Akira's white hair finished slipping over her shoulder.
Her second leg came through the fracture a moment later, caught against its lower edge, and almost sent her face-first into what remained of the capital World.
Akira: Ah.
One arm swung outward.
Then the other.
For a fraction of a second, she balanced in a position no competent person would willingly choose before finally finding her footing.
Akira remained very still.
Akira: ...
She looked down at her boots.
Akira: Better.
Dark stared at her.
The temporal fracture remained open behind her, its white interior showing moments that did not belong beside one another. The capital World whole. The capital World destroyed. Towers not yet built. Empty land where Dark's Empire should have stood. For an instant, a version of the sky carrying unfamiliar constellations appeared behind Akira's hair before another moment replaced it.
Akira brushed the hair from her face.
Her eyes found Dark.
Recognition arrived immediately.
Akira: Oh.
Dark's brows lowered.
Akira looked him over.
Akira: You're this Dark.
Dark: ...Akira?
She smiled.
Akira: Hi.
Dark: What the fuck does "this Dark" mean?
Akira: That's a longer conversation.
Dark: I have had about three hundred years of long conversations today.
Akira's smile stopped.
Only slightly.
Her eyes moved over him again.
This time she actually looked.
Before she could speak, Sereon's shoulder came apart.
Varek had never released him.
The Grand Regent stood behind Sereon with both hands closed around his upper arms, one on each side. The grip alone had already fractured Soul Ryūgu around the shoulders, white plating splintering beneath fingers that possessed no magic, no Reiki and no artificial reinforcement whatsoever.
Then Varek pulled.
Sereon's right shoulder failed first.
The joint tore free with a wet internal crack, muscle stretching until fibres separated in cords around the exposed bone. The left followed before Kigen finished correcting the first. Blood burst across Varek's forearms. Soul Ryūgu attempted to grow over the damage and was torn apart again simply because Varek had not stopped applying force.
Akira turned.
Varek continued pulling.
Sereon's chest widened.
The sternum fractured.
His clavicles broke outward.
The remaining connective tissue around both shoulders began to give.
Akira: Who is that?
Dark did not take his eyes from Sereon.
Dark: Varek.
Akira: Is he angry?
Varek tore both arms free.
Blood erupted from either side of Sereon's torso.
Dark: Not especially.
Akira slowly looked at him.
Akira: That's worse.
Varek let both severed arms fall.
He stepped forward.
Sereon's reflective eye followed him.
Varek's hand closed around Sereon's throat.
Sereon had barely begun restoring the arms.
Varek drove him downward.
The capital World opened.
Not metaphorically.
The already fractured crust collapsed beneath Sereon's back as Varek forced him through it, his body disappearing into planetary material before the surrounding rock understood what had happened. The Grand Regent followed through the opening, one hand still locked around Sereon's neck.
Dark moved.
Akira caught his sleeve.
Dark looked at her.
Akira was staring at him.
Not his face.
Something around him.
Akira: Wait.
Dark: Why?
Akira's eyes moved from his shoulders to his chest and then farther, as though following scars extending somewhere behind his body.
Akira: How long have you been fighting?
Dark: Don't know.
Akira: Dark.
Dark: Three hundred and twenty-seven years.
Silence.
A distant continent split.
Akira looked at him.
Dark: Roughly.
Akira's expression went blank.
Dark: Don't.
Akira: I didn't say anything.
Dark: Your face did.
Akira: My face has rights.
Dark: Apparently not enough to stop you walking into walls.
Akira pointed at him.
Akira: I do that less now.
Dark: Congratulations.
Akira: Thank you.
The World beneath them erupted.
Varek came back through the planet.
Sereon came with him.
Not willingly.
Varek still held him by the throat.
The ascent had reduced most of Sereon's lower body to strips of tissue and exposed white structure. One leg ended above the knee. The other was twisted backward. His restored arms had only reached the elbow.
Varek threw him upward.
Not away.
Up.
Then physically overtook him.
