Your Father, Your Creator, Your God

"They lived because of my whim, but now they die, and they will all die for a reason. This is not whim Atlas, this is revenge." Toji spat, the words dripping with venom and rage. Bloodshot eyes stared madly into Atlas' shattered irises.

Rage felt like a physical pressure. The air was heavy with tension.

Atlas had choices, he could find Frank, and make sure he was safe. Or he could join or stop Toji.

He didn't plan to stop him though, the man wanted to exterminate the entire Zenin clan. He wanted to kill every last one of them, burn the place to the ground and leave nothing but fire and blood in his path.

"Stop and think Toji! They didn't do this. I can't explain how I know but I know. Alright, please. Just listen to me. I know you're mad. Hell, I am mad! But the person who killed her might be with Frank right now. I can't take them by myself. I'm sorry you lost your family… but please help me save mine?" Atlas pleaded. The gash down his chest healed as he spoke.

The blood that dripped from the blade Toji was holding pooled on the floor. He had attacked Atlas when he stopped him from leaving.

Seeing the struggle in the man's eyes he watched as Toji grabbed his hair and screamed at the sky. Cursing the world for the decision that he had to make in this rageful moment.

The burning flames of emotion ate away at his stomach clouding his mind.

Staring at Atlas with tears running down his face Toji spoke finally giving his answer.

"On one condition. You let me be the one to kill that bastard that did this to my wife." His voice was hard, cold, emotions were burnt out. Leaving nothing but a cold vengeance in its place. "And if you are wrong. I will kill you too." He swears in silent rage.

"I won't go down without a fight. But I know I am right, trust me." Atlas said, his voice soft and sorrowful. Knowing the pain that Toji was going through. He hated the memories that were coming back.

He hated everything that was happening.

But Toji trusted him and believed in him despite the circumstances, which warmed his heart in this rageful moment. His one true friend trusted him in his darkest hour.

He wouldn't let Kenjaku rip a rift between him and his friends.

He would kill that bastard.

And finally, be done with him.

--- Kenjaku ---

Plans had changed but were going so well. He didn't like getting involved so early but things had to be done. After all his goals were grand. Atlas was never meant to grow close to his next host. He didn't expect it to happen. But something about the boy was odd.

He knew that for the longest time, he knew things that he wasn't meant to. The question remained, how?

Well, that was something he would find out soon enough, the answer would come willingly from the very mouth that was cursing him at this moment. That rage, he felt it, bleeding over. He would use it. A feeling on the edge of his mind.

Hoshi.

Emotions were dangerous, cursed energy was dangerous. But it was all fuel. This was good. This was how he planned things going.

It was unfortunate that Toji hadn't lost his cool completely but this was also taken into consideration. And everything was still in place. Just a bit more complicated. But he would never have gotten this far if he couldn't deal with such simple complications.

Toji's enlightenment, however, was an issue. He had seen few martial artists, in fact, he could count how many he had seen reach the level Toji was at on one hand.

But it didn't matter. Things would unfold as planned, and if they didn't then he would simply use one of the many backups he had.

Stepping forward he looked around the open park, the out of the way location buried deep into the mountains. The only thing nearby was a gazebo that one lone old man was sitting in.

Walking back over he sat down as well as he let out a sigh.

"Well now that it is all sorted where were we?" Kenjaku asked the man in front of him.

Responding Frank said, "About Atlas? How is he related to their deaths." Frank said, his voice cold. Hollower than it had ever been.

"As I have said, I hate to be the bearer of this news but they would have wanted you to know. I know people change, and clearly, his memories are gone. But you can't deny this, he has talent well beyond his age. Did he really forget and if he did, how long until he remembers? He is dangerous Frank… he killed my friends too." Kenjaku said sadly, running his finger over the trinket in his hands. The small badge on the end of the chain rested on his knuckles.

Flipping it over he read the name on the back, his eyes saddening as he did so.

"They were good people weren't they?" He said, his voice undoubtedly melancholy.

Frank looked at the man before him he had been meeting with Gavin for a few days now. Finding kinship in mutual friends of their pasts. It was surprising, to say the least when the man showed up at his door. But it was welcome.

He never thought he would see that badge again, the compass on the front. The names that were engraved on the back even less. He had done his best to forget but things like that never were truly forgotten. Was Atlas really involved in their deaths? It made too much sense… it really did.

Now that he thought about it, the situation and Atlas' powers really did line up a bit too well. And why he didn't have a technique.

"So you sealed his technique?" Frank clarified… his voice suspicious. He didn't trust it all. His gut was telling him something was wrong.

"Yes, I have a certain way of influencing a mind with my technique. I was able to use the reversal of my technique instead of giving thoughts and feelings. Take them away. I took away all of his innate ability to use his technique, the mental wiring we are born with that lets us breathe, see and move our muscles. Process thoughts and feelings. It took that from him because I had to… but it is only a matter of time before his now awakened cursed energy burns through the remnants of my technique." Kenjaku lied, some of what he said was the truth, and he always at least spoke a little of the truth.

After all no one would walk into a web of lies willingly, but a soft sheet woven of truths and lies? People liked that far more.

This was all well in the past, the pace that it was coming up seemed… rushed. He couldn't put his finger on it but Frank felt that this was all constructed in some way, but he couldn't see any seams. But he just couldn't trust this man…

He was sorry, and with a single tear rolling down his cheeks he read the name on the back of the badge he thought was long since lost to time. Hikaru and Stacy… his friends. The heart that was drawn around it brought back the corny memories.

