()= Thinking/ Replacing
*= Actions
""= Phone
/= Whispers
--= Narrator
~~= Timeskip
Darren POV:
Gunshots, detonations, and even fire can be heard all throughout the battlefield. Roars of resentment. On the battlefield where the Wizards and Spirits were fighting, the explosive sounds of reiryoku and maryoku intermingled in the air. Every scream or shriek released from here was concealed under layers of even more sounds of destruction. It was as if hell had been relocated to above ground.
Darren: Shit... another war...
However, I was the only one that stood in silence as I wasn't able to move my body. Miku and the others came over.
Darren: GET AWAY!
I fired a wave of blue fire toward the group while Yuko and Lucas stared at me in horror.
Darren: Shit... after that Gabriel...
I puked out some more blood as Yuko and Lucas rushed over.
Darren: shit... Shit...
In that unnatural silence, the only voice that can be heard, was me groaning while I surrounded myself in blue fire. I held my face in pain while my hair started to float.
Yuko: Darren! Cmon, you need help! Your skin is as pale as a ghost. It reflects death in it.
Darren: Shut up...
I, who was usually called the Undead Monarch and the one who would destroy the world, was reduced to cinders like this. However, it would be unreasonable to think anything less of that reaction. After all, a white arm was extending out of my chest.
This was neither a metaphor nor an exaggeration. Slowly, the fingertips began forcibly crawling out of my body. Such a scene resembled a single flower peeping out of a person's face. Accompanied by this sound, an "arm" extended out as if exposing its roots to the outside air.
Darren: Fuck... the dimension can no longer contain her.
Every fiber of my body was yelling as my chest was being torn apart.
Darren: Zaphkiel-
Suddenly, I puked out more blood as I was unable to expose any mana.
Ciel: (Master, you are unable to activate any mana right now since she is draining all of it.)
Darren: (Takamiya... Mio...)
Today, a fact was finally understood by me. Death was an undeniable action for all of us, and today. Death had called for my name.
Darren: No... I won't die! Total Control Room!
Darren: Room.
I teleported out of the place with a hole in my chest.
Darren: Shadow heal, Cursed Technique Red.
I was slowly healing my wounds while Mio Takamiya just stared at me without any emotions. No... the only thing I wasn't able to understand is how did Gabriel able to make her crawl out of the dimension? She slowly walked out of the barrier and walked towards Shido.
Mio: Long time no see. I finally get to meet you Shin.
Shido just looked confused as to why did the girl call her Shin, yet suddenly, he realized who would only call him Shin. I slowly walked towards Mio and Shido, while Yuko and Lucas supported my arms.
Darren: Shido! Don't go towards her.
The girl smiled as if seemingly aware of his confusion. Then, the girl slowly moved towards him, her hand reaching out towards Shido. Despite feeling his body trembling unconsciously, he could not move. It was almost like his body was unconditionally accepting what the girl was doing.
Darren: Crap... Shido!
I slowly rushed over towards the three while she caressed Shido's head and placed her forehead towards his. I placed my hand towards Shido's head.
Darren: CRAP!
Suddenly, a tremendous amount of information came flooding towards my head, memories that doesn't belong to me. Instead, it belonged to Shido Itsuka or should I say Shinji Takamiya. No, to be exact, it was almost as if Shido's original self was flooding inside his head while I was just an outsider absorbing the information. That's right, I was always the third party in everything. I wasn't able to change that I was the third party.
Darren: Shit... Shido-
I suddenly covered my mouth as puke was threatening to come out of my mouth with my brain not able to process so much information at the same time.
However, Shido did not fall down to his knees. With one hand pressed against his aching head, he gazed at the girl in front of his eyes.
Shido: M-M-Mio?
He called out the name of the girl he shouldn't have known while I summoned my daggers.
Darren: (Issac.)
But before I could act, I fell unconscious while blood sprouted from my chest and my mouth.
-In the skies-
Kotori POV:
I was aboard the Fraxinus with Rose and everyone else except Shido, Darren, Yuko, Lucas, and the spirits.
Rose: Darren... to think that Mio Takamiya was inside his body and that Lucas didn't tell me!!
She slammed her hand on the desk while I just sat in shock and stared at Shido.
As a commander, this was not something worthy of praise. In particular, on the battlefield, the ship functioned as a single organism. The dismay of the superior officers easily propagated to the subordinates, which can then degrade the performance of the entire ship.
Therefore, no matter how the situation developed, the commander must always remain calm. There was no exception even if that commander was a lovely young girl in her teenage years.
But right now, no one here condemned Kotori's reaction toward the battlefield.
Kotori: Shit... shit... shit... impossible! He can't be dead!
Kurumi: KOTORI! What's going on?!
Kotori: Darren Satoru's life response... is unresponsive...
Kurumi: WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!
Kotori: IT MEANS THAT HE'S DEAD!
Everyone just gasped and some cried, the people who cried the most were Kurumi, Mukuro, Tohka, White Queen, and Miku.
Kurumi: KOTORI! THIS ISN'T A GOOD JOKE, I HOPE YOU REALISE THAT!
Kotori: It isn't a joke! He's actually dead!