Varek's fist struck Sereon's abdomen before the body had finished accelerating from the throw.
The torso folded.
The force reversed Sereon's direction.
Varek passed him again.
Another punch.
Chest.
Another.
Jaw.
Another.
Spine.
Every strike arrived from a different axis because Varek kept crossing the distance created by his own previous blow and attacking Sereon from the destination before Sereon could reach it.
Dark's eyes narrowed.
He teleported.
Akira watched him disappear.
Sereon crossed the battlefield.
Dark appeared ahead of him.
Kyuketsu was already moving.
Dark: Gravity Magic...
The space around Sereon's left hip collapsed inward.
Not enough.
It never would have been enough.
Sereon's body could still move.
That was not what Dark wanted.
One leg arrived behind the rest of him.
Barely.
Dark's fingers closed.
Dark: Celestial Burial.
The gravitational vectors multiplied.
One seized the shoulder.
Another the spine.
Another the knee.
Another pulled backward against the base of the skull.
Sereon's motion became imperfect.
Varek arrived inside that imperfection.
His fist entered Sereon's chest.
Soul Ryūgu broke around the knuckles.
Ribs ceased existing in the path of the strike.
The spine snapped backward.
The whole torso wrapped around Varek's forearm before the rest of Sereon's body was launched away.
Dark followed.
Kyuketsu cut through the exposed side.
Black flame entered.
Sereon's reflective eye turned toward him.
Dark drove the blade deeper.
Dark: Got you.
Akira's voice reached him.
Akira: Dark.
Dark twisted Kyuketsu.
The edge moved through flesh.
Akira: Dark.
Dark: Busy.
Akira: Why are you stabbing Varek?
Dark froze.
His hand remained around Kyuketsu's grip.
He looked down.
The blade was buried through Varek's abdomen.
Blood ran over the guard.
Dark stared.
Varek's hand closed around the flat of the blade and pulled it out of himself.
Dark felt real tissue resist.
Real warmth.
Real blood.
Varek looked down at the wound.
Then at Dark.
Varek: Your aim is poor.
Dark: I was cutting Sereon.
Varek: You were cutting me.
Dark looked over Varek's shoulder.
Sereon stood thirty metres away.
Whole.
Not merely restored.
Uninjured.
Both arms present.
No wounds.
No blood.
Nothing.
Akira frowned.
Dark looked at her.
Dark: You saw him there.
Akira: No.
Dark: I was literally inside his ribs.
Akira: You swung beside him.
Dark stared.
Akira pointed toward Varek.
Akira: Then he walked into your sword.
Varek: I did not.
Akira: I said what I saw.
Varek's eyes shifted toward her.
Dark: What did you see him do?
Akira: Sereon?
Dark: Yes.
Akira looked toward Sereon.
Akira: Nothing.
Dark's expression hardened.
Sereon moved.
His right foot slid forward.
Dark recognized the stance.
Mizukagami.
Sereon's weight disappeared from the obvious line before the rest of him followed.
Dark stepped inside.
Kyuketsu met silver.
The impact was real.
He felt it.
The shock travelled through both arms.
Sereon rotated Suigōraku.
Dark followed.
The second cut came high.
Dark ducked beneath it.
His shoulder struck Sereon's chest.
Black material erupted around Dark's forearm and hardened into hooks.
They entered Soul Ryūgu.
Dark ripped sideways.
White armor tore open.
Sereon's elbow drove toward his temple.
Dark caught it.
Dark: Not this time.
Sereon's reflective eye narrowed.
Dark drove his knee into the abdomen.
Sereon folded.
Blood left his mouth.
Dark pivoted.
Kyuketsu's pommel smashed into the side of his skull.
Bone cracked.
Dark followed with another strike.
Akira: Left!
Dark moved left.
Suigōraku went through his face.
The silver blade entered beside the nose, crossed through the skull and emerged from behind his head.
Dark staggered.
Ryo corrected the damage instantly.