He couldn't hold back anymore.

"Then let me ask you this Gavin… what was Hikaru's second favourite animal. And why could it never be his favourite." Frank asked, his voice holding steel. Looking up he saw Gavin's confused face.

He had never understood why but this was one fact about Hikaru that he remembered him explaining to all of his close friends. And if Gavin wasn't lying, he would know.

Seeing Gavin's face drop the sad facade he couldn't help but feel his danger sense flare. "My your painfully strong-willed…" Gavin… no this stranger said slowly.

Kenjaku knew when an act was up.

---

The park was in flames, the fires that raged through the trees sent waves of smoke into the air. The hot smoke burned their lungs and made their eyes water.

Although Toji was mostly unaffected Atlas opted to stay in another plane for now. Hiding away from the effects so the smoke couldn't hinder him. Leaving a reflection of himself instead on the original plane.

The blaze was wild, almost uncontrollable.

They couldn't see what was going on inside.

Dashing towards the black curtain that blocked out where the fight must be happening Atlas couldn't help but feel a moment of satisfaction, this wouldn't even hinder him and Toji, they were perfect for something like this.

Walking up to it Atlas just phased through the dimensional planes and stepped out on the other side of the barrier. Looking at the scene before him with widening eyes… he couldn't quite process the entire scene the moment he saw it.

Toji stepped out behind him. His complete absence of cursed energy meant that barriers did nothing to him. He would walk through them as if they were empty air. As he saw the scene his eyes narrowed, a new flare of anger falling over his features.

Were they too late?

In the centre of the barrier was a gazebo. The small structure was charred and cracked. Each crack glowed with a red light as the fire flickered inside the structure of hollow wood. Like a beacon in the middle of the once lush park that was now cinder and char.

The burning Gazebo housed a pure black barrier. The outside of it perfectly lined up with the railing of the structure that was housing the border of the domain.

Gritting his teeth Atlas was about to run forward with Toji and try to break it but cracks already formed, a split, a single fracture before the entire thing shattered.

Looking at the two figures, the body of Kenjaku with combed back hair and a long coat that flickered with embers on the bottom. His face held a lopsided and victorious smirk. His face was one of victory.

The other was Frank. His old form fell to his knees. Before then rolling to the side. Unmoving.

Atlas felt rage. Such pure, untamed wrath coursed through his body. His energy exploded from him. He saw Kenjaku's mouth moving but he didn't hear a single word. His mind was focused on nothing but the fallen body of Frank. The flickering flames made shadows dance over his fallen friend.

As cursed energy washed out of him in waves splitting the ground around his feet. Cracks tearing the fabric between dimensions open around him. Reflections of his body slowly appeared around him in the reflective cracks, shards of mirror and glass appearing much more solidly than they ever had before.

As if the air was in that moment, not of this world. Atlas stood in the centre of a rift, the echoing power around him shattering the reality that he knew. He didn't accept this reality, he wouldn't accept this reality.

Turning his gaze to Kenjaku Atlas spoke, his words filled with a mind-numbing anger that clouded his judgement. He never cared for someone like he had come to care for Frank in either of his lives.

Frank had accepted him, accepted him as he was and helped him despite the unknowns and dangers. Frank was his father.

"You will die before the moon sets," Atlas said, his voice ringing through the clearing as the flames flickered around him slowly changing colour, the once red fire turning a dull violet as they started to crack and shake. Just like the world around him.

Atlas didn't know what he was doing but it felt natural, it felt like he was meant to be doing this. It wasn't his technique, it wasn't his domain. It was something odd, a point of flux where a small barrier around him was being flooded with his cursed energy and imbued with the special property. It wasn't his technique that was changing the barrier so it couldn't be called his domain.

But it was similar.

As the pseudo-domain formed around him. The air shifting and twisting space folded behind Atlas as if he was stepping out of countless angled mirrors. The reflections on either side of him grew and moved… differently. Their bodies were more ghostly, a violet light voided their eyes into pits of colour. Their bodies were slightly see-through with a dark blue tinge that was barely noticeable. The fancy earring that he wore on the wrong ear. A reflection of himself.

Reflections of Atlas from other planes given form. Brought to this one.

About a meter radius around Atlas was filled with spacial cracks as Atlas removed the barriers between the planes of the third dimension. Making the area around him almost four-dimensional. Each movement of his made his body parts twist and warp out of sight, moving through planes seamlessly.

Atlas felt it, burning pain on the edge of his mind. Even with reverse cursed technique healing him Atlas felt the power flowing through his mind burning it out. He couldn't hold this for long.

He didn't need long, however.

Seeing this Kenjaku laughed, his voice filling the air as he stared at Atlas and said. "Oh, Hoshi! You have come out far better than I could have ever expected! Join me, your Father, your creator, your GOD! And become what I know you can be!" His voice was shrill and gleeful.

Whatever personality this body had originally was twisted.

Dashing forward Atlas phased between the spot he was in and to the spot in front of Kenjaku in a single instant. The distance covered between the two shattered as the ground split open.

Swinging his hand down in an Arc atlas planned to split the world around Kenjaku in a single moment killing him. His reflections mimicked his actions as they also swung their hands down. But the gleeful smile never fell off the man's face as in the moment it took Atlas to teleport he tented his fingers in front of his chest.

Screaming Atlas tried to go just that bit faster but Kenjaku had already finished speaking.

"Domain Expansion: Infinite mind."