*KRSSHHH!*
Even to Kronos, the deity labeled as the God of Time, it had felt like an eternity since he and Aphrodite had first started striking Regashi Ketsueki with their corresponding Disruption of Reality. At first glance, Regashi was enduring extreme pain and agony while caught in between the two deities, but there were also no evident signs that the man was being lethally injured. He was still frozen in space, shaking erratically as he was subjected to the spatial fissures.
'He's still affected by Aphrodite's initial attack… I can still see the hearts formed in his eyes…' Kronos thought to himself, refusing to dampen the output of his rifts. 'But he still isn't in any worse condition!'
Despite every muscle that twitched, every vein that burst and every wince of pain, Regashi Ketsueki was still more than alive and well.
"Why isn't he being erased!?" Aphrodite snarled, keeping her eyes and rifts trained on the cloaked man.
The Disruption of Reality could affect even Reiwa Takuetsu, the man who donned the moniker of Lucifer and the Crimson Messiah! Truthfully, Reiwa was far too fast for any deity to enrapture him in the spatial fissures, except for the one time that led to his ostensibly permanent departure—but for Regashi to completely endure the forces of the Disruption of Reality from two different deities simultaneously, with both rifts following slightly differing orders, it astonished both Kronos and Aphrodite to untold levels.
Kronos narrowed his eyes.
*KRSHH!*
Before the God of Time could enact new thoughts, a hole spontaneously formed in the empty abyss around them. Seconds later, Tanjo and Yuso emerged from the hole in space, their eyes immediately landing on the event unfolding in the distance.
"Do they have him?" Yuso queried, his Shirugeto eyes analyzing the scene.
Tanjo stared at the constrained Regashi dubiously, surveying every inch of the man's form. He was twitching agonizingly, secured to one spot, and incapable of performing anything outside of an occasional groan. Did Kronos and Aphrodite win?
"Is he—!"
As Tanjo started to speak, the smallest movement caught his attention. Regashi's green eye, which was in the shape of a heart, had averted from Aphrodite and was now meeting Tanjo's gaze. Although that discovery alone was enough to set off mental alarms within the boy's mind, the nightmarish grin that spread across Regashi's face only proved that he was no closer to losing than before Tanjo and Yuso were transported away.
"Erase the one who controls the body of Regashi Ketsueki!" Kronos swiftly hollered, watching his rifts briefly stagger as the command changed.
A subtle hint of pain had suddenly washed over Regashi.
*SQUELCH!*
And the sound of a hole being torn through Kronos's chest followed.
The instant Kronos had shouted his new command for the Disruption of Reality, Regashi elongated his right arm and punched a hole through the blue-haired god, causing the rifts that momentarily stunned Regashi to dissipate. It was incredibly brief, but Tanjo and Yuso were not oblivious to what had occurred.
Reeling his stretched limb back, Regashi directed his gaze to Aphrodite, who still had her spatial fissures clashing with the man's body.
"Since you seem to want my heart so bad," Regashi began to speak, quickly plunging his left hand into his chest and tearing his heart out. "Then have it!"
Without hesitation, Regashi had lunged his own beating heart at the Goddess of Love, forcing her to cancel the rifts and dodge. A bewildered expression was then etched on her face, realizing what was to come.
"Oh…" The goddess murmured, drifting through the empty void.
Deftly, Regashi charged toward Aphrodite and grabbed her shoulders, staring into her divine eyes with malicious intent. She did not need to be the God of Time for everything around her to slow down, allowing her to acknowledge that these were her final moments. After the Keisan War, she, Kronos, and Hades had wished that not another one of them would perish by any means, hoping to rectify every mistake that occurred in the multiverse eventually.
Things were going well: Kronos had dealt with Reiwa, Kronos had found Tanjo, and Kronos had killed Derrien. Kronos, the god who was known for being a spoilsport and frequently emotionally and physically absent, had spearheaded incredible changes ever since the death of their fellow deities.
Unfortunately, Regashi was all that it took for everything to come crumbling down.
As Regashi pushed her away, Aphrodite stared at Kronos in the corner of her eyes, watching as the God of Time drifted through space with a hole in his chest.
"...Kronos—!"
*FLAP!*
*CRUNCH!*
In under a second, Regashi's cloak had blocked out the sight of him savagely devouring Aphrodite, with the sound of chewing and ripping reaching the ears of Tanjo and Yuso from afar.
That was the end for the Goddess of Love.
The sound of coughing came from Kronos as he struggled to straighten himself out, his white cloak now stained with his blood. Even now, as Kronos was incapable of peering into the future, he knew that his demise was imminent.
