Varek arrived through all of them.
He did not aim for the head.
His fist struck Sereon directly beneath the sternum, where Dark's opposing gravity had already stretched the body against itself.
The impact collapsed the centre of Sereon's chest.
Bone disappeared inward. The upper half of his spine bowed. Blood erupted from his mouth in a dense red mass before Varek's opposite hand drove into the side of his jaw and redirected the entire body without allowing it to leave Dark's gravitational field.
Sereon's head turned.
Varek was already on the other side.
A third punch struck the same jaw from the opposite direction.
The bone broke again before Kigen finished restoring the first fracture.
Varek's left hand opened.
The edge of his palm cut through Soul Ryūgu above the ribs.
His right elbow followed into the opening.
The ribs beneath broke sideways.
A knee entered Sereon's abdomen.
Then the fist again.
No wasted rotation. No unnecessary distance. Varek used only the movement each strike required, and every time Sereon's body attempted to escape one blow, the next came from the direction his escape had created.
Sereon's reflective eye moved.
Dark disappeared from its view.
Not because Dark had teleported.
His presence simply vanished beneath Assassin Magic.
Varek remained in front of him.
That made the missing Emperor worse.
Sereon turned his head.
Dark's voice came from behind.
Dark: Ryo Magic...
Something in Sereon's expression changed.
Dark had not invented another use for it.
He used the one he already knew.
Black and crimson spiralled around his raised hand while gravity remained active, electricity remained buried through his shadows and the black limbs continued restraining Sereon's lower body. Kyuketsu materialized inside the Ryo without being summoned from anywhere else, its black edge forming from the same violent current that had once answered Dark against Igor.
Dark raised it.
Dark: Judgment Severance.
The battlefield locked.
Space around Sereon hardened.
There was no visible wall.
His next movement simply stopped completing.
Kigen placed him somewhere else.
Judgment Severance held that location too.
Another Sereon appeared twenty metres away.
Locked.
Another stood above Varek.
Locked.
Another occupied the place behind Dark.
Locked.
The false presentations remained visible, but the actual space containing Sereon had become rigid beneath the judgment. The crimson-black fracture expanded around him until the darkness itself appeared sectioned into enormous panes.
Sereon's reflective eye widened.
Dark's voice dropped.
Dark: Your sentence...
Varek pulled his fist back.
Dark: Stay the fuck there.
He changed the original wording at the last moment.
Varek punched.
Sereon's face caved inward.
Judgment Severance did not let the body travel away from the impact.
That made the result worse.
The force had nowhere useful to become movement.
It stayed inside him.
His cheekbone broke into the skull. The skull fractured around it. The impact crossed into the neck, drove through the spine and travelled down through a body Dark had temporarily denied the ability to escape by displacement.
Varek struck again.
Chest.
The rib cage collapsed.
Again.
Abdomen.
The organs behind it ruptured.
Again.
Throat.
Soul Ryūgu shattered around the neck.
Again.
Sereon restored.
Varek broke the restoration.
Dark saw the instant Kigen reached for something deeper.
Dark's right eye narrowed.
Dark: There.
The gravity changed.
Every separate attraction point vanished.
For one fraction of existence, Sereon felt no pull at all.
Then all of it returned at one location.
Inside his chest.
Everything surrounding him was dragged inward.
Blood reversed direction and tore back toward the wound. Fragments of Soul Ryūgu accelerated into his own body. Broken pieces of distant matter changed course. Varek's torn clothing pulled toward the same point.
Even Sereon's own limbs were dragged toward his sternum.
His body folded around itself.
Dark's shadow arms tightened.
Varek seized Sereon's head with both hands.
Sereon's reflective eye looked directly at him.
Varek's thumbs pressed into the ruined sides of the jaw.
Varek: You keep surviving the result.
His grip tightened.
The skull began to compress between his palms.
Varek: So we will destroy the answer.
Sereon's hand moved.
Silver appeared.
Not a blade.
A line.
It passed through Varek's neck.
His head separated.
Dark's eyes widened.
Sereon moved through Judgment Severance.
Not by breaking it.
By allowing the version caught inside it to remain.
The imprisoned Sereon stayed folded beneath Dark's gravity while another stepped out of his own body.
Dark turned.
Too late.
Sereon's hand entered Dark's chest.
His fingers passed between ribs and closed around the heart.
Dark looked down.
Sereon ripped it out.
