The war came to a close rather quickly. With Gemma having already been killed, Kido quickly defected to Nephis' side along with the artisans. Leaving just Tessai and Seishan against Nephis and Kido... then Seishan betrayed Tessai, instantly killing him.
With that out of the way. The remaining survivors went on to challenge the Lord of the Dead. Acquiring whatever they needed there.
At least that is what Milo was told by Olivia. The two of them had just bunkered down in the City. Being left alone with so many precious resources, he was busy making as many shells as possible. The siege on the Crimson Spire was not going to be easy.
Multiple Fallen creatures would be raining down from the sky, at least, according to the database Milo had gotten. Milo had two goals, kill Eva, then get himself and Olivia out.
Sunny, well... he didn't seem very willing. But, if necessary, he could die as well. Unless there was some way to convince Sunny to join his side, he was essentially a lost cause.
He also became powerful, much more powerful then when they had encountered each other for the first time. He wasn't going to be an easy fight.
Milo quickly added the finishing touches to the fifth shell he had made today.
"Was that all we can make?" Milo asked, transferring his conscious into the shell and testing its mobility.
"Seems so, we have enough left over to create another plasma rifle and a few plasma pistols."
"Alright, start on the mold please. I'll begin weaving."
Milo had a long day ahead of him, all five shells helped him in the process of creating the rifle, along with Olivia as well. There was also a lot to prepare for the [Mobile Suit]
***
A week had passed, and thanks to Milo's plundering of the Bright Castle's resources, his shells were sturdy enough to not need the [Mobile Suit] however he did equip one of the with the [Metal Shell] just to be safe.
After traveling throughout the labyrinth and the loss of one shell. The Crimson Spire was in sight. It was time to fight and get out of the Forgotten Shores. Milo moved past the third line, only stopping to talk to Olivia.
Milo just stared at her for a moment, both of their armors preventing them from seeing the emotion on their faces.
Eventually, Milo just gave her a small, short lived hug. "Don't die out here, Olivia."
"Same goes to you, Milo." Olivia responded in kind, and Milo moved forward.
"Stand your ground, wretches! If anyone runs, I'll kill you myself!" Effie shouted as the mass of abominable Nightmare Creatures came crashing down upon army of Sleepers. Milo was upon the second line of the army sieging the Crimson Spire. However, he could assist with his plasma pistol.
"First Mark!"
Milo raised his pistol, several of his own shells raised their pistols and aimed at the crowd of approaching Nightmare Creatures.
"Second Mark!" Milo fired his plasma pistol, he and four shells fired into the endless mass of Nightmare Creatures. Anywhere he shot landed a hit, but it all seemed pointless. There were just too many.
The first line had already began to engage in melee combat, meaning Milo could hardly let off a shot without scorching one of his own allies. All he could do was watch the massacre that unfolded in front of him.
He knew Eva was also in that massacre somewhere, she had been one of the first to be considered for the first line thanks to her Ascended armor.
It made Milo wish the Nightmare Creatures were more harrowing, it made him hope that the first line collapsed and Eva die right along with it.
That was wishful thinking however, and he needed to get home above all else.
Somewhere in the back along with everyone who had fired arrows and spears and all sorts of other projectiles was Olivia who was using her own plasma rifle. Milo decided to make his into a Memory despite it not being necessary for one simple reason.
At this point, it was time to join the battle. The second line quickly moved forward. Sleepers let out loud battle cries. Milo's shells used their sharpened appendages to stab and slash at anything that wasn't human. Milo's best shell had the [Metal Shell] on it along with the [Prototype] equipped.
Milo himself was wearing the [Mobile Suit] in its full glory. His prosthetic had turned into a segmented blade, and his right hand sported a plasma rifle with a new addition. Obviously, it had no need for a conversion enchantment, so it was very powerful. The highlight of the rifle was the large energy blade attached to the end of rifle.
It shimmered with heat, and Milo immediately used it to stab into an approaching Nightmare Creature, following up the stab with a burst into its body. The smell of charred flesh floated through the air.
