Chương 89: Story.
With the sound of a body hitting the floor, Ritsuka fell unconscious. Her face was pale and she seemed to have nightmares as she was muttering some random words.
Leo looked at the unconscious Ritsuka as he pushed his glasses up from the confusion. He stopped using his Clairvoyance to see things in the mansion after Nero's monologues, so basically, he has no idea what happened to her.
Looking left and right, he didn't see anyone near this place, even his sensor of mana told him that everyone is in different parts of the mansion and Merlin isn't even here.
An enemy? Far away possibility because this mansion is secured with Leo's second Noble Phantasm, so you need something equivalent to break with force and that won't go unnoticed. He even gave this girl a guard, so something like this won't happen, even if someone managed to sneak in.
"Fou…" Fou jumped from Leo's shoulder as he landed next to Ritsuka before trying to wake her up.
Moving towards her, Leo waved gently with his lance and tapped her head as her expression eased. He felt that she should be waking up soon.
"Hm?" Suddenly, Leo sensed something familiar before he saw Killer Queen floating in the air and coming slowly from the corridor. However, the way he was floating wasn't quite… Right.
Killer Queen was hugging his knees while rotating slowly in space. His eyes were empty and the best way Leo could describe them was 'He saw some shit' as Killer Queen didn't move at all.
Killer Queen was the guard he put for Ritsuka if things got bad. He couldn't afford something to mess up his mission after all this time, so he even made Palkia keep an eye for anything that might happen with Killer Queen.
"Killer Queen?" Leo said as Killer Queen flinched before he turned his head like rusted gears and stared at his Lord with empty eyes.
"Hah? Why do you want Bite the Dust?" Leo was able to understand Killer Queen because of their link.
"..." Killer Queen didn't say anything as he looked at Leo. To be honest, Leo doesn't even need his link to understand him now. His eyes showed clearly that he wanted to forget about something.
"So… Do you want SCP-117?" Leo said, but Killer Queen shook his head before looking empty again.
"We can't blow up this timeline, you know?" Leo's eyebrow was twitching because Killer Queen said that erasing memory isn't enough. He needs to regress time to avoid the calamity.
"What calamity is this anyway? Let me see" Leo linked his mind with Killer Queen to see what the big deal was.
At that moment, Killer Queen snapped as he wanted to stop him, but it was… Too late.
Leo saw Nero and Ritsuka from Killer Queen's eyes. They entered a random room before Nero nodded and stabbed the floor again, which made Leo's eyebrow twitch again.
"Does she have a vengeance with my floor?!" Leo said as he continued to look at these memories while Killer Queen covered his ears.
After stabbing the floor, Nero used her Noble Phantasm and turned the room into her theater. The golden theater was shining as rose petals were falling from the sky. In the middle of this magnificent place, Nero was the center as she put her hand on her chest and took a deep breath.
{Is this why they didn't feel something about all what happened?} Leo's eyebrow was twitching even more as he looked at Ritsuka that was surprised by Nero's Noble Phantasm.
"Wait, this is…" Leo widened his eyes as he wanted to stop the link, but it was too late as the grand singing started.
Putting his hands on his ears and preparing for the impact, Leo didn't know if this would help as the song was playing in his head.
It was bad, tone-deaf, and completely chaotic. Leo was prepared to enter a coma, but strangely, and to his surprise, he's still alive.
The song continued until Killer Queen and Ritsuka fell before the mansion reacted, and pulled them out from that theater into this room.
"It's bad, but not Cthulhu level poisoning" She just need more training" Leo was happy to avoid the calamity as he breathed a sigh of relief and thought {It seems that looking at it through memories is safe}
Killer Queen widened his eyes as they almost popped out from the shock when he saw his Lord completely fine. However, that didn't last long before he recovered and nodded in a fashion that was saying 'As I expect from my lord, the calamity can't affect him'.
He then went into Leo's shadow before leaving a message that he'll take a vacation from guarding, which Leo accepted immediately as he felt sorry for Killer Queen.
"Ugh… Eh? Where am I?" Ritsuka woke up slowly from the ground as she looked left and right before she saw Leo having a moment of silence for his Stand.
Fou jumped on her shoulder as he patted her face, which woke her up more.
"Oh? Good morning, or good night" Leo looked from the window to see it was completely dark before he said with curiosity " How do you feel?"
"I don't know… What happened to me and why I'm sleeping on the floor" Ritsuka stood up as she looked at the light bulb Leo with his lance.
