Noel/Tyler: “Stop...Don't come any closer! All of you!”

Nobody wavered in their steps. Not the fragment, nor the helpless victims transferring their feelings of despair, pain and hatred into his childish-form.

With another motion, came yet another round of disappearing humans, and increasing knowledge of what it means to experience the dark side of humanity.

Within his head, memories played out like scenes in a movie.

Mothers watching their infants used as target practice by security guards for fun, when they grew sick.

Fathers dying in their own puddles of watery discharge and blood after asking for food due to their starving children's hunger pains.

Young ones forced to watch on as their parents, grandparents, siblings or caretakers had their bodies explode in front of the helpless youths. Some of which merely tried to protect the younger generation.

Single adults driven to anger, despair and hatred by a judgmental world, a discriminant world, a hateful world.

Workers who were forced to comply with Professor Watts's orders, only to be transformed as 'volunteers' for daring to question him.

Workers who avidly followed his orders to the letter...only to die today in this massive betrayal called a 'sacrifice'.

Kidnapped victims who had fallen on hard times, but still had little strands of hope for a better future!

And every single one of them directed their anger, their animosity for having their lives ended prematurely, at two individuals they're forced to surround: the corpse lying with a pair of needles in its throat...and the young boy presently stealing their souls.

Noel/Tyler: “Stop it! D-Didn't any of you hear me?!”

Group of sacrifices: “...”

Noel/Tyler: “Stop them! You...you can do it...right? Make them stop somehow!”

Mysterious fragment: “...Heehee~ I welcome you...my very young--”

Noel/Tyler: “Hey! You can hear, me, right? Can, c-can you stop those people from coming over here??”

Mysterious Fragment: “Learn to shut up, when I speak.

Now. Where was I...

Heehee~ I welcome you...my very young incarnation! To answer your question: Of course I can, but I won't! Why, you want to ask? Quite obvious, really.

Because if I do that, you will die.

The process is many times harder than even that Professor believed it to be, and you're barely managing to withstand it even with all of their souls drained dry!

I have waited eons upon eons for a worthy successor of this speck-fragment of mine. Although extremely weak, you synchronize with it perfectly. You shall inherit it. Case. Closed.”

Noel/Tyler: “I don't want it! Not if it means killing all these people...hearing thousands upon thousands of...of hateful voices condemning me! I don't want this...!!”

Mysterious Fragment: “*Sigh* To think my perfect inheritor is such a weak, spineless creature. It appears I have a lot of work ahead of me. Just endure it, boy. Things will get better once the inheritance-transfer-procedure finishes.”

While the wails of despair mixed together with the choir of hate in his mind, repeating “It's your fault I died! Give me my life back!” in an endless loop, tears tainted the bloodied streaks left behind before, coloring on his cheeks a painting full of misery.

He was, in every sense, on the verge of a mental breakdown.

After receiving a negative response from the fragment, Noel ran to the nearest victim out of sheer desperation. With arm outstretched: he adamantly poured 100% of his effort into grabbing for them, only to meet rejection as his hand passed through their disintegrating body. He looked around and saw it, at last.

Everybody, was completely afraid of him.

In their eyes – he was the cause of their terror. He was their malice.

Noel/Tyler: “I...I didn't want this...I don't want this...! It..It isn't my fault. It's the frag...! No...Who's going to care who the blame lies with...when...when they're all going to die?

Father...

Father...Daddy...my mission is completed...It's done! I assassinated him and his secret, that...that thing, I didn't need to enter his secret room! It's-It's...it's right in front of me...coming closer.

..and it scares me...

Please, help me..because I don't know what to do.”

---

Elsewhere...A certain crystal, marked 57th Malierano heir...cracked.

Father: “...! Just what the hell, is that brat DOING over there! How did his soul brand vanish with Aeron, Kifah AND baby Bea watching over him?!”

Narcisa: “Well, you DID specify they weren't to help any further after chasing away that old chaotic fool. With how vengeful Aeron gets, and how literal Kifah takes her missions...not to mention how careless Bea naturally is...”

Nirael: “Aaahaha~ What a wonderful, recipe for disaster~”

Father: “...Boman! Start my jet! I'll kill everybody on that damned island myself!”

