PHASE 95 - THERE IS NO OTHER SIDE

“You bastard!” Helena cried as she readied her greatsword in a centered kendo stance. Her blue eyes are filled with anger and disgust towards the man with the black jacket and red scarf. “You’re the one who cursed me! You’re responsible for making Lironeo a Cursed Guardian!”

“Oooh, scary~” The Outsider mocked. “You should be grateful that I saved you and your boyfriend.”

“I almost killed my baby brother because of your curse!” Helena cried.

“Hey, he’s well and fine now, right? You’re not butchering your baby brother’s lungs anymore. You’re back to being pure. All is well that ends well, right? I made lots of efforts just to change your doomed fates. You’re welcome.”

“Y-Yoouuuu!!!” Helena was about to charge forward, but Rikkun’s arm stopped her. That made the sword princess astounded. “A-Alaric, don’t tell me you…”

Rikkun’s death stare is directed to the mysterious man he trusted during desperate times. He’s filled with disbelief, but he’s ready to attack if necessary. He just wants to hear the Outsider’s side.

“The Outsider… No…. Yohan Hikari Romanov. You saved us a lot of times, but most of those are from the troubles you gave us in the first place. I trusted you, but you betrayed us. Now that we have seen your true colors, telling the truth wouldn’t hurt, right?” Rikkun said calmly.

“Alaric, you’re such a great friend. I never told you any lie. About the , the Twelve God Cores, and the power of Tiara Hikari’s love towards you. All of those are facts. I’ll never lie about that. But I hid my true intentions.”

The Outsider started to walk in front of the Corrupted Frozen Soul and examined every inch of her body. The Frozen Soul remained motionless as if she’s just a wax mannequin. But she’s definitely alive. She’s just focused on singing the telepathically. Her crimson eyes are giving off a killing glare at me, trying her best to wish for the deletion of my existence.

“Like you Alaric, I fell in love with a woman. She also fell in love with me. Every day is happiness for both of us until I discovered that she was cursed. Until her very existence threatened everything.” The Outsider started to touch the Frozen Soul’s chin. “I defied all odds and defeated fate just to bring her back to me, but she still has a price to pay. She needs to continue singing the in order for everything to keep on existing.”

“And thus, she became the Frozen Soul, an entity sealed for all eternity,” Rikkun said.

“Yes, that’s right.” The Outsider frowned. “My goal is the same from the very start. My wish is for her to wake up again so that I will be able to be with her forever and ever.”

“You’re just a selfish man,” Rikkun gave out a single laugh. “You know that if she wakes up, everything will fade. You two will just be trapped in an infinite void.”

“Oh, am I selfish?” The Outsider returned the same smile as if he’s insulting Rikkun. “Let’s see who’s selfish when your beloved witch spawns black tails on her back.”

“Stop confusing me with your dumb philosophy, Yohan,” Rikkun said with full seriousness. “The twelve God Cores, singing the , and forging fate to cultivate my love to Tiara and Tiara’s love to me… Are those part of your plan?”

“Of course. I made character developments for you two so that Tiara will be ready to sing a full-powered . That will grab the Frozen Soul’s attention and wake her up.” The Outsider spread his arms as if he’s proclaiming his win. “And look! I succeeded! Everything has faded, including the world, the universe you once knew.”

“W-What!?” Rikkun’s jaws hanged.

“Why don't you open a Gate and see the other side?” The Outsider laughed.

“But we can’t open a Gate.” Heushac jumped to the conversation.

At that moment, the coldest chill went to Rikkun’s spine. His eyes became wide open, and his skin hairs stood up. His hands and toes are shaking. His reaction is telling us that he knew something wicked and doomed as if we are desperately clinging for hope.

The Outsider just smiled. That kept the tension in this freezing air more chilling.

“The… The reason why we can’t open a Gate to the other side…”

Rikkun stuttered as cold sweat ran through his nose.

“...is because there is no other side.”

“Yes, that’s right.” The Outsider affirmed. “Everything has ceased to exist the moment the Frozen Soul woke up. The reason why you guys are still existing is that Tiara is desperately singing the to keep your existence from fading.”