Dark ripped himself off the blade.
Dark: You said left!
Akira stared.
Akira: I said don't move!
Dark: You said left!
Akira: No!
Dark: I heard you!
Akira: I did not say it!
Varek struck.
His fist passed through Sereon's chest.
Blood exploded from the back.
The ribs compressed.
The organs beneath ruptured.
Varek's arm emerged behind Sereon's spine.
His eyes sharpened.
Varek: There.
His other hand closed around the back of Sereon's neck.
He pulled.
Sereon's body slid farther along his arm.
Then Varek looked down.
Nothing.
No blood.
No body.
His fist hung in empty space.
Varek did not move for a fraction.
Dark saw him.
Dark: Varek.
The Grand Regent's eyes shifted.
Dark: He's behind you.
Varek turned.
Sereon's blade cut his throat.
Deep.
Blood erupted.
Varek's hand closed around Sereon's wrist.
Real.
He pulled.
Sereon's eyes widened.
Varek's forehead struck his face.
The nose disappeared inward.
Another headbutt.
Teeth burst from Sereon's mouth.
A third.
Soul Ryūgu fractured over the forehead.
Varek raised his other hand.
His palm slammed into the side of Sereon's jaw.
The entire lower half of the face shifted.
Dark moved to assist.
Akira: Stop.
Dark stopped.
Dark: What now?
Akira was staring at Varek.
Akira: He's not holding Sereon.
Dark looked.
Varek very clearly was.
His hand surrounded Sereon's wrist.
Blood covered both of them.
Sereon's face was destroyed.
Dark: Yes, he fucking is.
Akira: No.
Dark: Akira.
Akira: I'm telling you, no.
Varek's fingers tightened.
The wrist broke.
He pulled the arm backward.
The shoulder tore.
Sereon grunted.
Akira stared at empty space beside him.
Akira: Varek!
Varek ignored her.
Akira: Move!
Varek ripped the arm free.
Dark saw blood.
Bone.
Torn tendons.
Real.
Akira saw nothing.
Then Varek's chest opened.
Not from Sereon.
From Dark.
Kyuketsu protruded through the Grand Regent's sternum.
Dark's eyes widened.
He was twenty metres away.
He had not moved.
Varek looked down at the black blade emerging from his body.
Dark looked down at Kyuketsu.
It remained in his own hand.
Akira stepped backward.
Akira: Oh.
Dark: What?
Akira: This is bad.
Dark: You just noticed?
Akira: No.
She looked between them.
Akira: I thought he was making you see different things.
Dark's expression changed.
Akira's eyes narrowed.
Akira: He's making you participate in different fights.
Varek looked at the blade through his chest.
His hand closed around it.
The weapon felt real.
His blood felt real.
The damage felt real.
He pulled.
The sword came out.
Dark's Kyuketsu never moved.
Varek stared at the weapon in his hand.
It looked identical.
Same edge.
Same weight.
Same scarred black surface.
Same pressure.
Varek crushed it.
The false Kyuketsu broke.
At the exact same moment, Dark's real sword cracked.
Dark looked down.
A fracture ran through his blade.
Dark: ...
Akira's eyes widened.
Akira: Okay.
Dark: What the fuck did he just do?
Sereon's voice answered.
Sereon: Nothing.
Dark turned.
Sereon stood in front of him.
No wounds.
No blood.
Sereon: That is the point.
Dark attacked.
Kyuketsu crossed Sereon's neck.
The head came free.
Dark felt everything.
Skin.
Muscle.
Vertebrae.
Release.
Blood.
The severed head turned in the air.
Sereon's reflective eye looked at him.
Sereon: You still believe a technique must replace reality to control you.
Dark's abdomen opened.
A silver line divided him from hip to hip.
Dark restored.
The severed head vanished.
Sereon stood behind Varek.
Varek turned.
His fist hit Sereon's face.
The skull collapsed.
Sereon disappeared.
Akira raised one hand.
Akira: Wait.
