"I'm stuck in a loop." Neptune looked around at the battlefield of dead Phoenix Flight and Pantheon members. "How many times have I done this?" He lazily dodged Sieg's spear strike and grabbed the blonde man by the face, squeezing down to pop his skull. "Where's the mage doing this?" He sensed out with his mana and then-
"Again and again, you all just get up and fight. It's so pathetic." Neptune clicked his tongue. "You know, I'm not the weakest member, but I'm not the strongest either." He chuckled. "The Lord of Threads is ranked at the bottom in terms of power, followed by me. It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but maybe now that you all hear that, you'll see how foolish this is. I've managed to fight two whole guilds to a standstill, and the people above me are far stronger. If two guilds aren't enough to take me down, then how many are needed for someone like Tik or Rosette?"
"That's why we have the Holy Saint," Myth declared. "With her and the power of the King, nothing on this planet can truly match them."
"Oh, you small-minded fool. Since when have we been from your planet?" Neptune lifted his weapon to the sky, and his mana began to bubble once again. It kept growing over and over, getting thicker and thicker. "I've already slain the Inheritor of Thought. Body. Core. Heart. All three of you stand before me. I will claim them all, and the gates of Rome shall open. I, Neptune, the child who swam to the bottom of the ocean and was given the power of the Sea Spirits, shall put an end to this entire chapter! Adam's story- No. My story is going to end on a happy note!"
A massive swirling orb of water formed in the air. It steamed and boiled, flickering out before it erupted in a massive blast of burning fluids.
"Alright, everyone!" Myth called out, and they all powered up. "This is our final stand! We can't lose! Here and now, we have to win!"
Once more, the battle began-
"No." Neptune closed his eyes and suddenly steadied himself. His spell flew forward and began to smash into all the members around him, downing several of them, but the attack was no longer his focus. "This is the fifth time this has happened. Someone is looping time on me. A regressor?"
He pulsed his mana out in a wave and grunted. He sensed someone hiding off in the distance. Neptune looked up, and his eyes met Vlad's.
"Shit." Vlad winced. In a single mana step, Neptune appeared in front of him.
"A regressor is here?" Neptune sneered. "What are the chances? How annoying."
"Well, you won't have to worry about it." Beneath his cloak, Vlad cracked a smirk. "Get reset, loser."
His mana flared, and the cogs of a clock dinged and spun, and then! Nothing happened. Time did not flow backward. Vlad's eyes widened in shock. And then he heard it.
The sound of a quill.
The easiest way to write around time rewinding was to simply write forward. His regression had been canceled.
"Damn it." Vlad barely lifted his weapon in time as Neptune swung out with an arcing slash that rammed into the cloaked man. Several of Vlad's ribs shattered, and he was knocked to the ground, breathing heavily. "Well, don't just stand there, you idiots! Save me!" Vlad demanded.
Laerton was the first to reach Neptune. The others were hot on her heels, and by this point, everyone was badly beaten and injured. Laerton swung out with her sword, but the blade bounced off Neptune's arm as he blocked it and then rammed a fist into her stomach, dropping her to her knees and causing her to vomit.
Olem, Bolem, and Himvel all three charged up an atomic blast, which they launched Neptune's way, but it was swallowed by the shadows as black hands caught the attack and dragged it down. Neptune then froze a wave of water and sent a massive block of ice crashing on top of them.
High teleported in front of Neptune and rammed his gun into the god's stomach and got off several rounds before the god smacked him hard over the head and nearly cracked his skull open. He nearly ripped High's head fully off, but Myth rammed his shoulder into Neptune, shoving the monster away.
Neptune responded by blasting Myth point blank with a beam of boiling water, and then he sent several spears of ice into Pock, Susie, Max, Sera, Whisper, and Battery, but not before those six all managed to get some sort of attack off on him.
