The Twilight of Death Verse

ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS:

Death Gods

·Evva – The Warden; ex-master

·Precy – The Fist; ex-master

·Subli – The Stone-gazer; ex-master

Godlike Cannibals

·Mode – The Chameleon

·Groom – The Meteor

Sleep God

·Fathor – reaping god of souls

Chapter 2: This is all a game… to G

“How are you holding up?” Caine checks on his father.

“I’ve healed everything except for this arm that I used on the one who ruined our plans,” Voix clenches his uninjured fist. “Are you prepared for what I have told you?”

“About killing mother,” Caine grits his teeth. “Yeah, there is no turning back anyway. As you said, mother will be making a sacrifice for Death Verse’s future.”

“Are you quite sure about it?” Voix feels unconvinced.

“I told you,” Caine makes a decisive verdict. “There is no turning back.”

“How much land have you invaded?”

“We’ve gotten a hold of the sixth layer.”

“There will be a change of plans, my son,” Voix stands up and approaches his son. “We will take the fight to them. You have all the cannibals to support you in the war. Let me ask you, my son, how soon are we ready?”

“In two days,” Caine breathes deeply, “we will take all of Death Verse.”

“Assemble you generals, son,” Voix goes back to his bed, “for you, my successor will have to prepare them for our victory…”

“He failed to capture Essence Verse,” G nears the conclusion of Voix’s failures, “because I foiled his plans on purpose.”

“It’s not Essence Verse,” Index corrects G, “but Essential Verse!”

“The people there call it Essence Verse,” G gestures the ‘talk to the hand’ at Index. “Since you weren’t there, there was no way that you could’ve known. So… that is it for the Voix’s misadventures.”

“Do you have any leads as to what he might do next?” Darling anxiously asks the Sleep God.

“Ask my god of war,” G bows down. “He might tell you about his plans to counter Voix. As for me, story time’s over~”

“He might come for the queen at any moment,” As the god of war, Afel tries to predict the probable moves of Voix. “Knowing that the Gods of Sleep are here, he wouldn’t come alone. He might be preparing for a massive invasion using the souls-”

“Criminals,” Smowk Aargon corrects him. “We call the bad souls the Criminals in Death Verse.”

“I think he is referring to the Cannibals,” Smag Jazz joins in. “The Cannibals were Criminals who commit to eating their own kinds.”

“That is pretty complicated to call a bad soul and an evil soul,” Afel sighs while scratching his golden hair.

“Where did you get that scar?” Fumi Belille asks him, “Can’t you heal it?”

“I would if I could,” Afel touches his scar on his X-marked scar on his left cheek, “but I wanted it to be a reminder of the two defeats that I suffered from the same person.” He looks at G who is busy teaching Noiricca some basic emotions. Can anyone of you tell me about Death Verse?”

“It would be more appropriate to ask the designer,” Smag Jazz points at Nymbus Livanne. “She designed this universe… a long long time ago.”

“You called for me,” Nymbus Livanne approaches them.

“You designed this universe?” he asks her and makes a compliment, “Impressive.”

“Thank you,” she gets distracted by Afel’s scar. “That scar…”

“Lord Xeel… I mean…” Fumi Belille answers for him, “G gave those to him.”

“How come he can bypass the rules?”

“That’s classified,” Afel calmly answers back. “So about this spiral universe, tell me everything about it.”

“Well,” she sits down, steals Cyrrus Crystl a glance, much to Claad’s dismay, and then proceeds to explain, “This Kingdom serves as its outer shell called Layer Zero. This is, in fact, the largest layer enclosing the spiral universe without touching the Layer One. This layer is for all of the Death Beings. Since we are gods, travel time to go around layer zero has become quite easier using a lot of wormholes. There are lots of wormholes in this universe, but there is only one wormhole connecting this layer to the first layer.”

“Alright,” Afel formulates a plan in mind. “What kinds of beings house the first layer?”

“Ah yes about that,” Livanne glances over at Crystl, “he made some changes allowing the criminals to live until the third layer. So from the first to the third layer, criminals are the ones living.”

“That lad has potential as a ruler,” Afel grins. “Let me guess, he stationed a lot of reapers at the edge of Layer Three.”

“Yes, apparently he did,” Livanne seems to get the gist of what Afel is thinking. “Do you think that he realized something?”

“Let’s ask him. Hey WEAPONAIR,” Afel calls out Crystl, “may I have a word?”

From the balcony, Cyrrus Crystl approaches them and stops a few steps away, “What do you want, Afel?”

“I just want to confirm something about the criminals,” Afel starts to yawn. “They also have gifts, don’t they?”

