Chapter Text
The City shines and smoke flies up into the cloudy sky
It is now time, there is reason good enough for many to fight, for many more to die
As Red Star shoots right through the sky rattle the silver chains
To water Seed of Light and find the soil for it to take root and bloom, let souls see beyond banes
But path is coated in smoke, black, poisonous and hungering for death
So battle shall commence to take a lungful of clear air and maybe more, but no less
A young Arbiter lashed out, making gravitational force vectors around her swirl and shift wildly, tearing cloned enemies into either torn apart shreds on pressurized chunks.
How could some Colors actually defeat an Arbiter? They weren't supposed to be this strong nor be capable of resisting Singularities to this extent.
Zena's frown deepened. She lacked clearance and power to get more information. She lacked allies within the Head too. Her mentor, her teacher, one of the finest of her whole generation, was gone and the only person she'd likely be able to find any help in was… the Claw. HER Claw. One of the two, last one now.
Elsewhere an elite Claw looked upon the child of his acquaintance. Young Baral was… worthwhile. Determined, with no small potential and aptitude birthed by five consecutive generations of Claws produced by his family.
Good raw material for a proper apprentice. Much more alive and human than R cloned method warriors, less restricted than over 15 generation ‘Perfected' bloodline candidates. Not without problems and faults but elite Claw knew well enough how to iron those out.
His thoughts moved elsewhere as he mechanically tested the boy's limits through hand to hand combat.
To think it would be usually more calm, logic driven Barakiel who'd die first. His twin brother truly was rude, leaving Azaral to make sure Miss Garion's apprentice would have a proper Claw by her side when the time comes…
***
Returning here was… strange. Not that Raziel disliked it too much. The City just felt more clear now. Perhaps it was a jump in quality and quantity of their Light he and Kali underwent thusly making Light based empathy stronger, able to cover larger radius and be clearer simultaneously.
“You’ve changed again… not by too much, but I'm happy with the way it happened” Iori smiled. They were having tea while discussing the latest developments. Arian was still in the facility, working on certain things they'd need to enact the next part of the Seed of Light project preparations.
“Hmm… indeed, I was forced to act on my own advice recently” Color smiled as he took a sip of finely made tea. It was rare for his mentor to bother with such a thing. All the more interesting and precious such moments became as a result.
She let out a somewhat uncharacteristical snort at that, rolling her eyes at him “How do you young people say that? Whipped, my memory serves me right?”
Raziel only smiled warmly in a way Iori didn't see him ever do so before. It wasn't the same fond half smile reserved for younger people like Mira, Roland, Argalia or Angelica. It was definitely different from how he expressed joy from the company of older fixers. It still was very warm if dreamy and less strained, freer. It made Iori think back to late husband. That expression was akin to his when he was thinking of her.
“Nevertheless…” his time shifter ever so slightly “Will you need help with the operation Raven?”
Color shook her head “Even if I did, aside from already included forces, you'd be busy with things on your side… next years will be kaleidoscopic, stormy sea to traverse through”
This was true enough, younger Color admitted inwardly. On the edge of his sense of Light birthed of practicing energy based sonar analogue familiar signatures appeared. He made a simple hand sign and Purple Tear nodded before the space she occupied became void of her presence…
***
Arian smiled the way only a man satisfied with work could. Light Circuits were an ambitious project that was easier due to prior finished works but nonetheless excitingly complex.
Unlike whatever birthed Arbiter's analogue of his creations, Arian lacked the inhuman lens of power that were Singularities Arbiters carried. He could twist energy in the same, inhuman, maddening, hyper focused way that allowed Head agents to bend foundation concepts with laughable ease within Singularity’s Purpose aligned actions.
But he and Raziel had more than enough experience with creation of Light based constructs that functioned to aid raw power direction and shaping. Latest tests with Kali's EGO also made them understand that fusing Page into pre-existing structures without needing to revamp both pieces from the start was possible…
“Test subject shows no negative side effects aside from the expected drain of mental and physical stamina…” his eyes pulsed, the Lunas within giving irises a somewhat alien look. Rat on the table kept breathing heavily as he forcefully reactivated the Light construct implanted into the subject.
Arbiter's cloak too gave them ideas. Sadly their understanding of space and dimensions outside their current was rather limited… yet united with what they knew of Pages, traced off of P Corp suitcase and W Corp cleanup crew long ago? It was enough to shift the coordinates of created Light Circuits in a way that allowed them to harmonize with the physical body, react to mind, yet pull a certain percentage of strain out onto the body by Light conduction and accumulation away from it.
As he kept practicing his thoughts moved towards their other side project with the Light. Complete Projection - ability to project a workable copy of a physical body to utilize as a secondary avatar. Akin to more solid, useful shadow clones. Also the goal of Raziel and Arian with this one was to eventually unite it with the Communication Page to give Carmen the ability to walk, taste, enjoy life until her nervous system couldn't be removed from the Bucket.
