not.

"Yes, there is something 'bad' happening." Luka speaked. "But it needs to be maintained secret from everyone else in Belobog, or panic and rumours will install amongst the people."

"Maintained secret you say?" Acheron's eyes narrowed a bit, ending up discovering that something terrible could be happening behind the curtains of Belobog.

Seele nodded her head, doing some quick check on their surroundings. "It's thing we better tell more in private and not in the main square of the town where many people could hear us." She proposed the idea. "Let me and Luka first get something from the clinic and then we will share the secret with you in a more private place. Let's say, a pub."

Morte liked the sound of that. "Now you're speaking my language, spunky girl! But you better be quick!" He pulled a threatening face. "Because if I have to wait a minute longer..."

"Ahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

"Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!"

At the pub, it was a mood of party taking over the establishment, everyone in there happily drinking and enjoying themselves. Specially Morte, seated at the bartender's table with a middle-aged man.

"I can't believe you really did that, you senile bastard!"

"I did! And you know what's the funniest? That jerk probably hasn't figured it out to this day!"

Both Morte and the old man laughed and wheezed as they would pour concerning amounts of beer down their throats while the old man told stories about his life to Morte.

"Hahahaha! Oh Oleg, I do have to say! You are one genius son of a bitch!" Morte cackled some more while tapping the old man in the back, he and Oleg clearly being already under the influence of the alcohol.

More in the distance and at a more isolated table of the pub, Acheron was watching Morte having fun and laughing while drinking more non-stop with the old man he was sitting with. "Hm. Perhaps he is a man of simple likings." She noted to herself, deep down wishing to feel the same amount of happiness he was probably feeling now. The Self-Annihilator then proceeded to speak to Seele and Luka who were sitting on the same table as hers. "So, to be clear: You made sure there is no IPC inside here?"

"Every corner of every perimeter!" Luka responded, he and Seele having analyzed the place. "Why are you asking it again?"

"Sorry. It's just that me and the IPC...aren't in good friendly terms currently." Acheron responded, wanting to tell them without outright telling it.

"Eh. Would you know? It seems you share the feeling that we and the entire townsfolk has for the IPC." Seele said with some scorn when pronouncing the faction's name.

"Mm. Then the IPC doesn't have a good fame down here by the looks of it." Acheron said, now aware that pretty much everyone here didn't liked them.

"Oh, they sure have more infamy than fame." Seele was about to explain. "For days now they've 'tried' to clean the contaminated areas from the remaining monsters and fragments of stellaron, and yet they continue to stay here. They even patrol the streets down here as well. Some Wildfire memebers and scavengers have already got trouble with them, And me as well. I know it will sound ironic but, these streets just don't feel save with the IPC around."

"They are everywhere! In the pubs, my boxing ring, the square, even in the hotels! Those lamers excuse is that they're doing it for 'protection' of everyone, guaranteeing that no one is scheming or hiding something from them." Luka added, displeased by how much the entire underworld seemed to be monitored by the IPC.

"Pff! I dunno about you guys, but to me, they look to be the ones stealing here!" Seele said without checking if any IPC soldier had walked into the pub to hear it in order to avoid problem. But the girl was just like that. "I bet they want to steal all of our geomarrow resource from the mines, occupying the contaminated areas near it as excuse to get closer to the materials."

"That definetly sounds like a thing they would do. Selfish goals in mind first above anything else." Acheron replied now with the explanation done. "As the Supreme Guardian got to know of this situation down here?"

"It ain't that simple. She is indeed aware of the people's general unhappiness with the IPC." Seele told to Acheron, continuing the topic. "However, as the leader of Belobog, she and the IPC ended up striking a deal when they first arrived to Jarilo-VI. A deal that IPC offered to give Belobog all the financial and material help it needed due to all the ages it went in isolation from all the cosmos. But in return..."

"The IPC have the legal permission to roam and secure perimeter on the mines territory. Namely, all of it." Luka finished, a look of injustice on his face.

"It wasn't easy for the Supreme Guardian to choose but, it was either that or the entirety of Belobog to drown in a huge generational debt, putting the entire planet into poverty." Seele crossed her arms in frustration. "How laughable. We people of Belobog finally put an end to the infernal blizzard that had been tormenting us for countless ages, and now that we could finally have the liberty to do more than stay at one place, these snakes of the IPC appear to put a price tag on our homeland!" Upset, Seele ended up punching the table. "They're opportunistic vultures! Every last one of them!"

"H-H-Hey, calm down, Seele!" Luka tried to make his friend to cool her head. "You will attract attention like that! What if one of the IPC guys appears here?"

"Your sentiment is no short of being invalid. After all, no planet should be hostage of a corporation that exalts itself for inter galactic peace." Acheron also went to request Seele to stay steady and not get into an uproar. "However, we cannot let the emotions get a hold of ourselves in specific situations. Ranting and being ired about it now won't change a thing."

"...You're right. It won't." Seele said with some sorrow as Acheron told her some sense.

"Now, let's talk about the secret you promised to share with." Acheron wanted to move subjects to the one she was wanting to hear, proceeding to look at some meds on the table near Seele and Luka, having grabbed them from the clinic. "So I presume someone you know must be sick. May I know wh-"

"Passing through! Sorry!" Morte exclaimed as he passed near the table, holding an unconscious Oleg over his shoulder.

Turning her head around to see where he was going, Acheron was caught off guard by what she saw. "What a-"

"What happened to him?!" Seele exclaimed, seeing old man Oleg all passed out.

"Nothing bad. Poor fella just drunk too much and now is dreaming wonderfully." Morte responded quite normaly and calmly in contrast with Acheron's slight incredulity and both Seele and Luka's astonishment. "Now I'll find him a nice place to sleep."

"J-Just make sure to put him in a good place! Preferably not out in the open!" Seele told to Morte.

"And make sure a little girl with blonde hair doesn't sees him in that state!" Luka added, with morte replying with nothing more but an 'okay' hand sign as he exited the pub while carrying the drunk Oleg.

"Oh boy, I hope Hook doesn't see him out there." Luka muttered with some concern.

"When was the last time since old man Oleg drunk that much?" Seele wondered.

Meanwhile, temporarily at a lose for words, Acheron went back to talking. "Don't worry. I'm sure that he will be alright in the end." She said to the two, hoping that would be the case, because with someone like Morte, she feared the worst a bit. But judging by how he and Oleg were all chatting happily and enjoying the drinks, she doubt Morte would do anything bad to the old man. "Hmm, he also didn't seemed very interested in wanting to know what's the secret Seele and Luka have to tell us." Acheron pointed to herself how curious it was that Morte didn't seemed bothered to wanting to know what trouble Seele and Luka were referring to, having only came to the pub to drink and nothing else, not even sitting at the table to hear the information. It was clear he could care less of it.

"So, about the problem happening right now in Belobog that we said no one else could know." Seele put both her thumbs together, about to reveal it with Acheron.

"Yes. Do tell what is it." Acheron replied, making sure that she would listen to it carefully.

"It's about the-"

"Ahaha! Make room everyone! We've arrived!"

"Nobody move now and better be quiet!"

But as Seele was about to reveal it, a bunch of deliquents kicked down the pub's entrance, making a noisy entrance as if they owned the place. And apart from Acheron, Seele and Luka, everyone else cowered and hide in fear at the sight of the gang.

"Who are they?" Acheron asked to Seele and Luka, wondering why the people at the pub were so afraid of them.

"A group of scavengers known to be law breakers." Luka said with distaste in his voice altough speaking lowly while eyeying at the group. "They steal things and disturb the small peace people here in Boulder Town have."

"They're a middle finger to the IPC. But also a middle finger to us!" Seele said angrily, despising the group of deliquents. "Jerks that don't care about other's safety as long as they have fun!"

In that moment, one deliquent swinged his pipe at a cup of glass, breaking it in front of a person that was sitting on the table near the group. "Didn't you heard the boss and vice-boss? Step away unless you want the same happening to you!"

"N-No! S-Sorry! I d-didn't mean it!" The person gagged in fear as exited the table and retreated from the deliquents, the entire body trembling with fear.

"Geh! You're lucky that today we're feeling generous. So I can let that mistake slide today." the leader of the gang said with a presumptuous smug. "However..."

The minion holding the pipe smashed the entire table with it, horrifying and panicking even more the people at the pub, resulting in some more screams.

"I won't allow mistakes to repeat again! Is that clear?" The leader exclaimed, laughing.

Acheron saw that they really weren't that great for a bunch of people. "Does the IPC knows about them yet? Do they really let a band of deliquents to terrorize the underworld like this?"

"Unfortunately." Luka replied. "Unless the group gets in their way, the IPC will turn a blind eye to their antics as long as it doesn't affect them.

"Oi oi! Bartender! Go fetch us the nicest drink of this splunk! I'm thirsty here!" The second in command ordered to the bartender, threatening him.

"O-Oh, t-that's-"

"That's what you shithead?! Impossible? Unlikely?" The vice-leader grabbed him by the collar. "Do we need to remind you who we are?"

"A bunch of losers that are in need of a serious beating!" Seele exclaimed loudly, getting up from the table and catching the gang's attention.

"Ooh! Would you know? Is that chick from the Wildfire everyone! I'm scared!" The leader of the gang said with sarcasm before bursting out laughing alongside his group.

"And the toy arm of her friend is also here too!" The vice-leader said, pointing at Luka.

"This toy arm is enough to send you to the hospital asshole!" Luka replied, also lifting from the table. "You're lucky that the IPC ignores you for the most part and Nat implored us to resolve things with in friendly terms at first!"

"Yeah! You're the ones pushing your lucks here!" Seele added, putting a smirk on her face. "As if a group of wanna-be criminals lead by a guy named Jimmy would ever pose as a real threat! Get real!"

The leader, Jimmy, seemed to not having taken that comment lightly. "Eh? You're making fun of my name? Do you really wanna do this?" He said menacingly, he and his group slowly approaching to their table. "I always knew you were just a stupid girl that talked big, thinking to be hot stuff ever since the first moment I saw you. Perhaps it's time to teach you a lesson!"

"Pff! Look who's talking!" Seele replaid back as she, Luka and Acheron saw the gang drawing out their weapons, beggining to surround them.

"If there's someone here who will be humbled, it's you buddy!" Luka said, ready to wipe the floor with them.

Jimmy still continued with his arrogant smug. "Hahahaha! Please! As if I-huh?"

"If you're smart, please stay back and leave." Acheron told to the leader as she stood right in front of him, talking calmly but also with hints of danger. "This isn't a fight you wanna pick."

Jimmy however looked at her with incredulity. "Eeeh? And who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"Maybe some dumb bitch that's already gotten way too drunk!" The vice-leader responded. "I mean, look at that sword! Is she cosplaying at samurai or something?"

The entire gang laughed at that.

"Kahahahahaha! True, true! Perhaps she really thinks to be one!" Jimmy laughed, not taking Acheron's warning. "Anyway, it will be one more we will send to the clinic!"

"..." Calm and quiet, Acheron just sighed internally for the lack of conscious thinking and awareness these group of deliquents displayed. They were no real threat at all. Just some average people thinking they could own the underworld. But by ignoring her advice, they force Acheron to have no other choice but to fight them. Some of her weakest slashes here and there to knock them out would suffice. That was...

"Hmmm? Ahoy there! Are you doing new friends, Acheroni?"

"Wha-"

"!?"

Seeing a shadow towering over them from behind, both Jimmy and the vice-leader turned around with apprehension to see the tall figure of Morte right behind them, emanating a defening and bone-chilling aura despite the smile on his face.

"T-This guy...where did he came from?"

"Not really. We were having some mere disagreements. That's all." Acheron replied as her hand retreated from grabbing the sword's hilt. With Morte here, she hoped that the deliquents would understand that this situation was in no way favorable to them.

"Ah, I see. Very well then, kiddos!" Morte put both his hands on Jimmy and the vice-leader's shoulders while maintaining a friendly smile. Perhaps the most eerily 'friendly' smile the two deliquents had ever seen. "Keep it down back here while I get one last drink for today. Got it?"

"U-Uh? W-Who the hell are you?!"

"Ugh! Your hand and cloths reek of alcohol!" The vice-leader said, detecting it.

Upset, Jimmy grabbed Morte's cloth. "You dare stenching my clothes and getting close to me with that awful sme-egh?!" But the leader of the gang was cut short as Morte nonchalantly grabbed his head and abruptly pushed him away, sending Jimmy crashing onto a table, not even looking behind while walking torwards the bartender's table.

"BOSS!" The entire gang went to their leader's aid.

Even Seele and Luka were impressed.

"H-He just sent the guy flying..." Seele muttered in awe.

"I-I know the dude was strong!" Luka said with a smile despite also being bewildered.

Acheron for her own just closed her eyes, letting out a repressed breath. She clearly dismissed the damage caused by Morte, but if it could calm down the situation by having put some sense into the deliquents then she wouldn't object it.

"Another drink, please." Morte told to the fazed bartender who got out of it upon hearing Morte's order.

"U-Uhmm-Y-Yes! As the sir wishes!"

However, things didn't seemed to be over.

"C-Cough!"

"I-Is the boss alr-"

"YOU BASTARD!" Screaming in rage, Jimmy, now with his face partially broken, got up and walked torwards Morte, having his pride hugely damaged by what the man had just done to him. "You think you own this place like I do?!"

Barely paying attention while waiting for his drink to arrive, Morte replied. "You're saying you want to divide the business of this establishment with me?"

"Ghg!" Feeling hugely insulted, Jimmy took out a gun from his pocket and pointed at Morte. "Enough of your bullshit, drunktard!"

The sight of the weapon made everyone else go into panic again, with Seele about to step up.

"You dirty-" However, she was stopped by Acheron who put an arm in front of her. "Huh? Acheron?"

"Don't go. Stay where you are." Acheron told to Seele and Luka as well.

"But isn't he your friend? Will you really let him take a bullet?" Luka said, incredulous.

Acheron however kept the two from going in. "No worries. He will be alright." She told to the two. After all, even if she barely knew Morte yet, the Self-Annihilator was aware that a meager bullet would simply be unable to kill him.

"Jeez! All that shouting for what?" Morte cackled with a grin while turning around to look at the pissed off, Jimmy. Presumably, Morte was still probably drunk. "You wanna a drink? I can share with you if that's what you want?"

"You...!" Jimmy cleenched his teeth, baffled at how the man dared to make jokes at gunpoint.

"Do say, you and your group of welll-mannered and civic people." Thinking 'randomly' on his mind, Morte came up with a question to the deliquent group. "Which one of you is closest to their birthday?"

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Birthday?"

The whole group of deliquents were oblivious, not comprehending what Morte meant by doing that question.

"Hmm, then how about this one? Which of you had their birthday more recently?" Morte made them a new question.

Taking serious thinking, Jimmy thought of it. "Uuuuhhh, that would be you, Miller, right?" Jimmy speaked to his vice-leader. "You made birthday two days ago."

"Yes it was!" The vice-leader, Miller, replied. "If that wasn't an heck of a birthday party we had!" The entire group of deliquents agreed.

Morte chuckled. "Hehehe. I'm glad you enjoyed it to the fullest then, Miller." Looking up, Morte gave an eerily grin to the vice-leader. "Because that will be the last birthday you ever had."

"?!" Terryfied by the glance, Miller took a step back in fear.

"Eh? What nonsense are you saying?" Jimmy confronted Morte. "You saying you will kill us all now?"

"No. Not really. But your friend over there, hmmmm, I'd say he dies in ten seconds." Morte told, shocking the entire group of deliquents.

"W-Wha?!"

"Ten seconds?!"

"Tsk! Don't play mind games with us, you fucker!" Jimmy yelled, fear already showing on his face as he leaned the gun on Morte's head. "It will be you who dies here!"

"What are you even planning here, Morte?" Acheron looked with a cynical glare, trying to figure what was Morte's trick here, having payed attention to his words.

Meanwhile, Seele and Luka were urging her to go and help him, not aware of what Morte was capable of.

"Are you really sure he's gonna be alright?" Seele questioned Acheron's decision.

"Yeah! We have to intervene right now!" Luka added, also worried.

Meanwhile, his life 'threatened' Morte just scoffed it off right at Jimmy's face. "Oh please, what a joke! You clearly never got in a real life ending situation, have you? You think guns are cool toys to show around like your deliquent play? If you mean to ki-"

*BANG!*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

All of the people that were in the pub immediatly exited, screaming and fleeing, terryfied by the moment the shot was heard and the blood spilled.

Inside the pub, now only Acheron, Seele, Luka and the deliquents remained.

"I...I cannot believe..." Luka eyed to the situation in front of him in absolute startlement.

Same for Seele. "He...He's really dead..."

Achero narrowed her eyes. "In ten seconds. So that was your play here."

Jimmy, having pulled the trigger and killed Morte, was initially dazzed. "...Eh. Ehehehe." Until he realized that he had shut up a guy criticizing him for good. "HehehAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! See? I told you that nobody messes with me-"

"V-Vice Boss Miller!"

"Crap! This is bad! He is not responding!"

"...Eh?"

"Someone do something! He's bleeding a lot!"

Slowly turning around, the confused Jimmy went to see why was his gang in such turbulence and uproar. And upon seeing it, his pride and bravado diminuished to a state that was non-existent, replaced by the huge terror and shock once he saw Miller, the vice-leader, dead in the floor with a bulle wound on the head.

"B-But...I thought I-" His mind barely even able to process how his friend ended up dying with the gun he had just shot Morte with, Jimmy felt a liquid dropping and hitting the top of his head, running down on his face. Looking up, the terrified gang leader saw Morte fully up and recovered, holding an half empty glass of alcohol on top of him, the wound around his head completly healed, as if he had never took the bullet. Jimmy couldn't help but feel petrified of Morte at that moment. "W-W-W-Who... are y-you...?"

Grinning from ear to ear in a mouth slitting smile, Morte's empty eyes with two green lights looked down on Jimmy. "Who's next?"

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Almost than likely having messed his own pants and with the heart beating faster thn ever, Jimmy and his gang immediatly stormed out of the pub in fear, carrying the dead body of Miller with them, the memory of Morte and the event that happened today most likely to never dissapear from their minds.

"Wow. I guess...that was a lesson for them." Seele said, still trying to understand what had just happened.

"Yeah. After this one, I think they won't be back to business for a long time. If ever." Luka said, pondering the mental scar the deliquents must have received with this experience.

"Well, a job done is a job done." Morte replied, drinking the rest of the empty glass cup. "Happy for doing a service to the community."

"Was having one of them dead and the rest traumatized also in the plan?" Acheron said, wishing that Morte would have handled the situation slightly better.

"Unfortunately, we don't live in a world that is a giant bed of roses, my dear Acheron." Morte gave a smug to her, not feeling bad at all for what he had done.

"If it's done it's done. At least we won't have to deal with them anymore." Seele said, trying to see things on a more positive side, looking around to the damaged pub. "But better hurry and leave the pub now! I'm sure all of this confusion must've alerted the IPC!"

Into an alley, the four of them were able to get out of the building in time before the IPC arrived and investigated the case.

"They are totally focused on the pub. But we better go way more distant from here before they do a search on the surrounding areas." Luka said, taking a peek at the pub at the other side of the street from the alley they had entered.

"Ah." Acheron realized something. "Our faces. They are gonna ask the witnesses who was behind that ruckus."

Morte lighted a cig. "Welp, we can always say that we were just protecting people from a group of bad people." He then smirked. "Or else..."

"We won't be doing that!" Acheron told him.

"But I was honestly considering that." Seele admitted. "If we are caught perhaps we should."

"Thank you." Morte told to Seele for taking his position. Kinda, assuming if Seele was either referring to kill them or just knocking them out.

"Eitherway, like Luka said, we better be moving away from here before they search rhe surrounding area." Acheron told the three, and so they begun to walk down the alley. "By the way, Seele. You were about to tell me something back at the pub, right?"

"The secret?" Seele replied.

"Oh yeah, right? The secret." Acheron's mind remembered. "Anyways, can you tell us what it is. This place also seems appropriate to say it."

"Hmmm, sure I guess." Seele said, stopping from walking so that she could tell it to Acheron. "Lately, these past few weeks, Bronya-I mean, the Supreme Guardian, has gotten sick. Psychologically."

A bit surprise, Acheron's eyes took an interest, sounding as bad as Seele and Luka had told. "Really? How so?"

Altough leaned to a wall and relaxed while smoking his cig, Morte was also listening with attention to what Seele was saying. "..."

Taking some courage to say it, Seele stared with apprehension and sadness to Acheron. "By what Bronya herself told me, she has been tormented by some type of hallucinations almost every night now, having trouble sleeping. She told me... That she hears the voice and sees the visiting figure of her late mother, Cocolia."

Chapter Text

"The figure...of her late mother?" Acheron replied upon having heard the important secret from Seele's very own mouth. "That really does sound concerning."

"Way too concerning." Seele continued. "She barely has any peaceful night that goes without being tormented by it. I originally thought it could be some awful nightmare, deciding to stay by her side during some evenings." The girl crossed her arms, a sorrowful frow and frustrated expression on her face. "And yet, Bronya still wakes up every night in disturbance. It's reaching to the point where she locked herself up in her own bedroom. And no one can go check on her except for me and the captain of the Silvermane Guards."

"And being the ruler figure of our nation, it is only a matter of time until the population starts to suspect the sudden vanishment of the Supreme Guardian from the public lights." Luka added, also aware of Bronya's problem. "If everyone in Belabog discovers that their ruler is sick, it can generate some general concern."

"And Bronya told me that no matter how ill her condition might be, to keep it hidden from Belobog's population until she gets better in order to the citizens to continue living their normal lives." Seele sighed, remembering what Bronya told her privatly while visiting her chamber. "However, some guards and officials have already begun to question why they haven't seen the Supreme Guardian for quite some time now."

"How many of you know about her current condition?" Acheron asked to the other girl, wanting to know if the secret was still being kept well hidden.

"Apart from me and Luka, who's a pain in the ass and insisted for me to tell him..." Seele gave a grumpy look to her friend on the side. "There's also the captain of the Silvermane Guards, his sister and Natasha, the head doctress of the clinic you just visited."

"But you know how rumours are. They can spread like wildfire." Luka said, not sure if their secret could be kept hidden from the public anylonger. "If we don't get Bronya to feel better soon, it will be a question of time until everyone in Belobog gets to know. Giving nasty people like some IPC managers to take chance of the Supreme Guardian's weak state to detriorate the planet to the last drop."

"Well, then start spreading the news!" Morte finally speaked, having been smoking and hearing the conversation until now, moving away his back from the wall. "Gonna get a megaphone. The people deserve the truth!"

Seele's heart skipped a beat immediatly upon hearing that. "N-No! Don't do it!"

"Hey, you're the ones that decided to share a secret with strangers you've just met literally an hour ago! Not us." Morte told to her, thinking it wasn't very wise for both her and Luka to have revelead a crucial information that could potentialy change Belobog's future to two randoms they had just met.

Despite being certain that Morte was just messing with them with a joke, Acheron still couldn't but feel he had made a good point. "Now that I think about it, he's right. Why would you really share such important secret with people you've just met? What gave you that trust on us?" She asked to Seele and Luka.

"Well, you do look like to be good persons. At least you." Seele said to Acheron in particular. "But it's more that we've got a feeling of sorts."

"A feeling?" Acheron raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding.

"It's that you two look like really great fighters!" Luka clarified. "I mean, that sword and scyhte, I can tell that they wouldn't be wield by your average guy. Being foreigners, you must have had quite some wild experiences before, right? You are definelty strong!"

"Eh, would you know? Boxer-boy isn't as dim-witted as we thought." Morte said with snark.

"Then you decided to tell it because of our strenght?" Acheron still couldn't comprehend why that would be motive enough for them to tell the other two.

"Because we have a suspicion. A suspicion that someone must be behind this whole ghost of Cocolia scheme!" Seele responded to that. "Like, people just don't come back from the dead, do they? It has to be some kind of illusion being casted by a person or that type of weirdness."

"And what makes you so sure of that, detective spunky-girl?" Morte asked, still not having called Seele and Luka by their actual names once, using 'spunky-girl' and 'boxer-boy' instead.

"At first, I thought that it could be a mere product from Bronya's mind, but she told me how real it felt. How it wasn't a dream nor nightmare. That Cocolia was standing right there in her bedroom, breathing, speaking, moving, her eyes blinking. As if she had never died in the first place." Seele retold Bronya's daunting experience to Acheron and Morte. "Bronya even tried to make her go away but it was of no use. She told me Cocolia would always overpower her, leaving some bruises as 'recordations' of the nights."

"Sounds like a severe case of schizophrenia to me." Morte wishpered with a smirk to Acheron.

"Treat this seriously." Acheron replied back in a stoic tone, not wanting Morte to joke about something as serious as this.

"If only I could have been there at the beggining to prevent that..." Seele cleenched her teeth, obviously upset with herself. "Even when I spend the night with her, in order to protect Bronya, she still ends up being tormented in her sleep, waking up in startle. I always try doing my best to be there for her, to comfort her. But if even with my presence she still suffers to the point Bronya fears to be going insane...Maybe I'm not doing enough!" She said heartfelt, closing her hand into a fist, deeply wishing that Bronya's condition could get better.

That confession made Acheron feel bad for the girl and the ruler of Belobog. It seemed Bronya was suffering a lot psychologically.

"The blame isn't yours, Seele." Luka tried to console his friend. "You're already doing more than enough by assuring that nothing awful further happens to Bronya as well as trying to find a solution to the problem non-stop. You mustn't have even slept right these past few days with how obsessed you are in resolving this!" He patted Seele in the back. "Whoever is the cretin that is behind this, I sware we will make them pay with a beating party once we catch that culprit!"

Seeing the sheer optimism of Luka, Seele ended up smilling a bit. "Eh, now I know why I keep you around most of the times. Thank you, Luka." She then moved her gaze to both Acheron and Morte. "And that's why we are sharing this secret with you. If we end up finding the culprit, or even Cocolia herself, we are expecting it that will give us an hard fight. Which is why if that happens to be the case, having someone like you to help us out in combat can come in handy. So what do you say to that? Wanna help us out? I know it must be a tad disconcerting to be asking this to tourists who havenothing to do on this planet affairs but...there's much thing in game here."

Not even giving much thought about it, Acheron's mind automatically accepted the plea of help. "If it means to stabilize the things here with Belobog and its people as well as making your friend free from what's torturing her, yes, we can help you." Acheron turned her head and gave a rough look to Morte the moment she mentioned that not only her would be helping, tagging him alongside.

Staring back at her, Morte was aware that the look in Acheron's eyes was one that wouldn't be satisfied with a refusal, wanting him to be into this as well. "And as if the good deed at the clinic wasn't enough. How rude, Acheroni." He sighed. "But sure, let's play saint for a while longer."

"Glad we're on the same page." Acheron turned her head away after getting his answer. "We will give you any help that you need."

"Awsome! That's great!" Luka said, showing his joy.

Seele was also content with the decision. "Thank you! It means a lot having your help!"

"But a type of illusion mimicking a dead person. Could it be..?" Acheron's brain went on to think for a bit, wandering if Cocolia's supernatural appearence could be tied to a certain someone.

"What are you contemplating about, Acheroni?" Morte asked her, able to tell that his travel companion was reflecting on something.

"I might have an idea on who this culprit of yours is." Acheron told to Seele and Luka, having high suspicions on a specific individual.

Both Seele and Luka's faces ligthened up in surprise.

"Really?!"

"Who?"

They asked to Acheron.

"A mischiveous girl named Sparkle." Acheron gave the answer. "She also someone that is passing through this planet as a tourist of sorts."

"Are you honestly sure about that?" Morte questioned Acheron, having some doubt about that claim. "She arrived today just like us. How could she already be playing tricks with the ruler of this place for weeks if that's the case?"

"We can't be sure if this is Sparkle's first time here in Belobog. She could as well be lying about that." Acheron replied back, not underestimating the Masked Fool's psyche. "Plus, the way you described how the deceased mother of the Supreme Guardian was said to act naturally as if she never died, sounds exactly like the illusions she creates of other people."

"Sparkle? You're saying that this girl can conjure clones of other people or something?" Seele asked, being the first time she was ever hearing about this mysterious girl.

"Yes. I do not know exactly how she's able to do it exactly, but I assume that it's through some sort of visual contact with a person." Acheron tried to explain how Sparkle's abilities worked despite having little understanding and knowledge of it. "If there was a previous point in time from when Cocolia was still alive and Sparkle visited the planet, and laid her vision on the previous Supreme Guardian, it's possible Sparkle copied and transfered her appearence and fighting skills, engraving them onto a clone she then creates with her powers. And now, she's much likely using that clone to torment Bronya as means for her own entertainment. "

"I see." Luka replied, having more or less understood it. "That Sparkle and her methods sounds really like that of a despicable person!" He already imagined what type of individual Sparkle was to revel in such one's suffering.

"You might haven't met with her before, but she came to Jarilo-VI today, accompained by a native of Belobog. A man." Acheron brought a hand to her face, her mind now going over some problems. "Eghh...But what was his name exactly?"

"Shampoo?" Morte leaned over, reminding it to her pal.

"Sampo?! He's also into this?!" Luka exclaimed in big shock.

Seele on the other hand punched the wall next to her in fury. "Grrr! The bastard! I know that guy is usually a lame two-bit thief but if he's really behind all this suffering of Bronya as well...I sware that when I find him I'll-"

"It's just speculation as of now! We can't be a hundred percent sure if he's into it or if Sparkle is the real culprit as well." Acheron said in beforehand, calming down Seele's anger. "But if we find him, we'll definetly find Sparkle as well. And if not, we can still ask him where she is."

"Right! Then let's head to Rivet Town!" Seele exclaimed, her mind now focused onto the objective of finding Sampo. "He lately has been going there while on his way to that Giovanni guy arena! We will certainly find him the-ugh!" However, as she begun to walk forward, Seele felt a bit weak, her body stumbling a bit.

"Woah! Hang on there!" Luka quickly grabbed her before Seele could lose her balance. "Since when was the last time you had proper rest?"

"That blood of yours sure does seem to be running low." Morte commented on how tired Seele looked.

"Are you alright? You don't look good!" Acheron approached Seele, a bit concerned for her health. "Have you got any sleep?"

"Of course she hasn't! I told you, Seele!" Luka reprimanded her. "Going all around from point A to point B relentlessly without rest in order to find a cure will only drain you out!"

Seele gave a weak smile to that. "Eh, and I thought you were the reckless here."

"Look, we better try and find Sampo and that Sparkle girl tomorrow." Luka proposed to Acheron and Morte. "We better get all some rest for today."

Seele didn't seemed to like the sound of that. "What? N-No! We have to find him now! What if he-"

"He ain't be going anywhere! I bet that Sampo will still be here on Belobog tomorrow. Be it down here or above there." Luka told to Seele. "Wherever he is, we will still start the search on Rivet Town!"

Seele tried to insist. "But-"

"Don't argue. Take some rest instead." Acheron interrupted her, taking Luka's side. "Your friend is right. The search can be postponed to tomorrow. In the meantime, get some sleep and rest, will you?" She adviced to Seele, not wanting her to push herself too hard.

"It doesn't matter how fast you run to a destination at the beggining if you lose the fuel before the finish line, spunky-girl." Morte speaked, being his own way to tell Seele to take some rest.

Having basically been told to sit down and have some time to rleax her body by all the three, Selee ended up giving in. "Aaah, fine. I won't push myself and will sleep this night then. The search will be made tomorrow. Hope to see you there."

"We will. You can count on that." Acheron reassured to Seele. "But also, do you know any hotel where we can spend the night?"

"Preferably cheap." Morte added, being an important factor to him.

"Well, there's the main one at the town's center." Luka told them, naming a place to the duo. "It's nice and usually not that expensive. A comfortable choice for a stay in my opinion."

"Okay, thanks for the suggestion." Acheron said with a smile. "I reckon it mustn't be that far from here, so we'll already be on our way."

"Be careful tho. There must be more IPC troops around the area." Seele warned them.

"With the whole commotion that happened on that pub? I don't think so." Morte responded, leaning his head backwards to the narrow alley they came from. "They must still be with their brains concentrated on understadning what the hell happened there."

Acheron agreed. "Right. With all their focus on there, the number of IPC units in the square mustn't be that high. We will still be careful however. Take care and see you tomorrow." She said goodbye to both Seela and Luka, thinking it was time for them to part ways for today.

"Same for you both. See ya tomorrow!" Luka replied back with his big smile on the face.

"Yeah. See you all in Rivet Town. Remember to be there!" Seele told the duo. "Anyways, have a goodnight!" And so she and Luka begun to walk away. But not for too long as Acheron had still something to say.

"Hold on!" She said all of a sudden, her arm reaching out forward, getting the other duo's attention. "Seele, right?"

"Humm, yeah?" Seele turned around, giving Acheron a confused look. "That's my name. Why do you ask?"

"I just have a feeling that...haven't we met each other before?" Acheron asked to Seele, being a question that completly got her by surprise.

"W-What?" Seele gave a puzzled look to Acheron, not quite understanding it.

Even Luka was muddled. "You've met before?"

"..." Morte didn't comment, giving such a small smirk with his lips.

"It's that when I look at you, my mind can't help but to remind me of a certain someone." Acheron explained, only now noticing that the physical appearence of Seele caused something on her brain to static hazily. Recordations that felt and didn't felt like hers at the same time. "That face, those eyes, the hair, the name... It's all like I knew you from somewhere else."

"..."

"..."

Seele and Luka didn't said a thing, just briefly staring to each other, speechless to what Acheron was saying.

Morte stepped up. "Sorry, forgive my buddy here." He put a hand on Acheron's shoulder. "Her memory muscle isn't the best, so she has tendency to mistake and forget things naturaly."

"Well, when putting like that...the cosmos is a very big place out there, right?" Seele pondered, wondering if there might be some truth to the Self-Annihilator's words. "So maybe there are other people named Seele across the stars and planets, who knows?"

"Wow! It must be crazy just the thought that there could exist people who have the same appearence and name as me!" Luka said, also visualizing the concept. "But it must very well be real. I mean, they say the universe is endless. So there must be another person names Luka who also looks like me."

"Y-Yes. More or less that." Acheron replied, seeing that the topic could feel a bit weird to the two. "You do look familliar, Seele. And maybe that's just it..." She scratched the back of her head. "Let's put that aside. Have a goodnight and see you tomorrow."

"Sure! Bye and until tomorrow!" Luka waved goodbye.

So did Seele as both her and Luka finally walked away for real this time. "Bye! Take care!"

Acheron waved back at them, seeing the two leaving. "Bye..." She said lowly, sighing as she lowered her hand and turned around to Morte.

Who was unsurprisingly smoking another cig. "Let's go."

Now, walking through the town's streets by taking chance of the IPC being majorily occupied with the accident at the pub that they themselves caused, Acheron and Morte were heading to the hotel at the center of the area.

Altough Acheron had something to say along the way. "Now that we're 'alone' can I make you a question?" She speaked to Morte, walking slightly in front of her, his scythe holstered on his back.

"Depends. Is it about intimate secrets?" Morte talked back, being more focused on just walking.

Acheron ignored that and went straight for what she wanted to ask. "Was it really necessary to kill that guy at the pub?"

"It was the other dude who pulled the trigger, not me." Morte justified lazily. "I just made that poor fella listen the requiem, Acheroni."

"Still, you made something to have that person killed, didn't you?" Acheron eyed at Morte with suspicion, continuing to walk behind him. "I know you had a hand on his death. Or you just decided to say and be miraculously right in fact, that he would die in ten seconds because you were drunk?"

"Aww, let's all feel sad and pity because of the deliquent who died!" Morte fakely sobbed and grieved, his voice full of sarcastic sorrow. "I'm sure he used to pray religiously every morning and help grandmas bake cakes!"

"Ah..." Acheron continued to be astonished at how much nonsense could come out of his mouth. "Honestly, are you actually insane?"

"Normally? No. Clinically?" Morte turned around suddenly, grinning to Acheron as he pointed at her. "Perhaps."

Giving a weirded look at that response, Acheron just let it be, already having accepted that Morte was trully an individual to the unhinge side as they both continued walking. And as they walked, the Self-Annihilator would always stare to the man's back in front of her. How relaxed and at ease he looked, his guard seemingly open and exposed, without a care in the world. Both hands on his pants pockets. He was defenseless, Acheron could tell.

With that thinking, that desire sounding like a broken record inside the Emmanator of Nihility, she was so focused and enticed on actually doing it. It could be a chance right there. Maybe that was the secret, her hand slowly reaching out for her sword's hilt.

"Maybe-"

'2y48DfIbbio0Ehh90?2pObuN8y0yr9Cy!8g8Ebio8'

"!" However, as soon as she had done that, Acheron was met with a bombardement of flashing psychadelic images of piles of skeletones, bones and a horned skull, jolting her entire body into stopping what she was about to do, having scared her out of nowhere. It were visions that left as quick as they came, her vision being back to the Boulder Town street theyr were walking on, Morte continuing to walk in front of her as if nothing had happened.

"W-What the hell was that?!" Acheron panted as some sweat fell from her face, her heart beating fastly, trying to calm it down. For a moment, she thought she was about to die upon seeing those daunting images. A thing that could even shake The Nihility to their very core. Looking again to Morte's back, Acheron now figured why he was looking so laid back and relaxed with his back unguarded. As if something was staring back at Acheron. "There's something...deeply wrong with this person!"

Morte's back was always guarded.

He was much likely immune to surprise or sneaky attacks, his pose being an actual trap to lure the most obtuse or unaware to actually attack him, only to get the answer right back at them. And Acheron could tell that if it was anybody else who did this and not her, the consequences might have been ungly. What she got, was a warning.

Recovering her composure, Acheron stabilized her heartbeat and breathing. She noted to herself to never repeat that when in a similar situation. "Of course it wouldn't be that simple." She said to herself, looking at her own arm and blinking, seeing it go from a normal human arm to one of bone and meat like of a skeleton, terrorizing Acheron for a second time. "What?!"

But she couldn't gaze at it for too long since as soon as she blinked again, the arm went back to normal, to Acheron's total bafflement. "Hm? But I had jus-"

"What's the matter, Acheroni?"

Morte's voice caught her attention, making the Self-Annihilathor look up to the grinning man in front of her who smirked slyly.

"Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" Morte asked to Acheron, his smirk only growing a bit more.

Acheron flinched her eyes and lips before crossing her arms and trying to pass it as not that big of a deal. "N-Nothing. I just got distracted by a cat passing by. That's all."

Morte chuckled a bit, catching the very easy lie. "Sure thing-...huh?"

"Excuse me there, scythe uncle."

Feeling someone pocking right at his ankles, Morte looked down to see a blonde toddler calling for his attention.

Acheron also looked at her. "A child?" She saw how incredibly short the toddler was when compared to Morte's height, being basically a gnome to him.

"What is it that you want, pipsqueak?" Morte asked with a slightly bored face as the young kid continued to poke him for attention.

"Don't call me a pipsqueak you meanie!" The girl immediatly shouted with an angry face. "Show some respect! For you are in the presence of Pitch-Dark Hook the Great!" She exclaimed, trying to sound important and menacing.

"Humm...Pitch-Dark what?" Acheron didn't quite heard it.

"How insolent! Have you never heard of the great leader of The Moles before?" The kid, Hook, said in upset to Acheron. "Well, you should be since we, The Moles, are a group to not be messed with! Down here in the Undeworld, we are well known and feared by our intimidation! So you better apologize already before provoking my wrath!"

"I...see." Acheron replied with an unimpressed look as she stared down at the child.

"If you mean 'being annoying' then yeah, you might be intimidating me right now." Morte said, showing to have little patience with Hook.

" Hey! I'm Pitch-Dark Hook the Great! And I demand some respect!" Hook pouted at the tall man, not liking to be talked down. "Hpmh! You're lucky that my papa requested me to find you and send his gratitude to you!"

"Your papa?" Acheron replied, wondering who Hook was talking about.

"Oh! That old coot Oleg!" Morte snapped his fingers, cackling while rubbing his forhead. "Yeah, yeah, it was nothing special. I did it because he's a cool old man. Nothing more." He said while looking away with a neutral face. "You can tell him that, pipsqueak."

"And it's only because of that gesture that Pitch-Dark Hook the Great will tolerate your disrespect." Hook said, once again trying to sound tough. "So you better have learned it! Because next time, I won't be as tolerant!"

"Oh noooo, my life feels so threatened right now..." Morte said in the most boring and emotionless tone ever, scoffing at Hook's warning. "Anyways, go and do stuff kids your age do. Which is...I dunno, play in the mines?" He took a random guess, not knowing nor caring what the children down here do in order to have fun.

"Bah! You grown-ups are all the same, having no respect! Continue like that and you'll get on The Moles bad side." Hook continued with her though act despite neither Morte nor Acheron buying it. "Hope you consider that! Because one day, you'll regret having challenged the powerful and terrible, Pitch-Dark Hook the Great!" And with that, the child went away running, not giving opportunity to the 'lame' grown-ups to reply to her.

Acheron just watched the toddler go away to only god knows where. She could tell Hook was far from being a well-behaved kid, much more likely to be a troublemaker. "That child seems very carefree. I hope she doesn't end up into trouble."

Meanwhile, Morte just sighed, glad that the annoying brat was gone, grabbing a cig. "Now I see why poor Oleg looks old." He lightened it up and took a smoke out of it. "Here's a lesson, Acheron: never have kids." He told her, turning around only to end up bumping into a shady looking guy of hunched back.

But instead of saying a thing, even an apolegy, the person comtinued to walk, ignoring both Morte and Acheron.

"What's this? Not even a 'sorry'?" Morte said in open arms with some indignation, receiving no reply from the guy who continued to wander until leaving their vision. "Tsk. Talk about the people down here having manners. Is it so hard to have some these days?"

"An apology to you would be the same thing as talking to a deaf person." Acheron replied to him, gaining a brief chuckle from Morte.

"And here I thought everyone deserved a second chance. Buuut it's not like I need one." Morte quickly discarded his cig, adjusting his cloath. "Besides, when did you decided to get funny today, Acheroni."

"When I feel like it." Acheron walked past Morte. "Don't expect that it means I'm on good terms with you. Got it?"

Morte shrugged. "If you say so. Who am I to object, right?"

Giving the same careful and surly glare she'd give him most of the times, Acheron proceeded to walk to the hotel at the town's center, with Morte following behind, both having had enough activity for today.

The hours passed and like most of the times ever since The Nihility, had claimed her, Acheron was unable to fall asleep, having stood majority of the time staring stoically to her room's ceilling.

Like Luka had told them, the hotel was cheap. Cheap enough to get them two separate bedrooms. At least the Self-Annihilathor could rest easy knowing that for today, the IPC wouldn't find them, much likely having begun to do interrogations of other people that where in the area and the pub by now. Perhaps that would eventually make the IPC find her and Morte, but she wouldn't worry about it now, only wanting her mind soft and at ease, being a problem to deal with later.

But being all alone, waiting for the night to pass, was a tad boring for Acheron. Unlike other times, where she could kill time by roaming around, talking to other people at the bonfires, any kind of activity, here she had to stay in her room without anything to do.

"Hmmm..." Acheron had even tried many different positions to see if it would bring sleep to her, tossing and turning on the bed sheets, but alas she was still awake. Truly, when was the last time she had fell into slumber? Not counting that specific occasion in Penacony.

The Emmanator of Nihility grabbed her cellphone, checking for any updates on the messages of her contacts. She had sent a message to the Trailblazer two hours ago, asking if they were up, but so far, no response. Acheron understood that they were probably busy on another planet right now with their crew, living their own adventures, making new friends and enemies while on their Path across the cosmos. Maybe they would finally respond later.

She then checked her messages with the other contact on her phone: Black Swan.

Their last conversation have been over a week ago, were the Memokeeper surprisingly told to Acheron she would soon go on about helping a fellow acquaintance to 'produce a movie', by the name of Mr. Reca or something. Acheron herself didn't understood why would Black Swan be interested in doing such thing, wondering since when she was interested in movies. But then it hit her how much mysterious the Memokeeper was, her interests perhaps being plenty. Black Swan liked being a riddle, her mind unable to be read by others. But so was Acheron's mind. The Memokeeper would generally be teasing and considerate with Acheron on their chats, the Self-Annihilathor always feeling the playfulness and amusement behind Black Swan's messages. Guess it was in her nature to be like that. Someone like Black Swan would surely be helpful against Sparkle since the Memokeeper already had experience with the Masked Fool. But like the Trailblazer, she was probably occupied at the moment.

And then...to be sincere with herself, Acheron didn't had that many contacts on her phone. She remembered of having Boothill's and some others. Acheron could only thank the Aeons above that the contacts were permanently registered on the phone because if it was to type the numbers, she would definetly spent a good hour trying to remember it. But still, more of the same while searching and scrolling on her phone. No recent updates from that page of manicure cosmetics yet.

Looking over to the small sack where she used to keep the peaches on the table just next to her bed, Acheron put her hand inside it, getting the terrible news that there was no peach left.

"Great..." Acheron murmured with slight displeasure as the stomach groaned inside. "Huh?" Acheron reacted to that sound a bit weirdly. Was she feeling...hunger? But how exactly? When was also the last time her stomach ever made a sound like that when not having anything to eat?

However, a thought she quickly pushed aside, judging to be only the dissatisfaction of having nothing to do speaking. As she still laid there on the mattress, Acheron's brain begrudgingly thought of the only opting she could do now, much to her own distaste: Check on how Morte was going on his own bedroom.

Exiting her own hotel room and into the hall, if Acheron's memory wasn't failing her, Morte's room was two doors to her left. She hoped she was recalling it right, sine it would be embaressing to be knocking and waiting in front of someone else's door. "But how exactly am I gonna do that? Every door here looks the same!" She protested, her brain already having trouble by just the sight of the straightest and simplistic hallway imaginable.

Thankfully however, she spotted a door opening, catching her attention. From there, two women exited out of it, their clothes barely hanging on their bodies as they walked away cheerfully, whimsically giggling to each other.

Acheron wondered what happened for those two women to look so happy. She hoped she wasn't about to enter in the wrong room. Once Acheron spied to its inside, she spotted Morte sitting lazily on a chair near the hotel room's window, smoking and in naked torso. Seeing that it was the right room, she entered, ending up to catching sight of another peculiar detail.

The bed of the room looked messy, the blankets and pillows all over the matress as well as looking a bit moisty and- "Yeah. He was definetly busy." Acheron said, now understanding why those two young woman came out of the room with joy.

"Don't worry. I paid them their fair share." Morte speaked, sensing Acheron had entered the room while still looking to the window, his scythe lying to the wall near him.

"I'm very sure that you can't also smoke inside an hotel." Acheron mildly rebuked him, now standing close to his chair, staring to the same window as well.

"Why do you think I'm smoking close to a window then? I open it up an all the smoke goes away. Simple and easy, just like that and nobody has to know." Morte replied to her, taking other go at his cig, having spent well these last hours. "Do you wanna know why that deliquent guy died?" Morte speaked with the cig hanging on his mouth, peacefully staring to the street on the outside through the window.

"Hm?" Was Acheron's reply, just simply lifting up an eyebrow and staring at him, changing her gaze torwards Morte.

"Because he simply didn't valued his own life." Morte told her, putting the cig out once he pressed it against the ashtray on the table to his left.

Acheron could understand where Morte was coming from. "Getting in dangerous situations can really shorten a person's life, can it?"

"Indeed. A fleeting second of the simplest act can make all the difference depending of its weight and consequences." Morte told her, liking that Acheron was getting it. "The Song For the Departed plays sooner as minutes turn into decimals. Such stupid way to end life, wouldn't you agree?"

"And why exactly are you telling me this? Is this a sort of philosophical way of justyfying having killed that man?" Acheron questioned Morte, wondering why he decided to tell her this out of nowhere as if it was a sort of unnanounced lesson.

"Don't people philosophy all the time here?" Morte smirked at her. "I'm just saying. People who die early don't value their lives or have lives not worthy of value." Morte told to her, lying his back on the chair as he let out smoke from his mouth and into the air. "Or you think that a person that puts their heads inside a lion's mouth has value for their own life?"

"Not exactly." Acheron responded briefly.

"You see. That's the problem. People who live dangerously, do it so because they want their lives to be spetacular. Out of the ordinary!" Morte gestured with his arms and hands, proceeding to rest his feet on the window's inner parapet. "But at the same time, it is putting their whole lives at risk, being one accident away from the ending." Morte dingled his lighter beetween fingers. "The value a person has on their life is determined by how long they are able to live."

"That does make some sense. Longetivity is often attributed to those who take good health in consideration for their lives as well as a desire to live longer. Even amongst the macro-species." Acheron replied, gaining some good insight through Morte's talking, looking pensative.

"But what if I then say that the game has been rigged from the start?"

"Hm?" Acheron looked to Morte, an annoying fly beggining to roam around them.

"That no matter how much you take good care of your life, you will still die at a specific location, of a specific date from a specific death?" Morte said, shrugging his shoulders. "Wouldn't that then make all the effort of valuing life pointless?"

"That is The Nihility for you." Acheron replied, crossing her arms while staring through the window. "Sometimes you ask to yourself what is the point of certain aspects and things."

"Eh. Do tell me, Acheroni. If you knew your date of death from the start, would you still try to live a satisfying life?" Morte asked her.

"Maybe, yes." Acheron replied.

"How many lives until you'd felt satisfied?" Morte extended the question.

"I don't know. Why that question?" Acheron asked him while starting to get bothered by the fly that didn't stopped flying arond them.

"No reason at all, really." Morte said, placing his arms behind his back. "It's just sometimes we can't do everything we want and be satisfied in just one lifetime, can we?"

Puzzled if Morte was trying to imply something else, Acheron just pushed that thought aside. "Perhaps." She responded before looking once again to the window and the street beyond it, seeing the inhabitants of Boulder Town strolling in it.

"Look, a perfect exemple of what we were just discussing." Morte leaned over to the window. "Looking at all these individuals passing by, who would you say to be the first one to pass away? Logically, majority would answer to that old lady over there." Morte pointed to a civillian in specific. "She must already be pushing 90 and needs a cane to walk. Certainly, the most obvious choice. Or perhaps that guy at the food stand?" Morte pointed to another civillian. "Now, it would be a weird choice. Unlike the old lady, he looks young, athletic, healthy, at the peak of his age! Unfortunately, his heart has been diagonosed with a terminal disease, perhaps caused due to his excessiveness of physical training. If so, he could die in a matter of days or weeks while looking fine, passing away first than the old lady. All because on the persuit of the 'healthiest' lifestyle, he carelessly didn't gave value to his own life."

"It is a mystery." Acheron responded upon observing. "No one is able to be certain who of the two would die first. Despite of the different ways each took care of their own life and likely have opposed lifestyles, we can't guess when they will die and how much time they have left. The old lady could continue to live for the next ten years while the athletic man dies tomorrow and vice-versa. Whether their decisions influenced or not their life expectancy, it is up to anyone's interpretation on how they tackle the topic."

Morte grinned, clapping. "Well analysed, Acheroni! Such way of thinking!...Unfortunately, you're wrong. Neither the two die first out of this bunch."

"What?" Acheron gave an addled look to Morte as he pointed at the window to her, wanting her attention on this.

Continuing to look to the street, the duo ended up witnessing a shady man steal a woman's briefcase.

"H-Hey! He stole my briefcase! Someone stop him!"

"It's the same man we bumped into on our way to the hotel." Acheron said, recognizing his appearence.

"You know Acheron? Truly, no matter how we live, there can always be a chance of a little accident that can put a finishing point sooner than expected." Morte rested one of his elbow on the table as he eerily gazed at the thief trying to escape. "Also, a person that steals from others? How lowly. It makes you wander the value his life must have to the other people." He smirked malliciously, the fly that had been zig-zaging around them finally landing on the small table near Morte. "Perhaps to them, his life is as valuable as of an insect." Sticking out his thumb, Morte lowered it torwards the fly on the table. "Of a fly."

And what happened next, was pure shock to Acheron and horror to the inhabitants.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaah! H-He's dead!"

The woman that had been stolen yelled in terror as she and the other inhabitants that were nearby all saw the squashed and bloody corpse of the thief on the ground.

"How did the hell that happen?!"

"I don't know! He was fleeing when his body just squeezed out of nowhere!"

"Ah..." Acheron couldn't believe in her eyes. He had died, just like that. In the most unforseen and gruesome way possible, being a cruel surprise to the inhabitants that saw it. In one second he was trying to escape and on the next one, his corpse was there, dead. "He's just gone! In a blink of an eye!"

"Welp! At least it must have been painless." Morte said as he took out his thumb from the squeezed fly he brutally murdered, wipping off the insect subtance on the table. "Look on the positive side. Now these people will not have to worry with one more criminal!" He cackled and grinned, being obvious that he had enjoyed it. "That's a plus in my book!"

Acheron glared to the man with disdain and revulsion, seeing the evil glee on his face. She knew it was Morte who killed him. That the thief and the fly were somehow connected. But how Morte did that exactly, she couldn't quite tell. "You're a psycopath." Acheron told him with aversion, wanting to ask him what was the necessity of killing that man now.

"Oh please." Morte smirked as he got up from his chair and grabbed his cloak, little bothered by what Acheron said. "As if your body count isn't high as well." He then picked up his scythe resting near him and guarded it on his back, approaching Acheron who was still giving him a odium stare. "Spent too much time walking in the sun and you might end up getting burned, Acheron."

Chuckling, Morte approached his face to her ear as he was about to walk past her and tell her: "Or should I rather say...Raiden Bosenmori Mei?"

"!" Acheron's eyes widened, as if she had received a shock to her brain. "My real name? How does he know about that?" Turning around to demand answers, Acheron saw Morte instead already leaving, hands behind his back as he exited the room without telling a thing, a possible grin on his face as he made Acheron stand there almost speechless, a scrabbled thought in her mind about how did he knew her true name.

Was Morte someone she knew but forgot? Someone from her past? Had they met before? Was he a relative of hers? Did somebody else told him or had Morte miraculously guessed it by luck?

Whatever reason it was, Acheron, or rather, Raiden Bosenmori Mei, learned something out of this experience. That Morte was as dangerous if not more than she had originally thought. And that he knew more about her than meets the eye.

Chapter Text

"Hmmngh..."

Standing outside the hotel and just on the entrance of an alley in order to not be spotted by patrolling IPC units, Acheron was rubbing her forhead with some mild discomfort and ache. She wasn't expecting that the very little sleep she had this night would end up affecting her.

"Many nights in blank and only this time I feel tired for lack of sleep." Acheron grunted as she rubbed her own eyes. "How is this possible?"

"Hey, hey, Acheroni!" Morte appeared from behind, walking torwards her. "How was your night?"

"Like any other." Acheron replied in some bad mood, trying to hide the dark circles unde her eyebags from Morte. "What took you so long anyways? I've been waiting almost an hour for you to get out of the hotel." She questioned him, having been out of the hotel way earlier than Morte.

"I was just shaving my face, Acheroni. Can't rush a man's business." Morte answered, gaining a puzzled from the Self-Annihilator.

"You? Face shaving?" Acheron doubted. "Apart from those sideburns, I don't see any facial hair in you." She put the hands on her own hips. "Did you seriously took an hour to just refine the sideburns?"

"That's where you got it wrong! I do have facial hair." Morte smirked, passing a finger on his own face. "It's just that I make sure to shave it to a point its nigh imperceptible, Acheroni."

"Hm? Really?" Acheron raised an eyebrow.

"Truthfully real." Morte replied. "You can go and touch my face to check it yourself."

A bit curious to see if Morte was being honest, Acheron gave in and brought her fingers to the man's face, sliding them in the area where he would supposedly have a beard. And surprisingly enough, Morte was saying the truth. "Oh." Acheron's fingers felt the smooth and yet a bit coarse texture of Morte's face skin, sensing all the individually, nicely cropped facial hair in her touch. Morte seemed to treat seriously his own skin care, which was a funny detail for someone who smoke, drunk and wore clothes like a homeless addict.

"See? I told you so." Morte said as Acheron continued to pass her fingers on his face.

"I see..." The soft and yet prickly texture of his shaved face mesmerized Acheron a bit like a cat who was obsessed with passing its claw on scratchy surfaces. It felt new to her. And so, the Emmanator of Nihility continued, and continued, and continued, and conti-

"Alright. I think that was enough." Morte grabbed Acheron's wrists and took her hands away from his face, getting a bit bothered already from Acheron's almost obsessive finger touching.

Composing herself, Acheron snapped out of it an coughed. "Hmngh! Y-Yeah. Good for you to at least have some hygiene." She then looked forward to the town's main square. "We should be going now. Seele and Luka will be waiting us at...what was the name of that place?"

"Rivet Town?" Morte replied, remembering it to the forgotten Acheron.

"Yes. That place." Acheron speaked, about to step out of the alley once she saw that the cost was clear from any IPC soldiers. Yet, before that, she still had something hovering on her mind that she would like to ask to Morte. The topic that left her inredibly awake during almost the entire night. Morte knowing her true name, Raiden Bosenmori Mei. That whispering moment never having left her mind for a second during the entire night. Not even now. The whole thing with the fly and the dead man that came before it too, it all felt bizarre and tense to Acheron. How could he just outright say her actual name and leave with no explanation? No elaboration. There definetly had to be something more about Morte for he to know her true name. Perhaps a type of connection to her?

Whatever it was, Acheron's mind was too focused on it to let it pass the opportunity to Morte. And if there was a better moment to make that question, it would be now. "However, I want to make you a ques-"

"Yeah yeah. I can carry you to our destination, no problem." Morte interrupted Acheron as he suddenly picked her up.

"?! H-Hey! What are you doing?" Acheron asked in surprise as Morte gave her a piggyback.

"Economizing our sweet time from useless strolling!" Morte replied, putting his hands on Acheron's knees. "Right! Now, the way to Rivet Town should be..."

Acheron tried to object. What do you mean 'economize' our time? Just put me back on the grou-"

"Ha! This way!" Morte proceeded to jump torwards the village's rooftops, much to Acheron's slight annoyance while on his back, heading to Rivet Town faster than expected.

"And right here we are!" Morte landed on the ground after having runned from a location to another, he and Acheron having arrived to their destination in no less than under thirty seconds.

Getting off Morte's back and putting her feet on the ground, Acheron felt a bit dizzy to how fast Morte travel was. "Next time...make sure to warn me at least." She told him, stabilizing her balance.

"Noted on the list." Morte made an 'okay' sign to Acheron with his hand before noticing Seele and Luka more far up-ahead, waiting for the duo. "And look! Spunky-girl and boxer-boy are right there!"

"Let's go reunite with them then." Acheron replied, both she and Morte heading to the other duo who didn't took too long to notice the other two arriving.

"Glad you came!" Seele greeted them with a smile.

"And right on time!" Luka added. "I was already thinking we'd have to do this alone."

"The hotel just couldn't help but have comfy beds." Morte stretched his arms sideways. "Truly five stars!"

"Thank you for the recommendation of that place." Acheron told to both Seele and Luka. "But now, let's begin searching for Sampo. Or did you already found him?"

"Not yet." Seele responded, looking ahead to Rivet Town's entrance. "We've been waiting for you to arrive so that we could start looking for that idiot together."

"Ooh, how generous." Morte said with a fake appreacting tone, putting a hand on his chest. "Anyhow, we better start the hunt for that poor fool."

"You bet it!" Seele said, wanting to go in already. "The quicker we find him, the better!"

"And today must be our lucky day even." Luka told them. "From the gossip me and Seele listened, it appears the IPC today decided to relocate the units that were patrolling this town to the mines. Meaning we're gonna have all of the town to ourselves to explore!...Apart from some of the Stellaron creatures that is."

"That's wonderful news. It can facilitate our search." Acheron replied and seeing that there was nothing more to point or discuss, she proceeded to look to the town's entrance. "Let's go!"

Entering in the almost ghostly area of Boulder Town, where there was no inhabitants aside from the monsters, the group of four begun looking out for Sampo.

"Since you know this Sampo person better than us, where do you think he usualy hangs out?" Acheron asked for possible guesses from Seele and Luka.

"There is an arena not so far from here. It was always abandoned most of the times, being a place that used to be of testing ground to the machines our ancestors here in Belobog used to create and test in order to fight the enemy. But now, with Jarilo-VI's borders open to the outer space, some guy from another planet ended up bying the the area and remodeling it into an arena from what I recall." Seele answered to Acheron, sharing with her a piece of lore from Belobog and the planet tied with the place she mentioned.

"Sampo has been going there frequently. Probably to do his 'business'." Luka continued. "So if anything, he will most definetly be there or on his way there. All we have to do, is walk on the right path to there that we will find him!"

"And what if he knows we're searching for him?" Acheron questioned, finding suspicious how so far, Rivet Town was completly deserted of monsters too as they walked on the streets. It was too good to be true. "What if he's trying to ambush us?"

"C'mon now, Acheron. You seriously think a guy like him would be able to take four of us at the same time?" Morte speaked, softly knocking on top of the Self-Annihilator's head. "Use your head a little!"

"I was just pondering the risks." Acheron said in an emotionless and bothered face.

"Pff! It's Sampo we're dealing with!" Seele responded, not taking Sampo as that serious of a threat. "He might have a silver tongue and be cunning, but one good punch and he's out!"

"The problem is that we most likely won't be dealing only with him but with Sparkle as well." Acheron brought up the one she suspected to be the main culprit of making Bronya suffer with nightmares of her deceased mother. "We have to be on alert for her too."

"Oh right, that girl you mentioned yesterday!" Luka said, scratching the back of his head. "Buuuut, how dangerous is she anyways?"

"Just a clown girl living in her clowny world." Morte responded.

"More unpredictable and dangerous than, Sampo. Trust me." Acheron gave a more serious response. "She won't think twice before causing actual harm to people as pranks."

"Oh, so one of those psycho-type girls." Seele said, grumbling. "Egh! I can already imagine the annoying smile she must have."

"Not only her smile but psyche as well. We have to be extremely careful with her." Acheron advised to Seele and Luka. "If she's really the one behind this, then no doubt she has done it with the fact someone will try to look for her in mind."

"I see. So she's definetly more dangerous." Seele took note of that. "Tsk! I know you two are of help and I don't wanna sound ungrateful but...I wish the Trailblazer was also here to help."

"No offense taken." Morte knocked on his own chest. "Heart as rough as stone here!"

"You know the Trailblazer too?" Acheron asked.

"Personally? Yes, I do. Friends with him/her and even have his/her number on my phone!" Seele smirked to Acheron. "I sure know that if the Trailblazer was here, maybe this whole situation would've been resolved some time ago."

"And he/she would surely resolved it in the most wild possible you'd ever seen!" Luka chuckled and smiled. "That guy/gal is a crazy unpredictable one! Happy to have him/her on my contacts as well!"

Acheron expressed a little smile. "Funny. I too have the Trailblazer's contact."

"So what I'm getting here is that the Trailblazer is a swell person who lets everyone and everybody have his/her phone number?" Morte shook his head in lament. "Ah, I'm feeling so left out now..."

"It's very easy to get the Trailblazer's number once you meet him/her." Seele told him. "Altough, I sometimes think his/her phone is hacked. Like, how can he/she have that many people's numbers?"

"Beats me. Certainly one of the universe's most greatest mysteries." Luka crossed his arms.

"I've messaged the Trailblazer recently but he/she said that the Astral Express crew would be currently occupied as they would go to a new planet called...Amphoreus or something?" Seele poked her forehead. "I guess it was something like that!"

"That at least explains the lack of messages as now I surely know he/she is occupied for good." Acheron now knew what exactly the Trailblazer was up to. "Amphoreus uh? Curious. Never heard about that planet before. Wonder what is like."

And as the four of them walked, it didn't took them very much to-

"I see him!" Luka exclaimed, pointing to someone that was walking more ahead, passing in the middle of two houses. That someone being Sampo. "Alrigt guys, let's do this with-"

"SAMPO!" Seele shouted highly, alerting the petty thief. "YOU ASSHOLE HAVE SOME EXPLANATION TO DO!" Having no calm, she begun to furiously run torwards Sampo.

"Oh crap!" Sampo said in fright as he begun to try and run away from the raging Seele.

"And there goes the element of surprise." Morte shrugged his shoulder and shook his head in 'dissapointment'.

"Still, it ain't like we're going to let him get away!" Acheron put a hand on her sheated sword, wanting the rest of them to keep up with Seele.

"Yeah! Let's catch him!" Luka responded as they all begun to chase Sampo down.

And needless to say, the thief was rather scared as hell, being chased down by a furious Seele being one of the worst things. "Why does this always happens to me only?! And I just wished for a normal day today!" As he was fleeing with all the energy his legs could muster, Sampo ended up accidentaly stumbling and falling. "Woah!?"

"Ups! My bad." Morte snickered as he had made Sampo stumble by simply putting his leg in front of him, having appeared in front of the thief out of nowhere.

And not very much after, Seele quickly approached nearby, with Acheron and Luka coming right after.

"Huh? How is he already here?" Luka questioned in surprise, thinking Morte was running alongside them.

"Think that for later!" Acheron replied, seeing Seele jumping torwards Sampo.

"You son of a bitch!" She cursed, brigning up her scythe and descendings its blade on the ground near Sampo's face.

"Eep!" Sampo gulped, feeling entire chills running down his nerves as he was surrounded by all four of them. "W-W-Wait Seele! I don't know what I did wrong but I can explain!"

"Then start explaining. Or else I'll break your right leg." Morte said as if it was a normal thing to do.

"Eeh!"

"And I'll break the other one!" Seele added, impatient.

"Eeeeh?!"

"No one will be breaking any legs here!" Acheron said, slightly scolding both Morte and Seele. "We just want to ask you one thing: where is Sparkle?"

"Sparkle? Why do you wanna see her?" Sampo was puzzled, not quite understanding it.

"We've heard you've been hanging around with a girl of that name recently." Luka explained. "Being the guy that you are, I bet you've been up to the recent news about Bronya."

"Huh? Bronya? What is there about Bronya?" Sampo said, being actually clueless to what was happening to the Supreme Guardian, resulting in Seele to menacingly put the scythe closer to him.

"I'll give you the news then idiot!" Seele looked down at the scared thief. "You, like everyone else, knows that Bronya has been very absent from the public. What you and the rest may not know, is that she's been having terrible nightmares, 'dreaming' of Cocolia, being tormented and wounded by her."

"W-What?! Bronya's having nightmares with Cocolia?" Sampo reacted in huge surprise, being the first time he was hearing such thing. "That sounds awful and i certainly feel bad for Bronya and all but...what does that exactly have to do with me?!"

"We have a suspect of who could behind Cocolia's impersonation and Bronya's nightmares." Luka revealed to Sampo. "And while the suspect we have isn't you, it is someone related to you."

"Sparkle." Acheron cut to the chase and immediatly said the name of the suspect. "Due to her abilities of copying other people's appearence, we think she might be the one behind that case. So, since you were accompanying her yesterday, we believre you might think where she is."

"So you better give us a straight answer right now if you don't want to piss me off further!" Seele threatened Sampo, making it clear she wanted an answer about Sparkle's whereabouts from his mouth right now.

In response, Sampo gave a nervous smile. "Hum...Well, funny you say that because...I don't know where Sparkle is right now?"

"I warned you!" Seele grabbed Sampo's neck, not being on the mood for his mannerisms.

"B-But I'm telling the truth!" He insisted to Seele. "It has been some few hours since I last saw her! Why people have such hard time believing me? What wrong have I done to them?"

"..."

"..."

A question that was met with both judgemental and deadpan faces from Seele and Luka.

"I was hoping for this to be just a normal day like many other! And now I'm being interrogated and pinned down against my own will!" Sampo complianed, trying to make the group feel pity for him. A very hard thing to do. "Also, why are you two here?" Sampo questioned Acheron and Morte. "I thought you guys were just tourists so why are you with them?"

"We just wanted an excuse to ruin your day." Morte told blandly with a smile, at least being what he wanted to do.

Acheron just gave a slight bothered look to Morte before focusing on Sampo again. "They asked us for help, so we offered them. When was the last time you've saw Sparkle today?"

If it meant they could let him free, Sampo responded. "If I recall correctly, I think she talked about going to-"

"Hush there, Shampoo!" Morte immediatly speaked, gesturing with his fist in the air as he turned his face to look to the other way.

"Huh? Why the sudden hush? What's the deal?" Luka asked Morte, confused.

"He's right." Acheron put a hand in her sword, having sensed the same as Morte as the silence and quietude of the abandoned town dawned on them. "Something's nearby."

Looking to the path from where they came, the group soon saw a wave of stellaron monsters appearing. Not only that, but the monsters also appeared from the path ahead, leaving them with nowhere to run.

"It's a trap!" Seele exclaimed, letting go off Sampo and drawing out her scythe.

"Now I see why things were so quiet!" Luka closed his mechanical hand into a fist. "Guess it's time for a good punching bag session! Let's wipe the floor with these guys!"

"Oh gosh!" Seeing the situation get an unexpected bad turn, Sampo tried to sneek his way out without them noticed, only to be stopped by Seele as he took his very first step.

"You ain't going nowhere!" She said, making sure Sampo would stay in place. "At least make sure to help us!"

"Hmm, how many enemies ahead do you see, Acheroni?" Morte asked to the Self-Annihilator standing next to him, Seele and Luka taking care of one side while he and Acheron would take care of the other on.

"Twenty." Acheron took out her sheathed sword.

"Oh, I'm impressed on that fast answer!" Morte smirked, scratching his chin. "Thought it would take you more time."

"I know how to count." Acheron slightly narrowed her eyes. Her mind could be mostly forgetful and oblivious, but not to that point.

"You sure do. Anyways!" Swinging and twirling his scythe a bit, Morte pointed his weapon at the enemies ahead. "Let us reduce that number to zero!"

And so, the battle broke out, the party fighting off the stellaron monsters in order to clear the way. On Acheron and Morte's end, things were going smoothly, the dup having minimum to no trouble at all fighting the wave, every stroke and hit of their weapons equalling to one or more enemy down. It was absurd how they fought in complete synchrony, Acheron being the quickest of the two while Morte would deal the most harsh damage. All in all, the challenge for the duo felt like nothing more but mere child's play.

But the same could not be said to Seele and Luka that were having some 'help' of Sampo.

"These things really don't seem to give up, do they?" Luka said, trying to back them off.

"We at least got some down! We got to dispatch off the rest quickly!" Seele replied, parrying some attacks with her scythe. "Also, hell Sampo! Can you try and help us here?"

"Hey! I'm doing the best I can!" Sampo replied in a hurry, taking out some bombs and throwing them at the enemies, hoping that it would kill some of them.

Despit their best efforts and experience of being in battles, it was clear that the trio weren't as much of seasoned fighters like Acheron and Morte were, having way more trouble in dealing with the opponents. So much so, that Seele was already getting tired first than the other two.

"Tsk! Damn these monsters! Can't they just die?" Seele clashed with a stellaron monster, surprisingly losing the duel, ending up falling to the ground "Kgh!"

"Seele!" Shouting, Luka came to her aid, punching and knocking out the enemy away. "What's happening with you today? You're usually not sloopy when fighting! Don't tell me you haven't actually slept tonight!"

A bit embaressed, Seele adverted the gaze of her friend. "Well...I might have slept three hours."

"Seele!" Luka shouted in indignation. "What did I told you about getting some rest?!"

"I tried alright!" Seele shouted back, getting up from the ground. "It isn't easy when a person that I care about is being harmed and tormented through her nights!" She justified her lack of sleep and rest with the concerns about Bronya once again. "But I can still hold on my own just fine! Watch it now!" She then sprinted torwards the stellaron hunters, taking two down with the swift movements of her scythe. However, the girl was very reckless for her own good, ending up being surprised and hit by an attack on the back, wounding her on the shoulder, resulting in Seele to fall defenseless on the ground "Ghgh!"

Luka tried and went to help her again, ending up being stopped by some enemies. "Tsk! Out of my way!"

"That girl never had the brightest mind, did she?" Sampo also tried his best in trying to reach Seele, but to no avail so far.

Down, Seele tried to pick up her scythe again, unaware of an enemy appearing behind her, ready to land a fatal blow.

"SEELE, WATCH OUT!" Luka yelled, warning his friend of the enemy behind her.

"!" Yet, the only thing the girl could do was to just turn around and yelp as she wouldn't have enough of reaction time to grab the scythe and block the incoming attack. It was much likely over for her.

Acheron however, was about to step in.

"Be blessed."

"Huh?" However, the Emmanator of Nihility gave up on it when she heard Morte's voice, the large imagery of him appearing behind the injured Seele while doing a heart sign with his fingers. Sharp skeleton hands sprouted from the ground in that moment and surrounded Seele, emanating a pale green light within them.

"Eh? What's this?" The girl asked with an addled reaction as she felt all her pain and fatigue expelled from her body, the wound in her shoulder being miracously healed. "My body...it doesn't feel that tired anymore!"

"Oi, spunky girl." Morte speaked, appearing right in front of Seele, his back turned to her as the enemy in front of them felt confused and weakened, dazzed, before being brought down with a simple slash of Morte's scythe. "If you'll spend the time lamenting and moaning about your girlfriend, then perhaps you should've stayed with her instead of coming." He called Seele out for her haphazard performance so far before looking back to her. "What's gonna be? Be deadweight or give these freaks a lesson?"

"..." Taking insult to Morte's words, Seele decided to make it fuel out of them, immediatly getting up from the ground, her own scythe in hand, wanting to prove Morte wrong. "I'll show you what I can do in no time, jerk!"

Morte smirkes slyly to that. "Keh! Go and show how it's done then!"

And so, Seele went once again dashing torwards the enemies. This time, her body and mind weren't bearing any exhaustion, with Seele now executing her attacks more perfectly and swiftly, slashing down the enemies left and right.

"Wow Seele! You really got all fired up, haven't you?" Luka said with a cheerful smile while Sampo stared impressed by his side.

Acheron also observed Seele dispatching all of the stellaron monsters in quick time. It was as if the girl's overall abilities and performance had been enchanced, having no longer the lack of sleep and rest affecting her. Shortly, Acheron gave a side-glance to Morte, noticing how he was showing a small contented smile at Seele's display. "You did more than heal her, haven't you?" She said to herself, knowing that Morte had a direct hand on how Seele was fighting now.

"Dissapear among the sea of butterflies!

Illusions of the past!"

Slashing down all of the remaining enemies, Seele ended with them in a flash with her scythe, having cleared all of the way. A prideful smirk on her face as she proceeded to stare at Morte. "So? How's this 'deadweight' for you?"

Morte chuckled, clapping. "Not bad, not bad. With that said, I think you're deserving of an eight as the final score."

"Just an eight?!" Seele protested.

"Too generous. I'd give her a seven for that fumble at the beggining." Luka added.

"Maybe a six if we take her rude behaviour into account." Sampo also played in.

Seele poutted in anger, her head fumming. "Grrr, you people-"

"Pay them no mind." Acheron put a hand on the other girl's shoulder, having walked torwards her. "You've done greatly." She told to Seele with a warm smile.

"Eh. Thanks." Seele smiled back to Acheron.

However, things weren't over yet.

"Looks like we got more company!" Luka turned around alomgside everyone else, expecting to fight more stellaron hunters.

"Hm?" Acheron however got a bit surprise when she and everyone else saw that the enemies that appeared in order to fight them now weren't random monsters. "So that's how it's going to be." She got herself prepared for the fight, watching the clones of Black Swan and Adventurine appearing in front of the party, planning to opppse them.

"Huh? Who are these two?" Seele asked, never having seen neither of them before in Belobog here.

"Oh! I've seen those two before!" Sampo said, having previously met with Black Swan and heard about Adventurine while on his short trip to Penacony. "One thing is certain! They most likely aren't here for tourism!"

"Sparkle's machinactions most likely." Acheron tool a step forward. "The two individuals that you're seeing aren't actually here. These are just fake impersonations she created of them."

"Hehehe, I see that my dear Galaxy Ranger is with an intuition as keen as ever." The clone of Black Swan giggled, imitating perfectly the Memokeeper's voice while speaking to Acheron, trying to unsettle her.

"How about we make a gamble out of this fight?" The clone of Adventurine also speaked, showing off some chips on his fingers.

Acheron didn't respond to the comments, remaining as ready as ever to slash her enemies down even if it were copies of peple she was in good terms with.

"I suppose you want the seer purple lady over there." Morte said, also taking a step forward, standing next to Acheron. "If so, then l guess that leaves me with the cocky blond."

"Careful. Despite being copies, they can still be dangerous." Acheron warned Morte, altough deep down she felt he was more than capable to deal with the impersonation of the IPC young man.

"Mentaly noted." Morte responded.

"And what about us?" Seele asked to the two, also wanting to step in and fight.

"Stand on the sidelines and enjoy your breaktime." Morte told her, finding no necessity for her, Luka and Sampo to aid them. "Watch true seasoned fighters now."

Thus, the duo of Acheron and Morte fought against the clones of Black Swan and adventurine respectivelly.

Acheron moved as nimble as ever, easily dodging and cutting through the fake Black Swan's memetic attacks. The Self-Annihilathor knew that the true one was never that much of a fighter but still, this copycat of hers paled in comparison to the true memokeeper's skills. It didn't take long for Acheron to quickly approach her and slice through the card the fake Black Swan had put as defense, easily finishing her off. "This is the best you can imitate of Black Swan's abilities, Sparkle? What a bad joke."

At the same time, Morte was also having the upper hand on his fight against the fake Adventurine. No matter what the gambler tried to do, his attacks couldn't even hit his opponent as Morte would parry them with ease. In a question of seconds, Morte had landed a great blow on the copy's chest. "What an hassle..." Morte said in slight dissapointment, having expected more of a challenge. "Time to end this." Closing his very own eyes, it seemed Morte was waiting for something. For a typr of sound...

*Thump Thump!*

Hearing it from a certain distance, Morte grinned. "There you are." It was all that he needed to put a closure to the battle. With scythe in hand, he unpredictably decided to throw it forward, ending up defeating Adventurine's copy as it slashed through him, going all the qay torwards the wall of some nearby stairs.

"Kgh!"

Behind the stairs, a female grunt was heard as a girl fell from her hidden place, being revealed to the group.

Sampo and Acheron immediatly recognized her.

"That's..!"

"So you were hidding there all this time."

"Uugh! You're no fun in a hide n' seek, are you?" Sparkle whinned as she got up from the ground with a hand on her head, slightly annoyed that Morte managed to discover her so easily. "But congratulations I suppose. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to run away from here before the comequences of my actions catch me, hihi!" Gigglimg cutely and clumsly, the masked fool immediatly tried to flee from them.

"Oh no you won't!" Acting fast, Seele tackled Sparkle with thunderous speed, bringing her to the ground.

"Ow! Get off of me you idiot! Is this your way of approaching people on the street?" Sparke struggled against Seele, trying to get away from her.

"Nice one, Seele! Keep her down!" Luka said as he and the others approached.

In no time, Sparkle was contained, having both her hands and feet tied up, being confronted by the party with a pouty displeased face. "Did you seriously needed to have me tied? It isn't like I alone could win against all of you."

"Security measures and you know it." Acheron told her, keeping an eye close on Sparkle. Even if she was restrained, they had to watch out for her in case she pulled a trick out of nowhere. "If you at least want to go free, ask to some of our questions first."

"Great. A quizz..." Sparkle grumbled, bored.

Wanting the masked fool to take this seriously, Seele stomped her foot near Sparkle's face. "Listen here you irritating asshole! You will answer the questions no matter what! And you better pray that I don't demolish you if I discover what you've done to Bronya in these past few weeks!"

"Eh? Bronya? Who's that?" Sparkle frowned, not feeling intimidated at all. "Sorry. I don't generally care about disposable people at best-?!"

Getting enraged by Sparkle's backhanded comment, Seele acted out of impulse and tightly grabbed Sparkle's neck, chocking her. "You dirty sneaky-"

Thankfully, Luka, and even Sampo, tried to hold her back.

"Pay her no mind, Seele! It's obvious she's only saying that to provoke you!" Luka tried to calm down her friend.

"Yeah! Don't you think killing is at least going too far? We aren't in Vanitas!" Sampo told her.

" 'Vanitas'? What is that?" Luka asked to Sampo.

"The planet rumored where the dead can come back to live. Or something amongst those lines." Sampo explained to Luka as both managed to cool down Seele, backing her away from Sparkle.

"A planet where people come back from the dead?" Acheron thought, fiding such place to be peculiar while watching Luka and Sampo calming Seele. Meanwhile, Morte was just occupied smoking his cig, not paying that much attention to the conversation so far.

Sparkle laughed at Seele's anger. "Hehehehe! What's the problem? Did I touched a nerve of the poor grumpy girl?" Letting out a sigh and a face of 'sorrow' Sparkle begun to lament. "And you still decided to attack poor, innocent me who was all defenseless and restrained? How barbaric!" She said pitifully, squirming in her ropes. "Sparkle is just a whimsy funny girl wanting to spread laughter to everyone and everywhere. Yet you brutes are now treating me like a disgusting monster. I even fear what you might do to me if I don't comply now that I'm soooo defenseless." She said, not exactly trying to garner any sympathy from them, just wanting to annoy the party.

"We're gonna make your body spin a thousand times in the cold snow." Morte said without a care, smoking his cig.

"What kind of stupid torture is that?!" Sparkle exclaimed, incredulous, thinking someone like Morte had far worse in mind.

"You can drop with that act already. Nobody's falling for it." Acheron crossed her arms while looking down at the masked fool. "First, tells us what you were doing today."

"Nothing of suspicious, officer." Sparkle said with mockery. "I just decided to go and try out that stupid Aetherium something Wars." She then gave a look to Sampo. "Which by the way, it sucks! Thanks for wasting my time recommeding me to try it out, Sampo! Now you won't even help your companion to get free? Talk about a dissapointing friend!"

Sampo meekly smiled, scratching the back of his head while staring to the other masked fool. "H-Hey now, I thought you would love doing something funny for once. As in, no harmful fun or anything!"

"Still, it is very clear you tried to ambush us with those stellaron monsters. Why did you do that?" Luka questioned Sparkle about that.

"Oh, that? Well, it was actually a trap I had setted for Sampo." Sparkle admitte, giggling.

"Say what?!" Sampo almost shouted in shock.

"Eeeh, why exactly?" Acheron asked her. "Isn't he your travelling companion?"

"Just did for the funsies, y'know?" Sparkle giggled. "Like a prank! I mean, can you imagine Sampo just walking all hapilly and joylly on the streets and then BAM! Enemies surround to attack him! The scare he would get would be priceless!"

"And you still want me to feel bad for you now?" Sampo said, apalled by how shameless Sparkle could be.

"As long as we can have fun and laughs, there is no bad in it, is there?" Sparkle sticked her tongue out in a silly way and blinked.

"I subscribe that." Morte shortly commented.

"So today you weren't doing anything so far. But what about yesterday? And the day before? And the week before?" Seele pressured Sparkle to answer.

"Excuse me. Those are a lot of questions. I can only take one question per time." Sparkle said with a snobbish face. "By the way, why were you even looking for me in the first place?"

"Because lately, for the past two weeks, the Supreme Guardian of Belobog, Bronya, has been having nightmares with hallucintions and injuries from the figure of her deceased mother and previous Supreme Guardian, Cocolia." Luka explained to the mask fool. "Because of it, she hasn't appear to the public in the meantime yet, being locked in her own room. And we're trying to do the very best we can to find a cure to it."

"And once we heard about you, that you have abilities to make near perfect replicas of other people, we decided to take a shot and presume you could be the possible culprit who was hurting Bronya behind all of this!" Seele concluded, her voice getting agressive at just remembering of the complications Bronya was going through.

"Ah, I see now." Sparkle said, now having the context. "Well, as much as I would've loved coming with such plan like that one..." She smugged with a side-eye, resulting in Seele to slightly raise her scythe. "...'fortunately' I promised to scaredy-cat Sampo here, that I would behave nicely in his home planet and do 'bad' things. As well as that I've arrived to this freezing hell of a planet only yesterday."

"She's speaking the truth I'm afraid." Sampo corroborated Sparkle. "Me and her have only arrived to Jarilo-VI yesterday. So Sparkle couldn't be the one tormenting Bronya for two weeks straight with the appearence of Cocolia. This is also her first time in Belobog!"

With that explanation, Acheron realized the mistake. "So that means we..."

"You've been on a wild goose chase. Bravo and very smart detective skills from you." Sparkle said, rolling her eyes with dullness. "Now that is done, can you idiots free me?"

"Don't judge me. It was her assumption." Morte pointed to Acheron with his thumb, having been the one who suggested that Sparkle could've been the culprit in the first place.

"Well, it made some sense at the first glance, didn't it?" Acheron justified. "But if it ain't Sparkle, who could it be?"

"So we're back to zero? Just like that?" Upset, Seele punched a wall nearby. "Dammit!"

"Of course that it couldn't have been that simple!" Luka also expressed his frustration. "Perhaps we're making this situation more complex than it is."

"Are you implying that all of Cocolia's appearences so far have been a product of Bronya's mind? That she's going insane?" Seele looked at Luka as if he had said something egregious. "That we should just give up?"

Luka tried to defend himself. "I-It ain't like that See-"

"Well, I am!" Morte said all of a sudden, shocking the rest.

"What?" Seele stared to Morte.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, spunky-girl, but me and Acheroni here had only agreed with helping you and boxer-boy for the time being. Meaning that anything past of this point ain't of our business." Morte explained the reason why he was deciding to stop. "We thought we had the culprit. It wasn't her. It was enough of a try. Also, we did this for free and everything!"

"..." Acheron wanted to complain and refute Morte's decision, but she understood from where his points were coming from. Morte was a person that would hardly do anything for others out of good-will, having been insisted upon him by Acheron herself to aid Seele and Luka. But now that they hadn't found the actual culprit, it was obvious Morte wouldn't be compassionate enough to continue helping them.

"So that's it? Are you that heartless when other people are going through a rough time?" Seele said, trying to punch Morte, only for her fists to barely even reach his chin as the man himself simply hold her back by putting a hand on her head while Seele uselessly attempted to hit him.

"Aren't we all?" Morte took another breath from his cig, proceeding to then expell out the smoke from his mouth. "Why would I care about the O So Mighty Supreme Guardian if I never met her in the first place nor she means anything to me? You like abusing of others people's generosity, don't you?" He said, pushing Seele away.

Stumbling a bit, Seele managed to hold her balance. "But I care! What do you know about me and Bronya?"

"That maybe, you aren't being as great of a lover as you think you are." Morte said without any caution, bluntly.

"!" Seele cleenched her teeth in irritation.

"I mean, take a step back and think about it." Morte gestured with his hands. "You yourself stated that your girl is passing through very though times these past few weeks. That she's suffering so but SO much! And yet, instead of comforting her right now, you're here throwing tantrums at the slightest inconvenience." He then begun to act. "She's all like 'Oh, Seele! I'm in such pain! Please, come and hug me! I need you!' and you can't stop but instead go into a paranoia about the corpse of her mother walking around."

"..." As much as Seele wanted to scream and hit him, Morte's words were really making an effect on her to just stay in place. No one else commented or tried to step in to shut Morte as well.

"Maybe, your dear Bronya is really just feeling the symptoms of overwork, stress and exhaustion." Morte walked torwards her, his figure towering Seele. "But have you ever asked her about that? Have you for once took her health in consideration?"

Seele tried to reply, having clearly thought about Bronya's well-being many times before. "I-"

"If you done so then you aren't naking that great of a job." Morte immediatly shut her down, a sense of guilt growing on Seele's chest. "How about you put a stop to this vain hunt for once? Then you can spent more time with your girlfriend in doing actual stuff that will make her feel better. Like: building a snowman, doing snow angels, eating ice cream, ski- Hell, whatever the shit you guys do in this place!"

"..." Lowering her head, the hair covered Seele's eyes, as she felt the harsh words being blown against her. That maybe Morte was indeed right. That she was failing Bronya. "I...I just wanted...I just wanted Bronya's pain to go away..." Bitting her own lower lip, Seele couldn't help herself but to start sobbing, tears running down from her face. "I want her to get better..!"

In no time, Luka tried to console her. "Seele. Seele! Look at me. Don't waste those tears now alright?" He put both his hands on her shoulder, trying to talk with her. "Save them from when Bronya gets cured. I know you care about her more than anything else in the world."

Even Sampo felt distraught watching Seele crying. "That was...a bit harsh."

"I find it funny." Sparkle replied with a smirk on her face, enjoying the verbal humiliation Morte gave to Seele.

Meanwile, Acheron stared to Morte with a glare of dissaproval, with Morte trying to ignore it, making Acheron stare at him more intensily. "Really? Did you had to tell her all that?" She reprimanded him.

"Hey. Sometimes we just gotta hear what we don't want to." Morte replied to Acheron. "And you know that well, don't you, Acheron?"

Acheron let out a frustrated breath, knowing that Morte was most likely right. "Still, you don't need to reprehend her like that."

"The naked truth is always more effective." Morte said coldly, not feeling ashred of empathy from Seele's tears. "Given how her life must have been down here so far, she'll soon realize that, if she already hasn't."

"Whatever then..." Acheron closed her eyes briefly, accepting that there was no way to make Morte think differently about that. With the situation seemingly peaceful and controlled, the Self-Annihilator went back to think about the question she wanted to do to Morte earlier today. With things maybe 'resolved', Acheron's curiosity and hunger to know made her deem this as an appropriate time to make the question. "Listen, Morte. I have a thing to-"

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

From afar, the entire group listened a loud scream. Someone was in danger.

"A scream?" Luka looked around, puzzled, after having conforted Seele.

"it seems to have come more to the north section of the town." Sampo deduced its source.

Immediatly giving up on her tears and sadness, Seele quickly rubbed them away from her face, her mind now focused on the scream. "Someone needs our help! Let's go!"

"Well, Acheroni, don't forget what you were about to tell me, got it?" Morte smiled to her, having presumably been saved by the 'scream'.

Understanding the unexpected situation, Acheron decided that her question would have to wait for later, the entire group now heading to the origin of that scream and help whoever could be in danger...Almost everyone.

"Hey! What about me? Helloooo? I'm still restrained!" Sparkle exclaimed and complained, struggling against the ropes, not believing that they indeed let her behind like that.

That was until Acheron came by and swiftly cut the ropes tying Sparkle, freeing the masked fool. Before Sparkle could even get up or do anything, Acheron grabbed her by the arm and pushed her up. "You're free but you better follow us and help us. Don't do anything tricky or suspicious while at it, got it?" She left the warning clear to Sparkle.

The masked fool giggled in response, shrugging her shoulders. "Oh well, dementia woman. If it means I can laugh more with your bunch then count me in!"

Chapter Text

"Gyaaaaaah!"

In the center of the desert and ghostly place that was Rivet Town, a young girl had found herself in a perilous situation. Her friend robots that were there to protect her during one of her expeditions through the unhabited town. She was aware of the risks when doing this type of activity, as well as it wasn't the first time she would get in danger. However, this time in specific, the young girl seemed to be in more risky danger than ever.

"P-Please...don't..." She pleaded to the figure in front of her, in the verge of crying as tears formed in her eyes. There was nothing she could do and no one to rescue her. Her mind, even if scared, was already admitting this was her end. "M-Mr Svarog...Save me!..."

As the figure proceeded to direct a quick icy attack torwards the girl who closed her eyes, a fast sillhouette stepped in and took the child out of the harm's way.

"...Huh?" Opening her eyes hesitantly, the girl saw she was now being held in the arms of a purple haired woman.

"That was close." Acheron said, landing on the ground as she brought the kid to safety, away from the danger. "Are you okay?"

A bit confused, the young girl couldn't help but to be grateful however, nodding with her head. "Y-Yeah. Thank you."

Appearing right after, the rst of the group had reached to the place of the occurrence, with Seele mustering an indignant expression as well as of surprise once she found out to who that scream they heard belong to.

"Clara! What the hell are you doing here?" She questioned, getting close to the girl and Acheron. "How many times do I have to warn you that it's dangerous venturing alone here?"

"I-I'm sorry Seele!" Clara replied, ashamed of the older girl's reprimand. "I thought that as long as I was with Mr Scott and the others, I'd be safe..."

"That clearly wasn't the case here." Luka said, stepping up and putting himself in front of Clara. "Now, stay behind us as we deal with th-..."

Sampo approached the now speechless Luka. "Hum, why the silence? Did your tongue got s- holy hell!" He exclaimed, staring to the same thing Sampo and the rest of the party was now staring at.

Seele's eyes even broadened in shock, looking at the figure that had attacked Clara. "T-That's...Cocolia!" She said, surprised in seeing the apparently deceased Supreme Guardian back to life. Her face and body being same as ever, as if she had never died.

"For a corpse, she does look well conserved." Sparkle commented, this 'resurrected' Cocolia not being the same as the clones of people she could create.

"Hum. So it seems the rumours were true after all." Morte said, much more calmer than the rest, scratching his chin. "Guess that means we have to-"

He was interrupted however, as Seele showed him the middle finger right at his face, wearing a smuggish smirk on her face. "Told ya! Talk all that shit you said some minutes ago now! I was right and you wrong! So suck it!" The girl felt more than happy for being proven that the 'corpse' of Cocolia walking around wasn't product of her head, rubbing it on Morte for those earlier comments of his.

Morte just huffed, shoving the rebel girl's middle finger away non-chalantly, still glaring at Cocolia. "Kay. Gonna give you a cookie later."

"Stay with your guard up." Despite the deep intrsuviness of wanting to send a snarky comment to Morte, Acheron stood professional and told to the group to be cautious with Cocolia, hand close to her sword. "If she was a Supreme Guardian, then I can only assume she must be no joke!"

"I can testify for that." Seele responded, spinning her scythe a bit, preparing for the fight.

"Huh? What do you mean by that? Did you fought against Cocolia before or somethin'?" Luka asked behind her, making Seele abrouptly close her own mouth as her eyes filled with nervousism.

"What 'what'? D-Did I say something? I think you're just hearing things, Luka!" Seele stuttered clumsly, not wanting Luka to know the secret that surrounded Cocolia's actual death by hers, Bronya and the Trailblazer's hands.

Meanwhile, 'Cocolia', begun to stare to the enemies in front of her one by one as they were still talking with each other, receiving a provokation from Sparkle who was staring back at her, sticking her tongue out. Examining carefully each of them, she decided which she would strike first, charging torwards the most vulnrable member of the party: Clara.

"Ah!" Getting scared by the sudden approaching, the girl instictively put her arms in front of her face, right on time for Acheron to once again step in, her sword clashing against Cocolia's spear, the Emmanator of Nihility having saved the girl once again.

"Really? Trying to go for the most defenseless a second time? Talk about cowardice." Acheron said with slight disgust on how Cocolia would try to target the one out of the group that clearly had a lack of battle experience.

"Not even I could get that scummy!" Sampo said, throwing some bombs at Cocolia, forcing her to step back from Acheron as they exploded.

"Someone has to look out for her!" Acheron signaled to Clara.

"Sorry! No qualifications for such duty!" Morte replied to her, slashing through one of Cocolia's ice attacks with a simeple yet fast swing of his scythe.

"I can!" Sparkle said all happily, putting her hands on Clara's shoulders as she appeared behind the girl.

"Out of question!" Acheron said immediatly, shutting down that possibility. She just couldn't trust Sparkle for something like that.

"Party pooper..." Sparkle pouted in annoyance.

"Sampo! You take care of her!" Seele gave the task of looking after Clara to the thief, surprising him.

"Wha? Me? Okay then!" Sampo begun counting on his fingers. "That however will be for the priece of-"

"JUST PROTECT CLARA ALREADY!" Seele shouted at him with anger.

"Yes ma'am!" Sampo said immediatly, being put in line by Seele. "N-Now Clara, dear. Stay behind Uncle Sampo, will ya?"

"Well, I guess there's no better choice." Clara sighed, doing as she was told, not really liking Sampo as a person but also aware that he wasn't much of a 'bad guy' by any means.

Meanwhile, Luka went for everything with a punch of his metallic arm against Cocolia, who easily tanked it with her duo of spears, standing with her tall and royal posture. "Great! Now we can totally focus on her!" He said, bumping his fists onto one another.

"Careful! This will not be easy as it seems!" Acheron reminded to the party.

"If we lose a battle of five against one, I think we will all have to retire." Morte commented, resting his scythe above the shoulder.

"I already got clown make-up in case that happens!" Sparkle giggled.

"You better help." Acheron said to Sparkle, a bit coldly.

"Jeez. How many times do you want to hear the confirmation?" Sparkle eyed her with bothersome.

"If we defeat Cocolia here...Then possibly, Bronya's suffering..." Seele, standing prepared to fight, collected her thoughts, thinking how much killing this apparent revived Cocolia would free her love from the torment she had been going through for the past few weeks. And once with that in consideration, it gave Seele more than enough fuel to combat. "Bronya won't ever have to see your filthy face again!"

And so the battle begun. Despite being on numerical disadvantage, Cocolia seemed to handle them off just well, always being precise and cautious when her enemies would attack, to then counter them ferociously with her spears, showing great coordination and battle prowess. And altough they were five against one, only Acheron, Seele and Luka seemed to try in fighting against the resurrected Supreme Guardian, with Morte and Sparkle looking more slacked, not putting as much intensity as the other three.

And from the trio, only Acheron was able to keep up track of the speed of Cocolia's attacks, parrying and blocking them with maestry. "Hey you two! Bother to help as well?" Acheron called Morte and Sparkle out, noticing that they weren't doing as much as she wanted them to.

"And where did you got the idea that I'm a natural born brawler?" Sparkle replied, just dodging the attacks in this fight so far. "I'm more of a supportive role." She winked her eye, casting a buff on the other members of the party.

"And what's your excuse?" Acheron questioned to Morte, landing right next to him after having clashed with Cocolia.

"Meh. Just not feeling like it today." Morte replied with boredom, scratching his ear.

"You what?" Acheron was almost in disbilief. How did anybody could find that a believable excuse?

"It's just how it is. I don't want this fight to end prematurely if I give my all into it." Morte elaborated, not really helping himself with that explanation, but not like he cared that much.

Acheron groaned. "This guy...This fight is of a survival or death situation!"

"And there will probably be deaths if you don't stop lacking." Morte replied, sounding pretty normal about it.

Acheron felt a bit pricked and confused by that. " 'Lacking'? How exactly am I lacking?"

"Not helping poor spunky-girl and boxer-boy against ice queen over there for start?" Morte pointed to the battle still happening behind Acheron, showing her Seele and Luka's difficulty to beat Cocolia.

"Aah!" Luka let out a yelp as he was harmed by the ex-Supreme Guardian's spear that striked him in the chest , plunging him some meters away from the battle.

"Luka!" Wanting to go and help her friend but aware of the situation, Seele hesitated to rush torwards him, being enough of a open window for Cocolia to try and attack her from behind, planning to pierce the girl on the back.

"Lookout Seele!" Clara exclaimed next to Sampo, seeing the extreme speed at which Cocolia approached Seele.

As Seele's reaction would be too late to either dodge or block Cocolia's attack, she was lucky as Acheron stepped in the right moment to deflect Cocolia's spear.

"Stay back! I'll handle her!" Acheron exclaimed, seeing that both Seele and Luka were having many difficulties to fight against the revived Supreme Guardian on their own.

"Sure thing!" Seele said with no objection, clearly seeing that only Acheron was capable to fight directly against Cocolia. "But this doesn't make sense! I don't remember Cocolia being these levels of strong and agile despite being a good fighter the last time we fought her. Why she seems more powerful now?"

Now, the fight had become one versus one, Acheron fending off against Cocolia while Seele would check up on Luka. And even if it was being a balanced duel, the Self-Annihilator could feel the pushover that was Cocolia.

"Her attacks are really precise! She makes sure to barely leave any margin of defense as well!" Acheron analyzed her enemie's combat detail with her sharp and accute eyes. While her mind was usually a space with some memory holes in it, during battle it was a different deal, being more alert, observing and engrossed. Yet, that didn't meant Acheron would breeze this fight through with ease.

