"That's adorable isn't it?" The Black Entity asked as he looked at Regal.
"…It doesn't mean anything if your the one whose making them to say it" Regal said as he looked away from the screen.
"What do you mean? I have no power over him or the girls life" Black Entity said.
"What do you mean?" Regal asked.
"I mean it wouldn't be a good show if I knew what was gonna happen to the main characters from beginning to the end. You get it? I can't see their future, fate, nothing. You know the reason I let you interfere with them for so long was because I thought it was interesting and it was. For awhile at least, you would've been a good father it wasn't for me, you would've lived a good life if it wasn't for me, you would've died just like everyone else and never would've became a god but at least you created a better actor because you and him would've been gone by now. Be grateful he thinks of you that way because If I was in control of his life, he would've hated everything about you, just to make the plot interesting" The Black Entity said.
[Other side of the portal]
"Th-there's nothing to fear…. I can't die, she can't die, he can't die…. We're gonna go at it until we make it to the AANM's HQ…. I'm still gonna win… and go back home with my reward…. And my k-ids…." Ryoa thought as he moved back.
Ryoa started jumping back repeatedly until the back of his foot hit something, as he looked down he saw Evelyn's body laying there lifeless and as he looked back at Azure. She was standing in front of him. Azure grabbed his hand and yanked him away from Evelyn's corpse and as he was yanked away he started spinning in circles but he was able to quickly balance himself. Although his vision was a little shaky, he was still able to barely make out anything in his vision.
"It's weird though…. There's something else I feel other than anger… I still feel angry? I already got my revenge why am I not satisfied? Am I satisfied?" Ryoa thought to himself as he tried focusing his vision on Azure.
Although he saw Azure standing still, he heard footsteps getting louder and as he looked to where the footsteps were coming from. Jean was in front of him while in the middle of his attack but Ryoa was able to block the attack, however the force of the punch pushed him back. As Ryoa was able to catch his footing, he felt a blunt pain on his stomach before being sent crashing into the ground. The attack came from Azure landing a drop kick which forced the wind out of his lungs.
As Ryoa was hunched over on the ground trying to catch his breath, he heard two sets of footsteps quickly getting closer and closer to him with one of them changing directions and going around him, Ryoa was finally able to catch his breath. Ryoa stood up while inhaling deeply but just as he extended his legs, Jean landed a right hook on Ryoa's face which made him stumble back. He felt liquid leak from his nose and as he was about to wipe it away, he remembered the other set of footsteps that circled behind him. Ryoa rotated his body to the left and started moving back, hoping to get both of them in his field of view.
As soon as Ryoa stopped, he looked back at Jean who begun running towards him but as he was about to look towards the opposite side, he heard clothes ruffling behind and immediately turned his head and raised his arms to which he felt Azure's fist bluntly connect with them, he started started to jump back. Then he heard someone's exhale behind him and instinctively ducked.
As Ryoa ducked, he saw Azure running towards him and Jean's fist fly past his head and he grabbed it. Ryoa quickly stood up to lay Jean's arm on his shoulder which allowed Ryoa to slam him on the ground. As soon as Ryoa raised his body, he heard the clothes ruffling again but unlike before he wasn't able to dodge it as he already felt Azure's fist push up against his face and shoved him away. Azure immediately started charging him.
As Azure was less than a foot away, she quickly balanced herself and tried to attacking with a turning kick. Although Ryoa blocked it, Azure swiftly pulled her leg down and tried to land a kick on his lower body though he blocked it again, and kicked the leg she was balancing on which made her topple. But Azure caught herself with her hands, and used them as stability as she tried to land two more kicks on him before pushing herself away. Although the first kick was blocked, the second kick was able to gain enough strength and momentum as her leg pushed away from his arm and pulled back while allowing her other leg to smash into his chest.
As Azure pulled her body back, she pointed her legs to back as well as lifting her head from the ground. While she pulled her head up to meet Ryoa's eyes, she seen what looked like a handle to a large sheathed knife strapped to his right thigh, just before she quickly moved her eyes then her view was blocked by Jean's foot as he rushed towards him.
