"I can't listen to this anymore..." A voice, a silver-blue voice... sharp, clear, yet distant and reflective.
His power rippled out.
Memory bleeding into the air.
'Hah, it seems he found his path already. Sigh, that long speech was useless.' A low smile spread across Flux's face as he witnessed a boy standing between giants.
Both combatants froze as visions assaulted them.
Voice, fragile yet ringing like a bell. "I don't even have my head right, but I feel it, I can sense it, I can't stand this, these memories, memories I remember, what I remember...
The faces, the screams Monster killed, so many, so many, far too many...
I remember, Feral's back as people's eyes gazed up, their smiles, their joy, their hope...
I remember people kneeling, thanking Monster for true mercy, a chance to be better, their true smiles, the freedom at hand...
I remember the people begging Feral to give up, those whose sacrifices were in vain for a fight already lost but never forfeited.
I know it, I feel it, suffocating, I can't stand this. Both of you are wrong. And both of you are right.
Such extremes...
Must,
Be,
Dulled!" Words echoing, Echo's echo.
"Monster—you save through fire, but you burn too many who should have stood up with their own will, judged by the people harmed by them, those who should have been forgiven through their life.
Feral—you fight so none must bow to another... so everyone has a chance, but you would rather let the world bleed than bend once to stop the killing sooner.
Both of you are cages—different shapes, same chains."
Monster's crimson eyes narrowed. "I– do not deny it.
I chose a path paved with screams because the other path was worse. Allowing even one rotten piece to remain in the basket would lead to all being infested. Children or the elderly, age does not matter to sin, even more as it is their own sin judging."
Feral's flames snarled higher. "And I do not deny either, I refuse to yield, because kneeling once means kneeling forever. But I will never give up the fight, and no one shall."
"You two are both rigid paths trying to bend and break all into your own ideologies...
Monster... Yes, you see all pain and sin, but what you perceive is it truly through their mind or your current gaze, a child, how could it know any better?"
"That is no excuse. When we were children, we knew, and ignorance is no excuse for true sin from the beginning."
"Yet people are not the same. They can not be judged all the same; this is the basis of your judgments, isn't it? We are different, just like all of those people were.
And Feral... You fight for everyone to have a chance to fight, to change, to be better, yet you also judge enemies and opponents, and you do not give a chance to run away, evil, it is just by your standard and views."
"Evil... It's a standard, how can killing not be evil!!?"
"Sigh... You only hear what you want..."
"..."
"..."
Echo spread his arms, memory still spiraling from him. "See yourselves! You punish, you resist, you remember them, but neither of you remembers what your fights cost, yet you so willingly point fingers at the other.
I don't even know who I am or what I am, and yet I feel it...
The memory...
That I am...
Memory.
I carry what you forget when you choose only your way. And I am sure if you don't stop, in the end...
I will be the one to decide what is worth saving, because when either of you falls, the other will surely follow."
It burst the moment his words ended—not fire, not sound, but memory itself, taking the form of color.
The Altar, once untouched white, drank them all in and bleed it back out as form, as substance.
This is their world, each of the seventeen gives it something that makes it theirs, now Echo does too, it seems sooner than later.
They were still themselves, yet the same.
Now, something deeper surfaced something that separated them on another level.
Faces, cries, thanks, graves—rushing through them, settling where they belonged. Hundresd of years of experences. The world did not shatter; it chose, and so did they—the faces they once wore or even just saw, the lives they lived.
None moved. Intentions were laid bare here, shouted without words. Silence weighed heavier than sound as the sea of color ebbed, leaving the Altar white once more. Yet something had changed.
"Interesting." Original's voice broke the silence.
"WOW, that's really you, I felt it was you, but your voice, it's really you... But Original, you look, meh?" Flux jumped around the dark-haired guy, black reaching far below his waist, yet a mix of colors tainting strands and ends.
Eyes, purple shadow mixed with a gray twisting worm, a face, just a tad longer than before, pale skin a heavy contrast to the eyes much sharper than any gaze ever.
"Look at yourself first before you speak." With a slight squint, a mirror appeared in Original's hand, and he tossed it towards the small frame judging him.
"Ha, HAAAAA!? Why did I become younger!?" Flux dragged his hand across the side of his face as he looked into the mirror, a frame much smaller than before, a face just as young, a hair short and disheveled, very much as light blue as his eyes sparkled with.
"Interesting indeed..." Monster looked at his hands, which were very much human. He had been human-shaped even before, but inside here, his body was tainted with red and dark, like a cloak that had drunk up all the dark blood he had spilled.
Now? He looked human, skin and hair. His eyes still burned, or rather drowned in crimson red, like flowing wine.
Hair just as raven black as his brother's, but his was shorter still, just shoulder length. Not much other color could be perceived even if there was.
'This newborn is... Interesting.' Monster was quiet, but the others bustled, each describing the other's features. It was a fascination that diverted their attention, the attention that quickly returned to the confrontation, but not my choice.
"This is... this is not acceptable!!" Feral's voice suppressed all other sounds, he was the same as everyone, changed on the outside the same still.
His muscles tensed, much greater than before, all his scars still marred his flesh and skin.
The faced turned much wilder, carnivorous fangs showing in his grimace.