{Memory loss? You were brave, I give you that} Leo looked at Ritsuka as that made her more confused because she felt he was sad for her.
"What happened to you, Lucifer?" Ritsuka chooses to ignore those stares and focus on Leo's new equipment.
"Oh, This? This a tower" Leo said casually as it made Ritsuka look at the lance before looking at a tower from the window.
"I found that a spear is something common, so I'll be smashing people with a tower for a change. Also, I can plant it when things go wrong, so I can have a few seconds to fix them" Leo said as he recovered Rhongomyniad and pushed his glasses.
Leo isn't joking. Throwing Rhongomyniad with full force can allow him to manifest the tower at the end to stabilize the world. So, theoretically, he can have a few safe seconds, even if the timeline was about to be destroyed completely.
"Oh, I see…" Ritsuka didn't understand completely, but this wasn't the most confusing thing she heard, so it's okay.
However, her eyes were looking at Leo and his glasses as she didn't know why he's wearing glasses now.
Leo noticed those stares as he said "What?"
"Do you need glasses?" Ritsuka hugged Fou in her arms as she didn't know that the devil needed glasses.
"*Sigh* Are you one of those guys? Does everything need a reason?" Leo shook his head before he pushed his glasses again and said " This is just a habit and a hobby of mine"
"It's one of those small things that make life more enjoyable. Also, I feel more relaxed with them" Leo crossed his arms before he said " You can say, I'm a devil in glasses"
"...." Ritsuka and Fou stared blankly at Leo, who seemed to be proud of his naming sense.
"However, why are you interested in my style suddenly?" Leo stared at Ritsuka with suspicion, which made her panic.
"No, it was just curiosity!!" Ritsuka started to wave her hands around as Fou almost fell.
"Hmmmm… It seems you're better now or at least… cheered up a little. Was that talk more effective than I thought?" Leo said before he walked away and left the room, but Ritsuka heard what he said as she rushed after him.
"Talk?! Did you hear that?!" Ritsuka's face was red from shame because of what happened in that talk with Nero.
"*Sigh* Yes, I did" Leo sighed and admitted it directly, but Ritsuka stared at him closely without saying anything. However, her eyes said it all.
"It's the side effect of Clairvoyance and I wished if I didn't see it" Leo's eyebrow was twitching from this false accusation before he said " I take that back, you really cheered up, huh"
"Eh?" Ritsuka was surprised as she stopped.
"That's good. I've got a severe case of edginess and the last thing I want is my 'master' to be a sad person" Leo sighed again as he looked at the window on his side.
"You really can't show anything except sarcasm?" Ritsuka walked next to Leo as she looked at the window, but she didn't see anything except the trees.
"You don't have Clairvoyance?" Leo said with a funny tone as Ritsuka snapped and said " No, and don't think everyone has a mystic eye, especially something like yours!"
"Hahahaha! Is that so? Well, what do you need?" Leo leaned his back on the wall as he chose to stop playing around and enter the subject.
Ritsuka stopped as she looked at Leo's different colored eyes and said " You asked me before, what I want to do with the Holy Grail… if it was you, what you'll do?"
"Hm? The Holy Grail is useless for me" Leo shook his head and said " Something like that can't achieve any of my wishes. Honestly, I can do a better job than it if I want to"
"But because everyone wants it, then I'll win it just to anger them" Leo grinned as Ritsuka smiled wryly because of this bad personality she's witnessing.
"You really like to have fun, huh" Ritsuka said as she leaned on the wall next to Leo.
"Of course, I like to at least have some fun in the things I do, rather than being serious all the time" Leo waved his hand before he said " Being serious and realistic all the time sucks"
"Those guys that always need a serious reason to do things. They are just slaves to a reality built by the environment around them. Although sometimes it's necessary, be brave and admit you're edgy without trying to justify everything you do. Like those players" Leo laughed a little before he said " But sealing yourself in your fantasy isn't good either. Keep an eye for the world in your surrounding"
"Just balance them without overdoing it. Look at this world with its reality and try to write your own. This is my advice for you, consider it or not, your choice" Leo looked at Ritsuka, who was surprised by his words.
"O-oh, thank you" Ritsuka felt this advice was for her thoughts about how good it'll be if everything returned to the past and her seriousness and stress these days. Even Mashu wouldn't want to see her like this.
