His nail sharpening to act as though it were a demonic claw apart of his finger, Uraku blinked, simply cutting a hole in space and time so that it'd all open to him. No way to see through the other side of the inter-dimensional gate, just then, as he spread open his eyes- that glow that revealed itself as the optics divulged their purple color once more, the flare and light that radiated out from those apertures controlling his movements. Each of his nails sharpening and edging so that he could engrave those writings and letters of the Enochian angelic language formed and composed by the Allfather from the beginning of time. As that location was realized and located by the portal, the beam slammed down into this slide between space and time between dream and reality, mind and matter. The gust of wind pushed out from the other side, his long lengthy locks as if shocked by the shocking sensation of electricity.
The bolts and streams of the element coursing through his hair, reacting to the static created by this energy, Uraku grunted. His arms descending to each side, he began to draw them to the back of his anatomy, the former Guardian of Earth turned around spinning his waist to face his sons and daughter. Ben, Jason, and Madisyn, all reacted with different expressions and looks on each of their faces. Holding out his palm so that the Ketsueki would swarm to his grip, fingers tightening against the blunt non-sharp end of the katana, he spun it around to dig it into the shape of his cover engraved with Japanese characters.
Ben sighed at the sight of this other dimension, a thousand other worlds laid behind them in just this portal alone. The Emperor readied to step forward without hesitation or care for his health, but then, his older sister grabbed onto his shoulder with just enough strength endowed into her grip that he'd stopped in his tracks. Spinning his head back so his blue eyes could meet her purple ones, the one thing that he could tell... She was scared. But why?
Why was she scared, why... was she so frightened of this possibility? Seeing her mother once again, for a final time before the end of everything so that singularity would form together and destroy everything that they'd been working toward. Archangels, Gods, Demons, Devils, everything from God to Satan themself. She began to hold onto his limb, her fingers and hands vibrating and shivering as she grabbed hold of her baby brother. Ben couldn't tell what she was thinking despite their psychic link, he didn't want to ask, he couldn't force her to face herself. All of them needed to face something they'd been running away from ever since that day, that day she'd said her last words to her children, Uraku turned to face them all, hair moving with the wind that'd blown his locks back from the inside of the gateway.
There were no words that needed to be spoken between any of them, and as Jason led the way for his siblings, the Guardian smiled at the sight of his children. The light reflecting onto their faces so that their backs would darken and shadow as a reflection of the light, Uraku couldn't hold himself back. And instead of staying back in the physical world so that he could open the gate back for them, he followed them all. As if a scar healing, space repaired and the door had slammed shut behind them as if it'd never even been there. Their hairs moved all together, Jason searching the skies swarming with the lost spirits of the soul realm, Ben and Madisyn listening for the whispers of the damned and the fallen to enter their eardrums as their Father was blown away from the beauty of this scenery.
The mountains tipped with snow at the peaks, the grass field fitted with blades of green produced by the presence of Mother Nature around the Multiverse surrounding and encapsulating each of these different worlds, and the running stream of the river flowing between the split field belonging to those emerald blades. They couldn't believe their eyes, even the wind had felt as though it were late spring turning to summer, chilly yet warm. Was this Heaven..?
"This..."