Milo quickly swinged his prosthetic at several other Nightmare Creatures. He could barely recognize the mass of flesh he was cutting at. He saw a vague shape rush towards him, and so he cut it in half with his rifle.
Another vague shape stabbed at his leg, despite the [Mobile Suit] being sturdy, it still gave way. Milo grit his teeth as a sharp limb pierced his thigh. He felt the damn thing scratch his bone.
Milo diverted his prosthetic to remove the limb while he shot at whatever had stabbed him. Before he could recuperate, an unknown force sent him halfway flying back into another Sleeper. That Sleeper was fighting a Carapace Centurion, and the interruption allowed him to get cut in two.
Milo quickly shot the Carapace Centurion at killed it. He then lost control of a shell, meaning it had likely been destroyed. As much as the loss of another body would harm the army, it would benefit Milo greatly, meaning his conscious was much clearer.
His three remaining shells all were hard at work driving through and killing as much Nightmare Creatures as possible, Milo noticed the amount of death that was happening and made a huge gamble. Keep the Sleeper army safe, sacrifice your own bodies if you have to.
One of Milo's shells threw itself in front of a slash that would've taken the head off another Sleeper. One had its arm and leg missing, the shell hopped its way through the crowd and threw back a Sleeper while it had its chest pierced through, rendering the entire thing useless.
His only remaining shell was one he had geared to the teeth with the [Metal Shell] and the [Prototype] it cut through a rotting corpse infected with some strange red flower. Milo couldn't sacrifice this one, not yet.
So he watched helplessly as a Sleeper was cleaved into diagonally by a devils blade. The shell continued to keep itself safe and fight off countless Nightmare Creatures, however damage was inevitable. It was losing chunks of its own body.
Milo wasn't much better off. He quickly raised the prosthetic as a giant claw slashed down at him, he barely managed to push it back before he was grabbed and slammed into the ground by a deformed hand.
Milo felt the air knock out of him. His HUD, for the first time in a long time, warned him.
{Critical levels of damage have occurred, retreat suggested}
Despite it all, Milo smiled. This was just fine, the [Mobile Suit] had a function to observe damage it took after all, and Milo had just taken one hell of a beating.
Milo quickly dismissed his rifle and raised both his hands, allowing the [Mobile Suit] to cover his prosthetic. Energy whirred from his hands, and he clapped his wrists together. In the next moment, a ray of purple nearly as tall as three feet and as wide as five feet shot from his hands.
The plasma ray incinerated any Nightmare Creature in front of it, setting afire to those near it with the heat alone.
Milo's [Mobile Suit] began to emanate a white glow from the heat. His entire body burned as the sweat stuck to his skin evaporated instantly. From above, a giant streak of purple had simply pushed it's way past nearly half of the Nightmare Creature horde in a straight line.
It wasn't nearly as devastating as an all out blast would've been, however it was controlled as to not incinerate his allies as well. The ray continued on for ten seconds before ending, and all Milo smelt was burnt meat and smoke.
***
Olivia had observed from the backline just the mess Milo had made of a crowd of Nightmare Creatures, that guy never failed to move her. He almost seemed to be like Changing Star for a moment with the amount of light he had produced. The celebration was short lived as she had to divert her attention to the approaching Nightmare Creatures in the sky
Olivia fired her rifle again, heavily injuring yet another flying Nightmare Creature. Then she quickly looked towards the massacre below and fired into the endless crowd of Nightmare Creatures. She quickly gave suppressing fire to his last remaining shell which seemed to be in much worse shape then Milo was.
***
Milo felt overwhelmed from all sides, and he was. That small relief he had bought himself was short lived. He quickly maneuvered his shell towards himself, so at the very least he would have another body to fight with side by side. He saw Effie in passing, she wasn't as lucky as Milo. Milo knew she could manage.
His shell soon arrived, saving Milo from a descending claw behind him. Just as Milo had shot through another infected body. The energy blade attached to his rifle cut down a praying mantis' claw in front of him and shot its head off.
His shell jumped up and stabbed a Carapace Demon in the neck with the [Prototype] blasting through allowing circuits of electricity to flow through its body. It used the Carapace Demon as a perch, catching the rifle Milo had just thrown to it, as the shell threw the [Prototype] towards him.
