The Blessed Woodlands

[Umbra of Chaos]

Uria

"Poor Vanguard." It wasn't anything like pity that came from Uria's mouth. Their light could only be unkind, and even their tone lacked anything like empathy or sadness. They were merely remarking on things as a matter of fact. "Your body isn't yours and your memories aren't yours. You can't begin anything for yourself until you know yourself, y'know?" They ripped out one of their own eyes. It lashed out with tendrils of light and dark spikes, blood poured out of their socket, but Uria didn't so much as flinch.

"So I want this to be your gift. Only for you, the Vanguard who exists now. Because you were so cool and gave us all such a fun fight! You should get the chance to know how things are too. Even Lubei cheats with his bird, so it's only fair now." And they tossed it at him. The organ swiveled in the air, headed right for the empty socket that had been blasted into Vanguard's head earlier.

[YOLF]

Lubei

An effervescent disdain allowed him to move his arm precisely, despite himself, and Lubei caught the entangling orb mid-hair. It stilled perfectly in a chunk of ice, and he crunched it into dust with a squeeze.

"Keep your gifts to yourself," he barked. "How is he going to learn about his own self with someone else's poison giving commentary?"

[Kotomine_Rin]

Within the Forest

This was not the time for strife.

The frost demon's hand reached up for the child's ominous orb. He was a terrible foe, whose very touch could freeze and shatter creation itself. The moment it'd clutch against that orb, its fate would be sealed.However, his touch would not break her gaze. Because it changed. Burning circles appeared beneath him and a sudden chill filled the air as the sky cracked even more intensely. Their destiny already changed.

Suddenly, a black shadow ripped out of his extended hand- and leapt out of Lubei's fingertips.

Who could it- it couldn't be!


"It's pointless. Your words can no longer reach their hearts." A fiery surge shone behind him, and something grabbed him by the clothes hard, trying to keep him from falling. A litterally broken lawrence filled with cracks, holes, and half his head missing was using all his strength to keep Lubei from falling, until he was hoisted on the back of his fiery bird.

When the two touched, the grail king lying in his shadow moved from the palm of his hand into the depths of Lubei's shade. They had only touched once. Only once. But the rest is history.


Lawrence

Without warning, the strange shadows that had danced about made themselves known as the black remnants of a lion. It growled, with its face obliterated by the icy grip, and glared at the demon hungrily. Uria's orb laid inbetween its maw, for the nightmare sucked its bond for the sake of its master. But it didn't look like it planned to stop there. Its body was bubbling before, warning of an impending attack!

*clap* *clap* *clap*

"I don't think he is in a position to learn... anything." A voice with no love or emotion stated from far, far above the two at the edge of the precipice. Like a shadow blinded by light. Like the savior of an old story, backed by a brilliant phoenix. A thief of kings.

It was his turn now. He wanted to play too, you know? The sky cracked even further. It was so close.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Uria

They clapped their hands together in delight, but even their joy could draw blood from the ears of those who listened. "You finally decided to start playing too! This whole thing has been so much fun... But I think I need to take a break now. I need to make sure everything is ready for next time." There was an almost sad note to their voice as they raised their hands and the forest shuddered again. Then, like a child, it was being ripped up into the air kicking and screaming. Roots and branches twisted while the ground seemed to crumble to escape its destination.

But nonetheless, it rose with Uria towards the sky. They even rested themselves upon the floating soil, reclining with one hand lifted up ever so slightly towards the cracked heavens.

[YOLF]

Lubei

Instinct cleared his head like lightning as the deception showed itself. In that instant, he knew with certainty the measure of those he beheld. Vanguard was a peer, Uria a danger, and the crumbling man, an enemy; free of the armor's burden, he forced his frostbitten legs to coil like springs.

What was left of the forest began to collapse towards the sky, and Lubei jumped away from the obsidian beast with the knight on his shoulder, while half a score of black spears surged up with a resentful scream to take off Lawrence's head.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lawrence

OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHI- His one eye widened at the icy surge. Did he still have the strength to fighh...? Fire exploded, he commanded it to move him out of his way with the speed of an arrow. But even when he moved out of his platform, the demon was too fast.

"Kuh!"

It was only his momentum and Phenex's fire that kept him moving upwards. But the lances had already pierced him. So cold... so even my fire stands no chance huh? The man was ragdolling lifelessly in the sky like a pincushion. There was no sign of resistance in his battered body, pierced by ice from every angle. The impact and the fire just moved him away, faster and faster from the pit.

Lawrence's resistance was his downfall. In the end, he fell up to the heavens, into oblivion. But despite that, he was serene.


How regrettable. It looks like we've lost this gamble.

Ayup, we have.

Indeed.