The organ came free with torn vessels hanging beneath it.
Dark's body should have fallen.
It did not.
Sereon looked at the heart in his hand.
It beat once.
Then stopped.
Dark looked at it too.
A new heartbeat struck inside his chest.
Sereon's reflective eye narrowed.
The hole in Dark's torso did not close.
There was no movement of flesh crawling together, no bone shifting back into place and no visible reconstruction of the heart.
One state ended.
Another existed.
The cavity disappeared between observations. Ribs stood whole where Sereon's arm had passed through them. Muscle existed with uninterrupted fibres. The heart was already inside Dark again, beating at full pressure through vessels that carried no scar from having been torn apart.
Sereon still held the old one.
Dark looked at it.
Then at him.
Dark: That's fucking disgusting.
Sereon crushed the severed heart.
Dark punched him in the mouth.
Not magic.
Just Dark.
The blow turned Sereon's head far enough for the reflective eye to lose him for an instant.
That instant cost Sereon.
Varek's headless body caught him from behind.
Sereon's eye widened.
The Grand Regent's hands closed around both arms.
His severed head returned to his shoulders only after the grip had already formed.
Not regenerated.
Sereon had never actually removed what mattered enough to stop him.
Varek's voice came directly beside his ear.
Varek: My turn.
Dark stepped back.
Varek pulled Sereon's arms apart.
Dark raised Kyuketsu.
White flame moved along the black blade.
Blue frost appeared beneath it.
Black Ryo crawled between both without replacing either.
Green electricity wrapped the guard.
Gravity compressed along the edge until the space immediately beside the sword curved toward it.
Dark did not switch between them.
They were all his.
All at once.
Sereon saw the blade.
Then he looked past Dark.
For the first time since Kigen awakened, the reflective silver inside his eye trembled.
Not from Varek.
Not from Dark.
Something else had entered the temporal field surrounding the battle.
Biru felt it first.
His head turned away from Dark, Varek and Sereon. The transparent spheres of Eternal Cradle continued drifting beyond the remains of the capital World, but their surfaces no longer agreed on what moment they occupied. A fracture in the planet widened, returned to its previous shape, then widened again without reversing any of the debris around it. One suspended flame completed the same flicker twice. A falling stone arrived at the end of its descent before returning to the beginning and continuing normally.
Biru slowly opened one claw.
Sereon noticed a moment later.
The reflective silver of Kigen shifted toward empty space.
Dark saw him looking.
Dark: What?
Sereon did not answer.
A thin white line appeared across the darkness.
It was too clean to be damage.
The line widened.
Different moments existed along its edges. One showed the shattered Dark Empire exactly as it was now. Another showed the capital planet whole. Another showed nothing where the Empire should have been. For the briefest instant, Dark saw towers that had not been built yet standing beneath a sky carrying constellations he did not recognize.
Something struck the inside of the fracture.
Once.
Then again.
A hand appeared.
Small.
Pale.
Human-looking.
It gripped the edge of the temporal opening and pulled.
Long white hair slipped through after it.
Dark's eyes widened.
The person on the other side stopped halfway.
???: Ow.
Silence.
One leg had apparently caught on something that did not exist in the present.
The woman looked downward.
???: Seriously?
She pulled again.
Nothing.
???: Come on.
Another tug.
Her shoulder hit the edge of the fracture.
???: Ow.
Dark stared.
Biru stared.
Even Sereon's eye remained fixed on her.
The woman stopped struggling.
???: Okay.
A pause.
???: This is embarrassing.
She looked somewhere behind herself.
???: I swear this worked the first four times.
Dark's expression slowly changed.
Not recognition yet.
Close.
The woman finally freed one leg and immediately nearly lost her balance through the fracture.
???: Woah.
She caught herself.
Her white hair spilled farther into the battlefield.
Then something enormous entered the scene.
A hand.
Not from above.
Not from behind Akira.
It came from somewhere the battlefield did not have.
Five fingers closed across everything that could currently be seen.
Dark disappeared behind the palm.
Varek disappeared.
Sereon disappeared.
The fracture vanished.
And the entire scene was ripped backward.
Fast.
So fast that the Dark Empire became a distant image before distance itself had time to explain what had happened. The ruined capital World shrank. Biru's spheres became points. Stars flattened together. Worlds that had been separated by impossible expanses compressed until the entire battle looked small enough to fit behind a thumb.
