True Delusion

"What's the meaning of this?!" Allen pointed at himself/herself? "How did it happen?"

"I am not too sure about it, but for Dottore's opinion your body has quite a peculiarity, a great deal of Abyss element in it." Pantalone explained "We really don't know how you even kept human form as the normal would have been to become a monster with such composition, your soul unable to resist. This strange composition had made your body more mutable and easier to be influenced. A change in your soul would usually cause a change in your eyes and maybe hair, but in your case..." He looked Allen up and down "It affected it all."

'So this is for altering my body in the Abyss?' Allen thought "Can I do anything? Would I need to forever stay like that?" Allen asked worriedly. He has already lived through the experience of changing his body and got used to it, but changing genders was quite different.

"Do you really want to change back?" Pantalone asked "I'll tell you the truth, I don't know what Kagome was thinking in losing against you. You are far from ready to become a Harbinger. I really doubt that you will be able to last and do your work as one, but this body has followed your change so it should be far stronger. With it, you might have an opportunity."

"Could you stop thinking coldly about the situation and weighing its gains? I became a woman!" Allen shouted indignantly.

"Let's end the joke here for now" Pantalone nodded as he pointed at Allen's Delusion "You are actually using it, even if it's only passively. Focus on it and withdraw your power from it."

Allen blinked and turned to the Delusion and did as Pantalone said, the light from it shrinking a little. Suddenly, vertigo overcome him, his head spinning before he was able to recover the equilibrium.

Looking again over the mirror, he was met with his usual image, the only difference being his purple eyes had become paler "Thank god, I can return" Allen sighed in relief and turned his attention over the Delusion "So using it would change me. It will become a good way to hide my true appearance. I need to try it, but if certainly buffs my strength, it will become quite useful."

"Who is the one coldly analyzing it now?" Pantalone hummed. "It certainly is a good disguise as not only your image but your aura also changes, being impossible to discern the similarities."

"However, you must take into account that as you continue using it, someday will be completely part of you" Pantalone lifted his hand, a glove with an orange Delusion with a spiral symbol appearing over it. "Once you reached that point, you will be unable to take it off. However, it's not a quick process, so you still have quite the years before it."

"I see..." Allen turned thoughtful "Are there some way to stop it?"

"As dying is out of the question if you become strong enough in that body it could stop somewhat the change. If you were to truly become stronger than Kagone, but I am not completely sure, it's only a hypothesis." Pantalone explained "I suppose that strengthening your soul will also be a solution but that it's quite rare and almost impossible to do."

"Anyway, I don't think it's a bad thing this change, especially with your obsession over strength" Pantalone said "I would choose the strongest one without any doubt."

"Not everyone is so decided like you" Allen thought about it as he looked at the Delusion 'This brings the term of gender fluidity to the next level.' "I'll try working out with it. On another side," Allen turned to Pantalone. "did you say that the Delusion changed my soul? How so? I thought it would only have some drawbacks like tiring me or absorbing vitality."

"Now that we are reaching this point, I suppose that I should be explaining to you about the Harbinger's secrets as the one that nominated you as a challenger" Pantalone said seriously "You are talking about the lower versions of Delusions that use physical means, for the True Delusions, the ones possessed by the Harbingers, neither the costs nor output can be comparable."

"True Delusions affect directly the soul, becoming something inseparable. Even with death, the Delusion would keep part of your soul, passing it to the next generation." Pantalone explained surprising Allen "The reason for being 11 Harbingers is that there are only 11 True Delusions, each one specially created by her Highness, unlike the mass-produced ones made from gods' residues. That's how much important they are, they are our weapons to fight against Celestia, only becoming stronger as time pass."

'If that so...' "Wait a moment. If that was the case, what happened with Tomoki's one?" Allen asked thinking about it.

"Tomoki's Tartagglia Delusion is currently lost" Pantalone declared "Her Highness is able to detect and pinpoint every True Delusion's location, that's why there's no escape from it" Pantalone glared a little threatening at Allen "but unfortunately, Tartagglia's one is still inactivated, so her Highness is unable to detect it. As Tomoki died by the Shogun so it must be still in Inazuma."