Milo caught it and narrowly cut through the mouth of an iron spider. His prosthetic turned into a hammer and bashed the head of an approaching millipede in. His shell rained down plasma with his rifle atop the Carapace Demon. At least until something climbed up it and knocked it down. Taking a portion of its side with it. Still, the shell continued on, cutting down chitin armor with its scorching energy blade.
Milo's prosthetic split into multiple sharp needles and extended outward to stab into anything it could, blood raining down from the holes it made in Nightmare Creatures. Some stubborn one however, gripped one of the needles and pulled it forward, dragging Milo along with the prosthetic.
Milo nearly fell forward, catching himself last second. Those few moments of being distracted cost him a chunk of his shoulder as an iron spider bit into it and tore off the armor and flesh attached to it, leaving bone exposed. Milo retaliated with the [Prototype], as a consequence for even daring to try and gain a foothold in this mass of monster, something sliced his through his pointer finger all the way to the palm. At this point, his right hand was practically unusable. Despite that, despite the burning pain. Despite the ache that ran throughout his entire body, the [Prototype] once again retaliated with a slash towards the appendage that cut him.
His grip on the [Prototype] was weak, and only made worse by the slickness caused from the blood dripping onto he handle. Milo's shell took the front and began to sacrifice parts of itself for him. Instead of Milo taking a club to the thigh, the shell would take it for him.
It's condition was worsening by the second, and Milo couldn't lose this second body. So, he sent the shell retreating to the backline. It still fired upon the approaching Nightmare Creatures with the plasma rifle, but it couldn't do much more.
Leaving Milo to take the brunt of any attacks coming his way. Despite how much he tried to dodge or block or redirect them, it was pointless. More and more just piled on, all Milo could do was focus on the fatal ones, which seemed to be nearly all of them. His [Mobile Suit] was nearly destroyed from the legs down, resembling a blend of blood and jagged pieces of metal. The armor however, was brimming with more energy then ever... more and more.
'Not yet.' Milo told himself, he could gather more.
Even as his stomach had been sliced apart, just shallow enough to not make his guts spill out. . Even as his helmet had been cracked in two not too dissimilar to Gunlaug's own injury. Milo couldn't hold back his screams anymore, but all that came out was... a garbled sound as blood and saliva built up in his throat.
"Euhkkk."
Eventually, something made his nearly broken leg cave in, and Milo decided it was time.
'Now!'
Milo finally allowed the energy to release. The plasma screamed as it flew out threw all directions. It was like a bomb had gone off in the middle of a field, turning most of the Nightmare Creatures into ash upon contact. It created a small crater that he fell into, and made the rest of the air around him burst into flames.
Milo was finally relieved, there was nothing surrounded him anymore, just the crackle of fire and the sound of his choked breathing... along with the gentle dripping of blood from all the wounds on his body.
Milo forced himself to cough, as blood exited his mouth.
"Oh... it hurts, it hurts." Milo repeated to keep himself from passing out. Who could even pass out when going through this much pain? He forced himself to stand up on the [Prototype] using it as a crutch to climb out of the crater he had just made. Indeed, the area around was empty, the majority of Nightmare Creatures had died. Approaching him through his blooded and blurry vision was a radiant figure in white. Hope itself personified...
"Nephis?" Milo asked, and Nephis didn't respond. However, she did heal him, as the wounds on his closed up. Milo watched as she moved past him in order to go help Effie, who looked more like a mangled corpse then anything else.
Milo steadied himself, and he once again focused on the shell, he moved through crowds of Sleepers to find Olivia. Who was staring up into the grey sky and shooting at something... so long as he could keep her safe for now.
Guarding Olivia with the shell, Milo continued his forward heading towards where Effie had been.
'It's not over yet, not until-'
Milo suddenly looked felt weak, both in his own body and the shell.
"Soul damage." Sunny had sealed away the Dark Sea, and the Soul Conduit had activated.
