I find myself standing here at last
Earning an audience with the pinnacle of strength
And see you standing before me.
Yet as I look into your eyes, I wonder
Why do I see myself reflected within them?
Those eyes of yours, a brilliant shade of blue
Holding such beauty and power within them
Yet holding such pain, anger, and heartache.
I thought myself the only one to have such eyes
Yet here I am proven wrong, but to what end?
Why is it that when I look into your eyes
That I feel a sense of longing and familiarity
Yet I know not who you are.
I’ve heard your name, I’ve seen your face
Everything about you is clear as day
Yet I know not who you are.
My mind tells me it doesn’t matter who you are
Yet my heart and soul screams for answers.
Who are you?
Are you me?
Or perhaps a piece of myself I left behind.
I fought so hard unto this point
So that I may gain the answers to things unknown.
Yet here stands, in front of me
A question and an answer within reach.
But how do I ask, and if I do, will you answer?
Who am I to you, and what are you to me?
Moyako…
Unfortunately she only had enough time to bring back Akio when an overwhelming mass of energy came hurtling towards her, yet it didn’t feel the same as Marcus.
It was darker, more sinister…
The enemy that crashed into the ground in front of her was none other than Malthael, the Archdragon of the Abyss.
He stood up slowly as he locked eyes with her and smiled with anticipation, yet did not attack her right away.
Malthael then looked at Akio, who stood in front of her defensively, and said, “My business is with her, not you, hapless fool of a guardian that you are.”
Moyako then stood up and said, “Akio...go after Marcus. I’ll be fine.”
Akio turned to look at her as he tried to protest, “But-”
Yet he was cut off as Malthael backhanded him several miles into the distance as he roared, “BEGONE!”
She didn’t bother to call out to Akio out of worry for him as she knew there would be no point since he was already dead. With Malthael staring her down, she had to defeat the monster on her own before dealing with Marcus.
But then, much to her surprise, Malthael started speaking in Japanese as he said, “I may want to have a taste of your innards, but I must first address something of great importance.”
Despite being very disturbed by his words, he decided to listen to her and replied, “What is it then?”
“Marcus knows not the true impact of his actions. He does not know the truth, nor will he until he breaks free from the grip she has on his soul,” Malthael said, and Moyako went still.
“Who is she?”
He opened his mouth to speak, but a bright golden glow shined from his eyes and he recoiled.
When the golden light faded, he grit his teeth as he switched to English and answered, “I...cannot say. Now, let us not dawdle any longer. Show me you have the strength to defeat me, and perhaps you might have the strength to break through to him.”
Marcus…
As the summoned warriors close in around him, he wondered if he could use his ability to absorb spiritual energy to take their Arcanence.
He shoved his fist into one of them, tearing through armor, flesh, and bone as he tried absorb the energy.
He succeeded for a split second until the seal purified it and he cursed in annoyance.
However, the fact that he could absorb it was interesting.
Though he might not be able to contain it within himself due to the seal, he might be able to change its nature so that he enslaved them instead.
After dodging one of their strikes, he wrapped his fingers around the head of another and absorbed the Arcanence for a split second, adding his own electric magic to it, before then putting the energy back into the warrior.
For a brief moment, the summoned warrior stiffened as if it had been electrocuted, which of course it had.
But then it started to spasm uncontrollably until the electricity coursing through it started to char its body to ashes and it fell apart.
“That is very interesting…,” Marcus mused as he looked at the other summoned warriors and smiled.
They looked at the one who had just been reduced to ashes and backed away in fear.
“Y-You killed him!” one of them exclaimed in fear.
Marcus tilted his head in confusion as he replied, “he was already dead you idiot.”
“No! Under Lady Moyako’s power of Rebirth...he could still live. You killed him with your Death Lightning, severing him from her influence! You just fed his soul to the Reapers!” he shouted with despair in his voice.
Although Marcus didn’t understand what the deal was with these ‘Reapers’, he realized that whatever they were, these summoned warriors were afraid of them and of his power to disconnect them from the power of Rebirth.
“Well then...if you don’t want me to feed you to these so called ‘Reapers’, then I suggest you lay down your weapons here and now,” he said with a threatening tone.
Although many of them looked incredibly fearful and willing to surrender, none of them dropped their weapons as they stared him down.
“Fine…have it your way,” Marcus said as he pulled his fist back, preparing to kill them all when he heard a familiar voice call out to him.
“Leave him to me!” said a familiar voice speaking in Japanese as a tall and muscular man pushed past them.
Nearly lost for words, Marcus stared at the man and said, “A-Akio…? Is that really you…?”
As the other warriors around Marcus vanished, Akio folded his arms and asked, “Obviously. Do you know anyone else rocking the same handsome mug?”
Marcus shook his head as if trying to stifle his disbelief and asked, “But...you’re dead? Why are you here? How did you end up serving Moyako?”