Being a close combat, while Cocolia wasn't landing any hits on Acheron during her incessant assault so far, she was successfuly doing another thing that her enemy hadn't noticed yet: slowly freezing Acheron's hands. With each clash, each hit and impact of the weapons made, some of the negatice temperature of the icy spears of Cocolia would slightly affect Acheron's skin and fingers, becoming more pale and cold. Due to the possibility that the Self-Annihilator could not feel barely a thing, it was probable that Acheron hadn't even sensed the freezing sensation on her fingers yet, only that being the case once her movements would start to slow down inecplicably to her. But by then, Cocolia would have already struck.

"Hmmm..." Just contenting on standing on the sidelines, Morte eyed to Acheron's battle with rather some silenced displeasure, not being happy at all with what he was seeing of Acheron's display so far, even rubbing his own chin.

"Afraid to lose a bet or something?" Sparkle joked smuggly to his side, noticing the man's dissatisfaction with the battle.

"Something among those lines, yes." Morte said as he continued to stare to Acheron's fight. How her combat style was making him more and more disgruntled. That he thought the Emmanator of Nihility was complicating this fight more than the necessary. To be mostly in defense. Blocking attacks. Trying to find a gap and attack from there. Letting Cocolia take over the upper hand. So much leniency and mildness from her part. The lack of impetuosity! Of fighting like a demon on the battlefield! The Acheron that fought against him was barely the Acheron he was watching fighting now, with the exception of the reflexes. She was holding back against her own good, and Morte catched up to that detail fast.

"Ngh!" Having been all this minutes on a hard stand still, it didn't took long for Acheron's slight pasiveness with Cocolia, in hopes of finding a opening, ending up proving mistakeful to her, one of the Supreme Guardian spears managing to barely scratch Acheron's face, getting some of her hair. "Not good! I have to grow up the intensity more or else she gets me!" About to change her sword posture, it finally dawned on her how her finger muscles seemed to move a second slower than before. "Huh?"

Having caught her in surprise by that small factor, Cocolia would take chance of Acheron's barely split second of distraction to strike her down, the Self-Annihilator having let herself exposed.

"!" Acheron reacted quickly, already putting her blade in front of her face, ready to parry another attack.

"Playtime's over."

However, that didn't even happened as Morte appeared between the two all of a sudden, his scythe being the one to clash against Cocolia's spear, stopping the attack. "I've seen enough already."

Acheron reacted with some legitimate surprise, gasping lowly as she saw Morte to have come to her aid.

Being into a tight and closed clash were neither the two parts seemed to give any edge, Cocolia looked straight to Morte's eyes, that appeared almost telling of something. A thing that made her change her mind.

"!" And unexpectedly, against any speculation, Cocolia gave up of the confrontation, stepping away from her clash with Morte without saying a word.

"Eh? Why did she stopped all of a sudden?" Sampo commented, muddled. Cocolia wasn't fighting bad at all, even being the one arguably on the front of this battle. So why would she decide to halt?

"..." Mysteriously, leaving the same way she had appeared, Cocolia didn't muttered a single word. Instead, she walked back, stepping into the shadows behind her, about to dissapear from everyone's view as she gave them one last look of malice, giving the impression this wouldn't be the last time they would have to deal with her.

"Wait! Don't think you can go away like that you-..." Trying to catch up to Cocolia before she could dissapear, Seele inevitably saw the culprit of Bronya's pain fade into the darkness right in front of her before even reaching Cocolia. "...Tsk! That damn, bastard witch of a...!"

"Aaaand she's gone." Morte stashed back his scythe, simply cleaning off the dust off from his cloak. "I guess that was-"

"That was all for today folks!" Sparkle interrupted him, stealing Morte's line.

"But we should have stopped her here!" Luka said, frustrated. "Now who knows when will we get whereabouts of Cocolia?"

"And we will. Don't worry." Acheron told to him, guarding her sword. "At least now we know that a revived Cocolia walking around truly exists."

"Yes. We found the source of the problem that has been harming Bronya." Seele commented, altough not satisfied by any means as well. "Still, I fear what Cocolia might do to her now that we've discovered she's actually back and alive. I must protect Bronya at all costs this night!"

"Ugh, 'Bronya' this, 'Bronya' that. All I hear is Bronya, Bronya, Bronya." Sparkle gruntled in bothersome, being sick of hearing Seele talking about her lover. "Is her brain capable of thinking on something else?"

"Love. It's terminal, I fear." Morte whispered to the Masked Fool next to her.

"And you better be more careful in wandering through these areas, young miss." Sampo crouched down to speak to Clara. "There's always danger around the corner, and that's coming from a guy with street smarts like me."

"I know! I am more than capable of taking care of myself!" Clara protested a bit, before calming down. "It's just...I was trying to look for..."

"Look for what?" Seele raised an eyebrow to Clara, the girl reluctant to speak the rest. "Spit out or I'll tell to Natasha and Svarog the trouble you got yourself into today."

"Uh, will that really convince her to speak it?" Luka asked, thinking that there was no need for Seele to threaten Clara like that.

Thankfully, Clara begun speaking again. "To look out for her, Cocolia. I...I was searching for her." She revealed.

"Searching? You knew that she was alive and roaming around?" Acheron questioned Clara, being cordeal with her.

"Not really. Until now, I didn't knew she had actually returned from the dead. Only of the rumours about Bronya having terrible nightmares of her." Clara explained, shyly.

"You've been eavesdropping our conversations lately?" Seele narrowed her eyes, a bit angry at hearing that. "You know how dangerous it is if that information gets spread out? You didn't told it to Hook and the other kids, have you?"

"N-No, I didn't! I just wanted to help!" Clara replied, defending herself.

"In what way were you trying to help? Can you please elaborate for us?" Acheron asked to Clara, keeping her gentle voice tone to the girl who nodded, complying.

"Hearing all those private conversations about the Supreme Guardian and the state of her health...it made me feel sad and worried about Lady Bronya. That like you, I wanted to do something that could help her get better." Clara confessed. "And lately, the people at the Robot Settltement have been chating that they've been heard some noises or even ghost apparitions in Rivet Town. So I..."

"You decided to investigate the rumours all by yourself." Luka figured out, putting boths his hands on the hips. "That was pretty reckless from you, Clara."

"Yep! You could have gotten yourself killed!" Sampo added. Despite being a two bit thief, it didn't meant he was heartless by any means.

"I know but I really wanted to check what it was." Clara put a hand on her own chest. "A part of me believed that maybe, all of that could be connected to Lady Bronya's pain. That if I discovered what it was, she could get better!" She raised her voice, closing her hands into fists. "I know that I was possibly heading into danger. That I'm still just a child! That I can't fight or protect myself the way you all do! But...it sometimes makes me feel useless." She lowered her tone, a slight pain on her chest before Clara decided to push the sorrow away, not wanting the others to perceive her as even weaker. "However, I want to prove that I'm not! That I can get strong to protect everyone that I care too! I also can help, can I?"

Acheron was vaguely impressed with Clara's words. "This girl...Young but I can already sense a fierce determination within her soul."

Having been silent for a bit after hearing to the girl's statement, Seele let out a small smirk. "Hm. I always end up forgetting about that attitude of yours. Wonder from who the hell you picked it from."

"Kinda reminds me of this kid from the place I used to live in." Morte commented, smilling with some 'fondness', looking down at Clara.

"!" A small peek of curiosity hit Acheron's mind, putting her ears to listen with attention. This could be a great chance of hearing about Morte's past and background after all.

"He was also sorta your 'age' and height. A scaredy good-for-nothing weakling, living amongst many such great and powerful figures." Morte begun to tell, putting an eccentric tone in some of the words while moving and gesturing with his hands and arms. "Everybody laughed and mocked at the poor young boy. The talk of the town for not so good reasons. Many chit-chats on how he was a failure. A 'dissapointment'. Straight up waste. And the hapless and frail child just hadn't the self-esteem to believe in himself, crying almost everyday and night at his own patheticness and weakness in order to sleep." Morte finished with a more serious and reflective voice, looking to the artificial sky above of the Underworld while putting his hands on the back, contemplating the view a bit. "Do you know what happened next?" He then asked, pointing at Clara all suddenly.

"U-uhhh...No?" Being caught a bit off guard, she responded, shaking her head.

"He picked himself up." Morte replied. "He gave an end to the tears and wheeping, tired of all the negative gossip and of his weakness. For he was tired of being weak. For a long time, he had desired in becoming strong too. Until that desire became a need. And so, the boy trained and trained mercilessly and went on many epic and perilous journeys as means to develop and grow himself as a more capable person. Once he came back, he was no longer a feeble boy, but a brave and mighty warrior. And now, he is king, god, emperor, ruler of the land I come from." He concluded the tale, his arms open.

"Wow. That was...quite inspirational." Luka commented, comically on the verge of tears. "From the bottom of the ladder to the top! That's what an idol should be like!"

"You think it was that good?" Seele gave a deadpan stared to Luka.

Acheron was silently analyzing the telling Morte had just did. "So is Morte from the planet of that story? I can't gather a single detail or aspect about his home's culture besides that apparently, the boy of the story became the king from there. But does he really exists?" Despite not getting any useful clue about Morte's background and home planet, she had to admit that the tale the man told briefly seemed endearing.

Clara also seemed captivated upon hearing all of that. "Then, are you saying that just like that boy, I can become strong enough to be a brave warrior too, capable of defending everyone?"

"No." Morte told, briefly and coldly, having no hesitation whatsoever in being blunt. "It is just a delusional story for poor children like you to deny reality in the meantime."

"Oh..." Clara's morale fell down, lowering her head. "...I see."

"Were you born to be an asshole?" Seele gave Morte a disgruntles stare.

"Hmm, tough question that one." Morte murmured, rubbing his own chin while looking away.

"Pff!" Sparkle tried to hold down a laughter, absolutely loving this.

Meanwhile, Acheron ended up rolling her eyes. It seemed that she could as well just forget about the story that Morte told altogether, going back to zero of not knowing anything about his background.

"Hey. Don't listent too much to a word of what this guy here says." Luka told to Clara. "If you wanna my opinion, I'd say you could join and help us if that's what you want."

Clara's eyes expanded a bit, surprised. "Hm? Really? You mean it?"

"As long as you don't talk about what you saw in here to other people, I guess it is fine by me." Seele expressed her opinion, accepting Clara offer of aid. "So welcome to the club kiddo!"

Clara was taken aback by it. "I...T-Thanks! I'm sure I'll do my very best in not let you down!"

"We're counting on it." Acheron smiled to Clara. She was a good kid, and the Emmanator of Nihility was sure that she could be of good help. "But before we go looking for Cocolia or wait until the next time we confront her, we should set up a strategy to defeat her."

"What? Do I heard that right? The woman with memory lapses and that slices everything on her path down is proposing a plan to defeat an enemy?" Sparkle acted as if she was utterly in shock. "Talk about a twist!"

"I have to agree with the clown girl on this one, Acheroni." Morte speaked next to his travelling companion. "Of all the people here, I'd say you would be the less suitable to set up a plan."

"Well, I'm just proposing it as an idea." Acheron replied. "While it is true that we could all just try and attack Cocolia at the same time as a way to defeat her, she proved herself to be way stronger than what we could've originally thought. Thus, we should have a plan in mind next time we end up fighting her." But Acheron had also another motive: she didn't want to unleash her Emmanator powers in Belobog. One, because she believed it wouldn't be necessary against Cocolia yet, relying on the others to also defeat her, and two, she wished to not bring ruin and destruction on Belobog, wanting to spare its people and buildings from the severe damage a single swing from her unsheathed sword could cause, giving a brief glance to it. She'd always opt for that first. As long as the enemy wasn't of extreme threat and difficulty as well as the hypithesis of having innocent people on the surroundings, Acheron would refrain from unleashing the power of IX.

"..." A detail that Morte seemed to have thought, noticing the shift on Acheron's glance.

"I'm in for that. After all, our performance here could've frankly be a lot better." Luka admitted. "Maybe I have to train harder!"

"We better find a place to come up with our strategy then." Seele told to the rest. "One that doesn't have the possibility of monsters coming to jump us."

"Oh! I know! We could use my residence as a safe space." Clara suggested. "If anything, we could also seek advice from Mr Svarog. He's very good in analyzing and crafting up plans. I'm sure he'd be of great help!"

"Then it's decided. We will head there to further discuss a strategy in order to defeat Cocolia." Acheron stated, perceiving that to be the general consensus of the group. "And everyone better help. Including you two." She gave a side eye to both Sparkle and Sampo, the latter trying to sneak his way out.

"Just what I needed. More time in a dull side-character role." Sparkle said in displeasure, toying with her own hair. "Things better get interesting."

"Aaaand do I really need to be in this as well?" Sampo turned around, smiling nervously. "I mean, I was dragged into this. You didn't even asked for my opinion or-"

"Either accept it or I'll tell the Silvermane Guards your current location." Seele shut Sampo up, aware of his wanted criminal status.

"Since when did you become a snitch?!" Sampo shouted in indignation, but ended up accepting overall. "Aaah, fine. Whatever keeps me further from jail."

Acheron then shifted her stare to Morte next to her, her eyes being very telling.

Morte in return cackled, lifting up his own hands in self-defense. "What? You didn't hear me opposing it, did you? Let's calm down a bit there, Acheroni."

"Alright! It's settled!" Luka bumped his fists together, seeming all fired up. "But first, I have an important announcement to make!"

"Please, don't be something dumb." Seele hoped, already having years and years of knowing Luka.

"I...gotta eat." Luka said, giving a bit of an embaressed dumb chuckle, rubbing the back of his head. "As in, have lunch and that sort of stuff." He put his hand up. "Anybody else feeling the same?"

"..." Looking at her friend with a tired face amidst the shameful silence, Seele ended up sighing, putting her hand up as well. "Same."

"Humm...I probably should also launch too." Clara speaked out.

Sparkle put her hand in the air. "Make that four!"

"Five." Sampo said it as well.

Feeling a little nudge from Morte on the side, Acheron stared to him, seeing the man move up and down his eyebrows with a cheeky smirk. Acheron inhaled deeply, already guessing what Morte wanted to mean by that. "Six and seven."

"Wow! We are all feeling hungry, don't we?" Luka said, a bit surprised. "Well, if so, then let's do a break for lunch! After that, let's all reunite again on the yard of Clara's house! Got it?"

Sparkle made a salute, mockingly. "Aye aye captain!"

"You better keep an eye on her." Acheron approached Sampo, giving him a task. "Make sure that she's there at the place when it's time to reunite."

"Hum..." Not really feeling that it would be an easy task to do, since it was Sparkle that they were talking about, even giving the other Masked Fool a brief look, Sampo ended up accepting it. "Y-Yeah, sure thing! I'll try and do my very best, Ms Acheron!"

"I'll be on my way to a food cart then. Luka and Clara will also go with me to eat there." Seele choiced her place to lunch, proceeding to stare to the others. "How about the rest of you?"

Acheron took a moment to decide. In one hand, eating down here would possibly be fast and cheap. The only problem however, is that the IPC was probably still investigating the accident from yesterday, possibly putting the whole Boulder Town under more strict security, specially if the factor that Morte 'killed' another civillian later that day was also added. Being the fact she was wanted, it wouldn't be on the best of her interests to be in a place with too many IPC eyes around. Not like if in upper Belobog there wasn't IPC soldiers also present. But for now, the situation up there was probably less riskier than down here, at least for her.

"We-"

"Gonna take the elevator all the way up." Morte pointed upwards, interrupting Acheron with a slight tap on the back. "It wouldn't be smart having a large group of 'distinct' characters all rounded up in one place. We could draw suspicion."

Acheron just stared at him a bit addled. It was if he had read her mind before giving his opinion and choice. Or perhaps it was just coincidence.

"Yep! Us poor marginalized people of the society!" Sparkle fake sobbed, making a joke out of the words Morte picked.

"I have food at home. Do you really want to go up there?" Sampo questioned Sparkle's decision, looking to the side and muttering: "Specially when the Silvermane Guards aren't in good terms with me..."

"Need go to a few shops. Girl's business, y'know?" Sparkle, giggled, eerily closing her face on him, maintaining her 'happy' smile. "And like the gentleman that you are, you definetly can carry out the bags for me, can you, my lovely dear friend Sampo?"

"Why do I even continue accompanying her?" Sampo, not wanting to get on the bad side of a lunatic like Sparkle, complied. "As long as you don't start a problem, okay?"

"Anything for the sake of my friend's home planet!" Sparkle swore, which being her, it probably had little to less value.

"Alright! See you all later at the Robot Settlement!" Seele said, now the party separating, going on their own ways to launch before coming back together in order to put up a strategy to defeat Cocolia.

Back at the upperworld of Belobog, with all its hotels and restaurants, Acheron and Morte had finished launching, sitting on a table at the exterior of a food establishment.

The Self-Annihilator was just contemplating the rests of food on her plate, having eaten the dish but not having sensed any flavour at any bite. She had her umbrella oppened, just to make sure her face was better hidden from any IPC soldier strolling around. As for Morte, he was reading leisurely another book, eating an apple as well.

"So? How do you rate it?" Morte asked mouthful, wanting to know Acheron's opinion on the dish, still reading.

"Bland. As always." Acheron responded with little emotion, slightly moving the fork.

"Ain't that right? Assholes had the gal of not having tomato cherries on the menu." Morte complained altough not with an upset tone, turning a page of the book. "Restaurants with that flaw have no purpose existing, don't you think, Acheroni?"

"...We're out of money."

"Hm?" Morte raised a single eyebrow, continuing on with his literature.

"All of our last coins were spent paying for this lunch." Acheron explained the terrible news to Morte, keeping a straight face. "Not like the food is the greatest of our concerns as we can still cook it ourselves at the spacecraft and even hunt for food if we run out of it. We also would very hardly die from starvation." Acheron speaked, with Morte simply nodding his head and doing 'hm hm', his face covered behind the book. "The problem is more about the fuel for our spacecraft. How will we exactly pay for it?"

"Sheesh, I dunno Acheroni. You tell me." Morte responded, being way too into the book to even look at her.

Bothered by the lack of concern on a serious issue, Acheron grabbed the book Morte was reading and pulled it down in order to stare at his face. "How about you start paying attention on a problem that affects us for start? That could be already halfway to a solution."

Giving an ill-tempered glare, Morte closed the book and simply threw it in the trashcan some meters behind him, having come to an end of his reading. Soon, his face changed to a pensative expression. "Hmm, I may know a way we could make some good money."

"No stealing or assaulting. That's out of question." Acheron told him beforehand, knowing Morte could always pick the most extreme options.

"Lately, I've heard about this new hot sensation on the youngster generation that is making some bank." Morte put some fingers on his chin while trying to remember it. "Some type of virtual e-celebrity girls or something along those lines..."

"Uh, I think I have a vague idea of what you're referring to." Acheron said, her mind sort of having seen or heard about that concept before.

"So, you see, I was here thinking. What if...we got some equipment and turned you into ome of those virtual celebrities?" Morte smiled, having thought to have come with a genius idea.

"No." Acheron responded stoically.

"Why not?" Morte asked her.

"It's stupid..." Acheron turned her head away, slightly blushing from shyness at just that thought. She was used with being quiet and collected, so having to be in front of a camera to thousands of people and talk and be extroverted, even if it was behind an avatar, was a dreadful scenario for her. Just not her thing.

"Really?" Morte gave her a crestfallen look before putting his arm behind the chair and leaning back. "Guess we could always kidnap some random girl and make her do that job for us."

"H-Heck no! Are you out of your mind?" Acheron rebuked Morte immediatly, almost shouting.

"Then what do you want us to do, Acheroni? You are wasting an opportunity to make bank on the market!" Morte responded back, speaking like a true economic advisor.

"I don't know! Why don't you be the one doing the virtual e-celebrity gig then?" Acheron argued.

Morte put up a poor and miserable face to her. "But guys don't make as success as the girls in that area. Nobody would want to watch a sad full grown man adult dude like me with nothing to show."

"Yeah right." Acheron scoffed in her own head, looking at Morte's overall appearence. Despite the certainty of being a complete psycopath, she had to admit one of his perks was beauty. "We shall find a way eventually. Also, can you remove your legs from the table? It can draw attention." She told to him, the man having put his feet on top of the table for some time now.

"Ah, because having a red paper umbrella out in the open won't also call people's attention." Morte pointed out, using that as justification to have his legs on the table.

"We're trying to blend in." Acheron reminded to Morte.

"Acheron, almost everyone on this goddamn planet looks and dresses the fucking same! We already failed to blend in the moment we stepped here!" Morte told her, stating how the two of them already stood out from the rest of the generic people of Jarilo-VI.

"...I suppose so." Acheron said, hating to admit that Morte had made a good point there. Shortly after, a rumbling noise came from her stomach.

"What's that?" Morte asked, hearing it.

"Nothing." Acheron said lowly, lowering her head a bit. "Just out of peaches..." She murmured, a little feeling of frustration inside her. How she wished to have one right now. "!" That's when her nostrils detected a familiar smell, pumping up her mind. It had no mistaking it. And so, not thinking twice, she hurled herself over the table, quickly snatching a peach from Morte's hand and devouring it like a ferocious animal. How it tasted so good, she thought.

"Now who's the one drawing attention?" Morte grinned mischievously while looking back at Acheron eating erratically the peach while crouched on the ground, calling her out.

"...Hm?!" Coming back to her senses, Acheron stopped eating for a quick moment, silently turning her head around, showing her face of a mix of chagrin and distaste while her cheeks were full from the chunks of peach on her mouth. She should have known better than to fall easily into Morte's trick. Bastard beat her with her one weakness. Getting up from the ground, Acheron walked back to the table and sat again on her chair, not daring to mutter a word. Not even questioning how and where the grinning man got a peach.

"I'd bet it was more to your liking, no?" Morte smirked, teasing her.

"I hope you choke and die one day." Acheron told him as if it was a natural and normal thing to say, the angriness not palpable on her voice at all altough.

"I love you too, Acheroni." Morte said, once again proving that insults were useless to him. Picking up the apple again, Morte continued to eat it. "To be honest, I don't even know why we should keep helping those guys with this whole Cocolia thing."

"What do you mean?" Acheron questioned him, wanting Morte to explain further.

"It's that all-in-all, these feels more like 'belobogian' issues. We are but strangers and outlanders in this national affair." Morte justified, putting the hands behind his head. "This entire business should only be to the concerns of the folks from here."

"So you're implying we should just leave and let them try to resolve this mess for themselves?" Acheron narrowed her gaze.

"Not my planet. Not my people. Not my Supreme Guardian." Morte replied, taking a deep bite into the apple. "What obligations do we have exactly in helping them out if not for morality principles?" He said, spitting out the seed of the fruit into the plate. "People always expect someone else to come over and fix their problems out of good will."

"As long as a crisis can be avoided, we should always try." Acheron responded, not agreeing with Morte's statement. "These people don't deserve to die. Their time isn't yet."

"What makes you think it isn't? Someone's ending can always be unpredictable and out of control." Morte replied, not deepening too much on that topic. "Not even you can save them if you keep fighting the way you did against Cocolia."

"..." Acheron quietly grunted. Unfortunately, he was right. She had the absolute capacity of doing alot better against Cocolia but simply hold herself back. An error that could've costed greatly.

"Are you that afraid of unleashing it? Or is a matter of honor?" Morte questioned the reason for Acheron's hesitance on giving her all on the fight against Cocolia. "Do you have a grudge of sorts against the Nihility?" Morte placed the eaten apple on the dish. "If unwilling to show its fangs, even a predator can be taken out by the prey."

"Then why didn't you took out Cocolia?" Acheron made a question right back.

"Hm?"

"Do not think that I am not aware of what you're also capable of." Acheron gave a judgemental stare to Morte. "You could have easily ended her if you wanted to as well, yet prefered to watch it all happening on the back. Why didn't you finished her the same way you did to those two persons yesterday?"

"C'mon now, Acheron. You think I can pull that stuff against anyone?" Morte cackled, explaining it to her. "One thing are random thugs and nobodies on the streets. Other is a resurrected ruler. It just isn't the same, don't ya think?"

"Yeah." Acheron responded, a part of her not believing at all to what he was saying, doubting the excuse. If Morte told her the sky was blue, she wouldn't immediatly take it for granted. If anything, it seemed he was always hiding something from her. The same way he wouldn't tell her hos he knew her real name. "Thinking about it, do you wonder how Cocolia came back? Was she cursed? Did she brought herself to the world of the living? Death isn't an easy thing to escape from."

"Beats me. But hey, vengeful ghosts are a thing." Morte replied, sounding oblivious.

"Yes." Acheron moved her head, looking to the clear skies of Belobog. "And who do you think might have resurrected that vengeful ghost?"

Before the conversation could continue, the duo heard some sort of commotion happening nearby.

"This is unnaceptable! For how long will the IPC be barred from an audience with the Supreme Guardian?"

A few meters away from the restaurant where the two were, an IPC representative, accompanied by some soldiers, was discussing with none other but the captain of the Silvermane Guards, Gepard.

"Please, understand that the Supreme Guardian is currently sick, for a reunion with her cannot be scheduled for today." Gepard explained to the indignant IPC representative. "I recommend waiting until further notice of Lady Bronya's health bettering."

"You think my patience is an infinite well!? This has already past the point of playing with us!" The IPC responded, utterly irritated.

"Oh? Looks like a squabble is brewing." Morte commented, looking entertained to know where it would go while Acheron watched it in silence.

"You just can't just demand someone's health to improve all of a sudden!" A woman near Gepard, of long blonde hair with a strain of dark blue, responded back to the representative. "Will you throw money at the problem, like your organization always does?"

Gepard immediatly put an arm in front of her. "Quiet down, Serval! Let me handle this talk!"

The IPC representative gave a stern look to Serval. "I am talking to your brother and not you, you seemingly-looking failed rock artist!" Dishing out the insult, he returned his attention to Gepard. "The meet-up with the Supreme Guardian of Belobog should have occured four days ago already! You think someone as busy and with many matters to attend to as a well condecorated IPC administrator like me will dare to lose any single more second with this nonsense? That your ruler and this nation can disrespect my and the IPC's job just like that?"

"We have nothing against your organization sir. Lady Bronya as expressed as such, being in good-terms with the one of your overlords that visited Jarilo-VI to provide this planet of essential resources at the time. She, like me and many other belobogians, respect the treaty done with the IPC and are well aware of its importance to the development and livelihood of Belobog." Gepard expressed the gratitude the planet had for the organization, with Serval putting a face of frustration behind.

"Yet, they are taking advantage of Bronya's absence to begin breaching some of the treaty's laws! They would treat us like dogs if they could!" Serval knew her brother was lying, with the general public's opinion on the IPC ranging from neutral to negative. But if they wanted to keep having resources enough to keep the nation's financial situation stable, they had to be forced to shut up and comply.

"If so, then why the delay? If your beloved Supreme Guardian respects the treaty that much, I'm sure she could attend to the reunion even with a cold." The IPC representative said, Gepard's words having little effect on him. "But that doesn't seem to be the case here. Being uncompromising and keeping possible secrets while having negotations and trade establishments with the IPC can lead to heavy consequences and penalizations!"

Gepard tried to speak. "We are aware of it. But-"

"Aware? Don't make me laugh!" The representative cut him short. "You people have been living isolated from the outer space for innumerous Amber Ages! You weren't even aware of your neighboring planets barely a year ago, probably living like primitives in this good for nothing blizzard hell!"

"..." Despite the provocations and relentless disparage to his people and planet's culture, Gepard did his very best in remaining calm and with posture. However, the subtle clenching of his fist could tell he was feeling nothing but anger for the person in front of him.

Watching from their table, Acheron could also feel the same. "What a prick..." She whispered, whereas Morte seemed to enjoy watching the small moment of discord happening, gently playing with the finished apple with his finger, observing the discussion proceed, his eyes specially focused on Gepard.

Serval was on the edge of losing control, about to confront the representative. "You-"

"My humblest and deepest apologies, sir. Truly, we belobogians have yet to be well accustomed treating foreigners with great respect." Gepard said submissively, wanting to hold the relationship of Belobog with the IPC until Bronya could get better, much to Serval's shock. "On behalf of Belobog, I'm sorry if we haven't been treating you fairly."

The IPC representative snorted. "Humf! That's more like it."

"And it is with all that respect, that I please ask the sir to understand the fragile situation our Supreme Guardian currently finds herself in." Gepard begged. "I guarantee for all of Jarilo-VI future, that if the sir gives at least a week more, Lady Bronya will be in good condition again to attend the IPC's negotations meet-up."

Looking at him with a snobbish glare of superiority, the representative took out a pocket watch and checked it, his mind visualizing and calculating the situation. "I will give you three days. No more no less. If by the end of that time, the Supreme Guardian fails to show up, I will ensue an official complaint document to the higher-ups of the IPC. After that, all the resources we provided you with will be forcefully taken away from Jarilo-VI and you can bet well that we shall drown the planet in one of the largest debts history as ever saw." The IPC representative warned, the threat being very clear. "So I hope the captain understands the severity of it."

"Yes, sir." Gepard replied, his heart tightening. Belobog would be doomed if that were to happen, now being on a race against time to better Bronya's condition with only three days. "We promise that the Supreme Guardian will recover before that."

"..." Acheron narrowed her gaze. How could some people have such evilness inside them?

"A reality where the weak can control everything through other means. How doltish." Morte said, displeased that a weak guy like the IPC representative was able to have a strong man like Gepard on a leash because of finances and not pure strenght, rotating the apple on his dish.

Serval was completly against it. "You pigs...We aren't your toys for you to play with!"

"Enough, Serval!" Gepard shouted back, not wanting his sister's emotions to get the better of her.

The IPC representative was getting tired of her. "Tsk! You better shut your sister already before I buy her as a slave!"

"!" In that moment, Gepard's mind came close to snapping. He was a veteran and very well trained soldier. Behaviour and obedience were well taught onto him. Yet, he was now doing the greatest effort he ever had in his career to not completly lash out at that asshole.

Serval also wasn't willing to let that go. "Try and I sware that-"

"I will, sir!" Gepard replied, the entire nerves on his body trying to hold the intrusive thought back. The hair covering his eyes. "I will tell my sister to stop bothering you."

"Heh, good. I had enough of this stupid talk already. Warn me when the Supreme Guardian gets better." The IPC representative said, turning around and about to walk away. "Ah. But before I forget, one more thin-ugh!?"

And it was the last drop. Not able to contain himself, Gepard ended up punching the IPC representative right in the face, bringing him to the ground, much to the shock of everyone presant.

"Gepard!" Serval exclaimed.

Acheron let out a sudden and short gasp of astonishment.

Morte grinned. His lips taking an eerily curve upwards. He liked what he was seeing.

"AAH! HE HIT ME! SOLDIERS!" Exclaiming painfully on the ground while clinging onto his own face, the IPC representative ordered the soldiers that were with him to point their weapons at Gepard who seemed in disbilief of what he had just done.

"Uh? I...my arm..." Staring down at his own hand, he could see it visibly shaking. "I-It moved on itself."

"You've hurt an IPC official!"

"Hands in the air scum!"

Seeing the IPC soldiers surrounding her brother, Serval tried to intervene, bringing out her guitar and stepping in front of Gepard. "None of you will touch him! He's done nothing wrong!"

"No, Serval. I did punched an IPC oficial." Gepard said, dissapointed in himself. Even if the guy was a scum that deserved it, as the captain of the Silvermane Guards, he felt that he had failed in being a great exemple to his own soldiers and civillians of Belobog.

"So what? He was asking for it!" Serval replied, thinking that Gepard shouldn't feel guilty because of it.

"You reckless pieces of...Someone will have to pay for this!" The IPC representative got up from the ground in anger, blood coming out from his nose. "It will either be one of you or this crap of a planet as a whole!"

"Over my dead body!" Serval replied, willing to fight. "I don't care who the fuck you are! I'm going to-"

"I give myself in!" Gepard announced, much to Serval's sudden dismay. "I was the one who punched the sir, so it is only fair that I'm the one getting the punishment." Gently pushing his sister to the side, Gepard stood in front of the IPC oficial, the soldiers still with their weapons pointed at him. "In order to keep Belobog's relationsips with the IPC stable for now, I Gepard Landau, Captain of the Silvermane Guards, will turn myself in into the IPC custody during the near future. Whether I become your prisoner definetly or not, it will be up to Lady Bronya once she recovers from her illness."

"Hehehe, this surely has taken a twist." Morte chuckled while he and Acheron continued to observe. The Emannator of Nihility wanted to step in and do something, but reason in her mind told her that doing so would only put Belabog in a bad light to the IPC.

"What?! You can't do that, Gepard!" Serval opposed his choice. "What about the Silvermane troops? What would be of them without their captain as well as Belobog in general? There has to be another way!"

"It can't. This is by far the best one available." Gepard said, not fighting or resisting once the IPC soldiers begun putting him in handcuffs. Despite the situation, he smiled to his sister. "But don't worry sis. I'm sure a cure will be find and Lady Bronya will be up again in no time. In the meantime, could you take my post as the captain of the Silvermane Guards? Sorry if it's a duty you despise to do, but right now there is no better option. Also, tell Lynx everything will be alright, got it?"

"..." In a huge dilemma inside herself, between wanting to grab Gepard and run away ouut of there with him and complying, Serval, much to her own grief, accepted her brother's request. "I will..."

"Great! Have you finished talking?" The IPC representative asked with an unfriendly glare. "If so, let's go already. And you better hope for your own sake now that the Supreme Guardian shows up during the three days." He told menacingly to Gepard, who gave him an unfazed look, not being intimidated nor afraid as the soldiers took him away, many of the people in the streets watching but doing nothing, as Gepard wouldn't want them to cause a conflict because of him. Everyone just watched in grief and agony the beloved captain of the Silvermane Guards being escorted out of the public eyes.

"Ah. A good show indeed." Morte murmured, dropping the eaten apple into the trash, having concluded watching what he deemed himself to be a pleasent event.

"Gepard..." All alone, Serval felt powerless, unable to do anything to prevent her brother's capture. Falling to her knees, she begun to quietly sob, the thought of losing Gepard forever daunting her.

Getting up from the table, Acheron had seen enough, about to head torwards Serval and comfort her.

"Hey hey! Guess we meet again!" However, Sparkle appeared out of nowehere in front of Acheron, halting her from approaching Serval. "Did you also saw this? Quite the tragedy of the year, no?"

"Only missing the popcorns." Morte replied, sharing the same sarcastic and cruel thoughts as Sparkle.

"It sure felt a bit sorrowful to watch." Sampo responded, being with Sparkle as well. However, the thief answer's was honest. "Like, that dude could be a pain in my ass and arrested me quite the numerous times but...for the life of me, I just couldn't wish this sort of thing to him."

"So you don't hate him in spite of him being an agent of law and you a thief?" Acheron asked to Sampo.

"Nah. In all honesty, if it wasn't for our respective roles, he'd be a cool guy to hang out with." Sampo responded, showing that even if he was a burglar, he had respect for Gepard and his job.

Acheron crossed her arms, smiling. "Something tells me that if it wasn't for your scam actions as a thief, you could end up being quite loved by many here."

"Aaah, I know but, it's just the way I find more easy to entertain myself and others." Sampo responded. "Maybe in some years, when I'm well enough, I'll turn over a new leaf and relax. There's something I'd want to do first."

"You? Turning over a new leaf? Now that is a thing to burst out laughing." Sparkle commented, downplaying her fellow Masked Fool.

Looking now at Sparkle, Acheron went back to her normal face. "I suppose that you have finished launching as well, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much. We were looking for you so that we could all take the elveator down to the underworld and go that Clara's girl residence." Sparkle explained to Acheron.

"So you will actually help us out? I'm impressed." Acheron said, genuinely having expected Sparkle to have taken the opportunity to flee from Jarilo-VI.

"Well, it's not because I have a good heart. No. It's more that I'm a bit curious in wanting to know how this play will end." She giggled, giving a brief glance over to Morte who now was up, taking his time in smoking a cigar.

"And since we're all going now..." Going to grab up something, Sampo appeared with countless shop bags around his arms, clearly having been forced to carry them for Sparkle. "Can you help me out here?" He asked, in clear need of help. "M-Morte, buddy. You're strong, right? You can help me out."

Exhaling out the smoke, Morte just approached his face to Sampo, a terryfying glint on his eyes as he looked to the frightened thief. "What do you think?"

"H-Hum...Sorry! I can carry them out after all! Like, I'm Sampo Koski! I can carry a few shop bags with no problem whatosever!" Sampo said, giving in to the pressure.

Sparkle giggled, finding it funny. "You shouldn't take advantage of other people now, should you, Sampo? That is just so scummy of your part."

Acheron just found the bullying on Sampo sad. There were limits to being a punching bag. "Sampo."

"Yes?" Sampo turn around to look at her, a bright hopeful smile that Acheron would help him carrying some of the bags.

"I have a question for you, if you don't mind." Acheron said, Sampo's smile dissapearing quickly.

"Oh, yeah. Totally. I do not mind at all." He said.

"What was that planet you mentioned about when we were looking for Cocolia? The one where the dead come back to live." Acheron asked him.

"Vanitas? Why do you wanna know that?" Sampo answered, giving a question in return.

"Nothing much. It's just that I never exactly heard about such planet existing before." Acheron said.

"That's because your head has entire holes in it." Sparkle joked about Acheron's poor memory, the Self-Annihilator ignoring it.

"Well, I don't exactly blame you for not having heard of it before. You see, Vanitas doesn't actually exist." Sampo revealed. "As far as I and everyone else in the cosmos know, that planet is only a fable. Rumored to be at where the origin and edge of the universe overlap. Many people have went onto long journeys and odysseys in order to find that place, wanting to either prove its existence or wanting to resurrected a loved one. And it is said that the people who find Vanitas, either become eternal residents of the planet, or can never talk about its existence once they get out."

"Some sort of lost planet? Did that came out from a generic adventure movie or book?" Sparkle commented, not seeming very interested about it.

But Acheron was the opposite. "You do seem to know quite about Vanitas."

"Well, the universe is vast, and there's always some crazy people that you end up meeting during the travels spouting crazy stuff that may not sound that crazy. Like, actual members of the Genius Society tried to search for it in expeditions!" Sampo said, sounding enthusiastic. "Like, just imagine a planet where people can come back to live be actually true! It would be incredible-"

"It'd be horrendous." Morte speaked, grabbing the attention of the other three. "A place where losers wouldn't be able to move on from the loses in their lives and accept their fated deaths? Only weaklings and stupids who'd want to have such power for themselves would waste looking for a fantasy land like that."

"Uhm...I mean, I can see where you coming from but, wouldn't seeing a loved one that you lost coming back to life uplift you?" Sampo asked innocently.

"I don't have any." Morte responded coldly, looking down at Sampo with a bothered face while the cigar hanged on his mouth.

"Now that's curious." Acheron said to herself, having heard Morte saying that. It seemed Sampo was able to get more out of him unintentionally than she probably would if she made the question to Morte.

"Sorry then! I didn't meant to upset you or anything! A-All cool, right?" Sampo immediatly apologize, not wanting to get on the bad side of someone like Morte.

Rolling his eyes, Morte discarded the cigar away, proceeding to smirk torwards Sampo and putting his arm around the thief's shoulder. "Nah. Not at all dude. If anything, I find you quite the funny pathetic man."

"Oh! That's...thank you?" Sampo said, unable to know if Morte was mocking him or being genuinely commending, both beggining to walk.

"Now, Sampo. How much exactly do you know about Vanitas?" Morte asked to the other guy to his side, both making their way to the elevator that would bring them to the underworld.

"A bit. Like, I very much loved that fable when I was younger and all." Sampo replied to Morte, the two developing the conversation between them while Acheron adn Sparkle walked behind.

Skipping a bit while walking, Sparkle gave mischiveous look to Acheron. "So, who adopted who? Guessing the dynamic, I figure he was the one who took you in."

"Nobody 'took me in'." Acheron responded, showing little sympathy to Sparkle. "I simply decided to follow him for some time."

"It sounds more like to me that you wanted someone to put up with your angsty remarks." Sparkle giggled, her smile increasing. "Seems like murmuring to yourself alone like a schizo started getting tired."

"The same way you get Sampo to put up with your 'pranks'?" Acheron replied, not going to tolerate any snarky comments from Sparkle. "What do you know about me?"

"Ooh, nothing of special, really." Sparkle put her hands behind her back, slightly bening her back. "Only that you seem to like being close to danger. If I were you, I'd be careful. Your pal seems like a risky game." She giggled. "But then again, only other crazy enough person like dementia woman to stick around with him."

"Look who's talking." Acheron said, Sparkle having little right to call other people 'crazy'. "Do you want him to give you a piggyback ride or something with all that interest?"

"Who? Me? Nah, I'm all fine and dandy!" Sparkle skipped in front of Acheron, putting a finger in front of her own lips. "I'm just a mere spectator in here, hardly main role. I only want to see what will be in store next." Always with her sly and devious soft laughter, the Masked Fool turned around, getting a bit of distance from Acheron.

The Emmanator of Nihility sighed. Sparkle was really another nutcase that could be hardly reason with. Between her and Morte, Acheron doubted who could start up wrecking havoc and panic in this planet first.

"Ah! Our products! Majority of our products got stolen! How is this possible?!"

And Acheron got a bit of an answer once she heard some noises from a burning clothing shop in the distance. That girl really couldn't help herself. Better speed up the pace before they found out who the culprit was and associated her with Acheron. The plan to take down Cocolia would be formed on the Robot Settlement. Acheron could only hope that once with Cocolia defeated, Bronya would get better in order to prevent a dire future for Belobog, as well as convince IPC to free the now captive Gepard.

Chapter Text

"Ah! We finally made it!" Sampo speaked, seeing the large mansion with an entrance garden full of nothing but snow ahead of them. "Clara's residence!...As well as Svarog's mansion."

"Quite the big home for a barefooted kid living down here." Morte commented, looking at the size of the place.

"We better get in." Acheron told to the three that came with her, seeing Seele and the others in the middle of the entry area. "They're already here. Let's not keep them waiting."

"Hum, excuse me, but that coming from the person who took almost every turn wrong on her way to the elevator sounds ironic." Sparkle giggled behind her, provoking the older woman. "Being from Nihility also gives you the sense of direction of a broken GPS?"

"Why don't you become a follower Nihility itself to know?" Acheron responded back, not even bothering to look at the Masked Fool behind her. Her mind was already well trained to ignore shallow and backhanded insults like the ones Sparkle usually threw. "It isn't my fault all of those streets looked the same."

"Nah, sorry Acheroni but I have to side with Twinkle-Sparkle on this one." Morte speaked, much to the Self-Annihilator's silent annoyance. "You just don't take an entire hour trying to find your way to the elevator!"

"Then get me a map next time. I'd appreciate it very much." Acheron responded with a tone that was very clear how she was keeping her cool despite having the two poking her, starting to head to the area where all of the others were, with Morte and Sparkle shortly following behind while Sampo was doing his best in walking forward and holding the entire bag shops at the same time.

"H-Hey! Can I at least leave these bags at the entrance? Guys?" Seeing that no one bothered to answer or helped him, the poor thief just sighed as he did and extra effort in walking painfully the last meters of the destination.

Reaching to the place, Acheron saw the same faces, altough a new one amongst their midst. "Eh? That's..."

"Captain Boy Scout's sister." Morte said, both he and Acheron noticing Serval on the courtyard of the mansion alongside the rest. The Emmanator of Nihility wondered what she was doing here.

"Acheron! Walking pole! You've arrived!" Seele approached the two, welcoming them.

"Walking pole? Seriously?" Morte acted offended and dejected, frowning sadly. "I do have a name and you know it!"

"Coming from the guy who I don't remember calling me by my name even once!" Seele replied back, feeling little pity.

Morte smirked, admitting Seele's good point. "'Kay. You got me there, spunky-girl."

Shifting her gaze, Seele stared to Sparkle who was cutely, if not mockingly, congratulating Sampo for having brought all of the shopping bags along the way, the thief utterly exhausted and panting on the ground. "Unexpected that they've end up coming too. Specially Sparkle." The way Seele speaked the Masked Fool's name, was clear that she wasn't very trusting of Sparkle.

"Don't worry about her. I've already made it clear to Sparkle that she better not try her shennanigans with me around" Acheron told to Seele, reassuring her that the tricky girl wouldn't dare to harm any of them as long as the Self-Annihilator was nearby.

"Great to see you're here!" Luka speaked, being the next one to approach the duo. "That means we're all here! How was your lunch by the way?"

To that, Morte gave a slight smirk. "Oh, wonderful! Watched quite a show and everything."

"..." Acheron stood in silent, opting to not comment on that. "Honestly, is there any good in him?"

Clueless of what Morte was referring to, Luka just continued smilling overall. "Neat! Also, sorry for not informing you prior to arriving here, but we got a new helping hand to aid us in this whole Cocolia thing."

"We already noticed." Acheron replied, staring to Serval as she walked torwards them. "Who is she?" She asked, pretending this to be the first time she was meeting the other woman.

"You've already heard about the Silvermane Guards, haven't you? Then you've probably either heard or seen their captain, Gepard Landau, before." Seele said, introducing Serval to the duo. "If so, then this is his sister and former Silvermane Guard herself, Serval Landau. She came looking for our help after..." She hesitated on saying a detail that she believed to be unknown to both Acheron and Morte.

"You can tell them, Seele. There's no harm in it." Serval told to the younger woman, not caring if they 'knew' what happened to her brother. However, she decided to tell them herself instead. "Earlier today...my brother, Gepard, ended up hitting an IPC official in public."

"Hm, that's shocking to hear." Morte commented, doing pretty well in faking his reaction as if he was hearing this for the first time.

"Yeah. Because of it, the IPC ended up apprehending my brother." Serval was in clear sorrow just by mentioning it, the recent memory still very fresh on her head. "And unless Lady Bronya health recovers and shows up during the next three days, they will oficially make Gepard a prisoner and take him away..." It costed Serval to speak about that, feeling her heart aching inside her chest.

Figuratively, Acheron bite her own tongue, holding herself from apologizing to Serval for not having watch it all happen and not intervene before the discussion had escalated badly. "I'm sorry to hear that. But having seen the captain of the Silvermane Guards before, I'm sure he's very resilient. Enough to be fine by the time we resolve this entire problem."

"I too want to believe with all my heart on that. Altough I can't help but blame myself for being the one responsible for my brother's arrest." Serval replied, thinking back to that moment where Gepard punched the IPC representative, the result of her inability to keep her emotions restrained. "Had I hold myself from speaking back there, maybe Gepard wouldn't have..." Getting emotional, Serval stopped, preventing from letting out some tears in front of others. She wouldn't want that embaressment for her. "Sorry. I just fear what they might do to my brother if we don't heal Lady Bronya in time."

"We won't let that happen!"Acheron tried to comfort Serval about her brother's well-being. "I promise that your ruler will be back in good health before any harm can be done to your brother."

But while the Self-Annihilator was trying to pacify Serval's anxiety and concern, Sparkle decided to add fuel. "Uuh! Is Belobog gonna have gallows and public hangings now? Or will it rather be by firing squad?"

Serval looked down at Sparkle with barely contained disgust and antipathy as Acheron, Seele and even Luka threw a distasteful glare at her, wondering how many screw looses the masked fool had.

"Shush you!" Sampo immediatly tried to prevent Sparkle from saying anything else, also not having liked the comment at all. "Don't make this worse!"

"Pay no mind to what she says." Acheron advised to Serval, Sparkle clearly just wanting a reaction out of her. "It won't come to that. Fortunately, we already have found the possible reason for Bronya's current ill state."

"Yeah, I've already heard about it. Seele and Luka filled me in on that." Serval stated that she knew already about the entire Cocolia thing. "Apparently, that means Lady Bronya's nightmares weren't really product of her mind. Cocolia, or whatever is imitating her, is tormenting her and roaming around Belobog as some sort of ghost. Tsk! Just when we thought bygone problems stood in the past..." Frustrated that Cocolia was back in someway, she decided to put her head up. Her brother's life was on the line here. "Let's make sure it is a problem that gets buried once and for all! As Belobog future depends on this, I will give all the aid possible!"

"That is great to hear. More help is always valuable." Acheron gave a small reserved smile to the other woman. "Still, if the Supreme Guardian cannot currently attend to Belobog's matter and the captain of the Silvermane Guards is under arrest, who is in charge of dealing with the nation's bussiness and administrating it then?"

"It's Pela. A trusty advisor of Bronya herself." Seele responded to that question. "Until we can get rid of Cocolia in order to cure her, Pela will be the one handling Belobog's administration in the meantime."

"Four eyes?" Morte replied, his mind faintly remembering of the small woman with glasses that he and Acheron met at the museum. "Talk about a rough situation. Better hurry up then!"

"You took the words right out of my mouth!" Luka replied to the tall man. "The quicker we defeat Cocolia, the faster we save Belobog from a dire future!"

"Let's head to the entrance. Clara and Svarog are there waiting." Seele told to the party that had reunited at the courtyard. "Svarog may even have already come up with plans to fight against Cocolia."

As they all begun to head to the mansion's entrance, Sampo turned around to face Sparkle. "And please! I beg you this. Don't open your mouth to say those sort of things with the others around."

"Hmmm, I'll see if I can. And sorry about that unhappy comment." Sparkle giggled, not truly feeling sorry at all. "It was just force of habit, teehee."

Near the entrance door of the mansion, as Clara and the tall automaton known as Svarog were seemingly discussing something, the girl heard the sound of footsteps nearby, turning around to see the party already at the place, walking torwards the two. "I see you've all returned. That's good! Me and Mr Svarog were just calculating the hypothesis of defeating Cocolia."

Looking over to the robot, Acheron got a bit of initial curiosity at the sight of Svarog. Throughout her endless journey across the stars, she hadn't seen or remebered many mechanical beings with the physique of Clara's guardian.

"He sure looks like big deal." Morte scratched his chin, also somewhat interested in the automaton's appearence. "Think you could win against him?"

"We're not here for a fight." Acheron monotonously replied to Morte, not having the patience to hear whatever he could say next.

"Sure, I know. It was just a harmless question produced by my imagination. That's all. Can't do those now?" Morte chuckled in his reply. It was as if he found Acheron's botherness of him to be amusing. "Eitherway, tin man here reminds me of some other kinda type robot enemies I fought before once in some planet. It was quite the long time ago ehehe." He rubbed his forhead, doing an 'attempt' at remembering it. "Now, what was that planet called? G..Gla..Gle...Gla-something. I don't really care remembering it right now."

"And I'm supposed to be the one with bad memory." Acheron threw a sarcastic comment, having taken the opportunity to make one.

"Were you expecting my memory to have the storage capacity of Nous?" Morte replied back.

Standing in front of Clara and Svarog, Seele took a step forward from the rest of the group, proceeding to talk with the girl. "So? Do we have a chance? What is the plan to defeat her?"

"Well, we are still trying to come up with one." Clara responded, looking up to Svarog. "Being an ancient automaton of Belobog's highest technology, Mr Svarog has the capacity to process and recreate a visualization of the fighting styles and capabilities of the people he observes fighting as data. That's what allows him to layout hipothetical fights." She explained to them. "We spent some hours in observing and analysing different strategies that included your combat skills and prowess as a way to determine which tactic is the best out of them all."

"Just like a supercomputer on calculus. That's very handful." Serval commented.

"Wait! You had the ability to do that all along?!" Luka exclaimed to Svarog, never been aware of that aspect of the automaton. "Why didn't you used that back when we where at the Loufu? It would have helped me out alot during the tournment!"

"That was a journey of your own to surpass. My storaged analysis data aiding you would make it less significant of an event." Svarog responded, speaking with a metallic and robotic deep voice as expected, extremely fitting for his more intimidating side. "Dialoguing on the subject that matters and reunited all of you here, while we were testing out the best approaches for your possible next fight against Cocolia, there is still intel that halts us from a greater result."

"Hm? What do you mean by that?" Acheron asked to the humanois automaton. A question to which Clara was the one to respond.

"Allow me to clarify. While Mr Svarog does have the complete combat information from the people that are native to Belobog, the same isn't the case for the newcomers." Clara proceeded to stare to Acheron, Morte and Sparkle. "Due to have never seen watching you fight before, Mr Svarog had to make a presumption of your fighting style through the description I could give him from the little I saw of you battling against Cocolia. If you could please share more of your fighting skills to Mr Svarog, the data of your fighting styles would be more accurate and lead to better new ways of planning on how to defeat the enemy."

"I see." Morte crossed his arms. "So in other words, we aren't quite installed on the patch yet."

Sparkle shook her head in rather dissapointment, both her hands up. "No good at all. Are the developers sleeping on this?"

"Then you're requesting for us to demonstrate our capabilities?" Acheron asked to Svarog.

"Affirmative." The robot responded shortly. "It doesn't have to be a fully fledge fight however. A small demonstration should provide with enough data to store on my automated cerebral chip that will allow to replicate your abilities."

"Eeh, seriously? Putting on a little show now?" Sparkle huffed, not quite pleased to do so. "Where's exactly the fun in it?"

"With that body of yours, I can't really blame you." Morte smirked down to the masked fool, making fun of her seemingly weak body frame. "Even the lightest weight must be too strenuous of a task for those arms."

"Pff! I can do alot of gymnastics y'know? Better than being a muscle gorilla." Sparkle responded dismissingvily, throwing an insult back.

"Before that, do you have like, an exact percentage of our chances of winning against Cocolia?" Seele asked to Svarog. "Like, which scenario we win the most easily and without any of us getting seriously injured or dead?"

"As of now, the variables to that hypothetical outline are scarce." Svarog responded. "The inofrmation on the combat skills of the previous Supreme Guardian of Belobog, Cocolia Rand, are lacking, making almost impossible to provide enough of a meticulous demonstration of her fighting style through my chip, since I never witnessed the previous Supreme Guardian fight before in my presence." He gave them an unfortunate downside. "Thus, while I can strategize and visualize your different combat patterns in different plans, the same cannot be applied to Cocolia."

"So we're going to fight an enemy that we aren't fully aware of what she might do on the upcoming fight? That sounds fantastic..." Sampo sighed as he brought a hand to his head, displease.

"Unfortunately, the short fight you had against her some hours ago is all that we can have on Cocolia's way of fighting." Clara told them, a bit sadden with it as well.

However, Seele's mind remembered something. "Hold up!" She then stared to Serval next to her. "Serval, you used to hang out with Cocolia years ago while you were both students, correct?"

"Yes, that's true." Serval confirmed.

"Then you must have seen Cocolia fight before, haven't you?" Seele brought up a good point.

"Well, not as much as you'd think." Serval gave the reply, breaking the expectations. "During that period, Cocolia would spent more time studying science and technology in order to understand the Stellaron rather than practicing her combat skills. It isn't like I've never seen her fight before, but it wasn't that much of a regular basis. And mind you that it was years ago, so I am not really all that familiar how Cocolia used to fight in these last years."

"So we are still stuck in square zero with this?" Luka replied, bummered, before something popped up on his mind. "Wait...Seele, you fought alongside Cocolia in her final moments to save Belobog, didn't you?"

"Oh,yeah! I almost forgot about that!" Seele slapped her own head quick. "True, I fought Coco-I-I mean, I fought alongside Cocolia in her final moments, yes." She said, almost accidentally letting the truth about Cocolia's real ending slipping out from her tongue to all the others present.

"?" Acheron's eyebrows frowned a bit, finding weird Seele's clumsy response. It was clear she was hiding something. But she wouldn't question a thing that wasn't going to help them at this moment.

"Then you can inform Mr Svarog of a more detailed way on how she fights, can you, Seele?" Clara speaked to her.

"W-well, yeah! I surely can." Seele responded, trying to remember of the last time she 'fought alonside' Cocolia. "Hmm, if I recall it right...Besides those dual spears and ice attacks she does, Cocolia also...also..." She was having an hard time remembering it. "Summoned bigger spears and transformed or something...I guess."

"Don't tell us you can't remember it right!" Sampo told, a bit dissapointed.

"Hey! A lot of wild things were happening in that battle and I was on adrenaline!" Seele justified, being somewhat true as she remembered of the intense fight happening in a flash to hardly memorize any detail out.

"Then you aren't quite sure on what you're telling us right now?" Acheron asked her.

"Eeh, bit iffy. I'm more-or-less sure on it." Seele admitted.

Serval sighed. "That will hardly lead us anywhere."

"Which is why we better start planning now instead of continuing wondering what ice queen can and cannot do." Morte stepped up from the party, standing almost as tall as Svarog while in front of the automaton. "Show me your strategies that I'll come up with the best one for us."

"Uh?" Acheron just gave a puzzled look to Morte, sensing how confident he himself was on his own words.

"B-But we still barely know that much about Cocolia's skills!" Clara tried to speak with the tall man. "We should plan it carefully! The more we could know about our opponent the better!"

To that, Morte simply lifted up his hand, gesturing to Clara to stop talking while not even looking to the girl. "I am talking to your robot, Clarice. Sit this one down." He said, proceeding to continue speaking to Svarog while Clara pouted angrily at him by the side. "Now, my dear metal friend, what is the percentage of victory that we have in the best outcome out of all the strategies you've analyzed?"

"Calculating the uttermost best variable, the chance of winning against the previous and deceased Supreme Guardian, Cocolia Rand, are of exactly 65,00007%, according under the assumption that it goes exactly as envisioned on the simulation of my neuro chip."

"Tsk! Only 65%..." Morte expressed his slight discontent, putting a thumb to his chin. "I'm sure we can pump those chances up. As long as you hear the indications and plan I'm about to have."

"So you conjured an entire plan in your mind while we were all debating?" Acheron crossed her arms. "From you, I don't know if that can either work or not."

"You saw how Cocolia fought, didn't you? She's no small fry at all." Seele warned Morte about how powerful the resurrected Supreme Guardian was. "Are you sure that whatever plan you have is going to result?"

"I am also a bit skeptic with it." Luka rubbed the back of his head. "I mean, you're quite strong but Cocolia can kill us if we're not careful."

With the two doubting of him, Morte simply turned his head to stare to both Seele and Luka, his cold and sharp blue eyes throwing a menacing glance to both. "You want Belobog to continue living on, don't you?"

"..!"

"..!"

Seele and Luka felt a terrifying chill running down their spines in that moment, a feel that Morte's question wasn't exactly a question, but more of a subtle threat.

Even Sampo that was behind the two and whose words weren't directed at him, feel the fright as well. "Alright! This guy gives me all the creeps!"

"Fools don't strategize plans at all. Bigger fools overstrategize their plans to the point of hesitation and unwilling mistakes." Morte told them, being serious about it.

Acheron listened to it carefully. She could tell by the way Morte was speaking about it, he had some prior experience on planning and strategizing upcoming battles. It made her ponder about his background again. "Was he a leader of sorts? A commander?"

"If you want Belobog and this entire planet to not hear the melody of a requiem, then heed to my words." Morte told them, grasping the group's attention while leaning his fingers on his own chest. "If you do and follow as I say, a sour ending to your precious nation can be avoided. If not, then this entire planet will be fated to decay and ruin." He warned them, wanting the natives of Belobog to fully trust in his plan as the only way to save Belobog from the consequences of the IPC and future ones. "Your and Belobog's lives. Trust them to me."

A bit reluctant, neither Seele nor Luka pronounced themselves. In their own minds, they also sensed that Morte sounded very convicted in his own plan and that his statement now carried deep meaning. But there was still a part of them that didn't knew if they could exactly trust on someone new and as 'eerie' as him. Clara also was hesitant to say something.

"Kay! Let's do as you say." Serval speaked up, staring to Morte, her answer unwavering.

"Serval?" Seele was quite surprised in seeing the older woman speak out of all of them.

"He's right. We can't just stay and stand here, afraid of going to battle because we aren't entirely sure of what our enemy can do." Serval explained. "There's just so much thing in game her and you know it, Seele. Time's essential." With that being said, fueled by the extra motive of wanting to get her brother back, Serval went up to Morte. "If whatever strategy you have planned can guarantee us a win, I'm all ears in following it!"

The man's lips went up, smilling while looking to Serval. "Smart choice pf a smart person." He then looked to the others behind her. "So?"

"We really don't have much choice, do we?" Seele said with her head a bit down before pulling herself up. "What the hell am I even saying?! Bronya's health and other things are at stake like you said! So let's give it a shot!"

Being convinced as well, Luke made his own choice. "Yeah. This is a matter that we shouldn't be prolonging. If we have a chance to end it, we will take it!" He closed his mechanical arm into a fist. He proceeded to look to Sampo and Sparkle. "You are going to help as well, aren't you?"

"That clearly goes without saying!" Sampo was quick to respond, showing his willingness to save Belobog. "I might be a charlatan and all that, but I do still care about my home! Count me in!"

"Hum? What are you all jabbering about?" Sparkle on the other hand was rubbing her own ear, showing to be little interested in it. "I mean, yeah sure, I can help as long as you don't make it boring."

"..." A bit indecisive, Clara looked up to Svarog, wanting to know what his opinion in this was. And a simple look back of the automaton to her was all that the girl needed to know what was Svarog's opinion in this, almost as if they could understand each other telepathically. "Okay. Me and Mr Svarog also approve of your plan. Hope we can succeed with it."

"And how 'bout you?" Morte turned around to ask Acheron, wanting to know her position in this.

"You already know the answer to that." Acheron replied, showing that she was ready to go along his plan as long as it didn't envolved with innocents suffering.

Morte grinned. "Great! Now that it seem we are all rowing to the same side, let me show how we're gonna do this!" Turning around, the man pointed to Svarog. "Taking into account all the noises and rumours of Cocolia's sightings, see if you can calculate where she's gonna appear next."

"..." Svarog did not respond. Instead, he stared to Morte silently, his big single red eye gazing at the man in front of him. The automaton could not help but feel there was something extremely wrong and disturbing about the individual.

Morte begun to suspect the lack of reply from Svarog. "Hm? Is he broken or something?"

"Mr Svarog?" Clara glanced to the robot, a bit worried that he hadn't said anything yet.

"I was compiling all of the information about Cocolia's recent whereabouts at diverse locations of the Underworld and utilize it to determine the highest probability of where she would appear next." Svarog explained, masterfully making up a quick lie as the computer that was his own brain was doing that right now.

"Oh. I see." Clara responded smilling a bit shyly to the automaton. "Sorry for having interrupting you then, Mr Svarog."

"It is alright, Clara." Svarog responded to the girl as he then showed the location to Morte and the party through an hologram projection. "This is where Cocolia as the most chance of appearing next. The 3D of this map allow us to-"

"Okay, I've see enough of it. You can turn it off." Morte said, picking up a stick from the ground. "I prefer some of the old ways."

"Huh? What are you doing?" Acheron asked as she leaned over to see what Morte was drawing on the snowy ground with the stick.

"That's..." Clara was able to recognize it as the map of the location Svarog had just showed them on the hologram, but now on 2D instead.

"As you can see, this is quite the spacious area. Enough entrances and hidden spots that we could use to surprise attack the ice queen on some kind of set-up." Morte said, doing some lines and circles on the ground.

"A surprise attack? That wouldn't be bad thought at all." Seele commented. "However, Cocolia by now knows that we are searching for her, so is she really going to appear on a place where her enemies will be waiting in order to activate a trap?"

Morte chuckled in response to Seele's observation. "You ain't wrong for pointing that, spunky-girl. However, that is why for every ambush, we always come up with a bait."

"Are you implying that for one of us to serve as bait for Cocolia to appear?" Serval asked.

"Indeed." Morte said, turning his head to look to someone at the back. "And luckly, we have the perfect bait right here."

Looking to direction Morte was staring at, everyone was now glaring at Sampo, the thief feeling kinda surprised and embaressed at the same time. "Uuuuhhhh..." However, he came to the realization that they weren't staring at him but somebody BEHIND him, making Sampo stepped out of the way, showing Sparkle to the group who was now inspecting her own fingernails.

Noticing that everyone's sight was now at her, Sparkle stopped paying attention to her nails and stared back to the entire party. "Hm? What's the matter? Got something in my face?"

"Tsk! Of course that it had to be something dumb like this!"

Sparkle hissed annoyed to herself while walking across the location where Cocolia was presumed to appear next... tied up and inside a barrel. When she was looking for entertainment, Morte made sure she would get some by chosing Sparkle herself to be the bait out of the entire party. And none of the group opposed to that decision, much less so Sampo. Neither did Sparkle as she reluctantly obliged despite her expressed frustration. Well, not like she wasn't asking for it. At least it was a bit of unexpected. She could give credit to Morte for that.

"Now let's see if this will actually work or it's just an excuse for that bastard to humiliate me."

Despite being 'kindly' put inside the barrel by the collective work of Acheron and Seele, the masked fool made sure to hear to Morte's instructions and what she would do next as the bait that would attract Cocolia to the area of the ambush. And if Sparkle was enough of a person to dish out, she could also take it. So, assuming to have reached to the center of the area, Sparkle did what the man told her to do next.

"Here goes nothing..." Crouching down, Sparkle laid her body and barrel on the ground, and stretching up her legs, she begun to spin the barrel, going around with it as her body was spinning alongside on the inside. She was doing consistently, being told to not stop until she could 'feel' Cocolia's presence. Thus, the masked fool was spinning and spinning with the barrel until that objective was met. "I admit, if this was other person doing it and not me, it would actually be pretty funny."

As Sparkle continued, she was getting to the point of dizziness when her feet touched on something, colliding with it. "Hm?" Doing her very best to have a look to the outside while inside the barrel, Sparkle lowered her head and was able to see someone's legs next to hers. The touch felt cold and the legs were familiar to the masked fool. It was her, Cocolia, right in front of Sparkle, staring down to the barrel she was in. "Oh! She's actually here!" Having accomplished the presence of Cocolia with this little theatric of hers, Sparkle smirked, proceeding to go for the next stage of their plan. "About time!"

Even if her arms and torso had been tied, Morte had told her a secret to how she could free herself from the ropes through a specific manouver of her hands. Of course she could have always try and do that in order to free herself from the stupid barrel. But taking into account that the party would beat her up if she tried that, Sparkle decided to comply anyways. But back to the business, Sparkle moved and squirmed her hands in the specific movement that Morte had told her, managing to slips her wrists off from the ropes and arms as well. Being free, the masked fool now had to give the signal.

"Heya there!" Lifting the barrel up and getting her upper body out of it, Sparkle happily greeted Cocolia before quickly taking out her pistol and pointing it to the Supreme Guardian's face. "Say cheese!" Pulling the trigger, she fired the bullet torwards Cocolia's face who swiftly dodged it by a simple tilt of her head. But it wasn't Sparkle's objective to hit her with the bullet. Quite the contrary, the bullet ended up exploding into fireworks in the air, being the signal for the rest of the party to act. Their strategy had been put in motion.

From the shadows, five bombs were launched torwards the resurrected Supreme Guardian who had figured out she had just fell into a trap, only having time to shield herself. The smoke bombs went off, lifting up a giant smoke curtain in the entire zone.

"Sampo Koski coming right up!" Getting out from his hidden place, Sampo rushed torwards the arena where both Sparkle and Cocolia were, doing his own part of the plan. Reaching next to his fellow masked fool, Sampo picked Sparkle up and dashed away from Cocolia as quick as possible. "Now this is the type of prank worthy of having some laughs!" The thief smirked, having liked the view of Sparkle rolling inside the barrel like an idiot.

"Ehehe! Funny, wasn't it? I also have some other ones in mind for you." Sparkle smiled and giggled, obviously a mask to her inner anger and sadism, clearly telling Sampo to not poke her with that.

Sampo immediatly gulped, continuing to run. "I didn't said anything!"

Seeing Sampo fleeing with Sparkle, Cocolia immediatly tried to give a response, picking one of her two spears in order to throw at them. However, someone intervened fast before she could try.

"Look here!" Exclaming, Luka flanked Cocolia from the left, his robot arm about to strike her. The Supreme Guardian was agile to react in time. blocking Luka's fist with her spear, resulting in a disputed clash between the two as Luka was trying to hold her back.

And it wasn't all yet.

From above, a vibrant purple thunder rained down on Cocolia, accompanied by a guitar sound, forcing the former Supreme Guardian to take a step back and give up of the clash with Luka, avoiding the thunder attack.

"How many times do you have to torment us?" Serval appeared from the other side, sighting Cocolia with disdain. "May this be the last time you cause us trouble!" With the guitar chip in hand, Serval begun playing her instrument strings, sending more thunders torwards Cocolia who was evading every single one altough Serval was hardly letting the resurrected Supreme Guardian breath.

Luka and Serval both tagged along against Cocolia, with the young man engaging in a more closed combat with the enemy while the rockstar gave him support on the back with her attacks. Eventualy, still dodging and parrying the attacks, Cocolia ended up being pushed back some meters away as she blocked a powerful punch from Luka.

This was exactly where they wanted her to be.

From behind, two quick flashes sprinted torwards the unaware ex-Supreme Guardian, suffering two slashes, one in her left hip and other in her right shoulders, stunning her for a bit.

"You really left quite the damage on her, Acheroni!" Morte praised while chuckling, he and Acheron having landed the hits on Cocolia at almost the same time.

"..." Acheron did not replied, her eyes closed as she got focused in order to slash the enemy.

Recovering from the initial pain of her injuries, it was however, too late for Cocolia already as a restraining spherical shield was put around her, locking the resurrected Supreme Guardian in place.

"You got her, Mr Svarog!" Clara exclaimed as she and Svarog were both standing a few meters away from the fight, the automaton having used one of his controlled giant robot hands to put a weakening shield on Cocolia.

She was now paralysed and her whole defense down. The opportunity to deliver the fatal blow was clear. Both Acheron and Morte were nearby as they could easily kill the resurrected Supreme Guardian with one single hit already. Yet, they decided to leave that honor to someone else.

"She's all yours now, spunky-girl!" Morte exclaimed torwards the top of a chimney from one of the abandoned houses in the area. "Make sure to end this in style!"

Standing on the top of the chimney and carrying her purple scythe, Seele took a deep breath while staring down at her target, the one who was hurting and tormenting Bronya these past few weeks. She would make sure that would be the last time. With a determinant and serious glare, Seele stepped down from the chimney and went all the way down to the floor at an incredible speed, moving like the wind while leaving butterflies behind.

"Go back to your grave!" Positioning her weapon, Seele dashed all the way torwards Cocolia, Svarog turning off the shield at the precise moment the girl's scythe swinged torwards the previous Supreme Guardian's chest. And in a quick manouver, Seele delivered the final blow, the sharp blade of her scythe slicing right through Cocolia who immediatly fell to her knees and collapsed on the ground, utterly defeated.

Spinning her scythe a bit and sticking it on the ground, Seele slightly adjusted her scarf as a soft breeze blew against her. "You will never dare hurt Bronya again."

And it was done. Morte's strategized plan had been executed to perfection, resulting in the party's victory against the resurrected Cocolia.

"Uhuu! We did it!" Luka went to congratulate Seele instantly, surprising her as he hastly put an arm over her shoulder and pulled Seele closer. "You were awsome, Seele! The way you ended up finishing her was pretty cool!"

"Eh, right back at ya, Luka!" Seele smiled to her friend. "With this, I hope Bronya gets to recover better now."

"Not only that, but Belobog can avoid severe consequences." Serval added, a satisfied and happy smile on her face. "And Gepard can come back."

"All is well that ends well!" Sampo commented, also reuniting with the group alongside Sparkle. "That better mean I at least get a month of immunity from the authorities. That and an official thank you from the Supreme Guardian herself."

"Not happening." Seele quickly told him with a rude glare. "Altough, I can make her consider that a bit."

"Don't know if I should feel hopeful or not for that..." Sampo replied, forcing his smile to stay.

"All that to defeat the 'bad guy' in under two minutes. Talk about fast." Sparkle said dismissingvily, having found this whole battle to be 'whatever' and way too quick for her enjoyment. She then stared up to Morte. "Next time, try adding a bit more of tension and explosions. It felt as entertaining as watching paint dry."

"What? And I thought spinning around in circles inside a barrel was a thing you would find entertaining." Morte 'lamented', shaking his head in a clear faked sadness, taking a jab at Sparkle.

"Glad that we were able to finish this and fast. The plan couldn't have went more perfectly!" Clara speaked. "Looks like Mr Morte really has the gift of crafting a perfect strategy."

Morte looked down to the child. "Well, I did said for you to put your lives and trust in me, didn't I?" He chuckled. "It helps having people who follow instruc-"

Looking to the defeated body of Cocolia, Clara noticed something. "Hm? Whats happening to her?" She pointed, making the entire party stare to the body of the previous Supreme Guardian.

Thankfully, it wasn't her getting back on her feet again to continue fighting. Quite the contrary, Cocolia's body begun to dissipate, crumbling away and deteriorate like greyish sand, her lifeless face fading away alongside the body, leaving nothing behind but a small pile of that sand and a seemingly small fragment of crystal on top of it, gaining even more attention.

"Uh? A crystal?" Acheron raised up an eyebrow, wondering what was a mineral doing inside Cocolia's resurrected body while Morte walked torwards it and grabbed.

"That does look suspicious." Seele commented, staring at the crystal now in the man's hand.

"Could that be the reason how Cocolia came back to life?" Clara pondered. "Was the crystal the source of energy that revived her?"

"The answers for that question can vary." Svarog responded. "Altough, if I can analyze it-"

But Svarog didn't even finished speaking when Morte, without warning, crushed the small crystal into dust with only the power of his sheer hand, having closed it tightly into a fist, much to the others collective shock. Now there was no way to know what it was.

"Why did you do that?" Acheron questioned Morte, kinda of rebuking the man for having acted hastily in destroying the crystal without hearing the other's opinion on it first.

"Why shouldn't I have done it?" Morte answered back. "For all we know, this crystal could have had the potential to be greatly dangerous in resurrecting people on the wrong hands, amongst other stuff. I was simply preventing such bad things being eliminated from happening."

"Still, we will never know what it was exactly as well as its properties since it's gone." Clara also wasn't particularly a fan on how Morte decided to just destroy the mineral instead of choosing to perserve it so that they could analyze exactly what it was.

"Some things are better left unspecified." Morte responded to Clara, smilling as he poked her forhead. "Ever heard about 'curiosity killed the cat' Clarice?"

"My name is not Clarice!" Clara responded angrily and frustrated, altough still cute.

"Whether the crystal was evil or whatever, I do not care." Seele gave her honest opinion about it. "All that matters is that we got rid of this problem. Now things should get back to normal."

"Eh, I suppose you're right on that." Acheron smiled to Seele. Truly, saving Belobog and ending what was causing Bronya's suffering was always more important. "With Cocolia gone, I think I know what you're going to do next."

Seele smiled back as answer as it seemed the Self-Annihilator's mind guessed correctly to where she was going now after the battle. "Yeah. Gonna check up on Bronya now."

.

.

.

"N-No! Stop! I told you to stop already!"

Fighting and trying to resist a losing battle inside her own mind, an injured and bruised Bronya got kicked to the ground by a relentless and cold Cocolia who was taunting her.

"Stop? This would have never begun in the first place if you had been a good obedient daughter and stayed by my side." Cocolia's distaste was palpable in her voice, staring to Bronya with vitriol. "I was the one who fed you. Dressed you. Teached you. I always made sure to take care of you, Bronya! And in the end, where is your gratitude for all that?"

"I'm...grateful for all those things you did on my childhood. Truly, I am." Bronya speaked with some difficulty as she was slowly and painfully getting up from the ground. No matter how much she tried, Bronya was unable to hit back or counter attack Cocolia, the deceased Supreme Guardian being nigh untouchable and assaulting the feeble current Supreme Guardian relentlessly. "However...the Stellaron ended up taking a tool on your mind in the end! You were too far gone, mother!" Bronya exclaimed, gathering the strenght to pick up her musket and point at Cocolia. "There was nothing else that could've been done!"

Firing a bullet, Bronya hoped that it would make the ghost of her mother to back off. Unfortunately, Cocolia easily parried the bullet away with one of her spears, proceeding to dash torwards the beaten Bronya and kick her daughter to the ground again.

"Ugh!" Groaning in pain, Bronya let the grip on her weapon go, falling to the ground. As she tried, with struggle, reach out for her musket while stretching her hand, Cocolia ended up stepping harshly on Bronya's hand, making her unable to grab the gun.

"There was. You could have always opted to follow me till the end. The entire nation of Belobog would be better that way." Cocolia said, her stoic and souless face staring down at Bronya. "With me, we could have prospered for eons."

Bronya just shook her head in denial. "No, mother...that's not..."

"It is true and you know it, Bronya. But instead, the child chosed to rebel against the parent who welcomed them. Thanks to that, the nation is now slave to the interests from people beyond the stars. Never to be truly free." Cocolia criticized Bronya's administration and deal with the IPC, stating that she had doomed the entire planet on the long run. "You have sealed your people's fate. Destroyed our hopes and dreams in favor of a more mediocre reality. Maybe, you jusnt wanted all the power to yourself, didn't you? That's why you wanted to get rid of me."

Being tormented and insulted by the very figure of her deceased mother, Bronya was starting to get on the verge of tears. "No! I-I didn't want that..! I still love you!"

"Lawless brat!" Cocolia rised up her voice, squeezing harder Bronya's hand. "If I knew you would end up backstabbing me, I would have locked and chained you on the deepest and coldest dungeon of Belobog until you learned your lesson. But maybe the blame is also mine for letting you get closer to those people of the Underworld." She said with disdain. "Perhaps it was my mistake for not having get ridden of them all when I could."

"P-Please, stop..." Bronya couldn't hold back anymore and so, tears begun to flow down her cheeks. "Stop saying all those disgusting things!" Looking up, Bronya's crying face met up with Cocolia's cold and stern one. "Don't defile my mother's memory like that..!"

As Bronya sobbed helplessly, with nothing that she could do, the Supreme Guardian felt a caressing hand of Cocolia softly touching and rubbing her head. "Aww, poor child. Look at you, so laughably pathetic." Crouching down, Cocolia drew a devious and vile soft smile on her face as she approached her mouth to Bronya's ear and whispered. "Belobog will fall. And it will be your weak reign that will cause it. A fragile nation, mirrorring its fragile ruler. With you in command, this planet shall collapse in ruin, Bronya. Give a year or two, and very soon, you will be cursing the day you and the people from outer space took away the salvation from Belobog's people."

"..." Bronya couldn't even reply, her daunted eyes just crying endlessly as every dooming word of Cocolia's mouth, even if spoken softly and gently, hammered roughly in her mind.

"So keep up with the 'good' job, my dear daughter. May the history books recognize you as the Supreme Guardian who failed to protect her nation." With that said, a cold icy breeze blew hauntingly against Bronya's back as Cocolia got up and begun to walk away and into the darkness around them, her chilling steps echoing less and less as she got further.

Hugging herself in agony and anguish, Bronya tried to call Cocolia back. "Don't...go away. Please mother, I'm...I'm...I'm sorry! I'm sorry for having killed you! Please forgive me! I'm sorry for what I've done!" She stretched out her arm, trying to reach for her fleeting mother, feeling like a lost child that was left behind.

"Don't abandon me! I don't want to be alone!"

"Mother!"

"MOTHER!"

"MOTHER!"

.

.

.

"Mother!...Ah...Ah...Ah.."

Waking up in frenzy, Bronya panted and breathed heavily, her entire body sweating, her pjama clothes feeling damp. Calming down and looking around, the Supreme Guardian realized it was all just an awful nightmare and she was back to her bedroom...again. For entire weeks, it had been an awful night after awful night, never been able of getting rest. But it all felt so real for her that Bronya even doubted if the visions and encounters she was getting with her deceased mother went way past just bad nightmares.

Even when looking to her own arms and legs, Bronya could see the visible bruises in them. Was Cocolia truly back and harming her? Or was Bronya just getting paranoid and harming herself? All in all, she knew this was no good, as it only caused her sanity to deteriorate. For over a week and half, she was uncapable of carrying out her functions as Supreme Guardian due to her recent poor health. She feared that deep down, she was starting to lose her mind just as her mother was, going down the same path as her.

"When will it end?" Tired and pained, Bronya brought her knees to her head and put her arms around them, feeling that if it continued like that, she would have no other choice but forfeit her duty as Supreme Guardian before Belobog could take any consequences from her absence. She just couldn't take it anymore.

"Bronya."

Hearing a voice, the Supreme Guardian lifted up her head and moved to the diraction from where the sound came. From her bedroom's door, she saw the only person who could've comfort her during these rough times: Seele.

With her by Bronya's side, the Supreme Guardian always felt her nights were less painful, her beloved's presence helping soothing the fear and suffering she was getting these past few weeks.

"Seele..." Murmuring, Bronya felt comfortable enough to let all out and start crying, having spent another dreadful sleep being terrorized by the ghost of her mother.

Fortunately, Seele understood it and immediatly went to consolate and calm Bronya in a warm and caring hug, letting her cry all the tears on her chest while gently patting her girlfriend's hair. "It's alright Bronya. It's alright. You don't have to weep anymore." Seele told her calmingly and sweetly, a comprehensive smile on her face, for she was about to bring great news to Bronya.

Cocolia was done for, never to harrow the Supreme Guardian ever again.

Chapter Text

"The Supreme Guardian wants to award us?" Acheron said a bit perplexed after hearing the news straight from Seele's mouth. It was the morning of a new day when Seele arrived to tell the news to her and Morte who had both spent the night in Seele's house upon her offer.

"Yep! You heard that right! Bronya wants to give you two medals as a show of gratitude for your efforts in solving the problem." Seele reconfirmed what the Emmanator of Nihility had just heard, a smile on her face. "So? Doesn't that makes you any bit excited?"

Morte, who was also listening to the conversation while laid back against the wall of Seele's house, wasn't looking that intrigued, taking a smoke of his cigar. "Wanting to reward us the day after we end with her mommy issues and only the two of us. Does she thinks we are dumb enough for not smelling a possible set-up?" The man pointed out.

And on that, Acheron had to give him a point, staring back to Seele. "While I don particularly 'agree' on many things that he may say, I have to do on this one. Mind you that we are on the IPC radars as wanted criminals." She said with skepticism. "While I don't want to assume the worst of Lady Bronya, what guarantees do we have that she won't try to detain and give us to the IPC?"

"Because it will be in private and of no one's public knowledge, meaning that the IPC has no idea about it." Seele answered, justifying why they should go and with no precaussions about it. "Plus, Bronya just isn't that type to backstab others. Her intentions to award you are pure from her heart." The girl procceeded to then smirk smugly. "I also might have helped a bit in that decision by telling your backgrounds as simple foreigners that ended up being of huge help to us, thus convincing that you are decent people. And Bronya believes it to be so."

"I see. Thanks for reassuring us then, Seele." Acheron replied with an empathetic smile. "By the way, when will that ceremony happen?"

"Oh. It will be in two hours from now." Seele said, continuing with her same dumb smile, causing a minor surprise on Acheron.

"In two hours? That suddenly?" The Self-Annihilator could hardly believe.

Tossing his cigar unceremoniously to the ground, Morte took his back off the wall. "Well, if we presume that the O Mighty Supreme Guardian has her schedule always busy, it'd make sense that she can hardly arrange things like a small ceremony at decent hours with all the paperwork. The sad cons of being a ruler." He stretched his own arms, doing some stretches and letting out a satisfied exhale. "To be honest, I was really not feeling like going. But then again, she might change her mind and rat us out if we do not show up. We are ethical people after all, aren't we, Acheroni?"

"You are the very example of one." Acheron answered boredly, wanting to ignore him.

"Why, thank you." Morte said in a sarcastic flamboyance, not really bothered with Acheron's sardonic response.

"Aw man, I'd also like to receive my own medal too!" Luka speaked, having arrived to Seele's house, accompanied by Clara and Serval, the latter having spent the night in the Underworld. "Why just you two?"

"Knowing Bronya, I'd say it is because she wants them to have it as a souvenir of sorts and a symbol of Belobog's gratefulness with them despite not being from here." Serval deduced. "Basically, a sign that they can always be welcomed here."

"Eh, quite the sharp intuition, Serval." Seele replied. "Since Jarilo-VI has only recently opened itself to the whole cosmos, Bronya wants to make sure that Belobog can leave as much of a good reputation to every foreigner that travels to here as possible. And don't worry Luka. She also plans on thanking you and everyone else that had helped defeat Cocolia's ghost, in person. "

"Welp! That's already something." Luka put both his hands behind his head. "But y'know? As long as the Supreme Guardian is fine, I think that medals and rewards are but secondary. I'm saving the empty space of my gallery for the trophies I'll won on tournments in the future!"

"I admit that I would also love to receive a medal from Lady Bronya herself..." Clara expressed, twirling her fingers a bit as she looked a bit shy on the face. "If it isn't asking much...Could you please show me the medals she gave to you once you come back?"

"..." Staring down to the girl a bit remorseful, Acheron proceeded to stare to Morte. And his stoic face in that moment was enough of an answer, as if he had just told her telepathically. Both the two the course of action they were most likely to take after receiving the medals from Bronya. "I am sorry but, we're leaving the planet after we get the rewards."

A revelation that downcasted Clara a bit. "Oh. You are?"

It even came as a surprise to the rest.

"That soon? Why not stick around for a few more days?" Serval questioned the duo. "I doubt you have seen everything Belobog has to offer in a day or two."

"A simple answer to that: 'Criminals' and agents of law don't do well together." Morte justified easily.

"He's right. Wheter you see us as good people or not, the IPC deems us as criminals. So staying in a place full of them rarely has the chance of ending well." Acheron added more to the justification. "Sorry, but that's just how it is. In order to avoid capture, it is either fleeing or fighting. And we don't want to bring dire consequences to your home planet by going with the second option."

"Well, can't exactly blame ya for that." Seele responded, accepting and understanding their situation. "If you wanna leave, then go for it. You are in your right to."

"Aww man, it sucks! Just when I was looking forward to our future brawl fight." Luka lamented, looking to Morte, craving so much to fight a strong opponent such as him. "Now I'll have to wait only-god-knows how long for that opportunity."

Morte however found a bit of amusement in that idea. "If you want a fight, boxer-boy, we can have one right now at this instant." He said, about to take off his cloak.

"Better leave it for a next time!" Acheron quickly halted Morte from taking it off, looking to Luka. "That way you can become extra ready when facing him. It'd be a lot better that way, don't you think?" She tried to convince him to change ideas, knowing very well that Luka would be signing up for his death if he were to fight Morte.

Luka stared at her a bit confused. "Have more time to train..." Giving it some tought, he ended up smiling. "Right! That doesn't sound like a bad advice at all! I'll make sure to train each day for that fateful combat between us then!"

Meanwhile, Clara came up with another solution. "So, if you can't show me the medals in person, will you at least send me photos of it, please?"

Acheron gave a warm smile to the girl. That she could do. "Yes, I'll make sure to send you one. That's a promise." She kindly patted Clara on the head. The Self-Annihilator made a note to herself that she'd better make an annotation for it in order to not forget or have Morte reminding it to her. Which she doubted he would do that.

"You better be the one taking the photo and sending to the kiddo, Acheroni." Morte told her, having his archaic flip-phone in hand. "I doubt mine's camera would be on the best quality."

"W-What's that?" Clara looked at the phone in Morte's hands with bewilderment.

"Is that...Is that supposed to be a phone?" Luka commented, never having seen one like that before.

"Can it even run internet on that thing?" Seele speaked, eyeying the old rusty phone with awkwardness.

Serval however, looked beyond excited. "Wow! Those still exist? I can't believe it!" She said amazed, gawking over it as she leaned closer to Morte. "C-Can I touch it for a moment please?"

"Hm? Sure I suppose. Just don't delete the snake game." Morte let Serval grab it for a moment.

"Retro keys constructed in it. Small, almost quadricular size of the screen. The conjuction of the phone's upper body to lower body. Ooh, it's just like the ones I read in those old books!" Serval eyes shinned a bit in awe. "And I thought they were but a myth at some point. Well, despite the obvious poor state that it's currently in, this is still quite the finding! I'd love inspecting it piece by piece in my workshop!" She then smiled sweetly over to Morte. "Will you be kind enough to give it to me?"

"No." Morte responded nonchalantly, taking another cigar from his pocket.

"I'll give you a new, better and more modern phone." Serval insisted, continuing with her smile.

"No." Morte responded in the same way, lightning his cig.

"Are you a geezer or something!?" Serval raised up her voice, a bit irritated at Morte's passive yet strong resistance of giving his phone away.

"Then you'll really do it? Will you send a photo of the medals to me?" Clara asked, wanting to reconfirm Acheron's decision.

"I will. Don't worry about that." Acheron reassured the girl, slightly crouching down to get at her level. "It will be a sign of rememberance of our passage through this planet. And of how I met many good and wonderful people here. A very pure-hearted and brave young girl amongst them."

Blushing a bit, Clara couldn't be able to contain a joyful smile escaping across her lips, giggling lovingly. "Thank you, Ms Acheron!" She ended up hugging the Emmanator of Nihility.

"!" Acheron herself was slightly stunned by Clara's sudden hug. It felt...warm, friendly and kind. A tender hug that her body could feel over the effectless cold of the snow. How it made her ponder when it was the last time she had got an hug? From all the sensority her being was losing due to the syntoms of IX, Acheron was glad that she wasn't losing the touch as much as she was with taste. She ended up hugging the girl back.

A comovent image that was enough to result in the smiles of Seele, Luka and Serval.

Clara leaned her head on Acheron's chest. "I'll also make sure to remember you-?" But quickly, the girl's smile faded away once she realized something awful about the woman she was hugging, faintly gasping. That she was missing something. A thing that was normal on all humans and even animals to listen. Yet, she couldn't hear it from Acheron, being completly silent. "M-Ms Acheron..."

"Hm? What is it Clara?" Acheron looked at the girl with some puzzlement, wondering if everything was alright with her.

However, before Clara could tell her something, the girl gazed at the tall and menacing figure of Morte standing behind Acheron and looking down at her.

Eyeing the girl with the silent, yet cold and ruthless eyes of his, Morte simply put a finger in front of his lips, gesturing to Clara that whatever was the disturbing truth that she found out, to not tell to Acheron, being a thing not meant for her to know yet. He trusted a kid like her could keep a secret well. Otherwise, she would regret slipping it out.

"N-Nothing." Clara said, quickly making up a smile on her face, wanting to disway any possible implications of something being wrong. "I just hope you two have a nice and safe travel on your journey through the cosmos! Always feel free to visit Belobog again whenever you like it!"

"Thank you. I appreciate your words." Acheron responded, finding a bit odd on how sudden the change on Clara's mood was. But maybe that was just her being a child not wanting the possibility of having new friends to go away, Acheron thought.

"Then I guess this is certainly a goodbye." Serval decided to say hers to the duo. "Once again, thank you for helping Belobog avoid a crisis. And subsequently saving my brother. I owe you that much."

"Have you already went to see him?" Acheron asked her, wondering if Gepard was freed from the IPC by now once Bronya got better.

"I did. Thankfully, he's alright. Geppie's a tough guy." Serval said with a joyful relief. "Taking him back from the IPC's hands was the very first thing Lady Bronya immediatly did once she heard about it. Even then, a part of me feared that I would never see him again. So I thank you from the bottom of my heart for preventing that scenario from happening."

"Friends and family really are a precious thing, aren't they?" Acheron replied, able to feel Serval's happiness from seeing and knowing her brother was fine. "Always make sure to spend as much time as you can with them."

Serval slightly nodded to that. "Right."

"So, where will you be heading next?" Luka asked them. "The space is a huge place, so the options are endless."

"As of now, we don't really have any specific destination in mind. You could say we will go to wherever fate decides to guide us." Acheron responded a bit cryptically.

"Actually, I do have a place in mind." Morte speaked, lifting up his hand.

"Then save that for later." Acheron said a bit vexed, not wanting him to ruin what she said previously.

"Hehe, you're a cool and funny bunch." Luka chuckled. "Hope that we one day might meet each other again! I'll be waiting for that fight!"

"Poor kid will sure have the waiting of a lifetime." Morte whispered to Acheron to the side, not really planning on seeing Luka ever again. "By the way,talking about funny bunch, where are those two fools? Thought we'd find them here as well."

"Who? Sampo and that annoyingly crazy girl?" Seele speaked. "I'd bet that they've already went away. After all, Bronya and Belobog in general has quite a few reasons to see Sampo behind bars. As for his colleague, I assume she must have followed him."

"I sure hope so." Acheron replied, crossing her arms. "And that Sparkle isn't up to no good."

"I know it will start to sound repetitive, but thanks for all your help in these days." Seele gave her turn to say goodbye. "I don't know if we could have done it without you. Eh, guess it is becoming a sort of omen for Belobog to be saved by people of outer space when in trouble. Don't know if that makes our nation look exactly well." She scratched the back of her head.

"It makes your nation to be well persistent." Acheron responded. "That even against the harshest of adversitites, your civilization will always preserve itself and survive. If anything, that makes Belobog even a more worthy nation to admire."

Hearing that, Seele ended up smirking. "When you put it like that...jeez! I guess it really makes us sound stronger than what we are."

"Because you are strong." Acheron told her, thinking otherwise. "While the end can and will always be an inevitability, I can gaze at a distant future where Belobog still prevails and prospers."

"..." Not opening his mouth to comment, Morte listened attensiously to Acheron's words. He had to admit that she speaked her points well.

"Alright, alright! That convinced me already!" Seele replied, hearing Acheron speak feeling a bit mind-opening. "Do you usually say that philosophical stuff all the time?"

"When the scenario is appropriate, yes." Acheron responded, giving an overall look to the four Belobogians in front of her. "It was nice, meeting all of you. It showed me that this planet is very fortunate to have people like you that strive in order to keep it alive. May Belobog always be your home." She said deeply, coming from her heart. having experienced what it was like to lose one's planet before.

"We will make sure of it!" Seele responded, she and the rest of the Belobog group encouraged by the Self-Annihilator's speech. "And...hell! Did I already told you that seeing your face gives me some sort of weird feelings?" She chuckled.

Acheron gave a small and soft smile in return. "The feeling's mutual."

"Aren't you also heading to the ceremony?" Morte asked to Seele.

"Huh? Me?" Seele looked at the man a bit confused.

"You are her girlfriend after all, are you not?" Morte explained. "Thought you'd like being near her and all that stuff."

"Hm!" Seele blushed red, embarrassed. "W-Well, the ceremony isn't f-for me! Plus, I alwayd find them boring!" Sulking a bit, she eyed to the side, still with a bit of bad mood. "But that thing you said yesterday. About spending more time with Bronya. I'll follow that advice."

"Really? I wasn't expecting that you would, to be honest." Morte responded, having originally said that just to mess with Seele. "But anyways, I suppose that I can be happy for that."

"By the way, don't forget to create the group." Seele told to the man.

"A group?" Acheron lifted an eyebrow, wondering what Seele was talking about.

Morte sighed. "Yes, I will. You don't have to remind me of that from five to five minutes."

"You don't sound very convincing then." Seele replied.

"I'm AWFULLY tired." Morte put emphasis on the word.

"Bullshit!" Seele jumped torwards him, squeezing and rotating her fist against Morte's cheek while clinging on his back. "I want to hear it again and with more energy this time!"

Morte rolled his eyes before giving an annoyed smirk. "Alright! Alright! I solemnly promise to create the group chat labeled 'Cool Scythe Users' and add you to it! First member and everything!" He then gave a more smuggish smile. "But I warn you beforehand that I'll always call you spunky-girl in there." He had to admit, as much as Seele could be a bit annoyingly impulsive and persistent, he also found that to be a bit amusing on her.

"Hunf! That's what I thought." Seele stopped bothering Morte, satisfied with his response.

" Cool...Scythe Users?" Acheron eyed at Morte with some strangeness.

"Her idea. Not mine." Morte told her rapidly. "But we better get moving and not let Her Highness in waiting." He said before turning around, waving his hand in the air while walking away. "Remember! Always sleep and eat well for a longer life!"

All the others just looked at him walk away a bot dumbfounded.

"He's clearly weird." Serval muttured.

"But he sure gives nice advices!" Luka replied, thinking Morte was overall a nice guy.

Acheron just sighed. Trying to understand Morte just felt impossible. "Well, I'll have to go too. Farewell guys." She said, beggining to walk away from them in order to catch up to Morte.

"It was nice meeting you, Ms Acheron!" Clara happily waved goodbye to Acheron, the Emmanator of Nihility lifting her hand in response. Having been the only one to learn the horrible possibility surrounding Acheron, Clara hoped for the best about her. "Please stay safe."

Reaching to the headquarters of the Supreme Guardian, the Qlipoth Fortress, Acheron and Morte were standing in front to the gates that separated the hall from Bronya's office.

"So? Are you ready to meet with the O Mighty Highness herself?" Morte asked to Acheron, the two about to enter.

But before they did, there was a thing that was bugging Acheron's mind so far ever since yesterday's night. "Didn't you found weird?"

"Hm?" Morte turned his head around, looking with a slight puzzled look torwards Acheron behind him.

"On how we defeated Cocolia. Don't you think it was a bit too easy of a fight compered to when we first fought against her?" Acheron explained. "It was as if she had gotten weaker all of a sudden. Not saying that we wouldn't be able to win if she wasn't. Yet, you weren't expecting to have been that easy, were you?"

"..." Morte slightly narrowed his gaze to Acheron before grinning a bit, taking his sight away from her. "Well, that's what happens when you have more people to help and a defined strategy. As well as knowing the enemy better." He responded, not having the same impressions from the battle that Acheron had. "It is only natural to eventually defeat an enemy after some tries."

Acheron still wasn't fully sure of it, but she accepted for now that she might as well could be overthinking it. "If you say so." Acheron replied, now standing side by side with Morte. "Let's head in." She said, both passing through the gates, entering Bronya's office.

And right at the entrance, there was Pela to greet them. "Hello there! Nice to meet you again! It is an honor you ended up coming!"

"Ah, it's you." Acheron looked to the small young woman, trying her best to remember her name. "Eeeh...P...Pe.."

"Pela." She reminded it to Acheron.

"Right. It is also a pleasure to see you again." Acheron said.

"And who would've thought that it would be the same case for me." From the other side of the room, Gepard appeared, walking torwards them. "I knew there was something about you the moment we first met. Glad that my intuition ended up being right for good."

"On duty already, Captain Boy Scout? It seems the IPC were treating you well during captivity uh." Morte commented, seeing by Gepard's appearence how he was doing relatively fine.

"Apart from being imprisoned in a cell and cuffed, they really didn't do much else to me. Guess I was lucky that they weren't feeling sadistic." Gepard responded, thankful that he didn't end up passing through a traumatic experience.

"What about the IPC representative that you punched? Will there be any repercussions to it?" Acheron asked Gepard, remembering that accident.

"Don't worry. That is a case that has been resolved thanks to Lady Bronya's negotiations." Gepard responded. "She was able to pacify the relations of Belobog with the IPC despite the accident. And I'm grateful for it." He said with a sad frown of guilt. "Things could have gone worse to this nation because I couldn't control myself."

"Hey now. Everyone has an off day. It's normal." Pela tried to make Gepard not feel bad about it. "Plus, you said that the IPC official you punched was speaking awful things to Serval, right? Then you had every right to punch him in my opinion."

"Even so, it isn't an exemple that a captain of the Silverman Guards to give." Gepard replied, still thinking he should have behaved better. "Had the treaty between Belobog and IPC fell because of that action of mine, I wouldn't be able to live with myself for having inadvertently caused harm on my people."

"But you didn't. I know it probably doesn't serve much of a consolation but don't think about it." Acheron adviced to Gepard. "Instead, think on how you can make up for that mistake you think you have made and continue to be the captain the Supreme Guardian, your soldiers and Belobog need."

Going a bit into an introspective, Gepard ended up taking her words into consideration. "If you say so...Yeah. I'll try and make up for my mistake like you said. A dispirited captain is of no good to the nation he wants to protect."

Acheron smiled briefly, happy that he wouldn't let that accident drag him down.

"Lady Bronya is waiting you right at her desk at the end of the room." Pela informed the two. "Do please follow us."

Doing as instructed, Acheron and Morte walked behind Pela and Gepard, being guided torwards Bronya's desk, where the Supreme Guardian herself was waiting for them.

"Greetings and salutations, visitors from afar." Bronya introduced herself to them, putting on a royal posture. "I, Bronya Rand, Supreme Guardian of Belobog, have requested your presence here in order to thank you for your crucial help in saving Belobog from a potential crisis. It is under that context that I am very pleased to meet you here at my domain." She smiled kindly.

