"Where am I?"
Philip asked a genuine question when he is actually somewhere unknown. Darkness is everywhere and only blackness can be seen. Although, this darkness is different from when he was in the darkness in front of E-1's Black Box
The darkness in E-1's Black Box is like being in a deep vast ocean. This darkness, however, is like the inside of a dark room, claustrophobic and limiting. Philip also seemed to be floating
Philip looked around, looking for any signs of light. This origin was drastically different from when he first saw Tenshi's origin, which has full of light
"Is this the time before Tenshi was born?"
Philip could only conclude so because there is absolutely nothing in this darkness
"Maybe there's an activation thing? Like uttering a word or doing something?"
Philip clutched his chin and thought deeply. Eventually, be reached to a conclusion
"Ehh... I'll just use Sword Concept"
Philip extended his right arm to his side in a pointing gesture
"Wrap my arm with Sword Energy... Assume that my arm is a sword... Cut everything in front of me"
He then forcefully swung his arm upwards and a large Sword Wave shot through the darkness. Philip didn't utter any special technique, skill, or move for resonance because he figure that he just needs to poke the beast in the darkness, if there is ever something managing this space
The Sword Wave went on for longer and longer until nothing happened
"Hm..."
Just then, a faint light appeared in the darkness enough for Philip to notice. The light was so small that it was like a speck in the world of darkness
Philip then went ahead and floated over to the light. The light is too far that it took him longer than expected. It's as if the speck of light is like a twinkling star in the night sky on Earth, unable to be reached just by standing
~~~
After a while, Philip lost track of time. He thinks that he's been flying for 5 minutes, but he felt like it has been a day, maybe a week, or a month. He began thinking that it has been a year and he grew more tired as time goes by
The speck of light is still small and it doesn't show any signs of changing in size. Nonetheless, Philip decided to wait and keep going. One of his strengths is his superior patience that he developed when he was a teenager
This is also one of the reason how Philip managed to see the future. By waiting and being patient all the time, for hours, days, and months, his perception of time is being compressed and lessened indirectly proportional to the duration
If one hour has passed, he felt as if only five minutes has passed. If one month has passed, he felt like only one week has passed, and so on and so forth
So, for Philip to keep continuing on heading towards the speck of light, it's no struggle and hopelessness since he believes that what he will find at the light is very rewarding. He also has the motivation to seek Tenshi's origin, find her, and save her. This situation is weird enough when her body and existence is not present the moment he went to the past for her
He then closed his eyes for a moment to rest his eyes. He immediately fell asleep and lost consciousness. He forgot to activate his Extreme Self-awareness ability to keep himself awake
~~~
"Gwaaagh?!"
After for who knows how long, Philip abruptly woke up and exhaled with force
"Haaah... Haaah..."
Philip breathed heavily as he was sweating profusely. He closed his eyes again to calm himself and collect his composure. His body felt hot and cold at the same time, as if he had a severed flu. After a while, Philip relaxed a little bit and calmed himself down
"Phew... What happened? Did I fall asleep?"
Philip couldn't help but ask himself after he felt groggy when he woke up. It was then that he was blinded by a light and he lifted his arm to cover his eyes
He peered around his arm and saw that he finally arrived at the source of light from earlier. This orb of light, about the same size as him, is the speck of light
Although, since he's still quite a distance away from the light, he still need to come close. He went ahead and flew closer
As he came closer and closer, the orb of light became clearer and Philip's eyes adjusted to the intensity of the light. A moment later, his eyes widened from surprise
"What the? Tenshi?"
Philip exclaimed in surprise as he saw Tenshi inside the orb of light. She is crouched like a fetus in a mother's womb. Fortunately, Tenshi has her clothes and she is sleeping like an angel
Philip reached towards her to wake her up but he was suddenly pushed back by the darkness. A mist of darkness wrapped around the orb of light like fingers
Philip looked at the darkness mist and looked up when his peripheral vision saw movement above him. As he lifted his head up, he could see a massive figure looming over him and wrapping its arms around Tenshi. Above the figrue, that looked like a head, two sinister red lights resembling eyes has appeared in the darkness. The black hollow circles resembling pupils of the eyes are looking down on Philip
Philip glared back at the eyes and tried to identify the figure. He used Eye Vision, X-ray Vision, and Night Vision at the same time to see who is behind the darkness but darkness still looks over and the eyes are just a manifestation. Although, Clairvoyance is telling him that this figure is a divine entity
The moment that he figured out the identity of the figure, its status for the most part, the figure suddenly moved and began to talk
"Hrrrmmmmm..."
The figure let out a rumble, as if it's vibrating its throat
"Hmmm..."