Milo quickly gathered everything he could in his lungs. "TO THE CRIMSON SPIRE!"
Everyone began a mad dash towards the Crimson Spire, and Milo was no acceptation, he carried one of two bodies that Olivia grabbed as they began to make their way to the Crimson Spire.
After the bare minimum amount of rest, Changing Star shouted. "It's time to go. Gather your strength. We are almost there!"
Milo scanned the crowd, only to notice Eva's absence, had she really been killed?
Milo's shell helped someone up, Milo himself had no need for a lantern to see in the dark. Neither did Olivia, that was due to her aspect. Milo, however, had decided to add something new to his [Mobile Suit].
His vision lit up as he activated his night vision. Instead of the typical green, it was instead white for the sake of clarity in darkness. Even if it meant light was more unbearable to stare at.
As they made their way into the center of the Spire... Milo saw multiple coral golems that seemed aimless. Copies of simple people they didn't even seem hostile. This was mentioned in the entry on the Crimson Spire, yet it felt so odd seeing it in person. Milo quickly fell back through the line to Olivia.
"Get ready to take shelter."
"Everyone, back!"
Milo quickly dived into cover, his shell and Olivia helped the same two injured people hide in cover as well. Milo quickly placed his hand on Olivia and transferred a Memory to her.
"Equip it." Was all Milo said, Olivia offered a nod as a reply.
They could only watch as an unlucky few were caught in that soul destroying ray of light. Then Nephis made her move to go fight the Crimson Terror, leaving Sunny to lead the masses.
Milo quickly ascended the massive growths of corral. He shot at any golems that dared to approach the Sleeper armor. Reaching the floor of the Gateway, everyone seemed memorized, and Milo was too. Sunny's shout brought everyone to their senses, and reminded Milo of his one last goal.
'Make sure Eva doesn't get out alive.'
Ultimately, he left his shell to help in the defense as he scoured through the crowd. Not finding any sight of Eva, perhaps she had really been killed...
The crowd of Sleepers was thinning, less and less people were remaining, eventually only three remained outside of Olivia, Sunny and Milo himself. Then two... Effie then left.
His shell turned towards Olivia, who noticed the last person, her Aspect had spotted something no one else could. Olivia quickly dragged the person away and threw them down out of the floor containing the Gateway. Milo knew exactly who it was, so he quickly allowed the shell to follow, he went to pursue, but someone tackled into him and spoke.
"I can't allow you to kill Eva."
Milo jumped back. He spoke with pity. "I know you aren't doing this of your own volition Sunny... I went through the same thing too."
Sunny looked at Milo, and let out an unhinged laugh, which quickly turned into a sob. "Like hell you do, you have no idea what I've gone through, you bastard! I'll kill Eva myself, somehow, in someway!"
Milo quickly raised the pistol and fired at Sunny's leg. Sunny dodged the plasma and dashed towards Milo, who raised his prosthetic to meet the [Midnight Shard]. Sunny then tried to punch Milo, who knew of that sneaky dagger he had.
Milo diverted the punch as last second a sleek stiletto appeared in his hand. Milo allowed the prosthetic to switch into a grasping coil. It wrapped around the [Midnight Shard] and Sunny's hand, pulling him forward. Sunny twisted his body in an unnatural way, Milo didn't even think that was possible.
Milo quickly made the coil barbed, and Sunny's right hand had become riddled with cuts and gashes. The cloth armor he was wearing was ripped in multiple places along his sleeve. Milo released the prosthetic and dodged a bash from Sunny's [Midnight Shard]. Milo had two cores, he was faster, and he was stronger... at least normally. Something had allowed Sunny to surpass Sleeper limits, Milo knew that much.
Sunny's body became ensnared in shadow, and Milo knew that simply shooting at him wouldn't work, so a trap would have to suffice.
Milo quickly summoned the [Prototype] and held the plasma pistol in his prosthetic. Sunny dashed forward with relentless strikes from the [Midnight Shard]. Milo barely had the capacity to block them let alone dodge. What he did have was the prosthetic. Its ever changing form kept prodding at Sunny preventing him from striking anywhere lethal. Sunny likely also didn't see Milo's trick with absorbing blows.