"The pleasure is ours, Supreme Guardian." Acheron replied. "However, as the Supreme Guardian herself must have known by now, there was also others who did a lot of effort to see you get well again. We merely appeared at the end, and we might wouldn't have shown up at all if it wasn't for those who were worried with the Supreme Guardian since the start." The Self-Annihilator was altruistic, not making the help Seele, Luka and the others had in this to be forgotten.

Bronya giggled a bit, empathically. "Yes, their part in this won't go unnoticed. So do not worry about that. For now, you shall be the first ones to be rewarded."

"Those are nice words and all Your Majesty, but do answer me this." Morte speaked up, not having any bit of formality torwards a figure of authority that was Bronya, unlike Acheron. "There really isn't any hidden cameras in here, guards or IPC people waiting for us outside this room at this precise moment that we're speaking, is there? Can never be paranoic enough, y'know?"

Willing to ignore Morte's clear lack of manner in his dialogue, Bronya responded. "As a Supreme Guardian, I know of the value of keeping up promises and words of trust." Bronya reassured to the duo. "There will be no guards or IPC to capture you the moment you step out of this room or building. You have my amnesty and permission to roam Belobog as free people as long as you swear the oath of not commiting crimes."

"Ah. Wonderful to know!" Morte said with an exagerrated relieved voice, putting both his hands together. "The Supreme Guardian is as kind and merciful as the people said you were."

A comment that everyone else felt to have been made in a sarcastic nature. Both Gepard and Pela narrowed their eyes, not liking the way Morte was conducting himself, whereas Acheron just gave him a slight distrustful look, wondering if he was trying to make up a scene here.

Whereas Bronya couldn't help but have a strange feeling about Morte, she decided to continue to ignore and tolerate the man's 'peculiar' behaviour. "W-Well, secondary topics aside, let us proceed with the decoration ceremony, shall we?" The Supreme Guardian eyed to Pela, signaling her to go pick up the medals.

Obeying so, Pela went to pick up a small pillow with two silver medals resting on it, giving it to Bronya. "Here they are, Lady Bronya."

Nodding thankfully, Bronya went to stare to both Acheron and Morte in front of her. "Now, do take a step forward and receive your rewards, brave foreigners."

Before going in, Acheron gave a look to Morte, wondering if he wanted to receive his medal first.

"Ladies first." Morte gestured corteously to Acheron, letting her receive her medal before him.

With that answer given, Acheron stepped forward, standing right next in front of Bronya.

Picking up one of the two medals, Bronya proceeded to put it around Acheron's neck while giving a small speech. "To you, observant and experient warrior. May this medal bless you and highten your status of a great legend across the stars as well as the symbol of Belobog's gratitude for your services."

Acheron gave a small nod. "Thanks." While the medal didn't meant much to her, she didn't mind keeping it as recordation for all the people she met in this planet. That, and the fact Bronya's face felt somewhat nostalgic to stare at. "This person...Bronya eh?"

Having given the medal to Acheron, it was now Morte's turn, the man natural tall frame towering over Bronya.

"And to you, stalwa-!" Yet, Bronya's entire body freezed in that moment once she got a closer look to Morte. Chills runned down through her spine as she saw the tall figure near her. That face of his. She could sware she had seen that machiavellian face before, somewhere. And so, the painful memories from the recent previous nights came back to her mind. "Y...You...You are..." The eyes of the Supreme Guardian quivered in terror as she couldn't stop from staring at the menacing man in front of her, frightned and speechless as her entire body felt like it was losing energy.

"Hm? Whats wrong?" Morte's voice echoed as he looked down at the scared and horrified Supreme Guardian, a sinister grin creeping onto his face. "Can't even remember your own mother now?"

"...remember your own mother now?"

Paralyzed in dread, Bronya heard the whispering voice right next to her ear, the deceased Supreme Guardian's voice speaking alongside Morte's, making the same sinister grin as the man.

"Lady Bronya...Lady Bronya...Lady Bronya!"

Snapping out from her afraid state, the Supreme Guardian came back to her senses as Pela was now standing next to her, a hand on Bronya's shoulder. Gepard also near her.

"Are you feeling okay, Lady Bronya?" Pela asked, worried about Bronya's condition.

"I..." Giving a look of initial confusion, wondering what had just happened, Bronya stared back at Morte, the man still waiting for his medal.

"So? Gonna stay admiring my body like an idiot all day or what?" Morte asked her, getting a little impatient.

"..." Acheron frowned slightly. She sense that something didn't felt right in here.

Gepard immediatly tried to reprimand Morte. "Watch your tongue! That is in no way, an adequate language to use to the Supreme Guardian in her presence!"

"Step down, Gepard!" Bronya immediatly told him, trying to compose herself.

"Uh? But Lady Bronya, you didn't loo-" Gepard tried to speak before being cut off by Bronya herself.

"I'm alright! Just been having some lack of proper rest and sleep lately. No need to worry about me." Wanting the cerimony to proceed without incidents, Bronya was about to restart, trying to shake off her bad hunch about Morte and what her mind had just saw. "To you, stalwa-"

"Let us just skip this whole speech part, alright?" Morte cut Bronya short, unceremoniously grabbing the medal from her hands.

An action that was met with the stares of shock from Bronya, sudden indignation in Pela and Gepard, and of barely hidden repulse by Acheron. This was of an entire disrespectful conduct on Morte's part, having little consideration whatsoever for this ceremony.

"This is what we came here for? A shiny silver scrap of metal?" Morte analyzed the medal now held in his fingers, seeing rather as worthless. " A symbol of Belobog's gratitude...Pff! There's seriously people who die for this crap?" He speaked rather with contempt, seeing no value in the medal of all. Just a wasteless piece of garbage. "And here you are offering it to strangers as if they were candies. You can keep it." Morte said, dismissingly throwing the medal back at Bronya to catch it, not even looking at her.

"!" A bit stunned, Bronya ended up being almost surprised by the medal being hurled at her, having barely enough of a reaction to grab the item.

In utter offense, Pela was about to fervently scold Morte. "Hey! Show some respect to our history! Who the hell-"

"Let it be, Pela!" Bronya ordered her. "A medal is just a medal. What he does with it or if he wants to keep it or not, is irrelevant. What matters are the actions with Belobog's nation." She said, wanting to avoid trouble in here despite Morte's obvious disregard for the whole thing.

"But..." Despite feeling unfair, Pela did not dared to defy her Guardian's order, calming herself down. "Yes, Lady Bronya."

Morte smirked. "Hm, you speak well, Your Highness. It is always good to have rulers with notion." He then gave a 'chivalrous' bow torwards Bronya. "It was most certainly a delightful pleasure meeting you and this warm and welcoming planet." He said politely, before moving his head up and giving a haunting grin torwards Bronya. "May Belobog's prosperity last eternally."

"..." Bronya did not replied, feeling all the chills and fearful sensations again even if briefly. She could tell who or whatever this 'man' was, is that he was danger.

"Continue to live in peace, my dear belobogian friends!" Morte exclaimed, walking away torwards the exit of the room, taking out a cigar from his pocket.

Gepard could only feel pure loathing for the man as he watched him leave. "You low scum, disgusting piece of..." He muttered, proceeding to restrain his own emotions, not wanting to a similar accident with the IPC official to happen.

"Are you coming?" Morte asked to Acheron as he walked past her, the Emmanator of Nihility's averse stare looking back to Morte's goading one.

"Give me a minute." Acheron responded, seeing Morte leave the room. He for sure would have some explanation to do to her. But first, she wanted to check on Bronya. "Supreme Guardian, are you okay?"

"Yes...I am." Bronya replied, still feeling a sort of uneasiness. "My health just hasn't been able to recover properly since yesterday."

Acheron accepted the answer even tough she knew that much likely wasn't the case for Bronya to have felt anxious. "My humblest apologies about my travelling companion. He's...not the nicest of persons."

"That sounds like an understatement." Pela replied. "Already at the museum, he'd give some odd vibes. He seems to act like some sort of bully!"

"I should've known that guy is of no good." Gepard also commented. "I know I shouldn't be making assumptions on people I barely know anything about but...that man just doesn't sit right with me."

"The ceremony is already over and he's gone. I'm sure we can gloss over the small lack of etiquette from him." Bronya advised to her two workers, despite aware that she herself would have an hard time forgetting Morte's face and what she experienced. "Yet, when looking at him I just..."

"True, what happened, happened." Acheron replied. "We're already leaving Jarilo-VI either today or by tomorrow morning. So if it gives some comfort to the Supreme Guardian, you won't have to see him again." She informed Bronya about their departure, hoping that it would make her feel a bit relieved.

"Ah, I see. If so, I hope you liked visiting our nation duriong your short trip to here. I'm sorry however that it couldn't have been a relaxing trip and you ended up dragged into a mess due to my ill state." Bronya said, thinking that Acheron's visit on Belobog wasn't that enjoyable due to stumbling upon a problem that had nothing to do with her.

"No, it's alright. I was glad that I could've been of help." Acheron shook her head, telling to the Supreme Guardian to not feel guilty about it. "With or without trouble, I still found Belobog to be a nice and loving place with good people. And the Supreme Guardian is no different."

"Eh, thank you." Bronya let out a kind smile form on her mouth. "I have to say, I think Seele was right when she told me about you, Lady Acheron. Your face doesn't seem strange to me. Like I've seen it somewhere before."

Acheron chuckled a bit. "The Supreme Guardian also has quite the memorable face. And Bronya, eh?" She slightly lowered her head, her mind feeling a tingling. "It sure sounds like a common name."

"Perhaps it does." Bronya responded, seeing how thoughtful and understanding Acheron was, clearly an interesting character. "Anyways, before you leave, is there anything that you'd like Belobog to give you as supplies?"

Acheron denied the offer. "No there isn't, Supreme Guardian. They should only be meant for the people of Belobog as they can need it more than I do. Still, I respect the suggestion."

"A wise response." Bronya told to Acheron, proceeding to wish her well. "May you continue your journey through the cosmos in blessings and full of joy, kind visitor."

Acheron made a brief, courteous bow. "Thank you, Supreme Guardian. May Belobog's existence be everlasting." And with that, she said goodbye to Bronya as well as Pela and Gepard, proceeding to walk out of the room.

"I have to say. Ms Acheron truly feels like a nice person." Pela said once the Self-Annihilator left the room. "It is almost hard to believe she hangs around with someone like that man."

"Perhaps she knows something about him that we don't." Gepard replied. "But I'm sure there must be a good reason for it." He then turned to Bronya. "By the way, Lady Bronya, you were looking awfully considerate of Lady Acheron even if you two never met. May we know the reason why?"

Bronya gave a soft chuckle. "Honestly, I do not know." She looked up to the ceilling. "It just felt...like meeting up with an old friend."

Once out of the Supreme Guardian's office, Acheron was back to the hallway, her mind now totally focused on one thing and one thing only: question Morte.

Luckily for the Emmanator of Nihility, the man was just a few meters away from the gates, his back turned on her, passively smoking his cigar. Having her sight on Morte, Acheron begun walking torwards him. He had some explaining to do.

Hearing her footsteps, Morte turned around to see Acheron approaching him. "So? Did the Supreme Guardian sent her thoughts and prayers to us?"

"What have you done?" Acheron asked, ignoring Morte's question.

"Hm?" Morte raised an eyebrow, pretending he didn't knew what Acheron was talking about. "What are you-"

"Don't act oblivious with me!" Acheron heighten her voice, slapping the cigar out of Morte's hand. "I saw very well how she reacted to you. You...You did something to her, didn't you?" She interrogated the man, eyeing him with very suspicion as well as some ire.

"Tsk! Oh, poor Acheron. I simply did nothing at all." Morte replied, feigning innocence. "Your Allmighty Majesty just needs to take better care of her health. Wasn't everyone going around stating how these past few nights have been rough for her? It ain't my fault she hasn't been able to sleep."

"And you want me to believe that? After seeing how pale and afraid she was just by looking at you?" Acheron insisted, not buying Morte's defense. "This isn't your first time in Belobog. What were you up to?"

Seeing that Acheron was persisting, not falling for his act, Morte gave her an irksome smile. "Great. Now everything is my fault." He turned around, moving and gesturing with his arms. "Someone is walking on the street and suddenly starts having a convulsion. Who's fault it is? Mine. A terrorist attack or assassination attempt occurs. Who was behind it? Me. Entire civilzations are wipped out. Planets dying one by one. Tragedies and genocides! And who caused it all? Me. Me. Me! ME!" Morte shouted agressively the last word, resulting in Acheron to instinctively approach her hand to her sword. "It always has to be my fault. It gets soooo annoying." He said, looking over the view through the giant window in front of him.

"Not like your behaviour helps at all on the suspicions people have on you." Acheron pointed out, referring to the disrespect Morte showed back there with the medal. "Or you think Bronya just decided to look at you that way for no reason at all?"

Morte smirked, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, perhaps she was mesmerized by my appearence. I'm well famous after all, Acheroni. It wouldn't be the first time."

"Hunf! If you're that famous, how come I never heard about you before? Let alone anyone in here recognize you?" Acheron said. While it was true that her memory wasn't the best, she had traveled to a lot of locations across the cosmos. And never once she had heard about Morte's name before meeting with him.

"Because I'm famous, but not in the way you usually think of." His smirk gave a more 'eerie' turn, some of the smoke from the cigar he had just took coming out from his mouth. "I know everyone. And everyone knows me, despite not being seen by many. I am a simple guy who just likes to go around the universe, Acheroni." His smirk then diminuished, now speaking on a more low and serious tone. "And wherever life is, I'll be there."

"Is that supposed to be a riddle?" Acheron asked, still with her same dubious and sour stare to Morte. "Because if it is, I am not willing to partake in it. I already came to the conclusion that you are a possible threat. Almost like a dangerous Emmanator. Are you supposed to be one by chance?"

As the mood between the two grew into a silent tension, Morte ended up just smilling, turning around to walk away. "Who knows?"

An answer that was met by the sharp blade of the Self-Annihilator, who quickly sliced out Morte's arm, the limb falling to the ground, stenching the floor with blood. The man himself just gave no reaction at all, looking at his cut off arm as if it was just a small inconvenience.

"You better don't step out of the line." Acheron threatened Morte, stashing her sword as she stood next to him. "Due to being just assumption of little evidence, I'll let this one pass. Altough you better remember what we've discussed about when I decided to venture the cosmos together. If I discover you causing harm on innocents, I'll slice your body down to pieces."

"..." Morte didn't respond, just keeping his stoic face.

"Remember that when you try to plot up something next time." Acheron begun to walk away, heading down the hall, having made her warning to Morte clear. She knew it probably wouldn't have much affect on Morte, but at least it served as a warning that if Morte tried something out, he would be met with resistance from her part.

Seeing her walking away, Morte restored back his arm, not helping but to subtly grin. "How straightforward from you." He commented softly, also beggining to walk in order to catch up to her. He didn't felt threatened or intimidated. Not at all. If anything, having Acheron around to try and supervise his actions felt more intriguing of a challenge. He certainly couldn't have asked for a more interesting travelling companion to entertain him, liking how she'd stick around to a danger like him. "Who has who on a leash?"

After two hours of walking torwards their spacecraft, majorily silent with one another, Acheron and Morte ended up reaching to their destination, having left it on the snow plains of Jarilo-VI, just some kilometers away from Belobog.

"Ah, just like how we left off." Morte was happy to see nobody or nothing had seemed to have touched or damaged their ship, heading torwards the entrance ramp. "Wanna come in or stay outside for a bit? Take this as an opportunity to make some snow angels if you want, Acheroni."

"I'll go inside in a few minutes." Acheron told him, remembering something. "Also, about that comment of yours earlier about having a destination in mind. May I know which new location are we heading to now?"

Morte responded without much ceremony. "Xhianzou Luofu. I have a friend to meet up with there."

"A friend?" Acheron replied, a bit puzzled. She didn't expected someone like Morte would have friends.

"Yes. My friend is about to have a 'special' event occuring soon there. So I decided that we should go give a little hop there for the occasion. Stuff of business." Morte explained, smilling. "Intrigued, Acheroni?"

"The Luofu hum..." Acheron put a thumb under her chin. "I've always heard about the Xhianzou Alliance and know of the influence they have on the cosmos. Yet, I never been aboard in one of its home ships."

"Then get prepared to see it for the first time. It is quite the wonderful place." Morte chuckled, turning around and entering the ship. "A blast, some might even say."

Watching Morte walking into the spacecraft, Acheron was now alone. She took the chance to glance at the snowy scenario of Jarilo-VI for the last time. Softly gasping, Acheron remembered of the promise she made to Clara suddenly, proceeding to pick up her medal and take a photo of it with her phone, eventually sending the photo to Clara. She hoped the girl would like it. With that done, Acheron went back to enjoy the natural view of the planet when...

"...Crap." The Self-Annihilator ended up slapping her own face once she realized something bad for them. The money. They didn't had any. She had completly forgotten about that problem. Had she remembered it, Acheron would have most likely ask some to Bronya. But that chance had gone away by now, the Self-Annihilator not really feeling like heading all the way back to Belobog just to ask for money. "Whatever. We'll think about that later." Acheron thought to herself, about to head into the spaceship. But a presence made her stop in her tracks, quickly taking out her sword and turning around, pointing at whoever tried to approach her from behind.

"Woahwoahwoahwoah! HEY THERE! D-DON'T KILL ME!" Sampo shouted in total terror, immediatly falling to the ground as he desperatly tried to back away, his hands up in the air in self-defense.

"Hm? Sampo?" Seeing who it was, Acheron stored back her sword, seeing him as of no threat. "What are you doing here?"

"W-Well, I was leaving the planet today as well. My own ship is also stationed nearby." Sampo explained, getting up from the ground while dusting the snow away from his clothes. "When I ended up seeing you out here and decided to have a talk. A bad choice by the looks of it."

"Sorry. It is just a force of habit. Can't never stay with your back down." Acheron apologized to Sampo for her sudden reaction to his presence. "Where's Sparkle by the way? Shouldn't she be with you?"

"Oh, her? She told me she had to do something first before we left Jarilo-VI." Sampo responded, scratching the back of his head. "Which knowing her, I hope it doesn't mean trouble."

"I too pray for that." Acheron replied. It would be an headache if Sparkle decided to pull one of her pranks before she left, prompting Acheron to help the belobogians deal with the situation. "That's why you should keep her close."

"Well, usually if I do, she just ends up pulling me into her pranks as a punching bag. It's...tiresome." Sampo said with slight displeasure. "Anyways, you're going to the Luofu now?"

"You were hearing to our conversation?" Acheron narrowed her gaze to Sampo.

"M-My ears just ended up catching wind of it!" Sampo said in his own defense, stuttering a bit. "I-I wasn't eavesdropping or anything!"

Acheron just sighed. She just couldn't see Sampo as someone dangerous or thretaening. "Fine. Are you also heading to Luofu too?"

"Nope! Not in my plans." Sampo replied.

"Then to where to?" Acheron asked, wanting to know.

"Can't say it. It's secret!" Sampo gave a bit of a playful smirk, putting a finger in front of his lips. "I am...you can say that I am on a 'mission'."

"A mission? What kind of mission?" The Self-Annihilator looked addled, wanting to know what was the thief referring to.

"To save Belobog." Sampo replied, serious. "I don't know if you've realized it but, there's something wrong happening behind the curtains here."

"How so?" Acheron asked, curious.

"I can't exactly explain. It's that I feel there is something sinister surging within Belobog. Something that can put the entire nation in danger." Sampo replied, fully sure on what he was saying. "Perhaps the appearence of the ghost of Cocolia was an omen to it. One of many possible others that will follow. An incoming catastrophe is soon to happen on this planet! I can tell it!" The thief closed his hand into a fist. "Yet, I am still to figure out what exactly is, before it can be too late."

"I see." Acheron replied, able to tell just by Sampo's face, that he really felt worried about the situation he was speaking of. "You really care about your home despite being seen as a thief by everyone, don't you?"

"It is a role I am more than pleased to fulfill." Sampo replied back, smilling. "I know that tricksters and pranksters can be a bit annoying, and sometimes even go beyond limits." Sampo gave a side glance, most likely referring to Sparkle. "However, there is nothing wrong in making people laugh once in a while. Being happy and smile from time to time..." Crouching down, the thief grabbed a bit of snow, looking at it on his hand. "Is all that someone might need sometimes in order to go through tough times. So I really don't care if anyone sees me or remembers me as a low, petty and scumbag thief." He lifted up his head, watching the snowflakes fall from the sky. "If Belobog ever happens to go through another dire period, where the people forget about the joy of fun, I will always be there to entertain them back."

"Hum. You're a good person, Sampo." Acheron smiled gently, finding the thief's overall purpose to be a bit endearing. Maybe to everyone else in Belobog, Sampo was simply a shallow thief that went around causing inconveniences to everyone, and it would probably stay like that until the end. But even simplicity had its tones of complexity. And Sampo was perhaps a proof to it. It made her feel a bit sad on how Sampo was usually a punching bag for Sparkle and even others. He clearly had the potential to be someone else. But if being what he was, was fine to him as well as his fondness for Belobog, then the Self-Annihilator wouldn't argue it.

"Wow! That's one I rarely hear." Sampo replied, a bit surprised on the small compliment Acheron gave him. "But I think you shouldn't think like that."

"Why?" Acheron asked.

"Because if people start thinking that I'm a good person, then they'd probably feel pity for me. And I don't want." Sampo explained. "I want them to laugh and smile. That's all it matters for me. Otherwise, I think I'm not doing a good job."

"Hmm, if you say it so." Acheron replied, respecting Sampo's opinion. " May you have a save travel and accomplish your goal."

"Thanks. The same goes for you...whatever your goal is, I dunno." Sampo responded back, waving goodbye to Acheron as he was about to walk away.

But Acheron remembered something first. "Sampo, wait!"

"Hm? What is it?" Sampo stopped in his tracks.

"Do...Do you happen to have any money?" Acheron made the question, hoping he could lend her some.

"..."

"..."

"..I'm broke."

"Hmmhmm Hmmm hmmhmm."

Humming nicely a song, Morte was walking alone across the snowy plains. Having taken the chance that Acheron wasn't near him and was probably occupied with doing something else inside the ship, the man went on a lonely walk to do something in private. Stopping in the middle of the area, Morte gave a general lookout, trying to see if Acheron hadn't followed him. A thought that made him lightly smirk. It was rediculous to think that, since if that were to be the case, Morte would have detected her presence a long time ago.

In the following seconds, footsteps were heard as Morte looked to someone walk into his field of vision in front of him, exiting from the shadows.

"So? How did this last traumatic mother-daughter bonding time went?" He asked to the figure in front of him, being none other than the previous Supreme Guardian, Cocolia.

"..." Not saying a thing, almost as if she was mute, the resurrected Supreme Guardian just gave a mild tilt movement with her head, a small smirk.

"Ah, I see that it was therapeutic then." Morte said, scratching a bit his nose. "Welp! Sorry to inform you, but unfortunately, the fun has to be put to an end now." The man said, his arms turning into flesh and bones as he grabbed his cloak and exposed his chest for Cocolia.

And the ex-Supreme Guardian, not saying a word and with no objection, walked torwards Morte, as if her actions were of a puppet totally under the control of the man's will. Once she got closer from his chest, Cocolia seemingly dissapeared from view amidst an hellish bright green light, no longer present.

"Back to the origin you go." Morte adjusted the cloak on his chest, the skin in his arms going back to normal. "But no worries." He grinned, remembering the terrified reaction Bronya had when standing in front of him back at the ceremony. It made putting an end to this devilish little scheme of his worth it. "You surely made it entertaining."

Now, by the next hours, he would leave this planet with no one in Belobog being the wiser about the real reason for Cocolia's return. Apart from Acheron's lack-of- proof suspicions and some unnerving feeling of others about him, no one would know what really happened. But Morte did.

How two weeks ago, the grinning man made his first appearence on Belobog, unnoticed to the eyes of the public.

How easy it was to invade the Qlipoth Fortress by night.

How effortless it was to get the captain of the Silvermane Guards 'out of commission' in a flash.

How simple it was to get into the Supreme Guardian's bedroom and cast her the nightmares she would end up having through the resurrection and manipulation of the girl's dead mother corpse, making sure Bronya would still get a glimpse of his face on that fateful night before fading into the darkness.

And having came back to here two weeks later, the results ended up proving satisfying for Morte's enjoyment. Truly, this devious monster had pulled quite the malevolent plot.

Now, Morte would go away, and Belobog would live without ever knowing the truth. Or at least a person would.

"Eh. How 'funny'." Morte stopped walking all of a sudden on his way back to the spacecraft. "The circus should have already ended. So why is the clown still around?"

From behind him, Sparkle was amusedly sitting on a branch of a dead tree, swinging her legs around. "Hehehehe, bravo! Nice, very nice!" Clapping, the Masked Fool proceeded to land on the snow. "I knew that the 'big menacing man' had something in hidding. It couldn't have been any more obvious."

"Oh wow. Was that what gave it away?" Morte responded with little emotion, sarcastic.

"I mean, to mentally torture the ruler of this planet with the reanimated corpse of her mother for weeks, slowly deteriorating her health and put the nation on the brink of a financial collapse? Even I wished to have come up with something that diabolical in all my career!" Sparkle giggled maliciously, leaning over to Morte. "But a random normal crystal? Really? Couldn't you have thought on something more elaborated to explain Cocolia's sudden return?"

"Hey now. The time and opportunity just weren't there." Morte justified, being okay with Sparkle's presence. "Couldn't come up with a good scapegoat in time. Unless you wanted to have been one." He looked down at the Masked Fool, grinning at her.

"And get all the credit for the plan and trouble? Yes! But to have the entire planet chasing me down? Not really." Sparkle replied, not feeling disturbed by Morte's intimidating nature. "I like to to not have entire organizations after me. By the way! May I 'kindly' know what made you want to create some panic in this gelid, poor, planet?"

A question that Morte didn't have any trouble answering, sighing. "So far, the cosmos have been a bit bland on certain aspects. Only laughs and some sad tears here and there. It's missing, say, per exemple, someone to terrorize them to the very core."

"Uuuhhh! A villanous antagonist who does bad stuff for no reason at all other than his own pleasure? Those are rare nowdays! I like it!" Sparkle commented with a big smile on her face. "Altough, there is something more about you than meets the eye"

Morte just raised an eyebrow. "Hm? How so?"

"Aww, c'mon now. You know very well that the fool is always the most insightful in the end." Sparkle cunningly clinged onto Morte's shoulder, giving him a sly smile. "You aren't the only one who can go to those sort of places, y'know?"

"Eh. Cheeky." Morte simply said, his intuition on Sparkle being as right as her intuition on him.

"Still, if you love so MUCH to terrorize people and planets around, why not finish the job on this one and leave already instead?" Sparkle asked, not quite understanding it. "Don't tell me that dementia woman makes you feel uncapable."

Morte smirked. "As if. Simply put, I decided I had enough of entertaining with this poor planet and its people. I decided that their time is not yet. No bells to toll." The man's smirk slightly increased, nefariously. "I have a better thing reserved to our next destination." Morte then stared to Sparkle. "As for the Emmanator of Nihility...well, I also have great things in store for her."

"Oh my! All that planning, scheming, plotting...It almost makes me wanna hang around with you just to see the results." Sparkle said, admitting that Morte was surely a riveting character of twisted mind. "Unfortunately, even I know to not play with fire."

"Ah, the fool being smart. You just love to see it." Morte joked. "You know? It makes me wanna show you a prank."

"What prank? The one were I count to ten and you murder me brutally?" Sparkle said, still at ease but also cautious with Morte.

Morte chuckled. "Oh please. If you knew I would kill you for discovering my secret, you wouldn't even had come here in the first place."

"...Touché. I'll give you that." Sparkle said, admitting that Morte bested her with that argument. Thinking for a bit, the Masked Fool decided to give in. "Okay, I think I'll let you do the prank. As long as it isn't stuffing me in a barrel again!"

"It will be way better than that. Trust me." Morte said, looking down on Sparkle. "First, close your right eye and cover the left one with your hand."

"Hm. Kinda weird stuff to ask, but okay." Sparkle said, doing as Morte had requested. "Now what? Are you gonna pull my pants or something? Are you a pervert?"

"Just watch." Morte said with a smile, knowing that Sparkle would never guess what was about to come.

In a second or two, the Masked Fool's vision of her left eye changed, surprising her. "Ah? How did you..." Amazed, half of her vision was now staring at another place. An incredible lookout spot to an entire city, with a titanic colossal palace that was as tall as the skies, in the distance. She wondered if she was staring at another planet.

"Snippets of other places. Like it?" Morte said, proceeding to change Sparkle's view.

She was now staring at another city, with beautifully artistic architecture of the buildings under a grey sky, giving off medieval vibes. "Uuh. Interesting." Sparkle seemed to like it. "Show me more!"

And Morte complied, proceeding to show Sparkle more.

The Masked Fool continue to view entire cities and different biomes of places she had never been to before through the vision of her covered left eye. So far, it was being a wonderful experience. "Hm hm. That's very beautiful and all, indeed. However, where's the 'prank' in this?" She asked, not figuring what was Morte's plan here.

"..." Morte for his own part just did a conniving smirk.

"Don't tell me. Are you showing me all of these beautiful views and all that stuff just to surprise me by suddenly showing a view of a di-!?" But it was none of that. What Sparkle ended up seeing just now was way far more chilling and disturbing. Through the vision of her left eye, she was now staring at herself. "What a-..."

Opening her right eye, Sparkle saw that there was nothing wrong with it. But it was when she took out the hand from covering her left eye, that she soon discovered the horrifying problem. "!" Softly touching her eyelids with the fingerprints, Sparkle realized that her left eye, was missing.

"Eh. So?" Getting her attention, Morte gave the Masked Fool a dark and forbidding grin, his face mostly framed in shadow as from withing the fingers of his right hand, he was holding Sparkle's left eyeball. "Did you loved the prank?"

"..." Sparkle just stood there, speechless, her brain unable to register what was happening. If what half of her vision was seeing was real. "H-How...How did you-"

"Here. You can have it back." Morte appeared behind the Masked Fool all of a sudden, Sparkle's left eye having returned to its place, the Masked Fool's vision going back to normal, giving quite the psychological whiplash on her.

"Uh!?..." Feeling that her left eye was back, her vision confirming it, Sparkle slowly turned around to stare at Morte. For the very first time, she was unsure of what to feel about the man who looked down at her with a deathly and serious gaze.

"If you get in my way, next time will be more than that." He said dauntingly, making clear to Sparkle that she had just stepped the line right now and shouldn't dare to cross beyond it. With that grievous warning made, Morte proceeded to walk away, leaving the dumbstruck Masked Fool to stare at him dissapearing amongst the winds of snow.

Completly alone, Sparkle's brain was still trying to process the 'prank' Morte pulled on her. And once the moment had properly settled in her mind, she finally reacted according to her emotions and thoughts. "Eh...Hehehehe hahahahahahahahahaha HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Sparkle laughed and cackled like crazy. Honestly, she had to admit. It was quite the unpredictable and 'funny' prank Morte had done, masterfully performed. In her sick mind, the Masked Fool could only wish to pull something as terryfying and out of the box as he did.

Eventually, she calmed down on her laughter. "Hehehehe...Talk about a walking chaos."

Chapter Text

Falling and falling

In the dark and empty depths below

Drowning in a sea of nothing...

"..."

In the depths of that empty abyss, no one heard her voice.

The lonely Emmanator would continue her endless journey

For infinity was nothing and everything

No beginning or end in sight

Both a bottomless empty sea and universal existence all together

"..."

In the recesses of dark sleep, the Emmanator had no way out of this cycle.

As her essence and body would be slowly swallowed by the vast and enormous void

She wondered if there was any way out.

A path that could allow her to escape the impending black hole

Ever so close to her, calling her, attracting her to its center

Once she'd reach to its singularity point, there was no escape

But to become a being of nothingness.

"Don't..."

Yet, all things in existence must have a conclusion one day

For if they had a start, they also must have an end

Thus, nothing is truly infinite

Not even concepts

"Hmm..."

From those dark depths, the Emmanator was able to gaze it

A light at the surface of what it seemed an endless ocean

Calling for her

"Don't..!"

The Emmanator wasn't falling, she was floating

Heading torwards her way out

The escape from the nihilistic void

A saving hand reaching out for her at the surface

"Don't t...touch..!"

The dooming black hole was getting further and further

Helpless as THEY watched her about to leave

"dONt...T..ouCh...tOuCH..!"

THEY tried to warn the Emmanator but to no avail

Fully captivated in getting her way out from the jaws she had been trapped in for so long

Her fingers already tasting the contact with the hand that appeared to pull her out

"DoNT tOuCH..!"

But was it really salvation

Or a new perdition?

"F83UnIjk7NU5TAB1rLoAvIp6MTZl5Y!"

.

.

.

*Thump Thump*

"Ah!...Ah...Ah..."

Waking up in startle, Acheron's eyes jolted to life as she woke up in chills, the beats of her heart feeling a bit accelerated. The Self-Annihilator brought a hand to her forhead, calming her nerves down.

"Another dream..." She muttured to herself as the smell of cooked food invaded her nostrils and the near flickering sounds of flames caught by her ears, drawing her attention. Moving her gaze, Acheron spotted Morte in front of her, cooking their morning's breakfast with silent glee on a grill, his back turned on her while wearing an apron.

It had been almost a week since they had left Jarilo-VI, being on their way to the Xhianzou Luofu, their new destination on this compassless journey. A fact that Acheron only was aware of due to being daily reminded by Morte every time she'd forget how long they were still travelling torwards the Luofu, naturally hating it since the man would always respond with a bit of taunting attached to it. At this rate, she'd probably have to start writting down things on her hand in order to not forget.

The spot they chose for camping tonight was at the top of a butte in the middle of a vast dry and rocky desert. It was just wide enough for them to settle a camp in there. Initially, Acheron wanted the two to just settle the bonfire near the base of the tall rock structure. But Morte insisted that they'd go to its stop and spend the night there because of 'the view and whatnot' despite the impracticality that it would be setting a camp in such a smaller area and leaving the spacecraft below on ground level. Still, the Self-Annihilator ended up being convinced of the decision. Or rather, she didn't cared much. After all, going up and down the butte would be no problem for the two of them.

And truly, the view from up there was indeed beautiful, able to see the distant desert all around them with its other plateaus, mesas and other buttes. The duo where at such altitude, that Acheron was able to stare at entire stars and other pieces of the universe in the sky during the night while near the warmth of the bonfire. Even by the morning of the early dawn, some of the cosmos were still visible as the light of the rising sun was borning on the horizon.

"Talk about peace and quietude. It must be the first time I wake up and you're asleep." Morte talked, noticing the sound of Acheron moving, being his way to tell her 'morning'.

"Kept you waiting?" Acheron replied back, walking torwards the flexible plastic chairs.

"Only this poor breakfast here." Morte handed over the dish to the Self-Annihilator who saw what the food was. The generic beacon with two eggs.

"Is this all?"

"Hey now, I did the best I could with the few I had. Plus, do you know how boring it is to cook without anyone to talk to, Acheroni? A guy can't help but talk to himself." Morte explained while lamenting, taking food for himself out of the grill.

"Good. It means you have less probability to screw the food up." Acheron replied, not caring about his excuses as she noticed the peculiar format her breakfast had been put. "Also, why did you put it in a way that resembles a smiley face?"

"Because I think you should smile more, Acheroni." Morte appeared behind her suddenly, his fingers grabbing both tips of the Self-Annihilator's lips and pulling them up, forcing a smile in Acheron. "They say it makes depression go away!"

"I'm not depressed!" Acheron backed away from Morte's hands, staring daggers at him. "Besides, I can smile whenever I want."

"Then why is it that ninety percent of the time, you're with a face of someone that is attending a funeral in a rainy day?" Morte asked, referring how Acheron always looked either stoic or serious for its majority.

"Not everything in life is worth smiling over." Acheron responded, reflective. "We smile in what we find joy and weep in what we find sorrowful."

"Uuuh, so deep and philosophical." Morte scoffed at Acheron's comment, sitting down and starting to eat. "This is why people today can't be happier. They always have to be sad and worried about things that mean little or nothing to them. Too focused on the evils and tragedies of these cosmos to even crack a smile. Honestly, what a way to degrade yourself into a miserable life." Taking a bottle, he poured liquor down his throat.

"Why? Have you never felt sad or worried about anything in YOUR life?" Acheron questioned him, wondering what kind of logic Morte had.

"Well, that's a broad question to ask, Acheroni. Such is the range of emotions a person can feel." Morte twirled the bottle between his fingers, watching the alcohol swirl inside the glass. "For example, I have felt anger, frustration, ecstasy, and even indifference. But as far as I can remember, I have never in my life experienced anything that could be considered 'sadness .'"

"So you've never felt sad about losing something or someone dying? Not even guilt or remorse for some of your actions?" Acheron asked the follow-up question to Morte's answer, a part of her already knowing what his answer would be but still wanting to hear what he would say as the smiling man drank more of his drink.

"All things are destined to perish one day, so why bother lamenting what is, but natural things take their course? Death is an inevitability. " Morte said the nihilistic comment with a carefree face as he looked thoughtfully at the bottle in his hands.

"Very empathetic of you." Acheron crossed her arms in disapproval.

Morte himself dropped the bottle on the floor and stood up from his chair. "'Empathetic' people these days are either bad actors or fools being fooled. And I mean, can you blame me for not caring about someone's random sick pet dying on a planet light years away?" Striding towards the edge of the hill, the man's legs were stretched thin, his arms spreading wide as he caught the morning breeze of the canyon desert. "When I am getting to enjoy this GREAT VIEW?" He raised his voice, echoing throughout the area, the skies growing bluer now.

The Emmanator of Nihility couldn't help but sigh at her traveling companion's point of view. "Just because everything is destined to expire one day eventually, doesn't mean we should never care about the well-being of others."

Taking Acheron's comment into account, Morte silently lowered his arms, not reacting much. "Here's some advice for you about life, Acheron." He spoke seriously, tilting his head slightly upwards as he kept a stoic gaze at the clouds and faint moons in the sky. "Concern nothing. Enjoy everything."

"!" Acheron's eyes widened vaguely upon hearing those words. It was such an... unusual and strange piece of advice to hear, yet interesting. It honestly left her mind split for a moment. Viewed and interpreted from the right angles and points, it could genuinely be a great tip for some people who might feel overly depressed or worried about the current overall status of the cosmos and every aspect within it. But coming from Morte's mouth, Acheron knew that they came at it in a twisted and sick psychotic sense. A different kind of Nihility altogether. A dangerous one of a dangerous person. Despite the superficial simplicity at first glance, the Self-Annihilator could see from the start that Morte had much more depth than that, picking up on a few details here and there. Hearing his opinions and viewpoints could be as captivating as it was frightening.

However, she pretended not to care or think much about it. "I choose what I care about and like too, thank you." She replied, giving a disdainful sideways glance.

"Aww, so rebellious I see." Morte replied with a wry smile. "Just need to start listening to heavy metal."

Acheron paid little attention to this comment. "Changing the subject, how about you tell me about that friend of yours."

"Who?" Morte asked, walking back to take his seat.

"The one we're going to visit at the Xhianzou Luofu? I don't think you're a person that strikes me as someone who has that many friends to be honest." Acheron specified.

"Harsh." Morte responded 'displeased', before pointing at her. "But true. Anyways, I don't wanna tell you who he is. I'd like if it was kept as a surprise."

"To be a friend of yours..." Acheron begun to ponder. "It better not be a maniac."

"Ooh, you'd be bewildered by that." Morte chuckled. "All that you need to know is that he is about to have a special day nearing up."

"And you want to make a 'special' appearence for him then. Wouldn't expect that coming from someone who just said he doesn't care about anyone's death." Acheron speaked, thinking that if Morte had friends, then he had to be lying about not caring about other people's feelings.

"Some select few people are worthy of my tiny respect. Only that." Morte replied back with a neutral face before his lips ended up curving into a smile. "Don't wanna alarm you Acheroni, but I even have a 'best friend'."

Now that was indeed a shocking factor to the Self-Annihilator. "A best friend? You?"

"Yes! Your ears aren't losing their senses, they've heard it right." Morte responded. "Funnily enough, he is nothing alike to me personality wise. Quite the huge noble character in fact." The man then proceeded to show a rare thing of his to Acheron. A tender almost benign smile. Unlike all the others she had witness, this one felt it didn't had any malice or sarcasm behind. "You could say it's one of those 'ying and yang' things. Have you ever looked at someone and immediatly went 'Yeah. I understand why the people follow them' before? That guy is one of those kind of people." He chuckled, looking to the bottom of the now empty bottle. "An infinite well of charisma."

"You seem to take that person in quite the high regard." Acheron pointed out. She was curious now to know more about what kind of people Morte was talking about in order to be considered 'best friend' of someone like him while apparently being the opposite. "Any particular reason why?"

"Eh. He's an amusing fool that is entertaining to be around." Morte responded. "I even have a remembrance of him."

"A remembrance?" Acheron replied a bit surprised, the slight movement of her head being telling enough that she wanted to see what was that remembrance.

"Yes. Right here." Reading her well, Morte showed Acheron the 'remembrance' his best friend had left for him. Moving away his cloak to expose more of his chest, Morte's skin in that area turned dry and burnt, revealing a huge scar on his chest.

The Self-Annihilator stared at it with mild bewilderment. "Ah..."

"From one of our first encounters. A beauty, isn't it?" Morte speaked jokingly. "He's the only one to leave such sort of impact on my body. Of all type of things I ever encountered before in my O so long life, he was the only one who came closer to do it. I remember well of how it happened. A blow that could split and tear entire planets apart." He said with some sense of nostalgia, reminding vividly the battle. "This wound is the single one that my powers cannot heal or regenerate. All that I can do is disguise it. One of the few reasons he has my respect."

"I see..." Acheron commented, only able to imagine what sort of fight and powerhouse Morte's 'best friend' had to be to leave a permanent wound on his body. By now, she "Not even his own body can regenerate it. What kind of power that person must have in order to do something like that?" The Emmanator of Nihility then narrowed her eyes, deciding to see things from another way as well. "At least that no matter how rare or difficult it is, it ain't completly impossible to kill Morte. That's good to know."

"But, of course that I couldn't let the things stay like that." Morte continued to talk about the battle between him and his best friend, putting a hand on his chest. "So, in return, I took off his arm."

"What a very healthy friendship you have there." Acheron commented a bit unsettled, not having foreseen even one more unexpected twist at the end.

Yes it is! Nowdays we laugh everytime we bring that moment up!" Morte said happily without a care. "I mean, are you even doing a friendship right if you and your friend don't try killing each other?"

"I suppose..." Having went through many places and experienced all sorts of things, Acheron felt that what Morte said wasn't completly wrong. She then picked on another topic while finishing eating. "By the way, we basically are out of food now." She told him, putting the empty dish away. "Thinking about tackling that problem?"

Grinning, Morte already had an idea in mind. "Thanks for the notice, Acheroni." Getting up, the man picked up his scythe that was on the ground and proceeded to walk torwards the edge of the butte. "Because we can now do one of my favourite activities..." Letting gravity take him, Morte fell all the way down from the top of the rock structure, landing with impact on the floor, the earth nearby trembling a bit. "Hunting."

Following him, Acheron stepped down the butte at thunder speed, standing right by his side. "Should've guessed already. At least I do not mind practicing a bit instead of doing nothing."

"And it beats being chased down by the IPC, doesn't it?" Morte smiled down on her.

"Definetly." The Self-Annihilator replied as she continued to stare to the vast landscape in front of them. "So? Where do we start hunting? There's no sign of beasts that I'm seeing so far."

Morte gave a sly smirk. "Well, here's the catch, Acheroni...You'll be the one telling us where the prey is." He revealed, jointing his hands together.

Acheron looked at him a bit incredulous. "You're joking? How can I lead us to the prey if I can't see any from here in the first place?"

"Because you don't need to see nor hear to know where someone or something is, Acheron. You need to feel first." Morte advised her in a calm and collected voice.

"Well, I do can feel a presence if that same presence is close and near me. The same cannot apply if it is miles away." Acheron explained to Morte. "So unless the creatures are here close to us, I won't be able to 'feel' them. How do you even expect me to pull that off?"

"I dunno. I'm not here to be your heuristics teacher." Morte replied, scrubbing his own ear.

"What if I cut off that 'helpful' tongue of yours then?" Acheron said with some annoyance, threatening him.

"Hey now! At least give it a chance!" Morte insisted. "Per exemple, try to close your eyes first."

"..." Staring at Morte with a look of 'you better not be fooling me' Acheron turned her vision away from him and then closed her eyes as instructed.

"Good. Now, try and cut off all the sound around you, Acheron. Negate it completly. Scent, tact and speech as well. Feel and imagine nothing. Nothing but an heartbeat's sound."

"..." Going deep into her own mind, Acheron emptied what little remained of her hollow mind. First, the sounds of everything around. Second, the aromas. Third all of the colors of the landscape around her. Fourth, the landscape itself. All that remained was nothingness. A void of empty darkness.

"Amidst everything that is dead, seeketh for life."

Life. To find a shred of existence in the void. A signal that could prove a soul's presence, somewhere, anywhere. And in the middle of all decease...

.

.

*Thump Thump!*

"!" Acheron opened her eyes, her face of genuine surprise. "That's a..."

*Thump Thump!*

"Tell me, Acheron. What do you see?" Morte asked her with a stoic face, staring to the landscape. "What do you feel?"

"I feel..." Trying to capture that sound again, the Self-Annihilator closed her eyes again.

*Thump Thump!*

"The fresh beatings of an alive heart. It's rythm seems normal, warm and operational." Acheron described what her ears and mind were detecting.

*Thump Thump!*

"Several hearts bumping together inside bodies of flesh and bones. The blood streaming through their veins. All running in herd. A lighten soul within their beings."

Hearing the great description Acheron was giving to him, Morte silently listened, an evilish grin creaking into his face. She was a fast learner.

"Our preys..." Back to opening her eyes, the Emmanator of Nihility pointed at a specific location far away into the landscape. "...are over there."

"Nice! Very nice, Acheroni!" Morte put on a joyful smile, tapping Acheron on the shoulder while doing a thumbs up with the other. "You found our dinner! Let's go and hunt it down now!"

"Uh? But..." Looking to her own hands, Acheron was puzzled at what she had just done. What she was able to sense when all her senses were essentially gone. "How did I exactly done this?"

"Beats me!" Morte said, already walking ahead as he brought a fice near his mouth, proceeding to turn his head to give a smuggish smile to her. "Hidden potential perhaps?" He pondered before restarting to walk again.

"..." Looking at him a bit addled, Acheron quickly shook her head a bit as in trying to shove that question to the back of her head now. What mattered now was getting food.

"Aaaand this was the last one! Wow! Gotta say, Acheroni. What we have in here is enough for months." Morte said, contemplating the last wild beast he had slain alongside the others of the group, having followed them inside a cave which as their lair

"Sure. That is good news. However..." Acheron replied, the duo standing in front of a scenario of huge destruction, the cave completly teared apart and open with a huge hole in the ceilling. "Could you have at least holded a bit back?"

"Why? So that these creatures could have a fake chance of defeating us?" Morte replied back, not seeing any problem in his excessive use of strenght and power. "If the adversary is weaker than us then why bother prolonging a fight?"

"That can be true and also not go all-out excessively at the same time." Acheron counter-argued. "Power should not be misused like that."

"Oh, but I ain't misusing it. Just sharpening it up." Morte rubbed his fingers on the tip of his scythe. "You on the other hand seem to be hesitant, Acheroni."

"Hesitant? Of what? Not unecessarily unleash my power during a fight?" Acheron responded, trying to see what Morte wanted to mean by that.

"I wouldn't call a fighting situation of life and death to be exactly 'unecessary'." Morte replied, winging his finger around in the air. "This battle was againt some mindless wild beasts. We can let that pass here. However, there was and will be times where not 'going all out' can cost you heavy. Like it was going to be against Cocolia."

Acheron sighed. "Figures you'd bring that up. While she ended up being tougher than expected, I wouldn't release my powers of Emmanator on an adversary that I knew I could defeat at my current state." She crossed her arms. "And I was also looking to avoid as less damage as possible on Belobog. If I were to use it, many people could've lost their homes."

"And that could've been your mistake." Morte replied back, picking up a peeble from the ground. "You tried to play only with half of your deck thinking it would be enough to win when the enemy ended up surprising you with an unexpected card. In a fight, we always have to make sure to crush our enemies chances and hopes. Any slight edge given could be fatal." He said, dropping the peeble back in the ground after agitating it in his hand. "Casualties are nothing more but collateral damages when we are battling for survival."

"Then I should've just went wild and sliced down entire buildings and people just to end quicker with an enemy within my reach?" Acheron gave a stare of criticism torwards the man. "I'm not a monster like you."

Taking some seconds, Morte's inexpressive face turned into a smirk. "...Keh! Ehehehehehehehe Hahahahahahahahaaha!" A smirk that developed into barely contained chuckled to then finish into a full laughter as he released it to echoe through the open cave.

"Hm? What's so funny?" Acheron questioned him, staring suspiciously at Morte, his laugh not giving good vibes at all.

"Aaah, Acheron. It's simple." Morte calmed down and ceased his laugh as he then stared Acheron in the eyes with his cold, dead, blue ones. "Everyone is a monster on the inside. The only difference is those who keep them in check from those who release it."

"..." Acheron didn't respond verbally as if she felt that in someway, there was truth in the words Morte was speaking. Her glare became cautious as Morte approached her.

"And from there, it's a competition of comparison to see who's the bigger monster." Morte told as he proceeded to walk past Acheron, the skin and flesh of his face vanishing away in a brief second as he looked down at the Self-Annihilator with a skullish look, the two green lights in his eyes being daunting. "And in a fight between monsters, we need to become demons to win."

Morte proceeded to head to the cave's exit after saying that, dragging one of the giant dead beasts corpse with his bare hands, doing it as if it was nothing.

"Demons, you say..." Acheron looked back to him, that phrase making her head faintly remember memories of her past. Morte surely had more complexity than one might had thought originally. The Emmanator pondered what type of experiences he might have had gone through to have such twisted and bizarre view on all things. Eitherway, she'd better grab some of the deceased corpses and help him take them to the-

"Ah, that guy is a total jerk, Mei-chan!"

"!?" Widening her eyes, Acheron stood paralyzed in the place, thinking to have heard something that made her mind spark. "A voice?" Turning around, she tried to see where it came from.

"I would hate him if he was our teacher."

Having heard it again, Acheron's iris shrinked as she found the source of the voice. "B-But...who are..."

"But don't need to worry anymore, Mei."

From inside the pure light that came from the cave's open ceilling, a figure stood in its center. So bright and gleaming that Acheron's mind could even make it out its appearence. But...it seemed that of a very young woman. Long white hair as snow, a jovial and optimistic smile, her eyes as blue as the sky.

"I am here again."

Acheron's mind in that moment felt like a storm. Turbulent, agitated and unstable. Seeing the image of the figure, her face, the Emmanator of Nihility just couldn't grasp what and why for the emotions she was feeling. What was she even imagining. If it was real or not, reaching her arm out slowly for the young woman "Who...are you?"

"Acheroni? Acheron. Acheron!"

"!" Then, she was pulled out, the vision she was having of the young woman dissapearing, no longer there, the light having also gone away.

"Are you choosing to day dream now?" Morte asked, standing behind her. "We have food to carry out to the ship, and I'm not expecting to do it alone."

"Y-Yes..." Acheron responded, her mind still a bit troubled by the mysterious apparition she had witnessed. Still, she tried her best to focus at the task at hand.

"Good. Now bring one or two." Morte said, going back to drag the deceased beast by the fang, leading it to the exit.

"How do you know?"

"Hm?" Morte halted in his tracks, silence surging as he heard Acheron's question to him.

"My true name. Raiden Bosenmori Mei." Acheron speaked, looking at Morte. For days, she had always ending up forgetting of asking him the question she wanted to do ever since their visit on Jarilo-VI. She made sure it wouldn't be continuing like that after today. "How do you know it?" She asked again, a serious glare on her eyes.

Looking back at her with the same seriousness, Morte narrowed his gaze on Acheron before sighing. "Okay." He proceeded to take out a cigar from his pocket, lightning it up and taking a smoke. "The truth then." As the antecipation built up alongside the deadly silence inside the cave, Morte turned around and gave the answer to Acheron. "I'm your father."

"..."

"..."

"You've already came with better." Acheron said, not satisfied at all by Morte's obvious frivolous answer.

"Eh. True that." Morte smiled, taking another go at the cigar as he was about to restart again dragging the beast's corpse, giving little to no value torwards Acheron's question.

This upset her. "Frankly. All that I want is a proper answer and you still joke around." Closing her hands into fists, Acheron threw an irked glare at Morte. "Can't you take anything serious at all, bastard?!" She shouted, her voice echoing through the cave. Never she thought that there would be a person to discompose her in the whole cosmos before having met Morte.

Turning almost repetitive, Morte stopped walking yet another time, the unsettling sound of bones snapping as he straighten out his back that was a bit bent. "Oh?" Moving his head, the man gave one of the most haunting and evocative menacing glares that Acheron had ever seen. "You want me to get serious?" His voice asked, low, guttural, threatening. The voice of a monster with no regrets or care for others. But also a warning made clear to the Self-Annihilator.

Being confronted with that stare, Acheron backed down. Even if it was just a stare, it felt more intimidating than any Aeon's presence would be able to proportionate, feeling that Morte had just put her in a chokehold just by the mere stare. It made her, in a small part of her very core, fear what magnitude of terror Morte was and could unleash when serious if he was already a danger when being facetious and relaxed. "When a situation calls for it." Acheron responded, wanting to avoid Morte turning what she meant to say into a wicked sense of it.

Stopping from doing the stare, Morte went back to normal, putting his attention back at the exit. "Sure thing. Now help me bring the rest of the food to the ship." He told her before staring to move away with the corpse of the beast.

Sighing, Acheron mentalized herself that she would never be getting an answer out of Morte about how he knew of her true name for now. She felt that either by dialogue or straight up fighting, the man wouldn't reveal it to her. Perhaps it would be one of those things Acheron would only discover to some point more later down the line. For now, as much as it frustrated the Self-Annihilator, she would have to resign and accept that Morte knowing her true name would not have an answer. She could only hope it wouldn't take long for it.

That, and who was that young woman she imagined right there? It felt somehow familiar and stranger at the same time. Unfortunately, another thing that wouldn't have an immediate answer.

Instead, Acheron had to currently focus on the present and what came first, which was dragging the deceased beasts to their spaceship in order to continue having food. After that, they would hope into the celestial road to reach to their next destination: The Xianzhou Luofu.

Chapter Text

The skies were filled, cramming with hundreds of aerial vehicles that were the starskiffs, Xianzhou's trademark across all the alliance. Small, medium, large, all of the seizes for either civillian, commercial or even military purposes. A truly technological marvel of this nation. And it would seem that as of today, the traffic in the sky was more occupied than ever before.

A thing that Morte took notice while looking up to it, his eyes pensative.

"Are you going to admire the starskiffs all day or something?" Acheron pulled him out of his thoughts as she was a few meters ahead of him already, the two having ported their spacecraft on the middle of the docks area of the Luofu mothership. "You want one or anything like that?"

"Nah. I was just counting them up." Morte turned around, taking his gaze away from the starskiffs to do what he did best. Smoking. "There are 2,370 in the sky from what I see." He told to Acheron while walking past her, both hands in his pockets.

"Don't tell me you've actually counted all of them un seconds." Acheron replied, a part of hers really wondering if Morte wasn't bluffibg at all and had actually counted them. "By the way, where's this friend of yours?"

"Way more down ahead. We're gonna have to do a bit of walking to reach him." Morte responded, sighing. "I was originally thinking to land the ship closer to his place. But with how busy everyone seems today, guess we had no better option but to stop here at the port. For how popular the Luofu is, they really are lacking on parking zones."

"Hm, you could say that again." Acheron responded, taking a look at how many starskiffs and ships were in the skies. "A special type of celebration must be about to happen in here indeed."

"Quick quizz time, Acheroni!" Morte put a finger up as he continued to walk in front of the Emmanator of Nihility. "What do you know about the Xianzhou and its culture?"

Not having any better to do, Acheron accepted to give an answer to him. "For what I can recall, the Xianzhou people used to share some of their culture with that of my home planet. While the Alliance is heard of pratically everywhere in the cosmos, the people of my planet used to have an even closer bond with them due to the similarities in both of our societies. The clothes, food, music. If I remember well, the Xianzhou was even our main customer as we were to them when it came to trading. It was almost as a feel of kinship despite the differences..." She said with a sign of sorrow, having barely the glimpses of the faint memories from those times. When her home still exited. When she had her previous life. "And then...all of it was gone. Fading in the dark abyss of space. Nothing mattered anymore."

"It came to its end then." Morte replied in the same seriousness Acheron was speaking, a short silence falling between them. "...Buuut look on the bright side, Acheroni." He smirked, pointing at her. "That would make you a relic of a lost culture! Isn't it awsome?"

"You're unbelivable." Acheron frowned with some distaste, diverting her gaze. Morte seemed to not have any limits when it came to joke about other people's tragedies whatsoever. But she had to agree, on some degree, that being a survivor of a destroyed plane that didn't exist anymore could make others consider her as unique. Her whole existence could be seen as unique. Yet, it was an uniqueness the the Self-Annihilator didn't asked for and never wanted. Leaving that thought behind, she continued to walk alongside Morte.

"..."

"!" However, her senses become aware. Something was approaching in the distance. The footsteps were steady and quick. The movements agile. Yet, the hearts and blood runned and beat faster, almost in a sick frenzy. A mindless instinct to kill taking on how violent and lunatic the sound of the heartbeats sounded. "..." Without warning, Acheron stopped walking, her hand subtly on her sword's hilt from the split second she detected hostile forces coming for them.

"Wow! You're getting the hang of it already!" Taking a few steps further, Morte also ended up coming to a halt. "Also...Sense of dejá vù?"

In the blink of an eye, two enemies appear from above the containers and tried to attack Morte, who slashed down the first one with his scythe whereas Acheron cut off the second one with the same precision as her companion.

Falling to pieces, the cut sliced bodies of the duo quickly regenerated, back on their feet.

"Ah, the famous mara-strucks." Morte grinned as he gave a look to the infected, zomb'ish' creatures. "Looking as lively as ever!"

"So this is the curse of the Plagues Author on mortals." Acheron commented, squinting her gaze on the enemies, more appearing shortly after, surrounding them. "Hphm. Another 'warm' welcome, it seems."

"Rinse and repeat, Acheron. Rinse and repeat." Morte told to her a bit exhaustedly. At this point, having these type encounters against nobodies was becoming quite redundant for him. A change on the welcome would be nice. "Anyways, play the requiem!"

And the battle begun. If it even could be called a battle as it hardly lasted barely half a minute, all of the mara-strucks having been soundly defeated without worries. As the last one had fallen, Acheron stored back her sheated sword, the zone they were in now filled with the corpses of the corrupted beings. She couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for how unpleasent was the state they ended up in. "Mara-struck...how awful. To have a fate as cruel as this. No control of thoughts, actions, speech. Nothing at all. Even their bodies cannot belong to them anymore. This is not living anymore. It's already being dead." She commented. Despite having many of her senses taken away from her since IX came in contact with her, Acheron still had control and fuctions over her own body. The same thing couldn't be said to these poor souls who have completly lost the sense of self. She wished that with this fight, their souls could finally get rest and depart in peace.

"..."

Being met with silence, Acheron found it weird that her mind was able to contemplate and ruminate on the scenario without having the annoying voice speak something about it. "Hm, what's the matter? Don't you have anything sarcastic to-huh?" Turning around, expecting to see Morte, Acheron instead was surpridingly met by the sight of nobody. The man was nowhere to be seen. "Where did he go? Morte?"

"Oi, Acheron!" Morte's voice speaked, responding to her. "Over here!"

Trying to find the source of his voice, the Self-Annihilator's eyes still weren't seeing him, confused. "Over whe-" As her feet were stepping around, she felt the tip of her foot touch something as well as the sound of something rolling.

"Down here." Morte speaked, gaining Acheron's attention who then looked down near her feet and got extremely baffled by what she was seeing just now.

"Ah?! What a..." Right next to her feet and on the floor, there he was. Morte. Or at least, what was present of him. "You're...a head?" Acheron said in face of the absurdity she was witnessing.

"Surpirsed?" Morte smirked to her, liking the reaction.

"What happened exactly? Where's the rest of your body?" Acheron asked as she crouched down, picking up Morte's head so that he could directly look at her in the eyes. The Emmanator of Nihility surely wasn't expecting for her travelling companion to end up like this at the end of the battle.

"Oh, Acheroni. I fear that I'm no longer in my prime." Morte frowned sadly, sniffing. "I was slashing down enemies flawlessly yet let one of them mara-strucks get the best of me and hit me on the back. Thus, my head got separated from the body."

"...You're joking, aren't you?" Acheron looked at him with a bland expression on her face, not believing that someone like Morte, who fought equally against her on the first time they had met, let himself get hit by a surprise attack of a random enemy.

"Unfortunetly, no I'm not." Morte said regettably. "Alas, now we're gonna have to find my body." He gave a look to all the deceased and mutilated mara-strucks that he and Acheron had killed. "Amidst somewhere in all these corpses on here."

"And by that you mean only 'I', to find your body. Isn't it?" Acheron questioned him with a monotonous face, to which Morte smirked.

"Keheh! Such smart girl that you are, Acheroni." He told her. "I can trust deeply in you to do that job, can I?"

A question that wasn't immediatly met with an answer as the Emmanator of Nihility's eyes gazed at the sky full of flying ships above them, pondering how much strenght she would have to put in her leg in order to kick Morte's head into the stratosphere to never ever come back. What was really stopping her anyways? Maybe his head could not be regenerated back to the body after a certain distance. Sure that some starskiffs and ships would get the risk of being hit, but that was a sacrifice she was willing to make if it meant ending Morte for good. The more Acheron thought about it, the more the intrusive thoughts would sound enticing like poured honey to her.

"Are you even listening, Acheron?" Morte pulled the Self-Annihilator back to reality, having made the question seriously.

"Yes, I am. But thinking about it, haven't I seen your head regenerate back into your body once?" Acheron gave a menacing look to him as she was holding him by the hair.

"!?" Morte gulped in response.

"You just want to make a fool out of me, don't you?" Acheron said coldly, figuring it out his intentions.

"Eeeh? Don't be ridiculous now, Acheroni!" Morte smiled, defending himself. "Do you think I'd ever play and joke with serious situations?"

"You really don't help yourself." Acheron replied boredly as she then stared to the sky above. "Well, let's test now how far I can kick you-"

"Over here, girls! This is the place of the battle!"

"Huh?" However, before the Emmanator of Nihility could act upon her dark desires, her ears detected a young woman's voice nearby, gaining both her and Morte's attention.

Entering the area, a young energetic red-headed woman arrived to the scene, followed by two other girls. "Are you still recording it, Huohuo? Make sure to not miss a single second of this here!"

Right behind her, a smaller girl of pale green hair and fox ears was clumsly holding a camera as she tried her best to accompany her friend. "I-I'm doing my best G-Gui!"

Meanwhile, the third one, a brown haired young woman, was walking tiredly behind, barely able to keep up with the other two. "Please...be a little...slower...will you?"

Yet, the first girl continued to run torwards the center of the commotion, spotting Acheron. "Oh! And look! A witness and everything! Oh boy, this is will really gonna blow up the channel's views!"

Instinctively, Acheron abruptly hid Morte's head behind her back, assuming that the trio would completly freak out if they'd saw a talking head.

"Hey!" Morte protested a bit, Acheron having given him no warning.

"Hush!" Acheron briefly told him right before meeting with the leader of the trio's face staring radiantly at her.

"Heya there! Care to tell us what happened here for the viewers? How many mara-strucks were there? Did you fought all of them alone? Are you hurt? Was it easy? Anything regarding the defenses of the Luofu on such special day as this one? By the way, never seen you here before. Are you a tourist?" The energetic girl made all of those questions without any break, giving Acheron little to no time to process them in.

"Uuuh..." Acheron at least tried to answer to one of them while feeling the small girl putting herself in her tiptoes to film well her face.

"Jesus! Talk about a blatherer." Morte speaked behind Acheron, easily gaining the puzzlement of the young woman.

"Hm? What was that voice?" She asked to Acheron with curiosity, an eyebrow raising.

"N-Nothing! Nothing at all." Acheron replied a bit apprehensively, rotating her body as the girl tried to spy her back, aware that the voice came from there. In doing so, the Emmanator of Nihility accidentaly bumped into the camera the smaller girl was holding, causing it to fall on the ground.

"A-Ah!" The foxian let out a brief yelp as she saw the camera crash on the floor, breaking apart, much to her displeasure and embaressment. "No..."

"And it seemed quite pricey as well. It must suck, kiddo."

"Hm?" Hearing the voice next to her, the small girl looked to her right to see Morte's head, tongue sticking out while playing dead. She immediatly got sent shivers down her spine as her whole body begun to tremble, getting progressively scared. "Ah...A-Ah...Ah..."

And taking the opportunity, Morte dropped the act as his blinked and stared deeply into the poor afraid girl, showing parts of his skull while grinning to her. "Boo!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" With all her hair standing, the foxian girl panicked and begun to desperatly run around before ending up comically hitting her head onto a container and falling unconscious.

Before Acheron could reprimand Morte for doing such cruel prank, the other girl quickly snatched the man's head away from her hands, holding him in admiration.

"Woah! A talking head!? Right here at the Luofu?" Her eyes shinned brightly in stars as she stared to Morte. "SO AWSOME! Now THIS is what's gonna break all my streams records for sure!"

Morte looked at her a bit annoyed as his cheeks were being pressed by her hands. "With all the kind of weird shtick they have here at the Luofu, a talking head is what impresses you?"

Quickly and with a face of responsability, Acheron snatched back Morte's head from the other woman's hands, much to her confusion. "Sorry, but he isn't suitable for content."

"Oh! I see. Is that one of those 'copyright' things?" The girl, apparently a streamer, asked genuinely. "If sooooo, then could I at least have your permission to make one vid with your friend?" She asked, giggling a bit sheepishly, much likely aware that the answer would be a no by the looks of it.

"He isn't my friend." Acheron responded. "Also, no. You cannot ha-"

"Fine by me." Morte interrupted Acheron, giving his answer to the streamer, much to the Self-Annihilator's surprise.

"Give us a moment, please." Acheron told politely to the streamer before staring directly to Morte's head, trying to have a private talk. "Care to repeat what you've said again?"

"C'mon now, Acheroni. Can't you grasp the bigger picture here?" Morte told her. "This girl's obviously a streamer. In other words, potentially and much probably, an e-celebrity. And you know what that means..." He smugged.

Acheron let out a sigh as she knew what Morte was referring to. "Darn it! Are you seriously with that idea still in your head?"

"What's the matter? You know it could be an easy way to earn some cash." Morte replied, keeping his voice as low as he could while the streamer was peeking behind Acheron. "I make some vids with streamer-girl, earn the good money, we divide equally and then we can be on our merry way with the whole financial problem resolved."

"..." Acheron let out a deep exhale from her nostrils, thinking about it. Truly, they were needing it. So, despite the reluctancy, Acheron ended up agreeing. "Fine. We'll accept her offer. But you better not do anything to her, understood?" Acheron looked sternly to him as she gave the warning. What happened back in Belobog, when they first met Bronya, was still present in her mind. Even to this day, she suspected he had done something to the Supreme Guardian. And she wouldn't tolerate something similar happen to this girl.

"Deal!" Morte responded,appearing to have taken Acheron's warning into account.

Having seemingly sorted the thungs out between them, Acheron turned around to respond to the streamer. "Guess what? It's your lucky day. You can have him for one of your videos."

A veredict that excited the streamer. "Seriously? No way! Thank you so so much!"

"But not without something I want first." Morte speaked, telling the girl to hold down her horses. Acheron looked at him with a stare of 'You better watch what you're going to say'.

"Oh? So we're not doing this for free. Well, makes sense after all I suppose." The girl nodded her head thoughtfully before crossing her arms and smilling. "Do tell me then! What is it that you want us to do?"

"For starts, are you seeing all these poor mara-strucks around here? I happened to have lost my body during the confrontation with them, you see?" Morte told to the girl the situation and also the explanation of why he was just a head now. "How about you and the other two chicks over there do your nice act of the day and find this poor man's body amonst all the corpses? If you do, then I'll agree appearing in your videos."

Acheron looked at Morte in disaccord. While it wasn't anything that awful, it was still a thing Acheron couldn't allign with other people doing it. "That's out of-"

"At your service!" The young streamer responded acceptingly, doing a salute while continuing with her happy smile. "Me and the girls will find your body in a jiffy! Or else I'm not called Guinafen, the famous Lil' Gui, for nothing!" She revealed out her name to the duo, ready to do the job if it meant Morte would do some clips with her.

Acheron was almost appaled with her decision. "Wha-You don't see any problem with it?" She asked to Guinafen. "Are you that fine with searching and rummaging through piles of corpses?"

"Meh! No problem at all, really." Guinafen gave a confident smile. "I've been inside this branch of the entretainment industry for quite the long time. I already went through some pretty wild things for some videos before. This is just another normal Tuesday for us!"

Acheron let out a weak breath from her mouth. "If you say so..." She said while watching Guinafen picking up her two friends.

"On your feet Sushang!" The streamer girl said, helping out the tired girl that was at the back of the trio to get up. "We got a mission to do!"

"Uggh...What is it this time?" The other young woman, Sushang, replied, still a bit exhausted.

Guinafen put a hand on her friend's shoulder and pulled her closer. "We'll have to find that fine gentleman of a head, his body!"

Suisahng raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Wait what?" Looking forward, she ended up catching sight of Morte's head, staring back at her.

"Hey there, sweetheart." Morte winked at Sushang.

The imagery was so freaky and unreal that almost made her fall unconscious. "Oh Lan almighty..."

Luckily, Guinafen grabbed her before she could lose balance. "Hey hey! Don't sleep now, Sushang! Go wake Huohuo up! We might be on the eve of an historical video for our channel!"

"Tha girl seems...quite airheaded." Acheron commented, taking it as her first impressions of Guinafen.

"What a subtile way to call her idiot." Morte replied as Guinafen and Sushang went to check on their other friend.

"Hey, Huohuo! Is everything alright? Can you hear me? Can you talk? Can you remember us?" Guinafen crouched down, softly shaking Huohuo's body to see if she would respond.

"Hm...Hmmmm..." Gaining back her conscious the small foxian opened up her eyes again, softly rubbing the area where she had hit her head. "Yes, I think I am-"

"Great! Then you're good to join us!" Guinafen picked her up from the ground immediatly.

Sushang tried to calm down her friend's enthusiasm. "Humm, Gui. Don't you think you're being a bit-"

But Guinafen's mind was already very into the goal of finding Morte's body, abruptly dragging her two friends torwards one of the piles of dead mara-strucks that Acheron and Morte had just killed. "Alright girls! All that we need is to find that man's body in the middle of this wreck!" She said, smilling full of glee. "It will be easy-peasy, right?"

"..."

"..."

Both Sushang and Huohuo stared at the corpses in utter apprehension and lack of enthusiasm, showing reluctancy in contrast with their friend who was ready to put her hands to work. The two wondered to each other silently if Guinafen was right in the head at all.

Feeling that their leader wasn't able to read the room at all, Acheron still decided to just observe the trio for now. As mildly disturbing as it could seem to dig out a headless body beneath a pile of corpses, as long as they weren't getting harmed, there was no reason for the Self-Annihilator to intervene.

For starts, Guinafen looked really committed and eager in finding Morte's body, her head just thinking about the end results and the streams it could result in. "Dig,dig,dig! Oh! Is that-Hm. No nevermind. Just another piece of mara-struck." She said, dismissively throwing out a chunk of the corpse away. "C'mon girls! Help me out here! Poor Lil' Gui can't do anything alone!"

"Y-Y-Yeah." Huohuo responded nervously with a tremble smile as her hands would shake while rummaging nervously through the corpses.

"Why are we even doing this?" Sushang murmured displeased as she would try her best to stomach the nauseating feeling of searching around the dead bodies.

"By the way, how does the body looks like?" Guinafen asked over to both Morte and Acheron.

"Well, let's see." Morte clicked his tongue while thinking of the adjectives that would fit the best. "Tall. Muscular. Healthy. Well-built. A bit of a tan. Ferocious. Some might even say it has the looks of a da-"

"I think they've got the picture already, Morte." Acheron responded emotionlessly as her hands clasped tightly around his head, wanting him to shut up a bit.

Guinafen made a thumbs up torwards them. "Got it!" She said before going back to the scavenge. "You heard him, girls! Keep searching!"

But has some more seconds would pass, Sushang's gut and feelings about this overall would get louder and louder as well as her hesiation. She eventually had enough. "No. You know what? I'm done. Forget about this." She said, giving up on searching the pile of corpses and beggining to walk away, much to Guinafen and Huohuo's shock.

"Eh? Why? Sushang, wait a sec!" Guinafen quickly approached her friend, grabbing her by the wrist. "What's the problem? I'm sure that once we find that man's body, we will take photos, videos with him and his alive head and win thousands of followers and likes on the internet!" She said cheerfuly, not seeing the problem. "Just imagine the-"

"That's exactly your problem!" Sushang almost shouted at Guinafen's face, scaring Huohuo a bit and even make Acheron's narrow her gaze. It seems things would start getting a bit more tense.

"..." Blinking her eyes a bit, the streamer still couldn't quite get it, puzzled altough a bit serious now. "Humm, what exactly do you mean by that, Sushang?"

"That you are always, ALWAYS thinking about likes and that sort of stuff! And I'm getting sick of it!" Sushang said, clearly annoyed. The girl had reached to her limit with her friend's antics. "It's always 'Uuh, can't wait to see the final results of this video. This challenge will give us so much likes! The followers count will definetly increase with this one. Views this! Likes that!' And it's never about your friends safety or opinion, is it?" Sushang confronted Guinafen, throwing more wood to a fire as she got the courage to tell it to her friend's face, as much as it baffled Guinafen.

"Sounds like we're about to see something amusing." Morte smirked maliciously, still having his head held by Acheron who pulled him closer to her.

"Do you want me to either gag you or cut of your jaw?" Acheron hissed at him, not wanting him to instigate the tension that was starting to appear between Sushang and Guinafen. However, she herself tried to comment about the situation. "What your friend is saying might hold some truth, you know?" She talked to Guinafen. "Despite this being the first time I'm meeting you, it seems you are a bit of obsessed with likes, viewers and whatnot to the point of doing things that your friends might not be fully onboard about. Is scavenging through corpses really worth it for...what the people call it these days? Clout?"

"Eh? You're calling me a lousy clout chaser or something?" Guinafen looked to Acheron as if she had told a bad joke. "Pff! You think I'm one of those lame scammers and grifters you see around on the internet?" She gave a smuggish and proud smile to the Self-Annihilator. "Lil Gui here's been doing this channel stuff for years and for the love of the game, you copy that?" She then turned around to give an indignant look to Sushang. "Also, excuse me? Never cared about my friends? Well then, how many times did I visited you to the hospital?"

"And how many of those times were because of your stupid challenges?" Sushang counter-argued hard, proceeding to do a mocking voice of Guinafen. " 'HeY suSHanG, Get beNeaTh This sLab of StoNE ThAt I'm GonNA crUsh wIth mY hAmMer. HoLD tHe FireWOrks iN yOUr Hand, SusHang. EAt tHiS exTrA DanGERouS sPicy food, SuSHaNg. HoP On to The stellAr sKIff as we're AboUT tO dRIVe lIke craZy, SusHang. Let'S GO tO tHe hAunTEd tEmpLE fAMouS fOr HavInG THe sOul of GhosTS RoamINg aROund Sushang!' I'M A FREAKING CLOUD KNIGHT!" She shouted highly. "I shouldn't be wasting time with that stupid nonsense of yours! Specially on a day like this!"

Being yelled at furiously by her friend, Guinafen's eyes narrowed. "Oh, sorry Ms 'Cloud Knight'. I just wasn't expecting that people with that title were supposed to have the courage of a mice when asked to do those challenges!" She also raised up her voice in response, the tension growing.

Being in the middle of it all, Huohuo tried her best to calm the two down. "P-Please you two! Don't discuss like that!"

"It's not about having the courage or not! It's a matter of responsability!" Sushang told to the other girl, Huohuo's plead haven't changed nothing at all. "I'm not doing any of your stupid stuff anymore."

"Oh yeah, right!" Guinafen scoffed. "What are you gonna say next? That you don't want to be my friend anymore?"

"I don't."

"..." Guinafen's face slightly broke for a moment, surprised how quickly and coldly Sushang responded to that question, being caught completly off guard.

"S-Sushang!" Huohuo exclaimed and looked at the Cloud Knight girl in full shock and dismay, not having seen that coming either.

Even Acheron could feel the sourness and tragedy of this moment between two people she had just literally met only for a few minutes.

"You can go and search for the body yourself for all I care. Call me a chicken or whatever." Sushang said sternly torwards the still stunned Guinafen. "From today onwards, I don't want to be around you anymore."

Has her brain took some good initial seconds to process those harsh words, Guinafen finally replied. "...Fine. As if I needed you anyways!" She exclaimed angrily. Still, a bit of pain in her voice could be heard. "Go back to your boring life if that's what you want! I imagine you must have loads of friends in there!"

"Girls..." Huohuo speaked in a sorrowful whisper, unable to call the two as the friendship between Guinafen and Sushang seemed to have shattered at that moment. A dreadful and agonizing silence falling in the area.

Until Morte decided that he had seen enough of the showand was done with it, his head beggining to dematerialize in Acheron's hands. "Well, this was a bit of a tragedy. Shame that we've only got to see the end of it." Dissapearing from the Emmanator of Nihility's hands, a green thunderous light begun to shine amidst the pile of the mara-struck corpses as Morte's own body emerged from the top, the head slowly being restored back in place. Bones, meat and skin. "Still, thanks for the so very dedicated effort."

The trio watched Morte's regeneration and full appearence a bit in awe, seeing him with the head back in place alongside the entire body. Sushang and Huohuo were more of speechless whereas Guinafen expressed an authentic smile of fascination. Phone already in hand, she rushed torwards him in a blitz, prepare for recording.

"Oh. My. Aeon! You can also regenerate your body like that?! Does that meany you are basically immortal?!" She asked to the tall man with her big glimmering eyes.

"Basically." Morte responded stoically to the streamer girl as he brushed off her hand holding the phone too close to his face.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I can't believe it! Now I'm mad for not having recorded that!" Guinafen's enthusiasm only grew more, able to temporarily subdue her bitterness with Sushang. "Then you can do essentialy everything without dying! Replace limbs, regenerate and etc.! You mister got me some interesting ideas for my next videos!" She exclaimed, excited with the existence of such person like Morte. "Humm, by the way. What's your name?"

"Morte. But that's only for the ones who really know me." He smirked down to her. "To you, it's Morty Johnson."

"Understood, Mr MJ! I can call you Mr MJ, can I?" Guinafen replied happily, the space in her head having no other thing occupying it aside from the so many ideas and streams she was planning on doing with Morte.

"Tsk! Eh, sure streamer-girl." Morte simply shrugged, scratching his own chin. He admit it had a nice ring to it. "Why no-"

"Then let's get going!" Guinafen didn't even let the man finish as she dragged him by the arm, beggining to leave the area. "I have quite the ideas for the challenges we're about to do next! I know you'll enjoy it! Unlike others." She gave a rough stare to Sushang as she walked past her, the Cloud Knight responding with the same stare. It was obvious the two's friendship had gone cold.

Despite not being warned, Morte didn't protested or said anything about her action, letting Guinafen guide him instead as a smirk appeared on his lips. She was a bit interesting.

Seeing them go away, Acheron crossed her arms. A part of her knew it was probably for the better to either accompany them as a matter to prevent Guinafen from walking around with someone as dangerous and unpredictable as Morte, a bit concerned about the girl's safety. But also, this was the Xianzhou Luofu, a place with many guards and patrols around. Morte wouldn't be fool enough to try something out in a place like the Luofu. And even if he did, it would only put him and even her in huge trouble. Still, the Self-Annihilator would make sure to check on Guinafen at the end of the day or tomorrow in order to guarantee Morte wasn't up to something. She hope she could at least remember that.

"Ah, finally! That guy is gone! He was giving me a bit of an unsettling feeling."

A voice speaked inside Huohuo, gaining the small foxian's attention. "Hm? You were also feeling that, Mr Tail?"

Meanwhile, Sushang looked to Acheron. "Are you going to chase after them or..."

"Not really necessary. He's able to take care of himself." Acheron responded to the Cloud Knight, hoping she would not come to regret this vow of confidence she was giving on Morte. Otherwise, she'd make sure he would have alot to answer for.

"Uh, I see." Sushang speaked, giving a closer look on the Self-Annihilator. "Those clothes...You don't seem from here. Are you a tourist?"

"Yes. You could say that." Acheron smiled softly to the Cloud Knight. "First time in the Luofu and everything."

"Oh, that's nice to know!" Sushang replied back with a smile, looking more friendly now. That was until her eyes gazed at Acheron's face again, narrowing a bit. "Wait a minute!...That face...Do I know you?"

A question that immediatly made Acheron get a bit tense. "H-Humm, no? I think you are mistaking me for someone else." She said. It was the Xianzhou Alliance after all. Obvious that some of her wanted posters, as that of a highly wanted criminal of the IPC, would be plastered around in places like the Luofu. At least she hoped that majority of the people here didn't knew about her, her existence being merely a knowledge between the high official of this mothership.

Looking throughly to the Emmanator of Nihility, Sushang let it go rather quickly. "Meh. Guess you're right. Maybe my memory is just fooling me." She rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish smile. She could never be sure after her meeting with that blonde stranger a few months ago. "Anyways, if you're a tourist, it is a bot of my duty as Cloud Knight to give you a welcome and guide you to the urban centers of the Luofu! You are actually lucky to be visiting it during this time of the year!"

"Why so?" Acheron asked to Sushang, curious.

"Because tomorrow, it will be the celebration and mark of the 500th Anniversary since our great leader, General Jing Yuan, became the general of the Luofu!" Sushang revealed with a big smile the grand even they were celebrating. That quickly explained the hundreads of ships and skiffs that were present in the sky.

"Really? Didn't knew it." Acheron replied, her mind going back to what Morte told to her about visiting a friend in here for a special occasion. "Then was Morte referring to..."

"Due to it, security in the Luofu is higher than usual during this week were we are making the celebrations. You were fortunate to find a Cloud Knight right at the beggining here!" Sushang continued to talk, seeming more joyful ever since Guinafen left. "Don't mind if I become a bit of your guide now so that you get to know the main places of the Luofu. With all the commotion and visits we're getting now, it can be very easy getting lost walking around here."

"Thank you. I sure don't mind. Name's Acheron." Acheron introduced herself, accepting Sushang's offer. Her bad memory with places and halls appreciated it.

"Good! Do you mind if I lead you to the Exalting Sanctum first? It will be the main stage for the great celebration tomorrow, so I'm sure you'd want to start with that." Sushang proposed to Acheron. "The Star Skyff Commition and Aurum Alley can also be great points of interest."

"I see. Do guide me to the Exalting Sanctum first then." Acheron responded, to which Sushang nodded proceeding to walk ahead, Acheron following her.

"But what about Guinafen?" Huohuo finally speaked, asking to Sushang. She was still thinking about their other friend.

"Don't care. She's on her own." Sushang responded bitterly, not caring about Guinafen. However, giving a bit of some footsteps ahead, the Cloud Knight realized she was perhaps sounding a bit harsh. "Look. About that...Sorry if the scene earlier made you feel a bit uncomfortable. I'm usually not like that."

"It's fine. Your friend- I mean, she's quite the energetic one." Acheron replied, speaking about Guinafen. "Just mind on guiding me to that place you were talking about. I'm sure it is will be beautiful to see." She smiled warmly to the Cloud Knight.

"Understood." Sushang replied, her smile coming back. "Follow me and you won't get lost!" She went back to walking. "Will you also come, Huohuo?"

"That isn't even a question. Of course I will!" The small foxian responded, not wanting to be left behind.

Thus, Acheron, now separated from Morte but with the new company of Sushang and Huohuo, walked all the way through the docks of the Luofu until reaching to the urban area of the large ship.

"You see, the Luofu is a place basically composed of the Comissions, each one designated to a specific area of administration of the mother ship." Sushang was reciting a bit of a lesson to Acheron, explaining to the Self-Annihilator the anatomy and structure of the Luofu as well as the functions of each area and the social structure its society was build upon.

"That does sound interesting." Acheron replied as she was listening carefully. So far, it seemed the Xianzhou was just like in the comments the people of her home planet used to describe. Or of what she could remember of those conversations. From the peripheral view, she caught sight of a nervous Huohuo walking by her side. "Hm? Are you feeling alright?"

The small foxien shyly tried to reply. "Hmmm...No. Not really. If I can, could I make you a question?"

"Sure. Do say what's troubling you." Acheron allowed to Huohuo.

"It's about Guinafen...I'm worried about her." Huohuo said, lowly in order for Sushang to not hear the conversation on her back. "It might be me being a coward but, that man looks really scary. I-I have an heliobus, a spirit named Mr Tail, that speaked to me about him. He commented on how your friend reeked so much to blood and death, that it was as if he had came straight from hell." She said apprehensive, her hands closing into fists when thinking back to that conversation. "Is it okay to let Guinafen with someone like him?"

Acheron quickly saw from where Huohuo was coming from. Morte's appearence alone, while seemingly just that of a well built pretty man at first, could also elicit some fear on others if he decided to look or speak more menacingly. "Well, he's..." Acheron thought carefully about what she was going to say. While it was undeniable that Morte himself was a monstrous danger, solidified by their very first encounter on that dead planet where he controlled and toyed around with the bodies of the deceased, the Self-Annihilator didn't want to make someone as Huohuo panick to the extreme. Hence why, she ended up lying. "He's a bit 'unhinged'. But nothing much besides that. Your friend is alright. I guarantee you that."

Huohuo chosed to believe in her words, sighing a bit in relief. "That's good to hear. Thank you for telling me that, Ms Acheron."

"You're welcome." The Emmanator of Nihility replied.

"And here we are! Exalting Sanctum!" Sushang exclaimed as the trio arrived to the big plaza of the Luofu. It was full of stands and stores settled around, overflowed with life as many the people walked here and there, many with General Jing Yuan's merchandise that the stores were selling out.

"It's amazing. This place is bustling with energy." Acheron noted, all of this liveliness making her remember about the Golden Hour back in Penacony. But hopefully without any schemes behind.

"I know, right?" Sushang looked to the Self-Annihilator, about to walk into the crowd. "I have a stand in mind that you could try it out first! Let's go!" She said as both she and Huohuo walked ahead.

"Eh. Oka-hm?!" Acheron was about to follow the duo when she accidentaly bumped into someone, a plum blossom flower falling to the ground. The Self-Annihilator went to pick it right up, crouching down. "Sorry. Didn't see you coming."

"It's alright." The stranger she had bumped into, was a woman, covering her head and upper body in a white hood and mantle with golden traces and more blossoms attached to the texture. "It happens." She told to Acheron, traces of brown hair showing underneath the hood alongside a bit of the woman's face, a blue eye staring right into Acheron. "I hope this celebration can still be of her affinity."

"Huh?" Acheron looked weirdly to the woman. There was something about her, that made her brain spark a bit. "Who...are you?"

The mysterious hodded woman got back on her feet. "No one of importance. Just merely passing by." She replied, proceeding to walk away, leaving Acheron to wonder about her identity.

"Acheron! Over here!" Huohuo yelled in the crowd, calling for the Self-Annihilator's attention.

"Don't get lost from us!" Sushang added, yelling as well.

Acheron's thoughts ended up leaving as she heard the two calling out for her, quickly taking her gaze away from the mysterious woman. "Already going!" She said, entering the crowd.

In the distance now, the mysterious woman watched the Emmanator of Nihility get emerged within the people at the center of the festivities. Her cold blue, clinical eyes analyzing her to the very moment she wasn't more visible. Truly, an Emmanator. What a peculair and interesting specimen. She was really here as it was told by her collaborators. The pieces were all here then. Very soon, the woman known as Ruan Mei, would get some fundamental answers to the grand question she had been surveying.

Chapter Text

Amongst the crowd, Acheron's mind was trying to spot Sushang and Huohuo. But she couldn't, as her mind was now filled with thoughts about the mysterious woman she had just accidentay bumped into before heading inside the mob. Every time her head would turn around at any angle and her eyes gazed at more nameless people's faces in her surroundings, another question about that woman would sprout in her brain.

"That woman. Who is she?"

"Why did she seemed to know me?"

"Do I know her?"

"Is she here for the festival?"

"Why did she looked so myster-"

"There you are!"

"!"

Feeling someone grabbing her hand, the Self-Annihilator's mind came to a sudden ease as she stared to Sushang and Huohuo on her side, having found her in the middle of the ground. With that, the questions about the woman inside her head ceased to exist.

"Phew! Glad we were able to find you in the middle of this crowd!" Sushang said, pulling Acheron to a less crowded space of the area alongside Huohuo. "Told you that the Luofu in this time of the year is quite the nightmare for newcomers!"

"You were also looking truly lost in there to the point of making us worried." Huohuo also speaked, frowning. "Please, stay close to us like we've advised before!"

"Sorry. You're right." Acheron responded, her mind back to normalcy as she made sure to calm both the two's concern about her. "I just ain't the type of person that does well in excessive overcrowded spaces."

"Hm, must be quite the hassle to have something like that then." The Cloud Knight said before sounding more cheerful. "Funnily enough, you do seem to strike me as a person who appreciates more tranquility and peaceful places. By the way, who was that woman you bumped into? You two seemed to have chatted for a bit. Did you know her?"

"Not really. Don't know her from anywhere. So it ended up being just small talk." Acheron responded, the brief meeting becoming a second thought in her head as she had other things to keep more focused on while in here. "This place, the Exalting Sanctum, does seem nice however." She turned her head to look at the overall festival that was happening. "I can tell that it's usually a busy area even with events not occuring. Areas like this surely seem to make the Luofu lively. The way everyone is smilling and commemorating their tradition together..." Getting progressively lower, the Emmanator of Nihility's voice became a deaf whisper as she closed her eyes, reminiscing of those blurred and fragmented days of her homeland, when they had their own festivals. "I wish I still could do the same."

"I-Is everything alright?" Huohuo questioned Acheron as she and Sushang both noticed how the woman was looking melancholic. "You're looking sad."

"No. Everything's fine. I was seizing the moment, that's all." Acheron replied, staring back to the duo. "Anyways, what is that stand that you were referring about a moment ago, Sushang?"

"Oh! It's simply one of if not the best stand food in the Luofu at the moment!" Sushang responded enthusiastically. "You really have to try out! People are saying that the smell of the dishes is enough to make water in your mouth!"

The small foxian nodded in agreement. "Exactly! I tried it out the other day! It was incredibly good, as excepted from Jiaoqiu!"

"Jiaoqiu?" Acheron raised an eyebrow, wondering who that was.

"He's a foxian from the Xianzhou Yaoqing as well as a direct counselor of the general from there." Huohuo explained the basic information about Jiaoqiu to the Self-Annihilator. "But also an incredible chef and healer. His food is the best of the best! We've heard recently that he opened his own food stand here in the Exalting Sanctum for the duration period of the festival!"

"Xianzhou Yaoqing? There is people from the other Xianzhou ships here at the Luofu?" Acheron made another question, having noticed that detail.

"Yeah. Altough majority is just normal citizens from the other ships. Not much high profile guests really." Sushang replied, not wanting the Self-Annihilator to get high expectations. "That aside, wanna try out his food?"

Despite what was already the obvious that Acheron had long since lost her ability to 'taste' food, she would look bad to refuse it in front of Sushang and Huohuo, specially if she had to explain why which could open a whole can of worms in itself. Better spare them of all that. "I am. Guide me to where his food stand is, please." She nodded her head with a friendly smile to the duo.

"Alright! Again, make sure to stay close to us this time." Sushang told to Acheron as the three of them proceeded to walk back into the crowd, navigating through in order to reach to the seemingly famous food stand of Jiaoqiu."

"Look! There he is!" Huohuo exclaimed as she pointed to the already mentioned food stand in the middle of the square and crowd. And it really seemed as great as people told, having huge amounts of line just to eat the food of the foxian man that was cooking amazingly and expertly to the hundreds of gazes from the people.

"Wow! Look at him go!"

"Amazing! He cooked that dish in literally under a minute!"

"And it tastes soooo good!"

"What's his secret to pull that off?"

With a ding of the stopwatch, another dish was put on the counter as it was ready to be served. "Hehehe, calm down everyone! Don't push others and make sure to not cut the line!" Jiaoqiu smiled to his public as he finished serving another happy customer. "There is enough food for everyone that I'm willing to make!"

"So that's him..." Acheron murmured from the distance. Shifting her gaze down to the dishes exhibited at the counter, she could tell that they looked delicious just by the appearence. "Judging by the look of that food and the people's reaction, guess he really is a great cook."

"Hey! What about my dish!"

"Can't you two get the job done already?!"

"I've been waiting for mine for almost half an hour by now!"

Hearing the shouts and angry comments of impatience on the line to the side of the one Jiaoqiu was serving, the foxian's attention got turned to his left. "Hm?"

The trio also looked to the source of insatisfaction of some of the people in that line. It appeared that the foxian wasn't managing the food stand all by himself. Quite the contrary, he was accompanied by two helpers on the business.

Sushang's eyes widened a bit as she realized who it was. "Wait! Aren't those two..."

From the other half of the improvised kitchen inside the food stand, a duo of young teens were squabbling with each other, having entered into a sort of competition.

"You call this cutting? Those carrot slices were choped disproportionally!" A young blonde boy shouted. "You think you're slicing enemies up or what?!"

"Then why don't you do it then if you're the expert!?" The other child, a black haired girl, shouted back. "Or you're afraid to mess up another dish?"

"Me? Pff! I ain't afraid of cooking!"

"Yet you were on your knees begging like a baby to not be forced to spend the day here!"

"And I wouldn't if it wasn't for you causing the ruckus that you did at the Artisanship Comission!"

"What? The ruckus YOU did?"

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did!"

Pressing both forheads on one another, the two kids dispute was about to possibly go physical.

Sighing, Jiaoqiu saw he had to intervene. "Excuse me for a moment." Stepping in, the foxian calmly put both his arms in the middle, moving away both children from each other. "Now now, you two. No need to start getting violent for every small mistake the other of you does. Just like in swordsmanship, cooking also requires a trial and error in order to perfect it. With a turbulent kitchen, you won't reach there. The more calm we are, the less mistakes we make."

"Hmph! He's the one who started!" The girl puffed her cheeks, crossing her arms and looking away in contempt. "I'm kinda surprised he still hasn't set the whole kitchen on fire by accident."

"You..." The boy replied in a restrained anger, trying his best to not feel insulted.

"Those two surely do seem to have a chaotic dynamic. Are they siblings?" Acheron asked, the relationship and interaction between the boy and the girl looking...peculiar.

"Worse! They're Yanqing and Yunli!" Sushang exclaimed in bewilderment before explaining to Acheron. "Yanqing is General Jing Yuan's prodigee and technically adopted son. Many assume that he's going to be the leader of the Cloud Knights one day. And the girl, Yunli, is the grandaughter of the General of the Xianzhou Zhuming, General Huaiyan. I wonder why those two are here working under Jiaoqiu and his kitchen?"

"Maybe we should go ask them. Hope it wasn't anything bad related to the General." Huohuo proposed before shyly looking to the line in front of the trio. "Altough...we'd have to pass in front of all these people..."

"Bah! Who cares or not if we're cutting the line?" Mr Tail replied to Huohuo from the inside. "It ain't like we're doing it to get a piece of food! It will be just to asj questions."

"Well, as much as an 'abuse of authority' this is gonna look, I can use my rank as a Cloud Knight to get us to the front of the line." Sushang expressed her idea to the other two, looking at the line in front of them with confidence as she put both hands on her hips.

"Guess there really isn't much of other choice, is there?" Acheron replied.

"Nope. There isn't." Sushang replied in conformity, much to Huohuo's weak sigh.

"Excuse me! Excuse me! Cloud Knight passing by! Checking the perimeter!" Sushang then stepped forward, announcing her presence to the crowd as she made way through the line with Acheron and Huohuo following from behind, gaining some looks and comments of exasperation. "Please, don't question it! Just doing my duty, please understand!"

Eventually, the three reached to the food stand, seeing Jiaoqiu still trying to calm down Yanqing and Yunli.

"Don't be frustrated with one another. If you end up cooperating instead, you'll see how easier it gets done." The foxian chef advised them.

"Looks like someone here got tasked with parental duty, eh?" Sushang greeted Jiaoqiu, gaining both his and Yanqing and Yunli's attention.

"Eh, Miss Sushang. Hello there." Jiaoqiu smiled to her. "What brings a Cloud Knight like you here on such busy day like this one? Is my dishes really that good to the point of making guards leave their positions to eat them?" He joked a bit.

"Not really. I already had lunch." Sushang responded.

"We just wanted to see what the commotion was all about." Huohuo explained their motive to be there, looking to Yanqing and Yunli. "We weren't expecting to see the prodigees of two generals being here cooking for you. Did something happened?"

"If it happened. Yunli, being the reckless untrained child like she is, created problem on the Artisanship Comission." Yanqing pointed to Yunli with his thumb, showing clearly his disdain.

" 'Problem'. You're the one that decided to escalate it, idiot!" Yunli replied back.

"Because there's no way I would let you mess around in the forge just to create a new blade!" Yanqing told to her, annoyed.

"Thanks for that! Your intervention caused more damage to the comissions then it would if you had chose not to!" Yunli responded in the same voice tone.

"Oh! Then the news about the accident that happened yesterday on the Artisanship Comission were because of you two?" Sushang asked in surprise, only now knowing the real cause behind it.

"..."

"..."

Both Yanqing and Yunli just embaressedly looked away, preferring not to comment.

"Yeah. The damages...weren't pretty. So it's going to be closed off for at least a week until it's fully repaired." Jiaoqiu responded on that situation, looking down at the two children. "And as punishment for the two's trouble, General Jing Yuan assigned them to spend the day aiding me at my food stand in order to learn a lesson."

"Hm, so even the protégés of the generals aren't the exemple of perfect students." Acheron speaked, thinking that the punishment looked deserved if that was the case.

Jiaoqiu chuckled in response, seemingly turning his head to look at the Emmanator of Nihility. "No, they're not. No student is actually perfect. Because once they are, then they aren't a student anymore."

Acheron smiled softly to those wise words of the foxian. "How much true indeed."

"Hmm, that voice...You're new here at the Luofu, are you?" Jiaoqiu asked her, never having heard Acheron's voice before. "Or maybe I just didn't see you on my previous visits here before. Hehe, then again, I am not native to the Luofu and it's now a bit hard to-"

"Mister Jiaoqiu...The lady you're speaking with is on your left." Yanqing told him as he and the rest just stared to Jiaoqiu talking torwards the stove in an awkward silence.

"...Ah." Jiaoqiu simply said, having been facing the wrong direction, before turning his body to the left. "Apologies. This must have felt embaressing."

Only with that, Acheron begun to question why the foxian's eyes were closed. "You're...blind?" She asked, assuming it was that.

"Mister Jiaoqiu has been for quite some time now after a tragic accident that happened some months ago here at the Luofu as well." Huohuo told to the Self-Annihilator how the other foxian lost his sight. "A shame really. I can't even imagine what it's like to have to live without being able to perceive the world, specially for a chef cook like you. All those great dishes you make with the amount of ingredients you put in...you can't see them for yourself anymore."