Akio raised his eyebrows as he replied, “Serving…? I think you have the wrong mindset here. After all, you’re the one who told me to look after her.”
Hearing that made his heart sink into his chest as he backed away and asked, “W-What…? Explain yourself!”
“Ahh...that’s right. You did look a bit older back then, but you were the one who entrusted Moyako to me,” he said, with his face slowly twisting in confusion at Marcus’s reaction.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What makes you think I would give a shit about what happens to Moyako?! She’s immortal!” Marcus replied, agitated by all of this new information.
Akio’s expression darkened with anger as he unfolded his arms and clenched his hands into fists as he said, “What does she…I don’t remember you being this dense! For fuck’s sake Sora, she’s your daughter!”
But just as the words left Akio’s mouth, Marcus felt excruciating pain pounding from the inside of his skull and a horribly loud noise reverberating through him as he covered his ears in agony.
He fell to his knees as he nearly lost consciousness but powered through the pain even as he felt a piece of his memory leave him but couldn’t understand why.
But as he looked up at Akio, the man’s expression was almost unreadable. Something between confusion, fear, and anger all at once, yet for some reason he felt that it wasn’t being directed at him.
“I...don’t understand what happened, but I’m going to beat some sense into you until you can realize the truth,” Akio said as he took a fighting stance.
Marcus stood up and took a stance of his own to fight against his best friend.
Thalia, some time earlier…
Although she had wanted to cheer on her brother, to support him in the hopes he would win, the longer the fight dragged on, the more nauseous she felt as she watched Marcus and Moyako rip each other apart.
She knew that she wasn’t squeamish to the sight of blood and gore after being exposed to enough of Marcus’s fights, but something about this battle was becoming too much for her.
When she saw her older brother dismembered and beheaded, it became too much for her as she held her mouth to try and hold in the vomit.
Ruvick noticed this right away and immediately teleported her away to a trash bin.
“Thalia! Are you alright?” he asked worriedly.
Selene, probably curious as to why Ruvick took her away, appeared in a burst of fire before she quickly understood what was going on and asked, “Is she sick or something?”
Ruvick waited until she had emptied the contents of her stomach before placing his index finger against her forehead and shook his head.
“It doesn’t seem like it…I think its stress...or trauma induced nausea. Perhaps the brutality of the fight must have been too much for her,” he concluded, but Thalia shook her head.
“Its...not that. Its…,” she tried to answer, but although she felt like she knew why she felt this way, she couldn’t seem to put it into words.
“What is it Thalia? You can tell us,” Selene said a she crouched down and met her eyes.
“I…I don’t know. I don’t understand why, but something...feels wrong about their fight. I don’t think they should be fighting each other, or killing each other,” she said.
Selene and Ruvick looked at each other nervously as if they had come across a dangerous piece of information, but without understanding what it was connected to.
Ruvick then seemed to have an idea as he looked at Thalia and asked, “Would you do me the trouble of taking off your sealing ring so that I might speak with your mother? Maybe she can offer us some insight.”
Thalia nodded as she reached for the ring only to realize that it wasn’t there anymore.
“What, I-” she stammered as she checked all of her fingers but it was gone.
The ring was meant to seal her powers, and the evidence of that fact would have been shown in the flames that did not burn at the ends of her hair when she wore it. However, even though the ring was gone, her hair was still not burning.
“Ruvick, please tell me you can explain what’s going on?” Selene asked him.
Before he could answer her, Thalia could feel a sudden burst of energy being released all at once, both from her older brother and Moyako.
“It seems like they are taking the fight seriously now…,” Ruvick said as he looked in the direction of the arena, and upon hearing that, Thalia felt dizzy and almost fell over if he hadn’t reached out his arm to catch her.
“What should we do?” Selene asked.
“For now, we can’t really do anything about this since there is no information to go off of. In the meantime, you should continue watching the fight. Observe any changes that might take place and let me know what happens. I’m going to take Thalia back home and have Alta watch over her,” he said as he picked her up gently in her arms.
Being held like that by him gave Thalia a feeling of comfort that she thought only her older brother could have given her. She squeezed his trench coat as she said, “Please take me home. I…I don’t want to see or hear them kill each other.”
Ruvick turned to look in Selene’s direction as if asking her permission and she answered, “I’ll leave her in your hands.”
“Very well,” he said and Thalia immediately found herself back home in her bedroom as he laid her down gently.
Before he could leave, she tugged on his coat to stop him and said, “please...don’t leave just yet.”
Ruvick turned around to look down at her and his mouth opened slightly in surprise, as if he was shocked at the idea of a little girl relying on him for comfort.
He let out a quiet sigh as he knelt down next to her bed and said, “I’ll stay only as long as it takes for you to fall asleep.”
She smiled and closed her eyes, glad for his company.
But the moment didn’t last as she felt his fingers press against her forehead as he put her into a peaceful sleep.