"What are we looking at it?"

This question came from Max, who was currently held bridal-style in the arms of Herah, complete and utter bewilderment filling the pair as they both stared at the massive tree that now stood within the crater Herah had created when fighting Moon. With the help of Herah's beating wings, both were floating high above the golden tree which allowed them to get a good look at the new forest. Unlike previously, the forest was now an even mix of old and young redwood trees with grass actually visible now. There was also an increase in other plants and such, with shrubs and flowers showing up in abundance. The many craters that had dotted the ground were now gone as well, with the one that had the golden tree being the only exception. The rest appeared to have been filled in and covered with grass and flowers.

"No idea," Herah said, a tad bit of annoyance flowing through her link to Max.

Max turned to look up at Herah finding that her expression was serious and annoyed. Letting out a sigh, Max turned away from her friend and began searching the ground. Within seconds, she saw a white-skinned and black-clothed Moon and the red-skinned Keijo that Herah had left alive from earlier. The pair appeared to be looking up at Herah and Max, though their expressions were hard to make out from such a long distance.

"THERE! Right there!" Max shouted, pointing at the pair for Herah.

Herah's eyes went to them almost instantly as orange flames began to well up in her throat and smoke shot from her nose.

"Let's see if that's anything more than an aesthetic change." Herah said, before shutting her mouth and allowing for flames to pour into it. Once filled, the youngling moved Max's head slightly out of the way and breathed out a ball of orange flames just large enough to swallow the two Keijo whole. As the fire neared the pair, Moon appeared to turn to the other Keijo and set a hand upon one of his shoulders. Moon held his other hand out to the incoming flames and something seemed to sprout from it before a beam of orange shot out from whatever Moon had on him and struck the fireball.

"What the hell?" Max asked in shock, as before her very eyes, the flames morphed into hundreds of white frogs that grew bat wings and started flying towards Herah and herself.

"Yeah, no." Herah said, her own shock being quickly swept away before taking another breath and firing off another ball of orange flames that swallowed up the frogs before exploding in a shower of burnt frogbits.

"What's that in Moon's hand Herah?" Max asked her friend, looking back up to her for an answer.

Looking back down at Moon, Herah seemed to study his hands for a moment before letting out an angry huff of smoke that caused Max to cough.

"It appears to be some type of flower, and Moon's growing more along his arms as I speak."

"What should we do?"

"I'm a bit weary of getting anywhere close to him right now, but I'd need either Jeffery or some type of quick moving range attack if we want to play that game." Herah said, a frown coming to her face as irritation began to fill their link.

"Where is Jeffery anyway?" Max asked while looking around for the flying pencil.

"I left them with Écarlate for protection, they won't come unless it's completely necessary."

Nodding her head at this, Max looked around both herself and Herah, her eyes landing on her 51 remaining cards.

"I could throw something at him and see how that goes." Max said to her friend, causing the Cendreux to look down at her and nod.

Max looked back at Moon and mentally fired five cards towards him.

"Those are bolts of lightning."

Thanks to the goggles Herah had given her, Max was able to track the red lightning as it flew down towards Moon quicker than even the priest or Herah could react. But before the lightning could hit him, each bolt turned into three strips of silk that neatly wrapped themselves into bows before gently falling to the ground at the red-skinned Keijo's feet.

"Okay," Herah began, sounding weirded out by what she had just witnessed, "I'm assuming those bows were originally you're lighting bolts. Am I right?"

"Yeah," Max said, worried a bit more by what she had just witnessed, "For whatever reason, when they got within a certain distance to Moon they just turned into silk that wrapped itself into bows."

"How close?"

"I have a rough estimate of about five meters, but I'm not too sure." Max said while shaking her head.

"Well, let's go with that for now and try to figure out just what exactly this abilities of his is doing." Herah said to Max before a feeling of distrust and unease began to flow from Herah, "It seems as if they're gesturing for us to come down."

Max looked up to Herah, finding that a pointed look had come to her eyes. Looking back down to Moon and the other Keijo, Max found that the unnamed of the two was gesturing for them to come down to the ground. Max looked back to Herah and merely got a shrug of the shoulders as a response before Herah's wing beats began to slow in pace.

Slowly floating down to the ground, Herah and Max landed thirteen meters away from their opponents before Herah refurled her wings. With the golden tree at their back, Moon and the unnamed Keijo turned to look at Herah and Max allowing for Max to see just how well these two contrasted each other. Moon was smiling at the pair, a look of peace and happiness on his face. His ally, on the other hand, looked none to happy. He wore a frown and looked upon Herah and Max with only contempt. With Moon, he stood loose and open with his arms hanging at his sides and his legs relaxed. In direct opposition, the other Keijo stood rigidly with both of his hands gripped tightly on the blades at his hip and his legs tense and ready. However, there were two things that Moon had that the other Keijo didn't oppose in any form or shape.

Flowers and Presence.

Purple asters were rapidly blooming along Moon's arms, completely covering the sleeves of the now black cassock that he wore while a single aster bloomed in the palm of each of his hands. Max also felt a Presence that was very similar to that of Norwe's, batting and poking at her uncaringly.

"So, what do you want?" Herah asked, her weariness hidden away by faux arrogance.

"I," The red-skinned Keijo began, disgust and anger filling his words as he pointed at Herah, "Wanted your name. I was never informed of yours in the briefing for my company, just what you could do and what you looked like."

"Well, that's insulting." Herah said before pointing towards herself with her thumb and smirking, "The name's Herah War Hej, what's yours?"

"Jacob, Jacob Storm. Last name newly gifted by the man next me." Jacob told Herah, before nodding his head towards Moon, "Our Holy Father had something he wanted to tell you as well."

Herah sat Max down on her feet as she turned to look at Moon, more weariness flowing through her link with Max as a result.

"Hey Moon, I see you're copying me." Herah jokingly told the priest with a smirk.

Jacob let out an angry scoff while Moon chuckled.

"What can I say? Your own returns from the brink of death had an impact on me," Moon said with a wide smile and cheery tone.

"You know," Herah's tone turned less joking and gained a more respecting air to it, "This is the second time I've seen you smile, and you look a lot happier now then you did back in that courtyard."

"Being a conduit for Norwe's expression has left me fully at peace and joyful," Max watched as tears began to pour from Moon's eyes as the priest turned his sight towards the white leaves that hung over him, "No matter the end of today, I will be at rest."

"What did you want to tell us Moon?" Max asked, her eyes shooting towards the still very angry looking Jacob before going back to the calm Moon.

"Chūmon wa omoshirokunai. Chūmon wa fukanō. Chūmon wa fushizendesu. Chūmon wa hironritekidesu. Tanoshimi o ukeireru. Okori eru koto o ukeire nasai. Shizen o ukeireru. Ronri o ukeireru. Konran o ukeireru. Sore wa anata o ukeiremashita." Moon said while spreading his arms wide in a way that made him look ready to accept a hug.

Max blinked a few times in confusion as her brain began to process and translate Moon's words. Letting out a breath, Max repeated Moon's words.

"Order is boring. Order is impossible. Order is unnatural. Order is illogical. Embrace what's fun. Embrace what's possible. Embrace what's natural. Embrace what's logical. Embrace chaos. It has already embraced you."

Max felt somewhat perplexed by what Moon had said, but also understood it to an extent. Through her link with Herah, she found the same thing to be true for the Cendruex. Giving her friend a side look, all Max got in return was a shrug.

"Why... Did you say that?" Max asked confusingly, returning her sights to Moon.

"It is the message I must convey to you, for what I just said is the philosophy of Norwe the Maker." Moon said, before every flower but the ones on the palm of his hands fell off of him and disappeared, "And this will be the second to last sentence I speak to you before our battle renews."

"Finally!" Jacob shouted before drawing both of his blades and resting them atop his shoulders, "I've been wanting to cut these bitches apart for too long now."

Jacob's right eye then turned pitch black, as Moon raised a single one of his hands towards Max. With his expression still smiling and his eyes filled with conviction, Moon spoke his promised sentence to Max.

"I wish you the best."

An orange beam shot out from the flower on Moon's palm causing Max to block it with one of her cards. As soon as the card was hit by the orange beam, it transformed into a green teddy bear that fell to Max's feet and began giggling.

"I can speak as fast as I think." Max said to herself, ignoring the creature that had taken the place of her card. As Max did this, she noticed Jacob bring both blades off of his shoulders and flip the one in his right hand into a reverse grip before exploding towards Herah with a surprising burst of speed. Max gave a side glance to Herah, finding that for some reason her friend was both looking and feeling lost.

"Lavatits, are you okay?"

Before any reply could be given or even attempted, Jacob reached the pair and took a swing at Herah.

SWOOSH!

SHLUK!

And with a single swipe away from Max, Jacob cleaved Herah's head right off with it flying into the air with a spurt of blood that sprayed Max in the face.

Max's eyes widened in shock, but before any words could leave her mouth Jacob turned his sights on her. Only able to notice that his right eye returned to its lazuli color for just a second before turning back pitch black, Max soon found herself subjected to what she could only assume to be Jacob's gift.

Max was engulfed by complete and utter darkness, this darkness ridding her of any sense of direction or placement within the cosmos. Max felt as if she was suspended within a never-ending void that she would never escape or be able to fully comprehend. She didn't even attempt to turn or move, for even the thought of those actions felt completely frivolous. Every thought and emotion, they all seemed meaningless.

Max felt, truly and completely, lost.

ONI

'Dorīmurōbā has succeeded.'

This thought was that of Jacob, the Keijo holding a smile of glee on his face at the sight of Max's lost look and the detached head of Herah. Flicking the blood off of Lucy's old katana, Jacob stabbed the blade into the ground before the still toppling body of Herah. With the monster having yet to fully fall forward, Jacob crouched before her with the palm of his left hand covering the bottom of his right fist which he had positioned so that Sam's old tachi pointed up at Max.

"Jacob get back! Herah is still dangerous!"

Moon's shout was ignored, Jacob's eyes only on Max's unmoving and unaware body.

'Where, oh where, should Sam's blade go?' Jacob thought as he gave Max a quick overlook before his eyes settled on a single spot, 'Your neck will do.'

With that settled, Jacob's arm snapped towards Max's neck-

KRAKK!

Stars filled Jacob's vision as a fist burrowed into his face, with his body being catapulted away and towards Moon by the force of the strike. Completely stunned by the sucker punch, Jacob felt his body slam into someone before both slid a few feet back and stopped. It took a few seconds for his vision and head to clear, and once they did he immediately turned to look at Herah and Max.

"What.... The..... Actual.... Fuck?" Jacob asked, his eyes widening at the sight of Herah standing slightly hunched over, reattaching her head with her right hand, flames appearing where her neck met the top of her torso. Her left arm was extended before her with her fist still clenched and covered in a bit of blood.

'Is that mine?' Jacob thought, a hand shooting up to his now bleeding and bruised nose.

"That hurt like a bitch," Herah told Jacob, a growl and snort of red flames following her words. The monster then adjusted her stance and rose to her full height, cracking her neck a few times. Jacob watched as Herah brought her bloodied fist to her face and gave it a surprised look before looking back at him and smirking. "Wow, unlike Moon, you can actually take a punch. A full force one at that."

Jacob let out his own growl and began to step forward, but the sudden resting of Moon's hand on his shoulders caused him to pause.

"Control yourself my child." Moon's voice was gentle and soothing, "Fighting recklessly will only get you killed."

"I understand Father." Jacob said through gritted teeth.

"You understand, but clearly don't care." Moon responded, his grip tightening as he pulled back on the red-skinned Keijo, "If you want to win you're going to need to think your next actions through."

Jacob contemplated moving forward for a moment more before letting out a sigh and looking up towards Moon.

"What do you have in mind Father?"

Jacob heard Moon let out a glad sigh before letting go of his shoulders.

"As it is now, it would make sense for you to keep Max under the effects of your gift. She's a lot less predictable then Herah and much more dangerous."

"Fine by me Father," Jacob said, stepping forward, but Moon suddenly resting his hand on his shoulder once again caused Jacob to halt and let out a growl.

"My son, Herah currently outpaces you easily. This means that in order to take her on, you're going to have to dance in and out of my Kaosu no kyū."

"You've gotten slower, haven't you?" Herah cut in, causing Jacob to look back at her.

While the two Keijo had been talking, Herah had taken the comatose Max into her arms and now held her bridal-style. Herah was also looking towards Moon with a knowing look and grin.

"The fact you plan on having Jacob engage me directly in combat instead of yourself means one of two things. You either believe that Jacob could beat me and needs little help but a safety zone from you, or you yourself are unable to keep up with me even as I am now."

Jacob looked back to Moon and found the Holy Father smiling at Herah while nodding in affirmation.

"You're right in assuming that I can no longer keep up with you."

Jacob looked back to Herah, the sight of her deepening grin making his blood boil.

"However, you're currently unable to do little more than breath fire right now." Jacob felt a fraction of satisfaction come over him as he saw Herah's grin weaken a bit, "And the added burden of Max will surely impede you to a degree that our next engagement will be a lot more balanced."