Nevertheless, Jiaoqiu showed himself to be okay with that. "Eh, don't feel bad about it. Of course that it may cost at the beggining, but I've become mostly used to it by now. Also, the scent and taste are already enough to feel those dishes and the ingredients I chose. So even if I lack vision, as long as I can still sense the smell and flavor, those dishes will never be bland to me."

Acheron contemplated the words of the foxian chef for a bit. They seemed to ressonate with her, making the Emmanator of Nihility remember of the senses she herself had lost like taste and her subsequent rusting of her cooking skills with that. Yet, Jiaoqiu, who couldn't even see the dishes he'd prepare now, never stopped trying even if it difficulted his task. Arguably, cooking without being able to see was harder than cooking without being able to savor. She had to give him respects for that. "In exchange of having a sense taken away from you, all the other ones got enhanced. You must have valued what you still had greatly after such lose."

Jiaoqiu nodded in agreement. "Yes. While it's an unfortunate that I cannot see and might never will again, at the end of the day, I still find a blessing to be able to hear the voices of my companions, talk with them, and feel the diverse scents of food. It means that I'm still a living being." The foxian than brought a hand to his chin, Acheron's voice making his mind imagine. "Speaking of which, for the tone of your voice, you sound like a very collected, compassionate and wise lady. A voice of someone that looks to have gone through her fair share of experiences too as a seasoned traveller. It's like...how can I better put it? I was hearing to petals breezing in the air of a cherry blossom at the top of a resting hill amidst a desolated battlefield. It feels comforting."

Acheron was slightly bemused at the description Jiaoqiu made of her. She had never heard someone else compliment her voice like that before. His vision of her was also kind and a bit spot-on. If that was how the foxian perceived her, then it meant his intuition was as great as his other senses. "Thanks. You're also seem to be a very kind soul." Acheron replied back amicably to the foxian.

Giving an acknowledging smile, Jiaoqiu decided to change the topic. "So, are you native from here or just a tourist that caught wind of the 500th Anniversary of Lord Jing Yuan becoming Luofu's general?"

"The latter." Acheron responded. "I just happened to have stumbled upon the Xianzhou Luofu for a quick stop. Having come here at such eventful date was mere coincidence."

As the conversation was going on, Yanqing's eyes stared to Acheron's sword guarded to her waist. "That sword...I've never seen it before. Nor any of its kind here at the Luofu."

"Hm? Interested in it?" Acheron looked to the boy, taking out her sword for him to see better. "It does look special, doesn't it? Would not blame you for finding as such."

"Hmm, that shape. There's no sword in the Luofu that reminds me of that. Perhaps the closest resemblance to it is the sword of the General's mento-" Before being able to finish, Yanqing was pushed abruptly to the side by Yunli. "H-Hey!"

Yunli for her own was with her eyes fixated on the weapon. " 'Special' doesn't seem to sell it! I'd say more unique!" She moved her hand forward, about to touch it. "I wonder how powerful it is-"

Quickly, Acheron pulled her sword back. "Don't touch it!" The Self-Annilator said in an almost scolding tone. If Yunli were to come into contact with it, with IX themselves, who knew what bad things could happen.

However, it made Yunli and the rest look at her a bit oblivious and weird, not understanding Acheron's sudden reaction.

"...This sword isn't meant to be touched by anyone except its owner." Acheron explained briefly and in a more calm voice, storing back her weapon. She hoped that message was enough for Yunli to understand.

Seemingly, she did. "Oh. Okay. Sorry 'bout that." Yunli moved back her arm, apologizing in earnest, not having the intention to 'upset' Acheron.

"Tsk! For Lan's sake, Yunli! At least let that habit of stealing people with interesting swords die!" Yanqing rebuked her. "That gives a bad first impression on the people you meet, y'know?" He said, speaking from personal experience.

Yunli stared to Yanqing with indignation. "I wasn't gonna steal her! You always have to go straight to the accusations, don't you? That's your problem Yanqing! Anytime I'm about to do something you always end up rushing. Just admit that knowing I'm better than you made you become obsessed with me."

"Obsessed with you? Pff! Was that you're attempt at a joke?" Yanqing replied with an annoying smile. "Do I have to remind you who dealt that critical blow on Hooley? Who's the ring leader? Who won that duel literally three days ago?"

"Hmph! You were just lucky..." Yunli puffed her cheeks and adverted the gaze. She's have her revange eventually.

"It's alright. It was an innocent mistake. You two don't need to squabble over it." Acheron speaked, not wanting the two kids to be entering a discussion because of her sword.

"...Yeah. I already have enough has it is staying here." Yanqing sighed, following Acheron's advice as he and Yunli just accepted ending their petty discussion there. "But I have to say, to carry around a sword like that...You must be a very skilled and powerful swordswoman, miss." He complimented Acheron, having the feeling she was pretty strong by her weapon alone. "Just the sight of it makes me wish to challenge miss to a duel!" He exclaimed in high spirits. "What do you say to that? Once I'm finished with this boring punishment, we can spar somewhere else!"

"So that you can lose to her and no one sees your defeat?" Yunli teased the boy to her side, gaining a small look of distaste from him.

Acheron giggled in amusement. She could tell that the general's prodigee was quite enthusiastic about facing strong opponents. "I appreciate your offer of facing me. Unfortunately, I fear I'll have to refuse. I don't have many intentions of fighting on my small stay here. If anything, I just wish to enjoy the festival at peace."

"Oh? Really? That's fine I guess..." Yanqing replied a bit dissapointed before putting that feeling aside. "But hey, I don't blame you, miss. If you want to enjoy the leisure that the Luofu has to offer, then I'll respect that. Just promise me we can duel someday on a future visit of yours." The boy told to the Self-Annihilator, hoping that their duel could someday become true.

"Eh. I'll think about it, don't worry." Acheron responded gently to Yanqing. If he was the prodigée of the general, then he surely was promising. Perhaps she could indeed fight him someday...but not with her Emmanator powers. Despite probably being skillful, she wouldn't want to obliterate a child like him.

Meanwhile, as Acheron was speaking to the two, Jiaoqiu returned with something. "Here! Taste this dish I made." He told to the Self-Annihilator, putting three plates of food in the counter. "I've also made for you two." He told to Sushang and Huohuo.

"Hm? What's this?" Acheron looked with curiosity to the dish the foxian chef put in front of her.

"My own version of the 'Effervescing Blood-Dragon Stew'." Jiaoqiu revealed. "Made with 300g of Wild Red Fury Wyvern from the Xianzhou Fanghu. 3 spoon drops of Lava Tongue. Sacred vegetables from the Blooming Fields of the Yaoqing, and, my addition to it, a bit of Yellow Sweet Mustard followed with three Evanescent Bya Leafs." The foxian spelled out the ingredients.

"Wow! You cooked these ones for us in record time?" Sushang said in surprise while Huohuo was with water in her mouth.

"You have tasted it before?" Acheron asked to the Cloud Knight.

"If I have!" Sushang replied, smilling. "I used to eat it sometimes! They're even Guinaifen's-..." However, the smile dissapeared once she brought up that name. Remembering of the heated moment she had earlier today with the person she now deemed to never want to see again made Sushang's mood go slightly down, a sad frown appearing on her face.

"Huh? What's that face for? What's wrong?" Yunli asked to the Cloud Knight.

"Now that you mention it, that girl, Guinaifen, is your friend, isn't she? It's kinda strange seeing you around without her. Did something happened?" Yanqing made another question, unaware of the friendship that was now broken between the two girls.

"N-nothing! Gui's just decided to be busy on other things for today." Huohuo replied in the place of Sushang, trying to swipe that problem under the rug. "Plus, as a Cloud Knight, Sushang needs to be a bit on duty on such date like this one."

"Y-Yeah. That's right." Sushang responded, trying to sound convincing and forcing a smile. "Usual stuff of hers, y'know?"

"Hey! Why are those three who jumped all the way to the front of the line get food already!?"

"That's right! It's unfair!"

"Authority priority! Don't question it!" Sushang exclaimed, turning down to the unhappy line behind them, calming down their complains, much to Huohuo's sighed. This wouldn't look good in Sushang's report.

Anyways, both of them took a bite into the food, tasting it.

"Hmm! Looks pretty good!...and hot..." Huohuo commented, trying her best to hold a straight face as sweat from the hotness of the food sprouted from her face.

"T-True...Y-You really surpassed yourself with this one, Mr Jiaoqiu." Sushang also speaked with some difficulty due to the flavour.

"Glad that you're both liking it." Jiaoqiu smiled before staring to Acheron. "And what about you? Have you tasted it already?"

"About to." Acheron replied, having hesitated a bit. She knew that even if spicy, her mouth wouldn't feel a thing. Still, she wouldn't just deny the dish Jiaoqiu made for her, and so, the Emmanator of Nihility accepted in good will, also taking a bite out of it and munching the food. "Hmm, it's pretty good." She lied clearly. Despite how great Jiaoqiu was as a cook, to which she believed he was, not even his cooking could make her feel any flavour. Just blandeness once again, her face not even sweating.

While for Acheron, it was because the food had no effect on her, the others all thought it was because she had some crazy resistance to spiciness.

"S-She's eating it so nonchalantly that it's almost scary." Yunli said in a freightened awe.

"Did she spent her entire life eating those or something?" Yanqing said, also in bewilderment.

Alas, knowing that there would be no point finishing a dish she couldn't savor, Acheron put the plate down. "Indeed, it was good. Unfortunately, I'm already full, so I won't be able to finish it."

"Ah, a shame then." Jiaoqiu replied, picking up the dish back. "If you want, I can store the rest inside a box for you to eat later."

As their chat continued, the people behind them seemed to start doing something else to spend the time.

"Eeeeh, this line is taking forever to advance."

"You tell me, dude. Wanna check out what Lil Gui's doing?"

"Isn't she doing a livestream right now? With a new guy and everything?"

"Hm? A livestream" Acheron said, having catched the conversation that was going behind their backs.

"It's true! Look!" Huohuo pointed to her phone, having put on Guinaifen's livestream that she was doing...with Morte.

"Now, I know what majority of you might be wondering: 'What is this random handsome even doing with you, Lil Gui? What's his deal?' To which...I respond you with this!"

Guinaifen then panned the camera over to Morte who was merely just scratching the edge of his nose with little interest while looking to the other way, holding a cigar between his fingers. "Hey, psst! Mister MJ, do the thing." Her whisper to the tall man could be heard.

"Hm? What thing?" Morte said with a bland face, looking down on the young woman.

"The head thing!" Guinaifen told him.

"Uh? Sorry, can't remember, streamer-girl." Morte said as he continued to scratch his nose and look to the other way with the minimum of interests.

It was enough to get a baffled reaction from Guinaifen who zoomed on his face. "Huh? Humm, excuse me? Didn't we made a de-" And out of nowehere, Morte's head simply fell off from his body, gaining a scare out of Guinaifen that backed off, shaking the camera but capturing the moment. "AAH!"

"Like this?" Morte grinned on the ground as his headless body was still standing, the head looking directly to the camera as the chat on Guinaifen's livestream went wild.

Guinaifen herself went from a quick freight to relieved and happy laughs. "Eh, ehehehe. Are you seeing this, chat? He-He even blinks and everything despite being just a head!" She then turned the camera to herself. "Ain't that just crazy?! No props, visual effects or green screen! What you've saw is as real as the air you're breathing!" She smiled to glee as the numbers on the livestream were skyrocketing. "Eager to see more of him? So am I! I swear to you chat, what this man is capable to do, is not even written!" She said, turning her camera back to Morte whose head regenerated back to his body. "See?! Did you guys caught that? Like a true ghost! And that's not half of it!" She closed the camera to Morte's face again, heading torwards him. "This man is a box full of surprises!" She said, doing really great in selling Morte's gimmick to her audience.

"Little privacy now please." Morte said as he was about to light up a cig, turning away Guinaifen's camara.

"W-Woah!" In a miracle, Guinaifen was able to maintain the camera in her hands, giggling a bit sheepishly. "We're gonna head to another place to test out other things, chat! Don't forget to subscribe my page that you can access down in the link below and become a loyal member to Lil Gui's army!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Watching the livestream, all of them could feel Guinaifen's high energy through the screen, feeling a bit obnoxious.

"There she is doing her things again." Yanqing said in resignation, having become used to seeing the streamer-girl around pulling her stunts. "And that new partner of hers also looks something else. He was able to regenerate his body back but doesn't look like a mara-struck. That's...weird to say the least."

"Do you think he's a follower of Abundance?" Yunli asked to Yanqing, Morte's abilities having caught their attention.

"Perhaps he's just some kind of illusory magician." Acheron replied while proceeding to look to the side, hiding her frustrated face. "Wonderful, Morte. Do show your powers during a livestream that makes grand part of the Luofu suspect you." As much as she hated to admit, she'd probably be unfortunate enough to be dragged into it by association if things turn south for Morte in the Luofu. "For what is worth, it seems he hasn't done anything to Guinaifen. Yet."

"..." Sushang didn't comment, just observing the livestream with some silent bitterness. Maybe even regret? Her face expression was enough to make Huohuo who noticed to immediatly turn off the livestream from her phone.

"Whatever it is that she's up to, I just hope that streamer keeps her antics away from being an headache during the festival." Yanqing said. "Artists like her can be appreciated but also a nuisance if going too far." He then stared to Sushang. "As a Cloud Knight and her friend, if you do find Guinaifen, tell her to go a bit easy with her stunts during these few next days, okay?"

"Sure." Sushang responded with her mood having gone down a bit. "Thank you for the dishes and the conversation, but I think we'll have to go now. Can't be here holding the line forever." She told to the trio at the food stand.

"If you're going already then do allow me to recommend Aurum Alley to be shown to the guest here." Jiaoqiu proposed where the other three could be heading next. "There, it will have even more food to taste! If you liked my dish, you'll certainly love the ones from there."

"Thank you for the recommendation. Maybe that's where we will be heading next." Acheron said, feeling a bit bad that Jiaoqiu made that statement, oblivious that she was unable to taste the food other than the blankness of it.

"Agreed. It was great seeing you again!" Huohuo told to Jiaoqiu, Yanqing and Yunli. "May we see each other again tomorrow at the ceremony day!"

"Likewise! Take care!" Yunli said as she, Yanqing and Jiaoqiu waved at the other three before going back to their kitchen functions and serving the customers.

"They really seem like good people." Acheron told with a smile. Even if her memory could sometimes fail, the Self-Annihilator liked to interact and meet with the people of the planets she'd go to. Some nice passerby on her voyage.

Huohuo nodded. "Hm hm. Master Yanqing is a bright and kind soul that always make sure to keep the Luofu safe. All of us in here are sure he's going to become a great leader of the Cloud Knights and even some think he can succeed General Jing Yuan himself. And while Miss Yunli and Mister Jiaoqiu aren't from this ship, I believe they're also very looked upon and admired by the people of their respective Xianhzou flagships."

Ahead of the two, Sushang was with a bit of a bleak face, her mind still thinking about Guinaifen's livestream. "Gui looks like to having fun even without me...Was I perhaps the problem?" She asked to herself as the three went on their way to Aurum Alley.

From a window of the Seat of Divine Foresight palace, the leader and general of Jing Yuan, stared ahead to the panoramic view of the Luofu with a melancholic smile, knowing that his big day was about to happen tomorrow.

"Can't even believe it is about to be five-hundred years since the tourch was passed down to me to guide all of you. Hm, it almost feels like yesterday. However..." Turning around, Jing Yuan stared to a sick short woman admitted to the bed of the peaceful room they where in. "It won't feel right without you in there by my side, Fu Xuan."

"Same here..." The ill Master Diviner replied weakly before coughing. "I cannot believe *cough cough* that of all the times to be sick...it had to be on this week- *cough cough*" She expressed her discontent before coughing hard again, picking a napkin on the table near her bed to blow her nose as Jing Yuan approached. "The duty to make sure all of the organization on the Cerimony Day to go flawless was supposed to be mine. Now who's supposed to take care of that?"

"Rest easy, Fu Xuan. I already had someone else do that job for you." Jing Yuan gave her a reassuring smile. "You know, you've been bery hard on yourself on the work lately. Perhaps that's how you ended up feeling sick. You should relax more a bit."

"And let important matters on the Luofu and the Alliance as a whole be in the oven waiting? I don't think so." Fu Xuan said before coughing again. "My absence during the Wardance was already bad enough. I just can't sit out on *cough cough* on another big event like this one, general!"

"I know and appreciate your worry about it, Fu Xuan. That's why security for this week has become tighter around all the ship. Specially with the Shackling Prison." Jing Yuan said in a more low tone, his mind going back to the accident with Hoolay some months ago. He couldn't let something like that to happen again. "Besides, General Feixao is also here for the meantime, so you know any possible attacks will instantly be crushed by her impending wit and tenacity."

"Still...we can never be too sure, general." Fu Xuan warned him, in the case that even in the slimmest of 0,001% chances, an attack would befall the Luofu.

"Right, right. I've got that in mind." Jing Yuan replied with some optimism in his face. "By the way, I got something that might cheer you up..." Smirking, the general went to pick up something that he was hiding on his back, showing it to Fu Xuan as if it was a grand surprise. "Ta-da! The newest General Jing Yuan Action Figure! It's making a fortune with the people lately!" The general said in a goofy manner as he approached item figure he bought to the face of a very ill-disposed Master Diviner. "Comes with voicelines and everything!"

"A foregone conclusion! Follow my charge. Conflict is pitilless!" The action figure speaked in a robotic tone after the push of a button.

Annoyed, Fu Xuan stripped the figure out of Jing Yuan's hand and ripped the head apart, putting an end to the noise. "Please take these matters seriously, general! Tomorrow *cough cough* will be *cough cough* your biggest day..."

Falling a bit into silence, Jing Yuan smile dissapeared before turning his head to the side, replacing it with a more pensative and melancholic one. "Yeah. You're right. Many things have happened lately, haven't they? The Ambrosial Arbor. That merchant, Luocha and my master. Hoolay at the Wardance. It barely gives oneself some time to breath and relax. Eh, maybe I am indeed getting too old for this..."

Detecting some sorrow in her general's voice, the small anger in Fu Xuan ceased away, now eyeying him with some mild concern. "General..."

"Five-hundred years. That would be considered many lifetimes to normal life humans." Jing Yuan speaked in a certain nostalgia that he was missing as he gazed to the sun shinning through the window. "How many did I meet across that time and the period before that? The Astral Express Crew, Igor, The High-Cloud Quintet and so much more. A part of me wished that all of them could be here to attend the cerimony. That in a perfect world, I could still remember and greet each one of them. Be at peace with myself."

"..." Fu Xuan stood listening to him quietly. Even if he would always appear to her and his fellow subordinates, the people, as a veteran, wise, calm and wimsy general who seemed to know the answers for everything and always the right action to do, truth is, Jing Yuan also had to shoulder a weight of incredible responsability since becoming general all those ages ago. A position like his was of no easy doing, and the Master Diviner knew it well. A possible wish of retirement was becoming apparent on Jing Yuan as the time and the universe itself would went on and on. But until problems and matters wouldn't stop appearing alongside future one, The Divine Foresight would not leave his position yet.

"Anyways, sorry for looking a bit of a downer now." Jing Yuan exhaled, slamming both hands on his knees and getting up from the bed. "It wouldn't look good to the Luofu if the person the people are celebrating looked all so gloomy and depressed! Also, I was able to get a 'nurse' to look after you in the meantime."

"Hum? Who? Miss Lingsha?" Fu Xuan asked as the door of the room bursted open, Qingquie appearing with a rolling cart full of food, drinks and medicine.

"Nope! It's meeee!" Qingquie exclaimed in huge joy.

"YOU!?" Fu Xuan yelled in an abysmal shock, feeling as if she felt her soul leaving the body in that moment.

"That's right! I got worried about Master Fu Xuan's condition so I asked to General Jing Yuan if I cold take care of you until her health condition betters!" Quingquie smiled and giggled happily, putting the rolling cart near the bed. "I have so many ideas to help Master Fu Xuan spend her sick days! Perhaps this might be the greatest opportunity to introduce Celestial Jade to her! Doesn't that sound awsome, Master Fu Xuan?"

"Eeeeeh..." Chills of dread runned down from Fu Xuan's spine as she feared for what could be about to come.

Jing Yuan on the other hand looked happy with it, deciding to leave Fu Xuan at Quingquie's care as he walked out of the room. "Hope you two have a great day together! Get well soon, Fu Xuan!"

"W-Wait! General! Come back! I-I think I'm feeling a lot better now! Please! General! GENERAL!"

"And that's it for the end of the stream guys! Hope you've enjoyed it! Thanks to all of you who've been watching as well as the new supporters! This has been your kawaii artist Lil Gui! Signing out!"

Pressing on the button, Guinaifen turned off her camera, ending her livestream after spending a day full of stunts with Morte. "And now let's check on those numbers!" She speaked with excitment, having high anticipation for it as she saw those big numbers on the home page of her channel and how much views the livestream had gathered. "Ihihihi! This is great great great!" Guinaifen giggled in overjoy as she hugged the camera close to her chest, moving her torso back and forth. "Check this out, Mister MJ! We've made the most viewed stream of my channel, all thanks to you!" She told to morte who was lazily sitting on a bench while smoking, head eyeing the sky. "The viewers got really crazy with you! Hell, even I did! You're the talk of the moment!"

"That's wonderful to hear, streamer-girl." Morte replied indifferently, doing an okay sign with his hand as his body was taking the sunlight on the Central Starskiff Haven after the long day it was of partaking in Guinaifen's stream. And altough he had some 'fun' with it (namely scaring the citizens of the Luofu with his head and body tricks), Morte felt a bit bored at the end from all the energy Guinaifen had. She wasn't as enjoyable to tease and provoke as Acheron, being way far simpler than the Emmanator of Nihility as well as a total happy go-lucky. Not that Morte didn't liked having some laughs with her on some of the stunts, but simply, Guinaifen was just a cheerful clumsy streamer who liked challenges. Nothing beyond that. Also, he had another main reason for having done this. "So, about our deal."

"50/50! Evenly divided as promised!" Guinaifen made an energetic thumbs up to Morte. "Or else I'm not called Honest Oathkeeper Guinaifen!" However, a bit of greed inside speaked louder to her as she gave a presumptuous smirk and her eyes transformed into cat-shaped ones as she leaned over to Morte. "Buuuuut, if you wanna cash in on the success-"

"This was just a one time-gig, streamer girl. Don't force it." Morte responded, shutting down Guinaifen's offer.

The girl put on a defeated face of acceptance. "Yeah, sorry. I shouldn't be pushing my luck here." Guinaifen then proceeded to scroll on her phone, going for the cash app. "Anyways, what's your bank credit num-"

"FOUND YOU, YOU SCOUNDREL!"

From the distance, an irritated and snobbish voice shouted, getting the attention of every person who was there passing by for a moment. The shout was enough to make Guinaifen's heart skip a beat.

"Oh crap!" Guinaifen said in dread, her face sweating a lot.

Morte moved his head, finishing smoking and getting up from the bench. "Hm? Isn't this whiny voice from..."

"You're in big trouble you imbecile wrecker!" Closing in, a young IPC representative who was with his clothes entirely drenched eyed Guinaifen with huge fury, his glasses slightly misadjusted. "You'll regret having messed with me!" Skott exclaimed, wanting revenge.

While Guinaifen immediatly hide herself behind Morte's back, the man himself smirked with some glee. "Ah, if it ain't mister Important Skott here with us again."

"Hush it fool! I'm not here for you!" Skott, in all his self-righteous indignation, responded back to Morte. "I'm here for that miscreant woman due to her 'prank' against me and my figure!"

"It was an accident!" Guinaifen replied from Morte's back, peeking behind him.

"Accident my left foot! Your funny 'stunt' ended up drenching my newest IPC Deluxe uniform in Sulfuric Herbs Tea! Do you have any idea how awful is the smell!? It will take months getting off that it might as well go into the trash! Not even my subordinates can stand being near me!"

"And I tought your voice was already enough for that." Morte commented, joking on Skott.

The IPC official clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. "Grrr! Listen here you big sack of meat! Do you have any idea who I am?!" Skott pointed to Morte as the man himself just resorted to yawn. "I'm Lyndon Skott, representative of the IPC in the Xianzhou Luofu! Any criminal act against me is-OW!" He however was interrupted by Morte sudden slap on his face.

"Oh?" Guinaifen reacted in befuddlement.

Skott was in disbilief. "D-Did...Did you just slapped me-Ow!" And he was slapped again. "Stop th-Ow!" And another time.

"Three slaps, you're out." Morte sticked up three fingers to him. "Better luck next time."

"T-That hurt!" Skott said, almost in the verge of tears. "You...You...I'm gonna sentence you to death!" He yelled to the taller man, extremely irritated.

"Oh, the tragedy." Morte replied so blandly normal. "But c'mon now. I do think we can reach a consensus here."

"Consensus? You hit me, you monster! Thrice!" Skott shouted, to which Morte just shook his head slightly while rolling his eyes. He had to admit that this was being hilarious to him however.

"I'll make an immediate direct contact with the higher-ups at the IPC! Maybe even send one of the Stonehearts to teach you a lesson! And when that's done, we're gonna-"
"Now, now, Skott. You're not being reasonable. If you at least calm down so that we can discuss this- Heheh, I'll kill you if you don't shut up."

"!" Immediatly, after having speaked over one another, Skott closed his mouth shut as Morte eerily threaten him, the man's eyes staring at the IPC official with doom and a daunting gaze of a skull.

"How's it gonna be, Skott?" Morte continued to smile to him. "If you're as smart as you say you are, I know you'll chose to forgive this poor innocent girl here who was just doing her job, and we both can go on with our lives as if nothing happened. Understood?"

"..." Gulping, Skott accepted the defeat, his gut telling him that Morte wasn't a person to test and mess with. Thus, the IPC official also swallowed his pride. "I...Y-Y-Yeah. I-I can forgive her. It's just dumb clothes anyways." He laughed nervously. "I have better ones at home."

"See? That's what I called a right decision." Morte patted him on the back as if they were long time buddies. "To that, I compliment your intelligence, Skott. May the great IPC have you for many years to come."

"T-Thanks..." Skott said with a trembling voice, having gain a huge fear in Morte. "I-I better g-go back to m-my work now..." Taking some shy steps away, Skott took a deep breath and composed himself...before starting to dash away across the entire place. "That guy is insane! I need to get away from him as far as possible!"

Seeing Skott run away, Guinaifen exited from Morte's back, impressed with what she just witnessed. "Wow! Unbelivable..."

"You tell me. The way he runs, dude could easily do a marathon." Morte replied, heading to some railing near them and leaning his body against them, taking out another cigar. "I pity that guy's parents."

"Like, Mister MJ, you just put Skott in his place!...I mean, anyone can put Skott in his place but still, you made him have fear of you!" Guinaifen told amazed to Morte.

"Eh. You'd be surprised with how many people I can do that with." Morte told with a sly grin sneaking on his face, having light the cig.

"Huh?" Guinaifen just stared at him confused, blinking her eyes twice. "Eh, ehahahaha! You're a funny one, Mister MJ!" She laughed, slapping him on the shoulder and leaning on the railing as well, checking the channel on her phone again. Her smile was as huge as the views their latest livestream had produced. "Oh boy! Look at all these numbers! The channel hit a new record and everything. Becoming the most viewed stream, being followed up by..." Yet, Guinaifen's joy dwindled as she saw what was the second most viewed stream of her channel, the thumbnail being of her and Sushang. "By the one, me and Sushang did of one of our adventures to the Fyxestroll Garden...Eh, it was a wild stream that one." Guinaifen gave a saddened smile, remembering fondly of that day. "And the next one...Oh! Was when we ended up doing a tour on Scalegorge Waterscape! Huohuo almost died on that day, can you believe it?" She laughed a bit.

"..." Morte didn't replied nor moved his head, silently smoking his cig. Whether he was paying attention or ignoring her, it could not be said.

"And then there was this one where we drived a starskiff without permission at night! Me and the girls had to do community service for weeks!" Guinaifen continued to scroll down on her streams, relieving those moments with Sushang and Huohuo. "Next one...Ha! It was when we went to support Sushang on the Wardance and that boy from Jarilo-VI! The one after was me and Sushang testing ice cream flavours..." As more as Guinaifen scrolled down, the more pain in her throat would appear, trying to maintain herself happy. "A visit to Sushang on the hospital...Helping Huohuo on her Judge's tasks. Eating on all restaurants of Aurum Alley...Doing a girl's sleepover and...and..." As her voice trembled, tears came to the streamer's eyes as she couldn't hold back her sorrow anylonger. "I've been a bad friend to them, haven't I?"

"..." Morte once again didn't said anything. However, this time he slightly eyed down the crying girl next to him.

"S-Sushang is right! *sniff* I've been...caring too much only about numbers and views rather than her and Huohuo's well-being lately!" Guinaifen said, the discussion and eventual breaking in the friendship between her and Sushang. At that moment, Guinaifen acted as if she didn't cared nor wanted to see Sushang again. But after having remembered all those moments, she realized how much she was lying to herself. "I shouldn't put them in majority of situations where they can end up getting harm! But I *sniff* I was so obsessed with the channel and fame that I ended up getting blinded by that. I never asked them what they were okay with doing and what they we're not...And because of that *sniff* my best friend was driven off by myself!" Weeping and sobbing a bit more, Guinaifen let all out to eventually calm down, cleaning those tears away from her eyes. "I...I should apologize to Sushang. Make up for her." She hold her phone close to her chest. "However, I feel the time for that is gone by now."

"So you aren't even gonna try?"

"Huh?" Guinaifen looked over to Morte, having finally speaked.

"What are you so afraid of? That she will reject your apology?" Morte speaked, his head looking up. "Eh, please, spare me of that hesitation. You know how many new things people miss out because they are simply too afraid to try? They always think: 'I can save that for later', and then, later never comes. And that's no way of living a life. We should always try experiencing as much as we can with the time we are allowed to have." Speaking in honesty, the man's eyes stared to the hundred of starskiffs and other ships flying in the sky, his reaper hood swinging to the breeze. "After all, we never know when our last day in here might be. Maybe next year. Next month. Week. Even tomorrow." He said in a solemn and almost philosophical tone, turning his head to finally look to Guinaifen. "Always make sure to take every chance you get. Seize every moment you witness. For you never know when it can be the last time."

"..." Processing that advice from Morte, Guinaifen analysed it. "To take every chance I get hum?" Thinking more and more about it, the more her doubts and reluctancy about apologizing and make amends with Sushang dissipated. Truly, if they were really friends, then it wouldn't have been a mere discussion that would tear apart their friendship forever. "You're right...Mister MJ, you're right!" She exclaimed, looking up to Morte. "If I just sit here and do nothing, then I for sure will never get to be Sushang's friend again! I need to act instead! Take the opportunity while I still can!"

Morte gave a soft smile hearing that. "Don't tell me."

"I have decided right now! I'll go and apologize to Sushang tomorrow morning! It shall be the first thing I'll do!" Guinaifen clapped her hands together, speaking with determination. "Might also take a break from the channel. What's the most important now is to spend time with Sushang without being for the camera!"

"Then do go ahead. I think I'll stay in here for some more time." Morte replied as he rested his body. Once again here he was, happening to give advice to girls on their relationship with their girlfriend/best friend/ whatever the hell- "Hm?!"

"Say cheese!" Guinaifen pulled Morte suddenly without warning him, taking a photo together on her phone. "Hehe, sorry for not asking first. But I think you still look awsome in it, Mister MJ!" The streamer smiled as she showed him the photo. "It shall be a remembrance to this day we've spent together. I gotta go now. And...thank you for those words of yours, Mister MJ." Guinaifen said with a warm and kind smile as she looked to Morte while blushing a bit. "You're a good person."

"?" A statement that did not leave the man speechless, but a bit addled instead.

"Well, gonna go home now!" Guinaifen gave her energetic smile as she waved goodbye to Morte, walking away. "Ah! I'll also send you the money before I forget it! Goodbye, Mister MJ! See ya tomorrow!"

As Guinaifen's figure walked away in the distance, the now lone Morte stood still in his place, the words the streamer said still echoing inside his head. "A good person? Me?" The man's eyes continue to stare to Guinaifen getting further and further away from him. Such statement, such smile of benigness to him. The compassion. How convinced Guinaifen speaked that...It made Morte want to burst out in laughter as his lips curved into an eerie grin. "Heh. Ehehehehehehehehe." Containing his laugh to not attract attention from the public nearby, Morte covered his mouth with his hand. It was almost too funny to be true! Too comedic! Too dumb! Too gullible! Without pulling a good act, a nice action, or even a straight-up facade, he was able to convince Guinaifen that he was indeed a good man with just simply telling a truth on how life was. "Aah, honestly. And here I thought this girl was just naive." Morte took out the hand from his mouth, grinning terryfyingly from ear to ear. "When she's actually just plain stupid!"

How funny it would be? How funny it would be if he decided to go for his scythe, point at Guinaifen's head and- "Nah. Got to hold that in." Morte told to himself, controlling the impulse as his grin decreased to a more normal smile. If he were to do that, Acheron would most certainly be onto him. "Gotta wait. The grand moment in here will eventually come soon." Putting the hands on his pockets, Morte stared to the giant entrance of the Xianzhou Luofu's ship in front of him, thinking on what to do next. "I wonder what Acheron's been doing in the meantime. Or should I pay him a visit?"

Chapter Text

"Welcome to Aurum Alley! Luofu's most touristic spot, known for its high-esteemed restaurants with food of the highest quality!" Sushang exclaimed as the trio entered the area, presenting one if not the most touristic spot of the entire Xianzhou Luofu with its serene and welcoming scenario with its dozens of renowned local restaurants and calm autumn trees that stood beneath the relaxing nightsky of the area. Stepping in, the place already gave vibes that it was meant to be a location of leisure and peace.

"By the looks of it, Aurum Alley really seems to be well-kept." Acheron commented as her eyes glanced at the people walking around, eating, doing business, or other activities. "That and having a good grasp on the residents interests besides the tourists."

"Indeed! It's here that you'll find the most famous teahouses and stalls of the Luofu!" Sushang told to Acheron, sounding eager. "Thankfully, it seems we were able to avoid Aurum Alley's rush hour, meaning that the majority is still at the Exalting Sanctum. So we are at least guaranteed to not have to wait too long to be attended."

"Do you think that's why Jiaoqiu made his food stand there instead of doing here? To get more customers?" Huohuo asked to her friend, pondering the reason why the foxian cook was doing his small part-time business on another area that wasn't the Aurum Alley. "It would only be logical for a great cook like him to be where the best restaurants are after all."

"Hmm, who knows? Maybe he just wants to cash in or feed as many people as possible. And the Exalting Sanctum these days is really looking more like a sea of people than anything." Sushang responded, not really thinking much about it. "But hey, why lose the time trying to figure that out when we can be spending it on showing Acheron every bit of the Luofu gastronomy to her? I even have a place in mind to where we could start first and everything!" The Cloud Knight's eyes then went to gaze on the Self-Annihilator. "That is, if you're feeling like exploring Aurum Alley. If you have no interest, we could always go to another plce and visit Aurum Alley after!"

"That won't be needed." Acheron slightly shook her head, being on board with Sushang's original plan. "I'd be more than happy to see every corner of Aurum Alley. Do please guide me where your head intents to."

"Eheh, I see. You're quite easy-going eh?!" Sushang told her, seeing that Acheron was a person that didn't seemed to mind much where she and Huohuo would take her around. "Let's go then! First place to visit here: Delicacy Pavilion!"

With destiny determined, the trio went ahead to the place the Cloud Knight mentioned. But not with catching stray gossips along the way.

"Oh my gosh! Have you seen that guy from Lil Gui's latest stream?"

"Hm?" With her ears having listened, Acheron caught sight of a pair of women talking to each other, sounding amused and vibrant.

"Who? Mister MJ? Totally! I mean, how I could NOT to with that godly body on my screen?"

"Plus that face and hair as well? Girl, I was basically panting already at the sight! Uuh, how much my 'bad boy' charts skyrocketed!"

"Same here, sis! I used to think no men would be able to rival General Jing Yuan's handsomness but now? I think I have a new favourite!"

"I only hope Mister MJ isn't married or Lil Gui's love interest! I want to believe I have a chance with him!"

"..." Acheron's eyes slightly narrowed and frowned in second handed embaressment. And it seemed it wasn't only the women.

"Wow, dude! This Mister MJ guy looks awsome! I mean, have you seen how well built he is?"

From another nearby place to the Emmanator of Nihility's location, now it was a pair of men that were talking about the same topic as the two women.

"Yeah! And the way he acted so confident and relaxed. Like hell if that man must have a super sense of self-esteem!"

"True. Do you...Do you think that one day I can have the same body and confidence as him, bro?"

"You bet it, bro! It shall be our new objective! Mister MJ will be the print for it!"

"Eeeh..." Acheron ended up letting out a sigh of distaste with some slight botherness on her face. These people were gullible. Idiots, but gullible as well. Stuff of falling over or venerating random people they never met in real life or didn't knew anything private was such an absurd concept for her. Specially when in this case, the person they were fawning about was Morte. A man that as far as she knew, was an amoral and sinister character that she'd always be careful when around with. However, looks apparently were enough to make some people cast all those red flags aside. Perhaps the red flags would even be considered arousing to some. Eitherway, having to hear random individuals praise and gush over Morte without being aware of the true evil he could be, wasn't something that sit well on her.

"Guess you are that famous after all." Acheron told to herself as she decided to ignore the people's side conversations and continue to follow Sushang and Huohuo. As long as she wouldn't get the news that Guinaifen was brutally killed or even harmed by Morte, she was relatively okay with letting him go around without her nearby. Even so, the Self-Annihilator knew that going back to supervise that baleful grinning man as soon as possible would be for the best for every innocent that could be suspectable to danger if Morte was let to be alone.

"Wind: No change of speed nor of temperature. Monotonically normal to the average ambiance of Aurum Alley."

Standing silently in the shadows and on watch at a stand's rooftop, an enigmatic and secretive figure analysed the perimeter around him.

"Faces of individuals: Mundane looking. Simple. Hardly carrying any thoughts of malice or evil plans. No characteristics of suspects or potential criminals. Scent: Majorily of food from the restaurants with a small percentage of sweet aroma to perfumes from the nearby perfumery. No odors that can represent possible traces of poison, fire or even other harmful toxins. Ambiance: Of festivity and relaxation as expected on this time of-"

"Moze. Can you please stop mumbling to yourself?"

"..."

At the rooftop of one the Aurum Alley's countless restaurants, the reserved and cold assassin, Moze, was lying vigilant in the shadows, secretly. His eyes and mind going on about of veryfying every inch of the perimeter possible on his sight...until he was interrupted by the colleague he was teaming up with, a judge of the Ten-Lord Comission.

"I'm trying to concentrate here." Xueyi told him stoically, moving her artificial hands near to her own ears, activating the in-built sonars of her eardrums, increasing her faculty of hearing. "Hmm..." Closing her eyes, the artificial doll listened to the conversations and noises across the entire Aurum Alley. Talks about dinner, how good the food was, the plans they had for today and tomorrow, mundane social media topics, the festival. No dialogue that sounded odd or eyebrow raise worthy. "All clear. Nothing of suspicions so far." Xueyi deactivated the sonars, informing her coworker.

Moze remained with his same cautelous face and posture. "Still, this festival is far from over. Until it ends, the chances of a tragedy happening is far from zero. Even after it ends." The Shadow Guard stressed, not for one second taking his gaze away from Aurum Alley.

"We can never be too careful, even with every security measure taken." Xueyi said in agreement to Moze, her too on high surveillance. "Any disturbance spotted on the Alchemy Comission?" She asked to Moze, the assassin having been there doing his round recently.

"Apart from what I assume to be the usual mara-struck and other creatures of The Abundance roaming around, nothing to report." Moze replied distantly, wanting to go back in paying full attention on the hundred of individuals down at Aurum Alley.

"I see." Xueyi responded shortly, she too also wanting to go back to her vigilant duty. Whereas events like these in the Luofu usually meant great time of celebration and activity for the common citizens, for the figures of authority like her it meant consistent work on the double, having to make sure there wasn't a single trace of a devious plot on the rise in all the corners of all the places in the Luofu. A repeat of the tragedy of the Wardance would be unnacceptable and she knew it. Lifes were on the line during these festivals.

But as the two assassins and vigilants were watching over in silence to Aurum Alley for a few seconds, a disruptive noise erupted, coming from Moze's stomach. A famint sound that got a small portion of Xueyi's attention. "Hey."

"Hm?" Was Moze's way of saying that he was hearing her despite his head remaining unmovable.

"Have you been eating lately? Your stomach also did the same noise yesterday and the day before that." Xueyi questioned Moze, noticing over the past few days how the assassin's belly would usually rumble.

"..." Moze just let out a restrained exhale from his nostrils, chosing not to respond.

That on itself, was enough of an answer to Xueyi, who just couldn't keep ignoring it. "Look, I know our duties during this festival is of extreme importance, but you seriously need to eat something in the meantime." While she herself had no organs, being a total puppet, Moze's body was organic, of flesh and bones. And even if it was ages ago, Xueyi still knew what the sensation of an empty stomach was like. "Your hunger will only continue to gro-"

"I do not care." Moze responded, distant and taciturn, the hood covering his eyes for a bit. "Some berries are sufficient. Don't worry about me."

Just blinking her eyes once, Xueyi respected Moze's choice. "...Okay." Not that she was really alright with the fact he was seemingly starving, but the job security of making sure Luofu streets were kept safe during this festival was the top priority to the judge, so Xueyi didn't bother to argument with Moze about the topic.

Eventually, another minute passed with the duo observing Aurum Alley in silence. Tranquility and normality continued to reign.

"Guess no alarms in Aurum Alley as well." Xueyi stood over the edge of the restaurant's rooftop, deciding that they've watched over this area for enough time. "Let's report to the general."

"Agreed." Moze replied briefly, his body vanishing into the shadows that descended from the roof as Xueyi jumped off of it, landing with precise agility on the ground at the same time the assassin's body conjured back from the shadows that had transfered to the floor. Getting up, the duo stared to the entrance of a ramen food stand.

"We've finished inspecting over the entire Aurum Alley, general." Xueyi speaked to a person who was with their back turned to the two, sat at the food stand while eating. And by General, no, it wasn't necessarily, General Jing Yuan. But the other one who also had come to the Luofu to celebrate the landmark of her companion.

"Hmmmm! Now this is a fine dish for lunch if I say so myself!" Feixao, the white-haired foxian, the Merlin's Claw and general of the Xianzhou Yaoqing, was delightfully enjoying her food of spicy ramen bowels, which by now Feixao was devourishly emptying them and leaving in a dozen of piles. "And to think I have to travel to another Xianzhou ship to taste good quality ramen! Better tell Jiaoqiu to start making some recipes of it!" She said mouthfull, sucking and swallowing the spaghetti down her throat. It seemed she had ignored or didn't heard Xueyi at first.

"General. The coast here is clear." Moze told her shortly and directly to the point.

Finishing another bowel, Feixao put it to the side before looking behind to stare at Moze. "So we can continue breathing in relief yet. That's great to hear. You two have been doing an exceptional job!"

"I don't think so, general." Moze said aloof, crossing his arms and looking to the other way.

"We're merely just going around the Luofu to surveil all the areas at any time possible. The routines, the number of units of cloud knights and automatons deployed, the laws and measures to increse the security. That was all on General's Feixao and General Jing Yuan's minds and planning." Xueyi also responded to Feixao, thinking that the general of the Yaoqing was giving them more credit than what they actually deserved. "We are simply following those instructions and orders you both implanted."

Feixao chuckled in response. "Hey now, there's no problem with accepting some praise if it's deserved. It isn't like following and performing said orders is an easy thing to do. No need to always act humble all the time." She thought otherwise, wanting for the two to accept what was in her opinion, well-deserved commendations for their duty. But Moze would always continue to be the same endearing yet unsocial guy she knew, with Xueyi also sharing some of the assassin's reticent nature despite being the one of the two who clearly had to do the most talking.

"Here's the 35th bowel of ramen, General Feixao!"

From behind the counter, the chef had finished cooking another bowel, putting it in front of the foxian general's who's ear immediatly spiked up, as if it was a sort of signal she had received. "Oh! Now excuse me if you will, but I'll finish this one just as fast!" She then turned back to the bowel, already in her hand and the chopsticks on the other, ready to have another go.

However, something didn't sit right with Moze. "Hm! General, wait!" Dashing in without warning, Moze took the bowel away from Feixao's hands moments before she could have bitten, much to her surprise.

Xueyi, despite still maintaining her stone cold face, found the Shadow Guard's action to be strange. "Moze! What are y-"

Approaching his face to the bowel of ramen, Moze stared thoroughly at it, scrutinizing the food. He even went as far as stick his tongue out and do a simple 'lick' on the ramen, tasting it.

"Weird." Xueyi said to herself with no emotion, despite having felt a slight unease.

Only after it did Moze distanced his face from the bowel. "It isn't poisoned. May the general go back to her tasteful lunch." He returned the food back to Feixao.

"Thanks, Moze." Feixao replied with a smile, already being used to his unusual behaviour to care.

"Hey, you." Moze speaked torwards the owner of the food stand getting his attention as he pointed a finger at him, face cold and threatening. "For your own well-being, you better not be thinking about poisoning the General here."

A threat that was effective enough to send shivers down the chef's spine.

"W-Why are you accusing me of such?! I-I would never do that!"

"Just making sure." Moze said, always suspecting.

"Nah, he's alright." Feixao giggled, eating the ramen. "Or else I wouldn't be here savouring all of this food, would I?" She then approached the bowel to her servant. "Want some?"

"No. I'm good." Moze simply ignored the offer before turning around and taking out his sharp dagger, playing a bit with the weapon. It was his way of saying that he had left a conversation.

Feixao then proceeded to offer the bowel to Xueyi. "And what about you, Ms Xueyi?"

"I'm a puppet, General Feixao." Xueyi told to the foxian, stoic. "I lack the organs and digestive system to crave for any type of edible. Corrupted souls of the mara-struck are the only fuel that keeps me alive." The judge explained to Feixao before giving a quick side glance to Moze and then back to Feixao. "However, if I was the general, I would insist-"

"Insist Moze to eat it." Feixao cut off Xueyi, foreseeing what she was going to say. "Yeah, I know. Moze's been eating less." She said with a less cheering face.

A reveal that confused Xueyi a bit. "And hasn't the General tried to convince him to stop that behaviour? It can be prejudicial for a human like him in the long run."

Feixao let out a sigh, crossing her arms. "I did tried. But Moze's just like that when he decides to take a decision. It's hardly overturned." The foxian's eyes became a bit more 'gloomy'. "The accident with Hoolay at the Wardance...it affected him mentally. Deep down, Moze blames himself for Jiaoqiu's capture and subsequent blindness." She informed the judge of the Ten-Lord Comissions. "A part of me also blames myself for what happened to our companion during that event. But Moze took it further personally ever since we returned to the Yaoqing. Since then, he always thinks he isn't doing good enough on his duty."

"Hm. Thus why for eating less." Xueyi replied, now having context.

"Eating less. Sleeping less. Trainning and working more. There are weeks were he barely leaves out his surveillance spot." Feixao gave more details, staring to Moze's back, aware that he was listening but pretending not to. "While we and the citizens of the Yaoqing could consider that as a great act of dedication and determination as a Shadow Guard, me and Jiaoqiu think he's been going too rough on himself. I can only hope that guilt in him can diminuish with time."

"I see." Xueyi responded. Despite not having much to say, she could still understand the emotions of others. Having lost her own puppet body to the borisin warmonger, it was easy for her to imagine the suffering Jiaoqiu must have suffered under him and how seeing and knowing a close companion and friend getting permanently scarred troubled Moze's mind into thinking it was due to his own inability to protect Jiaoqiu from that fate. A piece of her mind wondered if that's what her sister felt when Xueyi had originally died. "Let's be optimistic for now. As long as the general and Mr Jiaoqiu are by his side, Moze can have the fortitude to turn it around."

Feixao let out a small smirk. "Hm. Thanks for saying that, Ms Xueyi. We'll look out for him like Moze looks out for us."

Nodding, Xueyi changed the topic. "Onto other matters, we've already surveilled all the areas of the Luofu and there was nothing of significant suspecion that could hint possible invasions or plots to sabotage the festival. What would General Feixao have us do now? Personally, I'd recommend to going back to the Shackling Prison."

Hearing the suggestion, Feixao rubbed her chin, thinking about it. "Hmm, that would be the most logical. We can't let a single riot or mutiny happen during the meantime, which would allow for prisoners to escape like before. General Jing Yuan has even a prisoner in specific that he wants us to be more watchful with. I'll dispatch you to there."

"Understood, General Feixao!" Xueyi responded, now she and Moze having orders of where to be next. "And what about the general herself?"

"I'll stay here in Aurum Alley a little more. I shall also continue to take care of the situation here around the Luofu." Feixao told to the judge what would be her next course of action, smilling with confidemce. "The presence of a General here in the streets should at least make any punk who wants to stir up some trouble to think twice."

"A wise thinking from her, General Feixao. May she continue enjoying her food before going back on duty." Xueyi gave a farewell to Feixao as she turned around and walked torwards Moze. "You've heard it, didn't you?"

"Yes. The Shackling Prison." Moze responded, flexing and manuvering his dagger swiftly across his fingers. "Let's head there."

Before they could proceed torwards their new objective, Xueyi once again activated her sonars to capture the noises of Aurum Alley one last time before leaving the area, just to be sure. And like any other times, not a single conversation that could be suspicious or misleading. Until...

"I mean, did you saw how that guy's bones just regenerated like it was nothing?"

"Yeah. It was kinda creepy. That man seemed like possessing a sort of upgraded version to that ability of the mara-struck."

"!" Xueyi's eyes jolted open as amidst all the conversations, she ended up catching one that sounded 'peculiar'. "Bones regenerating? Mara-struck?"

Meanwhile, Moze was giving his final inspection on the polishment and reflection of his dagger's blade. "Hmm..." His eyes narrowed in a grunt as in a fleeting second, in that same reflection of his weapon, the assassin spotted an odd lady with long purple hair walking in the distance, accompanied by other two girls. The appearence of that woman, Moze knew he had seen her somewhere else before. Quickly, his brain draw a conclusion. "It's gotta be one of them."

"Moze." Calling out her coworker, Xueyi looked to him, having apparently found out something worth of investigating in Aurum Alley, judging by the conversation she had heard.

"Yeah. I think we have a suspect around here." Moze replied, having also gained a speculation altough for a different reason from Xueyi's. Eitherway, now both knew that they weren't leaving Aurum Alley so soon after all.

"Hm? Got a case?" Feixao asked to the two, noticing how they looked a bit more serious.

"I fear so." Xueyi replied. "Will the general come?"

Putting the 35th empty bowel down on the counter, Feixao got up from her seat and stretched out her arms, the sound of bones snapping. "Yyyyou can go ahead! I'll be excercising a bit here. Plus, gotta pay all these dishes first."

"Oh, p-please General Feixao, do not mind that! If the matter is important than she shouldn't be wasting time paying for all this food!"

"And having made you cook all of this with no payment? Don't think so." Feixao told to the chef, not minding to pay for all the ramen bowels she had eaten. "Anyways, I'm entrusting you to take care of whatever it is in the meantime. Take care!" She told to both Moze and Xueyi who nodded at her.

"Let's go, Moze!"

"Yeah."

And the two proceeded to furtively walk away from Feixao and the public eye's sight, heading to the sources of what they deemed that could be potential trouble through the rooftops and shadowy hallways.

"Here it is! Delicacy Pavilion!" Huohuo said, presenting the restaurant to Acheron after she and Sushang guided her torwards the place. "Agreed by many as the best restaurant in the Luofu! It's even ranked in the 10.000 list of the greatest restaurants in the galaxy! One cannot visit the Luofu without eating here." The small foxian gave a brief summary to the Self-Annihilator before looking for any empty table that they might could occupy. "Oh! And it seems we've ended up being lucky! Today's doesn't seem as crowded. We can sit on that table over there!"

"Okay." Acheron nodded to the small foxian leading the way. Yet, she noticed that Sushang wasn't accompanying them on the same pace, getting more behind. Looking over, the Self-Annihilator noticed she was with her phone in the hands.

"And that was it for the end of the stream chat! Do not forget to..."

Looking at the screen with melancholic eyes, the Cloud Knight was watching some clips of Guinaifen's streams of her channel. Every second she stared at the past streams, an ache in her heart squeezed. A feeling of certain regret.

"Are you alright, Sushang?" Acheron asked her, noticing the sorrow in her face.

"!?" Caught a bit off guard due to how immersed she was with the stream, Sushang quickly turned off the phone as she stared bewildered at Acheron. "O-Oh! I-It's nothing! Nothing really. I was just scrolling around on the social media and all that stuff." She took a deep breath, concealing in her actual emotions. "I'm perfectly fine."

"Got it." Acheron nodded, choosing to go with Sushang's answer as the two proceeded to walk torwards the table Huohuo had chosen for them to eat. But the Emmanator of Nihility could see well through the lie. "But you shouldn't lie to yourself."

Reaching to the table, Huohuo was already with the menu in hand. "Here! Take a seat."

Sushang did that already, whereas Acheron, for some reason, just stood there, watching the chair in puzzlement. "..."

"Hum, Acheron, take a seat." Sushang told to the still standing Self-Annihilator.

"For what?" Acheron responded, sounding genuinely oblivious.

"Eeeh, because we came here to eat? Remember?" Huohuo reminded to Acheron.

"...Oh. Yeah, that." Acheron's mind zapped back that detail into memory. "Sorry. My head sometimes can get a bit...'clouded'." She said to the two, sitting down on the chair.

"That's alright. At least it's better than forgetting about paper work." Huohuo replied, uncomfortable moments of being a bit 'luckless' during her job surfacing to mind before she pushed those away. "So, since this is Ms Acheron first time in here, I think we could recommend you some dishes."Hmm, like this one here! It's very good! Speaking from experience."

Acheron put her sight closer to the dish the foxian was pointing at. "Huh, I see. I think we can go with that. I'm giving you my trust here."

Huohuo giggled. "I assure you won't be dissapointed!" She then stared to Sushang. "And what about you, Sushang? Gonna have the same?"

"..." The Cloud Knight didn't answered, instead looking at the menu almost like bored or deeply in thought, not having seemingly heard at first.

Huohuo immediatly realized as well that something wasn't right with the cloud knight. "Sushang?"

"Yeah. I'll also pick the same dish." Sushang ended up replying altough with little conviction on her voice.

"O-Okay." Huohuo said, feeling that her friend wasn't feeling too well. Even so, she ended up calling the waiter, ordering their food.

Jumping forward some minutes, their dishes were ready to be served at the table. Huohuo thanked the waiter as she, Acheron and Sushang all begun to eat.

"Hmm hmm! It's as tasty as I remember!" Huohuo said with a enjoyable smile on her face, munching the food. "What's your veredict on it, Ms Acheron?"

"Yes. It is very good." Acheron replied with a smile. A fake one at that, accompanying the lie she told. Once again, her tongue and mouth felt nothing. Just blandness.

"The Delicacy Pavilion magnum opus!" Huohuo told to Acheron. "It has been quite the good number of times I've already went here to eat. But that only started happening once I met Sushang and Guin-!" Shutting her mouth, Huohuo realized the mistake she was about to make in front of Sushang, hesitant to say the other name, her face losing some of its glee. "And..."

"It's okay, Huohuo. You can tell about those times to Acheron." Sushang speaked up, gaining some slight surprise out of the foxian.

"Eh?"

"Us three used to come here quite frequently." Sushang continued to speak, telling of hers, Guinaifen and Huohuo's trips to the Delicacy Pavilion. "Always together. Either after finishing my duty schedule or Huohuo's. No matter who was missing, Guinaifen...would still wait for us so that we could all eat together." The cloud Knight's grip on the fork got tighter as she pierced it on the food. "This very dish...is also Guinaifen's favourite. She'd never shut up about how good it is..." Not only her voice but her hand trembling, a certain pain was increasing inside Sushang. One that she couldn't held back much longer, as tears begun to form in her eyes. "She's...she's..."

"S-Sushang. Are you..." Huohuo begun to get really worried with her friend, seeing how she couldn't be able to stay emotionally stable anymore.

Acheron was also a bit concerned, about to touch the Cloud Knight on the shoulder. "Sush-"

"S-Sorry! I have to go!" Sushang said in a hurried tone as she got halphazardly up from her chair, covering her teary face with the hands and proceeding to run away. not wanting the other two to see her cry, much less so other citizens of the Luofu.

"Sushang! C-Come back!" Huohuo yelled, instinctively trying to reach out to her, only seeing the Cloud Knight getting further away, dissapearing once she turned around a corner.

With no time to lose, Acheron immediatly got up from her seat as well and begun going after Sushang, wanting to talk with her.

"Hey, what's happening here?"

The waiter came back, hearing the small commotion that erupted from their table.

Huohuo, not wanting to get left behind, got off from her seat, about to chase the other two. "We'll pay back later! I promise!" She told to the waiter before hurrying out of the establishment.

"And there goes a normal lunch's moment." Mr Tail told to himself in dissapointment.

Turning around the same corner Sushang turned, Acheron spotted the lonely Cloud Knight in a corner at the end of a hallway of a more secluded space, not having anyone else besides the two and Huohuo who reached right behind the Self-Annihilator. "Sushang."

Crying and weeping to herself, Sushang was with her back turned on them as she heard Acheron's voice calling for her. "G-Go away! Leave me alone!"

"We just want to talk. Calm you down." Acheron replied to her in a calm and cordial voice, slowly walking torwards her alongside Huohuo.

"But if I don't want to?! What if I...just want to cry myself out in here?" Sushang responded, denying their help.

"And you think I'd be okay with that?" Huohuo told her. "Something's troubling you, Sushang. Is it about Guinaifen?"

"..." An answer that was more telling than words.

"It is about your confrontation earlier this day, wasn't it?" Huohuo insisted, pressuring Sushang to express what she was feeling at that moment to them. "Do tell us, Sushang! Are you crying because of Gui-"

"I SAID TO LEAVE ME ALONE!" Sushang yelled out in a furious sadness, talking down to Huohuo who got startled by her scream, taking a step back.

Putting a hand in front of the foxian, Acheron narrowed her gaze torwards Sushang, signaling to the small foxian to let her take it from here. "I'm afraid we can't do that. Not until you tell us what's wrong with you. Otherwise, sobbing and shedding all those tears will be for no good, meaningless." She confronted the Cloud Knight. "You were watching some clips of her streams right some minutes ago. It is clearly about her. So do tell me, Sushang: is that heated argument you had with Guinaifen making you feel guilty somehow?"

"I...I..." Slowly turning her face, Sushang tried to answer while her vision was teary-eyed. "I didn't meant those things..."

"About no longer being her friend?" Acheron speaked, guessing correctly. It was obvious that regret would end up swelling up and take over Sushang after the squabble she had with Guinaifen.

And knowing that denying it would be impossible at this point and only make her more foolish and pathetic than she already thought herself to be, Sushang nodded in confirmation, her face still reluctant to stare at both Acheron and Huohuo. "I was...I was tired...and frustrated back then. My mind...just couldn't take it anymore and snapped at Gui..."

"And you feel deeply guilty about saying all of those things back then, I presume." Acheron continued to talk, picking piece by piece Sushang's frustration and problem.

"I called her a bad friend...That she only cared...that she only cared about views and likes...But...I only said that because I was mad!" Sushang exclaimed, more tears running down her cheeks. "I said all that...when in reality...Guinaifen's always sticked up...for me and Huohuo! She'd never want to willingly hurt us and I was an idiot for telling her otherwise!"

"..." Huohuo's fox ears moved more down than they already could, Sushang's sadness also starting to become hers.

"Being a friend of hers...made my life feel so much more special...so much more fun and intriguing! She's...she's the first friend I ever had for real!" Sushang rubbed her tears against the sleeves of her custome. "And still...I decided to toss that friendship away!" She dropped down to her knees, crying more into her hands that covered the face. "Guinaifen's right about me! I'm a boring idiot with no friends! And when I have some...I drive them away! I hate myself for that! I hate that I'm unable to keep the people I like around due to my own attittude! I was the problem all along!"

Having spewed all of her guilt out, Sushang took some breaths as the tears calmed down a bit, venting out all that she had to say.

"Sushang..." Murmuring in pity, Sushang's confession of her own guilt and dissapointment on herself was harsh enough to almost make Huohuo cry in compassion. Never she had seen the Cloud Knight this low. She always saw Sushang as an optimistic and energetic person altough with a bit more ethic and restraint than Guinaifen. So seeing her friend this down was hurtful for Huohuo's feelings.

Taking a few more steps ahead, Acheron got closer from the lamenting Sushang. "With all that said an in mind, I think that now instead of weeping, you should be making yourself the following question."

"Huh?" Taking her hands away from the face, Sushang tearful eyes looked up to Acheron's peaceful ones, the tip of the Cloud Knight's nose reddened.

"Your friendship with Guinaifen. You think it can still be salvaged?" Acheron made the important question to the Cloud Knight.

"Ah..." Sushang's mind sparked with that question, being visible that the words of the Self-Annihilator were making her think and reflect beyond the behaviour she had with Guinaifen. "I...I honestly don't know..." She replied, the tears in her eyes having quieted down, the Cloud Knight having stabilized a bit. "The way I told her I didn't want to be her friend anymore...And how she seemed to continue happy on her recent stream with that guy. I think...Guinaifen's better off without me." She admitted in remorse, leaning her head into her legs as she wrapped her arms around the knees, thinking there was no coming back with their friendship. "I deserve being alone."

"So that's what you truly think? That a quarrel between you two is enough to bring your friendship down?" Acheron crossed her arms, wanting to challenge Sushang's opinion. "If that's the case, then were you two's friendship wasn't that great or you're just lying to yourself. Which one is it, Sushang?"

"I'm not lying." Sushang shook her head in denial. "I truly mean it. That in the end, I'm a real-"

"Stop saying that! It's not true!" Huohuo shouted out of nowhere, not able to stand Sushang's self-depreciation anymore. "It's just not!"

Sushang stared addled at the small foxian. "Huohuo?"

"S-So what if you and Guinaifen had a disagreement and bickered over it? Can't a friendship be more stronger than that? I'm sure it can! Specially the one between you!" Huohuo exclaimed with emotion coming straight from the bottom of her heart. "How many times you laughed, smiled and cried together? Does any of those moments are now supposed to meant nothing because of a mere squabble? Compose yourself, Sushang! A great cloud knight like you is better than that!"

Having her friend's statement hammering down deep in her ears, Sushang bitten her lower lip and turn her head away. "Y-You don't get it, Huohuo! Guinaifen...She probably doesn't want to see me again after that. She'll find another person to replace me with..."

"Probably doesn't mean definetly! How can you be so sure that Guinaifen is okay? That she isn't feeling the same way you are right now?" Huohuo didn't backed down. "Just because she appears happy to the camera, does not mean that behind it she isn't also anguished with the thought of not having you for a friend anymore! You know she'd miss you as much as you'd miss her!"

"..." Sushang didn't even knew what to reply with. Bit by bit, the denial and guilt she had put herself in was breaking down.

"I hate seeing you sad. I hate that Guinaifen is also possibly feeling sad. But what I really hate the most..." Bursting in emotion, Huohuo clenched her tiny fists and looked at Sushang in the eyes, beggining to cry as well. "Is a reality were I'm no longer with you two!"

"!..." An eye-opener to Sushang that hit her right in the head. A wake-up call from the other person that was still around her to push her up. The Cloud Knight's other friend. Truly, to abandon more moments like those because of a mere squabble...

"Eh. You sure aren't pulling anything back." Mr Tail smirked proudly of Huohuo as the small foxian cleaned the tears from her eyes.

"Where I can not smile and laugh together with you anymore. And neither can you. I want them to keep happening instead. On and on." Huohuo smiled fondly to Sushang, holding one of her hands softly, having approached her. "So for the sake of them. For the sake of your happiness. I know you and Guinaifen are can make amends. I'm sure of it!"

"But...are you really sure she'll forgive me?" Sushang replied, lowering her head in hesitance. "After what I told her?"

"There's only one way to know. And it sure isn't staying here." Acheron responded, wanting Sushang to think otherwise. "If the bond with your friend, is really something you cherish, then you won't let go of it for anything in this world. And if you happen to lose it, then don't let it stay like that. Your actions and true feelings matter. It isn't too late yet to retrieve it back."

"You..." Getting majorily uplifted by both Acheron and Huohuo, Sushang begun to feel a whole load of weight and pressure getting rid from her chest. Soon, she begun to think differently about the possibility of reconciliation with Guinaifen.

"So? Think you can do that?" Acheron kindly lended a hand torwards the Cloud Knight, helping Sushang getting up.

Thinking about her answer, the still unsure Cloud Knight gave a brief glance down to Huohuo, smiling torwards her, fully believing that she could do that. It was the final push Sushang needed. Putting on a more confident face and cleaning away her tears, she stared to Acheron. "You're right! I'll-"

*Thump Thump!*

*Thump Thump!*

"!" Acheron's senses immediatly sharpened. Two presences. Heart's pumping and blood streaming. Quick and agile. Their souls warm. About two hundred meters from their current location. About to arrive in a second.

Sushang noticed the sudden change of expression on Acheron's face. "Hm? What's that fa-"

"Get away! Now!" Shouting, Acheron abruptly pushed Sushang and Huohuo away from her as she drew out her sword and in thunder speed, parried the sneaky attack from above of the enemy in the form of a chain dagger.

Aware to the surrounding, Acheron's eye moved left as the enemy descened fastly from the rooftop and hoped behind the Self-Annihilator, trying to hit her on the back before having its attacked blocked by her again. And even then, Acheron knew there was more as a second enemy appeared from the shadows, trying to flank her from the other side before having the attacked blocked by Acheron who easily made the second enemy retreat back to its companion.

"Tsk! She's good." Moze commented briefly, gotting up on his feet.

"Target located! Initiating the capture protocol!" Xueyi exclaimed, holding both daggers in her hands.

"X-Xueyi!?" Huohuo exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"And the introverted guy from the Yaoqing as well?" Sushang also commented in shock.

"Looks like we came in at the right time." Xueyi stared to both the other two girls. "Huohuo, Ms Sushang. We don't want to alarm you but..."

"The lady you've apparently been hanging with is an IPC wanted criminal." Moze revealed, much to the two's shock.

"What?! An..."

"IPC wanted criminal?"

"Galaxy Ranger, Acheron." Xueyi brought out Acheron's wanted poster, showing it right to the Self-Annihilator, Sushang and Huohuo seeing it as well in disbilief. "Unless you are one of those followers of Enigmata, I believe the woman in this picture is you, is it not?"

"..." Acheron chose not to respond, knowing there wasn't any way to deny it, much to her frustration. It seemed her nice little relaxing trip to the Xianzhou Luofu had ended.

"Hm. That says enough." Xueyi replied as she handed the poster back to Moze. "Looks like your hunch was truly right, Moze. Nice job figuring it out."

"I always keep any criminal close." Moze responded, opening his purple jacket, revealing a good collection of IPC and Xianzhou Alliance wanted posters sticked on its interior. "Always."

"..." A fact that was met with some awakwardness from the women present. Even Xueyi herself had to admit that perhaps Moze took his job and profession as guard and assassin way more serious than her. Perhaps even to an unhealthy amount. "Your dedication is...something."

"Sorry, but I'm not really into the mood of getting involved with trouble. Neither do I look for a fight here." Acheron expressed, which was true. She wanted to avoid as much issues as possible while in the Luofu. Eitherway, she knew saying that would amount to nothing.

Provened right by Xueyi's following response. "If what you're saying is true, then do not resist. You're still a criminal." The chains of her daggers jingled. "I hereby demand you to cooperate with us and be guided for further interrogation. I wonder what an IPC wanted criminal could be doing here at such day like this one." She narrowed her gaze torwards Acheron.

Acheron also narrowed hers, the hand still grabbing her sword's hilt, already preparing to fight. "What if I don't want to?"

"Then I fear that forced submission through application of restraints will have to be enforced." Xueyi responded, making clear that Acheron shouldn't make things difficult. "Is the Galaxy Ranger sure she wants that?" The judge secured the grasp on her daggers, positioning them for battle. Moze doing the same with his weapon.

The tension increased, and a battle was the most obvious. Acheron's mind had already decided. She wouldn't comply. "Defeat me first."

"Hard way it is." Moze whispered as he and Xueyi sprinted torwards the Self-Annihilator at the same time, the judge throwing her two daggers at Acheron as the assassin followed behind.

Easy to counter it, Acheron simply swinged her sword, deflecting Xueyi's weapons. However, that was what they were apparently counting for as Moze's body transformed into shadows that slid on the ground, fastly passing beneath Acheron and reappearing with his body behind her, throwing Xueyi's dagger chains back at the Self-Annihilator who was fast to move away from the spot, responding back with a slash that Moze barely dodged.

Meanwhile, both Sushang and Huohuo were watching the three fight with some bafflement in their faces.

"Ms Acheron was a criminal all along?" Huohuo said, still finding hard to believe such serene and seemingly good person like her could be one.

"But then that would mean..." Associating the fact that Acheron was a criminal, Sushang connected it that her travelling companion they met as well back at the Cloudford was a criminal too. And right now he was with- "Guinaifen!"

Continue her fight with the duo, Acheron saw how Xueyi and Moze both attacked her together and up close, always trying to find any small opening that could win them leverage or either end up breaking her defense apart. She could tell that both were experienting with agility and quick 'excutions' having been trained to be top assassins for a long time.

As Acheron kept seemingly holding on her own against them pretty well, one of Xueyi's dagger chains was able to wrap itself around the Emmanator of Nihilty's wrist while she was occupied with Moze, catching Acheron a bit off guard. "?"

Pulling the chain, Xueyi made sure the Self-Annihilator couldn't use her arm as well as hinder her fighting performance. "Now, Moze! She's exposed!"

Taking in the opportunity that was given to him, the assassin dashed torwards Acheron like a silent shadow, ready to land a blow on her.

However, even if with one arm being held back and restrained, Acheron only needed one free hand to use her sword. And she did by perfectly blocking Moze's dagger, proceeding to move and parry the wave of quick attacks the assassin was trying to do on all sides while the judge still had one of her arms chained.

Throwing the other dagger chain, Xueyi planned for this one to wrap around Acheron's ankle, which would make her lose some balance and become basically impossible for her to fight them back. With it done, all that would be left would be restraining the Self-Annihilator's other limbs in order to achieve victory. Unfortunately for her and Moze, Acheron's reflexes were on a level above.

Catching sight of the judge's other dagger approaching at her quickly, Acheron parried it by piercing her sword right on the ground, getting in the way of Xueyi's dagger. As she had deflected that attack, Acheron landed a thrust kick on Moze who had to block it with his bare arms, being dragged some meters back. Landing on the ground, Acheron fastly wrapped her leg around Xueyi's chain that was already tied on her arm's wrist, and with the two limbs, she agressively pulled the chain, almost making a bewildered Xueyi stumble and lose balance as well her grasp on her weapon. The judge of the Ten-Lord Comission still resisted on her feet and tried to pull the chain back. An action that was met with Acheron slashing her sword at her three times in a single swing, forcing Xueyi to give up on fighting with Acheron over the chain in order to evade her attacks.

With the chain out of her arm, Acheron gave a gaze to her two enemies that were trying to surround her. By now, she got it mentalized that by their tactics, Xueyi and Moze were more trying to held her down with the chains rather than defeat her with blows and dired damage. A tactic that the Self-Annihilator didn't blamed them for. If anything, it was decent, with two skilled nimble fighters that seemed to have a good dynamic and both perceptive. However, to defeat Acheron, one would need more than simply being astute. What they had in speed and agility, they lacked in raw power.

"This is a waste of time." Acheron told, watchful of the two. "I really don't wish to harm no one here. But you're giving me almost no choice." She said, knowing that if this confrontation escalated, it could draw more attention than the necessary. And while not decided on killing them, Acheron wouldn't hesitate in knocking the two of them down into a short blackout. After that, she would need to find Morte as quick as possible and get the hell out of the Luofu before things could become more ugly.

Not opting to give up for a single second, both Xueyi and Moze went to attack Acheron in a conjoined attack rush, determined to arrest this 'criminal' and put her in front of justice. But no matter how hard they tried. How fast they would swing their weapons or move their bodies, the best the duo could duo was simply scratch off some bits of purple hair from Acheron, who wasn't up to let this battle extend more than the necessary, proceeding to throw a slash at both of them, causing the duo to hit the ground some feet away.

"Egh!"

"Agh!"

Getting tired and with some bruises, Xueyi and Moze still tried to get up as Acheron slowly approached them, the sword in hand and ready for the final blow. She wanted to end the battle now.

"M-Ms Acheron!? What are you..." Huohuo and Sushang were in shock at how easy Acheron was seemingly handling Xueyi and Moze, too dumbfounded to even try and intervene in the fight.

Charging her blade a bit, the Emmanator of Nihility's next attack, while not lethal, would be sure to knock down both her enemies, Acheron putting her weapon in position. "Apologies." She told them beforehand for the pain she was about to deal on the two, with Moze still instinctively putting an arm in front of Xueyi. But they wouldn't be able to do anything else, as Acheron swinged her blade down-

"You there!"

Another voice from behind ended up getting Acheron's attention, her eyes widdening as she detected an attack incoming. About to hit on her back.

"Ihihihihi hahaha!"

Freely, a child walked and ventured alone across the Exalting Sanctum, happily smilling with his newest General Jing Yuan balloon. The child couldn't wait to show it to his friends.

"Ahahah-oof!"

But not paying attention to where he was running, the young boy ended up bumping into a random person, accidentaly letting go off his balloon.

"Eughh that hurt...Oh no! My balloon!"

Looking up, the child saw that the balloon was already getting too high, almost at an impossible height for him to reach with his small body.

"N-No!"

Trying to reach for it but in vain, the poor boy was already thinking he would lose the balloon forever to the sky.

Luckily, the random person he ended up bumping into came to the rescue.

"Got it! Phew that was close!" The 'random' stranger grabbed the balloon in time, pulling it back down for the boy. "We got lucky that today wasn't much wind, didn't we?" The man, wearing a clearly fake white beard, yellow eye and silver hair smiled clumsly to the boy. He was also wearing a conical hat made of straw with some black and white mantle as attire, almost looking like a disguise. "Be more careful next time, will you?"

"Y-Yeah. Thank you sir."

The boy said, a bit grateful for having his balloon back, looking to the man's face. It didn't take him long to realize who it was.

"W-Wait! Are you..."

Chuckling endearingly, Jing Yuan put a finger in front of his own lips. "Make sure it is our secret. Can you? From general to his trusted knight."

Amazed, the boy could barely contain his joy. General Jing Yuan was right there in public, in front of him.

"Y-yes Gen-...I mean, yes sir!"

"Then you're dismissed, knight! Keep with your duty!" Jing Yuan speaked to the boy as if he was already a cloud knight at his service, causing more excitment on the young boy who nodded at him.

"Thank you! You're as great as I imagined!"

The boy told him before leaving, the disguised Jing Yuan watching the kid walk away with his balloon. Despite not always, he loved to visit and walk around the Luofu when having nothing better to do. Alwyas in disguise of course in order to avoid the unwanted and relentless attention he would get from the public if he were to roam around as himself. Crossing his arms, the general gave an overall look to the people in the festival in his honour. "As great as you imagined, eh?"

Balloons, action figures, masks, clothes, food and etc. This event was all about him. How the people of the Luofu showed their greatfulness for the long years of service Jing Yuan had for them. How he always protected them. Lead them. Care for them. Even with the most recent accidents and the opinion of a minority that would see him with more negative lenses, all of the Luofu was of the absolute opinion that Jing Yuan, as their general and leader, was well deserved of their respect and admiration.

Despite the general thinking they were going a bit overboard with the merchandising.

"Hm. Perhaps I am." Jing Yuan thought amusingly to himself, about to turn around and leave the Exalting Sanctum.

*BOOM!*

"Huh?! What a..." But the huge sound of a far explosion told otherwise, catching the general's attention as well as everyone in that area, catching a huge cloud of smoke rising up in the distance.

"W-What happened!? An explosion?"

"It seems so! It appears to have come from Aurum Alley!"

"The zone Feixao is currently in!" Jing Yuan narrowed his gaze. Altough a fear in him told it, he hoped that it wasn't a case of another sudden surprise attack on the Luofu. However, be it or not, it meant time of his relaxation was over. It was time to act instead.

"Look at that explosion! It's huge!"

"It appeared out of nowhere!"

From the Central Starskiff Haven, two citizens talked to one another in bewilderment and startlement alongside a small crowd that gathered around in gazing at the explosion from afar.

"What do you think it may have caused it?"

From amongst the crowd, the tall and hooded figure of Morte watch it with interest, his lips curving into a smile as he concluded an answer to that person's question.

"So that's where she is."

Having blocked the surprise attack right on time, the impact ended up causing quite the explosion in the hall Acheron had been fighting against Xueyi and Moze, some small blue flames incinerating bits of vegetation and buildings.

"Ghg..." Lowering her sword after having used to protect it as the dust settled down, Acheron could still feel a bit of vibration in her hands, the blow having felt like a destructive meteorite. The Self-Annihilator only wondered who could have such power.

"Hands off them." From amidst the curtain of smoke, stood a figure as tall as Acheron in front of the still conscious Moze and Xueyi. It was none other than General Feixao. "They're of my jurisdiction."

"Ah!"

"G-General..."

Xueyi went slightly agape with surprise as Moze looked up to his general, having come in the nick of time.

"GENERAL FEIXAO!"
"GENERAL FEIXAO!"

Both Sushang and Huohuo exclaimed, not having expected Feixao to appear suddenly in the battle.

"Sorry for the delay. Had to make sure the math was correct on the payment." Feixao smiled protectively to the other two before changing her attention back to Acheron. "Now then, are you the one about to cause a ruckus in the Luofu this time?" She asked, cracking her fists.

"A Xianzhou General. It might be more challenging." Acheron processed, already taking into account that Feixao was clearly more powerful than the other two. "I came here only on a whim. I do not desire to bring any destruction and chaos to the Luofu." Acheron explained to Feixiao. Not because she was afraid of fighting a general, but because she hoped the foxian could at least understand her better than the other two. unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

"Eh. A criminal who's just here for the enjoyment of the festival. How sweet. I know exactly the right place for your stay." Summoning her giant battle axe, Feixiao slammed it on the ground, giving a cold look to Acheron. "In the prison, right next to all the other criminals."

Sighing, Acheron lowered her head in dissapointment. "You're only making this unnecessary for both sides."

"If you think so, why don't turn yourself in already?" Feixiao replied, giving a 'last chance' for Acheron to just accept arrest.

But like the general wouldn't be open to listen to the Self-Annihilator, the Self-Annihilator also wouldn't comply with the general. "I already gave an answer to that to your two subordinates." Acheron stared back at Feixiao, calmly, but also with a hint of threat. "I give the same to you."

Taking her fighting stance, Feixiao locked her gaze on Acheron. "Bring it then!"

As the tension was already cut-throating and on edge, right before the two could go at it, loud noises of thunder appear from one of the hall's end, announcing the arrival of the other general.

"Feixiao! What's the problem here?" Appearing amidst the fading sparks of electricity, Jing Yuan, in his general uniform, walked from behind and approaching the group, making his presence known.

"GENERAL JING YUAN!?"
"GENERAL JING YUAN!?"

Sushang and Huohuo exclaimed even louder, already getting way beyond dumbfounded at the insane progression this battle was shaping out.

"The general of the Luofu?" Now that was making Acheron reconsider her strategy for the fight. While she was sure in her own skills as a warrior to fight on her own against two Xianzhou generals, a part of hers was doubting if she would be able to defeat them without having to unleash her Emmanator powers. Which it was the undesirable for her, not wanting to cause any big collateral damage on the Luofu, much less so kill two generals. But if the battle ended up proving difficult, with the possibility of Moze and Xueyi still deciding to join in, then Acheron really wouldn't have many alternatives.

"An IPC wanted criminal roaming around. A tough one too by the looks of it!" Feixiao informed her fellow general, considering the Self-Annihilator to be strong solely for the blow she was able to tank.

Jing Yuan gave an hostile glare to Acheron, his spear already in hand, ready to neutralize the threat to the citizens safety. "I see." But upon a longer look, there was something that his mind ended up picking on Acheron. Some of the details of the Emmanator of Nihility's clothes. They seemed...familiar to him. "Hm? Isn't that from..."

With the situation having gone possibly to the worst for her, Acheron was now in a hard decision. She could either fight the generals, and be forced to unleash the powers of IX, regrettably killing them in the process, or, Acheron could either just surrender and give herself in, thinking on a later strategy on how to escape from whatever prison they were planning to take her. Knowing that she wouldn't have infinite time to think about the two options, Acheron ended up-

"Oi oi. I go away for some hours and you're already causing trouble, Acheroni?"

"!" Acheron's eyes widened slightly as she recognized very well who that cunningly voice behind her belonged to.

"Hm?" Looking up to the short staircase that was also one of the hall's entrance, Jing Yuan and the rest saw the imposing figure of a tall man with a scythe on his back.

"Incredible." Morte shook his head in dissapointment. "Looks like I can't let you go around unsupervised."

"Bite me." Acheron simply responded, already having enough of him in literal seconds.

"Hm? Isn't that..." Moze looked to Morte, having recognized him from somewhere.

"The man who regenerates his own bones!" Xueyi said, remembering from seeing Morte due that as showcase on Guinaifen's stream that the two citizens she and Moze inquired showed them.

Trying to have a clear look at his face, Jing Yuan was able to see Morte clearly once the man took some steps down the stairs. And as consequence, a chain of memories from quite the long times ago came back to live inside the general of the Luofu's head. "Ah!...You..."

"Hm?" Hearing Jing Yuan speak, Morte stopped descending the stairs and looked torwards him, blinking some times.

Suddenly, the entire mood of tension went silent, turning into a quiet staring between Morte and Jing Yuan, both not uttering a word while looking to one another. So much awakwardness that even the rest was starting to find it a bit odd.

"Eeeh, Jing Yuan? Is everything alright?" Feixiao looked to him, trying to get his attention.

"...Eh."

"Eh?"

"Ehehehe eheheheheh." Beggining to cackle, a smile sneaked into Jing Yuan's lips as he continued to stare at Morte. "Eheheheheh hehehehhe."

It was making all the others begin getting worried about the general's sanity.

"What's given into him?" Acheron asked to herself confused before staring to hear Morte chuckle behind her. "Huh?"

"Eheheheheehe ehehehehehe." Morte was also smiling now, the appearence of Jing Yuan giving him quite the nostalgic sentiment.

"You too?" Acheron looked at him weirdly.

Very soon, the silent hall begun to be filled with the cackles of both men who went to get progressingly higher and higher.

"Eeeeeeeh."

"Eeeeeeeh."

Before reaching into a full laughter.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Morte and Jing Yuan, laughing and smilling to their heart's content, as much as their lungs could allow to. It wasn't a bizarre moment of two grown men weirdly laughing like lunatics. No. It was more than that.

"Hahahaha, you bastard! Still kicking?" Morte said with an energetic smile torwards Jing Yuan.

"Ahaha, you're one to talk!" Jing Yuan replied back in the same coin, their laughters having ceased a bit.

"What's...even happening here?" Feixiao said, she alongside everyone else, already not understanding what was even going on.

Descending all of the stairs with amusement, Morte walked torwards Jing Yuan who walked torwards him. Face to face, the two men ended up giving the manliest handshake of brothers.

"How's this for an old friend's surprise gift, Jin?" Morte asked to Jing Yuan, radiant.

"WHAT!?" Everyone else that was in there shouted or reacted in huge shock at the revelation.

"Wonderful." Jing Yuan replied with an happy smile, as if he was young again. "How's life been, Qiongqi?"

Chapter Text

"How's life been, Qiongqi?" Jing Yuan asked to Morte, his eyes not believing that after all this years, he came back just for this special occasion. Even if his friend was there up close and right in front of him, it still felt surreal for the general of the Luofu.

"Eh, same as ever y'know?" Morte, or has Jing Yuan had just calles him, Qiongqi, gave a soft smirk. "Going around from place to place. Surviving, fighting, exploring, getting fame, all that travelling stuff. The Luofu seems as nice as ever, Jin. I see you've been doing a great job since the early days."

Jing Yuan smiled foundly to that praise. "Thanks. But it wouldn't have been possible if you weren't there at the beggining, my friend."

As the two were having their apparently friendly reunion, all of the others that were present at the place just stared at them in confusion, the scenario having quickly went from a fight with tension to a cheerful reencounter between two friends.

"You two know each other?" Feixiao asked, wanting context as pretty much everyone else.

The interaction between Morte and Jing Yuan opened quite the few theories inside Acheron's mind about the former. "Qiongqi? That's his true name? No, I can't be sure of it. For all I know, it could be a made up name he just made." She thought while looking at Morte's face as he and Jing Yuan were still bonding and talking with one another. "But to think the friend he was referring to back then was the general of this place...How did that came to happen?" The Self-Annihilator couldn't deny that she wasn't at least curious to understand how exactly Morte ended up meeting and becoming friends with Jing Yuan. But by what they had speaked so far, it seems the two had that friendship from a long time ago, adding more mystery to the man she had been travelling with for a month or two by now.

Having heart his fellow general's question, Jing Yuan unmade his handshake with Morte, the Divine Foresight turned around to the puzzled folk that were there with them. "Sorry for having made you all feel awkwardly addled with this moment. Allow me to introduce him." The general put a hand on Morte's shoulder. "This man right here, is Qiongqi. An old friend of mine from quite the long time ago. Funnily enough, we first met during my first days as general. An occurrence like this...how long did you had it planned?" He stared back to Morte.

"Word of mouth. Caught news of a supposed '500th Anniversary' of someone or something like that about to happen in a Xianzhou mothership and immediatly figured out by doing two plus two." Morte told to Jing Yuan. "You could say that news like those spread more quicker around the cosmos than Propagation itself!"

"Heh. Then by all means, I am grateful that they've spreaded in such way if that's how it brought you here!" Jing Yuan laughed in good mood, before sighting his gaze on Acheron to the side of his friend. "However, what are you doing with a wanted galatical criminal in the IPC list which I assume to be your travelling companion. How much many things happened exactly in your life ever since your farewell from the Luofu, Qiongqi?" He asked to Morte while giving a brief suspicious glare to Acheron, showing her to not think she was out of trouble now because he was having a relaxed and friendly conversation with Morte.

"..." In return, the Emmanator of Nihility's eyes slightly narrowed, proceeding to cross her arms and turn her head to the side. If Jing Yuan, the other general and all of the Luofu's army would persist in trying to arrest her, she'd let them know that it would be their mistake.

Fortunatly, seemingly being a friend of Jing Yuan, Morte had the skills to descalate this situation. "Oh, Jin. If only you knew all of the thing and experiences I've gone through since the last time we saw each other..." His mouth formed a small, almost nostalgic grin. "Yeah, I know she's a wanted criminal. Yet, that doesn't bothers me from keeping her around. For there is a special connection here." Smilling a bit more, Morte then gestured at Acheron with his hand. "I introduce to you: my daughter, Acheron!"

"..." Not saying anything, the Self-Annihilator instead gave a bothered and cold glare to the man, being enough to express her dissatisfaction.

Morte took notice. "Hm? Keh, sorry. My error." Coughing, he introduced Acheron to Jing Yuan again. "My 'adopted' daugh-"

"!" Now Acheron was staring daggers at him, the eyes alone pressuring Morte, passing the message of: 'If you insist on that, I'll murder you.'

Morte let out a mutter, sighing annoyed. "Fine! She's some random girl I stumble across some months ago and felt like having her around!" He explained, leaning his body down torwards Acheron. "Better? You ain't making this easy y'know?" Morte hissed.

"Neither are you by calling me that." Acheron responded back without care.

"Hm, so this lady is affiliated with you to some proximity." Jing Yuan replied, getting some of the context between Morte and Acheron's companionship. He became a bit skeptical. "I hope that doesn't mean you have become a criminal too, Qiongqi. You must be very well aware of the relations and treaties the Xianzhou Alliance has with the IPC. In case you aren't, it's a relief."

Morte snickered at that. "C'mon now, Jin. Have you ever seen my face in a wanted poster before?"

"I haven't. I don't really keep up with those anymore." Jing Yuan responded, having long attributed the task of recognizing and maintaining IPC wanted criminal posters to someone else. "Unfortunately, the same cannot be said to your companion here. Having a dangerous criminal like her roaming around the Luofu could set quite the panic in the population if the IPC ends up spotting her. And we want to preserve the peace and tranquility here at the Luofu. Specially during this week."

Seeing that the general continued to be doubtful with Acheron, Morte persisted in trying to convince him otherwise. "Dangerous? Yes. Howbeit, she's not one to have the blood of innocent in her hands." He turned around, smilling to the Self-Annihilator. "Not a single drop."

"!..." Acheron's face reacted softly. It was true. Throughout her entire long life, never she had killed someone or something completly innocent, defenseless or harmless. If there was a thing that she would never do, would be killing for the sake of it.

"The accusations and allegations of her crimes while attaining to some truth, are also very VERY broadly exaggerated by the people at the IPC, with the sole purpose of wanting her to seem like a monster so that Acheron is hunted down more harshly." Morte stated while wavering his hand with the index finger sticking up, a smile with sureness that he could prove Acheron's 'innocence'.

"Then what you're saying is that while she does kill, she does so in only self-defense or the people she kills are of no good." Feixiao speaked up, taking some steps forward until standing on Jing Yuan's said, hand in her hip. "Is that what you're trying to tell us?"

"Precisely!" Morte smirked, pointing at the foxian. "I confidently say that my companion's appearence here at the Luofu is of no bloodlust intentions or to create a chaotic genocide. Simply, she's here because I'm here. Leave her unprovoked and all the propaganda of the IPC about her falls face flat." He continued to explain, Acheron staying silent and letting him. "Per exemple, she can be a nice person to hang around. Wouldn't you two say it so?" Morte asked, turning his gaze to Sushang and Huohuo.

The two gasped lowly with some surprise as the conversation suddenly involved their participation as well.

"Hum! W-Well, that's true. We've been walking with Miss Acheron the entire day and she hasn't been anyhthing other than a good person!" Huohuo explained, giving her testimony as one of the two persons who spent the day with the Self-Annihilator.

"Yeah. With the way we were interacting, it was almost unbelivable to learn now she's a wanted criminal." Sushang gave her own testimony as well. "She's...kind, attentive and gentle, actually. Very far from the vision of what one would have of an average violent criminal. I know that as a Cloud Knight, it can give a dent to my reputation to have socialized with a criminal and not figure it out earlier. But, General Jing Yuan. General Feixiao..." Staring to Acheron, Sushang smiled warmly to her, remembering of the words of advice and incentivation she gave to her when Sushang was weeping and hating herself just a while back. And that was proof enough to her. "I believe she's not like that."

Acheron's lips formed a gentle smile back as a gesture of gratitude. It was good to know that so far, Sushang and Huohuo perceived her in a good light.

"See? Like a bee who'll only sting if messed with." Morte told to Jing Yuan who took his gaze away from Sushang and Huohuo and went back on his friend. "Otherwise, don't you think that the Luofu would be up in flames already the moment she stepped in?"

Taking a second, both Jing Yuan and Feixiao looked to one another, almost as if talking telepathically with their gaze to see what was the other's opinion. Then they put back their attentions on Morte.

"Look, Qiongqi. It is not that your companion may not actually be a crueless killer..." Jing Yuan told him.

"She's still on IPC's register as a criminal. We might give it a pass, but once their soldiers see her, it will be on sight to either kill or capture." Feixiao concluded.

"And that not only could cause panic to the population, but it could also severe the Xianzhou's relationship with the IPC." Jing Yuan added, bringing up the true problem if they were to let Acheron peacefully roam around the Luofu.

Morte let out a bored sigh in response. "The IPC this. The IPC that. Be real, Jin! Are you really gonna believe that every person that slightly inconveniences the IPC is some type of psycothic killer?" He stood closer to Jing Yuan, releasing an amused chuckle. "I mean, remember when I first appeared here 'mysteriously' and your first ever action was to send me to the jug due to being very suspicious?"

Jing Yuan smirked to a degree. "Hm! Yes I do. I was just so inexperienced and a bit paranoid during my first years as a general that I ended up not believing a word of what you said at the time. You were in The Shackling Prison for what? Fifty years? Hahaha!"

"Right! Got a very comfortable cell and everything!" Morte laughed merrily alongside Jing Yuan before his face turn stern and serious for a second. "I had to eat a prisoner to survive."

"..."

Jing Yuan stopped laughing as he and the whole rest that was there stared at the other man with some eerie concern.

"...Just messing with ya!" Morte went back to smilling, giving a soft punch on Jing Yuan's shoulder. "Anyways, the point here is, I think there's no need to throw my companion into jail as long as we can get her hidden from the IPC soldiers during our stay at the Luofu."

"To hide her from the IPC? Sorry, but since when you think you're in position to ask favours from two generals of the Xianzhou?" Feixiao responded, being more adamant on Morte's request. "And even if we do, sooner or later, the IPC would find her companion. It isn't like we can just hide or stay her put at one place for a long time."

"Oh, but we aren't planning to be here for a long stay. When's the cerimony happening? Tomorrow? We won't be here longer than that. It will be just these measly two days to celebrate. After that, we're off. So I bet it won't really bother you with having to conceal my companion for only those two days." Morte replied back, explaining to Feixiao how they wouldn't need to worry to hide Acheron from the IPC in the long run. "However, Fox-Ears, I think that the one that will be the judge of that is the one that is general of this ship, no?" He smirked at Feixiao before gesturing to Jing Yuan with his hand, passing the decision to him.

And while Feixiao wouldn't like to admit, she knew Morte was right, sighing. "Unfortunatly, that's true. The Luofu being your ship, you're the one making the call here, Jing Yuan." She looked at him, hoping that her fellow general would be wise in his choice, having started to consider it.

"What do you say, Jin? At least for the old times?" Morte speaked, trying to push a bit for the emotional side. "She won't dare nor fathom to cause you and your people trouble. I vow you that much."

"Hmm, you say so..." Jing Yuan reluctantly looked slightly to the ground, rubbing his chin while still in doubt. Would making his friend a favour be worth it to put the relations with the IPC at risk? But then again, it wasn't like just having to hid Acheron from them for two days would be much of a challenge. And yet, uncertainty lingered in his mind, not being sure if the Self-Annihilator could be someone of trust even with Morte's words.

That was when Acheron realized something: if Jing Yuan wanted to be convinced that she could be trusted with, he'd have to hear the words from the very one. "I'm aware that the General's perception of criminals that are wanted by the IPC is mostly not in good favour. And I do not blame him for thinking so, as many are dangerous and psycothic." She approached the conversation, standing next to Morte and looking to Jing Yuan face to face. "I fully understand that you want to keep your people safe and happy in such date like this one. If the General were to decide I should be imprisoned, I wouldn't blame him if that's what is best for the Luofu." Acheron proceeded to put a hand on her own chest. "What I have for the Luofu and the Xianzhou in general however, is nothing but a great amount of respect. Tainting the historical past both our nations shared before would be a dishonor and attrocity not only to you and your people, but also the people of my home planet."

"..." Taking fully and carefully each word from Acheron, once she reached to the final part, Jing Yuan's eyes turned into great curiosity. If some details of her clothing weren't telling enough, the part of the Xianzhou's shared past with Acheron's planet was enough for the General of the Luofu's assumption about her to be nearly confirmed. Not only that, but the way she spoke politely and with respect, was perhaps what begun to tilt Jing Yuan more to Morte's suggestion. Having taking all that into account, the general simply turned his head to look at Feixiao and shook his head.

Altough confusing, it seemed that the General of the Yaoqing knew what it meant, getting an expression of tad resignation but nodding in response to her fellow general. Looking behind, she gestured to both Moze and Xueyi to back down with her arm. "General Jing Yuan as decided. They're guests."

Hearing that immediatly made Acheron let out a breath of relief, relaxing down her muscles and storing back her sword to the hilt, knowing that they were able to reach a consensus, mot needing to fight anymore. Hopefully.

"Hahaha! Thanks, Jin! I always knew that time well spent together would come in handy one day!" Morte thanked Jing Yuan for his decision of believing in him, doing one more handshake with the general.

"After the things you done for me, it was my turn to return the favor, don't you think?" Jing Yuan smiled altough a bit sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "If Fu Xuan was here to witness my decision, she'd probably scold me however."

"Rejoice, Acheroni! You won't have to sleep under a cold and gloomy prison's ceilling tonight!" Morte happily told to Acheron.

"And having to spend a day without you? It was tempting honestly." Acheron responded condescendingly.

"You see the shit I have to put up with daily, Jin?" Morte pointed at Acheron with his thumb while speaking with Jing Yuan. "No longer a teen and still in her rebellious phase."

"I'm not your daughter!" Acheron speaked louder and with some crossness, doing her best to not shout. If there was one thing she hated the most on Morte, was how easy he was able to annoy her. That on itself had to be a talent. Fortunatly she was able to maintain her cool, rubbing her nose. "And by the way, where's the girl you left from the port with, Morte?"

"Morte?" Jing Yuan looked at his friend a bit puzzled, being the first time he was hearing him being called by that name.

"My 'famous' name. Remember that talk we had that once I'd become a popular musician around the cosmos, it would be under an alias?" Morte reminded to Jing Yuan. "Guess what, Jin? I achieved it. And 'Morte' is the name I've chosened."

"Eh, so it means you did make it after all." Jing Yuan smiled foundly torwards him. "I'm happy to hear of your success, Qiongqi. Or I guess I should treat you as Morte from now on?"

"To you, it can always be the former, my friend." Morte responded, not minding if Jing Yuan kept calling him by Qiongqi. "By what I've seen, you've also got quite the recognition around here. And that I may also not be the most esteemed guest in this festival." He looked to Feixiao on the side. "You even got other generals to attend the party."

With the whole conversation going on, Feixiao begun to feel more at ease with Morte. While she couldn't be too sure, the fact that Jing Yuan knew him as a friend and seemed to trust him was enough for the foxian to at least not be as apprehensive. "It would only be rude to miss out on my colleague's festival, as a general and a friend." She responded, giving a polite smile to Morte before stretching her hand to him. "General Feixiao of the Yaoqing. And not 'Fox-Ears'."

"Well, but you do have fox ears, don't you?" Morte responded, shaking Feixiao's hand.

Meanwhile, Acheron wanted him to answer to the question she made about Guinaifen. "Hey, aren't you forge-"

"And who're the other two back there?" Morte signaled at Xueyi and Moze with a brief movement from his head, having already met with Sushang and Huohuo. "They look like they've seen better days." He commented on the slight bruises and injuries both had sustained on the fight against Acheron.

"I'd say that appears to have been courtesy of the misunderstanting with your companion." Jing Yuan replied, giving a glance to Acheron.

The Self-Annihilator was quick to apologize. "My apologies. It wasn't my intention to cause you harm. I was just defending myself."

"It's understandable." Xueyi speaked for both herself and Moze, the two approaching the others. "If both generals agree that you don't pose as a threat to the Luofu, then we shall follow their decision to perceive as such. At least no civillians got caught in the middle of this."

"..." As Xueyi was speaking with Acheron, Moze silently observed Morte and his appearence. His face, the eyes, smile, everything else. The Shadow Guard and silent assassin couldn't help, but be highly suspicious of the man. Just the mere analysis on Morte, made Moze's alarm bells ring inside. "Wait a second." Interrupting the conversation, he got the rest's attention as he lifted up his arm. "General Feixiao. General Jing Yuan. This guy..." Moze pointed at Morte, accusatory. "Is the deepest and filthiest evil imaginable."

"Hm?" Morte just faintly lifted up an eyebrow.

"Ah..." Acheron gasped lowly, surprised at Moze's observation. Was the assassin able to see through Morte's facade just like that?

"What?" Jing Yuan looked at him confused.

"And what basis do you have to prove such claim as that one, Moze?" Xueyi eyed him rather addled as well. "This man is General Jing Yuan's friend. You can't make that type of accusation to his person while in front of the general and having no-" Yet, Moze unexplicably begun to walk away, cutting the judge of the Ten lord Comissioners short. "Uh? Where are you going?"