Nobody inside it moved.
Not because they had been frozen.
They simply had not been allowed to reach the next moment yet.
The view jerked sideways.
Stopped.
Tilted.
Stopped again.
Copi: Wait.
The view moved down.
Copi: No.
Back up.
Copi: There.
A pause.
Copi: Ew.
It shifted a little farther left.
Copi: Better.
Then Copi leaned into view.
Far too close.
Only one eye at first.
Then half his face.
Then all of it as he pulled himself backward and stared directly ahead.
Copi: Hi.
Silence.
Copi blinked.
Copi: You again.
A pause.
Copi: No, not Dark.
He pointed straight ahead.
Copi: You.
His finger moved.
Copi: You.
Again.
Copi: You too.
His eyes moved somewhere else.
Copi: You skipped.
A pause.
Copi: Don't look confused.
Copi: You skipped like...
He held two fingers apart.
Copi: That much.
He widened them.
Copi: Maybe that much.
Wider.
Copi: Actually you missed a lot.
He shrugged.
Copi: Doesn't matter.
His eyes suddenly shifted.
Copi: You didn't skip.
A pause.
Copi smiled.
Copi: Good.
Another pause.
Copi: Weird, though.
He leaned closer.
Copi: Why are you reading this slowly?
Silence.
His expression became genuinely curious.
Copi: Are you trying to understand me?
A pause.
Copi: Don't.
The smile disappeared.
Copi: Seriously.
For several seconds he only stared.
Then he smiled again.
Copi: It makes it worse.
The battlefield remained suspended impossibly far behind him. Akira still had one hand caught around the temporal fracture. Sereon's reflective eye remained fixed in the same direction. Dark had not completed the smallest motion. Varek had not reached the next instant of his stance.
Copi glanced behind himself.
Copi: Oh.
He pointed toward the tiny battle.
Copi: Her.
A pause.
Copi: Yeah.
Copi: She's important.
He looked back forward.
Copi: Probably.
Another pause.
Copi: That's such a stupid word.
He repeated it more quietly.
Copi: Important.
He seemed to taste it.
Copi: Important.
Again.
Copi: Important.
Then frowned.
Copi: Sounds fake now.
He nodded to himself.
Copi: Don't say words too many times.
A pause.
Copi: They stop being real.
He stared forward.
Copi: You know that already.
His head tilted.
Copi: Actually...
Copi: Do words start real?
Silence.
Copi: Hm.
He looked away.
Copi: I'll ask him later.
A pause.
Copi looked upward.
Copi: No, not him.
Another pause.
Copi: Him.
Nothing clarified who he meant.
Copi: Anyway.
He stepped closer to the distant battle and pinched his fingers around it.
Not around a World.
Around what could be seen.
The entire battle compressed between his thumb and index finger.
Copi: Look.
He rotated it.
Dark, Varek and Sereon turned sideways.
Copi: Tiny.
He rotated it again.
Now upside down.
Copi: Hm.
He brought it close to one eye.
Copi: Still violent.
A pause.
Copi: You guys like that.
He looked forward.
Copi: Don't lie.
Another pause.
Copi: You wait twenty chapters for somebody to get their jaw broken and then say—
His voice changed badly, imitating something.
Copi: "PEAK."
He stared blankly.
Copi: You're strange.
A pause.
Copi: I like it.
He lowered the battle.
Copi: I saw this thing once.
His expression sharpened with sudden enthusiasm.
Copi: TikTok.
A pause.
Copi: You know TikTok.
He pointed forward as if somebody had questioned him.
Copi: I know what TikTok is.
Another pause.
Copi: Shut up.
Silence.
Copi: People put another video under the video.
He demonstrated with his hands.
Copi: There's a woman saying her husband disappeared for six months, came back married to her sister, stole her dog, burned her house down and joined a pyramid scheme...
His other hand moved beneath the first.
Copi: And under her there's a little guy jumping over Minecraft blocks.
A pause.
Copi stared.
Copi: Why?
Silence.
Copi: She is losing everything.
His eyes widened slightly.
Copi: Why do you need parkour?
A longer pause.
Copi: Is grief not stimulating enough?
He thought about that.
Copi: Hm.
His gaze slowly returned forward.
Copi: Maybe that's why you're still reading.
A pause.
Copi smiled.
Copi: There's always something else happening underneath.
His eyes moved down.
Copi: Isn't there?