The red eyes moved forward to take a closer look at Philip. The pointed eyes came sweeping towards Philip like bullets. He was alarmed and subconsciously raised his hand to block the incoming eyes
The eyes abruptly stopped and the black hollow circles glared at Philip's eyes. After a few moments, the eyes pulled back and returned where it came from
"The Fate Controller... What are you doing here?! Have you come for the Totality Catalyst?!"
The entity spoke while having a deeper second voice that shook Philip's soul
"..."
Philip didn't reply
"If you're going to save the catalyst, I won't allow it. She's mine for my taking!"
The entity increased the volume of his voice to scare Philip. The darkness around the orb of light grew bigger and wider. Instead of being afraid, be confronted him because he needed to save Tenshi
"Who are you?"
Philip asked in a brave manner. The entity was stunned and became silent for a few seconds. It was then that the sinister red eyes smiled like crescent shaped moons. The eyes then disappeared and the calm and bland darkness began to change
The mist of darkness started circling around Philip and the light from Tenshi's body disappeared from his vision as it was covered by the mist. His surroundings became like a storm or tornado and he is in the middle of it all
"You're saying that you came this far and not knowing where you are?! Wrong decision, Fate Controller!"
A rumbling noise has ensued around the spiralling storm of darkness. The noise sounded like thunder but there are no flashes of light or lightning
"You don't even know who I am with just one glance! I am offended! Therefore you must receive punishment!"
Philip looked around his surroundings with alarm, making sure that he has covered his back at all times. Suddenly, Tenshi's body emerged from the darkness and she was in a crucifix position. Her body is being held by the mist of darkness resembling ropes on her wrists, ankles, waist, and neck
"Forget about saving the catalyst, this is where you will perish and receive your soul for myself. Your value is equal to the catalyst and I must obtain your power"
Tenshi was then abruptly pulled back into the darkness. The storm of darkness began to shrink and restrict Philip
"You asked who I am? I'll answer it for you"
Total darkness then filled Philip's vision. He couldn't see the mist nor the storm of darkness
*Shing*
He then heard a brandishing of a blade and he felt a sharp sensation around his neck, slicing from the left to right
"I am Death. I'll be taking your life"
*Ting*
Everything in the darkness came to a halt and silence ensued. If the entity had his eyes present around, it would have its eyes widened from confusion and shock
"You're Death, you say?"
Philip's voice reverberated in the darkness. His voice contained power that it pushed the total darkness and the storm of darkness away from him
He opened his eyes and readjusted his perception as his eyes brightly glowed golden. A tint of violet light was incorporated on his right eye, signifying the power that's being released by the Eye of Sai
His black hair turned faint golden along the edges and a three-segmented horn grew from his forehead. The horn split open the skin of his forehead and blood dripped across the bridge of his nose and into his mouth. The horn is bloody red in color and exerts tremendous pressure. His black-gold hair started to flutter with force
This horn is definitely the 『 The One And Only Blood Horn 』 ability of the 54th Pureblood Inheritor
The Pureblood became restless inside Philip's system after Philip learned that the entity that he's facing is Death. In return, the Pureblood gave the permission for Philip to use the 54th ability. The Pureblood also activated the ability for Philip by itself in response to Philip's boiling emotions in his mind
The Blood Horn had another ability, it is to stabilize the mind of the inheritor to prevent them from going insane. But there are times that the Blood Horn wasn't able to stabilize a specific emotion
That is the emotion of anger, bloodlust, and despair. Philip is feeling his bottomless anger once again. His anger this time is far more stronger than when he was triggered and punched the Black Box in the darkness
An aura that is blacker than darkness started to grow behind Philip and pushed the darkness further away
White lines also crawled from his left arm towards his left hand, which was bleeding. Philip held the edge of a bladed weapon with his left hand next to his neck to prevent the weapon from slicing his neck. The weapon came to a complete stop and didn't budge since Philip is holding it with force that blood kept pouring out even with the help of the white lines
His body then slightly glowed and the space just a few inches from his body became sharp. He was enveloped with the sharp Sword Aura and continued to cut foreign matter and energy that is coming towards Philip. With his body being covered with Sword Aura, Sword Concept was applied and Philip's left hand crushed the edge of the bladed weapon and sliced it into pieces
The bladed weapon, which is apparently a scythe, was pulled into the farther darkness and disappeared
"Answer me! Are you really Death?!"
Philip shouted which shook the area around him. His sleeveless hoodie was then turned to ashes after it burned instantly from Philip's extremely hot upper body and his jeans froze in place due to being cold from his Duality Kinetic State, formerly Bipolar Body, ability
He then slowly turned around towards what seemed to be nothing and looked at it as the golden violet pupil of his right eye was swirling violently from anger
He snapped his left fingers and an audible sound reverberated throughout the darkness