“Impossible,” Strotus Darling looks puzzled.

“For a princess such as yourself, you should know your people,” Crystl coldly sighs at her. “Yes, I realized that they do.”

“Please, do explain,” Steim Lichten gains a lot of interest.

“I’ve been speculating about cannibals having powers aside from eating others. So if they have powers, would their predecessors have it too?” Cyrrus Crystl nods off, “I was right. Nobody in the reaper community knew until now that these bad souls gain powers when they turned into criminals. You know the reason…”

“Because we do not interfere with criminals, not directly at least,” Comulus Jet sits down on a chair. “Death Verse automatically punishes those who commit cannibalism and throws them to the lower levels. With you adjusting where they are thrown and stationing reapers over there, you are guaranteed to lessen the cannibalism within the criminal community.”

“That’s what is happening as of the moment,” Crystl stretches out his arms and legs. “I also interacted a lot with those criminals and found out the reason for cannibalism.”

Myst asks, “Which is?”

“Gaining more power,” he answers, “or at least they believed that eating another could give them more power. Instead of gaining power, they lose themselves. It is like some illegal mortal drugs… However, the more you become insane the less you are to worry about your limitations. Let us speculate that Voix found out about this information, what will he do?”

“He’ll take advantage of the insanity, and use them as soldiers for his army.” Afel comes to a conclusion.

“Caine and his fellow traitors could’ve ended becoming cannibals themselves,” Crystl clenches his fists. “I know how low that gorilla prince would go just for power…”

“Why would you associate yourself to criminals?” Lichten asks him. “They are evil souls who’ll turn against each other and commit cannibalism in the end.”

“I wonder,” Cyrrus Crystl shows his resolve. “Just because they ended up being criminals they’ll end up becoming cannibals. The logic is wrong. Some criminals would like to reform and ask for forgiveness. They want another chance at life to change their wicked ways. They will do anything in their newfound power to set things right. I saw a lot of them hunting newly turned cannibals… that is the reason why I socialized with them.”

“You’ve got the great potential to become a king,” Afel grins at him. “To cut things short, these criminals can play a major role in the war.”

“Yeah,” he nods back at him. “They will be fighting side by side with us during the war. The organization that I had built for them to train and learn how to fight is called Cannibal Hunters Initiative (CHI). Trained to fight against the cannibals, I am sure that our army’s number would increase.”

“But the expedition,” Junto realizes something flawed. “The strongest cannibals have reached a certain point where they returned back to sanity. The reason for the rumors is the real message delivered to the kingdom that day when we were out on duty of reaping and sorting the souls from different universes. A cannibal from near the core sent a video about their time as cannibals to rise against the gods who call themselves the death beings…”

“Then it looks like we have to dig deeper,” G joins with them in the discussion.

“Excuse me,” Gusius Majo interrupts their meeting, “I got word from the reapers stationed at the fourth layer about cannibals moving further away… maybe they’re being summoned to the core.”

“Our suspicions are correct,” Smag Jazz confirms it with Afel and the others. “They are indeed working alongside Caine.”

“It’s probably worse,” G, instead of showing concern, grins at the thought. “They are planning on huge invasion. My queen, what are your orders?”

“Prepare all those who are ready to fight for this universe, and keep those who are in need of protection safe,” Queen Cycloe gives her command. “G Fallasleep and Cyrrus Crystl will have to stay with me while the rest of you will have to protect Layers Zero to Three.”

“I want to stay by your side, mother,” Strotus Darling forcefully insists, “BY ALL MEANS!”

“You show defiance to my orders,” the queen lightly scolds her daughter, “but you have to make a choice between the people that represent Death Verse or me? I advise that you choose wisely…”

Darling glares at Crystl, “If my mom dies, you’ll have to pay the price!”

There are four choices for Crystl to choose from in his thoughts, but he chose to stay silent for now…

“What are your orders, G?” Etherio tries his best to be informal.

“You know that my mind is definitely chaotic,” G twirls his index finger on his head. “Kill without remorse… but be careful about FRIENDLY FIRES~”

“You don’t have to remind me not to kill my own allies,” he sighs.

“I think it is the best time for me to turn into a dragon,” Tydon starts transforming.

“You are a winged serpent, not dragon…” G makes an autocorrect statement. “Just keep the pressure on the enemies. Afel, you don’t have to be reminded of your role…”

“This is what I was made for,” Afel is cloaked in ominous energy, “WAR…”

“Noiricca, you stay with me,” G turns to the queen. “Actually, I don’t take orders from you but I plan on staying here with you while we wait for Voix to arrive~”

“I thought so,” Queen Cycloe sighs. “To the rest, Death Verse needs you. GO…”

“You’re enjoying,” Crystl glares at G, “aren’t you?”