Carmen didn't particularly like the original timeline, nor the Undulation branch even if endgame there was definitely preferable, as such she was now often part of brainstorming meetings alongside twins, Iori and Kali.
Also they'd likely still need TT2 and sons Sephirahs had the possibility of meltdown due to what they experienced in the facility… Hopefully there was a slightly less violent way to go about it all. If no? Oh well, they'd push through nonetheless.
The worst part, to Arian, was their own EGO. It was clearly akin to Xiao's mixing aspects of Distortion and EGO together. More leaning into the former. Sheer potential damage from Raziel going through a meltdown was quite honestly appalling, seconded by Kali's.
But they could do plenty to put prevention methods and fail-safes into place beforehand. Other future Sephirahs could be handled in a more talking therapy way but even if not Raziel and Kali would have power to aid agents in handling them.
Ah yes. Agents. They already started working on plans. Augmentation sets depending on ‘levels’, potential creation of an elite squad who'd be granted the possibility to both keep memories and be trained in a way of obtaining and using Light from those who showed themselves best over multiple cycles. Those were only a few notable changes planned out from a larger list…
“Haaa… to the next the” Light pulsed outwards before taking the form of unnumbered circuits before the complex system, slightly altered to better fit this particular Rat’s build, sunk into the body.
Using Blaze of Determination as part of the foundation structure allowed Light Circuits to do more than simply aid direction by function as tubes, storage tanks and pumps. The graded down variant of the skill from Tsumukari Muramasa didn't drain one as fast, nor as intensely strained the individual yet allowed to convert stamina and percentage of strong emotions into Light while such ‘active’ state also amplified circuits maximum produced ‘pressure’ force.
The man under thrall of Pride did as commanded, going through multiple motions, mentally triggering circuit activation, repeating, increasing the intensity of the activity, so on and so forth until more data was collected.
“Hmmm… I'm a bit like him at the moment am I not?” He thought humorously as his mind pulled up a memory of the Grand Caster who granted Humanity such a powerful tool as Magecraft.
***
“Ha… not bad kid” Lisa glared at the boy with an unruly black mess of hair on his head, which was thanks to one of her attacks narrowly missing his skull.
Cecilia slowly put her rubs together. Lisa bit her lip as even reduced pain of your bones being put together within you was not something small for her. Her respect for how others in Carmen's crew kept actually fighting with similar sounds grew. She really did underestimate those people.
“All good… but you should take a break now, I'm not as good as Raz or Arian at that so you'll probably be-” she was cut off but not so quiet rumbling of the purple eyed girl's empty stomach. Roland let out a barely concealed cackle, unskillfully masked as a coughing fit.
The young girl moved into an apartment that redhead twins owned, just above their workshop floor. Lisa got to meet Nail Office members, blonde twins, Iori too if only one time and without getting to talk to the busy older Color.
Miss Cecilia was… nice. Energetic too, even by Lisa's own standards. Mister Maximilian reminded her of Gabriel with a certain hint of presence that more skilled fixers gave off.
Angelica and Argalia though… they reminded her painfully of herself and Enoch, also there were big differences between them in many ways. Still, Argalia was a gentle, slightly aloof, very teasable with only the latter characteristic being unlike Enoch. Angelica tried to cheer her up more often than not and was scary good at telling someone's mood, but wasn't half as blunt as Lisa herself.
Overall, the last survivor of the Carmen crew aside from Colors, Ayin, Benjamin and the founder herself, was doing ok-ishly… also the girl definitely hoped Daniel's and Enoch's time awakening would come sooner than later.
***
Over a month of hard work it took to figure out how to forcefully activate and direct Singularities within Garion. Sadly it required all three Light users working together.
Raziel honestly didn't know how original Ayin managed it, if he did it in a similar way. Perhaps when truly dead, instead of being kept on the edge and bound in multiple ways, Garion's inner mechanisms were easier to hack into?
Not that anyone of the three thought the man was not smart enough to attempt such a thing. For all the faults Ayin possessed he did a good job figuring out technological ways to do what Light users did in a more manual way, if usually it was noticeably more costly or/and dangerous or/and requiring human sacrifice.
For example Ayin very happily shared rough, unrefined blueprints of the mental scanner that could, in theory, tear information from the nervous system also with likely resulting damage to it being very much likely. N Corp product and certain pieces of AI uprising technologies the machine side used were pieces he put together…
Not that they were going to use it when Raziel and Arian could do it without damaging Garion's mind. It might be dangerous to leave her with the knowledge in the future, but not until they slowly sorted through every bit they could reach.