Neptune breathed heavily, sweat clinging to his body, and several of his teeth gushed blood. His muscles swelled, and his face started to distort slightly, a jagged snout shoving forward. It was almost as if he were slowly reverting back to his Rage form the longer the battle went on.
"You're all getting on my nerves!" The god screeched. "How dare you all continue to battle me!" Neptune was cut off when Cinder generated a massive bolt of fire alongside Falco and Ken, and then the flame was further enhanced by Ash and Sky, who used their wind magic. The bolt flew forward, all five of them putting all their power into it, and it rammed into Neptune, scorching the front of his chest.
Neptune came stomping forward and vomited up a wave of blood, which froze into jagged red spikes and impaled the attackers. Ken crashed to the ground and winced, and Neptune sent another attack her way, but her familiar came flying out of her gourd. Yujin roared and blocked the spikes that dug into his fiery flesh. He took on the form of a massive bear and charged toward Neptune, tackling him.
That gave Ragna, Mama Herta, and Clause the chance to circle around Neptune, and the three of them slashed into his back, Ragna using Greenie, Clause using his hammer, and Mama Herta using her nails, which extended and jutted out like claws. Their attacks left jagged red spots along Neptune's back, and the god glared at them and twisted around with Yujin smashing the spirit into all three of them and tossing them all away.
Miranda and Gormay were up next, and Miranda struck first, slashing out with a memory scythe, shoving some memories into Neptune's head, catching him off guard for a second, which then allowed Gormay to sucker punch him. Unfortunately, Neptune was a being with a massive amount of memory, and so the mental attack had little effect on him, and he opened up a section of his vault. Gormay's foot slipped into it, and then the vault slid shut, slicing the large man's leg off.
Gormay's eyes shot open in pain as blood flowed out of his wound, and Miranda screamed out when she saw her brother drop. She pressed down on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, right as Neptune brought his trident down on her. The weapon was halted at the last second by Ghost and Sieg, who used their knife and spear to hold it back. Before the two could act further, though, ice flowed across them, freezing them in place.
That left one person left.
Olivia swung out with Storymaker, aiming for Neptune's head, but he ducked under it. She struck out again with the cursed dagger, but again he dodged. Neptune put several feet of distance between her and launched several orbs of ice her way, but Olivia blocked them with a blood shield. She breathed heavily, feeling her body start to reach its breaking point. Despite all of that, she pressed forward.
Neptune's eyes stung, and the air kept distorting every time he glanced Olivia's way, but he managed to bypass the enchantment her father had placed on her, allowing him to see the creature that shouldn't have been here.
"I'm very shocked to see you here, Black Knight," Neptune mocked. "I was sure you were dead already. After all, Adam personally kills you in every world he goes to. Oh, but your mana is a bit different. You have the same blood magic, but something's off. Could you perhaps be her daughter? That makes no sense, and yet it would explain why the Dragon of Roads went to such great lengths to hide you. Alas, he just had to perform the Rite of Saints and get you involved."
"Shut up," Olivia hissed. She swung her weapons again and again, but each time her attacks missed. Neptune weaved in and out of her attacks and kept smirking down at her as she missed again and again. "I'll kill you!"
"Why? I've done nothing to you?"
"You killed my father!"
"Impossible. Your father hasn't left the gates of Rome."
"You killed Rosco!" Olivia screeched. This time her blade met flesh, and Neptune actually winced as his flesh sizzled and burned at the spot the sword touched.
"Rosco?" Neptune dodged another strike and then, without warning, jammed the trident into Olivia's stomach. She gasped and was forced to her knees by the large man. "Ah, you must mean the one who inherited the Thoughts of the Great Dragon of Roads. It's funny that man was never in any of the other worlds or at least not anyone important, yet in this one he became one of the seven. He died so easily. I was angered that Adam gave me such a simple target."
Olivia's glare grew, and her mana spiked, red boiling liquid flowing around her. "Vil Blood Explosion." All her mana compressed in her as she got ready to self-destruct!
