'I'm sinking. Sinking… endlessly. But where? I don't recognize this place. It feels still. Lonely. Silent. Like even if I'd stood here for eternity, nothing would change. No time would pass here or in the outside world where my physical body remains. Does that mean I'm dead?'
Talen's soul, visualized in the form of his physical vessel, blinked once. His build previously shaded by grey's dullness was purified with a faint green hue throbbing at the center. He glanced down at it before returning his gaze to the water-like surface reflected above him and resting back into the sea.
An odd weightless sensation accompanied a feeling devoid of water's signature wetness; a fitting feeling for the boundary between the astral and physical worlds. Talen sighed, slowly closing both eyes.
'I have to think back. I feel like I'm missing something very important. Something vital to the continuance of my being. But even knowing that, I can't seem to find the strength to keep moving. Perhaps because what lies waiting for me beyond the return to the physical world is hurt. Hurt. Like…'
Archer. The way his brother's intact body easily split into gory cubes pierced through his mind. Eyes widening, Talen flinched back, hitching his breath and reflexively raising both hands. As they hovered over his throat, Amit's eyes closed, groaning weakly.
'No. I shouldn't go back, I CAN'T go back! If I go back there and everyone dies again, what happens? What if I watch everyone around me I care about die but I'm the only one left standing? I can't… bear to see that. Not again. Not after so many times.'
He wasn't innocent either. The years of his youth he was supposed to spend going to normal high school with the people he loved were spent working as an assassin. Slaughtering those the Syndicate superiors targeted, ignorant of their true innocence or otherwise. The Unconquerable, with the strength he commanded, was nothing more than a sheep to be herded by the hand of the King.
If he truly was a murderer, then what right did he have to feel sad about those who killed his family? Perhaps it was the universe's way of punishing him. If he were stronger, maybe he could've pushed through it. He could've managed to stomach seeing his loved ones perish so often for the sake of simply being there for them. Instead of… running away.
Even after everything he'd been through throughout this journey, from its start to its end a few mere steps away, he was still haunted by the act of cowardice he committed when Uriel died. When he turned tail and averted his gaze—drowning himself in clouds of smoke.
'I don't want to look at myself. I can't bear to look at myself. I just want to bury it all in the past… and look away.'
"Damn. And here I thought I was gloomy," said a familiar voice. One that was masculine, yet soft.
Talen sat up, greeted by the extended hand of whoever was speaking to him. While he was hesitant at first, this was limbo, so he slipped his hand into the unknown man's and was pulled upright. The mystery savior was someone he knew. Someone who'd been there for him more than anyone else: Tony.
"Tony? But… but you're—"
"Dead?" He chuckled. "Yeah, I know. It's kinda weird. Guess my soul got stuck in here after Monstrum took over. Been lingering ever since. 'Til you arrived."
Tal nodded. "I see. So you've been here all this time?"
"All this time?" Tony repeated. "Oh. Right. No time passes in here. So when you exit, you'll probably spit back out into the moment you fell asleep. Or something like that? I don't know."
"What makes you think I ever wanna go back out there?"
Anthony's eyebrow raised. "You really wanna stay in this gloomy ass place with me for all eternity? There's nothing to do here. No smoke, no food, no tv. Nothing. Just… me."
"I'm fine with that. You're enough. You always have been."
Even now, Talen still found a way to make his dear friend smile in the space between life and death. Regardless, Tony shook away his grin, leaning forward to grab the Unconquerable's shoulders.
"I can't say I'm not flattered, Tal, but it isn't your time yet. You're not even that badly injured. Monstrum sending you through buildings does nothing but exterior damage. If you simply heal with a Restoration technique, you'll be fine. You can win."
Talen's eyes widened, throwing his cousin's hands aside. "No, I can't!" He averted his gaze and slowly turned around. "I can't try… I'm tired of trying. Everything I do just makes things worse."