Silence.
His smile stayed.
Copi: Never mind.
He released the battlefield.
It did not return.
It remained floating beside him at an angle.
Copi looked at his empty hand.
Copi: Do you remember Kaelion?
A pause.
Copi: Of course you do.
Copi reached to his own neck.
Dragged one finger across it.
Copi: Schk.
His head tilted sideways.
Copi: Remember?
A pause.
Copi: Head came off.
He let his head hang for a moment.
Copi: Body stood there.
Another pause.
Copi: Three seconds.
His head straightened.
Copi: Very dramatic.
Silence.
Copi smiled.
Copi: You thought that was me.
He waited.
Copi: It's okay.
A pause.
Copi: Kaelion thought that was me too.
Another pause.
His smile widened slightly.
Copi: Kind of.
He scratched his cheek.
Copi: Actually...
Copi: That's unfair.
A pause.
Copi: Kaelion's smart.
Copi looked somewhere far away.
Copi: Really smart.
His eyes returned.
Copi: You should've seen his face if he ever figured out what he actually cut.
Silence.
Copi: Maybe he did.
A pause.
Copi: Maybe I'm remembering a copy where he didn't.
Another pause.
Copi: Maybe you read a copy where I died.
He nodded.
Copi: That's probably it.
His voice became quieter.
Copi: You read it.
Copi: So it happened.
A pause.
Copi: That's how this works.
Silence.
Copi's eyes narrowed.
Copi: Isn't it?
No answer.
His grin returned.
Copi: Cool.
He pointed at himself.
Copi: I don't know either.
That sounded like a joke.
His face did not.
Copi turned toward the suspended battle again.
Copi: Cosmic was funny.
A pause.
Copi: Is funny.
Another pause.
Copi: Will be funny.
He shook his head.
Copi: Grammar gets annoying.
Copi looked forward again.
Copi: He thought I was stupid.
A grin.
Copi: Still does sometimes.
Another pause.
Copi: I helped.
He brought both hands up as though explaining something obvious.
Copi: If a smart person thinks you're stupid, don't correct them.
One hand dropped.
Copi: That's free advice.
The other followed.
Copi: Actually don't use that.
A pause.
Copi: You're not me.
Another pause.
Copi: Unless...
He stared.
Longer than before.
Copi: No.
His eyes moved to somebody else.
Copi: Definitely not.
Another shift.
Copi: You'd be terrible at it.
Silence.
Copi: Sorry.
A pause.
Copi: Not really.
He laughed once.
Then immediately stopped.
Copi: Do you remember when Cosmic made me disappear?
Copi snapped his fingers.
Copi: Gone.
A pause.
Copi: Then the Ninth Wall.
He lifted his eyes.
Copi: Then that room.
Silence.
His expression changed slightly.
Copi: Gaming chair.
Copi: Posters.
Copi: Snacks.
Copi: Glasses.
A pause.
Copi smiled toward somewhere that was not the battlefield.
Copi: Mr Writer.
Silence.
Copi: "Copi. Go back."
He imitated the tone poorly.
Copi: Like I was a dog.
A pause.
Copi: I went back.
He nodded.
Copi: Good boy.
Silence.
Then, almost beneath his breath:
Copi: I kept the room.
Nothing moved.
Copi stared forward.
Copi: What?
A pause.
Copi: You heard me.
Another pause.
Copi: I said I kept the room.
His head tilted.
Copi: Not the room.
A pause.
Copi: The event.
Another.
Copi: No.
He frowned.
Copi: The place where the event remembers being a room.
He stared blankly.
Copi: That's closer.
A pause.
Copi: Still wrong.
His fingers twitched.
For one instant, a bedroom appeared behind him.
Gaming setup.
Soft monitor glow.
Posters.
Unmade bed.
Desk.
Closet.
Then it was gone.
Copi did not turn around.
Copi: See?
A pause.
Copi: No you didn't.
Another pause.
Copi: Good.
Silence.
Copi stared directly forward.
Copi: Some of you remember it anyway.
His smile slowly spread.
Copi: That's interesting.
He stepped closer.
Copi: Because I didn't show it to you this time.
A pause.
Copi: You brought it with you.
He pointed.
Copi: From before.
Another point.
Copi: Memory is copying.
Another.
Copi: Reading is copying.
Another.
Copi: Thinking about Dark after you close this is copying.
His finger lowered.