Neptune's eyes widened, and he actually looked panicked. He let go of the weapon in her gut and raised his arms ready to defend himself, but the explosion never came. Olivia had no such spell like that. What did come, however, was a knife, which went past his guard as Olivia jumped on him and slammed it through his eye socket.
Neptune screamed and thrashed as the blade dug past his skull and went down to the hilt. His other eye then also became blind thanks to the curse on the blade, which was making him fully blind.
Olivia kept pressing on the knife and screamed as loud as she could. "Vil Blood Bolt!" The knife glowed, and a beam of red liquid blasted out the back of Neptune's head.
The god stumbled back and vomited. Weakly, he grabbed the knife in his head and ripped it out, but the damage was done. His face slushed off him in melting heaps, and his one remaining eye glared down at Olivia. Mana flowed through his body, filling in the gaps through his ruined brain, and he kicked out as hard as he could, smashing his foot into Olivia's stomach.
"I'M DONE!" Neptune roared. "I'M SO FUCKING DONE! I'LL SLAUGHTER EVERYONE HERE! I'LL BOIL YOUR BLOOD, BASH YOUR BRAINS OUT, AND FORCE YOU TO BEG FOR MERCY AS I CRUSH YOU ALL TO DEATH!" He placed his foot over Olivia's head and brought it slamming down. "DIE!"
Olivia watched it drop toward her, and she glared at it in defiance. A moment later, the foot was halted by another foot, which lifted up, stopping Neptune's stomp.
Davi breathed heavily and held Neptune's leg back with his own. Neptune glared back at him but then froze when he saw the cloak that Davi was wearing. "H-How do you have that-"
Davi rammed his palm forward and smashed a white orb directly into Neptune's stomach. It exploded and then sent the god flying back. Once he was gone, Davi crouched down in front of Olivia and placed an arm under her, supporting her.
"Davi?" Olivia asked weakly. He had changed. His armor was a bit slimmer now, and he had a fiery white coat that was placed over it. More than that, though, he had a new look in his eyes. Literally. His right eye was the same dull blue it always was, but his left one was a deep purple.
"Yeah. It's me." Davi reached into his new coat, and he produced something. "Here." He pressed it to her lips. "It's a Monster Core. I got them a bit ago from Himvel. If you eat it, it should give you a decent boost to your mana. It'll hurt like hell, but if your stats increase and your Core is jumpstarted, it might give you enough energy to use Polymorph again."
Olivia nodded and swallowed the Core. The effect happened almost instantly. She began to spasm, and for a moment she was afraid she'd die, but then suddenly the pain faded. A white glow covered her body as Davi held a hand over her and muttered a spell.
"Row Shadow-Light Vault." The glow around her got brighter, but nothing seemed to physically change, and that was because Davi wasn't grabbing a physical thing. All the pain she had was being drained from her and dragged into his Vault.
Olivia's eyes widened. "Did you just use Light magic?"
"It's a long story." Davi chuckled and sat her down. "Rest for a minute, and then, when you can, I need you to go find the captain and tell her something."
Olivia gave a determined nod. "Alright. What's the plan?"
Davi quickly told it to her and did it just in time. As soon as he finished, he was forced to dodge to the side as Neptune came charging at him. The god grabbed him by his coat, lifted him off the ground, and threw him as hard as he could. Davi flew through the air and felt his head collide with metal as he was tossed all the way over to the train.
He saw stars and then shifted to the side as Neptune appeared before him and struck out. The god's fist slammed into the train, and it shook and groaned.
"What the hell are you?" Neptune's glare grew with even more rage. "That coat? Are you using a Core Mask? That shouldn't be possible. You're bound by it. You should only be able to use Fire or Moonlit magic! How did you gain that?"
Davi ducked under another strike and smashed his fist into Neptune's side, pressing into a wound. "No use telling a dead man."
"Don't get cocky, you fucker." Neptune kicked up with his leg and jammed it into Davi's stomach and then smashed down with his trident, impaling it into the raven-haired man's back. "Your body is still a wreck. You're practically falling apart."