As Jean was close enough, he immediately stopped and pulled his head back a bit just before Ryoa's attack flew into his head so he could dodge it. Ryoa immediately pulled his right leg down and planted it on the ground and just as Jean tried to throw an attack, he threw an attack with his left leg. Although Ryoa landed a kick on the right side of his ribs, his fist didn't stop until Ryoa blocked it. Although the second he blocked it, Jean immediately pivoted to a position where his left shoulder was just over 8 inches away from Ryoa's chin. It happened too fast for Ryoa to react as Jean was pushing his elbow into his throat, he noticed a sheathed knife on his right thigh but he made it seem like he hadn't noticed it as he pulled his elbow back as he pushed his fist forward to Ryoa's chest.
As Ryoa was hit by Jean's fist, he seemed like he was about to fall back but he saved himself by pulling his right leg down and continued to stumble back a bit while coughing. As he stopped coughing, he heard footsteps rotate behind him again but as he looked up and tried to look back, someone grabbed his head.
"I see now, I haven't fought anyone as good as me in years…. I never though I'd feel the thrill of fighting like this! Dying to them here, in this moment would be more than satisfying" Ryoa thought as his chin was slammed on Jean's knee.
As Ryoa's head flew back from the impact, he felt like he was about to lose consciousness. Suddenly he felt something aggressively push his left foot off the ground making him lose balance as he also felt something else slip off both of his thighs. As he felt those things slip off his thighs he quickly remembered what they were, he tried to slam his left leg on the floor but unfortunately for him, he felt something bash his chest with strength he didn't expect from anyone. Instead of knocking him out, the attack pulled him away from falling unconscious as his body slammed on the ground.
"What-" Ryoa thought before he saw someone's foot above him.
Jean tried to stomp on his head but missed as Ryoa rolled away from his foot and onto his arms. As he tried pushing launching himself onto his feet, he felt an unbearable pain in his chest however he was still able to launch himself. As he landed on his feet and pulled his head up, Azure and Jean was already in front of him with the blades of his knives closing on his neck as if they were a sliding door. Tears fell from their eyes as they began to slice through his neck and cut through his cervical vertebrae. But suddenly everything stopped again.
"Not yet! Not again! Not yet!" Azure thought as she tried pushing the sword further into his neck.
The knife didn't move and neither did Ryoa, they were like statues but they weren't being pulled away from the ship and as they looked at each other, they saw something that left each other speechless.
"Wha- wha- wha" Jean couldn't say it as he looked behind Azure.
When they looked at each other, it seemed like their bodies were being stretched back leading to a wall but it didn't stop, it kept going leaving a small ripple in it.
"Wait! JEAN!" Azure said as she reached towards him before being pulled into the rippling wall.
"….-" Before Jean was able to say anything, he was quickly pulled into rippling wall behind him.
When Jean was pulled through the wall, everything seem to be slowing down as he suddenly began falling through what seemed like am endless abyss, unable to move any part of his body, he couldn't even breathe or he just couldn't feel the air entering his nose, he couldn't feel anything. Though he didn't lose his vision, he couldn't move his eyes, he kept descending or ascending. He couldn't tell as he just stared into the never ending darkness with scattering thoughts.
After what seemed like days of staring into the never ending darkness, a gleam of light appeared in the far distance and with every passing second the light grew brighter and brighter. Then when he was able make out what it was. The light turned out to be a large room with flashing lights. But the speed of which it was getting closer to him sped up as soon as he noticed what it was and in less than half a minute it, the room surrounded itself around Jean and closed off exits.
As soon as Jean was inside, it was as if he was reliving all of his memories down to the last second but all of it happens in a minute or less. Unable to move or talk, Jean felt as if he was suffering a thousand deaths again and again. Feeling pain both physically and mentally. As he was reliving his memories, five small balls of light that gradually pulled away from the walls of the room.
