"... Oh yeah!" How many years has it been since I've woken up to the singing city? More importantly, why does the city never sleep? I always woke up asking this question in Neo Grande City ever since I moved here. As always, I cut on my morning playlist. Seems today's starting song is "The Brave and the Knave" by the Kunai King--
"Hold on. Is this actually important information--" Segato interrupted. Origin had cut him off.
"Of course it is! Morning rituals should be followed without fail!" Origin shouted at the top of his lungs. Segato just stared at him with skepticism for a short period of time. "Okay. Maybe it isn't actually that important. Moving on!"
I had slid down the railing of the stairs and did my usual combination of flips, backflips, and cartwheels over to the table. Sitting there was Neon Von Archiver (your Hooligan) playing with another one of his weird gizmos, Ezrah Enkay (different from the one you know) cleaning his twin pistols Hope and Despair, and my recent team-up for saving the universe (as usual, might I add), Kujo Lancaster. Kujo decided to greet me with his perfect 90 degree angle bow. I told him to sit down at the table. He refused, like usual. That guy viewed us as his idols. Apparently always had. He wanted to be like us. Unfortunately, his obsession for how to go about it would go too far. I'll go into more detail on that later.
We had gathered the remains of an exceptional Deity we just killed. Her name was Destiny. We had assistance from her daughter, Fate. Fate decided to leave what to do with her mother's remains to us 4 gentlemen. Neon being Neon, he didn't give a shit. That guy is only interested in the chaos, pandemonium, and apocalyptic elements within life. He seeks to make the impossible possible. Something tells me that even if his memories were to get wiped, he wouldn't change much. Ezrah... that guy is too chill for his own good. He voted to bury Destiny's remains and give her a proper burial despite her being an asshole who tried to destroy the omniverse. I voted against it. Hell, I wanted her remains destroyed. I theorized that her powers did not dissipate from her corpse. Apparently I was correct. Kujo voted for Ezrah's option. So we started the burial.
We tried to get all sorts of people to come to the funeral. Almost nobody did. Fate didn't even show up. That's when it happened. Talren Kindatta, a time traveler from a future long gone, showed up. He also said we should destroy the remains, because his Ordinance [Problems of Premonition] sensed that something bad would happen if we didn't. It devolved into a serious fight... Kujo had died that day. Unlike Ezrah, Neon, and myself, he couldn't ressurect... Neon couldn't handle the guilt, because Kujo was like a little brother to him. I mean, he has an actual little brother, but they weren't close at all. So Kujo was the next best thing. Neon was very big on family...
Neon went on a rampage, beating up Talren throughout time and space. For him, a world without Kujo was a world that's lost its meaning. He warned us in advance not to stop him from going after Talren because he'd kill us for getting in his way. Not a single person didn't know about this from back then. Talren was only able to deliver a fatal wound on him by targeting his wife, Maya, and their daughter, Layla--
"This is different than what Layla has told me. Her mother disappeared and she doesn't know her father. Considering you keep implying Hooligan is actually Neon... something is wrong with everyone's memories," Segato mentioned after some deep thought.
"It seems you are starting to catch on, my young protégé," Origin slyly smiled. "Lancaster is back alive, so I think you should know what caused the Great Collapse now. Try and take an educated guess. You are a version of me, after all."
"It was when you and this Talren guy fought. If he can freely travel throughout time and space, then the only thing missing is the energy to cause a massive enough change that could affect the entire omniverse. From what you said earlier, only a few people could match your power. Was Talren one of them?" Segato inquired.
"It wasn't him. It was who he summoned to help him. Hydrangea, Kotendu Araja, and Victor E. Gale were waiting in ambush. Fellow heroes all teamed up to kill me of their own volition that day," Origin growled.
"To attempt to even the playing field, my eternally young master called in Legend and All Stat. Only Legend showed up. All Stat was busy with a Game Over related problem, and that he'd only show up if a lot of innocent civilians were put in harm's way," Seiga Evol added.
"... It wasn't even 2 hours before he showed up, because those 3 problem children stopped being subtle about killing me very quickly," Origin mumbled. "I won't get into the bloody details, but..."
Hydra's normally thick, green, dragon-like skin was cut and bruised up by my sword. He could barely move, and I had to be certain of his participation in this endeavor coming to a close. So... I beheaded him. Legend tried to be patient with Victor. Apparently, even the calmest giant is still a giant. He eventually ripped Victor's arms off. No arms, no powers. Ko... that guy was the only one who surrendered. All-Stat killed him, anyway. Consumed by grief and rage, I awakened another named Ordinance known as [Schrodinger's Shift]-- the ability to unmake reality so that a different occurrence happens on events. Over time, I started to rely on this ability to undo deaths, including my own, or outright change people's fates and decisions. What we didn't know is that I wasn't getting rid of these realities. We found out the hard way when we met "him." TEOAT. The End Of All Things. He was born out of the negativity of humanity, and desired its destruction. We couldn't defeat him, so we made a deal with him: Once any universe surpassed a certain level of negative energy, we'd let him destroy it. In return, he had taken in Seiga Evol as his apprentice, and created the first official and publicly known World Devourer.
"So then... going off of all of this, I am in an alternate reality? What happened to your reality? Your Universe?" a confused Segato asked.
"Destroyed. TEOAT destroyed it. After all the death that occured... it was inevitable." Origin turned to Segato. "If you want an ally in killing the Deities, find your variants of my friends, make Neon remember who he is, and recruit TEOAT. Also... make some reliable friends and enjoy your life, unlike what I did. I really didn't trust anybody from the beginning, and that was why they all betrayed me. I did too much by myself. That made everyone hate me." Origin had knelt before Segato in a begging position. Seiga Evol also knelt.
"I don't see a reason to refuse. Besides, if things continue as they are, my timeline is also at risk," Segato said.
"Then I'll give you my powers, permissions as the new owner of Seiga Evol (you can continue to call him Hubris if you want), and access to your own unique Ordinance. I wish I could help you learn what it does, but we are out of time. This Mirror Dimension is only a temporary location. Ezrah should have also met his other selves..."
Segato woke up in front of the painting. Ezrah was also there, staring at him with an intent to kill.
"I know who we are, and what we did..." Ezrah's voice trailed off, as he couldn't hold back his tears any further. "We aren't heroes. We are murderers!" Ezrah ran out of the castle. Segato could only sit on in silence. Rain started to pour down heavily, as if the heavens wished to mask the 2 inheritors of the past's tears.
What did Ezrah get told? Segato wondered as he sobbed on his knees.
[Ezrah met his other selves. That means he found out about all the people they've ever killed. He also should know about some of the previous reincarnations of you, too,] Hubris suggested.
So I am actually a bad guy, right?
[Nobody ever said you aren't a good person... Yes, you are considered to be the enemy of most existences. That's what it means to bear your name.]
Then starting today, I'll live up to my namesake and claim back control from the Deities. They're thieves!
It seems Segato has realized what had yet to be said: The Deities are lying about the source of the powers from the beginning.
They stole the powers from the fallen timelines. If TEOAT knows about this, he might help us wipe them out. Not to mention the Clockwork Children. They oversee the timelines, so they might also be preparing a counterattack. Layla is related to them.
Before Segato should continue the mission given to him by Origin, it'd be more ideal for him to grieve first.
"... But that isn't what the other me would do. He'd store that sorrow and rage so that he can pull it out when he needed it. I may be inexperienced, but I get why he felt out of it. He's been doing the same song and dance for too long. I'll be the first to break the cycle!"