Returning to the topic at hand. Arbiter was currently chained in silver AR binds, partially submerged in Niflheim's water, connected to tubes that would run Enkephalin into her system, drugged into oblivion too while Arian held her inorganic and organic defense systems firmly locked together with her consciousness. Kali was adding power to his actions while Raziel would be actually doing the job as most familiar with it.
“Ready?” His fellow half replied with a short nod, Kali let out a hum of confirmation. Barriers of Light flared to life. “Three, two, one…”
Light Circuits flared within him. Rather new they may be but already good enough and thoroughly tested on less powerful ones who'd easily show points of faultiness. Plus, unlike Arbiter variants, theirs could be pulled out and changed or replaced similar to Pages, if in a slightly more painful way due to deeper connection required for proper operation of the structure.
Tsumukari Muramasa pulsed with heat rushing through his blood and nervous system. Deep within Bottomless Abyss stirred to life from its usual lull. Second, the world shifted for the three.
Garion didn't stir from her enforced slumber as Raziel pulled three chained Singularities closer to him. O, I, Q, T, J. Obscuration, Interpretation, Quintessence of Meaning, Time. Enkephalin would be perfect fuel for their little act.
Start with a foundation of Q. Then O + I. Obscure Interpretation of certain individuals as important. Through J + T, seal the usually timely effects of these fragments or less potent versions of true Singularities, anchor it down onto the symbols of the array. All to make remaining and eventually reawakened Carmen's crew members less noticeable, give them leeway to act, add another layer of protection over current raw power and distance limited ones.
Garion groaned unconsciously as Singularities started turning on, shifting, Enkephalin pumped into her system burning out fast, unleashing power that made her own Circuits burn under strain. Her cloak, temporarily returned, was helping only a little as power over five times worth her full reserves was burned to enact a complex editing upon Reality…
To her surprise when it ended Arbiter felt… warmth that helped her heal, soothing coolness too. Soon she fully fell to darkness where time didn't flow again.
“Did it work?” Kali asked, letting out a deep sigh after the Nilfheim coffin was shut firmly over Garion's form.
“You felt it too didn't you?” Arian responded with a rather strained grin. The power output damaged Garion's circuits and inner organs, not critically but repairs took quite a bit out of him. Also the feeling of Singularities acting was rather unpleasant.
Their ‘voices/sounds’ were far cry from the familiar Source or how they ‘heard’ humans sound. Somewhat closer were Singularities and Relics but … Singularities were further twisted in a way they couldn't comprehend yet. Tracing information off of Garion was an option but neither of the twins felt like it'll end well. They preferred trusting that gut feeling and Tsumukari Muramasa which seemed to burn warningly when they first intended to try.
Kali suppressed a shudder. If Q felt more like someone trying to encompass experience into symbols carrying full complexity of meaning behind those then…. Interpretation was closest to the sensation of scalpels touching over your body, mind, soul and whatever else made you. Obscuration was like mixing muffling, fog and whatever effect could make feeling the World harder. J was straightforward, like the pressure of walls in a small room rattling of chains, restrictiveness of handcuffs. T was strange one, Red Star could only describe as river of sand where grains were moments carrying imprints of memory within those moments over certain territory collected from both individuals, inanimate objects and World itself.
“Up for hot chocolate or tea is better for you at the moment?” her… more than a friend inquired with a small, satisfied smile. After a moment she gave her answer and they left the lower level of the facility together.
***
Raziel was on his way back from Elidur's Atelier when he sensed the shift…
Space bent, the world around a certain spot became blurred, muffled and hazy to every sense he had, including his Light. The ground underneath became a perfectly even, smooth slate.
“Hm… so that's who annoyed the willess finger so?” Color turned sharply only to feel a monumental amount of energy crash into him. Lock, Gravity, air itself shifted too, he could feel magnetic field vectors around him bending over to coil around him like a bunch of snakes. It was much more firm than Garion's. “Such a rowdy youth, if I wished harm you'd be unable to feel, more so hear me speak…”
A few steps later he could see her from his current forcefully stationary state. She was… not what he expected. She didn't change either over decades. Not like someone centuries old would but still.
Deep violet eyes, bordering on black, looked at him with a hint of curiosity and perhaps slightly a bit of annoyance. Her lips were stretched by a somewhat mocking grin, also she definitely did it better than Garion did in the beginning of their fight. Porcelain skin was flawless, much like her luscious snow white hair with golden, pulsing accents on the inner side.
First Arbiter. The Head's finest. One who witnessed the day the Gates were shut and the Key was broken. Thanatia.
Also Garion's mentor and maternal great-grandmother also the defeated Arbiter had many siblings, uncles and aunts, nieces and nephews too, not that they had semblance of normal family structure in the Head. She didn't look any older than thirty, younger actually. Not that looks matter much in this case.
Her outfit was mostly like other Arbiter attires mixing black and yellow. The only visible difference was that her cloak was adored by traces of repair in multiple places, akin to scars. Perhaps left that way to remind her of certain opponents who actually managed to do something as monumental as reaching her.
