FORGIVENESS

****

[Time left until the unknown entity's power disappears: 60 seconds]

"These two.. How the hell are they in sync!" Allon cursed as he was hit at his left leg, making him to lose balance, followed by a fist right on his face.

Mitsuki and Aqua did not let him to take a break as they rushed towards Allon. Allon dashed at high speed, appearing behind Aqua.

"I need to destroy him in one shot!" Allon said as a massive beam shot out from his hand towards Aqua.

In an instant, Mitsuki appeared in front of the beam, using the wings he had to block it. The beam seemed to be absorbed inside the wings, which glowed even more red, as if they were ready to cause havoc. Immediately, Aqua retreated as Mitsuki flew up high in the air. Red massive feather like spikes appeared around his wings, shooting down towards Allon. As he ducked one, the spike caused devastating damage to the ground, making him even more wary of them.

"I need to evade all of them!!"

Mitsuki, who was now feeling the energy becoming weaker and weaker, out his hands in a position as if he was about to fire an arrow and a small red spike appeared. Once he was certain he would hit the target, he fired it.

[[Time left until the unknown entity's power disappears: 32 seconds]

"Retreat!" Mitsuki shouted to the three who were on the ground. Aqua appeared above the two girls, casting a barrier around them.

Allon suddenly felt his entire lower body, from his chest incinerate.

"What the- what hit me?"

Suddenly, his remaining body was lifted up by Aqua. He had an evil smirk on his face, and his aura was all over the place.

"Are you trying to destroy the planet? You are only here because I put up a barrier around the whole place to prevent your divinity from melting this planet, so control it!" Mitsuki shouted.

"Sheesh boy, I know!" Aqua replied, his gaze still on Allon.

"Allon, have you ever played soccer?"

"Soc-"

Allon's words echoed through the air as Aqua kicked his remaining body up high in the air.

"Haha.. I have always wished to do that... Now let's go finish him off, Mitsu-"

Aqua looked around.

"Where the hell is Mitsuki?" He asked Poki and Valeria.

"Huh? Wasn't he here?"

Mitsuki, at that said time was in a white space, looking at a mirror image of himself, but with the form of the entity that had taken control of him.

[Time is up. You have now lost all the powers of the entity.]

[Error]

[Error]

[Err----]

[-------]

The System display disappeared from his view, making him cautious.

"Relax, boy it's not like I can do anything to you." his image said.

"I just wanted to remove all unwanted eyes from us as we talk."

"Who or rather... What are you? Are you Lucifer by any chance?" Mitsuki asked.

"Me? Don't lump me in with such low beings.." The entity said as a throne appeared behind him, allowing him to sit.

"Then, who are you?"

"Good question, though I won't tell you my name for now, you shall know it when the proper time comes."

"I sense no murderous intent from him or any kind of bad intent... I can't even sense anything from him.. That and.. This place..." Mitsuki thought.

"Guessing from your expression, you are trying to wonder where you are, right?"

"Y-Yes.. Is this a realm?"

The entity in front of him laughed hard.

"Now thinking of it.. It's cringe seeing talking to me.. I mean, he still has my appearance." Mitsuki thought.

"Thing is, I can't open a portal, so it seems like it has been completely cut off of the.. human world?" Mitsuki said.

"This isn't a realm, this is a plane.. A whole other different reality...." 

The entity said as three circles with different appearances appeared on his palm.

"What you see here on my palm is your reality, Mitsuki Ichiro."

"Nah, no way-"

Suddenly, Mitsuki felt his heart stop for a second as terrible visions appeared in his head. He looked up at his look alike and saw him slightly pressing the three circles in his palm.

"STOP!" Mitsuki shouted instinctively as he fell on the white ground, breathing and sweating heavily."

"Do I look like one to joke? I hope you now believe that this tiny thing on my palm is truly your reality. You can now see the power I hold, yet I have not destroyed you all. Is that enough to show you that I have no intentions of doing so?"

"Y- yes." Mitsuki said as he stood up.

"Such power.... Should I even be standing?!" Mitsuki wondered as he put on a brave face.

"Good, now.. I want to discuss something with you. You have the largest Vassal energy I have ever seen."

"Vassal energy?"

"Yes, Vassal energy.. This refers to the ability of a being to accommodate the spirit of another being.. You, Mitsuki Ichiro, have an extraordinary one... You managed to house a part of my spirit, without prior training at all. You also have a spirit in you and you could still handle it without any issue.. That might be good, but, there is one problem.. There are some beings that might have sensed my energy.. Ones that are pretty mischievous.."

"That's comical.. Aren't you the evil one here?"

"Evil one? I guess your eyes are yet to be opened, but you will see in due time.. The lights that shine the brightest are the most dangerous. You will see it yourself one day.. On that day, you will remember these words that I am nonchalantly saying to you."

"Why.. are you telling me all this?"

"Well, the horror that is waiting for us will condemn us all.. I can only try to change the fate that awaits you all.."

"And how can I just trust you? You wanted to let Allon go!" Mitsuki replied.

"Mitsuki Mitsuki... What do you think your Legacy will be? Killing all demons? Destroying evil? Don't make me laugh! This is not a story of valiance! This is not a story of Valor in the face of evil, Mitsuki! This is the story of the one who will strive for survival of reality as it is!" The entity shouted as he stared right at Mitsuki with an intimidating face.

