Crimson eyes locked on the blade of shadow pressing at his throat. "Eclipse… why so serious? You might hurt someone if you miss. Do make sure not to miss." Monster's provocation slid out smoothly, just like his dark smile.
The man in front of him did not answer. His eyes burned— yet cold, sharp with intent yet hollow, alive with only the still certainty of a killer. Provocation or not, he alone decided when and whom to kill. In murder, emotion was a burden.
Dark purple light wrapped his frame, alive with flickers of crackling energy. The blade in his hand pressed another inch closer. If it were steel, Monster's blood would already be falling.
"Still mute, I see." Monster tilted his head, unbothered. "But you moved — if that shadow were solid, I'd already be bleeding. Why hesitate?"
"Serenity— " Another voice cut through — low, calm, edged. "Monster, shut up."
Monster's gaze shifted to the side. "Zenith. Your hand… raised against me?"
Zenith's mint-green eyes narrowed. His single hand hovered midair, perfectly still. No wasted motion. No tremor. It wasn't a mere gesture.
"Are you blind," Zenith said evenly, "or mocking me? You don't suppose to say something like my strike would miss?"
Monster's smile deepened. "Ah. Of the three of you, yours is the one most likely to reach me. But do tell me—" His arm lifted, slowly, deliberately, fingers brushing past Zenith's face into his black-and-mint hair, twisting a strand. "Would it even matter? You're all so weak now. Me stopping and you stopping me are very different things. Don't mistake them."
Something coiled around his wrist. Not hair. Not rope. Living, breathing, yet not flesh.
"If you're so eager," came another voice — deep and certain — "then step forward. Show us."
"Sylph… your damn vines. Release them. It's disgusting." Sylph's dark-green eyes gleamed as vines uncurled beneath his cloak, threading up Monster's back, gripping his arm. Not a warning. Stranglers — born of his own dark forest-like hair, like nature itself had found its prey.
Monster's gaze slid sideways, trying to glance back without moving. "Sylph…" His tone, for the first time, sounded like a warning.
"What is it?" Sylph's voice was grave. "Move. Give me, give us a reason. Let me see how nature swallows you."
The vines tightened. The blade pressed closer. Zenith's hand never wavered.
Monster laughed — low and heavy. "So serious, all of you... Very well. Show—"
"Stop." A calm yet tired voice broke the mounting tension. "All of you, stop it. I'm thankful for the help, but if you provoke each other more, this will turn into a war."
"Original." Monster's grin returned. "If they want to dance, let them dance with me."
"No. We are not killing each other." Original's voice hardened. "I'll say it one more time. All of you — take a step back. Now."
It seemed uncertain whether they'd obey, but at his call, all three retreated. Even Monster released Zenith's hair and raised his hands.
A sigh. A shrug. "Fine. But what about them?" He pointed forward at the mirroring scene.
"Persona! Stand down! If you get in my way, I'll blow you away too!" Red flames danced around a man with long, messy gray hair and bright green eyes. A man of muscle and scars, a personality all the same, taking hits for those he protects, not because he can't avoid them.
"No! We promised not to hurt each other anymore!" Bright blue eyes, like moonlight on a lake, glared back. Long white hair shimmered in the glow of pale skin.
Persona and Feral stood face to face — fists locked, mirror reflections of battle and escape.
"I'm not gonna hurt him — I'm gonna kill him!" Feral pushed forward, the same force pushing back.
"Brother, calm down." A voice like stone through water. Abyss's hand rested on Feral's back— heavy enough to still any storm.
Amongst them all, Abyss stood apart. His tone, his skin, his aura. While most hid from the sun, pale complexions everywhere, he seemed forged beneath it — his skin a permanent deep tanned bronze, his black hair burned to strange chestnut brown, his eyes a light green-amber hue. Even his presence felt grounded, as if gravity itself listened.
Feral strained, but the dark weight of Abyss and Persona's reflection crushed his advance.
"Brother Feral," Abyss said, steady and measured, "if you won't listen to Brother Echo, then at least listen to me. You killing Monster would be… troublesome. We'll find another way. Step back, for now."