Herah's nostrils flared, two small jets of red flames shooting out as the monster let out a sigh and unfurled her wings. Jacob looked down to his feet, finding Sam's taich nestled within the vibrantly green grass before him. Picking up the blade, Jacob took it into both of his hands and held it in front of himself. Behind him, Jacob heard Moon take a quick breath.

"Go."

Ignoring the smell of burnt grass and the fizzling out of electricity, Jacob shot forward as Moon followed him, firing off two beams of chaos that sped past the leading Keijo easily. Herah bent backward while flicking a bloody finger up into the path of the beams of orange. They missed her completely, hitting two trees behind her, which caused one to turn into a pebble while the other just disappeared. The monster then used her wings to launch herself back and away from Jacob, who had leaped at her with a downward slash. Missing completely, Jacob slowed himself to pick up Lucy's katana and sheath it before darting off after Herah. Three more orange beams came from behind him via Moon. Herah saw these beams and balled herself around Max, wrapping her wings around both of them which caused the three beams of orange to just pass them and strike three other trees. One of the trees took the form of a small, giggling figurine, while another fired off into the sky like a rocket, and the final one-

"RAWWRR!"

"What the fuck is that?!" Jacob asked/screamed as the third tree (this one being right in front of them) struck by one of Moon's beam promptly morphed into a near pitch black, wingless, nine-headed dragon-like monster that easily towered over the four people before it.

Jacob slid to a stop, watching as Herah unwrapped her wings and body from around Max and slammed feet first into the center head's neck before sprinting up and over it. Once Herah was atop the head, the monster turned to look back at Jacob and Moon with a disgusted look on her face.

"I am both thankful and ashamed for what you have summoned. This distortion of one of my sibling species is disgusting but helpful."

Herah then shifted her hold of Max slightly and leaped away from both the dragon-like creature and the two Keijo that had been pursuing her. Jacob wasn't able to maintain much attention on Herah, however, due to all nine heads of the dragon swiftly turning their red glowing eyes onto him. A low growl left the mouth of all nine heads, as the dragon-like creature took a single step towards Jacob, the ground shaking as green light began to emit from the all of its mouths. Before anything else could occur, an orange ray heat hit the creature right in its center head causing its scales to turn purple with a pattern of green dots covering it.

"Holy Father!" Jacob whipped his head towards Moon, the priest looking a bit perplexed by what had just occurred, "Changing the monster's color is not going to really help us right now!"

"Chaos is unpredictable my son," Moon replied, his voice maintaining its calm even as more green light began to emit from the mouths of the monster, "It can be of benefit, of burden, or of no consequence to those who brush with it."

Jacob only tsked in annoyance, sheathing Sam's taichi and unsheathing Lucy's katana. Before the dragon-like creature could let out whatever was about to come from its mouth, Jacob blurred towards it and lopped off all nine of its heads. Stopping before the now headless creature, Jacob flicked the strange red spheres that seemed to be the dragon's blood off of Lucy's katana and sheathed it.

"That was not the best plan of action there." Moon said, raising a hand towards the flailing corpse of the dragon-like creature.

"What do you mean-"

SPLORT!

SPLOOSH!

Each of the nine neck stumps split in half before spontaneously growing another half for their neck and sprouting a new head each.

"Norwe just told me the monster before us is a hydra, and that they breathe poison and every head you cut off will have two grow in its place.

"Wow! Thanks for letting me know right after I did it!"

"Apologies my son," Moon said with a bow of his head before blasting the hydra with two orange rays.

Nothing happened on the first hit and the second one teleported the monster a few inches off the ground.

"This isn't funny Father!"

Every head of the hydra opened its mouth, pink light pouring from each maw as 18 growls filled the air.

"Jacob, use your gift." Moon said as he grabbed his companion by the back of his mail and leaped away from the pink blasts of poison that flooded the forest floor, reducing every tree and plant it touched to black mush.

"But the Max bitch-" Jacob said as the pair landed a fair distance away next to a tree that morphed into a giant Oni mask that just floated next to them.

"This hydra is a much more immediate threat." Moon said, blasting the beast twice more with his beams, only causing it to began making mewing noises before being teleported behind the two Keijos.

"Then why don't you just absorb it with those other powers of yours?!" Jacob shouted before turning to the beast and blitzing it, each head coming off before even the first could fully detach.

"That's not going to really help us my son," Moon said, before once again blasting the hydra, causing it to triple in size, "And I lost my original powers after Resting Within Palo Santo, I also can't cause direct harm to other beings anymore either."

Before anymore words could be said, both Moon and Jacob leaped up into the air to avoid the combined blast of pink poison from the now 36-headed hydra.

"My son, Max and Herah are currently lost to us and leaving that hydra to rampage could be problematic." Jacob's tone took on a pleading nature, "Please, use your gift.

Jacob growled as he released his hold over Max and switched it over to the hydra, the beast pausing with each neck fully extended upwards and their mouths agape. Jacob and Moon landed on top of separate heads and slid down the back of the beast, landing just outside of the destruction that it had wrought on the newly born forest.

"Why don't you just grow a shit ton of those flowers of yours and blast the damn thing?" Jacob asked, annoyance filling his tone as he looked at Moon who raised a single hand towards the hydra and blasted it.

"Because, just as it has done now, it might be less of a boon and more of a curse."

The hydra was turned into two.

"Fuck your new powers." Jacob said, before cutting off all 36 heads off the new hydra.

With two more chaos blast from Moon, the second hydra was turned into a pig that exploded in a shower of bacon while the other one just phased into the ground.

"DAMMIT!" Jacob shouted before sheathing Sam's blade and punching one of the nearby trees, his arm burrowing completely into the fully grown redwood.

"You really need to calm down my son." Jacob heard Moon say behind him as he furiously wrenched his arm from the grasp of the tree.

"Would you stop with your calm down bullshit!?" Jacob shouted back, turning towards Moon and pointing accusingly at the priest, "Thanks to your stupid powers, we lost those two fuckers and now we need to find them again before I can ever attempt to use Dorīmurōbā on them again!"

"My son, your rage will do little to help us in that regard."

"It's better than your fucking passiveness is doing us!"

"I know you're angry-"

CHKK!

Swiftly drawing Lucy's katana, Jacob stabbed past Moon's face causing the priest to halt in his attempt to rest his hand on Jacob's shoulder.

"If you know that," Jacob growled out, disgust ripe in his tone, "Then stop with the bullshit! It's almost as if you don't even care whether or not we kill those two."

"I don't."

Jacob's eyes widened, his mouth opening slightly in shock before another growl left him and he yanked Moon down to eye level.

"The hell, did you just say?" Jacob's words came out tense and barely restrained.

"I don't care whether or not we kill Herah and Max." Moon said with no hesitation and a disturbingly calm tone of voice.

Jacob glared hatefully at Moon, placing the tip of Lucy's katana to the side of the Holy Father's temple and making sure that it drew just a tiny amount of blood.

"Explain yourself," Jacob ordered, his mouth twitching in and out of a snarl as he just barely kept himself from striking Moon down then and there.

"Even with the wrong that they've caused to us, I feel no hate nor anger towards the pair. Merely a sad sense of comradery and empathy for the situation that has been forced upon them, because they're in the same boat as us."

"THAT MAX BITCH MURDERED MILLIONS OF OUR BRETHREN WHILE THE MONSTER SLAUGHTERED THOUSANDS. BOTH ACTS DONE WITHOUT MERCY!" Jacob shouted at Moon, tears of anger pouring from his eyes as he glared at the priest. "THEY DESERVE NOTHING BUT ANIMOSITY AND DEATH!"

"I see you were being honest with me when you said this was only about killing those two."

"IT WAS ONLY EVER ABOUT THOSE TWO!"

"You know, my son, I could end all of this pretty easily on my own." Moon said, looking past Jacob and towards somewhere that completely escaped his mind.

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked with a growl, digging Lucy's blade a bit deeper into Moon's head.

"Even though I'm going much slower, if I were to rush towards the Donneur de Frène, I would most probably be able to reach and eliminate it before they could stop me."

"Then why don't you?"

"Because my priority right now is ensuring your inner peace."

"Would you stop with your bullshit!?" Jacob shouted, just barely holding himself back from fully plunging Lucy's katana into the Holy Father's brain.

"Why don't you stop with your own?" Moon responded back, giving Jacob a hard stare.

"What are you talking about?"

"Tell me Jacob," Moon took Lucy's blade by his left index finger and thumb, moving it away from his temple, "What is killing Herah and Max going to do for you?"

"What is it going to do? WHAT IS IS GOING TO DO?!" Jacob shoved Moon away from himself before unsheathing Sam's blade and stabbing both it and Lucy's into the ground. "These are the blades of my two friends Sam and Lucy, both personally murdered by the monster. Killing her will avenge them, and killing Max will avenge the love of my life."

"I didn't ask what their deaths would do for the dead," Moon rose to his feet, dusting off his cassock and sleeves, before looking back at Jacob and pointing at him, "I asked what they would do for you."

Jacob opened his mouth to respond, but paused when he found himself coming up short. Shutting his mouth and opening it several times, Jacob found himself looking down and away from Moon.

"It would bring me peace."

So Jacob lied.

"Practice what you preach my son."

And was immediately caught.

"Look upon me and listen Jacob, you need to hear this."

With a conflicted look and an angry grunt, Jacob looked back up to Moon and found the Holy Father with a small smile on his face.

"Earlier you asked me why I didn't just end this already if I could, and you found my response lacking. So allow me to expand upon it." Moon pointed towards Jacob, "If I were to end this battle so soon, Herah and Max would be wrenched away from you, and you would lose the two most important figures vital for your peace of mind. As it is now, every piece you need for such a thing is within your grasp." Moon took the hand pointing at Jacob and directed it towards himself, "I shall guide your hand to this peace, because I was much like you not too long ago. And I refuse to leave you like that. That is why I have yet to even attempt finishing this, so please," Moon walked up to Jacob and rested a hand upon his shoulder, "Allow me to help you."

For a few silent moments, Jacob just stared at Moon, many emotions bubbling beneath his skin. Moon rested another hand upon Jacob's shoulders and smiled an encouraging and hopeful smile. Seeing this, Jacob shook his head and scoffed before knocking Moon's hands off his shoulders and drawing Sam's and Lucy's blades from the ground. Quickly sheathing both weapons, Jacob walked past Moon and turned his sights on the white tree that the Holy Father had emerged from.

"I don't care what you do as long as those two are dead," Jacob sounded tense and just a little bit unsure, "Am I understood?"

"You know my son, maybe their deaths aren't as important as you think."

Before Jacob could utter any retort, the Keijo noticed his body casting an irregular shadow on the ground. Looking up towards the sky, Jacob found a large ball of blue flames exploding into thousands of smaller balls of fire before suddenly rocketing towards the pair. Looking towards Moon, the young Keijo found the priest readying himself to move while also looking towards Jacob for any final words before they began.

"We'll see Father, we'll see."

HALT

A fair distance away from Moon and Jacob, Herah ripped another black eyepatch off of her face and dropped down from the top of a young redwood after launching her distraction. Landing in a densely forested part of the restored terrain, Herah found Max counting her cards with her shoulder pad still glowing.

"All 52 are here." Max said as the last card slipped into its box, the human crouched down to the ground with a small frown on her face.

"How does that thing even work?" Herah asked, pointing towards Max's cardbox.

"This cardbox right here was a gift given to me by the goddess Hecate, it refills itself every two minutes with two new cards."

"Good to know," Herah said with a nod, before filling around in her mouth for the newly emerged tooth that had been forced to grow in place of her most recent creation, "Anyway, I got some good news."

"What is it?"

"I have some more info on Moon and Jacob."

"Do you know what his gift is exactly?'"

Herah shook her head with a frown.

"Still no clear idea what he's doing, but right now he is very irrational and pissed. We can use that to our advantage."

Max shook her head before rising to her feet and beginning to run a hand through her unbound hair.

"Before we do that, we need some way to approach him that won't allow for him to just instantly remove one of us from the fight."

"Well," Herah let out a smoky sigh, "Allow me to give you all of what I've gathered first then we can come up with a plan."

"Okay, so wha-"

'Hey guys, are you okay?'

Herah's hand flashed up towards her amulet with Max doing the same, albeit much slower.

'Yeah we're fine Owen, what's up?'

'Before you answer that, any news on how my brother is doing?' Max asked.

'He's fine, currently he's falling down a tunnel he created.'

'A tunnel?' Max asked, sounding and feeling slightly confused by Owen's thoughts.

'Yeah, it's about two miles deep and I have no idea how he created it.'

'Well, since we know Alex is fine and now have Owen here to help, why don't I tell you both what I've learned?'

'Oh yeah, I see another Keijo has appeared.' Owen replied sounding rather confused and a bit ashamed, 'I don't know why they're only showing up now.'

'Norwe most definitely hid them away because that fucker thought it would be entertaining if Jacob showed up again. Herah thought back, anger coloring her thoughts.