'Oh, fuck!' Allen realized listening him 'Kazuha took that Delusion as a reminder of master, so it means that he has the actual True Delusion. If the Fatui knew about it, they will surely do everything in their hand to obtain it.'

"If that's the case, why Ajax became Tartagglia?" Allen tried to quickly avoid being asked about it, not wanting for his knowledge to be known.

"For now, the boy called Ajax is not a True Harbinger, he has been given quite a high-quality Delusion but it is far from a True one, its output not much different from a Vision." Pantalone explained "The reason that he has been named Tartagglia is that her Highness had deemed him worthy of the True Delusion."

"There are three ways to activate a True Delusion and bind with it." Pantalone said "The first one and the one that you used is killing the previous user. This might cause some complications later on but is the easiest way, everyone being able to do it."

"The second one is being compatible or having a similar character and thoughts than the previous user, being accepted by it and inheriting his will."

"And the third is being compatible with the template of the True Delusion, being rather than with the last user, with its first."

"I do not know much about Ajax or Tomoki, but I will bet that they are not similar, so Ajax should be quite compatible with the first template. As such, while he will still do some important missions, his main one would be to search for the True Delusion and bind with it."

"If that's the case, how would Ajax find it if even the Tsaritsa can't? Doing detective work?" Allen asked curiously.

"True Delusions are sentient, sooner or later it will find its new user" Pantalone explained "And if it's not a Fatui, Ajax will be the one in charge to hunt him."

'Luckily, Kazuha did not activate it, if not he would be now chased after. But I should try to search for him in secret and take the Delusion from him' Allen thought.

"That's not something that you should worry about." Pantalone changed the topic "And you will have time to experience with your Delusion. For now, I will explain your main mission as a Harbinger."

"As you should already be aware of it, her Highness is preparing to rebel against the Divine, wanting to destroy and usurp Celestia" Pantalone declared what most people were aware of. The Fatui wanted to follow her on a such crusade "But Celestia's strength knows no bounds that's why we are unable to win normally. To win, two requirements are necessary."

"First, we need strong weapons to face against them, these being our Delusions" Pantalone explained "Your main mission is to become stronger and as such turn your Delusion stronger with you. No matter if you fall into this path, some others will take it from where you left it."

"And the second, we need her Highness" Allen made a strange face, not understanding "It's not the first time that her Highness faced them. At that time there was no Fatui and she faced it alone, she was cursed and forced into this place. Snezhnaya City is not her city, it's her jail."

"This form our second mission, to break that curse, Celestia's power is needed."

"The Gnosis" Allen realized.

Pantalone nodded "Everyone of the Seven Archon has a Gnosis, a gift and a blessing from Celestia and a connection with it, letting them access its power. If we are able to obtain every each one of them, the Tsaritsa would be able to break her curse, freeing her from her jail and declare war, this time with an army."

'So that's the reason for the Gnosis..." Allen made a thoughtful face 'But is she really strong enough? I mustn't blindly trust him with this.'

"I see some doubt in you" Pantalone glared at him "But you shouldn't doubt the strength of her Highness. I am unaware of the specific strength of gods, but without any doubt I can say that her Highness is stronger than the other Seven Archons, winning even facing all of them at the same time. Putting them together is an insult to her grandiosity. Even Celestia was unable to kill her, only being capable of sealing her."

"I understand" Allen nodded but he kept his doubts about it, taking everything as a rumor until confirmed 'Is she really so strong?' "What should I do from now on?"

"As Kagome's inheritor, everything that she owned, possessions, subordinates, missions... would become yours." Pantalone "However, she was quite the unusual one, moving freely and acting on her own accord. We can't let you go alone as her due to your lack of experience, so you will most probably have some mission assigned, most probably away from Snezhanaya as Kagome did not have any regular work here. But before that, do you want to ask anything more?" Pantalone lifted an eyebrow.

Allen clearly knew what he expected, this was Pantalone's opening towards him "What happen now with Ellen?"

"That's what I was to say" Pantalone feigned "Your trial was postponed for 10 years, but these years had lost any meaning now that you have become a Harbinger. So... go to the throne room. Her Highness is waiting with her resolution for you."

Allen quickly left the room, leaving Pantalone behind, running across the hall with only a thought in his mind 'Ellen!'