Being as reserved and closed as ever, Moze didn't digress or explain largely. Instead, he responded on his own way. "To get proofs." He said shortly, being enough telling. While he himself couldn't help but figure out what put him so off when gazing at Morte, the assassin would make sure to investigate his past here at the Luofu, for Moze couldn't help to shake the bad feeling and vibes from Jing Yuan's friend off of him. And so, his body dissipated into shadows and dissapeared, leaving a muddled group behind.

"..." From the back, Feixiao watched her servant walk away. altough her face wasn't as confused as the rest. While it's true that Moze's assumptions had failed before, the Shadow Guard rarely failed. And if there was someone's instincts she would believe in this whole existence besides her own, was of Moze and Jiaoqiu's.

Watching him leave too, Xueyi didn't sighed but was clearly not satisfied with her temporary colleague's random behaviour that at this point, was Moze's trademark. "Pardon for the atittude of my coworker. He normally tends to suspect of many people and many things sometimes. That's just his way of working. Hope he didn't offended the guest nor General Jing Yuan."

"It's alright. I've heard that Moze has been going the extra mile with his job lately." Jing Yuan responded, not taking it badly as he knew the effort and lot of commitment the assassin was putting on himself as Shadow Guard. "If anything, I think Qiongqi here also took it lightly."

"Sure did." Morte replied, maintaining his same posture and cool. "Poor guy accusing others like that however. It must be a terrifying level of paranoia." He commented with a suave smile. But beneath that, Morte was rather more serious than smilling. In some cases, it would appear that the 'paranoid' is usually the most aware of the bunch. That assassin could be a bother.

"I'm sure he just needs to rest." Feixiao responded. "I'll talk with Moze later. A brief vacation could do him good."

"For now, stay close to him and continue to do your job, Xueyi." Jing Yuan said to the Judge. "This small incident was a mishap. Still, I am glad both you and Moze rushed to action when becoming aware of a criminal roaming around Aurum Alley. If a tragedy hasn't happen in this event yet, most of it can be attributed to you two and the thousand others cloud knights on their duty."

"Appreciate it, General Jing Yuan." Xueyi gave a courteous bow to Jing Yuan. "I'll catch up to Moze and continue with my duty then. My report will be delivered to the General by the end of the day." Informing her leader, the Judge then also went away after Moze, exiting the alley.

"And what about you, Feixiao? Going to keep patrolling the streets too, I presume." Jing Yuan talked with the other general, wondering if she would stop her shift for today.

The foxian smirked. "You already know it, Jing Yuan. Today and tomorrow is your day. Leave the security to me and the rest. You just worry about relaxing, the speech and to look good to the people." She turned around, summoning one of her gunblades and put her feet on it. "Gonna do some checkings on Stargazer Nevalia now! See ya around!" And then, the gunblade she was stepping on activated and working like a flying jet, the general of the Yaoqing blasted away into the distance, assuming that it was all okay around Aurum Alley.

"Welp. Where to now, Jin?" Morte speaked to Jing Yuan, with the introductory conversation at the place seemingly over. "Got any places in mind to spend the day?"

Still with the question she wanted to ask to Morte, Acheron was about to intervene. "How about you tell-"

"What if we go to the coffee shop of that granny that is right around the corner?" Morte proposed, remembering it. "It's still there, isn't it? Man, that granny really knew how to-"

"Oh! You're referring to 'Grandma's Shangri-La Dream'?" Jing Yuan replied, the memory of the place having popped up back in his mind.

Morte smiled. "Yeah! That one!"

"Granny died. 400 years ago."

"..."

A tragic and awkward silence stood up in the alley as Jing Yuan delivered the unforseen and shocking news.

"...Figures." Morte clicked his tongue, shortly turning his head to the side while thinking of another place. "Humm...how about..."

"Answering to what I've been asking you minutes a-" Acheron tried once again to get Morte's attention. But he wasn't having none of it.

"Oh! I know!" Morte exclaimed, rubbing his hands while smilling slyly. "We can always go to 'Sweet Lotus'. Y'know? Where there was that sexy foxian who-"

"It closed 200 years ago." Jing Yuan gave more tragic news yet again, much to Morte's frusttration.

"Goddamnit! Is there anything of worth here in the Luofu that still remains?" Morte said angrily, wondering how much of the Luofu he had met back then no longer existed.

"Hehehe, you know what they say, Qiongqi. Times have changed." Jing Yuan said with a friendly face. "We grow up and leave somethings behind in the past or time does itself. We are no longer the young adults we used to be."

Morte sighed, lowering his arms. "I know, I know. Responsabilities of being a general that only grew with time, maturity and etc. Aaah, how we miss eing young again." He said in a melancholic voice. "At least, Jin- At least tell me that pub still exists."

" 'Dragon's Breath'? Yep! It still does!" Jing Yuan said happily.

"Good!" Morte fisted his fist into his other hand. "That's enough to celebrate the night!" He said while Acheron behind him just brought a hand to her forhead in fatigue. He really couldn't have much else in mind.

"Humm...about that. I dunno." Jing Yuan said a bit reluctant.

"What's the deal? Afraid to pay a few rounds?" Morte grinned amusedly. "Don't tell me that Luofu's general is a cheapskate!"

As the two were talking, Sushang and Huohuo, who were still there, also spoke to each other.

" 'Sweet Lotus'? I've heard about the other two places but never of this one before." Sushang said, rubbing her chin.

"Me neither. But it seemed the general and his friend used to frequent that place." Huohuo said, pondering. "I wonder if it was some sort of teahouse."

"Let me check." Sushang took out her phone and searched for the name of 'Sweet Lotus'. And the results were rather...'unexpected'. "Huh?!"

Seeing the petrified face of her friend, Huohuo stared at the screen of her phone. "Why that face for, Sush-huh!?"

Upon searching Sweet Lotus, many images of beautiful women and pretty men appeared on the screen in some 'suggestive' poses, leaving both two girls appaled and speechless.

"THE GENERAL REALLY WENT TO PLACES LIKE THIS?!"

Meanwhile, Morte and Jing Yuan were still speaking.

"It is that I have to appear in good conditions for the public's speech I'm gonna give tomorrow." Jing Yuan explained the reason why he didn't want to go to the pub with Morte. "I'd generally appreciate socializing with the citizens and you but public image unfortunately is also a thing I had to learn to improve it."

"C'mon now, Jin!" Morte opened up his arms. "If the people truly love you, do you think they'd really care about having their general drinking alongside them?"

"Eh, I think not. But my peers and officials could." Jing Yuan replied with a bittersweet smile, knowing that he'd love to do that but if so, then his ears would hear a big one from Fu Xuan in specific amongst other critics. "Therefore, Qiongqi, that will have to be scrapped. How about you and your companion got to my place and stay in there for the night instead? The palace is big enough to get a bedroom for each of you."

"Better than nothing I guess." Morte said in defeat, accepting it.

And before they could restart to speak again, Acheron stepped right in on time. "Very grateful for the general's generosity! Now please, could he give us a second?" She smiled forcefully to Jing Yuan before pulling Morte away, wanting to speak solely with him.

"That was unnecessary, Acheroni. I was talking." Morte told to her.

"Yes. And I want to talk." Acheron responded back. "Listen now: That girl youwalked away from the docks with, Guinaifen. Where's she? Why isn't she with you?"

"Streamer-girl? Left after we were finished doing her streams." Morte responded with honesty.

But believing in the type of people like him was tricky to Acheron. "She just left? You want me to believe that? You know very well what I told you if you dare to do something to her!"

Morte rubbed his forhead while taking Acheron's rebuke. "Good grief...She decided to walk home, Acheron! You wanted me to go after streamer-girl and bring her here against her will?"

"If she's fine, then I'll need something more to prove it other than simply your word." Acheron crossed her arms, staring at the man judgingly. "And you better have some. Because I sware if I find out you kil-"

"Hum, I think your friend is saying the truth, Ms Acheron." Huohuo interrupted the Self-Annihilator, approaching her with Sushang who nodded.

"She's fine. Look." The Cloud Knight, put her phone screen in front of Acheron, showing her a post from Guinaifen in the social media that was posted half an hour ago.

"Finally at home, chat! Been quite the exhausting day today!"

"..." Acheron stared at it a bit oblivious on what to say. Morte was incredibly telling the truth. And he showed it through a smug on his face as he leaned closer to her.

"So?" Morte said, eager to hear what he wanted to hear.

"You were right." Acheron closed her eyes, admitting defeat.

"And?" He waited for more.

"That's about it." Acheron responded. Admitting her mistake was enough.

"Typical." Morte frowned boredly before going to talk with Jing Yuan. "Jin, lead us to your place then. I hope the decoration of it is as of top notch as it was when I left." He told to the general, having nothing better to do.

"That and much more, Qiongqi. I'd even love to show you the tributes I won from my feats as general over the time." Jing Yuan responded, having already in mind what he and Morte could be doing once they reached the palace. However, he also couldn't forget about Acheron. There was something he wanted to tell her. "But before we go, I do think you want to say goodbye to your new recent made friend, don't you?" Jing Yuan speaked, not with Acheron and Morte, but with Sushang and Huohuo.

Being told by the general himself that they could go and say goodbye to Acheron for today, both the small foxian and the Cloud Knight did that, walking torwards Acheron.

"Well, guess it was it for today. And there was still much more we wanted to show you from Aurum Alley." Sushang told to the Emmanator of Nihility with some sorrow. "I'm...sorry about my behaviour from earlier while we were eating and storming out like that. It ruined the experience."

"None of that." Acheron shook her head in negative. "You were feeling distressed and needed to vent it out. It's better than letting all swelling up inside until the pain becomes too much to bare. You did the right thing in admitting your error about your friend, Sushang." She told to the Cloud Knight, making her feel better. "If anything, it's me who should apologize for not telling you the truth about being a criminal."

"As if that alone defines who you really are." Sushang replied, also not caring about Acheron being a criminal wanted by the IPC. "You were a very helpful and sweet person by talking me out of my anguish, Acheron. True criminals wouldn't do that."

"Exactly." Huohuo was of the same opinion. "Spending these hours with Ms Acheron was enough to see that what the IPC might be saying about you is completely false. Or at least majority of it. Ms Acheron is a good person that nobody could told me otherwise!"

Acheron smiled kindly to the two girls. "Thank you for the words, Sushang. Huohuo. You both are also very kind hearted too. I can only hope that you and Guinaifen can be a trio again."

"We will! Like you said, it isn't too late to restore my friendship with her!" Sushang was determined in fixing her bond with Guinaifen. "It won't be a discussion that will tear it apart. That's why, tomorrow, first thing I'll do when getting out of home will be to apologize to Gui!"

"That's the right thing to do." Acheron smiled in approval while Morte looked down at the Cloud Knight. It seemed both she and Guinaifen suffered from deep guilt and regret over their squabble at the start of this day.

"Seems like I lost an episode of your friendship." Jing Yuan commented, getting both Sushang and Huohuo's attention. "Whatever happened between you and your friend, it's for the best you reconciliate. I always liked seeing you together." The general said, altough he wouldn't admit that part of it was because he sometimes watched to clips of Guinaifen streams when having nothing better to do. "Also, one thing that I have to tell you as a general: Lady Acheron's secret of being a criminal needs to be kept from the public and IPC. Under no circumnstance they must know that we will be housing her at the palace for two days. Let alone her presence here in the Luofu in the meantime. So do not tell to anybody who wasn't here about her. Is that understood?"

"Yes general!"

"Y-Yes general!"

The two responded to their order by doing a salute, Sushang more convincing than Huohuo. They knew that if the secret about Acheron, a criminal wanted by the IPC, being on the Luofu got leaked, it could spread like fire until reaching to the IPC authorities themselves, giving a lot of trouble and headache that Jing Yuan would want to avoid.

"If possible, we'll still try to see each other again tomorrow!" Sushang told to Acheron. "The three of us and you."

"I sure can't wait." Acheron giggled, liking to see Sushang happy. "Take care, both of you. And may tomorrow your other friend also be present to showcase your union."

"Got it!" Sushang replied.

"We shall be going home too, now." Huohuo said, noticing that it was already starting to get late. "It was nice meeting you, Ms Acheron. Until tomorrow!"

"Until tomorrow!" Sushang also said as she and her small foxian friend waved goodbye at Acheron who waved back at them, seeing the two girls walk out from the alley, now only leaving her with morte and Jing Yuan. In her heart, the Emmanator of Nihilty hoped that Sushang could be friends with Guinaifen again.

"Okay! With every goodbye here done, I think we can finally head to the palace." Morte speaked, looking to Jing Yuan. "Show us the way, Jin!"

Jing Yuan chuckled. "As if you don't know where it is. Alright! Follow me!" He stated, signaling for Morte and Acheron to walk behind him as he knew a path to the palace without having to bump into the IPC.

As she was walking behind the two men, Acheron opened her umbrella in case she needed to vaguely hide her face from the IPC. And because it was a beautiful paper umbrella. Top quality of great prodution. Having and using it would always remind her of-

"...IzUmoHoMe..."

"!"

"...hOmENeArBy..."

Catching a faint sound of a glitched, hoarse voice in the air, Acheron stopped in the middle of her tracks, staggered. She tried to hear it again with her ears, but alas it didn't seemed to sound again. It left the Self-Annihilator wondering what voice, what soul, would be calling out in the distance with distress. How it sounded so anguished and in pain. And Acheron knew she hadn't heard it wrong. "What I heard...Was that the voice of-hm?"

From her peripheral view, Acheron ended up catching glimpse of something she had long stopped seeing from forever ago. To her right, there was a narrow entrance to what appeared to be a small instrument store. It was certianly odd that the owner would even think about setting their store at such obscure place as this one. Yet, what really caught Acheron's attention wasn't the location of the store. Rather, it was the medium-seized instrument of fine wood, three strings and fretless neck, painted in some designs of red and purple. The mere sight of the intstrument alone, was able to capture Acheron's attention. Or rather, from Raiden Bosenmori Mei. It was just a perfect replica. So perfect that begun evoking memories within her head.

Almost mesmerized and hypnotized by the appearence, Raiden Mei walked slowly torwards the shamisen at the entrance of the instrument store, closing her paper umbrella. Crouching down, she took in the smaller detail from up close. How well made it appeared to be. It was rather brand new or it was never used before, still waiting to be bought. Even so, it was well preserved. She wondered how much did it cost. How long has it been since she played one? Since she...was in peace at her home.

"Acheron."

" Mei."

"Ghg!" Yet, the reminder of the present was quick to dissacociate her with the past.

"Acheron."

"Mei."

"Aghgr!?" Throbbing, the woman put a hand to her head, wanting to calm down her sudden headache, the memories of a destroyed previous life slowly fading away.

"Acheron." Calling her for the third time, Morte was now near her, his tall figure standing above her. "Are you coming or not?" He asked her with a straight face, barely displaying any emotions.

Being 'brought back' to actuality, Acheron realized she was making Jing Yuan and Morte lose time, as they all should be on their way to the palace by now. Thus, the Self-Annihilator got immediatly up and took her vision away from the shamisen. "I am." It was all she told to Morte, with a voice and face that also concealed emotions. For as much as she could be nostalgic about it, those far-away memories were now nothing more but fragments of an almost forgotten life of hers. One that she had to accept that it wouldn't be coming back from Nihility.

Jing Yuan observed that action from Acheron with attention. It was giving him even more confirmation.

Having given her answer, Acheron just walked away from the entrance of the instrument store, now keeping her mind focus on reaching the general's palace. Without giving comment, Morte stared briefly at the same shamisen Acheron had stared at with interest, shortly before also walking away.

"Welcome, my dear friend and guests! To the Seat of Divine Foresight!" Jing Yuan announced as he Morte and Acheron walked into the magnificent large room of the general's chamber.

"Hmm, it does seem a bit different." Morte talked, taking in the many visual characteristics of the room. "Gotta say, love the work you've done with the statues, Jin."

"Glad you liked it. Didn't forget of that advice." Jing Yuan said to Morte. "That having statues would be nice to occupy some statue in order for this room to not look so empty."

"Seriously? I was joking on that one dude." Morte reacted with quite some surprise, not expecting that Jing Yuan would have followed with was originally intended to be a snarky comment from him.

"Joke or not, I think the decoration of my office thanks you for it." Jing Yuan chuckled, not having forgotten about that conversation they had one time.

As the trio was walking up the stairs with cloud knights in each side, doing their greeting poses of reverence to Jing Yuan, Morte remembered something.

"Hey, by the way. This place still has those hotsprings in here, right?" Morte asked to the general who smiled at him.

"Don't worry, Qiongqi. I already tasked some of my subordinates to prepare the water and some baijiou liquor for us." Jing Yuan seemed to had been one step ahead in that, much to Morte's pleasure.

"Keh! Damn bastard, you already know me too well." Morte commented, the general having guessed his wish.

Turning her head to the left, Acheron caught sight of a white as snow lion with blue eyes lazily resting in the middle of the staircase, being a tad astonished. "The general has a lion for a pet?"

"That's Snow Moon." Jing Yuan told to Acheron, stopping his steps. "I adopted him since he was a cub. Also a great friend of mine." The general patted the lion gently, with Snow Moon retributting the favour by licking his face.

"Snowmoon? Wasn't your pet called 'Mimi' instead?" Morte asked, hovering his arm up and down in front of Snowmoon to see if the lion could remember him as well.

"Yes. But once I realized he was a lion and not a cat once he grew up, I decided to change the name to something more majestic." Jing Yuan gave the justification, thinking that 'Mimi' wouldn't be such a fitting name for a lion.

"I see. But Mimi also didn't sound that bad." Acheron replied, thinking the name was cute somewhat.

"I told you to not touch it!"

"Why not? It's just paper!"

"Paper that I don't trust you with!"

Hearing the sound of two voices arguing more up ahead at the end of the staircase, Acheron seemed to recognize immediatly to whom they belonged to. "Are these voives from..."

Jing Yuan sighed in the other hand. "Great. It looks like they're at it again."

Climbing the rest of the stairs, the trio reached the center of the room to see the two younglings, Yanqing and Yunli, seemingly fighting over some scroll while Jiaoqiu tried to separate him.

"Please, stop it, you two! There's no need to escalate the things!" The foxian chef said as he alone was holding down both children from going at each other with his arms.

"She's the one who started!" Yanqing exclaimed, pointing at Yunli.

"ShE'S tHe ONe whO sTaRted It! How old are you? Five?" Yunli mocked the boy's accusation. "You're the one who always loses his mind and overreacts!"

"What's happening here?" The moment Jing Yuan voiced speak, he alone was able to calm down the squabble between the two. He didn't yelled, nor shouted or anything. Simply, his voice was enough to get the two kids to stop fighting.

"Ah! G-General!" Yanqing stuttered a bit, being caught in surprise by Jing Yuan's sudden presence. Quickly, he composed himself for his father figure and walked torwards him with scroll in hand, giving it to Jing Yuan. "Here is my report of today, General! Hope his off day of leisure was a good one!"

"Thank you, Yangqing." Jing Yuan took the scroll from his prodigée's hands and unroll it, giving a quick read. "Hm, not bad. Very infromative. Hope this has teached you a valuable lesson from what you and Yunli dod at the Artisanship Comission, Yanqing."

"It did, General." Yanqing responded dutifully. "From here onwards, I sware to not commit the same mistake again!"

Jing Yuan smiled in approval, nodding his head. However, only one of the two had delivered their report. "And where's yours, Yunli? I also requested a report from you." He looked to Yunli, the punishment he had gave her being the same to Yanqing for their miscreant behaviour on the Artisanship Comission: Spending a day helping Jiaoqiu on his food stand.

"I-I didn't had the time to." Yunli responded hesitanly, crossing her arms and looking to the other way.

"She didn't even wrote a single paragraph, General." Yanqing told the truth to Jing Yuan.

"Snitch!" Yunli exclaimed.

"I wouldn't be if you filled your report like I did!" Yanqing acted with superiority and contemot torwards Yunli.

"Not my fault that you didn't want to help me!" Yunli puffed her cheeks in frustration, stomping her foot on the ground.

"So that I could do your report instead, you mean!" Yanqing went back to counter-argue.

"Heads cool! Both of you!" Jing Yuan demanded to Yanqing and Yunli, making his voice sound a bit more stern, enough to put the two kids back in place. He then proceeded to speak more calmly. "Yanqing, it isn't just because you have a type of rivalry or animosity with Yunli, that you'll refuse to help her at any time. That doesn't suit you well." He rebuked his prodigee.

Yanqing looked at the general a bit baffled. "B-But General-"

"Remember what I told you, Yanqing. Always help other people out, even if you might disagree with them sometimes." Jing Yuan interrupted his 'student', reminding him of a virtue to be preached and taken to heart.

"...Yes, General." Yanqing responded with little energy, lowering his head.

Behind, Yunli smirked, giving some cackles.

"You also aren't exempt from this, Yunli." Jing Yuan called the girl out. "While it isn't a bad thing to ask people for help, sometimes we are in situations were we have to figure out and do it ourselves if we get no aid. Specially if others might be occupied. You are very skillful with the sword. But that skillfullness could also go for other things that does not involve sheer brute strenght instead. Just because General Huaiyan couldn't be here present, it does not mean you can slack from responsability on his absence. I hope that is understood for you."

With that, Yunli's smirked immediatly vanished. "Understood, General..."

With the spirits lowered from the two, Jing Yuan concentrated his attention to Jiaoqiu who was also present in the room. "I apologize if they were an hassle to tolorate during the entire day, Jiaoqiu."

"Hahaha, quite the contrary, General Jing Yuan!" The foxian chef laughed heartedly. "Their hyperactive energy and juvenile determination in my kitchen brought some interesting and original results! I think I never got as much fun cooking as today! It is also very important to teach the young ones to cook since early." Jiaoqiu stated with a finger up. "Also, I heard the general talking to other people. Two voices to be more exact. And one of them..." Smilling, Jiaoqiu rotated his head to the left, right in Acheron's direction. "Eh. Wasn't expecting to meet with the lady again."

"That audition of yours is truly superb." Acheron smiled gently, confirming Jiaoqiu's guess and taking some steps forward, revealing herself to the others by standing next to Jing Yuan. "Nice in seeing you again as well."

"Ah! The lady with that sword!" Yunli exclaimed, surprised with Acheron's appearence at the palace.

So was Yanqing. "M-Miss Acheron's here?" He blinked at her a few times in disbilief. "W-What does this mean, General? Is she a guest of owner that I wasn't aware of?"

"More or less so." Jing Yuan responded, lying a bit. Saying the truth about having to shelter an IPC wanted criminal to him could shatter a twist Yanqing's perspective on the general as a role model. And Jing Yuan didn't want that. "And I see that by the looks of it, you already met each other."

"We did earlier today." Yanqing recounted to Jing Yuan. "She was a very pleasent person to meet, General." Gasping slightly at a possibility that he reached by wondering, the young swordsman stared to Acheron with enthusiasm. "Are you here to train us, miss? Was this some kind of ellaborated surprise by the General?"

"No. Not really." Acheron giggled once more at Yanqing's excitment. "Like I said before, I'm only here at the Luofu for some relaxation. I myself am not affilliated with the General."

"Oh, right! Sorry for the overreaction." Yanqing chuckled a bit sheepishly. He had already let the Emmanatoer of Nihility know he was eager to have a sword duel with her in the future.

"Hm? But then if you don't know the General, how can you be here with him at the palace?" Yunli asked, confused.

"That's because she's a companion of a long friend of mine." Jing Yuan explained. "I myself think I never spoke of him to you, Yanqing. So here, this is Qiongqi." He proceeded to gesture at Morte on the other side of him. "A found friend of mine during my first years as general."

"!"
"!"

Looking up, both Yanqing and Yunli gulped in a form of terryfying awe once their eyes laid on the tall and muscular body frame that was Morte, the man eerily looking down at the two kids with a silent smirk and cold eyes, the scary looking scythe on the back only reinforcing it. His appearence alone was enough to tell to the two kids that this was a very, very strong person.

"..." Jiaoqiu, who also hadn't met Morte before, altough he couldn't visualize the man, he could detect his smell. The scent of an odor, that gave a slight bad impression on him.

"This man...is General's friend?" Yanqing said, with Morte's aspect looking more menacing than even that of Hoolay on his true borisin form somehow.

Continuing the introduction, Jing Yuan would then present Yanqing to Morte. "This child here is Yanqing. He is my-"

"Excuse yourself from saying it. I already know." Morte interrupted Jing Yuan, gaining a puzzled look from him. "Jin, you cheeky bastard..." Morte speaked seriously with the hair over his eyes before grinning at the general. "You scored and decided to not tell me?" He said before clapping a bit. "Anyways, congratulations! Who's the lucky wom-"

"Oh! No no! I think you're misunderstanding here!" Jing Yuan chuckled a bit shyly as he waved his hands. "I'm still unmarried. Yanqing isn't actually my son, you see? He's more like my prodigée student that I chose to adopt."

"...Oh." Morte's grin faded as it was replaced by a neutral expression. "Guess my expectations were too high for a second." Moving his head, he looked down at Yanqing. "You there, kiddo."

"Huh? Me?" Yanqing pointed at himself.

"Yeah, you. Show me those muscles." Morte requested all of a sudden.

"What?" Yanqing replied in awkwardness, being caught out of the left field.

"You're the general's prodigée, aren't you? Let's see those gains then!" Morte insisted to the perplexed Yanqing.

"H-Hummmm, s-sure!" Yanqing replied, wanting to see if he would impress the general's friend altough not being so sure, proceeding to flex his arm. "How-"

"I've seen enough. You can stop, kiddo." Morte said in clear dissapointment, proceeding to ignore Yanqing and walk more torwards the center of the room with Jing Yuan. "Take the boy to a gym. Kiddo's body looks as persistent as a noodle." He whispered to the general with a hand in front of his face.

"Well, a capable warrior takes time." Jing Yuan responded, thinking that Morte was now just being a bit foolish, thinking he could've been nicer to his student.

And despite having been a murmur, Yanqing still heard it, staring at Morte walking away with a complete stare of defeat and at a loss of words, his thin arm still flexing. Which didn't prevent Yunli from trying to hold a laugh behind him.

At this point, Acheron didn't even bothered with reprimanding Morte for his harsh words. He was simply like that. Plain and brutal. Instead, the Self-Annihilator put a hand on Yanqing's shoulder, comforting him. "Don't pay to what he says. His words should meant nothing to you. The ones who meant are of yours and of General Jing Yuan and only those."

"Yeah, I guess." Yanqing responded a bit uncertain. However, he ended up smilling warmly to Acheron, deciding to take her advice. "Thank you nontheless."

"General Jing Yuan's friend hum? I'd say by the way he acts, he seems quite the opposite of the General." Jiaoqiu commented, approaching Acheron and the two kids. "But then again, 'opposites attract' I suppose."

"Forgive him. My companion is like that unfortunately." Acheron responded, doing an omisson of Morte's other terrible aspects.

"It mustn't be easy then. Howbeit, you definetly must know him better than us to be travelling around with him after all." Jiaoqiu replied. "So I assume we aren't seeing the full picture that you do. Anyways, better put my hands to work."

"Precisely." Acheron responded, Jiaoqiu being right but not for the motives he'd thought to be the case. "By the way, what exactly are you going to do now? Isn't your task of looking over Yanqing and Yunli for the day over?"

"It is. But my other task is just starting." Jiaoqiu massaged his own wrists. "I have been assigned to prepare the food of both General Jing Yuan and my general, General Feixiao, for the cerimony banquet tomorrow. So I'll head straight to the palace's kitchen from here."

"You're still going to cook after spending hours doing it so almost non-stop?" Acheron asked a bit concerned, having seen how much Jiaoqiu worked today at the food stand. "That surely isn't healthy."

"Don't worry about me. I do like challenges like this." Jiaoqiu said, maintaining his smile. "Cooking is one of my passions, so it will never feel painful or tedious no matter how many hours I spent doing it."

"But what if one of your wrists ends up snapping from the overwork?" Acheron asked.

Jiaoqiu chuckled. "No problem. It won't." He then gestured his hand at the Emmanator of Nihility. "But if you do want to help me out in the kitchen, feel free to join in."

"Thank you, but I'll pass." Acheron responded. "I think I would disorganize the things more than help." She gave a sincere smile, not trusting fully of her rusted cooking skills to aid Jiaoqiu.

A decision that Jiaoqiu understood. "If you say so. In the meantime, enjoy the stay here at the palace. Room's for guests is what ain't missing." The foxian told her, turning around to stare at Jing Yuan who was a few meters ahead. "I'll be on my leave to the kitchen, General Jing Yuan! See you tomorrow!"

"Until tomorrow, Jiaoqiu! Make sure to gives us your best dishes ever!" Jing Yuan gave him the thumbs up, everyone in the room watching the foxian leave.

"I think we're gonna go around as well. By Lan almighty, being grounded is the worst!" Yunli complained with a tired exhale.

"At least it teached you a lesson, didn't it?" Acheron speaked to her.

"Yeah. Don't be the reason for it next time." Yanqing told to Yunli.

"Neither you, Noodle-Arms." Yunli mocked him.

"Whatever..." Yanqing rolled his eyes, paying no mind to what Yunli said as he walked down the stairs. "I'm gonna train somewhere." He said as a way to alleviate his mind.

"My thoughts exactly!" Yunli responded, also descending the stairs and catching up to Yanqing. "Gonna break that record of yours!"

Watching the kids leave, Acheron couldn't help but feel that they were somewhat cute together. That their bickering and squabbles was all in good nature. With nothing much to do, Acheron decided to walk torwards Morte and Jing Yuan to at least hear where the guests bedrooms of this palace were located. "So, what are you talking about?" She asked to the two men who were laughing together, seemingly at the retelling of past experiences.

"Stuff of old times, Acheroni. You wouldn't get it." Morte said, rubbing his finger on the eyesocket. "We at least have to repeat one of those today or tomorrow, Jin."

"I'll look into it." Jing Yuan responded, sharing of the same opinion, standing right in front of his desk. "However, if you may pardon me, Qiongqi, I want to ask and talk about something to your companion first."

"Me?" Acheron replied. "What does the General want to discuss with me?"

"Those clothes. The design you bare in them, is not unfamiliar to me." Jing Yuan pointed out, eyeying the purple flames on her furisode sleeve that resembled a kimono as well as other traces. The outfit, alongside the paper umbrella and Acheron's interest for the shamisen, was enough to confirm the theory Jing Yuan had on his mind for quite some time. "You are from Izumo, are you not?"

Acheron let out a brief surprised gasp at the mention of her home planet. Jing Yuan knew about it. But given the Xianzhou's close ties with Izumo, it was almost a certainty that the general of the Luofu has heard or knew about its existence before. "Yes, I am. As that I can already tell the questions the General will make to me in regards to it."

Standing by the side, Morte lightened up a cig, his face shroudded in a spectating grin. "This is going to be interesting."

"While I do have questions that concerns Izumo's dissapearence, what I'm going to tell you now isn't exactly about the planet itself." Jing Yuan said, having something else connected to it. "Rather, it's about an individual from that same planet that resides here within the Luofu."

Chapter Text

"No. It ain't this one. Neither this..."

Deep within the chambers of the Shackling Prison, the Shadow Guard, Moze, was rummaging in the vasteness that were the resgistry archives that inscribed every known prisoner that has ever stepped foot and was jailed in this building. Being either the most full of records or just a prisoner's photo with a name, there would at least be some information about every prisoner in here.

As the assassin mumbled to himself, moving his fingers across the record papers of the giant archive complex, crafted through the hardest of black obsidian, the footsteps of Xueyi echoed from behind as the judge walked into the room after getting Moze's location through intel of her sister, requested to pick him up as their shift wasn't over yet, still working as colleagues.

"What are you trying to find exactly, Moze?" Xueyi questioned him, looking down on the Shadow Guard.

"Information." Moze responded with brevity, still searching.

"The friend of General Jing Yuan's prisoner records?" Xueyi replied, being obvious what Moze was referring to.

"If it's true that man, Qiongqi, has been incarcerated here in the Shackling Prison for at least fifty years, then there must be a baground of him registered here in the archives." The assassin told, putting back another digital record after seeing it was not the one. "You can help me find it. Or not."

Xueyi sighed, crossing her arms. In her mind, this was a waste of time that she could not quite understand why Moze was willingly to partake on. "So you want to expose him of something?"

"I do. That 'man' is an abhorrent vile thing." Moze replied, having fully convinced himself since the very start that General Jing Yuan's friend, Morte, or as he was called here, Qiongqi, was of no good.

"And in what clues alone made you reach to such hasty conclusion? Pure vibes?" Xueyi replied stoically, thinking that the Shadow Guard's mentality of always suspecting starting to reach to some wary levels of paranoia. The judge was already considering in perhaps talking some sense to him. "Look, General Feixiao has informed me of your-"

"It's a gut feeling." Moze interrupted Xueyi, responding to her question. "Something in that man, tells me he isn't of trust. Whether the General of the Luofu views him as a friend or not." The assassin stopped to search the records for a brief moment and looked up to Xueyi. "Or do you really think there's nothing of 'dubious' on a person that seemingly ends up becoming friends with General Jing Yuan despite having allegedly been a prisoner of this place?"

"..." It made Xueyi reflect for a bit. Truly, Jing Yuan being a friend of someone who was once an inmate of the Shackling Prison sounded a bit off-character from the general. Not that she herself coexisted much with him besides from time to time when receiving direct orders from Jing Yuan. Still, a figure like him would be expected to only have reputable people as friends. "It isn't our place to question what type of friends General Jing Yuan has. If that guy, Qiongqi, is friend of the general, then there must be a valid reason for it." She said, thinking they shouldn't be meddling on that topic since out of all of them, Jing Yuan was probably who knew him best.

"Yes, a reason. Or deception." Moze showed to still be adamant about Morte/Qiongqi's nature.

"Then you think that he is deceiving the general?" Xueyi replied, a bit incredulous. "I hope you know those accusations won't sound nowhere near reasonable if said in public with no proof."

"Which is why I'm here in the first place, or have you already forgot what I said when leaving Aurum Alley?" Moze got himself up and turned around to stare at his temporarily co-worker. "As an assassin who works in the shadows, we are taught to believe that nothing looks as it may seems. As a judge who executes evil-doers, hasn't that mentality ever once been embedded into you, Xueyi?" He said, wanting for her to start thinking a bit like him for a moment. "It isn't that I consider the General of the Luofu to be one. I know it'd be an indencecy to. Yet, if we remain in the dark about Qiongqi and some of his background, who's to say that he can be of trust? That he's not up to something?"

And again, the Shadow Guard was able to make Xueyi have second thoughts about the entire subject. A major part of her didn't believed much in Moze's suspicions, but a smaller part that doubted of Jing Yuan's friend and saw sense in Moze's logic, begun to spark within her. Maybe, just maybe, there was a validation on the assassin's intuition. Thus, even if she deemed as less likely, Xueyi ended up giving in to that small doubt. "Okay. I'll help you look for that man's criminal record." She said, joining Moze on the search. "But only to guarantee that hunch of yours is put to rest and he isn't up to anything."

"Thanks." Moze said in a low, almost inaudible tone. Still, it was a show of gratitude for with the judge, which from a guy like him was already saying much. "Hm. You even made me speak more than I do yearly."

And so, the duo restarted their finding for the criminal record of the man knownas Qiongqi, now Morte, hoping to find anything about him.

"A person from Izumo? Here, at the Luofu?" Acheron's face became more expressive as soon as she heard that statement come out from Jing Yuan's mouth, surprising her. The cosmos were indeed very vast, but after the tragedy that strucked her home planet, the Self-Annihilator assumed that the possibility of ever encountering other native of Izumo again was close to null. Apparently, that was not the case.

"Your ears did not deceive you. There is, or rather, there was a person from Izumo that used to live here at the Luofu for a long time ago." Jing Yuan clarified to Acheron.

The Emmanator of Nihility's astonishment dwindle. " 'Was'? Does that mean that they left the Luofu in the meantime?"

"No. They've died." Jing Yuan revealed, much to Acheron's contained shock and letdown.

"I see." She replied with some level of sorrow, her eye sight moving to the ground while Morte leisurely make sure to kept the light of his cig steaming with a neutral face. Just when Acheron had thought that after countless years, she'd finally be able to meet with someone that shared the same home as her, those hopes were clearly dashed away.

"Howbeit, their soul still resides here within the Xianzhou Luofu." Jing Yuan once again revealed more added information that changed the scenario. "They have not yet completly passed to the other side."

A bit of hope, yet regulated, came back to the Self-Annihilator's eyes. "Hmm, then what the General is saying, is that the native from Izumo is already physically dead but continues to live on and roam around as a spirit."

Jing Yuan nodded his head in confirmation. "And one that as been a spirit for an extensive period of time by now."

"There's probably something chainning the bastard to the living if their soul hasn't been able to depart during this long." Morte speaked up, removing the cig from his mouth before looking to his travelling companion. "Do you think they might be looking for vengeance, Acheron? Some undying desire?"

Being asked that, the mind of the Self-Annihilator conjured back that brief moment where she had heard a distant voice in Aurum Alley:

"...IzUmoHoMe..."

"...hOmENeArBy..."

"Was that their voice then?" Wondering and theorizing briefly about it, Acheron responded to Morte. "Too early to say. General, is there anything more about this Izumo native that you might tell me about?" She asked politely to Jing Yuan.

"If I recall, they were a seasoned traveller across the cosmos, much like yourself, Ms Acheron." Jing Yuan expanded on the native of Izumo's background. "Quite the advanced age, having been doing a galactic voyage across the space for centuries on. They're arrival to the Luofu was approximately 300 years ago, choosing to make a temporarily short stay here for a few years before beggining the final stage of their return to home."

"So they were a traveller..." Acheron's mind begun to link the native's identity to some groups correlated with the trvaelling across the cosmos. "Were they a Nameless?"

"Whether they followed Akivili or not, it was never truly confirmed despite the indications appointing torwards that. "Jing Yuan responded, assuming that the Path that the Izumo's native belonged to was unknown by the Luofu's population. "Continuing, they expected to jump back to what was left of their trip back home once they were satisfied with their time as resident of the Luofu and charged back their strenght. Yet, the news of that tragedy arrived."

Acheron let out a surpressed breath as she slightly turned her head to the side and crossed her arms, knowing what the general of the Luofu was speaking of.

"The planet known as Izumo, and its twin planet, Takamagahara, both ceased from existing. Not a single trace of their astral bodies left behind to comprove the survival. It's as if the had just vanished from the cosmos. When we received the news of that here in the Luofu, it shocked and terrorized most of us, knowing that a planet which we had established a long relationship with was simply gone so suddenly." Jing Yuan speaked with lament. "But, as it would be expected, the traveller from Izumo was the one who took the news to the hardest."

"It must have been painful." Acheron said under her breath, imagining the scenario.

"In that moment, a deep sorrow, denial and anguish was burgeoned in their heart. As if their entire world collapsed." Jing Yuan said. "They were unable to cope with the fact that in every newspaper, in every news station, Izumo did no longer existed. Therefore, after the intial denial, it molded into unfiltered rage. A rage so big that they went on a violent, blind rampage, harming many around here in the Luofu. Even their own ship, with the souvenirs and recordations of their journey was not spared from such unadulterated fury. " The general closed their eyes, reminiscing about that event. "Naturally, I was prompted to intervene and so I stepped in, giving a merciful blow to them so that their rage could be relinquished. Alas, even in death, their anger kept being so unbridled that their soul stored all of it in, allowing them to still have a presence in this realm as a spirit. As such, we decided to banish and isolate them to a remote place within the Luofu, where they still roam around lonely to this day, in an endless torment and dark grief that has taken over their soul 300 years ago."

"And I suppose the years will keep going on and on if their madness is not fully ceased. A fate of perpetual desolation like that is nothing but a tragic one." Acheron commented, now having heard all of the backstory of the Izumo's native here at the Luofu. "To live with the idea that you no longer have a home to return to. Nor family."

"It is indeed a dire scenario that no one would wish to find themselves in. Despite the tragedy, none of us here at the Luofu could truly blame their action of rampage." Jing Yuan shared the same sentiment. "It is of an abysmal pain."

Exhaling lowly from her nostrils, the Self-Annihilator got a bit downcast. Guess it meant there was nothing to do and the possibility of talking with another person of Izumo was off the table if they had lost themselves in madness. Or, was there still a chance? "And for the General to tell me all of this...Is because you want me, a Izumo's native as well, to finish with that pain of theirs." She stared torwards the Divine Foresight, assuming the motive of why he shared such fact envolving Izumo to her.

Jing Yuan gave an acknowledging smile. "Good observation. Due to Ms Acheron having ties with Izumo, I deduce that unpon the gaze and presence of a compatriot to sooth their anguish, it might give them closure. Which is why I humbly ask for your help and accept in good-will this task as there isn't anyone more suitable for it."

"If it is to end the sorrow of a fellow izumonian, the General doesn't even has to ask. I kindly volunteer in order to give them eternal peace!" Acheron replied without almost thinking twice. Having a reunion with a person from her homeplanet would be also important for her, no matter if they had become a raging spirit or not. But then, she remembered of an important detail. "Ah! But...and what about me staying here at the palace due to the problem of not wanting to be seen by the IPC?"

"No worries, Ms Acheron." Jing Yuan told with reassurance. "The place where you going to for the task if of no IPC presence: The Fyxestroll Garden. A location where only spirits, such as the heliobi, inhabit. Making of it a haunted place so to speak. The spirit of the Izumo's native now resides there at a more secluded area." The general of the Luofu then proceeded to look at Morte. "I hope that it is also okay with you letting your partner go into this mission, Qiongqi."

"No problem." Morte replied with an unconcerned face while litting up another cig that he was holding between his teeth. "She has my parental permission to go." It resulted in a silent but quick jab of Acheron on his shoulder, getting no reaction from the man in response.

"I'll also be sending you someone to help lead the way to the spirit through the garden." Jing Yuan went back to talk with Acheron. "Their shift must be almost ending now, so it won't take too long. Feel free to give a trip around the palace to know it better in the meantime, Ms Acheron."

Letting out a yawn, Morte rolled his neck, snapping and cracking the bones of his servical cord. "And what about us, Jin? All of this yapping is making my body sore."

Jing Yuan chuckled friendly. "In a moment, Qiongqi. The waters of the hotspring won't turn cold just because we're a minute or two late." Knowing that his friend was craving for them to do something together, the general assured Morte that he was almost finished speaking with Acheron.

"You won't be joining in?" Acheron asked to Morte.

"Well, this is clearly an izumonian matter, Acheroni." Morte responded, looking back to her. "And as I and you know of, I'm not izumonian, am I?"

"Fair." Acheron said, understanding that in a way, this topic revolved around Izumo and Izumo only. Still, she gave a side glance to the man when he spoke that last part. Whereas she didn't question him for knowing where she was from, since Morte knew already her true name, she was still unsure and a bit in the dark about his background. If Morte's name was truly Qiongqi, then would that mean he was native to the Xianzhou? From the Luofu or any other ship of the Alliance? Either way, it was one more thing to question him on when both had the time for it. "I'll be on my way then, General." She said, politely excusing herself and about to leave the room. "Do please let me know when it's time to go do my task-"

"Wait. There's something more I want to tell you." Jing Yuan speaked, halting Acheron from leaving.

Turning around, the Emmanator of Nihility stared to the general. "What is it?"

"Izumo. When we heard news of the IPC of its dissapearence, we got nothing more but inconclusive images and second-handed reports about its demise." Jing Yuan's voice sounded a bit somber and down. "As a native of that planet, you where there when it was destroyed, weren't you?"

"Yes, I was." Acheron said, reopening a memory that in times hurt her. But now? It was just a cruel reminder she learned to live with.

"Then it's true?" Jing Yuan spoke a bit hesitant. "Everyone in that planet was..."

"Gone and erased like stardust." Acheron said with an emotionless expression. "Of what I know, I was the only one to survive, to how exactly? I myself do not know." She looked at her own hand, feeling how a major part of her body essence was also erased that day by the dooming black hole of IX. "Maybe it was fate. A cruel joke of destiny. Pure luck. Or just part of a memory that was stripped away from me alongside everything else."

"I see..." Jing Yuan replied, resigned.

"I don't know if the General, the people of the Luofu, the entire Alliance and cosmos as a whole were aware of it, but Izumo at the time was at war with the beings From Outer Sky (Takamagahara)." Acheron begun to tell how the last years and even days of the planet were since it seemed its fate of what exactly happened never came to see the light of day to everyone else in the cosmos. "They descended on us as divine beings, looking to eradicate our people in a hungry and bloody campaign for power and supremacy. We fought in return, to protect our homes and families. With swords that could be as divine as our enemies. I...lost good people close to me in those battles. Good men and women alike. Nevertheless, I kept pushing on. We all did, under the believe that our strife would be worthy to give eternal peace to the future generations if we'd win the war."

Hearing in silence, both Morte and Jing Yuan continued to listen the Self-Annihilator speak, the General of the Luofu with a solemn face, staring at Acheron while the Grinning Man was just looking to the other way with a blank expression, still smoking.

"Yet, one day, a phenomenon of Nihility intervened, and all of those years of sacrifices, of battle and resistance...The war itself, it all ended uncermoneously without a winner. In that moment, it made me realize how out of our own planets, that entire conflict didn't mattered when compared to the universe. That it was meaningless."

"..."

"..."

The room went into a deep silence, making clear that Acheron's words of her telling about Izumo, and by extent, Takamagahara, final moments had got some impact. For the very first time, Jing Yuan learned what truly made Izumo dissapear, being probibely one of the few in the entire cosmos that now knew the truth of the events. And he could imagine by the Emmanator of Nihility's telling, that it must have been a dreading experience.

"Well, that certainly won't give your spiritual compatriot peace if you put it like that." Morte speaked, breaking the silence.

"But it's the truth of how it happened." Acheron replied. "I can't change that."

"And the truth is harsh, isn't it?" Morte chuckled a bit before taking a deep inhale. "I'll give you points for not wanting to hide it from them. Now do what you gotta do, Acheroni! Remember what I told you!"

"You didn't told me anything." Acheron replied with little emotion, looking up to his face.

Morte sighed, his smile vanishing. "Already at the stage of forgetting about words as well?"

"Ms Acheron."

"Hm?" Being once more called by Jing Yuan, Acheron moved her gaze torwards him.

"I'm sorry for the state your planet found itself in and that you had to fight a war alone." Jing Yuan meant what he said, some guilt in his face. "If we, the Xianzhou Alliance, had known beforehand, we could have helped you at least avoid such death and tragedy, perserving a bigger part of your culture."

"No need to apologize, General." Acheron shook her head. "Me and my people fought bravely until the end even if alone. What happened next was a thing that not even the Alliance would be able to stop. What happened to Izumo, was an inevitability."

Seeing that she didn't want him to feel guilt over it, Jing Yuan understood well. "If Ms Acheron says so. I hope you can give the same peace you have about it to that fellow compatriot of yours."

Acheron gave a small smile to Jing Yuan. "I will. Thank you for even telling me about such case, General." With a slight courteous gesture of her head, the Self-Annihilator ended up leaving the room, trying to find a way to occupy time in the palace while waiting for the start of her requested task.

"Hmmm, this place..." Stepping into the tiled floor as the weak mist passed through her legs, Acheron had finished arriving to the Fyxestroll Garden after two hours of aimlessly roaming around the palace while asking the guards to give her a bit of exposition about the building itself in order to not get too bored. It wasn't easy, but she managed to spend that time through. As for separating from Morte again, the Emmanator of Nihility kept giving him a cautious vote of trust to let him off her sight, having stayed truthful to their agreement that he wouldn't harm Guinaifen when going alone with the streamer. And since General Jing Yuan looked to really be his friend and a capable leader, Acheron was okay with leaving Morte with him.

During her preparation for this task, the Self-Annihilator had also wondered about the Izumo natie that resided deep within this garden. How in much suffering they've been in for 300 years, never getting to know exactly what happened to their home. She hoped that she would be able to put an end to that, altough if what Jing Yuan said was true, then the spirit was definetly still hostile and would give a fight most surely. Acheron had already mentalized herself for that. Now all that she'd had to do, was head there to confront them.

But in guidance of someone that knew Fyxestroll Garden very well.

"Please, make sure to accompany me while walking at near distance." Xueyi told to the Self-Annihilator, having finished inspecting the area they where currently on. After her shift with Moze had ended and she came back to report to the general, Jing Yuan solicited to the judge to lead Acheron across the haunted garden, explaining the whole thing of the Izumo's native and Acheron's correlation with them. Promptly, Xueyi accepted to be assigned for that job, she and Acheron proceeding to head straight to the location where they now stood.

Acheron nodded her head in affirmation as she begun to follow Xueyi right from behind, the place having some Xianzhou auromatons and guards that normally patrolled around the garden. While on it, Acheron continued to appreciate the occult scenery that the garden had. "This place does feel quite mystic."

"It was initially constructed to be a place of leisure in mind. Unfortunately it also became the favourite place for errant spirits and others like the heliobi to make it their home." Xueyi explained a bit of the story of the Fyxstroll Garden to Acheron. "As the centuries went on and on, they were able to proliferate in here despite the attempts to banish them, ending up making of this place their unnoficial residence. Hence why for the fame of it being haunted. By the time that entire incident with the native of Izumo happened and General Jing Yuan ordered them to be locked in here, Fyxstroll Garden was already territory of the spirits."

"So you just let them go around?" Acheron asked.

"Not necessarily. Preventive measures and designated sealing methods were made for the heliobi in order to not have that much freedom." Xueyi responded, explaining that while the garden had become the spirits 'residence', they didn't had complete control of it. "Innocuous spirits that only roam around can be overlooked if we desire so. It is the more harmful and mallignant ones such as the heliobi that we need to be harsh with and lock away in the shrines."

"Are they that terryfying?" The Self-Annihilator kept making questions, wanting to know more. Since this would probably be the only time she'd be allowed to roam around the Luofu in the next two days, then she'd better make this opportunity worthwhile to know more about the locations of the planetship.

"Depends. Majority just ends up being petty evil or pranksters overall. Howbeit, a minority of them can be a real danger." Xueyi warned, she and Acheron passing through a bridge in the garden, the judge signaling for one of the auromaton guards to let them pass. "But if you want my opinion, it's better than if it was infested with mara-struck."

"So the Izumo native that we're about to deal with has become an heliobus?" Acheron asked to Xueyi, trying to understand what exactly was the essence and origin of the heliobi.

"Not really. Humans and other species can't become heliobi. They are born spirits already by nature, preying on suitable vessels to harbor in." Xueyi explained to the Self-Annihilator. "So at most, an heliobus might have taken posession of that person. But honestly, you might get a lot more of a complete answer on that subject if you ask from someone of the Xianzhou Zhuming. They're more of the specialists on that matter."

"Hm, I get it." Acheron replied, trying to take that note in mind as they continued to walk. "By the way, Xueyi, right?"

"Yes, it is my name indeed." The judge turned around to Acheron as the two stopped near the entrance of a valley. "Do you want to ask me something?"

"More like that I want to apologize." Acheron expressed to Xueyi, feeling a little bit bad about what happened earlier today. "For...the 'inconvenience' I brought to you and your colleague."

Thankfully, the judge didn't took it badly. "No need to. You were just protecting yourself and we were just following orders. As long as the General deems you to not be a threat, so will I." With that clarified, she then proceeded to look to the narrow path ahead of the valley. "The isolated area the Izumo native is being held in is all the way forwards at the end of this valley. A warning that we'll also find mara-strucks along the way." She took out her daggers. "So you better be ready."

Needless to say it, Acheron grabbed her sword with a natural movement, mantaining the weapon close to her hip as the two entered the valley. "Right behind you."

"The valley is this way." Xueyi pointed with a stoic voice, calling out Acheron who was facing the wrong way.

"Eh?"

"And then, not a single one of them dared to show up on the next day!"

"Hahahaha! What a story! Never I thought you'd really have the intimidating factor in you, Jin!"

In the chambers of the palace, Jing Yuan and Morte chatted with each other in good spirits, relaxingly bathing their bodies in the private hotsprings, having gotten a moment for themselves to know what the other has been up to during all these years.

"Eh, if I'd also wanted to gain respect from my enemies, I would need to get a backbone eventually." Jing Yuan chuckled to Morte, the two sitting at each opposite end of the warm and small body of water. "And they weren't even the most comedic problem I had to deal with!"

"Eh, I believe so." Morte responded, grabbing up the floating bottle of baijiou liquor just as Jing Yuan ordered for them, drinking it down until letting out a pleased exhale. "By the way, where's that little annoying gremelin that would always try to scold us?"

"You mean Fu Xuan? She's sick and in bed. Unfortunatly will miss out the cerimony." Jing Yuan informed his friend. "But she grew quite a lot the last time you saw her. I wonder if she'd be able to remember you with all the years that have gone through since."

"Probably not." Morte said with little importance, not really wishing to meet up with her again.

"She has become a very talented Master Diviner. Talented enough to be my successor in line as the next general of the Luofu." Jing Yuan revealed to Morte who took it with some small surprise.

"Hm? It's gonna be her? Not the kiddo who you consider a prodigy?" Morte referred to Yanqing, believing that he would be Jing Yuan's actual heir due to the intel about their relationship that the general had told him.

"I also considered him a time or another. Yanqing is a good kid with potential who makes effort for it." Jing Yuan speaked foundly of the boy. "However, he still has a lot to learn. More than Fu Xuan, being less veteran than her when it becomes to administrating a nation as well. But if anything happened to me and her, I'd trust Yanqing to be able to navigate the Luofu into a stable and promising future."

"If that's what you say..." Morte went for another sip of the liquor. After doing that, he noticed how Jing Yuan was looking ruminative. "Something's scrabbling in your mind, Jin?"

"That lady you brought with, Acheron. Where did you find her, Qiongqi?" Jing Yuan moved his stare to him. "After what happened to her planet, izumonians are most than likely an almost extint race in the cosmos."

"Oh, that? Another one of my countless remarkable experiences of wandering around the space. I just so happened to have found her by pure chance." Morte smirked, spinning the cup of baijiou liquor in his hand, staring at it. "Putting like that, it even sounds like one of those things you'd see at the begginning of an adventure novel."

Getting that response, Jing Yuan laid back his body against the stones behind him. "Hm. Perhaps it does. Beyond of the scenario of conflict between the Hunt and Abundance that we here at the Xianzhou Alliance have become connected with, I wonder how many other intriguing plots and events the cosmos and its Aeons create across it. A planet like Izumo dissapearing..." He looked upwards to the ceilling. "It just sounds-"

"Completly unbelivable, doesn't it?" Morte speaked, guessing what Jing Yuan was about to say. "Planets are just like lifes. Each day, hundreds are destroyed, erased and ended. But once we actually witness or caught news about it, it always leaves a stronger impact. So I don't blame you for having gotten stunned in relation to it. After all, what happened to Izumo, can happen to all the others. Even the Luofu."

"..." Jing Yuan remained silent, only letting a breath out from his nostrils, kinda of agreeing with Morte's statement. If something simillar were to happen to Luofu. With his people. His dear subordinates to which he considered family...

"And it's incredible how sudden it can happen." Morte continued to speak, picking one of the pink petals from the small trees that had germinated near the pond. "One day, you are simply strolling around on those everyday streets, greeting those everyday faces. Everything seemingly in Harmony's embrace. And then, on the other day..." Closing his hand with the petal, Morte then opened it up to reveal the fragile petal shredded to pieces. "Gone, in a blink of an eye. And neither you, or I, or anyone for that matter, can change its finality. Heh, destiny, even death, has a way to be vicious sometimes, wouldn't you agree?"

"I'd say so." Jing Yuan crossed his arms, thinking more about the final moments of Izumo that Acheron had told to him. "To witness the end of a home, friend and family, even its entire culture...and still carrying on? It gives me some admiration for her resilience. Your travelling companion must have also had her fair share of journeys and experiences as well."

"Yeah. It isn't everyday you can find people like her. She's a tough one." Morte also had a bit of the same opinion as Jing Yuan in regards to the Self-Annihilator. "It would probably be too much to bare if you'd saw the same thing happening to the Luofu, wouldn't it, Jin?"

"It's true that it would. As its general, there is nothing more precious to me than the security and survival of the people I'm supposed to look for and rule. A promise that I have made a long time ago." Jing Yuan looked to his own hand, contemplating the time he first made that promise. Not to an audience or to himself. But to his master. "That, as long as there's a hope and chance to avoid the doomful of futures, I will always fight and serve my people!" Raising his voice for a moment, Jing Yuan looked torwards Morte with a determinant expression. "All the way until my heart stops beating."

In response, Morte gave a soft grin to his friend's resolution. Visiting him after all these years, he could see the clear growth in character Jing Yuan had from spending all those five-hundred years as a general. But one fact that it didn't change for Morte, whether it was this Jing Yuan or the younger one he met for the first time, is that he was indeed interesting. "I see that altough wiser, your talk of duty and selflessness still goes strong!"

"It has to. For the sake of everyone. But I've also learned to live my life from day to day." Jing Yuan smiled. "Like how someone adviced to me one day, Qiongqi."

Chuckling, Morte scratched his hair a bit before talking. "Well, since we're talking about it now, how would you like the people to remember you, Jing Yuan?"

"To remember me?" Jing Yuan asked, not having heard it right at first.

"When a leader dies, it is only natural that tributes and funerary gifts will be given in his honour, no?" Morte explained to him, gesturing. "What gifts would you like to make the people of the Luofu remember that you were once their beloved general? Golden statues? Exhibitions? Movies? Theater plays? Poems and songs?"

Being given all of those suggestions, the general of the Luofu considered for a bit before giving a soft chortle. "A book."

Morte found that answer gripping. "Not ba-"

"My book, to be exactly. An autobiography." Jing Yuan let it clear to Morte. "When I'm no longer here, and I leave behind a Luofu as brighter and happier as the arrow of the Reignbow Arbiter, I want the people to remember me, not only by what I did right and by my qualities, but also by what I did wrong and my errors. That my life experiences before and after becoming a general get to be used as an example to the children of future generations. To immortalize the values of the Xianzhou alongside with it. Being a good general that is liked is already enough for me. I don't need them to make the date of my death as a national day, to craft statues or make movies in my honour." Moving his arm, Jing Yuan grabbed his own cup of baijiou liquor. "Which is why, that book will be more valuable to my memory than any of those things."

"...And nothing else?" Morte questioned him, wondering if an autobiography was really the only thing Jing Yuan wanted to have as a 'tribute'.

"And maybe a painting portrait of me." Jing Yuan admitted with a sheepish smile.

"Eh! That's more like it!" Morte smirked, stretching out his arm with the cup of liquor torwards Jing Yuan, proposing a toast to the general. "To your 500th Anniversary as the Luofu's General! Cheers!"

Laughing joyfully, Jing Yuan toasted with his friend. "Cheers!"

Clinking both cups together, the two men then proceeded to swallow all of the liquor down their throats.

Finishing it, the two softened their muscles, reposing even more on the hot water.

"You're a great leader, Jin. The Luofu is lucky to have you as its general." Morte speaked, turning his head to the side and...the smile dissapearing. "Which is why from the moment you're gone, it will only go down from there."

"Huh? Only go down? What're you saying, Qiongqi?" Jing Yuan raised an eyebrow. "You think that the ones after me won't do a good job?"

"On the same level of yours? Definetly not." Morte said with certainty on that statement. "Good rulers are great for a nation. But when they're way too good? Then it is a sureness that the one that comes after just won't match the feats and greatness. They'll begin getting doubtful of their own performance, fearing to be inferior. The people, will be affected and notice that significant inferiority of the current leader compared to the previous one. And that, can generate revolt. And that's where it lies the most fatal problem to the Luofu, Jing Yuan. Your subordinates fear to be inferior upon your departure."

Disagreeing, Jing Yuan shook his head. "Sorry, but what you're saying now is nonsense, Qiongqi. Fu Xuan, Yanqing and all the others are more capable than you'd think. You might have never spent years with them, but I did. And I can say with full confidence that if I die, I die peacefully knowing that they'll continue the good work I left for them, no matter if it surpasses my achivements as general or not."

"Sure. You're free to think that so, Jin." Morte replied. "But it's not what you think of your subordinates. It's what they think of themselves."

"..." Jing Yuan didn't respond, Morte having made a good counter-argument.

"That boy you took in? I met him only literally today and I can already tell he puts alot of pressure on himself just by having the mere thought of having to take on your legacy. And everytime he fails, everytime he hears a critic, he begins to doubt himself and wonder if he can really be up to the task." Morte pointed out the possible pshychological struggle of Yanqing. "As for the other one, the gremlin. Well, I haven't seen her yet, but I can theorize that all that bossy posture she had and still may have, is due to a deep small feeling of lack of confidence she has coupled with the weight on her shoulders in becoming Luofu's next general. She tires hard because she's afraid of failling hard. You could even get rid of all the current problems terrorizing the Luofu, that future ones would appear to give them trouble. You yourself must have picked on that before, didn't you?"

Being confronted with that question, Jing Yuan wouldn't like to admit, but he indeed had seen and noticed the doubts of Yanqing and Fu Xuan before. Specially when those doubts ended up being the source for their bodies becoming vessels to nefarious heliobi that one time. Morte wasn't talking nonsense here. He was talking the truth.

Despite not answering, Morte took the silence of his friend as a response. "And even if you got rid of every problem that's plaguing the Luofu currently, future ones will appear to cause them problems. Ones that you won't be able to intervene. That they won't be able to have your guidance. And instead of accepting the truth that you aren't there anymore and toughening up, they might broke down to the pressure!" Exclaiming, Morte splashed his hand on the water. "Because nowdays, you always need someone for emotional support." Speaking with some vitriol, Morte scoff at it. "Pff! Truly, when did everyone started becoming so fragile?"

Jing Yuan was able to remain with posture. Being a friend of Morte, he already knew how some conversations would sometimes end up with him saying some harsh, sincere opinions. The general was already used to it. "I think that is a question that only time will tell. My trust in both Yanging anf Fu Xuan won't waver. Same goes for the rest. We never know the day of tomorrow, but in one that happens years after I'm no longer here, I envision a beautiful Luofu, radiant than it ever was."

Seeing that his friend was adamant on that position, Morte just gave a defeated smirk, lifting up his hands briefly before lowering it on the stones to his sides, getting his body out of the hotspring. "If you believe in it so, then who am I to tell otherwise?"

"Why did you even came up with that conversation? I thought you were happy to see me again, Qiongqi." Jing Yuan said while watching Morte go for the towel.

"And I am. Don't get me wrong. But I think that hearing differing opinions that spun on conversations like this is a good thing when planning about a nation's future." Morte jutified while drying his hair. "But I have to agree with you on one thing, Jin." Looking down to the general, Morte gave him a huge friendly and radiant smile. "You can never know the day of tomorrow."

In return, Jing Yuan stopped eyeing him with seriousness and gave a soft smile. "Altough I do hope it will be full of party and celebration alonside you, my friend. Just like al those times before."

"You can for sure count on it." Morte said, about to walk out of the room to pick up his clothes. "I'll be on that pub you have around here getting wasted. If you want competetion, you already know where to find me."

"I'll see that if paper work doesn't get in front of me." Jing Yuan said, looking forward to it.

Smilling satisfied with that answer, Morte was about to walk past the door before saying one last thing to the general. "Remember this, Jing Yuan: The entire sky of the Luofu could fall in ruin, that I'd still be there with you till the very end."

Giving that message of comradery, Morte walked out of the hotsprings, leaving Jing Yuan alone in the meantime to think to himself.

The general was happy to see his friend again, and even if this moment at the hotsprings had some strange overtones with that conversation now at the end, Jing Yuan was aware that Morte, or as he knew until now, Qiongqi, always liked to be a bit criptic and enigmatic in his sentences from time to time, sometimes even being disguises to helpful advises he had took in the past while still inexperient as a general.

He wondered, if those comments on Yanqing and Fu Xuan feeling fear of him being gone and unable to replace him was one more of those.

"Hmm, Qiongqi." Smilling to himself, Jing Yuan crossed his arms and closed his eye for a moment. "You really are quite the character."

"On your left!"

"Got it!"

Travessing the valley for some good minutes now, the duo of Acheron and Xueyi were deep in it, almost on their way to the 'cell' of the anguished spirit of the Izumo's native. And like the judge and said beforehand, the area was filled with mara-struck that tried to attack and kill them. In the end, they ended up being nothing more but cannon fodder to the two women who easily dispatched of them, having just finished with another wave of enemies that had come to assault.

"These were the last ones." Xueyi told, using her sonar ears to see if she detected anymore footsteps of upcoming enemies, being negative. "Well done getting rid of them. Your abilities with the sword are truly exceptional. Even more so that I can now analyze them as an ally." She complimented Acheron's fighting capabilities, now that the two were on the same side.

"Thanks, I could say the same for you." Acheron recirpocated it. "You're extremely agile and nimble. Just the perfect type for an executioner. Dealing with these mara-strucks must have become as common as breathing for you."

"It was years and years of doing it. And it will continue to be much more in the future." Xueyi told, storing back her daggers. "And once the last one of them goes down, my duty for the Luofu will be completed." She said, leaving pronounced the fact that her life 'battery' runned only with the executions she'd do on the mara-strucks, thus once they were gone, she'd be gone too shortly after.

And even if it was a fact that Acheron wasn't aware of, the Self-Annihilator couldn't feel any hearbeat coming from the judge. "Some of the inputs you have in your body like those sonars...that body of yours is artificial, isn't it?"

"Yes. What you're seeing of me isn't my real biological body. Just a replica that was made of it the moment I died in order to transfer my soul to." Xueyi explained her true being to Acheron. "Therefore, you're talking to a doll. A puppet. The real me has been long gone."

"Then in other words, you are unable to feel anything?" Acheron asked, curious about how the judge's body functioned since it was artificial.

"As in, emotionally? Altough I may lack some of the more 'humane' expressiveness I had when I was alive, I can still feel emotions somewhat? Now, physically? Besides physical pain, my body doesn't sense heat nor cold as well as other bodily needs someone would normally have." Xueyi responded, giving some discription.

"Then you're basically immortal." Acheron commented, seeing how due to being a doll, aging and sickness wasn't a thing for the judge.

"With the amount of replacement replicas I have in case the current one I'm in is destoyed...yes, perhaps I am." Xueyi said, her eyes giving a slight sorrow. "And I don't know if that's a good thing."

"It sure has its downsides..." Acheron said, feeling Xueyi's 'tangible' sadness about it. In a way, the judge was simillar to her, both not needing some basic needs to survive like a normal person would. But in return, some of the emotions and even senses could be taken away from them. And while Acheron wasn't sure if being under the gaze of IX would also make her body stop aging, Xueyi on the other hand would never get old due to being a puppet. "Who wants to be immortal at the spend of watching everything they hold dear go?"

Xueyi decided to change the topic of the conversation. "So, you're from Izumo, correct?"

"Yes, I am. Which is why your General wants me to do this mission." Acheron replied, assuming that Jing Yuan had told to Xueyi everything about what he knew of Acheron's background.

"I see. So not all of the izumonians didn't go extint. That's a relief." Xueyi said, the two walking to what was left of the path. "And what about your travelling companion, Qiongqi? What do you know of him?"

"Not much. We've only been travelling together for a few months and he doesn't talk alot of his past to me. Only that he goes by Morte. In fact, I didn't even knew he was called Qiongqi? Is he from here?" Acheron asked, showing that man was also majorily a mystery for her. But with this visit to the Luofu, she might could know some important information about him.

"Then I guess you'd want to hear what I have to tell you, I presume." Xueyi responded, giving a sudden spike to Acheron's curiosity.

"Hm? What do you mean?" The Self-Annihilator said, puzzled.

Turning around and locking eye contact with her, Xueyi said the following. "Me and my colleague Moze, were able to find your companions criminal record in the Shackling Prison."

"There you are, Jing Yuan."

Walking down one of the halls of the palace alone, Jing Yuan had exited the hotsprings and was on his way back to his office when he heard a voice calling for him from behind.

"Hm? Oh, it's you!" Jing Yuan's face brightened upon seeing Feixiao walking torwards him. "Have you called it a day, Feixi-"

With no sign of warning, the foxian general from the Yaoqing quickly summoned her battle axe and swinged right at Jing Yuan's face, its sharp blade standing a few centimeters away from Jing Yuan's face, who didn't even blinked or winced at the sudden hostile movement, being with a neutral face.

"Don't come with a 'Oh, it's you!', Jing Yuan." Feixiao said with a cold stare, unfriendly. "Why? Why didn't you told us that your friend Qiongqi was a-"

"-an alchemist from the Xianzhou Yuque apparently." Xueyi revealed to Acheron. "In discovering it, me and Moze immediatly theorized if he had any correlation with the cultists of Sanctus Medicus."

"Who?" Acheron asked, being the first time she was hearing that name.

"A faction that follows the path of Abundance. Xianzhou's main enemy in this long confrontation between Lan, The Hunt and Yaoshi, The Abundance." Xueyi explained some of the Xianzhou Alliance lore to Acheron. "Many of its members, besides previous experient doctors, biologists, botanists were also alchemists, which here in the Luofu made us have a total cleansing and alteration on the Alchemy Comission, which was full of its members. When putting that man's skills in consideration such as-"

"Restoring missing limbs, bones, skin? Alive despite with the head disconnected from the body? If that doesn't scream a follower of Yaoshi and member of Sanctus Medicus, I don't know what it does then!" Feixiao shouted, angry at Jing Yuan. "Moze told me everything, Jing Yuan. On what he and that judge of the Ten Lords Comission discovered about your friend in the Shackling Prison!" Cleenching her teeth, the foxian general was showing her fangs to her fellow general. "Of everyone that could be suspected of treason, you were one of that I would least expect. So you better tell me. You better tell me you didn't knew or have a good justification to be friends with the enemy, Jing Yuan. For the sake of Luofu's people, on such event like this one!"

Keeping calm, Jing Yuan still didn't felt threatened of afraid at all, letting out a sigh. "I knew sooner or later this could stir some trouble." Not diverging from the serious questioning Feixiao was giving him, the general of the Luofu was willing to clarify the things out. "I should have told you from the start. But I won't hide it from you. I'll tell the truth about Qiongqi."

"After reading all of the content that was on the record, Moze went directly to inform General Feixiao while I headed to the palace to confront General Jing Yuan about this, unaware of this task he had for me." Xueyi speaked to Acheron. "The idea that the General we all loved and looked up to could actually be someone treacherous and backstabbing while negotiating with the enemy was...an harrowing revelation if it came to public. Specially on this day."

Walking behind the judge, Acheron didn't know how exactly to react to this information. She for now would let Xueyi speak all of it before drawing conclusions.

"Reaching to the palace and meeting with the General in the office, I was quick to question him about Qiongqi, or Morte. And why would he be friends with someone that could arguably be from the enemy side. Instead of cowering or trying to play oblivious, General Jing Yuan was direct and responsive, saying-"

"At first, I believed he was from Sanctus Medicus too. His abilities also having making me and others who were present at the time to question his pledge to The Hunt." Jing Yuan begun to explain the story of how he met Morte/Qiongqi for the first time. "I remember well how it played out. The Luofu was going under a terrible infestetion of heliobi."

.

.

.

500 Years Ago

"Ah...Ah...Ah..."

Standing in the middle of the battlefield, a slightly younger and less experient Jing Yuan stood tired, holding his spear in hands.

"I had just become general of the Luofu. And during that time, I was unsure of myself, with no mentor or even friends to guide me."

Yet, the recent-made general couldn't allow himself to rest as more heliobi appeared, surrounding him.

"For the very first time, I felt alone, with no one to help me support the immesurable weight of the entire Luofu."

Preparing for the worst but still with a will to fight, Jing Yuan wouldn't forget his master's teachings.

"And as I thought it would be some very rought first years carrying such responsibility..."

Yet, as he was prepared to attack, the young general saw the heliobi surrounding him being knocked out one by one by a spinning scythe that cut throught them like butter, returning back to the hand of its owner.

"He appeared."

"Yo! What a mess this ship has gone into! A guy can't enjoy some drinks with all of this chaos going around, can he?"

From the top of some warfare wreckage, a man dressed in a red waistcoat suit of golden lines and short black sleeves, wearing a fedora and black pants, speaked torwards Jing Yuan, an ambitious grin present on the stranger's face.

"How about we put these things to sleep while my drink is still fresh?"

The man, a slightly younger Morte speaked, his face having no sideburns in sight, some rings on his fingers. Such appearence made the recent general of the Luofu stared at him with a certain perplexity, wondering where he exactly did he came from.

"Despite having helped in that battle, we all noticed the 'forbidden' powers he had used that were simillar to that of Abundance. Thus, not knowing better and following advice from what I had at the time, he was sent to the Shackling Prison under suspicions of being a part of Sanctus Medicus, staying there imprisoned for well over fifty years."

Hearing the iron sound of his cell being opened, Morte's eyes awakened from the slumber, seeing none other but Jing Yuan having made a visit.

"Yet, as those years would go by, the situation with the heliobus wasn't getting better. In fact, it came to a point were I came to look for aid to who at the time thought would be a severe mistake to. There, we were able to talk some things out. He told me his name was Qiongqi, a travelling alchemist from the Alchemy Comission of Xianzhou Yuque. And most of all, one of the most trusted alchemists to the late general of the Yuque, Zhung Yao."

"Initially skeptic, I myself wrote a letter to General Zhung Yao, telling him if he knew of any alchemist of the name of Qiongqi, in the Yuque."

The sound of chains fell into the ground as the cell was opened and Morte walked freely out of it, being face to face with Jing Yuan.

"And against what majority of us expected, the General of the Yuque ended up confirming that Qiongqi was indeed from there, having even earned condecorations and huge sympathy of Zhung Yao himself in the letter he wrote me back."

Moving his hand, Morte awaited for an handshake with Jing Yuan, the general doing it so.

"Therefore, we accepted his help in dealing out with the heliobi. In just a matter of a year, they were gone. Qiongqi, showed to be skilled, of a planning and clever mind. And with his powers, our enemies decreased even faster. If it was not for him, who knows how long the conflict with the heliobi would've lasted. It was during that moment, we got to talk more and know each other better."

"You look like to have been in the slums lately pal. Hmm, I've heard of this place near here. How about we do a little trip to there?"

"I'm not sure I can. If my subordinates find out that I'm-"

"What's the deal? It will be just some quick shots. You'll be back before they notice!

"And honestly, I owe him a lot not only for the war against the heliobi, but for also being there at such crucial moment of my life. If not for Qiongqi, many doubts and fears I had in myself when younger would never be expressed out or helped with to someone I trusted. Before him, I only cared about the duty and honour that came with being a Cloud Knight and a General of the Xianzhou afterwards."

"Here, try this one out, Jin!"

"Hmm! It tastes really good!"

"He teached me quite the lot of things. How to relax. How not to fall to pressure or stress. To balance the seriousness of responsability with the leisure and mundane pleasures that life had to offer. And soon, the weight in my body felt a lot softer."

"Hahahaha! That one was good, Qiongqi! Where did you even heard that?"

"I didn't! I was reall there and witness it all!"

"He was the only friend I had at a time where I lost all of the previous ones nor had met the future ones. With him, I saw Luofu, not as a place to protect only, but as a society with people with dreams and smiles. And that I too, could be a part of it in that same way."

"So, are you going back to the Yuque, Qiongqi?"

Appreciating the huge view of the flying starskiffs in the distance, Jing Yuan was having one of his last conversations with his dear friend before parting ways.

"No. Not really. I've grown tired of being an alchemist there. I'm gonna do my own thing now."

"What will it be then?"

A question that made the other man, standing tall and on top of the balcony's rail, to look down on his friend and give a soft grin.

"To travel the entire cosmos and be famous. For where there is life, I'll want to go there."

.

.

.

Present

"And after that, we never saw each other again or even heard rumors about one another. Up until today."

No longer with the battle axe pointed to his face, Jing Yuan had finished telling the story of how he and Morte/Qiongqi, first met, being thorough and completly sincere about it, telling to Feixiao everything he had experienced with that man.

"..." Being initially upset, the sense of consternation and betrayal inside the foxian general of the Yaoqing diminuished progressively until she now viewed the situation with other eyes, having the full context now. Yet there was still a doubt in mind. "A renowned alchemist of the Yuque that even the late Zhung Yao trusted...then where is tha-"

"Right here." Jing Yuan moved his arm, picking up a scroll and showing it to the other general. "General Zhung Yao's response letter that I talked about. I've shown to Xueyi as well when explaining myself to her. You can also take a look for youself."

Being handed the scroll, Feixiao opened up and read its content. Surprisingly enough, the way the letters were written, the figure of speech and even the signature at the end, it was all legitimately Zhung Yao's writting. And there was no way for Feixiao to refute that. So in slow realization the foxian aknowledge her mistakes, closing the scroll and sighing. "I'm sorry for having doubted you for a moment, Jing Yuan. Shouldn't have jumped to conclusions when Moze told me about your friend's criminal record."

"It's alright. I should have also been straightforward with you since the start." Jing Yuan also blames himself a bit for not having informed her and the others of those details about his friend when he presented Morte to the them. "Fortunately, we were able to sort this out before it could take a drastic direction. By the way, is your shift done for today?"

"Well, I'd consider so. Why you ask?" Feixiao told, confirming that she was done with her job for today.

"I was just on my way to the pub we have here at the palace to have some drinks with Qiongqi." Jing Yuan shared the information with Feixiao, pointing to the path behind him with his thumb. "Wanna join in?"

To which, Feixiao smirked. She could have some drinks indeed. "How could I not say no?"

"And that's the whole story General Jing Yuan told me." Xueyi finished, having said everything of the origin story of Jing Yuan and Morte's friendship to Acheron.

Having listened to all of that, the Self-Annihilator didn't even knew how to process it right. "That's...a bit different than what I expected. It sounds like a genuine friendship."

"It does. And the General never told us about it. But as truth would have it, it seems we ended up seeing a problem where there wasn't." Xueyi admitted. "To think for a moment that the General was conspiring against us...it should be an embaressment for a judge of the Ten Lord Comission." Alleviating her mind, Xueyi decided to let that seemingly resolved topic behind. "Anyways, the gate to the native of Izumo is right around the corner. Let's proceed."

"Sure." Acheron nodded, following her behind. However, with all this story of Morte and Jing Yuan given to her, it was impossible for the Self-Annihilator to not think about it. "So you're an alchemist, Morte. From the Xianzhou Yuque...If that's even the truth of what you are." Acheron told to herself. Having witnessed first hand what a guy, a monster like him could be capable of doing, she was having an hard time believing that Morte, of all people, helped out the Luofu and become actual friends with its general. There had to be something more in there that Acheron and the others weren't seeing. Something ulterior, hidden. Either that, or the Emmanator of Nihility just couldn't accept that the 'truth' she discovered about him and his past for now didn't implied at Morte being an awful person.

But it was surely only a piece of it. Having spent all those months with him, Acheron could easily tell there was something more to Morte, or Qiongqi, then meets the eye. That he was still a bit of mystery to her. One she would have to question with this new information she had when returning to the palace.

"We're here. Draw out your sword, izumonian." Xueyi called Acheron out, both the two woman stopping in their tracks, standing in front of a giant iron gate with automaton technology, containing the danger it kept inside from the Luofu. "For you are about to face a soul long lost to rage and anguish."

Chapter Text

"Are you ready to face what lies behind this gate?"

With an inquisitive tone, Xueyi asked if Acheron was prepared for the challenge that was about to come. The monstruosity which the Izumo native had become and that she was about to see.

However, people like Acheron, were already used to these type of situations. For many years, the Self-Annihilator had fought her fair share of hostile creatures, evil spirits and people who wished harm. If she remembered majority of those encounters? Not really. To her mind, those countless fights were just drops of rain that would fall into the large ocean. Barely hard to distinguish. "Yes. Do open the gates, please." Acheron replied without any doubts. She was ready.

Nodding, Xueyi stepped ahead, deactivating the system that made the gate locked tight. The mechanisms inside spinned and moved, the key being unlocked with a distinctive clicking sound. Slowly, the rusty and loud noise of the gates opening introduced the two women to the area that has been serving as an siolated cell for the Izumo's native for centuries.

The zone was spacious and circular, limited naturally by tall rocky pillars that surrounded it, with long vines that connected all those pillars to each other. On the ground, the place seemed mostly empty, with some notorious fissures on the ground and other signs of damage and destruction on the arena, indicating that either someone had already visited the Izumo native to fight them before, or of possible rampage episodes of the prisoner. Apart of that, there was really nothing much besides-

"Ah? Is that..." Staring to the other end of the 'cell', Acheron spotted what she hadn't seen in a long time. At the top of a small stone staircase, a small shinto shrine had been built. It contained a group of candles around it, a cup of sake placed inside at the top, alongside a photo and shamisen, identical to the one the Self-Annihilator had seen back at Aurum Alley. The sight of it was a complete astonishment to her. "A kamidana? Here?"

With her attention automatically grasped by the shrine, Acheron begun to walk torwards it, wanting to take a closer look.

As the Emmanator of Nihility was crossing the arena, Xueyi who was more behind, noticed something descending from the large vines at the top, the alarm inside her immediatly ringing. "Watch out!"

"!" Despite no heartbeat, Acheron felt a faint presence that quickly increased and more pronounced at the same time Xueyi warned her. Looking up, the Self-Annihilator didn't even waited a second before jumping out of the way, dodging from the landing impact of a huge fiery-ghost monster, clad in white ashen samurai armour and two red demon horns.

There was no doubt who this monster could be.

"It's them." Xueyi said as she now stood by Acheron's side, the two with their respective weapons in hand as they now gazed at the opponent they would have to fight. "The Izumo native."

Acheron's stare narrowed at the monster as her mind sensed all of the negative and anguished rumbling coming from the native's inner voice.

"IzuMOgONe!"

"UnaCcEPTabLe!uNAcCePtABlE!"

"hOmE! FiNDhOME!"

"IZumoCAn'TbEGOnE!"

"What an abhorrent fate has fallen to their soul." Acheron said out of pity, able to tell how much suffering these past few centuries have been for this izumonian who had lost their mind and body to pain. All of that rabid, almost incoherent talk, only made the Self-Annihilator more sure of her objective. "It is time to put them at peace!"

"I...ZumO..."

Descerning the presence of Acheron in front of them, something clicked inside the anguished spirit. Sensing the scent within the Self-Annihilator, they could tell how familiar it was to them. How much it reminded them of home. Other aspects such as some of the details of Acheron's clothes as well as the weapon specifically, ended up triggering and stirring even more the grief and torment inside them. The intruder in their cell wasn't a random nobody. No. It was a person from the same home planet as them. An izumonian.

"GhghrrrRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! IZUUUUUUUMMOOOOOOOOOO!"

Letting out a howling, distorted screech into the air, the spirit of the native was more than fueled to fight, charging at Acheron exclusively with dual-wielding katanas.

Despite sprinting at her with a face and aura that could send shivers to most warriors, the Emmanator of Nihility reacted with agility and calm, parrying the first blow and dodging the second one. She had already fought many large and stout enemies who fought in blind rampage of a berserk. This type of fight wasn't news for her as Acheron quickly analyze and react her opponents movements. The powers of IX weren't needed here. Much less so with Xueyi helping her out.

Stepping forward, the Judge hurled her dagger chain at the right shoulder of the spirit, hindering a bit of their movement, giving space for her to then dash and land a cut at their kneecaps while Acheron also sliced the enemy on the left side of the abdomen, timing it with Xueyi. Even then, it wasn't over yet, the attacks they done to the spirit only provoking more their rage, the flames growing more savagely as they proceeded to screech again and begin to jump into the vines, hoping from one vine to another before, with their katanas now burning with fire, dive into the ground below, piercing the two weapons strongly into the ground, releasing a sea of flames across the entire arena.

Thankfully, both Acheron and Xueyi were able to avoid the attack's range in time. With the whole arena now in flames, the duo could tell that their opponent would try even harder now to eliminate them, the spirit swinging the katanas more wildly and unpredictably this time as they would bathe the weapons in fire before throwing slashes at the two.

Still, stepping into the now burning ground, neither the Self-Annihilator nor the Judge retreated, facing head on the spirit. Acheron continued to engage in close combat with them, still parrying every swing that the spirit would throw at her. She was well aware and familiarized with the art of dual-wielding and trained the way of the sword throughout her entire life, therefore, all the attacks of the spirit were predictable at best even if Acheron was with her mind on the fight. Not that the other izumonian was a bad sword fighter. Judging by this fight, they apparently knew how to combat and use it, but their technique had long been heavily damaged by their degrading mental state as well with the factor that Acheron was just the clear better sword fighter out of the two.

Yet, during all those clashes, Acheron could still hear it. The wails of pain, rage and frustrated sorrow within the spirit. For a brief moment, the Emmanator of Nihility wondered if there was a chance to soothe it down.

As Acheron was keeping the spirit occupied, Xueyi took the opportunity to nimbly appear to the enemy's right and pierce them with one of her daggers, shifting the spirit's attention to her now. In doing so, the Judge dodged from the spirit's incoming blow and threw her dagger not at them, but for Acheron to catch. "Here!"

Seeing the weapon coming in her way, Acheron was fast to grab it and throw the dagger at a wall behind the spirit, resulting in the chain to immobilize their left leg. The strategy of Acheron and Xueyi begun coming to fruition as the two bolted around the enemy, with the Judge moving nimbly at every side, throwing more of her chain daggers as the Self-Annihilator would help her out by catching and throwing back. In great coordination while evading the attacks, Acheron and Xueyi managed to progressively restrain the spirit's entire body movement with the dagger-chains, locking them in place.

As soon as Xueyi had finished gully restraining the spirit's right arm, she connected two of her daggers ends to one another, ready to land the final blow on the enemy who struggled right in front of her. "Execute the mara-s-"

"Wait! Hold on!" However, Acheron stretched her arm torwards Xueyi, signaling her to not finish the spirit yet.

"Those chains won't contain them forever!" Xueyi replied to Acheron in a dutiful tone. "We have to end them while we still can!"

"I know. But I think there is another way to end this." Acheron insisted.

"Hm?" Xueyi gave her an inqusitive stare before observing the Self-Annihilator heading torwards the shrine.

"According to General Jing Yuan, the lose of Izumo has been plaguing and tormenting this person's soul forever since, has it not?" Standing in front of the shrine, Acheron grabbed something from it. "Well then..."

Still held down by the chains, the spirit fought against the bindings in an attempt to free themselves as they saw Acheron walk past them, returning from the shrine with the item in her hand. And as soon as they saw what it was, their ethereal eyes widened in shock, gazing at Acheron sit right in front of them, the shamisen in her hands.

"Perhaps a requiem will be a more peaceful way to go." Acheron's fingers stood close to the instrument cords about to play it.

"..." Observing what was about to happen and the Emmanator of Nihility's intentions, Xueyi decided to let Acheron do it, trusting that whatever she had in mind, could work.

Taking in concentration, Acheron prepared herself to play the shimasen. To have a quick return to her past days as Raiden Bosenmori Mei. Just like cooking, it had been a long time since she last played the instrument, her recollections of it being as scattered and fragmented as everything else from her past life. The only thing that made her sure that she had played the shimasen before, was the small vague sense of nostalgia, accompanied by the soft sound of a relaxing, melodic music. The same nostalgia that had turned into a sore reminder of a home that the other izumonian in front of her could never be able to return to. The music that they would never be able to listen to again. Until now.

Hoping that at least her muscle memory would do the job, Acheron begun playing the initial notes on the shamisen. Initially slow and hesitant, the sound was still enough to echo through the arena and capture the spirit's attention. And then...it all clicked to her. With each cord touched and stroked, Raiden Mei started to play the instrument with more fluidity and naturally, the notes getting out right and in order one by one. Her fingers no longer hesitated to remember, moving from cord to cord without ever making a mistake, giving the melody now a more accelerated yet soft rythm. A song of tranquility and inner-peace.

And as the melody would continue, the wild, rageful flames would get weaker and weaker to the point of almost being extinguished from the entire place, the once violent and berserk spirit getting pacified and calmed down, such was the beautiful sound they were wearing. One they had yearn for so long but unable to have. And then, when all seemed lost, they heard that song once more, played by none other but an individual of the same planet as them.

"Izumo..."

For the very first time in hundreds of years, the spirit had felt it. They had gotten closer to home than ever before, all the happy and beautiful memories returning back, as if they were still there. As if Izumo and everyone still existed.

"Home..."

Hearing the low and calm sound from their mouth, Acheron could now feel their soul much less irate and troubled, having been able to cease the outburst. Closing in to the final notes, the Self-Annihilator knew what would come next. "Yes. It's home."

Not even needing to gesture to give a signal, Acheron just observed as Xueyi stepped forward in a blink of an eye and striked the spirit at the core just as the Self-Annihilator hit the final note of the music. "The home that you can return to now."

"Enemy eliminated. Mission accomplished." Xueyi speaked in an artificial, professional tone after slaying the enemy, stepping back to Acheron.

The battle was over, the spirit collapsing onto the ground, no more resisting. As all the flames died down, so did their fiery body and armout, desintegrating slowly from existence. The spirit started to morph into another appearence. Leaving behind all the traces of monstrousity that were for many years their phisical appearence, the spirit now stood as a ghostly-normal looking middle-aged man in traditional garment from Izumo.

His face was tired after so many years of torture. Alas, there could also be found some peace in it as well at long last, a comfort in knowing that it all came to an end. "That song...My senses didn't deceive me. You too are from Izumo, are you not?"

"Yes, I am. I came here once I heard about your situation." Acheron explained to him. "To put an end to that suffering of yours."

"I see..." The man speaked before a spark of hope surged in his eyes. "Then, does it mean...Izumo...Is it-Is it still standing?"

"No." Acheron lowered her head a bit with a repressed breath. "Unfortunatly, what you heard at the time is true. Our planet was erased. I might as well have been its sole survivor. Sorry."

"You don't need to. It was just wishful thinking." The spirit of the izumonian man replied with a sad, resignated frown. "A wish that was more a desperate attempt to cope and spiraled me into an obsession. I...I just was unable to accept it at the time. I couldn't accept it. So much so that I let all that grief and pain consume my body, sould and mind, for a reality where Izumo was gone, was a reality I didn't want to live in."

"There are many things that we're unable to accept. The lose of a home we were dear to is not easy to come in terms with." Acheron said, briefly staring at the shimasen in her hands. "The things that grew with us. The people and the places, all of it taken away. Leaving us to be mere directionless wanderers amidst the sea of stars, with no harbour to return to. In a place as vast as the cosmos, it's tragic having no place to call it home."

"Indeed. Never I thought that once I stepped into my ship to go on a voyage through the stars, that it would be my last time seeing Izumo and everyone I knew." The man put his head upwards, looking to the sky above from his cell. "Many were the places I visited and different cultures I experienced. Through it, I enjoyed its every moment, eager to return and share with everyone all of what I witnessed. Alas, had I known beforehand what would end up happening...maybe I'd rather have spend my final moments in my house with my family."

"Do you regret having taken that voyage?" Acheron questioned him.

"I do not know. Perhaps." The man replied, uncertain. "What I regret more howbeit, was the havoc and chaos I caused here on the Luofu due to my outrage. If I could, I would apologize for all the inhabitants from here for the harm my rampage caused them. I feel guilty in knowing that they'll most likely never forgive me and deservingly so."

"You couldn't be more wrong." Acheron shook her head for a moment. "The general of the Luofu, General Jing Yuan, recognizes that what you've done back then wasn't out of ill intention and understood perfectly your anguish. Everyone did. They don't blame you."

A reveal that slightly astonished the spirit of the other izumonian. "Really? It can't be...Wasn't the reason why I was locked in here because of a punishment in the first place?"

"Wrong. You were banished and isolated to this place, not because of punishment, but to guarantee the safety of everyone else at the Luofu." Xueyi responded, speaking torwards the man for all the inhabitants of the Xianzhou Luofu. "Despite the disorder and disarray your outburst caused, no one that day got seriously injured or dead, nor did any inhabitant hold a grudge or resentment against you. General Jing Yuan always looked forward to find a way to give you peace and a deserved rest from what tormented you. Had it not be for the fact you lost your body and soul to despair and killed by the General, you could have been integrated into Luofu's society since Izumo was long gone. Start a new fresh life in here."

The spirit of the man, still bewildered, was on the verge of tears. "So...you're saying that..."

"You don't have to feel guilty about it anymore." Placing her hand in her chest, Xueyi looked at the native from Izumo. "And if you still do, then I, Xueyi, Judge of the Ten-Lord Comission, absolve and forgive you from any crime you commited against the Luofu."

"Ah...Good..." Not being able to contain himself, the man let out the tears roll freely from his eyes as he lowered his head and gave a bittersweet smile. "After all that happened...Even at the end...I can still go out with honor."

"You always could." Acheron responded, smilling gently to her compatriot. "I'm sure that everyone from our home would be proud of the stories your voyage contained."

"Yes. However, I'm afraid they will never get the chance to hear them." He responded with a sad frown.

"No. You can still tell them." Acheron said otherwise, gaining his look. "All of those stories and moments from your voyage, I'm sure they'll be happy to hear them in the afterlife."

"..." Such observation and statement that left the other izumonian speechless, never having thought like that. There was still a chance for him. An happy ending.

"Make sure that the time you were unable to spend with your loved ones is put to good use there. Got it?" Acheron said, still smilling.

"True...I will make sure to." The other izumonian smiled back at her, his ehtereal body ready to depart. "Thank you. Thank you for having set me free. Before I go however, as a fellow Izumo citizen to another, may I know your name, kind warrior maiden."

Acheron nodded, willing to reveal her name to him. Her true name. "Sure. Raiden Bosenmori Mei, it's who I am."

The man smiled warmly. "Raiden Bosenmori Mei...Typical of Izumo. Yet...a name as beautiful as ever."

"And may I know yours?" Acheron asked back his name. Unfortunately, the man looked at her a bit aloof.

"My...name. Hmmm, it has been so long, that I think I forgot about it." He responded honestly, much to Acheron's small shock.

"!...I see." The Self-Annihilator responded. The poor man had been so lost in pain that even his own name had become erased to him.

"However, I'm sure this book of the entire voyage that I wrote must have the answer." Diving his hands into his own core, the man took out an item from it, handing it to Acheron. It was at least two hundred pages long, with various anotations in it, all written in native izumonian language.

The Emmanator of Nihility was with some awe after taking a look at it. "Ah! This..."

"Keep it. I wouldn't trust it to no one else but to other izumonian. It's my dying wish." The man told her, his entire body about to fade. "To keep my memory and of others alive. Of our culture alive. So please, preserve this remain of Izumo until your dying breath, Raiden Mei."

Feeling the weight of the wish, or rather mission, that was entrusted to her, the Self-Annihilator and once izumonian couldn't help but feel a small ache appear in her chest, hands tight on the book. This right here was proof. A proof that their people had all existed once. "I will. No matter what. I shall carry that wish." She said, looking to the other izumonian in the eyes.

Hearing that, he gave one final smile. A satisfied one. "Then I can go...May our people look after you..." And so, his ethereal body had fully gone, leaving behind only the bright vital sphere that was hi soul behind.

"You can rest easy now." Acheron spoke softly, her hand standing right below the soul before watching it go all the way up in the air, dissapearing amongst the clouds. "Mr. Ryoma." She said, having gotten his name through the book, proceeding to do a silent prayer for the other izumonian's final trip.

"It's over. We can return back to the palace and report to the General." Xueyi said, approaching the Self-Annihilator, looking up to where the soul went to. "I'm glad that we were finally able to give peace to his soul. May his reeincarnation have a better fate. Such is the way of karma."

"Karma...That concept isn't stranger to me." Acheron replied, having heard about that before.

"So you've heard it. A very strong belief across not only here at the Luofu but across the entire Xianzhou Alliance. A force of causality that binds us to the never-ending cycle of birth, death and rebirth." Xueyi stated, remembering the teachings. "All three that define what life is in a perfect cosmic balance in spiritual terms. And those whose souls refuse to leave and move on to the next step, disrupt that balance. Which is the duty of judges of the Ten-Lord Comission like me to not only capture and apprehend criminals, but to also make sure the spiritual balance in the Xianzhou is maintained. For the better and worse."

"Even if you yourself are supposed to be long dead?" Acheron asked to Xueyi, pointing out that since the karmatic cycle was about rebirth as well, wouldn't the judge be interfering with it since her soul was still bound to the world of the living?

"I still owe debts myself for previous mishaps." Xueyi explained to the Self-Annihilator. "And I plan to pay and correct them. Every single last one of them. Only when the balance is fully restored, am I sure that my duty can be put to rest. Until there, I'll always be working to make the Luofu a better place for everyone."

"Hm. That's very dutiful of you." Acheron smiled friendly. If there was one thing that she could say about this small time she spent with Xueyi, was that the judge was a very benign and considerate for her people's well-being with a strong sense of justice despite the lack of emotions she desplayed. "I can tell that if the rest of the judges are like you, then the Luofu is in good hands."

"Thanks. I could say the same to you if you were to become an enforcer of law as well." Xueyi responded back with a compliment as well despite not smilling. "Let's head back now. I'm sure it must have been a long day for you."

"Certainly." Acheron responded, proceeding to follow Xueyi right behind. As they were passing through the gates, the Self-Annihilator gave one final look to the shinto shrine, the imagery that even if no longer existing and eradicated, even in the furthests places of the cosmos, Izumo's culture prevailed in some way or another.

"Yah! Take this! How's this? Ah!"

Into the early hours of the evening, at the small trainning garden of Starskiff Haven, Yanqing had spent the rest of the afternoon until now into practicing his swordsmanship skills ever since the youngling's meet-up with Morte and the comment the General's friend said about his apparently weak physical frame. That remark still pained into Yanqing. No matter how great his performance was being or how well he was pulling out his abilities, the young swordsman still tought that he wasn't doing enough. That was something more amiss.

At the entrance of the garden, Yunli was still observing him trainning while munching on a bit of food, having long lost interest in sparring with Yanqing. Instead, she had noticed how restless he was, looking like he had something to prove somewhat.

"There you are you two. Still here?" Jing Yuan appeared from behind, walking torwards the girl.

"Not in my case. I was about to leave already." Yunli responded to the General of the Luofu. "I tried to tell Yanqing to call it a day as well but that blokehead doesn't seem to listen to me! He rarely took any breaks as well..."

"You don't say." Jing Yuan replied before staring at Yanqing trainning. "Do you think something's wrong with him?"

Yunli huffed. "Hmph! When there isn't something wrong with him anyways? But I guess if Yanqing won't listen to me, perhaps he might be able to listen to the General however."

Jing Yuan let out a little smile. "Eh, you're worried about him, aren't you, Yunli?"

The girl instantly looked to him with an appalled expression. "G-General Jing Yuan, with all due respect, jokes are meant to be funny! And that wasn't funny at all!"

"Ahaha! I think it was worth it!" Jing Yuan laughed, much to Yunli's pout. "But no worries. I will talk with him. Was looking for you precisely for that."

"Great! It means I can stop being his babysitter!" Yunli said, exiting the garden. "I'll head back to the palace. See you there, General!"

Watching her leave, Jing Yuan returned his attention torwards Yanqing who continued to land hits on the wodden dummy with his sword. After that conversation with Morte at the hotsprings, the General wanted to have a talk with the boy. "Wow! If that dummy was a real person, they certainly wouldn't have no chance against you right now, Yanqing."

"General?! You're here?" Yanqing stopped what he was doing, surprised at Jing Yuan's sudden presence. "H-How long has the General been watching me?"

"Literally just now. I see that you've been putting your free time to good use, Yanqing." Jing Yuan responded, walking torwards him, noticing the cut marks on the practice dummy. "And your sword skill continues as sharp as ever." He said proudly, crossing his arms. "Continue like that, and in no time the Luofu will have a new leader for the Cloud Knights."

"Yeah, right." Despite the praise, Yanqing didn't took it well. "As if the General isn't saying that to make me feel better..."

"Hm? To make you feel better?" Jing Yuan raised an eyebrow to the boy. "What's that about?"

