Phantom: 3

Phantom: 3

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Commissioned by Blfqy

Word Count: 2510

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Finding Hyoudou presents you with a multitude of problems. Unlike his other self, from another world, he is human. Devils can survive for long periods of time off their magic alone, albeit weakened and discomfited, but the same cannot be said for your human friend. While you’d never paid such factor of him any attention before, to do the same now would be a grave mistake. Leaving quickly has become a priority, because you do not want him to starve to death. Water is thankfully abundant due to magic, but the only source of food would be Lucifer’s comatose self, and you’d never foist such a travesty upon Hyoudou.

Escaping within a few days, before Hyoudou can even look the slightest bit emaciated, is your objective.

However, the vast empty space you’re in is proving the be incredibly vast and solid.

Your only hope is to empower and grow closer to the Shard of the Morning that you’d taken from Lucifer, in hopes of granting her the same power as Occisor.

It is simultaneously easy and difficult to do.

Occisor has been your partner since her awakening, but even before that you’d treated the Sword of the Morning with utmost wonder and respect. What Lucifer had done, pushing it to its limits and not sparing it a single thought, was something you cannot condone, even if it only affected the Sword of the Morning and not Occisor. And, here you are, before an ascended silent, sweet Shard that has become of Occisor.

The girl is quiet and morose, but stays close to you and is afraid of all others. Where Occisor would gladly proclaim your arrival, stating that all should bend their knees in your presence, her choice is to flee and hide in your Shadow. Occisor would gladly would walk around and look about, spending days within secluding herself, but the Occisor you have now would rarely enter Reality without your prompting.

The color of their skin, eyes, and hair are the exact shades. The way both eyes dart to you the moment you are present is the same.  The presence they exude, of both deadliness and grace, is similar. However, the Shard is broken, and so you think that Occisor is broken too. Every word that goes unsaid, every flinch made, and every plea to hide… you cannot help but see Occisor every time the Shard acts in such a manner.

You feel as though you’re with Occisor, but she has been hurt beyond every conceivable measure, and that pains and angers you immensely.

The fact that Lucifer is held down, trapped in his own mind, and incapable of healing does not suffice. You have to restrain yourself from butchering him apart, though you know such actions are cruel and malicious, because you see so much of Occisor in the girl you’re now taking care of. There’s no measure of pain you’d exempt yourself from inflicting upon Lucifer for his actions, if not for your own control over yourself.

Though they’re different, the fact that you know that this Shard could’ve been Occisor…

It’s best that you don’t ruminate on that fact.

…

“Hey, ummm, Li? Mind if I help out for a bit?” You look up in surprise to find Hyoudou idly standing in front of you. It takes you a moment to stop the word no from leaving your lips, but you manage, and the fact that you need to stop an immediate refusal tells you what your friend has already discerned. You take a deep breath and nod, as you force yourself away from the building stress encroaching upon you.  You thank him for looking out for you. “No problem, Li. Go rest for a bit. I’ll keep Occisor-chan company.”

For a second, a firm grip settles on your pant leg, but Hyoudou is quick to react. Without care for the fact that he’s touching a sword that would leave him injured forever, he kneels before the Shard-turned-shard and places a hand on her shoulder, while giving the girl a smile.

“Song has to rest for a bit, you know? But, don’t worry, he’s the best, so he’ll be back soon.” Hyoudou’s words and Occisor’s apprehension tells you all you need to know. The unspeaking Shard of the Morning turns away from Hyoudou, but she hadn’t cut him, nor attempted to reach out for you again. With envious ease, Hyoudou has secured your reprieve, while you’d struggled to keep telling the little girl stories and entertaining her without seeming oppressively forward. “You know what makes the time go by quickly? A game! Yeah, let’s play a simple game. It’s called jankenpon!”

You leave the Shard of the Morning to Hyoudou before your presence could detract from his masterful actions. In matters such as this, you know that you can trust Hyoudou completely.

