The Wall 2.0

Reynolds sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as he avoided the man's deadpan stare.

"Was it really necessary to scream like that?"

Reynolds flushed. "Ahem, wh-who are you?"

"Who I am is irrelevant, I am only here to watch over you."

"Watch over me? Like a guardian angel?" he asked, confused.

"I'm not a backup to rely upon, if you fail and die I will not save you. No deus ex machina for you." The man sounded annoyed by the last part, he never liked those.

"Deus ex what now?" Reynolds did a double-take.

"Moving on, your first trial," the man ignored the question in favor of looking outside at the remnants of an ancient city, "is to find a relic from these ruins."

Reynolds looked at him strangely, "How do you expect me to-"

"No time to waste." He interrupted, pushing Reynolds out and locking the door.

"Hey!" He banged on the steel, yelping when pain wracked through his hand. "Ow!"

He sighed, his gauntlets shrouding his hands, "Damn it."

Grumbling under his breath, he entered the city.

________________________

"This looks awfully normal, if not a bit advanced." Fayden commented, taking in the view of the city.

"That's exactly what I thought when I arrived here."

It was no Losvillion, but it was still miles ahead of Dicathen.

"I wonder why no one told me about this…" he muttered under his breath.

"Hmm?"

"Nothing."

He shrugged, "What are your plans?"

Fayden inhaled deeply, "I have to find a way out of here."

"That reminds me," Phoebus had a nostalgic look in his eyes, "How is it back in Dicathen?"

"It's…" Fayden hesitated, should he tell him the truth or should he sugar coat it?

He decided Phoebus deserved to know the truth, "Honestly, it's bad. We were at war with the other continent."

"Were? Did we win?"

Fayden exhaled wearily, memories of the destroyed castle flashed across his mind. "We lost," he breathed out, "the castle fell and so did Dicathen."

"Wh-what?" Phoebus stuttered, "Did….did my family survive?"

"..." Fayden remained silent.

"They…survived right?"

Fayden straightened himself, smiling reassuringly, "Hopefully."

"You don't know?"

He shook his head, "No, and that's why I need to head back."

"How did you get stuck here anyway?"

"I…"

'I am Kiros Vritra…'

'It's best you accept your death.'

'Dad, no don't!'

'You're nearing critical point.'

He sighed, "I died."

Phoebus stopped abruptly, "What?!"

"Yeah, my real body died. My soul was brought here, and I was given a new body."

"How did you die?" he asked.

[Insensitive much?] Phanes spoke through me.

"I'm so so-"

"It's fine. An Asura came to kill me, clearly he succeeded."

"Asura?"

"Self-proclaimed gods."

"Ah, imitators."

"Yep."

[You both do realize that you're Asuras too right?]

"Eh, we weren't born as Asuras."

"Uh, who was that?"

"Don't even ask."

Silence fell for a few moments after that.

"Maybe," Phoebus broke it first, "with your new body you can open a portal outside?"

"I can't, even the Marchosias couldn't."

"That's no reason not to try."

"It will be nothing but a waste of nacht and time." Fayden protested.

"Try it."

"Come on!"

Phoebus stared at him wordlessly.

"Fine," he grumbled. The ambient mana and aether responded to his call as they swirled around him in a maelstrom of white and lavender. Their high speeds resulted in the particles colliding with one another, and the purplish white was soon replaced with silver and black.

The growing storm began shrinking, no it was absorbed into his body which began shaking uncontrollably.

"This i-i-i-is unex-expe-pected!" Fayden's voice cracked and reverberated due to his condition. Phoebus took an unconscious step back.

The storm was completely absorbed into him, as everything returned to normal.

"What just-" before he could even finish his sentence, he disappeared, as if he never existed in the first place.

"Fayden?" Phoebus called out loud, "Did it work?"

________________________

"-happened?" Fayden finished his sentence in a different place, a familiar place.

He could hear the sound of battle from nearby, and two massive presences making themselves known.

He knew this place, he lived through this event, hell he recognized the people. But how? Did he travel through time?

No, Arthur was stronger there. By a decent margin. He couldn't sense himself either, so he couldn't have traveled in time.

[What if…]

'No, that's absurd.'

[The theory was proven by earth's scientists long ago.]

'Do you really think I am capable of such a feat?'

[Yes, look around you. Things are different than what we remember, Arthur is stronger, a full-blooded Vritra is attacking the wall, Alice and Reynolds are nowhere near us, hell the whole battle formation looks different.]

'...'

[There are two possibilities, either we have entered a timeline where you died early, massively changing the events we know, or you're crossed over to a completely different universe where you never existed. You choose which you want to believe in.]

A wave of heat passed through them without warning.

'Let's take care of this Vritra first.'

[Agreed.]

Fayden began floating, and shot towards the duo.

.

.

.

Rizem Vritra was being driven to a standstill by Arthur Leywin, he didn't think a mere lesser would drive him to such extents. He idly considered transforming, but quickly dismissed that thought.

Gray flames wreathed his blade and the mana around him was consumed, enhancing the flames even further.

He suddenly turned his head to the side, noticing the familiar aura of a Vritra, yet this was much denser than anyone he had known.

"I told you, I don't need backup." He snarled at the newcomer, he looked even younger than him.

"Backup?" The silver eyed man looked at him strangely.

The hairs on his neck stood up, and he moved just enough to minimize damage, yet it still left a gaping hole on his torso.

"I'm here to kill you," he announced. Silver electricity crackled around his eyes, runes of the same color covered his back and hands.