Davi gritted his teeth and winced. He then chuckled softly. "Yeah. You're right." The damage he took earlier didn't go away. His body was shattering, being crushed by his own mana, which was spiraling out of control. The only reason he didn't explode was thanks to this new power. The light cloak was draining a massive amount of energy, which was lessening the effect, and it was also absorbing his pain, drawing it into his vault.
Still, it'd be best to finish this fight fast. Especially as his heart was still damaged. He had closed and sealed the wound with his light magic, but who knew how long that would last?
"You're going to die here." Davi declared, and he shoved up with his fist, smashing it into Neptune's throat. He kicked himself away from the god and grabbed the trident in his back. Without missing a beat, he created a door to his vault and tossed it in.
"Fool." Neptune held his hand out, and ice swirled and twisted into the image of a longsword. "I'll run you through and give you a cold death."
"No thanks. I'm tired of being cold." Davi created another orb and charged forward but then at the last second twisted and smashed it into the side of the train. It exploded and tore a hole in the side of the Phoenix Flight guild base, which he used to jump inside. Neptune followed and slashed out with his sword, sending out a wave of darkness and water. They were in the main hub area, and Mama Herta's bar was torn to bits by the attack.
"You can't beat me! You're outclassed!" Neptune roared.
"So what! That doesn't mean I can't try!" Davi grabbed one of the tables and threw it as hard as he could. It smashed into Neptune and shattered, and the god swung his sword again, cutting another thrown table in half.
Neptune mana stepped before Davi could grab anything else, and he stabbed the sword into Davi's gut. The man winced, but his pain quickly faded, and steam surged out of his wound as Neptune's ice blade melted.
"What the hell?" The god gritted his teeth. "I don't get it. What are you? Has becoming one of the seven changed you so much?"
"Adam should have killed me when he had the chance," Davi hissed. "We change, we grow, we evolve, bit by bit, second by second! Life is something precious, something that will continue forward to the future. I don't know your story, and you don't know mine, but right now in this moment we're both obstacles in a path, and only one of us will move forward. I swore I'd kill all of you! The seven beings from worlds that are no longer will die!" The ice sword fully shattered, and Davi stomped forward and jammed his hand into one of Neptune's gut wounds. He went in deep and grabbed onto anything squishy and ripped it out.
Neptune screamed in pain and then slammed his palms together. "Vil Shadow Vault!" Black hands erupted from the ground and tore through the room. Several of them wrapped around Davi and bound his limbs up and then smashed him into the roof. They kept pressing him into it, and the metal groaned and then shattered.
Davi went into the air now above the train, and he gritted his teeth. "Row Shadow-Light Vault!" White hands flowed from his coat and severed the black ones. He dropped down and landed on top of the train right as Neptune came jumping out of the hole in the roof. The two of them locked eyes and were about to charge, but then suddenly the train jerked and steamed, and it started to move.
Over with Laerton, Olivia was holding her up and told the captain the plan. The captain weakly nodded and used what little mana she had left to control her magical item. The train lifted off the ground and began to fly, getting higher and higher.
Davi and Neptune charged at one another as it fully lifted off the ground and flew back toward the city.
Neptune smashed a fist into Davi's face, and Davi spat out a mouthful of teeth and countered by kicking his leg into Neptune's shin hard enough to crack bone. The god punched him again, this time caving in his armor and cracking several ribs, so Davi smashed his fingers into the monster's eyehole and ripped out a shattered piece of the skull and melted face gunk.
Neptune punched Davi again, Davi kicked him, Neptune jabbed an elbow into his shoulder, Davi tore out another chunk of flesh, and on the battle went. They were both ferocious, with no semblance of control or focus. They struck out again and again, tearing flesh, breaking bones, and pushing themselves to the limit.
And then it happened.