Long gray hair waved and flared behind him, but they didn't matter now, not to him at least, his eyes burned green jade from too much rage.
"How is my sin, my failings, the same as his!!?" Feral's rage twisted, his voice cracking like thunder. "None of you— None of you knows what he did!!!
Everything– everyone— HE KILLED EVERYONE!!"
...
...
Silence...
Sadly it was different, the feeling...
Feral's eyes traveled over each of them, all of them, they were very much changed but he only looked at their averting gaze, his eyes stopped on Persona who followed suit with everyone.
Feral's teeth clenching more and more, his fists tightening, white from far too much force.
"You all...
All of you...
Knew?" A question, but it wasn't really a question; his words trailed off, almost sad.
"Feral don't do anything stupid..."
"I am– disappointed... How could you all stand to the side– how could you..."
For a time everything sunk and shrunk back, flames withered, blood stilled.
"We woke up as Temorsth...
I saw all of you act normal like nothing happened...
I realised.
I decided.
I made sure I would keep quiet, I would solve this monster on my own...
But I was...
Wrong.
I was a fool once more...
All of us knew...
No, how could we not after so much blood flooded our world?" Feral was— calm... yet everyone else seemed to take a step back, was something other than rage, more fearsome and feral?
"It was not my intention to destroy that world.
My only work was cleaning up all sin, it's not on us that so many were just filth or turned to sin." Monster's words flowed so calm and collected, no remorse or guilt, he did the right thing, it had to be done– right?
"Intention...
Not your intention?
Not on us...
Oh, right, you just killed half the population, young and old, families and peace completely destroyed– cities and nations crushed— no, crumbled...
Yes, why would everyone turn to sin and betrayal in a destroyed world— I wonder." Feral's voice lowered even more.
"I hoped.
I truly hoped that there would be another way, a way where I wouldn't have to kill you, kill— a part of us.
But I am still wrong..." Feral's voice fell quiet, too quiet. His disappointment weighed heavier than his rage, and the silence of it pressed on every throat.
But now— something changed, something that can not be held back.
His shoulders shifted, his teeth bared, and the sorrow twisted into something far darker.
Power rippled off him like a storm breaking its chains.
"You destroyed our home—our world," he growled, yet his voice calm, too calm. "All life drowned into the dark, then you just tossed away even ours.
Today you pay.
Today you die brother– NO!
You are NO BROTHER OF MINE!!"
Monster's crimson eyes flared. For the first time, he looked angered, not merely burdened. "Presumptuous wretch. To speak to me so— Very well! If it is strength you demand, I shall crush you beneath it!"
Far behind him, inside the dark, the crimson gate stirred. Chains rattled. A blood-sea pressed outward, seeping and dripping from the cracks, demanding release.
"Monster!" Original's voice cut sharp as steel. His hand lifted in the same way in the same direction, and with a single strike of will, the gate stilled, forces clashing. The echo of it rolled like thunder across the white Altar.
But the storm had already broken. Even with the gate closed, the crimson rose behind Monster.
Sea, and flames, tasting each other.
Echo stood between them, trembling. His breath caught in his throat. This wasn't like before—this wasn't words or philosophy or mare play.
This was death, and he could feel it clutching at him as if the Altar itself had turned predator.
'Did I do this? Did I just make everything worse?'
Before he could even move, they lunged. Two titans, emerald fire and crimson judgment, colliding with him at the center.
He threw his arms over his head, falling to the ground, bracing for obliteration.
"Enough!" Original's command split the air—yet still the powers met.
A blast. Silence.
Echo dared to breathe only a moment late. No pain. No ash. Slowly, he lowered his arms, glancing up.
A yellow eyed, long golden haired figure. Aurora floated above him, hands pressed together as if in prayer, golden light flowing like calm water. His eyes—soft, warm—met Echo's. A gentle smile curved his lips.
"You're safe," Aurora whispered.
Echo turned, and what he saw froze his blood.
Feral's punch was met—not stopped by Persona's hand, but mirrored, a reflection striking him with equal force. Feral's own fangs bared back at him, his own brutality turned against him.
Behind Feral, Abyss stood, one palm firm against his back, dark force pressing into flame drowning it like a void without oxygen.
On the other side, Monster did not move, but a purple blade hovered at his throat—Eclipse, his hand steady, his shadows keen.
Beside Monster stood Zenith, one arm raised in a pattern that glowed with geometric intent, a strike waiting to fall—something that felt more scary than even the two moves clashing just before.
And at Monster's flank, Sylph mirrored Abyss, his hand light but unyielding, like deep vines suffocating unwilling flora and fauna.
The Altar had erupted in quiet violence, brothers poised against another.
Echo's heart pounded. What is this place… what kind of family did I fall into?
A voice broke his thoughts—light, mocking, far too casual.
Squatting in front of him, a blue child, chin balanced on one knee, Flux grinned widely.
"Sorry, I should've clarified," he said almost cheerfully. "No, fights aren't frequent—but not because we can't. It's just… Counterproductive." His smile sharpened.
"And yes, to your other question yet to be asked… that fear of death you felt was real. Here, we can die. Actualy more easily than anywhere else."
He spread his arms wide, laughter spilling across the tense Altar.
"So—welcome home, Echo! This is our world. Our home. YOUR HOME, Hahahaha!"