'Shit, it hurts!'' He clenched his teeth, trying not to scream out loud.

"A mere lesser like you cannot kill me," he scoffed.

A blindingly white fireball hovered over his open palm, "Let's put that theory to the test shall we?"

He could feel it, those flames would melt right through him.

His horns began shaking, growing larger and larger. Gray scales covered his body, his hands fused with his torso, and his legs conjoined together. His size grew phenomenally, he was now taller than even the wall.

Yet, Fayden Leywin was unaffected, bored even as he fidgeted with the fireball.

The basilisk hissed at him, as he chucked the flame at it. The fireball hit its mark, its flames spreading over his scales.

He hissed in pain as his grayish black scales melted and fused together, making it impossible to move part of its body.

He glared at Fayden as decayed mana began moving to his tail. Fayden narrowed his eyes, a silver sword manifesting in his hands.

"General Arthur, get the soldiers and civilians away from he-"

An iridescent beam of yellow lightning and blue flames whizzed past his face, cutting deep into the basilisk.

"I don't know who you are, I do not trust you, nor do I take orders from you."

Faydens eyebrow twitched, "For fucks sake, they are going to die if you dont get them away from here."

Arthur stared at him, a conflicted look on his face.

Fayden sighed, 'This dense idiot.'

A black wall began arising from the ground behind him, eventually growing bigger than the wall, and arching to cover the basilisk in three directions.

"A vain attempt, you are not strong enough to defend against me."

Fayden chuckled, "We shall see."

His tail flicked, and the wall finished right in time to block it.

The black miasma buckled and stretched, but didn't tear, he had put too much mana for it to break that easily.

The basilisk's jaw fell open, he never expected anyone would be able to block it. No matter, he just needed to do that until his opponent ran out of mana. After all, how much mana could a lesser really have.

"You see that's where you're wrong." Fayden flashed in front of his eyes, "What makes you think I'm a lesser?"

In response, he transformed back to a human, glaring at the man as he tried to stop his bleeding. Part of his torso had melted to fuse together, his cheek was ripped apart by a single slash.

He was too wounded to keep on fighting, but his pride as a Vritra kept him from retreating. His eyes glowed red, gray wisps covered his body as Arthur lunged at him, Dawn's Ballad held in hand.

To their surprise, the blade passed right through him, as if he didn't exist. Taking this opportunity he held his open palm before Arthur's eyes, decay mana began coalescing around his hand.

Arthur widened his eyes, trying to jump away, but he was too late. That is, if Fayden hadn't used his godrune.

The Vritra lost his footing in an almost comical way, and the blast of soulfire hurled harmlessly into the sky.

Arthur blinked in surprise, turning to look at his 'companion.' Fayden had a hand over his eyes, he was cursing himself for overusing the rune. His head throbbed in pain as he walked towards the Vritra.

<Arthur, this guy can phase through our attacks. We need to take him by surprise.>

Arthur was initially shocked by the voice inside his head, but learned not to question it.

<Then why didn't he use it before? Seems like it is a pretty draining spell.>

<He didn't expect us to be this strong, he thinks we will run out of mana soon. He's arrogant, and we have to use this arrogance against him.>

Arthur nodded back in reply, "Look how the mighty have fallen."

Fayden hm-ed in agreement, "Using such underhanded techniques to fight a mere lesser, seems like you're not much better."

"You dare mock me!" he bellowed predictably.

[Such a cliche, oh the horror!]

Fayden shrugged, 'Hey, it works in our favor at least.'

The Vritra yelled incomprehensibly and decay mana began coalescing around him, taking the form of a large snake.

'...I spoke too soon.'

[No shit sherlock.]

Arthur looked up slack jawed, he glanced between the behemoth and his sword. It was like a toothpick in comparison.

Fayden sighed, mana and aether exploding from his body, colliding to form the two shades of nacht as he too began forming an astral figure.

"Oh come on, does everyone have mechs nowadays?!" Arthur said exasperatedly.

Fayden smirked, "Stay and watch for this one Arthur."

His 'mech' as Arthur called it, was much different than last time. It now had a face, the same as Fayden, its eyes were made out of the silver nacht, and so were the runes on its now armored body. Razor sharp silver claws extended from his fingers as he flexed them.

"Come at me you snake assed bastard!" he proclaimed, his claws whistling through the air as the basilisk made its move.

_______________________

A/N : Alright, I have ideas for this arc now, updates will hopefully be more frequent.

Some of you may be wondering how he moved through universes/timelines. Its simple, Losvillion is a dimension that exists in all of them, it's sort of a nexus of universes, making it possible to cross universes within it. Now if he were in, say Alacrya, he would never have been capable of such a feat.

On that note, someone made a poem based on this fic, much thanks @VIIIhmmmm

Shadows god devouring

(By Silvern Shadowless)

By fate's design, by string's subtle motion, a soul falls like raindrop does

New world, family and emotions, bonds that protect you must

Yet twisted strings again will push you into the jaws of conflict, sorrow and pain

As shadow's way is shown to you, will you be strong enough to still stay sane?

The war, the blood, love and secrets that you knew not when power was gifted in your hands

Now you are forged into weapon from a man, in far from home called land

Yet doubt and regret will not aid, so you push onwards nonetheless

But sometimes you do question world, of why you ended up in this mess

God's shall know, they are no immortal to not fear for their life

Between them conflict you will find, old and corrupted strife

Now step up, dragon by wolves side, lets see if two can win against rotten fate

Are you too weak? Is it all lost? Perhaps it's not too late...