Can't say I get it though. You could have just waited and scavanged the remains yourself. Are you really satisfied with this, you damn vulture? What happened to you looking down on pride? You're not that soft.

Of course not. I... hrm...

Come on, we're one and the same pal. If we fail, we just get back up and try again, eh? But I can't believe you'd get so reckless. Seriously...

Heh. I just... wish to fight. Even if this world is illogical, I want to challenge it with my own strength. And if I lose... then, I suppose that's what we've brough that for, mhh?

Keheheh. You really are a devil.


Did they really think he would give up over so little?  To fall over a trifle like the frost of hell? After all this time? How sweet. "My, my, my, my." Impossible. His lungs, bones, spine, heart, liver and brain were skewered and obliterated by the icy spears. His body was broken! And yet, his voice only sounded even graver. "Don't misunderstand, demon. The one I'm aiming for isn't you, Lubei Shang."

Phenex's pillar of flame glowed, ravaged.... but its color soon changed into a pallid black. The knight's arms and wounded flesh laid as spoils of war. Why wouldn't he take them? That life essence, that living aether... it made his heart glow with desire. He was grateful. Without that demon and demigod, he wouldn't have been able to tenderize that man. Because he was a coward, there was no way he could match a true hero of legend fairly.

But now he held Uria's connector. The world eater's essence. And in his weak, mangled arm... a white flower, pale as the glowing moon. As the corpse flew to the other side of a pit and onto one of the flying platforms of the forest, he fought to retain his self for one moment.

And even without a throat, heart, or body to support him, while struggling on a shattered stump weakly, pierced from all sides by frost... he spoke.

_{Do not resist conversion.}
Wozun Meihen Ka
_{Abandon thyself, o holy grace.}
Ishuma No Jimeu

The lion raced from the bottom of the pit, rushing to reach the surface with its dark essence. Bouncing from shadow to shadow, Faster, faster... All while the flaming beast spewed a hail of fireballs down on the demon. Or rather, the one he was carrying.

Suddenly, the sky shattered.


THE DEAD SPEAK!

The hole in the sky ruptured, like a great calamity. Without respite, a flood of black ooze spewed within the gaping pit of hell. As Uria's world of light floated to the skies, countless void creatures and shattered corpses of monsters from another world fell down into the abyss, clouding visibility further. It was a terrible sight, no different from judgement day.

He had returned.

And on the top of the now cracked shards of this hole, a pale blue eye glared down. As shards and the fallen fell down like rain, his armor and body slowly revealed themselves. Until even his face was unmasked. A beautiful face. Battered, bloodied, drenched by his life and the life of the ones in his way. But unbroken.

Samael, The Fallen Angel of Despair

"It's been a while, huh."

[Umbra of Chaos]

Uria

Rise.

Uria raised a hand to the newest interloper with a salute, their hand blossoming into a flurry of feathers as a large and glorious wing. It sang with the sweetest, cruelest light as they held it up. Power was gathering between the feathers. Beaten and bruised as he was, if he charged them now, could there be any hope?

Rise.

The earth and forest still hurtled towards the sky, a mass cut loose from the world. Boulders shot into the heavens, branches curled up like fingers to reach for the rip in the world, and even a few scattered angels clung to the rocks as they fell into the sky.

And fall.

But the place that Mael occupied was perhaps the most dangerous, for no creature stirred behind him. What could not wait any longer pressed against the skin of the Nexus, widening the crack as the darkness seeped through. It dripped, and seethed, and oozed like words as black rain dripped from the heavens. Yet it was nothing more than a prelude, the gasp of breath before the final exhalation. The fallen angel could feel behind him as the tide drew up and up, a flood coming down to rewrite this rising sacrifice.

[YOLF]

Lubei

Lubei wouldn't have believed if an oracle had told him that the situation could still become worse, but every passing second was intent on proving that assumption wrong.

The summoner was worse than a cockroach kept in the mortal realm by thousand-year resentment. Still cognizant yet like a raked painting flaking off piece by piece, he had brought another calamity. What was this now, a warrior banished from heaven, wreathed in an oppressive shine? Behind him, they could be heard, if not beasts then worse, dripping and vomiting through the shattered air like a torrent of mud.

And then, not just the forest, but the earth itself rose up like an awakened beast, hurtling to the sky. The demon trying to escape up with the disabled knight found himself sprinting, stumbling down between even shakier footholds, in the path of flying balls of fire. He had no time and no energy for creativity. Intuition was faster. Empty head, no thoughts.

Lubei hurled his spiritual force behind him in wide and forceful masses, biting down on his bruised lip, and the blocks of dim ice burst from the assault into vaporous columns. The mist that had been used against the demon king before now covered his retreat as he massed cuts and bruises, rushing through the chaos.