Neither listened.
Dark teleported.
Varek accelerated.
Sereon stood between them.
Dark's blade entered first.
Varek's fist followed.
The blade passed through Sereon's heart.
The fist destroyed the head.
Both attacks connected.
Both felt real.
Dark saw blood.
Varek saw blood.
Akira screamed.
They stopped.
Dark looked toward her.
A black blade protruded through Akira's chest.
His blade.
Kyuketsu.
Dark's hand was still around the hilt.
He looked down.
The weapon extended from his hand, crossed empty space and entered Akira forty metres away.
Dark froze.
Akira looked down at it.
Blood ran over the front of her clothes.
Akira: ...
Dark released Kyuketsu.
The sword remained inside her.
Dark teleported.
He caught her before she fell.
Akira's fingers clutched his shoulder.
Blood entered her mouth.
Dark: Akira.
Her eyes moved toward him.
Dark: Stay still.
Black material spread from his hand toward the wound.
It passed through her.
No resistance.
Dark's hand entered empty air.
Akira vanished.
Dark remained kneeling.
No blood.
No blade.
No body.
Sereon's foot struck his face.
Dark left the surface.
He corrected in midair.
Varek crossed past him.
His fist struck Sereon.
This time the impact did nothing.
No blood.
No fracture.
No movement.
Varek punched again.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Sereon stood directly in front of him.
Varek's eyes narrowed.
Sereon smiled.
Varek's fist moved a fourth time.
Sereon's chest exploded.
All three previous impacts arrived at once.
The sternum collapsed inward.
The spine snapped.
The back erupted.
Soul Ryūgu shattered outward in white fragments.
Sereon's body launched.
Varek followed.
Sereon met him before he could.
The Grand Regent's ribs opened.
A silver cut appeared from hip to shoulder.
Varek looked down.
Sereon was still kilometres away.
Another cut appeared across his thigh.
Another through the neck.
Another down the face.
Then the silver motions occurred.
After.
Sereon's hand moved.
One finger.
A slight turn of the wrist.
The cuts Varek had already received acquired their causes after the injuries existed.
Akira stared.
Akira: Sequence.
Dark turned.
Akira stood behind him.
Alive.
Unhurt.
Dark: You're okay.
Akira: Yes.
Dark looked at her chest.
Akira: I was never stabbed.
Dark: I held you while you bled out.
Akira: I was standing here watching you hug nothing.
Dark looked at his hands.
Akira: It was kind of sad.
Dark glared.
Akira: Sorry.
A pause.
Akira: Slightly.
Sereon's voice entered between them.
Sereon: Sight.
Dark's vision changed.
Nothing disappeared.
That would have been easier.
Everything became perfectly visible.
Every fragment of planetary crust.
Every suspended city.
Every star.
Every fracture.
Every particle of dust.
Every drop of blood.
Every eye across Soul Ryūgu.
Every hair on Akira's head.
Every muscle across Varek's body.
Every detail arrived with equal priority.
Dark could see Sereon.
He could not determine which information deserved to be Sereon.
Sereon: Sound.
The battlefield became unbearable.
Varek's heartbeat arrived from behind Dark.
Akira's breathing came from below.
The distant cracking of the capital World sounded inside his own skull.
His own voice came from kilometres away.
Sereon's footsteps came from everywhere except where Sereon stood.
Sereon: Touch.
Varek's hand closed.
His skin told him he had Sereon's throat.
Flesh.
Pulse.
Cartilage.
Resistance.
His eyes showed nothing.
He squeezed.
Something broke.
Nothing occupied his grip.
Sereon: Pain.
Dark's ribs shattered.
He felt every one.
His lung punctured.
His abdomen opened.
His spine broke.
Ryo answered.
There was nothing to heal.
Dark stood completely intact while his nervous system reported catastrophic damage.
Dark clenched his teeth.
Dark: Fuck you.
Sereon: Orientation.
Akira stumbled.
Not because the ground moved.