Allowing you to “rest” from the surprisingly stressful occupation of connecting with the Shard of the Morning.

Naturally, you’ve had a few things come into existence for all your sakes. Basic housing units, which you’ve seen hundreds and thousands of, are readily available for your small, strange band. Hyoudou’s alternate self was impressed by the technological achievements of your world, but your own alternate took it in stride. The younger Hyoudou, you’ve theorized, is from a universe quite different from your own and Hyoudou’s, while Lucifer and your Chieftain alternate are both from close, divergent dimension.

His existence raises many questions, especially the extent of his power as a child, but he troubles your group very little and has vowed his assistance to escaping without an caveat. It’s nice to know that Hyoudou’s alternate is similar to him, instead of being like your own, or somehow possessed by another being. It is a small mercy for your current situation, one that you’ll happily utilize to get yourselves home. 

However, your Chieftain counterpart worries you.

You know yourself well enough that you’re adverse to trickery and lying, but your own self with a gilded tongue and the ability to declare himself Chieftain means he has accomplished much. Given his lacking skill in combat in every sense, you believe that he’s a very capable speaker, negotiator, and… persuader.

He does not know how to fight, his abilities with the Tuzi arts are mediocre at best, and his tactical acumen can be summarized as “follow directions.” He has a good heart, and you sense little wickedness from him, so he cannot be a wanton monster as you fear the most… but, you’re sure that he cannot have fought the battles and gained the achievements worth being called Chieftain solely by his own merit. You can’t help but feel his actions have somewhat tarnished the notion of the Tuzi, but if he is married and successful as his dress suggests, who are you to think less of him, especially when he is without malice?

You take a seat at the end of the camp, simply extending a probing lance of power towards the outermost edges of your ability. The nothingness you find is almost calming, even as it stretches more and more past a whole Earth’s area. Some would find the absolute nothingness to be terrifying, but you rest easy finding no one and nothing in your search. While you’re sure many of the other Preservers could provide help in your current situation, Miyakuro especially, you do not want them to be trapped as you are… or look upon your two other selves.

Truly, you’ve found something utterly different about yourself today.

You understand being ashamed of Lucifer, but your ill will towards the Chieftain is nearly unwarranted.

There is a part of you that wishes to ruminate over him for longer and longer periods of time. It is a piece of your “self” that you find difficult to lock away. Something about his existence, the way he speaks and acts, that niggles at your senses. The way he contently follows orders, despite being a Chieftain, scratches at the edges of your senses. The fact that he is married, with children, and oversees a whole city’s protection ought to bring you great pride and joy, but looking upon him only tears at your sensibilities.  Something about him, from the way he stands and talks, simply doesn’t settle well with you.

Thus, with that in mind, you take a breath and stand.

Thinking ill of someone doesn’t settle well with you, so you decide to ask him more about his life.

Though, you feel that the answers he will give will not satisfy you in the least.

…

You have been instructing your other self in training his forgotten capabilities. He has only the faintest echo of your own Aspect abilities, so his progress is slow, but the chance to have two Shards of the Morning is something that cannot be ignored. He sits and focuses on overwhelming the magic you’ve set for him to nullify. Thus far he has not managed to dispel the simple spell, though it is only a fragment of a fragment of the weakest attack you’ve ever nullified.

You raise a hand to stifle his greeting and concisely, simply state your concerns regarding him.

You address him as one Tuzi to another and do not hold back in the least.

No subterfuge.

No manipulation.

Only the truth.

Briefly, there is hesitation in his eyes, which swiftly buries the apprehension and anger, but you get your answer.

