Lilior glanced around in confusion, asking herself (“How did this happen?...I only napped for five minutes!”) as she looked between each Kyle.

“I could of done better…” mumbled the Kyle that sat on the ground looking glum.

“Yeah! You fucking could have! Sure don’t take into account the malevolent spirit living INSIDE US!” shouted the second Kyle as he stood over the first.

“We should have seen it coming!” grumbled the third Kyle as he leaned onto the nearby tree.

“But we didn’t! How could we!?” argued the first Kyle.

All three were connected by chains of ice linking their arms, but each looked exactly the same. Exactly the same, except for their personalities. Lilior named them as such in her mind, now what she couldn’t figure out was on who’s head to rest on…

“Hell if I know!” Responded Hatred.

“We need to do something! We can’t just keep standing around arguing!” stepped in Instinct “The longer this goes on the further apart we’ll tear!”

“Maybe it’s best…I mean what else can we do? After everything…we’ve been through. Every path we’ve chosen has taken to the same ending…” whined Fear.

“Fuck that! I ain’t turning into some glorified world devouring monster!” Hatred grabbed Fear by the collar and pulled him up face to face, his fierce eyes glaring into Fear’s shaky ones “So fix this!”.

Instinct growled as he gripped Hatred’s collar “Let, Me, Go.” He warned with a fanged snarl.

Hatred chuckled “Hah! Or what doggie!? Gonna bite me?!” he grabbed Instinct’s collar with his free hand, now holding both him and Fear.

“I’ll-” before Instinct could respond a flash of light next to Lilior caught everyone’s attention.

After the flash stood Karnage, opening her eyes only to glance around in utter confusion “What…the hell…”

Lilior smiled as she sat on Karnage’s head “I don’t know either! Master just ripped into three or something! I was napping.”

All three Kyles glanced at her, at each other and then back at her while slowly letting go of each other. “The hell do you want?” asked Hatred as each of them glanced away, unable to meet her eyes.

Karnage was still blinking with confusion “Why is there three of you?...chained up?”

Instinct huffed in annoyance “My soul was damaged as Yokai ripped it out of my body. This is the result.”

“And we can’t fix it cause neither of these two idiots can agree with me…” whined Fear, before the other two turned to him and grabbed his collar.

“And who’s fault is that!?”

“And who’s fault is that!?”

“Ohh! Synchronised speech too!” mused Lilior as she clapped in amusement.

Karnage sighed as she held her own face “Alright…I get the gist of it…” before stomping over to them, all three leaning away as she pushed them apart with ease.

“Ow!” whined Instinct as Karnage slapped him across the face.

“That’s for lying to me.”

“Shi-it!” cursed Hatred as she slapped him second.

“That’s for locking me up.”

“N-No-” begged Fear before she turned and slapped him, before back slapping him again.

“And those, are for you to get your head out of your ass.” said Karnage as she glared at all three of them, but her anger subsided there as her gaze fell and softened “I’m…sorry.”

All three Kyles raised a brow “Say what?” asked Hatred in confusion.

“Damnit Kyle don’t make this harder than it already is! It’s my fault! You…You did this because of me! I know damnit! I know okay!?” Karnage fell apart in front of them, falling to her knees as she tried hard to keep her tears at bay “I’m sorry…for being such an idiot…I’m sorry for making everything so difficult…This…This is all my fault…”

She held herself, sniffling as tears forced their way through.

“You’re right…it is your fault.” said Kyle as he kneeled before her, now a single Spirit once more “But it’s not your fault alone. I’m at fault for being so weak. I’m at fault for being so afraid. I’m at fault for failing everyone. I tried…I tried so very hard…Even if it meant sacrificing myself I wanted you all to win…At least I wanted the quest to be complete. But now it’s too late…“

Kyle’s eyes were wide yet void of emotion as he spoke in a hollow tone “Behemoth is Yokai now and that blind beast wants nothing more than to feed itself to death. The plan is ruined, I can only hope Birse can come up with something even without Yokai.”

