Using the fragment of the Void Hero as fuel alongside Westcott, Pandora's Box was fully opened, and all the Chaos once sealed within spilled forth.
And the Beast was unleashed.
"No… no… Shinji… forgive me… I'm so sorry," Mio Takamiya whispered.
Heartbroken and deceived, Mio could do nothing but watch as the fragment of her beloved's soul was used to bind her. Tears fell from her beautiful eyes—she didn't want this. All she had ever wanted was to be with him again, to live a peaceful, humble life with Shinji.
She didn't care for power or glory. All she desired was a simple life where her only worry might be the health and happiness of her children.
But such a life came at a cost, especially for someone like her—an integral piece in a cosmic puzzle. A "normal" life was unattainable for Mio, bound as she was to the Requiem.
Shinji was bound to it as well, and in truth, Mio didn't mind. They could have been happy, as they were in their previous life together. But Chaos had corrupted the Coffin—or rather, it was the Coffin itself that had sealed away such a destructive force, something so harmful to the world that it drove the Coffin to madness, turning it into a Beast that craved only destruction and Chaos.
Only the Abyss could open this Beast, for the Beast and the Abyss were one and the same.
This was a truth Mio Takamiya didn't know. Like Westcott, she had lost all memories of her true nature, her role in the Coffin, and the identity of its master. All she knew with certainty was her deep, unending love for Shinji Takamiya, a fragment of the Void Hero.
It was this love that Abyss had exploited to bring her down.
Love is blind and foolish, and Mio Takamiya had fallen victim to it. Her greatest strength was also her fatal weakness—the venom that now consumed her from within.
[Come! It's time to change the world!]
With these final words, Westcott vanished. The same happened to Shinji's soul fragment.
In their wake, the Coffin fully opened. A tremendous suction began, pulling everything into its depths. The branches and roots of Belial—the corrupted Tree of Kabbalah and counterpart to Ain Soph—entwined themselves around Mio Takamiya's spiritual world.
This, of course, included Mio herself.
"Shinji… Shinji… save me…"
Even with tears streaming down her face, Mio didn't lose faith. She still believed in her beloved Hero.
She knew he would come for her, just as he had the last time.
....
Weeoo, weeoo.
The sound of the spatial quake alarm echoed across the land. Civilians on the ground began to evacuate, accustomed to these events.
"It's useless…"
This time, however, the situation was far worse. The spatial quake was so massive it threatened to swallow the entire Asian and European continents, along with parts of the ocean.
Far more terrifying than anything from thirty years ago, no refuge could save them.
Ellen Mathers knew this. She sneered at the humans below, hiding in vain. But as the massive black vortex was about to strike the Earth, a brilliant light flashed, and an enormous Crown encapsulated the world within.
Standing before this colossal quake, Yuki held a book whose pages turned on their own, rewriting reality.
[Rasiel: Ashufiriya.]
With this, space-time itself was sealed.
"This… this is Chaos energy…"
Even with Rasiel in hand, Yuki trembled. This was his greatest enemy.
The black miasma had fully consumed Mio Takamiya, encasing her in a dark sphere. Spikes of spiritual energy radiated from it with such density that the climate itself shifted. Enormous tornadoes formed from the storms it created.
Such terrifying power could easily crush this sub-world—and countless others—without effort.
"It's too late…"
Ellen, watching from afar, smirked. The Emperor might have stopped the spatial quake for now, but it didn't change anything. Pandora's Box had been opened, and the world was set to change.
"This is what you wanted… Ike."
Even as she mocked Yuki, Ellen also mocked herself. She struggled to maintain a flat, emotionless expression, but in the end, she bit her lip, her eyes welling with tears.
She remembered Westcott's words:
[When the Beast awakens, I'll already be dead. But my life won't have been in vain. The Emperor will fall, or he'll triumph—it doesn't matter. The world will change. And you, my dear Ellen, will carry this new world forward.]
[Ike!!]
Ellen had begged Westcott countless times not to go through with it. She had even been willing to sacrifice herself if it meant stopping him. But she knew her childhood friend all too well—there was no convincing him.
That's why she was both furious and heartbroken. The Beast's awakening meant her friend and love was gone. There was no going back now. What they had started thirty years ago was about to resume.
This time, however, no one could stop the Beast—not even Westcott himself.
Now, more than ever, Ellen vowed to make Westcott's dream a reality. When the Emperor fell, she would be ready to usher in this new world.
The Crown shielded the world, but the power of Chaos forced it to flicker repeatedly, struggling to neutralize the energy. Nia clenched her teeth in frustration.
Crack… crack… crack…
Suddenly, cracks formed across the black sphere, resembling a butterfly emerging from its cocoon.
The sight made Yuki and Nia tense. They didn't know what had happened to Mio Takamiya inside the sphere, but it couldn't be anything good.
Bam!
A metallic claw burst through the cracks, shattering the sphere with uncontrollable force. The explosion was so powerful that the protective Crown spun wildly to absorb it.
Yuki, Nia, and Natsumi swallowed hard. The being that emerged sent chills down their spines.
'Mio Takamiya,' though her hair remained silvery white, had lost all its luster, as though the color had drained away. Its tips were stained with a dark crimson hue, which spread slowly toward her roots.
Her pale skin looked ghostly, and her hollow eyes seemed devoid of life, purpose, or soul.
She wore a dark crimson Astral Dress adorned with a black coffin-shaped gem at her neck. A tattered veil hung around her, revealing her ghastly form. The flowers on her head, once vibrant, were now wilted and black.
Her left arm and right leg were encased in dark crimson metal armor, and her left hand had become a claw so menacing it looked capable of shredding even the mightiest beast.
But Yuki didn't care about her appearance. His focus was on the mark on the back of her claw.
There was no mistaking it.
"The Cursed Mark! It's an Overlord!"
The fragment he had slain in the God Eater World bore the same mark—the nemesis of worlds.
"This is impossible… Yuki-kun… can we… can we even win?"
As a Spirit of Order, Nia knew about the Overlords and their terrifying power. The Beast's strength was absurd, capable of obliterating entire solar systems and timelines. The only reason this sub-world hadn't been destroyed was the Crown's protection.
Level 4, Mid Stellar...
Nia in the spiritual world could not help but embrace Yuki's arm in fear.
"No I can't win."
Yuki shook his head. Even a fool would know victory was impossible. His response left his girls wide-eyed. They had never expected him to admit such a thing.
"The Requiem… even incomplete, it's madness."
Yuki now understood why his "self" from the first timeline couldn't win—it had been literally impossible.
But this timeline was different.
"My Original is coming. Even if I can't win… he will. Victory has already been set in motion—by another 'me.'"
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TN: If you are lost then congrats cuz me too! :D