“You are correct, Warrior. The two of us cannot be any more different. You are the Tuzi’s dream exemplified… while I am merely a vessel that carries it forward.” You see pain in his eyes and some of your apprehension immediately fades at the sight of it. He speaks to you in your people’s tongue, not the dialects used by wider China, or any other language. He has acknowledged you and given you the truth… or he has truly condemned himself as Tuzi no longer. Judging by the agony in his gaze and voice, you believe it is the later. However, you would be lying to yourself if you didn’t admit both notions appealed to you. “I rely upon others, more so than a Tuzi should, and my own strength and ability is lacking. My merits are all wholly borne of the efforts of those who are stronger than me, yet are close to me. But, believe me when I say this: I do love my family, Warrior. I have commited all of myself to them, because they have committed themselves to me. I shall never abandon them, and won’t restrain them should they wish to leave me.”

For a moment, you’re placated by his words, but there remains a burning question in your gut that must be asked.

You ask him how he could focus on himself, instead of others? Why did he seek out the strength of so many, when he was mighty himself, and could’ve reached your own capabilities? There are differences between the two of you, that much is certain, but there are also similarities. He’d ascended Occisor, he has Nemesis, and all the resources he needed to study the scrolls and train, yet he cannot compare to you.

Why?

Why did he choose himself over others?

That is the greatest difference between the two of you. You’ve made errors, you’ve been lacking, and you’ve been fooled. You’d killed people who were suffering, because you couldn’t save them. People you could’ve saved were abandoned in favor of a dream to save the world. As the world trembled beneath the Chimera’s weight, you could barely assist the world in repelling the Second Incursion, and allowed your friends to die against Destruction instead of defeating it handily.

How could he be content to settle down and rebuild the Tuzi when the world remains dangerous, terrible, and filled with evils that needed to be ousted?

You expect many things. Shame, disbelief, and the spite of one wrongly accused. Intrinsically, both of you can choose another path. No one is making either of you save the world. You can settle down, establish yourself, and focus on your personal life with utter ease. However, you’re him and he’s you, just as both Hyoudous have their similarities, so do the both of you.  At the very heart of this issue you have with your other self is that you’ve seen none of those three emotions from him when he realized you were stronger, more capable, and vastly more powerful.

The two of you share so many similar beliefs, can act with one another with utter ease, and have similar goals.

Yet, he only accepts that you’re better than him?

You don’t understand.

“Because, Warrior, I do not know what travesty occurred in your world, but mine has protectors that have instilled peace themselves.” For a split second, you feel hope and glee. If humanity has managed to protect themselves, and your alternate’s words regarding having recruited the Ebony Emperor is true, then you are in the wrong. The Chieftain has truly earned his livelihood completely and utterly, as he has done his part, and the world is doing the rest. However, your heart withers when you see adoration instead of respect in his eyes. “I rest easy at night knowing that the Silver Maiden and her people are saving the world and making it better.”  

The words strike you like a hammer blow to the chest and a keening sound rings within the very back of your mind. For a moment, you cannot comprehend what has been said, but it echoes within your mind again and again. The pieces of the puzzle you’d chosen to ignore, to willingly conceal from yourself, fall into place with ruthless efficiency despite your efforts to live in continued ignorance. You find yourself unsteady and shaken, briefly supported by hands that are both yours and not, until you find yourself seated.

The Silver Maiden succeeded in the world where you achieved your dream.

The world that you’d yearned for, where you were a Chieftain with a family and coming children, and where you protected a whole city and only that from threats, is one where the Silver Maiden has won. The price for your happiness is the deaths of hundreds of millions, the puppeteering of CORE and humanity, and the rise of a false utopia that trundles onward endlessly forever.

With Innovate Clear in her hands, with whatever plans she had in store, the Silver Maiden paid the prices she needed to pay and brought her world into being upon a foundation of hundreds of millions of lives.

How many of your friends existed in that parallel world? What suffering occurred due to your inaction? How many lost their freedom to the whims of an eternal tyrant?

The world you yearned for and envied is a product of the Silver Maiden’s machinations.

And, though you see worry on your alternate self’s face in the moment, you cannot forget his happiness, joy, and delight whilst speaking of his achievements.

You feel sick for the first time.