When Karnage suddenly grabbed his shoulders “There is still a way!” she exclaimed, causing his sullen face to look up “I can transport you to the Physical realm! The guild knows where Yokai is! They can stop him and then-”

But Kyle pulled himself out of her grip “It doesn’t matter Mindy…It doesn’t matter anymore. Yokai is too strong for them to hold down, too strong for me to force it out of my body…”

Suddenly Kyle’s form shimmered before tearing into three “Ah just fucking great! Back to square one!” exclaimed Hatred in annoyance.

Instinct sighed “This is pointless.”

“It is…it really is…” mumbled Fear.

Karnage shook her head in disbelief “You’re just giving up?” as she stood up, tears still wetting her cheeks “After everything you’re not even going to take a chance?”

“We’ve taken enough fucking chances!” hissed Hatred.

“Yokai is too strong, even if our soul was healed again we’d stand little chance.” grumbled Instinct.

“And who knows what Behemoth has done while in my body…with my powers? The plan couldn’t have mistakes, this…this is more than just a blunder…” whined Fear as he lay kneeling on the ground, staring down at the dirt.

Karnage stared down at Fear “They’re out there, risking their lives to fix your mistake…”

All three suddenly shimmered, before forming like mist back into a single Kyle. Kneeling on the ground just like Fear was, he briefly glanced up with a weak smile “Nothing new then…I’ve always been the weak link. They all have their roles…Birse the leader, Jacky the shadow, Cherry the anvil, Soren the hammer and Sly the wild card…I was like him too, yet I can never be as good. I cannot live up to what he was to the guild, I cannot compare.”

Kyle chuckled weakly as his gaze lowered to the ground once more “I’m just the dramatic fool that has nothing better to do than rp. Stuck in the past, afraid of the future. Stuck on what I’ve lost, afraid of what I could become. I put up a smile, switch out my mask but in the end that’s all I am. A fake, a failed replacement.”

Karnage suddenly pushed Kyle to the ground, holding him down by the shoulders as she lay on him “No, you’re not Sly.” Furiously glaring down at his sullen expression ”You can never be Sly, because you are you. Kyle you cannot compare yourself to him, he’s dead, he’s gone. But you’re still here, even if barely. Kyle you can never be like him no matter how much you look up to him, because you can only be yourself. And yourself is enough!”

Her hands tightened around his shoulders “Yes you aren’t as monstrously strong of will like him, yes you aren’t able to endure excruciating pain and fight off an over powered lich! You aren’t fearless like that blind fool! But Kyle I know what you are! You are afraid but for good reason! You are a coward but because you’re smart! You use your fear to expect your foe’s next step! You react to pain and learn not to make the same mistake twice!”

Karnage smiled through the tears “You’re the villain that toys with people’s emotions, you’re the evil that calculates everyone’s reaction and abuses it! You’re crazy enough to look down on Gods! You’re greedy enough to want the world to be yours! You’re cold hearted enough to not care about the innocent! You see them for what they really are! Because you don’t care what they think! You don’t care what happens to them as long as you win!” she took a deep breath before laying her face into his chest “Because you’re…You’re the hero this world deserves!”

They lay there briefly, Kyle holding her as she lay sobbing into his chest.

“Hah…We’re such a fucking wreck…” mused Kyle as he smiled weakly up into the misty forest “But…you’re right.” He pushed himself up to sit “I can never be fearless like Sly, nor can I ever be as devious as Birse or as crazy as Soren. But I guess there is one thing I have above them all…”

Karnage pulled away from his chest as she lay sitting on his lap now, her eyes widening in bafflement as a bright white light suddenly engulfed her. Kyle was shining, his entire body radiating white. Karnage couldn’t even see him anymore, even as Lilior suddenly pulled her away the light was too blindingly bright.