'Who's Jacob?'

'He's the new Keijo we're going up against,' Max replied, 'His gift allows him to completely paralyze you while also trapping you within the confines of your mind. Or at least I think that's what he's doing.'

'That doesn't sound good.'

'It isn't,' Herah said with a mental and physical growl, 'When we first fought he managed to use his ability to cut my head off.' Herah ran a finger along where her head had been detached, 'Don't want to go through that again.'

'Do you have any plans on handling it yet?'

'Knowing that only one person can be under at once and that Jacob needs to see you first to use it, I have the inklings of one. But first, lets gets all the facts on the table, okay?'

'Sure.'

'Got it lavatits.'

'As I told Max earlier, Jacob is very irrational and angry right now. The Keijo also isn't particularly happy with Moon.'

'How bad is it?'

'Bad to the point that I'm sure Jacob actually had to hold himself back from killing the priest.'

'That doesn't sound good.' Max thought, Herah feeling the pity and sadness coming from her.

'For those two that is.' Herah responded, 'Anyway, more news is that Moon loss his old gift when receiving his chaos powers.'

'So we don't have to worry about those spores of his or any other bodies anymore?' Owen asked, his tone hopeful.

'Yup,' Herah responded before adding, 'Of course, the downside is that Moon got a field of chaos that surrounds him automatically and flowers that are used to fire off beams of chaos.'

'Neither of those sound too good.'

'Luckily for us, there is a caveat to how his ability functions.'

'What is it?' Max asked.

'When Moon and Jacob first charged forward, I noticed that behind both of them the lightning you had thrown earlier reappeared once Moon was no longer within five meters of them. When I had overwatch over them as they fought the hydra, I noticed that a tree that had entered his range was transformed into a giant Oni mask. The grass beneath his feet would also go through its own changes around him as well, though only when Moon was moving and he often moved too fast for anything to really stick.'

'So the effects of Moon's chaos field is only temporary.' Max concluded, the human visibly rubbing her chin.

'Yes, and when it comes to Moon's powers, the result can't be controlled. And it can quite literally be anything from what I can tell.'

'Do you know how large does something have to be in order for his chaos field to affect it?' Owen asked.

'Moon's ability seems to completely ignore anything around the size of a white blood cell or smaller.'

'How do you know this?' Max thought, her head tilting in wonder.

'When you were trapped in whatever Jacob has going on, I was forced to dodge one of Moon's chaos beams and while doing so, I flicked a drop of blood into to it to see what would happen.'

'And nothing occurred?' This question came from Owen.

'Nope, and since blood is a mixture and the biggest part of it is white blood cells I drew my conclusion.'

'Hmm,' Max began running a hand through her hair, 'I think we can use this.'

'What's more is that Moon is unable to physically attack as well.'

'Is that all you've gathered Herah?' Owen asked, Herah already able to tell that the cogs were going in his mind.

'One last thing is that Moon is currently unwilling to attempt to end this until either Jacob finds "peace", we're dead, Jacob's dead, or Moon's dead.'

'We'll have to keep that in mind in planning then.' Max mused, still running a hand through her hair.

'You got any ideas?' Herah asked, a few small plans coming to her mind.

'When it comes to working around Jacob's gift, I have an idea that might work but I'm not sure about Moon yet.' Max said, Herah looking over to her to see a small frown on her face.

'Well, I think I sorta have something to get around Moon's field.' Owen answered.

'What do you mean you sorta have something?' Herah asked, a bit puzzled by Owen's word choice.

'What I mean is that what I have is plan, but someone else has the tools.'

'Alex?' Herah asked without hesitation.

'What do you assholes want?' Alex responded, ire being "heard" clearly in his tone, 'I'm a bit busy.'

'Moon got an upgrade and a new Keijo appeared.'

'Is it the one Herah didn't kill?'

'........'

'........'

'Yup.' Herah responded, no shame or guilt in her tone.

'Herah you're an idiot.'

Herah fell face first onto the ground, drool pooling around her head in a comically fast manner as motor functions and complex thinking left her.

'ALEX!'

'Sis don't act like she doesn't deserve it!'

'Now is not the time for that!'

'Yeah, yeah. Herah you're not retarded.'

Herah shook her head before sitting up and wiping the drool off her face.

'So you need my help with what exactly?' Alex asked, clearly wanting this to be done an over.

'Do any of your orbs control centralized locations?'

'Yeah, it's called Fact. Why do you need it?'

Herah could already see the smirk on Owen's face, the youngling pretty sure a plan had just come to mind.

'So here's my idea....'

ONI

"This is getting annoying."

Jacob said these words as he ran behind Moon with a slightly smaller than before barrage of fireballs on their tails, the pair darting between and around trees. At this point, Moon had sprouted dozens of smalls flowers all around his body with each aimed towards the flames chasing the pair.

"I thought sprouting that many flowers to shoot things was a bad idea!" Jacob shouted after Moon as several dozen blast of chaos went over his head.

Looking back, Jacob saw each blast connect with a fireball. A few appeared to suffer no distinct changes while some transformed into miscellaneous things of no real effect or purpose, and even more transformed into things a bit more problematic.

"It is, but with those things tracking us, it's a bad idea to not get rid of as many as possible as soon as possible."

Unsheathing Sam's taichi, Jacob found himself with seven four-legged growling monsters with long snouts and crude teeth made of roots and grass catching up with him. The first of the seven ran up and leaped towards Jacob's back with a snarl, a swift decapitation following afterwards. The six others split up into pairs with one on his right, another on his left, and the final pair dragging behind him. Studying each beast carefully, Jacob saw that from their mouths a mysterious sap dripped and that all six of them seemed to be growling out a distinct but unknown language to each other.

'I wonder if these things are from another universe or are they just created on the spot.'

One of the beast on either side of Jacob leaped up at him, just as both of the ones behind him spat out head-sized globs of the strange sap he had noticed earlier. Enforcing his gift upon the beast on his left, Jacob split the one on his right in half while grabbing the paralyzed one by its snout and throwing it behind him. The beast smashed through the balls of sap and into one of the following beasts with both being knocked into the pursuing fireballs, removing a fair chunk from the equation. Swiftly following this, Jacob used his gift on the last monster on his right and then cleaved the head off the one on his left. Looking back, Jacob found the last beast darting away towards some trees for cover. But before it could reach the trees, a beam of chaos struck it and reduced it to a clump of whimpering string.

With all the monsters eliminated, Jacob turned back to the balls of fire still in pursuit of him and Moon just as another barrage of chaos rays struck them. This time, five of the balls struck by the beams were shot towards Jacob at much quicker speeds. Before he could even react, Jacob was struck by two of the fireballs. But instead of catching fire or anything of the like, he was rocketed off his feet and towards Moon.

"Look out!" Jacob shouted, just as Moon dived into a roll and flipped himself back onto his feet now running after the still flying Keijo.

KRAKK!

"GAAA-"

KRAKK!

"-AAAH-"

KRAKK!

"-HHHH!"

THUD!

Blasting through three trees, his speed slowing with each impact, until Jacob finally stopped when he slammed into a fourth tree and indented into it.

Shaking the daze from his mind and putting a hand to his head, Jacob looked up to find Moon sliding to a stop before him. The priest then spun around to face the incoming fireballs and let out another series of chaos blast that all struck true. Before Jacob could even comprehend all the new shifts to the fireballs, the last one Moon struck quickly collapsed in on itself and began sucking everything within a two-meter radius around it for but a second before collapsing in on itself completely.

"What the fuck!?" Jacob said as he saw the only thing left in the wake of this black hole was a meter deep hole in the ground and empty air.

"We pulled a lucky card on that one." Moon said, assuming a laxer but still ready position.

"You think," Jacob said, rising to his feet and picking up Sam's blade before looking back at Moon, "I'm getting more wary of your powers the more I see them in effect."

"That's smart of you." Moon responded before the purple flowers that had sprouted all over his body began to fall off of him and disappear into nothingness. "Now, we need to find Herah and Ma-"

The scenery around Jacob changed in an instant, with the dense forest he stood within being suddenly replaced by a small meadow that seemed to fill out about an acre. A small meadow of which had Herah flying towards him with her left hand poised to strike. On reflex, Jacob activated his gift on Herah and watched as her body looked to lock itself into its pose. Crossing his right arm across his body and bending back to the point that the back of his head nearly touched the ground, Jacob allowed Herah to shoot right over him. Jacob's sword arm blurred, only stopping once Herah was completely past him. Returning back to a completely upright position, Jacob turned to look at the still flying Herah just as her body broke apart into bite-sized cubes. Large amounts of blood splattered onto the flowers and grass as the cubes continued their flight until wetly smasking into one of the bordering trees.

"Well that was easy-" Jacob paused and his eyes widened at the sight of Herah swooping down from the sky and flying from across the meadow to charge him down. As this happened, Jacob unsheathed Lucy's katana while also readying his gift, a sixth sense of sorts alerting him to the presence of something coming from behind him. Just as both Herah and whatever else was attacking him got within arm distance, Jacob leaped up and placed his body parallel to the ground. With this action, Jacob found himself caught between two Herah's, one flying over him and the other flying under him. Reflexively opening his mouth in surprise before quickly shutting it with a growl, Jacob rapid fire activated Dorīmurōbā on both Herahs as his body blurred into a whirlwind of blades. By the time Jacob had landed crouched to the ground, the monsters had been reduced to lean cut meat that covered the grass in blood and smacked into trees like the previous one.

Raising both of his arms so that he struck a t-pose while also turning his head to look around, Jacob watched as dozens of Herah's came down from the sky and began to surround him.

"I'm guessing that Max bitch did this for you?" Jacob asked, the sight of all the smirking Herahs causing him to let out a disgusted scoff.

"Yup," One of the Herah's said before pointing at him with a grin, "Ready to die?"

"Pfft-Ahahaha." Jacob chuckled, amusement filling him as he thought about his current predicament. "Maybe if you were all exact copies of the original, I would take that threat a bit more seriously."

"What does that mean?" The same Herah responded with a growl.

"I mean that my interaction with those last three of you fakes makes it clear that in order to make all of you, Max had to make some great sacrifices in your creation."

"Such as?"

"You're all slow, in fact, you're just a bit slower than me now."

"If this was a one on one, two on one, three on one, ash maybe even a four on one, I'd be inclined to agree with you." The single Herah spread her arms out, gesturing to all of her many duplicates, "But when we outnumber you this much, I think the odds are more heavily stacked in our favor."

"I didn't even entertain the idea I have now before with you since your reaction time easily outpaces mines and so does your speed, but now I can show you just how powerful Dorīmurōbā can be." Jacob said, as he turned his entire body to face the speaking Herah while also bending his knees to prepare a charge towards the monster.

Every Herah within the meadow raised a single hand towards Jacob and merely gestured for him to come at them.

"Happy to oblige."

Crossing the meadow in a second, Jacob enforced Dorīmurōbā onto the Herah in front of him before swinging at her head. Just as his blade made contact with her neck, Jacob switched the target of his gift to the Herah on his right halting her in her movements for but a second before switching to the one on his left and getting the same effect. This allowed Jacob to swiftly decapitate the three Herah's in the immediate vicinity to him before anyone of them could make any real move. Following this, Jacob leaned his head back and out of the way of a punch before activating his gift on the offending Herah and removing her head. He was then forced to lean forward as one Herah came from behind him with a high kick aimed at the back of his head. Ducking under this, Jacob took note of the four other Herah's quickly closing in on him. He then began to enforce Dorīmurōbā on all five of Herah's targeting him, rapidly switching between all of them as he dived away from his spot. This caused the four incoming Herah's to smack into each other and quite literally butt heads, allowing Jacob to decapitate them all with a single swing of Lucy's blade. Jacob followed this up with a swift beheading of the fifth and final Herah of the attacking group.

With that done, Jacob noticed that no other Herah had attacked him or were attacking him, all of them were just watching him closely, now a bit wearier.

"Do you know what Dorīmurōbā means?" Jacob asked, his deathly cold tone betraying the smirk that he wore.

"Max says that it means Dream Robber." One of the Herah's responded as she slowly walked past other hers.

"Do you know why I chose such a name for my gift?"

The Herah's eyes narrowed.

"No."

"Because of you and Max."

Jacob watched as the many of the present Herah's began clenching and unclenching their fist, claws sheathing and unsheathing alongside this.

"Why us?"

"Because you were the ones to rob me of my dreams, and I plan to do the same to you in return."

"I wish you luck." Every Herah said, their words taunting.

"Go to hell."

"You know," One of the Herahs tilted her head, "Over the past three days, I've had that word said to me plenty of times. I'm not sure of its exact meaning, but I assume it's location that's undesirable."

"Just get on with it already," Jacob said, letting out his own growl before sheathing both Sam's and Lucy's blade. Tightening his grip on both blades' hilts, he tilted the end of their sheath's upward while crouching down in preparation for another attack.