Her body simply decided the ground existed somewhere else.
She corrected one direction.
Her inner ear insisted she was falling another.
Her eyes showed the battlefield upright.
Her muscles responded to a tilt that did not exist.
Akira dropped to one knee.
Sereon: Distance.
Dark teleported.
Sereon remained in front of him.
Dark teleported again.
Same distance.
Again.
Same.
Dark appeared behind him.
Sereon remained in front.
Dark: Oh, fuck off.
Sereon: Timing.
Varek punched.
Sereon dodged before the fist moved.
Varek changed direction.
Sereon bled from the strike Varek had abandoned.
Varek saw the blood.
Paused.
The blood disappeared.
The original punch completed somewhere else.
Sereon stood untouched.
Sereon: Sequence.
Akira raised one hand.
A white temporal ring opened.
Before she released it, the ring closed.
Then her fingers moved.
Akira stopped.
Akira: ...
Dark looked at her.
Akira: He made the result happen first.
Sereon: Memory.
Dark forgot why Akira had come.
For one instant he knew her face and nothing attached to it.
Then Ryo corrected the break.
Lake.
Time traveler.
Sojo.
White hair.
Akira.
Everything returned.
Dark's eyes sharpened.
Dark: That one's a waste of time now.
Sereon's reflective eye narrowed.
Varek hit him.
No warning.
No attempt to read.
No attempt to identify.
He simply punched the region of space Sereon occupied.
The fist connected.
Sereon's chest disappeared inward.
The body crossed the World.
Varek followed.
Sereon changed perception.
Varek stopped using perception.
He struck the space ahead of himself with an open palm.
The physical force passed through everything in front of him.
False Sereons remained untouched.
One bled.
Varek changed direction toward the blood.
Sereon altered the blood.
It appeared somewhere else.
Varek struck both locations.
The first failed.
The second did not.
His fist entered Sereon's jaw.
The entire lower face collapsed.
Varek caught the neck.
Sereon changed the feeling of the grip.
Varek's hand informed him he was holding nothing.
He squeezed anyway.
Cartilage broke.
Sereon's body jerked.
Varek: There.
Sereon cut his arm.
Varek did not release.
Another cut opened his shoulder.
Nothing.
His abdomen.
Nothing.
His throat.
Nothing.
Varek's grip tightened.
Varek: Your mistake is believing I need to understand what I experience.
Sereon's reflective eye focused.
Varek drove a knee into the abdomen.
The spine bent around the impact.
Varek: I do not.
He pulled Sereon closer.
Varek: I need resistance.
A punch entered the ribs.
They collapsed.
Varek: Weight.
Another.
The sternum broke.
Varek: Structure.
Another.
The jaw disappeared.
Varek: Failure.
Another.
The skull fractured.
Varek: Consequence.
Sereon's false battlefield changed.
Suddenly Varek stood inside Edrassan.
Not a caricature.
Not some sentimental trick.
The real capital as he knew it.
The correct architecture.
The correct banners.
The correct military formations.
Thousands of soldiers stood in exact ranks beneath the symbols of his Empire.
None knelt.
They waited.
At the far end stood the highest command dais.
Empty.
The place reserved for the Grand Regent.
His place.
Sereon stood beneath it.
Uninjured.
Varek's hands were empty.
Sereon: Return.
Varek looked across the formation.
Nothing about it was obviously wrong.
That was what made it dangerous.
Not because Varek wanted to be here.
Because Suigōraku had reproduced enough truth to make rejection difficult.
The soldiers breathed.
Armor shifted.
Eyes moved.
Wind crossed banners.
Varek could smell metal, stone and the specific oil used along Edrassan weapon racks.
A commander turned.
A face Varek recognized.
Not Kurai.
Not some convenient dead subordinate.
One of thousands.
Then another.
Then another.
Every detail correct.
Sereon: Your Empire remains because others maintain it while you waste yourself here.
Varek looked toward the command dais.
Sereon: You possess duty.
