PHASE 57 - GOLDEN FAKE GOD

Quick Trivia: Heushac Efilion’s Guardian Ability is , which makes him immune to mental spells like mind controls insanity inducements and illusions. He will be a man of unshakeable ideals, but can still work on him if the command given supports his will. It also makes him more tolerable to pain.

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I’m not feeling good. I feel dizzy and I have the urge to puke that delicious peanut butter stew we had last night. My stomach acids failed to digest the food.

What makes it worse is that my vision has been flashing static. My ears hear buzzing radio sound. It’s the sign that somebody will die according to my . And even though we already know it, we’re charging ahead with full power.

We had to excuse ourselves from our afternoon classes to utilize this perfect opportunity for us to prepare our entrapment operation.

Our plan involves Tiara as our bait. She will talk to her twin brother and go with Diadem’s plan. I will be watching from a distance and have my open in order to predict his movements. Heushac, on the other hand, will wait in Yami in case Diadem attempts to escape. He will be accompanied by Key as an since plain Heushac would be incredibly weak.

And Amy… She will be in charge of surveillance, talking to us via an earpiece. We all agreed to pull this operation in the condition that Amy will have the safest job in here. Right now, she’s on a sniping position of certain rooftop that has a great view of the park.

I was already in position, disguised as an ice cream vendor with a suave mustache. I know everything was just a prop, but Tiara has been buying my merchandise every time she finishes eating a cone. This gluttonous idiot will get my cover blown, so I purposely went away for a while. If my timing is right, Diadem will arrive thirty minutes from now.

Suddenly, there was this teenager wearing a black jacket with a red scarf walking casually and bought an ice cream from me. I never realized who he is until I his voice entered my ears.

“Looks like you guys are early for Jeannette Amiella Fontaine von Noctis’s funeral.” The Outsider said. I wanted to punch him more when he continued. “This time you’re helping her dig her own grave.”

“I won’t be using my bootleg God Core anymore. You said that I will be able to change fate, but Helena still died. I feel so stupid for trusting your words.” I said.

“Is that so?” The Outsider laughed and made a single lick on his ice cream. “Maybe you need a little love to twist fate a bit?”

“What the heck are you saying? Are you gay? I’m not interested!” I irritatingly said.

The Outsider laughed once again. “You really are a joker, Alaric the Arrogant. I’m talking about romance. You may have seen powerful gods, but you should still believe in one true God. And that is love. God is love.”

“Stop citing bible verses, you sound like a Jehovah’s Witness,” I said.

“Love was, in fact, the reason why I’m doing these crazy things. You should realize it too when the time is right.” The Outsider said as he licked his fingers after finishing the ice cream cone.

He walked away waving goodbye and disappeared like a ghost.

“Ric.” It was Amy’s voice on the earphone. “Are you okay?”

“I-I’m a bit woozy,” I said. “Did you hear the whole conversation?”

“What conversation?” Amy asked. “Listen, you’ve been spacing out a lot. If you’re not feeling well, let’s swap roles.”

“You stay there. Whatever happens.” I scolded her.

“Fine! Fine.” She replied. “Just stop spacing out.”

So my conversation with The Outsider didn’t exist at all, huh? Maybe he’s just a fabrication of my mind since I’m going crazy for seeing a lot of traumatizing deaths in dreams and reality alike.

Or maybe The Outsider can delete his own existence… which is quite terrifying.

“Here he comes!” Amy said.

I scanned the surroundings and noticed that almost all of the people passing by having hollow eyes. Some are already crying with black blood. I finally fixed my eyes on a man covering his face with a gray hoodie. I can feel a lot of malicious aura from him.

This hooded man is Diadem, I’m sure of it. He just sat on the exact same park bench with Tiara. I moved forward for a better view.

They started to talk. I switched my earpiece to the same channel as Tiara’s mic, and I heard their words.

“Brother…” Tiara said.

“So you came. Are you up on my proposal to join the New Order?” Diadem said.

“I will never join you, brother! I won’t let you hurt anyone anymore!” Tiara angrily cried.

“I know the secrets of the Brightmore Witch. I know everything about the deleted timelines, as well as your sins for keeping your prince charming alive.”