"Okay then, I'll just skip to what I was trying to say," The fake Herah said with a smirk, before the sky darkened with the appearance of dozens more of her. The next words Jacob heard were a chorus. An annoying and grating chorus.

"YOU FIRST!"

And in one fell swoop, every Herah charged towards Jacob.

HALT

'How's it looking up there Herah?' Max's voice filled Herah's mind as the youngling floated just under a cloud, looking down upon her clones' and Jacob's battlefield as a constant stream of duplicates emerged from the cloud above her.

'I'm honestly impressed,' Herah thought, her eyes on the one-sided massacre that was happening below her. 'And a bit disturbed by the continuous sights of my own dismemberment and beheading.'

'Is Jacob really doing that well?'

Herah's sight zoomed in on Jacob, the Keijo combatting the onslaught of her clones while drenched in blood (very little his own) and a few cuts and bruises. The ground was littered with corpses and severed limbs and heads, blood having stained every inch of grass and flowers within the meadow that Jacob fought within. These corpses and their subsequent parts tended to disappear within mere seconds of being killed but were being replaced so fast that it was almost unnoticeable.

'Remarkably. Even though I've been attacking him for fifteen minutes straight with no less than 100 clones at any given time, Jacob has only taken the barest amounts of damage.' Herah looked up into the cloud above her, where a small glass orb floated. All around it, Herah clone after Herah clone was constructed with a flash of light before flying down to the fight below. 'Where did you get the idea for this orb of glass anyway? It's honestly ingenious.'

'I once banged a goddess of magic, that same one I mentioned earlier, Hecate. While I was busy doing that, Alex stole a magic item called the Orb of Schízon. That item was what gave me the idea for what you now have.'

'Why did your brother steal the orb?' Herah asked, a slight wince leaving her at a particularly brutal series of beheadings delivered by Jacob.

'He required it for a plan he had to murder a god by the name of Hermes.' Max replied, feelings of regret and sadness flowing from her into Herah.

'The more I hear about Alex, the more I never want him to meet my mistress.

'Yeah,' Herah imagined Max rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment, 'It's probably for the best. Alex has murdered entire pantheons worth of gods after all.

'Why don't we move on?' Herah thought, disturbed by Max's final comment.

'Have you gleaned anything new about Jacob that you believe to be important?' This question came from Owen.

'Yup,' Herah said with a nod, watching as one of her clones came in from Jacob's blindspot to cut him down.

Her head came off with a single swing.

'It seems as if a subsidiary of Jacob's gift allows him complete spatial awareness of anything within 120 feet of him.'

'What makes you assume that?' Max asked.

'Whenever on the edge of the meadow, Jacob has the barest reactions to any clones that have crossed about half of the meadow.' Herah though, watching as the very thing happened. 'This'll be important when Moon reaches us and I enter the battlefield.'

BOOM!

Herah found her attention directed to the sudden explosion that occurred little less than a mile away from where Jacob fought, finding tree debris and chunks of ground shooting into the air with a stack of smoke following quickly afterward.

'Speaking of Moon, how's that going Max?'

'I've done pretty good at impeding him, though he is going to close in on you guys soon enough. And yeah, I've also tried out a beta version of our plan. It's proven effective.'

'Then it's about time we move onto phase 2, don't you think?' Owen asked over their link, getting twin confirmations from Herah and Max, with Herah issuing an order.

'Now set him free, it's time we all get into position.'

ONI

Jacob was a whirlwind of blades and blood, moving through and around the attacks of every Herah while retaliating with blows that always tore through the flesh they encountered with ease. And in return, all he ever received were minute cuts and scrapes.

Sheathing Sam's taichi and leaping into the air, Jacob caught a flying Herah who had been coming down towards him by one of her horns before using it to swing himself onto her back. With his hand still on this horn, Jacob pulled back on it causing the Herah duplicate to bend her back and take a spear hand through her chest from one of her sister clones. Taking advantage of this, Jacob beheaded both Herahs before dropping back to the ground and splitting another clone in half. And as he did all of this, Jacob continued to enforce his gift onto everyone within his range.

Then he saw the giant red fireball shooting down from the sky.

"Oh shit." Jacob said to himself, before attempting to get out of range of the ball of certified death. However, the sheer number of Herah's surrounding him made this a rather fruitless endeavor. So instead of trying to run from the ball of flames, Jacob decided to get rid of it. Dropping down to the ground, Jacob swung out one of his legs and took one Herah right off her feet. He then got on his back and placed both of his legs in a position to catch the falling Herah by her back. He then laucnhed her into the air towards the incoming fireball. After doing exactly that, Jacob repeated the same course of action four more times. However, each time he did this, the fireball would break apart around the thrown Herah before coming back together once she was past. Jacob let out a frustrated grunt before switching up his strategy. Jacob leaped back up to his feet before sheathing both Lucy's and Sam's blade. With his hands now free, Jacob began dodging and weaving around five Herahs. While doing this, Jacob made sure to grab at and tangle up their hair. He did this until he had created a giant knot that branched out into a star-like shape with all five Herah's trying to pull away from each other. Being right under the knot, Jacob tripped each of these Herah's and forced them to fall right on top of him just as the fireball hit.

BOOM!

Jacob gritted his teeth and let out a strained growl as he felt his body heat up rapidly. Sweat began pouring from his skin in a rapid fashion, steam rising up as the blood that covered him began to evaporate. Jacob felt that his eyes might boil over with just how hot everything was getting, and the metal kamas on his back and his chainmail shirt began to burn into his skin.

The pain and heat were excruciating.

But even so, Jacob did not pause in his rapid switching of targets for his gift making sure not a single one of the Herah's atop of him or anywhere close to him could attack while he was so vulnerable.

Luckily enough, the fire only lasted for a few seconds before it was all gone. And as soon as it was, Jacob shoved all the five Herah's off of him and took off their heads. Looking up into the sky, the Keijo squinted as he searched for his assailant.

"Where, oh where, are you? You log-damned bitch." Jacob said to himself before his eyes quickly found where all the Herah's were coming from, "Got you!"

Jacob immediately began cutting a swath through the dozens of Herah's that surrounded him as he raced towards one of the fully grown trees that bordered the meadow. As soon as Jacob reached the tree, he activated Dorīmurōbā on the real Herah, freezing her in place. He then began running up the tree, reaching the top within the matter of a second before taking a split second to be sure of her location. WIth it confirmed, Jacob bent his knees and took a leap.

BOOM!

The tree Jacob had previously been running on shattered, as the force of his jump launched all the debris into any pursuing Herah clones that had been trying to stop him. Flying through the air with Sam's taichi now drawn, Jacob counted the seconds till he reached Herah.

1

Jacob swung at a Herah clone coming in from his right, taking off her head.

2

Jacob drew Lucy's katana and threw it at Herah coming directly down towards him, her head snapping back as the blade burrowed cleanly into it.

3

Jacob shot by the Herah with Lucy's blade in her skull, splitting said skull when he grabbed the weapon while flying by.

4

Jacob rolled passed three incoming Herahs, removing their heads as he flew by before returning Lucy's blade to its sheath and readying Sam's for a strike.

5

SHULK!

Jacob let out a small grunt as he slammed into Herah, both going a few feet higher into the cloud that Herah had been flying under. Sam's tachi had pierced Herah's neck and exited from the base of the back of her head. Hot blood splattered onto Jacob's face and stained his hands, said blood having splurted from Herah's throat and a bit from her mouth.

"That should keep you stil-

SPLOOCH!

"HURKK!"

Jacob's eyes widened as his body was robbed of all of its air, Herah's right hand having pierced his stomach and shot cleanly through his back. Even with the grave wound, Jacob was able to notice that Herah still looked visibly as if under the effect of his gift, her eyes looking completely through him and on a smaller note he noticed that a glass orb behind Herah seemed to be summoning the clones.

"How?"

A vicious left hook was all he got as a reply.

BOOM!

CRRACK!

"HURK!" The sound flew from Jacob's mouth by reflex, his body having slammed into the ground and a crater having formed around him as a result of his impact. Letting out a groan, Jacob attempted to move only to find most of his bones broken and of lot of his skin pierced by said broken bones. But even with pain filling his brain, Jacob was able to continuously enforce his gift upon all of the surrounding Herah's clones and the real one.

Though this did little to actually stop the monsters from firing off a gigantic ball of yellow-green flames dead at Jacob.

It would hit him in less than two seconds.

'Fuck,' Jacob coughed up a bit more blood, 'I can't just die like this.'

Jacob attempted to move his body, but the mere thought of movement sent waves of agony flying through him.

"DA-ACK-MNIT!" Jacob spoke, more blood spurting from his mouth as his vision began to go hazy.

With his vision rapidly failing him, Jacob still refused to relent in the projection of his gift at this point in the battle just holding on out of spite. With all the surrounding Herah clones, not even being able to move an inch the only thing that could end him at the moment was the fireball falling towards him.

Jacob blinked somewhat confusingly as he saw two beams (maybe?) hit the ball of flames causing it to turn pink.

'Moon, fuck your powers.'

BOOM!

Jacob blacked out.

....

....

....

The first thing Jacob noticed when he came to was just how cold he felt. In fact, he felt as if he was completely covered in ice.

"Wait? What the fuck!?"

CRI-CRACK!

Jacob sat up with a jolt, the bits of ice and frost that had attached his body to the ground breaking with ease at his sudden movement. Looking around himself in bewilderment, Jacob found that the entire meadow had been covered in ice and that all of the Herah clones within had been frozen solid, some even having shattered.

The second thing Jacob noticed was his newly restored state. In fact, he not only felt and looked healed but felt rejuvenated, his previous battle exhaustion now gone.

Rising to his feet with only a shiver, Jacob looked around himself and found that he had never let go of Sam's tachi through the last little bits of chaos that had occurred. Gripping the blade tighter and twirling it to get rid of its frost covering, Jacob quickly unsheathed Lucy's katana and did the same. Once both blades were uncovered, Jacob flipped them both into reverse grips and slammed their pommels into his shoulders. The ice and frost that covered his entire body shattered and was expelled from his skin.

"Glad you're alive and well. And it still seems you need to to be told to control yourself, my child."

The third thing Jacob noticed was that Moon was standing next to him, a small cut on his right cheek and a smile on his face. Dozens of flowers still bloomed from his body all aiming towards the Herah statutes that surrouned them.

"What the hell took you so long Father?" Jacob asked with a dismissive grunt, mostly ire and a slight hint of thankfulness filling his tone.

"Max wanted a piece of my time." Moon took a look around him, his eyes seemingly drawn to the multiple frozen Herah's in the clearing. "Well, that's kinda funny."

KRRSHHH!

KRRSHHH!

KRRSHHH!

Jacob let out a growl and unsheathed Lucy's katana as several more Herah clones landed around him and Moon, some smashing through their frozen counterparts as a circle formed around the pair. Looking over to Moon, Jacob found the Holy Father smiling at one of the nearest Herahs.

"Hey Herah, I see you're copying me."

The Herah clone smirked and gave Moon a shrug.

"What can I say? Your own shows of overwhelming numbers had an impact on me."

This caused for both to share a laugh that caused Jacob to let out a disgusted scoff.

"Could you not talk with our enemy as if she was a friend?"

Moon looked towards Jacob with an apologetic look before saying,

"Apologies my son-"

Oen of the Herah's shot towards Moon with their fist reared back for a strike, but as soon as she entered his range her body was turned to glass.

KRRSHHH!

Moon's fist shattered the glass Herah with ease.

"I thought you couldn't hurt others directly anymore," Jacob asked, as he put his back to Moon's and readied himself for another round of battling.

"By that point, Herah wasn't alive," Moon responded, the flowers all around him began to point towards each of the new Herahs in sight, "Remeber the plan for earlier?"

"That was more of a tactic than anything else, but yeah." Jacob said, his eyes going up to Herah, "By the way, where is Max?"

"No idea, the entire time she was attacking me she was somewhere I couldn't detect."

"That sounds troublesome." Jacob said, his sphere of awareness finding no sign of Max being anywhere close by.

"Definitely," Moon said with a nod, "We're missing a vital piece to your problems."

"Would you stop with that shit already?!" Jacob shouted at Moon, his head turning as much as it could to frown at the Holy Father.

"Nope, before anything else can be progressed we must settle your monsters. And I believe we'll need both of those two to do so." Moon replied, his tone serious.

Jacob shook his head and returned his eyes to where Herah was.

"Where the hell did she go?!"

Correction, where Herah had been.

Moon looked up towards where the monsters had orignally floated, before looking at the nearest Herah with a smirk.

"You let us talk so long as to not allow us to track where the original you went."

A flare of flames shout from the Herah clone's nose as she gained a cheeky grin and said,

"Yup."

Moon pressed his back into Jacob's, causing the Keijo to do the same into his own in return.

"Well Jacob, I'm pretty sure both are nearby anyway. So we'll just have to work with this."

"Getting rid of that orb of theirs might help solve our problems," Jacob looked up to where he has seen it earlier within the cloud, "If it's still there, that is."