Silence.
Sereon: Authority.
Varek's face remained still.
Sereon: A civilization that expects your return.
Varek looked down at his own hands.
Clean.
No blood.
No wounds.
Sereon: Yet you continue fighting a man who cannot remain dead.
Varek's gaze returned to him.
Sereon: Why?
Varek stepped forward.
Sereon watched.
Varek: Because you are still speaking.
Sereon's brow shifted.
Varek continued.
Varek: That means there remains something in you that believes explanation matters.
Another step.
Varek: Something that wants to be understood.
Another.
Varek: Something that wants its survival to mean superiority.
Varek stopped in front of him.
Varek: I do not grant you that comfort.
Sereon raised one hand.
The soldiers behind Varek moved.
Thousands of weapons drew simultaneously.
Varek did not look back.
Varek: You have spent centuries forcing weaker beings to question whether their own senses deserve trust.
Sereon's eyes narrowed.
Varek: Then you learned the wrong lesson.
The first weapon entered Varek's back.
The blade emerged through his chest.
He did not react.
Another entered his side.
Another the shoulder.
Another the thigh.
The soldiers attacked.
Varek remained facing Sereon.
Varek: A weak man loses certainty and becomes helpless.
Another blade entered.
Varek: A disciplined man loses certainty and reduces the problem.
Sereon's reflective eye narrowed.
Varek closed one hand.
Varek: I do not need to know whether these men are real.
Another sword entered his abdomen.
Varek stepped closer.
Varek: I do not need to know whether this Empire is real.
Another.
Varek: I do not need to know whether the pain is real.
He stopped within arm's reach.
Varek: I need to know whether you resist me when I strike.
His fist moved.
The entire Empire vanished.
The real Sereon's face collapsed.
Dark saw it.
Akira saw it.
The observers saw it.
Varek had found him.
Not because the illusion failed.
Because Varek had reduced the decision to something Suigōraku could not make irrelevant.
Resistance.
Varek's second fist struck before Sereon recovered.
The chest opened.
Third.
The abdomen disappeared.
Fourth.
The jaw.
Fifth.
The skull.
Kigen restored.
Sixth.
The new skull collapsed before it finished.
Seventh.
Another restoration broke.
Eighth.
Another.
Sereon attempted to change distance.
Dark's gravity caught the hip.
For less than a millionth of a second.
It meant nothing by itself.
Varek made it matter.
His hand closed around Sereon's head.
Akira raised both hands.
A white ring snapped around the region.
Akira: Time Magic...
Sereon's movement began.
Akira's fingers trembled.
Akira: One Present.
The movement did not stop.
It completed late.
Barely.
Less than any ordinary mind could perceive.
Akira gasped.
Akira: That's all I've got.
Dark: That's enough.
Varek crushed Sereon's skull.
The head disappeared between his palms.
Kigen returned it.
Varek crushed that one.
Returned.
Crushed.
Returned.
Crushed.
Each reconstruction emerged beneath the previous destruction like another body surfacing from underneath a corpse.
Varek did not slow.
Dark saw a seam.
Black and crimson Ryo raced toward it.
Dark: There.
The markings entered.
Sereon tried to escape.
Dark's shadow arms seized the legs.
Sereon broke one.
Dark replaced it.
Gravity caught the spine.
Green current locked one shoulder.
Abyssal pressure compressed the surrounding space.
None of it could defeat Sereon.
None needed to.
Varek grabbed him by the throat.
Varek: Again.
He punched.
The chest vanished.
Kigen returned it.
Punch.
Returned.
Punch.
Returned.
Dark's attacks built the cage.
Varek supplied the execution.
Akira stabilized the moments long enough for both to coexist.
Above the battlefield, Leona stared.
Leona: They're actually pushing him.
Tier's eyes moved through thousands of readings.
Tier: Varek is.
Leona looked toward him.
Tier: Dark is making each opening more expensive to escape.
Tier: Akira is reducing temporal variance.