“Be careful as you tread the carrier of Forbidden knowledge… your right of holding is only yours due to your victory” her words made some sense also it made Raziel a bit curious to why there wasn't a mention of Garion “Why am I to be angered? My student simply proved to be another unideal one… Also my Beholder assured me her thread is yet to end”
That was morbidly interesting. Fate reading Beholder? Likely one of the older. Raziel was more concerned by her seemingly seamless ability to read his thoughts though.
First Arbiter gave him a somewhat smug, not so kind smile when he thought that. “I will watch your steps, curious child who rejected oblivion”
With that world shifted into normalcy again, leaving no trace of the woman's presence…
***
A man from under whose black cloak glimmered a chest plate made of many red scales swung his flame engulfed guandao in a swift, powerful arc that left two pieces of a four meter tall cuckoo mutant humanoid with three pairs of extra long wing-arms with additional joints.
Zhu looked at where Salvador's sun blade left another similar twisted abomination in steaming, charred pieces.
These trips were good practice and also opened him a flaw of moonstones. Certain frequencies of mental attacks bypassed them. Being without them here to truly face Voices of Ruins, understanding how to fight in such an environment, was refreshingly hard and frightening because Zhu knew how many of his fellow Liu relied heavily on moonstones when thinking over requests which had the mark of being dangerous to mind…
Of course they could theoretically buy top grade moonstones that were somewhat better, but that would put a big dent in the budget… mental training on the other hand was useful for more than resisting mental attacks, but also for control over emotions and body.
“Ready to go lower?” he met Salvador's asking look, to which he shortly responded with a nod thusly they continued descending… closer and closer to the Sea of Possibility.
***
Argalia continued to play. It was relaxing, soothing to his mind. It helped him direct the Light too, after all melodies could help to stir emotions up within people, create a mood in the room, remind you of something long in the past.
His Light kept flowing along. The chords of the violin, waves moving within and over the surface of the violin bow.
The streets near the Nail Office, atop of which the boy kept playing, woke to a melody inducing a mix of determination to persevere, reminiscence over past and hope for the brighter future…
And the boy smiled, feeling his Light fly with the waves of sound, brought along to help others feel, aid him in sharing his feelings.
***
He sat calmly in the rag covered rocking chair as his dear wife laid her head on his chest. Oscar smiled softly, letting his fingers gently run through her long, chestnut brown strands.
Facing his own worst ends was a harsh challenge even to him. Perhaps youth had a bit of a leeway due to certain factors… but that would be an excuse from him.
The boy wasn't wrong. Oscar knew well where he fell. A few times when his heart wasn't strong enough to fight through the cynical side. When right wasn't done, instead it was easy that he acted on.
That's why grief, guilt and shame were his toughest challenges. Not Sins, but those smaller things. Lies one tells themselves. Facing truths was never painless. But to protect what he had and correct mistakes in the last way he could fixer needed to do so.
“I could have done it, helped you, been a better man back then… I cannot ask for forgiveness of yours, you aren't here” they weren't. Not those children he averted eyes from, nor the wounded Atelier owner surrounded by few low end drinks from the Thumb. “So watch, I'll step up and make sure to not repeat these mistakes… for myself, for her, for you too”
To his surprise Oscar felt that Light within a vial of SL stopped feeling in any way unpleasant, becoming simply warm and steady in its coloring that mixed gold with orange.
His wife kept sleeping soundly, unaware of her husband’s thoughts but she liked the way his heart shifted its rhythm from faster, unsteady beat to calmer, steadier, stronger drumming.
***
Red Star awoke. It wasn't even early enough for the sun to shine into their windows. Yeah… their windows. Strange how things shifted so easily, smoothly even. One day she simply found herself moving into Raziel's place bit by bit, at first just leaving some things, then finding favourite spot within the apartment…
She turned her head, looking at the soundly sleeping Color. It wasn't the first time they fell asleep in one another's vicinity. Carmen once found Kali snoring on Raziel's sofa while he was reading a book. Still… This felt different, in a nice way.
Pulling a CP, aka Communication Page, Kali focused at projecting an image she was perceiving onto it. A second later text appeared.
Carmen: He is so… peaceful. Also did something happen or he just likes sleeping topless?
Oh yeah, Raziel, for all the comfort of nuovo gear made into weaker end ARs, didn't ever sleep with anything worn on his top half, at least when he was actually at home.
Kali let out a chuckle as she saw him crack one eye open sleepily, blue iris pulsing with not so subtle Light usage. “Sorry, just chatting with ruby eyes…”
“Mhm…” he scooted closer before unceremoniously hugging her tight, using her chest as a pillow. Not that she minded… they could sleep for another hour or so anyway.