One of Moon's flowers pointed towards the sky and fired a ray of chaos.

All of Herah's clones disappeared.

"Well, that was stupid of her." Jacob said, his stance relaxing at the appearance of no visible threats.

"Maybe they no longer needed whatever that was they were using to attack us." Jacob found himself surprised and worried by Moon's tone, it being serious and cautious, "And if that was the case, I might've just given them an even bigger advantage than before."

"What do you me-"

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Jacob's eyes widened as he noticed each every Herah enter within his area of awareness going nearly twice as fast as before.

"Moon," Jacob turned to the Holy Father with a growl, "Not helping."

"Well nothing we can do now, but try and find those two." Moon said while giving Jacob an apologetic smile.

Jacob looked around him and found all the surrounding Herah's walking around the pair, their eyes appearing to scan them both for any signs of weakness. Jacob and Moon both began to turn the opposite way of the circling Herah's, both readying themselves to move and meet the next onslaught.

"This is going to be a bitch and a half." Jacob responded, the smiling faces of all the Herah's making him growl once again.

"Well, let's go then." Moon said, causing Jacob to tense in preparation just as each Herah surrounding him did the same.

Then they all charged.

HALT

With a small red flame as her guide and main source of light, Max slowly trekked down one of the many tunnels that Owen had somehow managed to create within hours of the day before the last. The tunnels had no lightning, smelled of dirt and rock, and wasn't overly large, but there were many and they could get her everywhere she wanted.

'You're amazing, you know that Owen?' Max thought to the gnome, a hand on her amulet and an oxygen mask on her face.

'Thank you Max, but what I made isn't really too special.'Owen's thought carried a tone of gratefulness that was undercut by the sound of dissatisfaction, 'In fact, it's a bit shabby for any gnome worth their salt. Especially with the time I was given.'

'Really?' Max asked, blinking at the mere idea of what Owen thought.

'Yeah, a gnome well practiced in the art of Petra can easily create a labyrinth the size of a continent within a manner of two hours, with said labyrinth being filled with beautiful and complex constructs.'

'Why aren't you well practiced, if you don't mind me asking?' Max asked, a sudden spike emotional emptiness overcoming her which was quickly balanced out by Herah's own emotions.

'I've dedicated most of my life to smithing so-

'Are you okay Max?' Herah suddenly cut in, worry having flooded the emotional link that the pair shared.

'Yeah,' Max replied, her tone coming out worried, 'Just a phase.'

'Sorry for cutting you off Owen,' Max heard Herah think, her tone carrying a hint apologeticness to it.

'No problem, I shouldn't be distracting Max anyway.' Owen replied before thining, 'You're in the right position by the way. Owen out.'

'What is it looking like up there, Herah?' Max asked, drawing two goggle lenses from the pockets of her coat and checking them over.

'Why don't you check with those new lenses for your goggles?' Herah thought back, 'It's much better to see it than to hear it.'

With her curiosity peeked, Max took her goggles off her face and popped out their lenses before placing the new ones in their place. Throwing the goggles back, Max looked up above her. For a second, only dimly lit dirt greeted her eyes, then it began to disappear until Max could see and hear the rapidly moving figures of Moon, Jacob, and the Herah clones.

"Wow, those two are really doing well." Max said to her self as she watched Moon and Jacob take on the horde of Herahs.

It was like watching a raw and savage animal dance around their home, protecting it from any danger that got close to it. Even with Jacob lacking in speed when compared to everyone else around him, the Keijo was still able to take advantage of his gift thanks to Moon's chaos field. Jacob would constantly just barely exit the invisible field, using himself as bait before quickly enforcing his gift onto any incoming Herah clones and ripping them apart. He would also get rid of any Herah who entered Moon's field and wasn't immediately destroyed or removed by the effects of the field. As Jacob did this, Moon stood in the center of the clearing with dozens of asters sprouting all over his body and blasting any and all Herah clones that they could. A myriad of effects occurred, no real rhyme or rhythm to them. Some Herahs transfigured into different things, others disappearing somewhere, some teleported into each other, and one even exploded. Though the blast wasn't always negative in nature, some caused only cosmetic changes, like a change in the color of her skin, hair, claws, or horns. And a few even had positive benefits; increasing the speed of one of the clones, causing one to turn invisible, another one seemed to even be made immune to the effects of chaos. One clone that got hit had even proclaimed to know have been granted knowledge on how exactly to ensure their victory before snapping her own neck.

Okay, that last one might have not been a benefit.

But any of those clones who were afflicted positively were quickly cut down, with a bit more work from Moon and Jacob.

'You getting a good look Max?' Herah asked, causing Max to start slightly before giving a hasty reply back.

'Yeah yeah, it looks like Moon has positioned himself perfectly to be taken out.' Max let out a sad breath, tears beginning to prick at the corner of her eyes, 'It seems too cruel to kill him. Especially when he looks so happy.'

'For that very reason, I believe this is the best time to kill him,' Herah responded, her thoughts filled with certainty and a distinct lack of any real negative emotions.

'Really?' Max asked, a pain looked coming to her as she continued to watch Moon, the priest still wearing a smile, 'This seems to be the cruelest thing to do, to end it just as it gets good.'

'To die happy and at peace, that's the ultimate goal for any us Max,' Herah thought, her tone still holding its certainty, 'Moon has been lucky enough to reach that point, so ending him now is the least cruel thing we can do."

'Do you really believe that?' Max asked tears beginning to slowly stream down her face.

'You already know the answer to that Max,' Herah responded, her own feelings of understanding beginning to fill their link.

'Yeah, yeah I do.' Max responded, rubbing away her tears before throwing her left hand to her side and saying, "Disfavour agee mem!"

The crackling of electricity cut through the silence of the now greater lit tunnel of earth, as Max's shoulder pad (which had been glowing dimly up to this point) came alight with red electricity before said electricity coursed down her arm into the rubber pad on the back of her single brown glove. The rubber seemed to completely absorb the electricity, with no visible changes to the glove and the electricity quickly stopping in its flow.

For a moment, everything seemed to return to as it was before, albiet a bit darker. But then-

ZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Max's left hand came alight with red electricity, said electricity spazzing out wildly and scorching the tunnels everywhere it struck. Vast amounts of energy filled Max, her body feeling energized and capable of anything.

'Owen,' Max thought solemnly, her right hand on her amulet, 'I know you made my new gear never intending for it to be used as a weapon. I apologize for my malformation of your work, but this is the best chance I have to increase my contributions to the group.'

'What're you talking about Max?' Owen asked, his thoughts confused and slightly upset.

'You originally created my shoulder guard and glove to protect against any lightning bolts that might strike me. With the guard as a rod and the glove as a tool to discharge any electricity, this was supposed to be a simple grounding tool.'

'How could you possibly use that as a weapon?' Owen asked his thoughts growing more worried and upset.

'You'll learn soon enough.' Max replied her tone now pained, before she thought, 'Now let's get my brother on the line, it's almost time for his part.'

ONI

Jacob felt his breath coming in hoarse and hard, as Lucy's katana and Sam's tachi beheaded two Herahs who had been just a bit too close to each other. Jacob quickly danced back into Moon's Kaosu no kyū, narrowly avoiding a fatal swipe from two other Herah clones. These swipes did still manage to draw blood however, a cut now marking his forehead and left cheek. Spinning around the Holy Father, Jacob enforced his gift upon a Herah who had reached into the range of Moon and had her armed turned into a tree for her troubles. Beheading her without trouble, Jacob then flipped into the air both blades he wielded blurring as he enforced his gift upon three Herah's who had been swooping down from the air. As the now cubed Herahs entered Moon's range, one was turned into beams of light that shot of range and returned to their cube forms. Another was turned into gelatinous orange cubes that smacked into the ground and Moon, bothering neither. The last set of cubed Herah, pieced itself back together and attempted to spear Moon through the head. Several flowers and vines sprung from Moon's shoulders, wrapping around and restraining the Herah with little issue. Before she could struggle too much, Jacob managed to land and cut off her head, allowing Moon to throw the body out of range.

"I swear!" Jacob shouted, as he paused behind Moon, "You're pissing me off with your power bullshit!"

"Apologies," Moon said, his tone not at all apologetic, "But this power is the main thing keeping you alive right now, so please don't be too mad about it."

"True enough," Jacob responded with a sigh, his eyes watching as one Herah was vaporized by Moon's chaos beam while another was turned inside out. "Just wish I could figure out where the real Herah was."

"Even if you did," Moon began to say, his tone pleased and satisfied, "Would you do what is smart?"

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked with an annoyed groan, already anticipating something stupid, "Are you still on about ensuring my peace and that bullshit?"

"Partly that yes," Moon said, "But this has more to do with Herah somehow neutralizing your gift."

Jacob paused for a moment before giving a rushed reply.

"That was just a fluke."

"Jacob," Moon's tone became stern and harsh, "You know that wasn't a fluke."

"I'll figure something out."

"Before or after your head gets ripped off?"

Jacob's mouth shut tight, the Keijo quickly eliminating six incoming Herahs in frustration.

"Jacob, rushing in like you did earlier nearly got you killed and you were only saved thanks to my help." Moon said, a barrage of beams leaving him. "I know you're scared-"

"I'M NO SUCH THING!"

"YES YOU ARE!"

Everyone paused, shocked at Moon's yelling which caused the clearing to fill with silence.

"Jacob, you just found out the one thing you have to even the odds so as to keep yourself relevant in this battle countered easily and without issue. You'd have to be an idiot to not be scared and frustrated." Moon turned to the Keijo with a frown on his face, "And I can see it clearly."

Jacob attempted to make a frown, to give Moon a retort, or even just say something. But he couldn't, instead, tears began to pour from his eyes as he realized that what Moon said was true.

"This just isn't fair! And I know it's never been fair. Before all of this," Jacob flipped Sam's tachi into a reverse grip, and began beating his chest, "I kept track of all the bullshit that went down in the history of our people! I know better than anyone else here what we've had to suffer thanks to the idiots who ran our home before either me or you were even apart of a log!" Jacob rubbed away the tears that clouded his eyes, "We've been powerless for centuries, unable to do anything to stop it all! And we're now at the brink of our end," Jacob looked down towards the ground, his expression crestfallen and his voice dropping to a whisper, "And it looks like I can still do nothing."

"You're not as powerless as you think my son," Moon said his voice taking on soothing air, causing Jacob to look up towards him, "Sometimes the best thing you can control is yourself."

"That isn't enough," Jacob glumly said, his hands going down to his sides as he tightly gripped both blades, "Especially when someone can so easily take it away from me."

"Raise one of your blades and one of the kamas on your back towards me," Moon ordered Jacob, causing the Keijo to give the priest a confused look, " Please just do it."

Jacob sheathed Sam's blade and grabbed a single one of his kamas from his back. Raising Lucy's blade and his own kama towards Moon, Jacob found himself quickly filled with terror when the Holy Father blasted both with beams of chaos.

"Have you lost your min-" Jacob paused as he saw the blade of Lucy's katana turn pitch black while the curved blade of his kama elongated slightly and turned pearly white. "What the hell?"

"That katana now kisses oblivion and shall rend anything you wish it to, and the kama now hungers for a will of its own, stealing that of anything it touches and taking more with every consecutive strike." The strange emphasis on the word will catching Jacob's attention, "It also holds within it a gift for when you're ready."

"Ready for what?"

"To wield what you consider yours," Moon let out a sigh before smiling at Jacob, "And when you finally start to control yourself."

Jacob stared down at his two changed weapons with an unsure look on his face, Moon's words and actions filling his mind and causing him to think deeply. While Jacob did this, he noticed Moon turn away from him and towards one of the motionless Herahs, a question following quickly afterward.

"Why have you allowed us so long to talk Herah, especially when I gave Jacob his new weapons?"

"Three reasons really Moon."

Jacob's attention snapped towards a new presence entering his sphere of awareness, his eyes quickly finding a Herah who had emerged from the treeline and was now leaning against one of the trees. Unlike all the other Herah's in the meadow, this one seemed to carry herself differently, almost as if she was-

"And you've even shown your true yourself as well," Moon added on, his tone filled with some cheer. "Something is definitely up."

Jacob's hands tightened in their group as he glared Herah down with overwhelming hate.

"Hey Jacob," Herah told the Keijo with an acknowledging nod, before directing her attention to Moon, "And I said there are three reasons as to why I let you speak."

"What're they?"

"One, I might be killer but I'm not heartless."

"That's debatable," Jacob spat out in disgust, a small growl leaving him.

"Two, what you did should do little to affect our victory."

"Why is that?" Moon asked, his head tilting to the side in curiosity. "A single hit from either of us could kill you now and I'm sure that what's allowing you to move when under Dorīmurōbā won't account for my beams will they?"

"How'd you know?" Herah asked tilting her head and smirking at Moon.

"I didn't." Moon replied smirking back, before letting out a laugh which Herah joined in on. After a few seconds of good-natured laughing, the pair tapered off into chuckles before Moon said, "So what's that third reason?"