It was as though he'd been mesmerized, frozen in place as he examined the sight of this other dimension outside of the normal physical world of Earth. What laid beyond these primitive worlds laid these enclosed walls of the World were a plethora of spirits, souls adrift in space as they searched for salvation, and just then, while they were busy marveling at the sights, Ben heard the voice of someone familiar come toward his ears,
"Welcome, Mr. Rivera," It was female in origin, as he looked down he could see her, and the back of her head- if you looked from that specific angle; was white hair. Ben couldn't help but kneel to face her as his hand reached into her own, the girl smiling at the sight of this as Jason and Madi followed their brother's movement. Puzzled by this interaction, the Father began to step forward so he could have a clear view of why his children were kneeling to this obscured figure- and just then, he had her answer. Oddly enough, she wasn't a goddess or anything of the sort, she was a spirit, lost and spinning around endlessly in a chaotic enclave of thought and action. Her red eyes glistened in the artificial glow of the sun above in the bright azure coloration that the sky took, reflecting the stream of water. As the lights shined and the sky turned to the dark blue hue of the shadowy night, the aurora borealis began to shine in the darkness. "My name is Celine Pierce. Welcome to purgatory, the realm of the lost spirits between Heaven and Hell,"
Chest rising and falling following his breathing, Alex took a sip from the bottle of water, Riley repairing everything with an easy flick of her finger. The ceiling tiles were put together, glass putting itself together as the skeletons and piles of ash were carried out from the hole in the front serving as the entrance. Breathing loudly as if she felt responsible for everything, he tore off the meat and bun from the hot dog chewing and crunching against the food with a certain grimace over himself. Holding that snack in his hand as he took another sip from the bottle of soda to quench the abrupt thirst that'd swarmed to his throat. Sammy took the side of her learner, trying to take his hand so he could feel... someone beside him. The love and warmth of family, but just then, he yanked his hand away. Flicking out his index finger so that their bodies and organs would reorganize with the intent to heal and repair, Alexander smirked at the sight as their bones rattled putting themselves back where they belonged to form those poor lost souls.
This was unbelievable! Riley couldn't even process what she was looking upon as that mother began to stand up straight with her child, looking around as the tears began to leak out from the ducts on her eyes. Picking up her baby in her arm, she wiped her nose with her arm, given a loving touch by Alex as she was guided back into her new repaired home. More of them started to heal as he looked upon those piles of ashes and those destroyed bodies where only bones remained, Amara's hands hidden in his pocket, casually and nonchalantly committing these acts to aid the souls of these innocents before being cast off to the Between, the Fiery Damnation of Hell or the Loving Embrace of Heaven. He was their savior yet their destroyer, his foster mother standing up and wiping her pants off so that the smoke from the debris would vanish into the air. Confused about how he managed to do this, she asked the question on all of our minds,
"How the fuck are you doing that?"
Seeing no point in staying here, Al then looked around as those families he'd reunited began to form together and love another once again. He envied that feeling, that experience; even now, and so- he gave out a breath from his mouth in dejection. Shakily, then he sucked it all back in and gave his foster parent a poker smile so she wouldn't worry. Tapping her arm then reaching out his hand so she could take it, her fingers lingered, hovering over her palm about to interlock with his extremities before she did it. It wasn't that she was scared of him or anything, he'd brought back those he'd burnt to ashes on accident with the intent to have them live. So, he took her to his favorite place when he was a kid. Just as their hands met, souls linked together, the Requiem Judge felt the pull of lightning circulate his face and begin to surround his exterior anatomy, bolts, and everything pulling him right into the stream of energy.
As if he'd never existed in that place, to begin with, the lamps began to fly out from their posts, the bench was singed and launched into the air vanishing behind the clouds, and the trail his feet began to leave a trail of the blazing fire in his wake with a crater forming beneath where his feet once stood. He'd vanished, like a ghost in the wind.
Sitting in a booth on the table as the door hit the bell being pushed wide open, Alex searched through the rows of words on the menu muttering and mumbling to himself casually as if nothing had ever changed around them. Using his finger to trail along with the foods that'd been lined up on top of one another, outside, if you were to look upon this diner, you'd see that it was themed to take after those restaurants from 100 years prior during the 1950s. The name placed in neon writing illuminated the night setting, the row of fire planted amongst the road and concrete sidewalk right led right to him in there seated across from the woman he called in the back of his mind, 'worthy enough to be his mother.' But she was fed up with this, having suddenly been placed her, expected not to question anything as the coffee began to hover out from the container composed of that fragile material.
The waitress looked in surprise as the customer turned to the woman he was a ways away from, widening their eyes as they ran out the front door grabbing their date's hand with them. Alexander Amara, the infamous third Requiem and protege of the Reaper, and the wife of the Empress of Light, Samantha Riley. This wasn't bound to go well at all, and they knew it, but as Riley was preparing to throw a blast of telekinesis to launch Alexander backward... she calmed down. The veins began to fade and the anger that'd flared in her nostrils settled down as she took a steady breath through her nostrils and mouth, Riley questioning as she leaned forward to threateningly ask the male to her front,
"What the fuck was that and why the fucking shit are you acting as if everything's normal? You destroyed homes and killed children like it was nothing like you were Ben... what the fuck happened up there, Alexander..?"