As soon as the memories stopped playing in his head, the gravity in the room immediately and drastically changed which it ended up pulling to the floor aggressively. The four balls of light descended to the ground as well and formed into human shaped bodies that immediately took on different versions of Jean from the past.
The first one seemed to be around the age 18, he was wearing a loin cloth and covered in dry blood. The second one was wearing tattered a doublet, hose, and cloth covering both of his feet. The third one was wearing a tattered robe with a chain around his wrists. The fourth one was in a dirty frock coat and breeches.
"We don't learn, do we?" Fourth Jean asked as he leaned over Jean's head.
"We should've learned from the first time" Second Jean said as he walked around Jean's body.
"The first was the worst but we just kept going" Third Jean said as he sat down.
"How was it? How did it feel? You trusted all of them but they all failed in the end, every single one of them. How many kids did you lose so because of them? How many 'friends' that you made died on you?" First Jean asked as he hovered his head over Jean's head.
"You can't talk but even if you could, you wouldn't answer honestly" Fourth Jean said as the first one moved away.
"Don't worry, we're all the same person" Second Jean said as he pulled Jean's upper body up.
"So we can answer it for you and the answer to the question is surprisingly easy actually" Third Jean continued the second's sentence as he held Jean's upper body up with the second.
"Would you like to know? Well you already know but I know you don't wanna realize it so let me tell you" Second Jean said.
"The answer to the question is that we lost count after ten and we forgot their faces as well. It doesn't matter to us though" First Jean said as he sat down and leaned on Jean's back.
"The only people who matters to us is Azure and our kids. Unfortunately only two are alive, fortunately two are alive" Fourth Jean said as he crouched in front of Jean.
"You recognize where we come from. Which is exactly after impactful events that happened to us and Azure. Even where you just came from was impactful" Second Jean said as he sat beside Jean.
"You gave our blood to him- Ryoa because he seemed trustworthy maybe he was but he did the same thing everyone else did. Now we regret it and want to kill him…. So this leaves me to my final question…. Do we regret it?" First Jean asked as he laid his head on Jean's shoulder.
"I think I have a better, question. Will it happen again with the kingdom? Yeah you could heal yourself there no issues, you may think but that's exactly the issue we are only allowed to heal so much before they think it's abnormal. Don't you think" Third Jean asked as his hands started turning to light.
"Becoming a monster and target in their eyes and is easy but is it the same for killing them? Can we kill Arla if she turns her castle against us? Can we kill Truw if he turns his kingdom against us? Can we kill Orval if he turns the earth against us? What will we do? What can we do? Can we do it? Will we do it? How will it feel? How can we tell whether or not their trustworthy? When will they turn against us?" Fourth General Jean asked as his legs already changed back to it's light form.
"We tend to grow fond of them very quickly for having to be betrayed by them so much. We never learn and we never will. Why is that?" First Jean asked as he rubbed his head on Jean's shoulder as his body turned into light.
"That's a question for another time, if that time does come, we will find that answer next time, so goodbye or see you later" Second Jean said as his head also turned to light.
As the different versions of Jean turned back into balls of light and flew into the walls of room, his body collapsed as there was nothing to hold him up. Then as soon as the balls of light were gone, the floor disappeared and he fell through. The room immediately flew away from him and as it was flying away the light it emitted began to gradually grow smaller until it was nothing more than a gleam then it soon disappeared from his vision.
Jean's body started stretching forward as it did before and he was suddenly dragged through the never ending darkness and pulled through a floating ripple. After Jean was pulled through, he was on the ship again in the same position and he was finally able to feel and move his body.
As Jean looked to the side to see if Azure was there, she was but they both had a shocked look on their face as everything resumed and their blades cut through Ryoa's neck, the edge of their blades collided with each other and pushed their hands away.
"Did you see diff-" Just before Azure could finish her sentence the black appeared again and wrapped around her mouth and all of her limbs.
The same thing happened to Jean and they were pulled away from the floor of the ship, they didn't even try to struggle as they were pulled away.