***

The sound of crumbling dust and the feeling of jagged stones against my skin penetrated my senses as my consciousness gradually began to return to the real world

My eyes opened in the darkness, rubble and ruins surrounding me on all sides.

Slowly, I rose, shoving aside the wooden planks and bricks piled above as sunlight began peering through the cracks I opened. 

The battlefield– No, all of Synoria Outlook was silent.

Looking around, the current state of this town was comparable to the aftermath of Hanakawa’s Finale Event.

Straight ahead, where the southern gate once stood, only splintered posts remained to signify anything man made had ever occupied that spot. The buildings nearest that end of town had already been reduced to nearly nothing.

Now, I stood within the midst of the ruins nearest the center of town. The fallen structures here at least somewhat resembled the shells of their former purpose, and many of the ones towards the far north remained standing. 

I couldn’t even spare the time nor thought for the number of people who had already died here.

In the distance, Seraphim, noticing my waking, accelerated towards me, his massive wings blotting out the sun’s rays from his figure.

I couldn’t quite make out the expression on his shadowed face, but he seemed… flustered? I likely wasn’t supposed to have woken up so soon.

I couldn’t make out the figures of Seika nor Setsuya. Had they retreated to launch a counterattack from elsewhere? 

My mind settled with that explanation. That’s right… there was no way they could have lost.

I clenched my fists as I steadied my gaze on the approaching figure.

There was still much more for me to do in this world. 

“So slow to move on, yet so eager to wake.”

His image flickered before his fist appeared just before my face.

For whatever reason, his movements were just barely more manageable.

I caught the incoming attack within the palm of my hand, quickly responding with an uppercut directly into the center of his chest.

Woosh! The individual feathers of his wings sharpened like daggers and rained down one by one at where I stood merely moments before.

It wasn’t just some off feeling. I was definitely faster and stronger than before. Could that match with my mom have actually led to actual growth in my physical body?

Seraphim lunged in once more with another strike.

I could see it. All of it. Each movement, both his and mine, they were all beginning to make sense. Every attack, every counter, they would flow into one another with utmost precision.

Every opponent I had ever faced. Every ally I had ever made. I would take their techniques and make them my own.

In the heat of the moment, even my nearest surroundings became nothing more than hindrances. I only focused on my opponent before me.

Had I even noticed the flurry of system messages appearing beside my head, I likely would’ve been able to surmise where all this strength was coming from.

[ Mastery of a trait has increased, Adaptability (Lv. 2 -> Lv. 3) ]

[ A nearby divine construct is beckoning your presence ]

[ Blessing of Ares has been activated ]

[ Ability, Pain Nullification (Lv. 0) has been activated ]

[ Ability, Weapons Mastery (Lv. 0) is beginning to evolve ]

[ A nearby divine construct is calling out to your presence ]

[ Active skill, Absolute Focus - Realm (Lv. 0) has been forged ]

[ Ability, Weapons Mastery (Lv. 0) has served as the basis for ability evolution. Multiple abilities have united to develop the ability, Combat Mastery (Lv. 1) ]

[ A nearby divine construct is resonating with your presence ]

“Why do you fight so hard for causes long gone?!”

Seraphim was growing more and more irritated with each exchange of blows. He was losing his composure, so much so that I couldn’t quite align his demeanor with that of a single identity.

“Why does someone who’s lost as much as you, who’s regretted as much as you, insist on getting in my way?!”

In this rage, his speed had nearly doubled.

Before I could react, my body was thrown far out of the borders of Synoria Outlook, tumbling back near the place where this battle had started.

I lifted my head once more as I drove my palms into the ground, pushing myself up.

What I saw next made my body almost instinctively freeze.

“Do you not see how this world has left them?! How their regrets have left them?! They, whose strength is incomparably beyond yours, cannot rise in the face of their regrets– So what right do you have to fight me here and now?!”

To my right and left lay the bodies of Seika and Setsuya. They weren’t dead, but not quite present in reality either. Rather, they were, as I had been, lost in what I presumed to be the most painful of their memories.

As Seraphim put it, they were grappling with regrets they couldn’t overcome, unable to return to where I stood now.

From where I stood now, I could barely make out voices from an existence beyond mine, glimpses of the words that haunted their pasts.

“No! Why?! Don’t leave me! This wasn’t the promise we made to each other!”