At this point, Herah loss her smirk and gained a slightly unsure look.

"Earlier you told me, you were fully at peace. You meant it right?"

Jacob turned to Moon and found the priest now smiling a somewhat bittersweet smile.

"Yes."

"The third reason was that you'd be dead soon enough."

BOOM!

Moon erupted in flames.

Jacob saw red.

Jacob turned to Herah.

He saw a saddened monster.

Jacob shouted a name.

The monster glared at him.

Jacob was blinded by rage.

Jacob enforced Dorīmurōbā onto the monster.

Jacob charged forward.

Jacob reached the monster.

Jacob readied himself to strike.

A beam of chaos hit the tree next to the monster.

Jacob found a claw centimeters from his face, restrained by what looked to be a wooden tendril.

Jacob was shocked.

His eyes turned towards Moon.

The Holy Father was still standing, a single hand pointed towards the sky and another one pointed towards the tree. His clothes and entire body had been burnt to the point that he appeared to have regained his black skin, with one of his eyes visible burned shut and a few of his fingers missing. This caused for the purple flowers atop the palms of his hands to stand out even more than they had earlier, neither of them damaged. Looking towards the Holy Father's face, Jacob found his lips bent into a smile his single open eye showing no signs of regret.

"Control yourself," Moon's voice came out hoarse and pained, a tone of peace filled with warning to his words, "My child."

Then, a ball of light appeared behind Moon and exploded in a blinding flash.

KRAAAK!

A bolt of red lightning shot down from the sky, a cloud of dust, debris, and steam further obscuring Moon from sight.

And when Moon was no longer hidden by the cloud and Jacob was no longer blinded, the younger Keijo found his elder brethren with Max's fist through his chest and her back to him.

Jacob screamed.

ONI

"I'm sorry."

Moon's scorched and blackened lips slowly bent into a smile, as he looked down upon Max's face. With pain and sorrow held deeply within her eyes, a flood of tears pouring down her face, and the edges of her lips turned downward, Moon watched as Max barely held back a sob.

"Don't," Moon let out a bloody cough, a glob of blood hitting Max on her cheek, "Apologize."

Shakingly raising a hand to Max's bloody cheek, Moon wiped away his blood before raising the same hand to softly pet Max on her head.

"You sh-shouldn't move too much," Max told Moon, as one of her hands went down to her coat pocket, "You'll aggravate your wounds."

Moon looked down to his chest, a cold empty feeling where he saw Max's arm pierced him. This caused him to let out a week chuckle.

"A little aggravation" Moon's body became wracked by coughs, even more blood being coughed up, except this time he covered his mouth, "Shouldn't be too much for me."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," Moon responded, his eyes looking past Max and towards Jacob, the Keijo appearing much slower than earlier. Looking towards Herah, he found she too seemed to be moving much slower and so did the unfurled tree that was restraining her. To add to this, all the surrounding Herah clones, appeared to slowly be breaking apart into light, signaling that his second shot towards whatever was being used to replicate Herah had hit and in some way destroyed it.

'It's because I've been speeding up time around this entire fight,' Norwe said, his voice filling Moon's head, 'This makes sure both parts finish up around the same time. Right now, I 've increased the time around you and Max specifically to allow this moment.'

'Thank you Norwe.'

'Don't mention it,' The Maker responded, a pleased and cheerful laugh following before Norwe left Moon's mind.

Returning his attention back to Max, Moon found her raising a hand filled with what appeared to be red sparkles towards his face. With a swiftness unbecoming of his burnt form, Moon caught Max by the arm that she was raising towards him and shook his head.

"Don't waste that on me." Moon's eyes went back to Jacob, "There is someone else who could use it much more than I can."

"I'm sorry."

Moon simply shook his head, letting go of Max's arm. With a single wet plop, Moon pulled himself from the arm that Max has used to pierce his chest before stumbling back slightly. Before he could fall completely, Max caught him by one of his burnt arms, Moon not even feeling it. She then slowly guided him onto the ground and his back, before giving another apology.

"I'm sorry."

Letting out a single sigh, Moon gave Max a final reply.

"I hope that when you finally pass on fully, you're sorry no more."

Moon then took one last breath and let it out, before the cold that started in his chest spread throughout all of his body and the numb settled in.

Moon knew not.

Moon thought not.

But Moon was happy.

And on that day, at that very moment; Moon Jashin, the third priest of the Penance seeking Oni and son of Diavolo Jashin, died at the hands of Max, a gifted participating in Recompense.

ONI

Jacob finished his scream and almost charged straight for Max, but before he could Moon's last words rung through his skull.

'Control yourself, my child.'

Jacob paused in his movements and tightened his grip on both the weapons in his hands to the point that he drew blood. Looking at Max, Jacob watched as she turned to towards him with tears pouring from her eyes and her left arm covered in Moon's blood. With the Holy Father's blood on his mind, Jacob looked over to the recently made corpse and saw the smile on his face.

"Three times I've charged in with only a single thought in mind." Jacob's voice came out deadened and empty, his eyes drifting over to Max who stared back at him silently, "To kill either you and Herah, or just Herah."

Jacob let out a sigh before turning to his head towards the restrained Herah. When Moon's beam of chaos had struck the tree next to her, the tree had opened up like a cloak before its ends latched onto to Herah and began dragging her into its hollow center. Whatever had allowed her to move while under the effect of Dorīmurōbā, seemed to completely ignore the tree so Herah was currently being dragged without any resistance with the telltale lost look on her face signaling that his gift was still in effect.

"And each time he was there to cover my ass, the words "Control yourself, my child" leaving his mouth soon after. And deep down, I understood exactly why what he said was right and that I really did need to control myself." Jacob shook his head while turning back to Max "But I didn't care, because I figured that there was no need for such a thing when I could just take away your control."

Jacob let out a sigh, his eyes turning upwards as he stared into the sky and feelings of regret began to well up within him.

"But now I do care, because my lack of control got someone who wanted to help me killed."

"This," Jacob heard Max began, before taking a sudden pause. Looking back down to her, he found the human looking down to her bloodsoaked arm with a pained expression on her face, "Isn't your fault."

For a moment, Jacob actually believed Max but then an unfamiliar Presence filled him and enlightened him to her lie.

"I'm not an idiot, I see exactly how your plan was formulated."

Max looked up to Jacob in surprise, the Keijo watching as confusion quickly joined and mixed with said surprise on her face

"What do you mean?"

Jacob sheathed Lucy's katana and waved his now free hand towards Max and Herah.

"Your plan relied on me either being killed by Herah when she retaliated to my own attack, or close enough to her that I would be left between a rock and a hard place when you finally made your move to kill Moon." Jacob glanced back at Herah, the monster halfway into the hollow tree that was to entomb her, "That way if I were to not die, I'd have to choose between battling you or her. Fighting her is a gruesome and painful suicide because she is so much faster than me that I can't even attempt to exploit what would normally be an opening, and that doesn't even account for whatever is allowing for her to move." Jacob then gestured lazily towards Max, "And fighting you is a quick suicide since you can speak as fast I move, and with a measly eight syllables you could end me."

"That's-" Max began to say something but the words seemed to catch in her throat, before she quietly said, "I'm sorry."

"You apologize too damn much," Jaco said before letting out his own sigh and saying, "I just wish I had another chance to-"

SPOOLCH!

Jacob felt something pierce his right eye, just as all the vision on that side of his face went completely black.

"What the-"

But before Jacob could say any more, a blinding flash of light filled his vision and then consciousness left him.

.....

.....

.....

When Jacob came to he found himself feeling weightless within a familiar void, a grand feeling of directionlessness and futility filling him.

'Am I to be trapped here, forever floating within this void? Lost, without a path once again,' Jacob thought to himself as he stared upon the endless abyss that trapped his mind.

"That is one option you have,' A strong, mature female voice cut through the quiet of Jacob's void, her tone informative and impassive "Though, to settle on that when you have an infinte number of fates to choose and create at your hand, seems wasteful."

Jacob watched in shock, as an orange orb of light with a long wispy tail appeared before his very eyes and began going in circles. The orb's soft and soothing glow completely purging Jacob of his feelings of futility and being lost.

"What are you?"

"I am merely your gift's instructions, here to tell you what it is and how to work it. Once done, I will fade and never reemerge."

"I already know how Dorīmurōbā works," Jacob told the orb of light in confusion, before his brows creased and he said, "Or at least I thought I did."

"You might've known the functions of Dorīmurōbā, but this is something different. Your gift has evolved to fit your needs and your own personal change."

"Why? How?" Jacob asked shaking his head, before looking down to his hands, the dots connecting within seconds. With his right hand reaching up to its accompanying eye, Jacob stared down at his left with his uncovered eye, "My kama, the gift Moon spoke of, it must've been a mask fragment. That's the only way to evolve a Keijo's gift, at least that's what Norwe says at least." Jacob looked back up to the orb of orange light, "Is that what happened?"

"I know no more than you do on this topic, my knowledge only extends to your current gift."

Shaking his head once again, Jacob decided the how could wait to later.

"What does my gift do now?" Jacob asked the orb, no reply being received at first. Instead, more orbs of lights of an expansive array of colors began to appear all around Jacob until the previously empty void was filled with a seemingly endless amount of them.

"What the hell?"

"These orbs of light you see are the infinte number of fates that can befall you, with some being premade by Norwe and others generated by you subconsciously." A red orb appeared before Jacob, this one having a small, translucent thread that connected it to his chest. "That orb is the current fate you've set yourself up for."

Jacob reached up to the green orb, and as soon as the tip of his finger touched it, feelings of bittersweetness and calm filled him.

"You will not know exactly how it ends or how you get there, but you will know how you will feel once you achieve it." The female voice spoke, answering his unverbalized question, "And once you choose your fate, rays of light and a seventh sense will guide you on what to do."

"You said I could choose and create my fate, yes?" Jacob asked, his sights unwilling to leave the green orb that he held.

"Yes."

"How do I create one?"

"Focus on the feelings you want to feel when at your end, and then visualize an orb piercing your chest and then flying through your back."

Doing as instructed, Jacob focused on feelings of happiness, peace, and joy, all packed up into a single orb of pink light. He then imagined this orb of light piercing his chest and going out his back.

"HURRK!"

Jacob coughed up blood, as the feeling of something suddenly piercing his chest was felt throughout his entire body for but a moment before he felt as if nothing had ever really happened. Once this had come to pass, an orb of pink light floated before Jacob, just within his reach.

"To choose that faith or any other, simply call it to your hand and imagine a physical link of some type binding you to it."

Doing exactly that, Jacob found a pink chain of light connecting his chest to the recently created orb of light.

"If you ever want to choose a different fate, you'll just have to hide within the orb of light that now follows you in the physical world and imagine being back here."

"Hide within the orb of light?" Jacob looked to the pink orb, it being just a bit smaller than his head, "How?"

"It'll come naturally to you don't worry."

"If you say so," Jacob responded, not sounding too sure, "Anything else I should know?"

"Before I can fade, I must know the name of your gift. That will prove to me that I've done all I am supposed to and allow me passage into oblivion." When the blue orb said this, Jacob detected a hint of wanting within their tone.

"You wish to go into oblivion, why?"

"Because I came from it, and wish to return home." The orb of light replied, her voice beginning to sound impatient, "Now name, please?"

Several different names flew through Jacob's thoughts, each one being discarded just as quickly as they were thought up until one name stuck in his brain.

"Dorīmumēkā."

"Dream Maker, huh?" The sentient orb of light responded, before letting out a pleased sigh and saying with a slightly impressed voice, "That's a good name."

And then it disappeared.

As if it was never there.

"What a strange entity," Jacob said to himself, before his eyes narrowed, "They definitely knew a lot more than they let on."

Jacob's eyes went back to the pink orb. Brushing a single digit past the orb, Jacob felt the emotions he packed into it flow back into him.

"To create one's fate, what a powerful and comforting ability." A small smile came to Jacob's face as Jacob's thoughts went to the main catalyst for his new gift, "Thank you Moon, I won't waste this opportunity."

With those words, the pink orb began to glow even brighter until all that filled Jacob's vision was the pink light.

"I tried controlling others, now let's see how far I get controlling myself."

HALT

When Herah returned to the physical world, she found herself under the cloak of darkness and crammed into a very confined space. After a few rapid blinks, Herah's eyes began to glow a soft emerald and were able to make out what was around her.

'Max,' Herah thought, a thumb on her amulet, 'Why am I in a tree?'

'Moon put you in there,' Max responded, Herah hearing and feeling the surprise and worry radiating from her, 'Jacob's changed, I can feel energy akin to Oblivion emitting from him.'

'What? Why?'

'For some weird reason, while we were talking, what looked to be a shard of an Oni mask shot up from the back his kama and into his right eye. After that, he was engulfed in a flash of light that quickly disappeared to reveal a Jacob decked out in monk clothing.'

'Why isn't he dead Max?' Herah asked, her eyes narrowed and her lips drawn into a small frown, 'That shouldn't be too hard for you to accomplish, especially now that you've broken your second limiter.'