“You tricked us! You fooled every one of us!” Diadem bursts. Flames started to engulf his hands.

“Hey, the Frozen Soul will wake up after two months anyway, even if you didn’t have Tiara sing the . It doesn’t hurt if we advance the schedule a bit, right?” The Outsider laughed.

I don’t want to believe it, but I know that The Outsider is telling the truth. I can no longer sense any existing thing even with the omnipotent and omniscient powers of the .

There is no other side anymore. No Earth Realm, No Yami. Everything is now nothing, except this realm I am trying hard to maintain.

Since the Frozen Soul is countering my wishes, and I’m busy countering hers, the best I can do now is to keep the Aether Crusade’s existence.

I can’t wish for the Frozen Soul to be sealed again. As long as she’s aware of me, my omnipotent powers won’t affect her. Omnipotence cancels out omnipotence, so as long as we’re both singing, we can’t be hurt by each other. It all now depends on my allies, the Gate Guardians of the Aether Crusade. They have to destroy the Frozen Soul so that my omnipotence will not be canceled out.

I telepathically passed this information to my teammates. Now, our leader knows what to do.

“Aether Crusade, get ready for battle!” Rikkun proclaimed.

Everybody complied as they buffed and powered up their own selves. Swords and other weapons are now coated with ice, fire, wind, and lightning elements. Snow shurikens, cybernetic blasters, and miniature suns are now ready to be launched.

“Our mission is to defeat the Outsider and destroy the Corrupted Frozen Soul!”

“Now this is entertaining.” The Outsider smirked as he materialized his Weapon Gem: a kite-shaped energy shield.

<>

“Charge!” Helena leads the people. Heushac, Emily and Diadem followed as close-range fighters while Key, Eliseo, and Asumi-nee are filled with support roles. Rikkun remained in the backline to provide commands.

“Haaah!” Heushac and Helena cried as they both swung their swords from left and right, but the Outsider blocked it both with his shield as if he has seen it coming. Emily followed up the attack and stabbed her drilled-tail, but the mysterious man evaded it effortlessly by sliding to left and right.

“!!!” Diadem threw a dark vacuum orb to the Outsider’s direction.

But then, everything became black and white. The Outsider disappeared, and nobody was hit by the .

“Stop being so cocky, Diadem. You have tried to fight me multiple times, but you never succeeded.” A cold whisper just came from Diadem’s left ear. When he turned around, he was surprised by a blinding shield slash! It made a long wound from his right elbow all the way to his shoulder!

“Kah!” Diadem fell to the floor, his blood drooling from his arm.

Two lasers were fired by Key’s laser blaster hands from the distance, but it was shielded by the enemy. Being distracted, Diadem used this opportunity to roll away from the battle.

“!!!” Eliseo had his blonde hairs elongated and dug underground, finding its way to the Outsider’s feet, and wrapped themselves on his legs and arms! Now the Outsider can’t move!

“!!!” My father Frederick leaped forward and smashed his golden gauntlets to the Outsider.

Just before the deadly attack hits the Outsider, everything became black and white again. Time stopped, and the battlefield turned into a diorama. Everybody can’t move, except for the Outsider.

The Outsider struggled to rip the elastic hairs that have been restraining him. Then he put his kite-shield forward, ready to catch my father’s attack once the time regains its flow again.

“!” The Outsider shouted.

There was a loud golden explosion. White smoke filled the area and shattered ice flew around like shrapnel.

“Guh!” My father cried.

When the smoke faded, it revealed my unconscious father who caught the full power of his very own attack. He has suffered severe burns from his arms and legs, and his clothes are already tattered. His body is bathed with blood that I don’t know the source of the wounds.

He directly caught the full power of his own spell, and it’s a miracle that he’s just unconscious.

“Dad!” Diadem and I cried.

“I told you before, Frederick.” The Outsider laughed. “Never attack me. If you try to hurt me, you’ll end up hurting yourself.”

I’m completely terrified of that man. The Outsider.

Yohan Hikari Romanov.

His power is beyond measure.