Broken Souls

Chapter 33 - Blank White Void

Chara had hit continue as soon as the options had presented themselves, bringing themselves back into a world of light and sound. Casua was already standing there with her mismatched jumble of clothes. That sight in itself brought some sadistic satisfaction to Chara as they imagined her body joining the dust of her precious family. Of course, they first had to kill her, but that was neither here or there. She was exactly like that irritating comedian that she called her brother. She was strong, probably stronger than he ever would be, but even she had to fall eventually. Chara would win, they were determined.

They kept their stare focused on Casua as she stared blankly at them. She wasn't keeping eye contact, but rather glaring at the black heart pendant that Chara had hung around their neck. Casua sighed, shifting on her feet a little. Chara tensed, but was too late to notice the space warping around Casua, then her re-appearing right next to them. She leaned over, grabbing their knife arm with an iron grip.

"Let's go somewhere private, little anomaly." she hissed. Within a second, Chara blinked and the two were suddenly not anywhere anymore. Casua stood a few metres away, admiring the new place she'd brought Chara to.

It appeared to be a complete lack of anything. There were no colours, no distinguishable floor or walls, nor any other beings. It was nothing more than a blank, white Void. Chara huffed, holding onto their container of Souls like it was their only hope and waiting for Casua to make a move.

"I don't know why you did what you did." she said eventually. Her voice was oddly flat, with very little raises or dips in volume and pitch. She held herself perfectly steady, making no motion to have even spoken. "Sure I can think of some reasons why someone would do such a thing." she continued, in that same flat voice, "But it really is rude to mess with someone else's stuff."

Chara blinked, wondering what she meant. Then it hit them. They grinned, eyes flashing with a cold light.

"Don't worry." they replied, mimicking her tone, "It'll be all mine soon."

Slipping their knife into a pocket, Chara began to unscrew the lid on their container. In an instant, the multitude of colourful, and white, Souls rushed towards them, filling the empty cavity that had once held their own Soul. Chara chuckled, feeling the Souls fight against their command, before giving them full control. They raised their knife once more, a look of pure determination on their face.

They would win this.

===

For the most part, Casua held up her end rather well. Despite the demon ghost child that had started this whole ordeal being more determined, she found herself more than capable of defending herself. Chara only had their knife after all, the number of human Souls they had outweighed the number of monster Souls, incapacitating any Magic ability. Casua on the other hand only had one Soul, but the Magic arsenal of every monster that had once lived in the City.

The two opponents were evenly matched, to say the least.

The only thing Chara had that Casua didn't was determination. But Casua was patient, and strong, she was sure that in time, even Chara's will would shatter. Which was starting to seem impossible.

Casua could sense something was amiss within the world. Sometimes, Chara would dodge an attack that Casua thought would have been impossible. They knew how to bypass every paradox that Casua threw their way, and every time they did, Casua felt a little more of the world alter in a way she didn't like. It was not a natural change, it was anomalous, unwanted. She vowed to stop that.

With a shout of frustration, Casua summoned every attack she could think of, the memories of practicing that very same move in the safety of a basement lab flooding back to her. Chara managed to dodge the first onslaught of bones and spears, but was hit square in the chest with a swarm of fireballs. She screamed again, sending out so many attacks that the very air buzzed with Magical energy. There was no way Chara could have dodged that. But somehow they did, and Casua was left unprotected as they lunged towards her with their knife outstretched. She cocked her head in confusion, then took a step to the side and impaling Chara with a bone as they flew past. She laughed a little in smug satisfaction, but quickly resumed her stoic expression when Chara merely picked themselves back up.

"Giving up yet?" they asked her. Casua shook her head. They grinned, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of their mouth. "I would if I were you. There's no way you can beat me, I'm too determined."

Casua froze, almost getting hit with Chara's next blow before she could take a shortcut away. She'd heard something like that before...Gaster had mentioned determination... not when Casua had saved him, but some time else. Back at the lab, she'd been dozing in a corner. Sans and Gaster had been discussing something about anomalies in... timelines? Yes that was it. An anomaly in the timeline.

That same day, Frisk had come into the Lab, looking a little frightened. Casua hadn't heard what they'd said, but she remembered Sans getting panicked. Gaster had just waved Frisk away, telling them not to worry. Casua took another shortcut away to dodge Chara's knife. Determination was a powerful substance, she knew that. If Chara was the anomaly, if those weird disturbances in the world had been their doing. Then there was truly no conceivable way that Casua could ever hope to beat them in combat. Every time she killed them, they would only come back, knowing exactly how to dodge her attacks.

Well then... if she knew that... It was time to change up the game.

Chara had paused for a moment to catch their breath, but was up and ready within seconds. Causa hesitated before sending out her next attack. She had planned on using some blue Magic, but perhaps an unexpected change was in order. This time, instead of flinging Chara every which way and breaking each of their bones until they died, Casua went for a different approach. She made as if to swipe at Chara with a spear, but took a shortcut behind them at the last minute, hitting them with some well placed fireballs and a giant blaster.

It had worked. Chara hadn't expected that. That either meant they hadn't seen that attack before, or more likely, they had been waiting for the blue attacks. Casua smirked to herself. Every attack she felt like doing instinctively, she would have to change, no matter what. Change it in a way that Chara would not be able to guess. There was no way she would beat Chara if they could learn her attacks, so quite simply, they never would.

She had an infinite capacity and the attacks of every monster ever. That had to be the most possible solution.

At least she could hope it would be.