“You didn’t let me join you… I’m– I’m strong enough now… so please… tell me it’ll all be alright like you used to…”

If Seraphim’s powers were what put them in this state, then it had to be his that could take them out of it. In other words, the sooner Seraphim was defeated, the sooner they could be saved from their own minds.

“You may be right…”

I gritted my teeth as the pressure doubled around me. Every blow Seraphim had thrown against me up until now was only using the physical strength of his corrupted body. Now, every drop of the dormant corrupted energy within him was flooding the air around us.

It was likely such an absolute influence that allowed him to hijack the minds and regrets of his opponents. 

“Their experiences, their strengths, their regrets, all of those are beyond mine…”

The pressure had almost tripled now, but even so, my knees were shakily rising. 

I could feel a strength that wasn’t quite my own supporting me.

“And it is for that very reason that I choose to stand now. I’m inexperienced, weak, lacking in many areas, yet what little I might have in comparison makes what I have all the more valuable.”

[ A nearby divine presence is acknowledging you as one worthy to wield its power ]

At last, my eyes found the messages that had been so urgently pestering me.

Barely glimpsing the light emerging from Seika’s general direction, I returned my gaze to Seraphim before me.

“So that’s what that feeling has been all this time…”

“I may still have many more years before me, and I can’t say for sure whether what I’ll face later on will make me want to stay down for good, but for now, with everything I’ve seen and done, I can say with all my heart that I will stand again.”

“Why you little–!”

A blinding light burst in all directions from the object dangling around Seika’s neck.

***

“You’ve finally come to terms, huh?”

“Not exactly… Honestly, most of that was just said in the heat of the moment to unnerve Seraphim. More so than that, those words were something I needed to hear from myself. All I know is that I can’t leave them out to dry.”

“Are you really gonna just talk to me all casually now?”

“If you wanted to surprise me, you should’ve appeared before that memory of my mom came to life–”

“Fair. Aren’t you curious to find out how we’re talking like this again though?”

“Not really. The first you I encountered told me I’d find more fragments of you in the rest of the shards, so what is there to say that Seika’s shard would be different?”

“Man… I’ve been waiting for so long to have a cool first interaction once I was released, but you seem to already know everything– What’s all this in your memories about not believing in my existence though?”

“To be honest, I’m not too sure… I guess it was easier to just move forward without overcomplicating my life?”

Aeolus remained silent for some time.

“Ah– I found a note from that other fragment of me. Apparently, he also ingrained some doubt in your mind so you’d focus on acclimating to World Zero and the new people you’d meet–”

“Pshh, I could’ve done that just fine on my own.”

He looked into my eyes with evident doubt.

“Anyways, it’s about time that I return to my original body as well.”

“You’re gonna leave like the last one too?”

“Yeah, for now at least. Besides, it seems like you’ve got some good people to keep you company.”

He winked before flashing a smile. His form in my mindscape was gradually fading.

“Well, it was nice to meet the one they call the ‘anomaly.’ I’ll leave the rest here up to you.”

With those final words, I could no longer sense his presence.

***

“So another shard has chosen you once more…”

Seraphim’s tone suddenly seemed terrifyingly calm, yet I could sense that each of his words were layered with spite.

This Seraphim was somehow different from the last. It was the same ‘identity’ that had first spoken to us when arriving at Synoria Outlook.

I felt sure of it now. This voice had most definitely vanished in Seraphim’s rage, yet had now returned with its frightening composure.

“Whatever. A corrupted is a corrupted nonetheless,” I reminded myself.

Blistering winds of aether whirled around my body as the shard that once belonged to Seika hovered just before me, radiating a pale light.

This time, I wouldn’t waste even a drop of this power the shard granted me.

Against the pressure of Seraphim’s presence, I took a single step forward.

As my aura grew to rival the sea of his corrupted energy, his body too seemed to be on the brink of evolution. 

“All of your lives will ultimately fall to unshakeable regret. I’ve seen it before and it’ll happen again. Knowing this, do you still wish to fight me?”

His wings opened up to their widest span yet, their imposing image projected on the ground like that of a towering beast.

With a sigh, he closed his eyes and breathed in, a trivial act for a corrupted being.

“Speaking as who I am now, your fixation on regret is meaningless to me.”

Those familiar winds armored my body with a raging tempest.

“I’m ready for whatever there is to come, so bring it.”