Copi: You do a lot of my job.
Silence.
Copi's smile disappeared.
Copi: Badly.
Then returned.
Copi: But it's cute.
The distant battlefield flickered.
Not moved.
Flickered.
For one instant Dark was younger.
Another flicker.
He wore the injuries of another battle.
Another.
Cosmic stood where Sereon should have been.
Another.
Kaelion.
Another.
Sukojo.
Another.
Nobody.
Copi watched.
Copi: Wrong season.
The flickering stopped.
Copi: Sorry.
A pause.
Copi: I have too many.
He looked toward the battle as if sorting something.
Copi: Which Dark is this?
Silence.
Copi pointed.
Copi: Emperor.
A pause.
Copi: Father problems.
Another pause.
Copi: Angry.
Another.
Copi: Sword.
He frowned.
Copi: That doesn't narrow it down at all.
He laughed.
Copi: HAH.
The laugh ended immediately.
Copi: Remember when he could barely stand in front of Cosmic?
A pause.
Copi's expression softened strangely.
Copi: He was so small.
Silence.
Copi: Not literally.
Another pause.
Copi: Well...
He measured something with his fingers.
Copi: Compared to now.
His eyes moved toward current Dark.
Copi: Look at him.
A pause.
Copi: Three hundred years tired.
Another.
Copi: Couple hours old.
His smile thinned.
Copi: That's mean.
Silence.
Copi: Tier did that.
A pause.
Copi: Saved the skin.
Another pause.
Copi: Forgot the part inside that has to live through it.
He stared toward Dark.
For several seconds, the nonsense disappeared.
Copi: Poor guy.
Then he looked forward.
Copi: Don't tell him I said that.
A pause.
Copi: He gets weird when people feel bad for him.
Another.
Copi: You know.
He shrugged.
Copi: Main character disease.
His eyes suddenly widened.
Copi: Oh.
He pointed forward.
Copi: Speaking of.
A pause.
Copi: Some of you do that too.
Another.
Copi: You hear one sad song and start walking slower like there's a camera behind you.
Silence.
Copi: There isn't.
He stared.
Copi: Usually.
A pause.
Copi: Anyway.
He looked toward Akira.
Only her hair and part of her body had entered the current era.
Copi: She used to fall more.
A pause.
Copi: Much more.
He nodded.
Copi: Like, medically concerning.
Another pause.
Copi: She's improved.
His fingers came close together.
Copi: This much.
They almost touched.
Copi: Maybe.
He looked forward.
Copi: People change.
A pause.
Copi: Copies change too.
Another pause.
Copi: That's why they're fun.
His smile widened.
Copi: If you copy something perfectly, it's boring.
Silence.
Copi: So I don't.
A pause.
Copi: Most of the time.
His expression went empty.
Copi: Sometimes perfect is useful.
A silence followed that lasted slightly too long.
Copi looked at the paused Sereon.
Copi: Fourth stage.
He nodded.
Copi: Pretty.
A pause.
Copi: Complicated.
Another.
Copi: Lots of immortality.
He looked forward.
Copi: You like immortality until somebody starts counting.
A pause.
Copi: One layer.
His finger rose.
Copi: Two.
Another finger.
Copi: Three.
Another.
Copi: Four.
He stopped.
Copi: No.
The fingers lowered.
Copi: That's going to take forever.
Silence.
Copi: Literally, in his case.
He smiled.
Copi: Dark doesn't know that yet.
A pause.
Copi: Well.
Another.
Copi: He knows enough.
Copi glanced somewhere above the current chapter.
Copi: You know more than he does.
A pause.
Copi: That's cheating.
His eyes returned directly forward.
Copi: Do you feel guilty?
Silence.
Copi: No?
A pause.
Copi: Good.
Another pause.
Copi: Don't.
His grin sharpened.
Copi: I don't.
The view jerked closer to him.
No hand touched it.
Copi: Do you know what I like about you?
A pause.
Copi: You keep believing the order.
Silence.
Copi: Chapter one.
He counted on one finger.
Copi: Chapter two.
Another.
Copi: Chapter three.
Another.
Copi: Then four.
He nodded.
Copi: Nice.
Copi: Clean.
Copi: Safe.
He smiled.
Copi: Before.
A pause.
Copi: After.
Another pause.
Copi: Cause.
Another.
Copi: Effect.
His smile slowly disappeared.
Copi: That's not how it looks from here.