There was a moment of silence as shame and pain flooded Herah's and Max's, and the youngling felt involuntary tears prick at the corner of her eyes.

'Because unlike Moon, I'm not sure that killing him is of benefit to him Herah,' Max replied, her thoughts filled with anguish and her tears audible.

Herah quickly realized her mistake, her own feeling of shame soon joining with Max's with apologeticness thrown in as well.

'I'm sorry Max,' Herah thought back in remorse, wiping away the tears that had begun pouring from her eyes, 'I made assumptions too quickly, want me to-'

SHRIKK!

Herah's eyes widened in shock, as a quick feeling of utter shock filled her and Max's link before agony exploded and lasted for as quickly as it appeared and then nothing was felt from Max.

Green flames exploded from Herah's mouth, eyes, and nose as fury engulfed her and tree that entombed her was reduced to ash. Landing on her hands and knees with her tears evaporated, Herah quickly stood up and turned her eyes towards two familiar scents that were in the center of the clearing. The sight that greeted her caused for her blood to boil.

With a relaxed stance and gentle sway to his body, Jacob stood tall in his new attire with both of his weapons resting at his sides and a pink orb of light floating behind his head in Herah's line of sight. Jacob was now wearing what looked to be a strange set of robes. With his right arm completely uncovered, the rest of Jacob's body was draped with a black robe that hovered just above his ankles and fit rather loosely on his body. With a white sash around his waist and what looked to be a white cape covering his left shoulder down to just below his chest, Jacob looked like some type of holy priest to Herah. Well, Jacob would've if not for the strange sword in his left hand or the slightly abnormal looking sickle in his right that was stained in blood and dripping onto Max's head.

Speaking of Max, the human was laying on the ground completely still with her eyes staring emptily through Herah and blood dripping down from her slightly agape mouth. A profusely bleeding gash was going down from right shoulder to her left hip, and her clothing was splattered in her own blood as Moon lay just next to her dead.

Looking back up to Jacob, Herah found that red bone plates had emerged from his face and completely covered it to form a new mask, this one wearing an open mouth snarl with its brow burrowed and a glare etched into its face.

"Max isn't dead, if that's what you're thinking." Jacob said, his voice now sounding more apathetic and tranquil than it had before. Thought, Herah could still detect the anger and rage beneath it.

Not even responded to his words, Herah spread her wings and flapped once.

BOOM!

With a crater forming in her wake and all the nearby trees being blown apart, Herah shot forward with her left hand darting towards Jacob's neck. Just before Herah's claw could touch him, Jacob disappeared into the pink light behind him. Letting out a growl and spinning back around to face where Max lay, Herah slammed her feet into the ground. Tearing twin trenches in the frost and ice covered meadow, Herah managed to stop just before her body could completely exit said meadow. Now standing at the edge of the meadow, Herah watched as walls of pink light poured from the single orb hovering near Max. These lines poured out haphazardly, covering everything within the meadow and a bit beyond.

"What the hell are thes-"

Herah felt a presence appear behind her, but before the youngling could take any actions, Jacob reappeared before her his sickle now more bloody.

'Wher-'

Herah's body exploded in pain, trillions of cuts covering every square inch of it as blood spurted from every wound. Even with the pain filling her mind and pushing her to near unconsciousness, Herah noticed a great amount of something that the youngling had never felt before being ripped away from her very being. As this something left her, Herah found that her desire to pursue her dreams began to dim drastically in intensity, and that attempting to even think had become a struggle. Herah fell to her knees, her sense of agency fleeing her as her inner flame began to weaken to the point it was but a match in her chest.

"Even with all those cuts, you're still able to hold on." Herah heard Jacob say, his voice coming in muddled and quiet. "Unlike Max, you must have a lot of will."

Herah found her mind oddly fixated on the word will, an unconscious and rather barebones understanding of what it was and how it functioned entering her mind. And as this information entered her mind, Herah felt the same something that had been leaving her from earlier manifest within her head before branching out to the rest of her body in a sudden burst of speed. When Herah had felt completely full, the youngling found that her flame's strength had returned, her willingness to seek and fulfill her desires having came back as well.

'Wait, no,' Herah thought to herself, a hand going to hover over her chest where her flame rested, 'They've all come back stronger.'

With her mind now facing a clarity that it had never felt before, Herah pushed down the agony that filled her to the back of her mind before an onslaught of flames poured from all the open orifices on her head and shrouded her body in flames. With her wounds being burned away with the fire, Herah rose to her feet with a snarl and huff of smoke.

"I don't know what the ash you've done to me or Max, but I'll be damned if you don't fix her before I kill you."

"You're filled with rage, like I was earlier." Jacob replied, his tone still carrying its apathy and near tranquilness. "I wonder if it'll be of boon or benefit for you. We'll find out as we battle I guess."

Jacob then disappeared into his orb of light once again, the same walls of pink light pouring out from it before Herah could even react. Readying herself for another Jacob to reappear behind her, the youngling found herself surprised when Jacob reappeared near the edges of the clearing.

"How did you get past Dorīmurōbā, by the way?"

Instead of answering Jacob's question, Herah looked over herself for a moment and made sure that all her wounds had completely healed. Finding her body up to standard, Herah looked back at Jacob and willed the flames covering her to break apart into thousands of pebble-sized green fireballs.

"Your firepebbles won't work," Jacob told Herah, his voice showing no sense of agency or fear.

"Never hurts to try." Herah bit back, before launching the fireballs forward.

Each pebble-sized flame fired across the meadow and towards Jacob within ten-thousandth of a second, the first flames appearing before the eyes of his mask before the Keijo made any move.

BOOM!

'What the actual fuck!?'

And his move was moving his sword-wielding arm so fast, that Herah wasn't even able to track it as it seemed to completely erase and destroy every single one of the firepebbles that came at him. Jacob's sword was back down at his side before Herah could even process it. Jacob disappeared into the pink orb behind him once again, with the many walls of pink light flooding the clearing once again. This time around, Herah noticed that the walls of light never purposely touched her or Max, instead bending and traveling around them.

Herah didn't get to think about this too much since Jacob appeared before her very eyes before disappearing and reappearing behind her. Once again, agony filled Herah as trillions of cuts appeared across her flesh and scales and will was ripped away from her. But instead of buckling down and falling to her knees, Herah pushed the pain down as quickly as it had appeared and attempted to smack Jacob away with one her wings. Before the motion was even halfway finished, Jacob blurred around and to the front of Herah. Once Jacob had stopped moving, Herah unconsciously noticed Jacob's sickle wielding hand soaked in her blood.

"HUURK!"

"How about we make a deal? You answer my question, I answer yours." Herah head Jacob say as even more pain filled her mind due to two large bloody gashes appearing on her torso. Each one stretched from each of her shoulders to the opposite hip to create a bleeding X. Stumbling back slightly, Herah once again pushed the pain down and attempted to claw out his throat with a full speed swipe of her right hand. Jacob disappeared into the pink orb behind him once again.

'Damn it!' Herah thought to herself, her flame shroud eating away at her wounds as her eyes and head moved to get a good look at all the new walls of light that now filled the partly frozen meadow. 'I need to figure out where that fucker is going to appear next, maybe I can catch him by surprise.'

Out of the corner of her eye, Herah noticed one particular wall of light next to Max appear to just barely lighten in color. In fact, Herah wasn't sure whether or not her eyes were just playing tricks at first. That was until Jacob appeared standing next to Max, his mask facing her. With a sudden spike of worry and slight fear, Herah let out a roar of flames that fired across the meadow reducing all the ice it engulfed into steam and burning all the grass beneath it before both Jacob, Max, and Moon's corpse were swallowed by said flames. WIth her fire not stopping there and shooting straight through the meadow, Herah thought for a split second that her attack had hit.

BOOM!

SHILCK!

That was until a flying sickle flew in from her right and slit her throat.

With one hand reflexively moving to cover the new wound, Herah felt more will leave her, the amount taken increasing even more than before.

'Though I seem to have a lot of it so I should really just worry about how all this healing isn't good for my flame," Herah thought to herself, before looking towards the direction the sickle had come from, 'It'll probably be best for me to- Where the ash did Jacob go?'

And found no one.

"I'm over here."

Herah's head whipped towards her right, Jacob standing at the edge of the meadow with his even bloodier sickle back down at his side.

"I'm much faster than you as shown, so all these attempts to hit me are more fruitless than anything else." Jacob looked away from Herah, "Huh, so your flames have selective burning."

Herah's eyes went over to where Max and Moon's corpse laid, all around the pair, steam rose and burnt grass lay.

"Yes it does," Herah responded offhandedly, turning back to Jacob before switching topics, "Why haven't you killed me or Max yet? That sword of yours could make quick work of either of us, especially since you're so fast."

"If you're accepting my proposition, answer my question first."

"Montrez-vous, mon marionnettiste." Herah said, raising a single hand towards Jacob, as strings of fire shot up from each and every single one of her joints to connect to a giant ethereal claw that floated over her. "That's how, though it's useless as long as I am conscious"

Jacob looked up at the claw for a second (said claw quickly disappearing) before shrugging and giving his own answer.

"I haven't killed you or Max because my plan doesn't require you dead... Yet."

"What is your plan?" Herah asked suspiciously, not really expecting an answer.

"No idea," Was Jacob's blunt reply.

"What do you mean?" Herah asked, her head tilting to the side as smoke shot from her nostrils and her left eye began to tick.

"My turn first," Jacob said, Herah hearing the grin that had to be on his face, "Where is Alex?"

"Handling another Keijo who popped up, now answer me," Herah hurriedly replied.

"I meant I don't have the full plan yet, just the step that comes after the last." As Jacob said this, the Keijo lazily twirled his sickle.

"So what's your next step?" Herah asked, while also sending out a slight sliver of flames through the ground and towards Max.

"What is Max to you?" This time Jacob's tone had become more curious, the Keijo casting a quick glance to Max.

"Max is a-" Herah paused for a moment to think, giving Max her own worried glance, "Sexfriend that I kinda hope turns into something more. I won't say we're close like lovers, nowhere close to that in fact, but there is genuine care between us."

"To keep talking with you, that's my next step."

"What did you do to Max?" Herah asked, her eyes quickly darting towards the human before returning back to Jacob.

"As I said before, you have much more will than Max. So when I gave her those two slashes on her chest," Jacob gestured towards Max with his bloody sickle, "Almost all of her will was ripped away from her. Right now, she's only able to maintain life in its most basic form."

"How do I fix her?"

"My question first," Jacob said, before his voice gained a sudden and drastic seriousness to it, "Do you feel guilty after killing my people?"

"No."

Herah noticed Jacob's body visibly tense, his grip tightening on both of his weapons as Herah noticed him barely holding himself back.

"Do you feel regret?"

"You haven't answered mine." Herah replied blatant annoyance filling her voice as her right arm went down to her side and her hand turned away from Jacob.

"You get two freeebies," Jacob said quickly, anger beginning to fill his tone. "Now answer me."

"No," Herah responded, her own anger beginning to increase as the sliver of fire returned to her and placed two lenses into her right hand just as Jacob's patience quickly ran dry.

As soon as Jacob vanished into his pink orb, Herah's right hand darted to her eyes. Both lenses on the ends of her talons popped right into place as soon as the walls of lights completed in their manifestations. With these lenses in, Herah was able to not only easily notice the wall of light to her right become lighter, but also see Jacob step out of said wall. Herah then watched as Jacob raised his sickle towards her and began wildly cutting into her body. This time, Herah felt every cut as it appeared, the pain now feeling less like being slammed into a wall of agony and more like being slashed multiple times with a serrated knife. By the time Jacob was done, 900 trillion cuts had been added to her body, Herah having counted each and every single one as they appeared. Once done with that, Jacob paused on the opposite side of Herah and gave her an order.

"Answer me!"

"You first." Herah answered back with a growl, pushing the pain down with ease now. Herah then went on the attack, her left hand darting out in a spear-like motion towards Jacob neck.

The Keijo easily dodged around her attack and lopped off her right arm with his sickle, before stabbing the disconnected limb with his other blade. Herah watched as her arm was absorbed into the blade, the youngling feeling it as it was reduced into nothingness within the blade. Once done, Jacob disappeared into his pink orb. Once the walls of light had fully formed once again, Jacob stepped out of them to lean against a tree that sat at the other end of the meadow.

"I take the other arm next." The Keijo said with quiet anger.

'Jacob was moving much slower when taking off my arm,' Herah thought to herself, a reply already on her tongue, 'Mach 100 I think. I might have a plan to take him out.'

"When I agreed to answer your questions we made a deal," Herah told Jacob with gritted teeth, twin puffs of smoke shooting from her nose as the green fire that surrounded her burned away at the cuts covering her body. "And right now, you're not keeping your bargain. So I'm not telling you shit else until you answer my question."

"We'll see about that." Jacob told her, before disappearing into his orb of pink once again.

ONI

"Now you all you have left is a leg." Jacob said standing in front of Herah, with his arms hanging at his side and his eyes staring the monster down.