"I commend you, Kro."
With a sharp gasp, Kronos looked up, noticing Regashi floating before him menacingly. His cloak was covered in Aphrodite's blood, making the God of Time grimace. It was not helpful that the man was also proceeding to pick a chunk of flesh from his teeth.
"I'll tell you what," Regashi spoke with a tinge of excitement, his green eyes shimmering down at the god. "I'll give you your ability to see the future back, just so you can see how I plan on dealing with you."
Kronos's eyes widened in fear as he heard those words, his jaw clenching. "Remember what I told you, freak…"
Regashi grinned mischievously, his blood-stained teeth gnashed together.
"Don't worry about my younger brother, Kro, I'll treat him nicely. In the meantime… enjoy your own show."
The God of Time was unable to stop himself from seeing flashes of the future, bearing witness to his gruesome death. The sounds of his screams and torn flesh echoed throughout his head as unfathomable horrors took place.
"RAH!*
*KRSHHH!*
A volatile fist encased in multi-colored rifts swung down mightily upon Regashi Ketsueki, prompting him to quickly vanish from sight and take Kronos with him. Tanjo had enough of spectating the deaths of those he knew, those he cared about, and those he wished to see more of. All he had was Yuso—his once biggest enemy, aside from Regashi.
"As always, you're too slow, Brother." Regashi's patronizing voice radiated through the teenager's ears, making him turn around.
Slowly, Tanjo met Regashi's gaze once more, struggling to yield unbridled rage. Having control over his emotions would ultimately lead to a better chance of winning. Tanjo just had to stay mentally stable.
"...I don't care how long it takes, how much I'll feel, or who else I'll lose—I will kill you." Tanjo asserted boldly, retaining a composed tone of voice.
Regashi smiled. "I can still see the cracks in you. You aren't hiding anything."
Tanjo narrowed his eyes, glowering at the cloaked man dangerously. His mind coursed through a million thoughts a second, strategizing for every moment that he and Regashi engaged in close-quarter interaction.
"Kronos did a lot for the multiverse after the Keisan War. He helped maintain what little order there was, he assisted me in whatever way he could, and he saved countless lives by taking down Derrien." Tanjo spoke calmly, reminiscing.
Tilting his head slightly, Regashi hummed. "He and I spoke, too, especially about the time he purposely had the other Regashi killed by indirectly giving Phoenix his godlike powers."
"You don't think I already came to terms with that? I realized that Kronos meant for that to happen the exact moment Regashi died. And I'm not mad." Tanjo spoke loudly, rubbing his right hand's fingers together idly.
Silence took over, with Yuso observing the two interact in the background.
"...Intriguing," Regashi said with a subtle nod, continuing to meet his brother's gaze.
Tanjo flapped his white wings energetically, tilting his body downward as he prepared to engage in combat.
"Kronos also proved to be of great help one last time right before you killed him," Tanjo stated cryptically, his voice lowering an octave. "And that was the one thing you were hiding from everyone."
Gradually, Tanjo lifted his left hand and extended his index finger. A signal.
*SHING! SHING! SHING!
Abruptly, a barrage of crimson-red pentagrams whirled at Regashi with immense speed, making the brown-haired man grin and maneuver around the attacks flawlessly. He wanted to laugh, finding such rudimentary tactics absurd this late into the fight.
"Ha!" He did, in fact, laugh.
*BLIP!*
Tanjo had moved within arm's length of Regashi in an instant, reeling his right fist back and delivering an explosive strike. Unfortunately, Tanjo had missed, allowing Regashi to shift his body and cough up a clone of himself, who quickly kicked the boy in the face.
*KRSHHH!*
The moment the clone kicked Tanjo in the face, the teenager's multi-colored Disruption of Reality sprung from his skin and wrapped around the clone tightly, causing the doppelganger to burst from the inside out.
*WHISH!*
In the corner of his eyes, Regashi saw Yuso swooping down and reaching his palm outward, only to narrowly miss. The pentagrams embedded in the redhead's palms pulsated a vivid red, ready to unleash a powerful strike that may prove to be an obstacle to Regashi.
"Oh, I'm starting to adore you guys even more!" Regashi cackled, his eyes glinting sadistically.
Yuso narrowed his eyes. "Gross."
*SHRMM!*
A tiny pentagram appeared before Yuso as he shoved his right palm through it, triggering a slew of identical pentagrams to develop around Regashi and follow him. More of Yuso's hands extended from those pentagrams, multiplying dozens of times. The nearest replica of Yuso's hand extended out and was about to make contact with Regashi, but the cloaked man spun and blocked it with his forearm.