One watched Varek destroy Sereon's body again.
One: And Sereon?
Tier's expression hardened.
Tier: He is losing every physical exchange.
Another reconstruction broke.
Tier: It does not appear to matter.
Biru's wings shifted.
His eyes remained on the temporal structure behind Sereon.
Biru: Not yet.
Igor said nothing.
Cosmic remained still.
The True Emperors remained silent.
Raiku remained seated.
Below them, Varek's hand entered Sereon's abdomen.
His fingers closed around the spine.
He pulled.
The vertebral column came out through the front.
Sereon's body folded.
Kigen began another reconstruction.
Varek drove the spine through the forming chest.
Sereon's reflective eye widened.
Dark actually stopped.
Dark: Jesus Christ.
Varek pushed farther.
The spine pierced the new body completely.
Varek: You carry too many replacements.
He snapped the extracted spine in half.
Varek: It has made you careless with the first.
Sereon tried to move.
Akira caught the sequence.
Akira: Dark, three metres right.
Dark teleported.
He saw nothing.
Trusted her anyway.
Kyuketsu swung.
Blood appeared.
Sereon became visible around the blade.
Dark's eyes widened.
Akira: Again.
Dark raised his hand.
Gravity collapsed.
Sereon's movement stuttered.
Varek crossed the gap.
His fist entered the chest.
This time something behind Sereon lit.
Not aura.
Not Soul Ryūgu.
A configuration.
Tiny points of silver-white light connected by impossibly fine lines.
Akira stopped.
Dark saw only a brief flash.
Varek saw nothing at all.
His fist continued.
The constellation went dark.
Sereon's body dropped.
For one fraction of an instant, nothing replaced it.
Dark's eyes widened.
Dark: That's two.
Akira: No.
Dark looked at her.
Sereon returned.
A different silver-white constellation opened beneath the first.
Varek punched immediately.
It went dark.
Sereon returned again.
Another.
Varek's expression did not change.
Punch.
Another constellation.
Punch.
Another.
Punch.
Another.
Dark watched.
Dark: Three.
Akira: Stop.
Dark: Four.
Akira: Dark.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
The count became meaningless quickly.
Varek did not count at all.
He merely continued destroying whatever Sereon placed in front of him.
A restored arm.
Broken.
A restored skull.
Destroyed.
A restored torso.
Collapsed.
A complete body.
Torn apart.
Another complete body.
Crushed.
Another.
Another.
Another.
Sereon's blood became constant.
His deaths became rhythm.
Each time his body reached a state capable of fighting, Varek returned it to one that was not.
And still Sereon returned.
Akira stared past him.
Her eyes followed the silver-white structures.
One extinguished.
Another existed beneath it.
She followed.
Then stopped.
Another existed inside that one.
Akira's mouth slowly opened.
Varek ripped Sereon in half.
Another constellation opened.
Akira stepped closer.
Dark: Akira?
No answer.
Varek drove both hands into the new Sereon's ribs and tore the chest apart.
Another.
Akira's eyes moved.
Not downward.
Not upward.
Inward.
Dark noticed.
Dark: What are you seeing?
Akira raised one hand.
Temporal lines spread between the constellations.
They refused to form a chain.
Her brow tightened.
Akira: No.
Dark: What?
Another Sereon appeared.
Varek punched his head off.
Akira: No, no, no.
Dark: Akira.
She grabbed his wrist.
Dark stopped.
Akira: Stop counting.
Dark looked at her.
Dark: Why?
Another constellation went dark.
Akira's grip tightened.
Akira: Because they're not after each other.
Dark's expression changed.
Varek caught the newly restored Sereon by the throat.
Varek: Explain.
Akira's eyes remained fixed on the structure.
Akira: I thought every death exposed the next immortality.
Another constellation appeared.
Akira shook her head.
Akira: It doesn't.
Dark: Then what does it do?
Akira followed the structure farther.
Another constellation existed within another.
Then another within that.