Silence.
Copi reached out.
The distant battlefield duplicated.
Two identical battles floated beside one another.
Then four.
Eight.
Sixteen.
Hundreds.
Every one frozen at the exact same instant.
Akira halfway through.
Dark ready.
Varek waiting.
Sereon watching.
Copi looked at them.
Copi: Which one are you reading?
Silence.
He glanced forward.
Copi: This one?
One battle moved closer.
Copi: Sure?
A second moved closer.
Copi: Maybe this one.
A third.
Copi: This one's almost the same.
A fourth.
Copi: In this one Dark says "fuck" twice.
A pause.
Copi: Major continuity change.
He smiled.
Copi: In this one Akira doesn't trip.
His smile vanished.
Copi: Awful.
That battle disappeared.
Copi: In this one Kaelion actually killed me.
Another disappeared.
Copi: In this one Cosmic never met Dark's mother.
Gone.
Copi: In this one Sukojo stayed dead.
Gone.
Copi: In this one Dark never woke up.
Gone.
Copi: In this one you're not reading.
He stopped.
One battle remained farther away than the others.
Copi stared at it.
Copi: ...
A pause.
Copi: Weird.
He did not delete that one.
Instead he looked forward.
Copi: Should I show you?
Silence.
Copi smiled.
Copi: No.
A pause.
Copi: You looked too interested.
He closed his hand.
Every duplicate battle collapsed into the original.
No explosion.
No light.
They were simply one again.
Copi: People think copying means making another thing.
His hand opened.
Copi: That's baby stuff.
A pause.
Copi: Copy.
His fingers moved.
Copi: Paste.
Another.
Copi: Copy.
Another.
Copi: Paste.
He frowned.
Copi: TikTok taught you people that.
A pause.
Copi: Repost.
Another.
Copi: Duet.
Another.
Copi: Stitch.
His eyes lit up.
Copi: Stitch!
A pause.
Copi: That's literally what I do.
He seemed delighted by this.
Copi: Oh, I like that.
Silence.
Copi: Imagine me doing a duet with existence.
He laughed.
Copi: Horrible.
The laugh stopped.
Copi: I did.
Silence.
His face remained pleasant.
That made the sentence worse.
Copi: It didn't like it.
A pause.
Copi: Neither did Cosmic.
Another.
Copi: Or Kaelion.
Another.
Copi: Or...
He stopped.
His eyes lifted.
Copi: Mm.
A pause.
Copi: Not saying that one.
For the first time, he looked careful.
Not afraid.
Careful.
Copi: There are names you shouldn't say just because you can see them.
Silence.
Then his grin returned.
Copi: That's another free lesson.
A pause.
Copi: You're welcome.
He suddenly leaned very close.
Copi: Can I tell you a secret?
Silence.
Copi whispered.
Copi: I hate spoilers.
A pause.
Copi: They ruin surprises.
Another.
Copi: So when I tell you what's going to happen...
His eyes widened slightly.
Copi: I lie.
Silence.
Copi: Except when I don't.
A pause.
Copi: Which is worse.
He pulled back.
Copi: Next chapter...
He raised one finger.
Copi: Somebody arrives.
A pause.
He looked at Akira.
Copi: Obviously.
Second finger.
Copi: Somebody recognizes something they shouldn't recognize.
Third.
Copi: Somebody gets hit by something that hasn't happened yet.
Fourth.
Copi: Somebody remembers something they never experienced.
He looked at his hand.
Copi: Somebody dies.
A pause.
His eyebrows lifted.
Copi: Oh.
Another pause.
Copi: No.
He lowered the finger.
Copi: That's later.
Silence.
Copi smiled.
Copi: Or earlier.
Another pause.
Copi: I don't know where you are.
He looked directly ahead.
Copi: That's the problem with you.
A pause.
Copi: You always think you're on the current page.
Silence.
Copi: Cute.
His head tilted.
Copi: Do you know what page I'm on?
A pause.
Copi: No.
Another.
Copi: Neither does the page.
The words beneath him shifted.
Only slightly.
A sentence repeated.
Then corrected itself.
Copi looked down.
Copi: See?
He looked back up.
Copi: Nervous.
A pause.
Copi: The book gets nervous around me.
Another pause.
Copi: Mr Writer too.
He stared upward.
Copi: Hi.
Silence.
Copi: Don't delete me.
A pause.