Boman: “Yes, boss.”

Naosuke: “No you won't. Don't be so foolishly impulsive. Let the kids dig themselves out of this one. See there? Young Tyler's white crystal, representing his very life force, is fine. Only the black one, representing his soul brand, cracked. In that case...just leave them be.”

Father: “...Hmph. Fine. I SUPPOSE you have a poi-”

*Crack!*

Father: “...”

Narcisa: “...”

Naosuke: “...”

Nirael: “...Haha-”

*Shiiing!*

Father: “...”

Narcisa: “...”

Naosuke: “...”

Nirael: “...H-”

*Crack!*

*Shiiing!*

*Crack!*

*Shiiing!*

*Crack!*

*Shiiing!*

*Crack!*

…

Nirael: “...”

Naosuke: “...Honey...you....you better...go.”

Father: “.....Yeah...Boman!”

For some mysterious reason, not yet known to his family, in a span of ten second intervals, the white crystal representing Noel's life kept cracking...

Restoring itself...

Then cracking again....in an endless loop.

Nirael: “Could...somebody be...killing him, then reviving him again...?”

Narcisa: “Not impossible, but highly improbable.”

Naosuke: “...Either way, things will settle down when he gets there. In the meantime, lets call Mikael and Mikaela here to watch any footage they managed to record of the mission. I believe they were having trouble against something strange interfering with their cameras...was it ever fixed?”

Nirael: “OOOh~ Perfect Idea! I'll call them over right now!”

---

His soul began to stabilize at last after 12,000 clumps of energy stopped it from cracking, but his mind was in so much chaos that a little push would be all it took to break him down.

And regrettably, that very little 'push' happened when he received memories from the last wailing soul to equal 12,000. The last soul to cry for help turned out to be a sniffling little girl who bore an uncanny resemblance to the one he accidentally murdered.

Unprepared for this grand mental assault, he was unable to notice the creepy silhouette coming closer to him until it was already near enough to touch his nose.

When he felt it's slight breathing, he reflexively made eye contact once more.

Without warning, it spoke something in a voice Noel couldn't comprehend. After that: everything in his view went dark – with the very last image he saw being one final sharp-toothed smile.

Pain,

Fear,

and Rage...all three of these emotions made up the culmination of Noel Tyler Malierano's thoughts as he screamed like never before. Such a blood-curdling scream startled everybody nearby.

The sacrificial victims barely had time to register the pain-filled scream before a massive energy wafted through them all.

In 5 minutes, the last remaining eleven thousand 'volunteers' disappeared as if they were formless smoke.

the group of onlookers scared at what they were secretly witnessing, from Orobas and Jayden to Lamiel and Deeandra...even Deeandra's plump and terrified mother was unable to stomach the horror and fainted.

Though, the ones most triggered by his shrill yell were his siblings. They knew full well of the pain tolerance someone at Tyler's level is capable of withstanding. Unless his skin was being torn off and sewn back together in repetition, he should have next to no problem withstanding any level of torture this little soul-stealing project could impose under their watch.

Aeron felt tempted to rush forward, but then he remembered his father's mission and stopped himself.

Just as he was contemplating which decision would be the right call for their trio to make, the light fragment plunged itself directly into Noel's chest cavity, without spilling even a single droplet of blood.

Succeeding this action, everyone remaining heard was sounded like a loud crack reverberate through space around them.

A tear in space was opened, and, as if attempting to completely eradicate the fragment bearer's existence, bathed him in black destructive luminescence. The dark beam of energy seemed hungry, swallowing up residual dirt that poorly covered the metallic floor below...as well as the metal flooring itself. A cylindrical shaped hole was created around Noel, blocking out all visibility for the boy. Yet, it didn't actually deal him any pain.

Not physical pain at least. It felt oddly similar to the 'pressure' the fragment was giving off, but much more dense. Still, for some reason...he wasn't struggling as much.

If anything, it felt rather good. This temporary reprieve was his only form of solace after the amount of anguish he recently experienced, due to the vengeful souls.

Then, before he knew it, Noel had blacked out, only to awaken inside of a completely blackened world with a pair of Royal purple thrones...and the creepy silhouette of himself with a single eye already seated in one of them.

---