Everyone just stood in shock as the Undead Monarch, the one who changed all of their lives and was the most important part of the crew had suddenly died.
Kurumi: Impossible... my darling...
Her legs suddenly gave out and she collapsed onto the ground while crying.
Kotori: Shut up! All of you! What's going on?! What does the girl want from Shido?!
Kurumi: MIO TAKAMIYA!!!
Mio: Long time no see... I have finally gotten rid of our enemy... I can finally meet you again... Shin.
Hearing those words, all of us almost choked on our breath as all of us looked towards my old friend and comrade in arms. To the direction of where the analytical officer Murasame Reine, an excellent member of <Ratatoskr> and close friend to me, was sitting.
Shin, that name. And also that girl's ephemeral but graceful looks. That's right. The girl standing before Shidou looked exactly like Reine except for a few years younger.
Reine only quietly looked at the screen. Her sleepy but calm expression remained the same as usual. However, right now that always reliable look seemed exceedingly frightening to Kotori.
Kotori: Reine... I'm begging you...
Kurumi: Mio... Takamiya... Give... Darren back to me!!!
Kotori: Stop it, Kurumi! Please say it was just my stupid idea. Just laugh and say it is a coincidence. Ridicule me in your usual tone.
Reine: Kotori... You really are a smart child.
The words that I did not want to hear the most came out of her lips.
The feeling of my heart tightly contracting, my breathing became unconsciously chaotic as sweat flowed down my neck. However, I was still a commander of <Ratatoskr>. Was it rational or subconscious? Despite not knowing which one I was relying to act on, my voice semi-reflexively squeezed out. But before I could say anything, Kurumi's bullets flew toward Reine.
Kurumi: Don't move, Mio Takamiya.
Reine: Thank you... Kotori
Kotori: What do you mean by that?!
Reine: You've really been a great help. Thank you for protecting Shin until now.
Kotori: I don't understand what you are saying. What do you mean? Reine, who are you?
Reine: Kurumi and the others can give that answer.
Kotori: What do you-
Kurumi: Reine is essentially Mio Takamiya, from her wording and the way that Darren is able to decipher her actions, he had already deduced that Reine was Mio, there was just no solid proof for him to act on.
Kotori: So he even thought that far huh... then what is she really?
Reine: More than Kurumi's clones, almost identical to <Nibelcol>. That is me, I am that. You can think of it as two bodies that share the same intention. I'm here having a job too. Separating from each other was more convenient. Especially, when giving Sephira to everyone. It's a shame that Darren Satoru had figured me out. I have to praise his analytical skills later.
Kotori: WHAT?! Giving Sephirah? So... you also gave Darren Satoru his Sephirah?
Reine: Unfortunately not. Darren Satoru craved for the Sephirah and was designated by Kiriya to have a sephirah. So it was Kiriya that gave him the Sephirah.
Kotori: You... gave... Sephirah?
Reine: Indeed. Now, it is time for me to go. Kotori, the days I spent with you was fun, but it is over now.
Kotori: What do you...
Kurumi: I'm not letting you escape.
She dashed toward Reine but was instead kicked toward a wall.
Reine: Stay down, even Darren Satoru was unable to deal with me. What makes you think that you have the right to fight me?
Reine: The time for my wish to come true.
The time for my deepest desire to become realized.
Everything is for this time.
Everything is for this moment.
In order to offer my blessings to all the people I've discarded." In order to offer my thanks for all the lives I've trampled upon. I can stand by his side once again.
Kotori: Darren won't let you do all of this.
Reine: Oh? But he's dead. Darren Satoru was killed after all.
Kotori: ...
With that, she teleported out of the ship. Leaving everyone angry, Rose and Darren's lovers were probably the angriest of them all. Rose was being restrained by Origami and Nia to not go on a rampage.
If what Reine had said was true, Reine did not betray Kotori and the others. From the very beginning, she was never an ally to them.
Kotori: All crew members. Start the operations.
Commander 1: But-
Kotori: If you were drinking tea at an afternoon café, it wouldn't matter how you complain. If you were drinking at a bar during nighttime, you can whine all you want. But right now here is a battlefield. The iron wind blows violently at the Shinigami's hunting ground. Then, what are you supposed to be doing right now? Darren's death cannot be in vain. Otherwise, Kurumi and the others would never allow me to live.
Everyone just quickly got back to work, Kurumi just stared at the screen which had Darren's dead body on it.
Kotori: Anyway, we have to be wary of any alteration of Reine appearing before Shidou. Although her goal is not known, it's an indisputable fact that she killed Darren.
It was self-evident that Darren had died since his life response had disappeared. However, there was still some resistance in Kotori using the word "kill". Although Darren Satoru was known as the Undead Monarch, he was still someone that had helped out Ratatoskr and was the one who defied death the most.
Kotori: Maintain the battle progress, also Tohka, Kaguya, Yuzuru, you guys should go and retrieve Shido and Darren's dead body.
Commander 1: Commander!
Hearing the voice of the crew, Kotori turned her attention to the screen.
In front of Darren's corpse, facing Shido and the naked girl.
Over there, Reine, who had just disappeared from the bridge, appeared as if seeping out from space.