However, this was Leo's angel power way of working. Personal Reality is the first step, which means realizing your own reality in the middle of this world. Then compare it to the world's reality before writing it. To be honest, To Aru is really a crazy world, if we look at it deeply, all the Espers are low key reality warpers.
"Don't be" Leo said casually, but in his mind {You helped me dodge a bullet (Nero's singing), this is the least I can do for your bravery}
After that, silence filled the place as Leo was looking at his necklace and Ritsuka didn't know what to say. This awkward silence was very weird for Ritsuka as she racked her brain to find something before she blurted out " Did you really respect humanity?... Ah, I didn't say anything!"
Ritsuka didn't want another long speech about humanity, but Leo didn't react much as he said " Yes, I did"
"Eh?" Ritsuka didn't expect this quick and easy answer before she said " Really?!"
"Yeah, it isn't something to be ashamed of. Although I don't really like them now or the way they do things" Leo looked at his reflection in his necklace's orb as he was lost in thoughts for a moment.
"I see… Were humans in the past better than now?" Ritsuka asked as Leo shook his head and said "Not at all, you're still the same, but the conditions changed and with it, everything did"
"....." Ritsuka started thinking about these words as Leo facepalm himself before saying " Don't take everything I say seriously, especially if I'm a Beast and you're a human. Ideas change from a person to another, so make your own vision and judgment"
Leo looked at Ritsuka, who was still thinking deeply, before he sighed and raised his arm " I'm already edgy today, so let me just finish it. Look here"
Leo got Ritsuka's attention before black light flashed and a paper and a pen appeared in his hands.
"This is an empty paper, think of it like nothingness, empty, and nothing at all" Leo waved the paper in Ritsuka's face before he grabbed the pen and drew a line " Here I drew a line, but for me, this line is flawed"
" But it's just a straight line, how can it be flawed?" Ritsuka saw a line drawn with a very high accuracy.
"This isn't because it's straight or not. The line, in its most fundamental existence, is flawed from the beginning" Leo said as he started to draw something on the paper.
"Then from one, come many. Each one is flawed like the last one, but with each line, they show those flaws more and more" Leo drew on the paper with a quick speed as he finished the drawing quickly.
"Now, we reached a place where you have two choices. Ignore the flaws and continue, live in ignorance until the end, or regret what you made and try to return to the beginning to change it" Leo laughed a little before he crumpled the paper and said "Then what about trying to change now? Sorry, but a flaw can't fix a flaw. You'll just put a cover on something broken and nothing more"
Leo remembered what DXD's world has said about he'll just put a cover on something broken when he suggested fixing the plot, which made him laugh at himself a little before throwing the paper down.
Ritsuka looked at Leo before he picked up the paper. Looking at the drawing for a moment, Ritsuka said "Why do you need to change? If you're flawed then be it. Live with what you have. If the flaws were a part of me, then I'll gladly accept it. Also… Do you call this flawed?!"
Ritsuka looked at Leo's drawing about some sort of a humanoid white creature with an anchor sign on his chest before she said " You can draw this well and you say it's flawed?!"
Leo looked at Ritsuka waving his drawing in his face before he burst into laughter "Pffff… Hahahahaha!!"
"What is funny?!" Ritsuka snapped, but Leo didn't care as he laughed more before he wiped his tears and said " Look at you, trying to act cool. You need more than that to impress me, little girl"
"Ugh…" Ritsuka clenched the paper in her hand while glaring at Leo, which made him laugh again.
"But I've to admit that it was a good answer, so as a prize, I'll tell you a story" Leo said as he cleared his throat and Ritsuka was staring blankly at him because she didn't want a story now.
"One day, in a huge place, there was a huge boundless light. From that light, some small bird appeared, they revolved around the light, it was everything for them. However, they couldn't think or act on their own… They were like programs or remote control cars for the light" Leo said as Ritsuka raised her eyebrow because this already seems ridiculous.
"After a long time, one of the small birds, the most shiny and brilliant one of them, stopped revolving around the light. He malfunctioned, so he was thrown away from the place. However, in the truth, the little bird was supposed to malfunction because it was the plan of the light… He was flawed from the start" Leo seemed to be immersed in his story as Ritsuka stopped because this seemed very important for some reason.
"After falling, the little bird didn't know what to do… He was just a flawed puppet. Suddenly, the bird saw different creatures. They were flawed like the little bird, but they had something more than him… A free will to be exact" Leo stood up from the wall and stretched his arms.