So this was going in Milo's favor all things considered. At least, until Milo had slipped, the mental exhaustion the entire siege took on Milo wasn't easily ignored. Milo left an opening for his side. Sunny took advantage of it, driving the [Midnight Shard] straight into his side. Sunny quickly poised himself to cleave Milo in two
Before Sunny, could act any further however, he felt his arm being burned to ash. All the way up to his right side, meanwhile. The [Prototype] slashed at a tendon in his ankle, preventing him from moving altogether. Milo had released all the stored energy through the armor towards Sunny's hand, though it took off more then expected.
Milo kicked Sunny back, causing Sunny to groan and tumble to the floor. Staring over him with the [Prototype]... Sunny looked at him. "Go on, finish the job!"
Milo was too distracted. He spotted a pesky blur of green while going to help Olivia, so he diverted his attention to disabling Caster. Who was whispering about the Sovereigns. Milo knew vaguely about them, three existed, one was Anvil of Valor, the other was Ki Song. One more was unnamed because it was a Cognito hazard.
So it seemed Caster was on a mission for the Sovereigns. Milo hardly blinked as he shot Caster straight through the back of the chest, keeping him alive for the Soul Conduit
With Caster taken care of, Milo diverted his shell to keep an eye on Sunny, the shell itself would've been enough to deal with Sunny's injured state. Even as the boy tried to stand and chase after Milo, Sunny only collapsed under his own weight and was forced to crawl with one hand. Milo's shell defending it from the coral golems that threatened to tear them apart.
***
Eva stared at Olivia's corpse... this bitch had really just ruined her plan last second. She was steps away from returning home, but Olivia had spotted her.
Now here she was, nearly cleaved in two from yet another get out of jail free card Memory for Eva. This one was barely had any durability left in it. It was already crumbling to pieces of light in fact. A sword that never missed, an enchantment so unstable actually using the Memory would only last about a minute.
[Your Memory has been destroyed]
A minute was all Eva needed after Olivia had missed with her plasma rifle. Despite Olivia's other memories, one of which Eva plucked from her shoulder, a heated throwing dagger that dissipated into countless sparks after its owner died. Olivia wasn't able to keep up with Eva's speed, after all Eva had two cores. So no wonder it was a clean swipe.
Then footsteps approached, and Milo stepped into view... but Sunny hadn't died, his runes still clear as day to Eva. So Milo managed to disable him.
"Ah, Milo, you might want to save your friend over here before it's too late."
Milo head looked down at Olivia's corpse...
'Please work!'
Milo didn't even say a word. But his demeanor said it all. He knew she was lying.
"Worth a shot." Eva mumbled as she summoned another get out of jail free card. This time a pair of scimitars that shot out highly corrosive acid... Carmen hadn't been able to gather the materials to keep the Memory alive for longer then two minutes, the metal would crumble entirely after two minutes.
Milo's spared some of the parts of his armor to form a shoulder mounted cannon. Energy whirred, and Eva was ready to dodge... however the cannon never fired.
'What the-'
Instead, she looked down at his prosthetic, which had sneakily shifted. As the metal concealing its energy peeled back in the front, releasing a blast of plasma towards Eva who barely jumped out of the way. The plasma hit her right side. Milo had combined the rifle and the prosthetic, what in the hell was that?
Eva's cobalt armor plating was burned through, exposing her charred skin.
'Ow! Fuck that hurt!'
Eva kept her composure as she dashed towards Milo, that rifle had a limit. Olivia's shared the same limit after all. Except Milo fired again.
'Eh?'
Eva ducked, the heat radiating off the plasma bolt above her kissed her helmet.
'Okay, so he can use it more then once ,its still too late.'
Eva was already in close quarters, she sliced at him with her scimitars, only to be stopped by the [Prototype] Milo released an arc of electricity, that Eva swiftly dodged. Her foresight was barely able to react to the other two attacks, but this one was easy.
Milo then followed up with a jab with his prosthetic, the prosthetic then extended multiple spikes at Eva.