"Fuck off." Was her only reply.

Within the span of eight seconds, Herah was physically a mess. While she lacked actual clothing, the blood that drenched her from head to toe was a good substitute. It dripped from the plethora of open wound that covered her, a soft sizzle filling the air as said wounds were gradually sealed shut by her now yellow shroud of flames. This fire did little to heal the three bleeding stumps that were now in place of her right and left arms and her right leg. Her breaths had begun to come in harder, fumes literally pouring from her nose almost as if she was running low on steam. Jacob would've found himself satisfied.

Except she had yet to falter.

Even as Jacob dismembered her with little mercy, made it so that it was near impossible to find a part of her body not damaged, and forced her to bleed copious amounts of blood, she refused to answer his question. She glared at him expecting an answer, that he had no intention of providing.

'Tell her what she wants.' A soothing, and familiar female voice whispered in Jacob's mind, causing the Keijo to wince beneath his mask.

Dorīmumēkā had been telling him to answer her question since she had first asked it, but the Keijo absolutely refused.

And it was beginning to hurt.

'You forgot to mention that disobeying the instructions would cause me pain in return.' Jacob thought in irritation, his skin feeling as if it was on fire ever since he first renewed his attack against Herah.

'You should answer her question.' The voice said once again, her tone was disapproving, 'You put the fate you set out for yourself in jeopardy every time you disobey. Do you not want it?'

'Of course I want it!' Jacob yelled in his mind, the Keijo subconsciously noticing Herah slip a silver bracelet that had been on her arm onto her ankle, the purple gem within it looking as if it was piecing itself back together, 'If only she would answer my damn question!'

'Even with your kama being able to cut through anything to reap its will, getting your answer is much easier if you just answer her question.' The voice said, her tone gaining a sorta harshness, 'You need to get yourself back under control, don't waste this gift that Moon has allowed you.'

"I know! I know! I know!" Jacob shouted out loud, his head turned to the sky and his grip on his weapons increasing until his hands bled.

"Then keep your end of the deal."

Herah's haggard but strong words, caused Jacob to look back down at her. Shock filled him at Herah seemingly understanding exactly what was happening with him.

"You've lost your composure dumbass," Herah told him, a tired snarl coming to her face as she continued to glare at him, "It's easy to see that you're subconsciously struggling with the fact that you're ignoring Moon's words." Herah spat out a glob of blood, "So do what you have to already."

Jacob gritted his teeth but instead of attacking Herah once again, the Keijo took a deep breath and finally calmed himself.

"In order to fix Max, I'd need to return all the will I took from her or she'd have to return to a stable level of will through natural regeneration."

As soon as Jacob said these words, the feeling of his skin burning stopped causing relief to flood his body. He also heard the familiar female voice in his head give a sigh of relief.

"I don't regret what I've done to the Oni."

"Why not?" Jacob asked, his anger once again inflating.

"Are you just moving 10,000 times faster than your opponent at max speed or are you moving a light speed when you make your first attacks against me after exiting your orb of pink."

'Answer truthfully.' The voice told him.

"The former."

"I don't regret what I've done because I learned at an early age that you have to care for yourself and those you care about no matter what." Herah paused in her words to let out a breath of smoke, "And as long as I get that by the end of it, I won't regret a single thing."

"What a very selfish answer."

Herah breathed out a small cloud of smoke, before giving Jacob a bloody grin.

"I'm a very selfish person."

"Do you regret anything?" Jacob asked, his voice low and vulnerable.

The Keijo watched as Herah visibly froze for a second, before looking away from him and giving him her reply.

"One thing."

Jacob found himself surprised by Herah's saddened tone of voice, a familiar weight carried in her tone. It caused him, for a split moment, to actually empathize with the monster.

"Does your sickle cut through anything?" Herah asked, her eyes going down to Jacob's kama.

"We call this a kama," Jacob said raising the weapon with a raised brow, "

'The last few steps you need to take are close Jacob,' The voice in Jacob's head said soothingly, her voice holding a hint of finality to it, 'In your next attack make sure to cut off her leg and cover her with as many wounds as possible.'

Jacob had to pause when he heard that.

'You don't want me to just kill her?' Jacob thought, a bit confused, 'Because at this point I might as well.'

'No,' The voice replied with a strong sense of finality, "Just do exactly as I said.'

'Okay then.'

"Any more questions Jacob?"

The Keijo looked towards Herah and shook his head, causing her to close her eyes and nod her before saying,

"Then let's get this over with."

HALT

'I only have one second to get this right.' Herah thought to herself, not at all worrying when Jacob was absorbed into his pink orb once again, 'He seems unable to attack twice in a row. That's why he never appears next to me twice, and there is a two-second delay before he can back into the orb.'

Herah watched as Jacob stepped out of one of his pink walls of light and emerged next to Moon's corpse, looking down at it with what the youngling could only assume to be a sad look.

'For a single second, Jacob moves leagues faster than me but after that, I'll have a one time opportunity to turn this battle in my favor.'

By the time Jacob's two-second delay was over, Herah had stopped trying to heal herself with her fire and instead chose to focus her shroud around her remaining leg. Before Jacob could fully enter his pink orb, Herah had begun to enter Renaissance à son Sommet and her crushing of the now fully reformed amethyst on her bracelet with her fire. By the time the walls of light had come up and Jacob was stepping out of them, Herah's black Gasshbenirium armor had covered her entire body.

'One second, I only need to make it one second.' Herah thought to herself, as Jacob fully exited the wall of light to her right.

The armor covering her battered body parted with no resistance from Jacob's swings, with this particular onslaught holding the highestr number of attacks.

'Quadrillion?' Herah thought to herself, a drastic amount of her will being ripped from her. In fact, so much had been ripped away and was still being ripped away that Herah knew that her amount of actions would be cut down to the single digits.

'I'll only need one.' Herah told herself, struggling to maintain her Renaissance à son Sommet and under his seemingly endless barrage of attacks, 'I just need to make it past one second.'

But that second seemed to be an eternity, her flesh being cut and torn to the point that it was nearly impossible for her to know if any of it remained on her body. Her mind continued and continued to approach the very fringe of consciousness, the dark abyss of unconsciousness becoming harder and harder to resist. This was a result of Herah's dwindling supply of will , each of Jacob's slashes stealing even more will than the previous one. Herah was being pushed to the absolute brink of defeat.

SHRIKK!

And then Jacob, cut off her final leg.

As her body fell to the ground face first, Herah couldn't help but to smile to herself.

'1 second has passed.'

Herah took her last action

SPLOOCH!

CRUNCH!

CRUNCH!

CRUNCH!

"AAACKK!"

'Victory is mine.'

ONI

Jacob stared down at his chest in shock, the leg sized hole where his heart had been feeling Jacob with a terror that he hated. Slowly turning his head to behind him, Jacob found that Herah's black covered leg had fired straight through several of the trees behind him and disappeared somewhere unknown.

"What... the... fuck?" Jacob said to himself more than anyone else, his eyes slowly turning back to the now limbless Herah on the ground in front of him.

'Now release the will you've taken from Max.' The same female voice from earlier told Jacob, 'It's your final step.'

"How.... does.... this...make... me... happy.... and.... at....... peace?" Jacob asked, blood pouring from the sides of his mouth as consciousness and life began to leave him.

'Jacob,' The female voice in his head, sounded sad and tearful, 'You know that you were never gonna get your happiest ending by simply killing these two. That's why you made this fate, and rejected your original one. Now, take that last leap. Embrace what you, yourself chose."

"Are....... you....... sure?" Jacob asked, tears pouring from his eyes, as his legs lost their balance and he fell to his knees, his approaching death filling him with fear and worry.

'Yes and so are you.' The female voice responded, her voice soothing and filling Jacob with peace, 'Now, it's time for you to wake up from this nightmare, sweetheart.'

"Night..........mare?" Jacob asked himself as he returned Max's will back to her, his vision and hearing going black and deaf, but his awareness not leaving his body yet. For a few timeless moments, Jacob felt his body sway and barely balance itself.

'I'm going to fall.' Jacob thought, as his body finally began to tilt forward and towards the ground.

But before he could fall too far, someone caught him and held him up. Then, some type of crushed crystals was blown into his face, causing him to let out one final cough before he fully fell into the blackness.

....

...

....

"Jacob! Wake the hell up!" The same familiar female voice from before actually holding a physical voice to her.

"GAAHH!"

Jacob's eye flew open as his body shot up from beneath the leaves that served as his cover. Looking frantically about, Jacob got a good look at the stone structure that was his room. It was barren, the way he liked it, with the only noticeable things being his wooden desk with a painted picture of him and his girlfriend sitting atop it and a stack of stone tablets that he needed to finish transcripting some history on to.

"You look like you just woke up from a Log-damn nightmare, is everything okay?"

Jacob's eyes turned to female voice that greeted him, and found a sight that caused tears upon tears to begin streaming down his face.

Standing at the side of his stone bed was the love of his life, and girlfriend of 200 hundred years: Audrey.

She was a beautiful Oni, though she never thought it herself. Her skin was pink and her physique slightly chubby, with her standing just a few inches shorter than him at full height. She was clothed in a shirt of leaves and pants ladened with bark. At this very moment, she had both her arms crossed and was staring worriedly at Jacob, though her mask made her expression hard to make out.

Seeing Audrey's mask, Jacob's hand reflexively shot up to his own face, the Oni finding that his mask had returned to its previous state and now, once again, mimicked that of every other Oni.

"Jacob," The Oni's attention went back to his girlfriend, "Did you hear me? Are you oka-OOMPH!"

Audrey was barreled over, as Jacob leaped at her and wrapped her his arms around before snuggling his head into her mask with an almost savage intensity. This didn't last for long, however, with Audrey pushing her boyfriend up and at arms' length before asking another question.

"What the hell were you dreaming about, that you're this physically affectionate. You're almost never like this, in fact."

All Jacob did was let out an almost insane laugh, before holding Audrey as close as possible to his body. The stress, sadness, and fear his horrid dream had caused him peeling away to leave him only feeling joy and a gentle peace within himself.

"I just had a really bad dream, but it's over now. And I know everything is going to be alright."

"You're a fucking weirdo, you that?" Audrey told her boyfriend over his with her head resting over his shoulder.

"I know."

"And you're naked."

"I know."

....

.....

"Wanna bang?" Audrey suggested.

"Definitely."

HALT

Max stood panting over Jacob's corpse, tears of gladness and sadness pouring from her eyes as she turned away from Jacob's new reality. Her eyes immediately went to Herah, the youngling still covered in her black armor and laying face first on the ground with all her limbs missing.

"Herah, you're fully healed."

With a single blink, Max found her eyes greeted with the sight of a fully restored Herah. Rolling onto her back, Herah stared at Max with a small grin, her own feelings of satisfaction and gratefulness balancing Max's negative emotions.

"I think we've-"

'Guys, we have a big ass problem!' Owen 's mental shout cut off whatever Herah was about to say, causing both of her and Max to reach up to their amulets.

'Where were you the last minute two minutes or so Owen?' Herah asked in annoyance.

'Trying to reach you two but something was blocking me.' Owen replied before hurriedly thinking, 'But that's not important right now?'

'What is?' Max asked, a bit worried by Owen's franticness.

"The Human steadily approaching me and the tree!'

Almost immediately, both Max's and Herah's eyes went towards the Oni village, the pair finding the giant pale beast called a Human that was steadily walking towards the Donneur de Frene.

'Alex are you okay?" Max hurriedly and frantically asked, her thoughts extending to her brother.

'I'm fine sis,' Alex's reply came back lazy and tired, 'But I'm letting you know right here and now. I'm fucking done for the day with fighting.'

'What do you mean?' Herah asked, suddenly hopping in on the mental conversation with a very disproving tone.

'It means, Ashbrain, that you three are gonna have to handle that thing yourselves. Because I'm not doing shit else.'

'Are you being serious right now, brother!?' Max mentally screamed at Alex, her emotions suddenly turning to anger.

'Yup. Deal with it yourselves. Alex out.'

'You son of a bitch!' Max mentally and verbally screamed while worriedly thinking up various ways to get rid of the Human without Alex noticing.

"Max," Said human turned to Herah finding that she held a lazy expression on her face was gesturing for her to calm down, " Don't worry about it, I had Jeffery handle it.'

"What-" Max turned back to the site where the Human had stood and found absolutely nothing remaining, "How did you know Norwe wasn't going to stop you from doing that, or be mad at you having Jeffery do it?"

"Max look at me."

Max turned back to Herah, the Cendreuex holding a lazy grin on her face as she finished saying what she meant to say earlier.

"The second Jacob died, we had won."

"You're are correct Herah," Max heard Nowre the Sloth say cheerily as he appeared on her back with his furry arms wrapped around her neck, "Which means one thing and one thing only.

A cold shiver ran up both Max's and Herah's spines, Norwe's voice taking on a disturbingly pleased tone as he said his next words.

"Now it's time for the prizes.... And the punishments."