"Fine!" His flames died down abruptly.
"Finally." Persona sighed in relief.
"Fine…" Feral muttered again— but his flames shifted color. Red to yellow— then suddenly a green burst.
"Hey!?" Persona called out in surprise, but another thing just arrived, not giving a moment's rest.
"FUCK THIS! FUCKING EXESHAL SHIT FUCK!" A new voice erupted — raw, furious, volcanic, a storm.
Echo froze mid-sigh. His silver-blue eyes focused in and out, silver-blue hair waved from the fluctuating forces. "Exes… what?" He was just about to recover from the clashes and now another presence arrived, a blue storm which didn't make sense from the moment it appeared.
Flux, who looked at the figure, turned back to Echo, exasperated. "Don't be concerned. It's just… Unreasonable."
"SPARTA!!!" A straight kick came towards Feral. An explosion of force. Feral flew out from between Abyss and Persona, crashing into the invisible edge of the Altar.
"Un?" Dust cleared just as fast as before, Feral's body emerged from it unharmed— arm raised in a block.
"YOU FUCKFACE! HOW THE HELL DID YOU BLOCK THAT!? YOU WEREN'T EVEN LOOKING!" A storm— there was no other word for it– but this storm had a face.
Sea and sky folding into each other, the color of his way too long hair, countless shades of blue twisting into each other. Eyes, one silver, one gold, but the gold one shining much brighter.
"Don't shout before you attack. No, don't shout at all. You are way too loud; my ears are ringing. And why did you even attack me?" Compared to that screaming storm, even the usual Feral seemed calm, now almost detached.
The figure pointed at Feral. "YOU HAVE TO BOW DOWN!!!" The gold eye flared. Feral's head jerked downward as the figure leapt in.
"WHAT?" Feral's hand shot up, catching the kick, and with one motion, he threw the storming figure aside.
"Your commands have grown weaker."
The being twisted mid-air, landing upright, but his face twisted. "ALWAYS! FUCKING ALWAYS YOU FUCKING TROUBLEMAKER! Every time I step outside, it's you—YOU BASTARD! DO YOU WANNA DIE OUT!? Oh—my apologies, Eclipse." Silver replaced gold in intensity as he waved politely. The shift was absurdly sudden.
Eclipse just hummed while shaking his head. "Uh-huh."
"Reason," Original said, "what happened outside?"
"Happened!? HAPPENED!? BECAUSE OF THIS BASTARD I ALMOST DIED— NO, I ALMOST FAILED— ME!"
As the gold glow took over once more... Echo, who just got up, wondered, 'Failure means more than life...'
"I did nothing," Feral replied calmly, dusting off.
"NOTHING!? IT'S YOU, IT'S ALWAYS FUCKING YOU!"
"Alright... Fine, I was going to deal with many anyway, one more matters little." Feral cracked his neck. He was still fully ready to fight things through.
Original stepped between them. "Enough."
Then it struck. Just as suddenly as Reason arrived, a sharp scream cut through.
Persona's hands shot to his face. "AHH—MY EYES!!" His fingers clawed at nothing, trying to tear out the invisible pain.
Feral's eyes widened, a thought process: Is this a play, something to make him lower his guard? But this never actually happened, no...
The moment the sound and the feeling reached Feral, that was the exact moment his body reacted. No one's eyes or brain could even process the movement, not until Feral's arms were holding Persona from falling.
"Persona!?" Holding him up, seeing the pained face, Feral's eyes shook. "Hey—what's wrong?"
"MY EYES—I CAN'T SEE! BROTHER, IT HURTS—WHERE ARE YOU!?"
"I'm here…" Feral's voice cracked as he gripped Persona's hand. He didn't just see it— he felt the pain.
Persona's hand "went limp, it slipped from Feral's grasp, Persona's lips trembled, mouthing words that made no sound. Then even his body stilled. Within mere moments, Persona already looked like a corpse.
"Original!?" Feral turned, desperate.
