With a sound like shattering glass the crackling and luminous gate opened to the hilltop. Kuro stepped out, taking in a breath of the pine air as his boots hit the grass. The sky was clear save a few puffs of cloud. The wind was still and the air nearly too warm for his trenchcoat. His usual grin tugged slightly at the corners of his mouth as he gazed over the hill’s dropoff. At the bottom, three purple eyes stared back in calculated anticipation.

They were fixed in the pyramid-like head of a silver entity whose body seemed to be made up of various triangular prisms warped to resemble a human shape. It was seated with a robin perched on the peak of its head. “Greetings,” Kuro called as he carefully made his way down with his hands tucked in his pockets.

“Morning Star located,” it whirred. “Something is off, power not quite equivalent to seventh Akuma.” Kuro sighed and shook his head yet retained his grin still.

“You’re not the brightest Keeper, are you? This is half of what you call the Morning Star. I’m the part that goes by Kuro,” he explained.

“Illogical.”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“You should have come in full, mark power is still limited,” Kuro responded with a cool chuckle.

“Did Omni really make such an oversight?”

“All queries regarding entity Omni are unanswerable.”

“Well then, I don’t expect either of us has all day,” the wind picked up shaking the trees in apprehension. Kuro removed the gloves he wore at all times revealing a black crown mark circled in a spiny ring. The machine rose as the robin took off, it’s movement became smoother as a light began to escape its joints. With a violent motion, it shot it’s hand forward into the air which shattered around it. From what appeared as no less than a wound in reality itself it produced a blade of similar color as its body. The edge had a white glow and as the machine grasped its own eyes matched the color.

“That is accurate. I am now required to hunt down your other half, the inconvenience is unappreciated.” The machine’s whole body began shifting in triangular chunks until it achieved a structure clearly more fit for agile movement. “I must make haste.”

“I’ll save you the trouble,” Kuro lifted his open hand with a smile that fell as nothing happened. “I see you took precautions,” he muttered before cursing under his breath.

“I have been engineered with the principle of negation,” it informed.

“I see,” in an instant, the wind cut through in a sharp gust as Kuro’s black mark covered his whole person in the circuit pattern. He thrust his hand forward with a bank and crack. The machine stood unflinching as the whole landscape behind it was gouged into. Trees were sliced like paper and a gash that grew deeper the farther it went scared the earth. “You don’t lie,” his smile returned. “I’m actually pleased, you have no idea how long its been since I could have a real fight.” With wild eyes he dashed forward, a white edge solidifying around his open hands. He slashed at the machine with the white blades, it responded with the saber of its own.

Arcs of opposed white flung off of the clash, composed of excess energy. The surroundings were decorated with a thousand cuts as neither Kuro nor the machine was apparently able to make headway on the other. However, what was apparent was not accurate. The machine began moving faster, catching Kuro off guard. It spun around on the momentum of a slash to slam the handle into his gut. As he stumbled back he realized he was unable to block the followup. He reached out with his left hand as the machine brought the blade down. Arm in line with the weapon it sliced into his hand then down into his wrist and arm. However, as it went through the bone firing off his nerves it lost momentum.

Nearly blinded by the searing pain but seeing an opening Kuro stepped forward, disregarding his injury and risking losing his arm entirely. With his right hand, he grabbed what would be the machine’s neck if such a term is even applicable. He found himself quite aggravated by the sharp and burning pain in his arm. Breaking his usual placidity he spoke in a harsh tone. “You may be able to negate my principle, but you can’t negate my strength nor my will.” With a crunch and tear, he ripped the head right out in a violent twist.

He stood breathing heavily for a moment. Standing over the machine with a triumphant glint in his eyes he turned his attention to his arm. It was sliced nearly to his elbow and the blood it leaked could be felt soaking through his coat and pants. He clamped the ugly mess together with his other hand. The same white he had conjured before circled around the entirety of it, clamping down tightly in an attempt to stop the bleeding. It would have to do, for now, it wasn’t as if the pain bothered him much anyway. The unfortunate truth was that he was used to it having felt a hundred times worse.

It was a mistake on his end, he could have easily won the fight without injury but had allowed himself to get too caught up in the thrill. Clearly even with Ki-Tech, it would take a bit to heal but he had another matter to attend to now.

Not having a clue as to the exact location of the complex as Thomas had only communicated coordinates by thought. He raised his right hand. Their telepathic ability was one of the many perks of being the same being. Settling for the shotgun method he released his power on all his surroundings. Dirt shot into the air and the hill fell as an uncountable number of severances were executed.

Now all the loose dirt that was the ground was easily sifted through by blasts of force. It took little time at all to come across the bluish complex constructed of Kinuon and steel. There were marks on its top from severances that reached too deep. Perfect, thought Kuro. I’ve found it, he spoke mentally. Good, find the control principle, I’m heading back to Denison, replied Thomas. Another three uses of his principle got Kuro inside. It was illuminated with a white and blue light that reflected slightly off the immaculate silver walls. Despite the size of the complex as a whole little area was open, in fact, it was just a hallway.

Before he could even take a step a voice, not so synthesized, boomed out and echoed within the complex. “Kuro Depravity for what reason do you break the game?” It seemed irritated and spoke with the tone used to scold a child. Kuro grinned.

“Omni,” he greeted with a tilt of his head as he walked. “You see Tho-” it cut him off.

“I know why Thomas goes to these lengths, I asked you. The darker half of the entity.”

“You are correct, I am the darker half,” his expression became more sly. “And for the reason that I am the other half, I carry our will just the same.”

“I already knew the answer, I just was curious if you did. I understand Thomas on a fundamental level, you on the other hand are beyond even my own comprehension. You have a principle that would let you win the game and have the world or void's crown for your own and yet you spend over a hundred and twenty-five years on a pointless effort to end the game entirely.” Kuro chuckled.

“It was not pointless in the slightest.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why do you think I’m here? Can the principle of omniscience not dig this out of its infinite knowledge?” There was no response for a moment, but after what was likely a sigh it spoke again.

“You’re betting on the principle of control, I will not lie to you in acknowledgment of your effort. There is a minute possibility of the control principle being able to, with the right conditions, end the game. Yet the chances are so low I will even let you find it here in my database and walk out without further conflict.” Kuro came upon the end of the hall where a computer terminal far more advanced than anything human sat emitting a blue glow.

“But you called our efforts to end the game on our own pointless did you not? Isn’t some chance at all no longer pointless given the stakes?” Kuro prompted.

“By stakes, you mean the implications of the grand imbalance you believe in?” Kuro nodded as he started tapping away at the screen. Bringing himself to a search bar he looked up control and filtered the results by principle. In the bottom corner of the screen a little line of text read; Nicodex ver 2.2.0127 Page 1,001.

“Stop trying to pretend it doesn’t exist.”

“In the final stage of the game when the twin crowns duel to answer the question that brought this about in the first place they will be even.” Kuro shook his head.

“Even isn’t a-,” he stopped mid-sentence. On the screen a surprise he could never have foreseen met his eyes. A single result came up for the principle of control. A profile of a person. Race: Angel(From Human), Gender: Female, Age: 18, Candidate: Yes, Mark: Violet, Principle: No, Achievable Principle: Control, Last Name: NA, First Name: Lillian. “One-sided massacre...” he finished.

“She has not even realized her principle, nor will she likely have the chance.”

“What does that mean exactly?”

“The game start time has been set, this world is participating thanks to you bringing a game piece to it. There isn’t anything you can do now.”

“When?” he asked.

“Two days.”