“Of course, every second of it,” G smirks, “who wouldn’t enjoy some fun and games?”

“Why would you think that this is all some game,” Crystl presses on, “when the life of the queen is at stake.”

“There was a time when I asked the same question,” G remembers his past. “I literally died a lot during my time in training… I didn’t even have the idea that I was a god candidate… Even now that I am a god, I am still afraid to die.”

“Then tell me why in order for me to understand where you are coming from.”

“Every mistake that I make may lead me to my demise, that’s what I have learned. Sometimes, I have to compromise in order to survive. I have to learn from experience in order to avoid death. I have to choose the right path to survival and safety.”

“Are you…” he glares at G, “choosing properly for all of us?”

“I don’t know,” G walks towards the queen who has been listening. “However, I am not gambler… taking risks isn’t my specialty. Gaming, however, is where I am great at… especially getting inside the enemy’s head. I don’t let their words get to me, I do it the other way and let my words and actions get to them.”

“I still don’t understand,” Crystl sighs, “but I get that you are putting Voix on his wit’s end.”

“I am happy because I get upper hand,” G grins as the queen reaches for his hands. “Well, even when I don’t get the upper hand, I don’t care as long as I enjoy it. You should think about it, having secrets kept from you pisses you off right? If life doesn’t give you shit, you go look for shit yourself, Crystl. This psychological and I am probably influencing you a lot of myself but this is me. My queen, I am going to take the other half of Voix from you. Do you trust me?”

“It’s too soon!” Crystl tries to stop him.

But, Noiricca gets in his way, “Think fast before you act and not the other way around, Mr. Reaper.”

G sticks his hand within the queen’s chest to extract Voix’s other half within her. About to scream in pain, the queen is suddenly met by G’s comforting lips as he kisses her intimately making it uncomfortable (maybe erotic) for Crystl to look at. After extracting every bit of it, the queen is returned to her throne totally unconscious.

“She’s alive,” G points his pistol towards the head of Crystl who is inches away from stabbing him with arms transformed into swords. “The secrets that you hold dear won’t be buried. You moved fast, I give you that.”

“She let me,” Crystl follows Noiricca with his eyes as he returns his blade arms back to normal. “You were faster though… I never expected that pistol to magically appear from your hand pointed at my forehead. I honestly felt… fearful that my life would go to waste.”

“Right there, you made the right choice,” G recalls his pistol back. “When Voix arrives, I’ll give him his other half and you can settle your score with Caine. Just in case you fail, I’ll have Noiricca with you if you plan on tagging out.”

“For the record, I was actually concerned with the queen, not the secret she holds,” Crystl turns away, “and I won’t need your goddess to fight in my place.”

“Yeah, I’m just kidding.” G examines Voix’s soul shaped like a golden sphere, “She’ll be fighting erasing Voix’s butler from existence.”

Crystl takes position and weaponizes his entire body, “They’re coming… a lot of them…”

“You felt that too,” G grins. “Trust in your comrades. You’ve trained hard for this, don’t you?”

“How is it that you know everything?”

“I’m probably omniscient…”

“I can’t argue with that,” Crystl sighs. “You’re an enigma of a god…”

“Maybe,” G scratches his head. “To be honest with you, I almost ended up killing the queen. I feel that I had to get it off my chest… he-he-he…”

“You f-”

“So you are here.” Voix glares at them from the core using a portal just like Fugn’s, “Are you preventing me from taking my other half, are you perhaps afraid of my full power?”

“YOU,” Crystl morphs into a full-metal cyborg. “I am going to make you pay for everything!”

“Relax, Cyrrus,” G shows Voix his other half. “Do you think I am afraid of you? Are you perhaps dumber than I expected you to be? SH-SHH, do not speak, I know you are quite dumb. The reason why I am here is to give this to you in order for you to be whole again… and when that happens… I’ll be able to seal you off completely AND MAKE THIS UNIVERSE OF YOURS… MINE~”

“XEEL,” Voix growls like a wild animal, “WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON MY OTHER HALF, I WILL KILL YOU…”

“Good,” G turns his head to signal Noiricca and Crystl to enter the portal with him. “I want us to fight here in Death Verse’s core…”

“There’s three of you,” Voix grins, “but an army of my own here…”

“Noiricca is my army,” G maniacally glares and grins at them. “I guarantee that you’ll be beaten to a pulp by my creation~”

“That’s enough talk,” Crystl is on full focus. “Just let him have his half so that we can start this fight!”