The way she spoke, it was as if she never even knew him, like the parental relationship they'd built up over the past day had crumbled and he didn't even have to do anything. He barely had to lift a finger and it all began to fall as if it were never even there in the first place, Amara chuckled as he thought about a reasonable answer, the finger still lingering over the new scar he'd been given to the far right of his lip. The Requiem Judge couldn't help but laugh at the possibility of what'd happened, the events that'd just occurred and past, he never thought he'd see the day where he finally felt this freedom he once experienced before he joined the Academy. Waving over to the waitress, hands shivering as she tapped her watch so that the hologram could project from out the technology, she nodded with a whimper of fear bursting out from her lip. As she slid over the lair to him, he ordered his phone with the pen she'd thrown to him as it rolled against the table and he forged the signature of the Emperor so he would unconsciously pay for it.
After everything was ordered, the Requiem Judge scratched at the itch he'd felt at his chin that'd been covered by the stubble of facial hair. Awaiting an answer about to pop a fuse from how casual he was acting, she was about to slam her fist right down onto the menu that'd been placed to her side of the table- Alex then using his telekinesis to halt her movement so her wrist could stop before his fingers could impact against the upper platform of the furniture they'd used to feast. There was no point in waiting anymore, so he began to explain everything from the point he'd blacked out at the top of the stairway of his childhood home...
"After I spoke with that piece of shit, I was pulled into my mind by my other personality, which I thought that I'd accepted into my dominant personality to become who I was. But, turns out, after the Invasion and the Infiltration, then the Overtaking, I'd begun to feel useless. Like I didn't matter in this world and I'd be overshadowed by everyone more powerful than me. August, Ben, everyone... even Rose. She was the daughter of the Feared Outcast across different worlds and the son of the Infamous Detective Prince.. yet even before that, I thought she was so much better than me. Out of my league, she was my best friend yet we knew, that each of us could have one another at any time we pleased, yet, who was I? I was some random piece of shit and she was the progeny of some rich parents, the next in line to rise the Thomas Empire to the new era. But, the Truth, finally, bad enough of my bullshit, of my lying to myself after what Hazel and Whitney told me after the Angel of Death had been killed. I'd wanted to believe, to tell myself that I was someone who could make me who I wanted to be. Someone who'd help those he'd loved, that I wasn't destined for what my parents and Kuno originally planned. But even then, that was just a lie, I couldn't escape myself, I couldn't keep running away. To shape my future, I needed to truly face my past, and accept my true purpose from birth. Fated to reign Chaos from above like a demon that'd risen out the depths of Hell, only then, when I accepted that truly- would I have been able to access my true power and shape the future and be who I wanted to be. I'm still... the Alex I was before I met my uncle, I still want a mother, a father, but it's- a new perspective on it, I guess. I don't feel bad about what I did because I can repair anything now, I have the same power as August, and yet... and yet, I still feel unworthy of everything. I'm a god, now, I can bring back anyone or anything I want, but- I think about back then. When the Truth first revealed itself when the Superior first showed me the memories I'd locked away. If I had just accepted it right there except letting him take control, I could've done something,"
As her hand began to fall out of his control, Sam turned her head away in shame at the feeling, knowing that the thing she'd felt- believing him to be too far gone. As if he'd become an entirely different person, and yet, it was just on the outside, a piece of debris had cut his lip and his hair had been put down. But he was the same person, he was Alexander Amara on the inside, though his true power had unlocked... he still felt these feelings. These human sensations that only those who lived on earth such as the pure human beings that existed before the New World, he wasn't a god, he was still a boy who'd wanted someone to love him. Who felt the guilt and weight of the world slam right onto his shoulders, the smile that he'd had over his lips, attempting to act as if he was his mentor; uncaring and smug about everything that he came across. He never even got to see him sweat, not even once, but he was weaker than him, even with the chaos unbridled and the Truth revealed, fused with the Vessel.