"Your buddy Qiongqi doesn't think the same." Yanqing said with an unfriendly face before looking straight to the ground.

As Jing Yuan suspected, his student hadn't been able to brush off the comment he received from earlier. "So it is about that...Do you really care what he says about you, Yanqing?"

"N-Not at all General, but...he's your friend, isn't he?" Yanqing replied, downhearted. "And if he thinks that I'm not good enough, then the General might start thinking about it too."

Shooking his head, Jing Yuan put a hand on his shoulder. "That's nonsense, Yanqing. While Qiongqi might have some harsh opinions of others sometimes, I would never think lowly of you, so why for that face?"

"Because it's true about me and I know it!" Exclaiming, Yanqing shrugged his shoulder off of his mentor's hand. "I might be good and agile with a sword but then what? If a strong enemy like Hoolay or stronger appears, they could knock me down with one successful hit only! Nobody here in the Luofu fears or respects me! And you know why? Because I don't look strong or intimidating enough! Just an apprentice for everyone to either make cute or sarcastic comments about!" Venting all out, Yanqing cleenched his fists before looking up to Jing Yuan, a single tear escaping from his eye. "Because...I'm not you, General."

Taking all the problem that was troubling his student, it was now time for Jing Yuan to comfort him. "Yanqing, listen here: You don't have or need to be like me. Nor I want you to be like me." He smiled fatherly to the boy as Yanqing rubbed his eyes. "What was one of the first lessons that I taught you?"

"That virtues are copied but not characteristics nor our personalities." Yanqing said, trying to feel better.

"And?" Jing Yuan made him remember more.

"That strenght doesn't come only from our muscles but-"

"But from here." Jing Yuan placed the tip of his finger right in Yanqing's heart, proceeding to then point at his head. "And here. Brute strenght alone isn't of value if we don't have the courage and intelligence to carry it. And you have those two, Yanqing. Which is much better than to have strenght alone or none of those at all. You are great the way you are, Yanqing. And more greater you will be on the future, I'm certain of it." He put a hand on the boy's back. "You don't need to become me or anybody else. Just be yourself, the great ringmaster of the Wardance and Lieutenant of the Cloud Knights! That's the Yanqing we all know and love!"

"And what if that Yanqing fails and gets embaressedly humiliated? Would you still think that, General?" Yanqing replied, still not believing in what Jing Yuan was saying.

To that, the general chuckled a bit. "Oh boy, now you made me remember of quite a memory. You think I was always strong and capable like I am nowdays?"

Yanqing shook his head a bit hesitantly.

"When I was about your age, I tried to fight an opponent that was clearly way above my league. The result? Got crushed in every way possible that by the end of it I could hardly walk. Worst of all, had to hear loud and clear from my master's furious scolding into my ears, haha! Never I thought when that happened, that I'd be able to live with that moment forever. And look at me now." Jing Yuan opened his arms. "Failing, being flawed and having defeats is natural in one's life, Yanqing. Yet, I don't think that any of that makes you a failure."

"You think...that I'm good enough, General?" Yanqing asked heartedly, the words Jing Yuan said starting to take effect on him.

"You're special, Yanqing. To me, you will always be." Jing Yuan put both hands in Yanqing shoulders, speaking with all sincerity as the boy looked at him a bit speechless. "And don't let my friends, your friends, enemies, or anyone else tell you otherwise. Understood?" The general put his arm in position for a handshake.

Having been reassured of his own capacities and abilities by Jing Yuan himself, the closest figure he had to a father, Yanqing's doubts dissipated from his mind and once more, the boy went back to smilling brightly. "Understood, General!" He responded, doing the handshake with him. "I'll be special on my own way! Just like you said!"

"That's the spirit!" Jing Yuan responded proudly to Yanqing. "Well then, are you ready to come back to the palace now?"

"Oh! About that..." Chuckling a bit nervously, Yanqing scratched the back of his head.

"Do say what is it, Yanqing." Jing Yuan speaked.

"Well, I was trainning a new move lately that I wanted to show you, General." Yanqing revealed. "Can I display it for you before we leave to the palace, General? Please?"

"Hmm, alright. You can show me, Yanqing. But you have one attempt only."

"Whaaat?!"

"I believe you can pull it in one go only, right? No pressure!"

"...Eh. Sure thing, General. Sit and watch!"

Walking in the halls of the palace, Acheron was on her way to her bedroom after a long day that was her first one in the Luofu. Having returned from their mission in the Fyxestroll Garden, Xueyi had told to the Self-Annihilator that she could go straight to rest as the judge would be the one reporting to General Jing Yuan. Thus, Acheron was now free of her 'duties'. And while she didn't felt any fatigue overall or sleep, she decided that it was good enough for today. As well as she knew what she would spent this night doing.

"What experiences do you have to share with me, Mr. Ryoma?" Acheron looked at the book in her hands. And while it was true that the Emmanator of Nihility rarely read books due to her memory problems, forgetting almost everything from the previous paragraph while reading the next one, Acheron would make sure to do an extra effort to read and memorize all the things her compatriot of Izumo witnessed and ventured through. This was a piece and only piece of his story after all. A piece of hers and Izumo's history. And judging by the texture, it already had some good hundreads of years, being important for her to safeguard it.

"Huh?" Taking her eyes off the book for a moment, Acheron ended up noticing something peculiar right in front of her bedroom's door. Crouching down and picking it up from the ground, the Self-Annihilator saw what it was: a blossom. "But...what's this doing here?" It was suspicious to say at least. And despite having some forgetfulness, Acheron was sure she had seen this flower earlier before. But where exactly? Opening the door to her bedroom, Acheron was presented with yet another surprise. One that she didn't liked. "What are you doing in my room?"

Standing outside on the balcony, on the other side of the room, there was Morte, predictably smoking another cigar. "This is actually MY room, Acheroni." He looked back at her. "But not like I blame you. Every bedroom here looks the same and having ours next to each other doesn't help."

Stopping her steps for a bit, Acheron truly wondered for a moment if she had indeed entered the wrong room before shaking that thought off. "And? It can also mean it was you who entered the wrong room."

"Whatever makes you feel better I suppose." Morte smirked as he watched Acheron walking torwards him on the balcony. "How was the task of my favourite psychopomp anyways? Was it a warmful, traditional, izumonian reunion?"

"You wanted to know? Should've gone then." Acheron responded, not desiring to tell him much about it. Has it was put it on his own words, it was an izumonian matter only.

"Oh, but I didn't need to."

"Huh?" Hearing his voice behind her, Acheron noticed Morte was no longer in front of her, turning around to see the man now on her back.

"I see that you brought a souveneir from it. Very thoughtful of you, Acheroni." Morte said with a chuckle, holding the book of Mr. Ryoma in his hands, much to Acheron's shock.

"Wha- When did you...?!" Looking at her own hands in disbilief, Acheron realized she was no longer holding the book, having easily let be 'stolen' by Morte, much to her displeasure, igniting some small anger inside her. "Give it back-!?" Yet, when looking up, Morte was once again not in front of her anymore.

"Hmm, very creative and toughtful." Morte speaked, back to the balcony in a quick second and sitting on the bench, hand on his chin before flipping the pages, analyzing it as if it was a great work of literature and philosophy. "Whoever wrote this really had a fertile mind for imagination."

"Give it back." Acheron demanded calmly.

But of course, Morte denied it at first, ignoring her request. "I wonder if it's really worth the reading however-"

"I said:Give. it. back." Acheron repeated, now in a more serious, cold and threatening tone. She was doing her best in containing back her anger despite the provocative situation. However, the Self-Annihilator was aware of Morte's general treatment torwards books and other literature items, and she swared that if he ever so dared to do the same with that book, she wouldn't allow Morte to step out of the Luofu alive.

"Hm. It's impressive how there are people willing to waste time of multiple days to dedicate writting several pages of boring works." Morte smirked, not feeling threatened at all by Acheron. "There surely is more appealing ways to spend life, no?" With a swift moment, Morte threw the book back at Acheron, who easily caught it, not even flinching. "Since when did you become an avid reader anyways?"

"I read what interests me. It's none of your business." Acheron responded with some scorn. "But just for your information, the person who wrote this sure knew how to live a fantastic life. Maybe even more fantastic than your previous one, Qiongqi."

"What? Don't you like the sound of it?" Morte responded nonchalantly with a bored expression.

"Just how apparently I'm not the only one hiding my true name." Acheron went closer to him, crossing her arms. "Previous alchemist of high-prestige from the Xianzhou Yuque and 'falsely' imprisoned from suspicions of affiliation with the faction of Sanctus Medicus."

Letting out a sigh, Morte got up from the bench, standing tall and overshadowing Acheron as he looked down at her. "Your point?"

"Nothing. It just sounds like a very peculiar life full of intrigue." Acheron responded, not avoiding his gaze. "One that you liked to live, didn't you?"

As some tension manifested through the silence between the two, Acheron and Morte exchanged some serious glares at each other for a few seconds, almost unblinking.

And then...Morte smirked. "Heh. Hehehe, oh Acheron." Chuckling, the man turned his body back on Acheron. "Truly, it is I, Qiongqi, renowned alchemist from the Yuque." Putting one of his feet on the balcony's rail, he grabbed a cig and light it up. "You honestly don't believe that. Do you?" Morte asked, grinning at the Emmanator of Nihility as the weak light from the cig was showing his skull beneath the transparent skin.

While Acheron herself had grown used to it, she had to admit that the vision of it alone could send shivers down on most beings on the cosmos. "You tell me." She responded, altough a huge part of hers was convinced that Morte's true identity wasn't of an Xianzhou alchemist. She knew that this 'man' in front of her was something far more sinister than that. Maybe, Acheron would go as far as betting that Morte wasn't even from Xianzhou at all nor Qiongqi was his true name.

Hearing that reply only made Morte slightly grin more. Such attitude of hers was what he precisely liked. "It's more credible to believe in what we see than what we hear no? Per exemple, I could tell you that I lived many, but many more countless lives besides that of Qiongqi, the Alchemist of Xianzhou Yuque. Before that, I might have been a king. An undertaker. A miserable street begger. Or after that, I decided to become an artist and musician instead! Which is what I'm in now exactly!"

"You? A musician? Right..." Acheron said, having never seen Morte play an instrument.

"I can play instruments a plenty, Acheroni. Altough I have a preference for the piano. People say it's more...'sophisticated' looking." Morte responded while rubbing his eardrum. "But the truth that I'm telling you is, I'm a man that likes to experience many lifes, Acheron. Every single one, every day, to the fullest of my glee. And then, right before it gets boring, I start anew again and again. New persona, new alias, but always the same old me. All that in pursuit of gratification. And wether you choose to believe in what I'm telling you is true or not, is only up to you."

"So what you're saying is that you lived through many lifes as a way to never feel empty. Is that what I'm getting at?" Acheron questioned him, following his explanation.

"Hmmm, basically. You could consider that." Morte said, walking torwards the Self-Annihilator's back. "But who knows? I might be lying to you just to mess with your mind, am I not?"

"Your 'enigmas' aren't funny at all." Acheron responded in bad mood.

"I know. But seeing you like that is." Morte joked, irking and teasing his travelling companion having soon become one of his favorite activities.

Letting out an exasperated breath, glacing to the side for a moment. "What exactly are you, Morte?"

"I can be many things. But what I'm certainly not is your 'average joe'." Morte responded.

"As if it wasn't obvious." Acheron replied. "I want to know how many of those things you told me were true. And how many were fake."

"Perhaps they're all true. Or rather fake, all the same." Morte responded once again with no definitive, clear answer.

Already getting impatient, Acheron decided that she should just leave the room at this point. She'd be just wasting her time at this point.

"And what are you? Acheron or Raiden Bosenmori Mei?"

"Hm?" However, as soon as she took the first step, Morte's question made her stood in place, turning around to look at him.

"You also had a 'before' and 'after', didn't you? Different lifes and all. A swrodswoman from a planet that no longer exists, a Galaxy Ranger, an Emmanator of Nihility..." Dropping the cigar, Morte put it out by squeezing it on the ground. "And most important of all, a person that roams around the cosmos with no destination." He proceeded to look at her. "That's quite the interesting lives you got there."

"I just like to wander around with no precise purpose. If I have the liberty to do so, I will." Acheron responded, not wanting to give much explanation to Morte.

Yet, he always seemed to always be insightful when it came to the Self-Annihilator. "Everyone does things with a purpose, no matter how trifling it sounds. Perhaps going around meeting strangers is exciting to you. That your life consists of observing the end of other lifes and such. That maybe you are waiting for your own to end. But you wouldn't accept death just now, would you?"

"With what intent are you trying to say that?" Acheron questioned.

"That as it stands right now, even if your life means nothing, you will continue to search for something." Morte replied, their conversation getting into some philosophic proportions. "Deep down, you believe there is something more for you in wait than a mere vagrant among the stars. Everything that has happened to you will have an 'answer' that will make you feel fulfilled and whole again despite the curse IX laid on you. So as it stands right now, you refuse to die despite having no apparent purpose." Moving his head, Morte gave an unusual normal, almost benign smile. "Because you're convinced you will find yours at the end of your goalless journey."

Acheron remained silent for some seconds. Throughout her voyage on the cosmos, she already had so many conversations with such individuals before. Yet, even after all that, none could ever be more discerning and thought-provoking than Morte. At this point, he talked with her as if they've known each other for ages, when it has only been a few months. And in all honesty, Acheron didn't mind these conversations. They would reach to a core that no one had reached to her before. It was hard to imagine that of all individuals that she had known in her entire life, Morte would be one of those that knew how to real her well the most. Nontheless, the Self-Annihilator wouldn't admit it yet.

"I think you've been drinking too much and that it's already late." Acheron responded, pretending that all that Morte told to her was just gibberish of someone drunk.

"Meh. Maybe you're right." Morte responded, getting up from the bench, not forcing to make her think otherwise. "I myself could put some sleep to good use." Yawning, the man stretched out his arms. "You know what, Acheroni? You can get this room. I don't mind it. You deserve as reward for your well done task of today!" He happily said, walking past by her. "But don't stay up too late, will ya? After all..." Opening the door, Morte gave her one last look and smile before leaving Acheron alone. "Tomorrow's a big day."

Watching him close the door, Acheron was now fully alone with her own thoughts. What she could take out from this conversation with him, is that Morte remained the same mystery as ever, with or without the Qiongqi storyline. And the Self-Annihilator wondered if it would remain like that forever, without knowing the man's secrets. Laying down on her bed, Acheron tried to think little of that for the moment, her mind now concentrating on Mr. Ryoma's book, opening it up.

Whatever she was about to read, Acheron hoped it would entertain the izumonian inside of her. That it would make her relief more fondly all those memories of Raiden Bosenmori Mei.

"Hmm, the main dish to here. The desserts to there. Maybe just some drops of Béchamel sauce on this one..." Putting the final touches for the banquet of tomorrow, Jiaoqiu ended up being satisfied with the final result of his cooking work, having spent the rest of the day until now on the kicthen in the lower levels of the palace, doing the last dishes.

By this time, every other assistant, chef and cook was gone except for the foxian. "Phew. It's all done and ready. Can't believe we were really able to cook all these in time." Jiaoqiu said with some joy, rubbing his forehead. Yet, there has been something that he caught on recently that was troubling him while working on the remaining dishes. "However, some scents of those dishes here feel unfamiliar. They don't smell like anything that was order to be cook-"

"Heya there, fox-boy."

"Ah?!" Turning around in scare to see who it was, Jiaoqiu's heart calmed down once he saw it was Morte. "Oh! You're Mister Qiongqi, aren't you? Please don't sneak up on others like that. Might end badly one day."

"Sorry, my bad." Morte replied, apologizing. "I just came down here to the kitchen to see if all the food is ready and done for tomorrow."

"Glad you asked, Mister Qiongqi. The preparitives of the food have all been concluded just now. You, General Jing Yuan and General Feixiao will be very satisfied with the dishes, I guarantee." Jiaoqiu said with certainty of his skills. However he couldn't help but find Morte's presence in the kitchen odd. "But also, what is Mister Qiongqi doing here exactly? I tought that only chefs and cooks of the palace had access to the kitchen."

"Clever." Morte said with a brief sly smile. "Well, I admit, I came down here and decided to cook some dishes myself and add them to the menu."

"Mister Qiongqi...cooked some dishes?" Jioaqiu said, confused. That would explain some of the unfamilliar scent in the middle.

"Yep! They're the ones over there." Morte pointed out with a friendly face.

Leaning with his head closer to those dishes by following the smell, the foxian sniffed at them again. Except this time..."Hm!?" He knew exactly what the smell was. "B-But this are..." And the horrid surprise didn't end there. Soon, Jiaoqiu discovered that not only those dishes but the entire banquet was with the same scent. It wasn't a bad smell by any means, but it was such a shocking, dreadful and vile thing that disturbed the foxian chef to the point of indignation. "How can you..."

"Oh oh? It would seem you have a very good nose, foxy-boy." Morte said behind him, a bit surprised that Jiaoqiu's smell sense was very great in detecting and identifying the scent within the food.

With his anger only growing, Jiaoqiu was ready to shout at Morte for this trangression. "HOW CAN Y-Uh?!" Yet, as soon as he turned around to confront the man, something else shocked him. Morte was still there in front of him. Body, face and everything else. Not only that, but also the entire kitchen. With a single drop of sweat, Jiaoqiu came to a realization as his trembling fingers touched near his eye sockets. "I...I can see again?"

Looking back to the food at the table, the foxian was almost speechless. For the first time in months, he was gazing at it. All the delicious and tasting meals he had prepared. He could see them. Visualize it. What he had lost to the poison on that one time while fooling Hoolay, he had recovered it back unexpectedly. Jiaoqiu was in utter disbilief.

"Hehehe, it's very good to have vision, is it not?" Cackling sinisterly, Morte put a hand on Jiaoqiu's shoulder, still standing behind him, now with a grin.

"Ghg!?" Jiaoqiu's heart and entire body froze, feeling Morte's menacing and malevolent presence right on his back, being a moment of high tension.

"How about we do it like this? If you remain with your mouth shut and let what will happen tomorrow, happen, you'll get to keep those eyes and witness the spectacle with them on the first row and everything. But if you try otherwise and defy me..." Putting his mouth closer to Jiaoqiu's ear, Morte's grin grew more terryfyingly, losing the skin and meat around it. "Darkness shall be the only thing you'll gaze at for eternity."

"..." Jiaoqiu didn't respond immediatly, feeling his heart beating nervously and with fear.

And Morte could sense it, chuckling. "So? What will it be?"

"Let tragedy happen and keep my vision or suffer to go blind once again." Jiaoqiu said to himself, trying to keep his breath under control and not panic despite the sweat on his face. Moze was right. This man, Qiongqi, was a monster. One that needed to be warned about immediatly. Yet, if he did it, Morte would certainly not let him leave the kitchen...alive. "Crap! Why this is happening to me again? What do I do now?"

Cleenching his teeth, Jiaoqiu saw that he was once again between a rock and a hard place when it came to Luofu's safety and well-being. For many weeks, he had tried to get used to living with seeing. Without beholding the world and his beloved companions faces. To cook without gazing at the final result. To live in darkness, depending on his smell and other senses to live and experience the world. And now that veil of blindness was finally removed from him, Jiaoqiu could lose it again shortly after. It certainly wasn't easy.

Yet, when thinking about Moze, General Feixiao, every friend that he had met and made here at the Luofu. The entire population of this ship. How the lifes of every single one of them was at risk with this and Xianzhou Luofu in general, the decision became clear to Jiaoqiu. "I..." Slowly, his right hand moved torwards a knife of the table, picking it up and mustering the courage to do it. "I'm also a doctor who'd never harm-ARGH!?"

Morte didn't even let Jiaoqiu finished before slashing him right in the eyes with his bare hand, condemning the foxian to blindness again. "So predictable." He speaked with a bored expression.

"Aghghrrr! Aagh!" Falling helplessly to the ground, Jiaoqiu clenched his hands to his face, bleeding from the eyes and completly disoriented.

"But if that's your choice, so be it." Opening the door to the food cellar, Morte kicked the vulnrable Jiaoqiu down the stairs, watching him fall all the way down.

"Q-Qiongqi you monster! Were the hell are you, Qiongqi! Come back!" Unable to see, Jiaoqiu tried to move his hands around for something he could use to help him get up, yelling in anger for Morte to face him.

"A pity really. It seems you won't be able to witness the spectacle tomorrow." Morte smiled at the top of the staircase with a sadistic pleasure. "But no worries. I'm sure you will still hear the loud noises from down here. Enjoy the night!" And then, he closed the door to the food cellar, leaving a struggling and blind Jiaoqiu to try and get himself out of the situation, getting read of the problem.

Humming peacefuly, Morte walked out of the kicthen, rearraging his clothes. "Hm? Tsk! Got myself stained with blood." Taking out a napking from his pocket, he begun cleaning his face. As he was doing, a clueless cloud knight that was passing by turned around the corner, spotting him.

"Hm? Oh, y-you're General Jing Yuan's friend, aren't you?"

"In flesh and bone, yes." Morte replied with little enthusiasm, continuing to clean his face. Yet, the cloud knight still noticed the drenched blood.

"Ah...Is that...blood in your napkin, Mr Qiongqi?"

"No, just tomato sauce. I walked out of the kitchen just now." Morte responded, giving a convincing reassuring smile to the knight. "It got a bit of a 'mess'."

"I-I see. Mind if I take a look, Mr Qiongqi? I'll help the sir clean it."

"Sure, sure. But before we enter, don't you wanna eat something first?" Morte asked, grabbing something else from his pocket to offer to the cloud knight. "Look, I have this tomato cherry in here and everything. Don't you wanna eat it?"

"H-Hum, that's very considerate of you, Mr Qiongqi. But I already had dinner."

"How long ago? Plus, it's just a tomato cherry. Nothing heavy for the stomach." Morte responded, convincing the cloud knight to eat it. "You can eat it. Does good for the health."

"O-okay, Mr Qionqgi! Thank you very much!"

Not seeing why he shouldn't eat it, the cloud knight accepted Morte's offer and grabbed the tomato cherry, about to eat it.

"Heh. It has been quite some time since I last eat one of th-"

At the very moment the cloud knight's teeth squeezed and crushed the texture, a part of his head burst open, blood spilling and gushing to everywhere as the corpse fell with a thud on the ground, Morte staring emotionless at it with his entire face even more stained with blood now.

"Great. A dead body to also get rid of as well." He said nonchalantly, cleaning the blood off of his face with his own arm.

As he was doing that, the sudden sound of a butterfly's wingbeat caught his attention.

"Ah, it's you. I assume you're here to clean this mess. Old reliable as always." Morte said, facing the hall to his left, shroudded in shadows. "Does it mean you finally silenced all of those who needed to be silenced?"

From the shadows, came the sound of high-heels stepping and walking on the ground. The feet of a woman wearing red blood high-heels with spiky ankle collars and blacked ragged stockings with more spikes coming out of her legs stepped out of the shadows.

"..."

The mysterious figure whose rest of the body remained in shadows replied, much to Morte's pleasure.

"Good. Very good as always, ººººº." Adjusting his hood, Morte was about to walk out and back to his room before anybody else could walk by. "Be a dear and do the same with this poor guy as well."

"..."

"Nah. You don't need to intervene for tomorrow necessarily. But if you wanna give a hand in some way, be my guest." Morte said, smilling to his subordinate and 'partner in crime'. He couldn't wait for the following day, itching for it. "But I don't blame you if you want to stay around for it. It will be to die for."

Chapter Text

"Hum, no. That wouldn't sound right..."

In the confines of her bedroom, Guinaifen was having a battle with her own indecision when typing on her phone's keyboard, a planned and well-tought message of apology to Sushang. It had been hours since the streamer was thinking about what to write in the apology to her best friend, having been pensative of that topic ever since she arrived home after spending her day doing videos with Mister MJ, aka Morte.

Reagrouping her ideas, Guinaifen gave another go at the message she was writing.

'Heya there, Sushu! About earlier today, I wanna to-"

"Ugh, no. She'd think I didn't felt bad about it." Groaning, Guinaifen rolled to the other side of her bed, rummaging in her blankets while shoving her face into the pillow, slowly looking to the brightness of her phone screen in hands. "I don't know what to write..." She murmured to herself, wondering if she would have the courage to apologize to Sushang. That, and if her friend would accept it. But remembering the helpful words of Morte, Guinaifen shook her head in denial.

"No no, Guinaifen! You can't think that! That's not what Mister MJ would've wanted! You gotta stay positive!" Saying it to herself, Guinaifen decided to turn off her phone and lay it on the desk near her bed, facing up to her bedroom's ceilling as she had the expectation that sleep would do her good instead of getting stressed over the message. Smilling, Guinaifen had come with a better solution in her own head. "I will apologize to Sushang directly tomorrow! No messages. No hesitation nor hiding behind a screen. Just pure raw honesty!"

More optimistic of that idea, Guinaifen closed her eyes, looking forward for the day of tomorrow, as encountering and apologizing to her friend would be the very first thing she would do by morning. "Everything I want to say will be said wholeheartedly to you, Sushang! For the sake of our friendship."

"Hmmm, but what if...N-no, Sushang! You can't approach her like that!"

Struggling at her own battle, the Cloud Knight also awaited for sleep in her own bedroom, her mind occupied with the objective of making amends with Guinaifen tomorrow. Despite being a warrior and knight that generally had to pass off an image of courage and pride, Sushang was feeling a bit nervous at that moment, not knowing exactly what words she would pick in order to apologize for her rudeness torwards Guinaifen tomorrow.

Taking some breaths, she calmed herself down, wanting to think more positive on the matter as she remembered of Acheron's adviceful words to her and Huohuo's support. Contemplating the scenarios, Sushang wanted to be hopeful that despite their ugly altercation earlier today, the two could still be friend's at the end and put that behind them. Despite everything she said to her friend, she still craved to go on crazy and wacky adventurous with Guinaifen and Huohuo as well.

Thus, she also closed her eyes, attempting to put her mind at ease to rest with both hands above her stomach.

"Gui...May you be able to forgive me."

"Alright! Next cell is #058L. The one with that strange merchant guy."

"The one who went to the Xianzhou Yuque court a month ago? Honestly, I dunno why General Jing Yuan hasn't executed him yet."

On the deep levels of the mythical endless abysm of the Shackling Prison, two guards chated to each other as they were inspecting the cells of the floor they were in, being cautious to check if all the prisoners were inside their respective cells with not a single one empty so far.

"I too am not sure why. Maybe the man just has something that much of interest for the General to keep him alive."

"Do you think it's General Jing Yuan's resurrected master that he keeps around? The one on the cell next to his?"

"I dunno. She could be used as a good emotional factor on the General. Sure would make the merchant stay around, But it couldn't be just that. There's definetly something more to it."

"Like what?"

"Pff, as if I could guess. That is a matter clearly for higher-ups in the Xianzhou like General Jing Yuan and such. We as soldiers just limit ourselves to follow orders."

"I suppose so..."

"But hey! Now that we're arriving to his cell, maybe we can ask to the man himself, hahaha!"

As the two guards laughed a bit in the banter, their noses suddenly sensed an odd smell in the air.

"Hm?! What's this...sweet smell?"

With his body suddenly feeling inexplicably weak, the firs guard tried to maintain his balance while staring to his colleague.

"Hey! Do you feel this scent too-"

But as soon as he turned around to check on his mate, the guard was already down on the ground, unconscious, much to the first guard's shock.

"What?!"

Not even able to properly think, the guard soon heard graceful footsteps behind him, raising his alarms.

"Who comes-uh!?"

Gasping, he saw all of the wardens and automatons that were in charge of guarding this floor of the Shackling Prison knocked out as well. And the main culprit, a beautiful woman hidding partially her body and face with a white mantle and hood, blossoms plastered to its texture. Not even able to fight her, the guard took the first step forward as he sensed all of his body's vital energy slipping away.

"H-How did you..."

"Do not try to comprehend what you are barely a part of." The woman said enigmatically, passing by the solider as she grabbed the special card and keys that opened the cells and released the prisoners from their restraints with one smooth and fluid movement of her hand, giving a clinical look to him with her blue eyes. "Just relax and absent your mind."

"Ugh...ghrgghh!..."

Falling, the guard too went unconscious just like the rest, now no one being able to detain the mysterious woman from acting within her plans.

Passing the cell's card on the magnetic lock, she unlocked the gate that kept the prisoner trapped inside, the metalling sound of it opening up occupying the entire floor. Once the cell was open, Ruan Mei stepped inside and took off her hood as no one was around except for the prisoner she was eyeying on the other side of the cell. "I see that this prison has been nice with you."

"They got orders to. Nothing that made me regret my captivity." The prisoner replied torwards Ruan Mei with a knowing smile and even voice as he saw his collaborator approaching him with the keys for the shackles. "After all, it is part of playing the long game."

With the sound of the shackles being unlocked and falling to the ground, the prisoner was now fully free, stepping out of the cell while massaging his pulses. Tasting the air of freedom, the equally mysterious blonde man, Luocha, opened up his arms as he looked up with delight to the view of the Shackling Prison's levels above and beyond.

"And now, it's our turn to make a play!"

A new day on the Luofu had arrived. And it was the eventful one too.

At last, the zenith of the festival of Jing Yuan's 500th Anniversary of his coronation as Luofu's general would reach its climax. And the day couldn't have been more appropriate. The birds singed. The children would play and laugh. People chatter about the special occasion, enthusiastic about it. The trees and gardens as green as the spring and a warm blazing sun shinning down with grace on the lively view of the planetship that was the Xianzhou Luofu.

The view that Morte was savouring in while sitting next to a water source from the palace's private garden, staring at the city down below. Taking a sip of its water, the man took out a pleasent, refreshing exhale as he washed his face in it as well, as if he hadn't commit evil at yestarday's night. He could just feel it in the air how beautiful today was being.

Truly, today would be a good day.

"Enjoying the morning breeze?" Acheron speaked, appearing behind him, having looked for her travelling companion. "Jing Yuan and the others are waiting at the Seat of Divine Foresight." She said, being direct to the point. "Better not keep them waiting longer."

Smilling, Morte get up from his seat, storing his scythe on the back. "It sure wouldn't be nice of us, Acheroni." He walked past by the Self-Annihilator, heading to the palace's interior. "Just try and not make a scene today, will you?"

Watching him leave the garden, Acheron just put her hands on the hip with a blank expression. "Hm. You're one to say it..." Shortly, the Emmanator of Nihility also walked out of the garden, accompanying Morte to their destination.

Having arrived there, Morte and Jing Yuan greeted each other happily, proceeding to talk about the importance of the day of today as well as some jokes here and there, having grabbed some drinks and food that had been placed in a table at the center of the Seat of Divine Foresight.

"So? What happened to that guy afterwards?" Jing Yuan asked.

"He didn't go back to that building, that's for sure." Morte said, both laughing at it and keeping their chat.

"..." Standing lonely at the room, Acheron was with her back leaned against the wall and arms crossed while observing the overall 'party'. The room was quite full with some of the palace employees also talking with each other. Yanqing and Yunli were also there, the two youngsters predictably beggining another squabble because apparently, the boy accused the girl of stealing one of his egg rolls. Shifting her gaze, Acheron also noticed Feixiao standing near Morte and Jing Yuan. Altough, the Self-Annihilator observed that the General of the Yaoqing looked less enthusiastic than the other two. As if she was worried about something. Acheron pondered if perhaps there was something wrong. "Huh?"

Moving her gaze once again, Acheron ended up catching the sight of Moze, the silent and hardly social Shadow Guard staring back at her with a contained but somewhat agressive and deep look, standing on the opposite side of the room to Acheron's, arms crossed and everything. "..."

Feeling a bit uncomfortable, Acheron quickly looked to the side, not wanting to stare in those judgemental eyes of the assassin. Yet, she still felt a pressure weigh in as Moze continued to stare at her as if she was a suspect of a crime he was investigating. "Weirdo." If anything, it wasn't that she found this celebration dull. Rather, the Self-Annihilator would prefer to be reading the chronicle book of Mr Ryoma. It was an interesting good read she had yestarday's night.

Eating another snack at the table, Jing Yuan saw the face of slight concern in Feixiao. "Is something wrong, Feixiao? You've barely eat any of the food in the table so far."

"I still haven't seen Jiaoqiu today." Feixiao responded, revealing the source of her worry, turning around to look at her fellow general. "It doesn't make sense. He should already be here. Jiaoqiu isn't one of arriving late."

With that matter being brought up to public, it made Jing Yuan put a thumb under his chin, thinking about it. "Hmm. Now that you mention it, last time I saw him was yesterday. And it was quite the time ago. It's truly odd."

Chewing the food, Morte was hearing the conversation near him. "What? That fox-boy who's blind? Maybe he forgot to set the alarm."

"Jiaoqiu always wakes up early at around the same time." Feixiao responded, not believing in that possibility. "He'd never dare to not show up to an important gathering like this one."

"There is always a first time for anything, is there not?" Morte replied, rotating the cup on his hand a bit before drinking. "Perhaps he just got too tired of preparing all that food."

"..." Looking at the man drinking, Morte's comments didn't sit well on Moze. The assassin's gut was having a bad feeling about this. No matter if his background as Qiongqi had been explained and revealed to him, Moze still suspected of Morte since he laid his eyes on him. He couldn't exactly tell what or why, but Moze just couldn't trust that man. He had even sent a message to Jiaoqiu, telling to his friend and colleague about being careful with Morte around, expressing his doubt and distrust on the man to the foxian. Yet, now Jiaoqiu was nowhere to be seen. Moze swore if Morte had something to do about it...

Aware that he was being scrutinously looked by the assassin while sipping at his drink, Morte gave a brief side glare to Moze and let it escape a sly smile for a moment.

"!" That on itself, alerted the assassin's senses, feeling his heart skip a beat. Soon, Moze was feeling an anger building up inside him. That tauntish smile torwards the assassin, could've only meant one thing. Morte knew what he was thinking about. It couldn't be anything else. It had to be him. It had to be Morte who was behind it. "You..."

But before Moze could even come forward and try to expose Morte in what would be seen as baseless accusation by the others, the gates of the Seat of Divine Foresight opened, with a hurried Xueyi bolting inside the room.

"Bad news, General Jing Yuan!" The judge said, her voice sounding concerned despite her professional posture, speaking to Jing Yuan in front of her, getting everyone's attention in that moment.

"What is it, Xueyi?" Jing Yuan asked, putting on a serious look. A part of him had already anticipated for the possble problems that would arise during the celebration as setbacks of being a general.

"A small prison outbreak in the Shackling Prison!" Xueyi was quick to reply.

"What? An outbreak?" Feixiao crossed her arms, listening to the judge.

"Yes. The prisoners are trying to start a riot!" Xueyi added.

From behind, despite staring solely to the glass in his hand, Morte was listening Xueyi with attention too.

"A prison riot huh? It doesn't sound good." Acheron took her back off from the wall, this topic being of utter importance apparently.

Without second thought, Yanqing reached up front. "No need to panic! I myself volunteer to go to the Shackling prison in order to deal with that problem, General!"

And if he wanted to go, so would Yunli, naturally. "I too volunteer to go! No way you're taking care of the problem alone!"

"No way? As if I didn't done harder tasks!" Yanqing responded back.

But that proposal was quickly shot down by Jing Yuan. "As much as you are motivated to do it, I don't want you to go there. The Shackling Prison is a place out of your jurisdiction." He said, much to both kids letdown.

"You think there's another vidyadhara trying to make a statement here?" Feixiao asked to Jing Yuan, going off by the origin that led to Hoolay's escape from the prison in the recent past.

"We will theorize about what's causing this outbreak later. For now we need to focus in ceasing that very own outbreak." Jing Yuan responded firmly before staring back to Xueyi. "You said it's happening in a small scale, isn't it?"

The judge nodded her head. "A few violent prisoners that are out of their cells and trying to fight their way out of the prison as well as begin a revolution. My sister and I have no idea how such accident came to happen. The security video surveillance system was apparently turned off during the night as well as the alarms." Xueyi revealed to Jing Yuan and the others, already being some intel and pieces to theorize about how the outbreak was made. "And despite not being a full on prison break, we fear that it might escalate to that if we don't act quick, General! So I request some of you who are here to come on our aid at the Shackling Prison!"

Ending with that, Xueyi made clear that she had come to the Seat of Divine Foresight, not only to deliver the bad, urgent news to Jing Yuan and the others, but also to request assistance from some of them that were in the room in order to deal with the problem.

"Hmm, I see." Closing his eyes for a bit, Jing Yuan thought about how to approach that problem in the same way he approached Hoolay's. "What's your position in this, Feixiao?" He asked to his fellow general, knowing that Feixiao's presence in there alone would be able to crush an entire rebellion in a matter of seconds.

However, the foxian general wasn't sure of this situation. "I don't know exactly, Jing Yuan. While I'd be up to deal with that trouble at the Shackling Prison, there's also this question of Jiaoqiu that's troubling me. I feel that we should also look for hi-uh?" Feeling the vibrating in her pocket, Feixiao took it out to see the notification she received, her face getting surprised when she saw it was none other than Jiaoqiu who had messaged her.

'Hi, General Feixiao! Sorry for not being there at the moment! An old lady felt ill as I was strolling around the Luofu for ingredients. Now I'm helping her on her way back to home. So I will arrive to the party there a bit late. Sorry once again!'

"Jiaoqiu just sent a message?" Feixiao speaked in disbilief, even making Moze a bit suspicious.

"Let me see, General." The assassin said as he went to Feixiao's side, with her showing Moze the message before he too felt his phone vibrating. And surprisingly enough, it was also Jiaoqiu that had sent him a message, written a bit later from Feixiao's.

'Hey, Moze! I'm currently helping an old lady going back to her home. I'll be arriving a bit late due to it. Could you please inform General Feixiao in order for you to not get worried about me? Thanks!'

"Hm. Weird. I also received a message from Jiaoqiu just now." Moze speaked, showing the message he received to Feixiao this time. "While that wouldn't be out of character of him to help grannies, why did Jiaoqiu went out this morning to the city instead of just being here with us? It couldn't have been such trivial thing has missing an ingredient from his list, could it?"

"Then it appears Jiaoqiu is alright. That's a relief to know." Jing Yuan responded, having finally some news on the foxian himself.

"Yeah. Guess everything's fine with him after all." Feixiao replied with a sigh of ease, feeling a bit better that this wasn't a repeat of what happened some months ago. "Altough I think he could've told me he was going to shop beforehand. But no matter!" Looking a bit more up and with energy, the general of the Yaoqing looked to Jing Yuan. "I think I'll take a first time visit to that Shackling Priso-"

"Wait! It can't be that simple." Morte speaked all of a sudden, getting the two generals to look at him. "Something's fishy."

"Huh? What do you mean, Qiongqi?" Jing Yuan asked to his friend.

"I mean, think about it, Jin. It's one of if not the most eventful and important day of the Luofu and of your life. All of the planetships of the Xianzhou Alliance have their own problems and enemies to deal with. And you really think that in such occasion like this one, all that could happen to stir up some trouble is a mere prison outbreak?" Morte pointed out, thinking that this small problem could be bigger than they originally thought. "If it's truly that, then I fear we might be underestimating our enemies."

Pondering and reflecting on what Morte just said, Jing Yuan had a sudden realization, gasping lowly. "The other areas of the Luofu..."

"They're counting on us to put all the eggs in one basket." Feixiao said, realizing it as well.

"Because they want us to believe they're doing the same too." Morte replied, insightful. "When in actuality, their plans could go well beyond a prison outbreak. As if it's purpose was to be..."

"A diversion." Jing Yuan finished the line, understanding where his friend was coming from. "It wouldn't be a first that an enemy had tried to outsmart me like that. Good observation, Qiongqi."

"Just making sure no one rains on your parade today." Morte replied, smilling to the general while scratching a bit one of his sideburns.

Acheron wasn't much impressed with the observation Morte did. He had already demonstrated on previous occasions that despite his jerkish, simple mindset, Morte had a great ability to rationalize and analyze situations. Thus, this was no surprise to the Self-Annihilator who was already aware of the man's intelligence even if he'd act ignorant most of the times.

"Like during the Wardance, we mustn't let the people go into panic. Everything should continue to go on smoothly and normal despite this minor setback for the sake of their well-being and happiness." Jing Yuan stated. This was an important day that the Luofu had been preparing during weeks after all. The dissapointment from the population would be immense if he were to cancel it all of a sudden.

"What do you want us to do, General?" Yanqing asked to Jing Yuan, awaiting orders, ready to help in any way possible.

"For start, you and Yunli can go patroll the streets of the various areas of the Luofu while the cerimony is yet to begin." Jing Yuan replied, giving a task for the duo to do. "While it isn't the same thing as fighting inamtes of the Shackling Prison, is sill important for the people's safety. Make sure to search every area. If you find something suspicious connected with the riot at the prison, report back to me."

"Understood, General!" Yanqing gestured, quick to turn around and about to leave the room. "I'll be on my way then!"

"WE will be on our way!" Yunli said, fastly accompanying Yanqing to the exit. "Don't forget that I'm also in this!"

"So try not getting left behind!" Yanqing threw a jest at the girl, secretly being okay with Yunli being assigned with him.

"Hphm! You're one to talk!" Yunli responded a bit angrily, but deep down also having get used to Yanqing's banter, kinda of enjoying his company.

Watching the two young swordsmen leaving the Seat of Divine Foresight, Feixiao wondered what she would be doing in this. "If I won't be going to the Shackling Prison, then who will we sent to help crush the riot?"

A question that Morte smirked with glee. "Oh, I do have a strong candidate in mind for that." Turning around, the man snapped his fingers and pointed at Acheron that was standing on the side. "Acheroni, you're up!"

"Uh? You want me to go to the Shackling Prison?" Acheron replied, not having expected the conversation to reach out to her. Not that the Self-Annihilator would refuse to help out the Luofu with this problem. She just thought Jing Yuan would tell her something first rather than being Morte with that initiative.

"Did I speak a foreign language per chance?" Morte lowered his arms as if Acheron had made a dumb question. "Of course I want you to go there!"

Jing Yuan wasn't so sure on the other hand. "But she isn't familiar with the Shackling Prison, Qiongqi."

"She doesn't need to." Morte said, his smirk still standing as he stared to his friend. "Believe me when I tell you that this girl here can end entire waves of enemies in a matter of seconds, Jin. Acheroni alone is worth an entire army in a way that more backup won't be needed." That alone made Jing Yuan pondered about it.

Not only him but Feixiao as well. "Well, considering how easily she andled both Moze and Xueyi-I-I mean, sorry! Didn't meant to put it like that!" The general of the Yaoqing apologized sheepishly to the two mentioned, having shortly forgotten that they were present in the room.

"It's okay. I myself would also recommend Miss Acheron to help us at the Shackling Prison." Xueyi replied with a favourable opinion on the Emmanator of Nihility. "Having seen her desplay of abilities yesterday, I'm more than convinced that she could indeed be of great aid, Generals."

By the way Xueyi requested it to the two generals, Acheron was most certain that the mission she went on with the judge yesterday must have left a good impression of the Self-Annihilator on her.

"Hmm, if even my own servants are telling me to, I think I'd be a fool to deny it otherwise." Jing Yuan replied, coming to a decision as he turned around to look at Acheron. "Miss Acheron, I know it must be a bother to demand of a guest to partake in Luofu's affairs, much more so in a day like this. However, I once again solicit for your help."

"No worries, General. You've welcomed me at your residence with kindness and told me about the whereabouts of one of my people. I'd be heartless to not return back those favours." Acheron responded cordially, being more than willing to help Jing Yuan and the others with the riot at the Shackling Prison. "Do consider my sword ready to fight for the Luofu in this instance."

Jing Yuan smiled solemnly at Acheron's affirmation. She knew how to speak well. "A pleasure to hear it so, Miss Acheron."

"And remember: You're going to fight some violent inmates in a prison. So whatever happens, you have a total valid excuse to kill!" Morte told to her happily, doing an 'okay' sign with his hand.

Acheron frowned at him. "I doubt I'm allowed to do tha-"

"Oh no, you are." Jing Yuan responded immediatly. "You do have authorization to kill prisoners who begin riots at the Shackling Prison."

"Wait, seriously?" Acheron responded a bit surprised.

"Majority of its inmates are violent, maniacal evil-doers that if left out, won't waste opportunity to harm and kill innocents." Xueyi explained. "And those are usually the ones who start the riots."

"Then does that mean that almost all of the Shackling Prison prisoners are on life sentence?" Acheron made another question about the place she was about to go.

"Affirmative. We never plan for those inmates to get out one day, fated to rot as karma for their own sins. Forever." Xueyi speaked with artificial coldness, giving the glimpse of an idea to Acheron how damnating the Shackling Prison was for the evil and ruthless.

"Yet here's one that got out!" Morte cheerfuly said with a hand up.

"Unfortunately..." Acheron said under her breath. She imagined where she would be right now if Morte stayed in the Shackling Prison to this day as an inmate.

"That was a special occasion. Those can happen." Jing Yuan replied to Morte's comment, trying to hide a bit of his shameful smile for having imprisoned the person who would be a great friend of his one day. "Eitherway, Xueyi. Miss Acheron. I and the rest count on both of you and the others at the Shackling Prison such as Miss Hanya, to subdue this prison riot before it can get into a more drastic level."

Xueyi nodded with dutifulness. "Understood, General! We will already be on our way there!"

"And you already know what to do, Acheroni." Morte told to Acheron before she left. "Cut and slice like always."

"Don't even need to tell me." Acheron responded nonchalantly, cutting things and enemies down having become as natural to her as breathing.

"But it's always good to remind it. Don't need to hesitate in a place like that." He smiled a bit eagerly to the Self-Annihilator. "You might even put on a show while at it."

"..." Listening carefully to Morte and Acheron's interaction, the man's words were a thing that worried Moze. In the assassin's mind, why would Morte appoint Acheron to go to the Shackling Prison instead of a person that knew more about that place? Technically, the two were travelling companions, Moze reminded. Then if he suspected that Morte was up to no good, then Acheron was..."Wait!" Speaking a bit louder, the assassin got everyone else's attention as he stepped closer to the group. "I will be going to the Shackling Prison too. More help might be necessary."

"Wow! You're actually volunteering yourself, Moze? That's rare." Feixiao said, pleasently surprised. "Normally, you would dissapear into the shadows, having already taken a decision of your own."

"Yeah. But this time I decided to speak out of transparency. We never can too sure where danger might be lurking." Moze said before giving a distrusting stare to Acheron in front of him.

Acheron for her own stared a bit puzzled, wondering why exactly he was gazing at her like that. Morte meanwhile gave a contemptuous brief smile to Moze while lightning up a cigar, the assassin not noticing.

"Eitherway, I'm going with both of you if you don't mind." Moze moved his head, staring to Xueyi.

"You're welcome to. Let's just hope it doesn't end like last time." Xueyi replied, not opposing to Moze joining them but remembering how badly things ended when the two of them went to the Shackling Prison together for the first time.

"Yeah." Moze replied shortly before eyeing the exit. "Let's go then."

Heading torwards the exit with a new objective to accomplish, the trio of Acheron, Xueyi and Moze were about to leave the room.

"Good luck to all of you! May you return without any loss." Jing Yuan wished to the three.

Wanting to reply back, Acheron turned around. "We will make our best for it, Gen-" But as her head looked up to stare at Jing Yuan, the General was gone. Every single soul inside the room was gone. A room that was now a blazing inferno, full of wreckage and flames. Everything destroyed and the ceilling completely gone. Its vanishment, led the Emmanator of Nihility to have a view of the sky. Red, hot and dooming, with nothing but smoke and ashes. And the starskiffs and ships? Falling and burning from the skies, like thousands of birds that were dying without their wings. An apocalyptic future of the Luofu. A bad omen perhaps?

And like before, Acheron wasn't sure that what she was staring at, was real or not.

"I sure hope so."

"Huh?"

Blinking her eyes, Acheron suddenly found herself in back to normal. To reality. The Seat of Divine Foresight still there, immaculate. General Jing Yuan and the others present, much to her confusion. "Eh? Everything's normal again?"

"Do go forth now." Jing Yuan told to Acheron, not noticing the confusion in the Self-Annihilator at that moment.

"Uh...Yes. I will, General." Acheron quickly composed herself and respectfully gestured to the general of the Luofu before reaching torwards Xueyi and Moze at the exit, leaving the room with them. But once again, questions arised in her mind about the vision she saw. "It was just like that time in Belobog too..."

Seeing them leave, Feixiao turned around to Jing Yuan. "And what do I do? Y'know I don't really like to stay here doing nothing as problems are happening, Jing Yuan." She crossed her arms, her fox ears twitching. "I might go to the city as well to inspect if there's any trouble about to happen there alongside the kids."

"As much as I'd be grateful for you to do that, the presence of a general amidst the crowd in a day like this could spring up some bad feeling on the population that there's something wrong going on the Luofu." Jing Yuan told to his companion it wasn't that simple. "Much more so when they expect to see you at the stage nearby me during the ceremony's procedure."

Not even having that in mind until Jing Yuan brought that up right now, Feixiao showed some clear dissapointment in her face. "Then I'll have to stay in here this time around..."

"I fear so." Jing Yuan replied sadly but trying to be positive nontheless. "However, if it's just the prison outbreak in the end, we won't have to worry much about the ceremony being at stake. Also, from the moment we arrive for it in the middle of the city, our enemies surely won't be fool enough to act with two generals of the Xianzhou nearby. Let's trust on the work from the others to resolve this problem for now."

"That and get ready to eat lunch!" Morte said, standing between the two generals, putting both hands in each's shoulders. "Or are we already forgetting that?"

Jing Yuan chuckled at his friend's good mood. "Of course not, Qiongqi! At the private garden and everything!"

"With all the delicious food and drink that has been prepared for us!" Morte said with some excitment, turning his head to Feixiao. "What do you say, Fox Ears? Ready to go at another round? You almost beat me yesterday!"

Initially still disponted about not getting to do any action, Feixiao let a smile escape her lips as she remembered her drinking game with Morte yesterday alongside Jing Yuan. Bastard was good at it. "Heh. I was tired and full yesterday. Now you'll see what an iron liver truly is like!" She said, putting away Morte's hand while smiling at him with confidence.

"Good answer!" Morte grin slightly. "Jin, lead us the way!"

"Up to it!" Jing Yuan replied as he begun to guide Morte and Feixiao to the private garden at the top of the palace where the three would have their private banquet shortly before Jing Yuan's trip to the city for the cerimony.

As they were walking however, Feixiao still sent a message to Jiaoqiu. Wanting to warn him about the possible problem going around.

'That's nice to hear, Jiaoqiu. However, do be careful. There's currently a riot occuring in the Shackling Prison and we suspect other problems may start as well on the Luofu to hinder the ceremony. Please, stay safe!'

And Morte, he really couldn't be more happy with that disguising smile. Everything was falling into place.

At the middle of the bridge in Central Starskiff Haven, Sushang had woke up early in the morning. Staring at the thousands of starskiffs and ships floating up in the air and all coordinated for the ceremony, the lonely Cloud Knight was with the phone in her hands, scrolling through the pics of her with Guinaifen. Today was the day. She had to muster her courage if she wanted to redeem herself with her friend. "Focus on it, Sushang! You have to find it in yourself!"

"Oh! Morning Sushang!"

"Hm?" Turning around, Sushang saw that the one who called her was none other than Huohuo, the small foxian walking up to her in the bridge.

"H-Hi Huohuo! Didn't expected to see you here." Sushang greeted back her friend.

"Neither I did you." Huohuo replied with a friendly smile. "So? It's really happening, isn't it? You and Guinaifen will make amends?"

"Yeah. That's what I want to." Sushang smiled back to her friend before frowning a bit sadly however. "But...I don't know if Gui will also want the same." She rested her arms on the bridge's railling while sighing. "I have to look for her first to apologize, not even knowing if she wants to see me or not."

Letting Sushang speak, Huohuo face's brightened up a bit, as if she expected the Cloud Knight to just say that. "Eh. Well...about that." She scratched the back of her head a bit shyly.

"What is it Huohuo?" Sushang pondered why the small foxian was looking happy.

"Guinaifen sent me a message during yesterday's night." Huohuo revealed. "She told me she also wants to apologize to you, Sushang."

That was enough to fill the Cloud Knight's entire body with vitality, feeling her world getting more colerful and hopeful. "She-She really said that? Guinaifen really wants to..."

Huohuo nodded with her head, showing the message Guinaifen sent her to Sushang. "Yep! Guinaifen wants to meet you near the Sky-Faring Comission! She wants as badly as you, Sushang!"

With the emotions coming up, Sushang couldn't help but start crying with joy. "Oh Huohuo...!" Without warning, Sushang hugged Huohuo, much to the small foxian's startle.

"E-eh!? Are you alri-" Yet, Huohuo wasn't even allowed to finish as she was then dragged by an exuberant Sushang. "H-Hey!"

"I couldn't be any better, Huohuo!" Sushang exclaimed happily as she runned through the area, full of people continuing to celebrate the festival as they eagerly awaited for the start of the prelude to the ceremony that was about to start in a few seconds. "Now let's go meet with Guinaifen at the Star-Fairing Comission!"

"Go check the prisoners at the bottom levels. Do make sure that none of them are at danger from escaping their cells."

At the control center of the Shackling Prison, one of the judge from the Ten Lord-Comission, Hanya, was instructing the guards and wardens of the prison to each position and tasks, trying to restore the order inside the prison that had been lost overnight.

"Sister! I've arrived with help!" Coming from behind, Xueyi walked into the area, calling out her sibling while bringing Acheron and Moze behind her.

"Good to see you back with the support, Xueyi." Hanya replied, looking to the two her sister brought. "Hm, the reclusive assassin from the Yaoqing. And-"

"Acheron. One of General Jing Yuan's recent guests." Acheron introduced herself to the other judge.

"Yes, I've heard about you before, Miss Acheron." Hanya replied. "My sister has talked about you to me previously. And as much as I'd like to get to know you, unfortunately, time is not the most appropriate as of now." She lamented, dangling a paintbrush between her fingers.

"Right. We have to save that for later." Acheron was of the same opinion. And while she couldn't help but spot the noticeable eyebags Hanya had, wondering how exhaustive and tiring her job must be, the Self-Annihilator understood that too would also have to wait to be adressed.

"How's the current situation on the lower levels?" Xueyi asked to Hanya the development of things during her short absence.

"Not good. We're still trying to surpress the violent prisoners advances, but they refuse to go down, trying to conquer the Shackling Prison through brute force, step by step." Hanya shared the current information, not being very uplifting.

"Is it very bad?" Acheron asked to the taller of the two judges.

"While it could be worse, I can't deny that it isn't chaotic down there. Which is why we must put an end to it right now if we want the cremony of today to go smoothly." Hanya stated, turning around, seeming to head somewhere. "Follow me."

Doing as told, the other three let themselves be guided by her as Hanya took them to an elevator at the center of the control room, calling it. "We're heading to the uppermost level that the outbreak has already reached. From that floor down, we will be cleaning other floors that are infested with free prisioners as well."

With that being said, all four of them entered the elevator as Hanya pressed the button that would travel them to the aforementioned floor. During the elevator's descend between floors, the mood inside it was...quiet. As quiet as it could be taking into account the four people that were occupying it.

Looking slightly to the side, Acheron could hear Moze's breathing, seeming like the assassin was making an effort to endure this elevator travel. "Guess he doesn't like tight spaces with other people around."

With a distinctive ring, the elevator has reached its destination, opening doors as the group walked out of it and into the floor, being greeted to the frenetic battlefield that was occuring. Gunshots travelling from place to place, blades and weapons exchanging blows, wardens and the guards trying to hold back and vanquish the prisoner's violent riots. Like Hanya had mentioned before, a total chaos.

"Things aren't looking nice here." Acheron commented about the scenario.

"They sure aren't." Hanya said, stepping forward and ready to join the wardens and guards in this battle. "But if we manage to win this floor from them, we might begin a great momentum of taking back the Shackling Prison to us ag-"

"Then let's do the job already!" Moze interrupted the judge, already lunging ahead, fading his body into shadows, much to Hanya and the other two women slight resignation.

"He really does whatever gives him in the head..." Xueyi said, having already been used to how weirdly and unpredictable Moze was to work with as a colleague.

"Can't blame him here." Acheron replied, brandishing her sheathed sword. "We must join the battle too!"

Not even responding verbally, the two judges agreed as soon, all four of them also proceeded to go ahead and engage in the fight against the waves of enemies in the floor. Despite the danger, the numerical disadvantage and the rought situation their side was initially in, it didn't took long for the floor to progressively get cleansed from the prisoners as the staff of the Shackling Prison, alongside the huge help of the group of four, was able to push them back and knockout the enemies one by one, the inmates unable to do anything to change the tide to their favour when up against formidable opponents, specially Acheron.

By the end of the battle, the floor ceased from the chaotic fight, the wardens and guards of the Shackling Prison able to take back the floor's control to themselves as all of the violent prisoners that were currently on that floor were all now lyind defeated and unconscious on the floor, with some having also been killed. Eitherway, the first victory to retake back the Shackling Prison was achieved.

"The floor has been secured! We managed to repress the inmates outbreak at the uppermost level!" Xueyi reported, giving the battle on this floor as over.

"Make sure to restrain the alive prisoners and take them back to their cells!" Hanya ordered to the wardens and guards. "Also, search their bodies as well as the corpses in case we find any clue to how this outbreak started."

As her sister was speaking, Xueyi crouched down to restrain and body search an inmate near her. "About that, did you found out what caused the surveillance and security systems to go down during the night?"

"Not yet. A failure in the systems is most unlikely. We theorize that someone must have turned down the systems from inside the Shackling Prison." Hanya pondered to her sister.

"An inside job then? Guess it wouldn't be too far-fetched." Xueyi responded, finishing restraining the inmate.

"There will be a lot of interrogation we will have to do to these prisoners once this is over." Hanya said, already thinking ahead. "Continue the work, sister. Once we finish putting all of them in their cells, we will reagroup at the elevator to go to the level below."

"Noted." Xueyi nodded to Hanya as the former judge walked away to inspect on other prisoners.

On the other side of the floor, Acheron guarded her weapon, the job in this floor here done. But that didn't meant her guard wasn't up. "You know I can sense your dagger pointed behind my neck, don't you?"

Behind her back, Moze put his sharp dagger dangerously close to the Self-Annihilator's neck. "What are you doing here exactly? Why did he wanted you to come?"

"Who? Morte?" Acheron asked back, resulting in Moze to put the blade of his weapon milimeters away from her skin.

"Don't act oblivious. What are you two plotting? What have you done to Jiaoqiu?" Moze demanded.

Acheron however was legitemately confused. "Sorry, but why are you doing accusations all of a sudden?"

As the two were arguing, Xueyi had just finished restraining and checking on another inmate. Getting up, the judge was about to for another prison when she noticed something in the corner of her sight. "Hm?" Moving her head. she saw the glimpse of a figure seemingly watching them hiddenly at the entrance of the hall that connected the area they were in to others of the floor. Blinking her eyes, the judge catched the figure walk away and into the shadows. "Wait!"

Thinking it may be another free inmate, Xueyi decided to go after it.

"The way he looks. The way that man grins and talks. I've already seen people less suspect than your friend." Moze told to Acheron, thinking that she was trying to fool him into believing in her and Morte's innocence.

"First: that man is in no way friend of mine. Second: I too suspect him as much as you do, trust me. However, I really don't have anything to do with Jiaoqiu or whatever you think he might be doing." Acheron responded. While she could attribute Moze's accusation to the fact he could naturally be paranoid and destrusting of people, knowing Morte, there was a great chance of Moze's accusation of the man doing something nefarious at the Luofu being valid.

"Is that true? Then why do you follow him?" Moze said, his dagger still standing in the same place.

"I have my reasons to. Nothing of your business." Acheron replied to Moze, choosing to be secretive about it.

Reaching the hall, Xueyi tried to catch the mysterious inmate. "Come back here-uh?" But upon arriving there, she saw that the figure was nowhere to be see, only the dim lit hall ahead. Not wanting to give up on it, the judge cauteously walked into the hall, looking at every corner and side for the fleeting prisoner. And then...

*Snap!*

"?" Catching the sound of snapping bone, Xueyi came to an halt as she felt a presence to her left. Preparing her daggers, she turned her head around, ready to fight the prisoner into submission. Yet, what she saw, was nothing that she was expecting. "What a-..."

In that moment, the judge felt two things. Fear and trepidation. What she was eyeying at in the shadows, could not be the prisoner. Could not be human. From the reflection of the puppet's trembling and startled iris, she gazed at the sinister skull that could take all of her vitality away with that ominous, glowing, green gaze. And then, Xueyi stopped thinking.

"So you won't tell me why you stick around that guy, uh? More reason to suspect you." Moze replied, now pressing the dagger on Acheron's neck ever so slightly.

The Self-Annihilator didn't wanted to, but if the assassin wouldn't stop insisting, she might would need to knock him down. So Acheron tried to descalate the situation between the two. "Listen, I don't know about Morte, but I'm not your enemy. Like I said before, harming the Luofu never crossed into my mind. You're making a mistake."

"If so, then tell me how you two met at least." Moze pressured her, wanting to have more intel about Morte. "Who is he! What is he! If that man really says himself to be an alchemist named Qiongqi!"

"..." Getting a bit silent, Acheron pondered on something. If she would and could tell to Moze. After all, ever since the beggining, he always suspected of Morte as a terrible monster. And he wouldn't be that far-off. Not at all. Yet, the Emmanator of Nihility wondered what would change if she told the truth to Moze. What difference could it make if he was told about Morte's inhuman nature? Morte was friends with Jing Yuan who seemed to hold him in high regard. Trying to convince the General of what his friend truly was might be an hard task. Not only that, but the danger it could put Moze in and maybe the entire Luofu if she were to told the truth as consequence. Yet, if it was possible, Acheron wouldn't mind for at least another person in the cosmos besides her to know what Morte truly was. "Okay. I'll tell you."

"?" Raising an eyebrow, Moze didn't seemed too convinced at the start but eventually decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, taking away the dagger from her neck.

Facing the assassin, Acheron was ready to tell him. How she met the macabre man and everything she knew about Morte. "About Morte...There's a thing that you should at least know about him-"

"Xueyi!"

Suddenly, the two heard a shout from Hanya's voice in the distance. Looking at each other, both agreed that conversation would need to be put to a stop now, moze hoping that Acheron did not forget what she was about to tell him. Hurrying to where Hanya was standing, the duo arrived to the dim-lit hall. "Ah!"

Gasping slightly, Acheron was taken aback a bit as she, now standing next to Hanya alongside Moze, spotted the lifeless body of Xueyi lying down on the ground, her eyes totally devoided of any life. Even the assassin got a bit shocked at what he saw.

Not wanting to assume the worst, Acheron still speaked to Hanya. "Is she..."

"Yes. She's dead." Hanya responded with some sorrow, eyeing her dead sister with despondency. "It happened again."

Moze turned his head around, slightly pushing his hood down, as a way to lament the misfortune that befall his temporary colleague.

"I see." Acheron also commented sadly. "However, Xueyi can't really die, can she? It was just her vitality that was gone, right?"

"Oh, so she told you about it." Hanya gave a side glance to Acheron. "Indeed, my sister is pseudo-immortal. No matter how many times her body 'dies', her soul will always occupy the next replica in waiting." Despite that, Hanya ended up sighing. "Nevertheless, I think my pain never gets used to her 'death'. This shouldn't be a way to life for her."

"One can only wonder when she can truly rest." Acheron replied, eyeing Xueyi's corpse. On one hand, she pitied the judge for never being able to grasp peace, even in death, having to fulfill her duty for what could last an eternity. But on the other, the Self-Annihilator felt that Xueyi herself was impotant for the security and peace at the Luofu, wanting her to find relief that as long as the place existed, so would she and her purpose to keep on living as one of its law enforcers despite the bleak loop her life was.

"Well, I'll set her soul back to the Hall of Karma for temporary repouse. She doesn't appear to have suffered any wounds which is strange..." Hanya said as she walked over to the dead body of her sister, gently grabbing her and putting a hand close to Xueyi's chest. "Anyways, she might take some long hours before-huh!?" Out of nowhere, Hanya's eyes immediatly widdened in shock and dismay upon touching Xueyi's chest. "No..."

"Hm? What is it, Miss Hanya?" Acheron asked her as she and Moze looked puzzled to the alice judge.

With terror in her face, Hanya could not believe on what was happening. She couldn't sense it. At all. "Xueyi's soul...It's gone."

"Hey! Watch where you going you air-head!"

"Sorry! In a hurry! Going through!"

"Watch out dammit! You almost made me drop my ice cream!"

"Excuse me!"

In the middle of the packed crowd near the Sky-Fairing Comission, Guinaifen walked through it in a rush, pushing the people that were standing there to witness the beggining of the ceremony's prelude, about to start at any moment, being only seconds from it.

They were all expecting. Enthusiastic. Smilling and joyful. This was going to be a memorable day for the Luofu. but whereas the population was looking for that, the streamer was looking for her reunion with Sushang.

"Crap! You really had to overslept, didn't you, Gui!? I just hope I ain't making Sushang wait for too long! And that Huohuo showed her the message! But I know she did! I know you're here somewhere, Sushang!"

"Hahahaha!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Hahahaha!"

From within the private garden of the palace, the trio of Jing Yuan, Morte and Feixiao had happily finished their drinking competition.

"Ehe, what you were saying about having an 'iron liver', Fox-Ears?" Morte chuckled at the drunken Feixiao.

"Screw off!" The foxian general giggled back, shoving his shoulder. "You beat me by luck!"

"That's what they all say!" Morte responded.

"With how much you two drunk, I'm even afraid all the liquor must be over by now!" Jing Yuan joked.

"Eeh? Why worried? You didn't even drunk past fifteen! We surely must have some left!" Feixiao responded, gaining a laughter out of Morte.

"Well, the people surely can't see their general drunk, can they?" Jing Yuan chuckled amusingly, looking up to the blue skies above. "The ceremony's prelude must be about to start at any moment now."

"I'm sure the people will be quite in the awe with the spectacle." Morte said as he then looked down to the banquet in front of them. The banquet Jiaoqiu had prepared, still untouched by the three. "Just like we will be with all this food here!"

"Wow! Jiaoqiu really went with everything by the looks of it!" Feixiao commented. "It's already putting water in my mouth!"

"I think I won't even need to dinner today with all this quantity!" Jing Yuan said, laughing alongside Feixiao and Morte.

Really, Morte really couldn't not laugh and be happy about it, hidding his sinister grin behind his cup while drinking.

"Truly, you won't need to, Jing Yuan."

"X-Xueyi's soul...But no...T-this can't be!" In denial and shock, Hanya pulled the corpse of her sister closer. "Her soul should be here for transport! It should!"

"Huh? So does that mean..." Acheron speaked with some dread as well, realizing the implication.

Even Moze couldn't believe it. "Xueyi is...really dead."

Hanya felt her world shatter. Despite having stated just now how Xueyi didn't deserve in an eternal loop like this, she still never expected the time would like this. Not having to see her beloved sister depart like this. "But is shouldn't...Oh Xueyi...Xueyi...Xueyi..!"

Amidst the beggining of the judge's sobbing, Acheron and Moze felt the ground beneath them tremble a bit. Not only the ground. The entire Shackling Prison was trembling. Immediatly, the two knew it couldn't be good.

"We have to get out of here!" Moze said.

Acheron tried to call Hanya out, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Miss Hanya, we need to-"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Hanya shouted enraged, not wanting the Self-Annihilator to touch her. The judge just wanted to weep and cry quietly, tightly hugged to the corpse of her sister. She couldn't accept it. To Hanya, Xueyi was still alive. She needed to still be alive! Hanya couldn't move on from it now.

Seeing that they couldn't waste time with convincing Hanya, Moze decided to take more drastic measure, walking quickly torwards the judge and grabbing her by the shoulders. "Sorry! But we can't afford lamenting-"

And then, the ground beneath Acheron crumbled, the entire hall starting to collapse. "!" It happened so suddenly that the Self-Annihilator didn't even had time to react properly, huge debris falling down with her.

"No!" Moze turned around but couldn't even try, Acheron already gone and dropped below, separated from the rest.

"Ugh! H-Hey! Step away, will you!? Don't you see we're trying to move here!"

"S-Sorry! She's in a hurry everyone!"

In the middle of the huge crowd, Sushang and Huohuo were also trying to navigate their way through, trying their hardes to locate Guinaifen, which wasn't an easy task. The entire place was full, thousands of people gathered in gazing up at the thousands of starskiffs and ships in the sky, ready to start the inauguration of the ceremony's prelude.

"Twenty seconds! The bell plate and fireworks will go off in twenty seconds!"

As the people announced to each other, Sushang and Huohuo were looking to everywhere, unable to spot Guinaifen amongst the crowd, much to the Cloud Knight's frustration. "Tsk! It had to be today of all days! We will never find Guinaifen in here!"

"Who am I? Luofu's biggest streamer of course! Now let me go through!"

"Ah! That voice!" Huohuo exclaimed as she and Sushang's hopes increased all of a sudden as they heard the familiar, iconic voice in the distance.

Turning to where it was coming from, Sushang was able to see her. Right there, in the middle of other hundred of people. There she was, her friend. "Guinaifen!"

Hearing the shout from also a famiiar face, Guinaifen lifted her head, her eyes looking around before spotting the Cloud Knight a few meters away from her in the middle of the crowd. "Sushang!"

"Before we start eating, do you have something to say on your special day, Jing Yuan?" Feixiao asked to her fellow general just before the three could start eating.

The General of the Luofu smiled. "Eh. The things I have to say are so many, that we'd never start eating if I were to say them all. So I'll only say the essential." He looked torwards Feixiao. "I thank you to once again be here present at such special event on the Luofu, Feixiao. I'm thankful for it today, for when you were at the Wardance and for many more occasions in the future. At this point, you are a friend to me than just a colleague."

Feixiao smiled foundly. "Likewise."

"As for you, Qiongqi." Jing Yuan smiled to Morte next to him. "To think you'd appear once again at the Luofu after so many years...on this day no less. It was if it was fate to be like this. You've done...so much for me at the start that a list wouldn't be enough to fill all of it. The advices. The moments we laughed, fought and spent together. It all helped me shape in the general that I am today."

Grinning a bit, Morte lowered eye contact. "Tell me something that I don't know already, Jin."

"No. I meant it seriously. I owe you so much for what my life is. Even if we never see each other again after this, you will always be remembered." Tenderly, Jing Yuan placed a hand on Morte's shoulder, giving him a smile that a general would only give to the people closest to him. To the ones he loved. "Not as my friend, but as my brother, Qiongqi."

"..." Taking in those words, Morte let out a smile slip into his lips. A friendly, also gentle smile. "Hm. May you live many years forward, Jing Yuan."

This moment, the coexistence and happiness they were having. The consideration Jing Yuan had for him. All of that, made Morte smile. A smile of cruel mockery. The General of the Luofu, couldn't be anymore gullible. Such heartfelt and and touching moment only made Morte wanting to see his reaction of what was next to come. How deliciously malignant it will be to see his face of terror and shock when reality sets in. During all of this, all of it, Jing Yuan had been none the wiser. And that on itself only made Morte want to burst out a laughter right now. But he had to hold in. Just a few more seconds. A few more.

In Belobog, the monster let that poor population scot-free. They were meager and vulnrable, already in a precarious situation. He took pity on them. No bells to toll. Eitherway, the man already knew that sooner or later, the wrath of a Lord Ravager would end with that feeble planet in some months from now.

But here at the Luofu? It was going to be different. Morte could ensue his spectacle. His true happiness. And all that he was waiting for, was the trigger. The sound of the bell plate.

For here, the bells would toll.

"Ghgn!"

Taking out her sword, Acheron sliced down the debris that had fallen with her, preventing to be hit by the boulders while on her free fall on the Shackling Prison. Acting and thinking quick, the Self-Annihilator used the wreckage to her advantage, leaping from boulder to boulder before jumping torwards an open window on the wall of the seemingly endless abyss of the prison. Landing there, Acheron found herself inside a small arena, taking some breaths, her mind racing a bit.

"The entire prison is collapsing...It can't be good. I hope that everyone at the Luofu is-huh?" Stopping from speaking with herself, Acheron felt a sudden chilly breeze forming in the arena, sending some shivers down her body. "What's this?" The Self-Annihilator asked to herself as she noticed something miniscule drop into her hand. "...Snow?"

From behind her, footsteps echoed, gaining her attention.

"We've been waiting for you, Emmanator of Nihility."

From a hidden place at the top of the arena, Luocha observed the battle that was about to take place with great expectation, Ruan Mei behind him, ready to take notes of anything data worthy she would get from the fight.

Pointing torwards the newcomer, Acheron felt whoever was stepping out of the shadows, couldn't be friendly. "Who are you?"

"The sword that will test your worth."

Speaking quietly and with lethal cold, the legendary swordswomen of ice stepped into the arena, slowly taking out her own sword. Her blindfolded eyes staring back to Acheron's.

"I, Jingliu, shall be your opponent."

"Ten seconds! Get ready for the countdown everyone!"

"Gui! I found you!" Smilling with joy, Sushang tried to run torwards her friend, relentlessly pushing through the crowd.

"Nine!"

"Haha! I'm seeing you too, Sushang!" Guinaifen laughed, doing the same. The two friends ready to reunite.

"Eight!"

"To you all, my friends!" Jing Yuan proclaimed, grabbing a piece of snack food with his hand and raising it in the air. "To more days like these for the Luofu and the Xianzhou Alliance!"

"Seven!"

Feixiao smiled joyfully. "To the glory of General Jing Yuan and the entirety of the Xianzhou!"

"Six!"

"Qiongqi..." Jing Yuan side-eyed Morte with a smug, wondering what he would say.

"Eh. I really don't have anything to say really." Morte grinned, the moment being nigh. "May this day be forever in Luofu's memory."

"Five!"

"Gui! I want to tell you- Move out!" Sushang tried to communicate with Guinaifen despite more people getting in the way, the noises making their voices almost inaudible

"Four!"

"I too, Sushang! I too want to tell you!" Guinaifen also tried to arrive to her friend, being almost there.

"Three!"

"Well said. Now then...enjoy yourselves!" Jing Yuan exclaimed, the three about to take a bit out of their food at the same time.

"Cheers!" Feixiao replied."

"Two!"

The two girls were almost close. Just a few couple meters away that separated them. That separated them from making peace to one another. It would be done. Their friendship would be restored!

"Hehe, Guinaifen!" Tears were starting to get out from Sushang's face, about to say what she had locked in her chest since yesterday. "I want to-"

"One!"

"Hehehe. Cheers."

*CRUNCH*

Words that Guinaifen was never able to hear, as right there, from the sky above, like a burning comet, a whole starskiff fell, crushing down where Guinaifen stood. Gone, under a single decimal of a second of the bell's sound, leaving a shocked and terrefied Sushang standing, speechless.

"Aah!...Ah...G...Gui...Guinaf-...*sobs*...GUINAIFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNN!"

"Time to raise hell."

Chapter Text

"Hm! These biscuits are really well baked!"

Jing Yuan praised the taste of the food in his hands as his teeth went for another go, crushing it.

"Shit! Shit!"

"W-What's happening!?"

"A random starskiff hit ours!"

In the skies, a pilot was holding tightly to the yolk of her starskiff as the co-pilot who went to check shortly their storage went back to the cock pit in distress and startle as the ship was obviously losing control.

"We're losing altitude! I'll try recov-"

Unfortunately, before the pilot could even try and stabilize the starskiff, part of her body and head bursted fatally, the hands yanked out of the yolk as the tragic outcome for that starskiff happened.

"The vegetables are also top-notch! Really gotta give some praise to Jiaoqiu later!"

Feixiao speaked as she broke in half a cucumber in her hands before also ripping apart a lettuce next to her.

"Aaaah!"

"What's this screaming!? What happ-what in Lan's...?"

Reaching to the control room of the ship, a maintainance worker came across a chilling and terryfying scene as he gazed at the mutilated and disfigured corpse of the commander on the floor.

"T-THE COMMANDER IS DEAD!"

Between the chaotic panic that had installed within the command room, the worker stared briefly to the windshields of the ship, noticing already too late that it was going in collision with another flying ship.

"Crap! Someone grab the-"

And the two vehicles exploded upon contact, losing all control possible as the smaller ships and starskiffs that were nearby also begun to go haywire, crashing and colliding into each other.

Soon, the skies of the Luofu turned chaotic.

And both generals were none the wiser.

"So, Jin. Any women lately?...Men?" Morte made a question to Jing Yuan as they talked and eat.

"You're kidding? This guy doesn't even try getting someone with his spare time!" Feixiao responded instead, pointing to Jing Yuan with her thumb while joking.

"H-Hey now!" Jing Yuan responded, chuckling. "Why is my private life being brought up like that?"

They all laughed, continuing to devour all the meals that were there for the taking.

Jing Yuan and Feixiao, out of happiness and joy of the moment. Morte...out of a cruel evil disguised behind the laughter.

"Yes. Keep chatting."

The skies, turned red.

"Left! I said to turn left dammit!"

"Crap! We're going to-"

Filled with explosions that were neither of fireworks nor celebration.

"Party and enjoy every second."

And in no time, the sky begun to crumble and fall down, all its ships and starskiffs descending and crashing like comets.

"Hm? Oi! Isn't that thing falling down a-..."

"RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! THE ENTIRE AIR TRAFFIC IS FALLING DOWN ON US!"

On the ground, chaos was also installed as the people panicked and screamed around as soon as the first stairskiffs hit right at the moment of the bell plate's toll.

"Savour it."

Flames erupted and buildings collapsed. Everyone on the city fleeing in dispair and fear as they tried to cling hardly to their lives.

"Commemorate it."

What was bound to be an historic, eventful and memorable day on the Xianzhou Luofu's history, it would indeed be one.

Not out of cherishment.

"Admire it."

But out of tragedy.

"Drink and eat till your hearts content!"

And Morte? Couldn't be more thrilled with the unfolding of the situation.

"The spectacle is only just beggining..."

"G...Guinaifen..."

Amongst the entire occuring mayhem and havock that had befall onto the Starfaring Comission, the desolated and shocked Cloud Knight stood still, her mind not quite yet comprehending what just happened. That her friend was...

"No. No that can't be...You-You were..." Sushang couldn't understand. She couldn't believe it. It was all just so sudden and short. In one second, Guinaifen was there, smilling, waiving and running torwards her. Only for the next one, she'd be gone as one of the first starskiff fell down onto the crowd. Her brain couldn't quite register. Sushang couldn't accept it.

"Guinaifen you..."

"...Sushang..."

Despite the crashed and burning starskiff.

"Y-You didn't..."

"Sushang."

Despite the blood stained on the ground.

"There's no way that you..."

"Sushang!"

Despite the muffled yells of terror and panic from the running people in her ears. The tears of denial in her eyes.

"There's no way that you really die-"

"SUSHANG!"

Snapping out of her startled and shaken state, Huohuo grabbed her friend by the pulse, trying to pull her away from the now danger zone, ships and starskiffs still falling from the sky. "This isn't safe here, Sushang! We need to find a shelter from this quick!"

"Huohuo..!" Having her mind back to reality, Sushang realized what chaos was exactly happening around them. How all of the Luofu was in a calamity of catastrophic porpotions, flames and destruction everywhere. Nontheless, she still stared to her small friend with tears in her eyes, having heard what the foxian said. "But Gui...We can't leave her here-"

"We have to!" Huohuo exclaimed, kicking in some sense into Sushang even if her heart ached at shouting that. "There's..." Turning her head painfully around, some tears of harsh acceptance rolled down her eyes, reluctantly staring at the fallen starskiff before closing her eyes and acknowledging the truth. "There's nothing we can do to help her! So come, Sushang! We need to leave now!"

"!...Y-Yeah." Having also to come with the terms of the cruel reality that was just happening and the fact Guinaifen was no more, Sushang tried to move forward. To cope with it.

Helping the Cloud Knight into coming to her senses and leaving her stunned state, Huohuo grabbed Sushang by the hand and dragged her, hurrying the two to leave the area. "Follow me!"

Howbeit, Sushang still felt that none of this could be real. That both her physical and mental world were collapsing. The screams of terror. The fires and devastating wreckage of the Luofu. The blood of the injured and dead. Guinaifen being...It couldn't be! All of this couldn't be true, Sushang thought to herself. But looking behind, there was the grim confirmation of the burning and crashed starskiff, hitting right where Guinaifen and many others once stood. It was true. It was all real.

Sushang stared at it for some good three seconds, still shaken, before turning her head away from such tragic scene, dawning on her that truly, there was nothing she could do for her friend now. "I'm sorry, Guinaifen..."

Leading the way, Huohuo came to an abrupt halt. "Oh no! The path ahead is blocked!" She exclaimed in dread as in front of the two, laid a ship that had also fallen from the sky, blocking their way forward, trapping Huohuo and Sushang inside the zone of Central Starskiff Haven. Cornered by the flames and debris around them, there really seemed there was no escape for the two girls, this probably going to be their end as more ships were falling from the skies. "What are we gonna do!?"

"HEY!"

"Huh?" Turning her head around, Huohuo didn't even had time to see who had shouted torwards them as she and Sushang were both tackled and grabbed by someone that charged torwards them, leaping off the area into the ground below just as another starskiff fell, avoiding the two from being crushed by it.

Having escaped certain death, the two girls were brushing off some of the pain from the fall they took as they tried to see who their saviour was.

"Tsk! A freaking end of the world event is happening on the Luofu and you two just stood there like some dumb ants!? Is any survival instincts inside those heads of yours non-existent?" Getting up from the ground, the frustrated Skott rebuked the two.

"M-Mr Skott!? You saved us?" Huohuo reacted astonished alongside Sushang, their recuer having been quite the unexpected individual.

"Of course I saved you! Or what? You're blind too now?" Skott said in his own arrogant snobbish way as he leaned some dust off of his clothes. "Great. This suit was also new and all..."

"But why?" Sushang made another question to the IPC official, never expecting someone like him would be of such selfless acts. If anything, a situation like this one would make people like Skott only think about their own survival.

"Why? Do you even need to ask why?" Skott speaked as if Sushang had made the most simple and dumb question ever. "My name and of the IPC will be dragged through the mud and hell if everyone discovers its official here in the Luofu was uncapable of doing something to help! So instead, I'll try and safe as many people as possible!" He exclaimed, his finger upwards. "That way, I will receive nothing more but praise out of this for my heroic deeds!" He smiled with aspiration, going from ear to ear. "I may even get a promotion!"

"Ugh, not even when doing the right thing that guy can be truly altruistic." Mr Tail commented on Skott's petty ulterior motive to rescue people as Huohuo and Sushang also stared at the IPC official with ashamed faces.

Yet, Skott himself wasn't so sure on the credibility of his own goal, hims smile fading and replaced with doubt and then acceptance, sighing. "Aah. As if my superiors would care about the good I'd perform now...They only pay attention if I end up harming the IPC's reputation." Cheering himself up, Skott took a deep inhale and exhale as he brought both hands on his hips. "Still, I need to give the perfect exemple of a leader to my own subordinates here if I want to yet have some level of respect!" Adjusting his glasses, Skott turned around to look at Huohuo and Sushang, both still on the ground. "Eitherway, if I recall it correctly, you two are figures of law here in the Luofu, are you not?"

"Huh?" Sushang was caught a bit off guard with that question as well as Huohuo. "Y-Yeah, we ar-"

"Then do your jobs dammit!" Skott shouted angrily at them, surprising the two girls even more. "If you are supposed to keep and maintain your own people safe then you better start doing it now! It shouldn't be my duty but yours instead!" He continued to reprimand the two, wanting them to do something. "As far as I know, there's still injured people around screaming and begging for help! So don't just stand there like a pair of fools and go do something about it instead! Do I make myself clear?"

And despite how jerkish and asshole he could be sounding, what Skott was saying didn't stopped holding some truth. In actuality, it helped them reminding the two girls of their positions as a Cloud Knight and Judge of the Ten Lord Comissioner on what they should be doing in a situation like this.

"If so, then great! I'm already tired of wasting my time here!" Skott said as he begun running ahead, the effort to make his own efforts recognized and admired ongoing. "Go and protect your people, morons!" He yelled, leaving Sushang and Huohuo behind in a safe spot from the falling chaos.

"Eh. But I have to admit that he's kinda having the right attitude here...more or less." Mr Tail said in reaction, still finding Skott's determination and will to do good to be somewhat endearing.

Seeing the IPC official heading off into danger, it made Huohuo felt something inside: a certain sense of determination. Getting herself on her own feet, the small foxian turned around to Sushang. "C'mon, Sushang. You know what we're gonna have to do, don't you?"

"I think I do." Sushang replied, staring back at her friend before looking down to her own hand on the ground. "Even if it hurts. Even if I never come to accept it...You wouldn't want me to be like this during such tragedy, would you?" Closing tightly into a fist, Sushang rubbed her own eyes from the tears that were forming inside. She was a Cloud Knight. It was her duty to protect Luofu's people no matter what. She couldn't think about Guinaifen right now. She couldn't, not when other people could end up like her. And Sushang wouldn't want that, seeking the motivation to go forward that Skott unintentionally spured in her. In her place, Guinaifen would certainly do the same.

So getting up as well, Sushang tried to put all the anguish and stress she was feeling aside to focus on what was more important. "Let's go, Huohuo! We must find and rescue as many surivers as possible and take them to somewhere safe from this mess!"

"Right behind you!" Huohuo replied, following Sushang as the two proceeded to head forth into the wreckage and debris around the area, proceeding to look incessantly for survivors.

"Ah! Help! I'm stuck! Please! Somebody save me!"

Inside the Divination Comission, the area was also getting bombarded with falling airships, prompting the people and staff from there to flee. Alas, one woman was being left behind as debris from a destroyed building collapsed on her, trapping her legs and lower body under all the rubble and debris.

"Please! Somebody save me!"

She cried and begged, tears running down her eyes as she thought this was going to be her end the moment a starskiff was descending, about to fall right on top of her. Thankfully, rescue did arrived.

"Swords, go!" Coming down from the rooftops, Yanqing directed several of his ice blades torwards the starskiff, turning the aircraft into complete ice and slow down its descend as the weapons made contact with it.

And running torwards the helpless woman, Yunli dragged her heavy sword behind, reaching just in time as the starskiss was a few meters above the citizen. "Yah!" Putting a lot of strenght in her arms, the girl swinged her entire weapon torwards the forzen vehicle, slicing it down to small pieces of ice, preventing the woman from being crushed.

"Here! I'll help you!" Yunli stretched out a hand for the woman as she helped her getting out beneath the wreckage as Yanqing approached them.

"T-Thank you! You saved my life! I-"

"No need for that now! Can you still walk by yourself?" Yanqing asked to the woman who nodded with her head. "Then go and join the others! Make sure to head somewhere safe!" He instructed her, both him and Yunli watching the woman do as told as she runned away from the place.

"I just don't get it." Yunli walked torwards the edge of the plataform they were in, gazing at the dreadful, apocayptic view of the entire Luofu up in flames and chaos. "Everything was all bright and cheerful for General Jing Yuan's celebration minutes ago! How could it have changed so dratically in that span of time?"

"I don't know, but certainly couldn't be just some few aircrafts with technical problems. I tell you that." Yanqing told to her as he too gazed at the scenario, how much it pained and worried him. "I should've known this festival was going way too smoothly until now! However, what really bugs me is how this came to happen. We didn't found any suspects or hints that could lead to a possible surprise attack on the Luofu during our patrol. So why come the Luofu be in such catastrophe?"

"There's certainly something more to this. Something that I don't like at all!" Yunli moved her shift to the palace way into the distance and atop of the city, her mind thinking of the worst possibilities. "What if..."

And if she was thinking that, so was Yanqing. "General Jing Yuan!" With a great concern and fear awakening in his heart, the boy was quick to turn away and begin to sprint torwards the exit of the place, much to Yunli's surprise.

"Uh? Hey! Where you going, Yanqing? Wait!" She also begun to run right behind him, accompanying his speed.

Yanqing didn't respond. He was too worried and hurried to. Leaping ahead, the boy and young swordsman landed both feet on one of his swords as he begun to fly and make way torwards the palace with Yunli right behind him, having also taken one of his swords. Moving and dodging from the falling starskiffs and other ships, only one thing was occupying Yanqing's mind. And it was a terrified thought that urged him to get faster to his destination. "General Jing Yuan's in danger!"

Meanwhile, on the upper levels of the Shackling Prison, Moze leaned over the hole that had open in the ground where Acheron had fallen right through and gone below, unable to have had a fast enough reaction to grab the Self-Annihilator.

"Shit..." He muttured between his teeth. The assassin hoped that Acheron was still alive. It would be a bummer for him to never know what she was about to tell him about Morte. But right now, that was the least of his concerns with the whole prison trembling and falling apart. He and Hanya needed to get out of there fast. "Miss Hanya! We have to go!"

Sadly, Hanya was still holding her sister closely, refusing to go. "No. I can't...I can't leave my sister behind!" No matter if Xueyi was truly gone, if no warmth or vitality was present in her body, the alive judge and sister wasn't letting the other out of her arms embrace. This couldn't be the last time Hanya would have interacted with her sister. Not like this "I want to give Xueyi a proper farewell..." She requested weakly to Moze, not wanting to leave her sister's corpse underneath all the rubble of the be-collapsed Shackling Prison. If her sister had died in this body, then Hanya couldn't simply discard it like so many others.

Comprehending that Hanya wouldn't get out of here if they didn't bring the corpse of Xueyi along, the assassin ended up respecting the judge's decision. "Alright! Hold tight then!" Grabbing Hanya with one arm, Moze proceeded to hold Xueyi with the other and begun dashing for the exit of the hallway they where in. Once having passed through it, the shadow assassin eyed to the top of the prison, aiming to reach there as more parts of the walls and bridges of the prison were collapsing. With the option of using the elevator clearly out of consideration, the assassin instead decided to jump from debri to debri with his shadow abilities, progressively getting higher while making sure to not drop both Hanya and Xueyi.

In pure adrenaline, agility and great effort, Moze was able to reach to the first upper level and top of the Shackling Prison after parkouring on the falling wreckage. Letting Hanya put her feet on the ground, the assassin then hold Xueyi on his back as both begun to sprint torwards the exit of the prison.

And once outside, travessing the entire Scalegorge Waterscape, the two realized that it wasn't only the prison that was in turmoil as they spottted some ships and starskiffs falling like comets way up in the sky.

"What a..." Reaching to the beach of the waterscape, Moze and Hanya stared in terror and shock as they saw the live image of the Luofu burning down and in process of ruin, as hundreds, if not thousands, of aircrafts were crumpling on it.

"What is even happening?" Hanya asked in daze before noticing a group of people arriving to the beach. "Huh? Isn't that..."

"Oh! Thank goodness you are alright!" Leading a small group that had fled from the Alchemy Comission, a distressed and panicked Bailu reached out for Moze and Hanya, the two also heading torwards the small and young leader of the vidyadhara.

"Miss Bailu! What's happening?" Hanya asked to her, seeing how frightened and shook the vidyadhara looked to be.

"I-I don't know! We were all ready to start celebrating the beggining of General Jing Yuan's ceremony at the Alchemy Commission when the ships in the air begun to f-fall down and crash on each other all of a sudden!" Bailu explained, tears visible in her eyes. "M-Me and Miss Lingsha tried to evacuate as many people possible! B-But then some of them were being left behind and-and Miss Lingsha went back for them and..." The small vidhyadra closed her eyes and sobbed, the moment having been very traumatizing for her.

Silently, both Moze and Hanya gave brief expressions of grief, giving their condolences to Bailu.

"You've done a good job." Hanya put a hand on the vidyahara's shoulder. "All the people you've brought...some of them are injured, aren't they?"

"Hm hm." Bailu cleaned her tears. nodding to the judge.

"Then I'll help you with it. Seems that the aircrafts aren't falling on the Scalegorge Waterscape but around it, making this a safe zone for now." Hanya noticed, looking to the ships that were crashing on the sea, the shockwaves of the impact being what's affecting the Shackling Prison. "However..." The judge said as she turned her head to look at Moze, the assassin handing her the corpse of her sister, once again in her arms. Closing Xueyi's eyes, Hanya looked to a small area of the beach to her right. It could be an appropriate place. "I need to do something first."

Seeing how lifeless Xueyi looked, Bailu immediatly understood what must have happened with the judge. "Ok. I'll give you time for it."

"I'll go ahead into the Luofu. More people will need help." Moze told to the two while staring ahead to the city. "And please you two better not be among the casualties, General Feixiao, Jiaoqiu."

"Be careful. The Luofu looks like a complete warzone now." Hanya warned the assassin before he went ahead. "For all we know, we could be under attack."

"I will give information if that ends up being the case." Moze replied, heading forward. "Stay safe you too." Having said that, the shadow assassin abandoned the beach, his body fading in shadows as he travessed the sea to go all the way into the Luofu, hoping to understand what was happening. For him, there could only be one clear answer for what was happening right now. "It must have been him! That Qiongqi bastard!"

"The sword that will test my worth, you say?" Standing on the small arena inside the Shackling Prison, Acheron now had come face to face with a new mysterious enemy, Jingliu, equally a swordswoman. The atmoshpere around them getting a bit cold. "Hm. Then it seems I've fallen into a 'trap'. Were you the one who orchestrated this entire riot?"

"..." The other swordswoman gave no answer. Just a freezing and chilling silence as her head did not move an inch. Neither did her blindfolded eyes, continuing to gaze at the Self-Annihilator with the same quietude, as if she was examining and analyzing her adversary with calmness.

A silence that Acheron didn't let go unnoticed. "Not of speaking much, huh? It's fine." Slowly taking in her fighting stance, the Emmanator of Nihility put both hands in the hilt of her sheated sword as she dragged it close to her face, legs well positioned and grounded on the floor, the left foot to the front and right to the back. Her gaze almost unblinking as she observed her enemy also getting her sword ready.

With the same smoothness, Jingliu turned her ice sword to point upwards and move it behind her back, her free hand laying low. Even in her apparent serene posture, there was something that the legendary swordswoman and her blade were hiddenly craving for out of this duel. Blood and violence.

"We'll let our sword do the talking." Moving forwards in a flash, Acheron dashed ahead at the same moment as Jingliu did, both women swinging their swords at each other, creating a strong shockwave of ice and thunder that scaterred across the entire arena.

From above, the abrupt winds reached to Luocha and Ruan Mei, blowing their hairs altough both remained indifferent and relaxed to it. Their eyes not wanting to be diverged from the battle.

As the two blades steel pressed hard against one another as sparks were made, Acheron and Jingliu took a step back before swinging and clashing at each other again. The movements of their swords agile.

*clink!*

Precise.

*clink!*

Strong.

*clink!*

And premeditated.

Only a few seconds in, and the two swordswomen duel was already of high-intensity. The combat and trading blows being so close that any minor slip up or mistake could end up being fatal. And at each strike of their swords, more fissures of electricity and cracks of ice would take over the arena as Acheron and Jingliu's concentration and focus were on its top performance, going along with their body reflexes. For they knew, despite having barely talked to each other, that this battle wasn't a simple sparring match. It was a battle to the death.

Deciding to adopt a different strategy, Jingliu leaped away from Acheron's attack and proceeded to jump in the air, charging up her sword before releasing a wave of cold and sharp ice slashes in the direction of the Self-Annihilator. Watching them come, Acheron was able to react fast, using the speed of her thundersteps to avoid the attacks as well as utilize her sword to cut down the ice slashes that would get near to her. Not stopping her run, the Self-Annihilator went all the way torwards the walls of arena and begun to sprint her way upwards as Jingliu's attacks still relentlessly chased her down.

Eyeing Acheron, the swordswoman of the Luofu timed the moment the Emmanator of Nihility would dodge her last slash before coming full speed torwards her oponent, her ice sword growing slightly bigger as she tackled Acheron on the wall with an even greater and more powerful slash, rupturing almost the entire area of the wall the Self-Annihilator was in, liberating a huge icy mist as soon as the attack landed, having seemingly striked Acheron.

"Hm, not bad for a start. Their levels for now look evenly matched." Luocha commented with an observant gaze and soothing smile on his face. So far, the battle was looking promising. "However, nothing is guaranteed when going up against a wild card such as an Emmanator."

"..." Ruan Mei didn't respond, opting to just observe in silence. Going into a conversation would only distract her from what was fulcral here.

As the icy mist dissipated after the clash, it ended up revealing Acheron came out of it unharmed, sustaining no injuries as she hold tight her sword, pressing it hard against Jingliu's own sword, the two back at the ground and on a temporary stand-still. Even if her opponent's eyes were covered, Acheron could tell Jingliu was staring at her with the same intensity she was staring back at the Luofu's swordswoman.

In coincidence, the two women ended up pulling their swords away, gaining some distance between them and in quick footsteps, charge at each other. Both blades acting nimbly and in a blink of an eye. In that split second, Acheron and Jingliu were now in opposite ends of the arena, the Self-Annihilator lowering her sword as she turned around to look at the sword master of the Luofu.

"You're good." Acheron gave some small praise to Jingliu's sword skills as a small cut appeared on her left cheek. The Self-Annihilator could tell that this woman was as lethal and experienced as she looked to be. This fight would certainly take longer than majority of her previous fights, as Jingliu showed to be truly a strong and above average opponent, her ice attacks representing well her stoic and cold expressionless face. Acheron pondered if the powers of IX would need to be used here. Taking into account Jingliu's technique and skills, it would be a certainty. However, the Self-Annihilator wasn't sure if she should unleash it now, an emotion inside her telling Acheron not to. "No. I want to enjoy this fight to the fullest."

As for Jingliu, she also turned around, staring back at Acheron. "Likewise." She said, a small cut appearing on her right cheek.

Both had suffered their first damage as well as landed their first attacks. And by no means the two had the intent of slowing things down.

"Here's some more for the birthday man!" Morte chuckled as he poured some more liquor into Jing Yuan's cup.

"Easy, Qiongqi! It ain't exactly my birthday!" Jing Yuan laughed, watching his friend do him the favour.

Drinking from her cup as well, Feixiao was enjoying the banquet as much as the other two so far, her fox ears catching the loud sounds in the distance. "Wow! The fireworks are giving their all, huh?"

"Ehehe. Yeah, the fireworks..." Morte cackled lowly, loving every second of this so far. And in any second soon, things would go even wilder for the three of them.

"It does seem like it." Jing Yuan replied to the other general, about to drink. "I think I'll go and see the spectacle after drin-hm?" Yet, upon moving down his sight to stare at the liquor he was about to drink, the general of the Luofu's vision ended up catching something that disturbed him on the liquid's reflection. Right above on the sky, the image of a starskiff falling. "What is-"

"GENERAL JING YUAN! GENERAL FEIXIAO! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"

"Hm?" Turning her head around, Feixiao saw the direction from which the voice was coming from.

Morte's lips hiddenly curved into an evilish sly smile.

Having climbed the entire steps torwards the top of the private garden of the palace, a guard had appeared in hurry, his voice sounding of someone hugely worried.

"Chaos has erupted in the Luofu! It's a tragedy!"

"What?" Jing Yuan responded, almost in disbilief as he and Feixiao begun to notice clouds of smoke beggining to take over the shiny blue sky that was gracing the garden, the party mood having been kicked out of the two generals.

With no time to waste, Jing Yuan and Feixiao left the several dishes of eaten food behind, heading immediatly to where the guard was standing. And upon reaching there, was the moment both Jing Yuan and Feixiao realized the nightmare they had been plunged into.

"No..." Speaking in desolation, the general of the Luofu's eyes widden in startle as he and Feixiao observed to the scenario of tragedy and pandemonium of the Luofu. Everything burned. Everything collapsed. A cataclysm of eschatological proportions. All that Jing Yuan worked for, all that his master and previous generals worked for to protect and build, gone. Milleniums of creation that were being ended in a matter of minutes.

"This...It can't be real, can it?" Feixiao muttured, staring to all the destruction in disbilief while Jing Yuan went for his phone, trying to get into contact with someone.