"That's not true and you know it. If anyone should be saying that, it's me. You saved me, Tal! You gave me the one thing nobody else in my life ever could: Happiness. I got to hang out with you and Uri, and… Alora…"
Talen looked down at the mention of his sister.
Tony sighed. "I never got a chance to truly be with her. But you do! You have a mother, a father, sisters, cousins… friends. You have people who care about you, Tal. Are you going to through away the life you have with them just because you're afraid of screwing things up?"
"N-no, no!" Talen shook his head. "It's just… I—"
The former vessel's soft white hand slid onto his best friend's shoulder, silencing the voices of self-doubt in his mind. Drifting his eyes to the bottomless eternal sea floor below him, Amit vented another sigh.
"It's not too late. You can still go back. Because we both know if you stay here with me any longer…" Talen looked into his brother's red eyes. "…you won't be able to forgive yourself."
Looking down, he nodded, then glanced back up at Tony. "What about you? Are you just gonna stay here?"
"Well—" Tony looked up. "I've been stuck here ever since Monstrum discarded my soul. I doubt I can revive without the proper vessel." He smiled at Talen. "I never got a chance to live my life to the fullest, but I was grateful for the time I spent with you and everyone. When you return and see Alora again, tell her I loved her. And I'll always be watching over her—"
Talen threw himself onto Anthony's figure, tightly hugging him between his arms and releasing tears from the edges of his eyes. Once he pulled away, he grinned at Tony.
"Thank you, brother."
Tony smiled back at him. "Don't mention it. Now, what are you still doing here? Go back out there and destroy. Destroy… Monstrum."
The Unconquerable awakened with a gasp. Sitting upright in whatever Celestial dimension Liliana threw him into, surrounded by a Nebulaic galaxy, he looked at his arms—devoid of injuries. He didn't have time to question it before shattering the prism he was entrapped in and shooting through the sky like a raging comet.
At the same time, Monstrum's claws clutched around Liliana's soul, threatening to puncture it from all sides while staring down at her dismembered chest.
Just before the Monster God could disrupt the ancient soul barely active above Liliana's bust, Talen's knuckles smashed into Monstrum's face, shattering the side of his demon-shaped skull and launching him down the street. As a shockwave akin to a sonic boom erupted across the city following the punch, the Disastrous started cackling—the bowels of his laughter eternally echoing through the entire Gate City.
Talen looked down at the bloodless fragments of Liliana's Celestial body. Then, after closing both eyes and opening his right hand, Lily's head reappeared in his palm. Kneeling before the First's chest, he stuck between her shoulders and stood up, stepping away from his ally's now-pulsating ethereal form.
A star's blinding luminosity shone in brief intervals from the ankh above Liliana's breasts. After shielding his eyes from the light with a raised arm, the brightness ended and the Unconquerable was able to lower his arm, staring at the Celestial as she stood from the ground.
Panting with both hands on her knees, Liliana looked up at the black-haired Unconquerable. "T-Thanks…"
Looking down at her hunched-over posture, Talen nodded, then walked past as if she weren't even there. Gazing into his back while he stood a mere inch before her, her gaze shifted–looking at the incoming torpedo blasting down the street aimed at the both of them.
"Monstrum?" Liliana asked weakly.
"Mhm," Talen said. "Hey—" He looked back at her, staring deep into the Celestial's eyes. "-I'm sorry. For the way, I treated you before. You didn't deserve that."
"Huh?" Liliana's widened eyes spoke for themselves. "Is… is now really the time to say that?"
The Unconquerable shrugged. "No. But if we don't win, I just wanted to say that. Accept it or don't; it matters not. I don't much care about that right now."
All that mattered to Talen Amit's piercing emerald gaze was the blood. The blood of the one who took what he held dear. Perhaps now, with this newfound tranquil strength, he could do it now. That is… defeating the Disastrous. The first step was already taken.
Talen already had his arm raised when Monstrum finally closed the distance, resulting in Liliana widening her eyes. But during the process of her pupils' expansion, the Unconquerable made the first move, which included catching the punch Malum threw at his head. Then, Talen vanished. Appearing in mid-air behind Monstrum's head, he kicked the Monster in the back of the skull, then rematerialized in front of him to uppercut the Disastrous.