“What…” Tiara was astounded.

Then suddenly, the communications died. It seems that Tiara turned it off herself.

I activated my to see if Diadem will resort to a hostile action. But his future transparent self is weird and creepy. It’s as if he’s looking at me, staring at my soul.

Suddenly, Amy shouted! “Ric, get out of there!”

There was a shockwave, having the position of Diadem the epicenter of it. The park vanishes in an instant, as it was replaced with an abandoned city of skyscrapers in which the lower half parts of those buildings are submerged in black water. The blue skies became red, and the sun was replaced by a crimson moon! Somebody opened a Gate to Yami!

“Watch out!” It was Heushac’s voice! He leaped forward and pushed me away!

Swoosh! There is this wall of flames that rushed to my position! If I got directly hit by that, I should be a roasted handsome right now!

“Do you see a halo on me, Ric?” Heushac asked as he gave his hand to me.

“N-No.” I answer as I went back on my feet.

“That’s because I’m not your guardian-friggin-angel! Stop spacing out!” Heushac yelled with sarcasm.

It’s not my fault for being sick on this day, darn it!

<>

Tiara finally started the fight. She made swift boxing combinations, and Diadem made blinding sword slashes in return. They attack, evade, counterattack, evade, as it was a never-ending loop. Their exchanges are so fast and powerful that every punch or hacks they made gives off moderate gusts of wind.

Diadem made a huge leap backward when he noticed that Tiara is slightly dominating the fight. Both of them are already heavily panting. In order to rest a bit, he offered a brief chat with his twin sister.

“You really are powerful, my dear sister. It’s a waste that you didn’t open your mind to my proposal.” Diadem said.

“I will never turn my back to my friends! I will do what is right and just… even if it means stopping you, my brother!” Tiara was furious.

“You wasted your chance to finally see our father.” Diadem commented.

After Tiara heard that, she lowered her fists and felt unmotivated. She gritted and clenched her fist.

“... I…”

She muttered while thinking about the words she should release. Then she held her heart and shouted with full determination.

“I will find father myself!”

Diadem raised his shoulders and opened his arms as he gave an exhausted sigh. “I give up. My twin sister really has a pure heart. Nothing can corrupt your soul.”

The black swordsman briefly scanned his surroundings. Then...

Diadem made a devilish smirk to his twin. “Sadly, there’s someone who’s heart is tainted by a deadly sin.”

“W-Wha-!!!” Tiara’s eyes opened wide as she realized what her brother is talking about. Then she looked in my direction. “Rikkun!!!”

<>

In a blink of an eye, Diadem disappeared as it was engulfed with black flames. Then the same flame with the same size spawned in front of Heushac! The black swordsman revealed himself from the flame as if he was able to teleport!

“!!!” The black swordsman released the fire tornado in a point-blank range, which resulted Heushac launched far away! Now it’s just him and me!

“Haaaaa!” I made a sideward hack, but then Diadem effortlessly caught my katana with his hand!

The black swordsman then caught my neck with one arm and raised me up in the sky. He’s squeezing my windpipes, making it impossible to breathe! Ack!

“...Chrisprel, Ranley, and Daughty… They are your friends, right?”

Diadem whispered with a demonic deep voice. Hearing the name of my dead friends from that murderer’s mouth makes my blood boil! But this wicked Cursed Guardian continued to taunt me!

“You need to do better. If you want to kill me, be more powerful. You need to trade everything, even your soul, just to fulfill this goal. Feel the anger…. the hatred deep inside your heart, and use it against me…”

Hatred… No! If I lose my mind, I might end up killing my friends!

“I’ll show you the ultimate path of sin… !!!”

In a blink of an eye, his body transformed into a horror. He is now covered in a yellow golden cloak, and his limbs are now swarms of tentacles. I couldn’t see his face, for it was pure darkness. All I can see is his crimson gleam eyes and a yellow rune on his forehead.

Tentacles surged to my eye, nose, ears, and mouth. As much as I wanted to scream, I can’t. All I can release is a choking shout!

Then flame burst my insides, making a loud explosion.