"Uh, ah, I feel he is alive but I..." Even Original looked unsure, everything happened too suddenly.
A deep hum answered. Aethyrion's vast eye opened in the void. "Hmh. I was wondering when it would appear."
"What? Snake!? Speak!! What's happening!? IS THIS YOUR DOING!!?" Feral shouted.
'Again? Danger... to induce the sense of danger in me. And even I missed his movements for a moment there. He, no, all of them really, they surprises me more and more, with them, it might actually work out.'
"SPEAK!!!" Feral's demand was thunderous.
"...A rebound," the ancient voice replied.
"Rebound? What are you talking about!?"
"A price," Aethyrion said. "For his power, that ability, it has a price doesn't it?"
"The price… his sight temporarily weakens if overused, yes. But that doesn't explain this—his body just shut off!"
"Then perhaps," Aethyrion murmured, "you were mistaken. Perhaps the price isn't just sight… but senses. Or body itself."
"That still doesn't make sense! He only reflected my punch—he's done that countless times!"
"Are you stupid, or slow?" For a moment Aethyrion's voice lost that deep echo.
"Don't fuck with me, snake! Explain!"
"Seven hundred,"
"What?"
"For over seven hundred years, that one has been using his power."
Feral fell silent.
"I can already understand. Each of you holds abilities somewhat alike to Unique Abilities— with power close to divine," Aethyrion continued.
"But power has a price. His— one that copies, reflects, and mirrors nearly anything— defied gods and fate alike. It fooled peering eyes and even the world itself, sparing you all from annihilation.
Even used passively, across centuries, the debt accumulates.
I wondered when the flood would come. It seems your punch or rather, its reflection, broke the dam."
Feral's jaw clenched. "What will happen to him?"
"As I see it— he isn't dying. This place is a reflection of your souls and minds. His body breathes here, so he is 'alive', but he can no longer move, nor sense anything beyond his own world. It seems he is… locked in."
"Locked in?"
"Yes. Into his own world. Since this realm is built from all of you, simply put he now is likely confined to his own. But…"
"But what?"
Aethyrion's tone darkened. "Being locked in a dark room alone is tolerable… for a while, that is."
Feral's eyes narrowed. "How long?"
"That depends on his specific price; you should know it better than I."
"That... It depends on what he reflects, but it's around two or three percent in both power and time... but that's..." Revealing one of their weaknesses shouldn't be done so easily. Yet neither Feral nor the others seemed particularly concerned with that.
"Yes… around twenty-one years. Suppose his mind survives that long alone— he will return. If not..." The silence finished the thought.
"Persona…" Feral whispered, looking at the still body in his arms he forgot everything he was fighting for a moment ago.
"Original…" he said again, quietly.
Original nodded once. "Understood. I'll take care of things outside with everyone. Take care and good luck, brother."
"I don't need luck." Feral stepped forward—and both vanished.
Aethyrion's eyes narrowed, and the whole world darkened with it. "Wait. Where did they go?"
"Feral took him to his own world," Original said.
"Interesting...
But— that changes nothing.
Persona is trapped in his own world— no one can enter, no, wait...
With that move just now, I suppose you all can enter each other's worlds, but that still fixes nothing.
Entering and leaving are two different things. The world will remain locked down. If he enters, both of them will be locked in."
"That might be true," Original answered softly. "But Feral doesn't care. He's going there… to save his little brother."
A moment of silence stretched out.
But it was soon broken by an unconcerned voice. "Hah, at least we are rid of him for a while." Flux spun around in place; he seemed rather happy.
"Flux," Aurora called from beside him.
"What? He was speaking like he would fight all of us, like he could even beat us. At least this fixes things, even if temporarily." Flux poked around.
"And you are speaking like your first action wouldn't be running away if he actually lost control." And Aurora poked back.
Hearing the two speak like that, Echo couldn't help question. "Wait, is Feral actually strong enough to fight everyone?"
Both looked back at Echo. A moment of contemplation passed over them, but neither Aurora nor Flux answered.