Then another.
No direction moved closer to an end.
Akira's face lost the last trace of humour.
Akira: They're nested.
Dark stared.
Akira: No.
She corrected herself immediately.
Akira: That's not enough.
Another Sereon died.
Another returned.
Akira: They're contained inside one another without becoming smaller.
Dark: Akira.
Her voice lowered.
Akira: Every immortality contains another complete immortality.
Another opened.
Akira: And that one contains another.
Another.
Akira: And that one contains another.
Varek crushed Sereon's neck.
Another.
Akira finally looked at Dark.
Akira: There isn't a last one.
Dark said nothing.
Varek released Sereon's corpse.
Kigen restored him before the body finished falling.
Sereon's reflective eye opened.
Varek looked into it.
Varek: Infinite.
Sereon's mouth curved faintly.
Sereon: Closer.
Dark's expression hardened.
Akira stared.
Sereon looked directly at her.
Sereon: You understand chronology.
Akira: Enough.
Sereon: Then you understand why counting was always childish.
Akira's eyes narrowed.
Sereon turned toward Varek.
Varek stood covered in Sereon's blood.
Sereon: You may destroy me as many times as you wish.
Varek said nothing.
Sereon: It changes nothing.
Varek stepped forward.
Sereon smiled.
Varek: Incorrect.
Sereon's smile faded slightly.
Varek: It changes how many times I get to hit you.
Then Varek punched him again.
The blow entered beneath Sereon's mouth and crushed the lower half of his face inward before the rest of his body had time to follow. Soul Ryūgu split around the impact in pale, wet fragments, the reconstructed jaw folded back into the throat, and blood burst from beneath Varek's knuckles in a thick spray that never had the chance to spread. Varek's other hand was already there. His fingers closed around Sereon's face while the ruined bone beneath them was still rebuilding, and the restoration completed inside his grip.
Varek did not give it room.
His palm tightened.
The newly restored cheekbones cracked immediately.
Sereon's reflective eye opened between Varek's fingers.
Varek stared into it.
There was no excitement in his expression anymore. No satisfaction at finally having something durable enough to survive his hands. His face had settled into a hard, compressed irritation, the kind produced when patience had not merely run out but had become insulting to continue offering.
Varek: You keep mistaking endurance for proof.
Sereon's remaining hand lifted.
Silver moved beneath the skin of Varek's forearm.
The flesh opened.
Varek did not look at it.
Varek: You survive an argument, so you believe you won it. You survive punishment, so you believe the punishment was wrong. You survive everyone who tells you no, then stand over their bodies and call the silence agreement.
Sereon's eye narrowed.
Varek's fingers pressed deeper.
Varek: That is the ugliest thing about you.
Sereon spoke through a jaw that had only partially returned.
Sereon: You presume to understand me after a single battle.
Varek: No.
His other hand closed around Sereon's throat.
Varek: I understand you because you are simple.
Something shifted in Sereon's expression.
Varek saw it.
Dark saw it from farther away.
Akira did too.
Varek pulled Sereon closer until their faces were separated by almost nothing.
Varek: You want to reach the highest seat because you cannot tolerate the existence of a decision above yours. You call it correction because domination sounds too honest when spoken aloud.
Silver crossed Varek's neck.
Blood opened beneath his jaw.
He continued speaking without blinking.
Varek: You do not want to repair existence. You want existence reduced until every mind inside it becomes small enough to fit beneath your judgment.
Sereon's eye sharpened.
Sereon: You confuse order with tyranny because you have spent too long ruling through force.
Varek: I rule people who are allowed to disagree with me.
The answer came instantly.
Varek's voice did not rise.
That made it heavier.
Varek: You are trying to climb high enough that disagreement becomes mechanically impossible.
Sereon said nothing.
Varek: There is the difference.
His body tilted.
Barely.
Then he moved.
Dark lost him.
Not because Varek vanished.
To Be Continued...
End Of Arc 4 Chapter 18. Pt1