It was like a confession, something he'd been holding in for years, palms sliding together as the right one glided up the top of the left one. Swirling his tongue around and fidgeting, Alex couldn't help but shakily breathe out from his mouth and clear his throat. Hands descending about to search for the menu to scratch it with his nails, but- he had someone there with him. The woman he deemed worthy enough to call herself his mother began to slide her hands over the top of his own so that familiar familial sensation could slide over his body like a tide of warmth. The waves soothing his skin, the shakiness of his eyes beginning to stop, her hands supple and smooth as she brought them up to her lips to kissed them. She couldn't stay away from him, he needed someone- or better yet, not just someone but.. he needed a parent. Someone to love; to think of as his mother, someone to come to whenever things got rough, someone to confide within.
Their hands remained together against the cushions of the seat, about to lean over so that the side of his head could rest in the corner of her neck, she stopped him. Just like he said right before in the middle of that storm of debris, she'd heard the echoing voices in her head bouncing through the astral world of telepathy... "You can't keep... running."
The mother and the son shared a simple look, her hands on both of his cheeks then moving them to his hair so he could feel it. Calm, the flatness and the flush of her pale skin as it brushed against the tanned coloration of his own, Alex's head was guided to her lap so she could rest against something... the sense of home. As if this was where he belonged, where he was destined to live for all of eternity; he turned his body so that his eyes could stare right at the ceiling. Those same shaky eyes about to drip out those tears, he inhaled, once more, vocals quivering as his bottom lip began to quake from his somber mood.. just as a mother would do with her child, Riley brushed his hair and shushed him to sleep...
"It's okay... it'll all be okay, sweetheart,"
The eyelids shut against the brightness of his apertures, with a breath out, it was carefully executed and let out. His personality shifted for a second time, the white color beginning to disintegrate and decay so the grey would overtake the usual illumination of his optics. He couldn't keep running... anymore,
"I thought it was easier; to let them take control of me, to let them guide my every action, every so often, I'd let them take over so they would think for me. Then, after they did what needed to be done, I'd come back, as nothing ever fucking happened. I wanted to keep it like that, but ever since then, ever since I fused... I couldn't stop thinking about what if I'd let him fused with me earlier. Ella wouldn't have died, I could've done something. I could've- saved everyone. If I'd just been strong enough... everything happened- because of ME. Because I didn't- because I didn't do enough..."
Anything she thought of to say, she saw it failing, not being enough. What could she state? How could whatever she thought of aid him? It didn't work, nothing would work- this feeling of powerlessness, as if he couldn't do anything and everything he attempted had led to this end. The destiny that he'd been damned toward, nothing he tried, every endeavor he made, striving forward to seek out some sort of usefulness in this gigantic world of Celestials, Devils, and all else. The insignificance of being a human. What was the focal point of being a human being... human, a man.
What makes a man who he is? Determination. Strength. Bravery... Care. Who'd bring that to him, and just as her mind wandered to whoever that person was, she stopped, his stepped right into her brain and she sighed disappointedly? Whitney... Myers.
Now, we're finally back at the Rivera International Smithsonian, the Reaper watched it all play out before him before every action began to enact. August's eyes darted as swift as light itself, moving like clockwork and thundering across his eyeballs, the Requiem Reaper leaped from the air to dodge the incoming slashes from the metal tips of those swords. Using the ground to throw himself forward, he began to flip forward and land behind each of those ninjas outfitted with white attire. The second between him flipping over their heads then him landing to their backs had been but a split second in time, his arm extending out from beside his body. The swirling energy beginning to originate from the center of his soul before it swirled around his wrist to sharpen at the tip, Rivera simply smirked and licked at the tip of his edged weapon of Requiem energy.
Feeling it prick the end of his tongue before it healed completely, August giggled as if he were as psychotic as Azazel secretly was. The beefy huge guys began to step forward with their veins popping out the front of their knuckles, about to seek the little man compared to the duo. One of them tightening his fingers together so his fist could drive to where August previously stood, and the second his fist had met the ground, rubble, and debris flying apart to scatter across the platform-
Widening his eyes from behind the mask they'd dawned over their his face, he felt the thickness of the fluid pour out from the cuts on his throat- August had stood hovered in mid-air to the back of the pawn's head. The droplets of gore moving into the air to splash onto his bare arms, the Requiem Reaper cackled loudly so they could hear the craziness in his vocals accompanied by the insane look painted onto his face. His head begins to fall off his shoulders, Rivera rolled into a standing position then weaving back so that the arm of the other huge creature would hit the left portion of the ground. Laughing at the scenery of this, August glared right at the hulking monstrosity of a superhuman with a sadistic cadence decorated over his face.