"Play time will be over soon, Mitsuki. You will understand then, the gravity of the role you are going to play.. But for now, we shall only talk. I would advise you to listen very carefully."

"Very well then, I shall listen."

Immediately Mitsuki said those words, it appeared as if time had ended in the normal reality. Everything, up to the universes themselves, stopped completely. It was as if they had all stopped, to try to listen to the words that that entity wanted to tell Mitsuki..

And little did Mitsuki know, that those words would soon change his view towards entities, divine beings; angels, demons, spirits, creation in itself, as wisdom that no other human would ever have was being carved into his mind. He felt lost: He now felt as if he was repeating the same mundane life with no purpose, with no true reason at all, just with a goal that he didn't even understand. Trillions of thoughts were now synchronously passing through his mind as he now even questioned reality in itself. Even though he partially did not believe those words, he still paid keen attention to them.

*********

Mark's soul was floating aimlessly in a dark place, as he remembered all he had done while he was still alive, with a heart heavy as lead.. His memory of when he killed Emilia flashed through his mind several of times. He shouted and screamed, but it was not a remedy at all. It was too much for him, to the point that he sought to escape the pain, to escape the the guilt that weighed on his weary soul. 

"I truly did a lot huh..." He asked himself in that dark abyss that he was in as he recounted all that he did.

"Mitsuki Ichiro... I remember well the first day I saw him, back in middle school, in our first year... He was a cheerful person, we all loved him and his sister... Then one day, the two stopped coming to school, after their dad passed away.. Emilia, who was my crush back then, suddenly got sad about him.. That made me angry towards him.. Regardless, I told myself back then that maybe I was being unreasonable.. But.. As days became weeks, it was evident that Emilia had feelings for Mitsuki.. I felt sad, I felt angry at him, but I always tried to remain impartial.. Then one day, he came back to school, with his sister. But.. his eyes looked dead, he was gloomy and he never talked much with everyone else, except for Emilia.... I started making fun of him, with an objective: To trigger him. But, he always let everything slide. He never did anything back, even when I started getting physical. I hated that.. I hated that he was seeing me so insignificant to a point that he never considered me as a problem... I worked out, I did everything to get on top, just to bully him.. He on the other hand, grew more resilient, but I had already surpassed him on terms of strength, looks, academics, pretty much everything.. Yet, Emilia still remained by his side.. It was as if she knew something we didn't know.. It went on until I actually started bullying him seriously, for years on end.. And now... I actually did something unforgiveable.. I took someone's life..."

Suddenly, his system display appeared.

[Your soul is in the tree of Life]

[Your soul can be saved]

"Saved?" He wondered.

Suddenly, Mark started hearing footsteps echo in the abyss, as a figure materialized in front of him. The way he walked and the look in his eyes was way too familiar to Mark.

"M- Mitsuki...." Mark muttered as tears automatically started flooding down his face.

"Mitsuki...."

Mark looked at Mitsuki's golden eyes. They were glowing intensely as he looked at Mark.

"That stare.. It's the same as back then.." Mark said to himself.

"Mark," Mitsuki called out.

"Y- Yes?"

"Do you feel guilty for what you have been doing all along?"

Mark looked down as his lips tightened and curved downwards.

"Yes.. I do... Mitsuki.. I am sorry for all that I have done, up until the very end."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I... Would be lying if I said I don't want to live... I would be lying if I said I don't want to be with all of you till the very very end... But, I do not want to be selfish anymore.. I don't want to anger anyone else... I do not want to be the cause of death of others.. So, I am just apologizing to you here, just to get it off my chest.. I was foolish till till my end came, I was tricked by a demon, I let my ego soar up even when I first saw you in the village..."

Mark knelt down as he bowed, until his head touched the surface.

"I truly am sorry, Mitsuki.."

As he remained down there, he felt his body become warm. He felt a calming aura all around him, as the warmth coursed through his body.

[Your soul has been saved.]

"What.. Why...-"

"Someone once told me.." Mitsuki said, as the dark place began to light up.

"Even as conflicts break us apart, even as betrayals crush our hearts, even as anger antagonizes all those we love, we can all still look into the sky with our eyes wide open and know that there will be a sunrise. That sunrise makes us discover that the darkness does not last forever, it lets us know that the world is still warm, and that we can always try again. We have all been betrayed, some of us have even been left for dead, some scarred and some simply just hurt a bit. But, we know we can overcome all that which will stand between us and the light at the end of the journey."

[Your body has been remade completely]

"Why.. Mitsuki... I am already broken... I can't... What will the others-"

"You are not broken, we all aren't. We are not scarred forever, and mostly," Mitsuki said, lending Mark a hand, helping him to stand up.

"We are not alone.. We can and we shall always stand on our feet, and we shall forever embrace the hope that comes with light. So, do not worry of what has happened before. Forget all of that, and remake yourself into a new man."

Mark couldn't control the tears flowing down his face.

"Geez, that was cool as hell man.." He said in between sniffles.

Mitsuki giggled as he looked at him.

"If all that he said was true, then I need to protect these smiles even more."

***** End of Volume 1*****