*bzz bzz*

*bzz bzz*

*bzz bzz*

Amongst the ruins of the destoyed building of the Palace of Astrum, the broken phone of Yukong rang. Lonely and unattended.

"Yukong? Please, answer the phone!" Jing Yuan hissed in frustration as he saw the call being left on hanging. Trying to come up with a solution to approach such problem, the general turned around to his guard. "Quick! Warn Marshall-"

But it was of no use, as the head of the guard partially exploded all of a sudden, killing him, much to Jing Yuan and Feixiao's shock.

"Hey! Are you alright?" Feixiao immediatly crouched down to come in the soldier's aid, her brain stil, trying to process the guard's quick and unexpected death.

"Ah. Beautiful, is it not?"

Turning around again, Jing Yuan saw none other but Morte, standing in front of him anf Feixiao as he gazed at the chaos with rather a bizarre normalcy. Looking ahead, there was the glorious and biggest ship on the Luofu, the Stargazer Navalia. Still surviving and keeping itself strong in the air. But not for much longer.

Taking a full slip from his drink, Morte let out a satisfied breath as he then turned around to stare at the general of the Luofu, placing the cup high as if it were to make a toast. "Happy anniversary, Jing Yuan."

*CRACK*

Smashing the cup with his bare hand, the entire Stargazer Navalia combusted in a huge explosion on the distance, bringing the entire aircraft down. The two generals could only watch in terror as separated pieces of the now destroyed ship fell from the sky. A symbol of honor and might of the Luofu that was so easily eradicated without second thought.

Agape, Jing Yuan tried to speak to Morte. "What...What's exactly the meaning of this, Qiongqi?" He asked, sounding a bit sternly. It couldn't be what he was thinking, could it?

"Aww, what's the deal? You didn't liked it? It was my special gift to you, Jin." Morte responded, trying to sound dissapointed. "I put a lot of effort in it as well, y'know-"

"This isn't funny!" Feixiao immediatly cut him off, taking out her battle axe and pointing it at Morte's direction. Her stare so furious that could be enough to kill. "Tell us what's happening here already!"

Looking at the foxian general a bit blandly, Morte went back to smirk, not minding having Feixiao's weapon aimed at him. "Well, I may not be an expert on gastronomy, but I am to believe that Jiaoqiu's food might had contained an untypical and dangerous ingredient."

Feixiao's furious glare fumbled for a moment. "W-What? Jiaoqiu's food? What are you insinuating?"

"Nothing." Morte replied, acting oblivious for a second. "You'll have to speak with him about that. However..." He took out something from his pocket, spinning it on his finger. "I believe it will have to be face to face."

Watching him throw the item near to her feet, Feixiao look down to see what it was. And it ended up being equivalent to take a bullet to the chest the moment she saw it, her eyes widening as she gasped. "That's...Jiaoqiu's phone?" Picking it up, there was no mistaking it. The back cover and wallpaper was identical to that of her fellow foxian and companion. It all made something click inside her mind in that moment. "Then thoses messages he sent earlier today...it was actually..."

"Yours truly." Morte gestured with his arms open. "But worry not. He gave it to me out of good will. That is, with some 'persuasion' into the mix."

Tightening her fists in rage, Feixiao's entire arm trembled as she violently punched the ground near her, creating a small hole. Her fury was palpable. "You scum..."

And Jing Yuan's whole feeling in this couldn't be much different, the general of the Luofu's eyes overshadowed by his own hair. "Qiongqi. Don't tell me that you..." He didn't want to believe in it. That a person that helped him so much at the beggining, that someone he considered to hold dear, a person that teached him some good advices. A friend. A brother. Was actually an enemy. "...planned all of this!" He shouted, staring in anger at Morte.

Being confronted with it, Morte cackled a bit as he shook his head a bit. "Ah, Jing Yuan, Jing Yuan. Only now you figure it all out. While I do am a great contributor in all of this plan, I myself am not acting alone. I have some 'allies' that are benefiting with all of this." The man smiled cunningly to the other. "I assume you can guess who."

Jing Yuan's gaze squinted at Morte, having a very clear suspect in mind.

"Also, you can stop calling me 'Qiongqi'. There never was a 'Qiongqi', in the first place." Morte said, wanting the entire truth to be revealed.

"So it was all and act from the very first moment?" Jing Yuan questioned him, not looking surprised despite feeling a huge betrayal deep down.

"Correct. Keeping me in the Shackling Prison at the beggining would have been your smartest decision to date. That's why we always believe in our gut feeling, Jin!" Morte taunted him, laughing a bit. "Thus, you don't have to feel bad anymore for having locked me there in the first place. Hell, those fifty years I spent there are so, so, but soooooo minuscule compared to the entire length of my life!" He put his thumb and index fingers close to each other while saying it. "I even got to meet some nice inmates! Like that one...what was his name exactly? Hooray?"

"Then the part of you being an alchemist of the Yuque. General Zhung Yao's letter..." Jing Yuan was having a mixture of emotions inside him. Anger, disbielief, betrayal, sorrow and desolation. Not only he was gazing at the home he worked so hard to protect and guide into periods of peace be completely destroyed to the ground, he also had to witness what he had considered his very first friend after becoming general, be the one behind it and a deceiver in truth. All of that, on a day like this that was supposed to be one of his highest moments in life despite everything that had happened to him in the past. "Was it a facade of yours too?"

"Eh." Morte's grin grew slightly. "You mean 'this' General Zhung Yao?" Exposing his chest, a green light begun to emerge from the grinning man as from his skin, bones and flesh begun to form as particles gathered, starting to take form of a human skeleton that then wrapped itself in flesh and skin. Once the process was finished, both Jing Yuan and Feixiao stared at it in stupefaction as well as a sick sense of dread.

"It can't be..."

"Isn't that..."

Appearing with his clothes, the deceased and of sick green skin General of the Yuque, Zhung Yao, materialized, crafted to Morte's chest.

"Pray tell, O Mighty and Wise general of the Yuque. What do you make of Qiongqi, the alchemist?" Morte asked to the reanimated corpse.

Opening his blank eyes, the elderly general begun to speak as per Morte's orders. "Qiongqi is an admirable and respectable within the community of alchemists of the Xianzhou Yuque! Never would he dare to tarnish our name nor our reputation by being affiliated with such nefarious people such as the Sanctus Medicus! Always a dutiful servant of the Reignbow Arbiter. In fact, the young man even had the honor of being one of my personal alchemists a few times! That as well..."

"..."

"..."

Jing Yuan and Feixiao just looked in total incredulity, speechless, as the zombified ex-general of the Yuque was reciting the letter he had wrote back to Jing Yuan all those years ago.

"...Thus, I am hereby sending this letter not only in response but also as request to free Qiongqi from the Shackling Prison, as he has done nothing of suspicious to be incarcerated! The General of the Luofu, Jing Yuan, albeit young in such matters, needs to approach such situations like this one with more composure and shrewdness. May this please be a valuable lesson to him, General of Xianzhou Luofu. Signed-"

"The dead geezer from his grave." Morte cut off the dead Zhung Yao, dropping the deceased general's body into the ground as he stared to the other two generals, liking their reactions, stepping on Zhung Yao's head. "you see it now, Jing Yuan? The heliobi attack back then, my arrival, General Zhung Yao's letter and death. It was all me, playing with you. And this? Just the culmination of all those things prior."

"...I see." Jing Yuan said almost in a whispering tone, lowering down his head, a scowl forming on his face. He truly had been tricked all this time.

"Hey now. Don't be that sad. If it serves as consolation, I let you know that I did enjoyed most of the time we spent together...mainly deceiving you, but still, they were worth enough for me to postpone Luofu's end." Morte told to Jing Yuan, the memories he had together with the general having still been somewhat amusing. Grinning, he noticed Jing Yuan was on edge. "Now, pray tell, O Mighty and Wise general of the Yuque: What is the name of the gullible general, that cluelessly brought ruin to the Luofu?"

Grinning wildly while under the foot of his 'master', the deceased Zhung Yao replied. "Jin-g Yu-an!"

"!" Having enough of the provocation, Jing Yuan summoned his spear in a roar of thunder and quickly hurled it at Morte, releasing immense lightning from it.

"Hehehe! At least give an heads-up, will you?" Morte speaked, appearing some meters behind Jing Yuan. "I mean, where's the fair-play?" He said right before placing his hand in front of his own face, blocking an incoming punch from Feixiao that fastly appeared on his right, able to tank the furious fist from the foxian. "Two against one is kinda unfair, no?"

"Unfair will be us not making sure that not even a single trace of your damn body leaves out of here alive!" Feixiao replied with rage, getting a huge need to end with Morte's existence just out of this interaction alone as well as the way he deceived Jing Yuan and her as well as the harm he might have done on Jiaoqiu and was doing on the entire Luofu.

"Uh, sounds like challenge!" Morte replied with eagerness as he pushed back Feixiao's punch, forcing the general of the Yaoqing to retreat, landing next to Jing Yuan. "I do love a good one!"

"Qiongqi- No...Morte." Grabbing back his spear, Jing Yuan looked at his enemy with fire in the eyes , the notion that he was once a great friend, shattered. "I, as General of the Xianzhou Luofu, could never have thought that you were trully that monstrous deceiver of a man! But I see now...that you are nothing more but a vile and abhorrent beast that needs to be eradicated!" Stating it, his spear electricity went haywire, summoning the giant Lightning Lord for the fight as Feixiao also brought forth her gun blades and released the turbulent winds around her. The two generals, only had one goal in mind. One target in mind.

"Therefore we, General Jing Yuan of Xianzhou Luofu, and General Feixiao, shall pass judgement on you and your wicked soul!" Jing Yuan exclaimed, both generals ready to fight and kill Morte with anything at their disposal.

And it was that disposition. That conviction. That hate, that pleased the grinning man. "Great." Morte said, amused. "Half an hour to you. Fifteen minutes to Fox Ears." Moving his hand, Morte went for his scythe, grabbing it. "I warn you however..."

Back to the fight between Acheron and Jingliu, the two women were still in close combat and keeping the same intensity of the duel with their swords. When one of the two thought to start having the upper hand, the other would immediatly turn the tables and so on.

Both agility and prowess of their swords skills were almost simillar, the winner of this battle possibly only being decided by the smallest of differences between their fighting styles. Or Acheron's release of the Nihility's power.

Coming to another clash, Acheron and Jingliu once again distanced themselves. Learning of her previous fight with Cocolia, the Self-Annihilator was well aware if she stood very near to an ice user like Jingliu, it could slowly freeze her hands and slow down her sword movements, giving open spaces for the enemy. A mistake that she wouldn't allow herself falling for it twice.

"A positive display of your capabilities thus far, Emmanator." Jingliu speaked for the first time during the fight, commending Acheron's skills as a swrodswoman. "Nevertheless, I feel that your blade is lacking on something more. I can hear how it yearns obsessively to be let free." She spoke, aware that Acheron wasn't fighting with her ace yet.

"Be careful what you wish for." Acheron huffed to the side, brushing softly some of her hair away from her field of vision.

"I can end this fight when I want to."

"...I can end this fight when I want to!"

Chapter Text

Inside the private garden at the summit of the palace, the two generals of the Xianzhou's fight with Morte had already begun under the apocalyptic red sky. In tag team, both Jing Yuan and Feixiao were now charging and attacking their enemy, fueled by the anger and sense of urgency to safe what still could be salvaged from the collapsing Luofu. And the first step for that, would be to kill off the main prepetrator that begun this entire catastrophe.

"Onwards with me, Feixiao!" Exclaiming, Jing Yuan gestured with his arm forward as his fellow general quickly sprinted past him and torwards Morte at the same time he launched his thundering spear to the skies.

Standing rather calmly but with a pleasentry smirk on his face, Morte watched the general of the Yaoqing quickly arrived him, dragging her battle axe behind her with one hand and wielding a gunblade in the other. As soon as Feixiao swinged her axe, Morte dodged rather swiftly by moving his body to the side and then proceeded to skillfuly use his scythe to parry the gunblade of the foxian just as she fired, the bullet going to the side.

Nontheless, Feixiao kept attacking Morte who mainly resorted to stay in defense and passively back away and move around the field, dodging and avoiding the numerous thunderous spears coming from above trying to pierce him while moving his scythe in such a relaxed way to parry Feixiao's slashes and shots, as if he was just doing some sparring with the generals.

Which obviously wasn't good for Feixiao's frustration. "This jerk! He keeps dodging every hit I throw at him!" Brandishing her axe, the foxian went for another go at it, aimed at Morte's face, but with the man heading back off his head just in time. "It's as if he foresees every move I'm going to make!" Trying a surprise, Feixiao immediatly did a roundhouse kick, hoping to take her enemy off guard.

"Trying tricks already?" Morte grinned softly as he simply shielded his face from Feixiao's kick with his bare fist, much to the foxian's upset.

"Ngh!" Aware, the Merlin's Claw caught sight of Morte's scythe fastly coming at her now that she was exposed, forcing the general of the Yaoqing to retreat just in time, the blade of the man's weapon passing some mere centimeters by, taking away a bit of the foxian's hair.

Coming in as soon as Feixiao retreated, Jing Yuan runned torwards Morte after giving his teammate the air support of his spear thunders. What was supposedly a great friend once, an actual enemy and monsterous deceiver now, being the reason why the Luofu bled and screamed more than ever before in its history. And to think such threat would come from a person he once trusted and relied on...needless to say, Jing Yuan was irate. "Qiongqi!"

Seeing him arriving, Morte chuckled enthusiastically as he prepared to put his scythe forward. "Ahaha! All worked up, aren't we, Jing Yuan?" Commenting, the two opponents clashed with one another, their weapons engaging in a fast and hurried close fight. "Maybe if we hurry up with this, we can still be just in time to see the big finale of this moribund wasteland!" With a tight grasp, Morte's scythe frinctioned with Jing Yuan's spear as the two men stared at each other in the eyes amidst the duel. Morte's sharp, cold, blue killer ones meeting with Jing Yuan's amber, determined and burning ones. "Aren't you itching to see it too?"

"Ghgh!" Feeling his feet being pushed back by Morte's pressure and weight on his scythe, Jing Yuan hardened his feet and stiffened them on the ground, persisting to maintain his balance while struggling against the enemy. "I might have been the one who sent you to the Shackling Prison, but I was also the one who freed you!" Fighting back, Jing Yuan managed to push against Morte's pressure, beggining to get theupper hand between the two's clash. "I trusted you!"

Flanking from the side, Feixiao appeared on Morte's right, attacking him with her axe. For his own turn, Morte manuvered his scythe in a quick second, halting the general of the Yaoqing's weapon while also still holding the general of the Luofu's spear.

Side by side, the two generals of the Xianzhou begun attacking Morte from both sides and in coordination. Despite that, Morte showed to still possess great capabilities with the way he steered his weapon, parrying and holding both blows of Jing Yuan and Feixiao.

"I talked with you!" Continuing to fight with the same intensity, Jing Yuan kept pressing on Morte until he could either find a breach or break the opponent's defense. "Laughed with you! Spent time with you!" Pushing on and on with Feixiao, the general of the Luofu's insistance and persistance gave fruit as Jing Yuan was able to momentarily stun Morte after another clash with his scythe, his defense now open. "I thought of you as a friend!"

"!" With short time to react to the 'inconvenience', Morte instanctively protected his face from Feixiao's axe with his right arm, taking the blunt hint just the second before also being shot in the zone of his heart by one of the foxian's gunblades as well as striked on the face by Jing Yuan's spear, both generals finally landing their hits on him, senind Morte flying some meters away before crashing into the ground.

"So why does all this havoc compells you!?" Jing Yuan shouted, proceeding to lower his spear, observing the clouds of dust ahead where Morte had crashed.

"You think we got him?" Feixiao asked as she also rested her weapon for a brief moment, but neither with their guard down, as they waited for the dust to vanish to get an atualization of their enemy's current status.

"What compelled me, you ask?" Amidst the fading dust, Morte speaked, his standing sillhouette revealing itself to the two generals, giving the confirmation that he was still alive. "Hm, that's a good question. 'What brought me to destroy the Luofu?', I think I can answer it for the good ol' times sake." Speaking, the man showed to be pratically fine despite the injuries, his head leaned to the back.

"Crap! He's still alive!" Feixiao growled as she and Jing Yuan went back to pick up their weapons.

"Imagine this: on your way home, you stumble upon this bug in the middle of the road." Moving his injured and sliced right arm, Morte brought the hand torwards the bullet wound on his chest, and without hesitation, plunged two of his fingers right into the injury, rummaging through it. "You decide to squish that bug out of boredom without much thought, because you think to yourself: 'Honestly, it's just a bug. What difference in the grand scheme of things will it make if I decide to spare it or not? What value does it have?" As he speaked, the wound on Morte's arm would heal itself shut, the skin recovering. "But then, you notice this bug is a bit different from the others. It can perform some sort of tricks here and there." Talking with all the tranquility in the world, the bullet engraved within Morte's chest was spat out without ceremony, falling to the ground. "Therefore, you decide to let it live for a bit longer."

"Not even a bullet to the heart?" Jing Yuan commented with some bewildered shock as well as Feixiao, witnessing how naturally Morte healed his wounds, akin to the mara-struck.

"Alas, the bug didn't had much to show beyond that. So you just decide to squash it nevertheless at the end for the lack of interest in it." With the chilling sound of bone cracking from the neck as he leaned back his head forewards, Morte gave an evil grin as the wound across his face that Jing Yuan dealt him was regenerated. "And just like the bug, the Xianzhou Luofu has lost my interest."

Having heard the explanation, Jing Yuan just stared at Morte, appalled. If he understood it well, then the general couldn't believe that the motive behind all of this, all this chaos and killing, could be so frivilous. "Then...you're saying that all the suffering you are doing to my people and home right now, you're doing it purely out of a vanicious whim!?"

"Hmmm, you could say that." Morte responded, rolling his eyes and head before staring back to Jing Yuan, smirking. "Simply, I thought - or rather- I decided that the time of the Xianzhou Luofu has come to an end for quite a while. Just bad luck that it had to coincide during your period as its general, Jin!"

"You monster! Who do you think you are to determine when is someone's time to die?" Feixiao exclaimed, pointing her gunblade at Morte. "Let alone that of an entire planet!"

Being confronted with such question, Morte looked at the foxian a bit seriously before briefly closing his eyes and smirking again. "Eh. I could tell you. But truly..." In an instant, Morte opened up his eyes, no longer being in front of Jing Yuan and Feixao, but instead, right next to them.

"What a-!?" Feixiao gasped in shock to the sudden presence of the man to her side.

"What difference will it make if you're going to die now?" Morte speaked with soulless eyes and a bland expression, his scythe quickly coming for Feixiao.

In alarm, Jing Yuan immediatly warned his colleague. "Feixiao, watch out!"

And just in time, Feixiao was able to leap out of the way as Morte swinged his scythe, causing hundreds of sharp of bone spikes to sprout from the ground and going all the way until the end of garden, knocking down and obliterating many trees and vegetation in its way. Even so, the foxian general wasn't able to escape from the blow completely unharmed. "Ngh! Dammit!" Landing back on the ground, she noticed a part of her jacket had been sliced up while her left arm had also suffered from some cuts of scrape, bleeding.

"Are you alright, Feixiao?" Jing Yuan asked as he stood beside her, spear in his hands while facing Morte.

"Yeah." Feixiao stood up, excercising her wounded arm, deciding to take off the jacket, not backing away from the fight. "Just some scratches."

"But you both still have some couple of minutes left! So we can still continue having our fun for a little longer! Unfortunately..." Putting the scythe over his shoulder, Morte stared at his two opponents with a chilling antecipation, ready to take this fight to the next level. "Warm up is over."

"Hm!"

"Yah!"

As all that commotion was still occuring across the entire Luofu, Acheron continued to be non the wise about it as Jingliu attacked her with sharp and fast movements of her sword, the Self-Annihilator responding with perfect blocks, both swordswomen feet dancing and moving non-stop around the arena as their frenetic clashes of ice and thunder went on.

Their fight had been on-going for about twenty minutes now, with no signs of ending nor the two fighters giving up. It was being a very close match that if neither the two opted to take things a step higher, it could be dragged on for a longer time.

But by no means, it was being an hassle to watch for Luocha and Ruan Mei, at the comfort and safe distance of the balcony they were standing on.

"Display of high reflexes reaction on the matter of 000.1 seconds. Sword style pattern and movement consistent with those of izumonian sword-fight culture. Array of thunder-like speed with neutrons of high density. Agile and athletic body in the peak of its form." Ruan Mei was pointing all notes of Acheron and some more during her battle with Jingliu. "So far, the Emmanator has demonstrated to be on the very maximum condition of human performance solely in the physical and responsive aspects. It goes without saying that the Self-Annihilator on her own appears to be a great combatant." And altough interested in what she was observing, the scientist and researcher of the Genius Society was still aware something was missing. "Nevertheless, it isn't her swordplay that we came to observe. I wonder if reluctancy is what's keeping her at bay from unleashing such power."

Luocha chuckled amusedly. "In that case, we just have to wait like we did until now. I'm sure the highlight of this battle will still come to us." He responded to his collaborator, the eyes of the cunning man keeping focused on the fight below. "Our associate knows of it very well too, spurring the opponent to use it. This is a matter of being patient."

Continuing to hit their swords metal onto each other, Acheron's mind by now had memorized it. Jingliu's movements and sword trajectory. Every swing and hit, it became more clear and foreseeable, the Self-Annihilator having already gotten the hang of it. The only true problem that remained was landing another hit on the ice swordswoman. Jingliu's reaction and defense was still as impecable as hers. Trying to find a small opening to attack her was revealing to be an hard task.

Every clash and hit. Every breath. Every heartbeat. All in the same consistancy of rythm.

"An heartbeat's rythm, hm?" Closing her eyes, Acheron emptied her void mind while still tanking and blocking the slashes from Jingliu, having them already memorized. And then, she pictured it. A consistent heartbeat and breath, flowing alongside the blood circulation, spreading through the entire body. Each strike, for each heartbeat. The muscles flexed at each stroke. At each stroke, the blood slowed down.

"That's it!" Acheron figured it out. Upon opening her eyes again, Jingliu was moving her arms, ready to try another slash. But anticipating to the swordswoman of the Luofu, the Self Annihilator moved quickly her sword into Jingliu's weapon, clashing with it before her opponent even striked.

"Huh!?" Such unpredicted action from her enemy got Jingliu stun for a single second. Which was all the Self-Annihilator needed, as she brought her sword down onto the other swordswoman flesh under a quick, lightening stroke.

"Even the sharpest of ice, can still be shattered away." Standing behind Jingliu, Acheron lowered down her sword as blood spilled out from her opponent's chest.

"Ghgr!?" Coughing out more blood, the swordswoman of the Luofu stumbled, losing her balance for a moment, her sword's grasp slipping through her fingers. Yet, Jingliu persisted even if weakly and injured. Panting, she slowly brought her own bloodied hand into her vision after dirtying it by touching the wound. And in that blood, Jingliu wasn't terrified. Rather, something else flickered and ignited within her. A sense of exhiliration, for Acheron was indeed a worhty opponent. "Eh. You do have indeed the maestry, Self-Annihilator."

Jingliu said, proceeding to remove her blindfold. "Now..."

Luocha's smile increased, aware of what was to come. "Or elevate the stakes."

"Hm?" Acheron's alarm in her mind immediatly went off. Turning around, the Self-Annihilator blocked just in time the fast attack from Jingliu.

"Let's see if you have the brutality as well!" Jingliu exclaimed, looking at Acheron with her wide, red blood eyes and crazed grin.

The heartbeats were erratic. The blood flow in a rush. The muscles hardened. The swordswoman was no longer fighting regularly. She was now fighting in a frenzy, letting the influence of the mara-struck disease kick in her body.

But Acheron didn't need all of those minor details to know. Just a look at her adversary's face was enough to tell: "She's fighting with no restraint!"

Back at the palace, Jing Yuan and Feixiao were now having an harder time battling against Morte who finally decided to be his turn to attack. And as well as he was defending and deflecting from all those hits, so was he on the offensive, manuvering and swinging his scythe around with quickness and unpredictability.

By now, many were the trees and zones of the garden that had been completely destoyed, having suffered brutal collateral damage from this fight. Slicing more trees down with no mercy, Morte was on the relentless chase for the two generals who were dodging and avoiding the attacks of their opponent's scythe in the best way they could.

"Fall!" Signaling with his arm, Jing Yuan descended the Lightning Lord's weapon down on Morte, cutting down several square meters of the garden in a violent but short thunderstorm.

However, a strike that revealed to be futile, as Morte jumped right into the Lightning Lord's spear and continued to advance before slashing him greatly in the chest and shoulder, temporarily putting down the Lightning Lord, much to Jing Yuan's shock.

"But how did he..." Never had he seen someone be able to put down the Lightning Lord with so much ease.

Landing back on the ground, Morte had barely put his feet on the floor that Feixiao already tried to jump him from behind with her battle axe. A formulaic action that Morte had no problem parrying.

"Every death that you caused here, I'll make sure you pay every single one of them with every wound on your body!" Feixiao exclaimed, her weapon hitting against Morte's scythe again.

"Ah, then I assume you dedicated that first one to your beloved Jiaoqiu." Morte grinned mischievously.

"Grr!" The words alone were able to throw off the General of the Yaoqing. And that was all Morte needed. As with a fellow swoop, he was able to disarm Feixiao on their next clash, throwing away her battle axe.

But even if dazed by the sudden lose of her weapon, Feixiao was fast to adapt to that fact and begun fighting Morte with her own fists and legs, having enough experience in brawls. And while dodging and blocking from the foxian's fast fists and kicks, Morte could still hear the sounds.

*thump thump!*
*thump thump!*

It was no wonder why Feixiao was so strong in her capabilities. Having a second heart, specially an heart like that, made Merlin's Claw an even greater opponent. Maybe greater than Jing Yuan himself. That was a problem. A problem that he knew already what to do.

Keeping throwing punches and kicks at the enemy, Feixiao fastly went for her gunblade and was about to aim at Morte who easily deflected the shot to the air with his scythe. "Now, Jing Yuan!"

"?" Reacting to Feixiao's shout, Morte moved his eye sight to the furthest of his peripheral view, instantly spotting Jing Yuan right next to him, piercing his entire spear into Morte's right side of the abdomen, seeming to have caught him off guard.

"Not so full of yourself now, are you?" Jing Yuan said with scorn before sending an entire electric charge from his spear down to Morte's body electrifying him.

"Agh!?" Being electrocuted and wounded, Morte's defense was down, allowing Feixiao to drop a combo on him alongside Jing Yuan, both the Merlin Claw and Divine Foresight unloading all their anger on such vile monster that tricked them. Bringing Morte to his knees, Feixiao saw the chance.

"Time to end this!" Slidding with her feet on the ground, the foxian positioned herself right in front of Morte, releasing the strong winds of the Hunt around her body as the path's symbol appeared on her back, envolving the entire arena inside a turbulent whirlwind.

"I venture forth to hunt."

Lifting up her body to the skies, Feixiao was ready to pass down punishment on Morte. One he would thoroughly deserve. "Go back to hell, fiend!"

Channeling al her anger. All her fury for the harm Morte had brought to the Luofu and its people. To Jiaoqiu. She unleashed her might.

"End him, Feixiao!" Jing Yuan shouted, wanting Morte dead as much as her.

"Always soaring...

Coming down like a shooting star, Feixiao unmercilessly striking Morte with six slashes of her materialized battle axe, doing every hit with as much intensity as she could.

"...forever triumphant!"

With Morte unable to even block and totally helpless, Feixiao went once again upwards, deciding to go for the killing blow in the form of a windy punch. Thus, she came down with the rage of a wolf and the calamity of a tornado.

"Victory is..."

On his knees, there was nothing Morte could do. It appeared it would be the end of him. "...Keh."

"...INEVITABLE!"

Crashing down on the ground, Feixiao's fist obliterated the entire area around, forming a huge crater on the garden as the violent winds took trees away, even forcing Jing Yuan to pierce his spear on the ground in order to not be taken by the winds too.

"This was it! It has to be!" Telling it to himself, the general of the Luofu got fully straight up once the agressive winds passed away as well as the smoke that had arised with the impact.

On the middle of the crater, Feixiao's overheated fist was still touching the ground, the foxian general on her knees, slowly lifting up her head. "It's done. This was as far as your terror went."

About to walk torwards his companion, Jing Yuan's body suddenly recoiled in shock, his eyes widening. "Ah! Feixiao...your arm..."

Puzzled, Feixiao looked first at him before looking to her other arm. "Hm? What is it about my ar-!?" Gasping, the foxian soon understood the terrified face of her colleague as she stared to her right arm. Missing and cut clean, with blood dropping from the wound. Dazed, the Merlin's Claw just couldn't comprehend how it happened. "But I-I thought..."

"As far as my terror went? But we're barely halfway through it."

"!" Sensing chills on her spine, Feixiao's heartbeat dropped as she felt the towering and looming presence of Morte behind her.

"Altough I have to congratulate you a bit for your effort. It was quite remarkable the strenght you put in all those hits." Morte told her with a simple smile, no signs of injuries in his body. "Alas, I feel little to no pain at all."

"Morte!" Trying to sprint torwards Morte at once to prevent him from attacking Feixiao, Jing Yuan was unfortunately stopped as Morte threw a slash from his scythe at the other man, pushing him some meters back.

Turning around, Feixiao stared upwards to Morte's menacing figure, genuinely confused. "B-But how did you..."

"Hm?" Staring back at her, Morte raised an eyebrow. "What's that face for? Wondering what happened to your arm?" He grinned then. "Fine. I can show you."

Tilting his head upwards, Morte brought a hand to his chest and sticked up two fingers on the other one. Opening his mouth, something was squirming and wriggling inside him. Little by little, it begun to peek out and exiting from his body.

First, the tip of the fingers and the fingers itself. Then, the hand. And finally, half of Feixiao's arm. All progressively and slowly getting out from Morte's mouth that opened up to unholy proportions.

A scene that could only be discribes as if it came out from an horror movie, making both Feixiao and Jing Yuan look at it with a mix of disgust and bewilderment that churned their stomachs, for it felt completely surreal from all that they had seen in their lifes before.

Grabbing the hand of Feixiao's cutten arm, Morte then pulled all of out entirely from his mouth, returning to a normal size and shape. "See? A little magic trick." Morte said with a tenebrous smile torwards Feixiao, dropping the arm right in front of her.

Looking at her cut off limb, Feixiao's eyes were trembling before looking up to Morte, having legitimate fear. Never before she had seen such kind of aberration before. "What...What even are y-ngh!? Grghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Feeling a sudden sharp pain in her chest, the foxian brought the hand to it and clench her chest, flinching on the ground.

"Feixiao!" Coming in, Jing Yuan threw his spear at Morte, making him back away from Feixiao as the general of the Luofu reached torwards his companion. "What's wrong?"

*thump thump*

As he was checking on Feixiao, both generals ended up becoming aware of a red shine emitting in front of them.

"Could this perhaps..." Looking at them, Morte hold an item on his hand. Spherical and pounding, non-stop bleeding and shaped like a moon. It was no item. It was none other than the Crimson Moon. "..be the cause of it?"

"It can't be..." Jing Yuan murmured, agape and appalled. It appeared Feixiao's arm wasn't the only thing Morte had taken from her.

Having a likewise reaction, Feixiao tried to weakly reach for her second heart, wanting it back. "How-"

"Too bad." Morte said, crushing and breaking Crimson Moon with his bare hand. No hesitation in it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Feixiao screamed out in painful agony to the top of her lungs, having just one of her hearts destroyed, the suffering being almost unberable to bare that she was once again on the ground, writhing in pain. The artificial heart she had once consumed upon Hoolay's death was now gone.

And Jing Yuan of course, just couldn't be okay with watching it all. "You monster!" Exclaiming, the Divine Foresight grabbed his spear and attempted to tackle Morte, only to see the man dissapearing right in front of him. "What?"

Reappearing behind Jing Yuan, Morte was now face to face with the laying Feixiao, smirking maliciously as he lifted up his leg and kicked the foxian right in the stomach, sending her flying against some trees in the distance. "Ah, a bit of private moment for us now." He smirked as he felt Jing Yuan quickly approaching behind him. "Ain't that right, Jin?" He said, once again teleporting out of Jing Yuan's vision as the spear was almost close to cut him.

Turning around, the general of the Luofu defended himself from Morte's scythe with his spear, the enemy having appeared behind him. "Ghg!"

"And to think I originally planned ending the Luofu with the heliobi all those years ago." Morte chuckled, locking eyes with Jing Yuan. "As of today, I thank myself for not having gone with that original idea. This is a way more spectacular and grandious finale, wouldn't you agree? I wonder how much impact the tragedy of Luofu's fall will shake the cosmos!"

"It won't happen! I won't allow it!" Jing Yuan responded defiantly, pressing back against Morte until the other man jumped back, unmaking the clash betweem the two. "Luofu's been through many hardships before! And just like those times, the Xianzhou Luofu will always prevail!"

Morte simply gave a 'hm' with a rather normal smile. "Ah, yes. The words of a charismatic leader to reinvigorate his troops when all seems lost." Taking a single step, he quickly reached out torwards Jing Yuan in just a blink of an eye. "When he's just completely delusional."

"!" Caught by surprise, Jing Yuan was still able to dodge and block the attack even if haphazardly, with Morte's attack devastating and destroying more of the garden that now was riddled with sharp bones.

"Tell me, Jing Yuan. Right now, how much do you believe in the things you say?" Morte asked, resting the scythe on his shoulder for some seconds as he was seeing Jing Yuan getting up. "That the Luofu will prevail after this? If this isn't its dying moments? That maybe, all those times Luofu survived to previous catastrophes, were all just a build up for its true ending?" The man questioned the other. "Is it because you are this ship's general? Does it makes you unable to see the obvious? Even if you were to rally your people to stand up and fight, it wouldn't change a thing. It wouldn't change the inevitable."

"You speak as if everything has already been set in stone! As if we can't do nothing but to accept it!" Jing Yuan replied, challenging Morte's argument. "And even if things are indeed set in stone. If our fate has already been predetermined since the beggining..." Pointing his spear at Morte, the Divine Foresight speaked with all sincerity his conviction. "Then we shall defy it until our dying breaths!"

A statement that Morte found amusing. "Ah, what an ideal to die for then. Truly, what a man of optimism!" Morte cheered before smilling sinisterly to Jing Yuan. "It will make killing you even the more worthwhile."

"You're welcome to try." Jing Yuan responded with hostility but also focus, spinning his spear into a different position.

"Altough...leaving you alive and a bit of the Luofu would also be funny." Morte considered, finger sticking up.

"Hm?" Jing Yuan raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, imagine it: Luofu survives but still ends fucked up. Same goes for you." Morte pointed with his hand at the general. "Do you honestly think that you would be able to live on for the rest of your life without this day weighing on you? That your people would ever forgive you?"

Not even needing to reply verbally, Jing Yuan only let out a repressed breath as well as shaky. That on itself, was already a good enough of a response to Morte.

"Can you imagine it, Jing Yuan? Every day, every hour, all of those who lost their loved ones." Morte didn't stopped, wanting to hammer those thoughts in the mind of the Divine Foresight. "Their children. Parents. Homes. All that was dear to them, gone! Why? Because their leader was unable to protect them." Smirking, Morte shook his head while gesturing with his arms. "Even if you were to defeat me here and manage to save what's left of the Luofu...You already failed, Jing Yuan." The grinning man said with pure cold, his eyes as dead as his soul.

"..." Bitting his lower lip, Jing Yuan closed his hand into a fist and hardening the grasp of his spear. He couldn't let himself to believe what Morte was saying was true. He couldn't!

"You fail like you've always done." Morte continued, twisting the knife on the wound. "You failed your master. You failed your friends. Your peers. And now you fail your own people!" He exclaimed, smilling ear to ear. "Has there been other thing in your life beyond failure?"

Not wanting to hear his crap anylonger, Jing Yuan charged abruptly torwards Morte, the thunders of his spear going wild as he stood face to face with what was now, his worst enemy to date. "Silence!"

"You even failed her."

"Huh!?"

But as soon as Jing Yuan was going for the blow, Morte decided to strike his weak spot. It wasn't his shoulders, legs, arms or anything physical. The general of the Luofu's weak spot was instead, a person. One of short white hair, gloves, fox ears and even green-blue eyes. Jing Yuan hesitated. There's nothing he could do but to hesitate.

"...Baiheng?..."

It felt too real. Too real to be an illusion.

"Jing Yuan?"

Standing between the two, there was his deceased friend. The one he thought to never see again.

"JING YUAN!"

But the distraction didn't took too long, as out of nowhere, Feixiao sprinted back to the battlefield and pushed Jing Yuan out of the way, avoiding him from being slashed by Morte's scythe and taking his place instead, parrying the blow with her gunblade.

Falling to the ground, Jing Yuan snapped out from his small trance. "What a..." Opening and closing his eyes, the general saw that there was no Baiheng. Only Feixiao trying her best against Morte.

Going for a punch, the foxian try to hit Morte in the face, her fist ending up being grabbed and stopped by him. Doing her best, Feixiao tried to push through with her fist alone. She wouldn't go down without fighting.

Unfortunately, Morte wasn't even trying when holding his opponent's fistm unimpressed. "Is that all?" Slowly beggining to overpower her as he pushed Feixiao's hand back, Morte fastly threw her arm to the side and on the next move, grabbed Feixiao by the neck.

"Garghh!?" Flinching, the foxian general instinctively grabbed Morte's pulse as the man lifted her entire body from the ground, beggining to choke her. With the survival instincts kicking in, Feixiao begun kicking her legs and get off from Morte's grip. However, his hand was tight, rough and unmoving. As more Feixiao felt her airways needing oxygen, the more desperate she got, beggining to punch Morte's arm and even his face to try and make him let her go.

Yet, it didn't work. Despite the punches, Morte remained unfazed, Unblinking even. His dead eyes and stoic face continuing to look deep on Feixiao as his grasp on her neck squeezed and tightened and tightened and tighte-

*CRACK*

And it was done. Feixiao immediatly stopped struggling, her arm and legs going limp as Morte released her from his grip, the body falling with a thud.

It all happened so fast, that Jing Yuan just stood there, his confused eyes then gazing down at the other general. "Feixiao?"

"..." But no response came from the liveless body. Much less so any movement.

"Feixiao..." Jing Yuan tried to call for her again. But again, the general of the Yaoqing didn't replied.

"Her time was up." Morte said, simply ignoring Feixiao's corpse as he adjusted his cloak and excercised his head from left to right a bit. Her minutes were all gone. "Now, let's move onto the next one."

With the notion that his colleague was dead dropping on him, Jing Yuan didn't even know what to say. What to feel. He knew of the risks this battle would bring to the both of them. Nevertheless, to see that it actually happened to her. So quick, so sudden. Just like that...

Brushing his hair with his very hand, Morte smiled at Jing Yuan, seeing how speechless he looked. "This is truly being an eventful day, isn't it, Jing Yuan?"

That was it. Jing Yuan reached to his limit.

Striking the spear down, the Lightning Lord was summoned again with a loud thunder. Being fueled by the death of his companion, Jing Yuan would make sure to use all within his power and some more to the point of not even an atom of Morte was left. "May Lan have pity on your rotten soul!"

Seeing Jing Yuan up high in all his mighty and fury, Morte smirked. The more dedication and effort put the better. All of the momentum and intensity of the entire fight was putting him more excited. He hoped to not be dissapointed. "The start of the final act then! Let's see how this tragedy's main star fairs!"

Hitting with the tip of his scythe on the ground, the green energy emanated from the ground beneath his feet as Morte called forth his giant skeleton to battle with Jing Yuan's Lightning Lord. A colossal battle about to take place at the top of the palace of a flaming and chaostic Luofu.

As both fighters jumped from the giants shoulders, they runned into each other, both weapons wielded. One charging forth with rapture. The other, with fury.

"MORTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Tsk!" Going back to the other fight that was occuring simultaneously in the chambers of the Shackling Prison, Acheron was now in an hard situation of the battle.

Ever since Jingliu had taken her blindfold off, the swordswoman of the Luofu's combat had went from similar to the Self-Annihilator, to full blown savage and psychotic, completely unpredictable and off pattern. No more Jingliu fought with composure or style, replacing it with a frenetic and frenzied moveset. Not only that, but the overall speed, agility and strenght had been upped to a level higher.

"Dodge this!" Yelling, Jingliu kept on assaulting Acheron with no mercy, having to force the Self-Annihilator to stay on defense while blocking all of the strokes from her enemy's blade before seeing Jingliu leap into the air and throw ice slashes torwards the opponent.

On the other hand, Acheron still kept her same stance as always, evading the aerial attacks with her thunder speed as well as parrying them. However, she was able to tell that just like Jingliu, the attacks she was making were becoming more agressive and unstable, turning almost the entirety of the arena into a freezing ice dome. And altough the Self-Annihalator was unable to feel cold, it would be a matter of fact until the decreasing lower temperatures would start to affect her agility and movement. Still, focus was what Acheron couldn't lose in this moment.

Throwing one more ice slash torwards her enemy, Jingliu quickly came back down to the ground and didn't lose any more second to already sprint torwards Acheron.

Watching the slash coming torwards her, Acheron was fast to counter it with her own sword, cutting it into pieces and making it explode into icy dust that befall on her. And amidst that dust, the Emmanator of Nihility tried to detect the presence of her opponent. Which appeared right behind her.

Attentive, Acheron was able to block it just in time, much to Jingliu's satisfaction. "Great! Excellent! How long I haven't felt such delight!" The corrupted swordswoman exclaimed with an unhinged smile as the two women swords continued to make sparks between each other. "How much my blade yearned for such a gratifying fight again! Aha! Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

"She's absolutely insane!" Acheron told to herself with a concerned look to Jingliu's hysterical laughter, mirroring well the absolute lunacy that had taken control of her mind. It became obvious to the Self-Annihilator, that the mara-struck disease had long plagued her opponent's being, working as both a disease and drug to Jingliu who was on a complete state of maniacal euphoria from all this fight.

Such ferocity that the swordswoman of the Luofu had evolved from a cold killer to a killing machine.

Acheron had also fought against crazed opponents before. But none compared to Jingliu's level of lethality and agility. Morte could come close when thinking about it, but Acheron considered him a different can of worms entirely. Nevertheless, the more the sowrdswoman pushed back against Acheron, the more the Emmanator of Nihility was feeling compelled to use it, attracted to unleash the powers of IX.

From above, Luocha intertwined his fingers, expecting. He knew it was only a question of time. Very soon, they would witness it. All that was missing, was for Jingliu to keep on pressuring the Self-Annihilator like she was doing now. Just a bit more pressure...

After even if now being solely drowned with the relentless pleasure of the fight, Jingliu kept doing the memo that was trusted in her to do. Wanting to continue to battle against Acheron, the swordswoman of the Luofu decided to go for everything with her next attack, wanting to see how her enemy would act against it. Gaining some distance between each other after another clash, Jingliu didn't hesitate. She would use it, charging up her ice sword.

"All will be revealed..."

"Huh?" Getting the notion that what was about to come wouldn't be good, Acheron prepared herself for Jingliu's next move.

Jumping up high, almost touching the ceilling, Jingliu bathed herself in the moonlight of the waning crescent moon, her target about to become victim of the swordswoman killer instinct.

"...in lunar flame!"

Swinging her sword, Jingliu released a powerful and large slash of ice, descending torwards the ground alongside a rain of smaller ice slashes, much to Acheron's worridness.

"!"

Once the larger attack landed, all the smaller ones hit the ground at the same speed, proceeding to brutally split the entire floor with fissures and ice. Such destructive attack that would hardly let anyone who suffered it to survive.

On the balcony, Luocha and Ruan Mei observed the outcome of Jingliu's annihilating power, unaffected. Altough some of the ice was even able to reach where they were standing.

As the freezing smoke died out, it revealed Acheron in the middle of the arena, still standing. Still alive. Despite that, the Self-Annihilator was with some small scratches and cuts on her body as minuscle frost shards on her skin, panting. Even if she ended up avoiding huge part of the enemy's ultimate power, it couldn't be said that the Self-Annihilator had escaped rather unharmed.

Looking at the other side of the arena, Acheron saw Jingliu land back on the freezed ground. And in those red blood eyes, the Self-Annihilator could be sure of one thing: She wasn't staring at a person, but a monster. One that craved to tear her apart.

"I can't risk any longer!" Understanding that she'd die if continuing to hold her punches against Jingliu, Acheron saw herself with no other choice. Going for the scabbard of her sword, Acheron begun to-

"But...what if it ends up freeing more inmates of the Shackling Prison?"

However, for a single second, Acheron hesitated. If she were to unleash her powers, how many prisoners could she end up unintentionally freeing from their cells? How much of guards and allies could end up getting strucked by bad luck such as Moze and Hanya? And above all else, how much could it end disturb the festival on the Luofu and Jing Yuan's ceremony? Were she to unleash the Nihility on Jingliu, Acheron wouldn't be able to deny the chain of consequent events that it would cause. Could she try and defeat the opponent without having to resort to the-

"Your resolve quivered."

"!?"

And that spare second, ended up being her fatal mistake.

Caught off guard, the moment Acheron noticed Jingliu was already in front of her, it was already too late as the swordswoman of the Luofu drived her sword through the Self-Annihilator's abdomen, blood flying out and splattering the ground around.

"Ah...a..h..." Acheron just stood speechless with unblinking eyes as blood spilled out from her mouth, feeling the enitre interior of her body turn cold. "I...lost?"

"You have done well, Emmanator." Jingliu told calmly and stoically next to Acheron. "For centuries, never I thought I would get the chance of having such challenge as the one you provided. I eulogize you on that very much. Howbeit..." Jingliu pushed her sword a bit more into the wound, putting a hand on Acheron's back. "Your sword cried and begged to be used unrestrained. Yet, you denied its release. You denied your true self. In the end, only one of us embraces it even if it is of hideous nature."

Without remorse, Jingliu removed her sword from Acheron's torso, letting the blood ooze out. "That was the difference for the outcome of this match."

"..." Acheron gazed helpless at her adversary as she fell moribund on the floor, the sword escaping from her hand's grip.

"Farewell, Emmanator of Nihility." Jingliu speaked coldly, beggining to walk away, leaving Acheron to her final moments.

On the balcony, Ruan Mei sighed, putting away her digital clipboard. "An unfortunate dissapointment. And here I expected more." The genius crossed her arms. "Guess we will have to retry this experiment."

Luocha however didn't lose hope. "I wouldn't want to consider this battle closed already." He replied, his gaze lingering at the fallen Acheron. "Not yet."

Breathing slowly, Acheron could feel it. The cold. The blurred vision. The lack of vital energy.

"Is this it then? How it all ends for me?"

Barely even with her eyes open, all that the dying Acheron could gaze at was her sword on the ground, right next to her. She could try and reach it, but didn't had the strenght to. It was meaningless. She lost the battle as she lost her life. All in a mistake of hesitation.

Jingliu's analyze of her was correct. Acheron's defeat was due to not accepting herself. What she had become against her will.

"Perhaps...this was how it was meant to end after all..."

Even at death's door, the bleeding wasn't agonizing her. Maybe the cold on her body was anesthetizing the pain or the effects of Nihility were still working even in the end.

"Perhaps...this is peace..."

Losing life in her eyes, Acheron knew that dying like this, to never get to free herself from IX, or discover more about Morte's true nature and intentions...To never get many of her senses back...

It was cruel. Unfair. But just like many things in the cosmos, maybe life was just like that. Even so, at the very last, she could rest through death and sleep forever. All of those concerns would never bother her again. And finally...

"Mr. Ryoma...Izumo..."

Under her last breath, Acheron closed her eyes to existence.

"I'm returning home."

.

.

.

"But don't need to worry anymore, Mei. I am here again!"
.

"So please, preserve this remain of Izumo until your dying breath, Raiden Mei."

.

"But some things will never change."

.

"It will still bloom at the end of Nihility, until we meet again beneath the sun's rays."

.

.

.

*thump thump*

Yet, she refused.

"!"

Finding vigor and reignitng the flame, Acheron refused the end.

"You on the other hand seem to be hesitant, Acheroni."

Immediatly, the Self-Annihilator went for her sword.

"However, there was and will be times where not 'going all out' can cost you heavily."

"Hm?" Stopping her steps, Jingliu halted her walk, sensing that there was something wrong. That things were still unfinished.

"In a fight, we always have to make sure to crush our enemies chances and hopes. Any slight edge given could be fatal."

From the baclony, Luocha's lips curled up into a smirk as Ruan Mei was holding the clipboard again. The time waiting was about to be vindicated.

"Casualties are nothing more but collateral damages when battling for survival."

Lightning and thunders begun to occupy the arena, shattering the ice away.

"Everyone is a monster on the inside."

Dropping the blindfold from her hand, Jingliu smiled, seeing that her opponent had yet to be defeated. That she was about to go with everything. "Hm. So you finally decided to- gasp!"

"And in a fight between monsters...

Turning around, Jingliu felt her heart skip a beat and eyes widening with shock. The Self-Annihilator had returned, but no longer human. Her sword, unsheated. The forbideen powers creeping in. A fatal eerie gaze behind the shadows. Two horns at the top.

"...we need to become demons to win!"

"Dusk's rain.."

"Crap!" Shouting to herself alarmed, Jingliu tried to move out of the way. But it was too late, as the Emmanator of Nihility passed down obliteration and total erasure on her.

"...it too shall fall."

And as Nihility hit Jingliu, the swordswoman realized something amidst the potent light. Something that made her smile.

"Finally...A blade that can cut open a star..."

Outside, the disruptive slash cut through the space of the hellish Luofu sky, opening a large fissure that travelled into the beyond. Such phenomenon that caught the attention of everyone that was still alive, striking either fear, confusion or awe in their hearts.

But for one individual only, it striked satisfaction.

"Attagirl." Morte said to himself with an amused smile while observing the colossal slash plaster itself onto the sky in the distance. He asked Acheron to put on a show and she delivered it indeed. Such power...It all made him more sure and gleeful for having kept her around. "Ah, I'm telling you! That girl is truly something else, isn't she?" Chuckling, Morte turned around to face Jing Yuan, battered and on his knees.

"Ah...ah...ah..." The Divine Foresight tried his best. But against such devilish force like Morte, there was nothing he could've done. His thunders whitered. The lightning vanished. And even the almighty Lightning Lord, always a symbol of his strenght and sovereignity, now threw its dying wail before fading as it was bested by Morte's giant skeleton, having come out on top just like its summoner.

"But don't be sad, Jin. You yourself put also quite the performance." Morte said, standing in front of the general of the Luofu. "Your death will mark the apex of this event. Quite the memorable way to go, no? You and your precious Luofu..." Lifting up his scythe, Morte looked to its sharpness. "Together in departure. And I, the one who witnesses it all."

"Is this...what you always wanted?" Jing Yuan speaked through aching breaths, trying his best to get up. "To kill us all in the end...?" Alas, he faltered, falling to his knees again. "Is Phantilya involved in this? Were you working with her all along?!"

To the accusation, Morte casually stared down to Jing Yuan. "It was the natural conclusion."

"Uh?" Jing Yuan looked puzzled at him.

"Sincerely, when things are ending and collapsing, why does everyone always thinks of Destruction?" Morte sighed and turned around, gesturing his arms. "I mean, don't get me wrong. That path is quite the enjoyment to observe! Buuut, I simply don't have any affinity for Nanook or any of their crooks. I do my own thing." Looking back again, Morte smiled to Jing Yuan. "It isn't the destruction of things I'm fond for, but rather their ending."

"What?..." Jing Yuan murmured.

"So many planets and locations out there. Most never knowing when their time will arrive." Morte speaked pensively, looking upwards to the sky. "Making the most of what they can with their lifes in various circumnstances and scenarios. Nevertheless, everyone and everything eventually expires. Be it either islands or planets, bacterias or Aeons. No matter what they do or who they are, death and its requiem reaches to all. For all have an origin and all have a finale. Endings those that diversify from the most noble to the most ignoble. To the most heroic to the most villanous. Happiest and tragic. Memorable to forgettable. Its such endings that I love to observe. To generate."

Breathing deeply, Jing Yuan slowly got up from the ground with the help of his spear, putting a effort to do it.

"It is believed that to many, the meaning of life is to do what you enjoy the most. So you get it, don't you?" Opening his arm, Morte gestured to the entire Luofu in flames. To the entire ruin, death and misery he had caused. "This. All of this..." Grinning, Morte looked into Jing Yuan's very soul, his eyes with those skeletish, daunting, green light in them. "Is what I love to do! What I truly am! The thing that brings me the most joy!"

"You're insane..." Jing Yuan responded, maintaining his balance even if it costed him by now. "No...You're something else entirely..." The general of the Luofu looked at Morte in the eyes. "I should've realized it sooner."

"Hm. Mistakes are meant to be learned from. Unfortunately, the one you commited won't have any lessons to learn from." Morte said, rotating his scythe and landing its blade on the ground, resting both hands on the tip of the staff. "Lan, The Hunt can't do nothing about it. Even if you were to turn to The Abundance, Yaoshi wouldn't also save you. Such is as I command." Surrounding him, the green energy begun to flow from the ground as bones slowly sprouted from the floor as well. A malevolent and lethal power concentrating on the scythe. "Thy time hath come, Jing Yuan."

"..." Taking one more deep breath, Jing Yuan couldn't deny it. This was definetly it. There was no way for him to defeat Morte when he had already tried and failed. Feixiao was gone. Majority if everyone on the Luofu, gone too. His dear subordinates and friends..."But even then, if all is already lost..." Nontheless, not for a single second, the proud general of the Luofu dared to abandon his values and teachings, choosing to stay and fight till the end, striking his spear on the ground. "I refuse to accept dying without a fight! I and the Luofu will die standing!"

Morte grinned, liking to hear it. "Then come! Come and write down your name in history, Jing Yuan!"

"Time for the masterstroke."

At the end of his limit, Jing Yuan used all the entirety of his remaining energy for the final hit, summoning the Lightning Lord again even if it was healthy for his body to summon it after having been recently defeated.

"Radiant spirit, heed my word."

Wielding the spear with both hands like his spirit, the Divine Foresight was ready for his last hurrah. "Yanqing. Everyone...Take care."

"Show no mercy!"

"Death..."

And then, the domming and dooming amber eye of Morte's scythe opened, for it pronounced the end.

.

"...minutes in decimal."

"Ah...in...credible..."

Inside the ravished arena, almost nothing stood after Acheron unleashed her nihility powers. Many parts of the walls collapsed. The ceilling broken. Wreckage all around the floor.

"To...gaze at such...power..."

Laying down defeated, a dying Jingliu speaked feebly, unable to move even the smallest inch of her body, an utter wound slashed right through her torso, having almost split her body apart. Nontheless, the swordswoman of the Luofu had nothing more but amazement for what she witnessed even if she ended up being the target. "You...enjoyed this...fight...didn't you?"

Standing where she stood when releasing the attack, the Self-Annihilator stared blandly at her opponent, not feeling a thing. "..."

But Jingliu didn't need words to know. In her mind, she was sure Acheron enjoyed this fight as much as her. "A...to..ast...to it..." Smiling weakly, the swordswoman felt that if this was her ending, then it wasn't a bad way to go. At long last, she could be free. Free from the mara-struck. "Thank...you..."

And then silence.

With the battle over and her as the winner, Acheron sheated her sword, her hair, eyes and skin going back to normal. She had survived by becoming the demon in that instant. The Self-Annihilator journey would continue, being far from over. As for Jingliu, she had to agree with her dead opponent: This was a wonderful battle.

However, Acheron would never want to admit it. That she drew satisfaction out of such destructive attack and battle overall. "But I...I liked it." She muttured to herself, beggining to walk away. Yet, it was obvious that the Self-Annihilator herself wasn't well, stumbling and walking rather dizzy and weakly, the wound still open. "I felt...alive..."

Then, her legs gave up and Acheron fell to the ground, unconscious from the blood loss.

"Hm. What a wonderful conclusion to this battle." Luocha commented from the balcony, he and Ruan Mei having also witnessed the sheer power of Acheron's nihility. "Truly, as devastating and erating as told. I believe this was more of the desired outcome to your 'research', wasn't it?"

"Indeed. The results are 'interesting', to say the least." Ruan Mei replied as her eyes scanned all of the data she had obtained with this entire fight before turning off the clipboard. "It will certainly play a fundamental part in answering some of the questions to my goal. Or rather, our goals."

Luocha smile slightly grew. "Nihility really is both impressive and terryfying." He gazed back at the now unconscious Acheron, finding her to be quite intriguing.

"Now, let's go and prepare the things for his arrival."

Chapter Text

"Almost there! The palace is right ahead! Just a few more!"

Amidst the flamming wreckage of the crumbling and dying Luofu, Moze sprinted and dashed as fast as he could in order to reach to the palace as quick as possible, having forced himself to endure and ignore the screams of agony, despair and lament from the poor inhabitants who nothing could do in face of such terminal catastrophe when passing through them.

The entire scenario and run made the Shadow Guard realized that he was too late to have avoided this tragedy in the first place. However, he hoped he wasn't late for his companions at the palace as well. Feixiao, Jiaoqiu and even General Jing Yuan...The assassin prayed that they were all still fine or at least alive by the time he was finally arriving at the palace's entry gates.

Only to see it completely destroyed, falling to pieces as well as the entire palace in the process, slowly consumed by the flames that propagated within the havoc."No!"

Urging himself to hurry, the assassin immediatly merged his body in shadows and climbed the wrecked walls of the gates in no time, jumping and landing into the entry garden of the palace, also devastated and burning away the vegetation. It would be almost impossible to find any survivors among this. Still, Moze didn't want to give up just yet.

"Hey! Is anybody alive?" Moze yelled, trying to get someone in his surroundings to yell back. "General Feixiao! Jiaoqiu! Someone!" Yet, three seconds passed and no answer, leaving the assassin even more nervous. "Dammit! It can't be that I was too late!" Opening his mouth, Moze was ready to try again. "Feixiao! Jiao-"

"H-Here! Moze!"

The assassin's eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat as he heard an answer, knowing very well who this voice belonged to. "That's..."

"Moze!"

Looking to the sight where the shouts where coming from, Moze didn't waste any second to sprint torwards some debris to his left, shoving them away and being able to visualize his friend who had shouted for help. "Jiaoqiu! Thank Lan that you're alive!"

Having the debris taken off from the top of him, Jiaoqiu was able to breath more easily despite some coughs, glad that Moze had found him. "L-Likewise, Moze..."

"Your eyes! What happened?" The Shadow Guard asked after noticing the blood that flowed down from the foxian's eyes, grabbing and helping Jiaoqiu getting up.

"Ngh! Y-You're right Moze." Jiaoqiu replied as he felt his legs hurting from having to stand up, clinging on the assassin to keep his balance as the two begun to try and walk away from the entry garden. "You were right about Qiongqi. He's...not a good person at all!"

"Tsk! Should've known..." Moze cleenched his teeth, silently cursing himself for not having persisted on his intuition when first meeting Morte. Had he confonted the man himself the night before, perhaps some of this if not the entirety of this massacre could have been avoided. "Was he the one who did that to you?"

"He did something to the food of the banquet, Moze." Jiaoqiu replied, telling what happened to him to his companion. "I can't tell exactly what but it was something devious! Something that is the reason behind all this mayhem currently!" The foxian chef raised his voice, frustrated at how he wasn't able to stop Morte when he discovered that. "I-I tried to stop him but...But the moment I tried he..." The more Jiaoqiu remembered of that moment, the more he felt himself fill with guilt. "I'm sorry, Moze. I'm sorry that I couldn't protect any of you!"

"You tried your best, Jiaoqiu." Moze tried to cheer up his friend. "Now is not the time to lament yet. General Feixiao and General Jing Yuan must be here somewhere too. But first, I must get you to somewhere safe." The assassin said, trying to keep his cool and of Jiaoqiu's in such grim situation like the one they were facing now.

"R-Right." Jiaoqiu responded, feeling a little better with the presence of the Shadow Guard by his side. At least knowing Moze was alive eased his pain a bit. "Eh. It's almost like a...sort of dejá vù, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Moze responded with a small chuckle.

In the middle of all this chaos, there was nothing much the two could do but to talk some quips and conversation in order to make themselves to feel better and cope with it. Nevertheless, Moze opened way for him and Jiaoqiu, creating a small opening on the collapsed gates from where they could pass and go to the outside.

Once out of the palace, Moze continued to carry Jiaoqiu. The further he'd put him away of the palace the better. But the destruction and chaos was everywhere in what Moze looked. It wouldn't be easy to find a peaceful and safe place in such ruined scenario. But the assassin had to make sure to find one for Jiaoqiu. And once he'd do that, Moze would go back to the palace and-

"Moze." Jiaoqiu speaked suddenly, breaking Moze's thought process.

"Hm?" Moze stared at him, raising an eyebrow.

The foxian's face seemed done, as if he accepted what was about to happen the second his ears detected a noise in the distance. "Is something coming for us?"

Initially confused, Moze begun to hear it too. A sound that begun small, almost undetectable. But then, it begun to grew louder and stronger, almost violent. The temperature warmed up and a fiery shine appeared, getting progressively brighter. Instinctively, the Shadow Guard turned his head up and soon, understood the why for Jiaoqiu's question. "Ah!?"

Right above them, a large airship was falling down like a fireball. Hot, large and impeding.

"Crap!" Moze cursed, not having spotted the aircraft sooner. With the instinct kicking in, the assassin immediatly grabbed Jiaoqiu. "Jiaoqiu, get down!"

But alas, with the ship so close to the ground, there was nothing that they could do even if everything felt moving in slow motion.

There was nowhere to escape.

"Is that everyone, Huohuo?"

"As far as we were able to rescue, yes!"

Inside a store room, Sushang and Huohuo had just finished guiding the most people that they could away from the pandemonium outside, leading them inside of the temporary safety of a warehouse as the tumult continued alongside the explosions and shakening of the earth. However, even if presumably secure and away from danger, the people continued to look disturbed and panicked, clearly shaken while mumbling to each other in commotion.

"Please, remain calm! Stay here until the explosions have died down!" Sushang exclaimed, trying to get the small crowd's attention as well as tranquilize their panic. As a Cloud Knight, that was her job. One she'd swore to fulfill to the very end.

"Please, listen to her! It's all going to be alright a-as long as you stay here!" Huohuo said, trying to help her friend.

As the two were checking on the people, Sushang noticed a crying boy near her, pushing her sleeve to get the Cloud Knight's attention.

"W-Where's my mom?...*sniff*...W-What happened to her? Is she alright?"

A little bit dishearten by the question, Sushang nontheless tried to comfort the child, hugging him. "Don't worry. I'm sure your mom is fine and has hidden somewhere else." Even if the Cloud knight herself believed that wasn't most likely the case, she had to cheer up the kid in the best way she could at the moment. "Once this is done, we'll go look for her, okay?" Sushang speaked friendly to the boy while giving a warm smile and patting his head.

Sobbing a bit, the boy nodded his head, Sushang's words giving him so hope. For when this would be over he could reunite with his mother again.

But that was a chance that would never happen.

"Eh?"

"The ceilling-"

Breaking through the roof, everyone's eyes looked up to what was their death, arriving in another fallen ship from the skies, about to evaporize everyone inside that warehouse.

For there was nowhere to hide.

"Ghg! A-Another one healed! Bring the next!"

Panting, Bailu had just finished healing another injured person at the shores of the Scalegorge Waterscape, having a line full of more people to heal. Despite the clear fatigue showing, the young leader of the Vidhyadra was willing to keep healing everyone.

"Don't push yourself too hard, Miss Bailu." Hanya put a hand on her back, prompting the young Vidhyadra to rest. "I'll take care of th wounded from here."

Yet, Bailu refused, shaking her head. "Thank you, Miss Hanya. But I won't! These are the people Miss Lingsha entrusted me with! And as such, I will-"

"T-That aircraft over there...!"

As someone in the line shouted and pointed upwards, everyone proceeded to do the same, dread and fright quickly taking over their faces, installing tumult as they begun backing away and flee.

"Hm? What's wrong?" Bailu asked before she and Hanya also looked up to the skies, already being too late for anyone there present.

"It can't be..." Hanya murmured as she just stood paralyzed in the place, not moving or even trying to run, her subconscious having already accepted her fate, ready to join her sister.

For there was nowhere to run.

The Luofu was silenced.

The birds singing was played no more. The children's laughter ceased to exist. The conversations and chatter of the people came to a definitive halt. The vegetation of the trees and everything that was green, once vibrant and lively, were scorched away, no match for the violent fires that ensued. As for the sun that shinned on the nation radiantly early in the morning, had gone away, covered and engulfed by the clouds of upheaval that doomly painted what was once the blue sky.

The Luofu was killed. Not a single person to cry for help. Not a single soul to whisper. Not a single organism to perserve. All victims of the departing requiem that played from the very first vibrances of the bell plate to the very last collapsing ship. All the sound that remained of the dead planetship was of the crackling of the fires and occasional buildings crumbling to erosion.

Observing all the desolation and blightening that had strucked the unfortunate nation, an anonymous black cat stood amidst the devastated scenario. Its eyes were a mystery when about what it had witness. What was the cat feeling behind those eyes? Curiosity? Fear? Awe? A possible sense of urgency?

Leaping off from the cracked wodden pole it was standing on, the cat went to walk away and dissapear into the shadows of the debris. From all of this, the creature could only take one thought:

The 'man' behind this disaster, had to be stopped.

"And here we pour a final one for our general."

Proclaiming to no one, Morte lifted up a cup up high before pouring down the liquid at the cloth that was covering Jing Yuan's eyes, both hands rested on his chest.

"May you rest in peace." Morte said with a rather stoic face and solemn voice, lowering his arm before letting the cup drop on the ground, shattering into pieces. After doing that, the man, now with the scythe stored in his back again, crouched down and sat next to the corpse of who was once Luofu's last general. Morte just went silent for some seconds, taking in the total eradication that he made befall on the Luofu right in front of him. All of it, so easy to crush and slaughter with no effort.

"What an ending, eh? I win. You lose. At least I got to be with you till the very end, didn't I? Can't get mad on that." Morte smiled, speaking despite knowing that no reply would be coming from Jing Yuan. But that didn't mattered to him. "To think that even the greatest of empires and nations can end. And all that it takes can be as short as some hours for its collapse. Truly a daunting concept, no?" He chuckled, turning around to look at Jing Yuan.

"..."

Laying down his back next to Jing Yuan, Morte crossed his legs and put his hands behind his back. "Tsk! What a bother...Now that all is over." His eyes focused on the clouds above. "Even with two against one, it seems not even you were able to do it." He continued his monologue, the mind flashing through the fight against Jing Yuan and Feixiao and how the two generals were no more. "But I won't lie, you gave 'some' challenge here and there, so don't feel bad. I think it was fun in the end." Going a bit further, Morte remembered of his talk with Jing Yuan at the hot springs. "Guess you really fought for the Luofu until your last breath. A man of his word. Yet, I bet this wasn't the way you wanted to go was it, Jing Yuan?"

"..."

"That's the cruel thing about one's life ending." Morte got up from the ground, now looking to the destroyed Luofu ahead. "Few are the lucky ones that get to chose and go out by their own terms. Since for many, death is seen as unfair. No matter if you took all the good decisions in this 'game'(life), it can all end abruptly one day before you know it. That is why people just say most of the times to just enjoy the most of what you can and that's that. Doing what we love the most. Were you able to accomplish that, Jing Yuan?"

"..."

"Unfortunately, from an outsider's perspective, you were not. That book of yours will never get the chance of being published. Neither will anyone here at the Luofu paint your portrait. Everything that you stood for to protect, gone. Were it not for the other Xianzhou ships, your name and feats would probably end up being forgotten after some centuries like sand in the desert. And even then, will being remembered as the general who failed to save his territory a more dignified ending thant just being purely forgotten?" Morte turned around to look once again down at the corpse of the general of the Luofu, Morte having made sure to put him composed even if dead.

"Alas, yours and the Luofu's ending was tragic, Jing Yuan. Cut short one might say. However, some things are never meant to live that long. Nor to live forever." As he speaked, Morte took out his cigar, lightening it up. "This was simply the conveyed ending for all of you since the beggining."

Thus, the dead breeze of the wind was the only thing that speaked across the desolated garden as Morte stood tall, smoking his cigar as the seconds passed. Not even the vegetation had escaped from rotting away. Taking it off of his mouth, the man let out a smokey breath. "That is..." Moving his two fingers holding the cigar, he let it fall on the ground near his feet, still lit. "It would be the conveyed ending for all of you originally..." Moving one of his feet, Morte squeezed the cigar with his shoe. "...if that guy hadn't showed up to beg with his ideas."

Grinning, Morte went back to look at the dead general. "I generally don't like reverting my work after all is said and done. But with the proposal he showed me? I can let this pass as a one time thing." Kneeling near Jing Yuan, Morte straightened his hand, aiming it to the general's chest, ready to do the next step of the plan. For all of this chaos had a hidden purpose behind. "So while you'll never get to know, if you do one day, better thank him even if it sounds ridiculou-"

"General Jing Yuan! We're here!"

"?"

Hearing voices and footsteps arriving from behind, Morte stopped what he was about to do as from the top of the staircase, the young duo of Yanqing and Yunli stepped into the garden after travelling across the entire city of the Luofu's in the prodigy's ice swords, taking their time but finally reaching to the destination.

Both kids looked worried and concerned, hoping they weren't too late as they went through the garden's entrance.

"General! What's happening he-!?" Having arrived with the objective to find Jing Yuan as well as Feixiao, Yanqing hoped they were fine and well in order to ask what was exactly happening in the Luofu in disarray. Howbeit, the young swordsman and Yunli didn't expect to find the two generals like this, the heart dropping inside Yanqing as his eyes went terrified by what the two had stumbled upon. "G-General..?" The young swordsman couldn't believe in what he was seeing. His mind didn't want to believe or even comprehend what the eyes showed. His general. His beloved general and father figure, dead, laid on the ground.

"General F-Feixiao too?" Yunli speaked, also in shock and stunned, noticing the corpse of the other general also not very far off from where they were standing.

Already aware that they where here, Morte simply turned his head to look at them.

Not only spotting him in there as well as being the only one apparently alive, Yanqing tried to talk with Morte. "Mister Qiongqi...W-What happe-!" Yet, Yanqing's next words never came out from his tongue has he felt entire chills running through his spine once he saw Morte's face. A goulish face, one of an authentic perverse monster. That in itself, was enough for the young swordsman to figure out what happened. And so did Yunli.

"What have you done to them?" Shocked, confused, apalled, furious, the young girl was on the brink of not being able to contain her emotions. How could they let this happen?

"..." Morte didn't respond, continue to stare at the two kids silently and eerily.

That on itself upset Yunli immensely. "I said: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM!?" Screaming, the young swordswoman took out her large sword and dashed torwards Morte in rage.

"Yunli, no!" Yanqing shouted, seeing that she was acting by impulse.

"You'll pay for what you did!" Jumping torwards the man, Yunli prepared herself to swing her weapon at him and slash him down with just one attack.

But only if it was that simple.

Going for his scythe in a blink of an eye, Morte clashed with Yunli's weapon and without a single effort, was able to break her defenses, throwing the girl away and crashing into the wall limits of the garden. "Aaah!"

"Yunli!" Rushing immediatly to where she had fallen, Yanqing picked her from the debris, shaking her by the shoulders as the young swordswoman had her eyes closed. "Yunli! Are you alright? Answer me, Yunli!"

"..." But no response came. Instead, her eyes remained closed as blood begun to flow down from her head.

"Crap! She's gone unconscious!" Picking her up, Yanqing soon heard the thud of Morte's scythe touching the ground, getting his attention. "!"

Without even speaking a word, Morte stood where he still was, the menacing weapon of his in hand. By just lifting up his head, the grinning man smiled creepily from ear to ear, his very blank eyes staring back to Yanqing's ones. And fear was lodged within the child's heart.

Alarmed, Yanqing didn't even tried to fight Morte. He just fled. Fled as far as possible while carrying Yunli with him, leaving the garden.

Upon witnessing such frightening reaction, Morte's smirk only grew. He would enjoy this.

"The General- General Jing Yuan and General Feixiao are dead? No! That can't be possible!"

Flying on his ice sword, Yanqing was still trying to understand. Having just saw what he did, the boy couldn't cope with it. Not at all.

"General is strong! He is the general of the Luofu! Our leader! My leader! My mentor! He and General Feixiao couldn't have lost!"

Yanqing didn't even knew what to do now. To where he could run to. To where he could ask help for. Everything was destroyed. Everyone except him and Yunli were gone. The nervousness, tension and shock were all getting to him. What was his home, his father figure...

"Y-You wouldn't dare to lose, General! You and General Feixiao wouldn't dare to die with so many lives at stake! You wouldn't! You wouldn't! You wouldn't!"

Trying to fight back his tears, Yanqing wasn't believing that anything of this was real. It couldn't be. None of this could be real!

"They're fine! General's fine! He might be just knocked out but I'm sure that-"

Not paying attention to where he was going, Yanqing ended up hitting his ice sword into the roof of a tall building that was barely standing. "Ghgh!?" Ending up causing its fall, Yanqing and the unconscious Yunli fell alongside it, the youngster still able to grab the hand of the other one and hug her to protect right before hitting the ground.

As the dust went away, Yanqing took some deep breaths before coughing, looking to Yunli in his arms, still blacked out but having been shielded from the fall.

"That was close..." Yanqing said to himself. For a moment, he had completly forgotten about the unconscious Yunli that was with him. Looking at her face for a moment, Yanqing shoved some hair away from her face. At the very least, the two had to get out of here somehow. "I can't let you die, Yunli. We have to survive thi-"

"Quite sad, isn't it?"

"!" Skipping a beat, all the nerves inside Yanqing fired once he heard the cruel voice right behind him, the sense of security immediatly gone as that monster was present again, sat nonchalantly on the debris of the collapsed building.

"Everyone's dead and you are all that's left." Morte said, rubbing the fingers on the sharp tip of his scythe. "How about we fix that?"

With the heart beats accelerated, Yanqing's instincts screamed at him to run, carrying Yunli on his hands. To run as far and as fast as his legs ever could or even beyond that if needed. Scared, frightened and lost, Yanqing rushed through what once used to be the pleasent streets of the Luofu that he knew so well, now utterly destroyed and degraded. No matter how fast he was running, Yanqing's legs didn't stopped, feeling he was trapped in an horror movie with the macabre Morte chasing him down.

Only after running some more and turning around many corners, Yanqing entered inside a broken small alley and hid himself and Yunli behind some boxes, praying that Morte wouldn't find them.

"What's wrong?"

Yet, what was now the living nightmare of Yanqing went back to appear out of thin air, right next to him and Yunli, causing the child to recoil and flinch immediatly as the boxes fell before hastly grabbing Yunli again and flee away from Morte.

"Can't count on dad to rescue you?"

But no matter to where Yanqing would try and how he'd try to flee, Morte was already there. Always menacing. Always chilling. Always taunting and sinister. The young swordsman was simply a prey, trapped into the terror pursuit of his predator, toyed and mocked around. A nightmare that seemed endless.

It came to a point that Yanqing eventually runned himself and Yunli into a dead end, blocked by the wreckage. As the unstable and panicked mind of the young swordsman tried to think of what to do next, the flames of some burning debries nearby fell behind, blocking the way back and trapping the two.

"Why even run? Aren't you supposed to be Jing Yuan's pride and Luofu's future?"From behind the flames, Morte's voice could be hear calling for Yanqing. "When does a 'prodigy' runs away from a fight?"

Being called out, Yanqing looked for every side and corner to where he could possibly escape with Yunli. But there was none. No other option left for Yanqing. No other option but to fight. That would be their only way out. Slowly comprehending this, the young swordsman came to terms with himself. Morte was right. He couldn't be running forever. "If I am General Jing Yuan's retainer...If I'm supposed to be the Luofu's future..." Laying down Yunli gently on the ground behind him, he prepared and mentalized himself for the battle about to come. "Then I must face and defeat hi-!"

"But perhaps you're one of those."

Even so, upon stepping out of the flames, Yanqing's courage and hope were immediatly mitigated to mere delusions once Morte revealed himself to him.

"All bark, no bite. Maybe Jing Yuan just had pity on you."

Towering, threatening and fearsome. A deep, doomful voice to shudder all souls. So unholy that even the fire couldn't harm him in any way. In Yanqing's eyes, what had walked out of the flames wasn't a person but the most fiendish monster he had laid his gaze upon. No Hoolay or anything he fought before had ever came close to this walking terror desguised as a man. "I-I..."

"You thought that life would be easy after that, didn't you? That acclamation and reward would be on your way and you'd gain the respect like he did." Walking slowly torwards Yanqing, Morte made sure to keep targetting his insecurities. "But you're nothing more than a lost child, trying to find a place in the world by being the loyal pet of the man that sheltered you, desperately hungry for his approval."

"T-That...That isn't..." Yanqing tried to argue back, but his heart jumped up and down in fear, his legs beggining to tremble as Morte got progressively closer to him.

"And in doing so, you end up becoming just miserable bad joke of a copy, always struggling to be him. Because you lack, Yanqing. You lack at everything." Morte said with no hesitation, no sugarcoating. Speaking out loud and clear the boy's fears. "Lack of true backbone. Lack of true courage. Lack of true ambition! All those things, mere imitations from your precious General as his loyal scout boy! Without Jing Yuan, what are you exactly?"

Grabbing his sword's hilt now with both hands, Yanqing's arms couldn't stop shaking as well, his lips and eyes quivering as he begun to feel even more powerless to face Morte. No one to aid him. No Jing Yuan to appear at the last second. "I don't...I don't need the General...!"

"I'll tell you, Yanqing. Nothing." Morte said codldly, his terryfying gaze not breaking contact from Yanqing as his face got overshadowed. "What lies did Jing Yuan even told you to believe you were something?"

"S-Stay back!" Yanqing exclaimed, attempting to sound imposing when it was clear that it was all a facade, as breakable as cardboard. The steps taken back showing what he was truly feeling in that moment. Obviously, Morte didn't stood back.

"Was it that you were great?"

"You are great the way you are, Yanqing."

"S-Stop it!" Yanqing replied, conflicted and intimidated, continuing to retreat as his sword begun to slip from his hand.

"That you aren't a failure?"

"Yet, I don't think that any of that makes you a failure."

Overwhelming his entire body, Yanqing let the sword fall from his grip before stumbling back and falling on the ground, completely startled by Morte whose voice kept getting more agressive and hostile as well as his frame, shrouded in the shadows casted by the flames behind.

"That you were special!?"

"You're special, Yanqing. To me, you will always be."

"What...What am I supposed to do?" In the verge of tears, Yanqing was helpless and at Morte's mercy. A battle that was over, never existing in the first place. In the terryfying presence of the Luofu's killer, Yanqing was no more the proud prodigy of Jing Yuan nor the promising Lieutenant of the Cloud Knights. Right now, he was just a vulnerable child, with no authority or confidence within. "I..."

And upon looking up, Yanqing was greeted by the ghastly skullish eyes, teeth and horns of the monster, eyeing him down like a hideous predator ready to devour its prey.

"Honestly, since when..." Lifting up his scythe, Morte was about to land the fatal blow on Yanqing. "...have we begun rewarding mediocrity!?"

Closing his eyes, the young swordsman prepared his body for what would be his death. If neither both General Jing Yuan and General Feixiao were able to defeat him, what chances even he had from the start. Thus, the ending thoughts of Yanqing were just one. "I...can't do this."

"..."

"..."

Yet, the blow never came.

"But I don't mind sparing one or two."

"Huh?" Opening his eyes again, Yanqing saw Morte now crouched down in front of him, looking at the boy with a more normal face and smile.

"I'm not, say, a completely 'heartless' monster, y'know?" Morte said, sounding with a mocking 'cordiality', the scythe resting next to the two. "I have principles too."

"H-Huh..." Yanqing just stared at Morte in deep perplexity and confusion, not having expected the man to have mercy on him.

"One of those being that kids should have fun." Morte speaked as a cunning, malign idea came to mind. "Per exemple, playing a game. You like to play games, don't you?"

"..." Yanqing remained silent, too shaken to respond.

"Nodding your head will do." Morte said, trying to get Yanqing to answer.

"..." Still, nothing.

Morte sighed. "Alright, we're just gonna assume that you do." Clicking his tongue, he then proceeded to present his hand torwards Yanqing. "In that case, shake my hand if you want to play the game with me."

"Ah..." Yanqing continued speechless and dazed, his mind barely considering it.

"Eheh, c'mon, kiddo. I don't bite!" Morte chuckled a bit funnily before proceeding to give a more austere and severe look to Yanqing. "Shake my hand."

Daunted, Yanqing forced himself to move his trembling hand torwards Morte's.

"Do we have a deal?" Morte said as he saw Yanqing's hand slowly contacting his, ending up doing a handshake, Morte more effusively than Yanqing. "Very good." The man said with a grin, wanting the young swordsman to look at him. "Now, heed me carefully. This is what the game's gonna be about..."

.

.

.

Chapter Text

Am§ Ph#O2re U!s, Cycle 30,297,130

"May you all rest in peace..."

Uniting her hands in a prayer, the young maiden and Servant of Death, had just finished putting down a moribund, small brunch of a tree at the top of a tombstone.

A tombstone like any other of the thousands and thousands that composed the snowy graveyard, inhabiting the entire population of what was once a prospering nation. And its remaining survivor? That same very young maiden, praying beneath the dry branches of the dead tree near her, only some purple butterflies occupying the perennial plant.

"May you sleep in an everlasting dream, Aidonia." The Servant of Death went back to open her eyes, having finished her prayer, being welcomed back by no one but the dead silence of the graveyard.

"It was all decided from the beggining."

"Uh?!"

Upon the suddenly, loud, disruptive noise of an omnious bell's chime, the maiden's heart felt skipping a beat.

"This was but the destiny they were fated to."

The purple butterflies moved their wings, trying to flee away from the fearful presence. But even so, the beings of the Hand of Shadow were not able to persist, perishing away as they slowly crumbled to the ground, right in front of the apprehensive eyes of the maiden that witnessed it.

"W-Who goes there?" The maiden questioned, turning her head to look at everywhere before noticing a shadowy sillhouette on the ground she stood. Slowly looking up and behind her, she spotted him.

Standing perfectly atop of the fragile branches of the dead tree, the enigmatic figure of a man appeared, forbidding. The starking and brooding scythe carried on his back and the gusts of dead wind breezing softly on the conspicuous reaper hood of his, concealing the top halof of his face as the sun and its light went to hide behind the clouds.

"Who...are you?" The maiden asked with some unease, clutching the hands on her chest while looking at the mysterious reaper.

"I've come to witness the ending." The reaper responded in a tangent, as if he either didn't heard or ignored the Servant of Death's question, keeping to face forward.

"Ending? The 'ending' to what exactly?" The maiden made another question, asking with softness and delicacy on her voice.

To which, the reaper then moved his face to gaze down upon her, smirking. "It's up to your interpretation." Moving one leg out of the branch, the reaper simply let gravity take him down from the tress, landing with no complications on the ground. "I can tell you've witnessed quite the ending too." He told to the maiden, doing a simply movement with his head, indicating at the countless tombstones.

Getting what he meant by that, the maiden looked downcasted with sorrow, her head leaning down. "I didn't want any 'ending'. I never wanted for any of them to go, but rather, to wish they could still be here present, even if I could only witness their smiles from afar."

"Ah, but would going back make it any better?" The reaper interrogated to the maiden, contemplating the cemetery. "Birthed with a gift of a curse, this town had from the very beggining subjugated the fey child to her doomful fate of the executioner. Never to be understood nor approached, but always observed with fear and cautiousness, churned away from its population. Your life was just to be the vessel to the afterlife of theirs." He said, solemnly speaking with frankness, moving his head to once again stare at the maiden. "Happiness and solitude, this town's people gave you not. Thus, why weep with their departure?"

Being asked such a personal question, the maiden felt she needed some seconds to think, her eyes moving subtly as she came up with the motive. With the memories and moments for why. "Because...they were good people." She responded in earnest. "While it is true that many never cared to interact with me, and barely a few tried to comprehend me, I knew they never did it out of spite. But out of a reluctant fear. And I cannot blame them for dreading someone like me. Nevertheless..." Putting both hands on her own shoulders, the maiden rubbed them slightly. "They were also the ones to give me a home, food and clothes. Being either by obligation or pure empathy, it showed that they at least cared."

"But never enough to give you an hug." The reaper responded with a cruel truth to the maiden's view of her people, proceeding to chuckle, moving his arms. "Can someone truly be empathetic and caring if they don't perform the gesture that emphasizes those things the most?"

"Not like they could. Nor I would to." The maiden said sorrowfuly, clutching one hand with another, feeling the texture of the gloves. "These hands were never meant to hold or touch anything with life. Only to forever stay cold."

The reaper moved his lips in a slight smile. "You know what they say. Cold hands, warm heart." He speaked before approaching the maiden.

"Huh? W-What are you doing?" She asked before seeing him reaching out for her hands, alarming her. "W-Wait! No! Don't touch me! If you do you will-"

But the reaper grabbed her hand despite the warning.

"Ah!?" The maiden's eyes widened with shock as she gasped aloud. The reaper didn't started to convulse or writhe in pain. Nor his body collapsed lifelessly. Instead, the Servant of Death continued to feel the touch of his skin. How rough and stiff his hand felt compared to her more delicate one. Not only that, but the maiden also sensed something more in the reaper upon the touch. A sinister power laid within him, with countless of thousands of whispers mumbling at her ears, as if the souls of the entire graveyard were mumbling at that moment. It made the maiden look at the mysterious reaper with a mix of awe and fear. "L-Lord Thanatos...it that you, my lord?"

"Who knows?" The reaper responded, giving no clear answer, proceeding to stare at her with grimness. "Now, heed carefully to what I'm about to say: You are an avatar of Death. That much was decided by destiny upon your birth. Claiming and guiding souls, is all that your life will be bound to. Yet, these hands do not have to remain cold forever." The grip on the maiden's hand tightened a bit as he smirked. "I envision great things for your potential."

"My potential?" The maiden replied, feeling oblivious in all of this.

"Yes. If death and the ending of life is what you are meant to do, then you shall be prolific at it. You'll come to enjoy it, and in that new found joy, your hands will feel warmth. Alive." Getting up, the reaper maintained eye contact with her. "So answer the calling! Come with me and leave this entire 'cage' behind!" His voice rose, opening up his arms. "And then, you shall gaze at what lies beyond this fake sky." He went back to lower his voice, closing his hand slowly into a tight fist.

The maiden herself still felt a bit lost, trying to process correctly what the reaper was telling her. "You want me...to leave this entire land with you?"

"Yes. By doing so..." Opening up his fist into a welcoming hand, the reaper offered it to the maiden, a smirk of dubious intentions on his face. "...you will find your real self. Your true vocation."

"..." Contemplating it, the maiden was aware that this would be a choice that could change the trajectory of her own life. Between continue to stay here and leave for the unknown, it felt like a dilemma for her to pick. Even if her gut felt something wrong about this man, she didn't had any friends, home or famil that pinned her down to this region. So, why was exactly a dilemma for her?

"I...appreciate your offer, mister." The maiden replied, her mind made up on what to pick. "But unfortunately, I have to refuse."

"Hm?" Even if concealed by the hood, it could be told that the reaper raised an eyebrow behind it.

"Please, do not judge me wrong. It's just...I feel that a life surrounded by death is not one that I truly want. Or that at least I'm not ready for it yet." The maiden expressed her feelings and regards about it. "As much as of a tantalizing promise it would be to rediscover myself, I think I'm more willing to do that on my own. here, at my home."

"The very home that never embraced you?" The reaper responded, sounding a bit austere.

"I know it sounds foolish but that is what I want at the moment." The maiden smiled softly. "Perhaps in the future, tha can change but right now, I want to live more beyond the pain and sorrow of death. I don't wish for my life to solely revolve around it, even if I was fated to it as duty. I also want to know happiness and other forms of it." Putting her hands up close, the Servant of Death smiled with purity and benigness to the reaper, almost angelical. "Thus, I crave to live in unity with others, and not in isolation of reaping their souls."

"..." The reaper stood silent, hearing to her declaration with a stoic face.

"But above all..." The maiden turned her gaze to the tombstones. "I'd like to continue watching over them. For as long as possible." She said with sincerity before going back to stare at the reaper. "So, as much of a letdown it might sound, I hope that-"

"No. It's fine." The reaper responded, interrupting the maiden. "We are free to live our lifes the way we chose after all." He said, seemingly conformed with the maiden's choice.

"..." The maiden just stared at him a bit puzzled, blinking as she wasn't counting on the man to accept her decision that easily.

"Anyways, if that's what you want, I won't fight it." The reaper said, turning around and beggining to walk away. "See you around."

"T-Thank you for comprehending it, mister!" The maiden replied politely with a bow. "It was nice talking with you!"

But the reaper himself didn't cared about her words at all. "'To live in unity with others' Tsk! What a bad joke."

Alas, despite having discovered a promising candidate, it was slowly proved to him that she lacked, or rather, still had heart enough to not fall to the temptation nor become a cold and fatal reaper to the point of inhumanity. Simply, the maiden's potential was only good on paper for him as other fundamental characteristics were missing. Either way, this was just one cycle out of millions. He could always come back to a later one and try his chances again. If anything, the reaper found the concept of the planet he found himself in to be amusing.

A mere simulation, infinitely running on and on until achieving the perfect result and conditions for one of Nanook's Emmanators to awaken from its slumber. The reaper had to give props to that droid. He had certainly crafted quite the interesting stage for such compelling plotline. If it was truly achieved, then the whole cosmos would tremble at the effects. It was certainly promising. The reaper liked that. As well as mess in other's game.

But the droid's knowledge to an extent could also end up posing as a threat to his own secrets. If becoming too investigative, there would be no other choice but to kick him out of the game, like many others who tried to approach the 'truth' before. But for now, the reaper would just enjoy himself to 'play' a bit on this world the android had created. Just for this one single cycle. To mess things around for his own amusement.

He had heard whereabouts about a noble young man that aspired to be an hero, in a village not so far from here. The droid's favourite subject. Perhaps he should play with him too.

Seeing him go however, there was still a thing the maiden wanted to ask him. "Wait mister! You still didn't told me who you are!"

Stopping amidst his tracks, the reaper stood eerily still. "Just a vagrant that likes to walk." He responded before turning around, grinning. A sharp blue eye peeking behind the hood. "And where there is life, I'll be there too."

.

.

.

Xianzhou Luofu, Present

"Hm." Reminiscing some of his memories with closed eyes, Morte let out a subtle smirk.

"I see that the show up there must have been intriguing to you."

Opening up his eyes, Morte's smile immediatly faded as he heard the voice of Luocha speaking near him, the man himself standing in front of Morte.

"Or are you perhaps smiling for another reason?" Luocha pondered, with an inquisitive smile.

Initially staring at him with a stoic and even stern expression, Morte simply let out a chuckle with a smirk. "Eh. Nothing much. Just having nostalgic thoughts on 'what-ifs' and 'has-beens' scenarios."

"Ah, very reflective." Luocha responded, having liked that unique answer. "Haven't we all had one of those before?"

As the two men were talking, Ruan Mei had just finished analyzing the blood within some test tubes before storing them inside a metallic brief case, locking it and getting up from her improvised science table that she had equipped in the middle of the arena where Acheron and Jingliu fought.

And speaking of the two, both women were now laid in the center of the area. Acheron was still unconscious and resting on top of a table, her wounds having seemingly been treated and healed but also some band-aids placed on her shoulder and cubital fossa, where Ruan Mei had extracted her blood for sample, via a syringe. As for the deceased Jingliu, despite being dead, the swordswoman was strapped to a gurney from head to toe. The great gashing wound Acheron striked on her torso was still noticeable.

"From what I'm seeing of this place, things here also got quite chaotic." Morte said, observing the entire wreckage that was caused in the arena by the fight between Acheron and Jingliu. "Bet you also must have loved it. I mean, who doesn't love some good entropy, am I right? From one fan to another."

Luocha couldn't help but let his smile grew a bit more to those words Morte said. He was quite the peculiar individual. "Entropy is indeed quite fascinating in a sense. To see how easily things suddenly crumble and kick down into disorder can be such fascinating as well as a terryfying phenomenon." He said amusingly while staring away from Morte. "But say...do you know how 'entropy' is created?" The merchant asked to Morte, side-eyeing him.

A question that the reaper faced with a smirk. "Oh please. Don't try and teach me in what I know well already. Still, I'll answer if that's what you want." Morte said, willing to answer Luocha's question nonetheless. "First, war bursts in, violently encouaging conflict. Then, as supplies drop, famine proceeds to strike subsequently. Weakened and fragile, the leftovers are sweeped by plague. And in the end, Death comes to collect them all. That's how you get entropy." His stare focused on Luocha. "In other words, that's how you get an apocalypse."

"..." Luocha did not respond with words, his smile only getting a bit more amused with the answer.

"I've come to the conclusion of the results." Ruan Mei stepped in the conversation, staring briefly to the appointments and notes on her clipboard. "The aspect of Nihility's power is of extreme capacity. Altough irregular and unstable, if tested and comprehended properly to its roots and essencial formula, it can proof to be an efficient and extremely important stepping stone to our plans."

"Sounds like you got your expectations met then." Morte replied, excercizing his arm a bit. "Good. I wouldn't like to have created all that 'distraction' for nothing. And I do hope these 'plans' of yours end up being worthy." He stared at both Luocha and Ruan Mei with a severe expression. "I hate to postpone the ending of things y'know?"

"Hehehe, you can rest easy on that." Luocha chuckled with composure at Morte's comment while Ruan Mei just stared stoically. "While I know that you had the Luofu's ending(death) sketched out for this day in specific, I guarantee that my scheme also depends heavily on its continous survival. And with what was achieved today, I'd say it has gotten closer to concretization." The merchant said promising, staring over at the unconscious Acheron on the table. "Truly, for very long, here I thought that the solution to kill an Aeon was the brutality and violence of The Destruction. When in fact, there was already another more proficient answer this entire time. The obliteration and erasure of The Nihility. While one can destroy and break things, one can simply wipe them out of existence. Altough I'd aim for a Doctor of Chaos personally, that Self-Annihilator you found is good enough." Luocha said, turning back to Morte. "I'm sure that her blood will be put on to good use."

"I will be working on it once I arrive to my lab at the space station. The possibilities that can be achieved are 'enthralling'." Ruan Mei replied before gesturing to the strapped Jingliu on the gurney. "But first, we must conduct our another experiment of the day."

"What the doctress says." Morte responded, scratching his nose before looking at Luocha. "Go ahead and give a try, Lucha-"

"Luocha." The merchant corrected the other man on his name, much to Morte's slight botherness. Walking torwards the gurney where his deceased companion was, Luocha stretched his arm out and opened up his hand. "Receive divinity!"

Yet, nothing happened, Jingliu's wound still open and the swordswoman remained dead. Luocha tried again, with more intensity. He insisted and insisted and insisted. But his powers of Abundance continued to be ineffective, eventually making the merchant stop, contemplating at his own hand.

"Technical difficulties?" Morte walked torwards him, asking with a smirk.

"I've examined her fatal wound already." Ruan Mei replied, softly passing her fingertips on the edge of Jingliu's wound. "The tissue, muscles and bone structure of this area of her torso specifically are simply gone, as if they never existed. Undoubtly, this was the consequential result of the attack the Emmanator struck on her. Additionally, there's another important information that I think it would be of your interest to know." She stared to Luocha. "While doing research on the wound, I happened to find out that all cells within her body have died, no responsiveness whatsoever."

"Hm, that does sound odd." Luocha commented, listening.

"While it is normal that cells die after the vessel is no longer alive, it still take some hours for the first decaying cells to start appearing." Ruan Mei continued her probing. "However, with the fact that she died less than an hour ago, it makes no sense for her entire cells being already decomposed. As chain of events, it also causes terminal failure on the rest of the organs, entering in collapse. Conclusion: She is terminally dead on a molecular level too, with no chances of resurrection. A necrosis like state. Of this, I believe The Nihility had no cause in." Ruan Mei stated, sure in her own analyze. "Nor I think it is related to her curse of being mara-struck. It has to be something else. Akin to a lethal infectuous body agent perhaps."

"Hm, so Jingliu is in what could be perceived as an 'absolute' death." Luocha said with a thoughtful frown. "I guess that much would be expected." He then smiled, looking at Morte. "Which brings us to the most important phase of our experiment."

Morte sighed in reaction. "I feel so honored..."

Walking torwards him, Ruan Mei stood in front of Morte with another syringe in hand. "Your blood please."

Grumbling, Morte simply gave a sly smile as he proceeded to slash his own wrist, letting the blood spill out and drench the ground beneath. "Do not waste it, doctress."

Ruan Mei just stared at him with no reaction, only slight inconvenience as she took out a glass test tube, letting the blood pour inside to fill it in. With the sample, Ruan Mei begun to walk back to her table, transfering some of Morte's blood into a syringe, making sure to be well sterilized.

"By now, you already know what is one of the highest miracles, don't you, Luocha? That of resurrection." Morte speaked to the merchant as both gazed at Ruan Mei walking torwards the deceased Jingliu with the syringe. "The power of simply bringing someone back from the dead, to defy death itself is what many consider astonishing and equally absurd. The notion that someone can trespass one of the universe most well established concepts and laws is remarkable. Howbeit..."

Leaning in, Ruan Mei placed the tip of the syringe on Jingliu's shoulder.

"Is resurrection truly an act of defying death?"

Pressing in, she administered all of Morte's blood into the swordwoman's veins.

Morte smirked. "Or simply an act of allowance from Death itself?"

"...Ah!?...Ngh!...ghgaah...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Suddenly, Jingliu's eyes jolted back to life again as a cruel and burning pain speed across her entire body, her vains shinning green as the swordswoman begun to shout and scream in agony, trashing savagely and frantically against her restraints, the leather straps creaking at her every move, forcefully keeping her on the gurney. The three just stood by and watched it in silence, contemplating the scene.

After some seconds of more shouting and struggling, Jingliu eventually stopped as the pain went away, panting heavily and exhausted altough her heart kept quickly pounding before calming down. Her skin was no longer pale and the wound on her torso had been completely healed and sealed. Jingliu was alive once more.

"Hehe. Welcome back." Ruan Mei greeted the resurrected and stunned Jingliu with a pleased smile. She liked what she had seen. "It seems her organs and bloodflow are operational agains as well as the missing parts on her wound. This experiment was a success." She said torwards Luocha and Morte.

"Hm, just like you had told." Luocha smiled, staring to the man next to him.

"Yeah, yeah. Pretty incredible, I know. You can spare the applause and compliments." Morte said, wanting to move onto another thing. "Can I go to the other table now?"

Luocha chuckled. "Yes you may."

Not losing a second, Morte immediatly walked torwards the table where Acheron was, gazing at her from up close. And his gaze torwards the unconscious Self-Annihilator, could almost be described as that of a proud father to his daughter. "I heard that you excelled yourself in here. Very good, Acheron. Very good." Morte said almost in a whisper, softly passing his fingers on Acheron's cheek, adjusting a bit of her hair. He could tell that she was special. That in her, there was the perfect candidate.

"She is indeed quite the specimen." Ruan Mei speaked, approaching to the other side of the table while also gazing at Acheron. "I'd assume that an Emmanator of Nihility must be a bit different from others." She slowly brought her hand over the Self-Annihilator. The theories that could be studied with her body. The experiments. The discoveries. So much to explore and dissect in the-

Slamming his hand on the table abruptly, Morte snapped Ruan Mei out of her own thoughts.

"Sorry, but she is for looking only. No touching." Morte told her, giving an utter cold and menacing gaze to her. "Understood?"

For a moment, Ruan Mei stoic facade shattered at the sight of Morte's stare before quickly recomposing herself. "Y-Yes. Do not overreact. You can keep your 'prize'."

Morte went back to straighten his body, giving an unfriendly face to Ruan Mei. "If you want to cut open someone, you have the ice lunatic over there."