The tendril of Light began to dissipate back into his soul as the green lightning took hold of the projectile weapon, the Reaper simply utilized his hand. Sticking out his thumb so that his fingers together placing as if it were a knife taking hold in his hand, cutting off the forearm of the enemy so blood would splurge out from a geyser. Yelling in agony, he tried to slap away at this tiny being with the adrenaline coursing to the center point of his palm- but the second the palm of this rival had touched the barrier of August, the heat from the barrier of Shattered Limit was too intense.
It began to seep in like a venom that'd usually been stored in the fangs of a serpent, the waves of fire beginning to weaken and crumble the bones so that in the inner layers of the body- they'd just turn to ash and nothing more but that dust. Kicking the hollow husk of his former alive opponent in the chest to he'd go flying through the right of the ceiling, August then ducked over a roundhouse kick. The first one was easy but the time frame between the other seemed too much, too sloppy, and too slow- August was easily able to backflip out of the ducking position and land further away from the targeted enemy.
The enemy's feet momentarily staying off the ground before they landed carefully back into their feet, the Cloak-Wearing Scythe began to grovel in annoyance as they witnessed the sheer power this creature held. Even in that crouched position inches away, he could sense and feel the spiritual and physical strength this THING held within. To overpower him, he didn't just need to be quick and add more power to his kicks but he needed to push just the right amount of damage to the body of the aforementioned Reaper of Death.
Both of them gave the other stares that encapsulated two distinct emotions, for the member of the Crow Organization with that cape cloaking over him in darkness, there was nothing but determination. But for the Requiem Reaper of Death, the Bringer of Demise and the Son of the Emperor of Time; that look was nothing but pure and unbridled-
Bloodlust.
August charged forward spotting a slap come right at the left of his skull, fused entirely with the negative energy that usually belonged to the true Takyr of demonic blood. Then he scoffed, time grinding to a complete halt, the tires of that immense ethereal entity skidding across the hypothetical street as he disappeared... and just popped up as his foot stepped right back into the natural flow of everything.
Pupils shrinking at the sight of this unnatural moment in space, the Atomizer couldn't help but gasp in surprise as the gore splashed right onto his face to obscure his vision onto the goggles of the mask. Everyone had been obliterated in one simple swipe of his hand, he'd sliced those ninjas in half with the fourth state of matter, he'd cut off the head of a monstrous creature and torn off the arm as their bones turned to dust under their skin then simply cut the other one in half in stopped time. There was but one simple thought surging through this man's neurons, he couldn't die here for the sake of a lofty idealistic dream he barely believed in anymore. Running away would be cowardly yet dying here without fighting would be pathetic... there was only one thing he needed to do- and as the fist of the Reaper came close to meeting and destroying every single part of his brain and skull so his brains would begin to fly out the back... he closed his eyes. Everything happened so fast for him, he couldn't even believe what he was seeing as it all registered mere moments after it'd happened.
He'd been in the arms of a man, eyes watering as he tightly embraced the Detective before he was dropped and kicked right across the face for blood to fly right out of his mouth. The putter patter of the remaining minions began to enter this marble-floored reflective surface of the lower level of the platform as they fled the premises, the Reaper sighing dejectedly as he stepped around the dead bodies pouring out that maroon fluid. Lifting one of their heads and burning off their skin so that their charred brown skeletal bones would begin to reveal themselves from beneath the layer of skin.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing... Karlo?"
"I can't let you kill Natalia, she's not just another criminal we can baselessly kill for some pathetic self-righteous reason you're telling yourself! She's done heinous things but she's..."
"She's too far gone! She killed innocent kids and she parades around praying about some insolent ideology about bringing back a SYMBOL OF DEATH THAT BROUGHT ONLY DESPAIR TO A SOCIETY ALREADY AT WAR WITH ITSELF!!!!"