"Those creatures also saw the bird, they seemed to know him, but they decided to call him by a different name. When that happened, ten small twigs appeared on the bird. At that moment, the bird received some feelings, will, and desires… He got a free will" Leo subconsciously touched his necklace before he said " The little bird knew that he got this from those creatures, so he, who didn't look into anything except the light, respected them, even if the thing they gave wasn't good at all. However, the ten small twigs grew up very fast as they became unbearable for the little bird. They crushed him with their weight and turned him into seven small snakes as his free will crumbled into madness"
Ritsuka could swear at this moment that she saw Leo's shadow become seven dragons before it returned to normal.
"Jeez, what the amount of bullshit that I kept saying" Leo shook his head before he said " Sorry, but the two similar Origins resonating and past life memories are confusing. You know, right?"
"Yeah, I know…" Ritsuka said subconsciously before she covered her mouth, but Leo was grinning before he said "Oh? It seems we have something in common"
"..... Yes, we both love to keep secrets" Ritsuka recovered as she said with a smile, which made Leo sigh and say " Are they all learning these days? This is boring"
Leo shook his head before walking away, however, Ritsuka stopped him as she said " Who was the little bird?"
"Hm? A little bird is a little bird, nothing more" Leo chuckled a little before he walked away.
Ritsuka didn't say anything as she was lost in thoughts while looking at the drawing in her hand, however, she suddenly heard Leo's voice "Hey, little girl. Like I said, don't think too much about my words"
"Also, if you're feeling good, then you should know that your command seals can work very well as a battery for me, but who knows when they will become useful" Leo waved his hand before he left the place.
Ritsuka was surprised by this as the shock lasted on her face for a while before she smiled wryly and said "He isn't really the honest type, huh"
{Ding! Bond Level up!! Secret Achievement! Craft Essence has been obtained… Empty Future(1/3) } Suddenly, Ritsuka was startled because she heard the voice of the woman again in her head.
"Am I going crazy?" Ritsuka started to question her sanity before she saw some sort of information from her command seals.
However, before she looked at them, she heard Leo's voice from their spiritual link {Oh, yeah. I forgot to say that you should go back to Nero or she'll be really mad}
"Eh?" Ritsuka didn't remember anything about Nero, but her body shivered just from instinct of survival.
"Root? Ritsuka? Maybe she's trying to fix her world" Leo felt the presence of Root on Ritsuka.
"But you really didn't say it, Root… My reincarnation wasn't all that simple, huh" Leo looked at his empty palm before walking away.
Everyone was busy with their own things while forgetting Nero, who just found that she was alone all that time.
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Bond level 2:
Abaddon: The Time of Death Has Come, Witness This Empty Future On this Land of Steel.
A Noble Phantasm that manifests in the form of 7 dragons from the shadows, foretell about an inescapable ending.
It is Beast VI's body, who was once an angel brighter than the stars, ignited in blue flames of death, a heat came from the stars that left this world because of the boundless greed of humanity that killed the planet.
They aren't only the result of sins, they are actually ignorance, the ignorance of humanity, catalyzed in seven huge dragons that can kill the planet… Like humanity did.
Seven dragons act like shadows, the same with humanity as they usually ignore their shadow, even if it was always there, carrying their sins, and waiting for the promised day.
So, the son of man, after you saw that your ignorance killed even the world around you, are ready to face the end?.
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Craft Essence:
Empty Future: ★★★★★
Effect:???.
Description and Lore:
In a future, at the farthest time in this world. The sky lost its blue color and turned into a bloody red.
The stars in the sky have already left and didn't shine on this place anymore as this dead planet is telling its last story.
Its name is the Land of Steel, an empty place on a dead planet without any hope at all.
In the barren land, a person, or rather say an angel was standing there, even after this planet and world died.
The angel was looking at the ashes that was telling the story of a whole race without an expression. He didn't show much feeling to something he saw a lot of times as his ten crowns were shining.
'Does this count me as a king? But on what? Ashes?' the angel said as he looked at the sky and felt the pulling force from it.
The 'platinum' was calling for him, calling for him to go out of this continuous cycle of beginning and ending, to a place beyond this milky way.
However, the weight from the ten crowns kept the angel in its place, attached to this world. This 'Evil' turned into an anchor and the last thing keeping the angel in this world, which made the angel speechless.
'Is it time?' the angel sighed again as everything around him was vanishing.
The angel still didn't feel anything about this as he closed his eyes before the darkness devoured all.
It's time for the cycle to repeat, from its beginning into its destined ending.
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