Shot upward from the force of the Unconquerable's punch, Malum's tooth-wide sadistic grin spat blood into the wind before he flipped around in mid-air—pointing down at Talen.
"Veil!"
The Unconquerable clapped his hands and put both palms on the road.
'Harmony.'
Disorder emerged like a ghost from the Unconquerable's back. Tearing its skull shaped-face under the hood it donned, the Displacement familiar aimed its features at Monstrum falling to the road. His eyes widened once a plethora of skull-faced blasts filled the space before him, clouding the air with the deathly mist around them.
Monstrum swiped the air with his hand. "DESTROYER!"
As the skull-shaped blasts exploded into mist, Talen emerged from behind them, falling into the Disastrous and punching him in the cheek. In the split-second it took his knuckles to sink into Monstrum's eight-eyed features, the Monster God's delayed attack cut–splitting the Unconquerable's fist from his arm. Instantly, binds of flesh and blood conjoined, forming to make a fist that was already layered with newly-formed bones. It was fast enough for the opening on Monstrum's skull to have remained unprotected.
Without any possible defense, Talen's fist crashed across the Monster God's face, spitting blood from his mouth and launching him down the length of the road. Detonating the aura on his soles, the Unconquerable smiled, riding on the air like a sled. He could feel every strand of the brushing against his face. As if sledding down a hill covered with snow! An exhilarating sensation caused Talen's heart to start rapidly pulsing.
Monstrum regained his composure in mid-air with a flip, looking back at Talen charging after him. His palms aimed at the Unconquerable.
What seemed like an infinite number of invisible slashes, each altered to vary across power, speed, and aura, invaded the wide space of sky before Talen. His pure-green eyes scanned each of the untouchable blades with a lazy drag. Smirking, he weaved to the right, flicking past the first before beginning with another.
Mimicking Ava with a rhythm of precise acrobatics across the air, Talen spun between an incoming slice, swatting two away before leaning back into two backflips. Landing on his knees on a cloud, Talen's eyes widened, detonating the auro on his soles to start shooting through the air. The Unconquerable glanced to the side as he flew beside the Disastrous. They shared the same knowing glare before smirking simultaneously.
Talen charged first at Monstrum with his fist cocked back. The Disastrous caught him by the arm and threw him over his shoulder so he could start falling to the city below them. Warping away before smashing into the street, Monstrum looked back and met with the reappearing image of the Unconquerable's fist before he was knocked back into the ground.
Sliding from within the smoke cloud polluting the air above the crater made in the road, Monstrum stared at the Unconquerable chasing after him. Talen entered the air only briefly before slamming the length of his leg into the ground below him. As a tidal wave of debris shot at the Disastrous, he vanished into shadows, making Talen look back and backflip away. Monstrum popped up from the darkness with a spin, pointing at Amit while hovering above the road.
"Veil!"
Still, in mid-air, Talen relented to simply blocking, letting the tip of the invisible blade stab into his limbs before exploding to release a blackened smokescreen. Vision clouded, the Unconquerable stumbled around, wondering where he was in the space above the road. Then, from another layer inside the mist, four of Monstrum's fists flew at Amit idle in the center. But the Unconquerable was stronger.
At that moment, Talen caught all four of Monstrum's fists, catching the extra two using constructs of Fate emerging from his waist. Then, the Disastrous was condensed. Everything started crushing inward on the space around Malum Monstrm, gradually entrapping the Monster God himself in a transparent sphere above the Unconquerable's palm.
Talen's glowing green eyes matched the blazing emerald aura prominent around him. "Lesson Five: 'Harmony'. I created a pocket dimension in the shape of a sphere and shrunk you by condensing the space around you. But don't think it's over yet…"
Talen flicked the ball with his finger, letting it shoot through the air as if the Unconquerable himself was flying through the clouds. Just when it was about to lose altitude in the air, Amit materialized above it with a sinister smirk, smashing his leg into the sphere to shatter the imprisonment and release Malum from within.