And even if it had come as an ironic suggestion, it made Ruan Mei's mind to stop momentarily and consider it. Giving a glance to Jingliu, still strapped on the gurney and recovering, the member of the Genius Society pondered more about that alternative. Altough she preferred the Self-Annihilator, the corrupted swordswoman of the Luofu also wouldn't be a bad choice. However, she looked at Luocha first, wanting to know of his opinion on the matter since Jingliu was also a fundamental 'piece' of his.

Staring back at Ruan Mei, the merchant could immediatly tell what she would ask him over, chuckling as he moved his arms and shrugged his shoulders. "I believe there is a lab more up ahead here at the Shackling Prison. It may not be to Miss Ruan Mei's level but it should suffice for some 'searches' she wishes to do in the meantime. As long as you're done before the Luofu gets back to normal, it is fine by me."

And that was the 'carte blanche' Ruan Mei needed. "Appreciated." She thanked Luocha before shifting her attention to the restrained Jingliu. "Guess for the first time in my career, I shall finally get the chance to 'examine' throughly the wonders of a mara-struck and Abundance itself."

"!..." Upon hearing such statement, Jingliu's heart freezed for a moment, looking back to Ruan Mei and seeing how cold and unsettling the eyes of the genius looked, feeling her stomach churn. It was the sensation that the suffering and pain she had went through for today, was only about to begin.

"Have fun." Morte responded dryly before stretching his arms. "Buuuut before that. Lucha!" Morte called over the merchant. "Let's do the final steps here. Seal our pact. Or were you forgetting by chance?"

"Not at all." Luocha smiled eloquently. "I do take alliances like this seriously. Our fellow collaborator here being the same."

Ruan Mei nodded in agreement. "A vow is a vow. There is no benefit to break it with someone that we see as a great asset to our goals."

"Then do come here." Morte said as both Luocha and Ruan Mei approached, standing in front of him, ready for their pact's sealing. Taking out a cigar, Morte lightened it up, taking a smoke at it before quickly staring in the eyes of the other two with his own skeletal gaze.

"Ars Moriendi!"

Within the snap of fingers, a type of 'spell' was casted within both Luocha and Ruan Mei's hearts, the two's faces flinching a bit in pain as they felt a sharp agony strike their hearts altough brief.

"Eh, don't fret. Just small pain." Morte took another smoke of his cigar. "As explained, see it as a kind of 'second chance' for you. However, make sure to use it wisely as that" He warned them. "You can only pull off the trick once. Right now, it is your best wild card when push comes to shove. But also, you're aware of the downside already."

"We are." Luocha replied, placing the hand on the zone of his heart. "Only five more months of living if we don't achieve our goals." He reiterated what Morte had told to both him and Ruan Mei before forming this alliance, the two aware of the risk since the very start.

"Of which if those goals aren't met until that deadline..." Morte's lips creaked as the man grinned creepily to the two. "Your souls become mine to own."

"It is a prospect we're willing to have our chances against." Ruan Mei replied. "Rest assured that the given time is more than enough if no major setbacks occur."

"Yes. I believe as such." Morte smiled cunningly. "For people like you this is but a simple challenge, right?"

"..." Ruan Mei just narrowed her gaze at him.

"But oh well, why continue to waste your time now that the clock's ticking?" Morte begun to pick up Acheron from the table. "I feel that this was a very touching conference of our-"

"Ahem." Luocha coughed, interrupting Morte. "Aren't you forgetting about something now?"

"Hm?" Morte looked briefly puzzled at the merchant before slapping his own forehead. "Oh yeah! Almost forgot! Me and my aging mind right?" Laughing a bit, Morte went to grab something from his pocket before throwing at Luocha to catch it.

The object in his hands? A heart.

"From the general with love as requested." Morte told him with a friendly smile.

"The heart's not beating." Luocha said blandly, still staring at the organ now in his hands.

"Well no shit, Sherlock!" Morte replied extrovertedly. "Dude's dead!...yet." He picked up Acheron again. "Once he's revived it will beat again and you'll have your favourite blackmailing toy. Just be sure to not be overly sadistic with it, ok?" Turning around, he begun to head for the exit and leaving Luocha and Ruan Mei behind. "And better get prepared when the process of Luofu being back to normalcy is finished. A bell will be rung in advance to let you know when it's almost comple-"

"And what about you?" Ruan Mei speaked suddenly.

"...Hm?" Morte stopped, standing right in front of the exit with the unconscious Acheron. "What about me?" He turned around to look at her. "Well, I'll be on my marry way and do my own things, y'know? Like-"

"I meant about yourself." Ruan Mei cut him off once again, specifying her question.

"About me?" Morte speaked, sounding a bit more serious. "Eh. What would you possibly want to know of me?"

"Hmm, perhaps nothing much really." Ruan Mei briefly closed her eyes. "Just...how you seem to possess abilities that are able to resurrect people in state of 'absolute death' as well as killing as it was natural for you."

Morte cackled. "So? Do you know how many schmucks of The Abundance and The Destruction can do something similar?"

"Exactly. 'Similar' but not the same thing." Ruan Mei opened up her eyes, facing Morte. "Say, have you ever heard about a planet named Vanitas before?"

"..."

And then, a deafening silence entered the room as soon as that name was spoken. Even the tension in the air could be felt.

Having to face the question, Morte simply looked at Ruan Mei with a stoic face. "And why would a genius be interested in a fantasy?"

"Despite the public agreement of being merely fictional, Vanitas is also highly speculated to actually exist as a real, physical, location." Ruan Mei speaked, not afraid of keep going with the subject of conversation. "Its residence theorized to be at the very center of the universe, where begginings and endings overlapse. I am simply trying to saciate my knowledge as a genius by making curious questioning. You don't need to get defensive if you don't know nothing about it, right?"

"Ehehe, you..." Chuckling, Morte gave an annoyed grin before quickly sprinting torwards Ruan Mei, his scythe immediatly positioned at her neck as he stood towering over her. "You snobbish assholes from the Genius Society and Erudition in general like to see yourselves as big-shots, don't you?" He speaked with some dangerous anger. "Always thinking you have everything in control to the very minute detail. That you know everything and anything! The right and precise buttons to push in every situation! Feeling always soooo untochable. But tell me..." He slowly grinned while closing his face on Ruan Mei who did her best to maintained composed despite the threat. "Have you ever heard about how the curiosity killed the cat? Do you happen to know what was made of the last person of the Genius Society who became too committed on the same question-"

"Actually, I too would like to know more about Vanitas."

"?" Distancing his face from Ruan Mei, Morte turned his head around to look at Luocha who had speaked.

"I also have heard quite the 'stories' and rumours about that place." The merchant said with a wondering smile. "The place where all souls gather after finding peace. Some chose to rest eternally there while others go through the process of being born anew, akin to reincarnation. It is also told that Vanitas is the planet known as the "Endpoint" or "Final Stop of the Cosmos." for whoever reaches there alive, shall never leave that realm with their life." His smile grew slightly, looking with some conniving eagerness at Morte. "The Great Tree that breaches the void and bridges to many other 'possibilities' beyond our own." Opening up his arms, Luocha kept staring at Morte. "As a wanderer that loves to see every place, how could not such place spark my interest in its fascination?"

Morte just stared blandly at Luocha. "And a fool that imagines too obsessively." He told him before starting to walk away, not wanting to entertain this discussion furthermore.

"That may be. Anyhow, we are 'simple' beings that just love to explore and wonder while secretly having our own agendas." Luocha said, not gazing at Morte walking past him and heading to the exit where the unconscious Acheron was still laying. "However, of all those incredible stories about Vanitas there is one that you might have most certainly heard. My favourite." He smirked, staring to Morte. "That of Vanitas being the residence of The Monarch of The End, Terminus, The Aeon of Finality."

"..." And once again, Morte stopped on his tracks, his eye peeking over the shoulder to look at Luocha.

"You wouldn't know anything about them, would you?" Luocha questioned with a smug.

"Hush." Morte speaked, almost guttural sounding, as if he was making a warning.

Despite that, Luocha tried to keep pressuring him. "Hm. I see how-uh?"

Yet, as soon as the merchant tried to talk with Morte, he was met with the other man simply gesturing at him to 'stop' with his own hand. However, in Morte's hand, there now seemed to be a thin line embedded within the skin of the hand's palm, Morte looking to the other way. "Luocha, I know you and Ruan Mei must like to be the curious type of asking questions. But I also believe that you are the type to be smart enough and aware when you're about to step over the line."

"..."

"..."

Both Luocha and Ruan Mei did not replied, knowing that they were pushing the other man to the limit.

"Vanitas? Terminus? I may or may not know about those things. Why does that matter to you exactly? I thought we'd just come here to have a nice little alliance reunion to enjoy what was accomplished today. Instead, here we are, trying to get something more out of me. How very 'considerate' of you." Morte said sarcastically, continuing with the same hand positioned as he looked at the two. "Please, do keep up acting as such that in a blink of an eye(In ictu oculi) you may as well regret it."

Dissapearing from within their vision, Morte quickly reappeared behind Luocha.

"Like, why do you think I made myself appear to you one day?"

Doing it again, the reaper reappeared now next to Ruan Mei.

"That I shared knowledge in order for you to revive that foxian?"

And Morte kept doing it all over the arena. Again and again.

"Because I just happened to have spawned there? Because I'm an humble humanitarian? Your fucking fairy godfather!? Nonsense!"

Shouting, Morte appeared in front of Luocha, instantly grabbing him up by the collar.

"Ghg!?" The merchant's face recoiled as Morte brought closer to him as the reaper stared into his very eyes.

"It's because I know how to spot game changers when I see them." Morte told it in a low, cold, voice, as cold as the blue of his sharp eyes, approaching his mouth to Luocha's hear, whispering. "Which is why I'm not killing you here right now." Saying that, Morte let go his grip from Luocha, pushing him back.

The merchant himself still tried to remain composed, only letting out a sigh as he adjusted his clothes, dusting it off.

"You know? I have met LOTS of people like you. Manipulative men and women a plenty. Couples even." Morte smirked as he was pointing his scythe at Luocha and Ruan Mei, walking back and forth. "And you just remind me exactly of one. Manipulative, controlling, scheming, backstabbing, cold, snobbish and all the other nice adjectives that fit! I mean, I respect the audacity of trying to do it on another cunning person. But I'm not a cunning person you want to be up against with." Standing next to them, Morte then drew back his scythe. "So, you either cooperate and learn that private things are private, or..." Moving his right hand, Morte simply put three fingers up. "Three words. All that I need to say is three simple words and you'll join the entire Luofu population on the count." He then smirked mischiveously. "Or perhaps we can wake up the big guy(Tayzzyronth) from the coffin, can we not, Luocha?"

A prospect that immediatly made Luocha gasp, giving a cold glare to Morte. "You wouldn't dare."

"Ah! See? Now who doesn't like to be pressured about certain topics?" Morte replied, laughing as he softly punched Luocha on the shoulder as if they were buddies. "All in all, I believe we learned an important lesson today. What's it gonna be?"

Looking at each other, Luocha and Ruan Mei understood that their thoughts and opinions on Morte where pretty much the same. He wasn't worth the risk to try and use further as a mean for their goals.

"Very shrewd. We shall not bother you anylonger." Ruan Mei speaked first, politely.

"It would seem we underestimated you." Luocha smiled, trying to make things up with Morte. "It's for the best that we start to focus on our own plans now as the clock's ticking like you said. Nevertheless, I appreciate your crucial contribution so far."

"Finally! That wasn't so hard, was it?" Morte said, sounding more relaxed despite a subtle hint of danger in his voice yet. "Now, each of us go on their own separate ways, doing and planning their own things. From here onwards, remember: We don't know nor have we never seen each other before, okay? When the bell rings, everything will be back to normal and you'll return to your original positions."

"We will be sure to mentalize that." Luocha responded, knowing that he didn't had much to do in this short period of the dead Luofu before returning back to his prison cell. Even so, the merchant felt that this was a fundamental step in the right direction to his objective: kill Yaoshi. "If we do never happen to cross paths again after this, then may you know that you will always be quite the puzzle I would have liked to figure out. But truly, I guess somethings are never meant to be fully understood."

"That or we'll see each other again in five months." Morte replied, laughing.

Luocha chuckled. "Sure. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. See you later, Morte."

And then, the trio separated. Morte picking up Acheron and walking to the other way while Luocha and Ruan Mei went to the opposite exit, with the genius pulling the gurney Jingliu was in. As they walked, Luocha observed the heart of Jing Yuan again, now on his posession. Needless to say, it would play a very important role on his plans. With this, even with the limit of five months, Luocha felt that slowly, things were aligning perfectly. Very soon, he could once more become-

"If you spit on the gods, they'll come raining down on you later."

"..."

Luocha stopped alongside Ruan Mei, both moving their heads to stare at Morte all the way on the other side of the arena, staring back at them, a bit of a silence staying in between. And after nothing was said, Luocha simply nodded, perceiving it as cryptic advice.

"Yes. I'll keep that in mind." He said, him and Ruan Mei proceeding to continue on their way as Morte just smirked on seeing them walking away before changing his gaze at Acheron. His plans for her were just starting, stepping into the hallway of the destroyed Shackling Prison, echoing through.

"May you have a grandious ending, Otto."

.

.

.

"Hmmm...Eeeh...My...head." Moving and turning her body around, the sleeping Sushang begun to arouse from her slumber as the morning rays of light invaded her house through the window, bathing her face. Lifting up her torso, the slightly dizzy Cloud Knight found herself to have slept on the couch of her living room. "What even happened?"

On the armchair next to the couch, the curled and cute Huohuo was also beggining to wake up, her fox ears twitching as she yawned. "Felt like...a very good sleep-uh? What am I doing in your house, Sushang?" She asked confused once she noticed she was at her friend's place.

But before the equally confused Cloud Knight could respond, they heard a voice coming from the bedroom.

"Ah, new day new me-oh? Weird. Didn't remembered my bed feeling this comfortable."

"This voice..!" Immediatly recognizing who was speaking, Sushang got out of the couch and went torwards the door of her own bedroom, hurryingly opening up, seeing none other than her dearest friend whom she wished to be again with, astonishment striking her face.

"Guinaifen..."

"Hmm...Huh?" Feeling her systems becoming operational again, Xueyi's body went back to activity, lifting up from her coffin, bringing some fingers to her head, feeling a bit lightheaded. "I'm on my coffin? But since when did I fell into slumber?" Looking around, the judge noticed she was also inside the Shackling Prison. More precisely, at the control center. As she was inspecting her surroundings, Xueyi spotted Hanya up ahead, sleeping with the face against her desk, walking torwards her. "Sister? Sister, wake up."

Letting out a husky breath, Hanya opened her eyes to the voice of her sister. "Xueyi..?" She murmured looking up at the other judge that was standing next to her, feeling somewhat in disbilief.

"Is there something wrong, sister?" Xueyi asked, noticing the expression on Hanya's face.

"N-No." Hanya responded, not sure of what had happened. "I think not..."

From outside the control center, many guards and auromatons also begun to wake up and get back on their feet, not having almost any recollection of what happened the day before, also a bit dizzy and confused as they woke up to a calm and orderly Shackling Prison, the riot having seemingly ended.

On the outside, Luofu's early blue sky had returned on this day, greeting its population as they all begun to lift up from their beds inside their homes. Not a single one aware of the full events of yesterday.

"Jiaoqiu...what...just happened?" Moze asked to his companion as both woke up on a balcony to the sound of birds singing, having rested beneath on the shadows of a tree.

"It was General Jing Yuan's celebration of his 500th Anniversary as Luofu's general yesterday, wasn't it?" Jiaoqiu replied, trying to remember well. "We must have partied all night long."

"Yes." Moze wasn't fully convinced of it altough he himself didn't had any better guess. "Perhaps it was just that..." He murmured while looking to the view of the Luofu ahead of them.

Radiant and lively, its buildings standing grandiously as the first starskiffs begun to fly in the sky on the morning's sunrays. The people chatted and talked between each other. The children laughed and played around. The trees and gardens as green as they ever were. The Xianzhou Luofu had woke up today alive and well to a gentle breeze in the air, prospering as always. If asked their opinions about it, the majority of the people would say that today was going to be a good day.

"Hmmmm...uhhh..."

As for Xianzhou Luofu's general himself, his day had too begun, opening his eyes to the greeting ot the white clouds and blue sky above his head.

Some meters to the side, the general of the Yaoqing also woke up, stretching both her arms while yawning. "Gooood day, Jing Yuan." Feixiao greeted him while Jing Yuan himself rubbed his sleepy eyes.

Looking at her, the general of the Luofu himself felt something odd. A sensation that there was something missing or forgotten. "Good day to you too, Feixiao..." He responded before making a question to his fellow general, noticing some empty bottles of liquor scattered around him and Feixiao. "Say, do you have any recollection of what happened yesterday?"

"That tends to happen when you drink non-stop. Very unfitting for a general if I say so."

Hearing a voice speaking behind him, Jing Yuan turned around before ending up with a tender smile on his face, seeing who just was resting lazily against a tree's trunk on the garden. "Hi there, Qiongqi."

Appreciating the natural beauty of the garden, the general's friend was with his hand up, admiring the painted quail bird that had landed on his finger as he proceeded to look back to Jing Yuan in the same way with a friendly and gentle smile. For nothing of terrible had ever happened.

"Thankfully, it's a brand new day, Jin."

Chapter Text

"Guinaifen...you're...here?"

The Cloud Knight could barely believe, much less so comprehend what she was seeing right now. Her best friend, Guinaifen, waking up in her own bed at Sushang's own house.

Blinking back to the Cloud Knight, the streamer herself didn't looked much more enlightened than her friend. "Well, I mean, I too don't know exactly of what I'm doing here." She giggled a bit with a confused smile while scratching the back of her head. "Like, what exactly happened yesterday?"

"I...I don't know." Sushang said, oblivious. Everything that happened yesterday seeming like a broken puzzle of memories now. All that she could remember, was of a sensation. A sensation that something terrible had happened to Guinaifen. That she was long gone and yet...

"Wow." Guinaifen was in genuine confusion as well, turning her head to the window on the side. "Then we must have partied very hard last night to not remember a thi-!?"

And then, she was interrupted. Not by words or an intruding sound. No. Guinaifen had been interrupted by the movement of Sushang, who immediatly jumped torwards the bed and hugged tightly her friend. Hugging as tightly as she could. As tightly to never lose her.

"I-I'm glad...*sniff* I'm glad that you are okay, Gui." Sushang spoke amidst weeps, tears felling down from her face while continue with the grasp on Guinaifen. "I thought...*sniff*...I thought that you were gone!"

"Uh? G-Gone?" Guinaifen blinked her eyes a bit, her confusion still maintaining. "What do you mean, Sushang?"

"I'm not sure myself. I...I think it was a nightmare." Sushang tried to explain, her memory feeling a bit foggy, partially recalling mere teasers of what the Cloud Knight judged to have been a bad dream. Meanwhile, Huohuo had also entered the bedroom. "And in it, all that I can remember, is that you were right there in front of me and then on the next second you were...you were gone!"

"..." Guinaifen did not replied, hearing to what Sushang was telling with a rather stunned face, able to tell how pained the Cloud Knight was when saying that, still clinging onto her.

"And I don't remember what happened next but...*sniff*...I was scared. I couldn't proccess quite the pain when I saw it. I thought I'd never see you again, Guinaifen!" Sushang exclaimed, looking to the other young woman, tears in her eyes. "It was something so horrible that I felt the entire world crumbling around me! That...*sniff*...That I would have to live forever without y-"

"It's alright, Sushang. Don't need to panic." Tranquilizing her friend, Guinaifen gave an unexpected hug to the Cloud Knight, drowning Sushang's sorrow in her embrace. "I am here after all, ain't I?" She spoke with one of the most uplifting and brightest smiles she ever gave to someone she liked.

That image on itself, was able to ease down Sushang's sobbing, silently nodding her head. Guinaifen was right. She was indeed there, alive and well.

"What you had was just a nightmare like you said." Guinaifen helped her friend clean up her tears from the eyes. "Plus, if it was real, you know lil' Gui here is more persistent than rock to be taken down, don't you? It would be needed more than whatever happened in that dream for me to be gone!" She speaked emboldened with a prideful smile as a way to reassure to her friend.

Huohuo nodded in agreement. "Exactly! I remember how you always walked your way out of accidents as if nothing had ever happened!" She then frowned sadly when shifting her gaze to Sushang. "Still, you must have had an awful sleep, Sushang. Dreaming of stuff like that...I know I'd also wake up in a worry. Hope you're feeling a bit better now."

"I am. Thanks girls..." Sushang responded with a brief weak smile before cleaning the rest of her tears. "However, I'd wish to remember what exactly we've been up to yesterday. It's strange how as much as I try to remember it, it all feels blan-"

However, the Cloud Knight was soon interrupted by Huohuo who was just checking her phone. "Huh? These photos...were they all during the festival?"

"What photos?" Guinaifen asked to the small foxian who walked torwards the bed where the other two were and gave her phone for both Guinaifen and Sushang to see, with the streamer grabbing the object and seeing the photos. "Ah! But it's..."

On the screen of Huohuo's phone, the photo displayed was of Guinaifen and Sushang, happily staring the fireworks go off at the Central Starskiff Haven.

"It's us." Sushang muttured while looking at the pic. "But...when did that happened?"

Swipping to the left, they kept seeing the photos. This time, a selfie of Huohuo, Sushang and Guinaifen at Aurum Alley, all happily smilling while in front of Delicacy Pavilion.

"Huh? We ended up going there?" Guinaifen commented, a bit puzzled.

Next one, was of Sushang singing her heart out on a karaoke stage alongside Guinaifen as Huohuo effusively cheered her two friends up, the photo being presumably taken by a stranger the small foxian requested to take a picture of the moment.

"Hehehe! Okay. This one's funny." Guinaifen giggled a bit.

"It sure is." Sushang smiled a bit, thinking the same.

"Eeeh? Was I really all that fired up?" Huohuo said, slightly bewildered.

Even if the trio initially didn't had any recollection of the moments that the photos were showing them, the more they saw, they begun to eventually remember it. How they smiled, laughed, partied, eat and enjoyed the entirety of the festival from yesterday. All happy and smiling, living the event to the fullest with one another as it was all recorded within Huohuo's phone camera.

"Wow...It was quite the day we had, wasn't it?" Sushang smiled foundly, having stared to all the photos.

"Yeah. We must have even got wasted!" Guinaifen replied with a sheepish smile. "That must explain why we didn't immediatly recalled any of this when we woke up..."

"Then what a luck that I decided to take several pictures of it then!" Huohuo said happily. "I mean, just look at them! We look quite the great friends, don't we?"

"We sure do." Sushang replied while continuing to look at them. Yet, her smile dissapeared as soon as the Cloud Knight remembered of another thing. The heated argument. The one that for a brief period, severed her and Guinaifen's friendship, with words that were spoken in the heat of the moment and of which Sushang didn't really mean it. The more she thought about it, the more the Cloud Knight felt guilt and regret, aware that she ended up being way too rude at Guinaifen that time.

She was unaware if she had said it already yesterday. But if she did, Sushang wanted to say it again. With honesty. "Hey, Gui..." Calling her friend that was just in front of her at her own house, in a moment of silence, the Cloud Knight mustered her strenght to say the ache that had been within her heart ever since that day.

"I want to say sorry."

"I want to say sorry."

"Huh?" Surprised, Sushang stared a bit baffled at Guinaifen who spoke the same thing as her at the same time.

"That's what you wanted to say, right?" Guinaifen looked at her with a tender smile. "Me too."

"Guinaifen..." Sushang muttured.

"You were right back there, Sushang. I haven't been the best friend to you and Huohuo lately." Guinaifen said with some sadness. "I really did let the fame and an obsession for views and likes distort my vision of what was more important to me in my life. I love attention and to be recognized by everybody due to my crazy stunts and videos. It was a way to feel that the people at least cared about me. Yet, it also made me too blind to see I was taking things too far and hurting someone that already cared about me beyond the videos and stunts. Someone that were truly my friends." The streamer smiled with shame, barely able to keep it. "You always helped me and I failed to do the same by being a more decent friend. To think I even at one point prioritized to seek more fame and views than to maintain our bond...I'm truly sorry, Sushang! Huohuo!" She said, trying to contain some tears from exiting her eyes.

Seeing how heartfelt Guinaifen speaked, Sushang tried to comfort her. "You don't have to, Gui. I too ended up being too harsh to you on that discussion." She said honestly. "All of what I said during then...I was just tired and frustrated so I ended up snapping. I never meant to think of you like that. For every moment I would end up at the hospital or in trouble from your stunts, you would always compensate for it later on by always staying by my side. You and Huohuo are the only friends I have. So never for a moment, I would want to never see you again." Sushang said, the tears coming back her tears. "If one of you goes, a part of me goes too! And I don't want that to happen, Gui! Therefore, no matter how many trips to the hospital, paycheck cuts, scolding from peers and even broken bones...I always want to stay by your side!"

As the two were finally expressing their regret and apologies over their squarrel from the other day, knowing that they would never want to lose each other, the Cloud Knight moved her hand torwards the streamer.

"What do you say, Gui?" Sushang asked while handing out for a handshake. "Friends again?"

And immediatly, Guinaifen responded. Not in form of a handshake, but a hug. "Friends again. Forever."

And there it was. The moment of reconciliation. Both Sushang and Guinaifen reestablished what had once been broken between them. And for their own sake, the two solemnly promised themselves to never let such precious thing they had fall apart ever again.

A sight so sincere and heartfelt, that it even made Huohuo sob and weep a little, calling the attention of the other two. "Oh, you girls...*sniff*...I too don't ever want to separate from you! Bwaaaah!"

"Heh. Then come here, Huohuo." Sushang told kindly as the small foxian also hugged both her and Guinaifen, the three now in a tight group hug, taking in the seconds.

"It's good to have the dynamic back." Huohuo smiled happily, the trio finally unmaking the hug.

"It sure is." Sushang responded before looking at Guinaifen. "But what are we gonna do woth all these photos? Are you planning publishing some in your social media account?"

A question that Guinaifen and an answer for. "Not really. I don't need someone else to see it or like it. My channel and socials can take a break even" She responded, taking a surprising decision that shocked the other two friends. For the streamer, she just wanted to sow down and take in the moments with her friends a bit more from here on out, remembering Morte's talk with her. "As long as it's in our minds, it's already good enough for me."

"Aah! What a sleep I must have had. Still feeling a little dowzy..." Yawning, the sleepy Yunli had just got out of her bed and bedroom, rubbing the back of her messy hair in order to fix it while walking alongside one of the balconies of the palace, staring briefly to the Luofu down below, taking in the good morning breeze. "Things look peaceful and nice down there." The young swordswoman muttured to herself while putting both elbows on the railing of the balcony. "I wonder what they're even doing. The way the festival was, it's even amazing how they can all still get up to work and everything!" Yunli smiled energetically before hearing a noise of blankets moving from behind. "Hm?"

Turning around, the girl stared at the other paper wood window that was half-open and gave entrance to Yanqing's bedroom, being next to Yunli's. Through the open space between the windows, the girl was able to spot Yanqing, sat on his own bed with his back turned on her, seemingly having just woken up. Yunli smugged, having just the idea. "Quick Yanqing! You've overslept! General Jing Yuan has already requested your presence three hours ago! This certainly isn't the way you want to honor the General, is it?"

"..." Yet, no response came from Yanqing. His body continuing to have his back turned on her.

Yunli raised an eyebrow, finding odd his lack of reaction. "I said: General Jing Yuan has been wanting to see since three hours ago! Aren't you gonna get up immediatly to see him?"

"..." And again, no response from the quiet Yanqing, the boy having simply resting both his arms on his knees as some hair covered his eyes.

Yunli was already starting to get frustrated. "Tsk! Have you gone deaf or somethi-"

"Leave me alone." Yanqing responded almost lowly, cutting off the girl.

"Eh?" Yunli thought she didn't heard that right.

"I said to leave me alone." Yanqing repeated again with the same lifeless and tired voice, not even staring to Yunli. "I don't care whatever nonsense you're making up to me."

That alone made Yunli drop the whole joking lie, her face initially going from a bit surprised to slight annoyance and anger, pouting. "Hphm! Fine then! If you still want to sleep lazily on your bed then be my guest!" She said before walking away upset, thinking she could have easily fooled Yanqing.

However, she wasn't even aware of how Yanqing was feeling in that morning.

"All is indeed fine..."

He didn't want to get out of bed. In fact, he didn't want to wake up from his sleep at all.

"General...Yunli...Everyone..."

With trembling hands, Yanqing still remembered. He still remembered of all that had truly transpired yesterday. The tragedy. The horror.

"Everyone's back b-but..."

Slightly lifting up his head, Yanqing's eyes were nothing but hopeless. Daunting and scarred.

"All of that still happened."

Truly, the Xianzhou Luofu could be none the wiser. As the morning went on of the brand new day, its population begun to remember. Not of the deaths, the screams and destruction they had been cruelessly subjected to. But of the smiles. The laughs. The happiness and joy of seeing the fireworks explode in the sky as the starskiffs and other air crafts honked in celebration to the big event.

If asked about what they liked about the festival of yesterday, majority of the inhabitants would answer that it was either that or General Jing Yuan's speech at the stage during the ceremony, amidst other beautiful things. Things that never happened, from a day that never truly occured. Yet, as stated, the Luofu was none the wiser, gladly oblivious to the true nightmare they had all faced. Just to wake up on tne following day and carrying on with their mundane lifes.

For them, no tragedy had ever occured at the festival of General Jing Yuan's 500th Anniversary as the Luofu's leader. The only disturbance to have ever been reported on that day...

"..."

Resting peacefuly on the bed, a sleeping Acheron was slowly recovering from her injuries, with some bandages and gauzes wrapped around her head and glued on her face.

...was of a riot at the Shackling Prison, causing some injured.

Sat on a chair next to the bed, Morte was calmly holding a cig between his fingers while looking at her, a brief exhale of smoke coming out between his lips. From behind him, Jing Yuan was also present on the room while Xueyi gave him the status report of the Self-Annihilator's current health condition.

"The doctors at the Alchemy Comission have reported that despite the injuries, she's out of danger and doing a normal recovery. If her condition stays stabilized, then she should be waking up in a few hours from now." The judge of the Ten-Lords Comission speaked to her General, indicating that Acheron would survive.

"Appreciate the information, Xueyi." Jing Yuan replied to his subordinate, looking at her. "Have you already found out the reason that originated the riot at the Shackling Prison?"

"Not totally, General. However, the origin of it seems to have been from a general blackout from the security systems of the building." Xueyi told what she and her sister knew so far of the situation that lead to the riot. "Whether there was someone at fault or it was just a technical issue, is still to be determined."

"I see. Do make sure to update me if there happens to be any development on that situation." Jing Yuan responded, awaiting to eventually figure that problem out. "You may leave now."

Nodding politely, Xueyi walked out of the room, leaving Jing Yuan and Morte to look after Acheron.

Stepping a bit closer to the man in the chair, The Divine Foresight sighed while rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm sorry. If I knew this would happen, I wouldn't have wanted for my guests of honor to clean the problems that should be of my jurisdiction."

Morte however didn't seemed very upset. "Eh, you can spare the blame, Jin. It ain't like the girl here won't ever be able to walk again or something." With the cig between his teeth, he turned his head to look at the friend. "You've already suffered equal or worse sometimes, remember?"

"Hm, if I do." Jing Yuan remembered foundly. "Good thing I had a great healer by my side back then." But it wasn't a smile that lasted too long. "However, I can't be quite satisfied. Even though no tragedy happened to the citizens of the Luofu or the festival wasn't ruined, I still feel frustrated for letting a riot happen at the prison which led to your traveling companion and others to be injured. If it wasn't for that, then yesterday could be perfect, truly full of peace. Yet, even with all the precaussions took, something still had to occur."

"Have to agree on that." Morte replied, taking the cig out from the mouth, proceeding to put it out on an ashtray by the table to his side. "It seems that it doesn't matter if you know when a problem will happen, if you don't know where, how and by who will cause it. At least look on the bright side of things that nobody died and your citizens got to celebrate and enjoy the day as if nothing happened."

"I know. But these are things that we should always prevent, Qiongqi. With or without casualties." Jing Yuan responded, crossing his arms. "At least if Fu Xuan wasn't sick, maybe she could have foreseen the riot."

"Well, it also ain't because you have a seer or a crystal ball that things will suddenly just not happen. Sometimes, best you can do is to anticipate for it, but never really prevent it." Morte replied, leaning on the chair. "What happened, happened and is in the past. There's no changing it now. But if you asked me or anyone else about how the festival went in terms of security and safety, we would very much praise the effort made."

"I suppose so. Between two evils, might always be the lesser one." Jing Yuan responded, showing that while he wasn't particularly proud that a comotion transpired on the Shackling Prison, he couldn't really deny to at least be glad that no bigger problem appeared on the Luofu and the inhabitants could celebrate in peace.

As the two were talking, someone knocked at the door.

"Enter." Jing Yuan speaked, the door proceeding to open, with Feixiao stepping in.

"Hi there, Jing Yuan. Qiongqi. How's she doing?" The Merlin's Claw questioned as she entered, wanting to know about Acheron's condition.

"Nothing that some good sleep won't fix. She'll live." Morte responded, being to the point.

"That's great to hear." Feixiao replied with a smile of relief. "She looks tough, so I doubt these wounds will slow her down when she wakes up."

"I make your words mine." Morte smirked a bit while staring at the Self-Annihilator. "In a place as vast, unpredictable and dangerous as the cosmos, Acheron's surviving skills are the least of one's concerns. She'll walk out of this just fine."

"But I bet the motive you are here isn't solely to know about Ms Acheron's well-being only, isn't it?" Jing Yuan speaked to his fellow general. "You're going to leave soon, right?"

Feixiao nodded her head. "Yeah. Tomorrow. While I would like to help you out investigating the whole thing behind the riot at the Shackling Prison, other matters call for me at the Yaoqing. I already spoke with both Jiaoqiu and Moze. We need to be attentive on Phantylia's next move, let alone the Antimatter Legion."

"Understandable. Yesterday allowed us to have a small break from those duties. But even then, we mustn't forget them as guardians of our people and Arbiter-Generals of the Xianzhou Alliance." Jing Yuan told, knowing that his short time of relaxation and repose with the celebrations were over, having to go back to work soon. "I myself also have my own personal matters to attend to." He said, his mind going remembering about the topic centered around Luocha and Jingliu, his master. While knowing the merchant wasn't much trustworthy, if what he was speaking had at least some chance of being true, then the general could at least give a listening. Specially that Jingliu seemed to be siding with that man. And Jing Yuan knew that for doing that, it must have been for a very strong reason.

"Eh, spoke like a true general on the job for five-hundred years straight!" Feixiao smiled proudly of her colleague. "May they have you for other five-hundred more. In my opinion, you were quite phenomenal on that speech!"

"You think?" Jing Yuan giggled a bit. "I can barely remember most of what I said to be honest. Maybe the drinks we had before that made me feel so light-headed in a way that it made my words come out fluently."

"The great general of the Luofu speaking to his people while drunk!?" Morte responded, acting baffled. "Now that would be quite a stench to the reputation."

"Hey, I wasn't drunk! I was just feeling more at ease!" Jing Yuan responded, defending himself. "Plus, Fu Xuan would kill me if I ever did that."

"Oh, I bet she would!" Morte said, having memory of her. "Ever since young that gremlin was always a strict rule stickler! It might would be enough to give her a meltdown."

"Eh, just by hearing that, no wonder why you always try to get some days off, Jing Yuan." While not having met her yet, Feixiao already imagined what the Master Diviner was like by the description. "Does she even knows about that habit of yours?" She asked to Jing Yuan with a smug.

The general himself just smiled while putting a finger in front of his own lips. "The less we talk about it around her, the better."

"If you say so." Feixiao replied, excercizing her shoulders a bit. "It's always nice visiting the Luofu and see your faces again! Glad that this time around we got to have a much more 'calmer' time. It was also nice knowing you, Qiongqi!" The foxian told to the other man. "You're quite the fun guy! Hope we can at least do one more drinking game before I go."

Hearing that, Morte smiled. "Well, I would love it too, Fox-Ears. However, I hate to be the bearer of not so great news." Getting up, he stared at both generals. "I'm leaving today."

"Uh? Today?" Jing Yuan reacted with a bit of surprise alongside Feixiao. "But why-...Oh, that's right. The IPC." The general said, remembering what they talked about when first meeting with each other after so long at the Aurum Alley.

"Yep. We promised to only stay here for two days and those two days have now passed. We wouldn't be here anylonger after the celebration whatsoever." Morte explained before turning around to stare at the unconscious Acheron, putting both hands on his waist. "While leaving as early as possible to avoid many eyes would be great, unfortunately my partner here is dozing off. Guess I'll have to wait some hours until she wakes up and packs her things."

Wanting to make up to his friend however, Jing Yuan had an idea. "Me and some of my guards can escort you and your partner to your ship while carrying her."

"I appreciate your proposal, Jin. But are you aware of where we parked that thing? It would be good trip torwards there." Morte said, referring how he had the spacecraft on the Cloudford.

"About that: I had my men transport it all the way there to the pier at the Central Starskiff Haven beforehand." Jing Yaun revealed. "Hope you don't mind, Qiongqi."

"Oh no, I don't mind at all, Jin. Being where many eyes are to witness my goodbye with you also there?" Morte responded sarcastically, thinking Jing Yuan wasn't thinking things straight. "I commend the effort, but I think all of the possible attention will do us no good."

"That's no problem: We can go from the palace to the pier on a starskiff and park it next to your ship. That should be quick and undetectable for you." Jing Yuan responded, proving that he, quite on the contrary, had everything planned.

"If your companion is then transported quickly to the ship, then the IPC won't be able to detect a thing as well as give you and Jing Yuan some time to say goodbye since your face isn't wanted by the IPC, right?" Feixiao speaked, thinking that it could be beneficial as well.

Being backed up by his fellow general, Jing Yuan then stared at Morte. "So, what do you say about it, Qiongqi?"

Sighing, Morte shrugged his shoulders. "If you insist...guess I don't have much to refuse, have I? Just let me pack our things to-"

"I can have my guards do that, no worries." Jing Yuan responded.

"Eh. Always top notch on hospitality, don't you? Even when leaving." Morte responded with a smirk.

"Of course. What are friends for, after all?" Jing Yuan said with a smile of companionship to the other man, always having Morte in high-regard.

Morte himself chortled a bit, turning his head to stare at the beautiful outside through the window since he and Acheron where about to say goodbye to the Luofu. "Yeah. Maybe for this."

"Hmmm..."

"Are you feeling alright, Moze?" Jiaoqiu asked to his companion as he and the Shadow Guard were walking down the halls of the palace after their talk with Feixiao about descussing what to do next when arriving to the Xianzhou Yaoqing tomorrow.

"Nothing. I still feel strange..." The assassin responded with his head a bit low, pensative.

"About what exactly?" Jiaoqiu asked him, much likely knowing what Moze could be thinking on.

"Yesterday. As a whole." Moze answered. "I can remember well the start of it but then...mind gets foggy and I'm not sure if from that point onwards it was real or not."

"Having memory problems? Well, for my part, you came to me during the fstival after having quiet down the riot at the Shackling Prison." Jiaoqiu said, helping his friend to remember. "That's at least what I recalled from having happened."

"It may be. But even then, what where you doing earlier yesterday, Jiaoqiu?" Moze asked to the foxian. "Is that I didn't see you up until the festival."

"Hmm, the day before, I was checking on the dishes of the banquet that both General Feixiao and General Jing Yuan would eat. And after that..." Jiaoqiu's eyebrows frowned, trying his best to remember well. "I think I ended up waking early to go down to the Luofu for some spices? If I recall it right, there was even an old lady that I helped walking torwards her home. By the time I had done it, I guess I stayed at the city for the celebrations to start? That's at least how I remember. Maybe all that party and comemmoration ended up affecting my brain." He said, not being very sure.

"It maybe was that." Moze muttured before turning his head around, his gaze narrowing as theories begun to form on his mind. "Or something else entirely."

"Oh? You are the subordinates of General Feixiao, are you not?"

Coming from the other side of the hall, Hanya spotted the other duo while walking alongside Xueyi.

"And you are the judges of the Ten-Lord Comission." Jiaoqiu smiled politely, greeting the two sisters. "We've met before if I'm not mistaken. A pleasent thing that we got to met under less drastic measures." The foxian then put a more serious face. "Altough, my condolences for the turbulance you had to face at the Shackling Prison yesterday. Heard it was quite rough."

"Please, that is not needed. The Shackling Prison has already went through way worse disasters. One that you must remember well even." Hanya smiled a bit tired, which at this point, was her normal smile.

"Hm. If we sure do." Jiaoqiu smiled bittersweetly. It was an event that costed a lot and hurt many innocents at the time. But slowly, just like his blindness, he was managing to live on with it.

As the two continued the conversation, Moze and Xueyi just stood by in silent, staring briefly at each other as if communicating.

"Even so. It was quite the busy night to make sure to clean up the mess and everything was back in order. Almost another sleepless one." Hanya sighed. "But I've already got used to those. Maybe I shouldn't even have had sleep. Didn't had a good one." The older judge said, not knowing if they were indeed a nightmare in essence, but having a faint image of Xueyi in her sleep. Dead and in her arms. An image that the more Hanya thought about it, the more she feared of ever becoming real. She wouldn't admit it, but just having woke up from that and findinf her sister right next to her, alive, made her heart feel so relieved.

"Perhaps Lady Hanya needs to rest some more." Jiaoqiu advised. "The fatigue could not only be physical but also mental at this point. If the lady wants, I can share some medicinal receipts that can help her dealing with tiredness."

"That is very kind of you. But I cannot have the luxury of leisure as a judge. There's many things for us to do every day." Hanya politely denied. "However, I appreciate your offer."

"I understand." Jiaoqiu smiled.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I'd reckon that both of us have places to go within certain time." Xueyi entered the conversation to put a stop on it. "Due to it, I'm afraid we'll have to go now."

"Yeah, Jiaoqiu. We can't be wasting time. Let's go." Moze also said, wanting to move on.

"Eh, it wouldn't be like we were going to be talking for hours." Jiaoqiu smiled to his companion. "But I have to admit you are right indeed. We must go and prepare our things for departure tomorrow. Don't know if we'll see each other yet again today. So, until a later time you two."

"Likewise." Hanya nodded. "Do have care on your way back to Yaoqing with General Feixiao."

As both finished speaking, the two duos begun to walk away from each other into opposite directions from the hall.

"Hey."

Being called, Xueyi stopped in her tracks as her sister continued walking ahead.

"You think the same, right?" Moze asked her, the two having their backs turned on each other. "About yesterday."

"Yes. Something isn't adding quite well." Xueyi responded, having the same feeling as the assassin. "Despite remembering everything, there are parts of that day where my memory feels...foggy, to say the least."

"It couldn't have been just a random riot. Not in a day like that one." Moze said more, having his suspicions about what truly happened.

"There was something more to it. A diversion maybe?" Xueyi pondered. "So far, we can't barely assume anything beyond the riot."

"I assume as much. It's to keep investigating and theorizing certain 'aspects' into questioning." Moze talked, already having methods mentalized. The Shadow Guard sighed however. "Unfortunately, I'll be leaving tomorrow. Can you make sure to investigate this case for me?"

Giving some thought, the judge answered. "I'll see what I can discover. Will fill you in if I do."

"I see." Moze said with his generally stoic tone, matching with Xueyi's. "Anyways, bye. You were a cool temporary partner."

"Likewise." Xueyi responded as both were about to walk further away from each other. "And for the record..."

Moze stopped in his tracks, wondering what Xueyi was going to say.

"Despite being perceived as a general 'paranoid' guy..." Turning her head, Xueyi finally stared to the assassin behind her. "I agree with majority of your assumptions."

"..." Not saying a thing, Moze just gave a short thumbs up to the judge before walking away and fading his body into the shadows, wanting to always appear as mysterious and nonchalant as possible.

Be it as it may, Xueyi also continued on her own way, the always dutiful judge now having a new case to work on to, swearing to herself to unravel it for the sake of the Luofu's safety.

"Aaah! Such a good day that it is outside!" Guinaifen said while stretching up her arms, walking in front of the Palace of Astrum with Sushang and Huohuo.

"It sure is! What's the first thing that we're going to do today?" Huohuo asked, wondering what things the trio would be up to.

"I heard that there is a tournament about to happen in a few days at the Skysplitter." Sushang informed the other two while looking up to the big airship in the sky. "Maybe we could go there just to see who's gonna participate on it."

"Well tought, Sushang!" Guinaifen responded to her friend, liking the idea. "Let's find a starskiff to head there then!"

As that was happening, simultaneously at the same time, a starskiff had just landed in one of the points of the port right next to a space craft of slightly bigger size. Coming out of it, some guards were carrying a simple stretcher with Acheron on it. Still in slumber, the Self-Annihilator herself wouldn't be able to say goodbye to the people she met at the Luofu nor ever grasp or even glimmer at what truly happened on this planetship when she was dueling against Jingliu for her life.

"See, Qiongqi? Quick and discreet like I told you." Jing Yuan told to Morte as the two men stepped out of the starskiff, standing at the pier.

"Helping a wanted IPC criminal from fleeing intergalactic authorities. You really are risking your neck with this." Morte said, both hands on his pockets.

"It's worth it. I have long since learned to not judge people that hastily." The general of the Luofu responded to his friend. "Not everyone is what they may seem."

"Ah, now if that ain't such wise words?" Morte commented with a chuckle. "All in all, it was good seeing you again, Jin. You keep as sharp as ever."

"And you flamboyant as always, Qiongqi." Jing Yuan smiled friendly. "Eh. Guess some things will never change, won't they?"

"Why change what's already a part of us? I'd say we're pretty fine the way we are." Morte speaked, scratching a bit one of his sideburns. "But even so, everything changes. Even people. That's how periods end and begin alike."

"Well, but I will always like to have the same Qiongqi that I've always knew to come back at the Luofu for another time. Maybe for a possible 1000th Anniversary celebration?" Jing Yuan pondered with amusement.

"So that you can see me with a greyish beard?" Morte joked, the two laughing for a bit. "Nah, I don't think I'll be back here much soon. Buuut, no one can ever predict tomorrow to the most minute details. So who knows?"

"My doors will always be open to you, my friend." Jing Yuan talked solemnly with him. "Just your presence for these two days were enough to rekindle our bonds. In a vast space with so many things that occur in one's life, it is a pleasure to have met you once again." The general of the Luofu then remembered of something. "And by the way, next time you visit us, how about you bring that friend of yours? The one who made that scar across your chest?"

"Oh, him? That would be a bit of an hard task, Jin." Morte replied with a slight nervous smile, rubbing the back of his neck. "You see, he's kinda in love with a planet. And he isn't much of stepping out from there."

"I see. Your friend does seem quite the peculiar one." Jing Yuan replied, wondering about that person.

"Yeah, he sure is. You kinda remind me of him a bit." Morte pointed at Jing Yuan. "You would love to chat with one another."

"Sounds promising enough to me." Jing Yuan responded before noticing someone observing them at the start of the deck. "Oh? Yanqing, what are you doing over there?" The general smiled happily to his student. "Did you came here to say goodbye to Qiongqi?"

"..." But Yanqing didn't respond. The boy instead looked reluctant and shy. Afraid to even take a step forward. To take a step closer to that monster. The monster who's sight easily captured Yanqing's attention, staring at him.

Aware of it, Morte stared back while a bit behind Jing Yuan, his lips curving into a secretive malevolent smile, sticking up his finger and put it in front. It was what they agreed on after all: their little secret.

That face alone sent entire shivers down Yanqing's spine and heart, stepping away. "I...I don't feel like to..." He said almost quietly and feebly, putting his head down and staring to the ground.

A thing that confused Jing Yuan. Yanqing didn't seemed well. "Uh? What's the matter Yanqing, is there something wrong?"

But before the general could go torwards the boy, Morte speaked. "Let the kid be, Jin. Since the start that I didn't left a good impression on me. He mustn't like me very much." Morte said with a fake sad tone, shaking his head. "It's harsh but oh well, I'm used to it."

"Hm, if you say so." Jing Yuan said, deciding to stay where he was. Still, he would want to speak with Yanqing later. Wanting to see if everything was right with him. "Eitherway, I think this is where we part ways, Qiongqi. May fortune always bless you on your aimless journey across the stars. As well as your travelling partner. A kind and decided woman like her deserves everything of good in her journey. Specially in such context." The general said, not forgetting Acheron, before opening up his hand for an handshake with Morte. "As long as I am its leader, the Xianzhou Luofu will always welcome you warmly."

"And may you always keep the good job as Luofu's general." Morte smiled, shaking hands with Jing Yuan before being about to leave. "With you, I can be sure that they'll never feel in danger."

"Have a great journey, Qiongqi." Jing Yuan said as they undid the handshake, saying goodbye to his friend as he saw him beggining to walk torwards the entrance of his space craft. And the Divine Foresight could only smile fondly at his long time friend. It was always good having friends visit from time to time- "Ghg!?"

However, unexpectedly, Jing Yuan begun feeling a sharp pain on his chest, proceeding to flinch and cleench his hand on the area of his heart.

"Uh? G-General?" Watching a bit in the distance, Yanqing worried inside, seeing Jing Yuan seemingly unwell.

"Hm? Are you feeling well, Jing Yuan?" Morte asked to his friend, hearing the small grunts of pain as he turned away. But inside, he knew very well what it was. "He must already be testing out."

"Fascinating."

Inside his own cell at the Shackling Prison, Luocha stared with intrigue as he stopped squeezing the beating heart of Jing Yuan on his hand, aware that the moment he did that, the general of the Luofu's pain must have went away.

Ever since he had obtained it from Morte that the merchant didn't stopped to analyze and observe it, finding appealing the concept of a working, functioning heart while outside its owner's very body. He had to admit. Morte was indeed quite the odd character for pulling these kinds of things. But not like he'd complain about it. Not at all. Quite the contrary, Luocha had to thank him for the crucial help. Despite now having the time limit of five months, he would make sure to achieve those goals before the deadline.

If anything, deep within him, the curiosity of meeting up with Morte again and discover more about him was almost abundant for Luocha. As such enigmatic character as he was, the merchant had to consider the other man as equally if not even more enigmatic than him.

"You are a person with big plans for the universe. That alone appeases me. I will help you attain those heights that you crave to reach for. Let us both turn the cosmos upside down! However, as big as the game of chess this is, there will be many players which 'plays' end intersecting with one another. Either colliding or merging from its opposite differences and shared benefit. Ehehehe, so what do you say, Luocha? Which one will get to have their goals met first?"

Remembering one fo their first conversations, Luocha chuckled to then laugh a bit more enthusiastically.

"Oi! What are you finding funny inside there? Silence immediatly!" One of the guards exclaimed from the other side of his cell, hitting on the gate as he ordered.

On the cell next to his, Jingliu was sat down on the ground and chained, the blindfold back to her eyes while not showing much emotion in her face, let alone liveliness. What Ruan Mei explored of her body, was things that only she and the genius herself knew.

Calming down, Luocha took a breath as he stared up to the ceilling of his cell with a gleeful smile of amusement. "Very well then. I do accept the challenge, Morte! Let's see who can impact the whole universe foundation first!"

"..." Back at the port, Ruan Mei was staring at Morte and Jing Yuan's interaction from afar in another deck, gazing at how easily the reaper had fully convinced the general of the Luofu that he was truly his friend. He was a great actor and deceiver as well as perceptive. The genius had to give him credit for that.

In her disguise to not attract attention, Ruan Mei was carrying the metal briefcase with the blood samples on her hand, ready to leave by ride on a starskiff that was waiting for her to get aboard. The results have indeed satisfied as well as more of the additional information she got to have of the mara-struck through Jingliu. All information that she would analyze more throughly once back to her lab.

"Wanting to become an Aeon, eh? Well, you technically have the 'brains' for it. But the methods? They will need to be more redefined and sharp. It ain't exactly an easy task. But if you do find some loopholes while searching for the answers, then your precious ascension to godhood can be achieved..."

While an interesting specimen that she admit to herself in wanting to know more, Ruan Mei was aware that Morte was a question that would probably be let unresolved. But maybe, once she indeed became the Aeon of the path she would carve herself, one of life and creation through the leftovers of Propagation, perhaps she would have more of the capable 'means' to fully comprehend that mystery of a 'person'.

Eitherway, her short visit on the Luofu also helped her step forward into the next stage of her plans. Having to concretize them in five months? It would be no problem.

Meanwhile, Jing Yuan begun to feel the sharp pain soften, slowly go away as he took some breaths in-between, sweating a bit from his head. "Y-yes. I'm fine, Qiongqi. Don't need to worry about me." He said, finally responding to Morte as he felt better and back to normal again.

"Careful now. We ain't getting any younger, remember?" Morte said. "See if you don't work yourself out to death."

"Heh. Not looking forward to it, Qionggqi." Jing Yuan responded with a smile he forced in disguise. Because, the Divine Foresight felt something odd within him in that moment. "Why is it like...I feel something missing?"

"Eh. Remember. Take care, Jin!" Morte said, about to enter his space craft. "Until we meet again!"

"I'll be waiting for it! Until some day, Qiongqi!" Jing Yuan replied back, waving goodbye to his friend as well. The smile and genuine heartfelt sentiment of the general. The display of sincerity in his emotions for the departure of a person he really considered to be his friend. Morte liked that.

He liked how gullible the general was even after all these years.

"Hm? Hey? Isn't that the general over there?" From the plataform at the top, Sushang spotted Jing Yuan down at the port.

"Oh! It is indeed him!" Huohuo replied, also moving her view to where Sushang was looking. "Wait" Isn't that person who's next to him..."

"Ah! It is!" Guinaifen smiled with joy as she spotted Morte, beggining to wave at him. "Oooooiiii! Mister MJ! Over here!"

Hearing a yell, Morte moved his head, spotting the streamer calling out for him in the distance.

"Thank you for the advice!" Guinaifen smiled all cheerfuly and brightly, feeling thankful for having that talk with him on that day, helping her decide to fix her friendship with Sushang.

Not giving much of a response, Morte just gave a soft smile and brought two of his fingers to his forehead before pointing them at Guinaifen who giggled all happily.

"Wow. You and that man really got a bond in quite a few time." Sushang commented, still not being very sure about Morte. "But he really doesn't look like the nicest guy around."

"Well, he might be no Bryan Brosling but he's still a pretty awsome dude!" Guinaifen responded, fully convinced of what she was saying. "That and a great person!"

Morte's lips went slightly up in a cunning smile.

He liked how naive and unwary majority of the people were. Almost hilarious.

Stepping into the hatch of his ship however, the cruel genocider and mastermind behind the now reverted Luofu's extinction, gave one final look at the only person in this entire place who would ever know what truly happened.

Yanqing. The boy who was told to have a promising future and potential of a sword master. General Jing Yuan's prodigy. Yet, right there and then, he was helpless. Useless. Scared. Able to do nothing but stare as the culprit went away.

Away with a devious grin from ear to ear, letting the poor boy know that he had won. It was so easy. To make and 'unmake' it. To pretend and deceive them. To put Acheron out of the main stage early on. To set everything up with no setbacks.

All the screams. All the tears, deaths, tragedy, yelling, curses and rage...Yet here he was, leaving as the liked 'guest of honor' and 'friend' of the general. With the only one who knew just standing by powerlessly.

As the hatch closed, the space craft prepared to take flight, Morte, now alone and by himself, took out a cig and lit it up. It was all worth it.

Truly, one of the greatest 'endings' he has ever crafted.

"...Ah! The prison-agh!"

At last, waking up from her slumber and recovery, Acheron's eyes jolted back into consciousness, immediatly getting her torso up from the mattress before feeling an intense but short pain on her torso, her mind flashing back to the moment Jingliu pierced her thoroughly with her sword when she was fighting her.

As she opened up her eyes again after the ache went away, the Self-Annihilator soon realized where she was, looking around. "Uh? But this is...This is my room. At the space craft." Finding it odd that now she ended up here, Acheron tried to remember what happened before feeling unconscious. The riot at the Shackling Prison, Xueyi's death. Falling below some levels. Her arduous fight with Jingliu which then ended up with Acheron unleashing her powers of Nihility to strike down the opponent and win the fight. And that was basically it.

"Yet, we aren't in the Luofu, anymore. How much time has passed? Is everyone okay?" As those questions riddled her mind, the Self-Annihilator paused for a moment, her gaze proceeding to get a bit serious. "He must know." After all, there was no one else here but him to ask. If she discovered he had anything to do with the riot...

Getting up from the bed, Acheron dressed herself up and was about to head out of the bedroom before noticing something at the top of her chest of drawers. "Hm?" Looking at it, she saw that it was the journal of Mr Ryoma, the fellow izumonian that passed down his written legacy to hers. Picking it up, Acheron gave it a qucik look, seeing that it still remained in great conditions. A part of his story...a part of their history and possible all that it was left in the cosmos. "I will promise to take care of it."

It would certainly help during the nights as something for her to read. However, the surprise didn't end there. As Acheron laid the book down, she noticed there was other items nearby, which surpised the Self-Annihilator once she saw it. "What?"

Also put on top and next to the chest of drawers, there was a small makeup set as well as a shamisen. Things alone that Acheron was never counting seeing in her bedroom when waking up. "What are these even doing here?" She said, checking on the two items, seeing by the appearence that they looked to have been recently bought. Yet, she wondered 'who'. Who could have bought it and then put there like presents?

As Acheron wondered, her mind came with an answer that she would like to refuse. "...No. There's no way that it could've been him." The Self-Annihilator thought. Why would that guy even do that for her? What exactly the purpose behind it? To simply make her happy? Acheron couldn't accept it. It had to have been someone else that was from the Luofu.

Eitherway, Acheron decided to put those thoughts aside as she exited from her room and went to where it was the most predictable place for him to be: the living room.

Reaching there, the Self-Annihilator finally saw him, locking contact with his figure, sat relaxadly on the chair while seemingly reading a newspaper while the bing window of the space outside completed the scenario.

"Finally awake, I see." Morte responded, his face still on the newspaper. "Took you long enough, Acheroni."

"The Luofu. What happened? Why aren't we there anymore?" Acheron went immediatly into questioning him, wanting to know what she missed.

"First: Learn to greet people back. Second: Everything got fine and resolved over there. You don't have to worry." Morte responded as if he could care less, continuing with his face on the newspaper.

But Acheron however knew well by now that Morte wasn't an avid reader or even liked to read at all. Reaching torwards him, she grabbed the newspaper and pulled it down, interrupting Morte's, probably fake, reading. "Take this seriously! I fought to the death and blacked out! What happened during and after it?"

"..." Seeing that she was firm in wanting to know the events, Morte saw no other way but to tell her. His version that is. "The riot at the Shackling Prison was subdued after some hours. As the festival itself and the rest of the Luofu, it all got to continue on with the celebrations normally. Some guards and you got injured during the riot, but not much else outside of that-"

"A person died." Acheron responded, remembering of the lifeless body of Xueyi she, Moze and Hanya had found shortly before the Self-Annihilator had fallen.

Morte raised an eyebrow, wondering what Acheron was talking about. "Hm? Oh, that's right. That puppet judge. She died indeed. Almost forgot about that." He revealed with little to no emotion, lying naturally.

"..." Acheron stood silent for a bit, getting slightly caught off guard with that confirmation. To her, Xueyi was truly dead. An unfortunate and injustice. If she could have at least prevented it from happening...At least now she hoped that the dutiful judge would at last find eternal peace.

"Jing Yuan and the authorities had to make a funeral for her the following day." Morte got up from his chair. "But hey. Don't get guilty over that. You did the best you could after all." He gestured with his arms while walking past her.

Standing in place, Acheron still couldn't believe it. She was unable to be sure that what he was telling to her was indeed true. "How about you show me actual evidence tha-?" At the moment she turned around, the Self-Annihilator was taken a bit surprise, with Morte throwing his phone at her. Acheron catched it effortlessly however.

"It's all there. You may take a peek." Morte told for Acheron to look at his flip phone.

Doing so, she noticed that it were pics on the screen. All apparently recent, with Morte celebrating the festival with Jing Yuan, Feixiao and some more, all during and after the riot at the Shackling Prison presumably. And worst of all, they all looked authentic and true. "You were always at the festival." Acheron said lowly, realizing that maybe Morte was indeed telling the truth.

Chuckling, Morte gestured with his hand for her to give him back his phone. "See? Now, what do we say to someone when we're wrong?"

Huffing, Acheron just threw back the phone at him.

Morte catched it flawlessly. "Thanks."

"If what you're saying is true..." Walking past him, Acheron stopped for a moment a his side, lifting up her head to look at him in the eyes. "...then tell me now with a straight face. Nothing of bad really happened at the Luofu while I was unconscious?"

Looking back at her, Morte gave a bland expression as he looked down at her. His eyes giving no emotion. For in fact, he would technically be telling the truth."Nothing." He said with the straightest face as possible.

Like in Jarilo-VI, Acheron wouldn't be able to prove that he had anything to do with the problem. Even less so here with the manufactured alibi Morte made sure to make. Once again, baseless suspicion was all that she had.

As the two stared at each for some seconds, Acheron lowered her gaze, recognizing so that Morte was saying the truth. As for the man himself, he walked out of the living room, ending the conversation right there between him and her.

Howbeit, the Self-Annihilator would never let go from her views on Morte. She witnessed what evil demon he truly was. No matter the time spent or the people that saw him in a positive light, Acheron would make sure to not allow him to hurt anyone that easily.

Back at the Luofu, after seeing the space craft exit out of the Luofu through the Jade Gate, Jing Yuan begun walking torwards the start of the pier where Yanqing was, wanting to talk with him since he didn't looked well today. "Yanqing, is something the matter?"

"..." Seeing him approaching, Yanqing lowered his face, not wanting to make eye contact with him. For the emotional pain he was feeling was immeasurable.

Eventually, Jing Yuan reached to him. "Care to tell me what-"

"There you are, General!" Coming from the side, it was none other than Fu Xuan speaking, walking torwards him and Yanqing.

"Oh, Fu Xuan! You've recovered!" Jing Yuan said happily. "Glad to see you again."

"Feeling's mutual." Fu Xuan said with professionalism. "Anyways, I heard that the festival occured greatly without any trouble except for some small riot at the Shackling Prison." The Master Diviner crossed her arms. "I'm proud that you were able to keep things in control in my absence, General."

"Well, that's my job, no?" Jing Yuan gave a sheepish smile. "But by the way. You won't believe who came back to visit the Luofu just for this occasion."

"Who?" Fu Xuan asked.

"You remember Qiongqi, don't you?" Jing Yuan responded.

It immediatly made Fu Xuan's face turn with disgust. "Ugh! That good-for-nothing vagabond that only knew to bring you to parties and places away from responsability? I certainly am dying of love with his return."

"While I know he isn't quite the role model, he's still a great friend." Jing Yuan smiled. "He doesn't mean badly despite the appearences."

A statement that striked on Yanqing's mind like thunder, hearing it right next to him. "That's a lie, General! That's a lie! That's a lie! That's a lie!"

"Yeah, whatever you say. Unless he has matured mentaly, I don't want to see that scoundrel in the palace." Fu Xuan responded to Jing Yuan, having no liking for Morte.

"Well, he already went away, Fu Xuan. So don't worry about seeing him." Jing Yuan said, knowing ih he mentioned that Morte had indeed spent the night in the palace, Fu Xuan would kill him. "But if he ever wishes to come back to the Luofu, we shall always welcome him as one of our own."

"No! You can't do that, General! That monster can't come back!" Yanqing shouted desperately on his mind as his face got nervous, the pain building up inside of him. The return of Morte would be the return of that real nightmare. Of all the destruction and tragedy. A repetition of all terror.

"Is that after yesterday, I think the Luofu has the capacity to prosper, Fu Xuan." Jing Yuan said with a hopeful and optimistic smile. "Our future can be brighter."

A future that was killed.

"One where the people laugh and smile."

The people who cried and screamed.

"A sun shinning on us amidst the blue sky."

A sun that went away amidst the tenebrous, clouded, red sky.

"Buildings to stand and prosper."

Buildings that burned and collapsed.

"Trees and vegetation as green as the spring."

Trees and vegetation rottened and dried.

"And...I hope to see all that, even on my last day of life."

"!" On the verge of tears, Yanqing could barely hold them in anylonger.

On the other side of the pier, Yunli was walking through the crowd, looking for Yanqing. "Tsk! That idiot...Where has he-Ah! There he is!" She exclaimed, having finally spotted the boy some feet away with Jing Yuan and Fu Xuan. "Found him finally!"

Fu Xuan and Jing Yuan were continuing the conversation.

"Hm. The General's future is rather very irrealistic." Fu Xuan responded. "However, let's make sure to do everything possible to achieve one close to that."

Jing Yuan smiled. "That's more it, Fu Xuan. As long as we-"

"...*sniff*..."

"Eh?" Hearing some sound of weeping next to him, Jing Yuan immediatly looked down to Yanqing next to him, remembering that he was still there. "Yanqing?"

"Oi! Yanqing!" Coming in, Yunli was approaching, looking at the boy. "Where have you even-...Uh? It's just me or you are..."

"G-General..."

With a voice full of sorrow and angst, Yanqing lifted up his trembling head as tears run down from his eyes and snot from his nose. His tearful eyes looking at the face of concern of Jing Yuan. His father and only one. "Please...*sniff*...Please don't die!"

"Huh?" Jing Yuan gave a stare of desolation and confusion alongside Fu Xuan and Yunli, not understanding well why he was crying. But before any of them could even ask, Yanqing hugged the general by the torso and begun to fully cry in public.

"PLEASE DON'T EVER LEAVE ME! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

And in no time, the poor boy's crying caught the attention of all the people that were there present.

"What's happening? Who's crying?"

"Look! It's General Jing Yuan over there!"

"Wait! Isn't that crying in his arms his prodigy, Yanqing?"

As all the attention was now on them, with phones even beggining to take pics and record vids of the rare moment, Fu Xuan tried her best to dissuade the crowd. "I-It's prohibited to take unsolicited pictures of the General like that! You all will get potentially fined!" A bit desperate, the Master Diviner turned around to Yanqing. "Please stop crying, Yanqing! Not like that in public!"

"Right, you stupid!" Yunli said, scolding him. "Can't you even know the basic of keeping up appe-"

"General, please! Please, General!" But Yanqing kept crying abundantly, not stopping.

It made Yunli's annoyance dissapear, instead, looking at him with legitimate concern as she brought both hands to her chest. "Y-Yanqing...What's wrong?"

Seeing that he was still crying in total breakdown and the people where now all recording this, Jing Yuan simply accepted that there was no way to hide this from the public. Nor he cared about that. The only thing he cared for, was Yanqing's well-being. "It's alright, Yanqing. I'm here, do you hear me? I'm still here." Saying it fatherly, the general put his arms around the boy, hugging him back while letting him cry, comforting the child. "I won't go anywhere. I promise. I'll always be here at your side."

Amidst the crying, the words and act of comfort, the whispering comments of the crowd, they all wondered the same questions: What was happening with Yanqing? Why was he crying like that? What made him have a breakdown?

No one knew. Nor none would ever know. The culprit for all of that was already lightyears away by now. The monster who brought hell into Luofu. The one who they would never guess. Only the sole survivor of the Luofu's genocide. And even then, those words that demon dressed as human said to him, would never leave his mind:

"It's a very simple game, really. In a few hours from now, all of this hellhole shall dissapear and things go back to normal as they were. Everyone lives and gets to be happy but with no memory that this ever happened...except you. Thus, keep all of this as our little secret, alright? Because if you decide to tell about it to just a single person..."

"Everyone returns to death."

Chapter Text

Silent echoes

Stepping lonely in the dark abyss

The abyss were existence was nothing

And nothing was existence...

"..."

From within the non-existent space

Only a solitary and wandering Emmanator

As its population.

"..."

The Emmanator was aimless

Unaware of what destiny to go

All that she knew, was a whim of her own

Instigating her to head forward

As if she was compelled to.

To gaze at an ending within reach.

"H...elp..."

"Hm? A voice?"

And thus, another sign of 'life'

Echoing in the domain of nothingness.

It urged the Emmanator to haste her steps.

"He...lp..."

To quicken her pace

Starting to advance to the source

Of the pleading, impotent voice.

"Hel..p!"

"It's getting closer!"

Ushered by the only other presence in the vaccum

The Emmanator deeper went into rock bottom

The pressure beggining to clasp at her body.

"Help!...Help!"

"It's getting harder to breath!"

The voice of helpnessness ringed louder

Nevertheless, so did the weight of the nullity space

Akin to an entire mountain crushing on the Emmanator.

"Can't stop! Almost there...!"

She persisted and carried on

The will of her own decreeing her to do so

"Help! Someone, please!"

The cries of help sounded clearer

A young juvenile male voice

Pleading for rescue

As light was shed on the non-existent ground

Revealing the distressed buried hand

Desperately struggling for life as the boy asphyxiated underneath.

"There!"

The victim was spotted

And sprinting torwards the hand the Emmanator did

Rescue had come.

"I'm here! Please hold on and stay still!"

She said, seeking to calm the boy down

But time was ticking and much planning couldn't be thought

Therefore, the Emmanator, in all her tenacity, begun digging

First, with her bare hands

Then the sword once the ground became more sopid and rougher

She did not stop for a single second

Wanting wholeheartedly to save this life.

"Just a little longer! I'm almost!"

Broken stone upon broken stone

The Emmanator's progression flowed

And surely, inch by inch, she was closer of uncovering the boy's face

Whose whole body crushed under (the) world

Surely, he would regain air and his mouth breath once again.

"Huh?"

Alas, once the Emmanator finally liberated a part of the boy's face

It revealed to her who he was.

"*Sniff*...I...*Sniff*"

Under the rock he had been trapped into

The boy weeped meagerly

Dots of blood splattering his face.

It all had felt so small for him

So smothering and terryfying.

"But you..."

The Emmanator was incredulous

The similarities were there

From the dark brown hair, short and simple back then

To the blue eyes.

More humanizing.

More vulnerable and scared.

For it was the stare of a child who had only now grasped at true horror and misery.

"I will survive...!"

The crying child said amidst sobs

As even amidst his crying eyes dread and despair

There was something else concealed in that gaze that the Emmanator noticed.

It wasn't sorrow.

Nor was it frailty nor fright.

It was an anguished sense of determination

Emboldened by the fierce yearning

Of what the boy covet to himself on that day.

"I will survive...no matter what!"

"!"

With no time to react

An infinite number of images sped through

Striking across the Emmanator's mind like a flashing thunder.

"Nsjxnyw8hĐËăThniUhajj8msjauĶiŁljw=}eṢ̌øuLṣ̌keiejjsuwÈŋðinğ98fjf%,jshaĤəártw7jw0ah 71yjiqhcVan̈ïtÃśje8820k2n?je72hdmop9ŤerMînÙsy7kqmxiehownel0Fãțem0u2nbcbjaŌrtŰś08n"

Sensing a great power while grasping painly at her head

A daunting realization dawned on the Emmanator

The boy before her was no mere child

But the eventual monster birthed in death

Soon to terrorize all cosmos.

.

.

.

"Mhmmmm...Nnghh...Aaah..." Slowly waking up, Acheron's eyes broke from the slumber as she took of her back against the green grass, proceeding to bring her hand to her forhead. "My head...It still feels slightly throbbed."

Closing her eyes calmly, the Self-Annihilator took a deep breath through her nostrils, letting all out from the mouth after, feeling her brain inside slightly better, the pain having eased. "What dream was that?" She asked to herself while the visions of it were still fresh in her mind, for Acheron knew dreams tended to be ephemeral in their nature. From the crushing sensation that made it hard to breath to the buried boy she tried to save, it all felt so much real. Curiously enough, since becoming an Emmanator of Nihility that Acheron didn't had much dreams, if any at all. However, ever since meeting and joining Morte that begun to oddly change a bit, the mind of the Self-Annihilator able to conjure some dreams one in a while. Acheron herself would wonder why and if there was anything related to that fact.

As for where Morte currently was?

Lifting her head up as the relaxing sound of constant running and falling water penetrated her ears, Acheron stared at the other end of the small lake she had shortly took a nap next to, spotting the still body of the man underneath the waterfall.

"..." Morte didn't react nor moved to the cold temperature of the water rainning down mercilessly on his exposed back and consequently entire body while sat on a rock. His eyes remained perfectly closed no matter what as he let the waterfall wash his skin, the face laid on one of his hands. Was he meditating? Reflecting deeply about something? That's what Acheron would like to know when looking at him so quiet and peaceful to not even flinch or sneeze. What thoughts could be going on in that head? Perhaps thousands of many. Or maybe none. It was as if Morte was just there, resting and recovering under that waterfall. Just existing all by himself.

It reminded Acheron of some culture and ritualistic aspects in her own planet. That of meditating under waterfalls in order to cleanse the spirit and mind. The concept and imagery of it was no foreign to the Self-Annihilator. In fact, she had done such ritualistic practices some few times back when Izumo still existed. What she wouldn't expect, was for Morte to presumably know of those cultural habits too.

As if knowing he was being observed, Morte's cold blue eyes slowly opened amidst the drops of water that would run down on his face, seemingly having finished his 'rest'. Getting out of the rock, he begun to head back to the other side of the lake where Acheron was.

Seeing him coming, Acheron took out a peach from the small bag near her on the ground, eating and chewing it as Morte approached. Walking out of the body of water, the man moved his neck left and right and shoulders, making the bone snapping sound before letting out a brief breath of satisfaction.

"So? How was it?" Acheron asked him, keeping her vision focused on the fruit she was eating. "Got your body 'refreshed'?" She asked, using the word Morte used when explaining to Acheron why he was going to enter the lake.

"Heh. Water's great." Morte replied, heading to grab up his clothes on the ground, having put it down just a few meters away. "You sure you don't want to get in? Heard it does wonders to the skin, Acheroni."

"Right after just finishing eating? No thanks." Acheron responded right before munching at the peach in her hand and chewing it. "It isn't recommended to enter the water that soon after a meal." She said, a bit mouthful. In actuality, she wouldn't mind reflecting under the waterfall. It could as well be great for the body. It was more just so that the Self-Annihilator herself would like to do that as a private moment of hers with no one around.

"Then I'd say for you to go easy on those peaches." Morte finished dressing up. "It's already the fifth one you've been eating today."

"You've been counting?" Acheron swallowed, staring at him.

"I've been counting." Morte confirmed.

It caused Acheron to huff slightly. "Of course you did..." Now not even her addiction was safe from his comments.

"As I also noticed you were sleeping." Morte added, stretching out his arms while bending his back. "Got up late practicing with the shamisen?"

"No. I just felt somnolent and decided to shut my eyes for a quick time." Acheron responded, explaining herself, sparingly remembering bits of the dream. "It was...a moment of mental repose of my own."

"Hum, I see. In that case, you're lucky this place isn't a turist attraction or even inside of the people's consciousness." Morte replied. "The quantity of hands there would be to steal your wallet would be unimaginable."

"They could as well be open to try." Acheron responded, believing that even with her guard down, she wouldn't let anybody rob off of her that easily.

"But you know, I don't exactly blame you for falling asleep here. Seems quite the fitting place for it." Morte spoke, his vision looking around at the lake zone of the small forest they had walked themselves into. "The silence. The lack of people. Just nature sounds and scenarios. Not a single hostile creature around...It could cure even the most harshful of insomnias." Picking up a small flower on the ground, Morte just sniffed at it. "A nice and more soothing place for a change."

"It definetly beats having got a wound through your stomach." Acheron passed down her hand on her own abdomen. The place where she suffered the blow from..."What was exactly her name? Jingliu?" She tried to remember that fight, having already been some time since it happened. "I'm even surprised that you aren't already making us go after a monster to kill.

A comment to which Morte sighed, shaking his head. "Aaah. Acheron. Acheron. Acheron. Does anything else goes inside that head besides fighting? I mean, don't get me wrong. I also love when the stakes get higher!" He put both hands on his chest when talking to her. "However, it can't be all 'fight! fight! fight!' Otherwise, it turns redundant and repetitive eventually." Morte said while poking the petals of the flower in his hand. "Sometimes we just gotta learn to stop, sit down, and appreciate the beauty of it all."

"Spare me of the topic. Of that, I know already." Acheron responded, having already had her own moments of relaxation and peacefulness in her own journey. She didn't need Morte to remind her of it. "Plus, you can drop the facade. I already know why you wanted to bring me here. I can hear it too, y'know? All of them."

Being told that, Morte grinned slightly, squeezing effortlessly the flower with his hand. "Good. That means we can proceed to our next attraction of this visit." Dropping the dead flower in the ground, he begun walking torwards the treeline behind them. "Follow me."

Picking up her sword, Acheron got up from the grassy ground and begun to follow her travelling companion into the forest after the tree line. Going more deep into it, the once green and vibrant trees begun to gradually become more dry, rotten and dead at each step forward the duo took, transitioning into another area. Besides that, there seemed to be no monsters nearby to jump on them. With a walk that didn't took longer than around fifteen minutes, they finally stepped out of the tree line on the other end of the forest.

"We're here." Morte said, standing at the edge of a burned hill while Acheron shortly arrived, standing next to him so that she too could gaze at the scenario he wanted to show her. The source of all those voices.

Having walked away from the more abundant, charming and greenery scenario of the lake and waterfall, the two now stood in front of a desolated battlefield in no man's land. Thousands of corpses laid around the scorched ground, many already decomposed into skeleton, killed by the broken and devastated weapons that they went to war with. The only companions of these dead soldiers being of the scavenger animals that stroll around, feeding on what was still consumable of the remains.

"The morbid say it's a lovely place ." Morte commented ironically.

"Yeah. You sure know the most turistic spots." Acheron responded in the same coin, gazing at the vast battlefield. "This is what you wanted to show me?"

"Yes." Morte replied simply and shortly, going silent for a few second as his thumbs poked at each other before staring to the Self-Annihilator to his side. "Do you know what this is?"

"The aftermath of a what was presumably a war." Acheron told, crossing her arms. "Or that's what most normal people would answer when looking at a superficial level. But I bet it's not a superficial answer you want, is it?"

Morte responded by just giving a side look at her, his lips smirking a bit. She sure knew how to read intentions.

"This is what has become of the population of this planet. The 'end' of their history." Acheron responded more deeply. "What we are beholding now, is but the epilogue of what was this conflict and story. Whatever it was that they fought for and hoped to accomplish, has come to an end with each side coming out as the defeated. The worst type of war: A war with no winners." The Self-Annihilator briefly closed her eyes, hearing some of the sorrowful and anguished souls that populated the zone, unable to accept such closure. "Possibly centuries if not milleniums of a chronicle tale resumed in this one view, never to be known by the cosmos outside as it was lost and buried in time."

Pleased with the more toughtful response, morte put both his hands behind his back. "A quaint answer and observation, that's for sure. Truly. What makes men reach to such extremes like this case?" He said, sounding philosophical while lifting his head upwards and gazing at the cloudy grey sky, looking almost reflective. "...Luckily, I do happen to know some of this planet's lore, Acheroni!" He said with an happy smile and face while staring at her, immediatly breaking his more serious appearence.

"Then why didn't you told me already in the first place?" Acheron asked with a bland stare, feeling that the whole 'thougtful' aspect of their conversation had suddenly been lost. No matter what, the Self-Annihilator would always find 'odd' how the man could act more serious and then humorous in the following second, vice-versa or a mix of the two sometimes. She could swear that if it wasn't for what she saw of Morte already, Acheron would believe he was a follower of Elation. But it wasn't because he could act funny that she would lower her guard or be less surveillant of him, being well aware of this man's sardonic and sinister aspect.

"It's always nice hearing a bit of other people's thoughts first, no? I was only wanting to hear your opinions in this before sharing the additional details." Morte explained before proceeding to tell the extended history and background that led to all of this scenery they were gazing at in the present. "Anyways, long time ago, there existed these two nations that solely inhabited the planet. Our dead friends over there? Citizens of it. The prosperity of the two was almost non-existent. With poverty of almost extreme indigence and isolation from the universe outside, the resources were less than scarce. Prosperity was a mere mirage for them. Yet, there was one salvation that could guarantee the survival of either nation. The precious mineral of celstial quartz: Excelsio, said to contain habilities and utilities beyond the extraordinary."

"Excelsio?" Acheron brought a thumb to her chin, that mineral's name not sounding strange to her. "I think I've heard its name somewhere before..."

"It could power hundreds of buildings, cure the ill, and bring about the necessary development for the prosperity both nations strived for." Morte continued to tell the story, seemingly sounding like Excelsio was a powerful and mighty material.

"Hm, I see." Acheron responded, already coming up with the conclusion. "Therefore, in the urge of seeking ownership of such vigorous mineral, the two nations went at war for it which caused their simultaneous destruction. Hm, a tragic tell as old as the cosmos."

"No. Not exactly." Morte responded while facing the battlefield, causing Acheron to stare up at him.

"Hm?" That response caused curiosity within the Emmanator.

"While Excelsio might have been the main factor, it was only one of other points that came from an already ancient grudge." Morte speaked, revealing that Excelsio wasn't the sole cause that made the two nations go at war. "The people of the two nations already hated each other, having nothing but contempt and an unsatiated need to wipe out the other. Nothing but ill intentions to whom they considered an enemy. The control over the mineral, was just an excuse. To even conceptualize peace between these two populations would be an absurd as they would rather and die until the last man."

"Then the nations already had a nurtured hatred for each other. If that is the case, what led to it?" Acheron asked to Morte, wanting to know the cause that birthed such hate. "I'm not believing that such war was conceived from a loathing that came out of nowhere."

"Ah, Acheron. Making the essential questions now, aren't we?" Morte replied, being willing to tell. "But you're correct. No hate is born 'in the dark' per say. There's always a background and motive behind. And of this conflict, it goes way further beyond than these two nations. A long, LONG, time ago, there didn't exist two nations. Just one. From where all this conflict bursted."

"So the war that originated all this death was initially a civil one?" Acheron pondered, trying to connect the story dots.

"Indeed. And once again, Excelsio is at the center of it." Morte confirmed. "Like its two successors, this nation also didn't thrived too much in wealth, having a slightly less poverty rate. But then, when they ended up discovering the special mineral in the mines during some excavations, it was felt like a sense that could only be described as revolutionary. For the first time since their inception, the nation finally begun evolving and rising from the rock bottom, having some years of general opulence and security. The future seemed as bright as a white star for them." Picking up his cigar, he took a brief pause to light it up and smoke. "And then, internal problems surged."

"People had their own views on how and what to use the Excelsio for." Acheron commented, guessing it.

"Some wanted to use the mineral for purposes they deemed more important while others thought differently and that Excelsio should be used for other matters instead. Initially, the discussions about the matter was made peacefully and civilized with debates and well thought arguments, both sides having genuine respect for one another. The problem was, when more, let's say, less 'polite' opinions begun popping up with people that perceived the world as black and white. For them, the world should be their rules and believes and only their rules and believes to exist. Anyone that could oppose them differently, opposed to their idealistic world as an enemy to be taken down. Thus, the seeds of the conflict begun being planted."

"Discord must have been created between them. I can only suppose that the escalation of it were anything but slow." Acheron commented, looking at the thousands of bodies. "To be able to separate an entire nation into two, and get people of the same culture to fight each other...it must have gotten pretty ugly."

"Oh, and if it did. A gradual disunity and hostility that grew with each passing year." Morte took a few steps forward, standing at the edge of the hill. "First, the agitators fabricated lies and hoaxes against their rivals, wanting to warp the public's perception on which side was hypocrite. Then, when that wasn't good enough, they moved onto other strategy." Turning his head around to stare at Acheron, the reaper grinned simplistically. "Fear and hate, the most useful tools. They begun to demonize and dehumanize their adversaries, telling to their audience that those different from them were opressive monsters. That their friends, family and everyone dear could potentially want them dead simply for having the 'wrong' opinions. That if those who they deemed evil got the control of the Excelsio, then the future would be grim with an ending of their world collapsed."

"It's almost hard to believe that people are willing to disseminate such disarray in order to win over others." Acheron sighed, thinking at the event. "To think that it is enough to turn on your own loved ones. Siblings against siblings. Parents. Children. Such things shouldn't be taken to extremes. Unfortunately, its a core of many people's nature."

"That's what happens when a person holds so firmly and obsessively to their views that any other feels like a threat." Morte responded. "But things didn't got really bad until some people begun to die due to a strange sickness that had strucken the nations out of nowhere. The people of the two sides begun to blame and accusing each other of wanting to kill their own, only adding more fuel to the fire. And so, the killings started. It was no longer a debate of words and thoughts, but a war of actions and blood, the winner, getting to 'rightfully' claim history as per their believes and rules. The once united nation, eventually found out that it could not tolerate itself, thus splitting into the two nations that were already mentioned. And even then, the abhorrence fostered within their hearts and souls kept speaking louder. Therefore, the war waged on even after the separation. And from there, it continued on and on over the ages."

"Entire generations born and killed only for strife." Acheron pointed out.

"Yep! It would sound quite a plot of the Destruction." Morte chuckled, visualizing the entire topic they had been discussing about. "War and war and more war. Children that were never born in peace. It came to a point where the contol over the Excelsio stopped being the main excuse. A point where they couldn't recall what they were fighting for nor cared to. All that they knew, was that those of the other side needed to be defeated and eradicated no matter what. Eh, ehehehehehe."

"You find it funny?" Acheron questioned Morte, wondering why he was even chuckling more all of a sudden.

"And you don't? Two nations that fought each other to the extinction despite coming from the same ancestor, willing to kill one another and even familiars simply because they had different points of view? While also believing that the victory of their enemies would bring the end of their world despite their world(lifes) having ended anyways? I mean, can we get a more ironic ending than that?" Morte responded amusedly, pointing out how the fate that befell the two nations was, to the very least, poetic irony. "And you wanna know what the best part is?"

"..." Acheron didn't answered verablly, julst slightly tilting her head as if she was waiting for him to tell her.

"People from both nations would genuinely believe that they were the 'good' side! That their convictions were objectively the correct ones of this planet! The ones that would make their world a better place!" Speaking in an almost state of laughter, Morte quiet down a bit before taking a breath. "Aaah, I love it. Really, everyone is the 'hero in their own story' as some say. You see, Acheron? In the end, they didn't died due to 'greed' for money or power." Taking another go at his cig, the small fire at its tip shinned through Morte's skin, revealing once again his skullish, daunting face. The face of a 'man' that had witnessed many things. "They died for their delusions of a perfect world."

Hearing it, Acheron couldn't help but tend to agree with the statement. These people that now laid deceased and rottened over the smouldered field were the ones that guided themselves to their own demise, having never grown out and surpass the hatred within. And by the anguish of their voices.

"WhY? wHY dId iT eNd liKe thIs?"

Their sorrow.

"I...I jUsT wAnTed A wORlD wEre eVeryOne cOuld bE haPpY."

Their rage and frustration.

"DaMmIT! DamMiT! It cAn'T eNd! Not LiKE tHiS! My EnEmiES cAnT LivE!"

It became obvious to Acheron that many of them here still couldn't move on or. That they still wanted to keep fighting. To keep loathing and seething. To have the vision of the world from their believes and rules realized. And the Emmanator of Nihility, altough grasping at how some strong emotions would remain and travel with the soul even beyond mortality, would never be okay with how some souls wouldn't accept to depart, with so many grudges still anchoring them to the realm of the living. "They're troubled. Unable to find peace."

"Laughable, isn't it?" Morte speaked, releasing a cloud of smoke from within his mouth to the air, still holding the cigar. "In order to get the 'utopian' world where everyone could live like they preached, they'd first had to kill off every single one who's dogma didn't align. Such 'selfless' wish of selfish nature. Talk about a paradox."

"I guess some people really don't mind twisting things up for their own ideologies." Acheron responded, giving her opinion about it.

"Right on the money, Acheroni!" Morte pointed at her after snapping his fingers. "Truly, for many, their idealized world is more important than anything else. From the start, people adopt the ideas and concepts that ressonate with them the most. Then, they decide that those are their believes that their lifes should be based on. Their creed and ideology to defend, as for them, that's what should be the credence and reality of everyone's livelihoods. That's why when someone meets a person with different perspective, they cannot perceive how could there be someone with a distinct set of believes from the one they have. That those opposite views are objectively 'wrong'. Only and only their believes should rule and exist, for that is all their life was founded upon. And that's why they fight visciously as they defend their respective ideologies." Dropping the cigar, Morte squished it with his foot while putting his hands on his pants pockets. "They're unable to admit or acknowledge the flaws that their own ideology might have. That is why it doesn't matter for them to be inconsistent, incohesive, dishonest and hypocrit. Because for them, they must defend their believe no matter the incoherency. For if they actually did acknowledge the logical, then they would known that their lifes were farces all along. That the reality they believe and live is nothing but mere fallacy."

"Can't say that is entirely wrong. There is indeed many people out there who'd want their vision to rule over the rest out of sheer minsconception." Acheron responded, having met some individuals on her pathless journey before whose believes had entirely consumed their minds and souls. "Everyone has the right and liberty to chose on what they believe in. I'd say that's a core and fundamental nature of a rational being. To not have believes and creeds would simply meant to be a mindless husk." The Self-Annihilator looked up to the sky. "However, it cannot be denied that the grasp on those things gets so firm and rough that it almost turns into an obsession. It's as if people trapped themselves in cages of their own making, unable to go on with their lives normally." Acheron then lowered her head, staring deeply at the ground in relfection uttering. "That's why I want to walk my own path, free of IX." She then turned her head to look at Morte. "And what about you? What are your believes exactly?"

"None." Morte responded, sounding almost souless as his back was turned to Acheron. "I don't lose time with such mundane things about what's wrong or right. People have their own set of believes and that's it. No point in arguing. It's all indifferent and the same to me." He then turned around and smiled in a goofy way to her while doing a thumbs up. "I simply believe that we should live and learn to the best of our lifes, Acheroni!"

"Uh..." A single drop of sweat fell from Acheron's face as she stared a bit weird at Morte. She should by now be getting used to these habits of his.

"But yeah. Funny how people then preach for unity between several different nations when they themselves can't stand their own." Morte said, a smile coming to his face as a memory popped into his head. "Y'know? This kinda reminds me of a story that I used to hear."

"Is it important to the conversation we are having?" Acheron asked, hoping that it suddenly wouldn't be a tangent topic, but also curious in wanting to see if the story Morte was about to tell could be correlated to him.

"Oh, if it is." Morte stared back at Acheron before gesturing his arm. "You see, there once lived two races that inhabited the same planet, akin to this one. The story revolves around two twin brothers. One of darkness, and one of light. I know, sounds a bit cliché but bare with me. And since 'darkness twin' and 'light twin' doesn't sound that cool of a name, let's refer to them instead as the Dark Saint and the Silver Lining Knight. So, our story begin with these two brothers, living in a period relatively recent where a war that had waged on for ages between the two races had finally be put to an end. While it ended in a treaty of peace, the race of the twins ruled over majority of the planet, while the other race lived in smaller territories and groups, scattered around the land. Despite the times of conflict ending, some 'animosity' and discrimination still lived between the two races. The Dark Saint, was a known pacifist. Crazy, isn't it? A guy of 'darkness' being all benign and-"

"Just continue with the story. No ramblings." Acheron shut him off, wanting Morte to tell the tale, putting any side comment apart.

"Jeez. A 'please' at least, no?" Morte replied before coughing, continuing. "Anyways, the Dark Saint was grown and indocrinated with the believes of empathy and selflessness. A soul that preached and practiced kindness like a religion. No pretensious fakers like some. Never he would be able to wish harm on others. Not even if they were his enemies. To him, he had a great dream he wished to one day accomplish: Unity between the two races, in a world free of evil and sin. That was going to be the biggest canvas he would ever 'paint'. His brother though? Ooooh, he was more reluctant and doubtful. Unlike his sibling, the Silver Lining Knight didn't grasped nor believed in the same level of achievable utopia that the Dark Saint did. He was more realistic. More 'down to earth'. He was unable to trust or have the same capacity of compassion for the other race in the way his brother had, the memories of the war still fresh in their nation's history. Nevertheless, as twins, they loved each other as any normal brothers. The Silver Lining Knight would always protect the Dark Saint and look after him since childhood, willing to stand and be by his brother's side no matter what. And altough feeble as young, the Dark Saint would also love his sibling dearly. When kids, they made a promise to one another: To grow up strong and achieve the positions of rulers, wanting to change their nation for the best."

Acheron kept silence, attentive on what Morte was telling. The story sure did sound captivating thus far.

"And then, years past and the siblings managed to get those ranks indeed amonsgt others. Now in a position of power and majorily adored by the masses, the Dark Saint opted as for one of his first actions, to end segregation amongst the two races, wanting those that were once their biggest enemies to be equally integrated within their culture. A benign and overall sympathetic act. Besides some voices of doubt and disagreement, majority of the Dark Saint's race ended up kindly accepting the other race into their own society, with the Silver Lining Knight even initially supporting the decision. The day was eventful and celebrated, the future looking gleaming. However, soon, reality came crashing down." Morte said with a bleak face. "Whereas the Dark Saint and others perceived this as an act of empathy, certain groups from the race that were welcomed saw that same empathy as a weapon that could be used and decided to backstab the Dark Saint's trust on them. For the hating grudge on the other race as their past enemies still burned through their minds. To them, this was the perfect opportunity to enact in what they believed to be righteous revenge."

"The Dark Saint expected that the feeling would be mutual." Acheron made the observation. "And in return, he was betrayed by those he tried to welcome..."

"Because this reality isn't affordable to utopian fantasies, Acheron." Morte said, sounding more serious. "If there's a thing you should know, is that being empathetic to others while expecting them to show empathy back is of someone entirely gullible and naive-minded. But anyways, as I was saying, many of the 'welcomed' race didn't want unity. Didn't want peace. They wanted payback. And so, some killings and other crimes applied on the people of the opposite race begun. Initially, altough acknowledge, the Dark Saint tried to dismiss the bigger picture. He still wanted to believe in the good of the other race. In the mutual compassion a being could have for each other. He did not wished for hate to arise. Unfortunately, it backfired at him, as the more the time passed, the more homicides and crimes would occur and some form of instability between the two races resurfaced as the Dark Saint begun losing more popularity. Even the Silver Lining Knight, who tired his best to always take his brother position, also begun to question if the decision and dream of trying to unite the two races in a peaceful world could even be remotely possible. Yet, the Dark Saint continued to try and ignore, and ignore, and ignore. Until the final straw broke, in the form of a terrorist attack right in the heart of the capital of the twins nation."

"..." Acheron let out only a brief and low gasp from her lips. While abusing of the others trust and generosity was one thing, to do in such levels was beyond her comprehension. How someone could be so spiteful to people who'd want to be empathetic with them.

"Needless to say that the chaos, death, and uproar, was something never seen before. The climax of the problem. Once, the race that tried to accept them, now screamed and cried enraged for justice, for payback. Regret and guilt dawning on them for having been passive and ignorant enough to let such tragedy happen, the Dark Saint, who only wanted peace, to be the target of many hate, shame and culpability from his own. As for the Silver Lining Knight, his fury to see his homeland, his people, his..., well, his life attacked was like nothing that has ever been seen, from that point, only viewing red." A smirk slowly grew on Morte's lips. "And then..."

"..."

"..."

"Then what?" Acheron speaked, noticing that Morte had stopped telling the story. "What happened next?"

"...Can't remember." Morte responded.

"You got to be kidding me..." Acheron said, wondering if he was just messing with her and not being genuine.

"Hmm, I'm not, Acheroni. I've already told you." Morte rubbed his head. "My life has been so long that my memory sometimes forgets one or two details. Gotta ask Fuli if you want to know the rest I suppose."

"Don't tell me." Acheron responded dryly, clearly not believing in him.

"And by how much abandoned this place got with the nature taking over the planet, it seems even they didn't bother to remember about these guys." Slidding down the hill, Morte landed on the battlefield, beggining to stroll amidst it. "All the fight and conflict just to end up forgotten. Pathetic." He muttured while kicking an empty helmet near him.

"Hm? Where are you going?" Acheron asked, wondering why Morte had gone down to the battlefield all of a sudden.

"Are you seeing those mountains far ahead?" Morte responded, pointing over at a mountain ridge in the horizon. "We're gonna go there. See the best part of this whole joke." He smiled to her. "I promise it will surprise you."

"..." Looking down on him, Acheron wasn't sure of what to expect. A trap couldn't be, or else he wouldn't sound so 'antecipated' with her. Either way, it wasn't like the Self-Annihilator had nothing to lose. And if Morte did indeed tried something, she would make sure to show him how deep her sharp blade could cut. "Coming."

Responding, Acheron also went down the hill, leaping into the battlefield and joining Morte, the two now heading for the mountains in the distance while traveling through the battlefield, wanting to see what was the 'joke' in store.

"We're here." Morte spoke as he and Acheron had finished walking down some mine tunnels that had been digged and built by the population of the planet, with the only lumination being some electric lights that were still turned on along the way despite the mines being clearly abandoned since ages ago.

It was mostly a tranquil trip, the duo having found no monsters on their path so far.

"Hm? That's..." Once they stepped out of the tunnel, Acheron saw that they had entered into a big chamber section of the mines, fully riddled with white trandlucent minerals, embedded in the rocks and walls of the cave as well as iron rails, carts and other items and constructions for mining scattered around, a bit akin to the mines of the underworld of Belobog.

And in the middle, an even bigger and greater mineral of quartz stood, brimming full of bright.

"Excelsio. What kickstarted all of this." Morte said, looking at while walking to the center. "And altough pretty to look at..." Grabbing a piece of Excelsio, Morte proceeded to threw it at Acheron with no warning whatsoever.

Not that she needed, as the Self-Annihilator perfectly sliced the stone in half within a blink of an eye, both halves falling to the ground. Walking torwards it, Acheron crouched down and picked one of the two halves, ending up noticing a sort of silvery liquid residing within it. "Hm? What's this?"

"The very essence of what made Excelsio valuable. Its energy and matter, represented in that very liquid." Morte informed, picking up an open Excelsio himself. "Now, Acheron. Ask yourself this: With how 'impressive' this mineral's qualities seem to be, how did it never popularized nor got the attentions of organizations like the IPC in order to monopolize it?"

"Because the mineral was only present on this planet?" Acheron tried to figure it out before second thinking. "But then...that would mean I wouldn't have heard of it before, so that has to be impossible. Excelsio's presence must have been on other planets too."

"Yes. And it was from other planets that the mineral got initially famous across the cosmos. However, it's usage never went more forward than expected after the initial years." Rubbing a finger on the liquid, Morte gave a closer look at it. "Eventually they made a discovery about the quimical composition of the Excelsio: the containing of corrosive bacteria that progressively damaged a person's bones and organs."

Acheron's eyes slightly widened with the revelation. "Then wouldn't that mean..."

"Akin to the Stellaron, The Cancer of All Worlds, the Excelsio is also a material of misfortune, with its usage slowly killing you if exposed daily to it." Morte said, unfolding the actual nature of Excelsio as something harmful.

"So all those 'deaths' that had happened misteriously when the people of this planet were one kingdom only...It was because of Excelsio." Acheron concluded. "It never was a salvation for them at all. It was poison."

"Eh, and the fools could never be non the wiser, chosing to fight each other instead of figuring it out. All that chaos, conflict, and killing spanning over ages." Morte said thoughtfuly before crushing the Excelsio's stone with his bare hand, the sound echoing through. "When they were already doomed from the very start. Those convictions and believes...It never mattered at all." Opening up his hand, he let the destroyed fragments to fall blandly on the ground.

"And that was the 'joke'." Acheron replied, understanding now the tragic, and somewhat, satire of this whole planet's history. Willing to fight so hard and adamantly against each other only to never realize that no matter the outcome, they had all lost since the beggining, unable to prevent due to the blindness the disharmony and war between them brought. "It's...cruel. To have spent entire lifes like that. It was if both Nihility and Destruction gazed down onto this planet and decided to curse it from its inception. Would there be a more proper way to end 'life' than those two paths?"

"Well, endings of planets come in many shapes and forms." Morte responded. "There's always more ways to end something that isn't through the path of Nanook or IX."