Their words were filled with passion and anger at one another, but not for just that, their present and past selves for bringing this conflict to pass across this time. August's chest began to rise and fall under ragged breathing, Azazel calm as he took a simple step forward before his brother-in-arms. As the Reaper held his chest letting out a breath from his nostrils, his laughs became more and more crazed before he fell back and pushed his strands of the white back with the glow in his eyes brightening like the moon in the sky as the three above began to watch without moving as so much as a finger.
They couldn't do anything more, this was a long time coming- and none of them should interrupt any of it. As Azazel opened his arms to endeavor a reasoning and capable conversation of understanding between two mature adults, the Reaper couldn't... even speak normally anymore. He spoke with bursts of anger and tears sobbing in the middle of his screams of mental anguish taking off his clothing admitting to the rival to his front,
"DON'T YOU FUCKING GET IT??! OUT OF ALL THE PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD; I THOUGHT YOU'D UNDERSTAND THE FUCKING MOST, GODDAMMIT!!! Haah... haaah... ever since Celine, ever since those moments before I died, I knew there was something more to my existence. Something that laid dormant in my soul before I died as if I hadn't tapped into it yet. I spent the better part of 20 motherfucking years putting my soul through torture and agony just for the sake of returning, to protect those I want and help everyone get the freedom they so desired. And guess WHAT?! I KNEW AUNT ELLA WOULD DIE, THE SAME WITH UNCLE HENRY! I WAS... I WAS SO FUCKING POWERLESS TO STOP ALL OF IT!! THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD DO... IT ALL FELL APART BECAUSE I WAS SO USELESS!! I... I... I have to do this... I have to prove to myself that I can still do something useful with this power. I need to kill her, to help this world, I can't let my father's work be for nothing for someone like that hypocrite piece of shit to do it. I can't let you stop me, I can't become someone so powerless like my grandfather. I can't become like him... it'll kill me.. Azzy- I don't want to have to KILL you too. So don't stand in my way, I beg you,"
Karlo couldn't even give a reaction to such a thing, all he did was stare straight ahead at his friend with a sympathetic look in his eyes. Watering and about to drop out tears, Azazel scoffed at the feeling, remembering the memories that not only he'd created, but the ones both he and his brother had made. The battle they had, the deal he'd offered to the younger boy than to defeat Kuno. As the Detective in that Crow outfit shadowed over Augustus then; that right there, was the truth and beginning between the bond of the second generations' Karlo and Rivera boys. And just as those bloodlines were destined to fight, they were always fated to rival one another in a duel- for a common goal,
"Dad told me about the day he'd come back from the Void to help Rivera and Mom kill the Crawling Chaos and bring down that Tower. It took a punch filled with Requiem energy powered by the positive energy of Rivera's intent to destroy and obliterate the negative personality of The Outcast. Maybe a punch is exactly what you fucking need, to knock some sense into your delusional ass, considering how much you sound like your stupid dad... There's no way in avoiding this. You know I won't back down,"
He couldn't help but laugh, for all he knew, this was the end of their partnership and their rivalry- for all he knew, Karlo would kill him or Rivera would kill him. The future was ever-changing, and as the two bloodlines faced one another down that day, they readied their stances. The sanity began to slip away as The Detective Fool Prince smiled right at his former rival... a tear streaming right down his cheek while the sword was yanked right out of its cover before spinning around and pointing right at the chest of the target. The Requiem Reaper exhaled shakily, wiping his eyes so there they'd be free of any tears clapping his hands together and then pushing some of his fingers against one another, the locks he'd been stuck with on the tip of his head moving following the flow of the chilly summer night air.
The Detective Fool Prince of Justice and the Requiem Reaper of Death, the rematch ever since 2036. On that night, June 20th, 2059- 23 years later after their first duel as enemies, they fought again. The victory was sure to come out but for only one of them as the future was always... uncertain. Facing one another down with both of their eyes silently saying, "Don't do this," they had no other choice but to go forward. Don't run away, face yourself and the consequences of your actions, and just then, August said...
"I know."
In Chapter 74, Alex meets up with Whitney to talk about the new fusion between the Truth and the Vessel. Uraku and his children are guided by Celine to the Pond of Regret. And... Azazel and August have a final fight before deciding what to do before confronting Natalia.