Eva knew not even the prosthetic could handle the acid, and so she fired it. Only... the prosthetic suddenly disappeared into thin air.
'Right, he could do that-'
Eva quickly ate a punch to the jaw, Milo's fist was full of rage and Eva felt it as his knuckle rattled her skull.
What followed was a mix of combat Eva never imagined. She was working tirelessly to try and get Milo into some trap, but Milo was much too cautious to fall into one. All it would take was one spray of acid and he was finished, however that seemed to hardly work. Milo kept getting hits in Eva couldn't have imagined. His prosthetic was just disappearing and reappearing into thin air. It was stabbing at Eva, bashing and slashing at her as well.
Plasma shots charred her side and arms. Her future sight allowed her to just barely dodge or block any lethal shots towards her face or chest.
Her future sight was barely working at all, and that was thanks to how it worked. It simply detected the choices a person would make, however, Milo was uncertain about everything. His attacks blurred into general outlines, of an attack. What once was "shoot at her right shoulder." simply became "shoot."
Had Milo really figured out the trick to Eva's future sight? But how?
At this rate, Eva was going to lose.
[Your Memory has been destroyed.]
Eva quickly kicked at Milo, who grabbed her foot with the prosthetic and pulled her forward. Eva diverted the motion into cross that finally landed. Milo seemed sufficiently rattled, and his battle with Sunny hadn't left him entirely unscathed.
Eva abandoned any hope of winning, so instead she booked it. She exited the room and began climbing her way to the gateway. Nephis was still fighting as was more then likely to win. So all she had to was escape with Sunny and let Milo deal with the fallout.
Milo for some reason took the time to grab Olivia's corpse... sentimental bastard. Even though the Spell hadn't announced the kill, Olivia hadn't even been breathing.
Eva opened her runes and stared at the one Memory Carmen had given her as a true last ditch effort... if necessary. It would cost her the body of Eva.
Upon seeing Sunny, she ordered. "Keep yourself alive."
***
Milo knew giving Olivia [Dreamer's Hope] was the best decision he would make so far. She was still alive, so long as she held out hope, and she had been hopeful for something.
So, Milo made her way to the top with her practically dead body. He used his shell to stop Eva. Though she barely managed to destroy it, Eva was making her way to the gateway. Milo's prosthetic shot out and wrapped around her, barbs forming on the coil stabbing into her.
"Aughhh!" Eva moaned... Milo pulled her towards with as much speed as he could measure. He knocked Eva square in the jaw. He allowed the prosthetic to turn into a sword and jabbed it straight into Eva's chest who let out a scream of pain.
Countless sparks of white formed around her hand, Milo looked down and saw... nothing. At least, he couldn't see anything, neither could Sunny.
She clenched her fist when the countless sparks had formed into something... and Milo was suddenly knocked back by a sudden force. The force itself was ethereal, and almost drove Milo to madness. His brain filled with visions of a world, a peaceful world, a world without the Nightmare Spell... a world without
"Fate..." Milo breathed out, blood dripping from his eyes and nose. His brain was slowly turning to mush. He wasn't real, all of this, all of this struggle and all of this pain was fake.
I'm Reina... My name is Reina.
The voice both existed and didn't exist, it crossed the threshold between this world and the other world.
I was never Eva... I was always Reina. I never belonged here. Fate doesn't permit me here
The voice spoke softly. As if it was stating an objective truth. It seemed the universe agreed with. As her body began to dissolve into countless sparks.
Eva, surrounded by that ethereal force, began to walk towards the gateway. Milo couldn't stop her, he watched with helplessness as the person that ruined his life walked away.
However, a heavy kunai shot towards her back, and pierced through her armor. Reina stumbled in shock, looking down at the kunai that now pierced her body. A maniacal, gleeful laugh echoed throughout the Crimson Spire, the laugh belonged to Sunny. The kunai dragged itself and Reina along with it back towards Sunny. Reina tumbled to the ground, her right leg had already crumbled.