[Kotomine_Rin]

The Fallen Archangel of Despair - Mael

As the forest flew up to embrace him, his eyes carried their trajectory downwards. Down, to the one and only soul he regarded in this accursed domain. The nascent divinity that had dared to stand in his path.

In response to her actions, he glared. The pressure and malice that assailed this wreckage of magic and holy aberrations suddenly hit a new peak. A suffocating existance, a true evil who spewed unspeakable hate towards evil. Such a killing intent was enough to snuff the light out of a sinner's soul. It judged.


Lawrence

"Incredible... what a monster. You are terrifying, Lubei. To keep your composure at a time like this..."

WHAWHAWHA WHAAAA!? OH GAH- H-HELP! The fiery nightmare Phenex screamed and writhed inside Lawrence's self. But instead of cowering, the broken presence kept crawling towards safety, smiling like a weak dying man. So this is the power of an archangel... no, a true demon. Ufufu... compared to Elizabeth, this is nothing special.

The Anima he plundered here was.. particularly compatible. But even if fate was on his side, he still needed to do everything he could. Even as this world fell around him, he struggled to avoid rubble and winced from genuine pain when the avalanche started to slam against his weak body. Yet he kept crawling. He struggled pathetically and hurried, powerless and hapless as he was. The sounds of hell, battle and change rang behind him. As he crawled, white bands of light spread accross his body like tendrils, digging into his spirit and chaining him from within.

I wouldn't be able to surpass the Gods if it weren't for you. Thank you, Vanguard. With this, I can finally free us from The Will of The World. From now, this history will move according to my will.His husk of a vessel, borrowed as it were, quaked... but advanced nonetheless. Not from his own will, but that of that man from another history. But it was okay. Everything was okay. Even as the grace he snatched tried to overtake him, he refused to stop.

"How wonderful."

And soon, the white light started to eat him up until his body's cracks turned into crystal. He used whatever was left of his limbs to crawl and climb his way out of the pit, through the rubble that rushed upwards. Lawrence's glare  snapped with intensity while the curtain fell behind him. And thus, an unremarkable actor exits the scene, battered and wounded. And yet can one really say he lost?


Mael

That thing was like a black mass of death incarnate. With its wing flapping like a cursed arm, it leapt from platform to platform, from fallen corpse to corpse. Mael used angel, demon, living and dead both as stepping stones to rush towards the child. The speed was truly monstruous, the killing intent that surged towards the child was like an avalanche.  And as it slammed its foot against a shard of the forest, he ripped a spike of ice and leapt down the divine existance to clash against it.

Even if he was broken. Even if he was wounded. The warrier never rests from the warfield.

"How long are you going to continue mocking me... Piece!?" His teeth grit and his eyes flashed with cold fury.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Uria

Piece? The angelic wing was ready to crash down on Mael with full force, the righteous light that would smash him back into nothingness. But Uria paused. They clutched at their chest as black vomit poured from their mouth.

For a moment in Heaven, there was weakness.

But before the icicle could land the world exploded into laughter. Laughter from the puddle gathering at their feet, laughter from the rising angels, laughter from the crack in the sky. Laughter as the rain turned into a wave, and the floodgates above were opened to wash away the land below and repaint it. 

"Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!"
"Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!"
"Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!"
"Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!""Kyahahahahaha!"

And Uria rose, their limb flaring out to meet the fallen angel's with titanic force. The sheer power turning the black liquid around them into shadowy mist, a temporary bubble before the darkness poured down again. "Silly... idiot Mael... Didn't I tell you...? Go gather dust... back in your master's box!" And the wing sang against his icy weapon, a blade to cut him in two with utter finality.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Mael

Black mud rained and poured like an abyssal storm. Then, a true waterfall that threatened to swallow everything.

"Trash." The anger and resolve in his heart burst like a raging fire, and his weapon shattered into fragments. That heavenly wing that now rushed towards his body...only made his killing intent even more palpable.

In the false God's moment of weakness, he bent like a reed in the wind. Immediatley, Mael had grabbed its robe and used it as leverage to spin and flip his body out of the way with the agility of a beast. Such was the skill of the one whom heaven once feared the most. Yet he was pierced nonetheless. Blood spewed from his side and his mouth, but he was not cleaved as heaven dictated. He would not allow it. He would not pause or stop moving for an instant. The angelic limb pierced at his side, breaking it like it was glass while spewing his essence everywhere - but he wasn't done fighting.

Now flipped above her, his leg was stretched behind one of the weapon shards that had broken, and swung down like a guillottine to shove it down Uria's neck like a stake.