*SHURM!*
Without warning, Regashi's right forearm had been physically erased, leaving a stump at the end of his elbow.
"Ouch!" Regashi playfully hollered, watching his blood spurt from his elbow.
*WHOOSH!*
Yuso refused to wait for Regashi to heal as he swooped in at speeds beyond light itself and continued to attack, incessantly hurling punches at the brown-haired man. Get him while he was down a limb, limit his options of retaliation, and kill him when overwhelmed.
"Good job, Yu-Yu!"
*CRACK!*
A fist had found itself lodged in Yuso's abdomen, halting the redhead momentarily. It had hurt—really hurt. Blood and saliva spewed from the redhead's mouth.
*BLIP!*
Regashi turned his head, expecting to see Tanjo teleporting into view.
"Nice timing, Brother—!"
*KRSSHH!*
An abundance of unknown emotions swept over Regashi as he laid eyes on his brother. He had been correct: Tanjo transported himself next to Regashi by using his Disruption of Reality, and he had been prepared to attack—but something was off.
Tanjo's eyes were dilated, adopting the coldest expression he could muster. His once calm and collected persona started to crumble, and his spatial fissures slowly shifted from being steady streams of warped space to uncontrollable rifts that cracked loudly at frequent intervals. His composure was lost.
He had him; he knew his one secret, and Regashi was vulnerable for the first time in his life. Tanjo's head was filled with memories of what Regashi had done in the past, including the innumerable murders he had committed and the torment he had inflicted on Tanjo when he had gone to save Mizuki in Furusato.
His mentors were dead, his friends from Buraun were dead, and his father—Old Man Nozomu—was dead.
Tanjo proceeded to thrust his right fist outward.
"Kill Nyx!" The boy cried desperately.
*KRUSHHHH!*
A fist encompassed in multi-colored rifts clashed with Regashi's face, making his emerald-green eyes roll to the back of his head. A searing pain resonated throughout the cloaked man's body as everything around him became hazy. Everything was closing in, coming to a halt. Regashi's infinite power waned as he struggled to hold onto his own consciousness.
However, despite the astonishing strike carried out by Tanjo, Regashi was not the stunned one.
She was stunned.
Regashi's body drifted through the empty abyss, his form itself becoming motionless. Yuso stared at the aftermath with immense bewilderment, believing that his eyes were deceiving him. Had Tanjo just struck down Regashi with a devastating blow? A blow that was actually damaging?
"Tanjo," Yuso called out to his partner cautiously, keeping his eyes on Regashi. "What did you say?"
Tanjo did not respond, his blue eyes trained on the unconscious cloaked man drifting through space. Did he win? Was the Detrimental War over? Would everything go back to normal?
"Your rifts spiraled out of control again, right before you hit him." Yuso commented, averting his eyes to look at Tanjo.
The boy's eyes widened. What?
One of Regashi's fingers twitched, followed by the rapid movement of his right hand clasping his damaged face. His emerald-green eyes glinted once more, instantly glowering at Tanjo. He had felt pain—extreme pain. Tanjo truly did know his secret.
"...I don't know how to feel, Brother." Regashi laughed hoarsely, grinning weakly.
Regashi removed his right hand from his face, revealing the dried blood that was clinging to his skin. He was undoubtedly injured for the first time in his existence. Should he torture Tanjo for all of eternity? Or give him mercy and slaughter him swiftly as a reward?
Tanjo clenched his jaw. "Stop using his image. You'll never be Regashi."
"You wound me—!"
"Get out of his body. He's not your vessel." Tanjo demanded, his teeth threatening to crack from being gnashed together.
The cloaked man scoffed. "It was hardly his to begin with—!"
"Get out." Tanjo persisted, narrowing his eyes venomously.
Regashi inhaled, tilting his head back. Was irritation or relaxation flowing through him? Had he healed from Tanjo's previous attack? Could he be hurt again? Tanjo flapped his wings anxiously, followed by Yuso, who assumed a fighting posture with his black, feathery wings furling slightly.
"No." Regashi replied, his grin widening.
Tanjo remained silent, staring at Regashi intently. His heart rate was expedited and he fought to maintain his composure. This was it—he found the culprit for everything bad that had occurred back in his home universe, the being that was responsible for his family's death.
"Whether you choose to cooperate or not, I will ensure that you are separated from his body and punished…" Tanjo paused, gathering his thoughts. "...Nyx."
XXX
And that's the end of the chapter! Who's Nyx? How did Tanjo finally land a damaging blow on Regashi? Stay tuned for more!
Have a Great Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_