Author: Andd…shit’s hitting the fan in 3…2…1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRkl2WNqBjg

“My hate for this fucking existence, for everything that has been done to me…All the wrongs, the losses and pain.” Kyle’s shining form rose, as if he had stood up. “You’re right, I don’t care. Why should I? Why would I? Do they care? Do they even know? Yes I am afraid, of what Void could do to me next, of what Behemoth could be doing in my body. I’m afraid…But I just can’t take it anymore!”

Suddenly the light turned bright blue as Frostfire began gushing out in every direction, it engulfed Karnage and Lilior but all they felt was a minor chill coming with it.

“I’m tired. Tired of being used, being manipulated and thrown aside.” Cracks seemed to form through reality around them, all leading up to where Kyle stood.

Karnage heard sudden movement around them, glancing through her arms which she used to cover her eyes from the light she saw several Spirit Beasts appear.

“Control yourself Kyle!” shouted Durin as he appeared with the rest of Kori, the founders and the other Spirit beasts surrounding his bright form as Spirit flowed out of their bodies and enclosed around him. The barrier of Spirit seemed to hold the light in, containing its brightness.

“Seal him!” shouted one Spirit Beast “He’s shattering! We can’t let this go on!”

“No!” responded Durin “You heard the woman! There is still a chance!”

“To hell...” Kyle’s voice resounded through the barrier “To hell with your expectations.” Before the barrier suddenly shattered and the Frostfire engulfed them once more “To hell with your Kori, to hell with my duty and to hell with you all. I’m sick and tired of having everything pushed onto my damn shoulders!” the Frostfire seemed to slow down, waves and waves of tendrils flowing around them in unpredictable patterns and bursts of movement.

“To hell with Void and his strings, to hell with Scythe and his plans. I was done being afraid long ago, I made a choice…I made a fucking choice damnit!” Kyle’s voice was unbearably loud “And to hell with Behemoth…To hell with it all!”

“Seal him.” ordered Terrance as he appeared next to Durin “He’s lost, his sanity is waning!”

Durin grimaced before raising his hands forward, along with the other founders as an even thicker mass of Spirit than before formed out of them.

“Lost?...Hah…” a wicked laugh filled their ears as suddenly tendrils assaulted the Spirit Beasts “I’ve never felt more sane!”

The Spirit Beasts willed their mana to form around them defensively but the Frostfire simply stabbed through, sucking in the Spirit and absorbing it.

“Kyle! Stop this madness! See reason! We can still heal you!” exclaimed Durin as he watched the tendrils wrap around several of his people.

But Kyle only laughed more “I’m done with reason, let there be madness!” the tendrils had wrapped around dozens, before suddenly pulling them into the light. “I’M DONE HOLDING BACK!” They briefly screamed or shouted something, but their voice cut off entirely as they were pulled into the dark blue light.

The founders watched in horror as the tendrils flowed back out, their citizens nowhere to be seen.

“He…He devoured them…” said one founder in disbelief.

“A Spirit Beast devoured another Spirit Beast?...C-Cannibal! He’s…He’s already turned!” exclaimed another.

Right then the tendrils lashed out again, as more formed out of the light.

“Do not falter!” shouted Durin as he also paled at the sight, he turned to Terrance “Master what should we-” only to find the first founder staring at the light, petrified in fear.

“Nothing…It’s too late…He’s past the threshold...He’s going to…He’s turning Nogitsune.” Terrance mumbled as he stared into the dark light, a grim dark blue glow that radiated with cold. Slowly turning darker by the second.

Durin’s eyes fully widened as he turned to stare into the light too, grinding his teeth before speaking once more “Fall back…Fall back!” he shouted before disappearing. With him, disappeared the founders and behind them went the rest. Each Spirit Beast fading out of sight.

Karnage heard them, but she couldn’t believe it. “Kyle…No…Fight it!” she pleaded “Don’t let it beat you!” she shouted at the shaking mass of dark light.