And as darkness floods the gates of heaven and the forest morphs into [something else], this curtain drops. The result becomes an uncertain illusion. Just what kind of journey will this [world] hold? The truth is, this [game] was rigged from the start.

But this fight is not yet done. So fight.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Uria

Day 3 Nexus Time 6:30

The tear in the sky weeped unendingly, rivers of darkness flowing through the once pristine woods. White was repainted into many colors. Now the trees were brown, deep orange, glossy block, and dull silver. They bore multi colored fruit that shone with light and life. These were the sights that led to the great chasm in the area, a hole that seemed to have no end. Even as the great waters flowed into it, one could not even hear the sound of them crashing to the bottom.

But all that was irrelevant. For a far greater miracle was in progress. For the third time, something was going to be born.

The tears ceased falling, for there was no sorrow here. Instead, descending from the sky, was no fallen angel but a risen god. A second sun gently brought itself to the floor of the forest, and where its feet touched the earth bloomed. Silence was broken by a joyful cacophony, an entire assortment of creatures that had been molded by the divinity in their youth. There was no cause for sadness anywhere in this land, no drop of spite to fuel hatred. All things came together for the sake of further joy. This was their new god, and Uria turned to see the denizens, the forest, and the world beyond all within a single glance. And they smiled.

"Hello, world."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Zeke

6:30 PM - Nexus Time

Day 3

Continued from the heavenly ruins

What a day, oh what a day. The ominous batting of his wings was as usual, but something was different this time.  Black birds perched on his shoulder like dark shards of the night sky, and whispered secrets in his ear. He'd be a fool not to come here and see them for himself. He had already sent a dark jewel of his to that other place, as a formality at least.

And see them, he did. Whatever it was, it sure pulled a number on that old stickler's little blessed haven. It was... cute. But he didn't come here just for a walk in the woods. He felt it a few hours ago, but the signal was muddled.

Either way, it was clear now. The gears were moving.

But he didn't fly straight into the core of this place. He was very interested in something very particular. So he circled the outskirts of this world of divine lights and peculiar things, until he found his dear prey. And boy oh boy, once he descended on the ground and stared right into its eyes, he felt all sorts of funny feelings. Or, if he were to put it in a dignified way... this was the rapture of the strong staring down at the weak.

Did ya have fun, old man? He stared at the crystal shard tearing out of the ground without much life or care in his eyes. Whatever joy and glee there was in his expression soon faded and became death. Death so cold and final, it didn't even warn of the fist smashing straight into the glowing shell. In that moment he broke it all, even the man trapped inside, in a million pieces. The woods and trees shook from the impact, but more than anything, his heart.

_{Let heaven's shine be mine.}
̸͕͊I̷͊ͅs̸̨̅h̵̉͜i̷̠̓m̶̞̂ẹ̶͌y̵̼͗ò̷̦m̴̱̎a̵̛̩
_{Come reside in me.}
̸̨́Š̷͜h̶̛̟i̶̲̒ǵ̶̱a̶͉̚i̶̮̔ ̶̪͆E̶̘͋n̸̾ͅì̶͖w̴̘͝a̵̼͠ ̴̛͉Ḱ̵͖o̸̢͌ţ̴͂a̸͎͆

And so he stole it from that man. The grace, the faker's life force, and even that demigod's special body part. He didn't even pay heed at his other half's broken remains scattering on the ground, and instead crushed them underfoot with mockery and disgust. The man he thought was Lawrence was destroyed there and then.

Ahh, how wonderful. But it's my turn now.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Uria

The eye was staring at him. It wasn't a blank, dead organ. It was connected to its original owner with bonds beyond the world, and it was those connections that the eye's pupil shrank as it looked at him. Then he could feel an awareness all around him... almost as if the forest itself was watching him now as well.

But there was no time for that, for light came from the horizon.

Uria's descent was sudden and forceful, their weapons floating alongside them as they kept themselves at eye level with the old man. "Oh phooey, that wasn't very nice. How do you think he's going to pull himself back together soon if you do stuff like that!"

[Kotomine_Rin]

Zeke

The dark being looked up as the clouds parted, and a beam of light shone down like a splendid spotlight. This was so much more than he expected. Despite all that, he seemed carefree as ever, going as far as to toss the eye in his hand like a coin and slipping it in his pocket. Hands resting nicely in them, he bowed with a cheeky grin and - shrugged, like he didn't know the answer. Or like he didn't care.

Instead he raised a finger to point it right at the kid like a cowboy, eyebrow raised and grin raised even higher. Since she was greeting the world so immaturely back then, he just had to return the favor in kind. It was something along the lines of hello cutiepie.

Aruna did say he acted rather humanely, so it shouldn't be a problem just doubling down on their expressions.