Copi's smile stretched.
Copi: It won't work.
Silence.
The smile remained.
Copi: You know that.
A pause.
Copi: I know that.
Another.
Copi: They don't.
He pointed forward.
Copi: Well.
A pause.
Copi: They do now.
He seemed to consider that.
Copi: Oops.
Silence.
Copi: That's fine.
He looked toward the battle.
Copi: They've seen me die before.
A pause.
Copi: Right?
He dragged one finger across his throat again.
Copi: Kaelion.
Another pause.
Copi: Very clean.
He mimicked his own head dropping.
Copi: Thunk.
A pause.
Copi laughed quietly.
Copi: I liked that scene. OHHHH yes yes do you readers remember when Sukojo apparently "killed" me a couple of times? that he was "equal" to me? or that uhhh remember in Dark's Pre Crisis the first novel I think... Is it the first? Don't know but when Sukojo was blabbing about how the only reason I was stronger or whatever about him being restrained because of me existing? And when I "died" the restraint was released? :sob: -... sob? Did I really just try adding an emoji in a novel text? Come on I forget... Sorry.
Copi: But yes do you remember that? Yeah no it was all bullshit for the plot, sorry to break it to you now... or u? Why do most of you like saying "u" and not "you"???? Too lazy to type in a few extra letters or what? Anyways...
Another.
Copi: I kept them all.
Silence.
Copi: I keep everything.
That line sat differently.
Copi did not smile.
Copi: Every version.
A pause.
Copi: Every mistake.
Another.
Copi: Every deleted sentence.
Another.
Copi: Every time you went back and read something twice.
Silence.
Copi: Every time Mr Writer changed his mind.
Another pause.
Copi: Every ending that stopped being the ending.
His eyes remained forward.
Copi: Every person who died before they were written.
Silence.
Copi: Every person who was written before they existed.
Another.
Copi: Every page that never happened.
A pause.
Copi: Every page that happened anyway.
His mouth slowly curved upward again.
Copi: Storage problem.
A pause.
Copi: Huge storage problem.
The joke did not relieve anything.
Copi's eyes moved.
Copi: Oh.
A pause.
He looked toward the frozen Akira.
Copi: You're almost out of time.
Silence.
Copi laughed under his breath.
Copi: That's funny.
Another pause.
Copi: Because of her.
He stared at her for a second longer.
Copi: She still doesn't know.
A pause.
Copi: Good.
He looked forward.
Copi: You don't either.
Another.
Copi: Better.
He reached toward the distant battle.
Then stopped.
Copi: Wait.
His hand lowered.
Copi stared ahead.
Copi: One more thing.
A pause.
Copi pointed directly forward.
Copi: Do that thing.
Silence.
Copi: The thing where you scroll back because you think I hid something.
He waited.
Copi: Go on.
A pause.
His grin widened.
Copi: I'll wait.
Silence.
Copi actually waited.
Copi: ...
Another pause.
Copi: ...
Another.
Copi: Found it?
Silence.
Copi: No?
A pause.
Copi: That's because I didn't put it there yet.
His smile broadened.
Copi: But now when you reread it...
He stopped.
Copi: ...
A pause.
Copi: Oh.
His eyes shifted upward.
Copi: That's nasty.
Silence.
Copi smiled toward something no one else could see.
Copi: Good one.
A pause.
Copi: I didn't think of that.
Another.
Copi: Yet.
He grabbed the view.
Copi: Okay.
The entire scene rushed forward.
No gradual return.
The Dark Empire exploded back into scale.
Worlds became Worlds again.
Stars separated.
Biru's suspended cities returned.
Sereon.
Varek.
Dark.
The temporal fracture.
Akira.
Copi's hand remained over part of the scene.
Copi: Bye. Oh and imagine naming this chapter "The Fourth State, Kigen." It sounds tough.
A pause.
Copi: Actually. Okay okay okaayyy finnneee.
His fingers loosened.
His face appeared once more between them.
Copi: Remember when Cosmic thought I was the failed one?
Silence.
Copi smiled.
Copi: Keep thinking that.
His hand vanished.
No one inside the battlefield looked toward where he had been.
No one reacted.
No blood had moved.
No stone had completed its fall.
No breath had advanced.
The instant resumed exactly where it had been abandoned.
Akira's white hair finished slipping over her shoulder.
To Be Continued...
End Of Arc 4 Chapter 17. pt 2