My mind fractured into countless thought streams. Each stream accelerated at breakneck speeds.
Every conversation I ever had was revisited. Every scrap of magecraft Medea had imparted was evoked. Every Heroic Spirit I had encountered, along with their abilities, was reevaluated.
I pushed my mind to its very limits. Thought stream after thought stream split from my mental faculties.
[Ultimate Painter] surged forth.
Within my mindscape, walls slowly materialized like paint on a canvas. Followed by a ceiling, a bed, and a pair of side tables.
I kept going.
Long black hair brushed to life, falling above a symmetrical face—intricate eyebrows, closed eyes, and shut lips.
A lean body followed, covered by a black coat and pants, lying on a bed.
It was me. The current me.
Artoria came next. Golden hair and green eyes fixed on me with a worried expression.
Last came Medusa. Long purple hair, blindfolded eyes, and a stoic face standing beside my bed.
I took in my mindscape, now indistinguishable from present reality.
Then...
I willed. Time stopped.
Artoria's worried gaze. Medusa's stoic expression. My healing sternum and slightly unstable breathing.
Everything froze.
My [Ultimate] talents worked in tandem to make this possible. But I could go even further...
So I did.
Time rewound around me like a river forced to flow in reverse.
Every step was retracted. Every breath was wound back. The present was undone so I could step into the past.
Old paint peeled away from my surroundings. New colors bled through from my past, replacing the present.
The ceiling above me flaked away. A desolate sky of crimson and yellow clouds replaced it.
With a smear of pure white, a Pegasus was outlined, racing toward hundreds upon hundreds of different swords that roared toward it.
Medusa was riding the Pegasus, deflecting sword after sword.
And I?
I stood behind her. On her Pegasus' back. A scythe of compressed wind in my grip.
Together, we faced a rain of Noble Phantasms.
Time rewound once more.
The desolate sky above me melted away. A serene night sky, dusted with radiant stars, took its place.
Beneath that night stood I.
Bent into a stance that blended the styles of both Artoria and Medusa. Lancer stood ahead of me. His crimson spear held tight.
My left hand was sheathed in wind. My right wrapped around a stake-chain.
I watched as both our weapons clashed against one another. Runes flashed across his body.
Primordial Runes.
Time screeched to a halt at that exact moment.
Rewind.
The night sky above me remained unchanged. Yet now, small drops of rain fell from above like a curtain of water while countless golden portals covered the radiant stars. Noble Phantasms peeked out from within each portal.
Gilgamesh soon diverted those portals toward a falling dragon, blasting it into nothingness with Anti-Dragon Noble Phantasms.
I continued to watch myself vault over R1 while Artoria sat behind me. Using Lancer's spear as a ramp to push R1 airborne.
We deflected multiple Noble Phantasms midair. Then... I used water droplets as a prism to overload Gilgamesh's optic nerves for a fraction of a second before Artoria used [Strike Air] like a piston to push R1 over everyone else.
A phantom of my current self was drawn in existence and started to walk away just as Gilgamesh bombarded Archer with his golden portals.
My surroundings chipped away, wet soil replacing the concrete road.
Heracles and I fought to my left. Trees crumbling and animals scrambling away from our clash.
I ignored them. My steps did not stop.
The soil beneath me shifted to polished marble. I walked, and walking beside me were myself and Medea, heading out to spend a day together.
A day with no purpose. A day with no war.
I should have lingered.
Another step, and I passed by an abandoned classroom. Inside were me and Medea, alongside a fainted Shirou Emiya.
I glanced inside just as Medea used her [Rule Breaker] to sever [Avalon] from Shirou.
Another step, and rain roared overhead. I watched as a drenched me bent down to a fading Medea, gripping her chin.
Clouds rumbled without end. Cold seeped into our surroundings.
"Tell me... What is Hope?"
I passed them by.
The rain had drenched them both, yet it could not touch me.
My steps continued.
I should have stopped. I had already found the solution to restore my magic circuits.
Yet I did not.
Another step, and I walked through Caladbolg's spiraling space as it tore a trench from the very summit of Ryuudou Temple to its base.
I walked through Homurahara Academy's corridor as Kuzuki and I fought at my side.
Finally, my steps came to a stop in front of my classroom. I pushed the door open and strode inside, coming to a stop in front of a table and chair. The exact location where I had awakened into this world.
I looked at that table and chair with a blank expression. Finally, after what felt like forever...
I took another step forward.
Tremors shook my surroundings. Cracks spread across everything, widening with each passing moment.
Crack.
My drawn canvas shattered like glass.
Those shattered fragments floated up and inked my surroundings into absolute darkness.
I was alone. Darkness surrounded me from all sides. No sound. No light. No color.
A door opened from ahead of me, bringing a tinge of light to my surroundings.
A woman walked inside. She had long, thick, strawberry-blonde hair tied in two high pigtails. Her eyes were light blue, blank like my own.
She walked up to me and smiled.
"Kamukura-senpai, nice to meet you." Her words were not directed at me.
Because behind me was a military bed. On it sat another version of me. The past me.
"I'm from the 78th class, Enoshima Junko!" Enoshima Junko smiled.
"I've been curious about you all this while..." Her tone was enthusiastic. Too enthusiastic.
"To think you're shut up in such a boring place..." She pointed to our minimal surroundings, only a military bed in sight.
"It doesn't suit you... I mean, you can do anything, right?" Her face glowed with something close to worship.
"For example..." She looked at me, eyes shining.
"You could suddenly die! Leaving everyone in despair!" Her eyes widened to their limits, smile turning maniacal.
She lunged toward the past me with sudden intensity, a piledriver in hand.
I started to walk away and did not look back.
The past me subdued her with a single leg. Heel on her back.
I had reached the door leading out by now.
"How... boring."
Past me labeled her just as I walked out.
My surroundings buckled.
Now, I stood in front of an operating pod, cables connected to it reaching above. My past self was inside it, eyes closed.
Slowly, those eyes opened. Blank. Unfeeling. Crimson.
My memories finally came to an end. Everything before this was a blank. I could not go farther back.
I nonetheless still took another step.
Colors drowned my surroundings in a sudden deluge. They then took a blurred shape.
An Academy slowly took shape some distance ahead of me.
Hope's Peak.
A bench materialized facing away from me. On it sat a person with his back to me. He had spiky brown hair with an ahoge and wore a white shirt.
I looked at his back wordlessly.
"Who are you?"
Silence fell.
"Not yet," He replied.
"You haven't found your Hope yet." His hand came up, fingers intertwining.
Snap.
He snapped.
My surroundings dissolved like paint under water.
I snapped my eyes open.
In the present.
...
..
.
***
[200 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[5 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
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[Ultimate Painter]: An OC talent I created. Painting generally comes under [Ultimate Artist] talent but an [Ultimate Painter] should exist. It basically means Izuru can create paintings that are very lifelike and look incredibly close to something real.
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[Authors Thoughts]
Another day. Another chapter. Sneak peak at Izuru's past.
Have a wonderful day everyone!
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So for those who might find it confusing - Izuru basically simulated a moving painting in his mind and reversed it's flow, tracing toward his past from the present.
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Note: For anyone wondering... Izuru is merely 1 to 2 months old. Existentially.