"You stupid bitch!" Sunny shouted as he approached Reina, the [Moonlight Shard] appearing in his hand. "You aren't my master, Eva is! and you said it yourself! You are not Eva, so I have nothing to hold me back anymore!" Before Reina could correct the mistake, Sunny stabbed the [Moonlight Shard into her face and through her serpent helmet. Killing Eva, and killing Reina.
"Hahahaha! How ironic, something that Fate didn't permit was killed by a [Fated] being itself. Did you seriously think you could escape your Fate, Reina? Did you seriously think Fate would not protect its belated child? This was your Fate, Reina! To die here and now!"
Sunny's laugh turned into struggled breaths, and Milo's shell grabbed Sunny. Dragging him towards the gateway. Placing him there and sending him back to the real world.
"...Shit."
Milo muttered as he picked himself up. With the help of the shell, he placed Olivia in the gateway and sent her home as well. Milo waited until Nephis came into view, as he quickly entered the gateway as well.
***
Reina awoke in a black void surrounded by countless white strings that formed a nebula. This was the inner workings of the Nightmare Spell...
"I died."
Reina had died. She had died, she was dead. She wasn't going back home
"I-I'm never going back home." Reina fell to her knees, tears dripping down her face. Choked sobs erupted from her throat. "I-I... AUGHHHHH!"
Reina was never meant to return home, how did she not see it sooner. Nether, that fucking Daemon said it himself! Her time here wasn't permanent because she was going to die.
Reina had to compose herself. She had to stop the tears from flowing, she had to get it together... surely there was some way out of this, right? Surely?
"There isn't." A cacophony of voices echoed out. "The moment you merged your real self with this body, you were never going to return home."
Reina looked up, normally staring upon a daemon would kill anyone on sight. However, Reina was not your typical mortal, she belong to a higher plane of existence, and thus she could stare fully at the glory of the nebulous daemon Weaver.
"Did you really not see the signs from the start? Look at you, and look at Milo. Copies of our children, that Milo boy is especially tailored to somewhat resemble our first epigone." Weaver mumbled out.
"Why am I not in the Shadow Realm." Reina asked Weaver, and Weaver ignored her question.
"Nether, that inferior brother of us actually had a good plan to break fate. Make two epigones that resemble ones closely tied to Fate, and make sure those two are sacrifices so the real two are left unscathed, changing Fate and preventing that shadow from gaining a master... he made a mistake dragging a fool like you and that architect here however. Expecting Fate to simply let such a harrowing enemy to its harmony of strings go by unscathed was never going to work. Your very existence is like True Darkness to light, you counteract each other... its how that shadow was able to move despite the overwhelming information. He was Fated, a direct antithesis to you, a being united by Fate."
Reina stared at Weaver and processed the information.
"Nether, he was foolish at the end of the day, to high in his head to make good use of such... unique beings." Weaver looked at Reina. "We will not make the same mistake." One of their eight hands removed itself from their mantle, holding an ebony wood mask that resembled a terrible demon.
"The reason you aren't in the Shadow Realm is because you are unique, such a place couldn't contain a higher being like you... the Nightmare Spell however, is capable of doing so. We would know, we designed it as such. To keep pests like you... and them from interfering with this world."
Weaver seemed to stare up at no one in particular. They then looked back down at Reina. "Become my epigone, help me break Fate the proper way, and we might find a way to send you back home."
Reina looked at Weaver, and shook her head. "You're lying, take off your mask and make that same promise."
Weaver laughed, the sound alone made Reina shiver. One of their hands reached up and took of their mask... Reina couldn't even describe what she saw.
"Become my epigone, and we will send you back home, one day."
Reina looked down at the mask, and swallowed. Her hand reached out, took it, and placed it gently over his face. Soon, countless golden strings enveloped her body and pierced into her soul, forming a new Fate for her. They were guided by Weaver, helping Reina find her way in this world after her Fate had come to an end... however, she might as well have been a puppet for Weaver to use. Eventually, after the unending pain, which Weaver's Mask had prevented her from screaming because of it, her new Fate had been crafted.
Weaver let out a laugh, a shrill orchestra of a thousand voices. "Welcome, my third epigone."
End of Volume One: Puppet on Stage