Davi took a step back, avoiding one of Neptune's punches, and he raised his hand up, letting out a wince as pain ran through his body. Despite that, he pressed forward and created another spiraling orb. Neptune grunted and got ready for it to be launched, but it never did. Instead, Davi held onto it until it exploded in his hand.
"Row Shadow-Light Scar." Black and white fire flared around the blast, and it began to twist and change until it morphed. It kept growing, getting bigger and bigger until it almost seemed to take the form of a massive hawk. It cried out, its wings spread wide, and then it rapidly shrank, turning jagged and harsh. Black and white swirled around, and it looked almost like it was in the image of a sword's blade. It lacked a handle and was more like embers mimicking something, but even so, Davi grabbed it. His gauntlet exploded, and his flesh boiled! All the power within the sword screamed and flowed as he swung.
Neptune jumped back, but the slash kept coming, stretching out further and further, being carried by the light and the dark, and then he felt pure pain as it washed over his right side and blew an entire section of his body clean off.
"Row Shadow Vault." From the hole in his torso, Neptune screamed as black hands pierced out and flowed, stabbing forward until they impaled their way into Davi's stomach. The sudden attack caused his new sword to flicker and fade out, and Davi collapsed to his knees, spitting up bile and blood.
Neptune limped forward and glared down at him. Davi smiled and looked back up. "Do you hear it?"
Neptune paused. He did hear it.
'Mother! Mother, do you hear me?'
Neptune spun around and saw the fake sun, which the train flew directly past.
'Mother!'
And then suddenly both Davi and Neptune froze as the two of them flew too close to the sun and were hit with a wave of visions. Just like when Ken took him to see it.
'Mother, remember. Remember the promise that you made.'
Davi felt a pounding in his head, and his eyes ached as flashes of images passed over his vision. Memories that weren't his suddenly shoved their way into his mind.
Fire. He saw a land on fire, forged of brimstone and lava, with a sky made of screaming faces and twisted metal that shaped into the images of men. The air screamed, and lightning howled. The sea was made of blood, the rain was acid, and vegetation didn't exist.
He saw the moon, the one for his planet; a palace of white marble crumbled to ash; and a rusty sword that was stabbed into the ground before it. He saw the sun, drained of its fire, turned into a spiraling mass of darkness that devoured everything in the universe. He saw the planet, a massive piece of flat land in the void, which ripped like paper.
He saw mana die, concepts like space and time ceased to be, and then he saw a universe of white hands and bodies without heads that shattered and broke as destruction climbed toward them.
And finally, he saw a world of light, golden gates torn asunder, a city of absolute holiness past them, with a lone woman standing before it all—a woman with blonde hair and a body made of metal.
He saw Haru.
Haru saw Davi.
They saw each other.
Then, everything turned white, and all he saw were words being written on a page.
"The End."
A book closed.
Davi's eyes snapped open as the visions faded, and without any warning, he went to smash another white orb into Neptune's face, but the God also came down from the visions just in time and caught Davi's wrist. Davi's eyes widened, and the god's face twisted into another blood smile.
"Close! But not quite! I win! I win, I win, I win!" Tears flowed down God's face. "I won! I was destined to! My story said I would! You lose."
Davi felt his wrist snap, and he gritted his teeth. "Life's not a story. Very rarely do we get happy endings."
Olivia screamed as she swung Storymaker as hard as she could! The quill froze. The page caught on fire.
The Lord of Threads froze in the middle of tuning up one of his puppets.
Bloom stopped laughing, and his smile faded.
Rosette paused in the middle of sucking the blood out of one of the captured lesser nobles.
Tik began to violently shake.
Mordred closed his eyes.
Emperor Monarch stood up from his throne and walked over to a window of his palace, looking out at the sea of blood.
Adam sighed and closed his book.
All seven of them felt it in that moment, and at the same time all their eyes looked in Neptune's direction.
A look of horror passed across Neptune's face as the blade went through his neck, and then a moment later his head rolled off his body.