Falling through the blood-red sky with gore leaking from the holes in his face, the Disastrous vented a weak moan while still grinning. Gazing ahead through blurry sight, Monstrum's plethora of eyes reflected the one he desired—a true warrior. The Unconquerable Amit, piercing the air with his fist and igniting the air around him, connected his knuckles to the Disastrous Monster God's exposed chest.
As a shockwave resounded through the sky to destroy the clouds above them, Talen shrugged his shoulders, manually cracking his neck with both hands. Leaning forth, he raised one arm, cracking his left index finger's knuckle using the thumb.
"This is for you… brothers."
The Unconquerable materialized from a bolt of lightning illuminating the gray clouds gathered above the Disastrous. Raising his leg wrapped in Fate high in the air, Talen's heel sunk into Monstrum's spine, shattering it on impact and sending him through the top of the building they were fighting above.
Monstrum fell through every single layer of the building's plethora of floods before finally flying out the front door, bouncing and tumbling down the street uncontrollably.
Laughing weakly with blood pouring from every wound dug into his person while embedded into a wall at the end of the road, Monstrum gazed past the dull environment around them—centering on the Unconquerable above him and the emerald Fate blazing around his lean build.
Nothing. Nothing except him; the center of his universe blinded by nothing but blind rage visualized around them as bleeding stars accompanied by singing heat buried deep beneath. Regardless of the dreary atmosphere this galaxy possessed, the Disastrous still smiled. Because he was there.
"So… you beat me." Monstrum hacked up blood with an audible rasp in his throat. The cough he unleashed turned into a menacing cackle—weakened by his condition. "I always knew you had it in you. The capability to eradicate everything in the path to satiate your blood thirst. You're just like me, Amit. A monster."
But the light behind Talen's eyes had long vanished. The end of his pointer finger aimed at the Disastrous. A green bean of Fate flew from the fingertip, detonating upon sinking into Malum's body and the structure he was stuck to. As the raging Destined flames raged around the Monster God, extending to the building his body was stabbed into, his jaw unhinged. A large variety of blackened souls, each sentenced to eternal hell in Monstrum's gutter, burst from his throat like freed birds within cages.
The Unconquerable already turned around. While walking back down the street leading to the flaming building behind Monstrum's burning corpse, Talen looked up.
The man's pure vibrant pupils behind his glasses observed the infinitely tortured victims of the Disastrous fluttering around in the sky above him, dirtied with blood's sinister palette. Then, with the simple wave of his hand, the scarlet pollution affecting the atmosphere faded back into its natural calming azure—infecting the tormented spirits of Monstrum's victims to turn their despaired black into bright white. Their souls formerly resembling skulls were renewed by the old blue sky's resurgence.
Standing under the renewed azure skies possessing fluffy bundles of clouds with the purified spirits of the dead shaped like doves flapping their wings above him, the man's green-eyed gaze behind his glasses reflected this scenery.
As if he were a child atop a hill. Admiring this scenery with nothing else but summer's silent heat comforting the boy. Sat up on the steep verge of that hill, Talen's short black hair flowed with the wind—the comforting chilly air brushing against his cheeks. He sniffled, drowsily blinking at the distant horizon.
In time, Talen's younger self fell over, snoring into the concrete he slowly lowered into. Under the fiery-orange sky of a memory long past, Valentina emerged from the home behind him and placed the boy over her shoulder.
'In a split second of awakening, before we entered the house, I took one last glance at the setting sun before me. For some reason, as I fell back asleep, I felt an odd sense of longing emerge from my chest as I pictured three silhouettes standing beside me.'
In the present, Liliana found Talen passed out before Monstrum's charred corpse and didn't even spare the scum a second thought before lifting the Unconquerable onto her back. Sighing, she looked back at the black-haired lawyer atop her, smiling softly.
"You did well… Talen."
To Be Cont.