“He can’t…” said Celica as she appeared next to her, staring off into the light as another vicious cackle resounded out.

Karnage shook her head as she looked at the Kitsune “What are you saying?! He must! He has to!”

Celica smiled weakly “He won’t, I can feel it. Kyle didn’t shatter out of control, he shattered himself.” Her eyes widened in bafflement “He started the change of his own will…but that…that shouldn’t be possible?” As she spoke, reality cracked and shuddered around them. Frostfire filled the air, growing colder by the second. The dark blue light, shone through even the mist as it filled the forest.

Celica held back a sob as she grasped Karnage’s shoulder, making her, Karnage and Lilior disappear. They reappeared elsewhere, standing in a field of golden grassland as they gazed off at the mist-covered forest kilometres away.

Karnage panicked at the change of scenery “Wha-Take us back!” she exclaimed, realising Celica had moved them.

“No…” Celica told her, crimson flames forming around her body as she trembled in anger.

But Karnage wasn’t intimidated “We could still save him!”

“Foolish girl he’s lost, Kyle willingly crushed his own soul!” Celica exclaimed in fury, as her fierce eyes turned to glare at her “All we can do now…is watch...”

Karnage took a step back and away from the infuriated fox, when suddenly the dark light engulfed them once more. Turning back to the forest she saw it was engulfed by the light, as well as Frostfire tendrils wrapping around the trees and reaching out onto the fields. Followed by the cracks, like invisible glass slowly breaking they formed through everything be it solid or empty air.

For a moment, her own heart skipped a beat, her breathing froze and she found herself unable to move or speak. Karnage could only watch as the tendrils reached out, curved around and then in a sudden twirl of movement pulled in the entire forest. The trees, vines and branches, the mist and hollows that roamed there as well, even the grass and ground. Everything imploded, pulled inwards by the Frostfire until all that remained was a massive crater filled with dark blue light, sourced by the sphere of pitch black that lay in the very centre of it all.

“I can sense him…” said Celica as she covered her mouth, gasping “Kyle is...Nogitsune now.”

A sudden wave of force blasted out of the light’s source, like a burst of wind it travelled through the crater, shattering reality as it moved. Like bright sparks of light the shards lay still, floating in the black void that surrounded them.

Karnage, Celica and Lilior watched in terror as more tendrils of Spirit flowed out of the light’s source, different than the Frosfire of before. They weren’t blue, or even flames at all. Black masses grew out of the dark light, several million of them which reached out to the shards and slowly began to collect them. The shards sunk into the liquid like tendrils, flowing down them and converging on the light’s source.

“What is…what’s going on?” asked Lilior as she held onto Karnage’s feline ears for dear life, severely more confused than either of the other two.

“The process of when a Yako turns Nogitsune…it devours anything and everything around it. It absorbs it all, be it solid, liquid or gas. Be it physical or ethereal…Be it reality itself.” Celica explained with a muffled voice, as she held her mouth as if on the verge of vomiting.

“Master…will master be okay?” Lilior asked with wide fearful eyes.

Celica couldn’t hold it in any longer, the fairy’s innocent question breaking away her will. She sobbed openly, gripping her mouth with one hand and her stomach with the other “I’m sorry…I couldn’t do it Minori…Your son…He’s…He’s…”

“No…No he can’t be gone!” Karnage exclaimed in denial, pulling Lilior off her ears and leaving the Fae to float alone before suddenly disappearing.

“Kyle!” She shouted, appearing at the edge of the crater. She gazed out and towards the grim blue light, as it slowly turned completely black “Kyle!” she shouted once more, tears flowing down her reddened cheeks as she clenched her rapidly beating chest.

Then she saw it, when the light turned it’s blackest. Like two eyes in the distance they blinked. Shining darker than the light that surrounded them, they gazed directly at her.

“Kyle?...”